The Intergalactic Highway

NK already made a topic for new characters to join in:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3607

The definition of skill is to do something well or to be particularly talented at performing a certain task. So essentially skill is to be able to put your knowledge into action. Practice, or experience, may help improve a skill, but there are also those annoying people who pick up on a skill very easily without much practice. They have this natural talent at something. This is why I let Aurora have the skill level she has without having much experience beyond what she learns through studying. Her experience level is low, but the things she finds interesting to learn about, such as computer science, she will have an uncanny talent to pick up on these 'skills' quickly. It doesn't take away from the inexperience of being a new character. She merely knows a lot about topics she does research on, yet not much at all about things she is not interested in (such as predacon territories etc), thus she is skilled in some fields yet inexperienced in others she does not know much about.

Edits: Removed 1 point from endurance after being told this stat does not cover stamina. Split point between speed and courage. Added 'lack of field experience' to weaknesses. Edited computer gauntlet to reflect energy shield capability.

I added another weakness to TM Orcariner's profile:

While still susceptible to sonar emissions, transformers who have not undergone transmetalization are more difficult to detect via radar when they are in beast mode.

It's a current weakness that he has in Season 1 and I'd like to keep it so that Predacon regular-types get a minor advantage over their upgraded teammates.

I like what you're doing with Aurora, Phoenix.

I'm thinking of a rank 5 for her (but I'd like to hear other opinions). There aren't too many hackers on the Maximal team, and she'll do really well in her role as a hacker given how you've described her abilities. But since she just came online for the first time, she's going to have to learn everything she needs to know about being in a war in the middle of that war.

Heh, Between setting himself on fire the first day in base,his habit of being mauled by wild animals while unconscious to the corpse baby event, I'm pretty sure that would count as "unlucky".

I guess it's up to interpretation. Icebreaker deliberately hooked his spark up to Aurora's. So the damage that followed seemed like his choice, not a random unfortunate happening.

As for the animal chewing on him, from what I can interpret, that was a case of good luck:

He found it strange that his internal computer systems were not whining at him like they usually would, then realized they must of been damaged by the animal that attacked him. Ofcourse.. that animal probably also saved their lives.

The damaged systems part is bad luck, but it seems like having Icebreaker's life saved makes the animal coming along a case of extremely good luck.

As for Icebreaker setting himself on fire... that was actually my fault. I am ashamed.

You wrote:Icebreaker looked over the crew, he then raised his repair tool waving. "Er.. Heya, the names Icebreaker. Search and rescue is my specialty, but I'm also good at blowing up things in a pinch." he then rubs the back of his head which appeared to have white fluffy feathers sticking off the back of it. the repair tool activated with a small blue flame coming from the end, he blinked looking at it a bit "Huh.. So that's how you turn this thing on. Guess I wont need lessons after all," he said to himself, then moved it before he set himself on fire.

I wrote:The penguin seemed pretty cool. Or at least, his demeanor was. Granted, he had hit the side of the ship, was bemused by what a rat was, and he...

He had lit himself on fire!

You were saying he avoided burning himself, but I read that he... set himself on fire. So yeah, this was an instance of bad luck. But it's like I was his bad luck.

I'm not saying he can't have bad luck from now on (and you might still disagree that he doesn't), but all told, I don't think he does right now.

Ok I edited Nem's weapons a bit. I removed one katana and also the lightning ability the remaining one has. Also removed the single grenade launcher.

Added an assault rifle with a built in grenade launcher.

Phoenix wrote:Added an assault rifle with a built in grenade launcher.

Now that's what's up! Not sure about the technology of energo-bullets since energo weapons need a power source to draw upon in order to keep the effect active. Otherwise, they'll just be regular bullets. If you want quick energy-shield draining projectiles, I know the Halo universe has a logic that plasma/laser-based weaponry is significantly more effective against energy shields than ballistics. Crysis 2 came out with the idea of EMP charges you can put in the undercarriage of your gun (i.e.- your grenade launcher barrel) and that'll shut down someone's energy shields. If the person doesn't have any energy shields, it'll drain their energy period. Since it works in waves, the EMP shot is distance-variable similar to the 40 mm shotgun shells assault rifles use in urban warfare.

If Nemesis is going to have an undercarriage barrel to her assault rifle, I don't see why she can't have all of the above (grenades, EMP charge, shotgun) and maybe even smoke grenades and such. Grenades could be used for scattering groups. EMP for draining personal shields and shutting down foes. Shotgun for breaching missions. Smoke for escape or concealment. Nemesis is a special operations Predacon so it'll fit her role.

