Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Mechwarrior override: Pvt. Nara "AWS (Mk II)" Cutillar

Report to Earthwerks: 0+3
Investigate ourselves: 1+4

September 5, 3041
Overlords staging area
Asuncion

Scrub runs her hand through her hair, shaking her head in disbelief, then looking over at Pvt. Cutillar. The captain is sitting in her chair, with a somewhat bemused look, while the private is standing up ramrod straight.

"I'm sorry, could you run that by me again? And have a seat."

"Thanks, ma'am." the private replies. "Yeah, so me and the guys..."

"Privates Mavroudis and Dvorak?"

"... yeah, me and Nick and Clint had a chat with the tankers we captured. Got a whole load of ranting about the 'uprising of the general proletariat against the corrupt capitalist-feudalist ruling class' and not much info." the private rolls her eyes. "So, we decided to do a little digging on our own. We uh, may have acquired a couple of radios with militia transponder codes, because they do authenticate..."

"Let's skip the technical details, private." Scrub reminds her.

"Right, so we called in an attack alert, 'cause the depot employees evacuated last time they had one, and got into the building. Nick's pretty good at compromising the LS-series of electronic locks...."

"Go on..." Scrub prods with a slight smirk.

"Right, so turns out one of the maintenance guys in the depot, uh, left his machine unsecured, which is great because the depot is air-gapped, so we were able to access their shipping logs by escalating privilege..."

Scrub sighs, raising an eyebrow.

"So anyway, the data's all on this disk, but it looks like the personnel in that Maxim altered the shipping manifests for the next batch of Fleas going out to the Wolf's Dragoons, and they're going out to Pollux over in the Terran Corridor instead. Scrambled all the security camera footage too, just in case they got any."

Scrub gently places her hand on her forehead, sliding it down in exasperation.

"So let's see if I got this right. You stole equipment from our employer, called in a fake attack to get a supply depot evacuated, then broke and entered into said supply depot and compromised our employer's information network. Thus, discovering that a shipment of what is possibly the crappiest battlemech in existence (and I should know, I've driven one) is going to be misdirected. And probably getting some poor warehouse worker thrown in jail as a byproduct."

The private nods. "Well, it doesn't sound that great when you put it like that, ma'am."

Scrub chuckles. "I don't really want to discourage individual initiative, so don't worry about it. But let me ask you this: if I were to go to our employer with all this information, what do you think they'd do? Audit their information network and fix the problem? Or ding us for a contract breach."

"Uh..."

"Pretend you're cynical."

Nara thinks for a second. "The latter."

"So, I just want you to keep in mind the risk-reward ratio next time you decide to break into one of our employers' facilities for a little detective work." Scrub says with a smirk.

The private chuckles. "Yes ma'am. Too bad we don't have any of that Star League stealth powered armor, then we could have just gone in at night without calling an alert in."

"Geez, Private, you sound just like AWS." Scrub replies.

And that's how the private picked up a new nickname.

In the end, Scrub elects to simply advise Earthwerks that their depot facility was breached briefly by hostile infantry and that they should double check their inventory and information networks, and maybe check the supports for explosives. The Earthwerks representative, our favorite dumpy balding corporate big-wig with a combover and a cheap suit, says that they'll take it under advisement. Which is basically corporate speak for "mind your own business".

Scrub shrugs. At the end of the day, Fleas? Who cares.
-------------------------

August 28, 3041
Oyevaina

"Wow, what a shithole." Remarks Pvt. Tom Chagares as Delta company's Sweep lance makes their survey of one of our potential new homeworlds.

"Stow it and continue your sweep, mechwarrior." Lt. JG Zofia Kubo replies.

"My bad, Lt. Cujo." the private replies with a snicker.

The lieutenant grits her teeth at the practical demonstration of "you don't get to pick your own nickname". Ever since that god-damned Lyran liaison mis-pronounced her name...

Still, the private's got one thing right. The planet is a pretty awful place to live.

Oyevaina survey completed. It's the first planet in orbit around a main-sequence G8 star (yellow, a little smaller than Sol), only about .35 astronomical units away, and it shows. First the good news - the air is breathable. It's not pleasant, but you can go outside, take a couple of breaths and probably won't die.

We also, locate the remarkably well-preserved remains of a mostly-underground colony, including a manufacturing center, like we were expecting based on our examination of the jumpship's navigational charts. All of this is pretty good, as it will cut down on the costs of any construction we'll have to do. We even find an abandoned HPG complex (you can tell because of the very distinct antennae/dishes, warning signs and the malfunctioning automated defenses that blast away at anyone or anything approaching). Plus, there are probably plenty of local mineral resources.

There are a couple of problems though. First, there's the wonderful combination of an average equatorial temperature of 317 degrees kelvin and high atmospheric pressure. So basically, the lowlands are no-go zones. It's also not much cooler at the poles. Or on the high ground. Or anywhere outside in general.

Second, there's literally zero surface water. All the water is way underground.

Depending on your perspective, the .78 standard gravity is either a blessing or a curse, but what's definitely not a blessing is the 25-day rotation period. Actually, it doesn't matter too much, as the atmosphere retains heat remarkably well, but at least you're not getting sunburnt on the night side. Not that you'd want to spend too much time outside anyway.

The other worlds in the system don't have too much to recommend them - an asteroid belt way on the outside, a bunch of mercury-sized rocks, a pair of gas giants - one in the second orbit with two moons (that we notice) and one in an outer orbit, and a couple of frozen rocky worlds with wonderfully unbreathable atmospheres - one with a great mix of methane and carbon dioxide (a couple of the aerospace jocks dub it "Fart World"), the other with nitrogen, ammonia and chlorine.

We'll stick a pin into it for now until we survey a few more places.

-------------------------
August 31, 3041
Eom

The Free Worlds League mercs stage an attack on another Capellan depot. As they make their approach, their forces (a short heavy mech lance and a light tank lance) are intercepted by a reinforced tank company and a single Hermes-class mech. Not wanting to get bogged down or beat-up too much, they call for air support. We load up Alpha Strike squadron with cluster bombs and send them in.

It's a confusing night fight around a small storage depot. By the time our aircraft get there, the two forces are already engaged.

"Alpha-Strike, split up and make your bombing runs. Watch the friendly fire." orders Ensign Schumann.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our flight leader's sensors show a group of Capellan tanks clustered around some woods, firing at one of our allied mechs. A tight tank formation is great when you're just fighting ground units, as the tanks can easily cover each other, making it hard to isolate them and pick them off. Unfortunately for them, it also makes them easy prey for artillery attacks, or, in this case, cluster bombs. The Shilone screams as it dives, the cluster bombs sliding off the racks and splitting up. The effect is pretty nasty - two of the heaviest Capellan tanks are disabled with tread and engine damage, alongside a Hetzer, whose wheels pop off when bomblets impact nearby. A couple of PPC shots fly upwards, but nothing hits.

Alpha-Strike's Corsair drops bombs as well, although his bombs aren't nearly as effective, only taking out a single Scimitar - the other targets see the bombing run coming and get out of the way.

