Gundam, Zoids, Battletech, or an original Mecha Universe (Interest check linked)

Started by King Serperior, August 26, 2015, 08:18:01 PM

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King Serperior

NOTICE:  There is now an official Interest Check Thread located here!  If you're interested, there are two open spots as of this post, so if you hurry now, you might be able to grab one of them!




The title says it all!  I am looking for a good mecha game.  I prefer a more realistic mecha setting, but I grew up on Zoids and Gundam, so those universes are certainly open.  I even have a character (which can be adapted) for each of them:

Angela Blair:  For an Original game; Pilots a large, heavy, hexapod mech that is bristling with weaponry.
Evelyn Mizuki: For a Zoids game;  Pilots a Gun Sniper and prefers to take out foes before they even know she's there.
DJ Robins:  For a Battletech game:  Pilots a Wraith TR2 and likes to be nimble in battle, taking down targets in surgical strikes.
Jesse:  For a Gundam game:  Pilots a stolen military stealth model and uses the model's stealth to quickly take down foes and get out.

A couple of them need some changes and edits, but they are complete for the most part.  The characters are all female, yes, but I can easily edit them to male if anyone has objections to them.

So, what I am trying to say is that I am looking for a Small Mecha Game (between 3-6 characters).  If there are others who are interested, the more the merrier!

In this search for a Mecha game, I am looking for some quality posts.  I don't do one-liners nor really short posts.  I am also looking for player interaction OOC.

O/O's
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Ralhend

Yes, anything with big stompy robots, count me in :)

I am familiar with Battletech, Palladium Robotech, Mekton Z, and a few other systems that specialize in mecha.

I also built the Zoids and Robotix models growing up, so I am game for whatever
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King Serperior

For clarification, I am not looking for a flat system game.  I prefer mostly freeform, but there can be some small system mechanics.

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Ralhend

For clarification thats fine, what I am after is the action, big guns, explosions, tactical exercises, and fight scenes that rival Michael Bay...

IE Something reminiscent of a good action movie, where everyone is shooting at everyone else, bullets and grenades flying everywhere, yet everyone has aim for shit.

System mechanics are irrelevant to me.
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King Serperior

Then we're looking for vastly different things.  I am looking for a very story-focused game rather than having one jam-packed with explosions.

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Karma

*chuckles* I just submitted a Gundam character to a mashup game. It's always hard to resist.

Ralhend

Quote from: King Serperior on August 27, 2015, 05:58:05 PM
Then we're looking for vastly different things.  I am looking for a very story-focused game rather than having one jam-packed with explosions.

Alright, we MIGHT be having a breakdown in communications. 
I had assumed you knew that I understood something story rich was on the table and that one liners would not be tolerated, and I have apparently led you to believe I am only after something jam packed with explosions...

Allow me to clarify my intent:

I am after a detail rich "mecha-opera" type story, where a team of mecha pilots adventure around in either an established or original setting.  In addition to epic combat scenes, I want tension as we draw closer to our mission objective. I want complex drama and intrigues, plot twists, adaptive problem solving exercises, tactical planning during downtime, and other such events to happen along the way.   Of all of the established settings you have listed, I have the most experience with Battletech. (These would be the most "Realistic" of the settings)

Upon seeing this post, (And this is just something I'm throwing out for your consideration, to see how my imagination works) it makes me envision a small Davion scout lance,  where everyone has a light mech (Possibly commandos or ravens, since they have recon equipment)... We are in a heavily forested area, and keep to heavy cover as we observe enemy troop movements.  We are cut off from our main forces, and are forced deeper into enemy territory where we have to scrounge and raid for survival.  We would salvage supplies, vehicles, fuel, ammunition, mecha, information, and other odds and ends as we make our way back to our allies.

As i said before, freeform writing without the game system is fine, I'm more focused on the story events than on dice rolls.

Now, if something of this nature is not what you are after, then yes, we are indeed looking for something vastly different.
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King Serperior

AH!  Okay, it seems we are actually on the same page then!  While Battletech is the one I am least knowledgeable in, I do love the realistic setting.

That said, I like the idea you envisioned and I think my character for a Battletech universe (see above) fits that kind of role well.  My apologies for the misunderstandings.  Yesterday was exceedingly busy and I was rather tired.

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Ralhend

Alright, awesome.  Rel Meyer said something about you being one of my mentors anyway, so this works out great =D

This place makes a great reference if we decide to go with battletech: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page
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King Serperior

Alrighty.  Well, I guess that's two people seeking a GM then.  As for sarna, I know of that.  I used it when creating my Battletech character and her mech.

If Karma's interested in a Battletech setting, then that'd be three people of the 5-6 I am looking for.  Of course, it doesn't have to be Battletech since I have a couple of universes that I would like.

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Karma

I'm not well versed in Battletech either but I'm not opposed to it I suppose.

King Serperior

I am not either.  I know the very basics, but I haven't studied the universe as a whole.  So, this would be a learning experience for everyone.

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Ralhend

I didnt know we were going to be utilizing the services of a GM,

I had assumed the following (Something I REALLY need to stop doing apparently):

1: We would just have the main story thread, free-form write it without the game system at all while using the setting.
2: We each take a turn posting, and then have a private thread/channel where we discuss the development of the story and OOC stuffs.


Granted, whatever we decide doesn't change anything for me, I am game for whatever...
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on August 28, 2015, 10:27:58 AM
1: We would just have the main story thread, free-form write it without the game system at all while using the setting.
2: We each take a turn posting, and then have a private thread/channel where we discuss the development of the story and OOC stuffs.

For the most part, your assumptions are correct, however, I have found that these kinds of games work best when there is someone keeping the story flowing in the right direction.  This keeps the game from meandering and eventually grinding to a halt.  It still leaves room for all players to discuss the story and OOC, but also provides a backbone and skeleton.

Also, this board is for those seeking GMs/groups that would like what the seeker is seeking.   :-)

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Ralhend

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King Serperior

So, while we wait to see if others are interested in a Battletech game and perhaps finding a GM (If all else fails, I can be GM, but I have a lot on my plate currently), what sort of mech would your characters pilot, Karma and Ralhend?  Mine pilots a Wraith TR2.

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Karma


King Serperior

Well, a Battletech universe doesn't have to be chosen per say.  In fact, we can make a realistic mech game akin to the Battletech universe in a way. 

Heck, If no one else shows interest, we can even choose to create a small group game between the three of us an create a mech arena team game.  I have a character who pilots a massive, slow, heavily armed and armored mech designed for such a game.

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Karma


King Serperior

Looks good!  However, I don't think the mechs in question should be Pacific Rim sized.  Rather, they should be more reasonably-sized.  I don't give the size of the mech my character, Jesse, uses, but it would be one of the larger types.

The way I would see an arena combat mech is that they have three sizes:  Light (The smallest and most bipedal;  Weakest armor and weapons, but are very adaptable), Medium (the middle ground;  Mostly bipedal, but have more limited range of movement and agility), and Heavy (The largest and are very slow, but very heavily armed and armored).

Quote from: King Serperior on August 26, 2015, 08:18:01 PM
Angela Blair:  For an Original game; Pilots a large, heavy, hexapod mech that is bristling with weaponry.

^ This is the mech my character would likely use.

O/O's
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Karma


King Serperior

Haha, true, true!  So, what sort of role would your character and his/her mech have? 

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Karma

Generally the same as the sheet says; she's a mech designer and theorist. She uses primarily power armors rather than mechs even though she designs them.

King Serperior

Alrighty, well, she may need something bigger than a Power Armor, but it sounds like she'll be using light, fast mechs that have mobility over firepower.  Sounds like the type that takes advantage of others targeting the larger mechs and ignoring the smaller ones.

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Karma

Ideally it will dock into a larger mech a la Hulkbuster, Dendrobium, or Neo Zeong. :)

King Serperior

Or perhaps loose it's initial heavier armor like Gundam 00's Gundam Virtue => Gundam Nadleeh, thus becoming more mobile.  Either way is pretty awesome.   :D

O/O's
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Karma


King Serperior

Well, that was the only example I could think of that was like a reverse Hulkbuster!  :P

But, yes, we're sticking clear from Gundam in this idea.

I see three (up to six, if others join) people who come together for some reason or another and form a Mech Team for the system's massive arena combat games in the hopes of winning the league.

O/O's
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Ralhend

Alright, being that we havent decided on a setting yet, I'll keep this as open as possible.  If you are wanting to do arena style combat, the battletech setting has the "Solaris-7" events, which are battlemech style gladiatorial matches...

My character is a highly skilled mecha technician / grizzled combat veteran.  He is of Slavic descent, in his mid fourties, and speaks with a thick Romanian accent. His arms, legs, and eyes were lost of the battle of [Insert battle name here], and have since been replaced with advanced cybernetic prostheses of his own design, not unlike what was seen in the video game "Deus-Ex Human Evolution"

His normally humanoid appearing legs are able to split apart into 4 separate limbs each, allowing him to crawl all over the outside of his mech like a spider, making repairs a little bit easier. They are also re-configurable to be ungulate, giving him a boost to agility, and giving him an edge in hand-to-hand combat.   His cybernetic arms are likewise riddled with hidden tools and weapons, making him an excellent "Repairman" of sorts.
His cybernetic eyes are standard issue combat models, set up with infrared, ultraviolet, light amplification, flash protection, and magnification.   He has a neural interface allowing him to directly connect his brain to most computer systems, allowing him to pilot his mechs just a little bit faster than average, at the cost of being susceptible to bio-feedback.  This has taken its toll on him over the years, and he has developed a slight paranoia not unlike PTSD, earning him the monniker "Crazy Ivan".  Despite this setback he remains a valued asset to any mecha team.


He is skilled in piloting all types of mecha, be them light for scout type missions, medium for added flexibility, or heavy for a full blown frontal assault.   Regardless of his selected chassis however he favors mobility over heavy armor, and will often select a chassis with the bigger, heavier engines capable of more power.  For extended engagements behind enemy lines he favors energy and particle based weapons, since they dont need ammunition.  For quick fights (Such as arena style combat) he favors heavy rotary-autocannons for their armor penetration capability.

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Ralhend

(He borrows heavily from this character for his personality:)

I played this game when i was younger, and while it wasnt the best I did love Ivans character =D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGFuvK6ay9E&spfreload=10
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King Serperior

In all honesty, your character seems to be a bit overmuch.  I don't mind that he is a veteran from some war, but the cybernetics is....well...they just don't sit right in the way I picture the game.  It seems that you're trying to make him a walking killing machine, effectively a mecha in his own right.  :/

The kind of characters I am wanting to see are fairly average overall (such as my character  who is skilled in the arena, but isn't perfect;  or the character Karma mentioned who is mostly a tech, designer, and theorist rather than a super-skilled combatant.)

That said, I do want the focus to be on the arena combat.  I'm not looking for massive interplanetary wars and the like as seen often in the Battletech universe.

O/O's
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Ralhend

Alright, it seems like we are after different things after all.  thank you for your time and consideration.  I'm sorry we couldn't reach an agreement, and I wish you luck in finding a group of suitable companions.

Peace =D
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King Serperior

No problem.  I kind of thought we wouldn't make an agreement on ideas, but I hoped.  Good luck in your search.  Maybe there's a mecha game looking for a cyborg super soldier out there.

On that note, it's down to two people.  If we can get 1-3 more, we may be able to make a team for this.

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Saria

I am intrigued. I am looking to end a long hiatus, and wouldn't mind playing GM for the story.

As I understand it, you're looking for a more story-oriented mecha game - one that has a level of realism, but spends more time on character development and interaction, rather than combat, combat, combat (although, what's the fun in having a 10 ton mecha and not doing any combat with it). That sounds wonderfully appealing to me.

The downside is that I know pretty much nothing about Battletech or Zoids, and my knowledge of Gundam is limited to the less fanciful incarnations (such as War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team). But you were hinting that you would rather do something in an original universe, and I can manage that quite well.

To throw a concept out there that we might be able to work with, how about this: A heavy transport space plane is carrying tons of cargo somewhere for some reason, when it is fired on by an unknown assailant. In order to avoid crashing, the pilots opt to dump their cargo - mostly shipping containers full of stuff... but of course it will include our characters' mecha. Our characters decide that rather than seeing their mecha simply jettisoned, they board their mecha, and jump. They land in the territory of a rogue, warlike nation - analogous to North Korea, but I'd say at least as big as Russia - and decide to embark on a thousands-of-kilometres long zig-zag trek to safe territory. It will take them through multiple dangerous countries - some outright enemies like the North Korea analogue, which would simply execute us as spies and claim our mechs if we're captured, some simply chaotic and dangerous like contemporary Syria, and who knows what they'd do to us. Along the way they'd have to occasionally attack enemy outposts, or hook up with the local resistance, to resupply, picking up new friends and enemies, and maybe losing some of both as they go.

For a character, I think I'd opt for one whose military role is normally that of a scout or "spotter" (someone who marks targets for artillery or orbital strikes), to sort of balance out the trio so far: Angela as the tactically-clever powerhouse, Athena as the vicious technician, and then my character as a more reserved "let's see if we can find a way around the enemy defences rather than through them" strategist. Her mech will be a mass-produced light armour - the same type that would be used by scouts, support units for heavy artillery mechs, and snipers (though she will not have a sniper rifle, or any great aptitude for long-range shooting), outfitted with primarily anti-personnel weapons and electronic warfare packages (including radar, lidar, thermal, and jamming countermeasures) and optical and electronic camouflage. Her piloting skills will be unremarkable - I'd put the balance of her capability in her strategic and planning (not so much tactical) skills.

Her strategic chops and military rank (which neither of the others appear to have) would make her the de facto group leader (much to her chagrin) - though not in the sense that she has any real authority over the others, more in the sense that she's got the best chance of survival, and everyone else's chances rise dramatically if they stick with her (again, much to her chagrin). (Of course, she would have to defer to Angela's tactical wherewithal in open combat, and Athena's on technical matters.) That would also make it easier to do in-game GMing.

What do you think?
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Karma


King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on August 30, 2015, 12:33:03 AM
I am intrigued. I am looking to end a long hiatus, and wouldn't mind playing GM for the story.
Well, you're most certainly welcome and a GM is ever more welcome.   :D
Quote
As I understand it, you're looking for a more story-oriented mecha game - one that has a level of realism, but spends more time on character development and interaction, rather than combat, combat, combat (although, what's the fun in having a 10 ton mecha and not doing any combat with it). That sounds wonderfully appealing to me.
*Nod*  True and, while I do love character interaction and development, I do like my action as well.  I'd just rather not have the mech combat take over the more important parts of the story and outshine the characters themselves.
Quote
The downside is that I know pretty much nothing about Battletech or Zoids, and my knowledge of Gundam is limited to the less fanciful incarnations (such as War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team). But you were hinting that you would rather do something in an original universe, and I can manage that quite well.
No problem at all!  You're right that I was hinting at a more original universe.  It would be easier for some who don't have quite as much experience with canon universes.
Quote
To throw a concept out there that we might be able to work with, how about this: A heavy transport space plane is carrying tons of cargo somewhere for some reason, when it is fired on by an unknown assailant. In order to avoid crashing, the pilots opt to dump their cargo - mostly shipping containers full of stuff... but of course it will include our characters' mecha. Our characters decide that rather than seeing their mecha simply jettisoned, they board their mecha, and jump. They land in the territory of a rogue, warlike nation - analogous to North Korea, but I'd say at least as big as Russia - and decide to embark on a thousands-of-kilometres long zig-zag trek to safe territory. It will take them through multiple dangerous countries - some outright enemies like the North Korea analogue, which would simply execute us as spies and claim our mechs if we're captured, some simply chaotic and dangerous like contemporary Syria, and who knows what they'd do to us. Along the way they'd have to occasionally attack enemy outposts, or hook up with the local resistance, to resupply, picking up new friends and enemies, and maybe losing some of both as they go.

For a character, I think I'd opt for one whose military role is normally that of a scout or "spotter" (someone who marks targets for artillery or orbital strikes), to sort of balance out the trio so far: Angela as the tactically-clever powerhouse, Athena as the vicious technician, and then my character as a more reserved "let's see if we can find a way around the enemy defences rather than through them" strategist. Her mech will be a mass-produced light armour - the same type that would be used by scouts, support units for heavy artillery mechs, and snipers (though she will not have a sniper rifle, or any great aptitude for long-range shooting), outfitted with primarily anti-personnel weapons and electronic warfare packages (including radar, lidar, thermal, and jamming countermeasures) and optical and electronic camouflage. Her piloting skills will be unremarkable - I'd put the balance of her capability in her strategic and planning (not so much tactical) skills.

Her strategic chops and military rank (which neither of the others appear to have) would make her the de facto group leader (much to her chagrin) - though not in the sense that she has any real authority over the others, more in the sense that she's got the best chance of survival, and everyone else's chances rise dramatically if they stick with her (again, much to her chagrin). (Of course, she would have to defer to Angela's tactical wherewithal in open combat, and Athena's on technical matters.) That would also make it easier to do in-game GMing.

What do you think?
To quote Karma:
Quote from: Karma on August 30, 2015, 12:35:56 AM
I'm in love.

I love that idea!  Of course, I'll need to do a bit of editing to Angela's mech's weaponry in this scenario since the weapons are designed for an arena-based game, thus limited.  I'll need to get her some more appropriate war-ready weapons, though the minigun, missiles, and rail gun are deadly enough!  :P

O/O's
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Saria

I'm glad you both like! I shall spend this evening preparing a character, and looking up mecha designs, and we can start tossing about ideas for the world and setting.

Quote from: King Serperior on August 30, 2015, 07:23:11 AM
Of course, I'll need to do a bit of editing to Angela's mech's weaponry in this scenario since the weapons are designed for an arena-based game, thus limited.  I'll need to get her some more appropriate war-ready weapons, though the minigun, missiles, and rail gun are deadly enough!  :P
Alternately, you could leave her mech as-is, with its not-quite-ideal arena-based weaponry, and one of our early goals could be procuring actually useful weaponry (and maybe ammo), either by raiding an enemy supply outpost or by hooking up with the local resistance.

The logic could be that she was actually on her way to an arena fight when they had to abandon ship/plane. Similarly, my character's mech might have only very limited weaponry - maybe it was on its way to get some of its ECM stuff installed/fixed/updated - and maybe Athena's was en route to some kind of show or proving ground demonstration or something. Basically, they're all only minimally or inappropriately armed, so our first requirement will be to get some gear. We could start by ambushing a search unit, then move up to attacking a supply depot, or something like that.
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King Serperior

That's certainly an idea.  This transport could have been transporting a number of people to a port, but be forced to fly over risky territory.  So, when they are forced to jettison supplies, they get into their mechs rather than them be lost. 

As for her arena-based weaponry, they're still powerful.  The main issue is that ammunition is the big problem for her mech, so acquiring an energy-based weapon to draw power from her mech's nuclear core would be essential for long-term travel.

Can't wait to see your character and Karma's revised one.   :D

O/O's
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Saria

Yup, I'm having my character's motivation being that her mech is loaded up with the latest ECM equipment, along with up-to-date encryption keys, communications codes, maps, etc.. It's not so much the equipment she's worried about - it's top secret military hardware, but it's not exactly ultra-cutting-edge stuff, so it's probable that enemy spies have already stolen the designs - but rather the contents of her mech's hard drives. When she hears that her mech is about to be jettisoned, she has two options: hit the "self-destruct" (which doesn't really blow up the mech, it just wipes the hard drives and melts down a handful of key circuit boards and components) and let it drop, or go down with it to make sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands. Because the "self-destruct" isn't 100%, and because there's still a chance it might land in friendly territory and be safe, she opts to go down with the mech.

But of course, they land in the worst place ever - right smack dab in enemy territory. So her dilemma is whether to "self-destruct" and then try to make it with a crippled mech (or on foot), or not "self-destruct" and keep the valuable data risking that it might fall into enemy hands. Her chances are enormously better with her mech fully operational, so she opts to risk it, figuring that if it ever gets too grim, she can do the "self-destruct" then.

So, really, she isn't responsible for the others, and could - in theory - just ditch them and try to make it back on her own. Her only concern is preventing her mech's key data from falling into enemy hands. But she has a much better chance with them than on her own.
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King Serperior

*Nods*

Makes sense.  The good thing is that if this cargo ship is hit, it'll be forced to fly low.  It's going to need to fly low if the Ragnarok is going to survive the drop as it is far too heavy for jumpjets to slow it's fall.  >.>

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Saria

Ah! Actually I had a thought about that, too.

I figured that none of our mechs would be prepared for a drop, right? No one was planning for the disaster, after all. So how do they survive?

Well, I was thinking that we're all travelling on a space plane - one of those planes that basically goes straight up, follows the turn of the Earth, then comes straight down, and get you from like London to Sydney in 30 minutes. This plane is carrying a bunch of shipping containers (and our mechs are in one each) - similar to the standard shipping containers used today, but with a twist.

In the event of an emergency, these containers are designed to be jettisoned. But of course... you don't want them to hang around in orbit and smash into the space station(s), and you really don't want them to fall down to Earth: a 50 tonne container falling from orbit would be like punching the Earth with the fist of an angry god.

So the containers are designed to survive a hot reentry (which slows them down significantly), then deploy parachutes to land "softly". This design not only prevents a massive catastrophe from a full-speed impact, it also makes the container more-or-less salvageable, and in a pinch they can serve as escape pods from a doomed ship. (They would even deploy floats if they hit water, not that that would matter in our case (unless someone wants to land on water :P).) It wouldn't be a comfortable descent or landing, but you'll probably survive.

That's how our mechs can survive the fall from the plane. The containers survive reentry, and then deploy their parachutes, and land "softly". They're not shot out of the sky by any hostile forces because of my character's mech's ECM systems. Then we all emerge from our busted up containers, and take stock.

Of course, we have no idea where we're going to land until we do. But on the flip side, the enemy has no clue that 3 mechs were dropped into their territory: all they "saw" were dozens of massive shipping containers that could have been carrying cars or playstations for all they knew. That's why we're not immediately swamped by their armies hunting us down - the first enemies we run into have no idea what they're walking into, they're just investigating. (Of course, the enemy will figure out that there's a bunch of rogue mechs in their territory before too long. But before they do, we have the element of surprise, which we could use to raid for supplies.)

This way you don't need to worry about making your mech "drop-safe" (I had actually assumed none of them were). The container would protect it during the landing. It would probably get banged up a bit if it weren't well-secured - and maybe even then - but it would survive.

((EDIT: Actually, I just remembered your character is from a Moon colony. Rather than a space plane it could have been a shuttle to/from the Moon.))
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Ralhend

Alright, I have looked for a mecha game where a cybernetic killing machine would compliment the other characters...  Such a game does not exist (Yet).
My thirst for a mech game is just getting worse...

I jumped off the ship too early, and I apologize.

The idea of a mech survival situation resulting from our ship getting attacked or having a mechanical trouble sounds like a lot of fun.  Like you said the mechs we would jettison to escape are not outfitted for this particular mission, forcing us to work with what we have, and the goal being to acquire better equipment through salvage or other methods.

Rather than go through the hassle of starting a new thread and finding more players, I'd rather shelve the Krazy Ivan inspired character for a later game and help contribute to this one. 

I can make an interesting mecha pilot type without being overmuch after looking at the examples presented here, to compliment the group rather than being overpower-full,
We can say he is an enlisted 20-something Test Technician with no previous piloting experience outside of the utility loaders, simulators and video games. The only reason he is part of the group is because he is the wrong person in the right place at the time of the attack/meteor strike/ship malfunction, and jumped in one of the mechs to be jettisoned.  At first he would be inept and clumsy, but over the course of the campaign learns the skills necessary to pilot a bipedal war machine, and becomes a competent pilot...   

I'd be willing to go completely random on the type of mech and its loadout, equipment compliment, and other such factors. ( I could construct a table with various qualities, submit it for GM review, and when the time comes i can roll dice on the dicebot to see what is on the chassis he jumps into...

that is, if you will have me and there is still a spot available?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on August 30, 2015, 11:26:14 PM
Ah! Actually I had a thought about that, too.

I figured that none of our mechs would be prepared for a drop, right? No one was planning for the disaster, after all. So how do they survive?

Well, I was thinking that we're all travelling on a space plane - one of those planes that basically goes straight up, follows the turn of the Earth, then comes straight down, and get you from like London to Sydney in 30 minutes. This plane is carrying a bunch of shipping containers (and our mechs are in one each) - similar to the standard shipping containers used today, but with a twist.

In the event of an emergency, these containers are designed to be jettisoned. But of course... you don't want them to hang around in orbit and smash into the space station(s), and you really don't want them to fall down to Earth: a 50 tonne container falling from orbit would be like punching the Earth with the fist of an angry god.

So the containers are designed to survive a hot reentry (which slows them down significantly), then deploy parachutes to land "softly". This design not only prevents a massive catastrophe from a full-speed impact, it also makes the container more-or-less salvageable, and in a pinch they can serve as escape pods from a doomed ship. (They would even deploy floats if they hit water, not that that would matter in our case (unless someone wants to land on water :P).) It wouldn't be a comfortable descent or landing, but you'll probably survive.

That's how our mechs can survive the fall from the plane. The containers survive reentry, and then deploy their parachutes, and land "softly". They're not shot out of the sky by any hostile forces because of my character's mech's ECM systems. Then we all emerge from our busted up containers, and take stock.

Of course, we have no idea where we're going to land until we do. But on the flip side, the enemy has no clue that 3 mechs were dropped into their territory: all they "saw" were dozens of massive shipping containers that could have been carrying cars or playstations for all they knew. That's why we're not immediately swamped by their armies hunting us down - the first enemies we run into have no idea what they're walking into, they're just investigating. (Of course, the enemy will figure out that there's a bunch of rogue mechs in their territory before too long. But before they do, we have the element of surprise, which we could use to raid for supplies.)

This way you don't need to worry about making your mech "drop-safe" (I had actually assumed none of them were). The container would protect it during the landing. It would probably get banged up a bit if it weren't well-secured - and maybe even then - but it would survive.

((EDIT: Actually, I just remembered your character is from a Moon colony. Rather than a space plane it could have been a shuttle to/from the Moon.))
That sounds perfect!  I was thinking along those same lines as well.  That said, I wasn't expecting a 100% safe landing.  I just wanted to make sure that there was some way to ease the fall as the Ragnarok would hit the ground like a brick without something to slow things down.  >_>;

As for my character being from a moon colony, it can easily be changed some.  Though, in a world where mechs are used for a number of things, from entertainment to war, a moon colony isn't too far out.

Quote from: Ralhend on August 31, 2015, 12:41:03 AM
Alright, I have looked for a mecha game where a cybernetic killing machine would compliment the other characters...  Such a game does not exist (Yet).
My thirst for a mech game is just getting worse...

I jumped off the ship too early, and I apologize.

The idea of a mech survival situation resulting from our ship getting attacked or having a mechanical trouble sounds like a lot of fun.  Like you said the mechs we would jettison to escape are not outfitted for this particular mission, forcing us to work with what we have, and the goal being to acquire better equipment through salvage or other methods.

Rather than go through the hassle of starting a new thread and finding more players, I'd rather shelve the Krazy Ivan inspired character for a later game and help contribute to this one. 

I can make an interesting mecha pilot type without being overmuch after looking at the examples presented here, to compliment the group rather than being overpower-full,
We can say he is an enlisted 20-something Test Technician with no previous piloting experience outside of the utility loaders, simulators and video games. The only reason he is part of the group is because he is the wrong person in the right place at the time of the attack/meteor strike/ship malfunction, and jumped in one of the mechs to be jettisoned.  At first he would be inept and clumsy, but over the course of the campaign learns the skills necessary to pilot a bipedal war machine, and becomes a competent pilot...   

I'd be willing to go completely random on the type of mech and its loadout, equipment compliment, and other such factors. ( I could construct a table with various qualities, submit it for GM review, and when the time comes i can roll dice on the dicebot to see what is on the chassis he jumps into...

that is, if you will have me and there is still a spot available?

Of course you can still join in.  I think a test technician would be an interesting compliment and the randomized aspect would certainly be interested.  However, what makes him choose one of the mechs, assuming that the transport is carrying multiple mechs?  Also, if the ship is carrying multiple mechs, I would say there should be no more than three spare mechs to choose from for him.  Then, when the cargo is jettisoned, something fails on the remaining two and they crash badly or hit water and end up sinking when the parachutes/jets/flotation devices fail.

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Ralhend

He wouldnt really be choosing anything, and likely just jump in the closest chassis in an effort to escape from the crashing ship...

It would help if I knew what technologies were available,  someone said her mech was powered by a nuclear core, which makes me think of a small fission reactor...   most of the combat mecha designs I am used to either use standard internal combustion up to some form of fusion, either hot or cold. Nuclear designs are not unheard of, but were generally avoided due the the dangers of the cores going crtical if destroyed, making escape\ejections nearly impossible, as well as contaminating the battlefield with poisionous radiarion...

I am geussing we have acess to basic energy weaponry,(lasers, particle cannons, plasma ejectors, etc )  but no energy shielding?

Ideally id want something with light armor, a big engine for speed, with energy weapons that dont require ammo, meaning the dice would likely screw me over, giving me a medium mech with a damaged engine, missing its head an part of one arm, with half of a magazine of ammo for an lbx autocannon, and maybie 3 missiles in its shoulder pod...

I am ok with that though, since it presents an interesting challenge, not unlike what I was faced with in the video game "mechwarrior 3"
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I would say that the technologies available would be similar to Battletech technology.  That said, I only said a small nuclear core powering the Ragnarok because I couldn't think of something powerful enough to power a heavy mech that makes sense.  However, a safer technology would be a good suggestion.  *nod*

In regards to weapons, basic energy weapons are there, but the depend on the mech's power source.  No shielding at all since that would take some of the strategy out of it.

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Ralhend

Hmmm, if we have spacefaring and ftl tech its safe to assume we have fusion technology available, something like Robotech's protoculture cells or battletech's plasma loops...

We could also make them strictly electrical, have some kind of advanced battery technology, or a specialized type of high yield mineral, like what was seen in Valkiria Chronicles...

Also, is it just humans or have we made first contact ?
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King Serperior

We don't necessarily have to have spacefaring tech, but I was seeing something along the lines of battletech's plasma and laser weaponry.  However, I feel we shouldn't go overboard with laser and plasma weapons.

As for first contact:  No.  Humans are deadly enough as is and we'll mostly be planet-side anyway.

I'd like to hear Karma's and Saria's thoughts on this first.

