Living Battlemechs, or Organic Mechs.

[Davor]

Well I bought some PDF's from the Catalyst site, thinking I was going to come back into Battletech. Well life took me in a different direction. Well I finally got my first taste of Battletech again, and want to get back in. For some reason, I got "GW" thinking in my head. I kept thinking I needed Battletech minis to play. Well yes I know, I don't need it, I could use what ever I want, but I still couldn't "get it out of my head."

Well finally after buying the Marik PDF, I want to start some games with my son. I have no ink in my printer so I can't print out the mins that Catalyst gave us or the map. So I finally downloaded the miniture rules, and will use them with my GW minis. It's just me and my son, so who cares what anyone thinks.

So this got me thinking, I want to use my Tyranids as Bio Mechs, or Living Battlemechs. This will have to do untill, the Boxset finally comes out.

Since I love to customize my mechs, how could I use Biomechs fluff wise. Yes I know there is no such thing in the Battletech Universe, but if there were going to be, how do you think they would act or behave? What house or Clan do you think would use them. I know nothing of Blake or World of Blake or anything past the introduction of the Clans. I would not have these as aliens, since to my knowledge BT doesn't have any. So it would be a house, or maybe the Outer Periphery (don't know much about them either) maybe stumbled apon a world with these creatures/biomechs and become synced with them ala Avater or something like that.

I guess I am looking for some good ideas to start off, before my mind goes onto something else. I may even try and model some of this stuff onto my minis, if I like the fluff enough. I just don't want to be way out there, and would like to keep it Battletechish, if possible at all.

So what do you think? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Yes I know alot of people would say this is impossible. Well nothing is impossible in your own house right? All I need is some good ideas to help me get going.

What can I use a Tyranid Gaunt as? Compare a Tyranid mini to a Battletech mini it's quite big, so what do you think it would be? A lite mech? Heavy Mech? What kind of weaponry do you think it would have? Would a Carnifex mini be too big? I think it would, but for fun how can it be incorperated into a game? What about Dark Angel Space Marines? Terminators, Orks, a Dreadnaught and a Landspeeder. What can I use them as?

I have Total Warfare, and the Tech Manual as well as the TRO sheets of 3085 and the latest PDF Marik Book. So with what I have, any ideas please? 

I want to get back into Battletech, so I have to make do with what I have right now. I don't want to fall off again and not do anything anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

*edit* I got the idea looking through the Catalyst products and noticed a guy riding a gianl lizard. So I was thinking what if these lizards were bigger. So that is where I got this idea. If I get this book, will there be more info like that inside?

[Johnny 'NKH' Leyland]

The Interstellar Players books focus on unproven far-out conspiracy theories in the BT universe, and one of these has a section on the Genecaste. These guys are basically a fugitive people who've tinkered with their DNA to a huge extent so that they can survive on worlds where other humans can't.

Going by the principle of 'in for a penny, in for a pound', you can stretch that to include the Genecase modifying some of the large reptiles known to exist in the galaxy. For example, there is a reptile species of 'dragon' that are nearly mech-sized, I've seen an illustration of them fighting a Cattlemaster. There are dinosaur analogues too. 


Another option is a straight cross-over. You'd probably have to use the cute lil Rippers as regular nids, and Gaunts as the fatty Synapse creatures and big monsters.

[DevianID]

Wasn't there some godzilla scenario published a while ago?  That might work, put down a carnifex that takes up 7 hexes (like a drop ship), and have a lance try and take it on!  I would forget about mech-sized monsters as the gants just dont do it aesthetically when scaled to mechs, though the warrior's large size may be a convincing assault mech analog, and its scale is not too out of place.

[Stormfury]

Catalyst does CthuluTech. Might be worth a look?

[PeripheryPirate]

Wasn't there some godzilla scenario published a while ago?

Yes, a LONG while ago. It was MechForce Quarterly.

[Solarmech]

I actually came up wuth a whole set of rules for Biomechs. Might still have them around someplace. sm

[RAE]

Catalyst does CthuluTech. Might be worth a look?

Well, for one thing, they no loger do it. For another, CthulhuTech is much less 'Lovecraft meets BattleTech' as its name suggest, more like 'Lovecraft meets Neon Genesis Evangelion' in fact.

