Jump to content

Breaking Point Discussion


Krayzikk

Recommended Posts

Well, I guess that would be one of the things I'd need to work out, as well as what motivated her. I suppose if I wanted to borrow from Apocalypse Now I could say that she had to assassinate someone on the same side.

 

Anyway, I was thinking that it would be a balance of qualities. On the one hand, she would be haunted by memories of her past. The types of missions she has done would obviously have affected her on a psychological level, but on the other hand she is not entirely able to face them. She has tried to quit and start a new life but that didn't work but she can't quite bring herself to go all the way back into black ops; thus moving to the lower level of mech operating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thus moving to the lower level of mech operating.

It's a giant walking tank that can kill twenty people if you put the foot down in the wrong place. I don't think "lower level" is the correct way to put it.

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, but if she can still function in the field, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't take her. I'd probably imagine her being able to operate okay while working, it would be the mundane moments that would be more difficult.

 

Anyway, I should probably start writing some of these ideas down in a more detailed form. I had to quote the original post for this because my internet is not letting me copy and paste for some reason, but anyway, let's see what we can come up with.

 

 

 

Name: Jenna Marquez

Age: 30

Gender: Female 

Occupation: Mech operator, formerly black ops

Appearance: Average but somewhat tired-looking, tall, light hair, usually dressed in combat fatigues.

Equipment: Ordinarily a standard-issue pistol, though she has experience in a variety of rifles.

Skills: She has the standard field skills, such as hand-to-hand, sharpshooting, agility, and strength. She also has experience working in stealth operations, thinking on

Personality: Varies depending on her situation. In the field, she can be cold. However, in a mundane environment she is somewhat more gentle, though she often keeps to herself. In any case, she often remains paranoid, and is reluctant to put more trust in others than she needs to.

Bio: Marquez started out in the marines, where she proved an effective soldier. After earning a reputation for her skills under fire, she was recruited into black ops, where she worked a series of top secret missions. She performed several unofficial operations during this time, though the dossiers on nearly all of them remain sealed. Marquez herself was pressed into keeping quiet about her activities. However, one mission finally pushed her over the edge, leading Marquez to quit. Her attempts to start a normal life were met with difficulty, as she was still faced with memories of her previous missions and unable to share them. She almost managed to start new when she engaged in a romantic relationship, but it was abruptly ended by an assassination attempt. Though Marquez survived, she never managed to find out who was responsible, and realized she could not escape her past. She could not handle life outside the military, but also could not bring herself to return to black ops, so she instead chose to enlist as a mech operator.

Weakness: She has trouble relating to others, lacks any real social skills outside of military coordination, and remains haunted by memories of her past missions

 

Profile for Arsenal Walkers:

 

Base Model: Warrior

Designation: Gemini

Appearance:

Armaments: Standard

Weakness:

Pilot: Jenna Marquez

 

Okay, so I'd still need to figure out some of the details regarding my walker, but I'm starting to get some ideas together. What do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

True, but if she can still function in the field, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't take her.

 

I tried to do an assessment on an hour of sleep at school once and while I was still functioning (i.e. capable of thinking, was awake) the teachers still forced me to postpone it because they declared me unfit for it. This would be the same situation. You don't throw somebody with PTSD back into the field even if they can move a giant robot around.

 

What if she panics in the middle of the field? You don't put someone who could panic anytime inside of a giant robot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

True, but if she can still function in the field, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't take her.

 

I tried to do an assessment on an hour of sleep at school once and while I was still functioning (i.e. capable of thinking, was awake) the teachers still forced me to postpone it because they declared me unfit for it. This would be the same situation. You don't throw somebody with PTSD back into the field even if they can move a giant robot around.

 

What if she panics in the middle of the field? You don't put someone who could panic anytime inside of a giant robot.

 

 

Okay, I'm starting to think that it might make more sense if she was in a supporting role. I could see her being a mechanic or even running a desk job, at least at first. Now I'll have to make a third person to serve as my mech pilot, which I could do but it might take some time because I'll need to figure out the details of their backstory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly I would just drop the broken bird archtype altogether go with a somewhat more normal Walker pilot.

 

Also if that thing that your drill seargant just went through feels like deja vu I would suggest going back over this.

 

http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/19088-breaking-point-discussion/page-2?do=findComment&comment=958370

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I know that was a bit repetitive. I was just trying to get back into the RPG using something I recognized. A lot has been going on and obviously things have changed a bit. Fortunately, now that training's over, it shouldn't be the main focus anymore, at least not for a little while.

 

Back on topic, I'm starting to lean towards the idea that she might not be the best choice to use a walker. I feel like there are some good ideas there and it would be a shame to let them go to waste, but if I'm going to bring Jenna Marquez into the RPG, she'd probably be better off working as a mechanic or something.

 

I'd have to therefore make a third person to actually operate a walker, which I can do. I'm just not totally sure who that person would be. A new recruit might be a logical choice, someone with limited experience. It would work as a suitable foil to my veteran protagonists, someone who has not been as affected by their military service. I already have some ideas of what type of walker I'd choose, I'd just have to figure out what kinds of armaments and appearance I'd want for it. I'd also have to find a name for its operator.

