| 7: Structures |
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Structure vs. Surface Elements |
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Structural Attributes |
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General Damage |
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Component Damage |
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Special Damage |
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The Mechanik |
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Field Constructions |
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Patch Repairs |
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Disassembly |
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| Ray the Mechanik may not seem like the most dangerous force in the universe, but given the time and resources, he will build the Creations that destroy empires and shatter Civilizations. |
| Illustration: Evil Wayne McCaul |
|
Chapter Seven: Structures
 |
| “Creative powers can just as easily turn out to be destructive. It rests solely with the moral personality whether they apply themselves to good things or to bad. And if this is lacking, no teacher can supply it or take its place.” |
| - Carl Jung |
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|
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The Assyrian warship Sonks, captained by the legendary Major Natalya and constructed around the unstoppable Hyper Phase Cannon, is the most decorated ship in the Assyrian military. After first seeing action as a Longinus IV-B class Assyrian Corvette, the Sonks has been retrofitted into a Venus class Destroyer in response to the escalating threat from the Stranian capital ship Hodgepodge and its supporting fleet.
Once a decent-sized Creation like the Sonks enters the game, the all-minifig style of combat described in the Core Rules seems inconsequential at best. |
| Photo: Natalya |
|
There is no environment more dangerous to the fighting minifig than the flat open field presented by the typical player's dining room table or hardwood floor.
This is not to disparage the attractive qualities of quicksand patches, minefields, black holes, and lakes of molten lava, but their hazards are limited primarily to mere immediate death. To minifigs, an empty field is much more terrifying. Without strong points to exploit, choke points to control, hazards to avoid, and beautiful vistas to annihilate, minifigs face the overriding danger of becoming tactically disoriented or, even worse, bored.
Adding insult to injury, minifigs are tender, fragile, and slow compared to armored vehicles and other large units. Without cover to hide behind, they have a tendency to get ground up like plastic hamburger meat.
Therefore, it's best for battlefields to be populated with enough Structures to give minifigs a satisfactory range of tactical options. Whether it's with walls and fortifications, trees and rivers, peaks and valleys, cliffs and caves, or gas stations and convenience stores, the more variety that's available to minifigs in the field, the better.
7.1: Structure
|
| “Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.” |
| - Frank Zappa |
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| The more props
and clever details you can pack into your structures,
the more opportunities players will discover for
unplanned mayhem. |
Photo: Shaun
Sullivan
NELUG's "VersaillesPunk," Dec. 2005
Winners: British delegation
Elements shown:
LEGO |
|
Underneath all the devices and decorations, every physical object in the BrikWars universe is a Structure at heart, from the minifig and his weapon and the grassy knoll he's crouching on, to the public library and the elementary school he's targeting for orbital bombardment. The majority of these are simply handled as free scenery, not owned or paid for by any player, but it's still important to be able to cook up some quick attributes in order to know how efficiently they can be reduced to smoking craters.
Structure vs. Surface Elements
The foundation of any Creation is its central Structure,
upon which the non-Structural Surface Elements (limbs, weapons,
devices, decorations, etc.) are mounted. As a rule of thumb, any section of
the Creation with an 'interior' (whether for cargo, minifigs,
machinery, or vital internal organs) is Structural.
Surface Elements
Any parts that are decorative, moving, have activated functions,
or are otherwise not an integral part of the main Structure
are Surface Elements. Non-Structual Objects in the Structure's
interior, such as furniture, security systems, or intestines,
are also considered to be Surface Elements. Surface elements
added for a tactical purpose are purchased as Weapons or Devices (7.3: Weapons);
otherwise they are free, and great for adding color and interest
to an otherwise humdrum and dreary battlefield.
| Creation Type |
Structural Elements |
Surface Elements |
| Building |
walls, floors, basement, roof, load-bearing
columns |
furniture, machine gun nest, satellite
dish, drawbridge, searchlights |
| Vehicle |
chassis, cockpit, fuselage, cargo
hold, trailer |
wings, rockets, wheels, laser cannon,
crane arm, shield generator, fuzzy dice |
Creature
|
skull, torso, trunk |
limbs, wings, jaws, tail, fins, tentacles,
weapons, bunny slippers, brains |
|
Structural Attributes
A Structure has two main attributes: Size and Structure Level, which together determine its Base Cost.
