Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[El Guapo]

Hmmm, machine guns. Such a tough choice. On the one hand, they do an absolutely minute and insignificant amount of damage. On the other, having them also risks an apocalyptic ammo explosion that will instantly vaporize your mech. So hard to decide.

As for the mech, I don't have strong feelings on this, but I would lean towards picking up the Griffin. Pretty solid and perpetually useful mech.

[NickAragua]

Hmmm, machine guns. Such a tough choice. On the one hand, they do an absolutely minute and insignificant amount of damage. On the other, having them also risks an apocalyptic ammo explosion that will instantly vaporize your mech. So hard to decide.

Don't forget having to be within arm's reach of your target.

The best part is that the standard Phoenix Hawk design gets enough ammo to fire those MGs non stop for 100 turns. I don't think I've had a battle last more than thirty.

[El Guapo]

Hmmm, machine guns. Such a tough choice. On the one hand, they do an absolutely minute and insignificant amount of damage. On the other, having them also risks an apocalyptic ammo explosion that will instantly vaporize your mech. So hard to decide.

Don't forget having to be within arm's reach of your target.

The best part is that the standard Phoenix Hawk design gets enough ammo to fire those MGs non stop for 100 turns. I don't think I've had a battle last more than thirty.

Yeah, I was thinking about that after I posted.

Is it still the case that a round of MG ammo exploding causes the same damage as a round of AC/20 ammo exploding? I was always baffled by that in the original MechWarrior rules.

[LordMortis]

Yeah, I was thinking about that after I posted.

Is it still the case that a round of MG ammo exploding causes the same damage as a round of AC/20 ammo exploding? I was always baffled by that in the original MechWarrior rules.

That is not my memory of the game.

[NickAragua]

Is it still the case that a round of MG ammo exploding causes the same damage as a round of AC/20 ammo exploding? I was always baffled by that in the original MechWarrior rules.

Nowadays it's damage value x # shots left. So, a full MG bin gets you 2x200 = 400 points of damage, while a full AC/20 bin gets you "only" 20x5 = 100.

[El Guapo]

Is it still the case that a round of MG ammo exploding causes the same damage as a round of AC/20 ammo exploding? I was always baffled by that in the original MechWarrior rules.

Nowadays it's damage value x # shots left. So, a full MG bin gets you 2x200 = 400 points of damage, while a full AC/20 bin gets you "only" 20x5 = 100.

Ok. So that's better than I remembered (where it was 400 MG rounds = 400 damage and 5 AC / 20 rounds = 5 damage), but still pretty grim given the quantity of MG rounds that a mech with machine guns carries around.

[LordMortis]

What made 200 MG rounds suicide (aside from 400 pts damage) was that it's 200 chances to go internal before blowing a section off.

We always has a single MG feeder, feeding many MGs and the feed was always as external as you could make it.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Hell buy most of them. Some aa ability would come in handy if recent events prove anything.

[Zenn7]

Griffin. If we can buy more than one, in order the Dervish, then the Blackjack.

Let's not buy more than that. We need some heavier mechs for what we've lost.

[AWS260]

Wolverine.

[Cylus Maxii]

[X] Ditch the MGs for a slight reduction in firepower, but slightly better heat management

[X] Griffin GRF-1N
[X] Wolverine WVR-6R.

[Hyena]

[X] Griffin GRF-1N. Classic 55-tonner. We've already got one here, but another one is always good. 4.2M C-Bills.

OR

[X] Wolverine WVR-6R. No, not the one we just blew up. A jumpy 55-ton command mech. We'll probably refit it to a 6M when we get the chance - get rid of the autocannon and add more lasers. 4.3M C-Bills.

Hyena, one of these will probably be your ride for the foreseeable future (unless you get blown up again).

I'll let the rest of the crew decide for certain, but either of those two would be my choice. I know I've run in a Wolverine before while one of my others was being fixed, and I remember liking it.

But then again, I've never blown up a Griffin before, so maybe that's the one we should go with...

[LordMortis]

I never really played Wolverines in the boardgame but they seem to do really well in video game. Can't remember if it was 6R though.

[NickAragua]

Wolverines are, in a word, excellent. Even the standard AC/5 version is pretty good, although the 6M variant with more lasers instead of the AC/5 is even better.

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Nobody likes MGs

New mechs:
Griffin - 4
Wolverine - 3
Dervish, Blackjack - 1

ForceCom Adnan grins, talking to Scrub over vidcom. "Griffin and Wolverine. Solid mechs. We'll throw in this other old-ass Griffin we captured, too. We caught them with their pants down, poor bastard was running towards his mech and got gunned down. The techs tell me it wouldn't have started up anyway."

"Appreciate it, Lyuba." Scrub answers. "We'll keep in touch."

In addition to buying the Griffin and Wolverine, the Marik regulars throw in a museum-piece Griffin 1A. This thing is an original. Well, at least the specs for the equipment are, it's unlikely that a mech has lasted five hundred years, or however long it's been since the original Griffin went into production. And the specs are... hooo boy. Crappy PPC that the techs say will short out about once every thirty or so shots, brittle armor, the cockpit's front viewport has a three-centimeter gap between it and the armor plating... well, at least the limbs are solid. So, we'll be able to fix up the Cronus as well.

At least that's what Scrub thinks, until she realizes that the Griffin GRF-1A is actually sixty tons! Well, we do have a Champion that needs a new leg. While the techs are working on putting it back together, they refit it to our specs - removing the two useless small lasers and adding a ton of extra armor instead.

Hyena climbs into the Wolverine, as it's got an autocannon, which he's good with. Granted, it's only an AC/5, which causes our mechwarrior to make a frowny face, but beggars can't be choosers. That reforms the Battle lance, although it's a little lighter. Striker lance is back up to full strength again as well, so we're ready and able to ... sit there and do nothing for a few weeks, as there's no hostile activity for a while. Earthwerks gets a chance to get their Flea production back up and running, Asuncion Industries starts up work in their aerospace factory. They don't really produce any aircraft that are relevant to us, but they'll at least be able to make spare parts for the ones we do have. We snap up a "small" amount (8 tons) of AC/10 ammo for the Champion's autocannon.

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

June 25, 3042
Militia Comms Center
Connaught, Free Worlds League

Let's check in with Delta Company and see how they're doing. While Beta Company and Delta-Sweep lance repel attacks on our dropship, Delta-Ranger and Delta-Recon are tasked with taking out a Marik comms center that the militia uses to coordinate their forces across the theatre.

Delta-Recon and Hawk's Orion buddy will engage outlying patrols, while Delta-Ranger slips in and performs a night time raid. Delta-Recon's efforts aren't quite as successful in drawing out the enemy as we'd like, and Delta-Ranger still faces a medium mech lance plus assorted hovercraft. But, it's a night-time operation, so a lot of the hovercraft's maneuverability advantages will be negated.

Madmarcus looks over the rest of the lance - Paingod's Griffin, Freyland's Quickdraw, Archinerd III's Dervish. "This is going to be a hit-and-run, there's just too many bad guys to take out. Focus on the designated structures, take them down quickly, then bug out. Don't get bogged down and swarmed by ankle-biters."

Round 1:

Spoiler:

It seems like they've got an artillery pieces somewhere in there, the distinct *THUMP* from in the base alerts us as we approach. Archinerd starts the party off by locking on to a turret in the middle of the base with LRMs and blowing the top off of it.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The first of the artillery lands... right in the middle of the base. Good shot there, genius. A Saladin hover tank gets flipped over while the nearby Stinger's left arm hangs, unpowered. Our mechs bound forward, firing their weapons at visible defenses, while Madmarcus works a Maxim hover transport over with lasers, although its armor absorbs the weapons fire just fine.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Freyland sees a great opportunity while bounding eastwards, firing at a Maxim hover transport as it passes over a water reservoir. The Quickdraw's lasers reach past the firing Marik Wolverine and impart a lot of energy to the hovercraft's fans and skirt, causing it to dip slightly. Which takes it into the water, where it sinks. It's tough to see and, from a mechwarrior's perspective, not really worth noticing, but there's a lot of infantry swimming for the shores.

Madmarcus, meanwhile, jumps in and sends a salvo of SRMs at the target Maxim, immobilizing it, then stomps on a nearby Plainsman as the hovercraft misses the Wolverine with its SRMs - the vehicle is technically intact, but winds up embedded in a nearby building afterwards. The Plainsman is a pretty simple design, kind of similar to the old-school Pegasus: twelve SRM tubes on a turret, plus a front-mounted weapon. In this case, another two SRM tubes. These can be pretty obnoxious if they catch you napping and swarm you.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

With the two southern turrets having taken some damage and being locked up, Freyland and Paingod make their way to their blind spots, looking to take the buildings out.

To the north, Madmarcus sinks a Saladin with a spread of listen-kill SRMs from the Wolverine's launcher, then moves to kick a Condor hovertank coming in right behind its AC/20 carrying buddy. That's when a Marik Firestarter jumps in, firing all its weapons. The weapons fire misses, but the kick doesn't, sending Madmarcus' Wolverine to a knee as it trips up.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

A Vedette drives around a corner to fire at Freyland, dinging the Quickdraw's armor with its light autocannon, a single missile from the SRM rack and a machine gun burst. Paingod swings the Griffin's PPC left and blasts through the tank's right side armor, causing the engine to grind to a halt. Freyland is busy taking some fire from the Marik Wolverine and its Harasser buddy, opting to quickly eliminate a couple of extra SRM tubes from the equation by cutting the Harasser in half with lasers. The impacts rattle the Quickdraw a little, but the mechwarrior keeps it upright.

Archinerd tracks the Firestarter as it jumps back towards him, putting some firepower into the building where he expects it to land. The building collapses under the light mech's weight (it's "light" but it's still 35 tons) - as it free-falls to the ground, something jostles the MG ammo inside, causing a spectacular explosion.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

A Plainsman chases Madmarcus around a building as the Wolverine fires its jump jets to get clear. Our mechwarrior fires short-ranged weapons at the hovertank, but a couple of SRMs spoil our mechwarrior's aim for the most part. However, the Wolverine's large laser sets off the ammo stored within the adjacent building housing an LRM turret, collapsing the structure. "That's two down." our mechwarrior remarks, sweat pouring out from under the neurohelmet as the cockpit temperature spikes.

Archinerd tracks the Stinger following Madmarcus, and takes the building out from under the bug mech as it lands. The results aren't as spectacular as with the Firestarter, and our Dervish takes a couple of laser and SRM hits in the process, but the Stinger still winds up on the ground.

Paingod and Freyland take a few seconds to cool off their mechs and collapse the nearby building housing a dual SRM/6 turret. Sure, the turret was already jammed in place, but was showing no signs of powering down.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The Plainsman tracking Madmarcus moves in to try to help out its Stinger buddy as our Wolverine moves in for the kill (with Archinerd jumping out to make room and give the Dervish's left leg a break). The hovertank succeeds in getting our mechwarrior's attention and eats lasers combined with an SRM salvo, blowing apart as its fuel tank ignites. The brief distraction doesn't help, as our Wolverine then turns to the Stinger and gives it a firm kick, breaking the left leg off entirely, which sends the bug mech to the ground where it stops moving as the mechwarrior inside blacks out.

