Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

Post Reply
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

If we have spares available, I'm fine chassis-hopping.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Freyland
Posts: 3041
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:03 pm

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Freyland »

Definitely negotiate with Circus people, we're mercenaries not the Mongols.

Hard to suggest who does what without some opfor info, but obviously the dropship is more critical.
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
User avatar
LordMortis
Posts: 70097
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:26 pm

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

What answer allows us to confiscate the Circinus/VASP tech? Asking for a friend. :eusa-whistle: We're mercenaries, not... um.. not... um... I like toys, OK?!
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I say yes to whichever option means the most likelihood of looting the Star League tech. I hear rumors that Circinus Federation are a bunch of assholes, so I don't feel too bad.

As to who does what, we have to protect the Sparrow above all else, IMO. Gamma One, Alpha One and Beta Two on the Sparrow, and Alpha Two and Delta One on the Supply Depot.
Last edited by gbasden on Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

LordMortis wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:06 pm What answer allows us to confiscate the Circinus/VASP tech? Asking for a friend. :eusa-whistle: We're mercenaries, not... um.. not... um... I like toys, OK?!
That belongs to the locals. Any chance of bargaining w/ the locals to replace the Vasp's and get the star league tech reward? Take out the Vasps and kick the circus freaks outta town?

If not, negotiate with Circinus. If we aren't getting paid to kill them, no point fighting them on behalf of the people that are employing the people we are here to kill!

Gamma 1/2 to the supply depot. Swap as needed to get Alpha 1 up to snuff, and Alpha 2/Beta 2 - for Sparrow defense (swap out Alpha2 for Delta 1 if we need something more maneuverable).

And I check with whoever is in charge of maintaining our supplies - make sure they understand "red thirst" energy drink is a high priority supply that we cannot ever run out of!
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Right now, it looks like we've got the Vasps' tech reward.

Isgrimnur's Hatchetman won't take too long to fix, but we need to rotate Alpha-One in to defend the dropship. So, our techs fire up the long-range Atlas, and Isgrimnur gets to go for a test drive.

Gamma-Two has an injured mechwarrior, so they borrow AWS from Delta-Two and join Gamma-One in defending the supply depot.

Delta-One's mechs wind up being too badly beat up to field - our techs are ready to spin up some spares just in case.

June 25, 3040
Beta-Two easily runs off a group of Vasp tanks and mechs making a run at the Sparrow, taking minor damage in the process and bringing back a Scorpion by way of salvage. No, not the crappy tank, the crappy quad mech. After taking a bunch of leg damage, Beta-Two's Orion put an SRM through the enemy mech's cockpit, taking it down.

As Beta-Two polished off their opposition with ease and barely expended any ammo or took any damage, they'll be coming in for backup off their patrol shortly.

Beta-Two ran off the lighter units, but heavier stuff is still coming in - the Vasps have a heavy and a medium mech lance, along with two heavy tank lances. Quite enough to give the dropship a hard time, so it's good that we've got the long-range Atlas on the field to keep the bad guys at a distance. The other good news is that Beta-Two will be coming in behind the enemy units, so we should catch them in a solid pincer.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The two opposing forces fire off long-range weapons towards one another but miss.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Enemy units close in. Gbasden targets a Rifleman, hitting with two out of three PPCs, one to each arm. Isgrimnur burps out a string of rounds from the Atlas' AC/20 and fires the PPCs, plowing through a Vedette's armor, while shrugging off a few Archer-launched LRMs. The tank is a little out of its depth and begins to retreat.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Rifleman's right arm comes off under sustained PPC fire. That's a couple less guns firing our way.

