Mech heavy/only campaign

[Sohisohi]

I was planning on hosting a game soon with a few friends, as the title suggests, it will be mech only.
Figured I'd ask about peoples experiences with this type of campaign or being the pilot of a mobile body suit.

Maybe things I should take into consideration and/or might overlook.

[dragonfett]

While I have no experience running this type of campaign, I would make sure to take repair prices for robot vehicles into account when giving them missions/rewards (if they are to be responsible for the maintenance of their equipment). Also, for Robot vehicles that are multi-crewed, keep track of who is manning what weapon systems, especially if some weapons have a set number of times it can be fired each melee round instead of being equal to the operator's number of attacks per melee.

[Khanibal]

List of single-pilot 'bots from many Rifts books.

Blocker NG1 p. 118
Sunfire NG1 p. 171
Super Labor Robot NG1 p. 174
Super Max NG1 p. 175
Volcano NG1 p. 187
UAR-1 RUE p. 249
QR-1 Enforcer Prime FQ p. 63
IR-2015 Crab Walker Japan p. 164
IR-2040 Destroyer Japan p. 168
M-1600 Bear Mindwerks p. 31
TC-R5 Gargoyle Stomper Mindwerks p. 99
N-SR20 Nomad Mercenaries p. 139
AB-17 Great Cyclops SA2 p. 91
G9A Jaguar SA p. 29
G18B Aguirre SA p. 31
TR-001 Combat RUE p. 273
TR-002 Exploration SB1 p. 109
TR-003 Reconnaissance SB1 p. 111
X-10A Predator WB5 p. 49
X-60 Flanker WB5 p. 51
X-535 Hunter WB5 p. 55
X-545 Super Hunter WB5 p. 60
X-1000 Ulti-Max WB5 p. 68
K-TRF-M Kittani Transformable DB2 p. 140

Note that in WB31, only Triax vehicles with 4 digits (X-####) are considered robot vehicles. All others are considered power armor.

Is this just 'bots, 'bots & pa, or 'bots & pa & borgs? What about tanks?

[Sohisohi]

List of single-pilot 'bots from many Rifts books.
Note that in WB31, only Triax vehicles with 4 digits (X-####) are considered robot vehicles. All others are considered power armor.
Is this just 'bots, 'bots & pa, or 'bots & pa & borgs? What about tanks?

Thanks for the list and it's pilotable bots and power armor.
No borgs, autonomous robots, and no tanks.
Though, granted, their are several "walking" classed tanks that I would allow.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

[Sohisohi]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

Mostly because I'm trying to capture that mecha spirit in my campaign, as opposed to simply allowing them the most powerful vehicle.

[Zer0 Kay]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

Mostly because I'm trying to capture that mecha spirit in my campaign, as opposed to simply allowing them the most powerful vehicle.

If you want a mecha game why aren't you doing RT or heck Mekton or the BESM mecha supplement? At least in those there'd never be a question of I'm gonna get.out of this, hack the lock son that tank and drive around in it.

[Sohisohi]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

Mostly because I'm trying to capture that mecha spirit in my campaign, as opposed to simply allowing them the most powerful vehicle.

If you want a mecha game why aren't you doing RT or heck Mekton or the BESM mecha supplement? At least in those there'd never be a question of I'm gonna get.out of this, hack the lock son that tank and drive around in it.

Mostly because I like the rifts setting too much to give it up. Plus it lets me use the new sourcebook, which would explain why CS mech pilots would potentially be riding along side other mech pilots to fight daemons.

Keep in mind, I plan on grinding my players down to a pulp. Too many options and I'll end making things too easy on them or it will just be weird for so many daemons to be running around.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

I mean, that's fair, though the NE Juggernaught is far and away better than most tanks. The better tanks (CS Linebacker and Triax Phantom) are more in line with robots, with everyone elses tanks being slightly inferior.

