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[Comrade P.]

The HRB isn't a modification of the assaultsuit. Built using similar technology, but nowhere near a "variant".

Speaking of, we really should define some variants for the assault suit. As in, actually define them. So far the only one I know the specs for is the one that doesn't actually exist yet - the Energy Weapon variant.

Melee variant for Assaultsuit would be not useless, I think. As in, it should be able to obliterate anything that comes in range of several meters and be able to engage to that distance quickly. Might come in handy for indoors use.

As of modifications, piledriver fists or plasma stakes, mobility feet, that sword-ish thing melee variant of battlesuit used, improved rocket engines which allow flight. Maybe some armor thickness should be sacrificed for the sake of increasing mobility.

[Parisbre56]

Integrated weapons are good for conventional weapon users, since you can get around 20 tokens worth of anti-heavy-armour equipment for free in exchange for some of the equipment you are unlikely to miss very much. An integrated kinetic and an integrated energy weapon would be best. I suggest Heavy PEW or Super Heavy Laser (or both) for the energy and Heavy LESHO or Heavy Shard Launcher (or both) for kinetics.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The Energy Weapons one has twin PEWs mounted in the arms. Completely inside the arm housing, covered by armor, firing through the hands like the Iron Man's repulsors.

This reduces the effective strength of the Assault Suit to about Battlesuit level (higher base strength, but less space in the arms for the muscles), but that's about the only drawback. The PEWs are wired directly into a distributed cooling system within the suit, and as such are never "out of ammo" - but they're still limited to firing once a minute each, and firing too often will cause the inside of the suit to get uncomfortably hot.

A version with Radio's blaster bazookas could be made too, I suppose. Or one of each.

[Execute/Dumbo.exe]

Has it ever been established that the HEP couldn't be modified to have a smaller or shorter blast in exchange for faster charge time? Or does the 'Black Box' construction of the HEP make anyone unable to?
Because who doesn't wanna see an agent going 'pew pewpewpew' as people are flung backwards with slightly smaller than normal gaping holes in their chests?

[Sean Mirrsen]

The HEP is largely blackboxed, yes. If Anton can get a break from his other tasks, he's going to be completely reverse-engineering the thing, for a new line of weapons. and maybe other applications as well.

[syvarris]

The HRB is sufficiently different in my mind to justify having a seperate page, both in design and operational niche.  All variants of assaultsuit can go indoors, but they're not very effective there.  A HRB is built to excel in that sort of environment--The entire point is that it's a tank-like unit that can go where no tanks go.

As far as AS variants, the only one which exists is the mobility variant, mostly because I felt that it was the only really worthwhile variant.  People have since convinced me otherwise--Sean's raised some very good points for a energy weapon variant, and someone (Nik? Radio?) convinced me that even 'worthless' variants are a better buy than going back to the battlesuit to buy them, which therefore justifies their design.  I'm still not gonna do urban or extreme environment, because they're both redundant.

@Comrade
I really dislike the concept of melee *suits.  Admittedly, they're more effective than anything else at it, but running into enemy fire so that you can hit people with a sword is still a stupid idea.  Even moreso with the AS, because it's more vulnerable to small arms fire.  I'll still make it, because there will be fools who'd buy a battlesuit just for the melee variant, but I don't think it's a valuable addition.

[Radio Controlled]

Oh my, is syv becoming customer oriented? and here I thought he was a true blooded Ford!

Anyways, what kind of features does the assaultsuit have that it can trade away for other stuff? I believe the flight version lose soles armor, right? Anything else?

Also, I thought the assaultsuit was indeed smaller than a battlesuit, but not that much smaller that it can suddenly fit indoors much better than a battlesuit (which can sometimes fit, but often will have to crouch, and regular houses are out either way without wrecking them). Or at least, not small enough that pw would treat them differently. I can very well be wrong though.

((Also, it'll take a while to respond to the bigger spoilered post. Because I need an actual computer for stuff like that.))

[Parisbre56]

@Comrade
I really dislike the concept of melee *suits.  Admittedly, they're more effective than anything else at it, but running into enemy fire so that you can hit people with a sword is still a stupid idea.  Even moreso with the AS, because it's more vulnerable to small arms fire.  I'll still make it, because there will be fools who'd buy a battlesuit just for the melee variant, but I don't think it's a valuable addition.

Don't think of it from a logical real life perspective. Of course no real military force would send people charging at enemy tanks with swords... well most real military forces wouldn't, there are some brave/stupid/crazy people out there.

But from a gameplay perspective, it makes the battlesuit more viable for manip users, since you can give them heavy armour and the ability to take the time to more safely use their manipulator, but you also give them an unconventional weapon they can use when they want to conserve their brains. Unless you can combine multiple brains to create a heavy manipulator for them, although I don't see any use for that.

Something for exotic users would also be nice, but I have no idea which weapon would be good for an exotic battlesuit. A giant pimp cane, perhaps? (coupled with a top hat?) Or giant integrated sandbag that can be used to wrap it in a shroud that sandblasts surrounding enemies away? Or maybe a bit of both? Or a giant force infuser so that it can catch gauss cannon rounds and lob them back?

