Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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xwraith
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by xwraith »

Hyena wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:07 pm Xwraith, that's pretty fricken' talented to pilot two mechs at once!

:mrgreen:
I'm here to chew gum and... :D
I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
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xwraith
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by xwraith »

*reads the rest of the thread*

I see I'm rolling a new character again :horse:
I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
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Paingod
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Paingod »

Still really enjoying this :D
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Archinerd »

I'm not enjoying this at all. Still very upset about that mech tech who wasted time and risked damaging two of our battlemechs just to make a joke in very poor taste. It's way too soon to make any severed arm jokes in my opinion.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

I may be going out on a limb here, but as I understand it, disarming a mech is no small feat.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

No problem, we'll be out of here soon, then we can rearm and re-equip. Our liaison informs us that the jumpship will complete its repairs in approximately sixteen days. That's eight sitting planetside and eight at full burn to the destination. It's still entirely possible they're full of crap and just wanted us on-planet for another month.

November 30, 3029
The Davions are crazy. Or dumb. They put the Gladiator and Loadermech back together, then send them out on a run to "rendezvous with local insurgents and conduct an asset exchange". On the way back, they get themselves surrounded by Capellans and put out a distress call. The Davion liaison offers a bounty for each unit we bring back, so we dispatch Delta and Beta lances. Delta will get there first.

Our goal is to get the Davion scrubs to safety or keep them alive long enough for Beta to arrive and run off the rest of the Capellans. No mean trick, as there's a reinforced light mech lance and a tank lance between them and us, and another two lances of Capellan tanks closing in from the south. The opfor includes a Hunchback, but it's a 4N variant. Instead of an AC/20, it's got an AC/5 and two LRM/5 launchers. What is wrong with these people?

We also call in air support to a) help run off an enemy aircraft and b) drop bombs on the opfor. Some othe good news is that it's snowing and at dusk, so it'll be harder for the Capellans to hit their shots on the Davions.

Delta is, as in the previous mission, Archinerd in the Griffin, Hyena in the AC/20 Centurion, Paingod in the Shadow Hawk and Stefan in the Vulcan.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
First problem. Why are these Davion scrubs trying to take a hover APC through the deep woods? Second problem. Hyena has trouble navigating the woods and will be late. Archinerd lets loose with LRMs at a nearby Hetzer, all but rendering it immobile. Well, it can still technically drive. Just that a guy on foot can walk faster.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Hyena joins the party, and we advance. Paingod dodges some long range fire from the... Hunchback ... and zaps the right arm off a Stinger harassing Archinerd's Griffin. PPC just goes right through it. Stefan fires a couple of lasers into the Hetzer as he runs by, destroying the last of the wheels.

To the south, some Capellan tanks engage the scrubs, who actually do pretty ok.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
We try our best to get to the scrubs, but it's going to be rough. Hyena takes a few LRMs from the Hunchback, all the other shots going wide.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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We continue advancing. The opfor appears to have some infantry in the woods, that ought to make things harder. Paingod zaps the armor off the nearby Phoenix Hawk's left arm. Archinerd gets a little jammed up - the enemy mechs miss every shot, but do set the woods on fire. He retaliates by whiffing with a PPC the kicking the nearby Firestarter right in the hip, forcing it to a knee. One of the civilian mechs takes some heavy damage to the arm, but we don't really need to rescue their arms. However, the Capellans also manage to hit one of the cargo bays on the back of the Loggermech, spilling random boxes everywhere. Goddammit.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
We get to the guys we're supposed to rescue just in time to watch a Predator tank destroyer blow the entire left section off the Loggermech, sending it to the ground. Then, a Wasp nails it in the center torso as it goes down, blowing the engine. Enemy aircraft come by for a strafing run with SRM/4s ("Angel" strike fighters just carry the one SRM/4 launcher, making them more of a nuisance than anything else). Hyena covers our backs, avoiding the Hunchback and blasting the right half off a Stinger's torso with the AC/20. The mechwarrior wastes no time in bailing out. Stefan sets a fire nearby to provide additional smoke cover. Maybe we ought to consider investing in smoke LRMs instead at some point.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Our air support arrives, as do the two lances of Capellan tanks chasing the Davion guys we're supposed to protect. Hyena gets peppered by Angel-launched SRMs, some fire from the Hunchback and lasers from the Firestarter (including a flamer burst that sets the surrounding forest on fire). His return fire drills the Firestarter dead center of mass, blasting away the center torso armor and pinging the gyro with shrapnel. The mech goes down to a knee. Our Thunderbird drops a load of HE bombs on the Hunchback, knocking it over, while the Lucifer drops bombs on some enemy tanks to the south, not very effectively. Paingod fights with the Phoenix Hawk and Stinger, delivering a punch that strips the lighter mech's right torso. while taking a kick. Stefan hops into a cluster of enemy tanks, and inflicts some minor damage while taking none himself.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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The light sprinkling of snow causes some of the fires to go out. The aircraft continue jockeying for position and bombing runs, while the Powerman just about clears the main crush of enemy mechs. Archinerd fires a PPC at a pursuing Wasp, blasting away the right arm. Stefan continues messing around in the lower terrain, burning the armor off the left side of the Predator with a laser, in addition to ringing the crew's bell. To the north, Paingod engages the enemy Hunchback, delivering a PPC to the left leg, damaging several actuators. He takes a couple of laser hits, but armor holds. The mechwarrior blacks out as the mech hits the dirt. Paingod takes a kick to the right leg from the Phoenix Hawk, then boots the right leg off the nearby Stinger, throwing the little machine to the ground.

Our Thunderbird takes some fire as it comes in for a bombing run. Archinerd's target Wasp disintegrates, along with an infantry platoon. The Vedette's armor is breached and it begins smoking. A stray bomb lands a little too close to Stefan, forcing him to dive away from the explosion.

Hyena is engaged by the Firestarter, which dodges the AC/20 round and peppers his Centurion with machinegun and flamer fire. Undaunted, Hyena cracks the smaller mech's right leg, his foor coming away covered in coolant fluid. The Firestarter goes down.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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An enemy Vedette and the Predator begin rolling south out of the combat area. The Firestarter can't quite get up, which is bad news as the AC/20 barrel is aimed directly its way. Archinerd heads south, intending to break west to engage some of the tanks picking on the APC and Gladiator there. Stefan picks on a nearby AC/2 Vedette, closing to melee range and braving the machine gun fire, gently chopping up the treads with machine gun fire of his own. He gives it a good boot as the crew scampers out.

Hyena saws the Firestarters right section off entirely with the AC/20, then puts a boot through the center torso to put it down for good.

The Sparrohawk comes in for a bombing run on the tanks to the southwest, destroying a Scimitar and damaging several others with a load of cluster bombs.

Paingod attempts to give the enemy Phoenix Hawk a boot but misses.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Thunderbird flies over the enemy Hunchback, blasting it in the back with an array of lasers. As it falls to the ground, it lights off an alpha strike at our aircraft. A stray medium laser just barely grazes the fuel tank near the left wing, and our heavy bomber simply explodes in midair. To the southwest, the Davion APC is immobilized by a combination of a Scorpion tank firing a medium laser and crashing into a tree. Hyena and the enemy Phoenix Hawk tangle with no real results.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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"This is Delta lance, where are you, Beta? We could really use the backup!" Archinerd calls out over the comm.

"ETA, 30 seconds." Zenn7 replies.

