Mobile Suit Combat
Mega Damage Capacity
Mega Damage Capacity is the same as a Player Character’s Hit Points (HP) but at a larger scale. The ration between a Mega Damage (MD) point and HP is 1:100, meaning one (1) MD = 100 HP. Thus a weapon the deal 1 MD deals an equal of 100 HP, and 1 MD of damage is fatal to PCs with less than 100 HP.
Thus, mobile suits, mobile armor, starships, naval warships, warplanes, tanks and any other combat vehicles primarily carries MD weapons for combat.
Order of Combat
The order of Combat consists of two rounds, the first in which the winner of initiative to attack first, and the second for the loser of initiative to counterattack. The order of the actions of players and opposing forces goes as follows:
Initiative is determined.
The team that wins initiative strikes first
The team that loses initiative parry, dodge or roll with impact first
GM determines damage to the side that lost initiative
The team that loses initiative strikes next
The team that wins initiative defends next
GM determines damage to the side that won initiative
Initiative – the side to attack first has initiative. This is determined by both parties rolling 1d20 (read one twenty-sided die), the higher roll wining initiative. Initiative, however is automatic when a unit on one side declares a sneak attack, if he has the ability to execute one. Rolling of initiative takes place at the start of order of combat
Actions
Actions per round are the same as that of normal PC actions based on Hand To Hand training, except that since Mobile Suits and Mobile Armor are advanced, extremely agile weapons, their mobility will add additional actions per round to PCs when in Mobile Weapons combat, depending on their training with the Mobile Weapon used.
Basic Piloting
The skills Pilot: Mobile Suit Basic and Pilot Mobile Armor Basic allows PC characters the basic skills needed to pilot an MS or MA. The skills gives basic bonuses to strike, parry, dodge. The two skills will determine how many additional actions a PC is allowed to add to his HTH actions to use in a combat round, usually 2 actions.
For Example
Joe is a Level 1 Mobile Suit Pilot that has to fly a GAT-X105 Strike, but he does formal training with that type of MS, so will use his Pilot Mobile Suit Basic skill to operated the machine. He will have 2 actions from his HTH training, plus 2 more from his Pilot Basic skill. Thus his total actions per round will be 4.
Mobile Suit/Armor Combat Skills
The Mobile Suit Combat or Mobile Armor Combat skills are advanced skills for pilots wanting to specialize with a specific type of mobile weapon. The skill name is followed by the name of the mobile weapon chosen.
For Example:
The skill Mobile Suit Combat: ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom is the primary skill a pilot need to train with to gain full advantages in flying a Strike Freedom.
A PC with a Mobile Suit/Armor Combat skill in a specific mobile weapon type will be able to use that machine in its full effectiveness, thus gaining massive bonuses in strike, parry and dodge, plus leap dodges which can be used without using up a action per round. Also, PC will gain more actions per round to be added to their HTH actions.
For Example
Nicol is a 1st level MS pilot piloting a ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior and has the Mobile Suit Combat: ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior skill for it. It gives him an additional 4 actions to add to his 2 HTH actions, for a total of 6 actions, plus bonuses of +1 to initiative, +2 to strike, +2 to dodge, +3 to parry, +2 to roll with impact and +2 to the automatic leap dodge, aside from bonuses from a high PP score.
PCs will gain more and more Mobile Suit/Armor Combat skills are they gain experience and operate more kinds of Mobile Weapons.
Standard Actions
Strike
A strike is an offensive attack action against a target, using the weapons or skills available to a PC. A roll to strike is made by 1d20. One strike takes up one action per round. Also bonuses from high PP scores, HTH training and Mobile Suit/Armor Combat Skills are added to attack rolls.
Kinds of Strikes (Normal, Critical, Aimed, Sneak Attack)
Normal – the common attack using a strike action. All successful normal strikes always hits the main body of a mobile suit or armor.
Example
Nicol is attacking a GAT-04 Windam in his ZAKU.
