Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[gbasden]

You are a talented narrator, sir. I applaud your AAR.

Absolutely!

[NickAragua]

Glad you guys are enjoying it!

June 29, 3031

After looking at the situation further, Beta can handle the prototype recovery themselves. The garrison at the factory is basically just a company of tanks (with only one hovercraft), and a medium mech lance. We pull LordMortis and El Guapo from Alpha to reinforce Beta (currently just Zenn7 and Hyena) and wind up with 270 tons of heavy metal.

This time, we cross the nearby river several kilometers downstream, then approach from the north east. Hopefully, we can lure the jumper mechs and hovercraft over to that side, kill them, then work on the tanks. We know the enemy air base will send reinforcements, which is why we brought El Guapo in his Rifleman. The main thing we have to remember is that we can't just blow up the buildings with turrets in them, as that's where the prototypes are stored.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We start Zenn7 in a nice little lake, but as it turns out, it's exposed to fire from an LRM/10 turret, so we'll need to move east to get into some cover. It's a nasty quad turret, too, and Zenn7 eats quite a few LRMs as he relocates. He does fry a few infantry dudes on dune buggies. Hyena exchanges fire with a Saracen and a Vedette, taking some LRM hits and dinging the armor on the Vedette's turret.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The two hovercraft cross the river, backed up by a Quickdraw and a Vedette from the other side. LordMortis stuns the Saracen's crew with a pair of medium laser hits, while Zenn7 immobilizes the LTV-4 just before it can reach the shore. El Guapo blows it to bits before it can properly sink, though. Hyena opens up on the Quickdraw, hitting it with both the (fresh replacement) PPC and Autocannon, although the mechwarrior stays upright.

Sinking that LTV-4 really takes a load off, as it's PPC is pretty obnoxious.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

El Guapo lets rip with the AC/10s at a Vedette, taking off all the front armor. Our mechs exchange fire with the enemy mechs, not really coming out ahead. The Quickdraw dances around Hyena, kicking him in the leg, but he keeps his mech upright.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

We're getting a little beat up. The armor on Zenn7's right arm is completely gone. He does get a solid kick in on the Quickdraw's leg, stripping all armor off of it. Combined with El Guapo's AC/10 fire, the enemy mech has to work hard to stay upright.

On the plus side, LordMortis rips the armor off a Vedette with the AC/20, sending the tank into a panicked retreat.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

As we pull back to the north to regroup, Zenn7 gives the Trebuchet a triple dose of PPC, removing armor from both arms and the center torso. Hyena and LordMortis help out. Zenn7's cover gets set on fire by a lot of lasers and LRMs.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

We camp out in the smoke. Zenn7 blasts a Hunter with a PPC shot, immobilizing it. A couple of enemy mechs get the drop on LordMortis, but he manages to reach back with the left arm laser and damage an actuator on the Trebuchet's right arm, then dodges out of the way as it aims a weak kick in his direction.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

A trio of enemy aircraft show up, which is mildly annoying. Hyena fires at a Wolverine jumping in, breaching the left leg armor and damaging a heat sink. Zenn7 turns his PPCs skywards, evaporating a Meteor fighter with its annoying AC/10. LordMortis has had enough of that stupid Quickdraw and its hopping around and takes the right leg off with the AC/20. As the mech flops to the ground, the mechwarrior blacks out. El Guapo aims his autocannons at the annoying Saracen, breaching its left side armor, then dodges a kick from the Trebuchet.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

LordMortis comes after the Trebuchet as it tries to jump away. The AC/20 burst misses, but a medium laser takes off the right arm, along with the right torso-mounted LRM launcher (leaving it with a single medium laser for armament).

Round 9:

Spoiler:

An enemy Packrat drives up to the river and is promptly blown away by a PPC from Zenn7. It does get a couple of SRMs off at LordMortis, but he's ok.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

As the enemy aircraft come buzzing in again, Zenn7 splits his fire between a Vedette and a Wolverine, damaging both. Hyena works on the Wolverine as well, but the bastard still manages to nail LordMortis' Hunchback in the ammo bin. The mech goes up in smoke. El Guapo blows away the other Meteor strike fighter with the dual AC/10s.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 and Hyena work on the various Wolverines, causing significant damage. Zenn7's target loses a leg actuator and goes down.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 pulls back to cool off, while Hyena and Rifleman work over the downed Wolverine with autocannon fire. By the time they're done, the right leg is gone, the right torso is breached and the mech is on the ground. Hyena stomps on the downed mech's rigth arm for good measure, snapping it off.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The Wolverine's pilot bails out, knocking himself unconscious. Zenn7 and Hyena switch places, allowing Zenn7 to blast the other enemy Wolverine, forcing it to a knee.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

No ammo? No problem. El Guapo's Rifleman still has a pair of medium lasers to use to damage the Wolverine's right arm. Zenn7 immobilizes an AC/2 Vedette skulking around on the far river bank as well.

