Mech Designer course

Mech designs

Size and movement classification

Today we will be going over mech classification standards

First is always SIZE

Originally there where considered to be 3 classifications. Small, Medium, and Large mechs.

Nowadays this has been proved to be not useful.

A medium mech is what we know as a standard one at about 4 meters of height and they can still be counted as medium until the 6-meter mark. Their size to all ratio is usually the most effective and make it one of the most used.

Small mechs have disappeared from practice, between the need to miniaturize a lot of the components, make it stronger to handle the needed speed so it can work with the other categories and all the adaptation it requires makes them not viable, particularly counting the that the capsule occupies too much space and the only way to reduce it is to lower the armor in it, something that pilots do not agree. When something small like that is needed, they just use an over-geared exo suit with a secondary data channel or maybe of a full Neural Interface but will not use a capsule, full size reactor and other things.

Large mechs are basically anything above 6 meters with larger more powerful modules but not too many so that a single pilot can still handle it. Usually, large mechs are handled by pilots with a bandwidth of B or above.

The second classification that we are going to see today in detail is movement classification.

Legged, tracks, tires, situational and space.

Because of the changes in our environment most of the mechs are legged. Legs can be attached different feet so they can handle most soils and be sure that it will hold its weight, they have absolute control in positioning and can move with lots of freedom. 2 and 4 legged mechs are the most common for multiple types of tasks though most still include hidden wheels or tracks for when they can use the speed or when they need to save energy, legs consume over 70% more energy than a wheel to move a mech.

Tracks and tires are similar solutions to the same problem. Airless tires are used for mostly continuous flat surfaces, commonly for previously cleaned spaces that transport mechs use. The tire size is printed and adjusted so it can support the weight and so it has enough traction however in the cases that the wheel has problems they are switched into tracks. While both methods are much more energy efficient and faster, they have limited ability to turn and are not optimal for close combat situation against beasts.

Situational movement is the biggest category and mostly used for flying, sailing, diving, 360 free-range movement, and a variety of other options.

Flying, sailing, and diving are strange mech categories that you may need to develop and there are multiple possible solutions, mostly using turbines of some sort of the use of propellants.

360 free-range movement is mostly used for specific mechs used in construction, mining and other activities with a restricted working space usually using some sort of spheric wheel magnetically attached allowing the wheels to rotate in any direction needed.

Finally, spaceships. All movement in space comes from mainly 3 streams. Either a gravitational anomaly from a gravity drive, use of propellants in a thruster to achieve movement or with an ion-drive.

Due to the expensiveness of miniaturizing a fusion reactor core only the medium and bigger ships use a fusion core and use a combination of gravity drives and plasma thrusters to move. Smaller ships due the lack of space to use bigger and more powerful generators opt to not install gravity drives and use ion or thrusters for movement as they rarely travel outside the planet. In the case they do have to, most captains use the services of an acceleration gate or gravity catapult.

Marcus found himself in a hospital room and no memory of ever coming here. He was laying in a normal medical bed.

Sooooooo, what happened? Marcus looked around looking for clues, it looked like a standard decontamination room ‘Decontamination? I was discharging the mech then I fell and hit my head, why was I brought here. I’m feeling quite good, so maybe the mana helped me recover. Also, I fell maybe 1 m or so, shouldn’t been that hard.’

Feeling curious he picked the data pad that was on a side table. Upon activation a normal medical RAI came out and asked him a series of questions to analyze his condition. Only after all of that he could log in the communications app to contact Val.

"Oh great conqueror of lightning how fares your day oh might Jupiter?" Val’s smirk and playful tone was in full display but had a warm look in her face.

Marcus deadpanned silence was incredibly expressive

"Is the great Mech Designer with butter feet feeling bad?"

"What happened?"

"To be fair I have to congratulate you, it was a miracle of physics" started Val in a serious manner "In the span of 1.72 m according to the camera you slipped, did a full 720˚ in while trying and failing to stabilize yourself and before reaching the floor you hit your head against an armored plate knocking yourself out" by the end Val started to laugh out loud.

"Unprofessional of you to laugh like that. Also, I meant why I’m here at the hospital?"

At that point Val actually stopped laughing and actually looked a bit serious "We actually don’t know how but your suit was damaged in 2 places. Obviously, you got in contact with the blood so there was an actual risk of contamination.

When you were down Marcellinus and Otho went inside and found you out cold, covered in blood and compression fluid. It wasn’t until after the decontamination shower that the damaged suit was detected"

"Any news about the why this happened and possible compensation?"

