Slamurai

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

@Aristo
Realistically, Dreqs would likely be substandard compared to our own.

Simply put, when you're building things to be as efficient and compare way better to your competitors, it's probably gonna be better than the people who are designing things under orders.

@WilsonTurner

However, we should also keep in mind that most FRAMEs we're using are secondhand and refurbished, while the Dreqs are in use by professional military personnel. They are pretty cheap, in terms of cost, but there are plenty of reasons why the OSU use it as their general-purpose FRAME!
Competition within the OSU is next to nonexistent - with the state controlling the businesses, they can pick and choose who will manufacture what and work with their suppliers to get the best bang for their buck.

Competition on the international level is another story, though...

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Sorry I meant what country are they based in :p

@DarkStar

Paloka Industries is a state-owned defense company based in the OSU. Nearly everything in the country is state-owned; very socialist (hence "Osbanian Socialist Union!"). That's why we're going up against OSU Dreq FRAMEs.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Might I ask who the convoy is?

@DarkStar

The briefing is the very first post of the IC.

"Cradle Dynamics has requested that we intercept a Paloka Industries shipping convoy, passing between New Lundregen to Kent.”

Aristo

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Hello there. Still looking for someone to fill a slot? I've been looking to get back into roleplaying for quite the while, just been unable to find one that catches my interests. I am pretty pedigreed here. Just not the new guild. My my it's gotten pretty around here.

@DarkStar

We're still hiring!
After you, there'll be only one slot left.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

I also started to wonder, if HG has a role in the base will we see striders or equivalents? (as in Damocles, Red bull and Sagittarius)

Not that I'm expecting players to get those (at least not solo)

@Windicator

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Uh, oh; Cecilia's shouting again...

Not at Harold this time.

@Silverwind BladeI think your posts are groovy; no need to worry!
@Commodore RobotNo worries, good luck on your exam!

Also, going through the posts and reading both confirmed and inferred kills, we've dropped around four to five of the Dreqs so far.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

"Tch!" Cecilia gritted her teeth as she saw Ryder jump into the OSU formation, ramming her FRAME into one of the Dreqs. The maneuver had startled the pilots, sure, but now Ryder was in a less-than desirable position, sandwiched in-between hostiles and already trading autocannon fire - not ideal circumstances to pull this plan off.

"What the fuck are you doing, newbie?!" blared Cecilia over the radio. "Get out of there and use your gun!"

As Cecilia bellowed into her headset, she noticed the trucks pick up speed, drivers slamming on the gas to get the OSU's precious cargo out of danger. She bolted from her position in the trees to intercept their escape.

"Elaine! Maia! On me! We have to cut them off!"

As she darted for the trucks, Cecilia whipped her autocannon around, bringing it to bear on a Dreq that was closing in on Ryder. She gave the trigger on her control yoke a squeeze and her weapon roared to life, sputtering 25 mm AP rounds at her target. The tungsten penetrators of the ammunition hammered into the Dreq, severing an arm from a shoulder and piercing through the torso. The force of the rounds kicked the machine backwards and it collapsed to the road with the grind of metal on concrete.

"Just shoot them," she directed at Ryder. "Take advantage of the position you're in. In a FRAME, you've got to use the most efficient means available to you. Hitting them with crossfire in-between our positions is more effective than melee ever could be."

Cecilia swiveled her FRAME on its wheels, now zipping backwards and keeping ahead of the lead truck. She pointed her rocket pod to the round and let loose a small salvo. The warheads slammed into the road, tearing up concrete into an impassable jumble of debris. The trucks slammed on their brakes, veering off-course as they came to a halt.

It was too early to celebrate though - a trio of Dreqs had escaped the crossfire of the ambush and were headed right for her. Cecilia readied her weapons, expecting Elaine and Maia to do the same.

By now, the Dreqs that were still operational were starting to regroup. The initial surprise of the ambush had done its work, but the Panthers still needed to clean up.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

I posted before about not getting the Dreq (Wanzer form FrontMission) Size but I went to the wikia (is that really the only FM wiki?) just to check if I could find anything there and on the article about "Wanzer" it is stated that "...Tend to be around 5.5 meters tall, and on average, weigh roughly 25 tons." (source)
I just did that to get more data but if @Aristo wants it to be of different size, it still no concern of mine.

@Windicator

For the purpose of the RP, most mechs that I incorporate 'out-of-universe' will be scaled down a little. So Dreqs are about 4.5 meters; just a tad larger than our own FRAMEs. Our mechs, based on Heavy Gear, have pretty much retained their canon specs. There's a big discrepancy between tonnage in Gears and Wanzers as well, so I decided to use the former.
The Scopedog Armored Trooper of VOTOMS weighs in-between 6.3 to 6.6 tons and stand around 3.8 meters. ATs and Gears are so similar and fit my vision of FRAMEs so well that we're using comparable specs.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

There are twelve of them, so probably six on each side of the convoy. Obviously, it would be more efficient for them to turn to engage us on their nearest side so they're not facing the trucks. However, with a couple of us Cecilia mentioned skirting out of the trees to block off the road, we might be able to cause some confusion and screw up their lanes of fire. The trucks probably aren't going to sit around and wait to get slagged either; they've hit the gas by now.

We've got the Dreqs surrounded and ambushed; unless we've got our hands in our pockets, we should have a relatively easy time.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

@Aristo

Yo boss, when Cecilia says wait until they get past the bridge, does she mean once they get on from their side? Or once they pass our side?

EDIT: Nother quick question, where would you say a pilot hatch is on a Drek? The FM wiki doesn't say for Wanzers.

@EmptyArmor

When they pass over the bridge on our side. I whipped up a master-quality diagram for reference:



P is for Panther - That's us hidden in the trees. When the convoy passes over the bridge to the left, Bernie's going to blow it up, denying them a backwards escape route, and then a few of us will cut them off at the front.
I guess it would have made a bit more sense to blow the bridge before they crossed and cut them off at the rear on the other side, but we'll go with what we have!

The hatch is in the center of the chest; let's go with the rectangular 'slot' in the middle of the picture: