Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:I'm not sure yet, but at this point I'm leaning more towards Macros. Not quite as interesting in some aspects, but a whole lot less grim.
Wait, are you using Macross or Robotech? For Macross, the only VFs that normal physcal combat would have anything to do with would be the YF-22, VF-27, and the ones that use EXGear - they have direct brain control, though the EXGear toned it down to avoid the problems Guld had with the machine acting on impulses he had no conscious intention of actually carrying out. Roboblecch of course supposedly has the "thinking caps" and mystical mumbo jumbo... but in Macross at least, variable fighters are operated by moving joysticks and pedals, which, even if there is some degree of armature style mimicking of arm movements, doesn't really translate to fighting outside the cockpit. On the other hand, we do see the VF-0 pilots specifically having a training session in unarmed combat long before that time frame, so that might be my own interpretations showing through.
As for the control schemes... I know what you're saying, believe me, and I'm trying to find some sort of work around. Presently, I'm going with having highly sophisticated and nuanced waldo controls combined with an equally sophisticated and nuanced locomotion computer. We've seen the progress they've recently been having with IRL projects like Big Dog, so I don't think it's too farfetched, especially when you're bringing alien overtechnology to the table.
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:Close Quarters implies you have room for melee weapons - even if that means using your long-arms as a club. Hand-to-Hand is just that - you're so damn close that there's room for nothing else. Really, in most scenarios if you go from CQC to HTH on the battlefield, you're screwed unless you've been specially trained for it.
What distinguishes "close quarters combat" from hand to hand
anyway? Being armed with knives/knuckledusters/etc.?
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:Thanks. I'll go ahead and add those to the list as well.
The rest of your
list I'd agree with, and also throw in the use of sensor and
communications systems, orbital mechanics, terrestrial and space-based
navigation, and how to move and fight while remaining in control of your
motion in zero-g. I would expect most of them to have a healthy
interest in life support systems and maintenance as well, as if the
cockpit air scrubber craps out while they're way the hell out on a
patrol somewhere, they can either fix it or hold their breath until they
make it back to a ship - this in particular always irritated me about
the hard separation between the pilot and bio-maintenance techs in
Palladium's rendition of the setting for games. It's hardly Palladium's
greatest sin, however.
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:Nah, this will be early Macross... events leading up to and the decade after Rain of Death. So fold boosters and other similarly compact fold drives will be purely theoretical at this point.
Depending on time frame, the basics of superdimension theory and fold
navigation would also apply, for pilots trained on VFs that can use Fold
Boosters or have their own built in.
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:Oh, I know. Again, bear in mind this is just early Macross... when humans are still perfecting their grasp of Robotechnology. I would expect that the VF-1 Valkyries would still need a bit of TLC outside repairs now and then... but I would still think it would be nothing a pilot stranded and on their own won't have to worry about for years if needs be.
As for mechanical maintenance... even in proper Macross where
transforming mecha are a human innovation, they still had the example of
Protoculture technology in the ASS-1's systems plus whatever Zentready
units that were still aboard, and that stuff was seriously built to last
- forget decades, it's hundreds of thousands of years since the
Protoculture wiped itself out against the Protodeviln, and not all, but
enough that billion-strong fleets of Zentreadi ships are a thing, of
their automated factory satellites are still functional, as was a
Protoculture AI that the Macross 7 fleet found, up until
Protodeviln-controlled Varuta forces destroyed it.
Quote:YourHonestly, I wasn't really thinking about it - really, all I was thinking was 'Veteran, lots of experience in handling his machine in a fight'. That said, this would indeed be the skill set of an RDF-equivalent to a special forces like Navy SEALs and Army Rangers.
ideal Robotech pilot would have to combine the skills of an aerospace
fighter pilot with a commando. That means stealth skills (i.e. blending
in or not not being seen), demolition skills, being able to operate in
hostile environments (either on airless rocks or planets with possibly
critters who would not mind snacking on humans), code breaker skills
(Can he read Zentradi?) Can he make field repairs/modifications like
Murdoch? I mean you need something like Roy Fokker/Murdoch/Solid Snake
to get your ideal. Oh yeah. Be very lucky. Most important.
Quote:ordnance11 wrote:Really, I was thinking he'd go no higher than command over a single squadron. That would be what, an O-4 or an O-5?
But up
to what level of command do you want him go up to? Wing/Group cmd?
Because being able to plan campaigns far from any sort of resupply is
going to crucial once you go up to that level.