'Auxiliaries' - Still Warcriming. (Chapter finished)

[Red Pins]

Well, it took a while, and I had to reorganize my little notebook of designs, but I'm pretty happy with them so far.  Now, there's just the fiddle work of cut-and-paste and margins.  I hadn't seen anything blindingly fast in a TRO, but there were LOTS here on the forum, so I figured I'd start up MML and see what I could come up with.  The Customs Cutter was something I really enjoyed; I always wanted something to play on the River Delta, and this should be fluffed to allow it to cross L0 water.

[Wrangler]

Hmm.....how effective is that?  Machine guns are short range, your buzzing by pretty fast. You'd either have design quirk allow for better accuracy as your flying by with machine guns blazing away or you spending a lot money on at least veteran gunner/pilot with wiping themselves out.

[Red Pins]

Its for cops.   C:-)  They aren't noticeably accurate in 2023 - No reason to suspect they'll be any better in 3176.

Besides, at the time of its design and production, it was used to keep the civilians from fighting each other.  That was it.  Now, if it was a combat vehicle rather than an Auxiliary, I might put on a small pulse or micro pulse on it.

Anyway, its a scout - if it comes down to it its gonna run.

[Red Pins]

Ugh - Heavy weapons not allowed on Small Support Vehicles?  Fine.

I'll use Battlearmor weapons.  Now, I have to make a conversion table to convert BA weapons and equip to the Conventional Infantry Weapons chart.  Well, I need to finish these, then highlight them for attention in the next draft, because I absolutely need to keep going.

[Red Pins]

Well, took some time to think about it, and realized BA weapons would be just too overpowered.  I had the original AP-G, 2xSRT-1, a RL-10...  All on a support vehicle.  So, I came up with 3 options.

1. Use BA weapons and equipment anyway.  There is no reason why this shouldn't be possible - BA is so tiny, they could fit on the SS vehicles easily.  The only drawback here is cost.

2. Allow individual PD-class weapons, then fill out the rest with weapons from the Infantry weapon table.  Could happen - the SS vehicle wouldn't be able to handle the stress put on the frame, etc., taken for granted by regular combat vehicles and BA.

3. Use all the weird, home-rules, "Because its my book and I say so."  No.  I'm planning to break out the BA tech for the drones, a majority will be as small and cheap (Minus the occasional over-the-top, limited production nightmare units that strain credulity.) as possible, but some will require some sort of advanced tech to be viable.  Plus, I thought about a 'campaign legal' variant, but realized it would essentially double the size of the project.

Eventually, I started muttering to myself as I worked, and realized I didn't like any of my options.  So, the next words out of my mouth solved the problem - "I hate this thing already.  I'm tempted to just replace it with a recoilless and be done with it."

Should have something tonight, I have a LOT of work to do but its going to be a pretty simple matter to substitute one and fill out the rest of the options to look like the picture I've selected.

[Red Pins]

Wow, life.  5 and a half hours to put a resin shed up.  I think what really honks me off, is that it wasn't packed with paper instructions.  I had to go home, get a website, and download the pdf, then take my tablet to the site.

And I was still short one support rod and a single screw.  Not impressed.  It had better be 'Lifetime', because I won't be recommending their product or buying a new one.

But, here's an updated screenshot.  Thank heavens for MML.

[Red Pins]

Wow, work is kicking my ass!  This is why I took a break last year - my normal work inside, and 5 hours of yardwork, half the park watered, and a hockey rink and 100 m fence to do tomorrow before tackling the pine needles half the length of the block and the fenced-in Kindergarten play area - full of pine needles and teacher crap!  Why they felt a need to put it in the worst possible area, no grass, no drainage, teacher stuff everywhere...  Its impossible to keep clean.  But, I got a bit done today.

This is a big jump, from 3000 kg to 45 tons, I'm considering what else I could put in to expand the chapter slightly in the 5-10 ton range, so if you have a suggestion that isn't a VTOL, say so.  (I'm considering a WiGE but don't have a clue what role it would perform.)  Anyway, here's the new screenshot.