A single fire blazes around the allied Warhammer as the enemy Hermes lights it up with the flamer, then uses the improved lighting to give it a good kick to the right arm from above.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The guy in the Corsair pushes the stick to the right and forward, rotating upside down then looping to change direction, giving him a chance to strafe the Hetzer.

Strike Three, flying another Shilone comes in for a bombing run, getting in a quick burst of weapons fire on a Vedette. Neither attack breaches armor, and the firing down below is pretty ineffective as well, although the Capellan Hermes gets lit up by a couple of lasers setting fire to the surrounding woods.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Strike Two's Corsair takes a bunch of LRMs, which knocks out a heat sink, but his attack run provides a good distraction for Strike Three's bombing run, which is pretty effective, disabling three hovercraft.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Our Corsair gets revenge on the Bulldog, blasting through its left side with lasers. He had to hold a few more lasers due to the missing heat sink (overheating for an aircraft can be quite deadly in atmosphere - a mech just slows down, but an aerospace fighter might just decide to rub the extra heat off on the ground instead), but it's still enough.

Round 5:
[data feed damaged]
Our flight leader goes for a strafing run on a Liao Vedette, but the enemy tank is blown apart by the allied Demolisher's twin assault autocannons.

The Corsair takes an engine hit from some LRMs fired from a hovercraft, causing our aircraft to start rattling, but the fight goes out of the rest of the Liao forces at this point and the ones that can, retreat.

"Hell, we should do all our air strikes at night, those guys couldn't hit jack!" Strike three calls out.

"Speak for yourself." Strike two replies, white-knuckling the control stick as his Corsair rumbles all the way back to base.

In addition to whatever they got from the depot, the mercs come out of this pretty good, scoring themselves two heavy tanks (a Brutus and a Manticore), plus a couple of light hovertanks. Once they get back to our staging area, we'd normally argue over salvage, since our bombs and lasers got most of those kills, but we'll have an opportunity to engage some of those assault mechs we missed in our last fight with them, as one of our lances on patrol detects a substantial group of hostiles advancing on our landing zone - two tank companies (mostly lights and hovercraft, but a lance of heavies as well), and two mech lances - a light and an assault lance. The Awesome and the Striker, we've seen.

We pick an interception point in some fairly dense woods along their march route, and will stage an attack overnight before they get to our LZ, calling for backup. There's a lot of bad guys out there, so we'll definitely need it.

Pretty straightforward decision this time: which lance gets the first crack at the opposition, and which lance gets to spend half the battle blundering through dense woods in pitch blackness hoping not to crunch their mechs too hard?

Alpha-Command has the Marauder and Awesome for heavy duty firepower, while the Catapult and Hatchetman will maneuver and flank. If chosen as the backup lance, they'll be able to get to the fight a little quicker once it starts.

Beta-Assault has two Awesomes for heavy duty firepower, a Thunderbolt and a Victor for maneuver and flank. If chosen as the backup lance, the Awesomes will take forever to get anywhere.

[] Alpha-Command to the front, Beta-Assault to the back.
[] Beta-Assault to the front, Alpha-Command to the back.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm a Hatchetman, not a Lumberjack.

[Zenn7]

I'm a Hatchetman, not a Lumberjack.

Sorry Lumberman, but we will maximize our firepower by getting all of our units into the fight before it is over with. Starting w/ Beta and having Alpha join in makes much more sense.

[Isgrimnur]

[gbasden]

[El Guapo]

[LordMortis]

Are you OK?

[Isgrimnur]

We’re all fine here now. How are you?

[LordMortis]

We’re all fine here now. How are you?

/was tempted to post a stormtrooper in bra but did not want to turn this thread in to NSFW

[NickAragua]

"Who is this? What is your identification number?"

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Pretty unanimous, except for certain grumbling individuals eager to get into the action, Alpha Command is in the back.

September 2, 3041
Landing zone southern approach

"It was a dark and stormy night, with the children tucked in tight..." LordMortis gets about ten seconds into his poetry reading before being told to clear the comms.

That being said, it is, in fact, pitch black and raining (not enough to turn everything into mud, just enough to be obnoxious). Alpha-Command's ETA is about 80 seconds. Until then, Beta-Assault is on their own.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Beta-Assault is camped out in the woods, waiting for the Capellan force to move in to range.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

A lance of lighter Capellan mechs moves up to "beat the bush" and see what falls out. LordMortis gets a little excited and opens fire, missing with the two lasers but displaying unexpectedly good judgement in deciding to conserve AC/20 ammo.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Wasps try to bypass our Victor, but LordMortis isn't having any of it. The Wasp avoids an AC/20 burst, but takes two laser blasts to the right side, and then over comes the boot, timed to hit just as the bug mech lands. Basically its entire right side comes off. At that point, whether voluntarily or not, the mech powers down.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The second Wasp does a little bit better, pinging a single SRM off Zarathud's armor and avoiding the tracking of the deadly PPCs. He gets a little greedy though and tries to kick the Awesome as well, which... well, when a 20-ton bug mech tries to kick an 80-ton behemoth, there's a certain way to do it, and that wasn't it. The Wasp winds up on the ground.

The Griffin to the east avoids the laser fire from Moley's Thunderbolt and sends a couple of LRMs at Zarathud as well. The enemy Vindicator manages to weave out of the way of LordMortis' AC/20 burst, only taking a couple of lasers, and its right leg armor just barely manages to absorb the impact from the Victor's foot.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Wasp that tried to kick Zarathud gets up and sprints off, only losing an arm as our Awesome swings the right PPC around back and gives it a quick zap.

The Vindicator takes a shot from Zenn7's PPC but avoids all of LordMortis' fire and physical attacks as our mechwarrior is slightly distracted by a non-zero amount of laser blasts and such coming in from the main Capellan force. They don't hit, but all the buzzing really ruins one's concentration.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

That Vindicator's right leg is about to come off - Zarathud blasts it with a PPC shot as it jumps by, although Moley fails to capitalize and misses.

LordMortis is slightly distracted by a headshot but still manages to blast through the nearby Vedette's armor, plastering it with AC/20 rounds and laser shots. The tank's crew begins a rapid retreat, but our mechwarrior has already moved on to other targets.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

LordMortis hops back a bit to cool off and shake the ringing from his head, while Zenn7 moves forward, engaging the bulk of the incoming Capellan units. A couple of PPCs damage but don't destroy a Bulldog tank.

To the north, Zarathud and Moley dismember the poor Vindicator as it tries to escape - Zarathud mostly just finishes off its armor (while heating the Awesome up quite a bit), then Moley takes the right arm and right leg off, the smaller mech spraying heat sink fluid as it tilts over and hits the ground.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

So, the Griffin and the Wasp back there think they've gotten past our lines, but what they don't realize is that Alpha-Command has finally arrived. Unfortunately for us, Alpha-Command has trouble hitting the two mechs.

The Capellan assault mechs close in to range and the night lights up like a disco show, PPCs and various-colored lasers flashing enough lights to cause an epileptic seizure. The amount of missed shots is crazy, even given the difficulty in shooting during night time with a disco party going on. At least Zenn7 scores three PPC hits on the Striker, knocking it over.

