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Papaya Pete
2017-12-07, 03:42 PM
I've been working on, here and there, a mech game that is inspired by the Solaris VII Arena battles in the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe (for those who are not familiar with it, just think Gladiator matches with giant mechs).

Players create a pilot that runs his own mech garage, where he lives and works on his machine in-between matches. The mechs are a blend between Battletech (hit locations, armor points and internal structure) and Heavy Gear (more agile, capable of dodging, aiming, etc. and less like a big slow-moving tank with legs), with the engines being either diesel or electric. Instead of having to manage heat, I thought it would be interesting to take a page from VoidExpanse and have pilots manage energy and fuel. Mechs would also be remotely controlled, because *insert name of a controversy in the Polaris Games involving the death of pilots which caused media/public scorn and outrage*. This also fits in with the idea of them being smaller and more agile, not having to have an entire cockpit stored somewhere inside of it.

The goal in each match isn't necessarily to just destroy other pilots; it's about making the match entertaining. Sometimes this means doing something that isn't tactically sound, like moving out of cover and taking unnecessary other risks. Each action (or lack of action) would raise or lower that pilot's rating for the match. The amount he is paid depends on that rating, with the winner of the round getting a nice bonus.

Not only would the player have to worry about paying for repairs (or trying it himself and still needing parts), he will have to make sure he has enough for rent at the end of the month. There are a number of garages/hangers he can try to live in, ranging from attempting to store his mech at a small apartment with a garage (which would be cramped when it comes time to do maintenance and repairs) to a mech bay capable of holding 2 along with living quarters that are more than adequate. The neighborhood one chooses to live in would have an affect on rent and how often a crime can take place, which can be as small as some minor vandalism to outright theft of your hard-earned parts while you're away.

I've got a lot of these rules all written down (on that archaic thing called paper) with some of it typed up. I'm not really sure where I can upload it; I've never done that kind of thing before and have yet to look into it. Does this sound like something that others would be interested in?

(Now that I've actually posted something about it somewhere, it'll motivate me to finish typing everything up.)

aimlessPolymath
2017-12-07, 05:02 PM
Interesting.

It's a bit of a twist on normal roleplaying games in that it focuses on a specific experience rather than a broader system for telling stories. That's not bad, just unusual. Reminiscent of mecha anime, I guess- alternating between combat-focused scenes relating to getting money, then a slice-of-life bit where you deal with expenses and RP?

If you can scan your papers in, I guess you could use an image-hosting site? Note that you need 10 posts on this forum before you can post links (and I'm not sure how many before you can post images).

Papaya Pete
2017-12-07, 08:44 PM
When I was originally picturing this game I imagined it would fit well as a computer game. Not much rping in that form. However, when trying to make a table top version (like battletech), along with the garage portion, I pictured the out of cockpit being handled either like a normal rpg (heavier on actual roleplay when not doing repairs and missing on the mech) or a simple card game with some skill checks (x number of actions each day, five days mid week, and each week there is a random event that can range from nothing of note happening, gas prices rising, being approached by a reporter, threatened by local mob, etc.). It would be harder to handle with a group of players unless they are all against each other, as each match I have done so far is free for all.

Tl;Dr it can act like a tactical game and card game or get as to intensive as you would like.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-09, 03:24 AM
I meant to post this sooner, but I've been rather busy lately. Here's how to generate a pilot in The Polaris Games.

Pilot Generation:
Stats and Skills:
Each pilot has 5 stats:
Endurance – determines how resistant to fatigue and illness he is.
Agility – has a great effect on piloting ability.
Perception - depth perception and also ability to notice things.
Smarts – greatly influences one's technical skill.
Charm – a pilot's personality and ability to deal with others.

Stats are rated from 1 to 5: 1 is poor, 2 is below average, 3 is average, 4 is good, 5 is excellent. On generation, you have 15 points to distribute among them; there is no increased cost for higher stats. A 5 would just cost 5 points.
Skills are similarly rated at 0-5. Some have specializations that allow a pilot to be better in a specific area; this gives a +1 for each rating in that specialization (example: a pilot who has a point in Piloting: Light Mechs would receive a +1 to all piloting checks in light mechs).

Skills:
Fitness (improves resistance to illness and fatigue)
Piloting (Spec: light, medium, and heavy mechs)
Gunnery (Spec: blaster, slugthrower, streamer, missiles, rockets, cannons, ion, melee, etc.)
Mech technician (Spec: engine systems, sensors, armor and frame, weapon systems)
Haggling (your pilot is able to get slightly better prices on parts and chasis. For each point in Haggling: 2% discount on any gear or mech chasis purchased. For each bonus/penalty due to Charm, add or subtract ½% to this bonus.)
Judge Character (would give pilot insight into a situation that is outside of the cockpit)
Business Savvy (your pilot knows how the business works. It gives a discount, based on skill, to rent as well as a bonus to credits earned each match. For each point in Business Savvy: 1% discount on rent each month, and +1 credit earned per rating point at the end of a match. Small, but it can very quickly add up. For each bonus/penalty due to Charm, add or subtract ½% to this bonus. Yes, your Charm can be so bad that you don't get any bonus out of the Business Savvy skill at level 1. At least you don't have a penalty now, right?)

