Twenty years have passed since the Solar Confederation took their place as leaders of the galaxy...
The Celestial Arena
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The Celestial Arena
- Location
- England
Twenty years have passed since the Solar Confederation took their place as leaders of the galaxy by agreement of all. Uniting the disparate races under their banner as the heads of the Interstellar Council, they gave peace to the land. With the Arkon threat long gone, humanity rested in its space. A dozen systems with long term habitation, three containing major population centers. The ten thousand thousand warships of the navy stand to this day over the Centauri shipyards in parade formation, while the ground forces continue their rituals and recruitment out of habit.
But although you could take the human out of conflict, it was more difficult to take conflict out of the human. With an excess of resources and several former military contractors finding themselves low on business, a minor sport found a lot of attention placed upon its shoulders. Mechanized Combat, the fighting of large remote controlled machines to the disablement with weapons just this side of military, grew in popularity as it became more viable and more lucrative. With a larger customer base thanks to integrated viewing networks emerging between Terra and alien worlds, more competitors and more circuits came into existence as it became the sport for humanity. Not that all agreed with the rules and regulations it had...
Five years ago, research into ancient artifacts bore fruit, as technology emerged that would allow the creation of permanent and safe structures inside the very heart of a star. So far, the first and only use has been to craft a hidden place where the most powerful machines with the greatest pilots can fight each other in furious battle, a prestige project of unparalleled significance.
Now, someone looks up to the night sky and wonders which of the pinpricks of light there could contain it. Perhaps they will be champion. Perhaps they will merely fight in it, an honor in and of itself. Perhaps they merely want to take a look around the space-warping structure. In any case, it is unquestionable that their goal is:
THE CELESTIAL ARENA
And that someone is a...
[] Heroic Underdog
You have no backing. None. Zero. The machine you've acquired barely qualifies as an outdated junker, and you have no formal pilot training. Yet you still decided to sign up for the Combat Leagues, running on determination and bullheadedness more than any kind of sense, prepared to fight every step of the way in order to succeed. Many would argue that this decision is founded in mere youthful naiveté, but you have a giant robot and those people don't, and that settles the argument. You have some kind of talent, that's for sure, and you won't be stopped before you reach the Arena itself! Except maybe by crippling repair bills.
[] Corporate Hire
Wanderlust and the thrill of battle? Eh. Boatloads of hard cash? Now they're speaking your language. The Combat Leagues are not free from sponsors, and a reasonably sized corporation is looking to get a pilot and machine to enter the sport on their behalf. They have the spare budget for it, and having some mech victories under your belt is good for the reputation. You have a lot of simulation time racked up, and you're quite skilled in the art of combat, thus the recruitment. The only thing to worry about is failure, for your overlords may not take it well if they don't get some sort of return on investment.
[] Soldier of the Confederation
A graduate from the Overfiend Academy, the most prestigious military school in known space. Not exactly top of your class, but you were up there, and considering Overfiend's reputation that makes you a darn good fighter. It's tradition for the military to send in one candidate every year or so with a machine they made. It allows for combat testing of last generation equipment in some unusual situations, and reminds people that the army still exists. You got lucky and managed to snag the assignment, meaning you're going to be seeing the most action out of the entire military in the coming days. Still have to start out at the bottom though, even if you're probably going to rise up fast.
But although you could take the human out of conflict, it was more difficult to take conflict out of the human. With an excess of resources and several former military contractors finding themselves low on business, a minor sport found a lot of attention placed upon its shoulders. Mechanized Combat, the fighting of large remote controlled machines to the disablement with weapons just this side of military, grew in popularity as it became more viable and more lucrative. With a larger customer base thanks to integrated viewing networks emerging between Terra and alien worlds, more competitors and more circuits came into existence as it became the sport for humanity. Not that all agreed with the rules and regulations it had...
Five years ago, research into ancient artifacts bore fruit, as technology emerged that would allow the creation of permanent and safe structures inside the very heart of a star. So far, the first and only use has been to craft a hidden place where the most powerful machines with the greatest pilots can fight each other in furious battle, a prestige project of unparalleled significance.
Now, someone looks up to the night sky and wonders which of the pinpricks of light there could contain it. Perhaps they will be champion. Perhaps they will merely fight in it, an honor in and of itself. Perhaps they merely want to take a look around the space-warping structure. In any case, it is unquestionable that their goal is:
THE CELESTIAL ARENA
And that someone is a...
[] Heroic Underdog
You have no backing. None. Zero. The machine you've acquired barely qualifies as an outdated junker, and you have no formal pilot training. Yet you still decided to sign up for the Combat Leagues, running on determination and bullheadedness more than any kind of sense, prepared to fight every step of the way in order to succeed. Many would argue that this decision is founded in mere youthful naiveté, but you have a giant robot and those people don't, and that settles the argument. You have some kind of talent, that's for sure, and you won't be stopped before you reach the Arena itself! Except maybe by crippling repair bills.
[] Corporate Hire
Wanderlust and the thrill of battle? Eh. Boatloads of hard cash? Now they're speaking your language. The Combat Leagues are not free from sponsors, and a reasonably sized corporation is looking to get a pilot and machine to enter the sport on their behalf. They have the spare budget for it, and having some mech victories under your belt is good for the reputation. You have a lot of simulation time racked up, and you're quite skilled in the art of combat, thus the recruitment. The only thing to worry about is failure, for your overlords may not take it well if they don't get some sort of return on investment.
[] Soldier of the Confederation
A graduate from the Overfiend Academy, the most prestigious military school in known space. Not exactly top of your class, but you were up there, and considering Overfiend's reputation that makes you a darn good fighter. It's tradition for the military to send in one candidate every year or so with a machine they made. It allows for combat testing of last generation equipment in some unusual situations, and reminds people that the army still exists. You got lucky and managed to snag the assignment, meaning you're going to be seeing the most action out of the entire military in the coming days. Still have to start out at the bottom though, even if you're probably going to rise up fast.