LordMortis, frustrated at taking a laser shot while not being able to hit anything, kicks a Bulldog tank over. The on-board ammo detonates, and it's a lot of ammo. Three tons of LRMs, two tons of SRMs and, to add insult to injury, a half-ton of machine gun ammo. The vehicle, and the surrounding woods, disappear in a bright flash.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

The main group of Capellans continues pushing through. Zenn7 steps back and lets his mech cool down, blasting the armor off a Vedette with a conservative two PPCs. He takes a large laser and a couple of SRMs from the nearby Ostroc, but armor holds. Zarathud blasts a different Vedette, this one mounting several lasers instead of the usual autocannon. LordMortis isolates a Hunter support tank, taking out its engine with a salvo of SRMs from the right side, while Moley stomps a Predator tank destroyer flat (a "classic" design similar to a Hetzer, basically an AC/20 on wheels). Our mechs take a few light autocannon dings in return, but nothing serious.

To the north, Alpha-Command recovers from their initial surprise, and El Guapo tracks the Wasp as it tries to bypass Gbasden. Our Awesome misses its PPC shots, but the Marauder's gauss rifle blows through the bug mech's left torso, leaving it armless.

Isgrimnur tracks the Griffin's flight and zaps it with a laser, avoiding its PPC blast, then swings the hatchet as it lands. The left leg holds, but one of the actuators snaps and the 55-tonner goes down.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur fires up the jump jets, hopping off, thinking the Griffin down, but the sonofabitch was just playing possum. He manages to avoid most of our weapons fire, except for a single PPC from Gbasden which melts some armor but does little else.

Zarathud engages the nearby Ostroc, scoring a headshot and stripping armor off the left arm while absorbing some armor damage. Moley's attacks wobble the Ostroc a little but it remains standing, even after Zarathud bursts a leg heat sink with a boot. Zarathud's left leg armor starts flashing warnings as well.

LordMortis disables a stray Vedette, raking the autocannon along its treads to make sure it doesn't move any more, while Zenn7 fires at the nearby Orion, hitting with all three PPCs and knocking the Capellan heavy to the ground.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

The Griffin *almost* manages to get clear, but its jump hits the damaged leg hard and it falls over again. Stefan follows it, intending to make sure of the kill this time.

"Back for some more, eh?" Zenn7 remarks as he watches the downed Striker get up, then pumps it full of PPCs. Its counterattack goes wide, but heat alarms blare from the cockpit and the Awesome rocks as the nearby Orion unloads short-range weapons, blasting away armor chunks.

Zarathud targets an LRM Carrier in the distance, blowing it away with a PPC salvo, better to not have sixty LRMs bearing down on us. Moley treats the second LRM Carrier similarly, taking apart its motive systems with lasers. The nearby Awesome takes exception to that, backhanding the Thunderbolt, scraping a large amount of armor off the right arm.

LordMortis follows the Ostroc as it gets past our Awesomes, firing an AC/20 burst center-of-mass. Armor buckles under the onslaught, as does the ammo bin storing SRMs. Our mechwarrior offers a silent cringe as the ejection seat rockets out at an odd angle and clips a tree, then stomps the nearby Vedette into scrap for good measure.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Stefan rolls his eyes as he watches the Griffin try to get up, but snap its leg off.

The main battle continues apace, with Zenn7 switching targets to the Orion while Zarathud works on the Striker instead. The Striker's damaged right arm comes off under PPC fire, while a second PPC dings the head. LordMortis adds his AC/20s firepower against the Orion, blasting armor off the both side torso sections and knocking it over before hopping over and stomping through the front of another Vedette.

With no screening units left, the remainder of the enemy units retreats - the two assaults and (as we figure out later from battle ROM analysis), a batch of hovercraft from the south east. The Orion doesn't make it after eating an three PPCs across the front plus an AC/20 burst in the back, it simply gives up the ghost.

As the Capellans retreat, Zenn7's mech quits pulsating, as the heat sinks work quickly to dissipate the built-up heat. Alpha Command didn't get to do too much shooting, but without their interference, that Wasp and Griffin would have made it past our line and ... well, probably just carried out a bunch of recon. As it is, the Griffin is now on the back of one of our salvage trucks while the Wasp is somewhere out in the wilderness, missing a pair of arms and half its torso.

Pvt. Ratan "LordMortis" Suryanarayama was an unholy terror this battle, accounting for three mechs and five tanks. The Victor excels in this kind of up-close, no line of sight combat.

While our tech crews patch up the mostly minor armor damage, our command staff meets up with the FWL mercs to discuss the current status of the operation. The mercs inform us that they still have two more facilities that they need to raid, but they're not entirely sure where said facilities are. Thus, they ask us to deploy our forces to locate these facilities. They assure us (and our own perimeter patrols tend to confirm) that the Capellans have been beaten up pretty badly and probably won't be carrying out any offensive operations, so "the more people you've got searching, the faster this will go."

"What about getting your guys on the job?" One of our mechwarriors asks.

"We're still a little beat up - you identify the facilities, and then we'll send our guys in to take a closer look."

That being said, we may consider holding one or two lances back just in case some of our guys run into trouble they can't handle (or in case the Capellans do decide to hit our dropships). Deploying our aircraft will also give us a better idea of any facilities in the search area. We subdivide the search area into sectors such that each sector can be exhaustively searched by a single mech lance over the course of a week. There are nineteen such sectors, and we have a total of six lances available. The contract pays us for five months, so we have plenty of time to search. But, as the FWL guys say, the more forces we've got out searching, the quicker we find what we're looking for and get out of here.

How many lances/flights do we deploy?
[] 7. Maximum search intensity. One lance remains for garrison duty, no backup in case of trouble. Done in three weeks.
[] 5. Medium search intensity. Three lances available for backup/garrison duty. Done in four weeks.
[] 4. Low search intensity. Four lances/flights available for backup/garrison duty. Done in five weeks.

[LordMortis]

unexpectedly good judgement

I'd like to claim that is my moniker, but it's such a rare occurrence the unexpected is earned.

[Isgrimnur]

"It was a dark and stormy night”

Suddenly, a shot rang out.

[LordMortis]

It was the start of the revolution

Take your powder
Take your gun
Report to General Washington

[Zenn7]

How many lances/flights do we deploy?
[] 7. Maximum search intensity. One lance remains for garrison duty, no backup in case of trouble. Done in three weeks.
[] 5. Medium search intensity. Three lances available for backup/garrison duty. Done in four weeks.
[] 4. Low search intensity. Four lances/flights available for backup/garrison duty. Done in five weeks.

<PEW PEW PEW> Boring conversation, anyway.

5. Alpha Flight and Alpha 2/3, Beta 2/3 (they're faster for moving around). Keep one flight for rapid response, and heaviest units for guarding the dropship, with Alpha 1 as first responder if we need mech instead of air response (they are slightly faster than Beta 1).

[NickAragua]

Vote Results

Spoiler:

Medium search intensity - unanimous

The FWL mercs aren't too happy with us deciding on a slightly slower search pace, but get told to "deal with it". While Alpha and Beta companies carry out their search, let's check in on Gamma company.

September 8, 3041
Asuncion

Here's something you don't see every day. Kallon industries has a "highly confidential package" with an "extreme need for security" that they want to deliver from a nearby complex of theirs to Earthwerks. So they use a fast courier aircraft, flying at high altitude with heavy escort, avoiding known hot spots of rebel activity, then, just in case, make multiple decoy runs with other couriers, and limit who knows about it. This is only after they audit their information networks and make sure nobody's listening in. And they *certainly* don't transmit the request unencrypted over open frequencies.

Just kidding, they put the package in an Urbanmech and try to march it across rebel-controlled territory, asking us to provide an escort. Gamma Probe lance gets the job. Without telling anyone on our employer's side, she also has Gamma Battle lance posted near the destination. Just in case.

The "just in case" happens, and our escorts (plus the Urbie) get intercepted by some tanks, hovercraft, bug mechs and a pair of Griffins while passing by yet another minor industrial complex. Our heaviest mech there is a 60-ton Ostroc 2M (on loan from Gamma Striker lance). We'll have to either plow through or wait for Gamma Battle lance to get there.

"Industrial Complex" is actually pretty generous for a couple of small warehouses and random shacks with a single road leading to them.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Wow, it really does look like a walking trashcan, and it really is that slow." AWS remarks, pushing the comparatively lightning-fast Clint forward to near maximum speed.

Then the ordnance and energy beams start flying. A Warrior attack helicopter zips around the battlefield, plinking away at the Urbie with its AC/2. Against the mechs we usually use, that's nothing, but an AC/2 to the left torso is 25% of the armor there.

Our Phoenix Hawk takes a PPC shot to the leg from one of the Griffins, while our Ostroc blasts an LRM-firing Hetzer with one if its large lasers, melting all the right-side wheels to slag. The LRM launcher winds up pointing the wrong way, so that tank's out of it.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

AWS hops back, lighting up some woods to generate a little extra smoke. A Griffin jumps forward, blasting the Urbanmech with a PPC, which takes a large chunk of armor off the right torso. And by large chunk I mean all of it and then some. Our Ostroc moves to intercept it, tripping the 55-tonner up and causing it to wind up flat on its back. A little Stinger kicks our mech in the back of the leg, forcing it to a knee.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Our Phoenix Hawk and clint jump forward, while the Urbie pulls back. It's a pretty "target rich" environment, which proves confusing for our mechwarriors and they're unable to focus with their weapons fire enough to destroy or disable anything. Additionally, the Phoenix Hawk gets tripped up by a nearby Wasp, falling over to the left as AWS tries in vain to cover him.

On the west flank, our Vulcan blasts a Stinger pretty good, two lasers breaching the center torso section to spike the bug mech's engine heat and one laser to zap the head. The hostile Griffin manages to get up and get away to the north to regroup a little.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Keep it moving, don't get caught out in the open!" the newly-promoted Lt. Bosse reminds everyone. We do basically just that, managing to avoid all incoming fire while inflicting minor damage on a couple of tanks and bug mechs. The Vulcan even manages to strip the armor off the back of a Scorpion tank. A Wasp follows our Phoenix Hawk into the smoke and gives it a kick to the left leg, ripping the upper leg actuator. Our mech takes a knee, and is in a bit of trouble at this point.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

"We are under heavy attack." the lieutenant reports. "Battle lance, what's your ETA?"

"40-plus seconds." Scrub replies. The transmission carries the distinct sound of a mech running at full tilt.

AWS grunts as an LRM salvo from a Griffin impacts the Clint, a stray missile cracking the engine shielding. Our Ostroc maneuvers around said Griffin as it takes its shot and nearly blows off its left arm with a laser, popping a pair of actuators, then strips the armor off the left leg with a boot.

To the east, our Phoenix Hawk struggles up from the ground and breaches armor on the nearby Wasp with weapons fire, the left leg taking most of the damage. As the hostile mech goes in for a kick, our Pixie blocks it then counters, ripping the right leg open and sending the bug mech to the ground. It winds up having to take a knee as well, having overextended a little bit.

The allied Urbanmech delivers its first hit of the battle, blasting a Pegasus hovertank with the AC/10 - its armor holds up, but bits of the skirt flake off, reducing its mobility.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

We'd break south, but that Urbanmech still needs our protection - no way that little guy is going to make it past all the tanks and mechs.

Our Phoenix Hawk disentangles itself from the downed Wasp just as another bug mech comes running up. This one eats two lasers to the left side, blowing out arm actuators and a heat sink. Armor absorbs a kick, but there's not much armor left on the right leg, now, either.

AWS gets some serious sweating in as the engine shielding doesn't quite keep all the heat inside any more, and has to forego firing weapons while jumping back to the north. On the plus side, our Ostroc cuts into the nearby Griffin's left leg with its lasers, heating up quite a bit but disabling said leg, forcing the target to the ground.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Gamma company's Battle lance arrives, hopefully it's in time to relieve our somewhat beleaguered force. Although the rough terrain trips Xwraiths' Thunderbolt up a little bit, so it's going to be a little rough. AWS' Clint rattles under multiple SRM impacts from the surrounding tanks, but somehow, the armor holds up. Our mechwarrior and the Urbanmech both plant kicks on the nearby Vedette, but it just seems to laugh, even as a Stinger strips armor off the Clint's left leg. The Ostroc winds up to kick the Stinger... and, well, it's really embarrasing, but the sixty ton mech is now on its knees in the middle of a swarm of hovercraft and bug mechs. Great.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Our Vulcan 5T has been slowly grinding away at the less maneuverable units opposing it, disabling a Hetzer with several laser shots. The Griffin can't get a bead on our fast-moving mech, and neither could the adjacent Vedette. The 5T is just a great model all around - it still retains the anti-infantry firepower of the "standard" 2T, but gets rid of the useless AC/2 in favor of three additional lasers and the heat sinks to fire them all.

AWS is still unable to fire weapons, but does spot the downed Griffin leveling its PPC at our Ostroc. A quick boot crunches through the center torso armor and destroys the gyro, putting a stop to that nonsense. "And stay down." our mechwarrior remarks.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

AWS's Clint starts blaring alarms as a Stinger jumps in and removes armor from the rear right torso section and the left leg, leaving not much else there. The Ostroc makes it pay by blasting through the left torso with a large laser, taking out all three jump jets there. A Drillson zips in, blowing the Clint's left arm away with its large laser. AWS is unable to adjust for the new center of mass and the Clint keels over to the right. The Stinger just about cracks the Clint's autocannon, but then its leg breaks in half under the Ostroc's continued onslaught and it flops to the ground next to its victim.

On the plus side, the Urbanmech manages to take down a nearby Vedette with its autocannon.

