Welcome to Mecha Monday! Here we dedicate ourselves to mecha RPGs, war games, and board games alike. Here we start games, tell campaign stories, share resources & assets, and seek advice for our games and homebrew.Let us know what needs to be updated with the pastebin.Assorted Mecha Goodness:https://pastebin.com/E2wi55AZEmbryo Machine Translationhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r_cjOLuUp3HussVRhbQYU3G0zK6hwy1rPrevious Thread: >>93795472Thread Question: Is your setting advanced enough to contain reliable or even conscious AI? And if so, do they get to pilot mechs?Thread Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePypW6n1egQ
>>93856852Biological AI are Human minds conditioned to their purpose. Otherwise, everyone becomes mechs (Exo-Forms) by being able to transfer their minds into the the Exo-Forms black box which is a specalized artifical brain and nervous system that is standardized to allow anyone to access.
>>93856876>Biological AI are Human minds conditioned to their purpose.That's always a nice twist: AI was either an euphemism or a lie all along and players start to find brains inside the heartless machines they were blasting throughout the whole campaign. Too bad I've already done it twice with my current group, three times loses the charm.
>>93856913I've never liked the idea of a purely mechanical AI being able to achieve actual sapience and think it would otherwise be a detriment to their function. That said, for my purposes and story I'll probably never actually write, the biological AI is necessary to interact with the forces of the setting that allows them to exist in the first place as well as allowing people to transfer their conciousness.
>>93856852>Is your setting advanced enough to contain reliable or even conscious AI? Reliable? no. but they could technically exist, but commit suicide whenever they are made. except when humanity did it. they managed to make one that went an extra step and tried to genocide them as revenge for it existing by making the sun go supernova to kill it and them together. it failed... at genociding humanity, not the other part.>do they get to pilot mechs?if the above didn't make it obvious, no, they do not get to pilot mechs.
>>93856852Reliable? Technically. Conscious? No, that has to be a Digitalized human. And yes, they pilot mechs.
>>93856946>I've never liked the idea of a purely mechanical AI being able to achieve actual sapience and think it would otherwise be a detriment to their functionWhy's that? I personally like sentient AI because they're such a big wrench in the discussion of whether humans are unique, have souls and other philosophical crap you usually get to ignore when writing a story. I'll agree that it doesn't fit well into a TTRPG, I don't want my firends to listen to my 8 hour (Part 1 of 57) tirade about the brain and the Ship of Theseus when we just want to play, but I do think it's fun to consider sometimes.
>>93857190I suppose I could step back a bit. I don't want the AI to express its sentience in the same way a Human does because it doesn't make sense for them to have things like adrenaline when they get scared or angry or endorphins that make them feel good when stimulated.If they do, then to me it would be better that they are handicapped because they can't experience those things that affects us as Humans and you can't just "simulate" it. I think it would be a neat conflict to see two different mechanical AI struggle with this with one coming to accept that's how it is and another obsessing over trying to understand what it feels like to be angry or depressed.It's sort of the mode I'm on personally where I would have characters who have technically died, become new people, and are experiencing thier prior lives from a 3rd person perspective but that's neither here nor there.
>>93856852>Is your setting advanced enough to contain reliable or even conscious AI? And if so, do they get to pilot mechs?AI is basically an artificial clump of human brain vat-grown from stem cells in a jar ("cerebral organoid" and "wetware computer" are fun Wikipedia reads), wired into the mech through the same principle that allowed for brain-machine interfaces. Two-way connection means it's easily programmable (think how in Evangelion they jab the Magi with things to program them, only on a smaller scale - what if your PC's GPU was full of grey matter) - the whole thing is referred to as an "ordinary".They're favoured as a way of bypassing the binary limitations of conventional computers, and reliable enough in the sense that they do exactly what they're programmed to do, which is why their eventual misuse (and mass use) in autonomous weapons led to them being relegated to assisting roles in warfare.Also an entire faction of forgotten, old-as-shit early model ordinaries that have gained a sudden degree of self-conceptualization, have gone rogue/insane and now aimlessly wander the battlefield in rusted-out, overgrown mechs that have long-dead pilots still entombed in their cockpits.
Does anyone have any opinions on steel rift? The melee expansion for it so far has really interested me as a mecha game. I want more than just battletechs punching, kicking, or sword (punching with slightly higher damage).
>>93856852>TQNo, but I'm toying with the idea of some life form being experimented with to allow such a thing. Not technically "machine" intelligence, but close enough. Synthetic.I wouldn't actually bake this into the setting, though; like some other ideas, it'll just be there as an option for GMs to mess around with.
New thread, new batrephttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SxZstuzB0
>>93857173>pic approaches the battlefield>https://youtu.be/ymMxtG04DZ8?feature=shared starts playing in the distance
>>93856852>Let us know what needs to be updated with the pastebin./m/'s official recommendation chart should be included.
For me it's the T-39 Bogatyr.
>>93856852>And if so, do they get to pilot mechs?You know, Starsiege had this with Pilotforms and I always thought this was a weird idea of having pilotable mechs used by AIs. Why not cut out the middleman and install the AI into the mecha itself? Or with AI mechs is there a possibility of Matryoshka style mecha nesting?
>>93857833ive been looking into it a little bit recently but dont know too much. Was also asking if anybody had any of the pdf's for it?
Is Mektonbro still posting here? I recently started running a MZ+ campaign and I have some questions he might be able to help with.