Stats, Ranking and Shop
- Location
- England
Pilot Name: Amelia Jaworska
Skills: Close Quarters 1
Aiming 1
Reactions 1
Engineering 2
Mech Name: High Noon
Parts: Advance Head, 2 HP, can track targets going at speeds up to 5 units per turn.
League Issue Body, 4 HP.
Striker Arms, 2 HP each, 2 damage punch.
Blitzer Legs, 2 HP each.
No thrusters yet.
Arkon War-Blade, 3 damage, 2 armor piercing.
Trinity Blaster, 1d3-1 damage.
Ranking: Actually Who?
Shop: Empty for now.
Skills: Close Quarters 1
Aiming 1
Reactions 1
Engineering 2
Mech Name: High Noon
Parts: Advance Head, 2 HP, can track targets going at speeds up to 5 units per turn.
League Issue Body, 4 HP.
Striker Arms, 2 HP each, 2 damage punch.
Blitzer Legs, 2 HP each.
No thrusters yet.
Arkon War-Blade, 3 damage, 2 armor piercing.
Trinity Blaster, 1d3-1 damage.
Ranking: Actually Who?
Shop: Empty for now.
Last edited:
Origins: Scavenger Hunt
- Location
- England
A Few Weeks Ago
The shuttle was silent as the crack team approached their destination. The salvage ship Dubious Acquisition floated at a safe distance from the husk. On board was a group of veteran scavengers with years of experience apiece... and one new volunteer who had pretty much no idea what she was doing. Assigned as a backup engineer, it was something of a risky venture to take her aboard, but they would need all the help they could get with the behemoth before them.
"Okay, mission briefing." The leader of their insertion team stood up from his seat and walked over to the front of their compartment. "Most of you know what we're up against, but for the benefit of the person who wasn't born when the Arks were still around..." He visibly winced at that one. "It's been that long? Er, anyway. We're going in to board the Arkon Grand Battleship Glimmer by Day, Flash by Night. It's meaningful in their language, I assure you. This is the last of their ships out there that we know about and haven't salvaged yet, so this is a historic moment. Feel proud, everyone."
Turning up to the ceiling for a moment, he tapped a few buttons mounted above him to show a holographic projection of the remains they were approaching, key areas already highlighted. He pointed to each in turn. "This is our approach vector, this is the armory, this is the reactor core. We can then move on to the engine and bridge sections through these paths, which are judged to be the most stable. You can see it took some hits to the midsection by whats got to be a Zirkoid Annihilator Cannon. Our mission is to power the reactor back up, take control of the bridge and get this thing back to some yards. It's way too large for ol' Dubious to salvage by herself. Simple enough."
As the man sat himself back down, the shuttle lurched suddenly as evasive maneuvers were performed. "We have fire from one of their turrets. I'm turning on afterburners to get behind it, hang on!"
The security specialist sat next to the rookie sighs and turns, muttering something about hazard pay. "Okay then, you're going down there and taking that thing out early. I don't want to deal with it on the way back." Taking out a movement assist system from under her seat, she passes it over to the newly assigned turret clearer. "When we pass its firing arc, I want you to jump down there and disable it. You got training for this, right?" She awkwardly nods while moving to stand up and grab the pack along with a pistol and toolkit. Training meant having a minor degree in engineering and looking up this sort of tech once, but it's pretty easy to just disable something. If all else fails, just blow it up.
Shrugging it on and locking the equipment to her sides, the girl walked over to the rear of the vessel, vents automatically cycling shut as the rear door opened, giving a stable view of pockmarked hull as the transport hovered overhead.
She leaped off, deploying controlled bursts of movement from her pack to close in on the surface and the offending weapon. Soon, the weak remaining artificial gravity took over, and she gently plummeted the rest of the way to the surface. Carefully walking over to the gun, she was soon right next to it. She carefully walked around to some kind of access port, and tried moving it open.
The door slid aside easily enough, to reveal some kind of very angry small robot. It jumped out as soon as it saw a Solar-issue spacesuit, and its prey rearing back in surprise was the only thing that prevented it from slicing a leg straight through her neck. Micro thrusters moved it forward in midair, and it latched on to the girl's arm, cutting her flesh and suit with equal ease. Crying out in surprise and pain, she fumbled with her weapon for a moment as the drone jumped on to her helmet instead. It was about to drive a blade through her skull when she finally brought her pistol up and made three holes in it.
Clutching at the damaged area, she moved inside and shut the door. Beginning to feel the exposed area freeze over, she jumped down the hatch to the ship's innards and rapidly moved through an airlock. Now inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was still too cold for comfort, but there was an atmosphere here. Safe, for now.
Putting her pistol back in its holster and taping over the hole in her suit, she proceeded to go back out, climbing up the ladder back to the turret and disabled it. With access to the machine's innards, it wasn't too difficult to see what did what, and a few cuts to important systems left it mostly intact but totally unable to fire. It might be able to blow itself up if ordered to shoot again, but it couldn't get power to the weapon and it couldn't access its targeting systems.
Reporting back to the team, she found that they had also found heavier than expected resistance, and were none too happy about it either. They hadn't expected anywhere near this much trouble, which was why they felt willing to bring her along at all. This was supposed to be a relatively easy job, as most defenses should have degraded into usefulness thanks to the combination of battle damage and no maintenance this thing has suffered. Internal defenses were still expected, otherwise the Glimmer would probably have been brought in already, but no turrets or drones.
It was agreed she would wander around the nearby safe area and wait for extraction, having mostly done her part. She listened in on the exploits of the others over her communications system, hearing them disable defenses, open doors, mark loot and move forward. They entered and secured the well stocked ship armory, and took control of the primary reactor core soon after. It was actually in good enough shape, being intact enough to restart without exploding violently.
