Using the Mindy and the NH-33 Body to Their Maximum Potential

[Immortal Cyan]

So, I’ve been trying to re-commit to memory some of the details of the Mindy article since I returned to the site a couple of days ago. I made a thread similar to this one about 3 years ago, where I inquired regarding the capabilities of the Mindy armor. While I learned a lot about the armor from that thread, I still am a bit lacking in my understanding of the armor and its capabilities in the hands of a typical NH-33 pilot. Specifically, I’m looking to learn how I can utilize the advanced systems of the Mindy (CFS, AIES, and Photonics Array) and the capabilities of the NH-33 body to write the armor creatively and with maximum combat effectiveness. To that end, I listed a couple of theoretical combat scenarios below, in order to find out how a skilled NH-33 Mindy pilot would deal with them:

1. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33-piloted Hayabusa Ke-V6-2A are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win? What techniques can the Mindy pilot employ? What type of dangers does the Hayabusa pose?
2. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33-piloted Ke-M6 2A Daisy are on a planet. How does the Mindy pilot win?
3. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33 piloted-Kirie are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win? What techniques can the Mindy pilot employ? What types of dangers does the Kirie pose?
4. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and a Bulldog MBT are on a planet. How does the Mindy pilot win? What types of dangers does the Bulldog pose?
5. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and a Raevr VANDR are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win?

I’ve heard that a good Mindy pilot can beat starfighters, mecha, and large power armors, but I’m not sure how I would write the Mindy in a creative/effective enough manner to make this happen. Some day, I’d love to do this kind of thing with one of my own characters!

Thanks in Advance! Any and all responses are appreciated.

 

[Alex Hart]

I think that these are interesting questions to answer, and each presents its own challenges, but one they almost all share is this: In almost all of these situations (Except the one with the Daisy) the Mindy has firepower disadvantage, so my personal contribution will be a bit more generalized and attempt to address ways to overcome that firepower disparity:

The Mindy has many features that give it incredible maneuverability, and a good pilot (in my mind) will do their best to use these features, like the CFS and the teleportation module to stay out of harm's way and get a leg up on opponents. In an atmosphere, depending on how your GM handles teleportation, that may be risky however, if you're in close proximity to other friendly troops, because of radiation, displaced air causing an explosion, or other elements, so keep in mind your GM when writing!

The photonics array, while useful against many power armor scaled weapons, may not be as effective when trying to defend against mecha and vehicle scaled weapons, so I think that in many of these situations, misdirection or camouflage may be a better use.

In quite a few of these cases, the mindy's ranged weaponry may not be enough to outright kill without taking the time to aim very well, but if you do plan to go in for melee, be very careful about it because overextending is an easy way to end up dead, and some foes, like mecha, have ways of meleeing too.

 

[Wes]

The tank one is easy because you can simply teleport to a position above the turret and rain aether down into the tank from a position where they're not easily able to shoot back. In space, the Mindy is at a significant disadvantage vs. starfighters which carry bigger weapons - not to mention the Hayabusa has turrets that basically can shoot in any direction no matter what the pilot is doing and it can carry a torpedo with enough firepower to sink a starship. For the rest of the situations you're basically relying on extreme maneuverability and a tiny hitbox to avoid dying. The Mindy also has a number of accessories it can use to increase its energy shields to absorb more damage. Other accessories include support bits and drones that can confuse enemy sensors. Also don't forget the Mindy has hands, allowing it to pick up and use almost any weapon you have access to or find. For large mecha the Mindy can close in rapidly and hit the enemy in the joints or weak spots and if the enemy somehow still locks on, you can teleport to safety and try again.

 

[Alex Hart]

In regards to the tank, the one used in this specific example does pose a risk to a Mindy pilot trying that teleportation trick because of the autocannon mounted on the turret designed to shoot down fast moving power armors. Fortunately, a Mindy pilot is unlikely to be fighting any K-1/type 41 tanks, since they're produced in Yamatai, and used by the SAoY. (Hence why they have that autocannon, since the SAoY fights a lot of foes that use powered armors).

Many other tanks on SARP have this kind of secondary turret, making a teleportation move one of the better options available to a pilot, but not without risk. Rather than teleporting over the turret, which is a position that makes you easy to locate, I would suggest a perhaps more safe move, trying to teleport into a location where you know the tank's turrets aren't currently pointing, and trying to get a shot in that way before pulling back to a safe location.

However, do keep in mind the limitations of the teleportation module: You've got 10 teleports before you're on a cooldown timer, which might result in a loss unless you pull back, and 15 seconds between each teleport, so don't get too cavalier!

