TranzFuzion

Instant Mekton Zeta Plug-In

A Fuzion Plug-In
by Christian Conkle
(conkle@mecha.com, http://www.mecha.com/~conkle)

Introduction

The Mekton Plug-In for Fuzion is widely regarded as sub-standard and poorly thought out. I have designed an alternative that, although simple, is perfectly aligned with existing Mekton Zeta material. This plug-in will design simple humanoid mecha and is not intended to approach it’s parent, Mekton Zeta Plus, in complexity or detail.

There has been much debate over how mecha should be purchased due to a misprint in the original plug-in. To avoid confusion, I have not used terms such as Power Points or Option Points and have instead decided to stick with Mekton Zeta’s Construction Points. All mecha costs listed here are in Construction Points. How much a Construction Point is worth in Fuzion depends on your campaign. They could be worth 1 PP, 1 OP, or something else entirely.

This system is consistent and compatible with Mekton Zeta, Mekton Zeta Plus, AT Votoms and Bubblegum Crisis. It is not compatible with the Superpowers Plug-In or even the original Mekton Plug-In from Champions:TNM.

Disclaimers

AT Votoms, Bubblegum Crisis:The RPG, Mekton Zeta and Mekton Zeta Plus are trademarks of R. Talsorian Games, Inc. Fuzion is a trademark of Hero Games and R. Talsorian Games, Inc. Fuzion is a copyright 1998 by Hero Games and R. Talsorian Games, Inc. All trademarks and copyrights used without expressed

permission.

This document is by no means a challenge to any copyright, trademark, or authorship.

I have the utmost respect for the creators of the original Mekton Zeta Plug-in for Fuzion and only wish to improve upon their outstanding work.

Caveat

These rules are extremely simplified for fast and easy powersuit construction. Please use Mekton Zeta Plus for greater detail and many many more options.

Step One: Choose a Frame

Class	Head	Torso	R.Arm	L.Arm	R.Leg	L.Leg	Damage*	Armor	Tons	Strength	Cost
Superlight	1	2	2	2	2	2	+0	1	8.5t	12	17 CP
Lightweight	2	4	3	3	3	3	+0	2	15.0t	13	30 CP
Striker	3	6	4	4	4	4	+0	3	21.5t	13	43 CP
Med.Striker	4	8	5	5	5	5	+1K	4	28.0t	14	56 CP
Hvy.Striker	5	10	6	6	6	6	+1K	5	34.5t	14	69 CP
Med.Weight	6	12	7	7	7	7	+1K	6	41.0t	14	82 CP
Lt.Heavy	7	14	8	8	8	8	+2K	7	47.5t	15	95 CP
Med.Heavy	8	16	9	9	9	9	+2K	8	54.0t	15	108 CP
Armd.Heavy	9	18	10	10	10	10	+2K	9	60.5t	15	121 CP
SuperHeavy	10	20	11	11	11	11	+3K	10	67.0t	16	134 CP
MegaHeavy	11	22	12	12	12	12	+3K	11	73.5t	16	147 CP

*This damage is added to the damage done by hands, claws, pincers, talons, and melee weapons.

Step Two: Choose Subassemblies

Each Subassembly must be placed within a servo (head, arms, torso, etc.). Each Subassembly requires a certain amount of Space from each Servo. Each Servo can only mount as many spaces worth of Subassembly as it has Kills in that Servo (see chart above). If the Subassembly you want doesn’t fit, the number of spaces it requires can be reduced for 0.5 CP per Space added to the cost of the Subassembly.

Subassembly	Cost	Weight	Space	Notes
Sensors (required)	4 CP	1.0t	1	7km range, 1000km communication, -3 to actions if not in head
Backup Sensors	2 CP	1.0t	2	1km range, 300km communications. -6 to actions if no backup.
Cockpit (required)	0 CP	0.0t	1
Passenger	1 CP per person	0.0t	1
Hand (1K damage)	2 CP each	0.5t	1
Claw (2K damage)	4 CP each	1.0t	1
Talon (2K damage)	2 CP each	1.0t	1	cannot manipulate
Pincer (3K damage)	2 CP each	1.5t	1	cannot manipulate
Storage	0.1 CP per 50kg	0.0t	2	50kg of storage
Security system	0.5 CP	0.0t	0
Escape System	1 CP	0.0t	0	In case of cockpit hit!
Weapon Linkage	1CP each	0.0t	0	Fires two weapons simulaneously.

