So Paizo just dropped the Starfinder Tech Revolution Playtest, it was inevitable the Evil Robot Games would have something to say about the mecha rules.

So I like that you can use the Alien Archive rules to create basic NPC mecha, that’s helpful. As a long time mecha fan and UC Gundam fan I started building Zakus and GMs in my head as I read through the playtest. Most of the front line Mobile Suits are 60 ft tall, so Gargantuan in Starfinder terms. I need a single seat Legionnaire frame for the GM and Zakus which aren’t that far apart in technical capabilities. I really want the Skirmisher to be Gargantuan, leaving us some room to grow into the sturdier Gouf, Dom, Gelgoog machines as well as the Gundam itself. The Basic GM/Zaku shouldn’t be terribly strong or made of hit points or armor. We don’t really see force shields in Gundam until Char’s Counterattack and the Nu Gundam so while I’ll talk about them, they won’t affect our basic MS design.

Step 1: Conceptualize: In Gundam we have the rookies being thrown into fights all the time, so let’s see what the lowest Tier we can get a satisfying mobile suit built on and see what we think.

Step 2: Calculate and assign Mech Points. Everyone gets a Tier 1 mech with at least 20 MP

Step 2: Select a Frame. Legionnaire 3.5xTier (3.5 MP)

Step 4: Select Limbs. Basic Arms (Free) and Basic Biped Legs (Free)

Step 5: Select a Power Core. MK0 Dynamo power core, the cheapest core is free.

Step 6: Select Weapons. GMs all carry one Plasma Sword (1d10 damage in melee) 3.5xTier (3.5 MP) we’re at 7 MP. The Zaku’s heat hawk should be a one arm weapon that does 1d6 damage for 2.5 MP.

• GM and Zaku both have the Laser Rifle (1d6 at range)(90 and 120mm in the series) 3.5xTier (3.5 MP) 10.5 MP
• GM has 60mm Vulcan headcannons that probably should be lower damage and lesser range (1d6 at range) 3.5xTier (3.5 MP) 14 MP
• Zakus have shields or sometimes spiked shields, GMs carry regular shields with no spikes. 2.5 M P 16.5 MP total.

 

Step 7: Select Auxiliary Systems. Both the GMs and Zakus in 0083 carried lots of extra ammo, and some carried external armor. Both GMs and Zakus have Thrusters that enable short leaps, but are useful for flying in space.

Step 8: Invest in enhancements. Some of the other mobile suits like the Gundam might have rapid reflexes (2 MP), reinforced frame (1 MP), unbreakable armor (2 MP) costing at least 5 MP more than the GM. The Gundam would have a Plasma Rifle, a backup Plasma Sword, Rocket Launcher, Autotarget system and better Power Core at a minimum.

GM (LEGIONNAIRE frame)
Gargantuan mech
HP 10;  Hardness 1 (5 Shield Points)
EAC 14+2+1(17); KAC 14+2+1+1(18); Fort +1+2; Ref +1+2
Base Speed 60 ft.; Strength +5
Frame Slots 3; Aux Slots 4
Arm Slots 2; Leg Slots 0
Operators 1
Cost 3.5

60mm Vulcan Headcannons
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Damage 1d6+1 P
Slots 1 (frame); Capacity 20
Cost 3.5

90mm Rifle
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Damage 1d6+1 P
Slots 1 (frame); Capacity 20
Cost 3.5

Beam Saber
Type melee; Special thrown (20 ft.)
Damage 1d10+6 E&F; Critical severe wound
Slots 1 (upper limb)
Cost 3.5

Shield
This heavy shield can block incoming attacks.
Type melee; Special analog, block
Damage 1d6+6 B
Slots 2 (upper limb)
Deflect As a move action, the mech positions its shield to intercept incoming attacks, granting the mech a +1 shield bonus to AC and to Reflex saving throws until the beginning of its next turn. While this effect is active and the mech takes damage from a weapon, the mech can use a reaction to double its hardness against that attack’s damage.
Cost 2.5

Testing the Tier 1 mobile suit 

So lets test this out, GM runs up on another GM in training, one of them wins initiative, they engage inside 250ft and GM1 shoots GM2 with the rifle, rolls 1d20+8+1 (BAB or Piloting) (no weapon bonus)(no arm bonus)(no leg bonus). GM1 rolls a 10+9 (19) as a cannon it is against KAc of 18 and barely gets through. GM1 rolls 1d6+1 (4) and GM2 hasn’t acted yet so it doesn’t get the shield bonus to AC and can’t use a reaction raise his shield. GM 2 takes the 4 incoming points, GM2’s hardness of 1 is subtracted so 3 points penetrate and do HP damage to the mech. GM2 is down to 7HP.

