Traveller Mech?
- Thread starter Woas
- Start date
The largest Mech that I think would IMHO feel right in a Traveller game is the Landmates from the anime Appleseed. The idea of a 50 foot tall robot running around in Traveller don't feel like Traveller to me. From what I have read about theory of future battlegrounds everyone is talking low profile hard to target items from tanks to APC's and all that. I cant see giant robots fitting that bill lol. Now I do feel that there should be rules for the creation of them, just for the fact that since i dont want them in my game does not mean everyone feels like that. Back when I was playing a lot of CT I converted rules from cyberpunk to create battledress as in the CT rules a lot of things were never thought of at the time. I had battledress for shipboard duties it was smaller and would allow more use then a great big bulky suit would do. Wasn't as powerful as a heavy suit but as on a ship a heavy suit wouldn't move it was better. I then had a medium suit which was a standard battle unit, and finally a heavy unit for assault which had some Dex mods as it was slower but had heavier weapons and more defense to take some more hits.
Emperor Herdan said:
In non-OTU settings, there might not be any anti-grav. And even in OTU, there are worlds that lack anti-grav tech.
Anyway, Mekton Z is a giant robot game with a lifepath-based chargen system not that dissimilar to Traveller. So you could play an OTU game using MZ and throw in all the mecha you want: MechaTraveller.
rust said:If one has contragrav, what exactly would one need a mech's legs for ?
Maybe the contragrav takes a LOT of power, and though it can greatly lighten the vehicle easily enough, actual flight time is limited? Legs allow 360 degree mobility on ground, and make it easier for the pilot to mentally "merge" with the machine (psi-control) as an extension of his own body.Don't get me wrong, I think large mechs don't make much sense in Trav OTU, given grav tanks and battledress. (Seriously, why would you take a mech over a squad of TL15 grav-belted battledress wearing marines with FGMPs?)
The "Heavy Gear" approach to mechs makes sense in their environment (lots of rough terrain, horrific and unpredictable wind storms, no contragravity or jump drives and very accurate AAA - if it flies, it dies), and the mechs about the size of modern AFVs, and carry more (and heavier) weaponry than a single man would be able to. I could see having "Terra Nova" be an isolated world that has developed some unique solutions to its TL-9 or TL-10 problems.
BattleTech mechs are a lot of fun, and I love the old 3025 setting, but it's more fantasy than science.
The Chef said:
I still see this lower-tech mech as being about tank-massive, with the maximum size being about two-thirds the height of a two-story house. In other words, it'd be a large battleframe, and also be the precursor to BD.
It'd be a single-operator tank, to me.
the tank as it is now really fails in urban environments, hence this is my take on mechs.
the combat walker:
with the days of large, treaded cumbersome tanks comming to a close, and infantry armour not up to the task, here comes the urban pascification unit. This combat walker is ideally suited to the urban environment, packing enough firepower to see off any tracked armour, air carriable and deployable from any altitude, packed with a full sensor suite, anti-personell weapons, grenade launchers and AA.
just fitted into a unit slightly bigger than a human, think an armoured version of the loadlifter from aliens.
This to me is the perfect mech, filling the void between infantry personal armour and tracked/grav armour, that will still suffer in the urban environment.
Battledress as is is available to mainly the marines, for deep space, boarding actions or lightening assults where they need maximum impact in the least amount of space. but for planetary armies, along side the grunt infantryman, grav armour platforms and atmospheric assets there is a need, as there is now, for better armour to be available that doesn't have the limitations of the above. battledress is in my mind just an armoured suit with an exoframe designed for infantry to carry some big guns and to improve their survivability, for extra punch and for close in support i think the combat walker makes sense
Chef
the combat walker:
with the days of large, treaded cumbersome tanks comming to a close, and infantry armour not up to the task, here comes the urban pascification unit. This combat walker is ideally suited to the urban environment, packing enough firepower to see off any tracked armour, air carriable and deployable from any altitude, packed with a full sensor suite, anti-personell weapons, grenade launchers and AA.
just fitted into a unit slightly bigger than a human, think an armoured version of the loadlifter from aliens.
This to me is the perfect mech, filling the void between infantry personal armour and tracked/grav armour, that will still suffer in the urban environment.
Battledress as is is available to mainly the marines, for deep space, boarding actions or lightening assults where they need maximum impact in the least amount of space. but for planetary armies, along side the grunt infantryman, grav armour platforms and atmospheric assets there is a need, as there is now, for better armour to be available that doesn't have the limitations of the above. battledress is in my mind just an armoured suit with an exoframe designed for infantry to carry some big guns and to improve their survivability, for extra punch and for close in support i think the combat walker makes sense
Chef
Borthcollective
Mongoose
How about intimidation factor? That is a reason to build 10 story tall robots.
