One of the games I was discussing on the show has evolved to a big Pendragon x BattleTech thing, but the mech fights could totally fit this jam, so perhaps I'll post it.
Effectively, the GM makes moves against you that you can block by stressing out your components: ticking clocks for ammo, heat, etc. Stress the clock to its breaking point and that component is gone.
But it seems like that's awfully close to Sage's per-component idea, so perhaps I'll post something else...
Perhaps each time you stress a component, you add a die to that components pool then roll the pool. Over a certain total value breaks or exhausts the component. This could also be an action roll, where the number of X+ results on dies count towards success? Sort of a risk VS reward decision. I can have extra effect, but risk overheating my mech's systems?
You can run your motivators at 2 dice to avoid a barrage, and have a low chance of rolling 12+ and overheating. 1 success you do it and everything's fine. You avoid the attack. For every success above 1, your heat builds up, and you add an extra die to your motivators pool for the next roll. As heat builds up, you run at a higher effectiveness but flirt with rolling a total of 12+ (or whatever your motivators overheat value is) and suffering a system overload unless you can dissipate the heat.
I like the idea of slowly building up risk until you roll to see how something goes, definitely. Perhaps the tension of just having those "glitch" dice sitting there until you need to rely on that component is enough:
When you fire your missiles (for instance), roll your missiles ability (in one color of dice) and the glitch dice (in another color) on your missile launcher. You get the highest die for your result: 1-3 / 4-5 / 6, as in Blades, because why not? Then, if the highest die is a glitch die, the component fails.
