A madman with visions of a wartorn future
Mecha Design Quest
- Thread starter 7734
- Start date
Winged_One²
SACQ Tablemaster
- Location
- Germany
There is no reason to doubt that the 75mm will reliably knock mechs out on each hit. The only thing you're doing is making it more likely that you will knock yourself out.
And that's why there's no such gun as a 17pdr even in the cursed domain known as "Britain".
And that's why there's no such gun as a 17pdr even in the cursed domain known as "Britain".
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
There's a place for those young man and it's called the asylum. There's reasonable precaution, and there's fantasies about war-winning wonder weapons. A time and place for everything: and frankly, there's no time and place for some coked-up British abomination of a gun.
You'll never take me. Runs out of the factory
Last edited:
Axslashel
I am a pessimist not a realist.
- Location
- Land of the Midnight Sun
Those are some very non-metric units for french guns.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Those are some very non-metric units for french guns.
Yeah, because they're british guns. horrible things.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
You're absolutely right, we shouldn't let ourselves be talked down to smaller weapons. More doom cannons! More!
"The boom Beatle. A suicide mech armed with a battleship gun, which is guaranteed to be rendered inoperable after the first shot. The big boom is not deemed worth the cost of the one use mech."
We are gonna need some serious wizardry to handle the balance...
Vacation 3/ College 1
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Once you made the decision to get to work figuring up what was going on here, it wasn't hard to start throwing money at the mecha shop. Those digger mechs had to have something hiding in them that was the Secret Ingredient to the rapid pace of work here, and you wanted to figure out what it was. As such, you bought up two and a small warehouse in town, and got to work.
The answer, surprisingly enough, was a lot of old, obsolete parts getting a new lease on life. The primary invention keeping this sack of bolts together was a hydraulic power system and a central pivot pin that held the two identical halves of the mecha together. Each one was autonomously controlled in theory, and used a pneumatic communication system to slave each control system to the next, while a relatively simple American reverser to allow for the most common "nose to nose" system where they had the greatest structural strength on the common pin joint.
The issue was, the core systems were very obsolete. Hydraulic systems had been displaced years ago because of the inherent dangers of getting meaningful operational pressures in them and poor seal design, and unless these mechanics had pulled a miracle out of their asses you hadn't seen coming, it would explain why the mecha were constantly into and out of the repair shop. Worse were the engines: these civil mecha were powered by a pair of independent V-block four-cylinder two-stroke engines, each spitting out a whopping eighteen horsepower straight into the hydraulic power pumps.
In sum: it was a shitbox. That being said, as you shipped them to France, they were a shitbox that wasn't conceptually shitty. Replace the engines with something less actively cancerous, such as with a thirty horsepower four-stroke two-cylinder opposed design, and you could get some decent power out of the design. Hydraulics might be a bit of a bear, but these things wouldn't be under such a high load that hydraulics would be dead on arrival- and besides, you knew the SEM guys had been spending a lot of time working with getting piping and seals to work for hydraulics. It might be worth buying in on that so you could keep the hydraulic focus that tied into the little power ports on the mecha that let it run so many useful adaptions.
Eventually, your vacation came to an end, but not before you managed to buy, contract, and shanghai every mecha driver, technician, and apprentice on that dig site. The Americans were spitting blood, until your new and improved prototype mecha showed up on the same ship you'd be leaving on and they started sending in orders.
Meanwhile, you caught up with Corporate. Your ploy was accepted, and even if there wasn't enough interest to get a full mecha foundry online for civil work at the moment, there was a lot of loose tooling lying around. The contract for refurbishing the older Araignée had finished up, and it had been decided by the people who did that sort of thing that it would be a good time to get the line that had been tied up on that brought up to the newer standards. That being said, this also freed up a lot of tooling, and labor was- if not cheap- then certainly available enough with the tensions in Spain the way they were.
Still, all good things had to come to an end, and this vacation was one of them. Once you got back to France, work just kind of… dried up. Nothing was happening, and frankly speaking your new production area was still in construction, somehow. Filling out nothingburger paperwork was getting incredibly annoying, to boot.
Naturally, you complained about it at the water cooler. Unnaturally, one of the few people you could point to as a direct superior heard about it. Since boredom in the lower ranks was unacceptable, something had to be dome about you.
The solution? You had to go back to school and actually get yourself a doctorate. Obviously, it was going to be a mecha doctorate, since what else could you possibly go get a doctorate in? Since your suggestion of "Verne and his place in the technothriller genre" was laughed out of the room, mechatronics it was.
