Topic Three: Designing War Mount Fundamentals

[Premier]

I have been asked numerous times about what approaches do I take when designing or coming up with War Mounts or creatures. I have been meaning to post this for some time now and finally, after today, another inquiry reminded me that I needed to go ahead and post my basic fundamentals on the subject. I hope these will be helpful to those curious or seeking to design War Mounts. Rather its for their own Great House or a rival Great House or just for the fun of it or for a special request to the Librarian for a special design as a Test Pilot Outrider to test a new War Mount design. Have fun with these and please feel free to post your feedback, suggestions and your own approaches.

Designing War Mount Fundamentals

Step 1. Define the primary purpose of the a War Mount to be designed.
What is its main function, its primary role and how will it best go about doing it in an efficient manner? Are there other War Mounts that currently fulfill this role already?
This will help determine the physical form necessary to fulfill the task. Reference as many animals, creatures and machines that fulfill the role or primary function that you seek. Study how they do it and what makes them efficient at it. This will help you identify the necessary or common denominator form(s) and help define a possible morphology that will be necessary or ideal for the function. The more you review, the better equipped you are with the knowledge and references that you will need to make a good and feasible write up about your War Mount and what it will need to perform and how it does it.

Step 2. Be creative and provocative and help define the unique feature of the War Mount and avoid being competitive or over compensating with your design.
Often times I have read designs and can see how writers are trying to devise a concoction that will optimistically garner other players/GM's respect for the design "statistically" speaking, but not necessarily in the ingenuity department. With War Mounts, it is important to instill a creative balance from the very beginning. Don't start a standard War Mount out with a ton of bonuses, enhancements and weapons that would otherwise been great for the player to have worked for. A few Biotech Enhancements and physical capabilities is all that is needed for a standard base War Mount to build upon. Players should enjoy the War Mount without any enhancements. Adding them should be the fun part of customization and the development path of the Outrider. Usually one unique or key feature is a good start to have. If its designed for speed then give it a natural build for fast speed. If its designed for being a transport then give it the unique feature that makes it a good transport. If its meant for digging or close range or long range then provide the focal necessity to fulfill that primary function. the key is identifying that and not being distracted or trying to compensate for all of the other faults. Faults or short comings help gel game balance, so don't try to compensate for them. Let that be up to the players to handle and work out.

Step 3. Invest the correct amount of Bio-E for a standard "start up" War Mount only, don't go over board. Please, keep in mind that the Primary function should dictate the amount of Bio-E and the type of enhancement(s) you install into the War Mount. Something small to medium size should not have a ton of initial abilities and enhancements. Something as large as a Dracos or larger should have more to help it fulfill its task better.

A summary of the core War Mounts may help identify a pattern.

Behemoth: 2 Heavy weapons systems, 4.2 tons, Rough estimate of 610 Bio-E spent.
Dracos: 4 (2 heavy, 1 light, 1 utility) versatile weapon systems, 6 tons. Rough estimate of 246 Bio-E spent.
Gorehound: 0 weapons systems besides physical capabilities. Only enhancements by Packmaster give Gorehounds potential weapon systems (75 Bio-E each). 350-500 pounds.
Grendel: 4 (2 medium and 2 light) versatile weapons systems, 1.2 - 2 tons. Rough estimate of 206 Bio-E spent.
Leviathan: 3 (2 heavy, one utility) versatile weapons systems, 4 tons. Rough estimate of 190 Bio-E spent.
Strider: 3 (2 medium, 1 light) versatile weapon systems, 800-1000 pounds. Rough estimate of 55 Bio-E spent.
Zephyr: 3 (one heavy, one medium, one light) weapon systems, 3.2 tons. Rough estimate of 105 Bio-E spent.

Average Bio-E spent on investment is between 201-212, with the lowest being 0-55 and the highest being 246-610. The Behemoths focus on Casting "Cannons" and the amount of organic rockets is what cost so much in the initial investment. I would take that into account as most of the arsenal starts off with the lighter versions and far less munitions. If the Behemoth was among its peers in average Bio-E imputed, then the average goes down to about 156 Bio-E initially invested for War Mounts that are not pack mounts.
So you might ask; How many Weapons should I start a standard War Mount with?

