▸▸ℍeavy Metal Magellan◂◂ free-form, original mech roleplay (full)

[akirakaneda]

Well I bring it my character and mecha, I'm throwing some ideas to the plot as well. I'm editing this later, as I haven't post the picture of my character since I wanted to know if an anime/manga picture would be fine, and secondly, and I might be posting a second character as this mecha is a two-manned one.

Name:  Saigo Miyamoto
Rank:  Military: Commander
Role:  Mech pilot
Nicknames:  Sai, Raijin (god of thunder)
Callsign:  Agamenon
Age:  22
Gender:  Male
Sexuality:  Straight
Height:  1.70 m/ 5.5 ft
Weight:  54 kg.
Eyes:  Brown
Hair:  Black
Skin:  lightly tanned
Physique:  Healthy but not toned
Distinguishing Marks:  Some small scars in chest and arms, a tattoo of bones and skull in his left arm with the number 702
Appearance: A Japanese descendent, he carries a katana which is with him when he pilots his mecha (just like WWII Japanese pilots), if there is time to prepare for a battle he will be a hachimaki or Japanese traditional bandana around his forehead.
Bio:  Son of one of the first families to set on Mars he saw the tense relations between Earth and Mars since his childhood. He was born in a hard-to-die ultranationalist Martian family, they had come from Japan many generations before, but now Mars is their home.
Saigo spent his childhood and teenage years training kendo, being taught about the “Free Mars” and also in mecha piloting. The young men were expected to be prepared for the war of independence which was supposedly about to start. It made of him a hard-working, loyal, stubborn but a dull and strict (unable to think “out of the box”) guy. He soon revealed himself as one of the best pilots the liberation movement could have.
Unlike the Moon colonies, Martian colonies got a bad relation, Mars is almost 10 times far from Earth than the moon so they never saw themselves as part of the Earth, and by the same reason the Earth nations strengthened its domination over Martian people until they felt the planet was a giant mining camp. Many uprising occurred, but were crushed sometimes through negotiation other times through force. And although some Earth nations had allowed some autonomy to their colonies, others were still under an iron fist, especially those hold by Ryazan.
Since the 16 he's been fighting with the "Martian legion" a unit formed by soldiers from Mars in different Earth conflicts to gain combat experience as well as money and potential allies for the Martian uprising, it was then when he was nicknamed "Raijin".
Before the accident, he was taking a newly developed mecha to Earth, where the secessionist cause has some supporters, to improve the test type, the last step before mass-production, then the accident took place. He is not going to abandon the mecha that might be the weapon which may take Mars to freedom, and certainly not to the Ryazan army. [
Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):  a katana given by his grandfather and a mouser C 96

Chassis: Test type of a spacefighter mecha
Model:  'Custom'
Weight Class:  Light
Weight:  40 tons - 49 tons (fully armed)
Height: 15 m
Top Speed: Walking: 20Km/h
Speed provided by propellers: 105 Km/h
Optimal speed (only able to be reached in space, on Earth who knows?): 2200 km/h
Mech Name:  Model name: Crow N.° 34/ codename: "Winged hussar "
Armaments (Standard Layout):
1. Particle cannon (fixed): Located in its head is probably the most powerful gun available for this mecha but certainly not the main nor the most useful gun. It fires a concentrated beam of electronic particles, as it doesn't fie a solid projectile it has no recoil and an efective range of 40 km. but its effects are better if shot closer. Although it's powerful and got a good range, it devours the energy reserves of the mecha and also, due that overheats easily, it can be only shot 3 times before the electronic matrix (the core of the particle cannon) had to be replaced (and as those are produced in Mars it is hardly a way to replace them on Earth). It has also another problem, being a particle cannon, it can only shot straight and doesn’t have the parabolic inclination of a cannon shooting solid ammo.
2. High vibration knives (fixed): A set of metal blades of a modest size which can vibrate using the same particle technology of the particle cannon, capable to slice enemy's mechas. Are located in each arm of the mecha and are not hold in their hands but its slicing/vibrating capability is underdeveloped due to the fear that its vibration may damage the mecha's arm.
3. Gattling gun (fixed): A slug-firing cannon with multiple barrels. The gatling has a very high fire rate, using up ammunition with surprising speed. It has recoil and can be fired from point blank to medium range, but is located only mounted on the left arm. Its bullets are contained in a cartridge which is charged in the forearm. It can shot explosive, solid and ricochect ammunition and also smoke/gas filled ammunition.
4. Missiles pods (not fixed):  attached to the thighs of the mecha it can carry 6 missiles of medium range.
Armaments (Non-Standard):
1. High vibration spear(not fixed): A long spear which use the same technology of the vibration knives. It has more power and it's probably the main weapon of this mecha
Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):
Main thruster (not fixed): a part almost of the same height of the mecha itself it can provides an remarkable speed
Propellers and repulsors (fixed): set in different places of the mecha play a key role as in the emptiness of space where there is nothing to use as platform, it adds maneuverability 
ES-wings (fixed but retractable): or empty-space wings are made of a micro filament built as a retractable and almost traslucid pair of wings, were developed to apport maneuvrability to the mecha in the emptyness of the outer space and allow it to fly in an inertial mode, and along the spear gave it its nickname. Those were not thought to be used in Earth conditions and it is unknown if they have some utility (where the microfilament will face wind resistance and the need of balance due to the Earth gravity).
Strengths:  1. Firepower: Even with its limitations it has a good firepower in close range ( the gattling) and a reasonable firepower in medium range (the missiles) its particle cannon also provides a reduced but important support in long range, its potency surpass most of what you can expect in a mecha, since it was developed to pierce space cruiser armor.
2. Speed: Its main thruster makes it a fast mecha capable to reach around mach 2, in space, although it has not been proved on the Earth it should be fast still
3. Versatile: Having many options means be able to alternate among themand to build complex strategies to obtain the most of each weapon[/i]
4. Some weapons are easy to repair and charge: due that Mars is not exactly an economically rich planet (although plenty of resources) some weapons like missiles and the gattling gun are cheap to maintain and their ammo is cheap and easy to find.

Weaknesses:  1. It is a mecha developed to fight in the space: this mecha was thought to fight not on the Earth but in the space, therefore some of its characteristics are pretty useless (like the ES-wings) or other cannot reach is full potential (like it's unable to reach maximum speed)[/i]
2. Armor: this is a mecha which has firepower and speed, but to achieve that some of the armor protection had to be sacrificed, its armor is lighter than you would expect for a mecha of its size. This weakness was suposedly compensated by a speed that should make it a difficult target.
3. Spare parts: as a test type it is not easy to find all spare parts, besides, it is not easy neither to find spare parts for a space machine. Some of them could be found in very specialized companies, a couple of them only in the colonies.
4. Test type: although most of the gun systems could work pretty well, the power system and the Particle cannon are still in test and development phase, therefore failures are to be expected.

