[nostromo1a1]

I have been a gamer for years. An idea in an on going evolution of cyberpunk gaming. I have seen examples of battle armor, then exoskeletons on TV. Thought about battletech and have seen a type of forest mech on Discovery channel.  With the latest incarnation of Shadowrun the biotech and cybertech, paracritters, and protosapients. Now I have went and put it all together, dragon mechs, or Drakoids.
Take say a Drakon, make its mind a ghost. Modify it's nature like an A.I.  Grow a synthetic body like a Cylon fighter from battlestar galactica (latest version).  Implant this new mind to have an intelligent machine.  The body treated like an animal and cybered up yet a machine with modifications.  Use magic to enchant its claws and such as well as attached weapons. The mind in a synthetic brain integrated with computer hardware. Give it it's awakened powers for using magic and the protosapients abilities too.
Takes a little work to think through in the details but it can be like a land - air mech in battletech that's a quad type mech. 
Takes some writing and combing the books but it has turned out to be Thelma über cool toy in the game for a merc unit and showcased in Desert Wars. 

[CanRay]

IIRC, Ares has a mech in this year's Desert Wars.  Everyone says it won't work but will be a great marketing gimmick.

I see it as the first step to BattleRun. 

[nostromo1a1]

I also have went down the road of ancient aliens to explain dragons.  Two different factions, one became gods, the other became the dragons.  Along with this is the illuminati, neo gods( the rich using available tech to make themselves godly, breaking the shadowrun taboo of the discovery to use genetics to get magic.  Teleportation was added as well for the gods to appear and disappear. 

[WellSpokenRunner]

IIRC, Ares has a mech in this year's Desert Wars.  Everyone says it won't work but will be a great marketing gimmick.

I see it as the first step to BattleRun. 

They should have made the Evo CEO Alexander Kerensky.   

[CitizenJoe]

I just have a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how a mech would be superior to pretty much any other vehicular platform.

[Demerzel]

I just have a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how a mech would be superior to pretty much any other vehicular platform.

It would be cooler.

[CitizenJoe]

If you mean cooler as in "Will draw fire from everyone else, thus revealing their locations" then I agree with you.

[Mirikon]

Well, there are pros and cons to heavy combat mechs.

Pros:
Walking mode allows you to get around terrain other vehicles would never be able to handle.
Allows for greater mobility (why do you need a turret, when you can simply turn your body and use that arm cannon?)

Cons:
See Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.

[CanRay]

Walking allows better mobility (There's a reason for "Boots on the ground" after all), but the height of most fictional mechs are just insane for combat.

If they were more like power armour, even the size of The Iron Monger from Iron Man, they'd be more effective.  That's not much taller than some tanks, with better mobility but less armour or firepower.

[nostromo1a1]

In my case the vehicle in the game is like a dragon in appearance and can permit a pilot to use magic during combat like the "best ever" supplement. If some other bangs and whistles are added it becomes the coolest toy on the battlefield.  I primarily wanted to use battletech to resolve combat.

[KommissarK]

I remember I once had a SK strike team use what was effectively a mech that looked exactly like the Lyran Allaince's Fenrir power armour.

Had a panther assault cannon, 2 MMGs, and a rocket launcher. Pretty strong stats for a vehicle its size (15 armour, 10 body, +3 handling on a vehicle only slightly larger than a sedan).

Really their legs and small size was helpful in that it allowed them to make an assault against a compound in the middle of the woods without being spotted on the roads (the signature masking and chameleon coating also helped, but that's what you get with a 1.6M nuyen piece of military hardware).

Fortunately for my party at the time, they managed to finagle their way out of any sort of encounter, instead using them to actually take out the NPC for which a player had the Enemy quality.

[SeriousOne338]

Not in this edition of the game but back in the good old days:

Armored JIM Suit, diving Exoskeleton, its armored you can walk around in them and mount weapons on it. See cyber Pirates page: 173

[KarmaInferno]

Yeah, the JIM suit was the center of many a munchkin armor build.

This was of course because the rules failed to note that the suit's mobility is dependent on being in water, and that on land it should be about as helpless as a turtle on it's back.



-k