Notes:
A. No more than 4 weapons systems, often if it is four than at least one is an utility styled weapon. Its OK to have only a few weapon systems to start with for a standard design. Its also OK to start with none if its based on the roles of the War Mounts making up a collective such as pack hunters where they will be upgraded and customized by their corresponding leader O.C.C.
B. Weapons elected help support the War Mounts function.
C. The heavier, larger War Mounts appear to have the more powerful arsenal packages. They also have the greater risks.
D. None of the core War Mounts have any Bio-Enhancements/capabilities or benefits imputed into their initial designs. However, they may have unique features that make them suitable and efficient for their primary function. Its ok to create unique weapons or enhancements for the War Mount as long as they align and support the function of the War Mount and have some reasonable game balancing mechanics. Keep in mind, just because you can argue a reason to support your concept doesn't automatically validate the use of it.
E. Let the Players enjoy spending the points, earning and spending more. Not the Designer.

Step 4: Take your War Mount out for a test run. Test it in game play and among peers who will give you an honest assessment and feedback. Post it on the forums and request constructive critic and suggestions. These are not people who are going to easily spare your feelings, but they will tell you what they think of the War Mount with a constructive mindset and supportive. They will do this, NOT to tear you down or to help comb your ego, but to simply be honest with you to help you develop a solid outcome. They should not mean you any harm with their views or opinions. Review and entertain the constructive critics and see if they are valid. This doesn't mean you have to listen to every suggestion or critic. Not everyone is correct nor is everyone wrong. Different doesn't mean better. But if you do find a suggestion(s) to be helpful or angles that may help your design, test them and see if the results are better or improved? If not, you always have your initial foundation to fall back on. So don't get married to the design and become easily offended. Accept that not everyone is going to like your War Mount. Some people simply fancy different aesthetics, types or functions.


Cheers,
Chuck

[Premier]

Now that I have presented the basic fundamentals that I use, I invite you all to enjoy an interactive experiment and walk through with designing one here on the forums in this thread.

So lets tackle Step one and try to identify a major function that we think the Resistance could use a War Mount for. Please post your suggestion(s) below and I will take the most commonly/voted suggestion and we will go to Step Two thereafter. I will be drawing along our online process so that we define a worthy War Mount.

[kaid]

One thing splicers could potentially use would be a subterranean assault/siege warmount. Something that could help assault large machine facilities by burrowing up from underneath them. Something along the lines of a midgaard serpent type model large and snakey capable of cutting a path or carrying enough splicers to make a large insertion into a hardened base.

Weapons maybe some kind of large scale metal eating acid breath type mod head mounted weaponry so it can submerge under ground again if it takes to much beating.

[Premier]

One thing splicers could potentially use would be a subterranean assault/siege warmount. Something that could help assault large machine facilities by burrowing up from underneath them. Something along the lines of a midgaard serpent type model large and snakey capable of cutting a path or carrying enough splicers to make a large insertion into a hardened base.

Weapons maybe some kind of large scale metal eating acid breath type mod head mounted weaponry so it can submerge under ground again if it takes to much beating.

This "function" is already a completed slot and will be revealed in the Legion Adventure in one of the upcoming episodes.
However, with that being said, your suggestion is not out of the question and could be a nice new development or release from a different Great House.
After all, great minds do think alike.

[NMI]

One thing splicers could potentially use would be a subterranean assault/siege warmount. Something that could help assault large machine facilities by burrowing up from underneath them. Something along the lines of a midgaard serpent type model large and snakey capable of cutting a path or carrying enough splicers to make a large insertion into a hardened base.

Weapons maybe some kind of large scale metal eating acid breath type mod head mounted weaponry so it can submerge under ground again if it takes to much beating.

This "function" is already a completed slot and will be revealed in the Legion Adventure in one of the upcoming episodes.
However, with that being said, your suggestion is not out of the question and could be a nice new development or release from a different Great House.
After all, great minds do think alike.

There is also the Tunnel Rat Warmount of Slappy's that he created here on the forums.

[Premier]

One thing splicers could potentially use would be a subterranean assault/siege warmount. Something that could help assault large machine facilities by burrowing up from underneath them. Something along the lines of a midgaard serpent type model large and snakey capable of cutting a path or carrying enough splicers to make a large insertion into a hardened base.