Edited by Atton Rand
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I've been trying to decide if I should keep this one up. On the one hand, there is potential for a great story and it would give me something to do. On the other, I can't seem to do anything right in this game. I've tried to fit in, except nothing I've done seems to work. Nobody seems to like Casey Maxwell as a character, I'm sure you wouldn't miss her if I stopped all together. Maybe you'd be better off without her. Admittedly, nobody seems to like what I've done in Star Wars: Interregnum either (the fact that most of the feedback I've gotten has been about what I've done wrong, and my efforts to find positive feedback have been met with silence doesn't look good), though it has been somewhat easier to fit in with the host's intentions.

 

To be fair, Sgt. Maxwell wasn't exactly made to be a particularly likeable person to start with; I explicitly said on the form that she'd been affected by being in the field too long and that she was known to be hard on recruits. Then in-game I suddenly have people complaining because she's going Full Metal Jacket on recruits and I'm wondering why nobody was expecting that after I explicitly stated that she was a drill sergeant. I tried to get into her psychology, except everyone seemed to be more or less indifferent to those posts. More frustratingly, everyone seemed to ignore the part of her profile that explicitly stated she was in special forces and kept treating her like a low-level grunt instead of a hardened veteran with years of experience and training in unconventional warfare, and that included people she outranked. Okay, I screwed up once by not explaining her backstory very well, except even before that I still had privates and corporals trying to give orders to a sergeant. Between Casey and Mia Arkada, I seem to keep having a pattern of trying to make respectable soldiers that keep getting treated by everyone else as incompetent fools. What is wrong with me?

 

I don't know if there's anything I can do to fit the RPG better. I've tried, and I never seem to get anywhere. No matter what I do, people seem to hate my characters and I can't seem to do anything right. I'm not sure. What do you guys think? I know you probably wouldn't miss Casey if I left now, and I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to make her work as a PC, though there may still be some benefits if I can make it work.  It's not an easy decision, and I've definitely got lots of time to think about what I'm going to do; I was hoping it would be worthwhile to get some other opinions before I decided anything for sure.

Edited by Atton Rand
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Atton, the way you play Casey Maxwell makes her out to be a massive who must have a lot of connections to avoid getting court martialed for her behaviour.

 

This isn't the Vietnam War. like forcing people to eat off a toilet seat is a flagrant abuse of authority, was likely a flagrant abuse of authority back then, and does not fly at all today.

 

I know this might be really hard to understand, but what you jam into your profile means jack if your posts can't back it up.

 

And your posts make Maxwell look like a petty two-bit thug.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whether you stay or not is up to you, but I can at least offer some commentary either way. 

 

You've had a hard time fitting in because you don't understand the setting. I don't mean the specifics, like who's fighting who, or where things are, I mean the genre. I remember almost a year ago now, back when this game was still new-ish, you expressed some confusion over the very focus of the game. You believed it to be, if memory serves, military-focused. I had to do a bit of a double-take, then, because the genre tags all have to do with "Mecha", and it was advertised in my sig from day one (and still is) as "An OTC Mecha RPG". A fair few of your earliest problems came, and to a degree still come, from that right there. This is a game based around military, yes, but it's Mecha first and Military second.

 

Maxwell, in part, is a result of that disconnect. She's a foot soldier in a setting where foot soldiers are no longer the primary aspect of warfare. On top of that, she's supposed to be experienced spec ops in a setting where almost all of the PCs are, by design, fairly low-ranking. She mostly interacted with NPC for the majority of her early existence, rather than any other PC, and she interacted in an aspect of the setting where no one else really resided. That harks back to the initial matter of genre miscommunication, but the issues don't really stop there.

 

Then in-game I suddenly have people complaining because she's going Full Metal Jacket on recruits and I'm wondering why nobody was expecting that after I explicitly stated that she was a drill sergeant. I tried to get into her psychology, except everyone seemed to be more or less indifferent to those posts. More frustratingly, everyone seemed to ignore the part of her profile that explicitly stated she was in special forces and kept treating her like a low-level grunt instead of a hardened veteran with years of experience and training in unconventional warfare, and that included people she outranked. Okay, I screwed up once by not explaining her backstory very well, except even before that I still had privates and corporals trying to give orders to a sergeant. Between Casey and Mia Arkada, I seem to keep having a pattern of trying to make respectable soldiers that keep getting treated by everyone else as incompetent fools.

 

 

This is very much a large piece of the issue. To tackle things in order, when you said "drill instructor" we expected a drill instructor. Hubert tackled this pretty succinctly, but the fact is that the point of a drill instructor, ultimately, is to train and shape cadets into a cohesive and effective group. Maxwell didn't do that. Maxwell just shouted verbal abuse, and exercised borderline (at best) physical abuse. People objected, in character and out, because drill instructors aren't needlessly cruel, and they have lines. The lines can be hard to see, but there is a point where it stops being their job and starts being abusive. Maxwell had a tendency to storm across that line at a dead run.