[DOC_Agren]

liking the flying boat

[Red Pins]

Thanks'.  I'm still trying to figure out if it needs the 'Prop' chassis mod.  I can't find any information in TM, so I think I'm going to put a red highlight on it for later and just ask in the TM thread while I move on to the Dog and the Avalanche Small Craft, but 5 tons of cargo is the absolute minimum I'm going to accept along with the iAC/2s.  It's been a favourite since starting the Battlearmor section last year.

Both will probably take full pages, since they're the Aux MBT equivalent with 6-7 variants and the foulest mod of a civilian cargo lighter I could come up with.

[Wrangler]

Are you going to have coast guard cutters, Template A or B?  They can have something larger than a Battle Armor scale weapon on detect and still considered to be auxilary.  Or better yet a freighter turned mobile small airfield.

[Red Pins]

Kinda.  The Harvester Technical carries Drone Hangars, essentially a single drone box launcher or silo.  Once it launches, it has to land somewhere else, though.  No recovery once they launch.

The Cutter was supposed to be a turret-mounted AP-G with 3 mg (support) guns on 3 arcs, but I changed it because I didn't think it was legal to a heavy recoilless.  The variants are essentially gutted to install a drone rack of micro-or Light drones, they'll be recoverable.

[idea weenie]

Kinda.  The Harvester Technical carries Drone Hangars, essentially a single drone box launcher or silo.  Once it launches, it has to land somewhere else, though.  No recovery once they launch.

Can the drone land on a stretch of Clear terrain next to the Harvester, then the Harvester picks it up and puts the drone back in the Hangar?

[Red Pins]

Can the drone land on a stretch of Clear terrain next to the Harvester, then the Harvester picks it up and puts the drone back in the Hangar?

Depends.  I haven't gotten there yet, but my notes already have some E-VILL descriptions of seaborne drones/robots as escorts for the Harvesters, and the lift hoists are still in place.  I suppose I could add Amphibious WiGE or aircraft.

*edit-The big problem here is crew.  For each crewman, I need 5 tons of cargo as quarters, minimum.  The Harvester is 150 tons, but there's less room than you might think.  For various reasons, the New Clans ARE NOT going to invest in massive projects like dedicated surface warships.

Also, the idea of a 'Drone/Robot Hangar' is a sealed, prepped vehicle ready to launch.  The Hangar and drone are combined in a rear area by techs, then sent back out.

[Red Pins]

What a load of garbage - I was using Megameklab to try and squeeze out the errors from the Cutter, and I have issues.

1. MML says I have 601 tons of chassis and controls.  What?  So, I start looking, and the Chassis/Control line is actual chassis, Adv F-C, and seating, which adds up to 601.
Chassis   216
Adv F-C    10
Seating   375
             601

Engine, Fuel, Armor, HRR & 21 Ammo, 3xMG-P/3 ammo, plus 1/2 kg due to rounding.  All normal.

But - the best I can come up with, is 1,818 kg.  Because I have one space left at this point, I shove it all into cargo, which should be (3000-1818=)1182 kg.

MML swears I have 1275 kg left for cargo.  Anybody dealt with this?  Because I'm about to claim MML has a bug and use my paper numbers.  I'm stumped.

[Red Pins]

Gave up on the Cutter for now; enough confusion about it despite re-doing it multiple times isn't getting anything else done, and I want the Auxiliaries done this weekend so I can putter around making sure the redesign boxes are identical and doing some formatting and editing.  Then, the Extra-Light Mech rules.  Ugh.  Like protos, but just different enough to make them a real pain in the butt.

As a bonus, the first bit on the Dog Armored Logistic Transport.  Love this image!  Love it.

*edit-Looking into a Collapsible Command Module for vehicles.  I might just fluff it as a temporary building strapped to the flatbed.  Also, the Thunderbolt-TOW system; wire guided Thunderbolt missiles - very accurate dependent on LOS, weather conditions but with a bonus to-hit with called shot.  Still needs a rewrite, but construction stuff is ready.

[Red Pins]

Things are slowing down a bit - exhaustion, really.  This week, I start trimming and mowing the grounds, about an hour-and-a-half to trim, mow, and water a different section.  Anyway, I'm mostly done the Dog - just the variants using the 20-tons of Cargo for different purposes.

