Difference between revisions of "The Apeman007's FAQ"

Revision as of 06:36, 23 November 2004

Spelling

This is VERY important. Not just now, but throughout your participation in the MRC. Many of our members are non-native English speakers, and it helps them (as well as everyone else) for posts to be as free of spelling errors as possible. All anyone here has to go on is your written word, so if there are multiple errors, people can easily lose the thread of what you're trying to say. A simple spell checker can help a great deal. If nothing else, you can paste your text into a Yahoo message composer and run their spell check on your text. One thing you'll want to watch for (that a spell checker won't catch) is this: it's UN Spacy, not UN Spacey.

Player Character death by other Player Character

It’s rare, but it does happen. Accidents are things that happen all of the time and such deaths are usually the result of stupid and pointless actions. However there may be a time where one player character actively seeks to deliberately execute another player character. I’ll play it out, but not before the player initiating that hostile action communicates to the GM with his/her intent to kill another player. The expected dialogue would be about why. Drastic actions, while entertaining to read, can really be quite a setback for a player as well. We role-play for a number of reasons but usually the biggest reason is fun. Killing a player character robs someone else of his or her fun and requires some fairly comprehensive game restructuring afterward. As the GM, I’d like to know why before approving of this action. (Created by Sabre.)

The Macross II RPG rulebook is used as the main source of rules for this game. The secondary source books are the Robotech RPG and as an extreme backup – the Rifts RPG. The MRC Skills List is used as the master list for skills. Macross Specific Statistics and OCCs used are from the MRC’s Official Statistics Resources, followed by Steel Falcon, UNSDB and other materials used on the internet.

Skills

If you’re PC is not actively practicing the skills listed in the character sheet during the PC’s downtown, there is a high probability that the skill % will be reduced and abilities *may* be lost.

BOXING

doesn’t allow for an ADDITIONAL HtoH ATTACK. (I’ll get around to editing it out of the effected character sheets sooner or later.) However, it allows for either one additional punch or an extra dodge in physical (face to face) confrontations. (There’s currently a DEBATE on the topic going on regarding the interpretation of the game rules and actions per melee.)

STACKING OF PP BONUSES ON MECHA BONUSES

The jury is still out on this.

Leap Dodge

This is being removed as it is currently written into the stats and rules. It will be occasionally used as a ‘last chance’ save – if necessary. In other words – the strength of the VF is its maneuverability, not its capabilities to ‘stand there and take it like a man’ (which it actually doesn’t have.) Therefore – it is highly recommended that players use a good proportion of their actions as dodges (unless if they are deliberately being macho and ‘taking it like a man.’)

Unless otherwise indicated, all attacks will hit either concurrently or the very next action in the melee timeline. For further details, review the Palladium books mecha combat rules.

Re: action write-ups

All that is really necessary is a brief write-up of the overall intended action (however, this must be written in a way where the intended action is clearly understood.)

Example: i (Character) walks around VF doing routine pre-flight check. ii (character) looks at information displayed on the MFDs of the cockpit.

Both of these are both vague but describing the intended action quite well.

Generally, I am fairly relaxed – but things that don’t follow common sense and/or are written unclearly will cause unexpected things to occur.

Re: Game posts

1 The GM’s post(s) take precedence over everything else. 2) Other players’ post(s) are good for basically only what their personal character is doing or saying or when the group is working together for a common goal. 3) If a player is posting a description of something not directly related to his or her character, the likelihood of it being true in the game is reduced (look to the GM’s post(s) for confirmation.)

What’s a melee action?