The Vulcan's mechwarrior smirks as he gets in behind the Griffin, unloading lasers to strip off most of the armor. Then there's a thump from the left side and the mech wobbles and falls over. The computer reports the gyro destroyed - Hyena later explains that he even dinged the offending Vedette with a couple of pellets from his LBX autocannon, but it didn't do enough.

Round 10:
[data feed disrupted]
As Gamma Battle lance opens up (and whiffs pretty much every shot, except for a few LRMs from Cylus' Grasshopper), the Drillson that basically disabled AWS' mech moves over to work on the Urbanmech. How that thing still has any armor left is an unknown.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

"... not feeling too good." AWS reports. "Going to... uh... pull back."

"Me too!" chimes in the guy in the Urbanmech, somehow annoyingly cheerful. "I'm out of ammo!"

That Drillson moves south and engages Scrub's Warhammer, eating two PPC blasts to the nose. Our Ostroc works on the nearby Pegasus, to little effect - the hovercraft slips out of range pretty quickly.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

A Wasp jumps in to harass the Ostroc, only to have our mechwarrior step back and put a large laser blast through the back of the bug mech, "lightly brushing" both the engine and gyro. Somehow, the bug mech remains upright.

Hyena gets harassed by the nearby Warrior helicopter, the enemy unit probably assuming that he doesn't have an LBX autocannon. He does, and the chopper's rotor starts flapping around after taking multiple LBX pellets.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The Drillson sees Scrub's Warhammer charging in and the driver guns it. Into a patch of trees. Pretty hard, too, little bits of hovertank fly out.

The helicopter doesn't quite make it off the field as Hyena decides to finish it off with another burst from the LBX. His aim at the nearby Pegasus is thrown off by the SRMs coming from his target and a PPC from way down-range by the remaining Griffin, but Scrub then comes in and blasts the fans off the hovertank with a PPC. The Griffin takes a pair of lasers and a boot from the nearby Phoenix Hawk and decides it's had enough, now that it's basically facing a heavy mech lance all by itself. A pair of Vedettes and a Condor hovertank get away as well, as does a wobbly Wasp.

The remainder of the escort lance (the Ostroc and limping Phoenix Hawk, which is still faster than the Urbanmech) finish off the escort, bringing the package into Earthwerks' care. "Thanks a bunch, guys!" is the sendoff. Not wanting any more of that annoying cheeriness, our mechwarriors depart.

Our salvage crews work quickly, and we recover the legged/gyroed Griffin and a legged Stinger 3G (along with its mechwarrior). We're probably not keeping either of them, but we need the spare parts for our beat-up mechs.

The guy in the Vulcan lucks out, the techs get the gyro repaired. They also fix up the Phoenix Hawk. What they can't do is find a replacement arm for the Clint. So, off it goes into our rented warehouse until we can. Meanwhile, AWS gets hooked up with the Phoenix Hawk we salvaged and repaired some time ago.

--------------------

September 6, 3041
Eom
Designated search area

Well, it doesn't take our guys too long to find the Capellan installations we're looking for. Or, at least, a bunch of Capellan installations, we won't know if they're the ones we're looking for until we get pictures and sensor data back to our FWL merc pals. Within a few days, our patrolling aircraft note several building clusters nestled away in an area we haven't observed, which gives our mechs a good start on places to search. Three of the facilities look to be (quite heavily) guarded, and our mechs are able to move away undetected (or at least, un-engaged). Beta Fire Lance really steps into it, though. As they move in to check what looks like a supply dump within an industrial complex, they detect a lance and a half of heavy mechs powering up ahead, while other sensor blips close in all around, air and ground, including a very "bulky"-looking lance.

"Uh... what do we do?" comes the panicked transmission.

Major "Gbasden" Ashimov ponders our options. Those poor scrubs are surrounded, and we need to spring them loose. We're unlikely to be able to defeat all these forces without a more coordinated assault, so our goal is simply to get our guys out of there for now, with minimal losses preferably. We've got the two heavy/assault lances and a flight of aerospace fighters available, but we still need to leave a minimum number of units to defend our dropships. None of the other lances are in a position to respond, and the air flight we already have out just reported bingo fuel.

[] Deploy Alpha-Command. Will arrive slower, but has a lot of firepower.
[] Deploy Beta-Strike. Will arrive a lot faster, but, even with bombs, is unlikely to make a difference against a large number of mechs other than by attracting fire.

[Isgrimnur]

AWS gets hooked up with the Phoenix Hawk we salvaged and repaired some time ago.

Does anyone want to tell him?

[NickAragua]

Nah, it'll be a surprise.

[Zenn7]

Alpha command sounds like the only real option.

Now we could use some faster units... (maybe we should kept Alpha 2 back instead of Alpha command?)

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. Alpha.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Dead heat between both options. Practical tie-breaker in favor of the aircraft as it turns out Alpha-Command just isn't fast enough to get there in time to do anything.

September 9, 3041
Eom
Capellan Industrial Complex

Gbasden looks at the sensor readouts again. At this rate, even at top breakneck "ignore everything and sprint" speed, Alpha-Command won't make it there in time. But Beta-Strike will, if they burn hard and aren't too loaded down with bombs. Beta-Strike's leader briefly proposes inferno bombs as a distraction and a way to generate a nice, thick smoke screen, but the plan is quickly rejected as neither we nor our FWL merc buddies have any.

So, Beta-Strike fires up their thrusters and burns in.

"Here's the plan, Beta-Fire. Engage enemies to your southwest for forty seconds then fall back to the east. Sensors show just a couple of aircraft coming in from there, so make your way out that way. Stay clear of the northwest, you are being tailed by an assault lance." Gbasden coordinates the aircraft and beleaguered fire lance.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

A Catapult, a Crusader and a pair of Vedettes run out to engage our mechs almost immediately. Some armor damage is exchanged, with our Catapult blasting the other Catapult in the right side with lasers, a couple hitting the boxy missile launcher on the right side. A Capellan Trebuchet opens up with LRMs on our Whitworth, the missiles clustering around the head and rattling our mechwarrior a little bit.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Beta-Strike's Vindicator opens up on a Vedette as it drives out, hitting but not disabling the vehicle, then is hit by a PPC from the nearby Ostsol. Immediately after, several salvos of LRMs come screaming in from behind several buildings, and the Vindicator eats a fair number. The center torso armor is perforated, the mech's heat spikes (even worse considering it had just fired a PPC), it wobbles and falls over.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Vindicator struggles up to a knee as the Capellans turn their attention to our other mechs.

The Crusader takes several laser hits from the Vedette that continues circling around despite its treads flapping a little. The little tank absorbs a fairly substantial amount of lasers and SRMs, and the thing about the Crusader is that it can either fire the leg-mounted SRMs or stomp, not both.

The Whitworth jumps west, seeking cover near some buildings, but winds up eating two PPC blasts from the Ostsol, plus multiple LRMs from all around. Armor holds but not for long, as there's a healthy red/yellow glow from that particular readout. The alarms blare some more when the leg armor is breached by a kick from the nearby Trebuchet.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Beta-Strike's Catapult jumps north to the road to get the drop on that annoying Ostsol, but blacks out after the cockpit is blasted with SRMs by a Crusader coming down the road (for good measure, a stray SRM also goes through a weak spot in the center torso armor and cracks the engine shielding).