FWIW, if you're going to allow guys in Power Armor (and not just Robots), i dont see the logic to not allowing 'Borgs. A heavy cyborg has the same or more MDC as a Power Armor, but generally packs a little less firepower, is about the same size as most PA (or only a tiny bit smaller, with the "big" Cyborg chasis being 10ish ft tall), and keeps that mechanized look. They can even use Jet Packs. Oh, and if a CS Cyborg, they can use that new Hellbuster armor from HoH. (or steal or acquire one).

Just a thought.

[ShadowLogan]

I was planning on hosting a game soon with a few friends, as the title suggests, it will be mech only.
Figured I'd ask about peoples experiences with this type of campaign or being the pilot of a mobile body suit.

Maybe things I should take into consideration and/or might overlook.

Repairs and Resupply.
Depending on the specifics, this could become an issue or used as a plot point. Unlike healing, repair work will take time (and a lot of it for little gain IIRC repair rates I've seen).

Size.
Keep in mind the relative sizes will dictate where they can go. PA suits come in a range of 6-12ft, and robots an even wider size range starting around 15-30ft (or more).

Weapon Ranges
Keep in mind that weapon ranges on PA and 'bots have a much longer reach, which could be a factor depending on their opponents (who might not be able to hit back).

Bonuses
PA and 'bots have additional APMs through RC:E, which means things might get unbalanced with the PCs if the opponents are outclassed here by a wide margin.

[Sohisohi]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

I mean, that's fair, though the NE Juggernaught is far and away better than most tanks. The better tanks (CS Linebacker and Triax Phantom) are more in line with robots, with everyone elses tanks being slightly inferior.

FWIW, if you're going to allow guys in Power Armor (and not just Robots), i dont see the logic to not allowing 'Borgs. A heavy cyborg has the same or more MDC as a Power Armor, but generally packs a little less firepower, is about the same size as most PA (or only a tiny bit smaller, with the "big" Cyborg chasis being 10ish ft tall), and keeps that mechanized look. They can even use Jet Packs. Oh, and if a CS Cyborg, they can use that new Hellbuster armor from HoH. (or steal or acquire one).

If the vehicle is too large they could simply sleep in it, effectively created a situation where the PCs are never vulnerable because they won't be penalized for staying within' the armor for too long. Same issue with the Borgs, when everyone exits their bot/pa to rest the borg is effectively safe. That and tanks are multi-pilot vehicles by design, which granted I'm willing to allow some bots that have two pilots to be treated as one but the particular tank (most tanks for that matter) still wouldn't fall within' 2pilot vehicles.

Again, I am going with a certain theme/aesthetic/spirit to the game. These other vehicles, they simply don't fit into it.

[Zer0 Kay]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

Mostly because I'm trying to capture that mecha spirit in my campaign, as opposed to simply allowing them the most powerful vehicle.

If you want a mecha game why aren't you doing RT or heck Mekton or the BESM mecha supplement? At least in those there'd never be a question of I'm gonna get.out of this, hack the lock son that tank and drive around in it.

Mostly because I like the rifts setting too much to give it up. Plus it lets me use the new sourcebook, which would explain why CS mech pilots would potentially be riding along side other mech pilots to fight daemons.

Keep in mind, I plan on grinding my players down to a pulp. Too many options and I'll end making things too easy on them or it will just be weird for so many daemons to be running around.

Well hopefully for them not to many of those magic creatures will be tech savvy enough to use negate mechanics to cause cooling rods to fail and cause melt down or the pop open door on a missile launcher to stay shut... sure the missile doesn't arm till it go's so far but you've got a volley of missiles inside the launcher with engines ignited. Ooh how about the toggle to start the machine usually there is one switch or button be it keyed depressed or activated by a biometric scanner that both starts and stops the machine and that is determined by the circuit being open or closed... nothing simpler. Of course other wording in the spell says nothing major can happen which is stupid and show the tech bias as negate magic really screws magic but negate mechanics is supposed to only do one or two things by touch and then only something in the machine up to the size of a basket ball and then some idiot mage puts in a stipulation that whatever gets negated can't cause a serious malfunction? That's idiotic. So if it is a machine that has a generator to power a weapon you can cause something to make it stop powering the weapon BUT if the same generator is used to power the single engine of a jet bike negate mechanics as written can't work on that. House Rule! If the character knows machines any part the size of a basket ball can be caused to malfunction which may lead to catastrophically disastrous effects.