Overall Description:  The Crow N.° 28, codename: "the winged hussar", by its spear and ES-wings, was developed to fight in the space against much bigger units using speed and firepower.
It is a bipedal mechas two manned unit, one pilot, the fighter or "arrow", is in charge of fighting the enemies in front of him, pretty much like the standard mecha-pilot; the second pilot, the commander or the "bow", is in charge of the radar screen and other electronic pieces, to be able to receive and send complex messages and turn it into simple orders for his partner and keep an eye on the battlefield. We could say that the arrow is the tactical aspect while the bow is the strategical one that commands the mecha. However the winged hussar can fly with only one man.
Although it has a thin armor, some parts are reinforced: thighs, shoulders and upper chest, but specially forearms.

Equipment/Gear: Handguns and knives: 2 handguns and WASP injection knives for both pilots, although there are standard items the pilots can bring their own weapons
Fire extinguisher
Survival kits: One for each pilot contain first aid kits, radios, and e-tool
Purifier mask: it covers the whole face and it works like a gas mask
Although there is a compartment for water and food reserves, it is currently empty

[King Serperior]

Hello again, akirakaneda!  Glad you could make it to the new thread.  Now, while I like what I am seeing so far, I fear that there are a number of things that makes what you have currently nonviable for this game's setting:

Well I bring it my character and mecha, I'm throwing some ideas to the plot as well. I'm editing this later, as I haven't post the picture of my character since I wanted to know if an anime/manga picture would be fine,

I believe I have said this in the original thread, but anime/manga images for characters are a no-no here.  As this is a realistic setting, real images are preferred.

and secondly, and I might be posting a second character as this mecha is a two-manned one.

If you think you can write for two characters at once, then go ahead as it's an interesting idea.  However, if you feel you cannot and feel that dropping one (I.E. killing them off, most likely) is the best choice, then the mech in question will be greatly reduced in performance.

Rank:  Military: Commander

If a commander rank is what you are looking for, you will need to speak to Saria.  I will say that, overall, I would prefer military ranks to be limited to a cap at Captain.

Bio:  Son of one of the first families to set on Mars

Alright, here's where the biggest issue is.  Mars is populated by almost 95% robots and automated factories with a very, very small handful of people living there for maintenance.  Exo-Earth colonies extend out to the Moon at absolute most.  Even then, the Moon colonies are mainly for the very wealthy or the occasional vacationing person or family as well as a military base solely for the defense of the citizens of the Moon. 

As such, the rest of the biography is completely out there and not able to be used.  While it is well thought of, it's not for this game.

Love the mech design!  Makes me think of a Roman Spear Warrior.

Chassis: Test type of a spacefighter mecha

Unfortunately, orbital weaponry, let alone mecha, is barely an idea for theorists.  As such, there are NO mechs in space.  As far as anyone knows, there are no weapons up their either, but we'll leave that alone for now.  I'm sorry to say that that chassis isn't the right thing for this game.  As such, there will be a number of details on the mech that will require changes.

Weight:  40 tons - 49 tons (fully armed)

Perhaps upping it to a Medium class would be the better option?  It's so close to the Medium minimum, you may as well class it as that, unless you lower the max carry weight down to 40 tons.

Height: 15 m

Seems pretty tall for a Light mech.  Perhaps somewhere around 8-10 meters in height would be more reasonable?

Top Speed: Walking: 20Km/h
Speed provided by propellers: 105 Km/h
Optimal speed (only able to be reached in space, on Earth who knows?): 2200 km/h

Since the 'spaceflight' aspect isn't for this type of game, the second two speeds will need to be removed.  Also, what would be the max speed for the mech as I doubt one would be walking when in a combat situation.

Armaments (Standard Layout):
1. Particle cannon (fixed): Located in its head is probably the most powerful gun available for this mecha but certainly not the main nor the most useful gun. It fires a concentrated beam of electronic particles, as it doesn't fie a solid projectile it has no recoil and an effective range of 40 km. but its effects are better if shot closer. Although it's powerful and got a good range, it devours the energy reserves of the mecha and also, due that overheats easily, it can be only shot 3 times before the electronic matrix (the core of the particle cannon) had to be replaced (and as those are produced in Mars it is hardly a way to replace them on Earth). It has also another problem, being a particle cannon, it can only shot straight and doesn’t have the parabolic inclination of a cannon shooting solid ammo.

An experimental particle cannon sounds interesting, especially with the 'shotgun' aspect (power weakening over distance).  However, I would think the range should be lowered a bit.  The fact that it can only be fired three times (unless I misunderstand) and that it if fixed means it will quickly become completely useless.

2. High vibration knives (fixed): A set of metal blades of a modest size which can vibrate using the same particle technology of the particle cannon, capable to slice enemy's mechas. Are located in each arm of the mecha and are not hold in their hands but its slicing/vibrating capability is underdeveloped due to the fear that its vibration may damage the mecha's arm.

I like the idea.  Considering that it is a Light mech and attached to the wrists, they would need to be smaller than the blade that Joseph's mech uses.  In that case, they would be less useful against heavy forms of armor.

3. Gattling gun (fixed): A slug-firing cannon with multiple barrels. The gatling has a very high fire rate, using up ammunition with surprising speed. It has recoil and can be fired from point blank to medium range, but is located only mounted on the left arm. Its bullets are contained in a cartridge which is charged in the forearm. It can shot explosive, solid and ricochect ammunition and also smoke/gas filled ammunition.

For a Light mech, a Gatling gun would be rather heavy.  In fact, such a weapon would need two hands to handle as having it mounted on the arm would require the arm to be in a fixed position.  As for the types of rounds, I am not fond of all of that.  Seems like a Swiss Army Knife just to have an answer for every situation.  That said, for such a weapon, the ammo would need to take a lot of space, likely a large ammo pack on the mech's back, which would decrease speed and agility.

Armaments (Non-Standard):
1. High vibration spear(not fixed): A long spear which use the same technology of the vibration knives. It has more power and it's probably the main weapon of this mecha

I really like this as it's unique.  Of course, the spear's tip would have the vibration technology since it makes no sense for it to have it all over the weapon.

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):
Main thruster (not fixed): a part almost of the same height of the mecha itself it can provides an remarkable speed
Propellers and repulsors (fixed): set in different places of the mecha play a key role as in the emptiness of space where there is nothing to use as platform, it adds maneuverability 
ES-wings (fixed but retractable): or empty-space wings are made of a micro filament built as a retractable and almost traslucid pair of wings, were developed to apport maneuvrability to the mecha in the emptyness of the outer space and allow it to fly in an inertial mode, and along the spear gave it its nickname. Those were not thought to be used in Earth conditions and it is unknown if they have some utility (where the microfilament will face wind resistance and the need of balance due to the Earth gravity).

As said above, the space-related items are not a good idea.  However, if the mech has a set of short, stubby wings and a large thruster on it's back, it can achieve great height and distance when it jumps.  At best, it would be a glider for shorter distances.

Strengths:  1. Firepower: Even with its limitations it has a good firepower in close range ( the gattling) and a reasonable firepower in medium range (the missiles) its particle cannon also provides a reduced but important support in long range, its potency surpass most of what you can expect in a mecha, since it was developed to pierce space cruiser armor.

