Mecha Space Pirate Quest XXII

Right then. Our mission is to get to the base and establish contact. Chances are there are people who are going get in our way or outright kill us. We might have to do some sacrifices and risky plays but our main goal should be getting all three of us there. The mission succeeds then and there. Even if we have to ditch the two suits with us, take their enviro pods and use the King Swordfish's higher speed to boost that much faster, or throwing our lance at them, we must survive.

I can't find this rule anywhere in the books. In both the core book and advanced technical manual it just says what arm servos do, not any limitations on them. Leg servos have a limitation, though.

As for weight, buy some weight efficiency and voila.

Check the Torso description.

Also, I was indeed mistaken. It's a maximum of one size category larger, which means Light Heavy at most.

Couldn't we just swamp them with our superior numbers and fire power? As long as we are in the front its not like they can afford to ignore us and hit the scrubs.

More like Mecha Space Pirate Hunter Quest naow. When are we getting back to the true hero of this story

I'm confused. Wasn't this supposed to be a hostage negotiation mission?

I am assuming that dude is planing for a double cross. Either from the pirates or the military.

So it does. Alright, so we need to upgrade the torso to medium weight to get light heavy arms and that +2 bonus to damage.

It is supposed to be a hostage negotiation mission!If I recall from previous thread, the idea was to;

1) Avoid meeting near Auditorium because of General Fairy's possible hidden agenda to seize remote control of the Jaburo and autopilot it into Auditorium via Sleeper agent/Rogue A.I/Drugged Madman

2) Broadcast and ask for a parley with offers of cash for sam back, and if possible her mech.

That aside, someone did say try not to get Naomi killed, or Caesar might become the biggest villian.
(Please don't get her killed guys! I really like the lighthearted romance.)

Could turn ugly real fast cuz Not!Bane is still with the Green Skulls and Fairy has everg intention of screwing over Roarke

Do not assume that superior numbers are on our side. Their flagship is the most dangerous of the bunch and can likely wreck the Jaburo. Not only that, but our crew is green. VERY green. If people start dying, moral will be broken easily and if Green Mask shows up with A class crew.. then no matter what they have all they will be is free suits and slaves.

We cannot negotiate anything if dead and chances are they will try to take the prototypes and king swordfish from our husks. In a way, creating peace talks with the nicer pirates against the green skulls would bea good thing for the military.. if Fairchild wasn't a evil manipulator.

Or, we could acquire a Remote Control System as we were intending to, and bypass the size limitation by not actually having the servos linked to our Torso.

Though I'm not sure that Remote Control is generally worthwhile, given how prohibitively expensive it is to build even one additional mech for a drone in addition to your existing one.

Why is making cost-effective mechs so difficult in this system?

Their flagship is shit compared to our flagship and our green crew is still in much, much better mechs. Their crew is only one grade better than ours and I know that while that does make a big difference I dont think it makes enough of a difference to mitigate the fact that most of their guys are in the equivalent of jeeps with guns bolted to the back.

The remote system isn't an either/or in this case. More space in the torso and arms just makes it easier to fit in.

We could really use verniers. +1 isn't too prohibitively expensive and makes all our mech rolls better. Our CP cap is 350, right?

As for costs, it's because the designers thought that 6000cp mechs were ok.

I thought we blew up not!bane?

>flagship is shit compared to our flagship
25% more kills
25% more armor
500% more damage on its forward cannons.

Confirmed by the guy running the show to be enough to body the rhinehawk and the yamato at the same time.

That was fake!Bane. Not!Bane is the 3rd member of SOUL-B

Oh. Have we seen them yet?

Forward cannons also have 4000m more range. And since it moves the same speed it can just get in range and blast the ship while constantly staying out of range of retaliation.

That was the Rhinehawk and yamato. Both were relatively small. The Green skull flag ship however is much bigger. You are also assuming that the flagship crew of war hardened vetrans are Bs and consisting only of harpies. We have seen otherwise when they pulled out the morgan and the like.

Even then, the sheer maneuver gap between them and their enemies +12 will make things rather hard to hit. Remember, a gap of 5 is a pretty big chasm in this game. Anything more makes it damn hard for the rookie to succeed.

I was talking about fighting the pirates we know for sure are there.

Ooh, and we're using 36 cp in shields right now. If we get an anti-ranged reactive shield that stops ranged attacks we could get the highest level (stops 15 kills without ablation) for less cost.

And looking at the scaling chapter, it should be theoretically possible to create starship-scale weapons that a mech can use. It'll just cost an absolutely ludicrous amount.

Your stomach handles a jump better than most people's. You're lucky that way, and for once you don't have your dad to thank, he's admitted to you before that he hates space travel in all of its many forms.

