Transforming Mecha into Numbers: A Guideline to the Statting Process While the statting process may seem complex and daunting, at it's heart it is a simple process. This thread will cover some guidelines and tips to assist you. [b][color="Gold"]General Rules Where to Start a Series Where to Start a Unit Common Guidelines Case Studies[/b][/color] [b][color="red"]General Rules[/b][/color] Statting is generally a subjective process, with each person seeing something different from another. However, there are still some common rules and tips to keep things balanced and consistent. [b]Consistency of Stats[/b] The primary "rule" when it comes to statting is based on consistency. In a phrase, "Like stats for like abilities". A beam rifle is a beam rifle, a missile is a missile. This is not to say, however, that all beam rifles or missiles are identical, however there are some commonalities to take note of. By the same token, units that are of similar strengths will also tend to get similar stats and ranks. [b]Accuracy of Stats[/b] The resulting stats of a unit should also be relatively accurate to the source, within the limits of the SimChamber. It should be noted, though, that not everything can be accurately represented, and that we intentionally represent some things slightly different then in their source material. For example, many Super Robot Taisen games have Gundams firing 3 or 4 beam rifle shots in their animation, while in the SimChamber we only represent this as a single hit. This is when we go back to consistency to determine what kind of stats should be appropriate for the attack in question. [b]Only Stat What Is Required[/b] Not all weapons or abilities of a unit actually can or need to be statted. There's many cases of units having weapons which are never used or explained (but are obviously there), for example. If there's doubt about what a weapon or ability does, then it is better to not include it on the unit's stats. This also applies if the weapon or ability could not be reasonably be expected to be useful in ANY situation in the SimChamber. An example would be a small welding laser on a large Super Robot, or a special system that can only be used in a very specific situation against a specific target. Also included in this tip is that many attacks need to be condensed. A lot of attacks in many anime are comprised of the mecha doing multiple actions before finally dealing the blow, but in many cases it is not required or practical to stat each sub-attack independantly of the final attack, or to use multi-hitting tags. Attacks such as Full Open Attack/All-Out Attack or many lower-class machine guns just have their damage combined into a single hit. Consistency will, again, dictate how to handle these kinds of attacks. However, this rule should not be confused with the next point, which is... [b]Don't Try To Make Everything Useful[/b] Not all weapons or abilities which can be statted on a unit are necessarially meant to be useful. Many older Super Robots are especially guilty of this, coming up with new attacks ot abilities every other episode which are usually not much more then a fancier way of using an old one. And in many cases, older attacks even get huge upgrades, making the old one completly obsolete in every way. Because of this, there should not be any kind of attempt to make all weapons useful, and attempting to do that could result in very unbalanced stats. For example, let's consider a unit which has a certain finishing attack that uses up all of it's energy to use. While we may not actually make this attack use all of it's EN, we would still give it a huge cost. However, if this unit were to get a mid-season upgrade that gives it a new finishing attack which is signifigantly more energy-efficient AND more powerful, then we would not make the old one use less EN then it actually does (though giving the new one an evolution point requirement is certainly valid). Remember, you don't see these mecha use all their weapons for a reason, sometimes. Many of them just plain are pointless. [b][color="red"]Where to Start a Series[/b][/color] [i]This section focuses on the process of statting a series, so if you're dealing with only a single unit then you can skip to the next section.[/i] The main way, and probably the best, to start statting a whole series is to start with all "iconic" units in a series. This does not necessarially mean the best, usually being the hero's mech and his allies. By starting with the hero, you can then easially compare his strength to other "iconic" units in the Hangar, and the relative strength of his opponents to the other "iconic" units' enemies. For example, if we were statting Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, we could compare Strike Gundam to RX-78 Gundam, and use this comparison to help determine the levels of the various grunts and enemies. The benefit of this method is that you can get the important units out of the way quickly and relatively accurately, however it is important to make sure that the strengths of the other units don't get over- or underestimated as a result. In many series, the hero is dramatically more powerful then pretty much anything else it faces (such as in Heroic Age), or in many the hero is weaker then most other mecha (such as in Armored Trooper Votoms). It is also important to remember that the hero also commonly has plot magic protecting them, so it should not be taken that the hero mecha is more powerful then it actually is, or that the enemies are weaker then they actually are, because of that. For these reasons, it is suggested that you take multiple "baseline" units to start with. However, there