GH1: Building Mecha. Help?

[macksting]

Figured I'd start us off with a few questions. Brainstorming is welcome. For purposes of this conversation, assume unlimited Engineering skill and monetary resources. Many of us scum for this sort of thing anyway. Suggesting a few base Torso modules, such as the various prizes for completing arenae, is useful, but doesn't make the best universal assumption. Also, we don't want too many spoilers.
I realize most or all of these questions have been answered before. That said, please humor me; if we can get it all on a few pages of Forum post, we can pare it down into a Wiki article!
First and foremost, I suppose one must determine a strategy. Will the vehicle be a legless hovering martial artist, a flying sniper, a dual-movement rolling grenadier? This will determine what types of torso and installed modules you'll want.
The critical element is your torso, which determines Type and basic stats. Are there basic stats linked with types, such as battroid and arachnoid? The presence or absence of a cockpit in the cockpit also determines a few strategic and statistical details. Does anybody have precise numbers for this stuff? Why do some torso modules have different stats when stripped of targetting, sensors and modules? Is that entirely due to placement of the cockpit?
What are the advantages of Storage modules?

Other questions:
Handy SF:0 equipment, including scavenged gear. The Self-Defense Net and Fire Control modules, oddly, are both useless to the Hoverfighter I'm making. Are there others? Do Heavy Weapons use Artillery when installed on a mech?
What flaws can crop up while using Mecha Engineering? Are your only risks the loss of a part?

[SharkD]

Have you read this?

[draconuszero]

Storage modules allow you to add a weapon (or weapons?) to the module then put the module onto the mecha.  Forgot i you install or equip the module though...

I put the personal-sized plasma and laser cannons onto my mecha (an argoseyer that took quite a while and many retries to eventually get.)

In terms of mecha creation it might be wise to have at least one long-range and h2h/melee weapon.  My general strategy is run at an opponent untill i'm within one square of them, then use my martial arts in hopes of ejecting them or energy blades (depending on how far into the game i am the beam sword or ion) to slice off their limbs.

Then again, the argoseyer is superpowerful as-is, but i added two light nukes just as a backup and some melee just in case.

[macksting]

Yes, I'm trying to get the Argoseyer myself. If only I could remember how to get it. Found it, just can't remember where the freakin' disk is.
Assuming the fuel rod is at the bottom of the unstable part of the Ziggurat, as I recall it.

That said, I actually didn't realize anything had been put up on the wiki along these lines.

Hmm. Suddenly I want a Flying Zoanoid with a cockpit in the head. (After all, if you're planning to Fly, you're not planning on being hit.)

I will say that, while crucial and handy, that page only covers a few of my questions. For instance, it's a wonderful resource, but this page can also be a great opportunity to chat over the pros and cons of installation vs. non-installation, the benefits of a given chassis type over another, the importance or lack thereof of compatibility with given modules...
and besides, that page doesn't say what modules conform to what torsos.

I'll see if I can come up with more conversational material on the subject tomorrow or the next day.

[draconuszero]

The info on argoseyer is in the dev group.  You just have to look through 1-2 yr old msgs though.   Actually, the dev page has a lot of info you might be looking for.

[peter]

Zoanoids can't fly.  They do get a bonus to jump time, though.

 The disk for the Argoseyer is in Wujung.  In my last game, I didn't get the Argoseyer until after I'd won the game with a flying sniping Savin, and had made bundles of money which I spent on training my skills.  So I never got hit, and I killed most things before they were in range.  So while I appreciated the Argoseyer, I didn't need it.  My current character has gotten a good enough lance together to probably "win" the game already, and I haven't even made it back to all the elemental shrines yet.  Sometime I'm going to have to play a character that really takes risks and actually gets killed sometimes.  And maybe one that depends more on great hardware than great skills.  Recruiting a lancemate with Heavy Weapons 12 and handing him a laser cannon lets you waltz through some pretty dangerous places!

 I've had great success with long-range mecha.  HRP-6 rockets in a mecha with good sensors works really well.  Most standard designs have a lot of short range firepower (esp. the Savin models), so it's really good to stay out of range of that.  HRP-6 rockets have such good range that they'll often be in medium range when other weapons are only in long range, so their Acc: -2 is negated.

 If your character has better mecha skills than an opponent, you're much better off being at long range where they don't hit at all, and you hit some of the time, than at close range where you always hit and they often hit.  Carry some heavy smoke grenades in your mechas general inventory, too.

 I think the Savin torso is one of the best.  It has a class 4 gyro, and armored reduced-mass engine, gyro, and cockpit.  The body itself is also reduced mass.  The Chimentaro has the best gyro (class 5) of the standard mecha.

[macksting]

You sure that high-class flight jets and storage modules can't give Zoanoids flight? I'm bound to try.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Zoanoids cannot be made to fly, but they can be made to jump.

[macksting]

Well bummer.
Back to the drawing board.