Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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El Guapo
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

This is really a banner time all around for Riflemen not blowing up.

I'd lean towards sending some additional dudes to assist the dropship defense.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

It's been a few days, so the factory garrison is likely to have reinforced, and they probably have patrols out to intercept our units. So, the expected opposition is whatever we didn't blow up completely (the disabled tanks can most likely be repaired, but fixing the results of a fuel explosion is unlikely, nor is fishing a drowned hovertank out of a river), plus any reinforcements.

The dropship? Well, it's unlikely to be too much help, being a (as the Steiner rep grudgingly admits) Gazelle. A Gazelle is a crappy little tank carrier (able to carry fifteen tanks up to 50 tons each) with little long-range firepower. However, it's got a huge cargo bay (a little over 800 tons). If the locals attack, they'll probably bring enough forces to overpower the dropship and a potential full complement of tanks. So, we're probably looking at two or three companies of tanks.

The more maneuverable units are definitely better suited to mountainous terrain.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 7, 3031
We deploy Delta lance to defend the dropship, with Alpha standing by in case backup is needed. Beta is detailed to raid the factory. However, they spot a significant enemy force vectoring towards the dropship's location. Zenn7 gives the order to give chase and our lance spends the night running the enemy down, catching up to them after daybreak. The opfor obviously has somewhere better to be (such as shooting at a downed dropship) as they don't stop to engage, and it becomes a running battle in the downtown of some city whose name we don't really much care to learn.

Beta is Zenn7 in the Awesome, Hyena in the Striker, the "green rookie" in the Blackjack and Stefan in a Griffin.

The enemy unit being chased is a mix of light and medium tanks and hovercraft (about two companies worth in total) with a lance of mechs. We'll be picking away at the trailing elements of the force, but probably will have to handle most of them when they get to the dropship. The rain makes shooting a little more difficult than we'd like, but such is life. Once they clear this urban area, it's clear going until the mountains and our mechs won't be able to keep up.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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Well, this isn't going to be the best. Looks like most of the hovercraft have already cleared the area. We've been watching the Trebuchet to the right struggle through a bunch of buildings, and it limps out onto the street. Hyena swings his torso to the right as it fires a salvo of lasers and LRMs - he dodges most of it then lets rip with the autocannon and PPC to strip the last of the armor off its already damaged left torso, then adds a medium laser. It spikes his heat slightly but the beam pops off the left arm then heats up the LRM ammo bin to the point of explosion. That's one mech down.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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On the east highway, a lone Partisan attempts to screen its escaping buddies, firing its quad AC/5s at Hyena. Hyena and the Blackjack reply, scoring some minor damage but nothing serious. To the west, an enemy Wolverine and Hetzer do the same thing. The Hetzer eats LRMs from Stefan, its wheels getting all wobbly after an impact. The Wolverine fires a symbolic AC/5 blast while taking a PPC shot from Zenn7.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 knocks the wheels off the damaged Hetzer, rendering it immobile. Stefan fires some LRMs at a more distant target but only craters the ground around it.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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Weapons fire is pretty disappointing. Stefan is annoyed at having to dodge LRMs even though the Hetzer is disabled, so he gives the tank a boot, knocking one of the launchers out of action.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
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More of the same. That Partisan really does a number on Hyena's paintjob, while we're unable to land any meaningful hits.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
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With nowhere to go on the highway, Hyena has some serious trouble dodging the Partisan's fire. Thankfully, his armor holds. The Blackjack finally puts a stop to the non-stop stream of autocannon rounds, breaching the tank's armor with lasers and stunning the crew. Zenn7 is distracted by the Hetzer's continued insistence on firing LRMs and closes in to physical range to flatten it out (and also, incidentally, clear the way so he can run past).

Round 13:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 breaches the left torso on the Wolverine as it hops backwards, while the Blackjack and Hyena focus on a damaged Hetzer to the north.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
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The Partisan crew recovers, firing at Hyena as he passes by. Hyena and Blackjack continue working on the damaged Hetzer, breaching its armor. The Blackjack spares a boot for the Partisan, permanently putting an end to the AC/5 projectile stream.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 shoots past Stefan and the Wolverine, evaporating the front section of a Scorpion tank. The Blackjack sends four medium laser beams at the damaged Hetzer in front of it, coring out the front section. Stefan sends LRMs at an escaping Hetzer, but it's just too far out - a few hit, but not enough to prevent the tank from exiting the city limits.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
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Stefan and the enemy Wolverine continue hopping along the street, firing at each other - Stefan comes out ahead. Hyena and the Blackjack breach armor on an escaping Bulldog, but the tank manages to clear the area.

Round 17:
Spoiler:
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The Wolverine jock is clever and jump jets to the side a little just as Zenn7 draws another bead on him. Stefan unloads on the building to try to bring it down, but no luck - the Wolverine hops off just before the building would have collapsed.

As both forces leave the area, the Steiner guys dispatch their salvage crews to the site to pick up what little scrap remains (basically, four tank wrecks good only for spare parts).

So, yeah. We only managed to destroy a lance out of two companies' worth of tanks. And a mech. A couple of the tanks got away with heavy damage, as did the Wolverine. Still, Delta is definitely going to need Alpha's backup, as the two lances (plus dropship and our infantry squad) will be facing almost 40 tanks plus a medium mech lance.

Beta is a little bit beat up (especially Hyena's Striker) - no armor breaches, but the armor's looking a little thin. If they force march instead of heading back to base for repairs and reloads, they can probably help out defending the dropship. Should they?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

I know I took some shots, but how bad is it really? If we help out, we'd still be mopping up any stragglers and any trying to retreat, yes? Most of them would be focusing fire on the dropship and defenders, so it should be a turkey shoot, or at least a distracted opfor?

How vital is the raid on the factory at this time? They seem to have severely depleted their defenses, so it seems like that would be an easy slaughter if we continued on there, unless they aren't drawing from the same pool of resources...

If it would be a successful pincer move, and we could make a second run on the factory at a later date, I say we press on to help out at the dropship.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Armor's in the yellow - left torso and right arm have 7 and 8 pips left respectively, everything else can still take a PPC hit or two no problem.

The units that Beta just engaged definitely didn't come from the factory, so it probably still has a full garrison. We have until the beginning of September to carry out the factory raid (jumpship doesn't come back until then, so we're here for the duration whether we get the autocannon prototypes and blueprints or not). The factory's not going anywhere, either.