So far nothing would be different if this were GM vs Zaku. If we gave the GM a beam spray pistol it would target EAC instead of KAC.

GM2 runs upto GM1 pulling its beam saber and slashes at it. GM2 rolls 1d20+8+1 and gets a 10+9 (19) vs EAC, which hits even with GM1’s shield up, GM1 uses a reaction to double its hardness vs the incoming attack. GM2 rolls 1d10+5+1 (STR and Tier) and gets a 5+6(11) which is reduced by GM1’s shield to 9 points and leaves it with 1 hit point.

This seems appropriately deadly enough for me. I need to check Owen’s page on how the starfinder weapon assumptions work so I can convert the Laser Rifle down to a slug thrower and cost it correctly. Maybe build an 08th MS team with heavy gunner, gatling gun Gouf, Gelgoogs and other things. I could totally run my 08th Ms team Tour of Gundam game with this setup.

I’d like to know why the +8 to hit exists at all and why the base AC is 14 instead of 10, but that’s why I used fairly simple 10s and average dice damage in my example above.

It would not be hard to say the Tier 1 mobile suits are MS-05 Zakus and RGM-79 and some of the more armored ground types and 0080 or 0083 upgrades are higher tiers. The Zaku from 0080 is probably more armored than the basic MS-06 Zaku and certainly better than the MS-05. Simple arm and leg upgrades will give you some bonuses before you even upgrade the basic frame.

But that’s a Tier 1, it has 10 hit points, as a vehicle your Gargantuan mobile suit exists somewhere between the Goblin Junkcycle and the Urban Cruiser!

Since every Tier has a minimum of 20 MP, but the characters only have 15 MP per level. The GM is 16.5 MP per tier which means a Tier 2 with the same gear should cost 33 MP, Tier 3 49.5 and that is if we don’t change anything. I believe we could lower the damage of the headcannons  to be less than its rifle which would lower the overall cost per Tier.

Building a Tier 5 mobile suit

Let’s try to make a Tier 5 something a little more robust.

Step 2: Legionnaire 3.5xTier (17.5 MP)
Step 4: Basic Arms (Free) and Basic Biped Legs (Free)
Step 5: MK0 Dynamo power core, the cheapest core is free.
Step 6: Select Weapons. GMs all carry one Plasma Sword (1d10 damage in melee) 3.5xTier (17.5 MP) we’re at 35 MP. The Zaku’s heat hawk should be a one arm weapon that does 1d6 damage for 12.5 MP.

• GM and Zaku both have the Laser Rifle (3d6 at range)(90 and 120mm in the series) 3.5xTier (17.5 MP) 52.5 MP
• GM has 60mm Vulcan headcannons that probably should be lower damage and lesser range (2d6 at range) 3.5xTier (10.5 MP) 63 MP
• Zakus have shields or sometimes spiked shields, GMs carry regular shields with no spikes. 12.5 M P 75.5 MP total.

 

RGM-79 (LEGIONNAIRE frame)
Initiative +1
Gargantuan mech
HP 46;  Hardness 3 (13 Shield Points)
EAC 19+2+1(22); KAC 19+2+1+1(23); Fort +1+5; Ref +1+5
Base Speed 60 ft.; Strength +6
Frame Slots 3; Aux Slots 4
Arm Slots 2; Leg Slots 0
Operators 1
Cost 17.5

60mm Vulcan Headcannons
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Damage 2d6+5 P
Slots 1 (frame); Capacity 20
Cost 10.5

90mm Rifle
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Damage 3d6+5 P
Slots 1 (frame); Capacity 20
Cost 17.5

Beam Saber
Type melee; Special thrown (20 ft.)
Damage 3d8+6+5 E&F; Critical severe wound
Cost 17.5

