Giant Mechs are always the best? (Interest/Sign-Up)

[DanteFalcon]

As you possibly gleaned from the title this is an interest thread for a Giant Mech RP (about 40-50 feet tall if your particular about your mechs). I'll do a basic run down on the list of what I have in place. Also of note I have no title as of yet so feel free to yell things out if your weird or have some novel idea.

Setting: Think back to WWII. Now imagine that atom bombs were never built or even conceptualized. Nuclear power never explored in this setting. Imagine if instead of that people had the -fantastic- idea of building giant humanoid mechs to kill each other. Take that and run it to about technology from say 10-15 years ago, again without nuclear power and you'll have the basic idea of where we're at. The Arms Race/Cold War never happened so conflicts did happen but trying to not get too far into hypotethical historical time lines so we'll say the world is pretty similar to how it was 10-15 years ago.

PC's: You are all humans! Prosthetic limbs have been invented but no cyborgs or androids. You will all be in the military (willing or not is up to you). There will be stats, 6 of them to be specific. You will have points to put into said stats as well as specialties to pick from depending on where you want your character to excel. You will also have a giant mech. The mech is your design. It still has to fit the rough size of the standard groups but otherwise its aesthetic and armament will be up to you (for the most part) but I don't particularly care about how your character came into the money to design and build a mech. The mech will also have stats, 5 of those.

Mechanics: About as simple as you get. A higher number means your better at something. You have a specialty in sniper rifles? Good your better at using a sniper rifle than the average joe. You'll generally win at long range combat without any other extraneous factors. I'm not putting in a full numerical mechanics system because that also brings things like balance into it. And I don't have the energy to balance out a system to that extent. I have completely no idea if this will be PvP or if it'll be against a force that I come up with. That's purposeful. If enough people sign up and want to kick the crap out of each other, there's numbers to aid in that. If I have 4 or so people then I can create a hostile force for them to beat.

Other important tidbits:

Your mechs will get shredded. Even if everyone is absolutely perfect, mechs will get trashed on occasion. They are not biologically tied to your character so your PC will survive. I will not kill any PC randomly without talking to the player first and getting their express permission -or- they do something monumentally stupid. Thus every mech has 3 cockpits. You can have 3 people piloting the same mech. That works very simply by me comparing the stats and specialties of the two and taking all the larger numbers. 2 mechs is still better than one but a mech with 2 pilots is better than a mech with 1 pilot. Your mechs will get repaired and you'll have some input on that if you want to change around some small things about the aesthetic but they will mostly remain the same. Again, presuming the RP goes long enough I'll eventually let you have multiple mechs, though only able to pilot one at once.

Artillery mechs will not be accessible to players for the most part (They might be used in a few select circumstances where I feel it benefits more than it hinders). Its considerably harder to keep someone engaged when they are hundreds of miles out of combat going "I fire at this person. I fire at this person." It isn't interesting storytelling in a pure text medium. Snipers are easier to work around in that context since they simply aren't as far. Similarly, highly explosive weaponry will be frowned upon. I won't stop you from using it but the RP may very well punish you for using anything heavily explosive without some common sense (unnecessary collateral damage will be heavily frowned upon. There will be times when explosives are allowed.

Flight for the most part won't be happening right away. It will be introduced later in the RP if it continues but don't have mechs outfitted to fly right off the bat. Energy/Beam weapons don't exist (though EMP weaponry does).

I believe that covers my bases for an interest thread. Ask any questions you have, I'll answer when I see it. If you don't agree with anything up there and either want reasoning or you want to change things, feel free to argue. Just make sure you make a cohesive point or I'll ignore it. If there's enough interest I'll post up character gen and give more details about said military organization and what precisely is going on when your characters get involved.

[obscurejones]

I'm in. Also, Tesla?

[Aldurin]

Dafuck.

[Menarker]

Clearly I should make a mech of solid gold, just for laughs, especially when it turns out to be laughably useless (BUT SHINY!).

[Aldurin]

Menarker, you know the character gen will have the blockiest faces. With horrendous facial hair textures.

[Menarker]

Clearly you have difference reference pools. :3 When I think Mecha, the first thought that comes to my head is Escaflowne and then Gundum. And both of those tend to be piloted by bishonens. =P
Of course, given the suggested setting, neither of those are very likely to appear.

Anyhow, when I said Character Generations, I meant more the statistics aspect. I can build my character's profile better once I know the specifics.

[Arhra]

So just to get the design juices flowing, I'm assuming the mechs in question are the walking battle tank kind, with mobility a bit less than that of a human?

[Overcast]

Would like to see the stat system but consider me involved.

[CABAL49]

Tesla Mechs!

[DanteFalcon]

To Arhra: In their base forms yes. Part of the mech stat points deal with armor and speed respectively which, oddly, affect their mobility.

I actually hadn't considered Tesla but that makes a lot of sense for their generators if nothing else. I'd need to know what exactly you intend to do with Tesla since lightning slinging has more hazards than I can list in an urban environment.

Still finalizing how many mech stat points people get but I'll work on posting char gen up in about 3 hours when I'm back from class.

[Geminex]

I haven't roleplayed in ages, but this might be interesting. So sure.
Though if this does end up being PVP, I probably won't join.

Out of curiosity, how historical are you gonna make this? You described a vauge setting, will that become more concrete? With specific conflicts, armies and weapons? Or will be it be more along of the lines of BUDF (Big, Undifferentiated Defense Force) fighting against the GBGA (Generic Bad Guy Army?), ourselves aligned with the latter?

Edit: Or maybe the former. Put that down to a freudian slip.

[DanteFalcon]

Home, eating, will be writing character gen in a bit.

I'm not entirely sure yet. I don't want to do "America is good guys" because I don't believe that in the slightest. If it goes historical I'll make the heroes some country that gets villainized too often.

Doesn't appear to be PvP at this point.

[Aldurin]

So, we're going to be representing Soviet GermanChina?

[Geminex]

To offer a suggestion, why have villains at all?

I don't think we need to have good guys or bad guys on the battlefield. When a country deploys an army, it's always going to be out of self-interest. If villains exist, they're the people in charge, who decide to employ military force out of national self-interest. The army just does its job in the belief that they're right to do so.

The heroes are generally just as bad as the people they're shooting. So why try to categorize things?

Edit: Also, in regards to a setting, maybe something Tom-Clancy-ish?
Even without nuclear weapons, the ideological divide between the West and the Soviet would've been enough to foster a cold war, particularly since Biological or chemical weapons are also pretty good at mass destruction. Cheaper too, if you don't take delivery vehicles into account.

Anyway, we could stay pretty close to standard history. If we started in, say, 1990, the Soviet union would be gradually losing integrity, with the US already expecting the end to come. Amid the chaos of collapse, some sort of conflict could spring forth, be it a revolution in the soviet union or a territorial struggle in western Europe. That's pretty much the best opportunity for an epic warlike setting I can think of.

This has been Geminex, with historical advice you didn't ask for.
Thank you and good night.

Edit:
So, we're going to be representing Soviet GermanChina?
How about Islamic Communist Nazi Korea?

[DanteFalcon]

Still tossing a few ideas around before settling on something for group your working for, just getting to the meat of the character gen first. Number time go.


As mentioned before, every character has 6 stats for themselves, which, for ease of use I'll seperate into 3 categories; Combat, Industry and Logistics.

Combat's two stats are Reflex and Accuracy which are fairly self explanatory in their roles. Accuracy is a bit of an oddball though because mech's do have an auto targetting function. Its just really -really- bad and can't always distinguish friend from foe, not to mention it can be completely disabled if your scanners get jammed. The specialties these affect are primarily about weapon specializing, with one exception which we'll get to.

