Mecha

Mecha Operations

Although it began as a design system for constructing spacecraft, the GURPS Spaceships system has unofficially evolved and expanded to handle submarines and tanks (using Alternate Spaceships fromPyramid #3/34: Alternate GURPS), and all manner of strange and unusual craft that fly on aetheric winds or burn the souls of innocents to ply the stars (GURPS Spaceships 7: Divergent and Paranormal Tech). The following "tricks" aim to expand the options for humanoid robot spacecraft ("mecha"), which were introduced in GURPS Spaceships 4: Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha.

Design Notes

GURPS requires few special exemptions to handle mecha; in almost all cases simply use the normal rules for vehicles.

Size and Shape

By default, Spaceships mecha designs have three broad hit locations. By convention, the Front hull of a humanoid mecha represents the front torso and head; the Central hull is the torso interior, shoulders, and back; and the Rear hull are the legs and "pelvis." This is simply a set of guidelines, but will help you stay consistent with the published examples.

If you desire additional detail, assign vehicle hit locations. A typical mecha with two robot arms and two legs has the locations 2A2L; it may have an independent turret (t) to represent the head and one or more small superstructures (s) if using handheld weapon batteries (GURPS Spaceships 4, p. 38) or equipment packs (pp. 6-7). Streamlined vehicles with wings add wings (Wi).

Smaller Arms: Mecha with robot arms smaller than normal for their SM cannot carry full-size handheld weapons except when using both arms (and they do not get the bracing bonus for doing so), and may not climb with their weedy limbs. Telescoping robot arms (GURPS Spaceships 8: Transhuman Spacecraft, p. 9) cannot climb or use any weapons!

Movement

Mecha are operated like any other vehicle...though one that tends to have arms and legs, and look like a giant mechanical human! Those with legs can maneuver well in almost any environment, and do not suffer any speed reduction for moving off-road. Their size means that they can stride over most low obstacles (three SMs smaller). Their mass lets them crash through flimsy obstacles (small trees, suburban houses) at normal Move.

Thrust Vectoring Owns the Sky: Transformable mecha have even more options for movement. One common maneuver they use is to transform in midflight and swing their thrusters forward, allowing them to quickly decelerate and boost backward – evading enemy attacks and getting into a better firing position. This tactic is shown in the source material to almost guarantee combat advantage against conventional aircraft and space fighters in a dogfight (this may justify at least a +1 Piloting bonus on Closing Maneuvers versus nontransformable vehicles). To be true to the genre, you should also use Airplane-Style Dogfights (GURPS Spaceships 4, p. 33) in every environment, even underwater.

Encumbrance

In addition to cargo transported in internal cargo bays, mecha can carry additional cargo strapped to their body or carried in their arms. High encumbrance reduces their ground Move just as it does for a character and will lower acceleration (and thus, air speed) like items attached to an external clamp (GURPS Spaceships, p. 15).

Jumping

Mecha are not terribly good leapers in GURPS, with a standard two-legged mecha being able to high jump a little over 4' (see Jumping Distance). Most mecha have booster rockets or limited flight capabilities that make this rather meaningless, but it does make more sense to use the optional ST and Jumping rule for Spaceships designs (an exemption to the normal requirement that Basic Lift exceed weight). This allows a SM +4 mecha to make a standing jump of almost 18', and scales for larger designs.

Jump Jets: Mecha can use their thrusters in brief spurts to clear obstacles. Instead of tracking delta-V and the number of G-seconds of thrust available, each mecha is given a number of Jump Points equal to their delta-V reserves × 360 in Earth-normal gravity. By spending one jump point, the mecha gains Super Jump 1 for the turn, two points gives Super Jump 2, four points gives Super Jump 3, and so on. Super Jump is capped to the G-acceleration of the engines being used. For reference, a smaller system composed of a chemical rocket and two fuel tanks provides 1G of acceleration and 0.1 mps of delta-V, or up to 36 uses of Super Jump 1. Under other gravity conditions, multiply the jump point cost by (1/local gravity).

Dealing Damage

Combat mecha are almost always heavily armed, with an array of missiles, beam rifles, and other assorted death-dealing gadgets. But even a civilian work mecha can put an unprepared opponent in the hurt locker using the inherently high ST of their frames.

Mecha Martial Arts

Mecha punch using metal-shod fists – they do thr cr damage based on their dST, much like a human wielding brass knuckles. Mecha with smaller arms use the dST from a hull one SM less. Telescoping robot arms use their listed ST. Unless they have the grabber feature, mecha robot arms can manipulate objects with the same dexterity as a human could at that SM. The operator can also use his close-combat skills to grapple or throw enemy mecha and other vehicles. Kicks from a mecha do thr+1 cr.