 

[_AC]

Why ever have a fair fight with those elements on the planet? They're all outgunning you.

Doesn't the Mindy have relatively long range teleport capabilities?

It has a range of 100 kilometers, which is artificially limited by software for safety purposes. It can activate every 15 seconds and can be used continuously several (7-10) times in a row before requiring a cooldown period of ten minutes or less (for heat dissipation).

100km is more than enough to use the curvature of any planet worth fighting for as cover. Got a satellite scan? Forward scout? Really good intel?

Just triangle teleport; once up over the cover and again into combat position. Drop your ordinance and poof away. Sleazeball tip: "Tanks and heavy armor are really easy to defeat when unmanned."

 

[Soban]

15 seconds is a long time in combat.

 

[Toshiro]

The Keiko/Kirie scenario depends very heavily on the pilot's skill. If it's a typical pilot, you essentially have a larger Mindy-like enemy that can tolerate more damage and stay in the fight due to its method of protecting its pilot. Its joints also lack fleshy bits of its pilot, so they don't need to slow down to avoid hurting the pilot like a Mindy likely does. All that and a distributed sensor system mean headshots aren't that effective. Shoot for the torso and hope you can puncture both the normal armor and the escape pod inside. The upper and lower body move around the torso, so trying to gum it up with something might also be useful for a brief time.

If the pilot is skilled enough to tap into advanced functionality, then a Mindy pilot should expect their enemy to have the ability to move joints in a non-humanoid fashion, response times at the speed of thought, panoramic sound/sight/sensor feedback intended to eliminate blind spots, and general cause for the Mindy to avoid melee. Prioritize range and group tactics. A Kirie is even more advanced than a Keiko.

Fortunately, it takes time and familiarity for a Kirie or Keiko pilot to get that skilled and essentially requires the pilot to be a Minkan or Neko anyway due to the need for digital thought in the high tiers of operation. Intentional OOC learning curve.

 

[Alex Hart]

Frankly, Mecha follow the same lines as a Kirie in terms of "power armors but bigger and tougher" so it really all depends on how good the pilot is at avoiding the multitude of weapons systems that larger platforms can bring to bear. If they're good, they might be able to dodge and shoot at the same time, but that's a big task, even with digital brains, because of the number of moving parts.

Melee may be a bit more effective because of many of them not carrying discrete melee weaponry, but remember: They tend to be just as fast moving as power armor when it comes to their limbs, which are in and of themselves weapons, so you still need to be careful

 

[Soban]

And hope no one brought any AOE weapons.

 

[raz]

1. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33-piloted Hayabusa Ke-V6-2A are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win? What techniques can the Mindy pilot employ? What type of dangers does the Hayabusa pose?

1v1 in completely open deep space? The Hayabusa has the advantage with its point defense and ship-killing weapons as the Mindy closes distance. The Mindy would have to maneuver close enough to get out of its firing arcs. A Mindy's teleporter wouldn't help much because of the range of a Hayabusa's armaments and targeting systems. The Mindy is far more agile, though, and its operator has a reaction time advantage with the armor's hand-equipped weapons and the fact that the user's body is the basis of the weapon system, which only gets more pronounced as it closes in. In the chaos of an actual battle, the Mindy would probably have an easier time closing in and being able to destroy the Hayabusa without issue.

2. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33-piloted Ke-M6 2A Daisy are on a planet. How does the Mindy pilot win?

The Mindy is more agile than the Daisy, giving it a slight advantage. Being able to instantly materialize hard light close combat weapons is an advantage, too. In-universe, the Mindy operator would have a slightly easier time, but the Daisy operator could manage to come out on top without suspending disbelief. This is just a land-based power armor vs power armor fight where both power armors are essentially the same stats-wise.

3. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and an NH-33 piloted-Kirie are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win? What techniques can the Mindy pilot employ? What types of dangers does the Kirie pose?

This is just a Mindy against a Big Mindy. Power armor combat in space. They shoot at each other, close in, and clash in close combat. THOUGHT armors have more mass without sacrificing much speed (and may actually be faster in reaction time due to the setup of their pilot pod+super joint systems), so 1v1 the Mindy would have to land more or better hits. This is kind of the opposite of the Daisy fight: fairly even with the Mindy having a slight disadvantage.

4. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and a Bulldog MBT are on a planet. How does the Mindy pilot win? What types of dangers does the Bulldog pose?

