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In the case of Titanfall, a Titan can act autonomously (and can even get a modification to get even smarter self-combat AI), but it's almost always preferred that the Pilot is at the helm, since you can't beat human ingenuity and whatnot.

One of the default pre-mades in GURPS 4th ed is C31R07 who is a 1.2 ton Greek Combat Robot who became a Tibetan Ascetic Buddhist monk. He's on page 307 of Basic Set Characters.

>it's almost always preferred that the Pilot is at the helm
Not least because (at least as far as the Militia is concerned) in the worst case scenario, losing a Titan is immensely preferable to losing a Pilot in that dynamic. The Titan serves to actively protect the Pilot, even at extreme risk to itself.
youtube.com/watch?v=HwbutTQ8Yow

RIFTS, hands down.
>google.de/search?tbm=isch&q=robotech rifts

Basically any mecha game would work. If the pilots have stats, give them 0 in all the physical ones and put everything else into mental stats and maybe charisma, depending on how well the AI is supposed to interact with people. Then build a mech as normal and use it for the main body. Replace any ejection rules with a system that ejects the main computer.

Also thanks for the idea OP, I'm probably going to do this myself for the next mecha game I play in.

>losing a Titan is immensely preferable to losing a Pilot
What's so special about the pilots?

They're all crazy hardcore gofast OPERATORS OPERATING OPERATIONALLY.

The pilots are literally the human population you're trying to defend. The Titans are totally replaceable machines.

Easier to build a new robot than training an operator who can both operate operationally on foot AND pilot titans than to let your pilots die en masse and spend years trying to replace just a single one of them.

Titans are extremely expendable. A "titanfall" in universe is when a Titan is dropped from orbit after being called in by a pilot, and you have plenty of titans on reserve that can be dropped in as needed. Titans are so expendable that the pilot isn't even expected to be inside them all the time. In a lot of situations, they're more useful acting autonomously and providing support for the pilot while they do something more important on foot.

Standard rank-and-file soldiers are referred to as "grunts" or "riflemen." A fully certified Pilot is basically an ace among aces, and that's BEFORE they get in their Titan.
youtube.com/watch?v=nHvoaAAhGno

>mfw POGs are the master race now

...

POGs?

gosh, what the fuck

Anyone that isn't an infantry grunt.

I hear the way GURPS does it is the mecha actually gets started out as a separate character so that might be perfect

>OPERATORS OPERATING OPERATIONALLY.
Where does this come from?

Did the guy just get grabbed in the dick?

Yes, yes he did.

The OTC for real OPERATORS doing OPERATOR shit that only OPERATORS can do.

Modern special forces units wanted a term to distinguish themselves, since Commando wasn't cutting it anymore.

Oh okay.

>Team of Navy SEALS break into your server room
>"OPERATOR, PLEASE HOLD!"

Buddy, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

titanatelier.com/hentai/original/

[CONCERN]

It's also becoming arguable to what degree the pilots are actually "human". Jack Cooper (the protagonist of the sequel) is clearly 100% human, at least during the events of the campaign, but if we're going to go all head-canon mode on this, there are a few things pointing to inhuman pilots.

The first--and most obvious--being the way that Regeneration is worked into the setting. Pilots are presented with the following option upon reaching max level in multiplayer in TF1.

>Years of battle have taken their toll. We can regenerate you... at a cost. Your body can be restored. But your memory and your experience...all will be lost.
>When you awaken you will respawn a [next level] generation Pilot. You will be better, sharper, acquiring experience even faster than before.

Upon accepting, the player's screen shuts down and shows a brief, DOS-like command line wherein the pilot is essentially rebooted (and presumably their body is either repaired or replaced in some manner).

Titanfall 2 makes some interesting additions to this. Namely, that literal robotic-bodied pilots are now available for use by players. AI is something that exists in the Titanfall universe, so it's not out of the question that these are full-fledged robots piloting other, larger robots--but these characters are also capable of regenerating, just like fully-human pilots. If we want to get *really* out there, we can take into account a quote from the first game in reference to a consumable that allowed you to spawn as a robot (pic related). The implication appears to be that, in-setting, the "brain in a robot" trope is at least possible. This might not have been the intention, but these taken together kind of paint the picture of a pilot where, the longer he's out in the field, the less human he is.

Continued:

It's also worth noting that a lot of the perspective on Pilots changed with the sequel. In TF1, Titans were painted more like walking tanks than buddy-cop partners, and Pilots were essentially tankers. Every mission involved you dropping in with a number of other Pilots just like yourself, and the feeling was generally far less "elite".

In Titanfall 2, as early as the cinematic intro we see Pilots painted as something less "Starship Trooper" and more "Master Chief", and the NPC reactions added in 2 back that up. You'll hear things like "Look, a pilot--now the odds are in our favor." and other cheesy shit like the ODST say when Master Chief shows up. It's obvious that Respawn took a very real interest in showing Pilots as "special", compared to other parts of the military.

This might not be canon, but a lot of the stuff above could be argued to paint a compelling picture of pilots, not as highly trained soldiers, but as increasingly inhuman weapons of war, à la Spartans in Halo, and that veterans may not be human at all. In this context, it becomes easier to imagine why a Pilot is less expendable than a Titan.

DEEPEST LORE

But seriously, I never looked into the Titanfall universe that deeply even though I love the first game. That's actually pretty interesting.

Transhumanism is a fairly large chunk of Titanfall worldbuilding.

I haven't seen a mecha system that DOESN'T have an AI feature.

>The implication appears to be that, in-setting, the "brain in a robot" trope is at least possible.
PC simulacrums are, for the most part, a brain in a jar attached to full-body prosthetics. They retain vestiges of their life before their prosthesis, hence why they have gender, wear clothes, and have furry tails for "hair."

Person Other than a Grunt, the guys you wouldn't send into battle with the intention of firing a weapon directly at the enemy.

Being big enough for other people to ride on/in me is my magical realm. I think having someone snuggle up on my back while I make the long trek to the battlefield is super hot.

I don't trust those Bradleys. The Abrams, the M60s, they don't do no shifty stuff like that: they're married to the job.

Mekton Zeta has rules for things like this. Specifically the expansion book Mekton Zeta Plus.

A word of warning, the theming in the book is heavily influenced by anime but, there's very little if any rules wise that's strictly anime.

What infuriates me the most about these things is that they would be actually amazing as war machines, like a armored dog with a big-ass cannon on his back or even as some sort of alien that takes over the machine while it's standing in the garage and suddenly wrecking havoc in the base. Or a CoC Boss maybe.

BUT NO, THEY HAD TO BE SEXUALIZED WITH ABSTRUSE FETISHES!
FUCK THIS GAY EARTH!

I always wanted to run a campaign where the classic fantasy monsters are replaced with machines infected with spirits/aliens/whatever.

A bit like the monsters in this gallery: hydrothrax.deviantart.com/gallery/51104299/Monster-Machines

The quad concerns

/* How deep does this go? */

Technically you could use most of 's content if you leave out the right/middle part and the right bottom picture to give a creepy description of how the machine gets infested and gains sentience.

Imagine the poor sap who wanders into the hangar and suddenly has a tank cannon in his face.