Shield
Type melee; Special analog, block
Damage 3d6+6+5 B
Cost 12.5

Testing the Tier 5 mobile suit 

So lets test this out, GM runs up on another GM in training, one of them wins initiative, they engage inside 250ft and GM1 shoots GM2 with the rifle, rolls 1d20+8+5+1 (1/5 Tier)(BAB or Piloting) (no weapon bonus)(no arm bonus)(no leg bonus). GM1 rolls a 10+15 (25) as a cannon it is against KAC of 23 and barely gets through. GM1 rolls 3d6+5 (15) and GM2 hasn’t acted yet so it doesn’t get the shield bonus to AC and can’t use a reaction raise his shield. GM2 takes the 15 incoming points, GM2’s hardness of 3 is subtracted so 12 points penetrate and do HP damage to the mech. GM2 is down to 34 HP.

So far nothing would be different if this were GM vs Zaku. If we gave the GM a beam spray pistol it would target EAC instead of KAC.

GM2 runs up to GM1 pulling its beam saber and slashes at it. GM2 rolls 1d20+8+5+1 and gets a 10+15 (25) vs EAC, which hits even with GM1’s shield up, GM1 uses a reaction to double its hardness vs the incoming attack. GM2 rolls 3d8+6+5 (STR and Tier) and gets a 13+11(24) which is reduced by GM1’s shield to 18 points and leaves it with 28 hit points.

This is going to turn into more of a slugfest than the Tier 1 example, but it also means your mobile suit can’t be jumped by a gang of angry goblin junkcycle riders and lose. Your GM has less hit points than a Police Cruiser, but has better EAC and KAC.

Building the Tier 10 Mobile Suits

Let’s try to make the Tier 10 better. While I am strictly using the numbers for tier 10 of the same gear, this is a more respectable mobile suit.

Step 2: Legionnaire 3.5xTier (35 MP)
Step 4: Basic Arms (Free) and Basic Biped Legs (Free)
Step 5: MK0 Dynamo power core, the cheapest core is free.
Step 6: Select Weapons. GMs all carry one Plasma Sword (5d10 damage in melee) 3.5xTier (35 MP) we’re at 70 MP. The Zaku’s heat hawk should be a one arm weapon that does 6d6 damage for 25 MP.

• GM and Zaku both have the Laser Rifle (6d6 at range)(90 and 120mm in the series) 3.5xTier (35 MP) 105 MP
• GM has 60mm Vulcan headcannons that probably should be lower damage and lesser range (4d6 at range) 3.5xTier (24.5 MP) 129.5 MP
• Zakus have shields or sometimes spiked shields, GMs carry regular shields with no spikes. 25 MP 154.5 MP total.

 

RGM-79 (LEGIONNAIRE frame)
Initiative +2
Gargantuan mech
HP 91;  Hardness 6 (23 Shield Points)
EAC 25+2+1(28); KAC 25+2+1+1(29); Fort +1+9(+10); Ref +1+9(+10)
Base Speed 60 ft.; Strength +9
Frame Slots 3; Aux Slots 4
Arm Slots 2; Leg Slots 0
Operators 1
Athletics 5+5+9(+19)
Attack 1d20+8+2+10(+20)
Cost 35

60mm Vulcan Headcannons
Ranged: +20 or Full: +16/+16 (4d6+10 P; Critical)
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Capacity 20
Cost 24.5

90mm Rifle
Ranged: +20 or Full: +16/+16 (6d6+10 P; Critical)
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Capacity 20
Cost 35

Beam Saber
Melee: +20 or Full: +16/+16 (5d10+19 E&F; Critical severe wound)
Type melee; Special thrown (20 ft.)
Cost 35

Shield
Melee: +20 or Full: +16/+16 (6d6+19 B; Crit )
Special analog, block
Cost 25

Testing the Tier 10 mobile suit 

So lets test this out, GM runs up on another GM in training, one of them wins initiative, they engage inside 250ft and GM1 shoots GM2 with the rifle, rolls 1d20+8+10+2 (1/5 Tier)(BAB or Piloting) (no weapon bonus)(no arm bonus)(no leg bonus). GM1 rolls a 10+20 (30) as a cannon it is against KAC of 30 and barely gets through. GM1 rolls 6d6+10 (31) and GM2 hasn’t acted yet so it doesn’t get the shield bonus to AC and can’t use a reaction raise his shield. GM2 takes the 31 incoming points, GM2’s hardness of 6 is subtracted so 25 points penetrate and do HP damage to the mech. GM2 is down to 66 HP.