 

The secondary aspect, setting aside the matter of her special forces backstory because that's a whole other can of worms, what's in a profile is an 'informed attribute'. The profile is a description of what they're like, their limitations and abilities, their history and personality. Saying "highly competent" in a profile gives an expectation, but it is not evidence. If I say that Character A is an expert swordsman but Character B, a novice, defeats them handily then "expert swordsman" is not substantiated. It's just words. The profile gives facts and creates expectations, but ultimately it is a character's actual actions that create the perception of them. Mia is another matter entirely, and not one that I'm going to touch on here, but I can touch on Maxwell. You intended her as an effective formal special forces operator, who is currently hard on recruits but good at her job.

 

But you misunderstood what special forces would be like here, creating a perception in-character of Maxwell saying some pretty outlandish things. You thought you showed her as hard on recruits, but it's not what anyone else saw.

 

In my opinion, and I do not mean this unkindly, you need to try and work on three things. A better grasp of the setting you intend to write in, interacting with other PCs rather than NPCs, and considering how a character's actions might reflect separately from how you want them to be seen. Maxwell, and Mia to an extent, are a matter of these factors coming together in a perfect storm to create a larger issue.

 

If you choose to stay, I would honestly recommend either seriously retooling or scrapping Maxwell. As harsh as it may sound, she is marked by her earlier actions now. I used the Colonel to move her to the Test Team in an effort to try and make her fit into the setting more. If you want to keep her, I would advise getting her into a Walker (it's what Silvan is doing with Harken, as well) so she can participate a little more directly, and seriously consider how you want her to interact with other characters. If you want to stay but don't want to keep Maxwell, make a Walker jockey. There are plenty of them coming into Horizon now, so there are plenty of reasons for him/her to be new to the city, with no prior interactions with anyone there.

 

If you choose to stay, regardless of which route you choose to take, I'd be happy to help you try and make your character fit. None of this is meant to be mean, either, but I can't see how beating around the bush is going to help you understand.

  • Upvote 4

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, if I were to keep going, it may not be a bad idea to try and start over. That, or I could at least take a break from Casey, focus on someone else, and then revisit her later when I've got a better idea what I'm doing. Retooling her so far hasn't been very effective (I know you tried to steer her in the direction of walker combat; only her dialogue kept making people hate her even more) so I guess there'd be no harm in at least trying something new. I did have that one idea for a secondary PC I could rework.

 

I'd have to choose a mech of course. If you have any recommendations on a good model to start with, I'd be open to hearing them. Alternatively, I suppose I could get around that problem by creating my new character as someone who is fresh out of training and hasn't been assigned a walker yet, then I could try out a few different models as the story progresses and see which ultimately makes the most sense for her. Would that be acceptable?

Edited by Atton Rand
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Warrior would be a good model to start with. PCs generally have one Walker, and only generally change if it's trashed beyond repair. I made an exception for Silvan early on, because he hadn't quite grasped the genre yet either. So there usually isn't much rotation, not until people get to start doing upgrades.

 

If you go with a new character just out of training, she can have a more or less stock Warrior. In which case I can tell you what the standard loadout before customization is, and you can work from there.

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey y'all. What's up.

 

Preapproved, though with some pretty heavy consequences.

 

Name: Robin Hartwell
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Occupation: Military pilot, rank E3. I think.
Appearance: First thing you’d think when you first saw Robin would be “small”. She’s a scant 5’2”, her brown hair spiked to add a few inches to her height in the hope of not being totally overlooked. Combined with how lean her muscle is, she doesn’t exactly seem like the imposing, tough military type—and her brown, slightly too large, sympathetic eyes really, really don’t help. Her fingers move with an uncanny deftness, though, and her eyes are always on her surroundings. Her cheekbones aren’t overly pronounced and her nose is slightly smaller than average. She’s the pale ivory of someone who spends nearly all their time in a UV tinted cockpit, just blessed enough to have a good complexion, and she keeps her body at a reasonable level of fitness.
Outfit-wise, she normally wears a plain, red leather jacket, a white t-shirt, and jeans while off duty, and the normal mech pilot uniform otherwise. Suggestions that she is trying to imitate James Dean will be met with a long, silent look, then a shrug and “yeah, pretty much.”
Equipment: Standard combat pistol, knives, aid kit, a rifle and comm unit. Standard stuff really. Her Raptor, as well, where she stores rations and some other necessary supplies.
Skills: A deft pilot and excellent fighter, Robin is practically built for driving the physically demanding Raptor she calls her own. Her reaction time and dexterity are by far her highest abilities, and she’s spent a lot of time training to resist the high accelerations inherent in her work.
Personality: Robin’s a joker, teasing and harassing her teammates if given the opportunity, though she starts to care about them a little too easily. She won’t hit where it hurts, despite her bluster and carrying on. She’s loud and proud, her mouth making her seem larger than she actually is, while her almost satirical level of “Murika” conceals whatever she really feels about the entire situation with the Ark Union and outer colonies. She’s a good soldier, sure, but good luck getting anything personal out of her—and even then, she might be lying about it.
“Truth’s just another word for not MAN ENOUGH to lie.”
Bio: “American made, baby.”
Robin was born in and raised in the American Midwest, where “everything’s flat but the women.” Other than that she doesn’t say much about her upbringing, apart from making occasional references to her days “on the farm with Wayne and Hoss, chuckin’ hay and leering at chicks,” though whether Wayne and/or Hoss existed is a matter of contention—considering she lived on a corn farm and never really had livestock nor a reason to “chuck hay”. At any rate, after leaving life in the plains of Nebraska she joined the Federation military, partially because both her parents had been enlisted and partially because she had nothing else to do. She wasn’t exactly a physical or mental prodigy, with not much hope of college beyond a local community one. Working her way up to the mech pilot program took time, but at last she’d found what she was good at—and now she can take to the skies whenever she pleases.
Weakness: Robin SUCKS at out of suit combat. She’s decent enough at a distance with a rifle and her aim is good, but in hand to hand she’ll lose to bigger, stronger fighters—a class of which nearly everyone is a member. She’s dextrous, but not strong. On a character level, she’s somewhat too soft to be a great soldier, and has something of a complex about her height.
 