El Guapo scores a PPC hit on a distant Grasshopper, while Isgrimnur continues to shrug off light missile fire. An LTV-4 hovertank zips in to fire its PPC and SRMs at the Atlas, but takes a laser to the front, rocking the crew a bit.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
As the LTV-4 struggles to reverse and get out of the line of fire, Isgrimnur turns towards it and blows it away with PPC and autocannon fire.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Isgrimnur grunts as an LRM from a salvo makes contact with the outside of the Atlas' cockpit, shaking him around. The enemy LRM-equipped units have been staying out at range, lobbing missiles in, mostly ineffectively, but sometimes the sun shine's on a dog's ass. Our return fire does a bit more damage, although we only strip armor and cause minor tread damage.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The Rifleman backs up out of gbasden's range, so he turns the Awesome's guns on a Grasshopper as it tries to approach. One PPC shot hits, stripping most armor from the left torso (someone must have hit it earlier, a Grasshopper can usually take two PPC shots)..

El Guapo takes over firing at the Rifleman, blowing out a laser from the left torso with a PPC and putting a gauss slug into the center torso. The impact forces the lighter mech to the ground.

Despite two PPC shots and an LRM salvo from Stefan (which, to be fair, missed), an SRM Carrier manages to make its way forward, backed up by a Hunchback and other short range units, while long-range units support them with LRM fire.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
This time, Isgrimnur's PPCs destroy the SRM Carrier entirely.

Stefan's mech beeps at him, indicating that his LRMs have run dry, after he puts his last salvo into a Bulldog, cracking treads.

The Rifleman struggles up from the ground, only to take two PPC shots and a gauss slug from El Guapo. The PPCs crack the right torso, while the gauss slug plows through the weakened center torso armor, ricocheting off the engine shielding. The enemy mech stays upright, but it's done - with the engine damage, all it can do is fire its single AC/5, unless the mechwarrior is feeling cold.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Two arrives right behind the dithering Vasp units. The confusion this introduces makes for a prime opportunity for Alpha-One to charge forward as some enemy units turn around to face the new arrivals.

A Brutus Assault tank packing forty LRM tubes moves up to cover the Rifleman's retreat, forcing El Guapo to switch targets. It absorbs a PPC, two medium lasers and a gauss round, although bits of tread peel off under fire, and one of the Marauder's lasers melts a sensor cluster.

Beta-Two's Orion disables a Manticore with an LRM salvo, as everyone else opens fire. Lots of armor peels off, but no critical damage.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan jumps up to a Bulldog, cutting away armor off the front and left sides with lasers. The tank's LRMs ping Isgrimnur in the dome a second time, rattling our mechwarrior around a bit, but then it ceases fire and books it. One of Stefan's LRM racks gets blown away, but no big loss as he's already expended all his missiles.

Gbasden takes aim at the Stalker-lite (4P) and blasts off its right missile rack with a couple of PPC shots.

Beta-Two's Stalker reports taking heavy damage as a lance of Vasps concentrates fire on him.

El Guapo looks with incredulity as the Brutus absorbs another dose of PPC, laser and gauss fire. That is a lot of armor.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Brutus finally goes down. Actually, it's still intact but at least it's got multiple armor breaches and has stopped moving and firing.

Beta-Two focuses fire on an Archer to good effect, blasting off the left arm and causing hip damage, while the Stalker swats one of its harassers, knocking a Trebuchet to the ground.

Isgrimnur opens up on the Stalker-lite, scoring a good hit on the right torso with the AC/20, then he sees a flash of bright blue and it's lights out.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan hops around, hitting a Vedette's ammo store with the Catapult's lasers. He takes an AC/5 hit to the same LRM rack (well, it can't get any more disabled than it already is), then stomps another Vedette flat.

Gbasden gets a revenge kill on the Stalker-lite, hitting it in the back of the head to stagger the mechwarrior with one PPC shot, then putting two shots into its rear torso to detonate the SRM ammo stored there.

Beta-Two's Flashman keeps firing at the downed Archer, disabling its right torso section and the missile rack there and severing the right arm.

At this point, having only five non-crippled mechs left to our seven, the enemy force loses its will to fight and begins a fighting retreat. Both Archers and the Rifleman get away, although only one of the Archers is even remotely combat effective. The Trebuchet gets perforated but manages to escape as well. The Hunchback gets legged and takes a headshot, while the Grasshopper is barely holding together as it limps off the battlefield.