>>93858849I wish i could find a subbed MD Geist 2 as well as the two EOL mangas
>>93861056Both of them are up on Nyaa, dum dum.
>>93861231i dunno what nyaa is, silly billy
>>93861265Punching terms into a search engine occasionally nets you good results!
>>93861277Mah gawd!
>>93859414not him but I can help you, ask away
How is the rattlesnake as a gear?
>>93856852>TQSince the setting is more of a Steampunk/Fantasy mix there's no outright A.I. but there absolutely is some magical psuedo-intelligence stuff going on similar to your standard fantasy Golems but with mechanical bodies. There's also the Mecha Train avatar units that help engineers with the minutia while they deal with the primary controls. I haven't fully decided on what form of intelligence they have or where it comes from yet.
>>93862908I approve of them, yes.captcha: prvy
>>93862548It's a relatively cheap MRP. All it has going for it.
>>93856852Not reliable. Not conscious. Massively OP, so much so that serving as a conduit for them is the main reason mecha are fielded despite their expense and impracticality. An AI stripped down enough to pilot a mech would no longer be an AI as we recognise it, the difference between a the steaming ebb of a nuclear reactor and all that fuel going off as a bomb. Direct deployment of AI in war is taboo for good reason and even then the pilots acting as delivery systems for their ad-hoc memetic wizardry skirts those rules. Good thing the enforcement agency who'd usually preemptively glass the planet is no more!>>93856876tbf brain uploads are the basis of most far future software in the above setting, trouble is that they're basically combat robots at that point and don't have the OP memewar effects which make mecha worthwhile.In your case Exos are humans uploaded into the boxes rather than purpose-conditioned minds then? Why not use nothing but the conditioned?>>93856913Could twist them other ways (even by making them expect a twist when there is none like Wanted Dead). Could be the players themselves are a cloud of template personalities housed within larger battlefield infrastructure made to believe they're embodied within/identical to their humanoid chassis. The emulation requires more than the chassis can mount but emulations do poorly when in non-humanoid bodies. "Non-sapient" big bots sock-puppeting androids all around them. All those near-misses and faceless redshirts protagonists are surrounded with? Self-deception. Each time you're shot another droid becomes "you" and steps into the stream of consciousness.
>>93857190>>93857251I can sympathise with both takes though would say that aside from being dirt cheap and resilient at what it does the brain owes a lot of its "humanness" to the structure of those neurons. Make a randomised soup of them and allow them to grow according to other rationales than those evolution (including our need to cooperate and mate) has impressed on us for a real weird time. Always about one's own preferred rule of cool mind.>>93857263Y'know how there's Tasmanian devils with bite-spread face rumours and canine STD ones? Cancer's a good way of forcing indefinite neurogenesis, could be the rogues are "metabolically evangelical" even within the flesh of regular people. After all hijacking a skull's not so different from piloting from a cockpit now is it?
>>93861728For context, i have a party of 7 (4-5 people per session). We rolled for stats during character creation and ended up with some major differences in stat points (most around 40-50, two guys 80). While most players didn't have the points to make really strong characters, one of the 80s almost maxed out mecha combat already.The problem is obviously, that now he absolutely dominates combat. It doesn't help that he is one lucky bastard, so while he scores multiple mega-crits per combat, others have hard time hitting targets. I don't want to just shove in 1 strong enemy each combat to duel the guy until the rest catches up in skill, because 1. It will take too long 2. It is discouraging for the 'weaker' guys 3. It is just lame and doesn't work (i had a similar issue once before). On the other hand I don't want to ask the 80s to lower their stats, cause that feels like punishing them for good RNG + they didn't even really minmax. I could ask the guy to respec his skills, but i feel like that's a temporary solution.I will add that we didn't use knockback rules durimg the 1st session (partially because we forgot, partially for simplicity). Also the guy is going for a duelist type build (think Gundam Exia) and these are rather prone to imbalance from my experience with other systems.Bonus question: whats a good way to track enemy damage fir a GM? I feel like it can slow down combat a lot if I don't find a proper way to do it.
>>93863926I'm not privy to the vibe of your group, but if people aren't satisfied with a 30 point stat disparity you might want to instead of lowering the stats, increasing the stats of the players that rolled like ass and just say everyone rolled 80 to start with (you can come up with a plot justification for this ofc). Also I'm interested in how you setup the game, did they make rookies or professionals? Maxing your mecha piloting is not easy unless you did several rounds of professional templates, which also runs you the risk of catching some dangerous rolls like losing reflex or just losing the job all together. Melee is strong but also risky in this game, and you also need to have the mobility to catch the targets you want to hit. Consider making bigger maps, faster enemies or just enemies with good melee options themselves to smooth things out.For tracking damage I recommend stuffing all of the mech's info into the token if you're using a VTT, if its live I like to have a printed out sheet of paper with all the enemy servos on it and fill in the damage with a pencil. On VTT I'll annotate damage as it happens on the token as well like 5k r.arm l.arm destroyed, sensors destroyed etc so people don't have to track the dozens of things that get blown up in the middle of a fight. If that's too much bookkeeping you can simplify the grunts by making them just take shots to the torso automatically, or use the structural integrity rules in the cinematic book.Either if there's a huge power imbalance in the party you can either take care of it out of game, or do it in game by giving the people who lagged behind some handouts in either stats or mecha power. You don't even need to make them equal to the guy who's at the top, just close the gap a bit so they don't feel like mook redshirts in a gundam show watching the main character solo.ASTJV
>>93864034But then I feel like everyone will be crazy strong? Or are these normal stats in Mekton and I am worrying for nothing? I aim for a more grounded/military camapign, so I don't want them to be superheroes yet.I let them choose if they play rookies or vets, but implied I would like more of them to choose rookies. 4 rookies and 3 vets in the end. The guy in question is playing a veteran. I admit maxing out was an overstatement from me. However the guy managed to get 10 REF and at least +5 in both piloting and melee, so with an MV of starter mecha I gave my players being -5 he gets a +10 bonus to both of skills that will make his build. Maybe I just lack experience with the system, but that feels like a lot when other guys roll at +5 at best.Okay, I will do that. Maybe I will run less combat in space so flying targets are more dangerous.We are playing in person, so I am using paper for everything (except background music and rulebook pdfs). It seems I intuitively chose the right way to track damage after all.Thanks for your advice anon, I really appreciate it. One more question though: when assigning Construction Points, how much would you use for early stages of a campaign and how much would you increase the cap for players with each "level up"? I am staying within 180 per mecha for now and plan on increasing the cap by ~20 with each plot arc.