Most likely, Beta would be coming up behind the forces attacking the dropship, so your assessment of that option as a pincer move is correct.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

Where is Cylus M II assigned? Last I read he was in Beta lance when we hit the drop ship. Is he out injured or something?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

The mech's left arm was blown off, and we're not quite desperate enough yet to start deploying half-destroyed mechs.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

Thanks for the update!

Huh - you'd think Phoenix Hawk arms would be a dime a dozen. Its such a common mech. This planet must be a total backwater shitball. FWIW - I will buy the beer to bribe the techs if we can somehow get the parts. You'd think that one of the advantages of having a mech with hands is that it can pick up things and carry them back to be re-attached.

Is there any chance that I can talk one of the computer techies into loading a Dance, Dance, Revolution mod into the jumpjet simulator? I want to work on my moves while waiting for my mech to get repaired.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

By "blown off", I meant completely destroyed. Those dropship LRMs hit hard. Normally, yeah, you can get a PXH arm for free when you buy a large coffee at the nearby Steiner Donut Shack, but we're on an extraction raid on a hostile planet, so the locals aren't going to be trading with us.

Good news, though, one of the mechs that just got away from Beta and is running towards the Steiner dropship is a Phoenix Hawk, so if we blow it away, we can hook your mech up with a spare arm.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:11 pm By "blown off", I meant completely destroyed. Those dropship LRMs hit hard. Normally, yeah, you can get a PXH arm for free when you buy a large coffee at the nearby Steiner Donut Shack, but we're on an extraction raid on a hostile planet, so the locals aren't going to be trading with us.

Good news, though, one of the mechs that just got away from Beta and is running towards the Steiner dropship is a Phoenix Hawk, so if we blow it away, we can hook your mech up with a spare arm.
QUICK EVERYONE! AIM FOR THE ARMS!!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 8, 3031
As Delta lance sets up around the dropship, a light fog rolls in, which is great, as it'll slow down enemy hovercraft as they try to navigate.

The initial enemy force begins their attack, looks like those guys that shot up Alpha last week. There's the Zhukov heavy tank, a couple of Manticores, some LRM Carriers and a few hovercraft. Beta lance is in pursuit of the rest of the enemy force, and both will arrive in a little over a minute, just after Alpha gets in position around the dropship. Big surprise, they're not carrying any combat vehicles to help out. At least their weapons are working.

This is pretty much all hands on deck.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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There's a fairly deep valley between the dropship and the enemy force. Very scant cover, but we've got an advantage in ranged weapons. Once we take down those LRM Carriers and Manticores, anyway. Freyland and Paingod send a couple of LRM salvos south, but to no effect.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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The enemy units advance, although their heavies lag behind. Probably waiting for the rest of their buddies to show up. A Laser Carrier moves a little too slowly and takes a full spread of LRMs from Archinerd's Dervish, slipping its treads and coming to an awkward stop near a steep dropoff.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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A Pegasus speeds up a narrow gulch towards the dropship, to emerge directly into line of sight of Freyland's lasers, the damage from which deflates the thin air cushion separating the hovercraft from the ground, causing it to eat dirt. Madmarcus and the Gazelle plow more ordnance and beams into said Pegasus, making sure it stays down. Paingod draws a bead on an advancing SRM Carrier, hitting it in the right side with a PPC and some LRMs, disabling it. Archinerd fires missiles over the hill, using targeting data provided by the concealed infantry, and finishes it off.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Freyland and Madmarcus jump back out of range of the enemy heavies, as there's not really any reason to eat a bunch of LRMs. A Saladin and LTV-4 advance and weave out of the way of most of the fire directed at them.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd and Paingod have a pretty good firing position, while Freyland and Madmarcus screen our position. The Gazelle's front-mounted LRM/20 launcher lets loose a barrage at the Saladin just at maximum range, immobilizing the hovertank. Madmarcus finishes it off with a pinpoint large laser shot. Freyland's lasers would have hit too, but the vehicle is in pieces by that point. Archinerd plows LRMs into a Galleon, blasting through the right side armor and severely damaging the drive train. It's not disabled, but it turns around and begins slowly crawling back to the south, treads flapping as it goes. The return fire from the enemy is pretty ineffective, except for a PPC shot to Madmarcus' left leg.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Our aim is extraordinarily bad this round, as we whiff just about every shot, except for a couple of Archinerd's LRMs that ding off a Saracen's turret armor. The LTV-4 continues picking on Madmarcus, zapping him in the left arm with the PPC while he's busy dodging a 60-LRM flight from a distant LRM Carrier.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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Alpha lance arrives, and Beta informs us that they (and the swarm of bad guys) are about 10 seconds out. Last chance to clear out some of the little hovercraft before the storm really hits. We uh, could have done better. Archinerd's LRMs maul the LTV-4, damaging its propulsion fans but not putting it out of action completely, while Freyland takes a shot at a distant LRM Carrier, damaging its armor and motive systems. LRMs and PPCs come screaming in at LordMortis' Hunchback, causing it to stagger but not fall.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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Hoo boy. And that's just the eastern half of the board, which erupts in ordnance as both Beta and the main enemy force charge in.

Archinerd continues firing away at the LTV-4, immobilizing it with an LRM salvo. The crew abandon the craft, which is just as well, since that PPC was getting to be really annoying.

To his great relief, Isgrimnur dodges a sixty-pack of LRMs. Freyland targets the launching LRM Carrier and dings it with some LRMs of his own, knocking the crew around a little bit in their tin can.

Zenn7's attention is attracted by an AC/5 round pinging off his left arm as he moves north. He turns left and disintegrates the offending Condor with three PPC blasts. A Saracen fires SRMs at him, and Hyena dings it with a PPC, damaging the skirt with a medium laser. Zenn7 actually takes some non-trivial fire, but manages to keep his mech upright. The flurry of kicks and punches rips off armor but does little meaningful damage.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd switches targets to the center, blowing away a Harasser mounting a bunch of lasers. Other than that, surprisingly and disappointingly enough, it's mostly whiffing and armor stripping, although Zenn7 takes a hit to the foot actuator, which is annoying. The nearby Stinger keeps zapping him with the medium laser and little machineguns, and he's finally had enough of it and takes the bug mech's head off with his giant fist. The mechwarrior doesn't even have time to blink. To the south, Hyena stomps on a Vedette, sending the main gun flying off as the vehicle cracks in two.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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Looks like a hovercraft push. Paingod aims south, zapping a Harasser with the PPC - the energy beam passes directly through the center of the hovertank, taking out just about every vital system along with all the internal structure.