Raising skills costs XP that are gained by completing matches (and doing well) or successfully handling some events between matches. The cost of raising a skill is the next skill level squared (i.e. raising to level 1 is 1 xp, level 2 is 4 xp, 3 is 9, etc.). On character generation, a pilot starts with 10 points.
Untrained Skill Usage: If you're trying to use a skill and have no training in it, you're going to have a hard time being successful. While normally skill rolls are resolved by rolling 1d10 for each point in a skill, taking the highest one, instead a character rolls 1d10 and divides the result in half. Choose your skills wisely!


I'll post some more tomorrow when I have a chance.

aimlessPolymath
2017-12-09, 03:08 PM
I am confused. How are stats incorporated into skill rolls?

Papaya Pete
2017-12-09, 04:30 PM
Ah my mistake! Piloting is tied to agility, gunnery to perception, business savvy and haggling to charm, mechs tech to smarts, and fitness to endurance. You add the ability bonus/penalty to your skill check roll.

aimlessPolymath
2017-12-09, 05:18 PM
How is your ability bonus/penalty determined?

Papaya Pete
2017-12-09, 07:16 PM
The average is 3, which gives no penalty. A 1 and a 2 in a stat gives a penalty of -2 and -1, respectively. On the higher end, 4 and 5 gives +1 and +2.

I didn't realize I had missed so much in terms of copying down notes. I will try to be more careful from now on, and a little later today I will post mech construction rules.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-10, 02:32 AM
So mech construction borrows some rules from Battletech (in a way you can say this is a homebrew version of it); I really enjoyed how each limb has points in it, each mech has a certain tonnage that can be filled with equipment, and keeping track of (and eventually repairing) damage dealt to it. The engine rating system also worked well, but I like the idea of being able to modify some things more (and simplify other areas). So, here's mech construction one step at a time.

Chassis: this would be the mech itself, including your basic wiring, it's gyro, actuators, and frame. They weigh in at 5 to 30 tons, with 3 different weight classes: scout (5-10), field (11-20), and battle (21-30). Scout mechs were used for mostly recon, cheap to make, etc. Field mechs were what were most commonly used in confrontations, with battle mechs being used for heavy assaults and defense.

10% of the total weight of the chassis is composed of those components mentioned earlier: the frame itself, actuators, etc. For each ton used up by internal structure, 20 points can be assigned. For example, if you're making a chassis called The Grad, and it's 5 tons, 1.25 tons of it will be internal structure. That's 25 points of internal structure that is spread across the different hit locations of the mech: the two legs, the two arms, the head, and the torso (there IS going to be a softer rear hit location, but will talk about that later when I get onto equipment and armor). Note: the more external armor you want on a location, the more internal structure you will want.

Speaking of armor, is this mech designed to be lighter and faster than normal? Or better protected and slower? Or just average? Normally, a mech can have 2x the amount of external armor than internal structure; if The Grad's left leg only has 5 points of internal structure, it can only have 10 points of external armor. However, if a chassis is designed specifically to have Light Armor[I] then the amount of maximum external armor is reduced to 1.5x (rounding down); if that Grad was designed as a Light mech instead, that left leg can only have 7 points of armor. All piloting skill checks (avoiding getting hit, melee attacks, etc.) all receive a +1 due to the mech being more agile. A chassis designed to have [I]Heavy Armor is the opposite; it can pack on more armor points (2.5x instead of 2x) but at a cost of being more cumbersome and easier to hit (-1 to piloting skill checks).

Does this mech have hands, and how many hard points does it have (and where are they)? Hard points are locations where weapons can be installed, so besides deciding how many a mech has a location has to be assigned to them. In most cases they are found on the arms and torso, with a few being on the head (and none on the legs). Hands can be used to hold weapons and shields (will cover this later), acting as a hard point for a number of weapons. While the arms are able to move about and have a wider firing arc, arms are usually easier to lose in a match than a torso (which has a fixed firing arc based on the direction it is facing).

Speaking of which, is this mech capable of turning its torso 360 degrees? Most mechs can only turn roughly 90 degrees, which means at times they can have an exposed rear torso (just rear torso, no left rear torso or right rear torso). Being able to turn that torso completely around makes the chassis more expensive, but I think the advantage speaks for itself.

Is this chassis exceptionally well designed, easy to pilot and aim with? Or was it thrown together and a nightmare to deal with? A chassis can give a bonus to piloting and/or gunnery, which reflects an area in which the mech either helps or hinders the pilot. Example: a chassis called the Dipod is much like a walking turret; it can turn its torso 360 degrees, and gives the pilot a nice steady aim even as it moves around (+1 to gunnery skills). However, with how easy the torso twists and turns around, it can be very disorientating to the pilot (-1 to piloting skills.
Note: flaws in the chassis are not repairable even by one of the most skilled mech technicians. The principle: ever had a car that was just a lemon and always had problems, due to poor design?
Some flaws just can't be undone, except by getting a new car.
Mind you, the more hard points you add, the more bonuses you stack on, and the heavier the chassis, the more expensive it becomes (obviously). First, determine how many bonuses the chassis has (and flaws, if you're including the rule that might be removed).
Bonus Multiplier = 1 + (.2 if Light or Heavy armor) + (.2 for each bonus point to piloting/gunnery) - (.1 for each negative point towards piloting/gunnery).
Here's the cost formula:
((tonnage x 1k) + ((# hard points + hands) * 1k)) * Bonus Multiplier

