Turn 1: Raid on the HMV Argo
General Battlefield descriptionThe huge, primary hanger of the HMV Argo, a massive cylinder almost 1 kilometer long, and 1 km from top to bottom. A spindle runs through the center, 500 meters above you, carrying the cranes that allow cargo to be moved through the bay. As cargo is easier to handle in zero gravity, most of it has been suspended of the spindle. The wind howls as the cargo flies by overhead at almost 360 kilometers an hour (relatively). Several elevators hanging from the Spindle are disgorging passengers, who're hastily making their way to the shuttles docked to the exterior hull. Though preferably, you would be utilizing one of these, 2 ACL (Atmospheric Cargo Lifters) are located on the far end of the cylinder, which could make for an appropriate ride, if you could fly them through an airlock moving at 360 kmh.
The Argo is an older vessel, as clearly identified by the fact that it still relies on inertial systems to provide artificial gravity, rather than much simpler, modern, non-inertial alternatives. Other evidence of that is that it still relies on massed amounts of manual labor, through mech's, rather than the massive cargo cranes present in later designs.
Kaoru HashimotoYour computer assisted sensor systems allow you to identify 4 Small Mechs between the inner cargo. It's hard to make out details due to speed, but they're likely only lightly armed support mechs. In the distance, you spot a Huge Mech moving crates.
Angel CarlsonThe IR-Thermal vision notes a multitude of hot spots on the floor. According to the automated computer system, cross-referencing the ships blueprints, these are the emergency life support system, burning oxygen candles, which can explode violently if mishandled.
LucenYou manage to confirm the findings, but your sensors also manage to pick up the locations of cargo clearly marked as belonging the Terran Hegemony. You don't know what's in them, but the way they're secured clearly indicates that it's cargo to be handled carefully. The one problems is, taking it out will send debris bouncing around the hull (where you're standing) at a little over a 100 meter per second.
Kiren ViolikThe sensor system picks up 2 mechs amidst the evacuation civilians. They seem to be preparing some cargo for immediate loading. Must be important, if they're willing to prioritize that over the evacuation.
Alice KonicekAll systems are operational, though you're not entirely sure how the missile systems will fare in this complex environment with varying wind speed and high centrifugal force working as gravity. The fact that you're firing chemical incendiary's in an enclosed space is but an afterthought.
Allec CarrickYour sensor system doesn't pick up anything that others hadn't already found. The Sattelite based sensor does give you the locations of all the docked ships, in case you want to punch out of this vessel, and into the next.
4*Unidentified light Mech on the spindle. Distance: 300-700 meters. Note: High speed movement due to different rotation speed between spindle and inner surface makes aiming near impossible.
2*Unidentified Support Mech
1*Unidentified Huge Support Mech
Players:
Name: Kaoru Hashimoto
Appearance: A vaguely Japanese looking man with short black hair and brown eyes. Is rather muscular in a non-threatening way, to establish that he is tough and strong without drawing focus away from more important characters people. Is otherwise rather nondescript and plain looking, with a few old scars marring his body. Usually wears grey pants and a white t-shirt covered in old oil and grease stains.
Biography: Kaoru grew up as a mechanic for one of the many mines plantside, fixing, improving and operating the heavy machinery and mechs used in its operations. It was hard and dangerous work with poor pay due to greedy owners, who wanted to squeeze every penny they could out of the mine. Despite being rather conservative and traditionalist, Kaoru joined up with the local separatist movement, to try and make a better future for his only daughter Sora. Since he learned his engineering skills on the job as it were, he barely makes enough to afford their tiny apartment, let alone afford a good education for Sora. Thus he hopes that independence will earn the money he needs to put her through a good school to make something better of herself.
