On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 4:26 AM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm thinking about technology settings to justify a walking tank > with 3E/Vehicles/ME rules. With Mecha, I mean upright vehicles > with two legs, two arms, and a single operator, none of that > ground-hugging spider stuff.
When I think about realistic mecha, what comes to my mind is a 1998 anime called Gasaraki - they tried to make their mecha about as realistic as possible (and the non-realistic bits are considered big secrets around which much of the plot revolves). The mecha there are very similar to Ultra-Tech's 4e Combat Walkers, in that they're not terribly larger than the pilots. From what I remember, they follow the same philosophy behind a fighter plane, trading sheer mass and armor for heightened agility and better electronics. A Gasaraki mecha is nowhere near as massive as a tank, but can still ignore most small arms fire, is agile enough to climb or rappel down a building wall, and small enough to fit inside a hallway inside said building. Typical anti-tank tactics for these mecha include climbing buildings and ambushing tanks rolling underneath with anti-armor missiles. The overall setting is modern-day, but the "artificial muscle" used by the mecha is part of the non-realistic bits I mention above, which makes it much more efficient than is otherwise possible. They sorta blur the line between mecha and battlesuits due to their size, but they have actual cockpits and are clearly piloted rather than "worn". -- Bira http://compexplicita.wordpress.com http://compexplicita.tumblr.com _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