Weapons maybe some kind of large scale metal eating acid breath type mod head mounted weaponry so it can submerge under ground again if it takes to much beating.

This "function" is already a completed slot and will be revealed in the Legion Adventure in one of the upcoming episodes.
However, with that being said, your suggestion is not out of the question and could be a nice new development or release from a different Great House.
After all, great minds do think alike.

There is also the Tunnel Rat Warmount of Slappy's that he created here on the forums.

Heck Yeah!!! The Tunnel Rat is a wonderful burrower, and a pack of them can do significant damage and sabotage to machine facilities if well coordinated.

[kaid]

Well if you already have something brewing for that slot I think the next gap filler for splicers would be some kind of dedicated anti air ground unit. Other war mounts can help with that with organic missiles and what not but having something that is excellent at tracking/targeting/shooting air units is something splicers can really use. One of the biggest advantage on unit by unit basis for the machine is air power. Mechanical vehicles can be made to go a LOT faster than biological ones likely can be made to go and they also have more eyes in the sky which makes air travel for splicers dangerous at best.

So it behoves splicers to come up with what they can for anti air denial units to at least keep the air threats pushed back as far away from the battle space as they can manage.

[Premier]

Well if you already have something brewing for that slot I think the next gap filler for splicers would be some kind of dedicated anti air ground unit. Other war mounts can help with that with organic missiles and what not but having something that is excellent at tracking/targeting/shooting air units is something splicers can really use. One of the biggest advantage on unit by unit basis for the machine is air power. Mechanical vehicles can be made to go a LOT faster than biological ones likely can be made to go and they also have more eyes in the sky which makes air travel for splicers dangerous at best.

So it behoves splicers to come up with what they can for anti air denial units to at least keep the air threats pushed back as far away from the battle space as they can manage.

ah.... Now THIS! This is a really....good niche to fill. I'm digging this function need. Great suggestion Kaid!!!!

Any others?

[kaid]

One other idea I had kicking around is the mobile armored command outpost. Gardeners do a great job of setting up defenses but those defenses are static and take a while to get up to speed in a new area. I was thinking something like the old fantasies of turtles so big they have an island on their back. But in this case more of a large turtle like warmount that has gardener grown plants on its shell. So when it retracts into itself it basically looks like small hill or mound. Have a passenger area inside it where it could hold a small squad and act as a mobile large bio comm relay point due to gardener roots on it.

They could work with gardeners to work their way into enemy territory slowly and then setup shop and setup the organic plant defenses for a nice mobile hidden in plain sight command and control node to help coordinate splicer strikes by extending their range/providing food/sustanence and a defensive base to fall back to if things go wrong. Being able to work in tandem with gardeners would allow for a very flexible configurability of this warmount and even could be modified in the field without needing to come back to base.

It would also allow the foliage on it to be changed or added to or removed to help prevent the machine from keying in on it easily with arial spotters and to better match the terrane it is in.

[Premier]

One other idea I had kicking around is the mobile armored command outpost. Gardeners do a great job of setting up defenses but those defenses are static and take a while to get up to speed in a new area. I was thinking something like the old fantasies of turtles so big they have an island on their back. But in this case more of a large turtle like warmount that has gardener grown plants on its shell. So when it retracts into itself it basically looks like small hill or mound. Have a passenger area inside it where it could hold a small squad and act as a mobile large bio comm relay point due to gardener roots on it.

They could work with gardeners to work their way into enemy territory slowly and then setup shop and setup the organic plant defenses for a nice mobile hidden in plain sight command and control node to help coordinate splicer strikes by extending their range/providing food/sustanence and a defensive base to fall back to if things go wrong. Being able to work in tandem with gardeners would allow for a very flexible configurability of this warmount and even could be modified in the field without needing to come back to base.

It would also allow the foliage on it to be changed or added to or removed to help prevent the machine from keying in on it easily with arial spotters and to better match the terrane it is in.

SWEET!!!! A modified version of the Violet Wave's Iron Warshell perhaps??
Certainly would be very plausible, wonderful design, modifiable and a wonderful addition to the Resistance.

[kaid]

Something along those lines although more of a galapagos variant land turtle. Probably with less directly integrated weaponry to make room for its shell to be seeded with various gardener goodies. Probably also want to give it camoflage or stealth field so it can lurk up into position and then setup shop. Kinda like my pet turtle myrtel. You almost never see her move but she can move quicker than you would expect when not looking at her and is excellent at hiding in plain sight.

