Modular Units: a Mercenary tale of Missions, Mechs, and Money
A mech game where you play as a mercenary fighting for money, and maybe morals even if morals don't fill an empty belly.
Fulfil questionable contracts, earn money and invest that money to fulfil even more questionable contracts. Earning even more money in the process.
As said in the title: Missions, Mechs, and Money. The three essential M's in a mercenary's life.SETTINGGenerations ago, there was a war among the stars. A story of a firmament painted in flames, a story of no victors. A story of how an era came to an end, along with centuries of history and technological progress, with neither wisdom nor hope left behind. Only weapons.
This is an era of megacorporations, risen from the ashes of old nations and voraciously competing for the scraps of power that survived the fires. Among them are the infamous mechanized giants that warred across the stars: the Modular Units, shortened to MUs.
You are a mercenary. A vulgar MU pilot. Some call you a wolf. Others call you a hyena. None of it matters.
(...)
Among the many planets left to fend for themselves, there is Begreris. Here on Begreris ancient technological ruins were recently discovered, their vast potential monetary and military value attracting the attention of many powerful factions.
With their arrival the flames of conflict faned once more, meaning one thing for a mercenary of the Hub such as you: more profitable work.
The Corporations
Extremely powerful companies which rose in the aftermath of the countless conflicts that sprouted from the collapse of the old powers. They are both partners and competitors, allies and enemies fueled by a common thirst for profit and power. They created the Verified Currency monetary unit used across the worlds, abbreviated as VC.
Hub
An independent organization that manages mercenary MU pilots across the world, with the sole condition for joining being to own a Modular Unit. Created by the Corporations, it once was managed by a board composed of Corporation delegates, but the Hub grew so powerful and influential it managed to declare its own independence from the Corporations.
CodeON - the Codeon Organized Network
Elusive but with very real influence, the CodeON gathers most of the eponymous Codeons, artificial mechanical lifeforms created with old technologies. They are secretive and avoid interfering with other factions unless threatened. Their goals remain unclear to other factions.
PRI - the Planetary Reclamation Initiative
A military organization aiming to restore order across the galaxy by bringing every planets back under control of the Authority, an ancient superintelligence that oversees the PRI. With exceptional personel and access to ancient caches of technology, they are second only to the combined might of the Corporations.
SYMBIOSIS
A scientific organization that officially researches endemic flora and fauna of Begreris in order to further the field of terraformation and environmental restoration. They distrust the Corporations.
BIA - the Begreris Independent Administration
The main ruling body on Begreris, supported by the civilian majority among the Begrerians. They are in open conflict with the PRI and the Corporations who encroach on their world, but they stand no chance of winning as things stand.
ZSO - the Zereon Star Order
An alliance of aristocratic families who aim to subjugate planets under some form of imperial law of their own making. They openly despise the PRI, but despite their many superior relics, their dream remains unreachable due to internecine politics and prideful pilots where blood matters more than skill.
CORSAIR - the League of Free Sailors
A very loose union of starfarers whose occupation ranges from audacious explorers and adventurous traders to lawless raiders and merciless pirates. They are more infamously known for the latter category of members, who thrive in a still chaotic galaxy.
WMB Industries [WMB]
A manufacturer with a foothold in every conflicts, World's Most Basic Industries offer average products with an incredible price to quality ratio. Beyond arms dealing, their control over other economical sectors is such that the WMB brand is the only one available on many worlds.
Specialize in: parts
Hephaestus Heavy Industries [HPH]
Matched only by Tokiyuki and Arballister, the mythical Hephaestus Foundries put an emphasis on heavy armor and back breaking melee weapons. Their in-house mercenaries, the Crimson Blades, are renowned for their warrior culture which backed up with very real piloting skills.
Specialize in: parts, melee weapons
Tokiyuki Corporation [TKI]
One of the oldest corporations, and oldest rival of Arballister, the Tokiyuki Corporation products remain as versatile as ever. They arrived on Begreris at the same time as Arballister in search for undiscovered technological relics.
