MechaStellar VER 9.4 Design Goals – Evade and Guard

While it may not be apparent nowadays the three primary inspirations for MechaStellar were the MS Era tabletop game by IronHands, The Official Gundam 1/400 Tactical Collection rules, and of course Warhammer 40k.  Many of the early mechanics in VER1 and VER2 had some direct similarities but in the years since then the game has changed and developed in a lot of different ways.

The Gundam 1/400 Collection Tactical battles is the mini-wargame rules for the Gundam 1/400 Collection miniatures.  They are a simple straightforward ruleset and there is a lot to like about it.  It’s easy to pick up and play and teach others (as long as you have a tape measure with centimeters).  Although, just like any other wargame it has its own balance issues, for instance units with low attack power often have a hard time being a threat towards units with high evasion, but the same can be said of MechaStellar.

The core attack mechanic of the Gundam 1/400 Collection Tactical Battles is as follows:

• The attacker rolls 1d6 + Mobile Suit Attack Power (AP) + Weapon Accuracy + Modifiers
• The Defender rolls 1d6 + Mobile Suit Evade Power (EP) + Modifiers
• If the attacker beats the defender then they deal damage of 1d6+Weapon modifiers.
• (There is also a critical hit mechanic when you roll a 6 for massive damage)

Strong MS typically have higher attack power, or evade or both.  Many weapons typically follow a similar format with weapons like a machine gun or beam rifle having an accuracy penalty while vulcans and missiles might have an accuracy boost.  Melee weapons depend on the unit, in fact everything depends on the unit, one unit may have a +2 Accuracy with beam sabers while another MS with a beam saber may have -1 accuracy.  It certainly keeps things interesting.

Now the important thing about the core mechanic is the Defender has a choice every time they are attacked.  They can choose to either Evade or to Guard.

• Evade gives +2 Evade Power to their roll.
• Guard reduces damage by 2.

A simple and straightforward mechanic that provides a lot of depth to gameplay.  Do you take the +2 Evade and risk it all to avoid the attack?  Or do you take the Guard for -2 DMG knowing that even if you fail to Evade at least you will reduce incoming damage (although it still may be enough damage to destroy you regardless). 

MechaStellar initially held a similar mechanic but it has not persisted.

• VER1 MechaStellar adopted the choice of Evade or Guard for the Defender, although it added some additional complexity when it came to glancing blows and shields being shattered.
• VER2 MechaStellar allowed you to use a Focus action for +2 Evade
• VER 5&6 MechaStellar brought back Guard for melee combat as long as you had a shield
• VER 7 Initially dropped it, but a variation reemerged in VER 7.5 where in melee you could choose to Guard or Counterattack

As I look back through some of the older versions I notice that as things have become more refined and more balanced, sometimes simplicity has been lost in favor of a solution that addressed several problems (over several version updates) but became more complex as a result.

As I played a game of Gundam 1/400 Collection Tactical Battles recently and read over some battles others have played recently it reminded me of how much I enjoyed that simple mechanic, which MechaStellar has lost over the years.  When I’m feeling nostalgic I also like to channel that into something productive, in this case reviewing the rules with some of my compatriots and in addition to fixing some typos or removing some redundant bullet points we also looked at some mechanics with a new sight wondering if they could simply be replaced with a simpler mechanic.

Choosing to Evade and Guard will be one of those.

First let’s talk about Pilots.  Skilled and Ace Pilots have had a long history of being powerful force multipliers for your mech. 

VER1 had Skill as a pool of points to lower overall DMG on a 1:1 ratio

VER2 introduced using Skill to give bonus Hits, Skill Defense to block hits, or a skilled shot to increase the Skill Cost to dodge an attack.  (Designer’s Note: Skill was the predecessor to Momentum, like HP it was tracked on an individual unit basis until VER6 where it became an army wide resource and renamed to Momentum in VER7)

VER3 introduced Renowned Pilot to regenerate Skill.  It also briefly included a system for skilled / ace pilots to auto dodge without using Skill (Momentum) before it broke the game.