[Shark_Force]

liking both the anti-air and mobile command ideas. i'll throw another one into the mix; with the raw power available to melee combat through biotechnology, i'd like to see an extremely fast warmount that can close distances rapidly. ideally one that can carry a few people (particularly people in host armour) along for the ride.

but i'd also love to see a flying (well, more like floating) warmount that can essentially drop people into an area like paratroopers, capable of using a stealth field to look like a cloud. bonus points if you call it a drop bear

[89er]

Since warmounts are such a costly investment of resources, why not create a warmount who deals with recovering injured warmonuts on the surface? A biomechanical flatbed tow truck if you will.

I'm currently going with a huge slug with flexible growths to load the beast on and keep it secure. A few genesistis, saints or such would be on hand to stabilize the warmount until it got to a proper nutrient pool.

Two utility enhancments and one light weapon for self defense.

[kaid]

Some kind of mobile medical warmount is not a bad idea. Even splicer armor is pretty heavy so immobilized/incapacitated units would be something that could be a challenge to get on and off the battle field.

[Premier]

See, THIS is what I am talking about! What a wonderful idea that is being spawned here.

Sharkforce, 89er and Kaid, you guys are pure geniuses!!!

There is indeed a dire need for a covert drop ship and emergency EVAC that can serve as a medical facility to help War Mounts and even Host Armor preservation. War Mounts and Host Armors are the most precious and expensive investment units to any Great House. They require considerable time for gestation to develop in the Gene Pools and utilize a large amount of resources to function in the field. Sure the Dracos serves well as a Paratrooper dropship, but not as a medical EVAC, especially for large unis like War Mounts. Devising a War Mount to help retrieve and preserve them; is a beautiful and long over-due concept. I am all for developing the wonderful innovation of the “Drop Bear/Sky Panda.” The vision of it is already brewing in my head and will likely manifest on paper very soon. So, let’s continue to develop this unit and see what else manifest hereafter.

So, let’s move to Step 2 for this idea and identify the necessary needs and devise the special unique feature(s) for this War Mount.

I think it needs to be durable and stealthy as mentioned by Shark Force. Having a stealth field sounds like a must have for is unit. To best cloak its overall shape in the sky or along the ground, I picture a nice puffy looking (cute looking) War Mount unit sort of panda like. But don’t let its cuteness deceive anyone as it can also handle itself in intense combat very well. Having the necessary First Response staff on board like a Saint plus a few Geneticists also sounds like a wise concept), thanks 89er. Maybe even a few Saints on board to help in the field as they can be deployed to either stabilize/restore severely wounded unit(s) or they can discern that extraction is a dire must and only recourse. I like the idea of some form of large slug gurneys to help slip under, cover, stabilize and move a wounded unit on board the Drop Bear/Sky Panda. The Slug gurneys could be symbiotic with the War Mount or part of its structure almost like side mounted tentacles that are unsheathed from a protective layer of outer armor. Perhaps its puffy armor has hatches that unfold and the slugs are deployed to retrieve anything that is sprayed with a certain chemical that can be sprayed by the deployed Geneticist or Saint. That way a deployed Geneticist or Saint can treat many downed units without having to oversee each EVAC before moving on to the next wounded victim. The Gurney Slugs do the rest quickly and quietly.

Having a Stealth Field is a must as it and its precious cargo needs to be well hidden. It also should be very durable as it might be slow moving when transporting the wounded in comparison to other War Mounts as I don’t see it making high speed evasive maneuvers with Saints and Geneticists on board trying to treat critically wounded victims. So either its armor is going to be very resistant to certain types of attacks or it simply needs a Bio Force Field, perhaps both. Though having both along with a stealth field might be investing too much into a standard start up unit as it hasn’t been armed yet. My vote would be for the Bio Force Field and then a few defensive weapons (i.e.; Super Light Cell Eyes and a few cluster turrets (Spore Dischargers, Bio- Expulsion Vents, EMP pulse Cannon, or something of the sort.) This in conjunction with the War Mount’s natural defensive morphology, a powerful maw, extreme strength, powerful ursine claws backed by powerful, massive arms and who knows what else is what popped in my head.

