Commonwealth Mech Training Course

## Mech Instructor Hales

"Yes this is a reactor, no you can't touch it"

## More bodies for the suits

*Well everyone I hope you all found your way here easy enough, finding your way round here can be hard; well my name is Hales and I'm just going to be giving all of you a quick briefing before we suit you up and head to the fields.*

*Now I know that you've all been training for this day for a few years now but it's my job to ensure that we're all on the same page, mech training isn't as universal as it was before the reforms; so what I have here in my hand is a reactor, doesn't matter what kind it is right now because they all look similar to this. A mech suit always has 3 of these minimum, when you get your own mech it's your job to care for them and keep them pristine... this isn't a recommendation it's a necessity; this one here has been improperly secured and it bounced around inside a mech until it cracked and killed the mech pilot.*

*No joke the pilot was dead within a minute, bled out his ears and mouth as the rads pumped him; don't let this offput you, reactors are extremely safe **when properly attached**. Once attached these things could be hit by particle lances or rockets and any damage to the reactor would not cause a radiation leak. I'm saying this because we've all seen the images of pilots melted or fused to death inside the suits, these are possibilities but account for less than 0.17% of all mech casualties.*

*Right! with that out the way it is time for a brief summary of what you can expect... computer display images...*

*Anyone imagining scenes like this will ether be disappointed or joyed to hear that this is not mech combat, unless your commander is an idiot and sent you head first into city streets you will never fight a mech closer than 500 metres and usually you'll be firing at ranges of 10km or above.*

*That being said; mech combat is not what it once was, ever since Voice and the reforms we don't really get involved much anymore, these days the mech suits are more like long range weapon platforms or anti-vehicle front-liners… that is if the robots don't do it for you.*

*In terms of species variance, most species can use any mech, unless the mech is built for one species. In terms of combat experience you'll likely be shipped in from space and used as hard hitting canons for places where collateral damage is of concern. Well that is it from me for now, get in your mech and get going, remember this won't be some fancy simulation or digital test... you are driving real mech suits with real weaponry on them; the mech suits are supposed to lock them from use but you never know... these days we don't really get much love from the engineering departments as they're all busy fawning over how to turn you into a robot; unnatural perversions of nature if you ask me but we aren't here to listen to an old timer talk, once your in the mech my bundle of joy daughter, Elen, will take it from there. Don't piss her off.*

## Mech Pilot Elen

"Well this should be fun, it's not often we get to do this anymore"

*Hi there everyone, this is Elen speaking, we're going to skip the rookie rubbish and move straight to the courses; after about 4 years of training I'll do you all the kindness of assuming you all know how to pilot a mech, easy right?*

*Stick to flat terrain and shallow inclines for now though, walking around in a mech gets all the harder when you have to account for more than just grass under your feet; which means no-one is to try jumping the canyons or vaulting the fallen tree trunks, I tried it on my first day and snapped the mech arm off... awkward does not describe it.*

*While we are heading to the course though try holstering your hand held weapons and get a feel for them, try raising and turning with the gun outstretched and see how it effects your centre of gravity, weight proportions are different in mechs to biological bodies... generally a mech has a much higher centre of gravity as the top half is where all the fancy stuff goes; I'm not supposed to but I've unlocked your firing abilities, I want to fire once into the air and feel the recoil... basics right.*

*So my dad probably lectured you about the times of old when mechs used to be used as absolute death machines, if not then he'd have at least said how mechs are the unloved creation of the engineering boffins, pay no mind to him; mechs are different to the old days but it's all been for the better and we're still number one on the frontlines, the old man twists his words slightly... when he says long range weapon platform he makes blasting tanks, planes, other mechs and squishy infantry it sound like a boring job. And these days you do it from the safety of a nice robot army, who are all happy to die throwing themselves in front of missile fire for you.*

*Right; time to get started then, first up we're going to teach you something you'll know nothing about, did anyone here know that since the reforms us mech troopers get our own robot brigades? no? That's because the military department is run by senile old 'veterans' from older conflicts who're stuck in a permanent PTSD loop and don't like to show off the cool stuff to dissuade recruits from joining, something about how war is hell and all; well these mechs are fitted with small computers that are linked to your own robot pals, you can order them around yourself or just set some standard formation. Half the battle these days is really us people acting as mini commanders and directing robot battles from a distance, the other half is blowing things up.*

*So for this exercise you'll all command some robots and direct a battle against another rookie group, who by the way are being led by my brother, if I lose this match I'm also losing a small fortune of creds so try to win ok... hope you all paid attention to those battle classes; don't let the other team's robots tag you because that means you're out, oh and no shooting your own guns, these are live and the other team has actual people in them so leave the fighting to the robots.*

*Remember; keep you're own mech behind cover, observe the bird's eye view tactical overlay map thingy and direct your teams bots, use sentry drones to watch the flanks and hunt other drones; keep missile bots at the ready and make sure your tanks are ready to pounce, the small infantry bots are your bread and butter... use em a lot but don't throw them away like canon fodder, we're the Commonwealth not the Yaanari. Come one people do I have to win this battle myself, if Branicki wasn't a pile of ash he'd be turning in his grave.*

*The centre is evaporating rookies but we've got them in a pincer; bring the flanking forces together quickly and tag their mechs and missile bots before they smash through and do the same to us, I'll direct my own bots to hold the centre while you all focus on the side, it's called delegating and you'll all learn to do it later... I could also do with some additional tanks, someone transfer me about 15 of their own. Without further ado lets crack this battle.*

*Ha! as you so often say "Suck it bro!". Well boys & girls we're now moving straight to the weapon course*

### Weapon Training

*Now here's what you all here for, the part where you blow something up and get paid to do it. So these days all mechs come fitted with a small point defence system that protects you from missile fire, it's a damn lifesaver from what I hear but don't start thinking it's impenetrable; other than that mechs come in a wide variation though most are geared to be short to mid range mobile artillery platform with some anti tank weaponry for protection... the artillery is mostly self guided and is a lesson for another day.*

*So, you should all see a target about five kilometres from here, draw your mech's gun and aim at it; now you may think you've got the target on lock, but over five kilometres the slightest millimetre of your barrel being off can make your shot miss the broad side of a barn, now activate the targeting system. You will feel a small headache as the mech mainframe interfaces with your own synapses, by connecting with your brain the mech knows what you want to do and it avoids you mixing up commands or targets; don't ask me how it works because I haven't the faintest clue but the tech comes from an older project... Eve? IVA? something along those lines. Anyway with the system interface the mech should make all the adjustments needed to hit your target, sometimes the mech will do something you didn't think of doing... that is perfectly normal and you should just let it do it; when the mech moves autonomously it has usually spotted some threat you haven't seen or is just setting itself up for a better shot, but there have been some teething issues with it, if your mech displays this message **-*****ONE01110011-** *then just think in your head 'reset'* *and the message disappears.*

*Well fire away and get used to the recoil, some of you might even get to firing on the move; after you've expended your ammo make your own way back to the mech bay and call it a day, try not to get crap on it one the way back because you're all the ones whose going to clean them.*