Might need changing due to what has been said about the weapons.

2. Speed: Its main thruster makes it a fast mecha capable to reach around mach 2, in space, although it has not been proved on the Earth it should be fast still

As said before, space-related things will need to be removed.  However, a powerful thruster for leaping would be an asset.

4. Some weapons are easy to repair and charge: due that Mars is not exactly an economically rich planet (although plenty of resources) some weapons like missiles and the gattling gun are cheap to maintain and their ammo is cheap and easy to find.

As Mars is not populated in a major sense, that reference must be removed.  However, weapons that are easy to repair in the field is a good thing.

Weaknesses:  1. It is a mecha developed to fight in the space: this mecha was thought to fight not on the Earth but in the space, therefore some of its characteristics are pretty useless (like the ES-wings) or other cannot reach is full potential (like it's unable to reach maximum speed)[/i]

Pretty much must be completely removed since space flight for mechs is a no.

3. Spare parts: as a test type it is not easy to find all spare parts, besides, it is not easy neither to find spare parts for a space machine. Some of them could be found in very specialized companies, a couple of them only in the colonies.

While the difficulty of finding spare parts makes for an interesting difficulty, I have to say that the space references should, again, be removed.

4. Test type: although most of the gun systems could work pretty well, the power system and the Particle cannon are still in test and development phase, therefore failures are to be expected.

The risk of failure is always an interesting thing to run up against.  Worst case scenario, the mech will need to be completely scrapped and a new one found should everything fail to the point of becoming a liability.

Overall Description:  The Crow N.° 28, codename: "the winged hussar", by its spear and ES-wings, was developed to fight in the space against much bigger units using speed and firepower.
It is a bipedal mechas two manned unit, one pilot, the fighter or "arrow", is in charge of fighting the enemies in front of him, pretty much like the standard mecha-pilot; the second pilot, the commander or the "bow", is in charge of the radar screen and other electronic pieces, to be able to receive and send complex messages and turn it into simple orders for his partner and keep an eye on the battlefield. We could say that the arrow is the tactical aspect while the bow is the strategical one that commands the mecha. However the winged hussar can fly with only one man.
Although it has a thin armor, some parts are reinforced: thighs, shoulders and upper chest, but specially forearms.

As before, the space flight related details will need to be removed.  I fear that will make the two-man pilot system useless, but the game needs to be down to Earth, if you will forgive the pun.

Equipment/Gear: Handguns and knives: 2 handguns and WASP injection knives for both pilots, although there are standard items the pilots can bring their own weapons
Fire extinguisher
Survival kits: One for each pilot contain first aid kits, radios, and e-tool
Purifier mask: it covers the whole face and it works like a gas mask
Although there is a compartment for water and food reserves, it is currently empty

WASO injection knives?  What do you mean by that?  The other things seem pretty good to me.






Those are my thoughts on the matter.  Saria, Karma, and Ralhend may have other thoughts and suggestions as well.  I do apologize for ripping apart the profile, but while I love the idea of the mech with the spear, there were a great number of details that just didn't fit.

[Saria]

Well, the idea for the character is kind of this big, imposing merc of a character, kind of quiet and reserved, more of the actions speak louder than words. And I want his mech to kind of match that kind of personality. I am thinking a heavy class mech, some decent weaponry. His whole attitude is "I don't get paid by the hour."

Ha ha, I love this personality. This will drive Deepi nuts.

If a commander rank is what you are looking for, you will need to speak to Saria.  I will say that, overall, I would prefer military ranks to be limited to a cap at Captain.

Yeah, definitely. If even a Major were to be in trouble in enemy territory, that would spark a serious military action to get them out. Major and above is a big deal. A Major is a company commander (or a squadron commander); they have hundreds of people under their command. In the Canadian Army, if you're a captain you wear 3 pips... if you're a major you wear a crown.

These higher ranks are no small deal. It takes years of work - to reach Commander would take something like 15-20 years, so he would have had to enlist in diapers; he's more likely 42 than 22, and even that is on the low end. You're also talking serious qualifications and education. For Major, you're talking a master's degree in your field... for Commander, you're probably talking PhD.

(Actually, I remember a story one of my Air Force friends told about getting chewed out once. He was told a Captain had landed at the airport, so he did the "normal" thing - sent one of the guys, a Lieutenant, out to pick him up. Unfortunately... it was not an Air Force Captain, it was a Navy Captain - the equivalent of an Air Force Colonel - who was expecting a limo. The poor Lieutenant had an awkward drive.)

My advice if you're looking for a military rank: go to Wikipedia and look up OF-1 - pick anything in that column. If you really want to push it to OF-2... well, you're in command of the mission, then - you're not going to be able to be just another character. I don't think you want that.

(If you just want to be called "commander", just about anyone who commands any group gets called that - like "platoon commander". But a platoon commander's rank is usually Lieutenant.)

Unfortunately, orbital weaponry, let alone mecha, is barely an idea for theorists.  As such, there are NO mechs in space.  As far as anyone knows, there are no weapons up their either, but we'll leave that alone for now.  I'm sorry to say that that chassis isn't the right thing for this game.  As such, there will be a number of details on the mech that will require changes.

Yeah, I'd say space flight is limited to shuttling between orbital stations and Moon-to-Earth. A trip to Mars would be a big deal - you don't go for the weekend, you write off a minimum of a year of your life to make the round trip. And the orbital stations would be pretty spartan affairs - not massive O'Neill cylinder space colonies, but small research or engineering installations with only a few hundred - maybe max a couple thousand - people, living in tight, limited conditions.

I'd say nobody is keen on fighting in space because a) it would be way too fricken expensive, b) it would be near pointless, because Earth-based weaponry could pick them off just like shooting fish in a big, empty barrel, and c) fighting in orbit would produce debris, enough of which would effectively end space travel for everyone.

However, I would think the range should be lowered a bit.

Yeah, I really don't think the setting needs a weapon that New York could use to hit Philadelphia, no matter how much both those cities might have it coming.

[King Serperior]

(Actually, I remember a story one of my Air Force friends told about getting chewed out once. He was told a Captain had landed at the airport, so he did the "normal" thing - sent one of the guys, a Lieutenant, out to pick him up. Unfortunately... it was not an Air Force Captain, it was a Navy Captain - the equivalent of an Air Force Colonel - who was expecting a limo. The poor Lieutenant had an awkward drive.)

Sounds about like my luck, being in that Lieutenant's shoes.  >.>

Yeah, I'd say space flight is limited to shuttling between orbital stations and Moon-to-Earth. A trip to Mars would be a big deal - you don't go for the weekend, you write off a minimum of a year of your life to make the round trip. And the orbital stations would be pretty spartan affairs - not massive O'Neill cylinder space colonies, but small research or engineering installations with only a few hundred - maybe max a couple thousand - people, living in tight, limited conditions.

