Help me brainstorm a grounded military mecha campaign set in the year 2050

[TaranTheWanderer]

For the PCs, they are elite soldiers or mercenaries, tech company brats or whatever who are a pariah to whatever faction they are in. Maybe on the run, or on their last warning or their company wants to get rid of them. They are, generally, down on their luck. The thing is, they are good at what they do. Whatever the case, they have a reputation for not following the rules - which is why the AI suggests to the tech company to hire them.

They are also expendable because nobody cares if they die. The military contracts out the mech company to do missions that the military themselves can’t do because of politics, red tape and need possible deniability. It also lets both the mech company and the military test the mechs out on the battlefield. If the results are good, it could mean huge contracts for the tech company. So there’s lots of pressure for the PCs to perform.

 

[Koloth]

2050 is 15 years out. Watching how the Russia v Ukraine war is playing out, seems unlikely that anyone is going to invest massive amounts of money into large easy to hit high profile vehicles. Many current era tanks are more heavily armored then most classic mechs yet tanks have proven rather easy to kill with cheap drones. When your $1,000,000 tank is taken out by a $100 drone, it isn't a sustainable conflict. Worse if it is a bleeding edge techno wonder $100,000,000 walking mech.

You either have to explain away the drone threat or perhaps the mech of the future IS a drone. Instead of the manned 20+ ft tall 2 legged walking mech of BT fame, maybe the mech of 2050 is a commodity low cost thing remotely piloted from many miles away. Maybe even many countries away. The magic isn't in the mech but the pilot operating the mech.

As for a location, why not Antarctica? Some critical not found elsewhere magic mineral was discovered and the powers tossed the no conflict treaty after talks broke down.