Claws: Sharp claws or rippers on the arms or legs convert damage from crushing to cutting. There is no extra cost.

Jaws: Biting teeth and rending chainsaw mouths can be purchased as maws (GURPS Spaceship 7, p. 12).

Talons: These scything blades can do either thr imp or sw cut damage. Add 10% to the cost of the arm or leg.

Massive Weapons

Combat mecha often carry scaled-up daggers and swords for last-ditch close-combat engagements and bypassing some types of force fields. These giant weapons can be combined with special features such as superfine blades or monomolecular edges.

GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors includes a set of rules that can be used to create any number of giant-sized swords and katanas. When scaling melee weapons from Ultra-Tech, which often have fixed damage values, multiply damage by the value listed in the <3Damage (+1 or more)" column on the Weapon and Armor Scaling Table (Low-Tech Companion 2, p. 21).

Example: A large SM +5 force sword, suitable as the backup weapon of an advanced mecha suit, has 6d×10(5) burn; Reach 4, 8; $562,500; 112.5 lbs.; and ST 23.

Survivability

GURPS Spaceships treats mecha like any other collection of engines, sensors, and weapons that can operate in air or space – which is thematically appropriate, as the line can be blurred between humanoid robots and spacecraft in the source material. Compared to other Spaceships designs, they are balanced, but throwing them against battlesuits and weapons from GURPS Ultra-Tech or GURPS High-Tech can be a bit problematic if players expect them to be walking tanks. For example, the TL12^ Galaxy Striker super mecha has a mere DR 900 on its front, compared to DR 1,155 for the glacis plate on an antiquated TL7 T-72A (High-Tech, p. 244). The seeming fragility of Spaceships designs against anti-tank missiles and heavy cannons can give pause: A simple RPG-7 with a modern HEAT round routinely penetrates dDR 28!

However, things are not quite as dire as they appear to be. For example, keep in mind the following.

Armor

It is a common trope that only mecha are judged worthy of being fitted with advanced or rare armor materials. This can qualify them for hardened armor, sometimes combined with exclusive access to ultra-tech armor technologies (such as exotic laminate or diamondoid). In addition, remember that most vehicles can benefit from the optional Armor and Volume rules from Alternate Spaceships (Pyramid #3/34: Alternate GURPS, p. 4).

Laminate Armor: As an optional (but realistic) rule, the GM may declare that metallic laminate, advanced metallic laminate, nanocomposite, and exotic laminate armor usemulti-layered composites that double DR vs. damage of shaped-charge explosive warheads or plasma gun bolts before applying the armor divisor. Diamondoid armor and force fields may qualify as well.

Top-Attack Missiles: Mecha rarely have any particular vulnerability to weapons that strike atmore vulnerable armor facings, due to their peculiar shape. Use the Central hull dDR against such attacks unless the Armor by Facing design feature is used (Pyramid #3/34, p. 8); even then, the GM may wish to assign a penalty to hit due to the small top profile of most horizontal mecha.

Mobility

Attackers have a difficult time detecting and hitting a moving target, much less one that is ducking and dodging around a cluttered battlefield. Even without giving humanoid robots a genre bonus to their defenses, all but the clumsiest mecha can Dodge (see Defense) attacks with an expectation of success (Hnd +1 for the Galaxy Striker vs. -3 for the T-72); mecha are far more maneuverable than a vehicle that large has any right to be! Many mecha also have high-acceleration thrusters, allowing them to simply outrun many missile attacks – or at last keep ahead of them long enough to either shoot them down or duck behind cover.

Find Cover! Small hulls, buildings, and even other vehicles can provide cover and concealment to mecha. You can use the cover penalties. The Using Cover rules from GURPS Tactical Shooting (p. 28-30) are also appropriate (the guidelines apply to 40’ robots as much as 6’ humans). There are many examples of the Barricade Tactics perk (Tactical Shooting, p. 37) being used by mecha pilots, with their robots sniping around skyscrapers, going “hull down” in drainage culverts, or using trees to block enemy fire.

Get Down! Mecha with legs can use the same posture modifiers as humans while on the ground (such as kneeling and going prone), and can make use of the same combat maneuvers, notably Dodge and Drop.

Design Features

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Design Switches

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=Robot Roll-Call

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Space Mecha

From Spaceships 4 - Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha.

