Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[NickAragua]

As a side note, it seems way too easy to penetrate armor in this ruleset. Seems like a viable strategy would be to just load up on AC/2s and machine guns and the like and just hit the enemy mechs as many times as possible in order to generate armor breaches and ammo detonations.

To be fair, they actually got all the way through your left torso armor this time. It's a pretty well-known weakness in the Marauder design in general, but I've been trying to play through with more or less stock designs (other than rotating butt-lasers forward and reducing MG ammo loads by half).

Is the rules set easier than most? 1 in 36 to internal. 1in 36 to head?

The classic Marauder design has a single ton of AC/5 ammo in the left torso. And nothing else. Anything crits the left torso, that ammo is going up, and so is the mech.

[El Guapo]

As a side note, it seems way too easy to penetrate armor in this ruleset. Seems like a viable strategy would be to just load up on AC/2s and machine guns and the like and just hit the enemy mechs as many times as possible in order to generate armor breaches and ammo detonations.

To be fair, they actually got all the way through your left torso armor this time. It's a pretty well-known weakness in the Marauder design in general, but I've been trying to play through with more or less stock designs (other than rotating butt-lasers forward and reducing MG ammo loads by half).

Is the rules set easier than most? 1 in 36 to internal. 1in 36 to head?

The classic Marauder design has a single ton of AC/5 ammo in the left torso. And nothing else. Anything crits the left torso, that ammo is going up, and so is the mech.

Seems like that's probably worth modifying to fix in Marauders that we acquire in the future.

[LordMortis]

My memory is suddenly poor. Can't crits hit an empty location and do nothing but "internals"

[NickAragua]

Nope. If you get a crit, it's going to hit something.

[NickAragua]

We grit our teeth, but taking on the dropship like that is not a realistic option. There's no way to get around the back of the dropship, and there's still the matter of remaining enemy units between us, plus the extra reinforcements coming from the north. The remainder of the enemy force retreats. Salvage is pretty crappy - we grab the Griffin wreck, a mostly intact Stinger and Firestarter, and leave the tank wrecks and disabled tanks for the FRR. Our infantry platoon lost a couple of men, so we'll have to recruit some replacements.

The overall strategic situation on the planet is looking precarious. The only bright spot is that the locals have plenty of spare parts which we can use to repair our mechs. Most of the garrison went Ronin when Rasalhague declared independence, and now we're seeing the merc units the FRR hired either just take their money and lift off or (in some cases) try to steal someone else's dropship. The guys that Delta took down won't be working for anyone else again, that's for sure. The planetary militia is trying to put together a credible force, but lack of trained crews and equipment makes it difficult. They're offering a premium for any "used" equipment, and hey, there's a lot of "loose" tanks and mechs out there just begging to be salvaged. This week's salvage comes out to about 15M C-Bills, which is a nice little bonus.

By the end of the week, we fix the Moonraker and relocate it back to our base of operations. Our techs don't quite finish patching up our mechs or mechwarriors before things become unpleasant. A sampling of what we'll have to put up with:

A riot breaks out in a nearby industrial complex and spreads quite rapidly. Information is sketchy, but it's obvious the local authorities have lost control of the situation. They request support as the rioters have armed themselves with military-grade weapons and are overwhelming local riot control forces. We send Gamma-Three and Beta-three in to suppress two particularly nasty hot spots. The locals are so pissed, they actually send in a flight of aircraft. We don't really have a dog in the race, but we're in enough of a scrap that we can't really afford to have our supply lines disrupted.

On the bright side, the rioters at Gamma-Three's location are dispersed by a high-intensity storm system.

Several groups of enemy units makes a pass at our base of operations. We dispatch Delta company to harass and discourage one such group (minus Delta-Two, which is still getting patched up). Gamma-One is deployed in support as well.

June 27, 3034
Gamma-One projects the route of a large enemy group. Sixteen mechs, and four tanks. Lights and mediums, thankfully. The storm system that dispersed the riots earlier in the week persists, making shooting ballistic weapons and missiles quite difficult. Except for Scrub, who scoffs at inclement weather. Good thing Gamma is mostly a laser and PPC outfit (they do have a few LRMs and an autocannon, but we'll be fine). This batch of mechs is heading for Delta-One's position, and we can't really have any of that nonsense, so Gamma-One's goal is to destroy as many of these renegade Dracs as possible.

Gamma-One calls in their attached air support, loaded with HE bombs to blow at least some of those mechs to bits.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Hyena gets a little intimidated as his Striker is targeted by a large number of PPC shots. Thankfully, due to the difficult firing conditions, they all miss. He'll need to get off that hill ASAP. The rest of weapons fire misses, except that Lt. Scrub scores a PPC hit on the Jenner to the north, melting the right leg armor.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The combination of rough weather and high gravity begins taking its toll on the enemy force - a Griffin goes down to the ground, its left leg throwing sparks. The enemy Jenner to the northeast hesitates before trying to cross the raging river and pays the price, as Lt. Scrub takes off the right leg and torso, sending the smaller machine to the ground. Cylus and a Cicada exchange fire, Cylus taking a medium laser to the rigth arm while the Cicada eats one to the right leg.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Both the Jenner and the Griffin power down. An enemy Stinger tries to cross the river but doesn't quite make it all the way. Those watching just see it splash down several meters short of the shore and then go under water. A Firestarter also doesn't make its jump - the winds swing it around and onto its left leg, hard. An Assassin comes through the woods in front of Scrub's camping spot, and she obliges it with a pair of PPCs and medium lasers. About half the right leg comes off and the mech comes tumbling down. Cylus runs up behind a Locust trying to get by our position, kicking it in the right leg. The impact is a pretty good one, as actuators blow out and the mech staggers to a knee.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

If you want to know why there's a Stinger at the bottom of the lake to the south, don't ask me. I have no idea. The enemy mechwarriors appear to be having some serious trouble with their machines, as the pilot of a Firestarter just shuts his mech down.