So far nothing would be different if this were GM vs Zaku. If we gave the GM a beam spray pistol it would target EAC instead of KAC.

GM2 runs up to GM1 pulling its beam saber and slashes at it. GM2 rolls 1d20+8+10+2 and gets a 10+20 (30) vs EAC, which hits even with GM1’s shield up, GM1 uses a reaction to double its hardness vs the incoming attack. GM2 rolls 5d10+9+10 (STR and Tier) and gets a 27+19(46) which is reduced by GM1’s shield to 34 points and leaves it with 57 hit points.

This is still a slugfest, but now your mobile suit is closer to the Hover Tank (Tier 14) from Armory in everything but Hit Points.

We’re also going to need a character sheet for mechs.

Chasing the cordite dragon

Some of my research project stuff involves trying to tie real world guns to Starfinder weapons tiers, basing things off the machine guns and reaction cannons, I have kept the scale going through 30mm cannons used in jet fighters and then the scale bounced up to battleship cannons to see how close 16 inch guns would come to starship weapons.  A pulled the ballistics for a very common 90mm cannon capable of piercing 4 inch armor plate which I am going to use as a proxy for the RGM-79 rifle and the 120mm Zaku will be similarly modelled. While the Tier 10 mobile suit seems to work well, there’s a place on the weapons table somewhere between a 6d10 37mm cannon and 12d10 BAE experimental railgun that mobile suit would fall into, I’m using the Medium damage weapons for the rifles to leave me room for Beam Rifles, Beam Sabers and Bazookas to shine. There are also heavy gunner GMs and Zakus that need room for their artillery guns. Looking at my ballistics table it puts 90mm in the 10d10 range, technically Tier 17, but I can be convinced to go Tier 15 just to give us some breathing room for  better models and the ballistics table I made was created based on assumptions for character scale weapons.

Building the Tier 15 Mobile Suits

Let’s try to make the Tier 15 better. While I am strictly using the numbers for tier 15 of the same gear, this finally comes closest to a mobile suit based on tying the GM’s rifle to an army 90mm cannon..

Step 2: Legionnaire 3.5xTier (52.5 MP)
Step 4: Basic Arms (Free) and Basic Biped Legs (Free)
Step 5: MK0 Dynamo power core, the cheapest core is free.
Step 6: Select Weapons. GMs all carry one Plasma Sword (10d10 damage in melee) 3.5xTier (52.5 MP) we’re at 105 MP. The Zaku’s heat hawk should be a one arm weapon that does 10d8 damage for 37.5 MP.

• GM and Zaku both have the Laser Rifle (10d8 at range)(90 and 120mm in the series) 3.5xTier (52.5 MP) 157.2 MP
• GM has 60mm Vulcan headcannons that probably should be lower damage and lesser range (10d6 at range) 3.5xTier (45.5 MP) 203 MP
• Zakus have shields or sometimes spiked shields, GMs carry regular shields with no spikes. 37.5 MP 240.5 MP total.

 

RGM-79 (LEGIONNAIRE frame)
Initiative +3
Gargantuan mech
HP 136;  Hardness 8 (33 Shield Points)
EAC 31+2+1(34); KAC 31+2+1+1(35); Fort +1+13(+14); Ref +1+13(+14)
Base Speed 60 ft.; Strength +9
Frame Slots 3; Aux Slots 4
Arm Slots 2; Leg Slots 0
Operators 1
Athletics 5+7+9(+21)
Attack 1d20+8+3+15(+26)
Cost 35

60mm Vulcan Headcannons
Ranged: +26 (10d6+15 P; Critical)
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Capacity 20
Cost 24.5

90mm Rifle
Ranged: +26 (10d8+15 P; Critical)
Type ranged; Range 250 ft.; Special automatic
Capacity 20
Cost 35

Beam Saber
Melee: +26 (10d10+24 E&F; Critical severe wound)
Type melee; Special thrown (20 ft.)
Cost 35

