The GiantitpAnime Fans' Visual Novel (now planning settings and routes)

[13_CBS]

On naming: would it be too obvious if we used Lovecraftian naming conventions for the evil empire?

On FTL: I think it would make our setting somewhat unique (again, relative to western sci-fi) if we stick with the good guys inhabiting only the solar system. Which isn't to say that there is absolutely no FTL travel or anything, just that the good guys should stick to the solar system.

The gates idea seems really interesting: we could combine it with my "evil doers from ALPHA CENTAURI" idea to explain how the evil cultist empire got into the solar system when they last left using sublight drives and cryogenic stasis.

...

...if we want to be REALLY crazy, we could toss in hints about the evil cultist empire being the lost colonists from Planet, returning to conquer earth for CAPITALISM/SCIENCE/GOD/THE ECOSYSTEM/CHAIRMAN YANG/*insert military ideal here*.

On forms of government: I've already labeled the current vehicles as INS or ITP (Imperial Naval Service, Imperial Tactical PLANT), so obviously the good guys are members of an Empire--how benevolent and (un)corrupt this empire is depends on the route. We can, of course, go for another system of government if you guys want to. The bad guys are also an empire...with Eldritch Horror(s) as their emperor(s).

I like the word "plasm". It's squishy and biological, but shapeless and ominous. It makes me think of shoggoths. Maybe we found this goop somewhere (near the gates?) and aren't sure what it does, but it seems to make various things go in interesting ways.

Here's an idea...what if Dominic were the fellow who "discovered" this plasm substance, and revolutionized human technology as we know it? (We're not ripping Mass Effect off or anything, no sir.) It'd make sense: he might have forseen the coming of the cultist empire from Alpha Centauri, and decided to even the playing field by giving the solar system empire Plasm as well.

In fact, it is a psychic symbiont or the concentrated residue of thought or something and it pretty much does magic according to what you will at it. And when you use it enough, it opens you up to... influences.

Hmm...what if it had to do something with the Eldritch Horrors? Say...like their "psychic essence" or something, mined from the corpses of horrors long dead, or even residue left behind by said creatures for whatever purposes. Submerging someone within the substance mentally and emotionally connects that person to all other sentient creatures also submerged in the same body of the substance. The neural matrix still does most of the heavy lifting, but further connecting the Primary Pilot to the Secondary Pilots facilitates overall manipulation of the PLANT, and the more "in tune" all the Pilots are, the better the PLANT responds to commands.

The Primary Pilots' Anima are, in fact, three components: the Pilot's specific mindset or emotional state reacting with Plasm combined with a third unknown mental/psychic factor.

As it turns out, Plasm is also a handy fuel source. When it reacts with a mixture of other chemicals, it creates an amount of energy equal to or surpassing practical anti-matter sources. This is what powers almost all military crafts' weapon, engine, life, and artificial gravity systems, and most civilian vehicles also use Plasm as a fuel source. It is somewhat safe to use as neither Plasm nor the chemical mix are particularly volatile when separated (though highly kinetic accidents can result in a catastrophic amount of Plasm and reactant chemicals mixing).*

*: You'll notice that our LCL is Plasm, and that Plasm can get pretty dangerous if the reactant chemicals get mixed in. We could use this as a source of drama, where someone's PLANT is so badly damaged that they have a "Situation 1 Plasma-Chemical Leak" that the PLANT must be evacuated lest the whole thing get vaporized in a huge explosion--and in Siela's route, it's up to Furi to do some hotblooded yelling to keep the Secondary Pilots from fleeing, and to go on and kick Roag's ass with the ITP Giant's crew's lives on the line.

[Lord of Rapture]

Here's an idea...what if Dominic were the fellow who "discovered" this plasm substance, and revolutionized human technology as we know it? (We're not ripping Mass Effect off or anything, no sir.) It'd make sense: he might have forseen the coming of the cultist empire from Alpha Centauri, and decided to even the playing field by giving the solar system empire Plasm as well.

What? You mean like taking a side?

Dominic doesn't care about the survival of the human race other than as a player. He's like Xykon: perpetually bored, and wanting conflict, lots of it, as a means of entertainment.

This has definitely nothing to do with being an eldritch horror who gains more power from chaos and destruction. At all. Seriously.

Other than that, great work on the setting and mecha. It's definitely far more intricate and complex than anything I could ever think up.

Man, I feel kinda useless right now.

[Prime32]

Well, I could see Dominic being a guy who was exposed to massive quantities of concentrated plasm and Went Mad From the Revelation...

Going back to the gate thing - if they are regions of space which need to be "activated" then the villains might have access to generators which can create such regions temporarily (allowing specialised mechs to teleport around in combat or a scout ship in Earth orbit to open a path for the invading armada)

[13_CBS]

What? You mean like taking a side?

Nope, I mean...

Dominic doesn't care about the survival of the human race other than as a player. He's like Xykon: perpetually bored, and wanting conflict, lots of it, as a means of entertainment.

