Machines

[b]Backstory:[/b]
The land is barren, and littered with ruins of tall buildings and husks of once-powerful machines. Metal is abound in this desert of an age past, and the hardy people who live there have found ways to repair some of the fallen mechs and stake a claim of the massive junkyard. Now bandits and their mechs have collectively amassed a huge amount of territory, with most of the wasteland people living under them like serfs. It is not an easy life, but it makes the resilient people even stronger.

However, comfortable life is still supported at oasis's of the land, where the fresh water and delicate plants still are. It is here that companies rise to power, and begin to take an interest in the world that has shunned human life for decades. The most powerful company, Dynamo Industries, was the first to send out "reclamation parties" personal army groups of solders and pilots, to "reclaim the lost land from the savages." As if in a race for more power, the rest of the companies followed suit, creating a sort of battle royale in the once(cough *never *cough) calm junkyard. 

The majority of the work in the land for a mech pilot that isn't in either the bandits' forces or in one of the major paramilitaries belong to either corporations or the small counties is an effective freelancer, who takes jobs as they can get them. The main acquisition of these jobs is a large network (creatively called 'The Network'), where everyone from bandit lords to merchants to military commanders post jobs. These range from assassinations to simple clean up of a certain area to escort duties for goods. 

[b]Information on the Junkyard:[/b]
A large(continent sized) expanse of fallen mechs and vast weapons of ages past. Sand and dirt lie underneath the metal mountains and dunes, making it exceptionally hard to navigate unless using some sort of vehicle. The only creatures native to the horrible place are the rampart infestation of a beast called lizard-bear. While holding no relation to either, they are aptly named as a sort of scaled hell-beast that eats every other living thing it comes across(namely other lizard-bears, and of course, humans). The oasis's are the main producers of the food that supports the junkyard, ranging from bear-lizard jerky to a hardy vegetable that is impossible to identify. Smaller places that can provide food also exist, usually the small monarchies and republics outside of the view of both the businesses and the bandit lords. 

[b]Mechs and Limitations of the Times:[/b]
The Mechs fall into broadly two categories. Mobile suits are usually in a more upright, forming the more traditional silhouette of a large metal knight, and are usually more utilitarian than mobile armors on a case to case basis. Mobile armors pretty much cover everything else, with every kind of shape and role known to man built into a more specialized mech that will excel in situations that are in it's favor. Average size and tonnage for a mobile suit are around 11 meters and about thirty five to fourty tons. For a mobile armor, the number is slightly smaller, although the range from which the average is taken is larger. Thus, the average size is around 10 meters, and the average tonnage is about twenty five to thirty tonnes. 

Both mobile armor and moblie suits are mainly ground based. Flying armor and suits are present, but very rare, and devour fuel incredibly fast, thus making it a risky business. However, both MS and MA usually have omni-directional thrusters built in as a standard to navigate the junkyard proper. Long range weapons are strictly line of sight and some laser guiding, as making large guided missiles is a lost technology and thus both space travel and ICBMs and such missiles are unseen and thus unheard of in this day and age.

[b]Weaponry triangle(or Polydecahedron):[/b]
Namely concerning the almost rock-paper-scissors type of weapons. 
What with heat weapons cutting through armor like so much paper, and thus having relatively no way to block them except gain more armor and heat dispersion. 
However, plasma weapons cut through heat weapons and armor like again, so much paper. However, plasma weapons can be dispersed by destabilizing the magnetic field that holds them together, so shielding is much easier than against heat weapons, thus completing the kind of not really cycle. 
In ranged weapons, large caliber slugs are viewed as inferior, but cheap and able to pack a punch. A defense against this is magnetic fields, built into heavy metal shields that point away from the sensitive electronics in the cockpit. Plasma bolts are much the same as their melee their counterparts, cutting through armor but easier to block than both slugs and beams. Beams are the worst kind of ranged weapon to run into, the [i]only[/i] way to block them is to have enough armor and heat dispersion and hope they don't grill the pilot before they destroy the engine. However, these are very much one off weapons, generating stupid amounts of heat that can and will grill the man using them or melt the gun that fires them if not careful.