Super Robot Wars æ: Martian Mecha Mega-Crossover

[X]PLAN: Let Them Fight

Yeah, I assume our other incoming ally is Shin in his half-exploded SV-51.

Also, fantastic stuff, as usual.
 
The reason I'm hesitant to down the Exia right now is that
1. There's a chance Celestial Being might deploy more in the aftermath of us nuking the Exia, and then hard focus on us rather than hitting everyone. I don't think it's likely since this is still mission 1, but it would make us a higher priority target in the future.
2. We still have a mission to complete here, and imo Graham keeping the Exia's attention fine in terms of keeping it away from interfering with it. Especially if the Exia does part of our job for us and takes out some of the enemies in its zone.
 
[X]PLAN: Let Them Fight

I would have gone with Gundam Killer initially, but with Graham going in for the Gundam anyway I'm hoping we can secure Lee's retreat from the "oh fuck that's instant death" zone within that gundam's melee range.

EDIT: And, I'm just curious, have you ever heard of OBSOLETE? I haven't finished watching it and it would probably (definitely) fall under "unrealized realities", but it seems fun, at least.
 
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EDIT: And, I'm just curious, have you ever heard of OBSOLETE? I haven't finished watching it and it would probably (definitely) fall under "unrealized realities", but it seems fun, at least.
Never heard of it before now, but a quick look at the summary does make it seem like it would fit the setting. Maybe if the aliens had shown up earlier and weren't such massive dicks.
 
[X]PLAN: Gundam Killer

I'm not crazy about Graham's odds of getting out intact if he has to fight both Exia and the several squads of hostiles in the zone with Lee and Exia.

Also, we have a map weapon. Why shouldn't we use it to clear out some more mooks?
 
Stat level descriptions
A small bit of mechanics discussion while I'm on break at work.

The stats system I'm using here is loosely inspired by Fate (just with d10s instead of effectively 4d3-8), and part of what that means is that I've mentally assigned a description to "skill levels" in each of the stats. This helps a lot for me to put together NPC statblocks because I am a very lazy planner, and I figured I'd write an explanation in the thread if anyone was curious about my thought process.

Pilot Skills (CQB, AIM, EVA, DEF)

+0: Untrained. The pilot has no practice with this skill nor any talent for it beyond basic situational awareness.
+1: Mediocre. Some token training or talent has been put in here, but the pilot hasn't developed it yet, either through lack of experience or simply specializing in not needing the skill, like a dedicated sniper's CQB or a VF pilot's DEF.
+2: Competent. A soldier can get by with this level of performance until they run into someone better. Most "nameless mooks" have this level of skill or lower.
+3: Skilled. You've got a noteworthy talent or a lot of practice at this skill. You're bound to be relevant to the battle somehow or other.
+4: Ace. You're good enough at this to change the course or a battle by yourself, and are likely either semi-famous in-setting, or going to be.
+5: World class. You're presently at the peak of human ability in this particular skill, although of course, what that means is different in a lot of contexts, and "human" is an operative word in that sentence.

"Mooks" get approximately a 2/2/2/1 Stat line. Important pilots are around where Lilia started in stat totals, and aces have a few more overall points than she does right now.

Mech Abilities (HP, HIT, MOB, ARM)

HP is a little special. It'd basically a baseline based on the size/durability of the unit, plus X times a thousand, rather than just X. Units with lower base HP usually have higher EVA to compensate, unless they're literally not designed for combat at robot scales.

+0: Basically nonexistent. If this is your HP or armor, don't get hit. If this is your mobility, don't bother dodging. If this is your HIT, you're aiming with a Mark I Eyeball so good luck.
+1: Basic. An attempt was made to add this feature to the robot. Off-the-shelf sensors, basic motion data, mass-production armor.
+2: Military spec. It performs its job at this role to the satisfaction of the people who write the checks.
+3: Custom or specialized. This unit is notably good at this particular role. It might be painted red.
+4: High Performance. Probably a prototype or special unit built with this attribute in mind, personally tuned by a pilot and engineer working together, or just seriously minmaxed.
+5: Next-generation technology. Characters stand around marveling at how advanced this unit is, possibly including the narrator.

Weapons Damage is fairly straightforward: +1 is a peashooter (by mech standards), +2 a standard weapon, +3 a fairly high-power one, +4 a specialist enemy cracker like the Fusion Cannon, and +5 a super attack, basically.

I'm still playing around with Squads, but for now my rough rule for them is to multiply base HP by the number of members, and to add +1 to weapon damage for attacks that are meant to represent focused fire from the whole squad.
 
