Koromon Destroid (no stats)

[Pouncer]

And to round the set out...

KOROMON DESTROID

HWR-P03-MKIII
Koromon

With the introduction of project Pioneer during Earth’s rebuilding after the Zentradi uprisings entirely new mecha designs were obviously needed to carry out the needs of the Expeditionary Force. For the needs of the ground forces designers returned to the proven and well known destroids for their inspirations. Two separate projects were put into play competing for the new destroid designs, Project Neo Excalibur and Project Colossus. While the Colossus team sought to place as much firepower as possible into their designs Project Neo Excalibur worked along the same lines that were being worked with on the new veritech fighters, smaller more flexible designs better suited to storage and use on and from spacecraft.

With the lighter Destroids complete the Neo Excalibur team turned their attention to the largest of the ground mecha, the Monster heavy weapons robot. The Monster had faired quite badly during the first war and the Zentraidi Uprisings, it’s slow speed, overly light armor for it’s size and weaponry not well suited for defending the mecha at close range meant it faired poorly against highly mobile ground forces. The fact that the only real victories the Monster could claim came from the space battles it saw with the SDF1 almost caused the NE team to forgo working on it at all. However one of the team’s junior members had come up with a radical concept for the redesign and soon work was in full swing on the newly christened Koromon (Brave little monster) heavy weapons robot.

Once again the team started by reducing the size of the design by a little over 30% compared to the original. New lighter, more durable armor with improved sloping increased armor protection by 50% although weight considerations still kept the armor lighter than hoped. Lighter and sporting an upgraded motive system the Koromon had a higher ground speed than the original and could handle slightly worse terrain as well.

For weaponry the team started by replacing the Monster’s 4 heavy auto cannons with 3 of the newly developed medium gauss cannons. Although a smaller bore than the Monster’s cannons the powerful magnetic accelerators propel the shells with equal range and power. Although meant for long range bombardment the cannons are also quite effective at direct fire as well. The new weaponry also meant that the Koromon no longer had to carry the explosive propellants of its predecessor increasing the safety of the machine. The smaller projectiles also meant that each gun could carry more ammunition than the individual guns of the Monster had. Knowing that there would be no GPS systems to guide the projectiles the team added improved inertial guidance to them and added compatibility with the T.A.D.S. (Target Acquisition/Designation System) units included in the electronics suites of the other destroids and man portable units carried by infantry.

The long range missile systems were dropped in favor of a single six pack of medium range missiles mounted on the front of the mecha.

A large particle beam cannon was then mounted in each arm for close defense improving it‘s chances of surviving close contact with the enemy.

The most innovative pieces of equipment added to the Koromon however were the pair or modular weapon pods mounted like eyes on either side of the front of the mecha. Each pod could mount one of four weapon options including a heavy plasma bomb meant for covering the mecha’s escape from trouble or pods containing short, medium or long range missiles. Other mission specific pods, including EWAR variants would see little use against the Invid due to the differences in communication and sensory equipment used by their mecha.

Although the Koromon’s advanced, highly ergonomic controls allow a single pilot to handle the mecha competently it really needs a full crew of three to get best use out of it’s systems. The commander handles the sensors and target designation for the unit as well as sharing close defense weaponry with the pilot. The pilot’s primary job is to move the mecha around the battlefield and bring the body into alignment for the gunner to do his work as well as close defense. The gunner’s job is to bring the long ranged weapons to bear on target and handle firing them. She will also team with the commander and pilot for dealing with close in threats to the mecha.

Unlike the smaller Destroids, Koromons do not normally work in four mecha “lance” teams. Instead they usually operate singly or in pairs. Occasionally a Gorjira will be paired with a Koromon for even more artillery power. On the rare occasions that Koromons operate in lances there must be a considerable need for artillery support.

They regularly share their positions with fire support lances made up of Longbow’s, and Raidar X’s, occasionally Catapults, and Gunslingers. The Koromons can downlink targeting data from a Raidar X, Gunslinger, spacecraft or other source for improved accuracy.

Ground support forces often include Gladiators and Excaliburs with the occasional Battleaxe. Almost always there are Cyclone and Silverback equipped infantry nearby as well. Only in the rarest of instances would Koromons be deployed without Veritech air cover as well.

[taalismn]

Replacing the plasma roll-bombs with the option of other modular weapons types? Very good save there.
The REF MAC, though, always remainded me of the WW1-vintage Saint-Chamond tanks http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg/300px-Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg ..., low, gun-nosed, too long to really turn effectively in a firefight, and forced to pull awkward pivoting maneuvers on their small tread units.

[Alpha 11]

Replacing the plasma roll-bombs with the option of other modular weapons types? Very good save there.
The REF MAC, though, always remainded me of the WW1-vintage Saint-Chamond tanks http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg/300px-Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg ..., low, gun-nosed, too long to really turn effectively in a firefight, and forced to pull awkward pivoting maneuvers on their small tread units.

Ya, they do look like it. And can you pm me the stats? Please?!?

[jaymz]

Another nice write-up/rewrite of the REF Mac III

[drewkitty ~..~]

I agree with taalismn that changing the bombs to just one of a few optional equipment modules is a very good idea.

(PM'ed some other comments to you.)

[Pouncer]

Replacing the plasma roll-bombs with the option of other modular weapons types? Very good save there.
The REF MAC, though, always remainded me of the WW1-vintage Saint-Chamond tanks http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg/300px-Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg ..., low, gun-nosed, too long to really turn effectively in a firefight, and forced to pull awkward pivoting maneuvers on their small tread units.

The plasma bombs were the least sensible add on to the original. The only real design purpose they could fill on such a slow standoff mech was to cover retreats. (not that we didn't find other uses such as blowing up Zent warships in space) When I looked closely at them I couldn't help but notice the resemblance to the missile ports on the Queadluun-Rau, only big enough to mount bigger missiles. So the modular missile pods were born. I also hint at EWAR options but they wouldn't really show up much in an Invid related campaign so I didn't bother writing them up (and I was being lazy).

There is a definate, probably unintended, resemblance between the mecha and the tank.

-POUNCER

[Pouncer]

Replacing the plasma roll-bombs with the option of other modular weapons types? Very good save there.
The REF MAC, though, always remainded me of the WW1-vintage Saint-Chamond tanks http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg/300px-Char_St_Chamond_tank.jpg ..., low, gun-nosed, too long to really turn effectively in a firefight, and forced to pull awkward pivoting maneuvers on their small tread units.

Ya, they do look like it. And can you pm me the stats? Please?!?

You got it.

-POUNCER

[Pouncer]

We opted out of indirect fire capability entirely. All five guns became long range, moderately powerful particle beam weapons instead, and the two drum bombs ended up being heavy cyclotrons to build up the necessary particle charge for all five guns at once, and also improved their rate of fire a bit, up to 20 shots per minute, per weapons.

The general thought was that Garfish, Betas and Sharks would be more adequate for the artillery role, and these were instead intended to function as relatively short range shield crackers in the era before destabilizers. Their direct firepower was superior to that of a Garfish, and due to proximity, their ability to repeatedly hammer the same few square meters was intended to break the field down that much faster. We even ended up house ruling an option where the heavy protoplasmic barriers the Invid used ended up with recharge rates and MDC by "location", with every 10x10 meter section having "only" one or two thousand MDC, and regenerating about 100 points per melee.

Though I think I could get behind an option for five lighter, say 6.1/155mm or so railguns really. Then the drum bomb casings could be alternative power generators to run so many high power systems at once.

Overall though, I like the solid attempts to explain an otherwise silly concept such as the MAC III.

That's a pretty cool idea, but I just don't feel the MAC III/Koromon is fast or well armored enough for closer work.

With the Pods as modular they could be easy refits for a five gun configuration. I could also see the large arm pods as modular as well, able to carry a variety of different weapon load outs.

With the big guns on the Garfish I would see it at least partially replacing the Koromon in the roll after it's development, especially with more likely weapon ranges. Still I use Garfishes configured wth ground deploy underbelly pods to deploy the 2 Koromons and a full lance of defensive Destroids and Cyclones/Silverbacks in one shot.

Thanks.

-POUNCER

[Pouncer]

Nice work. For another 2nd Ed approach, falling in line with existing systems, how about this?

Same speed and size as the original MAC III
Double the MDC
Same speed.

Weapons
3 40 cm cannons as from the regular MAC II, using the longer range from 2nd Ed and the damage from the 1st Ed MAC II Guns (add another dice to the rest of the rounds)
These are rail cannons as per the original Macross anyway, as our dear Seito Kaiba will confirm
Arm mounts-2 Tomahawk PBCs in each arm, with no limits on ROF (or you could use 2 PBCs in each arm from the Glaug)
Keep the front mounted missile pod.
As for the drum bombs, eliminate them and make those pods into carriers for 1 Silverback or 2 Cyclones, or 4 infantry on hoverbikes. It's got seats for 4 more people, so eliminate 2 of those and you have an artillery platform with its own squad for short range defense.

I like the smaller size idea due to needing to keep the mecha onboard spacecraft. I do like the idea some of the pod options featuring infantry capacity.

I go with arm cannons with higher power than the Tommy's, since the big boys are so slow they need to knock down what they hit as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, no matter what configuration I see they still seem to be best suited for one role, mobile turrets for use on the big ships against other spacecraft.

-POUNCER