Since Mars is mainly robots and factories for mining and tera-forming, I doubt the human population there would be more than 1-200, who are mostly maintenance workers, technicians, and scientists who will be living for the rest of their lives there.  So, I would say it's about a 1-2 year round trip minimal while, due to orbits and fuel, would mean that to get back to Earth, one would need to wait a year or two for optimal flight time.

But, you've hit the nail on the head there!

I'd say nobody is keen on fighting in space because a) it would be way too fricken expensive, b) it would be near pointless, because Earth-based weaponry could pick them off just like shooting fish in a big, empty barrel, and c) fighting in orbit would produce debris, enough of which would effectively end space travel for everyone.
Yeah, I really don't think the setting needs a weapon that New York could use to hit Philadelphia, no matter how much both those cities might have it coming.

^ This!  All of this!

[Saria]

So you agree that both New York and Philadelphia have it coming?

[King Serperior]

So you agree that both New York and Philadelphia have it coming?

I suppose you're right on them having it coming.

In regards to weapon range, the Ragnarok's rail gun has an effective range of ~20 kilometers.  Of course, considering that the mech's targeting systems don't even reach half that distance (maybe a quarter or so due to the fact that the mech was designed for the arena and no arena exceeded 10 square kilometers), Angela would require outside help to provide her the coordinates in order to accurately fire at that range.  The range makes sense on such a weapon due to the sheer speed one projectile is fired.  An energy weapon wouldn't have near that range, let alone 40 kilometers.

[Karma]

Space combat and colonization is the target of Athena's current research. It's definitely not ready yet!

[Urbanzorro]

Very cool idea! Is there still room?

[King Serperior]

Very cool idea! Is there still room?

Hello, Urbanzorro!  Glad to see that you're interested!

There's one spot left and two other interested parties besides yourself. 

So, if that hasn't scared you off, what sort of ideas do you have for a character or mech?  Do you have any questions?

[Urbanzorro]

Hmm, well I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Though if there is in fact room I'll probably go either for an every man/decent guy character with a light speedster sort of mech or perhaps someone who is a bit darker with a mech more focused on brutal weaponry. Really as far as the mech goes I'm pretty open and more than willing to fill a role that the team is currently missing.

[King Serperior]

Hmm, well I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Though if there is in fact room I'll probably go either for an every man/decent guy character with a light speedster sort of mech or perhaps someone who is a bit darker with a mech more focused on brutal weaponry. Really as far as the mech goes I'm pretty open and more than willing to fill a role that the team is currently missing.

It wouldn't hurt to come up with an idea anyway.  I doubt you'll step on anyone's toes since none of the interested people have a full character created yet.

As for your ideas, I like the idea of a lighter, speedy mech.  Of what we have so far, none of the mechs we have can be classified as very speedy.  Still, it's your choice for character and mech, so feel free to go ahead and write something up.  Take a look at the current characters and mechs (linked in the opening post) and see what works for you.

[Urbanzorro]

Cool beans, I should have something up shortly.

[King Serperior]

Alright, I can't wait to see what you might come up with.  No major rush though.

[Kiric Rand]

well, here is the prototype idea I have

Name:  Alexander Nobel
Rank:  Former Military
Role:  Mercenary
Nicknames:  Alex
Callsign:  Red Fang
Age:  31
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight
Height:  7’ 3”
Weight:  235 lb
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Black, shoulder length
Skin:  White, Slightly tan
Physique:  Big and solid
Distinguishing Marks: Numerious tattoos along his chest, arms, and back

Appearance:  Alex is a big man, imposing in stature.

Bio:  Alex is a former solder, very effective at what he did, engaging in combat missions at the age of 18. He quickly rose through the ranks, due to his brutal efficiency at completing his missions. So he was given command of a heavy class mech, leading a small unit in sweep and clear style missions. While he never failed a single one, it was due to his ruthlessness and his high civilian casualty rate that he was soon discharged from the unit.

Knowing only the field of combat, Alex soon found himself accepting freelance work for many different governments. He managed to hijack an experimental heavy mech, known as a fiddler mech during one of his missions. He claimed it as part of his payment, and with it, he has been able to take bigger and bigger missions.

He is still as ruthless as ever, but he is also loyal to completing the mission. Despite being a merc, he is not one to change sides mid mission. Just hope and pray he is on your side. Alex was currently on his way from the lunar colonies after completion of a mission.



Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):  A couple sets of clothes, some provisions, and his side arm from his military days.

Chassis:  Heavy assault unit TR-X “Fiddler”
Model:  Custom
Weight Class:  Heavy
Weight:  78T Dry/ 96 T Full load out
Height: 15m
Top Speed:  50 MPH
Mech Name:  Dragon
Armaments (Standard Layout):  XR31 Solid slug rifle (Fixed): One of two main armaments, the XR31 is a long range rifle with a maximum range of 15km, though effective range is within 10 km. It is armed with solid slug armor penetrating rounds, mostly used as an anti armor and anti mech weapon. At the time of landing it was loaded with it’s maximum ammo count of 350 rounds.

GSD “Vulcan” Gatling gun (Fixed): Second main armament, The GSD “Vulcan” fires at an impressive 10,000 rounds per minute it allowed continual firing. It carries a maximum ammo load out of 100,000 rounds. Mostly used as an anti personal and anti light armor. Currently armed with depleted uranium rounds

LRM 21 “Lancer” Missiles (Fixed): Anti-Aircraft weaponry, currently armed with 8 missiles, each of with will break off into smaller warheads upon reaching a certain altitude. While useful against ground based targets, Lancers truly shine against airborne targets, allowing a single shot to take out multiple craft.

2x LLM 351 Light Laser machine guns (Fixed): An anti personal weapon with a fairly short range, The LLM 351 draws power from the main reactor, allowing for a near indefinite ammo count, though it’s short range make it ineffective against anything at near point blank range

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  ”Fiddler” Arms: Probably the most noticeable feature of the mech are the small arms just below the cockpit, giving the mech a slight appearance of a fiddler crab. While they are not strong enough to wield a weapon system, they are useful in allowing Alex to perform more intricate task.

Radar, Infrared, and sonar visual systems: As a combat mech, it has a number of detection systems available to scan and locate threats

Comms array: Standard systems to allow for communication.

Smoke Launchers: Mounted around the mech in various places, These small canisters allow the mech to deploy a smoke cloud that will confuse most detection systems, providing a measure of stealth.

Targeting systems: The Dragon comes with an advanced targeting system, allowing the pilot to pick out targets as a rapid pace and direct it’s weaponry to bare.

Strengths:  Combat: Dragon excels at combat, having a weapon system ready for nearly any situation

Sealed Cockpit: The dragons control center is completely sealed, allowing it’s piolet to survive in nearly any environment.

Armored: The Dragon has a decent amount of armor, allowing it to operate in combat situations for prolonged amounts of time.

Arms: While the arms are not able of using weapons, they do allow the Dragon to perform a number of delicate actions that a mech his size normally wouldn’t allow.

Weaknesses:  Large: Dragon is a large mech, even for a heavy class mech. It does make in a target in a lot of situations.