I'm curious on the multiplication of HP by 1000. Besides making the mechs seem tougher in health than, say, a 100 HP squishy meatbag, does it perform any additional interaction with the system, like determining armor ablation percentage?
 
I'm curious on the multiplication of HP by 1000. Besides making the mechs seem tougher in health than, say, a 100 HP squishy meatbag, does it perform any additional interaction with the system, like determining armor ablation percentage?
It's mostly just to make the numbers on HP specifically look more Super Robot Wars-y. If I'd done EN as a stat, it would have been multiplied by 10 for the same reason. The one mechanical thing it does is to let me do "scratch damage" as something less than a full "level" of HP damage (1/4 of one, is what I decided arbitrarily), to give the impression of "okay we hit it, but it's going to take all day to pierce it at this rate", which'll be more prevalent when we bring in super robots and tougher Gundams.
 
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Vote closed
Scheduled vote count started by Nerdorama on Jan 12, 2023 at 3:22 AM, finished with 20 posts and 14 votes.
 
This post collects dice rolls for Mission 1, Phase 2
Nerdorama threw 12 10-faced dice. Total: 73
4 4 2 2 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 3 3 9 9 7 7 9 9 6 6 9 9
Nerdorama threw 10 10-faced dice. Total: 50
1 1 6 6 2 2 6 6 6 6 5 5 8 8 1 1 7 7 8 8
 
Mission 1: The Stars on the Earth, part 2
[X]PLAN: Let Them Fight



"Lee, get out of there. Let Celestial Being have their way with the terrorists, and I'll cover Skull Squadron," you say, quickly asserting control over the changed battlefield.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Lee says, quickly re-engaging his ECS and trying to slip away from the melee unnoticed. The optical camouflage stops working once his Shadow has dived back into the ocean, but by that point he can count on the refraction of the seawater to accomplish much of the same effect, thanks to the green-glowing Gundam jamming any seeking weapons the other Arm Slaves or the remaining Tieren might have. You see the Gundam pause, floating over the sandy beach on whatever anti-gravity system it's using, and consider pursuing Lee, but ultimately it remains focused on easier targets.

Zy-98 SHADOW retreats to the water.



You don't have the luxury of remaining stationary, although compared to the Variable Fighters zipping through the edges of the island's mountains, you feel like you're practically floating in a tub. Nonetheless, you zero in on the remaining enemy Variable Fighter. Whoever that is, you need them down before Roy and Tachibana get splattered by cannon fire.

LILIA casts STRIKE
THELETOS attacks SV-51α (IVANOV) with FUSION CANNON
Roll 4+AIM 4+HIT 2=10 vs. Roll 2+EVA 4+MOB 4=10 Result: AUTOMATIC HIT
(DMG 4+AIM 4)-(DEF 3+ARM 0)=5. Result: NORMAL DAMAGE. SV-51α (Ivanov) HP: 2000/4000

You center the target and fire, as precise as ever, and confident you'll skewer this one as well as you had his wingmate, only to grimace as the enemy pilot predicts your angle and executes a textbook aileron roll, taking the laser blast on one of the few parts of his fuselage he could continue flying without.

"Nice shooting." You hear a gritty, smug voice come over the public laser band. "But aren't you a little green to be waving around a gun that big?"

"Instructor Ivanov! What the hell are you doing out here?" you hear Roy demand over the same band. You guys he might as well ask, if his enemy is going to use it for taunts.

"I could ask you the same thing, Roy. Didn't you say you were going to run if the Union drafted you?"

Ivanov and Roy jockey for position in the air, both of them transforming their VFs into strange half-plane, half-mobile suit forms as they dive for the lower reaches of the mountains, Ivanov trying to tag him with machine gun fire.

SV-51α (IVANOV) transforms into GERWALK
ROY casts FOCUS
SV-51α (IVANOV) attacks SKULL SQUADRON with 55mm GUNPOD
Roll 4+AIM 4+HIT 3=11 vs. Roll 4+EVA 3+MOB 4+2 Focus=13 Result: MISS

"Amateurish," Ivanov comments. "You're running out of room fast, R--what the--"

The communicator contact is broken as a stream of bullets suddenly fly up out of the jungle and tracers start smashing into the enemy VF.

