MV represents the mecha's agility and ability to make high speed moves. It never has a value higher than 0, and will most often be a negative value. MV is deducted from your character's Mecha Piloting skill when evading incoming fire, or pulling high-risk maneuvers such as stepping off high ground. This means that mecha with a low MV score will be hit more often in combat and be more likely to crash. It also determines the speed at which a mecha can change direction.
MV is calculated as follows:
- Start with a fixed value based on the mecha model. Three factors play into this: mecha type (Zoanoids are best, Aero Fighters worst), whether or not the cockpit is in the head (+1 bonus), and the quality of the Gyroscope (Examine the Gyro component in the Field HQ or shop screen to find its quality).
- Take the mecha's intrinsic mass (its weight with empty inventory and equipment) and divide it by 7.5t, rounding down. This is the intrinsic mass penalty. For example, an intrinsic mass of 28t modifies MV by -3, an intrinsic mass of 30t modifies MV by -4.
- Take the mecha's inventory mass (everything that is equipped or carried in inventory) and divide it by a value that depends on the size of the mecha, namely (7.5t + 0.5t * size), again rounding down, then subtracting 1 if it is greater than zero. This is the inventory penalty. For example, a Fenris (size 4) will get the first penalty point at a carried weight of 2 * 9.5t = 19t, the second point at 28.5t, and so on.
- Add the quality of the Gyroscope, minus 1.
- The resulting value is clipped to the range (-6, 0).
There are further modifications in exceptional circumstances (Overloading, Gyroscope destroyed, ...), but this is how it works for a normal, fully repaired mecha.
TR is calculated in the same way, except that the targeting computer class is used in place of the gyroscope class, and that the fixed bonus for the different mecha types is different. For TR, Groundhuggers are best and Ornithoids worst.