To see this in action... let's take The Grad. Imagine if you had a bunch of students at a future technical academy (in The Polaris Games universe), wanting to show off their knowledge and skill in mech construction and repair. So, as part of their thesis, they throw together a mech using scrap metal, wiring, and other parts they gathered from a junk yard. After months of hard work, they bring forth their pride and joy: The Grad! It works... well enough. However, it is clunky and hard to use, and anyone wanting to compete in the Polaris Games with this thing is one word: desperate.
Putting numbers to this mess, The Grad is a 5 ton mech with a pair of hands. Its torso doesn't turn 360 degrees, nor is it designed to be a Lightly armored or Heavily armored mech. It's difficult to control and aim with, giving the pilot a -1 to piloting and -1 to gunnery.
The Bonus Multiplier for The Grad is .8 (started at 1, -.1 due to the piloting penalty, -.1 due to the gunnery penalty). Being a 5 ton mech means 5k credits to start with. It has 2 hands, which adds another 2k (total: 7k). There's nothing else of note about it, so 7k * .8 = 5.6k. Is that expensive? In this game, not really. It is cheap to buy and cheap to fix, which is its selling point. How much can a pilot earn in a match? That'll be covered later when the tactical part of the game is covered.



There's quite a bit to type/write so I apologize for breaking this up like this. I don't have tons of time, so I'm trying to break it up into chunks for the sake of organizing. If this is too much of a wall of text, let me know and I'll try to format it in a way that's a little easier to read. :smallsmile:

The next step in mech construction: engines and batteries.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-12, 03:53 AM
Sorry about the wait on this one, took a while to type it all into a table for this post.

Engines:
There are two types of engines: diesel and electric. Diesels are more expensive to refuel, but are cheaper to buy and maintain than electric ones (mostly due to the huge batteries on electric engine systems).
Engines use a rating system; you pick your desired speed (the range is 1-6 walking, with running speeds being doubled), times it by the tonnage of your chassis, and see if the engine will fit and still leave enough room for everything else. For example, if you wanted your 5 ton mech to have a walking speed of 5, you'll need an engine with a rating of 25. To see all of the stats for Diesel Engines and Electric Motors, see the following spoiler. I'll also include information on batteries for diesel engines.

Definitions (that might need to be cleared up):
Fuel Efficiency: the rate fuel is consumed each turn.
Charge: the maximum units of energy the battery can hold.
Efficiency: the rate energy is burned when the mech performs any kind of movement (the efficiency doesn't increase the cost of firing lasers or other weapons).


Diesel
Cost: 100 * rating


Electric
Cost: 150 * rating




Rating
Tons
Fuel Tank
Fuel Efficiency
Energy/Turn
Tons
Charge
Efficiency


5
0.5
50
1
3
1
200
1


10
0.5
50
1
3
1
200
1


15
0.5
50
1
3
1
200
1


20
1
75
1.5
4
1
200
1.25


25
1
75
1.5
4
1.5
200
1.25


30
1
75
1.5
4
1.5
200
1.25


35
1.5
100
2
5
1.5
300
1.25


40
1.5
100
2
5
1.5
300
1.25


45
1.5
100
2
5
2
300
1.5


50
2
125
2.5
6
2
400
1.5


55
2
125
2.5
6
2
400
1.5


60
2
125
2.5
6
2
400
1.5


65
2.5
150
3
7
2.5
500
1.75


70
2.5
150
3
7
2.5
500
1.75


75
2.5
150
3
7
2.5
500
1.75


80
3
175
3.5
8
2.5
600
1.75


85
3
175
3.5
8
3
600
2


90
3
175
3.5
8
3
600
2


95
3.5
200
4
9
3
700
2


100
3.5
200
4
9
3
700
2.25


105
3.5
200
4
9
3.5
700
2.25


110
4
225
4.5
10
3.5
800
2.25


115
4
225
4.5
10
3.5
800
2.5


120
4
225
4.5
10
3.5
800
2.5


125
4.5
250
5
11
4
900
2.5


130
4.5
250
5
11
4
900
2.75


135
4.5
250
5
11
4
900
2.75


140
5
275
5.5
12
4
1000
2.75


145
5
275
5.5
12
4.5
1000
3


150
5
275
5.5
12
4.5
1000
3


155
5.5
300
6
13
4.5
1100
3


160
5.5
300
6
13
4.5
1100
3.25


165
5.5
300
6
13
5
1100
3.25


170
6
325
6.5
14
5
1200
3.5


175
6
325
6.5
14
5
1200
3.5


180
6
325
6.5
14
5
1200
3.5





Batteries




Weight (tons)
Charge
Cost


0.1
10
100


0.2
15
150


0.3
20
200


0.4
25
250


0.5
30
300


0.6
35
350


0.7
40
500


0.8
45
600


0.9
50
700


1.1
60
900


1.3
70
1200


1.5
80
1500


1.7
100
2000



Which one is better? Each one has an advantage over the other. The diesel engine burns fuel to produce energy each turn, with all extra energy charging its battery. However, as mentioned before, it's more expensive to refuel, which generally must be done every few matches (depending on how long they last). Electric motors run off of a huge battery, with even the smallest one giving large diesel engine batteries a run for their money. However, the energy within that battery is all the mech has; if it relies too much on energy to make attacks, it'll soon lose power and the pilot will have a dead mech in the field.