The question was, what kind of Mechatronics doctorate would you go for? There were the subcomponent schools, of course, but you didn't want to just do your master's all over again. No, you wanted to do something exciting, something fun! If they were going to give you a multi-year vacation in disguise so you could be Doctor Chief Designer, well, then by God, you were going to make them pay for that doctorate.
Looking over your career, you had three big options you could take a swing at doing, all of which would have their ups and downs.
The first one would be a Doctorate of Mechatronics with a specialization in Hexapodal Locomotion. The upside of this is that your standards would become the gold standard of how hex-mecha worked- considering part of the widely-agreed upon standard was to design and build a massively capable monster prototype, it wouldn't be that hard. Plus, with your Christie Hip Assemblies, this could be a breeze. Of course, you'd also have to make those things work with the most complicated hip actuation ever before seen, so it wouldn't be all sunshine and roses.
The second one would be easier to design, but harder to defend. A Doctorate of Mechatronics with a specialty in Digitigrade Locomotion would be fairly easy to get all the hard work done for, but the problem was the standards were a lot higher. The first French fighting and civil mecha had been digitigrade, and plantigrade designs were only a few years old at this point. Any design you'd come up with would need that real spark of genius applied to it- and frankly? You weren't sure what special sauce you'd add to make it happen.
The third, and final, doctorate you'd be looking at would be a Doctorate of Mechatronics with a speciality in prime movers: in other words, civil mecha- or so everyone thought. The thing about prime movers was that they were mecha designed to integrate into other systems: from the humble iron mule, to plow-pullers and cranes, or the roadbuilding and excavation tools you'd seen consistently on vacation in Mexico. While it wouldn't be dignified, or really up your alley at all, it would still be better than another paper pushed in some subdivisional thing- and more critically, it would also be the sort of thing that would be new. New meant you could fold it in at work easier, and either crib off the civil mecha market or steal good things outright.
Well, it wasn't like you didn't have a few months to make up your mind.
////
Votes
[] PhD. Mecha, focus Hexapodal Locomotion (+Engine, Transmission, Actuators for all future hexapod designs)
[] PhD. Mecha, focus on Digitigrade Locomotion (+Gyro, Actuators, Feet for all future digitigrade designs)
[] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
[] PhD. Engineering, focusing on... (+++ to chosen item)
-[] Cockpits
-[] Engines
-[] Transmissions
-[] Actuators
-[] Feet
-[] Gyro
-[] Weapons
AN: Talk this one out, guys: these are big bonuses. Also, job market's being a bit of a bear right now, so please, throw some cash in the Ko-Fi so I can work on this more and job hunt something paying a living wage less.
The answer, surprisingly enough, was a lot of old, obsolete parts getting a new lease on life. The primary invention keeping this sack of bolts together was a hydraulic power system and a central pivot pin that held the two identical halves of the mecha together. Each one was autonomously controlled in theory, and used a pneumatic communication system to slave each control system to the next, while a relatively simple American reverser to allow for the most common "nose to nose" system where they had the greatest structural strength on the common pin joint.
The issue was, the core systems were very obsolete. Hydraulic systems had been displaced years ago because of the inherent dangers of getting meaningful operational pressures in them and poor seal design, and unless these mechanics had pulled a miracle out of their asses you hadn't seen coming, it would explain why the mecha were constantly into and out of the repair shop. Worse were the engines: these civil mecha were powered by a pair of independent V-block four-cylinder two-stroke engines, each spitting out a whopping eighteen horsepower straight into the hydraulic power pumps.
In sum: it was a shitbox. That being said, as you shipped them to France, they were a shitbox that wasn't conceptually shitty. Replace the engines with something less actively cancerous, such as with a thirty horsepower four-stroke two-cylinder opposed design, and you could get some decent power out of the design. Hydraulics might be a bit of a bear, but these things wouldn't be under such a high load that hydraulics would be dead on arrival- and besides, you knew the SEM guys had been spending a lot of time working with getting piping and seals to work for hydraulics. It might be worth buying in on that so you could keep the hydraulic focus that tied into the little power ports on the mecha that let it run so many useful adaptions.
Eventually, your vacation came to an end, but not before you managed to buy, contract, and shanghai every mecha driver, technician, and apprentice on that dig site. The Americans were spitting blood, until your new and improved prototype mecha showed up on the same ship you'd be leaving on and they started sending in orders.