Paingod deftly avoids the laser blasts from the nearby Wolverine and brings down the adjacent structure housing the artillery target.

"That's it, all marked structures destroyed!" the mechwarrior calls out.

Freyland is already way ahead of the game, jumping east to blast a Hermes in the back with lasers and streak SRMs while firing an LRM salvo at a pursuing J. Edgar hovertank. Nothing major except an armor breach on the Hermes, but the J. Edgar's turret throws out sparks while rotating, indicating a malfunction there. The Hermes winds up on the ground after a kick to the back of the leg.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"Targets destroyed. All units move east." Madmarcus orders, bringing the Wolverine's foot down on a Condor hovertank, crushing it.

Which we do, firing as we move. The Wolverine gets in our way, covering his Hermes buddy as it steps out of the line of fire. It eats four lasers from Freyland and trades punches with Paingod, losing a bunch of armor but remaining standing.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Madmarcus gets a little bogged down as the enemy Wolverine jumps in, and is also hemmed in by a Vedette from the other side. Rapid laser fire melts down the Vedette's treads, immobilizing it.

"Some tactical genius you are, ma'am." Freyland grumbles while moving back to cover Madmarcus' late retreat, firing lasers at a damaged J. Edgar hovertank with little effect while breaking the Hermes' left leg off at the knee, sending it to the ground.

Archinerd takes care of an LRM-toting Hetzer wheeled assault gun to the north and begins moving to help Paingod with a Cicada and a Vedette.

Round 10:
[data feed lost]
*Now* we start moving to the east. Although, Madmarcus' quick look at the situation shows approximately five mobile enemy units left. Our lance is basically undamaged, with just a little armor loss here and there, so the lance leader adjusts the plan.

"Take out the mobiles, focus on the mechs. We're getting some salvage."

Paingod obliges by blasting the nearby Cicada with the Griffin's PPC, zapping all the armor off the left leg, and then some. Archinerd dodges the attacks from a nearby Wolverine, which forces him to miss his shots with lasers and SRMs, then kicks the engine block out from an annoying little Vedette underfoot.

The Wolverine and Cicada rapidly disengage, as does the damaged J. Edgar and a Condor that we forgot about on the other side of the base, leaving us in control.

The only fly in the ointment is that Delta-Recon, along with Hawk's Orion buddy, gets bogged down in heavy fighting and calls for backup. Well, it's not even that heavy, it's just that Delta-Recon is three light mechs and an assassin, and they're facing a company of tanks. Normally, they'd just ditch them, but the Orion can't keep up as good a pace as a Firestarter (and forget about an Ostscout, which can walk as fast as an Orion can run). This leaves Delta-Ranger with the choice:

[] Secure our salvage operations
[] Go back up Delta-Recon

The salvage isn't even all that great and we're probably going to hand it over to Hawk to build up salvage credit for better stuff later on, but it's the principle of the thing. On the other hand, Delta-Recon was on fire this battle and barely took any damage - mostly green armor, with a little yellow, with just the left leg on Archinerd's Dervish showing red armor (and upon visual inspection, it does look like somebody took a hullcutter to it several times).

[LordMortis]

Nobody likes MGs

I actually love MGs but you have to have enough of them on a mech that is well suited to use them. MGs are a no heat way of internal and head hunting. They become a close range LRM while you're cooling down and going HTH. Or you are fast enough to stay on a flank with superior numbers, going last and having a run of 10 with a tiny mech that can stay behind is mucho fun.

[Zenn7]

The only fly in the ointment is that Delta-Recon, along with Hawk's Orion buddy, gets bogged down in heavy fighting and calls for backup. Well, it's not even that heavy, it's just that Delta-Recon is three light mechs and an assassin, and they're facing a company of tanks. Normally, they'd just ditch them, but the Orion can't keep up as good a pace as a Firestarter (and forget about an Ostscout, which can walk as fast as an Orion can run). This leaves Delta-Ranger with the choice:

[] Secure our salvage operations
[x] Go back up Delta-Recon

The salvage isn't even all that great and we're probably going to hand it over to Hawk to build up salvage credit for better stuff later on, but it's the principle of the thing. On the other hand, Delta-Recon was on fire this battle and barely took any damage - mostly green armor, with a little yellow, with just the left leg on Archinerd's Dervish showing red armor (and upon visual inspection, it does look like somebody took a hullcutter to it several times).

We'll build up more cred with Hawk not letting his buddy go splat. We'll have to settle for whatever salvage we get but flattening this company of tanks. Side, don't want Delta-Recon to go all heroic helping the Orion out and taking casualties ourselves.

[gbasden]

The only fly in the ointment is that Delta-Recon, along with Hawk's Orion buddy, gets bogged down in heavy fighting and calls for backup. Well, it's not even that heavy, it's just that Delta-Recon is three light mechs and an assassin, and they're facing a company of tanks. Normally, they'd just ditch them, but the Orion can't keep up as good a pace as a Firestarter (and forget about an Ostscout, which can walk as fast as an Orion can run). This leaves Delta-Ranger with the choice:

[] Secure our salvage operations
[x] Go back up Delta-Recon

The salvage isn't even all that great and we're probably going to hand it over to Hawk to build up salvage credit for better stuff later on, but it's the principle of the thing. On the other hand, Delta-Recon was on fire this battle and barely took any damage - mostly green armor, with a little yellow, with just the left leg on Archinerd's Dervish showing red armor (and upon visual inspection, it does look like somebody took a hullcutter to it several times).

We'll build up more cred with Hawk not letting his buddy go splat. We'll have to settle for whatever salvage we get but flattening this company of tanks. Side, don't want Delta-Recon to go all heroic helping the Orion out and taking casualties ourselves.

