>>22924190

Link to Archived threads (there are two Part 11s, sorry about that. The one about trust was supposed to be part 12):

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=mechengineer+quest

Or just search foolz for MechEngineer Quest

I NEED SLEEP!

>>22924250

(Sleep is for non-engineers, Anon. Daniel has taught us that.)

>>22924190
"I say we give him a chance, Max likes him and he'd be good at the job. If he tries to betray us Ivan can always rip out his intestines and strangle him with them."

Then see what Janine has to say about it, then we can talk to her about Richard being the one who probably has Goddard. I hope to hell that Richard's house is part of the Capellans, that'd make life easier.

>>22924283

Seconding this. It takes a thief to catch a thief, and we have little to no experience with security measures. He may also know of caches or other locations where the eights have stored supplies. Could always use more scrap or such.

>other stuff

Along with every other player in this thread, I've been giving the HZP's primary armament some thought. While it should be a good stand-alone 'mech, I think we should also take into account the Cappies' current battlemech composition if we're going to sell to them.

From the force composition tables book for 3039, it seems that the Cappies' battlemech forces are very lopsided in terms of Medium and Light composition. They have a lot of Locusts, Stingers, and Wasps; these seem to be either light and slow, and/or fast and poorly armed. As for their faster mediums, they seem to have a lot of Phoenix Hawks running around, which is a solid medium 'mech.

The variant we're going to sell to the Capellans might want to complement their current light forces, or otherwise stand out in some way.

>>22924283

Janine taps her lip for a moment with a pensive finger, and shrugs, folding her arms.

"Even if the gun was empty he could've killed you if he wanted to, Daniel. Probably, anyway. I know Ivan doesn't seem to like the idea much, but I have to say he should at least be a little compassionate, given the similarities between this guy's predicament and his own pre-joining Skvorec."

Ivan scowls and nods curtly.

"Bah, lady is right. Ivan was no better than pirate scum before Goddard and new family, and this... eh, he can have chance. Once. If no good, I rip balls off and feed to him before I strap him to underneath Crazy Ivan's feet and go play hopscotch on tarmac."

Bruce doesn't seem to be terribly comfortable around Ivan, and less so now.

"If you're sure you want to go to bat for him Daniel, you and Hatamoto, then I'll stand in for Goddard on this one and make the call."

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>>22924250

WEAKLING.

WEAAAAAAAKLIIIIIIIIING.

YOU ARE NO ENGINEER.

>>22924380
"We need someone on security, he doesn't seem like the worst of people, and I trust Max on this one. I'll vouch for him."

>>22924380

Yeah, let's give the dude a chance, we all know his face now anyway, and Ex-Criminals make the best security experts.

>>22924427
>>22924430

"Alright, then as acting CEO of Skvorec Armorworks, welcome to the company. You'll understand when I say that, while this is on a trial basis, you're going to get paid in food, water, clothes, and showers till you prove yourself a reformed man. Not too reformed though, else you'll be garbage at your new job."

Bruce seems relieved, and sighs.

"Thank you. Thanks. So... about a forward on my first paycheck? I'll take a ham sandwich, I haven't eaten in three days."

Hatamoto offers to take him to the commissary, and Ivan lumbers out of your office to return to work. Janine remains behind.

"How's it coming up here? And how're you holding up given this new news about Goddard?"

>>22924578
"Making progress. And given that their leader is dead, and Goddard is pretty much useless to them, I have hopes they'll just cut him lose and head for the hills."

>>22924627

I dunno... there's still that guy who hated him fiercely enough to call a gang of cutthroats down on his business.

>>22924578
"It's going okay on Hazard Pay, just need to finish the armor, weapons, and some finishing touches. Ahead of schedule, still.

As for Goddard, not particularly happy about it, but it could be worse. Whoever did this probably wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to kidnap him and then just kill him, so we might still be able to get him back.

It's probably Richard, assuming that seal on the paper matches up to his house.

What house did he belong to? What faction is his house part of?"

>>22924627
>>22924650
Goddard isn't with them, they handed him off to the people who hired them, and that might have been Richard, the useless Engineer who is part of a noble family, who worked here before us.

>>22924704
Oh. I must have missed that.

>>22924688

"Speaking of that crest, I need to look into it. I don't recognize it offhand, though I can tell you it's here in the Free Worlds League for sure. The aquila is here at the bottom. If this is the crest or something of the person responsible, then whoever it is is either an idiot or egomaniac. Of course, it might not even be related; Bruce didn't seem 100% informed after all."

Janine sits on your sofa.

"Coffee? And I also wanted to tell you that we've been cleared with the Capellans. Once you provide proof of design for them to scrutinize, they'll send their reps to talk to us. I plan on inviting more than just them though. Who else do you think? The Mariks? The Magistracy is nearby too."

YES! I'm around for it!
Finally!
Praise lowtax!

>>22924848
Get her some coffee, and a smooch.

"The more people the better, as long as they don't start a fist fight in our hanger, they'll all probably want Hazard Pay so they'll keep on trying to one up each other. Which is good for us. Though we have to be careful not to piss any of them off too much in doing so, we don't want them to figure that if they can't have it no one can.

Also, what Noble House did the useless ass Richard belong to? I don't know that many of Goddard's enemies, he probably had more than a few, but he's the only one I can think of with the resources and motive to do something like this. Goddard did cut him and his family out of this, that must have stung."

>>22924848
Anyone she thinks might be a potential buyer. Provided the reps don't all land at the same time and get into a brawl or anything.

The more markets the Hazard Pay gets into, the more money we make, and the more interest we will have for our next designs.

>>22924848

I thought they kinda put survivability and LRM spam over anything else?

>>22924848

The more the merrier, as long as they won't take a huge interest in the 'mech bay that we unearthed a while back. Selling to periphery powers may also be a good way to secure regular customers, if the FWL doesn't mind.

>>22924944
>>22924950
>>22925005

You grab you both some coffee and give her a peck on the cheek, taking a seat beside her.

"Mariks didn't seem too interested given the software bids we got, but they might show up just to outbid the Capellans. The Davions too, same M.O. there. Magistracy I'm not sure I want to deal with, but they have a production facility that is willing to deal with licenses from smaller companies on Detroit, so it might be worth the circus coming to down. I'd also like to send an invite to folks on Solaris and Outreach, but we'll see what happens."

She sips her coffee and looks into the cup thoughtfully.

"I'm of the same mind as you regarding the notion that Richard's family is behind this. Just because Goddard got out of bed with them legally doesn't mean they aren't angry about it. And since you don't know much about them, I'll tell you what I know.

They own holdings on three worlds; this one and two neighbors a jump away. Their fortune comes from trade negotiations though, which attracted Goddard because having a middle man to get you though red tape and tariffs is always helpful. Sadly Richard was a terrible worker and knew less about Battlemech design than I do, and you know where that went. His family was not happy but last I heard they were more angry at their son than they were at Goddard. I guess they wore some pretty convincing faces at that meeting."

We should hire catering servies to provide their normal cuisine, having authentic Capellan cuisine and so on should score us some brownie points for the visitors. Since our budget is for normally for designing gigantic death machines, it shouldn't be too expensive to have a nice welcoming party.

>>22925141
> Solaris and Outreach, but we'll see what happens."

"Doesn't Ivan have friends on Solaris? He was talking about a drive train system there. I'd like to have a solaris rep here; they should make everyone else take us more seriously. Ivan probably knows someone to invite."

>>22925141
"What's his family's name?

We personally don't have any leverage, but if we impress a rep from House Malik and they end up wanting a piece of Hazard Pay we might be able to get a favor from them and they could lay enough pressure on Richard and his folks so that they have to give us Goddard back.

Because I'm not really seeing any other ways to do this off the top of my head, we don't have leverage, we don't know where he is, and we only have a good educated guess as to who actually has him.

Also, we should probably tell the police about the cave if they don't know already."

>>22925141

"As for richard, I'm thinking we need to get ahold of the blockade fleet. That, ah.... merchant, we bought from was complaining about someone searching everyone that passed through the system. They probably saw who took richard, and we could try to ask or bribe them for a list of ships in and out on the right dates. Do you think we have the budget for that?" (it was comstar, right?)

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Someone mentioned making the grin wider last thread. I have some ideas to go about this, and the picture I drew was also supposed to be a frontal profile. So the grin is actually bigger than it looks if you could see it in 3d.

>>22924374
I don't know enough about Cappie army composition to know what would complement them. But we did work out three very workable loadouts last thread with some planning for future upgrades. Easy upgrades are double heatsinks and ferro fibrous armour. Endosteel and XL engines would require redesigning the chassis and are hella expensive.

- 2xMlas 2xSRM4 w/1-ton ammo 10 sinks 6.5t armour
Well call this one the HZP-A. SRMs give it a good punch and versatility with special loads but ammo crits are still rather dangerous. That's unavoidable so we shouldn't worry about it. It runs a little hot but nothing you can't manage, it can alpha strike once with no heat penalty. It has 88% armour coverage because we needed tonnage for the ammo.

The upgraded version is heat neutral and maintains the same armour coverage for a half ton less. This can be used to get CASE. If we put the ammo and CASE into one torso, we can mount everything else on the other side. If the ammo blows we lose that side of the mech, but the rest can keep on trucking.

