Avatar of Krayzikk

Status

Recent Statuses

7 yrs ago
Current You did good, McGregor. Made us proud.
4 likes
7 yrs ago
No offense intended. But there's a sweet spot on the sliding scale of realism, and most of the interest checks I usually see skew too far to the realism end for me.
2 likes
7 yrs ago
Can't describe how quickly I go from excited to sad when a mecha premise turns out to be realism wankery.

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts

Colony Day, Horizon (Downtown) 9:00 AM


On some level, nothing could dampen enthusiasm for Colony Day.

For children, of course, it was just a day off. The political implications of the holiday meant nothing to them, nor could they truly grasp the technological marvels that it was meant to celebrate. They had lived with it their whole lives. The existence of settlements beyond Earth was just a fact of life, as certain as sunrise. Even most adults hadn’t lived through the thrill of the very first settlement on the Moon, but they had surely lived to see humanity expand from there. And some had been young when Armstrong earned its city status. For all that the world had complicated since then, the achievement was still remarkable. Remarkable enough to be worth celebrating.

And nowhere was it celebrated better than Horizon.

The seven cities that boasted Mass Drivers took special pride in Colony Day, but Horizon went above and beyond. Locals and tourists alike flocked to the beaches, the commercial districts, the restaurants; the day had begun at dawn, and would not end until last call at the bars. The parade would draw immense crowds to its route, and even bigger swells for the businesses lucky to be along it. Even though towards its periphery would benefit from the crowds. The mayor was slated to give a speech, before the parade began, and while that held little attraction the parade itself most certainly did. Horizon’s military would be on hand, with events of their own, and anyone with an imagination would flock to see the Walkers on display. The air show wouldn’t be until later in the day, but it was sure to draw as much attention as the parade itself.

The atmosphere was electric, and for once without the looming anxiety the Ark Union caused. Colony Day was as sacred, if not more, for the colonists as it was on Earth. Footage of the festivities, planet- and colonyside alike, would be streaming on every major network all day. The occasional war hawk would find their soap box; some network would be willing to give them some air time, if only to try and differentiate themselves from the other networks. But few would be inside to watch, anyway. Even if they were smaller than the celebrations around the spaceports, every small town in the Federation would have their activities planned.

The civilians weren’t the only eager participants, either; Colony Day was a holiday for all non-essential military personnel. Enlisted men, women, and officers alike would flock to the streets to enjoy their day of freedom. The favorite local bars would have specials going on all day, even on top of the Colony Day specials. Horizon had a lot to offer, as its military personnel knew very well, and held something for everyone’s downtime preferences.

The day was just beginning, and it promised to be a good one.




“What’re you doing here, sir? Wouldn’t let you out of the home for the day?”

“Watch it, LT. I sign your leave slips.” Major Patrick McKinley half-growled, blinking his eyes open to glance at the speaker. Ops was quieter than usual, seeing as everybody who could vacated when they got half a chance. He knew the Colonel was in her office, even if he hadn’t seen her yet. The boss was as essential as essential personnel got, so the day wasn’t a walk in the park for her. Wasn’t for him, either, but he didn’t have a whole lot to see to. “What’re you doing here? I wasn’t aware I’d need phone calls answered today.”

“Ha ha.” The Lieutenant picked her way through the room to her station, ignoring the fact that McKinley had his feet kicked up on his console. Again. No one was exactly sure how the commander of the Walker garrison beat everyone to work every day, but the running theory was just that he never left. He wasn’t ever volunteering any answers, other than “the ex can’t get on base”. But Noah would have thought, at least, that he might have been less eager on a holiday. “Someone has to remind you how your email works. Sir.”

“True.”

The silence went on for a bit, after that. McKinley resumed reading the reports on his tablet, Noah ran through any memos for the day, and the handful of other officers in Ops continued their business. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few requisitions from the crew chief down in the hangar to sign off on, notices of delivery for a few units, summaries of the R&D department’s progress for the week. Not that they technically answered to him, directly, but they used his division’s resources and pilots so there were certain niceties. He’d worked for them, way back when, so there was respect, too. But still, nothing especially worth giving too much thought.

“Lieutenant, run me through the docket. What’ve we got today?”

