Fastest Mech Challenge:

[JohnnyDmonic]

Design the fastest mecha you can, keeping mass modification within vaguely the same range as the original design files, and modules to fit the design idea.  Additionally, all mecha should have at least 1 weapon, capable of winning at least a 1 on 1 duel.  (A shaka cannon is tolerable, and a MAC-2 machine cannon is probably not going to kill much of anything)

Current title holder for Flight:
Frumple's Mech with omgstoragepods: 615 max speed

Pouncer: Class 4 Areofighter MV/TR/SEN: -6/0/-1  Flight: 304  Space Flight: 300 Max Speed: 567

Space Flight:

Walking:
Phil Munoz' Ant class 4 arachnoid at 306 (zoanoid variant at 314)

Skim:

They see me rollin', they hatin:

[Frumple]

Had completely forgotten about this until you mentioned it in the entry mecha thread. Had intended to do something, but my current character only got polymath and mecha engineering like two missions ago. Anyway, let's give this thing a shot...

...Oh dear...

... well. I'll refrain from posting the text file; suffice it to say I used entirely stock pieces: That is, I took a Gaunt body, ripped everything off but the weapon mount, and started copying and pasting Shard thrust pods onto it. This creature could be built entirely in-game, for one willing to farm low-rep missions (or buy shards) long enough. There is now a ludicrous number of pods (33!) on a single machine, its max speed is a 615 (Interestingly, it's 615 regardless of if the jets are space or flight...), and since there's an Acid Sprayer stuck in the body mount, it's still eminently capable of murdering things violently. Max speed doesn't seem to be cutting off; more pods = more speed. I guess I could get better results if I alternated propulsion pods with overcharger pods, but... eh. Stats are currently -3/-7/-8, but, yanno', Acid Sprayer. Any of the LINE weapons would probably work just fine. Could rip out the computer of a Luna II and get the targeting down to at least -4.

Well, I could post the design file entry, but it's at 341 lines in notepad++, hah. Gonna' see what this design philosophy does to a runner ^^

EDIT: Changing it to a hoverfighter gets another 40 points of max speed. Making it a hoverfighter 3 (Bluebird), cuts max speed down to 591, but at least it's still stock pieces, heh.

EDITDATWO: Hrm. Overchargers provide a bit of thrust in and of themselves, apparently. Sticking a pair of legs on that design nets a max speed of 408, but it's still skimming, jumping, and flying in space. Maybe an arachnoid... ... arachnoid still jumps. Bah!

[EarthquakeDamage]

Consider the following:

1.  Missiles use Sensors instead of Targeting, so if you want your speedster to be able to kill stuff, equip missiles instead of guns.

2.  Arc Thrusters are superior to Flight Jets.

3.  You should be able to stick pretty much all the jet types (incl Hover, which AFAIK contributes slightly to flight speed) and an overcharger on each pod.  IIRC only actuators, wheels, and tracks take up more than one slot each.

[Frumple]

It's 1 slot per class for most things, actually, which limits it pretty heavily. It was different in GH1. I think I accidentally went over a slot or two for those shard pods -- nothing innovation couldn't account for, but still -- which I should probably adjust and recheck, or adjust the mass and such for a 10 slot pod, either way. Anyway, you could fit most of the jets in a single pod, but they'd all be like class 2 or something. No clue if it's straight additive or not for class increase, but I figure it wouldn't make a difference either way. Go with whatever increases the desired speed the most an'stick with it... and overchargers.

The missile thing'd be a good idea if guns didn't surpass them so heavily, especially if you're going for efficiency. Equal tonnage gun's going to get more shots out than an equivalent missile launcher... and that's not considering beamguns. I'd probably say stick with LINE or BLAST weapons, to deal with heavy-ish targeting penalties. There's one mech, I think, that has an integral energy LINE weapon in one of its arms. That'd probably be the best choice, even with the weight issues involved, for a truly self-sufficient speedster. Probably have to have a higher class machine than strictly necessary, but thems the breaks.

[JohnnyDmonic]

Nice!  615 is pretty impressive.  Heh, I can't even imagine how many spaces you'd move in between actions.

[Phil Munoz]

Designing a fast walker is a balancing act between Heavy Actuators and Overchargers.  The numbers presented here are from viewing the design files in-game:

30.0 T Zoanoid, MV: +0, TR: -1, SE: +1
Mnt: 1, Walk: 100, Space Flight: 50, Max: 300

My only trouble is verifying that the max speed displayed here is meant for running speed rather than space flight.

