Krayzikk

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

the term is differently mobile and im one of them

@Caasicam

Flightless. Flight incapable. Grounded.

got it.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Quick headcount; who has an Orbital that can't fly?

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

"Oh."

Artemie blinked and her smile faltered, the topic she'd been unconsciously evading pinned down. There wasn't any reason not to explain but to explain brought it into sharp focus; most of the people sitting around the table hadn't even been old enough to enlist the first time she went under.

"Technician, actually," She answered absently to the newest arrival, noting his appearance (and his appearance) while she tried to decide what to say. He had the look of a Martian, as funny as that was. She was probably better suited for life on his home and he on hers, but she knew that was a distraction from the topic at hand. "Sorry, I don't mean to be evasive. There's nothing secret about it."

"I went under in 234 SA. Middle of the year. CAPEI was supposed to have received the probe's data back by that year. It hadn't been. I don't know if anyone is up to date on how the probe was supposed to work but it dropped a signal booster halfway here to make sure the data could make it back. They figured out the booster wasn't working." The Lunite shrugged and toyed with the wrapper for her MRE absentmindedly. She had finished the meal itself already but the packaging kept her hands busy. Keeping them busy hadn't occurred to her consciously but a little voice said she wouldn't know what to do with them otherwise. "And at that range you can't use a remote controlled platform, and you can't program a robot with enough diagnostic knowledge and intuition to go out there and fix it. Or just ship out a replacement, because there'd be no way to troubleshoot signal relay."

"Not a lot of pilots are cross certified as Orbital pilots and engineers. As repair technicians for Orbitals, sure, that happens a lot. But not the sort of skills you'd need to fix a specialized piece of hardware like this. I am, so I volunteered. I worked with CAPEI and Isurugi on the rapid development of the Voyager, I launched from a ship near Pluto, and..."

Artemie made a coasting gesture.

"Out into interstellar space. I reached the relay in late 240, early 241. I was awake for ten hours fixing it and running diagnostics. And then I went under again to wait for orders. In 244 they sent me back an option to start burning for Sol again, orrrr settle in and wait for the expedition to collect me in twelve years."

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Pilot: Adam Gilford

Name: Adam Gilford

Gender: Male

Age: 29

Appearance: Adam is a mountain of a man, standing at 6'3", broad and heavily muscled, though he keeps a healthy supply of bodyfat on himself to support function over form or aesthetics of physique. Like many Martian men in his age bracket, his facial features are a generic "rugged handsome" as a result of fetal genetic tampering prevalent across mars some years ago. He keeps his dark brown hair, mustache and beard well-maintained but thick enough to conceal most of his gene-tailored features.

Personality: Out of combat, Adam is a calm and generally agreeable individual that often tries to avoid conflict amongst his comrades, less so among outsiders or people he is unfamiliar with. When he's not just idly hovering around his friends, he can come off as overly-cautious, curious and blunt, though he does have a small hot streak if he feels he's being mistreated. He can be surprisingly perceptive of his environment, though he always second-guesses himself when it comes to people.

On a deeper level, he struggles to reconcile his identity as a pilot with an intensifying anxiety while behind his controls. He knows the reputation following his Orbital, and it is beginning to affect him.

Backstory: A Martian born and raised, Adam's entire world was Mars through his entire childhood. Born to an Agri-tech and his Mining Foreman Wife, Adam lived in the same town from birth until he turned twenty when he joined the Martian Navy. The reasons why were numerous, but a falling out with his parents was a large contributor.

His time training to join the Navy is where things became something other than mundane. Showing the proper aptitudes to operate an Orbital, he was pushed into space to fill one of the many cockpits available thanks to a large Defense-spending budget and some interplanetary saber-rattling, all under the guise of "anti-piracy operations". There, Adam proved himself a capable pilot, and he found himself promoted into and onto the Red Atlas, Mars' "pride and joy", touted as Mars' "Front line against space-piracy". It was more or less a publicity project, used to earn political points and bankroll more defense spending than was really necessary.

Surprising everyone , the Red Atlas actually saw a substantial amount of combat and success both. Supported by the overperforming SFC-11, countless pirate crews were dragged in or shot down over the first few years of the project, to the joy of everyone but the pirates. Things grew intense after the UN forcefully dismantled a massive criminal empire spanning the entire solar system, and a power-vacuum was left in it's place. Things went quiet for a while before Piracy started again in earnest, waiting for the colonies to relax. With this new pirate threat emerging, Mars shelled out to upgrade it's numerous Orbitals, and it's armored forces further diversified. Adam eventually found himself behind the controls of one of the now-infamous SFC-11-G, hot off the line.