Meanwhile, you caught up with Corporate. Your ploy was accepted, and even if there wasn't enough interest to get a full mecha foundry online for civil work at the moment, there was a lot of loose tooling lying around. The contract for refurbishing the older Araignée had finished up, and it had been decided by the people who did that sort of thing that it would be a good time to get the line that had been tied up on that brought up to the newer standards. That being said, this also freed up a lot of tooling, and labor was- if not cheap- then certainly available enough with the tensions in Spain the way they were.
Still, all good things had to come to an end, and this vacation was one of them. Once you got back to France, work just kind of… dried up. Nothing was happening, and frankly speaking your new production area was still in construction, somehow. Filling out nothingburger paperwork was getting incredibly annoying, to boot.
Naturally, you complained about it at the water cooler. Unnaturally, one of the few people you could point to as a direct superior heard about it. Since boredom in the lower ranks was unacceptable, something had to be dome about you.
The solution? You had to go back to school and actually get yourself a doctorate. Obviously, it was going to be a mecha doctorate, since what else could you possibly go get a doctorate in? Since your suggestion of "Verne and his place in the technothriller genre" was laughed out of the room, mechatronics it was.
The question was, what kind of Mechatronics doctorate would you go for? There were the subcomponent schools, of course, but you didn't want to just do your master's all over again. No, you wanted to do something exciting, something fun! If they were going to give you a multi-year vacation in disguise so you could be Doctor Chief Designer, well, then by God, you were going to make them pay for that doctorate.
Looking over your career, you had three big options you could take a swing at doing, all of which would have their ups and downs.
The first one would be a Doctorate of Mechatronics with a specialization in Hexapodal Locomotion. The upside of this is that your standards would become the gold standard of how hex-mecha worked- considering part of the widely-agreed upon standard was to design and build a massively capable monster prototype, it wouldn't be that hard. Plus, with your Christie Hip Assemblies, this could be a breeze. Of course, you'd also have to make those things work with the most complicated hip actuation ever before seen, so it wouldn't be all sunshine and roses.
The second one would be easier to design, but harder to defend. A Doctorate of Mechatronics with a specialty in Digitigrade Locomotion would be fairly easy to get all the hard work done for, but the problem was the standards were a lot higher. The first French fighting and civil mecha had been digitigrade, and plantigrade designs were only a few years old at this point. Any design you'd come up with would need that real spark of genius applied to it- and frankly? You weren't sure what special sauce you'd add to make it happen.
The third, and final, doctorate you'd be looking at would be a Doctorate of Mechatronics with a speciality in prime movers: in other words, civil mecha- or so everyone thought. The thing about prime movers was that they were mecha designed to integrate into other systems: from the humble iron mule, to plow-pullers and cranes, or the roadbuilding and excavation tools you'd seen consistently on vacation in Mexico. While it wouldn't be dignified, or really up your alley at all, it would still be better than another paper pushed in some subdivisional thing- and more critically, it would also be the sort of thing that would be new. New meant you could fold it in at work easier, and either crib off the civil mecha market or steal good things outright.
Well, it wasn't like you didn't have a few months to make up your mind.
////
Votes
[] PhD. Mecha, focus Hexapodal Locomotion (+Engine, Transmission, Actuators for all future hexapod designs)
[] PhD. Mecha, focus on Digitigrade Locomotion (+Gyro, Actuators, Feet for all future digitigrade designs)
[] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
[] PhD. Engineering, focusing on... (+++ to chosen item)
-[] Cockpits
-[] Engines
-[] Transmissions
-[] Actuators
-[] Feet
-[] Gyro
-[] Weapons
AN: Talk this one out, guys: these are big bonuses. Also, job market's being a bit of a bear right now, so please, throw some cash in the Ko-Fi so I can work on this more and job hunt something paying a living wage less.
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
I like those interchangeable components and cockpit bonuses (although hexapodes are tempting) and I'm amused by the thought of forever neglecting our feet.
I like those interchangeable components and cockpit bonuses (although hexapodes are tempting) and I'm amused by the thought of forever neglecting our feet.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I'm currently inclined towards Hexapodal Locomotion, since it seems packaged with working out some shit with the Christies and just generally seems the most in-tune with our current character. I also like the idea of setting the gold standard for these things.
I don't trust us to have the spark of genius required for Digitigrade Locomotion, and even we doubt it. Not much more to say. This feels like a trap.
