House Rules Collection:
Tactical Rules Enhancements
A Compendium of House Rules
by Alex Williams

Actions : Overwatch
Overwatch is declared like any other Action, in the normal course of a Turn, using both the standard Turn system or Let's Active (1). Overwatch is intended to break up the standard Turn sequence, making it profitable to not just delay your Action declarations all together, but to declare some to be selected in case an enemy comes into view before your next opportunity to fire or you need to give support to a team-mate. Overwatch cannot be used for movement, nor to interrupt the course of an opponent's Action (2).

Overwatch is declared on your Turn, at which point you pick any number of total Actions to dedicate to Overwatch. These Actions are effectively removed from your total until your next Turn. Once declared, you can use your Overwatch Actions at any time you can detect (with sensors) or see (see section Obscurement) an enemy unit on which you want to fire, taking a -3 modifier to the WA to account for the `snap shot' nature of the firing. If you do not use your Overwatch Action(s) by your next Turn, they are lost. You do not receive compensatory Actions in your next Turn.

Note that Overwatch can be used (in fact, must be used, if you use the Indirect Fire rules) by coordinated units to lay down indirect fire on the fly as well (see section Indirect Fire). If the firing unit is faster, ie. has a faster Initiative, then they can expend an Overwatch Action to wait for the Indirect Fire to call in the coordinates of the target. If the observer is faster, they can expend their calling action immediately and have the firing unit bring in the fire on their Turn, or they can expend an Overwatch Action to hold until the firing unit's Turn before radioing in the coordinates. The advantage of the latter sequence is seen if the target moves between the observer's Turn and the firer's; if the observer uses Overwatch, the target's coordinates will be those when the observer transmits.

Exempli gratia: William's running an infantryman with a laser-designator, Alik's playing the artillery-mech hidden behind a low hill and Don is in the poor grunt-mech they're planning on toasting. Since William has the highest Initiative (followed by Don and Alik, respectively), William decides the grunt needs a little missile barage shower. He uses an Action to call in the current coords of the grunt to Alik. Unfortunately, by Alik's Action, Don has moved to a new location; not much good firing at the old coordinates. Don is still unaware of the infantryman calling in laser-designated missile arty on him, so is cautiously progressing (one Action spent on a half-MA move, the other put into Overwatch in case someone jumps out in front of him).

Next Turn, William again goes first, but this time goes on Overwatch for two Actions (Let's Active is not being used). Don progresses down the rather narrow opening between two low hills (one of which still shields Alik's mech from detection). He's still moving defensively, so stops about 5 hexes from William's position, moving opportunity to Alik's Turn. William takes this opportunity to call in both his Overwatch Actions, one for each of Alik's, in which he fires two salvos of 20 missiles each, indirectly over the intervening hill toward Don's grunt (3).

Actions : Indirect Fire : Forward Observers
As given in the basic Mekton Zeta rulebook, indirect fire is assumed to incorporate the fire-support team's frontline observer's calling into the action of firing the weaponry. This is somewhat unrealistic and, more importantly, costs the front-line unit nothing.

In these rules, the forward observing unit is assumed to have spent an Action in order to transmit the effective coordinates of the target to the indirect fire support unit. When used with the Overwatch Action (see section Overwatch) and Obscurement (see section Obscurement) optional rules, this can be a powerful combination. The forward observer stays under cover, hopefully undetected by the target until the unit providing fire support gets in a few good strikes.

To call in fire support in this manner, different groups may require different equipment. Some may wish to construct a special effect Beam Weapon with the appropriate SMT multiplier to provide an effective +WA for incoming indirect fire (with Kills = +WA). Some (4) prefer not to involve such equipment unless there is a special need (the `weapon of the week' plot).

Remember, indirect fire support units can still fire without a forward observer in some settings if the concept supports that capability. For example, a large artillery piece that's designed to rain fire down on the battlefield without forward guidance may do just that. Its suggested, however, that in such situations, you make use of the ability for forward observers to add some accuracy to the final impact, either through the previously discussed equipment, like laser-designators, and/or a flat bonus for having a forward observer.

Actions : Indirect Fire : Damage
In Mekton Zeta, indirect fire damage is distributed somewhat strangely, in that the actual Kills of damage are distributed in maximum 5 Kill blocks, and this to all targets in the blast radius, regardless of size. This doesn't really work well, in practice, since even with a 20 Kill indirect arty blast, the most you can generally hope to inflict on a target is 5 Kills, unless the same servo is rolled more than once.

A better technique is to apply the full brunt of the blast to every target in the targeted hex, one location only. This better simulates a massive explosion going off in the hex with a limited yield; for more servo-spraying action, its suggested you add Scattershot to your missiles and ammo that you want indirect fire to be particularly nasty for (5).

With area affect explosions, simply allocate the damage of surrounding hexes based on the number of Kills done by the base explosion, divided by the number of hexes its spread over, times the distance from the target hex, rounded down.

Exempli gratia: A 10 Kill, AoE 2 shot does 10 Kills to one servo on every target in the target hex and 5 Kills to one servo on each target in the surrounding six hexes. If it were AoE 3, it would have done 10 Kills to a target in the target hex, 6 Kills to the next ring of hexes out, and 3 Kills to the ring beyond that.

Also, keep in mind that scaling up can change the damage rings of hexes to damage bands, ie. the same AoE 2 attack in the example above would do 10 Kills to one servo on every target within a 10 hex radius of the target hex, and 5 Kills to one servo on every target within a 10 hex `band' around that primary target zone is moved up to Corvette-scale. Scaling up to starship-scale is even more frightening.

Exempli gratia: Alik is still raining fire on Don's poor grunt unit, using 5 Kill, AoE 2 missiles. On the first Action, he rolls a sweet 22 (versus the 15 for the range in hexes), for a total success of 7. 14 missiles hit the target hex (6).

Since Don can't Dodge, he checks his sheet and finds he does have a full-length shield he can duck down behind. He succeeds in his defense roll, with a 19, and hunkers down.

Now its time to start allocating damage. Since Don has the shield in the blast, they decide to start there first. The first missile just scratches it, the second dents it, the third eats into it, the fourth destroys it utterly and sends two Kills into the arm that was mounting it (scratching the armour). Ten missiles left. They start rolling locations. Once 50 Kills of damage have been distributed across his grunt-mech, there's not really much left save a gently steaming skeleton.

Guess he doesn't need that second volley after all.

Actions : Evasive Action
This is a simple Action in effect; by sacrificing one Action, you can receive +2 to all subsequent Evasion and Dodge rolls, representing your taking the time to jink, swerve and roll out of the way.

Evasive Actions are not cumulative.

Combat Rules : Obscurement
Very little is said on the subject of visual and sensory obscuration in the Mekton Zeta rules beyond the fact that you can fire your weapons out to maximum sensor range if they have the range to accomidate you. Visual cover is handled as a single modifier and physical cover is handled by checking the area hit on the location chart (7). These rules are intended to expand on the subject, providing more detail to those interested.

Combat Rules : Obscurement : Visual Acquisition
Visual range extends to the horizon in all directions, thus, visual detection is more a factor of range than ability. Most of the time, you should probably assume that if something can be seen, it will be seen by a concentrating observer. The specific means of detecting that may be too far away to be obvious should be through making an Awareness roll, modified by range. At typical 1:1 scale combat, the ranges shouldn't be significant enough to require a modifier, but at larger scales it should be taken into account.

The other time you may make use of this rule is if you allow units to be deployed as `concealed' before an engagement. Using the conditional target numbers modified by the cover is an excellent way to adjudicate whether or not the hidden units are spotted, if someone thinks to look for them or if you decide to use a system in which spotting arcs are utilized (see section Spotting Arcs).

In combat, units often attempt to detect opposing units through various occlusions. Different types of terrain inhibit sighting to various degrees. Conditions may modify the Awareness target number, as follows:

Condition Basic Target Number
Clear 15
Hazy 18
Twilight 22
Deep Night 25
Mech equipped with lights 15 in each hex lit

See the following table for types set against their modifiers to Awareness target number for visual detection of an opponant:

Intervening Terrain Modifier
Light Woods +1 / hex
Heavy Woods +2 / hex
Fog +1 / 2 hexes
Smoke +3 / hex
Hill/Mountain No possibility
Under Water (clear) None
Under Water (murky) +1 / 2 hexes
Airborne (clear) None
Airborne (cloudy) +1 / 2 hexes to +1 / 10 hexes

Exempli gratia: Don and Alik are playing through a daytime raiding duel. Alik is moving his arty strider through a rather narrow valley, this time, and Don is waiting at the end of the defile in a patch of heavy woods, two hexes from the edge, not deployed as `concealed' at the beginning of the game, so he still has a sensor profile.

