Amaril
2013-04-12, 05:48 PM
At the request of another poster from my current community world-building thread (which can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279254)), I'm posting what I have so far of the combat system I've designed for the world. While I'm mainly putting this up for the benefit of the person who requested it, I'd love any feedback you can give on the mechanics listed, since I'm hoping to make this part of an entire homebrew system designed for the setting.
This game is intended to emulate the style of Japanese mecha fiction, with mobile, anthropomorphic mechs rather than the slow, heavy vehicle-looking ones that characterize the western interpretation of the genre. The rules will feature an expansive list of customizable parts with which to alter one's machine. My intention has been to design the rules so that any math required for gameplay can be done quickly and easily (although character creation will likely end up being much more math-intensive), which is what prompted me to base pretty much all the mechanics around percentile dice.
Not every mechanic I'm planning on implementing for combat is here--this is just the most important ones. Various parts and pieces of equipment will add other dimensions to combat, but those will be covered in detail in the same chapter of my design document that covers equipment. Thus, what you see here may not provide the most complete picture. I'm hoping it'll be enough to critique, though.
Anyway, this is what I have.
Combat
Johnny the Union pilot is standing guard outside a base when he spots an approaching Coalition scout. Since he has orders to engage any hostiles who come within his line of fire, he initiates combat with the enemy!
First, Johnny and the gamemaster both roll to determine whose turn comes first. I haven’t decided how this works yet, so I’ll skip it for now.
Johnny wins, so he gets the drop on the enemy. It is now his turn. At the start of his turn, Johnny has two actions to spend—these are the resource he uses to do things during a battle. Most actions that Johnny could take would consume one action, but some would me more involved and time-consuming and require two, while others are particularly quick and easy and can be done for free.
Johnny decides that the first thing he wants to do is move to a position with better cover. He spots a barricade nearby that will help protect him from the enemy’s attacks, so he spends one action to move his mech behind the barricade. Now that he is in a good position, he decides to open fire on the enemy. He thus spends his remaining action to fire a shot with his mech’s assault rifle.
Aiming at the enemy, Johnny rolls his dice and adds his rifle’s Accuracy bonus. The rifle is a reasonably accurate weapon, and he gets a total result of 65%. Attempting to avoid the incoming fire, the Coalition pilot (controlled by the GM) rolls his dice and adds his mech’s Evasion bonus. The scout mech is light and nimble, but the pilot rolls poorly, getting only a total result of 43%—lower than Johnny’s attack. The shot connects with the Coalition mech.
Johnny now has to determine how badly his shot damaged the enemy. He rolls his dice again, this time adding his rifle’s Damage bonus. His total roll is 38%, since the rifle is not particularly powerful. However, his enemy’s mech has armor that may block some or all of the damage. The Coalition pilot rolls his own dice and adds his mech’s Armor bonus, getting a result of only 25% due to his scout mech’s light armor. Subtracting his Armor roll from Johnny’s Damage roll, his mech takes a total of 13% damage.
Johnny has now used up all his actions, so it is the Coalition pilot’s turn. His mech has taken some damage, and he doesn’t want to risk any more—if his mech is damaged to 100%, it will be destroyed. But there’s no nearby cover that will offer him a clear line of sight to Johnny’s mech. In order to reach the nearest suitable cover, he needs to run, so he spends both his actions to move. His mech dashes as fast as possible to the cover of a nearby boulder. He now has some protection from Johnny’s fire, but since he’s used both his actions to move a greater distance, he doesn’t have time left to fire any of his weapons. It’s now Johnny’s turn again.
The two combatants will continue taking turns until the fight ends—either when one mech is destroyed or retreats, or until something else happens to end the battle.
This example only shows a few of the most basic combat mechanics—there are far more things pilots can do with their mechs during a firefight. Some mechs are equipped with energy shielding that blocks damage, others with cloaking technology that makes them invisible, and still others with even more powerful and diverse technologies and capabilities. However, most actions in combat can be accomplished by variations of the simple mechanics presented above.
Below is a more comprehensive list of key terms and actions in combat.
The Basics
Combat in Animus proceeds in turns, with each participant taking their turn to act, and the rotation beginning again after it finishes.
The success or failure of actions taken in combat is determined by rolling percentile dice, adding or subtracting from the total based on your character and the situation, and comparing the result to a target number or another similar die roll.
While it is not necessary, it can be helpful to represent combat with miniatures on an inch-square grid. This can help keep track of positioning and how many combatants there are. The rules assume that maps and miniatures for combat are on a scale of one inch on the table to five feet in the game.