Experimental Design: Due to the nature of the design, not many mechs like Dragon exist, which means parts are harder for find for some of the systems.

Fixed weaponry: The weaponry on Dragon is fixed, which means there is no way to change it. Most of it requires solid ammo, which means it has a limited capacity.


Overall Description:  The Dragon is a bipedal mech, though a bit of an odd design. Where its arms would normally be there are weapon systems, and a smaller pair of arms sits just in front of the power plant entrance. The cockpit is situated just above the laser guns. The battery systems are located in the crotch, just behind the arms. The pilot enters vi a cable and foot loop that pulls them from the ground.

Equipment/Gear:  1 Sniper Rifle, 1 assault rifle, spare pilot suit and helmet.

[King Serperior]

well, here is the prototype idea I have

Alright, since it's a prototype, I'll go slightly easier on the analysis. 

Name:  Alexander Nobel
Rank:  Former Military
Role:  Mercenary
Nicknames:  Alex
Callsign:  Red Fang
Age:  31
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight
Height:  7’ 3”
Weight:  235 lb
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Black, shoulder length
Skin:  White, Slightly tan
Physique:  Big and solid
Distinguishing Marks: Numerious tattoos along his chest, arms, and back

Appearance:  Alex is a big man, imposing in stature.

Bio:  Alex is a former solder, very effective at what he did, engaging in combat missions at the age of 18. He quickly rose through the ranks, due to his brutal efficiency at completing his missions. So he was given command of a heavy class mech, leading a small unit in sweep and clear style missions. While he never failed a single one, it was due to his ruthlessness and his high civilian casualty rate that he was soon discharged from the unit.

Knowing only the field of combat, Alex soon found himself accepting freelance work for many different governments. He managed to hijack an experimental heavy mech, known as a fiddler mech during one of his missions. He claimed it as part of his payment, and with it, he has been able to take bigger and bigger missions.

He is still as ruthless as ever, but he is also loyal to completing the mission. Despite being a merc, he is not one to change sides mid mission. Just hope and pray he is on your side. Alex was currently on his way from the lunar colonies after completion of a mission.



Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):  A couple sets of clothes, some provisions, and his side arm from his military days.

So, dishonorably discharged from the military, so he turned to the only thing his skills could pay for:  Mercenary work.  Deepika, and perhaps even Joseph, would certainly have some kind of problems with him.  However, I must ask what this mission on the lunar colonies would have been?  Unless you mean that he had completed a mission that was well-paying and spent a few weeks on the Moon for vacation?

Chassis:  Heavy assault unit TR-X “Fiddler”
Model:  Custom
Weight Class:  Heavy
Weight:  78T Dry/ 96 T Full load out
Height: 15m
Top Speed:  50 MPH
Mech Name:  Dragon
Armaments (Standard Layout):  XR31 Solid slug rifle (Fixed): One of two main armaments, the XR31 is a long range rifle with a maximum range of 15km, though effective range is within 10 km. It is armed with solid slug armor penetrating rounds, mostly used as an anti armor and anti mech weapon. At the time of landing it was loaded with it’s maximum ammo count of 350 rounds.

GSD “Vulcan” Gatling gun (Fixed): Second main armament, The GSD “Vulcan” fires at an impressive 10,000 rounds per minute it allowed continual firing. It carries a maximum ammo load out of 100,000 rounds. Mostly used as an anti personal and anti light armor. Currently armed with depleted uranium rounds

LRM 21 “Lancer” Missiles (Fixed): Anti-Aircraft weaponry, currently armed with 8 missiles, each of with will break off into smaller warheads upon reaching a certain altitude. While useful against ground based targets, Lancers truly shine against airborne targets, allowing a single shot to take out multiple craft.

2x LLM 351 Light Laser machine guns (Fixed): An anti personal weapon with a fairly short range, The LLM 351 draws power from the main reactor, allowing for a near indefinite ammo count, though it’s short range make it ineffective against anything at near point blank range

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  ”Fiddler” Arms: Probably the most noticeable feature of the mech are the small arms just below the cockpit, giving the mech a slight appearance of a fiddler crab. While they are not strong enough to wield a weapon system, they are useful in allowing Alex to perform more intricate task.

Radar, Infrared, and sonar visual systems: As a combat mech, it has a number of detection systems available to scan and locate threats

Comms array: Standard systems to allow for communication.

Smoke Launchers: Mounted around the mech in various places, These small canisters allow the mech to deploy a smoke cloud that will confuse most detection systems, providing a measure of stealth.

Targeting systems: The Dragon comes with an advanced targeting system, allowing the pilot to pick out targets as a rapid pace and direct it’s weaponry to bare.

Strengths:  Combat: Dragon excels at combat, having a weapon system ready for nearly any situation

Sealed Cockpit: The dragons control center is completely sealed, allowing it’s piolet to survive in nearly any environment.

Armored: The Dragon has a decent amount of armor, allowing it to operate in combat situations for prolonged amounts of time.

Arms: While the arms are not able of using weapons, they do allow the Dragon to perform a number of delicate actions that a mech his size normally wouldn’t allow.

Weaknesses:  Large: Dragon is a large mech, even for a heavy class mech. It does make in a target in a lot of situations.

Experimental Design: Due to the nature of the design, not many mechs like Dragon exist, which means parts are harder for find for some of the systems.

Fixed weaponry: The weaponry on Dragon is fixed, which means there is no way to change it. Most of it requires solid ammo, which means it has a limited capacity.


Overall Description:  The Dragon is a bipedal mech, though a bit of an odd design. Where its arms would normally be there are weapon systems, and a smaller pair of arms sits just in front of the power plant entrance. The cockpit is situated just above the laser guns. The battery systems are located in the crotch, just behind the arms. The pilot enters vi a cable and foot loop that pulls them from the ground.

Equipment/Gear:  1 Sniper Rifle, 1 assault rifle, spare pilot suit and helmet.

Very interesting mech!  I like the 'fiddler arms' aspect a lot.  However, there is one detail that concerns me most:  The mech is an experimental military one, so when he was discharged, wouldn't the mech have been taken back?  In that case, he would have to have stole it.  Anyway, from what I am seeing, the mech is effectively a walking anti-personnel tank since it appears to have limited use against mechs of the Heavy or Colossal class, perhaps even some Medium mechs with most of it's weapons.  On that note, remember that energy-based weapons can overheat, so those 'LLM 351 Light Laser machine guns' can be damaged from the heat.  But, they seem to solely be anti-personal weapons to keep smaller targets off the mech's back when they crawl under the range of the main weapons.

I'll leave the analysis there until you have a more complete design that you feel works.

[Kiric Rand]

Sort end of the story, he had an assassination mission on the moon, and once completed he was returning back to earth. And yes, he was dishonorably discharged. His mech was returned, the one he now pilots he stole during a mission and decided to keep it in place of payment for that particular mission. And yes, it is mostly anti personnel and light armor, with the missiles and rifle being the only thing that can even have a chance of hurting bigger mechs, even then it would take most of his ammo to do.