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Our aircraft come screaming in, as do the Capellan aircraft. This is going to be a serious furball.

"Fire-Three, pull back. I'll cover the Fire-One." The Crusader calls out. The Lieutenant's Catapult is in deep shit, with Capellans swarming all over it as it lays there with the mechwarrior blacked out. Unfortunately, our efforts to save the mech come to naught, as it's simply picked apart. Our fighters take out a pair of tanks, the Stuka manages to blow one of the PPCs off the Ostsol while the Lucifer takes out the Capellan Catapult's right-side LRM launcher, but Lt. Chandrasekhar's mech is doomed - the ammo explodes under sustained fire, sending the unconscious mechwarrior flying out in the ejection seat.

At least the Vindicator manages to get off the field.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

While our first instinct might be to pick the mechwarrior up, we'll need to be a little more careful about it, as the position is currently surrounded by a full lance of medium and heavy mechs. That and one of the Capellan mechs moves over and picks him up. To paraphrase the words of a wise man, "Mechwarriors, we are LEAVING."

The two remaining mechs retreat in ... more or less ok order, unable to really hit anything. Our aircraft do an ok job covering the retreat, with a Maxim hover transport getting disabled. It dodges most of the incoming fire, but a couple of the Lucifer's lasers find it and the fans that propel it forward, taking those out and the hovercraft out of action. Our Lightning blows an LRM rack off one of the base's turrets with an AC/20 burst, slightly reducing the incoming fire as well.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The Stuka and Lightning try to pull some fancy maneuvers to get back into the fight a little quicker, but the Stuka isn't really that maneuverable, and the aero jock loses it at the bottom of a loop, flying off the map. The Lightning makes it and lets rip with an AC/20 burst at the Crusader chasing our lance down. Having most of the armor disappear off the left torso must be a little discouraging. It takes an AC/10 burst from a Hunchback (the AC/10 variant) and one of the lasers goes out.

Our Whitworth jumps back, firing as it retreats, and blasts the armor off the nearby Harassers. While its SRMs ping harmlessly off the remaining armor, the Trebuchet to the west opens fire with its LRM launchers and disables our mech's leg, with a couple of stray LRMs pinging the head as well. The 40-tonner keels over, leaving the Crusader by itself with the Ostsol continuing to harass it.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"Fire-Three, bail out!"

"I got it, I got it *oof* *crunch*"

A misguided attempt to get up results in the destruction of the Whitworth's right arm and the mechwarrior blacking out. The mechwarrior in the Crusader sighs and pulls back. There's nothing more to be done here. Our mech clears the field after the Lucifer makes one last pass at the Catapult, knocking it to the ground, which completely crushes its right-side missile launcher.

Upon return to base, the techs pronounce the Vindicator repairable. It's actually only minor damage to the engine shielding and gyro housing. The loss of the Catapult and Whitworth stings (and their mechwarriors have no doubt been captured and are being interrogated as we speak), but we have plenty of mechs and a few mechwarriors in reserve, so reconstituting the Beta Fire Lance should be doable from reserves.

The tactical problem is pretty complicated. We have four facilities within relatively close proximity to one another that can a) deploy forces to support each other and b) we need to capture and hold. Technically, we actually only need to capture and hold the places that have the goodies that the FWL mercs want, but we don't really have a way of telling which one is which at this point.

Target Able: a mid-sized facility, housing almost two companies of light armor and hovertanks, and a medium mech lance, our recon groups also observed large numbers of ground armor and hovercraft moving in and about here. When our aircraft made a pass over this area, they reported a severe storm system forming that will "clip" this facility with its edge, causing severe rain.

Target Baker: another mid-sized facility, defended by two tank lances, a light mech lance and a heavy mech lance. Our recon groups conclude that this is a mech maintenance facility. Unlike Target Able, the storm system will pass directly over this facility and prevent anything other than mechs from operating in the area for its duration.

Target Charlie: an airbase located in broken, rough, mountainous terrain, defended by a pair of light mech lances and two light tank lances, in addition to any aircraft they may scramble - our lances couldn't get into the hangars, so no details on what's in there, but it's probably a mixture of aerospace and conventional fighters, which probably have to take off from underground hangars or using VTOL. This will only get hit by the edge of the storm system, with the expectation of a little dust blowing around.

Target Dog: The supply depot from where we just got routed. Currently defended by a reinforced light armor lance, a reinforced heavy mech lance and an assault lance. Plus four patrolling aircraft, a pair of conventional fighters and a pair of heavy ASFs were observed during our rout. While they took some damage, they were likely able to repair all of it except the one Vedette that got completely wrecked. No inclement weather expected. The other consideration here is that our two captured mechwarriors are probably still here.

We'll need to decide which of these facilities we're going to attack, and in what order. The first facilities to be attacked are likely to receive the most reinforcements, but as the Capellans commit their limited forces, subsequent bases won't receive as much help. We have Alpha and Beta companies available, but due to our recent losses we've only got six lances available (plus the two air lances which can be used as reinforcements but can't hold ground). So we've got enough forces to put two lances on each base, but that leaves our rented dropships uncovered except by the FWL mercs and some loose infantry, hovercraft and artillery trainees. Thus, we may consider not hitting some of the bases, or hitting some with a reduced force so that we still have the ability to meaningfully defend the landing zone. Attacking a base will prevent it from sending out reinforcements to subsequent fights.

Pick attack order:
[] Target Able: tank base, lots of light tanks, a few mechs, will reinforce other bases with tanks if left alone
[] Target Baker: mech base, few tanks, lots of mechs, will reinforce other bases with mechs if left alone
[] Target Charlie: air base, light opposition, will provide air support to toher bases if left alone
[] Target Dog: supply depot, heavy opposition, has our captured mechwarriors (and the beat-up Whitworth)

Pick attack intensity:
Able:
[] Full attack (2 lances)
[] Feint (1 lance)
[] Leave it

Baker:
[] Full attack (2 lances)
[] Feint (1 lance)
[] Leave it

Charlie:
[] Full attack (2 lances)
[] Feint (1 lance)
[] Leave it

Dog:
[] Full attack (2 lances)
[] Feint (1 lance)
[] Leave it

[El Guapo]

I'd say full attacks on Baker and Dog, feints on Able and Charlie.

[Zenn7]

I'd say full attacks on Baker and Dog, feints on Able and Charlie.

Agreed.

Specifically:
Alpha 3 on Able
Alpha 1/2 on Baker
Beta Air on Charlie
Beta 1/2 on Dog

Beta 3 and Alpha for base defense/reinforce if needed.

[El Guapo]

I'd say full attacks on Baker and Dog, feints on Able and Charlie.

Agreed.

Specifically:
Alpha 3 on Able
Alpha 1/2 on Baker
Beta Air on Charlie
Beta 1/2 on Dog

Beta 3 and Alpha for base defense/reinforce if needed.

[gbasden]

I'd say full attacks on Baker and Dog, feints on Able and Charlie.

