Quick question: two of my PCs (the Leech, focused on gunsmithing, and the Whisper, focused on Ghost Binding), wanted to know about getting a Large Hull and converting it into an exosuit mecha by adding passenger room, extra armor, and bolting guns to it.
Anyone else faced this sort of madness? As GM I’m flat out adding 4 Heat to any run they try to take it on, because everyone talks when you bring a tank to a mugging.
Yeah, I’d say let them have it if they’re willing to spend the time and resources to make it, but also tell them that using it will pretty much kill any chance of stealth or secrecy. If you bring the mech to a score, everyone will know it happened and everyone will know it was you. And once word gets out that you have a mech, that attracts attention from NPCs who want one for themselves and could go to all sorts of unsavory lengths to get their hands on the mech itself, the designs, or even the creators…
And while you should definitely treat the mech as an impressive and terrifying weapon, also keep in mind the drawbacks it might have (and the fewer drawbacks, the more other factions will want one of their own). Besides the lack of stealth, it would likely consume a lot of oil, the ghosts that animate it might not always cooperate, and as a walking machine it would probably be pretty top-heavy. Whatever weaknesses you give it, I’d advise you to warn the players about those them before they sink too much time or resources into building the thing.
Every score isn’t about being sneaky so let them have it if they dump enough resources into it.
Just refer them to pg. 277 of the core book with the example of crafting a Hull in six stages. So that’s six study clocks (most likely 8 segments since this is new tech) for each stage plus the crafting rolls/resources (with each component needing to be Tier 6 and higher). Sounds like your players want a bigger model of a basic hull with added features so add another 3-4 stages on top of that.
Even after all that it’s reasonable to assume the hull-mech is going to have rather steep energy requirements so give it a drawback of Consumable: 1 to refuel after each use; that fuel doesn’t necessarily need to be common either.
I’m also making the assumption that they are smart enough not to bring it on missions where it doesn’t make sense (like somewhere with confined quarters or they do actually need to be inconspicuous, etc).
Wow, that’s a whole new dimension of “indiscreet”. I like that đŸ™‚
For me, it would also be a problem, that everyone else would like to steal this thing or stop it at all costs. And one can hardly hide this thing.
But on the other hand as GM you don’t want to take away this toy from the players after they were putting this much effort into it. Consistency of the world vs. Meta…
I think the first time others become aware of this project that triggers the internal intelligence apparatus of the city and they try to press gang the brains of the project and seize it for the military.
However, a nobleman also finds out about it through his spies in the military, and offers them protection to develop this in peace; in exchange, they will help make a nautical version that can be adapted to harvest leviathan leather, meat, bone, and blood while it grapples with the main hunter ship.
The city council offers asylum if they’ll help adapt their plans and work to create innovative building security, with moving and weaponized rooms and gates as well as walking platforms for shooters and other new ideas.
Nobody will take no for an answer, but competitors will try to steal any of these contracts too.
I think there is an implied question of whether you want this in your game or not. If you hate the idea, tell your players that and tell them why. Then see if the group of you can find a workaround that will satisfy everyone.
If you’re not opposed to the idea, but you are worried about game balance, well then the replies by everyone above me have very good ideas for dealing with that. In addition, as Andrew Shields implies, new technology always sparks off an arms race. PoincarĂ© and Einstein were working on relativity at approximately the same time, but it is Einstein that is remembered (this is an over-simplification, I know).
Other institutions might start to develop their own mecha-hulls if the PC’s research appears fruitful and the Factions with the resources to do so are probably a lot more powerful and better financed than their crew. Research notes could be stolen; researchers could be kidnapped, assassinated (or press ganged as Andrew Shields suggests); authorities could try to shut down the project, either through brute force or through manipulating resources that the researchers need; the project maybe decried as immoral and evil by the Church or the Ink Rakes.
Which means it may only be a matter of time before the Imperial Military has their own (or several) mecha-hulls.