Round 15:

Spoiler:

Fine, you guys want to engage up close? Eat lightning! Zenn7 blasts the left arm off the Wolverine, also taking armor off the left torso and leg. Then he punches it and takes the right arm off as well. Hyena takes the time to fry some laser-toting infantry across the river, while El Guapo lasers the Trebuchet and dodges its kick.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 fries an AC/2 Vedette's engine, rendering it immobile. Hyena takes an LRM hit from a Hunter tank to the AC/10 while pounding on a different Vedette. That Trebuchet has shot its last medium laser, as Zenn7 punches through the right torso, detonating the LRM/15 ammo. Those woods can't get any more on fire than they already are, though.

Round 17:

Spoiler:

Good lord that's a tough Hunter. Three PPCs and it's still coming. Front armor is looking mostly melted though.

Round 18:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 blows away the Hunter (about time, took five PPC shots). The Angel strike fighter continues buzzing our position, so Hyena nails it in the nose with the PPC, sending bits of sensors flying all over the field.

Round 19:

Spoiler:

A Vedette is melted to slag by PPC fire.

Round 20:

Spoiler:

And another. From the looks of it, there's just the one Scorpion tank left and some infantry. For whatever reason, the bastards don't stop firing though, so we're going to have to kill them before we advance across the river.

Round 21, 22:
We damage the Scorpion and it backs up a little, then shoot down the Angel fighter as it comes by for another pass. The motorized laser platoon takes a couple of direct hits from mech weapons as well.

Round 23:

Spoiler:

The Scorpion evaporates under sustained PPC fire, and that's it for enemy mobile troops.

We polish off any visible infantry and walk into the base, making sure to stay clear of the LRM turrets' line of fire. Once inside their minimum range, it's an easy matter to reach in there and flush the crew out. Because we trounced the enemy force so hard, we're even able to call in salvage.

Sorry about your mech, LordMortis. If that bastard had waited another two turns to crit the ammo, there wouldn't have been any ammo to crit. On the plus side, we've got another Hunchback. Just that it's in a warehouse on Outreach. So, we'll uh, have to come back. But hey, plenty of time to catch up on Space Netflix now!

I really shouldn't have skimped on those reinforcements though. We'd have probably schooled that garrison a lot quicker with an extra lance, and not taken as much armor damage. We've got a spare AC/10 for Hyena's mech so that's not a problem, but now we have to (sigh) talk to our employer about getting replacement armor from their storage.

[LordMortis]

I get all the new toys! (And I didn't go up in smoke with the mech, so...) Space netflix it is. Have fun stormin the castle!

[NickAragua]

Now that we've got the autocannon prototypes, we basically just need to turtle down and keep the FWL from finding our dropships for the next month. The liaison also informs us that while recovery of the related blueprints will bring in a performance bonus, it's not required - we got enough prototypes. Unfortunately, the prototypes are of "light autocannons", meaning AC/2s and AC/5s, which we don't use. But if we ever do, once they figure it out, the liaison offers to hook us up with the upgrades for a nominal price.

We detect an enemy patrol whose vector will take it a little too close to our dropship landing site. Gbasden borrows the newbie mechwarrior's Blackjack and takes a reconstituted Alpha lance out to run them off. In addition to Gbasden, Alpha is Isgrimnur in the Vindicator, Zarathud in the repaired Awesome and Xwraith in a Thunderbolt. We deploy an infantry ambush at the intercept point - we pick some nice and swampy terrain, so the enemy tanks will have trouble moving around. Enemy aircraft will be present, but we don't expect anything heavy duty, so we leave ours at home. The enemy force consists mostly of tanks and hovercraft, with a pair of medium mechs backing them up.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Not much happens as we advance towards the enemy force.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