The basic rule of thumb is to take 15 seconds and divide by the number of actions a character has. (Thus, 7 actions equates to about 2 seconds per action.) What can be done in that length of time should constitute an action. However, the exact time a given action takes is rather nebulous. Once could say that the action of firing a gun actually is the following actions: thinking about shooting the target, aiming at the target, firing at the target and recoiling from the gun shot. Therefore, some actions may be lumped together. For example: activating a PPB or Active Stealth; activating a radio, changing (or aligning) the frequency and transmitting a short spoken message; stating a short message, encoding it, lining up the laser transmitter array and sending it; and so on could be feasibly be lumped together and constitutes ‘1 action.’ However, unrelated activities should not be lumped together. For example: walking and/or changing ones facing could be lumped together, but walking and checking the radar should not be lumped together. Lastly, always keep in mind that unless otherwise stated the character or the vehicle in question will continue moving along the same vector at the same velocity (or rate of acceleration) as last indicated. The adverse effect of this is that a vehicle at high speed will probably only be in range of it’s target during a portion of a melee round and will probably end up moving way out of range if the player doesn’t take action to change that rate of movement. Note: the GM won’t have characters flying into hills, canyons or the ground unless if fair warning has been given. However, if the player doesn’t post explicitly what direction, speed, heading, weapon used, target fired at or action specifically being performed, the GM will creatively interpret the intended action and the result probably won’t be what the player intended.

Combined Actions are possible in the following situations:

- fire a single/short burst flare/chaff/other and move or dodge is ok. - dodge and move/change direction - tilt dodge (a variation on the auto-dodge; but with no bonuses to dodge) with move/change of direction/facing

Shooting Missiles

Existing game rules: 1 or 2 missiles that successfully hit a volley (4 or more missiles) has a 70 or 75% chance of the other missiles in the volley self-destructing due to fratricide. Shooting down missiles with a gun pod or lasers provides a 35% chance of fratricide.

I am bumping those to: Lasers: 35% Gun pod Single shot: 50% of fratricide Gun pod Short burst (spray): hits 1D10 missiles; 55% of fratricide per hit. Gun pod Short burst @ 1 missile: 60% of fratricide. Gun pod Long burst (spray): hits 1D20 missiles. 65% of fratricide per hit. Gun pod Long burst @ 1 missile: waste of ammunition. Missiles: if in the blast radius of the warhead, does 1/2 damage.

Note however that all laser weapons usually fire only a single shot that will hit only one missile. Gun pods have a great chance of hitting multiple missiles in a single burst (I’m toying with the idea of having a long burst grant a higher chance of fratricide then a short burst due to the chance of more metal hitting more missiles.) Missiles (especially fragmentation missiles) have the highest chance of fratricide due to their unique capability of hitting without hitting (their proximity fuse.))

In all cases, firing 10 missiles is a total WASTE of valuable and finite ammo. 1 missile (for small volleys) or two (for larger volleys) is sufficient.

Dodging Missile Volleys

It happens in the anime – thus, it can happen here. Note that there is a negative modifier to the dodge roll per every 4 missiles over the first 4. Chaff/flares/other do provide a counter to this negative modifier… however, there are times when one should probably attack the missiles or dive for cover and hope for the best.

Keeping missiles on the tail of one’s VF is possible, only IF the missile(s) are of the ‘smart’ variety. The average missile in Macross (the dogfight missile) is incapable of trailing their target beyond their first attempt to strike. If they miss, then, in game terms, their threat is nullified.

Chaff and Flares*:

Every VF has combined chaff and flare dispensers mounted on them that are useable in all modes. When used, they fire off an automatic burst of 6 chaff and/or flare to counter any incoming missiles. one usage of chaff or flares fires off 6 of the type used automatically. They grant a +3 to Dodge vs. missiles.

• Technically, there should be one more countermeasure here, but I do not know its name. The countermeasure is either anti-radar or creates an ECM field. I have heard it referred to as a squib. At present, it isn’t needed in the game.

Re: Weapons in a VF

- Beam weapons are considered to always be charged and/or charging. - All weapons are considered to be hot (armed/active) as the process of making them hot is negligible in terms of actions required. - The REB-23s (of the VF-19) are considered to be fire-link-able. Again, the action ‘cost’ to do that is considered to be negligible.

There is an important note (I believe it’s on the same thread as the ‘Death Angels for Dummies’) that gives some specifics about the capabilities of VFs. It is in your best interest to review that.

In addition to paying attention to ranges, speeds, weapon performance, keep in mind that all weapons are considered to be: if you can’t see/sense¹ it, you can’t hit it if you shoot at it.

¹ By sense, I mean – showing up on sensors, and not some form of ESP.