- 3xMlas 1x Flamer, 12 sinks 7t armour
The HZP-B is heat neutral when firing all 3 lasers. This version is ammo independent and breathes fire.

This variant benefits the most from upgrades gaining a total of 3 tons. With 6.5t of FF armour the mech is left with 7 tons of free space and 20 heat capacity. You can do a lot with that. The simplest upgrade is to just add 3 more medium laser for PEW PEW.

- 4xMlas 4 Jumpjets 10 sinks 7.5t armour
The HZP-C mounts jump jets making it the most mobile of the variants. It runs very hot, but the heat is balanced so that it can jump it's full distance and can still alpha strike every other turn.

Possible upgrades are 2 more JJs or another laser.

>>22925245
>Also, we should probably tell the police about the cave if they don't know already."

I think we should talk to the police, and propose a join task effort: We can try to take the already- wounded banshee out if we combine forces, and split the c-bills evenly if we get there in time.

its adventurous and risky, but we could REALLY use the extra capital and a heavy mech to salvage.

>>22925305
I think the side profile should STILL have it seem as though it's looking at you, somehow. No matter where you go, the eyes still follow you...

>>22925232
>>22925245
>>22925296

"Yeah, he does. Good thinking, I completely blanked on that fact. He probably knows some stable owners that might want another machine to add to their collections on the cheap. Especially one as easy to modify as you say yours will be."

She takes another drink and reclines a bit.

"Richards family name? Kensington. Named for his father, Richard Senior. Not nobles per se, but rich enough to have a handhold in local League politics for sure. They let us borrow quite a lot of money. Well, 'gifted' is more the term I'd use. It was several million Cbills and a promise of prospective buyers. I guess they're baby boy wanted to be an engineer so they decided to flex their muscles and make it happen. Shame he picked the one career where money can't buy your success. Well, they COULD have hired someone to design things and put Richards name on th-"

Janine sits bolt upright, then looks at you wide-eyed.

"Do you think...?"

>>22925395

>they're

(oh god i finally did it. fffffffffffff-)

>>22925395
"I'm not sure what you're thinking Janine, and that ruse wouldn't work for long, one conversation with someone who knows what they're talking about and it falls apart. Fucker wasn't an engineer and his work insulted the entire profession.

But what did you just realize?"

>>22925330
I'm not capable of drawing this but I think we could give the eyes a movable iris to track targets. It could be cosmetic, but it might be possible to tie it into the sensor systems somehow.

>>22925395

"Think what? They're kidnapping him to.... do what? A hostile takeover, or to steal OUR work? Or something worse?"

>>22925435
>>22925522
Hostile takeover probably, why do all the work when you can take all the credit? Richard definitely seems like the kind of guy to use rich asshole logic.

>>22925435
>>22925522

"I... well I was thinking kind of that, yeah. Like, what if they took him and are going to hold him thinking that we'll let them call the shots? It doesn't matter if Richard can't bullshit his way out of a paper bag in an conversation with peers, especially if he keeps cranking out all these 'amazing and innovative' designs. He could be that genius recluse, or simply claim he doesn't discuss work outside of work or something. I don't know how savvy he is in that regard, I never really got a chance to talk to him much. Didn't want to; never liked the way he looked at me at meetings.

Anyway, I don't know what we could do about it even if they were planning to blackmail us like that. I guess we could do as you mentioned and tell the police about the cave, and see if they find something there."

Other potential buyers:
Taurian Concordat
Marian Hegemony (definite secondary buyer at best)

>>22925657
I think the important question is what Goddard would want us to do in that situation.

>>22925657
Well, it would be a dick move to Goddard, but what if we tell the police that with Goddard kidnapped and possibly dead, that we get the paperwork moving on making him legally dead and transferring all ownership rights and company stock to Janine?

>>22925657
"We aren't going to let them call the shots, he can say he's an engineer once he puts in the obsessive work days. At the very least if they're going to try that they'll have to keep him alive, which means we have a chance of getting him back."

>>22925690
>>22925714
>>22925748

"I hope the garrison can do something. I hate siting here knowing he's rotting someplace.

Oh hey.. I meant to ask you. Have you thought at all about the inconsistencies in the stories we have about what happened with Vincent? We have one of him leaving the planet, and the other of him being killed by the Eights when they took Goddard. What do you make of that?"

>>22925657
>>22925714


(frowning, unhappy) "I think we need to take steps to protect the hazard pay and the company. And to try to find goddard on our own, or at least help turn up leads."
"I'm not sure what they are, but something to start thinking about. "
"Is there anything in the contracts we can use to fire goddard - temporarily, until we get him back - or elect a stand-in CEO? "
"I think we DO need to tell the police about the cave and the kidnapping... and it may be worth the cbills to put out a missing person's request to other nearby worlds. I kind of want to take the urbie and the cop squad and kick that frankenbanshee pilot's ass NOW, so it won't be a problem in the future. I think if we tell them about the cave, some of us should probably go as well. They would probably jump at the opportunity to get rid of the pirate problem once and for all."
"Do you know anything about the fleet that was giving our, ahem, smuggler contraband searches? I have an idea"

>>22925847
"He's a sneaky git. Probably stole a bunch of shit from the Eights and split."

>>22925847
"Not sure, the sources we got info from for both of those stories is kinda iffy, especially from Bruce as I doubt he was given much good information from his former compatriots, and we can't trust everything he said anyways.

We need to get the story from someone who knows more, maybe look into the ship he supposedly took out of here, maybe we can contact it and get more information.

For all we know Vincent is involved somehow."

>>22925847
We have one of him leaving the planet, and the other of him being killed by the Eights when they took Goddard. What do you make of that?"

"They probably fought over the money, and the eights that are left don't know what's going on. If only one story is true, then he MIGHT still be on the planet... along with the money."

>>22925847
Oh so THATS who Goddards "boyfriend" was. Well thinking about it tells me two things.

- If Vincent went missing for realz, short of ROM level shenanigans there would have been a bigger splash. Vincent has employees of his own, clients expecting a delivery etc etc...

- If it wasn't Vincent then who got killed?

>>22925847
Considering that, you know, you can't just leave a planet without going through a starport, can't we verify with Starport Control to see if Vincent left or not? We could even try calling his DropShip to see if they know where he is.

>>22925867
>>22925897
>>22925899
>>22925950

"That's all possible and or true too... makes my head hurt. One of the reasons I turned my back on the noble thing; I don't like keeping track of spiderwebs.

I guess the only thing we can do now is report the cave to the garrison, and hope they come through for us. At the very least we might see some of that money as a finder's fee, if they don't find anything about Goddard's whereabouts. I'll work more on this crest, and we'll see what it turns up."

Janine stands up and puts away her mug.

"I'm going to get back to work. You should too. You mentioned Vincent's employees and the shockwave that'd happen if he went missing. I don't have to remind you that we have the same situation here, and even with Goddard gone we have a family to take care of."

She smiles and heads for the door before stopping for a moment.

"Oh hey, your new futon arrived today," she says before she waves gingerly and heads out the door.

>>22925866
Not sure what could be done about the banshee. It can't leave the planet without a dropship. And if the guy is truly alone he also doesn't have any technicians, so that junkheap is going to break down sooner or later. At least the police know where it is.

>>22925959
Port authority tends to get butthurt over expired visas, for various good reasons. I'm sure that goes double for people in Vincent's line of work.

>>22926038
Fuck yeah, FUTON. Let's pet Max, we ate recently so we're good on that, then light up a cigarette and get to work on the armor. Almost done with this baby.

>>22926086
Why don't we ask Bruce who max was owned by?
I get the feeling he came from SOMEwhere, maybe during the attack!
Who knows, a dog who knows our enemies may come in handy.

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>>22925305
Regarding the head, i prefer this version. We should have a fully enclosed cockpit, to allow us to uparmour the head, unlike the usual mechs that are vulnerable to head shots. We can have full 360 vision via cameras and screen and some periscopes in the eyes in case of PPG induced power outage.

>>22926038
>futon arrived
Let's go and get that set up in our office.
Then we need to lock down what weapons the prototype is going to have.

>>22925950

remind me, who was vincent?

And did we ever find out who goddards boyfriend actually was?

>>22926116
Vincent was Goddard's old friend and an arms dealer. We bought some mech weapons off of him.
He and Goddard went drinking, and presumably missing.

>>22926116
Vincent was the arms dealer we got stuff from, and Goddard's old friend, they went drinking together the night Goddard went missing.

>>22926129

Wait, wait wait.

So vincent has a ship here in town, and he HASN'T left yet?

Opportunity!

lets go hotwire that sucker and get goddard back.

>>22926114
>>22926086

After Janine leaves, you light a smoke and scratch Max behind the ear, and go see about your new sleeping arrangements.

After a brief search, the crew finds your crate, lugs it to your office, and unpacks it. Being master mechanics and fabricators, it only takes them an hour to assemble it incorrectly, shout at each other, read the instructions finally, and put it together correctly, and leave still arguing and seemingly ignoring your thanks.

Max immediately hops onto the low bed and curls up. Approved, it seems.

You have some work ahead of you, or you can take a break and do some of your own snooping regarding recent events. You only have a few days left till deadline, but the supposedly easiest tasks are left, so you might have plenty of time.

>>22926204

(the stories are he either left or died)

>>22926255
...Was it made in the FRR (Or thereabouts), by any chance?