Skills:
Reflexes: 15
Piloting: 10
Engineering: 20
Targeting: 10
Communications: 5
Traits:
Jury-Rigger
Tea Lover
Size: Medium (Bipedal Ungulate) (+4 to dodge)
Role: Support
Posture: Erect
Engine: Fuel Cells
Armour: 40 mm Roketsan Composite
Additional Defenses: Light Explosive-Reactive Armour
Optics: Computer-Assisted Digital
Weapon:
Automatic Grenade Launcher (22.5mm, Self-Loading, Beehive Flechette), Mounted on Head
- Aiming Difficulty: d30
- Direct explosive damage: d10 Ammo: 50/50 [Can fire multiple times per turn]
Support:
Mech Repair Module, Mounted on Right Arm
High-Powered Radar, Mounted on Left Arm
Electronic Warfare Suite, Mounted in Torso
Extras:
Laser Designator
Integrated Tea Kettle
Traits:
Quiet
Head Undamaged
Automatic Grenade Launcher
Shoulders Undamaged
Left Arm Undamaged
High-Powered Radar
Right Arm Undamaged
Mech Repair Module, Mounted on Right Arm
Torso Undamaged
Electronic Warfare Suite
Fuel Cells
Legs Undamaged
Tripod Main Battle Mech, Dreadnought class, with a heavy HEAT cannon, a light gauss gun, light and heavy howitzers, microwave emitter, seismic missile, and grenade projectors
Size: Huge ((-4 to all dodge rolls: Base detection chance: 16))
Role: Main Battle
Posture: Tripedal digitgrade "crocodilian semi-erect" (+1 to traversing difficult terrain, +1 to dodge)
Engine: Diesel
Armor: 100 mm Multilayer Composite (Cast Aluminum/Buckyball-reinforced depleted uranium)
Additional Defenses: - Heavy Explosive-Reactive Armor 100%
- Laser-hardkill APS
Optics: IR Thermal (+2 to relevant actions)
Weapons:
Main:
Torso-mounted computer-controlled 130 mm heavy smoothbore HEAT cannon
- Aiming Difficulty : d60-5
- Explosive penetration: 260 mm, Direct explosive damage: d32 Ammo: 10/10
Torso-mounted 4.1 mm light gauss gun w/ barrel evacuator
- Aiming difficulty : d30
- Ferromagnetic Slug : Kinetic Penetration : 41 mm. Direct Kinetic Damage: d10 Ammo: 50
Arm-mounted 39 mm light howitzer w/ barrel evacuator and APCR/Incendiary rounds
- Aiming Difficulty : d60
- Kinetic penetration: 78 mm, Incendair: d10 Ammo: 30/30
Torso-mounted computer-controlled 150 mm heavy guided AP EFP cluster howitzer
-Aiming difficulty: 5*d100-10
-Kinetic penetration: 60mm, Explosive penetration: 60 mm, Direct Kinetic damage: d30, Explosive damage: d30
Secondary:
Head-mounted (8 MW?) Microwave Emitter
- Aiming difficulty: d40
- EMP damage: d40 (4 turn recharge)
Torso-mounted 78 mm seismic missile with anti-blast paneling
-Aiming difficulty: d30
-Direct kinetic internal damage : d20, Direct explosive damage d30 [6/6 ammunition]
Extras: Assisted AR Headset System (neat), Multirole Grenade Projectors (wait, shouldn't this be a weapon?), Ergonomic Seating (comfy), Radar Stealth Plating (not too useful, since "stealth" is a foreign concept to this beast)
Traits: Intimidating (well, duh), Amphibious (Wading)
Head Undamaged
Cockpit
Microwave Emitter
Shoulders Undamaged
Arms Undamaged
39 mm light howitzer w/ barrel evacuator and APCR/Incendiary rounds
Torso Undamaged
78 mm seismic missile with anti-blast paneling
computer-controlled 150 mm heavy guided AP EFP cluster howitzer
computer-controlled 130 mm heavy smoothbore HEAT cannon
4.1 mm light gauss gun w/ barrel evacuator
Diesel Engine
Legs Undamaged
Name: Lucen Katawai
Appearance: Female, but very masculine in appearance, at least relatively. She had always tried to be just one if the guys when she was in the mercenary group, and few people can tell that she's a girl without some effort involved. It also helps that her appearance means she doesn't have to deal with the sexism still present in the circles she frequents, at least for a time. Short-cropped green-streaked copper-colored hair frames a face that presents rugged, features, a surprisingly winning smile, and piercing blue eyes. She would almost certainly be pretty if she wanted to, but she feels little need and less desire. Lucen typically wears a pseudo-military uniform, or other semi-formal wear, when not in combat, and fatigues over an interface suit whilst in combat; it helps maintain the illusion of masculinity she's crafted, as it's harder to tell that her already small breasts are bound to keep from showing. Not that her friends don't know she's a girl, of course. She's about 5'9" tall, and maybe 145 lbs., and as befits a former mercenary, quite fit.