"The woman I spoke turned to be Drusa and she is the chief mechanic of the Vigiles that somehow no one ever met because she is not even from here. She wasn’t really forthcoming about the whys either but due to the fact that you got exposed and both Marcellinus and Otho forced their way and later the medical dispatch to transport you in a sterile capsule she was quite angry but recognized that the job was properly done.

She paid the full agreed price and my recommendation is to let sleeping dogs lie. We don’t know why this happened, why she was here and we don’t want to get in the middle of it" Val said in a serious manner while recalling the uncomfortable talk with this Drusa woman.

"OK, I’ll follow your lead Val, I trust your judgment" said Marcus softly. He hated not knowing but he wasn’t willing to search for the mystery.

"So, on the plus side, you did your job, made a wonderful video that would bring much joy and laughter for years to come and made some money, on the con side you are grounded until tomorrow to make sure that you are not infected" concluded Val with a teasing smile.

Marcus was ready to reply but the communication was disconnected when a doctor in a protective suit came to check on him.

What followed was an hour and a half of tests, questions, and medical minutia to ensure he was in good health. By the time he left the doctor told him that he had to rest until tomorrow morning and that he looks healthier than before. Should he present NO changes then he should be allowed to leave in the morning.

The rest of the day Marcus just spent confirming work details with Val, thinking about the designs, and generally idling away with the loaned data pad.

Because he didn’t present any abnormal condition, he was allowed to leave the hospital with no major complications though his clothing and personal terminal where disposed. Thankfully he had used the data pad in the hospital to contact Val and order another terminal and got a few disposable clothing.

A quick trip back home, change of clothes, breakfast and he was off again to Val’s. He had 2 buses to fix to finish the order and then he could focus full time in his design during the next 3 days.

Coming back to work after such an accident meant that EVERYONE had some kind of joke to say about Marcus so for the first time, he was glad to be working on the frontal bays, away of everyone else.

No other people teasing him, having the parts that he needed to finish the repair and all feeling topped with mana so he was feeling really well.

The 6th bus needed a custom replacement part, waiting for a merchant to come with the original part would take far too long and would cost more so doing a lower quality part was the best they could do to make it work. Marcus finished updating the mechanical recommendations making it so it would need more frequent controls and added a note about the changes, the techs won’t like it but it’ll be their problem and they could wait for the piece to arrive or keep using the replacement.

The Dextra bus was a bit harder. The first issue was the incompatibilities between the changes and what was there, most would need to be adapted. On the other hand, many of the components were over 50 years old meaning that they should be replaced including the wireless receiver, the internal AI module, parts of the assistive modules for visual detection, first aids and even some parts of the mechanical drive section that were reporting possible errors. If he did those changes the incompatibilities would be resolved and would not need adapted parts.

Marcus started with the easiest of the bunch, he would prefer to have young Dextra to help him since she knew the where’s and how’s of the computerized equipment so it would help him to make a better job.

"Hi Dextra, I don’t usually put my hands on a girl leg like and with no permission but I need to change your electrical motor" spoke Marcus softly to the bus as a joke, he was used to talking out loud, it did make him look a bit crazy but it helped him order his thoughts.

Using the mechanical lift to rise the bus he starts to remove the wheel, the magnetic bearings, and the electromagnetic assisted suspension for the back right wheel. The bus had been cleaned thoroughly before so all the parts where shining and clean.

The wheel was standard airless tire so it would never run flat and was still in good state, the bearings seemed decently new but since it has been in disuse for a long time the continuous weight over the same spot damaged many of them, the mechs in charge should have rolled the wheels even if the bus broke down and now he would need to replace them in all the tires.

The electromagnetic suspension was another thing altogether. It used a normal pneumatic suspension and an active electromagnetic system to mitigate variations in level while running so it was still in working condition so it would do with just some tune-up later.

The problem came when removing the electrical motor from inside the wheel center. It was not the same reported nor the expected one, it looked like a minor motor from an old exo rig. This was a part of the ‘shrine’ for the old Dextra but the part wouldn’t work anymore, too much use and then too much time standing still, it would be simpler to remove it and replace it. He could always put the old motor somewhere else.

Now, to this point the bus was constantly showing differences from other things but nothing directly ‘secret’, until now.

When removing the connection of the electrical motor to the chasis he found one of the metal plates could slide of and it could also fall to the floor if someone placed some weight on top of it, something like parts of an old exo rig that was hidden there for example.

