Author Topic: A-pod query  (Read 6268 times)

JadeHellbringer

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A-pod query
« on: 19 November 2017, 02:55:23 »
I don't have my books handy- are A-pods a Mech-only system, or can you mount them on vehicles? Pretty sure you can't (certainly I can't think of any doing so), but it sure would be handy. A free internet cookie to whomever can give me an answer with a page reference. (Presuming M-pods would have the same restrictions.)

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guardiandashi

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #1 on: 19 November 2017, 03:13:33 »
tech manual pg 204/205
the writeup on pg 204 doesn't specify, but the summary on 205, says they may only be mounted on battlemechs, industrial mechs, and ground based conventional and support vechicles, IE those with wheeled, tracked, hover, or WIGE motive systems.

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #2 on: 19 November 2017, 18:02:50 »
Canon vees that mount A-pods include Deusenburg One, Hanse Davion's personal limo from TRO: VA. (He never actually set foot in the thing.)
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JadeHellbringer

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #3 on: 19 November 2017, 21:24:13 »
Interesting. So there actually IS a canon vehicle (if only a one-off) with them? Excellent. I wonder why we don't see them more often then on combat units- you'd think urban combat units in particular like the DI Schmitt or Chalupa-tank would benefit from having them in particular.

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #4 on: 19 November 2017, 22:54:08 »
I LOVE oatmeal raisin!!

Yeah, Apods rather suck on Mechs, but suck every so slightly less on tanks, especially scout ones.
Heck, I'm visualizing a hovertank with like 40 of them on a turret, like a hedgehog, just cruising around looking first poor bastards that trigger their Hidden position... Splat!

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #5 on: 19 November 2017, 22:54:33 »
Interesting. So there actually IS a canon vehicle (if only a one-off) with them? Excellent. I wonder why we don't see them more often then on combat units- you'd think urban combat units in particular like the DI Schmitt or Chalupa-tank would benefit from having them in particular.

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #6 on: 19 November 2017, 23:26:00 »
I LOVE oatmeal raisin!!

Yeah, Apods rather suck on Mechs, but suck every so slightly less on tanks, especially scout ones.
Heck, I'm visualizing a hovertank with like 40 of them on a turret, like a hedgehog, just cruising around looking first poor bastards that trigger their Hidden position... Splat!

The problem is just how limited A-pods are. You can ONLY trigger them if an infantry unit tried to swarm/kneecap you, or if they attack using the pointblank hidden units rule that interrupts your movement. If they wait until someone stops near them and reveal and attack normally in the weapons phase, or attack normally any time after that, the A-pods cannot be used, even if they're in your hex.

It basically means you'll get one attack ever with A-pods against a given player, and after that they know how to defeat them until enough time passes that they forget, or you play a scenario that for some reason requires the use of swarm/leg attacks.

Now a hovertank loaded with B-pods...now you're talking. 8)
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #7 on: 19 November 2017, 23:33:18 »
A-pods had the bad timing of being introduced at the same time as Battle Armor. While I'm sure it was terrifying and brutal to those players who actually used standard infantry when attacking a Hellbringer Prime but otherwise doesn't do much for you on the battlefield when people start killing Battle Armor. 
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #8 on: 20 November 2017, 06:24:57 »
I’m actually imagining a fast hover with a bunch of M-Pods, preferably teamed with a Saladin or Blitzkrieg. }:) The latter tear chunks with their big bore guns, then spray them with a few M-pods...
« Last Edit: 20 November 2017, 06:28:18 by Nightsong »

JadeHellbringer

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #9 on: 20 November 2017, 08:54:07 »
A-pods had the bad timing of being introduced at the same time as Battle Armor. While I'm sure it was terrifying and brutal to those players who actually used standard infantry when attacking a Hellbringer Prime but otherwise doesn't do much for you on the battlefield when people start killing Battle Armor.

It definitely didn't help their cause, for sure. Elementals getting hit with an A-pod are probably more amused than anything. But in any era, getting swarmed by anti-Mech infantry is a pretty awful thing- I'd rather have the pod handy and not end up using it than have someone knocking on my canopy glass and asking for a cup of sugar.

(To my shame, I have never used a B-pod or M-pod. I've only used an A-pod once, in fact. The good news: The infantry died. The bad news: The Hellbringer that popped the pod was dealing with the infantry AND a Battlemaster, so...)
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misterpants

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #10 on: 20 November 2017, 09:30:28 »
A couple M-pods also fit on a certain 5 ton hover...good (non-canon) times.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #11 on: 20 November 2017, 09:33:55 »
A couple M-pods also fit on a certain 5 ton hover...good (non-canon) times.