Agreed.

Specifically:
Alpha 3 on Able
Alpha 1/2 on Baker
Beta Air on Charlie
Beta 1/2 on Dog

Beta 3 and Alpha for base defense/reinforce if needed.

Agreed.

[NickAragua]

Short update this time.

Vote Results

Spoiler:

By a large margin (1+4):

Able gets feint
Baker gets full attack
Charlie gets feint
Dog gets full attack

"Aww man, this is great, I almost never get to do a formal briefing!" Gbasden says, excitedly pacing back and forth next to a whiteboard with circles and triangles drawn on it, pointing to it with a stick. Looking at the mechwarriors and aerospace pilots sitting in metal fold-out chairs, who probably have never seen their commander so excited, and their looks range from bewilderment to surprise, he catches himself a little bit. "Ahem."

"Timing is critical on this one. Beta-Strike will hit Target Charlie here, at 1300 local time. I've talked to Ensign. Tarquini, and his plan is for a low-altitude approach until you're almost at the target area, then get up high beyond ground weapons range. Load up with cluster bombs and drop them on the facilities to disable their launch capability. Engage any hostiles that lift off, but try to avoid going too low, no need to get shot down by anti-aircraft fire." The aero jocks murmur approvingly.

"Alpha-Urban will make a feint towards Target Able. Your objective is to keep those tanks bottled up and not reinforcing Baker or Dog. It's possible that you will draw in some additional forces from other facilities - that's fine. Your attack is a diversion, so keep your exit open."

"Alpha-Command and Alpha-Battle will launch a full assault on Baker, Beta-Assault and Beta-Hunter will attack Dog. Any questions?"

Moley makes a sad face and issues a low, questioning whine, then pretends to pant.

"Yeah, why are we using the stupid Marik phonetic alphabet for this?" El Guapo asks as he raises his hand.

"So the Marik mercs know what we're talking about. After we capture those facilities, they will move in and conduct their search and extraction operations, while we secure the area and loot any salvage. Once they're done, and once we're done, we pack up and leave. Our jumpship awaits."

-----------------

September 10, 3041
Eom
Target Charlie

Beta-Strike flies through several valleys, making a low approach to avoid detection, then rapidly climbs once near the target. Our fighters' sensors show four aircraft heading out for Target Dog, and a single fighter, a Lightning, is able to scramble before our bombs drop. Our Lightning, piloted by PO Daniel Stephens, peels off and engages the hostile fighter while the Lucifer and Stuka continue on their bombing run. The two aircraft have identical capabilities, so this will be a contest of skill and luck.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

As the other aircraft climbs to gain altitude, it's trivial for our fighter to drop down and get on its tail. The rear-mounted laser scores a hit against our Lightning's nose, but it replies by raking the AC/20 across the Capellan's left wing, removing most of the armor there. The hostile buckles a bit, but stays in control.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The Capellan aircraft is unable to shake ours, and takes an AC/20 burst and a laser right up the tailpipe, losing elevation. Mindful of all the little anklebiters on the ground, our aero jock stays up high.

The Capellan Lightning disappears into a valley, trailing smoke and debris, which allows our Lightning to deliver its bombs as well. The high-altitude bombing isn't very accurate, but we make up for it in numbers, dropping a total of forty six cluster bombs, wrecking hangars and landing pads. Which, by the way, costs 368k C-Bills, pretty crazy expensive as far as ordnance goes. The air base is effectively neutralized, other than the four aircraft that already took off and are headed for Target Dog.

Beta-Strike finds itself with nothing to do. All bombs have been expended, and the Lightning has taken very minor armor damage, but there's plenty of fuel left.

The lance attacking target Able reports sensor returns showing an additional mixed heavy/assault lance moving into the area. It was going to be a tough running fight before, but at this point it's basically unwinnable without backup. On the other hand, the aircraft heading for Dog could cause some problems for the attacking force there. It's also theoretically possible, though unlikely, that the air base is "playing possum" and will launch more aircraft once ours leave.

Where do they go?

[] Reinforce the feint against target Able, bring the odds back a little bit.
[] Reinforce the assault against Baker. Just kidding, nobody's flying into that weather.
[] Reinforce the assault against Dog, they could use some air cover from the incoming fighters.
[] Stay on station, you never know if those sneaky Capellans are just playing dead.

[AWS260]

[] Reinforce the feint against target Able, bring the odds back a little bit.
[] Reinforce the assault against Baker. Just kidding, nobody's flying into that weather.
[X] Reinforce the assault against Dog, they could use some air cover from the incoming fighters.
[] Stay on station, you never know if those sneaky Capellans are just playing dead.

We're not trying to win at Able anyway.

[Zenn7]

[] Reinforce the feint against target Able, bring the odds back a little bit.
[] Reinforce the assault against Baker. Just kidding, nobody's flying into that weather.
[X] Reinforce the assault against Dog, they could use some air cover from the incoming fighters.
[] Stay on station, you never know if those sneaky Capellans are just playing dead.

We're not trying to win at Able anyway.

Exactly this.

If we really want to reinforce Able, that's what Alpha air and Beta 3 are sitting back at the base for (well, that and defense) - send 1 of them if we think it's that critical.

[El Guapo]

I do worry that with Able being reinforced, we might be sending that 'feint' into a meatgrinder. Might it make more sense to just route the Able force to Dog and just combine forces there?

[NickAragua]

The main point of hitting Able was to keep it busy, preventing it from sending tanks to the other locations. So, it's possible to withdraw from it, but then the other sites will have to deal with extra tanks (could be a couple of hovercraft, could be assault tanks, who knows?)

[El Guapo]

Can we just pay a couple locals to run around with giant cardboard cut outs of mechs, thereby making them think that there's an attack at Able when there isn't?

[NickAragua]

We do have a lot of money...

[NickAragua]

September 10, 3041
Eom
Target Able

"... that's a lot of bad guys out there, command." Lt. Sato transmits.

"Right. Just engage at maximum range, wreck a couple of buildings if you can. Your attack is still only a diversion." comes the reply.

Lt. Sato rolls his eyes and makes a scare quote motion with his hands, then shrugs and pushes the throttle forward, bringing his Crusader up to its maximum 64.8 kilometers per hour. Urban-Four's Blackjack has the same speed profile, while the Trebuchet and Phoenix Hawk are a little and quite a bit faster respectively.

The tank base is just to the east, on a more or less flat plain. The edge of the storm system is producing quite a bit of rain, which has already caused the ground to become soggy. A bit of a problem for your average battlemech, it's even worse for a heavy tank with treads or a wheeled APC. Our mechs are equipped with jump jets, so we'll retain most of our maneuverability, as will the lance of jump-jet capable mechs on the opposite side, and their hovercraft. Sensors also indicate a group of "heavy weight" blips coming in from the southwest, so we'll want to shoot and scoot pretty quickly (but not too quickly, don't want it actually looking like a feint).