Yeah, lets go help out. And remind Hawk about it repeatedly.

[Freyland]

"Hey Hawk, remember that time we came to the rescue and bailed you out?"

"Are you talking about this mission, happening right now?

"Yeah, pretty much."

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Support recon lance - unanimous

June 26, 3042
Villa's crossing
Southwest of destroyed comm center
Connaught, Free Worlds League

"Understood, Recon lance. ETA is 30 seconds." Madmarcus responds to the call for backup.

This means that our light lance just has to avoid getting blown up until the heavier firepower gets there.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Three of our light mechs are mixed up with a bunch of hovercraft, tanks camping out in the woods, infantry and a Trebuchet. Our Assassin manages to disable the Prowler with a couple of SRMs, taking out its treads out. So much for being an all-terrain vehicle.

The Firestarter fries up a platoon of infantry, but winds up disabled - the surrounding hovercraft pelt it with missiles and laser fire, then the Trebuchet lops off the right arm and leg with its lasers. Once our mech hits the ground, said Trebuchet curb stomps it as well, crushing the right torso section. Not the best start.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Our Orion buddy puts its advanced anti-aircraft tracking system to good use, locking on to a Ferret scout VTOL with is LRMs and blowing it out of the sky. The infantry squad on board just barely manages to zip line away.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Our Orion buddy is on fire, disabling a Condor - the right-arm autocannon barks once, blasting chunks out of the skirt and turret - the Condor's autocannon sags and it settles to the ground. However, the Orion attracts a lot of fire, getting knocked over. To boot, the surrounding woods catch on fire.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Uh, little help here guys?" The guy in the Orion calls out as his hip actuator melts.

"Keep your shirt on." Paingod replies as Delta-Ranger lance arrives from the north.

A Harasser and a Maxim zip in to fire on the Orion. The Harasser gets off one SRM salvo on the downed mech before being immobilized by Archinerd's SRMs. The Maxim doesn't do much better, getting disabled by a laser blast and SRMs from Madmarcus' Wolverine. It does manage to work on the Orion's damaged hip joint, however, separating the leg off precisely at the hip, but then stops firing as Paingod hovers menacingly above with a raised foot.

Freyland runs down the south, firing on a Vedette. The Quickdraw's lasers and streak SRMs annihilate the hapless tank, to the point where the AC/5 round goes off in the barrel and the turret goes flying off as the fuel tank detonates.

Recon lance's Ostscout tries to get cute and kick the Trebuchet as it unloads LRMs on our other Firestarter, but not only does he fail to land the kick or disrupt the enemy mech's aim, but winds up on the ground right next to a platoon of angry infantry.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Ostscout gets up and runs to the patch of woods to the north, with Archinerd and Freyland moving to cover him. Freyland jumps west, watching with amusement as the Ostscout's laser blasts the Scorpion tank, setting off ammo. The back of the Trebuchet is a pretty tempting target, and it loses most of the armor on the right side to a combination of Quickdraw and Dervish lasers.

Archinerd and the Trebuchet then proceed to exchange kicks, although the Trebuchet comes away decidedly worse, losing a pair of actuators and having to go down to a knee.

Paingod, having no better targets, uses the Griffin's PPC to vaporize a pair of hapless infantry as they try to pelt the Griffin with small arms fire. The rest scatter and flee.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The hostile force is on the verge of breaking. After Archinerd blasts through the left side armor of a Vedette with SRMs while Paingod nearly fries a Galleon tank to the south, there are really only two combat-capable hostile units on the field. And one of them, the Trebuchet takes a substantial amount of leg and torso damage from Freyland and Madmarcus. As it tries to stagger back up, Freyland delivers a solid kick, ripping off the right leg. And most of the right torso.

A few unidentified sensor blips hover around the edge of sensor range, but once the Trebuchet goes down, they go away.

We eventually manage to get the Orion limping back to base after the salvage crew welds the severed leg back on. Our Firestarter is totaled as well, but that's not a big deal - we've got a Spider that can take its place. For salvage, we claim the Trebuchet and allocate the rest to our employer (although Hawk takes a look at our mechs and has his guys hand over pretty much all the armor his techs have pulled off the salvaged tanks).

En route back to our dropships, we continue being dogged by sensor blips. We don't really want whatever's out there getting a look at our landing zone (again), so we'll need to send out a lance to a) run them out and b) get some detailed scans to figure out what they are. Delta-Recon and Delta-Ranger are in no shape for another battle, so our options are Delta-Sweep, which is faster and Beta-Fire, which is slower but has more firepower. We also get our pick of Lyran buddy - either an Enforcer or Hawk in his Daboku. The Enforcer is a kind of mediocre 50-ton mech, its major distinguishing feature being jump jets. The Daboku is, well... a lot bigger.

Lance for recon/picket duty:
[] Delta-Sweep
[] Beta-Fire

Lyran buddy:
[] Enforcer
[] Daboku

[gbasden]

En route back to our dropships, we continue being dogged by sensor blips. We don't really want whatever's out there getting a look at our landing zone (again), so we'll need to send out a lance to a) run them out and b) get some detailed scans to figure out what they are. Delta-Recon and Delta-Ranger are in no shape for another battle, so our options are Delta-Sweep, which is faster and Beta-Fire, which is slower but has more firepower. We also get our pick of Lyran buddy - either an Enforcer or Hawk in his Daboku. The Enforcer is a kind of mediocre 50-ton mech, its major distinguishing feature being jump jets. The Daboku is, well... a lot bigger.