...that he gives humanity the knowledge of Plasms because he knows that, without it, there will be a 2 day war where the good guys spend getting their arses handed to them by vastly superior technology and then become brutally oppressed by a stagnant empire, where there's no real conflict for centuries.

But WITH Plasm, humanity has a good fighting chance, and so the war that inevitably results stretches on for years, decades even.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Here's an idea.

Alpha Centuri is 4.37 light years from the sun. So you could get there in 5-6 years if your ships can survive traveling at light speed without excelerating that quickly.

So human colonists go out on an 8 year mission to Alpha Centuri with plans to send word back via lightspeed communication, so nobody will have any word from them for 12 years. However when they reach Alpha Centuri they encounter a star gate that leads to the elder god's star empire as well as a fleet of abandoned lightspeed capable ships. They shock everyone in the solar system by re-appearing after only being away for 12 years and with an invasion fleet.

Then you make their objective to build a warp gate inside our solar system so that the elder gods will be able to enter it. Sort of like a space opera version of demon summoning. Which may just be me ripping off stuff I read on Wikipedia about later seasons of Star Gate. Charon and Pluto are pretty far out in the solar system and gravitationally locked into them, so maybe the gate could be built between them. That would make the gate 19 570 km wide but we want everything big right?

Maybe the alpha-centuri colonists claim to only want the warp gate so they can travel between sol and alpha-centuri quicker and the warp gate is almost finished before the war starts and their plans are revealed. Maybe only a small percentage of the bad guys are aware that the demons exist and most of them have the same ammount of information as the earthlings.

Perhaps the colonists were sent out 500+ years ago and have a fully developed society. Depends when you want the story to be set.

[Prime32]

Here's an idea.

Alpha Centuri is 4.37 light years from the sun. So you could get there in 5-6 years if your ships can survive traveling at light speed without excelerating that quickly.

So human colonists go out on an 8 year mission to Alpha Centuri with plans to send word back via lightspeed communication, so nobody will have any word from them for 12 years. However when they reach Alpha Centuri they encounter a star gate that leads to the elder god's star empire as well as a fleet of abandoned lightspeed capable ships. They shock everyone in the solar system by re-appearing after only being away for 12 years and with an invasion fleet.

Then you make their objective to build a warp gate inside our solar system so that the elder gods will be able to enter it. Sort of like a space opera version of demon summoning. Which may just be me ripping off stuff I read on Wikipedia about later seasons of Star Gate. Charon and Pluto are pretty far out in the solar system and gravitationally locked into them, so maybe the gate could be built between them. That would make the gate 19 570 km wide but we want everything big right?

Maybe the alpha-centuri colonists claim to only want the warp gate so they can travel between sol and alpha-centuri quicker and the warp gate is almost finished before the war starts and their plans are revealed. Maybe only a small percentage of the bad guys are aware that the demons exist and most of them have the same ammount of information as the earthlings.

Perhaps the colonists were sent out 500+ years ago and have a fully developed society. Depends when you want the story to be set.

Possibly some of the returning colonists are mistaken for aliens...

Also, after watching some Youtube videos I have now decided that Ila's PLANT will be based on the Valzacard.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Valzacard: almost as ridiculous as our original concept.

[13_CBS]

I would post more info here, but alas I'm busy tonight. Sorry.

Tomorrow, I'll post info on the cultist empire's two most premiered PLANTs: Roag's and Ila's (Rogue and Prime, feel free to name them as you wish, unless you want me to do it instead).

[Prime32]

Tomorrow, I'll post info on the cultist empire's two most premiered PLANTs: Roag's and Ila's (Rogue and Prime, feel free to name them as you wish, unless you want me to do it instead).

I have designs for two sets of PLANTs which have the ability to combine (one will be Nerdo's naturally). They are in my mind! PLANT 1 is composed of about 9 ships (excluding the weapon), and PLANT 2 has fewer.

Also, do you mind if I have some users from BG as my secondary pilots?

[13_CBS]

I have designs for two sets of PLANTs which have the ability to combine (one will be Nerdos' naturally). They are in my mind! PLANT 1 is composed of about 9 ships, and PLANT 2 has fewer.

Wait...as in, PLANTs that can combine with other plants to make a bigger PLANT?

Also, do you mind if I have some users from BG as my secondary pilots?

Go right ahead!


Anyhow, some ideas for Roag's robot, which I've decided as not being a PLANT:

OOS (The Old Ones' Service) Somnior Dirus ("Dread Dreamer"): Ulorath-Class HERALD (Heavy Extrasolar Rylathium Armored Large Dreadnought)

Unlike Imperial Tactical PLANTs, Old Ones' Service HERALDs are made up of only one vehicle, and are on average 2/3 of the size of their Imperial counterparts. OOS HERALDs are thus more like very large BTSs. HERALDs are still operated by dozens of crewmen, but since their roles are not as crucial, the combat prowess of a HERALD is much more reliant on the pilot's individual skills.