We get medical personnel in to see if Isgrimnur survived. Good news, he did. It's just a concussion. And both the right arm and right leg are broken. And he may have gotten a little burnt too, but it's a little hard to tell the difference at this point. The doctor aboard the Sparrow tells him the recovery time is going to be about six weeks and suggests that it's not a good idea to intercept mech-grade high-energy laser beams and short range missiles with your body. "Try the armor next time." Isgrimnur glowers.

The Atlas is out as well, not a big deal since it was a "spare" anyway, but we need to rebuild the head and that requires factory access.

We grab the Archer and Hunchback (it's a silly non-AC/20 variant) for salvage and will load the tank wrecks into the Jumbo for sale once we re-establish a secure route. For now, they'll just sit outside. The Sparrow is untouched this time.

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

The upshot of all this is that the retreating mechs run to a rally point, where their crippled units continue on to what looks like a dropship staging area while several mechs and tanks organize a rear guard. Alpha-Two will be taking them on, with backup from any of Alpha-One and Beta-Two. Stefan's Catapult is pretty beat up and out of LRMs, and Beta-Two's Stalker has armor mostly in the yellow and red (and there's a big hole in the cockpit where a laser punched through without killing the mechwarrior). But that still leaves us with six mechs in pretty good shape to help Alpha-Two out. Reinforcement is a no-brainer.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Assault mech, my ass.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:52 pm Assault mech, my ass.
Hey, I've been trying to pass on my wisdom. Don't try to block shots with your face. It seldom works out.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

June 27, 3040
The Vasps attempt to retake the supply depot. Gamma-Two moves to block one element of the attacking force while Gamma-One defends the supply depot itself. The attacking forces consist of a lance of light mechs and a swarm of hovercraft, backed up by a few treaded tanks and a Hunchback. They've brought a few APCs, so they probably intend to secure the supply depot.

Gamma-One needs to prevent that from happening. We've got a laser auto-turret working and a couple of motion-tripped rockets set up to launch, but mostly Gamma-One is on their own. We'll need to defend against approaches from the northwest and the southwest, so we split up into Hyena and Xwriath in the north while Scrub and Cylus take the south.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The Vasps waste no time charging in. Hyena's Striker absorbs a few SRMs from an approaching Pegasus, as he fries its propulsion fans with the PPC, settling it down. Cylus and Xwraith take a few SRMs as well, but nothing major, although their mechs rattle around and throw off their aim.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Xwraith jumps backwards to avoid the crowd of incoming hovercraft and Hetzers. And the Hunchback's line of sight, that AC/20 packs a mean punch.

Cylus also winds up needing to jump north to avoid getting dogpiled. The Grasshopper's lasers burn armor off the front and sides off a Hunter support tank, damaging its treads, but failing to breach armor.

A Spider gets the drop on Hyena, lasering the Striker's legs, but Hyena turns around and swings at it with a backhand, forcing the smaller mech to abort its kick attempt.

Scrub finishes off the Vedette Cylus targeted last round, blowing through the engine compartment with a PPC shot.

The hostiles mostly focus on a rocket launcher emplacement we have. Thankfully, it's a hardened building, so it'll take them a while to bring it down.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Hyena's in trouble, that Hunchback has managed to get into line of sight. He takes an AC/20 burst to the left arm, stripping the armor from it. The hunchback eats a PPC shot and an LBX slug as well as a medium laser, but it's not quite enough to breach its armor.

Cylus exchanges fire with a Firestarter, his lasers stripping off a lot of armor and throwing off the enemy mech's aim.

Scrub zaps a Panther with a PPC, blasting the armor off the right arm.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus deftly avoids a Firestarter's alpha strike and hops over behind the Hunter, disabling it with laser. A spare laser goes towards the nearby Scimitar, briefly stunning the crew.

Scrub exchanges PPC fire with the Panther, the lighter mech coming away with another armor breach.

Xwraith takes an AC/20 whack from the Hunchback, the mech's right arm losing all the armor, while Hyena manages to disable the nearby Saracen as its crew struggles to recover from Xwraith's pounding last round.

