tgsofgc
11/15/03 06:23 AM
67.4.201.139
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...for the mechwarriors whom want a convertable.
Developed by a lone engineer on Solaris 7 for a certain extremely rich playboy duke from the Federated Commonwealth. This duke whom had inherited his families longtime mech (a fully upgraded Thug, refit to Star League specifications) insisted that he needed to wash his hands of this "bloody" business and hired the engineer to convert the mech into a pleasure craft, that he could still keep around the palace. The technician recognizing the beauty in the old star league mech did as little as he could to alter the mech to preserve its original shine. When the duke returned to inform the technician that he would stand for no more dadling and he simply wanter the "monstrosity neutered," the tech cringed. Deciding to make the most superficial changes possible the technician simply disconnected the arming circuitry in the cockpit (required pulling 8 wires), and removed most the head to leave an exposed cockpit. The duke was thrilled with his new toy and promptly payed the technician a hefty fee (from his families ancestrial ties to a certain unnamed Lyran Arms manufacturer) and returned home. Two weeks later the mech recieved its 15 minutes of fame through human intrest holovid on the life styles of the rich and famous. With in a week every other warrior on Solarius was dueling with these "chopped" mechs.
The "chopped" mech is a truelly unique design that removes most of the mech's head and leaves only a small exposed partial cockpit in its place. The primary effect is the mech can't be piloted reliably any anything but fair Terran lvl weather. A canopy can be installed, that turns this cockpit into a convertable style still allowing it to go out in the rain and snow, assuming such is still in the range of Terran normal temperatures.
Cockpit: 1.5 tons (instead of 3)
Canopy (optional): 1.5 tons (allows piloting in weather)
A mech with a chopped head mounts no armor here. Whenever the head is rolled as the hit location roll 1D6
1-2: Miss
4-6: The head is destroyed and the pilot has instantly been killed.
Whenever the mech falls and the pilot fails to prevent damage to them selves treat this as if the pilot has fallen from the mech. Even if they remain concious they must spend one turn climbing back into their mech. While the pilot is out of the mech an enemy adjacent to the mech on one of the three hex sides by the upper torso head may attempt to step on the "squishy".
To hit is:
Piloting+8 (note if they aren't concious this is also -4)
If they miss they need not roll to avoid falling over, due to stomping being easier to control.
Cost: 400,000 (200,000 + all the tech labor, cause you know they just don't come like this)
BV: -10 to base defensive battle value
 heh, that seems balanced to me
So who is going to be the first to call me sick?
I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used.
-Commander Nathaniel Klepper,
Avanti's Angels, 3058
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Cray
11/15/03 08:56 AM
67.8.168.19
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I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this in mech-rich environments, like the Star League.
Have you considered the benefits to overheating mechs, especially those with life support crits? The cockpit will have a fresh exterior breeze - overheating won't bother the mechwarrior.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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tgsofgc
11/15/03 12:59 PM
67.4.192.23
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To modify the heat there are two option, one or both of which can be used at the same time:
Option1: When using the expanded heat chart (Maxtech) the pilot recieves a -8 to required avoid damge rolls at 32,39,47
Option 2: The "neck" ending in a exposed cockpit allows for some additional mech cooling the, treat as a free -1 heat a turn.
Life Support for simplicity sakes: If the mech manages to take a critical hit to life support (leading from something like a floating crit) ignore the effects. For pureposes of reducing cockpit size consider one of the main components removed to open up the cokpit the Life Support (but the crit is still occupyed, by the wide open sky now).
Auxillery rule, an after thought:
Another consequence of the mech not having a head is that nothing may be mounted in the 1 empty critical there.
I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used.
-Commander Nathaniel Klepper,
Avanti's Angels, 3058
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