>>22926296

>made in the FRR

(i loled)

>>22926255
So, armour and weapons.

>>22926112
For armour this would be preferable. I am thinking in Mechwarrior PC game here, since light mechs usually only have one armour tile for the head this could have two.

Double the survivability for the pilot. A sale point for both Solaris Arena and for Battlefield conditions. Periscopes, mirrors and perhaps a faraday cage for the head could prevent PPGs shorting out the cameras or completely blinding the pilot.

As for the first variant that we create we should consider adding some kind of ground penetrating radar, so that it can see through hills and buildings, coupled with jets and double the range on them with tau crisis suit like recall programming that will recreate the flightpath backwards on the push of a button.

>>22926255
Let's see if we can get info on Vincent's ship and if it's left, if there's any way to contact it, that sort of thing.

I think Janine is talking to the cops about the cave so we don't have to deal with that.

>>22926277
(the stories are he either left or died)

Didn't that one story say they handed Goddard off to someone ELSE, who took him off planet, though?
As in, someone else has a ship besides vincent?

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>>22925141
>Magistracy I'm not sure I want to deal with
what

>>22926255
Let's at least try to contact Vincent's employees to see if he's dead or not.

>>22926277
We could always take a walk and have a look see with Ivan and Hatamoto.

>>22926112
I also agree about armouring the cockpit. To that effect I had an idea that's gonna blow your mind.

MOVABLE JAWS. Technically movable lower jaw. My idea is to make the cockpit window level with the lower jaw. This covers up the window when the jaws are closed. It also allows us to move the grin higher on the mech's face and make it HUGE. The pilot still sits level with the shoulders.

But this would give us many benefits:

- Combine with movable irises for NAT20 INTIMIDATE ALL DAY ERRY DAY
- If the jaws themselves are not the window then this would make repairs easier because you don't have to cut tons of shaped sapphire. You can just machine them out of armour and that would also allow for more complex shapes.
- The jaw bone can be lowered for partial vision, or lowered completely for full vision. The red dot sight is painted in the middle of the window and matches the contour of the lower centre tooth. So if the jaw is only half open it lines up with the red dot sight and you can still use it even though it's covered.
- The system can be made failsafe, spring tension and gravity holds the jaw open. To close the jaw you use a small amount of myomer under constant tension. If power to the myomer is lost the jaw will just fall open. The pilot can also choose to lock the jaw in different positions.

When you think about it the idea makes a lot of sense. It's basically the same thing as the visor on a knight's helmet, only applied upside down. Protection vs Visibility

>>22926362

At the very least, this is a way to help cut through the bullshit and help figure out what really happened.
I STILL think we should call up the comstar lostech confiscation blockade and ask if they've seen any ships departing from the planet lately. (ones that may not have used the official spaceport)

>>22925305
>>22926350
Considering Cappie stealth armour and the variant proposed here we could have one hell of a Crysalid expy.

consider this:
Stealth Armour.
Sees through obstacles and cover.
Double flightrage for its class.
Memorised flightpath of the jets for instant retreat back to cover.

It's like made to alpha snipe rear armour and then disperse before return fire can commence.

>>22926350

(sadly armor is maxed at 9 pips no matter what the weight of the chassis is, so you can arrange the head however you want. fluff-wise if you choose a larger optical sapphire window, the pilot has less trouble aiming if the sensors are shot up, but with a more sensor-centric cockpit it's harder to know where the bullseye is, so to speak. mechanically, they work the same)

>>22926415
I dont know how to get double flight on jets. ITs not like you can add more fuel tanks instead of armour and cal it a day, since they are not the main limitation, but jet engine performance.

you would need more jets. Like 6.

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>>22926415
REEEEEEEEEEEEE!

>>22926481
That would be a pain in the as to engineer.
And it would always be weaker than a normal cockpit.

>>22926481
I like but let's get the rest done before messing with it further. I don't know how much time we will have to add it in.

>>22926397
Right. Lets talk to the people we have no reason to know exist IC, and should have no intention to do so if we want to keep our sweet, sweet CIWS/ABM system.

Until we are a medium mech fabricator with a considerable merc legion as a product testing division, we do not reveal our hand.

>>22926481
blast shield for the pilot, I like it. Mechanically irrelevant but thematically spot on for adaptability and reliability. Lets first give our baby some skin and claws before messing with the flair. Armor shouldnt be too hard to figure out.

(okay, so far I've seen:

research Vincent
work on HZP
go talk to other Skvorec employees

as suggestions. what do you want to have Daniel do? could be something else entirely too)

>>22926481

(i keep seeing the eyes as socketed spotlights/floodlights in your picture, Star. that and the sketch that the drawbro did)

>>22926572
We have eaten/caffienated, got a new sleeping apparatus, and sent an ex con to make nice with everyone, time for us to get shit done.

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>>22926572
Maybe we should have our newest employee ask around? He might be able to use his safer contacts to get us a lead.

I keeping missing MEQ because of the changing schedule, is there any way to know when the next one will be held?

>>22926572
I say we outsource the Vincent isue to Ivan and Hatamoto. Tell them all we can and our suspicions, if they dont have the same, and let them consider going for it while we finish our product.

They may have the free time while we armour and arm the baby.

But we want them back in one piece after the adventure. First Hatamoto to test the power usage on the weapons and then Ivan to assemble our baby.

>>22926556

What? no. We hard from Vincent when we bought stuff that his ship got searched on the way in-system.
SO we KNOW someone's there. Just not who.

And if they're there searching ships, then they by god who WHO has been in and out of the system.

So we just phone them and ask "hey, seen anyone take off on or near X dates? We have a missing persons case". Or have the cops do it.

They MIGHT be feeling helpful.
They might also feel more helpful with a bit of a bribe.

>>22926572
Have Hatamoto and Bruce chase down the Vincent lead.
We should work on the weapons.

>>22926572
Three days is not that much time really and spending some debugging, optimizing and recuperating before making our pitch could be good.

>>22925305
How about a compromise for the A model? 3 med laser, one SRM4, ten heatsinks and 7.5 armor? Less alpha but more armor and pretty much same heat. Just a thought.

Also There was the one Large laser, one medium laser but that one is underwhelming.

>>22926622

(i apologize for that. i switched to 5pm PST to catch the east coasters, then this week it had to happen on friday due to altered work schedule. it'll be held 5pm PST on Wednesdays unless otherwise noted in the current battletech general)

>>22926704
I'm not sure about only 1 SRM, that means we burn through the ammo slower which makes an ammo explosion more and more likely, and 6.5 tons is about as efficient as you can get.

>>22926255

>Weapons

Since the HZP has modular mounts on the arms, and weapon rails on the torso that equate to easy missile switching, we might have a bit of flexibility as far as variants go. But we need to make sure that our demonstration model really impresses the Cappies. Doing the same for Davion and Marik is a given, but they seem to be less desperately 'mech-strapped.

Since the HZP doesn't come with jump jets, it might behoove us to advertise something that the Capellans can use right off the shelf. They seem to like specialty ammo for LRMs and SRMs, and they seem to lack a real robust and fast light 'mech. They have a glut of bugs for their light 'mech force, which are easy to produce but not very strong. A variant with SRMs and/or LRMs could appeal to the Cappies.

We could also try to make the HZP a stronger Hussar or Mongoose. Mount 6.5 tons of armor, 1 LL, 1 ML, and an extra heat sink for alpha strike capability.

(okay, seems the votes are to see if you can't get someone else to do the snooping, and bruce needs to earn his stripes, so you could see to it that he pokes around a bit with an email to hatamoto. and in the meantime, engineering!

the weapons and armor can be worked on in any order. weapons first is a bit easier to do since it tells you how you will be shaping your armor overlays without having to backtrack.)

>>22926814
Let's start with weapons.
I prefer the design we were working with, which was dual MLasers and two SRM's.

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>>22926519
>>22926532
>>22926563
Yeah, the face/grin/mask thing is going to be the last thing we work on. We don't need to have it complete for the investors. In fact I want the finished product to be a surprise to them!

Mechanically speaking it won't perform any better or worse in the game. On the engineering side of things it's relatively easy to make. It just sits on top of the window like a flip up visor. If it falls off for whatever reason the mech is left with a plain sapphire window and is no worse off than most mechs.

Here is a second version where the jaw hinges, I think this would be much stronger than the first design.

>>22926603
We should definitely give this thing floodlights for utility, you can use them for all sorts of things. Most mechs have them supposedly but it doesn't come up much. The eye sockets would be the perfect place, and we could let them move freely like real eyes. The reflector in the eye would also appear like an iris.

Come to think of it, it would be hilariously easy to give this thing glowing DOOM EYES of Sauron. Complete with real flames even! That's probably overdoing it though. Maybe.

>>22926858
I would probably kill myself if I had to engineer something like that.

>>22926752
I think the proposed A variant should be our showcase piece. It shows that its a damn mean and versatile little light mech. I know from various MW games a ligh tmech with a ton of firepower, even if limited in endurance, is capable of scary damage. besides, how hard can it be to have spare ammo for a standard armament when selling to garrison units?

>>22926832

I think we may want to put armor on before we strap on guns.