Industry is represented by Economy and Engineering (Yes I know Engineering is a broad term that covers far more than this. Call it Mechanized Combatant Engineering if your really that technical). Economy is merely your ability to understand value and supply your mech with non-standard issue gear to improve performance. Its also key if you intend to make use of EMP ammunition as that is almost never offered from the military. Engineering is simply an understanding of the machines you all are using from a technical standpoint, and how particular functions can be repaired, bypassed or utilized.

Logistics is represented by Focus and Computers. Focus is simply your ability to keep yourself on the task at hand and handling multiple tasks at once, or just one task really well. Computers is your skill at computers and how capable you are at decoding anything the programs spit out at you.

So your given 18 total points to put into your 6 stats (all start at 0) with a maximum of 6 in any one stat (but not group of stats) at this point.

Example A:
Reflex: 2
Accuracy: 2
Economy: 1
Engineering: 6
Focus: 3
Computers: 4

So why the grouping? That becomes important when we talk about specialties. Onto Mech Stats!

Mech's have no grouping and 5 fairly simple stats with only one that has any special rule. Additionally mechs begin with 1 in Armor, Speed and Generator Output. The 5 stats are:

Payload
Armor
Speed
Generator Output
Back-up systems

Payload: How much your mech can carry. Every point put into payload counts for two (so if you put 2 points into Payload, your Payload total is 4). It prevents Payload from being a necessary stat dump for heavier weapons or heavy armor. When I bring up weapon specialties they'll have a payload score (Ex: Pistols have 1 payload requirement) which accounts for the gun and nigh on unlimited ammo.

Armor: How hard you are to destroy. Armor slows your movement by 10% per point (and is perfectly balanced by speed so if you have equal armor and speed your movement isn't affected by either). Your Armor can't exceed your payload score (with the exception of level 1 armor which doesn't count as any appreciable weight)

Speed: How fast you are. Increases your movement by 10% per point.

Generator output: How much energy your mech has. 1 point is sufficient for standard activities. A total score of 3 is needed to keep your mech running at maximum power without any problems coming from the mech itself at this stage in the game. It also is a partial counter to EMP weaponry.

Back-up Systems: How resilient your mech is to everything. Effectively Health. This won't stop say your mech losing an arm from a sword cutting through it but you can take more all around punishment.

Your given 10 points to put into your mech with armor and speed capped at 5 for this point in the game (the 1 points in Armor, Speed and Generator output do not count against your 10 point total).

Because I mentioned them a great deal here I'll put in a brief aside for how EMP weapons work. They don't do appreciable damage on their own but they attempt to overload the generator with power spikes so that it will shut itself down as a safety to prevent it from exploding. A generator with more output is also treated as having a larger power load it can handle without overloading, hence why it works as a partial counter.

Example A's Mech:

Payload: 6 (3 points put into it. Thus 3x2=6)
Armor: 3 (2 points put into it + the 1 it started with)
Speed: 3 (Same as armor)
Generator Output: 2 (1 base + 1 point invested)
Backup Systems: 2

Next post will be on specialties but I'll leave this to sit for an hour or two so people can read and ask questions before I throw in the last stuff.

[Arhra]

Question: What does the generator actually run on?

Petrol? Coal? Unobtainium?

[Geminex]

Wait, swords? I thought we were talking, like, walking tanks here. Cannons, guided missiles, that sort of thing. Wouldn't sword-wielders just kinda get blown apart? Edit: The rest looks cool, though. : D

[DanteFalcon]

Tempted to answer with Unobtanium but I'm honestly open to ideas cause I have none. I'm not an engineer in any sense of the word but I can appreciate the amount of power needed to make it work and the best that I can think of is basically along the lines of unobtainium.

In short: I have no clue.

And Gem melee isn't completely gone. There is a specialty for it as well. There's likely to be at least one person who'd argue that you can technically still have a sword with everything else and while I'm tempted to agree I'm hardly the master of all that is tactical. Also because I'm a stick in the mud I'll remind you that explosive weapons are generally frowned upon due to collateral damage. It gets expensive when your explosion has to be able to injure 40 ft tall mechs and that's a lot of collateral.

[Arhra]

Well, if we have a non-nuclear option of sufficient bang, I had a fun thought for a single-shot weapon.

Probably too advanced to start with and I don't think it works nearly as well in atmosphere as in space, buuuuuut:

Back in the 1960's, rocket scientist came up with the infamous "Orion Drive." This was basically a firecracker under a tin can. Except the tin can is a spacecraft, and the firecracker is a nuclear warhead.

Anyway, they realized that about 90% of the nuclear energy of an unmodified nuclear device would be wasted. The blast is radiated isotropically, only a small amount actually hits the pusher-plate and does useful work. So they tried to figure out how to channel all the blast in the desired direction. A nuclear shaped charge.

Remember that in the vacuum of space, most of the energy of a nuclear warhead is in the form of x-rays. The nuclear device is encased in a radiation case of x-ray opaque material (uranium) with a hole in the top. This forces the x-rays to to exit only from the hole. Where they run full tilt into a large mass of beryllium oxide (channel filler). The beryllium transforms the nuclear fury of x-rays into a nuclear fury of heat. Perched on top of the beryllium is the propellant: a thick plate of tungsten. The blast of heat turns the tungsten plate into a star-core-hot spindle-shaped-plume of ionized tungsten plasma. The x-ray opaque material and the beryllium oxide also vaporize a few microseconds later, but that's OK, their job is done. The tungsten plasma jet hits square on the Orion drive pusher plate. With the reference design of nuclear pulse unit, the plume is confined to a cone of about 22.5 degrees. About 85% of the nuclear devices's energy is directed into the desired direction, which I think you'd agree is a vast improvement over 10%.

About this time the representatatives of the military (who were funding this project) noticed that if you could make the plume a little faster and with a narrower cone, it would no longer be a propulsion system component. It would be a directed energy weapon. Thus was born project Casaba-Howitzer.

Details are scarce since the project is still classified after all these years. Tungsten has an atomic number (Z) of 74. When the tungsten plate is vaporized, the resulting plasma jet has a relatively low velocity and diverges at a wide angle (22.5 degrees). Now, if you replace the tungsten with a material with a low Z, the plasma jet will instead have a high velocity at a narrow angle. The jet angle also grows narrower as the thickness of the plate is reduced. This is undesirable for a propulsion system component, but just perfect for a weapon.

[DanteFalcon]

I.....no. Going to exercise a GM power and veto that so hard.

Now I have even more reason to be afraid.

[Arhra]

I.....no. Going to exercise a GM power and veto that so hard.

Now I have even more reason to be afraid.

I just thought I'd best push out all my terrible ideas early on.

And Gem melee isn't completely gone. There is a specialty for it as well. There's likely to be at least one person who'd argue that you can technically still have a sword with everything else and while I'm tempted to agree I'm hardly the master of all that is tactical. Also because I'm a stick in the mud I'll remind you that explosive weapons are generally frowned upon due to collateral damage. It gets expensive when your explosion has to be able to injure 40 ft tall mechs and that's a lot of collateral.

I should maybe point out that a lot of anti-tank weapons are shaped-charges. The idea is most of the force of the explosion gets directed into the hull of the tank.

Trying to take down a 40 foot tall battle robot with kinetic projectiles has its own fun challenges. Namely that anything that can get through that armour is going to have some crazy penetration, yo. (Try not to miss)

Tempted to answer with Unobtanium but I'm honestly open to ideas cause I have none. I'm not an engineer in any sense of the word but I can appreciate the amount of power needed to make it work and the best that I can think of is basically along the lines of unobtainium.

In short: I have no clue.
For power, if the mechs don't run on some sort of unobtanium (like super-science super-high density batteries or magic rocks) it's going to be some sort of petrol derivative.

