Rogue Space - MECHS: Update 4

I haven't been sharing every single piece of the MECHS rulebook. Some of it I am still not clear of or needs to be fleshed out. But today I will provide everything I have on the mech construction rules. With this you should have a mech built up in no time. I know Jarom has.

Step 1
Purchase your 4 core Parts using your build points (BP). Head, Torso, Arms, and Legs. Arms count as both parts when purchasing, so you don't need to take it twice.
Step 2
Buy and equip weapons and gear. Each part can only have 1 weapon or gear attached. Each arm can be equipped separately.
Multiples of the same weapon or gear can be purchased, as long as they are attached to separate parts, but their effects do not stack.
Step 3
Buy upgrades. You can have a maximum of 2 of these (no duplicates). They apply to the mech as a whole so they don't take up attachment slots.
You may also purchase defects (maximum 2—no duplicates), which give your mech flaws, but grants you additional build points. These can only be purchased at time of initial mech construction.
Step 4
Name it and add its systems together. Arms TMP does not double. It counts for both of them. Now you’re ready to pilot real man’s steel!

 GEAR

Advanced Targeter = Head [6 BP] Roll hit location twice, and choose either result. This grants a +1 bonus when detecting enemy mechs and stealth.

Combat Shield = Arm [5 BP] While being attacked from front, this mech gets an extra +2 to add to its armor rolls.
ECM Unit = Torso or Head[6 BP] When an opponent is rolling hit location, force them to roll twice and you choose either result. This cancels out the Advanced Targeter gear on enemy mechs.
Repair Rig = Arm or Torso [3 BP] This allows your mech to make repairs on other mechs and vehicles.
Thrusters = Torso or Legs [5 BP] This unit can jump to heights equal to 20xPower (minimum 20) in meters. It can also increase its speed by 2+Power (minimum 2). This should be used periodically. Referees should take into account possible overheating or excessive fuel usage.

UPGRADES
Advanced Controls [10 BP] Pilot’s Fighting and Acquiring attributes are reduced by 1 instead of 2 while inside this mech.
Armor Upgrade [M=5 BP][V=8 BP][X=10 BP] This upgrades your mechs armor from its default Light, to Medium, Heavy, or Extra Heavy, depending on the BP cost you choose. Heavy and Extra Heavy armor reduces the mech’s Speed by 1.
Reinforced Cockpit [8 BP] Pilot cannot be damaged from the torso getting hit. If the torso is destroyed, the pilot receives Light damage instead of Heavy.
Reinforced Hardpoints [5 BP] Head, Arms, and Legs gear and weapons are disabled only on a roll of 1 instead of 1-2.
Stealth Systems [4 BP] This mech has special noise, emission, and electronic shielding that allows it to make stealth tests.

DEFECTS
Exposed Cockpit [+8 BP] Pilot is damaged on a roll of 3 as well as 1. Torso destruction is treated as Extra Heavy damage to pilots.
Exposed Hardpoints [+5 BP] Head, Arms, and Legs gear and weapons are disabled on a roll of 1-3 instead of just 1-2.
Inefficient Controls [+10 BP] Pilot’s Fighting and Acquiring attributes are reduced by 3 instead of 2 while inside this mech.
Lumbering [+5 BP] Movement System score is reduced by 1.
Obvious Sensor Profile [+6 BP] Opposing mechs get a +1 bonus while attacking or detecting this mech.

And that's it. One major thing that I had to deal with is something like weight class most mech games would use. I decided to keep that simplified in parts categories. When you make a mech, you can make a heavy one, you just have to buy the heavy parts. Hyperlite is not meant to be another category of damage and protection, it's just a parts class i made up to represent super high tech and costly parts. A hyperlight mech outperforms all others in just about everything, but it's extremely expensive to make.

Each part has an HP, that is the individual hit points for the part. They are not added together. When you are hit by an attack and it gets past your armor roll, the part hit takes the damage. I already discussed that in one of my last posts.

I also wanted to keep equipping gear simple. You didn't have to worry about engine size or weight limit. Just by keeping a weapon or gear 1 to each part, it stays simple. At referee's discretion of course you can break any of these rules, but from our preliminary test mech builds, you still have a lot of freedom to make some pretty cool mechs with these simple rules.

With the weapons table, like in Rogue Space, they follow the simple categories. A medium weapon can be just about anything, like a machine gun or a laser gun. Remember these are mech size weapons. When they are used against infantry, or individuals outside the mech, you use the second damage value in parenthesis, otherwise it will just kill the subject outright. I'm still experimenting with range rules so ignore that part on the weapons table.

Weapons and gear have specific part limitations they can be attached to. This is to help prevent min-maxing and balance things out.

Upgrades and Defects apply to the mech as a whole and are not considered attachments. You can only purchase up to 2 upgrades and up to 2 defects, unless of course your referee says otherwise. If you ignore some of the optional rules, then some of these upgrades wont matter, like the ones for hardpoints and cockpits.

One thing I hope isn't too confusing, is the armor. A part may be a heavy part, but it is still only light armor unless you get the upgrade. The weight of the part only applies to its HP and bonuses. So unless you buy the upgrade, you only going to be rolling 2d6 low when you get hit. That would be cheap metal coverings over the basic frame. Medium armor upgrade gets you a better material, Heavy armor gets you thicker protection, and Extra Heavy are layered sheets of heavy metal that can take the worst punishments. But due to the weight, Heavy and Extra Heavy armor reduces your mech's speed by 1.

I have a blank character and mech sheet built, so when you get your stuff put together, it should look like this (this is a 30 bp mech):

If you happen to make some mech builds for the fun of it, please email them to me. I would like to check them, not to see if you are doing it wrong, but to see if I'm explaining it right. And I want to see if anyone can break it. That helps me in designing the system.