[gurps] My 2nd mecha attempt. An artillery drone swarm.

[Clinton N. Fell]

Thanks for the feedback Onno,

> > 
> When Mecha go against tanks with halfway fair rules, the Mecha 
> should get fried. The exception is a Mecha which replaces the 
> tracks of a tank with lots and lots of legs ...
> 

This is probably true, but boy I've had fun with Battletech over the 
years, so have been working on a TL9 similar feel on this.  I'll probably 
never get to use them in a game - but this is more of an experiment than 
preping for a game.

> 
> > 10 tons loaded weight 10 meters tall. 
> 
> Tall or long?
> 

Good point.  10 meters is the longest dimension, for bipedal mechs height 
makes sense, but on a Quad long may make more sense.  Plus that would give 
it a lower profile for avoiding detection.

> > (top speed 40 mph)
> 
> Doesn't compare all that well with a TL7 MBT ...
> 

I was thinking the same thing when I saw this spec in the book.

> > Armor:  Upper Hull dDR 3, Middle Hull dDR 3, Lower Hull dDR3
> 
> A WWI tank is tougher than that, HT234.

These drones are not really intended to directly engage the enemy.  The 
armor is there more as protection from small arms fire than any 
significant weapons.  Anti-vehicular weapons will quickly knock these out.

> 
> What kind of vehicle do you plan to engage? Other Spaceships? It
> won't do all that much good against TL9 powered armor.
> 
> 

The heavier laser averages about 55 points of regular damage with an armor 
divisor of 2.  So it could damage targets with standard DR up to about 100 
points.  Even at TL9 DR 60 seems to be the norm for fully armored infantry 
and 100 to 120 for light skinned vehicles and power armor ( I haven't 
checked Ultra tech on this for a while though so I could be wrong here). 
So I would guess that this damage would be enough to hurt light targets - 
especially with the rof of 5 and a rcl of 1. 

The main cannon does a more respectable 525 damage with either an 
explosive HE warhead, or a AP warhead with a armor divisor of 2.  So it 
could reasonably penetrate 1000 DR without anything fancy.  If I were 
using these, I'd be tempted to load up the artillery with some fancy 
rounds - cluster munitions, small FAEs, smart munitions, maybe even some 
mine dispensers for area denial.  It may only be a 4" (10cm) bore but you 
should be able to pack some interesting stuff into that a TL9.  Again I 
would have to pull out my ultratech to see what was available.

> 
> This isn't the standard format. Standards do not exist for their 
> own sake, they help to find information quickly. For example, a 
> standard writeup would include the level of the enhanced sensor
> array.
> 
> And shouldn't it be a tactical array?
> 

The tactical array only adds jammers and counter ECM capabilities.  Since 
these were not intended to actually engage enemy armor - and more act like 
heavy mobile autonomous mortars for infantry support I left the this at 
enhanced.  And the Comm/Sensor array is rated at 4 - sorry for the 
omission.  The Chessmaster that I am working on is all extra comms/sensors 
with a tactical array and an extra enhanced array to allow it to 
coordinate multiple swarms.

> 
> The mix of fission and MHD power plants looks odd. What the rules
> really need are power storage systems.
> 

You don't need to tell me about that!  I spent three trips through the 
rules looking for power storage before I realized where I had saw the 
words "battery". 

> 
> You could swap the clamp and soft landing system for a chemical
> rocket and fuel tank. That allows soft landings and enhanced 
> jumps.

The soft landing system and clamps were more to give the design a common 
look and feel to the rest of one factions systems.  The setting I am 
envisioning as I design these is a rebellious colony with its own heavy 
industry.  A task force is sent to pacify the colony without nuking it 
from orbit (despite that being the best way to be sure you stopped it). So 
I was seeing drop ships going suborbital but not all the way to the surace 
dropping the initial beachhead force.  Plus the idea of a bunch of mechs 
jumping off of an aircraft at high altitude using parachutes, retro 
rockets, and airbags to land seems amusing.

The other faction idea I am thinking of would be the colonials.  The 
common look and feel I was envisioning for them was heavily on laser 
weapons only and fuel cell powerplants only.  To reflect what local 
industries are available and the political ideals of the rebellion.  Think 
of Greenpeace going all Khmer Rouge on a colony. 

I am also thinking of adding a neutral party to the mix selling their toys 
to both sides.  They would have their own design philosophy (haven't 
decided what yet).

I did a quick diagram of how many designs I would need to fully fill out 
the armory ( 3 factions with 3 major manufacturing companies each, about 6 
military roles to be filled, with value line, normal line, and premium 
lines available from each company).  The total came to about 45 designs. 
Too many for me to reasonably do without any intention of using it.  But 
since this is just an experiment I don't feel I actually need to fill the 
whole line.

Thanks,

Clint