We didn't know what was in this sector of space. So we sent a fleet. With the best technology, the best people. A fleet completely self sustaining, intending to be in space for an indefinite amount of time.
That was over a hundred years ago. The original crews of the ships in the 6th Exploration Command have grown old, they are now retired, living in the habitat colony vessels. Their children, supplemented by the few volunteers who have cryogenically frozen themselves to help the second generation, now man the labs and the ships.
There was always a person back home answering the phone. On Earth. The United Human Alliances always picked up the phone, always updated the 6th Exploration Command with new findings in science, new technology, and new developments. Two days ago a message was received from Earth, a brutal attack by an unknown force. Then silence. Nobody was picking up the phone.
The Admiral looked at his ships, over four hundred vessels strong. Millions of soldiers, hundreds of thousands of armored vehicles. A force to be reckoned with. But how long would it take to get back to friendly space? He turned his back on Earth, instead looking towards the horizon. He would find a new planet, a new place for Humanity to call home.
You are a pilot in the 1st Vanguard Mechs. Pilots of massive bipedal machines. You are the first ones to step on a new planet, the first ones to explore a new celestial body. The first to experience the hazards of exploration and the first to witness the wonders. There are ten squadrons. You were the first.
Firstly are the pilots. Following a brutal training regimen, mech pilots are elite, skilled, strong. They are idolized by small children and adults alike. But with that reputation comes a cockiness only fighter and dropship pilots can match. There is a rivalry between the Mech Corps and the Flight Corps. Some call it friendly. Dropship pilots often drop mechs in hard to traverse locations, since mech pilots boast that their machines have the same agility as the human body. However in the end, both Corps have a deep respect for one another. The entry program of the Mech Corps has some requirements. To be in good health and to have a particularly strong mental fortitude. The entry exam is not difficult, but the training is. Entire classes of trainees can drop out, while the best classes have an average drop out rate of 80%. One of the primary causes of dropping out is the mental strength required to become a mech pilot. To interface with a mech, the pilot needs to don a neurohelm. The neurological link between man and machine provides the pilot with a sense of balance, a sense of where the mech limbs are, etc. The neurohelm aids in piloting the mech itself, which is commanded through pedals, switches, joysticks and throttles.
Next are the Mechs. The Mech is a multi-ton, multi-meter machine of metal. Usually 20-100 tonnes, sometimes standing upwards 30 meters tall. The mech emulates the human body. A metal skeleton, covered by artificial muscle, then covered by armor. Mechs can vary in design, some stay true to the human body. Bipedal, with two arms and two legs. Other designs are more outlandish, some resembling birds, with beaks, weapon pods instead of arms, and digitigrade legs. Some mechs have hands. Others have claws. Others have no hands whatsoever, instead having large weapons where the hands would be. All mechs feature a gyroscope, an eject system, and a fusion engine, which powers the mech and its weapons.
Then, Mech Equipment. Mechs can carry a wide variety of weapons and equipment. There are three primary weapon types. Laser, Ballistic and Missile. Laser weapons are common for their ease of use and zero requirement of ammunition, using the mechs engine to power the weapon. The laser is a beam of light concentrated on a small surface area, using heat to damage its target. While lasers have limited range, depending on the environment, they are still popular due to their independence from ammunition and accuracy. Lasers are categorized into Small, Medium and Large lasers. Each one generating more heat, dealing more damage, having more range and being heavier than the previous type.
Ballistic weapons are used for their reliability and variation. Whereas the laser is an accurate, elegant weapon, the ballistic weapon is a crude, difficult to use in comparison, and brutish weapon. This makes it a much loved type of weapon. Ballistics range from machine guns, to 120mm Autocannons, to 460mm Autocannons, to even Gauss guns. These weapons requires the pilot to account for bullet drop, wind, target lead, ammunition count, but the pilot can load a wide variety of rounds into their cannon. Ballistics also have great range, however a mediocre effective range. With distance, armor penetration drops for solid rounds. An exception to this rule is high explosive, and shaped charge rounds, but the general rule is the greater the distance, the less penetration you are going to have. You can generalize most ballistic weapons by giving it a designation like so, AC(#). Existing designations include AC2, a very fast firing, smaller caliber, cannon. The AC5, a larger, heavier, but still fast firing cannon. The AC10, a slower, heavy hitting cannon. And the AC20, the largest, heaviest, biggest cannon. Each AC deals more damage, has shorter range, and a slower faster rate than the previous AC. The AC20 being the shortest range, most damage dealing, slowest reload weapon. However you can still peg a guy at distance with an AC20, and still deal a huge amount of damage, if loading High Explosive and said target is not very well armored.
