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kashim27

What's the current rules or guidelines for mecha in fenspace?  Also anyone doing anything with the gundam fen like during the war or such?
It's been mentioned that there's a Gundam Wave series, based on an actual event where some Japanese individual managed to build and launch a full-sized Gundam, launch it to orbit and kick-ass. Smaller things like Heavy Gears, Motoroids and Tachikoma are more common - or well known.

Marsbase Sara practically runs on the things.
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kashim27

But nothing with the bigger mechs?

HRogge

kashim27 Wrote:But nothing with the bigger mechs?
What do you mean with "bigger" ?
30 feet tall is pretty darn big for a pilotable humanoid frame.

Most cases, unless someone's been going out of the way to build the tools to build the tools, the Fen in question simply don't have the resources to build anything bigger.

Wave Convoy was pretty much made from an Insulation foam mockup slathered in "Seibertronium" 'Wave. Enough of that to allow for errors and so on, and the blinky tech for the "hardtech" underpinnings, rims, Tires, and so on.... Even just building what would be a "mockup" to an engineer is hideously expensive.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll
kashim27 Wrote:But nothing with the bigger mechs?
The building of Gunbuster 3 is forbidden by the Gas Giant Preservation Act that forbids the various terraforming projects from raiding the planetary rings for ice boulders. (Besides, the Browncoats kind-of need Jupiter where it is.)

As for what exists between 30' mecha and that extreme... no data.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Zoids would be a mixed bag. Some designs are fine, but some get too stupidly big. (Whale King is the odd one out as it's a transport zoid that's more or less just a large dropship by most Mecha settings standard.)
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Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota

kashim27

Reason of asking is it kinda light. Other then the valks and the smaller mecha, no one has really written anything with the mobile suits or the AEUG and gundam fen other then small notes.

HRogge

kashim27 Wrote:Reason of asking is it kinda light. Other then the valks and the smaller mecha, no one has really written anything with the mobile suits or the AEUG and gundam fen other then small notes.
There is also the point that in Fenspace "smaller equals faster"... within certain variations.

Which means the "Rule of Cool" doesn't scale well with the mecha size.

kashim27

I get the reasons for the smaller mechs, I'm just saying I wish there was alittle bit more written for the gundam fen then a really small paragraph. Like for instance did the AEUG faction do anything in the war or what their rank structure is, or do they mass produce a common mobile suit or hand craft them? Is it mostly zeon style or Feddie style mobile suits they use? Do they volunteer for GJ? Are they freelance and take escort jobs or something?

HRogge

kashim27 Wrote:I get the reasons for the smaller mechs, I'm just saying I wish there was alittle bit more written for the gundam fen then a really small paragraph. Like for instance did the AEUG faction do anything in the war or what their rank structure is, or do they mass produce a common mobile suit or hand craft them? Is it mostly zeon style or Feddie style mobile suits they use? Do they volunteer for GOJ? Are they freelance and take escort jobs or something?
Transformable's like a Gundam (or a VF-1) are quite large and overly complex for a military vehicle of its size. Any kind of mass production would most likely only happen late in the Fenspace timeline (maybe mid/late season 2) and would need the backing of a faction willing to pay for them.

kashim27

Uh-um VF-1s are mass produced in small numbers I think for the rough-riders.
I don't think it was the the Rough-riders, but IIRC there was snippet where someone was 'clandestinely' mining the USAF boneyard for old Tomcat airframes to turn into VFs years ago.  I don't recall if that ever made it into an actual story though.  There was a Boskonian Zaku in the incomplete draft of "The fall of Crystal Osaka", and the AEUG had at least one Gundam in "The South is Rising".
But as for bigger mecha, and large numbers... I don't think there's much for the Gearheads beyond what Dakota and Dartz have done.

Quote:The building of Gunbuster 3 is forbidden by the Gas Giant Preservation Act that forbids the various terraforming projects from raiding the planetary rings for ice boulders. (Besides, the Browncoats kind-of need Jupiter where it is.)
I'd imagine attempting to build the Buster Corps, or some version of the Absolute Defence System would also draw a few... complaints too.

HRogge

kashim27 Wrote:Uh-um VF-1s are mass produced in small numbers I think for the rough-riders.
Practically every VF-1 built until the end of the Boskone war was a converted plane from Earth... They only started a "normal production" later. I also assume that there was quite a bit of money and resources transferred to the Roughriders by GJ to get this up and running.
The nature of wavium probably also cuts back on giant mecha. The more you give it to work with the lower the quirk level. Turning something like a retired navy destroyer into a spaceship? Heck, it's already got engines, internal air (water) tight hatches, radio equipment, etc. If you tried to make say an Evangelion by simply taking a large framework and covering it in canvas before applying the handwavium... Hello quirk city! Something that size will require a proportional amount of inner workings if you want to keep the quirk levels low.

