One suggestion I’ve seen numerous times here is power lifter suits like in Aliens. They’d sit somewhere between power armor and vehicles. I’m not sure how they’d be balanced, or how to fit them into canon. We already have the Industrial Cyborg profession, so there is some existing related things exist. Anyway, I just figured I’d make a central brainstorming topic since I’ve seen it mentioned a few times.
My thoughts would be this : the mechs would be like any other vehicle, but it would have mostly unique parts. Bi-pedal movement that doesn’t get stuck on shrubs/non-wall-obstacles, assault-parts like missile launchers and laser beams, a nuclear power source, some other things like infrared radar, radio and night vision. To run this mech would need a special bionic implant/helmet, perhaps a cooling vest as the interior of the mech would be super warm.
No idea if it fits in the lore or not! But I would start with bi-pedal movement that is unimpeded by minor obstacles.
Personally I’d like to see it taken a step further.
Rather than have multiple different types of suits, why not have them customizable, like vehicles? Hell, why not just use the current vehicle setup and make it a 1-tile, self-contained vehicle?
As in:
Start with a chassis. You can build a chassis out of various frames depending on the initial type you want:
Heavy duty frame: Reinforced Chassis
Light-weight frame: Scout Chassis
Steel frame: Normal Chassis
etc
Then, depending on the frame, you can install various parts. Have a “slot” for each body part, maybe, and install them with the corresponding frame–
Head, Torso, Arms, Legs
Universal parts:
Armor plating (exactly as per vehicle plating)
Reinforced Hydraulics (improves lifting/carrying capacity per part it’s installed on)
Head items:
Integrated NVG
Integrated targetting scanner
etc
Arms items:
Any weapon (energy weapons require UPS/power source)
Toolbox/integrated toolset
Acetylene Torch (acts like both a welder and an industrial flamethrower)
Hydraulic Ram
Torso:
Fusion reactor
Storage chamber
etc etc
Legs:
Rocket pods
Flotation pods
And so on.
Yeah lets build mechs >:D
Sounds awesome! I want this.
I propose something similar to the vehicle system, but (mostly) incompatible with vehicle parts. You wouldn’t be able to install road rollers on a mech, but you could probably install headlights. Similarly, you wouldn’t be able to install mech legs on a car.
Why wouldn’t we be able to install mech legs on a car? That sounds awesome!
[quote=“Abbysynth, post:3, topic:7685”]Personally I’d like to see it taken a step further.
Rather than have multiple different types of suits, why not have them customizable, like vehicles? Hell, why not just use the current vehicle setup and make it a 1-tile, self-contained vehicle?
As in:
Start with a chassis. You can build a chassis out of various frames depending on the initial type you want:
Heavy duty frame: Reinforced Chassis
Light-weight frame: Scout Chassis
Steel frame: Normal Chassis
etc
Then, depending on the frame, you can install various parts. Have a “slot” for each body part, maybe, and install them with the corresponding frame–
Head, Torso, Arms, Legs
Universal parts:
Armor plating (exactly as per vehicle plating)
Reinforced Hydraulics (improves lifting/carrying capacity per part it’s installed on)
Head items:
Integrated NVG
Integrated targetting scanner
etc
Arms items:
Any weapon (energy weapons require UPS/power source)
Toolbox/integrated toolset
Acetylene Torch (acts like both a welder and an industrial flamethrower)
Hydraulic Ram
Torso:
Fusion reactor
Storage chamber
etc etc
Legs:
Rocket pods
Flotation pods
And so on.[/quote]
I was planning on making a mech mod exactly like this a while back, but I’m nowhere near experienced enough to code something that big into the game.
You know, the problem with mechs (and helicopters, and planes, and tanks) is that its pretty much impossible to display them satisfactorily in ASCII, especially so if you have a 2d world.
I guess that then you could just make them single tile, but if thats the case we may as well invent power armor with lots of fancy gadgets