When you wanna Mecha mess, Mecha good choice.

[Flangepart]

I finaly got a tape of the Patlabor T.V. shows. Subbed, not Dubbed.
....Sooooooo.... i got to thinkin. What are your favorite Mechs?
....My top three anime mecha...
> The VF Series Veritechs from Macross.
> The AV-98 series from Patlabor.
> and the Machines from Pilot Candidate. ( Hate the show, love the designs)
....Live action/cgi...
>The American Mecha from Robot Jox.(The Russki is a close second)
>The Robot "Flop" from Robocop....poor, dumb thing....
>And the Bronze Giant from "Jason and the Argonauts" Yeah, thats debatable, but hey,it am all fantasy anyhoo!
....Oh...and the mechs from that sat. Morn show...three kids lost in space, wandering from planet to planet...had some cool machines with the ship....remember?
....And one last thing....anyone else wonder why Star Fleet or B-5 diden't have Mechs? Imagin a Star Fleet Mech. With shields, Phasers and Photons, it would kick serious Arse! Well,shoot,... they were too whimpy to have Marines...Hey, i can dream.......
.....BTW, ....what Clan did you play in Battletech, Andrew..or should i say..."Fenris?"

[Andrew]

"What Clan did you play in Battletech, Andrew"

Actually I played a mercenary group.  The real reason was custom mechs.  Had a 65 ton beast with two PPCs and medium lasers that could beat a Battlemaster with no problem.  It's all about being able to fire at cyclic rate and armor...

Haven't played much since the new Clans rules.  Warhammer (classic and 40k) eat up most of the time I have for stuff like that.

I have to vote for the original Macross movie - also known as "Clash of the Bionoids" for cool mecha.  For live action, "Robot Jox" is one of the best.  Maybe it is about time that a good live action (stop motion or else really good CGI) mecha combat movie came out.

[John]

>....Sooooooo.... i got to thinkin. What are your favorite Mechs?

-The original Russian model from Robot Jox (before it was remodelled for the final fight)
-ED-209
-The DV8 from Crash and Burn (also used in Robot Wars)
-The Invid Shock Trooper
-The Veritechs

>....Oh...and the mechs from that sat. Morn show...three kids lost in space,
>wandering from planet to planet...had some cool machines with the
>ship....remember?

 Hypernauts. They made a few of the episodes into a 'movie'. I liked that show.

>....And one last thing....anyone else wonder why Star Fleet or B-5 diden't have
>Mechs? Imagin a Star Fleet Mech. With shields, Phasers and Photons, it would
>kick serious Arse! Well,shoot,... they were too whimpy to have Marines...Hey, i
>can dream.......

They have a couple on Andromeda, although they've only been used a couple of times.

[Flangepart]

Ah ha! Almost had ya, Andrew. Never played a game, but read the tech manuls and such. Impressive....most impressive.
....Hypernauts! Thats it. Thanks, John. Liked the mechs in Andromeda, though i only saw them once.
....Yeah. A Battletech movie could be good. You agreed with me once before, Andrew, about keeping a B-tech story at Lance(Squad) level. The histories and political backstabbing of that universe would be a bear to expect a regular audience to keep up with. I think stop motion, with cgi to fine tune the motions and accumulated battle damage would work.

[Pokethulhu]

I would love seeing a live action mecha movie, especially a live action Battletech movie.

Some people are apparently working on an animated W40K movie. Progress seems to be slow, though. You can have a look at www.exile-films.com



A 65 ton battlemech with two PPCs and medium lasers ?
Sounds like a good mix.
But didn't it run hot pretty fast ?

[Andrew]

I tried to find the notebook, but could not.  So, with some help from my compendium, here is what I think it looked like:

65 Tons

Engine: 260 (13.5 tons)
Internal: 6.5 tons
Armor: 208 (13 tons)
Heat Sinks: 23 (13 tons after first 10 for engine)

Location Int - Armor
H:          3 - 9
CT:        21 - 31/10
Torsos:    15 - 21/9
Arms:      10 - 20
Legs:       15 - 29

PPC - RT
PPC - LT
Medium Laser - H
Medium Laser - CT
Medium Laser - CT
Medium Laser - RT
Medium Laser - LT

The beauty of the design was that it could fire both PPCs and run and not build up heat.  Even at medium ranges, when the lasers came into play, it could dish and dish without big heat worries.  Heavy armor and no ammo to explode - good stuff even when it starts getting pounded.  That is why the weapons are not on the arms.  You sacrifice firing arc, but they stay effective longer, even when taking hits.

I am going to check out what it would look like with Clan technology when I have 15 spare minutes.  Double heatsinks and some more speed would make it pretty lethal.

[Pokethulhu]

With a good helping of Clan-tech or even the IS knockoffs, this thing would really be a killer.

ER-PPCs, ER-Med-Lasers, PULSE-Lasers, Double-Heatsinks, and XL-Plant or ferro-fibrous armor perhaps....
That's what I always enjoyed about playing BT.
Lots and lots of designs to take out for a little battle-testing.

Sadly, this alone wouldn't make a good movie.

But I remembered reading about a BT animated series. Anybody seen it?

[Flangepart]

....I caught one episode. Used the basic story line, and cgi for the mechs when seen by sensors. But, the diologue and acting was typical "Big voice/bold pronouncments" saturday morning school. Also, no damage accumulating on the mechs that took hits.
....A simple thing, but hit damage would be right. I've seen photos of tanks from WW2. A Tiger with gouges and partial penitrations all over it, till one shot from a Russian T-34 finaly got it. Beat ups, Burn outs and twisted plate. That would happen in real life. But, they would have to keep track of damage effects for each machine, so they ignore it, as "Too much trouble" . so long, Verisimilitude