Lance for recon/picket duty:
[] Delta-Sweep
[X] Beta-Fire

Lyran buddy:
[] Enforcer
[X] Daboku

Lets send out some heavier units to make sure they get the hint to stay away. And we should let Hawk play occasionally. Long range weapons could be useful.

[Zenn7]

En route back to our dropships, we continue being dogged by sensor blips. We don't really want whatever's out there getting a look at our landing zone (again), so we'll need to send out a lance to a) run them out and b) get some detailed scans to figure out what they are. Delta-Recon and Delta-Ranger are in no shape for another battle, so our options are Delta-Sweep, which is faster and Beta-Fire, which is slower but has more firepower. We also get our pick of Lyran buddy - either an Enforcer or Hawk in his Daboku. The Enforcer is a kind of mediocre 50-ton mech, its major distinguishing feature being jump jets. The Daboku is, well... a lot bigger.

Lance for recon/picket duty:
[] Delta-Sweep
[X] Beta-Fire

Lyran buddy:
[] Enforcer
[X] Daboku

Lets send out some heavier units to make sure they get the hint to stay away. And we should let Hawk play occasionally. Long range weapons could be useful.

Good call. I support this plan.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Beta-Fire: 2
Delta-Sweep: 1

Daboku: 3 (although we'll wish we hadn't)

Beta-Fire lance catches up to the sensor contacts. Thanks to the high-speed winds and pitch black lighting conditions, we're able to get the drop on most of them. It's nothing special, a couple of tank lances and three light/medium mechs. Plus a few grounded hovercraft.

Beta-Fire is a Guillotine (4L, the jump-capable variant), a prototype Marauder (with binary lasers), a Trebuchet and a Vindicator. Hawk stomps along in his Daboku.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We exchange a little bit of weapons fire, taking a few seconds to scan most of the enemy units. Hawk rips the leg off a Locust that he managed to "surprise", sending the little bug mech flopping to the ground. The Hermes behind him winds up on the ground as well.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"I've got a couple more sensor blips off to the south." Hawk reports. "Fire-One, Fire-Four, why don't you go get them, we'll finish up here." he then suggests.

It's not a bad idea, so our Guillotine and Vindicator head south, in an effort to catch up to the sensor contacts there. They're attempting to bug out, but the zero lighting and wind are really screwing them over.

This time, it's Hawk who winds up on the ground after missing a more nimble Locust, while our Marauder prototyp crushes a surprised Vedette.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Hawk is in trouble, unable to get up, due both to the winds and being kicked around by a pair of smaller mechs which cluster around the downed assault mech like vultures.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Geez, this thing needs more leg armor." comes the chatter from the Lyran mechwarrior as he finally levers the Daboku up. That second Locust is still running around, kicking him in the shins and, indeed, the leg armor gives out very easily. Hawk counters with a devastating 90-ton boot, crushing the poor bug mech's right leg, but actuator damage means he can't actually put his foot down firmly and the assault mech winds up on the ground. Again. This time, Hawk blacks out.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

As our Vindicator continues south, the Guillotine swings back and targets the Hermes, blasting chunks off its torso with lasers, then crushing the Vedette underfoot.

Round 6+:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

The Hermes continues taking damage from the Guillotine, the two mechs dancing around each other. The Hermes is much faster on the ground, but that advantage is negated somewhat when it's impossible to see where you're going and the slightest misstep will result in your mech getting blown over. The enemy mechwarrior does a decent job, forcing our Guillotine to lose a bit of armor, but it's a foregone conclusion - the lighter mech's left leg gets broken off and it falls to the ground, effectively disabled.

Our Vindicator catches up to two of the tanks to the south and finishes them off while the Guillotine polishes off another stray Vedette, resulting in a relatively rare "total wipeout" of the enemy force. Almost.

It actually takes three to four minutes of chasing before the Vindicator catches up to the Hunter. At that point, it pelts the basically useless support tank with laser fire (the winds making the Hunter's LRM rack completely ineffective), then delivers a kick. A particularly nasty gust of wind catches our mech on the swing, so after cracking through the armor, he winds up on the ground. The lieutenant in the Guillotine observes this and quickly orders: "Fire-Four, play dead. Let that Hunter go. We'll trail him, see where he goes, maybe get a chance to do some actual reconaissance, instead of this Steiner-style recon."

Hawk's mech stays behind to "supervise salvage operations", mostly because he's unable to get up from the ground due to leg actuator damage.

Tailing the Hunter pays off - it leads Beta-Fire to a grounded (and lightly-defended) Gazelle-class dropship. They observe just six tanks, plus a pair of medium mechs. The Gazelle itself is nothing to write home about, being pretty lightly armed and armored for a dropship (mounting only a pair of PPCs, a single AC/5 and an LRM/20 rack for long range weapons, plus some close-in stuff), and only able to carry a reinforced company of light or medium tanks. While it's technically not required that we blow it up per the terms of our contract, capturing it intact would be a considerable salvage coup, and even destroying it would reduce available militia firepower and transport capacity. Plus, the Sparrow (our Union) is in need of a replacement PPC. Beta-Fire is in pretty good shape, with only minor armor damage, but taking on a dropship is still a job for heavier units.

[] Send in Beta-Assault - elite mechwarriors, lots of PPCs. Zarathud's Awesome still has arm problems.
[] Send in Beta-Hunter - veteran mechwarriors, lots of LRMs, no damage.
[] Skip the dropship - we don't need the salvage *that* badly and it's still a dropship, even though a little light

[xwraith]

I think Beta-Assault might be appropriate if the weather is going to remain bad -- will they get there in time for the storm to render the LRM20 ineffective?

[NickAragua]

I think Beta-Assault might be appropriate if the weather is going to remain bad -- will they get there in time for the storm to render the LRM20 ineffective?