“Usual reps are setting up for the PR stuff in town. The flyboys are getting their last prep in for the airshow this afternoon. Local PD has already called to make sure we’ve told the kiddos to behave themselves on leave.” Noah went through the list easily, rolling her shoulders to stretch the last sleep out of her back. “Nothing unusual, other than the usual reminders to keep vigilant. Customs flagged a big shipment coming from the Union, later, but the credentials all seem to be in order. If there’s anything to worry about, we should hear it from Luna long before it gets to us.

“So, nothing.”

“Pretty much, sir, yes.”

McKinley sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

“Well, shit. I’m gonna need more coffee, or I might just take a nap.”

“Don’t worry, sir, I’m sure the Colonel will have you home for bed by five.”


One down.

The impromptu cremation of one despicable Crusader was proof that they were unaccustomed to dealing with a Psycodriver. That was an edge, for her. Something to make this four versus one doable. Not easy, it was key that she stop all of them before they could reach the Loch. She had the attention of two, but two more were still speeding toward their objective. She needed all of their attention on her. Relief seemed to be on the way with two of the Irish Lions, but then-

Two friendly IFFs lost.

Three enemies gained.

She zoomed in, unconsciously, but she didn't need the help for identification. Three black AMs. Two Barrelions. A Guarlion Custom. She saw, in her mind, Barrelions tear through allied Gespensts. Punching through armor like paper. And the Guarlion. That black-plated demon from the depths of Hell, with optics of the cruelest amaranth. If the Guarlion squad leaders were skilled, then the pilot of this Custom was better still. It was out of her weight class. Not even the TT, the embodiment of what strength she had, could even those odds. Maybe if she were stronger. If she were its original pilot. But she...

In that haze, between the lingering effects of her maneuver and the settling despair, she almost forgot her enemies. The screaming klaxon brought her back to her senses, senses enough to mostly evade the Landlion's returned fire. It scraped hard against her PT's shoulder, gouging a nasty line in the armor, but functionality remained. She needed to focus. The new units were too far away. She needed to stop this formation in its tracks. The two that were not focused on her, she needed their attention. A flick of her finger brought up the Split Missiles, and fired where she intended. Not at the Landlions, no; in water, she doubted her ability to land a direct hit. And the conflagration would not spread as far as in air. But the river in front of them?

That would get their attention. The two missiles fired split into submunitions on their parabolic arc down into the river, blanketing the area in front of the charging Landlions with small-scale detonations. Enough, she hoped, to make them stop. Her Gespenst may not have been fast, but it was more than enough to close the gap if she could gain even that small respite. The ones focused on her were another matter. Her Rippers were still in motion, and she directed them to the AM that still remained above the surface of the water; the one below was targeted, and she let loose with a burst from her handheld Railgun.

One, two, three, all eyes on me. Come on, now.

The visor of her PT flashed, as the droplet broke loose from her lip. That would stain. She had to trust that her allies could handle this development. She would stop the Landlions. Once she did that, she could assist. But four against one? Her hands were full.

Come on, Corinne.


"I don't care what brand of chips you buy. I do care what brand of milk we buy."

It was a little odd that he wanted to go to the bank. Not extremely, it happened from time to time. But it was Academy City, and most of their banking was done online. If even on a computer, much of it was on their phones. Actual trips to the bank were usually reserved for larger occasions, like renting their apartment. Umeko couldn't think, off the top of her head, of anything that would warrant a visit. Still, it wasn't out of their way. If Brennan said that he needed to go to the bank, to the bank they would go.

And then she'd get to find out why.

Her curiosity could wait. Grocery shopping was first. She squeezed her arm around his waist, bumping him affectionately with her shoulder. Her other hand fished around in her interior jacket pocket, looking for the grocery list. And the parts list. It wasn't a small amount of stuff that they needed to obtain, but that was alright. The errands were nice. Time to hang out, get some things done,and enjoy the weather. Later in the day it would be too hot for her tastes and she would long for the air conditioner, but for now the morning straddled the line nicely between cool and warm.

"Which grocery store are you thinking, Brennan?" Again, the syllable stretched. "The one near my model store, or the one near the store for our rocket parts?"


"Wha-"

There's no crafting glue, it's cement!


The rest clicked about point five seconds after her indignation, so she wolfed down the rest of her cereal in a couple of bites and drained the bowl of Musashino. Bowl in sink, technically dropped, though it was only a hair short of thrown (it was plastic, wasn't going to hurt it anyway) and the Japanese girl was in motion. Three minutes wasn't a lot of time, not when she hadn't even picked what she was going to wear yet. He might not have literally meant three minutes, but it was just as possible that he was timing her. Could go either way, depending on the day. And as much as the Exia called....