Oooh, thanks for the input, my Halo expert friend! I do like the sound of all that. I saw the Aliens movie again recently and thought the assault rifle/grenade launcher was kick ass. I wanted something that drains energy as well, but didn't want to get stuck "firing my laser" so to speak. Solids are just cooler. And thinking about it, I figured Nem was just crazy enough to pack something like this. Especially with so many of the characters having so low FP next season, she needed something long range. Thanks for ideas! Will reedit when I get home. On my droid now and editing is ick on it. -

One more thing: you don't want laser guidance, at least not in a battlefield. It gives you away too easily especially for characters with keen vision/sensors. Plus, laser sights are place on the bottom of the gun, which would make the weapon too unbalanced for Nemesis to wield. Red dot, holographic, or ACOG sights are just as good with the additional advantage that only the wielder can see the light that helps aim the gun. You could keep laser guidance for close quarters combat in tight spaces where hip firing is used more, but I doubt Nemesis would even want to be in that situation to begin with due to her claustrophobia (and the fact that she's better with a katana for CQB).

For someone as interested in firearms, it's almost funny your character has none. insight is appreciated. I don't know a thing about guns (other than those firing out of my baby's butt) so it's nice to have some guidance in that sense.

I think I've been watching too much star trek (tng and voyager) because all I can think of are lasers.. but I'd rather have a solid weapon packing a solid amount of kickass.

I also see that irony every time I try and post during battle scenes lol. I don't know much about sword fighting other than stab, slash, or parry. I was considering making a rival to Orcariner who specialized in explosives and artillery since nothing smaller than a 40mm round would penetrate the latter's armor, but Glowstick just took that role. I want to make a commando-esque Predacon who can partner up with Steelclaw, but most Maximal OCs now are close ranged so that's also unfair. *sigh* I dunno, I'll just wait to see how Season 2 plays out before coming up with something.

...

Scratch that, since I'm actually thinking about it I'll make a profile now and if it gets approved I'll choose when to introduce him later.

Name: Buster
Allegiance: Predacon
Function: Field Commando, Engineer
Alt. Mode: Llama
Height: 1.80 m
Quote: "How beautiful my guns are! Oh yes you are! Oh yes you are!"

Strength: 6.0
Intelligence: 6.0
Speed: 5.0
Endurance: 7.0
Rank: 6.0
Courage: 5.0
Firepower: 10.0
Skill: 8.0

Biography: Having been dishonorably discharged from the Maximal military due to incompetence, Buster found no other pleasing alternative in life other than leaving Cybertron. The planet was full of dead-end jobs for someone like him. By feigning interest in intergalactic travels and exploration, his spark was placed in a protoform pod aboard the cruiser known as the Axalon. In reality, Buster hopes to find a planet full of wildlife so that he could practice his aim with firearms for centuries to come.

Weapons:

Assault Rifle
- 7.62x39mm full metal jacket rounds @ 750 rpm (30 rounds per clip)
- Variable firing mechanism (single shot, burst fire, fully automatic)
- Infrared scope (increased marksman accuracy)
- 40mm shotgun attachment (used for close quarters combat and breaching doors)
- Doubled magazines (enabling faster reloads)
- Foregrip (reducing recoil)
- Maximum extra ammunition carried in the field is 360 rounds (9 shells for underbarrel attachment).

Side-Arm
- 12.7x99mm rounds (7 rounds per clip)
- Semi-automatic
- Silencer attachment
- Laser pointer (can be switched on or off)
- Maximum extra ammunition carried in the field is 48 rounds.

Urban Rocket Launcher
- 84 mm rocket with vehicle lock-on capabilities
- Single shot, requiring reload after firing
- Maximum extra ammunition carried in the field is 2 rockets.

Combat Knife
- 7.5 inches long
- Serrated blade

Abilities: Buster may not have been the most loyal, courageous, or competent soldier, but he certainly knew how to fight. His aim with a gun is competitive with some of the better sharpshooters on Cybertron. His knowledge on infantry warfare and weaponry comes to him as common sense. If it were not for his personality and behavioral issues, Buster could have easily been promoted to a rank higher than private.

Buster is also skilled with explosives. He frequently carries a rocket launcher with him at all times. Some equipment that he also utilizes are fragment grenades and anti-tank mines. Given the amount of materials that he carries on his person, Buster may only interchange each of these with his rocket launcher depending on which the mission calls for.

Special Item: Buster carries a spit jar with him at all times. Even in robot mode, he does maintain his animalistic urge to constantly spit. While the llama does not often use it outdoors, he makes sure to keep his saliva contained while at base due to Megatron's orders. Buster maintains several backups in his room in case his jar breaks while on mission. Sometimes, he will resort to bashing opponents over the head or dousing their circuits with saliva if he were to run out of bullets. Victims have been known to describe these moments as traumatic experiences.

Weaknesses: The issues that plagued Buster in the Maximal army still follow him to this day. Buster's courage is questionable at times, leading him to practice what is known as "camping". Hiding in a tree, a cave, or a hole, he would simply wait for an enemy to come to him rather than venture out and be shot at first. It is due to this lack of courage that Buster spends more time with preparations than any actual combat. Should a teammate fall to danger, Buster will only choose to come to his/her aid if he is confident that he would not be harmed in the process. Buster also practices "kill stealing", in which he would intentionally find an opponent who is already weakened and finish that individual off (claiming the glory for himself). On the other hand, if someone takes out an opponent that he felt should have been his kill, Buster will throw a tantrum. Physically, the amount of weapons and equipment on hand slow Buster's running speed down. While he is equipped to handle many jobs, he completes them at a slow pace. Buster's skill rating only applies to his capabilities with his weapons. He is not very useful in any other field.

Sample Post: Explosions echoed around him, but Buster remained complacent in his hiding spot. Flyers were having a difficult time making their push towards the Axalon due to Optimus Primal now being a living anti-air gun. Checking the time, the shooter leaned back and continued to hold his rifle at shoulder level. It was all in the timing. The Maximals were becoming more confident now, initiating their counterstrike in order to kick the Predacons out of their territory. One of them finally came into view, and Buster did not hesitate to open fire. The Maximal rolled over in pain as the rounds pierced the fallible armor, but the body was now partially obscured. He contemplated over whether or not to finish the kill.

"The bot's almost dead," he whispered to himself.

Another series of explosions sounded as the enemy flyers were making their bombing run.

"Nah."

He continued to sit there, even as Megatron sounded the call for a tactical retreat. If he continued to stay put, the Maximals may not see him and he would get out of this unscathed. Yet, if he continued to stay put, there would be more reinforcements and Buster would be trapped behind enemy lines. Taking a deep breath, he jumped out of his fox hole and opened fire in the direction of the Maximals. It was blind fire, but his intention was not to score any hits. The tactic of suppression would ensure that his opponents would try to find cover in order to avoid harm while Buster himself backpedaled to safety. Unfortunately, a looming figure approached over the hill. The largest of Maximals was slowly, but surely, creeping towards the Predacon lines. Buster could see several smaller Maximals sticking close to the giant, utilizing their larger brother as a shield while they continued their offensive drive.

"Slag!" he cursed, holstering his assault rifle while picking up his rocket launcher, "Let's see if you can bounce this off your body!"

The titan was not difficult to target, and within a few nanoclicks Buster had launched a single rocket in his foe's direction. Not wanting to see the result, the Predacon soldier threw his launcher aside and broke out into a full run in the opposite direction. The explosion sounded behind him, but the gunfire did not relent. Due to Buster's delay in following Megatron's command, he was now the lagging Predacon amongst the retreating force. Flyers were now targeting him, and more fire rained from the sky. Buster felt a bullet graze his armor, and as if by an overwhelming surge of willpower, his running speed picked up considerably.

"I'm not dying," he yelled, "I'm not dying today! Not today!"

Transforming into his beast mode, the llama proceeded to gallop into the jungle where he was concealed by the dense ceiling of trees. The fight was now over, and Buster lived to die another day.

HA!! LOVE THIS BUSTER!! Of all weapons, why did you have to choose Star's favorite weapon of choice(rocket launcher)?? LOL!! She might try to steal it. And does he spit?

I'm gonna love the guy. XD

Alright I have to admit I wanted to play a transmetal but not make Onyx one since, well I like him as a regular. So with some thinking and racking my brain for ideas I managed to throw this little dino together. Hope you guys like her.

Name: Vela
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Stealth Fighter/Reconnaissance
Alt. Mode: Transmetal Velociraptor
Height: beast mode-5’7,Robot mode-6’1
Quote: “Ever seen a raptor fly?”