[Kiric Rand]

Name:  Alexander Nobel
Rank:  Former Military
Role:  Mercenary
Nicknames:  Alex
Callsign:  Red Fang
Age:  31
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight
Height:  7’ 3”
Weight:  235 lb
Eyes:  Green
Hair:  Black, shoulder length
Skin:  White, Slightly tan
Physique:  Big and solid
Distinguishing Marks: Numerious tattoos along his chest, arms, and back

Appearance:  Alex is a big man, imposing in stature.

Bio:  Alex is a former solder, very effective at what he did, engaging in combat missions at the age of 18. He quickly rose through the ranks, due to his brutal efficiency at completing his missions. So he was given command of a heavy class mech, leading a small unit in sweep and clear style missions. While he never failed a single one, it was due to his ruthlessness and his high civilian casualty rate that he was soon discharged from the unit.

Knowing only the field of combat, Alex soon found himself accepting freelance work for many different governments. He managed to hijack an experimental heavy mech, known as a fiddler mech during one of his missions. He claimed it as part of his payment, and with it, he has been able to take bigger and bigger missions.

He is still as ruthless as ever, but he is also loyal to completing the mission. Despite being a merc, he is not one to change sides mid mission. Just hope and pray he is on your side. Alex was currently on his way from the lunar colonies after completion of a mission, an assassination that he has managed to keep under wraps for now.



Equipment/Gear (Grabbed before entering the Mech's Storage Container):  A couple sets of clothes, some provisions, and his side arm from his military days.

Chassis:  Heavy assault unit TR-X “Fiddler”
Model:  Custom
Weight Class:  Heavy
Weight:  78T Dry/ 96 T Full load out
Height: 15m
Top Speed:  50 MPH
Mech Name:  Dragon
Armaments (Standard Layout):  XR31 Solid slug rifle (Fixed): One of two main armaments, the XR31 is a long range rifle with a maximum range of 15km, though effective range is within 10 km. It is armed with solid slug armor penetrating rounds, mostly used as an anti armor and anti mech weapon. At the time of landing it was loaded with it’s maximum ammo count of 350 rounds.

GSD “Vulcan” Gatling gun (Fixed): Second main armament, The GSD “Vulcan” fires at an impressive 10,000 rounds per minute it allowed continual firing. It carries a maximum ammo load out of 100,000 rounds. Mostly used as an anti personal and anti light armor. Currently armed with depleted uranium rounds

LRM 21 “Lancer” Missiles (Fixed): Anti-Aircraft weaponry, currently armed with 8 missiles, each of with will break off into smaller warheads upon reaching a certain altitude. While useful against ground based targets, Lancers truly shine against airborne targets, allowing a single shot to take out multiple craft.

2x LLM 351 Light Laser machine guns (Fixed): An anti personal weapon with a fairly short range, The LLM 351 draws power from the main reactor, allowing for a near indefinite ammo count, though it’s short range make it ineffective against anything at near point blank range. Can overheat if used for extended periods of time.

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  ”Fiddler” Arms: Probably the most noticeable feature of the mech are the small arms just below the cockpit, giving the mech a slight appearance of a fiddler crab. While they are not strong enough to wield a weapon system, they are useful in allowing Alex to perform more intricate task.

Radar, Infrared, and sonar visual systems: As a combat mech, it has a number of detection systems available to scan and locate threats

Comms array: Standard systems to allow for communication.

Smoke Launchers: Mounted around the mech in various places, These small canisters allow the mech to deploy a smoke cloud that will confuse most detection systems, providing a measure of stealth.

Targeting systems: The Dragon comes with an advanced targeting system, allowing the pilot to pick out targets as a rapid pace and direct it’s weaponry to bare.

Strengths:  Combat: Dragon excels at combat, having a weapon system ready for nearly any situation

Anti-Personnel: A majority of Dragon’s weapon systems are directed at taking out troops and light armor.

Sealed Cockpit: The dragons control center is completely sealed, allowing it’s piolet to survive in nearly any environment.

Armored: The Dragon has a decent amount of armor, allowing it to operate in combat situations for prolonged amounts of time.

Arms: While the arms are not able of using weapons, they do allow the Dragon to perform a number of delicate actions that a mech his size normally wouldn’t allow.

Weaknesses:  Large: Dragon is a large mech, even for a heavy class mech. It does make in a target in a lot of situations.

Anti-Personnel- Except for the missiles and rifle, Dragon has limited ways to deal with heavier mechs.

Experimental Design: Due to the nature of the design, not many mechs like Dragon exist, which means parts are harder for find for some of the systems.

Fixed weaponry: The weaponry on Dragon is fixed, which means there is no way to change it. Most of it requires solid ammo, which means it has a limited capacity.


Overall Description:  The Dragon is a bipedal mech, though a bit of an odd design. Where its arms would normally be there are weapon systems, and a smaller pair of arms sits just in front of the power plant entrance. The cockpit is situated just above the laser guns. The battery systems are located in the crotch, just behind the arms. The pilot enters vi a cable and foot loop that pulls them from the ground.

Equipment/Gear:  1 Sniper Rifle, 1 assault rifle, spare pilot suit and helmet.

[Saria]

In regards to weapon range, the Ragnarok's rail gun has an effective range of ~20 kilometers.  Of course, considering that the mech's targeting systems don't even reach half that distance (maybe a quarter or so due to the fact that the mech was designed for the arena and no arena exceeded 10 square kilometers), Angela would require outside help to provide her the coordinates in order to accurately fire at that range.  The range makes sense on such a weapon due to the sheer speed one projectile is fired.  An energy weapon wouldn't have near that range, let alone 40 kilometers.

In all honesty, I don't really have a problem with really long-range weaponry - after all, one of our mechs could be an artillery mech. (Which would actually be an interesting dynamic, because most of our skirmishes will be necessarily short range, so we'd have one mech raining holy hell down on zes own side, because ze has no other way to help in combat.)

Anyway, I don't even really object to a 40 km range for a weapon, but it just seems overkill for anything not meant for artillery or long-range sniping - both of which would imply it's relatively useless at close range. That's the case for Ragnarok's rail gun - Angela can't really use it in a close-range skirmish (unless she gets really lucky and a target lingers in her sights, and there's nothing she doesn't want to kill behind it or anywhere else in the line of fire).

In fact, it might actually be cool to have a couple of really powerful long-range weapons that require a spotter, like the rail gun. That could lead to split missions where two mechs bring Deep's mech to the target to paint it, while two other mechs protect the shooter. (Which is one way I was considering using the Ragnarok's rail gun. Something like, "oh, the enemy has a massive artillery weapon that our bigger mechs can't get close to, so the smaller mechs will get close and paint it, and the big mechs will take it out from afar", but meanwhile the enemy detects the big mechs and sends out an assault team, so now the big-mech group is fighting for their lives to hold out until it's time to shoot, while the little-mech group is fighting for their lives to get close enough to the target to paint it.)

I'm really just wary of a gun that is equally effective at 50 m and 50,000 m.