The storm will mostly pass by that point, turning to light rain, which mildly inhibits energy weapons fire.

[AWS260]

Beta-Hunter, then.

[gbasden]

Tailing the Hunter pays off - it leads Beta-Fire to a grounded (and lightly-defended) Gazelle-class dropship. They observe just six tanks, plus a pair of medium mechs. The Gazelle itself is nothing to write home about, being pretty lightly armed and armored for a dropship (mounting only a pair of PPCs, a single AC/5 and an LRM/20 rack for long range weapons, plus some close-in stuff), and only able to carry a reinforced company of light or medium tanks. While it's technically not required that we blow it up per the terms of our contract, capturing it intact would be a considerable salvage coup, and even destroying it would reduce available militia firepower and transport capacity. Plus, the Sparrow (our Union) is in need of a replacement PPC. Beta-Fire is in pretty good shape, with only minor armor damage, but taking on a dropship is still a job for heavier units.

[X] Send in Beta-Assault - elite mechwarriors, lots of PPCs. Zarathud's Awesome still has arm problems.
[] Send in Beta-Hunter - veteran mechwarriors, lots of LRMs, no damage.
[] Skip the dropship - we don't need the salvage *that* badly and it's still a dropship, even though a little light

PPCs for the win!

[Zenn7]

Tailing the Hunter pays off - it leads Beta-Fire to a grounded (and lightly-defended) Gazelle-class dropship. They observe just six tanks, plus a pair of medium mechs. The Gazelle itself is nothing to write home about, being pretty lightly armed and armored for a dropship (mounting only a pair of PPCs, a single AC/5 and an LRM/20 rack for long range weapons, plus some close-in stuff), and only able to carry a reinforced company of light or medium tanks. While it's technically not required that we blow it up per the terms of our contract, capturing it intact would be a considerable salvage coup, and even destroying it would reduce available militia firepower and transport capacity. Plus, the Sparrow (our Union) is in need of a replacement PPC. Beta-Fire is in pretty good shape, with only minor armor damage, but taking on a dropship is still a job for heavier units.

[X] Send in Beta-Assault - elite mechwarriors, lots of PPCs. Zarathud's Awesome still has arm problems.
[] Send in Beta-Hunter - veteran mechwarriors, lots of LRMs, no damage.
[] Skip the dropship - we don't need the salvage *that* badly and it's still a dropship, even though a little light

PPCs for the win!

Ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but if weather is not punishing missiles and is punishing energy weapons - if Beta-Hunter is less energy dependent than Bata-Assault, send Hunter in. If their about the same or worse, send Assault in.

[gbasden]

Tailing the Hunter pays off - it leads Beta-Fire to a grounded (and lightly-defended) Gazelle-class dropship. They observe just six tanks, plus a pair of medium mechs. The Gazelle itself is nothing to write home about, being pretty lightly armed and armored for a dropship (mounting only a pair of PPCs, a single AC/5 and an LRM/20 rack for long range weapons, plus some close-in stuff), and only able to carry a reinforced company of light or medium tanks. While it's technically not required that we blow it up per the terms of our contract, capturing it intact would be a considerable salvage coup, and even destroying it would reduce available militia firepower and transport capacity. Plus, the Sparrow (our Union) is in need of a replacement PPC. Beta-Fire is in pretty good shape, with only minor armor damage, but taking on a dropship is still a job for heavier units.

[X] Send in Beta-Assault - elite mechwarriors, lots of PPCs. Zarathud's Awesome still has arm problems.
[] Send in Beta-Hunter - veteran mechwarriors, lots of LRMs, no damage.
[] Skip the dropship - we don't need the salvage *that* badly and it's still a dropship, even though a little light

PPCs for the win!

Ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but if weather is not punishing missiles and is punishing energy weapons - if Beta-Hunter is less energy dependent than Bata-Assault, send Hunter in. If their about the same or worse, send Assault in.

Whoops, I missed that the rain was going to inhibit energy weapons. You are right, Beta-Hunter is the better choice.

[Cylus Maxii]

Send Beta Hunter

[AWS260]

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Hunter - 4
Assault - 2
Hunter if rain impedes energy weapons fire - 4
Assault if rain impedes energy weapons fire - 4

July 1, 3042
Gazelle Parking Spot
Connaught, Free Worlds League

"Hunter lance, go take that dropship out." Zenn7 orders. "Fire lance will back you up."

By the time Hunter lance gets there, the winds have calmed down and the weather has changed to a light rain. Which turns the battlefield into a muck-covered mess. It seems the dropship has misjudged its landing zone and landed on a flood plain. The tanks are all basically immobile, leaving just the two medium mechs capable of jumping.

Our mechs are going to have trouble moving around too, but we've got some woods we can use for cover.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We exchange some fire at long range, but nobody takes any serious damage. The Gazelle eats some LRMs from our Stalker while the Crusader and Orion take a few light autocannon rounds and LRMs in return.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The Orion takes a bit of a beating from autocannon and LRM fire coming from the dropship, but manages to keep steady long enough to land an autocannon hit on the Wolverine's head as it splashes down into the muck. It doesn't quite come off, but the impact knocks out the laser built in to the head, as well as blasting away the armor and life support systems.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Atlas fires its PPCs at the Gazelle for the third time, finally scoring a hit, blowing out the autocannon mounted in the front of the craft. A small blessing, but a reduction in incoming fire nonetheless.

The Marik Phoenix Hawk makes a critical mistake, misjudging its jump and landing in front of the Crusader, eating a pair of lasers, some SRMs and even MG rounds just because. A couple of actuators on the 45-ton mech's right leg blow out under the assault and it goes down, where the Crusader crushes a considerable amount of torso armor with a foot.