Size
 To
determine a Structure's Size, take your model and measure the
number of inches along the Structural section's longest dimension.
For a wall this would be its length, for a tower this would be its
height, for a sphere you would measure its diameter, and so forth.
Ignore Surface elements when making this measurement, and round fractions
upward or downward according to preference. The number of inches measured
is the Structure's Size rating.
| The variety of possible
Creatures is limitless, but gauging their relative strength
is as simple as measuring the lengths of their spinal
column and cranium, tails and jaws excluded. |
| Elements shown:
LEGO |
|
Most Structures have a minimum Size of 1, but for very small Creatures
(snakes, bats, scoprions, and parrots, for instance) a Size rating
of zero is allowed. These tiny zero-Sized Creatures are called Vermin and do not recieve an Armor Level like other Creations. By default,
Vermin have zero points of Armor and a Base Cost of zero CP.
Structure Level
| The Armor Level of Shaun
Sullivan's evil Juggerbunny fluctuates according to how
fast it can absorb live rabbits. Fortunately those little
buggers breed quick. |
Photo: Shaun Sullivan
NELUG's "T.E.A.M. Rebirth," June 2005
Winners: not the civilians
Elements shown:
LEGO |
|
 A
Structure's Armor is determined by its Structure Level.
A Creation's Structure Level is chosen by the player, according
to what seems most appropriate, with a maximum Structure Level equal to the Creation's Size.
|
| Structure
Levels |
Structure
Level |
Armor
Rating |
Equivalent
Materials |
Building
example |
Vehicle
example |
Creature
example |
| 0 |
0 |
glass, paper, soap bubbles |
glass case |
hot air balloon |
butterfly |
| ½ |
1d6 |
rope, drywall, plastic, flesh |
tent |
hang glider |
minifig |
| 1 |
1d10 |
wood, sheet metal, steel cables, kevlar |
outhouse |
motorcycle |
troll |
| 2 |
2d10 |
brick, log walls, wrought iron |
brick building |
pirate galleon |
dragon |
| 3 |
3d10 |
concrete, mortared stone, armor plating |
castle |
armored tank |
stone giant |
| 4 |
4d10 |
heavy steel, reinforced concrete,
titanium |
nuclear bunker |
space warship |
steel golem |
5
|
5d10 |
adamantite, force fields |
Illuminati pyramid |
Dungam mobile suit |
Olympian god |
|
While Structure Levels are limited to Creations' own Size numbers or lower, they're otherwise entirely a judgment call on the part of the players. The
Armor of a dragon, for instance, might be anywhere from 1d6 to 3d10
depending on its size, age, and type. Keep in mind that the larger
and more heavily-armored a Structure is, the more it will cost.
As a rule of thumb, all non-structural Surface Elements, interior walls, weapons,
or devices have a Structure Level one level below that of the main
Structure. Any exposed hinges,
turret pivots, or other moving attachment points are considered "weak points"
and are also one Structure Level weaker. However, unless the Structure Level of the main body is already at zero, these Surface Elements and weak points can never be reduced to below a minimum Structure Level of ½ and Armor Rating of 1d6.
Incidental decorations and other objects mounted to the Structure
may have higher or lower Armor Ratings as seems appropriate to their particular nature.
Base Cost
 When
the Size and Structure Level have been determined, multiply them
together. The
result is the Structure’s Base Cost. A player must pay
this many CP in order to build the
Creation's central Structure.
Additional devices and abilities, such as weapons (Chapter 8: Weaponry) and propulsion systems (Chapter 9: Vehicles), must be purchased separately. These are described in later chapters.
7.2 Taking Damage
|
| “All created things are
impermanent.” |
| - Buddha |
|
|
|
For minifigs and other small Creations (Size 1 or less), injuries
are simple to deal with. Damage higher than their Armor rating kills or destroys
them; Damage of an equal or lesser amount has no effect.
A larger Creation takes more work to destroy; overcoming its Armor rating
doesn’t grant an instant kill. Depending on how large the Creation
is, the Damage might only weaken it by stages or break off chunks
of individual bricks.
