Robotech HERO (spec. Invid Invasion)

[JohnOSpencer]

I am working on making the mecha and such from Robotech: Invid Invasion(or New Generation if you prefer) for HERO. I am trying to get something concrete to start.
All I have is:
Invid Mecha will be built like characters(since they never leave their mecha) with armor by location to make them easier to kill by shooting the eye.
A rough chart based on informaton from the Robotech Reference Guide(www.artemisgames.com/robotech/).

If anyone has done something like this, or has any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.

John

[Lord Liaden]

I'm not sure how useful this will be to you, but our resident mecha guru, NuSoard Graphite, contributed detailed and thoughtful writeups for several classes of mech from the Robotech universe:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14174

[JohnOSpencer]

I'm not sure how useful this will be to you, but our resident mecha guru, NuSoard Graphite, contributed detailed and thoughtful writeups for several classes of mech from the Robotech universe:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14174

Thanks, didn't find that one earlier. It'll be very helpful.

John

[Lord Liaden]

In order to make it easier to balance the Invid against the piloted mecha of their opponents, I'd suggest building them as Vehicles with an AI "computer" guiding them. You could assign them a Vulnerability for increased BODY damage from shots which hit the eye. The optional Hit Locations for mech vehicles from The Ultimate Vehicle would probably help you with this too.

[JohnOSpencer]

So far, the hardest part will be making the stats to fit the background. Many of the weapons should kill a small invid in one hit. The cylcone write up you linked , has too much armor I think(or the weapons are too weak). Cyclones have good armor, but any missile that would kill a small invid, should trash them also, but on average they will take only about 4 Body from an average hit(the pilot, I mean).

Still puzzling it out.

John

[JohnOSpencer]

Here is the basic Hit location chart I plan on using for Invid mecha

Here is for the basic unarmed mecha:

Roll Location Body X To Hit
3-5 Sensor Eye 2 -8
6-8 Arm 1 -5
9 Thruster(Rear) 1.5 -6
10-14 Main Body 1 -3
15-18 Leg 1 -4

Here is for the basic unarmed mecha:

Roll Location Body X To Hit
3-5 Sensor Eye 2 -8
6-8 Arm 1 -5
9 Thruster(Rear) 1.5 -6
10-13 Main Body 1 -3
14 Weapon .5 -6
15-18 Leg 1 -4

Any suggestions?

John

[philnicau]

In order to make it easier to balance the Invid against the piloted mecha of their opponents, I'd suggest building them as Vehicles with an AI "computer" guiding them. You could assign them a Vulnerability for increased BODY damage from shots which hit the eye. The optional Hit Locations for mech vehicles from The Ultimate Vehicle would probably help you with this too.

I would rather build them as mecha with a pilot, and maybe give the mecha a limitation Pilot dies if takes more then x damage in hit location-sensor eye.

[JohnOSpencer]

I would rather build them as mecha with a pilot, and maybe give the mecha a limitation Pilot dies if takes more then x damage in hit location-sensor eye.

Maybe make the mecha's defense -1/4 doesn't protect eye, and then buy armor for the eye and have it like a windshield in a car: you can shoot through it and hit the crew?

John

[NuSoardGraphite]

So far, the hardest part will be making the stats to fit the background. Many of the weapons should kill a small invid in one hit. The cylcone write up you linked , has too much armor I think(or the weapons are too weak). Cyclones have good armor, but any missile that would kill a small invid, should trash them also, but on average they will take only about 4 Body from an average hit(the pilot, I mean).

Still puzzling it out.

John

Well, if you go by the damage the Cyclone's forearm missles do the Armored Piercing missiles do 4D6+1K APx2. Thats an average of 15 Body AP. That means the Defense of the Cyclone is reduced to 7. The total defense is reduced to 11, doing 3 Body. (note the Cyclone has a Defense of 13hard and this adds to the CVR-3 Body armor of 9)

If you want the damage to increase, simply reduce the amount of armor by 2pts each (Cyclone Def 11, CVR armor Def 7) which will produce an average Body damage of 6 after armor. 2 hits from an average AP missile and its bye bye Cyclone-trooper!

take into consideration I was going with the assumption that the GM would want the main body of the Cyclone to take considerable damage before being destroyed. (well, considerable for a motorcycle)

Also don't forget that the arms and helmet are not protected by the Cyclone armor...only the CVR-3 body armor. That means an Invid plasma blast that hits the arms or (god forbid!) the head will likely maim or kill the Cyclone-trooper! As far as I'm concerned, thats lethal enough without reducing the effectiveness of the torso protection.