SHIN's INSTINCT
SHIN casts FOCUS
VF-0 (SHIN) attacks SV-51α (IVANOV) with 35mm GUNPOD
Roll 8+AIM 4+HIT 2+2 Focus=16 vs. Roll 8+EVA 4+MOB 4=16 Result: HIT
(DMG 3+AIM 4)-(DEF 3+ARM 0)=4. Result: NORMAL DAMAGE. SV-51α (Ivanov) HP: 0/4000

"Great shooting, Stuart!" Roy calls out as Ivanov starts trailing black smoke and pulls out, beelining out of the combat zone.

"...Stuart?" Roy asks, after not getting a response.

"That's not me, sir," the other VF pilot calls in, voice crackling with the terribly gain of a pilot suit-mounted radio. "I bailed after I touched down, and some guy just got in my VF and started firing! I'm down here with a civvie who got too close to the combat zone."

"Second Lieutenant Shin Kudo," an unfamiliar voice breaks in after that exchange, sounding hoarse, like he'd just been screaming. "Realdo pilot, assigned to the Illustrious. Requesting permission to join operation. Sir."

"The hell? It's one of the missing pilots," Roy comments. "Well, welcome aboard, try not to get killed."

"He's in my plane, Roy!"

"Well, you weren't using it! Sit down and make sure you're not injured. Shrapnel's a bitch."

You roll your eyes. Centuries of progress and fighter pilots are still fighter pilots. For their part, Roy and Tachibana have refocused on combat, and start moving to support the fight on the beach again now that you have control of the air...more or less one Gundam, anyway.

TIEREN SQUAD attacks SKULL SQUADRON with 200mm Smoothbore Gun
Roll 3+AIM 2+HIT 2=7 vs. Roll 9+EVA 3+MOB 4+2 Focus=18 Result: MISS

SKULL SQUADRON transforms into GERWALK
SKULL SQUADRON attacks TIEREN SQUAD with 35mm GUNPODS
Roll 7+AIM 3+HIT 2+2 Focus=14 vs. Roll 9+EVA 2+MOB 1=12 Result: HIT
(DMG 3+AIM 3)-(DEF 1+ARM 2)=3. Result: NORMAL DAMAGE. Tieren Squad HP: 0/6000

The remaining Tieren attempts to blast away at their cover with a cannon, but as goofy as that mixed-mode form looks on a Variable Fighter, it's supremely effective at skating out of the way of big cannon fire like that, and a coordinated barrage from two gunpods takes the last terrorist mobile suit down in the crossfire.

GUNDAM EXIA attacks SHADOW SQUAD with GN SWORD
Roll 6+CQB 3+HIT 4=13 vs. Roll 9+EVA 2+MOB 2=13 Result: HIT
(DMG 4+CQB 3)-(DEF 1+ARM 0)=6. Result: MAJOR DAMAGE. Shadow Squad HP: 0/6000

???????'s CHAIN ATTACK Lv. 1
GUNDAM EXIA attacks SAVAGE SQUAD with GN SWORD
Roll 1+CQB 3+HIT 4=8 vs. Roll 6+EVA 1+MOB 1=8 Result: HIT
(DMG 4+CQB 3)-(DEF 1+ARM 0)=6. Result: MAJOR DAMAGE. Shadow Squad HP: 0/3000

Celestial Being's Gundam continues its grim dance, unfolding an enormous physical blade on its right arm that lets it slash through the Arm Slaves on the beach like they're practically nonexistent. Like some kind of sword dancer, the Gundam moves, and neatly halved enemy mobile units fall in its wake. It's oddly beautiful, if you forget about the people being cut in half inside, or exploding along with the Arm Slaves' electric batteries.

SHADOW SQUAD attacks Zy-98 SHADOW with 37mm RIFLES
Roll 2+AIM 2+HIT 3=7 vs. Roll 6+EVA 3+MOB 3+2 (Aqua Module)=14 Result: MISS

SAVAGE SQUAD attacks GUNDAM EXIA with 37mm RIFLES
Roll 6+AIM 2+HIT 1=9 vs. Roll 5+EVA 3+MOB 3=11 Result: MISS

SAVAGE SQUAD attacks GUNDAM EXIA with 37mm RIFLES
Roll 8+AIM 2+HIT 1=11 vs. Roll 1+EVA 3+MOB 3=7 Result: HIT
(DMG 2+AIM 2)-(DEF 2+ARM 3)=-1. Result: SCRATCH DAMAGE reduced to NO DAMAGE by GN SHIELD. Gundam Exia HP: 8000/8000

The remaining Arm Slaves on the beach, around half a dozen of the antique Savages and the remaining squad of Zy-98s, split up and attempt to find cover behind what you hope are unoccupied prefab buildings on the edge of the lagoon surrounding the diving platform. The Shadows fire into the water after the retreating Lee, to little effect, while the Savages try to do to Celestial Being's Gundam what Skull Squadron did to their Mobile Suit support. It's remarkably ineffective; the few bullets that don't miss the gravity-ignoring mobile suit are blocked by a large shield on the suit's left arm, which itself seems to be a Vector Trap-style blocking field using a concentration of those green particles. Damn, these things are seriously advanced.