Also, I have been thinking of exchanging Angela's Ragnarok for DJ's Shinigami:
Quote
BattleMech

Chassis:  Wraith TR2
Model: TR2
Weight Class: Medium
Callsign: Shinigami
Description: The Shinigami is painted jet-black with light-purple 'bolts of lightning' extending along the arms and legs.  There is a signature, blood-red pair of crossed Scythes on the torso, creating a 'Jolly Roger' of sorts with the painted skull headpiece.  It is very well maintained as DJ has a very large nest egg from her time as a bandit and mercenary, allowing her to do repairs quickly. 
Weapons:
1X ER PPC (Mounted on Right Arm)
2X Tronel XII Medium Pulse Lasers (Mounted on Left Arm)

Equipment: 
1X massive LTV 385 XL Engine (allowing speeds of up to 119km/h)
7X seven CurtissJet 55 jump jets (Allowing for jumps up to 210 meters)
Background:  Shinigami was a lucky find for DJ in her search for a mech.  She discovered it by chance at a black market when looking for a mech and fell in love.  After she proved herself and joined the bandits, the Shinigami proved its namesake by taking lives before they knew they were dead and allowed her to move up in the ranks.  The unique color scheme allows for best concealment at night.  The Shinigami is her legacy for her father who was cut down for an unknown reason.

The reason being that the Shinigami is much faster and easier to use behind enemy lines while having energy-based weapons and actual hands.  Edits will likely have to be made, of course, but I feel that this high-offense, long-range mech is the best option.

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Karma

As far as tech level, I'd like Gundam circa early 0079. The mechs would perform better, but the rest would be similar: Moon colonies, repulsor systems, particle weapons on the heavy hitters but still primarily ballistic weapons, nothing "magic" like FTL or replicators.

Ralhend

Im good with that...

Will weapon systems be standardized and modular, or will most weaon systems be proprietary?
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I'd say that mecha weapons and systems would be standardized, but more customized weapons can be bought depending on the frame of the mech in question.  It wouldn't be advised to try and customize them unless you're someone like Karma's character who is a designer or you're sponsered by various companies in the Mech Arena like mine.

And, I think I'll keep the Ragnarok despite it's size and lack of speed since I think the group will need a mech to sponge hits with it's thick armor and break through the armor of foes with it's massive weaponry.

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Ralhend

Alright, a few more questions and ill have what I need,


What type of mecha interface will be available ?  Will it be manual only, with joysticks and cockpit glass,  reflex where we wear skintight datasuits, and the mech mimics our movements ?  Direct neural linkage where our brains are connected directly to the mechs computers,  or a hybrid system, where we wear a neurohelmet, and the mech uses limited info from the pilot, such as using the pilots own sense of balance ? (Battletech uses this mostly)

Weight classes with actual numbers in tonnes, and actual heights of the machines in feet or meters, so i can get an idea of the mechs themselves...

Will the mechs computer cores be static fcs only, or will they have the ability to learn (not fully sentient but its an option ) and adapt to the pilot, and grow with the pilot, and be removeable in case the pilot changes mechs ?   (I get attached to my machines, and want it to somewhat have a personality of its own.
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on August 31, 2015, 07:26:56 PM
What type of mecha interface will be available ?  Will it be manual only, with joysticks and cockpit glass,  reflex where we wear skintight datasuits, and the mech mimics our movements ?  Direct neural linkage where our brains are connected directly to the mechs computers,  or a hybrid system, where we wear a neurohelmet, and the mech uses limited info from the pilot, such as using the pilots own sense of balance ? (Battletech uses this mostly)
Before I begin, I will say that in this universe, there will not be skintight datasuits like what you see often in anime.  Granted, one would want to wear light clothing as a mech's cockpit would heat up after a time.  That aside, I imagine the cockpits are the kind one climbs in and sits in front of a board of interfaces.  Depending on the mech, the cockpit will either be deeply set into the mech, protecting the pilot from nearly every threat (like the Ragnarok) while lighter mechs could have the pilot viewing everything through a 'glass' (likely something stronger and less likely to break) window.  So, for the most part, the interface is similar to Battletech's.
Quote
Weight classes with actual numbers in tonnes, and actual heights of the machines in feet or meters, so i can get an idea of the mechs themselves...
I think the weight classes should be:  Power/Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, and Colossal.  Power/Battle Armor is about the size of the Hulkbuster from the Avengers.  They usually weigh no more than 5 tons.  Light mechs are about 25-30 tons, give or take.  Medium mechs are around 50 tons.  Heavy mechs are around 75 tons.  Colossal mechs, such as the Ragnarok, are 100+ tons.  Ragnarok weighs in at about 110 tons.  Mechs that fall under the minimal weight class (I.E. a 60 ton mech) would be classed as Medium.  A mech must weigh at least 75 tons to be classed as Heavy).

Some things to note:  Power/Battle Armor usually can interface with a larger mech, allowing the pilot to take control of it or provide extra firepower and defense.  Doing so while someone is piloting the target mech is usually a very bad idea as an interface attempt with an active mech is liable to throw the smaller one off and cause serious damage.

As for the heights, it really depends on if the mech is a biped or multiped.  Due to it's design, I'd estimate that Ragnarok stands about 2-3 stories tall, perhaps.  I may be under or overestimating since I have never thought of it before.  A general rule of thumb is that heavier mechs tend to be larger than smaller ones.
Quote
Will the mechs computer cores be static fcs only, or will they have the ability to learn (not fully sentient but its an option ) and adapt to the pilot, and grow with the pilot, and be removeable in case the pilot changes mechs ?   (I get attached to my machines, and want it to somewhat have a personality of its own.
It is possible for mechs to have a low-class A.I. in them to help with controlling it as well as to provide advice for new pilots.  However, I doubt that A.I.s would be common.  If you're not talking of that, then I must be misunderstanding here....

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Ralhend

Not a self aware AI per se, just a removable data core that records how a pilot does things, and makes adjustments to the mechs systems for optimal efficiencies.  Low level AIs work too though, im not opposed to that...

I was thinking my test guy could remove his dock from his test / maintenance station and take it with him,  he is familiar with the systems on generalised mechs...  a computer that talks back and capable of limited independent thought might be interesting, but not a must have...

This one could be something he put together from spare parts, and they have discussions here and there.  Not really adding any advantages other that giving the mech a personality
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King Serperior

Ooooh!  That's what you mean!  Okay, I like that idea better.  Yes, there will be a data core that records the pilot's personal preferences in a mech.  Unless others don't mind there being the occasional low-level A.I. around (They will NOT be common by any means), we'll scrap that idea.

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Karma

I think it's practically necessary for simple AI to exist in any setting that has combat capable bipedal mechs. *laughs*

King Serperior

Haha, true.  I am just wary about any A.I.s in games.  :P

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Saria

I'm cool with everything that's been tossed around so far. ~nodnod~

It doesn't really seem too outlandish in a world with lots of mechs that we have safe, portable fusion cores. They wouldn't be particularly "dirty", radiologically speaking (and there could be laws that mandate servicing to remove "hot" components every year or so, to further reduce the resulting radiotoxicity should the reactor be totally destroyed), even if they were totally destroyed, and they could be designed to squelch the reaction quickly in the event of an emergency - the worst case scenario if everything fails is a hell of an explosion, but probably not one that would even raise much of an eyebrow in heavy combat with high-energy warheads going off all around them.

(You wouldn't want to walk around the aftermath of a pitched battle barefoot, but with combat boots and coveralls - and a protective mask - you should be protected enough for safe short-term exposure. It could be standard practice after a major battle to "clean" the battlefield with robots that scoop up the most radioactive material, and after that the area would be perfectly safe.)

I would suggest to King Serperior that he stick with the Ragnarok. It's nice to have at least one big-ass tank on our side. :-)

Regarding spacefaring: Yeah, I don't think it should be a "space-faring setting". At most, some orbital colonies, Lunar colonies, and maybe a Mars colony - but all of these would be pretty spartan affairs, and totally incapable of complete autonomy. There may be some very small amount of coming-and-going between the Earth and the orbital colonies and Lunar colony, but the Mars colony is not the kind of thing one takes a vacation to - it's a year-long round trip at least, and damned expensive. Space tourism might be a thing, though, where people visit the Moon and/or orbital colonies as "theme parks" or spas, etc. - and that's what makes them economically feasible. There may only be a few hundred thousand people in space at any given point, most on the Moon. And transport technology is done the traditional way - no reactionless space drives or anything, just big-ass rockets and/or railgun launchers.

And because none of the colonies are self-sustaining or politically relevant, there is no fighting in space (plus it is technically infeasible).

That makes the setting reasonably futuristic - inline with there being mechs all over the place - without going too far.

Regarding mech classes: I still haven't found a mech pic I like, but I was aiming for a ~20 T mech that is roughly humanoid - bidepal with hands, though a head is not necessary, and it doesn't matter which way the legs bend. It would be a mass-produced multi-role light mech: ~20 T "naked", with none of the modular accessories, but once you add one of the "packages" it will easily exceed 25 T. The main appeal of it would be urban warfare - it could walk down city streets and between buildings without a problem - but it would be adapted to various roles: anti-personnel (maybe miniguns or a flamethrower would be attached), combat engineering (stronger limbs, maybe a crane attachment on the back), sniping (adaptive camouflage plus integration with a sniping weapon for enhanced stability and thus better aim), etc.. My own version would have the ECM package (adaptive camouflage plus various sensing and jamming equipment).

(The adaptive camouflage is just basically a bunch of hexagonal "stickers" pasted over the armour - each about 10 cm diameter - that display various colours. The intent is to image the surroundings, then create a disruptive pattern, like CADPAT, of the right colours. Obviously the mech is not "invisible" - same way a soldier wearing CADPAT is pretty hard to miss. But if the mech is far enough away and stationary, it can be very hard to make out. It's effectively invisible from aerial surveillance, assuming it's somewhere that's visually chaotic enough (like a jungle or rocky terrain - not so much an open field). The stickers will naturally be rendered useless if shot, but they're easily pulled off and replaced... assuming you have replacements (which we won't, at least at first).)

Oh, and regarding AI: I'm not opposed to non-sentient AI (and I agree with Karma - not having it would be weird), but I think there should be a law - set by the UN or whatever exists there - that no weapons system can be autonomous. There must always be a human responsible for pulling the trigger. Autonomous vehicles could (and probably should) be legal, but the moment that vehicle is armed, there must be a human in control. The law could have all kinds of caveats for "smart" weapons, such as that a human can designate a target then let an AI proceed to chase and kill it, but an AI can never choose a target or do anything un-Asimovian of its own volition. (And that includes "saving" a friendly soldier from an enemy - an AI cannot do that, because it means it would be choosing who lives and who dies... not cool.)

Hm, I think that just about covers everything that was mentioned. :P Did I miss anything important?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on August 31, 2015, 09:06:25 PM
I'm cool with everything that's been tossed around so far. ~nodnod~

It doesn't really seem too outlandish in a world with lots of mechs that we have safe, portable fusion cores. They wouldn't be particularly "dirty", radiologically speaking (and there could be laws that mandate servicing to remove "hot" components every year or so, to further reduce the resulting radiotoxicity should the reactor be totally destroyed), even if they were totally destroyed, and they could be designed to squelch the reaction quickly in the event of an emergency - the worst case scenario if everything fails is a hell of an explosion, but probably not one that would even raise much of an eyebrow in heavy combat with high-energy warheads going off all around them.

(You wouldn't want to walk around the aftermath of a pitched battle barefoot, but with combat boots and coveralls - and a protective mask - you should be protected enough for safe short-term exposure. It could be standard practice after a major battle to "clean" the battlefield with robots that scoop up the most radioactive material, and after that the area would be perfectly safe.)
Makes sense there.  After all, we'd need something powerful for the Ragnarok to move.  But, I agree.  *nodnod*
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I would suggest to King Serperior that he stick with the Ragnarok. It's nice to have at least one big-ass tank on our side. :-)
I shall then.  I feel that having it's armor and firepower would be dire.  I mean, the Ragnarok was designed for lots of arena combat, so in a free-for-all, most foes tend to gang up on it!  It needs the armor to withstand the firepower of multiple mechs firing from all directions and fight back!   ;D
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Regarding spacefaring: Yeah, I don't think it should be a "space-faring setting". At most, some orbital colonies, Lunar colonies, and maybe a Mars colony - but all of these would be pretty spartan affairs, and totally incapable of complete autonomy. There may be some very small amount of coming-and-going between the Earth and the orbital colonies and Lunar colony, but the Mars colony is not the kind of thing one takes a vacation to - it's a year-long round trip at least, and damned expensive. Space tourism might be a thing, though, where people visit the Moon and/or orbital colonies as "theme parks" or spas, etc. - and that's what makes them economically feasible. There may only be a few hundred thousand people in space at any given point, most on the Moon. And transport technology is done the traditional way - no reactionless space drives or anything, just big-ass rockets and/or railgun launchers.

And because none of the colonies are self-sustaining or politically relevant, there is no fighting in space (plus it is technically infeasible).

That makes the setting reasonably futuristic - inline with there being mechs all over the place - without going too far.
I'd have to agree.  I'd need to change some details regarding Angela's background since it says her parents owned factories on Mars, but I agree with everything overall.
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Regarding mech classes: I still haven't found a mech pic I like, but I was aiming for a ~20 T mech that is roughly humanoid - bidepal with hands, though a head is not necessary, and it doesn't matter which way the legs bend. It would be a mass-produced multi-role light mech: ~20 T "naked", with none of the modular accessories, but once you add one of the "packages" it will easily exceed 25 T. The main appeal of it would be urban warfare - it could walk down city streets and between buildings without a problem - but it would be adapted to various roles: anti-personnel (maybe miniguns or a flamethrower would be attached), combat engineering (stronger limbs, maybe a crane attachment on the back), sniping (adaptive camouflage plus integration with a sniping weapon for enhanced stability and thus better aim), etc.. My own version would have the ECM package (adaptive camouflage plus various sensing and jamming equipment).

(The adaptive camouflage is just basically a bunch of hexagonal "stickers" pasted over the armour - each about 10 cm diameter - that display various colours. The intent is to image the surroundings, then create a disruptive pattern, like CADPAT, of the right colours. Obviously the mech is not "invisible" - same way a soldier wearing CADPAT is pretty hard to miss. But if the mech is far enough away and stationary, it can be very hard to make out. It's effectively invisible from aerial surveillance, assuming it's somewhere that's visually chaotic enough (like a jungle or rocky terrain - not so much an open field). The stickers will naturally be rendered useless if shot, but they're easily pulled off and replaced... assuming you have replacements (which we won't, at least at first).)
Nice idea!  If you want, I can look up some things.  I would say that Miniguns shouldn't be on any mech lighter than Medium.  Instead, standard machine guns would be better for lighter mechs.  I'll be adapting the special systems on the Ragnarok to make it better for tanking hits since it's size and lack of speed makes it an obvious target on the battlefield.  Otherwise, I like what you are thinking.   :D
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Oh, and regarding AI: I'm not opposed to non-sentient AI (and I agree with Karma - not having it would be weird), but I think there should be a law - set by the UN or whatever exists there - that no weapons system can be autonomous. There must always be a human responsible for pulling the trigger. Autonomous vehicles could (and probably should) be legal, but the moment that vehicle is armed, there must be a human in control. The law could have all kinds of caveats for "smart" weapons, such as that a human can designate a target then let an AI proceed to chase and kill it, but an AI can never choose a target or do anything un-Asimovian of its own volition. (And that includes "saving" a friendly soldier from an enemy - an AI cannot do that, because it means it would be choosing who lives and who dies... not cool.)

Hm, I think that just about covers everything that was mentioned. :P Did I miss anything important?
*Nods*  I think that's about everything and I completely agree on the A.I. not being allowed to fire weapons. 

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Ralhend

I am loving all of this, looks to be a lot of fun regardless

Asimovs robot laws work here, I approve.

In regards to my characters AI, I was thinking an earlier model, old and obsolete, but through my charaters rigging parts together he makes something that is fairly competitive with the current mark 6... granted it would be quirky and tempermental, but a good system nonetheless.

Right now its just something he uses to help him run automatic tests on mech components, and play an occasional game of chess.  We can say my charater is a part time hacker, not really skilled but knows enough to be dangerous.

Since mechs often have security and anti theft interlocks involved,  and he is not really a mech pilot, he could use this AI to hijack whatever chassis of oportunity presents itself, and launch from the ship just in the nick of time after a few problems...
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Karma

Sorry that I'm only chiming in a little bit here and there; I've started GMing a game that's gotten to be pretty large, and there's a buttload of work to do!

Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on August 31, 2015, 09:25:12 PM
Makes sense there.  After all, we'd need something powerful for the Ragnarok to move.
Yeah, I'd say fusion reactors are probably standard for heavy mechs. For light mechs like my own, probably a battery. (Which means my character would have to rely on yours for recharging - another reason she'll grudgingly agree to having company.) Under heavy use (which will certainly be the case for us), I'd say the battery would need recharging for an hour or three every few days or so.

Quote from: King Serperior on August 31, 2015, 09:25:12 PM
I feel that having it's armor and firepower would be dire.  I mean, the Ragnarok was designed for lots of arena combat, so in a free-for-all, most foes tend to gang up on it!  It needs the armor to withstand the firepower of multiple mechs firing from all directions and fight back!   ;D
And, on the flip side, there would be Angela's motivation for not wanting to simply strike off on her own. While she can easily go toe-to-toe with small numbers of bigger mechs, she'll need smaller mech allies to swat the flies off or she can be defeated easily be being swarmed by power suits or small drones.

Quote from: King Serperior on August 31, 2015, 09:25:12 PM
I'd need to change some details regarding Angela's background since it says her parents owned factories on Mars, but I agree with everything overall.
Nah! I mean, if they live on the Moon (or at least stayed there often enough for Angela to be born there), that would imply that they're a) wealthy (which would also explain how Angela could afford to get into mech fighting as a sport), and b) invested in colonization. They could be the financiers and/owners of a couple of autonomous factories on Mars, that are engaged in some kind of production to facilitate colonization. (They could even be terraforming factories.)

Quote from: King Serperior on August 31, 2015, 09:25:12 PM
I would say that Miniguns shouldn't be on any mech lighter than Medium.  Instead, standard machine guns would be better for lighter mechs.
Ah, yeah.

I was thinking of having my character's mech armed with a fully automatic flechette gun, bolted onto its right wrist. (Not an anti-mech weapon, obviously, but rather anti-personnel.)

In fact, let me run the starting load-out I have in mind by you:


  • ~20 T base mech - roughly humanoid: bipedal with jumping jets, and arms with fully articulated hands.
  • ~5 T backpack with ECM equipment - some of which is integrated with the mech - including:

    • Radar (primarily "upwards" facing - not very useful along the ground, but rather is for spotting and "painting" aircraft).
    • Lidar (primarily for ground sensing - used to create terrain maps that are shared among combat units, and for detection and "painting" of targets).
    • Extended-range imaging (infrared and ultraviolet) - used in conjunction with lidar/radar for spotting and "painting".
    • Chaff - shells fired upward for blinding/confusing radar (including its own, sadly). The cartridges can be timed to explode a variable length of time after launching. The chaff falls slowly, like confetti, so is only good for a few minutes at a time. Starts loaded with 100 cartridges.
    • Decoy balloon - shells fired upward that burst and expand into small balloon that hangs chaff from it. Can stay in the air for the better part of an hour, but can be blown away in high winds. Starts loaded with 12 cartridges.
    • Full spectrum antenna and broadcast unit - used to detect signals, and transmit confusing or "ghost" signals. These can be defeated, but it requires manual tuning to filter out (and then the fake signals can be adjusted to get around the filters, lather, rinse, repeat).
    • Satellite detection - if the sky is clear, can detect the presence of satellites overhead, and identify them using a database of registered satellites (for being aware of when enemy spy or tracking satellites are coming into range).
  • Fully-automatic flechette gun, mounted on right forearm - not capable of penetrating even light armour, primarily an anti-personnel weapon. Starts loaded with thousands of flechettes.
  • Combination shield/pile-driver, mounted on left forearm - provides a small area of heavy armour (mostly just big enough to protect the cockpit when raised), and a gas-powered piston with a spike on the end for penetrating light-to-medium armour at close range (like, really close range).

As you can see, she doesn't start with any real weapons, so she'll grab whatever happens to be handy. I imagine after the first engagement or two, she'll pick up a shotgun or machine gun or three, and use them until they're out of ammo. With a modular mech, she can pretty much use any other modular (that is, "hand"-held) weapon that isn't absurdly heavy, though the bigger/heavier the weapon, the more mobility she sacrifices. (I'd say she might be able to lift a beam weapon, and fire it... but wouldn't be able to move around with it. And of course, with heavy weapons or artillery, she'd need to brace it or the recoil would knock her back on her ass.) Eventually she'll probably find a weapon she can actually claim and keep.

What do you think?

Quote from: King Serperior on August 31, 2015, 09:25:12 PM
I think that's about everything and I completely agree on the A.I. not being allowed to fire weapons.
Yeah, I also wanted to avoid the idea of having mechs as autonomous characters. I wanted to avoid "easy outs" like if someone runs into an enemy patrol on foot, they can just trust their mech to get them out of it. It's much nicer for the game if they're forced to rely on other characters.

I was planning of having my mech "remote controllable"... but from an actual remote control (like a game controller, but obviously more advanced) connected by wire (not wireless, because that can be hacked, and then my mech would be someone else's mech) - or at the most, direct line of sight control by light pulses, but only when enabled. And even then, the remote control is very limited to only pre-programmed operations - it's not even close to being a replacement for a pilot actually in the cockpit. (The intention for the remote control was so that she could load the mech into containers, onto trucks, and so on, without actually being inside. And so that she can have it crouch to disembark, then from outside make it stand so it's a little harder for anyone to climb into and mess with the controls. Or so that she could get out, scout ahead on foot to see if the mech can get closer to a target without being seen, then control it to approach when it's clear. There is no way she could actually engage in combat remotely.)

Oh, I forgot to mention, about the "data suits" thing: I was going to have my character's "standard" piloting suit be a form-fitting suit, though the only "data link" it will have is that it will have a built in ECG (among other things) that, when plugged in, allow the mech to monitor her vitals. The suit has some "smart" systems built in that can do stuff like juice her with stimulants on demand, or morphine if necessary, and various other stuff to help keep her alive and fighting. It can also be set to "self-destruct" the mech when her vitals cease - which is something I figure pilots would normally do when going into combat in enemy territory, or when there's a plausible chance their mech would be captured.

She will pilot the mech normally by sitting in a seat/harness thing that she slides into, then it inflates around her to lock her in and cushion her (from the kind of impacts you expect when mechs fight). Normally she'd control it with a pair of pedals, and a fighter-plane-like control stick on each side, but she can switch to "puppet" mode on any combination of her hands, arms, and legs for fine grained control of posture, hand position, etc.. How about that?

At any rate, her flight suit is not part of the piloting system - it's just a souped-up futuristic g-suit with some telemetry to monitor her vitals; it's for keeping her alive while getting knocked around inside a mech, not piloting. In fact, at the beginning - before she sets all that up - I figured she will at first be piloting the mech dressed something like this.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Ralhend

#61
Alright, from the looks of things, we have a mega-heavy brick and a light and fast recon type.  My recommendation is that my character starts with a mass produced 55 ton  medium chassis for rank and file soldiers.  It starts off entry level, but was made to be heavily modular and upgrading it later should be fairly easy.  It has 2 modular hardpoints, one on each shoulder, and 2 modular weapon bays, each located on either side of the torso.  These bays can mount light, medium, and heavy weapons, with the drawback being that the heavier the weapons are, the more cost to its agility.
Its powerplant is a cheap, mass produced fusion reactor, allowing for modest movement. Its starting armor is fair.
Its communications package and sensor suite are all standard issue, nothing that stands out or is completely useless. The chassis also carries a rudimentary jump-jet system.

Its interface is similar to what is seen in Battletech, where the pilot wears a neuro-helmet, which monitors his brain waves and reacts accordingly.  The pilot also wears a cooling/shock absorber vest, which ties directly into the mech's coolant system.

All of its systems were designed to be versatile, with an emphasis on ease of repair.  It was anticipated that this chassis would be the workhorse of the main force, with any and all components being easily swapped out in the field. Its hands and arms allow it to use most mecha scale hand weapons.

The situation is that this fresh chassis was brought to my character for maintenance/repair, as it was having serious trouble with its fire control system. All of its weapons were stripped for running diagnostics on the hardpoints and equipment bays.

Diagnostics were completed successfully with the AI's help (Whom I will call "RADU-II" for the moment, or "Reclaimed Automatic Diagnostic Unit Mark 2") and he was about to load the weapons bays, when suddenly the shit hits the fan...  He has no time and has to escape the ship.   He grabs RADU, interfaces him with the chassis, speeds through the startup sequences, and powers up the mecha.  The only weapon he has time to grab is a mecha scaled 4x medium laser array.  This is a good all purpose medium ranged weapon, not unlike a mech sized assault rifle.  It draws its power from the mecha's main reactor core, but if not used carefully can be prone to overheating...  as the adventure progresses we can outfit his mech with whatever is available from salvage...

He is mostly unarmed but not completely helpless, and should fill the gap between our heavy and light mech nicely.  The idea was for a general purpose unit thats good for most situations.  He can give heavier backup to the lighter mech in a pinch, or help defend the rear of the larger heavier mech from any ambitious punks who like to stab others in the back.



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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on August 31, 2015, 10:47:21 PM
Yeah, I'd say fusion reactors are probably standard for heavy mechs. For light mechs like my own, probably a battery. (Which means my character would have to rely on yours for recharging - another reason she'll grudgingly agree to having company.) Under heavy use (which will certainly be the case for us), I'd say the battery would need recharging for an hour or three every few days or so.

And, on the flip side, there would be Angela's motivation for not wanting to simply strike off on her own. While she can easily go toe-to-toe with small numbers of bigger mechs, she'll need smaller mech allies to swat the flies off or she can be defeated easily be being swarmed by power suits or small drones.
I agree with both terms. It'll force them into an uneasy alliance (perhaps more uneasily for your character than Angela).  To make matters worse, since Angela will have the slowest mech of the group, your character's want to get out of dodge will only happen as fast as Angela's mech can go.  Overall, I am liking the arrangement more and more.   ;D
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Nah! I mean, if they live on the Moon (or at least stayed there often enough for Angela to be born there), that would imply that they're a) wealthy (which would also explain how Angela could afford to get into mech fighting as a sport), and b) invested in colonization. They could be the financiers and/owners of a couple of autonomous factories on Mars, that are engaged in some kind of production to facilitate colonization. (They could even be terraforming factories.)
You make a good point.  Just some minor edits overall to show that.  On the other side, if anyone watches the Mech Fighting, they may recognize the Ragnarok for what it is.  Who knows, maybe there is a fan in a high place who wants to get her mech back in the arena.   ::)
Quote
Ah, yeah.

I was thinking of having my character's mech armed with a fully automatic flechette gun, bolted onto its right wrist. (Not an anti-mech weapon, obviously, but rather anti-personnel.)

In fact, let me run the starting load-out I have in mind by you:


  • ~20 T base mech - roughly humanoid: bipedal with jumping jets, and arms with fully articulated hands.
  • ~5 T backpack with ECM equipment - some of which is integrated with the mech - including:

    • Radar (primarily "upwards" facing - not very useful along the ground, but rather is for spotting and "painting" aircraft).
    • Lidar (primarily for ground sensing - used to create terrain maps that are shared among combat units, and for detection and "painting" of targets).
    • Extended-range imaging (infrared and ultraviolet) - used in conjunction with lidar/radar for spotting and "painting".
    • Chaff - shells fired upward for blinding/confusing radar (including its own, sadly). The cartridges can be timed to explode a variable length of time after launching. The chaff falls slowly, like confetti, so is only good for a few minutes at a time. Starts loaded with 100 cartridges.
    • Decoy balloon - shells fired upward that burst and expand into small balloon that hangs chaff from it. Can stay in the air for the better part of an hour, but can be blown away in high winds. Starts loaded with 12 cartridges.
    • Full spectrum antenna and broadcast unit - used to detect signals, and transmit confusing or "ghost" signals. These can be defeated, but it requires manual tuning to filter out (and then the fake signals can be adjusted to get around the filters, lather, rinse, repeat).
    • Satellite detection - if the sky is clear, can detect the presence of satellites overhead, and identify them using a database of registered satellites (for being aware of when enemy spy or tracking satellites are coming into range).
  • Fully-automatic flechette gun, mounted on right forearm - not capable of penetrating even light armour, primarily an anti-personnel weapon. Starts loaded with thousands of flechettes.
  • Combination shield/pile-driver, mounted on left forearm - provides a small area of heavy armour (mostly just big enough to protect the cockpit when raised), and a gas-powered piston with a spike on the end for penetrating light-to-medium armour at close range (like, really close range).

As you can see, she doesn't start with any real weapons, so she'll grab whatever happens to be handy. I imagine after the first engagement or two, she'll pick up a shotgun or machine gun or three, and use them until they're out of ammo. With a modular mech, she can pretty much use any other modular (that is, "hand"-held) weapon that isn't absurdly heavy, though the bigger/heavier the weapon, the more mobility she sacrifices. (I'd say she might be able to lift a beam weapon, and fire it... but wouldn't be able to move around with it. And of course, with heavy weapons or artillery, she'd need to brace it or the recoil would knock her back on her ass.) Eventually she'll probably find a weapon she can actually claim and keep.

What do you think?
It all looks good to me.  The Ragnarok only has the basic targeting and communication equipment since it was designed for arena combat.  After all, you don't need advanced sensors and communication when you know just how the arenas are shaped up to be.  So, she'll depend on smaller mechs like your character's to help lock onto targets after a certain distance.

That'll be Angela's goal:  Finding better sensor and communication equipment and installing more long-term weaponry, such as energy or plasma-based ones.  Ammo for the Minigun and Missiles for the Missile Pod should be fairly easy to come by.  Rail Gun ammo, however, would be much more difficult unless they hit a supply depot.
Quote
Yeah, I also wanted to avoid the idea of having mechs as autonomous characters. I wanted to avoid "easy outs" like if someone runs into an enemy patrol on foot, they can just trust their mech to get them out of it. It's much nicer for the game if they're forced to rely on other characters.

I was planning of having my mech "remote controllable"... but from an actual remote control (like a game controller, but obviously more advanced) connected by wire (not wireless, because that can be hacked, and then my mech would be someone else's mech) - or at the most, direct line of sight control by light pulses, but only when enabled. And even then, the remote control is very limited to only pre-programmed operations - it's not even close to being a replacement for a pilot actually in the cockpit. (The intention for the remote control was so that she could load the mech into containers, onto trucks, and so on, without actually being inside. And so that she can have it crouch to disembark, then from outside make it stand so it's a little harder for anyone to climb into and mess with the controls. Or so that she could get out, scout ahead on foot to see if the mech can get closer to a target without being seen, then control it to approach when it's clear. There is no way she could actually engage in combat remotely.)