[Zer0 Kay]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

Mostly because I'm trying to capture that mecha spirit in my campaign, as opposed to simply allowing them the most powerful vehicle.

If you want a mecha game why aren't you doing RT or heck Mekton or the BESM mecha supplement? At least in those there'd never be a question of I'm gonna get.out of this, hack the lock son that tank and drive around in it.

Mostly because I like the rifts setting too much to give it up. Plus it lets me use the new sourcebook, which would explain why CS mech pilots would potentially be riding along side other mech pilots to fight daemons.

Keep in mind, I plan on grinding my players down to a pulp. Too many options and I'll end making things too easy on them or it will just be weird for so many daemons to be running around.

Also there is nothing keeping you from running Mekton Z in a Rifts setting. MZ is a mecha lovers system that and Rifts doesn't have Mecha and I don't read it as just semantics Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... at least in my head. Missiles fire like the MLRS on an M270 rather than a Veritech drunk missiles.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Why not tanks? Just curious. They can more than hold their own against most robots. Depending on the tank, significantly more than hold their own - the NE Juggernaught will crush most bots. ‘Course, you get shot on sight by the coalition.

I mean, that's fair, though the NE Juggernaught is far and away better than most tanks. The better tanks (CS Linebacker and Triax Phantom) are more in line with robots, with everyone elses tanks being slightly inferior.

FWIW, if you're going to allow guys in Power Armor (and not just Robots), i dont see the logic to not allowing 'Borgs. A heavy cyborg has the same or more MDC as a Power Armor, but generally packs a little less firepower, is about the same size as most PA (or only a tiny bit smaller, with the "big" Cyborg chasis being 10ish ft tall), and keeps that mechanized look. They can even use Jet Packs. Oh, and if a CS Cyborg, they can use that new Hellbuster armor from HoH. (or steal or acquire one).

If the vehicle is too large they could simply sleep in it, effectively created a situation where the PCs are never vulnerable because they won't be penalized for staying within' the armor for too long. Same issue with the Borgs, when everyone exits their bot/pa to rest the borg is effectively safe. That and tanks are multi-pilot vehicles by design, which granted I'm willing to allow some bots that have two pilots to be treated as one but the particular tank (most tanks for that matter) still wouldn't fall within' 2pilot vehicles.

Again, I am going with a certain theme/aesthetic/spirit to the game. These other vehicles, they simply don't fit into it.

You can sleep in most Robots, as an FYI. All except the really small ones like the UAR-1 have plenty of space (arguably, more space than a lot of the tanks). Also, any Robot can be piloted solo. Youre just losing the “action economy” of having the extra guys manning the extra weapons.

Edit: not trying to poo-poo your ideas, just pointing out things i think you may not have thought of.

Also, Borgs are only marginally more "safe" outside of their heavy armor than regular PCs. A borg stuck in a Carpet of Adhesion is just as pooched as a guy in body armor. Most towns dont let Borgs into town in their armor, and insist that all weapons be unplugged or otherwise decomissioned. Yeah, they are naturally MDC and a fairly decent amount (up to to 200 for a heavy borg), but even guys walking around in civilian-OK armor or armored clothing can take a few hits.

I can see tanks not jiving at all with your idea (they cant go some places that robots can, for instance), but it seems to me that a heavy 'borg could fit in with an armored company pretty well. Unless you're heavily restricting OCCs anyway, a Headhunter can pilot Robots AND wear cyborg armor, for instance. Only full-conversion Borgs cant pilot robots. Just restrict anyone who wants to be a 'Borg to the heavy chasis types that are as big as Power Armor when they are fully armored-up. That way they dont gain a particular size advantage. Theyre trading off being able to take more hits (as Heavy Borgs in Heavy Armor tend to have more MDC than all but the very heaviest Power Armor) for less potent weaponry (as most borg-portable weapons aren't as destructive as PA weapons and they tend to have less of them).

Your call though.

