Outline for Crusader II

Plus the sheer variety of weapons and ways to kill people is freakin' awesome.

Now, back on topic.  I think limiting the amount of equipment and/or weapons you could carry in the first game was a good decision.  No Regret, from a gameplay perspective, was a little more difficult in most cases, so I suppose they had to give you more freedom and power (and really, who wants to have to choose between the grenade launcher and the rocket launcher?), but I think limiting weapons made for a good tactical exercise.  It also allowed you to remove dead weight from your rotation--who ever really used the Conformer after picking up the Reaper?

I'm thinking, maybe limit to to four weapons, plus a sidearm (any pistol weapon--BA-40, BA-41, laser pistol) and a heavy weapon (i.e. flamethrower, rocket launcher, UV rifle).  Munitions (grenades, spider bombs, etc.) would of course be tracked differently.

Or perhaps allow you any number of weapons, but make it so that has real tactical results.  Carry the UV rifle, the grenade launcher, and the AC-88 fully loaded would have to slow you down a little...maybe allow you to design "preloaded" configurations, ranging from "scout/stealth/assassin" (just the black bodysuit and a few light weapons) to "assault" (you, your armor, and all your biggest toys).
 
Limiting weapons would be a good idea in my eyes, plus lets be real, how can the Silencer stack 10 weapons ranging from huge automated shotguns to rocket launchers all in his back pack? Perhaps you could be given the choice to carry all weapons, but every extra weapon, say over 5, slows you down a bit more.
 
Well, again, I notice they give mass to most items--and generally speaking, the more powerful the item, the heavier it is.

So: three pre-defined configs (with the ability to add custom ones, even).  One designed for stealth, another being the "default", and a third being for heavy assault missions.

The stealth one would be restricted to light and/or stealthy weapons and equipment.  You don't have the outer armor on, just the bullet-and-tear-resistant black bodysuit (which would include a cowl), and the backpack.  For example, a sniper rifle and a silenced BK-40, with smoke or gas grenades instead of the more destructive kind.  And, of course, going unarmed, and possibly with a knife as well.  Since you don't have a chestplate, you can only have the ionic shield (which can be shoulder-mounted, as noted in its flavor text) with a chemical battery.  On the bright side, you're even faster than normal, nearly invisible in shadows, and can move even at speed in complete silence.

The default should need little explanation: standard armor, best shield and battery, varying weapons load.  Broad and flexible, you can attempt stealth when there are circumstances in your favor, but still stand up to even heavy mechs in a straight fight.

Assault would be carrying at least three heavy weapons, demolitions, and possibly even armor mods to make it tougher.  Experimental batteries that provide greater shield and energy weapon power would be acceptable as well.  Sneaking is out of the question, but so is living to see another day--for most of your enemies, that is.

This, by the way, is how I see Silencers.  They work in teams of three, with a scout/assassin (though he usually wears the armor anyway), an assault specialist, and a flexible team leader.

EDIT: Though in theory all three could do as well as each other, they each prefer one style over the other.
 
Some more ideas.

First, give mechs unique abilities, and personality, outside of just having different weapons and colors.

For example, APPs are built on a bipedal platform; they should be able to turn their "heads" (in fact, if you watch an active APP's idle animation, they do, slightly).  This makes them deadlier, allowing them to fire on an enemy without having to shift their feet, and track a moving target effectively.

The Roaming Susan's welder would seem like it would do more damage at close range than a mere laser.  If it can close the gap, it could cut loose with its welding torch.  And possibly that clawed manipulator hand, if it's an older one that's seen and acquired a taste (as it were) for combat.

Androids should be polite, with very very basic interaction routines.  "Good morning, intruder.  Please set down your weapon or prepare to die."  They are, after all, designed to look humanoid, so they should also be able to interact with humans in a way that puts them at ease.

Roaches should be given magnetic treads instead of wheels, allowing them to climb walls and ceilings.  Within small spaces, they would swarm an opponent, which would be really creepy if it was like a dimly-lit air duct.