Profile for Arsenal Walkers:
 
Base Model: FAW-022 Raptor
Designation: Scavenger Eagle, though how Robin refers to it depends on her mood. Names have included Hunk o Junk and FAWful Day.
Appearance: If anything, the Eagle seems to be almost intentionally average, if lightly built. Its height and plating level are practically the same as any other of its model, though they’ve been replaced with a lighter material—not quite as strong as the normal metal alloy, but more electrically resistant and easier to change directions with. The body seems to be the only normally weighted and built part, seemingly a paradox given the small size of its pilot. All of that extra space and weight is taken up by equipment that defrays the effects of sudden velocity changes and intense air maneuvers, even beyond the normal array in other Raptors. As far as paint goes, the armor is tinted a metallic teal with a small bird hatching from an egg on its chest.
Armaments: The normal head mounted machine guns of a Raptor mech, but shortswords are on the legs instead of combat knives and the rifle is meant for long range fighting rather than close encounter skirmishes.
Weakness: The extra shock absorbers and faster maneuvering speed come at the cost of weaker than normal plating. If Robin’s reaction time fails, she’s likely to take a hit the Eagle can’t recover from.
Pilot: Robin Hartwell

No such thing as destiny.

BZPRPG Profiles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Almost forgot to put this up; this is the presently known information about the Federation's friend Captain Jackson.

 

 

Name: Amadeus Jackson
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Occupation: Pilot, Officer (Captain of Liberator)
Appearance: About 6’1 (5’9 according to certain co-authorities on board the Liberator), Jackson wears his uniform smooth and tidy at all times aboard the ship’s bridge. His brown hair is a little long, though within Union regulations, and frames a pair of deep green eyes. Despite his decent looks, Jackson tends to cut a somewhat stern figure. This image is weakened both by the occasional smile, and the known dedication to those under his command.
Personality: On duty, Amadeus Jackson is confident, competent, and practical to the point of seeming cold. To his enemies, at least. No matter the pragmatism of his demeanor he shows the utmost awareness of his troops’ safety, and seeks to ensure their wellbeing as much as possible. Off duty he is a much warmer individual though his other traits remain just as present. His confidence rarely strays towards arrogance, however, and he is perfectly willing to take a step back from the situation and examine it as objectively as possible.
 

 

Base Model: CW-044T Dea Tacita (Test-Type Arsenal Walker)
Designation: Prometheus
Appearance: A little taller than its Assaulter predecessors, the Dea Tacita is clean and purposeful in its design. Its appearance betrays no visible design flaws, as its armor is well-distributed with few apparent blind spots. Large boosters meld cleanly with the surrounding armor, with a carefully integrated backpack containing the largest ones. A thick, durable cord runs from the backpack to a point on the machine’s hip. Boxy containers are situated on its forearms and shoulders, similar to the oblong binders attached to either side of its backpack, slightly protruding up and over the top of its shoulders. Smaller versions of the same are affixed to the sides of its calves.

The Dea Tacita is primarily gunmetal gray, with crimson highlights. Caution labeling, liberally applied for a battlefield machine, indicates its less than perfected nature. Crowning this machine is an understated cranial unit, with a green visor over its optics and two swept back, horn-like ‘crests’.
Armaments:
-Forearm shield; chobham armor over Walker-grade armor plating.
-Selective-Fire Squad Automatic Weapon (Anti-Walker)
-Heavy Machine Pistols (x2)
-Forearm Heavy Vulcans
-Proximity Effect EMP Missiles (x2)
-20mm Auto-Tracking Vulcans
-Wired-Connection Beam Sword
Weakness: Presently unknown.
Pilot: Amadeus Jackson

 

  • Upvote 2

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. As promised...

 

Federation Vessels:

 

Unity-class -

 

 

Humanity's first attempt at a true spacefaring vessel was a source of cruel irony, down to the very class name. The 195-meter Unity was christened on the eve of total breakdown of relations between the Federation and the Ark Union, and her maiden voyage in 2064 was humanity's first settlement mission to Mars, a joint voyage between the Federation Security Council and private backing from the Dyson Foundation. The ship was just passing Luna on its way back to Earth when news reached it that the Ark Union had placed agents inside the colonization force and had now assumed control of New Canaveral, the fledgling Martian capital - short on supplies and manpower, Unity was unable to return with a peacekeeping force. The schism between the Federation and the Union occurred shortly thereafter, and ever since then Mars and its two moons have served as the blemished jewels of Ark Union territory.