Oh, I forgot to mention, about the "data suits" thing: I was going to have my character's "standard" piloting suit be a form-fitting suit, though the only "data link" it will have is that it will have a built in ECG (among other things) that, when plugged in, allow the mech to monitor her vitals. The suit has some "smart" systems built in that can do stuff like juice her with stimulants on demand, or morphine if necessary, and various other stuff to help keep her alive and fighting. It can also be set to "self-destruct" the mech when her vitals cease - which is something I figure pilots would normally do when going into combat in enemy territory, or when there's a plausible chance their mech would be captured.

She will pilot the mech normally by sitting in a seat/harness thing that she slides into, then it inflates around her to lock her in and cushion her (from the kind of impacts you expect when mechs fight). Normally she'd control it with a pair of pedals, and a fighter-plane-like control stick on each side, but she can switch to "puppet" mode on any combination of her hands, arms, and legs for fine grained control of posture, hand position, etc.. How about that?

At any rate, her flight suit is not part of the piloting system - it's just a souped-up futuristic g-suit with some telemetry to monitor her vitals; it's for keeping her alive while getting knocked around inside a mech, not piloting. In fact, at the beginning - before she sets all that up - I figured she will at first be piloting the mech dressed something like this.
That all sounds good to me.  Of course, Angela's mech won't have a 'self-destruct' feature since her mech could be towed off the battlefield it was designed for if defeated.  I like everything though.  You've got some great ideas.   XD

Quote from: Ralhend on September 01, 2015, 04:15:31 AM
Alright, from the looks of things, we have a mega-heavy brick and a light and fast recon type.  My recommendation is that my character starts with a mass produced 55 ton  medium chassis for rank and file soldiers.  It starts off entry level, but was made to be heavily modular and upgrading it later should be fairly easy.  It has 2 modular hardpoints, one on each shoulder, and 2 modular weapon bays, each located on either side of the torso.  These bays can mount light, medium, and heavy weapons, with the drawback being that the heavier the weapons are, the more cost to its agility.
Its powerplant is a cheap, mass produced fusion reactor, allowing for modest movement. Its starting armor is fair.
Its communications package and sensor suite are all standard issue, nothing that stands out or is completely useless. The chassis also carries a rudimentary jump-jet system.

Its interface is similar to what is seen in Battletech, where the pilot wears a neuro-helmet, which monitors his brain waves and reacts accordingly.  The pilot also wears a cooling/shock absorber vest, which ties directly into the mech's coolant system.

All of its systems were designed to be versatile, with an emphasis on ease of repair.  It was anticipated that this chassis would be the workhorse of the main force, with any and all components being easily swapped out in the field. Its hands and arms allow it to use most mecha scale hand weapons.

The situation is that this fresh chassis was brought to my character for maintenance/repair, as it was having serious trouble with its fire control system. All of its weapons were stripped for running diagnostics on the hardpoints and equipment bays.

Diagnostics were completed successfully with the AI's help (Whom I will call "RADU-II" for the moment, or "Reclaimed Automatic Diagnostic Unit Mark 2") and he was about to load the weapons bays, when suddenly the shit hits the fan...  He has no time and has to escape the ship.   He grabs RADU, interfaces him with the chassis, speeds through the startup sequences, and powers up the mecha.  The only weapon he has time to grab is a mecha scaled 4x medium laser array.  This is a good all purpose medium ranged weapon, not unlike a mech sized assault rifle.  It draws its power from the mecha's main reactor core, but if not used carefully can be prone to overheating...  as the adventure progresses we can outfit his mech with whatever is available from salvage...

He is mostly unarmed but not completely helpless, and should fill the gap between our heavy and light mech nicely.  The idea was for a general purpose unit thats good for most situations.  He can give heavier backup to the lighter mech in a pinch, or help defend the rear of the larger heavier mech from any ambitious punks who like to stab others in the back.


Everything looks and sounds good to me.  I guess this jump-jet system is mainly for slowing down to a controlled fall rather than leaping over gaps?  Medium weight classes likely only have such basic systems while Heavy and Colossal have no jump-jets, for obvious reasons.

Overall, I am liking what I am seeing.  *nod*



So, what we have so far is:  A cocky arena combatant with a massive mech designed to shrug off attacks and destroy anything in it's way;  A technician/theorist with a Power/Battle Armor;  A military rank who is very cautious and comes with a mech bristling with technology and nearly no firepower;  and a rather inexperienced test technician with a nearly unarmed mech.

Looks like the interesting rag-tag bunch, no?   :D

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King Serperior

Okay, a bit of a double post, so apologies for that, but I have some updated statistics for the Ragnarok (Keep in mind that this is an arena mech and often was used in lengthy engagements against multiple opponents):




Mech Class:  Colossal (110 tons without ammo;  About 125 tons fully loaded)
Mech Name:  Ragnarok
Description:  Ragnarok is a large, somewhat squat, Hexapod mech with thick armor plating covering most of the mech's body.  Due to it's increased weight and the way it's legs are designed, it is not very fast or agile.  It's thick legs instead provide stability when firing it's weapons, no matter the terrain.  Each leg has gripping claws that allow it to grip the ground and stand it's ground while the pilot aims and fires it's weaponry.  Ragnarok has the Blair Factory Logo printed on it to represent it's pilot's family's factories.  Other than that, it can easily be painted multiple coloration, but it is usually a rusty brown, giving it the illusion of it being little more than a giant rust bucket.  The main gun is the largest and most central of the armaments and is the most powerful ranged weapon the Ragnarok has (Though a full barrage of missiles outdoes it).  The Minigun is more for closer work and the missile pod is for pinning down targets until Ragnarok can bring it's other weapons to bear.  The heavy armor on the legs provide additional protection.
Weapons:
Rail Gun:  Central weapon and main gun, the Rail Gun fires a long piece of hardened Tungsten that is designed to penetrate even through cover.  It can only fire one shot before requiring reloading and requires a three second charge time before firing.  However, once fired, the seven pound projectile travels at speeds that exceed Mach 5, making a direct hit devastating.  It takes 10 seconds to load up a new projectile.  The Rail Gun has a total of 100 projectiles, more than four times the number she would ever need, theoretically anyway.  Most Rail Guns only take in 10 due to the weight each projectile is, but that increased weight isn't a problem for Ragnarok.
Minigun:  Mounted just above and to the right of the main gun, the Minigun is designed for closer work than the Rail Gun and can help pin down a target while the main gun charges and takes aim.  The minigun fires depleted uranium rounds that can tear apart smaller mechs.  Fully loaded, the minigun has a total of 720,000 rounds of ammo and the gun fires at a rate of 12,000 rounds per minute.  It takes about a second for the barrel to spin up before it fires.
2x 14-Missile Pods:  Featuring 14 explosive high-yield missiles, these pods are mounted on the just above, behind, and to the left and right of the main gun in a half-hexagonal, half-cube launcher whose safety covering can flick open to rain either direct or suppressing fire on the targets.  Each missile carries a high-yield payload and travels at 350 mph towards its target.  Each missile can be fired either individually or at the same time as any number of others, providing either precise attacks or an overwhelming assault.  Each pod has three full pods of replacements, totaling 84 missiles overall, though the missile pods must be emptied before the replacement set can be loaded (which takes up to thirty seconds).  The Missile Pods are set on rotating turrets and, as such, are currently only weapons that can be fired backwards on Ragnarok.  It is mainly used to pin down a target, get them out of cover, or for pure offensive purposes.


Subsystems:
Ammo Delivery System:  Halves the time it takes to reload ammo.  Extremely important for the Rail Gun's lower reload rate.
Target Lock:  Makes the Rail Gun and Missile System much more accurate and deadly.
Fortress Armour:  The mech doesn't need speed, rather it needs heavy armor to survive in the arena while picking off targets.  Instead of maneuverability, it uses it's armored legs as a stabilizing platform to steady each and every shot, no matter the terrain.
Basic Sensors and Communications Equipment:  Designed for the arena, these sensors and communications are of limited range.




So, what I changed was upping the Ragnarok's ammo supply.  Fully loaded, the Ragnarok weighs about 125 tons.  That still gives it some wriggle room for additional weapons as I suspect it's maximum carry weight is somewhere around 150 tons.

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Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 01, 2015, 09:16:52 AM
To make matters worse, since Angela will have the slowest mech of the group, your character's want to get out of dodge will only happen as fast as Angela's mech can go.
Not only that, it will limit the terrain they can move over - restricting the potential routes they can take. In fact, my character's mech will probably be the most versatile, terrain-wise - hers may be the only one that could make it through dense forest or really uneven, rocky terrain. Allying with everyone else will mean sacrificing her mobility and stealth, and forcing her to rely on everyone else's firepower. This will not make her happy.

On other notes, I think I'm going to have to up her mech's weight to 30 T. The reason is I found a 20 T mech design I like - the "Mist Lynx", but when I started to wonder where the pilot would fit, I discovered this. Turns out that 20 T is just too small for a mech, in reality.

So I've upped it to 30 T (still half the size of a contemporary tank), and I think I'll use the Arctic Cheetah model. (I've got an image I'll colourize the way I want.)

On another note, I think it's finally time to start giving some more details of my actual character.

Her name is going to be Lt. Deepika Patel - she'll go by D.P., Deepi, or Deep. Her call sign will be "Thumper", but her mech won't have a name (it's actually her third, and she doesn't really treat it all that well). She'll be ~25-27 (still some details to be ironed out) and close to a promotion to Captain (something she'll probably be bemoaning that the crash has probably thrown a wrench into). Personality-wise, the nearest thing I can think of would be Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1. She'll have a very dry sense of humour, and deliberately pretend to be less intelligent than she is in order to keep people off balance. But unlike O'Neill, she'll be much more deceptive, scheming, and manipulative.

She was one of those "troubled youth" - not violent, but she was a thief, a con artist, and frequently drunk and/or high - and was in and out of foster homes and Juvy. She would never have dreamed of joining the military, but when she was arrested just after turning 18, the judge thought it would be a good idea to give her the choice to either enlist, or go to adult jail with an adult criminal record. There were people waiting for her in prison - people who were there because of her shenanigans - so she opted for enlistment, not just to keep her record clean, but to stay alive. Even then, she never really planned to be a real soldier; she figured on faking an injury then living off the benefits. That plan changed quickly one she got her first military paycheck. She also realized the rigidity and structure of the military were the perfect place for someone who knew how to play systems to get ahead in. She ended up with a string of disciplinary infractions, but she did manage to get ahead - it turns out that her gift for running scams was really a gift for strategy in general.

She's not a "good solider" by any definition, and she's a competent but not great pilot, but she is an exceptionally skilled strategist - she has managed to find success in the military mostly by avoiding trouble, rather than charging into fights with guns blazing. She is the darling of commanders who only care about results (and who are willing to tolerate her attitude and lack of decorum - or who actually find her insouciance amusing), but her unorthodox and underhanded methods, and lack of polish, have earned her more than a few commanders who would prefer to see her drummed out of the service. On balance her career isn't advancing as fast is it theoretically could, but she is still advancing.

From her perspective, she will have no motivation to help any of the others. They're not her responsibility. The encryption codes in her mech are. What she should do is burn all her mech systems, then surrender to the local authorities... after all, she's an innocent crash victim. But she knows damn well that they will assume she's a spy and torture her... then if she's really lucky they'll make a public spectacle of "returning" her - humiliating her and effectively ending her military career. If she's less lucky, execution as a spy. On the other hand, by not surrendering and travelling across a foreign country in an armed mech, she's taking the risk that even if she gets back to safe territory, she'll be arrested and charged for violating international laws. She's gambling that if she can actually bring the mech and its encryption keys back safely, she'll get a reprieve, and maybe - just maybe - get a hero's welcome.

So from her perspective, "baby-sitting" is the last thing she wants to do. But on the other hand, she's fully aware that if she leaves anyone, they'll be arrested, tortured, and probably executed as a spy. So if she can manage to bring them back safely, too, that might increase her chances of getting that hero's welcome. Of course, that means she has to keep them in line so they can actually make it, without bringing the whole enemy army down on them.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Ralhend

Can we get a number on the top speed of that monster?

(Geussing here)  The lighter mechs 120ish kph or more, mine would be 95ish kph...   I assume the Behemoth would plod along in the high fourties?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 02, 2015, 06:15:00 AM
Can we get a number on the top speed of that monster?

(Geussing here)  The lighter mechs 120ish kph or more, mine would be 95ish kph...   I assume the Behemoth would plod along in the high fourties?
Well, a mech's top speed tends to depend on it's armament and whether it is Bipedal or not.  Jump Jets also factor into speed as well.  So, I guess as a rule of thumb, here are the approximate speeds of each weight class, assuming they are bipedal:

Battle/Power Armor:  ~150-200kph, depending on how it's designed.
Light:  Maybe about 120kph maximum.
Medium:  I was thinking about 90kph, give or take.
Heavy:  Closer to about 60-70kph, but likely less than that.
Colossal:  I'd estimate these rarely get above 50kph.  More than likely, they average around 40kph.

I would say that the Ragnarok currently maxes at 30kph due to it's weight and hexapod design.  That's still decently quick for a 125 ton mech!

Quote from: Saria on September 02, 2015, 03:08:58 AM
Not only that, it will limit the terrain they can move over - restricting the potential routes they can take. In fact, my character's mech will probably be the most versatile, terrain-wise - hers may be the only one that could make it through dense forest or really uneven, rocky terrain. Allying with everyone else will mean sacrificing her mobility and stealth, and forcing her to rely on everyone else's firepower. This will not make her happy.
Indeed, though I think the Ragnarok can handle decently rough terrain due to a combination of it's multiple legs and the gripping claws at the end of each of them.  However, I agree with your assessment.
Quote
On other notes, I think I'm going to have to up her mech's weight to 30 T. The reason is I found a 20 T mech design I like - the "Mist Lynx", but when I started to wonder where the pilot would fit, I discovered this. Turns out that 20 T is just too small for a mech, in reality.

So I've upped it to 30 T (still half the size of a contemporary tank), and I think I'll use the Arctic Cheetah model. (I've got an image I'll colourize the way I want.)
Sounds perfectly reasonable.  I think the Cheeta model works very well for the mech you have described. 
Quote
On another note, I think it's finally time to start giving some more details of my actual character.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Her name is going to be Lt. Deepika Patel - she'll go by D.P., Deepi, or Deep. Her call sign will be "Thumper", but her mech won't have a name (it's actually her third, and she doesn't really treat it all that well). She'll be ~25-27 (still some details to be ironed out) and close to a promotion to Captain (something she'll probably be bemoaning that the crash has probably thrown a wrench into). Personality-wise, the nearest thing I can think of would be Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1. She'll have a very dry sense of humour, and deliberately pretend to be less intelligent than she is in order to keep people off balance. But unlike O'Neill, she'll be much more deceptive, scheming, and manipulative.

She was one of those "troubled youth" - not violent, but she was a thief, a con artist, and frequently drunk and/or high - and was in and out of foster homes and Juvy. She would never have dreamed of joining the military, but when she was arrested just after turning 18, the judge thought it would be a good idea to give her the choice to either enlist, or go to adult jail with an adult criminal record. There were people waiting for her in prison - people who were there because of her shenanigans - so she opted for enlistment, not just to keep her record clean, but to stay alive. Even then, she never really planned to be a real soldier; she figured on faking an injury then living off the benefits. That plan changed quickly one she got her first military paycheck. She also realized the rigidity and structure of the military were the perfect place for someone who knew how to play systems to get ahead in. She ended up with a string of disciplinary infractions, but she did manage to get ahead - it turns out that her gift for running scams was really a gift for strategy in general.

She's not a "good solider" by any definition, and she's a competent but not great pilot, but she is an exceptionally skilled strategist - she has managed to find success in the military mostly by avoiding trouble, rather than charging into fights with guns blazing. She is the darling of commanders who only care about results (and who are willing to tolerate her attitude and lack of decorum - or who actually find her insouciance amusing), but her unorthodox and underhanded methods, and lack of polish, have earned her more than a few commanders who would prefer to see her drummed out of the service. On balance her career isn't advancing as fast is it theoretically could, but she is still advancing.

From her perspective, she will have no motivation to help any of the others. They're not her responsibility. The encryption codes in her mech are. What she should do is burn all her mech systems, then surrender to the local authorities... after all, she's an innocent crash victim. But she knows damn well that they will assume she's a spy and torture her... then if she's really lucky they'll make a public spectacle of "returning" her - humiliating her and effectively ending her military career. If she's less lucky, execution as a spy. On the other hand, by not surrendering and travelling across a foreign country in an armed mech, she's taking the risk that even if she gets back to safe territory, she'll be arrested and charged for violating international laws. She's gambling that if she can actually bring the mech and its encryption keys back safely, she'll get a reprieve, and maybe - just maybe - get a hero's welcome.

So from her perspective, "baby-sitting" is the last thing she wants to do. But on the other hand, she's fully aware that if she leaves anyone, they'll be arrested, tortured, and probably executed as a spy. So if she can manage to bring them back safely, too, that might increase her chances of getting that hero's welcome. Of course, that means she has to keep them in line so they can actually make it, without bringing the whole enemy army down on them.
With that attitude, she and Angela might end up butting heads a bit.  Angela's more of the kind to make a foolhardy charge and try to crush the foe under overwhelming firepower than turn tail and retreat.  Doesn't mean she won't retreat, but rather she has learned that the Ragnarok isn't designed for 'sneaking' and retreat and hiding is difficult with her mech, if near impossible.  Overall, I like the character!

Hmm, makes me wonder if any of them would recognize Angela and the Ragnarok since they have been in the arena for 3-5 years or so?

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Karma

I'd like to keep Athena's general personality and concept intact from the Pacific Rim game, as well as her mech concept. While she's competent in a standard mech and has worked on them for years, her baby is her newer nested mecha project. She will still have designed her power armor to make it simpler to do maintenance on and on-the-fly fabricate new designs without the aid of external sources or machinery, and it's how she prefers to get around in general, she has leveraged the power armor design to effectively create "power armor for the power armor" that stands on even footing with other mechs in terms of size and payload. The designs generally focus on the dynamic nature of a humanoid mech, especially agility. They aren't going to be particularly good for long deployments, though, because it's pretty physically demanding to pilot one of them, and while the armor has outstanding impact absorption, the pilot will still feel damage much more obviously than a standard mech would translate to its pilot, who would be strapped into a chair instead.

King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 10:13:07 AM
I'd like to keep Athena's general personality and concept intact from the Pacific Rim game, as well as her mech concept. While she's competent in a standard mech and has worked on them for years, her baby is her newer nested mecha project. She will still have designed her power armor to make it simpler to do maintenance on and on-the-fly fabricate new designs without the aid of external sources or machinery, and it's how she prefers to get around in general, she has leveraged the power armor design to effectively create "power armor for the power armor" that stands on even footing with other mechs in terms of size and payload. The designs generally focus on the dynamic nature of a humanoid mech, especially agility. They aren't going to be particularly good for long deployments, though, because it's pretty physically demanding to pilot one of them, and while the armor has outstanding impact absorption, the pilot will still feel damage much more obviously than a standard mech would translate to its pilot, who would be strapped into a chair instead.
So, what you are saying is that she controls a Battle/Power Armor that can dock into a larger mech (perhaps Medium?)?  The only problem I can see is that not only would both mechs require extra power, but how would maintenance and repair work for them?  I'm just trying to understand how the mech idea works in this setting.

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Karma

The larger mech doesn't work on its own, and it works on a force amplification principle, similar to real exosuits. It doesn't need immense amounts of power because rather than providing the full force on its own, it instead takes the force put in and makes it greater. (I'm not fully versed in how this works in real life but it can be seen in simple applications such as levers and pulleys, and it used in real technology). Both suits have their own power source that work together when the suits are combined. Not sure what you're looking for as far as maintenance, it's not magical tech or anything, and she could work on it like anything else.

Ralhend

In the robotech "invid invasion " setting, the alpha an beta veritechs could dock with one another for travel purposes, the alpha transferring some of its power to the betas larger engines, allowing for faster travel of both mechs...

In the casg of the Ragnorok and the Powered suit, it would draw power from the bigger mechs reactor, making weapon discharges more powerful, while the pilot of the Ragnorok would not have to worry so much about that particular firing arc where the power armor is docked ? Like having a symbiotic turret etc ?
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Karma

Realistically the power armor would only work with exosuits designed for it. It's too big for a traditional cockpit and it's not designed to interface with other mechs. It's not going to Gurren Lagann anybody, haha. This requirement makes it pretty limited in scope and if Athena's custom built mech is damaged beyond repair she'd have to literally build another one.

King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 10:48:03 AM
The larger mech doesn't work on its own, and it works on a force amplification principle, similar to real exosuits. It doesn't need immense amounts of power because rather than providing the full force on its own, it instead takes the force put in and makes it greater. (I'm not fully versed in how this works in real life but it can be seen in simple applications such as levers and pulleys, and it used in real technology). Both suits have their own power source that work together when the suits are combined. Not sure what you're looking for as far as maintenance, it's not magical tech or anything, and she could work on it like anything else.
I think I get what you are saying.  The main concern I have is what would happen to the larger, outer mech while the smaller one is 'disconnected?'  I guess what I am trying to say that if the larger one is damaged, how much would that limit the usage of the smaller one?
Quote from: Ralhend on September 02, 2015, 03:43:26 PM
In the robotech "invid invasion " setting, the alpha an beta veritechs could dock with one another for travel purposes, the alpha transferring some of its power to the betas larger engines, allowing for faster travel of both mechs...

In the casg of the Ragnorok and the Powered suit, it would draw power from the bigger mechs reactor, making weapon discharges more powerful, while the pilot of the Ragnorok would not have to worry so much about that particular firing arc where the power armor is docked ? Like having a symbiotic turret etc ?
I get what you are saying and that idea is good, having the power armor leap on Ragnarok's back and protect it's blind spots.
Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 03:50:26 PM
Realistically the power armor would only work with exosuits designed for it. It's too big for a traditional cockpit and it's not designed to interface with other mechs. It's not going to Gurren Lagann anybody, haha. This requirement makes it pretty limited in scope and if Athena's custom built mech is damaged beyond repair she'd have to literally build another one.
Okay, so 'linking up' for support is out and that's perfectly fine.  I'm still concerned about the custom suit's lack of overall adaptability in the way that she'd need to build an entirely new one.  That said, there is the chance to find parts to repair if things go wrong.  Though Angela's not a technician, I know she's willing to cannibalize other mecha for parts and/or weapons if the Ragnarok takes damage, going so far as to detach two of it's legs for the sake of mobility.

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Karma

Well, Athena is a genius, and the outer suit is built mostly with relatively basic physics-based machinery rather than seriously advanced electronics or AI. It's more like Cloud's sword in Advent Children than anything, haha. The power armor on its own will be very fast and agile. It would be used for stealth, pinpoint strikes, sabotage, planting bombs, etc. It might even be the superior combatant in an area with cover, trees, buildings, etc but wouldn't be much good on an open plain. Worst case scenario, its destroyed and she pilots a stolen standard mech in the meantime.

Ralhend

Will there be the possibility of a mobile field base later in the game ? similar to what was seen in mechwarrior 3?

(Essentially 3 military grade transports that carried 300 tons of whatever, spare weapons, armor, engines, and the backs of them could unfold to make a field hangar for repairs...)

Will it be just us or will there be other survivors from the crash that we could make into a provisional company ?   Possibly an NPC that was able to jump in a tank, deploy its parachutes and land somewhere, and meet up with us later ?

Or is our transport not big enough for that ?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 04:20:40 PM
Well, Athena is a genius, and the outer suit is built mostly with relatively basic physics-based machinery rather than seriously advanced electronics or AI. It's more like Cloud's sword in Advent Children than anything, haha. The power armor on its own will be very fast and agile. It would be used for stealth, pinpoint strikes, sabotage, planting bombs, etc. It might even be the superior combatant in an area with cover, trees, buildings, etc but wouldn't be much good on an open plain. Worst case scenario, its destroyed and she pilots a stolen standard mech in the meantime.
Oh, I don't doubt that she is a genius.  I was just curious.  Good thing that she'll hop into a stolen mech should the worst happen though.  :)

Quote from: Ralhend on September 02, 2015, 06:04:01 PM
Will there be the possibility of a mobile field base later in the game ? similar to what was seen in mechwarrior 3?

(Essentially 3 military grade transports that carried 300 tons of whatever, spare weapons, armor, engines, and the backs of them could unfold to make a field hangar for repairs...)

Will it be just us or will there be other survivors from the crash that we could make into a provisional company ?   Possibly an NPC that was able to jump in a tank, deploy its parachutes and land somewhere, and meet up with us later ?

Or is our transport not big enough for that ?
Errr.....

The transport in question, if I understand correctly, is NOT a military transport.  That said, I understand that this transport will be shot at and damaged, but not so much for a crash.  Rather, it will jettison ALL cargo to lighten the load and make it to safety.  When the characters find themselves on the ground, it'll be just them and whatever supplies they can scavenge.  Beyond that, the only help they can expect is from freedom fighters and resistance groups.  However, I imagine they would only help them if our characters help the groups.

If there are mobile field bases, they'll be used by the warring factions and the only way to get to them would be to take out the people guarding them.  Even then, taking control and attempting to escape with the mobile base is asking to be killed.

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Karma

So is the nested mech concept accepted then? I could illustrate it a bit further by referencing the Hulkbuster suit that Iron Man uses. It's a lot like that in how it connects and works together, just without the infinite energy and much less bulky.

King Serperior

I'd like to hear Saria's opinion, but I get what you are saying.  I still think the 'suit-within-a-suit' is perhaps a bit complicated in such an uncertain setting, but if you think you have a handle on it, it's fine.  Even with the Hulkbuster - Iron Man analogy, it's just difficult to picture in my mind.

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Karma

Well, the power armor is a lock, and if that means she stays out of pitched combat, so be it, I suppose. This is a way for me to have it both ways. :P If it helps, the bigger mech is just power armor for a really huge person that happens to be made out of metal. :P

King Serperior

Okay, another issue I have is how your character plans to get in and out of the inner armor as I doubt she'll stay in it all the time.  However, I found some .Gifs that may explain the inner armor in my eyes:

Power Armor






Would it be safe to assume that the larger, outer armor is similar, but on a larger scale when it comes to it?

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Karma


King Serperior

Well, if that's about how big the smaller armor is, I would say that she could be in the inner armor and still fit into the cockpit of a Medium or larger mech (though it'd be a rather tight fit unless she removes some things, like the pilot's seat).

Anyway, I'm glad we have that settled!   :-)

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Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 02, 2015, 07:52:46 AM
Hmm, makes me wonder if any of them would recognize Angela and the Ragnarok since they have been in the arena for 3-5 years or so?
I was thinking Deepika would recognize the mech, and only then put two and two together and figure out who Angela is. My logic is that although she has little interest in mechs or arena fighting herself, she lives with other mech pilots, and at least some of them have to be enthusiasts. And she's probably been forced to sit through some matches with her colleagues. She could probably name the top mechs, and the championship winners for the last couple of years, and maybe even the pilots of a few, but anything below the "world cup of mech fighting" is beneath her radar. (So, depending on how much success Angela has had, Deepika might even recognize her on sight.)

By the same logic, she would probably be at least peripherally aware of who Athena is. Or if not not who she is specifically, she would recognize the company. She won't recognize her or or anything, but once she hears the name, or maybe the company, or gets some other clues, she'll probably put it together.

As for Ralhend's character - I read that he's going to be a soldier too? If so then Deepika could either know him or not know him, or maybe they just met as they were loading their mechs, etc..

Quote from: King Serperior on September 02, 2015, 06:14:10 PM
The transport in question, if I understand correctly, is NOT a military transport.  That said, I understand that this transport will be shot at and damaged, but not so much for a crash.  Rather, it will jettison ALL cargo to lighten the load and make it to safety.  When the characters find themselves on the ground, it'll be just them and whatever supplies they can scavenge.  Beyond that, the only help they can expect is from freedom fighters and resistance groups.  However, I imagine they would only help them if our characters help the groups.

If there are mobile field bases, they'll be used by the warring factions and the only way to get to them would be to take out the people guarding them.  Even then, taking control and attempting to escape with the mobile base is asking to be killed.
Yeah, the concept I was playing with is that it's the space plane equivalent of this. (Although obviously much smaller, because it's airborne. That ship holds 18,000+ containers. Our plane would hold maybe a thousand.)

It's a civilian transport, and Deepika is just renting some space on it to transport her mech (intending to get reimbursed by the military for the costs). Just like IRL, the military often piggybacks on civilian facilities to save costs. (And of course, the fact that it's a civilian transport is why Angela and Athena are on board.)

(And though it's not set in stone yet, if we decide the transport is coming from the Moon, Deepika's excuse for being on board was that she had to get Lunar gravity certification in order to get her Captain's stripes. She's just returning from her cert tests.)

I was figuring that ground-to-orbital weapons are very, very rare, and very, very expensive - only true armies of large and relatively wealthy countries normally have them, not your average tin-pot dictator or small terrorist group. So it's a hell of a surprise when someone launches such a weapon at the transport. At least at the start, no one will have any idea who did it or why.

At any rate, the transport gets hit, and can't make a safe descent loaded, so it has to jettison the cargo. (After that, it probably goes on to make a safe landing, in safe territory.) We'll drop down in the containers, land "safely", and then be on our won.

However, I was thinking somewhat along the same lines as Ralhend - we probably will need some sort of mobile support. I was thinking what we'd do is eventually raid an enemy supply base, and steal one of their trucks. We'll load it up with whatever ammo and supplies we need, strap my character's mech to it (assuming she's got the smallest one), and she'll drive it. (Though, being an unarmed vehicle, it will also have autodrive.)

Quote from: King Serperior on September 02, 2015, 06:23:46 PM
I'd like to hear Saria's opinion....
Actually, I kinda like the idea. I can see something like that being explored by a research group as "the future of combat mech technology". It's a plug-and-play system, which allows for lots of adaptability to fulfil multiple combat roles. The power suit is perfect for urban combat, but pretty weak at open-field combat... the large mech is perfect for open-field combat, but not-so-great for urban control... it seems a logical design evolution to attempt to get the best of both worlds. Plus, you could have entirely different outer frames to link into, for entirely different terrain and combat roles. It's a great idea that would certainly be attractive for research.

Of course, in reality, such a system would be a hard sell to the military. To quote a famous "engineer": The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. Every new "thing" you add to weapons platform is a new thing that can fail... which means more systems that can fail at a bad time, a worse combat/maintenance ratio, more expensive repairs after a scuffle, etc.. A mech-within-a-mech would strike most military leaders as two headaches for the price of one (at least two headaches, because each part of the mech would be a headache, and then the interface between them would be yet another headache). So it makes perfect sense that even if this technology is possible, it's not widely used (if at all).