The enemy Hunchback engages the escaping Powerman, burning off what little armor it has. Hyena nails it dead center with the AC/20, pretty much splitting the mech in half. "You're clear, get moving!" He tells the Powerman. To the south, Archinerd attempts to rescue the APC, blasting the treads and armor off a nearby Hunter support tank, and causing the commander to crack his skull on the dashboard.

Our Lucifer fighter engages one of the enemy aircraft buzzing around, hitting with both large lasers and two small lasers. Armor melts off and the avionics system shorts out. In a miraculous display of piloting, the enemy pilot stays in the air.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
This just goes from bad to worse. First, a random Scorpion tank lasers to the Davion APC to ribbons. Then, as he moves to engage the Phoenix Hawk, Hyena takes a large laser to the right torso, detonating the remaining AC/20 ammo. It's not much, but enough to trigger the auto-ejection system. Then, the damn Phoenix Hawk boots Paingod in the right leg, just about taking it off, damaging the foot actuator and a heat sink. Paingod manages to stay on his feet.

To the southwest, Stefan engages the nearby Hetzer, methodically removing wheels. The vehicle is effectively immobilized, and the crew quickly scatter out of the hatch. The other bright spot is our Lucifer chasing down one of the enemy aircraft and blowing it out of the sky.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
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Stefan breaks north to help the beleaguered Paingod, who's getting harassed by a Phoenix Hawk and mechanized infantry. Archinerd blasts an enemy Scorpion tank with LRMs, a few finding their way through the armor and cracking enough internals to stall the engine out completely. Paingod manages to hold his own, kicking the enemy PXH in the left leg.

Our Lucifer comes after another enemy fighter, blasting it with all forward weapons. The aircraft's armor is all but gone and sensors completely destroyed, but it stays in the air. Tough little SOBs.

With the arrival of Beta lance, the rest of the Capellans turn tail and run, but the appearance of many additional enemy contacts on sensors prevents salvage operations. We grab our ejected mechwarrior and hightail it out of there. Our search and rescue squad manages to recover our ejected Thunderbird pilot, although he's in pretty bad shape. A cerebral contusion (nobody else has any idea what that means, but the doctor tells us it means he conked his head real hard) will keep him out of action for the rest of this campaign. We strip some of the units we have in the Mule for armor and fix most of our stuff. Our logistics guy even helps out and manages to scrounge up a spare foot actuator for Paingod's Shadow Hawk.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Wow, Danger Close! Danger Close! That was a hard fought victory, seemed harder than some of our other big battles!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

I'm just glad that I still have two arms.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, instead of the standard "kill everyone" objective, we had to actually keep guys intact. Also, Archinerd and Paingod's mechs are really optimized for long range combat (both have a PPC and LRM launcher), and the bad guys did a pretty solid job keeping in close.

December 1st, 3029
While Delta is still getting patched up, Gamma lance engages another enemy convoy. It's a group of flatbed trucks and APCs, escorted by a pretty nasty enemy tank lance. Two Demolishers (making it 4 AC/20s), a Behemoth (4x LRM/5, 2x AC/10)and a Partisan (packing a whopping four LRM/15 launchers). They're supported by a Warhammer (6R) and a Cyclops CP-10-HQ. The Warhammer is the variant with a low heat sink count and machine guns. The Cyclops may be a 90 ton mech, but it's some kind of command variant. Only has an LRM/10, an SRM/4 and 2x medium lasers, which is pretty weak for 90 tons. Where's the AC/20?

Then again, last mission, I was talking trash about the crappy Hunchback and it blew up our 100-ton aircraft.

Regardless, Lt. Scrub waits for dawn, then orders the attack as the enemy convoy passes through a burned-out town. "I'm just a joyrider on this one." Gbasden tells her.

Gamma is Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer, Gbasden in the Wolverine, El Guapo in the Hunchback, a Quickdraw and Isgrimnur in the Vindicator.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy convoy is completely blindsided as we emerge from behind the buildings. El Guapo lets loose at one of the flatbed trucks, cutting through the front cab with a medium laser. Gbasden lasers a hover APC trying to zip by, while the Quickdraw nails the second flatbed truck. That's 75% of the convoy gone on the first salvo, not bad.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Well, ok, one of those dual AC/20 tanks is actually a Devastator. To be honest, once a unit starts packing dual AC/20s mounted on a turret for 360 degree firing arc, the name is irrelevant. You might as well call it "stay out of effective firing range or else". El Guapo wipes out the last APC with the AC/20 (although he does take a good, solid serios of MG bursts to the arms), and turns his attention to the enemy battle force as a PPC connects with his right leg. Gbasden runs over to the enemy Partisan, well inside its LRM launchers' minimum range, and begins cutting away treads with lasers. A boot to the side of the tank knocks the crew around a bit, stunning them.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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The Warhammers exchange PPCs, while the heavy tanks continue firing. Gbasden breaches the Partisan's right side armor with SRMs, stunning the crew and breaking some treads, then puts his boot directly through the armor breach. The vehicle stops moving, a smoking ruin.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Behemoth gets into the fight, opening up on El Guapo and dropping off all the right leg armor. El Guapo is fascinated by the enemy Warhammer's searchlight and pops it with a medium laser, missing every other shot. Gbasden gets a solid shot on the Cyclops' rear. The Quickdraw comes after the Behemoth, cutting into it with lasers, then popping treads with a solid kick.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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"Here come some flyboys!" A trio of enemy aircraft arrive, two Angels and a Mechbuster. As they buzz us, El Guapo charges the Warhammer. The enemy mech unloads short range weapons, but armor holds. El Guapo's AC/20 strips all armor off the enemy mech's right arm, however and knocks the larger mech down. It kind of whips around and falls facing the wrong way, which means a free kick to the rear. Knocks out one of the machine guns. Our Warhammer, meanwhile, disables one of the enemy Demolishers by sending a PPC through the right side armor into the drive train. Gbasden finishes the Behemoth's mobility, cracking wheels and the last of the treads with lasers.

The mechbuster whiffs its shot, so that's something.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Suddenly, the balance of forces shifts, and the remaining enemy units retreat. We give them a round of fire and they return a good amount, but the enemy Warhammer stumbles and loses a PPC trying to keep from completely faceplanting. El Guapo takes a hit in the right hip actuator, which isn't great - we're going to have to replace that leg. We don't pursue, as enemy air cover is still present, and we've accomplished our objective already.

Our salvage crews quickly take the two assault tanks apart, and we head back to base. The armor on the tanks gives us a little breathing room in terms of our armor stockpile.

Then, Gbasden goes into the Davion liaison's office to hash out departure details. The conversation is muted at first, then gets pretty agitated, with the terms "bullshit" and "contract breach" being thrown around. Then the sounds of furniture hitting the walls. Gbasden comes out with a limp and nursing his wrist. The liaison is later spotted with two black eyes.