We must fix the APP-4100/4210/4400 Thermatron/Thermatron-Vetron/Vetron-Thermatron kerfuffle.

More APPs for the other odd weapons.  The APP-5400 Liquitron, for example: unlike most modern mechs, the Liquitron does not simply collapse or explode; upon fatal structural breach, it automatically vents its catalyst reservoirs, disintegrating its structure entirely, to better preserve the secret of its firepower.

On another tack, something in the No Remorse Resistance manual gave me an idea.  There's a section where Brooks explains why certain scenery that is not explicitly a defensive emplacement will try to zap you.

"Shields are wonderful things, but in high-tech environments they can bite back.  Some high-power equipment can trigger a power spike when it comes into contact with an active shield, which will leave your shield (or you) fried.  That's why you might think twice before poking around in a room with industrial equipment when your shield's on."

What needs to be done is the ability to switch off a shield.  That way, when you lead shielded troopers into an industrial room, the first few will get waxed when their shields jolt--and the rest will turn their shields off.
 
Shadowen link said:
We must fix the APP-4100/4210/4400 Thermatron/Thermatron-Vetron/Vetron-Thermatron kerfuffle.

When I was typing up the updated info for the database, the strategy guides and other fiction documents always had the name/number mixed up... so I was totally confused on what was the real name.
 
A few days back I added what I think is a plausible explanation on the Wiki site.  To wit:

In the third mission of No Remorse you have to download plans for the upgraded Thermatron.

Then, in the No Regret help file, it refers to the APP-4400 Thermatron being the "replacement for the APP-4100", and calls the Vetron the APP-4210.

I prefer to go with No Regret in this regard, using the third mission of No Remorse as evidence.
 
Based on other ideas and what engines are capable of these days (such as Unreal Tournament 3--go watch the trailer on YouTube), I have decided that large piloted mechs would be both excellent obstacles and fun ways of destroying obstacles, too.  There could even be a mission entirely about piloting building-sized mechs through an armory or factory, and depending on the obstacle you would have to switch mechs as you go along--one with lasers would be excellent against troops and emplacements, for example, but if you had to blown down an armory wall would be too slow; you would have to switch to one with a lot of missile-based weapons.  On the other hand, one with armor-piercing rounds or heavy energy weapons would be needed to fight off similar-sized mechs with any real efficiency.

Plus every action game should feature a section where you're large enough to pick objects such as small building up and throw them.  Slave Zero gave me a lot of hope in this regard.

Another idea: on a mission that becomes possible if you end up rejoining the Silencers, you could pilot an escape vehicle to get you out of a building where you've made a strike (making a sort of flight sim); or you could let the computer pilot while you take one of the gunnery positions with another Silencer (a rail shooter).

And I really think that mission performance-based advancement is key.

Let's say we're in the first mission, where the Rebels sneak aboard the last WEC freighter to leave the moon.  If you completed the mission quickly enough (it would need to be very quickly, mind), you could halt the ship entirely, kill the troopers, and bring the ship back to the moon, which would lead to a shorter game--sort of a "speed run" version, where you take on the most difficult or missions and miss a lot of the story but get to an ending mission much faster--a reward for a really good player, or a challenge for someone expecting an easy run through the game on lower difficulty levels.

If you take too long, meanwhile, the course is locked in and the WEC troops have already explained the situation to authorities, and when the Rebels try to deviate from the course, the WEC figures it out and shoots it down, meaning you need to get to escape pods, leading to another series of missions where you have to survive without support until you can link up with another Resistance cell.

If you aren't fast enough to stop the locking-in of the ship's course, but not so slow that they're within comm range of the WEC, you get there after the troops have locked in the course, but you can fake your way into getting the WEC to let you land unscathed.  Then, you have to do a quick mission where you sabotage the freighter so it explodes after you disembark, which can be done stealthily or as a surprise attack.