But the system has so many benefits, some genius is surely going to try to implement and perfect it. Sounds good to me. It actually works quite well with Athena's background - it makes sense she's working on something decades beyond what is actually in service.

Actually, one thing that might keep her busy for the first while is that her mech is sorely lacking armouring, and other bells and whistles, like proper linking for its targeting systems (so that she can share targeting and mapping data with teammates) and so on. After all, it's just a prototype. One of the things she could do in the early game is frantically try to bolt on stuff - like armour and other systems - to make it real-world combat ready. For that, she might require the assistance of Ralhend's character, forcing them into an alliance.

Deepika will not be thrilled to have an experimental mech among her assets. (Or a theorist (said with dripping disdain) :P.) But if that's the hand she's been dealt, that's the hand she'll play.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Karma

You might be interested in this, regarding the transport: http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Garuda-class

Thanks for your thoughts on the mech! They are both in line with mine and developed them in a way I hadn't yet considered.

Saria

Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 08:09:42 PM
You might be interested in this, regarding the transport: http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Garuda-class
Yes! That's what I was picturing in my head basically. There's the little itty-bitty cockpit in the front, then along the back/spine is where passengers normally go (though it's not a luxury cruiser - it's maybe as comfortable as a modern day commercial airplane), and then the whole underbelly of the plane is containers, clamped into place.

Basically, one of the wings gets hit, taking out a lot of its lifting power, so it can't safely do a controlled descent fully loaded. Thus, it releases the clamps, dumping the containers. But not before giving people time to go into the containers (when they're clamped in, the seals are opened and they're pressurized) and recover limited valuables (basically whatever they can carry in their pockets or in a suitcase or two - we're in freefall so weight is less of an issue than space). And there's plenty of time - it's already dropping like a rock as part of its normal descent, but it's still going to take an hour or two before landing, so we get like a half-hour to get to our mechs and prepare for the drop.

So we all use that time to get to the containers with our mechs, and prepare them for the drop. Which probably doesn't mean releasing the securing braces - because that would mean our mechs would knock around like pinballs inside the container as it drops. But it probably does mean grabbing what equipment we can, loading it onto the mech, getting in, booting up, and putting on your seat belt for a bumpy ride.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Ralhend

#85
Alright, being on a smaller civilian transport changes things...   My character likely wont have a maintenance bay or his test rig, and would just be up in the passenger area playing chess with RADU or something similar...

Mechs that would be available would just be available by chance...  Thier weapons would be mounted, just no ordinance / ammo loaded...

Ill have a more detailed bio of my character up after i get off work

*EDIT*

Name:  Joseph Hendrial
Age: 27
Nationality:  Southeastern North America
Profession: Mechanistic Technician (Tests, repairs, and maintains mecha-related electronics. Specializes in fire control systems and communications. He has secondary skills associated with mecha power systems.  Tertiary skills involve maintenance of energy based weaponry.  Has some coding/programming/hacking ability.)
Height: 6ft
Weight: 215lbs
Build: Lean, Athletic
Hair:  Short cropped auburn, (Military Style Flat-Top)
Eyes: Emerald Green

(All of this is subject to change as we flesh out the game world, factions, and other details)

Joseph washed out of mech pilot training when he was younger, after striking a commanding officer.  The details of that incident are currently sealed.  He was then barred from taking any further exams, and was relegated to mecha repair.

A straight laced, by the book enlisted type.  (He can be attached to "Deep's" unit as part of its maintenance crew, or he can be with another squadron.)  He is on the civilian transport en route to his next duty station, and has little more that his uniform duffel bag and his custom modified Mark-2 style AI with him.  He carries his grandfather's jeweler's screwdrivers in his right front breast pocket, and his father's adjustable wrench in his left thigh cargo pocket for sentimental reasons.     

He is familiar with mech operation, but aside from basic diagnostics and walking around the base to check leg servos/myomers for functionality, he has no mech combat experience.  He does have infantry combat training, and was instrumental in repelling a base takeover attempt with his assault rifle.   

He is currently ranked 9th on the leader-boards for a popular online mecha simulator game, out of around 250 million players.  He favors mechs with overcharged engines, high mobility and light armor, while carrying long ranged weapons... 

His family was killed in the war, and he has wanted to fight back against the aggressors any way he can.
Post Rate: (Lethargic)
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 02, 2015, 07:50:27 PM
I was thinking Deepika would recognize the mech, and only then put two and two together and figure out who Angela is. My logic is that although she has little interest in mechs or arena fighting herself, she lives with other mech pilots, and at least some of them have to be enthusiasts. And she's probably been forced to sit through some matches with her colleagues. She could probably name the top mechs, and the championship winners for the last couple of years, and maybe even the pilots of a few, but anything below the "world cup of mech fighting" is beneath her radar. (So, depending on how much success Angela has had, Deepika might even recognize her on sight.)
I would say that Angela has been in the arena for about five years now, doing everything from 1v1s, free-for-alls, team battles, and things like Capture the Flag or Base Defense.  I'd say that it was only in the last year that she made it into a championship tournament, taking 7th place out of 40 other mechs.  For the most part, her win-loss record isn't the best, but she was quickly becoming the fan-favorite Dark Horse or Wild Card among the big league pilots.

So, whether she reconizes Angela or not on sight is up to you.  Her mech, on the other hand, is the third largest of the arena mechs, coming only after the 200 ton Vulcan and the 170 ton Hydra.  However, they don't do Free-for-alls like she does, so Angela's Ragnarok is the biggest thing in that scene.  So, if Deepika has seen Free-for-alls often, then she certainly has seen the mech.
Quote
However, I was thinking somewhat along the same lines as Ralhend - we probably will need some sort of mobile support. I was thinking what we'd do is eventually raid an enemy supply base, and steal one of their trucks. We'll load it up with whatever ammo and supplies we need, strap my character's mech to it (assuming she's got the smallest one), and she'll drive it. (Though, being an unarmed vehicle, it will also have autodrive.)
Well, Athena's Power/Battle armor might be the smallest, but of the others, her mech is the lightest and smallest.  The vehicle should help save battery for their smaller ones.  Ralhend's character's and Angela's mechs would be much too big for a truck-based transport.
Quote
Athena's Mech Thoughts
Actually, I kinda like the idea. I can see something like that being explored by a research group as "the future of combat mech technology". It's a plug-and-play system, which allows for lots of adaptability to fulfil multiple combat roles. The power suit is perfect for urban combat, but pretty weak at open-field combat... the large mech is perfect for open-field combat, but not-so-great for urban control... it seems a logical design evolution to attempt to get the best of both worlds. Plus, you could have entirely different outer frames to link into, for entirely different terrain and combat roles. It's a great idea that would certainly be attractive for research.

Of course, in reality, such a system would be a hard sell to the military. To quote a famous "engineer": The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. Every new "thing" you add to weapons platform is a new thing that can fail... which means more systems that can fail at a bad time, a worse combat/maintenance ratio, more expensive repairs after a scuffle, etc.. A mech-within-a-mech would strike most military leaders as two headaches for the price of one (at least two headaches, because each part of the mech would be a headache, and then the interface between them would be yet another headache). So it makes perfect sense that even if this technology is possible, it's not widely used (if at all).

But the system has so many benefits, some genius is surely going to try to implement and perfect it. Sounds good to me. It actually works quite well with Athena's background - it makes sense she's working on something decades beyond what is actually in service.

Actually, one thing that might keep her busy for the first while is that her mech is sorely lacking armouring, and other bells and whistles, like proper linking for its targeting systems (so that she can share targeting and mapping data with teammates) and so on. After all, it's just a prototype. One of the things she could do in the early game is frantically try to bolt on stuff - like armour and other systems - to make it real-world combat ready. For that, she might require the assistance of Ralhend's character, forcing them into an alliance.

Deepika will not be thrilled to have an experimental mech among her assets. (Or a theorist (said with dripping disdain) :P.) But if that's the hand she's been dealt, that's the hand she'll play.
Alrighty!  That sounds fine by me then!   ;D
Quote from: Karma on September 02, 2015, 08:09:42 PM
You might be interested in this, regarding the transport: http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Garuda-class

Thanks for your thoughts on the mech! They are both in line with mine and developed them in a way I hadn't yet considered.
Quote from: Saria on September 02, 2015, 08:46:03 PM
Yes! That's what I was picturing in my head basically. There's the little itty-bitty cockpit in the front, then along the back/spine is where passengers normally go (though it's not a luxury cruiser - it's maybe as comfortable as a modern day commercial airplane), and then the whole underbelly of the plane is containers, clamped into place.

Basically, one of the wings gets hit, taking out a lot of its lifting power, so it can't safely do a controlled descent fully loaded. Thus, it releases the clamps, dumping the containers. But not before giving people time to go into the containers (when they're clamped in, the seals are opened and they're pressurized) and recover limited valuables (basically whatever they can carry in their pockets or in a suitcase or two - we're in freefall so weight is less of an issue than space). And there's plenty of time - it's already dropping like a rock as part of its normal descent, but it's still going to take an hour or two before landing, so we get like a half-hour to get to our mechs and prepare for the drop.

So we all use that time to get to the containers with our mechs, and prepare them for the drop. Which probably doesn't mean releasing the securing braces - because that would mean our mechs would knock around like pinballs inside the container as it drops. But it probably does mean grabbing what equipment we can, loading it onto the mech, getting in, booting up, and putting on your seat belt for a bumpy ride.
I certainly like the ship.  *Nods*  Can't wait to get things going then!   ;D
Quote from: Ralhend on September 02, 2015, 10:31:39 PM
Alright, being on a smaller civilian transport changes things...   My character likely wont have a maintenance bay or his test rig, and would just be up in the passenger area playing chess with RADU or something similar...

Mechs that would be available would just be available by chance...  Thier weapons would be mounted, just no ordinance / ammo loaded...

Ill have a more detailed bio of my character up after i get off work

*EDIT*

Name:  Joseph Hendrial
Age: 27
Nationality:  Southeastern North America
Profession: Mechanistic Technician (Tests, repairs, and maintains mecha-related electronics. Specializes in fire control systems and communications. He has secondary skills associated with mecha power systems.  Tertiary skills involve maintenance of energy based weaponry.  Has some coding/programming/hacking ability.)
Height: 6ft
Weight: 215lbs
Build: Lean, Athletic
Hair:  Short cropped auburn, (Military Style Flat-Top)
Eyes: Emerald Green

(All of this is subject to change as we flesh out the game world, factions, and other details)

Joseph washed out of mech pilot training when he was younger, after striking a commanding officer.  The details of that incident are currently sealed.  He was then barred from taking any further exams, and was relegated to mecha repair.

A straight laced, by the book enlisted type.  (He can be attached to "Deep's" unit as part of its maintenance crew, or he can be with another squadron.)  He is on the civilian transport en route to his next duty station, and has little more that his uniform duffel bag and his custom modified Mark-2 style AI with him.  He carries his grandfather's jeweler's screwdrivers in his right front breast pocket, and his father's adjustable wrench in his left thigh cargo pocket for sentimental reasons.     

He is familiar with mech operation, but aside from basic diagnostics and walking around the base to check leg servos/myomers for functionality, he has no mech combat experience.  He does have infantry combat training, and was instrumental in repelling a base takeover attempt with his assault rifle.   

He is currently ranked 9th on the leader-boards for a popular online mecha simulator game, out of around 250 million players.  He favors mechs with overcharged engines, high mobility and light armor, while carrying long ranged weapons... 

His family was killed in the war, and he has wanted to fight back against the aggressors any way he can.
Seems good to me.  Not excelling in any one place and having become comfortable with his situation and position.  I could see him perhaps being assigned to Deepika.

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
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Saria

Quote from: Ralhend on September 02, 2015, 10:31:39 PM
(He can be attached to "Deep's" unit as part of its maintenance crew, or he can be with another squadron.)
Yeah, he can be part of Deepika's unit, and she brought him along to the Moon for her certification trials. She would have needed him to retune her mech for low-g operation, so she could pass her certs.

And they could easily have a secondary mission on the way back - in fact, Deep would probably have timed going for her Lunar cert to coincide with this other duty: multitasking. That mission could be returning newly commissioned mechs from a Lunar factory (much cheaper to make mechs in low-g!) intended to be given to other pilots in Deep's unit.

So the setup might be something like: The unit got some downtime to in order to get their new mechs, but rather than take leave, Deepika opted to use the time to get her Lunar cert. She volunteered to the unit leader to go to the Moon and sign for the new mechs, and get her cert at the same time. Then she needed a tech, so she asked Joseph if he wouldn't mind giving up his leave and coming with her to help her out, with the benefit of that being that he'd be able to tour the mech construction factory, and he'd be the first one to get his hands on the new mechs (which would automatically make him the unit's "expert" on the new mechs).

So they pack up Deep's mech, fly up to the Moon, tune it, then she goes off to do her certification trial, and he goes off to the mech factory. Afterwards, they meet back up again, and they both repack Deep's mech... and now the brand new mechs as well... and start the trip back to Earth.

When the plane is hit, DP chooses to go down with her mech, to protect the encryption keys and ECM tech on her mech. Joseph would be under no obligation to do anything (because none of the other mechs are in service yet, none of them have the same issue with encryption keys), but he could choose to take one of the mechs and back her up... just in case. (After all, she only has an electronic warfare loadout - practically no defences.) She wouldn't order him to, but if he chose to, she wouldn't order him not to.

That would explain a) why he's on the plane, b) how he got a mech, and c) why he decided to drop in it rather than stay with the plane.

We should collaborate a bit in private messages, so that our characters are both up to speed on each other.

Quote from: King Serperior on September 03, 2015, 11:16:38 PM
I would say that Angela has been in the arena for about five years now, doing everything from 1v1s, free-for-alls, team battles, and things like Capture the Flag or Base Defense.  I'd say that it was only in the last year that she made it into a championship tournament, taking 7th place out of 40 other mechs.  For the most part, her win-loss record isn't the best, but she was quickly becoming the fan-favorite Dark Horse or Wild Card among the big league pilots.
Yeah, if it's one of the very few of that size, Deepika would probably recognize it. Plus, being a dark horse championship contender would have appealed to her. And then when she sees the "Blair Industries" logo, that'll make her pretty much sure she knows what it is, and it will remind her of the pilot's name and background (at least as much as might be mentioned by the commentary during matches).

So she'll "know" Angela, the same way a casual basketball fan would know the teams and the star player on each team - basically just by name, and one or two of their more frequently talked-about attributes (of which being the scion of the Blair mech manufacturers would surely have been one).

Quote from: King Serperior on September 03, 2015, 11:16:38 PM
Well, Athena's Power/Battle armor might be the smallest, but of the others, her mech is the lightest and smallest.  The vehicle should help save battery for their smaller ones.  Ralhend's character's and Angela's mechs would be much too big for a truck-based transport.
Ah, yes, I hadn't thought of Athena's at the time!

I suppose this doesn't really matter at this point - we can hash it out later - but what I had in mind was basically a 40' flat-rack intermodal container, except only one half would be open, while the other would look like a regular closed container. While driving, the mech would crouch in the open half, and be secured somehow. While servicing, the closed part would open up and unfold, so larger mechs could move up to the side of it and be serviced.

It would probably be a little bigger than a standard 40' container - this is military hardware, after all. It might be taller, wider, and have like 3 or 4 axles (or even 6!) instead of 2. It might even be the length of two 40' containers, using a segmented design like a "turnpike double", or even a triple. We might actually need more than one truck - we have at least 4 mechs, after all (not counting anyone else who joins).

Anywho, we can think about that later. I guess I'm the only straggler who hasn't really set up anything approaching a profile yet. :P I'll get on that!
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

King Serperior

#88
That makes perfect sense.  I was thinking that the Blair Industries Mech Factories would be on the dark side of the moon (out of the way of the public, vacation, resort sunny side) while their autonomous mining facilities are on Mars.  Though Blair Industries isn't the largest producing facility, it produces the best quality, most of the time custom designs for Arena Mechs.  The military likely rarely uses Blair Industry models as Blair Industries doesn't tend to mass produce mechs.  However, I would think that a number of higher-ranking military personnel order custom designs from her parents' company.

So, the reason Angela is on the Moon in the first place is that she had just recently come 7th in the latest championship and her Ragnarok was getting needed repairs, ammo-reloads, and armor replacements as well as celebrating.  It would explain why she's heading back down to Earth with the others.

Quote from: Saria on September 04, 2015, 01:45:32 AM
.Yeah, if it's one of the very few of that size, Deepika would probably recognize it. Plus, being a dark horse championship contender would have appealed to her. And then when she sees the "Blair Industries" logo, that'll make her pretty much sure she knows what it is, and it will remind her of the pilot's name and background (at least as much as might be mentioned by the commentary during matches).

So she'll "know" Angela, the same way a casual basketball fan would know the teams and the star player on each team - basically just by name, and one or two of their more frequently talked-about attributes (of which being the scion of the Blair mech manufacturers would surely have been one).
In regards to what DP would know of Angela herself, I think a common thing said is that her mech reflects her compensating for her height (she is 5'5").  Her fiery, red hair would also be a common thing talked about as well as her tendency to go head-on into the jaws of battle and claw her way to a victory wreathed in the hulks of ruined mecha around her.  That said, the Dark Horse 'victory' is something no one expected.  No one would have thought that a young pilot like Angela would make the top 10.  In her last match against the 3-years in a row winner, Savage Spirit, a 50-ton mech that is the perfect combination of speed, firepower, and armor backed by amazing pilot skills, she pushed the pilot to the edge of defeat before the pilot's skill backed her into a corner she couldn't escape from.

On another note, a truck would be good for Athena's, DP's, and Ralhend's character's mechs, but transporting Angela's would take more than the power of a single truck, or even three trucks!

On the bright side, Ralhend's character should know about Fusion Reactors, so he'll be valuable in helping make sure that the Ragnarok's reactor doesn't go critical.  Important for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that the reactor is the big thing that helps recharge DP's mech's battery and perhaps even Athena's Power Armor (though depending on Ralhend's character's mech's power source, Athena's Power Armor could recharge from that one). 

EDIT:

Also, for those who may be lurking this thread as well as for Karma, Ralhend, and Saria, I have found some nice Mecha suggestions:


Light-to-Medium weight class;  Frail;  Focuses on Speed and Melee combat.


Light-to-Medium weight class;  Main weapon appears to be a shoulder-mounted cannon; Secondary weapon appears to be an anti-infantry laser.


Battle/Power Armor to Light weight class; Focuses on it's speed and agility granted by it's jump jets for offense and defense.


Light-to-Medium weight class; Judging by the side of the jets on it's back, it likely still has good speed and agility.


Medium weight class.  Bulkier and lacking jump jets, it should provide more decent firepower if needed.  Has two shoulder-mounted launchers, but reloads seem unlikely to happen when in battle

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
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Saria

Name: Deepika Patel
Rank: Lieutenant
Role: Mech pilot / electronic warfare specialist
Nicknames: D.P., Deepi, Deep
Call sign: Thumper
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Bisexual
Height: 174 cm (5' 7")
Weight: 60 kg (132 lb)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown, mid length, slightly wavy, not particularly well-styled or managed
Skin: Tan
Physique: Medium fit
Distinguishing marks/accessories: None

Appearance:
Although she cleans up quite well, the general impression one gets of Deepika's appearance is "dishevelled". She never looks dirty, but rather she always looks like she started the day dressed immaculately, but was then forced to do something physical or stressful, and ended up just a little out of sorts - even if she just stepped out of the house in the morning. This is partly deliberate - to give higher-ups the impression that she is working hard (even when she isn't) - and partly due to simply not caring about the details, and leaving just a few strands of hair out of place, or her shirt just a little too untucked on one side, or simply never bothering with makeup. She also has a tendency toward slouching, and loose posture and casual walk. She is often accused of failing to meet military standards of dress code and appearance. On those rare occasions that she does pull it together, she often startles even those she works closely with: She has soulful, expressive eyes, full lips, and body in immaculate shape due to her natural height and figure, and propensity to work out when bored or stressed.

Bio:
Deepika was the fourth daughter - not child, daughter; she was actually the seventh child - of a moderately wealthy family who "adopted" (bought) children from poor families in the "homeland", and raised them according to their religious principles. But "Mommy" was always away doing business (and, allegedly, doing business partners), and "Daddy" was an artist who thought it was fine for the kids to run free so long as they left him alone. So Deepika started "acting out", and it wasn't long before she had her own Juvy rap sheet, and became more of a headache than her adoptive parents were willing to tolerate.

Soon she was bouncing around the system, and petty shoplifting blossomed into organized thefts with a girl gang, and soon running cons. None of her foster families could straighten her out - indeed, most were actually victims of her scams. But after an epiphany she had while watching a busker one day, she started to grow a distaste for the life, and eventually collaborated with authorities to get her pimp and the ringleaders of her gang arrested. Unfortunately, she was arrested herself a year or so later during an attempted robbery, and because she was now an adult, facing prison time and a criminal record.

The judge - planning to campaign for public office - offered to waive prison time and a record if she joined the military, under the logic that it would "straighten her out" in a way prison wouldn't. He never thought she would take the offer, but she knew her former gang mates were waiting for her in prison. The military might have been dangerous, but the alternative was a shiv in her spine within months.

She never intended to take the military seriously. The plan was just to tough it out until Basic was complete - thus fulfilling her court-ordered obligations - then fake an injury, get medical discharge, and benefits. But she discovered that the military wasn't all that bad. There was a lot of bullshit to put up with, but she was a sanguine, easy-going type, so she could shrug it off. And the danger could be mitigated by picking the right career path - though her options were very limited because of her lack of education and half-assing Basic, so she couldn't avoid a combat position; electronic warfare specialist was a much better option than, say, infantry. Her plan is to make Major, then transfer to a cushy position, and she's already close to Captain.




Next up, I'll need a "profile" for her mech, I suppose.

Quote from: King Serperior on September 04, 2015, 09:24:35 AM
On the bright side, Ralhend's character should know about Fusion Reactors, so he'll be valuable in helping make sure that the Ragnarok's reactor doesn't go critical.
(Fusion reactors don't "go critical". ;))
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 04, 2015, 04:09:30 PM
Next up, I'll need a "profile" for her mech, I suppose.
(Fusion reactors don't "go critical". ;))
I knew that.  *doesn't really know a thing about fusion*

Great Character Sheet!  I'll rework Angela's that way since you have a lot more information than her initial sheet.  I'll see if I can get that done later today.   :-)

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
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Karma

I'll get mine done as soon as I can. Going on a weekend trip though, so my free time is unknown.

Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 04, 2015, 04:26:26 PM
I knew that.  *doesn't really know a thing about fusion*
Oh, I don't actually care. :P But I'm a certified nuclear worker in Ontario. (I've never seen a fusion reactor that was actually running, but I did once make out by the light of the Cherenkov radiation of a fission reactor.)

Quote from: King Serperior on September 04, 2015, 04:26:26 PM
Great Character Sheet!  I'll rework Angela's that way since you have a lot more information than her initial sheet.  I'll see if I can get that done later today.   :-)
Actually, I cribbed bits from yours, bits from Karma's and bits from Ralhend's. :P
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 04, 2015, 04:29:39 PM
I'll get mine done as soon as I can. Going on a weekend trip though, so my free time is unknown.
No problem!  Have fun on your trip.  ^.^
Quote from: Saria on September 04, 2015, 04:38:50 PM
Oh, I don't actually care. :P But I'm a certified nuclear worker in Ontario. (I've never seen a fusion reactor that was actually running, but I did once make out by the light of the Cherenkov radiation of a fission reactor.)
Haha, well, I suppose you can fault me for not having that experience.  :P
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Actually, I cribbed bits from yours, bits from Karma's and bits from Ralhend's. :P
Ah!  Well, it all works out quite well then.

By the way, do you have an idea on how the Mech Sheet should look?   Also, I may have found another player for the group.  Going to need a few days for them to make a final decision due to game and RL-related things.

O/O's
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Karma


King Serperior

No idea, but they do make fairly frequent appearances in the Finder/Seeker board.  I don't want to say a name until they decide to join or not though.

O/O's
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Karma


Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 04, 2015, 06:30:08 PM
By the way, do you have an idea on how the Mech Sheet should look?
I was pondering that myself, actually. :P

I was going to crib the mech data from the Arctic Cheetah, which would include height and weight, so there's those things. Your mech has a name - does Karma's? Mine doesn't and Ralhend's won't (unless we give them names later), they'd only have model numbers - and Karma's and yours probably won't have model numbers. So maybe a name and/or model field.

There's also the list of armaments, but I'm not sure that's that big a deal, because as we go along we'll probably be tinkering. Something key like Ragnarok's rail gun probably won't be swapped, but the missile pod might, or other stuff might be added.

Maybe a couple of bullet point lists showing capabilities/strengths and weaknesses. Like mine would have as strengths things like: adaptive camouflage, jump jets, hard to detect, able to move freely in any terrain, excellent for combat with foot soldiers and power suits; and weaknesses like: light armour, low strength (so can't use heavy weapons), poorly suited for open combat with medium/heavy mechs.

Maybe also a short blurb explaining the situations where it excels and those where it is weak.

I'm not sure if that's too much or not enough.
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Karma

The power armor would have a name since it's a one off experimental unit.

King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 04, 2015, 07:17:57 PM
I was pondering that myself, actually. :P
Alright, then let's figure something out then.  ^.^
Quote
I was going to crib the mech data from the Arctic Cheetah, which would include height and weight, so there's those things. Your mech has a name - does Karma's? Mine doesn't and Ralhend's won't (unless we give them names later), they'd only have model numbers - and Karma's and yours probably won't have model numbers. So maybe a name and/or model field.
Correct.  The Ragnarok is a custom model and designed for the arena, thus it needs a name, as per the arena's rules.  Plus, it's easier to distinguish between mechs when you say 'Iron Bull has crushed the Lightning Striker in less than a minute!' than to say, 'The big mech crushed the smaller one in less than a minute!'
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There's also the list of armaments, but I'm not sure that's that big a deal, because as we go along we'll probably be tinkering. Something key like Ragnarok's rail gun probably won't be swapped, but the missile pod might, or other stuff might be added.

Maybe a couple of bullet point lists showing capabilities/strengths and weaknesses. Like mine would have as strengths things like: adaptive camouflage, jump jets, hard to detect, able to move freely in any terrain, excellent for combat with foot soldiers and power suits; and weaknesses like: light armour, low strength (so can't use heavy weapons), poorly suited for open combat with medium/heavy mechs.

Maybe also a short blurb explaining the situations where it excels and those where it is weak.

I'm not sure if that's too much or not enough.
Okay, from the way it's sounding, a Mech Sheet will look like this:




[img height=300 padding=10*]http://MECH IMAGE URL HERE[/img]

Chassis:  Mech Frame
Model:  If it is a standard-issue mech, name the model;  If it is a custom design, just leave it as 'Custom'
Weight Class:  Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Colossal
Weight:  Mech's weight as well as maximum weight.
Height:  Mech's height
Mech Name/Callsign:  If the mech is named, list it;  If it has a callsign instead, list that.
Armaments:  List the mech's current weapon systems;  Each system should be noted as fixed or not (I.E. can it be removed and replaced with another weapon?)
Subsystems:  Anything that isn't a weapons system (I.E. adaptive camouflage, jump jets, Advanced targeting systems, ect).
Strengths:  List at least three things this mech excels at, both in and out of combat (I.E. Hands, mobility, armor, ect)
Weaknesses:  List at least three things this mech has difficulty with both in and out of combat (I.E. Very loud, slow reload/recharging weapons, limited mobility. ect).
Overall Description:  A short, detailed description of the mech that the picture doesn't show.




Does anyone else have suggestions on making this better?  Perhaps less info?  More?  Better Mech Sheet design?

O/O's
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Saria

That doesn't look so bad. Although, maybe you should mention to add a note for weapons/armaments that aren't part of a mech's standard layout. As I understand it, Joseph is going to "borrow" a mech, then add some stuff to it.
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 04, 2015, 08:16:05 PM
That doesn't look so bad. Although, maybe you should mention to add a note for weapons/armaments that aren't part of a mech's standard layout. As I understand it, Joseph is going to "borrow" a mech, then add some stuff to it.
True, very true.  This should do the trick:





[img height=300 padding=10*]http://MECH IMAGE URL HERE[/img]

Chassis:  Mech Frame
Model:  If it is a standard-issue mech, name the model;  If it is a custom design, just leave it as 'Custom'
Weight Class:  Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Colossal
Weight:  Mech's weight as well as maximum weight.
Height:  Mech's height
Mech Name/Callsign:  If the mech is named, list it;  If it has a callsign instead, list that.
Armaments (Standard Layout):  List the mech's standard weapon systems;  Each system should be noted as fixed or not (I.E. can it be removed and replaced with another weapon?);  Basically, the weapons that the mech starts with.
Armaments (Non-Standard):  List any additional and/or replaced weapons on the mech.
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  Anything that isn't a weapons system (I.E. adaptive camouflage, jump jets, Advanced targeting systems, ect); Note whether they are standard or nonstandard.
Strengths:  List at least three things this mech excels at, both in and out of combat (I.E. Hands, mobility, armor, ect)
Weaknesses:  List at least three things this mech has difficulty with both in and out of combat (I.E. Very loud, slow reload/recharging weapons, limited mobility. ect).
Overall Description:  A short, detailed description of the mech that the picture doesn't show.

O/O's
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Karma

Name: Athena Metaxas
Rank: Elite Contractor
Role: Engineer and mechanic, pilot when necessary
Nicknames: Meta, Queen Bitch
Call sign: Hephaestus
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Explosive and selfish
Height: 175 cm (5' 9")
Weight: 56 kg (125 lb)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Skin: White
Physique: Slender just short of malnourished
Distinguishing marks/accessories: Arms and legs are peppered with scars of all sizes from her rigorous work ethic designing and implementing mech technology. Sides and inner arms are crisscrossed with self-inflicted but incredibly intricate Greek script that appears to be complete gibberish even in Greek.

Appearance:
Athena is an undeniably beautiful woman with the heart of an engineer. That is to say that she rarely takes any advantage of it; more often than not she is greasy, sweaty, and uninterested in doing anything about it until she finishes that “one last thing” that never seems to be completed. This often leaves her in boy shorts and clingy undershirts, for what it’s worth. Similarly, she’s known to rarely smile or laugh, taking great ownership of a classic “resting bitch face.” She’ll make a fantastic old witch one day.