A HERALD's pilot still interfaces with his vehicle the way a PLANT's Primary Pilot does: however, while a Primary Pilot's brain is connected to a neural matrix and also to the minds of Secondary Pilots via Plasm, a HERALD's pilot connects directly with the vehicle through some sort of intermediary, referred to by Imperials as "Prophets". The Prophet functions essentially as a large number of Secondary Pilots combined into one thing--HERALD pilots still communicate with it, and they can improve their vehicle's performance by entering their Anima state. In short, a HERALD pilot and his Prophet are the equivalent of Primary Pilots and Secondary Pilots, respectively.

As the name suggests, HERALDs are armored with a mysterious alloy known as Rylatium. Attempts to reverse-engineer the material have proved to be catastrophic, as fragments of Rylathium armor tend to detonate under curious conditions--studying a piece of Rylathium is dangerous, as is trying to melt it down or sell it. This strange property has created urban legends about how Rylathium is "alive" and contains the sentient essences of eldritch beings, but there has been no evidence of such a thing being true. Judging from the analysis of combat videos, Rylathium appears to be lighter, less dense, and stronger than any armor-grade material known to the Empire. Almost all OOS vehicles use Rylathium armor.

OOS fleets tend to be less numerous than their Imperial counterparts: for example, while the 8th "Endless" Fleet of the Imperial Navy consists of hundreds of vehicles that form up to five PLANTs, Admiral Roag's 7th is made up of only a dozen, all of which are HERALDs--the 7th fleet does not bother with "lesser" vehicles, and uses only these powerful vessels to destroy the Empire.

HERALDs come in all shapes and sizes. The Ulorath-Class Somnior Dirus, for example, is humanoid, and has two "arms" and two "legs", but the limbs are positioned in such a way that the entire HERALD does not quite look human. Other HERALDs are shaped differently. Ila's HERALD is very humanoid, looking positively human (symbolism!); some HERALDs look like a large sphere with 5 thick tentacle-like appendages "hanging" from the bottom; others look like a humanoid upper torso with only arms. All of them are painted glossy black, with red highlights and glyphs decorating the hull.

Since they don't have to transform, HERALDs are quicker to deploy than PLANTs. However, despite the HERALDs' technologically superior armor, interface technology, and speed, their weapons are not quite up to par with the Empire's. HERALD weapon systems are similar to that of the Imperial Navy: energy weapons, projectile weapons, and missiles for various jobs and purposes. However, HERALDs rarely sport weapons on the caliber of the Imperial Navy's, and no known HERALD sports the superweapons that PLANTs are known for. Thus, HERALDs frequently have to rely on attrition, superior armor, numbers, and speed to outfight and outlast PLANTs.


Speaking of Superweapons:

While in PLANT mode, Task Force Root of Spring's Brionac-Class INS Disposition transforms into a spear. In times of emergency, the INS Kriss can temporarily triple its energy output to engage the Disposition's superweapon: a bright, lancing beam of energy that melts through even Rylathium armor in an instant. This is officially called a "Gungnir Strike".

[Prime32]

Wait...as in, PLANTs that can combine with other plants to make a bigger PLANT?

Well, Nerdo said he wanted to be Sandman. If the other characters are running Sol Gravion then that means...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH3qyH8dhNg&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhQWAWEeyps&fmt=18

[hanzo66]

When people say Gravion, I keep thinking of Aquarion, the series where activating your mecha involves a whole lotta Ho Yay and suggestive... Gestures.

[Tengu_temp]

Well, both are homages to old super robot shows, and both are included for the first time in SRW Z.

[KnightDisciple]

I like the HERALD idea. Well-done.

The idea for the Root of Spring's superweapon brings up a point.

If the Giant uses a spear, what should the rest of us use?

[hanzo66]

I should also note that in discussions of Mecha series I am usually the one left out of the loop.

[13_CBS]

^ At least you've seen SOME huge mecha series. I've seen, like, 1.

[hanzo66]

SOME, meaning approximately 2 (Gurren Lagann and Code Geass). Wait, 4 actually for Kannazuki no Miko and maybe Megas XLR.

Since I simply don't care enough for the genre to, I don't really have any interest in watching old series nor any of the Gundam series.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I will never get tired of the random cut to Sandman's starry-eyed maid fangirls.

Or people blowing up Shinn.

[Lord of Rapture]

I bow in gratitude for you, hanzo66. It means I'm not the only weirdo around here.

Anyways, great job on the mechs, guys. I'll wait and see if I can contribute any more later on.

[horngeek]

Huh. I'd love to participate in this in some way...

[Fri]

I'm thinking about the main character's appearance in this story, and can't think of a good one (mainly because all of this is so weird awesome)

Hm, unassuming appearance, messed up hair, all rather standard vn protagonist. Should he wear glasses or not (I do wear them, but it's up to you)? Gah, I'll just leave it to you to make his appearance not boring then. HE also should have some psychological problem. Maybe anxiety disorder or depression? And maybe you don't know this, but I'm a failing art/design student in RL. Dunno how to fit that in this.