As they turned it back on, a garbled message came through over the intercom system, and the massive ship rumbled slightly.
"What was that noise? Does anyone know what's going on now?"
"I think some kind of defense was reactivated? I'm not sure..."
Moving into an open area, the girl feels a shadow pass overhead. Pausing, she looks up. And sees a pair of eyes gazing down on her as a combat walker glares at the invader.
Turning to run, she just about dodges as a massive sword plunges through the ship's hull, attempting to cut her apart. Bursting forward and turning a corner, she feels a wave of heat wash over her as a plasma cannon shot impacts on her original location. The machine turns on its perch, but decides not to chase her. Its automated systems know she is the lesser threat. Her escape from its quick blows is unfortunate, but not a real issue. It decides that it does need to get its systems refitted as a matter of priority, however. That was unacceptably slow.
"Hey, guys, I think some kind of defensive mech turned on!" The girl yelled through her communicator as she kept running. She didn't know or care in what direction, just that it was away from the giant killer robot that had almost turned her to an expanding cloud of atoms.
"Crap! I've heard about this. These things used to keep planetary assault complements to soften up orbital defenses for real transports, but they also used their mechs during battles. We can't leave now, it would probably destroy the shuttle if it popped up. Now what?"
As the group engaged in a heated discussion, the girl stumbled to a halt as she rounded a corner and came across another machine.
This one was human built. She looked up at it in awe, for it towered over her even though it was crouched. Painted blue and with a faded symbol of the military on its right shoulder, it had been abandoned here. She had read about this in the history books. As the conflict drew to a close, despite being on the winning side the Solar forces were suffering heavy losses, and they couldn't replace casualties fast enough. To this end, they more or less recruited every machine and willing pilot in the Mechanized Combat rings they could and sent them out to the front unmodified. They suffered badly, but did fairly well for themselves. This machine must have been abandoned after it suffered heavy damage.
There was no other option, really. This was their only chance to deal with that machine. "Hold on." Her voice cut through the channels clearly, forced calm and determination evident as she began to jump up the machine's side. "I'm going to try something."
___
[COMBAT MACHINE REACTIVATED. SYSTEMS ONLINE. READY Y/N?] The readout was on a partly cracked screen, but it was still easy enough to read. The message blinked off as she tapped the Y, and the machine roared to life. It was replaced with a current status.
Component Integrity:
Head 3/3
Central Body 4/6. The cockpit is here.
Right Arm 5/5
Left Arm 0/5. Left Arm missing.
Right Leg 5/5
Left Leg 4/5
Extent Issues: Thrusters Destroyed, movement benefit removed.
It was surprisingly intact, actually. All the better to defeat another machine with.
Clambering to its feet, the machine stood up, tearing a hole through damaged hull above to allow it to escape. Clambering up to the surface of the ship, sensors locked on to the hostile mech. Analysis began, and the girl looked thoughtfully at the scan before her. A plethora of information was conveyed to her.
1d10 + 2 Engineering (Opening Analysis) = 12! Full information available.
Despite being utterly terrifying when she was running away from it, this thing had a several issues that could be exploited. It was more intact than her machine with all four limbs, but its armor had been basically scorched to uselessness. It was light to begin with, but looked intact. However, it had been warped by exposure to FTL or something, and anything that hit it would go right through. Second, it was clear from the power flow and way it moved that the control center was in the lighter armored head rather than the body. Third, it had two weak spots on its chest that led to its power core. if she aimed for the chest, she could try to destroy its vulnerable reactor and disable it. Finally, its thrusters were intact, but thanks to what seemed to be potential fuel or power concerns it couldn't use them extensively to close or open the distance, limiting the maneuverability gap.
She looked back to other parts of her readout.
Armor: Medium Duraplate, no speed modifiers, 3 damage reduction.
Weapons: Fist, 2 damage.
Combat Knife, 2 damage, 1 armor piercing.
Plasma Burst Cannon, 1d3+2 damage.
Speed = Combined Leg Integrity = 9 Units/turn.
Distance = 5 units.
Satisfied with her equipment, she turned back to face the other mech, which was now circling her. It was time to teach this thing a lesson.
Combat Start!
Turn 1
Movement: Stay still, attempt to stay still relative to opponent, fall back, advance.
[]
Action: Attack, but how?
[]
The shuttle was silent as the crack team approached their destination. The salvage ship Dubious Acquisition floated at a safe distance from the husk. On board was a group of veteran scavengers with years of experience apiece... and one new volunteer who had pretty much no idea what she was doing. Assigned as a backup engineer, it was something of a risky venture to take her aboard, but they would need all the help they could get with the behemoth before them.
"Okay, mission briefing." The leader of their insertion team stood up from his seat and walked over to the front of their compartment. "Most of you know what we're up against, but for the benefit of the person who wasn't born when the Arks were still around..." He visibly winced at that one. "It's been that long? Er, anyway. We're going in to board the Arkon Grand Battleship Glimmer by Day, Flash by Night. It's meaningful in their language, I assure you. This is the last of their ships out there that we know about and haven't salvaged yet, so this is a historic moment. Feel proud, everyone."
Turning up to the ceiling for a moment, he tapped a few buttons mounted above him to show a holographic projection of the remains they were approaching, key areas already highlighted. He pointed to each in turn. "This is our approach vector, this is the armory, this is the reactor core. We can then move on to the engine and bridge sections through these paths, which are judged to be the most stable. You can see it took some hits to the midsection by whats got to be a Zirkoid Annihilator Cannon. Our mission is to power the reactor back up, take control of the bridge and get this thing back to some yards. It's way too large for ol' Dubious to salvage by herself. Simple enough."
As the man sat himself back down, the shuttle lurched suddenly as evasive maneuvers were performed. "We have fire from one of their turrets. I'm turning on afterburners to get behind it, hang on!"
