Proposal: WR.Grondfout Mortar SystemDifficulty: NormalResult: 5+2=7,
AverageThis indirect fire system uses a relatively small 80mm round to make their target's day just a little worse. Three separate chambers in the magazine allow the pilot to pick and choose their type of munition as dictated by their situation. Two larger chambers hold
Vuur shells, with an effective kill radius of 15 very, very hot meters, and HE shells with a 35m kill radius. A smaller chamber contains a couple dozen white smoke rounds for supporting friendly units. All three chambers hold a huge amount of ammo capable of allowing a mech the ability to remain somewhat combat effective during a prolonged or series of engagements.
The weapon has a relatively low rate of fire, with a shell leaving the weapon every five seconds. As (again,
relatively) slow as they may seem the shells benefit from an autostabilizer system that runs the length of the barrel, dampening recoil somewhat and allowing the weapon to remain aimed at where the pilot intends it to - which could be well beyond the reach of more conventional (that is, non-mech) arms. These small mortar rounds and their low rate of fire give them a very small thermal footprint.
The
WR.Grondfout Mortar System doesn't use much in the way of highly complex or costly equipment, making it a
Cheap used in
Small Weapon Mounts.
Proposal: WR.Pepermolen Rotary AutocannonDifficulty: NormalResult: 2+1=3,
Buggy MessThe
Pepermolen is what happens when you take a solid idea, apply a solid plan, and proceed to crack your skull against a solid wall a few dozen times.
The
Pepermolen is built around overly complex solutions to problems that have already been solved in some form or another for centuries. The
Pepermolen jams. Frequently. One historian present at a semiprivate exhibition of the weapon described it as a "modern ZiP .22". The synching on the spin of the barrels and the autoloader is off, resulting in very few rounds being pushed into the proper place at the proper time. The first "solution" to the potential for ammo jamming and detonating was to create a storage magazine armored against and separated from a loading magazine closer to the weapon itself. This required cutting into storage space for ammo. In the event of a chain explosion, the weapon is designed to blow outwards and literally throw all its ammo away from the mech. Thankfully the ammo doesn't explode every time it jams, and the pilot can clear a jam by sprinkling the rounds in the loading magazine through a dump hatch in the weapon while slowly spinning and reversing the barrels to jiggle the jam free. This also doesn't always work, but at least the clear loading magazine provides someone easy access to do an in-field fix should that prove necessary. Which it will.
Surely there's got to be an easier solution to preventing the jamming in the first place.
The
Pepermolen fires bursts of up to twenty rounds if you're lucky. Letting the weapon take its time reduces the risk of jamming, providing the
Pepermolen a rate of fire closer to that of a, say, small mortar system.
The
WR.Pepermolen Rotary Autocannon is a
Cheap and very disappointing
Small Weapon.
Small Weapons
Small Lasers: Low-power energy weapons that draw from a mech's power source. Low power draw, but low range and low damage as a result. Cheap
-WR.Tulpenbloei Small Laser: A small laser that draws more power to increase range and damage at the cost of additional heat generation. Cheap
WR.Specerijlijn Weaponised Heat Beam: An IR laser that transfers heat from the mech to a target. Most effective at very close ranges on larger targets, and needs to have a significant amount of heat in the mech to draw from. Expensive
"Pinscher" 12.5mm Machine Gun: A 12.5mm machine gun that fires 300 rounds a minute. Effective against infantry and light armor. Cheap
WR.Pepermolen Rotary Autocannon: A mess of a 40mm gatling-style weapon that constantly jams, requiring a partial magazine dump to clear. More work went into dealing with symptoms of jammed APHE rounds than into solving the problem of poor synchronization between parts. Fires at around 12rpm if the pilot takes it slow enough to reduce jam chance. Cheap
WR.Grondfout Mortar System: An 80mm mortar firing long range, accurate rounds at 12rpm. Uses HE, Vuur, and Smoke (to a lesser extent) rounds. An autostabilizer improves accuracy and recoil. The weapon produces minimal heat. Cheap
Medium Weapons
WR.Vuurwek Incendiary Missile System: A system capable of firing up to a salvo of six missiles loaded with an incendiary payload of a highly reactive powdery substance. This material burns when it hits open air and sticks to whatever it coats. The high-intensity flames will devastate unprotected targets and likely cause significant damage otherwise. Has a lowered missile count, but the magazine has extra protection to minimize crits to the ammo. Expensive
Components
WO.Mk4 Fusion Engine: A fusion engine designed by the Weitraum Republic and Okinasu Empire. Functional, but can catastrophically explode if it takes a significant blow. Efficacy of this engine drops precipitously as mass and energy weapons are added to a chassis. Cheap