And I had a lot of fun with the other designs on the second page - a bit of word-play left me snickering in amusement walking the grounds.  I figured out a decent name for the next one, too - the Avalanche.  Not sure if I want to call it a Landing Craft-ELM, Assault Boat...  It will carry a minimum of actual weapons in favor of 5 ELMs and a couple BA squads (6 ELM/BA L2 for the WoB), maybe an Arrow IV - I'm going for utility, ranged support, and a variety of ammunition.

[Red Pins]

Well, two days of working with MML, trying to use the program to create the base variant, then use the computer to crunch the numbers for the different variants of the Dog - 5 Fire Support, Artillery, MASH, Drone Controller, Utility (to place portable turrets), Command, EW/AA, and Drone (Suicide Nuke) - and it saved them all as invalid files, except for the original and the Conjectural combat vehicle.  It isn't a complete loss, but its a bloody waste of my time, so its back to paper, pen, and my digital copy of TM and the House rules for stuff like the Thunderbolt-TOW and Improved Autocannons.

Might be able to finish the Dog this weekend, but I wanted to get a woodworking project off my back so my kid would leave me alone, so probably on paper this weekend and transcribe it Monday night if nothing else happens. 

Oh, heck.  Murphy has been invoked, hasn't he?

In the meantime, working ahead on the Avalanche, so I have something to post.

*Edit - Not seen are variants for Drone (Kinetic Ram, Chemical Attacker-fluid sprayer, nuclear suicide charge), Passenger, ASF Tanker Support - I think I forgot a couple I thought of spreading fertilizer on the lawn today, but that should be enough for another 2 page entry, maybe three.

[Red Pins]

Between format and trying to calculate the homebrew stuff, gunners, and Adv F-C tonnage for each one, its a bit of a circular firing squad.  I'm giving up for tonight, but the Dog will be done tomorrow, come heck or overly dramatic kids.

I got the first of a company of new mechs 3d printed - Starslayer, Wolfhound, Dragon Fire, and Cicada.  I want them painted for next week, and that means youtube tutorials, so I need to get the Dog finished and the Avalanche started.

At least the format will carry over.  I was trying to squeeze in two variants side-by-side in one column, and while it may have been ok for another entry, I've decided I need to take another look and finalize it for the whole book, or I'm going to keep waffling back and forth and wasting time.

[Red Pins]

Well, I've settled the format issues, but another has raised its ugly head; MML will not allow me to modify the support vehicle to save it with weapons and be able to re-open it later, it keeps saving it as a generic file not a .blk.  (Looking back over some of the files I have saved for different vehicles and Mech variants for later chapters, it puts a massive hole in the work I've been considering finished.)  I've wasted enough time on MML for now, so its definitely back to paper and pencil tomorrow.  I hope to have something to post then.

This thing was supposed to be one of the main vehicles of the Blakist Invasion, with 14 variants so far (*Plus the field kitchen I just thought of, plus the Drone carrier I missed, an eye-popping 16 variants so far - I'm sure a glance through TO will bring something else up - so perhaps this will expand to a third page.

Bad sign for the Avalanche, since it was intended to be a similarly common vehicle given the AS-bent of the WoB as they prepared to isolate and defeat in detail the Toumans of the NCs.

*-edit - For all the annoying details, there's only five which include fanon.  The other variants all use canon equipment, so hopefully some of those will be done during lunch tomorrow.  Its a full day of gardening, plus the standard grind, plus the workback hour to clean light fixtures, so its going to be busy.

[Red Pins]

OK!  Forward momentum!  I actually have more to type up, but with the basics covered its easy to come up with variants right now.  Anyway, I might completely cover the title page with the variants - 18 or so, total.  Anyway, off to bed.  Another full day of yard work, putting out ground cover pellets, trimming some fencelines, posting "Don't chain your bike to this fence or I'll cut your lock and make you apologize"-signs, and moving and chaining some hockey nets the community association won't take responsibility for.  Oh, and going on the roof for balls and inspecting exhaust fans.  I hate that ladder!

At least the irrigation in the park is up -  the teachers are being whiney the sand hasn't been delivered for the long jump pits, but they don't kick the kids out of them when they want to play in them!  Serves them right.

