Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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Hyena
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Zarathud wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:11 pm Sell the equipment and take the 110M to put out a contract hit on our former liaison.
I like this. Or even better, spend some of the 110M on some intel and and go hunt that twat down with extreme prejudice.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

Hyena wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:37 pm Or even better, spend some of the 110M on some intel and and go hunt that twat down with extreme prejudice.
Tempting, but probably not a good use of company resources. Send El Guapo after the liaison alone. On foot.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

AWS260 wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:16 pm
Hyena wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:37 pm Or even better, spend some of the 110M on some intel and and go hunt that twat down with extreme prejudice.
Tempting, but probably not a good use of company resources. Send El Guapo after the liaison alone. On foot.
This may break with tradition, but perhaps we could use subterfuge and send him in an Amazon delivery dirigible?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I like that idea!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

The equipment gets sold to the planetary militia "at cost". Overall, I'd say they got about 50% of their stuff back. Between the equipment sales and the money we already got for the contract, our warchest is sitting at 459M. Not bad, all things considered.

We conduct our repairs on-planet, since our techs are helping the locals anyway, we may as well use the repair facilities for ourselves. We order a replacement fusion engine for LordMortis' Victor - the damn thing costs 1.7M C-Bills and we have to have it shipped from the next system over. Along with the usual assortment of myomer bundles and structural elements for our other mechs.

We've acquired a bunch of new mechs from salvage that we've kept. We're going to do some minor customization work on them to smooth out the rough edges with some of those designs.

Archer
Option 1: Refit this to the Kurita model - trades the 4x medium lasers and and LRM/20s for two large lasers and LRM/15s.
Option 2: Refit this to the "Isgrimnur" model - simply rotate the rear-facing lasers so they point forward. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Champion
Option 1: Remove the two useless small lasers and trade them in for a ton of armor (the mech is pretty light on armor)
Option 2: Remove the two useless small lasers and trade them in for a heat sink (the mech could use another heat sink)

Kintaro
We'll keep this guy as is for now, until I get a better handle on how he performs. My suspicion is that we're going to need to get rid of the LRM rack to mount heat sinks, as it's got way too many guns.

Ostsol OTL-4F
Unlike the 4D we already have, this thing has two PPCs instead of the laser arrays. It's like a mini-Warhammer without all the other weapons.

Warhammer
Speaking of Warhammers, Hyena called this one, so:
Option 1: Refit to a 6D model, which ditches the machine guns, SRM launcher and ammunition to add max armor and two heat sinks.
Option 2a: Drop the MG ammo to a half-ton, ditch the small lasers. Add a heat sink and a little bit of extra armor.
Option 2b: As 2a, except instead of the extra heat sink, we add another ton of armor.

Isgrimnur looks fondly at the repaired Hatchetman and considers whether to climb back in or continue driving the Archer. Also:
1) Improve piloting from 3 to 2 (easier to hit guys with melee, avoid sliding on pavement)
2) Improve gunnery with the AC/10 or lasers

If moving back into the Hatchetman:
1) relocate the laser from the axe-hand to the other hand, improving overall firepower (can both axe and full laser), but the mech becomes unbalanced and harder to keep upright
2) keep it as is

The planetary militia poach a couple of our guys, one from Beta-Two and one from Gamma-Three, driving a Griffin and a Phoenix Hawk respectively, along with several mech techs. Paingod also strongly considers their offer - a militia job is usually pretty cushy (the occasional major raid by heavily armed mercenaries notwithstanding), and it's a nice place to settle down. As long as you live near the equatorial regions. And don't have any allergies to the many, many, pollen-producing plant species in that area.

"Don't get me wrong, I love whooshing around on jump jets and lighting things up with the PPC, but I just turned 37 before I started this contract. I think it's time for me to settle down and do something a little calmer."

Scrub looks at Paingod with a sympathetic look. "I know what you mean. I just don't think I want to settle down here, on this particular rock. If you stick with us, I'm sure we can arrange a re-enlistment bonus, but I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to stick around." She smirks. "Well, I'm still not sure about this particular planet. Do they even have weather other than snow?"

Paingod:
1) Retire - we'll need to hire a Paingod Mk II, who'll be a bit less of an ace with the Griffin. As a bonus, Paingod Mk I survives and lives "happily ever after".
2) Keep Working - 5M re-enlistment bonus

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

Our command staff also has some discussions with the departing 12th Vegan Rangers. Mostly without snickering and making tofu jokes. As it turns out, they get a kick out of people underestimating them. We also get a few lines on some contracts. Given the deteriorating relations between the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, FedCom has a substantial amount of work for us. They even make us sign non-disclosure agreements before discussing locations and details.

Contract 1:
Reinforce LCAF (Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces) units assaulting the planet Kiesen in the Draconis Combine

The planet itself is just "northeast" of the three-way point border between Rasalhague, FedCom and the Combine. It's defended by a mixture of the 12th Dieron Regulars and planetary militia. We'll be working with elements of the Third Donegal Guards to capture and hold territory and strategic facilities. Normally, FedCom units don't "capture and hold" that deep into Combine territory, so the implication there is that we're starting a war. Contract details:

Elite/D allies
Regular/F opposition
Liaison command
60% transport costs coverage
50% salvage rights
20% battle loss compensation
5 month contract duration, with possible extensions
417M estimated profit

We'll have a liaison to coordinate our efforts with the Third, and, according to our review, our counterparts are pretty damn good. Should be a cakewalk, except for the part where we're basically invading Draconis Combine territory.

Contract 2:
Objective Raid on Buckminster - the LCAF wants us to destroy strategic objectives and eliminate key personnel. The place is swarming with Dracs, including at least three regiments of battlemechs, including a Sword of Light, not to mention whatever the local planetary militia has. Presumably, the goal here is to keep them penned up and fighting us instead of reinforcing other locations.

Green/C allies
Regular/D opposition
Liaison command
100% transport costs coverage
40% salvage rights
40% battle loss compensation
4 month contract duration, with possible extensions
391M estimated profit

Again, we'll have a liaison giving us advice, but it looks like said liaison will be a little wet behind the ears. Also, we won't actually have any meaningful backup. Honestly, it seems like kind of a meat grinder, but the pay is pretty good.

Contract 3:
Garrison duty on the planet Derf. Yes, "Derf". A nice, quiet spot of garrison duty. We'll be supporting the local militia against pirate raiders. This place is all the way in the northern galactic butthole with very little to recommend it. The pirates will most likely be coming from the Oberon Confederation.

