Alright, more of an actual history on the MK3 GRAND BATTLE MECH. Writing this out will hopefully result in a thought out and "realistic" design. Mad props to my friend Kerry with helping me with all the sciencey bit haha. Still working through everything so not all is finalized.
MK3 GRAND CLASS IV BATTLE MECH
The year is 2102m. The Unified Confederation of Earth has been hard at work on the colonization of Mars for 30 years as small cities begin to populate the red planet’s surface. The growing population of earth is slowly getting filtered to our new home allowing mother nature to recoup after centuries of wear and tear.
October 27th, 2102m. The people of the small Mars city of New Yule begin to feel tremors in the ground beneath them. Nothing too uncommon for the inhabitants of Mars but something was different; the tremors lasted much longer than they normally did. About two hours of seismic activity raised series concern with the local scientists. As they began looking into the matter something unthinkable occurred as New Yule was assaulted by local fauna previously unknown to the people of Earth. They burrowed out from the red sand and began to lay waste to everything and everyone in sight.
The UCE got wind of the attack and received detailed reports on what exactly happened. A weird bug like species inhabiting Mars’ soil had worked its way to the surface, no doubt looking to investigate the colonization efforts by the UCE. The creatures were incredibly agile and able to scale structures and terrain with ease. Meanwhile our heavy vehicles, all still using track technology at the time, where slowed down by the dusty nature of Mars’ topside. Coupled with the Mk20 Abrams limited degree of movement, they made for easy targets.
The UCE’s top scientists and engineers went hard at work developing the MK I GRAND BATTLE MECH. Removing the archaic track technology in lieu of a much more versatile quadruped design, the MK 1 would be able to traverse the rocky and dusty terrain of Mars at much higher speeds and with greater ease. This quadruped frame, designed by Chief of Technological Studies at UCE Dr. Willis Grand, would go on to be the basis for the majority of the UCE’s planetary military forces.
As well as the new quadruped design, the GRAND MK1 was outfitted with an, at the time, highly experimental weapon known as an “Ionized Plasma Caster”. The “IPC” was a system that generated plasma and shaped it, using it as a superheated projectile. This weapon was originally the result of extensive R&D into thermionic weaponry leading back to the 2040s when the US military we looking to diversify from traditional ballistic weaponry. Originally panned as “unstable” and “highly dangerous” to the vehicle operators and any personnel in the area, the project was regarded as a failure. With the advent of the recent discovery of this hostile Martians, the scientific minds of the UCE saw it fit that a weapon of this caliber would not only be highly effective against creatures that inhabited the cold climate of Mars, but that it may very well be necessary.
The construction of the MK 1 GRAND BATTLE MECH proved to be an expensive endeavor, mainly due to the speed of development. The UCE was losing Mars settlements daily to the newly discovered Martian fauna which led to rapid construction. While incredibly effective against the immediate threat Mars settlements were facing, this led to several glaring oversights that ultimately resulted in future iterations.
Among the chief concerns were transportation of the mechs, the logistical problems with the mech’s weaponry and the relatively unprotected nature of the mech’s legs in relation to Mars’ harsh climate.
It was quickly found out that the alien’s tactical capabilities were severely underestimated. During the initial attack on the alien-held Mars settlements, GRAND MK1 pilots quickly ran into the issue of subterranean attacks. The hostile fauna would burrow underground and focus the mech’s legs. If caught off guard, which usually was the case, this had the series potential to throw the mech’s center of gravity way off, effectively grounding it making it susceptible to more lethal force. Because of this Dr. Willis Grand went to work on hexaped, and later, octaped frame designs.
Maintenance on the GRAND MK1 was shown to be a serious issue as well. Although during the initial deployment was of little concern, a prolonged tour on Mars proved to be very unhealthy for the GRAND’s innerworkings. The harsh conditions of Mars’ surface, primarily the incredibly dusty nature and intense sandstorms, made upkeep a costly endeavour. This prompted the rapid research of nanaoweave technology, still giving the GRAND MK2 the agility and mobility needed but also affording it the protection from Mars’ harsh dust storms. Ultimately this cut down on repairs immensely, lowering maintenance costs tenfold.
With the quick decisions that occurred during the initial attack of 2102m, UCE scientists equipped the GRAND MK1 with experimental weaponry that had been lightly tested, and more importantly, had little logistical projection upon deployment. As such, MK1 pilots ran into issues where they would out pace their mission in terms of ammunition. This led to pilots having to improvise in relation to their combat effectiveness. There were recorded sightings of pilots using the mech’s legs as melee weapons when fighting some of the larger fauna. This of course resulted in high maintenance costs as these quadruped frames were not designed to withstand that level of rigorous use. To combat this, head of UCE’s Weaponized Technology branch, Dr. Helen Kinsley, went hard at work with several members of UCE’s Extraplanetary Traversal Division to create a two part solution to this problem. Dr. Kinsley’s hope was that the MK2 GRAND could be equipped with a highly advanced seismic activity reader that could send data back to a gunship in orbit. These gunships are split into two parts. The front half houses the MK2 GRANDs for transport from Earth to Mars as well as a large rail gun which shoots shells of depleted uranium. The back half is equipped with a warp gate, utilizing early FTL technology. Once the MK2 GRAND pilots pick up data of interest, they will deploy a plantable markerlight on the area above the activity. The gunship in orbit will receive this data and line up their shot. The two halves of the ship will extend, giving the FTL system enough time to calculate the shot. The shell of depleted uranium will be fired into the warp gate. Once the shell passes through the warp gate, it is guided to its target using FTL technology. The impact of the shell creates a small subterranean nuclear explosion, wiping out any suspected activity in the area.
Employing this method allows for the MK2 GRAND to be much lighter, making it more maneuverable. Also by placing the heavy weaponry on an orbital gunship, the GRAND can be outfitted with several smaller weapon and defensive systems, making it that much more versatile. Also this gave an easy method of transport from Earth to Mars.
With this iteration all worked out, the UCE began development of the MK2 GRAND BATTLE MECH, sending them to key locations on Mars in a matter of months. About 43 were developed and shipped. With these in rotation, the attacks by the hostile fauna became less and less common.
Back at UCE headquarters technology began to ramp up even further. UCE scientists had made huge leaps in drone technology and decided they could cut down costs even further by employing drone driven systems into the GRAND BATTLE MECH. Engineers quickly went to work on creating systems for drone operated maintenance which proved to be wildly successful. Much of the technology that went into protecting the MK2’s from Mars’ climate were easily applicable to drones, just on a smaller scale.
On top of maintenance, Dr. Kinsley was able to figure out a way to work in drone assisted weapon swaps. This dramatically added to the versatility of the GRAND MK3. With the ability to switch between long range and short range (even melee) weapons meant there was rarely a situation the MK3 would be caught off guard.
As well as these system upgrades Dr. Grand implemented his newly developed octaped frame into the MK3, giving it unmatched mobility.
With these tweaks, the MK3 GRAND was deployed into Mars’ military forces, slowly circulating out the MK2’s.