WR.Kaarsvlam Fusion Engine: A fusion engine designed solely by the Weitraum Republic. It has extra armoring and provides more power to the mech than previous generations of fusion engine. A Near Ignition Tritium Reagent One Use Substance fuel injector lets the pilot add extra oomph to the mech without drawbacks so long as they control themselves. Should have no problems with powering light mechs and is theoretically capable of handling heavier mechs.Cheap
Jump Jets: Jet boosters that allow a mech to subject itself to a loosely controlled launch in a parabolic arc and subsequent loosely controlled landing. A larger number of jump jets are needed for higher mass chassis. Cheap
Subpar Heat Sink Bank: A collection of heat sinks meant to release excess thermal energy produced by a mech in order to keep the meat inside from cooking beyond medium. Slightly more effective than putting a fan in the cockpit. Cheap
"Hitteontruimingslichtwerper" Infrared Emitting Heat Lamps: Large lamps mounted on the outside of a mech that convert internal heat into external IR light. H-Lamps are more efficient at higher temperatures than a typical heat sink bank. Expensive
Standard Steel Armor: A basic, cheap form of protection. Can stop small arms and lighter vehicle-based weaponry, and can resist smaller mech-sized weapons with some regularity. Cheap
"Dijkstijl" Composite Armor: Mutlilayered armor with a scaled ceramic outer layer followed by a Ceramo-Resin sandwiched between steel plates. The resin rapidly expands and hardens with the heat and pressure that often accompanies armor-penetrating munitions and energy weapons. The hardened resin is fragile but makes up for it with a higher resistance to energy weapons. Cheap
HTM-1 "Hitman": A 30 ton bipedal mech with a cubed torso and a fixed domed head holding the cockpit. The torso can rotate up to 90 degrees in either direction. The HTM-1 has a Small Mount in the center of the torso housing an "Pinscher" 12.5mm Machine Gun with its ammo and a Small Mount on each side of the torso for a pair of Small Lasers. The side mounts have limited horizontal traversal but can be adjusted vertically +/-60 degrees. The torso mount has a greater freedom of movement, allowing it to fire on close targets much smaller than itself. The HTM-1 utilizes a WO.Mk4 Fusion Engine to provide power throughout. Jump Jets in the upper legs provide some ability to get airborne and control descents. The HTM-1 runs fairly hot during prolonged combat tests due to an inefficient pair of Subpar Heat Sink Banks in the torso flanking the "spine". The HTM-1 uses Standard Steel Armor for protection against smaller weaponry and some defense against an equivalent mech. Cheap
DVL-1-1 "Vuurduivel": A 40-ton mech with a roughly triangular torso and fixed domed head bearing a pair of horns housing a well-protected sensor suite. The sensors allow for identification of vehicles and mechs within 500 meters even without line of sight. The two arms have better range of motion than anticipated and end in Small Weapon Mounts fitted with WR.Tulpenbloei Small Laser in the right and WR.Specerijlijn Weaponised Heat Beam in the left. The arms (and the torso) are outfitted with autostabilizers to increase their ability to stay on target while moving. A Medium Weapon Mount is positioned in the center of the upper torso and is fitted with a WR.Vuurwek Incendiary Missile System. A third Small Weapon Mount also housing a WR.Tulpenbloei Small Laser, is installed in the lower torso. The mech is tuned for maximum performance with its Kaarsvlam Fusion Engine, which allows high speed and mobility even with a significant amount of "Dijkstijl" Composite Armor for its weight class. Three Subpar Heat Sink Banks on the back are quite effective at keeping the mech at a reasonable temperature. Jump Jets are also installed in the legs. Cheap
-DVL-1-2 "Voetduivel": A -duivel that swaps the Medium Weapon Mount out for a Small Weapon Mount with a Pinscher and using a WR.Tulpenbloei Small Laser in either hand. Has a little more armor while also being slightly faster. Cheap
DC.58 "Bibo" Heavy Bomber: A variable-geometry supersonic triple engine atmospheric jet bomber designed to carry payloads of up to 12000kg between the internal bomb bay and hardpoints on the wings. It has no defensive armaments. There are two crewmen aboard a Bibo: the pilot, responsible for controlling the aircraft and firing off countermeasures, and the weapons officer, who operates the weapons systems. Countermeasures for the Bibo include flares and chaff. The Bibo's standard armament consists of 1000kg high explosive bombs.
-"Geschenkkorb" Cluster Bombs: 1500kg bombs filled with 10kg fragmentation bomblets that disperse over a wide area once the main canister breaks open. The canisters open on command by a W.O. (or pilot if there is no weapons officer), allowing some control over the range the bomblets affect.
Author
Topic: Mechs March - Weitraum Republic (T3 Revision) (Read 4081 times)