And there could be even more variations, based on how well you performed on other missions--if you get the freighter to turn back, meaning you ran through the mission at top speed, you'd then have to deal with all the WEC troops you didn't kill on the way to the bridge as they attempt to sabotage the ship.  If you sneaked through the ship, meaning you took your time, to get to the bridge, you might be able to disguise yourselves as WEC troops, allowing you to sneak out, if you didn't kill them all (i.e. put huge holes in their uniforms) already.

And so on.
 
The real trick would be the ending, but things like that have been done.  In Fallout and Fallout 2, the game tracked a number of variables, ranked in certain locations, and at the end your progress for the entire game was given.
 
it seems to me, that we have a nice background to start with a 3D Isometric uptodate graphics Crusader game.

Which was already discussed in a seperate thread as a possibility. I'm really eager to start this project if we can gather a decent team. Especially we will need a decent character modeler. Maybe even port our "forever in development" title - No Hope.

This could be a very good start. We can use Shadowgrounds as our engine (which is basicaly HL2 Source engine). Shadowgrounds is a game which can be modded almost to total conversion and that's what we need.
 
Okay, another take on the first mission.

The mission starts with a firefight to get the blood pumping (and to get the Resistance team aboard).  Once they're "safely" aboard and the freighter takes off, Shepherd takes a breather so they can decide what to do.  Several suggestions are put forward: rush the bridge, look for another place to take control of the ship, or kill some guards, take their uniforms, and stroll to the bridge.

There are, of course, complications.  Rushing the bridge means a lot of fighting, but would probably be fastest.  Trying to take control is trickier and takes the longest, because you have to run all around the ship, and when you get to certain points, guard the tech expert as he hacks the system and reroutes access.  Meanwhile, being stealthy may be the best approach, but is tricky--as you have to be stealthy before you can be stealthy.  You have to take the enemy by surprise, and unarmed, kill him before he starts shooting--or else your squadmates will start shooting, and uniforms with bullet holes are useless.  Plus at least one has to be a Stormtrooper or Elite Stormtrooper, because the Silencer's appearance is very distinctive, even without his helmet.

On top of this, until you get that nth uniform, or your tech guy starts trying to hack the first terminal, or you hit the bridge door, you can try any of the tactics you want.

And all while you're going, even in the initial fight, your time is being tracked, and when you're done it falls into one of three results.  So, say you finish the "stealth" approach within the "slow" time score.  When you reach the bridge, the enemy might not recognize you (or they might, depending on how many you killed before you get that last uniform), and you can take the ride down and sneak out.  This lets the WEC get a valuable freighter and its load of Di-Cor, but it also means the strike force is on Earth, where it wants to be.  The next missions are more stealth-oriented and focus on trying to hook up with the Earthbound Resistance.

If you'd finished it with the "fast" time score.  You'd have time to kill the troops in the bridge, broadcast the [false] situation to the WEC, sabotage the freighter, land it, get away scot free, and then watch it explode very prettily, damaging and contaminating a military spaceport, denying the WEC the freighter and its valuable cargo, killing hundreds or even thousands of troops, and lo and behold, the strike force is on Earth.  The next missions might be more difficult, because the WEC is looking for you, but they took a body blow.

Continuning from that, at higher difficulty levels I don't want that ridiculous crap they pulled at the No Remorse/No Regret levels.  Or if it's there, it should be an unlockable difficulty mode with a special reward at the end.  Or throughout the game, even: heavier weapons and rare ammunition sooner because lowlier enemies have them, or special equipment that is only available in that level of play to make things slightly more fair and/or to reward the player for perserverance and/or bravery.

The higher difficulties would, in this example, result in more, smarter, and tougher enemies, of course, but it could also result in a much smaller window for the "fast" or "average" time slots.
 
I love it. I've never seen a fan game so well-thought out. We definitely have to write No Hope.
 
Another idea to measure the success of a mission is to look at Heroes of Battle, a supplement for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition.  That book gives rules ideas for a the small-unit tactics of D&D to be applied to large-scale battles.