The Davions have invoked the emergency extension clause, again, for another month. On the plus side, it's at 1.5x monthly pay. And we still technically have the forces to field what they require. Nothing we can do about it without breaking the contract as written. Our objectives remain as before: disrupt enemy mech factory activity as much as possible without destroying the facilities themselves. Protect the dropships. We're basically a diversionary raid at this point, meant to take pressure off of Davion forces elsewhere.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Damnit! Does that mean that my Torso-nator Centurion is scrap? I am, however, at least pleased that I took some of them down with me before I ejected.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:12 amA trio of enemy aircraft arrive, two Angels and a Mechbuster.
Wait, Battletech has a Buster Mech and a Mechbuster? Amazing.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Hyena wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:29 pm Damnit! Does that mean that my Torso-nator Centurion is scrap? I am, however, at least pleased that I took some of them down with me before I ejected.
Even worse, most likely some Capellan jackass is sitting in it right now. The center torso section remained intact, we just didn't have the opportunity to recover it. Sucks. On the plus side, once we get outta here, there will be plenty of chances for mech upgrades. If we ever get outta here.
AWS260 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:43 pm Wait, Battletech has a Buster Mech and a Mechbuster? Amazing.
Heh. I don't want to know what happens when the two things wind up on the same battlefield.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

A mech is getting busted, that's for sure.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Just in case, we decide to cannibalize the second salvaged Rifleman to get the first one in working order. Our techs commandeer a couple of mech bays on the Davion Leopard and get it done in a little under a week. It's a non-trivial project, as we have to rebuild the entire left torso section. And fix the gyro.

Over the next few weeks, the Capellans appear to stop running convoys to the factory. Just... full stop.

December 21, 3029
Delta lance runs into an enemy recon patrol - a group of hovertanks and VTOLs supported by a few tracked and wheeled vehicles. Sensors show another reinforced lance of light tanks moving in from the south, along with a pair of medium mechs.

Delta has been re-organized. Archinerd and Paingod still form the core of the firepower in the Griffin and Shadow Hawk. LordMortis and Madmarcus are in a Wasp and Spider respectively, while Stefan zips along in the Vulcan. It's pouring cats and dogs, *and* we're in a muddy swamp. So, there's not really any expectation of anyone being able to go anywhere.

We call in some air support just in case.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Yep, that's some nasty weather all right. The good part: it's shallow mud. It'll impede enemy ground tank progress, but our mechs can hop around just fine. If it wasn't for the high gravity. Meanwhile, the woods will prevent the enemy hovertanks from moving around. So, we just have to stay in the woods and keep shooting.

In fact, one of the enemy helicopters gets nailed by lightning and crashes into a hill, while the Peregrine VTOL buzzes off the field entirely.

The opfor lets off some symbolic AC fire and we fire some symbolic LRMs back, but nothing hits.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
One of the enemy choppers harasses the Griffin, firing a machine gun at point blank range. All our weapons fire whiffs. LordMortis grabs a nice, thick tree trunk for clubbing purposes, just in case.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Another enemy chopper crashes due to difficult weather conditions. Madmarcus grabs a club as well, while Archinerd finally manages to draw a bead on a distant tank, nailing it with a PPC. The armor holds though.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
We engage some enemy hovercraft up close. Madmarcus blasts the nearby Saladin pretty good with a laser, knocking off air vents and severely degrading its movement profile. Stefan lets loose from the side, breaching some armor. The hovertank turns right the hell around. Archinerd takes a shot to the dome, but it's just a machinegun burst. He's fine.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan ducks a string of AC/20 rounds from a Saladin and cuts into a Pegasus' motive system with a few medium lasers. Madmarcus takes a few LRM/15s from a distant Hunter.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Our air support arrives, as does the extra enemy tank lance with mech support. Archinerd lands some good LRM hits on a distant Hetzer, while Paingod manages a few LRMs on the damaged Pegasus. Our air support's performance is also less than satisfactory.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod lands a solid PPC shot on a Saladin. AC/20 rounds sail over Archinerd's Griffin harmlessly as he locks onto the damaged Pegasus and LRMs punch through the armor. The remaining vents belch out smoke, then the hovercraft splashes down.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod lines up the PPC again on the same Saladin, this time blowing through the right side and shattering it. Madmarcus takes some missile fire from an incoming enemy aircraft, but retains the presence of mind to breach the weak armor on the nearby Harasser missile platform, forcing the vehicle to retreat.

Round 9:
Whiffs all around, except the annoying Warrior helicopter on the back of the Madmarcus' Spider, breaching the rear armor with the AC/5 and inflicting minor structural damage.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Our aircraft make another pass over the back of the enemy formation. The bombing run results are terribly disappointing - we crack some treads, but half the bombs just stick in the mud without even detonating.

Meanwhile, Paingod take careful aim at the distant enemy Trebuchet and nails it dead center with the PPC. Some of the armor blows off the wrong way and cracks the gyro, forcing the enemy mech to the ground.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
As the Trebuchet slips and slides, trying to get up, it cracks its head on the ground, knocking the mechwarrior out. Whoops!

Archinerd breaches the armor on one of the Hetzers with LRMs, causing the vehicle to puff smoke as it retreats. One of our aircraft strafes a Packrat LRPV hiding out in the woods off to the side of the battle, breaching armor and destroying the engine. A squad of infantry scampers out, hoping to avoid getting blown up. Lucky for them, we don't really care about a loose squad of infantry on the wrong end of the battlefield.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy force begins to pull back, having gotten a pretty good bloody nose (although, half the kills came from the weather). Archinerd delivers a few parting shots to a Scorpion, damaging treads and armor. Paingod turns his guns skyward, blasting a Mechbuster with the PPC. He takes a couple of seconds to watch what looks like pieces of the landing gear fall to the ground. Good luck trying to land, jackass! Our Lucifer engages an enemy Angel as it takes aim at LordMortis, plowing through the front armor with lasers and knocking out its armament, as well as avionics system. The aircraft comes spiraling down almost right on top of LordMortis' mech - he has to hop aside at the last second as the small fighter splashes down into the mud and disintegrates [lucky bastard, rolled a 1 on a 1d6. Needed a 2. Otherwise, that would have been bye bye Wasp]. It wasn't the most exciting fight, but the enemy never really had a chance.

Our salvage crews aren't too happy about having to trudge through the mud and rain to collect random crappy tank and helicopter wrecks, but that's what you lazy bums get paid for.

Too bad the Trebuchet pilot woke up just in time to avoid getting left behind, we could have used some real salvage.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

December 30, 3029
Looks like the Capellans have caught on to our "camp site". A large force of Capellan armor with mech support moves on a vector that will take them very close to our dropship positions. It's a real hodge-podge of not exactly top-of-the-line forces. They do have four Manticores, a lance of hovercraft and a bunch of LRM tanks. The two supporting mechs are a Blackjack and a Vindicator.

Beta lance catches them "on the march" as they attempt to cross a pair of bridges over a river, but the enemy formation is pretty spread out and we've screwed up our interception vector so Zenn7 orders everyone to proceed at maximum speed and "use your discretion when engaging". Beta is Zenn7 in the Awesome, a pair of Centurions, Freyland in a Wolverine and Cylux Maxii in the Phoenix Hawk. We get some sensor returns from a few enemy aircraft buzzing around the area, but there's nothing too threatening, so we hold the air support.