Missiles are the next type of weapon. Missiles are well liked for their effectiveness. There are a wide variety to missiles as well, although the type of missile is dependent on the type of launcher mounted. Long Range Missiles are as the name suggests, long range. They arc upwards to gain altitude, then fly downwards towards their target. LRMs typically require a lock on to be most effective, but their role as an artillery weapon is unmatched in the world of mech warfare. Dumbfire missiles are short range, no-lock on missiles used as a close range weapon. Dumbfires are small, fast, and dangerous, also called Short Range Missiles, or SRMs. In close quarters where they are most effective, a cluster of dumbfires can surprise an opponent, or deliver a powerful punch. All missiles are named by the amount of tubes they carry, for example an LRM-15 means that the missile module has 15 tubes, and can fire 15 missiles before requiring a reload.
Mech equipment is highly varied. Some examples are Upgraded Armor, Upgraded Sensors, Engine Upgrade. Jumpjets are also an equipment, however the mech itself must be jumpjet capable. Many light mechs are jumpjet capable, with diminishing numbers as the tonnage gets heavier.
In 2046, the Earth was under critical condition. Climate Change and unsustainable practices had caused biodiversity to plummet, the oceans to swell, swallowing most of the habitable land. People experienced famine, war, and loss.
In 2049 the United States of America said no more. Funding poured into NASA, and they began construction on new space stations, orbital colonies, ships to travel to mars and back. The European Space Agency quickly followed, collaborating on the projects, and not long after, Russia, China, India, many other nations contributed to the race back into space.
In just ten years, Humanity had entered another Space Age. Calling their unification the United Earth Alliances, Humanity surged towards the other planets in the solar system. Making shipyards over Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn, terraforming and colonizing Mars, Venus, and other planets. Over the next hundred years of technological development and expansion, Humanity had colonized several other star systems.
Then Mars rebelled. Saturn followed, and other colonies declared their independence. The home system of Humanity, Sol, was engulfed in a long and bloody war. Twenty years of conflict ended with The Greenwich Pacts, each colony would be given its independence, and the United Human Alliances was created.
Two hundred years later, the 6th Exploration Command was formed.
If anyone needs help making their character or mech, go ahead and ask.
I'll be making more example mechs that you could use, base your own mech off of, and I'll be making my own character sheet later today if anyone needs an example.
Be advised I made some changes to the Character Sheet and updated some lore in the United Human Alliances hider. Mostly changing the name from United Sol Alliances to United Human Alliances, so the acronym isn't USA.
History: Tavin was born in a family of engineers, in fact his grandfather had been the Chief Engineer of one of the 1st Combat Fleet's dreadnoughts. It's because of this that, when Tavin’s grandfather retired, the Captain allowed him to keep one of the M59 Raptors that were being quickly taken out of service.
Tavin’s father, while not as exceptional as his father before him, was one of the many engineers in the Mech Bay and loved tinkering with designs. Both he and Tavin’s grandfather would spend hours messing with the Raptor, trying to improve the original design. By the time they were done, not even the ace pilots of the fleet could control the beast of a machine.
Tavin's mother had died giving birth to her son, leaving his father to take care of him on his own. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to get his son interested in engineering. No, Tavin was more interested in piloting so he tried joining the 1st Vanguard at the age of 18. While his written test scores were passable, when it came to actually sitting in the cockpit the instructors claimed he took too many risks and saw him as a danger to himself and his wingmen.
