Mech Design course

About weapons

We already spoke about the simplest terms of weapons classifications. Today we are going to expand about the types of weapons and how the design must adapt to them

First, we are going to speak about the simplest and least complicated weapons of all. Wide-angle, short-range defensive turrets.

You have seen them in other mechs and defensive structures. Their shape is usually a partial sphere over the armor, this sphere contains a weapon and the sphere can turn and rotate as to take aim to anything around itself.

They are typically self-contained, automated defensive guns with medium armor. They only need power and, sometimes, cooling liquid. After that you can easily forget about them. There are many designs that you can just put on top of your mech if you need to and they are utterly disposable.

If your design actually has them INSIDE the armored area then you start having problems, they are mechanically complex, the armor can be breached and it can create a weak spot, you can add ammo feeder and they are good only for shooting unarmored small targets, from weak beasts to missiles, drones, or other small mechanical targets.

Defensive turrets are a physically mounted weapon meaning it needs a mechanic and some slight adjustments to the body.

The next weapon type we are going to see are those who use ammunition. Basically rifles, auto cannons, coil/railguns with Magnetically Accelerated rounds (MArs) and many other specialized weapons with specific ammunition like darts, grenades, knifes, nails and others.

The price, reliability and usage are varied as they can adjust to multiple usages and the main benefit is their versatility. You can always find one that adapts to your need and usually is easy to change the weapon module for another one.

The main problem is recoil, even from magnetic weapons. Since they accelerate the projectiles using a physical phenomenon, they always produce a counter force that affects the weapons and eventually the joint so you must be very careful when designing them so it could keep a high accuracy, high tracking speed and keep them working for longer without breaking itself or the joints.

Also, sometimes the loadout of the weapon can be a miss and the mech can be useless as shooting tranq darts to a rock wurm.

The third category is laser, the king of damage and the whiny bitch of parties.

Lasers are usually simple in terms of needs, they need power, refrigeration, more power and more refrigerant, the rest doesn’t really matter.

First part is that they are theoretically infinite. If your energy levels allow you then you can shoot. If the lens and weapon body remain cool then you can shoot.

Lasers can be used in different ways, from short high-powered shots that sublimate materials on impact creating bits of plasma that produce shockwaves to a Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (to those who didn’t pay attention in physics basically an electro laser that can burn, overheat, and electrocute the enemy mech depending on how the weapons is prepared to work, from non-lethal to overkill) to the hell of all designers, THE Laser Cannon, basically what most spaceships use in a format 20 times smaller, made to drain batteries and overheat any machine.

Mechanically they are one of the simplest weapons, as they only need piping and cables, no feeder system, no knockback no problem. Systemically they are hell because the sudden draw of power can unbalance the whole system so it usually uses secondary batteries that charge before firing.

Making a mech to handle laser weaponry is complicated as it must be able to keep their temperature down and generate more than enough power to use it. Making a mech that RESISTS laser weaponry is expensive and hard. Laser damage causes heat buildup and there are also tons of effects depending on the type. Not only that but an armor designed for laser fire will not work as well with normal ammunition.

Remember that the laser is the king of space combat thanks to its speed. Ammunition is slow, in space combat a bullet can take seconds until impact, a laser is as fast as light and will be harder to dodge.

The fourth category is the one that uses self-propelled munition, meaning missiles. Basically, FF or fire-and-forget.

They are mostly shot from batteries, may not have more ammo once emptied and has tracking and self-propelling mechanisms so they don’t need a barrel or a complicated machine to fire, just target the enemy, fire, and watch the fireworks.

Finally, you have specialized weapons from sonic weaponry to tasers to the famous electro-shotgun Zeus Wrath.

While mostly gimmicks all these weapons have specific needs and you need to design your mech around them if you actually want to use them.

The sonic screen for quelling civilian unrest needs attenuation on the resonating forces that are transmitted to the structure. A flamethrower just needs the armored piping for the fuel and a barrel with a pressurized nozzle to spread it.

Every single special weapon will mean that you must adapt your design so it can be used or it may break your mech.

There is one more type of weapon that we won’t expand on today which are mounted cannons, basically The Laser Cannon, mining lasers, siege cannons and the rest.

"Marcus what did you learn today?"

‘Another lesson’ though Marcus. Both Anne and Mina had the habit of teaching him about things and they would always ask something like that, even since he was young. "That Roman proceeding works?" "To be careful of contracts and that contacting people is the best way to get information?"

"Today lesson is different. Today you have to understand that even though you did everything right you were wrong"

Marcus frowned "I was wrong?"

"Yes.

So, your first mistake was not being alert enough when the contract changed, you should have questioned the authorities, ask for a review of the contract and the reasons for the change

The second mistake was not investigating more in-depth after the mishap with the bird.

If you had analyzed the events that happened then you would have found too many coincidences, including ones you didn’t see because you didn’t check.