Oh god, that would be hilarious. I demand this be made both possible by rule and then immediately made a canon variant. Bonus if one can use it as part of a charge attack.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #12 on: 20 November 2017, 10:57:00 »
There is a canon config of the drone Zephyr that mounts multiple M-Pods in a turret. >:D

Unfortunately, it's only useful in TW scale, as M-Pods do exactly bupkiss in AS.
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guardiandashi

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #13 on: 20 November 2017, 14:33:24 »
There is a canon config of the drone Zephyr that mounts multiple M-Pods in a turret. >:D

Unfortunately, it's only useful in TW scale, as M-Pods do exactly bupkiss in AS.
that reminds me of one of my friends (non canon) drones, it was a small vehicle with 0.5, or 1ton machine gun ammo "cased" (sort of) to blow out the front instead of the rear, and its primary attack was to charge (ram) and then the damage usually (almost always) set off the ammo.

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #14 on: 20 November 2017, 15:11:54 »
I've always imagined seeing the visual of a mech kicking another , THEN activating his A-B pods to blow up causing more damage from the kick..
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #15 on: 20 November 2017, 15:23:35 »
that reminds me of one of my friends (non canon) drones, it was a small vehicle with 0.5, or 1ton machine gun ammo "cased" (sort of) to blow out the front instead of the rear, and its primary attack was to charge (ram) and then the damage usually (almost always) set off the ammo.

Years ago, here in the DC area we had a pretty great grinder game in which people created a mini-grinder folder with 12 record sheets in it (three of each weight class). Trick was, you made the folder for SOMEONE ELSE- and therefore you were supposed to fill it with the kind of stuff you'd want your enemy to use against you. Cossacks, Jagermechs, Chargers, etc. (The big reveal for the players when they arrived was that actually the folder you made... was yours. ;) )

Anyway, Paul (yes, THAT Paul) got special permission to design his own Mechs for his own folder, and while he could have made decent if flawed machines... he really went all out to make bad Mechs. 'Server Room' sticks in my mind, with its eight C3 Master computers. They were unusable, wretched, designed to simply be funny as hell.

Well, one of them (I don't recall the name) was a kamikaze. A single MG (mounted in the head, backwards), fed by four tons of MG ammo, all in the legs... and MASC. The idea was to run up in someone's face, take a leg crit from the MASC roll, blow an ammo bin, and then have an engine detonation (we used slightly modded engine explosion rules to make them more powerful and a bit easier to cause)- taking out anyone nearby.

Paul ran up to my Akuma, got his MASC failure, and... an actuator and a hip. Rather than going out in a blaze of glory, he simply ran up and... fell down. Then got stomped on by the Akuma. So close to glory! I still wish he'd have been able to light that one off, that's something you don't get to see every day.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #16 on: 20 November 2017, 17:34:11 »
'Server Room' sticks in my mind, with its eight C3 Master computers. They were unusable, wretched, designed to simply be funny as hell.

Also included:
The Glass Missile. Start with a firestarter, strip all its armor, install a boobytrap, MASC, Supercharger. Composite structure (or whatever the one is that takes 2 damage for 1 incoming damage) Charge a target from 2 maps away. The impact will destroy the Mech, triggering an engine explosion. Or the boobytrap has to do it.
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Quote
Paul ran up to my Akuma, got his MASC failure, and... an actuator and a hip. Rather than going out in a blaze of glory, he simply ran up and... fell down. Then got stomped on by the Akuma. So close to glory! I still wish he'd have been able to light that one off, that's something you don't get to see every day.

Hax! Hax I say!

Yeah, that's the closest I was likely to get to killing 2 Mechs in the movement phase: his and my own! Brian really hoped he'd lose initiative compared to me so I didn't have a chance of triggering my leg bomb.
(Also, that Mech had closer to 30 tons of MG ammo, everywhere. The first critical hit anywhere likely would've blown it up too!)

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #17 on: 20 November 2017, 18:59:24 »
That reminds me of a custom design from way back in the days of IntroTech only (PS: I am old) that one of my friends threw together; called the Hedgehog or something similar. Basically it was a heavy 'Mech with entirely machine guns, based on the premises that a) zero heat weapons in the days of single heat sinks meant you could last forever and b) all our battles tended to devolve into point-blank slugging matches.