When attacking a large Creation, players can handle the Damage in
two ways. General Damage harms the Creation as a whole, weakening its overall
abilities and wearing it down by attrition. Component Damage lets attackers focus on destroying individual systems or construction
elements.
General Damage
Targeting a Creation for General Damage doesn't take
a lot of precision – the attacker just has to be able to target
any part of its central Structure (7.1:Structure).
This will often grant a nice bonus to the Attack Roll, since the attacker
can take a Size bonus for however much of the Structure is visible
to him (+1 bonus per 2” target Size; see 5.1: Making Attacks). If the attack strikes
Surface rather than Structural elements of the Creation, it damages
the Surface elements specifically rather than doing General Damage (see Component Damage, below).
Size Damage
As when attacking minifigs, General Damage must first exceed the target’s
Armor to have any effect. If it does, the target Creation takes one
point of Size Damage, represented by sticking a colored Damage
Pip to a prominent spot on the Creation or its baseplate. Black
or red 1x1 bricks are the usual choice for Damage Pips, although other
elements may be used for convenience or better visibility.
When a Creation takes a point of Size Damage, it remains the same physical size, but it receives disadvantages as if its effective Size were reduced by one inch. (Any potential advantages that would result from a smaller Size, such as a decreased targeting bonus for attackers, are ignored.) The weapons and devices the Creation can
activate during a turn, as well as the Creation's maximum Momentum in a Charge
attack, are decreased as if it were one inch smaller. Additionally, its Move is decreased
by 1" (to a minimum of 1"). As the Creation takes further points of Size Damage, all of these penalties are cumulative.
Most importantly, if a Creation's effective Size is decreased below the minimum requirement for its Structure Level, its Structure Level is decreased to match, making badly damaged Creations even more vulnerable. Surface Elements and moving parts whose Structure Level is relative to that of the main Creation are also weakened accordingly, to a minimum Structure Level of ½ and Armor of 1d6.
If Size Damage is enough to reduce a Creation's effective Size
to zero, the Creation is destroyed in the manner that seems most appropriate.
Towers collapse, spaceships explode, whales go belly-up, zeppelins
burst into flame, and pirate ships sink to the briny bottom. Creations
of Size 1" (and Vermin of Size 0") are destroyed on the
first point of Size Damage.
|
| Size
Damage Example: Super Heavy Death Tank |
Example: The Briktopian military has received reports of a small bar serving Maniac Beer to its patrons - a serious offense! The Super Heavy Death Tank "Vindicator" is sent to defend Briktopian liquor licensing regulations by destroying the bar and all its patrons.
The SHDT Vindicator is so large that it serves as a carrier vessel for lesser tanks, and with an Armor of 4d10 it can absorb a huge amount of Damage for each of its 14 inches of Size. An opposing force would have to be fools to try to take it down with general Size Damage rather than with more precisely targeted attacks, but - under the influence of Maniac Beer - the bar's patrons attempt exactly that.
| Size 14" SHDT Vindicator |
Size
Damage |
Effective
Size |
Structure
Level |
Armor |
Move |
Max Weapon
Inches* |
| out of 14" |
Size - Size Damage |
Limited to Effective Size |
(SL)d10 |
Move - Size Damage |
Effective Size x 2" |
| 0" |
14" |
4 |
4d10 |
10" |
28" |
| -1" |
13" |
4 |
4d10 |
9" |
26" |
| -5" |
9" |
4 |
4d10 |
5" |
18" |
| -7" |
7" |
4 |
4d10 |
3" |
14" |
| -9" |
5" |
4 |
4d10 |
1"
(min. Move) |
12" |
| -10" |
4" |
4 |
4d10 |
1" |
8" |
| -11" |
3" |
3 |
3d10 |
1" |
6" |
| -12" |
2" |
2 |
2d10 |
1" |
4" |
| -13" |
1" |
1 |
1d10 |
1" |
2" |
| -14" |
0" |
Destroyed |
* - A Structure can only fire as many Weapon Inches in a single turn as twice its Size. See 8.1: Weapon Size. |
| The SHDT Vindicator pushes aside lesser tanks as if they were toys. |
Photo: Apollyon
from
"Operation Blau"
Elements shown: LEGO |
|
The first few points of Size Damage are enough to immediately start slowing the Vindicator's Move and, more importantly, decreasing its attack capacity. At nine inches of Size Damage, its regular Move of 10" is reduced to the minimum of 1" - further Size Damage does not reduce it any farther. It takes eleven inches of Size Damage before the SHDT's Effective Size is reduced to under 4", causing decreases to its Structure Level and Armor.
In theory, at fourteen inches of Size Damage, the Vindicator's Effective Size is reduced to zero, and the tank is destroyed. The chances for a handful of drunken bar patrons to accomplish this are slim to none, however. |
|
|
| Never having been known
for its sense of fair play, this Mega Bloks dragon aims
for a particular weak spot while making a bite attack
on its LEGO counterpart. Finer points of reptilian anatomy
aside, it wouldn't be unreasonable for players to grant
this attack a couple extra dice of damage or some especially
crippling side effect. |
| Elements shown:
LEGO, Mega Bloks |
|
Component Damage
When an attacker wants to focus damage on a Creation’s
particular weak point, he may single out an individual construction
element for Component
Damage. This takes a little more accuracy than a General attack
- many elements are small enough to incur Attack Penalties for size,
although a very few are still large enough to still confer a small bonus (5.1:
Making Attacks).
The advantage of Component Damage is
that the targeted sections can often have much lower Armor ratings
than the Creation’s main Structure. For most Creations, only the outer Structural shell uses the full Armor rating. The Structure Level of Surface elements, interior components, and exposed joints and hinges are one Structure Level lower than the main Structure (these can't be lowered below Structure Level ½, however). Individual decorative features may have even lower Structure Levels as players feel appropriate.
If Component Damage exceeds the target element's Armor rating,
then the element is chopped, smashed, or blasted off of the Creation
as seems appropriate. The attacker removes either a single building
element or a chunk of bricks up to 1” in Size. Where possible,
players should try to make the damage appropriate to the attack
type – piercing armor plating with an energy blade makes a
more precise cut than pounding it with mortar fire. Explosives are especially satisfying when used for Component Damage, as they can potentially destroy a large number of Components in their blast radius at once.
If a Creation is made up primarily of a single very large element, such as a towering Cthuloid Furry Horror made out of a stuffed teddy bear, it's
poor form to try and use Component Damage to try and destroy the
whole thing in one hit. Use General Damage, or choose a specific
feature to disable rather than destroying the whole element.
Applications
The precision of a Component Damage attack allows for several
possible applications. A tank's armor, a castle wall, and a dragon's
ribcage can all be breached to expose the juicy innards to more
effective follow-up attacks. Critical devices like steering wheels,
helicopter blades, and kneecaps can be targeted and disabled individually.
By targeting narrow connection points (the tail section of a helicopter
or the waist of a giant wasp), a successful Component Damage attack
can divide one large Creation into two or more smaller ones. The Size
Ratings of the new smaller Creations are reduced to reflect their
new stature, but each then inherits the full Size Damage of the original
Creation, which may mean that one or both are instantly destroyed.
Each section may use whichever weapons and devices remain attached
to it, but only if it still has the necessary remaining Size rating and
controls to activate them (Chapter 8: Weaponry).
| Overkill allows attacks to punch through a target and keep right on going. |
| Eric Joslin's giant
slays a series of Greg's minifig troops with a single
mighty swing of his flail. |
Photo: Eric Joslin
"NELUG Gets Medieval," Nov. 2000
Winners: a flock of sheep
Elements shown:
LEGO |
|
Special Damage
When the Damage from an attack is much higher or much lower
than the target's Armor rating, players may decide to use special
forms of Damage to account for the effects. Special Damage takes a little more work than the usual kind and should be saved
for appropriately special occasions.
Grinding
Given enough time, a woodcutter's axe can chop down a telephone pole, a battering
ram can beat down reinforced gates, and a hammer and chisel can punch
a leak in the hull of a submarine. When the Armor of a target is too
great to ever be overcome in a single attack, Grinding Damage can be used to grind down the Armor of specific components over the course of several
turns.
