Mods to the Mobility Factor

> At 12:50 PM -0700 4/11/02, Brian Bilderback wrote:

I feel from the basic method of choosing motive speed for a given system could
be modified slightly and allow for better detail and sophistication.

Take the existing standard where a vehicle of one armor value has an assumed
standard speed for a standard engine. If you want to make it faster, you can
allocate a few more capacity points for engine or a few less to engine and get
a corresponding increase or decrease in speed. Say 1 pt of capacity gives you
2" added movement. Its not as detailed as the system in BattleTech, but then
its not as complex either. (this is a basic, if the 6 liter engine isn't fast
enough for you, we'll just shoe horn in an 8 liter engine and add the Series
II
Hydro-matic Transmission).

Now, assuming there is a system in the game for points (cost based not
effectiveness based) then one could theoretically pay points for increased
speed or loose points for decreased speed. This simulates
additional R&D time/technology sophistication/materials cost in a
given engine/transmission/automotive configuration that gives you
more or less speed. (The basic example is where one has an off the shelf
engine design and one then takes more expensive components that have more
production cost associated with them. The parts are
lighter/better/more efficient such that with a given amount of
additional capital invested in each power pack, one has more horsepower for
the same weight or even less weight depending on how much you pay.)

The two mechanisms generally simulate RL mechanisms and are simple enough that
they don't obfuscate things much. Additionally, they could be added in as an
'optional rule' in the design system.

> From: Ryan M Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com>

> I feel from the basic method of choosing motive speed for a given

Not sure about the exact correspondence of capacity-to-BMF (It should be

scaled based on the vehicle, say 1 capacity * Vehicle class per 2", but this
is ALSO a viable stopgap method for the current system.

> The two mechanisms generally simulate RL mechanisms and are simple

Agreed, And I do think both capacity requirement stats AND cost-based
stats should be flavor options, since they are both dependent on the Real Life

historical OR the fictional setting of the campaign.

3B^2