Mecha Space Pirate Quest XLVII

This first mate is obviously Red Siren's knockoff. How many other females do we know that hate Caesar?

Welcome to my world. It doesn't help that Mekton encourages specialization in weapon skills.

So we're holding a tournament with 'Get a chance to fight Roarke Starwind and meet him in person' as the prize?

Sounds fancy.

W̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶C̶l̶e̶m̶m̶y̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶?

I would say a exhibition match between King Swordfish would be more fruitful than fighting the winner. Both as a show of strength and good faith considering the roots of both machines. For the most part though? I think we should empathize as a good middle ground when it comes to the war at large. If both sides fight in the belt, being captured by us, who promise to ransom you back to your people is a better bet than being interrogated by a foreign power. Besides, I saw the tourney as what sort of mechs we should start producing as our new line of grunts.

Not just that, but it's like a smaller big zam that has arms instead of legs. Going to have to give them claws meant for grabbing than hurting. Also, weapon mounts on the torso are REALLY nice once you go for bigger ones. Saves on CP cost like mad.

Hey Wong I got a couple of questions.
Do wings count for conditional movement?
Can weapons built into metaform wings be used in both arm and wing forms?
And is there any real benefit to having a humanoid mech with no hands over having a big jet with VTOL?

>HOW!? You're like a mosquito or a cockroach or an irritating wardrobe assistant, you just won't die!"
Yeah, I'm betting on the Idol that owned the ship that the green skulls used

I was hoping to use the tourney as a recruiting ground, get as many aces as we can in one place and hire as many as we can

"Having a sword wasn't enough to stop that..." You call to mind some of the things Fatima has called you in the past, "...that inbred son of a camel and a sow from getting his teeth punched out. His own allies betrayed him, so he somehow got out of their custody and into a mech."

She sighs heavily, "Thank Allah it wasn't his Khanda Custom, he took a regular Khanda transformable ground-assault vehicle and stuffed it full of all the SOUL technology Fairchild was giving him. He bragged about it quite a bit before...you know..." Her arms tighten around you, engulfing you in a pillowy prison.

"Mrrrrph mrrrh." You reply eloquently, expressing your acknowledgment of her words. She blushes and relaxes her arms slightly. You gulp in some air and repeat yourself, "I know, but if it was some kind of big...stick-insect...praying mantis...thing that turns into a pillbug thing, that's what he was riding."

"Roarke Starwind, do NOT tell me you fought his gaudy, overdesigned toy with your Black Ogre!" She tsks, and ruffles your hair furiously, "At least you had support, probably a dozen or so of your fleet mecha? You must have infiltrated the wedding somehow, maybe in one of the freight haulers?"

You glance to one side, "Well...sort of..."

"Sort of?" She tugs on your ear.

"I sort of landed the Tarrasque on the wedding. With the Kaiser riding on the Tarrasque." You mumble, "After I had you back, he somehow got to his mech and followed us, so I just...you know...went back to face him alone?" You're a brave, brave man, but Fatima's expression right now is scarier than when she's openly angry.

"So you fought him by yourself. Him in his personalized mech, you in your refurbished War-Era machine." She nods slowly, as if absorbing the information.

"I'm a much better pilot than he was." You retort defensively, "And refurbished doesn't mean the same as heavily upgraded. Most importantly, he had it coming. I took a vow, remember?" You grin up at her.

[Continued]

The bigro alone has five different different weapons for fuck sake.

A possibility, but I would disagree simply due to what we know about the Slayer; It can't move if no one is piloting the green harpy. Now, when you look at the battle at Auditorium, the first Slayer attacked once the two other prisoners escaped; Aussie and Sabo-chick. Her knowledge with the systems means she likely has some electronics knowledge.. which could explain the suit she had and the size. Remember; the good doc said the first mate had WOMANLY hips, so she is likely a adult as oppose to a teen.

Then there is the fact that when we rescued the doc and Athena, a harpy went missing and there were implications that Jesus was waiting for something. Soon after, Slayer appeared again. So, it's pretty good odds that they were waiting for us to arrive, Slayer to escape, get back to their ship and get into her remote system.

Welp she mad.

At least we get some high impact sexual violence out of it, or is that just with Clemmy?

I'm not Wong, but as I read it, Wings only add to your MA if you're flying; as long as your permitted movement type involves flying, your Wings should work. On the other hand, if you're on land - using wheels, treads or just walking - you won't get the MA bonus. Not entirely sure what type of MA you count as using if you're underwater, but I'm inclined to say Flight.

For the second, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to.