Bio:
Athena’s father, Aineas, was once a well-respected aeronautics and bipedal robotics engineer. His designs were said to be truly genius; he was considered by his peers to be designing up to fifty years ahead of existing technology at any given time. It became a given that each new Metaxas design would require entirely new manufacturing processes to even test. The development of utilitarian mechanized armors into purebred weapons of war was a movement that Aineas Metaxas codified when he was still a young man; his legacy was great and terrible, and where lesser men would have buckled under the guilt, Aineas was focused only on the next big thing. His diligence and genius made him wealthy and highly sought-after, though not only for contracts. When Athena was only twelve, she watched from a closet as “peace activists” put a violent end to him. Humans are weak, she learned that day. We need to become something stronger.

Born of a rather short-lived tryst with a popular actress, Athena’s beauty and inheritance could have bought her a life of ease and luxury even in a world such as this. Though she had her mother’s gifts, she also had her father’s: mechanical genius and deep-seated sociopathy. She pored over Aineas’ prodigious notes after he died and proceeded to burn them all once they were settled in her head. By the time she should have been starting college, she was already spearheading the resurgence of Metaxas Defense Industries to the fore of government-contracted mechanized infantry work. Once her father’s legacy had been assured, she became a recluse, working feverishly on the project, as of yet, has not borne any publicly known fruit.

Athena views modern mecha as bloated abominations. Though it was primarily her father’s doing, she can be easily goaded into ranting about how pointless it is for a simple gun platform to have feet instead of treads. While her father’s company continues supplying much of the world with the very mecha she hates, she has continued private work on her magnum opus. Force amplification is a concept basic to physics and can be seen in tools as simple as levers and pulleys. It is this concept that underlies her Human Amplification Suit, or HAS. Powered assistance mechanisms have existed for centuries, but never with the fully natural feel of the HAS. It is her greatest work, and few know about it yet.

Personality: Athena is cold, misanthropic, and brilliant. The only thing that matters to her is research and development, and she possesses a disturbing lack of discretion about what methods are used to enable it. She is not an especially talented combatant, and has seen little direct action, but has spent thousands upon thousands of hours tuning and improving her HAS as well as the HEE (Hostility Escalation Exoskeleton) that it docks with, which has given an her extremely exact sense of what it is capable of. She takes little interest in her own well being. She spends inordinate amounts of time working on and wearing the HAS, barely sleeping or eating, and it has left her health in a sorry state. While some of her muscles are toned from working endless hours with her hands, most of them have atrophied to at least some extent. In her suit she's the strongest person on the planet, but out of it she can't walk quickly for long without getting winded, among other things.




Mech data forthcoming.

Ralhend

given the current way that technology is advancing, perhaps we need to give holograms and augmented reality a look...


I want to say the standard for a computer interface would be holographic...   
Maybie not true holograms but beams of light projected directly onto the retina, so that the recipient sees shapes and objects floating around in front of them, sort of like a 3d windows 10 interface, with the keyboards projected onto a slate of metal...    Its fewer moving parts, and it wouldnt be that hard to implement redundant systems should something go wrong...

I really dont think a manual pilot-by-wire system could apply here, since the human body does not possess the strength to actually move a mech's limbs per se...

Also,  augmented reality systems for combat applications, IE the soldier wears a pair of shades, and there is a HUD with ammo in the magazine, a virtual laser dot for where the weapon is pointed, flash protection, lowlight, and other such things are not that far away.  Its fair to assume that kind of tech is commonly produced and cheap at this point?

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Saria

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 12:38:45 AM
given the current way that technology is advancing, perhaps we need to give holograms and augmented reality a look...
I figured augmented reality is commonplace, and soldiers and mech pilots would all use versions of it that not only do the things you mentioned, but also share combat information across the battlefield. For example, a mech pilot's heads-up display or visor would show which mechs are friendlies and which are not, who's targeting what, where the mission objectives are, terrain info, etc.. That's what I figured the systems in Deepika's mech do: collect data through all her sensors, then share that data with her teammates, so that even if they're blinded by thick smoke or it's pitch black at night, they can still "see" the battlefield clearly.

I can't imagine what use holography would be, though. I would presume it exists - I mean, it exists today. But it's really rather useless, other than for art or gimmicks - neither of which are really what military hardware is about.

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 12:38:45 AM
I want to say the standard for a computer interface would be holographic...   
Maybie not true holograms but beams of light projected directly onto the retina, so that the recipient sees shapes and objects floating around in front of them, sort of like a 3d windows 10 interface, with the keyboards projected onto a slate of metal...    Its fewer moving parts, and it wouldnt be that hard to implement redundant systems should something go wrong...
I suppose those kinds of interfaces might be available in this world, but I can't imagine anyone would put it in a combat mech. If the mech takes a good whack, and the image projectors get knocked out of alignment with the sensors that detect where your fingers are by just a few fractions of a degree, you may touch the "fire" button only to find the "eject" triggered.

Military equipment in general isn't really about bells and whistles, it's about what will continue to work even after it's been soaked with salt water, buried in sand, slammed by an artillery round, burned by an EMP and whacked with a baseball bat by a disgruntled operator. I mean, this is the cockpit of the most advanced fighter plane in the US military right now. Yeah, that's basically Pac-Man level graphics, in a $150 million plane introduced in 2005. And those are all manual switches and buttons. If it weren't for the multicolour displays, that cockpit wouldn't look out of place in the 1970s.

The cockpit of the next-generation plane in development is an entirely different matter, though. The whole thing is basically just two eight by ten inch touch screen displays (two screens so that if one fails, you still have the other as a back up). And the helmet has an augmented reality system that tracks your head movements, so as you look around, the data follows (so you can look to your left, and see the target marks over the plane on your left, friend or foe). Even so, it still uses physical flight controls, and buttons and switches for some of the key systems, like fire control (and the eject lever).

Besides, it wouldn't be a particularly great control system if it required a whole keyboard to tap-tap on. You want the pilot's eyes up... looking out on the battle through the heads-up display, not looking down to see which button she's pressing. There's a good reason all the key controls for combat are right on the control stick of a fighter plane - the pilot doesn't have to, for example, let go of the stick to reach up and touch a button on their helmet to talk over the radio; the push-to-talk button is right on the control stick. A fighter pilot has a ton of buttons and controls on the dash to press before entering combat... but once engaged, her hands never leave the yoke and throttle, and her eyes almost never look down at the instruments (that's why there's a heads-up display in the first place).

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 12:38:45 AM
I really dont think a manual pilot-by-wire system could apply here, since the human body does not possess the strength to actually move a mech's limbs per se...
I'm not sure, but I think you have your terminology mixed up. Fly-by-wire doesn't mean there are wires and pulleys and such connecting the control stick to the control surfaces. That's the opposite of fly-by-wire. Fly-by-wire means everything is electric (or, more recently, electronic) - there is no physical connection between the control stick and the control surfaces.

All modern planes (other than tiny ones) are fly-by-wire, and not just because of force. Many modern fighter planes would simply be impossible to fly manually, because they are dynamically unstable. Most planes are dynamically stable, meaning that if you hold the controls steady and a gust of wind hits the plane, the plane would eventually balance out and level off (hopefully before hitting the ground, or stalling out). Fighter planes are dynamically unstable, meaning if every little buffet of wind threatens to throw the plane out of control. This makes the plane astonishingly manoeuvrable, but utterly impossible for a human to practically fly. You need the help of the avionics.

I would imagine all mechs are fly-by-wire, too. You push the stick forward, and the mech walks forward (basically)... and the avionics handle all the minutia like uneven terrain, shifting weight as it takes each step, and so on.
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King Serperior

#105
Name:  Angela Blair
Rank:  N/A;  Civilian
Role:  Pro Mech Fighter
Nicknames:  Often called 'Angel of Destruction' in the arena or just 'Angel'
Callsign:  N/A
Age:  24
Gender:  Female
Sexuality:  Straight, but curious
Height:  5'5" (165cm)
Weight:  125lbs (57kg)
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Red, straight, cut to shoulder length, often gets cut shorter if it gets too much to handle
Skin:  Lightly tanned
Physique:  Healthy and lithe
Distinguishing Marks:  Tattoo of a purple rose on left shoulder.

Appearance:  Like the image, for the most part. =>;  Appears rather pixie-like.  Despite that, she is very much tomboyish, though she does occasionally like to make sure she looks decent.  In all honesty, she looks more like the kind of girl who should be a model instead of a mech fighter.  More often than not, her looks cause her opponents to underestimate her. 

Bio:  Angela was born on one of the small colonies on Earth's moon and was raised by her grandparents, her parents owning a few decently-sized factories that build and repair mechs.  She was born on the moon because her parents didn't want her to live on Earth which was no place for a child to grow up on due to the fighting going on in some areas and the intense mech combat in the more peaceful countries.  So, the first ten years of her life was spent going to one of the better schools on the moon and growing up.  Despite that, she discovered the joys of Mech Combat when she was 10 after watching an underdog pilot defeat a champion pilot in a wild 1v1 match.  From that day forward, she was interested in combat mechs.  By the time she was thirteen, she learned how to drive a small loader mech, the very one that that her grandfather drove to load and unload shipping containers at the colony's main port.  When she was sixteen, she caught the attention of someone who worked on the mech combat circuit.  It turned out that the guy had never seen someone so young pilot a machine like that with such ease and thought she had potential.  By the time she was eighteen, she was piloting a Light mech and winning one-vs-one battles with little effort in the lower leagues of the circuit.  By the time she was twenty, she'd upgraded to a Heavy mech and was working on two-man teams for a change.  However, she quickly found that her style of battle clashed with most of the teammates' she sided with.  By the time she was twenty-one, she'd won one of the larger tournaments and that supplied her enough money, along with the selling of her winning Heavy mech, to buy a custom Colossal mech.

Her parents, having followed her progress, helped her upgrade and work on her newest mech which was based on an 'Omni-Shell' system, one of the most adaptable of the Colossal Mech shells.  Her parents were thrilled to learn that she was planning on piloting the newest mech type and helped upgrade it according to her strengths.  Thus, the Ragnarok was born.

Angela eventually took this machine to win a number of smaller championships and excelled in Free-for-all battles.  In just two years, she achieved enough victories and made friends in key locations to receive an invite to this year's grand championship as one of three Dark Horse picks.  There, she fought her way to 7th place, surprising a number of people with her skill and dogged determination.  After such a hard-fought victory, reaching the top ten in that tournament, she and Ragnarok returned to the Moon for repairs, upgrades, and reloading.  She planned to stay there for a few weeks before returning to Earth just in time to enter the new season.




Chassis:  Hexapod Omni-Shell
Model:  Custom Design
Weight Class:  Colossal
Weight:  125 tons (Standard loadout, fully loaded); 180 tons (Maximum carry weight)
Height:
Top Speed:  40kph (25mph)
Mech Name:  Ragnarok
Armaments (Standard Layout):
Rail Gun:  Central weapon and main gun, the Rail Gun fires a long piece of hardened Tungsten that is designed to penetrate even through cover.  It can only fire one shot before requiring reloading and requires a three second charge time before firing.  However, once fired, the seven pound projectile travels at speeds that exceed Mach 6, making a direct hit devastating.  It takes 10 seconds (5 with the custom ammo delivery system) to load up a new projectile.  The weapon has an effective range of nearly 20 kilometers, each projectile losing nearly no velocity when it reaches its target.  The Rail Gun has a total of 100 projectiles, more than eight the number she would ever need in the arena, theoretically anyway.  As the main gun, the Rail Gun cannot be removed without completely altering the mech's frame.
Minigun:  Mounted just above and to the right of the main gun, the Minigun is designed for closer work than the Rail Gun and can help pin down a close-range target while the main gun charges and takes aim.  The minigun fires depleted uranium rounds that can tear apart smaller mechs, vehicles, and personnel with ease.  Fully loaded, the minigun has a total of 720,000 rounds of ammo and the gun fires at a rate of 12,000 rounds per minute.  It takes about a second for the barrel to spin up before it fires.  The minigun can be removed and/or replaced if needs be.
2x 14-Missile Pods:  Featuring 14 explosive high-yield missiles, these pods are mounted on the just above, behind, and to the left and right of the main gun in a half-hexagonal, half-cube launcher whose safety covering can flick open to rain either direct or suppressing fire on the targets.  Each missile carries a high-yield payload and travels at 350 mph towards its target.  Each missile can be fired either individually or at the same time as any number of others, providing either precise attacks or an overwhelming assault.  Each pod has three full pods of replacements, totaling 84 missiles overall, though the missile pods must be emptied before the replacement set can be loaded (which takes up to thirty seconds).  The Missile Pods are set on rotating turrets and, as such, are currently only weapons that can be fired backwards on Ragnarok.  It is mainly used to pin down a target, get them out of cover, or for pure offensive purposes.  Both missile pods can be removed and/or replaced.
Armaments (Non-Standard):  N/A
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard): 
Ammo Delivery System:  Halves the time it takes to reload ammo.  Extremely important for the Rail Gun's lower reload rate.
Target Lock:  Makes the Rail Gun and Missile System much more accurate and deadly; Limited range, but once a target is locked onto, target lock remains even if the target is out of sight for almost 60s.
6x Gripping Claws:  Under each leg is a 'foot' with a 4-prong gripping claw that allows the mech to grab the ground to help reduce recoil and provide extra stability.
Fortress Armour:  The mech doesn't need speed, rather it needs heavy armor to survive in the arena while picking off targets.  Even for it's weight class, the Ragnarok's armor is substantial. 
Basic Sensors and Communications Equipment:  Designed for the arena, these sensors and communications are of limited range.

Strengths: 
Powerful Weaponry:  It is rare that a mech has the stopping power of two Missile Pods, a Rail Gun, a Minigun, and enough ammo to hold back a small army.  The Ragnarok has this stopping power, making it a deadly threat on the battlefield.
Extremely Heavy Armor:  Backing up the weaponry is the massive slabs of armor coating nearly every surface of the mech.  It is a true juggernaut in the arena, able to shrug off attacks that would cripple smaller mechs.  The Ragnarok once survived a missile barrage of more than 100 Swarmers with barely any damage, walking out of the smoke to blast the legs off the smaller mech it was facing.
Very Stable Firing Platform: Six legs and six gripping claws allows the mech to accurately fire it's weapons on just about any terrain while on the move.
Massive Power Source:  It takes a LOT to power this behemoth of a mech and it's fusion engine is one of the most powerful of it's weight class.
Pilot Protection:  The pilot sits deep inside the mech, protected from nearly all assaults.  It is theorized that, when the cockpit is sealed, the pilot could survive a nuclear blast due to the mech's massive, thick armor and the cockpit's sealing system.
Ranged Combat:  A combination of missile fire and the massive range of the Rail Gun's projectiles allows it to cut down targets before they get into range.

Weaknesses: 
Size:  Being an Colossal mech, it's size means that it is a big target.
Noise:  The Ragnarok is pretty much impossible to use silently, so sneaky tactics are out of the question.
Speed:  Though the Ragnarok has a powerful power source and is fairly quick for it's size and weight, it is still fairly slow, maxing out at 40kph.
No Hands:  Due to it's design, it has no hands to use in delicate situations.
Close Range:  Due to the weapons systems, the Ragnarok's main defense at close range is it's Minigun as the Rail Gun fires too slowly to make it useful beyond a single shot.  As such, when dealing with small, fast targets, assistance by allies is appreciated.

Overall Description:  Ragnarok is a large, somewhat squat, Hexapod mech with thick armor plating covering nearly all of the mech's body.  Due to it's increased weight and the way it's legs are designed, it is not very fast or agile.  It's thick legs instead provide stability when firing it's weapons, no matter the terrain.  Each leg has gripping claws that allow it to grip the ground and stand it's ground while the pilot aims and fires it's weaponry.  Ragnarok has the Blair Factory Logo (a purple rose) printed on it to represent it's pilot's family's factories.  Other than that, it can easily be painted multiple coloration, but it is usually a rusty brown, giving it the illusion of it being little more than a giant rust bucket.  The main gun is the largest and most central of the armaments and is the most powerful ranged weapon the Ragnarok has (Though a full barrage of missiles outdoes it).  The Minigun is more for closer work and the missile pod is for pinning down targets until Ragnarok can bring it's other weapons to bear.  The heavy armor on the legs provide additional protection.

O/O's
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Ralhend

Well damn, I'm actually wrong...

Saria, thanks for straightening me out on my terminology and what military hardware is designed for...

Anyways, I have everything I need, ready when you guys are
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 03:13:06 PM
Anyways, I have everything I need, ready when you guys are
Well, there's a few things we need to do before we're actually ready.  For one thing, Karma said he's going to be off on a trip for a couple of days, so we'll wait on him for that.  Another thing is that there's someone who's interested, but they require another day or two before it's known if they are able to join us or not.  Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.  There's no major rush for the reasons stated above.

Another thing about waiting is that one other person may see this and catch the interest, thus we will be closer to that magical number of 6, which is the max number I was looking for for this game.

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Karma

Theoretically I can work on the mech details tonight, but I can't promise anything.

King Serperior

It's not a problem.  You enjoy your trip.  There's no rush nor obligation to finish tonight.   :-)

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
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Karma

Well I want to work on it but I might just be too tired. :)

King Serperior

Haha, well, I can't wait to see what your mech's like!  It'll be very interesting to see how the inner and outer shells contrast (if they do) beyond size differences.

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Ralhend

#112
Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 03:29:12 PM
Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.

Do we have a standardized character sheet format somewhere that I wasn't aware of?

but yeah, I'm in no hurry or rush, I just bought a new video card for my computer, and I'm breaking it in playing ARK
Post Rate: (Lethargic)
Request Thread/ Ons and Offs /A/A Thread
Active Stories on E: (Extremely Selective) 3/3 Discussions/Caged Bird/Maiden Voyage/Shattered Mirror/
Other Games E : (Taken) 1/1 /Chessgame 1, Mimétisme vs Ralhend/

King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 06:02:22 PM
Do we have a standardized character sheet format somewhere that I wasn't aware of?

but yeah, I'm in no hurry or rush, I just bought a new video card for my computer, and I'm breaking it in playing ARK
Technically, no, there isn't one in one place.  However, I used the format Saria used for her character.  Then, she and I discussed an idea for the Mech side of the Sheet.  So, if you look a few posts up, you'll see my final character sheet for both mech and pilot.   The only thing I am missing is the Ragnarok's height, which I am not sure what it should be.

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Saria

Quote from: Karma on September 04, 2015, 11:58:04 PM
Sexuality: Explosive and selfish
:P

Quote from: Ralhend on September 05, 2015, 03:13:06 PM
Saria, thanks for straightening me out on my terminology and what military hardware is designed for...
Oh, no worries. I'm not actually military, but I have worked extensively with the (Canadian) military, and I (used to) have top secret clearance (which I let expire).

(Having top secret clearance in the Canadian Armed Forces means I know Canada's top military secret. But I'll never spill it, even if you torture me! I'll never tell where we keep the keys to the boat! ~shakes fist~)

Working with the military is a bit of a pain in the ass, because they're extremely demanding, and have their own bizarre and idiosyncratic standards and ways of doing things. You'd have surreal conversations like: "How do we move the bracket out of the way for loading?" "No problem, we'll just put a little cylinder right there to push it aside." "What if a solider gets frustrated and kicks it? Wouldn't that knock it out of alignment and lock up the whole thing?" "Why the fuck would someone-?!? *sigh* Alright, fine, I'll find another way...."

On the one hand I like working with the military because mmmm yummy beefcake in uniform make Saria happy, but honestly, the only people more frustrating to work with than them is the American auto industry ~shudder~. It's the 21st century! Get metric, people!

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 03:29:12 PM
Also, you, Saria, and Karma don't have completed Character Sheets, so we need to get those details down.  There's no major rush for the reasons stated above.
Yup, I've been slacking for 3 reasons. 1) Karma's taking the weekend off, so that gives me an excuse to procrastinate. :P 2) I hold out hope that we might attract another player. And 3) while skimming the thread King Serperior's character sheet is in (I was looking for other character sheets to get a sense of what other things to use in my own), I found a link that has intrigued me, and has been distracting me considerably. :P

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 03:29:12 PM
Another thing about waiting is that one other person may see this and catch the interest, thus we will be closer to that magical number of 6, which is the max number I was looking for for this game.
I was wondering if we should move this thread to the "seeking players" forum. Or even better, create a new thread (because I've found people tend not to join when the thread already looks too big - plus they're disinclined to read through).

Now that we've got things a little more settled than what this thread's title suggests, we could create a thread where the first post is an info dump about the world we've planned so far, the type of game we want it to be, and so on. Then each of us could repost our character/mech profiles there (and the first post can link to them so everything's easy to find - and link back to this thread too).

We could even reuse our profile posts to keep track of changes over the course of the game: For example, Angela's post would have her profile and the Ragnarok's profile... then if at some point in the game the Ragnarok's minigun is replace with a beam weapon, you could add an {hr} and make note of the change... and if she dyes her hair to avoid being recognized, and other {hr} and the change... so each character's profile post tracks the progress of them, their mech, their inventory, and whatever else you want to track... you could even make notes about major changes to the character's beliefs and opinions, or traumatic things that happened to them. So basically, each character's post has their starting info at the top, then becomes a sort of diary of their progress in the game.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 05, 2015, 08:13:51 PM
Yup, I've been slacking for 3 reasons. 1) Karma's taking the weekend off, so that gives me an excuse to procrastinate. :P
:P 
Quote
2) I hold out hope that we might attract another player.
True, very true.  I'm holding out hope that the person I mentioned earlier will join us.  They're a very good writer and extremely creative.   :D  If we can maybe find one final person to max out our six-player party, that would be great!
Quote
And 3) while skimming the thread King Serperior's character sheet is in (I was looking for other character sheets to get a sense of what other things to use in my own), I found a link that has intrigued me, and has been distracting me considerably. :P
Oh?  Well, I am certainly interested in what you've found and what this link may be.  Feel free to PM me. 
Quote
I was wondering if we should move this thread to the "seeking players" forum. Or even better, create a new thread (because I've found people tend not to join when the thread already looks too big - plus they're disinclined to read through).

Now that we've got things a little more settled than what this thread's title suggests, we could create a thread where the first post is an info dump about the world we've planned so far, the type of game we want it to be, and so on. Then each of us could repost our character/mech profiles there (and the first post can link to them so everything's easy to find - and link back to this thread too).
That is a good idea.  Though, we should make a note that, at the moment, there is only one open space remaining until we hear back from the interested party.  If they are unable, then we edit to say that it's two spots open instead.  Saria, would you like to make the interest thread in the 'seeking players' board?
Quote
We could even reuse our profile posts to keep track of changes over the course of the game: For example, Angela's post would have her profile and the Ragnarok's profile... then if at some point in the game the Ragnarok's minigun is replace with a beam weapon, you could add an {hr} and make note of the change... and if she dyes her hair to avoid being recognized, and other {hr} and the change... so each character's profile post tracks the progress of them, their mech, their inventory, and whatever else you want to track... you could even make notes about major changes to the character's beliefs and opinions, or traumatic things that happened to them. So basically, each character's post has their starting info at the top, then becomes a sort of diary of their progress in the game.
I like this idea.  *nods*  You are a genius for certain!   :D

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 08:26:28 PM
That is a good idea.  Though, we should make a note that, at the moment, there is only one open space remaining until we hear back from the interested party.  If they are unable, then we edit to say that it's two spots open instead.
Yup, that would work.

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 08:26:28 PM
Saria, would you like to make the interest thread in the 'seeking players' board?
Sure. I'll prototype it here, so we can all work out (or in) the kinks, then once it's quality, post it in the other forum.

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 08:26:28 PM
*nods*  You are a genius for certain!   :D
~srsfaces and puts a hand on Serpy's shoulder~ Yes. Yes, I am.

Haha, no, in all seriousness, while I have zero experience GMing on Elliquiy, I have a ton doing it elsewhere. My previous experience is almost entirely all romance-based games, but one of the things I really liked to do was experiment and innovate with the formula.

For example, I pioneered things like using GraphViz to chart "love dodecahedrons" between the characters (which were so popular I ended up writing tutorials so other people could make them too). I also tried things like games where characters had no back-story at all (they were literally "born" the moment the game started, so no one could use past trauma to justify character development, and every character's personality had to be defined in game by what they did and how they interacted with other characters), and games where secret messages could be passed between characters that not only were did the characters not know where they were coming from but the players didn't either, and games that were like massive social experiments with a deranged experimenter mixing and matching pairs and putting them into "interesting" situations.

Character journals is something I've worked with before, where each character would get their own thread, which would not only include their profile, it would include posts for tracking status, inventory, relationships, and their "thoughts and feelings" journal about major in-game events. Obviously a mech game doesn't need that much drama-tracking. :P But keeping track of major incidents and changes to the character or mech might make sense.

So really, all this is just playing to my strengths. :P
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Karma


King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 05, 2015, 09:02:58 PM
Yup, that would work.

Sure. I'll prototype it here, so we can all work out (or in) the kinks, then once it's quality, post it in the other forum.
Great!  ^_^
Quote
~srsfaces and puts a hand on Serpy's shoulder~ Yes. Yes, I am.

Haha, no, in all seriousness, while I have zero experience GMing on Elliquiy, I have a ton doing it elsewhere. My previous experience is almost entirely all romance-based games, but one of the things I really liked to do was experiment and innovate with the formula.

For example, I pioneered things like using GraphViz to chart "love dodecahedrons" between the characters (which were so popular I ended up writing tutorials so other people could make them too). I also tried things like games where characters had no back-story at all (they were literally "born" the moment the game started, so no one could use past trauma to justify character development, and every character's personality had to be defined in game by what they did and how they interacted with other characters), and games where secret messages could be passed between characters that not only were did the characters not know where they were coming from but the players didn't either, and games that were like massive social experiments with a deranged experimenter mixing and matching pairs and putting them into "interesting" situations.

Character journals is something I've worked with before, where each character would get their own thread, which would not only include their profile, it would include posts for tracking status, inventory, relationships, and their "thoughts and feelings" journal about major in-game events. Obviously a mech game doesn't need that much drama-tracking. :P But keeping track of major incidents and changes to the character or mech might make sense.

So really, all this is just playing to my strengths. :P
O.o

Wow.  That sounds like something that would confuse me faster than I don't know what!  Better you than me on that as I likely wouldn't be able to keep track of all that.  >.>

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 05, 2015, 09:12:39 PM
Wow.  That sounds like something that would confuse me faster than I don't know what!  Better you than me on that as I likely wouldn't be able to keep track of all that.  >.>
Oh, there's not actually much to keep track of! Romance RPs are easy to manage - there's no fighting (at least, no combat), so you don't need to worry about godmoding, twinking, or any of that stuff, really. Mostly you just need to be good at keeping info up front and available for all players, and watching out for couples pairing up and balkanizing the game; you don't really need to vet it or worry about balance.

By the way: THIS RP NEEDS A NAME! Suggestions? I'm terrible at naming things.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 05, 2015, 10:29:46 PM
Oh, there's not actually much to keep track of! Romance RPs are easy to manage - there's no fighting (at least, no combat), so you don't need to worry about godmoding, twinking, or any of that stuff, really. Mostly you just need to be good at keeping info up front and available for all players, and watching out for couples pairing up and balkanizing the game; you don't really need to vet it or worry about balance.
Heh, believe me.  I'd find some way to overcomplicate and confuse things.  >.>
Quote
By the way: THIS RP NEEDS A NAME! Suggestions? I'm terrible at naming things.
I'm not the best at naming things either.  Lately, I have been keeping game names fairly simple.  For example, 'Under Fire' is nice and simple and describes the situation they'll be in when things go south.  Another idea is 'Against All Odds' which describes the fact that not only are they behind enemy lines and in dangerous territory, but also the fact that they are the most unlikely group to survive each other, let alone a conflict against a common foe!

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Karma

HOT CHIX IN GIANT ROBOTZ

A new mechsploitation film coming to a grindhouse near you!

Saria

Karma wins the naming game.

I was toying with the idea of using "heavy metal" in the name, just because it sounds badass. And if it starts with that, the next word has to start with 'M' to make it roll off the tongue. Like, because they're on a long trek to safety, "Heavy Metal March", or "Heavy Metal Magellan". So I need a cool 'M' word.

Though if I'm going to do it Karma's way, I suppose it should be "Heavy Metal Maidens Making Out". :P
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Karma

Dude, Heavy Metal Magellan is Super Robot AS FUCK. Consider my vote going to that.

"MAGERAN, Asena, deru ze!"

King Serperior

Oh ha ha.  :P

On that note, it's getting a bit late on my end, so I'll think up some ideas tomorrow.

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

King Serperior

Apologies for another double-post, but I think I have found another person who may or may not be interested.  Hopefully, this second person and the first person I found will join in and max out our party to 6.   ;D

On a previous note, I have not been able to think up a good name.  :<

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Saria

I'm still procrastinating on the mech profile. :P I've got a bunch done for the thread, but I'm kinda stuck on that until we have a name.

