Primal Conundrum

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
If you wanna use the same things I'm using I guess that's your call

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
Oh, I never said anything about a harpoon gun! Rhaka is just gonna keep some harpoons resting in some metal brackets on her bike, probably tie them off to the frame of the thing, then just grab them and throw them at things. She knows how to build necrocycles, not guns ;P

I'm thinking that vehicle segments involving combat will most likely be against other vehicles, or alternatively probably some sort of entrenched enemy position. Once again, think Mad Max— anyone smart isn't going to go up against a vehicle when they are on foot. Keep in mind that magic powered vehicles have been around in this setting for about 100 years, so we're passed the point of people underestimating them enough to make a large infantry line that the enemy can just drive through.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
Either one of those sounds plenty Orcish. Against other vehicles you might have some difficulty in swinging an axe effectively, though you could always just carry a bunch of axes and throw them at things. I'm gonna be going that route with harpoons inaccurately thrown from the necrocycle.

Random thought: I love the idea of some necromancer character who somehow enchants corpses so that they can stand on it and use it like a high-speed longboard. The idea of a Sat-AM looking villain pulling a sick 360 kickflip on a squishing corpse is somehow really funny to me.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
None of our vehicles are resistant to most basic firearms. That's why most basic firearms are quite dangerous in this setting.

You know what's scarier than a giant fucking spider? Something that hasn't been overused to the point of being boring, like most stereotypical carnivorous Orc mounts. By all means, bring forward your vehicle idea.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@KRIEEEG
Frankly if you're hellbent on having a live mount, your best bet would probably be some sort of giant insect. Heavy, armored exoskeleton, probably some redundant legs, probably carnivorous, might even be capable of super clumsy flight. The angles of such a creature, combined with its natural armor, would also probably make it more resistant to ballistic weapons than a wolf with comparable armor. Top speed won't be as quick as a vehicle still (though a giant centipede would be able to fucking haul ass), though tbh I don't really think that a live mount is going to be outperforming a vehicle in the speed department unless it's a Kobold on a cheetah or something.

@KRIEEEG
I will not leave your jetpack out of it any more than I'll leave my necrocycle out of it! Both are examples of the sort of vehicle / mode of transport that can exist in the setting, and not bringing them up when talking about the tech level / degree of sophistication of transport is just not a good plan.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
Any form of transport has its drawbacks. Vehicles can get stuck or run out of gas, mounts can die of thirst or starvation and they get injured way easier. Also, that speed of a wolf giving chase? I'm assuming that's a wolf unencumbered by armor, an Orc, the Orc's armor, and the Orc's weapons and other equipment, if any. The rate of advancement in vehicle tech, compared to that of the real world, is accelerated due to the addition of magic and the ability for different factions to simply take the knowledge they already have and apply it in a new direction. Yeah, IRL early vehicles were limited in speed, but IRL we didn't invent jetpacks during that era either.

The best I can do I suppose to give you an idea of what you'd be jumping into is if you pictured someone riding a giant wolf in Mad Max. It's cool, but compared to what's going on around it it's probably not one of the more competitive choices available.

Some sort of golem is the closest that anyone might come to doing anything mecha, but it would only be fitting if it were from some magic-heavy or artifice-heavy culture, like Dwarves or something.

@KRIEEEG
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Illithid already is bringing a tank.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
Is using 40k Orc English more important to you than playing in this RP? Ball is in your court on this.

And like I said, you can have a live mount. I'm just trying to make sure you understand the cons of that. Frankly, I would seriously not want to fight an armored elephant IRL, so I'm not trying to say that a large, armored mount wouldn't be dangerous. Like I even said earlier, you'd be gaining in close-combat effectiveness what you'd be losing in speed. The challenge is getting to close combat in a vehicle situation when you're on a meat-based mount and you're against faster people with guns. It's easier to replace a ruined chunk of a vehicle than it is to patch up a bear that took a cannonball to the side, after all.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6, there's crude English, then there's the specific brand of Warhammer 40k Ork English. You can sound savage without sounding like THAT. I would actually (and I am not joking about this) rather listen to a loud, 28k dial-up modem than listen to how those Orks talk.

Also I'm not talking about Warcraft Orc culture or the vehicles they would use (though keep in mind that Warcraft Orcs built and used airships with superheavy artillery guns), I was using them as a point of reference for their size & strength, as well as the sound of Orcish.

The fact is that this setting is in a transitional period where traditional weapons and modes of transport are becoming outdated. Guns are becoming popular and vehicles are becoming more widespread. There are going to be groups that still cling to using live mounts, but we can look at real-world history to see that it's only a matter of time until vehicles improve enough to render live mounts completely obsolete in about 99% of situations. The Orcs (and other groups) that cling to the old are the ones that are likely going to wind up charging at tanks with a lance and getting wiped out eventually. The groups that survive are the ones that adapt or find ways to make new technology and discoveries fit with their traditions.

After all, it doesn't matter how much pride an Orc takes in the hunt or in battle or whatever, a musket shot delivered from the back of a truck that he can't catch is gonna make him rethink his methods of combat. Also, CHAAAAARGE usually only works if your foes are NOT in vehicles that are larger / more durable than your own.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@KRIEEEGValid point, I mostly just find the visual of a furious, screaming, veins-popping-out-of-his-neck-in-anger Orc whipping around in a little, spike-covered dune buggy hilarious.

Older idea I had for an Orc vehicle was one that was basically a big stone wheel they crank by hand with a little platform to ride along with. Can't really turn, but get it up to speed and that 10-foot stone wheel is gonna barrel over anything in its path.

Kill the heroes and take their stuff!

@6slyboy6
You can have a live mount, but you'd be losing in speed what you'd be gaining in close combat effectiveness. It's not gonna be as quick as an enchanted vehicle, and wounds are gonna probably take longer to recover from than damage that can just be repaired.

As far as an Orcish vehicle though, I can think of some ideas. I could see them having some sort of dune-buggy looking vehicle powered by "the fury of battle", which is to say it goes faster the angrier and louder they are.

Also I'm not really picturing these as Warhammer Orcs, partially because I've always hated reading the way they talk. Probably closer to a Warcraft Orc as far as language goes, and if you've seen the movie probably a good comparison of physical strength vs. a Human.