Cylus chases down the Cicada, melting armor off its right arm with the large laser. Xwraith jumps on top of a couple of stray tanks and takes a couple of shots at the Locust that Cylus brought to a knee last turn. The large laser hits the cockpit, and then the medium laser cuts through the rear torso section, setting off the machine gun ammo stored there. Xwraith follows up by kicking a nearby Galleon tank, the Thunderbolt's foot exposing the tank's crew to the elements. Hyena helps Xwraith out by cutting a couple of wheels off a nearby Hetzer, immobilizing it.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Hyena steps down from the woods and out of the immobilized Hetzer's firing arc, firing at a Dervish as it runs by. The Dervish takes three lasers across the front, one hitting the head, and another laser from Scrub's Warhammer in the north. That's enough to unbalance the mech and it stumbles, falling to the ground. The mechwarrior blacks out. Cylus drills through the back of the Cicada's armor, but doesn't damage anything critical. Until the Phoenix Hawk's boot crashes through the smaller mech's left leg armor, which blows out a bunch of actuators and drops it to the ground. In this weather, unless you're a really good pilot, you're basically out.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Yep, the Cicada's mechwarrior struggles a little bit then powers down. As our aircraft arrive, the remaining enemy units break and run. Cpt. Scrub orders everyone to conserve ammo, as we'll need it for the next fight. Since we're doing so well anyway, we're going to chase these assholes down and give them what-for. Xwraith runs up behind a Scorpion mech (a quad with a PPC and heat issues), and starts cutting armor off the rear legs, then takes advantage of the weakened armor to kick one of the legs out - the quad flattens against the ground. A Panther jumps next to Scrub, but is momentarily distracted as one of our aircraft buzzes it with a pair of large lasers. Scrub takes the opportunity to laser the enemy mech instead, causing it to fall over.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

As the enemy Orion retreats, it fires a few LRMs at one of our fighters that gets a little too close, landing a few hits. That's about it though. We score a few hits of our own, including a large laser shot by Cylus into the back of a Javelin, which cracks the engine shielding, sending its heat levels spiking.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Hyena gets a little enthusiastic while pursuing the enemy units and gets slightly surrounded, catching a large number of SRMs and a few lasers. The Striker remains upright, however, and kicks the Hetzer underneath, stripping all armor from the left side.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

There's more firing, but not so much armor breaching, until Hyena turns the Striker a little bit to the right and throws a one-two punch at the Javelin, cracking open the center torso and causing the enemy mech to collapse.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

With the Firestarter and Orion having moved out of range, the only two mechs left are the Wolverine and Scorpion, as well as a pair of cowering tanks. The Scorpion may try to cross the river? Good luck with that, buddy. Hyena cuts one of the legs off with a medium laser, then Scrub hits the damaged section with a PPC, setting off the on-board SRM ammo. Well, *some* of the Scorpion crossed the river, anyway.

Spoiler:

The retreating Wolverine doesn't make it. Just as he's about to hop over the river, laser beams from Xwraith and PPCs from Scrub unbalance him, and he falls over, crunching the SRM/6 ammo and going up in smoke.

Our mechwarriors take a few minutes to walk around and "encourage" the mechwarriors in all the damaged mechs to "move to a safer location". Without their mechs. When this storm clears, our salvage crews are going to have a field day. The count is a total of ten mechs. Mostly lights, but a lance of mediums too. Some of them are crap that we're going to sell to the local garrison, but it'll be good to keep some, if for no other reason than to grow our collection.

I'd like to take credit for this victory, but, honestly, the weather conditions killed more enemy mechs than we did.

Which of these should we keep (we can keep all of them)? We'll definitely get about 5.6M for the ones we're not keeping (an assortment of bug mechs and stuff we already have a lot of).

1) Cicada. This is a super-fast 8/12, 40-ton mech. Armament is two medium and a small laser. Armor is ... thin. Great for recon, though. We can sell it for 1.8M.
2) Dervish DV-6M. Archinerd's ride. Good to have a spare. Sells for 2.2M.
3) Jenner JR7-D. 7/11/5, 35 tonner. 4 lasers, 1 SRM/4. We already have one, but it's good to have a spare. Sells for 1.4M
4) Griffin 1N. Yadda yadda PPC and LRM/10. We've got four of these already. We'll probably convert it to a 1S variant for variety's sake. Sells for 2.2M

We currently have ~140M in the bank. For reference, an Awesome runs around 7M if we can find it, similar for a Marauder. So we're not really hard-up for cash, but the more money we make, the faster we can buy another big dropship, or maybe start looking around for jumpships.

[El Guapo]

I would be inclined to keep the Cicada and the Dervish.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Keep cicada and Dervish. Attach a ton of balloons to the Cicada, it's only 40 tons, and there we go, we have the core of our Blimp brigade for Zenn7!

[Freyland]

And a hearty 'congratulations' to that Scorpion from frogs and turtles across the land.

[NickAragua]

While Gamma-One is completely routing a Ronin mech unit, Beta-Three has two problems on their plate: one, they're engaged by a company of Ronin tanks and two, some of the rioters dispersed by the storms earlier make their way to the battlefield (armed to the teeth, mostly with light anti-infantry weapons). As our mechs and the enemy tanks (and two mechs in support) approach, they shoot at both of us and pay the price. Once they dispatch the relatively poorly armed rioters, the enemy force briefly engages Beta-Three, inflicting some damage on our rookie lance, then retreats once our air support arrives, having only lost one light tank. A few of their other units took damage as well, but they'll have them fixed up in no time.

June 28, 3034
As Delta-One waits in their position along the projected route of an enemy tank column (presumably they were going to rendezvous with the group that Gamma-One routed last evening), the night passes, the storm abates and a light fog rolls in. Gamma-One's extraordinary (-ly lucky) success means that they and the air support from their engagement will be able to reinforce Delta-One once the shooting starts here.

The Ronin tank column consists of almost two companies of light and medium tanks, with a lance of mechs providing support (two "classic" Riflemen, a Firestarter and a Griffin). Delta-One's original goal was simply to delay them, but the impending arrival of Gamma-One and air support will shift the balance in our favor dramatically. We may consider turning the tables, depending on how the fight goes.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Delta-One makes visual contact with enemy units, although they're still about two kilometers out, so weapons fire won't be too effective.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The bulk of the enemy force is making their way through these woods, while a group of outriding hovercraft approach us from the north.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

A Warrior helicopter approaches us (to confirm our position?). MadMarcus goes to fire his large laser and cringes as he remembers that the replacement Wolverine only has an AC/5. Freyland and the helicopter exchange some ineffectual fire, with nothing hitting.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The enemy vanguard makes contact with Delta-One. Weapons fire mostly misses, with Archinerd scoring some minor LRM hits on a Scimitar.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Gamma Wing arrives. Madmarcus directs them to fly over the large enemy formation to the east and drop their bombs there. We observe a curious event as a Firstarter leaps forward on jets of flame. When it lands, both of its legs stick into the ground, while the torso continues forward separately. Maintenance issues?

Unfortunately, the bombing run is not very effective, and our aircraft get pretty shot up, while our ground units are unable to capitalize on the momentary distraction.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The skirmishers are holding in place until their heavies get here. We'll have to make the call on whether to fight or withdraw shortly.