The security specialist sat next to the rookie sighs and turns, muttering something about hazard pay. "Okay then, you're going down there and taking that thing out early. I don't want to deal with it on the way back." Taking out a movement assist system from under her seat, she passes it over to the newly assigned turret clearer. "When we pass its firing arc, I want you to jump down there and disable it. You got training for this, right?" She awkwardly nods while moving to stand up and grab the pack along with a pistol and toolkit. Training meant having a minor degree in engineering and looking up this sort of tech once, but it's pretty easy to just disable something. If all else fails, just blow it up.
Shrugging it on and locking the equipment to her sides, the girl walked over to the rear of the vessel, vents automatically cycling shut as the rear door opened, giving a stable view of pockmarked hull as the transport hovered overhead.
She leaped off, deploying controlled bursts of movement from her pack to close in on the surface and the offending weapon. Soon, the weak remaining artificial gravity took over, and she gently plummeted the rest of the way to the surface. Carefully walking over to the gun, she was soon right next to it. She carefully walked around to some kind of access port, and tried moving it open.
The door slid aside easily enough, to reveal some kind of very angry small robot. It jumped out as soon as it saw a Solar-issue spacesuit, and its prey rearing back in surprise was the only thing that prevented it from slicing a leg straight through her neck. Micro thrusters moved it forward in midair, and it latched on to the girl's arm, cutting her flesh and suit with equal ease. Crying out in surprise and pain, she fumbled with her weapon for a moment as the drone jumped on to her helmet instead. It was about to drive a blade through her skull when she finally brought her pistol up and made three holes in it.
Clutching at the damaged area, she moved inside and shut the door. Beginning to feel the exposed area freeze over, she jumped down the hatch to the ship's innards and rapidly moved through an airlock. Now inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was still too cold for comfort, but there was an atmosphere here. Safe, for now.
Putting her pistol back in its holster and taping over the hole in her suit, she proceeded to go back out, climbing up the ladder back to the turret and disabled it. With access to the machine's innards, it wasn't too difficult to see what did what, and a few cuts to important systems left it mostly intact but totally unable to fire. It might be able to blow itself up if ordered to shoot again, but it couldn't get power to the weapon and it couldn't access its targeting systems.
Reporting back to the team, she found that they had also found heavier than expected resistance, and were none too happy about it either. They hadn't expected anywhere near this much trouble, which was why they felt willing to bring her along at all. This was supposed to be a relatively easy job, as most defenses should have degraded into usefulness thanks to the combination of battle damage and no maintenance this thing has suffered. Internal defenses were still expected, otherwise the Glimmer would probably have been brought in already, but no turrets or drones.
It was agreed she would wander around the nearby safe area and wait for extraction, having mostly done her part. She listened in on the exploits of the others over her communications system, hearing them disable defenses, open doors, mark loot and move forward. They entered and secured the well stocked ship armory, and took control of the primary reactor core soon after. It was actually in good enough shape, being intact enough to restart without exploding violently.
As they turned it back on, a garbled message came through over the intercom system, and the massive ship rumbled slightly.
"What was that noise? Does anyone know what's going on now?"
"I think some kind of defense was reactivated? I'm not sure..."
Moving into an open area, the girl feels a shadow pass overhead. Pausing, she looks up. And sees a pair of eyes gazing down on her as a combat walker glares at the invader.
Turning to run, she just about dodges as a massive sword plunges through the ship's hull, attempting to cut her apart. Bursting forward and turning a corner, she feels a wave of heat wash over her as a plasma cannon shot impacts on her original location. The machine turns on its perch, but decides not to chase her. Its automated systems know she is the lesser threat. Her escape from its quick blows is unfortunate, but not a real issue. It decides that it does need to get its systems refitted as a matter of priority, however. That was unacceptably slow.
"Hey, guys, I think some kind of defensive mech turned on!" The girl yelled through her communicator as she kept running. She didn't know or care in what direction, just that it was away from the giant killer robot that had almost turned her to an expanding cloud of atoms.
"Crap! I've heard about this. These things used to keep planetary assault complements to soften up orbital defenses for real transports, but they also used their mechs during battles. We can't leave now, it would probably destroy the shuttle if it popped up. Now what?"
As the group engaged in a heated discussion, the girl stumbled to a halt as she rounded a corner and came across another machine.
This one was human built. She looked up at it in awe, for it towered over her even though it was crouched. Painted blue and with a faded symbol of the military on its right shoulder, it had been abandoned here. She had read about this in the history books. As the conflict drew to a close, despite being on the winning side the Solar forces were suffering heavy losses, and they couldn't replace casualties fast enough. To this end, they more or less recruited every machine and willing pilot in the Mechanized Combat rings they could and sent them out to the front unmodified. They suffered badly, but did fairly well for themselves. This machine must have been abandoned after it suffered heavy damage.
There was no other option, really. This was their only chance to deal with that machine. "Hold on." Her voice cut through the channels clearly, forced calm and determination evident as she began to jump up the machine's side. "I'm going to try something."
___
[COMBAT MACHINE REACTIVATED. SYSTEMS ONLINE. READY Y/N?] The readout was on a partly cracked screen, but it was still easy enough to read. The message blinked off as she tapped the Y, and the machine roared to life. It was replaced with a current status.
Component Integrity:
Head 3/3
Central Body 4/6. The cockpit is here.
Right Arm 5/5
Left Arm 0/5. Left Arm missing.
Right Leg 5/5
Left Leg 4/5
Extent Issues: Thrusters Destroyed, movement benefit removed.
It was surprisingly intact, actually. All the better to defeat another machine with.
Clambering to its feet, the machine stood up, tearing a hole through damaged hull above to allow it to escape. Clambering up to the surface of the ship, sensors locked on to the hostile mech. Analysis began, and the girl looked thoughtfully at the scan before her. A plethora of information was conveyed to her.
1d10 + 2 Engineering (Opening Analysis) = 12! Full information available.
