6. JUMPING

Jumping costs heat, to the tune of 10 * JumpRange. Thus a mech that has a has a JumpRange of 5 generates 50 heat in jumping (even if you decide not to jump full range). In addition, jumping interferes with your aim. A jumping mech has a +3 on its BTH rolls when firing. A target that is jumping is +1 harder to hit, in addition to speed/distance movement penalty.

Jumping is useful for getting to hard to reach places, picking out hiding mechs, and for quick escapes. But if not used carefully while in combat, can potentially be dangerous since when you finish a jump you are speed zero upon landing.

Mechs jump in parabolic arcs, you should note this before trying to jump on a 3 high building that is directly in front of you. The more jump jets you have the higher you jump.

You can abort a jump early, with land. A skill roll is needed to land safely and avoid taking damage.

The command to execute a jump is jump <heading> <distance>, where heading ranges from 0 to 359, and distance is a number less than or equal to the mechs JumpRange.

Note that you are capable of making very percise jumps if you wish. Jumping to specific hexes is a prime example.

Suppose you are somewhere in hex 26,23 and you want to jump directly to the center of hex 23,30. Using the bearing <x> <y> and range <x> <y> commands, we can easily get the jump parameters.

For example:

Graphic 3G

> bearing 23 20
Bearing to 23,20 is: 321 degrees.

> range 23 20
Range to  23,20 is: 4.5 hexes.   4.5 ground hexes.

> jump 321 4.5
You engage your jump jets