So, here in Tacit Ronin versus The World, we're working ourselves up to a third Jaeger, and hopefully a second city. And beyond that, more Jaegers to come (because we are going to take back The World!).
We've had
a couple of proposed designs/loadouts.
The whole previous bit of writing was to lead up to saying a few things about the ideas floating around, mine and others, and the good and bad parts about them. I'll just break it down by Jaeger, that's easiest. (I'm using the names that are most strongly associated with some designs, despite some discussions about renaming a few of them.)
Paladin Victor: I won't be able to erase my own bias here, but I do genuinely think PV is a strong contender for our next Jaeger, due to intentionally working to make him at least something of an "all around" Jaeger. As well, the way I've "sectioned" the weapons off (shoulders, forearms, hammer) means it's comparatively easy to start with only some and work our way up to them. Heck, he could start with the hammer, and a missile launcher on one shoulder. It's all good. It's a design that starts simple and has room to grow.
Grey Ghost: We've had visual design ideas thrown out
here and
here. There's only so much to say, as the basic concept is "shoulder guns plus fairly fast, and some slide-out blades". It's a solid concept, basically a more gun-y Tacit Ronin. An all-around design, which makes it pretty solid.
Trailblazer Yamato: A melee-focused Jaeger, in particular focused on wielding a couple of hand-held blades, with some sort of energy weapon in the chest. Not a bad call, as melee generally is a better idea than ranged with Kaiju, giving a higher chance of hurting them really badly. Still, my gut instincts say considering a secondary weapon system of some sort (smaller cannons, Gatling array, something like that) wouldn't be amiss, and could be tucked into the overall design pretty well. A good "second Jaeger"; not the first one to defend a city, but a good one to back up the first one that does.
Revolver Shogun: Honestly, the design that, as currently proposed, I still struggle to see as a
Jaeger, as opposed to a Super-Heavy Conventional. The description of guns and guns and guns and missiles sounds less like something that at least could grapple with the Kaiju, and more like a tank that sprouted legs. The biggest issue, in my mind, is that while having more than one
type of weapon has obvious benefits, having everything
paired like that gets a bit ridiculous. If I may be so bold, I have
a picture that I think could fit the spirit of the design (and is pretty solidly Jaeger-y to boot), but gives an opportunity for at least justifying more robust armoring and modest fisticuffs (as in, punching), but also still justifies having several different types of weapons equipped. It's just that, instead of 2-4 of everything, it's got one of everything (the right arm is positioned so that it's difficult to see, but it has a weapon barrel attached). I would suggest that, if the shoulder gun is a Railgun, perhaps the arm gun could be a Plasma weapon, to give more damage type variety. And the beauty of missiles is the ability to swap out warheads for a given battle.
*Unnamed Grappler Jaeger*: One or more people have suggested a Grappler Jaeger. I am personally in favor of this, under a couple of thoughts/conditions. One, it needs to have at least some short-ranged ranged weapons equipped to the torso or something. Two, we need to pay tribute to a deceased professional wrestler with its name. I can provide a few particularly notable wrestlers that could be used for inspiration.
I'm really not trying to impose views here. Instead, I'm trying to help folks understand where
I'm coming from, and maybe give us some collective ideas to work over to help us get some awesome Jaegers out there into the field.
