Approved Submission U-1b Booster module

So, a few things that I feel like pointing out.

This was expressly built to compliment the U-1, which is linked in the article and happens to be a 25 ADR hull, 25 SP 5 (5 threshhold) 'variable fighter' ala Macross.

Usually, it's .27c in its frame form and .32 in fighter form, which I think is a pretty good sweet spot. It's made in 188604 with local equipment, has to make compromises because it's a transforming vehicle able to fit many roles that dedicated frames or fighters don't, and is meant to be improved upon with later models.

This kind of takes the notion of starship speed guidelines and it breaks them over its knee. It's baseline speed in frame mode is .41, whereas the one listed in fighter is .45, which is the absolute fastest a ship can be under the guidelines...if it makes significant compromises, like literally being unarmored and giving it a .4x structural point multiplier that should give it an SP of 10 ADR, about on par with a Mindy.. Even a speed of 4.1 should give it a max SP of 15. In limiter mode it breaks these absolute limits by a whopping .05 C at .50.

Even setting aside guidelines like that, let's compare this to existing fighters of the sectors most advanced military, Yamatai.

It's current gen fighters, The Ke-V6-2A Hayabusa 2 and the upgraded Ke-V8-2X Kawarime which have a speed of .4c, 16 and 18 hull respectively, 20 SP and a threshold of 4. Yamatai also has the Ke-V9 Nodachi an assault fighter with comparable hull and shields has a top speed of .375. It also uses the exact same propulsion as it says the booster module does, ironically enough.

To use a non-yamatai example, let's take the Na-F/A-7X Goliath which was made in YE-38 by Neplesia, so we can probably assume it's near the cutting edge. It also has a hull of 25 ADR, but only has a 15 SP in shield making it more comparable to the Hayabusa and Kawarime 2 in durability. It's baseline top speed is a mere, 365, but has a mechanism similar to the limiter which gives it a whopping...385 c.

It would outspeed almost every fighter in the setting in mecha mode, and handily spank them in fighter mode, especially with the limiter while beating (and in one or two rare cases simply matching) them in terms of durability or firepower. While being a variable fighter.

I'm also kind of leery about the idea of letting the limiter let it break the starship speed guidelines. Yeah I just linked the the Goliath, but it's relatively low shielding means it's more like 20 SP putting it's max speed at .4. Also, given the only battle I've taken part I don't even think broke a minute, their doesn't seem to be any limitation on turning it on or off, or any penalty once the five minutes are up I don't see it being a 'real' limitation. Their's not many scenario's in combat where I can think this wouldn't be on.

I wasn't aware of those other fighters. I think that I'll revise the speed down now with those examples in mind.

Now updated to be a little less insane in light of the information that @Perilous Siege provided.

I agree with Perri. He wrote out his reasoning very well actually. I will admit, I actually liked the idea of the U-1 when it was explained to me by Dumont.

Not as good at being a Mecha as a dedicated mecha, not as good at being a fighter than a dedicated fighter, but it can do both.

This is a very interesting idea and the concept of it is very nice. It's benefit is that it CAN do both.

It's durability is a big point of 'er' I get with it. It's the toughest mech in the system as a base model. The Modules are a really cool thing, but it it is base the toughest thing on the block then I feel a lot of what the U-1 is dies. From what I understand, it's not supposed to be very good without these modules.

This Module does speed.

Another model does pure "Fuck this ship in particular"

Another Module does "Shot me if you want, I won't care"

It's a Mecha that can be the jack of all trades. You could Viably make a Module for any job, but it will only be really good at that one job.

I think the Unicorn would do a substantially better job thematically, if it relied on these modules to be effective in combat completely. Catch the speed one with it's pants down and blow it to infinity, but god help you if you try to shoot the tank, don't worry about running away from it though! And don't be a ship in the way of the "ALL THE GUNS" module.

Like in Gundam Seed, where they would launch the Modules out for like, the sword striker or what have you.

With the massive durability as a stock model ((Especially with a Variable ability)) it loses a lot of it's pull. That and with Modules like this completely breaks the system. I would totally get this thing ziping about faster than most ships in setting if like, you hit it with something and it blew up. Use the speed as your defense, you don't want to get hit at all as a speed demon. That effect doesn't transfer when as a stock robot it is still the toughest thing on the market.

Honestly, I would drop the SP of the U-1 Base fairly dramatically, and then use the Modules to make it better at various things. It would really compliment the Modules and make you think about what you are doing when picking the Module you are going out with. Is this the right Module for the job? Is there a Module that may give me a better advantage? What is the enemy I am facing? Ect Ect Ect. But hey, what do I know.

As an addition, here are a few questions I have for this.

What happens if you go longer than 5 minutes? Does the Limiter automatically turn back on, does the ship explode, Pilot pass out? What?

Does turning the limiter off gradually damage the ship?