Freyland continues his "duel" with the LRM Carrier to the far south, scoring some solid hits. Then, our Blackjack pilot decides enough is enough and breaches the vehicle's armor with an AC/2 ping.

The opfor focuses mostly on Isgrimnur, kicking up dirt and armor chunks as SRMs and LRMs fly around. He manages to keep a bead on his target, cracking another Harasser open with his PPC.

To the southeast, Zenn7 plows PPC shots into a Saracen while Hyena nails a Pegasus (and delivers a non-fatal kick to a nearby Vedette). With the armor cracked open and the motive fans destroyed, the hovertank gently settles down. Actually, both of them. Zenn7 takes a bunch of hits though, breaching his center torso armor and forcing the mech to a knee. The right arm armor disappears as well under an SRM onslaught.

Even the dropship gets in on the action, firing its LRMs on a Saracen, damaging its turret-mounted LRM launcher.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
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I hate to give up the Awesome's firepower, but a center torso armor breach doesn't really leave me much choice. Zenn7 goes prone, taking cover behind the ridge line to the east.

This time, Isgrimnur isn't so lucky, and catches eighteen out of sixty LRMs, including one to the dome. He's fine though.

To the southeast, Hyena continues working on the Vedettes, blasting one with his AC/10 and following up with three medium lasers, completely disabling it. Then he kicks the one he kicked only a few seconds ago, this time snapping off just enough of its left side that his foot gets caught in the engine compartment and comes away with most of the engine block.

Round 12:
Center:
Spoiler:
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Southeast:
Spoiler:
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It looks like we're going to have to abandon Archinerd and Paingod's great camping spot - the fight has moved out of their LRM range.

Archinerd makes good use of his LRMs by breaching a Saladin's left side armor and damaging a fan.

Alpha lance and the close combat elements of Delta advance. Freyland targets a damaged Saracen, finishing it off with medium lasers and SRMs. Xwraith hops next to a Harasser, taking it apart with medium lasers.

To the southeast, one of the remaining Vedettes makes the mistake of wandering into Zenn7's line of sight, and he makes it pay for it by melting through the armor with all three PPCs. The engine begins to belch out smoke instead of working. Hyena and the Blackjack team up on an LRM bulldog, with a PPC and AC/2 rounds breaching armor and damaging treads.

Xwraith and LordMortis absorb a lot of fire but keep their mechs upright despite it.

Madmarcus jumps in to engage the enemy Phoenix Hawk. The two mechs exchange kicks, with Madmarcus losing armor and a heat sink while the Pixie takes damage to the foot actuator and has to take a knee.

The enemy force routs. They lay down a barrage of fire as they retreat to cover the units caught out in the center of the battlefield. Madmarcus looks on with derision as his opponent Phoenix Hawk struggles to its feet then fires up its jump jets and zips away. "Get back here, you slippery little bastard, we need your arms to fix one of our mechs!".

We took a lot of hits, but it was mostly armor damage. Still kind of obnoxious, since repairing all that used about 1/3 of our armor stock. Hopefully the Steiner guys don't have any more dropships that we don't know about that'll need rescuing. The Gazelle fixes up their damage (while salvage crews haul the tank wrecks and prisoners inside), fires up their engines and relocates to our base camp. Good work all around, the enemy never even got close, and, thanks to the pincer, we really took a big chunk out of their skirmisher units (and even got a couple of the heavies).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 15, 3031

As Gbasden, Zarathud and Cylus Maxii sit in the mech bay, drinking beers and gazing wistfully at their disassembled mechs, it occurs to one of them that it's probably easier to raid a supply depot than to try to get spare arms and structural elements off of enemy combatants. So, after analyzing overflight data, the three of them come up with a facility that's likely to be a mech parts depot, and Gbasden dispatches Beta lance to seize it.

Meanwhile, upon the advice of our liaison, Delta lance makes another recon run to the autocannon factory. They conduct their observations (enemy garrison is still present, has reinforced slightly) and begin their return trip to base camp. By way of the supply depot. Unfortunately, some old friends get in the way, but our lance has somewhere else to be, and no time to go all the way around. So, we wait until the middle of the night then try to bypass the enemy force. The idea being to break through, then join Beta's assault on the supply depot.

Gary the Liaison joins Delta for this run. In addition to needing to get past the enemy forces and exit to the west, our secondary objective here is to conserve LRM ammo. We're down to only about a hundred reloads (from 200), and we still have a month and a half before the jumpship comes back. Hopefully we seize some LRM ammo from the supply depot, but we don't really know what we'll find there.

The opfor sets up in a kind of nasty swampy area with a lot of woods. Between that and the fact that the cloud cover is blocking almost all ambient light, we should have little trouble zipping by them.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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We move west, along the northern section of the swamp (it's bracketed to the south by a river)

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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More of the same.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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We keep the dense woods between us and the enemy tanks. Crossing the open gap to the west will be the only real risky part of this operation.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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We're spotted! Two problems: one, Gary doesn't quite stick the water landing and has to take a knee. Two, Archinerd splashes down in some muddy swamp and struggles to get out. He fires a couple of SRMs to suppress some laser-toting infantry (he actually got one of them, just that it's impossible to see). Also, Madmarcus gets lit up by a PPC shot from one of the Manticores. Armor holds though, no problem.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Goddammit, I said *conserve* LRM ammo, not "fire it at every random hovercraft you see". By the way, if you're wondering why I keep jumping the Dervish into swamps, it's because the jump jets are in the legs. I jump it into water, and it's basically never going anywhere again. At least, not in these lighting conditions. We wind up firing what can be generously termed a "suppressive barrage" to keep the Zhukov and Manticores from aiming their AC/10s and PPCs at us.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Gary manages to get himself up and moves it along. The rest of us are basically past the blockade. Freyland zaps a few infantry with the Quickdraw's lasers to keep them from firing those obnoxious inferno SRMs of theirs.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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A slight wrinkle - some aircraft zip by and take potshots at us. Well, they do chew up the ground and swamp quite a bit with all those SRMs and AC/10 rounds.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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The aircraft loop around for another pass as we burn jump jets to get the hell out.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Here they come again! Archinerd fires some ordnance at the one trying to blast him and it gives its attack up to weave out of the way of the LRMs.