Green/F allies
Veteran/D enemies
Liaison command
55% transport coverage
50% salvage rights
100% battle loss compensation
17 months contract duration
1B estimated profit

Quiet, boring contract with very little to do except go cow-tipping or whatever. The payment is pretty low for the time, and the likelyhood of any good salvage is pretty low. On the other hand, we'll be able to double up and send a company over to:

Contract 4:
Extraction Raid on Butte Hold

It seems that the periphery inheritance dispute is still going strong, and the Lyrans would like to hire us to go in and rescue a few negotiators who got themselves captured. And smash anything that gets in the way.

Green/F allies
Regular/F enemies
Liaison command
100% transport coverage
80% salvage rights
40% battle loss compensation
4 months contract duration
83M estimated profit

It would only make sense to send a smaller force to this one, but it's pretty close to Derf, so we could probably get it done.

Contract 5:
Planetary Assault on Jamestown

The Fed Suns rep makes off-hand mention of this opportunity after we have a good chuckle over "Butte Hold". It seems that the Taurians have gotten uppity again, and the Suns half of FedCom wants to put the hurt on them by sending us over to "take and hold strategic facilities". Which would probably give them negotiating leverage over some issue or other, at which point we'd pull back.

Green/C allies
Green/D enemies
House command
100% transport coverage
30% salvage rights
100% battle loss compensation
4 month contract duration
369M estimated profit

This is in the southern end of the galaxy and will take us well away from the main action going on right now.

Another perfectly valid option is to head back to Outreach and look for more contracts there.

So - looking for input on refits, skill choices and contracts.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Archer
Option 1: Refit this to the Kurita model - trades the 4x medium lasers and and LRM/20s for two large lasers and LRM/15s.
Option 2: Refit this to the "Isgrimnur" model - simply rotate the rear-facing lasers so they point forward. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Isgrimnur looks fondly at the repaired Hatchetman and considers whether to climb back in or continue driving the Archer. Also:
1) Improve piloting from 3 to 2 (easier to hit guys with melee, avoid sliding on pavement)
2) Improve gunnery with the AC/10 or lasers

If moving back into the Hatchetman:
1) relocate the laser from the axe-hand to the other hand, improving overall firepower (can both axe and full laser), but the mech becomes unbalanced and harder to keep upright
2) keep it as is
I'm up to move back to the Hatchetman and let someone know the joys of my Archer refit. And I'll take the laser upgrade, as it's portable between the two. Leave the H'man stock for now.
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gbasden
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I'm in favor of contract 1. I can't picture garrison duty anywhere named Derf. Going into a meat grinder with mediocre salvage and battle loss compensation seems like a poor life choice. As does taking on job on the ass end of space.

I like option 1 on the Archer and option 1 on the Champion.
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Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

Going into the start of a Major Power war is better?

What happens if they force a contract extension? Do they pay?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Yep, 1.5x the monthly rate.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

I don't have an opinion on the mechs (nothing much involving PPCs, the rest of that stuff just doesn't mean as much to me for some reason...).

On the contracts, I agree with option #1. Don't want BFE contracts and the meat grinder doesn't sound rewarding enough. This keeps us on a good contract in line with someone who's providing good tech we want and right where we know we'll be able to get more good work soon as this one's up.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Paingod »

Oh, man. 5M is a lot. :think:

I think I'll take the re-enlistment bonus and keep running the risks of being a Merc.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Man, I have zero interest in us going up against the Sword of Light. Hard pass on that.

As hard as it is to pass up Butte Hold AGAIN, I agree with contract #1. Sounds like fun, reasonably well paid, and we'll be able to tell everyone how we were there for the start of the next succession war.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 4:55 pm

Warhammer
Speaking of Warhammers, Hyena called this one, so:
Option 1: Refit to a 6D model, which ditches the machine guns, SRM launcher and ammunition to add max armor and two heat sinks.
Option 2a: Drop the MG ammo to a half-ton, ditch the small lasers. Add a heat sink and a little bit of extra armor.
Option 2b: As 2a, except instead of the extra heat sink, we add another ton of armor.
Hmm...at work and I can't access the loadout of the Warhammer. Which variant do we currently have, and what is the weaponry?

I will NEVER say no to more armor and heat sinks...
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

It's a WHM-6R. Standard loadout is 2x PPC, 2x m.laser, SRM6, 2x MG, 2x s.laser 151 armor points.

The main problem I have with the MGs and the small lasers is that they're pretty useless. So getting rid of them would free up a total of three tons for some mixture of armor and heat sinks.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 12:27 pm It's a WHM-6R. Standard loadout is 2x PPC, 2x m.laser, SRM6, 2x MG, 2x s.laser 151 armor points.

The main problem I have with the MGs and the small lasers is that they're pretty useless. So getting rid of them would free up a total of three tons for some mixture of armor and heat sinks.
Gotcha. I agree. I feel I would be giving up too much offense if I dropped the SRM as well, but you're the expert on this. I suppose it would be impossible to drop the MG/ammo, SRM/ammo, and small lasers, add a med laser (or two), then polish off with max armor and a 'sink (or two)? Are there enough hardpoints for an extra ML, or are they ballistic/missile only? Would that even be practical in terms of heat?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, I think we're going to keep the SRM/6 launcher, and drop the MGs/small lasers. The 6R has 18 heat sinks, which is enough to volley-fire the PPCs (1-2-1-2), and switch one out to the 2x Mlas/SRM when the bad guys close in. The SRM/6 launcher can also be loaded with infernos when we anticipate facing infantry. The first turn, heat goes up to 22 (running + PPCs or PPC and short range stuff), next turn we drop one of the weapons to cool back down. Etc.

There are actually no hardpoints in tabletop, but I'm kind of using that rule in this particular game. Also, adding the extra ML will blow past the existing heat capacity, and even an extra two heat sinks won't actually prevent the mech from slowing down (it'd have the laser mounted, but wouldn't want to fire it, making it a bit pointless).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 2:16 pm Yeah, I think we're going to keep the SRM/6 launcher, and drop the MGs/small lasers. The 6R has 18 heat sinks, which is enough to volley-fire the PPCs (1-2-1-2), and switch one out to the 2x Mlas/SRM when the bad guys close in. The SRM/6 launcher can also be loaded with infernos when we anticipate facing infantry. The first turn, heat goes up to 22 (running + PPCs or PPC and short range stuff), next turn we drop one of the weapons to cool back down. Etc.

There are actually no hardpoints in tabletop, but I'm kind of using that rule in this particular game. Also, adding the extra ML will blow past the existing heat capacity, and even an extra two heat sinks won't actually prevent the mech from slowing down (it'd have the laser mounted, but wouldn't want to fire it, making it a bit pointless).
Like I said, you're the expert! Hoping this works out better than my Battlemaster and Atlas experiments...

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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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While we're figuring out what contract we want to take, and our techs put in some serious work on mechs ours and locals, our mechwarriors work on their skills. With nobody shooting at us, we've got a lot of open ground we can use as a practice range.

Moley can improve piloting or gunnery, both from 3 to 2.