But there are more important things to large-scale combat than the growth and progress of a small band of special forces (i.e. the players' party).  So while XP is calculated normally, a system of measurement within the army they work for is needed, not only to determine how well the battle as a whole went, but how well the player characters did, and how well-regarded they are.  (Ranks can be handle in an ad hoc manner, as needed by the story, but other things are useable.)  There are Victory Points and Recognition Points.  Victory Points represent how well the battle has gone.  Certain actions are worth a certain number of Victory Points; killing individual soldiers isn't worth any, but cutting down bridges across a chasm to cut off ground-based reinforcements might be worth 100 points; firing enemy siege machines might be worth 250; taking a critical cliffside might be worth 500; and so on.  Victory might be achieved if 1000 Victory Points are acquired.  If rather more than that are acquired, a massive rout is achieved; if somewhat less are scored, an acceptable victory; if less than that, a draw; less than that, a recoverable loss; less than that, a crushing defeat.

Recognition Points are different; these are for exceptional and often public displays.  There are a number of examples given in the book, including capturing an enemy standard (battle-flag).  The more notorious the unit whose standard you capture and hold, the more Recognition Points you earn.

Destroying a notable unit, similarly, would also earn recognition points; if a particular unit has a reputation for being unusual compared to similar ones--if the Fifth Elite Stormtroopers had the fanatical attitude of your average unit of Soldiers, for example--they might simply be more famous, though not any better, and killing them would be more of a blow to morale.  In modern warfare this could be expanded into assassination of renowned figures, prevailing in aerial dogfights against legendary aces, blowing up a world-famous landmark, or even taking a celebrity hostage.

Rescuing an endangered unit is rarely seen as a bad thing--if you save soldiers while not endangering a mission, you not only kill your share of the enemy, but your new friends' share as well, keep more of the army intact, and in general keep the position of your side strong.

Simply surviving overwhelming odds is an impressive feat.  If done properly, it marks you out as being one of the physically and mentally toughest people on your side (even if it was just luck or happenstance).  But aside from that, surviving overwhelming odds means you killed far more than your share, lost the battle, and still kept going--it means you did all you could be expected to do and then some and still weren't victorious, so who could have been?  That a loss was inevitable is small comfort, but may still be comfort enough.  This is of course to say nothing of surviving overwhelming odds and prevailing...

Each of these acts, in D&D, has a formula for calculating recognition points earned.  Sometimes an act will not score many (or any!) victory points, but will grant a pile of recognition points.  This is for obvious reasons--it's the difference between reputation and reality.  In any case, recognition points, unlike victory points (which are simply used to keep score of who won), can be "spent"--to buck for promotion, to receive a decoration, receive special status, and so on.

Similar concepts have already been tried video games.  In the X-Wing games, for example, your score determines your rank (though your rank doesn't have much effect on the game as a whole).  In addition, your kills determine your rating (from Uncertified to Certified to Expert to Marksman to Ace--you can go higher, to Top Ace to Jedi to Jedi Master, but only through multiplayer), and your bonus points determine your Kalidor Crescent, a medallion given for exceptional bravery and skill to Rebel pilots--every time you score 1000 or more bonus points on a mission, you get the Kalimdor Crescent (or an upgrade--Bronze Cluster, Silver Talons, Silver Scimitar, Golden Sun, Diamond Eyes, in that order).

Now, the use of victory points would be too abstract an approach to Crusader, as victory conditions would be pretty clearly defined.  However, here the term "winning the battle, losing the war" comes into play--or, given the scale of conflict, "winning the skirmish, losing the battle".  If you rush through and accomplish just your minimum necessary goals, you might do well--but your allies, part of a three-pronged strike mission, might run into more security than they can handle, and their two critical part of the mission outweigh your one critical part; the mission is a win for you and the story advances, but a loss for the Resistance and you have to fall back.  So say that "marginal victory" is 500 points, and completing your part of the mission gives you 500 points.  However, "worthwhile victory" is 750, and taking out a squad of Vetrons heading out after Shepherd's group, as opposed to sneaking past, is 250--the total is 750, and the Resistance scored a real, workable victory.  Meanwhile, Brooks was unable to get past security at her target and her team had to turn back.  If you were to shut down power to the whole facility long enough for her to get in and then turn it back on so you could (e.g.) use the computer you need to steal files from, that's another 250, and your total is 1000, a complete victory, and the Resistance advances handily.  In each case, though for this descrpition there was only one way to accomplish the main mission, the mission afterwards would be different--if you accomplished one out of three goals, you would have to help the Resistance in their attempts to secure losses while they figure out how to use what you did; two out of three, how to make the most of both of them while minimizing the downside of the third; for all three, how to best take it to the suddenly cut off and surprised WEC forces in the sector.  And if you didn't do any, say the computer was destroyed in the final firefight and you didn't do a thing to help Shepherd or Brooks well, it might not have to be a game over...

