Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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AWS260
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

C'mon, put the gauss rifle on a Lightning. It'll be fun!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

GAUSSED UP COMBAT BLIMP!!!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

We might be crossing over into Crimson Skies territory here. Which I'm actually ok with.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Gauss hatchet.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Lightening, Lucifer and 3 Shilones (2 spares sounds useful to me while we are getting them cheaper than normal).

Gauss on the Atlas I'm thinking. Unless we got more than 1 and/or think we will be able to get more any time soon.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

We've got two. The likely hood of getting replacements isn't too good, though.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Given that putting one on is a major remodel, maybe only put one on and keep other for a replacement so we aren't out 1-2 mechs if they lose their Gauss Cannons?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 11:17 pm Given that putting one on is a major remodel, maybe only put one on and keep other for a replacement so we aren't out 1-2 mechs if they lose their Gauss Cannons?
Smart. Save another Gauss for the combat blimp.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Our aero techs inform us that, given access to a factory (which we have back on Outreach), we can convert the W5 Chippewa to a W10, which, while still a bit overgunned, has about 2.5x the armor, bringing it to having 75% of the armor mounted on a Lucifer. We decide to stick to what we know and grab a few Shilones, the Lightning and the Lucifer.

The breather in the fighting gives us a chance to repair our mechs, and all of our mechwarriors are back in one piece as well. Combined with all the stuff we salvaged, we're now in pretty good shape.

June 6, 3039
The DCMS may have stepped down their operations, but they're not done by a long shot. They pull together a reinforced medium mech lance and a bunch of tanks, along with a couple of aircraft and an artillery battery and move in on the supply depot we captured a while back.

Gamma-One is in position to defend the depot, and Gamma-Two can provide backup, but it's going to be a rough ride, especially with the artillery shelling us. We'll need to repel the attackers, then go chase down the artillery before they blow us (and the supply depot) to bits.

Gamma-One is back in its pristine state - Scrub/Warhammer, Hyena/Striker, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt. Gamma-Two is a standard Thunderbolt, the Kintaro (haven't had time to customize it yet), a 5N Trebuchet (with LRMs) and the Guillotine that we salvaged some time ago, piloted by the guy who lost the Rifleman. Maybe he'll do better with a mech that can actually maneuver.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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As the hostile artillery starts thump-thump-thumping, the Kurita forces close in, opening fire on the base's defensive structures. Xwraith manages to discourage an enemy bomber from coming in by nailing it in the nose with the ER laser, while Scrub and Cylus brawl with a Von Luckner tank and a Wasp respectively. Both of the enemy units lose a lot of armor, but nothing critical.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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Luckily, the enemy artillery can't shoot for shit. Well, that's not true, one of the base's defense turrets shorts out and goes limp after a shell nails it, while Xwraith catches the outer edge of a blast.

Cylus jumps forward to engage a Bulldog, narrowly avoiding a headshot from the nearby Wasp. While most of the Grasshopper's lasers flake armor off the tank, the right arm swings around and zaps the Wasp again. This time, there's not really any armor on the left leg to protect it, and the bug mech goes down as the limb seizes up. Having finished cutting armor off the Bulldog, Cylus stomps through the weakened front section with a boot, taking the tank out.

To the south, Hyena charges out and blows away an LRM Carrier before it can bring its sixty LRM tubes to bear on the facility. His rear armor takes a bit of a beating from a nearby Stinger, but he gets revenge, backhanding it in the right torso.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Cylus and Scrub combine fire on the Von Luckner to the north, destroying it with a hail of PPC and laser fire, along with a solid missile barrage. Cylus exchanges fire with a Rommel tank, neither gaining the advantage.

Hyena gets revenge on the Stinger that was plowing away at his rear armor before, cracking open the torso section and sending the mech flopping down on a building rooftop as it finishes a jump.

None of that helps us keep the facility intact, as aircraft fly overhead and drop their bombs while artillery shells whizz in. At this point, it's time for us to leave.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Cylus and Scrub break northeast, Scrub easily weathering the AC/2 Carrier's fire and blowing it away with a pair of PPC shots. Hyena retreats to the south, splattering a Vedette along the way as the tank makes the foolish decision to keep chasing him. One of the artillery tubes has a little friendly fire incident, disabling a Pegasus hovertank with a nearby blast. Whoops.

Cylus blows away the last enemy unit blocking escape to the northeast, the Rommel tank - it took about ten laser blasts spread around the front and turret, but the tank is destroyed.

Xwraith breaks west, pursued by a Grand Dragon. The Kurita mech is faster on the ground, but lacks jump jets, so our Thunderbolt moves through rough terrain to aid in its escape.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Spoiler:
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Escape to the west is cut off by a few hovercraft, so Xwraith uses the Thunderbolt's jump jets to screech it to a halt and jump back to the south instead. A Scimitar hovertank manages to pursue, pinging a few SRMs off the armor, but its on-board ammo is detonated by a salvo of medium lasers.