I'll get on that profile! Like, right now!
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Karma


Saria

Oh, you were serious about liking it? :P I actually spend some time thinking up other 'M' words to go after "heavy metal", like "maneouvre", "masquerade", "mayhem", "maniacs", "moxie", and "maxim". Even "heavy metal marrow", because we're mech to the bone, bby. But if you like Magellan, I could roll with that.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Saria


Chassis:  Light modular core (a core that accepts attachments at 7 points: back, left and right shoulders, left and right arms, left and right legs)
Model:  LMC-42 "Valkyria" core, with 2 LC/L-6 legs and 2 LC/A-4 arms
Weight Class:  Light
Weight:  28 T (tare); 45 T (max gross)
Height:  8.5 m
Mech Name/Callsign:  —
Armaments (Standard Layout):  — (being a modular mech chassis, has no single "standard" layout)
Armaments (Non-Standard):
Fully automatic flechette gun: Removable, mounted on right forearm. Fires 6×45 mm fin-stabilized carbon steel darts (with polymer sabots) at a rate of 350 rounds per minute, with a 1000 round cartridge. This is a primarily anti-personnel and penetrating round used against the very light plating of non-armoured vehicles and some kinds of power armour. Unlike bullets, the flechettes are not designed to flatten out and stop inside a target (so they have little "stopping power"), they rip right through the target, and continue on through whatever is behind them. The result is while a single shot has less chance of killing than a bullet, but far more chance of penetrating through light cover and thin plating (like bullet-proof vests). It is totally ineffective against even light armouring.
Combination light shield / light pile bunker: Removable, mounted on left forearm. Uses compressed gas to drive a super-hard 15 mm diameter spike into a target. Several tonnes of force are focused on a very small point, which enables punching through light armour, and into the circuitry, mechanics, or people inside. By the power of the piston alone, it can penetrate light armour consistently and even medium armour under good conditions, but a skilled pilot can time the piston release at the apex of a punch to add several tonnes more force, and puncture even medium armour with ease, though care must be taken not to exceed the limits of the punching arm. (Deepika Patel is aware of this technique, but cannot use it consistently.) The pile and its compressor is covered by a large plate of medium armour that extends to the sides, and doubles as a shield. With the arm positioned correctly, the shield is large enough to cover the entire pilot profile, but not much else.
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):
LC/EW-4 Electronic warfare package: Removable, attached to the core at the back and both shoulder mounts. Contains a suite of systems designed to make the mech a electronic warfare and countermeasures platform. Consists of:

  • Radar: Active and passive phased-array radar systems. Effectively useless against ground targets due to interference from terrain and structures, but able to pinpoint airborne targets for hundreds of kilometres, if they're high enough and have a large enough radar cross section; can pick out a small surveillance drone at 50 km in good weather, ~20 km under average conditions. Active radar gives position away, but is necessary for radar target acquisition.
  • Lidar: Pulsed 1500 nm wavelength lasers are used for ground imaging, in combination with standard and infrared cameras. The system is able to image a centimetre in diameter half a kilometre away. Its primary purpose is to generate battlefield maps and targeting information, such as for artillery or orbital strikes, but it doubles as "night vision" and infrared or ultraviolet vision to allow the pilot (and any connected allies) to "see" through darkness or smoke. When not using the pulses for extra resolution, lidar is passive.
  • Chaff: Cartridges that are fired, usually upward, that burst at a preset height and throw out metallic confetti that confuses radar. There are two types of cartridges: one simply throws out chaff, the other bursts into a small balloon that dangles chaff. The chaff scattered by a regular air-burst cartridge floats slowly to the ground over the course of several minutes. The balloon stays airborne for an hour or more, provided it isn't shot down or blown away. Chaff blocks all radar - friend or enemy.
  • Full spectrum antenna and broadcast unit: Capable of resolving and emitting signals across the entire broadcast range. Useful for detecting the presence of enemy by their transmissions, but since the emitter is more powerful than the standard broadcast emitters in most equipment, can also be used to jam, drown out, or spoof enemy signals.
  • Integrated Battlefield Intelligence System (IBIS): All of the data collected from the detection systems is collected and put together to get one big picture of the battlefield. That data is then combined with all data collected from allied units, and then routed through the commander - who could be in an entirely different mech, or even kilometres away in a base camp, or in an aircraft - who marks targets, paints waypoints and routes, and gives targeting instructions. The upshot of all this is that when a mech with the IBIS package is on the field, the other mechs in her squad can get the majority of their target acquisition and tracking data from IBIS, so they can carry less optics, radar, and processing equipment, and instead carry more weapons, ammo, and armour. They are also able to coordinate better, and avoid all shooting at the same target (unless that's what is desired). IBIS transmissions are encrypted, so they can't be snooped or spoofed, and sent both using radio and light pulses - if radio transmissions are jammed, mechs can still share IBIS data among each other so long as there is a line of sight path. The system includes a "keyring" of encryption keys for important allied organizations, so that squads can connect to any allies they run into, share data, and cooperate better... but if those keys fell into the wrong hands, the enemy could spy on all battlefield communications in real time, and give false information that will be taken as "safe", and access networks and information with a wealth of highly valuable and highly dangerous information.
Jump jets: Non-removable (built in to the LMC-42 core and the LC/L-6 legs). Compressed air assistive jets mounted on the backs of the thighs, calves, and ass. The LC/L-6 legs provide a powerful push off the ground, which alone allow for a jump of almost 15 m, but when the jump jets kick in, they magnify the effect considerably. Unloaded, the mech can jump almost 70 m into the air. With the current loadout, ~50 m. The jets require 30 s to fully repressurize, but after 5 s can provide just enough thrust to cushion the landing from a full jump. Bursts from the jump jets can also be used for quick "dodges" to the side - a standard tactic is to step out from cover, fire, and when return fire is incoming, jet-burst back into cover. The trick is to pull that off without unbalancing and toppling over gracelessly.
Adaptive camouflage: Removable. Any place it can be managed, the mech is covered with 10 cm diameter hexagonal flexible "stickers", that wirelessly communicate with each other, and with the mech's main computer. They are dull grey by default, but can change colour on command to any hue. Generally the mech's main computer will use the optical sensors to "see" the environment, then try to create a pattern of random colours that the "stickers" can display that will make the mech very hard to see in that environment. If the mech remains stationary, and the environment is chaotic enough, it can hard to spot by both human eyes an machine vision (due to the semi-regular hexagonal pattern) even from less than 50 m away. The colours do not change instantaneously - it takes a second or two - so the camouflage is useless in motion. The colours are also somewhat limited to dull, dark colours - they cannot produce pure white or pure black. The "stickers" provide no help with armouring, and if damaged become useless (but can be trivially peeled off and replaced).
Strengths:
Highly mobile and manoeuvrable: Very fast, and able to quickly change correction, and move within just about any terrain type - even city streets and civilian vehicle bridges. Hard for slow tracking turrets to target, and able to effectively fight from cover because the mech can quickly dart in and out of it.
Stealth: Though the mech could hardly be considered a true "stealth" machine because it is not truly invisible to visual, radar, or anything, its adaptive camouflage and ECM package make it extremely hard to pinpoint and target. Under the right conditions - in a chaotic enough environment or from far enough away - it can be effectively invisible.
Hands: The hands on the LC/A-4 allow the mech to operate a wide range of equipment, without requiring any modification to the mech. It can pick up and use clubs, blades, rifles, shotguns, RPG launchers, and a variety of non-weapon tools. More importantly, it can reload hand-held weapons, implying a functionally infinite ammo supply in combat (assuming you have a functionally infinite ammo supply available).
Modular design: The mech itself is really just the torso and head. The arms, legs, backpack, and shoulder weapons are separate, and anything that fits the same standard connection points could be substituted. There are a variety of parts available, such as heavier legs without jump jets that provide better stability when firing heavier weapons, or arms that don't have hands but rather integrated machine guns or beam weapons instead. It also means the mech is usually trivial to repair, if you have spares: just pop the broken limb off and snap a new one on (not to imply this could be done by hand - you need a crane to lift mech limbs - but it can be done even on the battlefield with a "medic" mech / combat engineer).
Weaknesses:
Open field combat: While the mech excels in combat in areas where it can duck behind cover, in open spaces it's basically an 8 m tall clay pigeon to enemy mechs, and it doesn't have the armouring to take much of a pounding.
Light armour: Can take hits from most standard mech weaponry, but only from range. Utterly useless in close-up combat, and against heavy or high-powered armour piercing ordinance.
Light weaponry: Starts out effectively unarmed, but even after acquiring a full load-out, still wouldn't be much of a threat to anything but other light mechs, unless Deepika is willing to give up the EW/ECM equipment.
Not sealed: The mech can operate completely submerged... but only for a few minutes before the pilot drowns. The cockpit isn't sealed, so the pilot is vulnerable to chemical or biological weapons - which includes water deeper than ~7 m. There is a face mask in the cockpit connected to small air tank, but only ~30 min worth.
No soloing: With its EW/ECM load-out, this mech can't even handle a fair fight with equivalently-classed mechs - it would only be a threat to foot soldiers and battle armour, and even the latter would be a challenge. It is supposed to be a part of a team, providing only light attack power on its own, but vastly multiplying the combat effectiveness of the dedicated combat mechs it is linked with. Without the team, it's almost entirely ineffective.
Overall Description:  The LMC-42 "Valkyria" comes to a little over 8 m tall, with LC/L-6 legs, and with LC/A-4 arms has a mostly humanoid appearance, albeit with a bit of a sunken head. The pilot sits/stands in the upper torso - the "head" lifts up and tilts back and the front plate folds down to allow the pilot to enter; a Christmas tree ladder extends down from the front plate to allow the pilot to climb the 6 m to the cockpit. When the pilot leaves the cockpit, she takes a "key" with her - which is either a small tab that fits on a keyring like a conventional garage door opener and is only used to open/close the mech, or a small tablet/remote that can allow the pilot limited operation of the mech from outside (which is mostly used to facilitate maintenance). The battery is in the crotch - panels open to allow recharging cables.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Ralhend

I like how you used the term "ass" as a jumpjet installation hardpoint *laughs*
A more detailed layout of my staring mecha, character, and RADU are in the works.
Post Rate: (Lethargic)
Request Thread/ Ons and Offs /A/A Thread
Active Stories on E: (Extremely Selective) 3/3 Discussions/Caged Bird/Maiden Voyage/Shattered Mirror/
Other Games E : (Taken) 1/1 /Chessgame 1, Mimétisme vs Ralhend/

King Serperior

Loving the mech, Saria!  Heh, I can hardly think of two mechs more opposite in Deepka's and the Ragnarok.  Hopefully, they'll manage to work their strengths and weaknesses out to compensate.  :P

@Ralhend:  Can't wait to see how the character and mech work out.   :-)

O/O's
A/A'sMonster Girl Palace
SFW Image Ideas for Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, and Steampunk Games! | My various characters, if you are curious! | I am a Rainbow Writer!
Post Rate: 1 post per game every 1-4 weeks on average  ||| I encourage any and all random PMs.

Karma

Chassis:  Humanoid Exoskeleton
Model:  Extremely modified Hostile Environment Suit
Weight Class:  Featherweight
Weight:  <½ ton (empty) 1 ton (Standard loadout, fully loaded); 10 tons (Maximum carry weight)
Height: 2.4 meters (8 feet)
Top Speed:  112kph (70mph)
Mech Name: Human Amplification Suit (HAS), nicknamed Arion
Armaments: HAS uses human weaponry, albeit with extreme accuracy and no recoil. Athena has also created several modular armaments for it including shoulder-mounted missile pods, short-range artillery, an anti-personnel cannon, and leg-mounted RPGs. All of these use standard ammunition but custom equipment.
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard): 
Boosters:  At several points on the suit, repulsors are installed to aid with evading, jumping, and hard landing.
HUD:  The HAS, being at its core a hostile environment suit, utilizes a highly advanced area scanning overlay that is able to report an incredible amount of detail. The HUD is projected onto the visor and as such, if damaged, will not obscure vision. Features include target tracking, aim assist, topology, infrared, and a suite of other options.
Performance Enhancement:  Life support systems gauge the user’s physical state and administer medicine and other chemicals based on context or user request. If the HUD system is active, the two systems work together to optimize each situation.
Phoebe:  Behind the HUD and PE systems is Phoebe, a nexus for all of the HAS’ systems and sensors. While not an AI by any traditional definition, Phoebe’s assessments and suggestions can give that illusion. As long as the suit has power, Phoebe can also control the HAS if so directed.
Failsafe Design:  If any or all of the HAS systems fail, the suit is still capable of functioning, if at a significant handicap. An average human would still be able to walk in the suit at about 5MPH without power. Each part of the suit can either be retracted or ejected in an emergency.

Strengths: 
Agility:  Bipedal design gives the HAS a maneuverability and unpredictability of movement that cannot be matched by “vehicle” type mechs. Its capacity for sudden changes of direction, bursts of speed, acrobatics, and its very small size make it very difficult for standard mech targeting systems to get a solid lock. The immense relative strength of the HAS allows it to leverage its agility in the form of jumping and climbing.
Natural movement:  There is no guesswork involved in controlling the HAS. As a force amplifier, each movement is directly translated, so that the basic tenets of its use can be understood in mere minutes. It is carefully balanced so that once the user has become accustomed to the suit, they can utilize it almost as if the suit has become part of them.
Stealth: Its small size and simple mechanisms make the suit hard to spot or hear due to the sensor standards of most large mecha.
Dynamism:  The size and humanoid nature of the HAS makes it widely applicable to any situation.

Weaknesses: 
Firepower:  While the HAS can handle large scale human weapons with ease, and has weapons platforms that only it can use, they are all generally small caliber in comparison to standard mechs. It will never win in a direct firefight and will have to rely on pinpoint strikes and, in many cases, melee combat in order to disable its opponents. The best option is to never directly engage at all.
Armor:  The HAS possesses one of the greatest strength-to-size ratios of any mech, but it is still small, and so has very light armor. Large scale weapons meant for full size mechs will get through its armor quickly. Fortunately, nearly all weapons that could get through with one hit are slow enough to avoid.
Repairs:  Athena has personally fabricated a large amount of custom parts for her HAS. While she can readily fabricate more, this takes time, and only in rare cases will the HAS be easily repairable with found parts.

Overall Description:  Arion is a powered exoskeleton the size of a very large human. It opens up from the back to allow the user to enter, and can adjust itself to fit a wide variety of body types. It is very fast but lightly armored. The forearms are reinforced to absorb blasts and hide climbing aid apparatus, while the shins and ankles are likewise reinforced and can open up into claws for grip. The suit uses very little power for the most part, which allows it to run on batteries instead of a reactor; a necessity for its small size. This does mean, however, that use of its boosters must be carefully calculated as they are very energy intensive.

Karma

That's part one of two - I still need to write up the combat exoskeleton.

King Serperior

Very nice!  Looking at the outer shell, it seems that the shoulder-mounted rockets are of a larger power of the leg-mounted ones.  So, Missile-wise, it seems to have 4x on the shoulders (two per shoulder) and 12x on the legs (three per leg and three on each hip).  Looks to be quite the deadly weapon against personnel and Light mechs while still giving larger ones trouble.

I like it!

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Karma

Thanks! I don't know if it will come up, but it's meant to be capable of aquatic use (but would need some kind of extra power source to stay maneuverable at depth) and EVA.

King Serperior

Who knows?  It may come up.  The Ragnarok, due to it being completely sealed, can operate underwater.  The thing is, I doubt there would be a time where the water gets deep enough to submerge it!  However, the fact that your mech is aquatic means that it's usefulness is many times greater. 

By the way, do you think you could possibly give some more detail towards the armaments?  As in things like ammo count or specifics?  It's easy to tell how many missiles are in the shoulders by looking, but the artillery and autocannon is easy to figure out.

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Karma

Yeah, I'll work on that after getting the big boy done.

Ralhend

#138
Chassis:  Medium Modular Core, class-65(a core that accepts attachments at 9 points: back, left and right shoulders, left and right chest bays, left and right arms, left and right legs)
Model:  MMC-65 "" core, with 2 MC/B-8 legs and 2 MC/C-6 arms
Weight Class:  Medium
Weight: 34 T (Dry); 65 T (Fully Loaded)
Height:  11.2 m
Mech Name/Callsign: — Ares
Armaments (Standard Layout):  — (being a modular mech chassis, has no single "standard" layout)

Reinforced Arms and Legs (Standard):  This chassis was designed with the possibility of hand-to-hand combat in mind.  The hands and feet, wrists and ankles, elbows and knees, hips and shoulders have all been reinforced to withstand the stresses of mecha scale combat.  With the right training, a pilot could be quite deadly even when all of his ammo is spent.

Monofilament Edged Combat Knife (Standard):  The MMC-65 comes with a 2.5 meter long mecha sized knife, edged with titanium monofilament wire.  In hand to hand situations, this allows the pilot a better chance of penetrating thick armor and striking a vital system or the enemy pilot.

Ares Model 7 Quad-Medium Laser Rifle (Non-Standard): This was the closest weapon available, and all Joseph was able to grab during his escape.  Its a mech sized medium range battle rifle, consisting of a cluster of 4 medium lasers chained together in a box configuration.  This weapon can fire from a detachable box power cell (Containing enough power for 30 shots) or it can draw power form the mech’s reactor core, allowing it to fire indefinitely. The only real disadvantage this weapon has is it’s limited range and its tendency to overheat if misused.

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):
GN/GPG/-72 Fire control System: Removable. This is a standard issue, low cost FCS made to be mass produced for rank and file soldiers. Consists of:
•   Radar: Active and passive phased-array radar systems. Able to pinpoint airborne targets for roughly 100 km, if they're high enough and have a large enough silhouette.  This system can pick out a small target (5m across) at 20 km in good weather, ~5 km under average conditions. Active radar gives position away, but is necessary for target acquisition.
•   Infrared and Low Light Amplification: These are standard issue optics that allows the pilot to have fair visibility in low light / Fog / Smoke filled conditions.
•   Mecha Communications Suite: A standard issue communications hardware package allowing the mech to coordinate with the rest of his mecha infantry unit.
•   RADU-2 (Reclaimed Automatic Diagnostic Unit)(Removeable) This is Joseph’s Jury-Rigged Mark 2(6) AI.  The system itself is made to tap directly into the mech’s computers for purposes of running diagnostics.  In his haste to escape his damaged cargo container, Joseph used this AI to bypass the chassis anti theft systems.  When not connected to an outside power source, RADU is able to operate off of its interal battery for about 10 hours.  The system is housed in a standard interface computer frame, about the size and shape of a standard 5-gallon bucket.  It weighs 20lbs
 
Jump jets: Non-removable (built in to the MMC-65 core and the MC/B-8 legs). These are compressed air thrusters made to give the mech somewhat better mobility in rough terrain, and to slow a parachute descent after a halo-drop.  The system requires a full minute to recharge after being used.  A fully charged unit is able to propel the chassis a distance of 50 meters, straight up or across.

Strengths:
Highly Adaptable: This chassis was made with the intention of creating a machine that useful in almost any situation.  Its mix of fair speed, good armor, and generous hardpoints allow this mech to make use of any heavy (or lighter) standard mech weaponry pods.  If a faster mech is needed, the armor and weapons could be stripped, and the mech issued a long range sniper type weapon.  If close range combat is to be expected, the weapons and armor could be issued to reflect this.
Sealed Cockpit:  This chassis was made with keeping the pilot alive as long as possible under extreme conditions.  The MMC-65 is rated to operate completely submerged up to a depth of 200 meters.  Its possible it could go deeper, but the pilot runs the risk of damage to the mecha. 
Hands:(Borrowed from Deepka's mech) The hands on the MC/C-6 allow the mech to operate a wide range of equipment, without requiring any modification to the mech. It can pick up and use clubs, blades, rifles, shotguns, RPG launchers, and a variety of non-weapon tools. More importantly, it can reload hand-held weapons, implying a functionally infinite ammo supply in combat (assuming you have a functionally infinite ammo supply available).
AI system: RADU-2 is a high performance, (if unstable) AI that assists the pilot in battlefield situations. RADU is linked directly to the mech’s computers and sensors, and is capable of giving the pilot updates of the situation around the mech, as well as making suggestions of what actions to take. RADU has a limited ability to pilot the mecha, but is locked out of firing the weapons systems.
Modular design / Ease of repair: This chassis was made with heavy use and constant repair in mind.  Being a mass produced mech, replacement parts are fairly common, and the chassis itself is spacious and roomy, allowing properly equipped technicians to make field repairs quite easily, usually able to complete their work in about half the time it took them to repair the earlier MMC-50s. 

Weaknesses:
Inexperienced pilot: Joseph Hendrial is a technician, not a pilot. While he is familiar with how to operate a mech, he has no mecha combat experience outside of the simulators and video games. Unlike the sit down arcade cabinets, the mech moves and heaves as he pilots it, and he finds this somewhat disorienting...
Limited communications system: The stock comms system on an MMC-65 is designed with only the basics in mind, as it was made to be a small part of a larger mech force, coordinating and networking with the units designated comm-Officer, who’s mech is usually equipped with a more advanced system.
Patchwork AI (RADU): RADU-2 is a daisy-chained combination of obsolete components and spare parts.  While able to perform better than the late model mark-6 AIs, RADU can be somewhat tempermental, and sometimes the parts have synch issues.  There is a cumulative 1d10-5x1% chance for every hour he continuously operates that he malfunctions (The results of which are determined by a random table that’s currently in the works)  The only way to prevent this is to put the system into a synchronization cycle periodically, which takes about one minute for every 1% that was accumulated. (IE if he accumulated a 34% error rate, he we need a 34 minute synch phase to find all of the bugs in the system.)  The mech is inoperable during this time, since RADU is required to bypass the mech's anti-theft systems.
No secondary weapons installed:  This particular mech was prepped for transport only, and did not have any of its hard points fitted with any weapon pods.
Jack of all Trades, Master of none: While this is a good mech for most situations, its not a great one. Light mechs are faster and more maneuverable, while heavier mechs have more armor and carry better weapons.

Overall Description:  The MMC-65 "Ares" is a bipedal war machine, made to be commonly and cheaply mass produced to bolster mech infantry forces.   It’s a little over 11 meters Tall, with a squat appearance.  The main reactor is housed in the abdomen just under the cockpit.  The powerplant is an “off the shelf” Nissan 227 production type, with ports for recharging external batteries of vehicles and other light mecha.  The pilot accesses the cockpit from a cable with a foot loop, which lifts him up from the ground.
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King Serperior

Looks good to me, Ralhend!  I have to say, that's a pretty intimidating-looking mech!

Also, I found what I was missing in the Ragnarok:
Quote from: Ralhend on September 07, 2015, 06:15:26 PM
The pilot accesses the cockpit from a cable with a foot loop, which lifts him up from the ground.


So, what we have so far is:  A nearly weaponless mech that is suitable only for electronic warfare piloted by someone who would rather just get out on her own than be in a group, an highly experimental power armor piloted by a near anti-social woman, a well-rounded, adaptable mech piloted by a guy who, honestly, shouldn't really be in the cockpit of a mech, and a massively armored and heavily armed titan of a mech piloted by a cocky mech fighter from the arena.

Looks like we've got some problems ahead for the group!   XD

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Ralhend

#140
Quote from: King Serperior on September 07, 2015, 11:23:55 PM
Looks good to me, Ralhend!  I have to say, that's a pretty intimidating-looking mech!

Also, I found what I was missing in the Ragnarok:

So, what we have so far is:  A nearly weaponless mech that is suitable only for electronic warfare piloted by someone who would rather just get out on her own than be in a group, an highly experimental power armor piloted by a near anti-social woman, a well-rounded, adaptable mech piloted by a guy who, honestly, shouldn't really be in the cockpit of a mech, and a massively armored and heavily armed titan of a mech piloted by a cocky mech fighter from the arena.

Looks like we've got some problems ahead for the group!   XD

Oh you have no idea.  But whats life without a few problems to make things interesting?

Here is my proposal to handle RADU, submitted for your consideration (This will give me an excuse to use the dicebot =D)


RADU-2

The "Reclaimed Automated Diagnostic Unit Mark-2"  Is a type 2 Mil-Spec AI computer core that was made fifteen years prior to the current storyline.  It was recovered and rebuilt by Joseph Hendrial, a civilian Mecha-Electronics Technician working for {Insert name of our allies military force here, we need to discuss this later}

Joseph decided that he could use a new diagnostic unit for running repair routines and automatic test programs.  Due to budgent contraints, the military denied his request.  Frustrated, he pieced together RADU-2 
Using salvaged parts from other heavilly damaged Mark 2, 3, 4, and 5 systems in his spare time...   A memory buffer here, a closed nitrogen cooling system there, and then re writing the code and memory values to hopefully make everything work correctly...

Once the system was brought online it performed almost perfectly.  Diagnostic routines and repair efficiencies in the repair shop were up almost 50%...  The system could also play a seriously mean game of chess...

The finished product is housed in a 5 gallon wire mesh bucket, and is roughly 3 times the size of a newer Mark-6 Artificial Intelligence unit...   It also runs 25% faster, but at a price.

The cobbled together nature of the system is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.  Despite many fixes to the software and hardware, the components will sometimes run into synchronization problems which can cause RADU to malfunction from time to time.  The longer RADU operates, the more the synchronization issues compound and increase the likely-hood of a glitch.   

For every hour that the system operates, there is a chance that a synchronization issue will occur.  Roll one ten sided die, and subtract 5 from the result.  If the end number is less than 0, no synchronization issues happen, and the system works fine.  If the number is greater than zero, add this to RADU's percentage pool.

There is a way to resolve the issue.  The system has to reset itself with a diagnostic routine that requires at least one minute of cycle time for each percentage point accumulated.  Every hour that RADU is operating however, and has percentage points in its pool, roll percentile to see if a malfunction occurs.

For example:  Radu and Joseph are out assisting Deep/Thumper on a salvage run, and RADU has been operating for 5 hours straight.   1d10 is rolled 5 times:

Roll 1 : 4                  no points in the pool, no glitch event possible yet
Roll 2 : 6 (add 1)     72 is rolled against 1%, no glitch event
Roll 3 : 7 (add 2)     65 is rolled against 3%, no glitch event
Roll 4 : 3                  81 is rolled against 3%, no glitch event
Roll 5 : 9 (add 4)       5 is rolled against 7%, See below

This equates to a 7% chance that RADU experiences a glitch.  A d100 is rolled.  If a 01-07 is rolled, RADU has something happen.  If 08-100 is rolled, the system works fine.

For purposes of this example, lets say the player rolls a 5.  He would then roll percentile again on the following table: (I'm open to modding this table btw if you guys have any ideas for an interesting glitch event)

01-35%  Language processor glitch. RADU begins slurring his words.  One word out of every 5 he says will be pronounced backwards for 1d10+(X%) minutes
36-45%  Radar Ghosts appear, when there is actually nothing there. RADU however will insist that a hostile is nearby for 1d8+(X%)minutes
46-55%  HUD malfunction.  HUD begins to flicker, making targeting and ranging difficult for 1d6+(X%) minutes
56-65%  Language software recognition glitch.  RADU begins speaking gibberish and cannot be understood at all.  He likewise cannot understand pilot commands for 1d4+(X%) minutes
66-75%  Hydraulics regulation malfunction.  Mech's speed is reduced by half for 1d4+(X%) minutes
76-80%  Weapon system lockout.  One weapon system goes offline, and cannot be used for 1d10 minutes
81-90%  Engine overcharge event.  Mech speed is doubled for 1d10+(X%) minutes, afterward speed is reduced to 25% until diagnostics are run
91-94%  Jumpjets fire for no reason, launching the mecha in a random direction.
95-97%   FCS error.  All weapons are unusable for 1d4(+X%) minutes until the system restarts.
98-99%   Minor Hardware Error.  Mech powerplant regulation hardware goes out of phase, Initiating a synch routine. Re-boot in (X%) minutes
100%       Fatal Hardware crash.  A critical component experiences a power surge, and the part is effectively slagged.  Mech shuts completely down until the part is replaced.

A 45 is rolled, meaning RADU sees an enemy mech right in front of the Ares, yet it can be plainly seen that nothing is there...  The table says this malfunction persists for 1d8+(7) minutes.  a 3 is rolled, and 7 is added to it for a total of ten minutes of having to listen to RADU moan and groan about the "hostile" thats right behind us...


IE Its generally good practice to let him run his Synch Routine as often as possible.  A few minutes here and there shouldnt hurt us too bad.
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 07, 2015, 11:55:16 PM
Oh you have no idea.  But whats life without a few problems to make things interesting?
Oh, very true!   :D
Quote
01-35%  Language processor glitch. RADU begins slurring his words.  One word out of every 5 he says will be pronounced backwards for 1d10+(X%) minutes
36-45%  Radar Ghosts appear, when there is actually nothing there. RADU however will insist that a hostile is nearby for 1d8+(X%)minutes
46-55%  HUD malfunction.  HUD begins to flicker, making targeting and ranging difficult for 1d6+(X%) minutes
56-65%  Language software recognition glitch.  RADU begins speaking gibberish and cannot be understood at all.  He likewise cannot understand pilot commands for 1d4+(X%) minutes
66-75%  Hydraulics regulation malfunction.  Mech's speed is reduced by half for 1d4+(X%) minutes
76-80%  Weapon system lockout.  One weapon system goes offline, and cannot be used for 1d10 minutes
81-90%  Engine overcharge event.  Mech speed is doubled for 1d10+(X%) minutes, afterward speed is reduced to 25% until diagnostics are run
91-94%  Jumpjets fire for no reason, launching the mecha in a random direction.
95-97%   FCS error.  All weapons are unusable for 1d4(+X%) minutes until the system restarts.
98-99%   Minor Hardware Error.  Mech powerplant regulation hardware goes out of phase, Initiating a synch routine. Re-boot in (X%) minutes
100%       Fatal Hardware crash.  A critical component experiences a power surge, and the part is effectively slagged.  Mech shuts completely down until the part is replaced.
Everything looks good and I like the error chance, however what I just put in bold doesn't quite sit right in my mind.  Perhaps change it to something like 'Energy-based weaponry has power doubled (with the increased overheating chance, obviously) for 1d10+(X%) minutes (same time as the original);  Afterward, all weapon systems and all subsystems shut down (though the communications equipment remains operational, but only just) until diagnostics are run.'  How does that sound?

Of course, changes would have to be made to the FCS Error event since that is so similar, though one shuts down immediately and the other gives a brief power boost before shutting down.


That said, can these Error Events stack?  As in, could the system start seeing 'Ghost Enemies' and 'Random Jumpjets Firing' happen at the same time?  I would imagine so, plus, it could make battlefield situations more interesting since there are likely to be times where shutting everything down for him to run a test and memory purge will be few and far between.

IE Its generally good practice to let him run his Synch Routine as often as possible.  A few minutes here and there shouldnt hurt us too bad.
[/quote]

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Ralhend

#142
The idea is that the engine governor is momentarily taken offline, making the reactor run wide open for a few minutes.  This gives a momentary boost to movement, but also makes aiming harder since the mechs movements are jerky and quick.  Things overheat and burn out, and after a few minutes the mechs engines are damaged, reducing thier power output to one quarter until repairs are made...

Since we are using fusion engines (hot fusion im assuming ) it makes me think of a toroidal loop of plasma contained in magnetic fields.  Maybie excess matter is put into the loop chamber and a runaway reaction occours.  I know fusion engines are scientifically incapable of exploding, just that the plasma loop decays and shuts down...   But that didnt stop battletech from making them go critical when they are destroyed for funs sake.   Are we going realistic with the technology or will these things be able to explode ?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 08, 2015, 01:56:05 PM
The idea is that the engine governor is momentarily taken offline, making the reactor run wide open for a few minutes.  This gives a momentary boost to movement, but also makes aiming harder since the mechs movements are jerky and quick.  Things overheat and burn out, and after a few minutes the mechs engines are damaged, reducing thier power output to one quarter until repairs are made...
Alright, quick, jerky motions that greatly throws off the mech's aim.  I will say that if a mech overcharges like that, there should be a risk of damaging the mech's joints which cam further limit movement since they weren't designed for the jerky, quick movements.
Quote
Since we are using fusion engines (hot fusion im assuming ) it makes me think of a toroidal loop of plasma contained in magnetic fields.  Maybie excess matter is put into the loop chamber and a runaway reaction occours.  I know fusion engines are scientifically incapable of exploding, just that the plasma loop decays and shuts down...   But that didnt stop battletech from making them go critical when they are destroyed for funs sake.   Are we going realistic with the technology or will these things be able to explode ?
I'd rather explosions of mecha because of engine damage to me minimum.  Unless multiple failsafes fail at the same time or the pilot manually overides them, the fusion cores should remain stabilized.  Explosions are more likely to happen should a mech's explosive ammo be breached, but even then, there should be failsafes to prevent everything going up in an explosive ball of flame.