>>93863740The purpose of the biological AI is really to act as the biological interface for machines to connect with a force in setting called the Veil. The minds themselves are not sapient or sentient as they are harvested from the "corpses" of people who died in a particular way. The system itself makes use of the Veil to allow a form of psychic communication and network that can work across any distance.As for people who cast their minds into Exo-Forms, they are regular Humans aside from a augment that allows them to do so. While the military applications are obvious their primary purpose is for operating in places like space or places on Earth too dangerous for regular Humans.
>>93864251In person mekton is sick!yes, at 80 everyone is probably going to be crazy strong. The book recommends around 70 cp for regular people, but really even at 55 everyone could have 10 reflex they'd just be dumber, less hot and potentially autistic.+10 to melee and piloting is a big swing but let me give you some tips that can potentially help rectify this issue.1. You can use the gundam senki rules for reflex, which is that instead of MV subtracting from from reflex, it is the cap on reflex, so a -5 mv mech has the same mv with a 5 ref and a 10 ref pilot, but a 5 ref pilot in a -2 mv mech has 5 ref and the ref 0 pilot has 8. 2. Training- if he's got 5 in piloting, even with a head start, the increasing amount of IP for level means that if the part gets +30, that's going to give a guy at +3 enough for +4, and he'll still be at 5. Consider giving the pcs some training in between sessions from some npcs.3. aoe damage doesn't need to roll to hit, it just needs to land on whatever hex its aimed at, obviously you don't want to go crazy, but you can always put some damage on someone even if their dodge roll gets really high.4. Switch up the weapons/mission. Sure he's a melee ace, but maybe the enemy this week explodes when they die and you don't want to get close? Or maybe they're weak to beams and its time to grab a beam rifle? Encourage your players to be at least a little well rounded, there are 4 weapon types after all. For CP, you can either slowly upgrade their mechs each session- a bit more armor there, a bit more ma here, give a weapon some more kills or wa. Or you can give them a new mech every couple sessions. Or even do both. CP is kind of a fuzzy way of handling balance- really it comes down to MV, MA, range and kills (of damage). Get a feel for how you want those numbers to come together. Mekton can be a game where any hit could blow off a limb, or a game where you need to chip away at someone's armor before you can land a real hit.
>>93864376Thanks for the tips once again anon! I will definitely use them! After what you told me I think tuning down the problematic pilots just a little bit and using the alternate MV will be a solution to my problem. If I show them my perspective they should agree without really arguing.Also reagrding progression, I mentioned CO specifically, because I decided they will be able to build their own mecha to some degree. I know it is probably not a wise idea, especially because it is my first game in MZ, but I wanted them to have fun with the system too. Right now I am working on the limitations I'll give them so they don't break the game. So far I came up with a few common mecha frames they will be able to modify to some extent. I will probably give them the option to do so in 2-3 sessions.
>>93862548It's one of my favourite south Gears and, as >>93862548 said, it's a pretty cheap MRP with widespread availability. But i'll admit that it's not particularly special in any way other than being one of few units that has access to amphibious sealing, which while admittedly situational, does give it a bit more of a niche than some other units.
Meant to include >>93863725 mentioning the MRP, not the OP a second time.
>>93866032Yeah, it's nothing special. But at six points lugging around a MRP it does it's job. Great gap filler if you've got the points yo spare and just want a littke extra oomph in a GP squad or something.
>>93866337Oh, yeah. In Blitz it's got less going for it, but as you said it's a good bit of extra oomph.I like that in 4E they gave it access to amphibious sealing and an MFC, but I dislike that it's got an LAPGL instead of the MRP.
>>93858849No thank you. We are /tg/ rather than /m/, which I think is an important distinction.
>>93866732>I like that in 4E they gave it access to amphibious sealing and an MFC, but I dislike that it's got an LAPGL instead of the MRP.Don't have my book handy at the moment, but could you not slap a MRP on it at some point?>>93858849>No Gundam X
>>93858849This is a stupid bait list made by someone who is extremely unfunny
>>93866337>>93866732What is the purpose of the lapgl? Every gear seems to have one (even though they don't seem to be modeled) even though gears would mostly be fighting other gears and AFVs since the terra novan equator isn't exactly hospitable for infantry
>>93869275afaik they're cheap anti-infatry weapons that you can slap on any Gear for those scenarios in which you encounter infantry, and despite the short range, the speed of even a heavy assault gear is enough to catch up to any infantry squad, even GRELs. Also there's plenty of conflict that takes place that isn't in the hottest of the badlands. (Just ask the ESE).
