There are two big additions with this version of ChromeStrike but don't expect any more patches for a while. Life is rearing its head again and I think advertising (to eventually be rewarded in more feedback and player awareness) would prove more effective than fiddling with rules and content further.
After much soul-searching I /have/ decided to go ahead and add the new, much more cheap Ammo Pouch upgrade to the game. ChromeStrike mechs have always been giant mechanical infantry, from the very initial concepting of the game (partly inspired by FlyingDebris' great artwork). Given that they have always been fairly agile despite their size, I think it is more than reasonable to allow them to strap up with magazines to reload their weapons with. It also makes plenty of logical sense- who would ever carry a single magazine of anything? This in mind, the ammo pouch upgrade is relatively cheap, can be purchased up to three times, and replenish during downtime for free. They still do require the spending of either one entire turn, or two utility actions, to perform the reload action, as well as a functional arm unit. This means that turret arms are unable to reload, though I did retool the Storage Tank upgrade to still be beneficial for them. It also means that they do require at least a bare amount of planning to be used. I might increase the duration of the reload action in the future, but this seems reasonable for now. Go crazy with those Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers.
The second main addition with this version is the addition of the Power Armor chapter. I have a gigantic power armor fetish, partially thanks to reading Starship Troopers at an impressionable age, and it's always been a shame they haven't been highlighted enough. My own special needs in mind, I have added nearly twenty pages of fluff and model variants for both light/stand power armor, heavy power armor, and battlesuits. They're all much more customizable than before as well, which should enhance character-scale combat at least a little bit. Go take a look. It is very likely some of the power armor / battlesuits / ammo pouches will need CR adjustment in the future, but that's future me's problem. Purely as fan-service I also added in one or two little new things for a recent group playing ChromeStrike.
In addition to those I have also changed how difficult terrain interacts with wheeled mobility units, and more explicitly explained what types of mobility units can use terrain or perform defensive actions. In the past treads/wheeled/hover chassis didn't seem to have any drawbacks unless you really dug into the rules, and found single sentence mentions hidden away. This in mind, there is now more a little more decision making between agile biped/quadrupedal models or the other mobility units, with their own particular strengths.
As always, feedback and comments are very appreciated. See the full patch notes for more info. Here's the new version.
0.9.93
Added 'Reload' manuever to the game in both the quick start and game rules sections
Ammo Pouches now instead grant a Magazine, which restores 100% of base shots to a ballistic or explosive weapon, and cost only 1CR each (down from 2CR)
Kneel/Unkneel/Take Cover now requires Biped, Quad, or Hexapod legs
Reduced the number of shots for Shredders to 8 and Assault Shotguns to 12 (down from 10 and 16)
Storage Tank has been reworked- costs 2 CR (down from 3CR) and now grants +2 Magazines OR increases the shots of a turret-arm weapon by 100%
Wheeled mobility units now have -2 SPD in Difficult Terrain in addition to the restriction on Kneel/Take Cover manuevers
The NRB-01 now costs 1CR more and has an Ammo Pouch for its Rocket Launcher
The CO-03 'Rocket Cutter' now costs 1CR more and has an Ammo Pouch for its Grenade Launcher
The AL-03 'Tha'ir' now costs 1CR more and has an Ammo Pouch for any one of its million weapons
Fixed some minor formating issues on the Battlesuit entry
Added Power Armor Operation and Battlesuit Operation skills to useful skills
Increased the cost of Light and Recon Power Armor equipment, and all light power armor now has additional upgrade and defect options
Added an entirely new chapter on Power Armor after mechs, sporting additional fluff on power armor usage, fitting, donning, variants, etc.
Added CT Corporate Security Armor for light power armor
Added Gutter Power Armor, CT Heavy Power Armor, CT Vanguard Armor, NRB Heavy Power Armor, NRB Zakladka Armor, EG Heavy Power Armor, and EG Infiltrator Armor for heavy power armor variants
Added the Power-Loader, CO Tetsujin, NRB-01b, NRB-02b, and EG-01b battlesuits
Grenade Launchers (Smoke) are now explicitly allowed to be fired at the user's feet to automatically hit
Updated the generic Mobile Infantry and Stealth Power Armor entries in the appendix to use the new Heavy Power Armor statblocks
The generic Battlesuit likewise references the section in the new Power Armor chapter for expanded rules and alternate models
Fixed the 'body' attribute bonus in Turnout Protection, renaming that bonus to Power instead, as was intended
Added Smart Grenade Launchers to the character armory
Battlesuits are now allowed to take torso/chassis upgrades instead of being limited to all the other parts
Added Expanded Cockpit to mech upgrades
REA upgrade renamed to ERA. Oops.
