Many armies maintain a fleet of bridgelayers to span natural and man-made chasms that would otherwise be impassable to armored vehicles. While some specially-designed bridgelayers exist, most are simply conversions of tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.
Bridges are rated according to their usable span in meters and their load capacity in Size Points. (Usable span means the maximum length that the bridge can cross and still be stable; the actual length of the bridge is 5-10% longer than the usable span).
To determine the bridge's Size in Size Points, divide the cost in half and round to the nearest whole number. Since a wide variety of construction materials and techniques are possible, this Size is only a default value; the actual Size of the bridge may be one Size Point lower or higher than the default value. The Size value is also used as the Armor Rating of the bridge.
Bridges may be deployed by any vehicle with a Battle, Manipulator or Tool Arm capable of lifting it. A bridge may be deployed in a number of minutes (rounded up) equal to its useful span divided by its Final Size. Recovering a bridge takes a number of minutes equal to the Final Size of the bridge multiplied by the MP Cost of the ground the vehicle rests upon; the more difficult the ground, the longer it takes the vehicle to safely recover the bridge.
A bridge takes damage as any vehicle, but the effects of such damage are different. A bridge taking Light Damage can still be deployed, but will only support half its capacity in Size Points (round down). Heavy Damage or greater to a bridge renders it incapable of supporting any weight at all. Further, if a bridge suffers an Overkill result while it is being carried by a bridgelayer, the bridge cannot be deployed; it remains stuck on the bridgelayer until it can be physically cut or torn off.
For example, the M60 AVLB carries a scissors bridge capable of spanning 18 meters and supporting a Size 13 vehicle. Such a bridge costs ((18 x 13)^1/2)= 15.3 points.
The default size of the bridge is (15.3/2)=7.65, rounded to 8. The bridge can be as small as Size 7 or as large as Size 9, but 8 will be used for this example. For damage purposes, this bridge has an Armor Rating of 8/16/24. This bridge may deployed in (15.3/8 = 1.96, rounded up to) 2 minutes, and can be recovered in 8 minutes if the AVLB is on Clear ground, 16 minutes in Rough and Woodland terrain, and so forth.
If this bridge takes Light Damage, it can only support vehicles up to Size 6. If it suffers Heavy Damage, the bridge will not support any weight, but it may be deployed and discarded. An Overkill will mangle the bridge so badly that the AVLB cannot deploy it.
Effects of Damage on a Vehicle-Launched Bridge:
COST: Square root of (Useful span in meters x load capacity in Size Points)
(A modified form of these rules was included in the Gear Krieg Wargaming Companion, which is now out of print.)
The same breakthroughs in graviton research that permit the development of Gravitic weapons (Jovian Chronicles Companion, p. 127) lead to the development of gravity generators which can be installed under the decks of a ship or structure. The development of artificial gravity (or AGravity) has several benefits; people can live indefinitely in space or on other planets without the health risks associated with microgravity, spacecraft and space stations can be designed to any configuration desired, and Space Adaptation Syndrome becomes a thing of the past.
Lightworlder and ZeGee characters will be much less common in games where Artificial Gravity is allowed. A suggested adjustment for gamemasters is to allow the skill benefits for such characters, but not to allow the modified Attributes shown in the Jovian Chronicles Rulebook, p. 63.
COST: 10
Developed concurrently with Artificial Gravity, Inertial Compensators are essentially force fields that counteract the acceleration perceived by the crew of a space vessel. (The word "percieved" is important here; a spacecraft could be accelerating at 10g, but if ICs of enough power are fitted to the craft, the crew might not feel any acceleration at all).
Inertial compensators are usually coupled with AGravity in one of two
methods:
COST: 1 per compensated BP (.1 g) of thrust
Armored vehicles in Heavy Gear are automatically assumed to have overpressure systems, seals and other equipment that protect their crews from contamination from nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons. These devices, however, may be left out of or removed from vehicles that are not intended to operate in a contaminated environment.
Overpressure systems do not provide the long-term benefits of the Limited or Full Life Support Perk, as they merely keep contaminated air and dust out of the vehicle for a few hours. Armored vehicles with the No Overpressure Flaw still provide protection to the crew against weapons fire, but the crew will take casualties if attacked by Biological or Chemical rounds, as described in Heavy Gear Technical Manual, p. 142-143.
COST: -3
HEAT
HEAT (High Explosive, Anti-Tank) rounds use a shaped-charge explosive to penetrate armor with a stream of molten metal. HEAT warheads are very effective and relatively inexpensive,
but they can be countered with advanced materials.
There are no special rules for HEAT weapons or ammunition, other than to note which weapons or ammunition have this Perk. Any HEAT weapon or round is affected by the
HEAT-Resistant Armor and Reactive Armor vehicle Perks, per the normal rules. HEAT warheads may be fitted to all projectile weapons except infantry weapons, machineguns, autocannons
and railguns.
Cost Multiplier: x 1
Guided
This Perk allows a round to be guided, per the rules on page 199 of the Second Edition Rulebook and elsewhere. Guided warheads may be fitted to all projectile weapons except
infantry weapons, machineguns, autocannons and railguns.
Cost Multiplier: x 20
Minus Damage Per Range Band (Attenuating Damage)
Ammunition with this flaw lose energy as they pass through the atmosphere, either as a result of their construction or to reduce collateral damage downrange.
An example would be the armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds used in today's tank guns, which lose more and more penetrating power at longer ranges.
Use the rules for damage reduction as described on page 199 of the Second Edition Rulebook and elsewhere. All projectile weapons may use Minus Damage rounds.
Cost Multiplier: x (Base DM - Amount of Damage Reduction per Range Band / Base DM)
Example: A HFG round with both the Armor Piercing multiplier and the -2 Damage per Range Band multiplier would cost (7.78 * 5) * [(28-2)/28)], or (38.9 * .93) = 36.12 points.