Once we clear enemy sensor range, we slow it down and cool off the jump jets, rendering the enemy aircraft unable to spot us, either. Delta should make it to the supply depot at just about when Beta begins their attack.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 16, 3031
Delta force marches overnight to join Beta's attack on the supply depot. The defensive units are a mixture of light tanks and hovercraft, backed up by a lance of light mechs and a couple of medium mechs. The main point of concern is an LRM Carrier - bug mechs and Vedettes aren't really a big deal. Our plan is to wallop the garrison force and send them packing so our salvage crews can have a couple of uninterrupted hours of picking at this stuff and hauling it away. Sensors show a couple of lances of tanks and hovercraft out on patrol to the northwest, so they'll be joining the fight in fairly short order. Thankfully, the snow is keeping enemy aircraft out of the area.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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It's a small-looking outpost on the surface. Almost doesn't seem like it'd be worth it to have all these units guarding it.

Zenn7 starts the party off by nailing a Pegasus in the center of the depot with all three PPCs, breaching armor and melting off most of the left side.
Hyena takes a couple of LRMs from a Harasser as well as some AC/2 rounds and laser blasts from the nearby bug mechs, then draws an autocannon and medium laser pattern down the left side of the nearby Locust, taking off the left arm and leg. As the bug mech mech falls down, Hyena curb stomps it, crushing the left torso section and damaging the engine (as well as bending the medium laser).

The Blackjack lands a medium laser hit directly on the shoulder joint of the other Locust's left arm, severing it entirely, while sending AC/2 rounds at a Harassers down range, puncturing the hoverskirt a bit.

The other good part is that the snow is helping us keep the heat down a little bit.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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The pilot of the downed Locust wastes no time ejecting. The enemy skulks around the depot buildings for cover, knowing that we're probably not going to fire on them. A Vedette catches three PPCs from Zenn7 but keeps going. Hyena dodges some more LRMs from the Harasser, then saws it in half with the autocannon. Stefan engages a distant Hunter, taking some LRMs and delivering a PPC shot and some LRMs of his own in return. The Blackjack works on the second Locust, taking armor off the left leg with a laser, then armor off the right leg with a boot.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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The Blackjack's target Locust flees to the south, which is fine, we're not concerned with a single bug mech.

Zenn7 spots a Flea skulking around the southwest edge of the supply depot and zaps it. When the smoke clears, all that's left is a leg and some random torso bits. Hyena retaliates against a Hunter's LRM fire with his main guns and spares a single medium laser (to keep cool) to slice the treads off a Vedette. The Blackjack then finishes the hapless tank off. Hyena's Striker absorbs a number of lasers and SRMs but remains upright.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 blows away the Hunter trying to hide from Hyena, while Hyena immobilizes a Vedette trying to hide from Zenn7. Nowhere to run, fellas.

The Blackjack drills through the Wasp's rear torso armor with lasers, exposing and burning a lot of internal structure and popping a pair of heat sinks, then Stefan lines up a PPC shot and blasts it dead center, coring it out. Hyena takes a couple of head shots from the enemy Trebuchet's lasers (and a couple of SRMs plus a laser from the Wasp before it's taken out), but manages to keep his mech upright.

The enemy Vulcan manages to get the drop on Stefan's mech, but is unable to inflict more than token damage.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Hyena blasts away at a nearby Vedette, breaching the front armor and damaging the treads. Zenn7 takes an engine hit as the enemy Vulcan dings his mech in the back, while Stefan's center torso armor begins looking a little thin.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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We pull back a little as enemy reinforcements arrive to the northwest. Delta lance will be arriving from the east in seconds. The enemy Trebuchet gets super lucky. His left torso armor is breached and Stefan actually lands a missile on the LRM ammo bin, but it's empty!

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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There's a lot of whiffing, but the Trebuchet in the depot center takes enough fire that it falls down, losing limb armor all around. Stefan loses his remaining center torso armor, but manages to strip the Vulcan's leg. We'll be pulling him back for sure.

Round 8:
Southwest:
Spoiler:
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Center:
Spoiler:
Image
The situation degenerates into a melee furball, where overall tactics matter less than individual mechwarrior skill. Archinerd chases after a Saladin, cutting through its right side wtih a medium laser and knocking out enough fans that it stops moving. He takes a couple of laser hits from a Condor that loops around behind him, but nothing serious. Paingod runs up to the LRM Carrier - his PPC shot goes wide but the LRMs strike true, coring out the engine. Gary the liaison then finishes it off. Hyena turns left and blasts a Saracen harassing Zenn7, annihilating it with the AC/10. Zenn7 takes enough damage that he has to take a knee to prevent from falling over. The Blackjack and Trebuchet brawl in the depot center - the Trebuchet winds up spilling most of its armor and taking a bunch of leg damage.

With their heaviest mech crippled and over half their force gone, the FWL troops retreat, presumably to regroup. The Steiner salvage crews go to town on the mech and vehicles while our guys root around in the warehouses. We find some, but not all of what we're looking for: enough parts to reconstitute one Awesome left torso, a spare arm for the Cylus Maxii's Phoenix Hawk, and some replacement landing gear. Well, better than nothing. This will let us put Zarathud's Awesome back together and get Cylus Maxii back into the fight as well. We end our looting operation when enemy reinforcements regroup to push us out.

Back at base, the techs spend the next couple of days putting the mechs back together. It's a bit tough going, but they power through. Zenn7's engine is patched up as well

The liaison spends some time analysing data and determines that a lot of the enemy forces are coming from a particular mech base within reinforcement range of the autocannon factory. If we can hit it and blow it to bits, the enemy mechs will have much further to go to reinforce the factory and R&D facilities. That, and he considers the mech base a primary objective as per contract requirements, and will deploy the lance that he brought to help out.

Additionally, we identify an airfield, which is where most of the enemy buzzard aircraft are coming from.