Despite being utterly terrifying when she was running away from it, this thing had a several issues that could be exploited. It was more intact than her machine with all four limbs, but its armor had been basically scorched to uselessness. It was light to begin with, but looked intact. However, it had been warped by exposure to FTL or something, and anything that hit it would go right through. Second, it was clear from the power flow and way it moved that the control center was in the lighter armored head rather than the body. Third, it had two weak spots on its chest that led to its power core. if she aimed for the chest, she could try to destroy its vulnerable reactor and disable it. Finally, its thrusters were intact, but thanks to what seemed to be potential fuel or power concerns it couldn't use them extensively to close or open the distance, limiting the maneuverability gap.
She looked back to other parts of her readout.
Armor: Medium Duraplate, no speed modifiers, 3 damage reduction.
Weapons: Fist, 2 damage.
Combat Knife, 2 damage, 1 armor piercing.
Plasma Burst Cannon, 1d3+2 damage.
Speed = Combined Leg Integrity = 9 Units/turn.
Distance = 5 units.
Satisfied with her equipment, she turned back to face the other mech, which was now circling her. It was time to teach this thing a lesson.
Combat Start!
Turn 1
Movement: Stay still, attempt to stay still relative to opponent, fall back, advance.
[]
Action: Attack, but how?
[]
Origins: Combat and Paperwork
- Location
- England
After a moment of thought, both war machine spring into action, closing on the other. The alien attacker is proven to be somewhat faster, but it hardly matters as it does not try to retreat. Clearly thinking that it's own plasma weapon is insufficient against its opponent's armor plating, meant more for anti-infantry and light vehicle work than fighting peer opponents, it hopes to have better luck with a blade.
Moments before the pair enter close quarters, the girl draws her PBC from its mount on her mech's back, and fires as soon as it is in place. Charged capacitors dispense their fury to immediate effect, an barely constrained stream of stellar matter forcing its way forward towards the target. With only a single arm and what seems to be partially disabled targeting systems, the shot isn't as easy as it could be, but it's certainly doable.
1d10 + 1 (Aim) - 2 (One Armed Shot) = 9
1d10 + 1 (Reactions) = 3
The Arkon droid tries to dodge, but the girl's aim is unerring. Squeezing off what could be considered a textbook shot, the deadly burst of energy slams home against a weak point in the hostile machine's chest plating. Perhaps if its own intelligence core was not so degraded it could have escaped, but the passages of time had ravaged it perhaps more than the rest of the ship.
1d3 + 2 + 2 (Weakpoint) - 0 (Armor) = 5 damage. Torso Integrity = 4. Chest destroyed! Reactor destroyed! Enemy defeated!
Punching straight through, the slightly angled blast turns the reactor core into vapor, instantly shutting down the attacker. Eyes going dim, legs coming to a halt, it slumps over thoroughly defeated.
The girl cheers, shouldering her weapon and having her new machine stand up straight and proud. She'd done it! Despite things going very, very wrong, they'd all persevered and the ship was now theirs for the looting.
____
Now
A handful of weeks had passed, but quite a bit had changed. Her cut of the salvage was rather nice. Due to being a junior associate of the expedition, rather large and expensive once the back end individuals and operating costs were added in, only a small part of the earnings had been passed on to her. Yet the Glimmer was large enough that the initial valuation and paycheck was more than enough to keep her going for a good long while in her tiny apartment on a Lunar orbital habitat, and more money would come as additional salvage was identified that raised the value.
But the big win were the two mechs. The Unusual Circumstances Clause meant that highly unexpected events could potentially have all their proceeds or costs laid on individuals instead of the group. It required majority consent, but considering she saved the team from what was almost certain death with her stunt meant they had no objections about invoking it and handing the two over to her custody.
While she partly wanted to keep the machine, which research told her was called the Rifleman, in the end she decided to sell it for a decent sum to a museum on the moon below. Dedicated to the history of walker pilots in the war, a subject often skipped over by historians of the conflict in general and of Mechanized Combat both because of the very small impact they had. The Rifleman was part of a division of fifty or so machines, one of the two groups of walkers that were recruited for the conflict. The museum had a few restored examples of mechs, they lacked one with authentic battle damage, so wished to acquire it. Not being able to say no to an offer of recording history, the transaction was made. She didn't regret it, although she would miss the plasma burst cannon. Turns out the modern equivalents are expensive even by giant fighting robot standards.
The Arkon War-Mech was even more lucrative. The government showed up at her doorstep soon after her tale reached them, and were actually interested in the warped armor plate it had. That kind of odd change did indeed result from exposure to FTL space, but it was apparently very difficult to replicate and was hardly understood. After all, ships went through even without shields all the time and they were just fine. Unable to use the AI driven machine anyway, it was happily sold to the tune of a lot of money.
And so the girl found herself rich. Not filthy rich, but with a sudden influx of spare cash. Now, a sensible person may have saved or wisely invested this money, but a sensible person also probably wouldn't have clambered into a one armed twenty year old fighting machine to shoot at an AI-driven roughly equivalent machine that wanted to kill them with a giant sword without any hesitation. She had always wanted to enter the Combat Leagues, and even had daydreams about the Arena, but never thought it would happen. Now that she had the opportunity and a technical victory under her belt, she leaped at the chance.
Looking on the market, she realized she'd have the chance to build a mech from scratch with more or less the cheapest parts available. Building fighting machines of this scale doesn't come cheap. Now, after a rapid construction by specialized fabricators, the newly minted pilot looked up at her grand creation in a rented hanger over Earth. Humble but still capable of competing. All she had to do was find an opponent for it.
Oh, and she had to get a mech inspection. It was required that newcomers to the league without much backing had their walkers looked over before they could compete. Just a basic check of competency in assembling that she could pass easily. It also got her on to the official database, which was very nice.