Xwraith can improve piloting or gunnery, both from 3 to 2 as well.

El Guapo has been putting in some time on the practice range:
1) Piloting from 3 to 2
2) PPC specialization
3) Medium laser specialization
4) Zenn7-style heat tolerance

One of our techs comes up with a novel approach, moving a standard Marauder's AC/5 ammo bin from the left torso closer to the autocannon mounted above the right torso section. We do that to a spare Marauder.

Hyena has several discussions with the techs upgrading the Warhammer. In the end, they strip off the short-ranged weapons and add three tons worth of armor.

One other thing: let's name our second dropship. It's a Union-Class. The Jumbo is just "The Jumbo", but the second dropship needs a new name. It's one we were able to capture and repair a couple of contracts ago.

With plenty of supplies, ammo and spare mechs, we're good to go for an extended campaign. Our only shortage is mechwarriors - we've got enough to field our declared strength of four companies, but nobody to spare. It seems that, with the upcoming war, mechwarriors are suddenly in high demand.
Spoiler:
Image
Hanse Davion officially declares war on the Draconis Combine on April 15th, and we jump into Kiesen on the 20th.

Our liaison is a familiar face - Lt. "Miles" Hawkins. Forearms are still as thick as an average person's neck. He's actually a super nice guy, but when you shake his hand, be ready to flex those muscles - he's got a grip. Still drives a Wolfhound.

Kiesen is a... place. Orbiting a tiny orange star, about half the size of the sun, the only thing that keeps it habitable is the fact that it's about a fifth of the distance that the Terra is from Sol. That, and the fairly unpleasant atmosphere, filled with various heat-retaining gases that make it impossible to breathe. You can walk around, just, uh, make sure your breathing mask is on tight. And take a decontamination shower afterwards. It kind of "settles". Since it's polluted all to hell, the Dracs apparently use it for a variety of manufacturing process with ... unpleasant ... byproducts. Making all the more necessary to maintain environmental seal discipline. It's really bad for humans. The local ... plants (?) and amphibian analogues love it, though. No moons. Several other planets in the system, possibly housing auxiliary facilities, but our main target is the first planet. At least the gravity is pretty close to 1G.

We get a pretty detailed briefing - the FedCom guys have really done their homework. Our initial operational area is divided into four sectors - Anton, Berta, Caeser and Dora respectively. "What, we're Lyrans!" Hawk says with a broad grin. Each sector has a series of facilities that we need to track down and either capture or destroy. The plan is to hot-drop two companies of mechs across these sectors for initial recon and skirmishes, then have our dropships land in the staging area and unpack the rest of the forces while we wait for our mechs to march back.

Hawk will be hot dropping with two of the lances to hit a regional command center in Dora, an area which also houses multiple data processing and analysis centers. Destroying this will greatly decrease Kurita coordination across the planet.

Caeser houses multiple unidentified facilities, so we'll need to allocate three lances to run recon and engage enemy forces.

Berta is a big unknown, so a single lance will suffice. Nobody's entirely sure what's in that sector.

Anton has a substantial ground force presence, as well as an airbase, which Hawk tells us we'll need to destroy, but first, he wants us to re-acquire some equipment captured by the Kurita forces. It's got transponders, but if we move in with overwhelming force, the Dracs may just slag it. He suggests we allocate two lances to the operation.

Somebody raises the concern that this plan calls for eight lances in total, while we can only hot drop six.

"Sure, but the landing zone is in Anton! You guys can walk, can't you? You've got battlemechs?" Hawk points out.

"Sure, in a box." Scrub says with a smirk. Perhaps referring to our common practice of shoving most of our mechs into the Jumbo for the duration of interstellar travel.

Our trip to the planet is uncontested - the Donegal Guards have already punched through the Kurita aerospace defenses. We'll need to decide who's dropping on (or walking to) which area before we hit atmosphere.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

One other thing: let's name our second dropship. It's a Union-Class. The Jumbo is just "The Jumbo", but the second dropship needs a new name. It's one we were able to capture and repair a couple of contracts ago.
The Onion. Or if you want something a bit more upscale, Allium.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:33 pmOne other thing: let's name our second dropship. It's a Union-Class. The Jumbo is just "The Jumbo", but the second dropship needs a new name. It's one we were able to capture and repair a couple of contracts ago.
"The Spare."
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

Wow, someone else who wants El Guapo to walk somewhere...

Who, exactly, did you piss off?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:33 pm One other thing: let's name our second dropship. It's a Union-Class. The Jumbo is just "The Jumbo", but the second dropship needs a new name. It's one we were able to capture and repair a couple of contracts ago.

Hawk will be hot dropping with two of the lances to hit a regional command center in Dora, an area which also houses multiple data processing and analysis centers. Destroying this will greatly decrease Kurita coordination across the planet.

Caeser houses multiple unidentified facilities, so we'll need to allocate three lances to run recon and engage enemy forces.

Berta is a big unknown, so a single lance will suffice. Nobody's entirely sure what's in that sector.

Anton has a substantial ground force presence, as well as an airbase, which Hawk tells us we'll need to destroy, but first, he wants us to re-acquire some equipment captured by the Kurita forces. It's got transponders, but if we move in with overwhelming force, the Dracs may just slag it. He suggests we allocate two lances to the operation.

Somebody raises the concern that this plan calls for eight lances in total, while we can only hot drop six.

"Sure, but the landing zone is in Anton! You guys can walk, can't you? You've got battlemechs?" Hawk points out.

"Sure, in a box." Scrub says with a smirk. Perhaps referring to our common practice of shoving most of our mechs into the Jumbo for the duration of interstellar travel.

Our trip to the planet is uncontested - the Donegal Guards have already punched through the Kurita aerospace defenses. We'll need to decide who's dropping on (or walking to) which area before we hit atmosphere.
Drop ship name - SPARE-0 (zero, but usually pronounced as O "sparrow")

Dora 2 lances - Beta 1/2 - we'll kill it

Caesar 3 lances - Gamma company - mix of heavy and recon

Berta, single lance - Delta 1 (heavy recon)

Anton 2 lances - Alpha 1/2 - heavy enough to get the job done (I hope)

The Guap should take the zenn7 heat thing. Then I won't be the only one wanting the heat turned up! :)
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Say, does war ever change?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Remind me - how does the PPC specialization work (how much of a bonus)? And how does the Some Like It Hot work?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Alpha One to Anton. Seems like that could use an assault lance, PLUS the whole "both start with A" thing.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:46 pm Remind me - how does the PPC specialization work (how much of a bonus)? And how does the Some Like It Hot work?
PPC specialization is a flat +2 on your PPC attacks.

