Slamurai

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

Someone can finish off the last goon and I'll whisk us away to the Samigina and get the ball really rolling.

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

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

@Massasauga
I've always been partial to the rich girls.

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

"Kat?" Cecilia paused to glance at her radar. The runaway was... getting away. Kat had either missed the window, or... "Kat?!" Then, Snow Leopard's signal on the C3 disappeared as it shut down. Realizing what must have happened, Cecilia's knuckles turned white as she strangled her control yokes. It's been a whole fucking year. Zipping her Kirin into a 180, Cecilia left the last thug in the immediate engagement to the others and sped off to chase the blip on her radar.

"I'm leaving the last one here to you; I'm playing tag with 'speedy,'" Cecilia radioed to nobody in specific. She was furious - not at Kat herself, but at the state she was in and her inability to cope with the past. If an easy errand like this set her off, what would they do when they faced a real enemy again? She hated to admit it, but the girl was becoming a liability. As far as she knew, Kat didn't belong in a FRAME until she got herself sorted out.

"Cecilia?" Bentz's voice asked over the radio. "Sorry to interrupt."

"Director. We need to talk about Kat-"

"I know. I was monitoring your op. I'm afraid I can't put her in a cockpit in her current state. She needs therapy, Cecilia."

"Does that mean you'll let her go?" Cecilia knew it'd be for the best, but that also meant another Panther lost. In recent times, they were short on staff as it was, and every dip in manpower could be felt throughout the unit.

"I don't know just yet. It might be the safest option, but I'll take an alternative. In other news, I just met with a client. This opportunity is big, Cecilia. We haven't had a break like this in a long time."

"Big as in...?"

"Pre-Cradle big. Like the old days. It sounds too good to be true, and I know it'll seem crazy, but when you're done there, I want everyone to report to the command deck immediately. We have a lot to discuss, and there's someone I'd like you to meet."

"...Yes, Director. Out."

Cecilia cut the transmission, eyed peeled on the escapee. She was gaining ground quickly; she just needed a clear lane to get a shot. Just one, good shot. Lucky for her, desperation mixed with a wrong turn put the ganger on a straight bridge. Nowhere to turn, plenty of straightaway.

End of the road. Cecilia's reticule snapped to target and her muzzle flashed. The next instant, a smoldering wreck fell into the river. The Panther turned around to regroup with her companions.

"Marathon's over; nobody qualified. Let's drop the last one and be done with it. Director's got a big surprise waiting for us," Cecilia radioed the others. She then opened a private transmission to Kat's FRAME. She knew the power was down, but, by any chance she left the radio on, she could get to her.

"Kat? It's me. This channel is encrypted. It's over."

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

>Writes post

>Gets ninja's by Aristro by four hours

@Foster

That long?

Also, everyone note a small change to the OP pertaining to subsystems:

I will also make some exception for subsystems in that, if you have a very specific role in mind for your pilot, you can make up your own systems. Case in point would be a specialized reconnaissance/intel-gathering FRAME that would require equipment not currently on this list. PM me with details and questions; DIY subsystems will be analyzed case-by-case.

Aristo

Since I let a few people carry unique pieces of kit, I think it's only fair to open the option up and let everyone know they can do so as well. I'll still update the current subsystem list with new things, which might serve as inspirations for unique equipment.

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

<Snipped quote by Aristo>

Yeah I've been watching Schwarzesmarken since it started airing. I've been trying to get the English patch to work on the Chronicles but it won't let me put it on there. And I'm still trying to get through the first parts of Extra but the lunches don't...fucking...stop...

@Massasauga

I finished Extra and Unlimited forever ago, but left off Alternative somewhere in the middle. If the lunches get to you, wait till the lacrosse arc.... I ought to get around to finishing Alt. I have the files for volumes 1 and 2 of Chronicles in a folder but haven't touched them yet.

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

@Massasauga
I'd just noticed your avatar; you're a Muv-Luv fan too, I take it?

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

"Waste them," was Cecilia's curt reply to Kat. She adjusted her head, bringing the helmet-slaved reticule to bear on target. The targeting computer did the rest, plotting a firing angle and compensating for any wind, movement and elevation, refreshing this data 30 times per second. Cecilia squeezed the trigger and a pair of HEAT rounds burst free from the autocannon's muzzle. A flash of tracers and a cloud of smoke told her that she'd hit her mark, and the FRAME reeled to the ground. It was evident in their movement and (dis)organization that the mooks were simple thugs. After seeing one of their own go down, the remainder scurried, firing back wildly.

Cecilia would've been content to sit back and pick them off - had Oliver not scrambled right into the thick of things. Sonofabitch. His rocket had disabled another gangbanger, but at 20 meters there was no way it'd be safe to loose another. "There's cover everywhere - use it!" she barked. She was right; there were plenty of dilapidated structures to hide behind. Most lanes of fire went down whole alleys and streets, making the engagement into a sordid game of Pac-Man with guns. It would have been easy enough to wait in ambush for the mooks to turn a wrong corner and lay into them.