Grinding can only be used in Component attacks. Grinding is different from a regular attack, and a player must declare
that he is Grinding before rolling for Damage. Rather than comparing
the Damage total to the target component's Armor rating, he instead compares the result
on each individual Damage die to the component's Structure Level (e.g.,
a component with Armor rating 4d10 has a Structure Level of 4 (7.1:
Structure)). For each die that comes up greater than the
Structure Level, the component receives one point of Grinding Damage
(use Damage Pips to keep track of this if necessary). These points of Grinding Damage
are permanent, and are added to the Damage of all future attacks against that component.
Overkill
Normally, points of Damage in excess of a target's Armor rating
are ignored. If an attack is so powerful that players think that even the excess Damage would be enough to overcome
the target's Armor, then that excess amount can be treated
as Overkill Damage. Especially powerful attacks may cause enough Overkill Damage to inflict
multiple points of Size Damage, destroy several Components all at
once, or even blow through multiple targets.
When an attacker makes a successful attack and decides to go for Overkill, he keeps track of the total Damage inflicted and the defender's unsuccessful Armor Roll against it. (If it looks like the attack might blow through multiple targets rather than simply dealing multiple layers of damage to a single target, he'll keep track of the initial Attack Roll as well - this is described further below.) After applying the appropriate General or Component Damage destruction from the initial attack, he then subtracts the result of the Armor Roll from the Damage done to find out how many points of Damage were "left over." This new total becomes Overkill Damage, and continues in the path of the original attack, doing more of the same type of damage (either General or Component Damage) to whatever objects it hits.
When an attacker causes General Overkill from a General Damage attack, he will most often be inflicting multiple points of Size Damage against a single target. If any of these reduce the target's effective Size enough to lower its Structure Rating, any following points of Overkill are applied to the target's new, lower Armor Class, kicking off a pleasingly vicious cycle.
When Component Overkill results from Component Damage, the attack destroys the initial target Component and proceeds forward to the next Component immediately behind it, potentially burrowing all the way through the Structure and bursting out the other side. Component Overkill can benefit from the fact that the Structure Level of interior Components is normally one level lower than exterior ones, so attackers can cause damage more easily once they've punched through the tough outer shell.
Besides doing multiple levels of Damage to a single large target, Target Overkill can also be used to blast through a group of smaller ones. If an attack's initial target is broken through, blasted
aside, or destroyed, then the Overkill continues on in the direction
of the attack, striking whatever new targets fall along its path. The Overkill is limited to only those targets within the attack path - a battleaxe is limited by the maximum
reach of its swing, a laser blast by its maximum linear range, and
a Charging bull by the maximum distance it's able to run in a straight
line. Overkill travels in a straight line determined by the attacking player, according to the positions of the attacker and the initial target.
Unlike General and Component Overkill, in which the attacking player's Attack Roll is only considered once, in Target Overkill it must be remembered and applied for each new target. Target Overkill can only affect targets that the attacker can hit from the same position with the same Attack Roll. This includes the Attack Penalties for whatever cover and visibility the target had at the beginning of the attack (5.1: Making Attacks), even if the attack destroyed the objects obscuring it. For successive targets for which the initial Attack Roll was too low, the remaining Overkill is treated as a Missed Shot and the defending player can alter its trajectory accordingly (5.3: Ranged Combat).
7.3 Field Construction
| The hardest part of assembling Structures in the field is collecting the construction elements in the first place. |
|
Minifigs are no fans of Actions that fail to result in violence, but they try to take a tolerant attitude towards the occasional need to put stuff together. Otherwise, the reasoning goes, they'd run out of stuff to blow up, and stuff to blow it up with.
When a minifig is carrying a construction element and tries to connect it to something, he succeeds automatically. Attaching elements to each other costs no Movement and requires no Skill Roll; minifigs have been bred for this specific task for generations, and are very efficient at it. Attaching any number of elements together over the course of a turn uses up his Action.
Makeshift constructed objects (or constructed sections added to other objects) have an Armor rating of 1d6 by default.
Carrying Items
The main limitation for assembling Structures in the field is collecting the construction elements together in the first place.