 

Thirty-eight ships followed Unity over the next fifteen years, becoming a symbol of Federation might and human ingenuity, before disaster struck in 2075. The early model Harmony suffered a series of shattering explosions in the engine bay, killing most of the Federation crew stationed there (including famed test pilot Claude Monet) and destroying many prototypes of the Federation's new Scout-class Walker. Though Union sabotage was initially suspected, an after-incident report detailed a series of startling design flaws and stresses that, under the Unity-class' long term of surface, had been thrown through the gauntlet until severe accidents such as Harmony's became imminent.

 

With this intelligence, and with the new Olympic-class already in early development, the oldest twenty Unity-classes were permanently grounded, halving the Federation's space navy - eight were scrapped to provide raw materials for Olympic, while Unity and Harmony eventually found their way into the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The remaining eighteen vessels, however, were thrown through vigorous repairs and retrofitted with precursors to the Olympic's weaponry system, as well as the Federation's first attempts at an onboard Walker bay. With the christening and (hopefully) successful shakedown run of the Olympic in 2086, the remaining Unity-classes are expected to be slowly phased out within the next ten years.

 

In light of the war on the horizon,  the remaining twelve mothballed Unity-class vessels were given retrofits to avoid repeating the Harmony incident and pressed back into service in order to bolster the Federation's space navy.

 

 

Olympic-class -

 

 

The Olympic-class may be the pinnacle of Earth's naval forces, but its roots date all the way back to World War III, seventy years prior to its christening. The ship's initial design was drafted as a flight concept marrying the best of NASA's post-shuttle technology with Silicon Valley ingenuity, with a dash of the Pentagon's sheer bravado splashed on for effect. Though America had neither the funds nor the inclination to build an entire spaceship just to muscle through a peace accord, the "leak" of the Olympic's plans proved to many of World War III's combatants that the planet's self-appointed cowboys were at it yet again. An unwillingness to go down in history with Hiroshima and Nagasaki is theorized by pundits to have led to the slow disintegration of the world's war effort - all before a single wrench was even lifted on Olympic.

 

The name Olympic was left to gather dust as a figure in military academy textbooks and crammed within a list of political buzzwords until the project was revived in 2074. By that year, the first Arsenal Walkers were just starting to make their way to Earth - and the Federation was painfully aware of how outgunned it had become technologically since the first Mars colony. Many of the brightest minds behind their last spacefaring effort - including a young Egyptian prodigy, Sphinx Bishara, who had gone on to design the breathtaking Avalon-class - had defected to the Union within the ten years since New Canaveral's founding, and the Federation had been late to the game with the Arsenal Walkers. Designing a new spaceship entirely from scratch the way Unity had been was simply not feasible, especially after the Harmony disaster at Frontier the following year.

 

After receiving an upswing in materials and funding from the bifurcation of the Unity-class numbers, Olympic was fast tracked by the year 2080. By this time, what had begun as a passion project harkening back to the days before the Federation had become a testbed for technology that the Federation believed would define the 22nd century. Olympic would be Earth's first vessel designed with Walker bays explicitly in mind, and packed enough firepower on its own to stave off a Union ambush without ever deploying a single jockey, if it came to it.

 

Such technologies take time to engineer and test, however. Olympic faced a number of construction delays and near-mishaps before it was ever christened, and its completion in 2085 was seen as nothing short of miraculous. The 295-meter flagship begins its shakedown run from the Federation base in Tokyo in 2086 - and with it goes the potential for Earth to become either a major power in space, or the debacle that the Ark Union needs in order to outclass the Federation on another front.

 

 

 

Ark Union Vessels:

 

Avalon-class -

 

 

Now and again throughout its history, humanity has produced truly beautiful weapons. The mameluke, the cutlass, the .357 Magnum, and even perhaps the ubiquitous design of the AK-47. The 221-meter Avalon class, the Ark Union's first attempt at its own vessels, was claimed by Union and even Federation shipwrights alike to be the 21st century's boisterous answer to these tools of war. A ship inspired in equal parts by the old reports of cigar-shaped UFO's over Earth's sky in the 21st century and the flowing capital ships of space operas a century past, the Avalon-class was a capital ship so beautiful that the flagship's first CO, Captain Taylor Keates, was driven to tears during Sphinx Bishara's presentation of the ship to assembled Union personnel.

 

This story (which, while backed by sources present, is claimed by Bishara to be apocryphal) would not without merit - for the Avalon class was clearly designed with the intent to marry military precision to a ship without the brute force; it is the life's work of a man who truly loved spacecraft not for their ability to bring death to humanity, but to extend its reach to worlds and places that only children can dream of.

 

Though the Avalon-class was lightly armed for a capital ship, and was never used in anything more than small-scale skirmishes with the Federation, the Union nonetheless ordered the majority of the class be retrofitted to maintain Walker complements onboard in case of an assault. Though many balked at a way to affix a useful Walker bay to such a flowing ship design without providing an easy target, the task was successfully overseen yet again by Bishara - though, to the outrage of the public, the national hero was mysteriously pulled from the project before the retrofits could be completed in 2082. These "Avalon 1.5s," as they are colloquially known, still serve as a symbol for the Ark Union's potential as a bastion of humanity - as well as a potent threat to the nearby Federation.