Freyland disables a Maxim hover transport after it drops off its load of an infantry platoon. Guess they'll have to walk back. One of our aircraft makes another bombing run and gets shot at some more, but nothing hits hard enough to even rattle it.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Gamma-One arrives to the west. Enemy heavies begin closing in. Our air support disables a Hetzer assault gun rolling in from the northeast. Getting rid of an AC/20 is always welcome. What's not welcome is when the asshat aero jock crashes his fighter after taking a little AA. Well, that's what I get for flying him past two Riflemen.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Those SRM Carriers? They cannot get within nine hexes of us. When they do, we die. Freyland starts clearing the air a little bit by blowing apart a Pegasus hover tank - medium lasers create an armor breach and then SRMs sail right through, detonating the fuel tank. Archinerd breaches armor on and disables a closeby Scimitar with medium lasers and SRMs (giving the LRM launchers a break). He takes a PPC hit and some SRMs from an enemy Griffin, but armor holds.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Well, the heavies are in range. Good thing we set these woods on fire, otherwise, we'd be getting pelted with LRMs and PPCs and who knows what else. Freyland continues his reign of terror over fuel tanks, blowing away a Scorpion as it lets loose its last salvo of LRMs. Cylus takes a weapons salvo from a Rifleman as he rounds a cluster of trees, but maintains concentration and disables a nearby Scimitar hovertank. Our second aircraft comes around for a pass at some tanks in the rear of the enemy formation and eats a full battery of fire from the Behemoth, taking an engine and a cockpit hit. And crashing into a lake. I think it may be time to re-evaluate how I make use of aircraft.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Delta-One moves to the edge of the smoke and engages the enemy units closing in. Freyland fires lasers and SRMs at a nearby Goblin. The heavily-armored tank isn't quite as easy to explode as the lighter units, but one laser goes through the front armor and fries most of the external sensor systems. Archinerd directs fire at a J. Edgar hovertank as it zips by, a stray SRM spraying the crew with shrapnel. Madmarcus engages an enemy tank with the AC/5, then gets pummeled by return fire, going down to the ground. A pretty disappointing round, actually.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Madmarcus has some trouble getting up and stumbles into a flaming patch of forest. Luckily, this model of Wolverine doesn't have issues with heat. Paingod crunches a foot actuator as he jumps over to finish off the J. Edgar, and I seriously begin considering a retreat if we don't get things moving.

Xwraith fires the Thunderbolt's large laser at the SRM Carrier that Cylus is harassing, breaching armor on the left side, which is just as well, because the Phoenix Hawk loses its right arm to long range fire from the Behemoth to the east and a PPC blast from a nearby Manticore. Cylus gives the SRM Carrier a good whack with a boot to send it on its way off the battlefield. Despite foot actuator damage, Paingod manages to crunch through the J. Edgar's rear armor, making a real mess of its engine and motive systems.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Madmarcus carefully gets the Wolverine upright. The fire is heating the mech up something fierce, so he just fires one SRM salvo at the nearby Rifleman, hitting the head and right torso with the spread, bending a medium laser barrel. Freyland helps out as well, nearly destroying the right torso section with laser fire. We exchange more fire with the rest of the enemy units, but most of the damage is superficial.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

Lt. Scrub zeroes in on the second and last SRM Carrier and blows it away with PPC shots. That's a load off our backs. Xwraith pounds a Bulldog with laser and LRM fire, severely damaging treads and front armor - Archinerd capitalizes on the tank's weakness and sends a laser through the front armor, frying a machine gun and giving the crew a breath of fresh air. Madmarcus avoids a remarkable number of SRMs (probably about 70 total) as he steps behind a Rifleman, giving its rear armor the what-for. Any more back shots and that mech is going to have ammo problems. The Wolverine still winds up on the ground for some reason, though.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Our grounded mechs carefully get to their feet. I think we should be able to rout these guys. At this point, the main threats they have are a Manticore, the Behemoth in the east, a Griffin and a Rifleman. Freyland takes aim at the damaged Rifleman, melting through the left leg armor and blowing out the hip actuator with an SRM. Archinerd removes the last of the armor from the rear torso, then Madmarcus takes his shots. It hurts. The medium laser in the left torso is destroyed by a burst from the Wolverine's AC/5, the large laser in the left arm get cut in half by a laser blast, and the SRMs knock out an AC/5 and get into the center torso, cracking the engine and gyro. As the mechwarrior tries to regain balance, Archinerd crunches the left leg and the Rifleman topples. When it hits the ground, the AC/5 ammo explodes. There's not much of it left, but it's still enough to crack the mech in half.

Paingod has to satisfy himself with stomping a couple of infantry who got a little too close and have started pelting our guys with infantry SRMs and laser rifles. Xwraith gets a little bit pounded, which is somewhat disappointing, but manages to remain upright.

Round 15:
Paingod takes careful aim, braving the weapons fire from nearby units and shoots the PPC and LRMs at the Manticore tank in the distance as Archinerd's LRMs crater the heavy tank armor. The PPC breaches the front, and LRMs devastate the internal structure, taking the tank down. Scrub evaporates a Vedette with PPCs while Hyena breaches armor on his target with a burst from the AC/10. The enemy Griffin kicks Paingod, knocking him down to a knee, and the remainder of the enemy force retreats.

Not bad for a couple of days' work. Except for the part where we lost two aircraft. But the salvage should more than offset that.

Still pissed about the Marauder, though.

We sell the remains of the wrecked aircraft to the FRR militia, who knows maybe they'll be able to junk them for spare parts. Same with the tank wrecks after stripping them for armor. And the mechs from the previous battle. The one thing the FRR isn't lacking is money, for some reason. Most of our mechs get fixed up by the end of the week, except for Cylus' Phoenix Hawk, as the arm is a little slow to put back on. Good thing we have a spare.

Cash on hand before the last three engagements: 139M C-Bills
Cash on hand after repairs and selling off salvage: 152M C-Bills

As the week rolls over, riots continue in the nearby factory complex (the storm didn't really address the underlying grievances). The Ronin are pretty quiet though, considering the pasting we gave them last week (losing a company's worth of mechs and twice as many tanks is pretty unpleasant).

In addition to asking us again for help with riot suppression, we get two personnel capture requests from the local government. These two guys have been identified as the ones instigating the riots, so they want us to go in and grab them. The facilities will be defended, but, according to the government rep "it's nothing you guys can't handle".

So, the tasks that the locals want us to accomplish are:
1) Dispatch a lance for riot suppression. Usually, if a riot gets to the point where you need battlemechs to suppress it, somebody hasn't been doing their job. Probably one of the most ethically questionable things an employer can ask a merc to do. We've got the flamers and machine guns for it, just...