A minifig can pick up, carry, and drop an element (or group of elements) up to the size of a 2x2 brick with one hand, at no cost to Movement of Action. Using both hands, they can carry objects up to a 2x4 brick in size just as easily, although they can no longer Sprint. They can push or drag larger objects around at half speed, up to 2" in Size.
As a more general rule, Creations with the ability to carry things can pick up and carry objects their own Size at no cost, and push or drag objects twice their Size at half speed. If minifigs work together to combine their strength, they can add their Sizes together to act as a single large Creation. If a Size 0" Vermin is able to carry objects, it can carry one minifig equipment item at no penalty, or two equipment items at half speed.
The Mechanik
|
| “Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff.” |
| - Cory Doctorow |
|
|
|
| In the hands of a skilled Mechanik, the common brik becomes a thing of wonder. |
|
While any minifig can slap some rubble together and call it a day, there are a few brickbuilding savants who, thanks to rigorous education and natural genius, earn the right to wear a hard hat and carry around actual tools. These licensed Mechanix have the ability to assemble masterworks of engineering on the fly, even in the middle of pitched battles.
The Construction Action
When constructing
elements into new Creations or modifying existing ones, Mechanix are free to attach a loose brick here or there during their turn like any amateur minifig. For the really big jobs, though, they need to declare a Construction Action and abide by union rules.
UNION RULE 1
Mechanix don't collect their own bricks. |
|
No matter how hardworking an individual Mechanik might be in private life, the professional standards dictated by the Mechanix' Union require him to be as lazy as possible on the job, in order to protect the hard-won rights of his union brothers. This means that Mechanix avoid collecting their own bricks whenever possible.
Instead, when a Mechanik declares a Construction Action, he rolls his Skill of 1d6 to determine his Construction Radius. Within that many inches from where he's standing, he may then use all loose chunks of construction elements small enough to carry as if he had taken the trouble to collect them himself. Objects too large to carry can be included in Construction as well, but, unlike the smaller pieces, they must already be within arm's reach.
While Constructing, the player is allowed to take this collection of elements off to one side of the battlefield in order to work with them more easily, but they are all considered to still be on the field, and are still subject to attack at that location by marauding opponents.
If any bystanders get too curious about how a Mechanik is able to use bricks without gathering them first, they find themselves having a chat soon afterwards with some of the local union boys, and they learn to not be so curious in the future.
UNION RULE 2
Mechanix don't work on their own turns. |
|
Union rules dictate that Mechaniks is always On Break during their own turn. Break begins the moment the Mechanik declares a Construction Action and lasts until the end of the turn. It's only afterwards, when his enemies are taking their turns, that he really gets down to business.
All Construction Actions take place during the Mechanik's enemies' turns. This has two advantages: first, it gives the Mechanik's player something to do while waiting for his opponents to move, and second, it encourages opponents to hurry up, since the longer they take, the more work the Mechanik can get done.
The Mechanik player must take care to never let a Construction Action stall the game. If he's called on to make a roll, if the Mechanik or his Construction are attacked, or if the enemy's turn ends, he must immediately pause working on the Construction, regardless of the state it's in. He may return to working on it once the interruption is resolved, if the Mechanik is still alive and in a position to do so.
Field Constructions
Mechanix are best known for their ability to create machinery and fortifications from rubble, either as new Creations (a new assault helicopter, a new castle tower) or as objects to add to existing Creations (a new giant robot fist for the copter, a new lightning gun for the tower). These are limited only by how fast the player can build, and by the parts available within the Mechanik's range.
A Mechanik's Field Constructions have the following stats, whether finished or in progress:
| Field Constructions |
| Size |
Size of model, by measurement |
| Armor |
Structure Level 0 / Armor 1d6 |
| Move |
2" per propulsion element |
| Weapons |
by Size and type |
|
Size - see 7.1:
Structure
The Size of a Field Construction is measured the same as for any other Creation - decide which parts are Surface Elements, and measure the core Structure along its largest dimension. The number of inches in this measurement is the Construction's Size.
Armor - see 7.1:
Structure
Field Constructions start with Structure Level 0 and Armor 1d6. In most cases, Mechanix can increase their sturdiness later through Patch Repairs.