Anyway, great job man. I can't give anything constructive, that's why I'm rather silent all this time.

edit: scratch the psychological problem. I forgot that all the pilot already got them anyway.

[kamikasei]

He should wear glasses, so that at dramatic moments he can take them off. (Mystic Eyes are optional.)

[Prime32]

He should wear glasses, so that at dramatic moments he can take them off. (Mystic Eyes are optional.)

+1. He could also take them off permanently after reaching a certain critical mass of hot blood (in the first route this happens pretty early, in the last route it never happens).

[Dragonus45]

Wow this whole thread slipped right by me, is there any room for some more creative help or are there enough cooks in the kitchen. If there is room i have a rather long list of giant mecha credentials, mainly that i've watched just about every GM anime or manga i could touch and all.

[Nerd-o-rama]

+1. He could also take them off permanently after reaching a certain critical mass of hot blood (in the first route this happens pretty early, in the last route it never happens).

Hey, you can be hotblooded and wear glasses. Although I can't think of any instance except late-OGs Latooni where that's true and the glasses weren't at least tinted in not sunglasses...

[Prime32]

Hey, you can be hotblooded and wear glasses. Although I can't think of any instance except late-OGs Latooni where that's true and the glasses weren't at least tinted in not sunglasses...

I was thinking of Daniel Jackson. Okay, he's not exactly what you'd call hot-blooded, but he's certainly more capable in later seasons when he stops wearing them.

Ah, here we go:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GlassesPull
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...GlassesComeOff (lol at Aizen!Velma)

[hanzo66]

I bow in gratitude for you, hanzo66. It means I'm not the only weirdo around here.

Anyways, great job on the mechs, guys. I'll wait and see if I can contribute any more later on.

Thank you. I don't hate the Mecha Genre, I just don't care enough to want to want to try and watch stuff like Gao Gai Gar and see a manly version of Dean Venture.


I want to contribute a bit more, but unfortunately I'm also less well-read on Lovecraft or physics than others it seems.

[13_CBS]

I want to contribute a bit more, but unfortunately I'm also less well-read on Lovecraft or physics than others it seems.

Don't worry about it and just post ideas!

Consider the following:

1) I don't watch super robot shows: I don't even watch all that mcuh anime.

2) I'm really no good at physics. At all. I like sci-fi, but that's about it.

3) I've never, ever read anything by Lovecraft.

And despite all that...well, I'd rather not toot my own horn, but I did start the whole idea of making this VN and everything.

Edit: Okay, in order to make this post actually relevant...

Superweapons:
The Imperial Navy has long since been plagued by OOS HERALDs. Their ships' weapons work well enough on the lesser of the Rylathium-armored vehicles, but the heavier ones present difficulties. Heavy Rylathium plating is resistant against even heavy MRPC weapons, the typical response to hull armor--instead, Rylathium is somewhat less resistant against directed energy weapons. However, this is not all that much of a weakness aganst conventional weapons since the amount of power required to power energy weapons that can easily punch through Rylathium is too much to be easily practical.

Thus, necessity became the mother of the invention of PLANTs. The Poly-constituent Large Android--Naval Type had its origins in experimental weapon designs involving colossal space-faring reactors and equally huge energy weapons, and prototype designs were essentially two vehicles; one carrying the reactor and the other carrying the weapon, capable of connecting to assemble the superweapon and disassembling to keep themselves more maneuverable and more capable of defending themselves. More was added to this initial prototype: assault BTSs for added striking power, command frigates for improved targeting and tactics, Defensive BTSs to free up shield systems from the superweapon's main reactor, etc., until the completed poly-constituent vehicle had too many parts and pilots to coordinate easily. At the same time, military brass determined that the support craft were too valuable to simply toss aside. Advances in the fields of neurology and cyberneurology (the study of how human brains interact with computer systems) provided an answer: the neural matrix system.

Even the neural matrix system, which wired a PLANT's many constituent vehicles directly to the Primary Pilot, was not quite enough, however. Nonetheless, the Imperial Navy performed many experiments and poured great amounts of money into research, all to improve the PLANTs and their pilots' effectiveness. Among these experiments were cutting-edge cybernetic implants, which were only stopped just a couple of years after the discovery of Plasm--many of these former experimental pilots were either quietly retired or just as quietly reinserted back into the Navy.

Once Plasm was discovered, and the Anima phenomenon observed, the Imperial Navy finally had a reliable way of protecting the reactor components and weapon components of its superweapons.


Current superweapons of the 8th "Endless" Fleet are as follows:

ITP Giant: INS Disposition and INS Kriss, forming the Gungnir Strike--a powerful beam of energy that melts through even the thickest Rylathium plaes within seconds. The INS Disposition extends and flattens into the shape of a spear, and can overload the DAPS system around the "spearhead" section of its hull to create a a melee weapon for the Giant that can shred through unshielded hulls, in case the pilot wishes to conserve energy. It is well suited for destroying heavily armored targets from range.