As a Saladin zips by our infantry, they unload on it. The hovertank takes some damage to air ducts and retreats behind a small hill to the north. The rest of the enemy units retaliate, but our infantry is pretty well concealed and takes no casualties.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Zarathud reports that five of his heat sinks have malfunctioned. Guess that basically means he'll be firing two PPCs at a time instead of three. Isgrimnur polishes off the enemy Saladin, melting the armor off the left side with the PPC, then sending a couple of LRMs in there to wreak havoc on the internal systems. The tank is still intact, but completely immobilized. Gbasden, also targeting the Saladin, then blow it to bits with a shot from the AC/2.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

If a Condor hover tank with a machine gun comes right up to your infantry platoon, it's prudent to relocate. Gbasden fires the Blackjack's medium lasers and disables the Condor before it can do too much damage. The enemy Wolverine catches a few infantrymen with its medium laser and SRMs.

Well, it's a little bit callous, but those guys are probably cheaper than mech armor plating.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The enemy Wolverine and Vulcan decide to jump in and mix it up close and personal. While everyone's distracted with those two, the Hetzer rips into Isgrimnur's right arm with the AC/20, leaving it hanging by a couple of loose myomer bundles and disabling the PPC. Xwraith follows the source of fire and shoots back, sweeping the large laser across the front of the assault gun. Zarathud lines up a shot on the enemy Wolverine as it jumps in, firing at Isgrimnur - the enemy mechwarrior gets a little bogged down in the swamp, and as a result, a PPC shot goes right through the cockpit. Isgrimnur's right arm comes off completely though after a laser blast and SRMs finish off the job that the Hetzer started.

Gbasden and the enemy Vulcan dance around each other - neither lands any kicks or shots, but the Vulcan overextends on its kick and the mechwarrior is unable to keep his mech upright.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Zarathud's location is getting a little too hot, so he relocates to join Gbasden in trying to take down the enemy Saracen, while Xwraith runs over to destroy the Hetzer. Zarathud takes some SRMs, but the armor holds up pretty well. Xwraith unleashes all his lasers at the Hetzer, overheating his mech a bit but taking enough wheels off that the vehicle is unable to move. He takes a kick from the Vulcan that runs up behind him, but it barely even registers. Gbasden fires his lasers into the Saracen's air ducts, taking the hovertank out of action as well. Zarathud switches targets to a nearby Harasser, blowing it away with PPCs.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Enemy aircraft show up to cover the opposing force's retreat. Zarathud eats a bunch of LRMs and SRMs but keeps his mech upright. Isgrimnur lands some LRMs on one of the fighters, but it's a pretty lackluster turn otherwise.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Zarathud and Xwraith each target a separate Vedette, cutting through the armor. The Vulcan puts up a brave fight, trying to kick at Zarathud's mech, but just can't do enough damage.

The enemy units cease fire and leave their disabled tanks to their fate (said fate being the interior of a Lyran Commonwealth dropship), with the Vulcan quickly hopping out of the line of fire.

We request and receive a ton of armor. Additionally, after a couple of beers, some Steiner techs volunteer to slip our guys enough spare parts to fix up one of our mechs. Our basic choices are:

1) Fix up the spare Griffin to get Stefan back into the action (it needs a rebuild of the right arm)
2) Fix Lt. Scrub's Warhammer (needs a right arm and a right torso)
3) Fix Cylus Maxii's Phoenix Hawk (needs a left arm and a cockpit)
4) Fix Isgrimnur's Vindicator (needs a right arm)
5) Just get another three tons of armor

We could probably combine 1 and 4 at the cost of being able to acquire slightly less armor.

[xwraith]

Being in a defensive mode, a heavy might be pretty valuable. I would lean towards getting the warhammer back online.

[LordMortis]

Without understanding our position the Phoenix hawk seems to be the most expensive (ie cockpit) but the warhammer would be more "valuable" to have back but seem like they would difficult to repair in the field. The company as a whole is probably more concerned about being highly armed than being counting beans.

[El Guapo]

The best options seem to be combining 1 and 4 (gets more mechs back in the field, and I think does the most to improve our overall available tonnage) or getting the Warhammer back (best overall mech among the group). I would lean towards the 1 + 4 option, but don't feel strongly about it.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

I'm leaning to the warhammer option too.

[Cylus Maxii]

I vote Warhammer

[Zarathud]

Finally, some action! A little sandpaper and elbow grease will buff out those dents, fellas.