Some Like it Hot lets you ignore the to-hit penalty when you hit 8 heat buildup.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by xwraith »

+1 to gunnery — to better reach out with that er large laser and zap ‘em. Followed by a hail of lrms.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:02 pm
El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:46 pm Remind me - how does the PPC specialization work (how much of a bonus)? And how does the Some Like It Hot work?
PPC specialization is a flat +2 on your PPC attacks.

Some Like it Hot lets you ignore the to-hit penalty when you hit 8 heat buildup.
I'll go with the PPC specialization. The to-hit penalty at 8 heat is only -1, right? +2 to hit on my biggest guns seems like a better thing for causing things to blow up.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:37 am
NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:02 pm
El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:46 pm Remind me - how does the PPC specialization work (how much of a bonus)? And how does the Some Like It Hot work?
PPC specialization is a flat +2 on your PPC attacks.

Some Like it Hot lets you ignore the to-hit penalty when you hit 8 heat buildup.
I'll go with the PPC specialization. The to-hit penalty at 8 heat is only -1, right? +2 to hit on my biggest guns seems like a better thing for causing things to blow up.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

They'e just that Awesome.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

I think we'll just modify the Marauder. So like how the Hatchetman has axes attached to it, my Marauder will have more PPCs attached onto the existing PPCs.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

April 24, 3039

"One last thing." Hawk mentions as we prepare to drop. "The forces on the ground are telling me that the Dracs have a lot of artillery on the ground. So keep it moving."

Our dropships shake as they begin atmospheric entry. The Jumbo will head straight for the landing zone, while the two Unions (Moonraker and "Sparrow/Allium") make passes over the designated drop points first. The thing about orbital drops is that you're encased in a metal drop pod with rigged jump jets attached to the back and legs of your mech (if you don't have any already). You've got comms through hardlines, but once the pod drops, it prevents communications until it opens, so you're basically sitting there for ten minutes in a darkened egg, watching the inside slowly glow as it heats up from air friction. Pretty unnerving for most people.

"Gotta say, I'm kinda nervous about it - I haven't done a hot drop since basic training." says Moley over the landline.

"You think that's bad, I haven't done one since before you were born." quips Zarathud.

"You did a hot drop when you were fourteen?" LordMortis asks

"Shut up, you." comes the response.

Beta-One drops out of the Moonraker. As per procedure, LordMortis pops the drogue chute first to stabilize the pod, then the main chute to slow it down. Eventually, the pod splits open (giving the ground defense guys several possible targets to shoot at), and then you either fire your built-in jump jets or bolt-on ones until you land.

Chatter indicates that Beta-Two has dropped way off target. Meanwhile, Beta-One and the liaison basically land right on top of the command center. The Dracs scramble defenses - a heavy mech lance supported by a bunch of tanks, including some SRM Carriers and Manticores.

LordMortis is back in the Victor (the Atlas was apparently "too slow"), so it's only Zenn7 and Zarathud (and the liaison) that have to jettison their jump jets. The five mechwarriors will have to do this by themselves.

There's some kind of hail coming down, although it's probably not exactly water, but at least it prevents any enemy infantry from joining in, and will greatly slow down the Kurita vehicles. The briefing was pretty clear about which buildings house critical personnel and equipment, so if we can't rout the defenders, we can just blow the base to bits then scoot. Granted, "scooting" with a pair of Awesomes is problematic at best, but still.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"Wait, why are you in a Clint?" Zenn7 asks the liaison as they begin running down the street towards the fight.

"Eh, I didn't want those techs bolting jumpjets onto my Wolfhound. It just isn't right."

"Goddammit!" Moley swears as an AC/20 shot from a Saladin rips about 80% of the armor off the Thunderbolt's right torso. The mechwarrior rotates the mech and slices into the hovertank with a large laser - it's a very solid hit on the side and goes through the engine and the fuel lines, scattering bits of the vehicle across the street. The explosion rocks Zarathud's mech, preventing the Awesome from getting a good lock on the Kurita Thunderbolt up ahead - one of the PPCs hits a Vedette but the tank's armor holds.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
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A few tanks and a Grasshopper rush Zenn7's position, peppering the Awesome with light weapons fire (and a couple of AC/10 shots from a Patton tank). Armor holds up, but it's still annoying.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 melts through the Patton tank's armor as it continues harassing him, but its buddies continue pounding the Awesome, breaching left arm armor.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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The Patton begins a retreat, but there are plenty of other targets. A Manticore attracts a pair of PPCs, but stays intact, although electricity crackles over the tank preventing it from firing temporarily. The liaison's Clint picks off a Hunter, disabling it with a laser shot, then dings an SRM launcher on the Maxim to the north of Zenn7's mech. The Awesome is forced to a knee by the volume of fire.

To the west, Zarathud blows away an SRM Carrier before it can get too close, while Moley and LordMortis embarrass themselves and are unable to destroy a single Vedette at point blank range.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 struggles to a knee and directs weapons fire at the damaged Manticore, slicing off treads with the small laser, with the liaison's Clint attacking from the other side. Our Awesome takes heavy actuator damage to the left leg, and the left arm comes off. Well, that's ok, there wasn't a PPC there anyway. The Grasshopper works on the right torso, damaging the PPC there, as well as popping several heat sinks. Zenn7 retaliates by blasting it with two PPC shots and knocking it over, at which point the liaison gives it a cute little Clint curb stomp.

To the west, Zarathud punches through a Vedette's armor with PPCs, zapping the driver a little. LordMortis and Moley manage to redeem themselves, immobilizing an AC/20-packing Rommel.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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The Grasshopper sidesteps out of the line of fire for a second, allowing Zenn7 to zap a Saracen way to the north, immobilizing it as it crashes into a wall, although its LRM salvo takes off the remainder of the Awesome's armament, as the right torso is wrecked and the right arm comes off. The Clint fires at it as well, a little too late.

LordMortis engages the Kurita Thunderbolt and a Hetzer, destroying the latter with an almost full alpha strike as the autocannon breaches armor then SRMs detonate the fuel tank. He then gives the Thunderbolt a solid kick, forcing the enemy mech to stumble and use its arms to prop itself up. Zarathud stomps the other Vedette flat, so now those three can focus on the heavy mechs to the north.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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LordMortis charges past the Thunderbolt to get at the Warhammer to the north - that damn thing has been sniping at us for a while, and now it eats an AC/20 burst to the right arm. The two mechs exchange kicks - LordMortis loses a heat sink and a foot actuator, while the Warhammer's hip joint goes out - it falls over, breaking its right arm PPC in half.

The Clint covers Zenn7's retreat, keeping the Grasshopper and Maxim's attention with laser and AC/5 attacks.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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Zarathud blasts through another Vedette's armor, the "medium" tank's machine gun shorting out temporarily. LordMortis takes some short range fire from the Warhammer, losing left torso armor, then saws the mech's leg off with the AC/20 as it tries to get up. Moley and the Thunderbolt exchange fire, both losing streams of melted armor. The Kurita mech shows a breach on the left leg, though.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Moley hops over and surgically removes the Warhammer's head while the mechwarrior inside is blacked out.