Initiative
The first step in any battle is to roll for initiative—this is what determines the order in which participants take their turns. Mechanics for initiative are still under development.
Movement
Every mech has a movement speed, based on various factors. This determines how far the mech can move. In order to move during combat, a pilot spends an action to move a distance within the limit of their movement speed.
A pilot can spend both their actions to double-time, moving double their speed in one turn. This grants them an extra 10% to their Evasion bonus against enemies making reaction attacks from Overwatch (see below).
Flying
Some mechs can equip systems that allow them to fly. In this case, they will have a flight speed separate from their overland movement speed. Other than this, and the fact that flying mechs can move vertically, flight works exactly the same way as overland movement.
Attacking
In order to destroy enemy mechs, a pilot must make effective use of their various weapons. While there is variation in the detailed mechanics of different types of weapons, they all follow the same basic process for attacks.
Attacking normally takes up one action, with some rare exceptions. Most weapons can attack twice in the same turn, if both actions are spent. In order to attack, the attacker first selects their target, which must be within their weapon’s maximum effective range. If they have a weapon with Precision, they decide now what part of the enemy they want to target—otherwise, the attack is automatically assumed to be aimed at the target’s body. They then roll percentile dice, and add to the total the accuracy bonus of the weapon with which they are attacking, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. This total determines the required value of the target’s evasion roll. The target then rolls percentile dice and adds their mech’s evasion bonus, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. If the total of this roll is higher than the attacker’s attack roll, the attack misses—if it is lower, the attack connects.
If an attack hits successfully, the damage of the attack must then be determined. To do this, the attacker rolls percentile dice and adds their weapon’s damage bonus, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. Then the target rolls their percentile dice and adds their mech’s armor value. The total of the armor roll is subtracted from the total of the damage roll, and the remainder is deducted from the integrity of the part that was hit.
Overwatch
Sometimes, it’s better to wait an enemy out than try to attack them right away. In situations like this, the best thing to do is go on Overwatch. Overwatch is like delaying an attack until later—it allows you to wait for an opening and fire as soon as you see your target. Entering Overwatch only consumes one action, but it can only be done at the end of your turn. You will remain on Overwatch until the beginning of your next turn. While on Overwatch, a combatant waits until an enemy moves within their line of sight, and then attacks them immediately (if they are within range). Afterwards, they leave Overwatch and cannot make more attacks in this manner. Attacks made from Overwatch are called reaction attacks, and suffer a -10% penalty to accuracy.
Melee Attacks
Melee attacks work exactly like all other attacks, except that their effective range will always be listed as “melee”. This means that the attacker must be adjacent to the target in order to attack.
Also, melee weapons cannot be blocked by shields (see below).
Missiles and Explosives
Missiles consist of an explosive warhead attached to the front of a rocket-propelled module designed to be fired from a mech-mounted launcher. They work similarly to other weapons, but with a few differences.
Missiles tend to do much more damage than other weapons. In addition, when they explode, they can damage all parts of a target rather than just the body (see below), and can even damage multiple targets over a large area. However, they travel more slowly than bullets, which can allow the target to intercept them if they are quick enough.
When a combatant makes an attack using a missile weapon, the target can make an intercept roll to try and shoot down the missile before it hits (provided they have a weapon powered up and operational). An intercept roll is just like an attack roll—in order to shoot down a missile, the intercept roll must be higher than the attack role of the attacker. If a missile is intercepted, it has no effect. If the target fails their intercept roll, they may still roll to evade the missile as normal.
When a target is hit by a missile, damage and armor rolls are made as normal. However, damage from a missile applies to all parts of the target’s mech rather than just the body—all parts take the same damage rolled. In addition, more powerful missiles can damage large areas around the target. Missiles with this capability will list their blast damage separately from their direct-hit damage, as well as their area of effect. AOE missiles require two evasion rolls—one to avoid a direct hit, and another to escape the blast radius. If the second roll is successful, the target chooses any space adjacent to the blast radius and places their mech there. If a missile’s blast radius is greater than the target’s movement speed, they cannot escape the blast—they automatically take blast damage.
Damage and Hull Integrity
When a mech is hit in combat, its hull will take damage. If the damage becomes severe enough, the mech’s systems can be crippled—it may even be destroyed entirely.
