MechaStellar VER10 Retrospective – Timeline Post

In this post we wanted to share a brief timeline of VER10. In the next post we’ll go more in-depth in some of the mechanics.

VER10 had a lot of iterative development, making small or minor tweaks to the core rules to either fix loopholes, broken combos we didn’t foresee, or just for clarity.  A lot of rules from 2024 survived all the day to 2026, with tweaks of course.  As a retrospective we thought it would be fun to look through each update and count which ones survived all the way till the end.

March 2024 – Begin VER10 DEV Playtest

May 2024 – Begin Closed Playtest

System Debuts

• Core Mechanic for shooting lets attacker and defender both roll (VER4-9 had only the defender roll Evade vs Shooting)
• Melee Clash now follows the same mechanic, overall attack gameplay was streamlined and much faster
• Barrage / Bullseye and Dodge / Guard moved to Elite only abilities
• All units can move twice by default
• Rapid fire is now listed on the unit profile
• Armor Save bonus was removed
• Older Pilot Skills moved to the Climactic Events section
• New Pilot Skills mirror their SRW inspirations with simplifies and more straightforward uses (+5 Hits, +5 DEF, etc.)
• Mech Profiles moved from 6 per page to 4 per page, to improve readability with larger text areas
• Machine guns and beam pistols got a Support ATK / DEF mechanic which encouraged having squads of units in close proximity
• Auto-hit weapons of AA Missiles and Vulcans proved to be a big problem with the OG version of Finishing Blow.  This problem would come full circle when testing out small size units 2 years later with a new version of Finishing Blow.
• Shields – Switched to a defense bonus at the expense of Evade dice.

August 2024 – VER10 Open Playtest

Starting off the roster we have Mobile Suit Gundam UC – One Year War (OYW), Gundam Wing, Mazinger, Getter Robo

The DEV version of VER10 had very low lethality with HITs vs DEF often had 0-1 expected hits with most weapons, and machine gun types averaging 3-4 Hits.  Because of this, the balance between Valor (bonus hits) and Zeal (bonus attack actions) was probably the best the game ever had.

As VER10 hit the open playtest stage and certain game elements became modified, the expected number of hits started creeping up.  About a year later, we noticed that Zeal was often the preferred skill for most high end units, beating out Valor.

SEP2024

• Space Battleship Yamato Released
• Combattler V, Voltes V and Shin Mazinger updated to VER10
• Core Rules Updates –
• Counter became universal on all units [Lasted most of VER10]
• Finishing Blow became universal on all units.  [Lasted all of VER10]
• Sensors now gave a boost to Defense as well as Offense [Lasted all of VER10]
• Support Attack for E[X]plosives got stronger [Lasted all of VER10]
• Momentum shifts went from M<3 to M<5 [Lasted all of VER10]
• Zeal text was updated to avoid the gamey’ness of using zeal to them trigger a momentum shift [Lasted all of VER10]
• Various points and VP adjustments. 
• VP would later skyrocket near the end of VER10.  At the start the RX78-2 was 8VP (most units were 3-12VP), at the end it was 280VP (most units are 50-500VP)

October 2024

• Updates to Combat Roles [Revised many times]
• Added Unstoppable, Assault and Heavy Arms roles [Throwback to VER6, lasted all of VER10]
• Updated size [Revised many times]
• Updated HP Math [Revised many times]
• Updated points for Shields [Revised many times]
• Updated Indirect Fire
• All units got +1 defense die [Lasted all of VER10]
• Allowed the Power stat to be used to fuel weapons [Lasted all of VER10]

NOV 2024

• Garmillas Fleet from Yamato added
• Most of AEUG, Titans units updated to VER10
• Dual Sensors added for Firepower and Sniper Types [Lasted all of VER10]

DEC2024

• G Gundam Added
• Updated the Wargames Supplement which included many unit upgrade rules
• Core Rules Updates
• Battle-Tested level added to Elite pilots for well trained but often nameless pilots [Lasted all of VER10]
• Updates to Morale
• Updates to Commanders orders

JAN2025

• GoLion (Voltron), GoShogun, Brygar and Baxingar added to the roster
• Converted Gundam X and G Gundam to VER10
• MechaStellar VER10 Gameplay Example added featuring Zeta Gundam + Guncannon vs Gouf Custom and Gundam GX-9900 [This example is now painfully out of date.  Please forgive us ='( ]
• Added rules if you break the 10d10 dice cap [Lasted all of VER10]
• Updated Target Lock to be bonus dice
• Updated Crash
• Updated Boost
• Updated starting Momentum
• Units with multiple pilots like Combiners and Warships, now have pilot traits always active instead of the previous “choose 2” gimmick.
• Size HP bonus revised again
• Captain’s Orders updated
• Warships can now use Focus & Iron Wall [Lasted all of VER10]
• Moved “Improvise” from Pilot Skill to “Events”
• Removed reroll from most weapons
• Removed VP penalties from Simple Battle
• Updated various upgrade traits

FEB2025

• Updated Turn A Gundam to VER10
• Gundam Build Fighters rules updated to VER10

MAR2025

• Converted many G Gundam fighters to VER10
• Updated Finishing Blow to be roll d10s for potential 1000 DMG
• Added Retaliate as a Counterattack option for VER9 feel
• Updated Climactic Events and Battlefield Hazards module

APR 2025

• Gundam SEED added to the roster
• Zeal became limited by the current Round to prevent alpha strikes [Lasted all of VER10]
• Revised AOE weapons again

MAY2025

• More Gundam SEED units
• Converted Secondary Objectives to VER10

JUN2025

• More Gundam SEED units
• Warships got a massive force multiplier update
• Updated VP again
• Updated HP again
• Updated Finishing Blow again

JUL2025

• Gundam SEED Stargazer added

SEP2025

• Updated Battle Damage to VER10
• Updated Starting Momentum [Lasted until the end of VER10]
• Updated Finishing Blow again
• Armor Saves back to 3 dice
• Massive balance patch to HP, Move, Sensors to move everything to a base of 4, i.e. Move 4″/8″/12″ etc. and complete updating of points, weapons, etc.

OCT2025

• Gundam SEED Astray added
• Rebalanced Warships & Large Units
• Updated many pilot traits to have a base of Hit on a 3+ or DEF on a 3+ [Lasted all of VER10]

NOV2025

• Added Aura Battler Dunbine
• Added a flow chart for rules summary

DEC2025

• Added more units for Dunbine
• Rebalanced all small size units and also warships

FEB2026

• Added in the long awaited Char’s Counterattack (Jegan and Gearas) to the Roster
• Added Dancouga to the Roster
• Added a Squad System
• Retooled Support Weapons
• Returned Counter to be Elite only
• Armor Saves back to 5 dice
• Updated Finishing Blow again [Lasted almost until the end of VER10]
• Added in “Elite Levels”
• Changed what counts as “Elite Upgrades” and thus affects Elite levels
• Added a speed upgrade
• Massive change to HP and VP
• Allowed for certain weapons to go above the 10d10 attack dice cap [Eventual deathknell for VER10]

MAR – JUN 2026

• Added Dangaioh and Zeorymer to the roster
• Added Nu Gundam and Sazabi
• Issues identified by an all-star player involving small units, trait stacking, counter + finishing blow dominating the battlefield
• Extensive playtesting of small size units and finding the limits of the current VER10 design space with regards to number of attacks and Finishing Blow.