Keep em coming.

[BookWyrm]

I would like to see all this applied to Feline Warmounts.

[Shark_Force]

i especially like spore discharges for dealing with missile volleys. if you make those dischargers discharge some fairly tough (perhaps reflective) spores, they could also provide an ablative cloud that might disperse some energy attacks to a limited amount and when fired at close range obscure the warmount's location further if the clouds blend in with the warmount a bit. providing its own camouflage, essentially. they could even serve a third purpose of having the spores bond with any metal embedded into wounds within the area, possibly neutralizing the metal by bonding with it chemically to form a salt or something similar (the effectiveness of this should be limited, or the threat of metal getting into a resistance stronghold becomes greatly reduced). these "point defense" spore dischargers wouldn't need to be very upgraded to be useful either, destroying a missile 500 feet away is usually just fine.

on the other hand, spore dischargers only work against the machine, and while i don't think it's a bad idea to have things designed *mainly* for fighting against the machine, you need to be able to deal with renegade humans and hostile houses as well. so, it's probably a good idea to either assign it an armed crew (a few people even just using handheld weapons can provide quite a bit of firepower) or also include at least a few other defensive measures... maybe a death blossom for omnidirectional fire, as i can't imagine it's a great idea to maneuver a great deal when you're carrying a bunch of wounded people, so having a single weapon system that can engage targets anywhere seems like it would make a lot of sense. bit lacking on the range for a flying critter though... maybe it should just stick with mostly relying on an armed crew, or having escorts of archangels and zephyrs. as you've mentioned, it is probably best not to add too much to the basic version (unless perhaps the intent is that it is not issued for most purposes, meaning the PCs should basically never have one assigned to them on a permanent basis).

the armed crew also means that you have a different type of campaign for people to try out; they can get assigned to bail out people in all kinds of interesting situations, and to provide transport to hostile LZs and then escape, and to collect important supplies/captives/etc... but that's also probably the only type of campaign suitable for this warmount, since any PC assigned to be the outrider is otherwise going to sit around waiting to give the rest of the party a lift most of the time. the funny thing is, they might not even know what mission they were getting people into or out of, whether the mission succeeded or failed, etc, because they're not there for every part. might be interesting to see if that gets them excited to hear about how well or poorly the people they've helped did in their assigned mission, get them invested in NPCs a bit more. or it might backfire and have them frustrated by the same... either way, it's a different perspective.

[kaid]

One thought would be some kind of flying fish design. An anti air/air support amphibian design that could fly out of underwater sanctuaries/submersible carrier type warmounts like the old kraken design. Something that could fly fast but still be pretty light and nimble and be able to run the heck away and dive into the water and get away sub seas where the machine would have a difficult time following. Most of the machines air units are not going to be able to follow a fast moving underwater design very well.

Splicers need air support or ways to counter machines air support but pure air units unless they are really stealthy have a heck of a time getting away once they are engaged. A unit like this at least would give a good ability to supply air cover around seas/oceans with some improvement in their ability to launch undetected and to flee once discovered.

[89er]

Quick summary of concepts:

+Medi EVAC Warmount
+Forest Shell mobile command center to transport gardener plants
+Rapid Response warmount
+Other dropship
+Anti Air warmount

Current anti air idea is an alien tree/spider/archerfish thing that shoots water bolts and tosses massive webs.

[Shark_Force]

a long-range resin-thrower could indeed really mess up any flying robot quite badly, *if* it was either extremely accurate or covered a sufficiently large area with the resin.

[OrionPrime]

What about having the ability to discharge different types of spores, possibly one that effects everything and/or just biological.

i especially like spore discharges for dealing with missile volleys. if you make those dischargers discharge some fairly tough (perhaps reflective) spores, they could also provide an ablative cloud that might disperse some energy attacks to a limited amount and when fired at close range obscure the warmount's location further if the clouds blend in with the warmount a bit. providing its own camouflage, essentially. they could even serve a third purpose of having the spores bond with any metal embedded into wounds within the area, possibly neutralizing the metal by bonding with it chemically to form a salt or something similar (the effectiveness of this should be limited, or the threat of metal getting into a resistance stronghold becomes greatly reduced). these "point defense" spore dischargers wouldn't need to be very upgraded to be useful either, destroying a missile 500 feet away is usually just fine.