The Clint disables the Maxim with a burst from the AC/5 and a laser shot, although the medium mech's left arm comes off as the Grasshopper focuses lasers on it.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
LordMortis and Moley come chasing around a corner, Moley jumping in behind an LRM Carrier, while LordMortis targets a Manticore. Moley nails the LRM Carrier with the Thunderbolt's lasers, taking it out, while LordMortis annihilates the Manticore - the AC/20 and a laser breach armor, then SRMs detonate the on-board ammunition. However, a little dinky Condor hovertank aims its AC/5 at a weak spot in the Victor's armor and lets loose a burst - the autocannon shells hit the SRM ammo bin. The Victor explodes, sending LordMortis' ejection seat flying. It doesn't fly quite straight up and bounces off several buildings.

Zarathud moves up and blasts the Kurita Thunderbolt at point blank range with all three PPCs, taking very little fire in return.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Protecting his weakened right leg, Zarathud sidesteps and blows the Kurita Thunderbolt's head off.

"Oh, shit." states Moley as an SRM Carrier manages to get a lock on the Thunderbolt. The vehicle is annihilated by lasers, but Moley's mech takes a pounding, losing the right torso section and most of the left arm.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
"We're getting pretty shot up here, you guys think it's time to pull back?" the liaison asks. It's not an unreasonable question - he's having to take on a 70-ton Grasshopper in a 40-ton Clint to covere Zenn7's reteat. Moley's Thunderbolt is missing its right torso section, and even Zarathud's Awesome is pretty beat up.

"We'll get our ejected mechwarrior, then retreat." answers Zarathud, grunting as the Condor zaps our Awesome with three lasers.

"Roger that." states Hawk as he fires up the jump jets, landing behind the Grasshopper just as it comes down from its jump, and reaching out with a foot. The Kurita mech gets tangled up and winds up on the ground.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
The Clint continues outmanuevering the Grasshopper, inflicting damage on its right leg and left arm. "Hey Beta-One-Two, are you going to come help me with this hopper or what?

"One second." another grunt as the Awesome's foot takes a large chunk off the Condor and it zips off to the south. "Ok, coming. ETA ten or twenty seconds."

Round 14-18:
Spoiler:
Image
The Clint continues pecking at the Grasshopper as the less manueverable mech can't get more than one laser on it at a time. Zarathud moves to help, but works on some of the target buildings meanwhile, ruining one.

After almost a minute of manuevering, the Grasshopper makes its move, charging up to Zarathud. The Clint gets right in behind it. Zarathud puts three PPCs into the charging mech, adding the small laser for good measure, while the Clint's fire comes in from behind. The 'hopper returns fire, damaging Zarathud's hip, but is unable to cope with the loss of massive amounts of armor and keels over, its right leg snapping off.

The mechwarrior bails out almost immediately.

Round 19-30:
Spoiler:
Image
It takes some time for LordMortis to wake up and for us to extract him from the building he "landed" in. Zarathud and the liaison use the time to a) avoid a fully operational Warhammer and b) blow away a large number of the designated buildings. And then the Warhammer stomps up right behind Zarathud just as LordMortis clambers aboard.

Miraculously, the full alpha strike from the rear only takes out one of the Awesome's PPCs and brings it to a knee. Zarathud even manages to zap the enemy mech with the right arm PPC.

Round 29:
Spoiler:
Image
Zarathud slips as the Warhammer charges in, firing all of its short-range weapons - the Awesome's right leg gives out and the mech winds up on the ground. As it hits the ground, our mechwarrior fires off one more PPC shot, drilling the enemy mech in the center torso. The Clint comes around the corner, firing all weapons and doing a significant amount of armor damage as well - the Warhammer joins the Awesome on the ground.

Round 30:
Spoiler:
Image
The two big mechs struggle to get up - well, Zarathud just rolls over, aiming the Awesome's two remaining PPCs at the Warhammer. Another center torso hit cracks the engine shielding, sending the 70-tonner's heat skyrocketing as it concentrates fire on the Awesome's right arm, blowing it off. With the Clint's added firepower, the Warhammer topples again.

Round 31:
Spoiler:
Image
That about does it for this fight. The Warhammer's engine damage makes it impossible for it to fire any of its weapons without frying itself, while Zarathud's mech looks like melted swiss cheese.

Zarathud slowly, carefully, gets up, as does the Kurita machine. The two bow to each other, and our mechs leave the area.

We've done a lot of damage, but paid a significant price. Any Kurita force intercepting Beta-One would take the remaining mechs out easily, but Beta-Two is able to ditch the hostiles engaging them and escorts Beta-One home. The damage is pretty severe - with both Awesomes requiring probably at least two weeks of work, not to mention replacement PPCs.

LordMortis broke a rib and cracked his head, so he'll be out for at least a month and a half. Moley got away with a sprained leg, but it'll probably heal up before the Thunderbolt is repaired anyway. Long story short, Beta-One is out of action for the foreseeable future. But they really took it to the Kuritans, destroying a major command center, taking out a heavy mech lance and numerous vehicles.

Things don't go so hot for one of our dropships - the trip from jump point to orbit may have been uncontested, but that doesn't mean the Kurita forces have no anti-air capability.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

I got no use for a head, you can patch up my rib and send me back in. Go Team Venture!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

Go Team Venture!

(Returning the favor, Mortis.)

The Best Defense is a Good Offense. The Awesome can just take a pounding, and continue to kick ass and chew bubble gum.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Back to the Atlas, LM?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Delta-One is in the third mech bay aboard the Moonraker, so they get to monitor communications via direct wire hookup (being encased in pods).

"Beta-One, drop complete. Beta-Two, drop complete. Looks like Beta-Two is off-target. Proceeding to zone Berta."

"Sparrow to Moonraker, looks like we've got Kurita units burning for intercept. One dropship, Gazelle-class, multiple aerospace fighters."

"Acknowledged, Sparrow. Maintain formation, launch fighters and engage at maximum range."

"Incoming dropship shows severe damage and is losing altitude fast. Looks like it's coming down in Caesar. Sparrow, finish your drop run - Gamma can take care of it on the ground. We're going to... "

A thump is heard, rattling Delta-One's mechwarriors.

"Impact on aft quarters. Source appears to be ground facility. Moonraker losing altitude. Delta-One, prepare for immediate drop. All crew, brace yourselves. Hope you jackasses secured your things, because we're going to have some bouncing!"

With that, the connection is cut, and Delta-One gets dropped. Once out of their drop pods, it appears that the Moonraker managed to land safely, but will need some time to get their engines restarted. Delta-One makes their way over and will need to cover the dropship while that happens.