Biography: Lucen was on the star-liner when it attacked, an independent now caught up in the struggle between worlds. She was originally born on Earth, in a poor country, to loving but distracted parents, scientists there for the unique phenomena observed in the country. When she was orphaned by a minor upheaval and government overthrow, a group of mercenaries adopted her, and took her as one of their own, showing her how to make a way in the world using what one could. She's shown to be a natural pilot since then, at least in terms of light mechs, and wasn't terrible at foot-combat,(the term for infantry, rather than pilots, way of fighting) either.They'd disbanded for the time being when their leader was arrested, and probably won't be getting back together anytime soon, though they try to stay in touch. Lucen always did manage to find a way to get into trouble, one way or another.
Mech: Later.
Skills:
- Reflexes : 14
- Piloting : 16
- Engineering : 9
- Targeting : 11
- Communications: 10
Traits:
- Mech Whisperer: Lucen thinks every mech has it's own personality and spirit; something most pilots would agree with. What most agree with is the idea that they're almost sentient, and can be communicated with. Lucen keeps this to himself, mostly, showing it in the little gestures, but it means he gets a little more out of his mech than most do, as if it really was responding to him, or bonded somehow. Whether this is because what Lucen thinks is true, or simply the extra care he takes keeping his mech in the best condition possible means it can push the limits of it's manufacture more, is yet to be seen.
- Watch for the Silence: Everything leaves a trace of it's passage. Even the best stealth gear available isn't fully transparent; it leaves a gap in it's passage, a region where there isn't the usual background 'noise'. Lucen knows how to look for that, and it can give him the upper hand in scout v. scout engagements.
- Mech Sniper: Lucen's fighting style usually involves short bursts with his primary weapon, before falling back into hiding. He's gotten very good at being very accurate from a very long distance, and finding exactly where his enemy's cockpit is from the way they respond during the rigors of battle; his preferred win method is to send a volley through the cockpit, ruining their controls even if it doesn't kill them outright.
Size: Small (+4 to dodging)
Role: Scout
Posture: Crocodilian Semi-Erect; Bipedal; Plantigrade (+3 to dodge)
Engine: Nuclear
Armor: 40 mm Plastic-Reinforced AMAP Composite
Additional Defenses: Conventional Hardkill APS
Optics(1): High-Power Adjustable
Optics(2): Hyperspectral Imaging
Weapons:
Main Mount: Shoulder-Mounted Heavy Gauss Gun (11.1mm Calibre)
Traits: Computer-Assisted Gyroscopic Stabilized; Chain-Casette Autoloader; Infrared Barrel Shroud; Enlarged Ammo Storage;
- Aiming difficulty: d35-2
- Kinetic armor piercing: 110 Kinetic damage: d20 Ammo: 36/36
Secondary Mount: Shoulder-Mounted CIWS (10.3mm Calibre) Trait: Enlarged Ammo Storage
- Aiming Difficulty : Automated. Interception chance: 60%
- Round nosed lead : Direct kinetic Damage: d10-2 Ammo : 50/50
Extra(1): Jump Jets
Extra(2): Active Camouflage
Extra(3): Voice-Activated Computer System
Extra(4): Touchscreen Controls
Traits: Anti-Grav Capable
Head Undamaged
Cockpit
Shoulders Undamaged
Heavy Gauss Gun (11.1mm Calibre)
Shoulder-Mounted CIWS (10.3mm Calibre)
Arms Undamaged
Torso Undamaged
Nuclear Engine
Legs Undamaged
Name: Kiren Violik.