Our options:

1) Carry out the attack on the mech base only.
2) Carry out the attack the air base only.
3) Ignore both.
4) Attack both.

If we attack the mech base, the Steiner lance will be helpful, though not under our direct control. Failing to take it out will increase the amount of mech reinforcements we see in subsequent missions, while taking it out will have the opposite effect.

Attacking the air base will have the same consequences, but we'll be doing it without allied support (we could deploy a second lance to the air base, but that'll get the Marik guys all riled up). Conventional fighters aren't exactly the biggest threat, but can occasionally carry bombs.

Ignoring both will conserve our resources, but we'll be seeing a lot of aircraft and mechs buzzing us in subsequent missions. Attacking both will stretch our resources pretty thin (we're down to about 27 tons / 480 points of spare armor).

One other question:
Zenn7, you've got enough XP to do the following:
1) Upgrade piloting from 3 to 2.
2) Learn how to handle your mech better in the woods (Terrain Master [Forest Ranger] SPA: moving through woods costs 1 less MP, and you're harder to hit while in woods.
3) Learn how to handle your mech better in rough terrain [Mountaineer] SPA: moving through rough terrain, rubble and over elevation changes costs 1 less MP
4) Learn how to handle your mech better in swamp terrain [Swamp Beast] SPA: moving through mud, swamp costs 1 less MP, and you're harder to hit while in mud or swamp.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Great round. I vote for mech base and leave the airfield
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

Agreed. The mech base is a strategic target with loot. The air base is less so.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Your mom is a swamp beast.

Attacking the mech base and ignoring the airfield seems like the best option.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

In on the mech base, too.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Madmarcus »

My vote is the same as everyone else.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Same here!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Apr 02, 2018 5:32 pm One other question:
Zenn7, you've got enough XP to do the following:
1) Upgrade piloting from 3 to 2.
2) Learn how to handle your mech better in the woods (Terrain Master [Forest Ranger] SPA: moving through woods costs 1 less MP, and you're harder to hit while in woods.
3) Learn how to handle your mech better in rough terrain [Mountaineer] SPA: moving through rough terrain, rubble and over elevation changes costs 1 less MP
4) Learn how to handle your mech better in swamp terrain [Swamp Beast] SPA: moving through mud, swamp costs 1 less MP, and you're harder to hit while in mud or swamp.
Woods sounds kinda tempting as we seem to get into those fairly frequently. The other 2, we don't seem to end up in that often.
But overall, piloting sounds more generically useful what with all these recent headshots, so I pick piloting upgrade.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 24, 3031
We assign Beta lance to take down the enemy mech base, with the Blackjack swapped out for Cylus Maxii and his fixed Phoenix Hawk. Gary comes along in his Griffin 1S, and a lance of mechs detaches from the dropship site security force - two Assassins, a Griffin 1N and a Crusader 3R. I'm not too happy about the Assassins as they're paper thin and suck unless they work closely with other units. However, the Griffin 1N and Crusader are welcome additions with their long range loadouts.

The mech base looks to be heavily garrisoned. Currently there's just one and a half mech lances stationed there, and a defensive force of eighteen tanks, as well as multiple infantry platoons and stationary emplacements. The main concern is the medium mech lance - a Hunchback, a Phoenix Hawk, a Wolverine and a Hermes. The other mechs are familiar, the Hermes packs a torso-mounted AC/5, a medium laser and a flamer. The tanks are a mix of crappy treads and light/medium hovercraft. If we can, we should attempt to rout the defenders and take the base for ourselves - they probably have proper mech maintenance facilities and spare parts (and hopefully some LRM/10 ammo).

The facility is pretty sprawling, but we tend to do better in "urban" combat scenarios in general. The only real downside here is that danger of skidding on the pavement. Beta approaches from the east while the allied units approach from the south. I'm leaning towards having our units swing north to hit the major concentration of enemy troops there and let the allied mechs take care of the lighter concentration of troops to the south.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
We advance northwest, firing on a rooftop-mounted SRM turret. The emplacement is pretty tough, so while we inflict significant damage, it'll need a lot more firepower.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Jump-capable enemy mechs come out to meet us by the SRM turret. How romantic. Zenn7 paints a Marik Hermes with some PPCs but doesn't breach armor.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Gary jukes the enemy Wolverine's weapons fire and shoots back, grazing its armor on three out of four extremities. We continue working on the SRM turret, while, to the south, a Harasser duels with an allied Assassin, scoring some SRM hits while avoiding return fire.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Wolverine hops over to Hyena's location and eats a PPC shot, an AC/10 round and a medium laser blast. Its SRM salvo disables Hyena's PPC, which is kind of annoying. Still, the damage inflicted on the enemy mech causes it to fall over.

The Firestarter cools off but continues harassing Stefan's Griffin, scoring a medium laser and a couple of machine gun hits. Stefan blocks the eye-level kick attempt, stripping armor off the leg instead.

Cylus Maxii gets back in the game by jumping in behind the Hermes and zapping it in the weakened right leg, melting through the armor and damaging an actuator. The Hermes trips up and falls backwards. Cylus then stomps on the right arm, taking it off.