Every mech has five sections that can be damaged—head, body, right arm, left arm and legs. Most weapons are not accurate enough to target specific sections of an enemy mech in combat—by default, attacks are assumed to target the body. Each part has its own integrity total, and is usually damaged separately. The maximum hull integrity of each part is 100%--when it reaches 0%, it is disabled.
Each part has different effects when it is disabled. If the body of a mech is disabled, the entire mech is destroyed, since the body contains both the cockpit and most of the vital systems. Destroying another part of a mech does not affect the entire machine, but a mech cannot activate any systems attached to a disabled part—for example, if your mech’s right arm is fitted with a laser cannon, and another pilot disables that arm, you cannot fire the cannon until the arm is repaired. However, when a part is disabled, any power that was being allocated to systems attached to that part is freed up to be used by other systems.
If a mech’s body is disabled, the pilot rolls percentile dice. On a roll of over 50%, the mech explodes, causing damage to the surrounding area. Detailed rules for exploding mechs are under development.
Firing Into Melee
Shooting ranged weapons into melee combat makes it much more difficult to hit one’s intended target. When firing at two or more mechs that are engaged in melee, the attacker assigns an equal range of results on a set of percentile dice to each, and then rolls their dice. The result of the roll determines which target is hit. This is done after designating the part of the target that is being aimed at, if applicable.
For example, Jill is aiming her mech’s sniper rifle at an enemy mech that is currently engaged in melee with one of her allies. She wants to cripple her target’s sensors, so she decides to aim for the enemy mech’s head. Because there are two combatants in melee, Jill assigns a range of 1% to 50% to her intended target, and a range of 51% to 100% to her ally. She then rolls her percentile dice, getting a roll of 71%--she hits her ally’s mech in the head, destroying its cameras and blinding it. Oops.
Cover and Concealment
Mechs are built to take a pounding, but your armor can only withstand so many shots. In order to maximize your protection from enemy attacks, the best thing to do is to stay in cover.
The way cover works is simple. Any time there is an object of at least a certain size and thickness between you and your enemy, it counts as cover. There are two levels of cover—partial and full. While in partial cover from an enemy, you gain a 20% increase to your evasion bonus against their attacks—in full cover, the bonus is 40%.
It’s important to remember that cover doesn’t automatically protect you from every angle of attack. If an enemy has unobstructed line of sight to you, the cover bonus doesn’t apply against their attacks.
Another good way to avoid getting hit is to not be seen. This can be accomplished with terrain that provides concealment. Like cover, concealment is divided into partial and full levels. If you have partial concealment from an enemy, they take a -20% penalty to attack rolls against you—with full concealment, the penalty is -40%. Cover is similar to concealment, but represents different situations. If your enemy’s shots are blocked by a wall you are hiding behind, that’s cover—if you are hidden by dense foliage (that will do nothing to actually stop incoming bullets), that’s concealment.
Shielding
Many mechs can equip systems that project a Kinetic Interdiction (KI) Field, more commonly called a shield. Shields function a lot like armor, but with some differences. Below is an example of a turn in combat during which a shield comes into play.
Johnny’s mech has taken some serious damage from the Coalition scout’s laser sniper rifle, and he needs to take steps to protect himself. Powering off his jump jets—he wasn’t using them anyway—he spends his first action to turn on his mech’s shield battery. Once activated, it projects a KI Field with a shield rating of 25%. He spends his remaining action to fire another shot from his rifle, missing by a fair bit.
The Coalition pilot’s turn begins. He needs to get to better cover, so he spends his first action to move to a safer position. Having moved already this turn, he can’t fire his laser sniper rifle, so he switches over to his light machine gun and takes aim at Johnny. He’ll need to breach Johnny’s shield before he can damage his mech.
He rolls his attack, getting a result high enough to overcome Johnny’s evasion attempt. His shot connects with Johnny’s shields. The Coalition pilot rolls his damage, getting a total of 45%. However, instead of an armor roll, Johnny makes a shield roll to prevent damage. This works the same as his armor roll, but he uses his shield bonus instead of his armor bonus. His total roll is 30%, so the Coalition scout’s LMG deals 15% damage to Johnny’s shields. His mech is protected and takes no damage, but the shield is weakened—if it is damaged 100%, it will fail, exposing his mech to further attacks.
Shields essentially form an extra layer of armor that prevents the user’s mech from taking damage until it has been breached. However, shields are notably different from armor in that if they go a certain number of turns without taking damage, determined by the shield battery’s recharge threshold, they will regain some of their power and regenerate partially. For example, if Johnny manages to hide and prevent further damage to his shields for two turns, they will recharge by 5%, bringing their integrity back up to 90%. For this reason, shields can often be much more effective in combat than standard armor, and are often relied upon strongly by heavy combat mechs.