Shield
Melee: +26 (6d6+19 B; Crit )
Special analog, block
Cost 25

Testing the Tier 15 mobile suit 

So lets test this out, GM runs up on another GM in training, one of them wins initiative, they engage inside 250ft and GM1 shoots GM2 with the rifle, rolls 1d20+8+15+3 (1/5 Tier)(BAB or Piloting) (no weapon bonus)(no arm bonus)(no leg bonus). GM1 rolls a 10+26 (36) as a cannon it is against KAC of 35 and barely gets through. GM1 rolls 10d8+15 (60) and GM2 hasn’t acted yet so it doesn’t get the shield bonus to AC and can’t use a reaction raise his shield. GM2 takes the 60 incoming points, GM2’s hardness of 8 is subtracted so 52 points penetrate and do HP damage to the mech. GM2 is down to 84 HP.

So far nothing would be different if this were GM vs Zaku. If we gave the GM a beam spray pistol it would target EAC instead of KAC.

GM2 runs up to GM1 pulling its beam saber and slashes at it. GM2 rolls 1d20+8+15+3 and gets a 10+26 (36) vs EAC, which hits even with GM1’s shield up, GM1 uses a reaction to double its hardness vs the incoming attack. GM2 rolls 10d10+9+15 (STR and Tier) and gets a 55+24(79) which is reduced by GM1’s shield to 63 points and leaves it with 73 hit points.

This is still a slugfest, but now your mobile suit is still faster than the Hover Tank (Tier 14) from Armory, has better weapons, comparable hardness with the shield up, much better armor, the tank still leads in Hit Points.

Right now I am looking at Tier 15 as the floor for Gundam Universal Century 0079 combat. It does not bode well that I can’t have a level 1 teenager jump in a mobile suit and have any chance of hitting another mobile suit. It also bothers me that I have to houserule the single seat mechs right off the bat. If mechs were built on starship scale I could easily justify a Tier 2 robot doing the things this Tier 15 vehicle is capable of which gives me lots of runway to play out a campaign. It looks like the mechs as built can take 3 solid hits before dying,  and while a crits do happen, I kind of want a minions rule where one solid hit will destroy an unnamed character’s mech instantly. This would help maintain the cinematic feel of a lot of mech shows.

I also want the action economy to more closely mirror character scale combat and then port it over to a three action system because the mechs could move more, and still attack.

Some things I see in the playtest so far

I’m going to say that adding Strength to damage but not to hit is fantastic, one of the problems with D20 Future’s Mecha rules was that armor had to stop melee weapons which had enormous Str bonuses to hit and therefore nobody had enough Dexterity to overcome that same amount of armor with ranged weapons.

The entire genre of giant robots is single seat mecha, except for a few sentai team shows like Power Rangers and Voltron. It seems odd that I have to houserule single seat frames. Pacific Rim with 2-3 seat Jaegers is an exception not the rule. The default assumption underlying mech combat and starship combat is that pilots and gunners are going to have a high BAB or ranks in Piloting, this means that angsty teenagers who’ve never piloted before are going to be at a disadvantage despite 50 years of anime telling us otherwise. The Autotarget system can help with characters not built for combat, but won’t make up for being under the appropriate character level.

With a stress on single seat mecha I’m going to need to steal minor actions from Starship combat and squadron rules from SOM like the data link so my science officer sitting wherever can share out what they know about the enemy. I want my support guys back at base or in the hovertruck feeding me intel.

Ranges are whacked, a 60 ft giant robot can’t blindsense itself wiggling its own toes, the darkvision is similarly short ranged, maybe they should have the 250 ft of starship scanners planetside?

I can hurl an object like a car or a vending machine with a 30 ft range increment, but thrown weapons only have a 20 ft range increment.

You’re supposed to set mech encounters at 3 levels over the Average Party Level, I believe a Tier 14 Hover Tank with appropriate crew might be something a fireteam of 4 RGM-79 (Tier 10) pilots could handle. We’ll have to break out the Gundam gashapon and a map to find out. The rules as written assume you are using the force shields which are equal to 1/4 the hit points of the Tier 5 and 10 mechs.

More to come.

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Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com