Late in In 247 SA, the Red Atlas was deployed to Earth to act as escort for a cargo ship in a rare "quiet" mission. Escord the Tide Queen cargo hauler from Earth to Mars. Everyone knew they were guarding something expensive, but exactly what was kept need-to-know. When the Tide Queen reported gunfire in the hold fifteen minutes after leaving space dock, no one expected Adam and his squad to be fighting for their lives.

An enterprising pirate crew had learned of what the Queen was moving and had stowed away by greasing palms and blackmail. When Adam and squad entered the hold, they were alarmed to see other Orbitals online and operational. The ensuing close-quarters conflict inside of the ship caused considerable damage, and after losing power to it's lower-rear thrust, began a sharp nose-down dive into Earth's gravity. The pirates, in a panic, breached the hull and escaped into space, and the Martian forces were forced to pursue.

Two opposing forces facing one another down in the middle of an unplanned reentry was a recipe for disaster. The Pirates, backed into a corner and unable to flee, chose to fight the anti-piracy squad in the Tide Queen's wake. After beating and/or crippling the pirates the only option for a survivable landing was a suicide burn. Adam, having covered his squad's escape and disabling the last enemy Orbital, launched at the last minute. Having launched lower in Earth's atmosphere, his landing was much less stable. Adam survived the crash heavily injured, but alive and unconscious in the Siberian tundra.

Months later, during his recovery, the Martian government sought to use Adam's notoriety as yet another publicity stunt. They wanted to send him off on the Pandora with a replacement Orbital and plenty of good press. Having very little tying him down, and with the opportunity to see an entirely different system, he accepted. From then to the launch, Adam finished his recovery and proceeded to train on his new Orbital and prepare for what could be a one-way-trip.

Skills & Flaws:

++Adam has been trained to survive maneuvers that would injure or kill most other pilots while maintaining control in combat, and he has an innate understanding of the physical dangers he and other pilots face.

++A sharp perception and intuition allow Adam to read the battlefield, so long as he can rely on his sensors and intel. It's easier for him to figure out roughly what his opponent is doing and plan ahead, and strange behaviors will inevitably draw his attention.

--Specialization has it's drawbacks, and Adam is no exception. While grounded, Adam is fully reliant on his allies for direction, and is prone to making poor choices of position. He knows where to fly, but he doesn't know where to stand.

--The physical and mental stresses of piloting are intense for Adam, and if battles are dragged out, he becomes more and more vulnerable to panic or slip-ups. This problem is exacerbated by his Orbital's limited capacity for carrying munitions, meaning the more he fights, the worse it will get.

Equipment:

Enhanced Flight-Suit: Necessary for safe operation of his Orbital. The suit is noticeably bulkier than standard suits out of necessity, as most suits are designed almost exclusively for forward acceleration. Martian Navy coloration of Black and Orange-Red.

Colonial Arms 20-30 MAW: Adam's Service Weapon from the Mars Navy, a Magnetic PDW. High stopping power. Physical mount present in Orbital Cockpit.

Orbital: Starstrike II

Model Number: MRI SFC-11-G(C) "Skyhammer"

Role: Air-Superiority / Hypermobility Interceptor

Appearance: The SFC-011-G series Orbitals all share the same physical appearance, barring the differing equipment of sub-series. All have the same core frame, standing shy of the average at 19m tall. The armor is wrapped tightly around the internals and heavily angled to keep wind resistance down, giving the limbs (and the torso to a lesser degree) a thin, gangly and mildly unnerving appearance. The head is heavily angular, opting for a more utilitarian and less humanoid appearance, mounting three slightly recessed optical modules stacked vertically, each housing it's own mono-optic and compound sensor array. The most notable part of the SFC-011-Gs are the myriad reversible thruster vents merged into the armor leaving numerous blocky directional vents all over the Orbital's armor.

Systems:

Bell-Isle Harborworks "Frontiersman" Movement Control System: An enhanced control program that smooths Orbital movements and maneuvers in an attempt to reduce physical stresses on the pilot via cockpit reorientation, thrust control and vitals tracking. Also possesses a limited combat-autopilot and a learning algorithm to self-improve according to pilot needs.

General Industries Centralized Capacitor Bank: In order to increase the flexibility of the Skyhammer's Oberth Reactor, a capacitor bank was installed in the center-rear of the torso to provide an energy buffer of sufficient size to remove the pilot's need to micromanage power consumption. An additional utility offered by this system is the retractable power cable spool located on the Orbital's lower back.