ITP Titan: INS Dragonus¹ and INS Horne², forming the Storm Herald--unlike most other superweapons, the Storm Herald is a massive missile-tube system that shoots up to 9000 super-heavy long range missiles in ten seconds. Thus, it is excellent for bombarding enemy forces from long range. It looks very much like a large bundle of straws, and due to its sheer size it is unwieldy and difficult to use in close combat.

ITP Von Lohengramm: INS Mikael³ and INS Occisor⁴, forming the Lightning God--this energy weapon, shaped like a gauntlet that fits around the PLANT's right arm and fist, is designed to damage large numbers of lighter enemy vehicles, and can strike with pinpoint accuracy up to 100 targets almost simultaneously. It can be turned on heavier opponents if necessary, but it is not the most efficient weapon at destroying heavily armored opponents. Unlike the other sueprweapons, the Lightning God can be fired multiple times without having to recharge or reload.

ITP Colossus: INS Zuut⁵ and INS Aster⁶, forming the Eternal Silence--this weapon is easily the least subtle and by far the most destructive superweapon in the Imperial Navy's arsenal. When high command wants something destroyed permanently, it orders the use of the Eternal Silence. It is simply an incredibly huge plasma beam cannon that not only has an unheard-of power output but also can be fired for a long period of time, allowing the user to simply trace an area of space with the weapon to vaporize everything in it. Some Imperial Navy researchers and anti-military demonstrators have criticized the overly destructive power of the weapon, claiming its usage on a planet would render it uninhabitable. Imperial Navy officials have continuously assured that it will never consider using the Eternal Silence on civilians to be an option.

ITP Reaver: INS Oracle⁷ and INS Huntress⁸, forming the curiously named Daikaken (大火剣). Despite its name, the sword is not actually "flaming": it is merely the unstable plasma contained by energy fields that flicker and waver like flames. It is a better close-combat weapon than even the Gungnir Strike, since, as the blade is entirely made up of plasma, it cannot be stopped by DAPSs, but it has no ranged capabilities. Guess what kind of sword the Daikaken looks like.

¹Dragonus45
²Horngeek
³Mikej
⁴Draco_Slayer (Occisor = Slayer in Latin)
⁵Zoot
⁶*.*.*.*
^{7, 8}Oracle Hunter

[13_CBS]

Alright, the OP has finally run out of space for more stuff, so I'm posting various info here.

Plasm

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Plasm is a mysterious substance found on random planets throughout the galaxy. It is normally found as a highly viscous, almost-clear blue liquid. Submerging someone within the substance mentally and emotionally connects that person to all other sentient creatures also submerged in the same body of the substance. The neural matrix still does most of the heavy lifting, but further connecting the Primary Pilot to the Secondary Pilots facilitates overall manipulation of the PLANT, and the more "in tune" all the Pilots are, the better the PLANT responds to commands.

The Primary Pilots' Anima are, in fact, three components: the Pilot's specific mindset or emotional state reacting with Plasm combined with a third unknown mental/psychic factor.

As it turns out, Plasm is also a handy fuel source. When it reacts with a mixture of other chemicals, it creates an amount of energy equal to or surpassing practical anti-matter sources. This is what powers almost all military crafts' weapon, engine, life, and artificial gravity systems, and most civilian vehicles also use Plasm as a fuel source. It is somewhat safe to use as neither Plasm nor the chemical mix are particularly volatile when separated (though highly kinetic accidents can result in a catastrophic amount of Plasm and reactant chemicals mixing).*

*: You'll notice that our LCL is Plasm, and that Plasm can get pretty dangerous if the reactant chemicals get mixed in. We could use this as a source of drama, where someone's PLANT is so badly damaged that they have a "Situation 1 Plasma-Chemical Leak" that the PLANT must be evacuated lest the whole thing get vaporized in a huge explosion--and in Siela's route, it's up to Furi to do some hotblooded yelling to keep the Secondary Pilots from fleeing, and to go on and kick Roag's ass with the ITP Giant's crew's lives on the line.

[13_CBS]

Vehicle Info (Updated 9/26/09)

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P.L.A.N.T.s

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At the moment, our main giant robot will be called:

The ITP Firbolg-Class Giant

*fanfare*

About the acronyms...

ITP = Imperial Tactical P.L.A.N.T.
P.L.A.N.T. = Poly-constituent Large Android—Naval Type

And our Mech By Any Other Name will be kept simple: Bipedal Tactical Suit, or BTS.

As mentioned, the entire body of the Giant (NOT Rich Burlew!) is made up of smaller, constituent vehicles. Most of them are BTSs, while the head and the torso are more conventional military vehicles. Thus, each PLANT is essentially a task force that can combine into a large mecha when heavy firepower is necessary, or separate into dozens of smaller constituent vehicles when necessary.