(oh, I thought i might want to point this out as it came up in an earlier thread:

multiple variants/configs to present to the investors. because not only will you be selling these direct, you'll also likely be licensing them to be produced elsewhere, and raking in royalty revenue from that. so having different configs to cherry pick from helps please more people, and shows off how easy it truly is to mod the design, and showcases your rail system and whatnot especially.

eggs in one basket might not be the best approach, basically)

>>22926891
>we may want to put armor on before we strap on guns.
Strapping on guns first makes putting armor on easier.
>>22926814
>weapons first is a bit easier to do since it tells you how you will be shaping your armor overlays

>>22926954
If so lets make all three variants. Then we will need to crack down heavily on variant armour and weapon design.

Other concerns may have to take a second place if we have to do 3 if not more variants of armour and weapon layouts and one jet pack fitting.

>>22926984

(do keep in mind if you do this that there is something to be said about standardization, so if you make the armor load different for each variant, for example, then there are several tiny adjustments that have to be made, and the mech ends up being slightly different, and as a result, not all non-weapon parts will be universal. just something to think about)

>>22926984
Yeah, i would like to have these done with in this part, and have next week the sales presentation.

Then we can have R&R, learning to pilot battlemechs on the Urbie, learning to shoot a gun, getting in in shape and considering establishing a small guard unit that will develop in a merc outfit to protect our assets.

And then LosTech reverse engineering adventure.

>>22927009

In that case, we might want to stick to the 6.5t of armor for all variants. That's already plenty robust for a light 'mech, and is practically unheard of on 7/11 battlemechs.

>>22926883
Shamefur Dispray. The thing is as mechanically complex as the flip up visor on a lego helmet. You could make one out of cardboard and add it to a bike helmet in less than an hour.


>>22926368
>Magistracy
>Lipstick on a HZP
Is there a rule 34 equivalent for horrifying things?

>>22926984
The three variants I posted earlier seem to be the best all-round. You could make something more specialized like a faster Firestarter but we want generalist designs.

>>22926967
Good point, can have the armor be designed to better slope shots away from damaging weapons. We have neat arm mounts so building around those shouldnt be a nightmare

>>22926954
I figured we would show off the A and show specs detailing how easy it is to mod, so retooling facilities for certain configurations wont be a big deal.

>>22927009
Well , actualy its 2 armour loadouts, since one has to be lighter to allow for the jetpacks. I dont know if there is enough weight to be spared by dumping the Missiles and taking on MLs instead.
But if it is so, we can have it all done with one armour fitting.

>>22927009
So maybe make two with different loadouts of MG/SRMs, and put the bins and guns in the same torso as the other variant, and then make an all-energy loadout.

If we wanted to keep the HZP truly modular by keeping the armor on each variant constant, here's what some of the loadouts would look like:

>2xMlas 2xSRM4 w/1-ton ammo 10 sinks 6.5t armour

>4xMlas 1x Flamer, 12 sinks 6.5t armour


>1x LLaser, 1x Mlaser, 11 sinks, 6.5 armor.


I think it's worth dropping 0.5 tons of armor on the second variant so we can keep the parts universal for every variant of the HZP. Makes for easier maintenance, and we're probably not big enough to get away with selling an entirely new line of parts for a field refit kit.

>>22927009

Anontech, what kind of weapons DO we have access to?
Mainly curious about Lasers and Missiles

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>>22927041

I shall deliver with my leet paint skillz

>>22927155

(parts list, courtesy of an anon in the last thread and updated to reflect the two MLas you can salvage off the Spider:

3x Medium Beam Laser
1x Large Beam Laser
1x Ten-tube Long Range Missile Rack
3x LRM ammo
2x SRM ammo
2x 76mm Autocannon ammo
5x Heat Sinks
1x Medium Mech Actuator Set (Full)
1x Light Mech Acctuator Set (Full)
GM Fusion Engine 175
Strand Fusion Engine 245
2x Autocannon 45mm Small Bore
2x 4-tube Short-Range Semi-guided Missile System
2x Small-Beam Laser
1x Fusion-powered Flamer Unit
3x 5-tube Long-Range Semi-guided Missile System

How about modular armour? The difference between 6.5 and 7.5 tons is only about 15%, and that is all reinforcement over the same core areas. So just design the armour for the lower weight, and add brackets where you can slip in and weld extra armour over specific locations. If you want a lighter design you just leave out the extra plates, if you want a stronger design you weld on all of them.

I should have thought of this earlier but we might be able to build a counterweight system into the chassis. This would allow you to correct any imbalance in load distribution without complete redesign.

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>>22927169

>>22927155


3x Medium Beam Laser (2 are being salvaged from a slagged Spider, need to have some parts replaced)
1x Large Beam Laser
1x Ten-tube Long Range Missile Rack (LRM10)
3x LRM ammo
2x SRM ammo
2x 76mm Autocannon ammo (AC5 ammo)
5x Heat Sinks
2x Autocannon 45mm Small Bore (AC2)
2x 4-tube Short-Range Semi-guided Missile System (SRM4)
2x Small-Beam Laser
1x Fusion-powered Flamer Unit
3x 5-tube Long-Range Semi-guided Missile System (LRM5)

>>22927183

(oops, add a VOX Fusion Engine 240u to that too, again off the spider)

>>22927216

>240u

*240ru

>>22927190
Wouldn't it be better to design the mech for the heavier weight? If it's built around the lighter weight, adding the heavier weight could cause extra stress on the mech.

We should design it around the heavier plate, but make the lighter plate standard.

I have to go for a little bit but do consider the modular armour concept. It would allow us much more flexibility with the loadouts.

>>22927041
>Shamefur Dispray. The thing is as mechanically complex as the flip up visor on a lego helmet. You could make one out of cardboard and add it to a bike helmet in less than an hour.
I fucking wish. He said that the part that raises/lowers is still window. That means that up or down, there needs to be nothing but sapphire between the warrior and outside. Also, moving all that shit up and down would require-
...Oh yeah, myomers. But it still would be annoying to engineer right, weaken the structure, make it harder to fix, and not really confer any advantage that couldn't be added with an external camera and screen inside.

>>22927134
Actual the 3 med laser one has 7.5 tons of armor normally, not 7.

>>22927329

Oh, my bad. I also forgot that we don't have 4 medium lasers. In which case, it'd look like:

>3 x MLas, 1 x Flamer, 6.5t; 1 ton of free space.

We could slap on 2 Small Lasers onto there and advertise it as additional anti-infantry measures. That's what all the TROs seem to think what SLasers are for.

>>22927381

(which is funny cause flamers and MGs are better at that; it's SPLas that are infantry murder in any number)

(i guess everyone is in SSW right now, tweaking the HZP or something)

>>22927381
Eh, I' throw one more heatsin on instead so we are looking at:

A: RA 1 Med laser, LA 1 Med laser, RT 1 SRM4, LT 1 SRM4, CT 1 ton SRM4 ammo, 10 heatsinks and 6.5 tons armor.

B: RA 1 Med laser, LA 1 Med laser, CT Med laser, H (CT?) 1Flamer, 13 heatsinks and 6.5 tons armor.

A: RA Large laser, LA Med laser, CT Med laser, ten heatsinks and 6.5 tons armor.

>>22927381
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't SL's have like a really shitty range?

I'd rather try to figure out a way to use LLas, MLas and SRMS to have all-around combat potential.

If we DO go MLas, Flamer, SLas and SRM then we're relying pretty much on the MLas for distance, which would be good for a mech designed to stay in close, I guess, but it's not really ideal for a 'workhorse' unit.

IS small lasers are basically ammo-less machine guns with all of the problems and none of the benefits. On the bright side you don't need to carry around a 200-damage keg of nitroglycerine that is MG ammo crits.

>>22927293
Errr, I think you are mistaken on the design. The movable jaw idea means making the jaws out of ARMOUR, not glass. The window is there, it's just covered up by the lower jaw most of the time for protection. All this requires is a piece of metal that hinges on one axis. It's not rocket science.

This gives you the benefits of having a big window and NO window with none of the downsides.

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>>22926112

That was my thought initially as well, but apparently the fluff indicates that the window material is equivalent to what ever armor we would be putting up anyway. Ultimately, it comes down to which design will give us the highest protection at the lowest weight/maintenance time. If we had gone for the head ejection system, this would probably have been the case.

>>22926858

Doable, but the issue becomes the reliability of the jaw mechanism. Worst case scenario is you loose power and thus the ability to open them even partially and you are flying blind. We could design it to be a positive pressure system (IE it needs power to stay closed) so that in loss/damage to the lines it will drop and give visibility rather than turning it into a sitting duck. I am all for more armor, especially by the pilot, but we might have to sacrifice something else to make it work.

Anywho, here is a MSP sketch I did while I was away from my drawing pad. I think I like how the HZP looks in it, but I wanted to throw it out here before upgrading to the Photoshops for the final version.

If someone could get me a some references of the weapons we decide on, that would be appreciated. I just left the rail system open for the time being because I have no idea what the scale/design of what we will be loading it with.

>>22927474
Er, third on should be C.

A is the striker, B is best for heat management and anti infantry and C is long range scout support.

>>22927474
umm, didn't we want all the weapons in the torso?

>>22927517
>that pic
LET ME BEAR YOUR MAN CHILDREN

>>22927517

>That pic

Oh god I love you, so hard right now.