Nope, staying in all day wasn't the plan.

So, bare minimum prep time. Morning in August, it wasn't all the war warm yet. Might want something with sleeves. Her white jacket. Red top? She wore blue yesterday, might as well go red. Not the bright red, that was reserved for Chars. Maybe the Sinanju red, though... That'd work. And the navy skirt. Same boots as yesterday, still scuffed (Damned A-LAW.), would work just fine. So Umeko was changing almost as soon as she reached the room, shedding her make-shift pajamas in favor of the articles she'd carefully selected from her closet. Time was a-ticking, even though she knew she'd hear it if he tried to leave before she was ready. He could be surprisingly sneaky, when he wanted to be, but he couldn't disguise the door's sound. She'd catch up to him if he tried, and she'd be grumpy. He knew better.

Getting dressed took but a minute, and she walked back out of the bedroom smoothing her skirt and slipping on her jacket inside (if narrowly) the three minute deadline. Ha. So there.

"No such luck, Brennan," She intoned, adding what sounded like an extra syllable to the beginning of his name. "Not letting you do the shopping unsupervised. Let's go."
I prefer specificity. If I'd just said 'no', you would have asked why and I'd have had to explain anyway. Explaining why something is wrong, in my books, is better than just stating the problem.

Nevertheless, I wish you well.
<Snipped quote by ArmorPlated>
Also I assume we'll be taking some creative storytelling liberties when it comes to combat, because though its realistic, just sitting out of visual or just inside visual range and shelling targets from kilometers away with even the lighter weapons doesn't sound incredibly exciting. I get the feeling people want to mix it up in melee and the mecha equivalent of 'CQC' range.


This is definitely the case. We might be a little more on the realistic side than some examples of the genre, but this is ultimately a game about giant humanoid robots. Most of the engagements not performed by a sniper-specced machine will be well within visual range. Melee's a valid strategy, if you get close enough.

As for calibers, you've both actually come to about the same as what my old notes said. 20mm for vulcans, 30mm being roughly 'handgun' size (for a Walker, obviously), 60mm being fairly standard for a rifle, 90-100mm (don't have it written down anywhere at hand) was Walker-scale combat shotgun. 150mm was the Gunners' railguns.

Sorry I haven't quite gotten to looking over your sheet yet, vietmyke, project wound up taking a lot out of me. Walker looks good, I had time to skim, just haven't gotten to character yet. First thing tomorrow.
Also, unsure if this was already asked, but how do walkers organize and operate? Do we operate similar to modern day armor companies? Combined arms approach like today's mechanized infantry? Do we operate alongside traditional tanks and jets or are do we operate on our own?

Questions pertaining to Raptors specifically, the walker mode is incapable of flight, so when we change mid battle I assume we slow down and go close to ground before changing but how does walker to fighter work? Do the walker forms move fast enough to jump and perform short takeoffs without a dedicated runway? Or are they VTOL capable?


The exact approach of Walker warfare is mostly theoretical, since there hasn't been any large scale conflict in which to put it into practice. In theory, Walker-to-Walker conflict represents a significant portion of conflict. Infantry remaining in use for actually invading facilities or areas that Walkers cannot access, but since infantry can't pose a significant threat to an Arsenal Walker alone Walkers represent the most dominant force on the battlefield. Walkers are primarily for taking out the brunt of the opposition, with infantry for close-in or mopping up work.

Since Raptors are so new, fightercraft are still the dominant aerial force. They fulfill, in large part, the same sort of role that they do now. Whether or not they would be supplanted by Raptors is, at this point in time, largely hypothetical. Tanks are still in use, just in slightly altered capacities.

I'll freely admit, right off the bat, that this is based solely upon my relatively limited knowledge of how such things work now. As a result it's more an answer based off of how the game is run, rather than running the game based off of what the answer is.

As for Raptors, you're dead on about how they convert in battle. Getting close enough to the ground and slowing down enough to convert to humanoid. In the reverse, Raptors have significant enough thrusters even in humanoid configuration to take a running "jump", for lack of a better comparison, and convert back for take-off. Obviously that's more difficult than the reverse, but it's the present technique for going from Walker-to-fighter.
@Krayzikk Walker and pilot are ready for review at your leisure mon capitan.


Fantastic! Banging my head against a network textbook right now, but I should get to take a look by tonight.