Round 1:

Spoiler:

The fact that it's raining cats and dogs makes targeting difficult as well, which is ok, as we're at a bit of a firepower disadvantage otherwise. We move up, firing at Skulker scout tank that appears to have gotten itself stuck, but don't achieve much, only our Trebuchet landing a few hits with its LRM/15 launcher.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Something seems a little off in this drone shot - it looks like Alpha-Urban decided to paint their camo the same exact way as the Capellans have it. Well, we can still tell ourselves apart. First of all, we don't have any tanks. Second of all, our Assassin isn't jumping in directly behind our Phoenix Hawk to fire ... LRMs at our Trebuchet moving up in the north instead? Man, some people have weird targeting priorities. The Trebuchet does take a few warheads, but not too many, and its armor holds up just fine. It also pops the turret off the top of a building within the base. As it turns out, it's much easier to shoot at stationary targets than at weaving, dodging hovercraft. You can still kick them though, and scrape off a bunch of armor.

The Assassin does attempt to deliver a kick to our Phoenix Hawk, but our mechwarrior lightly feathers the jump jets and the Assassin winds up flat on its face.

Anyway, our Crusader fires up its short-range weapons, putting a laser blast and a couple of streak SRMs into the nearby Maxim as it plows SRMs and MG rounds into our mech's thick armor. Normally a Crusader doesn't have Streak SRMs, but it does when we swap out the leg-mounted SRM/4s in a Liao-variant Crusader for streak SRM/2 launchers. The great thing about these is that they're super efficient. If you're not going to hit, it doesn't fire, no matter how many times you squeeze that trigger. But, in this case, at least some were going to hit, and the hover transport plows into the mud.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

To the north, our Trebuchet jumps past an advancing Shadow Hawk and a Vindicator, sidestepping a nearby LRM-mounting Hetzer as well. He uses a building to manage line-of-sight, and gets into the base, although not without taking a PPC shot from the Vindicator.

Our Crusader watches with amusement the Assassin's efforts to get up, the mud making it quite difficult (and the cramped cockpit not really helping much, either). After scraping most of the armor off its right side, it finally succeeds. The Crusader takes a second to gun down a good number of infantry trying to exit the Maxim (before they try to swarm the mech with their flamers), but that distracts him and the Assassin is able to avoid the heavier weapons, then sprint around the heavier mech's right side and trip it up. The Crusader barely remains upright, having to put an arm into the mud to avoid scraping a bunch of armor off.

Our Phoenix Hawk manages to avoid incoming fire from a Griffin that comes out to challenge it, as well as the Griffin's attempt at a kick. The foot continues forward, and the 55-tonner lands on its back. That'll help keep our damage down to manageable levels.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The Trebuchet continues its rampage through the Capellan base, finding a nice spot completely out of everyone's line of fire and blowing a short-range turret off a building with its lasers, holding the LRMs. The 5J variant of the Trebuchet is even more ammo-poor than the 5N. Technically, they both run dry after a little over a minute of continuous fire, but in practice the 5N doesn't always fire both of its launchers.

Our Phoenix Hawk mech jock is somewhat surprised that the triple Sniper artillery tube hasn't been firing at us, but that doesn't stop her from melting one of the barrels off while stomping on a "classic" Predator tank destroyer. It's not quite destroyed, but the rear half of the mobile AC/20 is looking a little flat.

Our Crusader struggles up from the ground, just barely managing to avoid getting swarmed by the surprisingly persistent flamer infantry.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Trebuchet continues moving east throught he base, sending a flight of LRMs and a single futile laser blast towards a Vedette, which ducks behind a building to avoid all of that.

The Phoenix Hawk keeps it moving east as well, clearing the Sniper artillery turret to get at the two barrels on the other side. The 45-tonner kicks the structure pretty hard, and the whole thing comes tumbling down.

The Blackjack moves to cover the Crusader, putting a couple of AC/2 rounds on an annoying APC while lasering a nearby hovertank. The Crusader itself continues doing two things: keep avoiding the flamer infantry (while unsuccessfully trying to hose them down with MG fire) and fire at the swarming light units nearby. Well, technically, he gets it done, just that the damage is all inflicted to the mud and surrounding trees. At least he manages to trip the Assassin up, causing it to fall over and stop moving. The damage doesn't look too bad, so the poor guy probably just blacked out.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

"Urban-Three here. Urban-Two, move to cover me while I take down this last turret. Urban-One and Four, you two can break contact." the Trebuchet mechjock informs the rest of the lance, shortly before landing next to said last turret and opening up with lasers. The mech rocks slightly as an AC/5 from a nearby Scimitar hits, but armor holds.

"Understood. Urban-Four, you're with me. Head back west." replies the Lieutenant in the Crusader. In the words of a wise man, a sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on. He sends a salvo of LRMs at a Packrat as it spins its wheels, making the wheels stop spinning, then cuts down a large group of flamer infantry as they try to climb up on our landed Blackjack.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The Blackjack and Crusader jump out to the west, leaving behind a small cluster of messed-up enemy units, with two hovercraft giving chase. The Trebuchet and Phoenix Hawk similarly jump out to the east. There's some residual weapons fire, but it's totally ineffective. A pursuing Saracen is discouraged a little bit after the Crusader's foot leaves a print in the hovertank's rear armor.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Just kidding, the stupid thing keeps coming after us. This time, it eats a couple of streak SRMs and a short machine gun burst, while our Blackjack sends a couple of AC/2 rounds down range, rattling a Drillson a little bit. As the Saracen rattles around and slows down due to fan damage, the Crusader squashes it flat.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

... aand, we're clear. Just seconds before the "bulky" hostile sensor blips come into range. Our Trebuchet has to dodge one last parting AC/20 round from a Saladin, but the enemy units cease pursuit.

That battle could have gone a lot differently if it wasn't for the rain greatly reducing the Capellan units' mobility and firing effectiveness. They're going to have a fun time repairing that base, that's for sure. We only really destroyed a few turrets and a hovertank - the other vehicles and the Assassin are just disabled and can probably be brought back into working order pretty shortly. Alpha-Urban remains in the area for some time, just far enough away to show up as sensor blips but not close enough for weapons fire, which (combined with the pouring rain) keeps the tanks and mech reinforcements bottled up in the base out of the other fights going on in the area.

Now, for a really important decision, since there are no tactical or strategic decisions to be made this time around. Our mechwarriors' confusing impromptu paintjob has inspired some searching, and there's really only one camo pattern fit for a company called the "1st Octopus Overlords", although it comes in multiple colors.

Spoiler:

So, what's our camo pattern going to be going forward?

[] Blue Octopus
[] Tan Octopus
[] White Octopus
[] Green(ish?) Octopus

[El Guapo]

Green-ish.

[Zenn7]

Green-ish.

Think he was asking what color we like, not what you think your skill level is. :p

Everyone knows the Guap has Mad skills! That's why we keep trying to suggest solo missions for you!

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On track...
Blue Octopus

[Isgrimnur]

Blue Octopus

This.

[AWS260]

Blue.

[El Guapo]

I assume that blue would rarely be an effective camo-color, though.

[gbasden]

Blue

[AWS260]

[xwraith]

I vote for blue — though is it for all units?