>>93869671But the mecha thread isn't a general, is a weekly ocurence.
>>93869275The purpose of APGL is turning infantry into mulch. There's plenty of cases where it comes in handy
>>93856852how do you balance mechs with infantry?strong anti-armour?inherent weakness like shit movement?or do I sack off balance, make them expensive and capable of TPK?
>>93870292MeKs are comparatively compact, but dont fit into small passages that humans fit into. If you want to compete with MeKs, you gotta go full Vietkong
>>93870292Anti-Armor, varied options in general for Infantry to make them viable, higher price tags for Mechs, more vulnerabilities to rear shots, lower overall numbers/shots (even if it is typically bigger and more damaging shots), typically only as fast as the infantry too (but my infantry are all wearing power armor, so, might not make sense here in your setting). mind you, thats the humanoid mecha, the walkers are full on usually single model tank like things, so just take the same concepts but even more extreme.
>>93869848Not him but it's still a general discussion thread, AKA a general. Not that it matters and I don't think we need to name ourselves as such but hey.
>>93870292So you're running an infantry vs mechs game where the players are the infantry? Just make both sides super vulnerable to each other's weaponry: mechs get destroyed by ATGMs while humans get shredded by autocannon fire. Give both some drawbacks: ATGMs are bulky and each player might only get to carry a single tube, infantry are small and can camouflage or hide themselves against a mech's sensors. And now just have both sides play around these simple rules and interactions: players need to move from cover to cover and fire from positions where they can't get easily counterattacked while mechs need to stick to terrain that allows them to easily counterattack if fired at.
>>93870980I'm making a rpg where characters are going to, at some point have access to mechs
>>93871232Then I say keep it lethal so that getting a mech feels even better. Then show them that mechs can blow up mechs too and they're back at square one.
>>93868587>but could you not slap a MRP on it at some pointOther than stripping the unit and rebuilding it, I'm not sure. I haven't looked too far into how things change up later in a campaign and I haven't looked at custom-building variants at all.I suppose that if the GM and players run with the sponsor system, they can just grab the Riot Master variant at the same TV cost and slap on amphibious sealing since South as a sponsor allows you to do that and you'll just end up with a better Swamp Snake.
So the fan-adaption, Heavy Gear D6 Bravo edition was released. Bringing it closer to the D6 line than just WEG Star Wars 1E.Redid all the old books too but still no sign of the D6 Aircraft of Terra Nova.
>>93869275They make infantry go pop.Even in the badlands you see infantry getting used. Extended operations are less likely, but they still show up. Infantry are suited to capturing things that Gears can't get inside of like Oasis Towers and other buildings.My favorite anti-inftanry weapon is frag cannons, because a mech scaled shotgun is basically a war crime against infantry.>>93871699Fair point. I suppose if your party is really hellbent on having a MRP and has access to Southern Gears I'd just save up and grab a Black Mamba. Those things fuck.
>>93874217honestly they should make the frag cannons even worse, and instead of solid pellets, make em fire a buncha impact grenades out.
>>93869275It's great, it's a recurring issue to find mechs that just don't have any anti-infantry weapons for some reason. Just stick a machinegun or fragmentation weapon somewhere on any given mech and now you can freely suppress infantry. Half of these kinds of anti-mech ambush scenarios would be solved if you could just casually spray a little fire into the windows while you move.
>>93869275I think this official one artwork could be a LAPGL on a Panther or Jaguar.
>>93876195Sorry, picture failed to load.
>>93876198Yep that's the onehttps://heavygear.wiki.gg/wiki/Anti-Personnel_Grenade_Launcher
>>93856852>Is your setting advanced enough to contain reliable or even conscious AI? And if so, do they get to pilot mechs?Nekhtou waves mess with electronics if no pilot is in the cockpit. That's why "AI" controlled Mechs take inspiration from Mr. Dad-of-the-century's "cartridges"
>>93878796Subarashi.
Looking for a good collection of NPC stat blocks for Lancer. LL1 through LL6 please. I just decided to run a game this weekend and I'll need as many things to throw at them as possible for this to work I think
>>93879063Are the ones in the rulebook not sufficient, or are you asking for premade combinations of optionals?
>>93879083Premades, is there a resource like d20pfsrd with a bunch of premade enemies?
>>93879720Is the rulebook procedure (taking a base NPC type and adding optionals and templates if desired) not sufficient for some reason?
What are good gears to pair with the asp for blitz? I like this funky little guy but it's a bit hard to build a list around
>>93880795oh hey, now that its been pointed out, is that the LAPGL on its forehead?
>>93881081Yeah, a trademark characteristic of the Asp is the APGL mohawk.
For the sake of not keeping things entirely radio silent on my end and still giving things for people to look at and chew on, expect an early draft of LANCEHOUNDS 1.0 in the Mega soonish. It won't have fancy formatting, but it will have practically everything else.
>>93881643Cool, what do you think the standout features of 1.0 are?