Further Edit:

an advantage to having a guy who can naturally take some MDC punishment even when they are outside of their mechs is also that you can show how serious the situation is by having the bad guys target him first, knowing he can take a hit or two and not be vapor. Thus, everyone gets to live through the surprise round, but the players now know the bad guys are playing for keeps (as they are blasting away with med-heavy MDC weapons at hit the Borg at least once).

Also, question, are you forbidding magic users as OCC choices?

[Sohisohi]

Further Edit:
an advantage to having a guy who can naturally take some MDC punishment even when they are outside of their mechs is also that you can show how serious the situation is by having the bad guys target him first, knowing he can take a hit or two and not be vapor. Thus, everyone gets to live through the surprise round, but the players now know the bad guys are playing for keeps (as they are blasting away with med-heavy MDC weapons at hit the Borg at least once).

Also, question, are you forbidding magic users as OCC choices?

No, I have no intention of banning: magic, psy, supernatural, non-humanoids, full cybernetics, partial borgs, and anything else that can potential fit into a Mecha or PA. Just to give an example, there is currently a player who is considering playing a killerwhale who pilots one of them dolphin mechs from book6. So long as he picks a set of legs from the other suits (because there is no way I'm limiting the campaign to riverbeds) then I will let it fly. I also have no issue with the magic based Mechs/PAs as I currently have a player looking into piloting one of them also.

I did hear of a character specific Mecha, which is custom for said giant character, but I always skip the character sections so I've never see it myself.

All that being said, no tanks.

MZ is a mecha lovers system that and Rifts doesn't have Mecha and I don't read it as just semantics Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... at least in my head. Missiles fire like the MLRS on an M270 rather than a Veritech drunk missiles.

What makes you think I don't like American Mecha, communist!? Though, seriously, I prefer the bulk alot more than all this gundam garbage; imo. EDIT: well, to be fair, current Gundam. Old Gundam was agile, todays Gundam is almost supernatural in nature. I'm assuming that what you suggested would fall under the olddies, but rifts is effectively my dream system. I'd much rather run a mech campaign in this then pick up another system (even with this systems glaring flaws).

[taalismn]

[ Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... a.

Tanks that can still kick and punch, crush you like pudding, or beat you with a telephone pole. That's fun.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

[ Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... a.

Tanks that can still kick and punch, crush you like pudding, or beat you with a telephone pole. That's fun.

And do running, leaping back-kicks (the Skullsmasher, in particular, is noted for being able to do ninja kicks).

[Blue_Lion]

The closest I had to a heavy only campaign was a group that had 3 combat vehicles/pa. 1 was a GB, second was a NG bot with a crotch gun piloted by a merc robot pilot, a rouge scholar gunner and a operator, the third vehicle was a TW tank piloted by a TW, with a wilderness scout gunner, and a Shifter as the TC.

It was a merc campaign and basically combat typically was either against a bunch of spread out infantry units(so no AOE kills) or a few heavy units. We did manage to drop a slaver barge in 1 melee pass of combat(1 action per PC). The real challenge becomes how to pay for the repairs, our solution was a merc group that took missions that would earn more than our repairs. Typically we would be the core of an assault or defense.

Honestly I do not see the rooster pits of combat robots being set up as good to lie down in. such a design is atypical of armored vehicles design. An exploration model maybe but a combat model is not likely going to waste that much space. Most have minimal cargo space, when room to lie down would be cargo space in combat vehicles. You cram gear where ever you can.

[Khanibal]

Rifter #60 has some TW PA and a robot vehicle. Stats start on p.64

[Khanibal]

Honestly I do not see the rooster pits of combat robots being set up as good to lie down in. such a design is atypical of armored vehicles design. An exploration model maybe but a combat model is not likely going to waste that much space. Most have minimal cargo space, when room to lie down would be cargo space in combat vehicles. You cram gear where ever you can.

WB34 Norther Gun 2 p.255 has some gear that might help.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Honestly I do not see the rooster pits of combat robots being set up as good to lie down in.