Gender: Male Trap.
Appearance: Kiren is one of those people who are easily mistaken for female. He doesn't mind it and sometimes goes out of his way to encourage it, not only is it entertaining, but it occasionally progresses to more.. entertaining activities. Kiren has rather long and well kept brown hair. Currently his hair reaches down to his lower back, he normally has the tips of it dyed either purple or green, right now he has it dyed a bright green. His eyes are brown, although his left eye is much lighter in pigment then his right due to a childhood injury. He normally wears brightly colored and slightly baggy clothing, mostly of the purple and green variety and with lots and lots and lots of pockets. Kiren absolutely loves pockets, if something doesn't have an abundance of pockets then he won't wear it. Kiren has a small tattoo of a wolfpaw a few inches above his left butt cheek, although you wouldn't know that unless you checked or "played" with him at some point. Kiren has a few small shrapnel scars, streaking diagonally from a little bit above his right butt cheek to his left shoulder, they could almost look like clawmarks to someone without medical knowledge. Kiren is a rather playful person, some would go so far as to say a little too playful. If something isn't entertaining or interesting, he won't want any part of it, he doesn't like talking when on the battlefield, but off the battlefield he is quite talkative and occasionally gets in people's personal space, it's rather common to be in a conversation with him about tactics one moment, and the next moment he's trying to get you to give him a piggyback ride or just tacklehugged you. Obviously this isn't normal behavior, and for those who know how to push right, they will discover quite a few things about Kiren's mindset and the reasons behind it.
Biography: Kiren had a rather eventful childhood, growing up on a recently colonized planet would be more then enough, but getting kidnapped at age 13 by an illegal paramilitary organization for use as a child soldier was quite another. Having extremely physically abusive and negligent parents and seeing that the organization treated him quite well for the first few months he was there, Kiren had absolutely no problem with this turn of events. During his first year of training, he showed quite the aptitude for mechs in the simulator and was handed off to the much smaller mechanized core of the organization for more focused training, during the next two years he showed an above average aptitude with target identification and long ranged weaponry. As mechs are much more expensive and devastating on the battlefield than infantry, he got an extra two years of specialized training with stealth systems and laser systems as the organization didn't have anything that was the kind of pure artillery that would have suited Kiren better. In the middle of his last year of training, a rival organization raided the training compound and killed most of the personal, Kiren having been suited up and on his way to the hanger was partly hit by some stray shrapnel from an explosion on the lower section of the mech hanger, he was lucky enough to not have had anything vital hit but it did cause a good deal of bleeding, he quickly got to his mech and completely ignoring normal undocking protocol, had it tear free from the restraints, activating his stealth systems. The enemy group only had brought three mechs along and it quickly became clear they were outclassed by Kiren's mech, One went up in flames within moments, its arm sliced off by the Kiren's lasers and nailed repeatedly with grenades. One much further away and had both legs blown off by a set of mortar rounds and was finished by the other laser. the last mech took a few moments of searching before Kiren's targeting systems pinpointed it through its active camo. Active camo only works if the enemy doesn't have multispectral optics, and Kiren most certainly did have that. Unloading several rifle rounds and a laser into the cockpit of the weakly armored opponent, the enemy mech collapsed, pilot killed. By this point another branch from Kiren's organization had arrived with reinforcements, and a good thing too, as the bloodloss was enough to make Kiren pass out. Barely feeling his mech toppling to the ground, his last waking memory was him being dragged from the cockpit.
Kiren awoke two weeks later, much to the delight of central command, being the senior surviving pilot, by default Kiren was placed in command of the core. Not wanting anything to do with tactics, Kiren milked his injuries so he could get more bedtime for another two months. He spent the time pondering the issue and playing videogames, near the end of his two month sick leave, he decided the best option would be to flee. Leaving the medical facility in the dead of night and accessing the hanger with his keycard, he opened the bay doors and booted up his mech before activating his camo and walking his mech out of the hanger. Nobody noticed he or his mech had vanished until several minutes later. By the time the alarm was raised, he was miles away, and with his mech's stealth capabilities and with the tracking system turned off, locating it would be a near impossible feat.