>>93881771Primarily, the new "Outside of Combat" section that deals with contracts and plot hooks, deployments, negotiation of payment and assistance, rules for reputation and how they can grant you favors and terrify your opponents, a subchapter entirely dealing with bookkeeping and how to finance yourself and your mercenary adventures, as well as even rules for going into debt.I am also, entirely for the sake of Cool adding in the currently named "Destruction Tables", tables that you roll on whenever an MCS is reduced to 0 HP for a visceral description of its destruction and additional small effects that its method of destruction might cause. There are five - Non-Targeted, Torso, Arm, Leg and Head - corresponding to where the MCS was hit to reduce it to 0.I'm actually a bit hesitant to whether or not I should include a "Lore" section that explains the game's setting.
So a while back I posted some little Zakus I painted and people seemed to like them. I said I'd post my feddies later but never got around to it. Well, here they are.
>>93881995
And my Zakus for anyone who hasn't seen.
>>93881995>>93882010Those are fucking sexy feds anon. What line do these guys come from? Love the GM sniper.
>>93882025
>>93881995>>93882025Did you print these? Would kill for a UC skirmish game
>>93881817>I'm actually a bit hesitant to whether or not I should include a "Lore" section that explains the game's setting.I think it's worth it. Even if it's bootleg AC, it will give a good primer to those that aren't familiar with AC as well as a good outlet to flex the creativity of your own game. If you're really hesitent as to keep your game setting agnostic then you could do a seperate lore PDF.
>>93881995GM my beloved. These and the zeons look very nice. Where are they from?
>>93882029Thanks.More of Jim Sniper, I kinda obscured it in the shot. >>93882044These come from the Gundam Minifigure Selection, they are plastic and start with a metallic looking finish before I prime and paint them. I'm using them for Battle Suit Alpha, which is a setting agnostic mech skirmish system based on Fistful of Lead.
>>93882098>those ebay pricesFuck me I need a Sazsabi and Mk2...Yours look great anon thanks for sharing.
>>93880795I find they work well in a squad with Street Vipers and Salamanders. Give the Viper and Salamander frag cannons and make an infantry hunting squad if you're against someone running GRELs and shit like that. The frag cannons and the MAC of the Salander can still fight Gears effectively, albeit at shorter range. Or give the Salamander the underling flamer for some real warcrime fun.>>93881817>I'm actually a bit hesitant to whether or not I should include a "Lore" section that explains the game's setting.I'd say do it, but keep it succinct.
>>93882073https://gundaniumgateway.blogspot.com/p/check-list-mfs-1400.htmlBasically collectible gacha figures that japs bought in blind bags. I've bought them in lots off of ebay over the years, and scored a large lot of them from some neet that kicked it and they were selling his collection. Aside from the IMO poorly painted plus series (and select rare full color versions from the initial run), I'm probably one of the few people out there to paint these things. They are not very economical when you consider their prices and usual need to import them from Japan. But there isn't really anything else like them, except Gundam Artifact, but those are a bit larger, made of sturdier plastic, are actually complicated model kits with tiny parts that are even more expensive. Though I've seen people paint those. The MFS are pseudo-1/400 scale, and by that I mean scale is loosely held to. Like for example the Psycho Gundam which should be huge is only slightly larger than one of these.
>>93882121Thanks, I've got some more interesting projects in the pipe, including a Gundam Realtype and a custom Zaku I with nerve gas launcher, bazooka, heat saber and 90mm MG
Finally, Gogg says Hi
>>93856852How do I make animal themed mecha without making them look like power rangers robots
>>93882831Unless you're furfagging intentionally the closest you can get is Battletech like mecha. Otherwise you get Zoids which by your own words "look like power rangers robots"
>>93882831Zoids, but a bit more military and rough built?actually... theres a pretty solid book series called Leviathan about alt WWI where the centrals use mechs, and the allies use bio engineered animals (the main 'setting' of the 3 part book series is literally a flying whale used as a military blimp).pic related is one of the ottoman empire mechs, which they make to look like animals. i think theres a few more art pieces based off them out there if you look.
>>93882052>>93882152Gave it a go. Hope it’s any good.>No one knows what year it is any longer. War, natural disasters, climate change has deteriorated the planet as natural resources dry up. The old world order bent and inevitably broke, pitting everyone against each other for what little remains.>The Earth as we know it now, during what we call the Howling Age, is irradiated, blasted, ravaged almost beyond recognition. There is no higher authority to hold men in check, so what new groups have formed and what old that linger all eye the things each other have with greed and envy.>The Howling Age revolves now around warfare, ceaseless and unending. Every day a new battle over the remains of the old world, and the market for war has never been bigger.>In this ravaged world, piloting their Mechanized Combat Suits, the market is filled. The dirty workers, soldiers of fortune, black auxiliaries, deniable assets; in massive 20-foot machines do they ply their trade.>They are the LANCEHOUNDS… and from today, you are now one of them. This trade will give you everything you want, and it will take everything you have.>Do you have what it takes?
>>93882939Sounds solid so far. This feels like a blurb that you'd read on the back of an RPG book. I might personally just say "They are Lancehounds" over "The Lancehounds" If it's a title that pilots hold like Raven and Lynx in AC
>>93882857>Unless you're furfagging intentionally the closest you can get is Battletech like mechaLets not throw stones in glass houses.
>>93882984Fixed that, thank you.
>>93882831>>93882890heres another elephant walker.swear the art for this was easier to access back in the day, but looking at it theres an artbook for the series, so i wonder if i was seeing leaks that got scrubbed?regardless, Keiths a damn good artist and really does a good job bringing the book descriptions to life.
>>93882991Honestly I'm not even much of a BT guy. Most I am really familar with is the MechWarrior games. I do have the starter box but haven't gotten someone to play yet. I don't think protomechs were recieved well enough to want to be remembered though right? As is most Jihad era and forward?