She'd sent off the form a while ago. The check would be happening in a few days.
The Form:
[] Person Name
Initial Machine Weight:
[] Light (Similar to the alien mech. Low armor, high speed, big deadly sword. If moving fast enough, gets bonus to dodge. Applies to all machines, but most applicable to ones with light armor.)
[] Medium (Similar to the Rifleman. Medium armor, medium speed, gun and melee weapon.)
[] Heavy (Smash! Crush! Heavy armor, low speed, giant gun. Main defense up close are fists.)
[] Machine Name
Entirely Optional: Reference Picture
[]
Moments before the pair enter close quarters, the girl draws her PBC from its mount on her mech's back, and fires as soon as it is in place. Charged capacitors dispense their fury to immediate effect, an barely constrained stream of stellar matter forcing its way forward towards the target. With only a single arm and what seems to be partially disabled targeting systems, the shot isn't as easy as it could be, but it's certainly doable.
1d10 + 1 (Aim) - 2 (One Armed Shot) = 9
1d10 + 1 (Reactions) = 3
The Arkon droid tries to dodge, but the girl's aim is unerring. Squeezing off what could be considered a textbook shot, the deadly burst of energy slams home against a weak point in the hostile machine's chest plating. Perhaps if its own intelligence core was not so degraded it could have escaped, but the passages of time had ravaged it perhaps more than the rest of the ship.
1d3 + 2 + 2 (Weakpoint) - 0 (Armor) = 5 damage. Torso Integrity = 4. Chest destroyed! Reactor destroyed! Enemy defeated!
Punching straight through, the slightly angled blast turns the reactor core into vapor, instantly shutting down the attacker. Eyes going dim, legs coming to a halt, it slumps over thoroughly defeated.
The girl cheers, shouldering her weapon and having her new machine stand up straight and proud. She'd done it! Despite things going very, very wrong, they'd all persevered and the ship was now theirs for the looting.
____
Now
A handful of weeks had passed, but quite a bit had changed. Her cut of the salvage was rather nice. Due to being a junior associate of the expedition, rather large and expensive once the back end individuals and operating costs were added in, only a small part of the earnings had been passed on to her. Yet the Glimmer was large enough that the initial valuation and paycheck was more than enough to keep her going for a good long while in her tiny apartment on a Lunar orbital habitat, and more money would come as additional salvage was identified that raised the value.
But the big win were the two mechs. The Unusual Circumstances Clause meant that highly unexpected events could potentially have all their proceeds or costs laid on individuals instead of the group. It required majority consent, but considering she saved the team from what was almost certain death with her stunt meant they had no objections about invoking it and handing the two over to her custody.
While she partly wanted to keep the machine, which research told her was called the Rifleman, in the end she decided to sell it for a decent sum to a museum on the moon below. Dedicated to the history of walker pilots in the war, a subject often skipped over by historians of the conflict in general and of Mechanized Combat both because of the very small impact they had. The Rifleman was part of a division of fifty or so machines, one of the two groups of walkers that were recruited for the conflict. The museum had a few restored examples of mechs, they lacked one with authentic battle damage, so wished to acquire it. Not being able to say no to an offer of recording history, the transaction was made. She didn't regret it, although she would miss the plasma burst cannon. Turns out the modern equivalents are expensive even by giant fighting robot standards.
The Arkon War-Mech was even more lucrative. The government showed up at her doorstep soon after her tale reached them, and were actually interested in the warped armor plate it had. That kind of odd change did indeed result from exposure to FTL space, but it was apparently very difficult to replicate and was hardly understood. After all, ships went through even without shields all the time and they were just fine. Unable to use the AI driven machine anyway, it was happily sold to the tune of a lot of money.
And so the girl found herself rich. Not filthy rich, but with a sudden influx of spare cash. Now, a sensible person may have saved or wisely invested this money, but a sensible person also probably wouldn't have clambered into a one armed twenty year old fighting machine to shoot at an AI-driven roughly equivalent machine that wanted to kill them with a giant sword without any hesitation. She had always wanted to enter the Combat Leagues, and even had daydreams about the Arena, but never thought it would happen. Now that she had the opportunity and a technical victory under her belt, she leaped at the chance.
Looking on the market, she realized she'd have the chance to build a mech from scratch with more or less the cheapest parts available. Building fighting machines of this scale doesn't come cheap. Now, after a rapid construction by specialized fabricators, the newly minted pilot looked up at her grand creation in a rented hanger over Earth. Humble but still capable of competing. All she had to do was find an opponent for it.
Oh, and she had to get a mech inspection. It was required that newcomers to the league without much backing had their walkers looked over before they could compete. Just a basic check of competency in assembling that she could pass easily. It also got her on to the official database, which was very nice.
She'd sent off the form a while ago. The check would be happening in a few days.
The Form:
[] Person Name
Initial Machine Weight:
[] Light (Similar to the alien mech. Low armor, high speed, big deadly sword. If moving fast enough, gets bonus to dodge. Applies to all machines, but most applicable to ones with light armor.)
[] Medium (Similar to the Rifleman. Medium armor, medium speed, gun and melee weapon.)
[] Heavy (Smash! Crush! Heavy armor, low speed, giant gun. Main defense up close are fists.)
[] Machine Name
Entirely Optional: Reference Picture
[]
Starting Parts Rundown and Turn One Actions
- Location
- England
Inspection day comes and goes in a flash, a mere few hours passing as the new machine is confirmed to be up to minimum required standards. Deep scans are made with specialized equipment installed in the floating hanger facility, showing structural and armor integrity along with weapons that can actually pierce opposing robots. Official League personnel come in to hand over a Certificate of Approval and confirm that Amelia will be allowed to compete whenever she is ready to commence battle.
After years of daydreams, she holds in her hands proof that she is going to fight in official battles for real. She has to sit down in order to process the information.