For the third, you still have an MV penalty from being a Mechafighter, so your VTOL design may end up being more expensive after MV reduction and multipliers.

For the first two, I'd have to check. I'd assume that weapons built into the servo itself could be used in either form. As for your third question, that jet gets -2 MV, which is what keeps everything from being raped by light, fast jets like the Scimitar.

Share your thoughts, bro.

Aye. I put the missiles on weapon mounts connected to the torso, the gattling gun will be a phanalax system attached to the head, Mega-particle cannon is going in the torso(though I may downsize it compared to the Zam's) and it's claws are on it's arms. To make it authentic, this thing is already looking to push past 200 cp, but damned if it won't mess with whomever gets in it's way.

>be random Europan noble girl
>get introduced to dreamboat hero Rudolph Merrow's only son
>be hyped for life of luxury and wealth and arranged marriage to what is surely going to someday be the head honcho of Jupiter
>he spends the entire time playing simgames then calls you a fucking casual when you admit you've never played Bluegill Joe

Clearly those jets aren't mounting enough Verniers / aren't Roadstrikers with out-of-scale 1:1 weapons / are piloted by paraplegics with Parkinson's / don't have enough Design and Decor to prevent their pilots from freaking out when faced with the goddamn Black Ogre.

Forgot about the -2 MV. I put together a couple things ripped off from the Bomber in Airmech and I was wondering.
pastebin.com/kbCkXnRF
pastebin.com/LXZJcv47

I realize they have very little in the way of defense but I just cant stop myself spending the points on more weapons instead. I was wondering what to do for a Condor and a little voice inside my head was telling me to just give it four linked rocket launchers.

Well I mentioned my theory for FM here And for the specialized grabby arms, the largest arm size, beta armor, and a simple +2 accuracy hand would work for our needs. It'd compensate any penalties and 'quick' doesn't matter when doing maneuvers. It's pretty cheap if you go bare bones. Around 30 cp rather than 50+, but it's pretty specialized too.

As for fairchild? Well, to start with, we likely knocked away a few of her guesses. Caring for others could possibly be a trait of Roarke's mom, and being chastized for thinking of the enemy as not human could have been a low blow. Her talk with us screwed over her chances of us playing nicely when she demeaned us when all she had to do was go 'ok, see you there and we'll talk on good terms' and she knows it.

Final thing? We did take off our shades, stared her in the eyes, and made that demand. Considering the nature of Roarke's eyes, she probably saw them go from blue to a feral yellow as he made his statement.

Plus the thing I was ripping off had little in the way of defense anyway besides running the fuck away.

You see the lightning flash in her eyes, and her lips part to deliver a razor-edged barrage of scolding. Then her brow furrows, and she sighs, "There really weren't enough warships or mecha on Mars to stop you from taking me back, were there?"

"I warned him." You keep grinning.

"You're an idiot, but you're my idiot. My wild wolf." She hugs you tight.

"His mech just wasn't as impressive as yours. I had nothing to worry about." You explain.

She smiles smugly and tightens her grip, "Flattery is a sin, Roarke."

"Where is that written, exactly?" You challenge her.

"In the hadith of...of..." She huffs and just hugs you tighter, "Thank Allah you're unhurt."

>[Mention your second duel, while she has you grappled and you can't flee. She'll find out eventually, after all.]
>[She'll find out on her own soon enough. Better not to tell her while she's in perfect position to tire herself out attempting to strangle you.]

>>[Mention your second duel, while she has you grappled and you can't flee. She'll find out eventually, after all.]

In for a penny

Incidentally, I only mentioned her name once, so I'll mention it again. Her name is Rebeca (Rebecca is a misspelling? Really?) Lorde, and this is her portrait.

>>[Mention your second duel, while she has you grappled and you can't flee. She'll find out eventually, after all.]
Add that neither one of us were going for killshots though. It was a melee fight with both of us aiming to incapacitate rather than kill.

>>[Mention your second duel, while she has you grappled and you can't flee. She'll find out eventually, after all.]

We are many things, but a liar isn't one of them, unless it's convenient for us at the time, or if it involves making money, or pissing off fairchild.

...Look I just want to see the fireworks alright?

She seems like the person who would follow us around like a puppy given her portrait.

>[Mention your second duel, while she has you grappled and you can't flee. She'll find out eventually, after all.]

>Thought you should know, Avalon attacked the Martian Gate soonafter. I don't know how much damage they did, but we did managed to capture one of the Paladins

I'm honestly kind of surprised she didn't get more of a REEEE when I introduced her. I guess Zeta Gundam is a little old, but it's still among the best gundams and if you haven't seen it...go fucking watch it, it's good shit.