[DanteFalcon]

Explosives are really heavily shunned cause of the whole "If you miss in an urban environment with an explosive of that size you basically just took out whatever got hit." And if that's a skyscraper, no one is happy.

[Geminex]

And Gem melee isn't completely gone. There is a specialty for it as well. There's likely to be at least one person who'd argue that you can technically still have a sword with everything else and while I'm tempted to agree I'm hardly the master of all that is tactical. Also because I'm a stick in the mud I'll remind you that explosive weapons are generally frowned upon due to collateral damage. It gets expensive when your explosion has to be able to injure 40 ft tall mechs and that's a lot of collateral.

Well fair enough, I don't wanna be Partypooper Mcnofun the third. If we end up using melee, sure. Mechs make no sense either, and I have no problem accepting that premise.

But, just for the record, militarily, it's kinda silly. I'm not sure what kind of weapons or armor exist in this timeline, but assuming it's 1990s technology, then the effective engagement range for anti-tank cannons would be something like 800 metres? At least? Maybe more. Like, that's the distance from which one mech could reliably kill another mech if its main armament was an antitank cannon. If they're using missiles, it'd be more. Whereas you, with your sword, have to be right next to them to even hit them, let alone do any sort of damage.

Mostly because I doubt a 40-foot mech would have much more armor than a 40-ton tank does nowadays. Mostly because, while the mech probably has a more efficient generator, the tank's shape is a lot more efficient. Much less surface area. Also much better at actually bearing weight. And tanks can generally kill each other without too much collteral damage. Like, you don't need a MOAB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_Massive_Ordnance_Air_Blast_bomb) to knock out a tank, a 120 mm kinetic penetrator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M829) is usually enough. Or a guided antitank missile, which generally explodes with a bit more force, but isn't going to leave behind a crater of any sort. So there isn't really gonna be much collateral.

And hell, even if a mech had, let's say, 300 mm of armor (which is in the range of what they'd put on a WWII battleship), the munitions necessary to penetrate that still wouldn't cause any significant collateral damage. They'd be larger, certainly, but if a mech can carry that much armor around, then the mechs opposing it can carry 200-mm cannons.

Mind you, there is some potential, for closer-range combat. If we're going for a cold-war scenario, then a lot of battles will be urban battles, where shorter-range cannons or even flamethrowers can excel. That in general the kind of scenario where I could actually see a mech being moderately effective, since things with legs are generally better at moving through rubble-strewn streets than things without legs, and the height boost can actually help mechs get better impact angles for their weapons at ranges below 50 metres.

In general, I kinda think that, if mechs get deployed, they'd be deployed as infantry support in difficult terrain, and against heavily entrenched enemies, since they combine heavy, self-propelled weaponry with good mobility on difficult terrain.

Edit: Wow, that kinda got away from me there, but my point totally stands. Collateral damage really isn't a problem in tank-tank combat. There's no reason to shun explosives, since, at worst, you're gonna blow a small crater in the landscape. 40-foot robots aren't hard to kill.

[DanteFalcon]

In reality I have no problems with explosives, just trying to avoid someone getting pissed because they totally didn't see that rocket exploding their face off.

I also get slightly concerned about everyone coming to the same decision of Blow through all the terrain ever to reach our target. Its why I'm not outlawing them but I'm putting the warning on them that I will have the game kick the crap out of you if you just shoot explosives about willy nilly.

[Arhra]

Gem, Gem, Gem. The important thing is that we all get mech sized combat knives so we can all get ourselves a good old fashioned knife fight.

Armour being a bit better is sort of taken for granted when you have mechs running around.

Besides, if the things move as fluidly as a human, you've got a machine that can sprint at what, 300km/hr?

[Geminex]

In reality I have no problems with explosives, just trying to avoid someone getting pissed because they totally didn't see that rocket exploding their face off.

I also get slightly concerned about everyone coming to the same decision of Blow through all the terrain ever to reach our target. Its why I'm not outlawing them but I'm putting the warning on them that I will have the game kick the crap out of you if you just shoot explosives about willy nilly.
Well, generally you don't shoot willy-nilly, you aim at the enemy, and, if you miss, you blow up a hill or something. Then you shoot again until you hit.

As for rockets exploding in your face, that's normally out of your control in a tank battle. Like, you can't dodge attacks. You can plan ahead and maneuver and take cover and keep an eye out for enemies that seem to be aiming at you, but in the end, someone's gonna take a rocket up the ass, and the only thing you can really hope for is that it won't be your tank getting blown to pieces.
That's kinda what's fun about modern combat, really. You can't be sure to win, you can just hope that you're on the winning side, and you're not among the x% casualties.

Gem, Gem, Gem. The important thing is that we all get mech sized combat knives so we can all get ourselves a good old fashioned knife fight.
Dibs on the broken bottle. Extra points if it gets ripped from a comically large advertising display.

Armour being a bit better is sort of taken for granted when you have mechs running around.
Well yeah, but 'armor's a little better' doesn't equate to 'swords are viable again!'.

Besides, if the things move as fluidly as a human, you've got a machine that can sprint at what, 300km/hr?
I was thinking more 30 km/hr, actually. And that's still pretty generous. Even if you had a small nuclear reactor, you wouldn't get the energy to go much further than that, let alone the forces it'd put on the joints and stuff.

Edit: Also, apologies if I'm overthinking this but I just spent 6 hours studying tort law, and I'm desperately seeking a distraction. : D

[DanteFalcon]

I'm not claiming that swords are viable, nor am I saying they aren't. Like I said I'm not a master of tactics. They are merely there as an option. However there will be a pretty good deal of urban combat. And they probably will go closer to the 100 mi/hr (which is a bit less than 300 km/hr). Dispensing of the realism in that regard.

As for the "Aim, if you miss shoot again" I'll agree but I don't want someone to specialize in explosives and then get surprised when they destroy some major building and they end up taking flak in game for it. As I said before I don't want the stand-by tactic to be "Blast a hole until the way to your target is a straight line".

That being said. Gonna be eating fairly soon and then I'll start posting the specialty list.

[Relm Zephyrous]

Posting for interest and likely joining up. I have an idea in mind, but we'll see how it goes once the full character generation is available. Also, will we be dealing with any amount of rp in the more classical sense, or will be be doing primarily the mech missions?

[Geminex]

Eh. Fair enough. Let's see how things work out. I'm okay with things. Speed seems excessive (tanks can sustain between 30 and 40 kph, normally, in an advance), but I'm going to assume it's a lot less if our mechs don't have a flat road to run on.

Mind you, these are just suggestions anyway, the degree of realism in your game is your call, obviously. I just read some cool alternate WWII histories, which employed mechs, rather than tanks, and which turned out really cool, so I was thinking you were going in the same direction with this? Regardless.

[CABAL49]

Gem, go watch Gundam or something. This is like that.

[DanteFalcon]

I have read no such histories. I just sat down and was like. "Mechs are cool. I should make an RP for giant mechs." And then collaborated with a few people for assistance. ONTO SPECIALTIES!

Specialties: You can do most of the things that the specialties will list. Target Analysis and Outfitting being the exceptions. You can also bring any weapon that your mech can physically support. The specialties merely improve your abilities in the ways listed below.

Remember those groups? Combat, Industry and Logistics? Well now they're important. If you add the two stats in each group you'll end up with total scores so from Example A: Combat: 4, Industry: 7, Logistics: 7. You get to choose a specialty related to each group when your totals are 3,7,12,18. . . etc. So for Example A here I'd get 1 combat, 2 industry and 2 logistics specialties. Below will be a list of specialties that I've compiled that by no means is exhaustive of all the possibilities (and I welcome any suggestions to help flesh out your character in the direction you want to go.)

