Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[Zenn7]

Space port.

Buy the mech.

[gbasden]

Space port.

Buy the mech.

This. We'll probably have to defend the spaceport at some point anyway. And it's worth the risk to get a shot at a solid mech.

[Hyena]

Space port.

Buy the mech.

This. We'll probably have to defend the spaceport at some point anyway. And it's worth the risk to get a shot at a solid mech.

This.

(On a side note, OOC, I'm getting REALLY pumped...)

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Spaceport - almost unanimous
Buy the mech - almost unanimous

We decide to relocate to the spaceport. Over the course of our contract, the fees look like they'll add up to the cost of a mech, and we'll have extra security available to help us out a little, or at least make any hostiles consider a lot more carefully any attacks on our dropships.

When I said November was quiet, that was mostly true. We do have one incident relocating our units to the spaceport. A lance of Star Guards helping some of our ground-based cargo carrying units to the spaceport reports getting bushwhacked, so Cujo takes Alpha-Ranger and Alpha-Urban lances over to help them out. Our goal is pretty simple here - we have to protect the cargo vehicles and mechs. The attackers are a light-medium mech lance and some "locally sourced" forces, which we should be able to mop the floor with.

Honestly, the Star Guards guys should be able to mop the floor with them, since they have a Banshee and two medium mechs, but...

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Only problem is that it's pretty dark out, so we have to either jump around or run too fast and risk getting tripping over our own feet, so the hostiles will get some pot shots in at our units.

"Star Four here, target destroyed - LRM technical." Reports one of the Star Guards.

"Star One here, I'm hit, hip actuator's out!" Comes another report.

"Star Two, they got one of the convoy trucks."

Well, it's a mixed bag Star One is a Wasp, so we don't really expect much out of a bug mech.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur and Hyena are close enough to engage the attackers - Isgrimnur's LBX autocannon lets rip a spray of cluster rounds, blasting a converted ScavengerMech that's been flashing it searchlight around and lighting up our units. The searchlight is blown off, while a cluster of LBX pellets takes off one of its legs.

The quad mech continues moving around, however.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

A look at the mess to the south, with Star Guards units being red. Cujo targets a converyed Crosscut LoggerMech harassing one of our cargo mechs, burning its left leg armor off with the Wolverine's large laser. This opens up an opportunity for a Star Guard mech to leg the target entirely.

Stefan lays into a technical with LRMs, immobilizing the "field repair unit" (armed with machine guns and firing them at our convoy vehicles).

One of the Star Guards reports taking out a machine-gun carrying armored personnel carrier as well, so they're doing a pretty good job so far (other than losing one of our transport vehicles).

Round 4, 5:

Spoiler:

Some of the explosions die down a little for a moment as weapons fire either misses or inflicts light armor damage, although one of our cargo mechs winks out.

Isgrimnur closes in and uses the hatchet to take another leg or two off the converted ScavengerMech trying to bring its not-terribly-high-quality weapons to bear, bringing it down to the ground.

Meanwhile, one of the Star Guards reports taking out a light attacking mech.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

In the dictionary definition of "screwed (colloquialism)", there's a picture of this poor attacking APC that's just had Cujo and Stefan catch up to it. Cujo absorbs a single SRM then puts the poor thing out of its misery with two lasers and six SRMs.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Hyena peels off to the west to engage a water-bound Haulermech firing its PPC at him, blasting the armor off its left arm with a PPC of his own.

Isgrimnur mixes it up as the proper hostile light mech lance moves to engage the Star Guards Griffin, swatting aside a flamer-equipped truck on his way.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur jumps behind a Quasit (a low-quality militia mech) and slams the hatchet into its back, knocking it forward. An armor breach from previous damage results in the "compression" of its MG ammo bin storage, which goes sky high, taking that mech out of action.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

The guy in the Buster finally decides to leave that nice comfy lake after Hyena walks up with the intent of kicking its head in.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

It doesn't help as Hyena takes the light industrial mech apart with the Grasshopper's lasers. Paingod jumps in to take out the Javelin trying to bail its buddy out, the Merlin's lasers and PPC doing a number on the enemy mech's left leg and righ torso, cutting off one of the arms and destroying a number of actuators.

To the south, Isgrimnur finishes his rather quick "duel" with the Wolverine (with help from Alpha-Ranger's Ostroc), while the less said about the remaining Javelin to the south, the better (Stefan, Bass and Cujo basically group curb-stomp the poor thing into the ground).

That leaves no attacking units intact, although this will be annoying to sort out as we have to pick up and hand-deliver cargo bins carried by transports that were destroyed. Still, Cujo thanks the Star Guards for their help - they kept those bandits off our stuff until we could get there.

The *rest* of the move goes without incident.

---

We acquire the Hatamoto-Hi without any problems. Leraje, looking at the design suddenly droops - it's got pulse lasers but no double heat sinks. That basically means that you're either firing the PPCs or the medium pulse lasers, but not both. Our mechwarrior drools over the 80 ton form factor though, and sits down with our techs to work out some possible redesign options. They come up with one.

Our first option is to leave it as is. Having to bracket fire isn't too hard, and pulse lasers are deadly accurate, even if they have shorter range (by about 33%) than standard lasers.

Our second option is to trade the pulse lasers for standard lasers. The saved tonnage would be used to mount jump jets instead. We'd get improved maneuverability and range, but a less accuracy with about half of the mech's firepower.

[] Keep it as is
[] Refit with medium lasers/jump jets

---

We declare our recent batch of trainee mechwarriors ready for action. El Guapo's Alpha-Heavy lance is looking for a replacement mechwarrior for Thud's Awesome (which has now been repaired). We've got two options:

Pvt. Hayden Parrel, from Epsilon Indi in the Federated Commonwealth (just two jumps "east" of Terra). Excellent gunner, average pilot (2/5). Currently drives a Raven RVN-1X in the "auxiliary" trainee lance (which hasn't seen any deployments because, well, it's a trainee lance).