on the other hand, spore dischargers only work against the machine, and while i don't think it's a bad idea to have things designed *mainly* for fighting against the machine, you need to be able to deal with renegade humans and hostile houses as well. so, it's probably a good idea to either assign it an armed crew (a few people even just using handheld weapons can provide quite a bit of firepower) or also include at least a few other defensive measures... maybe a death blossom for omnidirectional fire, as i can't imagine it's a great idea to maneuver a great deal when you're carrying a bunch of wounded people, so having a single weapon system that can engage targets anywhere seems like it would make a lot of sense. bit lacking on the range for a flying critter though... maybe it should just stick with mostly relying on an armed crew, or having escorts of archangels and zephyrs. as you've mentioned, it is probably best not to add too much to the basic version (unless perhaps the intent is that it is not issued for most purposes, meaning the PCs should basically never have one assigned to them on a permanent basis).


the armed crew also means that you have a different type of campaign for people to try out; they can get assigned to bail out people in all kinds of interesting situations, and to provide transport to hostile LZs and then escape, and to collect important supplies/captives/etc... but that's also probably the only type of campaign suitable for this warmount, since any PC assigned to be the outrider is otherwise going to sit around waiting to give the rest of the party a lift most of the time. the funny thing is, they might not even know what mission they were getting people into or out of, whether the mission succeeded or failed, etc, because they're not there for every part. might be interesting to see if that gets them excited to hear about how well or poorly the people they've helped did in their assigned mission, get them invested in NPCs a bit more. or it might backfire and have them frustrated by the same... either way, it's a different perspective.

[The Reaper Man]

I think the medi EVAC, command center and a host armor drop ship could be combined into one warmount with diffrent "platforms"

Look up a Skyhook helo and think Dragonfly.

The command center could be dropped off and then the mount would have to either pick up another module or have another grown.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I think the medi EVAC, command center and a host armor drop ship could be combined into one warmount with diffrent "platforms"

Look up a Skyhook helo and think Dragonfly.

The command center could be dropped off and then the mount would have to either pick up another module or have another grown.

Damn I love this idea

[BookWyrm]

"Deliveryman Kiria, to what do I owe the honor?"
Geneticist Kals barely looked up from his worktable, delving over some vaguely-looking hominid form, it's chest cavity splayed open with various fingerbone-looking clamps, grips and probes. The Geneticist's upper-part of his face, around the eyes, were covered by a variety of lenses, shifting back & forth, giving the wearer further insight to whatever was in the shadowed depths. Occasionally touching a probe or clamp caused the body on the table to jerk slightly, making it appear to be, at maybe some level, alive.
The Deliveryman tore her eyes away from the scene with a barely-controlled grimace. She shifted the helmet she carried in the cradle of her left arm, and brushed a few errant strands of her brown forelocks to remind herself of why she was there. "Greetings, Geneticist Kals. How fares the day?"
Kals looked up at her. For a moment, the spider-like device he wore, holding the examining lenses to his eyes did not move, giving him an eerie insect-like visage, before they retracted back, freeing up his face. His features were said to be of an old pre-Machine Era people; his dark, almost red skin covered a strong skull and jawline, proud nose and black hair sculpted back behind his head, capped by the arachnoid-like examinations device. His eyes were of a dark color, with some wrinkling at the corners, no doubt the result of intense squinting over the years. But she knew he was within a few months of her own age, and both were considered in their prime.
"My Warmount has fallen in honorable combat," Kiria answered, after clearing her throat. "I have been...advised by my Warlord that I have mourned her for long enough and must obtain a replacement." That last word held a edge of distaste for her, as she felt that no creature, born natural or by the hands of the sainted Gene-Pools, could ever rival her feline Warmount, Bloodpaw.

Kals nodded. "I had heard of her passing. My condolences, m'lady. I have already requested her gene-cache from our Librarian, and he has graciously acquiesced." The Geneticist snappped his fingers and one of his Homunculi, a stunted, squat looking version of a Host Armor, scuttled over and handed Kals a cylinder barely the size of a normal hand, like the grip of a war-club. "She was an exceptional specimen, a masterpiece of splicing and sculpting. I took precautions to ensure her line would not be lost."