The Wolverine pulls back behind some woods, leaving its Saladin buddy hanging high and dry - our Orion obliges by blowing it away with the autocannon and an SRM salvo, although not before taking return fire from the AC/20. The Orion's damage display shows the AC/10 flashing red while the computer helpfully informs the mechwarrior about "weapon disabled."

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Our Atlas moves up, taking some fire to allow the Orion to pull back, AC/10 ammo spilling out the ejection ports in the back as the mechwarrior mashes the rarely-used "dump ammo" button - with the AC/10 gone, that ammo is just a liability.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

... it doesn't help, that stupid downed Phoenix Hawk hits the right torso and detonates our mech. Our Crusader gets revenge though, stomping on the pixie yet again, this time blowing up the MG ammo, barely being able to yank the leg back to avoid it getting fried.

The Wolverine gets greedy, jumping in behind our Atlas, where it promptly gets blasted by the Stalker, forcing it to the ground.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Our Atlas advances, taking a brief break from firing at the Gazelle to blow away a Vedette which foolishly pokes out from the woods - two PPCs and an AC/20 basically obliterate the hapless tank.

The Stalker is unable to get free of the muck, eating a bunch of fire from the dropship as a result, but blasts the Wolverine pretty good, taking out its SRM launcher. The Crusader walks over as well, stomping on the downed mech's hip joint.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Beta-Fire lance arrives and we renew our assault. Our Atlas blasts through a Vedette's armor, not quite destroying it, but the crew's unobstructed view to the outside convinces them to cease fire and leave the area. Our newly arrived Guillotine blows away a Scorpion tank with laser fire, while our LRM-equipped mechs pound the Gazelle. The Stalker takes some fire and goes down to the ground, however.

Round 8:
[camera feed lost]
The Wolverine fights to the last, firing its remaining lasers at our mechs before a laser from our downed Stalker takes out the SRM ammo bin.

Round 9, 10, 11:

Spoiler:

Our Atlas continues firing at the dropship from the woods, methodically blasting away armor. As said armor thins out, internal systems get damaged, including (as we later find out) the main sensor array and fire control system, which leads to a slackening in the effectiveness of its fire.

Our Vindicator blows away a Vedette, one of the two remaining combat-effective tanks with a PPC shot (after it had already absorbed substantial laser fire from the Guillotine).

Round 12:

Spoiler:

At this point, it's a slugfest, but in our favor. Our Stalker takes an armor breach, losing a laser and an SRM launcher from the torso, while the Gazelle takes more sensor damage and its vehicle bay door gets wrecked by a stray laser.

Eventually, the dropship is ground down and stops firing as its power goes out. The two remaining tanks rapidly leaving the field. Well, just one, the other one gets stuck in the mud and the crew has no choice but to clamber out.

Neither our nor the Lyran salvage crews are impressed with the state of the Gazelle - the vehicle bay and cargo bay are both wrecked, about a third of the weapons systems are knocked out, and the on-board electronics are all shot to hell. After conferring with his techs, Hawk says he'll credit us with 5.5M for the parts they'll be able to pull off of it. It's way below the market rate for an actual Gazelle (like 3%), but it's not like that dropship is ever flying again. Or getting off that flood plain. Alternately, we can grab it for ourselves as we can probably use the spare parts as well, but it'll count against our salvage percentage.

[] Keep the wrecked Gazelle
[] Let the Lyrans have it

Mech-wise, the good news is that the Stalker can be fixed with spare parts we have on hand. The bad news is that the Orion is scattered in pieces over that flood plain. Obnoxious. Between that loss, a couple of banged up mechwarriors and battle damage, Beta-Hunter and Fire are out of action for the next week or so.

Regardless of what we decide about the dropship, everyone's tech teams are going to have a go at the Gazelle's surviving navigational systems to gather reliable intelligence. The initial results look promising, with Hawk's people able to identify several facilities which, when taken out, will cripple production here for a while without destroying anything irreplaceable. Including a major parts transfer depot where we might just be able to find some replacement arms for Zarathud's Awesome and maybe some other parts to get a few of the salvaged mechs working. Hawk also asks that we either give his lance a ride or send our aerospace fighters to escort his dropship to another target. So we'll have our plates full coming up.

[] Have Hawk use his own dropship, a Leopard
[] Send the Sparrow, a Union, but with one of its PPCs damaged

[Zenn7]

[] Keep the wrecked Gazelle
[x] Let the Lyrans have it

Regardless of what we decide about the dropship, everyone's tech teams are going to have a go at the Gazelle's surviving navigational systems to gather reliable intelligence. The initial results look promising, with Hawk's people able to identify several facilities which, when taken out, will cripple production here for a while without destroying anything irreplaceable. Including a major parts transfer depot where we might just be able to find some replacement arms for Zarathud's Awesome and maybe some other parts to get a few of the salvaged mechs working. Hawk also asks that we either give his lance a ride or send our aerospace fighters to escort his dropship to another target. So we'll have our plates full coming up.

[x] Have Hawk use his own dropship, a Leopard
[] Send the Sparrow, a Union, but with one of its PPCs damaged

Risk our birds sure, our ride, not so much.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Let the lyrans keep the Gazelle - unanimous

Send the sparrow - 3
Let the lyrans use the Leopard - 1

July 4, 3042
Atmospheric Ascent
Connaught, Free Worlds League

"Yeah, we don't really need a wrecked dropship stuck in mud, we'll take the money. Anyway, what facility are you planning to hit, anyway?" Zenn7 asks Hawk.

"You know how they used to make Black Knights here before the Capellans came in and stomped all over the factory? Well, with all the Star League tech floating around, House Marik looks like they've decided to start up production again. We're going to sabotage it, maybe steal some prototypes if we can."