Specialize in: parts, medium range weapons
Arballister Group [ARB]
One of the oldest corporations, and oldest rival of Tokiyuki, famed for their cutting edge long range weapon systems. They arrived on Begreris at the same time as Tokiyuki for the very same reason.
Specialize in: parts, long range weapons
The Arsenal [ARS]
A huge conglomerate formed from the merging of several smaller weapon manufacturers in a successful bid to compete with the bigger groups. Always a step behind, the Arsenal arrived on Begreris after the first corporations.
Specialize in: weapons
SCRAP - Salvager Association [SCR]
Once an association of unlicensed manufacturers which underwent a triumphant internal reorganization, SCRAP has ever since consistently provided reliable products made from salvaged parts. They were already partly present on Begreris before the arrival of the Corporations
Specialize in: parts
Obsidian Technologies [OBS]
A scientific institute turned arms manufacturer to fund and profit from their research. They arrived on Begreris after the existence of technological ruins was leaked by an anonymous group.
Specialize in: unusual parts
Blueshift Energies [BLS]
A minor corporation focusing exclusively on energy efficient parts, and known for their antishield weapons. Once a major shield manufacturer, they stopped producing shields shortly after an influential executive stole most of their industrial secrets, founding Bulwark Defence Systems in the process.
Specialize in: parts, antishield weapons
Exceed Systems and Electronics [EXC]
A small but very wealthy corporation that remains undefeated when it comes to developping MU combat computers. They are rumoured to have stolen secrets from CodeON to give themselves an edge in new generation CPUs.
Specialize in: CPUs
Bulwark Defence Systems [BLW]
A specialized corporation focusing exclusively on shielding technologies, created from a disgruntled executive from Blueshift Energies. Thanks to a team of core geniuses, they have managed to remain ahead of all their competitors in the field of shielding technology.
Specialize in: shields
Mistral Avionics [MST]
A specialized corporation focusing exclusively on thrusters, although their main domain of expertise remains shipbuilding. They have recently entered the market for Modular Units, introducing their expensive but unrivalled thrusters.
Specialize in: thrusters
This game uses a 2d6 to determine success or failure.
Skill Explanation
The three Pilot Skills represent their overall combat effectiveness at a given combat range: Melee, Medium, and Long.
Pilot skills are split between an Attack skill and a Defence skill, both of which share the Pilot skill's value.
Skill (Attack/Defence)
Melee (Shock/Dodge) - Set of skills related to close combat engagement
Medium (Assault/Position) - Set of skills related to medium range engagement
Long (Artillery/Jamming) - Set of skills related to long range engagement
Skill Effectiveness
Pilot skills follow a rock-paper-scissor system, where each skill is strong against another, and weak against the other.
Melee is effective against Long.
Medium is effective against Melee.
Long is effective against Medium.
VS.Shock - VS.Assault - VS.Artillery
Dodge 0 -4 -2
Position -2 0 -4
Jamming -4 -2 0
In the next parts, the term Unit refers to a pilot inside its MU.
The combat system of this game is semi-automatic. Each battle is divided into rounds themselves divided into turns. Players are able to declare an action at the start of each round, and then the turns are processed automatically according to a few rules.
Start of the round: players declare actions
Turn 1: actions are automatically processed
Turn 2: actions are automatically processed
Turn 3: actions are automatically processed
End of the round
Repeat until the battle is over
If for whatever reason a Unit is unable to complete the action of the player, then it uses the default target preferences.
Combats take place on a Battlefield cut up into Combat Zones.
- When a battle starts, every team starts in their own Rear Combat Zone unless the situation prevents them from doing so.
- Rear Combat Zones are separated by the Main Combat Zone.
- It takes one Round to move between different Combat Zones.
- Units can only attack other Units in the same Combat Zone, unless they are using a Long range weapon.
- Only Long range weapons can strike across Combat Zones.
By default, a Unit selects a target based on its target preference.
Melee Units will attempt to target Long Units.