 

 

Insurrection-class -

 

 

Very little can accurately be said of the Union's potential new flagship. The only men who concretely knew of its existence by 2086 were the Federation's Joint Chiefs; long after the 2084 World Unity Conference had ended, military and political leaders remained in Jakarta to discuss the threat posed by such a vessel's potential existence.

 

Taken from the files of a Union commander (who had left his computer unguarded after a tryst with a Federation journalist) what the soldier knew of the Insurrection-class was nothing less than damning for Earth's leaders. At New Berlin, the Union was constructing not one, not two, but six warships simultaneously - an entire class, all with the intent to be christened within the same year. The documents could have been credibly dismissed as fakes if not for handwritten notes from Sphinx Bishara regarding Walker bay design and the viability of the Insurrection-class' cutting edge heavy artillery atop an already-massive 315 meter flagship. This lent the leak a large amount of credibility, enough for the Federation to keep it completely under wraps.

 

As of 2086, news of the Insurrection-class' existence is not public knowledge amongst the people of Earth. The scope of the Ark Union's knowledge of such a project, outside of New Berlin, is unclear..

 

Edited by Peele
  • Upvote 1

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Logs to the fire.

Name: Alexander Reichel

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Occupation: Enlisted Walker pilot: E1

Appearance: Of average height, and fairly slim, with short, dirty blond hair and green eyes. Has a fairly large nose, large cheekbones,  and simple, square rimmed glasses. Small scar under his right nostril.

Equipment: standard sidearm, mobile phone, class ring from high school, uniform, Miss Direction.

Skills: Keeping behind his shield, playing simulation games, procrastinating, shooting a big ###### gun.

Personality: Generally upbeat and pleasant, Alex is notably unhappy being drafted, but also fairly thrilled about having his own giant robot. He's a bit of a slacker when it come to the day to day duties, but he's got a good heart, despite being a little socially awkward and coming from a rough past. He's not perfect with social cues and sometimes can com across as rude, but the people who get to know him find him honest and loyal, perhaps to a fault.

Bio: Young and unemployed before his home state's required military service, Alex spent most of his time playing simulator games and being not terribly helpful to society. After basic, he allegedly chose the Gunner frame to 'blow the ###### outta stuff'. Early life was pretty hard on him, moving from household to household, many of which were either bad homes or downright abusive ones. By around 14 he'd finally found a place where he could just be, but having little social skills or practical talents left him ill suited to the world away from home.

Weaknesses: Lazy, sometimes overly blunt or critical, and inexperienced in live walker combat.

Base Model: Gunner FAW-016

 

Designation: Miss Direction

 

Appearance: Painted in olive drab and dark grey, Miss Direction is an angular, tanky mech, With thick, boxy legs, and a broad torso. Her joints are twice the strength of other walkers of her class, due to the redundant armor plating on her torso, which contains an ablative metal to reduce overall damage. This gives the torso effective 50% more survivability compared to a standard gunner.  Her sensory head is helmetlike, sporting a broad, orange visor.

 

Armament-
Head: 2x 60mm Vulcan rotary guns, short range.

Shoulders: 1x FAW-15 Railgun, long range, requires stop and brace. essentially a single, larger version of the now standard double Railguns, this older model packs twice the punch, but also is bulky and nigh impossible to use in close combat, not to mention it's slow firing speed. Able to be detached to improve speed in emergency situation.

Chest: 2x racks of 6 255mm missiles each, medium range. Carries 12 additional missiles, can be loaded with variable payload as mission dictates, but typically carries HE and Anti Armor, requires one minute to fully reload after depletion.

 

Arm left: 1x Phalanx-class deployable cover shield, planted in ground, expands to cover a roughly 45 degree angle. Heavy.

Arm right: 1x Ares class 100mm heavy machine gun, medium range, 130 round drum.

Weaknesses: SLOW. Even by Gunner standards, Miss Direction is painfully slow, due to heavy payload and increased armor. No melee capabilities of any kind. Can be quickly overwhelmed due to single pilot controls of Gunners being notoriously complex. Armor has weakpoints on the securing hardpoints of the detachable Railgun.

 

Pilot: Alexander Reichel

Edited by Strider!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright, while I hate to be picky, first thing’s first; both Alexander and his Walker really need expansions to their profile forms. Maigo’s profile was pretty barebones to begin with, but it was developed enough to be acceptable. These paired forms, to be completely honest, are too cluttered and thin to be accepted. We have turned down profiles in the past that were just barely south of how Maigo’s was, and this is significantly below both. His Bio lacks any form of detail, and his personality section is composed quite literally of two traits and his views on being drafted. The Miss Direction, similarly, is lacking in any real description of its appearance.

 

Secondly, the matter of Alexander being drafted. After conversing a little with my fellow staff we have concluded that the draft is a practice that a minority of Federation member states might have in place, and as such it is a valid way for him to have entered the military. However we have to emphasize that there has been no real war for seventy years. The draft would not actually have been used in practice until the Union’s assault pushed those member states to bolster their contributions to the Federation’s forces.

