Homeworld & GUNDAM: Thoughts?

[Kaodi]

A match made in Heaven?

While I wouldn't make the ship on quite the same scale as the Mothership and Pride of Hiigara, wouldn't it be kind of cool to be in charge of a giant carrier/factory that built mecha and mecha carriers instead of normal starships? In some ways, they could make for a much more versatile and interesting force, capable of boarding enemy vessels to destroy them from the inside, land and use cover, perform repairs and other mundane tasks interceptors aren't suited for, without having to build specialized units (though specialized mecha would of course be more effective at certain things). So, you could have a horde of identical simple mecha, some scavenging from the scene of a battle, some sent to board an enemy carrier, some waiting in ambush near on an asteroid base, or you could have a costlier but more efficient crew of maintenance mecha, with a fast, stealthy boarding party, and a group with poor flying ability but heavier armour and fire power.

Of course, I was thinking about it for a d20 Future game, but an actual computer game would be pretty sweet in my opinion. Of course, if you could actually aquire a GUNDAM license, you might enjoy the boost that can bring, but then you'd probably be constrained by the ships and mobile suits that have appeared therein (unless you could convince them to let you have free reign over the story...).

 

[Kaodi]

Star Vision

The thought occurs to me that my insane ramblings might receive a more vocal reception if I include some flavour text for a possible scenario.

You are the commander of Imperial Mobile Factory Eleven, christened the " Hive " by the priests and seers who serve as advisors to the Empress. The Hive is an incredibly powerful and absolutely enormous starship, housing complex machinery and hundreds of thousands of citizens and crew. As of yet, however, the ship and its crew are completely untested. You barely had time to finish your training before being locked inside this behemoth and prepared for the journey to an uncharted region outside the territory of the Empire, with orders to conquer or destroy whatever and whoever gets in your way.
However, as if this task were not difficult enough, the third Imperial Princess accompanies you. Forced to give her only child up for adoption by her mother, as part of the insane scheme which brought you to this, she is proving to be less than cooperative. You suspect that many of those on board would place their loyalty to their Princess above their loyalty to you. You hope however, that those loyalties will never have to be tested.
Using the power of one of the most ancient relics of the Royal family, the Hive and its sister ships have been sent on a one way trip through the Astral Wastes to their individual destinations. During the trip, all ports and sensors have been darkened or turned off, for in the old stories there are many stories of a strange sickness of the mind that befalls those that see or hear its wonders.
Finally, the Hive re-enters normal space. The engineers inform you that the second batch of the Hive's first generation mecha is nearing completion. You give the orders for all sensors and port windows to be brought online. What greets you is the sight of two alien fleets, fighters blossoming into fiery explosions, frigates and capital ships breaking up. And then, you see the missiles heading streaking towards you.

 

[Rackhir]

There is a gundam mod for Homeworld.

http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=70252&page=2

 

[Kaodi]

Gah... uhhh... great minds think alike?

Unfortunately, I only have Homeworld, and not Homeworld 2, or I might be all over that, but I would really be more keen on an original game. That way, units are consistent in power. It's too easy to either underpower or overpower things in MODs.

 

[Rackhir]

Gah... uhhh... great minds think alike?

Unfortunately, I only have Homeworld, and not Homeworld 2, or I might be all over that, but I would really be more keen on an original game.

Well Homeworld 2 is probably only $20 or less if you can find a copy.

Well if you have a basic competence in Japanese (hiragana and katakana) there is a game called "Giren's Greed/Ambition" which basically lets you refight the One Year War and up to about the end of Zeta Gundam. But it's not exactly the kind of game you are describing.

There's also a turn based series of games "SD Gundam G-Generation" which lets you assemble a fleet of your own with all of your favorite MS/MA. But again it's not exactly the kind of game you are describing.

Finally there was a Gundam mod for Starcraft that was kind of fun.

There is actually a MMORG for Gundam, but it's Japanese only and won't accept accounts from outside Japan.

Unfortunately, the Gundam name seems to be more of a liability in the US than an asset. Only Gundam Wing was any sort of a success on TV and that was like 7-8 years ago. Of course it hasn't helped that most of the Gundam Games that have come to the US have sucked, but even classic franchises like the Front Mission games have met with little success. Mecha stuff just doesn't seem to have the appeal in the US that it does in Japan.

 

[Kaodi]

Well, back to the drawing board then. Maybe if I can ever figure out XNA.

Do you think there is a particular reason giant robots do not do as well in North America as they do in Japan?

 

[Rackhir]

Well, back to the drawing board then. Maybe if I can ever figure out XNA.

Do you think there is a particular reason giant robots do not do as well in North America as they do in Japan?

Hiragana and Katakana aren't that difficult to learn since they are phonetic alphabets. But it helps a lot to have a "reason" or a use for them. Picking up a japanese language game (you'd need a mod chip or utility to be able to use it on an american PS2), wouldn't be a bad way to give you an incentive. A lot of times they are used to spell out english translated words. For example "Cannon" winds up being "Kannon" in Katakana, so half the fight is just figuring out how the word got mangled. A lot of character names are rendered in Katakana as well, since they are nominally "Foriegn" names.

RE: Giant Robots - I suspect it comes down to the fact that they just aren't part of the cultural DNA the way they are in Japan. People just don't grow up on them in the US the way they do in japan. While Anime does tend to go in cycles. There's ALWAYS some kind of mecha/Sentai shows on TV in Japan.

It probably doesn't help that let's face it. The idea of giant anthropomorphic robots as weapons of war, is really an essentially silly one. You can dress it up in what ever justifications you like, or extrapolate what ever breakthroughs you want, but the fact is that to accomplish the things you'd use a giant robot for, they are pretty much one of the worst ways you can do it.

 

[Kaodi]

Good points, though am a little sceptical as to the importance of " realism " of giant robots in relation to games.

 

[Rackhir]

Good points, though am a little sceptical as to the importance of " realism " of giant robots in relation to games.

It's not that it's important in and of it's self. It's that it means there's an extra barrier to overcome. A Japanese looking at a mech show doesn't dismiss it outright as being something silly and stupid in the way an American might, because it's part of their culture. In the same way that we don't bat an eye at movie characters being able to pull off head shots with pistols at 400 yards (an equally silly prospect if you've ever fired a hand gun). A japanese person doesn't have to overcome that first gut check impression of it as something silly or childish.

 

[Kaodi]

While I can certainly see why actual G.U.N.D.A.M. style mecha would never make it to a serious drawing board, assuming humanity survives long enough, I think it is at least conceivable that some kind of war machine capable of indoors close quarters and space combat will eventually be developed. Whether it has arms or legs (more akin to Mech Warrior) would certainly be up for debate. Of course, you could say that you could have a fighter-shuttle carrying space marines that can do both, but it is inefficient to have to leave your vehicle outside (along with all of its heavy weaponry) in order to board a ship/station or explore a planetside complex. Of course, perhaps by then everything will be completely mechanized anyway...

Actually, a little while back I was at the university library, and I came across a book that postulated the theory that science fiction was really about study and simulation of future conflicts. I don't recall the author or title, but I could probably find it again if I were to go back there another time, assuming no one had taken it out.