Sci-fi game vehicle description/construction (was Re: Binary Propellant Guns)

In message <38965EA8.51DEAF0F@home.com> Thomas Barclay of the Clan
> Barclay writes:

I always liked the old one from Dirtside (meaning DS1). To paraphrase wildly
it said: "Look at your miniature... how big is it, what mobility does it have,
what armour do you think it should have, how big is the gun, is there a
turret, does it have any of the following equipment (APFC, PDS, ASW etc) how
many troops does it carry (etc. etc.)... Now add up the following numbers and
that's your point cost." There were no spaces to cram the equipment into, if
it was there on the model, or just generally seemed reasonable then you could
have it. The system was purely descriptive. You could abuse it you felt so
inclined, but then everybody could just point at you and laugh.

I suppose a more involved version of this would be Heavy Gear's laborious
construction process, but I find the process of adding additional random flaws
and the calculations of "threat value" and the dollar cost (to the nearest
*cent*) to be ludicrous beyond my powers of description.

One interesting design system that is quite like DS2 is that of Mecha Carnage,
in as much as each vehicle has spaces that you fill based on the size of the
vehicle... but it is also based on the
"tech level" of the vehicle eg. high-tech stuff is smaller/
lighter. You could bodge this onto DS2 as it stand quite easily.
If low/medium/high tech DS2 vehicles had (5/6/7 * size) spaces to
fit stuff into them, then high-tech tanks would gain some slight
advantage over low-tech vehicles of the same size.