Combat puts a tremendous amount of stress on mechs’ electronic systems and mechanical components, represented by heat. Electronic warfare, environmental hazards, weaponry, and pushing structural limits can all cause heat buildup. Most mechs are equipped with heat sinks, shunts, coolant, and other heat-dispersal systems that allow them to operate within factory defined margins without generating heat. However, the demands of combat can tax these systems to the limit – even to the point of causing actual damage.
When a mech takes Heat, mark it off. If you gain heat that puts you over your heat, mark 1 reactor stress, then make an overheating check. Then the mech fully cools.
| ⚄5 -⚅6 | Emergency Shunt |
|---|---|
| 2⚁-4⚃ | Power Plant Destabilize |
| 1⚀ | Meltdown |
| ⚀ ⚀+ | Irreversible Meltdown |
Cooling systems recover and manage to contain the peaking heat levels. However, your mech is impaired until the end of your next turn.
Your mech’s power plant becomes unstable, ejecting jets of plasma. Your mech suffers from the exposed status (taking double damage) until it takes action to remove it.
This result has different outcomes depending on how much reactor stress your mech has remaining.
3+ - Your mech becomes EXPOSED
2 - Roll an ENGINEERING check. On a success, your mech is EXPOSED ; on a failure, it suffers a reactor meltdown after 1d6⚅ of your turns (rolled by the GM). A reactor meltdown can be prevented by retrying the ENGINEERING check as a full action.
1 or lower - Your mech suffers a reactor meltdown at the end of your next turn.
Your reactor goes critical. Your mech will suffer a reactor meltdown at the end of your next turn.
When a mech exceeds its HEAT CAP and takes stress damage, its player (or the GM) makes an overheating check.
To make an overheating check, roll 1d6⚅ per point of stress damage marked, including the stress damage that has just been taken. Choose the lowest result and check the overheating chart to determine the outcome. Rolling multiple 1s has particularly catastrophic consequences.
Overheating sometimes results in a reactor meltdown. This can take place immediately or following a countdown, in which case the countdown is updated at the start of your turn and the meltdown triggers when specified. When a reactor meltdown takes place, any pilot inside is immediately killed and the mech vaporized in a catastrophic eruption with a BURST 2 area. The wreck is annihilated and all characters within the affected area must succeed on an AGILITY save or take 4d6 :LaLancerExplosivedamage: damage. On a success, they take half damage.
A mech’s marked heat can be cleared with STABILIZE,
or by using certain systems. Heat also resets when
you rest or perform a FULL REPAIR.
^cooling