Inspirations and Differences

While Kantaisen primarily draws inspiration from Super Robot Wars's play systems (of course -- this is Super Robot Taisen MOO, not G Generation MOO!) it also draws inspiration from a variety of other sources. Even within what it draws from Super Robot Wars, it has a mix of older-game and newer-game assumptions chosen to create a system that is fun to play and tactically interesting without a full square-based grid, and while controlling a single unit as opposed to eight to thirty-five units.

Super Robot Wars

Super Robot Wars formed the meat of the game's assumptions, of course, and for this reason calling out every influence is a little on the absurd side! However, we'll use this space to instead call out areas where the game particularly leans on "old SRW" or "new SRW" logic for decision making, because this often affects statting assumptions.

• "Plane mode" forms and other things that use Flight Format are better off leaning heavily on Sight than on Mobility, though having some Mobility investment remains a good idea. This is an "Old SRW" assumption; old SRW games made humanoid modes more "mobile" (in the combat math sense) while giving plane modes extra squares of movement, instead of sandbagging the attack lists as heavily as "new SRW" tends to (indeed, sometimes the plane mode was just outright better-armed).
• The presence of Sight, obviously, is a "new SRW" element. Splitting the hitcheck investment is fairer across from the equally-split survivability (HP/Armor) and attack output (RX/Weapon Space) investments.
• Pilot stats take some liberties with a mix of "old SRW" and "new SRW" elements to create a more textured set of stats than the fairly linear ones seen in modern SRW.
• Everything keys off the Weapon Space value instead of only Weapon Space users. Gotta buy your attacks somehow!
• Functionally, every unit has EN Regen (M) and a somewhat low base reactor value. Managing a fluctuating value tends to lead to better balance results than a declining-value pool.
• Reacting (often) uses EN. This encourages thinking about the big range of your resource pool rather than making only micro-level decisions, similar to managing lots of units at once.
• Obviously, we don't use a grid. Instead, the system abstracts movement of units into and out of each other's "close" (usually 1-3 or even 1-4 in modern games; usually 1-2 in older ones) ranges through the Engagement system and the Retreat/Charge actions.
• The game uses the Low-G terrain, derived from the Moon terrain type used in a handful of middle-generation SRW games. Bluntly, this was done because it's cool.
• The same Spirit Command can be used multiple times at once. Since you're only driving one unit, and Spirit Commands perform much more marginal math adjustments, this more closely mirrors the extent to which Spirit Commands are part of your gameplay flow.
• Spirit starts at a middling value and SP Regen is universal (as in modern SRW). Again, fluctuating value management leads to better balance outcomes.

G Generation

The HP numbers on SRTMOO most closely resemble G Generation's HP numbers. This was by design, to a point; SRW stacks a lot of values to get to very low HP but very high damage due to the availability of full mitigation, whereas G Generation has a more restrained damage and accuracy curve that created numbers that "felt right for a robot strategy game" but were "much easier to work around."

Other major elements that came from G Generation included:

• routing all attacks through EN, rather than having Ammo-based attacks (balance reasons)
• pilots not having a conventional "damage stat"

Gundam Battle Operation

Despite not being a strategy game, Gundam Battle Operation -- a 3D team-based action game with arena/hero shooter elements -- contributed heavily to the internal logic of which stats get used in which defensive situations. The emphasis on a pilot's Targeting as a defensive value in engaged melee combat, for instance, comes from this game's play-flow, where losing visual track of an opponent in close quarters almost always ends up deeply lethal.

The Weapon Space system as-implemented also draws a little from Gundam Battle Operation's general well, as do the behaviors of some weapons; the melee initiation on Head Vulcans and similar attacks, for instance, came from playing this game and feeling out the usefulness of vulcans on an MS.

Other Mecha Games

• Front Mission series - The logic of having unspent Power Parts slots and unspent Weapon Space directly give you the two stats most tied to melee combat comes almost directly from Front Mission.
• Zoids Saga series - The direct tying of attack EN cost to base power in an explicit, procedural way mirrors Zoids Saga's late-series behavior, and for exactly the same reason: getting big damage for low cost is too powerful.