Mekton Zeta Gundam Senki Notes

Gundam Senki Basic Rules:

Tsueno omitted many MZ rules that don't suit the Gundam setting. Scaling rules are one of the first rules that were done away with. Instead, he established Servo classes beyond Mega Heavy to resolve all the construction and mecha combat rules on one (Mekton) scale. He kept Human scale, although it's more of an issue about the size of a Hex, no changes have been made to the combat rules.

Dice Rolling

Gundam Senki uses 2D6 instead of 1D10. Roll 2D6 instead of 1D10. Natural "12" is a Critical Success and "2" is a Critical Failure. Criticals add/subtract 2D6 to/from the result.

Difficulty numbers are as normal in MZ.

The expected value of 2D6 is 7(1.5point larger than 1D10's 5.5) but harder to get chance of critical(only 2.77% at 2D6). The game balance /
combat becomes stable. Differences in skill levels are more heavily reflected in the game.

2D6 style Mekton gets nastier when used with the G-Factor rule (defender must roll the servo’s remaining number of Kills or lower on 2d6, or the servo explodes). Of course, this rule is in effect in Gundam Senki.

Combat systems are basically the same, but the balances are very different. The "Induced Explosion" Rule (in MZ terms, the "G-Factor") makes MS combats very deadly, as in the TV shows. Changes to the LUCK rules make GS games more dramatic, and give them more of a "Gundam" feel.

Luck

In GS, Luck is used in the following ways:

1: Luck points are applied AFTER rolling dice. You can spend any amount of Luck for Defensive use. But in Offensive use, you can spend only 1 point of Luck for each roll.

2: When you get hit, you can change Hit Location as your will by spending 1 Luck point.

3: When you failed Induced Explosion roll, you can spend any amounts of Luck to decrease dice result.

Note that, in GS, only PCs and Major NPCs actually use their Luck stat. Grunts and Mooks don’t.

ACE POINTS

Ace Points are also usable in different ways.
1: Use same as Luck, but only usable for Mecha Combat related rolls.
2:  Increase MA by 1 for each Ace point he spends. (We are thinking about changing this rule: By spending 1 Ace Point, you can x2 the MA for a movement action)

Ace Points are basically the same as MZ’s Maneuver Pool, with some mods for Gundam. A Character’s Ace Points are determined by the level of their relative "Piloting" skill: MS Piloting for Mobile Suit Pilots, Aircraft/Shuttle for Mobile Armor or Space/Jet fighters, Driving for Tankers. The number is [Piloting skill -5]. The points increase as the character increase his piloting skill.

The number is doubled when piloting Ace Custom mecha. When Char (MS Piloting skill 10) is piloting a normal MS-06F, he gets 5 Ace Points. When he uses his MS-06S, his ace points are doubled to 10.

In order to recover Ace Points, PCs must return to their base or mother ship. When they launch again, they regain their full Ace Points. (This is the strong point of Ace Points when compared with Newtype points or LUCK.)

The rules are on pages 143 to 144.


NEWTYPE POINTS

Newtype has special skill called "Newtype Point"(NP). Newtype Points can be used in the following manners:

1: NP can be used as if LUCK points.
2: Newtypes can add NP to Initiative.
3: Newtypes can add 1/2 of NP to any REF based combat skills
4: Newtypes can add NP to Awareness, Human Perception, and Zero-G.
5: Newtypes with NP level 6 or better can decrease combat penalties(lost head parts, get flanked, etc) by [NP -5] points.
6: The Referee may give Newtype characters faint visions of the future or unavoidable fate.
7: Newtypes can telepathically communicate if the sum of both characters NP + 2D6 equals or exceeds a difficulty of 30

Both Rookies and Civilians are considered "Latent Newtypes" for game purposes. "Low level" Newtypes are not really different from ordinal people with some kind of "charmed existence"- beginner's luck or sharp senses, a man that’s "too tough to die", or an especially quick learner.

The "Awakened Newtypes"(those who have a "spark" on their foreheads) typically have 7+ NT Points. Many of WhiteBase’s crew had NT Points, but seldom actually advanced them.

"Newtype point" is treated like a skill, but kind of a "special skill" like the Combat Sense of Solos in CP2020. The advancement is same as other skills. For OldTypes(Veterans) to pick up NP, they must pay 100IP to learn the Newtype skill at +1, after that advancement is the same as normal.

NT Points are regained in full when game session ends.


Esper lenses are not used in GS.

'Thought Control' is to be used to represent Psycommu systems, while 'ESPer Lens' is closer to the Psycoframe system used in the Nu Gundam and Sazabi.