Before I get into it one last thing. Specialties do not override stats. Just because you specialize in sniper rifles, if you have 0 accuracy you still won't hit anything. You know how to fine tune your sniper rifle to be able to shoot in most conditions and where your bullets will inflict the most damage but with 0 accuracy you'll almost assuredly never hit. Your specialties are tied to your character and thus do carry over when you climb into another person's mech.

Combat: Probably the least fleshed out list and thus I more than expect a few suggestions.

Melee Weapon Specialty (Name of weapon): Pick a weapon type and then you've specialized in the weapon. Knives take 0 payload, everything else that fits here requires 1 payload.

Sidearm (Name of Weapon): Again, pick a weapon type and you've specialized. This category is mostly for pistols which take 1 payload.

Primary Weapon Specialty (Name of Weapon): Now comes the big one. Same as above except that primary weapons and their ammo (recall that I assume you want nigh on infinite ammo for your missions) have different payload requirements to make sure you can carry them and handle their recoil. Feel free to submit suggestions on this as I'm going off the cursory knowledge I have of weaponry and their weights.

SMG: 3 payload
Rifle: 5 payload (5 for sniper)
Shotgun: 4 payload
Assault Rifle: 5 payload
Light Machine Gun: 6 payload
Heavy Machine Gun: 7 payload

Engineering Equipment (Name): Not a recommended specialty! But if you really want to attack things with welders or similar here you are. If its big ask me and I'll give you a payload requirement.

Heavy Ordinance (Name): This is a risky weapon due to the consequences of blowing up too much in an attempt to hit your target and they have a heavy payload requiring at least 8 payload to handle properly (ask me for an exact number for a particular weapon)

Defensive Armament: Primarily shields, payload will vary depending on size and type of shield.

Target Analysis: The ability to look at your target and get a rough idea on their abilities relative to your own. Requires a visual on the target in the field and won't work on every opponent you come across. Some are unusually deceptive!

Reflexive Movement: You've learned how adverse conditions affect your mech and how to adapt. Similar to mobility, this relies on your reflexes, allowing you to mitigate terrain's conditions to an extent. You've also learned how to move from cover to cover more efficiently, making you a more difficult target as long as you begin and end your movement in cover.

Industry:

Mobility: You are unusually skilled at controlling your mech's movements. Terrain is less of an issue for you and you know just how far the mech can bend, pushing that limit just a bit further. It doesn't make you faster but more agile and terrain is less of an issue for you.

Repair: You bring some engineering equipment with you to perform field repairs. It ain't pretty but you can patch up most mechanical problems rapidly to the point that they'll work again even if it isn't factory standard. Few mechanical problems are past your skills and repairs are considerably faster from your skill.

Scavenging: Also covers Salvaging. You can supplement your income by finding extra parts out in the field. Also used to help supplement Jury Rigging and Outfitting.

Jury Rigging: The ability to take gear found in the field and haphazardly attach it to your mech. You can attach most any mech part you find and can rig up some non mech parts though whether you can actually support it or not is still in question. Your skilled enough it won't blow up in your face when you try.

Circuitry: You know how to help circumvent EMP effects and should one of them shut you down you can get back online and fighting again faster than most would assume. Simply put, EMP's are far less effective against you but you aren't immune.

Outfitting: Similar to jury rigging except it has no use during a mission. Instead you have a nearly encyclopedic knowledge on models, makes and numbers of mech parts and how they relate to your mech. You know off the top of your head what fits and how to modify your mech to make other things fit. Between missions you can move around 2 points in your mech stats though you still can't exceed normal maximums (such as Armor 5 and Speed 5 for the first mission).

Turrets: The ability to design and place turrets. Warning: These turrets use the same auto targetting computer as your mech and thus aren't reliable on their own.

Power Reroute: Power fluctuates through the mech to different parts of the body, improving its physical capabilities as they are used. Melee and Movement mainly. This comes at the cost of making the Mech weaker to EMP as if it was 1 generator lower.

Logistics:

Scanning Distance: You've supplemented the radar on your mech to pick up objects further away, giving you advanced notice of obstacles ahead. The radar does not distinguish between friend and foe on its own.

Scanning Strength: Your radar is simply better at dismissing the effects of jammers. You will be jammed for a short while, it might even be raspberry, but it'll clear up faster for you than most others.

Jamming: The ability to effectively confuse all radars within normal scanning distance. This is a double edged blade as it affects all friendly scanners as well. Doesn't interfere with any mechs vision.

Communications: The ability to facilitate and secure communications between a large number of people in adverse conditions as well as home base and potentially find the frequency the foes are using for communication to listen in on them.

Turret Manipulation: The ability to interface with turrets placed by another effectively overriding the auto targetting computer normally installed in them in favor of you controlling it. It is difficult to control the turret and your mech at the same time, requiring a great deal of focus to do effectively.

Signal Reading: Your exceptionally gifted at using the radar you have to figure out what's ahead. Whether precognitive or just very good at piecing the information you have together (Probably the latter) you can usually determine the status of the objects in scanner range as long as you have some basis for that information.

Oddly I've seen very little gundam. I've just spent a few days thinking and collaborating and here are the results. I'm out for a few hours so list any questions and I'll look at them when I'm back.

[Geminex]

Hey, look, it's me again!

Looking at weapons, okay. It looks like I totally got you wrong here. Since you were giving us historical context, I assumed you were actually doing alternate history stuff here, and trying to stick to realism. So sorry about that.

Could you give us some explanation as to the effects of the various weapons, though? Because it kinda seems like those are all small arms, uses by and against infantry. Unless you're intending for mech-mech combat to follow similar rules as infantry combat does, normally?

Edit: To clarify, how much harm does every individual weapon actually do? Is it one-bullet, one kill, like in infantry combat? Do you need to get, like, multiple bursts into an enemy? Are they bullet sponges?

And what about foes with heavier armor, that aren't vulnerable to bullets?

[DanteFalcon]

Good questions!

Mech-Mech combat follows some similarities. Obviously cover isn't as effective and armor is more effective.

Mechs in general take multiple shots. The cockpits are absurdly well armored so taking out the pilot is difficicult. They aren't bullet sponges however. This is at about a time period where the offense has surpassed the defense a bit. Bullets will still tear good sized holes in mechs. A mech without armor and without back-up systems will go down in a few short bursts. Even with armor a mech will go down after enough fire. Which brings us to part of the mech stat system.

There's a reason that armor can't surpass payload, and slows you down. Its so that if you want to be an armor tank your generator isn't that good which limits the amount you can do and EMP's can disable you, making you a sitting duck or outright ignorable. If your in plain view without anything to hide you'll still be downed absurdly fast so treat it as if your a soldier.

Ok now afk. Walked to a different location and its a few hours of gaming time.

[Menarker]

Any possibility of a shield? I imagine it'll be damn heavy because something large enough to protect a mech, as well as thick enough to take damage is sure to weigh hell of a lot.

EDIT: Also, with Turrents, are we talking ground based turrents or ones mounted on the mechs such as for shooting above or protecting one's behind?

[obscurejones]

Tesla can solve your power problem. Wireless transfer of power. Although you'd have to have generator represent more the resiliency of your mech's electrical infrastructure rather than actual generation in the mech. But it looks like it does that already, really.

Also, are you accepting full apps or just interest at this point?

And... Would a person of middling finances who's really good at tuning his own mech take engineer, economy, or both?

[Geminex]

Uhm. I could write up some more detailed descriptions and effects for the weapons, if you'd like?

Though you'd need to tell me what the difference between rifles and assault rifles is.

[obscurejones]

Ze number of bullets they shoot at once.

[DanteFalcon]

Shield I'll put some thought into. Turrets are placed on the ground.