Medium Units will attempt to target Melee Units.
Long Units will attempt to target Medium Units.
Then the unit selects among the appropriate targets the one with the highest Profile attribute.
During combat, Units with Melee or Medium range weapons are able to engage their targets, disrupting their target selection: an engaged Unit must target one of the Units it is engaged against. This is Engagement.
Engagement uses the Pursuit attribute of a Modular Unit, along with the Pilot's skill in SHOCK or ASSAULT.
To counter this, units are able to avoid engagement. This is Avoidance.
Avoidance uses the Evasion attribute of a Modular Unit, along with the Pilot's skill in DODGE or POSITION.
Units with the highest Pursuit attack first, followed by the next Units with higher Pursuit. On a tie, Long weapons attack first, followed by Medium weapons, ending with Melee weapons.
Units can only target units they have managed to detect.
A unit is automatically detected by its target if it attacks it in the same zone.
Otherwise to determine if a unit has detected another, Detection is compared to Stealth+Range Modifier.
The Stealth value of a Modular Unit is equal to Profile - 6.
The Range Modifier equals:
-4 for Units in the same Zone
-2 for Units in adjacent Zones
2 for Units in distant Zone (non-adjacent)
Any unit can launch an active scan, which takes 1 Turn and double their Detection for 2 more Turns.
When Units use their weapon to attack a target, they make a Hit roll [2d6 + Total Attack Skill] against the target's [2d6 + Total Defence Skill], where Attack Skill is determined by the weapon used, and Defence Skill by the highest one after taking every modifiers into account.
If an attack is a hit, the game rolls on the target's Hit Table to determine which part is damaged. The Hit Table changes based on the chassis of a Unit, as well as whether or not it is using a physical shield.
Standard Hit Table:
1-2: Head
3-5: Core
6-7: Arms
8-10: Legs
On a hit, the weapon used determines the amount of damage inflicted on a part's durability.
A part's integrity is represented by its amount of durability points (DP). A durability point can have three states: unarmored, armored, and destroyed.
○ - unarmored durability point
● - armored durability point
x - destroyed durability point
Unarmored durability points are destroyed when they take 1 damage.
Armored durability points lose their armor when they take 1 damage.
Armored durability points are destroyed when they take 1 penetrating damage.
Penetrating damage is a property of some weapons.
A Part can have three damage states.
Working: the Part is functioning within expected parameters. No Handling modifier.
Damaged: the Part's Durability has reached below 50% of its max Durability value. The following negative effects are applied:
All parts: Handling is increased by 1.
Head (Damaged): Unable to detect units beyond the adjacent zones / -1 Detection / -1 Jamming
Core (Damaged): Mounted Weapons become unusable.
Arms (Damaged): Arm Load increases by 1.
Legs (Damaged): Leg Load increases by 1 for each part / -1 Dodge / -1 Position
Destroyed: the Part's Durability has reached 0.
All body parts: Handling increased by 2.
Head (Destroyed): Unable to detect units beyond the current zone / -2 Detection / -2 Jamming
Core (Destroyed): The Modular Unit is destroyed.
Arms (Destroyed): Weapon becomes unusable
Legs (Destroyed): Leg Load increases by 2 for each part / -2 Dodge / -2 Position / Movement Disabled if the Thrusters are destroyed
Thrusters (Destroyed): Pursuit and Evasion become -2 / Movement takes twice as long
CPU: Pilot Skill Cap becomes 2.
Shield Generator: shield is disabled.
Handling
Handling - An abstraction of the difficulty of piloting a Modular Unit. Every point of Handling inflicts an equivalent Pilot Skill penalty. Some parts have innate Handling, and Handling can also increase as a consequence of accumulated damage.
Weight Class
Weight Class - The overall size and weight of the MU is determined based on the Weight Class of the parts used. There are three Weight Classes: Light, Standard, and Heavy.
Body Parts cause an increase in Profile and Handling depending on their Weight Class, as outlined below.
