Mr Rage

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Zim could feel Black Star's pain, just as much as Black Star could feel Zim's pain. It was more obvious now than it had ever been before to Zim. As soon as Zim pulled off the difficult maneuver, despite the extra external forces on the frame and the pilot Zim looked over the sensor readouts for damage to the systems. All well within active combat parameters. "I'm sorry, Partner," Zim said out loud, he didn't mean the damage to the armor, but the werk no doubt knew that.

He had gotten a communique from from Command about his next target, "Understood," was all Zim replied to the order. "Come on, let's put an end to this," he said to Black Star as he looked over the map to plot his route. The target they wanted him to go after was clear across the map, as far from Black Star as possible, but he could do it, maybe. Just as Zim was about to punch the controls a Rogue Unit entered the fray and quickly dispatched the intended target.

Zim had his orders, despite what this new-comer said. "Engaging the turtle in quadrant I3, Krieg disengage the area. Command, going black," Was all Zim said in the moments before he activated the Active Jammers, his RFID blinked off of the collective HUDs of his team mates and those observing up in orbit waging a different kind of combat. As soon as his digital signal disappeared Zim pushed the thrusters hard as he approached J4. As soon as he was within range of the wave surger Zim flipped the active jammer from cloak to decoy, making 3 signatures appear on screen. Zim released the charge from the tidal battery and kept the blast focused on the turtle, ignoring the CWM nearby, depending on the armor wings and the decoy signals to keep him safe - trusting his partner to keep him safe. Zim made small circles with black stars hand to spread the beam slightly in order to make sure the entire turtle was being enveloped in the blast and ensuring that if the repairing tentacles tried to peak out between rounds that they would be caught in the next round. Zim continued to approach the turtles location until he arrived at it's smoldering, heat-wave radiating remains.

Starcraft - Conquest of Ko'Ralus III

us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit Starcraft official unit guide

Starcraft - Conquest of Ko'Ralus III

So here is the idea:

As you may be aware there are three races in Starcraft who are in combat with one another for universal supremacy, in a nutshell. The idea here is that there is a newly discovered planet with key strategic value so the race is on to capture the planet and claim it for your race's own. The roleplay itself will be extremely low to non-existent. Players will control armies that they will move around the map to defeat their opponents when they meet in the same square of the map. When two armies meet the players send me, the moderator, their strategy for attacking. I compare the armies, as well as the strategies and determine the casualties to each army. The defeated army is sent back one position on the map from the direction they came from. I will post in the IC post the played out results of the combat, as much as I can without giving out the exact strategies that were used. If there is a contest to the results than I will publicly post the strategies for cross comparison as well as my breakdown of those strategies.

Each race will have a stronghold. Armies can return to their strongholds to recruit more troops or change their armies. If your stronghold is taken, you cannot change your armies until your stronghold is reclaimed. If a stronghold is held for more than 3 rounds, it is destroyed. The goal is to destroy the other race's stronghold.

Armies are made up of units from Starcraft II. Each army has a 200 unit supply limit, just like in the game- no mineral/gas costs are of concern, no supply depots, overlords, pylons needed. Units that can be transformed into other unit types can be used from the beginning, but their cost is the cost of their originating unit. For example a Protoss Archon takes up 4 supply, as either high or dark templar cost 2 each, and it requires two templar of either type to create an Archon. A player can choose to start with the starting unit and can transform their units as they could in the game, but it takes time, and keep that in mind in your strategies- similarly transformations are permanent. Your transformed units will be recorded into your armies after the battle is over. Units, like the Protoss Carrier or similar, that require a sub-unit build are assumed to have full load outs at the start of combat, and rebuild their ammo/sub-units at a fairly stable pace.

Defensive encampments: If you stay put for one round of movement, as in choose not to move for one round, you can build a limited amount of fortifications and have a defensive advantage over forces who choose to attack you there. These defensive buildings are temporary, so when you leave you take them with you. Similarly, strongholds have a major defensive advantage, allowing weaker armies to hold out against stronger ones.

Things to do while at your race's stronghold:
- Recruit more troops to replenish your ranks
- Change your army out for different units
- Complete research to increase your armies effectiveness (all building research are considered to be completed)
- Defend against attackers

Things to do while at your enemy's stronghold:
- Destroy
- Destroy
- Destroy
- Try to keep defenders from kicking you out.

As mentioned previously, the world is represented on a flat map, with varying terrains represented on it. The map will have a grid overlay on it. Armies can move at an average rate of 3 squares at a time. Though armies that rely more on heavier slow moving units will have slower speeds, while armies with faster lighter units will have faster speeds.