Recruit Douggie Meneses, a local mechwarrior. Picked out from the tech crews for his (potential) mastery of medium-range shooting and encyclopedic knowledge of BattleMech internals and put through an intense training course. Currently drives the "trainer" Guillotine. (Gunnery 4, Piloting 5, Human TRO - Mech, Rangemaster - medium range)

Who's going to be Thud Mk III?
[] Pvt. Hayden Parrel
[] Recruit Douggie Meneses (promotion to private pending)

[El Guapo]

[X] Keep it as is
[] Refit with medium lasers/jump jets

Who's going to be Thud Mk III?
[X] Pvt. Hayden Parrel
[] Recruit Douggie Meneses (promotion to private pending)

[Leraje]

[] Keep it as is
[x] Refit with medium lasers/jump jets

And look for opportunity to get our hands on DHS (the more the better)

[El Guapo]

FWIW I don't feel strongly on the retrofit. Mostly based on pulse lasers being great.

On the pilot I think the much better gunnery skills is the most important thing. We do want mechwarriors who will, you know, hit the enemy.

[Leraje]

FWIW I don't feel strongly on the retrofit. Mostly based on pulse lasers being great.

True, but the range is pathetic and without high speed/maneuverability it's a pain to bring them to bear.

[Isgrimnur]

Not like a hatchet.

[$iljanus]

[X] Keep it as is
[] Refit with medium lasers/jump jets

Who's going to be Thud Mk III?
[X] Pvt. Hayden Parrel
[] Recruit Douggie Meneses (promotion to private pending)

I choose this!

[El Guapo]

Not like a hatchet.

Well obviously hatchet-centric mods are preferable, but those don't seem to be on the table here.

[Zenn7]

[X] Keep it as is
[] Refit with medium lasers/jump jets

Who's going to be Thud Mk III?
[X] Pvt. Hayden Parrel
[] Recruit Douggie Meneses (promotion to private pending)

I choose this!

Hitting is good (so says every winner of a mech fight).

And let's try some pulse lasers.

[Zarathud]

The Best Defense is a Good Offense. Boot to the Head.

Pulse lasers.
Pvt. Parrell

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Keep mech as is - almost unanimous
Parrel - unanimous

In the end, we decide to give the mech a chance to perform as-is before pulling out half the weapons.

Pvt. Hayden "Thud Mk III" Parrel joins Alpha-Heavy lance.

We also get the royal Black Knight refit done. It turns out to be a very shiny mech, great for lighting up terrain. If anybody wants to switch out for the Black Knight or the Hatamoto-Hi, feel free to do so.

The rest of November and December pass quietly. For real. We do have some maintenance issues with armor attachment points on one of our Griffins, but it works out ok. Dropship traffic to and from the planet is pretty heavy, as multiple mech part shipments are going out - rumors range from FedCom gearing up for another crack at the Combine to simply "wide-ranging technology upgrades".

This heightened manufacturing activity also prompts "pirate" activity on-world. We haven't monitored any unauthorized dropships landings, so it's likely mercs using local equipment and hired by one corporation or the other.

January 15, 3050
Town of Sandraberg

A convoy being escorted by Alpha-Heavy comes under attack. Some jerkwads activate pop-up turrets along the convoy's route, while a company of tanks (one heavy lance, two light lances) moves in from the east. Well, at least Thud MK III will get a crack at some actual combat.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

One of the popup turrets gets a convoy APC with an LRM salvo. Our mechs open up at said turrets from long range with PPCs, El Guapo knocking aside a PPC turret for a moment.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The rest of the convoy units run for it, with reasonable success. Our heavy and assault mechs appear to have attracted the attackers' attention instead for the most part, as the woods near Thud's Awesome catch on fire from the repeated application of LRMs. This provides our mechwarrior a little extra cover, but messes up his heat curve quite a bit.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Fury blasts apart a Harasser that's chasing some of the convoy units (including a Griffin that's hauling a ten-ton crate in its left arm).

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Thud takes a break from firing at the distant tanks to glance a shot from the extended-range PPC against off an annoying VTOL. Missing about half its nose encourages the pilot to leave.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Thud and Bully focus on the Thumper turret that's been zeroing in on Thud, and take it out.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Fury picks off a Scimitar pursuing two of our convoy mechs. The Pegasus continues getting in behind El Guapo, trying to peel armor off the back of our Marauder using SRMs. Thankfully, armor has held so far, but our mechwarrior will need to deal with it ASAP.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

El Guapo and Fury have gotten the remaining convoy vehicles through to the east. Looking at the sensor data, there's not really any point for us to fight the heavy tanks to the north. "Zara, Bully, disengage and pull back to the west. Fury, continue with me. And get that stupid Pegasus off my back."

Fury does so, trapping the hovertank behind a building and blasting through its armor with the Grand Dragon's lasers to take out the engine.

Then we disengage, sending a few parting PPC shots at the popup turrets, with little effect. Most of the convoy got through, other than the tiny APC. Maybe it shouldn't have driven into range of a large laser turret. But at least the goodies got through to whatever distribution facility they were going to.

---

A few days later, a pair of storage depot facilities on our list get attacked. Gamma-Command is able to move to intercept the units attacking one, while Beta-Assault gets outmaneuvered, and by the time they get to the facility, the looting has already begun.

Gamma-Command needs to rapidly eliminate two medium mech (with lots of jump capability) and two light tank lances approaching a storage depot without proper identification. The depot is guarded by a company of heavy tanks which have rolled out. Although they keep pinging our mechs with targeting RADAR for some reason. The terrain is swampy, which will slow the hostile treads and walkers down. What did we bring for backup?

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

[Leraje]

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[x] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

Would not mind taking Black Knight for a spin - always liked that mech. It's BLK-6b-KNT right?

[Isgrimnur]

Good choice on not becoming Private Period.

[NickAragua]

Would not mind taking Black Knight for a spin - always liked that mech. It's BLK-6b-KNT right?

Yep, that's the one.

[Leraje]

Would not mind taking Black Knight for a spin - always liked that mech. It's BLK-6b-KNT right?

Yep, that's the one.

Sign me up.

[xwraith]

Any chance that we could get a roster update? I think it has been awhile since we last had a complete roster.

Thanks for your hard work and keeping this going -- I really enjoy it!

[Zenn7]

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[x] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

Would not mind taking Black Knight for a spin - always liked that mech. It's BLK-6b-KNT right?

Extra mech lance sounds good.

Just remember, if you're a knight, we expect you to keep fighting, even after you lose both arms and both legs.

[Leraje]

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[x] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

Would not mind taking Black Knight for a spin - always liked that mech. It's BLK-6b-KNT right?

Extra mech lance sounds good.