What Wes said. Power armors destroy tanks with ease. The Mindy wouldn't even have to teleport from very far away, and could probably do the job by flying in rather than even teleporting. Alternatively, the Mindy could just do what any Neko is capable of: call down an orbital strike from the Plumeria in orbit.

5. An NH-33-piloted Mindy and a Raevr VANDR are in deep space. How does the Mindy pilot win?

This would sort of be like the Hayabusa fight. The VANDR's close combat abilities would help a little, but the Mindy is still small and agile enough to stay in a VANDR's blind spots and strike where it can't be struck back once it closes in.

The pattern that emerges for a Mindy's (or any power armor's) victory seems to be to close in and engage with progressively more effective weapons as necessary. The teleporter addition really gives them an edge in that regard, but is limited to relatively close ranges in space. Also makes me imagine Warp Spiders Are Neko just Eldar?

 

[Alex Hart]

While you and Wes both make great points when it comes to tanks and ways to fight them, Raz, I'm going to have to agree to disagree in at least the examples given regarding the tank and the mech, because the type-41 tank uses essentially flak in its secondary turret, though that's a feature unique to that tank thankfully, because a Mindy will never be fighting one. The RAEVR I disagree with, because it has a weapons suite that makes it a very big threat to power armors, with its huge numbers of missiles and defensive lasers.

They're very much not threats to be taken lightly, and in the examples given, both possess weaponry and equipment that makes them extremely dangerous to powered armors such as a Mindy.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

Thanks a lot guys! I'm learning a lot of stuff from all of the replies. That said, I have a couple of questions that has to do with the Mindy's CFS and its ability to move at FTL speeds. I was wondering if it was possible to utilize the CFS's FTL function to speed blitz an opponent via melee? Would it be possible to do this to some of the bigger mecha that I listed in the examples above?

 

[Alex Hart]

Generally, as far as I know, FTL on SARP doesn't work within a sun's hill sphere, which is a very very large space around a star, so the answer for using FTL for that would generally be no, unless you're in deep space. In terms of using normal movement to do a speed blitz, I'd probably say it's a risky maneuver because you have to fully commit for it to work, which leaves you very very open to being counterattacked by a clever GM or clever player.

In fact, without FTL, I don't think many things on SARP are capable of a speed blitz in the way that it is described by the link you gave, as a speed blitz as described there would require you to be many times faster than someone else, not just a bit.

 

[_AC]

Trying to get to (or past) targets for close up hits/bombing runs by going fast is already a thing. Flak cannons don't try to make a single accurate shot, but throw so much metal into the air some of it hits you.

You gotta ask yourself, have you backed yourself up recently? If so? Go for it. (This is probably really bad advice. Don't listen to me.)

 

[Toshiro]

The Mindy's barrier might be able to contend with the flak, depending. It's not that different from having the barrier intercept micro-meteorites while the Mindy flies through space. The pilot just has to remember to turn it on.

Edit: I'm having trouble finding any references to Flak in the Type 41 tank article at all. Do we have the right tank?

 

[Alex Hart]

The autocannon mounted on the tank can fire several different types of ammunition, one of which is the high explosive fragmentation (or colloquially Flak) type.

 

[Toshiro]

Hmm...on one hand, the flak ammo is listed as being Tier 5 while the Mindy itself is Tier 4. On the other, I'm not sure if Tier 5 is considered a direct dead-on hit with it exploding in the enemy's face, or just the typical "series of random hits". With its barrier tanking most of the damage though, the Mindy could survive the flak either way and close in as long as other weapons don't hit it.

 

[Alex Hart]

It was designed to defeat the kind of power armor threats that Yamatai would be facing, and that type of round is designed to saturate its effective radius with shrapnel. DRv3 works on a 'lucky hit' basis, but it'd only ever take one lucky shot to bring down the barrier and then another to total your Mindy. Trying to just 'tank' the hits through luck is a bad idea.

Frankly though, we may be going beyond the bounds of this thread at this point, but my intention is just to make sure the dangers of engaging targets like these, which have AOE weaponry, is understood.

 

[Firebrand]

We need an official "Canon" answer. Are conventional MBTs, such as the Bulldog and Maximus, dominant against Power Armor or no?

To clarify, though this is because Official Nepleslian Doctrine (TM) holds that an MBT like the Maximus is capable and more cost effective than a six man squad of power armor and I very much disagree with this for numerous reasons, I want to actually get the opinion of people who've been here longer than me, like Wes or Fred or Raz, and compare them to the opinions of people who are less familiar with the setting than I.

 

[Soban]

A well designed main battle tank is tier 7 at a minimum. I'd be worried if it couldn't quash a mindy with ease.