Given that Roarke is somewhere between a Char and a Treize (and a straight-up Paptimus if you asked Fairchild's opinion and she knew what you were talking about), that's not WHOLLY an unreasonable thing to say.

You know, the fact that Fairchild's hate for our father outshines her love for our mother says a lot about her character. Mainly that she's a total bitch. What kind of a person also gives up like that? Fairchild a shit. An old shit. Call her old.

..and now I remember that line FM said. "My hair is better!". Makes sense if they are the same shade. Well, we'll find out one way or another.

That seems fair. The ship was on the way out, it took a avalonian out of the fight, got us some good loot, and even helped Mars a bit. Though, is it odd that I feel she enjoys this wild side to us? We must seem like a animal that waited by her side with 'presents' laying by her bedside.

I'm not sure you can actually purchase Conditional Movement in that manner. To begin with, the description refers to movement systems - Wheels, Treads, GES, Hydrojets, Thrusters and Gravitics. Wings themselves aren't a system; they're a servo which contains systems.

Secondly, you can only purchase it for a system you would gain a benefit from. You don't actually have Wings in humanoid form, since they're transformed into arms. Therefore, you can't purchase a multiplier to prevent you from using them.

Rereading your earlier questions, you shouldn't be able to use systems in a Wing servo which has been transformed into an Arm; you'd use the systems you've purchased in the arm. There's ways around this, though. For instance, purchasing Command Armor for the limb in question and mounting systems there. The limb transforms, but the Command Armor stays.

Technically it could turn its arms into wings whenever it felt like it, doesnt even have to be a transformable mecha.

All I remember was Kamille was the shit and there was Amuro flying a transport into a Mech Jackass style.

So how should we reward our crew for a mission well done? I'm thinking a beach party with the greatest 80s cover band in the galaxy

Scratch that third paragraph. Just reread the rules to check, and there's nothing to indicate what I just described is the case.

On a somewhat related note, I'm now very confused as to what happens if you purchase Metaform Limbs, but don't have enough spaces in individual limbs after transforming to distribute systems properly.

This is true. I think the intention is more to allow you to transform your four-armed mech into a two-armed, two-winged one, rather than to have a mechafighter with arms, legs and no wings, though.

Like I said, Zeta is good shit.

...

Walk up to each one of them individually and personally thank them for doing a good job.

The metaform wing example is a mech that turns its legs into wings when it transforms so I thought it was much the same thing.

Honestly? I say we get a good meet and greet going and talk to the new captains and their crew. I mean, the Stone soldiers were captured, right? Yet here they are. Also, I want to know where they got those Rocs.

Meant this one I think.

Beach episode was done already. Now is the late night mansion party.

>40 threads later

I agree but we need to do something for our crew they've been doing a pretty good job so far

"It wasn't intentional, but we did have a distraction helping us as we left." That's it, Roarke, just ease into it. No need to crush her with all of the information at once, "We had an exit strategy, but it ended up being unnecessary. Avalon attacked the Martian orbital macrogate platform."

"What!? Those heathen dogs DARED to enter SACRED MARTIAN SPACE!? What happened to the Gate?" She barks, her dark eyes holding the fury of one of the red planet's legendary sandstorms.

"It was damaged, but not destroyed. Mars won. Arguably." You squirm around until she loosens her grip on your neck, laying out on the hospital bed next to her on top of the blankets.

"Arguably? Are the traitors to mankind dead or not?" She presses, "Were you in the battle?"

"Of course I wasn't in the battle, I snuck onto Mars in a stolen freight transport. Those things are practically unarmed, I had less than two dozen mecha on board, and I was busy protecting you." You kiss her forehead, to remind her, and she shoves your chest with a smile. Still, there's no helping it, you have to break the news to her in the best possible way, "I did manage to take one of their ships hostage, though."

"Ahh, that's wonderful! Wonderful...why don't you tell me how you did it?" Her smile is sweet, but has a sharp edge to it, and her nails dig just slightly into your bicep as she hugs you against her.

"Well." You take a deep breath and muster your courage, "So, we were in a rusty little transport ship, right?"

"Right." She confirms, the pressure of her claws on your arm not lessening in the slightest.

[Continued]

It also changes form as its limbs change. I think the implication is that your new limb configuration should still fit the requirements for your body form. It isn't explicitly stated, though, so you can do as you wish.

Here it comes.

Maybe not say anything about the foot massage

Well thats the idea isnt it? Its limited to having wings in its jet form and since it needs wings as a jet its limited to arms in humanoid form.
Also I notice jet mode doubles the wing bonus so they should be going 1100 meters a turn.