Bell-Isle Harborworks MCS-481 "Bullseye": Numerous anti-missile countermeasures installed and configured for the Skyhammer Orbitals, primarily consisting of High-Intensity Flares, Radar Decoys and nanochaff, though other modern countermeasures are included as well.

Weapons:

Isurugi Heavy Industries FOMAR-221 x1: A Magnetic Accelerator Rifle using twin barrels running off of a single overclocked feed system to achieve a high fire rate without sacrificing firepower. This one sports an optional drum-magazine filled with standard munitions. Only one spare magazine is carried, limiting capacity for alternative munitions.

Argive Industrial VI-LBS x2: A pair of light-weight beam-sabres, each mounted on a hip. Configurable between optimizing destructive potential and beam runtime.

Jawaid & Jawaid Industries SLM-41S x4: A quartet of small missiles that can be fired unguided, dumb-fired for use with a target designator, or use radar lock to function as short-range pursuit missiles. Each missile is housed in an ejectable single-use pod mounted on the Skyhammer's back. if ejected without firing, the pod can still be dumbfired.

General Resources AMB: A small beam-weapon mounted in the head configured for low power and fact cycle times. Primarily used as a CIWS turret for intercepting projectiles and small debris.

Manufacturing History: Martian Robotic Industries was tasked with adapting their mass-production "Standard Frontline Chassis Model 11" from a bog-standard frontline Orbital into several specialized roles on a limited production budget with the promise of an absurdly lucrative production contract by the Martian government. The "Skyhammer" Refit sought to remake the relatively plain Model 11 into an air-superiority powerhouse.

Statistically, the design was a success, utilizing a compact reversible thruster system and a slew of miniaturizations and weight-saving measures produced an Orbital boasting a greatly reduced weight and a very high thrust output. Combining it's resulting high acceleration with the total maneuverability afforded by it's dual-direction thrusters, the "Skyhammer" acheived hypermobility on a budget.

The 11-G turned out to be a victim of it's own success. Because of it's high performance and low manufacturing cost, it fell into more hands than other air-superiority Orbitals, and Mars' rush to fill cockpits reduced pilot standards for the design. The 11-G "Skyhammer" series quickly gained a reputation for killing pilots, and Mars demanded the model be modified for general use. Out of their depth, MRI sub-contracted Bell-Isle Harborworks to assist in further refining the 11-G.

The two iterations currently in service are the 11-G(A) and the 11-G(C). the A-variant utilized an enhanced flight-control program and new precision throttle-control to reduce the power drain and increase platform stability, making the 11-G(A) far more accessible. The C-variant took a different approach, seeking to better support well-trained pilots with an enhanced movement control system, better inerta-dampening cockpit systems and a more advanced flight-suit designed for the unusual acceleration patterns the pilots would inevitably face.

Weaknesses:

--Being as light as it is came with many costs, not the least of which was the overall reduction in armor density and effectiveness. the "Skyhammer" Orbital design's defenses are less than stellar, and while it can avoid standard munitions, it is more vulnerable to explosives and saturation-fire as a result.

--Pilot stress is important in combat, and this Orbital is more demanding than others. Protracted battles are likely to exhaust the pilot, and with the power behind the throttle, could very easily die from any resulting mistakes.

--Because of it's design focus, the Skyhammer has little capacity for stealth. While it could be equipped with an active ECM to cover for it's allies, the energy put out by it's thrusters is nearly impossible to hide in their current state make it impossible for the Orbital design to benefit from ECMs while fulfilling it's role.

--Payload restrictions are common on this Orbital, and it is incapable of properly utilizing weapons with excessive weight, energy or ammo consumption without compromising it's flight stability or maneuverability. Hard targets are almost fully outside this Orbital's purview.

Viola. now to add the color.

@ArmorPlated

No problems here. You're good.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

@Krayzikk

Basically they fire off either heat, energy, or science BS to respectively melt, vaporize, or explode things. Think of them like the Burning Gundam, basically. The main difference is that inside the arm there are what are basically just batteries exclusively for the use of the arm, which allow for it to be fired without draining the actual mech's energy. Then once they run out of batteries, there's a huge drain on the mech's power to use it again above certain limits. The limits are basically if it can damage an Orbital in any way, it's gonna drain quite a bit, and if it fires at full power it's gonna be game over if it misses because of how much power drain there is.