Kiren took up mercenary work and soon became a heavily sought after contractor. He never takes jobs against his original organization though, and occasionally he will jump into a battle on their side without warning. Ignoring all hails, he appears and carves a swath of death through the lines of the enemy before vanishing back into the night.
Skills: (Divide 60 points amongst these)
5 - Reflexes : Used to determine initiative, as well as dodging
15 - Piloting : How good you are at controlling the mech. Used for most basic and advanced maneuvers.
15 - Engineering : Damage control, Identifying enemy mech, gauging a building's structural integrity
20 - Targeting : Not only does this include firing most of your weaponry, but also spotting and various other techniques
5 - Communications: NPC relations (though this is more influenced by actual RP), but also used for coordinated tactics.
Traits: (Pretty sure I won't be getting many cause my mech is rather good but.. I'll do one.)
-Mechanic: between battles, if time is dedicated to it, Kiren can partly repair his mech.
-Tinkerer: between battles, if time is dedicated to it, Kiren can add a small boost to one chosen system, bonus stays until he switches it to a different system. At the start the bonus is allocated to the engine.
Name: Violet Night.
Size: Huge (-4 to all dodge rolls: Base detection chance: 16)
Role: Artillery
Posture: Hexapedal, Erect (+2 to traversing difficult terrain)
Engine: Nuclear
Armor: 100 cm Ceramic-Steel-Nickle Alloy Laminate
Additional Defenses:
SD Laser-hardkill APS
SD Nanoswarm Hive Shield
Optics: Satellite Uplink Imaging (74) Hyperspectral Imaging
Main Weapons:
Main (Right Shoulder) Double Oxygen Iodine Electrolaser 9.7MW
- Aiming Difficulty: d40
- Energy penetration : 25 mm , Direct energy damage: d25, EMP damage: d41
Main (Left Shoulder) Superposed Load Mortar 100 mm Caliber Computer-Assisted Gyroscopially-stabilized, (66) Dirty HE
- Aiming Difficulty: d70
- Direct Explosive damage: d50+10 Loaded [3/3] Ammo:[20/20] ((Can fire 3 shots per turn, but only reload one))
Main (Left Shoulder) Oxygen Iodine Electrolaser 11.2MW
- Aiming Difficulty: d50
- Energy penetration : 28 mm , Direct energy damage: d28, EMP damage: d48
Secondary Weapons:
Secondary (Torso) Automatic Grenade Launcher 22.9 mm Calibre (67) Semi-automatic Breech EFP Cluster.
- Aiming Difficulty: 4*d60 (Cluster, after all)
- Explosive penetration : 50 mm, Direct explosion damage: d10 Ammo : 30
Secondary (70) (Torso) Recoil-less Rifle 101 mm Calibre Chain autoloader, Incendiary Benzine.
- Aiming Difficulty: d40
- Fire damage: d40+10 (1 turn only)
Secondary (38) (Right Shoulder) Microwave Emitter 9.4MW
- Aiming Difficulty: d40
- EMP damage: 47 (4 turns recharge)
Extras:
1 IR-Silhuette Stealth Plating
2 Radar Stealth Plating
3 Active Camoflage
4 UGV-Capable
Traits:
NBC Sealing.
(82) Infamous
(49) Quiet.
Head
Cockpit
Cockpit
Left Shoulder
Oxygen Iodine Electrolaser
Superposed Load Mortar
Right shoulder
Microwave Emittor
Double Oxygen Iodine Electrolaser
Right arm
Left arm
Torso
Nuclear generator
Recoil-less rifle
Automatic Grenade Launcher
Legs
Name: Alice Konicek
Appearance:A short, squat woman with hair dyed bright red above blue eyes. She's still young - 26 - but saw combat at 15 illegally fighting in the Ganymede Conflict, where she 'scavenged' her current mech from the Jupiter Patriot faction. She has numerous bullet scars across her midriff, which is generally shown by the short top and combat trousers she wears. She's not one for heavy clothing. A gasmask, 13-round caseless 10mm handgun, and combat knife, are always at her waist. Has an appreciation for a good cup of tea.