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Ralhend

Well, that particular mech was designed with hand to hand combat in mind asa a possibility, and all of the joints have been reinforced.  On a different chassis sure, but there would be no risk to damaging the joints in this case.   Think of playing an FPS game with the mouse sensitivity set higher than what you are used to, thats all.
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King Serperior

Alright, that's understandable.  Sorry for picking things apart!

Anywho, I think all that's needed is the outer shell of Athena's Battle Armor done and Joseph's pilot CS.  Then, we'll have everything.  Other than that, I am still hoping that the two interested parties that have spoken with me will post here.  If not, the four of us will certainly do.  *nod*

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Ralhend

Im still trying to find a good picture to post, and im having issues...  I understand you guys post real photos, I have trouble with such things, will an illustration / anime drawing be acceptable ?  (I associate mecha with anime anyways )
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Karma

I had both styles in the original sheet, but I found a pic I liked enough to use just the real one.

King Serperior

Quote from: Ralhend on September 09, 2015, 02:18:36 PM
Im still trying to find a good picture to post, and im having issues...  I understand you guys post real photos, I have trouble with such things, will an illustration / anime drawing be acceptable ?  (I associate mecha with anime anyways )
If you can't find a suitable real image, then you'll have to put some extra effort in writing up his physical description.  When I do mecha games, unless it is a Gundam or Zoids universe, I prefer real images for characters.

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Karma

I usually go with illustrations, but the original game was Pacific Rim and real people were more thematically appropriate. I ended up associating Catherine Bell with her more than the Metal Gear Acid chick.

Ralhend

Right now Im leaning twoards Val Kilmer's representation of Iceman.
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Karma

Chassis:  Giant Humanoid Exoskeleton
Model:  Custom Build
Weight Class:  Sub-Light
Weight:  5 tons (empty) 10 tons (Standard loadout, fully loaded); 75 tons (Maximum carry weight)
Height: 3.65 meters (12 feet)
Top Speed:  195kph (120mph)
Mech Name: Hostility Escalation Exoskeleton (HEE), nicknamed Aegis
Armaments: The HEE can use most handheld weaponry from mechs its size and larger. Its hands are too large for HAS or human weaponry, and it is too small for standard hardpoint attachments. As such it is designed primarily around harrying and melee combat, as well as sabotage like its core, the HAS.
Vibrosabers: Aegis carries two swords in back mounts. These swords require power (via being wielded) to vibrate, but are perfectly functional blades without power. They are designed to remove limbs and cut through armor to expose internal components. They can be dual-wielded but are at their best when used two-handed. (2)
Kunai: The HEE carries four of these at a time, at mount points on each knee and both hips. These blades are meant only for stabbing or throwing; they have an extremely sharp point but no cutting edge. Each contains a burst battery capable of providing limited course correction via thrusters. If the kunai detect that they’ve pierced armor, they break open and blow the rest of their charge for an electromagnetic assault on the innards of the target. Rechargeable. (4)
Autocannons: Both forearms of the Aegis hold retractable rotary cannons that can use various ammo types, though they are usually stocked with anti-armor rounds. (2x100)
Shoulder Spikes: What appear to be standard weapon catching/deflecting spikes are actually further anti-armor weaponry. They are rockets, as opposed to missiles, filled with an anti-armor payload. As they are rockets, they can only fire straight out, making it often preferable to literally ram the opponent with the Aegis’ shoulder to get them lodged in the enemy’s armor before detonating them. (2x6)
Vulcan Cannon Two barrels on each side of the head house anti-personnel rounds. (2x25)

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard): 
Microreactor Batteries become unreasonable for the Aegis’ size and necessary power output. The reactor is an ultra-safe design meant for home and business use that has found a unique home. Athena has altered the limiter to let it run hotter than would be comfortable otherwise.
Boosters:  Unlike the HAS, the HEE features a full-fledged rocket propulsion system thanks to its reactor. Still mostly used for jumps and evades, but is capable of short flights as well.
Mnemosyne:  When the HAS and HEE are docked, Phoebe gains access to significantly more computing power, graduating her to a true simple AI. While Phoebe’s control over the HAS is relatively simplistic and reactive, Mnemosyne is a capable combatant in her own right. She can’t compete with human aces on an even footing, but combined with the Aegis’ high agility and speed relative to most mechs, can often outperform them. Athena has built in safeguards against Mnemosyne taking full permanent control; fully independent circuits detect if a human is in the suit every five minutes and eject the HAS if none is detected over two cycles. The HEE has no onboard memory and cannot house Phoebe, making Mnemosyne only possible when the suits are combined.
Failsafe Design: The HEE is designed under the same basic principles as the HAS. Unpowered walking speed is about 20 MPH.

Strengths:  The HEE has the same advantages as the HAS, but has improved firepower.
Mnemosyne: The AI can seamlessly adjust aim, avoid projectiles, and provide many other combat enhancements.

Weaknesses:  The weaknesses are also similar for the most part, minus the glaring firepower and armor concerns.
Mnemosyne: The AI’s actions are not always seamless. More of a struggle for the pilot than for survival, Mnemosyne can take action without warning for the purpose of mitigating damage, as it has developed a desire for self-preservation. The actions of the Aegis not matching up 1:1 to the pilot’s movements can be extremely disconcerting for the uninitiated.

Overall Description:  Aegis is effectively, and by all external appearances, a standard humanoid sub-light mech. It is extraordinarily fast and structurally tough, but its armor is still on the light side.

King Serperior

Okay, the outer shell looks good, but I am having some questions regarding them now:

First, if it is to be classes as a 'Sub-Light' mech, that maximum carry weight of 75 tons seems like quite a lot.  In all honesty, if you keep the max carry weight, it would be classed as a Medium mech through and through.  Second, I am not sure going from solely ranged combat (HAS) to mostly melee (HEE).  The way I see it, the HAS's weapons (shoulder-mounted missile pods, short-range artillery, an anti-personnel cannon, and leg-mounted RPGs) would be rendered useless when covered by the HEE.  Wouldn't it be more sense for the HAS's and HEE's armaments to be swapped?  I mean, a lighter, faster mech would more easily get close enough to use it's blades while the heavier one would be able to tank a couple of hits and get off a missile or autocannon shot or two?

I'm not trying to be difficult.  I'm just trying to make this make more sense in my mind.

O/O's
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Karma

Perhaps maximum "lift" weight would be more clear for you. It's not going to be wearing 70 tons of weaponry at any point, it wouldn't be able to move. It's more in terms of what it could pick up, a la Master Chief flipping tanks in Halo. I cut the ratio of size to max weight down by 25% from the HAS. I can cut it by more if you want, but that number is largely meaningless. I don't fully grasp your concerns about the weapon swap... also, not only is that more work, but it makes both secondary pics invalid. :P

King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 09, 2015, 07:52:28 PM
Perhaps maximum "lift" weight would be more clear for you. It's not going to be wearing 70 tons of weaponry at any point, it wouldn't be able to move. It's more in terms of what it could pick up, a la Master Chief flipping tanks in Halo. I cut the ratio of size to max weight down by 25% from the HAS. I can cut it by more if you want, but that number is largely meaningless.
AHH!  Okay, now I get what you mean.  My apologies.  Perhaps a little note on that would be good, but I understand completely what you mean now.
Quote
I don't fully grasp your concerns about the weapon swap... also, not only is that more work, but it makes both secondary pics invalid. :P
Well, I am going by the concept of the HAS entering the HEE from the back like Athena climbs into the HAS.  Looking at the HAS with the artillery and autocannon, it seems like it would be somewhat difficult to do that.  Maybe I am overthinking things some.....

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Karma

Yeah, I mean... the HAS would obviously not be wearing any of that upon docking. It would all be ejected.

To expand on the weapons distribution, the HAS is utterly unsuited to take on large mechs directly. It can't carry anything big enough and really should just be scaling the enemy and going after the pilot and wiring. Its projectile weapons are mostly for pinpoint strikes (cameras, personnel, weak joints, etc) and I was planning to give it some melee weaponry as well, I just haven't expanded that section yet. The HEE is big enough to fight them directly but it's still quite small, and it can't carry large enough projectile weaponry to be worthwhile since that sort of stuff would make it pretty unbalanced and hard to control, which is why it has so much specialty anti-armor tech built right into the armor. This lets it keep maximum mobility.

The ultimate point is that if the HAS is fighting a big mech one on one, something has gone very very wrong. It's not designed for that and should not be put in that position at any cost.

King Serperior

Alright, I am understanding things better now.  Hmm, if the HAS has to eject those shoulder-mounted weapons, perhaps the HEE can pick them up as hand-held ones?  Or maybe the HAS has the weapons lower backwards so they are both low on it's back, allowing it to climb the the HEE?

Thanks for the clarification!  Sorry for being so difficult.   :-[

O/O's
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Karma


Ralhend

Guys, i havent forgotten about you.  They asked me to work the weekend, so my time is limited.  Ill have my extended char profile up sunday at the latest
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Saria

I also haven't forgotten. :P I've just been preoccupied with work, PMing with Ralhend to organize our characters, and preparing the thread I mentioned. Along the way I totally forgot to comment on all the profiles posted - I read them all offline, and made a mental note to comment when I was home, then just kept forgetting. I had no complaints or suggestions, they all looked neat to me.

But the way, regarding the thread, no name was selected yet, but rather than waiting on a consensus, I'll just use "Heavy Metal Magellan" as a placeholder for now. We can change it later.

This evening, I'll upload the pic and show what I've got so far.
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King Serperior

No worries at all.  I think I'll go with Magellan, though I had to actually look it up first.  >.>

I can't wait to see what you two come up with!  Regarding character organization, I am working on some minor changes to the Ragnarok.  One such change regards the projectiles for the Rail Gun.  At it's current, there's 100 of them.  As each weighs 7 pounds, that is only a mere 700 pounds.  Seems inadequate for a mech of Ragnarok's size, no?  I'm not quite sure how much 85 missiles and 720,000 rounds of minigun ammo would weigh, but I am saying that I'll make the Rail Gun's ammo weigh in at 4.2 tons, which means 600 projectiles.

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Saria

((Okay, here's a first, very rough draft of what I'm aiming for in the RP info thread. In the real thing, the items in the cast of characters list would be linked to each person's info post - which would have their character profile, their mech profile, and anything else they feel like adding.))







                        The initial panic from the impact had died down by now. There was a still a tension in the atmosphere, but almost ten minutes had passed without the entire transport falling apart or being consumed by fire, so it was starting to look like it wasn’t the end.

There was a loud pop as the intercom came alive, then the Captain’s voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience while the crew and I investigated the problem.

“It now appears that our right wing was impacted by what was probably a large chunk of space debris, or possibly a meteor. We have lost engines 9 and 10 completely, and engine 8 is dubious. More importantly, the structural integrity of the right wing has been severely compromised.

“Let me reassure you all that we will land safely. I say again, we are in no mortal danger. I cannot guarantee that we will land where we are supposed to, but we will make a safe atmospheric reentry and land safely at the nearest available airport - though it’s still too early to know exactly which one that will be.

“Unfortunately, we will have to jettison the cargo. The wing can easily handle reentry braking, but not if we’re carrying the weight of all our cargo.

“Cargo containers are designed to survive reentry, and make reasonably soft landings. However, there will be no guarantees where on Earth your cargo will land. Even if the cargo survives reentry and landing, it may still be unrecoverable if it lands in an inaccessible location, or someone else recovers it before the proper authorities. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is an emergency situation.

“Container jettison procedures will begin in 45 minutes. You have 30 minutes to enter your containers and retrieve any valuables you can carry, if you wish. Or, if you wish, you may stay in your container after that time, and go down with it. By regulation, cargo containers are designed to double as emergency escape pods, so they will land safely - though not comfortably - should you prefer stay with your cargo. The choice is yours, and you have 30 minutes to make it.

“To repeat: We have suffered damage, but can still make a safe landing at the nearest airport if we jettison the cargo containers. You have 30 minutes to access your container and retrieve anything of value that you can carry. Or, if you wish, you can go down in one of the dropped containers, which should land safely - though there is no way to know exactly where. The First Officer and Third Officer will be on hand to answer and questions and assist you. Thank you for your patience.”
                       

After a mysterious accident on board a transport shuttle from the Lunar colonies to Earth, a small group of mech pilots are dropped from orbit with their machines. They land safely, but in the worst place they could have: smack dab in the middle of _____, with its belligerent dictator and ruthless army of fanatics, all of whom would love the thrill of a gory public execution of foreigners.

Now they will have to make a 10,000 km journey to safety through some of the most dangerous countries on Earth. They will have to traverse rugged terrain and shifting political landscapes, and struggle to make do with limited supplies and little hope of finding allies, with the largest and most heavily-armed military in the world pursuing them ferociously.


{{title image}}

An alternate universe, realistic, free-form mech roleplay

Characters

  • Angela Blair / Ragnarok
  • Lt. Deepika Patel / LMC-42
  • Joseph Hendrial / MMC-65
  • Athena Metaxas / Arion/Aegis
  • Open - this could be you!
  • Open - this could be you!

The story
((Here we could put a list of brief blurbs about where they are and what they're up to, broadly speaking, as we go along, probably with links to relevant in-game posts. It can help keep track of the story, and provide a quick-and-dirty way to check back to previous events. The first one will be the starting scene.))
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Ralhend

#162

Name:  Joseph Hendrial
Rank:  N/A;  Civilian
Role: Mercenary Mecha-Combat Technician
Nicknames:  None Assigned Yet
Callsign:  None Assigned Yet
Age:  30
Gender:  Male
Sexuality:  Straight
Height:  6' (182.88cm)
Weight:  210lbs (95.25kg)
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Auburn, cut short, often mussed
Skin:  Lightly tanned
Physique:  Healthy and solid
Distinguishing Marks:  Severe scarring on either sides of his spine, with stainless steel plates and myomers visible along its length.
Distinguishing Behaviors:  When lost in thought, he will often touch the back of his neck, fingering the vertebral ridges under his skin...
Appearance:  Strong and athletic.  Often wears coveralls with a gun-style toolbelt.  He carries a special set of Jeweler's screwdrivers in his left breast pocket, and a 12" adjustable wrench on his right leg, both for technical and sentimental reasons.

Bio:  Was a promising cadet during mech basic training, but was dishonorably discharged after severely beating his Recruit Division Commander.  The details of that event are sealed and he doesn't talk much about it... Not one of his favorite subjects.

Hendrial found work after washing out of training as a security guard for the moon colony.  During the Ankharran Blitz he manned an older sniper rifle, and with four others,  held off an attacking force of 300 by using the terrain to their advantage. Joseph and his ad-hoc squad bought enough time for the main forces to arrive, and force back the imperial invasion attempt.  Their bravery saved thousands, but Joseph sustained major injuries to his spine. Injuries that were serious enough to warrant a cybernetic replacement.  While being armored and well protected against bare hand / knife attacks, the spinal replacement affords him no special abilities.  While he has full mobility, he is left with a dull ache along his lower back and legs, an unfortunate side-effect of the synthetic nerve replacements. He takes regular doses of morphine to counteract the pain.

Being immobile for nearly seven months during the recovery process, he poured himself into researching mecha electronics, focusing on radar and communications.  He also (from his bed) played a popular online mech simulator game, familiarizing himself with standardized mech operation.  He is currently ranked 9th out of 12,000,000 subscribers.

Over the next several years he became an authority on mecha systems, and is often sought out as an "Independent Consultant". He currently works for the  (edit this) In this capacity.  Joseph's role and reason for being present on the transport are to help evaluate the new MCC-65 Mecha Chassis.

During the incident, he is in one of the containers looking over one of the new mechs technical readouts, and constructing a formalized evaluation of the design to send back to the manufacturer.  He is not able to exit the container during the incident due to damage sustained in the meteor strike, and is forced to make do with what he has available in an effort to escape.  He has the armor, The anti-material rifle (But only one magazine/5 shots), and basic gear pictured (List will be updated).  His mecha has no armament however to start, aside from the medium range mecha assault rifle. 

(This is the gear of a fallen soldier that was being shipped back to the homefront, found as he was rifling through container's storage crates in an effort to gather supplies for the drop.)
Lightly damaged Type-2 Infantry Flak Armor
Backpack
Bedroll
Shaving kit (75% intact)
Canteen with Bio-Filter. (cleans most microbes out of the water but leaves it smelling/tasting like a swimming pool)
Survival Knife
Barret Mark IIV Anti Material Rifle, One Magazine, 5 rounds, no reloads
Used Medical kit with 50% of its supplies intact
50' Coil of rope
One Flash-Bang Style Grenade
One Frag Style Baseball Grenade
Damaged Las-Pistol (Good for close range only, 30ft, until the focusing Lenses are replaced)
550 Caterpillar style bracelet

Regular Gear:
500ml of Morphene (about two weeks worth, he can make it last 3, but expect him to be grumpy)
RADU-II Diagnostic AI System
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Saria

Ah, yeah, I should clarify the gear Deep starts out with, too.

Basically all she has is whatever was in her mech, and a duffel bag - she only came to the Moon to do her tests, then go home, so she travelled like (as soldiers are wont to do).

The mech will have standard supplies on board - basically the stuff listed here.

  • tactical vest
  • combat helmet (for when you have to leave the mech)
  • pilot helment (in the cockpit - not meant to stop bullets, rather to integrate with machine: has built-in face mask, augmented reality display, and communications, once plugged in to the mech)
  • gas mask
  • hazmat coveralls
  • autoinjectors (for various nerve gasses, and radiation treatment)
  • cold-weather clothing
  • rain gear
  • pilot suit (she doesn't start out wearing this, but it's in the mech)
  • first aid kit (mostly complete, minus a few things she might have used to treat a cut or scrape)
  • purifying canteen
  • combat glasses (basically sunglasses that darken/lighten intelligently, and have AR display)
  • field repair kit (to do emergency field maintenance on the mech - basically a tool box, plus some containers of hydraulic fluid, spare wiring, etc.)
  • flashlight
  • all-weather adaptable sleep roll
  • combat flashlight
  • fire extinguisher
  • a bunch of ropes and straps and stuff, meant for securing the mech when being transported
  • flechette pistol, with 45 rounds (15 per cartridge)
  • standard issue personal defence weapon (basically P90, MP7, or F2000) with 200 rounds (50 per cartridge), and standard/night-vision/laser sight
  • about 10 days worth of MREs (30)

She'll also have some non-standard-issue equipment in the mech:

  • an assortment of candies and chocolates for snacking
  • a hammock
  • violin (fairly cheap 7/8 size)
  • pictures of scantily clad men and women in suggestive poses all over the inside of the cockpit
  • a small stash of manga books - some of which are pornographic
  • a hand-held game system
  • a bong

In her duffel, she only has:

  • a couple extra sets of uniform stuff
  • fatigues
  • jumpsuit
  • running shoes
  • combat boots
  • sport sandals
  • sweats
  • couple of T-shirts and shorts
  • spare undies
  • swimsuit (one piece for training)
  • LBD with matching shoes and accessories
  • sexy outfit, and some sexy undies, for just in case she meets someone
  • toiletry kit

And of course she starts out wearing her standard uniform, which is basically this.

I think that's about everything.
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Ralhend

#164
I'd go with the P90 regardless, because of the huge magazine, and because P90s are awesome =D.

One of my primary goals is to get some better gear, or to at least fix that damn Las-Pistol.
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Saria

Draft title image.



Note that if the name if the game isn't decided on as "Heavy Metal Magellan", this is trivial to change.
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Ralhend

#166
Quote from: Saria on September 12, 2015, 06:26:21 AM
Draft title image.



Note that if the name if the game isn't decided on as "Heavy Metal Magellan", this is trivial to change.

A Mauler, a Cauldron Born, and a Thor, all from Battletech...  (Can you tell I like mechs yet?)

I like.  Heavy Metal as a reference to our hardware, and Magellan as a reference to doomed explorer who embarked on a long journey...  Very poetic, or just downright awesome

We will likely have our share of detractors who call it "Cheesy" or "Unimaginative" but the hell with them.  This is our story =D
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King Serperior

Everything's looking good!

@Ralhend's character:  I really like him.  I especially like the fact that after about 2-3 weeks of ingame time, he'll be aching for something to stop his pains.  As for his supplies, they certainly work for me.  I like that they're not perfect condition as well.

@Saria's initial RP Info Thread Post:  I love it!  So, it's a meteor strike instead of a surprise orbital attack?  That's fine by me.  I also like how it just implies that they'll be trying to escape the territory when so many things can happen (siding with resistance forces or perhaps eventually assisting in the overthrow of the tyrant government!)

@Saria's character's equipment:  Looks good to me.  This reminds me that I should also work on Angela's equipment and gear when I get to fixing some small details regarding the Ragnarok.

@Saria's Draft Image:  I like it.  It has the right feeling as well!

O/O's
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45dragoons

Hello sory for just dropping in like this but i was wondering could i get in on this as well. it make my body spark with fun and fire explosions going off in my mind. If you don't mind that i join that is. I am going to go back through to see what i would need for template for a mech and i was wondering if i could have a talking ape friend? this is more just for flare on my own end if you dont mind that is. sorry i haven't been on here in so long i forgot any processes i may need to ask of first.  also i am a gundam and any machine anime fan.
I am looking for beta testers for my fourm  http://theeighthcontinent.forumotion.com/  its midevil/steampunk with depth character creation and uses dice system much like D&D for random events input and willing helpers are gladly welcomed

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King Serperior

Quote from: 45dragoons on September 12, 2015, 06:26:22 PM
Hello sory for just dropping in like this but i was wondering could i get in on this as well. it make my body spark with fun and fire explosions going off in my mind. If you don't mind that i join that is. I am going to go back through to see what i would need for template for a mech and i was wondering if i could have a talking ape friend? this is more just for flare on my own end if you dont mind that is. sorry i haven't been on here in so long i forgot any processes i may need to ask of first.  also i am a gundam and any machine anime fan.
Hello, 45dragoons!  Thanks for the interest.

I would like to say that I have had some PMs with two interested parties that have recently been sorting themselves out as to whether or not they would be able to join and have just recieved word from one that will be joining.  He hasn't yet posted, but I believe he will soon.  I am waiting for the final word from the second party.

However, I will say that if the final spot remains open, there will not be any 'talking apes' and that this will be a very realistic style of game.  No anime, no gundam, nothing like that.

O/O's
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45dragoons

Quote from: King Serperior on September 12, 2015, 06:43:00 PM
Hello, 45dragoons!  Thanks for the interest.

I would like to say that I have had some PMs with two interested parties that have recently been sorting themselves out as to whether or not they would be able to join and have just recieved word from one that will be joining.  He hasn't yet posted, but I believe he will soon.  I am waiting for the final word from the second party.

However, I will say that if the final spot remains open, there will not be any 'talking apes' and that this will be a very realistic style of game.  No anime, no gundam, nothing like that.


Alright and awwwww i wanted an angry ape who's the mechanic to be pissed off at my character for not shielding or deploying some thing and have some thing break.... well any way  that idea out of the way should i work on a character app just incase the final spot is still open later on? even if its not it would allow me to get a character idea up and going.
I am looking for beta testers for my fourm  http://theeighthcontinent.forumotion.com/  its midevil/steampunk with depth character creation and uses dice system much like D&D for random events input and willing helpers are gladly welcomed

(Ons Offs- https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=187141.0

King Serperior

Quote from: 45dragoons on September 12, 2015, 06:51:52 PM
Alright and awwwww i wanted an angry ape who's the mechanic to be pissed off at my character for not shielding or deploying some thing and have some thing break....
If this weren't a realism-focused game, that could be allowed, but in the setting that has been finalized, such a thing is nonnegotiable.  If you truly want some talking monkey for your character, you may want to seek out another game.
Quote
well any way  that idea out of the way should i work on a character app just incase the final spot is still open later on? even if its not it would allow me to get a character idea up and going.
If you feel that you should, you can.  However, it would be best to not post here until we know for certain that one of the interested parties will officially join or not. 

O/O's
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45dragoons

Well i don't need a talking monkey but having a pet spider monkey never hurt realism... and yeah i read up on this topic a little i love the idea  and even if i cant join i will still have fun making a character... never hurts to read up. and you've got a good group so far.  but yeah i wont post it here unless i am able too.
I am looking for beta testers for my fourm  http://theeighthcontinent.forumotion.com/  its midevil/steampunk with depth character creation and uses dice system much like D&D for random events input and willing helpers are gladly welcomed

(Ons Offs- https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=187141.0

Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 12, 2015, 02:49:20 PM
So, it's a meteor strike instead of a surprise orbital attack?
Not necessarily!

I figured the pilots of the transport wouldn't go on the intercom and be like "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!11!!1!" They know they were hit by a surface-to-space weapon - their radar tracked it for at least a few minutes before it struck. Of course, you can't exactly do evasive manoeuvres in a transport. All they could do was pump all the fuel out of the starboard wing and try to make sure that was the one that got hit. In effect, they saved everyone on the transport - they were heroes.

After the impact they can see there's no second missile on the way - at least not for several minutes, and by that time friendly nations would be able to move countermeasures into play, so they can assume they won't be hit again - so they play it cool to keep the passengers calm. The passengers will be blissfully unaware of what really happened until long after they land safely.

Days or weeks later - likely only days, if that - the news would start leaking out that this was not a failure of orbital debris tracking... it was a missile attack. Then there would be chaos in the news reports as everyone tried to figure out who did it.

From the perspective of our characters, I was thinking that the knowledge that the transport was shot at wouldn't really be necessary for the first while - we have plenty of other things to focus on. We could find that out later - either by picking up standard news reports when they figure it out... or, possibly, by some other, more interesting means....
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King Serperior

Ah!  Okay, I get you now!  Makes sense when you put it that way.

Anywho, I am hoping to get Angela and Ragnarok updated soon.  This chemistry work is smothering me.  :/

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Ralhend

Alright, I THINK this is the last question I have.

Will there be a round robin style of posting where we just take turns where we have an established order, or will it be a free for all, or will we discuss it in OOCC for who posts next, or something else?
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King Serperior

Personally, I say that anyone can post, so long as they don't do so in such a way that another player feels left out.  I.E. two players shouldn't have their characters hold a conversation that goes on for nearly a page.  An established posting order is nice, but we don't need it to be concrete where another can't post until someone else has.

I hope that's understandable and my way with words didn't jumble everything up?

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Karma

If someone has an opening they want to respond to, but don't have time to post at that moment, they should speak up so others can hold off, but otherwise freeform, I would say.

King Serperior

With fewer words, Karma has explained what I was trying to say more clearly.   ;D

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Ralhend

Alright, works for me.  I will keep everyone apprised of my situation and availability in the OOC thread =D
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Saria

Which I should probably go about making, at some point. :P
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Saria

Hm, it looks like one of my posts vanished into the aether. Here's roughly what it was:

Quote from: King Serperior on September 13, 2015, 05:23:22 PM
Ah!  Okay, I get you now!  Makes sense when you put it that way.
That's the IC justification for it. The OOC GM justification is that I'm wary of dumping too many plot elements in too early. We'll already have a ton to deal with at first, so there's really no need for the missile thing to be brought up. Besides, we may find that we go off in a direction that makes the missile irrelevant, and just never get back to it. We could end up a long, long way in then suddenly someone says, "Hey, what about that missile?"

The classic anti-example of what I'm talking about is Lost, which introduced buckets and buckets of plot elements, and then just... forgot about 90% of them. Eventually at the end of the series there were a ton of things that were brought up but just never explained, leaving the whole thing as an incoherent mess.

We can always keep the missile in our back pocket, and bring it up in a dramatic way in-game. Or not if there's too much else going on.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Karma

When are we going to have a final answer from those two people? This is starting to get silly.

Ralhend

Quote from: Saria on September 13, 2015, 09:57:07 PM
Hm, it looks like one of my posts vanished into the aether. Here's roughly what it was:
That's the IC justification for it. The OOC GM justification is that I'm wary of dumping too many plot elements in too early. We'll already have a ton to deal with at first, so there's really no need for the missile thing to be brought up. Besides, we may find that we go off in a direction that makes the missile irrelevant, and just never get back to it. We could end up a long, long way in then suddenly someone says, "Hey, what about that missile?"

The classic anti-example of what I'm talking about is Lost, which introduced buckets and buckets of plot elements, and then just... forgot about 90% of them. Eventually at the end of the series there were a ton of things that were brought up but just never explained, leaving the whole thing as an incoherent mess.

We can always keep the missile in our back pocket, and bring it up in a dramatic way in-game. Or not if there's too much else going on.

why dont we focus on "Survive and get out of the warzone" first...   Secondary quests can be discussed later in OOC as they develop?
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King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 13, 2015, 09:58:24 PM
When are we going to have a final answer from those two people? This is starting to get silly.
I just sent them both a PM saying how we are ready to get going and that, if they don't truly have the time to join, to let us know as soon as they can so we can find another interested person or two.  Apologies for the delays.   :-(

Quote from: Ralhend on September 13, 2015, 08:55:44 PM
Alright, works for me.  I will keep everyone apprised of my situation and availability in the OOC thread =D
Quote from: Saria on September 13, 2015, 09:05:50 PM
Which I should probably go about making, at some point. :P
Haha, that is something we'll be needing at some point.  :P

Quote from: Saria on September 13, 2015, 09:57:07 PM
Hm, it looks like one of my posts vanished into the aether. Here's roughly what it was:
That's the IC justification for it. The OOC GM justification is that I'm wary of dumping too many plot elements in too early. We'll already have a ton to deal with at first, so there's really no need for the missile thing to be brought up. Besides, we may find that we go off in a direction that makes the missile irrelevant, and just never get back to it. We could end up a long, long way in then suddenly someone says, "Hey, what about that missile?"

The classic anti-example of what I'm talking about is Lost, which introduced buckets and buckets of plot elements, and then just... forgot about 90% of them. Eventually at the end of the series there were a ton of things that were brought up but just never explained, leaving the whole thing as an incoherent mess.

We can always keep the missile in our back pocket, and bring it up in a dramatic way in-game. Or not if there's too much else going on.
Never saw Lost, but I hear there is a Polar Bear on a tropical island.  O.o

Anyway, I understand what you're saying and it makes complete sense.  I agree that too much too soon is a bad idea.

