For this month’s update we have the long awaited After War Gundam X, an Alternate Universe (AU) Gundam show with a post-apocalyptic setting. This AU is unique in that is essentially a “What if” story set in the Universal Century with all the technology and terminology mirroring the Universal Century. In this What if scenario it looks at what would happen to the Earth and the colonies had our Amuro-esque hero fail to stop the colony drop operation and Earth was turned into a wasteland. Our protagonists are Vultures who scavenge the wasteland while dealing with rival Vultures in a Mad Max style conflict.
While the show has a great premise, the world building doesn’t really go all-in on the post apocalyptic and it’s not long before we start seeing cities and other countries who look almost entirely untouched by the massive colony drop operation that happened in the 7th space war. (For those counting, in the Universal Century there were space wars in the OYW, Zeta, ZZ, CCA, F91, and Victory leading some to theorize that Gundam X is a what if scenario taking place after Victory, but technology wise appears to be more similar to the Zeta era.)
One thing you’ll notice while watching the show is that the themes are relatively upbeat compared to most UC shows and many of the characters are rather positive considering the quasi-post-apocalyptic setting. Our hero, Garrod Ran looks and acts like he just stepped out of a Yuusha (Braves) show
While the Captain and later his mentor is a combination of Amuro and Quattro. The supporting cast is great, with Tiffa Adill being an incredibly interesting take on Newtypes, and the slow budding and well-written romance between her and the protagonist is a breath of fresh air for most Gundam media.
As for the Mobile Suits since Gundam X is very similar to UC Gundam, many of the mobile suits are a homage to the iconic MS of the Universal Century although far from being identical like you’ll see in GSD. The Daughtress represents the GM, the Jenice the Zaku, the Septem the Dom, the Octape the Gelgoog, the Bertigo the Quebeley, and the snowboarding (oh yes!)
Juracg holds the model number of the Gouf but looks quite a bit like an Act Zaku. The homages are nice since Gundam X was not a high-selling show so finding model kits and figures can often be quite difficult, so you can always use your Zaku and GM figures as stand-ins. The Vultures love to customize their leftover warmachines so there is plenty of kitbashing opportunities as well.
As for the mobile suits themselves these were really enjoyable to design. We opted to start them at the bottom of Tier 2 performance and build upwards with the Daughtress and Jenice being Tier 2 versions of the GM and Zaku.
One thing you’ll notice while watching the show is how common solid shell munitions are, especially considering most of them are replaced with beam equivalents in the Zeta era of the UC. You’ll also notice that mobile suits are often hit by beams without the catastrophic effects normally seen, my personal favorite is the Witz episode where the Airmaster is trying to retrieve MS sized attache case from the Daughtress Fire Wallabys and beam rifles shoot the case out of their hands repeatedly.
Another example is how many times the GX is hit by remote bits, while a single shot from the Bertigo (Vertigo) Bits is enough to disable the Freeden’s ship cannon, it takes a hundred or so shots to pulverize the GX. This is in stark comparison to bits and funnels in UC such as when the Quebeley or Kshtariya dismember a MS with an all-range attack.
After consulting with the great minds at MechaTalk we opted to give all the unit from Gundam X the Anti-Beam Coating upgrade, reasoning that after the first 6 space wars anti-beam coating was common and cost effective (and the technology / production was not lost after the colony drops).
While having all the grunts be much more resilient to beam weapons it made sense to give out decent ARM PEN improvement to our protagonist Gundam the GX, this pairs well with the kit manuals that mention the Shield Rifle on the GX is considerably more powerful than a standard beam rifle.
For the GX Divider we originally went with an improved beam machine gun profile but after rewatching the episode where they take the scavenged battle ship beam cannons and adjust the firing rate to make the ‘beam machine gun’ we instead decided to do a prototype beam rifle profile.
The Leopard is a more e[X]plosive heavy version of the Gundam heavy arms while the Airmaster is fun close range shooty version of the forthcoming Zeta Gundam.
The Virsago and Ashtaron were interesting to work on, while the Virsago resembles the Epyon it’s weaponry more closely resembles the Altron Gundam with Ashtaron being a great supporting brother (and often a rocket sled). We considered Raid and Attacker for Ashtaron but eventually settled on Attacker for the Evade and Melee boost since it excelled in both of those areas, although fitting its equipment loadout into its available slots was a challenge more often that not.
Last but not least we have a few more Land Warships with the Freeden as well as the mobile land fortress Bandaal (Vandal?) adding in some more unique options. For those who want to include warships in your Vs games you now have a few more options as long as you don’t mind mixing and matching universes.