Then you are willfully not paying attention to the descriptions of the robots, the art, or the statistics blocks. Except for the "small" robots, most robot vehicles have room for their crew + 2-6 passengers (depending on size), as well as dedicated storage for small arms and extra body armor and supplies for the crew. It wouldn't be a big deal to remove the extra seating if you really needed a "bed" to sleep in, but most people dont (and in a lot of cases, sleeping on a stiff board matress is a lot worse than sleeping semi-reclined in a good chair).

If there's enough space for 2 passengers, there's enough space to put in a recliner to sleep in. Or a pair of hammocks (one above the other). Easily.

such a design is atypical of armored vehicles design.

In the modern day, perhaps. We're talking about giant leaping ninja kicking robots with room for crew + passengers (in most cases). In the "Small" robots (UAR-1, the Spider-Scout, Scorpion, etc, not so much).

An exploration model maybe but a combat model is not likely going to waste that much space. Most have minimal cargo space, when room to lie down would be cargo space in combat vehicles. You cram gear where ever you can.

Again, this is you just willfully ignoring the stats, descriptions, and art of the vehicles. None of the robot cockpits we've seen detailed were cramped. Most medium to larger robots have room for crew + passengers + dedicated stowage for supplies and extra small arms and armor.

And, as was pointed out above, NG sells habitation modules for Robots. They aren't even expensive.

[taalismn]

[

And do running, leaping back-kicks (the Skullsmasher, in particular, is noted for being able to do ninja kicks).

And picking up tanks to hit other tanks with. Not a tactic often discussed, but admit it, you wanna try it. Just like you wanna punch people in the face with an aircraft carrier.

[Khanibal]

If you consider a Skullsmasher a "giant" robot, and for Rifts it is, then it can lift 100x it's strength. Without printing stats, let's say it's a pickup truck's but not an armored vehicle's worth of weight.

[Sohisohi]

Again, this is you just willfully ignoring [...] the art of the vehicles.

And, as was pointed out above, NG sells habitation modules for Robots. They aren't even expensive.

Art is literally the worst way to judge the stats/capability of vehicles, I'd point to the comical debate around ammo capacity for the GB. Unless we get internals, then it's literally not even worth entertaining. We can look at modern troop transports and see that these vehicles barely allow for quarter their capacity to sleep comfortably. I also don't see how it being a ninja backflip machine has any bearing on crew quarters. If anything, logic would dictate that these area need to be compact to prevent injuring during operation. EDIT: that being said I would defiantly agree that literally any vehical which allows for at least 3 passengers then it defiantly has the room to allow 1 person a comfortable rest.

If a mech offered crew capacity I planed on removing the area, that being said, thanks for bringing up the NG modules as I was unaware of it as an option. I will be sure to banned them and anything of the like.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Again, this is you just willfully ignoring [...] the art of the vehicles.

And, as was pointed out above, NG sells habitation modules for Robots. They aren't even expensive.

Art is literally the worst way to judge the stats/capability of vehicles,

Which is why i listed it (art) last, but, as it happens, in the NG World Books at least, we DO get to see the cockpits of a lot of the robots. They aren't as tight as you think. Still not what i'd call "roomy" for some of them, but comfortable enough that you could just recline the seat and sack out, even for the ones that dont have passenger space. For most of my estimations, though, i went purely from the crew capacity listings in their stats. All of the "bigger" robots can usually seat 4. USUALLY that means its crew of 2, room for 2 more, sometimes its 3 crew/1 passenger, but the average seems to be "2 extra after crew". The smaller bots usually DONT have this space (its usually "can cram one guy in behind the pilots seats"). The really big robots can have their full crew AND up to 4 passengers comfortably. (Like the Skull Smasher, and some of the Triax bots like the Black Knight and Dragonwing).

I'd point to the comical debate around ammo capacity for the GB.

Not really a debate. It was a typo. Then it was doubled-down on and made official, but we all agree that it's not particularly realistic given the art.

Unless we get internals, then it's literally not even worth entertaining. We can look at modern troop transports and see that these vehicles barely allow for quarter their capacity to sleep comfortably. I also don't see how it being a ninja backflip machine has any bearing on crew quarters. If anything, logic would dictate that these area need to be compact to prevent injuring during operation. EDIT: that being said I would defiantly agree that literally any vehical which allows for at least 3 passengers then it defiantly has the room to allow 1 person a comfortable rest.