As for other types of points, the Silencer is already pretty much as deadly as he's gonna be (pretty much...); the Resistance doesn't seem to be the type to give physical medals; and his rank of Captain seems just about right for what he needs to do.  However, there are other things granted from achievement.

The modern US military operates on a philosophy of "overwhelming firepower supported by overwhelming logistics".  That is, for every combat soldier, there could be hundreds or even thousands of people cooking food, doing laundry, shipping fuel, making bullets, sewing uniforms, repairing vehicles, etc.  Logistics is how to make an army able to sustain its fighting force and get it to where it needs to be.  And the Resistance tries, but its logistics aren't that great.

It's critically short on many kinds of equipment, so such things have to be rationed.  A level of trust is necessary.  So rather than a mercantile system of buying weapons and ammo directly, excellent performance could result in more "requisition points", allowing the Silencer to check out more equipment, ammunition, etc.  Now, ammunition of course is expended, but the weapons themselves are "on loan" from the Resistance; this creates an interesting game of resource management.  You are of course given requisition points at the beginning of most new missions, in order to pick out what equipment you think you'll need; but at the end of the mission, you have to return it.  The mercantile system could also be kept, and the Silencer could use money from corpses or pay even Rebels would receive (at least on paper) to buy things from Weasel (or other third-party dealer) to get weapons he'd really own.  To really mix it up, the Silencer could also pay the quartermaster money to buy ammo or "rent" weapons; the ammo would be more expensive than it would be coming from the arms dealer, and renting weapons mission after mission would eventually be more expensive than buying the weapon outright, but it's an alternative if you're low on requisition points.  Similarly, if you're low on money, you could use requisition points on Weasel, though they wouldn't go as far--this would represent your ability to get the quartermaster to purchase certain weapons the Resistance doesn't have for you, due to his trust for you or your intrinsic authority.  The inverse also works: you can sell ammo or weapons (finally) and get money or requisition points, though you can't get requisition poitns from Weasel or money from the quartermaster.  Though you should be careful if you sell a piece of equipment you've only requsitioned or rented...

Meanwhile, I've always liked the idea of getting rewards for finding secret shit in games, whether it's better equipment or an increase in a character's actual power (i.e. experience points or new abilities) or more gameplay (i.e. secret missions) or even just a special title marking you as a badass player who found all this awesome shit.  The important thing is to scale it; you don't have to find every secret, but the more you find, the better.

One method of putting secrets in would be the "secondary goal".  The quartermaster might be running low on ammo, because Weasel's supply lines have dried up.  So he asks the Silencer to see if he can do anything on the next mission--not bring pack a pack full of magazines, because even that wouldn't be anything more than a bandage, but look around and see if another supply can be located.  Lo and behold, he might be able to discover the location of an ammo dump that can be raided by the Resistance (which could be a secret mission)--or even divert a convoy to a low-security area where Weasel's operatives will be able to raid it.  In the former case, the reward might be the secret mission and the chance ot pick up a lot of special ammo; in the latter, the quartermaster would be very grateful, and the character could get a big bonus of requisition points, or even be given a weapon of choice from the supply room.

Other rewards would be more obvious--the discovery of an advanced weapon in the early game (such as the Reaper you can get in mission 2, I think it was, of No Regret), a shortcut to the endpoint of the mission (whether a physical or metaphorical shortcut), a hidden joke (everyone loves monkeys!), or virtually anything else where you get something immediately for doing finding a secret door or blowing a hole in a specific wall.
 
