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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry Hankovich" data-source="post: 1672376" data-attributes="member: 20280">Hm...Gasaraki, though (which I actually liked as a model of how "walking" armor could be integrated into modern mobile warfare) sort of "cheats" in the same respect that Evangelion does.  They originally say that rudimentary movements (bend the knee, lift the leg, lean forward, take a step) are handled by an AI system, such that the pilot is effectively only using the controls to indicate what the machine should do, instead of controlling its individual motions.  However, later in the series, they rather strongly imply that the so-called AI is based on some weird ancient demon-armor artifact thingy...so the implication is, that the Gasaraki mecha have some form of intelligence residing in them, one which already "knows" how to run, jump, etc.It's much the same in Eva, but more so--since the Evas are basically independent biological beings, the "pilots" don't actually do anything in the cockpit but provide suggestions.  When the pilot "tells" the machine to jump through a hoop, it's basically the same process as a lion trainer telling an animal to jump through a hoop.  And every so often a trainer gets eaten...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Back on-topic--since we're going into a Cyberpunk type setting anyway, why not ditch the "neurohelmet" and just go with some sort of bona fide input jack?  Like Ghost in the Shell, etc.  At that point, you can go with whatever level of "pilot immersion" you want to imagine:  you can have the mecha essentially supplanting the pilot's body, a la The Matrix; or you could merely have the mecha using the pilot's subconscious or "muscle-memory" impulses for leg movement and balance, while retaining traditional controls for targeting and such.  Hell, you could--as you've already implied--make an entire system out of different levels of "pilot immersion," and use skill checks or feats to advance one's ability.  So a really skilled/gifted pilot can go a lot "deeper" with his mental input, while a newb would be dependant on external controls for as much as possible--and would handle walking, jumping, navigating obstacles, and such, a lot less effectively as a result.And, your different mechs can reward or penalize this, like you mentioned with Locust pilots.  You could say that, for instance, a mech with articulated arms and hands like a Phoenix Hawk would require a higher level of pilot immersion to use properly, as opposed to a Rifleman, whose "arms" aren't any more advanced than a helicopter chin-turret.  So, the newb can only use the Phoenix Hawk's arms as he would a Rifleman--as glorified sponson turrets; but using them to pick things up, throw punches, aim a weapon around a corner, or whatever, would require a higher level of pilot immersion.  The same for chickenlegs vs human legs (maybe, in our system, chickenlegs are more efficient, therefore faster, but harder to control), versus quad legs (increased stability, but slower and harder to control).  So, most people have a certain minimal level of functionality with a mech's brain-jack (assuming they have basic pilot training); but performing more advanced actions requires feats or skill ranks, or whatever.  Kind of like Ride checks for cavalry.  So maybe aiming your rifle around a corner without exposing the rest of your mech is a DC 15 "mech piloting" check, while avoiding falling down after taking a hit is DC 5, or whatever.   Then you could have feats (or class attributes at level) that allowed you to do stuff like, say, adding the pilot's attribute bonuses to the mech's default abilities.  Like our mech's "Armor Class" for a default pilot is 10, but at "Mechwarrior level 5" you get the ability to add your own Dex bonus to the mech's AC, or some such.</blockquote>

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