 Move - see Chapter 9:
Vehicles
By adding appropriate propulsion elements, a Mechanik can turn his Field Construction into a Vehicle. On a ground vehicle these might be wheels, legs, or treads; a flier might have jet engines, propellers, or rockets; on a seafaring craft, these might be sails, sternwheels, or manned oars.
If the new elements are used to replace previous propulsion elements, they restore whatever functionality was lost when the previous elements were damaged or destroyed. Otherwise, each new propulsion element adds two inches to the Vehicle's Move rating, limited to the usual Move limits for Vehicles (9.1: Propulsion). Naturally, the new elements must logically help push the Vehicle forward - wheels don't add Move if they're not touching the ground, oars don't help if they can't reach the water, and fixed wings don't help to propel an aircraft the way flapping ones do. If any part of the Vehicle is dragging on the ground, its Move is limited to one inch.
 Weapons - see Chapter 8:
Weapons
Field-Constructed weapons work the same way as regular weapons, described later on in Chapter Eight: players determine the basic type of weapon under construction, and measure its Size, and these two factors determine its stats and abilities. The new weapon is subject to all the same limitations as a pre-built one, especially concerning Size limitations for placing it onto a Structure.
The difficulty with Field-Constructed weapons is in determining what counts as a properly-constructed weapon
and what doesn't, since this is entirely up to the building standards of the players. In some groups, for instance, a single 1x10 brick makes a very acceptable Size 3 laser cannon, by sole virtue of being mounted on the front of a death buggy; in more serious groups it would be laughed right off the table. Here are some factors to consider when a Field-Constructed weapon is proposed:
|
 |
Appropriate Parts
Is the new weapon built out of the blown-up pieces of a similar weapon that got destroyed earlier? If so, then it's almost certainly acceptable. Mechanix have a much easier time building devices out of parts that were actually intended for the purpose. |
|
|
|
 |
Context Consistency
Does the weapon look roughly as convincing as other weapons on the table, or does it look embarrassing by comparison? If the other players are fielding intricately customized models that they've slaved over for hours, they have the right to be more judgmental than if they slapped a bunch of rainbow crates together five minutes before the game. If the Mechanik's player can spot any enemies who are fielding weapons of similar quality or worse, then he's immune to criticism. |
|
|
|
 |
Player Hardassness
How much of a hardass do you want to be? Has the Mechanik's player been a pain in the ass over the details of every Heroic Feat and What I Say Goes Roll, or has he been willing to let things slide? Either way, now's the time to show your appreciation. |
|
|
If players can't quickly agree on whether or not a given Field-Constructed weapon or device is acceptable enough to allow, put it to a What I Say Goes Roll and move on.
Patch Repairs
|
| “The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.” |
| - Douglas Adams |
|
|
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When a Creation takes Component Damage and a couple of chunks are blasted off, it's a simple matter for a Mechanik to gather them up and slap them back into place. Like any Field Construction, the repaired Components
are built with Structure Level zero and 1d6 Armor, but otherwise behave exactly as they did before.
If a Mechanik wants to repair a couple points of Size Damage, or to boost the Armor of a Field Construction or any other Creation, he takes a Construction Action to do Patch Repairs. (Patch Repairs are a separate Construction Action from Field Construction, and a Mechanik can't do both in the same turn.) He does this by building structural Patches on its surface out of loose bricks.
A Patch must be one continuous construction attached to the surface of the Creation for its entire length - sections of a Patch not directly attached to the surface are ignored. As a result, Patches can never be longer than the Creations they're built on.
A Patch doesn't have to be completed all at once; a Mechanik can work on a single Patch over a series of turns if he's interrupted by a lack of time or parts. Once a Patch is complete, it becomes part of the Structure of its Creation. Blowing it off with Component Damage later won't reverse its effects, and other Patches can be built on top of it.
Repairing Size Damage
Mechanix can reinforce a Creation's Structure by using loose building elements to build Patches on its surface.The Size requirement for this Patch is determined by the size of the job at hand:
In order to repair one point of Size Damage, the Patch must be one inch larger than the remaining effective Size of the Creation's Structure, and each point repaired requires a separate Patch.