Actions (6)
Attack Windam with beam tomahawk
Attack Windam with beam tomahawk
Attack Windam with beam rifle
Attack Windam with beam rifle
Attack Windam with volley of 4 missiles
Attack Windam with volley of 4 missiles
Critical Strike – a critical strike is a strike action when the dice roll is a natural 18-20, without bonuses yet to be added. This causes double damage or more if specified, to the target. A natural 18-20 is a roll from a 1d20 without bonuses being added yet.
Aimed Strikes are more precise attacks, with an additional bonus of +3 to strike rolls. Also, the attack can target specific points in the target enemy (head, right leg, weapon, etc), as long as the attacker declares it as such. However, anyone attempting a Aimed Strike cannot dodge, parry or roll against attacks directed at him, except for leap dodging, and all of his attacks in that round must be Aimed Strikes. Aimed strikes are usually used for quick and deadly attacks or to disable a target.
Example
Nicol is attacking a GAT-04 Windam in his ZAKU, but decides to use Aimed Strikes for the entire round.
Actions (6)
Aimed strike at Windam’s head with beam rifle
Aimed strike at Windam’s right arm with beam rifle
Aimed strike at Windam’s left arm with beam rifle
Aimed strike at Windam’s right leg with beam rifle
Aimed strike at Windam’s left leg with beam rifle
Aimed strike at Windam’s beam rifle with beam rifle
Note: a part of a body can be targeted multiple times as long as the attacker has actions to use.
A tip: change any aimed strike USING A MELEE WEAPON ONLY into a Decapitate Attack. Melee weapons are Beam sabers, tomahawks, swords and the like can do this type of aimed strike, without giving up the chance to parry or dodge.
Just post "Decapitate Attack on (Target) (Target Body Part)" so GMs will know what kind of attack it is.
Sneak Attack
A Sneak Attack is an attack action taken by a player with the Prowl Skill and is hidden in ambush or able to sneak upon a target unnoticed. Roll for a successful Prowl ONCE PER ROUND to determine if the attacker is seen or not. If successful, the attacker can initiate a Sneak Attack ON THE NEXT ROUND, but forfeits all other attacks for the current round. All he can do is to dodge, parry or roll.
On the next round, the character with the Sneak Attack ALWAYS attacks first, regardless of initiative, has a + 4 additional bonus to strike, and the target cannot dodge/parry/roll against the attack. The attacker can attempt as many Sneak Attacks as he has actions to use for that round.
Example
Nicol is attempting a Sneak Attack. On the first round his actions are:
Action:
Prowl roll to determine success of Sneak Attack.
2-6 Dodge
The GM determines that his Prowl skill check is successful, and Mark executes his sneak attacks on the next round
Second Round
Actions:
1-3 Sneak attack on Windam using beam rifle
4-6 Sneak attack on Windam using Beam tomahawk
Dodge
The dodge is the basic defensive action a PC can take, to counter a strike against him. To determine a dodge, the PC must roll 1d20, plus his dodge bonuses from HTH, Mobile Weapons Combat skills and PP, and match or roll greater than the attacker’s strike roll. A successful dodge negates the attack, and the PC takes no damage. A failed dodge means that the PC takes full damage from that attack. One dodge uses up one action per round, and a PC can have just as many dodges as he has actions for a round.
Example
BIC
Nicol’s ZAKU is now under attack by the Windam, and he decides to dodge every attack this round
Actions 6
1-6 Dodge all attacks by the Windam
Automatic actions
Automatic actions are combat actions that are instinctive that they do not an action to perform it.
In Mobile Weapons Combat, there are three types of automatic actions: parry, roll with punch/fall/impact and the leap dodge.
Parry
A parry is an action similar to a dodge when a defender attempts to block a melee attack, using his arms, a suitable mobile suit melee weapon, or a shield, when a close ranged melee strike on him is successful. This is an automatic move for PCs trained in the HTH and Mobile Weapons Combat skills, and will not used any actions of a PC for a round. A parry is determined by rolling 1d20, plus the PC’s combined parry bonuses. If the parry roll is equal to or greater than the opponent’s strike roll, the parry is successful.
In your actions list for a round, add below the line “Parry all other melee attacks” after all you actions are filled.
Example
Using the example above, Nicol’s ZAKU is now under attack by the Windam, and he decides to dodge every attack this round, plus automatic parries against attacks that had already hit him
Actions 6
1-6 Dodge all attacks by the Windam
Parry all other attacks
Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact
HTH fighters and Mobile Weapons Combat Skills can minimize damage against them by rolling with punches/falls/impacts. This is done the same way as parries, but only needs to get a result of 10 or higher in 1d20, regardless of what strike rolls the attacker made. When successful, the defender will only take half-damage from successful attacks.
Roll with P/F/I cannot be done together with parries.
Leap Dodge
A Mobile Weapon is so advanced and maneuverable due to its avionics and new technology that it can use fly-by-wire technology to perform more effective defensive manuervering even without direct pilot input. In game terms these movements are called leap dodging. A leap dodge is an automatic dodge, which does not use up an action per round. However, leap dodges are not as effective as regular dodges, and will not gain additional bonuses from its dodge roll from PP or HTH. Also, a pilot needs to have a Mobile Weapons Combat Skill for the unit he is using to use the unit’s leap dodge abilities.
In your actions list for a round, add below the line “Leap Dodge all other melee attacks” after all you actions are filled. Leap Dodges can be used in coordination with Parries.
Example
Using the example above, Nicol’s ZAKU is now under attack by the Windam, and he decides to dodge every attack this round, plus automatic parries against attacks that had already hit him, and leap dodges for other attacks.
Actions 6
1-6 Dodge all attacks by the Windam
Leap dodge and parry all other attacks
Missiles
Missile strikes have a different rule in combat. Any attack using missiles will also have an additional +3 bonus to strike, since missiles in the CE are primarily guided weapons. Also, missiles can be fired in volleys of two or more, and a volley only uses one action per volley. Volleys require one strike roll for every 5 missile fired, thus a 20 missile volley will need 4 separate strike rolls.
Dodging missiles also is a different story. A PC needs to consume one action to dodge one missile, so a PC needs at least 10 actions to dodge a full volley of 10 missiles fired at him. A PC, however, can still use a leap dodge each to dodge any other missiles fired at him, being an automatic action, but again this is not as effective as a normal dodge.
Another tactic to defend against missile is to shoot them down. A PC can use a strike action to attack a missile volley aimed at him, and needs a single successful one to hit the volley. The amount of missile destroyed in a volley is equal to the MD roll for the weapon used in the strike. However, any missile not destroyed in the counterattack can still have a chance to hit the target, should the missile strike roll be successful.
For Example
The Windam fires 10 “Wurger” missiles in a volley at Nicol. Nicol declares that he will attack the volley with a strike action, using the beam rifle.
Action 6
Attack volley with beam rifle
The GM determines that the attack is successful, and rolls for damage. The beam caused 6 MD, and 6 missiles are destroyed in the counterattack. But the GM also determines that the missile volley was successful in its strike, and the 4 remaining missiles hit Nicol’s ZAKU and causes damage.
You can use combinations of actions for every round, as long as you have actions to use.
For Example:
Nicol engages the Windam again in his ZAKU. He is a level 1 pilot with 6 actions per round. He decides to fire his beam rifle twice, and launch two volleys of 6 missiles each at the Windam, and use his remaining two actions for dodging. He also declares the use of automatic leap dodges and parries for defense.
The proper format for that is:
Nicol
Action 6
1-2 Fires Beam Rifle at Windam
3-4 Fire two volleys of 6 missiles each at Windam
5-6 Dodge
Leap dodge and parry all other attacks
So concludes our lesson on how to declare combat using Mobile Suits. Please copy this so that you'll have a reference during future battles.
