Constellation: Frame Construction

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.

 

X'cale

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. 

Eddie Mendoza

 

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.

Kagami Moto

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

Gavin Manners

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. 

Ramblings, Mecha

INT. DUNGEON. HALL OF THE LUNATIC.

All of the great glowing suns are extinguished. Their light that once calmed the lunatics and pacified their torments is gone. Scraping chains rattle intermittently down a side hallway. Hungry sounds in the dark, the flagstones barely visible through the blood that pools throughout the room. Through the broken ceiling, the moon shines a terrible light on the pile of corpses. Something moves among them. Dimly, in blood written on the wall, a madman's scrawl:

"Kill and eat your darlings. They were not yours to devour. Leave their bones to be kicked up by the mourning sea. BE ASHAMED. Sink the crime into the well, keep it with the moon. In your entrails their viscera will shape a seed that will one day press out from your eye sockets- hands raised to the hungry sun. Your new darling."

CRAB emerges from the pile of corpses, soaked in blood, the broken body of HEARTBREAKER:GRAVITY hanging limply from their mouth.

I want a print for my office to hold staring contests with. I want it perfectly seated behind my chair so when I get up during a video conference or interview the other side is left to stare into saturn's eyes until I return

 

CRAB

 Has this ever happened to you? You want to run a game with mechs but the system you built for the game is trash- and now you don't know which of the many options available suit you? Are you like me, CRAB, one who has this problem? Yes? Yeah me too. There's so many good systems out there, let's do a highlight reel.

LUNATIC CRAB

saturn catches his glimpse in a mirror but the expression is not one of horrible realization but of horrible knowledge and anguish because he knows what he is doing and knows why he must do it and the why is the terrible source of his pale figure misshapen crouched in the dark eyes mad

Two small fish-men in usher uniforms drag a whimpering projector into the room and it screams to life displaying the reel on the bloody wall. 

CRAB

I've been in a mood for mechs as of late. Mecha is a whale I will break a thousand lances tilting at and then a thousand more before I find that two thousand and first lance that, being probably a harpoon, doesn't break- discard it and begin again.

Where was I going again?

Let's take a look at some mecha systems:

 

Mecha Hack: Based on the Black Hack, the Mecha Hack is the most "traditional" of the bunch I have here today as it really is just a reskin of black hack with mecha characteristics applied. It does a good job of it,  

Apocalypse Frame: Powerful combat, tactical choices that make sense, sense of really being an "ace" pilot. Armored Core on paper. Lumen has some very tasty synergies here. I especially like the way advancement is handled in Apocalypse Frame, being shared between Ace Advances, which are slight buffs to the aces themselves and Weapon/Frame improvement and acquisitions. Also damage is a guaranteed value- it's always 1-5 harm etc etc without dice rolls which allows the Aces to turn some battlefields into more of a controlled environment. Also has an expansion with considerations for a mecha hex crawl. MECHA. HEX. CRAWL. 

Celestial Bodies: Gambling your shots, real piece by piece mech construction, crunchy mech building. It has a few neat mechanics such as the main attributes being spent in combat to make enemy attacks less accurate as well as some crazy missile mechanics where you can plop down missiles and direct them independently at targets. The attack rolls combined with the unique gear grid system really feels smooth. Concept-wise too, the setting is fun.

Beam Saber: Is 438 pages long and much more heavily narrative focused. First rpg to teach me what clocks are years ago and it only took like four rereads of the section (in an old version) to actually understand them. I hear it's great, there's like thirty supplements and a bunch of actual plays and podcasts are out there! Still though, not quite what I'm looking for here.

Steel Hearts: I LIKE A LOT. IT'S VERY GOOD. Uses Evangelion typeset because Sandro isn't a coward. Amazing art.  Building a roll will have you rolling a wild amount of dice and construction of a roll is a bit funky. Gravity is a dope concept. Sick vibes, Mekton heritor in style and then some [complimentary]. I dig the setting and all the flare put into it. Also that character sheet? Lovely. The game is generally more focused on fighting monsters than fighting mechs, but also makes room for mech v mech fights- including Trauma From The Consequences Of War! Stratagems are a great way to highlight individual skills/actions, and the tension system for monsters is something I'll be thinking about for awhile. Bezel and resonance though- not present in my campaign.

Mekton Zeta: No one should play Mekton, probably. Does it have a cool lifepath system? Yes. Is it stylistic as all hell to the point of being unreadable? Sort of. Is the best copy I have of it a blurry scan at the best of times? Also yes. Does its professions list include Lawyer, Housewife, and (checks notes) Hello Nurse? Yes. Are its attributes/statistics/skills nonsensical to the point of being willfully malicious? Possibly. Could I spend over 10,000 words of spilled digital ink in lament and praise of this relic? Probably. And does it have one of the most robust mecha construction systems out there? You betcha.

CRAB

Damn. Honestly the more I read Steel Hearts again the more I'm drawn in by the charm alone.

LUNATIC CRAB

you aren't even considering the warhammer40k evangelion hack

CRAB

Of course not, it doesn't Fit My Theme. And also it's warhammer40k and that's a whole different barrel of headless fish to go into the guts of its system. 

LUNATIC CRAB

he walks the abyss, tall as wind

CRAB

Of course I'm not just going to reuse my heartbreaker, it's trash. At one point a player rolled 16 dice to complete an impossible feat. 

LUNATIC CRAB

and was it awesome

CRAB

Fine. But I'm going to chew on it some more. I want something clean and easy, simple with impact and probably only runnable at my table- as all the best heartbreakers and house rules are. Something that bleeds steel and jams its reactor core full of esoterica.

LUNATIC CRAB

the sun resides within me

CRAB

I'm only 40% sure that's a real quote at this point, and honestly you're starting to bug me out.

CRAB scuttles out of the pile of corpses and down the hallway, the fish-men pack the sobbing projector and hurry after. LUNATIC CRAB begins rising up into the moonlight and rotating at a 45 degree angle faster and faster. 

TO BE CONTINUED?