Not that that's going to deter Graham Aker, who comes burning into the combat zone with his Union Flag in flight mode moving nearly as fast as a VF.

"Pleased to meet you, Gundam!" he shouts over the public band. As the white-and-blue mobile suit rises to meet this new combatant heading straight for it, Graham rapidly transforms into mobile suit mode to smack into the Gundam with a charging attack - the kind of signature insanity Graham Aker is known for that inspired the whole Variable Fighte project, allegedly.

GRAHAM casts STRIKE
UNION FLAG attacks GUNDAM EXIA with GRAHAM KICK
Roll 7+CQB 4+HIT 2=13 vs. Roll 8+EVA 3+MOB 3=14 Result: AUTOMATIC HIT
(DMG 4+CQB 4)-(DEF 2+ARM 3)=3. Result: NORMAL DAMAGE reduced to MINOR DAMAGE by GN FIELD. Gundam Exia HP: 7000/8000

To his credit, the heavy attack actually pushes the Gundam back...slightly...which is more than bullets have done so far.

"I'm Graham Aker," he declares, "a man obsessed with everything you are!"

It's times like this when you wonder why you came to Earth in the first place.



Tactical Information

Shin Kudo (in a severely damaged VF-0) and Graham Aker have joined on your side.

Several terrorists have been destroyed by you and Celestial Being, with about 3 Arm Slave squads remaining.

Your objective remains to rout the Anti-Union Terrorists.

Celestial Being remains hostile to all other hostile parties.

Allies

Theletos (Lilia, HP: 6000/7000)
Skull Squadron (Roy & Tachibana, HP: 4000/8000)
Shadow (Lee, HP: 4000/4000)
Union Flag (Graham Aker, HP: 6000/6000)
VF-0 (Shin, HP 500/2000)

Opposing Forces (Anti-Union Terrorists)
2x Rk-92 Savage Squad (HP: 3000/3000 x2)
1x Zy-98 Shadow Squad (HP: 6000/6000)

Opposing Forces (Celestial Being)

1x GN-001 Gundam Exia (???????, HP: 7000/8000)

Current Positions

Zone 0: VF-0
Zone 1: Theletos, Skull Squadron
Zone 2: Union Flag, Savage Squad x2, Shadow Squad, Gundam Exia
Zone 3: Shadow



Planning

Please vote for a plan for Phase 3.

[ ]Plan: Clean Up
-[ ]All units focus on eliminating the remaining Arm Slaves, then retreating to a safe distance away from the Gundam
-[ ]Attacks from the Gundam will be dealt with as they come

[ ]Plan: Guns vs. Sword
-[ ]The Gundam is powerful, but there's one of it and like six of you. Focus fire and try to force it down or to retreat before it picks you off one by one.
-[ ]You'll deal with the enemy Arm Slaves later

[ ]Plan: Bail
-[ ]Celestial Being only attacks combatants. Signal a retreat and let the Gundam finish what you tricked it into starting against the terrorists. Surely CB won't attack the scientists that want to look over this site later, right?
>This plan requires a DC 5 CHARM roll to get the Union pilots to go along with it, and even that might not be enough to convince Graham.

[ ]Plan: Write-in
 
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[X]Plan: Clean Up

Setsuna may not have, you know, emotions, but we should probably avoid needlessly antagonizing him anyway, and Graham's completely a lost cause. Let's just leave those two maniacs to their own thing and focus on doing our actual job.
 
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Just noticed I've forgotten to give Lilia bonuses for Roy's Leadership skill, but it so far hasn't really mattered. Just putting this in its own post as a reminder to myself.
 
Huh, the missions going really smoothly. I was admittedly half concerned with the idea we would have to rush to seize the platform

[X]Plan: Clean Up

Yeah, we're still here for our job, let's clean up the rest and not get dragged into a fight with the Gundam. It keeps Graham happy fighting Celesital Being, the Exia tied up not fighting of our significantly squishy units, and in an ideal case we wipe out the rest of the enemy forces next turn and Setsuna leaves without any further incident.
 
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