We're building giant robots. Continuing from all the Constellation setting stuff (and rambling).
A frame is a humanoid machine that stands usually about fifteen meters tall on average. The standard models of frame used by Starfall have minor variations, with their constituent nations having their own specialized frames and Constellation fielding their own highly specialized frames called Eidolons.
Standard frames consist of two legs, two arms, a torso, and a head.
- Legs contain specialized armored servos and small ground effect system thrusters to allow smooth movement on the ground.
- Torsos are a frame's core where everything attaches and where the frame's power plant is housed.
- Heads are usually humanoid in appearance or similar to a turret or mounted camera array and carry the majority of sensors that feed into the cockpit as well as communications equipment.
- Arms have armored servomotors typically with actuating hands to allow for universal weapons loadout and on the fly swap outs.
The cockpit is a human-sized egg shaped armored metallic sphere housed usually in the head of a frame, though some models allow for installation in the chest which enable more armor for the pilots but make emergency ejections a more time consuming process. Cockpits contain a seat, controls, and a bank of screens tied directly into the frame's computing systems and sensory feeds, with very little room for personalization.
Power plants are micro fusion reactors at the core of the frame and are linked to heat radiators across the frame. Guardian type frames used in city defense typically swap these reactors out for high-density batteries.
Some frames are specialized with integrated systems and weaponry, but those tend to be reserved for elite units and R&D. Standard frames available to player pilots at the start of a game come 3d printed or nanofabbed and then have their kits installed based on the constraints of economy, mission necessity, and pilot whimsy. These Tabula Rasa or TR frames come in three varieties:
TR-1 Specialist: 2 weapons, 4 systems
TR-2 Balanced: 3 weapons, 3 systems
TR-3 Assault: 4 weapons, 2 systems
Below is a list of some weapons and systems that might be available for installation:
| System | Description |
| Survival Kit | Contains flares, a life-raft, and enough food and medical supplies for one week. |
| Micromanipulators | Human sized and smaller tool-tipped arms that can extend from a hand. Used for doing precise work without leaving the cockpit. |
| Advanced Passive Sensors | Full suite of passive sensors providing light spectrum analysis (UV, IR, etc), thermal sensors, EM sensors (detecting electromagnetic radiation from electronics, weapons, shields, etc). |
| Tracing Package | Can trace communications transmissions, radar emissions, and other active sensors to their source. |
| Communications Jammer | Can jam all communications in a 5 mile radius. |
| Guidance Dazzler | Reverse-engineered from biological samples, the guidance dazzler allows near perfect protection from beyond visual range guided munitions. |
| Early Warning Radar | A phased array antenna that can detect significant movement within a ten mile radius. |
| Target Uplink | Advanced analytic subroutines provides tactical data for a pilot analyzing a target and highlighting weapons, compositions, and expressed systems. |
| Silent Running | Insulation and directed emissions allow a frame to move near silently as long as no other systems are used. |
| Frictionless Spray | Can coat a 20x20 meter area in a spray that reduces friction, causing slippage. |
| Goo Spray | A sticky spray that coats a 20x20 area and makes movement more challenging. |
| Turbocharger | Allows 10 seconds of enhanced performance for all weapons, propulsion, shields, etc. Hinders performance of all systems afterwards until repairs can be made. |
| Active Camouflage | Provides a limited cloaking system that works against the mark 1 human eyeball but not much else. Lasts until another system is used. |
| Albatross Drone | A remotely operated reconnaissance drone that can scout out areas as long as it's within line of sight of the operator. |
| Heat Shunt | Huge coils that can be deployed to rapidly vent heat while stationary. |
| Ground Effect System | Small propulsors and thrusters to allow hovering over terrain and dramatically increase speed. |
| Thrusters | Large thrusters that allow for subsonic flight. |
| "Woodpecker" Beacon | Can fire a small drone that attaches to a target, allowing finite tracking of the target's location as well as enhancing attacks against it. |
| Sunburst Flare | High powered flare drone that acts as a miniature, stationary sun for a time. |
| EMP Hardening | Hardens systems against EMP and electrical attacks. |