Gamma-Two arrives to the southeast, just in time to see the Wasp that Cylus legged struggle upright. Can't have that, so the Thunderbolt and Kintaro destroy the bug mech with long-range fire.

The Kurita guys don't pursue our retreating mechs. It's annoying to lose the supply depot, but it's not critical - the departing Steiner guys hooked us up with plenty of ammo. Our units are mostly undamaged, except for Xwraith, whose LRM launcher took a hit from a strafing aircraft.

Whatever remains at the supply depot will probably be helpful to the Kurita forces, but what won't be helpful is the part where Gamma-Three raids a data center just as the opposition is trying to torch it in preparation for their retreat, extracting the locations of just about every enemy rally point. According to the recovered data, there are three main concentrations of DCMS forces within striking range, a larger mixed unit, a supporting tank force, and the units that failed to prevent Gamma-Three's data extraction operation. The tanks and the mixed unit are in range to support one another, the data guys are not. The tank unit is also pretty heavily dug in.

The data center unit is just a few hovercraft and a pair of mechs, so we discount them as a meaningful force. Two competing plans emerge in the command staff meeting.

1. Attack both the main force and the tanks simultaneously. More wear and tear on us since we have to deploy more units, but guaranteed to be pretty decisive if we win.
2. Attack just the main force, deal with any tank reinforcements as they come in. Less wear and tear on our guys, but a mild risk that we get bushwhacked by a significant force of tanks in the middle of the fight, plus the victory will be less decisive.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I lean towards attacking the mixed unit main force. If the tanks want to come play, at least they aren't dug in.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

I vote 1 - hit em hard. That's what we do.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Hit 'em hard!

Don't want to get "ambushed" by the tanks and I'd like to flatten these buggers after all the pain we've had in this campaign.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

I mean, in general you want to concentrate forces against separated groups of enemies, so I would think we would attack the main force with a decisive force and then deal with the tanks separately.

In theory we could attack the main force and at the same time set up an ambush for the tanks along the route to the battle in case they try to reinforce.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

After some discussion, we decide that we need to detach a force to deal with the tank base as well as the main group. Alpha Company draws the tank base while Beta draws the main group.

Chronologically speaking, Alpha's action happens first. Since the terrain precludes the exact projection of a route from the tank base to the main Kurita force, Alpha moves in to just outside of sensor range. That way, we'll be able to pick up any departure by the enemy forces and catch them as they come out of their base. Wary of trickery, we have a flight of aerospace fighters standing by: a Lucifer and a Stuka for bombing and a Sholagar for pretend air superiority. Alpha is Gbasden/Awesome, El Guapo/Marauder, Stefan/Catapult and Isgrimnur/Hatchetman.

Which we do. Although our intelligence wasn't too accurate, there are a bunch of light mechs mixed in with the tanks. A group of LRM Carriers and hovertanks appears to be moving out to support the unit under attack by Beta, so Alpha fires up their targeting systems and lets rip.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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Gbasden sees a suspicious glint from an abandoned-looking bunker and steers clear of it. His mech is buffeted by LRMs, taking heavy armor damage. Despite this, he manages to land two PPC hits on another LRM Carrier, but

Stefan, though, stumbles into a Panther camping out in some woods, and takes a PPC at point blank range to the center of mass, followed by some SRMs. He keeps tracking the nearby Saladin, blasting it with three out of four lasers, which takes it apart. The Panther receives a bird kick to the left leg, falling over.

Isgrimnur runs forward, firing weapons at an LRM Carrier - the autocannon breaches armor, then a laser goes internal, scrapping it. The hatchet barely brushes the second nearby LRM Carrier, taking some armor off but failing to breach it.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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A Vedette and a Whitworth spring out from the nearby woods, blasting Isgrimnur's right torso armor off.

"Alpha-Air, we're getting chewed up. You better get in here pronto." Gbasden calls out, blowing away another LRM Carrier as the mech continues to rattle under constat LRM impacts. El Guapo targets an adjacent LRM Carrier, zapping it with a PPC. It was the one to which Isgrimnur put a hatchet previously, so the front armor simply buckles and the mobile launcher falls apart.

"Understood, ETA 20 seconds."

Stefan hops south, getting a bit beat up as a Sentinel unloads SRMs at point blank range, cracking one of the laser barrels. He still manages to put several lasers through the hull of a fourth LRM Carrier. It's a little less destructive, but it still stops moving and smoke starts pouring out. He then goes to stomp on a Manticore, crunching some treads, and briefly fires up the jump jets to step clear of the follow-up melee attack from the nearby Sentinel.

The Sentinel was originally a Steiner design, so this one must have been salvaged back during the succession wars - it mounts an AC/5, a laser and an SRM/2 rack, giving it an ok punch for a 40-tonner. It's no Hatchetman, though, and the guy in the Sentinel is never going to live this down. The poor bastard whiffs the kick and falls to the left, where it crunches an arm, driving it into the mech's torso. Stefan's brief glance at the sensors show the mech's heat spiking through the roof.