These are piloted, anthropomorphic "giant robots" like those appearing in Japanese mecha anime shows. Despite having arms and legs, many are built for space battles and can be thought of as space fighters with an auxiliary ground-combat mode. Some are fairly hard SF designs with reaction engines and realistic weaponry, while others have exotic technology like stardrives and force fields. Most space-combat mecha are controlled by one or two pilots and mass 30 to 300 tons. Spaceworthy designs are rarely built if reactionless drives or other gravity-control technology is in common use, since if it is available "walking tanks" are superseded by "grav tanks."

Spartan Space-Assault Mecha (TL9)

This is a 30-foot-tall humanoid spacecraft. Equipped with powerful but short-ranged weapons, it is designed for assaulting lunar bases or the interiors of giant space stations, where an attacker may need to transition from space to land combat in a matter of moments! Its limited reaction mass forces it to operate from a mother ship or base. It can't achieve orbit from an Earth-sized planet, but has enough thrust to take off from a small moon or asteroid. It is built using a 30-ton (SM +5) unstreamlined hull.

Front Hull	System
[1-4]	Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 20).
[5]	Defensive ECM.
[6]	Major Battery (fixed mount with 2.5cm very rapid fire conventional gun).
Central	Hull System
[1-2]	Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 10).
[3-4]	Robot Arms.
[5!]	Major Battery (turret with 1 MJ rapid fire laser).
[6]	Fuel Tank (1.5 tons chemical rocket fuel with 0.15 mps delta-V).
[core]	Control Room (C4 computer, comm/sensor 3, and one control station).
Rear Hull	System
[1-2]	Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 10).
[3]	Chemical Rocket Engine (3G acceleration).
[4-5!]	Robot Legs (Move 10; requires only one Power Point for both legs).
[6]	Fuel Tank (1.5 tons chemical rocket fuel with 0.15 mps delta-V).
[core]	MHD Power Plant (two Power Points).

Typical crew is a single pilot.

PILOTING/TL9 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)

TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
9	Spartan	20	0/4	12	3G/0.3 mps	30	0.1	+5	1SV	20/10/10	0	$2.45M

Top air speed is 430 mph. On the ground, it has Move 10 and Hnd/SR +3/3.

Hades Battle Mecha (TL9^)

This is a typical space-combat mecha for inexpensive mass production. It is humanoid, standing 60 feet tall. It is equipped with fission rocket thrusters for space maneuverability, two legs for ground movement, and a soft-landing system that lets it drop from orbit. It uses a 100-ton (SM +6) unstreamlined hull.

Front Hull	System
[1-3]	Hardened Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 21).
[4!]	Major Battery (fixed mount with 6cm rapid fire electromagnetic gun).
[5]	Secondary Battery (10 fixed mount 16cm missile launchers).
[6]	Soft Landing System.
[core]	Control Room (C5 computer, comm/sensor 4, and only one control station)
Central	Hull System
[1-2]	Hardened Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 14).
[3-4]	Robot Arms.
[5!]	Major Battery (turret mount with 3cm very rapid fire conventional gun).
[6]	Fuel Tank (five tons uranium saltwater with 2.5 mps delta-V).
Rear Hull	System
[1-2]	Hardened Advanced Metallic Laminate Armor (total dDR 14).
[3]	Nuclear Saltwater Rocket Engine (2G acceleration).
[4-5!]	Robot Legs (Move 10; requires only one Power Point for both legs).
[6]	Defensive ECM.
[core]	MHD Turbine (two Power Points, six hours endurance).

Typical crew is a single pilot.

PILOTING/TL9 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)

TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
9^	Hades	30	0/4	12	2G/2.5 mps	100	0.1	+6	1SV	21/14/14*	0	$10.48M

* Hardened.
Top air speed is 350 mph. On the ground, it has Move 10 and Hnd/SR +2/3.

Black Knight Space Mecha (10^)

This is an expensive space battle mecha – an ace pilot is equipped with one of these, giving him an impressive kill ratio against opponents who use lower-TL designs! Its fusion torch engines give it exceptional mobility for a mecha. It uses a 100-ton (SM +6) unstreamlined hull, and is 60 feet long.

Front Hull	System
[1-3]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (total dDR 30).
[4!]	Major Battery (fixed mount with 30 MJ particle beam).
[5]	Defensive ECM.
[6]	Fuel Tank (five tons water with 5 mps delta-V).
Central Hull	System
[1-2]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (total dDR 20).
[3-4]	Robot Arms.
[5]	Major Battery (turret mount with 3cm very rapid fire conventional gun).
[6]	Fuel Tank (five tons water with 5 mps delta-V).
[core]	Control Room (C7 computer, comm/sensor 5, and only one control station).
Rear	Hull System
[1-2]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (total dDR 20).
[3-4]	Fusion Torch Engines (with water, 1.5G acceleration each).
[5-6!]	Robot Legs (Move 10; requires only one Power Point for both legs).
[core]	Fusion Reactor (two Power Points).

