[OOC] Europa Conflict – A Sci-fi Mech Roleplay

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[Sierra]

Europa Conflict

Twenty years of war, trillions of dollars spent, tens of millions of lives lost, and it all comes down to this. The only thing between us and imminent failure is a bunch of rookies. Most are barely trained. The few there’s hope for are just that: few. One cannot wage a war without manpower … and we’re quickly running out. God help us.

The Story:

Humanity has colonized the solar system with the advent of so-called “short-warp” reaction engines. As populations of worlds farther and farther from Earth grow, the colonies in the outer reaches of the solar system of Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond band together to secede from the control of the United Nations of Earth. Scholars debated why: power, influence, or just economics. The UNE didn’t care why. Earth relied on many of the valuable materials the various colonies exported and as places for people to go to relieve Earth’s overpopulation. They couldn’t afford a secession, not now.

The new-founded Far Colony Alliance had been preparing for this in secret. The gears of war had been in motion for decades before, and turned ever faster for twenty years as the UNE hammered against the FCA’s fortified installations. Both sides were forced to accept massive losses, but the UNE was caught unprepared and suffered far worse. A war drawn out so long pushed their forces to the brink. Now the UNE’s fleets have limped home to rearm, repair and resupply for one last offensive. With almost entirely fresh recruits for soldiers, rangers, and pilots, they set out for a final campaign to hammer through the FCA’s defense network within Jupiter’s moons. Failure here would cripple the United Nations’ offensive capabilities and force their capitulation.

As the fleet departs, a daring mission has been planned. With the forces of Earth seemingly retreating, a group of assault carriers will press forth ahead of schedule for a blitzkrieg attack on the stronghold at Calisto’s north pole. Success would be a forceful blow to the FCA’s defensive network. Failure cannot be an option. This ‘children’s crusade’ is the last hope there is. Mech squads, strikecraft wings, and marine platoons are all up for drop in a massive combined arms operation. In just two weeks, perhaps the most pivotal battle of the war commences. The advance carrier group is already under way. Turning back is no longer an option. Here is where our story begins.

The Mechs:

The MR-7 Predator mech stands a mere four and a half meters in normal stance. It has no arms or hands to speak of and while it is operated through direct motion control, its skeleton is distant from that of its human operator. The MR-7 was developed as an alternative unit to tracked armor for supporting airborne infantry divisions, more rugged and adaptable for terrain and the rigors of airdrop. It proved itself quite effective in rapid deployment combat scenarios on Earth.

Originally a very mobile machine that could break into a running gait of over forty miles per hour and equipped with the ranger’s favorite: “jet-dash” mobility system. Seemingly skating sideways out from behind cover to deliver a vicious alpha strike from twin magnetic-ballistic cannons, the Predator earned its moniker as a vicious ambusher.

Its durability in airdrop led to its adaptation for low-gravity combat against the FCA at the start of the war. Its jet-dash system was replaced with maneuvering thrusters to offer control when in freefall. The powerful mag-cannons were traded for low-recoil plasma cannons, and its cabin systems were given a complete overhaul for the harsh vacuum of space.

The low gravity environments greatly limit its once-legendary speed and agility for fear of launching oneself into a slow suborbital hop (a death sentence of enemy artillery is watching) but its weapons are still lethal and an experienced ranger will make the mech a brutally efficient machine of destruction. The Predator is a stable of the UNE’s offensive capabilities both on Earth and beyond.

The Players:

Players take the role of rookie rangers aboard the UNE assault carrier UES Halcyon. All the player characters will be assigned to the same squad already. A standard squad is 6 rangers total, with one designated as a squad leader. GM/co-GM(s) will have the role(s) of squad leader as this position has great effect on how the story progresses. I have one co-GM role currently open that I will consider people for. See below for more information.

The Structure:

PLOT: I will try to split the plot about 50/50 between combat and downtime. Players will always have some warning that combat is coming but characters may be surprised and given only minutes to prepare (part of the fun!). I’ll be assigning missions about the time when the out-of-combat plots start winding down and its time for a change of pace.