Primary difference in rifles and assault rifles is yes the number of bullets they shoot at once. The higher payload is to compensate for the additional bullets. When I say non sniper rifle I'm usually referring to things in the vein of Lever Action Rifles. Those models are obviously a bit outdated but typically when I say rifle I mean mid-high caliber weapons that are probably a bit behind tech wise.

[obscurejones]

Answer my questions bird boy!

[Aldurin]

Regarding overriding turrets, will there be different degrees of complexity with the turrets that will require a higher focus stat, or will the focus stat affect how many turrets we can override while still fighting with the mech?

[DanteFalcon]

With enough focus you'll be able to override more than one at a time but that's a ways in the future. Currently turrets are of one complexity simply because if you want to specialize in turrets alone you'd need to have absurdly diverse stats to cover them entirely.

I suppose I can accept partial apps if you want to get the mechanics out of the way. It isn't a full app till I give you more story, hopefully tomorrow afternoon between classes. And Engineering would be higher but maybe 2 points in economy given the description you gave me.

[Menarker]

Quick question. Regarding speed and armor movement bonus/penalty, is the 10% a solid addition or multiplictive?

Suppose for example, that default movement rate is "50%". If I add a point in Speed, does that become 60% (Addition 50+10) or 55% (Multiplication 50*1.1)

My general character concept at the moment is a obscenely wealthy attention whore, blind to the realities of war, who pilots a mecha that is basically a heavy armor shield/mace knight so as to showcase his regality despite any actual practical applications. And of course, his personality is crap. Which might work out for everyone since he might demand that he be allowed to "grace the battlefield with his presence" even if everyone else is aware of how suicidal it is. =P

Yes, a mace weapon. A giant sword is absurdly illogical! It would go blunt in no time and take FOREVER to resharpen. A mace just needs a firm shaft and a massive weight at the end.
Hehe, also entertaining the future idea of flamethrower weaponry, good to overheating mechs, detonating explosives and that sort of thing, with minimal collatoral damage (unless one happens to be in/near a forest).

I'm thinking of basically Escaflowne and Mechwarrior combined in a way. :3

Anyhow, is that all the Combat Specialities there is? I only really see weapon specialization and scanners. Not much else like movement or attacking feats.

[Geminex]

Primary difference in rifles and assault rifles is yes the number of bullets they shoot at once. The higher payload is to compensate for the additional bullets. When I say non sniper rifle I'm usually referring to things in the vein of Lever Action Rifles. Those models are obviously a bit outdated but typically when I say rifle I mean mid-high caliber weapons that are probably a bit behind tech wise.
Okay, while I get your point, lever-action rifles are a bit silly. Like, what you're talking about here (full-power rounds, lower effective rate of fire) sounds more like a Marskman's rifle. Those have been mostly phased out IRL, IIRC, but sure, let's have some. They make sense for mechs, as far as anything does.

Generally, they won't be any lighter than assault rifles, though, even when taking ammunition load into consideration. Rifles, whether assault rifles or battle rifles, are generally fired semi-automatically in any case. Bursts are fired from assault rifles for targets at longer range or when covering positions, which does bump up the ammo useage a little. But AR ammo is generally quite a bit lighter than battle rifle ammo, so that balances out a bit.

So I'd probably make it an encumberance of 5 for both of them. And bump the sniper rifle up to 5 or 6. 5 Is probably better if you're taking ammunition into consideration.

So that's my suggestion. Seperate things into Assault rifles and Battle rifles, but leave lever-action rifles out of it. Lever action rifles are just silly. Those are outdated. You might as well bring a mace to a batt-

Yes, a mace weapon.
FFFFFFF

[Arhra]

While I think of it, how do mech armaments work?

If there's one thing I remember from my MechWarrior days, it's that you should bolt on as many guns as humanly possible.

[Overcast]

Calling comms/radar specialist. Will develop either tonight or when another time period opens up.

Hmm, a mech wielding engineering equipment, would he be able to cause disabilities in other mechs using repair knowledge?
Considering the speed of combat the ability to create permanent disabilities would be limited to things like weapons or ammunition which typically have a rather sensitive point, jury rigged attachments which are already rather precarious in their integration, or any notably external equipment not protected by armor and actually sensitive likely included in the back up systems. Other disabilities would be mostly temporary, like reducing speed with spot welds on joints.

I imagine that radar is for the most part an enemy tracking system so that you can have a proper battlefield snapshot while local combat would be judged via audio and visual sensors which are practically unjammable(but possibly overwhelmable). Comms systems would encompass more than just speaking to each other, but pinging signals to easily identify friend or foe and sharing battlefield information that you might have gleaned from radar. To shut down or fuck up these systems would isolate and confuse enemy coordination I imagine, am I wrong in these assumptions?

[Geminex]

I'm thinking of making a medic. Or, well, engineer in this case. A healer, anyway. Lots of points in engineering and Economy, repair as a specialty, probably some turrets as well, high speed. I was gonna pick up turret manipulation or communications as well, depending on what Ovi's getting. Maybe armed with a SMG? Sound good?

And I like the character, Mern. Though, as a side note, generally, flamethrowers are not known as a weapon with low collateral damage. Also, kinda gruesome. A cockpit might be well-armored, but it'll probably still get pretty hot if you douse it in napalm. Land a good hit, and you're gonna cook the poor pilot alive.
Didn't think you had it in you. : D

[Relm Zephyrous]

Wow, as it turns out both Over and Gem had ideas along the lines of mine. Although I wasn't quite going to go full eco or full communications. My plan was actually radar/repair, but honestly I don't think overlap in these areas is a problem or avoidable since there are basically 3 roles to fill and each person is capable of filling 1-2 of them. And we will all be at least partially battle-compentent.


From what I gathered a quick list assumption so far would be
Arhra: Combat-DAKKA
Menarker: Combat-Firebat
Geminex: Turret-Medic
Overcast: Communications-Radar
Relm: Radar-Medic

Not as hard and fast rules or complete plates, but as general directions guessing where everyone seems to be going in. The way it seems we're slightly low on combat people, but that is covered when we consider that all the support people will likely be able to do some kind of combat effectively. I'm likely not going to be very fast, but stable, armored, and aware of the field. And probably wielding a huge gattling gun or somesuch. Might even change my concept to fit it a little better just so I can spit out Starcraft Battlecruiser quotes.

"Battlecruiser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2WYZ0jBjR0), Operational. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNy6lWSYne0)"

[Overcast]

As my additional edit above shows I am mostly working on an electronic warfare rig, so no real turret specialization. My worry now is that in order to get the level of electromagnetic control that I desire I am going to be frighteningly combat weak.

[Dracorion]

FYI, if you're looking for cool weapons you might want to consider hookshots.

Which is to say a hook you throw to grab onto something, or better yet, one that pierces into or through a mech's armor and then opens up and pulls.

*Steps back out*

[Geminex]

1) Dracorion is stupid
2) Really stupid
3) Like wow
4) Yeah, support mechs aren't gonna be that combat-capable
so
5) Relm, if you'd prefer, I can let you go full-on medic, and I'll make a gunbunny with a heavy machine gun.

[Menarker]

Well, the napalm thing was just something I was considering on the side. But yeah, my character would be more combat focused (to the point where you'd accurately think my character is just some rich asshole who doesn't know shit about tech and is just playing with a giant toy that Daddy gave him)

Naturally, I'll want jets in the future so I can zoom into melee and soar in the air just high enough to Goomba Stomp on other mechs and on buildings (whether they are military or enemy civilian)

So yeah, my focus will probably be the combat stats and economy (More finances and hired skilled workers to faster upgrade my mech with only the best equipment!)