Maximum availability. 1 and 4 seem like a good mix, unless you think it'll be easy to blow off and salvage arms later.

[NickAragua]

After thinking about it a bit, we decide to put the Warhammer back into action.

One of the things that our employer managed to scavenge up from the mech base and was a Ferret helicopter, and they offer to sell it to us for a nominal price (~50k). Why would anybody want a little piece of crap helicopter that falls apart if the wind blows on it the wrong way, you ask? Well, it's got space for two squads of infantry. This means that if we have any kind of mission involving a quick "hit and run" raid, the helicopter can simply zip over, drop some infantry, then circle around and pick them up when they're done. Instead of having to fight through waves of mechs and tanks. We say "sure" and take it. We have a platoon of SRM-equipped infantry sitting around doing nothing, so we break them up into squads.

July 13, 3031
While the Warhammer is getting patched up (four full days of work to rebuild the torso, the right arm, attach all the requisite equipment, weld on armor plates, and calibrate the gyro), our liaison suggests that we have an opportunity to acquire blueprint data from a different facility. After reviewing sensor data, we assign Delta lance, with Alpha as backup. We're not screwing around on this one. The plan is to use the Ferret with a jump squad to get in, grab what we need and get out, but if it turns into a firefight, we want the firepower to back it up.

We're also aware of aggressive enemy patrols in the factory sector, but we don't really have a need to fight them, so we leave it alone.

As usual, Delta is Archinerd, Paingod, Madmarcus and Freyland (Dervish, Griffin, Wolverine and Quickdraw respectively), while Alpha is Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer, Zarathud in an Awesome, El Guapo in the Rifleman and Xwraith in the Thunderbolt. Gary joins Delta in his Griffin 1S.

The base is garrisoned by a bunch of light tanks and a mech lance, along with fixed defenses. It's a very picturesque mountain town with a clean, modern-looking research complex. The kind of place where people would go for a scientific conference.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Delta deploys to the east, while the Ferret comes in from the south. One of the enemy J.Edgar hover tanks crashes into a building while trying to avoid our weapons fire. So much the better. Madmarcus holds his large laser to conserve heat and opens up on a Harasser. It avoids the medium lasers but gets plastered by SRMs, settling down in the dirt. Gary uses his medium laser to put a hole through the hovercraft's left side, exposing the crew to the outside to remind them of their current state. Madmarcus takes a couple of SRMs but is fine.

Freyland, meanwhile, exchanges laser and SRM fire with a Pegasus. SRMs ping off his armor while his SRMs damage the hover tank's skirt and cause electrical feedback in the crew compartment.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

There's a lot of jumping around and jockeying for position, so not much of the weapons fire hits. Freyland zaps a nearby Scorpion tank with lasers, damaging treads and jamming the turret.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The ferret drops the jump squad on top of a building to the northwest we've identified as a place where we can access the FWL network. To the south, the action becomes a furball. Archinerd takes a medium laser to a nearby Galleon's fuel tank, detonating it. Madmarcus fires SRMs at a J. Edgar, destroying the turret rotation mechanism. Freyland continues working on the nearby Pegasus, heavily damaging its motive systems, while Gary immobilizes a Harasser with a medium laser.

The enemy mechs close in to brawl but don't inflict too much damage. We do, though. Paingod crunches through a Spider's head armor with a fist. Madmarcus trips up another Spider trying to kick him, and the light mech winds up on the ground.

Unfortunately, as the jump squad hops out of the Ferret, they get mowed down by several LRM salvos.

Guess we're going to have to do this the hard way. Good thing we've got Alpha lance coming.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The enemy Spider that wound up on the ground pays the price - Madmarcus chases after it as it tries to get away and cracks its left leg. The smaller mech goes down, shearing off the left arm and torso as the jump jets misfire.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Freyland gets pounded by SRMs from a variety of sources, but his armor holds. His mech still winds up on the ground though. Paingod lines up a shot on a distant Vedette and fires off an LRM salvo, torching the fuel tank. Gary cuts away a J. Edgar's duct fans and some hover skirt, immobilizing it. Madmarcus locates and stomps on the Pegasus that's been harassing Freyland, jamming solidly between a cliff side and a tree.