Kiria's eyes widened. "You...saved her gene-sample?"
Kals nodded. "It took some doing, but even the Engineer was agreeable to preserving such a fine creation. I had hoped Bloodpaw would live long enough to see her own issue serve our House in her lifetime, but as the old adage attests, Fortune favors the prepared."
Kiria could only nod in mute approval. The chance to train and ride Bloodpaw again, in her lifetime, swam through her mind rampant....until the Homunculi serving Kals made some chittering noise that broke the reverie. The Geneticist grunted & nodded at the servant, and the creature scurried off.

"Bloodpaw the Second will be everything it's forebear was.....perhaps even greater?" Kals raised an eyebrow--or at least the half-faded scar over his eye that passed for one.
"How so?"
"There is room for....improvements? A more efficient cardio-vascular system, greater speed or stealth, a heartier skin to resist damage, perhaps even a bio-weapon or two?"
Kiria's surprise at the suggestions took a moment longer to fade. "But she will know me?"
Kals smirked. For some reason, this did not unnerve her as it did some others. "Yours will be the first face, the first scent, the first hand she will know when she emerges from the 'Pool. I swear it."

Kiria nodded her consent. "Then let us talk more, Kals...."

[glitterboy2098]

Now that I have presented the basic fundamentals that I use, I invite you all to enjoy an interactive experiment and walk through with designing one here on the forums in this thread.

So lets tackle Step one and try to identify a major function that we think the Resistance could use a War Mount for. Please post your suggestion(s) below and I will take the most commonly/voted suggestion and we will go to Step Two thereafter. I will be drawing along our online process so that we define a worthy War Mount.

a light flying unit. something smaller than the Dracos that could serve as a light fighter or scout. a one or two rider mount.

to be honest my mind automatically goes to a giant bird (i blame LotR), but a bat or fantasy inspired beast could work too.

[Premier]

Now that I have presented the basic fundamentals that I use, I invite you all to enjoy an interactive experiment and walk through with designing one here on the forums in this thread.

So lets tackle Step one and try to identify a major function that we think the Resistance could use a War Mount for. Please post your suggestion(s) below and I will take the most commonly/voted suggestion and we will go to Step Two thereafter. I will be drawing along our online process so that we define a worthy War Mount.

a light flying unit. something smaller than the Dracos that could serve as a light fighter or scout. a one or two rider mount.

to be honest my mind automatically goes to a giant bird (i blame LotR), but a bat or fantasy inspired beast could work too.

Something akin to the Zephyr or smaller?

[NMI]

I had the following in mind earlier this year but life got in the way of completing it. I am working on it again. It's not much, but it is a start.


Draconis Warmount

A sleek, winged creature covered in very fine crystalline scales, the creation of the Draconis Warmount is aimed at taking the skies back from the machine. Designed with stealth in mind, the scales are a translucent, black crystal-like structure used to absorb and disperse light, radiation and various other energies including those used by the radar systems of N.E.X.U.S. Due to the crystalline nature of the scales, energy is trapped inside and prevented from bouncing back to their source, reducing the odds of successfully identifying the Draconis on radar (-75% to the appropriate skill roll). An additional, unexpected effect of this defense is that any light, laser and Bio-Energy based attack is absorbed and can then be channeled to the beasts own Bio-Energy Vents! The two Bio-Energy vents are located under the chin, providing them with an angle of attack based on where the Draconis has its head pointed. Mounted on either side of the body near the where its bat-like wings connect, are multi-round Organic Rocket pods. Each pod carries six rockets for a total of 12. As a defense against pursing aircraft, such the Sky Fighter, the Draconis has a modified spore discharger mounted in its tail. The spores, when fired explode in mid-air generating an intense flare of heat and light. This “chaff” is designed to full both heat tracking and optical tracking missiles of N.E.X.U.S.

[Shark_Force]

i don't think the resistance is going to be taking the skies away from the machine any time soon. they *have* excellent aerial warmounts. the zephyr is freaking nuts, have you looked at it? it has a heat projector and twin-linked (nearly fully upgraded, by which i mean all they need are options like mega and similar) spore dischargers by default. what it needs in order to take the machines down is a few hundred million friends (plus pilots) just like it, not improved technology.

the same is broadly speaking true of any part of the world. the thing that is lacking is not individual power. a warmount is easily the equal of multiple regular machine troops. many warmounts will even be able to take down one or more of the larger machines with ease. an experienced dreadguard and their host armour could probably do almost as well. and then the machine bringts up a couple replacements from the warehouse while the factories churn out hundreds more to fill those factories every single day, and within barely any time at all it's as if you never even put so much as a scratch on the paint job.