"Uh, what's the ETA on those repairs?" Freyland asks, casually looking at the Quickdraw's sensor readouts and watching upwards of thirty red blips closing in.

"Five more minutes." comes the response.

"Yeah, you guys better fire up those guns, because you don't have five minutes."

The good news is that units from the Donegal Guards are coming to help - a heavy tank lance is already on station around the dropship, an artillery battery is providing fire support, and a heavy mech lance is running over as fast as they can (although they're still about 90 seconds out when the shooting starts, which is basically forever in actual battle terms).

The bad news is the composition of the Kurita assault force. Thirty two units in total, including a heavy mech lance - a Cruasder, a Dragon, a Stalker 4P (this is the "light weight" 70 ton version with only slightly less guns), and a Charger 1A9.

It's not as awful a mech as the Charger 1A1, but it's pretty bad. Imagine an 80-ton Banshee, except with a maximum weapons range of 90 meters. The original 1A1 model was mass-produced way back when, but was such a piece of crap (a 5/8 mech with five small lasers for armament) that the manufacturer literally couldn't get rid of them. After getting walloped in the initial phases of the First Succession War, the Draconis Combine bought these things up in large numbers, reasoning that any assault mech is better than no assault mech. The 1A9 model downgrades the engine a little bit, replaces most of the small lasers with mediums and sticks an LRM/20 launcher on there, along with adding some jump jets. But, as we discovered experimentally, it still sucks. In fact, Zarathud still has flashbacks ("It's supposed to be an assault mech, but the second PPC shot to the right torso went right through the armor!").

Then there's the usual assortment of tanks and bug mechs, along with a reasonable medium lance.

The other good news is that the Moonraker landed with a small town between it and the incoming force, giving Delta-One plenty of places to camp out.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Uh, sorry about those houses, guys. Normally, when we land a spheroid dropship, we try to land it in either clear terrain for about 180 meters around or in a designated fire pit. Those thrusters can do some serious damage if you get caught in the wash, and lower-class Kurita housing isn't exactly built for structural strength.

As the Kurita forces approach, the allied artillery begins *thump*-ing away. The allied forces have a Drillson hovertank which zips out to get a better look at the incoming hostiles and dings a Stinger with some LRMs to the right leg.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
We didn't have time to "convert" Madmarcus' replacement Wolverine to a 6M, so he's sitting in a standard 6R, AC/5 and all.

Archinerd camps out behind a building and opens up at an approaching hovercraft, a Maxim. The allied Drillson moves to intercept it and lasers it, poking holes in the skirt to let the air cushion out, at which point Archinerd's LRMs blow the turret off. A platoon of infantry scrambles out. An LTV-4 zips up to fire a PPC at the Moonraker, then is detonated by Freyland's laser salvo.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The allied Drillson happens to be equipped with a machine gun, which is bad news for the infantry platoon - most of the poor bastards are cut down before they can reach cover. A Harasser pings a few SRMs off the Drillson, but Archinerd sends LRMs at the light hovercraft, blowing the left side off the skirt, which causes the vehicle to grind dirt and stop.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Good job, artillery guys, you nailed your own hovertank. Our mechwarriors roll their eyes as a Long Tom shell lands a scant thirty meters from the Drillson as it wobbles around from the recent SRM attack, the blast sending it flying off to land next to a building.

Archinerd fires LRMs into a crowd of tanks and mechs to the southwest. Six out of the twenty missiles pick a Vedette, with five flaking armor off the side. The last one impacts a little bit later, blasting through the weakened armor and disabling the tank, taking out the engine.

Freyland slices a Saladin into small chunks as it tries to sneak around the side, while Madmarcus blows the machine gun off the side of a Locust that's entered the outskirts of the town, walking autocannon shots up its right side.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
After being told in no uncertain terms to adjust their fire, the allied artillery tries to make up for their mistake, moving their next set of shells to the south and disabling an LRM Carrier that Paingod had slowed down previously. Paingod takes the opportunity to switch fire to an LRM-packing Scorpion tank, blowing it away. The Griffin's PPC misses the nearby Locust though, as it takes some laser fire and a kick from another Kurita mech coming in. Time to leave that little pit.

The allied Patton tank takes some damage and is caught in an inferno, but is able to annihilate the above-mentioned Locust, blasting through the weakened right side with an AC/10 and lighting up the on-board machine gun ammo.

To the west, Freyland goes hovertank hunting, firing at a J. Edgar. It avoids the worst of our Quickdraw's weapons fire, but is disabled by an LRM salvo from our dropship.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland continues securing the west flank, putting laser through a Peregrine VTOL's fuselage and evaporating it, then stomping on a Saladin that finds itself underfoot.

The second Patton tank finds its way through the town and cracks a Stinger's leg with an AC/10 burst, sending the bug mech to the ground.

The main body of the enemy force is now pretty close, so it may be time to pull back to secondary positions. Unfortunately, that'll mean leaving the two Patton tanks behind.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Well, the guy in the Stinger knocked himself out. Allied artillery scores hits on a cluster of enemy mechs and tanks, including one Saladin that peels off and breaks off to the west.

Weapons fire is a little disappointing, and Freyland's armor starts flashing yellow as an Ostsol and a Thunderbolt focus fire on the rapidly moving Quickdraw.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The artillery is doing a little too much "danger close", as they blast the close-by cluster of hostile units... but at least they land multiple shots on the cluster of mechs.

The building Archinerd and Madmarcus were using for cover disappears as a Thunderbolt takes a shot at Madmarcus - the large laser collapses the last of the structural elements and the whole thing comes down in a pile of smoke and rubble.

The allied tanks become immobilized in the melee, solving our "should we help them out" problem naturally. At this point, the answer is "jump as far north as possible."

Round 9:
"Hey, you guys awake out there? We're taking hits." comes the radio chatter from the Union. Freyland's look of disgust is severe enough that it almost carries through the comms. The light pitter-patter of AC/2 rounds and a few LRMs really shouldn't be a problem for a Union, but it means the hostiles are coming into range of their heavier guns.

To that point, Freyland retreats from the heavy mechs firing PPCs and large lasers and disables a Vedette that gets a little too far out front, lasers punching through the armor and streak SRMs disabling the tank's engine.

Paingod retreats along the main road through town, temporarily ditching a close-range Trebuchet variant (the 5S, packing three SRM/6 launchers), then blasts a Locust down the street with the PPC, breaking through the leg armor and spraying coolant fluid everywhere. A Wasp charges up to our Griffin, swinging its weapons and limbs wildly. Paingod sighs and brings the Griffin's foot up, cracking the Wasp's right leg. As the mech flops to the ground, its left arm sparks and goes limp as well.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Lyran mech reinforcements (and an LRM Carrier) arrive to the southwest, a welcome relief. Two artillery shells land in a big pile of enemy mechs, the blasts forcing the "light" Stalker to a knee and blowing out a large chunk of its right-side weapons.