Lieutenant Blanchett's S-Swordtail is a magnificent, towering machine, scarlet with black framework. It resembles, heavily, a Greek colossus, complete with a massive bladed Corinthian crest and a T-shaped slit in its impassively blank face. When active, two gleaming points of scarlet appear in the T. It has clawed fingers (decorative, not functional), and a pair of beam axes slung across its back in an X shape, resembling khopesh-shaped metal rods without the plasma projectors turned on. It has a pair of massive, TROMBE-pattern pauldrons that resemble small shields, although you know for a fact that they aren't meant for blocking and contain packets of missiles. It also has a jointed, scorpion-like tail, ending in a flattened kite-shaped plate.

Naomi's is shorter and, frankly, cuter. It's bright purple, trimmed in gold. The gold facemask in the rounded purple head with three bright purple eyes reminds you a little of a three-eyed version of one of those old Terran monkeys called gibbons. It has a pair of beam pistols at its waist, and a large protruding knob on the back holding the plasma screen projector.

Of the three, the tallest is the mighty King Swordfish Mk. II, resplendent in its asymmetrical black and white stripes with its proud alicorn horn and spiral lance. The three mecha have been polished to a shine, and as you prepare to set off the Colonel personally leads the departure salute.

"Warriors of SOUL, be brave, be persistent, be full of spirit! The mighty bolts of Jove smite your enemies! The lion skin of Hercules protect you! Go forth, and return in victory!"

[Continued]

It would help if my post hadn't somehow got eaten twice.

Are you including the some 34 spaces it'll take to install that shield (or more, if weight is determined before cost scaling).

If you stat it, Karen can build it.

>TROMBE-pattern pauldrons
..We must save this man and his suit. His sound system could possibly over ride ANYTHING.

Even if 'it' costs in excess of 400 CP, is horrendously ineffective, is an 'Oid and/or has a Remote Control System for no reason other than to ineffectually dropkick a faggot 8 times per turn?

>he just plays one song on a loop
youtube.com/watch?v=KnnbLMCZAXc

"Pierre Blanchett, S-Swordtail, LAUNCH!"

"Naomi Heim, S-Puffer, LAUNCH!"

"Heinrich Merrow, King Swordfish Mk. II, LAUNCH!"

The three of you exit the catapults as a single unit. The twelve huge thrusters set into a pair of large, spiral-shaped nacelles dangling over your shoulders and down your back lift perpendicular to your spine, spinning rapidly as they fire up. Icy blue light traces your path through the stars, along with the scarlet of the S-Swordfish and bright yellow of the S-Puffer.

You're pleased to see that the Colonel took your advice about wide-ranging patrols. Although they don't get in your way, a lot of Bluegills and Pumpkinseeds with the occasional missile-bearing Palomino or larger Warmouth and Morgan II are visible as you look around. Ahead of you, several kilometers distant, Auditorium glows with scarlet neon light and images of Red Siren's smiling face. Like a huge, metallic cigar slowly rotating in space, the whorl of silver and red is almost hypnotic. You never really expected to come here, but here you are, and you're actually being relied on for once. The pressure is intense.

"Merrow, slow down, don't pull ahead of us." The Lieutenant calls out, not ungently, over the comms. "Speaking of which, comms check!"

"Check!" You respond promptly.

"Check!" Naomi laughs.

You glance down as you leave the protective shroud of the Jaburo's guns and patrols. There are plenty of Harpies in the vicinity of Auditorium, but they're giving you a wide berth and staying close to the colony.

So, it's rather notable when a bay opens and a trio of machines exit, coming directly towards you.

[Continued]

Prepare to drop the spaghetti

slow down, shown no aggressive attitude.

Spaghetti droppage is for when we arent in our death robot.

..Keep calm, make sure we can figure out who these guys are. Because if they are fakers, we could be in trouble.

Ah, good point. I'm a bit confused by our stat block looking over it now, though. If the shields we had were standard, they should take 1 slot but only cost 12cp. if they were active, they should take 9 slots and cost 18 cp.

But lets see, we have 7 space to work with, so we need to drop 27 size, which would be 13.5 additional SP. Total cost would be 34+13.5=47.5, or 11.5 more than we currently spend on shields. Anything that does 15 kills or less of ranged damage would just bounce off.

Stat line would be something like
Reactive Anti-range mega heavy shield (15SP, 47.5CP, 7S, 7.5T) And it'd be spread through both arms and the head.

Remember Roarke likes to take trophies off of worthy opponents

So if it comes down to fighting we take Caesar's horn?

Didn't we only do that to Zangief, though?

Man you know they aren't giving the Sergeant back. If they do there is nothing stopping us from blasting them!

Give the pirates a little credit, they aren't -that- stupid.

..So mention the trophy of his crest. If he doesn't respond or tease then something is off.

We took the Bosun's mask, besides them no one has really been worthy

There is our good word. If we just shoot people right after we get prisoners back we wont see many prisoners coming back to us alive.