2) Capture target #1. Our recon indicates this fellow is sitting pretty inside a Ronin mech base. Grabbing him will also give us a shot at disrupting their ability to send mechs to any of the other nearby operating areas.

3) Capture target #2. Network activity tracking reveals this "person of interest" to currently be in a heavily-fortified location, disrupting allied communications (by hacking their social media web sites or whatever).

None of these three things are technically spelled out as required by our contract. However, it'll be good to poke around the identified facilities - if the Ronin are using them as their bases of operation, we may be able to crush them once and for all.

[LordMortis]

I'm not a fan of being a merc of police action. So if you choose 1 don't use me. (though I imagine my mech is still sans arm)

I see no problems with picking apart a ronin installation for our employer though.

[Zarathud]

Target #1. Disrupt these bastards so we don't have to fight so hard.

[Hyena]

Yeah, I'll shoot at a mech, tank, or plane anytime you want. Its just a giant machine, and it ain't personal. Kinda like a videogame. But people? No thanks. Target #1 (or option 2, if you go by the numbers) is my vote. Any time we get to poke around in a mech base ups our chances at salvage, plus it will cut off the biggest form of resistance when we take it down.

[gbasden]

Agreed. Target 1.

[NickAragua]

"My apologies, governor. You're going to have to find someone else to shoot your civilians. Nowhere in the contract does it specify that *riot control* is part of our duties. We'll contact you when we have one or more of your 'persons of interest'."

The governor begins to fume and rant, but Lt. Scrub disconnects the call.

"You know", she remarks to Hyena, "We sold them like three Firestarters, and a bunch of Locusts and Stingers. They should be able to do riot control themselves."

Hyena shrugs.

July 3, 3034
We tap Delta-One to extract the "person of interest" and recon the mech base. Delta-Three already got a chance to put their Ostscout to use on the other facility, which turned out to be a hive of Ronin activity. Having absolutely no chance to get in there without getting spotted and perforated, they content themselves with getting a detailed count of enemy units and intercepting signal traffic, then getting out.

The mech base is also a hive of enemy activity. There's a heavy lance of enemy mechs, plus two light lances and a lance of garrison tanks. Archinerd reminds the team that they're here for recon and extraction, not a knock-down drag-out fight. "Information is ammunition" and all that. We come in in the dead of night, still tripping alarms and waking everyone up, but the darkness will make it harder for anyone to hit our guys. Four goals here:
- Extract the target, who'll be marked by a low-power beacon that a sympathetic individual placed in his man-purse
- Get a good idea of the layout of the base - garrison, fixed defenses, etc.
- Cause as much damage as is practical
- Get out in one piece

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We actually get pretty close (less than 500 meters) before the locals are able to scramble. We send in a few LRMs to keep heads down, while a couple of AC/2 rounds whizz by harmlessly.

Round 2, 3:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Confusion reigns as we circle around the west side of the mech base. We'll come in from the south so we don't have to have a visit with the large crowd of tanks and mechs milling around the north of the base. Other than using jump jets, it's impossible to move around at a reasonable pace, so that's why the Grasshopper and Wasp are here. Madmarcus takes an AC/2 round and a medium laser shot, but armor holds. The Grasshopper chooses to land in the fire, so he has to hold his large laser. Oh well.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Madmarcus can't resist walking up behind the Grasshopper as it hops after the rest of the lance. The Wolverine's medium laser and SRMs impact solidly, but the Grasshopper is a 70-ton mech, so it'll take a little more than that to bring it down. Archinerd fires some LRMs at a distant AC/2 Vedette, and it stops firing after the missiles impact.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

We break southeast to get into the base and grab who/what we need. Freyland engages a Firestarter up close. The enemy mech is surprised and misses every shot while Freyland's lasers break through the right arm armor. Madmarcus takes some LRMs from a distant Crusader, and hits the Grasshopper with another SRM salvo. Him and Paingod exchange some kicks with the Grasshopper, bringing it down to a knee, so it'll stop hounding us quite so closely. Unfortunately, Freyland goes down to a knee as well.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

We keep moving forward. One of the Wasps blows out a couple of leg actuators as it jumps clear of our push, and the mech goes down to a knee. Freyland gets beat up a little, falling back down to the ground again, but at least manages to cut the Firestarter's right arm off with lasers first.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Freyland gets up and runs as fast as possible to the south, trying to avoid the withering barrage of weapons fire, and manages to get away. Madmarcus takes a few SRMs but armor continues to hold. He gets punched by the nearby Wasp, but then throws a one-two punch of his own, breaking through the smaller mech's center torso armor. While it's distracted, Paingod kicks its left leg out, and the bug mech collapses. To the south, Archinerd lands next to a Locust and breaks its chicken leg, sending it to the ground as well.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

The two downed light mechs are unable to get up, with the Wasp's heat readings spiking as it cracks its engine shielding, while the Locust struggles to a knee. Archinerd scans the nearby building, but is unable to locate our target, taking out his frustration on a nearby rocket launcher barrel. Paingod gets similar results, although he's got one more building section to check. Freyland takes the time to dismember the downed Locust, burning through the right leg with lasers, while Archinerd spares a second to blast off the right torso. The little mech lets out a glowing cloud of steam as it drops back to the ground, its engine almost completely breached. In

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Idle observation: this mech base has seen better days. There's rubble and ruined buildings all over the place. Did we blow it up already, or was that someone else? Regardless, Paingod zeroes in on an infrared signature inside the nearby building and reaches in to grab an individual who appears disappointed that his efforts to hide didn't work out. Well, it would have been easier to hide if you didn't get marked with a strobe. Archinerd and Madmarcus spend some time throwing punches at the nearby building housing a PPC turret, causing severe damage to the structure. At this point, we've got our guy, caused some damage (three severely damaged mechs and one disabled tank, along with minor damage to the base, other mechs and fixed emplacements) and definitely know what's here.

Now it's time to bug out.

Spoiler:

The next several rounds are spent scattering to the south and east edge of the map. Madmarcus and Paingod blow out a couple of actuators, but nothing that prevents their mechs from clearing the area.

The individual we captured talks pretty quickly and confirms that between the base that Delta-One raided and the base that Delta-Three raided, those two facilities house the primary commanders of the Ronin on this planet. We hand him over to the locals once we're done politely asking questions. No need to wait around, we'll be sending our heavy metal in to blow both places to bits come morning, and wrap this contract up.

