Project Knight [Mecha Design Bureau]

[X] [Body Size] Compact Hull
[X] [Body Style] Ergonomic Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Medial Legs
[X] [Actuators] Durable Actuator Design
 
@Verisaimilitude Quick question why did success drop our A to a B in the miniaturization roll? Isn't that a loss?

[Small Chassis] This is equivalent to a 6m bipedal mech in tonnage (est. 55-75t), standing 4m max height, 6m in length.
[+2] Structural Efficiency
[-1] Technology Cost

The 'Small Chassis' reduced your Technology Cost Rating (I might rename that to make it a bit clearer, but it got worse effectively), the success was to limit the extent of that reduction, not prevent it. Although it's good you pointed out because there is a mistake there, it should've only been reduced to B+ on a minor success - I'll fix that.
 
[X] [Body Size] Enlarged Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Medial Legs
[X] [Actuators] Powerful Actuator Design

Technology Cost decreases from A to B | (13 vs. Diff 9 - minor success)

So, we want this, and the other cost rating, to do down?
Edit: Okay, I think I get where things got skewed, which is that I think the readers, myself included, got mistaken in what "-1 technology cost" actually means. I saw that as we are decreasing how much is being spent to make it. Which seems to be the opposite of what is intended?
 
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So, we want this, and the other cost rating, to do down?

No, the opposite. You want all ratings to be as close to S as possible in a perfect world. I've named them badly, and I'll think about how to name them better. Production and Technology Cost should be renamed so that's more clear that higher rating is better, but I'm stuck on a better name right at this moment.
 
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Yikes! Lots of options.

[X] [Body Size] Balanced Hull
[X] [Body Size] Enlarged Hull

[X] [Body Style] Reinforced Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull

[X] [Limb Style] Simple Lateral Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Simple Dorsal Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Dorsal Legs

[X] [Actuators] Basic Actuator Design
[X] [Actuators] Simplified Actuator Design
[X] [Actuators] Durable Actuator Design

So, we want this, and the other cost rating, to do down?
I think we want the rating to stay high, but we're 'spending' that rating to bolt more goodies on. So they start high, and go down as we spend our budget.
 
[X] [Body Size] Enlarged Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Medial Legs
[X] [Actuators] Durable Actuator Design
 
[X] [Body Size] Snub-Nosed Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Lateral Legs
[X] [Actuators] Powerful Actuator Design

This plan is built as much on feel as it is on logic, but my thinking is that the Snubnosed and Gunboat combo largely counters the drawbacks at the cost of slightly reducing the advantages.

The actuator choice is heavily thematic rather than optimized because I want to make the rear legs beefy and dub this the Flea.


No, the opposite. You want all ratings to be as close to S as possible in a perfect world. I've named them badly, and I'll think about how to name them better. Production and Technology Cost should be renamed so that's more clear that higher rating is better, but I'm stuck on a better name right at this moment.
Production/Technology Cost Efficiency?
 
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Maybe replace Cost with Value? "-1 Production Value" conveys that lowering it is a bad thing more then "-1 Production Cost."
This could! My only worry is that Value may not necessarily map to everyone as 'the unit cost is low' which is the most important part (but I think it's better than Cost for sure.) I think Tech Availability could work for the Tech value, since it's really about how hard is it to make/source the parts, but with production cost I'm debating if there's any better word combo still, something that really hones in on the price of the Mech as a key factor. I'll decide come the next update.

Production/Technology Cost Efficiency?

Production Efficiency is one I actually considered, but I worry it might feel too similar to Build & Repair Speed?
 