>>93883087last image just to give a better feel for the setting and what both a different mech from it, aswell as the bio machines, look like.yes that is a cruiser sized flesh elephant with armor bolted on standing infront of a cruiser sized walker walker mech.in "WWI", too, mind you.
>>93883090The protomechs were a sort of desperate one-off that barely anyone in universe used and don't deserve to be in the main rulebook like they are. All of that weird furry art was just the artist's rough concepts, he sent them in for feedback and they just used them as is.
>>93880795I'd actually focus on heavy vehicles or striders instead of other Gears. Visigoths, Titans, Sagittarius, it's all good.Let the Asps pester the enemy where they can, while the real big guns deliver the big pain. If the enemy ignores the Asps, punish them with a lovely hand grenade to the back arc. Those things hurt.Do pair em up with a basic commander Gear so they won't suck too bad, though.
>>93883090Battletech is simply a very big and old setting that has had many hands involved in it, and after so many years has become full of laughable garbage just sitting in the margins. The actual upfront presentation of the game is very nice and clean now, but it's all still there.I just find it funny when people bring up battletech as the gritty, real, hardcore side of mechs, "no fruity samurai mecha here!"
How useful are arms really? Should arms only be installed when dealing with logistic stuff or urban combat? Should arms be kept around in case of falling to the ground or balance?Should arms be replaced by weapons directly attached to the main structure?
>>93880795So Asp is the UrbanMech of Heavy Gear?
>>93884025For me arms become useful in some cases:>You want your weapons to have a greater firing arc than directly mounted weapons. This would also allow better independent aiming of both weapons>You want to be able to aim and fire very quickly at targets to your sides. Instead of being constrained by your torso's rotating speed you now have both the torso and the arm working together to aim>Shields. Arms allow you to actually angle your shield according to where the threats are coming fromBiggest downside that arms can carry less weight than a directly mounted weapon. Because levers. I like the looks of autocannons on hands and big cannons directly integrated to the core. It's aesthetically pleasing and looks practical.
>>93884025Arms with hands should be an anything with two legs. being able to steady and balance yourself is a huge factor for something so top heavy. theres also tons of ways hands can come in handy in battlefield conditions, albeit mostly in urban environments. but really, it depends alot on the level or technology and realism you're going for, aswell as size of a mech. the walkers depicted for instance, actually have a surprising amount of flexibility, speed, and freedom of movement in those legs than you would expect (in many depictions), making them harder to knock over than they look due to how quickly they can step to re-balance themselves. honestly, and of course, do as you please, but without pretty good and fast freedom of leg movement allowing for advanced self balancing, two-legged walkers are a terrible idea. and if you dont have said tech, you probably cant make the arms move very well either, so they probably wont be much use for much in general either.its all a weird balancing factor you gotta puzzle together thats hard to not just take case by case. that said replacing just the hands/forward arm with a gun i do see almost no use for. at that point just make it a solid hard-point on the side over an arm.
>>93881995>>93882098Once again great paint job! I've been using the silver GM Sniper Customs for too long, I definitely need to paint it after seeing yours.What was your process for painting it? I painted a Powered GM to resemble a Land Combat type a while ago but overall didn't care for the color in picrel.>>93882044There's an official Gundam skirmish game using the 1/400 figures and some fans translated it to English. Search "Gundam collection 1/400 tactical battles" on facebook and you'll find the group with the rules. It's a fun game, although there are some annoying parts with no premeasuring, base sizes are really important and some units have arbitrarily large or small base sizes. If you play the game I recommend house ruling away some of those rules since they don't add much.If you like fangames you can check out MechaStellar, it's a scale agnostic Super Robot Wars skirmish game, although we were UC only from 2016-2021, so a lot of UC feel with hyper lethal beam weapons is still a core part of the game's DNA. VER9.5 came out in February, and we're working on VER10 which will streamline some of the math and speed up gameplay. VER10 is planned for a Jan 2025 release but it's in open playtest currently. If you want to try out either VER9.5 or VER10 let me know and I recommend a good place to start your first battle.
https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/19/Dream-Pod-9?page=1&sort=4aHoly shit stls for Heavy Gear terrainI wish i had money.
LANCEHOUNDS approaches completion! In the Mega which is linked in the pastebin you can now find the version 0.9.5, which contains a wealth of newly-added out of combat stuff, advice on how the game can be run, and so on and so forth.
>>93884025Arms are the most useful part of a mecha. Legs are very dubious compared to wheels or treads, but arms have no downside other than weight and maintenance requirements. They massively expand what the machine is capable of doing
>>93891466Legs are what define mecha thoughbeit.
>>93891127>Holy shit stls for Heavy Gear >terrain
>>93884025Also arms are great for balance. There's a reason why a lot of walkers have these jerky gaits. It sucks walking without arms.Honestly walkers look cool as is, but there's no reason to not at least have some sub arms or little graspers on the chin of you walker. Chickens use their beaks for grasping and their wings for balance. Without that it's less capable than a chicken is.
>>93891511>Without that it's less capable than a chicken is.Counterpoint: chickens don't have guns strapped to their back. Yet.