There's some light snowfall, so that'll help keep things cool. Our goal here is to destroy as many of the enemy units as we can before they can scurry away to whatever rally point they're gathering at. None of our guys show up until round 5.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus Maxii is the first to arrive and he's a bit behind. The hover tanks have already zipped away. Well, except one where the crew gets really excited and crashes their tank into some trees. Good job, numbnuts. Cylus scores a solid hit with a large laser on the front of a Saladin covering its buddies retreat, but fails to breach armor.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland catches up in the Wolverine. They continue chasing the hovertanks, but the little bastards are nimble - Freyland only gets the one medium laser on the damaged Saladin. The disabled Scimitar continues firing its weapons, scoring a hit on Freyland's right leg. Annoying, but we need to get the ones who can get away.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The medium-speed enemy units arrive. We'll have to give up our pursuit of the hovercraft shortly unless we want to give them a bunch of back shots. Freyland hops back and zaps the enemy Blackjask in the left arm with a large and medium laser, stripping armor and knocking out one of its lasers. As an afterthought, he aims a kick at a nearby Hunter tank, except that it really shouldn't have been an afterthought - the foot misses the tank and our mech falls over. Cylus Maxii takes a parting shot at the Saladin he's been working on, but it's just not happening, as he gets buzzed by a couple of fighters, taking a few LRMs.

As it turns out, later on, the enemy Condor crashes into a tree "due to poor visibility in the snow". And not at all because the driver was rubbernecking the battle behind him.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
This is going to be rough. Our Centurions run in just as the main enemy heavies do. Our AC/10 Centurion blasts away at the left side of a nearby Scorpion light tank, coring it out. Freyland comes in to help and gets blasted by PPCs all around, along with a full salvo of LRMs from a distance. He takes armor breaches on the left arm and right leg, losing an actuator. Despite that, the mech remains standing. Our laser Centurion fires off a few shots at a nearby Manticore, damaging its treads and control systems. Cylus Maxii trades fire with some nearby enemies, not coming out terribly ahead, although he does cut a deep gash along a Vedette's side, causing its tires to wobble back and forth. Then boots a nearby Vedette, but fails to inflict any serious damage.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 finally trundles up in the Awesome. He's already got his sights set on a nice little pond about a hundred meters ahead. He runs up, firing at a nearby Manticore. The PPCs give the crew static shock, fuse some wheels and treads and jam the turret for good measure. Freyland and and the AC/10 Centurion work on one of the other Manticores, taking the vehicle's motive system out of action with a solid series of laser and autocannon shots. Freyland continues taking PPCs and SRMs, losing a couple more actuators. The mech has to take a knee to prevent falling over entirely. Cylus Maxii gets surrounded up north and takes an AC/20 round, along with a medium laser from a Scorpion, which cuts the right arm off, as it was previously damaged. The loss of the arm unbalances the mech, forcing it to miss an easy kick to the Blackjack's rear.

Round 10:
Freyland staggers into some heavy woods for cover, as the Wolverine is basically done for this fight. Same goes for Cylus Maxii, who peels off to the east. Zenn7 dips into the pond, sending up a huge cloud of steam as he drops three PPC shots into an enemy Hetzer, one of them blasting through the rear armor and cracking an axle.

An LRM Carrier fires at Cylus Maxii, blowing off both left and right torso. I guess that's it for our Phoenix Hawks for this contract. How the mech remains upright after that is a mystery only known to the mech gods. Freyland's mech loses a leg as a disabled Manticore keeps firing at him. He retaliates by carefully drilling through the rear armor with lasers, one eventually connecting with the ammo storage for a satisfying explosion.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Centurions try to keep pace with the enemy units. The AC/10 and medium laser from one take apart the enemy LRM Carrier, ending the endless stream of LRMs coming our way. The other one melts the armor off the front of a Manticore and severely damages the internal structure - the tank is on the verge of breaking apart but continues rolling north, trailing smoke and stabilizer parts. Zenn7 exchanges PPC fire with another Manticore, neither breaching armor.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
"Drop back and engage from long range." Zenn7 orders.

We do so and see a drastic reduction in incoming enemy fire. Kind of wish I'd thought of it before basically getting two of our mechs trashed. The AC/10 Centurion plows autocannon rounds through the front of the crippled enemy Manticore, cracking it in half. Zenn7 continues working on the same Manticore as beofre, stripping armor and heavily damaging motive systems.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
Nine PPC shots later, Zenn7 finally finishes off his target Manticore. Our Centurions work on a Bulldog, causing it to trundle along little slower with a solid LRM salvo. One of the enemy aircraft buzzes a Centurion, breaching a left torso damaged by a manticore PPC, but no critical equipment is hit.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 blasts the Centurion-damaged Bulldog with all three PPCs, melting the left side of the tank entirely.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
Image
As much as he hates to do it, Zenn7 leaves the comfort and coolness of the pond and stomps out, chasing after the enemy units. We watch on zoom in as the enemy Blackjack tries to cross the river and goes under. Zenn7 zaps a distant Scorpion through the front with PPCs, basically evaporating the little tank. One of our Centurions takes a shot at the annoying little fly buzzing around, the AC/10 tracking very well to the aircraft's tailpipe - the engine is hit twice, although the aircraft recovers.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
Image
Our mechs take a detour around the Hetzer's AC/20 to blow away the Scimitar that's still shooting at us, as one of the aircraft flies away, trailing smoke.

Round 17:
Spoiler:
Image
The Capellans seem to be milling around the south side of the little town and the bridges. Why? We take a brief look at the bridges: they can't support the weight of the vehicles attempting to cross! Max tonnage: 32 tons. Only thing that can cross those is the Scorpions! Hah!

Anyway, Zenn7 gets to work on the stragglers, blasting a Vedette from beyond its range (it's a Liao Vedette, so medium lasers only, no AC/5). The tank isn't quite destroyed, but about half the engine drops out of the left side. Our Centurion takes some damage from the aircraft, losing the right arm large laser but returns fire, heavily damaging one of the fighters. The aircraft starts shaking and loses elevation as the pilot struggles to regain control.

Round 18-19
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy units are mostly hiding out in the town, although, we do ding a Striker with a PPC for some minor wheel damage. Zenn7 then finishes off the Vedette, as it's still powered up and the turret still tracking. Better safe than sorry.

Round 20-21:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 finishes off the Striker skirting around the west of the town, blowing its turret off with a PPC. The Centurions come around the east side, seeking to trap the remaining enemy in town. Zenn7 circles around the west, blowing away a Hunter tank.

Round 22:
Spoiler:
Image
As we jam the remaining enemy units against the river, some try to make a break for it. However, our guys are having none of it. Zenn7 evaporates another Vedette. Our AC/10 Centurion takes a shot to the LRM launcher, disabling it, but one of its lasers goes straight down the Manticore's viewport, frying the crew inside. The remaining two Capellan units stuck on this side of the river surrender almost immediately.

From the looks of it, only three Saladins and the two mechs got across the river and away (with the Condor wedged firmly into a tree). We stand down and call in the salvage crews for a busy day of work, hauling in three Manticores and stripping armor and parts from the rest of the vehicles.

Despite having had a field day (with a whopping nine kills), Zenn7 gets lectured about "inappropriate use of company assets resulting in effective loss of said assets". Probably not as much of a lecture as those Capellan fellas in the Blackjack and Vindicator are going to get, though.

Since Freyland's Wolverine and Cylus Maxii's Phoenix Hawks are basically unusable, we're going to need to get creative in repairs, using some of the mechs that we'd previously marked off as unusable due to hip or shoulder actuator damage. Our techs take over two of the hangars on the Leopard to take the head off one of the completely unusable Phoenix Hawks and attach it to Xwraith's former mech - it's actually less time consuming then rebuilding Cylus Maxii's torso sections. Meanwhile, another creative group takes over the other two hangars (the Davions can just go ahead and buzz off and keep their stupid civilian mechs outside, since they're the ones keeping us here) and starts swapping leg parts from the already cannibalized Rifleman to fix up the Quickdraw.