| Impact Plating | Additional staged armor plating to protect against kinetic attacks. |
| Directed Jammer | Jams sensory data for frames when aimed at them. |
| Smoke Chamber | Triggerable smoke that can obscure your position. |
| Escape Thruster | Limited use thrusters that allow a frame to boost quickly out of imminent danger. |
| Nuisance Drones | Six hummingbird drones designed to seek a painted target's sensors and harass them with directed light, sonic emissions, and suicide dives. Programmable and highly configurable. |
| Booster | Limited booster allows high speed movement in short bursts. |
| Grapple Locks | Deployable latches that help adhere the user to a target they're touching. |
| Belt Feeder | Motorized belt feeders rapidly replenish ammunition for projectile weapons. |
| Precision Controls | Enable last minute recovery from risky situations or sudden attacks for skilled pilots. |
| Bastion Emplacement | Series of deployable plates and ground anchors stick the frame in place and provide additional protection from incoming fire. |
| Patch Foam | Emergency deployable hardening foam that can patch damaged armor and protect vital components. Usable on self or other frames. |
| Spotter Radar | Provides targeting information for other weapons to enhance their attacks. Can be fed to allied frames. |
| Shock Absorbers | Rubberized kinetic absorbers diminish damage dealt by ramming, impacts with obstacles, or falling. |
| Point Defense Guns | Short range guns designed to counter missile swarms and nearby drones. |
| Weapon | Description |
| Harpoon | Gas powered harpoon that can be electrified or reeled in. |
| Cutter Axe | Rotating bladed metallic plates that can rip through tissue and deal heavy damage to metal. |
| Foam Gun | Sprays globs of fat solidifying metallic foam that can obstruct weapons, seal ports, jam thrusters, and restrict movement. |
| Demolisher Blade | Huge hunk of metal with a sharpened edge just as likely to smash as to slice. Slow. |
| Shock-Whip | Long barbed whip which can deliver an abrupt electric shock. |
| Chainsaw | Rotating chain blade for chewing through tissue and light metal objects. |
| Lance | Armor-Piercing lance, prone to breaking off in targets. |
| Anti-Material Rifle | Long range rifle designed to counter heavy armor. Slow. |
| Flamethrower | Close range weapon that can set targets on fire. |
| Shredder Gun | Close range shotgun that fires metallic flechettes that chew apart their targets. |
| Battle Rifle | Standard medium range and reliable projectile weapon. |
| Thermal Blade | Heavy blade that combusts targets and overheats systems. Hot. |
| Short Range Missiles | Short range missiles with line of sight targeting to track evasive targets. |
| Long Range Rockets | Blanketing long range rockets that can suppress and harass hardened targets. Slow. |
| Caustic Sprayer | Close range sprayer filled with caustic acid. |
| Rocket Launcher | Standard high powered two-handed rocket launcher for explosive medium range effects. Slow. |
| Directed Microwave Emitter | Heats liquids in biological material. Ineffective against metallic objects. Highly effective medium range anti-personnel weapon. Hot. |
| Electromagnetic Pulse Gun | Precision EMP gun effective at medium range that can disrupt electric systems. Hot. |
| Railgun | High power armor piercing projectile launcher. Hot. Slow. |
| Ablative Shield | Thick shield comprised of layers of ablative metal. |
| Pile Bunker | Melee weapon that fires a spike forward with a chemical charge for maximal armor-piercing. Slow. |
| Paintball Gun | Rifle that fires balls of ink that shatter on contact with a target. Commonly used in training, can also be used to blind sensors, eyes, and can be laced with biological or chemical agents. |
| Catapult Launcher | Simple scoop launcher designed to load anything that can fit in it and accelerate it at a target. Commonly used for junk, boulders, cobbled together explosives, etc. |
| Power Punch | Rockets embedded into fists provide for high impact power punches. |
| Rending Claws | High heat sharp claws designed to shred armor. |
| Chaingun | Rotating medium range projectile weapon highly effective at suppressing fire. |
| Beam Cannon | Precision energy weapon. Hot. Slow. |
| "Loiter" Drone Mortar | Fires an arcing drone high above the battlefield. The drone can loiters in the air for a time and can be propelled at a target at any time. |
| Concussion Rockets | Concussive rockets that can disrupt targets. Highly effective on unarmored targets. |
| "Swarmbat" Missiles | Drone launcher that fires a large missile drone that deploys its own micro-missile swarm after a target. |
Some exotic systems and weaponry may be available from benefactors, discovered in abandoned laboratories, or recovered from wrecked adversaries. Here are some examples:
| System | Description |
| Active Cloaking | Advanced active cloaking that protects from most average sensors, passive and active- though reconnaissance specialized sensors might still pick you up. Lasts until another system is used. |
| Gravity Lens | Advanced sensor that can convert gravitational waves into sensory data, allowing trained users to see around obstacles within visual range. |
| "Wallhack" Radar | Provides a limited view of objects through solid walls. With the right tuning, this can allow a user to see frames or other large metallic objects through solid matter by emitting an extremely high frequency pulse. |
| Panoply Field | Disperses a field of nanobots that provide sensory data, allowing a scan of everything exposed to airflow within 1 mile given time. |
| SIMS Sniffer | Measures paracausal perturbations to detect SIMS use and manifestations, provides a heads up if they're targeted at the pilot. |
| Refractor Shields | Generates a shaped EM field that can refract light, hinders beam weapon attacks from anything beyond close range. |
| Hard Light Shields | Exotic technology that produces a heavy shield around the frame, reducing projectile impact, refracting light, and dampening explosions. |
| Shadow Imager | A combination of holo-projectors and directional jamming produces the illusion of multiple copies of the frame. Most effective on light frames. |
| Synchronizer | Device that enables SIMS users to operate their frames as though through a brain-machine-interface and dramatically enhances their SIMS abilities. Requires significant training to use effectively. |
| Kinetic Dynamo | Absorbent plates and materials allow the frame to absorb kinetic attacks and translate them directly into increased power. |
| Oracle System | Battle AI that monitors a target. With enough combat data, can provide limited projections of what a target would do given the pilot's actions. |
| Thalia Attractor | Abnormal instrument that can turn certain death into a slight comedic mishap. Not guaranteed to work past the first time. Highly experimental. |
| Immortan System | Swarms of nanomachines can be deployed to repair damage and even replace limbs. |
| Weapon | Description |
| Destroyer's Palm | Coats the frame's hand in gleaming nanomachines that dissolve whatever the hand touches. Heat. |
| Beam Saber | Prototype melee energy weapon that can melt armor. |
| Vacuum Projector | Micro-annihilator that can create temporary spheres of vacuum space, interfering with projectiles and disrupting emplacements and movement. |
| Chest Cannon | Extremely high power energy weapon fed directly from the frame's core. Heat. Exposes core. |
| Rust Missile | Missile with a payload of metal-dissolving nanomachines. Limited life, but shreds through metal quickly. |
| Thermite Slime | Medium range slime-launcher. The slime is a sticky mixture of chemicals and nanobots that slowly gum up their target and then heat up a thermite reaction. Highly effective against armor unless scraped off. |
| Interference Beam | Extremely high power directed beam weapon that deals no direct damage but interferes with a frame's power plant, forcing a full restart. Slow. Heat. |
| Lightning Cannon | Ball lightning projector. Medium range. Heat. |
| Heat Dump | Melee weapon that drives a spike into a target and dumps all heat from the user into the target. Slow. |
| Calliope's Mirror | Advanced sonic weapon that cancels sound waves by listening to their input and outputting directed sonic energy back at the emitter. |
| Balloon Spear | Experimental spear gun with questionable application. The Balloon Spear fires spears designed to grapple onto/into targets and then explosively inflates a helium balloon at their end. |
| Rail Cannon | The big brother of a railgun, the rail cannon is a spinal mounted magnetic accelerator that fires a 3 meter rod across great distances. Can pierce meter thick armored plates. Heat. Slow. Set up. |
| Drill Crab | Rocket propelled drone that attaches to a target and begins drilling into its core. Programmable and configurable. |
| AE Rifle | Constellation designed Anti-Eidolon rifle with limited ammunition. Projectiles designed to counter manifested materials. |
| AE Spear | Constellation designed Anti-Eidolon spear designed to easily pierce manifested materials. |
| Cryospiker | Spike thrower that freezes an area on impact. |
| Nuclear Bazooka | Tactical nuclear warhead delivery system. |
Specialized Frames
While TRs are the most easily accessed frames, there are many many variants employed by different factions across the planet. Doing favors or missions for them (or capturing them in battle) can give access to some of these specialized frames.