[NickAragua]

July 4, 3034
Ronin base of operations

The second we confirm our intelligence, Alpha-One and Beta-One head out to destroy the enemy base of operations, a couple of hours from the mech base that Delta-One just raided. Delta-Three is still in the area, so they'll join the party when it starts. Their report is that the base has a light garrison - a lance of tanks and a pair of mechs, in addition to eight fixed gun emplacements.

The wrinkle is that the enemy heavies from the mech base will respond, as will any units out on patrol.

That's ok, we'll get them all at once.

The responding mechs are a mix of mediums and heavies, about a company's worth. Also a pair of assaults - a Cyclops (with AC/20) and a Stalker. The heavies are a Thunderbolt, an Orion, an Ostsol and a Rifleman, and then there's also a pair of Hunchbacks (a swayback and a regular one), a Dervish and a Griffin.

We approach from the north-east, while the enemy mechs approach from the southwest. No crazy weather conditions, no night time. Just us, them, a bunch of turrets and scrubby tanks, and the high gravity.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our heavies approach from the north, while Isgrimnur, El Guapo and LordMortis approach from the east. Delta-Three will be along to help them out in less than a minute, and they don't have much opposition currently, so they should be fine.

Our heavies' first goal is to destroy the triple LRM/20 launcher in the northwest corner of the base. That thing is going to put a lot of dents in our armor if we don't do so quickly. Except it's not "popped up", so we can't see it and have to satisfy ourselves with firing on a lesser LRM/5 turret instead.

Despite orders to conserve ammunition, Isgrimnur takes an unlikely shot at a helicopter buzzing over the base and grazes the rotor with the AC/10. Well, no harm no foul.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

An enemy Javelin jumps out and tries to get the drop on Isgrimnur. El Guapo opens up on it with everything he's got. The dual AC/10s rip into the left and center torso sections, and the little mech's left side comes off, along with a chunk of its engine and gyro. Isgrimnur then finishes it off with an AC/10 burst of his own, coring it out completely. The poor guy only manages to land three SRMs on Isgrimnur's left side, scratching the armor.

Our heavies work the triple LRM/5 turret over. It's a tough structure, but the building looks like it's about to collapse.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

A helicopter pops up and fires SRMs at LordMortis, surprising him throwing off his aim as he fires back at it. We somehow manage to fail to take down the triple LRM/5 turret - heavy damage and the turret throws sparks instead of rotating, but still annoying. The first of the enemy heavies, a Cyclops, joins the party. Zarathud welcomes him with some LRMs to let him know we're there.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The tank garrison engages our heavies at the same time the Cyclops does. Zenn7 fires the three PPCs at the Cyclops, melting all armor off the right arm and damaging actuators on the left arm, while Zarathud scores another LRM salvo hit, peeling armor off the bottom section of the mech. Our Centurion finally destroys the triple LRM/5 turret with a burst from its AC/10, while lasering a nearby Vedette for some minor damage. Stefan runs through the improvised smoke screen, disabling a Scorpion tank with laser fire, then jamming the turret on a nearby Vedette with a kick.

LordMortis fires at the annoying helicopter, winging the rotor and stripping all armor off the left side (not that there was much to begin with) using lasers, conserving AC/20 ammo. El Guapo also gives it a good burst with the AC/10s, but somehow the helicopter remains intact (for certain definitions of the word, anyway - the pilot turns the hell around and zips off). Isgrimnur evaporates the other helicopter with an AC/10 burst, putting an end to enemy aircraft.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Delta-Three streams in from the north. That's where the action is going to be, so that's where we'll need the backup.

Zenn7 blows the Cyclops' left arm off, taking the medium laser with it. He takes an AC/20 round to the right arm, but armor holds. Zarathud and the approaching Orion exchange LRMs, with the Orion coming out slightly ahead. Our Centurion runs up to the LRM/20 turret, beginning to work on the structure. Gbasden and Stefan engage the Vedettes, inflicting solid armor damage but not penetrating any armor. Well, that's not true. Stefan works on one of the Vedettes with a boot, removing armor from the rear section, and the crew goes "barrels up" and retreats. We need to quit screwing around with these tanks though and engage the mechs. Leave the tanks for the lighter units.

Note the Ostscout is already within weapons range. It's that fast.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Cyclops goes to hide behind a building, giving Zenn7 a welcome heat break. The Orion hides as well, waiting for a Griffin and Firestarter to show up, no doubt. Our newly-arrived Jenner disables one of the remaining Vedettes, while the Centurion continues working on the LRM/20 turret, the impact from one of the kicks rattling the crew around.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The opfor continues hiding.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Our Firestarter and Centurion collapse the LRM/20 turret, so now we have a little more room to run around in the north section of the battlefield without getting shot at by 60 LRMs per turn. The Centurion takes some damage from a Firestarter that jumps in and loses armor on the left leg.

To the south, El Guapo, LordMortis and Isgrimnur finish off a tough structure housing a machine gun array and prepare to engage a Grasshopper and Hunchback heading their way.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

It's got to be pretty intimidating when you're in a Jenner and a 90-ton Cyclops comes running around the corner. Even if it's missing one of its arms. The Jenner's left weapons rack goes flying off as the AC/20 round impacts the left torso, forcing it to the ground. However, the heroic little mech does manage to ding the AC/20 on the Cyclops, disabling it. We still have to bid goodbye to our brave mech as the Cyclops stomps on the center torso.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

The Grasshopper to the east makes his move, forgetting that his Hunchback buddy doesn't have jump jets and can't back him up. He scores a couple of laser hits on LordMortis, then eats an AC/20 burst to the left torso. Isgrimnur jumps up, giving himself great line of sight on a large number of LRM-equipped enemy mechs, but most of the missiles don't hit.

The Firestarter harassing our mechs to the north runs off and skids into a building, head first. Good job, numbskull. Gbasden moves to engage the Cyclops, scoring some good hits with PPCs, and sending targeting data to our Centurion and Assassin, who, in an unlikely display, send LRMs over at a high arc to blow off the assault mech's other arm. A stray LRM nails the head, taking out life support and sensors. This leaves the Cyclops with a a single SRM launcher and a single LRM launcher, and he makes an effort to disengage. Our Firestarter disables the last of the Vedettes, so now we can concentrate on the enemy mechs.

The plan is pretty simple: if they won't come out to engage us, we'll level their base from long range.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

The Firestarter manages to extract itself from the building it's stuck in then runs out back, and we see a large cloud of dust puff up. A Griffin pops up to a rooftop to try to take a shot at us. Zenn7 immediately dings it in the head with a PPC, which throws off the enemy mechwarrior's aim.