El Guapo will probably wind up going to the fixed-up Rifleman, while LordMortis takes over his Hunchback. Then we'll stick Freyland in the new Quickdraw, since that Wolverine isn't exactly usable anymore and we don't have the appropriate hip actuators.

While the techs are working overtime, Delta lance gets into trouble and confirms that the Capellans are trying to mass a force to attack the dropships.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Does MegaMek connect the mission outcomes / starting states? Like, if more / fewer units got away during this mission, would that make subsequent missions harder / easier?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Right now, no. I have to keep track of it manually. The good part is that Megamek does export the "end state" of a force after a battle is complete.

I've been working on a strategic context module (which includes persistent opposition) with a Megamek contributor though, so I'm looking forward to when we finish that and then I don't have to keep track of that stuff.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:32 am Right now, no. I have to keep track of it manually. The good part is that Megamek does export the "end state" of a force after a battle is complete.

I've been working on a strategic context module (which includes persistent opposition) with a Megamek contributor though, so I'm looking forward to when we finish that and then I don't have to keep track of that stuff.
So do you manually add (or subtract) units from a battle start based on the outcomes of previous battles, then?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Usually, I have a "fixed" scenario that I design manually, where the outcomes of a few previous random scenarios feed into it. So, for example, that prison rescue scenario that you guys did a little while ago had a fixed garrison, but would have had more reinforcements come in if the other lances had done a poor job in their random scenarios. So, yeah, I would wind up manually adding or removing some units from a fixed scenario based on the results of the some previous missions.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

*sigh* Anyone else up for another game of poker?

Damn Capellans killing my mech...but hey, I guess that paycheck I'm collecting from sitting around will allow me to continue gambling on poker night, eh?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

If you stopped streaming soap operas, maybe the Capellans would be less likely to intercept.

If you get another Awesome, add me. They're my favorite mech -- and a Steiner staple.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Might be a while, but will do.

January 1, 3030
Happy New Year, Delta Lance! You're being chased by a swarm of angry Capellan helicopters, hovertanks and armor. And a lance of light mechs. There's also a trio of enemy fighters buzzing you. And possibly some infantry in the woods up ahead. Maybe if you weren't poking around trying to find the Capellan rally point, this wouldn't happen. Well, you gotta do what you gotta do.

The good news is, we pulled our other Lucifer out of mothballs and stuck our Sparrowhawk pilot in there. We don't really need a crappy 20-ton fighter, we need the wall of pain that only a Lucifer LCF-R20 can deliver. The two fighters will be on station to provide air cover.

Delta is Archinerd in the Griffin, Paingod in the Shadow Hawk, LordMortis in a Wasp, Madmarcus in a Spider and Stefan Stirzaker in a Vulcan. Ok guys, try not to break your legs and remember you're faster than most of these scrubs. Just get to the north edge of the map and bug out into the narrow canyon, the armor won't be able to follow. And if you can kill any of the enemy mobiles, that means fewer of them will be coming after our dropship. No salvage, no rescue. So don't get blown up.

Delta lance is running at full speed, so we deploy kind of piecemeal. Madmarcus gets there in the Spider first, giving us a good sensor read on the area. Three helicopters and a J.Edgar tank are already there, so he runs up a deep gully to the east.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Two helicopters immediately give chase. They shoot off a few machine gun bursts, while Madmarcus fires off a few lasers to discourage pursuit.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
A pair of locusts show up. The good part is that we're already in the thick woods, so the enemy hovercraft won't really be able to follow. That means we just have to get clear of any heavier enemy armor and take care of their mechs and choppers and we'll be good to go. Madmarcus fires up the jump jets and lets 'er rip. Those damn choppers keep up though. There's also a wing of aircraft closing in, so he'll have to be careful there. This time, he connects with a laser to a Warrior helicopter's left side, cutting through the armor and exposing the pilot's compartment to a fresh breeze. The helicopter elects to discontinue pursuit.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan and LordMortis arrive, pursued by a Wasp and Clint. Two enemy fighters buzz us. LordMortis takes a couple of SRMs from one of them, but the armor holds. Madmarcus sets some of the woods on fire to provide a little extra cover and maybe discourage pursuit. Otherwise, our return fire is ineffective.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod and Archinerd arrive. The enemy mech lance engages us, with helicopter support. Stefan sets some more fires, while Madmarcus can't resist getting around the back of a Locust and drilling armor off there, then scraping some armor off a leg as he tries to grab it, forcing the Locust to wrench it free. Paingod connects a couple of solid punches on the Locust in front of him as well, just about knocking off the left arm and dodging a kick in the process.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our air cover arrives, as do the enemy tanks. They're hopelessly behind though. Might as well not have bothered showing up. Paingod gets a little mobbed, so we're going to need to spend a little time to clear out that enemy mech lance. Archinerd takes a moment to fire off a salvo of LRMs at an enemy fighter. Six LRMs nail it right in the nose as it makes a pass at Paingod, causing it only to land a trio of its own LRMs. Plus, the sensors are damaged. The aircraft swerves wildly and the pilot barely manages to halt the descent only a few meters from the ground. Paingod takes a few laser hits from the enemy lance, while our own aircraft strafing runs are not very effective either. Paingod engages the enemy Locust in melee again, dodging away from a kick, then clocking the enemy mech in the cockpit and center torso, where the internal structure becomes exposed.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
We make our stand from a cloud of smoke, having carefully separated the overly enthusiastic Capellan lance from their armor support. Stefan takes a few hits, but nothing serious. Madmarcus zaps one of the Locusts in the left arm with a laser. Another hit and that's coming off, which Archinerd delivers with a fist.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Our aircraft come around for another pass, as does one of theirs. We can't dawdle too long, or those Vedettes *will* eventually make their way through the woods. LordMortis takes some fire and a boot from a nearby enemy Locust, but the armor continues to hold. Archinerd nails a distant Wasp with some LRMs, blasting away left torso armor and most of the left torso structure. Stefan follows up with some shots to the center torso and left leg.

Our aircraft make a solid pass. One of the Lucifers ignores an AC/5 round from the Clint and cuts the left torso off with large lasers. The second one takes the head and center torso off the Wasp being targeted by Archinerd and Stefan, essentially splitting the little mech in half. Archinerd takes some LRMs from a passing enemy fighter but shrugs it off.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Clint peels off. The 1V Locust keeps coming after poor LordMortis, while the 1E keeps at Paingod. Luckily, LordMortis' attacker misses him. Paingod takes some damage but it's not significant. One of our aircraft takes a wide loop around while the other stays in the area, attracting some AC/5 rounds from the distant Vedettes, then blasting an enemy fighter trying to accelerate away. One of the little fighter's LRM launchers falls off as a laser grazes it. The aircraft is unable to maintain control and nosedives into the ground. While we can't see it from where we are, it almost splattered a whole bunch of infantry.

Archinerd has had enough of the Locust picking on LordMortis, so he jumps in and cracks its right leg in half. Meanwhile, Paingod turns right. The Locust trips him up, but as his mech is falling over, he lands a solid punch to the enemy mech's center torso, getting just enough fist in there to grab a whole handful of internal structure. The lighter mech is completely gutted.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
The air seems a little clearer now - one of the remaining enemy VTOLs encounters a little turbulence as it zips around, dodging lasers and PPCs and the rotor grinds some hillside dirt, but the aircraft remains in the air. We also find out where that retreating Warrior helicopter went. Our mechs turn their guns skyward to nail that last annoying gnat flying around as it strafes LordMortis with LRMs. Somehow, despite being a 20 ton bug mech and taking more shots than any of our other units on the field, it still has armor left. The fighter is struck by multiple LRMs and a medium laser from our Lucifer, lurches and turns into a pillar of smoke leading to a small crater in the ground.