@Krayzikk

Of all the things on there, the drones are dead-last in importance. If I have to drop them, I'll do so in a heartbeat. camera-drones were just a less-dangerous way of peeking around corners or going for a bird's-eye-view.

planet-side drone pod carries ten, fields five at a time.

space drone pod carries six drones, fields two.

As for ground combat being easier on a pilot, I know. Most of the ongoing Walker use might be planet-side, but if everyone and their mother expects war with Arc Union, the harder of the two locales is going to be what the Federation will measure by, right? If you're prepping for war, why bother putting resources into training pilots if you won't be able to use 'em? Alex is a bottom-of-the-barrel pilot, but only because the barrel is small.

edit: plus, it's more fun to watch a character struggle to stay afloat than to cruise by like it's nothing, isn't it?

edit 2, electric boogaloo: if Alex needs a more significant weakness, I can dial up the "stress" bit and start making him panic when things go south/when surprised.


Wasn't a criticism, I'm looking forward to seeing how you write him. Just pointing out that with the way you've set him up, he will suffer when it comes to combat maneuvering. Feel free to toss him over in the Char tab, I may need a liiiiittle bit of Walker tweaking in the future but nothing immediate.

@Krayzikk Thanks. What I had in my head, but I now realize never made it to the sheet, is that the AW is really supposed to just be a test rig built on a handy platform (trying to find a way to get something as powerful as a railgun (or near enough) working on something other than just Gunners)


Yep, we talked about it a little. Makes perfect sense to me, and fits in with a couple characters that might return.
Anyone else get the feeling that the barrel sizes and weapon ranges on all our sheets seem like they're all over the place?

@ArmorPlated I concur, I dont think people realize how big 20mm autocannons are. Thats the stuff they put on IFVs, or as a primary cannon for modern day fighter jets. That shit tears apart vehicles, nevermind what it does to the people inside them. Probably won't kill a tank- if you hit it dead on from the front anyway, but other IFVs, fighter jets, humvee equivalents? They're going down like people sliding into your DMs.

Also hi, interested and writing a character application


Yeah, historically the only thing that's had a solid number was the Gunners' railguns. Everything else is either based on what I remembered from the last time, or independently extrapolated. When everything else on my to do list is done I'll try and at least mostly standardize everything.

@vietmyke, good to see you. I look forward to what you'll come up with. I'll leave reviewing your Walker CS until then, though, so that I don't delay these ones any longer.

@Athol, I've been mulling it over for a few days. Truth be told, the Walker's riiiight on the border of what I'm comfortable allowing. But you did build in significant weaknesses. I may ask you to tweak it a little, later on down the line if it's necessary. But for now I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt and give it a shot. You're good to go, just bear in mind the weaknesses inherent in the design. On a player note, and not a GM note, I might bring back a character that's somewhat similar. If I do I'll talk with you, I don't want to step on any toes.

@UltimoScorp, I'd like it if you could flesh Ruby out a little. I don't need anything drastic, but things are a little barebones right now. Especially with her history. Do that for me, and we should be good to go.

@Norik, Natalie's history still makes reference to her rank at E3. Otherwise, we should be good to go.

@Raider Dog, looks much better. I think we're good to go.

@ArmorPlated, I truthfully haven't really thought how to balance this sort of machine. For the moment, I'll allow it as long as you can clarify for me how many drones it gets. Just remember the inherent weaknesses not just of the Walker, but of the character. Ground-based Walker combat is less demanding, physically, but it's still not going to feel great for someone like that. Especially not when they eventually have to maneuver in space. Like Athol, I may ask you to tweak a few things down the line depending on how things go.

@Selvariabell We're closer. Age works much, much better. History is closer, too, but still just a little off. I've been thinking about it for a few days, and this is my suggestion.

The Federation represents most of Earth, but its constituent states do maintain some autonomy within its rules. Similarly, PMCs do exist in some form just not the same way as they do now. And around fifteen to twenty years ago, neither the Ark Union nor the Federation has as developed a space fleet. The Federation, as a whole, would be unlikely to work with a PMC to solve a problem. But a constituent country that founded a colony might, if they needed it solved quickly.