Code: [Select]

Zoanoid 4
Name <V-Raptor>
Desig <ELM-04>
type <GROUND SPACE INSIDE>
factions <GENERAL>
SDL_Sprite <zoa_fenris.png>
SDL_PORTRAIT <>
SDL_MESH <btr_trailblazer.obj>
SDL_SKIN <skin_placeholder.png>
desc <A Zoanoid built for fast running speed.>
Legality -15
ROLE_PRIVA <GENERAL:TROOPER  ASSAULT:TROOPER  DEFENSE:TROOPER>

sub
Head

   Size 4

   Armor 3
   Mass -1
   sub
      Sensor 5

      Computer 2
      sub
         Software 2
         name <Laniac Mecha FCS>>
         S_TRBoost
         S_BoostScale 2
      end

      CPit
      Armor 3   

      EMelee 5
      Name <Plasma Fang>   

   end

Torso
   Armor 3
   Mass -1
   sub
      Mount
      name <Torso Mount>
      inv
         MLauncher 4
         sub
            STC GM-10
            Magazine 4
         end
      end
     


      HeavyActuator 5
      desig <HA05+>
      mass -3

      Overcharger 4

   end

Storage
   Name <Booster Pod>
   sub
      HeavyActuator 3
      desig <HA03+>
      mass -2
      OverCharger 7
   end

Storage
   Name <Booster Pod>
   sub
      HeavyActuator 3
      desig <HA03+>
      mass -2
      OverCharger 7
   end

Leg
   Size 5
   Name <Right Leg>
   Armor 2
   Mass -1
   sub
      HeavyActuator 3
      desig <HA03+>
      mass -2

      Overcharger 2

      EMelee 4
      Name <Plasma Claws>
   end


Leg
   Size 5
   Name <Left Leg>
   Armor 2
   Mass -1
   sub
      HeavyActuator 3
      desig <HA03+>
      mass -2

      Overcharger 2

      EMelee 4
      Name <Plasma Claws>
   end



Tail
   Armor 2
   Mass -1
   sub
   sub
      Overcharger 5
   end
end

[JohnnyDmonic]

Nice!  Did you try it with extra legs as well?  I noticed with the Ovaknight those extra legs do seem to add a fair bit.

[Phil Munoz]

this design was originally four-legged, (and was named cheetah), however I found that removing the extra 2 legs improves the MV and TR values without much change to the speed  (removing it actually makes it faster if I'm not mistaken).  I have not yet tested using multiple small legs, though.

[plllizzz]

this design was originally four-legged, (and was named cheetah), however I found that removing the extra 2 legs improves the MV and TR values without much change to the speed  (removing it actually makes it faster if I'm not mistaken).  I have not yet tested using multiple small legs, though.

Give 10 legs, name it Centipede

[Phil Munoz]

Give 10 legs, name it Centipede

To ensure that this thing is restricted to walking/running, I changed it to an arachnoid.  I started out with the v-raptor design and changed the legs into size 1 legs and added 5 pairs.  However, the result was only a max speed of 288-ish.  I decided to crop off legs and found that the optimal number of legs was 6.  So I named it Ant, instead.

I was also considering using a turret instead of a head, but a turret results in poorer MV, TR, and SE ratings, so I kept the head instead.

Code: [Select]

Arachnoid 4
Name <Ant>
Desig <ELM-05>
type <GROUND INSIDE>
factions <GENERAL>
SDL_Sprite <ara_kojedo.png>
SDL_PORTRAIT <>
SDL_MESH <btr_trailblazer.obj>
SDL_SKIN <skin_placeholder.png>
desc <An arachnoid built for fast running speed.>
Legality -15
ROLE_PRIVA <GENERAL:TROOPER  ASSAULT:TROOPER  DEFENSE:TROOPER>

sub
Head

Size 2

Armor 3
Mass -1
sub
Sensor 5

CPit
Armor 3

EMelee 5
Name <Plasma Mandible>

end

Torso
Armor 3
Mass -1
sub
Mount
name <Torso Mount>
inv
MLauncher 4
sub
STC GM-10
Magazine 4
end
end



HeavyActuator 5
desig <HA05+>
mass -3

Overcharger 4

end

Storage
Name <Booster Pod>
sub
HeavyActuator 3
desig <HA03+>
mass -2
OverCharger 7
end

Storage
Name <Booster Pod>
sub
HeavyActuator 3
desig <HA03+>
mass -2
OverCharger 7
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Right Leg 1>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Left Leg 1>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Right Leg 2>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Left Leg 2>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Right Leg 3>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

Leg
Size 1
Name <Left Leg 3>
Armor 1
Mass -1
sub

HeavyActuator 2
desig <HA02+>
mass -1
end

end
23.0T Arachnoid MV:-1 TR:+0 SE: +1
Mnt:1 Walk:109 Max:306

as a Zoanoid it is slightly faster:

23.0T Zoanoid MV:+0 TR:-2 SE: +1
Mnt:1 Walk:114 Spaceflight: 43 Max:313

[SharkD]

Biped mecha have always seemed over powered to me IMO. They should really fall down a lot more often.