Round 12:
Our Lucifer zaps one of the Peregrine VTOLs out of the sky, staying clear of the main body of enemy tanks. For the next few turns, our mechs advance at top speed to the north, doing their best to ditch the enemy tanks.

Round 13:
An enemy fighter that we previously thought gone has regained control (it's the last of the three), and flies by to strafe LordMortis (why do these guys keep picking on the little bug mech?). Thankfully, it misses by a mile as one of our Lucifers delivers a solid portion of lasers all around.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
We hear a loud explosion in the back field as one of our Lucifers strafes an enemy Vedette, detonating its fuel tank. We open fire at a platoon of distant SRM infantry that thinks they're well-concealed. Some LRMs persuade them otherwise, as they bolt for their APCs. The last of the enemy aircraft departs the area (the other two being craters now), barely holding together. Now we just need to get past the infantry to the north and we're clear. We fire some ordnance their way to keep them honest.

Round 15, 16, 17
Our mechs advance quickly north. Our aircraft fire at targets of opportunity, including an SRM Carrier (don't need one of those coming at us later) and strafing a mechanized infantry platoon that's in our way, just about exterminating it. Then, they loop around again and blast a Vedette that's gotten separated from its buddies. As one of them strafes a second SRM Carrier, he reports that the enemy Locust mechwarrior may have woken up, attempted to eject, and the ejection pod went right into a mountainside. Doh!

Eventually, our aircraft report bingo fuel and additional enemy aircraft heading our way, so they bug out. Our mechs clear out, although Stefan can't resist applying anti-personnel weapons to a cluster of infantry trying to target him with a couple of tripod-mounted laser cannons. The group scatters after a solid machine gun burst splatters about a third of a platoon.

Back at base, our techs finish up El Guapo's Rifleman (although the refit will have to wait until we're off planet) and Freyland's Quickdraw. They don't quite finish the Phoenix Hawk cockpit swap though, before the Capellans advance on our position from several points. Hyena will temporarily take LordMortis' place in the Wasp, as he got a little cut up in that last fight (no, literally, cockpit window chunks from a stray LRM headshot).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Solid round!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

I promise I'll take good care of it, LordMortis.

And no, I'm not upset at all about you taking half my paycheck last night in that winner-take-all breakdancing competition.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

Hyena wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:41 pm I promise I'll take good care of it, LordMortis.

And no, I'm not upset at all about you taking half my paycheck last night in that winner-take-all breakdancing competition.
That's OK. I'm a bit accident prone lately. I think I'll take a nap.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

January 4, 3030
Despite us taking their forces on piecemeal, the Capellans must feel that they've got enough forces in the area to take us down, as they begin advancing. Two lances of mechs lead two armor lances from the north, while a similar unit comes at us from the south. Conventional fighters buzz around the area as well, and we are forced to commit just about all our active forces. The goal here is to prevent the enemy units from approaching the dropships - we don't really want to risk them getting damaged just a few days before we get to leave.

Gamma lance engages the southern force with backup from Delta, while Beta lance engages the northern force with backup from our aircraft. Gamma is Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer, Isgrimnur in the Vindicator, Gbasden in the Wolverine, along with a Quickdraw and a Centurion. Delta is the same as last mission, except Hyena has subbed in for LordMortis and cleaned all the glass shards out of the cockpit.

As our interception point, we choose a nice, heavily wooded area and stage a defense in depth, with Gamma holding up the far northern end. The opposition is two lances of light mechs (and a single 40-ton Hermes), along with two lances of tracks and hovercraft. Sensors show three aircraft buzzing around, and two more lances of Vedettes (and a single Vindicator) approaching about a minute behind behind. Probably some of the guys that were chasing Delta lance and one of the mechs that got away from Beta previously. Our goal is to prevent any significant amount of enemy units from getting past us so they can't engage the dropships directly.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Right away, Lt. Scrub finds herself a nice big lake to step into to take advantage of those leg heat sinks, as most of the enemy force wastes no time in advancing. Gbasden lines up a solid shot on an advancing Wasp with a large laser and breaches the right torso, tossing out sparks and cutting through the armor, but no critical damage. PPCs, LRMs and lasers fly around but miss.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
A pair of enemy hovercraft zip by, but we don't bother chasing them - Delta will get them. We also stay in the woods and out of line of fire of most of the enemy units. Gbasden takes a couple of laser hits from the nearby Vedette, but burns all the armor off the right side with lasers. Our northeast Centurion gets pinged by a few SRMs, and some lasers set its cover on fire, but the mechwarrior keeps her cool and rattles off a burst from the AC/10 at the passing Saracen, following up with some lasers and LRMs. A medium laser finds the fuel tank, sending the hovercraft sky high. The Quickdraw gets in a good number of lasers on a nearby Vedette, and it slows down considerably, leaving behind gears and treads as it grinds along.

Gbasden finishes the round off with a boot to the weakened left side of his target Vedette, crunching through the internal structure, engine and fuel tank with his foot - the tank pretty much disappears.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy units attempt to break through our formation. Joke's on them, as we've got another lance of mechs moving into position to the north, but it sure looks like a critical point. The Warhammer strips armor off a Stinger's leg. The Quickdraw lays bare a different Stinger's arm, then kicks the leg out from under a different adjacent one, the limb coming off as the mech hits the ground. The Centurion exchanges fire with a Jenner and Wasp, blasting off the Wasp's left half, while Gbasden cuts through a second Wasp's left torso, going into the center and cracking the engine shielding.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Delta lance arrives to the north, while the enemy aircraft show up to the south. The mechwarriors in the two legged bug mechs waste no time in bailing out. Delta lance gets to practice their anti aircraft gunnery skills - Archinerd nails a Meteor in the underside, destroying the landing gear there with a PPC, then causes the pilot to crack his head on the dashboard with an LRM salvo. Paingod hits the same fighter in the left wing, destryoing the landing gear there. Well, good luck buddy. Guess you shouldn't have been trying to strafe Hyena's Wasp (which also gets in on the action with a pair of SRMs).

Isgrimnur connects a PPC to a nearby Scorpion while lasering the Stinger trying to pass by - the leg nearly comes off and the lower leg actuator flaps around like a loose branch in the wind, before the little mech falls over entirely, in a perfect position for Isgrimnur to plant his foot over the weakened leg and snap it off. The mechwarrior doesn't even wait for the sparks to finish flying before punching out.

Our Centurion and Warhammer combine fire on an AC/2 Vedette, with the Centurion's AC/10 burst plowing through the engine compartment and having a little party there. The Warhammer takes some SRMs from a passing fighter and an enemy Wasp, but just shrugs it off.

Gbasden engages and damages a Wolverine, while the Quickdraw tries to take on both a damaged Stinger and the escaping Jenner, failing to disable either.

Round 5:
South side:
Spoiler:
Image
North side:
Spoiler:
Image
The Quickdraw's target Jenner and Stinger hop over a lake, but the Jenner screws up and falls over. The Quickdraw pilot later describes seeing the moment and sparks when the actuators snapped. Meanwhile, said Quickdraw puts a laser through the damaged Wasp's center torso, coring it out completely.