Though, looking at it, I would like the arms to be a bit beefier (I believe there to be too much of a gap, though maybe that's for the best) and the crotch to be more angular, as it's bluntness contrasts with the fucking amazing angular torso.

Jesus Christ, how amazing.

>>22927504
>>22927517
having the positive pressure idea being a kind of fail safe against ARGH IM BLIND is a good idea and adds to the SKVOREC TOUGH of the mech, and just moving the armor pieces should be piss easy, don't need any complicated myomer setups, just some simple actuators (myomer provides muscle and ligament strength and movement, we wouldn't use it just as a fucking hinge)

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>>22927517
My god that is beautiful.

>>22927525
Just missiles, they are not true Ommni racks but can accommodate different weapons of the same type with much less fuss but the targeting computers have to be recalibrated severely if other types are if I understand correctly. Could be wrong though.

>>22927517

(that's boss. my only suggestion might be longer legs, given the speed. i mean they can be stouter with no issue, but typically faster 'mechs have longer legs for stride efficiency.

as always, looks awesome. so glad to have you in the thread donating this stuff to it.)

>>22927525

That would be wasting the fact that we have three ports on each arm, and that the arms are really, really fucking hard to bust up.

>>22927517
why does that make me think of flayed ones wearing the skin of their last victims...

>>22927579
I think the targeting comps only have to be really recalibrated if you're switching to something really diffrent, like swapping laser to a differnt kind of laser is a lot simpler than switch to an AC.

>>22927504
Oh shit, I was looking at it wrong. I thought the white area was still window. Yeah, that wouldn't be that hard to make. Although, I'd go with a vector overlay showing the firing path of the gun, rather than a stationary red dot sight.

>>22927605
why not both, can integrate the vector overlay into the targeting computer and the simple red dot as a backup (what we originally intended).

>>22927517
>>22927517
If the window is equivalent to the armour, let's skip the jaw thing and save us resources and time, our main focus should be getting the Mech done, not adding frills to it.

>>22927594

(the ports are just there because canonically you haven't designed the arm to NOT have weapon mounts, since you reworked the original that didn't. you don't have to use them, but they have advantages and disadvantages too)

>>22927646
>>22927594
yea, originally it was all weps in torso then we added the ability to mount them into the arms to give customers options, not really ALL GUN IN THE ARMS NOW, we also had a bunch of stuff like torso locking and whatnot to work with the torso weps

>>22927525

If we take into account that the pilot actually has to drive this thing and fire in real-time, having the weapons in the arms allows for easier precision aiming when running around like a madman.

However, the weapon railings may allow us to fit in the lasers in the torso in case we want something that can carry something while firing.

(to chime in on the arms vs torso mount question:

two things to consider:

1. torso twisting
2. punching. you can't fire a weapon that is an arm meant for a punch. so if you want weapon arms, long-range stuff with a minimum range bracket is the best thing to go there if physical combat is something you want to be able to do.)

I think one variant we do should be 1x arm-mounted flamer, 1x torso-mounted LL. +1 heat sink adn 6.5 tonnes armor. large lasers hit hard, flamers can handle vees and infantry--and a flamer is a very useful utility thing, adaptible to many situations.

>>22927592

Yeah, I wasn't sure what our final height was. Without the fins, we are pushing 3 stories. If no one cares, I can just adjust the leg proportions to be make it "look" better. Alternately, shorten up the torso a bit and bring the center of gravity a bit higher while lengthening the legs.

>>22927638

Keep in mind I don't know the system and I am just going off what people have said in the threads. That being said, if it is easy to implement I think we could make it a good sales bullet point. Even if it is not a "cannon" stat boost.

"Don't trust that window? We got you covered!

SKVOREC TOUGH"

>>22927736
oh I know arms can be very useful for aiding in the usage of weapons, its the reason why i prefer my COM-TDK over my JR7-D in MWO, BUT we originally designed this mech from the ground up with the weapons in the torso and added the ability to arm mount them later, this close to the deadline and with our chances at /tg/ dice do we really want to switch our focus to the arms and waste the work we did on the torso rails (which was somewhat innovative and gave us positive quirks IIRC)?

>>22927773
>you can't fire a weapon that is an arm meant for a punch
OH YEAH
WE'RE GONNA MAKE ROCKET ARMS NEXT

>>22927773
So how about we put the weapons in the torso to take advantage of the rail system, and leave the arms available for punching.
Buyers can choose to have the weapons moved to the arms if that fits in with their personal preference, and since the wiring is already done, it's an easy move.

Skvorec tough, and customizable too!

>>22927798
No we're not. That's a stupid idea.

>>22927809
this is pretty much what we were working on originally, no idea when it changed to people thinking we suddenly had everything mounted in the arms

>>22927824
The arm thing, I think, was because it might actually end up being a negative in the minds of potential buyers if the arms couldn't handle weapons.

>>22927773

Getting into melee with a light mech, even one as durable and quick as this one, is a dumb idea.

>>22927851
Yeah, but what if the other mech we're punching is a Flea?

>>22927866
I'm asking how did it get that close to us.

>>22927798
Pretty sure it's already been said to death, but hands are much, much more useful than a pair of unguided Thunderbolt-5 (OS) missiles.

>>22927866

We wouldn't need to punch a Flea, it's fucking anti-personnel and cheap recon, a stiff wind kills Fleas.

>>22927824
Not everything, just the lasers. As>>22927796
pointed out and I can attest to as well, arm mounts are absurdly useful

Punching is something we CAN do, but not necessarily built towards all the time. At that range all the SRMS, being our heavy hitting chest bursting goodness, will pretty much detonate exactly where the pilot wants them(realistically, not BT RNG).

>>22927866

(this is a point. specifically, most armies are comprised of Light 'Mechs, except the Lyrans which is closer to 40%. the cappies and the dracs are over 60%. so chances are, it will see more mechs its own class than ones that are heavier, and it outclasses most of them, so it could easily brawl with them.

keep in mind, this is 3040. the mig mech boom of 3050-55 hasn't happened yet.

fell free to correct my stats, but i recall the percentages from a pdf i saw in a general a few months back.)

Why don't we have one arm for punchan', and one arm for shootan'? Most pilots would prefer having arm-mounted weapons, especially on a 'mech THIS fast, but as the Medium mech boom hasn't happened yet, punchan with the other, weaker, and slower, members of our weight range is...while not optimal in the slightest, perfectly viable.

>>22927940
why not claws? really continue the chryssalid theme? I imagine they would be better suited to the forces at play when hitting other and possibly heavier mechs at speed with force

>>22927955

I was assuming our standard PUNCHAN' hands would be stylized into pincers / claws.

>>22927955
Claws/Blades are heavy as hell, we don't have the spare tonnage for it.

>>22927773
>1. torso twisting
>2. punching

We want to make use of the torso-lock feature we implimented.
So I think torso-mounted guns help a lot
And no arm mounted weapons mean we can alpha AND punch with our massive speed.

Like a spider, with more SRMs

>>22927517
Positive pressure would keep it failsafe, my original idea was to just add springs. That combined with gravity should keep it open.

The only scenario I can see where the jaw would get stuck is if something hot managed to weld the two parts together. That still beats getting shot directly in the glass.

Also DAT PIC OMG. It's almost identical to the image I had in my head but am unable to draw. I would make some modifications but it's very nice indeed.

>>22927595
One of the changes I want to make is to add a couple of cosmetic spikes. You easily extrapolate this into pinning the banners of defeated foes all over the HZP.

>"Don't trust that window? We got you covered! SKVOREC TOUGH"
My slogans are moving on their own!

>>22927955
We can make them resemble claws if you want. Actual battle-claws weight several tons because anything lighter wouldn't scratch the opposing mech.

>>22927517
... This is the single most terrifying light mech I have ever seen. Any small time pirate band is going to shit its pants when they see these things. Even more so when they try to take it on and it JUST DOESN'T DIE!

>>22927940
The HZP is very modifiable, we just need a showpeice/proof of concept to buyers. So having everything spread out is very good for versatility. Also if the torso with the double mlas arm goes you are down to a single srm4. 1/2damage is better than 1/4 damage.

>>22927955
mechanically claws weigh more and are very useless for our weight class all hings considered.

Not that I think we should focus on PUNCHAN, but a retractable blade might be useful if we use the advanced rules for it.

>>22927904
Feel I have to point this out, but both >>22927824 and >>22927796 are me, and while I would prefer arm mounted weapons, I don't think it would be worth it this late in the game to change our focus for this mech, sure maybe once we've sold a bunch bring out a variant with primarily arm mounted weapons but with only a few days before the deadline I don't think its worth it to switch design focus now

>>22927985
>>22927990
So no claws on HZP but you guys are in agreement that when we work on something larger and heavier we're putting claws on that bitch

>>22927905
all this discussion has made my mind go blank, what were we actually working on before?

>>22927991
Which is to say, if you punch with the blade retracted, you can declare that you are extending it mid-punch and get a free critical on that location.
But you also roll 2d6 and the blade is destroyed on a 10+
So maybe not so great for SKVOREC TOUGH

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>>22927784

Three stories doesn't seem all that bad.

Also, I would agree with that guy talking about the groin area contrasting mightily with the torso, though that could be rectified by hanging a banner or tabard from it in my head, still looks amazing though.