The Vasps level the building housing a rocket launcher turret, although the Firestarter pays the price when it gets too close to a quad small laser turret - its left arm is disabled and it takes serious leg actuator damage, going down to a knee to steady itself.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus gets the drop on the Locust that's been running around. Or at least that's what our mechwarrior thinks until the little bug mech runs off, and has to settle for shooting at an LTV-4 hovertank instead. Taking a PPC off the field isn't too bad, as the hovercraft skids to a halt once its skirt is breached.

The Panther continues to engage Scrub's Warhammer, inflicting some more armor damage but losing its PPC arm and taking multiple torso breaches.

Hyena, Xwraith and the Hunchback play hide and seek among some buildings, Hyena blasting an errant Galleon tank that gets underfoot.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The Hunchback figures out that Hyena is actually blocked in by all the vehicle wreckage and moves in for the kill. Hyena's mech wails as the right leg loses all armor. Hyena fires back with everything he's got, breaching the Hunchback's right torso armor. Xwraith moves in to help out, blasting the wheels off an approaching Hetzer to keep it out of the fight.

Cylus *actually* gets the drop on the Locust this time, blowing off its right machine gun, then putting the Grasshoppers foot through the front of a Scimitar. The hovertank is technically intact, but pulls away rapidly.

That Firestarter in the middle of the depot is really not doing well, getting knocked over again.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Scrub wipes out a Scimitar she damaged previously, disintegrating it with the Warhammer's short range weapons.

Xwraith blasts away, really heating the Thunderbolt up but getting good results - a tracked APC is disabled, and the Hunchback takes a left arm armor breach. The Hunchback blows out Hyena's PPC with an AC/20 burst, although the torso section remains intact. Hyena retaliates by breaching the enemy mech's center torso armor and destroying its left arm. The enemy mech overcomes Hyena's best attempts to dodge its kick, the Striker's right leg nearly coming off, but then Xwraith puts a boot through the Hunchback's left torso, poking the fusion engine.

The Hunchback runs off immediately, covered by the Hetzer. That must have been the commander's mech, because the remaining hostiles zip away as well (we count a few hovercraft, light tanks and a damaged Spider mech). Further investigation reveals that the small laser turret completely disabled the Firestarter's left leg and the mechwarrior ejected.

Hyena's mech will need some serious time in the shop (to be expected after taking three AC/20 hits), the left shoulder actuator is ruined and we'll need factory facilities and replacement parts. We do actually have spare PPCs, so no problem there. Armor state is pretty bad all around, with three breaches.

Xwraith's Thunderbolt has a right arm armor breach, which is concerning because that's where the ER laser is. Scrub and Cylus' mechs just have armor damage, green and yellow.

Gamma-Two calls in, reporting that they have engaged a second enemy force advancing on the supply depot. It consists of a light and a medium mech lance, as well as two tank lances, and it looks like a lance of tanks routed from the supply depot is attempting to flank them. Should Gamma-One go help out? And, if so, given the state of the lance, who goes?

--------------------
Hyena, judgement call: fight with a damaged left arm or get a temporary replacement mech?
If replacement, options are:
Crusader 3L - 65 tons, average speed and jumpjets, good at all ranges, good armor
Archer - 70 tons, average speed, good at long ranges, good armor
Stalker - 85 tons, slow, good at all ranges, good armor
Warhammer - either the well-armored 6D variant or the well-armed 6R variant.

Looks like Paingod will need a replacement mech as well - the Griffin's right arm proves to be unrepairable. Options are:
1) Phoenix Hawk (anti-infantry configuration)
2) Phoenix Hawk (anti-mech configuration)
3) Jenner
4) Spare Dervish
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I vote that Gamma One does assist. Obviously Hyena is out of the fight, but Xwraith could still engage from longer range and try to keep that arm out of the firing arcs. I think it's worth the risk to keep Gamma Two from being seriously chewed up.
User avatar
Cylus Maxii
Posts: 3348
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO
Contact:

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

I also vote to send Gamma 1 mechs to assist if they are field able.
My nephew, Jake - "I mean is there really anything more pure? Than sweet zombie monkey love?"
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Send just Scrub and Cylus.