Gun Pods

At the time of writing, the stats for the VF-19 haven’t been updated. However, it is safe to presume that a short burst/spray = 10 r, a long burst/spray = 25 r and anything longer = whatever the player wishes to write down, however multiples of 10 are preferred. At this time, only bursts/sprays consisting of over 100 rounds will be considered to take more then a single action. (The GM feels that the ROF of the gun pod is equivalent to 1800 r/min. Which means that the gun pod can be emptied in 3 melee rounds; or 600 rounds per melee round. The figure of 100 is given because it is perceived that an action requires aiming, possibly leading the target, depressing the trigger and possibly more.

FAST Packs

FAST packs are generally written per single unit. Therefore, it is safe to say that two FAST packs of the same kind can be fire linked. For example, the NP-BP-19 FAST packs grant a total of 60 missiles and a rate of fire (ROF) of 1 to 6 missiles. Note that in this arrangement, if one FAST pack is destroyed, malfunctions, rendered useless from battle damage or is ejected, the details revert to a single units details. In addition, the flight characteristics of the vehicle may be sufficiently disrupted so as to force either a reduction in speed or the ejection of the remaining FAST pack. As for missile loads, the GM will endeavor to list the stats reflecting their individual loads, so that there is no argument when the use of a FAST pack is lost.

Pin Point Barriers (PPB) and you

Anything other then keeping the PPB over a stationary point on the mecha will cost an action. If one wants to attempt to parry something, it’s best to keep the PPB over one of the arms or legs, and use that appendage to attempt the parry. There has been unconfirmed reports regarding the number of PPBs a VF has. This GM is opting for what’s easiest: a single disc.

A note on active and passive stealth:

Passive stealth really depends on the angle that the radar beam is approaching from. For example, from the front, rear or sides, the F-117 is largely invisible (not completely, but largely.) HOWEVER, from the top or bottom (and probably a lot more angles,) all passive stealth airframes are just as radar reflective as all other non-passive stealth aircraft. In addition, passive stealth is rendered useless when an aircraft opens one of it's weapon bays to launch a missile.

Active stealth uses an energy field to bend/absorb radar - which is different from radar jamming; which tends to tell users of radar that something is out there, just not exactly where.) Active stealth is not infallible. Thus, at short ranges it is probably not as effective as it is at long range (reason: power of radar waves is stronger near the source, there's more radar waves hitting the active stealth energy envelope AND the 'void' spot on the radar return is much, much larger. (Think of it as a 0.0001 mm void spot on the return screen (about the size of your monitor) at 100 km vs. a 20 mm void spot at 5 km.) There's more technical stuff that can be elaborated on (such as Doppler radar being used to pick-up the disruptions created in the air by a vehicle moving through it) but isn’t needed at present.

Using Stealth effectively:

Both Active and Passive Stealth have unique advantages that they bring to the vehicle that is equipped with them. However, like all features on a vehicle, they are more effective when used in certain ways and less effective when used in other ways. Current tactics of the USAF have the F-117 flying ONLY at night (where its dark colour is most effective.) In addition, the stealthy JSF, F-19 Raptor and F-117 all use the tactic of avoidance; meaning that they use every feature of the battlefield to their advantage, whether that be distance (radar being less effective, especially against stealthy airframes at range,) terrain (mountain ranges, forest and flying nap of the Earth all are tactics that successfully avoid radar,) light conditions (vehicles are far more visible in daylight,) and so on. However, no matter what the conditions, the USAF tactic for their stealthy vehicles is avoidance – avoiding flying directly over or near places that could detect them and alert aerial defense networks. This concept may be hard to grasp, so I will illustrate it with the traditional master of stealth: the Ninja. The tactics of the ninja are exactly the same as stealthy aircraft: avoid detection, move where the opponent either cannot detect or routinely examine/patrol, precisely strike the target and then quickly retreat via the same tactics used during the approach. The ninja employs shadows, trees, eaves and rafters of buildings and even furniture to accomplish the ninja’s objective of stealthily approaching and attacking its target. If the black garbed ninja were to run across an open field in broad daylight, the ninja will be spotted with ease and eliminated long before the ninja becomes a threat. However, if the ninja uses the tactics of stealth, secrecy and prowls successfully, they will lethally strike from the shadows and successfully retreat before their target’s defenses can be raised and become effective. There is no difference between an active or passive stealth equipped VF and the tactics of a ninja. Remember, virtually all of the time it is a far greater success to sneak into an opponents fortifications, eliminate the one mission objective that defeats the enemy and make your escape, than it is wading through a gazillion peons, each of them of equal power to you.