Just remember, if you're a knight, we expect you to keep fighting, even after you lose both arms and both legs.

'Tis but a flesh wound...

[gbasden]

Gamma-Command needs to rapidly eliminate two medium mech (with lots of jump capability) and two light tank lances approaching a storage depot without proper identification. The depot is guarded by a company of heavy tanks which have rolled out. Although they keep pinging our mechs with targeting RADAR for some reason. The terrain is swampy, which will slow the hostile treads and walkers down. What did we bring for backup?

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [X] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

It looks like I'm in the minority, but with all the armor in this fight it seems like cluster bombs might be a good choice.

[$iljanus]

Gamma-Command needs to rapidly eliminate two medium mech (with lots of jump capability) and two light tank lances approaching a storage depot without proper identification. The depot is guarded by a company of heavy tanks which have rolled out. Although they keep pinging our mechs with targeting RADAR for some reason. The terrain is swampy, which will slow the hostile treads and walkers down. What did we bring for backup?

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [X] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

It looks like I'm in the minority, but with all the armor in this fight it seems like cluster bombs might be a good choice.

I like the possibility of more salvage

[Zenn7]

Gamma-Command needs to rapidly eliminate two medium mech (with lots of jump capability) and two light tank lances approaching a storage depot without proper identification. The depot is guarded by a company of heavy tanks which have rolled out. Although they keep pinging our mechs with targeting RADAR for some reason. The terrain is swampy, which will slow the hostile treads and walkers down. What did we bring for backup?

[] Artillery - swampy terrain will slow the hostile treaded units and non-jump-capable mechs down, allowing our artillery to pick them off. Will be unavailable to help Beta-Assault.
[] Aerospace - three heavy fighters, loaded with bombs
- [] HE (for "pin-point" targeting of mechs)
- [X] Cluster (area effect, more likely to disable vehicles without destroying them, i.e. more salvage)
- [] fuel-air (more expensive, bigger boom, probably less salvage)
[] Extra mech lance - Gamma-Probe can move in rapidly to fix and engage the slow hostiles at the back

It looks like I'm in the minority, but with all the armor in this fight it seems like cluster bombs might be a good choice.

On the one hand, if they're clustered up, that swamp is going to keep them clustered up for the cluster bombs to be highly effective.

On the other hand, whether or not they're clustered up, that swamp is likely to keep the bulk of that armor very low mobility, allowing mechs to come in and hit them from behind or whatever that might make it ducks in a barrel kind of match. And the mechs will be useful against the enemy mechs.

I could go either way though. I could have gone for the artillery (slow moving targets make great arty targets), but that was the only one that said ti would be available to help Beta Assault and not sure how much we had to potentially help Beta Assault with - if it was only the arty, wanted to make darned sure we had it available!

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Extra Mechs |||
Aerospace/Cluster |||||

"Gamma-Strike, we'll designate targets on the fly." Scrub calls out.

"All y'all better get off our property!" comes the transmission from the facility garrison tank company on open frequencies.

"We're... on contract to defend your depot." Scrub says, attempting to be patient.

"I don't give two hootin' nickels about your contract, y'all need to get off our property or we'll start shooting!"

"Fine." Scrub grits her teeth, then designates targets on sensors. "Gamma, prioritize these guys." pointing to the hostile approaching from the southwest. "Engage these targets only if they fire on you." pointing at the tanks from the north.

On the plus side, the "swamp" appears to be dried out for the time being, although rain is coming down so it might fill up eventually.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

To their credit, the tank company does engage both our units. Scrub and Cylus blast a Manticore tank and laser carrier to the northwest with long-range weapons, inflicting minor tread damage, while the rest of the weapons fire flies by harmlessly.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

As Scrub crosses a gulch, a Vedette drives out a little too far from the northern formation, peppering away at the Warhammer's armor with its autocannon. Scrub rewards its efforts with a PPC to the fuel tank. "Moron." she mouths.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Scrub's Warhammer wobbles as LRMs come from the north, but she keeps the mech upright with eyes on the prize - a pair of Griffins approaching from the southwest. As Angel snaps off a few large laser shots to keep the hostiles to the north occupied, Scrub and the lead Griffin trade a glancing PPC blast for a few LRMs.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The lead Griffin tries to buzz us, firing its PPC as it finishes its jump. A blast from one of Scrub's PPCs staggers the mech, letting Cylus directly nail its LRM ammo bin with the Grasshopper's large laser. The Griffin explodes before its knees straighten out.

Angel trades fire with a Rhino support tank to the north, absorbing over thirty LRMs and returning fire with the Flashman's lasers, scoring a little armor off while righting the mech as it begins to list a little.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Our aerospace fighters arrive and go to work, dropping their cluster bombs on the tanks and mechs to the west. It's nothing spectacular, but they destroy three tanks, inflict heavy armor damage on several mechs and leg a Panther.

Angel continues the Flashman vs Rhino duel, damaging the assault tank's treads to make it even slower than it normally is.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Two of our aerospace fighters pull off "Split S" moves, which let them sacrifice a little altitude to be able to u-turn rapidly and come back for a second bombing run. This results in a Stinger missing both of its arms from Lucifer-dropped cluster bombs, a Crab without a gyro after direct application of PPCs and lasers from our Eagle and a Scorpion mech with an unconscious mechwarrior, thanks to several bomblets hitting the cockpit.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Our Lucifer comes around and drops the legged Panther back to the ground with laser and LRM fire after it makes an impressive showing of getting back up.

Having been able to disengage from their garrison opponents, the remaining incoming hostiles flee, leaving behind three mechs and several tank wrecks. We've taken a little damage from the garrison tanks, but nothing serious, and Scrub feels that if we take a few more of them down, we'll probably be able to "convince" them that we're the ones in control of the battlefield and that they should let us conduct salvage operations.

On the other hand, at this point, everything we salvage is going to go into a Lyran warehouse anyway (until we salvage about a billion C-Bills worth of stuff for them anyway), so just getting out of here is a perfectly valid option, as none of our units got disabled.

[] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[] Just return to base

Updated roster:

Spoiler:

Alpha Company
Command company

Heavy Lance
Elite
Lt. JG Patrick "El Guapo II" Allain - Marauder MAD-3R (upgraded)
Cpl Emyflor "Fury" Hovakimian - Grand Dragon DRG-1G (modified)
Pvt Hayden "Thud III" Parrell - Awesome AWS-8Q (upgraded)
Pvt Holly "Bully" van Aalst - Thug THG-11E (modified)

Ranger Lance
Veteran
Cpt Zofia "Cujo" Cubo - Wolverine WVR-6M
PFC Ben "Stefan IV" Kalkman - Trebuchet TBT-5J
PFC Tomoyuiki "Bass III" Owen - Griffin GRF-1S
Pvt Yuki Sato - Ostroc OSR-2M

Urban Combat Lance
Veteran
Lt. JG An "Isgrimnur" Tallib - Hatchetman HCT-3F (upgraded)
Lt. JG Ragnhild "Paingod II" bin Najm al Din - Merlin MLN-1A
Cpl Zea-Chin "Hyena II" Coa - Grasshopper GHR-5N
Pvt Phung Phong - BattleAxe BKX-7K (upgraded)

Strike Squadron
Veteran
Lt Matthias Baune - Shilone SL-17
Sp Charlie Schaefer - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)
Ens Congalie Lyvet - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)


Beta Company
The heavy metal

Assault Lance
Elite
Cpt Yu-Bao "Zenn7" Ting - Awesome AWS-8Q
Cpl Omer "Siljanus II" Nanji - Mackie MSK-8B (upgraded)
Cpl Daniel "Moley II" Adepapo - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Pvt Ratan "LordMortis II" Suryanarayama - Victor VTR-9B (upgraded)
Pvt. Ambjorn Li - Coolant Truck 135-K

Hunter Lance
Veteran
Lt. JG Demesu "Leraje" Jafar - Black Knight BLK-6b-KNT
Cpl Kwan-Uk Virmani - Grasshopper GHR-5N
Cpl Karla "Wolf" Mellum - Warhammer WHM-6R (upgraded)
Pvt Frederick "Xwraith IV" Hakim - Catapult CPLT-C1

Fire Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Elizabeth Bolam - Archer ARC-2K
Lt. JG Cynthia Samways - Archer ARC-2R (modified)
Pvt Allen Nattore - Stalker STK-3F
Pvt Tessa Eng - Crusader CRD-3L (upgraded)

Strike Squadron
Regular
Ens Lurdes Tarquini - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)
PO1 Flawiusz Drzewucki - Chippewa CHP-W7
Sp Kathryne Bangash - Gotha GTHA-400 (upgraded)

Gamma Company
General Purpose
Command Lance
Elite
Cpt Zanthe "Scrub" Pappathanassiou - Warhammer WHM-6Rb
Lt. JG Evdokiy "Angel" Mahaev - Flashman FLS-7K (modified)
Cpl Varada "Cylus" Sunondo - Grasshopper GHR-5H
Cpl Lynn Zeng - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE (upgraded)

Striker Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Ramon Vazquez - Griffin GRF-1N
Cpl. Loren Burgess - Champion CHP-2N (modified)
Pfc. Bhadrasrenya Jannavi - Hunchback HBK-4G
Pvt. Catriona Dellas - Crusader CRD-3L (modified)

Probe Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Nicolas "Akalon" Dvorak - Vulcan VL-5T (modified)
Cpl. Bernard "Drazzil II" Barreau - Cronus CNS-3M
Pvt Nara "AWS II" Cutillar - Phoenix Hawk LAM PHX-HK1R
Pvt Bonie Khachaturian - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D

Strike Squadron
Veteran
Ens Leslie Leshtchenko - Lightning LTN-G15 (upgraded)
Sp Aneko Kiyomizu - Eagle EGL-R9 (upgraded)
Sp Ragna Ruff - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)

Delta Company
Recon

Ranger Lance
Elite
Captain Shi-Wen "Madmarcus" Xu - Wolverine WVR-6M
Pvt Mariana Connibeer - Exterminator EXT-4A (upgraded)
Pvt Shinko "Freyland III" Hauli - Cronus CNS-3M
PFC Nori "Archinerd" Goto - Dervish DV-6M (upgraded)

Sweep Lance
Veteran
Lt. Bettina Bosse - Ostroc OSR-2M
PFC Sixten Wisth - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1 (modified)
PFC Tom Chagares - Griffin GRF-1S
PFC Gregory Molnes - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D

Recon Lance
Regular
Lt JG Lindy Gonzales - Spider SDR-5V
Cpl Manus Schmidt - Assassin ASN-21
Cpl Lucas Jakobsson - Firestarter FS9-H (modified)
Pvt Jennifer Valdez - Ostscout OTT-7J

Interceptor Squadron
Veteran
Ensign Dave Malavika - Sparrowhawk SPR-H5
Spc Lenka Modry - Sholagar SL-21
Spc Blanch Henry - Sparrowhawk SPR-H5

Epsilon Company
Expansion Group

First Lance
Cpt. Britt Moring - Warhammer WHM-6K (Olesko)
Pvt Erika Schliefen - Catapult CPLT-C1
Pvt Dermott Lindsey - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Pvt Tiara Durrani - Rifleman RFL-3C

Second Lance
Lt JG Kung-zheng Dotto - Sentinel STN-3L
Cpl Muhend Kiplagat - Wyvern WVE-6N (modified)
Pvt Zina Ochieng - Griffin GRF-1S
Pvt Elizabeth Morris - Hunchback HBK-4G

Assault Lance
Lt. Jg Chris Stallon - Stalker STK-3H
Cpl Admes Mercouri - Longbow LBG-7Q
Pvt Neva Orga - Warhammer WHM-6R (upgraded)
Pvt Suljo Djukanovic - Atlas AS7-WGS (Samsonov)

Air Squadron
Lt. Sabeer Rahman - Vulcan VLC-5N
Sp Norimi Shini - Thunderbird TRB-D36
Sp Corban Christakos - Lucifer LCF-R20 (upgraded)

Search and rescue team:
SRM jump infantry squad, with Ferret Scout VTOL for transport
Warrior H-7C
Ostscout OTT-7J

Space Assets
Invader-class Jumpship x2
Escorted by Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded), 2x Shilone SL-17 and 1x Sparrowhawk SPR-H5
"Moonraker" - Union-class Dropship
"Sparrow" - Union-class Dropship
Seeker-class Dropship
"Overlord-class Dropship
Jumbo-class Dropship


Additional Ground Assets
4x Long Tom Artillery
Gyroslug Rifle / Support Laser infantry platoon, with Maxim (SRM4) hover transport
LRM jump infantry platoon, with Maxim (SRM4) hover transport
AC/10 Field Gunners (mechanized transport)

[Leraje]

[x] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[] Just return to base

Live fire exercises FTW!