Step Three: Choose Weapons

Each Weapon must be placed within a servo (head, arms, torso, etc.). Each weapon requires a certain amount of Space from each Servo. Each Servo can only mount as many spaces worth of weapon as it has Kills in that Servo (see chart above). If the weapon you want doesn’t fit, the number of spaces it requires can be reduced for 0.5 CP per Space added to the cost of the weapon.

Any weapon can be designated as Hand-Held at no cost. An arm may carry and use as many Spaces worth of weapon as it has Kills in the arm. Therefore, a 5 Kill arm may carry a weapon that requires 5 spaces. Hand-held weapons are vulnerable to "Grab" maneuvers.

Beam Weapons	Range	WA	Damage	BV	Shots	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Lt. Beam Gun	4	+1	1K	na	inf	0.5t	1	2 CP
Med. Beam Gun	7	+1	3K	na	inf	1.5t	4	5
Hvy. Beam Gun	10	+1	6K	na	inf	3.0t	9	9
Beam Cannon	8	+2	4K	na	inf	2.0t	9	9
Hvy. Beam Cannon	8	+2	8K	na	inf	4.0t	15	16
Nova Cannon	15	+1	15K	na	1*	0.5t	10	29
Pulse Cannon	8	+0	4K	6	1 turn**	2.0t	11	20
Beam Sweeper	4	-1	2K	inf.***	Inf	1.0t	6	15

*This cannon may only be fired once per battle.
** This weapon can only fire one burst every other turn.
***Fires a continuous beam, no maximum hit limit.

Projectile Weapons	Range	WA	Damage	BV	Shots	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Light Cannon	5	+0	3K	na	10	1.5t	3	3
Medium Cannon	7	+0	6K	na	10	3.0t	6	6
Heavy Cannon	9	+0	9K	na	10	4.5t	9	9
Giant Cannon	17	+0	12K	na	10	6.0t	15	15
Autocannon	4	-2	2K	8	10 bursts	1.0t	5	6
Heavy Autocannon	7	+1	6K	4	10 bursts	3.0t	10	13
Epoxy Gun	5	+2	diff: 18*	na	3	3.0t	7	12

Reloads cost 10% of the weapon’s cost for a 10 shot magazine.
*Weapon does no damage, it performs a grab attack against an opponent which requires a piloting roll vs. The difficulty to escape.

Missiles	Range	WA	Damage	Shots	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Rocket Pod	5	-1	2K	20	1.5t	4	4
Rocket Launcher	7	+0	4K	10	1.5t	4	4
Missile Pod	13	+1	6K	5	1.0t	5	5
Heavy Missile	24	+2	12K	1	0.5t	3	3

Missiles can be fired singly or as a salvo.

Melee Weapons	Range	WA	Damage	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Sword	1	+1	5K	2.5t	4	4
Axe	1	+0	6K	3.0t	3	3
Mace	1	+0	8K	4.0t	4	4
Drill	1	-1	4K-AP	2.0	3	3
Saw	1	-1	6K-AP	3.0	5	5
Shock-Whip	1	-2	2-shock	1.0t	4	4

AP= Armor Piercing
shock= defender must roll a d10+Body-2. If the result is less than 10, the pilot loses 1 turn.

Energy Melee	Range	WA	Damage	Shots	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Energy Sword	1	+1	6K	inf.	1.0t	6	6
Energy Axe	1	+0	7K	inf.	1.0t	6	6
Energy Lance	1	+2	8K	inf.	1.0t	8	14
Nova Sword	1	+3	15K	2 turns*	2.0t	8	14

*This weapon may only be used for 2 turns before it runs out of energy.
Energy Melee Weapons subtract 4K from target's Armor SP due to the "Hot Knife Through Butter" Effect.

Shields	DA	SP	Weight	Spaces	Handheld*	CP Cost
Small Shield	-1	6K	3.0t	1	Hvy.Str.	7.5
Medium Shield	-2	9K	4.5t	1	Med.Hvy.	9
Large Shield	+0	12K	6.0t	1	Mega Hvy.	18

*Hand-held shields must have an SP lower than the spaces in the arm holding it.

Force Fields	DA	SP	Weight	Spaces	CP Cost
Weak Force Field	-1	6K	3.0t	18	18
Medium Force Field	-2	9K	4.5t	27	27
Heavy Force Field	+0	12K	6.0t	36	36

Step Four: Figure Total Weight

Add together all of the weights of your mecha to determine a Total Weight. This weight will be used to figure it’s Aerial Propulsion cost and its Ground MOVE and Maneuver Value.