For the full week before the presentation date ALL cargo companies that work with mechs and have routes passing through Quintus 6 were suddenly occupied. Someone ordered a large number of cargo and mech movements so you wouldn’t have been able to transport your mech due to lack of space.

Thankfully you could count in the Vigiles so you never noticed this however you still met with troubles.

The Vigiles already knew about the Blue Jay and about some other possible danger zones in the route that you took, their nest was mapped and the profile of the bird was already done, it was nesting caring for the eggs. It was the moment that they would be highly reactive but not inherently aggressive… unless you do something first, most likely urine sample from a predator or some other disturbance.

You could attribute this to bad luck if you discount the air traffic control having records of another plane passing through the same area not 15 minutes before.

And then is the report from the Vigiles about the attack. Accident, beast attack, no retaliation nor nothing. In and of itself this is not strange, what is strange but there was no investigation as to why the plane was attacked. If you check the public logs, you would have seen that the Vigiles suddenly posted a contract with NO recompense. He worked for free for them as long as they kept quiet"

Marcus was dumbfounded, how was that possible, he was having issues believing but knew that Mina would rarely lie in these situations "Do you believe he was responsible?" he asked softly.

"Yes, he did"

"We could have died, that is a crime we… "

"No, we wouldn’t have died, the plane would have crashed the bird would leave it alone and a rescue party would have brought you back safe and sound but without your mech. This was not personal and it was aimed at stalling you and testing your resources. If you were poor, you would be done, he may even offer you a contract to remove any possibility of you earning a demerit and you could even consider him a good guy"

Marcus was just stunned but Mina kept going relentlessly.

"Your final clue was the first meeting with the Observer. Why was there a high and mighty Mech Designer there as an observer? Why was another Designer that had submitted his work there? They were trying to pressure you off in person. Even Anne realized when they had us waiting at a room inside the testing facility. These kinds of contracts once delivered you leave and they will contact you electronically, in-person meetings are rare.

Also, inside the room only 2 or maybe 3 persons were unaware of the full plot. Can you guess who?"

"Me and the Observer?"

Anne guffawed "That mummy knew everything before it even happened, she is talking about Evander dummy, Albus was using this as a lesson for him too. The other person that knew part of it but not all was Emil, most likely his uncle never told him all that he did. You should tell him the rest too Mina"

"THERE IS MORE!?" Marcus was completely shocked; he had believed that the Observer had been truly impartial and that following the law was more important.

"Well, the first proceedings where a way for the Observer to evaluate you, it was a good opportunity to do that. See, she was testing you. She liked you that’s why she gave you so much.

The second time we met was because I was angry that Demetrios insulted you like that in a proceeding. While Demetrios was acting shocked it was just that, an act, the penalty was barely a slap on the wrist.

You see, the Observer knew everything from before, the official had confessed previously but the proceedings are filmed for posterity and for any possible problem in the future there is a record that shows ‘impartiality’ and ‘sincerity’. How did you think she knew that I hacked into the official? She was already monitoring the accounts and found someone else lurking inside"

If you are walking down the road and suddenly you are bitch slapped with a fish that fell from the sky you would still be less confused, angry, and shocked than Marcus. "It was all a show?"

"Technically a circus for this is Rome but yes"

"Why?" now he looked just hurt.

"Very simple honey. Demetrio can cover all the problem he made with the contributions he has and will do, not only that but, he knew his limits, he never made it personal nor tried to kill a promising young Designer. The second proceeding was my legal way to threaten him and the government to not let things like that happen again.

People with no connections are dangerous to the society as a whole. They can leave and the civilization will lose its investment.

Now imagine a Mech Designer, you had YEARS of free teaching, plus specific projects, teaching and development opportunities, there is a lot that you receive from society and the government.

This is why the government tests multiple times new Mech Designers to analyze them, their reaction, moral fiber, connections, means and many more things. If the government finds someone that they deem a positive force they will send more resources towards them, if they have problems they’ll be smoothed, within certain margins obviously.

On the other hand, if they had found you unsuitable, they you would have made you lost the contract and then they would even steal your design to use it. The Roman government can use any design given even if it is not the winner and they don’t have to pay or even tell you"

A strange feeling in the pit of his stomach made Marcus sick, like a physical revulsion from his mental state.

Mina had a sad smile in her face, she wanted Marcus to see reality as it is. However, it was hard forcing someone to see a different truth. Even harder was hurting someone she loved with this new discovery, and she recognize that he was hurting, from the betrayal, from the distrust, from knowing that the so-called Roman impartiality was non-existent.

"I’m sorry honey" she hugged him "but if you want to become a Mech Designer you have to know this. Either you learn it now or you’ll have a hard lesson later. On the good side, if you know about this you can use it in your favor like you did with Albus"

Marcus suddenly stopped, ‘Like I did with Albus?’ the question was visible in his face.