The first (and only) battle it was in, it got back-shot by a Griffin. The hit went through the rear armour and straight to the machine gun ammo...
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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #18 on: 20 November 2017, 22:55:39 »
A-pods had the bad timing of being introduced at the same time as Battle Armor. While I'm sure it was terrifying and brutal to those players who actually used standard infantry when attacking a Hellbringer Prime but otherwise doesn't do much for you on the battlefield when people start killing Battle Armor.

A-pods are so hilariously underpowered for their role that I really don't think it would have mattered when they were introduced.  They'd have been really bad if they'd been around for the 3rd Succession War.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #19 on: 20 November 2017, 23:42:41 »
Only way to unsuck them is to have them prevent the Swarm attack if they inflict any damage, and even then you prob still need to bump them to 2d6 damage.
Of course, swarm attacks are also nerfed in to irrelevance, so there's that.

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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #20 on: 21 November 2017, 00:44:51 »
They should also be able to be able to affect any infantry in the hex with them, regardless of what it's doing.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #21 on: 21 November 2017, 00:55:50 »
That reminds me of a custom design from way back in the days of IntroTech only (PS: I am old) that one of my friends threw together; called the Hedgehog or something similar. Basically it was a heavy 'Mech with entirely machine guns, based on the premises that a) zero heat weapons in the days of single heat sinks meant you could last forever and b) all our battles tended to devolve into point-blank slugging matches.

The first (and only) battle it was in, it got back-shot by a Griffin. The hit went through the rear armour and straight to the machine gun ammo...

Done that before with a 45 tonner..  ALso done the 100 ton 'fireball' NOTHING BUT Medium lasers and ER_mediums...  in EVERY SLOT available.  4/6 XL engine iirc...  180 points max damage in alpha strike, but it would shut down for at least 5 rounds before even standing a chance to cool off..
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JadeHellbringer

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #22 on: 21 November 2017, 09:12:27 »
Only way to unsuck them is to have them prevent the Swarm attack if they inflict any damage, and even then you prob still need to bump them to 2d6 damage.
Of course, swarm attacks are also nerfed in to irrelevance, so there's that.

Paul

That IS true, I haven't been swarmed under the current rules but my horror stories from it all date to the old days- and they were distinctly unpleasant. (One player's Elementals swarmed my Dragon in a 3050-era Mechwarrior 2nd ed. game, and as he pulled open the cockpit hatch he yelled "What's YOUR name?" in an Adam Sandler voice. The reply via auto-pistol apparently wasn't the answer he wanted to hear- nor was it effective in any way.)
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #23 on: 21 November 2017, 10:02:38 »
The high TN, the turn delay in doing damage, the fact that they're both easy to remove, and easy to damage... someone got way too scared of swarming.
In my view, once you're swarmed, you SHOULD be done. BA is so slow, you're really asking for it if you let them. And if you're getting ambushed by em, well, that OUGHT to suck.

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JadeHellbringer

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #24 on: 21 November 2017, 10:10:00 »
The high TN, the turn delay in doing damage, the fact that they're both easy to remove, and easy to damage... someone got way too scared of swarming.
In my view, once you're swarmed, you SHOULD be done. BA is so slow, you're really asking for it if you let them. And if you're getting ambushed by em, well, that OUGHT to suck.

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #25 on: 21 November 2017, 10:37:19 »
You are Paul, and Paul is you.
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misterpants

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #26 on: 21 November 2017, 11:59:41 »
Possibly going off topic, but can you drag a trailer into a building and drop it off?
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #27 on: 21 November 2017, 12:03:46 »
Possibly going off topic, but can you drag a trailer into a building and drop it off?

That's... definitely off-topic, but I'm curious where you're going with it anyway.

So what we're doing, then, is driving a vehicle towing a trailer into a building (I'll presume you don't mean bashing through the wall?), and leaving it in the middle? I can't think of a reason you COULDN'T, but it's possible I'm wrong on that.
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misterpants

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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #28 on: 21 November 2017, 12:15:00 »
That's... definitely off-topic, but I'm curious where you're going with it anyway.

So what we're doing, then, is driving a vehicle towing a trailer into a building (I'll presume you don't mean bashing through the wall?), and leaving it in the middle? I can't think of a reason you COULDN'T, but it's possible I'm wrong on that.

Loading up cheap trailers with one-shot weapons (including B or M pods of your choice) then plunking them in buildings for urban combat trolling.
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Re: A-pod query
« Reply #29 on: 21 November 2017, 13:09:23 »
Who would operate the trailer? Typically it is the vehicle crew
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