The parts of the rig fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. More hidden pieces of Dextra’s grandma old exo.

"Why would someone hide these parts here?" mumbled Marcus deep in thought.

"Because it is supposed to be a kind of altar for my grandmother" Dextra’s voice came from behind filled with joy "One of the survivors was a mechanic and he fixed this bus using the parts of her exo. Not all parts were compatible so he made do and hid the rest in here. At that time it wasn’t really an ‘altar’ to remember her, it was that it would take too long to have the proper parts. From there the mechanic got the idea and classified it as a remembrance ‘altar’ of sorts so that it would be allowed"

"You really know everything about this bus, don’t you?" A warm smile came on Marcus face.

"Of course, it’s my granny. Now don’t leave granny’s exo just laying around, do pick it up and put it back there" Dextra hurried Marcus.

"Why?"

"Because it should be there?"

"Why don’t I put it somewhere else that actually do make sense rather than just stuffing it in the back" an idea was blooming on Marcus mind

"What do you mean?" Dextra asked feeling both curious and doubtful.

"Well, the electrical motors are fried or soon to be fried so they have to be replaced, the memory chips and visual module that guide this bus are way too old..."

"That’s my grandma’s equipment you are talking about" interrupted Dextra with a bit of anger and metal in her voice.

"I mean that is not that efficient anymore, it has more chances of suffering malfunctions, and while they can’t be used anymore for the main purpose, we could use them in other places. For example, the electrical motor can be used as part of the light fixtures as decorations, same with the armored parts and the rest. We could use the inner part of the ceiling to display all the parts of her exo as a proper memorial and so people would see it, know the story and see it there." Marcus started to move the piece to inside the bus, climbed up and started to display it on the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"I can spread it like this" Marcus started to move what would be the damaged frontal and back armor plates and placed them side to side in the floor and then started to spread the other parts of the armor as if it were a display of the structure "See? I can make a logic display like mechanics use to see how things are assembled. We can put this on the ceiling so everyone can see it.

Then we use the visual module along with the other electronic components to store her memories and display them in the windows to make it a moving memorial" Marcus showed an excited smile.

"You can do that? You would do that for my grandmother?" Disbelief, happiness, and many other emotions were passing through Dextra’s face while her eyes glistened.

"I had some time lately to just relax and actually searched the story on the internet. It was inspiring and it seemed fitting to remember her in such a way. People will see what did she protected." Marcus smiled warmly.

Marcus had been feeling a bit useless, he wanted to design more but his mech design was mostly finished and he wanted to do more so while he was at the hospital he started to think about this but it was only when he saw the armor pieces that inspiration struck.

While Dextra was still befuddled by all of this he started to remove the ceiling covers on the floor and then rearmed the display on top of the covers, torso armor plate here, back armor plate over there…

"Here" Dextra started to move some other pieces too. "If you want to display all the armor pieces there are a lot being used in the bus so you’ll have to disarm a lot"

"I’m very good at disassembling stuff"

For over 6 hours Marcus worked with some help from Dextra, he dismantled the automated doors to recover the small electrical motors, pneumatic cylinders and valves, battery pack, even the modules that were used for automated navigation. He had already order replacement for all the old parts. It would cost more but it would be worth it, and the government was paying.

While he did all the disassembling Dextra worked hard to back up all the data on the old internal memory that used to control the bus and placed it in new memory modules, even replace the RAI module that controlled the bus using the old code.

Now the new parts would have the same code as before keeping it as intact as possible and all the old parts were used all for the display of grandma Dextra’s story.

When they finished Dextra was crying from happiness, she couldn’t believe someone had done something so great for her.

"Thank you, Marcus." Dextra’s face was full of gratitude and had slightly red eyes "You can’t possibly know how much this means to me" She went towards him opening her arms for a hug.

Marcus raised his hands stopping her with a smile in his face "I think a hug would be appropriate for the occasion but I should keep my distance, I was all day yesterday in the hospital with a possibility of contamination and while I was cleared, I should reduce my contact for a few more days just to be sure"

"Thank you then, thank you for everything you did Marcus" said Dextra noticing her flashing watch. She quickly schooled her look while keeping a small apologetic smile "And not to be rude but I spent way too much time here and while I would love to keep talking and working a bit more, I have things to do. I may see you tomorrow before when you put the final parts in" She hurried of the truck before quickly stopping "Bye Marcus, thanks for everything!" and left with a smile on her face.