The ITP Giant is made up of the following vessels:

Head + neck

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1 vehicle, the Jude Class command frigate, INS (Imperial Naval Service) Echo Wind. A decent-sized warship equipped with sensors, communication equipment, the best computer hardware available in order to facilitate coordination, and a large viewport for overseeing the battle. Nerdo's character, Admiral Neridia Oa Rama, gives orders from this command frigate, so yes, Fri, Nerd-o-Rama does indeed form the head (or, at least, his character does). The frigate is, of course, named after our forum's Echowinds.

Armament:
1 Trebuchet Heavy Plasma Projector
2 Crossbow Medium MRPC-T (Magnetic-Rail Projectile Cannon-Turreted)
4 Longbow Missile Tubes
10 Aegis MRPC-PD (MRPC-Point Defense)

Torso

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1 vehicle, Sanctuary-Class carrier, INS Kato. When not being the torso of the Giant, the Kato serves as the mothership for all of the smaller vehicles, minus the Echo Wind and the Disposition. When it is being the torso of the Giant, it houses the primary pilot's cockpit and a massive neural synchronization matrix that connects the pilot to the rest of the mecha. It's...a pretty big ship, and when it forms the torso of the Giant it collapses its massive hangar bay. Most of the ship's interior is made up of either the hangar bays, the engines, the reactor, or the synchronization matrix. The Kato is, of course, named after our very own Kato from the forums. In PLANT mode, the Kato forms the Giant's torso, shoulders, and thighs.

Armament:
5 Crossbow Medium MRPC-T (Magnetic-Rail Projectile Cannon-Turreted)
10 Longbow Medium Missile Tubes
20 Aegis MRPC-PD (MRPC-Point Defense)

Upper Arm

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5 vehicles for each shoulder, 10 total: Sabreur Class HOBTS (Heavy Ordnance Bipedal Tactical Suits. When the Giant is in fleet mode (that is, when not combined into a giant robot), the Sabreur BTSs serve as bombers.

Armament:
2 Sarissa Medium Torpedo Tubes
2 Scorpion Light Laser

Lower Arm

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1 vehicle for each lower arm, 2 total: Hoplon Class DBTS (Defensive Bipedal Tactical Suits). These are large, bulky, and heavily armored BTSs that provide shielding for other vehicles while in fleet mode, and for the Giant when in PLANT mode. As shielding technology is relatively recent, they require huge generators and large, unwieldy pieces of equipment--too large for even the Kato.

Armament:
4 Scorpion Light Laser

Hands

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5 vehicles for each hand, 10 total: Lancer Class ABTS (Assault Bipedal Tactical Suits). These BTSs serve as the heavy assault vehicles for the fleet: gunships, in essence.

Armament:
4 Scorpion Light Laser
2 Armbrust Light MRPC
2 Shortbow Light Missile Tubes

Hips

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1 vehicle: Ceres Class ECF (Energy Conversion Frigate), the INS Kriss. It is fairly useless while the Giant is in fleet mode, but is the primary source of energy for the Giant in PLANT mode. A large, bulky ship. Named after our forum's Kris Strife.

Armament:
4 Ballista Medium Lasers
2 Crossbow Medium MRPC-T
12 Aegis MRPC-PD

Lower legs

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3 vehicles for each lower leg, 6 total: Archer Class LRSBTS (Long Range Strike BTS). The long-range Macross Missile Massacre mechs, providing heavy long range fire support that Archers often need to deliver their devastating payload.

Armament:
2 Scorpion Light Laser
6 Sagittarius Medium Missile Tubes

Feet

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5 vehicles for each toe, 10 total: Harbinger Class TCBTS (Troop Carrier BTS). There are times when boarding actions are necessary, and that's when the Harbingers come in. Each Harbinger houses a hundred crack assault marines for boarding and capturing enemy vehicles.

2 Scorpion Light Laser
2 Crossbow MRPC-T

Weapon

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1 vehicle, the Brionac Class Strike Cruiser, INS Disposition. It acts as a fast, sleek battleship in fleet mode and as the Giant's primary armament in PLANT mode, transforming into either a colossal silver lance or a large energy cannon. Named after our forum's Dispozition.

Armament:
2 Culverin Super-Heavy Plasma Projector
4 Trebuchet Heavy Plasma Projector
8 Ballista Medium Laser
4 Arbalest Heavy MRPC
4 Sagittarius Medium Missile Tubes
6 Longbow Heavy Missile Tubes
15 Aegis MRPC-PD

As mentioned before, each PLANT is a task force. Going by current US naval rankings, the supreme commander within a naval fleet is an Admiral: Admiral Neridia Oa Rama is stationed aboard the command frigate Echo Wind. When in fleet mode, the Giant is referred to as Task Force Root of Spring.