Gbasden's mech is tough, but just can't take the beating from probably hundreds of LRMs in total, and the mech's left torso gives up the ghost, while the left arm comes off entirely and the mech is forced to a knee.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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"Pull back, Major, we can handle this." El Guapo states, firing the PPC and autocannon at the last of the LRM Carriers - the autocannon rounds burst through the weakened front armor and rattle the crew around. Gbasden is too beat up to argue, and his mech refuses to move anyway, so it's a moot point for now.

Stefan and Isgrimnur continue dancing with their opposition, Stefan immobilizing the Manticore he kicked last round, melting treads with laser fire. Isgrimnur swaps fire with the Whitworth, losing armor off the right arm but scoring a few hits with a laser, then whacking the enemy mech pretty hard in the left leg. One of the jump jets shorts out and it winds up on the ground.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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The air support arrives. The Stuka flies overhead, confirming sightings on multiple concealed enemy units, including a Jenner just waiting for El Guapo to walk by. Our Sholagar takes an AC/5 round to the nose from a Vedette, damaging the sensors, which is pretty annoying.

Up until now, we hadn't really noticed the artillery barrage, since the incoming LRMs were producing an equal amount of explosions, but El Guapo notices when a Thumper round lands and send shrapnel clinking off the Marauder's left arm.

Stefan subs in for Isgrimnur, firing lasers at the Whitworth, which strips armor but does little else. Isgrimnur targets the Panther that was harassing Stefan, blasting a large chunk out of its left torso with the autocannon and a laser, causing coolant fluid to spray out. The hatchet comes down through the damaged torso, severing the left third of the mech, causing the active part to keel over and slam into the ground.

The Jenner still ambushes El Guapo, the two mechs exchanging laser hits.

The Stuka flies over and drops some bombs on a Manticore tank, disabling it. Despite sensor damage and taking more autocannon fire, the Sholagar drops its bombs on a Jenner and a Pegasus that zips alongside the light mech. The Jenner explodes, while the Pegasus is merely immobilized. The Sholagar's pilot struggles to keep control of the craft and loses altitude, but manages to avoid hitting the ground.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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The Jenner continues harassing El Guapo, who's had enough of that nonsense and swings the Marauder's left arm around to the left, blasting it in the back with a PPC and two lasers as it circles around. One of the lasers hits the engine pretty hard and the mech sprints away from the battlefield rapidly.

A Harassers swings up past Isgrimnur, firing SRMs at him, which knock out the Hatchetman's AC/10, and put a dent in the hatchet. Him and Stefan engage in a little tank stomping, but the armor remains intact on the tanks.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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"Air-Three, bugging out." reports the Sholagar, having taken an engine hit from a Scorpion tank.

El Guapo is a little bit mixed in with the hostile units, which is why the Kurita artillery barrage runs into a little bit of friendly fire trouble, one shell blowing up an LRM Carrier as it attempts to retreat, and another managing to disable a Harasser. El Guapo targets a nearby Vedette, melting treads with a laser.

To the south, Stefan and Isgrimnur continue cleaning up the remaining tanks, Stefan cutting a Vedette apart with lasers, then stomping a nearby Harasser.

The Lucifer's bombing run against a Wasp and a pair of Scorpions is pretty effective, destroying both tanks and crippling the Wasp, while the Stuka drops its remaining bombs on the Whitworth. Cluster bombs aren't that effective against heavier mechs, but the already damaged left leg gives out and the mech drops to the ground.

That leaves a single Vedette putzing around outside the base, trying desperately to avoid our Marauder.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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As the Whitworth is still struggling to get up, all three of our mechs turn towards it and perforate it, Pulp Fiction style, while our aircraft turn their attention to strafing the base turrets.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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El Guapo, frustrated with the Vedette's continued attempts to avoid death, delivers it in spades, firing all weapons. It's not really clear whether it's the two PPC shots or the ammo explosion that cause debris to be scattered to the four winds, but it's gone.

Our Lucifer locates a Panther coming in from the east side of the complex, but it's a little bit too late to the party.

Round 9-12:
Since nobody offers to surrender, Stefan and Isgrimnur begin to work on demolishing the outlying structures. To conserve ammo, we use only lasers, so it'll take a little while. The Lucifer drops a few bombs on the Panther but fails to inflict meaningful damage. Eventually, Stefan collapses one of the structures, while El Guapo spends a few PPC shots to disable a pair of turrets in the middle of the base.