To the north, an enemy Maxim tries to run past Delta, but Madmarcus is having none of it and surgically removes a large number of fans and air ducts with both lasers, causing the hovercraft to gently settle to the ground. A reinforced platoon of infantry comes scrambling out, hands up. How the Maxim managed to set the woods Madmarcus was in on fire with a machinegun burst is kind of a mystery though.

The Centurion disables the nearby Scorpion with a solid AC/10 burst, while the Warhammer and Isgrimnur break through a Vedette's left-side armor.

That makes over 50% of the enemy force destroyed, and the remainder peels off and retreats, while the trailing forces turn aside as well. A Wasp and Stinger run off to the west, while the Hermes and crippled Vedette move back south. They'll probably try again later (with reinforcements, hopefully), somewhere else. Now, Beta has to hold the line to the north.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

January 4, 3030
North of dropship landing zone

While Gamma and Delta rout their Capellan opponents to the south, Beta is deployed to stop a Capellan advance to the north. Kind of a depleted, understrength Beta, but still. Zenn7 in the Awesome, Freyland in a Quickdraw and El Guapo in a Rifleman.

Their job is to stop an advance by three Vindicators, a Griffin and four light mechs. With two lances of tanks trailing about a minute behind, while being buzzed by Capellan aircraft. We deploy our air support to this battle as well. We deploy to the south in some lakes for extra cooling, and begin the engagement once we can see the enemy mechs through the clearing. They've got more PPCs, but we're better shots.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
I guess they don't actually want to engage us just yet. That's fine, we'll spend the time setting some fires for extra smoke cover. Freyland does land a medium laser shot center of mass on a Vindicator, but a Vindicator isn't a bug mech, so that won't take it down.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
A Vindicator pokes out of the woods to shoot off a few LRMs at Zenn7 and gets two PPCs, one in each leg, for its trouble. El Guapo starts another fire, hoping to provide Zenn7's mech some smoke for cover.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
These fires aren't working like I wanted them to. The wind is blowing the wrong way, and they're mostly just lighting our mechs up. An enemy Jenner runs up under the cover of enemy PPC fire, and Zenn7 takes the left arm off, also scoring a center torso hit, knocking the little mech over. El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.

"Pull back to secondary positions. Search and rescue, wait until enemy mechs have cleared the area, then see if you can get our mechwarrior out of that wreck."

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
As we pull back, the Jenner can't quite get back up and the mechwarrior blacks out after two falls. Zenn7 fires as he retreats, damaging a pursuing Firestarter's left leg - the goal being to hurt the faster units so they don't have as easy a time harrassing us. Freyland flips his arms backwards and fires at a Locust, but isn't used to hyper-extending actuators yet and whiffs the laser shots.

Round 5:
Zenn7 blasts a Vindicator in the right arm, disabling the PPC there, as LRMs splash down in the water around him. Freyland waits until the bad guys have all piled up around him then hops away, having led them on a merry chase.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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A Vindicator goes down as our Awesome continues blazing away with PPCs. It'll get back up, but taking three PPC shots doesn't help a mech stay upright.

The opfor lets us go, but keeps pace as we pull back. This allows the search and rescue guys to go and pry El Guapo out of his cockpit. Other than some internal bruising, he's actually fine, but he'll be walking around funny for a couple of weeks while his internal organs slide back into place.

The enemy mechs stop short of our dropships though. Between the damage we did inflict and the rout of their southern force, perhaps they don't think they have the firepower to take on our dropships. The point becomes moot shortly, as both the Davion dropship captains and our command staff come to an agreement that it's time to relocate. Our mechs pile in to the cargo and mech bays (quite uncomfortably) and the dropships make a hop across the continent. The liaison aboard the Leopard also informs us that Comstar has placed an interdiction against the Federated Suns, so they haven't had any communications from out of system. Meaning, we're all stuck here until the Feds deign to send a jumpship our way.

But hey, 1.5x pay!

[As an aside, in the AtB ruleset, if your employer is currently participating in a major war, every time you "complete" a contract, you roll a 1d6, and if you get a 1, it's "emergency extended" by half original duration. Roll a 2, it's extended by a month. I've rolled three 2s in a row.]
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:12 pm Isgrimnur connects a PPC to a nearby Scorpion while lasering the Stinger trying to pass by - the leg nearly comes off and the lower leg actuator flaps around like a loose branch in the wind, before the little mech falls over entirely, in a perfect position for Isgrimnur to plant his foot over the weakened leg and snap it off. The mechwarrior doesn't even wait for the sparks to finish flying before punching out.
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It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:08 pm El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.
It was a pretty good shot, though.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:40 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:08 pm El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.
It was a pretty good shot, though.
You shouldn't take advice on running away from falling things from watching Prometheus. It's not a how-to video.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:42 pm
El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:40 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:08 pm El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.
It was a pretty good shot, though.
You shouldn't take advice on running away from falling things from watching Prometheus. It's not a how-to video.
I'm pretty sure it would have worked if I'd just run in the straight line *faster*.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:44 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:42 pm
El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:40 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:08 pm El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.
It was a pretty good shot, though.
You shouldn't take advice on running away from falling things from watching Prometheus. It's not a how-to video.
I'm pretty sure it would have worked if I'd just run in the straight line *faster*.
How not to run away in 3 easy steps:
Step 1
Enlarge Image
Step 2
Enlarge Image
Step 3
Enlarge Image
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:40 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:08 pm El Guapo tracks one of the approaching aircraft, zapping it with both lasers and an AC/5 shot. One of the lasers damages the avionics system and the little "Angel" fighter shudders and enters an uncontrollable dive. Straight at the Rifleman, impacting in the upper torso section, pretty much taking the whole thing off.
It was a pretty good shot, though.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

January 14, 3030
We get about a little over a week before the Capellans come looking for our new landing zone. Two lances of enemy mechs poke around and get a little too close for comfort, so we send a re-constituted and reinforced Beta lance to run them off. Beta is Zenn7 in the Awesome, LordMortis in a Hunchback with a damaged hip, Freyland in the Quickdraw, a laser Centurion and an Assassin with a busted jump jet. This is definitely starting to strain our resources.

The enemy mechs are a pair of Riflemen, a Guillotine, a Crusader, a Stinger, a Vindicator, a Whitworth and a Shadow Hawk. As usually, they've got more guns but we're better shots. There's also a trio of aircraft buzzing around. We hold our own aircraft away from this one due to the Riflemen and their AA tracking systems.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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We deploy and advance south. The opfor is on the opposite side of a pretty large hill. I'm pretty sure we'll get to the hilltop first, but it's still a race. Freyland grabs a club on the way. You never know when you're gonna need a fifty-year oak with which to whack an enemy battlemech.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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LordMortis' mech lags behind. I'm starting to think a Hunchback with a damaged hip isn't the best option for fights requiring mobility.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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We make visual contact and launch LRMs. Freyland takes a few LRMs to the torso, but it's minor damage.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Freyland jumps out, seeing an opportunity to boot an enemy Stinger in the upper section. Like a ghost, he dodges all incoming enemy fire (some is absorbed by the light woods he lands in), then lasers an enemy Rifleman, stripping armor. Zenn7 pops it in the left torso, shattering the integrated searchlight, while our Centurion works on the Shadow Hawk. The boot to the Stinger's head is as graceful as a mech kick can be - the head just straight up disappears and the little mech collapses.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Freyland hops back as the enemy ground units advance. The rest of our units hold position. Most of the firing is ineffective, but the enemy Shadow Hawk takes a spread of lasers across the front and falls over on its arm, sending spark flying from a busted actuator.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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We continue plowing firepower into the advancing mechs, although they're pretty tough. Zenn7 and a Rifleman exchange fire, with the Rifleman coming out decidedly behind. The Shadow Hawk stops just short of getting shredded by LordMortis' AC/20, while the Centurion and Vindicator exchange some lasers.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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The enemy aircraft show up, so this is going to get fun. Our Assassin pilot jumps out behind the enemy formation... and everyone decides to pile on the poor guy. He takes a right leg hip shot from a Rifleman, a bunch of lasers from the Guillotine, and falls over, damaging another actuator.