Biography: Born on Ganymede, she was caught up in the ethnic conflicts from a young age, fighting for a faction of the Ganymede Independence Front. Stealing a mech during a battle between the two sides, she became one of the few pilots they had through stubbornness and trial-and-error. It was when she was eighteen she was shot four times in the stomach, spending the next six months in the public hospital, three of those in a coma. She decided to get out - and hired a spot for her and her mech on a ship out to the Colony. When it declared independence, she answered the call for any available pilots.
Mech: The X-47 Phalanx Mobile Missile Platform is a capable, highly mobile mech on it's jump-jet equipped pair of hoofed legs, if somewhat outdated nowadays. A wedge shaped cockpit has both a 15-calibre light gatling machine gun and a laser for defence against infantry and mechs, but the true weapon is the four MRLS racks set inside of the NBC-sealed chassis. Armed with patented Tank-Burner Chlorine Triflouride incendiary HEAT missiles, (all IR fire-and-forget, of course) the Phalanx is a mech still in use by many (less advanced) colonies for support and direct combat capabilities. This particular mech has had the gatling loaded with Sarin-gas filled rounds. Possibly illegal, but it was used in an illegal conflict primarily fought by infantry, after all.
The highly effective armour system is a special liquid alloy that absorbs and dissipates impact. Additional light explosive reactive pads had been mounted over the liquid armour to give further protection.
This mech has been painted black, with the missile racks painted bright red. Bloody red chevrons of paint decorate the wedge-shaped head, pointing forwards towards the enemy. A dozen tiny skulls have been painted onto the right side, indicating her kills.
Skills: (Divide 60 points amongst these)
- Reflexes : 16 Used to determine initiative, as well as dodging
- Piloting : 7 How good you are at controlling the mech. Used for most basic and advanced manoeuvres.
- Engineering : 8 Damage control, Identifying enemy mech, gauging a building's structural integrity
- Targeting : 25 Not only does this include firing most of your weaponry, but also spotting and various other techniques
- Communications: 4 NPC relations (though this is more influenced by actual RP), but also used for coordinated tactics.
Traits: (Between 1-4. Specific bonuses for your character. Serves as a balancing mechanism for your mech, so expect less if you have a really good one.)
- Rocket Girl: No one can hammer the fire button to launch rockets faster than her. Bonus for firing missiles.
- Grinning in the Ashes: Reduced damage from explosions and incendiary effects.
(Negative)
- Professiowhatsit?: No sense of professional means she is unpopular with officers and basically anyone who wants respect as part of their role.
Name: ?
Size: Small [+4 to all dodge rolls, Base detection chance: 8]
Role: Main Battle Mech
Posture: Bipedal, Erect [+2 to dodge rolls, +1 to targeting]
Engine: Nuclear
Armor: Liquid Armor (40 mm)
Additional Defenses: Light-Explosive reactive
Optics: High-Power Adjustable [+ 4 to relevant spotting rolls]
Weapon one:
Arm Mounted
7.6MW Deuterium Fluoride Laser
- Aiming Difficulty: d30
- Energy penetration : 38 mm , Direct energy damage: d38
Weapon two:
Torso Mounted
Quad 32-tube-MLRS IR guided fire-and-forget
- Aiming difficulty: d40 (This is per missile. On average, of every salvo 40 missiles will miss.)
