Heavy Iron

Just an idea. Unsure how to cost some things… it also seems cheap. Help me come up with more traits to stack on!

Index 3 Heavy Iron

In answer to the many complaints about Index 3 Iron, engineers designed what they considered an improved model. Because technology had not improved to the point where many of the problems with Index 3 Iron could be rectified as is, they decided that the best way to fix the problem would be to simply make the armour larger, and include a second crewmember to take strain off the pilot. The result was a hulking, unreliable mechanical nightmare with a tiny, cramped compartment that required both crew members to sit curled in a ball one on top of each other. Despite its many drawbacks, some pilots fell in love with the sheer destructive power they could unleash, and enjoyed bashing tanks on the turret in close combat.

(built on Anvil Attack Sled Template)
Tech Resources 24
Profile 2
Integrity 5
Control Ob2
Signals Tools
Sensors Tools
Ordinance Cannon, Big Fucking Mace
Vehicular Speed Surface 3
Security None

Structural Tolerances: H5, H10, V5, V11

Signals Rig (tools) (4pts)
Sensors Rig (tools) (4pts)
Internal Automated Medical Feild Kit (exp 4) (8pts)
Closed Circuit Rebreather (8 pts)
Targeter (6pts)

10,000 Kilos of Angry Metal (3pts) - Index 3 Heavy Iron gives a +1D to the Ram Close Combat Action

More Agile Than You Might Think (3pts) - Index 3 Heavy Iron gives a +1D to the Under The Guns Close Combat Action

Put Up Your Dukes (7pts) - Index 3 Heavy Iron allows the pilot to use the Hand to Hand action in Close Combat, albeit only with the Sun On The End Of My Arm

Sun On The End Of My Arm: Squad Support(4pts) Close Combat (1pt) engine (4pts) not blast (-1pt) not heater (1pt) Mounted (-3pts), Hand to hand (-1) Unweildy (-2), damage as Fusor

Cannon

Run, Iron Man, Run! (-14) Speed Surface 3

Stop, Damn it! – The iron isn’t very maneuverable, so trying to do anything fancy… well… anything really, requires an Ob 2 Pilot test on the part of the pilot . The pilot is not running on his own, he’s riding. He’s controlling the vehicle’s run with a series of manual flips and tongue toggles. This is factored into the stats above (Obstacle, -3 pts)

View Slits and Primitive HUD – +1 Ob to Observation tests including contact. (Obstacle, -2 pts)

Crucis and Iron – Requires the Crucis (or Illegal Crucis) and Iron Trained traits. (2x Trait Limitation, -6 pts)

It Takes Two to Tango - If two crew aren’t alive and in the Heavy Iron, the single crew-member suffers a +2Ob on Vehicular Weapons, Sensors, Signals, Observation tests, and Ammo Checks (-7)

Exposed Joints - While actually quite resiliant, the Heavy iron has many exposed points that make it far easier to dismantle with fire than might be expected. The cost in successes for called shots is reduced by one (unsure how to cost)

There’s no rules for “called shots” in BE – all shots are “called” and damage is incredibly deadly, so there’s no need.

So what’s a better way to represent this bucket of bolts? How about a +1D to all DF actions against. I think that would adequately represent what you’re going for.

BTW: I think that “Big Fucking Mace” better be something like “A Tiny Little Sun on the End of My Fucking Arm” if you want it to do fusor damage.
-L

By called shots, I meant, attacking specific subsystems. Like engines, control systems, and the like. This is a vehicle, not a peice of armour, really. I want people to be able to make a shot at the control systems fairly easily, and shoot out a leg. Or aim for the little coffin the pilot and wizzo are huddled in and fill them full of holes with an attack to Crew.

And yeah. Little Sun might be better. My initial idea was just a big warhammer that would crush little vehicles, but a cutting torch is much cooler.

No amount of mass attached to an armature like that is going to build up the same kind of energy a ball of plasma has. And armor is very, very good at dispersing that kind of force. So I wasn’t imaginging a cutting torch, I envisioned a ball of plasma jutting mace-like from the end of one of the armatures. As the Heavy Iron smashed down onto a vehicle, the containment fields peel back and the plasma does its job.

As for the called shots – righto, vehicles. Duh. I still think the +1D to DF (or DF shot opportunities) will simulate what you want, though.

-L

Oh, I agree about the plasma thing. I was envisioning a giant 500 kg irridium spike being driven through thin top armour. But your idea is by far better even than the giant cutting torch.

I don’t want to give the other side +1d to direct fire, because it makes them a bit too much of a liability on the battlefield. For all their faults, they are a mobile chassis with a bloody great gun. +1d to shot opportunities works too… they tend to draw fire. But what I really want is an incentive for people to go for different parts of the vehicle. It’s kind of a trope of mecha that they get arms and legs blown off, and I kinda want to simulate that by reducing the number of successes you need to target individual subsystems. I want it to be easier to disarm them, or immoblize them than to kill them outright.

Remember, +1D translates into +.5 success. And you need extra successes to hit those additional systems. If you reduce successes needed, you’re reducing obstacle. And Ob 1 = 2D, so any obstacle reduction is far more beneficial that a bonus die.

-L

Oh, I know. I just want to be careful about where I add those successes. I want to make the peripheral systems easier to hit in comparison to hitting the hull, not just make the whole thing easier to hit. Though I might do that too.

Shot Magnet – The high profile, light armour, and the bloody great ball of plasma on the end of one of its arms means Heavy Iron attracts a bit more fire than is healthy. +1D to shot opportunities or close combat actions targetting Heavy Iron (-6pts)