On a side note, I have run 4 matches with four different pilots; however, all of them used diesel engines, as they were too poor to get electric ones. Also, they were all just starting out, so have not yet had a chance to see how balanced this is when matches start including heavier mechs. I realized as I was typing this in that the prices needed to be adjusted, so I made batteries much cheaper and electric engines moderately cheaper (for batteries, used to be 10* current amount, and electric engines used to cost 200*rating).

Next time, sensors (which is quick and easy) and all of the other weapons and gear mechs can use.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-14, 03:53 AM
Sensors:

It's rather simple and straight forward: your basic set gets the job done, and is fairly cheap at 500 credits and 0.1 tons of space. If you're interested in more advanced sensors for your mech, however, the costs start to go up very quickly: 5000 per upgrade, with the following being available...

+1 to piloting (max of +2)
+1 to gunnery (max of +2)
ECM (+1 defense against missiles, -1 to the number of missiles that connect with a minimum of 1)
Improved Missile Lock (+1 to hit with missiles, +1 to number of missiles that connect, up to the maximum die result)

While the sensors do use energy, the amount of negligible and doesn't need to be tracked.

Equipment and Weapons:

Weapons fall into the following categories: ballistic, energy, missiles/rockets, and melee/misc.

Slugger Rifle - a long-range but weak rifle.
Scatter Gun - a shotgun for mechs.
Burst Rifle - an automatic rifle that is limited on range but can fire in automatic bursts.
Light/Field/Heavy Cannons - wide-barreled cannons that pack a punch using a single large shell.
Light Repeating Cannon - a modified light cannon that can fire in bursts like a burst rifle.
Micro/Field/Heavy Blaster - a laser weapon that shoots a blast of energy, like the blasters you see in Star Wars.
Micro/Field/Heavy Streamers - an energy weapon that shoots a solid laser beam, which can be raked over even the hardest to hit mechs.
Blaster Repeater Cannon - a modified field blaster that can fire in bursts like a burst rifle.
Gambit particle cannon - a particle accelerator that consumes a lot of energy but deals a lot of damage.
Micro Missiles - mini missiles that have a short range but pepper targets.
'Barrage' Missile Launcher - a short range missile system.
'Halberd' Missile Launcher - a medium range missile system.
'Downtown' Missile Launcher - a long range missile system (from downtown!).
Light/Field/Heavy Rocket - a single-use rocket launcher that explodes, dealing damage that can hit several hit locations at once.
Rocket Repeater - an attempt at making a multi-fire rocket launcher.
Melee weapon - can be a sword, a mace, hey you can have it be a big metal stool if you want. The heavier the melee weapon, the more damage it will do.
Haywire Gun - sends a burst of energy that deals no damage but scrambles a target's sensors.
Thermos - a grenade launcher that douses a mech in napalm, causing some minor armor damage and overheating weapon systems. The name comes from the thermos-looking projectiles that hold the napalm.

I've written up the stats for them in a spreadsheet, which will be in here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N37BMA_mBbxwIeRykewITGqdl_ED9QcM

The engine stats posted above will be there too, and as I upload more in there I'll make note of it here. :smallsmile:

Papaya Pete
2017-12-14, 03:57 PM
I added a little bit to the google drive linked above: an entire file on character creation, including a section I omitted (I wanted to read through it again and correct some stuff), and a spreadsheet on the types of garages and neighborhoods a pilot can work out of.

Just for the fun of it, and for the sake of having an example, let's make a new character!

Name: Treyvor Duneheart
Attributes:
Endurance: 3 (0)
Agility: 2 (-1)
Perception: 3 (0)
Smarts: 5 (+2)
Charm: 2 (-1)

Skills:
Fitness: 1
Piloting: 1
Gunnery: 1
Mech Tech: 2
Haggling: 1
Business Savvy: 1

Garage:
Location: The Scrapyard Type: Single Mech Garage

Treyvor Duneheart is a tech at heart, but his parents lacked the money to put him through a technical college. However, his father had such education and worked with a mech jock who competed in the games.
The youth took every opportunity to watch his father work and pour over his technical manuals. In time, he became a competant mechanic with his own dream: owning his own garage and competing in The Polaris Games.

Treyvor has scrounged together 15000 credits, doing odd mechanical jobs for pilots. Normally a single mech garage has a rent of 3000 credits each month. However, since it is located in The Scrapyard, he only has to make sure he has 1500 credits at the end of the month. Looks like he only has 13500 credits left to buy and equip his mech.


Remaining credits:
13500.

The strength of Treyvor's mech is how cheap it is going to be to repair. He decides on taking a risk, putting together a Grad.