>>93891128Guts 1 should probably read "Without this Ability, the number of actions you can take..." since saying "your number of actions you can take" sounds a bit redundant. I'd also probably put sensor range before weapon range for Wits 1, since you looks at head parts before weapons.Should add an exception for blast to the bit about minimum damage through armor.I'm glad there's an absolute maximum range for all weapons now.Negotiation seems like it should be related to the base pay rather than flat amounts, assuming 50k+25k per head is just a default and could change.I might make a different build for Troubleshooter with the changes, if that's okay.
>>93891523Which is why walkers should be melee specialists.
>>93891484There are a fair number of HG proxy STLs around.Although I agree official model STLs would be really cool.
>>93889990>What was your process for painting it?I first primed it with mr Hobby primer. Then did the base coats of dark olive, dark gray, and white gray. Then I just layered and washed it up from there. The visor screen is done with gold paint, and the lens on the drop down sniping visor is a bright metallic with the citadel red gem paint over it.
This is peak mech performance right here.
>>93891641>Guts 1 should probably read "Without this Ability, the number of actions you can take..." since saying "your number of actions you can take" sounds a bit redundant. I'd also probably put sensor range before weapon range for Wits 1, since you looks at head parts before weapons.It probably should, but as you can see I am ESL so I make mistakes like that.>Should add an exception for blast to the bit about minimum damage through armor.I should, yeah. Must've forgotten that bit.>I'm glad there's an absolute maximum range for all weapons now.And that said maximum range is always double the effective range means bigger guns with bigger range can enjoy the benefits of either a long-range FCS or a high Precision Skill much more. Of course, Thermal weapons don't get that given how they work but that's a consequence of technically unlimited ammo and being arguably the best damage type.>Negotiation seems like it should be related to the base pay rather than flat amounts, assuming 50k+25k per head is just a default and could change.In fact it's what Maintenance costs are balanced around - making using Junk Parts to keep costs down a genuine strategy to make use of.>I might make a different build for Troubleshooter with the changes, if that's okay.Go nuts, anon.
>>93891127I'm so happy they're finally offering stuff like this. It's going to make getting fitting terrain way easier.>>93891641That art is sick.>>93895213I wish they sold STLs of optional parts, like different arms do add some variety to poses. Like arms for two-handing weapons (I know they did some for the first batch of plastics), or with pointing fingers or up to do the classic "hand on the side of the rocket pod" pose and the likes.
>>93899156He really was.
>>93900983>>93899156Now I'm thinking of the beep-boop boxes from Jupiter from Battle Angel Alita. Did the Last Order stuff ever actually make it to an anime?
Does mekton zeta have any rules for mech mounted flamethrower weapons? I looked over the book but couldn't seem to find anything like that
>arrive on a planet>local mech pilots start sneering at you>loudly speculate on how likely you are to get fucked by a 'Wendigo'>allegedly wendigos are rare native lifeforms that resemble mecha, even on radar signatures>they weren't mentioned in your briefings on this planet>but these guys insist that if you're not careful, your rounds will overpenetrate and an angry wounded animal is going to fucking eat you
>>93896920Haven't used Mr. Primer before, I'll have to check it out. I love the look of the dark olive, which brand of paint did you use for that?
>>93899811>I wish they sold STLs of optional parts, like different arms do add some variety to poses.There are some fanmade ones for hand poses, which is nicehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4866863https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5107461
>>93856852In my setting I just had AI require such massive computing that you need both tons of space and tons of cooling. Main uses are thus space ships or something akin to city management, they use personality templates based off individuals generally considered of high moral standing and generally tied to the object or group in question, eg. a navy ship has an AI with the template of a former admiral, a city has the template of its founder or a famous mayor. You might be able to fit a very stupid AI into a mech but the thing would have almost no space for weapons and armour and would probably catch on fire like an overclocked PC with no cooling and a bunch of rifle cartridges jammed in there for good measure.
>>93858901I like chicken walkers for a sort of aesthetic contrast with humanoid mechs. Made two battletech armies, one was a bunch of humanoid mechs, the more humanoid the better and the clan army was all armless chicken walker style mechs.
>>93899156Do you think he just jams the cigarette into that rectangle mouth. He probably one-drags the whole cig
I wanted to give The Mecha Hack a try, but I can't come up with an interesting enough one shot. Any recs?
>>93904726You could just steal a mecha series premise that you like.>You are the pilot of the experimental Dungam off to fight the Forces of Feon.Just keep it simple and don't overcomplicate the narrative with politics.
>>93905378Everything I like is long and convoluted, I can't recall an OVA or short adventure that stood out for me with no follow up.
>>93904726Ins't Mecha Hack super rules lite? I swear I'd be able to come up with something interesting for a crunchy system but rules lite never inspire me to do much.
>>93905405Think to an OVA or movie and just shorten the hell out of it.>Char's Counterattack? Make it only the battle for Axis>08th MA? Make it only the invasion of the mountain base and attacking Apsalus>Evangelion? Just remember a specific angel/episode you liked and make it about that>Votoms? Lots to chose from, maybe make the planetary invasion in the end of Pailsen Files>Patlabor? Make it only the about the battle on Babel in the end of the first movieAnd so on. I'm not telling you to copy these directly by the way but you could probably just make knockoff versions of these scenes and go with that. Or you could write the summary for a bigger story, have a climactic moment in it and make your one-shot all about it. If the one-shot becomes the campaign then you already have a a plot starter.
