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Old 09-07-2017, 08:55 PM   #28
mlangsdorf
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Default Re: Battletech/Mechwarrior mechs in GURPS

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Skarr View Post
Then it really depends. Are you looking for the flavor of BattleTech, or just using the 'Mech names?

If you're just using 'Mech names, just build them out of Spaceships and be done with it. If you want the flavor . . . well, that's going to be a massive investment of time on your part.
So I math-hammered some possible numbers last weekend for a GURPS-ish kind of Battletech. I'll share it here if anyone is interested.

First off, TRO 3025 and mostly the original 14 only, because I used to build the old Revelon models and they're the only ones I care about. (If you want to do clan stuff, you can extrapolate). Which simplifies things a bit, because the original 14 don't have ACs other than AC/5s, and you don't have to deal with Battletech's weird AC damage versus range rules.

Second: if you run the numbers, a Large Laser is just about the same weight as a Spaceships SM+5 Major Battery, or a 30 MJ weapon, and Medium Lasers and Small Lasers and PPCs actually fall pretty nicely on other side as 10 MJ, 3 MJ, and 100 MJ weapons. A Battletech Machine Gun looks like it fires roughly the same amount of metal as a M2 Browning HMG. SRMs look kind of like modern 127mm anti-missiles, and LRMs like 84mm LAWs (though obviously the ranges are wrong).

Converting all of that to d-scale:
Machine : 1d+2 pi++, Acc 5, Rng 1800/7600, RoF 8.
Small Laser: 3d bu, Acc 10, Rng 3200/9600, RoF 1.
Medium Laser: 5d bu, Acc 10, Rng 4800/144000, RoF 1.
Large Laser: 8d bu, Acc 10, Rng 7200/216000, RoF 1.
PPC: 9d+2 bu, Acc 10, Rng 108000/324000, RoF 1.
AC/5: 4d pi++, Acc 6, Rng 4000/8000, RoF 6. (40mm?)
LRM: 3d+2 cr ex, Acc 4, Rng 12000, RoF 5,10,15,20.
SRM: 7d+1 cr ex, Acc 2, Rng 5000, RoF 2,4,6.

If you give each 'mech front dDR equal to half the total of its Battletech torso DR, then most light mechs can mostly resist Small Lasers but not Medium Lasers, medium mechs can mostly resist Medium Lasers but not Large lasers, heavy mechs take some damage from PPCs, and the Battlemaster doesn't care what you hit it with. I'd probably give arms and legs 2/3rds (or so) the DR of the torso, so you can cripple things if your mech's weapons won't damage it directly, and the back 1/3rd, so light mechs can usefully flank and shoot people. I'm assuming non-ablative DR here for simplicity.

Mech dHP is 4*cube root(2*mass in tons), so 14 for the 20 tonners up to 22 for the assault mechs. Move in yds/s is ~2*BT base move, and all 'mechs have Enhanced Move 1/2. I'd give light mech's Hnd/SR of +2/4, and reduce Hnd by one per weight class.

Doing all this is going to change the feel of the game: you'll see more symmetrical matchups, with light mechs only capable of damaging other light mechs and so on. It'll be something like naval battles before the invention of the torpedo. I don't know if that's the feel that you want, but hey, here are some numbers. Play around with them, see what you like.

I don't attempt to address the question of heat or weird ranges because I'm not sure either of those ever made a lot of sense. If it offends you that a Rifleman can actually use all its guns at once then you'll have to find a solution that makes sense.
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