Mech Chassis: Grad
Tons: 5 Hands/Actuators: 2 hands
Armor: Normal Piloting: -1 Gunnery: -1
Cost: 5600 (7900)

Engine: Diesel 20 Walking: 4 Running: 8
Cost: 2000 (5900)
Tons: 1 (1) Fuel Tank: 75 Fuel Eff.: 1.5 Energy/Turn: 4
Battery: 10 Tons: 0.1 (1.1) Cost: 100 (5800)
Sensors: Basic Tons: 0.1 (1.2) Cost: 500 (5300)

Armor and Internal Structure:
Head - IS: 1 Armor: 2
Torso - IS: 5 Armor: 8
Back - Armor: 4
Left Arm - IS: 3 Armor: 6
Right Arm - IS: 3 Armor: 6
Left Leg - IS: 4 Armor: 8
Right Leg - IS: 4 Armor: 8

IS Points: 20 Tons: 1 (2.2) Armor Points: 42
Tons: 2 (4.3) Cost: 200 (5100)

Equipment & Weapons:
Burst Rifle Tons: 0.2 (4.5) Damage: 2 Cost:
500 (4600) Location: Right Arm
Slugger Rifle Tons: 0.2 (4.7 Damage: 2 Cost:
600 (4000) Location: Left Arm

Ammo:
Burst Rifle Amount: 200 shots Tons: 0.2 (4.9)
Cost: 100 (3900)
Slugger Rifle Amount: 50 Tons: 0.1 (5) Cost:
100 (3800)

MR: 87

While being so conservative with getting an inferior Grad, Treyvor has plenty of credits on hand to perform repairs, unless they become severe or his entire mech is destroyed. Then again, anyone would be "retired"
at this point if their entire mech was destroyed.

Anyways, please feel free to comment on what you all think so far, or post examples of characters. I have a small list of chassis so far, but seeing as the rules for creating them are right here... no need for a master list!

I hope you enjoy it! I'll post tactical rules next time.

CircleOfTheRock
2017-12-16, 04:27 AM
I'm just here to ask/say two things... 1: This is a really cool system, although a bunch of fluff (like world-settings) would be good and 2: Might you ever publish this?

Papaya Pete
2017-12-17, 03:11 AM
Thanks, I'm glad someone likes this! To answer your first question, I do have in mind some world fluff; I'm slowly adding to a Big Book of Chassis and Mechs, writing in little stories of how such a design came about and what it was used for in the past. There are also other questions that came up as I decided on stuff.

For example, I wanted to make mechs remotely controlled. It is very possible (happened a few times during my first set of matches) to have a mech lose its head. If a pilot was in there... more than likely he is either dead or injured. How fun would it be if you put all sorts of thought and time into a character, only to have him killed in his first match?
So, here's the question: WHY would The Polaris Games have mechs remotely controlled? Wouldn't it open up the possibility of them being tampered with during a match?
Polaris is a metropolis, and has a very real criminal element that would love to make a lot of credits by rigging matches. Often they would achieve this by bribing/threatening pilots into throwing a match, letting an underdog that no one thinks will win actually win. What happens, though, if certain pilots refuse, repeatedly, to throw a match? Even under threat of death?

Otto's Last Stand: A terrible tragedy has shaken the city of Polaris last night as Otto Van Stryke, a reknown pilot who had a successful career in the Games for nearly a year, was murdered in the middle of a match as fans looked on.
Fans cheered and raved as the match began as normal, with each pilot charging towards the center of Skyline Arena. Something seemed amiss, however, as the other three pilots, whose names law enforcement officials have asked to be kept confidential, focused their efforts on Otto at close range. While many likely thought it was just their way of trying to increase their odds of winning, the audience and announcer was shocked as they kept attacking even after Otto flagged himself as surrendered. By the time law enforcers arrived on arena grounds to disable and arrest the pilots, Otto's mech, Flagstone, was already in pieces with its pilot clinging to life. He was rushed to the hospital but sadly succumbed to his injuries.
An investigation is underway to determine the motives for such a brutal attack, though already authorities have their suspicions. "There are criminals out there, organized ones, who would love nothing more than to intimidate and bully mech jocks into rigging matches," Chief Freeman stated, "Otto Van Stryke was a message to others, as he had a reputation for always standing up for what is right."
As the public calls for action, members of the Council will meet together within the week to discuss what strategies can be used to prevent such a tragedy again. Councilwoman Janet Thurman notes, "While unpopular, you have to admit that, if the mechs were remotely controlled, Otto would still be alive and with us today. I cannot say that is what our solution will be, but it certainly will be on the table for discussion."
As you, the reader, likely know already, the Remote Control Act has been bounced around for years, drawing praise and criticism. While some claim it will make matches easier to rig, others cite the dozens of other pilot injuries earlier in the season as a good reason for enacting the law. What is the price of integrity in The Games? The Council will soon decide.

Anyways, I haven't really focused on the world and setting, just general information and ideas. All in good time!

As for publishing this? I don't see me doing that, really.

Edit: a friend of mine and I have been finding little things that need tweaking, so will be reuploading Engine Stats, Gear, etc. as things get balanced out more.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-18, 03:20 PM
Rules of the Match are done; now you can take those creations and pit them against each other in a match!