"You're going to need an extra mech bay or two for that." Zenn7 realizes.

"Yep. But don't worry, we can probably shove it into the Leopard."

"Going to be a tight fit, unless you lose one of your mechs. Leopard's cargo bay is only thirty five tons and a Black Knight is seventy." Madmarcus pipes up. "Why don't you take the Union and hook us up with an extra prototype if they've got one."

Hawk grins. "I can hook that up."

And that's how a lance of Lyran mechs loads up into our Union and gets ready for a sub-orbital hop. Meanwhile, our heavy aerospace fighters - a Stuka, Lightning and Lucifer are joined by a Lyran Lightning. We get intercepted on the way up - four heavies and four conventional fighters. In our experience, the conventional fighters are mostly irrelevant, the major threats are the trio of Stingrays and the Chippewa.

Aborting a sub-orbital burn isn't really an option, so we're just going to have to fight it out.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We see the Marik forces coming from a long way away, which gives us a chance to intercept them without them getting a shot off on our dropship.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Closing to maximum weapons range..."

Round 3:

Spoiler:

This must be one of those "sure, buddy, we're right behind you" situations. The Angel light fighter gets completely obliterated by multiple AC/20 strikes from our Lightnings. He does manage to get an SRM salvo off on our Stuka, while a couple of LRMs come from way behind it, but the Stuka's got pretty heavy duty armor and it barely even registers.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

We stay in formation as another pair of light fighters zip in. The Guardian B (a variant mounting a single medium laser) takes multiple LRM and large laser hits from the Stuka, breaking up in midair, while a similar fate awaits his SRM-toting buddy as our Lucifer brings it lasers to bear. A few LRMs and SRMs ping off our armor, but don't do much damage - the vast majority of the enemy firepower here is of the up-close and medium range variety, in the form of lasers and PPCs.

That's the "ablative armor" mostly gone, now it's time to get to work on the actual aerospace fighters (and see if we can bag that Defender II hanging out in the back, those have an Artemis IV tracking system as standard).

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Our Stuka exchanges LRM fire with the hostiles, coming away a little worse for wear, but pounding the little Defender II and blowing chunks off of it with LRMs.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Defender makes a break for it as we close in to effective weapons range. It doesn't make it, getting ripped to shreds by an AC/20 burst from our Lightning. Our Stuka and the Marik Chippewa both take some damage, but everyone else remains in the air.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Having disposed of the scrubs, here comes the real engagement. A flurry of lasers, PPCs and missiles passes between the two fighter groups. The Stuka takes the brunt of the damage, losing several weapons systems and a couple of heat sinks, but the aero jock keeps it in the air. The same can't be said for the Chippewa, which loses most of its left wing to the Lucifer's laser fire and corkscrews down into the ground below.

The Stingrays take some considerable damage from the Lightnings' AC/20s and lasers, and their flight leader appears to re-evaluate their position - three aerospace fighters against four, plus they still have to take out an undamaged dropship. They peel off pretty rapidly, allowing us to return to our escort.

Our ground crews manage to recover wreckage from the Defender II and the Chippewa, meaning we'll have spare parts to fix up the damage to the Stuka. Plus, having another Artemis IV or two for our units never goes amiss, and we can always trade them away.

Once the dropship touches down at its destination, Hawk's lance gets to work. They run into trouble pretty quickly. "Strike squadron, I know you guys are a little beat up, but we just got bogged down with a company of tanks. Any chance you guys can provide a little air support?" Hawk sends over the sensor data, indicating a lance of heavies (two Manticores, a Zhukov and an LRM Carrier) plus two lances of lighter tanks and hovercraft.

Our Lightning and Lucifer are still in pretty good shape. The Lucifer has five cluster bombs mounted on it (in a case of "sometimes, the sun shines on a dog's ass", our "aero techs" (aka I) had forgotten to un-mount the cluster bombs from our previous air support sortie), as does the Stuka, but the Stuka's armor is in the yellow and red plus and it's missing two lasers (not actually a big deal since it can't fire them all anyway). The Lightning and Lucifer have only superficial armor damage, while the Lyran Lightning has developed a problem in its flight control system and is attempting to return to base, so he won't be any help.

[] Send air support - including the Stuka
[] Send air support - no Stuka
[] Hold air support

[xwraith]

[] Send air support - including the Stuka
[x] Send air support - no Stuka
[] Hold air support

Unless the Stuka can be kept clear unless absolutely critical, i’d keep it safe and sound.

[Isgrimnur]

Agreed.

[Cylus Maxii]

[x] Send air support - no Stuka

[El Guapo]

[x] Send air support - no Stuka, plus our combat blimp brigade

[gbasden]

[] Send air support - including the Stuka
[x] Send air support - no Stuka
[] Hold air support

Unless the Stuka can be kept clear unless absolutely critical, i’d keep it safe and sound.

Agreed as well.

[Zenn7]

[] Send air support - including the Stuka
[x] Send air support - no Stuka
[] Hold air support

Unless the Stuka can be kept clear unless absolutely critical, i’d keep it safe and sound.

Agreed as well.

Can we have it make just 1 pass and drop the cluster bombs then bug out? If not, I guess this will have to do.

[gbasden]

[] Send air support - including the Stuka
[x] Send air support - no Stuka
[] Hold air support

Unless the Stuka can be kept clear unless absolutely critical, i’d keep it safe and sound.

Agreed as well.

Can we have it make just 1 pass and drop the cluster bombs then bug out? If not, I guess this will have to do.

We could. It just seems super risky with armor in the red to subject it to potential fire from an LRM carrier.