 

In other words, Alexander would be green as grass. Formally drafted a week ago, most likely with some prior mandatory training in his country so that the timeline makes sense. Basic, after all, would take more than one week. Certain countries have mandatory military service for a brief time, so I would likely advise having him hail from one. That way he already had some basic training prior to being drafted. In terms of being a Walker pilot, however, he would be inexperienced as all get out.

 

I have slightly more to say on the subject of the Miss Direction. Firstly, as noted, descriptions really need to be expanded. In terms of approval, I really need to focus on three points.

 

Its armaments are largely acceptable, with the exception of the missile count. The highest amount of missiles approved in the past was on the Aronnax, which had a total count of twenty seven. Having both six-missile racks is fine, but I’m going to need to ask you to cut the additional missiles down to twelve. That way it has a total count of twenty four, enough to reload both racks a second time after expending the first supply. The howitzer is acceptable as something to be integrated into the Miss Direction instead of the standard railguns, but I should note that I question its effectiveness in Walker combat. Howitzers are generally for bombardments from very long range, using high trajectories to reach the target. Most Walker engagements will occur at closer range than that.

 

You’ll also want to resize the caliber on the machine gun. Hubert’s Lockheed Custom established machine gun caliber at 100mm, so a heavy machine gun would be more in the ballpark of 110mm than 160.

 

You’ll also need to elaborate on the weaknesses a little, namely making sure to include mention of the original FAW-016’s one-pilot flaws. Detaching the howitzer is not likely to do much to improve speed, given that Gunners are slow to begin with and one with heavier armor is only going to be slower.

Lastly I’ll need a little elaboration on exactly how ‘reinforced’ the Miss Direction’s armor is compared to a standard Gunner. Once all of that is addressed, I’ll look over the profile again.

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A requisition order for a new FAW-22 for Lance Corporal Susan Dreary once she has fully recovered from her injuries and is cleared for air combat.

 

Base Model: FAW-022 Raptor

Designation: whatever its serial number is (Hasn't been named yet, and probably never will be). If forced to address it as something other than its formal designation, Susan will call it "The Replacement".

Appearance: aside from missile systems, no noticeable difference from the stock model.

Armaments: 100mm rifle, head-mounted 20mm Vulcan guns, AGM-65 Maverick x4, AIM-120 AMRAAM x2, AIM-132 ASRAAM x2, dogfighting sensor array, combat knives

Weakness: Reduced air-to-air capabilities compared to Susan's previous Walker (though that can be changed by changing the loadout). Quite plain, with no real differences from the stock Raptor model; as such, those with knowledge of the base Raptor's weaknesses can easily exploit them. Does not excel in close-range combat. Overall, it has a niche as a multirole aircraft currently optimized for ground attack, with its performance in other roles being average at best.

Pilot: Susan Dreary

Edited by Constructman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got around to writing up Kasper's mech.

 

 

Base Model: FAW-007[G] Warrior

Designation: Test Team Four Experimental Platform Three, AKA The Take Two

Appearance: For the most part the Take Two looks much the same as any other Warrior stationed at Horizon. However, Test Team Four could hardly leave it like that and still retain their name. As a result it carries a pair of disk-like protrusions at the small of the Walker's back. In addition, the Warrior's shield has been modified with a clamp on the top in order to act as a support for it's extra large weapon

Armaments: Bearing in mind the enhanced armor and agility of the new Arc Union Walkers, Horizon R&D has attempted to counter with high accuracy and firepower. It has tried to do this by constructing an upsized version of a common infantry weapon, namely the sniper rifle. Utilizing the same direct reactor core fed coilgun design as found on the Vernichten they have designed a weapon that fires explosive cored kinetic penetration rounds. Due to the large size of the weapon it must be supported while firing, either by the Take Two's shield or by using both hands.

The Take Two uses the basic machete heat blade in melee combat.

While not exactly an armament the Take Two is equipped with something to help prevent counter- sniper fire from swiftly taking it out of the fight. The two disks on it's back act as jammers, throwing out all sorts of confusing signals across multiple spectrums. While certainly not as effective as the system in Harken's former armor, it does prevent effective targeting from extreme ranges and makes it tricky at medium ranges.

Weakness: The Take Two's jammer system makes it stand out like a bonfire while activated and can't be run continuously due to the power demands it places on the vehicle's bog standard reactor. In addition the size of it's weapon means that a stable firing position is required for any sort of real accuracy. Running and gunning is highly discouraged. Due to the coilgun's direct access to the Walker's power core, there is a small area where a stray round may be able to find it's way through and cause extensive damage.

Pilot: Kasper Harken.

Edited by Silvan Haven

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright, from the top;

 

Scorp, Alexander is accepted. The Miss Direction still needs a little bit of work. The railgun works much better than the howitzer, but does need some tweaking. Current Gunners require almost all of the Walker's reactor output to power their railguns. As such, a railgun with its own power supply would need a Walker-grade reactor and even then it still wouldn't be able to produce 4x the force of a standard railgun. Change it so that the railgun is wired into the Miss Direction's reactor like other Gunners, and then change 4x to 2x. Logically since it is only a single 'barrel' it could take the power that would normally go to both of an FAW-16's paired railguns, for a single shot at twice the power.