After a few more strafing runs by our aircraft and some more collapsed buildings, the base signals a surrender. Alpha-One is pretty beat up, with only El Guapo's mech still having all of its equipment intact, while the Sholagar barely makes it back to base (the engine farting half the time instead of providing thrust). The rest of Alpha-Air runs the Kurita artillery to ground then returns to base, while Alpha-One stays to secure the area and collect salvage. We've never seen a Sentinel before, so we obviously grab that, then pick up the Panther and Whitworth. And, of course, these poor bastards won't be

Beta-One looks like it'll be facing a medium mech lance (Griffin, Stalker, Centurion, Vulcan), a short light lance (2x Locust, 1x Phoenix Hawk), two lances of heavy tanks and an assortment of hovercraft and light tracks (about a company's worth). Beta-Two is in position to help, but they've also picked up what looks like a supply convoy heading in. Once we start shooting, chances are those trucks disperse and we don't find them again, so we can either send Beta-Two in to back up Beta-One or take the convoy. Which will it be?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Convoy - it's much more valuable!

Beta 1 may not win it's fight but I'm confident we will do enough damage to discourage these people from coming out to hurt us any time soon.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

"Understood, Beta-Two. Pursue and destroy the convoy. We'll take care of these guys." Zenn7 says, then switches back to the Beta-One lance circuit to direct them. LordMortis has finally recovered from his concussion, so he's back in the Atlas, making Beta-One two Awesomes, the Atlas and the Thunderbolt.

The Kurita force has set up in a complex covered with farming domes and chemical storage depots, offering little in the way of structural protection, but they've still deployed a bunch of short-range turrets on several buildings. It'll be a bit of a challenge, but as long as we keep the SRM/Laser carriers at "arm's length" and take out their heavies pretty quickly, it should be doable. It's a target-rich environment, so it's a good thing we've got plenty of energy weapons for when the ammo starts running out.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
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Our Awesomes and Thunderbolt come in directly from the north, while LordMortis flanks a little bit to the east. About half the enemy force is on the other side of the town, so that'll give us a little time to engage the northern group. We engage several hovercraft at long range, exchanging PPC blasts and LRMs. Zarathud scores an initial kill, immobilizing a Maxim hover transport with a PPC shot through the woods and its left side. Zenn7 zaps a Pegasus with a PPC shot, but the other two miss as a few LRMs from a distant Brutus Assault Tank impact the front of the Awesome.

LordMortis and Moley start up some fires so that when the two Awesomes step into the pond, they'll have a little smoke covering them.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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This time, the Brutus' LRMs splash into the water around Zenn7's mech. Our Awesomes return fire, four out of six shots hitting the assault tank but failing to breach armor. LordMortis engages a pair of hovertanks as they try to zip past our assaults to get at the back of our lance, with no conclusive results.

Moley moves up, plowing lasers into a Skulker as it drives up to the woods - the wheels on the left side are destroyed and the scout tank lists, stopped for the duration of the battle. On the plus side, the crew can just climb out the hole in the side instead of having to open the hatch.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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The Brutus tries to back up as it exchanges long-range fire with the Awesomes, splashing some more LRMs into the water. Zenn7's PPC shots plow through the front armor, giving the driver some serious burns. With more PPC shots coming in from Zarathud, the assault tank breaks east and begins to retreat.

LordMortis splits fire between the two obnoxious little hovercraft, cracking the Pegasus open with an AC/20 burst and scoring a few hits on the Scimitar. A few SRMs and light autocannon rounds bing off the Atlas' considerable armor.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Some of the jump-capable mechs from the south make it through the storage facility and begin exchanging fire at long range, although our guys are stepping in and out of a smoke cloud, making targeting them difficult. A Locust tries to get around the back of Zarathud's Awesome, scoring a couple of laser hits as Zarathud targets and destroys a Warrior attack helicopter to the south. The Locust pays the heavy price, as Moley jumps in behind it and carves the left and right sides off with the Thunderbolt's lasers, then cracks the right leg with a kick.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 has no viable targets and must content himself with the indignity of firing at a bunch of infantry that had scrambled out of the Maxim almost half a minute ago and are sprinting as fast as their legs can carry them to the cover of the nearby woods. The PPCs take out six out of a platoon of twenty eight.

LordMortis tracks the annoying Scimitar as it tries to pelt him with SRMs and perforates it with a burst from the AC/20. Moley jumps to the edge of the smoke cloud and engages a Vedette, hitting but failing to breach armor.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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An SRM Carrier pokes out of cover a little too long, and Zenn7 scatters it to the four winds with three PPC shots.

A Griffin jumps past our Awesomes' field of fire, engaging LordMortis, who runs the AC/20 across the smaller mech's right arm, nearly taking it off. The Vedette tries to hide from Moley in the smoke, but the Thunderbolt finds it, inflicting a major armor breach with lasers. With the turret hanging loose, the tank limps off to the north, and we let it go.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 and Zarathud continue firing at the infantry platoon as it takes cover in the nearby woods, PPC shots evaporating another five individuals. The Griffin tries to engage the Awesomes from behind but its PPC shot is ruined by LordMortis coming in and giving it the Atlas treatment. The mechwarrior manages to avoid the AC/20 burst, but combined with a back-hand shot from Zenn7, the armor loss is still enough to knock the Kurita mech to the ground.