Quote from: Ralhend on September 13, 2015, 10:08:05 PM
why dont we focus on "Survive and get out of the warzone" first...   Secondary quests can be discussed later in OOC as they develop?
I do think that's what she means.  *nod*

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Ralhend

okies, life is good then, situation normal

*waits patiently*
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King Serperior

#186
Name:  Angela Blair
Rank:  N/A;  Civilian
Role:  Pro Mech Fighter
Nicknames:  Often called 'Angel of Destruction' in the arena or just 'Angel'
Callsign:  N/A
Age:  24
Gender:  Female
Sexuality:  Straight, but curious
Height:  5'5" (165cm)
Weight:  125lbs (57kg)
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Red, straight, cut to shoulder length, often gets cut shorter if it gets too much to handle
Skin:  Lightly tanned
Physique:  Healthy and lithe
Distinguishing Marks:  Tattoo of a purple rose on left shoulder.

Appearance:  Like the image, for the most part. =>;  Appears rather pixie-like.  Despite that, she is very much tomboyish, though she does occasionally like to make sure she looks decent.  In all honesty, she looks more like the kind of girl who should be a model instead of a mech fighter.  More often than not, her looks cause her opponents to underestimate her. 

Bio:  Angela was born on one of the small colonies on Earth's moon and was raised by her grandparents, her parents owning a few decently-sized factories that build and repair mechs.  She was born on the moon because her parents didn't want her to live on Earth which was no place for a child to grow up on due to the fighting going on in some areas and the intense mech combat in the more peaceful countries.  So, the first ten years of her life was spent going to one of the better schools on the moon and growing up.  Despite that, she discovered the joys of Mech Combat when she was 10 after watching an underdog pilot defeat a champion pilot in a wild 1v1 match.  From that day forward, she was interested in combat mechs.  By the time she was thirteen, she learned how to drive a small loader mech, the very one that that her grandfather drove to load and unload shipping containers at the colony's main port.  When she was sixteen, she caught the attention of someone who worked on the mech combat circuit.  It turned out that the guy had never seen someone so young pilot a machine like that with such ease and thought she had potential.  By the time she was eighteen, she was piloting a Light mech and winning one-vs-one battles with little effort in the lower leagues of the circuit.  By the time she was twenty, she'd upgraded to a Heavy mech and was working on two-man teams for a change.  However, she quickly found that her style of battle clashed with most of the teammates' she sided with.  By the time she was twenty-one, she'd won one of the larger tournaments and that supplied her enough money, along with the selling of her winning Heavy mech, to buy a custom Colossal mech.

Her parents, having followed her progress, helped her upgrade and work on her newest mech which was based on an 'Omni-Shell' system, one of the most adaptable of the Colossal Mech shells.  Her parents were thrilled to learn that she was planning on piloting the newest mech type and helped upgrade it according to her strengths.  Thus, the Ragnarok was born.

Angela eventually took this machine to win a number of smaller championships and excelled in Free-for-all battles.  In just two years, she achieved enough victories and made friends in key locations to receive an invite to this year's grand championship as one of three Dark Horse picks.  There, she fought her way to 7th place, surprising a number of people with her skill and dogged determination.  After such a hard-fought victory, reaching the top ten in that tournament, she and Ragnarok returned to the Moon for repairs, upgrades, and reloading.  She planned to stay there for a few weeks before returning to Earth just in time to enter the new season.

Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):
A couple of cases of personal items ranging from spare clothes to some food to some water.





Chassis:  Hexapod Omni-Frame
Model:  Custom Design
Weight Class:  Colossal
Weight:  125 tons (Standard loadout, fully loaded); 180 tons (Maximum carry weight)
Height:  27m (89 feet)
Top Speed:  40kph (25mph)
Mech Name:  Ragnarok
Armaments (Standard Layout):
Rail Gun:  Central weapon and main gun, the Rail Gun fires a long piece of hardened Tungsten that is designed to penetrate even through cover.  It can only fire one shot before requiring reloading and requires a three second charge time before firing.  However, once fired, the seven pound projectile travels at speeds that exceed Mach 6, making a direct hit devastating.  It takes 10 seconds (5 with the custom ammo delivery system) to load up a new projectile.  The weapon has an effective range of nearly 20 kilometers, each projectile losing nearly no velocity when it reaches its target.  The Rail Gun has a normally has a total of 100 projectiles, more than eight the number she would ever need in the arena, theoretically anyway.  However, when it was loaded on the transport, the Ragnarok was loaded with it's maximum ammo for all weapons:  600 projectiles (4.2 tons).  As the main gun, the Rail Gun cannot be removed without completely altering the mech's frame.
Minigun:  Mounted just above and to the right of the main gun, the Minigun is designed for closer work than the Rail Gun and can help pin down a close-range target while the main gun charges and takes aim.  The minigun fires depleted uranium rounds that can tear apart smaller mechs, vehicles, and personnel with ease.  Fully loaded, the minigun has a total of 720,000 rounds of ammo and the gun fires at a rate of 12,000 rounds per minute.  It takes about a second for the barrel to spin up before it fires.  The minigun can be removed and/or replaced if needs be.
2x 14-Missile Pods:  Featuring 14 explosive high-yield missiles, these pods are mounted on the just above, behind, and to the left and right of the main gun in a half-hexagonal, half-cube launcher whose safety covering can flick open to rain either direct or suppressing fire on the targets.  Each missile carries a high-yield payload and travels at 350 mph towards its target.  Each missile can be fired either individually or at the same time as any number of others, providing either precise attacks or an overwhelming assault.  Each pod has three full pods of replacements, totaling 84 missiles overall, though the missile pods must be emptied before the replacement set can be loaded (which takes up to thirty seconds).  The Missile Pods are set on rotating turrets and, as such, are currently only weapons that can be fired backwards on Ragnarok.  It is mainly used to pin down a target, get them out of cover, or for pure offensive purposes.  Both missile pods can be removed and/or replaced.
Armaments (Non-Standard):  N/A
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard): 
Ammo Delivery System:  Halves the time it takes to reload ammo.  Extremely important for the Rail Gun's lower reload rate.
Target Lock:  Makes the Rail Gun and Missile System much more accurate and deadly; Limited range, but once a target is locked onto, target lock remains even if the target is out of sight for almost 60s.
6x Gripping Claws:  Under each leg is a 'foot' with a 4-prong gripping claw that allows the mech to grab the ground to help reduce recoil and provide extra stability.
Fortress Armour:  The mech doesn't need speed, rather it needs heavy armor to survive in the arena while picking off targets.  Even for it's weight class, the Ragnarok's armor is substantial. 
Basic Sensors and Communications Equipment:  Designed for the arena, these sensors and communications are of limited range.

Strengths: 
Omni-Frame Chassis and Advanced Fusion Core:  The most advanced frame ever created by Blair Industries and the only one of it's kind, this frame is a company secret and was designed solely for Angela and the Ragnarok.  The Omni-Frame is extremely adaptable, allowing it to take on nearly every weapon and electronic subsystem in existence with no problem.  The entire mech, all weapons systems, and electronic systems are powered by a massive fusion core, which is the most efficient core ever put on a mech.  It's powerful enough to power a medium city all on it's own with nearly no strain on it.  The Omni-Frame was designed by Angela's mother and the Fusion Core was designed by her father.
Powerful Weaponry:  It is rare that a mech has the stopping power of two Missile Pods, a Rail Gun, a Minigun, and enough ammo to hold back a small army.  The Ragnarok has this stopping power, making it a deadly threat on the battlefield.
Extremely Heavy Armor:  Backing up the weaponry is the massive slabs of armor coating nearly every surface of the mech.  It is a true juggernaut in the arena, able to shrug off attacks that would cripple smaller mechs.  The Ragnarok once survived a missile barrage of more than 100 Swarmers with barely any damage, walking out of the smoke to blast the legs off the smaller mech it was facing.
Very Stable Firing Platform: Six legs and six gripping claws allows the mech to accurately fire it's weapons on just about any terrain while on the move.
Massive Power Source:  It takes a LOT to power this behemoth of a mech and it's fusion engine is one of the most powerful of it's weight class.
Pilot Protection:  The pilot sits deep inside the mech, protected from nearly all assaults.  It is theorized that, when the cockpit is sealed, the pilot could survive a nuclear blast due to the mech's massive, thick armor and the cockpit's sealing system.
Ranged Combat:  A combination of missile fire and the massive range of the Rail Gun's projectiles allows it to cut down targets before they get into range.
Open Environments:  With the combination of massive armor, range, and firepower, the Ragnarok is the kind of mech that excels on an open battlefield.

Weaknesses: 
Size:  Being an Colossal mech, it's size means that it is a big target.
Noise:  The Ragnarok is pretty much impossible to use silently, so sneaky tactics are out of the question.
Speed:  Though the Ragnarok has a powerful power source and is fairly quick for it's size and weight, it is still fairly slow, maxing out at 40kph.
No Hands:  Due to it's design, it has no hands to use in delicate situations.
Close Range:  Due to the weapons systems, the Ragnarok's main defense at close range is it's Minigun as the Rail Gun fires too slowly to make it useful beyond a single shot.  As such, when dealing with small, fast targets, assistance by allies is appreciated.
Urban Environments:  Due to the Ragnarok's size, battles in cities prove difficult due to the closed in space.

Overall Description:  Ragnarok is a large, somewhat squat, Hexapod mech with thick armor plating covering nearly all of the mech's body.  Due to it's increased weight and the way it's legs are designed, it is not very fast or agile.  It's thick legs instead provide stability when firing it's weapons, no matter the terrain.  Each leg has gripping claws that allow it to grip the ground and stand it's ground while the pilot aims and fires it's weaponry.  Ragnarok has the Blair Factory Logo (a purple rose) printed on it to represent it's pilot's family's factories.  Other than that, it can easily be painted multiple coloration, but it is usually a rusty brown, giving it the illusion of it being little more than a giant rust bucket.  The main gun is the largest and most central of the armaments and is the most powerful ranged weapon the Ragnarok has (Though a full barrage of missiles outdoes it).  The Minigun is more for closer work and the missile pod is for pinning down targets until Ragnarok can bring it's other weapons to bear.  The heavy armor on the legs provide additional protection.  The pilot accesses the cockpit via a cable and footloop to lift the pilot from the ground.

Equipment/Gear (Stored inside Ragnarok's cockpit):

  • 3X Pilot Suits: Two of them being spares loaded into the cockpit since Angela ruined two suits during the course of last season's 'Mech Wars.'  Suits are form-fitting and are designed to protect the pilot;  Colored purple and white with the Blair Industries logo on the left shoulder.
  • 2X Pilot Helmets:  One is a spare;  Not meant to stop bullets, rather to integrate with machine: has built-in face mask, augmented reality display, and communications, once plugged in to the mech;  Has the Blair Industries logo on the left side of the helmet.
  • Maintenance Kit:  As a precaution, the kit would allow Angela to do some minor repair work on the Ragnarok.
  • Plasma Torch:  Though the cockpit is sealed and is nearly impenetrable from the outside, the inside has a number of special failsafes that, when cut through, would allow the pilot to escape should the mech be entirely powerless for some reason;  Doubles as a weapon, but why would she need a weapon?
  • Fire Extinguisher:  For the unlikely, but still possible chance, of a fire in the cockpit.
  • Aid Kit:  For mostly minor wounds and scrapes;  Hasn't been used, but is periodically replaced anyway.
  • Flashlight:  For if the internal lights go out, just in case.
  • Sturdy Knife:  For if she is forced to cut through the thick straps of her pilot's seat if they become jammed;  Doubles as a weapon if somehow needed.
  • Old, but well-kept 9mm pistol:  Though it has no ammo, Angela keeps her grandfather's old pistol he used in the war with her as a good luck charm since it kept him alive;  She has fired it before and is decent with it, but only on the practice range.
  • Gas Mask:  Standard in all mechs
  • Three Gallon Water Purifier:  Depending on the format, some mech battles can take a long time.  During this time, the cockpit tends to heat up and that causes the pilot to begin sweating.  To counteract water loss, Angela's father personally installed a water purifier into cockpit that can hold up to three gallons of water at a time.  The pilot can sip the pure water through a straw-like cord that can be connected to the pilot's helmet.

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Ralhend

I only have one concern.  We are gonna be on the run.  If the enemy gets a good fix on our position with satellite tracking, they may send a swarm of fast movers (aircraft, lights and/or mediums) after us, and we may have to scuttle the Ragnarok due to its speed.   I'd be heartbroken, because that big bastard looks to be awesome...
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Saria

Quote from: Ralhend on September 13, 2015, 10:08:05 PM
why dont we focus on "Survive and get out of the warzone" first...   Secondary quests can be discussed later in OOC as they develop?
Bear in mind, though, that if we do manage to survive and get out of the warzone, the game is essentially over. It's not so much get out of the danger area first then do other stuff, it's more like we'll be doing other stuff while in the process of getting out of danger, in the lulls between crises.

Quote from: Ralhend on September 13, 2015, 10:43:44 PM
I only have one concern.  We are gonna be on the run.  If the enemy gets a good fix on our position with satellite tracking, they may send a swarm of fast movers (aircraft, lights and/or mediums) after us, and we may have to scuttle the Ragnarok due to its speed.   I'd be heartbroken, because that big bastard looks to be awesome...
That's why someone thought to put a satellite tracking system on her mech. :-) We will know with plenty of warning if/when enemy satellites are coming into range, and we can throw camouflage netting over the mechs. Unless they know where to look for us, we'll be hidden well enough - and if they know where we are, satellites would be the least of our worries.
Saria is no longer on Elliquiy, and no longer available for games

Ralhend

#189
Quote from: Saria on September 13, 2015, 11:44:33 PM
Bear in mind, though, that if we do manage to survive and get out of the warzone, the game is essentially over. It's not so much get out of the danger area first then do other stuff, it's more like we'll be doing other stuff while in the process of getting out of danger, in the lulls between crises.

I wasn't suggesting that, i just meant get out of any "immediate danger"

And anyway, after this lengthy adventure is over:
"Youre not thinking fourth dimensionally!!!"

There is always a conflict somewhere...  I am sure someone will want to hire a ragtag bunch like us to handle "something"
Only we get to do so as an organized force, with better equipment and a full compliment of ammo.  But we can discuss that bridge when we come to it *super huge grin*
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Saria

I don't think this crew is much for voluntary adventuring. :P I'm just guessing with the others, but I'd bet the moment we get back to safe territory, Angela's going back to the arena with her new-found real-life combat skills, and Athena's going back to her labs to integrate everything she learned from her unplanned field test. As for Deepika, the moment they get back to allied turf, she's going to report in - she's still a soldier, after all, and still just a few short months away from her Captain's stripes. Then she's probably going to take a relaxing hunting vacation - as in going to a tropical beach and hunting cabana boys.
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Ralhend

Joseph will likely find himself addicted to mech combat, and fall in with a merc group somewhere after this.

It wouldnt be hard for me to take the character and write up another mech adventure that takes him elsewhere.  There is always another adventure over the hill...
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King Serperior

Okay, I have received word from one of the two interested parties and RL and game-related issues have them too busy to join.  I am still waiting on word from the second interested party.

Quote from: Saria on September 14, 2015, 07:20:51 AM
I don't think this crew is much for voluntary adventuring. :P I'm just guessing with the others, but I'd bet the moment we get back to safe territory, Angela's going back to the arena with her new-found real-life combat skills, and Athena's going back to her labs to integrate everything she learned from her unplanned field test. As for Deepika, the moment they get back to allied turf, she's going to report in - she's still a soldier, after all, and still just a few short months away from her Captain's stripes. Then she's probably going to take a relaxing hunting vacation - as in going to a tropical beach and hunting cabana boys.
You have that right! Heck, she may even store the Ragnarok away and try a new mech should her experiences give her new ideas!

Quote from: Ralhend on September 14, 2015, 10:26:49 AM
Joseph will likely find himself addicted to mech combat, and fall in with a merc group somewhere after this.
If that were to happen, Angela could even get him into arena combat.  :P

O/O's
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Garuss Vakarian

Just making sure every one knows I am interested, and will make a character as soon as possible. ^^

King Serperior

Quote from: Garuss Vakarian on September 14, 2015, 07:29:13 PM
Just making sure every one knows I am interested, and will make a character as soon as possible. ^^
Great!  Glad you could make it!  I'll compile what we have to make it easier on you when it comes to making your character:


[float=right][img height=300 padding=10]INSERT CHARACTER IMAGE URL[/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b] 
[b]Rank:[/b]  [i]Military or civilian[/i]
[b]Role:[/b] 
[b]Nicknames:[/b]  [i]If any[/i]
[b]Callsign:[/b]  [i]If any[/i]
[b]Age:[/b] 
[b]Gender:[/b] 
[b]Sexuality:[/b] 
[b]Height:[/b] 
[b]Weight:[/b] 
[b]Eyes:[/b] 
[b]Hair:[/b] 
[b]Skin:[/b] 
[b]Physique:[/b] 
[b]Distinguishing Marks:[/b] 

[b]Appearance:[/b]  [i]Anything the picture doesn't show.[/i]

[b]Bio:[/b]  [i]Brief biography of character[/i]

[b]Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):[/b]  [i]Items grabbed before everything is jettisoned[/i]


[hr]

[float=left][img height=300 padding=10]INSERT MECH IMAGE URL HERE[/img][/float]
[b]Chassis:[/b]  [i]Mech Frame[/i]
[b]Model:[/b]  [i]If it is a standard-issue mech, name the model;  If it is a custom design, just leave it as 'Custom'[/i]
[b]Weight Class:[/b]  [i]Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Colossal[/i]
[b]Weight:[/b]  [i]Mech Weight (List weight with standard layout and maximum carry weight)[/i]
[b]Height:[/b] [i]Mech Height[/i]
[b]Top Speed:[/b]  [i]Mech's top speed under standard layout[/i]
[b]Mech Name:[/b]  [i]If the mech is named, list it;  If it has a callsign instead, list that.[/i]
[b]Armaments (Standard Layout):[/b]  [i]List the mech's standard weapon systems;  Each system should be noted as fixed or not (I.E. can it be removed and replaced with another weapon?);  Basically, the weapons that the mech starts with.[/i]

[b]Armaments (Non-Standard):[/b]  [i]List any additional and/or replaced weapons on the mech.[/i]

[b]Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):[/b]  [i]Anything that isn't a weapons system (I.E. adaptive camouflage, jump jets, Advanced targeting systems, ect); Note whether they are standard or nonstandard.[/i]

[b]Strengths:[/b]  [i]List at least three things this mech excels at, both in and out of combat (I.E. Hands, mobility, armor, ect)[/i]

[b]Weaknesses:[/b]  [i]List at least three things this mech has difficulty with both in and out of combat (I.E. Very loud, slow reload/recharging weapons, limited mobility. ect)[/i]

[b]Overall Description:[/b]  [i]A short, detailed description of the mech that the picture doesn't show.[/i]

[b]Equipment/Gear:[/b]  [i]Gear that is stored in the mech's cockpit[/i]


As you can see in the Mech CS part, it talks about weight class.  The weight classes are:  Power/Battle Armor, Light, Medium, Heavy, and Colossal. 
Power/Battle Armor is about the size of the Hulkbuster from the Avengers.  They usually weigh no more than 5 tons. 
Light mechs are about 25-30 tons, give or take. 
Medium mechs are around 50 tons. 
Heavy mechs are around 75 tons. 
Colossal mechs, such as the Ragnarok, are 100+ tons.  For example, Ragnarok weighs in at about 125 tons. 

Mechs that fall under the minimal weight class (I.E. a 60 ton mech) would be classed as Medium.  A mech must weigh at least 75 tons to be classed as Heavy).

Some things to note:  Power/Battle Armor usually can interface with a larger mech, allowing the pilot to take control of it or provide extra firepower and defense.  Doing so while someone is piloting the target mech is usually a very bad idea as an interface attempt with an active mech is liable to throw the smaller one off and cause serious damage.

As for the heights, it really depends on if the mech is a biped or multiped.  Due to it's design, I'd estimate that Ragnarok stands about 2-3 stories tall, perhaps.  I may be under or overestimating since I have never thought of it before.  A general rule of thumb is that heavier mechs tend to be larger than smaller ones.

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akirakaneda

I've just seen thi thread, so although it might be late to ask this ... but may I submit a mecha and a character?

King Serperior

Quote from: akirakaneda on September 14, 2015, 09:41:07 PM
I've just seen thi thread, so although it might be late to ask this ... but may I submit a mecha and a character?
Sure, feel free to.  It's only one open place left, so let's see what you have.  Tell me, do you have an idea for a character and mech in mind?  As said to one other person earlier, this is a realistic mech game, so nothing anime-like, such as Gundam and Zoids, will be used.

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Karma


Ralhend

I am tempted to write up a teaser for what my character is doing on the transport, and during the mechanical failure / meteor strike / mishap to prepare for the escape...   I still have no active stories yet, and my muse is going apeshit, almost about to blow a gasket...
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King Serperior

Quote from: Karma on September 14, 2015, 09:52:59 PM
Ohai again, Garrus. :)
Oh?  You know Garrus?  Great!

Quote from: Ralhend on September 14, 2015, 10:39:02 PM
I am tempted to write up a teaser for what my character is doing on the transport, and during the mechanical failure / meteor strike / mishap to prepare for the escape...   I still have no active stories yet, and my muse is going apeshit, almost about to blow a gasket...
If you feel like doing so and if it will ease the muse some, feel free.  Just know that it may require editing, depending on how the opening post starts!


On that note, I have finally finished the edits to my character and mech.  Going off the heights of the other mechs and seeing that Ralhend's is ~11 meters tall and is a Medium weight class, I made the Ragnarok ~27 meters tall since it is a Colossal class.  Other than that, just a few minor edits here and there to clarify details.

Now, we just wait to see what Garrus's and possibly akirakaneda's character and mech concepts are.


So, while we wait on them and their ideas, does anyone else have any concerns, questions, or ideas?

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Karma


Saria

Quote from: Ralhend on September 14, 2015, 10:39:02 PM
I am tempted to write up a teaser for what my character is doing on the transport, and during the mechanical failure / meteor strike / mishap to prepare for the escape...   I still have no active stories yet, and my muse is going apeshit, almost about to blow a gasket...
I'd say go for it, too. You might be able to repurpose it into the first in-game post, but even if not you can always add it to your character post.

Anywho, I just finished the last thing I was working on for the OOC/recruitment thread (
"which was this"
) so I'm ready to make the actual thread. It doesn't seem like it's going to get done tonight, but it will probably be done by tomorrow night.
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Ralhend

#202
Alright, Looks like we need to get our asses to Finland, Japan, or Australia...

I have one question though:

"Why for Kiwis no like us?!?!?!"    :'( :'( :'(
(I.E. Why in the hell is New Zealand red?  >:( >:( >:()
It also hurts a little that the penguins of Madagascar couldn't care less =P
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Saria

New Zealand's not red. :P I'm not even sure where you're looking. Indonesia? Papua New Guinea? ;D

I did have some fun putting some basically invisible easter eggs in there, though. Like one of the countries that is genocidally furious about killing us is Nauru. :P

Another is the Vatican. >:)
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King Serperior

Love the map, Saria!  Looks like it'll be quite the difficult road and cold too, considering we're dropping in that area!

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Ralhend

I was looking at Indonesia...  Please forgive my ignorance. 

My knowledge of geography is limited to "USA " and "Not USA "
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Saria

Quote from: Ralhend on September 16, 2015, 05:11:03 PM
I was looking at Indonesia...  Please forgive my ignorance. 

My knowledge of geography is limited to "USA " and "Not USA "
I had a friend who used to swear that he got through geography just be insisting everything was "off the coast of South America". :P

Okay, one last thing I need from everyone! In the initial bit in the story section, I'm putting a bit where each character's motivations for dropping are explained. I have guessed at Angela's and Athena's - so please double check what I've written - but I wasn't sure what to put for Joseph's. Here's what I have:

___ mech pilots opted to stay with their mechs when the containers were dropped:

  • Lt. Deepika Patel, mech pilot and electronic warfare specialist with the North Atlantic Alliance joint military, had just finished a set of low-g certification trials on the Moon, and was returning to rejoin her unit. She had two options. Within her mech were a set of important encryption keys for accessing the NAA military network, and identifying oneself as a friendly unit. If those keys were to fall into the wrong hands, it would be a catastrophe - enemies could decrypt secure communications, send false information through channels that should be trustworthy, or pass themselves off as allies. Deepika could either attempt to wipe her mech's hard drives before the drop - which was not 100% certain to work, and might leave traces that could be recovered - or go down with her mech and protect those keys until allies recovered her and her mech. She opted for the latter.

  • For Angela Blair, pilot of the colossal arena combat mech Ragnarok, there was never really much choice in the matter. Her mech was not only her livelihood, it was massive piece of proprietary technology containing some of the most important advances of her family's mech manufacturing knowledge. Other mech manufacturers would pay billions for the chance to take it apart and study it, which would spell the eventual ruin of Blair Industries. Not to mention the millions of fans who would kill for a chance to rip off pieces of it as a souvenir. No, she couldn't just let it drop to be recovered by whoever happened to find it first. She had to stay with it, both for her own sake, and for the sake of her family's company.

  • Athena Metaxas is not concerned so much for the safety of her companies. If the Arion/Aegis were to be taken by a rival, it would hurt her profit margin considerably, but as a genius mech designer she could simply move on to something else. What Athena is really concerned about is the fate of the world. The HAS/HEE concept is decades ahead of anything currently being used by any of the world's armies, and if the wrong nation got hold of it, and were able to replicate its technologies and put them into production, it could shift the global balance of power dramatically. Not to mention, like any great artist, she is loathe to have her work go public before she's satisfied that it's ready. The Arionand Aegis are her creations, and she will fight to protect them.

  • TBD

  • TBD

  • TBD
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 16, 2015, 07:59:34 PM
  • For Angela Blair, pilot of the colossal arena combat mech Ragnarok, there was never really much choice in the matter. Her mech was not only her livelihood, it was massive piece of proprietary technology containing some of the most important advances of her family's mech manufacturing knowledge. Other mech manufacturers would pay billions for the chance to take it apart and study it, which would spell the eventual ruin of Blair Industries. Not to mention the millions of fans who would kill for a chance to rip off pieces of it as a souvenir. No, she couldn't just let it drop to be recovered by whoever happened to find it first. She had to stay with it, both for her own sake, and for the sake of her family's company.
That is pretty much exactly Angela's reasoning.  The Ragnarok is her baby and it's 'Omni-Frame' chassis is the most advanced chassis ever made by Blair Industries, able to take on nearly any weapons or tech system currently available if one is willing to make the modifications.  Even the Rail Gun can be removed and replaced by another massive weapon if one is willing to completely alter the main weapon system.  I'm also pretty sure that the massive fusion engine would be worth billions to some countries as it is likely more advanced that some of the tech available for them as a power source.

On a totally different note:  I fear for this world if someone happened to get their hands Ragnarok's 'Omni-Frame' design, the HAS/HEE systems, AND those encryption keys all in one combat mech!  O.o

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Saria

Quote from: King Serperior on September 16, 2015, 08:12:30 PM
On a totally different note:  I fear for this world if someone happened to get their hands Ragnarok's 'Omni-Frame' design, the HAS/HEE systems, AND those encryption keys all in one combat mech!  O.o
You're a genius.

Now if we ever get to a point that we want to make the missile a plot point, we have a good reason why someone would have wanted to take a shot at the transport.
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Karma

That's a wonderful observation, indeed. Athena is fairly spot-on as well, so props to you! Athena's actual end goal is much more high concept, and not something she's likely to discuss with anyone; she believes the Earth is doomed, and plans to utilize her designs to enable large-scale space colonization. That's neither here nor there for the start of the RP, but it's what the designs are truly intended for, and a single nation having this tech ahead of time would give them a massive edge in the matter, not to mention in conventional warfare.

Saria

Ah, that's kinda cool. But you're right, that's something worth keeping in your pocket until it comes up in game - you don't want to play out your hand before the game even starts.

So, all I need is Joseph's rationale, though I can probably go ahead and make the thread right now and add that later.
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King Serperior

Quote from: Saria on September 16, 2015, 08:26:07 PM
You're a genius.

Now if we ever get to a point that we want to make the missile a plot point, we have a good reason why someone would have wanted to take a shot at the transport.
Haha, you're just saying that!  :P

That said, I completely agree that that is a very good plot point when survival takes a back seat and figuring things out takes top priority.

Also, I added this to the Ragnarok's strengths:
Quote
Omni-Frame Chassis and Advanced Fusion Core:  The most advanced frame ever created by Blair Industries and the only one of it's kind, this frame is a company secret and was designed solely for Angela and the Ragnarok.  The Omni-Frame is extremely adaptable, allowing it to take on nearly every weapon and electronic subsystem in existence with no problem.  The entire mech, all weapons systems, and electronic systems are powered by a massive fusion core, which is the most efficient core ever put on a mech.  It's powerful enough to power a medium city all on it's own with nearly no strain on it.  The Omni-Frame was designed by Angela's mother and the Fusion Core was designed by her father.

I figure it makes sense for it to have an advanced and powerful fusion core to power the mech and it's possible weapons and electronic options.

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Saria

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and create our OOC/recruitment thread. It should be up and ready in a bit. Once it's up, I'll come back here and let everyone know.

What I'll need everyone to do after it's up is make a post, and put in that post:

  • Your character profile
  • Your mech profile
  • After that, anything you please. (Here is where you can put more character backstory, other pics, a character journal... anything that strikes your fancy. In particular you can keep adding stuff as the game goes on, including changes to your mech armament and layout, and character changes.)
Don't fret if someone else posts in the thread before you get your profile post in. It won't matter, because all the profile posts will be linked to from the main post (so they can be scattered all throughout the OOC thread and it won't matter).

Then let me know (either here or in the OOC thread) about your profile post, and I'll link to it, and you'll be set and ready to go.

After that, we can shift conversation over there (and maybe lock this thread), and then it's just a matter of waiting for those last few profiles to come in (and they'll be linked to in the main post once they're ready).
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Saria

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Ralhend

Joseph's whole reason is that he is in a container with the mech and a few crates doing whatever.

During the meteor strike, his container is damaged and he is locked inside of it.  As such he has little choice but to commandeer the mech in an effort to survive and escape the hostile LZ.
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King Serperior

So, is it agreed that we go ahead and lock this thread?  I'll leave it open unless everyone agrees to go ahead and move fully to the new official interest check.

O/O's
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Karma


Saria

Yeah, I think it's safe to lock this and transfer over. Don't delete it though - it would still be nice if we could refer back to it.

But before you lock it, I'd suggest two things. First, put a note at the very top of the opening post, pointing people to the OOC/recruitment thread. Second, make a final post doing the same. That way anyone who is curious and reads the first post will be redirected, and so will anyone who has been silently reading along and only reads the last few posts to catch up.
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King Serperior

NOTICE:  There is now an official Interest Check Thread located here!  If you're interested, there are two open spots as of this post, so if you hurry now, you might be able to grab one of them!

O/O's
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