How well could BCG handle the classic Mecha scenario of sneaking in to steal a mech or needing to use an improvised enemy mech? not being able to handle that sort of thing is my biggest Lancer gripe aside from all the other pain points I have with it.
Viewing post in Battle Century G Remastered comments
Pilots and mechs each have their own separate sheet, and 90% of what a mech can do is dependent on its own stats, upgrades and weapons, so it's possible. That said, the system is designed with a pilot using their personal mech, and the mech being an extension of their pilot, so by doing this you risk things like a pilot who specializes in throwing rocket punches stealing a mech that only has guns, or a support pilot joyriding a mech designed for pure brawling.
Thanks for the reply! Always been a big fan of your stuff even if I've mostly just managed to get Monsterpunk games off the ground. I wouldn't want extended situations that belittle their personal design and character choices, but maybe a short arc or session where they get in a desperate way and have to use GM or Zaku 2 equivalents during repairs or on an infiltration gone wrong.
BCS is a little bit better at making a distinction between pilot and mecha, as well as making repairs between missions a thing that players have to worry about. It also makes grunt suits much weaker though, so PCs on those have to fight weaker enemy formations (roughly 75% of the usual power rating) to make the fight winnable. YMMV on whether this is a good tradeoff or not.
Thanks for the support! Regardless of the system you use, best of luck with the game.
Going through UC Gundam chronologically with my spouse (rewatches for me natch) and we've made it up to Unicorn. She's the forever GM and she really likes the system as we've read it. We're undecided on S or G yet.
Things like the anomalies and being a cyborg in G are just narratively handled right? I saw that not every trait carried over.
I'm a bit fan since the Qubeley is my favorite MS. In G:R the bits have a range of up to five and I move them independently using my actions correct?
It's always nice successfully introducing someone to this long, historied, and very varied franchise. One of us! One of us...!
Anyway yeah there's no direct "Cyborg" trait in S, instead a bunch of other traits say they're cybernetic enhancements in their flavor text. As for the bits, you can use the default ones (range 5 in R, yes, but long range when boosted) or make a custom remote weapon that always has long range. Either way, they cost your actions to move them. I think long range suits them to represent how the Elmeth started out as an assassination sniping weapon. And I think costing actions is a necessity because extra turns in turn-based games are universally broken, so the closest you can do is use them as a combo weapon with "Go, Funnels!".