Tools of the Trade: Weapon Types

[Freyia]

In the SimChamber, you will come accross several weapon types in different mechs in the Hangar. They will be very important to you as they directly influence your tactics and how you would use them.

How to identify weapon types

They are shown in Bold and in brackets in a mech's weapons list. For example (From Gespenst Mk-II TT):


Split Missiles (PSV)- 2 damage/PC
Punch (M)- 8 damage
Plasma Cutter (BM)- 8 damage
Mega Beam Rifle (B)- 40 damage, 12 rounds
T-Link Ripper (PSX)- 18 damage/2 PC. Requires Psychodriver Class to execute.


As you can see, the weapons look very sophisticated. Look at the Type identifiers next to the weapon's name, such as (M), (P) and so on. They show what the type is.

Please do not mix this up with weapon Abilities, discussed in its section elsewhere within the Rules.

The different weapon types will be explained below.

[Freyia]

(B) - Beam Type

What they are
This type of weapon is commonly found in Gundam units. These weapons use compressed beam particles to fire a linear projectile. They are more commonly known as the Beam Rifle or as Beam Cannons.

What they do
They deal beam damage to enemy units.
Of course, they can be stopped or weakened by anti-beam barriers Beam Coating, I-Fields and also practically any other barrier.
Be careful as some Inherent Abilities on some mechs may totally stop damage or reflect them back at you.

[Freyia]

(P) - Projectile Type

What they are
These weapons are all solid projectiles, such as missiles, rockets, even Boost Knuckles.

What they do
They deal direct damage to a mech.
You can Countercut or Countershoot solid projectiles down if an enemy uses these types of attacks against you. Beware that there are some Inherent Abilities on some mechs that can totally negate projectile attacks.

- Countercut costs depend on the pilot class.
- Countershot uses a single round of ammo (or the equivalent cost of a non-(M) weapon) of the specified Countershoot capable weapon to shoot down a number of projectiles equal to the weapon's number of hits. They are enabled for certain Pilot Abilities only.

[Freyia]

(M) - Melee Type

What they are
These are your close range (melee) weapons, such as beam sabers, swords, etc. These weapons have an excellent use since most melee weapons are 'free': they do not have a cost to use.

What they do
They deal direct damage to a mech.
You can Countercut a melee attack if an enemy uses this type of attack against you. Beware that there are some Inherent Abilities on some mechs that can totally negate melee attacks.

- Countercut costs depend on the pilot class.

(BM) is a special type, which is used to signify melee weapons which use beams, such as Beam Sabers. These weapons act as normal (M) type attacks, and are not affected by barriers that only affect (B) type attacks, such as I-Field, or any barrier which has a seperate effect for (B) type attacks, such as Distortion Field. (BM) attacks act like (B) attacks against abilities such as Phase Shift Armor, in that the reduction is negated.

[Freyia]

(V) - Variable Type

What they are
This type of weapon depends on how much the user wants to 'input', in terms of EN, PCs or Ammo. Hence the consumption and the damage dealt is 'variable'. These types of weapons are usually used in conjunction with other types of attacks, such as (PV).

What they do
They deal variable damage to a mech. Look for how much PCs or EN or Ammo a weapon consume for a certain amount of damage. If you double the consumption, for example, the damage will also double. Hence it is a single multiplier effect.
This type of weapon is considered a single attack, no matter how much you 'input' into the weapon.

Example
Using Gespenst Mk-II TT's example:

Split Missiles (PSV)- 2 damage/PC

For 1 PC, the weapon deals 2 damage.
For 2 PCs, the weapon deals 4 damage.
For 10 PCs, the weapon deals 20 damage.
For 100 PCs, the weapon deals 200 damage.
And so on.

There is no 'cap' on how much you want to 'input'. The versability of the weapon is useful if you want to spend small, or spend big.

[Freyia]

(X) - Multihit Type

What they are
This type of weapon is similar to the (V) type weapons, but the biggest difference (and also which make them the most abusable) is that each time you 'input' resources into the weapon, it counts as a separate attack. So the more you input, the more attacks there are. What is fascinating about this is that the opponent has to dodge or use resources multiple times rather than once with a Variable type weapon.

What they do
They deal variable damage to a mech. Look for how much PCs or EN or Ammo a weapon consume for a certain amount of damage. If you double the resources used, the number of attacks will double.

Example
Using Gespenst Mk-II TT's example:

T-Link Ripper (PSX)- 18 damage/2 PC. Requires Psychodriver Class to execute

For 1 EN, you get 1 single T-Link Ripper attack.
For 2 EN, you get 2 T-Link Ripper attacks.
For 5 EN, you get 5 T-Link Ripper attacks.
And so on.

If you happen to be unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one of these attacks, a number of choices are open to you. Since you treat each X-attack as a single Attack, you can do a combination of blocking, dodging and use your Pilot or Inherent Abilities.