Before I get in depth on the weapons. Can we confirm some things about the rail system?

The way I think of it in my head is like a PC tower case with hard drive racks. If you want to mount a weapon or other piece of equipment you build a bracket around it, line up the bolt holes and attach it to the rails. If you want to remove it you just unbolt and slide it out.

It's not omni-tier, but you could still do things like swap out identical "Hazard Pod" parts and exchange parts of the same size and weight (since the "brackets" are the same).

>>22927992
>>22928028

Alright, let's just mount the weapons in the torsos then. The arms have hardpoints that can accept them anyhow, so we can always tweak it if the clients want to.

>>22928041

(the thread is currently in debate mode over the details of armament. weapons then armor was the agreed order of things, and i am kinda glad they came last because it's going to probably take a while before you guys reach a consensus on what the loadout(s) are gonna look like. not that it's a bad thing; everyone has their opinions and a right to voice them)

Wait, wait, what's with this obsession with punching and melee combat? I thought the arms were supposed to be for utility uses, as would be appropriate for a garrison/workhorse mech.

I would rather we get the done qickly, before the investors meeting, than dither around with cosmetic changes, and options that won't be used overmuch, and run out of time.

>>22926954
>multiple variants/configs to present to the investors

Okay so:
We have centerlock torso feature
We have modular torso compartments
We have 3 weapon ports + hands in each arm

CLEARLY we cannot use all of these at once on a light mech.

I want to see A Variant with:
3 Medium Beams in the torsos
2 SRM4s.
Engineering-Fu to load only a half ton of volatile ammo
Punchy arms.
MAXIMUM DAMAGE. pros: Can modularswap srms for lrms

This should be our Demonstration Unit.

Once we get investor interest, we can buy more parts and diversify. In particular, I want to see:

Tons of small Arm Lasers + jump jets to make use of our speed.

A heat-neutral setup.

A longer-ranged setup with a LL and Missiles.


>>22926814
+1 on Bruce, since i'm of the NON-SSW tinkerers.

>>22928093
>Wait, wait, what's with this obsession with punching and melee combat?

Because we have a crysalid themed mech, SOME people want to make a melee light.

Which isn't necessarily a bad option to have, but its a terrible gimmick to sacrifice general utility for.

I'm fairly sure we redesigned our arms to have weapon ports AND hands(maybe anontech can clarify this). It took extra time since the first roll was so abysmal.

>>22927992
Well I almost feel bashful now, hah. Well as you know, lasers are a pain to keep focused with just a torso, leaves you way too open for returned focused fire. I honestly envision the HZP to play alot like a lighter/faster hunchback 4sp; 2 srm6s and 4 mlas. I feel the versatility, just for buyer showing alone will be worth it to stick the two mlas in the arms,no question about the srms in the torso.

It's probably time for anontech to make an executive decision here.

>>22928108
this sounds good, although we may want to tone down the PUNCHYness of the arms and demonstrate their utility

>>22927474
I like these as basic loadouts

>>22928057
I have no idea how to envision it any other way to be honest. So there's my vote.

>>22928134
Yes, the arms have hands.
We even went with fast swappable utility hands.

What's the speed on the mech, again? I'm trying to load it out on Heavy Metal Pro.

>>22928057

(okay, gather 'round children, it's story time

this is a valid question. what is the difference between rails and omnipods?

well, rails are like what are found in the old Mercury Battlemech. they are simply a system that was created to allow techs to more easily interchange weapon systems, but they still had to be bolted in and weren't atypical from standard in any way.

to expound upon this: take the Medium Laser. it's not actually just a barrel with optics and a capacitor. it's actually a whole assembly with actuators and a frame and couplings and everything included that makes fine-tuning the aim and whatnot possible. if you look at the firing arcs for battlemechs, the torso isn't restricted to a corridor, but instead has a true arc. this is because the weapons can gimble in their mounts slightly, usually by 10 degrees off center or so. this is due to the assembly surrounding them, which is included in the weight of the item.

what rails do is make it so you have a convenient area to mount said assemblies without tearing things apart and having to jury-rig mounts.

omnipods actually use weapons mounted in pods that are self-contained, with ports for ammo feeds or power couplings, similar to standard weapons but meant to be used on a specific chassis (or multiples if they are designed to be similar, like the summoner and hellbringer for example).

so the tl;dr is - rails make it easier to swap, but it's not modular. omni is true modular, and rails likely lead to omni construction techniques, so daniel is a smart mofo indeed)

>>22928108
The problem with that A variant you have there is that you're sacrificing a couple tons of armor or a bunch of heatsinks for that third MLaser.
One of the original selling points of this design was the high amount of armor for a light mech while retaining high speed.

>>22928168
Get Solaris Skunk Werks (Yes really, that's how it's spelled), bro. It's much less... outdated.
And it's free, which is always nice.

>>22928206
Yeah, I need to. But I'm also comfortably with my HMP.

Hold up a second. Is having three variants with different armour setups and such really that big a deal? When you break it down it looks like this:

- Missile variant
- Energy variant
- Jump Jet variant

It doesn't matter if you can't interchange them because the missile variant will always have missiles, the jump jet variant will always have jump jets etc. The energy variant has the most "pod space" so if you want a custom rig you can use that one as a base.

>>22928134
Actual purpose built melee weapons are rare. Punching and kicking however happen all the time. An HZP is 35 tons and could punch twice with empty arms. This would add 4 damage per punch which is EQUAL to a medium laser with none of the heat! That's nothing to sneeze at, particularly if the target is a light mech with paper thin rear armour.

>>22928168

7/11/0

>>22928199
>The problem with that A varian

Well, I DID say i wasn't an SSW dude.

In light of that, a double medium setup is probably superior.

How many tons of free space DO we have to allocate for weapons/heatsinks/armor?

>>22928056
>>22927985

I will play around with the legs/lower chassis a bit. It seems like it isn't quite there yet. Also, the pseudo-skull with wings was unintentional. When I did the flip merge for symmetry, the overlap just happened to make it a flying skull. In the groin. I just went:

"Huh. More WH40K than intended, but it IS wearing a rape face"

and then left it in.

Anyway, I will play with it for a bit and try and make it look more sectoid-y. Probably won't have anything done tonight, but should have something for the next thread.

>>22928146

(i can't do that, because it's not my place to decide what you're gonna do with the HZP. all i will allow myself to do is inform and maybe offer friendly reminders about past ideas, but in the end i feel i have to hands-off the actual design portion of things, because that's a GM's duty to his or her players.)

>>22928206
Speaking of Skunk Werks, does anyone know when the next update for that is supposed to happen? I reeeeeeaallllyy want to make myself a superheavy mech.

>>22928221
Thanks, never really played Battletech, I'm just in it for the engineering aspect. I thought that anything that HZP could get into punching range would be killed off by the combination MLAS and SRMs.

>>22927985
>Positive pressure would keep it failsafe, my original idea was to just add springs.
Er, that wouldn't really... If it gets damaged, it could hold the jaws shut. I'd rather use all that weight to reinforce it and make it the safest damn cockpit of all time.

>>22928221
>Hold up a second. Is having three variants with different armour setups and such really that big a deal?

Actually, from what I'm seeing of the 'variants', 6.5T of armor is the lightest, and all of them have 6.5-7.5.

So it should be fairly easy to make a 'baseline HZP' with 6.5, and upgrade kits/settings/extra plating to support variants in half-ton grades.

While anontech has a point about non-weapon parts not always being modular, we can design around that to some extent, by making armor setups that are 1) Easy to replace and 2) easy to add MORE/larger plates in areas without changing the fittings.
We've gone for a modular setup so far, why not go all the way and make the armor somewhat adjustable too?

What's the maximum armor tonnage on our mech?

>>22928189
>gimble
Gimbal*

>>22928287

(i think they opted for angular armor too, just to inform you)

>>22928264
From HMP, a 35-ton light with 7/11 speed, you've got 14.5 tons to allocate between weapons and armor. For some reason, though, it's putting an extra heat sink in over what's in the engine, so 13.5 after that. 7.5 is the max for armor tonnage.

>>22928331

Light mechs usually max out at 35 tons, with Medium starting up at 40, I am unsure if we have the facilities required to close the gap.

I'd really like it if Anontech chimed in about if the glass is as strong as the armour or not, I'd really rather table the whole jaws discussion if the entire thing is moot, and move forward with the mech design.

>>22928341

We did, I believe, so in the end, it worked out fucking fantastic, since I don't see any curves on it outside of the optical look from the side shots, so it's deflective as shit.

>>22928189
So if I understand this right. We have created a standardized mounting system like a pegboard with hooks on it. You can use it to store almost any tool you can think of as long as you put the hooks in the right place. Omnipods are more like a tool chest with shelves all of the same size with tools built to fit neatly on one shelf.

If that makes sense.

>>22928317
Or you could just leave it up to gravity. Metal is damn heavy, even the composites used to build mechs. The only way the jaw would close is if the mech flips upside down.

So to refine that idea a bit, the jaw opens by gravity. But it also LOCKS in that position until manually released by the pilot.

>>22928331
Yes this is the modular concept I was thinking of. Have a "stock" armour config at 6.5 tons, and then add mounting points to up-armour the mech in half ton increments. This would allow you to mount anywhere from 6.5 to the max of 7.5 tons.

>>22928377

It is.