The Grasshopper jumps over to the left of LordMortis, removing his left torso armor, for which LordMortis retaliates by letting rip with the AC/20 and taking the head off entirely. Isgrimnur's disappointment at not getting to smack the enemy mech with a hatchet is palpable.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

It's the Orion's turn. We flush him out, and fill the air with PPCs, lasers and autocannon rounds. Meanwhile, the smug bastard levels the AC/10 at our Centurion's head and blows it off. We do apply enough damage to knock him over, however.

Our Firestarter passes targeting data on a PPC turret to Stefan, who fires an LRM salvo at it. The fifteen-missile barrage plows through the thin armor at the top of the gun emplacement and the barrel stops tracking our units. "Turret crew eliminated", reports the Firestarter.

To the east, El Guapo engages the enemy Hunchback, both mechs firing everything they've got. El Guapo comes away with an AC/20-induced left torso armor breach, while the Hunchback winds up on the ground after multiple autocannon shot impacts.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The Hunchback has some trouble getting up and the mechwarrior blacks out after two attempts. Isgrimnur rattles the head around to make sure he stays down.

Zenn7 fires at the Orion as it comes charging out, scoring another head shot. Gbasden also contributes a PPC shot and some lasers, while our Firestarter fires its large and small lasers. The Orion goes down to the ground again, and the Firestarter's mechwarrior breathes a sigh of relief, as a kick from a 70-ton mech is not usually something that you look forward to if you're driving a 35-tonner. Our smaller mech takes the opportunity to careful walk around and put a boot through the larger mech's head, taking it out of the fight.

Zarathud delivers eighteen LRMs to the enemy Firestarter as it jumps out of the building wreckage, breaching armor on both arms and snapping a couple of actuators. Stefan takes an armor breach on the right leg, then blows the Firestarter's arm off with a laser. His LRM ammo bin goes 'click' as he fires the last of the missiles into the smaller mech.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

The Dervish, Firestarter and Griffin pull back, having lost the Orion. Stefan turns to take the Dervish's lasers on his left, giving everyone else the chance to pummel the enemy mech. After taking two PPCs and a large number of LRMs, it falls over. To the east, El Guapo and Isgrimnur begin working on the central cluster of turrets.

Round 15:

Spoiler:

The Firestarter appears to have had enough and pulls out to the west. The Dervish gets up and tries to step aside, but between three PPC shots from Zenn7 and an eighteen-pack of LRMs from Zarathud, the mech's structural integrity doesn't hold up and it gives out, falling to the ground.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

The Firestarter pilot gets a little too enthusiastic and steps onto the building that Zarathud was standing on, causing both mechs to fall to the ground. Zarathud takes some damage to one of his arm actuators. Annoying. Zenn7 fires at an LRM/10 turret from long range, jamming the loading mechanism for one of the launchers. Our Assassin runs into a Griffin, but the heavier mech has a disadvantage at close range, so the Assassin does ok. Until the Griffin whacks the smaller mech in the leg, causing it to blow out two actuators.

Round 17:

Spoiler:

An enemy Thunderbolt engages LordMortis from long range with LRMs, scoring a few hits. Zenn7 disables an LRM/10 turret, and then LordMortis finishes it off. Gbasden and Stefan get into a brawl with the Griffin. The nimble mech avoids a lot of Gbasden's ordnance, but not all of it. Incoming fire from Zarathud and Stefan strips armor from the lighter mech's arms, although it does cause heavy damage to Zarathud's right arm. The mechwarrior is unable to stay balanced, however, falling over and cracking the housing on its PPC. Gbasden gives him a good kick, nearly breaking off the left leg.

Round 18:

Spoiler:

Things are relatively quiet - a few of our mechs continue blasting away at a quad medium laser turret, but otherwise, it's a good time to cool off. The Griffin staggers to its feet and limps away. We let him go - bigger fish to fry.

Round 19:
Similar to the previous round. Our mechs are now in the center of the facility, laying waste to remaining defenses.

Round 20:

Spoiler:

Continued firing at the central building reduces it to rubble, especially after some kind of ammo storage goes off.

Round 21:

Spoiler:

An enemy Thunderbolt moves forward, trying to take our units out. We've been waiting for that and dog pile on him and the remaining SRM/6 turret. Stefan takes a small salvo, armor holding up. Zenn7 then proceeds to blast the turret with PPCs, disabling both of the barrels and stunning the crew. Isgrimnur jumps in behind the Thunderbolt, blasting through the rear torso section with the AC/10. LordMortis works on the enemy mech's front, absorbing a couple of SRMs while delivering an AC/20 blast to the front. The Thunderbolt remains standing, and Isgrimnur is unable to capitalize on its vulnerability, the hatchet swing connecting with a leg instead of the weak rear torso armor.

Our Firestarter has an unfavorable exchange with an enemy Rifleman, losing an arm to an alpha strike.

However, with their base in ruins, the remaining enemy mechs decide to call it a day. We're not really in a position to pursue - the remainder is a relatively fresh lance, while we've got holes in armor everywhere and our ammo is close to gone. Our salvage crews stay busy. We may have lost a Jenner, but the Centurion is restorable. Plus, we're picking up an Orion and a Grasshopper, along with a bunch of wrecked tanks.

We get word that Beta-Two and Beta-Three have taken the enemy mech base - thanks to Delta-One's earlier work, the opposition was pretty light and they encountered little difficulty. With their technical support, infrastructure and command center in our hands, the remaining enemy mechs can't accomplish much of anything, and go dark. Or try to - some of the local forces track them down within the week and they surrender. This marks the end of Ronin activity on this planet, and brings our contract to completion. As we prepare to pack it in and burn for orbit, we get a curious call.

"Major, this is Daniel Simms of the People's Liberation Force. We appreciate your people not shooting at civilian demonstrators. Now, we know your contract stipulates nearly total salvage rights, so we'd like to ask you for another favor. We've got the local government on the ropes, and, if you guys were to sell the last of your salvage to us, rather than them, it'll really make a difference. We can't really offer you more than they can, but, we can promise you we won't be using the gear you sell us to shoot at civilians. What do you say?"

Selling the salvage (an assortment of tanks, scrapped mechs and weapon mounts) will probably yield around 3M, while the "People's Liberation Force" offers about 10% less. They also ask if we'd be willing to sell them the salvaged Orion, for a healthy 2.8M (but still less than market price back on Outreach). We have very little idea as to who's done what when it comes to local politics. It's true that the local planetary governor asked us to fire on civilian protesters, but, then again, the only difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is who's writing the history book.

So, do we sell our salvage to the rebels at a slight loss? Or do we just sell the crap to the local government and keep the extra Orion for ourselves?

[El Guapo]

Wouldn't selling arms to the rebels constitute a breach of contract? If not, the FRR has to get better lawyers.