[Premier]

"Deliveryman Kiria, to what do I owe the honor?"
Geneticist Kals barely looked up from his worktable, delving over some vaguely-looking hominid form, it's chest cavity splayed open with various fingerbone-looking clamps, grips and probes. The Geneticist's upper-part of his face, around the eyes, were covered by a variety of lenses, shifting back & forth, giving the wearer further insight to whatever was in the shadowed depths. Occasionally touching a probe or clamp caused the body on the table to jerk slightly, making it appear to be, at maybe some level, alive.
The Deliveryman tore her eyes away from the scene with a barely-controlled grimace. She shifted the helmet she carried in the cradle of her left arm, and brushed a few errant strands of her brown forelocks to remind herself of why she was there. "Greetings, Geneticist Kals. How fares the day?"
Kals looked up at her. For a moment, the spider-like device he wore, holding the examining lenses to his eyes did not move, giving him an eerie insect-like visage, before they retracted back, freeing up his face. His features were said to be of an old pre-Machine Era people; his dark, almost red skin covered a strong skull and jawline, proud nose and black hair sculpted back behind his head, capped by the arachnoid-like examinations device. His eyes were of a dark color, with some wrinkling at the corners, no doubt the result of intense squinting over the years. But she knew he was within a few months of her own age, and both were considered in their prime.
"My Warmount has fallen in honorable combat," Kiria answered, after clearing her throat. "I have been...advised by my Warlord that I have mourned her for long enough and must obtain a replacement." That last word held a edge of distaste for her, as she felt that no creature, born natural or by the hands of the sainted Gene-Pools, could ever rival her feline Warmount, Bloodpaw.

Kals nodded. "I had heard of her passing. My condolences, m'lady. I have already requested her gene-cache from our Librarian, and he has graciously acquiesced." The Geneticist snappped his fingers and one of his Homunculi, a stunted, squat looking version of a Host Armor, scuttled over and handed Kals a cylinder barely the size of a normal hand, like the grip of a war-club. "She was an exceptional specimen, a masterpiece of splicing and sculpting. I took precautions to ensure her line would not be lost."

Kiria's eyes widened. "You...saved her gene-sample?"
Kals nodded. "It took some doing, but even the Engineer was agreeable to preserving such a fine creation. I had hoped Bloodpaw would live long enough to see her own issue serve our House in her lifetime, but as the old adage attests, Fortune favors the prepared."
Kiria could only nod in mute approval. The chance to train and ride Bloodpaw again, in her lifetime, swam through her mind rampant....until the Homunculi serving Kals made some chittering noise that broke the reverie. The Geneticist grunted & nodded at the servant, and the creature scurried off.

"Bloodpaw the Second will be everything it's forebear was.....perhaps even greater?" Kals raised an eyebrow--or at least the half-faded scar over his eye that passed for one.
"How so?"
"There is room for....improvements? A more efficient cardio-vascular system, greater speed or stealth, a heartier skin to resist damage, perhaps even a bio-weapon or two?"
Kiria's surprise at the suggestions took a moment longer to fade. "But she will know me?"
Kals smirked. For some reason, this did not unnerve her as it did some others. "Yours will be the first face, the first scent, the first hand she will know when she emerges from the 'Pool. I swear it."

Kiria nodded her consent. "Then let us talk more, Kals...."

Any news on Blood Paw II?

[BookWyrm]

Bloodpaw II was successfully birthed & matured healthy. While Deliveryman Kiria knows this is not the original Bloodpaw, there are times when Bloodpaw II shows the same personality quirks (lying on her back in the sun, staring at an as-yet trusted person with an eye-ridge raised, purr-'snickering' at something amusing) as her predecessor. Still, Bloodpaw II is a little faster, her birthmark (a red discoloration of one paw) is on the left front paw (Bloodpaw I's was on the right) and she likes pouncing on Packrabbits.