The Ferret takes a little "ping" to the rotor, and its time for it to retreat.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

We continue working on the enemy force. Paingod blasts a Saracen with a PPC, removing all armor. Freyland's left arm armor peels off after an autocannon shot from a Scorpion tank which manages to get a good shot on him despite having a jammed turret. The effort costs the tank, as Madmarcus puts a foot through the front, wrecking the internal structure.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

A trio of enemy aircraft zips in. One makes a pass at Freyland, who fires a salvo of LRMs to discourage, scoring a solid hit on the left wing and sending components flying. Gary gets the drop on an LRM harasser and cuts the turret off, leaving it a smoking wreck.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Alpha lance arrives to help mop up. The one-legged Spider manages to stagger up, then its jump jets misfire and it crashes down on a road to the north. The Phoenix Hawk and a Vedette harass El Guapo's Rifleman, who returns the favor to the pixie with an AC/10 burst. The Hermes catches some ordnance and a boot but its armor holds.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Paingod and Freyland hop north to engage the last enemy units. The Spider gets behind Paingod, but he still manages to turn around just enough to fire the PPC at it, burning the hip actuator, causing it to trip and hit the dirt. His mech becomes a sauna, but it was worth it. Freyland absorbs some fire from the Striker, then takes the wheels off of it with lasers and SRMs. Zarathud scores a good hit on the Hermes, breaching armor (the other PPC shot setting the area on fire), while El Guapo works on the Phoenix Hawk (and avoids shooting down the fighter flying directly overhead). Madmarcus nearly breaks the Hermes' head off with a punch, while Lt. Scrub and the pixie exchange melee attacks.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

While Paingod cools off, Freyland jumps in and disables the last enemy Vedette. As the Phoenix Hawk jumps away, El Guapo lifts his guns skyward and blows one of the fighters out of the sky, disintegrating it in mid-air. Zarathud and Lt. Scrub fire at the other fighter, causing heavy damage. It doesn't show immediately, as the Angel keeps on flying along, but then it suddenly corkscrews into the ground on the other side of the hill.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Archinerd tracks the Hermes as it comes around the corner from its hiding spot to harass El Guapo and blasts it with medium lasers and SRMs. The 40-ton mech's AC/5 ammo explodes, scattering the mech to the four winds. Paingod works on the damaged Spider to the north, blowing off an arm with the PPC.

This leaves a single Phoenix Hawk to oppose two lances, and the enemy mechwarrior retreats. The Spider pilot tries jumpjetting out but fails to stick the landing (due to the damaged hip) and decides to power down and climb out when Paingod comes over and points the PPC directly at his cockpit.

At this point, we get the salvage crew to download the blueprint data they need and grab whatever mech wrecks they want. Then we head back to base to hunker down. Surprisingly enough, only two members of the jump squad were actually killed. The rest just got knocked out by the concussive force of multiple LRM blasts nearby.

With all strategic objectives complete, we hunker down and stay under electronics blackout. This gives the techs a chance to work out the issues with Zarathud and Lt. Scrub's heat sinks. On July 18th, our pickets spot a supply convoy with a sizeable escort heading through the factory sector. We can hit it. However:

- We're completely out of spare armor, with some of our mechs still sporting holes from the last battle.
- There's a sizeable enemy ground presence in the factory sector, not to mention the aircraft. So we'd probably have to send them packing as well - it'd be a pretty hard fight.

The upshot would be that, if we could capture the convoy, we'd be able to get some spare parts (and deny the supplies to the enemy). Of course, the convoy could also be carrying pinwheels and twinkies. Despite their general survivability, studies have shown that twinkies are not a suitable replacement material for battelmech armor.

So: Attack the convoy or let it go?

[xwraith]

How much time till we retreat off planet?

[NickAragua]

Dropships will be burning for the jump point on September 2nd, to rendezvous with the jumpship due to arrive a few days after that. It's currently July 18th. So, about six weeks.

Contract-wise, we have absolutely no other goals to accomplish here.

[Cylus Maxii]

The convoy sounds like a bad risk. We should try to acquire more armor and get patched up. We are getting too thin to take risks.

[Madmarcus]

I see the mech kung fu lessons are working.

Let's just stay put.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

No chasey chase, smells like a tarp to me.

[Freyland]

No chasey chase, smells like a tarp to me.

Hey, they use tarps to cover my mech when it rains! Should I be worried?

[Isgrimnur]

Let me know when we jump off this rock. I'll be kicking in in the NCO Club, since no spare parts are forthcoming.

[NickAragua]

We decide to leave the supply convoy be. It's just too risky, and we don't really have anything else to accomplish on this planet anyway, other than surviving to get paid.