While Gundam X is the highlight this month we also have another wave of Gurren Lagann units arriving including the Dai-Gurren and more Land Warships.
This month adds in Enkidu, Lazengann, the four generals of Byakou, Sayrune, Gember and Shuzack and their personal ganmen and warships with the DaiGunkai, Dai Gunten, Dai Gundo, and the Dai-Gunzan which later became the Dai-Gurren. These warships were a lot of fun to make, and while you will have to figure out proxy models to field them we hope you have a blast with them.
That’s all for this month. Be sure to read over the HP, Evade and Shield overhaul from earlier this month as this applies to all profiles. In general you will see a large HP increase for all grunt units, an improvement to shields, and an Evade boost to non-shield units which will make the game more forgiving for new players.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You can read previous posts on the HP overhaul or the Evade Overhaul or the Shield overhaul. Here is the three month look ahead and a battle report at 1000pts and a battle report at 1500pts.
You can find all the update rules and mecha unit profiles on the downloads page.
Combat Stats
- Gave all units without a shield +1 Evade
- Raised HP of all grunt units a moderate amount proportional to their previous HP, raised HP a minor amount proportional to their previous HP for all other units.
- Provided a bonus for Armor values of 4+
- Adjusted penalties for when Armor exceeds Frame level
UNIT PROFILES
- Finished converting Mazingers Kikaiju to the Kaiju profile
- Fixed errors on Tomahawk Boomerang, Big Zam, Striker Eureka (HP), Dinogeist (Evade) and movement errors on G Gundam and GaoGaiGar
- Fixed cost errors on GM Spartan (didn’t including Jamming cost), GM Striker (wrong Sensors cost)
- Simplified cost formulas. Most units unaffected except for Performance 4 and 5 units.
- Provided +1 Slot to all Frame 2+ units
- Adjusted Super Alloy Z, Gundanium Armor, Cast in the Name of God, and 12,000 Armor Plates to provide bonus armor saves instead of HP.
- Updated the pilot traits – Tactician, Merciless Melee & Furious Fusillade
- Updated Ye Not Guilty
- Rebalanced Zaku F2/FZ, Gelgoog Cannon & Customs, Big Zam, Zeong, FA 7th Gundams, Guncannon & MP, GM Cold District, Desert GM, GM Nightseeker, Mercurius & Vayeate, Pacific Rim Units
- [S] Added to all Shields to show the Evade penalty for the Gritty Battles module
WEAPONS
- Adjusted Shields to provide bonus blocks against DMG tiers
- Adjusted most weapons to have either bonus shots or damage to compensate for the change to Shields and HP.
- Updated most Stun / Push / Pull weapons to bypass Shields
- Converted assault rifles into upgraded 2 slot weapon and gatling guns as 3 slot weapons both using the machine gun profile. Established a separate profile for Rifle which will be used for AC units in the future. Currently used by the Evangelion Pallet Rifle.
- Merged Railgun and Railgun sniper into one profile with the sniper being a higher slot weapon.
- Rebalanced Beam Rifle, Beam Carbine (& Heat Rays), Beam Cannon, Beam Sniper, Bits/Funnels
WARSHIPS
- Adjusted formula for EQ Slot and HP and movement formula.
- Adjusted Ship Artillery. Rebalanced warship missiles so they weren’t lethal to mobile suits without significant slot investment
- [AA] weapons were missing the [360] tag
- Upgraded Expert Gunnery Crew
Core Rules
- Changed all instances of Super Titan to Super Robot to accommodate layout changes
- Noted that using Focus in engagement range ignores rapid fire penalties
- Make it Count adjusted to allow you to melee attack again [M-1 instead of M-2] or to shoot with the same weapon again
- Modified Vigilant Leader to prevent castling
- Updated Shields and Terrain Cover bonus. Fixed numbers on Destroy Terrain.
- Gritty Battles – Provided info on combat stats after a Shield break
- Stellar Warfare – Updated M-Particles and All Ahead Full
Wargame Rules
- Updated the bonus for Performance Upgrade at 5+ and 8+
- Updated Secure the Objective such that you retain control of a Control Point until your opponent captures it.
- Added alternate Control Point Layout (Plus sign) for Simple Battle & Confrontation
- Added VP in Simple Battle for Battle Damage or declaring Revenge or a Challenge.
- By popular demand added in VP for Frame/Pilot destruction to Confrontation and Secure the Objective.
- Increased Primary Objective VP for Secure the Objective.
- Updated Secondary Objectives and raised the cap to 10VP
MechaStellar 