The fact that a government is negotiating with pirates at all is strange.

Pirates getting hands on advanced military cloaking technology is a pretty strange situation.

Thats the point. We did it only to zangief. If they are trying to frame us, masquerading as Roarke, then we can counter them and break off.

Not that strange negotiations have always been a thing. Even bandits understand its sometimes better to cut losses.

Especially with General Fairchild running the show.

How are people going to masquerade roarke? We saw them come out of the station. The one roarke is still on. People would know fairly sharpish what was going on.

Since yours is the one with the ASP, you enlarge your sensor screens. That...that is a rather large number of highly illegal CIWS turrets installed on Auditorium.

You slow down, and your squadmates do the same.

A voice crackles over the comms, "Yo, unidentified mecha. This is First Mate Miles Longshadow of the Iron Kestrels. ID yourselves for the sake of formality and state your purpose here. You're too fucking close to our bay and we don't like the look of that battleship you've got, so keep your distance."

Closer up, it's an awkward looking black and silver saucer flanked by an ungainly looking jet and a more elegant, bladelike jet.

As one, they transform into their humanoid form. The one in the rear with the big cannon still looks pretty awkward.

"...Should we not be more polite, leader?" Inquires a softly masculine voice from the most refined-looking of the three. You can only assume they're some kind of big Harpies.

"They're the fucking UJCIDF, they don't have feelings." The leader responds.

You hear a sigh over the comms, "This is Lieutenant Pierre Blanchett of SOUL Squad A. We're here to negotiate the release of Corporal Samantha Blanchett. Please inform your captain tha-"

"HEY. You think I'm joking, or are you trying to be cool, silent types? I only like that shit when it comes from my boyfriend, so you'd better tell me why you're here before I get angry." The leader's sniper rifle gesticulates angrily at the three of you, "Who's in charge? Is it you, Caution Stripes? Maybe the pink one? Or is it big red? We've got a headpiece like that in our bar, I wouldn't mind making it twice as big if you shitheads don't start talking NOW!"

>[What do?]

You think the LT is going to be content to let these guys go after they beat him up and kidnapped his sister?

Pft.

He is going to do what he is told because he is a soldier and not a goddamn teenager who fell into a mech.

oh shit, they cut out our comms?

should we get out of the mechs to show we arent dangerous?

By the way, the Master Harpy Rick Variant is up on the pastebin. Someone was dissatisfied with missiles in an earlier thread because they're usually shaped charges rather than having a big, explosive radius. Richard Thorslund's Gungnir launcher, however, does not have that limitation.

...and neither does the S-Swordtail, whose stats are forthcoming. I'm still working on Naomi's S-Puffer, I've had to redo it more than once.

Have everyone in the squad try to contact the pirates. If that fails, try to relay comms through the battleship. Put out one hand in a stopping motion while we figure things out. Maybe tap our head in the ear area?

Raise our hands in a placating manner, they try to hail them. If nothing works, we gesture talking with our hand and then shrug.

Hope for the best.

Pantomime time motherfuckers.

damnit Miles, why would we let her be in charge of something like this. If anything I would use Richard.

S-Swordtail

Medium Weight Torso: C/S/K 12, 6 tons
Medium Weight Head: C/S/K 6, 3 tons
Medium Weight Left Arm: C/S/K 7, 3 tons
Left Hand: 2 CP, 1 Space, 1 Kill, 0.5 tons
Medium Weight Right Arm: C/S/K 7, 3 tons
Right Hand: 2 CP, 1 Space, 1 Kill, 0.5 tons
Medium Weight Left Leg: C/S/K 7, 3 tons
Medium Weight Right Leg: C/S/K 7, 3 tons
Medium Weight Tail: C/S/K 6, 3 tons

Armor: Medium Weight (7 SP, 7 CP, 3.5 tons) on all locations

Main Sensors (Head): 4 CP, 1 Space, 2 Kills, 1 ton
Backup Sensors (Torso): 2 CP, 2 Spaces, 2 Kills, 1 ton

Options: Torso Cockpit with Environment Pod (2 CP, 2 Spaces), Torso Storage Module (1 CP, 1 Space), Liftwire (0.3 CP), Spotlights (0.2 CP), Interservo Melee Weapon Link (Beam Axes 7 CP), Interservo Weapons Linkage (Howler Missile Launchers 3 CP), Deluxe Anti-Theft Lock (0.4 CP), Stereo (0.1 CP)

Armament:
[Handheld] Beam Axe x2 (Stats show an individual axe): WA 0, 7K (only 2K of structure), EMW (treats SP as 4 less than usual), 6 CP, 6 Spaces, 1 ton
[Arm-Mounted] Howler Missile Launcher x2 (Stats show an individual missile launcher pauldron): Range 400m, WA 0, 5K (per rocket, 3K of structure), 10 rockets, Burst 1 (150m diameter blast, other targets in the blast radius if it directly hits a target cannot dodge and may only parry with a DA 0 or advanced shield, resolved like an area of effect attack), 19.5 CP, 6 Spaces, 1.5 tons
Tail-Mounted Active Shield: DA 0, SP 8, 19.5 CP, 6 Spaces, 4 tons