How to do a Laser Communication

Does your PC have the skill Radio: Basic? Without it, your PC will be clueless. Activate the equipment. Speak into the microphone to transcribe a message*. Encode the message (any player with radio: basic can do this.) Align the laser transmission antenna to the recipients receiving array.¹ Transmit the encoded burst of information. Receiving is the opposite: receive the encoded burst of information, decode the information, play the transmission (or view the received materials.) Note: for laser communications to be used successfully in the game, all of the above must be written in the description of the actions. Also, the sender and receiver must be able to visually see each other with nothing disrupting their view of each other for this type of communication to work.

• A message could be anything from video, maps to text entered in a keypad.

¹ Technically this should be a fairly difficult task for a moving VF fighter aiming at another moving VF fighter’s receiver. However, for ease of game play we’ll claim this to be an easy task to complete.

Listening in a VF

A flying VF (any mode) won’t be able to pick-up sounds without a sensor check (1 action.) The prime reason is that the roar of the engines and air (wind) passing over the vehicle’s microphones produce sound that needs to be overcome. (Not to mention that above certain speeds, the VF may be moving faster then the speed of sound.)

Note that without these factors (engine, wind noise, etc.), listening doesn't count as a sensor check/action.

Can we send messages to each other's fighters during a spacefold?

To be honest, there is nothing in Macross giving evidence if it is or is not possible.

In the Apeman007 games, the way that I understand a space fold is that the vehicle creates an energy field around it (fold field) and uses that to retain the ‘rules of our reality’ when the vehicle enters hyperspace (a place with different rules of physics allowing for super high speeds.)

Based on that, I feel that if all vehicles are part of the same space fold, then they can communicate with each other. However, anything that is not included in that ‘space fold field’ cannot be communicated with.¹

¹ There is the possibility of ‘hyperspace communicators’ (aka: ‘space fold communicators’, akin to ‘subspace communications’ in Star Trek,) and some ships in Macross have them. (There is a pair of towers in the New Edwards base in Macross Plus that look suspiciously like a ‘hyperspace communications’ array.) However, this technology is not on any VF and, in my speculation, of rather large size (thus the smallest thing it is mounted on is a spaceship.)

Reentry and Blast Shields

The following is an application of real science on the fictional elements that compose a VF fighter.

The Mercury, Apollo and Soyuz space capsules; the Space Shuttle and other modern era reentry capable vehicles all have windows without blast covers. Why don’t they melt or get destroyed when the vehicle is reentering the Earth’s atmosphere? Because they are not being directly contacted by the superheated air that is passing around the vehicle during reentry. All of the aforementioned vehicles have their underside facing in the direction that they are travelling with the windows and view ports facing the opposite way. The superheated air passes near the view ports and heats them, but the superheated air doesn’t directly contact the view port.* The superheated air only contacts the blast shield, which always composes the entire surface area of the side of the vehicle facing its direction of travel during reentry. In the Macross TV series, (episode 31 if I’m not mistaken, same episode where the Zentraedi destroy the Earth) Hikaru Ichijo reenters the Earth’s atmosphere. He must activate the blast shield over the cockpit to protect the canopy and himself from the heat effects of reentry. In Macross Plus, Isamu does make reentry, but during the initial (and perhaps most dangerous) phase of reentry, his cockpit is positioned away from his direction of travel. The underbelly of his VF gets superheated, but the cockpit does not. (I would go so far as to state that the Macross Plus portrayal of reentry is anime physics at work.³ There were no effects of heat on the pilots and the wings neither melted nor were ripped off by the air that the VF was bluntly plunging through.) Leaving the blast shield open and facing in a way that the cockpit (or a portion of it) is hitting ‘virgin air’¹ will cause intense air friction that will cause the material in the canopy to melt.² The recommended entry profile for a VF reentering an atmosphere is belly first with the cockpit facing the opposite angle. The cockpit blast shield lowered over the cockpit and the wings folded as close to the body as possible. Macross Plus suggests that if a cockpit is aimed away from the direction of travel (not being directly touched by ‘virgin air’,) then a VF can safely do reentry. However, this GMs call is that the cockpit will become hot to the point that the pilot may suffer from heat sickness. Also, increasing the angle of reentry increases the amount of heat generated from air friction exponentially. This GM considers any angle over 45º to do that. (Technically, any angle less then 15º (or is it 10?) will cause a reentering vehicle to skip across the atmosphere and back into orbit (or beyond.) ((Relax: the angle of reentry isn’t something that is that important to the game. Just a simple note if it’s in the ‘safe zone’ or in the ‘risky zone’ is sufficient. Of course, the more details, the better.)