Moley jumps south a little to try to bait the Phoenix Hawk and its buddies in, scoring several laser hits on the lighter mech, including a headshot. The loss of armor and disorientation cause the mechwarrior to fall over.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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The guy in the Phoenix Hawk has a lot of trouble getting up, to the point where after the third attempt, the mechwarrior blacks out. Moley backs up and takes the opportunity to just about remove one of the downed machine's legs and blow out a couple of jump jets.

The Griffin, however manages to get up. Just in time to see Zenn7 turn the Awesome around as LordMortis closes in from the east. The Griffin's right arm comes off under AC/20, as does most of the right torso. The left arm takes a couple of PPCs and goes limp as well. The mech is knocked over.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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The Griffin struggles to its feet and runs off to the north. We let it go, as other units have started approaching from the south, and it can't really do much missing its PPC. And if it does try anything, it's about one small laser blast away from being scrap.

The Vulcan jumps in to cover his buddy's retreat, with Moley in hot pursuit. LordMortis displays surprising grace in the Atlas, avoiding the Vulcan's kick (although it does score a medium laser hit), as Zenn7 backhands it before swinging over to the south.

Ignoring the Vulcan afterwards, Zenn7 zaps an approaching Locust with a PPC in the right leg. With severe actuator damage, the bug mech stumbles and slides along the ground for a bit. Zarathud takes out an approaching SRM Carrier, breathing a sigh of relief knowing that those sixty SRMs won't be coming our way.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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The Locust gets up, then falls right back down when Zarathud puts a PPC shot through the cockpit.

Moley continues tracking the Vulcan, the two mechs exchanging weapons fire. The difference is that the Thunderbolt is optimized to destroy battlemechs, while this Vulcan variant is mostly anti-infantry with only a single medium laser as a serious anti-mech weapon. It takes multiple armor breaches from Moley's weapons fire, then the Thunderbolt's fist goes through the right torso, where the AC/2 ammo is stored. The blast nearly knocks our mech over as well, but Moley keeps it upright through sheer force of will.

Round 11:
Not much happens for a few seconds as the rest of the enemy units are, for the most part, reluctant to engage our Awesomes. Understandable.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
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Somebody's probably out there "motivating" the Kurita tanks, because a few Manticores open fire from long range while the remaining hovertanks zip around. Our Awesomes return fire, scoring a few hits that inflict minor damage.

LordMortis takes fire from a nearby Scimitar, losing some armor, scattering the nearby infantry with a well-placed boot.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
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Zarathud blows the turret off one of the Manticores, taking it out of action permanently. LordMortis takes a PPC shot and some light weapons fire, using the last of his AC/20 ammo to immobilize a Scimitar hover tank, then scatters a few more infantry with a boot as they fire SRMs.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
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"Beta-One, advance." Zenn7 calls out.

As our Awesomes rumble out of the overheated lake, Moley takes some damage from the cluster of Manticores and Centurion. LordMortis gets pinged by a Condor zipping around, but nails it with a laser from one of the arms, slowing it down greatly after one of the fans goes out.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
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LordMortis winces as one of his leg heat sinks goes out under the Condor's fire, then swings an arm around and slices the remaining fan off the hovercraft, putting it down.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
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Zarathud takes down one of the Manticores while Moley takes down the other. Zenn7 focuses fire on the Centurion, rocking the enemy mech, but it stays upright. That must be a little disconcerting for the guy in the Centurion.

Round 17:
Spoiler:
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Our sensors show a couple of tanks hiding behind some buildings, sniping at us, so Zarathud blasts the buildings with a pair of PPC shots while cooling the third one off.

The Centurion takes a pounding, Moley breaching armor in the right torso. He hits Zenn7 pretty good, but it's a bit futile.

Round 18:
Spoiler:
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With six PPC shots coming in and Moley working on it with lasers from behind, the Centurion more or less falls apart. LordMortis sends LRMs screaming down range, taking out a laser carrier exposed by Zarathud's work earlier.

Round 19:
Zenn7's mech temporarily refuses to move, as he's been hitting the PPCs pretty hard to take out that Centurion. We methodically continue dismantling the buildings hiding more tanks and the remaining Stalker (the "light" 4P model with similar armaments to the standard, just missing one of the LRM launchers).

Round 20:
Spoiler:
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LordMortis charges forward, opening fire on one of the two remaining Vedettes. He may not have the AC/20, but he's still got some ammo plus the four lasers, so the tank is destroyed. Return fire scratches the armor up a bit. Zenn7 engages the Stalker, hitting it with a couple of PPC shots.

Round 21:
Spoiler:
Image
The Stalker and remaining Vedette trade fire with LordMortis, who expends the last of his LRMs, blasting off chunks of armor while incoming fire whiffs. Zarathud and Moley move to box the remaining two Kurita guys in, Zarathud taking a couple of rockets from a building.

Round 22:
Spoiler:
Image
The Stalker surprises Zarathud by coming out and charging, both mechs firing heavy salvos into one another. Zarathud's heat spikes as a pair of leg-mounted heat sinks go out. Moley crushes the remaining Vedette underfoot.