[Zenn7]

[x] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[] Just return to base

Live fire exercises FTW!

Is there any risk of this backfiring? We get fined/in trouble for shooting the garrison we're supposed to be protecting or something?

If not, let's commence the training exercise for the local garrison and advise them they need to work on their dodging after we tear them to pieces.

[gbasden]

[x] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[] Just return to base

Live fire exercises FTW!

If they are dumb enough to attack the people defending their base, we might as well teach them some manners.

[$iljanus]

[x] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[] Just return to base

Live fire exercises FTW!

If they are dumb enough to attack the people defending their base, we might as well teach them some manners.

No patience for idiocy these days. Blast away!

[Captainwolfer]

So I've been following this and voting on Sufficent Velocity, but I feel the need to point out here that our employers would probably not look kindly upon us shooting up a garrison when we didn't strictly need to (Since the attackers have been repulsed and we haven't lost any mechs). Shooting the garrison doesn't really do anything for us, the salvage is crap and of basically no use to us. Let's just leave and tell the liason about this incident.

[AWS260]

Welcome, CW!

[] Blast the stupid depot garrison tanks a little more, teach them a lesson, get a little more salvage
[x] Just return to base

It's just not worth it.

[NickAragua]

Unsanitized kill log for anyone interested:

Spoiler:

28 primary, 12 convoy, 18 turrets = 58, destroy 45 for control
convoy Stevedore self-destructs (1/10, 1/45)
Victor detroys RL5 167 (2/45)
Mackie destryos RL2 (3/45)
Catapult destroys Long Tom (4/45)
Mackie disables Paramour 202 (5/45) (2/10)
hostile RL3 66 self-disables (6/45)
hostile RL20 162 self-disables (7/45)
Mackie destroys PPC turret (8/45)
allied Warrior crew-kills MG4 160 (9/45)
Victor/Awesome leg Peacekeeper 201 (10/45) (3/10)
Catapult destroys LRM10/2 164 turret (11/45)
Black Knight destroys MG/3 turret (12/45)
Awesome destroys Jenner (13/45)
Thunderbolt destroys Ymir 205 (14/45) (4/10)
Victor cripples Phoenix Hawk 179 (15/45)
Victor disables Scimitar 192 (16/45)
Awesome sinks Scimitar 191 (17/45)
Grasshopper cripples Manticore (18/45)
allied Falcon disables APC SRM 204 (4/10) (19/45)
Grasshopper destroys PPC turret 170 (20/45)
Victor cripples Trebuchet 5S (21/45)
Grasshopper crew-kills Flamer Turret 211 (22/45)
Awesome legs Dervish 198 (23/45)
Thunderbolt destroys LRM Carrier 173 (24/45)
Mackie gyros ScavengerMech (25/45) (5/10)
allied Saracen destroys Foot MG 210 (26/45) (6/10)
Grasshopper cripples Wolverine 207 (27/45) (7/10)
hostile Crosscut self-disables (28/45) (8/10)
Awesome destroys Dervish 198 (29/45)
inf rifle escape (30/45)
Victor disables Vedette 180 (31/45)
Grasshopper legs Assassin 182 (32/45)
Black Knight cripples Panther 177 (33/45)
Awesome destroys Friestarter 176 (34/45)
Thunderbolt destroys Vedette AC2 185 (35/45)
Mackie destroys Jifty 206 (36/45) (9/10)
Grasshopper destroys PPC turret 163 (37/45)
Warhammer cripples Panther 195 (38/45)
Victor legs Panther 187 (39/45)
Awesome melts Panther 188 (40/45)
Thunderbolt destroys MG/3 turret (41/45)
Thunderbolt destroys ll/3 turret 168 (42/45)
Black Knight destroys Vedette AC2 186 (43/45)
hostile Hetzer self-cripples (44/45)
Victor destroys MG turret 215 (45/45)
Thunderbolt destroys SL turret (46/45)
Mackie destroys Scorpion (47/45)

[AN: This one took a while, it was a super long battle with a lot of units involved]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

blast the garrison - ||||
call it a day - ||||

Tiebreaker - blast the garrison while retreating

"... are they still shooting at us?" Scrub asks, incredulous, rolling her eyes.

The facility garrison continues pursuing our mechs until we cross some line that they consider the border of their property. Our aerospace fighters make one more pass, taking out the three tanks capable of keeping up with our mechs, then we disengage.

When informed of the events subsequently, our liaison sighs and rubs his temples. "As if I didn't have enough to worry about. Between you people and the Star Guards running around, all the actual pirates, and now stupid corporate security?" Scrub raises an eyebrow. "No, it won't be a ding against you on your contract. You did your job. In fact, if I didn't have fifty thousand other things to do, I'd take this to court and give the salvage to you."

---

"Nice ride, sir." Wolf remarks upon seeing Leraje's Black Knight walk out of the dropship hangar.

"Yeah, it's pretty good." The lieutenant responds, the grin almost extending to the mech itself.

"No jump jets, though?" Wolf asks, amused.

Leraje sighs. "Yeah, well, you can't have everything you want. Now let's move out, we're backup for Beta-Assault."

This is pretty straightforward. Raiders have seized control over a major distribution facility owned by a local mech parts manufacturing concern. They've suborned all the turrets, and have a company of light and medium mechs, as well as a light/medium tank company (with a heavy tank lance). Our goal is to stop any looters trying to leave and force the departure or destruction of anything that shoots at us.

"... can we shoot the buildings?" LordMortis asks.

"We'd prefer you not, too much." The liaison, driving an Enforcer, replies. "But do what you have to do. Same goes for you Star Guards."

The Star Guards didn't really bring much. Three hovertanks and a helicopter. Well, it's what they could get there on short notice, better than nothing. Although, given the terrain, they won't be very useful.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"That's not good." The liaison states. "Internal monitors show the hostiles destroying some of the structures. We better get in there and take them down quickly."

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Which is how LordMortis winds up putting a gauss slug through a structure on top of which a rocket launcher turret is mounted, collapsing the whole thing. "Whoops." Our mechwarrior intones.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Leraje and Beta-Hunter arrive from the east.