Also, we aren't done with the contract, are we? If so, selling arms to the rebels, even if it isn't a contract breach, seems unwise.

In general my reaction is to give the rebels and "attaboy" for being slightly less evil than their opponents, but otherwise to carry on normally.

[NickAragua]

The contract was completed for both practical and legal purposes once the Ronin surrendered. So, there's no more contract to breach. At this point, we're done with this planet and are packing up our equipment to load up into the dropships and burn for the jump point.

[Isgrimnur]

1.4M from both, we leave it in a pile in the wilderness and send them both the coordinates once we clear orbital defense range.

[Hyena]

What variant of Orion is it? A 70-tonner is nothing to sneeze at, in my opinion.

Can we not combine the two options, sell the crap to the rebels and keep the Orion? I'm kinda done with a government that asked us to control their own people. If they can't do it, maybe they shouldn't be in control...

[NickAragua]

What variant of Orion is it? A 70-tonner is nothing to sneeze at, in my opinion.

Can we not combine the two options, sell the crap to the rebels and keep the Orion? I'm kinda done with a government that asked us to control their own people. If they can't do it, maybe they shouldn't be in control...

Heh, that's probably why the rebels want it.

It's the "classic", ON1-K. Heavy armor, AC/10, LRM/15, 2x medium laser, 1x SRM/4. The only reason I'm considering selling it off is because we already have one. But then again you can never have enough upper-end heavy mechs.

[Zenn7]

Other than we get less cash supporting the rebels, is there any other pro/con to taking one side of the other? (Moral thoughts aside - esp as we have no reason to believe these rebels will be any more nice to the people than the current regime.

Looking forward to seeing how our new profit sharing thing works out now that we have a completed our first contract.

[NickAragua]

Other than we get less cash supporting the rebels, is there any other pro/con to taking one side of the other? (Moral thoughts aside - esp as we have no reason to believe these rebels will be any more nice to the people than the current regime.

Whoever wins the no-doubt upcoming civil war will probably put in a good word for us with the central Rasalhague government if we help them out. As to who will win? It's tough to tell. We did most of the fighting against the Ronin, and when the local forces (government or rebels) engaged alongside us, they deployed inferior equipment and took heavy casualties every time. So they're neither of them strategic or tactical geniuses. Most of the salvage we gave out to the local garrison was complete crap - wrecked tanks and hovercraft. We've also been selling light and medium mechs (heavily damaged or good only for spare parts) on the local market, and there's no way of telling who actually bought them up (and we don't particularly care). The last batch of salvage is a lance of crappy disabled tanks and assorted weapons systems salvaged from fixed emplacements. Perhaps the rebels intend to mount PPCs and autocannons on the back of pickup trucks and think that'll be enough. Finally, we're actually not really sure which faction the Ronin guys surrendered to, either, but that's a lance of heavy and assault mechs. So whoever has those holds the balance of power.

[gbasden]

I'd lean towards giving the rebels the weapons and keeping the Orion, but I don't have strong feelings either way.

[Freyland]

We're mercenaries-- this doesn't mean we don't have a moral compass, but there is no obvious good guy here. And as mercenaries, we care greatly about our reputation. If we support the local government and they come out on top, we retain direct positive reputation. And even if the local government loses, the rest of the FRL will still think fondly of us.

Sell to the local government, keep the Orion or sell, Dealer's choice.

Also thank you again for continued excellence at Battletech Storytime.

[El Guapo]

I'd say keep the Orion and sell the rest to the highest bidder. It's great that the rebels seem like mildly nicer people, but 99% of the time armed rebels are just tyrants waiting for their turn. Plus, like, I know role-playing wise that we don't know this, but most of them are going to get killed in a few years anyhow.

[NickAragua]

We remain on-world for another week, repairing damage to our mechs and aircraft. We arrange for the release of remaining Ronin prisoners to the local authorities, and spend some time thinking about what to do with our last salvage. We definitely decide to keep the Orion. As for the disabled Vedettes and "used mech chassis", there's no real consensus. So, we do something along the lines of what Isgrimnur and El Guapo suggested - we hold an auction for interested parties. In the end, the crap goes for about 3M. Our techs wheel it out of the Mule and we wait for the buyers to clear the landing pad before lifting off for our jumpship rendezvous.

Officer bonus payouts are as follows:
Archinerd: 50k c-bills (4 missions, 1 strategic objective, no mechs lost)
Gbasden: 57.5k c-bills (3 missions, 2 strategic objectives, 1 mech lost)
Lt. Scrub: 50k c-bills (4 missions, 1 strategic objective, no mechs lost)
Zenn7: 37.5k c-bills (2 missions, 2 strategic objectives, 1 mech lost)

Plus, an extra 10k early contract completion bonus for everyone.

The NPC officers get payouts as well, but they are less, and I don't want to bother calculating them.

Current war chest: 176.5M C-Bills.

El Guapo finds a Black Knight for sale, but no Marauders. For those who are unfamiliar, a Black Knight dates all the way back to the Star League. Of course, the tech is crappier nowadays, but it's still a well-known 70-ton mech. Packing a PPC, two large lasers and four medium lasers, there's no way in hell it can fire all that stuff, seeing as how it only has twenty heat sinks. Bracket fire is the order of the day (PPC and large lasers at long range, swap out the PPC for the medium lasers at point blank range). We'll pass on it for now, as I don't really like the design.

On the galactic front, it looks like the Ronin Wars are heating up. The Free Rasalhague Republic We get two extremely crappy contract offers from the Free Rasalhague Republic as we dock with the jumpship, both objective raids. One with 30% salvage rights, one with a whopping 0%. Let me think about that, how about no. Still, all said and done, the ongoing hostilities between the FRR and the renegade Draconis Combine forces should provide us with a series of good paydays. So, we set course for the capital world, Rasalhague. We'll have Zarathud's replacement Awesome shipped there as well. By the time we get there, replacement of the destroyed avionics systems on our fighters finishes. We refit two out of our five Griffins to the 1S model to give them a little variety. At this point, we're in pretty good shape.

We also order a pair of fighters to replace losses we took in the last campaign. A Slayer SL-15 (packing two thirds as much armor as the Lucifer, an AC/10 and six medium lasers), and a Corsair CSR-V12 (similar characteristics to a Slayer, but large nose lasers). The next month in transit doesn't bring in any better contract offers, either - salvage rights on all contract offers are complete crap. It seems that the FRR has wised up to the fact that they need to have actual equipment for their military. We're also getting contract offers from the Draconis Combine itself against the Ronin, but they're offering similarly poor salvage rights. So, we hold out for another month.