To the south, the Lyran Crusader zaps an enemy Harasser with LRMs, breaching its armor. The hovercraft speeds off to the west.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus Maxii drops a couple of f-bombs on the general channel as the opfor's Phoenix Hawk nails him in the left shoulder actuator with a large laser. Luckily, most of his firepower is in the other arm. Our allies to the south engage the lighter forces there. Most of the enemy units to the north actually seem to be inactive - guess we caught them with their pants down.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Firestarter and Wolverine pick on Zenn7 with a couple of lasers and SRMs, while he melts a bunch of armor off the Firestarter's right leg. Not really sure what that Hermes' plan was, but it loses the AC/5 as Gary lays into its depleted rear armor and breaches the internal structure. The two enemy mechs kick Zenn7 repeatedly, but it takes more than a couple of kicks from seriously outmassed mechs to bring him down. He punches the Firestarter in the left arm while Cylus Maxii nearly takes off the left leg. Gary follows up his laser attack on the Hermes with a kick to the left leg, destroying two actuators and sending the smaller mech to the ground.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Wolverine continues shooting at Zenn7 and takes a beating, suffering multiple armor breaches. Cylus Maxii trips it up with a leg attack, and briefly watches as its left hip actuator snaps when it falls over. Zenn7, meanwhile, fires at the enemy Phoenix Hawk that jumped in. Gary makes the mistake of going within the SRM turrets line of sight and eats a lot of SRMs, but thankfully his armor holds up. Then he falls over as him and the Phoenix Hawk dance around each other.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
That'll probably be it for the Wolverine. Hyena chews up the last of its center-of-mass armor with autocannon and laser fire, then Zenn7 gives it a good crack to the engine with a PPC, while Stefan takes off the left arm. The tremendous damage forces the mech to the ground, upon impact with which the SRM launcher snaps off and the mechwarrior blacks out. Which is unfortunate for him, because the heat produced by the engine lights up the SRM ammo, sending the mech sky high. The auto-ejection mechanism somehow manages to not bounce the unconscious mechwarrior off a building or anything.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 fires at the SRM turret, setting off the ammo and annihilating the building. The Phoenix Hawk gets the jump on Stefan... almost. Still catches a PPC to the right arm. To the south, our allied lance reports trouble. It seems one of their Assassins got a little too close to an anti-infantry turret and lost a some leg actuators. Gary jumps west to pick off an AC/2 Vedette. He takes some fire but manages to inflict heavy damage.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
We're going to burst through the base and engage the enemy units inside. The Phoenix Hawk jumps in behind Hyena, but Cylus Maxii gets in behind him, delivering a large laser to the left leg. As the enemy mech is kicking Hyena in the shin, Cylus Maxii finishes the leg off by snapping it off at the joint, causing the mech to flop to the ground. Gary hops south to engage a loose Pegasus, coring out the engine with a laser blast.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 is just about to plow through a small building to get into the enemy base when a Hunchback climbs up to the roof of another building up ahead. Two PPCs swivel towards the Hunchback's leg, melting all the armor off it in an instant. Zenn7 does eat an AC/20 burst to the center torso, but his armor holds. Our other mechs join in, scoring hits on the Hunchback as well. Stefan finishes off the building that prevents our heavy mechs from getting into the base, clearing the last bits of it out with his foot.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Pixie somehow struggles up on its one operational leg so Cylus Maxii jumps back to finish it off. The two exchange laser fire, then the enemy mech drops to the ground, as Cylus simply kicks the dead leg out from under it. The enemy Hunchback backs up and stumbles backwards, further damaging the left leg. Zenn7 targets the Hunchback's leg, but the wily enemy pilot hides behind a building, so the PPCs simply gouge out large amounts of concrete. To the west, Gary hops over to engage a Scorpion tank, damaging it heavily and stripping all armor from the front.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
We continue to fire at the Hunchback camping out inside a building. It rips a lot of Zenn7's armor structure off with the AC/20, but our combined fire damages the building to the point where it collapses. There's a little *piff* and then a giant explosion - the Hunchback's ammo must have gone off.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
With Zenn7 damaged, Hyena takes point, busting through some rubble and firing medium lasers at flamer-toting infantry, frying a few and squashing one guy with a fist. Cylus Maxii draws some serious bad luck. As Stefan watches, a barrage of SRMs nails his mech directly in the cockpit, and all comms and telemetry from the mech cease.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan hops over to engage a loose Cicada. As a reminder, a Cicada is a fast but undergunned and underarmored mech: armed with two medium and a small laser, no torso twist capability but moving at a blistering 8/12. It pings Stefan with a couple of lasers, then he kicks the right leg out from under it. The leg snaps and the mech's heat readings spike, indicating a reactor shielding breach. Gary loses a leg actuator, so he's basically out of the fight.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 and Hyena make their way through an alley and begin firing on an enemy tank column. Zenn7 evaporates a Hunter tank, while Hyena zaps a Saracen as it tries to zip by, rendering it immobile. To the south, Stefan blasts through a Scorpion tank's armor, melting down the engine. Zenn7 takes some return fire, damaging the shielding on his engine. The allied forces report disabling another turret.

Round 17:
Spoiler:
Image
Urg. Goddamn Condor zips up to Stefan and blasts him in the right arm, damaging actuators, basically ruining his ability to fire the PPC. A Pegasus zips up to Zenn7, trying to take him down, but instead gets zapped by a PPC and small laser, settling down next to its Saracen buddy. Gary takes a risk and jumps over to help out with the obnoxious infantry platoon that keeps shooting rifle fire at our mechs. He waves some lasers across the tightly packed enemy platoon, cutting down about a third of them. Him and Hyena proceed to punt a couple more, further reducing their numbers.

Round 18:
Spoiler:
Image
The allied units lose one of their Assassins to an LRM/10 salvo from a turret. Stefan gets mobbed by tanks but manages to disable one with a well-placed kick.

Round 19:
Spoiler:
Image
The infantry continue to be annoying, but a few PPC blasts, laser shots and a missile salvo from Stefan finish one of the platoons off. Hyena rips into a Vedette with the autocannon and lasers, taking off a bunch of armor.

Round 20:
This one ends it. Zenn7 blows apart an AC/2 Vedette. Hyena takes another hit to the PPC, but that poor gun was already wrecked anyway. He boots a Hunter tank over, and that about does it for the enemy force. Their mechs are all gone, their tanks are getting picked off pretty rapidly (with about eight mobile units remaining out of the original twenty four) and once those are gone, the infantry and stationary emplacements have no chance. We allow the gun crews and remaining infantry to board APCs and evacuate, then go to work on salvage.

All things considered, Cylus Maxii got off lucky. The SRMs just wrecked the controls and comm systems, the mechwarrior got away with a concussion, along with multiple cuts and bruises. The benefits of having a rescue team on standby are that we're able to peel the mechwarrior out of the destroyed cockpit within minutes of the battle, rather than having to watch them bleed to death. The mech is still inoperable though, until we can wrangle up spare parts. Which we might be able to, we'll have to search the base pretty thoroughly though. Stefan's Griffin is sucking it up too, the damaged shoulder actuator meaning that he can't really fire the PPC too well.

Zenn7's mech is also pretty beat up - it's perfectly fixable, but won't be ready for the next round of deployments, so we'll have to reshuffle our lance and mech assignments.

Looking through the base's parts storage doesn't really yield very much - five tons of armor and assorted spare parts (also: pretty good mech hangars with all the tools one would need for maintenance), but no full actuators or anything that'll let us get our disabled mechs back into working order.