Also, 4D6K should be more than enough to single-shot kill an Invid scout trooper if you consider an Eye hit to bypass armor completely. (make sure they have 14 Body or less for this to occur)

[JohnOSpencer]

To go along with fluff, I increased the average Body of CVR-3 to 11(increasing all armor except loc 6, 8 by one each). I've also made it(and the cyclone) unhardened.

The damage I've come up with(still trying to be true to fluff) is:
GR-97(Forearm missiles): 5d6K AP
RL-6(Rook's Launcher): 6d6K Pen
GR-103(Lancer's chest missiles/RPGs): 5d6K
RL-2(single shot launcher): 8d6 Pen

I've decided to make missiles more powerful than most handheld weapons(it fits the series). And since they won't be used against the PCs too ofter(the Invid only have one mecha with missiles), it doesn't really affect survivability.

Unless someone convinces me otherwise, I'll probably use these as benchmarks to make the Invid.

BTW:NuSoardGraphite, I do appreciate your input and your previous designs of the Cyclone and CVR-3 armor, they are a great help to me.

John

[JohnOSpencer]

I think I have Body and DEF values for the various Invid Mehca, but... I am running into the problem of most weapons not hurting an individual in cyclone armor. Even with armor piercing on most of the missiles, most do little or no Body to them. I haven't played/run many heroic level games, is this a problem, or not? Temporarily I have made most missiles penetrating, just so they take some damage, but this might make it too deadly.

Any suggestions?

John

[NuSoardGraphite]

I think I have Body and DEF values for the various Invid Mehca, but... I am running into the problem of most weapons not hurting an individual in cyclone armor. Even with armor piercing on most of the missiles, most do little or no Body to them. I haven't played/run many heroic level games, is this a problem, or not? Temporarily I have made most missiles penetrating, just so they take some damage, but this might make it too deadly.

Any suggestions?

John

No. This is typically not a problem in Heroic level games. This is a problem with the Cyclone trooper because he gets protected by both the armor of the Cyclone and then his CVR-body armor.

Here's a fix:

Since the CVR-3 body armor is an inherent component in the Cyclone transformation to warrior mode, consider its defense as a part of the defense of the Cyclone's warrior transformation. Thus, simply slightly increase the DEF characteristic of the torso section of the Cyclone in warrior mode, don't count both the DEF of the Cyclone and the CVR-3's Def for the pilot. Any damage that gets through the cyclones DEF in warrior mode (on the torso) goes through to the pilot.

That should solve that issue.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Here's a suggestion:

Make the DEF of the cyclone (in general) around DEF 10. Then in the Warrior mode, the Torso DEF should increase to 13 or 14 because of the inclusion of the CVR-3 body armor.

If the DEF isn't hardened, it would only be DEF 7 vs an AP missile attack and at 4D6 or 5D6, those can produce a lot of damage quickly. (a 5D6K AP attack on average would produce 10 body damage after subtracting armor)

[JohnOSpencer]

Thanks NuSoardGraphite, those are both very helpful.
Next on my list is fixing the DEF/BODY, DEX/SPD of the Invid Mecha.
Here's what I have now:
Scout DEF:14, BODY:12, DEX:18, SPD:4
Trooper DEF:16, BODY:16, DEX:15, SPD:4
Pincer(Enforcer) DEF:18, BODY:20, DEX:20, SPD:5
Royal Command Battloid DEF:18H, BODY:25, DEX:26, SPD:6

Comments.

I will post the weapons chart as soon as I have it if a postable form.
Thanks for your help,
John

[NuSoardGraphite]

Hmmm...those numbers look good to me. Now lets see some specifics.