 

It can keep the detachment feature, but that adds a weakness; weak points in the armor where it was previously attached. This balances both the additional armor, as well as the fact that detaching it would lead to a bump in maneuverability. Make the above changes and add that under weaknesses and it's good to go.

Construct, the replacement Raptor is fine with one exception. Raptors can't make use of SDBs, or bombs of any sort, at the moment. Those'll have to drop. You can replace them with some additional missiles if you want.

 

Silvan, points on making a profile I don't actually have to change much of. Proud of you man. We have no problems with the Take Two's capabilities, just need a bit of a tweak to the mechanics. Handheld railguns haven't worked out because of their power requirements. The Test Team's Vernichten has a handheld coilgun, which can boost its capabilities using a direct connection from its power core to the rifle.

 

Tweak the Take Two's railgun to function like that and you're good. You can even reference the design similarity if you want. It does create a weakness in the form of a small area where munitions could much more easily breach the core, but considering the Take Two's jammers, I think that's a fair trade-off.

fK5oqYf.jpg

 

On this eve, the thirtieth anniversary of that first colony, many are left to wonder; is the world fast approaching a breaking point?

 

 

  Breaking Point: An OTC Mecha RPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Name: Le Thành Khiêm

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Occupation: OR-2, Supply Technician, reserve Walker Pilot. Originally trained to be a Logistics Officer but failed to reach O-1 for reasons undisclosed (but easily guessed).

Appearance: 5'8", 155 lb, black hair died with orange highlights (unless he gets yelled at to shave it off).

Equipment: sidearm, comm unit, survival kit, calculator, pen and paper

Skills: inventory management, bookkeeping, financial management, spraying grenades in barrages like a madman (except at the enemy, and when he's told to)

Personality: Khiêm has the look and demeanor of a person who is perpetually off at everyone and everything. Somewhat self-righteous and quite arrogant, he tends to perceive those around him as either ignorant or flat-out stupid. He's basically a fledgling ivory tower snob.

 

Some of his concerns are not so petty, however. Despite his business background, he is very politically minded; the relationship between the Earth Federation and the Ark Union is his primary interest. Particularly, it's his primary source of rage and frustration. There isn't much one can do to convince him that the politicians all around are not a bunch of idiot zealots (or just plain idiots). However, he holds more animosity towards he Federation as from his analysis of the situation, he has come to the conclusion that they created their own mess.

 

Bio: The two things that Khiêm hates the most are war and the Earth Federation. Born to a business family in Vietnam, Khiêm grew up to be quite a dissenter and a contrarian in general. Trained in his family's business and choosing to study economics in university, his awareness of the world and the situation of the Federation twisted his personality into an stupidity-despising misanthrope.

 

So what is he doing all the way in Panama, at Horizon's military base?

 

Simple: he enlisted partly to run away from his "annoying and ignorant" family, and partly to eventually reach a position where he could exercise enough power to make change in the Federation where he saw fit.

 

Unfortunately, his plan went awry when due to a series of gaffes, he was unable to reach officer rank. Falling victim to the Sunk Costs fallacy, as well as needing a job, Khiêm decided to enlist as a Private. After a good deal of work as a Supply Technician, Khiêm suddenly found himself transferred to a Walker unit in the wake of growing tensions between the Federation and the Ark Union. Figuring that he might as well roll with the situation, he pursued his training with gusto and eventually was able to get his own Walker.

 

(The Walker originally belonged to his uncle, but the grenades and the paint job were all him. Not the name though.)

 

Weakness: having been support staff for most of his military career, Khiêm has both only recently learned the basics of Walker combat and only once has been close to conflict. As such, there is a sizeable chance that he will lose his nerve if enemies come within striking range. This failing of determination is only enhanced by his lack of intrinsic loyalty to the Earth Federation.

 

 

Base Model: FAW-007 Warrior

Designation: The Boom (not named by him, but by his former XO)

Appearance: The Boom is painted red and yellow, with a yellow star on its chest; this makes it stand out like a flag in the middle of a field. The most notable difference from the standard model is the addition of shoulder mounted automatic grenade launchers similar to those mounted on helicopters.

Armaments: grenade launcher scaled up for Walker use (based on the XM25 CDTE). Fires 250mm rounds, with HEDP, thermobaric, airburst, CS gas, flashbang, smoke, and flare ammunition. Each magazine holds five rounds; The Boom holds seven magazines for a total of 35 rounds. Automatic 40mm grenade launchers have also been mounted onto the shoulders of the Walker, each holding 32 rounds; total explosive ammunition is 99 rounds. Secondary weapon is a submachine gun; melee is a standard Warrior machete.

Weakness: Khiêm's choice of a grenade launcher as the primary weapon makes it vulnerable in direct confrontations due to slower fire rate. His secondary weapon mitigates this somewhat, but the difference in performance between The Boom's submachine gun and a proper automatic rifle is obvious. This pushes Khiêm to a support role akin to a mobile close-range Gunner; it is recommended that he is paired up with another Warrior to cover his weaknesses.

Pilot: Le Thành Khiêm

Edited by Constructman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...