Next on the list: Out of the Cockpit and Into the Garage. It will cover rules for repairing and modifying mechs and parts, as well as paying those bills at the end of the month (and possibly losing the game/having to retire out of The Games). I'll put in rules for getting a match started: random NPC pilots and their mechs, stats and info on other pilots of note, and the like.

Still working on balance and while I have a mech book on the drive, I haven't added much to it yet (a few written on paper, just busy). I originally thought I could just post the rules as they were, but realized I was missing quite a few things (Charging, Header, and more). When I get the next set of rules done, I'll work more on the actual setting and adding more chassis.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-21, 03:11 PM
I've finished a draft for Out of the Cockpit and Into the Garage. These rules cover time outside of the match, including repairs, buying, selling, tweaking equipment, and events that can occur. At the end, paying rent and enrolling in matches (including rolling up random NPC pilots and their mechs) are covered.

At this point I've gotten in all of the rules for the game that I want, though I will likely add more onto them over time or make adjustments as needed. Next on my list: more mechs and adding information on the setting. PEACH.

Papaya Pete
2017-12-22, 02:28 PM
A few small updates that were made to the rules:

- charging with a shield, with it taking the brunt of the damage (can also be done when doing a Header, Cap. America style)
- adjusted some of the damage and abilities of weapons, especially the light repeater cannon
- removed one-use rockets and added in box launchers as a replacement
- added a character sheet for pilots and another for mechs (might have added the latter one a little earlier than now)
- likely other small things I have forgotten about

Looking at these online, the formatting seems to be all off. I'm using LibreOffice, so this might be the issue. Opening it in GoogleDocs seems to make it a bit better, but found a different app that seems to do the job much better. I will put most, if not all, of these rules into a single PDF down the road. tl;dr use LibreOffice for best formatting for now.

Some things I forgot to add in:

- Championships!
- Seasons! Hey, football and baseball have seasons, why not The Polaris Games?
- Reputation (on the character sheet, but have to brainstorm more on how it will be implemented)

Papaya Pete
2017-12-26, 04:06 AM
Still doing some brainstorming on the setting, which is going to be rather simple. I'm not that great into making detailed descriptions on kingdoms and nations, their inner politics, and so on... plus, being a mech jock, there's only so much someone in that position would know. More on that another time.

I went through character generation a few times, making a new set of pilots to test out the little tweaks that have been made to the rules. I noticed a few mistakes and other odd things, so adjusted the penalty due to having a low Charm stat (having a 2 Charm with a -1 penalty will completely negate having a 1 skill in Haggling/Business Savvy) and also reduced the number of starting XP to 7. This allows players to choose one skill at level 2 and three others at level 1, or have all seven skills at level 1. I also forgot to put in the cost for Specializing, so wrote that in. I put in how to calculate Defense for a mech as well, which acts as a goal number an attacker is trying to beat (it's very low most of the time, but considering penalties stack up very fast...).

As I play through a month or so of game time I will likely see some other areas that need adjusting. Uploaded updates rules and all that. Enjoy!

Edit: for those interested in the pilots that were rolled up, there are four.
1.) Treyvor Duneheart. This is what I imagine a tech character to be. Has a basic Lifter mech variant.
2.) Hotshot. A pilot that focuses on gunnery. Has the Lifter variant that is alllllmost a Glass Cannon.
3.) A. Joe Kool. Average pilot in the same basic Lifter variant as Treyvor. Took 1 in every skill and average stats.
4.) Kushiro. A pilot focused on piloting and agility. Has a custom-made Lifter with a Buster sword (melee/hand weapon that does 8 damage per hit; what else did you want it to be called???). Very high defense, and is a Glass Cannon.

It's going to be interesting to see how matches play out with them. I might have them all in the same arena, or I might break them up into separate matches with random NPCs to test that mechanic out. I realized I had to adjust it, as it was possible to have a pilot in a battle mech with a piloting and gunnery of 1.

Papaya Pete
2018-01-08, 04:39 AM
I haven't really given this all that much time lately, just a little bit here and there as things got busy. I've been writing up a Tech Manual that has all the equipment and chassis stats, and just finished the first half. It's uploaded in the V0.1 folder on the Google drive. The next time I upload it I'll have all of the chassis written out (with no variants for the mechs; that will be the final upload once that's done).

Field and Battle mechs now have their own armor, allowing them to have more armor points compared to the scout mechs. A lot of the heavier weapons have their weight reduced, and I tweaked with the energy usage and energy generation that comes from engines. Weapons have their prices cut in half, and I am going to adjust how mech chassis values are determined; I found that a mech that had the Light or Heavy armor perk didn't really need to be made more expensive than normal. The piloting/armor trade-off seemed even enough without adding the price tag to it.

In the Tech Manual each piece of equipment has a short description that includes a little bit of history in it. It's not anything ground-breaking or exciting, but it was a great way to brainstorm and add some much needed flavor to the game.

Regarding some play-testing, I did play a quick match with the techie character I rolled up. Using the random NPC pilots rule, the match turned out pretty well! The techie ended up winning this time, and somehow managed to barely take any damage (he ran a little bit and used a lot of cover while others pounded each other to pieces).

Not sure how many people are actually following this at all, but don't worry too much if it seems to take a while for me to write. Family, work, responsibility, you know. Fun stuff!