Over the next week, when Zenn7 climbs into his mech to do a regular systems check, his cockpit controls short out completely. Our techs get it fixed up, but that whole assembly is held together with electrical tape and string, so, when we get back to civilization, we'll probably need to replace it.

With the lack of activity on our part, the Free Worlds League forces are reluctant to pursue any further contact with us. Thus, we mostly spend the next month and a half sitting around under communications blackout, watching two-month-old Solaris General Hospital and running perimeter patrols, just in case.

September 2, 3031
We pack our mechs up and begin the transit back to Outreach, first burning up towards the jump point, then beginning the series of jumps. We're quite beat up but made a solid payday. Between seizing the Triumph dropship and completing all our mission objectives, we're sitting at almost 300M C-Bills. By popular demand, the first thing that happens when we dock with the jumpship is a mass download of all available holovision programmes. The second thing is we begin looking for a Union, with little success initially (the hired Union carrying most of our mechs isn't interested in leaving Steiner employ). The other form of entertainment is "jump drinking", which is when you shotgun a beer or some kind of shot right before a jump then try to hold it down.

Once we reach Outreach (by December 1st) we say goodbye to Gary and the other Steiner guys and get back to our rented warehouse space to begin repairs and refits. Our techs get working on refitting a spare Hunchback to the AC/20 variant. We've got three Phoenix Hawks in the warehouse, so we unload Cylus Maxii's old one and put him in one of the other ones.

A couple of decisions to make:

1) El Guapo - you've got enough XP to upgrade your piloting, gunnery or pick a special pilot ability from one of the following:
Terrain Master (One of forest, swamp, urban) - have an easier time navigating the specified terrain (costs less MP than normal)
Weapon Specialist (AC/10, Medium Laser) - +2 bonus to hit with just the selected weapon
Some Like It Hot - take tips from Zenn7 on aiming straight when your mech's cockpit is hot enough to fry an egg
Multi-Tasker - take reduced penalties for firing at secondary targets

2) Archinerd - you've got enough XP to upgrade piloting or pick a special pilot ability from one of the following:
Terrain Master - as per El Guapo's list
Hopping Jack - Reduced to-hit penalties when using jump jets
Sandblaster - Bonuses on cluster roll table when firing LRM 10s (meaning you'll hit with more of your LRMs whenever you hit with LRMs)
Some Like It Hot - as per El Guapo's list
Multi-Tasker - as per El Guapo's list

3) Stefan - We can put your Assassin back together, or put you in a different mech. Some options that we have sitting in the warehouse:
Phoenix Hawk - 6/9/6, 2x medium laser, 1x large laser. Alternate possibility is to go back to the stock variant, which packs two machine guns instead of two extra heat sinks. Might be useful given that we fight infantry occasionally.

Trebuchet TBT-5J - 50 tons, 5/8/5, 3x medium laser, 1x LRM/15. A solid mech with options for all range brackets.

Centurion - Standard, slow, ubiquitous 50 ton, 4/6 mech. Either the AC/10 variant or the "Hyena Torso Harvester" AC/20 variant.

4) The mech market is looking a little lean right now, featuring:
a) A Whitworth, which is basically a very light-weight jumpy Archer
b) A Longbow, which is a fat Archer with heat and ammo issues
c) An Atlas without an AC/20 (::shudder::)

Current roster:

Spoiler:

Gbasden's mech takes the longest to patch up, taking almost two whole weeks. We also replace most of Zenn7's cockpit (except the chair). Our shopping list includes a whole bunch of armor and LRM/10s (we basically place an order with a local munitions factory buying up their LRM production for a whole week). The suppliers around here are used to dealing with mercenaries, so they don't even bat an eyelash when we start placing orders for five or six different mech arms.

It takes us another month after touchdown, but, after visiting numerous bars and looking everywhere on the space internet, we eventually find a guy who both a) owns a Union and b) is willing to sign on with our crew. There's a catch though.

[I'm thinking it's time for another GM-ed game. I'm going to be travelling next week, so it'll start off a little slow due to spotty internet access.]

[Isgrimnur]

As much as I like giving the Captain hell about it, he and Lt. Scrub should probably be getting salary bumps.