[Relm Zephyrous]

Well, it looks like Overcast is going for electromagnetic control and the like, which was never quite my idea, so that works out. Since my idea with radars was more along the lines of pure battle scene awareness. As for the medic thing, it's up to you. Having two people who know how to repair on the same team isn't bad at all, on the other hand having another gun-bunny would help out too. Although I'm not sure what else I would do unless new custom equipment and stats come in for mech stuff, since I've got a mech build set out to work with a HMG for defense. Since you seem to know a lot about guns, is there perhaps a less heavy weapon that still doesn't need very good accuracy?

[Menarker]

Just as a heads-up Relm, I'm considering getting the Jamming ability.

By getting close enough to the target (Melee) range, it'll keep them more or less unaware of the number of gunners nearby or their exact location. One possible situation is that you guys send me in first, and then you guys approach the enemy possibly from their flanks while their radar is downed.

BTW, does Jamming also interferes with communications and turrents (the auto-computer ones at least) in some way? Or is it just restricted to Radar?

[obscurejones]

Alrighty... Thinking of going in basically the opposite direction of Menarker. Building a poor person with a good grasp of jurry rigging long range weapons. Probably a sniper build, or the closest thing I think Dante'll let me have to a mobile artillery mech. Was tempted to go with a speedy engineer but it looks like we've got that on lock.

[DanteFalcon]

Holy crap questions everywhere. Unfortunately I have a class to go to but I'll start answering them in a couple hours, hopefully get the plot in a semi-ready state by that time too.

[Menarker]

Just putting my tentative stats here so I don't forget later, although this might be edited later.

-Character-
Reflex: 6
Accuracy: 2
Economy: 6
Engineering: 1
Focus: 2
Computer: 1

-Mech-
Payload: 2 (4)
Armor: 3 +1 (4)
Speed: 2 +1 (3)
Generator: 2 + 1 (3)
Backup: 1

-Abilities-
Mace Specialization
Combat Related Ability (Undecided. Possibly Shield if approved)
Mobility
Scavenger
Jammer


Is there any possibility to upgrade weapons a tier, provided you have high enough payload? For example, assuming that I want to have my mace as a primary weapon, perhaps it can be upgraded in power or granting additional features like tripping at the cost of increasing its payload or something?

Also I got a suggestion for Shields.
Make it a specialization (just like weapons) with payload and all that. It has about a certain amount of armor which doesn't detract from speed, but may require a reflex roll depending on where the attack is coming from or something like that. Otherwise, if the reflex fails, that additional armor doesn't count (since the shield didn't get in front in time).

Also, do I really need Accuracy if I'm using a melee weapon?

Heh, I just imagined if one of the mechs I fought was a Rifleman variant from Mechwarrior, which has long skinny cannons for arms which would be hilarious to see trying to get back up if I pushed it down or tripped it or something. :3

[Aldurin]

Might as well throw up my current idea for my character's stats.

Character
Reflex:1
Accuracy:4
Economy:5
Engineering:2
Focus:5
Computers:1

Mech
Payload: 4
Armor: 4
Speed: 2
Generator Output: 3
Backup Systems: 2

Specialization
Combat:
Sniper Rifle Specialization

Industry:
Scavenging
Turrets

Logistics:
Turret Manipulation

This will act as a support fighter that can snipe from the back area while being able to operate turrets on the front line. Will need other units to cover for him since his mech is going to be slow as hell and that armor will only last for so long.

I assume at this point he'd only be able to override one turret while sniping, right? Also, does the resource gain from stuff like economy and scavenging determine the availability for special equipment or does it scale how fast your mech can be upgraded?

EDIT: Also, as a sniper who would likely not be doing much movement, will generator output be as important for me as it would be for someone like menarker who's going to be jumping and swinging everywhere?

[Menarker]

EDIT: Also, as a sniper who would likely not be doing much movement, will generator output be as important for me as it would be for someone like menarker who's going to be jumping and swinging everywhere?

You're making me sound like some sort of Monkey Mecha.

Heh, if we had dinosaur mechas, then perhaps we could combine into Megazord! And I'll form the head! :3

[DanteFalcon]

Ok question and answer time.

Menarker:Movement is additive to save me time.
Specialties can be suggested! If you have an idea throw it out there.
Auto-targetting is tied to the radar system so by jamming you do shut down turrets ability to auto target. It would hurt communications, but any communications specialist would be able to compensate to make that effect negligible.
What kind of shield style are you looking at precisely? A buckler (basically just a small hand shield.) A Kite shield? Or a Tower Shield. A tower would give you the most protection but it would likely slow down your movement just due to its location being in the way of your legs.
Flamethrower I'll allow but I'll have to consider payload since napalm fluid is likely to be rather heavy in mass quantities.

Gem: I'll bump up the Rifle payloads after this post then.

Arhra: Payloads for weapons add up so it'll be a while before you can outfit yourself with 50 billion weapons.

Overcast: Yes but its a tricky proposition since that will require melee range and then I'd be questioning why you'd bother instead of crushing its armor, shotgunning it or cutting it to pieces. As for the comms system pinging I'd advise signal reading over communications just because it'd probably work better. Communication specialty is made to help when your in otherwise impossible to communicate areas. "Can you hear me now" no longer applies to a communication specialist except in the most extreme circumstances. However yes it would let you interfere in enemy communications and that would make them less coordinated with each other.

Aldurin: Generator Output won't be needed as much for a more stationary target. Just be wary of getting snuck up on or EMP'd.

[Menarker]

Probably a Kite Shield (Which I'm assuming is Tower sans leg protection) since I would like the option of using the shield to ram into an opponent like an 200 ton linebacker.

Especially if I get jets... It would be awesome if I could go high into the air, swatting down aircrafts that get too close and then cutting the jet and coming down from orbit on a crash course shield first toward a mech or building like a bloody comet. (I'll need to invest more in Backup Systems obviously, since I don't expect to come out of THAT unscathed)

Kinda hoping that my high economy will enable me to get high end equipments like the aforementioned propulsion system sooner/cheaper.

[DanteFalcon]

Kite shields do still give some leg protection they just aren't giant rectangles that were heavy as all hell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_shield

And....considering payload requirement. Thinking about 4 or so (just because it has to be thick enough to block bullets which would add considerable weight) That's open to argument though. And adding the specialty of Defensive Armament to the combat tree.

[Menarker]

Oooh... Gotta think. I would be happy if the Shield was at 3 Payload. Although I guess if it protects well enough, I can just move one point from Back-Up Systems to Payload.

Speaking of that, any idea how much it would protect or if there are any requirement/restrictions? Such as chance of failure to block attacks from the side or behind, where the chance of success is determined partly by where it is coming from and my reflex stat and such?

Also, do jammers effect my own radar as well or just my foes and allies? IE: Everyone who is not me. (Which would be completely in character!) And do the jammers just shuts down their radar or just everyone's signatures not register properly on the radar? (The former would be more noticable than the latter)

[DanteFalcon]

As to how much it protects that hearkens back to when the kite shield was actually used. It would protect your mid-section down to the foreleg (usually the left foreleg unless your left handed in which case its the right foreleg). If in front of you your cockpit would be exceptionally well protected unless you have your cockpit located in a weird location. The visual obfuscation tech wise is easy enough to resolve so that isn't really a factor.

It would block most conventional weaponry at least for a time. Given enough bullets it'll get torn to shreds as well so it isn't invulnerable. The downside is, ironically, flamethrowers will still be incredibly nasty to you and it wouldn't really be able to protect one side of you, or a large part of the front of your body at once. Unless you decided to dual wield shields in which case I'd be face-palming so hard.

[Geminex]

I was working on the guns before, and I was thinking it'd effectively end up giving you a certain directional bonus to armor. Like, maybe +2 armor? In one direction? That seems pretty fair, for 4 payload. And since you're specializing, maybe you can justify cutting it to 3, though it gets pretty strong then. Especially if you can use it while actually moving at full speed.

