[OOC] FRAMEs: Chapter II [Reboot] (Mech combat, politics & corporate intrigue)

[Slamurai]

We've got six players accepted so far; half of our maximum limit. With that said, I think it's as good a time to start the IC as any. Everyone good to go with tomorrow night or so?

[Shorticus]

I'm not going to have much time to post Wednesday night, but I WILL have time to post Thursday. So, yeah, starting tomorrow night works for me.

[Massasauga]

Lut, I don't think flamethrowers are as effective as you may think.

[Shorticus]

Lut, I don't think flamethrowers are as effective as you may think.

@Massasauga

I know I certainly didn't intend to make it a superweapon or anything. I COULD see ammo blowing up, for instance, but the armor would have to be penetrated for that to work. And most ammo would probably have have extra protection from that sort of thing to prevent chain reactions from blowing a FRAME up...

[Massasauga]

You would have to blast that fucker for minutes upon minutes to get the desired result.

[Foster]

You would have to blast that fucker for minutes upon minutes to get the desired result.

@Massasauga

20 minutes is the cook-off time of a mk 82 bomb, iirc.

edit:

EDIT: Actually, we know who the fifth person is now, looking at the character sheets section. That sounds like a big, scary gun.

[Lutalica]

Lut, I don't think flamethrowers are as effective as you may think.

Massasauga

For starters, fire can disable even modern military vehicles. That's why they have suppression systems in place. Secondly, as FRAMEs are powered by nuclear reactors I'd assume heat mitigation would be even more of a concern, especially when one considers the heaviest starting FRAME weighs 'only' a tenth of an M1 Abrams.

Speaking of vulnerabilities, I've been meaning to ask @Aristo, are the air intakes, reactor and such housed in the torso as well as the cockpit? Or are the distributed across the FRAME's whole? Likewise is there enough interior space to house ammunition or would it be mounted externally as part of a weapon system? Do pilots enter from the front or back torso? Finally if the external cameras were disabled or destroyed do FRAMEs have any sort of fallback system, like a periscope or other low-tech solution? Given how you describe them being operated I'm not sure they could be driven with an open or ajar cockpit.

[Massasauga]

Yes, fire can disable modern military vehicles. Fire can disable pretty much everything else in the world too. That still requires a lot of fire to get it that far. I also imagine that the heat from your flamethrower isn't going to be entirely effective right away. It'll take time to get that reactor into meltdown (which, I honestly don't think you can do that since Gundams use reactors but they're like 17 meters tall but for the sake of the RP it's fine) which means you need to keep the flames going as long as you can. If the enemy starts skating away, you're going to be in deep shit since the speed of both of you moving is going to make the flames behave a bit weirdly. But the whole thing about it here is that heating something up takes a lot longer than to be deemed necessary or effective. You will be slow-cooking these FRAMEs instead of BBQing them like you want, and that's considering they stand still and don't shoot back at all.

[Slamurai]

Speaking of vulnerabilities, I've been meaning to ask @Aristo, are the air intakes, reactor and such housed in the torso as well as the cockpit? Or are the distributed across the FRAME's whole? Likewise is there enough interior space to house ammunition or would it be mounted externally as part of a weapon system? Do pilots enter from the front or back torso? Finally if the external cameras were disabled or destroyed do FRAMEs have any sort of fallback system, like a periscope or other low-tech solution? Given how you describe them being operated I'm not sure they could be driven with an open or ajar cockpit.

@Lutalica

The reactors are typically mounted on the back of the torso, in a separate compartment from the cockpit. The top layer of the chest itself swings open for embarking/disembarking. Small arms ammunition, like machine gun rounds, can be stored in internal components nearby the weapon mount and feed rounds by a belt. Large-caliber ammunition, like autocannons, missiles, etc. are carried externally, more often that not. ACs usually have their own magazines.
I'll bet that most FRAMEs have failsafe periscopes or small viewports, but combat effectiveness decreases by a huge margin if camera-based optics are disabled.

I guess the best representation of FRAME piloting would be the Patlabor anime series. VOTOMs too, although our cockpits aren't nearly that small.
youtu.be/IsMTpSDAGxM
youtu.be/7HMDaNhTTi8
youtu.be/8j_TZ6skwoQ - Only less OP.

[DarkStar]

I am good to go.

[Slamurai]

@DarkStar@Foster@Shorticus@Massasauga@Nevix

First IC post is up! Nothing fancy; we're just on a run-of-the-mill job to stop some small-time thugs.

Some context:
Had it been a year prior, this job would be way beneath our consideration, but times are tough. The Panthers have gotten by doing small-scale work for local organizations; most with a hand in the criminal world or temporary positions with fledgling businesses. The Samigina has had a drop in manpower, supplies and overall efficiency, and Bentz is struggling to keep it up and running with the budget at hand. We've also had to fight off rivals here and there, trying to pull the plug on the Panthers for good. Overall, it hasn't been a glamorous season.

Richard might have some good news when this op's over, though. -wink-

[Nevix]

So how will combat work here? Can we say that we hit enemies or is that up to the GM?

[DarkStar]

I do believe that Miss. Sarahs LRAD might come in handy for this one :p

[Slamurai]

So how will combat work here? Can we say that we hit enemies or is that up to the GM?

@Nevix

I've let players make their hits in the past. I just ask that combat is done in a reasonable and plausible manner.

[Nevix]

Anyone mind if I write next?

[Nevix]

Do the FRAMEs have AI's? Becuase I feel like I could make my FRAME into an interesting character.

[Slamurai]

@Nevix
Not usually, but that's an idea for a subsystem that might come into play.

[Nevix]

Alright.

[Shorticus]

I'll have a post up either tonight or by tomorrow evening. I'm preparing to leave campus and start the hour long drive home.

[Silverwind Blade]

So, I have the idea for a character who is a dedicated recon/comms/ECM specialist. Before I create their character sheet later this evening (UK time, and I work during the day), would that character be useful, and would there be any point?
By 'any point', I mean, I was picturing them being slightly removed from the main area of action, and primarily spending their time in battle using their sensors and equipment to gather info on the enemy, rather than charging in. Would that character fit this style of RP, or would I be better off just creating another rock'em-sock'em robot fighter instead?