Hyena and Stefan should probably get a better pay rate than the replacements, as well.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

I'll be happy with the Trebuchet.
Can we outfit our own cabins on thr union? I want to start a trophy wall with momento from each kill and a kick ass a/v/holo system

[Hyena]

As much as I like giving the Captain hell about it, he and Lt. Scrub should probably be getting salary bumps.

Hyena and Stefan should probably get a better pay rate than the replacements, as well.

Appreciate the support... what's a guy with 35 kills gotta do to get a bump up to PFC, at the least...

[Archinerd]

2) Archinerd - you've got enough XP to upgrade piloting or pick a special pilot ability from one of the following:
Terrain Master - take reduced penalties for firing at secondary targets
Hopping Jack - Reduced to-hit penalties when using jump jets
Sandblaster - Bonuses on cluster roll table when firing LRM 10s (meaning you'll hit with more of your LRMs whenever you hit with LRMs)
Some Like It Hot - take reduced penalties for firing at secondary targets
Multi-Tasker - take reduced penalties for firing at secondary targets

Some of those choices are tempting but I think upgrading my pilot skill is probably the best option.
Others feel free to chime in.

[gbasden]

[I'm thinking it's time for another GM-ed game. I'm going to be travelling next week, so it'll start off a little slow due to spotty internet access.]

In! I'm totally ready to feebly flail around and get nothing accomplished again!

[Zenn7]

We also replace most of Zenn7's cockpit (except the chair).

Woot. Won't have to get a new seat warmer installed! The things she made me do before that tech installed it for me... <shudder>

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Gm game sounds fun

[AWS260]

Some of those choices are tempting but I think upgrading my pilot skill is probably the best option.
Others feel free to chime in.

I think "silliest name" is always a good criterion for choosing a skill. So either Hopping Jack or Sandblaster.

[NickAragua]

"So." says Barry, the dropship captain, looking at Lt. Scrub from across the dirty bar table. "204 million c-bills, and we'll need the rest of the month for refit and repair. After that, the ship is at your disposal. There's just one more thing to resolve."

"What's that?" she asks.

"I'll, uh, need some help to get the ship back." Barry shifts uncomfortably.

"Back... from where?"

"Well... it's a long story. You should bring your mechs. You have mechs, right?"

Lt. Scrub sighs and rolls her eyes. "Look, quit jerking me around. What, did you leave your keys in your other pants and need us to get them back from your ex-boyfriend's house?"

"That's not really... I uh, don't swing that... look." Barry lets out a deep breath. "I used to have a good business going. Had a jumpship captain for a regular ride, we made good money hauling around cargo and merc companies. Kind of like you guys. Then, the war starts and the jumpship gets conscripted into service to ferry around royals. I still have to pay my crew, so I made a couple of investments."

"Investments." Lt. Scrub repeats flatly, already seeing where this is going.

"Yeah!" Barry becomes animated. "I'm telling you, this Star League toilet paper is going to be the next big thing! You know how normal toilet paper only has one layer and you have to fold it up or crumple it or it rips all the time? Well, imagine if it was two times as thick!" He grins as he brings two fingers up. "Well, anyway, the return on investment wasn't that great, so I took out a loan. Just needed to make a couple big deliveries and I would have been set! But then, the bank started talking about 'violation of loan repayment terms' and 'blah blah blah'... " he embellishes with air quotes. "So, I went to a uh... alternate bank. Lou's Financial Services and Kneecap Restructuring. Got another loan."

Lt. Scrub, at a loss for words, just lets him keep talking, though her facial expression shows incredulity, tinged with mild amusement.

"So anyway, Lou's guys got impatient one day, and kicked me and my crew out of our dropship. I've still got the transponder codes though, so I know it's still around - they've got it sitting on one of the big rocks outsytem. So yeah. I need the two hundred mil to repay the bank loan to the real bank. And I need some muscle to take down Lou's goons while my crew and I get the dropship back. Whaddya say?" He grins.

On the one hand, this is incredibly sketchy. On the other hand, it's not like dropships are rolling off the assembly line these days - the last succession war really cleaned up. Ares Conventions or not, things still get shot up when thirty foot tall robots are shooting plasma at each other from battleship-sized cannons. Lt. Scrub sighs, closes her eyes and slowly shakes her head in resignation.

"Fine." she says. "Get us the coordinates and we'll go get your boat."

Dropship Recovery gm-ed game

[Archinerd]

Toilet paper? I could have sworn we were using the three sea shell method.