"Do you guys think you can take that Long Tom turret out back there?" Siljanus asks. "It's kind of cramping my style."

"Done." Xwraith replies, sending a volley of LRMs from the Catapult into the artillery tube, slagging it (without destroying the building it's mounted on!).

"The hell is that thing?" Moley asks, jumping up to a 90-ton mech with large crates strapped to its back. "The hell is a Ymir Bee-Doubleyou-Pee?"

(The Ymir BWP is a "historical" Lyran mech, no longer being manufactured, but the 600-year-old design uses standard parts, so a particularly motivated individual could keep one working using standard tech).

Moley easily avoids the aged mech's attacks and strips armor off, although not as much as our mechwarrior would like.

Siljanus stomps the Mackie's foot through the armor plating on a "mobile repair vehicle" mounting a machine gun, kicking its engine block out the other side and ensuring it's not going anywhere.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Whew." Leraje lets out a breath and wipes the sweat coming down into his eyes. "Double heat sinks my ass." It seems that firing all the Black Knight's long range weapons overcomes even the double heat sinks' capabilities.

The Star Guards take some damage - their Warrior helicopter, which has been buzzing around and spotting turrets (including picking one off the roof of a building with its autocannon) takes an armor breach and pulls out, while their Drillson hovertank is immobilized by the hostile Warrior that managed to avoid Zenn7's PPCs earlier.

Siljanus brings down a combo rocket launcher and PPC turret with PPC fire, reducing the amount of charged particles coming our way, while stomping a couple of infantry that clamber out of the disabled "mobile repair vehicle", and setting their cover on fire with one of the Mackie's lasers.

The liaison's Enforcer and Moley's Thunderbolt continue engaging the Ymir BWP, with mixed success - they inflict some armor damage but fail to cause any armor breaches (and in fact have trouble hitting the unexpectedly nimble 90-ton mech). Multiple kicks, however, cause the assault mech to trip and fall over.

LordMortis engages an approaching Phoenix Hawk, nailing it with the gauss rifle and SRMs. Its armor holds, but just barely.

Zenn7 rolls his eyes as an ultra-light security mech tries to get past him, carrying a couple of crates. The Awesome absorbs the incoming fire, then both him and LordMortis simultaneously extend their 80 ton mech legs, destroying both of the Peacekeeper's legs. It flops to the ground, out of action.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 is feeling a little swarmed as four mechs move up to engage him and LordMortis. Our Awesome lets loose with its PPCs, bringing the cockpit heat way up, but basically taking out a Jenner - one of the 35-ton mech's legs melts to slag while the right-side laser mount is scrapped as well. Then it blows up when it hits the ground.

LordMortis continues engaging the Phoenix Hawk, embedding a gauss slug within its left torso and taking out two jump jets with SRMs. The return fire is ineffective against the Victor's armor, and when the two mechs engage in melee, the Phoenix Hawk winds up on the ground, missing its left arm, and most of the damaged left torso.

To the east, Xwraith uses the Catapult's LRMs to take out another LRM turret, while Leraje makes use of the Black Knight's small lasers to blow up what appears to be several tons of MG ammo below a turret.

Moley and the liaison continue engaging the Ymir, our liaison managing to stay behind it and blast through the rear armor, damaging the engine shielding as Moley's Thunderbolt absorbs multiple SRMs. The 90-tonner is unable to maintain balance, just having got up, and keels over again. Moley stomps the head in, putting an end to that fight.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

LordMortis does what LordMortis does best, which is jump into a crowd of hostile units and start whaling away. A Trebuchet eats a gauss rifle to its left arm, blowing off the hand, while a Scimitar hovertank is disabled by a combiation of SRMs and lasers. A Spider tries to get in behind LordMortis, but the building it lands on winds up not being strong enough to hold its weight. Especially after Siljanus puts a PPC shot and a gauss slug into said building.

Zenn7 backs up a little, plowing two PPC shots into another Scimitar, which causes the hovertank to dip into the water it was zipping over and sink. The Dervish in front of him and the Firestarter behind him fail to inflict anything other than armor damage, while the Dervish's right leg just about gives out after receiving 80 tons of boot.

To the east, Leraje has an Assassin jump in to try to harass the Black Knight, but the pulse lasers do a number on the 40-tonner, stripping off armor and, in combination with the medium laser array, forcing it to a knee.

Xwraith is forced to stop shooting LRMs at turrets as a Phoenix Hawk moves into engage our Catapult, the two mechs exchanging laser fire.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The Assassin gets away from Leraje momentarily as Wolf ignores a glancing PPC blast to move south and back up Xwraith, who's having to engage a Panther and an extra Hunter support tank in addition to the Phoenix Hawk. Beta-Hunter's Grasshopper reports destroying a PPC and a dual flamer turret, in addition to the Manticore he apparently bagged a little while ago.

The remaining Star Guards hovercraft report disabling an APC that snuck past us through the woods. Good job, guys!

Siljanus stops cold a ScavengerMech trying to get out with a bunch of cargo as well.

LordMortis' "duel" with the Trebuchet comes to an end when the much lighter mech's left arm comes off, along with multiple SRM-induced torso armor breaches. Our mechwarrior celebrates the other mech's withdrawal by kicking a J. Edgar hovertank into a nearby lake.

Zenn7's "duel" with the Dervish and Firestarter ends badly for the Dervish, which loses one of its legs to a combination of small laser fire from the Awesome's seemingly superfluous head-mounted laser and a kick.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

LordMortis hops over a small lake, letting the Victor's armaments loose into a Spider. A gauss slug takes out the light mech's leg while lasers and SRMs collapse the structure it "landed" on. The Victor heats up, but that's ok, he'll just hold some weapons off to cool down.

Zenn7 has had enough of the stupid Firestarter plinking away and causing his heat to go up, so a pair of PPC shots go into the 35-tonner's leg for an armor breach. The lighter unit stays upright, but it'll be a lot harder to hop around with busted actuators. Still, Zenn7's left leg armor is looking a little thin.

Xwraith's Catapult loses all armor on the left leg as well to attacks form the Phoenix Hawk and Panther, but the mech stays together for now.