Starfall:
TR frames are the bread and butter for Starfall forces, with some elite units using altered frames.
SE-1 Hektor: 3 weapons and 3 systems with a built in shoulder mounted spear.
SE-2 Cybele: 2 weapons and 4 systems. Specialized drone printer allows rapid reproduction of lost drones.
SE-3 Thisbe: 4 weapons and 2 systems with a built in active camouflage system.
TR-4 Proteus: Extremely variable, 6 universal mounts with a basic weapons-lathe allowing printing of weapons on the fly.
Germania:
Germania's elite frames specialize in kinetic feeds, emphasizing bulk application of projectile weapons.
GA-06 Messenger: 3 weapons and 3 systems with a built in belt feeder.
GA-99 Herald: 2 weapons and 4 systems with a built in rocket-hammer.
GA-57 Judgement: 3 weapons and 3 systems with a built in rail cannon.
ALR:
Thanks to the environment they are usually fielded in, the ALR uses high heat weaponry and systems with a specialization in beam weaponry.
Hellion: 3 weapons and 3 systems with a built in advanced turbocharger with 2 uses before needing repair.
Snowbird: 4 weapons and 2 systems with built in thrusters and GES.
Classique: 4 weapons and 2 systems with a built in charge bank enabling rapid fire of energy weapons.
Bharin Empire:
The Bharin frames tend to specialize in melee combat thanks to their use mostly as city-defense frames and police action units.
Wu Wei: 3 weapons and 3 systems, equipped with a built-in panoply field and precision controls.
Tigerstripe: 2 weapons and 4 systems, built-in rending claws.
Elephant Shark: 4 weapons and 2 systems, built-in bastion-emplacement.
New Alexandria:
NA mostly uses the Starfall frames, but has two elites of their own.
NA-04 Apollo: 3 weapons and 3 systems, Apollo has modified Sunburst Flare drone designed to attach to a target and overheat them.
NA-14 Artemis: 3 weapons and 3 systems, the Artemis is equipped with a resolution amplifier that allows increased range for most weapons.
UADP:
UADP frames all come with additional reinforcement or armor of some kind as a way of surviving their highly dangerous wilds.
Grizzly: 4 weapons 2 systems with built in impact plating.
Jaguar: 3 weapons and 3 systems with built in shock absorbers and escape thruster.
Bison: 4 weapons and 2 systems with a built in early warning radar.
Nomad:
Nomads field just about anything that works and can be highly experimental. With plenty of TRs of their own taken from compromised printers, expect to see cobbled together machines when fighting with or against the nomads.
Dozer: 3 weapons and 3 systems, the Dozer has in-built boosters and shock absorbers and tends to rely on ramming.
Cobra: 2 weapons and 3 systems, has a built-in shock whip.
Midnight Sun:
Midnight Sun tends to field unique frames for all of their missions as well as hijacking target frames for surprise.
Joker: 2 weapons and 3 systems, kitted with built in advanced spoofing equipment to imitate friendly frames.
Gunhazard: 4 weapons and 2 systems, equipped with a built in holoprojector for setting up ambushes.
Volkharev Initiative:
The VI doesn't usually field traditional frames, instead fielding modified demons or frames with demonic components.
Alkahest:
Most Alkahest frames are unique to the user in every way- many of them being TR frames with salvaged Constellation synchronizers and manifested equipment and weaponry- making their function and form unpredictable.
Constellation:
Eidolons are a divergent branch of mechanized armor evolution. Being more humanoid in shape but with longer arms and agile movements. Their cockpits are armored synchronizers and most Eidolons use a combination of manifested attacks and equipment to augment their loadout with more training and efficiency than the paramilitary Alkahest frames. With a trained operator these are extremely lethal to unprepared pilots.
Mk 1 Eidolon: 3 weapons and 3 systems with an in-built synchronizer.
Frame Improvement
With enough resources and time, a pilot can work with a frame they're familiar with to make modifications to it. This could be building in equipment, improving performance, or just specializing the paint job.
These alterations though are tied to that specific frame and have to be maintained. If that frame gets fragged during combat then all of the alterations made to it are lost too and the pilot has to begin with a fresh frame.
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