Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon

Here is the article I had submitted for the RTG site before updates came to a grinding halt. Benjamin Wright and I went through a couple of revisions, and this is pretty much the final form. The only thing I hadn't heard about was the multiplier for EMP plus Damage, but it follows the cost difference between "Shock Only" and "Plus Shock"

 

The Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon is used to disable an enemy mekton without destroying it. It fires a tightly focused EMP that damages the target's electronics, eventually rendering it nonfunctional. A mekton with Environmental Protection: EMP is immune to the effects of an EMP Cannon.

To design an EMP Cannon, begin with a beam weapon and apply the x1.33 modifier for Stupid Mekton Trick: Special Effect Weapon. The EMP Cannon does not do regular damage, but instead applies an EMP penalty to the location hit. This penalty is cumulative over multiple hits.

Penalty -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 -4 -4 -5 -5 -6 -6 -7 -7 -8 -8 -9 -9 -10 -10
Diff 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Cost 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
Range 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18

"Penalty" is the EMP Penalty assigned to the location hit. "Diff" is the Difficulty to avoid the effects of the EMP Cannon, using MR + Mecha Tech + 1D10. "Cost" is the cost of the appropriate level of beam weapon x 1.33 rounded for convenience. "Range" is the Combat Range of the EMP Cannon in 50-meter Mekton hexes. An EMP Beam Cannon targets mektons in exactly the same fashion as a regular beam weapon, and must hit its target to have any effect.

The EMP Cannon design may be altered using the standard rules for Beam Weapons. Any Beam Weapon modifier may be purchased, with the exception of Hydro. Notes: The Anti-Personnel function would not have any effect on a person targeted, but would effect any electronic equipment they might be wearing. A Megabeam EMP Cannon would apply the full EMP Penalty to every hit location of the target. An Anti-missile EMP system would disable missiles equal to [(Diff -10) + (1 per point by which the Antimissile roll beat the Missile to hit roll)]. Disabled missiles will not detonate. When an Anti-missile EMP system is fired at incoming missiles, the missile firer may still try to beat the Diff roll to avoid the effects of the EMP system.

The EMP Penalty:
When a mekton is hit by an EMP Cannon, the hit location receives an EMP Penalty unless the target mekton can avoid the effects by beating the Difficulty Roll. Armor, including RAM armor, does not affect the Penalty or the Difficulty in any way. Subsequent hits to the same location will increase the location's EMP Penalty by the full amount listed for the cannon, the effect is cumulative. Beating the Difficulty Roll on a subsequent hit will avoid the addition to the penalty, but will not remove an existing penalty. Once an EMP Penalty has been incurred, it may only be removed by being overhauled in a mecha hanger (up to 1 day per location, max time 1D6+1 day).

Actions Which Require a Die Roll:
The EMP Penalty applies to any action taken using the affected servo or a system located within it, making it more difficult. When performing an action which utilizes more than one EMP-affected location, only the largest of the penalties applies--do not add the penalties. For example: A Mekton with its sensors in its head and a weapon in its right arm takes two EMP hits. Let's say it suffers a -3 penalty to its head and a -2 penalty to its arm. When firing the weapon in its right arm, it would suffer a penalty of -3 because, although it is firing a weapon in its arm, it is also using its sensors to acquire the target -- and the sensors are in the head, which is subject to a -3 penalty. However, it would not suffer a -5 penalty (i.e., the penalties are not added even though both servos are suffering EMP penalties). In another case, such as attempting a tail, many more servos could be involved (sensors to maintain tracking of the target, engines for engine response, wings for control response, etc.).

Actions Which Do Not Require a Die Roll:
Many systems function automatically without requiring a roll. If these systems are located within a servo that has an EMP Penalty, roll MR + Mecha Tech + 1D10 vs. 10 and apply the EMP Penalty to see if the system functions the first time you try to use it. If the roll succeeds, you need not roll again unless the servo is hit again and the EMP Penalty increased. If the roll fails, the system is down. An action may be spent to try to bring the system back up. To bring the system back up, you must make the MR + Mecha Tech + 1D10 vs. 10, applying the EMP Penalty.

