MACU-2 Snow Leopard/MIU-1 Kodiak MK3

[Freak]

That's alot of backups.

[Meph]

One can never have enough backups! Great progress btw.

[Berkut]

its not dead!....yet, lol. Sorry for the lack of updates guys, last year of college is insane. Anyways I've been thinking of a melee weapon, so decided to go with a spear type weapon. Introducing: Pneumatic Combat Lance tipped with a High Frequency Blade. This thing would cut a mech in half with a single swing and there aren't really any countermeasures to it like with ranged weaponry. The two main downsides are that it only lasts 2-3 strikes and of course getting this close to a mech, but around the corner encounters in our age of ranged weapons happen more than one would expect.(any ex mech warrior 4 players know what I mean).

[Monkey Boy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lance is a stabbing weapon - if you are going to swing it, it's a glaive or naginata - sorry! But c'mon, how about a vibro-hedge-trimmer, or chainsaw?

welcome back, nice to see an update.

[Berkut]

Well....its mostly supposed to be used exactly like a spear/lance, especially good if the mech is in wheeled mode or running fast to add some momentum. The "cut a mech in half" was just an expression, lol. But potentially one can swing it too I guess. I was gonna call it a spear, but lance seemed more appropriate for a european unit.

chainsaw just seems too....low tech. My choise was really between some high frequency vibrating blade and something along the lines of a plasma torch (if I ever get around to making more mechs will prolly use that for one of them).

[juanmanuel]

Nice going! There is a lot of work you've done there, and it shows.
Congratulations.

[Meph]

Nice progress mate! Love the idea of the lance!.
Just a suggestion fo course, but If you want to keep it in a European flavour, you can call it a 'Hasta' or 'Pilum'. Hasta is the name for the stabbing spear the Roman soldiers carried, it later evolved into the Pilum with was actually a dedicated throwing spear with a soft 'neck' that would bend after impact so the enemy couldn't throw it back.
you could have your lance put on a hydraulic mechanism for that ultra-nasty stabbing and even have it catapulted or detached in case it's a direct hit but embedded too deep into the other mech to cleanly pull it out in hectic close-quarters combat. In case the stabbed mech turns away from the blow, that it doesn't drag the attacking mech with it?

[Monkey Boy]

I like the sound of that - a heavy duty, violent extention mechanism to thrust it out very fast and the plasma tip could help here too.

[Berkut]

thanks guys

err, the thrusting of the lance was part of the attack ideology all along...I suppose I just didn't really know the difference between pneumatic and hydraulic. Looked it up, seems hydraulics are way more powerful, so yea, will use that, thanks for the idea. I'm aware of those roman throwing short spears and was thinking about that, but I decided the fact that they're one time use is a drawback in this case. I kinda wanted the spear to be reusable at least a few times.

Right now it works more like a pike basically (I just like the lance in the context of knights cooler, lol). The tip activates (vibrates at huge frequency) and the spear mechanism extends the spear at huge speed and then almost as quickly pulls it back into normal position. Allowing the mech to attack the same opponent again, or if enemy is damaged enough, move onto the next opponent.

[Monkey Boy]

I don't think you should over-engineer it, but have you considered something built into the tip that expands after penetration to do maximum damage to internal electronics etc, or perhaps spray plasma, or even acid into the enemy's internals? Or would this be breaking even the Mecha Geneva Convention?

Yeah, I agree the idea of mecha-knights jousting *is* pretty cool!