The guy in the Wasp that Paingod just knocked over blacks out, but the Locust keeps pursuing our damaged Griffin through the town. His loss. The bird-legged mech gets a good laser shot on Paingod's right torso, causing the armor to go red, but its right leg comes off as Paingod counters its kick.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod thinks to take a breather to let the Griffin cool off as the Locust stops thrashing around, probably due to mechwarrior KO. Then an artillery shell lands barely a hundred meters from our mech, causing a pair of buildings to collapse and revealing a pursuing short-range Trebuchet. Paingod winces as multiple missile lock warnings light up, then breathes a sigh of relief as the missiles fly all around, although a medium laser does hit the Griffin. The other mechwarrior must have been as surprised as ours, and takes a PPC hit.

Archinerd takes a long-range shot at a Blackjack as it fires at our dropship from long range with AC/2s, and the LRMs punch through a weak spot in the center torso, cracking the engine shielding.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
The artillery continues causing confusion within the Kurita ranks, as Madmarcus picks off another Vedette with the autocannon and an SRM salvo.

Between the reinforcements harassing their rear, their lighter screening units having been obliterated and our mechs plus dropship still sending a good amount of ordnance their way, the Kurita forces scatter, some to the west, some to the south.

Since we're right there anyway, we conduct salvage operations. Well, more like let the Lyrans have all the salvage, since it's basically crappy tanks and bug mechs. That'll help build up some credit if and when we want to actually salvage something good. No injuries on our end, and only armor damage, so Delta-One will be ready for action. Once we round up the prisoners and police the bodies (and, uh, help put out the fires), our dropship lifts off, leaving some undoubtedly bitter (and possibly squashed) Kurita citizens behind. Sorry about your hovels, peasants.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

Nice!
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

The dropship that the Moonraker and Sparrow brought down makes its own "successful" landing. Once Gamma Company hot drops, Gamma-Three is tasked with finding the ground installation that forced the Moonraker down - until we do, we can't fly anything over Caeser (unless we want it blown away by anti-orbital defenses). Gamma-One and Two move to engage the dropship - Gamma-Two moves to engage and distract a group of reinforcements, while Gamma-One comes after the dropship itself. Gamma-Two get themselves surrounded, but the battlefield terrain favors battlemechs, and a lance of Lyran mechs show up as well, resulting in a tank massacre. Gamma-Two leaves the Lyran guys to supervise salvage while they move to support Gamma-One.

Gamma-One confronts a Gazelle-class dropship. It's not the toughest dropship in existence, and, being an aerodyne, it means that it needs a runway or some solid, flat ground to lift off. That'll take a while to organize, so meanwhile, it deploys its complement of tanks. Two lances of light mechs have shown up as well, and a group of heavier tanks are en route to reinforce - looks like they'll be coming in right behind us, so we'll need to make sure that we're not still screwing around when we get there.

On the plus side, our Lyran buddies have sent a lance of heavy tanks to help out, and Gamma-Two is about a minute away when the shooting starts.

The Gazelle landed in an area that's basically a series of craters - perhaps a relic of some kind of multi-meteor strike, or just some plain old First Succession War orbital bombardment. We approach from the southwest, while our Lyran allies approach from the northwest. It's time for Hyena to try out that new Warhammer loadout.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
An allied Pike starts plinking AC/2 rounds off the Gazelle's hull from long range, and is rewarded with multiple LRMs, heavier autocannon rounds and PPC shots in return, but remains in one piece. For now.

Round 2:
We exchange symbolic fire with some of the southernmost Kurita units, but nothing hits. The Pike continues getting pounded.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Gazelle and some of its defenders, sticking together in an effort to concentrate firepower. The Pike gets evaporated, while Xwraith picks off a Pegasus at long range, cracking its air ducts with LRMs.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Cylus and Xwraith jump east across a ridge. Cylus sights on a Saracen trying to flank us and zaps it with lasers. The hovercraft "poofs" and stops moving. Xwraith sends some LRMs screaming at a distant Manticore, blowing off treads. To the north, the non-foolish allied units report engaging a Locust.

Having finished off the Pike to the west, the bulk of the bad guys move on Gamma-One. Good news is that Gamma-Two is almost there, with an ETA of 20 seconds.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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"Incoming!" calls out Xwraith, zapping a Saladin hovertank with lasers and immobilizing it. Cylus does a pretty good number on a Pegasus as it approaches from the east. The hovertank returns fire with its SRMs, pinging some off the Grasshopper's armor, but it looks like the crew is a little disoriented, and smoke trails from its right side.

Our Warhammers make for the ridge as well, as it will offer us a superior fighting position. They scores some PPC hits, but mostly just melt armor.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Here's Gamma-Two. They're a little bit beat up, but they still have a good amount of ammo and can provide long-range fire support. Well, once they close to effective range for their weapons, anyway.

The ridge is providing pretty solid cover for Xwraith and Cylus. Cylus zaps a Saladin, melting the hovering AC/20 down to scrap with the Grasshopper's lasers, while Hyena nails another one, firing a PPC into a crowd of vehicles clustered around the dropship. His mech staggers as it receives a PPC shot in return, along with a few light autocannon bursts, but stays upright. Scrub and a Panther exchange PPCs shots, the Panther coming out behind in both number of hits and relative damage.

Our Lyran buddies to the south continue to engage a Panther and a Locust with little effect.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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Looks like a lance of mechs has decided to back up their hovercraft buddies who are getting wasted. For example, the Pegasus that Cylus nailed previously tries to return to the fight, only to get cut in half by the Grasshopper's large laser.

The backup is pretty effective though, as Cylus' right arm takes major damage, losing just about every actuator, and the Grasshopper, unbalanced, falls to the ground.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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Cylus gets up and moves behind the ridge, the right arm hanging limply at the mech's side. Several light autocannon rounds find their way through the Grasshopper's left torso armor, popping a pair of heat sinks and damaging a medium laser - as the mech turns left slightly, Cylus sees that several light mechs have moved on our right flank. Pressing the trigger on the lasers, the mech's computer issues a heat alert as a laser blasts through the center torso and cracks the engine shielding.

Hyena targets the offending Firestarter, blasting it in the right side with PPCs, exposing internals on the arm and leg there. Scrub takes the right leg off a Wasp also firing at the Grasshopper. Both light mechs fall to the ground, while Cylus remains upright, sweating.

Gamma-Two's Centurion loses its right arm and the attached autocannon to laser fire from a Jenner swinging around the left side of the ridge.