"That’s why he smiled, if you have a connection to Val and to Evander the next time, he needs your help he knows how to get in touch, that you will keep contributing. Just because of that he is likely to give the contract to Val"

Marcus blanked, there was too much information, too many things that had changed from Mina’s reality shot. He was feeling sick and disturbed but now it was a strange lull, a sort of inner peace due to the excessive shock.

"Let’s go to sleep honey, you need to rest and let your subconscious process all this, it will be better in the morning"

Anne looked at the two hugging in bed, she knew that it was hard, she also had a hard time swallowing that pill but as a merc she had seen many times these kinds of things and even worse ones.

Now she was hardened so it didn’t affect her usually but today, seeing his son like that did, and she knew that Mina was putting a strong face to tell him all of these but she was hurting too.

She had a drink and went to sleep with her family, hugging both.

The family went back to Quintus 6 at the next day but nixed the party that was waiting for Marcus at the workshop, he wasn’t feeling well enough and he knew that he couldn’t speak with them about any of what had happened so he preferred to stay in his house with his family, talking more about that and processing what he had learned. But time was rapidly passing and 2 days after…

"Honey, we have a new contract with the Aquilae, something just came up and we have to leave as soon as possible, I know that what we spoke is still on your mind but you need to accept it and move on. Go, talk to Val, see how everything is going there and work a bit.

For your future I would recommend you keep working with Val or look for opportunities to work with beast bodies to absorb mana or maybe take a look at the offered governmental contracts, I’m sure you will find something interesting" She smiled strangely.

"Love you honey, take good care of yourself. Bye" "Take care Mark, we love you" Anne and Mina hugged and kissed him in the cheeks before leaving quickly for the space port.

With everything that was going on Marcus was feeling a bit lost, he couldn’t believe all the amounts of things extra that his chosen career had. It took a few more days until he felt a bit better and went to see Val.

As he approached the workshop, he could see multiple transports dropping materials into a new downward hatch there was at the side of the building. He quickly shot a message to Val and she told him to just go for her office.

"Welcome to the mad house Marcus. I should be happy that you referred us to the lab but all the extra work is hard" said Val quickly while smiling and looking terribly stressed.

"What happened?"

"Well, your pal Evander said that they liked your design so much that they needed 2 full squads of 10 plus the prototype already given and they would need them in 2 months, it took almost 5 days to finish one mech, so we had to hire new people and two fabrication shops to manufacture the parts we need just to be able to reach the delivery date, of course the offer was excellent.

Also, your design is so good that two groups contacted me trying to find you. They got my information from the lab.

They want to ask you to modify the mech as a scout for mountain areas and sell them a limited schematic print. I just sent you their contact info. Your design was valued at 20k by the government so if you do you should charge no less than that plus an extra for the modification of the design"

At this point Marcus wasn’t really shocked, he should but after all that happened, he started to take the new things in stride. His personal terminal rang twice with the contact information.

"I love seeing you Marcus but you shouldn’t work here anymore, the door is always open but you should start to focus on Mech Designing if you want to keep going. Even more after a successful design contract.

You should try to get another one, you will need to design more and experience new things. Also, if y…" an alert came on Val’s data pad "Sorry Marcus, gotta run, the newbies are not exactly trained yet and we are also expanding our smelting and machining area. Talk to you later. Bye" and Val left her office while shouting something.

Marcus smiled, despite all the things that happened he had repaid Val’s help and the workshop. Val seemed happy and the place was growing which was good.

He left the workshop in a good mood and went for the automated bus station, when the bus came, he recognized it immediately, it was Dextra.

The bus was empty so he took his time to check it from the inside and even run a small diagnostic from his personal terminal that had excellent results.

Two stops later the young Dextra hopped in and upon seeing Marcus she rushed towards him to hug him strongly "Thank you Marcus, I never expected this but the bus seems incredible, thank you very much for what you did"

"It was my pleasure" answered Marcus a bit distraught but happy.

"Whatever you did made the bus technicians pay more attention and she is always sparkling and clean so thank you".

"Since when?"

"Since you fixed it of course, I guessed you spoke with someone about the state of disrepair of the buses in general because they are taking their job more seriously now".

Marcus had not done any of that, maybe someone in the government had found out that the previous team was "I’m glad then, most buses had simple problems and they should have been fixed by them anyways"

"Tell me how you are doing Marcus" exclaimed Dextra smiling "you haven’t been working and a little birdy told me about a mech designed by you"

The rest of the trip proceeded to be Marcus telling Dextra the broad strokes until his stop came.

"I’m very glad for you Marcus, good luck, see you again!" shouted Dextra while waving her hand.

"Bye" answered Marcus.

He was in a better mood; it wasn’t all for nothing. After going to his living, he contacted the 2 groups that wanted to mod his design and reached an agreement for 2k for each print and no legal obligation for whatever happened in a modded mech.

After that he started to contemplate what he wanted for his future, he was a bit aimless and was thinking of different things to do but his musings where interrupted by a message.

A message from Arbiter Fulvia Maior