The points system really reminds me of the Deus Ex way of earning experience points. I'm assuming you had that in mind when thinking of this?

Another thing that could be cool is the salvaging of weapons for the Resistance base you're stationed at. In Operation Flashpoint: Resistance, you can steal weapons from the bodies of the enemies you killed and distribute them to your soldiers in the next mission.

Secret locations is also very, very interesting. No Remorse and No Regret used secrets very well... but they both needed much more, in my opinion.
 
Tutorials would be useful in the game.

Just a thought: it should be a rebuild of the first mission of No Remorse.  Perhaps they use the entertainment suites mentioned in the No Regret newsletter as holographic training programs, and they use reports the Silencer logged to make it, as a surprise.  It would help explain the differences between the old and new games.
 
Shadowen link said:
Some more ideas.

First, give mechs unique abilities, and personality, outside of just having different weapons and colors.

For example, APPs are built on a bipedal platform; they should be able to turn their \"heads\" (in fact, if you watch an active APP's idle animation, they do, slightly).  This makes them deadlier, allowing them to fire on an enemy without having to shift their feet, and track a moving target effectively.

The Roaming Susan's welder would seem like it would do more damage at close range than a mere laser.  If it can close the gap, it could cut loose with its welding torch.  And possibly that clawed manipulator hand, if it's an older one that's seen and acquired a taste (as it were) for combat.

Androids should be polite, with very very basic interaction routines.  \"Good morning, intruder.  Please set down your weapon or prepare to die.\"  They are, after all, designed to look humanoid, so they should also be able to interact with humans in a way that puts them at ease.

Roaches should be given magnetic treads instead of wheels, allowing them to climb walls and ceilings.  Within small spaces, they would swarm an opponent, which would be really creepy if it was like a dimly-lit air duct.

We must fix the APP-4100/4210/4400 Thermatron/Thermatron-Vetron/Vetron-Thermatron kerfuffle.

More APPs for the other odd weapons.  The APP-5400 Liquitron, for example: unlike most modern mechs, the Liquitron does not simply collapse or explode; upon fatal structural breach, it automatically vents its catalyst reservoirs, disintegrating its structure entirely, to better preserve the secret of its firepower.

On another tack, something in the No Remorse Resistance manual gave me an idea.  There's a section where Brooks explains why certain scenery that is not explicitly a defensive emplacement will try to zap you.

\"Shields are wonderful things, but in high-tech environments they can bite back.  Some high-power equipment can trigger a power spike when it comes into contact with an active shield, which will leave your shield (or you) fried.  That's why you might think twice before poking around in a room with industrial equipment when your shield's on.\"

What needs to be done is the ability to switch off a shield.  That way, when you lead shielded troopers into an industrial room, the first few will get waxed when their shields jolt--and the rest will turn their shields off.

Here's some APP AI Personality and Ability suggestions:

Vetron: Being the one of the oldest models in service, they would behave like professional soldiers except they never retreat unless damage renders it necessary. Around other APPs and machinery they may even be able to coordinate their tactics akin to a squad leader. Their tri-modular lens array may include thermal and X-Ray/MRI features to detect hidden units.

Avatron: Being aware that they're basically cheap handmedowns would make Avatrons depressed in a Marvin-esque way. Avatrons not deployed on active patrol or search-and-destroy missions may become apathetic to Resistance intrusions to some degree. This could also lead to possible RP missions where doing one a favor would earn the player XP, items and other bonuses.

Thermatron: Fast and skittish, they would also suffer from ADD and curiosity, which means while they are designed to be efficient sentries they can be easily distracted by various external stimuli. Thermatrons will also have an intrinsic awareness of their limitations and if confronted with visibly superior firepower they may run off to alert reinforcements instead.