Step Five: Purchase Thrusters
(if any)

Thrusters allows your mecha to fly. Thrusters require fuel for flight which increases the overall weight of your mecha by 10%. Therefore a 90 ton mecha that flies will add an additional 9 tons in fuel.

To determine the cost of thrusters, multiply your total weight including fuel by 0.0375 to determine the CP cost per MA or by 0.0075 to determine the CP cost per MOVE. Example: for a 76.6 ton mecha to fly at a MA of 20 it would cost 2.86 CP per MA (76.5 x 0.0375 = 2.86) or 0.57 CP per MOVE (76.5 x 0.0075 = 0.57). An MA of 20 would cost 57 CP (2.86 x 20 = 57.2 rounded down to 57). A MOVE of 100 would cost 57 CP as well (0.57 x 100 = 57)

Thrusters must also be placed in servo locations. Thrusters require as many spaces as they cost. Therefore our above example of 57 CP of thrusters would require 57 spaces. Thruster spaces can be split up and allocated to several servos at no additional cost. Spaces can be reduced for 0.5 CP per Space added to the cost of the thrusters.

But even with a MOVE of 100 or MA of 20, our mecha barely gets over 400 mph. So how are faster mecha designed? The Afterburner Rule allows the mecha to move at one Mach level for every 100 MOVE or 20 MA of thrusters purchased. This Mach Speed is only useable in high speed, straight-line, non-combat movement.

Step Six: Figure Base CP Cost

Add together all of the CP costs of all of its components so far: Frame, Subassemblies, Weapons, and Propulsion. This is the mecha’s Base CP cost or Sub-Total. This cost will be used to determine the cost of its Multiplier Systems.

Step Seven: Purchase Multiplier Systems (if any)

Multiplier Systems affect the entire mecha and, with the exception of Maneuver Verniers, do not require spaces in a servo to place. As such, Multiplier Systems do not have a set cost. Instead, their cost varies depending on the Base CP Cost of the mecha. To determine the cost of a Multiplier System, multiply the Base CP cost of the mecha by the system’s Multiplier cost

Multiplier System	Cost Multiplier	Effect
Automation Systems	x0.1 for each level	of INT, REF, DEX +5 skills at +5 each.
Mach Speed	x0.25	1 Mach per 100 Move of propulsion.
Maneuverability	x0.1 per +1MV	up to max of 0. Each +1 requires 5 spaces.
Stealth or Cloaking Field	x0.3	Heroic task to target. Cannot attack while on.
Style	x0.01	for each +1 bonus to Pilot's PRE, to a max of +3 .
Synchro Systems	x0.5	for +2 to Pilot's REF & DEX, +1 to all WA's .

Space Package	Total Multiplier: x2.4	Effects
Space Protection	x0.05	Allows your mecha to operate in airless space.
Re-entry Protection	x0.1	Allows your mecha to re-enter the atmosphere.
Mach Speed	x0.25	1 Mach per 100 Move of propulsion.
Sublight speeds	x0.75	Escape velocities, up to 1AU per day at GM's choice.
FTL	x1.25	Allows your mecha to travel to other star systems.

 

Step Eight: Figure Characteristics (Ground Move and
Maneuver Value)

Add up the weight of all the parts of your mecha to determine it's total weight. Then check below to determine its MOVE and its Maneuver Value (i.e., how maneuverable it is-MV reduces your REF, and thus your piloting/driving skills).

Example: Our 76.5-ton Beastmecha has a MOVE of 15 and an MV of -7.

Weight	MA*	MOVE	MV
01-19t	6	30	-1 to REF
20-29t	5	25	-2 to REF
30-39t	5	25	-3 to REF
40-49t	4	20	-4 to REF
50-59t	4	20	-5 to REF
60-69t	3	15	-6 to REF
70-79t	3	15	-7 to REF
80-89t	2	10	-8 to REF
90-99t	2	10	-9 to REF
100t +	2	10	-10 to REF

*Mekton Zeta Movement Allowance

Step Nine: Figure Total CP Cost

Add together all of the CP costs including Frame cost, Subassembly cost, Weapon cost, Thrusters cost, and Multiplier costs. The final result is the Total CP cost of the mecha.