Attempt after attempt, and still they wouldn't let him in. Tavin blamed the designers for not creating a Mech fast enough to match his reflexes and was moping around the Mech Bay when he found his father and grandfather’s pet project. Needless to say, he took out for a spin… right when the ship was passing through a sudden meteor shower. One of the instructors who had spotted the small white spot passing through the space debris with ease, decided that Tavin had potential and began to privately tutor the boy until he finally passed the entrance exams.
Appearance:
Mech Sheet Name: Raptor
Designation: M59 Raptor-C
Tonnage: 35 Tons
Speed: Really Fast
Upgraded Equipment: Upgraded Thrusters and Larger Ammo Reserves
Exploration Loadout: AC2 90mm
Combat Loadout: AC2 90mm Wrist mounted, medium lasers
Lore: The Raptor was built for speed and maneuverability over anything else. Pilots that were trained with these mechs learned hit-and-run tactics and were taught to only attack in groups. As newer and more customizable mechs were designed though, the Raptor became almost obsolete and most were scrapped. To this day though, almost no mech could keep up with it in a head-on race.
History: Tavin was born in a family of engineers, in fact his grandfather had been the Chief Engineer of one of the 1st Combat Fleet's dreadnoughts. It's because of this that, when Tavin’s grandfather retired, the Captain allowed him to keep one of the M59 Raptors that were being quickly taken out of service.
Tavin’s father, while not as exceptional as his father before him, was one of the many engineers in the Mech Bay and loved tinkering with designs. Both he and Tavin’s grandfather would spend hours messing with the Raptor, trying to improve the original design. By the time they were done, not even the ace pilots of the fleet could control the beast of a machine.
Tavin's mother had died giving birth to her son, leaving his father to take care of him on his own. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to get his son interested in engineering. No, Tavin was more interested in piloting so he tried joining the 1st Vanguard at the age of 18. While his written test scores were passable, when it came to actually sitting in the cockpit the instructors claimed he took too many risks and saw him as a danger to himself and his wingmen.
Attempt after attempt, and still they wouldn't let him in. Tavin blamed the designers for not creating a Mech fast enough to match his reflexes and was moping around the Mech Bay when he found his father and grandfather’s pet project. Needless to say, he took out for a spin… right when the ship was passing through a sudden meteor shower. One of the instructors who had spotted the small white spot passing through the space debris with ease, decided that Tavin had potential and began to privately tutor the boy until he finally passed the entrance exams.
Appearance:
Mech Sheet Name: Raptor
Designation: M59 Raptor-C
Tonnage: 35 Tons
Speed: Really Fast
Upgraded Equipment: Upgraded Thrusters and Larger Ammo Reserves
Exploration Loadout: AC2 90mm
Combat Loadout: AC2 90mm Wrist mounted, medium lasers
Lore: The Raptor was built for speed and maneuverability over anything else. Pilots that were trained with these mechs learned hit-and-run tactics and were taught to only attack in groups. As newer and more customizable mechs were designed though, the Raptor became almost obsolete and most were scrapped. To this day though, almost no mech could keep up with it in a head-on race.
Mech Appearance:
Looks good. However for the exploration loadout, lasers tend to be more popular due to their independence from ammunition, if you want to add a thing or two to it before you move it to the chartab, it's fine.
Move this to the chartab and pray to Sigmar that the other 5 or so people who expressed interest makes their sheets.
Finished my character, sorry it took so long. Tell me if there are any issues with the mech, as I am not sure how well developed it is or if it fits well.
Finished my character, sorry it took so long. Tell me if there are any issues with the mech, as I am not sure how well developed it is or if it fits well.
Looks good. The lack of hands might be a problem though. A little thing that bothers me is that it's got a lot of gun for a 50t Med, maybe bump it up to a 55t? Doesn't really matter. It's just that Gauss/Railguns are pretty heavy guns.
Also updated the Mechsheet to include speed range, height and height range. So we can better understand how fast and how tall each others mechs are.
Also if nobody takes Captain when we get 4 sheets, I'll be promoting my own guy to Captain. Just seeing if everyones' OK with that.
Looks good. The lack of hands might be a problem though. A little thing that bothers me is that it's got a lot of gun for a 50t Med, maybe bump it up to a 55t? Doesn't really matter. It's just that Gauss/Railguns are pretty heavy guns.
