The year is 2035, and the world has fallen into war once more. Tensions in Europe over the last two decades reached a crescendo when the reformed Soviet Union pushed into EU territory and seized large portions of eastern Europe, prompting the west to respond accordingly. The successor to NATO, NorAm, has joined into the fight with the remaining EU forces and together have halted the expansion of the Soviets into the west, but at the cost of leaving their western front exposed. After years of posturing and playing passive-aggressive with its neighbor, China had finally taken off more than it could chew, as a coalition of Japan, Korea and Vietnam came together to put the aggressive nation in its place. Rising from this is the Shogunate, a collection of the various asian nations that have come together under the Imperial house of Japan and sworn to regain their rightful place in the world. From their chinese FOBs, the Shogunate has entrenched themselves against the potential Soviet invaders, all the while their fleets topple island after island nation in their push towards NorAm. Left to their own devices, Australia and New Zealand have allied together to form the Restored Commonwealth, dedicated themselves towards preserving what they can of the British legacy even as England burns to the ground under Soviet attacks.

At the forefront of these battles are the soldiers who risk their lives for their countries, brave men and women who take to the ground and defend every last bit of earth they can. Towering beside them are not the tanks of old, but instead the Battle-Engines, machines built as weapons platforms in an age of urban-warfare and all too necessary in the greatest war Earth has yet seen...

So, yeah, that's kind of the setting. I'll refine it as I go along, as well as depending on how interested people are, but that's essentially it. I'm more leaning towards Chromehounds as the basis of the setting in terms of mechs, but I'm hard-pressed to let go of my liking for Armored Core. What is definitely not part of the setting, however, are mechs from Gundam. In terms of what the story will actually be, as in what we the players will be doing, I have yet to actually decide, so here's a few options.

In terms of how we will be organized:
- Squad-based(I.E. We are all part of the same team)
- Free-form(I.E. Everyone is independent)

Story:
- The Homeland is under attack!
- Infiltration into enemy lands!
- Fighting on the front-lines!

Specification on setting basis:
- Armored Core: More sci-fi, with things like energy weapons and very short-range energy sabers and such. Lots of room for interesting ideas in terms of mech design using futuristic components.
- Chromehounds: Very near-future, no energy-weapons/hover-platforms/melee weapons(Pike doesn't count), and over all more realistic and gritty.

Of course, these ideas will evolve as interest develops, so by all means, shoot me your own suggestions and we'll see how this works out. =D

Hm, so this idea really is going live I see.

To me, we should be placed into squads. As a squad, the players should probably go for mech designs that offset another team member's inherent weaknesses, or rather go for a specific combat role that is made evident by their mech's specifications. Story wise, we could go for the so-called 'homeland' being under attack, though maybe it could be interesting to put the homeland in a dire situation. Perhaps it's been invaded by foreign forces, with armed civilian groups and official military remnants forming the backbone of the resistance movement or something.

I'm all for the Chromehounds style, or a mixture of the two without energy-based or 'super weapons.'
As there are lots of global actors involved in the RP, are the players going to be grouped under a single nation, or split into whatever nation they choose? I fear the latter would make things a bit disorganized, unless they worked together OOC to develop an ongoing story in a specific theatre of war.

ASTA said
Hm, so this idea really is going live I see.

To me, we should be placed into squads. As a squad, the players should probably go for mech designs that offset another team member's inherent weaknesses, or rather go for a specific combat role that is made evident by their mech's specifications. Story wise, we could go for the so-called 'homeland' being under attack, though maybe it could be interesting to put the homeland in a dire situation. Perhaps it's been invaded by foreign forces, with armed civilian groups and official military remnants forming the backbone of the resistance movement or something.

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards the squad-option, though I thought I would leave it out there in case some people were interested in other options. I am digging the whole homeland defense option for the story, as it could lead to things like civilian made mechs and such, allow for some of the more radical designs to be implemented, as well as let people participate as other factions.

Aristo said
I'm all for the Chromehounds style, or a mixture of the two without energy-based or 'super weapons.' As there are lots of global actors involved in the RP, are the players going to be grouped under a single nation, or split into whatever nation they choose? I fear the latter would make things a bit disorganized, unless they worked together OOC to develop an ongoing story in a specific theatre of war.

Chromehounds style is definitely where I'm leaning towards, as much as I like the Armored Core universe. In terms of who will be playing what, I'm still unsure. If we do homeland defense, there could always be the possibility of another nation lending aid, though it would be pretty well limited to the NorAm/EU/Commonwealth bloc, as the Soviets and Shogunate are independent aggressors. If we do end up going into the homeland defense aspect, it will likely take place in NorAm, likely to be the east coast, but things could change.

---

As of the moment, I'm mostly working on two key things. The first of these is the system in which military mechs are constructed, and I think I'll be going with a system very similar to that of Chromehounds and Armored Core. Essentially, there will be six component groups to build the mech from. These components are as follows:

-Mobility Base: Self-explanatory, it's what moves the mech
-Generator: Provides power to the mech's systems.
-Cockpit: Cockpit is rather self-explanatory, it's where your pilot controls the mech from.
-Weapons: Shooty things.
-Armor: Armor comes in the form of extra plates that can be mounted on the mech to provide buffer-zones against incoming fire.
-Auxiliary: This covers other systems not found in the above categories.

