X-Plorers Mecha and Vehicle Rules Construction Example 1

Well, let's put my work into action!

Remember this vehicle of mine, a siege tank for a very popular GRIMDARK sci fi combat game?




(Its the one on the right!)


I think we can get it really close, which using my rules is the whole point. To get something "close enough" as opposed to tons of detail and all.


I first need to figure out the size. If we are using your usual 25-32mm scale minis the tank looks like a Heavy Vehicle with the following statline:


Unit Size            Physique    Agility     HP      AC     Speed   System Points   Weapon P.
Heavy                         16                 12           25        18         14                      5                         5


Well if we remember our game fluff, the tank has a short range (roughly 48 meter) big blast anti tank/anti fortification cannon with options for a pintle mounted anti infantry gun of the same range, and the big bulldozer on the front.


Its a pretty simple machine, rugged but not super rugged.  I spend 3 System Points to give it 3 point "Improved Construction Systems" which gives it +5 HP per point spent, or 15 extra HP.


I spend 2 more for "Improved Defensive Systems" for +1 AC per point, or +2 AC.  


I am pretty happy with the core statline otherwise so I don't mess with lowering anything to gain more points for anything.  The tank is a normal speed machine.


Our current statline is now:


Unit Size            Physique    Agility     HP      AC     Speed   System Points   Weapon P.
Heavy                         16                 12           40        20         14                      5                         5


Now its time for the main cannon, and hopefully some points for the Bulldozer Blade and the pintle mounted anti infantry gun.


To remind us, here is the main stats of a "Direct Fire" weapon, what our main gun is:


 Damage      Accuracy(To Hit Bonus)    Range(In Meters)     Ammunition   
 1d6 / 1d6                      0 / + -1                                 200 / 50                        25 /  5


That's 1 Weapon Point.  I decide to get the range close to the original game its from, but 50 meters is kind of too small so I only drop it to a 100 meter range weapon, giving us 2 points of WP.  I decide to use 3 of my 5 total WP for the main gun, so I have 4 WPs on this one weapon left to play with as it always costs at least 1 WP regardless of downgrades.    I spend all 4 on Damage upgrades to bring the weapon to a nasty 5d6 damage.  But this cannon is supposed to be REALLY tough, so I drop the Ammunition down to 20 shots which gives me another WP and I raise Damage another point to 6d6.


The weapon does a big blast so I sigh and drop Ammunition 2 more points bringing it down to 10 shots, but it now has a 2 point "Blast" attribute.


Since the gun is hull mounted and not on a turret as you can see, I make it front mounted and gain 2 more WP.  I raise the damage 2 more points to a BRUTAL 8d6.


So our big gun now looks like this:


Damage      Accuracy(To Hit Bonus)    Range(In Meters)   Ammunition     Special   
     8d6                               0                                          100                                 10             Large Blast
                                                                                                                                               45 Front arc


  On average each hit will do 28 HP in damage to tanks, or a massive 70 to poor infantry.  That's pretty devastating and pretty close to how it works in its parent game.


I use 1 more WP for a pair of anti infantry guns with a 360 fire arc.  I choose a pair of Automatic Rifles from the X-Plorers rulebook.  (Yeah I could use good or bad X-P personnel weapons, but other than in game money, it doesn't much matter.  This a GM system and GMs can approve or disapprove of any design for whatever reason they want.  In this case the Automatic Rifle is pretty close to the source material so I go with it.)


My final WP is spent to give the tank a front mounted shield, improving its AC to 21, which is pretty good.


So our final machine looks like this:


Unit Size            Physique    Agility     HP      AC     Speed  
Heavy                         16                 12           40        21         14              


Weapons: Bulldozer Shield on the front, 360 mount twin linked Automatic Rifle, 
Siege Cannon:        

Damage      Accuracy(To Hit Bonus)    Range(In Meters)   Ammunition     Special   
     8d6                               0                                          100                                 10             Large Blast

                                                                                                                                               45 Front arc

Now that we have made this tank, next time I will create a Mecha.