What do you think?
This game is intended to emulate the style of Japanese mecha fiction, with mobile, anthropomorphic mechs rather than the slow, heavy vehicle-looking ones that characterize the western interpretation of the genre. The rules will feature an expansive list of customizable parts with which to alter one's machine. My intention has been to design the rules so that any math required for gameplay can be done quickly and easily (although character creation will likely end up being much more math-intensive), which is what prompted me to base pretty much all the mechanics around percentile dice.
Not every mechanic I'm planning on implementing for combat is here--this is just the most important ones. Various parts and pieces of equipment will add other dimensions to combat, but those will be covered in detail in the same chapter of my design document that covers equipment. Thus, what you see here may not provide the most complete picture. I'm hoping it'll be enough to critique, though.
Anyway, this is what I have.
Combat
Johnny the Union pilot is standing guard outside a base when he spots an approaching Coalition scout. Since he has orders to engage any hostiles who come within his line of fire, he initiates combat with the enemy!
First, Johnny and the gamemaster both roll to determine whose turn comes first. I haven’t decided how this works yet, so I’ll skip it for now.
Johnny wins, so he gets the drop on the enemy. It is now his turn. At the start of his turn, Johnny has two actions to spend—these are the resource he uses to do things during a battle. Most actions that Johnny could take would consume one action, but some would me more involved and time-consuming and require two, while others are particularly quick and easy and can be done for free.
Johnny decides that the first thing he wants to do is move to a position with better cover. He spots a barricade nearby that will help protect him from the enemy’s attacks, so he spends one action to move his mech behind the barricade. Now that he is in a good position, he decides to open fire on the enemy. He thus spends his remaining action to fire a shot with his mech’s assault rifle.
Aiming at the enemy, Johnny rolls his dice and adds his rifle’s Accuracy bonus. The rifle is a reasonably accurate weapon, and he gets a total result of 65%. Attempting to avoid the incoming fire, the Coalition pilot (controlled by the GM) rolls his dice and adds his mech’s Evasion bonus. The scout mech is light and nimble, but the pilot rolls poorly, getting only a total result of 43%—lower than Johnny’s attack. The shot connects with the Coalition mech.
Johnny now has to determine how badly his shot damaged the enemy. He rolls his dice again, this time adding his rifle’s Damage bonus. His total roll is 38%, since the rifle is not particularly powerful. However, his enemy’s mech has armor that may block some or all of the damage. The Coalition pilot rolls his own dice and adds his mech’s Armor bonus, getting a result of only 25% due to his scout mech’s light armor. Subtracting his Armor roll from Johnny’s Damage roll, his mech takes a total of 13% damage.
Johnny has now used up all his actions, so it is the Coalition pilot’s turn. His mech has taken some damage, and he doesn’t want to risk any more—if his mech is damaged to 100%, it will be destroyed. But there’s no nearby cover that will offer him a clear line of sight to Johnny’s mech. In order to reach the nearest suitable cover, he needs to run, so he spends both his actions to move. His mech dashes as fast as possible to the cover of a nearby boulder. He now has some protection from Johnny’s fire, but since he’s used both his actions to move a greater distance, he doesn’t have time left to fire any of his weapons. It’s now Johnny’s turn again.
The two combatants will continue taking turns until the fight ends—either when one mech is destroyed or retreats, or until something else happens to end the battle.
This example only shows a few of the most basic combat mechanics—there are far more things pilots can do with their mechs during a firefight. Some mechs are equipped with energy shielding that blocks damage, others with cloaking technology that makes them invisible, and still others with even more powerful and diverse technologies and capabilities. However, most actions in combat can be accomplished by variations of the simple mechanics presented above.
Below is a more comprehensive list of key terms and actions in combat.
The Basics
Combat in Animus proceeds in turns, with each participant taking their turn to act, and the rotation beginning again after it finishes.
The success or failure of actions taken in combat is determined by rolling percentile dice, adding or subtracting from the total based on your character and the situation, and comparing the result to a target number or another similar die roll.
While it is not necessary, it can be helpful to represent combat with miniatures on an inch-square grid. This can help keep track of positioning and how many combatants there are. The rules assume that maps and miniatures for combat are on a scale of one inch on the table to five feet in the game.
Initiative
The first step in any battle is to roll for initiative—this is what determines the order in which participants take their turns. Mechanics for initiative are still under development.
