A-pod/B-pod idea

[Sabelkatten]

Well, two ideas really.

#1: There's a lot of of boom in an A-pod (half a ton!). It's hardly unreasonable it should hurt even BA. So let's have them cause 5 damage each to those (makes the clans deploying them a bit more logical).

#2: To make them more useful against the threat you really want them against: Some grunts kneecapping your shiny ride... Each pod detonated causes a cumulative +1 TN to all legs attacks and swarm attempts (against the unit mounting them) until the end of the turn.

What do y'all think?

[Demiurge]

With the current rules they're basically leg irons, so anything different is nice.

So, with rule #2 they're both killing the swarming infantry and making it harder for them to swarm?

[Sabelkatten]

Exactly. Given the one-shot nature of the pods it doesn't seem unreasonable.

[The_Caveman]

If A-Pods are detonated in open hexes, maybe they should get a x4 damage multiplier against PBI instead of x2. Would make them extremely nasty in a city.

[Demiurge]

Actually, it's a little mystifying that they only do damage to a single hex.  They weigh more than twice as much as Arrow IV missiles, and those do anti-mech damage to seven hexes.

Whatever HE fill they use in A-pods is just pitifully weak.

[The_Caveman]

Actually, it's a little mystifying that they only do damage to a single hex.  They weigh more than twice as much as Arrow IV missiles, and those do anti-mech damage to seven hexes.

Whatever HE fill they use in A-pods is just pitifully weak.

I suspect much of the weight of an A-pod is not explosive, but rather the mounting frames that let you put what are effectively giant Claymore mines on your legs without damaging your own actuators when they detonate. They're probably also aimed so that most of the fragments shower downward over that 15-meter radius circle around your 'Mech.

Actually, maybe the best way to handle A-pods is to ditch the existing rules and treat them identically to command-detonated minefields.

[Sabelkatten]

I suspect much of the weight of an A-pod is not explosive, but rather the mounting frames that let you put what are effectively giant Claymore mines on your legs without damaging your own actuators when they detonate. They're probably also aimed so that most of the fragments shower downward over that 15-meter radius circle around your 'Mech.

Actually, maybe the best way to handle A-pods is to ditch the existing rules and treat them identically to command-detonated minefields.

Minefield rules makes sense, thought IIRC it might make pods a bit too powerful against BA? Minefields are treated as AE attacks now aren't they?

If A-Pods are detonated in open hexes, maybe they should get a x4 damage multiplier against PBI instead of x2. Would make them extremely nasty in a city.

IMHO it's better if they don't get any multiplier at all in open terrain. For both realism and game balance it makes more sense if they're optimized for use in broken terrain.

[The_Caveman]

Could do A-pods as 5-point minefields with an always-on 2x multiplier against unarmored infantry, and B-pods as 10-point minefields with no multiplier.