That ER LL is irreplaceable for the time being, don't really want to risk that.
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12663
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

Since AWS is currently seconded to Gamma-Two, I don't really think they need any help. But if you guys want to come over, I guess it couldn't hurt.
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Paingod »

Probably go for the Dervish. if I'm reading it right, it's a little slower than the Phoenix Hawk, but packs more of a kick.
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

"I promise, captain, I'll be careful." Xwraiths says. "This ER laser has the range of a PPC, so I can stay at long range and plink away."

"Fine." Scrub states. "Gamma-Two, this is Gamma-One-One. We are en route to reinforce your position. Hold the fort down."

Gamma-Two engages the advancing Vasp units in an area with a lot of woods and lakes. Their jump-capable mechs will do fine, but their tanks and personnel carriers will have trouble navigating the rough terrain. Gamma-Two itself could stand to have a little more jump capability, though - it's a Kintaro, a ground-bound Thunderbolt, a Guillotine (jump-capable thankfully) and AWS's Phoenix Hawk. The biggest thing the other guys have is a Griffin - if we can get a hold of it, it'll at least be good for spare parts for Paingod's mech.

We've got some golf-ball sized hail coming down (it's that season around here apparently), but our mechs should be able to handle it.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-One moves north to intercept the Vasp units coming in, double-timing it through the woods.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
As AWS jump jets above the woods to get a look at things, he looks with amusement as a rapidly advancing hover APC moves way ahead of the rest of the formation and skids into a tree.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Vasp skirmishers advance while their slower units hang back on the other side of a lake. An Assassin sends some LRMs our way, but they fly overhead harmlessly.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
We open fire as well. AWS looks on with some concern as an LRM Carrier lets rip with its sixty LRMs, which nominally target his Phoenix Hawk, but the range is extremely long and the missiles don't really hit anything other than ground and trees.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Here we go. An Assassin jumps in on Gamma-Two's Thunderbolt, although it mistimes its jump and lands directly in front of the much heavier mech. It's pretty nimble, so it avoids most of the outgoing lasers, but does take one to the center torso. It still manages to nearly trip the Thunderbolt up with a kick, though.

A Locust runs in on Gamma-Two's Guillotine, pinging a few MG rounds off the mech's armor. The Guillotine counterattacks and removes said machinegun from the Locust.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Uh, watch the skies, we've got incoming." AWS calls out, seeing a six-pack of light and medium fighters screaming in from the north.

The fighters zero in on the Thunderbolt and Kintaro as the two engage the Assassin. The lighter mech takes minor damage, while the Thunderbolt absorbs a lot of SRMs (and a number of dumb-fire rockets as well) from a Mechbuster. One of the fighters drops a cluster bomb, nailing the Thunderbolt but also hitting the Assassin, blowing off the lighter mech's leg. The Thunderbolt detonates after repeated missile and autocannon strikes from the rest of the aircraft when its MG ammo goes up.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
"This is Gamma-Two-Two, Gamma-Two-One just bought it! Where's that backup?"

"We're here, Corporal." Scrub announces.

Weapons fire isn't too effective, though, except for the Kintaro hitting a personnel carrier with a few SRMs, but they don't even go through the armor. The Firestarter makes an attempt to kick our Guillotine, but is distracted by AWS moving in and whiffs, overextending and falling over.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-One closes in to weapons range, although the hostiles take good care to keep out of line of sight. Except for an APC which gets vaporized by one of Cylus' lasers.

The Guillotine and AWS brawl with a trio of lighter mechs, the Guillotine scoring a good hit on a Locust's right leg while AWS melts some armor off a Wasp. Our mechs then display some staggering incompetence with regards to kicking, AWS winding up on the ground. Yikes.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Guillotine takes a bit of a risk, jumping in behind an SRM Carrier, but it pays off as L-K warheads from the mech's SRM launcher blast the carrier's treads away. AWS gets up and backs up a little, aiming carefully and nearly blasting the right arm off a Powerman loadermech. The presence of these civilian units indicates that the local rebels are still working with the Vasps. Probably a last-ditch attempt to recover their payoff.