Oh, and here's a new screenshot.  iACs are Metalstorm guns; preloaded, electronic ignition, DAKKA, DAKKA, DAKKA, DAKKA - CLICK.

[Wrangler]

I think you doing great job, Red Pins.  I do think in the begging of the book when you do publish it you need a legend for the systems.  Not everyone reading it will get what the initials are unless those are temporary.

[Red Pins]

Yeah I'm using the old homebrew tech for the original, never finished project.  Actually, I forgot to add a TM-style chart and rule section...  Damn, the file is already 40-60 pages and incomplete to boot.  More work.

[namar13766]

Yeah I'm using the old homebrew tech for the original, never finished project.  Actually, I forgot to add a TM-style chart and rule section...  Damn, the file is already 40-60 pages and incomplete to boot.  More work.

Just focus on the Auxiliaries for now. Your homebrew Tech Manual can wait for a later project.

[Red Pins]

Yeah, it's nuts at work with all the watering and such, and starting to reno the house and rental property, just trying to finish these is a struggle.  It's why I took a break last summer, but if I do that again nothing gets done.  And I'm tired of not finishing projects.

[namar13766]

If you want to mount Battle Armor weaponry on these things I was thinking about these rules from the TRO: Syberia.

Units can mount all non-missile battle armor weapons and equipment on their Mechs and other non-battle armor combat units.

When doing so, however, the weight of all battle armor weapon systems mounted on anything other than battle armor must be rounded up to the nearest multiple of 250 kilograms (one quarter-ton), and take up 1 critical slot (regardless of size). All battle armor weapons (and TAG systems) mounted on a non-battle armor units in this way are treated as heavy weapons for the purposes of targeting system weights and the like.

Battle Armor-based energy weapons (including TAG systems) need no ammo if they are mounted on a fusion-powered unit, but they will generate 1 point of heat per 250 kg of mass. Ammo-based battle armor weapons are treated as though they carry a single standard magazine in their weight and slot space, but may carry additional ammo in 50-kilogram increments, with each ton of extra ammo (or fraction thereof) taking up critical slots on the unit’s record sheet as normal.

Non-weapon battle armor equipment mounted on non-battle armor units use their standard weights, but each occupies 1 critical slot per item. Special Note: battle armor-based stealth gear, including ECM suites and digital camo-systems, are ineffective on units that weigh 3 tons or more in total mass.

[Red Pins]

But I want to keep a tissue-thin coating of legality!   ;D

[Red Pins]

Finally done.  Still have to fix some formatting, but its later than I'd like.  Going to need some time to check everything to insure consistency later.

[Red Pins]

Stick a fork in it - its done.  Looks ok, still a couple issues highlighted like the city nuked on Sonoma, waiting for a couple questions to be answered, and I'm waffling about the mass of the Missile Tube (Arrow IV).

So, final for this draft.

[namar13766]

According to Sarna, you get 5 Arrow-IV missiles for a single ton, so that means that a single Arrow-IV should be 0.2 tons or 200 kg.

Assuming your Legacy Cluster Missile Tube is a One-Shot equivalent of the Arrow-IV, that means that single Missile Tube is 3 tons and takes up 1 slot, but can mount any single Arrow-IV alternative ammunition.

I guess that makes sense.

Edit: I’m not criticizing or anything, I just want to make sure I’m following it right.

[Red Pins]

According to Sarna, you get 5 Arrow-IV missiles for a single ton, so that means that a single Arrow-IV should be 0.2 tons or 200 kg.

Assuming your Legacy Cluster Missile Tube is a One-Shot equivalent of the Arrow-IV, that means that single Missile Tube is 3 tons and takes up 1 slot, but can mount any single Arrow-IV alternative ammunition.

I guess that makes sense.

Edit: I’m not criticizing or anything, I just want to make sure I’m following it right.

Yup, good logic. :thumbsup:  However, I'm waffling about bumping it up to 4 tons, to reflect duplicating equipment in the launcher for the single missile.

It will be either 3 or 4 tons, but still waffling.  Required crits will be 1 or 2, depending on whether I crib from Clan (12 crits or 2.something) or IS (15 crits or individually 3 crits).  Since they have Clan info and their intro date is 2850, I think I can justify the smaller dimensions.