Movement
Every mech has a movement speed, based on various factors. This determines how far the mech can move. In order to move during combat, a pilot spends an action to move a distance within the limit of their movement speed.
A pilot can spend both their actions to double-time, moving double their speed in one turn. This grants them an extra 10% to their Evasion bonus against enemies making reaction attacks from Overwatch (see below).
Flying
Some mechs can equip systems that allow them to fly. In this case, they will have a flight speed separate from their overland movement speed. Other than this, and the fact that flying mechs can move vertically, flight works exactly the same way as overland movement.
Attacking
In order to destroy enemy mechs, a pilot must make effective use of their various weapons. While there is variation in the detailed mechanics of different types of weapons, they all follow the same basic process for attacks.
Attacking normally takes up one action, with some rare exceptions. Most weapons can attack twice in the same turn, if both actions are spent. In order to attack, the attacker first selects their target, which must be within their weapon’s maximum effective range. If they have a weapon with Precision, they decide now what part of the enemy they want to target—otherwise, the attack is automatically assumed to be aimed at the target’s body. They then roll percentile dice, and add to the total the accuracy bonus of the weapon with which they are attacking, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. This total determines the required value of the target’s evasion roll. The target then rolls percentile dice and adds their mech’s evasion bonus, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. If the total of this roll is higher than the attacker’s attack roll, the attack misses—if it is lower, the attack connects.
If an attack hits successfully, the damage of the attack must then be determined. To do this, the attacker rolls percentile dice and adds their weapon’s damage bonus, plus any other relevant bonuses or penalties. Then the target rolls their percentile dice and adds their mech’s armor value. The total of the armor roll is subtracted from the total of the damage roll, and the remainder is deducted from the integrity of the part that was hit.
Overwatch
Sometimes, it’s better to wait an enemy out than try to attack them right away. In situations like this, the best thing to do is go on Overwatch. Overwatch is like delaying an attack until later—it allows you to wait for an opening and fire as soon as you see your target. Entering Overwatch only consumes one action, but it can only be done at the end of your turn. You will remain on Overwatch until the beginning of your next turn. While on Overwatch, a combatant waits until an enemy moves within their line of sight, and then attacks them immediately (if they are within range). Afterwards, they leave Overwatch and cannot make more attacks in this manner. Attacks made from Overwatch are called reaction attacks, and suffer a -10% penalty to accuracy.
Melee Attacks
Melee attacks work exactly like all other attacks, except that their effective range will always be listed as “melee”. This means that the attacker must be adjacent to the target in order to attack.
Also, melee weapons cannot be blocked by shields (see below).
Missiles and Explosives
Missiles consist of an explosive warhead attached to the front of a rocket-propelled module designed to be fired from a mech-mounted launcher. They work similarly to other weapons, but with a few differences.
Missiles tend to do much more damage than other weapons. In addition, when they explode, they can damage all parts of a target rather than just the body (see below), and can even damage multiple targets over a large area. However, they travel more slowly than bullets, which can allow the target to intercept them if they are quick enough.
When a combatant makes an attack using a missile weapon, the target can make an intercept roll to try and shoot down the missile before it hits (provided they have a weapon powered up and operational). An intercept roll is just like an attack roll—in order to shoot down a missile, the intercept roll must be higher than the attack role of the attacker. If a missile is intercepted, it has no effect. If the target fails their intercept roll, they may still roll to evade the missile as normal.
When a target is hit by a missile, damage and armor rolls are made as normal. However, damage from a missile applies to all parts of the target’s mech rather than just the body—all parts take the same damage rolled. In addition, more powerful missiles can damage large areas around the target. Missiles with this capability will list their blast damage separately from their direct-hit damage, as well as their area of effect. AOE missiles require two evasion rolls—one to avoid a direct hit, and another to escape the blast radius. If the second roll is successful, the target chooses any space adjacent to the blast radius and places their mech there. If a missile’s blast radius is greater than the target’s movement speed, they cannot escape the blast—they automatically take blast damage.
Damage and Hull Integrity
When a mech is hit in combat, its hull will take damage. If the damage becomes severe enough, the mech’s systems can be crippled—it may even be destroyed entirely.
Every mech has five sections that can be damaged—head, body, right arm, left arm and legs. Most weapons are not accurate enough to target specific sections of an enemy mech in combat—by default, attacks are assumed to target the body. Each part has its own integrity total, and is usually damaged separately. The maximum hull integrity of each part is 100%--when it reaches 0%, it is disabled.