Prime Movers has the highest cumulative number of pluses, but I'm unsure of how exactly we'll do with incorporating interchangeable components into everything. Maybe it's just me being skittish, but I just get a whiff of 'trap' from this one too.
I'm assuming the spread bonuses are better overall than a highly concentrated bonus with the same number of pluses, and that's why the spread bonuses only apply in certain situations. Or they're less prestigious? Or there are some difficulties applying them to mecha? I dunno. I figure we should leave those to specialists we hire. We're a mecha guy, mecha is the way to go.
I don't trust us to have the spark of genius required for Digitigrade Locomotion, and even we doubt it. Not much more to say. This feels like a trap.
Prime Movers has the highest cumulative number of pluses, but I'm unsure of how exactly we'll do with incorporating interchangeable components into everything. Maybe it's just me being skittish, but I just get a whiff of 'trap' from this one too.
I'm assuming the spread bonuses are better overall than a highly concentrated bonus with the same number of pluses, and that's why the spread bonuses only apply in certain situations. Or they're less prestigious? Or there are some difficulties applying them to mecha? I dunno. I figure we should leave those to specialists we hire. We're a mecha guy, mecha is the way to go.
Anyway it looks like the votes are split between more all rounders and very specialized, so our best mechs are likely to reflect that. So the question is: Do we think a decent all round mech will sell better than a mech that has a very good specific part, but is kind of ehhh elsewhere?
If we want to go for all round decent mechs, we should take one of the mecha degrees. If we want to do one part of our mechs really good to the point where it overshadows any deficiencies it might have, we should take one of the engineering degrees.
TimEd
Meteor maker
[] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
This is the path towards modular designs right? Towards Battletech's frankenmech shenanigans?
[] PhD. Mecha, focus Hexapodal Locomotion (+Engine, Transmission, Actuators for all future hexapod designs)
I do love being the gold standard though. Especially since it would really push us that much further into building up that reputation of designing mechas which are diffficult to mission kill.
This is the path towards modular designs right? Towards Battletech's frankenmech shenanigans?
[] PhD. Mecha, focus Hexapodal Locomotion (+Engine, Transmission, Actuators for all future hexapod designs)
I do love being the gold standard though. Especially since it would really push us that much further into building up that reputation of designing mechas which are diffficult to mission kill.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want +++Weapons just a little bit, in hopes that it'll let us continue with the doom cannons. In all likelihood it'd tell us to stop with the doom cannons instead, though, which is obviously unacceptable.
- Location
- USA
[X] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
Ease of logistics will be supremely popular with the army.
Ease of logistics will be supremely popular with the army.
- Location
- UTC -6
[] PhD. Mecha, focus Hexapodal Locomotion (+Engine, Transmission, Actuators for all future hexapod designs)
I'm favoring this. Hexapods have their issues, but our character has a lot of perks to advance the state of six-legged mecha art. Which will in turn give better notoriety than okay-ish work on more practical designs
.
Going for prime movers has the bigger bonuses, if the design meets the awkward requirement of having interchangeable pieces. This strikes me as the sort of thing that causes trouble when trying to fine-tune a mecha.
Digitigrade Locomotion looks practical, but the bonuses are clustered about making a mecha more stable and reactive (Heapodal bonuses make the mecha faster).
kinda looks like the locomotion focuses help shore up the weak points of their respective mode.
I'm favoring this. Hexapods have their issues, but our character has a lot of perks to advance the state of six-legged mecha art. Which will in turn give better notoriety than okay-ish work on more practical designs
.Going for prime movers has the bigger bonuses, if the design meets the awkward requirement of having interchangeable pieces. This strikes me as the sort of thing that causes trouble when trying to fine-tune a mecha.
Digitigrade Locomotion looks practical, but the bonuses are clustered about making a mecha more stable and reactive (Heapodal bonuses make the mecha faster).
kinda looks like the locomotion focuses help shore up the weak points of their respective mode.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
How common are interchangeable parts in designs? Or is that something we'd have to 'innovate'? And if we do, how useful would they be? I'd expect extremely, but I'm not sure how much of the mess that are mechas mean that the time, maintenance and expensive savings would actually materialise.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] PhD. Mecha, focus on Prime Movers (++Cockpit, Transmission, Actuators for all future designs with interchangeable components)
The French Army will be the modular-est!
And hydraulic transmission is the future - bad seals are an engineering issue that will be solved, so our designs should be future proof.
The French Army will be the modular-est!
And hydraulic transmission is the future - bad seals are an engineering issue that will be solved, so our designs should be future proof.