But now she has to actually fight. Before anything else, as soon as the League people leave she gets out her data pad and checks once again the arms and armor of her mech.
High Noon
Sadly no thrusters, but that was an issue that could be fixed later. As was the lack of a color scheme. For now the standard grey of newly produced components, it was something Amelia hoped to fix after her first match.
Speaking of, she had a bit of time to get things ready. What would she do with it?
Turn 1 Actions
You may perform two actions in between fights each turn.
[] Shop. You could acquire new equipment and train with it until you're at base competency in order to use it in the next fight. Unfortunately, you have no money right now! That would make shopping rather pointless.
[] Train. Select one of your 4 stats and start working on self improvement in the simulators. Because you're pretty bad right now, and being better at stabbing, shooting or dodging is sure to come in handy during the future.
[] Networking. Socializing is good for the mental health, but can also net you benefits in the form of sponsorship, advice and other such good things. However, you have no one to network with right now! Except Amelia's family, who she keeps in regular contact with but doesn't actually see very often.
[] Research. Learning all about potential opponents and venues is key to success, as you can't fight if you don't know where or who to fight. This would be basic research, learning about the lower tier rings you have easy access to and free floating opponents in your skill and equipment range that you could challenge to a duel.
[] Watch Arena fights. The Celestial Arena is the main event, the first thing to come to mind when people think about Mechanized Combat. Intently watching a few bouts may give new insights into tactics and skills that our hero may be able to use for her own gain. Or it may just make her more confused about the whole thing. Either way, pretty explosions!
After years of daydreams, she holds in her hands proof that she is going to fight in official battles for real. She has to sit down in order to process the information.
But now she has to actually fight. Before anything else, as soon as the League people leave she gets out her data pad and checks once again the arms and armor of her mech.
High Noon
Head: Sky Lords Aerospace 'Advance'
Sky Lords are a mid level contractor with strong governmental ties that work on many military and civilian support systems in the space sector. Communication relays, navigation beacons and sensor arrays for freighters and warships in equal measure are their domain, and they have stuck to it almost religiously. The Advance is an aerodynamic headpiece suited for a lighter fighting machine with simple scanning systems ripped straight out of automated construction vehicles. This lower end SL offering is only really as effective as the secondary systems equipped for if the primary sensor array is destroyed, but an identifiable head is required for League approval. This being almost the cheapest stock option makes it a popular choice for those who don't want to shell out hard cash for faster tracking optics.
Stats: Can effectively target enemy Mecha with speeds of up to 5 units per turn. Has no environmental protection. Offers no scanning or aiming bonuses. 2 Component Integrity.
Central Body: League Issue
The governing body of the sport sees fit to issue standard control schemes and requirements of the central body of walkers. The example they made to physically show these principles ended up being well designed enough that they started selling the blueprints to these for some extra cash. With some customization options to allow for individuality and a solid protective build giving some endurance, this part is unchallenged when it comes to buying an entry level mech chassis.
Stats: 4 Component Integrity.
Arms: Forge Industrial 'Strikers'
Forge is in the business of expanding industry, and it turns out that it's actually rather easy to turn manipulator arms meant for the assembly lines into ones meant for Mechanized Combat. Offering both reliability and strength in a cheap, compact frame gets attention, and Forge has made quite the profit off selling these to pilots looking for simple arms, or those who need somewhat heavy-duty limb replacements in a hurry.
Stats: 2 Component Integrity each. Punching does 2 damage.
Legs: Forge Industrial 'Blitzers'
Less popular than the other notable product offered to pilots by Forge, Blitzer-model legs still prove to be popular enough to merit continued production. Slow and steady is rather less of a selling point with motivators than it is with grasping limbs, but the Blitzers do have the speed implied by their name and are well battle tested by this point.
Stats: 2 Component Integrity each.
Armor: Light Steel Plate
The latest and greatest in what is still mankind's most commonly used metal, continuous refinements in many processes and technologies along with sheer convenience keep steel in widespread use. Although in a form that would be almost unrecognizable to people of earlier eras, and no longer used by the military proper, it still finds a place in armoring combat Mecha that need something affordable yet still capable of some protection. It could come from any of dozens of different companies, but its exact origins don't really matter. Light plating allows for significant speed, weighing surprisingly little considering how much material is used, and will protect a fighting machine from any shrapnel or environmental effects. Yet that is all it will do, for any actual hits by serious weapons will punch right through.
Stats: 0 Armor Rating, 50% Speed Increase.
Primary Weapon: Arkon War-Blade
Similar swords to this relic are used in honor of Zechy Rish, who finished off the Assault Fortress defending the alien high command using a looted War-Blade during the final assault on Arkon Prime. After almost lost her life in the doing, she retired from the sport, but her legacy is carried on in these heavy blades. Massive swords made of advanced materials, designs spread freely across all walker weapon factories, they can cut clean through a foe if given half a chance. Indeed, they are often able to end a battle with a few well placed swings. Amelia has one up on the competition here, using one of the actual swords themselves instead of a remake, resharpened and with the equipment for its energy field removed for the time being. The government cared not for this sword, and allowed her to keep it when they hauled off the machine. She intends to keep hold of it.
Stats: 3 damage, 2 armor piercing.
Secondary Weapon: Peacekeeper Arms 'Trinity Blaster'
Peacekeeper has a well earned reputation in the field of infantry weaponry. If its a man portable gun, there's probably a version you can buy from a 'keeper store, or so they say. While walkers certainly aren't the same size as humans, a few concepts do carry over. The subject of sidearms is a thorny one when it comes to League, as the earliest attempts at making pistols in the sport ended up being not worth the effort. Enter Peacekeeper, as after a long period of development their expert small arms designers came up with the Trinity Blaster, a heavy duty revolver with three rounds and an easy reload system that could be fabricated by leftover heavy weapon production facilities they inherited from a then recent merger. Remaining a popular choice for years on end, the Trinity has faded slightly from its glory days with the advent of more advanced weaponry for higher end competitors and superior modern armor rendering its once impressive enough punch sorely lacking against better protected opponents.