Beta-Hunter's Grasshopper reports disabling a Wolverine to the north.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's Dervish buddy manages to struggle to its remaining leg and let loose short range weapons at the Awesome. As SRMs and lasers score the armor, Zenn7 returns fire with two of the Awesome's PPCs, detonating the smaller mech's LRM ammo bin.

To the east, Leraje's Black Knight is engaged by a Panther which pings SRMs off the mostly pristine mech's armor. Several large lasers from a turret to the south leave scorch marks as well, but Leraje is undeterred, blasting away with the Black Knight's impressive laser array, the armor loss dropping the Panther to the ground, where our 75-tonner stomps on the center torso, nearly crushing the engine. Our Grasshopper finishes with the Wolverine and jumps south to help with the Assassin, which loses a leg.

"Xwraith, break north, I'm in the lake." Wolf calls out. Our Catapult does as asked, allowing the firepower of a Warhammer to be added to the brawl between him and the two hostile mechs. The Panther takes a lot of damage from the Warhammer's short-range guns and falls over.

LordMortis and Moley each bag a Vedette.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's Firestarter buddy just doesn't give up, continuing to ping MG rounds off the Awesome's armor and heating it up with flamer shots, forcing our mechwarrior to drop down to two PPCs to keep up with the rising heat. However, the Firestarter's internal structure just can't take the continued PPC pounding and the light mech simply falls apart. A Panther that joins the party surprises Zenn7, however, cracking the Awesome's left hip.

Siljanus eats a substantial number of SRMs from a "field repair unit", including a head shot, but the Mackie's armor holds up and the vehicle winds up wrecked after a couple of solid PPC shots and a gauss slug.

LordMortis takes a good amount of damage from the nearby triple large laser turret and Panther, but returns the favor to the lighter mech, cracking its left leg.

Wolf continues working on the Panther that was previously attacking Xwraith, the lighter mech unable to get away before losing most of its right half to the Warhammer's short-range weapons and a solid boot.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

The liaison takes out another APC that managed to sneak past Siljanus' Mackie while our mechwarrior was busy shaking off the headshot.

LordMortis continues engaging the legged Panther which has decided against giving up for now. Avoiding an AC/20 shot from a nearby Hetzer, our mechwarrior releases enough lasers and SRMs into the enemy mech to detonate its ammo bin.

Zenn7's last remaining opponent in the area (plus a Griffin skulking around popping off PPC shots) is a Panther, which is unable to land any meaningful hits despite having a hip-damaged Awesome to shoot at. The same can't be said for our mechwarrior, who says "screw it, I'm not going anywhere anyway" and lets rip with all three PPCs, nailing the lighter mech repeatedly until most of its left side melts off.

Wolf's next target is the Phoenix Hawk which gave Xwraith a hard time. No particular damage stands out, but the lighter mech winds up on the ground, so it'll have trouble jump jetting away from its upcoming fate.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's Awesome creaks as if tired, with a small pile of destroyed mechs and vehicles all around, but the fight isn't over yet, as here comes the Griffin. Zenn7's left leg nearly comes off - any more damage, or a strong wind, and it will come off.

Wolf's Phoenix Hawk opponent backs up and slashes armor off the Warhammer with its lasers, but takes an SRM to the left leg, which blows out a pair of actuators. The enemy mech remains upright, but it's basically hosed now - jumping is risky because it's harder to land upright with leg actuator damage, while said damage prevents it from reaching to speeds on the ground. To add insult to injury, Xwraith sets the surrounding woods on fire, increasing the unfortunate mech's heat level even further.

Leraje and the Grasshopper take out a Vedette and a Hetzer respectively, while Moley makes a long-range shot to collapse the building housing the triple large laser turret that's been picking at our Black Knight.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 somehow manages to twist his mech so that the damaged leg isn't exposed to the Griffin.

To the east, Wolf's Phoenix Hawk target backs up out of the fire and smoke, losing one of its arms to weapons fire from the Warhammer. We take out another couple of turrets while Siljanus squashes a Scorpion tank, at which point the remaining hostile mobiles (all seven of them) retreat.

We prevented the theft of supplies, but the facility is pretty heavily damaged. The Star Guards' units didn't take *too* much damage, just some armor loss and minor motive damage, while, of our units, only Zenn7's Awesome is really beat up in any way, and will require a leg replacement.

As the enemy Griffin bounds away, our mechwarrior lets out a sigh of relief and slowly turns his mech around to admire his handiwork. Five mech kills is not too shabby, even if one of them was a little piece of crap fifteen ton security mech.

"Thanks for bailing me out." Xwraith tells Wolf. "That Phoenix Hawk and Panther had my number."

Wolf smirks. "Too bad they didn't get mine."

---

Afterwards, our liaison shakes his head disapprovingly. "We'll be asking some of these prisoners who they are and why they felt the need to destroy multiple buildings in a strategically important facility."

Scrub raises an eyebrow. "Are we going to have to... "

"No, we'll just pay it out of the value of the salvage you people are handing over to us anyway." The liaison smirks.

---

During the downtime over the course of the rest of the month, we finally resolve the legal action against us regarding damage to buildings inflicted as part of an operation we carried out several months ago. After extensive review of battle ROMs and testimony, the court concludes that we're only responsible for 1M C-Bills' worth of damage, rather than the 4.8M the city was claiming (the hostile combatants are found to be responsible for another 2 mil, while the guy who was operating the Sniper turret is singlehandedly responsible for 1.8M C-Bills worth of damage, which is surprisingly little considering he was firing artillery in an urban population center). Our share is mostly from damage resulting from missed weapons fire and the one helicopter that crashed and blew up.

---

An interesting opportunity comes up on the mech market. A Blackjack BJ-3. We've had a few Blackjacks in our company in the past - it's a 45-ton design, dating back to the Star League. Armor is ok for a 45-tonner, but the twin AC/2s of the standard BJ-1 design are questionable. However, the four lasers are pretty solid, making it the equivalent of a Vulcan VL-5T (like the one Akalon drives) in firepower, if not speed. The BJ-3 is a Helm Core upgrade - double heat sinks, and the AC/2s are replaced with PPCs. Firing all weapons will still overwhelm the heat sink capability, but our mechwarriors are no strangers to bracket fire. Jump jets ensure the mech isn't going to get stuck anywhere it doesn't want to be. It's a little lighter than what we usually field, but a very solid-looking design.

Two mechwarriors express an interest in swapping out their current ride.