I actually like the idea of Genecaste secretely breeding giant alien monsters to fight BattleMechs. I can even see it as an in-universe sci-fi holovid. The rules and recordsheets could be easily modified to represent those beast, just drop most of the ranged weaponry, make their physical attacks more potent, change 'armor' to 'carpace', MASC to some sort of special adrenaline gland that boosts speed, BAP to 'heightened scent mutation', etc.

[AirmanR]

Hey guys!

I just wanted to point out that we have a whole thread going on in the Periphery section dedicated to the unknown dangers and threats of the Deep Periphery! You guys should come down there and share!

We have a few negative nancy's, but we're ignoring them. :) It is a game, so who cares what we do with it as long as we have fun? :)

[RedMarauder]

Well, for one thing, they no loger do it. For another, CthulhuTech is much less 'Lovecraft meets BattleTech' as its name suggest, more like 'Lovecraft meets Neon Genesis Evangelion' in fact.

This part of your post is disturbing.  A game that produces nothing but a bunch of psychotic Shinjis?  I'll stay away thank you.

And how hard is it to smell a battlemech?

[Orin J.]

And how hard is it to smell a battlemech?

depends on the 'mech. you can tell when a Nova Cat's been alpha-striked by the rich smokey smell from the cockpit. and pretty much everywhere else...........

[RAE]

This part of your post is disturbing.  A game that produces nothing but a bunch of psychotic Shinjis?  I'll stay away thank you.

I was talking mostly about 'Mech aesthetics :) CthulhuTech is actually quite a fun game, but it lacks 'giant stompy robots' feel of BattleTech and most of its Mecha elements are clearly inspired by sleek machines of war from anime rather than BattleTech crude walking tanks. So, if the original poster wants to keep the BattleTech aesthetics, just with added elements of organic BattleMech equivalents, then CthulhuTech is not really what he needs, I guess.

And how hard is it to smell a battlemech?

Dunno, I tend to keep my BattleMechs clean :)

It was just an example of what could be done with BattleMech recordsheet to represent organic monstrosities. Same rules apply, but 'cockpit' becomes a brain, engine turns into heart(s) and actuators become joints and bones. You can actually take something like Atlas recordsheet, change all the critical systems names to internal organs names, change its speed to 5/8 (maybe even faster and all the construction rules be damned, they're taking all the fun out of it :) ), disregard all the ranged weapons (except, maybe, for the machine guns - they could represent either little parasites that live on the giant monsters body and descend from its carpace to devour PBIs, or spore lauchers, or whatever), leave him two punch attacks with -1 target number modifier ('cause, you know, it's a war beast specifically trained to reap BattleMechs apart, not a bulky machinery) and double all the damage from his physical attacks. Or even triple it, if you want to scare the hell out of your players :)

[Davor]

So if I use a Termagant, and make it a 50 ton mech, would it be beliavable when side by side a Battletech? Or should it be a 25 ton mech? I don't think it would have LRM or SRM on it, unless it is like a Porcupine which shoots out spikes. I would be using the exact rules but just calling it a different name.

So what weapons should I stick to? Flammers and maybe short range weaponry. I don't know, do you think giant dinorsaurs would have long range weaponry? If so, what would I call them?

[Carbon Elasmobranch]

So if I use a Termagant, and make it a 50 ton mech, would it be beliavable when side by side a Battletech? Or should it be a 25 ton mech? I don't think it would have LRM or SRM on it, unless it is like a Porcupine which shoots out spikes. I would be using the exact rules but just calling it a different name.

So what weapons should I stick to? Flammers and maybe short range weaponry. I don't know, do you think giant dinorsaurs would have long range weaponry? If so, what would I call them?

Well, dinosaurs might not be able to get away with ranged attacks, but shock organs on electric fish would be a nasty surprise if they were on something that big, in vast numbers.  Of course, in order to move all that charge, the organism would need to consume massive amounts of food.

[worktroll]

In the distant past I used simple rules to make 'Mech-sized beasts - basically they got Internal Structure equivelant to a 'Mech of the same size, plus at best 1 or 2 point armour skin. They could only really damage 'Mechs by ramming, which allowed them to get damaged too.