• This is akin to when the original RX-079 Gundam performed reentry – it’s shield was melted to the point of destruction. However, the Gundam, having hidden itself behind the shield, merely had to activate all it’s cooling systems to keep the pilot from succumbing to the heat.

¹ That is to say, air that hasn’t been touched by any part of the vehicle reentering an atmosphere. Example: the belly of the space shuttle. Not the cockpit windows, which are in the ‘shadow’ of the belly and only occasionally touched by superheated air as the air buffets around the vehicle. ² This is either due to the lower melting point the material in the canopy has compared to the metallic material used in the construction of the rest of a reentry capable vehicle OR that the material in a blast shield has a better heat dissipation ability (heat sinks) then the material in a canopy has. ³ Evidence of this is the way that the broken bits of satellite ‘burned up.’ Anyone who watched the space shuttle burn up on reentry knows that what is seen in Macross Plus is a rather subdued portrayal of reentry. (However, to credit the animators, sticking to only red and not having all the objects constantly moving and reducing in size allows for an easier understanding of the chaos that such an event really is.) I draw the line with Guld’s hiding out in a large piece of satellite – that object should have been flipping on all 3 axis, continuing to break apart and continuing to burn up. Remember – the only remaining part(s) to survive when an Asteroid the size of a two storey house enters Earth atmosphere, is no greater in size then an average watermelon.

To be edited in

Posting Expectations: Play by post is a unique way of RPGing. To best portray one’s PC’s actions, the following illustrative guidelines are being presented:

Generally posts¹ are composed of two parts: a) prose description b) action summary

The prose description is where one gets to show their imagination and creativity. One isn’t expected to be John Grisham or technically savant like Tom Clancy (of course, the more the better.) What’s expected is the simplest statement to summarize one’s intended actions.

Ex: Perform routine check and start-up procedures of the VF. Type destination xxx,yyy,zzz into the auto-pilot and prepare for reentry.

Of course, one can embellish the simplest statements as much as they can.

The action summary should be as concise a summation of the prose description as possible.

Ex: 1 Dodge, 2 Search orders database, 3 active auto-pilot, 4 dodge, 5 prepare for reentry, 6+ pray

The action summary isn’t always needed. However, when used, one must keep in mind the amount of time it takes to do a task.²

When in doubt about missing key info to make one’s post, ask in the OOC thread.³ Do not ‘post first, ask questions later.’ The GM should have an answer within 24 hours. If there isn’t an answer before the next scheduled GM update, the character will be skipped. However, this is the one (of two times) that the character will be safe from harm and keep up with the group. (The other time is when the player has a preannounced leave of absence.)

Note that unless otherwise stated, characters will continue moving as the player last indicated. At the speeds that VFs fly at, this may mean that the opponents may be in the range of a VF’s weapons for only a fraction of a melee round. Of course, characters will not drive into the ground UNLESS if the GM gave advance warning that the player(s) must post a change of direction. However, in all cases, the flight will change from a dive into the ground to level flight OVER the terrain, and NOT ducking around behind cover.

Auto-dodges are only used in extreme cases. Ex: Character vs 15 Regults. If the character posts that he is either dodging or moving behind cover (and dodging on the way,) then they will get the autododge to avoid incoming attacks. However, if the character doesn’t indicate that they are moving for cover or dodging, instead using all of their actions to attack, the GM will assume that the character is letting himself be hit – a fairly suicidal plan against 15 Regults!

It will be assumed that characters automatically attempt to roll with impact. (Note that this defensive move doesn’t always reduce the damage of the attack – it is entirely dependant on the nature of the impact.)

Parrying with a shield is also an optional automatic defensive move that must be requested.

Parrying with the PPB takes one action. (It is recommended that players ‘park’ their PPBs over their VF somewhere – such as the cockpit or shield.)

Lastly, the more effort put into the plan behind one’s character’s actions, the more likely they are going to succeed. This doesn’t mean that a player must be a “John Grisham” class prose writer. This means using the tools that the character has and the terrain that the character is in to creatively overcome the obstacles that crop up in a game.

This is, of course, governed by a) anime logic, b) common sense and c) the abilities of the character in question. Example: A 1st level, Hand to Hand: Basic trained character is NOT going to be able to successfully do a spinning leap kick in their VF-19 to knock the gun pod out of their opponents hand. However, the same character could kick the dust on the ground over the enemy’s visual sensors and cause enough confusion and distraction to roll to one side and then spray the opponent with gunfire.*

Why won’t it work? In the 1st example, as the player leaps up into the air, the opponent shoots him (probably in the back, as the player is spinning around) OR the opponent moves out of the way and shoots the character (who has probably fallen to the ground.) In the 2nd example, the enemy shoots through the dust at where the player ‘was’. The opponent then spends an action switching sensors to reaquire the player. The player shoots the opponent before the opponent can mount a counterattack. If the opponent opts to dodge, then the player can either follow up with another burst or start moving (and dodging) to get behind cover (by now the dust should have settled back to the ground.)

WARNING: PLAY DEFENSIVELY. VFs are NOT tanks and they are quite fragile machines.

Radar is almost always directional. In addition, the further a target is away, the longer it takes to receive the ‘bounced’ back radar beam (not to mention that if the enemy is moving, they are probably not in that exact position by the time the returned radar signal has been processed and displayed.) Using radar WILL alert others to your EXACT location (thus being able to fire a HARM type missile right at you.) Radar is only useful for line-of-sight searches (basically, if one is being a hill, in trees, amongst buildings, etc. radar cannot spot you. (But one’s radio broadcasts could still be heard.)**

If support (AWACS, ELINT Seeker, Capital Ship, Funny Chinese, etc.) is available, it is recommended that players use it for radar targeting information. Or they have 1 VF flying with the radar on (and dodging incoming fire) with one or two escorts to defend it. The radar using VF then broadcasts tactical data to the other VFs in the squad.

ECM will disrupt enemy radar (possibly radio too, if the right frequency is matched,) but it tends to tell the enemy what area one is in. (When a big chunk of the radar return gets distorted, one knows roughly where the ECM emitting craft and the most likely place the enemy forces will be.)

¹ A post is what a player INTENDS to do with the PC. The GM provides the actual events that occurred during a turn in the game.

² Example: 1 record 2 second message 2 encode message, align laser array and transmit. Note that using the radio usually takes one action to set-up the frequency, scrambling, etc. Thereafter it is 1 action per x-seconds of talking time. Laser communication is ALWAYS 1 action per x-seconds of talking time +1 action to transmit.

³ The GM is human. Details may be missed or inadequately explained.

• The 1st action plan description takes 2 actions. The 2nd takes 3 actions.

1st action plan: 1 jump/spin, 2 hit target/hand. 2nd action plan: 1 kick dust, 2 roll out of the way/dodge, 3 spray opponent with gunfire.

• • An active stealth using vehicle could still be detected by skilled radar operators searching with Doppler radar. Doppler radar detects changes in the atmosphere.

To be edited in too

Military Codes:

AR-15.6 Filed Charges with two levels. Level 1 is at the company/squadron level and is handled by the squadron commander. Level 2 is at the battlion level, were it's handled by CAG, or battalion commander and brought before a tribunal or military court. Further (real life) information is available here: Codes in PDF format