It seems that, after their issues with merc units trying to take advantage of them, the FRR wants to keep a tighter leash on their "contractors". We get another contract offer that may be worth considering.

Planetary Assault on planet Vipaava (just a jump away from Rasalhague)
100% transport coverage (free ride for all of one jump)
60% exchange salvage rights
100% straight support
Green/D allies
Regular/F opposition
House command
100k estimated total profit
4 months contract duration

The newly-organized Third Drakons has been ordered to retake the planet from Ronin forces, as it's a bit embarrassing to have the world next to your capital be taken over by a bunch of renegades. During the negotiations, the FRR rep refuses to budge on either salvage or command rights. On the plus side, Vipaava is a standard Terran world, very close to 1G, 22 degrees celsius, breathable atmosphere, all that jazz. The downside is that while we'll be paid for what we salvage, we won't be keeping any of it. Additionally, the allied forces are a) wet behind the ears and b) will be directing our activities much more closely than what we're used to. If we accept, our role will basically be to form both the spearhead and provide the solid core of the invasion force. So, in other words, we'll be doing all the work while babysitting a bunch of snot-nosed rookies. Sounds familiar.

But on the other hand, it's a lot of money.

Also, RE: the Banshee.

We can refit it to a 3M variant, which turns it from a joke to a heat-sensitive critter with two PPCs and two medium lasers.
We can also refit it to the Free Worlds League-designed 3Q, which has a single AC/20 with four tons of ammo. And that's it.
Next, and this is probably the best option, we can refit it to a 3S variant. It's a newer design, which downgrades the engine to enable the installation of a total of two PPCs, an AC/10, quad of medium lasers and an SRM launcher. This makes it a real assault mech, although it does lose the uncharacteristic speed.
Finally, one of our techs suggests (with Isgrimnur nodding and smiling), ditching the PPCs on the 3S for a large laser and LRM/10 rack, and adding a hatchet.

So, to what do we refit the Banshee, and do we take the planetary assault contract or hold out for something better?

[LordMortis]

We're mercenaries-- this doesn't mean we don't have a moral compass, but there is no obvious good guy here. And as mercenaries, we care greatly about our reputation. If we support the local government and they come out on top, we retain direct positive reputation. And even if the local government loses, the rest of the FRL will still think fondly of us.

This. I won't fire on civilians but I'll show more... flexibility when it comes to sales of arms that could be purchased from virtually anywhere. I'm not propping up regimes nor am I freedom fighter. So you do what you want. Get me paid and don't make me out to be a rat.

[El Guapo]

Re: the Banshee, definitely convert it to a 3S. I'd personally prefer the two PPCs over a large laser and an LRM10.

I'd take the planetary assault contract. Seems like an adequate contract for now.

[LordMortis]

Two PPCs.... or one AC20?

Though I must admit "and that's it" sounds off for such a large mech.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Banshee_(BattleMech)

What the heck does it do with all those heatsinks for just one AC20? Where is the upside?

[El Guapo]

Two PPCs.... or one AC20?

Though I must admit "and that's it" sounds off for such a large mech.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Banshee_(BattleMech)

What the heck does it do with all those heatsinks for just one AC20? Where is the upside?

The deal with the Banshee, as I understand it, is that it's an assault-class mech that moves about as fast as a light mech. The trick is the way that the engineers get that to work is basically to make 80% of the mech the engine, leaving little room or weight for, you know, weapons. Hence you get stuck with something like just the one AC/20, and why the variants that Nick describes that add actual weaponry necessarily involve downgrading the engine.

It's not nothing that you can run up to an enemy mech, blast him with an AC/20, and then kick and punch with an assault mech worth of weight. But that's about all you can do. There's a reason why the Banshee never really saw much service at any point in the stories.

[Cylus Maxii]

Given our company size and bank account, 100k profit for 4 months doesn't really seem like a good contract at all. Given the crappy allies and command - maybe pass on this one and either wait another month or move along to another area?

[El Guapo]

Given our company size and bank account, 100k profit for 4 months doesn't really seem like a good contract at all. Given the crappy allies and command - maybe pass on this one and either wait another month or move along to another area?

Actually, one question - is the "exchange salvage rights" in addition to the 100K estimated profit, or is that part of it? I had assumed that the estimated profit was based on our straight fee for completing the mission (and that any money from salvage would be on top of that) - is that correct or not?

[NickAragua]

"Exchange salvage rights" would be on top of the 100k that we get paid straight up. So, whatever we capture, we get 60% of the appraised value. There's not really a way to predict how much salvage we'll acquire, so it's not part of the 100k estimate. Last contract, we made about 29M off of selling salvage at a 90% salvage rate (we would have made another 10-15M easily but we kept a bunch of the mechs).

Also, "supplementary review" of the contract indicates that the 100k profit estimate should be 100M (aka 100,000,000 as opposed to 100,000). We'll have to fire our accountant, or send him to remedial math/reading school.

[xwraith]

100 million, now you have my attention.

Anyway we can manipulate those who intend on being in charge?

[gbasden]

100 million, now you have my attention.

Anyway we can manipulate those who intend on being in charge?

Hey, we've already had one friendly fire incident...

[Cylus Maxii]

Well, that's a thousand times better. Let's take it!

[xwraith]

100 million, now you have my attention.

Anyway we can manipulate those who intend on being in charge?

Hey, we've already had one friendly fire incident...

You have to admit an ac/20 can be a moving experience.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Nothing says "I'm thinking of you" more than an ac/20 to the back

[Zenn7]

Officer bonus payouts are as follows:
Archinerd: 50k c-bills (4 missions, 1 strategic objective, no mechs lost)
Gbasden: 57.5k c-bills (3 missions, 2 strategic objectives, 1 mech lost)
Lt. Scrub: 50k c-bills (4 missions, 1 strategic objective, no mechs lost)
Zenn7: 37.5k c-bills (2 missions, 2 strategic objectives, 1 mech lost)

We were there about 3 months? So ~36.5k for our fearless leader Gbasden, plus 57.5K bonus pay = ~94k.

Our Sergeant majors got ~36k/mo * 3 months = 108K.

Our Master Sergeant latrine digger El Guapo got ~30k/mo * 3 months = 90K.

Err.... I think me and the other officers need to revisit this bonus/pay structure.

Either that or I think I want to be a Sergeant Major since he makes more than our commanding officer (who makes more than me).

Am I missing something here?

Still enjoying your epic novelization of your game immensely, just trying to understand the logic/mechanics of this part as it seems off. Hope you don't mind the trivial nitpicky question.

[Zenn7]

The 100K contract sounds good to me. Gotta do something besides sit around and expend our coffers on salaries...