A Time of War Examples

[monbvol]

There are valid arguments for going either way for where you should put your best pilots but all mechs have the same upward limit of armor that can be applied to the head and the thin armor of Light mechs does tend to mean they are more inclined to run away to fight another day and able to do so.

To bring this back around to A Time of War and theory/strategy for how to build a character I will suggest that the player does need to talk to their GM about how the Vehicle trait is going to be handled as being dispossessed does suck in some eras more than others as replacements can be hard to find even if you have more than enough money.

The good news is if you have enough XP a PC can own as many Vehicles as they can afford.  So having a spare can be quite possible.

[ZombieAcePilot]

It is my experience that just because you can spend xp in an area does not mean it will be allowed by your GM. Games that continue for years need a certain amount of artificial limiting in order to provide the best play experience. Rather than jacking up your piloting or gunnery you will end up diversifying your skill base. This keeps the game a challenge (and thus fun) without the GM having to resort to pitting the PC's up against enemies who shouldn't rightly exist.

While I'm certain it is more than possible for a PC to start with 5's or 6's in their main area of expertise, I know the life path system doesn't leave a whole lot of points for everything a player may want. Consider starting lower toward the 3-4 value (3 is green, 4 is average). Most characters start young (less than 25), and thus there is no reason you need the value of a veteran or an elite soldier. Leave yourself some room to grow over time (that doesn't mean as soon as you can afford it), your GM will thank you.

[monbvol]

Straying a bit into philosophy but I intended to get eventually anyway so why not offer up some helpful thoughts while we're talking about XP and how it is spent.

As indicated a GM may put certain limits on how XP is pent and alter how traits and skills work versus what is printed in the book.  The GM's job is to explain this to their players.  It is okay to allow player feedback to help you flesh out how some of the changes you want to make them work better or even be incorporated into your changes outright, after all the goal is to have fun.