Zenn7 knocks a couple of lasers off his target Rifleman, while Freyland works on the Shadow Hawk that's decided to jump to melee range. The mech takes four lasers all across the right side, then a boot to the right leg, the impact causing it to whiff its kick and fall over, losing the left arm entirely. The aircraft unload on Zenn7, but it's mostly low-count SRMs and LRMs, so his mech takes it no problem.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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That stupid Shadow Hawk just won't give up. It gets up, but LordMortis delivers a solid AC/20 blast to the right torso, destroying it and sending the right arm spinning off into the distance. The mech itself falls over as well. Zenn7 pounds on the enemy Crusader, knocking it over. Freyland exchanges fire with a Rifleman, then has to hop over a punch from the enemy Vindicator.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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The Shadow Hawk has had enough and runs off, while the Crusader can't quite get up. Zenn7 takes a few autocannon rounds, but nails one of the Riflemen in the left leg, popping the lower leg actuator. Our Centurion drills it in the head with a large laser, giving the mechwarrior some much needed fresh air as he falls over.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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The Crusader gets up and moves in a little, while the Rifleman stays down, losing an AC/5 and a medium laser as it struggles to get up. We get strafed by the fighters again, which is mildly annoying. The Crusader takes three PPCs from Zenn7, a laser from Freyland and an AC/20 to the left arm from LordMortis. The arm comes off, but the mech stays upright. Our Assassin tries to get up and move off the field, but an enemy Whitworth is having none of it and blasts him with an LRM salvo, knocking the left leg off and causing the mechwarrior to black out as he hits the ground.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 steps around the corner to engage the Crusader while firing PPCs at the Whitworth, scoring a headshot but no kill. The smaller mech still has to take a knee as the mechwarrior regroups. Our Centurion blasts an enemy Rifleman, taking the left arm off with a laser then hitting the weakened head and evaporating the mechwarrior inside. Freyland gets around the back of the enemy Guillotine, scoring a few solid hits with the laser and knocking off external equipment. We lose the goddamn Centurion to an ammo explosion as the Guillotine delivers a boot through the left arm and into the weakened left torso. As revenge, Zenn7 buts a boot through the Cursader's left torso, knocking the mech over.

The enemy units begin withdrawing. We allow it, not really being in a position to pursue. We grab the headless Rifleman and Stinger for salvage and retreat to base. As it turns out, we actually have the spare parts to fix up the Rifleman, which is good considering we're starting to run low on mechs.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Wow were getting worn down with attrition. Hopefully we can not roll a 2 again :)

I take it exploded mech driver died?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Nah, she's fine. Mostly. Physically.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

January 16, 3030

Delta heads out to perform a recon raid on a nearby enemy supply post. The goal is two-fold: conduct a full sensor scan of the facility and (while we're there) grab anything good. We're starting to run out of working mechs, so if we can get some spare parts, it'll help tide us over until... well, we could be here a while. A Comstar interdiction probably means we're going to get hung out to dry while the Federated Suns guys use their jumpships as couriers.

The supply post is guarded by a mixed light/medium mech lance, a lance of hovercraft and a lance of light tracks. Nothing heavier than a Saladin. It and the enemy Vindicator are probably the biggest threats on the field.

Delta is Archinerd in the Griffin, Paingod in the Shadow Hawk, Stefan in the Vulcan, Hyena in a Wasp and Madmarcus in a Spider. It's snowing pretty heavily, which will give us a mobility advantage over the light tracks, but the hovercraft and mechs don't really care.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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We advance quickly to the west, having gotten around the defenders a little bit. Madmarcus and Hyena are stuck with scanning and recovery duty, while our heavier units hold down the fort to the north. Weapons fire whiffs, although we do set a couple of fires in the nearby woods and land a few LRMs on a distant Scorpion that was a little too slow.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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Well, the fire doesn't last very long, as the snow puts it out. On the plus side, Madmarcus sprints over to the base facility and begins his sensor sweep. Paingod takes a bit of a beating - nothing individually major, but a medium laser here and an SRM there adds up, knocking the mech over. Hyena's Wasp takes a grouping of nine LRMs, blowing the left arm off entirely. Some of our shots hit, but nothing breaches armor. Not the best start.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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The Vindicator drills the Hyena's right arm off with a medium laser, while most of the rest of weapons fire goes wide. Between the smoke, snow and rapid movement, it's hard to hit anything. Archinerd manages to jump in behind a Saladin and bursts through the armor with a foot, destroying the hovercraft while hitting a Scorpion with a PPC for some armor damage.

The Vindicator then boots the leg off Hyena's Wasp and Stefan falls over while trying to help out. The only silver lining is that Hyena manages to get one last leg sweep in on the nearby Phoenix Hawk, tripping it up.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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In a legless bug mech, surrounded on all sides, Hyena yanks the ejection lever, bailing out. The ejection seat gets caught on the edge of the cockpit, so he gets spun around quite a bit. Paingod runs over to pick him up. He only takes a single medium laser to the leg from an enemy Stinger, which follows up with a boot. He retaliats with a punch to the arm.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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"Sensor scan complete. Returning to base. Got some presents for us, too." Madmarcus calls out. Archinerd jumps north, being followed by about three quarters of the enemy force. He lights an SRM Scorpion up with a PPC, melting the rear armor off, then punches a harrassing Ostscout. Stefan and Paingod tangle with a Stinger, with Stefan scoring a medium laser hit on the lighter mech's left arm.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Madmarcus zips off the eastern edge of the map with the sensor data a cargo crate. The rest of our forces fall back as well. Stefan cuts the arm off the annoying enemy Stinger with one of his lasers, then gives it a kick to the left leg, rendering it useless. The little mech falls over. An eye for an eye, fellas.

The cargo crate turns out to be a couple of tons of armor plating and some LRM/5 ammo. Not sure that was worth losing a Wasp over. Hyena's fine, just a few bruises and cuts.

On the plus side, we patched up Cylus Maxii's Phoenix Hawk and a new Rifleman. Let's see if we can avoid getting this one blown up within thirty seconds of its first battle.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:19 pm
On the plus side, we patched up Cylus Maxii's Phoenix Hawk and a new Rifleman. Let's see if we can avoid getting this one blown up within thirty seconds of its first battle.
I got this down. I *definitely* won't get it blown up again in the first two rounds - honest.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Wow. I kinda suck at this. Lost two mechs in the last two outings, and can't even eject right. Thanks, Paingod, for the rescue and revenge.

How many turns on the spin cycle did I take, and how long will I be out?
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