Now that I think about it, I'm shocked that there isn't a Cima analog running around being a Pirate.
Also fully expecting JErid and his two waifus to show up at some pointe

The point being that you don't have Wings in humanoid form, therefore you can't purchase a restriction to prevent you from using them in humanoid form to get a CP rebate, since you already don't have Wings to use in the first place.

This being another point entirely from the fact that Wings should not be a valid movement system to select with Conditional Movement in the first place.

Figured that would be part and parcel for the tournament. Some work is involved, but also entertainment and shifts. They had 2 weeks to themselves before the heist, so it's not like there has been too much pressure on them. If we make our super colony, then by all means we do a house warming and celebration.

Makes me wonder though.. could we set up the colony to have warp tech on it? It's not planet size, and it would make a pretty good defense for the belt and our people.

But the only reason it doesn't have wings is because of conditional movement. Other than that it could have wings if it wanted.

What are the odds the UJCIDF will not mobilize its entire army if they suddenly realize we've got a giant mech-carrier death-fortress that can teleport hundreds of miles at a time?

Honestly I'm waiting on Coop or Puru

We've met puru though in a sense, their Judah's daughters and Marida is one of his girls

Having just remembered that 'humanoid' actually means 'do whatever the fuck you want' in Mekton, I see your point.

Regardless, the description is very clear in what you can select as a restricted movement type. Wings provide a Flight MA bonus, but are not a movement system.

"So, funny thing, as the Avalonian ships were fleeing from the UJCIDF and the Holy Militia...who fought very bravely, I might add...one of them mistook us for regular cargo haulers." You're too cool to stammer, the words pour in a measured cadence, smooth and casual, "The Paladin captaining it decided to bribe us for guidance to a safe port. I recommended Auditorium, and led them there."

"Was this Paladin...a word they do NOT have the right for and should NOT be using because they are in NO SENSE knights...male or female?" Even through your leather jacket, you can feel Fatima's nails tightening on your upper arm.

"Female, more than half the galaxy is. That shouldn't be surprising. Anyway, she trusted me enough to follow me..." You try to press on.

"I. Wonder. Why." Fatima looks up at you with more tigerlike eyes than even Domon possesses.

"...And when we arrived and they found out that the cost would be their ship and their mecha, I was challenged to single combat. Another perfectly normal occurrence." You shift slightly to try and lessen the pressure of her grip on you, it doesn't work.

"Mhm. After being hit in the powerplant with a beam saber from the Khanda Custom. You just decided to fight a Paladin of Avalon. Just like that. I only know vaguely of them from my father, but it isn't hard to tell you're talking about an enemy ace who WORSHIPS THE GREEN MEN AND HAS BEEN TWISTED BY THEIR EVIL HANDS, ROARKE STARWIND!" She shakes you vigorously.

"I won!" You protest, "It was tough, but I managed to wrestle her mech's limbs off."

"SO YOU WRESTLED WITH THE AVALONIAN WHORE!" Fatima rolls over on top of you, still cocooned in her blankets. That squeeze is definitely intended to hurt now, "Is she dead?"

>[What say in your defense?]

>I hurt her leg. And we are going to ransom her off.

Hmm, seems a bit of a grey area to me. 200 meters is an awful lot of movement coming from something thats not a movement system.

>Not exactly, shes worth a lot of money though and we can use that money to give you the greatest wedding in the galaxy, and a huge diamond ring

>No, but her mech is trashed and she is our prisoner.

>Fatima, I don't kill people who do wrong because they don't know what they're doing. I kill people who do wrong when they know exactly what they're doing.
>Also, I have enough enemies as is without making more of the Avalonians. I'm keeping out of this war as much as possible.

You could say the same of an Overcharged Powerplant. But the rules are very clear on what constitutes a movement system. Or rather a Propulsion System, as the case may be.

I think one of the top military pilots probably has some sort of idea what they are doing. Also capturing them to ransom and stealing all their shit is probably a good way to make an enemy of them.

>Propose to her to calm her down

Smooth, I like it.

I refuse to forget who I am because someone believes some nonsense. I refuse to exicute surrendering enemies unless they have committed a grave crime, a growing up in a society that feeds them lies is nit such a crime

I wasn't speaking in a tactical sense. I rather meant that she doesn't know the full extent of who she's working under.

And random is pretty standard procedure, as far as I can tell. The fact that we fought her in honorable single combat, and didn't kill her or sell her to the UJCIDF after, should probably affect how she speaks of us to the others back home quite positively.