Stats: 1d3-1 damage.
Sky Lords are a mid level contractor with strong governmental ties that work on many military and civilian support systems in the space sector. Communication relays, navigation beacons and sensor arrays for freighters and warships in equal measure are their domain, and they have stuck to it almost religiously. The Advance is an aerodynamic headpiece suited for a lighter fighting machine with simple scanning systems ripped straight out of automated construction vehicles. This lower end SL offering is only really as effective as the secondary systems equipped for if the primary sensor array is destroyed, but an identifiable head is required for League approval. This being almost the cheapest stock option makes it a popular choice for those who don't want to shell out hard cash for faster tracking optics.
Stats: Can effectively target enemy Mecha with speeds of up to 5 units per turn. Has no environmental protection. Offers no scanning or aiming bonuses. 2 Component Integrity.
Central Body: League Issue
The governing body of the sport sees fit to issue standard control schemes and requirements of the central body of walkers. The example they made to physically show these principles ended up being well designed enough that they started selling the blueprints to these for some extra cash. With some customization options to allow for individuality and a solid protective build giving some endurance, this part is unchallenged when it comes to buying an entry level mech chassis.
Stats: 4 Component Integrity.
Arms: Forge Industrial 'Strikers'
Forge is in the business of expanding industry, and it turns out that it's actually rather easy to turn manipulator arms meant for the assembly lines into ones meant for Mechanized Combat. Offering both reliability and strength in a cheap, compact frame gets attention, and Forge has made quite the profit off selling these to pilots looking for simple arms, or those who need somewhat heavy-duty limb replacements in a hurry.
Stats: 2 Component Integrity each. Punching does 2 damage.
Legs: Forge Industrial 'Blitzers'
Less popular than the other notable product offered to pilots by Forge, Blitzer-model legs still prove to be popular enough to merit continued production. Slow and steady is rather less of a selling point with motivators than it is with grasping limbs, but the Blitzers do have the speed implied by their name and are well battle tested by this point.
Stats: 2 Component Integrity each.
Armor: Light Steel Plate
The latest and greatest in what is still mankind's most commonly used metal, continuous refinements in many processes and technologies along with sheer convenience keep steel in widespread use. Although in a form that would be almost unrecognizable to people of earlier eras, and no longer used by the military proper, it still finds a place in armoring combat Mecha that need something affordable yet still capable of some protection. It could come from any of dozens of different companies, but its exact origins don't really matter. Light plating allows for significant speed, weighing surprisingly little considering how much material is used, and will protect a fighting machine from any shrapnel or environmental effects. Yet that is all it will do, for any actual hits by serious weapons will punch right through.
Stats: 0 Armor Rating, 50% Speed Increase.
Primary Weapon: Arkon War-Blade
Similar swords to this relic are used in honor of Zechy Rish, who finished off the Assault Fortress defending the alien high command using a looted War-Blade during the final assault on Arkon Prime. After almost lost her life in the doing, she retired from the sport, but her legacy is carried on in these heavy blades. Massive swords made of advanced materials, designs spread freely across all walker weapon factories, they can cut clean through a foe if given half a chance. Indeed, they are often able to end a battle with a few well placed swings. Amelia has one up on the competition here, using one of the actual swords themselves instead of a remake, resharpened and with the equipment for its energy field removed for the time being. The government cared not for this sword, and allowed her to keep it when they hauled off the machine. She intends to keep hold of it.
Stats: 3 damage, 2 armor piercing.
Secondary Weapon: Peacekeeper Arms 'Trinity Blaster'
Peacekeeper has a well earned reputation in the field of infantry weaponry. If its a man portable gun, there's probably a version you can buy from a 'keeper store, or so they say. While walkers certainly aren't the same size as humans, a few concepts do carry over. The subject of sidearms is a thorny one when it comes to League, as the earliest attempts at making pistols in the sport ended up being not worth the effort. Enter Peacekeeper, as after a long period of development their expert small arms designers came up with the Trinity Blaster, a heavy duty revolver with three rounds and an easy reload system that could be fabricated by leftover heavy weapon production facilities they inherited from a then recent merger. Remaining a popular choice for years on end, the Trinity has faded slightly from its glory days with the advent of more advanced weaponry for higher end competitors and superior modern armor rendering its once impressive enough punch sorely lacking against better protected opponents.
Stats: 1d3-1 damage.
Sadly no thrusters, but that was an issue that could be fixed later. As was the lack of a color scheme. For now the standard grey of newly produced components, it was something Amelia hoped to fix after her first match.
Speaking of, she had a bit of time to get things ready. What would she do with it?
Turn 1 Actions
You may perform two actions in between fights each turn.
[] Shop. You could acquire new equipment and train with it until you're at base competency in order to use it in the next fight. Unfortunately, you have no money right now! That would make shopping rather pointless.
[] Train. Select one of your 4 stats and start working on self improvement in the simulators. Because you're pretty bad right now, and being better at stabbing, shooting or dodging is sure to come in handy during the future.
[] Networking. Socializing is good for the mental health, but can also net you benefits in the form of sponsorship, advice and other such good things. However, you have no one to network with right now! Except Amelia's family, who she keeps in regular contact with but doesn't actually see very often.
[] Research. Learning all about potential opponents and venues is key to success, as you can't fight if you don't know where or who to fight. This would be basic research, learning about the lower tier rings you have easy access to and free floating opponents in your skill and equipment range that you could challenge to a duel.
[] Watch Arena fights. The Celestial Arena is the main event, the first thing to come to mind when people think about Mechanized Combat. Intently watching a few bouts may give new insights into tactics and skills that our hero may be able to use for her own gain. Or it may just make her more confused about the whole thing. Either way, pretty explosions!