So, a decision to make:

Do we want to relocate to the captured facility?

The upshot is that it'll be easier and quicker to maintain and repair our mechs with proper equipment. Also, we won't have to sleep in dropships or field tents.

The downside is that we'll have to hose out the on-base housing to get the pee stains out. Also, the Marik guys will probably want their mech base back eventually, so it'll be inconvenient if they decide to drop in with a large force to evict us.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

The facility is pretty sprawling, but we tend to do better in "urban" combat scenarios in general.
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I don't care where we stay. Drop ships are comfy enough for me but if the Marik come we can kill them and take their stuff.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Looks like Cylus was safer when he was :icon-ugeek: disarmed.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

I say we keep the base. If we let them have it back, we have wasted our time unless we raze it as we leave.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

How much better are the mech repair facilities than our drop ship ones? If we have to worry about reinforcements trying to retake the facility, unless we can get the defense systems back up and running and the facility itself is worth wasting the resources to defend it, I say we go scorched earth and raze it. I'd vote check with our contractor and see if they plan on using it strategically, and if not, nuke it from orbit, so to speak. I don't want to face up against enemies that have been repaired at a place we had the chance to remove from the scenario, and I don't want to waste manpower defending a place we don't REALLY need.

I don't really care if the locals don't like us when we leave, they probably don't like us much now...
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

According to the techs, mech repair times will be reduced by about 25% (so, if we get really badly beat up, our mechs have a better chance of being able to participate in the next set of deployments). Also, the mech base is considerably closer to where all the action is happening, so rather than having to spend most of a week marching to our objectives, we could be there in a day or two and have more time for repairs and concussion recovery.

When asked, Gary informs us that holding the facility is not considered a contract requirement, nor is leaving it intact.

We'll be able to get the defensive turrets up and running (except the triple SRM6 turret that got blown to smithereens). There's two LRM turrets on the southwest corner of the base which will be mildly helpful, while the rest of the turrets are complete crap (machine guns and flamers). So, the defenses won't be much use. Slagging the base is definitely an option.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

Sounds like reduced travel times would be a huge advantage. Is there anyway to use salvaged weapons from all of those tanks to upgrade the turrets? If not - then it still might be best to slag it.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Archinerd »

Is there Space Netflix at the base?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Cylus Maxii wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:45 pm Sounds like reduced travel times would be a huge advantage. Is there anyway to use salvaged weapons from all of those tanks to upgrade the turrets? If not - then it still might be best to slag it.
That's the question, ain't it? Is the time saved worth the resources to defend it? I vote burn it down with lasers (save SRM/LRM/AC ammo), but I won't fight any other decision made by a higher pay grade.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Archinerd wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:13 pm Is there Space Netflix at the base?
Damnit...hadn't considered this...
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Checking HPG uplink status... active. Last received transmission... June 10, 3031. That's two weeks ago. So, yes, there's Space Netflix, but it's at least two weeks behind. Of course, since you're not streaming, you can just put all that data on a space USB stick and watch it elsewhere.

As for re-using "captured" tanks, the Steiner guys have claimed all battlefield salvage (which they're entitled to, since we claimed the dropship way back when), and don't appear to be in a sharing mood.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Madmarcus »

Can we use the base for faster repairs of current damage but pull out and trash it afterwards? Or would that involve too much travel time for the techs and support staff?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Moving the requisite techs around would take a couple of days (including recovering from a two day long APC drive), so it wouldn't really provide enough time savings on the repairs to be worth it.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

I'd say the hassle of moving techs, setting up shop for a few days savings isn't worth it. Time delays in getting to objectives work for us in that it gets us closer to end of contract :) Drop ship defences sound like they're better for us than the bases defences. I say download Space Netflix so we're up to date and nuke it, then when the enemy come take it back or repair it we know where they are, with reduced defences :) Orrrrr, destroy all the base defences and mech repair stuff, then leave it intact to entice them to come and repopulate it, then we can keep destroying their morale ;)
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Archinerd »

Not sure how much detail MegaMek goes into or if this is being derived from your narrative genius, but I have two additional questions.

Would our dropship be un-defended if we camped out at the base?
Would we be able to get our mech techs to safety if the base were attacked?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

I'm testing some homebrewed rules for scenario generation (inspired quite heavily by Hornet Leader) to replace parts of the current "Against the Bot" rule set. So, it's partially rules-driven, but none of it is implemented in code yet.

Currently, our base camp is four dropships (all owned by our employer). They'll be pretty safe, unless somebody sends in enough firepower to take down four dropships clustered together. In which case our company of mechs probably won't make a difference anyway (and, in fact, if we're not on board, we'll probably get hung out to dry and left behind while they lift off).

As for our techs, safe evacuation isn't guaranteed in the event of an attack. While shooting non-combatant personnel is generally against the Ares conventions, if we get our asses beat in a base defense scenario, we're probably going to lose a bunch of personnel and equipment in addition to whatever combat units we lose.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

I think that pretty much settles it... slight increase in repair time and a slight reduction in reaction speed doesn't seem to be worth risking personnel, mechs, and profits.

I would start shooting right now if my PPC weren't disabled...no ammo to waste.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

After some discussion, once we're done looting, we slag the base. Hangars, maintenance equipment, barracks, power station, everything. It's too risky to hold on to, and we're not going to be here for much longer.

June 28, 3031

Looks like it's go time. We identify a facility that collects sensor data from around the region and basically acts as an early warning system. We take it out, we can basically walk into the factory and take what we need. Otherwise, any substantial force will have to plow through enemy units trying to intercept us (we assume they've figured out what we're here for). We assign Delta lance to take down the early warning system, while Alpha and Beta move on the factory. Assigning an extra lance to the factory will get the locals riled up and possibly sending extra forces to try to take us down afterwards, but this is a primary mission objective. Taking down the early warning control center first means the first they Marik guys hear about trouble at the factory will be when the distress call goes out.

Delta is facing four and a half tank lances and an understrength medium mech lance. Our Lucifers engage enemy aircraft attempting to approach the area (three conventional fighters escorting a dropship) and manage to keep them busy long enough that the fight will be resolved one way or the other. Unlike the other lances which we've had to shuffle around, Delta retains its structure - Archinerd, Paingod, Freyland and Madmarcus in Dervish, Griffin 1N, Quickdraw and Wolverine respectively. Gary comes along in his trusty Griffin 1S, with fresh new upper leg actuator. That makes us a reinforced lance.