Powerplant:
Powerplants are treated like one of the "automatic systems" described in the previous section. Each time a servo containing your powerplant is hit and is affected by an EMP cannon, you must make a roll to avoid having your powerplant shut down. Since the Powerplant is more heavily shielded than other parts of your mekton, the roll is MR + Mecha Tech + 1d10 vs. 5, applying the EMP Penalty. If your powerplant does shut down, you may still try to restart your mekton, but may take no other actions except ejecting until you restart your mekton. The effect of a hot powerplant failing its shutdown roll is left up to the discretion of the GM.

If you are using the Powerplant splitting option, MA and MV will be reduced as though that section of the powerplant had been blown, per the powerplant splitting rules. Using an action to restart a split powerplant will only affect one section of the powerplant. If a section of the powerplant is shut down and subsequently restarted, the MA and MV for that section will be restored.

Propulsion Systems:
Propulsion Systems are treated like "automatic systems". Each time a servo containing a propulsion system is hit and fails the Diff Roll, you must make a roll as described to avoid having the propulsion system shut down. If the propulsion system shuts down, only the propulsion system in the affected servo shuts down. Once a section shuts down, it may only be restarted by spending actions to do so. If a section shuts down, all MA provided by that section are lost until it can be restarted.

Scaling:
The EMP Penalty does not scale; however, the EMP Cannon receives the normal out of scale modifier to hit the target. In addition, the out of scale modifier is subtracted from the difficulty number.

Example:
A 1/5 scale Roadstriker fires a -4 EMP Penalty, Diff 17 EMP Cannon at a 1/1 scale mekton. It has +3 to hit the mekton because of scale. The 1/1 scale mekton is hit. The (+3) scale modifier is subtracted from the Diff, so the 1/1 sale mekton must beat (17-3 = 14) to avoid the EMP penalty. The Raodstriker is more likely to hit the Mekton, but less likely to hit something important...

The 1/1 scale mekton fires back at the 1/5 scale Roadstriker with a -2 EMP Penalty, Diff 13 EMP Cannon. It has a -3 to hit the Roadstriker due to scale. The 1/5 scale Roadstriker is hit. The (-3) scale modifier is subtracted from the Diff, so the Roadstriker must beat (13-(-3) = 13+3 = 16) instead of 13 to avoid the EMP penalty. The mekton is less likely to hit the Roadstriker, but more likely to hit something important once it does...

Command Armor:
Command Armor, like regular armor, will not stop an EMP. The EMP will affect systems in the Command Armor AND the servo it protects.

Parrying:
If an EMP is parried, the EMP will affect the Shield and any systems mounted in its binder spacers, as well as the servo which mounts it, but not the servo which would originally have been hit.

EMP Warheads
Missiles may be constructed using the rules described here, but must be purchased with a blast radius.

EMP plus damage:
EMP by itself does not do damage, but to simulate some systems seen in anime, it may be desirable to have a weapon which combines EMP effects and damage.

The system described above is an "EMP Only" system. A "Plus EMP" system would incur an additional x1.5 multiplier.

Quick N Dirty Options:
One of the main drawbacks to this system is that, especially for complex designs, you can end up with a lot of die rolling. Here are two simpler ways to handle EMP cannons, but be warned, they make the EMP cannon considerably more powerful. In any case, you should not mix a Quick N Dirty version with the full version in the same campaign.

1) Treat all EMP Cannons as Megabeams. Apply the EMP Penalty to the entire mekton, rather than a single servo. This gives you one penalty level to keep track of instead of one for each servo.

2) The Bearskins and Stone Knives Effect. You may opt to have the EMP effect be so powerful that only a mecha repair bay can have any effect. In this case, once a system goes down, it stays down.

By Ron Keller

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