Depending on the level of interest and the number of participants, each player will be able to start with multiple armies. At this point there are no hero/commander characters in play.

Keep in mind, while there is technically hard-fast numbers for an individual units attack/defense/life this will be less important than how you use your surroundings and creativity in dealing with your enemies. The more detailed and precise your strategy, the more likely you are to succeed. In the game you couldn't set fire to the forest to create diversions, dig trenches to provide cover, use improvised weapons to create boobie-traps. All is fair in love and war, if you can justify your army carrying it, than I'll allow its existence and strategic use.

So, what do you think, Commander?

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Elizabeth let out an uncharacteristic scream inside her cockpit, the entire squad heard it as the channel was live. The veterans of the group who may have forgotten in the midst of the unraveling combat were immediately reminded that the Princess had never seen actual live combat before. She righted Ojo with forced determination, her pale face burning bright red. The beast lay before her, practically at her feet. It wasn't moving, but the sensors seemed to indicate that it was still alive. No time to take chances, she readied the Hoshizori and released one of her EMP rounds into the Cruxi.

"I've hit the beast with an EMP, so it should be out of commission for a little while, but uh, if someone gets a chance to kill it... that would be advisable..." The words were polite, the tone somewhere between embarrassed and demanding. She wondered if she could use the GDA to crush the beast, or at least fling it away from her and the team... an experiment for later, but for now she had more important things to worry about. She navigated to F9 and prepared for the next volley from the turtles.

She kept and eye on both turtles in B and I 3, but both of them were occupied, so she focused her attention primarily on the center turtle. If possible she would drop the round in E/F-5. Elizabeth expected better results, she had already deflected one blast, so now her system would have more data about the munition density and speed, allowing her greater control over it.

TLDR: Shoot the Cruzi with an EMP, move to F9 and ready GDA.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

"Oh Shit!" Zim said inside the cockpit as he realized his weapon had been stopped dead in its tracks. At first he thought that the beast's neck was just strong enough to stop it, it took an extra moment to realize that the beast's imposing forearm had reached up, reacting in time to be able to stop the shaft in its flow. These were not the same type of Cruxi that they had fought before. These guys were... smarter, stronger, and apparently faster, too. Zim had to break free, and quick. He raised the Wave Surger and released the charge directly into the chest of the beast. Its dark, beady, alien eyes stared into the optical cameras, and through them, directly into Zim as he stared back through the HUD. They were the last thing to dissolve into the white hot heat of Blackstar's released rage. That, and the hand that had grabbed the shaft of Blackstar's Scythe.

Rage, because as the beast disappeared before him, rage was the only thing left behind of their existence. The cold contempt that the Cruxi held for him was replaced only by the hot heat of Zim's hatred for the Cruxi. Zim turned after the beam was released to see what happened to the other two beasts, he saw as Redeemer joined in the assault and assisted in putting the second beast down, he saw as the third leaped into the air, only to be swatted out of the sky by Jaeger's well timed attack, he still managed to get a hand on Ojo in his decent, but to Zim, it looked like that threat was over. His sensors indicated an incoming attack and he spun his werk to face the threat, saw the glowing orb flying towards him through the air as it suddenly changed directions and slammed into the cityscape. When the glow of the resulting anti-mater explosion faded away Zim saw the huge empty crater.

Zim was reminded of where he was at again, his heart skipped a beat, his pulse quickened. A shot of panicked adrenaline raced its way through Zim's system. He stood there for a moment as the Orbital Deflectors did their job and kept Blackstar in one piece. He scanned the landscape, once again trying to remember where the shelters were at. To Zim, it was as if time slowed down around him as his frantic mind searched for the answers, the battle unrolling slowly around him. If he had the state of mind to notice, he would have seen the second antimatter blast released, he would have seen Kreig entering the fray in an unceremonious flail through the air, but he was too focused on the wrong thing. As the orbital deflectors were overworked and some residual plasma made it through the sensor alert to the damage that the frame had received broke through the panic and brought Zim back into the moment. Zim's focus panned in and brought the focus back to the cockpit of the werk, the background Zooming back into the background, back where it belonged, allowing the foreground to do its job. Blackstar reached forward to removed the dead hand from the shaft of his weapon, allowing it to drop dead to the ground with a surprisingly heavy thud.

The rage fueled adrenaline pushed Zim to ignore the second crater that had opened, his sensors registered the existance of Kreig at the far end of the field, but Zim didn't have time to worry about that. First, there were Cruxi to die. "Engaging Cruxi in J8," Zim said, his voice steely, calm, and focused. Zim pushed blackstar to maneuver around the cover that the Cruxi CWM squads had taken by first moving to J7 before spinning around and coming back down behind the squad in J8. The high gravity and the high speeds caused the thrusters to work harder than normal, Zim's normal suit struggled to maintain comfortable conditions for the pilot as he spun in a tight circle as he turned to face his foes. He and Blackstar unleashed a scream along with the thrusters as Zim pushed his luck and his speed flying directly into the middle of the CWM squad he had targeted. He went after the unit farthest from himself first. A horizontal slash through the mid-section, turning him to face the next Cruxi. He lowered the head of the scythe almost to the ground and jumped towards the next foe, bringing the scythe up in a verticle slash through the middle of the foe. With the scythe in the air, Zim spun in place and faced the third unit and continued the motion of the blade down through the middle of the last CWM.

TLDR: Zim fights through a panic attack and moves on J8 via J7 and takes on all three CWM at once.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

With a thunderous roar Zim returned home. The soft tangerine sky, blotted by the fires of destruction, the calm chaos of the megacities was replaced by the true chaos of combat. Zim felt the familiar embrace of gravity from his home planet, it hit him like a brother, always hitting the same spot, he knew it was coming, but it still hurt just a little bit. "Slow your breathing," Zim said through the coms, "Keep your words to a minimum, until acclimated, save your oxygen." The sweet from the decent dripped from Zim's face inside his helmet. He did a quick scan of the readouts, still green. High Gravity Orbital Drop into a Deep Strike in enemy controlled territory. Checked off the bucket list.

"Take out those canons," Zim heard Ritsu call out to the squad. Zim looked at his screen, he could get to the cannon on the right, but he would have to make it past two combat lines, and it would leave Valeria and Redeemer to hold the line. Not to mention the promise Zim made with Katya. For now he would wait for the ranged support from Paladin and Hou-Yi.

"Looks like it's time," Zim said to his Werk, "Welcome to my home planet, let's get to work."

Zim activated the ATS and braced for the impact of the thrusters.

"You're about to do something stupid, aren't you," Zim heard through the coms. It was Elizabeth, her heavy breathing could be heard through the coms. She targeted Black Star and attached one of her three Orbital Deflectors. "Try not to die."

Zim could see the faint lines of the orbital deflectors as they started spinning around the attached Werk. He hesitated for only a moment, and then the moment to hesitation had passed, the thrusters kicked in moving Zim directly forward to I8, Zim swung the Thermal Scythe at the Brute, aiming to move past the beast with the extreme speed given by the thrusters intended to move long distances and take off the head in a clean jerk of the Scythe, using the longer reach of the Scythe to stay out of the reach of the Gorilla like beasts. If successful, Zim would then turn his attention to the Brutes in H7 and G6, Firing off the first battery reserve of the Tidal Wave Surger (two of three rounds remaining in the quick charge), moving the weaponized hand in a sight arc to catch them while they continued to move forward, hoping to catch all three Brutes on the east wing of the front line. He still had momentum to move if he needed to move back out of range of the line of CWM.

Meanwhile Ojo maneuvered into position to be ready to evade incoming attacks, and prepare the Star Gazer to redirect incoming attacks. She focused her attention on attacks that would be coming from the three Turtle units. If possible she would redirect their attacks back into their own allies. She had already plotted out the preferred trajectories, if the East attacked first, she would try to down the attack in I6, similarly, if the West attacked first then she would try t down the attack in B6. These two seemed the most likely to attack, as her assumption was that the Northern turtle didn't have enough range to reach them in their current set up, plus the center of the squad was still positioned behind Paladin's Shield, or would be once he was ready to deploy it. However, in the event that it did attack, she would similarly try to down it into D6.

TLDR: OJO Equips BLACKSTAR with Orbital Defenders(2/3 remaining), Prepares for Evasive Maneuvers and Deflection of Attacks from Turtles.
BLACKSTAR moves to I8, use Scythe on Beast, uses Tidal Wave Surger (2/3 remaining) on other Beasts in G6 and H7, prepares to Evade.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

@Ariamis@Ammokkx@Apollosarcher

So in the spirit of being helpful, as well as impatient, and appeasing my joy of mecha design, I have also come up with a suggestion for a load out for Paladin, based on what Apollo has said in discord chat. So, Apollo, feel free to completely disregard and do your own thing, but this is what I think Paladin would like to play with, based on your probably unintentional input.