The early warning control center is actually in a pretty dense urban area, which should work to our advantage. Our goal is to destroy the marked structures (the ones with the turrets on them)... or just rout the enemy force entirely. We approach from the northeast, keeping the enemy units flanked.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod and Gary move down a large avenue, engaging a few hovertanks, Vedettes and a pair of mechs. Paingod scores a solid PPC hit and puts some LRMs on a Condor, blowing chunks out of its hover skirt. It fires back, hitting him with the AC/5 and medium laser. Him and Gary are going to need to disengage from the hovercraft and split the mechs off, otherwise they'll get chewed up.

To the north, Freyland and Archinerd engage some hovercraft and a mech. Freyland takes some fire from a Scimitar and whacks it with a few SRMs, slowing it down significantly.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd opens fire on a Scorpion mounting a pair of SRM/6 racks and peppers it with LRMs. The damage all but removes its ability to move. Gary zaps a nearby Vedette with lasers - the large laser melts through a weak spot in the armor and cuts the transmission. Engine's still running but all it does is pour out thick, oily smoke.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd just cannot take down that SRM Scorpion. However, after two full LRM salvos, the tank just grinds to a halt. Freyland hops across a couple of streets, zapping a different Scorpion with a bunch of lasers and SRMs, breaching armor and knocking the crew around. The tank turns around and begins a retreat. To the east, Gary zaps a Scimitar with the large laser, slowing it down severely. A J.Edgar hover tank trips up Madmarcus' Woolverine and he hits the pavement.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Gary and Paingod break north to link up with Madmarcus, taking fire as they go. The two of them focus fire on a damaged Scimitar - Paingod's PPC softens up the armor, then Gary's medium lasers and LRM salvo finish it off.

To the west, Freyland gets a little mobbed but manages to come out mostly ok, inflicting damage on a nearby Vedette. He's in a bad spot though, as he gets tripped up by a nearby Locust.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Freyland backs up to the north, but the enemy Locust follows him, sawing the right arm off at the joint with concentrated machine gun fire. We continue taking a lot of weapons fire while not really hitting much, which is a bad sign.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Finally, a lucky break for us - one of the annoying enemy Condors slides along a little too fast and skids into a building, getting stuck. Granted, it had taken some damage to the steering system previously, but at least RNGesus isn't totally against us. Freyland recovers and blasts a Scimitar tank with some weapons. No critical damage, but the front armor is looking paper thin.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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Freyland gets revenge on the Locust. A laser weakens the armor around the left arm, then an SRM salvo snaps the myomer bundles while scoring a head shot. Gary and the enemy Trebuchet exchange some fire to little effect.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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Freyland outmanuevers the Locust and gets a medium laser hit through the rear armor, cracking the engine shielding. Madmarcus jumps over to help out Paingod and Gary, weakening the armor on the Trebuchet's right arm with a laser blast, then Gary, who had ostensibly jumped away from the fight to cool off, fires a large laser at the Trebuchet. The weapon hits the weakened right torso, and the LRM ammo stored there explodes, taking the mech apart. Good shootin', Tex. Madmarcus follows up by stripping armor off the Vulcan's right leg.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd finally has something to shoot at and blasts a Vedette's tracks off with LRMs. Freyland's mech is taking heavy damage, so he's going to have to pull back before shots start going through armor and taking out internal systems. Meanwhile, though, he takes down a Scimitar tank with lasers, SRMs and a boot. Madmarcus gets behind the Vulcan trying to pick on Paingod. While it does manage to deliver a kick to Paingod's leg, its own right leg is taken off shortly, and the 40-ton mech falls over.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd *almost* gets a hat trick. His LRMs impact on a Vedette, his medium lasers breach a Scimitar's armor. Madmarcus curb stomps the downed Vulcan as it tries to get up, crushing the right torso section. The mechwarrior has had enough and bails out.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
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The Scimitar whose armor Archinerd breached earlier tries to swerve around him, but winds up crashing into a particularly sturdy street lamp and getting bent around it. Archinerd switches weapons systems for a second to unload medium lasers and SRMs on a nearby Condor, hitting with every shot. By the time the crew wakes up, they'll discover that their hovercraft is stuck in the entrance to a parking garage. Freyland just about finishes off the Locust, cutting into the internals with a medium laser and some SRMs.

To the east, Paingod lines up a good LRM salvo on a Galleon tank, hitting with all ten LRMs and breaching its left side armor.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
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Archinerd and Freyland clean up most of the opposition in their part of the battlefield - Archinerd disables a Scorpion tank with an LRM salvo while Freyland braves the J. Edgar's flamer bursts and breaks its air ducts with a three pack of SRMs. Madmarcus actually scores a solid set of hits on a Vedette, but the tough little tank perseveres.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
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Madmarcus braces his large laser arm against the bunker in front of him and delivers a solid laser blast to his target Vedette, breaching its armor. Gary blasts and kicks over a nearby Scorpion, while Paingod causes electric feedback in a Vedette's controls, shocking the commander.

The mechwarrior that ejected from the exploded Trebuchet wakes up just in time for the tattered remnants of the enemy mobile force pull out, leaving us free to destroy the target buildings with impunity. We're even nice enough to broadcast over the bullhorn a warning for the occupants to get out. Freyland grabs his detached arm, and Delta heads back to base after giving the Steiner crews a couple of hours for salvage. It's a great relief when the techs tell him that it can be re-attached and fixed with no problem. Our techs pull overtime and get Zenn7's mech fixed up just in time for him to take the lead. The only concern right now is that we're running low on armor. Our employer's been piling up enemy salvage like nobody's business though, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to persuade them to part with a couple of tons here or there.

Our victory here clears up the road towards the factory. We will begin the attack shortly.
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LordMortis
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

Archinerd wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:38 pm Not sure how much detail MegaMek goes into or if this is being derived from your narrative genius,
That's what I'm saying. I get so much more of everything out of reading the AAR than I did with playing. I got none of this and this is what I :wub:
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Hyena
Posts: 2279
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Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

You are a talented narrator, sir. I applaud your AAR.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
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