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
hdan said:
Simple. When you need to take out something larger than what a squad of marines can handle. When you want to take down a capital ship, send a squad of torpedo bombers. If you've got 48 torpedoes (12 bombers each carrying 4 torps) coming at you (each doing 6d6 damage), even a capital ship captain will crap his pants. Likewise, if you've for a 1200 ton advanced gunboat armed to the teeth, are marines armed with man-portable art. going to make a real difference? Not really. Upscale those marines to mechs, even with light spaceship-scale weaponry, and the gunboat will in for a nasty time.
Compare a tank to a mech. What's a tank without it's gun, a sitting duck. What's a mech without it's gun, still a mech. The addition of arms and legs really does give a vehicle versatility to do things that no tank can ever match. A mech can pick up a large tree, a skyscraper, its own fist, etc and use it as a weapon. Tanks never possess that option.
Oh definitely, yes. I don't believe that any military will build a mech before a tank. They're not cost effective enough. But to say that they are less useful than a gaggle of marines is just silly.
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
Jame Rowe said:
Perfect! They draw fire away from the special forces guys that are doing the real fighting of the battle.
Dave Chase
Mongoose
I kind of like the way Maxium Metal (Cyberpunk) handled the whole cyborg/Mech issue
sure you could have a Mech or Borg, but watch you weight. You might get stuck in the basement of a building.
sure you could carry the fire power of a tank and move places it couldn't, and so can your enemy in their Mech.
sure you can wrap youself in a tin suit, but it only has 24 hr life support (or power)
Another system to compare some of the issue to is Heavy Gear. Much more reasonable IMO.
Basically, have your Mechs/Super Battlesuits in Traveller. There will always be the other side that has them too or Weapon tech has reached a point that makes the amount of armor required to survive a hit so great that the suit can't move.
BTW, T5 has these super (battle) suits, and small mechs in it.
Dave Chase
sure you could have a Mech or Borg, but watch you weight. You might get stuck in the basement of a building.
sure you could carry the fire power of a tank and move places it couldn't, and so can your enemy in their Mech.
sure you can wrap youself in a tin suit, but it only has 24 hr life support (or power)
Another system to compare some of the issue to is Heavy Gear. Much more reasonable IMO.
Basically, have your Mechs/Super Battlesuits in Traveller. There will always be the other side that has them too or Weapon tech has reached a point that makes the amount of armor required to survive a hit so great that the suit can't move.
BTW, T5 has these super (battle) suits, and small mechs in it.
Dave Chase
Twin Agate Dragons
Mongoose
Three words: Golvanic Lifting Machine.
Batman Beyond anyone? :lol:
Batman Beyond anyone? :lol:
CaptnBrazil
Mongoose
it was a construction robot that was controlled via a headset that apparently did basic mind reading. An accident and a school kid gets direct control. Not a mech per se, but a semi-autonomous robot. It seemed to change size during the episode but was quite large, at least 3 stories I think.
At least if that is the episode you are referring to.
Yay for an 8 year old son - I no longer need to find an explanation for watching cartoons! My wife always looked at me funny...
At least if that is the episode you are referring to.
Yay for an 8 year old son - I no longer need to find an explanation for watching cartoons! My wife always looked at me funny...
Well the original idea was a game setting/mindset separate from whatever you consider a "Traveller Universe" whether it be your own or the 3I.
Kind of it's own game more along the lines of, well BattleTech or something like it using the Traveller rules more less. That is, no Zhondani or Droynes or Imperium or even Jump Drives. Basically the reason for mechs for the game is solely for the purpose that they are the focus of the game and who cares if they make sense on a tactics level. Take the idea behind spaceship building and make it a detailed mech system where you can upgrade your controls and power plant and sensors, etc. Go for a heavy, slow beast or a fast and nimble raider...
Kind of it's own game more along the lines of, well BattleTech or something like it using the Traveller rules more less. That is, no Zhondani or Droynes or Imperium or even Jump Drives. Basically the reason for mechs for the game is solely for the purpose that they are the focus of the game and who cares if they make sense on a tactics level. Take the idea behind spaceship building and make it a detailed mech system where you can upgrade your controls and power plant and sensors, etc. Go for a heavy, slow beast or a fast and nimble raider...