Maxwell had been into position to relieve some of the attention on Oliver. Cecilia saw a spectacular ray of flame on her monitor; no doubt riling up the gangsters. She spun from her corner and zipped down the next street, following the diagonal path to what should be the thugs' blind spot. They were occupied with emptying their weapons at the more immediate threats - Oliver and Maxwell's FRAMEs, to be exact. She reached the corner of the street where the action was centered, but was cut off by one of the thugs as he made a hasty getaway. The construction FRAME whizzed mere feet away, down the intersection and to Cecilia's left. Startled, the pilot fumbled with his control yoke, sending a hail of bullets Cecilia's way. She immediately pulled back on her throttle, wheels churning her machine backwards and behind an abandoned hotel.

"We've got a runner," she groaned. "Kat, looks like you're in a position to intercept." Cecilia looked at her C3 monitor, judging the intersection between the mook's path and Kat's line of sight. She traced a finger on the touchscreen and shot Kat the data. "If you fire now, you can hit him as he crosses the open!"

Turning back to the commotion on her right, Cecilia used Maxwell's distraction to pop another shot at a thug from behind. The round hit the FRAME square in the back, sending it careening into the side of a complex. The metal spalls and shrapnel had no doubt done their grisly work inside the cockpit.

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

<Snipped quote by Aristo>

Thanks for the answers, that helps a lot. Mainly with my own immersion when I'm writing and describing things, and getting an idea of what kind of tech-level the setting is at.

Also, as an aside, I have the tabletop RP book that image is from; the game it's from got me into roleplaying many, many years ago, and my regular group and I still use it now.

@Silverwind Blade

Lucky; I wish I had a solid group with interest in Mekton. Mostly it's just Pathfinder or D&D, and after a while fantasy starts feeling really uninspiring.

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

@Shorticus
There's a pretty standard look, with some variation here and there. I'll actually just let you use your imagination as to what your cockpit displays look like, unless I get the urge to post a picture of a specific design. But most follow a trend of having multiple small monitors built into the "dashboard" for various sensors and subsystems, and the main optic display is a big, panoramic screen that wraps left to right around the cockpit. It's actually a series of signals from multiple cameras mounted on the FRAME, but the central optic provides the immediate 12 o'clock visuals.
As far as marking targets goes, the data received by the radar can be sent to other pilots' databanks and plotted on a GPS-esque system. This screen would sort of resemble a typical videogame mini-map. If you know that a specific radar blip is an enemy, you could highlight it on your screen and the main visual display would have a marker of the object's location and bearing.

I guess this is a good enough example. You've got your big monitor stretching from left to right, displaying all the visual data of your FRAME. Enemy data can also be transmitted and brought up on this screen. Targeting reticules appear on this main screen as well, and the FRAME's fire control system calculates range, bearing and accounts for elevation and leading moving targets. All the user has to do is stick the reticule to the target and the computer does the rest.
Underneath the main monitor, you have a control panel with subsystem controls and radar/sensor/GPS monitors. Other intricacies of the machines can be controlled here; performance monitors, climate control, damage readouts, ammunition counts, yadda yadda.
Then you've got your foot pedals and control yokes for moving the machine. I'll mostly leave this to your imagination, because I, for one, don't want to have to theorize how exactly these things would move with the control layout. But for simplicity, the foot pedals more than likely control the legs of the FRAMEs; the angle might determine the speed or which direction the thing moves in. There might be as many as four pedals down there. The throttle control probably works the skating wheels in the feet. The stick can swivel the torso around; there's probably a small 'hat' control for the thumb which moves the head, or cycles through functions, or like a cursor in a game menu. Of course, the stick also has the triggers for armaments.
There's an ejection handle between the pilot's legs; the whole chest opens up and launches the pilot's seat, encased in the cockpit frame. There's a parachute packed into the back of the seat.


And for the second questions; most identification is done visually; just as armor crews and pilots in militaries are trained to identify vehicle silhouettes, FRAME pilots are as well. A radar might show a FRAME-sized blip, but to understand what model it is, and what sort of armaments it has, the pilot ought to get a true visual. Once he does, however, that info can be relayed to other teammates and inputted into his databank for reference.

@Silverwind Blade
You ninja'd me as I was typing!

I think your first question has been answered in the context above; data pilots acquire can be stored and sent. C3 does the same thing, for the most part, but it's automatic and much more intuitive.

I imagine the two would be pretty close. FRAMEs sort of combine the armor and role of an IFV or light tank with the electronics of aircraft. Their computers can do anything, say, a Bradley or Abrams does, and more.

I think the above also pertains to your last question; no nifty holographic displays, but touch screens are pretty standard. There's also the nice panoramic monitor, combined with a more retro, hands-on HOTAS layout. But FRAMEs can certainly 'cruise' with the wheels down, without constant input from the pilot.