Don is trying to make himself concealed (8), however, Alik can see him on sensors so knows Don's there. He carefully draws a bead on Don's new mech, trying to block out the shapes of trees and hoping his cannon will make it through the cover to do some damage. He fires, rolling a simple 17. Modified by the cover, that becomes an 11, 17 - 2 for each heavy woods hex that Don is is or behind. Don rolls his Evasion, making it easily with an 18. Alik's shot goes wide.

Next turn, its Don's turn to return fire. He launches off a powerful strike missile at Alik, getting an 18 for his trouble, but modified back to 14 for the two hexes of heavy woods between he and Alik, despite the fact that Alik, characteristically, is standing in the open. Alik rolls and, due to his heavy mech's lousy MR, is plugged with a 12 for his trouble.

Revenge is, no doubt, sweet.

Combat Rules : Obscurement : Sensor Acquisition
Sensor acquisition is primarily used in two situations, when there are concealed units that a unit is trying to detect, or when in a situation in which the standard visual sensor system is blinded or unable to lock (9). The actualities of getting a sensor lock vary from setting to setting, in very standard ones its simply radar/infrared locking, in a very variant fantasy setting, it might be a psychic link between mecha.

You can achieve no sensory recognitionn of a concealed unit beyond the Communication Range of your sensors. You can achieve no sensor acquisition for targeting beyond your Sensor Range.

Trying to fire based on sensor locking is possible, but grants an immediate -5 WA to hit because the lock is so fuzzy, plus the same modifiers as for visual firing through cover (see section Visual Acquisition) (10). Getting sensor acquisition on an unconcealed target requires a roll of INT + Awareness + 1d10 versus the range to the target in hexes, modified by half the modifier for getting visual acquisition through cover (11).

Note that several pieces of recon equipment can change these limits. ASP (Advanced Sensor Package) halves the target number for detecting concealed units. Radio/Radar Analyzer will allow the unit to detect any concealed units that make use of spotting or communications Actions within their sensor range (12). Spotting Radar extends both your sensor firing solution and concealed unit detection to 10x the Sensor Range. The MRL (Magnetic Resonance Lens) removes any modifiers for cover from detection of concealed units.

Don't forget about the effect ECM can have on sensor acquisition. Radar Jamming and Sensor Jamming are especially effective for units which are trying to avoid being spotted in cover.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering
In space, outside the clingy grasp of gravity, maneuvering is a very different affair than within the atmospheric bounds of a planetary mass. Without an atmosphere to slow you down, there is nothing but your applied thrust itself to slow you down or stop you, as there is nothing to push from save your own thrust, of one kind or another. The rules for Maneuver Allowance are completely applicable for anime-style continuous-thrust-doesn't-equal-continual-acceleration space battles, but they seem to fall a bit flat for more real-physics settings.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : Gravitics
In space, there is no motion without some kind of material being accelerated in the opposite direction, lest one is using Gravitics; if so, use the standard MA rules for their motion. Gravitics typically do not require `fuel' beyond that which powers the base mecha, the forces of gravity being sufficent to move the ship to the maximum MA, and no more. Gravitics do not get the benefit of Thrusters (see section Thrusters), in that once MA has been spent, they do not continue moving at that velocity without continuing to spend the Actions necessary to continue moving that velocity, just as if they were in a planetary atmosphere (13).

The advantage of Gravitics in space, however, is that they are inertialess drives, in essence, they require no G-Compensator to allow them to accelerate more than 12 MA per Turn (see section G-Compensator). They can go from a standing-stop to full MA and back without concern for their crew or passengers being made into a fine red haze against the rear bulkhead.