COMBAT: This is war. War is Hell. There are no heroes in Hell. Both cannons fired at once is pretty much a guaranteed kill on a mech. Because of that, rangers can get completely obliterated in an instant from just one wrong move. I reserve the right to forcibly murder characters if they try to be Rambo/Master Chief/Doomguy. Chances are I won’t be murdering any characters against a player’s will (or rather, I’m hoping I won’t have to). I won’t force anyone to kill their characters (unless the above exception applies) but that doesn’t mean every character we start with will survive indefinitely. Death will happen and not even I will always know who or when.

GMs: Co-GMs will be in charge of each squad (I myself am in charge of the first squad and overall mission assignments). The GMs will listen to suggestions & feedback (and if another isn’t, tell me; if I’m not, send me a virtual smack on the face). That doesn’t mean we’ll always use a player’s idea but nobody should feel like they don’t have input. We’re here to provide a service to you and so it’s on us to make sure you’re satisfied with that service.

If you have zero interest in ever being someone who commands a squad in this, you can skip this paragraph. Otherwise, keep reading. Squad leaders are also co-GMs by necessity since the role will significantly affect the story for all five players in your squad. I do not hand out the role of co-GM easily; you will need to do a bit of convincing to show me that you’ll put forth the effort, do right by the players, and have a compelling vision for where you want this to go. Proof of previous GM experience is greatly recommended, but not a hard requirement.

Zero’th Posts: The zero’th in OOC is going to be used as a master list of players/characters and their squad assignments, and a platform for anything important everyone should catch.
Zero’th in Characters will be a sheet template for convenience.
Zero’th in IC will be basic plot recap once we get far enough in to want such a thing, to be kept updated by all GMs.

[Sierra]

-Reserved-

Also @AstroLu @HueMan @Evil Snowman @Flamelord @Hawlin! We are up and you five, being my first respondents, get first priority on the player slots until I find a worthy co-GM (if one of you wants it, see the bit about becoming co-GM above and hit me up). Please be aware that I can only reserve your slots for 24 hours from now before ...

I offer them to @DracoLunaris @Ollumhammersong @Thecrash20 @Aristo. You guys are my second-squad worth of people. If/when I find a co-GM, you guys have slots. If someone in the first batch of tags doesn't respond in time, one of you has a slot.

If any of you think yourselves up for being a co-GM, let me know ASAP so we can get everyone here into this.

[Thecrash20]

I'm interested as well! I need some Mech in my life.

Although I am confused a bit on the Mech portion. Two acceptable Mech designs are shown, but you already have some fluff of a Mech. Are we all supposed to use the MR-7 Predator Mech or is that just a example of how these Mechs will operate?

@Thecrash20

Ill just put this here since I'm not sure if im 100% going to join or not. The answer will determine if I will.

[Slamurai]

@SierraI know I'm last on the waiting list, and that's fair, but I'd volunteer for a co-GM spot if you're up for it. I'd like to think myself pretty adept at handling the genre; I've hosted/participated in a number of mech-centric roleplays. In doing so, I've done a heap of research on modern ballistics and vehicular combat, details that add some realism and character to RPs.

You can find my past work here, if you're interested. Ordered from oldest to newest:
FRAMEs
FRAMEs: Chapter II
Mobile FRAME: To the Stars!

I've also worked to respectable extent with Silverwind Blade on the background and technical details of his GEARs roleplays, going back to OldGuild.

In any case, I'm pretty enthusiastic about mecha RPs and would like to volunteer to help the project along.

[Sierra]

<Snipped quote by Thecrash20>

Ill just put this here since I'm not sure if im 100% going to join or not. The answer will determine if I will.

@Thecrash20

So the way I'm handling the mechs is this: The Predator is a standard issue chassis (those two images in the previous thread I pulled off of google and are not necessarily representative, you can imagine it however you want). Some of this has already been defined to give a baseline. They then come in a couple of different loadouts, or 'kits'. I have some general ideas here but I do not intend to define the kits in a vacuum. THat's something I intend to pose as a discussion amongst players. I primarily intend for the kits to affect firepower but they're not limited to just weapons. Since these aren't yet defined, there is definitely some room for customization if that's what you're looking for. There's also room for tinkering with the mechs if your character knows what he/she is doing. I trust them not to break it.