Strength: 7
Intelligence:8
Speed: 8
Endurance:7
Rank: [Assigned by the staff] (6)
Courage: 9
Firepower:6
Skill: 5

Biography: After her pod is knocked out of orbit by the Quantum Surge Vela ended up crashing close to a tar pit just half way on the edge and half way into the sticky ooze, her pod also having some malfunction. Though Vela was able to scan the remains of a raptor and emerged transmetaled her memory is affected from the crash, this results to her only knowing two things:1) she was flier on Cybertron and 2) she had come there for a reason. Though her data tracks do lie in the Axalon files and one can find that she is a former neutral mercenary for hire though was meant to have a Predacon default activation program, has been trained in some forms of combat, and is a descendant from one of the Decepticon Seeker Trine Thundercracker.

Though at first Vela may be struck as timid and shy in truth she is just somewhat unsure and prefers the isolation of being a loner. With the memory loss and only bits and pieces she remembers this femme does question her allegiance to the Maximals since well she adopted the activation code due to malfunction caused by her crashed pod. Though Vela is a kind-sparked warrior and willing to give aid for those in need yet when in battle she is very fierce and quite aggressive in her attacks. Despite her tendencies to not be close to the other Maximals Vela is quite loyal and has plenty of chances to slowly come out of her shell.

Weapons: Mounte don her shoulder Vela sports a quasar cannon and on her back carries an Assault Rifle, both used in long range attacks.
For close combat vela favors a two edged energo-sword about as long as her arm, the blade is on either side of a two inch-hilt and slightly curved like crescent moons though facing opposite directions of each other.
Transmetal Feature:Like a jet Vela has wings located in the middle of her back that can fold out at certain angles for certain distances, though they can also be folded back to allow for ground mobility. Located between the two folded wings are afterburners that allow for her flight.

Abilities: With Vela favoring a more quiet approach in battle she has a stealth mode that allows her to go undetected and able to sneak up on foes or friends alike, depending on the situation.
Due to the jet like features from her transmetal tech she can choose to move through air or move along the ground from her raptor beast mode.
Lastly Vela has a thermal image reader with the use of visor over her optics in beast and robot mode which allows her to view heat signatures in areas with plenty of cover.

Weaknesses: The most notable weakness of Vela is her islated loner personality which one can notice she will often be alone and prefer working by herself, this can lead to some casualties if she doesn’t learn to work with someone or be willing to make a friendship with her fellow Maximals.
Another is her wings on her back, though useful they can become useless if damaged or malfunctioned and leaves her without the advantage of flying. Which also brings up that the height she fly is limited to only 500 feet maximum.
Finally her darker colored armor of a dark tan and brown coloration can make her noticeable in many places, especially open areas and the skies which even with stealth leaves her vulnerable to attack and becoming an open target.

Sample Post:
Why did it feel so wrong to be among them? To act like a Maximal or have the sentiment feeling? That’s all Vela could really ask herself as she gazed at the ones she had come to call her comrades, the ones she should be getting to know and have friends or allies, yet she always fell back at a distance from them. It just seemed the warm and quiet day, lack of battle, and bordom had the Maximals out and about enjoying the company of one another as if they were a big family. In a way Vela could see they were but she felt like an outsider, an invader to this ‘family’. The she-raptor was once more by herself, curled up on a boulder, the top flattened enough one could lay comfortably.

But her optics gold optics remained open, watching and full of wonder at those she had been with for a couple months now. It just seemed…bizarre to become close to another to Vela and it really didn’t settle well with her to try and have a closeness at all, regardless if it’s only a professional like basis. Still she had to wonder perhaps it wasn’t that bad and that there were some benefits of such things. But again her mind seemed to reject such possibilities and with a deep sigh Vela turned her head to look elsewhere, trying to keep her mind distracted.

Though she failed miserably and eventually just let herself go into a light stasis nap, a bit bored and not having much motivation to do much else.

Not sure if you were aware of this or not, but Nemesis (Phoenix's Predacon OC) is also a stealth jet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you two can't be the same thing. I just wanted to let you know that it's been done, and whether or not you want to keep that vehicle mode is up to you.

Took a quick peek at nemesis but I didn't exactly look at all the bios so never noticed she was also a stealth flier. But I really couldn't think of anything else for Vela and I've played her a few times in the past but this is really the only time I've done a transmetal version. If it needs to be changed then I can think of something else so not to seem like it's a copy or anything but I prefer to keep it honestly.

So am I supposed to repost my character's bio and stuff here or something? She's not a transmetal or anything and will never be one. So do I need to put it here or is this for everyone TM or not...???