What are the negatives of turning this off? To me it sounds like W.E.P, which means the vehicle should suffer if it goes through this mode, and it should suffer almost immediately. Gradual damage to the ship to over powering the engines and power plant.Maybe the cockpit starts getting really hot as the ship can't radiate the heat fast enough so the fuselage just get super hot.

After five minutes the gee force is so great that your heart can't pump blood to your brain. Or your lungs collapse, along with various other gee related maladies.

Gradual damage to the ship to over powering the engines and power plant.Maybe the cockpit starts getting really hot as the ship can't radiate the heat fast enough so the fuselage just get super hot.

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I kind of felt like that went without saying.

Basically, after five minutes at that speed, no matter what kind of super-being you are, you're dead by that point. And thats if you're lucky enough to not have any of those things happen to you earlier.

It should be said. If the ship would suffer damage from doing something, say the ship will suffer damage.

How many G-s do you suffer? With gravity manipulation Neko's could suffer I think 75G's. Their body can handle 25 base and they can make themselves weigh 3x less then gravity so that needs to be mentioned as well.

It says the ship can handle the inertia of .35c but past that you start to feel the inertia. What G-Forces do you feel at that speed.

Honestly, I feel like the damage to the ship isn't the reason the limiter is there. The reason the limiter is there is that the thing can only damp so much inertia before the pilot starts to feel it.

Alex Hart said:

Honestly, I feel like the damage to the ship isn't the reason the limiter is there. The reason the limiter is there is that the thing can only damp so much inertia before the pilot starts to feel it.

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Then? Why not say that? How much, what degree of damage? How many G-s are you feeling? does it supersede 75G's?

I'm no scientist. I just felt like it needed a reason for it to not be used all the time. I don't think it really needs to be that in detail.

Well, the Cons would be a pretty good thing to list. Your comment of "Doesn't matter what kind of super being you are, you will die" Also goes to say that you experience enough G's in this thing to kill any human within seconds. Neko's are a thing. +5G is enough to kill someone in a few mintues of constant exposure. Say these things. Avoid broad generalized statements.

My main complaint is that the base unit has 15 hardpoints in total. If you're going to do articles like this for every possible module for every possible segment then you are giving yourself a whole lot of extra work.

Can you not do a big list of more generic components to streamline the work?

Well, I can add how many hardpoints it takes up, but the modules usually go in the back cavity.

That's sort of besides my point.

The issue is that if you're working on a mech with 15 separate module slots, with multiple different modules for the various different slots, getting each option approved separately is a huge amount of work for you and the reviewing staff.

Will you be doing another article like this for every mounted gun on the arm? For every missile strapped on the wing? You have 15 hardpoints on the U-1, in 9 different categories. Assuming a minimum of at least three different options for each slot category, that's 27 articles. Each one needing to be individually vetted before it can be used in play.

Are you going to write 27 different articles of this quality, for individual approval? Do you have the patience to wait for each individual item to be written, submitted, argued over, then observing their 3 day waiting periods totaling 71 days of waiting? Keeping in mind that you're already using this mech in play.

When I wrote the Moondyne's Graft which has a similar amount of options, I just wrote one page for all the different add-ons in little stub form for each section of the suit. As you can demonstrably do that, why not just write one article with many options so you can actually use your mech?

Well, not for every weapon. The reason that this needs an article is that its not exactly standard tech.
But I see your point, and if I knew now what most of the things we would need are, I would make a list article. But I don't.

Well, it's not rocket surgery.

It's a war machine. Write guns. By rights you shouldn't be waiting for the situation to require you to need something to make it, especially when the people designing this are respectively the mental copy of, and trained daughter(s) of two of the most renowned engineers living in the Kikyo sector. Presumably they have foresight, and you're already apparently working with Zack and Osakanone who should have some ideas.

I can start to write up a list of generic parts, but I think that more specific tech like this will still need an article.

So you aren't going to write the cons of this device on the Wiki sheet so that if anyone looks at it they can do what they will. Because you haven't written the cons. You just said you can't go longer than 5 minutes.

You can't go longer than 5 minutes or you'll summon a unicorn?
You can't go longer than 5 minutes or the pilot suit will give you 20 hits of acid
You can't go longer than 5 minutes or your mecha will transform into a Disco party?

It doesn't matter how obvious you think it is, you need to mention it. And it needs to make sense. "This good thing comes with bad things, but I'm only going to tell you the good things" is all I am getting from this submission. That doesn't work. Also, If this puts you through enough G's to kill a Neko in 5 minutes then Nothing natural would ever be able to pilot this thing with this mode turned on they would plain and simply just die.

Instead of ignoring them because they are hard questions, just answer them. You don't need to be a scientist to answer these questions. Especially not a physicist. I really don't think anyone on the site who is looking at this stuff is a physicist. You just need to have it make sense. That's all, seriously.