[El Guapo]

1) El Guapo - you've got enough XP to upgrade your piloting, gunnery or pick a special pilot ability from one of the following:
Terrain Master (One of forest, swamp, urban) - have an easier time navigating the specified terrain (costs less MP than normal)
Weapon Specialist (AC/10, Medium Laser) - +2 bonus to hit with just the selected weapon
Some Like It Hot - take tips from Zenn7 on aiming straight when your mech's cockpit is hot enough to fry an egg
Multi-Tasker - take reduced penalties for firing at secondary targets

Heh, just saw this. I'll go with gunnery improvement - can't go wrong with hitting things with your weapons.

[NickAragua]

Turn 1
Turn 2
Turn 3
Turn 4
Turn 5
Turn 6
Turn 7

Long story short, we got our dropship, paid off Barry's loans.

We also get one interesting contract offer. Outreach is nice, because, instead of hanging out in random bars looking for "Mr. Johnsons", the Dragoons actually run a system where people post job offers. We still have to meet up with them and negotiate, but you're a lot less likely to get outright scammed or get into a shootout.

A couple of shifty-looking Lyran fellows offer us a contract for an objective raid on the planet Cebalrai. Specific objective to be revealed after we're en route. Our negotiating team pushes hard and gets them to adjust the command clause so we're not directly under the command of some snot nosed rookie officer fresh out of Nagelring, and up the battle loss compensation clause from 30% to 100%.

Vital stats:
5 month contract duration
100% transport costs coverage (we get a free ride there and back, basically)
30% salvage
100% battle loss compensation
Liaison command
Green/D allies
Veteran/D opposition
56M estimated total profit

From the looks of it, we'll be supporting a Lyran "house unit" (either snot-nosed academy rookies or a bunch of low-grade mercs) taking on a Draconis Combine Sword of Light regiment and supporting forces. So, we'll be carrying the weight here. The main issue I see with this contract is the location. It's a pretty low-G world (.84g) with a thin atmosphere (makes sense), but it's still close enough to its star that the place is basically a hot tub. So, we'll be doing most of the work against veterans hardened by the 4th succession war. They'll be running circles around us as they've no doubt gotten used to the low G environment, while we'll be popping actuators as we sweat our robo-balls off. It's also an excessively long objective raid, so we'll need to make sure to stock up on replacement parts for our mechs. Better than last time. And maybe don't give up all of our salvage in exchange for a beat-up dropship.

On the other hand, 56M payout, and that's just raw cash not counting salvage.

[Actual contract may be delayed while I play HBS:Battletech for a while]

[El Guapo]

What are the planet effects, exactly? Is it something like a chance of leg damage when using jump jets and max movement changes? Also I assume the heat means lower heat sink rates?

Anyway, seems like a profitable contract.

[AWS260]

Does the thin atmosphere affect heat sink efficiency or flying units?

[NickAragua]

Low G means that you have the potential for faster movement, but if you move faster than your mech's standard specs (walk, run or jump), you have a chance of taking internal damage to the legs (if you fail the piloting skill roll), which means a chance of popping actuators (and whatever else is mounted in the legs). It can be avoided by sticking to the "speed limit", but the Kurita guys won't care as much since their supply train is a lot shorter so they'll be moving a bit faster than we are.

It's better than the obnoxious high G, though.

High temp means you accumulate additional heat every turn. In this case, just 1 extra heat. Which is still enough to force a mech to skip firing that extra laser once in a while.

[El Guapo]

But the high temp would effect them just as much, right? Seems fine to me.

[Hyena]

Why do I have the feeling that we're going to be stuck on this rock for a while? Not that I'm complaining, of course... I mean, after all I'm going to be quite busy too.

[El Guapo]

Good opportunity to catch up on Space Netflix.

[Archinerd]

I've been using our downtime to brush up on my command skills with a new simulator, it puts you in the role of commander of a merc company in the periphery. Seems pretty cool so far.

[Hyena]

I've been using our downtime to brush up on my command skills with a new simulator, it puts you in the role of commander of a merc company in the periphery. Seems pretty cool so far.

I know, right? Crazy how dated the graphics are, but it's still effective considering...

If only I could figure out what the hell do to with my scout mechs other than have them slaughtered...

[NickAragua]

It's got a couple of unrealistic things about it though. For example, when did light and medium autocannons become useful? Not to mention machine guns. And they sure do have really sturdy ammo compartments.