Note that this is only going to be available to my initial players. It will get edited into the first-post when we've come to agreements on what they're going to be. I expect there to be 3-5 general ones and I may include some more exotic/niche options (TBD here).

[Sierra]

@Aristo I skimmed through some of those to get an idea how you ran things and what not. I definitely think you have the experience and the love of the genre for this kind of thing. Now that waiting list has absolutely nothing to do with anyone seeking the co-GM slot, and based on your experience I am absolutely willing to give it to you. That also means we've got enough player slots for everyone, which is something I'm quite relieved to say. I don't like turning people away.

I do not know if I'm going to get the character sheet up tonight (I'm going to see about it for sure). When its up it will likely be pretty standard so if anyone wants to pull one from any other roleplay and start working on it, my sheet probably will ask for much of the same stuff.

[Ollumhammersong]

@Sierra

So is your intention to have everyone pick a mech from a smaller pre-determined 'garage' of more stock-standard options so to speak?

[Slamurai]

@Sierra Great! I'll happily accept. Let me know if there's anything I can work on in the meantime to lessen the load.

[Sierra]

@Sierra

So is your intention to have everyone pick a mech from a smaller pre-determined 'garage' of more stock-standard options so to speak?

@Ollumhammersong

With two caveats:

1) Its your job to populate that garage.
2) You can switch it up whenever you like, and to an extent even mix-and-match hardware between them.

Is it a good idea to put a marksman cannon on a heavy ordnance mech already carrying mortars? Probably not. Is the maintenance department going to give you funny looks if you request that? Most definitely. Am I going to put an administrative halt on that plan? Not at all.

[Ollumhammersong]

@Sierra

I guess my question is more this.

are the mech designs, and variants there of going to be pre-selected by you? 'the roster of approved mechs' so to speak. Or when we make our characters will we be able to design our own mech? (excluding personal modifications and the like. I am talking about the standard templates of each mech design.)

[Slamurai]

This is just my hunch but I think with the way it's worded, @Sierra intends the squads to pilot the same base chassis (MR-7 Predator). Because the RP revolves around a professional military force, the mechs are standard-issue: there's an element of realism in having the squads pilot a uniform chassis. After all, most modern states have just a single vehicle dedicated for their niche (USA has the Abrams as its sole MBT, etc.).
Players have the agency to alter the loadout and specialized equipment on their mech to fill certain roles (all-purpose, long-range fire support, etc.) But the chassis will be identical, if not different variants of the same. The aesthetic of said chassis, is up to your individual imaginations.

In the past, I've sort of circumvented the 'standard-issue issue' by running RPs based on mercenary companies, to accommodate a variety of chassis designs. Players are probably more willing to utilize mechs of their own tastes. What I might suggest is presenting a couple of illustrations and having us vote on which one(s) they like best for their chassis.

[Flamelord]

Yup, still here and still interested. Not sure what I'll do in terms of mechs yet but I figure it can wait until we find out what sorts of dakka are available. :P

[Ollumhammersong]

the ultimate mech design

[Thecrash20]

?@Sierra

the ultimate mech design

@Ollumhammersong

Yum some orky bitz

[Skyrte]

So... I noticed that Squad 2 has 4/5 people in it, maybe I could be the fifth?

[Slamurai]

@SkyrteI'll let Sierra make the executive decision, but I don't see why not. It'd be nice to have even team numbers.

[Skyrte]

If we're looking for images of mechs, I looked through my folder for mechs and I found two I think fits the bill of what Sierra described pretty well.

This one is a beefier mech.
While this one is the smaller one of the two.

[AstroLu]

It's not too late for me, right? Cause I didn't see this until 24 hours later.

[Slamurai]

@AstroLuI think you should be good; a squad has six members and we're rolling with two. It looks like you're the twelfth person to show interest, you're just in time.

[AstroLu]

@Aristo
I was referring to the top post. I showed interest back in the check. I just thought I missed the whole character creation scheme. Now that I see the sheets aren't out yet, I think I'm fine for now.