6.3.3 Mass Drivers
Mass
drivers are tremendously entertaining weapons. At higher
TLs, these are huge rail guns or other magnetic accelerators,
but these stats also work for catapults, trebuchets, mangonels,
and other relatively low-tech launchers. They are expensive,
huge, slow (you'll have to have a minifig spend a full turn
resetting them before they can be reloaded), and extremely
inaccurate (you'll spend a lot of time referring to 3.1.1:
NearMiss Rules). On the other hand, they do amazing
amounts of damage at a very long range, and can deliver all
kinds of fascinating payloads.
Classification:
Mass Drivers
(rapid payload delivery system) |
Weapon |
TL |
CP |
Range |
UR |
-CMP" |
PwrRq |
Size |
Damage |
Max
Payload |
MkI
Launcher |
3 |
40 |
20" |
7 |
-12" |
5 |
10dots |
1d10
x AV |
1Blok
/ One-Piece |
MkII
Launcher |
3 |
50 |
30" |
8 |
-16" |
10 |
15dots |
(1d10+3)
x AV |
2Blox
/ One-Piece |
MkIII
Launcher |
4 |
60 |
40" |
10 |
-20" |
15 |
20dots |
2d10
x AV |
4Blox
/ Small |
MkIV
Launcher |
5 |
70 |
50" |
12 |
-24" |
20 |
30dots |
(2d10+3)
x AV |
8Blox
/ Small |
"MeteorGun"
MkV Launcher |
6 |
80 |
60" |
16 |
-30" |
30 |
40dots |
3d10
x AV |
12Blox
/ Medium |
Vehicles
must be at least Medium in size to carry a Mass Driver. |
Mass
Drivers have one extra statistic, the Maximum Payload rating.
For regular objects, check to see if their weight is lower
than the maximum number of Blox (3.6.1:
Determining Mass). Sometimes you will
have to roll an object's AV to see if it is less than the
maximum number of Blox (mass in Blox is equal to Armor Value
divided by five). If it ends up heavier than the maximum,
you've just burned out the Mass Driver engine and it won't
work again until a Mechanik has worked on it for a full turn.
You can also use it to launch Flyers without runways; MkI
and MkII Mass Drivers can only launch One-Piece Flyers, MkIII
and MkIV can launch Small Flyers, and the All Powerful MkV
Meteor Gun can even launch Medium Flyers.
If
you really want to, you can also launch these classes of Ground
Vehicles. If the pilot is wearing an AntiGrav Parachute,
he can bring a One-Piece Ground Vehicle down safely, but no
number of Parachutes can save larger vehicles. The only
reason you would ever want to launch a Small or Medium Ground
Vehicle is if you are tired of it and want to see it smashed
into tiny pieces.
Damage is also a little different for Mass Drivers.
Harder and heavier payloads deliver more damage, so the damage
delivered is multiplied by the Armor of the payload.
Consequently, the Mass Driver has the potential to deliver
some truly stupendous amounts of damage! When the payload
hits the target, both payload and target take this amount
of damage, so be careful. Launching your own troops
around without AntiGrav Parachutes is not a good idea unless
you are fond of large-scale splatter painting. Tying
up enemy troops and using them as ammunition is both economical
and entertaining.
When the payloads hit, they hit hard enough to cause Explosion
Damage with concussion and shrapnel. Be careful, though,
when you calculate the Explosion's AreaEffect - you subtract
1d10's before you multiply by AV, not after. For example,
if you launch a 3-Blok boulder out of a MkIII Mass Driver,
it does 2d10x15 damage to its target. Two inches away,
it does 1d10x15 damage, and four inches away it does no damage.
If you multiplied the 2d10x15 before you started subtracting
1d10s, you'd do 30d10 to the target, 29d10 two inches away,
and so on, destroying everything within five feet of ground
zero!
If
you are using an unpowered Mass Driver, such as a catapult
or trebuchet, it only costs half as many CPs as the listed
price. To reset the launching mechanism (i.e., pulling
the arm back and tightening the ropes on a catapult), you
need to gather together enough minifigs and Horses (8.1.4:
Normal Creatures) to meet the Power requirement
listed in the PwrReq column. It takes these units one
full turn to reset the launching mechanism. Ammunition
must also be collected and loaded by hand.
6.3.4 Cannons
In
TL3 and early TL4, teknology is not advanced enough to support
powered or automatic weaponry. Power is provided from
gunpowder, either packed in the shells for howitzers, tank
cannons, and deck guns, or packed in by hand for cannonballs.