>>22928377

(oh, it is, i'm sorry, i thought i mentioned that. my apologies)

>>22928359
If we can handle the high end of light, we should be able to handle the low end of medium just as well.
It should be obvious, but I'll state it anyway, in the game itself all vehicles above 5 tons (And parts above 0.4 tons) are weighed in 5 ton increments, which is not the case fluffwise. The HZP could weigh anywhere from 31 to 35 tons (Or 33 to 38 tons if you interpret it that way) and still count as "35 tons" for crunch purposes.

>>22928353
Thank you!

I was just coming an Older Thread for our best ideas: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/22759879/

Highlights for Further Variants I Like
>Hmm, data takes precedence. Maybe 3 MLs, 2 SLs, and 2 tons of Jump Jets. Though I'm pretty worried about Heat at this point.
(no ammo explosion risk!)

>My personal ideas: Medium laser, 2x Small Lasers or 1 Small and 1 Flamer, SRM4
not sure I like this EXACTLY, but what can we do with only ONE srm4?

So we are agreed that the build is the 2xmlas 2xsrm4 atleast, good.

>>22928341
Im pretty sure that was the consensus.

>>22928377
In BT the cockpit "glass" is as strong as armor, but it is limited to a certain thickness from my understanding, which is why all mech heads have the same hitpoints.

the point of the jaw is flavor to further differentiate our mech in the hopes of looking as the best damn option to both pilots and the dudes with the cash.

>>22928451
But the jaw seems expensive for a largely visual difference and you KNOW the techs will bitch about it.

So I believe we're agreed on using the 2 MLas, 2 SRM-4, 1 ton of SRM-4 ammo, 10 heatsinks, 6.5t armor as part of our demonstrator and prototype.
We'll come up with different variants that we can show our potential buyers and investors (energy only, anti-infantry, jump jets), but this variant is what we build first as a tech demonstrator of our new mech tech.

The only thing left, is to put the weapons in the torso or in the arms.

I think we should put them all in the torso in order to better demonstrate the rail system.
Buyers can choose whether they keep the weapons in the torso, or move them to the arms.

>>22928480

Not if we design it easy enough to repair/replace that they have no reason to!

But in all seriousness weapons.

I have to push the 1LL/1 Flamer/6.5 armor loadout again. At our speed, we can easily control distance. Range is our friend, and the LL has that.

>>22928353

okay so let me see if I understand this right.
35 Tons
10 engine heatsinks free
14.5 tons of free space

THEN MATH
14.5 tons after Engine.
6.5 tons of armor base.
means 8 tons of Guns?
Or 7 tons, because SSW is losing a ton somewhere?

>>22928497

I say we put the SRM-4s in the torso, and one MLas, but arm-mount the other one. Or use a flamer instead--if we put on a flamer, it could be used for utility, after all. Lighting backfires if there's a wildfire near the garrison, clearing land for construction, that sorta thing.

>>22928501
Designing time that eats into our deadline, I'd rather use that spare time to tweak the performance of HZP, rather than add some cosmetic effects.

>>22928451
How the hell are you fitting two SRM4s and two Medium Lasers in this? And wouldn't it behoove us to make sure it can move and fire everything if it wants to?

Also, we decided to build a garrison mech, but did we want a close-range brawler, or a long-range harasser?

>>22928384
>>22928341

Yeah, I tried to keep things as angled as possible (see >>22926112), but I fudged it a little for the side view in this one.

>>22927517

That being said, it is not hard to create the desired effect with angles. I will keep that in mind for the lower sections where I just made things too square. We can still get more curvature with out actually needing curves.

>>22928510
To summarize.
35 tons.
10 engine heat sinks free
13.5 tons of free space.

At this point I imagine Anontech laughing at us for bitching back and forth, and Daniel on the verge of washing his mouth out with a shotgun because of the split.

We have three possible configurations, right?
Let's just go ask Ivan which one he thinks is best, since he is an actual pilot, then use that as our prototype.

>>22928501
>Not if we design it easy enough to repair/replace that they have no reason to!
But here's the thing. It will always bee more complected than a normal cockpit. Repair will always require more specialized parts, and it will always be able to withstand a little bit less punishment. Even if it's really, REALLY well designed, which takes time and effort that would better be put to use elsewhere, or just optimizing a normal cockpit to kick ass and take names. Which I think would fit SKVOREC TOUGH better anyways.

>>22928560
No, I think Anontech is very well prepared for our debate on this.

>>22928497
I thought this mech was supposed to be SKVOREC TOUGH. Doesn't it seem odd to make it heavily dependent on resupply? I mean, garrison mechs typically have that, but it would be another selling point to have it very ammo efficient instead of burning through the vast majority of its firepower early in the fight.

>>22928521
I like this for demo purposes. One arm mount and one torso mount. the arm mount to show range of motion/accuracy/our nifty arm locking feature while the one in the torso to show off the rail system some more.

>>22928560

(nah, i enjoy watching the process. you're keeping it civil, and it's all good ideas, and logical reasoning. i'm really really happy the quest is working out so well)

>>22928531

The SRM variant can be fairly easily converted to accommodate LRMs. We decided that the SRM variant might be the one to go with at first, since many fast 'mechs also double as strikers.

>>22928593
I honestly have no idea where the votes are right now. Or even what we're still arguing about.

>>22928588
This is true. The demo version should be able to show all of the features we put into it, even if it's not a production version.

Don't obsess about the jaw guys. It's dirt simple to build, operate and repair compared to almost everything else on the mech. We can work on it later once the investor meetings are done. I want it to be a surprise!

>>22928547
We can have curves, we just need to segment them out of flat plates. I think the joints also need more armour, at least from the front. It could have "greaves" that extend up the shin and cover the knee for instance.

>>22928554
I have SSW open right now. Let me give you guys the rundown:

35 tons:
3.5t Internal Structure
12t 245 Engine
3t Gyro
3t Cockpit
6.5t Armour

This leaves us with 7 tons to mount weapons, jump jets or more armour.

>>22928593

Hey Anontech, I have a question, how exactly is the test of this baby going to be determined? Are you going to roll on it's first test run and add a couple million to a score because of the innovations, auto-success because of how thorough we were in it's design, roll for the Pilot to see whether or not he fucks it up, or some other method?

Also, you are good and you should feel good.

I want to side with the guy suggesting the flamer. He's right about the utility it brings--and a garrison mech may be called to help do firefighting or construction duty, we knew that when we started designing this thing. Plus it's good at killing infantry and vees. Do we have a reason not to install a tleast one flamer on the HZP?

Also, I want you to imagine a chryssalid

that can set you on fire.

That shit is terrifying.

>>22928620
PPC, duh.

>>22928602
I suppose the question becomes, how heat efficient do we want it? Sure, three heat per round doesn't seem like much, but in a mech that's supposed to throw down and stick around while moving fast, it adds up.

>>22928587
>make it heavily dependent on resupply?
You mean the SRM-4? Yes, the SRM's will use up their ammo fairly quickly. But it still has 2 MLasers, and the SRM's will help in punching through enemy rear armor.
And SRM missiles are easily available to our potential buyers, and as a garrison and base defender mech, they'll have easy access to more ammunition.

Also, keep in mind that this doesn't have to be our production variant.
This is just our tech demonstrator prototype.
Our buyers will determine the variant they want produced, and the HZP was designed to be able to modified to alternate variants easily.

>>22928637
Also, do the heat sink towers give us any tangible benefit, or are those basically the 9 heat sinks in the engine?

>>22928662
That is true. And if we're marketing it primarily as a garrison mech, it'll be handy to show it having that much punch.

>>22928625
can we mount it under the jaw?

>>22928624

(well, your test pilot will likely be Ivan. all pilots have a type (green, normal, veteran, elite), and that plays into it. it depends also on how well they construct it, since all parts are fabricated and not manufactured. there are lots of variables, and there will be rolls. i don't wanna spoil too much though, but you have to have lots of faith in your crew once you pass things off to them)

>>22928664

The towers are there because we forgot about them during our rail design, so we compensated for it.

>>22928620
I don't want to spend an entire thread discussing a jaw that will literally have no in-game effect just because it looks cool.

>>22928625
I agree with the flamer, it serves as both a short range weapon and anti-infantry.

>>22928662
Maybe we should make a long range fire support variant? Something with lots of LRMS and Lasers?

>>22928664
They obscure the cockpit, which is extra long, to provide comfort.

>>22928636
Wait, no.
ERPPC.

File: 1359785621069.png-(50 KB, 1146x666, Internal Structure.png)

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Oh and I almost forgot! Hatamoto commented on our "paired" redundancy system so I tried imagining how it would work. I came up with this, this is the best configuration I could design as no matter what direction the damage comes from it is highly unlikely to disable the limb completely.

>captcha
>richard wsecuuvt

>>22928685

Well, traditionally the head has a crit slot open.

>>22928688

Hey anontech, how much modification to the head setup would we need to put a weapon mount on it?

>>22928637
We can run at 118kph (and cool in cover), that will put some serious distance between us and anything bigger than us which we will be doing backstab instagib duty. Same weight and lower we can keep pace and maul. Its as good as its gonna get before DHS are introduced.

>>22928664
Yes several. It has made the torso extra roomy, helps block incoming shots from the sides which lets the head have its elongated and pilot friendly space, and probably counts as a proto version of clan heat sink wing things.