The other PLANTs belong to their respective Task Forces:

ITP Titan: Task Force Victor
ITP Von Lohengramm: Task Force Akumono
ITP Colossus: Task Force Randon
ITP Reaver: Task Force Kabal

The five Task Forces make up the 8th Fleet.

H.E.R.A.L.D.s

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Heavy Extrasolar Rylathium Armored Large Dreadnoughts

Unlike Imperial Tactical PLANTs, Old Ones' Service HERALDs are made up of only one vehicle, and are on average 2/3 of the size of their Imperial counterparts. OOS HERALDs are thus more like very large BTSs. HERALDs are still operated by dozens of crewmen, but since their roles are not as crucial, the combat prowess of a HERALD is much more reliant on the pilot's individual skills.

A HERALD's pilot still interfaces with his vehicle the way a PLANT's Primary Pilot does: however, while a Primary Pilot's brain is connected to a neural matrix and also to the minds of Secondary Pilots via Plasm, a HERALD's pilot connects directly with the vehicle through some sort of intermediary, referred to by Imperials as "Prophets". The Prophet functions essentially as a large number of Secondary Pilots combined into one thing--HERALD pilots still communicate with it, and they can improve their vehicle's performance by entering their Anima state. In short, a HERALD pilot and his Prophet are the equivalent of Primary Pilots and Secondary Pilots, respectively.

As the name suggests, HERALDs are armored with a mysterious alloy known as Rylatium. Attempts to reverse-engineer the material have proved to be catastrophic, as fragments of Rylathium armor tend to detonate under curious conditions--studying a piece of Rylathium is dangerous, as is trying to melt it down or sell it. This strange property has created urban legends about how Rylathium is "alive" and contains the sentient essences of eldritch beings, but there has been no evidence of such a thing being true. Judging from the analysis of combat videos, Rylathium appears to be lighter, less dense, and stronger than any armor-grade material known to the Empire. Almost all OOS vehicles use Rylathium armor.

OOS fleets tend to be less numerous than their Imperial counterparts: for example, while the 8th "Endless" Fleet of the Imperial Navy consists of hundreds of vehicles that form up to five PLANTs, Admiral Roag's 7th is made up of only a dozen, all of which are HERALDs--the 7th fleet does not bother with "lesser" vehicles, and uses only these powerful vessels to destroy the Empire.

HERALDs come in all shapes and sizes. The Ulorath-Class Somnior Dirus, for example, is humanoid, and has two "arms" and two "legs", but the limbs are positioned in such a way that the entire HERALD does not quite look human. Other HERALDs are shaped differently. Ila's HERALD is very humanoid, looking positively human (symbolism!); some HERALDs look like a large sphere with 5 thick tentacle-like appendages "hanging" from the bottom; others look like a humanoid upper torso with only arms. All of them are painted glossy black, with red highlights and glyphs decorating the hull.

Since they don't have to transform, HERALDs are quicker to deploy than PLANTs. However, despite the HERALDs' technologically superior armor, interface technology, and speed, their weapons are not quite up to par with the Empire's. HERALD weapon systems are similar to that of the Imperial Navy: energy weapons, projectile weapons, and missiles for various jobs and purposes. However, HERALDs rarely sport weapons on the caliber of the Imperial Navy's, and no known HERALD sports the superweapons that PLANTs are known for. Thus, HERALDs frequently have to rely on attrition, superior armor, numbers, and speed to outfight and outlast PLANTs.

HERALDs of note:

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OOS Uruloth-Class MACTATOR INCLVTVS ("Glorius Butcher")
Pilot: Admiral Roag Septiumus of the 7th Fleet

Height: 358 meters (for reference, the current US Navy's Enterprise Aircraft Carrier, the largest naval ship in history, is 342 meters long--the Empire State Building in New York is 443 meters tall)

Armament:
1 RApid Fire Energy Rotary Cannon (RAFERC): arm mounted rotary cannon (that is, gatling gun) designed to deliver a storm of plasma bolts in an instant. A prototype weapon, its primary purpose is to scatter powerful blasts of plasma over a wide area--the plasma bolts are powerful enough so that they can melt and destroy DAPS systems, but doing so over an even wider area to avoid missing DAPS emitters while also providing a level of energy economy. The spray of plasma also has a demoralizing affect on rookie BTS pilots.

1 Spatha-class Particle-Emitter Close-quarters-combat Rotary-saw Armament (PECRA): arm mounted rotary saw, installed horizontally just above the HERALD's "knuckles" (think "chainfist" from WH40k). Like the Gladius-Class PECCA, the Spatha-Class PECRA's blades are covered in an energy field in order to penetrate DAPSs. In addition, above the rotary blade are two Apostate-Class Medium Coilguns for dealing extra damage against unshielded hulls.

As Roag is supremely confident in his piloting skills (for good reason), the rest of his weapons are just two dozen point defense light railguns (and the only reason they exist is so that he can say, "Intensify forward firepower!").



