[DanteFalcon]

Still tossing a few ideas around before settling on something for group your working for, just getting to the meat of the character gen first. Number time go.


As mentioned before, every character has 6 stats for themselves, which, for ease of use I'll seperate into 3 categories; Combat, Industry and Logistics.

Combat's two stats are Reflex and Accuracy which are fairly self explanatory in their roles. Accuracy is a bit of an oddball though because mech's do have an auto targetting function. Its just really -really- bad and can't always distinguish friend from foe, not to mention it can be completely disabled if your scanners get jammed. The specialties these affect are primarily about weapon specializing, with one exception which we'll get to.

Industry is represented by Economy and Engineering (Yes I know Engineering is a broad term that covers far more than this. Call it Mechanized Combatant Engineering if your really that technical). Economy is merely your ability to understand value and supply your mech with non-standard issue gear to improve performance. Its also key if you intend to make use of EMP ammunition as that is almost never offered from the military. Engineering is simply an understanding of the machines you all are using from a technical standpoint, and how particular functions can be repaired, bypassed or utilized.

Logistics is represented by Focus and Computers. Focus is simply your ability to keep yourself on the task at hand and handling multiple tasks at once, or just one task really well. Computers is your skill at computers and how capable you are at decoding anything the programs spit out at you.

So your given 18 total points to put into your 6 stats (all start at 0) with a maximum of 6 in any one stat (but not group of stats) at this point.

Example A:
Reflex: 2
Accuracy: 2
Economy: 1
Engineering: 6
Focus: 3
Computers: 4

So why the grouping? That becomes important when we talk about specialties. Onto Mech Stats!

Mech's have no grouping and 5 fairly simple stats with only one that has any special rule. Additionally mechs begin with 1 in Armor, Speed and Generator Output. The 5 stats are:

Payload
Armor
Speed
Generator Output
Back-up systems

Payload: How much your mech can carry. Every point put into payload counts for two (so if you put 2 points into Payload, your Payload total is 4). It prevents Payload from being a necessary stat dump for heavier weapons or heavy armor. When I bring up weapon specialties they'll have a payload score (Ex: Pistols have 1 payload requirement) which accounts for the gun and nigh on unlimited ammo.

Armor: How hard you are to destroy. Armor slows your movement by 10% per point (and is perfectly balanced by speed so if you have equal armor and speed your movement isn't affected by either). Your Armor can't exceed your payload score (with the exception of level 1 armor which doesn't count as any appreciable weight)

Speed: How fast you are. Increases your movement by 10% per point.

Generator output: How much energy your mech has. 1 point is sufficient for standard activities. A total score of 3 is needed to keep your mech running at maximum power without any problems coming from the mech itself at this stage in the game. It also is a partial counter to EMP weaponry.

Back-up Systems: How resilient your mech is to everything. Effectively Health. This won't stop say your mech losing an arm from a sword cutting through it but you can take more all around punishment.

Your given 10 points to put into your mech with armor and speed capped at 5 for this point in the game (the 1 points in Armor, Speed and Generator output do not count against your 10 point total).

Because I mentioned them a great deal here I'll put in a brief aside for how EMP weapons work. They don't do appreciable damage on their own but they attempt to overload the generator with power spikes so that it will shut itself down as a safety to prevent it from exploding. A generator with more output is also treated as having a larger power load it can handle without overloading, hence why it works as a partial counter.

Example A's Mech:

Payload: 6 (3 points put into it. Thus 3x2=6)
Armor: 3 (2 points put into it + the 1 it started with)
Speed: 3 (Same as armor)
Generator Output: 2 (1 base + 1 point invested)
Backup Systems: 2

Next post will be on specialties but I'll leave this to sit for an hour or two so people can read and ask questions before I throw in the last stuff.