Xwraith currently drives a Catapult and is part of Beta-Hunter lance. His movement profile would remain the same, armor would be reduced slightly, while effective firepower goes up a little (although we do lose indirect-fire capability).

Paingod currently drives a Merlin and is part of Alpha-Urban lance. Movement profile would remain the same, armor would be reduced slightly. Effective firepower definitely goes up - the Merlin is a grab bag of "every possible weapon type" - it's got a PPC, an LRM/5 launcher, two lasers, a flamer and an MG. Only thing it's missing is a light autocannon to really spice things up. Compared to the Blackjack's focused loadout, it's actually got less firepower.

We could also just buy it anyway, since it's not that expensive at 2.3M C-Bills, or we could pass. Given that Captain Dan was on the up and up last time, we're ok with buying from him again.

[] Blackjack BJ-3 for Xwraith
[] Blackjack BJ-3 for Paingod
[] Just buy it anyway, in case
[] Pass

----

Some mechwarrior upgrade choices (whew, I let this one go a bit. As usual, subject to individual override)
Isgrimnur:
[] Tactics - deploy more landmines/infantry when possible, better control over battlefield conditions
[] Strategy - faster reinforcement arrival times
[] Leadership - lance can field more auxiliary units

El Guapo
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership

Fury
[] Piloting from 3 to 2
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (useful for the LRMs in the Grand Dragon)

Moley
[] Piloting form 3 to 2
[] Random special ability

Akalon
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (only really applies to the MG for the Vulcan but...)
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership
[] Random special ability

Wolf
[] Piloting form 4 to 3
[] Save up XP for later

Madmarcus
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership

[Isgrimnur]

Leadership, please.

[Zenn7]

[] Blackjack BJ-3 for Xwraith
[x] Blackjack BJ-3 for Paingod
[] Just buy it anyway, in case
[] Pass

----

Some mechwarrior upgrade choices (whew, I let this one go a bit. As usual, subject to individual override)
Isgrimnur:
[] Tactics - deploy more landmines/infantry when possible, better control over battlefield conditions
[] Strategy - faster reinforcement arrival times
[x] Leadership - lance can field more auxiliary units

El Guapo
[x] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership

Fury
[x] Piloting from 3 to 2
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (useful for the LRMs in the Grand Dragon)

Moley
[x] Piloting form 3 to 2
[] Random special ability

Akalon
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (only really applies to the MG for the Vulcan but...)
[] Tactics
[x] Strategy
[] Leadership
[] Random special ability

Wolf
[x] Piloting form 4 to 3
[] Save up XP for later

Madmarcus
[] Tactics
[x] Strategy
[] Leadership

Mixing up the specials a little, seems like a decent/appropriate mix.

[El Guapo]

But everyone recognizes my natural leadership ability!

[Zenn7]

But everyone recognizes my natural leadership ability!

You'd make a terrible leader. Too busy listening to the voices in your head singing your praises.

Besides, if you can control battlefield conditions more, maybe you'll be able to arrange a good fight to deploy your blimp brigade too!

[Leraje]

[] Blackjack BJ-3 for Xwraith
[x] Blackjack BJ-3 for Paingod
[] Just buy it anyway, in case
[] Pass

----

Some mechwarrior upgrade choices (whew, I let this one go a bit. As usual, subject to individual override)
Isgrimnur:
[] Tactics - deploy more landmines/infantry when possible, better control over battlefield conditions
[x] Strategy - faster reinforcement arrival times
[] Leadership - lance can field more auxiliary units

El Guapo
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership
[x] Tech: LTA Craft

Fury
[x] Piloting from 3 to 2
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (useful for the LRMs in the Grand Dragon)

Moley
[x] Piloting form 3 to 2
[] Random special ability

Akalon
[] Remove -2 penalty for shooting non-energy weapons (only really applies to the MG for the Vulcan but...)
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership
[x] Random special ability

Wolf
[x] Piloting form 4 to 3
[] Save up XP for later

Madmarcus
[x] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership

[Zenn7]

El Guapo
[] Tactics
[] Strategy
[] Leadership
[x] Tech: LTA Craft

Excellent. Now for Nick to figure out how that works.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Blackjack for Paingod - almost unanimous

Paingod looks at the new mech as it arrives a week later. "I like it." the mechwarrior states simply.

The Merlin is moved to our "spare mech" lance and given to a dispossessed mechwarrior.

Things are pretty quiet until march, which is when a few things happen. First, we start seeing a flood of refugees heading south from the edge of the periphery. Worlds across northern Lyran and Rasalhague space appear to be sending out distress calls and then blacking out. The news and refugee reports are inconclusive but indicate a rapidly attacking invading force equipped with tech that's a little hard to believe (hundred ton mechs that never overheat? Lasers that shoot out as far as LRMs and never miss? Jumpships that fly in to the planet from the jump point? Bullshit.)

Spoiler:

Second, us and the Star Guards are placed on high alert when a particularly enterprising group of "refugees" emerges from a pirate point and declares that they will be re-establishing their kingdom on Zoetermeer and/or some neighboring worlds as soon as they've conducted sufficient looting and taken enough slaves. Their dropships land in the hinterlands within a couple of days march of our contract-defined defense zones, and they move to seize a corporate-controlled data center.

Our liaison requests that we conduct a recon of the facility to see what exactly these would-be royalty are taking, and what they've got there for forces. According to the corporate rep for the Koertig Energy (Generation and Projection) Corporation, among other things, they keep their cargo manifests and planetary/offworld shipping schedules there, so, if allowed to remain at the facility too long, KEGPC will take a major financial hit *and* won't be able to make its energy weapon component shipping targets for their FedCom military supply contracts. "Waah waah we'll have to re-schedule all our deliveries and our other facilities may get raided once the pirates figure out where we're keeping our lasers and our execs won't be able to buy an extra space yacht." Is basically the summary we get.

Well, we don't really care, but the concept of having pirates running around raiding facilities we're supposed to defend doesn't really smile upon us, so a few individuals in the command staff suggest bringing in a stronger force and letting them at the pirates either after conducting the initial recon of the facility or even as we're doing it to save time.

[] Recon only - deal with the pirates later
[] Recon first, stronger attack after as necessary
[] Recon and attack simultaneously (with very slight delay for the heavier force just in case)

[Isgrimnur]

[] Recon and attack simultaneously

No point wasting time