Classification:
Cannons
(unpowered ballistik siege weapons) |
Weapon |
TL |
CP |
Range |
UR |
-CMP" |
PwrRq |
Size |
Damage |
Max
Payload |
CannonBall |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
-3" |
- |
1cyl |
1d10+3
exp |
- |
Barrel
of GunPowder |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
-2" |
- |
2brix |
2d10+3
exp |
- |
Cannons |
MkI
"Pirate" Cannon |
3 |
10 |
16" |
6 |
-3" |
- |
8dots |
1d10+3
exp |
CannonBall |
MkII
Cannon |
4 |
12 |
18" |
5 |
-3" |
- |
10dots |
* |
MkII
Bomb |
MkIII
Cannon |
4 |
14 |
20" |
6 |
-4" |
- |
14dots |
* |
MkIII
Bomb |
MkIV
Cannon |
4 |
16 |
22" |
7 |
-4" |
- |
18dots |
* |
MkIV
Bomb |
MkV
Cannon |
5 |
18 |
24" |
8 |
-5" |
- |
24dots |
* |
MkV
Bomb |
a
Cannon's Damage is determined by the shells it fires. |
Pirate
Cannons can only fire CannonBalls. To prepare a Pirate
Cannon to fire, minifigs must load a CannonBall in the front
and GunPowder in the back. To load GunPowder, a minifig
must pick up a GunPowder Barrel and touch it to the back of
the Cannon each time it prepares to fire. Finally, to
fire the Cannon, a minifig with a Torch or some other source
of fire (2.3.6: Fire)
must come by and light the fuse. Torches never 'burn
out' (although they can be put out by dunking them in water),
GunPowder Barrels never run out of GunPowder, and Cannons
never run out of fuse. If a GunPowder Barrel is dunked
in water, the GunPowder is ruined. If a GunPowder Barrel
is hit by fire or hot lead, it explodes, doing 2d10+3 explosion
damage, so be careful!
Other
types of Cannons fire shells. Shells are bought as if
they were regular Bombs, and are loaded into the Cannons by
minifigs. There is no need for GunPowder Barrels or
torches; these advanced cannons use firing pins and are activated
by the push of a button or trigger. These Cannons can
fire any size Bomb up to their Maximum Payload rating.
Damage is determined by what type of Bomb you use as a shell.
A
vehicle carrying CannonBalls, GunPowder Barrels, or any type
of Bomb to be used as a Shell, does not take any Cargo Movement
Penalty from them. They are not mounted on the vehicle,
they are merely carried by it, and as such do not require
the special mounts and control devices that normally cause
Vehicle -CMP". The -CMP" of these items do
apply to the minifigs who pick up them up in order to load
the Cannons.
|
6.4
Siege Close Combat
We
were pretty proud of ourselves with our rules for big Siege
lasers, towering missiles, and all our other ranged weapons
of mass annihilation. We sat around patting each other
on the back every time we blew up a big section of the enemy
base, thinking we had achieved the end-all in visceral destructive
pleasure.
Then
Truckasaurus came to town, and didn't we feel dumb!
He
showed us a whole world of vehicular mayhem that we had totally
overlooked - the Jaws of Death! The Giant Buzzsaw Hand!
Oxy-Acetylene Claws! The Spiked Wrecking Ball, the Battering
Ram, the Constricto-Noose, the Auto-Grinder, the Whirling
Blades of Death, the Electrified Scorpion Tail, the Enormous
Food Processor, the Gigantic Spiked Cleats - this was more
than a minor oversight. We have come to realize that
these are the weapons that are absolutely essential to a satisfactory
battlefield experience. We apologize for not having understood
this earlier.
6.4.1 Siege Close
Combat Weapons
If
you want to give your vehicle arms and legs (or tentacles,
tails, wings, etc.), you should take a look at the Robots
rules supplement (RV.3:
Robotic Limbs). You can put Siege CC
Weapons in the hands of your Robot, or you can mount them
directly on the front and sides of your vehicle.
Siege
CC Weapons are like Troop CC Weapons that have been amplified
and blown out of proportion. A Troop CC Weapon is designed
to be used by a Trooper, who has a Power of 1. Vehicles'
Power Ratings can be many times larger, so you can give them
CC Weapons that are that many times bigger, stronger, and
more expensive.
To
convert a Troop CC Weapon to a Siege CC Weapon, first choose
a Size Multiplier ('Sx'). The Siege CC Weapon should
be about this many times as big as the original troop weapon,
although this is not absolutely necessary. The new weapon's
statistics will be as follows:
Classification:
Siege CC Weapons
(tools of glory) |
Original
Troop Stat |
New
Siege Stat |
Size |
Size
x Sx |
TekLevel |
TL
+ (Sx - 1) |
Two-Handed |
same
(only applies to a Robot with Hands) |
CP
Cost |
CP
x Sx |
Usage
Rating |
UR
+ Sx |
Cargo
Movement Penalty |
-CMP"
x Sx (min -1") |
Damage |
Damage
x Sx |
Power
Required |
Sx
Power |
Maximum
Damage |
no
limit |
If
your Robot picks up the weapon with its hands or claws, then
you're all done. Your Robot uses the weapon just as a Troop
would use the equivalent Troop weapon.
If
the weapon is mounted directly onto the vehicle or onto one
of the vehicle's Limbs, then it costs an extra 4 CP.
If
the weapon is immobile and mounted on the vehicle's front
grill, then the vehicle will have to crash the weapon into
a target in order to use the weapon. You can buy turrets
and hinges to mount the weapon at normal cost.