The second thing I am working on is the factions themselves, and how they interact with each other. For this setting, the Soviet Union is the originator of the Battle-Engine design, and is the most advanced faction, utilizing high-tech neurological linking systems to essentially fuse the pilot with their machine. In essence, the Soviets have lighter, more agile, and harder hitting mechs, but due to their complexity, they are not very durable and do not wear well in extended conflicts. NorAm will be traditionally average, using standardized components that wear well, and overall their forces will be more varied and adapted to longer conflicts than their counterparts. Commonwealth is another advanced faction, though they have moved a different direction. Their mechs are more often that not, un-piloted. With their isolation, the Commonwealth has taken to advances in AI technology, and thus have been able to create stable, sentient artificial intelligences that work alongside their living military.

Of course, some things may change as I develop them, but this is what I'm currently working on.

I'd be interested in this.

Sure, I'm game.

Penultimate_Pi said
Sure, I'm game.

Glorious.

REDSHEILD said
I'd be interested in this.

Good to see you in thread, Red.

Im interested, though I'm more familiar with Front Mission lol. Is that relatively close?

GreenGoat said
Im interested, though I'm more familiar with Front Mission lol. Is that relatively close?

Aye, it's pretty similar on both accounts, though I had to look up the series after forgetting about it. In terms of similarity between Front Mission and the two sourced material, Armored Core and Front Mission are near identical in terms of mech design, though Chromehounds has a setting that is closer to that of Front Mission Evolved.

Then consider me in. Im thinking of making a breakthrough mech with heavy armor and stuff.

GreenGoat said
Then consider me in. Im thinking of making a breakthrough mech with heavy armor and stuff.

Glorious, that should fit in well with the current classification of mechs I'm working on.

Essentially, the breakdown of how NorAm mechs are classified is as such:

Heavy - Large mechs that serve support and mainline roles. These are the mechs that battles pivot around due to their size, armor, weapons, and more often than not, the sheer cost of using them.
-- Heavy/Assault - Heavies tasked with assault and breaching duties, these are the so-called "Tip of the Spear" machines that lead the charge.
-- Heavy/Support - These are the ones with long-range fire-support capabilities, typically equipped with howitzers and bombardment type weapons, they rely on lights and Commanders to relay information to them so that they can support the line.
Medium - Mid-weight mechs that serve multiple roles. Typically they are seen in packs, and serve the role of MBT in mech-warfare. Many strike a delicate balance between firepower and agility.
-- Medium/Frontline - These are the standard Mediums, typically decently armored and armed with a single main and twin secondary weapons, their strength lies in their tactical flexibility.
-- Medium/Assault - Heavier armored, and with a second primary weapon, these are essentially "Light-Heavies" that serve a role equivalent to modern day Tank-Destroyers.
-- Medium/Support - Lightly armored, but without the increased agility of lighter mechs, these support mechs typically mount heavy weapons in order to support the front-line from afar.
Light - Low-weight mechs that typically serve scouting roles, though some excel in other areas as well. Most lights will be thinly armored, but sport a higher agility than that of other mechs.
-- Light/Scout - Light weight and with armor barely equivalent to tissue-paper, the scout uses its wheeled chassis to quickly move across the battlefield and report forward positions of enemies.
-- Light/Support - Typically used in the role of recovery vehicles, Light/Support mechs can also utilize field-repair tools to quickly get a mech moving and back on the frontline.
Command - These are the mechs which mount the large communication arrays that relay information between all allied mechs under their radar range. Though the massive weight of the comms array typically means that a Commander is unarmed, there have been cases of a Commander holding a front with secondary weapons alone.

This reminds me allot of Titanfall. (Hard to imagine North USA having less tech.)

This does sound interesting though. Though I'm not to familiar with Chromehounds as I am Armored core.

GreivousKhan said
This reminds me allot of Titanfall. (Hard to imagine North USA having less tech.)This does sound interesting though. Though I'm not to familiar with Chromehounds as I am Armored core.

Well, it's not so much the NorAm has less tech, it's just that compared to the Soviets and Commonwealth, they are a little behind. Not familiar with Titanfall, so not sure where the parallels are drawn, but I welcome the interest.

I am also currently working on the OOC format, hopefully going to have some form of app-sheet up here in the next few days or so. My work schedule prevents me from giving this as much attention as I would prefer to give the project.

Hmm. Been a while since I have been in a Mech RP. And Chromehounds. That's close enough to MechWarrior for me. I'm game.

Synthorian said
Hmm. Been a while since I have been in a Mech RP. And Chromehounds. That's close enough to MechWarrior for me. I'm game.

Synthorian, long time no see my smiling skeleton pal. :K

Indeed. It has been a long time.

Sounds pretty cool.

Definitely in. I love armored core.

Any more news?

Been busy with work and some other commitments of late, so not much has progressed beyond my work on the CS.