Limitations of Usage
I think by now you'll know how good the X-attack is, when each single attack is strong. However, there is a cap which prevents you from going all out and wasting all your PCs or EN for a one-hit-kill attack. You are limited to spend a proportion of your PCs or EN for a single Attack Phase. The limits are as follows:

Private: 5% of max EN/PC limit per attack phase
Corporal: 10% of max EN/PC limit per attack phase
Sergeant: 15% of max EN/PC limit per attack phase
Ensign: 20% of max EN/PC limit per attack phase
Lieutenant: 25% of max EN/PC limit per attack phase

There is no cap for (X)-Type weapons which use ammo. You can fire a single shot each round or expend all your ammunition in one go.

[Freyia]

(S) - Spread Type

What they are
This simply means that the weapon has the ability to hit multiple targets at once (better known as spread or splash damage).

What they do
The (S) Type weapons are usually used in conjunction with other weapon types, such as (SB), (SM), (SP) and so on.

Examples

Any (S) Types: if a weapon deals 10 damage, and there are 3 targets, you can freely 'distribute' the damage to any number of target you choose. So you can deal 5 damage each to 2 targets; or 3 damage to A, 3 damage to B and 4 damage to C; or 1 damage to A, 9 damage to B; or 10 damage to A only. The possibilities are endless.

However, if a (S) weapon specifically states the number of hits, such as '8 damage x 2', then you can ONLY deal 2 hits of 8 damage each to a single target, OR a single 8 damage hit to 2 targets. Nothing else.

(SV) Types: the more resources you input into the weapon, the more damage you can distribute to your opponents freely.

(SX) Types: this is similar to a normal (S) type with multiple attacks. As you spend more resources, you can choose to deal more attacks to a single opponent, or deal more attacks to multiple opponents. Each 'unit' of a X-attack counts as a single attack. Getting back to the multihit (S) Type similarity, think of it as A damage x B, where B can be adjusted depending on how much resources you want to input.

If you are still unclear about all this, the best way is to look at some current fights in the SimChamber.

[Aslan Cross]

(G) - Guided Type

What they are
These are weapons that are guided to their target, whether by infrared, laser tags, inertial guidance, or gravity guidance.

What they do
The (G) Type weapons apply almost exclusively to missile-type weapons, and thus comes in conjunction with the (P) type. Since these types of weapons are more accurate than most weapons that are targetted by the Mk 1 Human Eyeball, all (G)-type weapons get a default "Target's Dodge cost +3 for this weapon." However, guidance systems are not perfect. If the target has the Jammer ability, he or she can instantly disable your attack, causing your (G) weapon to either drop from the air or fly away in the wrong direction.
Using the Jammer is totally free, so watch out for opponents that have this ability.

[Umbaglo]

- Short-Range Type

What they are
This special tag goes at the beginning of the weapon's description and denotes the overall type that the weapon is. type weapons are weapons which are up close and personal, such as sabers, claws, and punches.

What they do
simply designates the overall type. It has no special abilities in and of itself, but other abilities may only affect or be affected by type weapons.

[Umbaglo]

- Long-Range Type

What they are
This special tag goes at the beginning of the weapon's description and denotes the overall type that the weapon is. type weapons are weapons which are used at range, such as machine guns, beam rifles, and missiles.

What they do
simply designates the overall type. It has no special abilities in and of itself, but other abilities may only affect or be affected by type weapons.

[Umbaglo]

- Short/Long-Range Type

What they are
This special tag goes at the beginning of the weapon's description and denotes the overall type that the weapon is. type weapons are weapons which show the qualities of both a and type weapon, such as a Rocket Punch.

What they do
simply designates the overall type. abilties act as both a and a type weapon, so abilities which affect either, also effects type weapons.

[Umbaglo]

x - Multiple Hit Type

What they are
This tag goes after the weapon's damage rating. This tag shows that the weapon is capable of hitting multiple times with a single attack.

What they do
Multihit weapons count as that many individual attacks. Each hit has all damage boosts and reductions applied individually (IE: A-Ups, Potential). Each hit must be dodged or taken individually. Any ability that applies to only a single attack only applies to one hit at a time (IE Flash, Bunshin, barriers).

[Umbaglo]

# - Single-Target Multiple Hit Type

What they are
This tag goes after the weapon's damage rating. This tag shows that the weapon is capable of hitting multiple times with a single attack.

What they do
This type of attack works like a normal multihit type attack except for one thing. # types only count as a single hit for all evasive type defences (IE: Dodging, Bunshin, Flash, Open Get). Otherwise, use all the other abilities of a normal multihit.

[Umbaglo]

(R) - Rapid Type

What they are
This type of weapon is a combination of the (X) type weapons and the # type weapons.

What they do
Like (X) type weapons, each resource paid into the attack produces a seperate attack. Like # type attacks, however, the whole attack counts as a single attack for evasive type defences. Other then this, (R) type weapons act just like (X) type weapons.

Just like (X) type attacks, as well, (R) types have a limitation on uses. The equation for the maximum number of resources one can pay into the attack is the same as for (X) type weapons.