[gurps] My first experiments with Gurps Spaceships 4e - a Mecha

[Onno Meyer]

> Well with the addition of Mecha to the Gurps 4e Spaceships collections I 
> decided to try my hand at one for the first time.  I figure since I went 
> through the effort I had might as well share it here and see if I am doing
> something wrong.

I have only the basic book so far (but that twice, as pdf and in 
print) so I can't comment on the numbers, but I've just done the
first starship myself ...

One of the problems is that the twenty available slots are used 
for both mass and volume, but five percent of the mass in armor 
won't come close to five percent of the volume, while five 
percent of the volume for passenger seats won't come close to 
five percent of the mass. Basically, an armor module and a 
passenger module should be able to share a 'system space' in 
the design, but that would lead to a complicated list of mix 
and match. 

The other side of the coin is that the designer doesn't HAVE to
track both volume and mass, and that the players don't have to 
remember the stats and capabilities of half a dozen different 
sensors or navigation instruments. 

Spaceships is for a free-wheeling, non-obsessive style of play
and that doesn't mix with Mecha battles, I think :-)

> 1 3MJ Laser Cannon (fixed - +2 to hit forward middle hull arc) sAcc 0 Rcl 
> 1  3dD(2) burn damage S range

I would expect a Mecha to optimize on agility, and that clashes
somewhat with a fixed weapon.

Onno