6.4.2 Siege Equipment
and Armor
You
can buy Siege Equipment and Armor as well. If you want
to put a BullDozer blade on the front of your vehicle, for
instance, you can 'Siegeify' a BigShield. A Shield with
a Size Multiplier of 4 would have a TL of 4, cost 8 CP, have
a Move Penalty of -2", require 4 Power, and have 16 Armor
in addition to the vehicle's normal armor rating. This
Armor wouldn't apply to the whole vehicle, unfortunately,
just to the BullDozer blade itself. However, this blade
would be very useful for crashing into things and blocking
weapons fire.
There
are any number of useful Siege Equipment devices that you
might come up with. Two that we use frequently are Scanners
and Cloaking Devices.
Classification:
Siege Equipment
(special-purpose siege items) |
Item |
TL |
CP |
-CMP" |
PwrRq |
Size |
Effect |
Scanner (per 5" Range) |
5 |
2 |
-1" |
1 |
4dots |
scans
area |
Vehicle
Cloaking Device (per 5 AV) |
6 |
3 |
-1" |
1 |
4dots |
cloaks
vehicle |
Base
Cloaking Field (per 1" radius) |
6 |
10 |
- |
2 |
4dots |
cloaks
building |
Scanning
capability is bought in 5" chunks. If you wanted
25" of scanning range, for instance, you would pay 10
CP, take a -5" Movement Penalty, need 5 Power, and install
a radar dish at least 20 dots in Size. A Scanner is
always active (you do not need to take a separate action to
fire or activate it) and it scans everything in a 45 degree
cone around the direction it is pointing (for this reason
many scanners are on turrets and rotate once a turn).
The scanning unit knows everything there is to know about
any object within its scanning area, regardless of interference
or obstructions, unless the object is cloaked. A Scanner
can detect a cloaked object or unit on a roll of '6' on 1d6.
It must make a separate roll for each cloaked object, once
a turn. An object that is detected remains detected
for one turn, and then must be re-detected.
Cloaking
capability is bought in chunks of 5 AV (for moving objects
like Vehicles or SpaceMen) or a stationary Cloaking Field
Generator can be used to cover an area (for stationary objects
like Bases). For instance, if you wanted your Cloaking
Field Generator to cloak everything within 12", it would
cost 120 CP, require 24 Power, and you would have to build
the Generator as a permanent ground installation at least
48 dots in size. A cloaked immobile object is invisible.
A cloaked moving object or unit is not perfectly invisible,
but has the advantage of Stealth. If a cloaked unit
fires a weapon or makes an attack, then it is uncloaked until
its next turn.
A
Cloaking device does not use Power the same way other devices
do. When a Cloaking device is active, the Power
it is using is not available to other devices on the
base or vehicle. When a Cloaking device is deactivated,
the Power it used is not available to other devices on the
base or vehicle until the following turn. A Cloaking
device may only be activated at the beginning of a base's
or vehicle's turn, but it may be deactivated at any time,
even during another player's turn.
|
|
|
Projectiles
with Personality
Not that there's anything wrong with normal
bombs, missiles, and catapult payloads, but the experienced general
may appreciate a little variety now and then. Fortunately,
all of these projectiles can be modified to carry even more entertaining
payloads. As with the Guns with Personality (described above),
Projectiles with Personality require a lot of flexibility and a
certain amount of apathy towards CP costs from the players.
Here are some of the payloads we've enjoyed in some of our games:
- Compressed Marshmallow Fluff
expands upon impact into an enormous white sticky mass, gumming
up gears, cutting off air supplies, and creating a huge white wall
for your troops to hide behind. Any minifigs that manage to
claw their way out of the fluff mass are immediately attacked by
swarms of hungry insects.
- HyperUnsaturated Vegetable Oil makes asphalt as slick as
ice, and achieves such saturation that hard earth instantly turns
to quicksand.
- Paratroopers are fun to launch from catapults.
- Tied-up enemy minifigs always make good projectiles.
- Zombies, Timmies, plague-infested rats, and Freaky Green Things
all have a hilarious effect on the citizenry of a besieged city.
- Smoke bombs and anti-inflammatory foam are good for providing
quick cover for your attacking troops.
- Insanity Gas is a fast way to bring chaos to the battlefield.
- Large clouds of locusts and frogs have a very demoralizing
effect on ancient Egyptian mummies.
- Big buckets of latex housepaint have a number of useful
properties. Besides ruining windshields, helmet visors, computer
monitors, weapon scopes, and instruction manuals, they also have
great propaganda value. There's nothing better than painting
huge patches of the battlefield in your Civilization's color.
Properly-splattered enemy units may even become confused as to which
side they belong to.
- Neutrino Bombs have the useful ability to totally disrupt
electronic activity, disabling machinery and killing units while
causing no physical damage.
- Salt is good in a campaign game, if you want to render
your opponents' farmlands useless. It's kind of a dirty trick
though.
- Supplies can be airdropped to friendly guerillas and contra
fighters.
Obviously, these represent only a spall sample of all the possible
things you might want to launch at different targets. You
will undoubtedly think of many more as you play.
|
|