using spaceships for battletech-style tactical mecha combat

[chandley]

I did a Robotech conversion using Spaceships and the following design switches:

Square Root of Destruction (Beams)
HPs based on 0.85x root of weight
Keeping Large Vehicles alive
Armor and Volume
ST/4 instead of Basic Move for jumping
Compact Reactors
Increased Damage with Superhuman Strength

I used Spaceship weapons, not Ultratech. I used empty space slots to make mecha/vehicles (and I've used it for spaceships too) of intermediate weight between Spaceships SMs. It takes some math to rejigger movement and (if you use it) delta-v, but it isn't onerous and it is all done at creation, not in play.

Works really well I feel. I built everything in this system though, tanks, cars, jets, spaceships, mecha. Makes balancing things much much easier. We have basically everything we need to do that in the Spaceships system if you add in several Pyramid articles.

As an example, my take on a Veritech:

Veritech Fighter													
SM +5 Transformable Hull		Design Switches: Square Root of Destruction (Beams), HPs based on 0.85x root of weight, Keeping Large Vehicles alive, Armor and Volume											
TL 9 (10^ for Engines, Reactor)		ST/4 instead of Basic Move for jumping, Compact Reactors, Increased Damage with Superhuman Strength											
													
TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP			Hnd/SR	HT	Move		LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Cost		
9/10^	Veritech Fighter (RDF/VF series)	20/40	+4/5	12	1G/c*	30	0.5**	+5	1	15***	$3,762,000		
													
Notes: *Battloid Walk at Move 10/20, Super Jump 2 (Move 25, 32 yards up/128 yards over), Ground Hnd/SR is +3/3; Divide top Air speed by 10, Air Hnd/SR: 0/4.  													
Jet mode Air speed: 10/1250. Divide top Airspeed by 4 for Guardian mode, Hnd/SR still 4/5.													
**The GU-11 gun pod and missiles are carried, and reduce speed: GU-11: 0.95G/c, Air Move 9/1220; Missiles+GU-11: 0.8G/c, Air Move 8/1120. GU-11 = No Enc, GU-11 + Missiles = Light Enc													
*** Hardened, x1.5 for 10 systems													
Crew: 1 Pilot													
Combat: 20 second turns, Close combat scale / 10 mile hexes. 													
	Name	dDam			sAcc	Range	RoF	Shots	Rcl	Notes			
	GU-11	7d (2) pi++			-10	C/1 impulse	10	350	3	Hand held, 2 handed bracing is +1 to hit. APHEX ammo			
	Nose Blasters	5d burn rad sur (5)			-3	C/S, 30/100	1	-	1	Fixed: +2 to hit. Burn sur (5) in atmosphere. Jet/Guardian only			
	Head Lasers	3d cr ex			0	S, 60/200	1	-	1	Turreted. Blue-Green Pulse (can fire underwater). 			
	Short Range Missile (8cm)	6dx2 cr ex			0	S, T 1/10 BP	1	1	1	Air Move 50/5600, 180 seconds of thrust, Max Air range: 460 miles			
	Medium Range Missile (16cm)	6dx4 cr ex			1	L, T 1/20 BP	1	1	1	Air Move 50/5600, 350 seconds of thrust, Max Air range: 1760 miles			
	Long Range Missile (32cm)	6dx8 cr ex			2	X, T 1/40 BP	1	1	1	Air Move 50/5600, 700 seconds of thrust, Max Air range: 7040 miles			
													
Loc	System		Cost			Notes								
	Front												
1	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
2	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
3	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
4	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
5	Control Room			60000			Comm/Sensor 3								
6	Weapon Battery [!]		150000			2x Fixed 3MJ Blasters (Neutral or Charged particle), up to 4 Turreted 1MJ Blue-Green Lasers.								
C	Defensive ECM			300000			-2 to ranged attacks against the Veritech								
	Center												
1	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
2	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
3	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
4	  External Clamp		1000			Wing pylons, can load missiles or gun pods. Attached mass affects acceleration and airspeed.								
	  External Clamp		1000			Wing pylons, can load missiles or gun pods. Attached mass affects acceleration and airspeed.								
	  Cargo			0			0.5 tons of cargo								
5	Robot Arm			300000			dST 20								
6	Robot Arm			300000			dST 20								
C	Fusion Reactor, Compact		600000			4 PPs. 50 year endurance, Volatile								
	Rear												
1	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
2	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
3	SL Advanced Metallic Laminate	120000			Hardened. dDR 3								
4	Hot Reactionless Thruster [!]	100000			1G Thrust (Split into two thrusters, 1 on each foot, each provides 0.5G thrust)								
5	Robot Leg [!]			300000			1 PP for all legs								
6	Robot Leg [!]			300000			1 PP for all legs								
	Winged				150000			2 Wings								
					3762000											
													
	GU-11				150,000			GU-11, 55mm, tri-barrel (Rapid Fire) conventional cannon. 7d d-damage, ROF 10, 350 shots. Handheld, dDR 3, 1.5 tons								
	External Clamp				Usually carries 6 "Long Range" missiles, 32cm, 6 tons, 6dx8 dDam. Max Load 3 tons each clamp								
													
	Super Veritech				Adds a full size pod: An additional Hot Reactionless thruster (+1G thrust), 3x Medium Battery w/8 16cm missile								
					launchers and 40 missiles (5 shots) and 4 single shot SRM missile launchers. Mass: 6.25 tons. 								
					Move changes to: 1.45G/c, Air Speed 14/1500 with Pod, GU-11, and full wing load.								
													
	Armored Veritech				Pod + armor: An additional Hot Reactionless Thruster (+1/3G thrust), 70 single shot SRM tubes								
					2 and 1/3rds Advanced Metallic Laminte, Unstreamlined: +5 dDR.  Adds 6.5 tons weight.								
					Can only walk/jump in Battloid mode, no transformation: With GU-11: Light Enc, 0.8x Walk move and jump distance.								
					Flight in Battleloid: 1.05G/c, Air Move 10/250								
													
	Shortrange missile launcher				This is an 8cm missile launcher: 0.05 tons, 3 shots.150 missiles per ton for reloads. SM +3								
					TL 10: Accel 5G, delta-V 5mps, half of a standard TL 10 28cm missile.								
													
	Single shot SRM tube				This is an 8cm launcher in a tube: 1/32 of a ton, 1 shot. No reloads. Usually added as a external pod								
													
	Single Shot MRM tube				This is a 16cm missile in a tube: 1/4 of a ton, 1 shot, No reloads. 								
													
	Single Shot LRM tube				This is a 32cm missile in a tube: 2 tons, 1 shot, no reloads.

I design around a goal of balance though, I don't even pretend that Spaceships or Ultratech has the balance I want simply "fall out of" the design system. You will probably have to pick a balance point for your campaign and then design towards that too.