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The 'Small Chassis' reduced your Technology Cost Rating (I might rename that to make it a bit clearer, but it got worse effectively), the success was to limit the extent of that reduction, not prevent it. Although it's good you pointed out because there is a mistake there, it should've only been reduced to B+ on a minor success - I'll fix that.
Cool, just wanted to be sure.
[X] [Body Size] Balanced Hull

This is Basic, yes but i don't view the production losses on the other hulls as worth it. Snub loses hardpoints which is a bad thing on a fire support mech, Compact makes installing things harder, reduces our ability to deal with heat and otherwise shoot the combat ability in the foot for Production metrics. Enlarged degrades production and reduce the tonnage of what we can mount it's not bad but not my preference.

as for style?
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull
It's what we were asked to make, so make it? Easy choice IMO

Legs are a bit more diverse but in general we want to keep Agility from getting messed up too much, without tanking our logistics.
[X] [Limb Style] Simple Lateral Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Simple Medial Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Medial Legs

These are the ones i like the most for that factor.

[X] [Actuators] Basic Actuator Design
[X] [Actuators] Durable Actuator Design
[X] [Actuators] Powerful Actuator Design
Actuators have several options, and these ones I think work with our build to a greater or lesser degree.



No, the opposite. You want all ratings to be as close to S as possible in a perfect world. I've named them badly, and I'll think about how to name them better. Production and Technology Cost should be renamed so that's more clear that higher rating is better, but I'm stuck on a better name right at this moment.


Maybe Rename them as Tech availability and Production Budget?
 
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[X] [Body Size] Enlarged Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Simple Dorsal Legs
[X] [Actuators] Powerful Actuator Design

My thought process is that the Enlarged Hull and Gunboat Hull will increase our ability to mount lots of weapons. The Simple Dorsal Legs will provide protection for the mecha's core and are rather cheap to make and repair, while the Powerful Actuator will recoup some of the limb drive speed and lost tonnage from the Enlarged hull. Thoughts?
 
Or Affordability? It's a less scientific word, but very clear.
Affordability is great actually, it drives home exactly what I want to make clear, which is that the higher the rating is, the less expensive it is to build (and thus the more potential profit you can tack on or more units you can shift to more customers.)
 
Remember that we still need to do weapons after this. Do we also need to do other things like engine?

Engine, Weapon Systems, Armour Style/Coverage, and Additional Subsystems (basically bonus special stuff you might want to add on top of your minimum equipment) will all need to be done. At that point you should get some budgeting info about how much usable tonnage you have available and roughly how much each of those could weigh.
 
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[X] [Body Size] Balanced Hull

[X] [Body Style] Standard Hull
[X] [Body Style] Gunboat Hull

[X] [Limb Style] Simple Lateral Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Simple Medial Legs
[X] [Limb Style] Crouched Medial Legs

[X] [Actuators] Basic Actuator Design
 
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[X] [Body Size] Snub-Nosed Hull

[X] [Body Style] Ergonomic Hull

[X] [Limb Style] Heavy Medial Legs

[X] [Actuators] Durable Actuator Design


[+3] Limb Driver Speed
[+2] Armour Plating
[+2] Skeletal Durability
[+2] Joint Protection
[+1] Reduced Dimensions
[+1] Skeletal Efficiency
[+1] Power Control
[+1] Skeletal Stability
[+1] Actuator Precision
[-2] Technology Cost
[-3] Production Cost

Here are my choices and what we gain and loose, quite a few areas canceled each other out. I did my best to make sure the math was correct. The production costs value takes a hit but in exchange we have one durable and flexible mech that hopefully will look just as interesting.

If I got my math wrong please let me know.

As for my thought process I went with a combination of a defensive profile and asthetics as we are making a defensive mech. As the numbers can attest this resulted in a great increase in Limb Drive Speed followed by Armored Plating, Skeletal Durability, and Joint Protection. The rest works together to make it more survivable and efficient especially in regards to the legs. In universe this makes sense though the cost is a bit so we may have to be a little safe when it comes to power generation.

[X] [Body Style] Reinforced Hull
[X] [Limb Style] Heavy Dorsal Legs

Adding these two as options because their defensive benefits are quite substantial.
 
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