Chassis:  Heavy assault unit TR-X “Fiddler”
Model:  Custom
Weight Class:  Heavy
Weight:  78T Dry/ 96 T Full load out
Height: 15m
Top Speed:  50 MPH
Mech Name:  Dragon
Armaments (Standard Layout):  XR31 Solid slug rifle (Fixed): One of two main armaments, the XR31 is a long range rifle with a maximum range of 15km, though effective range is within 10 km. It is armed with solid slug armor penetrating rounds, mostly used as an anti armor and anti mech weapon. At the time of landing it was loaded with it’s maximum ammo count of 350 rounds.

GSD “Vulcan” Gatling gun (Fixed): Second main armament, The GSD “Vulcan” fires at an impressive 10,000 rounds per minute it allowed continual firing. It carries a maximum ammo load out of 100,000 rounds. Mostly used as an anti personal and anti light armor. Currently armed with depleted uranium rounds

LRM 21 “Lancer” Missiles (Fixed): Anti-Aircraft weaponry, currently armed with 8 missiles, each of with will break off into smaller warheads upon reaching a certain altitude. While useful against ground based targets, Lancers truly shine against airborne targets, allowing a single shot to take out multiple craft.

2x LLM 351 Light Laser machine guns (Fixed): An anti personal weapon with a fairly short range, The LLM 351 draws power from the main reactor, allowing for a near indefinite ammo count, though it’s short range make it ineffective against anything at near point blank range. Can overheat if used for extended periods of time.

Subsystems (Standard and Nonstandard):  ”Fiddler” Arms: Probably the most noticeable feature of the mech are the small arms just below the cockpit, giving the mech a slight appearance of a fiddler crab. While they are not strong enough to wield a weapon system, they are useful in allowing Alex to perform more intricate task.

Radar, Infrared, and sonar visual systems: As a combat mech, it has a number of detection systems available to scan and locate threats

Comms array: Standard systems to allow for communication.

Smoke Launchers: Mounted around the mech in various places, These small canisters allow the mech to deploy a smoke cloud that will confuse most detection systems, providing a measure of stealth.

Targeting systems: The Dragon comes with an advanced targeting system, allowing the pilot to pick out targets as a rapid pace and direct it’s weaponry to bare.

Strengths:  Combat: Dragon excels at combat, having a weapon system ready for nearly any situation

Anti-Personnel: A majority of Dragon’s weapon systems are directed at taking out troops and light armor.

Sealed Cockpit: The dragons control center is completely sealed, allowing it’s piolet to survive in nearly any environment.

Armored: The Dragon has a decent amount of armor, allowing it to operate in combat situations for prolonged amounts of time.

Arms: While the arms are not able of using weapons, they do allow the Dragon to perform a number of delicate actions that a mech his size normally wouldn’t allow.

Weaknesses:  Large: Dragon is a large mech, even for a heavy class mech. It does make in a target in a lot of situations.

Anti-Personnel- Except for the missiles and rifle, Dragon has limited ways to deal with heavier mechs.

Experimental Design: Due to the nature of the design, not many mechs like Dragon exist, which means parts are harder for find for some of the systems.

Fixed weaponry: The weaponry on Dragon is fixed, which means there is no way to change it. Most of it requires solid ammo, which means it has a limited capacity.


Overall Description:  The Dragon is a bipedal mech, though a bit of an odd design. Where its arms would normally be there are weapon systems, and a smaller pair of arms sits just in front of the power plant entrance. The cockpit is situated just above the laser guns. The battery systems are located in the crotch, just behind the arms. The pilot enters vi a cable and foot loop that pulls them from the ground.

Equipment/Gear:  1 Sniper Rifle, 1 assault rifle, spare pilot suit and helmet.

That's a wicked looking mech design.

So, dishonorably discharged from the military, so he turned to the only thing his skills could pay for:  Mercenary work.  Deepika, and perhaps even Joseph, would certainly have some kind of problems with him.

Nah, Deep's a former criminal (a non-violent one, though not everyone in her gang was) who is only using the military as a means to a cushy, well-paying desk job. The things she likes about the military are just: good pay, job security, buff men in uniform all around her. The things she doesn't like are basically all the things that someone who really likes the military might like it for: the shouting and ordering around, the fact that she has to fight and sometimes kill, and the fact that she has to put up with bullshit if it was ordered by a superior.

And Joseph was booted out for assaulting an officer, I believe (though I don't know if he was officially dishonourably discharged). I don't think we actually have any gung-ho, flag-waving, rah-rah army type people.

Deepika would have a problem with violent tendencies, though. She's really a pacifist at heart. But that's something that would already cause friction between her and Angela.

[Karma]

Here's an artillery mech for ya.

[King Serperior]

In all honesty, I don't really have a problem with really long-range weaponry - after all, one of our mechs could be an artillery mech. (Which would actually be an interesting dynamic, because most of our skirmishes will be necessarily short range, so we'd have one mech raining holy hell down on zes own side, because ze has no other way to help in combat.)

Anyway, I don't even really object to a 40 km range for a weapon, but it just seems overkill for anything not meant for artillery or long-range sniping - both of which would imply it's relatively useless at close range. That's the case for Ragnarok's rail gun - Angela can't really use it in a close-range skirmish (unless she gets really lucky and a target lingers in her sights, and there's nothing she doesn't want to kill behind it or anywhere else in the line of fire).

In fact, it might actually be cool to have a couple of really powerful long-range weapons that require a spotter, like the rail gun. That could lead to split missions where two mechs bring Deep's mech to the target to paint it, while two other mechs protect the shooter. (Which is one way I was considering using the Ragnarok's rail gun. Something like, "oh, the enemy has a massive artillery weapon that our bigger mechs can't get close to, so the smaller mechs will get close and paint it, and the big mechs will take it out from afar", but meanwhile the enemy detects the big mechs and sends out an assault team, so now the big-mech group is fighting for their lives to hold out until it's time to shoot, while the little-mech group is fighting for their lives to get close enough to the target to paint it.)

I'm really just wary of a gun that is equally effective at 50 m and 50,000 m.

I have to agree on all of those points.  The Ragnarok's Rail Gun is effectively a massive sniper rifle that can penetrate all but the thickest armors.  Unfortunately, her sensors are less than half the effective range of the weapon itself, so aiming at something beyond that requires a very good line-of-sight skill.  I may end up increasing the Rail Gun's range to about 30 kilometers, considering what it is.  As it's no missile, good aiming and coordinates are required to actually get the target.

By the way, I love that idea as well!

Nah, Deep's a former criminal (a non-violent one, though not everyone in her gang was) who is only using the military as a means to a cushy, well-paying desk job. The things she likes about the military are just: good pay, job security, buff men in uniform all around her. The things she doesn't like are basically all the things that someone who really likes the military might like it for: the shouting and ordering around, the fact that she has to fight and sometimes kill, and the fact that she has to put up with bullshit if it was ordered by a superior.

And Joseph was booted out for assaulting an officer, I believe (though I don't know if he was officially dishonourably discharged). I don't think we actually have any gung-ho, flag-waving, rah-rah army type people.