Cryotron: Cool and collected, nothing can rush them even while staring down a horde of heavily armed Resistance troopers. Cryotrons will hold their ground, and will be smart enough to use their dual Crystallizers to target environment as well as enemies for better effect.

Solartron: The opposite of Cryotrons, Solartrons will tend to become gung-ho in the middle of combat and sometimes get carried away to the point of racking up collateral damage in the form of allied personnel and Mechs. Solartrons are also more likely to disobey the coordination efforts of Vetrons and go on their own in a fight.

Camotron: Sneaky and shifty, they will avoid direct confrontation unless it becomes necessary or they feel they have a significant advantage over the target. Most of the time they will be content to follow interesting individuals whatever they're doing. Rogue Camotrons may even become NPCs in their own right, offering shady deals to the Resistance members on the side akin to vending machines with Weasel's personality.
 
I really think Cametrons need a Mark II.  The first one was pathetic.  I was never, ever, ever threatened by one.  It was just too slow and too lightly armed when I didn't manage to hit it with a grenade or rocket salvo by the time it was firing.  Maybe one that, instead of morphing into objects, instead is camouflaged and nearly invisible?  That would give a real good use for the VIR chip, aside from avoiding electronic eyes (though with a Tomb Raider-style perspective, electronic eyes would be much harder to spot, too).

Plus, rather than just showing where the Cametron Mk. II is or the beams or emitters of the electronic eyes, it would actually change things so you were seeing it in infrared.  Which means that a Mk. II Cametron stalking you through a reactor room would be a bitch of an enemy, because the reactor is a much bigger heat source...
 
More mechtalk!

New mech ideas.  The MS-40 Roaming Susan should be like an R2 unit from Star Wars.  Except meaner.

The MS-67 "Oxen".  Another old mech design.  A massive labor droid.  It has a huge magnetic lifter on one arm, and a pincer-like arm on the other designed for lifting huge nonferrous materials.  They're generally noncombative, because the damage they'd cause while fighting intruders is usually more than most intruders would have caused.  Idea for a semi-scripted sequence: as the Silencer proceeds on a catwalk to a door, an Oxen goes berserk and smashes it.  After he disables it, the Oxen is positioned so that he climb up its superstructure to the apparently inaccessible door.

The APP-5300 "Microtron", using the XP-5 broiler as a weapon.  The Microtron is as sinister-looking as its armament, and very aggressive.

The APP-5500 "Liquitron".  A cruel, vicious design, the liquitron is surprisingly slim and quick.  When destroyed, the Liquitron's catalytic cartridges automatically vent, dissolving it and keeping the secret of its compound safe.

The APP-5600 "Electron".  An emergency deployment mech, it mounts the EMP-4 Vortex and a backup laser.  Only set loose when other Mechs are malfunctioning.  However, police are experimenting with switching out the laser for a Conformer shotgun and using them as crowd control units, as the Vortex is effective at stunning organic targets*.  As might be expected, the Electron is hideously well-shielded against EMP attacks.

*I don't know if EMPs are actually effective at disrupting people's brainwaves, but I do know that I like the idea of the weapon providing the same function on both organic and mechanical targets: a "stun setting".

Specialist Bots:
These are mechs that have highly specialized functions.

MS-199 Minesweeper: This tiny mech is extremely tough for its size (particularly against concussive force), but is completely unarmed.  It is designed to run into a minefield and detonate as many mines as possible, a job it takes to like a happy pup.  Minesweepers can often detonate 10 or even more limpet mines.  They will go after any mine-like bomb in an area, including ones that the Minesweeper's owners put out.  Due to its eager willingness to perform its duties, some have taken to calling them things Minepuppies and Bombf*ckers.  Minesweepers can be acquired and used by the player.

Counterinsurgent: Not an actual mech but secondary software installed into existing models, Counterinsurgent programming makes a mech that might otherwise attack an intruder stand down and wait quietly, in the hopes it will be ignored.  When the intruder leaves the room, the mech promptly alerts security.  Rebels call this programming the Tattletale package. So far the Tattletale package has only been deployed with Androids, Roaches, and Roaming Susans.
 
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