>>22928695
>Maybe we should make a long range fire support variant? Something with lots of LRMS and Lasers?

I'm currently making a Grand List Of Stuff We Must Roll For. Wait 5-10 minutes and I'll have a variant list/post with somethign for everyon

>>22928697
Oh, I love that. That's beautiful.

>>22928695
>Something with lots of LRMS and Lasers?
We can swap the SRM-4's for LRM-5's, but that's about it. It would have limited ammo, too, because it's only a light mech. Maybe if we drop both MLasers and replace them with a single LLaser.

>>22928713
>clan heat sink wing things.
being the innovative genius engineer we are, how about we make a timberwolf before the clans invade, the look on their faces would be awesome

>>22928703
God, to make it breathe fire? How fucking frightening would that be? Holy shit! It already makes you want to wet yourself, but when that unholy grin starts belching flame?!

>>22928736
LLaser and 2x LRM-5's, bam we have our fire support variant

>>22928739

Why would we do that when the HZP and it's Bigger / Younger siblings would already be raping their corpses?

>>22928742
That would be awesome, if we weren't also looking through the selfsame opening.

>>22928703

(None, you designed the head with no pros or cons in that department, so it has one critical slot open. in your config, that is likely over the cockpit, between the floodlight 'eyes', since that's where most of the empty space in the drawings seems to be. don't worry, a flamer shoots 90m, that's far enough not to have a gout of flame obscuring the view in any major way)

>>22928736
Unfortunately, there's really no weight for that. Even at 6.5 tons of armor, that Large Laser is 5 tons. So you'd be left with, like, 1-2 tons for your missiles.

>>22928759
And ammo.

>>22928758

That said, then

we have no excuse not to have a fire breathing chryssalid, gentlemen.

Mount the rest on the torso, but we're having that flamre in the skull.

>>22928739
Simply making a catapult with arms and a few extra tons to lug around is beneath our creative genius.

>>22928759
Perfect. Add an SRM 2 and a ton of missiles. What could possibly go wrong.

>>22928736
Well my inital idea was to have a nunch of LRMS so that it could work as a MLRS, that way it could dump a large amount of ordence, and retreat before the enemy could counter, but an LLas would be better for sustained fire for sure.

>>22928758

So are you saying we should turn it into Sauron?

Because that is what I am getting from you.

>>22928625
>>22928685
Yes we can put the flamer in the head. Note that this doesn't mean running hot plasma through the cockpit and our the eyes. The position of the head is relative on most mechs. A head mounted weapon on a Mad Cat would just point out the front of the chassis for instance.

We can put the flamer in the head or the chest and just say that it comes out the neck. For everyone EXCEPT the pilot, this will make it appear that the HZP is breathing fire.

>>22928736
We could do one med laser, one flamer and one LL with 6.5 tons and ten heat sinks. That ain't to bad for a garrison mech.

What do you Guys think of 3 ML, one SRM4 w/one ton ammo and a flamer? 6.5 ton armor still and can do anything within reason. Heat is 17 alpha but that is with the flamer so really max heat is 14 like the 2 SRM one.

>>22928746

Doesn't work, too much weight/no tons for ammo or armor

>>22928758
So what you are saying is that if we put a weapon in the head, it would be shooting lazers from the middle of its face?

>>22928790
Works for me. And would be a great selling point in our initial model presentation.

File: 1359786131984.jpg-(580 KB, 1680x1050, Eye of Sauron.jpg)

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>>22928788

Oh god I can totally see that.

What the fuck.

Is this mech going to be some sort of terrifyingly evil singularity?

>>22928802
Heh, if only we could put Laser into the eyes, that'd be fucking scary.

>>22928818
Well, it's still a light mech.

>>22928827

You're right, we should save the Eye of Sauron for it's medium or Heavy cousin.

And the Eye will be a battery of 6 Medium Lasers.

Because fuck you.

>>22928800
Ok, in response to that, lets vote on the armor first. Should our show variant have 6.5 or 7.5 tons? I assumed the latter because of SKVOREC TOUGH, but I might be wrong.

>>22928818
Naturally Daniel Holdt is one of the most evil mech designers in history.

IT'S TIME TO GROW A GOATEE!

>>22928827
A light mech with a face that would make an atlas shit itself with a speaker system so it can REEEEEEE all the way into every enemies nightmare, forever...and it has a recommendation to from the manufacturers to mount a flamer in its "head".

>>22928862
For those times when you wish 4chan had a like button.

>>22928853
6.5t. Because we need a number of weapons in order to show the adaptability of our design and the advantages of our rail system.

File: 1359786438726.jpg-(56 KB, 640x480, 1353299889744.jpg)

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>>22928850

And evil did come to Battletech, and the Clans were fucked.

>>22928827
That makes it even more terrifying. Think about it is a light mech that surprisingly durable, fast, and it looks like it wants to rape you.

>>22928853
6.5 is our standard issue, but we will be designing an owners manual to detail optimal placement points for that extra ton.

>>22928853
7.5

>>22928853 Answer: Yes. All of the above.

Hazard Pay:
2 Medium Beams [2t] (torsos)
2 SRM 4 w/1 ton ammo [5t] (side torsos)
ENGINEERING ROLL MODIFICATIONS
Designing half-ton ammo hoppers instead of the usual full-ton racks. Intended goal: Same space, options for less ammo or two different kinds.
And Weight Calcs if customer want armlasers
And Weight Calcs for LRM swapping


HZP Jump Jets and (No Ammo Asplosions!)
HZP 1B
6.5T armor (7tons free)
3 Medium beams [3t] (1 each torso?)
2 small beam lasers [1t] (side torsos?)
4 Tons FREE: planning for Jump Jets and Heat Sinks And Uparmoring in some combination
Engineering Rolls: Calcs for Swapping Small beams for 1 Flamer
Engineering rolls: Weight calcs for arm mounting?

HZP Long Rang/Garrison:
6.5 T armor (7t free)
1 Large Laser [5t] (torso)
1 Flamer [1t] (arm or head)
1 heatsink [1t]
Engineering Rolls: Flamer/Mlas swapping
Engineering rolls: Swapping hs for more armor or a mlas

OKAY SO! FINAL ANSWER FOR ROLLING TIME. ACCEPTABLE?

>>22928909

I'll roll with it.

If we're looking for a variant that'll impress people, the 3-MLAS and Flamer variant (flamer in the head) would likely go a long way to looking flashy, and would also broadcast the image of a nightmarish zombie 'mech that can operate deep in enemy territory for as long as its armor (and pilot) holds out.

Then to impress the FWL/CC people, we can mention that the chassis is fully equipped to handle missile-type weapons (and any special munitions), and can be prepped with off-the-shelf launchers/ammo bins within a few hours. Thus, it also makes a great garrison chassis, since it's easy to maintain and can be modified to accept any weapons, so long as the loadout falls within 7 tons.

>>22928909
Is that you anontech?

>>22928909

Only one of your variants has a flamer in it, and one has it as an optional swappable thing.

It should be a standard issue thing for a garrison mech I believe.

>>22928909

Addendum: Since I wasn't sure about field length:

I'm assuming that all 1 ton items are fairly swappable! 1 Mlas = 1 flamer = 1 ton of armor = 1 heatsink, basically, and that should be EASY MATH/ no rolls to account for, right?

>>22928909
This looks good.

>>22928909

This looks good. Lets get some rolling done.

>>22928909
I love it. Roll it up.

>>22928923

No, just an anon that got fed up with all the talk and nobody consolidating all the good ideas into one spot so we can make PROGRESS.

Did I miss anything?

>>22928886
Well, we could have 2 ML, 1 SRM4, 1 FLAMER and 7.5 though. I think that is a good primary model but if it is easier to add armor then to take if off I'd say go with 6.5 and add a ML.

>>22928952
Larry, is that you?

>>22928922

I like the 3MLAS/1Flamer design the most of all the current ideas. Let's go with that one for the showpiece.

>>22928909
Question, if it's a garrison, wouldn't the supply problems of LRM's be solved? It'd be more expensive, but it could be able to deliver a large punch quickly for hit-and-run tatics, right?

>>22928909

(this seems to have a lot of votes, so i'm gonna assume this is the final answer.

if this is the case, then we'll proceed)

>>22928909
Overall I like it but I stand by for our demo that we have 1 mlas in an arm to show off the arm locking feature, after that I dont care cause we will have phat l00t from literally everyone.

This is literally the mech that pilots can ask thier techs to put guns anywhere without fear of later reprisal, and techs are given a sigh of relief when they have finiky pilots with weapon placements.

>>22928999

Yeah, but what if hte garrison runs out? You gotta consider not just base-to-mech, but central-to-base supply lines.

Also, ammo explosions play merry hell with fixing a 'mech up.

>>22928974
>Larry, is that you?

negatory.

>>22928976
Also I forgot this one/didn't include it due to field length.

HZP Multi Purpose Everything:
3 Medium Beams [3t] (torsos)
2 SRM 4 w/1 ton ammo [3t] (side torsos)
1 flamer [1t]
Engineering Rolls: Swapping flamer for armor or two small lasers

I know the talk is over but I just got here

I'd put the missiles in the arms or at least the ammo, that way if it blows up we aren't fucked