Excellent. Something. At last.Well. Doing this isn't something I'm going to like, but considering I kept my mouth shut the last few times and it turned out very poorly, I'm going to raise some criticisms. Whether they'll be constructive or not, remains to be seen.
First and foremost, the stats on this power armor are excessive. To say that I greatly dislike the current Damage Rating system is a huge understatement, but for the time being, it's all we have, and we should at least try and respect it. The shields and armor of this particular suit are far more than those of all pre-existing designs, the Aggressor included. This suit is at least 8 feet tall, depending on the pilot, but it has shields and armor rated at 20? The Aggressor has 18 shields and 18 hull, and that one is 13 feet tall. THIRTEEN. That's a five foot difference between the two. Then, there's the weapons that it's mounted with. Both its over-the-shoulder cannons are ADR 5 individually, adding to a handheld weapon that's also ADR 5. To put that into perspective, it's typically very rare to have ADR 5 weapons on a PA. In the cases that PA do have them, it's either an Aether Beam-Saber Rifle, or something hazardous like Antimatter Shells - just like the ones the Aggressor uses. Most of the time, it's tanks, fighters and frames that mount ADR 5 weapons so easily, and in any number beyond just one.
Second, why wasn't the Aggressor modified instead? Or if the Hostile got an upgunned variant to it? Both of those options seem to make far more sense than this does, since it not only uses pre-existing resources, but simplifies supply line issues. Not only that, but those two articles could use a bit of love too - the time that was spent on this could have been spent on updating those two. They've formed the backbone of Nepleslia's military for quite some time, and it doesn't make sense for something entirely new to be developed when a preexisting platform can easily be made to do the same job.
Third, is quite frankly my own subjective opinion. I really wish I could have said something far sooner, before the artwork was complete, but after what happened before, it's better I say something now than say something about it far later down the line. I honestly don't like the artwork. In comparison to what we've had before, designs that look rough and gritty, this looks like something out of Gundam. This one is bright and flashy, with glowing neon lights. To me, it doesn't seem to be consistent with the lore. Hell, it even looks like a Zaku that got upgraded with more weapons and an NT-D like the Unicorn series of Gundams.
Excellent. Something. At last.
I shall divide my responses into the appropriate categories of Armor, Weapons, Aggressor, and Artwork.
Armor
The Aggressor may be 13 feet tall but it's made of a Nerimium shell and Durandium skeleton. I have replaced the Durandium with Meridium, which realistically ought to increase durability. Next, I did conduct a completely unscientific poll in 2013 over the IRC and the majority of Nepleslian players wanted an increase in the SP of the Aggressor and Hostile. After going over it with several others, we agreed that 20 was a good point since it's a marginal increase from the Aggressor, upon which the Devastator is based upon. In addition, the Devastator was specifically designed to be an assault armor, hence increased armor and shields. One doesn't send a cardboard equipped unit as the leading assault force unless one is an Imperial Guard Commissar.
Aggressor
The RP from the Rok'Veru Offensive proved this point, that the Aggressors were not suited to direct assault. Frown-chan, while she was active, wanted an assault PA that could engage in CQB (another thing the Aggressor does not do well). The Aggressor has many AoE weaponry as well as a lot of high volume weaponry. That doesn't make it a true assault unit. Having used it with NPCs in that assault role, I can say that it's not perfect. None of its main guns are suited for the task of leading an assault.
It is a direct response to 3rd Marines' assault on SC-4, against fortified NMX positions and bunkers. Like the Raider, this is meant to fill a small hole. For a dedicated assault armor, not a re-purposed one.
" it doesn't make sense for something entirely new to be developed when a preexisting platform can easily be made to do the same job."
You saw how much grief I got for making a minor edit to the DR of the LSP from one player. Imagine that multiplied for the Aggressor if I modified it. So much easier to just start from the ground up and avoid that particular pitfall, preserving the Aggie we all know and love. And I'm absolutely serious on this point. So, new machine, new memories, no baggage.
Weapons
The Doorbreaker's Blast mode consists of firing three (3) ADR 3 plasma lances simultaneously. If you prefer ADR 9 to ADR 5, that can be arranged.
Similarly, the plasma lance cannons are essentially miniaturized versions of the starship weapons. These are bunker-buster weapons. You will notice, there's more than just the option for the lance cannons.
" it's either an Aether Beam-Saber Rifle" - Does this mean I need to employ handwavium aether to justify ADR 5 when both weapons are already grounded in existing PA weaponry capable of ADR5 damage output if done properly? Or is that supposed to mean that only Yamatai can have "safe" ADR5 PA weaponry? Your point requires clarification because it currently seems to lack direction. You write as if there is an implication I should see. Please do not imply. State it. The only interpretation rendered to me is that you consider the weaponry to be Overpowered. Is this so or is there some other meaning we have not drawn?
As you can see, everything is direct fire. Everything is meant to fire straight at an enemy. The Aggressor is, as one senior Nep put it, a missile boat intended to stand back and unload everything it had. And it does that function EXTREMELY well. I cannot fault the creators of the Aggressor for longevity. But re-purposing it into something that it wasn't intended to do would take away from the platform.
Artwork
It was the best I could get for $15 at the time. I well remember EXACTLY how much grief I had from ... certain .... parties about the lack of artwork on the Raider and those parties'.... refusal to allow the approval of the Raider until it had artwork. So yeah, not the best but it's a starting point. And as I said way up in my original post: NEW ARTWORK IS ALREADY BEING MADE so forgive me if I consider this point to be rather minor and ultimately moot. The problems arising from the Raider's lack of initial artwork are the primary reasons why I would rather have shitty art than no art. You know how ... certain parties feel about submissions without artwork.
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