Just a suggestion, though.

[Overcast]

Hmm are our generator systems advanced enough that I can use a directed emp weapon via melee combat? I'd likely need a backup generator just to power it, but it doesn't seem infeasible for me to attach a huge capacitor to a rod.

[DanteFalcon]

That's actually a really interesting idea Overcast. I'm gonna say at this point not yet but probably will become an option after a few missions.

[Menarker]

Unless you decided to dual wield shields in which case I'd be face-palming so hard.

I thought of that before and I figured that would be your reaction.

I was working on the guns before, and I was thinking it'd effectively end up giving you a certain directional bonus to armor. Like, maybe +2 armor? In one direction? That seems pretty fair, for 4 payload. And since you're specializing, maybe you can justify cutting it to 3, though it gets pretty strong then. Especially if you can use it while actually moving at full speed.

Just a suggestion, though.

Gem's idea is pretty much what I figured it would be and I would be happy with the 3 payload with specialization for +2 armor.

Basically... If I could describe it... Think of an analog clock. The shield would (in theory) be able to block attacks coming from the 11, 12 and 1 o'clock region with ease. With a bit of reaction or adjustment, I might be able to shift my shield to protect closer toward the 9-10-11 or the 1-2-3 region or something like that. But anything from the back half of my torso is not going to be protected. I would have to turn around until my 6 was my new 12 or something like that, which would obviously just leave my back open to attack in the other direction.

[DanteFalcon]

This is accurate for the most part. They generally aren't quite wide enough to protect 3 "hours" at once while stationary but factoring that you can adapt your movement to swing a shield in a protective manner like that its feasible and that's probably how I'd treat it.

[Aldurin]

what would the requirements be to properly dual-wield 180 degree tower shields? That way I could literally hunker down with full radial protection as my turrets rain death on my enemies.

[DanteFalcon]

More payload than I care to think about off the top of my head and a certain amount of disregard for your own safety. Turrets are not a be all-end all due to their lackluster targetting, and hiding in such a state asks to become a target. Yes the shields would protect you but the complete and utter lack of mobility means your an easy target.

[Geminex]

Okay, quick rundown of the weapons. Just something to help with the battles. I've tried to balance between realism and fairness, and I think it came out allright. Lemme know if you have questions.

SMG: twin-linked 30 mm cannons, accurate to about 250 metres. Fires explosive rounds that wreak havoc against infantry and light vehicles, as well as lightly armored mechs (1-2 armor). Shrapnel also has a good chance of disabling sensors, and, at close range (50 metres), rounds from this weapon threaten medium mechs (3 armor, 4 at point-blank range) as well. High volume of fire, very mobile (doesn't impair agility as much, and can be traversed and fired quickly).

Shotgun: Pump-action 90 mm cannon, normally shoots a spray of cluster bomblets. These are effective against light mechs (1-2 armor) at up to 150 metres, effective against medium mechs (3-4 armor) at 75 metres, and effective against heavy mechs (5-6 armor) at point-blank range. The high volume of shrapnel can generally also disrupt sensors, even when the enemy's outside of effective range, and it's a popular 'mortar', showering enemy positions with bomblets at ranges up to 800 metres. Devastating against infantry. Low volume of fire. Variety of ammo types exist, but you'll need extra cash to get anything beyond the scattershot.

Battle rifle: 75 mm cannon. Fires hypersonic sabot rounds that're accurate at up to 600 metres. Round has great armor penetration and explodes inside the enemy mech. Very effective against medium-heavy mechs (4-5 armor), somewhat less effective against mechs with 3 or 6 armor. Anything outside that range will either let the round pass through without exploding or has a pretty good chance of not letting the round penetrate in the first place. Weapon has low mobility and a low-medium volume of fire.

Sniper rifle: Battle rifle with improved optics and rocket-boosted ammunition. Extra range, higher armor penetration (Two or three shots can threaten even 6-armor mechs), but even less effective against light mechs. Lower rate of fire, lower mobility. Also pretty obvious when you do fire it, so prepare for return fire.

Assault rifle: 65 mm cannon, fires pure kinetic ammunition. Accurate in single-shot mode at up to 400 metres, accurate in burst fire at 500 metres (In burst fire, individual rounds generally have lower accuracy, but your volume of fire is greater, making a hit more likely). Sabot rounds deal significant damage against anything with less than 4 armor, enough to disable a mech with a few good hits. 4-armor mechs are a borderline case, taking about twice as many hits to finish off. Mechs with 5 armor can shrug these rounds off pretty well. 6 and above don't really fear these unless they're at point-blank range and aiming at something sensitive. Medium rate of fire, medium mobility. Some reliability problems. Bayonet mounts available, in case you feel like stabbing the enemy with your gun.

Machine gun: Oh Boy. 50mm 4-barrel gatling cannon that fires HEAT rounds. Once emplaced, accurate at up to 500 metres. Rounds absolutely tear up anything up to the 4-armor threshhold, as well as anything they might have been hiding behind. Heavier mechs are less vulnerable, but still want to avoid this gun's line of fire. Requires some time (generally 10-12 seconds) to emplace and set up. Can be fired on the go, but drastically loses accuracy. Has a slow traverse and subsonic ammunition, which means that it can be hard to hit moving targets. Insanely volume of fire, but ammo is in short supply. It's also very obvious, so prepare to be a target.

Heavy machine gun: ... A... 120 mm chaingun that shoots... burning katanas? Sorry, I put everything I had into the light machine gun. A heavy machine gun would probably fall under "heavy weapons" in any case, since it's gonna weigh more than 7 units.

[CABAL49]

Character
Reflex: 3
Accuracy: 4
Economy: 3
Engineering: 4
Focus: 2
Computers: 2

Mech
Payload: 6 (3*2)
Armor: 3 (2+1)
Speed: 3 (2+1)
Generator: 3 (2+1)
Backup: 2

Specialties
Combat
Primary Weapon Specialty: Light Machine Gun
Target Analysis

Industry
Repair
Circuitry

Logistics
Signal reading

Going for a general soldier mech. Also, if I were to switch to assault rifle, would I be able to carry a pistol(not specializing in it) as that would not go over my payload?

[Menarker]

Quick question. After missions, is there any sort of leveling up or upgrading for our characters/mechs? If so, is that on a individual basis depending on our accomplishments or respective abilities (like Scavenger to find equipment to use/sell) or is everyone sure to achieve at least a certain grade to keep everyone on par more or less?

[Relm Zephyrous]

Posting relevant character creation links, for easier first-post editing.
http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpost.php?p=1181748&postcount=15
http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpost.php?p=1181822&postcount=31


Marshall
Reflex: 3
Accuracy: 0
Economy: 2
Engineering: 6
Focus: 2
Computers: 5

Mech
Payload: 8/8 (4)
Armor: 4 (3)
Speed: 1 (0)
Generator Output: 3 (2)
Backup Systems: 2 (1)
Armaments
Knife (0)
Pistol (1)
Machine Gun (7)

Specials
Combat
Target Analysis

Industry
Repair
Scavenging

Logistics
Scanning Distance
Signal Reading

Concept: Knowledge Control & Fortification

Strengths
Knowledge: The most obvious edge this mech has, between signal reading, radar distance, and target analysis, the Marshall will know where everything is on the battlefield and usually the strong and weak points as well.

Heavy Support: The Marshall is a sheep dressed up as a wolf, and while she can fight pretty well, her main job is to give information to the party, provide a back line to fall onto, and to repair those who get back. This also makes the Marshall perhaps outright unique in the category of Self-repairing Heavy Mech, which can make it frustratingly difficult to permanently down.

