Advanced Powerplant Rules
These rules are designed to represent the various types of powerplants seen in a multitued of anime shows, from Evangelion to Nadesco to various "Giant Robot" sagas.
ADVANCED POWERPLANT RULES
POWERPLANT TABLE Charge Type XS(if Hot) Cost(if Hot) Modifiers(if Hot) Undercharged 1(5) -x0.15 -1 MV, -1 MA(-1 MP) Standard 1(5) x0.0(-x0.1) +0 MV, +0 MA(+0 MP) Overcharged 1(5) x0.15 +1 MV, +1 MA(+33% MP) Supercharged 1(5) x0.3 +2 MV, +2 MA(+67% MP) Source:
Bioenergy (x1.5)
Fusion (x1.0)
Power Cell (New) (-x0.15)
Combustion (-x0.33)
Broadcast (New) (x0.0)
Tethered (New) (x-0.15)
"Hyper" (New)(x2.0)
Backup Powerplant (New) (CM x1)
NEW POWERPLANT TYPES:
POWER CELL: Powercells must have, during construction, a "desingated" operating time. This time is how long, in turns, the Power Cell can generate combat power(i.e. fighting, full movement per turn, etc). (EXAMPLE-Star Blade Batallion mektons have a two-hour powercell. On combat power, the mekton can fight for 7200 hours. Evangelion has a battery that lasts only two minutes at combat loads. Thus, Evangelions have a combat power range of 120 turns.)
If the pilot switches over to "mimimal movement power" the cell's lifespan is expaned to twice normal. Minimal movement power is half movement or less per turn, no combat, etc, etc.
If the pilot switches over to "emergency standby power", the cell's lifespan is measured in the next highest time unit(minutes to hours, hours to days, etc), and the mekton is extremely limited in operation (only MA 1 with any movement system, can only operate life support and sensors, etc, etc.)
Mektons with Power Absorber systems can convert one kill of energy damage into one turn of combat power.
BROADCAST: Broadcast power systems are designed to rely upon a source unit that beams energy to the mekton/remote/etc for use. Whatever method is used to beam this power(microwaves/subspace energy tranmsission/etc), it is assumed to provide full powerloads for the mekton.
This type of powerplant cannot explode if a "powerplant" hit is scored. However, it does sustain damage to the reciver systems for the powerplant. The recievers are calculated out at the following rate:the total kills of all servos is added together, then divided by the number of servos times ten. This is the number of spaces that the power recievers will require on the mekton, and they can be fully space efficencied. A mekton with broadcast power that sustains a "powerplant" hit loses half of the the reciever assembly on that hit, effectivly acting like a split powerplant hit. The second hit on the reciever will prevent the mekton from having any power(unless a backup powerplant is used).
A larger scale unit must be designated the "power" unit. For remotes with broadcast power, the "mother" unit can provide power. As long as a clear line-of-sight between the reciever and the mother mekton can be drawn, the mekton is fully powered. However, any interfereance between the beam will prevent the mekton from being powered.
Reflector systems can be used to "bend" the broadcast beam around to face line-of-sight, as long as the reflector system is at the same scale of the reciever.
TETHERED: A mekton using a Teathered powerplant is fairly similar to a mekton using the "broadcast" power system, except that it is directly connected to the power system by a long power cable/conduit. The cable is assumed to be sufficently flexable enough to bend around objects and renders the unit's communcations immune to ECM. The overall length of the tether is a Game Effect(i.e. dramatic license).
The teather is conisidered a "small" target, and has a -5 to all attacks. A hex worth of tether is assumed to have 5 kills (scaled to the user), protected by SP 5 of armor(GM ruling if the armor is of an advanced type).
"HYPER": Various exotic powerplants; such as black hole generators, matter/energy conversion systems, N2 fusion power, or even the most exotic of them all-The BLACK BOX, are avalable for mektons. These provide the best of both worlds-power at the "hot" level, giving bonuses to MP in addition to MV and MA, and having a "cool" powerplant explosion level due to a heavily overbuilt structure.
The reason why the structure is overbuilt is because nobody wants one to blow up....
"Hyper" powerplants are bought at the Standard or higher level (there cannot be any "Hyper" undercharged powerplants). Besides the "Hyper" cost modifier, the power level for the reactor is chosen. When calcuating out the bonuses, use the "Hot" level table for rules, with an additional +33% MP. The reactor has an explosion save of 1, as in a "cool" powerplant.
However, when a "Hyper" plant explodes, it goes up with a very spectacular bang. Calcuate the total SP and Kills of the mekton. This is the Explosion Rating of the "Hyper" plant. When the plant explodes, the hex of the mekton and the surrounding hex take the full Explosion Rating. For each hex out from the mekton's hex and the surrounding hex, the Explosion Rating is reduced by half(rounded down) until it reaches a single, one-kill blast.
Mektons that have a "reactor eject" function for their powerplants are considered to be able to get rid of the the "Hyper" plant, at least far enough to be out of the blast radius.
BACKUP: Mektons that expect to lose their powerplants, will usually have backup systems to keep the mekton operational until either the end of the battle or at least to get home. When a Backup Powerplant is bought, the Mekton can lose it's original powerplant, and operate on a Standard Charge, Cool Reactor. If the player wants, he can buy any option, except "Hyper" for a Backup powerplant.
Only one backup powerplant can be bought, and it is lost on the second "Reactor" hit.
COMMENTS
Keep in mind, the reactor type already depends on the tech level. A TL7 reactor could be fission, TL8 Fusion, TL9 Antimatter, TL10 Total Conversion. A "Hyper" reactor for TL 6 might be a mad-scientists Helium Fusion Core. For TL 8, a "Hyper" reactor might be one step up, and Antimatter reactor. "Hyper" seems to be a great way to introduced super-tech to your world (tech that is a 100 years above the current tech base). Or even ultra-tech (AKA "magic" (see Clark's 3rd Law for details)).
Rules by: Jon Souza
Comments by: Mark Chase
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