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Completed [LP CYOA] I'm a High Tech Hobo Who Stumbled into Another World While Out Scavenging For Parts

treave

Arcane
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Jul 6, 2008
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11,370
Codex 2012
I thought it was a tie and had a whole post written up about it. Time to scrap, but I'm gluing myself to the computer till the end of the day so there shouldn't be anymore delays.
 

treave

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Codex 2012
Reporting for Work

So here’s my report about what went down when I visited the Junkyard. Junkyard HQ was exactly as you’d expect something called Junkyard HQ would look. The trash mountain isn’t a fraction as tall as the one in Shulgi Park, but yeah, it’s pretty well-sized, maybe about the height of a five-storey building. If it was back in our world you’d have modded up junkers having carved out a small town inside it. Some like that life but give me a good cardboard box anyday.

I met with some dude named Georgios for my interview. Rough old man, scarred, with long, tangled, unwashed hair any hobo would be proud to have, tied into a ponytail. I liked him immediately. Here’s how our interview went:

G: So you want to join the Junkyard as a… mechanic? You don’t look the sort.

Me: I’m really good with my hands, if you’ll just let me show you.

G: Huh. Well, there’s a bunch of parts in that box. Can you put together a working mana converter from those?

Me: What does that look like?

G: Right…

As you can see, it didn’t go very well, but I impressed them enough by using one of the primary tactics in a hobo’s arsenal. Which is to say I camped outside one of their workshops until Georgios gave me a menial job carting around stuff.

And that gave me the opportunity to actually learn enough of how these machines worked. Turns out that magic armors are far simpler than I expected once I actually managed to examine one up close. Any self-respecting tech hobo who can put together a mobile worker frame can put together one of these given the proper parts.

Three times as tall as the average human, the structure of these armors are similar to a worker frame, with the pilot located In the center.

The head unit is packed with orbs which contain sensory spells that project what they can image of the surroundings for the pilot – like shady crystal balls, I suppose. I’ve heard that these spells apply not only for regular vision, but also detection of magically cloaked enemies or mirror image clones.

The limbs are controlled by magic gloves and boots set firmly halfway down the arms and legs of the armor. The fingers of the armor can be controlled to a fine degree using these gloves. Of course, that’s dependent on the quality of the enchantment on these gloves – cheap parts get you poor results. I’ve heard that the highest class of enchantment would allow a magic armor to pick up a cooked pea without mushing it. Besides fine control, the gloves and boots also assist in moving the large and heavy limbs by being a conduit for mana.

The back of the armor is usually lined with vents and fins that are designed to shape mana flow – these are utilized for quicker movement much like thrusters would for the mechs I’m more familiar with. By altering the flow and utilizing the ambient mana in the environment, they generate a physical force at a lower energy cost than it would take to convert mana into thrust using spells. Uh, that’s what I heard.

Anyway, as expected of magic armors, mana is the source of its energy. It seems that you need decent mana levels to operate these machines. Most armors have an inbuilt mana capacitator of sorts to assist in energy supply for basic movement, but the energy expenditure during combat is highly draining and the average commoner would likely run out of stamina quite quickly.

Now, knowing this, you’d think that mages or wizards or whatnot would be far better at using these armors. And you’d be right, to a certain extent. A magic user’s larger mana capacity would make the armor they wear faster and stronger. However, their material science doesn’t seem to have progressed far enough to develop armor that can operate under high levels of mana. It seems that putting a mage in a magic armor just makes it almost guaranteed to break apart and blow up the capacitator the moment he tries to exert his full mana in combat. The Junkyard crew tell me that the mages they know don’t have the reflexes to handle high speed combat anyway. It seems that in an actual fight, attack magic is used like artillery. And in mage duels they just seem to stand there and shoot spells at each other, taking turns.

Now, back to the armors. Where was I? Right, I was about to start talking about the weapons. Those are pretty standard. You have your basic giant sword, or spear, or axe, or whatever melee weapon the pilot wants to use. For ranged combat, they use enchanted bolts that are loaded onto canisters that can be attached to the shoulders and the forearms.

I think that about wraps it up for an info-dump on what these things are. Pretty sure I got everything right. Uh, mostly right. Probably. Magic mumbo-jumbo isn’t really my forte.

Anyway, it looks like they aren’t planning on promoting me to full-fledged mechanic any time soon, so I’m still stuck carting junk around for now. Should I continue working hard, learning on the job and being patient?

Maybe I can secretly sneak out scrap and put together an armor of my own, try to improve on it, and then impress them with the finished product. That might work.

Or perhaps I can do that and start trying to hawk my armor under the table to impressionable young gladiators for a reasonable fee that undercuts everyone, even the Junkyard, because I can afford to do this since I’m… uh… acquiring the parts at no cost from the Junkyard itself.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Any self-respecting tech hobo who can put together a mobile worker frame can put together one of these given the proper parts.
Indeed. If a hobo can't even put together a giant humanoid robot, they have no business rummaging through the dumpsters!