"Stalker." Zarathud sends out over the general frequency. "You're all alone against four mechs. Power down and live. We'll even let you keep your mech once the fighting is over. Keep fighting and die."

The Kurita mechwarrior makes a reasonable assessment of the situation and surrenders. "You have treated your captives reasonably well before, mercenaries, so I believe you."

Only a pair of mechs and a few tanks (plus some infantry stragglers) got away from this one. With Beta-Two easily seizing the supply convoy, they've got no resupply that we're aware of. And, indeed over the next three weeks, there is no more hostile activity. We run patrols just to be sure and get our mechs fixed up pretty quickly, but, for all intents and purposes, the Kurita forces on this world have been crushed, and we're now sitting on some light garrison duty.

This gives us the chance to fix up our mechs. Gbasden's takes the longest, almost two weeks of non-stop work.

Over the next four weeks, our patrols locate and force the surrender of the remaining scattered Kurita forces, and their activity ceases altogether. The relief garrison arrives in the beginning of July, and we begin packing up our mechs for transit.

Before we leave, Hawk offers us an extension to our current contract. Actually, he offers us two options:

Recon Raid on Mannedorf
"We've been tasked with carrying out recon on this minor industrial hub, and the guys that I've got left are a little, uh..." he kind of cringes and shrugs. "Well, anyway, if you guys want to detach a recon company or so, we'll give your guys a ride and you keep the salvage. Basically we need to identify enemy forces present and location of critical facilities. Keep the fighting to a minimum if possible."

3-month contract
Regular/F opposition
Green/D allied units
Liaison command
60% salvage
80% battle loss compensation
100% transport coverage
100M expected profit

Objective Raid on Drask's Den
Hawk chuckles. "So I just got a communication that there's some kind of hereditary dispute going on in one of the bandit kingdom's up there. Apparently there's been some fighting on Butte Hold " (he giggles, which looks weird on a guy whose forearms are as thick as your neck) "that's spilled over to nearby planets. Normally we don't care about what those numbnuts do out in the middle of nowhere, but apparently there's been some talk of securing a supply line to Kurita territory around the north end of Free Rasalhague, and we can't do that with these yokels running around highjacking jumpships. So, we need to send some units down there and eliminate the local bandit king, so we can install a more friendly individual in his place."

3-month contract
Regular/D opposition and allies
Liaison command
30% salvage
100% battle loss compensation
100% transport coverage
300M expected profit

"Of course", he says, "I wouldn't blame you guys if you wanted to pack up and return home. Your mechs might be technically operational, but some of them look like checkerboards."

Mannedorf pays ok and has decent salvage, but we're not really going to get any good salvage out of a recon mission (and that reported unit quality) anyway. Drask's Den pays better, but it's in the northern sticks of the galaxy, so whoever goes there will be gone for pretty much the whole year. We can take both contracts - send Delta Company and some spare mechs to Mannedorf, while the rest of the company goes to Drask's Den.

Heading back to Outreach means we'll miss out on this batch of action - which is ok, as we'll be sitting on about 1B in C-Bills after all the salvage we've brought in. It'll give us a chance to take some R&R, re-organize our lances and carry out the refits that our mechs are begging for - especially all the salvaged units with their rear-facing lasers and full-ton machine gun ammo bins. Not to mention integrate the Kurita mechwarriors and aero jocks that have expressed a desire to work for us.

What's the call?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

I've had a long rest so I'm GtG. But I've had a long rest...
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

Outreach.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

LordMortis clearly hasn't recovered from his concussion, since he's repeating himself.

Better go to Outreach.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Freyland wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:34 pm LordMortis clearly hasn't recovered from his concussion, since he's repeating himself.

Better go to Outreach.
Eh, he can still pilot his mech and shoot straight, he's fine.

But making modifications, upgrades to our mechs and get our new Kurita members on board sounds like a better use of our time than trotting out to the arse end of the galaxy.
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Post by El Guapo »

Outreach
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Post by Paingod »

After the last few fights, I think whichever takes longer to get to and/or offers more of a chance to get patched up and shiny is where I'd go. I'd go with Outreach. I need some work on my Mech and maybe a couple spare PPC's in storage. :eusa-whistle:
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

And then Butte Hold after we replenish.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 9:35 am And then Butte Hold after we replenish.
Do that stuff on your own personal time, sir.
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Post by NickAragua »

"Understandable." Hawk says, extending his hand for a handshake. His grip is nothing short of crushing, and he doesn't even look like he's trying.

Having captured more prisoners since our last release, we arrange another prisoner return. A couple of mech techs and an artillery crew originating from Steiner space have sudden attacks of patriotism and opt to stay with Hawk, but paying out 26.4M in re-enlistment bonuses keeps defection rates down. Hawk authorizes the release of the remaining payment in escrow, and we finish packing it in.