Each part has different effects when it is disabled. If the body of a mech is disabled, the entire mech is destroyed, since the body contains both the cockpit and most of the vital systems. Destroying another part of a mech does not affect the entire machine, but a mech cannot activate any systems attached to a disabled part—for example, if your mech’s right arm is fitted with a laser cannon, and another pilot disables that arm, you cannot fire the cannon until the arm is repaired. However, when a part is disabled, any power that was being allocated to systems attached to that part is freed up to be used by other systems.
If a mech’s body is disabled, the pilot rolls percentile dice. On a roll of over 50%, the mech explodes, causing damage to the surrounding area. Detailed rules for exploding mechs are under development.
Firing Into Melee
Shooting ranged weapons into melee combat makes it much more difficult to hit one’s intended target. When firing at two or more mechs that are engaged in melee, the attacker assigns an equal range of results on a set of percentile dice to each, and then rolls their dice. The result of the roll determines which target is hit. This is done after designating the part of the target that is being aimed at, if applicable.
For example, Jill is aiming her mech’s sniper rifle at an enemy mech that is currently engaged in melee with one of her allies. She wants to cripple her target’s sensors, so she decides to aim for the enemy mech’s head. Because there are two combatants in melee, Jill assigns a range of 1% to 50% to her intended target, and a range of 51% to 100% to her ally. She then rolls her percentile dice, getting a roll of 71%--she hits her ally’s mech in the head, destroying its cameras and blinding it. Oops.
Cover and Concealment
Mechs are built to take a pounding, but your armor can only withstand so many shots. In order to maximize your protection from enemy attacks, the best thing to do is to stay in cover.
The way cover works is simple. Any time there is an object of at least a certain size and thickness between you and your enemy, it counts as cover. There are two levels of cover—partial and full. While in partial cover from an enemy, you gain a 20% increase to your evasion bonus against their attacks—in full cover, the bonus is 40%.
It’s important to remember that cover doesn’t automatically protect you from every angle of attack. If an enemy has unobstructed line of sight to you, the cover bonus doesn’t apply against their attacks.
Another good way to avoid getting hit is to not be seen. This can be accomplished with terrain that provides concealment. Like cover, concealment is divided into partial and full levels. If you have partial concealment from an enemy, they take a -20% penalty to attack rolls against you—with full concealment, the penalty is -40%. Cover is similar to concealment, but represents different situations. If your enemy’s shots are blocked by a wall you are hiding behind, that’s cover—if you are hidden by dense foliage (that will do nothing to actually stop incoming bullets), that’s concealment.
Shielding
Many mechs can equip systems that project a Kinetic Interdiction (KI) Field, more commonly called a shield. Shields function a lot like armor, but with some differences. Below is an example of a turn in combat during which a shield comes into play.
Johnny’s mech has taken some serious damage from the Coalition scout’s laser sniper rifle, and he needs to take steps to protect himself. Powering off his jump jets—he wasn’t using them anyway—he spends his first action to turn on his mech’s shield battery. Once activated, it projects a KI Field with a shield rating of 25%. He spends his remaining action to fire another shot from his rifle, missing by a fair bit.
The Coalition pilot’s turn begins. He needs to get to better cover, so he spends his first action to move to a safer position. Having moved already this turn, he can’t fire his laser sniper rifle, so he switches over to his light machine gun and takes aim at Johnny. He’ll need to breach Johnny’s shield before he can damage his mech.
He rolls his attack, getting a result high enough to overcome Johnny’s evasion attempt. His shot connects with Johnny’s shields. The Coalition pilot rolls his damage, getting a total of 45%. However, instead of an armor roll, Johnny makes a shield roll to prevent damage. This works the same as his armor roll, but he uses his shield bonus instead of his armor bonus. His total roll is 30%, so the Coalition scout’s LMG deals 15% damage to Johnny’s shields. His mech is protected and takes no damage, but the shield is weakened—if it is damaged 100%, it will fail, exposing his mech to further attacks.
Shields essentially form an extra layer of armor that prevents the user’s mech from taking damage until it has been breached. However, shields are notably different from armor in that if they go a certain number of turns without taking damage, determined by the shield battery’s recharge threshold, they will regain some of their power and regenerate partially. For example, if Johnny manages to hide and prevent further damage to his shields for two turns, they will recharge by 5%, bringing their integrity back up to 90%. For this reason, shields can often be much more effective in combat than standard armor, and are often relied upon strongly by heavy combat mechs.
What do you think?