If you're going a little nastier, you could give them flame breath (as per vehicle flamers, with only 0.5 or 1 ton ammo), acid breath (as per vehicle flamer, but double damage to ferro-fibrous armor and half to other armour).

[DevianID]

As I mentioned before, I dont think the look of the termagant fits well if you say the 'gant is mech sized.  Too big a head, tiny arms, ect.

Though if you HAD to make a termagant, I would make it 20 tons.  The idea is to have a swarm of the things.  Speed is 6/9, 3 tons of armor, light ac/5 with a ton of ammo.  BV 349.

Hormagaunt, Speed 10/15, 20 tons, max armor, TSM.  BV 402.

Ideas for weapon conversions... fleshborer = light ac/5.  Monstrous creature devourer = RAC/5.  Venom cannon = medium rifle.  Heavy Venom cannon = heavy rifle (venom cannons, like rifles, are known to have trouble penetrating armor).  Barbed strangler, thumper artillery cannon.  Heavy Barbed strangler, sniper artillery cannon.

If going gants backed by a monstrous creature modelwise, I would go a swarm of 20 tonners backed by a superheavy mech of 200 tons or some such.  I would make a card sized record sheet for the armor on a gant, so you can get 9 on a page.

[mbear]

In the distant past I used simple rules to make 'Mech-sized beasts - basically they got Internal Structure equivelant to a 'Mech of the same size, plus at best 1 or 2 point armour skin. They could only really damage 'Mechs by ramming, which allowed them to get damaged too.

If you're going a little nastier, you could give them flame breath (as per vehicle flamers, with only 0.5 or 1 ton ammo), acid breath (as per vehicle flamer, but double damage to ferro-fibrous armor and half to other armour).

The AX Acid warhead alternate ammo, and the various fluid gun ammo types from Tactical Operations might be another good source of breath weapons.

[Istal_Devalis]

I'd go for a simpler answer. They're still mechs, but they're just cosmetically designed to look organic.

If you still want ACTUAL organic designs, I still wouldnt change anything when it comes to rules or equipment stats.  Just say it's a functional equivalent that weighs/crits the same and go from there. 

[Davor]

I'd go for a simpler answer. They're still mechs, but they're just cosmetically designed to look organic.

If you still want ACTUAL organic designs, I still wouldnt change anything when it comes to rules or equipment stats.  Just say it's a functional equivalent that weighs/crits the same and go from there.

This is exactly what I want to do. Since me and my son will only need one mech each to start with, I could use a Termagant, and he would use a Dark Angel. So I will use say a medium laser. Just for me, I would try and make it fluffy that is all, because we are using GW minis for the looks. So my Termagant would be a mech using regular IS rules, (I call them bones) then armour, just like regular mechs but be very tough hide like how some dinosaurs have, Like the Tricieritops front head armour.

If I use LRM 20s, what would I call them? That he spits out, locust bugs, that tries and gets into the nooks and crannies of the mech? Since we do have animals that move up to 55 mph (or is it KM/H?) they can run as fast as mech. Since this is Science fiction, why can't we have animals that "run" just as fast as a mech now.

My problem is, I just can't think what to call a medium laser, or if I want to add extra heat sinks, what should I call them? My son will not understand, only being 9 and just getting into Battletech, but more for me, so I can imersive myself into it more. :)

[Johnny 'NKH' Leyland]

My problem is, I just can't think what to call a medium laser,

Anything works, anything at all. All said and done it's just a set of statistics and rules, so you can fluff it as whatever you like. Big gob of acid maybe.

or if I want to add extra heat sinks, what should I call them?

Sweat glands. :D

Or cryo-glands maybe.

[Istal_Devalis]

Missiles?  Drones.  Just smart enough to seek out who you want to seek out, and explode on impact.

Heat Sinks would still be heat sinks, they'd just look different.  Look at the large ears of an animal like the fennec fox. That's a biological heat sink. The large sails/fins on certain reptiles can be thought of similarly.

It's harder to work lasers into an organic system, but not impossible. Just need a focusing lens and sufficient power supply.