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MechWarrior: Age of Destruction
New Game Mechanic – Gear by Kevin Goddard
Of all the changes made to MechWarrior, the addition of gear and pilots are two of the biggest. Players have been asking for the ability to customize their ’Mechs since the original game was announced. Now they can! This week we will look at the gear.
Only ’Mechs may be customized. The heat dial has been modified with two slots that can accommodate gear and pilots. A ’Mech can be equipped with either one pilot and one gear, or two gear, as long as all requirements are met.
Gear Name Obviously, this is the name of the gear. Multiple cards can have the same name. For example, there are multiple versions of Armor Piercing. Each, however, has different requirements. This allows the point value for each piece of gear to be better customized to each ’Mech class.
Modifiers Provided Shown on both the card and the gear itself, modifiers indicate the game effect or effects the gear has. For example, Armor Piercing provides – surprisingly enough – Armor Piercing special equipment (identified by the ballistic attack symbol and the red square).
Point Value Just like units, each piece of gear has a point value that must be paid in order to field it. Gear is not always cheap, but the modifiers it provides helps to make up for the cost, especially since these modifiers work all the way down the dial. The addition of gear to the game means that new ’Mechs are designed with less inherent special equipment than older ’Mechs were, meaning that Age of Destruction ’Mechs are cheaper then their Dark Age counterparts (which helps to compensate for the cost of the gear).
Gear (and Gear Effects) The gear piece itself can be popped out of the card and later reinserted for storage. If the gear affects the ’Mech’s damage systems, it can be attached to either the primary or secondary damage value; this is indicated by PRI on one side of the gear and SEC on the other side, respectively. The side of the gear that faces the ’Mech’s faction symbol (or where the faction symbol would be in the case of a Mercenary unit) indicates which damage value the gear modifies. If a gear cannot be attached to either the primary or secondary damage value, that side of the gear will simply say “No Effect.”
Rules Text Some gear is straightforward and doesn’t have any text in rules area. Others have text to further modify the ’Mech.
Requirements Most gear has a class restriction. G-032, above, is limited to heavy (Class H) ’Mechs with the ballistic range type. Other requirements might refer to attack, damage, defense, and speed. A ’Mech cannot be equipped with more than one piece of gear with the same combat value requirement.
Collector’s Number The collector’s numbers of all gear starts with “G.” There are 30 standard gear cards, 2 more in the Starter, and 1 more available with the ultra-rare game piece. These cards are randomly distributed in Boosters with two other cards (one pilot and one other combat enhancement card [CEC]). The ultra-rare game piece comes with a matching pilot and gear.
Eighteen of the gear cards in the Age of Destruction set have received Limited Edition treatment. These copper-colored versions will be available only as prizes at WizKids-supported events and conventions.
Some Gear Notes If a ’Mech gets special equipment from both its dial and a piece of gear, only one may apply at a time; they do not stack unless the gear specifically states that it can be used with other special equipment. In this case, if the ’Mech is damaged and loses the special ability from its dial, the special ability gained from the equipment then kicks in.
Once an equipped ’Mech starts the game, its gear cannot be removed. As long as it has Salvage, its gear may not be used, and if it is eliminated, the player who eliminated it gains victory points equal to both the cost of the ’Mech and gear.
Next week we’ll take a look at the second new game piece used to customize ’Mechs – pilots!
This is a very nice edition to the game. Obviously this adds a huge elimate to the strategy to the game. No longer can you just look at a guys army and his mech and say, ok you have a Ryoken, I can take it down. The gear modifiers will make us all think twice when we look at a fielded mech.
My only concerne is the creation of god mechs. For example, if they create Improved Targeting and Armor Cards. Can you imagine how devastating mechs like Caden would be with Improved targeting and a 25 base defense. Even if all the armor card would do is give a mech hardened harmor all the way through it dial it would create a great piece.
Im wondering if they will allow players to put on gear pieces to mechs that already have the equipment. You know, so you can keep the equipment throuout the dial.
An Armor Piercing card and Improved Targeting card on the FP LE Thor would be insane ><
Originally posted by El_Heffe Did you notice that "ballistic" is now a "range type" rather than a "damage type".
That's actually a really good point. There might be Planetary Conditions cards that only allow you to make ranged attacks with a particular range type -- like some kind of condition that reflects lasers so that range type is reduced or ineffective.
Originally posted by BrotherMagneto Most gear has a class restriction. G-032, above, is limited to heavy (Class H) ’Mechs with the ballistic range type. Other requirements might refer to attack, damage, defense, and speed. A ’Mech cannot be equipped with more than one piece of gear with the same combat value requirement
Okay. Please tell me there will be some type of "class" indicator on the new Mech bases for those of us who are only casual players and have no idea what class each mech belongs to.
I wonder if some of the gear will be "unique" in any way or if you can have multiple "CLASS-H" mechs with "SWARM-I AMMUNITION" in your battleforce.
Hey another nifty thing about gear slots on mechs... If a sombody (a BM?) wanted to make up a bunch of custom costed gear with custom effects for use in unrestricted ... that's a cool option to have.
The addition of gear to the game means that new ’Mechs are designed with less inherent special equipment than older ’Mechs were, meaning that Age of Destruction ’Mechs are cheaper then their Dark Age counterparts
Meaning that AoD are hardly competative without decent cards. Meaning that we have to buy more cards to stay competative. Yay, more money for WK.