Bear in mind that the Psycommu, Bio Sensor, and Psycho Frame systems don't cause damage to the pilot when his/her MS gets hit. They may suffer a headache or feel ill when one of these systems is overused or used to contact / confront other hostile Newtypes.

Changes to Combat System:

INDIRECT FIRE AND AREA EFFECT
Any Character/Mecha that is in a Blast Radius can try to evade the blast. Make an Evade Roll just as if dodging normal gunfire. If the roll succeeds, the MS can evade the blast and receive no damage. Note that A-P or Disrupter on AEW won't effect on the blast damage. It only applies to "direct hit" damage.

A quick rundown of the Table of Contents is:
15 pages of color anime.
120 pages of history of Gundam story and scenarios
18 pages of character-making
20 pages of mech and human combat rules
12 pages of various other rules
15 pages of NPC data
120 pages of mech data
14 pages of tables and charts




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Mecha Construction System:

There is no mecha "construction" system per say, and mecha stats are a
bit different. The given example is the MS-05B ZAK.


BASIC STATS
Type: MS (mobile suit)
Skill used: MS pilot
Reaction adjustment (MV): -7
Basic evasion: 5
Initiative: 1
Power: 6 (used in melee)

Basic Evasion and Initiative values are written in parenthesis ( ).
These stats are used when a typical pilot pilots the MS. These values are given in order to speed play.

A typical Pilot is assumed to have REF 8, and +4 level in all Mecha Combat skills.

So, an Old Zaku's "Basic Evasion" is 5 [REF(8) +MS Piloting(4) -MV(-7) =5], and Initiative is 1 [REF(8) + MV(-7)= 1]

"Power" is new stat for Mecha to show melee damage bonus. In MZ, the damage bonus is determined by servo size, but this isn't true for the Gundam world. For example, the Old Zaku, Zaku II, Gouf and even the Gundam should have the same sized servos, but the level of power for each of these units is very different. That’s why the damage bonus was cut from servo size and a new stat was created.

Power Rank  also replaces Hydraulics from MZ+, to simplify the explanation of MS stats and combat rule.  Use the chart below for your reverse engineering. The Multiplier is applied only to Servo Cost, but must applied to TOTAL of its Servo cost. Base PR is set by the class of
the Torso servo, no matter how big its Arm or Leg is.

Base Power Rank is Torso "Cost/Space/Kills" x 1/2



Power Rank      COST
-2                        x0.9
-1                        x0.95
Standard             x1.0
+1                      x1.1
+2                      x1.2
+3                      x1.3
+4                      x1.4

Note: +1PR for +x0.1 cost formula. Mecha cannot lower PR below -2 from
Base PR.



Armor and Kills (referred to as endurance or durability in the text):
2D6 are rolled for hit location:
Roll    Location   SP  Kills
2-4     Left Leg    5      7
  5      Left Arm   5      7
  6      Head         5      6
7-8     Torso        5    12
  9      Right Arm 5      7
10-12 Right Leg  5      7

WEAPONS (mounted)
Stats for weapons are precision (WA), base attack (for typical pilot), range, damage, ammo, location, kills, and skill used to fire.

The ZAK mounts two punches, two kicks, one tackle and one anti-personnel shotgun, each with all the above stats.

OPTIONAL weapons
105mm ZAK mg
ZAK bazooka
Gas
Heat hawk

SPECIAL: Space environmental system

SPECS:
Height 17.5 m
Base weight: 50.3 t
Loaded weight: 65.5 t
Generator output: 899 kW
Thrust: 40700 kg
Armor: Ultra-hard steel alloy
Appeared in: TV show

Armor

Most armor in Gundam Senki is Standard (DC=1).

Lunar Titanium Armor is designated "L", and is equivalent to Mekton Z’s "Gamma" armor (DC=8).

Armor on battleships maintains its original SP after taking hit(s).


Weapons

Weapon Codes:

EC: The weapon can only be used by Mobile Suits equipped with an Energy Cap system.
The number of shots is as written in the individual MS data. EC weapons can only be recharged at a mothership or base.

M: The weapon is reloaded by magazine. Most One-Year War MS can not reload weapons by hand. The number equals the number of shots in the magazine

EM: Energy Melee Weapon; as in normal MZ

MG: Machine Gun; just like Autofire in normal MZ. All MG has BV5.

 _CL_ : Cross Linked, with the number before the CL being the number of weapons linked together, and the number after being the Damage caused by one weapon in the link.

BR: Blast Radius (in hexes)

AH: Anti-Personnel weaponry. ("Anti-Human", to avoid confusion with Armor-Piercing)

UW = Underwater- weapon fires underwater only

HW = Hot Cutter weapons.