If a mech offered crew capacity I planed on removing the area, that being said, thanks for bringing up the NG modules as I was unaware of it as an option. I will be sure to banned them and anything of the like.

the NG modules aren't that bad. They hang on the outside of the vehicle, off the ground. But they are like ~30-40 MDC at best, and have to be packed down and put away before you can drive off (if you want to keep it, if you do nt, you could presumably just rip it off as you fired the 'bot up). They dont turn the INSIDE of the robot into a sleeper-camper. They actually seem like a smart way of camping in the wilderness if you are a 'bot pilot or crew (they can sleep up to six, i think, with the hammock options).

[Blue_Lion]

[

And do running, leaping back-kicks (the Skullsmasher, in particular, is noted for being able to do ninja kicks).

And picking up tanks to hit other tanks with. Not a tactic often discussed, but admit it, you wanna try it. Just like you wanna punch people in the face with an aircraft carrier.

**not official but one tactic I like to use for SN is to grab people and use them to block incoming attacks some thing like a shield((roll 16+4) the demon grabs and picks up johnny, gb I shoot the demon(roll 14+5); demon blocks with johnny(roll 18+2)-guess who get damaged), or use them as a bludgeoning weapon. This can also be done by giant robots.


My opinion(not official RAW or canon) on seating I have seen inside armored combat vehicles Up armored humvees, Bradly IFV MRAP, abrams tank. A Bradly IFV has a crew of 3+6 passengers. But can comfortably fit 4 passengers. At most with the hatch open for space it maybe 3 people could lay down in back in cramped conditions. AN IFV is a type of troop transport so has a high passenger count. An abrams has a crew of 4 sleeps 1 do to the driver sleep being reclined for low profile(if not for that then no seat could be used to comfortably sleep). Crew space for any one other than the driver seams an after thought. This is a model of the inside of a 4 seat + 1 gunner armored vehicle, https://www.ebay.com/p/Eduard-36213-1-3 ... 1828770975 how many you think could lie down and sleep there with those seats not reclining, would it be comfortable? (I would say do not take my word for it but search for images of troops inside them or just the insides of various armored vehicles.)



Most combat robots do not have room for 6 passengers I found 2 6 passenger and 5 4 passenger in the GMG. There was 3 with higher passenger counts 1 was the behimeth exploration robot-not a combat. The 6 passenger spider walker seams to fill the roll that a of a APC or IFV does, as a transport and command and control vehicle. In general I do not see sleeping inside most combat robots as being feasible, there may be exceptions but in general you would not be able to do so.

As most robots do not likely have a space inside them for the full crew to lie down and we know sitting to long has health issues the crew of robot can not logically just stay inside it safely without some sort of health risk at least like a GB. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/travel.html

[Zer0 Kay]

[ Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... a.

Tanks that can still kick and punch, crush you like pudding, or beat you with a telephone pole. That's fun.

And the only issue I have with that statement is... where'd you find the telephone pole

[Zer0 Kay]

[ Rifts giant robots are closer to American Mechs, lumbering walking tanks than they are Japanese Mecha, agile combat suits... a.

Tanks that can still kick and punch, crush you like pudding, or beat you with a telephone pole. That's fun.

And do running, leaping back-kicks (the Skullsmasher, in particular, is noted for being able to do ninja kicks).

Wow you've found the exception to the rule. There are more Rifts robots that are "Battletech" rather than "Robotech" and sure there are the few anime mecha that are lumbering towers but the iconic are ususally as flexible as the person that pilots it.

[taalismn]

[

And the only issue I have with that statement is... where'd you find the telephone pole

"Bob, you're a mage, make yourself useful. Pop the hatch and cast 'Ironwood' on that tree I'm going to pull up-"
"But if I'm going to stick my head out, I can just cast 'fireba-"
"No, beating that guy to a pulp with a freakin' TREE is waaaayyy COOLER!"