So my suggestion is that the Richthofen and Churchill Corporation had a reputation for acting in the gray area, out in space. Nothing criminal enough to bring the hammer down on them, but sketchy enough to make working with them a problem. So the Red Guard commandeered a smaller, scientific or residential colony established by a smaller Federation member state. For whatever reason, the situation needed to be resolved quickly so the nation cut a deal with the PMC. Handle it, and be absorbed into the member state's military rather than face any criminal proceedings. That way it could be absorbed as part of the nation's military, where the Federation wouldn't really do anything of the sort. Eun herself later was transferred to the Federation's Walker Corp, since the Federation Armed Forces draw in part from any standing member state militaries. I should note, though, that PMC wouldn't have access to Walkers. When they handled the Red Guard, they would still be using conventional weapons.

Her old unit would just be background details; cameo appearances, maybe, but the focus of this game is on the Horizon garrison. They're not really a resource she'd be able to draw on. But handled in that manner, they could still be a part of her history.

The only real sticking point, still, is her Walker. Variants on the Raptor don't exist yet. The program was highly experimental, most of its development kept close to the chest, and its flagship model only justs tarted rolling off the mass production line. I would highly suggest switching it to a Scout, if you want to keep a similar level of maneuverability. Or a Warrior, if you wanted a little more versatility. But a Raptor variant would not exist yet. Later down the line, it'd be possible. But not at this point in time.

Sheet is much closer, just needs a little more tweaking. I don't want to stifle your creativity, but I do need to make sure it meshes with the setting and focus of the game.

@CaptainSully I hate to be blunt, but there's... A lot here that doesn't work. Starting from the top, there's nothing presently in his backstory that would indicate why he's an officer. It's a relatively simple issue, but worth noting for consistency. The issues get bigger from there. First of all, the exact nature of his dual role as a research and combat pilot is... Tenuous. That's not to say a similar concept isn't present, but one is generally either doing test piloting or combat duty. At least in peacetime. When things kick into gear that will get a little muddied, but it's not a duality that would really be present the way you describe from the get-go. Another relatively small issue, since it could be tweaked to reflect how it has otherwise been handled.

After that is where we get into the meat of the problems. To be frank, you've made him over-the-top good as a pilot. From a GM perspective, it's simply excessive. There are no advanced combat tactics for him to know, because there isn't any history of Walker-to-Walker combat to draw on. It's extremely unlikely to be familiar, and skilled, in every potential theater of Walker combat because few people have practically trained in all of them. Especially seeing as the Walker Corp hasn't had an air-capable Walker until extremely recently. The third listed skill, however, is where suspension of disbelief goes right out the window. No one exceeds the reaction times of a Walker. That's simply not within the realm of possibility. You would have to be faster than a military grade computer a century, give or take a few decades, more advanced than what's currently available. The Walkers themselves may not be as proportionally fast as a person, but a pilot is never going to outstrip its ability to keep up. Put excessive demand on its capabilities? Sure, but that's simply ignoring the recommended limitations of your Walker and not pilot reaction times. It happens to people that pilot older Warriors not infrequently.

And it continues into history. I will not approve a character expressed as being better than literally anyone that came before him. Is it possible? Sure. Someone, somewhere, by definition has to have the highest raw scores. But it's not going to be a PC. It wouldn't be a PC, anyway, considering that it would almost certainly be one of the original Walker test pilots. Pilots whom, it must be noted, where the ones that helped develop the ideas for the Raptor Program. The Program, as alluded to when I went over it with Selvaria, was very close to R&D's chest until they started field testing it. Attempts to insert a PC as the most important factor in creating such an important part of the lore is a major red flag.

His Walker has about as many issues. AI are not in use on Walkers, what limited AI technology is in use has not been applied to such a small military scale. That extends into other issues with the design, but that's key to clear up right away. Its primary weapon is not setting appropriate, either; railguns are not in use on something so small. A Scout that can use a rifle that approaches something similar is extremely experimental, and comes with substantial drawbacks just to make it possible. And needs a Warrior-use reactor to power it. The only other design that may come into play, similarly, uses coils and not rails at the Warrior scale and still comes with equally substantial drawbacks. Automated PD systems aren't in use on Walkers, either. On a Gunner, perhaps. But smaller models use head vulcans to accomplish much the same effect. Its stealth technology far exceeds what would be applied to Walkers at this time, too. Not to mention that even if the thermal dampeners did work, it wouldn't work that way. Anyone on the other end of an imager would still see a Walker shaped reading at a different temperature. It's really, really hard to completely hide a giant robot.

This is longer-winded than I really wanted to be, but truthfully this is a sheet that will need a lot of work to fit into the setting.
We have an OOC. I believe everyone from the Interest Check has moved over, but just in case posting it here.
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet