Building Mecha in the Invid Invasion setting.

[The Artist Formerly]

The biggest limiter on how much the resistance forces on earth can achive is that their are no new sources of Mecha in human hands. So everytime a machine takes damage, resources for fighting back against the invid become a little more scarce.

Wanting to reverse that, our team of resistance fighters are looking to build their own Mecha.

What we have going for us.

A large scale non-protoculture power source, thanks to the EBSIS for that. A way to mask most of the thermal emmissions generated by that power source (thanks to some 3000 year old Chinese Technology). Enough Zentraedi salvage to feed our demands for materials for a good long time. We're way the hell away from any Invid Primary activity routes or patrol zones, and even their sporatic patrols have yet to give us even a near fly by (China is a big place). We have significant and skilled technical crew, several trained by the RDF, ASC and EBSIS, along with many many tools of the trade. We have the Chemistry and science to build high explosive, fragmentation and the smoke warheads. We can build our own mini-missiles. Complete tech specs on the Assault Battloid, the Super Logan, the REF Excal, and the Striker Batt. A superior understanding of RDF Gladiator, the RDF Valkyrie (atleast it's Battloid form) and the EBSIS soldier.

What we can't do. No laser resistant armor. Our foundry can smelt damaged armor into new plating but we can't replace LR armor, so either we scavange or go with out. Protoculture supply beyond that which we steal (which isn't so bad, I kind of like stealing from the Invid). Complex energy weapons. RDF era lasers are within our grasp. That's about it. Microchips. We can't produce microchips, which means that while we can build SRMs and MRMs, we can't guide them. Similarly, while we have a rock solid understanding of the reactors of these mecha, we can't build the computers to control them. We can build the frame and the armature of the arm, wire the thing, rig the musculature, but we can't build the computer to make move.

Did I miss anything? Any thoughts or contributions?

[Colonel Wolfe]

My only Though on this.

The Ebsis would be a Terrible supplier for power plants, Slavage form ASC sources would Garner the 12 year Fusion Reactors used in the Tiny ASC Battiloids.
these Generators supply the Same amount of energy in comparison to the Soviet Designs (the soviet Reactors are ued to power the Same amount of built in weapons as the sovite designs do), and are More Numerous around the World.

hot wireing 2-3 of these together to power a Destroid, or replace the 2 Reactors in a Salvaged VF-1 would be easier then Converting the Huge Soviet Designs in to a Simmiler Machine.

[The Artist Formerly]

My only Though on this.

The Ebsis would be a Terrible supplier for power plants, Slavage form ASC sources would Garner the 12 year Fusion Reactors used in the Tiny ASC Battiloids.
these Generators supply the Same amount of energy in comparison to the Soviet Designs (the soviet Reactors are ued to power the Same amount of built in weapons as the sovite designs do), and are More Numerous around the World.

hot wireing 2-3 of these together to power a Destroid, or replace the 2 Reactors in a Salvaged VF-1 would be easier then Converting the Huge Soviet Designs in to a Simmiler Machine.

No, I meant power for our, uh, factory(?) thingy. It's the back half (well, two thirdish...) of a Russian crawler warship. Not sure how it got this far inland though. Or where the rest of it is? It was designed to allow the Soviets to make naval landings and deploy battloids. We *think* that it was semi-submerigable (definately could go totally under water, but not very deep, guessing 400 to 800 feet?) and could basicly beach itself, disgorge it's battloid troops, and then pull itself back off the beach. Aside from Battloids it could deploy Soviet choppers and jump jets, but no real fighters. Carried (we think) 8 to 12 combat tasked choppers, 2 general purpose choppers, and 4 heavy lift choppers (Sea Sergent style). Maybe 2 Jump jets(?) along with 32-44 Russian battloids. 32 gives a solid amount of space for everything, and 44 you're tripping over each other. It also had some sort of Zentraedi part in it, near the engine room that drank power like a *****. Down in the bottom of the ship. We don't know what it did and we don't have enough of it left to make guesses. It's with where ever the rest of the ship is. The whole ship had a very dedicated anti-aircraft defense system.

Unless someone here can provide convincing evidence to the opposite, I think the Mecha powersource itself will just be REF cell tech. We have specs for that (the Excal and my ZSB), and it seems less complex then the true reactor. Cell tech looks to be more like a battery system applied to a beer can scale.

If things get off the ground, we may look at the Super Logan as a design, but that level of complexity is way beyond us now. We're hard pressed getting a battliod running.

Tenitively, we're looking at the Assault Battloid frame with a ZSB power plant. Loses some of the MDC value, the head lasers won't be as cool, smaller missile payload (provided we can work out a guidence system for the SRMs...). No laser resistant armor either. Swap out the EU-11 for a GU-X2 in a gun pod configuration (the guns underslung on the ZSB's arms).

IF we can get there, then we have three FPA flight systems, which gives us enoug parts to make two working ones. We may try add another pair of ZSBs to our growing unit.

Also, our League Sponsors are pressuring us to look at Gladiators and Valkyrie style battloids (either the Valk or the VT-99 Surgut) to replenish League stockpiles.

We might have some leverage coming our way though. The Black Reign is wounded pretty bad and their arms supply abilities are hurting bad. So the League has set up several front companies/operations (I think company might be a strech for these things ) to distribute weapons. The very guns we are manufacturing.

Currently 'Emerald Dragon Arms' is selling AK-47s, 12.7mm Machine guns (Browning .50 knock off), and 9mm Wolf Autos in the small arms/SDC area. Ammo for all of the above as well. Plus we offer .50 cal/12.7mm MDC ammo, 30mm, 32mm 33mm, 35mm and 55mm MDC ammo. Plus we manufacture the GU-X2 gun pod. Ideal for units that have lost their original weapon or didn't have one to begin with. Our last trick is that we can build three types of the Mini-missiles. Plasma and AP are still beyond us. However we are looking at a HE missile in a Plasma shaped config. Even if they don't hit as hard, atleast those Battlers aren't going into the field empty.

[Colonel Wolfe]

No, I meant power for our, uh, factory(?) thingy

ah, That Clears it up, the only problem then is **** Soviet Reactor Designs..... but i'd think the Influence of Robotechnology would help them make better reactor designs.

you do Posess more Tech Specs from the Reactor style Designs, Thou more Expensive to Make, they pay off in the Long run. the superlogan its self would most likely be a Full Fusion Design.
As Protoculture is off hard to come by, it might be an idea to look in to this reactor style.

You ability to Manfacture Laser Resistant Armor is Limited, but not Truely impossible... finding someone Trained in Mettulurgy and the Creation of Ceramic polymers is the hard part. Micro-Chips will be a Large turd to get ahold of... and near impossible to manufacture...
the SRM Issuse could be Solved by Creating Short-Missles with a Minimissle Guidence system... you get a bit more bang for the buck, but would limit the Rang of the attacks... if you knew of a place to find the Old Gun unit off the RDF Excal or Gladiator, Modified 180mm RPG to have the Blast capasity of a SRM is an option (the 180mm RPG is the same size or Larger then the SRM's on a Excal)

One thing We've exploited in the past was the Invid's Ignorance of Crashed hulks... in a find Simmiler to Rands (who only took 1 of the 10+ cyclones in that rotting hulk), a Downed Garfish near Toyoko Out Fitted my Group with plenty of Salvageable gear, 6 working cyclones, and over 30 sets of perfect CVR-3... We just had to Wash the Rotting humans out fomr insde them... as well as Robotic horse and a Motercycle that became a charriot... the Last to things never really got used by the group, but the CVR-3 went to good use Replacing some Damaged panels on the ASC Battloids. the GM figured the CVR-3 was about the Same Density as the Arm-sheilds on the Batts....

how far in the Future are you guys playing?

[Jefffar]

I don't think the LR armour is too much of a problem seing as the Invid use plasma based weaponry and non-invid mecha are going to become rarer and rarer.

The lack of microchips will be a real *ahem* though.

[The Artist Formerly]

ah, That Clears it up, the only problem then is **** Soviet Reactor Designs..... but i'd think the Influence of Robotechnology would help them make better reactor designs.

Well it's big and it provides lots of power. Far more then we need. And best of all, it's technology we currently understand.

you do Posess more Tech Specs from the Reactor style Designs, Thou more Expensive to Make, they pay off in the Long run. the superlogan its self would most likely be a Full Fusion Design.
As Protoculture is off hard to come by, it might be an idea to look in to this reactor style.

Like that idea alot. I want full fussion battloids and save the Proto for the machine that absolutely have to have it. We know everything you need to know about the S.Logan and the Assault batt, but we lack the ability to manufacture those powerplants.

You ability to Manfacture Laser Resistant Armor is Limited, but not Truely impossible... finding someone Trained in Mettulurgy and the Creation of Ceramic polymers is the hard part.

It's just a level of sophistication we don't have. Even if we had the "How I did it" of robotechnology, we'd still lack the equipment of sufficent cabability to refine to that level. So far.

Micro-Chips will be a Large turd to get ahold of... and near impossible to manufacture...

Hehehe, the devil you say. Tiawan is the world's largest manufacture of Semi-conductors and a wide array of chip technologies. During the off season, the League may sponsor a salvage push out that way. If we can find a machine that builds microchips, then we can build a machine that builds microchips.

the SRM Issuse could be Solved by Creating Short-Missles with a Minimissle Guidence system... you get a bit more bang for the buck, but would limit the Rang of the attacks... if you knew of a place to find the Old Gun unit off the RDF Excal or Gladiator, Modified 180mm RPG to have the Blast capasity of a SRM is an option (the 180mm RPG is the same size or Larger then the SRM's on a Excal)

One thing We've exploited in the past was the Invid's Ignorance of Crashed hulks... in a find Simmiler to Rands (who only took 1 of the 10+ cyclones in that rotting hulk), a Downed Garfish near Toyoko Out Fitted my Group with plenty of Salvageable gear, 6 working cyclones, and over 30 sets of perfect CVR-3... We just had to Wash the Rotting humans out fomr insde them... as well as Robotic horse and a Motercycle that became a charriot... the Last to things never really got used by the group, but the CVR-3 went to good use Replacing some Damaged panels on the ASC Battloids. the GM figured the CVR-3 was about the Same Density as the Arm-sheilds on the Batts....

how far in the Future are you guys playing?

2045, mostly standard RPG background, with Mystic China tossed in for added spice (sans all the Mystic stuff). Mecha sufficent to our needs is in good supply (we work for the League after all) we're short manpower, small (MDC) arms, and body armor. We are kind of hoping to be able to produce the two body armors in the Strike force book at some point.

But if we can't build microchips, it doesn't really matter.

We have built a pretty good rapaport with the Overwatch resistance in Vietnam/Cambodia. We may be able to trade guns for some of their technologies and assistance.

[The Artist Formerly]

I don't think the LR armour is too much of a problem seing as the Invid use plasma based weaponry and non-invid mecha are going to become rarer and rarer.

The lack of microchips will be a real *ahem* though.

Hehe, unfortunately it's not just Invid we're battling. We've seen a couple of the Master's new toys (ASC Prototypes we figure, kind of like our prototypes, we wouldn't know bioroid if it started gnawing on our leg). Plus there is a sympathizer force with ASC and EBSIS machines in good numbers at Port Victoria (a town scavanged from the remains of Victoria/Macco port/Hong Kong). And Beijing is a Sympathizer stronghold with a arsenel of Mecha.

[Comrade Corsarius]

Problem: Your lack of microchip technology will hurt you. I'm not so sure about protoculture or robotechnology, but it is conventional microchip technology that makes the 'tele-mental' helmet work, which is what gives the EBSIS mecha their agility. Without this, you would gave grete difficulty making anything that has more than one or two attacks per melee. Either that or you will have to create still-larger mecha that splits the piloting between a crew, something that you probably don't really want to do. Chip technology acqisition would be paramount for the expansion of your organisation. If you were in my game world, you could link up with the EBSIS freedom fighters to ensure a steady-ish supply (based upon their own needs, which are fairly heavy). An EBSIS coastal fort operates out of Surabaya, and another out of what's left of Hong Kong if you require connections.

Solution to another problem: You mentioned Jump Jets. In my game world the EBSIS operated the YAK-41 'Freestyle' fighter, the world's premier VTOL combat aircraft (yes, that includes the current F-35). In the 'real' world the only thing that stopped this baby seeing production was cost, as it was a worthy replacement for the rather awful YAK-38. Look up the net, there's tons of info on it if you want to make your own stats. Alternately, you could use the Adventurer II and 'sovetise' it for the adventure. Just some fleshing out that you could use.

RDF lasers are still Okay, if a bit big. If you want to mount them on vehicles, they are fine weapons for freedom fighters. Mount them in a bank of at least 2, or turret them with a 4 barrel job. For heavier weapons there is no shame in going 'projectile', with the older-style arm guns from the Raidar-x and the AKG-47 gunpod both being worthy mountable weapons systems. (an adventuring group I ran had their mecha trashed in indochina during the 'return of the masters (not revised)'. Until they got some mecha back they used an old soviet 6wd flatbed truck with a 966-PFG (well, it was a soviet equivalent, same damage) mounted on the back for counter air and invid until they could get back to overwatch. It worked a charm and was added to Overwatch's defences once they got back).

oh, and Taffy, check your inbox.

[glitterboy2098]

a decent (if not ideal) source of micro-circits and elecronics is fairly abundant in your region.

and since your already bringing in the source to smelt for raw metals...

yes, Zentreadi mecha. while not the best out there, their common, cheap, rugged, and easy to replace. if you stick to NON-transforming designs, you should be able to adapt the circits, electronics, actuators, and even computers to your needs.

and i would definately head off to Tiawan. you should be able to find the machines needed to build them, or at least the machines needed to properly repair and refurbish them.

and a trip to Japan might be in order, check out the old RRG labs. might find some material of use.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

then there is the stringer option which is fun http://www.steelfalcon.com/Mecha/stinger.shtml

[glitterboy2098]

i prefer the more Detailed version

though you can wind up with some real doozies.

[Jefffar]

Assuming the facilities in Taiwan and Japan survived and the Taiwanese and Japanese are willing to share, this might work.

Of course a nasty GM would put a hive right near either objective.

[Colonel Wolfe]

Assuming the facilities in Taiwan and Japan survived and the Taiwanese and Japanese are willing to share, this might work.

Of course a nasty GM would put a hive right near either objective.

isnt that how its Suposed to work? There is always a hive right where you need to get, or Right above somethign you need.... if not , its not Really worth it to get it... b/c half the time it never workds afterwards...

[The Artist Formerly]

Assuming the facilities in Taiwan and Japan survived and the Taiwanese and Japanese are willing to share, this might work.

Of course a nasty GM would put a hive right near either objective.

I don't know about the hive, the south China sea is pretty quiet on that point.

And if the Japanese and Taiwanese don't share... we'll explain it to them.

[Lt. Holmes]

And if the Japanese and Taiwanese don't share... we'll explain it to them.

At the barrel of an Ak-74?

[Mech-Viper Prime]

i prefer the more Detailed version

though you can wind up with some real doozies.

i completely forget that one thanks

[The Artist Formerly]

And if the Japanese and Taiwanese don't share... we'll explain it to them.

At the barrel of an Ak-74?

Koskov-47.

They will see things our way. One way or the other.

Besides, both island nations got pounded by the Invid back in the day. Odds are the only people out there are either Hightech Bandits, like us, or peasant fishermen. Both of those groups can be bribed. One way or the other.