Papaya Pete
2018-01-25, 03:30 AM
I've gotten through most of the chassis and have a small blurb for each one. I have to admit, I'm having a little bit of writer's block regarding what to write for the last dozen or so. I've started to create mech variants for each chassis, putting in the ones that already exist (in a better, cleaner format I hope) and will slowly be filling this book up. By the time I get to those last few battle chassis, I'm sure I'll have a better idea of what I can write.

Speaking of writing, one of the solutions I had to the writer's block was to just omit the mech descriptions/blurbs altogether. I'm honestly torn about this. On the one hand, it is easier just to not have them there. On the other hand, having a little something there adds some character to each of the chassis and gives you an idea behind why they were designed the way they were. So, there are two versions of the tech manual uploaded: one that will have descs omitted for finished mechs (for an example of what that would look like, just check out the Grad, Lifter, and Remmy... atm the rest of the descs, save for the completely unfinished mechs, are still there). The other tech manual will have all of the text intact. Let me know how each of them look, if you can, and if the text is worth having there then I'll just stick to the single copy of the manual.

Another down side of the little text blurbs is the formatting for the tables gets a little... weird. It likely is due to me using my old copy of MS Word 2010. When the book is completely done, I'll save it into PDF format, which should be a little cleaner.

On a side note regarding cleaner, I reformatted the Diesel and Electric engine rating tables so that they are larger and easier to read. I had to change the layout of the book a bit (instead of using Landscape it now uses Portrait), but honestly I like the way it looks now (thank you for the heads up on that, anonymous contributor!).

It's slowly coming together. Some of the major home projects over here are almost done, so things will get less hectic. Next time I post, it will be letting you all know that the scout mechs are completely done (variants for each chassis).

Edit:

I completely forgot to mention something rather important regarding mech costs; looking at how I was doing it before, some mechs were extremely expensive and therefore not worth buying (example: "What? That Remmy costs HOW much?! I could buy a mech several tons heavier for the same amount!"). So, the chassis cost formula is now the following:

1000 * (Mech's Tonnage) + (500 * # hard points & hands) * (Cost Multiplier) = Chassis' Cost

The amount of armor (light, standard/normal, heavy) no longer has an effect on the mech's cost. After a few tests, I found that there's no need to make the mech more expensive if it is lightly or heavily armored; the inherent bonuses/penalties seem fairly balanced without adding that price tag.
For each bonus point for gunnery and piloting skill checks (not due to being lightly or heavily armored), the cost multiplier rises by 0.1 (or -0.1 if that bonus is actually a penalty). The Grad, for example, would have a cost multiplier of 0.8 while the Remmy would have a 1.1. Doing it this way still makes mechs with lots of bonuses more expensive, but not so much that they're just not worth the trouble (and massive repair bill once it gets badly damaged). Overall, every mech is going to be cheaper now but this also means that the amount of starting cash is going to be lower.

Anyways, more to come at a later date.

Final Edit:

After a good night of rest, I found a format I like for the manual with the brief text on each mech. So, more than likely will be removing the "no descs" version of the manual (unless people want that version updated). On a side note, 5-7 ton mechs now all have variants and are complete. And I have the feeling I'm going to be needing to rebalance weaponry again; made a mech already that has a field box launcher, at ~7 tons! Ah well. That's the fun of game designing, isn't it? Always having to tweak things?

Papaya Pete
2018-01-26, 03:09 PM
Scout mechs have been finished and uploaded. Next up: field mechs, which will take me redesigning my excel sheet I've been using for quick and easy calculations. I feel like I've hit a pretty big milestone, and the number of pages in this book is starting to really climb. :smalleek:

Enjoy!

Papaya Pete
2018-02-01, 03:47 AM
Alright, Field-size mechs are now finished and uploaded. I also fixed some typos and errors I made in regards to chassis costs. The changes I made to calculating mech costs are also reflected in the TPG Character Generation file in the V0.1 Folder.

The Micronite Repair System also has been changed. Before, it only repaired internal structure, making it rather useless as mech IS is very low when compared to armor (at least when it comes to field mechs). While it was only 5% of the mech's tonnage, that's expensive for something that was pretty useless. Once your armor is gone in a location, it's quickly going to be destroyed.
Now it repairs only external armor, with the technician deciding how much raw material he is willing to put into the system. The repair system itself weighs only 0.1t; the vast majority of the weight is taken up by canisters of raw material, which are depleted as the system does its job. So, in other words, if you decide to install a 1.1t Micronite Repair System, it is capable of repairing 1t worth of external armor (20 points for standard armor/scout mechs, 40 for alloy armor/field mechs, 80 for advanced alloy armor/battle mechs) until you have to have it refilled. How much does it cost? Same as whatever armor your mech is using (10 per point for standard, 15 for alloy, 20 for advanced alloy). It still burns up 5 energy per turn the pilot has it on, and repairs 1d6 points of armor each turn (starting with the most damaged hit location).
A much needed upgrade for the Micronite RS, don't you think? Much more useful, and now worth the huge price tag and weight it takes up.