B: HEAT Explosive Piercing: 10 mm*x/ln (x) Direct explosive damage: x*(d2-1) (X is the amount of missiles). Ammunition : 512
S: Incendiary Ammunition : 256
-Chlorine Triflouride Incendiary damage: d2*X (where X is the amount of missiles)
Secondary mount:
Head Mounted
Light machine gun, 15mm
A: Gatling-style revolving barrels (Sustained Firing possible, Lower fire rate, Increased range)
Aiming difficulty: d50
Fire rate : 400 rounds / minute
R: Chemical [1200/1200]
-Sarin
Extras:
Integrated Tea kettle
Jump jets [+4 Bonus to relevant action. 2 Turn cooldown]
Trait:
Amphibious
NBC (From chemical weapon)
Head
-Cockpit
-High-Power Adjustable Sensors
Light machine gun, 15mm
Left Shoulder
Right shoulder
Right arm
7.6MW Deuterium Fluoride Laser
Left arm
Torso
- Quad 32-tube-MLRS IR guided fire-and-forget
- Nuclear Engine
Legs
-
Name: Alec Carrick
Appearance: Short and well-muscled, with jagged brown hair and grey-blue eyes. His flightsuit is a grey base with orange accents, and he typically wears slacks, vests, and t-shirts in muted tones when not piloting.
Biography: Alec is a spacer child, born aboard a freighter. At sixteen he took his accumulated pay and jumped ship while docked at the colony; a year later he was broke and unemployed and enlisted with the colony's defense force. His life aboard ship hadn't been very good in terms of preparing him for groundside life, but his mechanical skills won him a spot as a mech technician. Three years later, at the age of twenty, Alec managed to earn a qualifying score in the biannual sim tourneys, and he began his training as a pilot. He graduated into active duty at twenty-two, scarcely six months before the independence movement arrived at the tipping point. He wasn't born there, but the colony is his home, and what few friends he has live on the fledgling world--if nothing else, he's damned sure that the Earthers are going to look after themselves first and the rest of humanity never.
Mech: Hurricane Spirit was originally something of a relic, a decades-old Grasshopper II-b variant designed for infantry support and forward spotting for artillery. When it came into the hands of the previous owner, she and her rather eccentric mechanic decided to upgrade it with every cutting-edge device that the two had developed, or so the story goes. They upgraded the old gasoline-burning engine and added a sidealong antimatter reactor as the new main power source, as well as an energy shroud similar to one that had only recently left testing back in Earther research facilities. The CIWS also got an upgrade from the absolutely ancient rounds it was firing, and the two layered the thing with all the stealth devices they had build. To top it off, after testing the thing and finding that it--amazingly--wasn't an unstable deathtrap, they (possibly after a night of too much alcohol mixed with old cartoons and wargames) upgraded the thing to include a variable-form shift into a fighter aircraft.
Life being what it is, the pilot drank herself to death less than a year later, after her friend killed himself testing sarin-gas bullets without protective gear. This left the mech sitting in storage for months; variable-form mechs aren't common to begin with, and they tend to require a certain type of skill to handle the transformation well, never mind that this one was full of barely-tested equipment, including a damned AM reactor, without so much as an ejection seat. Naturally, when a rookie pilot came along with sim crosstraining as a fighter jock as well as a mech pilot, the base commander was more than happy to be generous and flat-out give him a cutting-edge mech with relatively few contractual clauses regarding duration of service or repayment.
Hurricane Spirit is an upright, two legged mech with a somewhat lopsided look (though the actual balance has been compensated for) thanks to the large gauss cannon mounted on the left shoulder. The arms bulge, on the right with the high-powered CIWS, and on the left with the armored housing for the shield generator. The torso is surprisingly bulky for such a small mech, mostly thanks to the shielding around the A-M reactor, though there's also a large, rounded protrusion from the back which houses the primary jumpjets. All of these lumps, however, have been formed into a highly angular design thanks to modifications to the armor and the additional stealth plating. Alec has been reluctant to repaint the machine before being in a real battle, so it has retained the original owner's color scheme: a lime green base with hot pink accents. It's sort of embarrassing, but superstition is rarely worth flouting, at least as far as spacers are concerned.