Ah, I nearly forgot that part about her.  Okay, my thoughts are rendered void then!

Deepika would have a problem with violent tendencies, though. She's really a pacifist at heart. But that's something that would already cause friction between her and Angela.

Oh, Angela's not that bad!  She just likes to make sure that whatever she is fighting won't get back up anytime soon! 

Here's an artillery mech for ya.

Haha, well, not what I would call the most mobile artillery mech!

By the way, Kiric's character's mech reminds me of the original image I was planning to use for the Ragnarok when I first created my character:



However, the current image works better for a Rail Gun and I honestly fell in love with the spider-like design.  Then I came to realize that the original image was insanely unstable as a weapons platform, so I scrapped that idea and went with it's current version!

[Saria]

I have to agree on all of those points.  The Ragnarok's Rail Gun is effectively a massive sniper rifle that can penetrate all but the thickest armors.  Unfortunately, her sensors are less than half the effective range of the weapon itself, so aiming at something beyond that requires a very good line-of-sight skill.  I may end up increasing the Rail Gun's range to about 30 kilometers, considering what it is.  As it's no missile, good aiming and coordinates are required to actually get the target.

I was about to respond and say that 20-30 km is nothing for a rail gun, because real world rail guns of about the size of Ragnarok's routinely reach 100 km.

Then I went to Wikipedia to double check my vaguely remembered facts, and not only does it mention a range of 160 km (the ~50 km number I was thinking of was the practical range for shooting a fast moving missile down with a rail gun - though there's no way Angela's mech could pull that off; it would require a network of targeting radars, a supercomputer to crunch the numbers for aiming, and a solid footing (translation, fixed to bedrock via a steel-reinforced concrete foundation) to shoot from), it casually talks about one shell that went 7 km after penetrating a 3.2 mm steel plate.

With Ragnarok's fusion reactor powering it, 20 km seems like nothing. Of course, the design might actually opt to limit the range to about that much, so that the rails last longer (after all, there's no need for anything more in arena combat, so why fuck up your rails needlessly). But Angela might have the ability to disable that limiter, and shoot for a hundred kilometres or more (but each time she does that, she cuts the effective life of the rails dramatically).

[Ralhend]

Joseph would have no problems with Alex.
He was also discharged from the military, and also works as a merc in the technical aspect of things, not unlike DynCorp.

If anything, Joseph and Alex would get along great

[Saria]

Karma's mech picture reminded me of some of the most adorable mechs I found while I was searching for Deepika's.

This one was almost DP's mech:


But my favourite has to be this one, mostly due to its back story:


The back story is that there was this mad genius mecha designer who made the ultimate mech for himself, and then wanted to give his daughter her own copy. But she balked at it, saying it was fugly. So, he duly remodelled his ultimate mech, redesigning it to basically resemble his daughter.

In fact, the "face" on the mech is linked to the pilot, so whatever facial expression she makes, it duplicates.

Even funnier, at some point in the story the mech got a major upgrade. Most of the aspects of this upgrade were typical - more powerful weapons, better armour. But it was noted that another aspect of the mech that was upgraded was... the body figure proportions.

[King Serperior]

I was about to respond and say that 20-30 km is nothing for a rail gun, because real world rail guns of about the size of Ragnarok's routinely reach 100 km.

Then I went to Wikipedia to double check my vaguely remembered facts, and not only does it mention a range of 160 km (the ~50 km number I was thinking of was the practical range for shooting a fast moving missile down with a rail gun - though there's no way Angela's mech could pull that off; it would require a network of targeting radars, a supercomputer to crunch the numbers for aiming, and a solid footing (translation, fixed to bedrock via a steel-reinforced concrete foundation) to shoot from), it casually talks about one shell that went 7 km after penetrating a 3.2 mm steel plate.

With Ragnarok's fusion reactor powering it, 20 km seems like nothing. Of course, the design might actually opt to limit the range to about that much, so that the rails last longer (after all, there's no need for anything more in arena combat, so why fuck up your rails needlessly). But Angela might have the ability to disable that limiter, and shoot for a hundred kilometres or more (but each time she does that, she cuts the effective life of the rails dramatically).

Wow.  Looks like I didn't know as much as I thought I did about rail weapons.  O.o  I think we'll just keep it at the 20-30 km range then.  I sure there is a way to remove the limiter, but that would only be in extreme, extreme life or death situations.

[Saria]

Wow.  Looks like I didn't know as much as I thought I did about rail weapons.  O.o  I think we'll just keep it at the 20-30 km range then.  I sure there is a way to remove the limiter, but that would only be in extreme, extreme life or death situations.

Well, bearing in mind that I'm not really an expert on guns, but as I understand it, with conventional - expanding gas propelled shell - weapons, the limiting factors for range and power are how much explosive you can pack in the shell, how much explosion the chamber can take before blowing apart, and how long you make the barrel. The first two are obvious, but the latter is actually very important, too. With a longer barrel, the shell spends more time being pushed on by the expanding gas - the moment it leaves the barrel, the gas puffs away to the sides uselessly. That's why long-barrel rifles have better range than pistols, even when using the same ammo.

With rail guns, the limiting factors are (electric) power, and how much the rails can take. The rails are limited by how much physical strain they can take, and how much heat they can dissipate. The heat and strain combine, and if it's more than the rails can take, the rails deform and become useless. Ideally you want to keep those things low enough that you stay below the plasticity point of the rails - the point where once bent, they don't return to their original shape. If you go beyond that point, and I think most real-world rail guns do, every time you fire the rails deform a little bit, and the more power you fire with, the faster that happens. So you have a limit of how many shots you can fire, and at what power, before you have to replace the rails.

Power limitations are really only a big deal for hand-held rail guns. Given that Ragnarok is powered by a fusion reactor, that doesn't seem to be a concern. What Angela would have to worry about would be the rails. She would probably have the power set low enough that they could survive hundreds of shots - if not functionally infinite.

If I were designing the fire control systems for an arena combat mech rail gun, I would give the pilot the ability to control the power. I would set the "standard" setting at, say, something that could punch through 75% of known mechs at a distance of 75% of the way across the arena (unless the rails could handle more without concern, then, fuck yeah more). But I would give the pilot the option of cranking it all the way up to the point where a single shot would fuck up the rails. The logic being that if the pilot gets into a situation where they're facing a massive beast with crazy thick armour, or even a normal mech that's hiding behind cover and sniping, the pilot has the option of dialling it up to 11 and punching through in a single shot to victory. After all, in arena combat, the fight ends when you take out the last target, so while a hail-mary strategy would be stupid for a combat mech, for an arena mech it would be a valid, though ballsy, way to win.

So the tl;dr is that a "default" range of 20-30 km sounds legit, but Angela probably does have the ability to dial it up to the point where she can shoot several hundreds of kilometres. But of course, that would be the one and only shot she gets, unless she can find a way to replace the rails. So it probably wouldn't be an option, except in life-or-death circumstances.