Next up will be the battle mechs, including finally designing and writing for the remaining chassis I have been procrastinating on. It might take me a little while, but it was nice getting scout and field mechs done so that it feels like I'm at the home stretch. On a side note, I likely will be changing the price of electric engines; doubling the price of them seems incredibly high when designing variants (99% of the mechs in the manual use diesel engines). Then again, playing your cards right, you can outlast any other diesel mech in the arena (which will only last 50 rounds, tops) and refuel it at a (generally) cheaper rate. Down side is you're not going to be using laser weaponry with it, especially the heavier ones like the Gambit cannon.
Then again, perhaps I will adjust the amount of energy those engines have access to. We shall see.

Anyways, this manual is turning out to be well over 100 pages. Maybe I should've called this Polaris' Big Book of Mechs instead... :smalltongue: Let me know if you catch any typos or errors, and I'll fix them up asap and re-upload (like noticing the formatting for the Electric Engine Ratings table was off as I was posting this).

Til next time, Polaris fans!

Papaya Pete
2018-03-01, 04:43 AM
It's been roughly a month, and progress has been slow, but I wanted to give an update regarding how the tech manual is coming along.

- Battle mechs are almost done; there are only a few tonnages left to do.

- Advanced alloy armor is no longer 20cr per point. I found out today that my spreadsheet for battle mech designing was using 15cr per armor point instead of 20. So, instead of going back and recalculating, I am keeping the advanced alloy armor the same price as alloy armor. Even with the cost, per point, being the same a pilot still spends a lot more cash repairing armor (60cr per .1t for alloy, essentially 120cr/.1t for advanced alloy).

- Cannon ammo needed to be balanced badly. Especially when you got into heavy cannons, the weight of the ammo was so high that I couldn't justify using it. So, all cannon ammo weighs .25t with the number of shots per pack being reduced as the cannon gets heavier. It actually makes them more appealing, especially if you don't want to have to keep track of energy and not having enough when you've got yourself a clear shot.

- I replaced the old way the sensors were purchased, where you could essentially buy perks and make them better. Instead, there are a number of different sensors you can purchase. The standard is still 500cr, no pros to it except it is cheap. Others will give a pilot a bonus to piloting, gunnery, or both. One not only provides a bonus to piloting but also has some missile defense, while another adds to gunnery checks and has improved missile tracking (more missiles hit per successful attack). The old way didn't really seem that great, and now I feel it really works and adds some flavor to the game as well.

I should be done before the weekend is over. After battle mechs, I wanted to add in an updated mech sheet. I'm not sure I really have the patience to do an index, but then again perhaps I do! I also will see how it will look, having a full table of weapons and equipment at the very end as a way to easily reference stats on gear. It just seems odd having it end abruptly after the last battle mech is listed.

Anyways, likely there are some typos in the manual. I also have the feeling I've done the math wrong here and there. As always, if you catch anything, let me know and I'll fix it. :)

Papaya Pete
2018-03-02, 02:58 PM
The Polaris Games - Tech Manual is now complete (edit: and has been uploaded as a pdf). As I was working on a character sheet, I found I didn't really like how it was coming out; I'm not sure why, but Word just doesn't seem to do the format right to me. So, I will be updating and re-uploading the mech sheet that I created using LibreOffice.

Please give me your thoughts on some of the formatting, especially in the appendix. In particular, I'm wondering how useful the Index is going to be on the very last page; I created it in order of appearance as opposed to alphabetical. If the latter is more useful, let me know and I'll happily redo it! :) I'm sure the rest of the tables work fine.

The Tech Manual will be in the Finished folder, which leads me to having to apologize for how cluttered the drive is. As I complete work on the main rule book, it will look a lot better.

As always, any constructive criticism (even "Wow that's a terrible name for a mech, how about...") is welcome. One thing I will say, however: the Turkey Hawk stays! Best mech name ever.

One last thing: tower shields are going to go through a slight change: they are able to block blows to the head as well as the rest of the side the shield is installed on (including torso, of course). I was going to add a rule that, if you are choosing to have a defensive stance, your mech's shield will block all incoming blows from your front. However, if in an offensive stance, the shield will only block the arm and leg on the installed side. It feels like that makes tower shields much more worth it, seeing as you're sacrificing valuable space that could've been used on other (damage dealing) things.

Til next time!

Papaya Pete
2018-03-09, 03:49 PM
The Rulebook is coming along nicely, and I've uploaded the first two sections: Background and Character Generation. Unfortunately, the page numbers are getting thrown off for some reason that I haven't figured out yet. Sorry about that!

I removed the old character generation files that were uploaded on the drive: the information is now in the main rule book and has been modified anyways. Mech prices changed drastically as the Tech Manual was completed, so starting out with as many credits as players did originally made the 5-6 ton mechs rather pointless to try.

I didn't really go into a lot of detail regarding the background and such. Likely some will be disappointed with that. Perhaps once the rest of the book is done I'll go back and go into more detail.

One thing of note that has changed regarding character generation: Pilot Origins! This determines how many credits and what kind of mech a new character begins with. Is he a skilled gamer who was recruited? A academy drop-out who wanted more excitement in his life? Or a mech-obsessed techie? Check it out, let me know what you think, and if you have ideas for more origins let me know!

Anyways, enjoy! PEACH.