How do you handle mecha movement in combat?

[WalterC]

During the few times that I've played Robotech, mecha movement in combat was handled in a mostly abstract manner. Things like speed, altitude, and even facing were described in a loose, narrative way without too much fuss over the details. I think the Palladium RPG rules imply this style of play throughout many of their games, giving us things like the speed of a mecha/vehicle for reference, but not describing it in terms of movement per round.

At the character level we do have things like the Speed Attribute and the Speed Chart (which could be expanded upon), but movement is not even addressed in the combat system! Simply roll for initiative and start whacking at each other. There is a good deal of emphasis on a character's number of Attacks per Melee, which could translate into additional instances of movement, allowing such tactics as flanking, evasion, and re-positioning.

To facilitate mecha combat, a GM could ask a player at the beginning of their turn:

• What mode/formation is your mech in?

• What speed are you moving at?

• What altitude is your mecha at?

• What direction are you heading?

I would allow a mecha like an Alpha Fighter to transform while moving at the cost of one attack.

Weapon ranges could also be used to give some idea of the distance between opponents from round to round. For example, if you just fired your Alpha's nose lasers at an Invid Scout, you are within 2,000 feet of the enemy.

On the plus side, I think the Palladium RPG rules system is fairly swift-moving and allows a great range of flexibility. It does require the GM to "fill in the gaps" and make rulings on things that come up during combat ("Okay, I want to do a barrel roll...").

[ShadowLogan]

Semi-abstract in my experiences as we know (but didn't always use a physical representation):
- what mode the mecha is in
-range
-altitude (which can influence range, at best 2d representation is used)
-facing direction
-transformation was a free action (in 1E), except for the Cyclone (or playing Macross 2 where it was RAW the Valks use actions to transform)
-speed was even a factor (though here it was more GM fiat since scale wasn't always part of the 2d representation when we did use it) since aircraft typically have to move in order to stay flying (VTOL being the exception)

As for more hard details about movement rates, those can be calculated but one has to do the math themselves. It just involves taking the mph/kph and turning it into a more useful time frame (like distance per second). I'd also note that Actions per melee are not universal, so it would be important to know how long an Action lasts for a given PC/NPC.

I'd also point out if you can try and get a copy of the 1E "RDF Accelerated Training Program", some of the exercises in there do seem to establish that such factors should be known. What you might be experiencing is something done for ease of convenience IMHO.