Light Parts: +1 Profile / 0 Handling
Standard Parts: +2 Profile / +0.5 Handling
Heavy Parts: +3 Profile / +1 Handling
To determine the Weight Class of a Unit, use the base profile of the Body Parts without taking into account any Profile addition/reduction.
The sum of this base profile determines the Weight Class of the Unit as follow:
Light = 6 base profile or lower
Standard/Medium = 11 base profile or lower
Heavy = 12+ base profile
In addition, Light Units benefit from a +1 bonus to Evasion, while Heavy Units suffer from a -1 penalty to Evasion.
Load and Overload
Arm/Leg Load - The ideal weight that the Arms/Legs can support, above which they suffer from an Overload penalty.
Overload - An increase in Handling caused by excess load on the Arms/Legs. For each weapon or part above the ideal load, the weapon/part causes Handling to increase by 1 per Weight Class above Arm/Leg Load.
Example:
With a Light Arm Load, equipping a Heavy Weapon inflicts -2 to Handling.
With a Standard Weight Load, each equipped Heavy Parts/Weapons inflict -1 to Handling.
Pursuit and Evasion, Detection
Pursuit - Ability to pursue and engage a target. It is mainly modified by the weapon used and Thrusters.
Evasion - Ability to evade engagement. It is mainly modified by Thrusters and the Weight Class of the Modular Unit.
Detection - Ability to find hidden targets. It is mainly modified by Head Parts.
Profile - Abstraction of the level of stealth or lack thereof of the Modular Unit. Each part increases Profile depending on their Weight Class. Profile can be reduced by specialized cloaking devices.
Every part have a quality rating, which mainly serve to determine the Pilot Skill cap penalty. Depending on the part, a high quality rating might have other positive effects. High Quality parts are rare and difficult to acquire.
No Grade [NG]: 3 Skill Cap
High Grade [HG]: 4 Skill Cap
Real Grade [RG]: 6 Skill Cap
Master Grade [MG]: 8 Skill Cap
Perfect Grade [PG]: 10 Skill Cap
To create a Pilot sheet, start with 6 Pilot Skill Points and 8 Job Skill Points
To increase a Skill, it costs the new value in Skill Points.
For example, increasing Melee from 0 to 1 costs 1 Pilot Skill Point. Increasing Melee from 1 to 2 costs 2 Pilot Skill Points. Skills must be increased incrementally.Name: Pilot identity
Call sign: Pilot identification code
Appearance: Physical appearance, clothes, uniform...
Personality: Quirks, likes and dislikes...
Backstory: Life of the pilot.
Traits: Special characteristics about the pilot. Can be a gift, a disease, or an experience.
Pilot Skills
Melee (Shock/Dodge): Set of skills related to close combat engagement
Medium (Assault/Position): Set of skills related to medium range engagement
Long (Artillery/Jamming): Set of skills related to long range engagement
Job Skills
Combat: Knowledge and handling of weapons.
Exploration: Pathfinding skill and knowledge of maps and terrain.
Medicine: Medical knowledge and skill.
Mechanics: Knowledge and skill with mechanical devices and systems.
Electronics: Knowledge and skill with electronical devices and systems.
To create a Modular Unit sheet, start with 20000 Verified Currency (VC) and select parts from the WMB Starter Catalogue. General Data
Registration Number: "Name" of the Modular Unit
Attack Class: Shock / Assault / Artillery / Mixed
Weight Class: Light / Standard / Heavy
Arm Load: total overload penalty from arms
Leg Load: total overload penalty from legs
Hit Table
1: Head
2-4: Core
5: Core (Thrusters)
6: Left Arm
7: Right Arm
8-10: Legs
Attributes
Pursuit: Ability to pursue and engage a target
Evasion: Ability to evade engagement
Detection: Ability to find hidden targets
Profile: Abstraction of the level of stealth or lack thereof of the Modular Unit.