Exempli gratia: Don is building the Megatherion Zeta, a beaten down old cargo cruiser with a gratuitously fine name. Because he sees it as having full gravitic inertialess drive with more power than he has sense, he gives it Gravitics of 109 MA.

In a combat situation, the Megatherion can go from 0 to 104 hexes per Turn in one Turn, or roughly from standing still to Earth's escape velocity (25,393mph) by expending two Actions, half that if it only expends one Action. All this without a G-Compensator because the motion is provided by Gravitics. However, the Megatherion Zeta cannot exceed 109 hexes per Turn without some other source of thrust, either a Sublight or Hyperlight drive, or Thrusters, because Gravitics, being inertialess, cannot accelerate the ship continuously, and 109 hexes per Turn is still mighty slow when trucking between the planets of even a small solar system.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : GES
GES systems are very useful within an atmosphere, but next to useless in the depths of space. The only time they come into their own is when there is a sufficently large surface for them to move along, if the GM so desires. The surface of a moon or the outer skin of a space stations are places where a sufficently explained GES system might be found.

As such, GES systems require no special rules for their use unless dictated by the special circumstances of some specific technical application.

Exempli gratia: Alik is designing the individual robots in the surface-defenses of a large L-5 space station. Because he wants them to skim over the surface using magnetic resonance fields, he builds them using GES systems. They can zip along the station pretty good, but if they get knocked off the surface more than 10m, they'll helplessly drift off into space.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : Walking and Jumpjets
Mecha without Thrusters or Gravitics in space are somewhat limited in their choices. Those equipped with Jumpjets can refer to the section Thrusters for information on their capabilities, since they have no differences in 0G save the relative speed.

Mecha with no means of propulsion in space can get by if they can either run along a surface or jump from one surface to another. Part of the Space Environment Protection modification is the addition of magnetic or sticky plates to the feet, allowing mecha to run along the surface of a ship or of a planetoid with some facility. Mecha without the Space Protection package flail helplessly in space unless they can manage to use a push-off like thoughtfully equipped mecha do in extremity.

Mecha can use their Leap MA just like a single burst from Thrusters, allowing them to move in the same direction at the MA they took off at, indefinitely. However, unless they are equipped with at least one point of Maneuver Verniers, they are unable to change their facing once launched. If they are equipped with Maneuver Verniers, then for the cost of one Action they can turn up to 180o. This is useful for making a truely anime leap off the surface of a ship, popping over a bridge or maneuvering fin, and opening fire on the masses of faceless hordes around you (14).

Exempli gratia: Gryn-Boy (15) is hauling along the surface of a monsterous meteor in the midst of an entire swarm of the things. From time to time he makes a heroic leap in his suit and flies through space. He rises majestically through the void for an entire Turn (12 hexes high) then spends one Action to spin around and the next to fire his linked hand-held autocannons in classic John Woo-esque mayhem style at the horde of following station repair drones, wreaking devestation among their numbers.

The next Turn, he realizes he's now 18 hexes off the station, without Thrusters, and drifting into deep space. His comm unit gets very hot.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : Thrusters
The real maneuvering masters in space are Thruster-based systems. While Gravitics can stop on a dime from thousands of kilometers a second, only Thrusters can push a ship at constant acceleration for long periods of time, building up acceleration over incredibly long times and making trips based on actually physically traversing space feasible.

Thrusters have enhanced capabilities in space. Since there is no air resistance in the void, there is no theoretical limit to the speed that they can attain given room to accelerate in. In actual combat situations, however, moving in a constantly accelerating line is a sure way to get shot.

Thruster-equipped units (16) can accelerate by their MA every Turn in a straight line. For every multiple of the base MA the unit moves it suffers -1 to its Evade and Dodge rolls, representing the increasingly predictable course.

Exempli gratia: Don is now working on the Velox, a high-speed interception aerospace fighter. He has it fully equipped with a 35 MA Thruster array, G-Compensation up to 25 MA, and both Space Environment Protection and Re-Entry Protection. The Velox can both leave and enter the atmosphere, though within the atmosphere the maximum velocity is limited to 35 MA. In both environs, however, the maximum MA he can burn without knocking himself unconscious is 25 MA.