Also updated the Mechsheet to include speed range, height and height range. So we can better understand how fast and how tall each others mechs are.
Also if nobody takes Captain when we get 4 sheets, I'll be promoting my own guy to Captain. Just seeing if everyones' OK with that.
Ok, I will make the weight change. On the arms thing, would it be acceptable if the mech had a pair of arms or claws that fold out from the torso?
Ok, I will make the weight change. On the arms thing, would it be acceptable if the mech had a pair of arms or claws that fold out from the torso?
I'd be fine with your guy being the captain too
Yeah little TRex arms or something so your mech could hold rocks or sticks. We're going to be doing quite a bit of man vs. nature before we get to the other more shooty bit.
I'm really interested. Expect a CS from me soon, but I won't be the most active. If I don't put out a CS, presume I've been preoccupied but I'm hoping that time will spare me some for this.
Pilot Name:Rodrick Oberfield Rank: Lieutenant Age: 32 Equipment: .44 Wendigo-17, Standard revolver manufactured by the Westburrough corporation, known for its unique revolving chamber's inner coating that makes it incredibly hard for the gun to jam, making it reliable and clean.
Jebediah Mk 6 Environmental Protection Suit (E.P.S.), fairly reliable suit designed to keep the elements out and keep the wearer alive. Known to be one of the better E.P.S. models for cold environments. Rubber insulation in the boots also helps when wading through water, or flooded areas.
History: Rodrick was born into a relatively lower-class family in a poor scrapper town on Pluto, though his childhood would be much what you'd expect. A couple of fights, some scrapped knees, but really none of that matters to understand where Rodrick came from. The best place to figure that out would have been the Circuit. The Circuit was an illegal underground racing track that was seldom spoken of in public, but when local thugs know someone owes them a debt, that person gets to become a "volunteer" to get strapped into a mech and run around underground for some rich pig's amusement. Unfortunately, Rodrick was one such volunteer.
Forced to adapt to not crash and burn in his frame, Rodrick proved to be a surprisingly talented racer, slowly climbing the ladder to become one of the best young racers the Circuit had. But, even with his debt paid off, he was still a slave to the track. Regardless of what he'd accomplished, at that point he'd become a meal-ticket for the criminal betters, even being forced to take dives otherwise he'd find himself taking a 200 foot dive down a collapsed mineshaft. In a stroke of good/bad luck, a bust happened relatively around the time he'd turned about 29, a joint operation between the UHA Special Forces and Pluto Public Security. Despite the resistance a lot of people put up, Rodrick literally set his mech's position to be crouching and surrendered himself, tired of being a slave to a track. Answering their questions with an odd sense of honesty, he was about to get thrown in jail as well as the rest for illegal racing, but...for some reason, the caption of the UHA team offered him an ultimatum. In an almost stupid sense of irony, he would have to beat the captain of the UHA in ANOTHER illegal race, or be sent to jail. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he once again entering his DYT. Barely scrapping past the UHA in the finish line, he overcame the difference in experience with knowledge of his own machine's manueverability, and won his freedom...by that, the captain meant that he'd have him enlist for basic mech training. Or jail. Mech training sounded nice right about then.
At the age of 31, he volunteered to be cyrogenically frozen, figuring that if anybody knew how he'd basically ratted out the higher-ups in charge of The Circuit, he'd be put on ice permanently. Now he's in a new age where he's needed, ready to go out into a world where nobody knows him.
Combat Loadout: -Left Torso: AC 5 -Right Torso: Short Range Missles (SRM 4) -Right Arm: Medium Laser (Hand Module) -Left Arm: Medium Laser (Hand Module) -L&R Legs: Jump Jets
Lore: The Daytona's peculiar humanoid-esque design is a leftover of the underground racing circuit they were requisitioned from on Pluto. Despite that they were actively used in what amounted to death races, quite a few were requisitioned due to their surprising usefulness in all terrain engagements and planetary exploration. Modified to be a highly mobile medium to long range engagement mech, the Daytona is suited for combat against lightly armored targets, but suffers a great deal against much heavier frames, having to rely on speed and attrition to win in most cases.