VER4&5 had Pilot Level establish the maximum you could spend on Skill Defense

VER6 has Pilot level directly influence combat stats.  It also briefly included a system for skilled / ace pilots to auto dodge without using Skill (Momentum) before it broke the game.

At the start of VER7 Pilot Level influenced your starting Momentum. It also gave automatic bonus hits whenever they attacked, no Momentum needed.

One of our new players quickly demonstrated how easy it was to break the game by taking a roster full of Zaku’s with Skilled Pilots and Bazookas and obliterating the field.  (Back then, Skilled / Ace Pilots were considerably cheaper points wise).

VER 7.3 debuted the Make it Count skill letting you spend [M-1] for +1 Hit and ace pilots could spend [M-2] for +2 Hits.

VER 8 added a list of pilot skills to the core rules and Skilled / Ace Pilots reduced the cost of skills by their pilot level except for Universal Skills.  This system proved to be a pain to remember and not very impactful although there are some fond memories of Amuro using Tear through the Ranks to generate Momentum during demo games at our FLGS.

VER 8.2 introduced Flawless Ace Evade as a way to solve the great problems defensive problems of keeping an Ace Pilot alive to better represent the source material.  While this ability was loved for large scale battles, it was hated by our players who loved 2v2 Ace matches where Flawless Ace Evade ensured little action happened in Round 1 or 2.

VER 8.6 officially introduced Ace Evade (formerly named Expert Evasion) after months of playtesting.  Ace Evade replaced the auto-dodge of Flawless Ace Evade to instead give Evade+3.  It was only in the SRW Optional Module to begin with and later migrated to the core rules proper with VER9. 

So if you notice the trend, after several years of developing the game Pilot bonuses typically went from very strong passive bonuses to being dependent on Momentum as a balancing factor.  Where once Pilots could give bonus hits or bonus blocks solely for being good pilots, later they would have to use a skill and/or spend Momentum to do so.

Now that we re-examine the past and re-evaluate current mechanics we are considering bringing back passive bonuses for pilots and trimming away some of the dependence on Momentum.  The first way we’d like to do this is unearth the Evade / Guard mechanic from VER1.  It will be implemented in one of two ways.

DRAFT Core Rules Change for Pilots

• Make it Count is now bonus attack only. Instead Skilled / Ace Pilots gain +1 Hit with every attack or +1 Crit if the target is a Skilled / Ace Pilot.
• Remove Ace Evade & Flawless Ace Evade
• All units gain the following defensive options
  • Vs Shooting choose either Dodge (Evade+1) or Guard (+1 Block, stacks with Shields/Cover)
  • Vs Melee choose either Counter (+1 Hit) or Guard (+1 Block, stacks with Shield/Cover)
  • Ace Pilots improve the bonuses to +2
• On Evade you always Evade on a roll of 9 or 10.
• Increased Crit Range
  • In Melee you crit on a 9 or 10. 
  • Shooting Crits are on a 1 or 2. Target Lock increases it to 1,2 or 3.
• In Melee the Attacker will now gain +2 Hits instead of ATK+2d10

Various DRAFT Core Rules Change for VER 9.4

• The High Ground penalty gives +1 Hit against you instead of +1 Accuracy
• Improvise is free but once per game and gives 2 Rerolls or +1 Action.
• Full Power & World Shaking Havoc Section – Integrated Push / Pull mechanics to streamline this section.
• Updated Unyielding Commander Trait to solve standoffs where no one wants to melee attack the commander.

You can find the VER 9.4 Draft rules here: https://mechastellar.com/ver9-drafts/

Feedback Wanted

We’ve been doing internal testing of Evade / Guard since VER 9.1 but since it’s a very significant change we didn’t want to include in the last two version updates without further playtesting and feedback. 

So what we’d like is for our players to try out this new (old) mechanic and let us know what you think in the next month. VER 9.4 is scheduled for February’s release.

• How powerful did change this make your Ace Pilots?
• How much do you enjoy the always-on passive benefit compared to the previous active benefit (Spend [M-X] for Ace Evade)?