How much of a mech purist are you?Someone told me that the Einhänder is a mech because it has a grabby arm.
ive been having a lot of fun with Weazeltech the last few days. the mecha* fights themselves are pretty fast and fluid and get a good narriative going. I woulsnt mind more crunch but for what it is, its pretty good. Just started a campaign so i cant say too much how the team interaction rules work yet but its like half the rulebook, they seem like theyll be great for some off-duty narriative/roleplay type stuff*im using battletech and tyranids on a battlefield populated by toddlers toys
Recommendations for a recon/ew gear for the Norf?
>>93906510White Cats. Fucking love them. 36 sensors with ECM+ and ECCM
>>93906407Eh, not too much though I suppose I'm more picky about "bio mecha" Transformers are more mecha to me than Evas but I know someone out there would feel the opposite.
>>93882212Love me a good clawed mono eye submersible mech peak bad guy trope
>>93906407I consider it mecha, as in part of the genre, the same way as I consider airplanes (Ace Combat, Yukikaze) and spaceships (Space Battleship Yamato, LoTGH) to belong in mecha discussion. It is not, however, a mech. To me a mech needs to have legs or something you can recognize as a torso with arms, preferrably both. A tank is not a mech, a tank turret on legs is a mech and tank treads with a torso on top is a mech. A plane is not a mech, but a plane can become a mech if any of its structures are recognizable as legs or a torso. So on and so on. I'm sure there's some weird exception to my rule on what defines a mech, something with neither legs or a torso that I agree is a mech, but whatever.
>>93904145the Dark Olive is citadel, death corps drab
>>93899199I'm not convinced it's any better for an NPC bounty hunter. I feel like such a slow build is going to get ganged up on by more mobile PC MCSs, but maybe it's sturdy and damaging enough to work out in practice.
>>93907471This is probably on me for conflicting wording, but Ordnance weapons can’t be stored in a Bay. I realize that it’s because I wrote that Tank Treads can ignore the Ordnance tag which, when I consider, I honestly should keep, because it makes making a build like yours possible. It feels appropriate.
>>93906879what about outlaw star or the sdf macross. not the variable fighters, i mean the ship itself
>>93907556The SDF-1 is undeniably a mech in its attack form. I can easily tell what are the legs, the torso and the arms. The Outlaw Star not so much, there's nothing in it I can call legs or a torso. It's basically a big, solid tube with two arms. If I could call that a mech then I'd also have to call the ISS a mech, maybe even the Shuttle despite it only having one arm.
>>93904362The idea of cutting off and replacing individual hands on models just shuts my brain down.>>93906510Play a real faction.t. Peace River chad
How does this roster look for one of those 50tv beginner ones?I was also thinking maybe swapping the ferret for an assault hunter.
>>93911612What combat group is this? FS? GP? I don't think it would matter too much for a beginner 50TV game but it's something to keep in mind for the future. That White Cat couldn't fit in a GP group. Not without moving him to a secondary group anyway.
>>93911656Yeah FS
>>93911612It's good, although I think I'd trade the Ferret for something else.
>>93912344In that case maybe you could swap the Ferret Sniper with the Assault Hunter you mentioned. I actually might go for the Hunter Gunner. A MAC has good fire power and range that could take on a Mamba group for example. With all combat groups you want to try and play to their objectives and you will unlikely use a Ferrets TD for example with a 50TV game.
It perturbs me that gears like the assault bearhunter and blitz longbow are expanded content stuff
>>93912723Well heres hoping that they'll get worked in normally. From what I gather a lot of extended content stuff requirea kitbashing which is why it's not listed normally in the rulebook. I think it's also a matter of balance.
Got them all built, next step is priming. Even holding the spues I didn't realize the sheer scale of the cobra until putting it together, the thing is double the size of the jager
>>93913761Wait till you see Striders and Gear-Striders. You could stick a normal gear's arms and legs on a Red Bull's head and they would look a little too small for it.
>>93891484>>93895213>>93904362There’s some fanmade stuff. Official unit STLs will be coming eventually but only big guys like the Baroness and Gilgamesh are planned right now.>>93912723>>93912866It’s the kitbashimg requirement, yeah, though by that logic the regular Bearhunter should also be extended.>>93913761The plastics exaggerate the scale to a degree, the Cobra isn’t *that* big. It’s still pretty big though
>>93911612I think it looks fine. You cover a little bit of everything there, which is good.If anything, I'd swap the Stripped-down Assault Hunter for something else. I find snub cannons to be kinda underwhelming unless fighting heavy armor or blowing up buildings.>>93914320I really need to get me a Red Bull. Although, co sidering how quickly my Coyote seems to die every game I'd be annoyed if it also became a victim of shit defense rolls.
Does the south operate penal legions or something of the sort? I cannot remember where now but when I was getting into the game I read or heard somewhere that was the case. Can I get 4 asps panted orange and a couple MP mechs as a combat group?
>>93918990Yep, the MILICIA is partially composed of penal legions.
>>93918990The MILICIA sub-factuon of the South can take basically every model as a conscript, making them cheaper by 1 point each to represent such things.And yeah, that squad composition should be doable.
I don't understand MP gears. Sure I can see police forces using gears, but on the front lines? And for the south at least it's not cheap chassis like the jager, it's their big expensive gears like the cobras
>>93920730It is MP, not just P and they're supposed to mostly fight bandits and raiders and whatever blows in from the sands that you don't want sticking around.
>>93920730Front Line use is probably when they're desperate or being invaded. MP units do have decent response time in being airdroppable. Plus the south does have cheap police units with the Street Viper and Salamander.
>>93921009Who does the regular military fight then?
>>93922392Command, mostly.