SS: Shatter Shot, for shotguns


Beam Melee Weapon and Heat Weapons get the "hot-knife" effect, but Beam Rifles don't. They just have BIG Kill numbers (Gundam's Beam Rifle does 16K damage). BMW ignore 4SP and HW ignore 2SP. And Heat weapons won't get damaged when used to parry a BMW because the blade is coated by an I-Field. (Think of HW as primitive BMW).

Hot-Cutter Weapons:     -2SP: x1.5      -4SP: x2.0

Weapons like the Heat-hawk, Heat Rod and Heat Saber have this effect. Hot-Cutters cut through armor just like the proverbial "hot knife through butter", treating all armor as being at -2 or -4SP, except for Reactive Shields and Beam Shields. Minimum SP is zero.

When using a Melee Weapon with Hot-Cutter effect to Parry, its Damage rating is treated like the SP of a Shield.  The weapon's Kills get lowered by 1, only when the attack does more Damage than the Damage of the HC parry weapon.

The Hot-Cutter effect can be applied to Melee Weapons and Missile Weapons. For an example of a HC missile weapon, see the Shot-Lancer, which appeared in Gundam F91. It was a big anti-capital ship missile that has a BeamSaber-like penetrator on its head.

In Gundam Senki, no A-P or Disruptor weapons exist. They are too drastic in a world setting that uses the G-Factor rules.  Also note that Gundam Senki uses the simplified rule that a successful parry by Heat or Beam Melee Weapon stops all damage from the attacking Melee/BMW.



Shields

You will notice Shields in Gundam Senki MS have a positive "+" DA. This rules change is because most of the play testers felt the shield rules in MZ didn’t reflect the nature of Gundam Shields. With the new rule, Shields are quickly destroyed after 1 or 2 hits, but that’s how shields work in Gundam...

Cost of a Shield = (SP Cost + Kill Cost) xMultipliers

SP:         1       2       3       4       5       6       7
8       9   10
COST:   1      1.5     2       2.5    3       3.5    4       4.5    5
5.5

KILL:   1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
9   10
COST:  1      1.5     2       2.5    3       3.5    4       4.5    5
5.5

DA:            -2      -1       0        +1        +2      +3
COST:   x0.6    x0.8    x1.0    x1.25   x1.5    x2.0

Armor Types: Same as MZ+ Page22

EFFECT:                            COST
A-P Resistant:                     x1.5
Anti-Beam Coat(Alpha)      x1.25
Anti-Beam Coat(Beta)        x1.5
Anti-Beam Coat(Gamma)   x2.0

A-P Resistant:
This armor is highly resistant to damage. It can ignore A-P effect of attacks that hit it. This contradicts a statement Tsueno made earlier about there not being AP or disruptor weapons in GS, but…
Anti-Beam Coat:
The armor has special coating that is resistant to Beam attack, such as shield of Z-Gundam or armor plate of 100-Siki. Alpha ABC can reduce "hot knife through butter" effect of Energy Melee Weapons(or Melee/Missile Weapon with Hot-Cutter effect) by +2 and reduce damage of Beam and Energy Melee Weapons by -1. Beta ABC has same damage reduction but mod is +4/-2.   Gamma ABC has +4/-4.

Think of Shields in Gundam Senki as a "hand-held extra servo for Parry-use"(G-factor is not applied to it, though).  A Shield is destroyed when its Kills are reduced to zero, no matter how much of its SP is left.

A shield has the same Binder Space as its KILL rating. There are no "Active" Shields in Gundam, but for universal rule's sake, treat them as a x1.5 multiplier if you bring them in.

The above new effects can be used with Armor, as well as Shields.

The box text on p. 208 is about the Long Beam Rifle that appeared in ep.13 of 08th MS Team. The energy for that rifle is supplied by a portable generator(not by the MS), so the weapon can be used by any MS, but the generator is bulky and heavy.  MS who carry this rifle and generator suffer -2 penalty on MV. The generator must be placed on the ground (and cannot be moved) when using the gun. The rifle requires 5 turns between firings for cooling down and recharging.

Minovski Craft systems are treated as Thrusters with no need of fuel. MC vehicles don't work in underwater like Gravitics. And in Gundam Senki, extra Maneuver Pool is only gained from the ACE system.
All combat rules are solved in Mekton scale, all vehicles are Mekton scale. When Player Characters are not in MS, 1Hex is 5m. Some vehicles become multi-hex size units.

G-Factor:
MS make all induced explosion rolls on 2d6.
Ships make IE rolls on 4 D6
Mobile Armors?