This is our projected jump path:
Spoiler:
Image
As we burn for our jumpship, we detect incoming jump signatures, presumably at a nearby pirate point. The contacts separate from their jumpship and begin burning hard for the planet. It doesn't take more than a half an hour (due to light-speed lag) before Hawk's bearded face pops up on screen.

"This isn't looking good, Major. Signals analysis shows they've got two Triumph-class dropships coming in, and a Union. Those things land, that's a hundred-sixty tanks and twelve mechs they can deploy right away, plus four infantry platoons. And Weisman only knows what they've got stashed in those cargo bays." He runs the back of his hand across his mouth. "Any chance you guys want to take an emergency contract to take them? I can't guarantee any cash payment, but I can guarantee 100% salvage rights on the dropships and anything inside them."

"No cash?" muses Gbasden. "How about some orbital yard time for our ships, or a crack at some XL engines, or maybe you've got an Overlord-class laying around somewhere?"

The reply is a smile. "Each dropship you down, I'll get you an XL engine. Down all three, I'll put you on the list for an Overlord."

Our space forces consist of the Jumbo, and the two Unions, plus eight fighters - a pair of Lucifers, two Shilones, a Lightning, a Stuka, and a pair of light fighters from Delta. Our analysis of the sensor data shows just the three dropships and only two light fighters. Unions slightly outgun Triumphs, while the Jumbo is armed only symbolically. We have a significant fighter advantage, but the whole thing is a bit risky since literally all of our assets are aboard our three dropships.

It's unlikely that any backup from planetside will get there in time to make a difference.

Do we take the job?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

In real life? No fucking way.

But hey, what's a game if you don't make it exciting?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Freyland wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2019 5:03 pm In real life? No fucking way.

But hey, what's a game if you don't make it exciting?
I agree with both sentiments.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

::Turns on Danger Zone; 3030 Remix::
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

You only live once (well, some of you have clones brought out of storage or something...). Let's go for it! If we go out, we'll go out in a blaze of glory!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

They will talk about this day as a momentous day. A day of history as us we few will take the beaches and declare this independance day not just for us but for the solar systrm. Arise rohan! Game over man!
Lets do it.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

July 4, 3039
Kurita fleet interception point

We alter course to bear on the Kurita dropships and deploy our fighters once we get close. So do they - instead of having just the two fighters like we anticipated, they've got another twelve light fighters that emerge from the Union. Perhaps it's a converted carrier instead. Additionally, four fighters separate from the jumpship and burn hard to catch up.

Sensor readings on the fighters are weird as all hell, they're very uncommon designs that none of the aero jocks have seen before.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our interception places us at the "north" end of the enemy formation, with our Jumbo firmly in the back while the Unions bring up the front, with our fighters hanging out in the sensor shadow. Except one Lucifer which develops some thruster problems so it can only burn at about 50%. Well, he can bring up the back.

We're going to basically get one good pass at these guys and then they're going to zip by, so we'll need to make it good. We launch an LRM salvo at maximum range, but the missiles go wandering off into deep space.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Coming into optimal weapons range... now. Fire at will." chatter on the Moonraker's bridge.

"Are those LAMs?" asks an incredulous crew member.

LAMs, for those who haven't seen them before, are "Land-Air Mechs". A mostly impractical boondoggle from the Star League era, they're battlemechs capable of transforming into aerospace fighters. Sounds great on paper, but that re-configuration equipment eats up a lot of space that dedicated mechs and aerospace fighters use for more guns, armor or engine power. As such, their main use is in raids requiring both high speed and maneuverability.

This isn't one of those situations. A Wasp LAM (105M model featuring a medium laser and an LRM rack) moves to harass our Stuka, taking some fire from the Jumbo in the process, then our Cheetah plows lasers into the right wing. The thing just plain old falls apart.

Our dropships exchange fire, the exchange rate being in our favor - one of the Triumphs takes a hit and begins trailing debris as a bay door is breached.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Whoop, guess we don't have as much time on target as we thought, those dropships are already burning hard to clear away. Our fighters will need to catch up to them. Everyone pulls some serious Gs turning around and thrusting to give chase.

A pair of LAMs open up on our fighters as they give chase, and the Moonraker blows them away with its weapon batteries. Well, the damage is actually not that catstrophic but these things aren't really designed for deep space operations, so a major hull breach can easily cause the on-board fusion reactor to shut down. The Moonraker's main fire goes towards a Triumph however, blowing out a laser bay on the dropship and hitting the thrusters.

The Jumbo gets its first ever kill, blowing out the center torso on another LAM.

The Kurita LAMs suffer some seriously catastrophic losses, a full four of them going down to engine shutdown or, in the case of one, getting cored out by our Lightning with an AC/20 burst. Our Shilone takes a beating, the pilot getting zapped by some short-circuiting electronics, while our Cheetah loses a laser to the counterfire. Still, doing ok for now.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Kurita dropships are almost out of weapons range of our large vessels, which deal some more damage but are unable to land a finishing blow. A Stinger LAM gets in the way of the Sparrow, getting blown away by shorter-ranged weapons fire, as does a Wasp LAM, but the dropships look like they're getting away.