When transformed, the mech-plane is still highly angular, and takes on something of a delta-V shape, with the main gauss cannon embedded in the left wing and the CIWS closer to the center-line in the right wing. The legs form into a number of additional flight surfaces, while the paired jet engines emerge from within the torso and settle at the rear, powered directly by the A-M reactor, which is located at the heart of the craft. The jump-jets shift down to the lower surface of the aircraft, giving it VTOL capability. Thanks to the expertise of the people that converted it, the entire change occurs in less than three seconds.
Skills: (Divide 60 points amongst these)
15 - Reflexes : Used to determine initiative, as well as dodging
15 - Piloting : How good you are at controlling the mech. Used for most basic and advanced maneuvers.
10 - Engineering : Damage control, Identifying enemy mech, gauging a building's structural entigrity
15 - Targeting : Not only does this include firing most of your weaponry, but also spotting and various other techniques
5 - Communications: NPC relations (though this is more influenced by actual RP), but also used for coordinated tactics.
Traits: (Between 1-4. Specific bonuses for your character. Serves as a balancing mechanism for your mech, so expect less if you have a really good one.)
-Space-Born: Like most people raised in space, Alec is comfortable with both high- and zero-G conditions, as well as positional orientations other than the typical head-up feet-down of groundside life.
-That Tingling Sensation: Long years of life in space inure you to the constant presence of death, when a tiny mistake or malfunction could kill you or the entire crew of your ship. For Alec, this has become almost instinctual, a subconscious awareness of small details signalling danger from mechanical problems and external threats, which may manifest from time to time as a vague awareness that something is wrong.
-Mental Coordination: Despite his relative newness as a pilot, Alec has spent a great deal of time training in sims during off-hours, especially with one of the easiest skills to translate from sim work to real combat: the speed at which he can translate thoughts and intentions into actions, particularly in regards to reducing the delay between spotting a target and firing on it.
Name: Hurricane Spirit
Size: Small [+4 to all dodge rolls, Base detection chance: 8]
Role: Scout
Posture: Bipedal, Erect [+2 to dodge rolls, +1 to targeting]
Mount Locations: Main: Shoulder; Secondary: Arm; SD: Arm; Extra 1: Head; Extra 2: Torso; Extra 3: Torso
Engine: Hybrid: Turbocharged Gasoline + Antimatter
Armor: Titanium/Tungsten Alloy (40 mm)
Additional Defenses: Energy Forcefield
Optics: Satellite Uplink Imaging: Radar Imaging [+ 6 to relevant spotting rolls]
+1 Optics: High-Power Adjustable [+ 4 to relevant spotting rolls]
Weapons:
-Main: 9.4mm Heavy Gauss Gun (Computer-Assisted Gyroscopically Stabilized) [Shoulder]
- Aiming difficulty : d30-2
- Ferromagnetic Slug : Kinetic Penetration : 94 mm. Direct Kinetic Damage: d20 Ammo : 30/30
-Secondary: 15.7mm CIWS (AA-Capable, Smart AP Depleted Uranium rounds) [Arm]
- Aiming Difficulty : Automated. Interception chance: 75%
- Smart AP D-Uranium Rounds : Kinetic Penetration : 75 mm. Direct Kinetic Damage: D10-5. Ammo : 40/40
Extras:
-Head: Laser Designator [+2 Aim boost for ally]
-Torso: Radar Stealth Plating [-2 LR detection]
-Torso: Jump Jets [+4 Bonus. 2 Turn cooldown]
-Torso: Active Camouflage [-4 SR detection]
Traits:
-Variable Form: Aircraft
Head
Cockpit
Satellite Uplink Imaging: Radar Imaging
High-Power Adjustable Sensors
Left Shoulder
- 9.4mm Heavy Gauss Gun (Computer-Assisted Gyroscopically Stabilized)
Right shoulder
Right arm
- Secondary: 15.7mm CIWS (AA-Capable, Smart AP Depleted Uranium rounds)
Left arm
- Energy Forcefield Generator
Torso
- Hybrid: Turbocharged Gasoline + Antimatter
Legs