So at about 10.5 would fit a scaled down Oberth and allow for it to be basically as-is? That's still only half the size of a standard Orbital, so I'd be more than okay with that. That would still leave space in the METATRON for a full Oberth too, right? Since it's a 13.2 meter difference.

@The World

That should be fine. A scaled down Oberth in the S.A.T.A.N. will let it function pretty much as is, and a full one in the METATRON will let it function as is, too. That way there's a full size one to power the METATRON, and a supplemental to keep the S.A.T.A.N. from running through its capacitors instantly.

So, uh, I've mostly been waiting for the other pilots to post, but if necessary, I think I could probably post a reply and keep the conversation going? I'd hate to move things along too quickly that the others don't get a chance to catch up.

@Hawthorne

Yeah, Caasicam is right. I appreciate people being considerate of everybody else but if a day or two has passed then feel free to toss another post up in an interaction scene like this.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

@Krayzikk

No worries, I'll figure it out when I get up tomorrow.
The original idea (which I'll probably stick with in terms of the cockpit if I up the size anyway) is that, like the mech it gets its face claim from, the cockpit is horizontal instead of vertical, so the operator takes up less room since they're basically laying on it instead of in a seat, but that doesn't really justify it enough to get by. That's also why I had it use energy canisters instead of running mostly off its own power for damage output and flight, where they would be charged exclusively outside of battle, but again I could see it not being good enough.
Do you have a suggestion on the size that would make sense? I'm sort of of multiple minds about it; on the one hand I could probably make the Metatron bigger to allow for a similar concept as what I have but that would lead to other problems I'm sure. On another I could leave it but scale up the S.A.T.A.N. to the minimum plausible size, but then again it being unable to run very long on its own power is sort of the whole idea, so... I suppose now that I think about it that if the METATRON had an Oberth of its own, then it could be used to recharge rather than be a "drop when no longer needed and recover separately" sort of armor like I had planned.
I guess what I'll need to know is what the minimum size increase would have to be, and how much of a scaling-back the power would need if it was running off a supplemental, or even just capacitors. Or what a good middle ground mixing of the two options would be?

@The World

I'm of a couple of minds. Before I get into it I just wanted to double check how the offensive output of the FLAME and RADIANCE arms works. I kind of glossed over that too thinking I understood everything, so I just want to make sure I actually understand how everything works so I don't wind up having slipped up again.

On the S.A.T.A.N. itself I think the minimum plausible size would be ~7m for the level of combat ability it's intended to have. At that size, considering the other systems built in, I would really see it as running on capacitors. That would make it quick and retain its offensive ability, but also really give it a short operational time if its power reserves aren't managed carefully.

Scaled up to 10m instead I would be content to leave it otherwise as is.

What sort of names are you looking for? For Holden, I mostly used the fictional Saturn-based company known as Dodekatheon Industries, which makes Orbitals and equipment for Orbitals based off of Greek Mythology. There's also Colonial Arms, which I imagine is basically not!Colt, which produces rugged, but reliable weapons for use on the ground.

I've also noticed that some of the mechs or equipment used by the other characters occasionally share a manufacturer (i.e. Jawaid & Jawaid Industries, the Ajax and the Odysseus, etc), which I think was really cool. Maybe you could borrow some of those, if you like. Otherwise, I could probably come up with a set of generic corporation names that you might find handy.

@Hawthorne

Jawaid and Jawaid is an old, old joke that I will happily keep going until the day I die.

Anyway, I consider any company I include in any sheet, personal or plot related, to be open for use. Once they're invented they're a part of the world, and I enjoy seeing pieces get put together.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Okay. So the Colony Module was what it said on the tin, but how was the ship carrying it? That had to be a sizable piece of equipment. Or, pieces of equipment. What she wouldn't have given to see the ship from the outside when it launched.

That line of thought could wait, though. Whoops. Lots of questions. Okay.

"Well, there wasn't really anyone to stop me." Artemie began to explain, directing her answer to Holden with a slightly sheepish smile. "I thought about it, and I suppose I could have gotten in trouble if anyone noticed. But I mean, I didn't expect them to. And as far as I know they didn't. If they did what were they going to do? Come get me? It would have taken years just to hear their lecture."

