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IMPULSE MOVEMENT SYSTEM
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This is an impulse movement system lifted from Starfleet Battles or Car Wars. I've got a chart that I modified from either Car Wars or Star Fleet Battles. Was long ago, so I forget which game I stole it from. When we built this rule set, we used the basic assumption that everything was happening simultaneously in the span of a few seconds. The goal was shift our games closer to the reality of the fiction versus the game.
The idea for the system came from all the old CBT novels. In the novels, the mechs would fire at each other while they closed on each other, the game only allowed firing sequences after movement had been decided. We felt that this system gave too much of an unbalanced advantage to smaller mechs sneaking in for kill shots in the back of bigger ones and started looking for something that would make the Atlas king of the battlefield again. This system allows movement while firing (closer to what the novels portray) and movements still play out giving the faster mechs their speed advantage. This limits the ability of the lights to run behind an Atlas without the Atlas getting a chance to defend itself and react to the movement.
Every player roles a 12-sided die. A count gets marked off on the chart. As movements are declared, I use a grease pencil to mark who moves when (I have the chart laminated). Players move as their movement numbers comes up. The 12-sider determines initiative on firing turns. The lower the number, the sooner reaction times. Thus, if an Atlas has an init of 2 and a locust has an init of 5, the Atlas can fire at the incoming Locust possibly heading of a kill-shot from behind. Likewise, a Locust with an initiative of 3 with an Atlas init of 7 would allow the Locust to come in with a strafing run and peal off last second if it takes too much damage.
It is a 12 by 12 square. The skipped squares are marked with "--" on the chart.
As the count down starts at 1 and moves down to 12, mechs begin moving according to movement points. As you can see by the delays, faster mechs have the advantages of moving in close for the kill, while heavier, slower mechs are delayed and often have to go to reaction modes. Events that require multiple mp are handled with each mp used on an impulse. Charges still can happen and physical attacks still take place.
Torso twist happens during the firing sequence. If one wants to fire at a target that is moving to the side, they torso twist to face it. We never factor torso twist as a mp action.
Firing modifiers are based on movements at the time of the firing turn. If my T-bolt has an impulse movement of 6 and a PHawk moves at 9, I decide I'm going to fire at impulse 6. I'm going to have a running modifier for my movement and a target movement modifer of 4 hexes by that point.
We found that as we used this system, mech firing ranges constantly changed as PPCs more quickly fell into prime ranges while LRMs quickly became useless against a closing enemy. Lasers became more prominant on the battlefield as they always maintain a minimum effective range of 1. It created a battlefield more in line of our experiences in the military with a constantly changing battlefield where split second decisions could change the outcome of a battle when the luck factor fell in ones favor.
Keep in mind, this rule set is based on a realtime movement/real world combat. Nobody stands still waiting for an enemy to charge them on the battlefield.
As far as MASC, I don't use it for my games. But, the chart is in an excel format, it wouldn't be hard to design larger movement scales for those. (Keep in mind, we built this way back before the Clan invasion.)
For charging, using the scenario above... Should the PHawk be charging my T-Bolt, I'm probably going to try and get a few shots off at him if I know I cannot completely avoid the charge. The published rules don't give me that chance -- I would have to fire at point blank range. In reality, I would be risking overheating -- especially if I've already taken a lot of damage. This system accounts for those possibilities.
As far as flanking assault mechs, it can be tried. True this system takes that out. But in a real mech battle, I'm gonna try and take down your Locust before I'm going to let you get in my rear arc. I'd be a moron not to, and this accounts for that.
For example, I usually play Eridani Light Horse units in the games I play. If I use my standard recon lance (usually a T-Bolt, a Dervish, a PHawk and a PHawk LAM), I don't have the fire power to take down an Atlas. If I face an Atlas, my goal is to accomplish the recon objectives and get out of there. Any firing I do will be harassment and evasion. My heavy or assault lance would have to cover the Atlas.
Speaking of LAMs, this system does balance those out and reduces their effectiveness beyond recon. If I use the 15 jump that was mentioned in another thread, for example: Whether I extend the impulse chart to 15 or keep it at 12 (we always changed a LAMs movement to 12 max -- in fighter mode, it would be moving too fast to be effective beyond harassment and thus ineffective for a mech fight) the other mechs have more than ample opportunities to take out my LAM. And usually have if I tried to use it against anything bigger than mediums -- mediums usually take them down relatively quickly as well.
I'll follow it through on a full sprint towards each other from a distance of 30 hexes and 3025 TRO book mechs. Assume Kansas grasslands terrain:
On one, the Spider would begin his run towards or around the Atlas. They are 29 hexes apart now. On two, the Atlas has the opportunity to fire or begin movement first since he has a 4 init. He steps towards the Spider. The Spider also moves forward one. The distance closes to 27. On three, the Spider moves forward one. The distance is 26. On four, the Atlas moves forward one more, the Spider moves forward. Distance 24 On Five, the Spider closes to 23 On six, the Atlas moves forward and the Spider closes. With a distance of 21, the Atlas declares fire of the LRM 20 but misses the Spider. On seven and eight, the Spider closes two more hexes, distance at 19. On nine, the Atlas gets its next movement point and closes one, the Spider does the same. Distance 17. On ten and eleven, the Spider closes two more hexes to distance 15. On twelve, both mechs close one, distance 13. The Atlas can now fire it's A/C 20. This time it hits the Spider.
Both mechs roll init. The Spider gets a 3, the Atlas a 7.
On one, the Spider closes one more, distance 12.
One two, the Spider moves first with the 3 init. The Atlas moves second. Distance 10. On three, the Spider moves forward and closes the distance to 9. On four, the Spider closes one as does the Atlas. Distance 7. The Spider opts not to fire, the Atlas opens fire all forward weapons and misses with all but the two medium lasers. On five, the Spider closes to 6. On six, the Spider and Atlas both move, distance 4. On seven and eight, the Spider closes two hexes to distance of 2. On nine, the Spider turns to prep for a pass, the Atlas turns towards the Spider. On ten and eleven, the Spider moves forward one and moves to pass. On twelve, the Spider is one hex to the rear of the Atlas, the Atlas turns toward the Spider.
At rates of movement, the Spider would eventually have the opportunity to get behind the Atlas for the kill, but not before the Atlas is forced to do a lot of running turns (basically spinning around) to try to keep the Spider to his front. The 12 movement gives the Spider additional movements to outmaneuver the Atlas. And would give him a chance in a few turns to hammer the Atlas directly in the back. The Spider's maneuvering would also expose the Atlas to other mechs with range to target the Atlas while he's trying to track the Spider.
While it is not canon, nearly everything else in our game is -- aside from the house rules already mentioned previously on the board. We just wanted to add another element to the game and had really good luck with the chart. I think you'd be surprised at the difference "real-time" reactions make in the game. It does lead to quick blood baths. Combat starts a lot quicker.
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