Handling: Abstraction of the difficulty of piloting the Modular Unit
Skill Modifiers and Caps
Melee:
Medium:
Long:
Parts
Weapons:
Head:
Core:
Arms:
Legs:
CPU:
Thrusters
Set Bonus:
Body Parts
[HG] WMB Light Head [Sensor]: +2 Detection / ○○ - [1000VC]
[HG] WMB Light Head [Jammer]: +1 Jamming / ○○ - [1000VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Head [Sensor]: +3 Detection / ○○○ - [1500VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Head [Jammer]: +1 Jamming / ○○○ - [1500VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Head [Sensor]: +4 Detection / ○○○● - [2500VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Head [Jammer]: +2 Jamming / ○○○● - [2500VC]
[HG] WMB Light Core: ○○○○ - [4000VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Core: ○○○●● - [6000VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Core: ○○○●●● - [8000VC]
[HG] WMB Light Arms: Light ArmLoad / ○○ - [1500VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Arms: Standard ArmLoad / ○○○ - [2000VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Arms: Heavy ArmLoad / ○○○● - [3000VC]
[HG] WMB Light Bipedal Legs: +1 Dodge / Light MaxLoad / ○○○○ - [3000VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Bipedal Legs: +1 Position / Standard MaxLoad / ○○○●● - [4500VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Bipedal Legs: Heavy MaxLoad / ○○○●●● - [6000VC]
Internal Parts
CPU:
[HG] WMB Standard Balanced CPU: +1 Melee +1 Medium +1 Long - [1000VC]
[HG] WMB Standard Specialized CPU: +2 Melee or Medium or Long -1 other Pilot Skills - [2000VC]
Thrusters:
[HG] WMB Balanced Thrusters: +1 Pursuit +1 Evasion - [1000VC]
[HG] WMB Pursuit Thrusters: +2 Pursuit - [2000VC]
[HG] WMB Evasion Thrusters: +2 Evasion - [2000VC]
Shield Generators:
[HG] WMB Standard Shield Generator: ○ / 1 Round Recovery / +1 Profile - [1000VC]
[HG] WMB Heavy Shield Generator: ● / 1 Round Recovery / +2 Profile - [2000VC]
Weapons
Light Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Light Combat Shield: ● - [1000VC]
[HG] [Melee] WMB Combat Knife: ○● - [1500VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Combat Pistol: ○(x2) / +1 Pursuit - [1000VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB Light Mortar: ○○ / -1 Pursuit - [2000VC]
Standard Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Standard Combat Shield: ○● - [2500VC]
[HG] [Melee] WMB Pulse Sword: ○○●● - [3000VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Assault Rifle: ○○(x2) / +2 Pursuit - [2500VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB Howitzer: ○○○○ / -1 Pursuit - [4000VC]
Heavy Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Heavy Combat Shield: ○●● - [4000VC]
[HG] [Melee] WMB Pilebunker: ●●●●● / -1 Pursuit - [5000VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Machine Gun: ○●(x3) / +1 Pursuit - [4000VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB Kinetic Cannon: ○○○●●● / -2 Pursuit - [7000VC]
Mounted Weapons
Note: A limit of 2 Mounted Weapons can be equipped per Modular Unit.
Light Mounted Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Light Mounted Combat Shield: ○ - [1000VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Light Mounted Autocannon: ○(x2) - [1500VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB 2-cells Mounted Missile Launcher: ○(x2) - [2000VC]
Standard Mounted Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Medium Mounted Combat Shield: ○○ - [2000VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Standard Mounted Autocannon: ○(x3) - [3000VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB 4-cells Mounted Missile Launcher: ○(x4) - [4000VC]
Heavy Mounted Weapons:
[HG] [Shield] WMB Heavy Mounted Combat Shield: ○○● - [3000VC]
[HG] [Medium] WMB Heavy Mounted Autocannon: ○(x4) - [4500VC]
[HG] [Long] WMB 6-cells Mounted Missile Launcher: ○(x6) - [7000VC]
Author
Topic: Modular Units: a Mercenary tale of Mechs, Missions, and Money (Read 2830 times)