"Anyway, my computer couldn't really display a lot of the data. It was really meant to be opened on science stations, obviously, so I could only take a peek at maybe half of what was there. But it could handle satellite images fine, and there were a lot of those. Um..." She refocused on Volana, Zakherin, and Konstantin, repeating their names in her head to fix them more firmly in her mind. Her voice was getting stronger as she spoke, some life returning to her features and mannerisms. "I'm afraid the majority isn't very lush, Colonel, but from what I saw it should be reasonably familiar. The areas near water looked fairly temperate, but to tell you the truth meteorology isn't exactly my specialty. But definitely alive. There is vegetation of some sort along all of the major sources of liquid water that I saw."

"As for dust... I'm sure that data was there, but it wasn't anything I could open. The official briefing should fill us all in on the rest, right?"

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

Hmm. Glad I asked, that means I need to specify either in my CS or IC a few things, since it must have slipped under the radar how small the S.A.T.A.N. is, heh. Which would be better to specify that in? Basically I just need to say that there's a full sized Oberth in the Metatron but the Satan uses a smaller one for itself.

@The World

<Snipped quote by The World>

Um. It's been pointed out to me that I read how the Metatron/S.A.T.A.N. gimmick worked really wrong, and as a result missed its size. I'll get back to you on that.

@Krayzikk

Okay, so first off this is my bad. I dropped the ball on reading it line by line and I missed that the S.A.T.A.N. was so small. Somehow I got it in my head a different idea of how the form change worked and I interpreted everything after that in light of how I thought it worked and missed how it was supposed to work.

Which does leave us with a conundrum. 4m is just too small to fit in the destructive potential the S.A.T.A.N. has, even setting aside the fact that you couldn't fit a proper Oberth reactor inside of it. At 4m a person takes up more than a third of its total space just by being inside it to pilot, which doesn't leave space for a reactor, capacitors, weapon systems, and all of the other necessities packed into it as it stands right now. The Outrider has the issue of power generation but it also doesn't have a ton to run. The most energy intensive systems it has are the stealth ones, and considering it doesn't use much in the way of beam weapons and its low mass even a smaller Oberth reactor could believably manage that, and the Outrider is still 150% the size of the S.A.T.A.N. in its present form. It meanwhile has a lot more destructive potential even without factoring in the energy wings.

There are a couple of ways we can go about this. The issue as it stands is that it's too strong and too energy intensive for its size. So the two options that I see, really, are to bump up the size and put the main reactor in the Metatron with a supplemental one in the S.A.T.A.N. One of its flaws is its power consumption anyway, so that would fit. The other option is to scale down the S.A.T.A.N.'s offensive power a little bit more and run it on capacitors alone charged by the main reactor in the Metatron. That would give it a shorter operational time, but still a reason for it to be able to function at its size. Again, a lot of this stuff can change down the road. But right now with the tech level present the S.A.T.A.N. just isn't really feasible. If it was possible to build an Orbital that small without a substantial loss in power, everyone would be doing it.

Looking over what's been posted so far, I'm struggling to find an actual niche to fill. I've got a few ideas floating around, but they're too vague for me to actually use quite yet.

@ArmorPlated

I wouldn't worry about finding a unique niche overly much. I think I wouldn't advise making a target designator sort of machine (we've got two of them), but there are 70+ machines on board the Pyxis. There's going to be overlap for certain.

That said, we don't have anything in the vein of dedicated space/air superiority if you wanted to go that route.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

Hmm. Glad I asked, that means I need to specify either in my CS or IC a few things, since it must have slipped under the radar how small the S.A.T.A.N. is, heh. Which would be better to specify that in? Basically I just need to say that there's a full sized Oberth in the Metatron but the Satan uses a smaller one for itself.

@The World

Um. It's been pointed out to me that I read how the Metatron/S.A.T.A.N. gimmick worked really wrong, and as a result missed its size. I'll get back to you on that.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

That does raise the question of how big the Oberth reactor normally is?

@The World

Pretty good sized. Big enough that smaller machines usually run on fusion instead. The capacitors are a bigger factor than the size of the reactor itself, but for all intents and purposes they can be counted as the same unit due to the most common layout. Considering the size of an average Orbital at ~20m, but the Fortuna at 16.8, gives about a 6m clearance for its height. Taking into account everything in its torso I'd guesstimate that an Oberth reactor isn't usually any smaller than 4m tall at the usual scale.

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

Yeah, no surprise there. It is speced for reconnaissance, stealth-ops and target designation; not frontline combat. I expect there to be plenty of running, hiding and poking things in the back with high-velocity explosive metal sticks.

@FlappyTheSpybot

Okay, just wanted to make sure you had forewarning. I'd have felt bad if you didn't. You're all set.