Thrusters & Speed: 7 per leg, 5 in the torso, moves 400 meters per turn in flight or can run 200m. 19 CP
Total Weight: 60.5 before 2CP of Weight Efficiency, total 59.5 tons
Total Cost: 216.5 CP

haha what who even take ECW mang

Raise hands in a sign of non-hostility, and start Morse Coding with our spotlight. Hopefully one of them knows Morse.

If our comms are cut, put up our hands in a sign of not wanting to fight. Thats the important thing. Any sign language could work as well. Mo likely knows some military signs for 'comms dead'.

Probably because she is our second in command.

Either use Morse like user says or step out of the suit and float up to our mechs comms and point at it.

Stepping out of your mech while there are multiple pirates in gun range is probably the dumbest idea i've ever heard.

Well then. What are the chances of simultaneous failure of the same system on three different mechs fresh out of maintenance?

See if we can blink our mech's eye light in Morse code. And start squawking lost comms on whatever passes for a transponder in this universe.

Well, since we heard the LT go out on comms we at least have some functionality. There should be a universal guard or distress frequency we can try to contact them on.

they'll be too bamboozeled at a guy getting out of his mech to do anything for a turn at least

Damn, missiles, Roarke's only weakness.

WAIT, is it possible to use that blue gil joe game's email system to contact miles and send a message that way? Could work. Should be able to tell by the banter and name she's that miles person.

Caesar has no idea these pirates are the people he's played against.

Names, attitude and Int10 man. It's pretty easy to tell and obvious even to us. He's got genius int. Right now anything that can avoid someone doing something stupid is better than nothing.

They did not use names, we have had all of one line to discover their attitude and int10 isn't magic.

>"Yo, unidentified mecha. This is First Mate Miles Longshadow of the Iron Kestrels. ID yourselves for the sake of formality and state your purpose here. You're too fucking close to our bay and we don't like the look of that battleship you've got, so keep your distance."

That sounds like a name to me and she was the one who was the loudest against us.

Pirates shit talking you isnt exactly a stand out characteristic.

there are shitloads of miles in the universe, dude chances are (IC) that the player named mileshighclub and this miles are the same user are very low.

>yfw it actually wasn't her and Wong is just rusing us

Well its better to try than not. Speaking of, we need to make sure we can contact the Jaburo as well and make sure the rookies don't do something stupid. Anything to prevent a full scale battle at a enemy fortress.

dude, it was something that happened about a week ago. and it was a game. the other options are way more reasonable than this one.

Well, except for getting out of our mech. That one is more insane than this plan.

Saying hi to everyone you ever meet on the off chance they're actually some faggot you know online isn't exactly normal behavior, especially when in a tense standoff compounded by technical issues of questionable origin.

"Hey, pirate." It's a breach of protocol for you to address an enemy without authorization, but there might really be something wrong with the Lieutenant's comms.

"I AM DEAD SERIOUS YOU BASTARDS! I need parts for a better railgun, and I'll take it out of your hides if you cross me." That big rifle is pointing dead on at Naomi. You don't like that. You don't like that one little bit. You like the big missile boat's huge launcher even less.

"LT, what's going on? Our comms are working, aren't they?" Naomi calls out.

"Ally frequency is." The LT chips in.

You begin flashing your spotlight in morse code at the pirates, they stare at you.

"He's flashing me right in my eyes, Rick. He wants to die. He wants me to shoot him." Miles' gun swivels around towards you. You have your finger on the trigger of your lance. She's about five hundred meters away, you could reach her.

"Please, I think he is speaking Morse code." The smallest of the big Harpies pushes the First Mate's gun away.

"Well I don't speak no fucking Morse code. How do I tell 'em to surrender?" She sounds quite sulky.

[Continued]

I have no idea if coms in space are radio based, but if they are and ally comms are working, can we change the frequency of our ally comms to some universal broadcast band and turn off encryption?

goddammit, why of all people they send miles as the squad leader to deal with this?

Because she's the first mate. You know, second highest authority on board the ship?

Thank god, communicate the problem and have the other two start communicating with the ship and rookies. We need to be on our toes if a squad doesn't report in.

i think that those frequencies are disabled or blocked. supposing everything is digital, that is quiet easy.

Because she is the second highest ranking person in our organization I would guess.

oh. that makes sense.

It could be worse. It could be Oda.

Not if it somehow doesn't interfere with ally communications. I'm not even sure how you could do that. It'd be a painfully complex program to write.