And perhaps a drone command battlesuit for aux users, essentially a lightly armoured flying/cloaked suit that scouts positions, stays out of the way and designates targets for its artillery drones or fighter drones or whatever. Maybe with some repair equipment added for those who go for the aux+handi combo. Maybe they could even use it to take control over enemy drones somehow... adda sensor/hacking package? Needs some thought. I don't really play aux, so I don't know what they really need. Same with the other professions.

[syvarris]

@Radio
I've always been semi-customer oriented.  It's just that now I'm taking into account customer psychology too.

Anyway, the AS can trade away armor, the arm kin.amps, overdrive mode, electrification system, wheels, riding handles, and maybe the emergency eject pod?  It might also have jump rockets, but I'm not certain those weren't removed already.  I have to check.  Another thing that could be traded is exoskeleton strength.  The mobility variant trades away one set of hex composite armor, which is cost-wise the same as on the original BS.

It lost the claymores to pay for the new things like wheels, so any BS variant that lost claymores can't be directly converted.

And yes, the AS is much smaller than the BS.  It's at least twenty two inches thinner, plus the benefits from being a more compact/efficient design.  PW said it could fit through slightly larger than average doors, which is why I said it could 'squeeze' through doors.  Should I change it to specify 'slightly larger than average'?

It's not effective indoors, but it can crouch and crawl through them easily enough.

@Paris

You make good points, I haven't really considered space magic user much.  I've always figured that a space magic user's best variant would just be the toughest one, which is pretty much just the standard variant.

As an aux user, I think any variant is great.  Aux doesn't really have any particular area that it focuses on, and it can mimic most other specializations given the correct equipment.  An aux person could buy a variant meant for a different specialization, and can then mimic their role.

The stealth idea is very interesting.  Something that trades the armor and most of the special systems for cloaking.  I'd have to talk with PW about it.

I'll ask for variant ideas in the OOC thread after I'm done with the forcefield material.

[Radio Controlled]

Hmm. Yeah, that's a significant difference in size. Now just ensure pw doesn't forget that, and we're golden!

As for Aux variant, maybe a version that comes with hardpoints to mount weapons?

[Parisbre56]

3. That one was apparently an unknown crystalline aluminum alloy. It's not very robust, but it's like a tuning fork; it can vibrate to different resonate frequencies and maintain that vibration for a long period. Not sure of the uses yet, but it can be replicated.

Could be useful in atmosphere to control blacksand and create walls of it to block sight and energy weapons and create a safe area. Or to isolate an area when we want to keep people in it and prevent them from getting anything in or out, including non-QEC transmissions. Or create an extreme digger that will use the sand to keep digging for hours. Since aluminium is cheap and blacksand can replicate, it could be used as a last resort doomsday device. Drop a bunch of those things on the planet and let them tear everything apart with deadly self replicating energy absorbing sandstorms and violent vibrations.

[NAV]

Can I come to Hephaestus when this mission is over? Not permanently, just for a mission cycle or two.

@assault suit variants
The integrated weapon variants should be:
-PEW
-Heavy shard launcher
-Heavy electrolaser
-Heavy Lesho
Those are the main high tier weapons that someone with a battlesuit would buy, and they all have different roles/damage types.
Might also want to look into Lukas' particle cannon thing, see if that's worth making a variant for.

I'm a huge fan of the stealth/drone suit idea.

Does Exo really need any assault suit variants? Space magic is already overpowered enough, maybe its best to leave the mechs as something for the Con boys.

[syvarris]

I certainly wouldn't mind you coming over, and I highly doubt Sean or Nik would object.  Do note that you won't be an admin, and will therefore be restricted to tinkering and playing with artifacts.  Also, you'd technically be lower ranked than us, especially Nik since he currently oversees all engineering and artifact research.  I doubt anyone would actually use their authority unless you became a danger, but fair warning.

What's your specific reasoning for wanting to visit?

As far as the weapon variants you suggested... Well, I really wouldn't want to make a specific variant for each, if only to avoid bloat, but I could see making a single "Heavy Weapons Platform" variant which can come with any single heavy weapon.  Also, I'd probably go with an even larger variable-wavelength laser rather than an electrolaser--The VWL can do electrical damage using microwaves, IIRC, and otherwise it has many more options.

[Comrade P.]

Guys, remember Coilgun? AKA Gauss assault rifle Avatar uses? Are those available through armory?

[syvarris]

Probably, as custom equipment.  The AM is willing to make lots of things that are non-standard.  You're not getting one standard though.  If you want an automatic weapon your options are the testament, rocket rifle, or sibilus.  I've been wanting to make a low cost gauss automatic as a replacement for the gauss rifle for a long time, but it's so far down my list that it probably won't happen before Steve betrays us.  Sorry.

Also, this is more of a general OOC question.