In space, the maximum speed he can attain is unlimited, but the acceleration he can pour out is limited to just under 1,223mph per Turn (unless he puts in a rudimentary IA with Piloting which can keep the ship on course while he's out).

Once the Velox enters combat, Don decides to make a run for it, and begins accelerating out of the area at full G-Compensated burn, 25 MA. After three Turns, the ship is moving at 75 hexes per Turn, has traveled 25 + (2 x 25) + (3 x 25), or 150 hexes, and, for the record, he's only burnt 3 x 25 or 75 hexes worth of fuel, quite a respectible speed for the fuel consumption. However, he's moving 75 / 35 (for the ship's max MA) or 2.1x his max speed, giving him -3 (rounded up) to his Evade rolls.

Better hope no one else can keep up

Thrusters can be used exclusively in favour of Lightspeed Sublight Drives (see section Lightspeed Drives). The Thruster's use for planet-spanning travel is slow, in comparison, but for those who're interested in creating realistic settings, this is an excellent means of simulating planetary-length hops. See section Thrusters as Interplanetary Drives for more detail.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : Lightspeed Drives
Lightspeed Drives are the catch-all area for handwavery surrounding drive systems that make decent time both within a system and outside one; for a simple multiplier, the unit can move much faster than Thruster-equipped units.

The reason this is so popular in anime is that the travel between places is seldom a focus of the story or much inspection, just knowing how long it will take to get from point A to point B is often enough. The consumption of fuel for the journey is often not much of a concern either.

Because the specific mechanisms of Lightspeed Drives are so nebulous (they can be anything from Star Trek-like Impulse Drives to the hypserspace drives seen in Star Wars), its difficult to say anything about how they should be handled in a tactical sense. Many of the details will be dependant on the exact mechanism and setting involved.

Exempli gratia: Alik is designing a setting. Because he desires that it be limited in scope to the one solar system and he wants the conservation of fuel and other resources to have meaning in the universe, he disallows Lightspeed Drives, stating that all units will use Thrusters to make planetary transits.

Movement Rules : Space Maneuvering : Thrusters as Interplanetary Drives
Thruster systems are all very capable of accelerating a unit to a high velocity in the depths of space, taking advantage of their lack of friction, its only the ability of the body to withstand high acceleration (Gs) that limits the rate at which they can accelerate (17). According to the Mekton Zeta rules, the maximum expenditure of thrust during any one Turn is 12 MA. Through the use of the proper equipment, the basics of which are secreted in this tome (see section G-Compensator), one can create a unit that can accelerate at more than 12 MA/Turn.

The real concern with using Thrusters for interplanetary jaunts is the deployment range; not so much for the range the ship can reach (after all, the unit can coast at any velocity unimpeded by air-resistance that would slow them) but for the maximum amount of time the ship can boost, or expend thrust. To compute the maximum boosting time for a unit, take its deployment range and cut it in half, assuming that you want to be able to decelerate at the other end to a stop (which is the typical situation). Remember, this is deployment alone, without allowing for things like combat thrust and course corrections. To allow for the latter, 90% of the deployment range should be used to compute the maximum boost limits for ships that, for whatever reasons, aren't using perfectly efficent paths starting and ending in 0G environments (18).

To compute the maximum velocity given any MA, figure how long that the unit can apply full burn for, decide how many 30 second Turns that is, and multiply the result by the MA of the unit in question. This will result in the final MA of the ship. Use the Speedlines formulea in Mekton Zeta to convert the MA back into mph/kph if necessary.

Exempli gratia: Don is flying an older model Furie fighter from Invasion: Terra. Since it was built before the development of the G-Compensator, it is limited to 12MA boosts, roughly 302kph. It has 500km of fuel remaining after an enormous battle in deep space, so it can boost for a little under 2hrs (500 / 302 = 1.66hrs). In one 30 second Turn, it goes 12 MA, in the next 24 MA, the next 36 MA. So, in 199 Turns (the number of 30sec Turns in 1.66 hours of boost) it will be traveling roughly 2390 MA, or (again roughly) 20,520,540 kph / 12,768,336 mph.