are many other ways to start a series, so you should find one that you're comfortable with. [b][color="red"]Where to Start a Unit[/b][/color] The easiest way to decide where to start on any specific unit is to figure out what relative power level it is. Consider what other units in the Hangar are of similar strengths, and see what ranks they are, and the range of their weapons and abilities. Don't, however, take this comparison as the only level the unit can be. Remember that some units can be very similar to others, however they may have special abilities which provide a much larger effect in the SimChamber then in their source material (or the comparison unit does). For example, series-wise base Strike Gundam is very similar to base RX-78 Gundam, however the Strike Gundam's Phase Shift Armor ability is very strong, giving it a one rank increase over the RX-78. [b][color="red"]Common Guidelines[/b][/color] While the general rule of statting is to follow what is currently in the Hangar, sometimes a statting philosophy changes without all the affected units being updated yet, causing some inconsistencies. This list will contain some of the current guidelines for clarification. [b]Physical Status Weapons[/b] When dealing with a Status weapon that requires an object to connect with the target unit (such as a rod, whip, or ball of energy), then the attack will be statted with a damage rating, regardless of whether the attack deals any effective damage. In cases where the attack does not deal any effective damage, the Status weapon will have a damage rating of 10 (the minimum damage possible). In cases where the attack deals some damage, then it will have a damage rating of at least 50. [b]Mobility Break, Stun, Paralyze[/b] For clarification, the effects of these Status weapons are as follows: Mobility Break: Weapons which cause the unit to have difficulties moving, but nothing else. (IE: nets, whips, etc.) Stun: Weapons which cause the unit to have difficulties moving and prevent the weapons from firing. However, they do not affect the pilot in any way. (IE: being encased in a bubble, control systems freezing, etc) Paralyze: Weapons which completly lock up the unit and/or pilot. (IE: Being petrified, pilot incapacitation due to mental assaults, etc.) [b]Dual-Wield Weapons[/b] There are 2 guidelines regarding dual-wielding. Note that these guidelines typically refer only to wielding weapons in both hands (be it hand-carried or hardmounted onto the arms), though sometimes these guidelines can apply to shoulder cannons or other similar weapons. 1) Dual-wielded weapons will be statted with a single weapon version and a dual weapon version. The single weapon version will be as if firing one of the two weapons, and the dual will be as if firing both. The dual version will have less base damage then the single, to signify some effective loss in strength due to firing a weapon in both hands. This guideline typically does not apply to melee weapons, however in some cases it is appropriate to represent them in this fashion. However, weapons which were already (F) or (X) to start with will not get dual entries, but instead will just get a larger then normal limit because their stat already includes a loss in strength due to rapid fire. 2) Dual-wield weapons, in dual mode, will be either (F) or # as appropriate. This is because the attacks are still coming from the same relative direction. However, dual-wielded melee weapons are exempt, as twin slashes in close combat do come from different relative directions. [b]Melee[/b] All units which could conceivably punch or kick will get a generic Melee attack to represent basic melee attacks. This should not be used to represent any special melee attacks (such as Giant Robo's more powerful punches), which will still get as a seperate attack. However, should the special melee attack be the only type of generic melee the unit could reasonably perform, then there is no need to include a Melee attack. [b]Weapon Combos[/b] In some cases, a combo attack involves one of the involved units to basically be just a weapon for the main unit (such as SRX's HTB Cannon, or Fire Dagwon's Lio Sword). These attacks will not be statted as combo attacks, and will instead be represented as normal weapons which require the player to own the weapon unit in their AM before they can use the attack. [b]Armor[/b] The (Armor) tag will only be given to unit armor that has a special effect, such as Phase Shift Armor. Generic Damage Reduction effects (IE Damage Received -25%) will not have the (Armor) tag. This guideline does not change the way (S Armor) abilities work. They continue to represent special armors which go on over the unit's standard armor, such as Anti-Beam Coating. [b]Pilot Technique Attacks[/b] Attacks on a unit which could reasonably be assumed to just be a Pilot Technique will not be statted as attacks on the unit. However, attacks which are similar to Pilot Techniques but are actually intended design features of the weapon or unit (such as throwing daggers/spears, Pinpoint Barrier Punch, All Out Attack, etc) will be statted. [b](X)/(F) and x/#[/b] While the rules do not specifically disallow combining (X)/(F) and x/#, it is strongly suggested that the use of those tags are limited as much as possible so as to reduce confusion. In most cases, a (X:4) x 2 could be just as reasonably represented as an (X:8), for example. [b][color="red"]Case Studies[/b][/color] To help show how some of these rules and guidelines apply, we will go through a sample case study. As statting is a very subjective process, we will not be using any specific values, and will instead use some generic stats.