OOS Kxathkluth-Class HERALD: Tapfer Krieger ("Valiant Warrior")

Primary Pilot: Commander Illa Sanjuni, 7th Fleet

Height: 540 meters

Armament:

1 Gladius-class Particle-Emitter Close-quarters-combat High-frequency Armament (PECCA)--sword-like weapon covered in a high-energy particle field, capable of disrupting shields long enough for the vibrating blade underneath to slice through even thick armor.

1 Scutum-class Defensive Add-On (DAO)--shield-like device attached to the HERALD's arm. Thicker than starship hulls, it holds up very well against even medium projectile bombardments, and also has a DAPS system. With this, the pilot is given an extra degree of protection against Imperial heavy weapons. DAOs also have an extra weapon attached to it--the DAO uses a heavy plasma cannon to punch through DAPSs.

Illa is a more conservative and cautious HERALD pilot than Roag. She is also unique among HERALD pilots in that she does not use a Prophet to interface with her machine, only reflex and skill honed on years and years of life-or-death combat.

A.I.P.A.T.S.

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The Bodega-Class AI Pilot Assisted multi-appendaged Tactical Suit (AIPATS) Tarentum1

1: According to my sources, the modern English word "tarantula" can trace its origins all the way back to the Roman city of Tarentum. These suckers were apparently fairly common in that city.

The AIPATS is essentially what the old PLANTs might have been had there not been the discovery of Plasm. In order to coordinate the complex movements of dozens of constituent vehicles and their pilots, the Imperial Navy at first considered linking up the Primary Pilot with a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence. The initial trials produced good results, as the machine intellects of these AI (called "Magi": "Magus" singular) were superhumanly efficient and precise, especially when programmed with the Alpha Protocol: do the utmost to destroy cultist targets in battle. But the level of intellect these cybernetic consciousnesses required became impractical at best and dangerous at worst. At times, the Magus would take over for a pilot if the pilot was judged to be too incompetent, or push the pilot to limits that humans could not withstand--or, the Magus would force the PLANT to perform maneuvers deemed unnecessarily ruthless. Programming limitations on the AI would simply cause the AI to remove them from its processes; lowering the AI's intellect to the point where it could not made it incapable of providing piloting resistance. Thus, when Plasm was found, the AI-Pilot method of maneuvering PLANTs was quickly cannibalized and streamlined into the neural matrix that every Imperial PLANT uses today.

During the switch from Magus to Plasm, however, not all Imperial researchers found cushy jobs when their research division was taken apart. Some of them picked up jobs unfit for their education and qualifications and lived out the rest of their lives in gloom and depression. Others, like Han Bodega, struck out for themselves. After having lost a high-level position in researching Plasm-based PLANTs due to office politics, Han took his vast knowledge of AI-Pilot based PLANTs, committed them to memory, and fled into the wilderness of space. He brought with him a prototype PLANT and the last Magus to have been produced, Balthasar, renaming it to Zweibel (apparently for sentimental reasons), and exiled himself to an uninhabited sector of the solar system, conducting his own research.

A few years later, he finished his masterpiece: the AIPATS. He did not suffer the same problem that earlier Pilots had with their Magi, since he overhauled Zweibel's core programming to be loyal to him and him only--removing the Alpha Protocol from Zweibel also helped. Zweibel manages the Tarentum's movements and helps with aiming weapons, while Han does the actual targeting and firing.

Han's AIPATS design focuses on two things:

1) Surprise, provided by a combination of high speed and a thermodynamics trick that hides his AIPATS's heat and radar signatures, among other things
2) Incredible firepower provided by 8 appendage-like weapons that make the Tarentum look something like an upright spider

It is only moderately armored and not particularly maneuverable, though its top speed is faster than just about anything either the Empire or the cultists can muster. It is designed to cloak, sneak in, deliver a surprise attack, do as much damage as possible, and then flee.

It is not entirely known why Bodega created such a machine. Despite the Tarentum's obviously immense combat capabilities, he rarely seems to use it on any particular target. As far as Imperial Intelligence can tell, he rambles about the galaxy in his unique vehicle, going wherever he feels like it. The only real pattern that can be interpreted from his travels is that he seems to be drawn towards scientific research centers. It appears that he enjoys stealing or sabotaging the research of others, perhaps to improve his AIPATS or for his own perverse pleasure.


Bodega-Class AIPATS Tarentum:

Size: 700 meters

Armament:

8 Spenthro Heavy MRPC
8 Araneae Heavy Laser Cannon
25 Latrodectus MRPC-PD

Superweapon:

Spider's Web: A highly powerful laser attack that sets the Tarentum's Araneae laser cannons into overload. Bodega can target up to 8 individual enemies with a continuous withering stream of lasers, or focus his fire on a smaller number of foes. For a particularly devastating effect, he can combine the power of his lasers by targeting one point in space with all of them, with the Tarentum's appendages arranged in a precise octagon--the result is pretty much a miniature version of the Death Star superlaser, rivaling the power of even the Eternal Silence.