Suggested AP for Paladin

Thermal Halberd

Long Pole-Arm style of Melee weapon intended to give reach over most melee combatants. Deals Thermal damage. Can be thrown at medium range.

EMP Grenades

A hand thrown grenade that does no determinable physical damage but does shut down electronic components within a short range (one square outside of the target square in each direction). Paladin will come with a compliment of three grenades. Range limited to Paladin's throwing ability, which is typically Medium.

Armor Bits (This one gets a little... less than basic)

Additional armor pieces placed strategically around Paladin's frame to add additional armor, as well as additional thrust. These thruster driven armor pieces only add light armor, but they can be deployed by Paladin's stand alone A.I (Pally) to move them off from the frame to intercept incoming attacks. They can be deployed in a short range to even offer blocking for other Werks that are within range. They can be crashed into a target for low-impact damage. While the bits are still attached to the frame, their thrusters add to Paladin's overall maneuverability (someone counteracting their own weight on the system). Being light armor, they do not offer a huge amount of protection, usually only able to sustain one hit per bit. They are small pieces, so depending on the nature of the hit, more than one piece may be effected by an attack. Paladin will be assorted with a compliment of 10 Bits.

Berserker Thrusters

A set of ridiculously over-sized thrusters intended for use on spacecraft are haphazardly attached to the Werk's frame. They require so much power that they require a turn to charge up their Ion-Pulse. Once charged they can retain a charge for three turns before they are forced to discharge (You're using it whether you want to or not). Only suitable for straight line maneuvering. Provides a movement of 6, no less. Requires two turns to cool down after use, assuming they didn't tear themselves lose from Paladin's massive weight. The movement is so fast that humans can barely perceive the travel and puts insane levels of physical strain on the pilot.

ATS

Automated Targeting System, used for choosing the right weapon for the right target, acquires targets automatically and assists with aiming. Passive System. If equipped, provides the ability to use two weapons in a single turn, or a single weapon after dashing. These weapons can be used on the same target or separate targets.

So to explain some of my thinking here: Apollo said more shields, and thrusters, and a grenade of some sort. The idea of the shields just adds Pally Drone into combat and makes for something other than just another static shield on top of your wall of a shield and your Phalanx energy shield attachment. The grenade being an EMP makes sense as Paladin is all about protection, so throwing a grenade in an urban environment is probably not a great idea with its rather unpredictable damage patterns with shrapnel and such. And the thrusters sounded like they were going to be used for a Reinhardt style of charge attack with a massive shield bash, so what better way then to do it ridiculously over-sized, but nearly impossible to stop when it does happen. The thermal halberd came from me mentioning a laser ax and Apollo and Jason getting excited over it, but the Halberd made more sense with the shield wall, you know, kinda pop up and poke a people from behind the shield sort of thing. The ATS is a fifth item, but you know, paladin is already a super heavy mech, so why not add the ability to do two things at once. Why fire both tungsten plugs at one target, when you could go after two targets?

Anyway, do with that what you want.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Sweet, sounds like Everyone is on board for that, we have final placements. Just waiting for Paladins Assault Pack and I think the Player side will be set.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

@DarkRecon, @ammokkx, @Ariamis I threw this up in discord as my recommendation for Maria's AP Load out, but moving it over here because it got no notice there, and also expanding on the weapons and such a little better.. So, going with a Multi-Weapon load-out, as mentioned before.

Assault Shot Gun

Short Range, heavy impact kinetic rounds. Possible knock-back on heavily armored targets. 8 rounds loaded, additional set of 8 stored on board, requires a round to reload.

Laser Sniper Rifle

Long Range, Energy rounds. Can be used for quick shots doing medium damage, or a charged shot for more damage. One round charge, two rounds cool off.

Shield

Small personal shield designed to house the assault shotgun when not in use for easy access. Shield is of Medium Armor Class.

That's the three weapons I would choose. Doing a mimic of Jake's werk with more drones isn't really in the spirit of the mech design for quick/easy deployment, in my personal opinion. So if DarkRecon agrees, these would be my suggestion, assuming boss gives his blessings. There is room for one more weapon/system on the standard load out on assault packs for 4 units, so if Boss says Maria can have the Cruxi sword she used on the space station then I know Dark mentioned wanting to use that.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

... pouty panda....

Also, I forgot to update my assault pack with a weapon change that I had discussed privately with Ariamis. So my assault pack load out is the boosters, ATS, Shield Pack, and Tidal Surger attachment to the Wave Surger. the omnirifle is still listed in the assault pack, but is not equipped for this mission.