Put together an armor of your own and see if you can get a promotion this way.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Shulgi Park
:hero:
Maybe I can secretly sneak out scrap and put together an armor of my own, try to improve on it, and then impress them with the finished product. That might work.
This. Hawking parts to gladiators will just get you noticed and imprisoned again.

A better option would be to get promoted and secretly build your own arsenal of the things, then sell them en masse to some mercenary group or something.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Grimgravy

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire
Work hard? Screw that! Work smart. Build your own thing. It the right opportunity comes by, sell it to impressionable suckers.
 

lightbane

Arcane
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Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
. The trash mountain isn’t a fraction as tall as the one in Shulgi Park,

Hmm, is that a reference? I forgot the source. Also, how are said trash mountains in your world?

respecting tech hobo who can put together a mobile worker frame

Extreme competent hobos are extreme. Also, don't you mean Mobile Suits?

Three times as tall as the average human, the structure of these armors are similar to a worker frame, with the pilot located In the center.

Wait, three time as... Yeah, I see what you did here.

They're not power armors at least, but rather mini-mechs, like Gundam wannabes.

Besides fine control, the gloves and boots also assist in moving the large and heavy limbs by being a conduit for mana.

Standard control measures, more detailed than the Knights and Magic one at least.

The back of the armor is usually lined with vents and fins that are designed to shape mana flow – these are utilized for quicker movement much like thrusters would for the mechs I’m more familiar with. By altering the flow and utilizing the ambient mana in the environment, they generate a physical force at a lower energy cost than it would take to convert mana into thrust using spells. Uh, that’s what I heard.

All mecha have thruster features, because muh Gundam.

And in mage duels they just seem to stand there and shoot spells at each other, taking turns.

Turn-based duels? Okay?? What about abstractions?

or ranged combat, they use enchanted bolts that are loaded onto canisters that can be attached to the shoulders and the forearms.

No magical staves that can be reloaded or configured with different spells? Weak.

Maybe I can secretly sneak out scrap and put together an armor of my own, try to improve on it, and then impress them with the finished product. That might work.

This. One must always make their own mecha. The more ridiculous and overdesigned with overkill weaponry, the better.
 

Azira

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Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Go ahead and build a proper suit. It might impress the higher-ups. And if they give you shit, you can always give them the shits.

Laxatives. Always useful.

Maybe it might even be possible to weaponize it? With the magic mumbo-jumbo? Imagine inducing the runs in an opposing pilot. Soiling the inside of a suit of armour would make most people want to leave said suit..
 

lightbane

Arcane
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Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
hat's copyrighted/trademarked, can't be used, unless you want the cyber-lawyers serving you C&D with rocket launchers.

No way Gundam franchise survived to the (always dark) cyberpunk future, but I get your meaning anyway.
 

Kabas

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How is the status screen by the way?
While the fact it's only been checked once so far just makes you further question why does a majority of isekai authors think that this is a necessary element, our hobo life might become way easier if we can do shit like rising stats or buying skills.

Whatever you decide to do, try building your own mech or something.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Note to self: I gotta read up Spiral.

Agreed, not sure if it's good compared with Legend, and how stupid the Codexian hivemind on average is. I suppose I'll see it when I read it. I don't like Corpse Party, which is the main inspiration for the CYOA, but it should be better than that game at least.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Looks like that's an unfortunate trend. Treave's Quests are better than average, but it doesn't help when the choices are unclear about what they do, they have unexpected and hilariously lethal consequences... Or the voters pick dumb stuff.
 

ChumBucket

Augur
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
349
Mech building seems to be the way to go.
Also for Azira's sake, when you have spare time work up some sort of concealable wrist-mounted laxative injection system. Never know when it might come in handy. :lol:
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
Learn their secrets, but also take the opportunity to learn magic while you're at it. If the existing magic armors aren't good enough to handle full-blown mages, then we should try to invent an armor that can (but we need to learn more first). I'm all for learning but MC should be a bit more proactive about obtaining and trading knowledge instead of just depending on what we observe at the junkyard. It's important to develop a solid skillset to handle this magic world. Maybe we can moonlight elsewhere to be a janitor at a mage academy or mage compound or something (also, the junk mages will throw away can be a great asset to us). And while we're at it we can save up a bit for some brief rudimentary tutoring. Treave, is this possible?
 

treave

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Codex 2012
Sorry, had to return to real life for a bit. Regarding janitoring at a mage academy, there's none in this city. There are mages around but they're hired in a personal capacity by each of the workshops. You'll probably pick up enough rudimentary magic just by sticking around a workshop and learning. Looks like the vote's in highly favour of building your own scrap metal armor, but what about the part where you either show it to the guild or try to sell it in secret?

This format seems pretty unwieldy still, I'm considering switching it to a more traditional narrative with the ol' labeled choices.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
That may work better to pool opinion faster and get conversation going.

For the time being, I say sell our armour around, but don't undercut so much that we start racking up sales and attracting attention. Everybody will find out if there's new armour half the price of everybody else. Instead we can try to target the edge cases who can't get their armour by normal means, sell at a bit of a discount, and if our stuff functions well, build up a clientele. No use producing landmark innovation if it turns out our superior's going to just take the credit.
 

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