So when were done here what should we do next? I think either show Master Asia we can break the rock and try to recruit Bruce Kelly, or do the interview

We tricked her into a position where she had to fight anyway. Dude we are literally a pirate who stole her ship, not many pirates getting glowing commendations out there.

"No, I beat up the Avalonian whore. Of course she's alive. I don't like killing people I don't have to kill. It's bad business, it's messy, and it creates people who want revenge on me. Because she's alive, I can get information from her and then ransom her for another big payday. If I start killing people who surrender, word will get out and then it's just work, work, work all the time because nobody will trust me to keep my word. This way is better. She's my hostage, her mech is in pieces, and we're all safe from being accused of peasantry by Countess le Kennedy." You keep your voice calm, smiling at the Martian woman and casually reaching up to adjust your sunglasses.

She glares, but it slowly loses its intensity, "I was a hostage, my wolf. She is not the same as me, she is an enemy of the Solar System. She would see our wills broken by the pollen of her deity, and once again darken the skies of Mars with the bio-constructs of the Green Men. She is an adder curled up in your boot." She pokes you firmly in the chest.

"I need those credits. How else am I going to afford..." You start to say.

>["...to pay my crew, I have to be a responsible leader."]
>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]

>>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]

We already told the rest of the waifus were marrying them

If they speak about us positively over tea and cakes on Avalon, that's fine, but the UJCIDF and Martians are right here in the system with us. When they hear we're buddies with Avalon, what do you think they're going to do?

>>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]

>>["...to pay my crew, I have to be a responsible leader."]

the only problem I can see with trying to ransom Kennedy back to her own people is that we don't know what the Duke will do about her capture. he may just burst in guns ablaze to rescue her, and I don't want that fool or his big ass guns anywhere near Auditorium.

Get fucking rekt by us and Kirito?

>>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]
Through all she's been through? She deserves a nice wedding she can actually remember. Same with the other of course, but considering all that happened.

>>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]

We like it, we sure as hell are gonna put a ring on it.

Yeah, because he inspires so much confidence so far.

>>["...to give you your special day, I have to be a responsible man."]

I'm not happy with sam, or done with rosita yet, but check it wong.

It's an attempt

I'l be honest, the UJCIDF deal is a pretty good one in the short term. As it stands, Avalon's presence in the Belt does us more harm than good, and getting on their good side does us no good anyway because they plan to leave and we don't.
the main downside is that Fairchild is as likely to stab us as shake our hand, and that the Countess dies.
what we need to do is get Fairchild and Eustace to duke it out, and then kill/capture whoever left

How about we let the two sides fight for a while while staying in the background building our forces up and then come in and mop up whats left

Honestly, I feel like if we're smart we could get a bigger profit from the Avalonians simply by using the UJCIDF price as a base. With some good haggling and using our knowledge of the UJCIDF prices, we could get another 30% along with whatever price the crew would have alongside the machines and ship.

Ah the "sit in the corner of the map and hope everyone forgets about you" strategy, a personal favorite.

And while were there we build an axis or two

"...to make up for ruining your special day?" You finish with a smile. Fuck having problems. You've got Fatima back, sharp tongue and all.

She blinks, her momentum halted.

Before she can speak, you continue, "I know. I'm not Martian, I'm under no delusion that I'm a gallant knight no matter what anyone says, I don't come from a rich family and commit crimes to stay rich myself, I've got exceedingly bad manners. Worst of all, I made you wait." You put your arms around her blanket cocoon and sit up, "I've still got the bridal dress you were wearing, and you took my breath away in it. Will you marry me?"

Her cheeks darken to a dusky rose, and she squeaks, "Roarke...you...you..." Her shoulders shake, and for a moment you can't tell if she's happy or murderously angry. Then she throws her arms around your neck, "You're the best boy in the galaxy. Yes. Yes! Even if you're a brute, and even if you really, really do need someone to look after you when you're being an idiot." She squeezes you with a sigh, "I won't be cross anymore. It's my job to make your life easier, not harder. So rest, my wolf, I see how hard all of this has been on you. I'll take care of everything. The Caliph was a good friend of my father, he will hear me if I have to shout my way through every bureaucrat and minister in the planetary government to reach him with my voice, and I will sell this harlot of the Green Men to him for such a price that we will have the most magnificent wedding imaginable. I love you." She feels around for your hands, grabs them, and squeezes them tight, the lights from the ceiling illuminating a gleam of moisture in the corners of her eyes.

>[What say?]

>Don't ease up too much on my it might get boring here then

>well thats good because its going to be a big wedding if you know what I mean