As we’ve alluded to in previous posts, Pilots bring in a lot of advantages to your forces, but also carry some risks when it comes to Morale and Victory Points. Pilot Skills, usable by any unit have also been overhauled and every turn you will likely feel the need to spend 1 or more Momentum. Balancing the ebb and flow of Momentum will be the key to victory.
In VER10 we wanted to lessen the gap between Skilled and Ace Pilots. Many players prefer running named pilots and don’t want to feel pressured into upgrading them into Aces, in the new system they will function almost the same with Aces having an extra (or upgraded) pilot trait and the chance to use upgraded skills. Still bringing an Ace carries with it higher risk, since an Ace unit is worth A LOT of victory points for your opponent. So be careful who you take along for your battles.
Similar to VER 9.5, pilots give you an edge on attack and defense. Precision and Barrage return, renamed to Bullseye and Barrage for some alliteration, as well as another nod to our much beloved Super Robot Wars (Super Robot Taisen). While Barrage still gives bonus hits, Bullseye now gives Crit Range instead of accuracy.
Pilot traits will still modify these, for example Marksman will give a bonus +1 Crit Range (8++). Additionally, When a unit is within Sensors range, you gain a free Target Lock action, that lets you ignore cover. Similar to VER9 Target Lock will give a bonus +1 Crit Range but in VER10 it is only while using Bullseye.
- Barrage – +1 Hit on your Shooting Attack
- Bullseye – +1 Crit Range (9++) on your Shooting attack.
- Bonus +1 if you ignore cover on this attack.
Their Melee versions are as follows
- Balanced Melee – +1 HIT & Crit Range in Melee
- Swift Melee (MS Only) – Target cannot Counterattack.
Now for Defense. Dodge and Guard return, although Dodge is now a Crit Range bonus (Crit Defend on a 9++). Simiarly, pilot traits still influence these so Elusive gives a bonus +1 Crit Range on Dodge to an 8++.
You also can choose to Counter instead, more importantly you can now counter in Melee AND Shooting attacks by default.
- Dodge – +1 Crit Range (9++) on Evade or Melee Defense
- Guard – +1 DEF on Evade or Melee Defense
- Counter – You may attack the target back with an eligible weapon but with -2 Hits
Currently the Attack / Defense balance is pretty fine tuned to the point where it’s very common for only 1, 2 or 0 attacks to get through when units of equal performance attack one another. So when you choose to Counter, there’s a big chance you won’t hit your mark. So it’s a gamble.
Pilot Skills
Pilot skills have all been revamped and many simplified. Some of the more complex ones like Tear through the Ranks, or situational ones have been moved into a “Trump Card” section which is an offense oriented version of Climactic events. We’ll cover this later.
For the core pilot skills, these also draw names from SRW, and many have effects that are inspired by their originators. Of course, you can’t do a perfect 1-to-1 on either effects or costs. Letting a unit auto-dodge every attack for 2 Momentum with the Flash skill would be a little too good hahaha.
Let’s focus on four Skills in particular.
- Focus [M-1] – Use this skill after rolling. You now Hit or Defend on a 3+ for this roll.
- Iron Wall [M-3] – Halve final damage and round down (i.e. 2700 becomes 1300)
- [Ace] Persevere – Gain +3 to ARM Saves vs this attack except Vs Push/Pull.
- Flash [M-3] – After rolling Defense gain +5 DEF
- [Ace] Intuition – You also ignore the penalty for Counter.
- Valor [M-3] – Gain +5 HITs on this roll.
- [Ace] Soul – Instead lose [M-5] but gain +7 Hits on this roll.
- Zeal [M-X] – Gain +1 Action for each Momentum to a maximum of 3.
Focus is a skill that we love. It lets you recover from a bad roll instantly, and puts you in the running to break through your opponents defenses, or narrowly avoid a hit. While originally it was [M-2] we found that to be too punishing, with [M-1] both players always consider using it every turn.
Lastly, pour one out for the Defense skill, a 1-to-1 lose Momentum for +1 DEF, since its now gone. That said, the Focus skill [M-1] often gives anywhere from 1 to 5 DEF which is a great replacement.
If you need additional defense beyond that there is Iron Wall, currently Super Robot / Super Heavy / Kaiju only, which gives a large number of blocks and a bonus to Armor Saves. For MS there’s the Flash skill, which gives +5 Crit Range (Critical Defense on a 5++) for only 3 Momentum. And if you’re an Ace, it also ignores the Counter attack penalty, this is inspired by the SRW Intuition skill which combines 100% evade with 100% accuracy.
Then we have the Valor skill, the counterpart to Iron Wall. While Focus often gives a few extra hits on attacking, Valor can gives you bonus Hits on top of what you roll, raising your ceiling. Valor (and Soul) and is often the best chance to deal a Finishing Blow.
Like Counter, Finishing Blow can now occur from either a Melee OR a Shooting attack. While in VER9 a Finishing Blow meant dealing damage while taking none in return, the mechanic is a lot more streamlined in VER10. To score a Finishing Blow you must score 7+ unblocked hits.
Somewhat related note, the option to burn [M-1] to negate a failed Armor Save is going away in VER10. Similar to Armor Save bonuses, this option made it too easy to trivialize beam weapons.
Last but not least we have Zeal, a chance for any unit to gain actions. In VER10 all units (except Warships) have 1 Action. Zeal provides a quick way to fire off multiple weapons. As a limiter on units with one very powerful weapons, attacking with the same weapon twice costs 2 Actions instead of 1. For instance, with 3 Actions Mazinger could fire off 3 separate weapons, or it could use one weapon like Rust Hurricane, twice.
That about covers all the major changes for VER10. There are various other tweaks here and there, like Rapid Fire ranges, streamlining Power / Havoc and so forth but you can see those changes in the playtest rules document.
MechaStellar 
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