Our Cheetah burns hard to catch up to a Triumph, but the aero jock loses control of his spacecraft while avoiding fire, and is out of the fight as the little fighter flies way the hell off target.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
One of the Triumphs gets away - it took some armor damage, but we couldn't stop it. Our fighters burn to catch up with the other two.

The Lightning takes some serious damage from anti-fighter batteries on the Kurita Union, while the Triumph disrupts the Shilone's attack run, allowing the Union to get away. Two more LAMs get blown apart by our dropships' close-in fire - these things are remarkably fragile. Granted, they look like they're based on Wasp and Stinger chassis, which aren't exactly beefy powerhouses to begin with.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
We get one last shot at the Triumph before its earlier acceleration advantage carries it away, but we mess it up.

Gbasden cringes as he reports to Hawk. "Sorry, Captain. They took some damage and lost about nine uh... fighters, but they're all gonna be coming at you. At least you won't have to deal with any real mechs - I think they've got two of those fighter-mech things left."

Five minutes later, the response comes back, Hawk sighing and shrugging. "Right. Don't suppose you're interested in turning around and helping us deal with this mess? Same terms as before."

Our initial evaluation of the Triumph dropship was a little bit much, it can only cary about 44 tanks. Our recovery crews report that the one that got winged lost a couple hundred tons of cargo, which will probably put a crimp in the Drac ammo situation groundside (as an aside, one of the LAMs recovered has some pretty cool tech on it, which will be discussed in a later update). But still, 80+ tanks backed up by six fighters and three LAMs is a pretty significant force. We also don't know if there are more Kurita reinforcements coming in. So it'll probably be a non-zero-length ground campaign.

Do we go bail Hawk and the Lyran guys out?
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Same terms? As if "for free"?

:lol:

No.
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Post by Cylus Maxii »

If our mech forces are in good shape and so is our ammo, I think we should take it. Time in transit is money.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Same terms as in XL engines and in line for a Union dropship? Hell ya!

But I'm assuming it means prorated extension of the previous contract that got us here in the first place.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

The terms would be 1 XL engine or other high-tech object of equivalent value per "collected" enemy dropship, wait-list for Overlord-class dropship if all hostile dropships are destroyed or forced to retreat off-planet. We keep every unit we eliminate (100% salvage). No cash is available to pay us at this time (he released all the payments already), so basically it's a chance at high-tech loot.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I say we go for it. We have a good relationship with Hawk and it could pay off down the line.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

eh, I say pass. We're already fairly beat up and semi-low on ammo, so I don't think the reward is enough for the risk and cost here of another campaign prior to rest and repair.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 9:36 am eh, I say pass. We're already fairly beat up and semi-low on ammo, so I don't think the reward is enough for the risk and cost here of another campaign prior to rest and repair.
If this is our ready state - then I agree. We are a mercenary unit.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

We give it some thought, but, in the end, can't justify putting our company through another meatgrinder for a chance to spend more money.

"Sorry, Captain, no can do. Our ground units are just too beat up."

Hawk sighs and nods. "Understood. We'll take care of it ourselves. Or not." He smirks. "Hawkins out." The screen goes black.

Morale among the Steiner-sympathetic mechwarriors and other personnel plummets, almost to the point of mutiny. The captain of the Jumbo all but turns his ship around and our jumpship captain refuses to jump out unless we allow anyone who wants to return planetside.

Before the firearms come out, to resolve this predicament, Cpt. Scrub suggests that we gather the volunteers on the Sparrow (whose captain is Steiner-sympathetic as well) and allow them to reverse course and deliver said volunteers to the planet surface via hot drop before leaving. If they survive, they can always rejoin us later. She volunteers to lead the, uh, volunteers herself.

Xwraith is one of said volunteers, along with ten others and a pair of aero jocks.

"Just so you know, this is basically a one-way ticket." Scrub reminds everyone. "We'll have backup on the surface, and we'll be dealing with mostly tanks - a lot of them. Also a little infantry and a few aerospace fighters also, plus two or three of those stupid transforming mech things. Chances are, we don't get to leave until the Steiner guys can wrangle us a ride out of here."

Anybody who wants in on this, pipe up. Volunteers will get first crack at high-tech upgrades for their mechs (with up to three XL engines in play). It's going to be pretty tough, without much in the way of tech support (a few of the techs have volunteered to ride shotgun our mechwarriors during the hot drop, and our mechwarriors will have to double up as assistants and help out with maintenance and repairs), or supplies (we'll have to rely on our Steiner buddies and battlefield salvage for the most part). Our mechs will be able to carry a limited amount of cargo on the drop (by literally holding boxes in their hands), but this is definitely not going to be an easy camping trip.

The rest of the company will proceed back to Outreach to carry out refits and repairs, and take some R&R.

Current OO-owned character roster:
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

Tank-killing is my thing, anyways. I'll go.
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