The Lyran forces to the north report that their SRM Carrier has been crippled and is pulling back.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Cylus pulls back to the south, the Grasshopper having had enough for one day. The Centurion covers him with its remaining weapons, blowing off the pursuing Firestarter's damaged right arm. The Kurita Jenner continues picking away at it, scoring a hit on the right torso ammo bin. Luckily, the autocannon ammo was almost used up, so the mech is actually recoverable, even though the autoejection system fires anyway. The Firestarter is basically taken apart completely - Gamma-Two's Thunderbolt cracks open the right torso, and then the Kintaro sends a full load of eighteen SRMs in there. It's still kind of intact, but the mech shudders then stops moving.

Scrub spares a PPC shot for a harassing Scimitar, blasting off a chunk of armor, then unloads short ranged weapons on the Dragon that charges up through a gap in the rocks. To some minor effect.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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Additional Kurita forces arrive from the west, so we need to kill the guys in our way and wrap this up quickly.

Unfortunately, our weapon attacks mostly strip armor, although Scrub does damage the Dragon's right arm, while Gamma-Two's Thunderbolt takes a good shot at the Jenner and cracks its gyro, the 35-ton mech breaking off its right laser mount as it falls over.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
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The guy in the Jenner bails out (after his SRM ammo blows up when he fails to get up), while the Wasp that Scrub legged earlier struggles up, stiff-legging it to kind of use the leg as a crutch to stand up. At which point Hyena walks up and kicks the crutch out from under it, unintentionally, ripping the guts out of the core of the mech as well.

The Kintaro takes an AC/2 hit to one of the legs, damaging several actuators, then unloads on the Firestarter that tries to jump in. The lighter mech loses its right arm, then gets tripped and falls over, blowing out a leg actuator.

Scrub disables an AC/10 toting Hetzer, while the rest of our weapons fire is productive but not fatal.

To the north, the allied Lyran forces are getting clobbered by the reinforcements and retreating.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
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The guy in the mangled Firestarter powers down and climbs out.

Hyena hops down and blows through a Manticore's side, cracking its engine. The second Firestarter doesn't have too much luck - it gets up, but then catches a laser from the Kintaro, rendering its right half useless (when three jump jets all blow out at the same time, it's pretty impressive).

Scrub knocks the Dragon down to a knee with a pair of PPC blasts.

All in all, we're getting a bit pounded with not much to show for it, and that Gazelle is small enough that it's actually kind of hard to hit at long range.


Round 13:
Spoiler:
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The Kurita forces to the northwest turn towards us and move at flank speed. We've got maybe a minute before they get there. At this point, our goal is to mop up the ones we're facing quickly, then see if we can bait the rest away from the dropship.

Xwraith hops forward and blasts the Dragon, damaging a leg actuator abd actually forcing it to the ground. Gamma-Two's Trebuchet breaches the remaining Galleon tank's armor, while Gamma-Two's Thunderbolt scores several hits on the helicopter's rotor. Hyena's right PPC comes off under fire from the dropship, so it may be time to pull that Warhammer back.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
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The Dragon has had enough and pulls back, so that's something at least.

Hyena starts pulling back, but takes a second to line up a PPC shot on a distant LRM Carrier, blowing through its armor. Then, his leg stops responding as a PPC from a Manticore fries the circuitry. The gyro reports damage, and the mech simply refuses to stay upright.

At least Gamma-Two's Thunderbolt manages to ... lightly damage the helicopter's rotor again.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
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The helicopter finally goes down after a laser from our Trebuchet spears it through the fuselage - although the pilot manages to make a landing. Here come the light elements of the Kurita reinforcements, meanwhile.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
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Hyena, perhaps a little foolishly, tries to get up, knocking himself out in the process. Now we'll have to rout the opfor, or maybe negotiate with them - no way we're destroying that dropship.

For some reason, though we fuck up completely and can't even disable a goddamn Vedette at point blank range. The Trebuchet takes leg actuator damage, too. Great.

Round 17:
At this point, we're going to continue holding this ridge - there's a lot of our hardware and people left on the field, and we can't afford to leave it there. At least the people.

To that end, Scrub manages to leg a Panther, taking it and its PPC out of action as it keels over.

Round 18:
Spoiler:
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Hyena wakes up, shaking his head to clear it, and jostles one of the Warhammer's movement controls. This causes one of the Kurita Panthers to think the Warhammer is aiming at it and open up with the PPC. Which causes the rest of his buddies to follow suit, and by the end of the process, said Warhammer is a pile of scrap. Most worrying is the PPC shot through the head.

Scrub blows the offending Panther's PPC arm off, while Xwraith finally nails that obnoxious Manticore that's been pelting us with PPC shots non-stop.

The last ten seconds of the battle are pretty awful on both sides - the Kuritans take severe damage to a Panther and a Locust, resulting in mission kills for both mechs, while our Kintaro loses another pair of leg actuators. Scrub blows away a Saladin, then contacts the Kurita forces to arrange a cease-fire.

We agree to retreat, taking our mechs and the Lyran tanks, leaving the dropship and its forces alone as well. Somehow, Hyena survives with just a sprained arm, along with some severe burns (from the PPC going through the cockpit), but the Warhammer is scrap. The mechwarrior will be out for about two weeks, although the loss of pride at being unable to break the curse of the Striker will take longer to heal. Cylus' Grasshopper took a nasty hit to the shoulder, so we'll have to rebuild the arm from scratch, while the Kintaro's hip is out, so that's a leg rebuild. Everything else is basically just armor damage.

The only consolation is that the Kurita forces lost a lot more hardware than we did.

One of the mechwarriors captured during Delta-One's defense of the Moonraker offers to defect. We could definitely use the extra manpower, but there's some concern over giving a mech to a guy who was just shooting at us less than a day ago. So, we consider a few options:

1) Put the guy in a medium, use him to fill an empty spot in one of our lances. Well, once his broken rib heals up. Should be about three weeks.
2) Sign him up, but don't give him a mech until we're through with the contract or a lot more desperate.
3) Hand him over to the Lyrans.
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Zenn7
Posts: 4447
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:14 pm One of the mechwarriors captured during Delta-One's defense of the Moonraker offers to defect. We could definitely use the extra manpower, but there's some concern over giving a mech to a guy who was just shooting at us less than a day ago. So, we consider a few options:

1) Put the guy in a medium, use him to fill an empty spot in one of our lances. Well, once his broken rib heals up. Should be about three weeks.
2) Sign him up, but don't give him a mech until we're through with the contract or a lot more desperate.
3) Hand him over to the Lyrans.
2 - sign him up and wait on putting him to use until next mission (or more desperate on this one, which seems likely at this point).

Between this and Beta's results, we may just get wiped out by this mission... Or at least fail it. :shock:
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Isgrimnur
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

New guy's on point.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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