In deep-space situations, its often to make use of various Boosterpacks, as detailed in Mekton Zeta. With a Booster, a Mecharider for even more thrust or just deployment range, and a good Expert: Astrogation roll, a unit should be able to get anywhere in a solar-system with a minimum of fuss, realistically.

Tactical Enhancements : Spotting Arcs
Some people, especially those enamoured of double-blind games, find a simple way to simulate the fact that a mech can only be `looking' in one direction at a time to be useful. Units which aren't in the current `observation cone' of the mech do not appear on their radar screens. However, units that appear on the screens of any of a side's mecha appear on all of them, unless their comm units are damaged or deactivated.

The observation cone of all units is a 60o arc (one hex-facing) which can be oriented anywhere within the front 180o arc.

Equipment : G-Compensator

Type: Additive System
Space: One Space located in the same Servo as the Cockpit
Cost: 5 CP per 1 MA beyond the 12 MA acceleration limit
Description: The G-Compensator represents extra equipment and support technology which allows the pilot (and/or passengers) to survive the effects of pulling high G maneuvers. In some settings it may be as simple as a compressive suit and in more high tech settings it can be a damping inertial field.

A mech requires one G-Compensator for every Cockpit (of any type) and for each passenger compartment that is occupied or they cannot expend more than 12 MA in a single Turn. If they do so, those unprotected are struck with unconsciousness for 11 - Body Type in Turns.

Exempli gratia: Don is building a high G space-based interceptor. Knowing that he'll need to really move in order to catch his enemies, he builds in the ability to accelerate 15 MA per Turn, which should give him an edge. This costs him 1 Space from the Torso Servo and 15 CP.

Don also adds an extra Cockpit for his Electronic Countermeasures Engineer, Alik. Feeling stingy, he doesn't mount it a G-Compensator. If Don ever has to push the machine to get ahead of someone, Alik will be out cold for 8 Turns (with his Body of 3).

Footnotes:

  1. Overwatch is more useful for players in Let's Active, making those with more actions viciously dangerous, especially if they have a high REF and, consequently, a high Initiative.
  2. Each individual Action is assumed to be atomic, that is, you can interrupt a Turn, but not an Action.
  3. If this is the real Alik piloting his choice of arty-mecha, each of those missiles is AoE, long-range and hyper-velocity.
  4. Such as the author.
  5. For that all around, highly expensive `warm bath' effect, go Nuclear.
  6. Yeeowch.
  7. Probably the best way to handle it, but not very helpful if you're using the Mekton: the Movie SI system to make things go faster.
  8. .... by holding up an uprooted sapling and mumbling into his com, "I'm a tree, I'm a tree ..."
  9. An example of a good time to use sensor-locking is in the midst of a howling snow-storm or in cover so dense visuals are useless.
  10. Nonetheless, it may still be better than trying to fire without a visual lock at all.
  11. Nota bene: if the modifier is listed as +3/hex, it becomes +3/2 hexes.
  12. Watch out in double-blind games. Talking to your friends while moving the wrong unit can reveal it if there's an R/R-A unit in the neighborhood. Likewise, spotting for indirect fire can give you away.
  13. Ie., they move up to half MA by spending a single Action, moving full MA requires both.
  14. GM's are encouraged to require Piloting checks for truly fancy maneuvers.
  15. No relation to D-Boy from Tekkaman Blade, oh no.
  16. .... including those equipped with Jumpjets ...
  17. In reality, there are other concerns regarding the efficency of the nozzle systems as velocity increases, etc, but for the purposes of Mekton Zeta we'll not explore every detail. We need to retain some sanity, after all.
  18. Smiley inserted for the humour impaired.
Action!  
Romance!  
Giant Robot   Combat!  

Menu  
Mekton Z  
History  
Product Guide    
Destinations   
MZML   
Credits and Disclaimer   
R.Talsorian  
ARG  
mecha.com

Resources  Resources   
Mekton Alpha (PDF)   
MZ Rules Archive   
Project Nemesis   
NMMB 7.1   
Official Game Sheets   
Software   
House Rules   

Worlds of Mekton Z 
Invasion Terra  
Starblade Battalion  
Mekton Empire  
Algol  
Virtual Mekton  

Return to Top
webmaster@mektonzeta.com