GURPS [Mecha]?

[Rowan]

Hey, are we going to see a system similar to [Spaceships] that handles mecha and maybe battle suits? I dunno I was looking over the setting in the old 3e GURPS mecha, and I think it's pretty neat, but I have no 'idea' how to design mech's like the Panzer (the cycle which is 'far' lower them SM+4 to my mind), even the Deathstryker comes in at like 4.3 yards tall. The other mecha in the setting seem to conform to what you can put together in spaceships. 25 feet, 30 feet, etc.

But it's the battlesuits like the Vandal and the Dark Angel and the nearly human sized Panzer mecha that leave me wondering how to put something like that together?

What's the standard way to do battlesuits and 9-15 foot mecha now without Spaceships since spaceships kinda breaks down below SM+4?

Anyone have any ideas? =)

[Rowan]

Can this be moved to the gurps forum? Silly me, I wasn't watching where I was posting to. =)

[Pragmatic]

The latest Spaceships supplement includes mecha. How true to the genre, I don't know. (I approach future combat from a "Hammer's Slammers" perspective, and can't imagine giving up super-duper-tanks. :-)

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

The latest Spaceships supplement includes mecha. How true to the genre, I don't know. (I approach future combat from a "Hammer's Slammers" perspective, and can't imagine giving up super-duper-tanks. :-)

Oh I know. I have it. But as I said, it tends to break down past sm+4. Which is excellent for things like 30 feet or 25 feet mecha.. but I'm also interested in how to create the Panzer cycle near man sized battle suit (9ft I believe) from the 3e Mecha book and some of the actual battlesuits like the Vandal and Night Angel. =)

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Rowan

Can this be moved to the gurps forum? Silly me, I wasn't watching where I was posting to. =)

Yes, it can.

[SuedodeuS]

I've heard there's a 4e VDS in the works (or at least on the "to-do" list), which would probably include things like mechas and battlesuits. Until then, you have a few options.

Convert: Just do a straight conversion of the 3e stats to 4e. I never played/read any of 3e, so I don't know what changed between the editions, but I'm certain there are those on these fora willing to give some pointers.

Extrapolate: Ultra-Tech has some battlesuits in it that you might be able to adapt to get the smaller mechs, and I would expect the Spaceships system to extrapolate down to at least SM+3, maybe smaller. There's been some discussion on the boards about minimum size for certain components (notably the Control Room), meaning below SM+4 you might have to take up multiple modules for some systems (in the Control Room example, I think SM+4 has the smallest cockpit possible - so SM+3 would have to devote 3 modules to it, SM+2 would devote a whopping 10).

Scratch: The least useful option, but sometimes all you can do. Basically, decide what you want it to be capable of, and give it stats that reflect that. What is the smallest weapon that can reliably damage it (or, what is the largest that it can reliably shrug off hits from)? Give it a DR that reflects this. What kinds of weapons does it use? Give it ST sufficient for using such weaponry. And so forth. You can also use some vehicles of similar size and function (like APC's, tanks, etc) to give you ballpark stats to aim for. You can build most any mecha you can think of using the Character Creation rules, although that won't give you any idea on what's appropriate or how much it should cost.

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

I've heard there's a 4e VDS in the works (or at least on the "to-do" list), which would probably include things like mechas and battlesuits. Until then, you have a few options.

Convert: Just do a straight conversion of the 3e stats to 4e. I never played/read any of 3e, so I don't know what changed between the editions, but I'm certain there are those on these fora willing to give some pointers.

Extrapolate: Ultra-Tech has some battlesuits in it that you might be able to adapt to get the smaller mechs, and I would expect the Spaceships system to extrapolate down to at least SM+3, maybe smaller. There's been some discussion on the boards about minimum size for certain components (notably the Control Room), meaning below SM+4 you might have to take up multiple modules for some systems (in the Control Room example, I think SM+4 has the smallest cockpit possible - so SM+3 would have to devote 3 modules to it, SM+2 would devote a whopping 10).

Scratch: The least useful option, but sometimes all you can do. Basically, decide what you want it to be capable of, and give it stats that reflect that. What is the smallest weapon that can reliably damage it (or, what is the largest that it can reliably shrug off hits from)? Give it a DR that reflects this. What kinds of weapons does it use? Give it ST sufficient for using such weaponry. And so forth. You can also use some vehicles of similar size and function (like APC's, tanks, etc) to give you ballpark stats to aim for. You can build most any mecha you can think of using the Character Creation rules, although that won't give you any idea on what's appropriate or how much it should cost.

Sorry I don't know what VDS means. 4e is pretty clear though. lil' help?

[Crakkerjakk]

Vehicle Design System. A long awaited update to the 3E GURPS Vehicles.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Rowan

Sorry I don't know what VDS means. 4e is pretty clear though. lil' help?

Vehicle Design System or words to that effect. The 4e descendant of GURPS Vehicles, if I understand correctly. The big book of hacking together vehicles from technical first principles.

[Rowan]

Hm, I guess that sounds interesting. I mean I liked putting things together with that amount of granularity, though I have to admit, I'd like to see a mecha book proper or an update to the 3e one that use the [Spaceship] set up. I've grown rather found of the quick, easy set up. Of course spaceships can handle some mecha now, but I'd like to see all the doo-dads that were in the original mecha 3e into a new 4e version with the same sort of building scheme that was/is being used for the [Spaceships] line. =)