MechaStellar VER10 Preview – Attack Action Example

In this preview we’ll be using a Zaku II and a GM. In MechaStellar VER10 the attacker can roll multiple hits that each deal damage, the Defender can roll multiple defenses (DEF) that each negate an incoming hit. Any leftover hits are called “unblocked hits”.

While dodging a hit isn’t necessarily “blocking” a hit, it tends to roll off the tongue a bit nicer than “unavoided hits”. If unblocked hits boggles the syntax center in your cerebral cortex go ahead and call them “undefended hits” instead =)

In VER10 all the bonuses a Mobile Suit would get from its Frame, Performance and Combat Role have been moved to be in line with a units weapons. So when you look down the line of a weapon you’ll see Bonus Hits (and bonus DEF in its Defensive profile) which comes directly from the Mobile Suit. So even with the same exact weapons, the more advanced suit will have an edge.

The Zaku wins initiative, he moves into Rapid Fire range and attacks with his machine gun.

The Machine Gun makes 8d10 attacks. They are in Rapid Fire range so they get a bonus +2 Hits. Then, it gets +3 bonus hits from the Zaku itself thanks to its mid-range performance. Overall, the Zaku has 5 bonus hits.

For an Attack roll, the attacker rolls their dice pool of d10s, every 5+ is a HIT and every 10 is a Crit Hit worth 2 Hits.

Some players find it easier, to count up their bonus hits and then roll dice. For instance if you know you have five bonus hits already, after rolling your dice, you start picking up hits 1 at a time while counting.
So with 5 Hits already, you roll your dice, then you start picking up Hits (5+) one at a time while counting, six, seven, eight, etc. until you run out of Hits to pickup. You can do the same with Defensive rolls.

The Zaku player rolls 8d10 and gets [1,3,4,4,7,8,10,10] = 2 Hits and 2 Crits = 6 Hits total. With the 5 bonus hits that brings the total to 11.

Using the method described above, you have five Hits, then pick up the 7 and 8, meanwhile they are counting six, seven, then pick up the crits going to nine and eleven Hits. It’s up to personal preference, but a lot of players find this to be a faster way to sum up their total Hits and Defenses.

For a Defense roll, the Defender rolls their dice pool of d10s, every 5+ is a DEF and every 10 is a Crit DEF worth 2 DEF.

The GM is being shot it so it will roll Evade. Shooting is opposed by Evade, and Melee ATK is opposed by Melee DEF.

Looking at the sheet the GM only has 5d10 Evade, the lower Evade is due to having a Shield. Shields have lower Evade pools but instead provide bonus DEF on both Evade AND Melee DEF. A shield trades the possibility of Defense (a dice roll) with an automatic Defense instead.

The GM gets +1 bonus DEF on Evade due to its performance and its Shield gives +2 Bonus DEF for a total of 3 bonus DEF.

The GM rolls 5d10 and gets [2,4,7,8,10] = 2 DEF and 1 Crit DEF = 4 DEF. With the 3 bonus that is a total of 7 DEF.

With 11 Hits and 7 DEF, there are 4 unblocked Hits each dealing 250 DMG. The GM takes them for 1000 DMG.

Since the Zaku took the risk of getting in close for rapid fire range, the GM will move into melee and retaliate.

The GM uses its beam saber which has 6d10 Attack, the saber has the bonus quality of rerolling 1s on Hit. Like the Zaku the GM gets a bonus +3 Hits from it’s performance.

One of MechaStellar’s foundational design goals is to strive for even balance using the iconic grunt suits of opposing factions. This is why the front line Zakus and GMs of the OYW have identical performance and other similar stats even though the case could be made that one is better or more reliable than the other.

The GM player rolls 6d10 and gets [1,1,4,8,9,9] = 3 Hits. The player rerolls the 1s into a [3,10] = 1 Crit = 2 Hits. With the +3 Bonus we have, 3+2+3 = 8 Hits.

The Zaku with its shoulder shield has Melee DEF dice pool of 5d10. It gets +2 bonus DEF from its performance.

The Zaku player rolls 5d10 and gets [2,3,5,6,10] = 2 DEF and 1 Crit DEF = 4 DEF. With the +2 bonus it has 6 DEF total.

With 8 Hits and 6 DEF, there are 2 Unblocked Hits. The Zaku takes 2 Hits for 300 DMG each, 600 Total. It then has two make 2 Armor Saves. The Beam Saber is Armor Penetration 8 so the Zaku needs an 8+ to pass a Save, each failed save does an additional 1000 DMG. They roll 2d10 and get [4,6] failing both saves obliterating the Zaku.