Space Control: This class works especially well when it can entrench into a position and not have to maneuver much within it. This puts most of the focus into relaying all information figured out to the more mobile members. Speed doesn't matter much when entrenched, and accuracy doesn't matter much when you're firing a machine gun.

Surprise Element: The mech is stated like a Heavy Class so certain things will be assumed by foes. One being that it has a damn clue how to aim. So when setting up and locking on with the Machine Gun, foes will react as if the Marshall has crisp accuracy, and stay out of threat range thusly.

Heavy Haul: This mech can unload its massive ammo stores in order to carry big loads back home. This means that if a mission requires moving a huge piece of equipment, or an entire mech needs to be drug back to the workshop, the Marshall can do it.

Weaknesses
EMP and Explosives: Sort of a weakness, relative to regular armor at least. But a high engineering, high computers, and 3 generator makes it less effective than against the typical Heavy Class Mech. The near inability to dodge splash damage though is the main difficulty, although the Marshall's reflexes are actually above-par.

Surprise Melee: Again, only sort of. At melee range the Machine Gun can rip anything to shreds, and anything farther usually can't get a good bead on her without endangering themselves to Machine Gun fire since the Marshall knows at least basic target leading and how to face an opponent. And with near omniscience the Marshall shouldn't have something breathing down her neck from behind in the first place. But should a surprise flank happen, this is a big issue.

Mobility: The core deficiency here, if a mission requires constant moving then there isn't a way to utilize the Machine Gun. Moving unlike attacking can't be put primarily on auto-pilot so it detracts from the all-seeing / all-knowing capacity she gives the team. She is very good at fortifying a location and breaking fortifications, but mobile combat is something the Marshall is utterly inept at.

This is partly why I mentioned that I shouldn't be the only medic. because yes I intended to be a medic, but I also intended to be a fortification type. Someone else with repairing capacities should likely be on the team, in order to give a more standard on-the-field medic.



Edit: After looking over everyone else's mechs, it seems like scavenging is common. We're going to strip the battlefield clean. Maybe we should have a mission sometime that we have to mine diamonds quickly and repeatedly like SCV's while fighting off foes. But that is a bit silly.

Hell I'm not even the only one to pick the HMG. (Or LMG now, I guess) Weird, but it works.

[DanteFalcon]

Geminex deserves a cookie. Actually a batch of cookies. Made of ambrosia.

Menarker: Yes there will be level up systems in place for both mech and PC which will be skill points that you get to choose where they go.

Scavenging acts as a temporary boost to your economy stat depending on what the mission would likely have had for you to pick clean. Its basically there to help supplement your economy statistic so that more people than just high economy people can get varying ammo types.

And as long as you don't surpass your payload you can carry it. You can carry = to your payload.

[Relm Zephyrous]

Considering that others have scavenging, I might just switch that special to turrets. This way I can lay them down for fortification protection, and also somebody else can pick up turret manipulation and utilize them. We already have somebody who can manipulate turrets, so giving them more options can't hurt.


Also, are turrets of any use on their own? I'm assuming that if I lay them down then they can be of some help to me even before anybody locks on to them.

[Menarker]

Scavenging acts as a temporary boost to your economy stat depending on what the mission would likely have had for you to pick clean. Its basically there to help supplement your economy statistic so that more people than just high economy people can get varying ammo types.

And as long as you don't surpass your payload you can carry it. You can carry = to your payload.

Do you mean unused Payload slots? Or can mechs carry X amount of loot equal to their Payload score, regardless of the fact that they might be carrying X amount of weaponry?

[Aldurin]

I'll throw out some suggestions for special ammo while we're at it. just to give Dante some ideas. I assume that economy would be spent toward getting these rounds and that switching between ammo types would take time.

Cryogenic rounds:
Standard rounds, but the explosive parts use liquid nitrogen, trading a small amount of damage to lower the target's speed temporarily. If the NO2 is exposed to infantry or mech pilots then they take -1 from all stats temporarily and damage from frostbite.

Incendiary rounds:
Standard explosive rounds with small amounts of napalm, inflicting fire damage and lowering backup systems and generator output by 1 due to overheating. Humans take fire damage over time unless they have a means to prevent it. If incendiary rounds are used on a mech affected by cryogenic rounds (and vice versa) the mech loses 2 armor points temporarily.

Concussion rounds:
Extremely weak rounds that act like flashbangs when fired. Lowering accuracy and focus of all infantry and pilots by 1 for a short time.

EMP rounds:
Already mentioned by DF, so I'll leave him to that.

Overcharge rounds:
Extremely powerful rounds that can bypass 2 points of armor, at the cost of damaging the user's mech that fires if a check is failed based on the pilot's engineering skill and the mech's backup system's stats. These would probably be unavailable for full-auto or even semi-auto weapons.

Magnet rounds:
Magnetic rounds that curve towards mechs slightly, granting +2 accuracy to the user whenever it's fired at a mech. Slightly reduced range and generator output is considered -1 when trying to resist EMP's on the user. Has -2 accuracy if aiming at non-mechs when there are mechs near the target. Cannot use auto-targeting with these rounds.

Gas rounds:
Lower-velocity rounds that do almost no damage, and release small amounts of gas on impact (I'm assuming non-lethal), causing any human without a rebreather system to have -1 on all skills. Can affect mech pilots if there's enough damage on the mech. Downside is the range of the burst, as it can easily be blown back into your own formation and affect everyone.

Any thoughts?

[DanteFalcon]

For the sake of ease of use if you scavenge after a battle is over you have half your payload in space to carry things back because of spent ammo or potentially missing limbs.

[Menarker]

Then I'm going to drop Scavenger for something else, since I'm using shield/mace, so I won't exactly have depleted ammo.

I'll see if I can think of a custom Industry Ability... of course, any suggestions would be great.

[Geminex]

Standard rounds, but the explosive parts use liquid nitrogen, trading a small amount of damage to lower the target's speed temporarily. If the NO2 is exposed to infantry or mech pilots then they take -1 from all stats temporarily and damage from frostbite.
I like this. Mechs rely on hydraulics. Suddenly freeze those hydraulics, and you're got major mobility issues. I wouldn't have this affect the crew, though, only the mechs.

I'd also drop the gas rounds.

The rest sounds pretty cool. I'd change the 'magnet rounds' into 'homing rounds' (basically rounds with a rudimentary guidance system and small control fins). I'd also recommend that most of the special ammo be restricted to pistols and shotguns, to give people a bit more incentive to use the former, and to make the latter a bit more viable as a main weapons system, since it's pretty situational otherwise.

Like. Let's make homing rounds globally usable, overcharge rounds only with Battle Rifle, Assault Rifle, pistol and shotgun, and restrict the rest of the special ammo to pistol and shotgun. We could theoretically have a guy who just carries around a pistol and spends the battle setting enemies on fire with guided incendiary revolver rounds.
Dibs on being that guy.

Edit: On second thought, I think the overcharge round isn't so great. How 'bout this.
Sabot round: When used in pistols it increases range by 100 metres to 300. Also increases armor penetration from 2 to 4. High recoil means a low rate of fire, though.

When used in shotguns, gives the shotgun the ability to penetrate 4 armor at ranges up to 400 metres, and 5 armor at ranges up to 150 metres. Only one sabot round may be loaded at a time, though, so after firing, the gun must be reloaded.

[Aldurin]

I like that idea, but I could see sniper rifle getting overcharge (in the sense that mech-sized ones are basically enormous anti-materiel rifles) and maybe homing (though maybe the effect would be only +1 accuracy given the range and velocity involved). But giving pistols and shotguns all ammo types sounds nice.

[DanteFalcon]

Ok I have a plot idea. I'm working out specifics of the first mission and a few important names. When ready I'll compress all the relevant information for full char gen into one post and start a new topic (probably just link to the stat and specialties post from there instead of resposting)