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| Example: After some heavy battering, a Size 8" Red Rocket has taken three points of Size Damage, reducing its effective Size to 5". In order to Patch Repair the first point of Size Damage and raise its effective Size to 6", the Mechanik will have to build a Patch at least 6" long. In order to repair all the Size Damage, he would have to then build two more Patches at least 7" and 8" long, respectively. If he has enough time and loose bricks, he can build all three patches in the same turn. |
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When a point of Size Damage is repaired, the Creation regains the abilities it lost when it lost that point of damage, including weapon capacity, Momentum potential, and Structure Level.
Reinforcing Armor
Any time a Mechanik makes a Patch, including a Patch to repair Size Damage, he can also try to increase the Structure Level of the Creation past its original amount. He can raise the Structure level by one with each patch, up to Structure Level 3 / Armor 3d10, as long as the Size of the Patch is at least as large as the Creation's (or its affected section's) current Effective Size, and as large as the Structure Level he's trying to achieve.
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Example: A medium-sized catapult (Structure Level 2, Size 4") has taken two points of Size Damage, and then, adding insult to injury, the enemy has used Component Damage to separate the rear section of the catapult completely. The remaining front section has a new Size of 3" and inherits the two points of Size Damage, reducing it to an effective Size of 1". This is not enough to operate the 4" Launcher arm, or for its Structure Level of 2; it's reduced to Structure Level 1 (Armor 1d10) and the Launcher is deactivated. The separated rear section has a Size of only 1", and also inherits the two points of Size Damage, reducing its effective Size to less than zero. It's destroyed completely.
A Mechanik arrives on the scene and declares a Construction Action for Patch Repairs. His Construction Radius roll is high enough to give him access to all the pieces of the destroyed rear section, so he has plenty of parts to work with.
He starts by building a 2" Patch on the surface of the catapult. This is enough to repair the first point of Size Damage, raising the Effective Size to 2". The catapult can activate its Launcher, and it's returned to a Structure Level of 2 (2d10 Armor).
Since the Mechanik has parts and time left over, he decides to build another Patch to repair the second point of Damage. This one needs to be a 3" Patch, to raise the front section's effective Size back to its actual Size of 3". Besides repairing the Damage, this new Patch is large enough to try to raise the Structure Level to 3 (Armor 3d10). |
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Disassembly
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| “To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.” |
| - Sir Winston Churchill |
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Living creatures tend to fight back or run off when you try to Disassemble them, making it hard to get any work done.
Lt. Krus avoids this difficulty by making sure his Peach prisoners are properly restrained before harvesting their body parts for throne-building. |
Photo: Lt. Krus
Elements shown:
LEGO |
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With the proper tools in hand, the Mechanik is a dangerous weapon - steel-plated armor designed to shrug off heavy mortar fire can find itself helpless against a Mechanik with a screwdriver and the skill to use it.
Rather than building or repairing a Creation, Mechaniks can use a Construction Action to Disassemble it in an orderly fashion. To do so, he needs to be touching the Creation with tool in hand at the end of his own turn. If he's still alive and touching the Creation at the beginning of his following turn, then he's had the time to perform a successful Disassembly.
At the beginning of this turn, the Mechanik rolls his Skill of 1d6 and subtracts the Creation's Structure Level. The remaining number is the number of elements the Mechanik can separate from the Creation. He can only remove elements (or groups of elements) that aren't held in by other pieces - that is to say, he has to be able to remove them without having to move any other parts of the Creation. The affects on the Creation are the same as if those pieces had been blown off by Component Damage.
Disrupting Disassembly
While a Mechanik can use Disassembly on friendly or neutral Creations in order to create a supply of spare parts, he's much more dangerous if he gets access to enemy Creations long enough to Disassemble them. To help prevent this, enemies have several ways to disrupt his efforts.
If a Mechanik becomes engaged in Close Combat before completing his attempt or is otherwise removed from the Creation he's working on, Disassembly fails automatically. If he's hit by ranged weapons fire or takes any other kind of Damage, he takes a -1 penalty to his Disassembly Skill Roll for every point of Damage. The most effective means of disrupting a Mechanik, of course, is to kill him, and his opponents will generally consider this to be the best option.
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