It has a dynamic chameleon hull. Typical crew is a single pilot.

PILOTING/TL9 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)

TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
10^	Black Knight	30	0/4	12	3G/10 mps	100	0.1	+6	1SV	30/20/20*	0	$18.76M

* Hardened.
Top air speed is 430 mph. On the ground, it has Move 10 and Hnd/SR +2/3.

Ariel Transformable Fighter (TL10^)

This is a large, capable, transformable fighter spacecraft, manufactured using limited superscience technology. Its super fusion torch drives give it enough delta-V and thrust to achieve orbit from an Earth-sized world and perform high-speed pursuit or interception. The Ariel uses a 30-ton (SM +5) streamlined hull, and is 50 feet long.

Front Hull	System
[1-3]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (total dDR 15).
[4]	Tactical Array (comm/sensor 6).
[5-6!]	Major Batteries (fixed mount 10 MJ UV laser each).
Central Hull	System
[1]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (dDR 5).
[2-3]	Reconfigurable System (Robot Arms to Medium Batteries with three fixed mount 16cm missile launchers each).
[4]	Control Room (C6 computer, comm/sensor 4, and one control station).
[5-6, core]	Fuel Tanks (1.5 tons hydrogen with 7.5 mps delta-V each).
Rear Hull	System
[1]	Hardened Nanocomposite Armor (dDR 5).
[2-3!]	Reconfigurable System (Robot Legs, Move 10,* to High-Thrust Fusion Torches, 1G each).
[4-5]	High-Thrust Fusion Torches (1G acceleration each).
[6]	Defensive ECM.
[core]	Fusion Reactor (two Power Points).

* Only one Power Point needed for both legs.
It is winged and has emergency ejection. Typical crew is a single pilot.

PILOTING/TL10 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)

TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
10^	Ariel	20	0/4	12	4G/22.5 mps*	30	0.1	+5	1SV	15/5/5†	0	$10.04M

* Acceleration assumes legs are configured as engines; 2G otherwise.
† Hardened.
Top air speed is 5,000 mph with legs configured as engines, 3,500 mph otherwise. Hnd/SR is +4/5 in atmosphere. On the ground, it has Move 10 and Hnd/SR +2/2.

Galaxy Striker Super Mecha (TL12^)

Activate Super-Duper-Mecha-Ultra-Assault Mode.

– Rikku, Final Fantasy X-2

This is a powerful and versatile humanoid mecha with a potent mix of offensive and defensive weaponry, and a few superscience gadgets such as a tough force screen. Its teleport projector beams the pilot and gunner directly into the cockpit and is useful for emergency escapes if all else fails! The Galaxy Striker has a 300-ton (SM +7) unstreamlined hull, standing 100 feet tall.

Front Hull	System
[1-3]	Exotic Laminate Armor (total dDR 90).
[4]	Defensive ECM.
[5!]	Major Battery (fixed mount with 100 MJ conversion beam).
[6!]	Major Battery (turret with 10 MJ improved rapid fire antiparticle beam).
Central Hull	System
[1-2]	Exotic Laminate (total dDR 60).
[3-4]	Robot Arms.
[5!]	Heavy Force Screen (dDR 70, or dDR 140 with two Power Points).
[6]	Habitat (two teleport projectors).
[core]	Control Room (C9 computer, comm/sensor 8, and only two control stations).
Rear Hull	System
[1]	Exotic Laminate (dDR 30).
[2-3]	High-Thrust Super Conversion Torch Engines (100G acceleration each).
[4]	Fuel Tank (15 tons of hydrogen with 5,000 mps delta-V).
[5-6!]	Robot Legs (Move 10).*
[core]	Total Conversion Reactor (five Power Points).

• Only one power point needed for both legs.
  

It is equipped with gravitic compensators. It is operated by a pilot and gunner/co-pilot.

PILOTING/TL12 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)

TL	Spacecraft	dST/HP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
12^	Galaxy Striker	50	+1/5	12	200G/5,000 mps	300	0.2	+7	2SV	90/60/30*	0	$160.25M

• Add dDR 70 (dDR 140 if using two Power Points) if force screen is powered up.
  

Top air speed is 3,500 mph. On the ground, it has Move 10 and Hnd/SR +1/3.

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