So on one hand you can go through the trouble of building something the size of an giant robot, complete with equipment inside that already does something similar to what is wanted and is installed such that it at least looks like it ought to work... Or you work fast and cheap and end up with something that has quirk after quirk. "So you're telling me this can only be piloted by someone who believes they are Shinji, that the plug must be filled with a blood-wavium mix to take the place of the LCL, it has to have Cruel Angel's Thesis playing to start up and must have a constant non-repeating Eva soundtrack playing to continue operating, it really is dependent on an electrical umbilical and you do not want to know just how much power it wants, a cable which will snap at the slightest provocation no matter how much effort we put into reinforcing it, oh and the AT Field? The wave apparently picked up that AT stands for Absolute Terror and the Eva will only produce it in proportion to the terror the pilot is experiencing. Our first test pilot Shinji swore off anything to do with Evas after producing a field strong enough to stop small arms fire."
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Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.
kashim27 Wrote:I get the reasons for the smaller mechs, I'm just saying I wish there was alittle bit more written for the gundam fen then a really small paragraph. ...
That's a thing about a writing collective that's writing for fun - we work on the things that catch our interest. Thus, there's almost nothing written about the Trekkies and the Warsies in Fenspace, despite them being the two largest groups in the setting.

But there's another thing about a writing collective that's writing for fun - we tend to embellish each other's works. The reason that there's so much written about the Senshi is that somebody started telling stories about how they worked with other groups, and somebody else picked up that ball and ran with it, and a few others joined in.

So... if you want to see stories about the Gundam fen, write a couple of stories about them. As long as you aren't writing about them "in a bubble," odds are good that someone else will write some more stories about them.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

kashim27

That's what I'm trying to due I just have very little to use as a guideline to get started.
Generally, you try something.... put down a concept on the forums and we give feedback. If the concept's cool, built from solid foundations and doesn't break the existing setting, anything can be justified.

There are no real guidelines.... just remember that it's collaborative, not combative, or in a bubble. If you put something into the verse, or do something that people feel their characters will respond to, they might respond. In fact, that's part of the fun.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
If I may speak up to add something semi-related? Trying to steal a Mecha from Marsbase Sara is one of the stupidest things a crook can try, and here's why.

Everyone there is armed and willing to shoot gundamjackers at a moment's notice. None of them know which Mecha would be the hijacker's target, so when an intruder is detected in the mechbay, everyone nearby grabs a gun and a spotlight and heads on over to express their displeasure at the attempted thieves.

Because the Mecha they prevent the theft of might be their own.
Quote:Terrace wrote:
If I may speak up to add something semi-related? Trying to steal a Mecha from Marsbase Sara is one of the stupidest things a crook can try, and here's why.

Everyone there is armed and willing to shoot gundamjackers at a moment's notice. None of them know which Mecha would be the hijacker's target, so when an intruder is detected in the mechbay, everyone nearby grabs a gun and a spotlight and heads on over to express their displeasure at the attempted thieves.

Because the Mecha they prevent the theft of might be their own.
The whole "Kentucky Cat Incident" would have it's own impact. Pilot/builder killed, mecha stolen and nearly set off on a rampage with a brainwashed pilot. I'd play it as a 'noodle incident' with the people involved refusing to talk about what exactly happened. Since Meta wise I had Saber Fang removed from Fenspace. I've been thinking about writing up some myths, rumors and conspiracies about it.
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Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota
Depends.

OTOH, I'm sure it's a perfectly cromulent way to take delivery with prior arrangement - especially of a Gundam. 'Steal' it from the builder...
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Dartz Wrote:Depends.

OTOH, I'm sure it's a perfectly cromulent way to take delivery with prior arrangement - especially of a Gundam. 'Steal' it from the builder...
"What do you think this is - a Russian space shuttle?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Oi! I'll have you know that formerly-Soviet space shuttle was purchased in completely legitimate fashion from the relevant authorities! It was money used to buy it that was stolen. Big difference.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

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kashim27

Bit of a quick question. What's the biggest ship built?
Define "ship." Does Grover's Corners count, or is that a station that happens to have an engine?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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