Cylus and Scrub dismantle another Powerman, with Cylus' lasers breaking through armor and Scrub's PPCs cracking the gyro and engine (which probably weren't too sturdy to begin with).

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Flash freeze!

Oh, and the damned aircraft are back. At least they expended all their external ordnance on the Thunderbolt.

The Guillotine jumps south to avoid the swarm of enemy units, and takes the head off the Powerman that AWS started working on previously. That super annoying Wasp keeps kicking the Guillotine in the shins while avoiding our attacks.

Scrub and Cylus are forced into anti-aircraft work as the aircraft come back. Cylus scores a few LRM hits on a Meteor, while Scrub blasts an Angel with a PPC as it takes armor off her right arm.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
"Gamma-Two, pull it back. We can't cover you from back here."

So that's what they do. Weapons fire has been horribly ineffective this fight, although Scrub gets a good hit on a Guardian fighter, taking out its avionics system and "scratching" the left wing. Then the wing falls off and the aircraft throws up a cloud of dust and ice as it slams into the ground.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
A Vasp Firestarter makes a beautiful jump onto some ice, landing perfectly. At which point the ice gives way and the mech falls through.

Scrub continues in the anti-air role, scoring a hit on a Meteor but losing the right arm to an autocannon attack. The Meteor pays the price, however, spiraling into the ground and exploding as its on-board SRM ammo detonates.

Scrub calls a retreat - we're just not doing enough damage and getting chewed up. At the end of the day, we already got the imporant stuff from the supply depot (Gauss rifles and ammo). The Vasps can have the rest back.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
As we pull back to the south, a Mechbuster comes in for a strafing run. Scrub takes a hit from a Wasp's SRMs, her SRM launcher winking out as the right torso armor is breached. The Mechbuster's aim is thrown off by a PPC to the nose and it misses its shot. A Griffin tries to jump in and engage our guys but breaks through the ice and falls in. Gotta be careful, guys!

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
Scrub continues to pull back, taking fire from the Griffin. Her right torso isn't looking so hot, although she manages to take about half the harassing Spider off with a PPC shot from the left arm. The enemy Griffin climbs out of the ice and moves forward, eating a laser to the head from the Guillotine and multiple lasers from Cylus. The mech absorbs the punishment, but the armor loss unbalances it and it falls over, knocking the mechwarrior out. AWS and Cylus take the opportunity to deliver some curb stomps, causing several armor breaches.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
Image
We're just about clear - the slower enemy units can't keep up with their jumping mechs. A Wasp makes a critical mistake, going after AWS and exposes its back to the Guillotine. Half of the bug mech comes off under laser fire from the Guillotine, then Cylus joins in with a couple of shots, putting it down for good. A Locust goes chasing after Scrub but eats a PPC to the center of mass, which apparently knocks out its gyro as it flops down like a puppet with its strings cut. The Kintaro does something useful for once as well, shooting down a Defender-class fighter. Not too much loss of firepower but still good enough.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
Image
As AWS pulls back, he legs the downed Griffin, just in case, cutting the limb off with the Phoenix Hawk's large laser. It still looks more or less intact and could give us trouble if the mechwarrior wakes up.

Scrub's mech blares alarms at her as a Meteor strike fighter plows autocannon fire and SRMs through the Warhammer's armor and nearly takes out the engine. The cockpit heat goes up dramatically, but at least that Meteor won't be shooting at anyone any more: Cylus picks off the front-mounted AC/10 with a laser.

Against all odds, Xwraith legs a Locust from near maximum range with an LRM salvo, preventing that mech from joining any potential pursuit as well.

Round 17:
Cylus finishes the Meteor off as it tries to pull away. Once that happens, we are able to break contact as there are only two beat-up light mechs that are able to pursue us.

Once Gamma-company limps back to base, we take stock of the damage. Scrub's Warhammer isn't doing so hot, missing the right arm (which we don't have the parts to replace) and with massive engine damage. Luckily, it can be fixed. But, bit of trivia: XL engines are expensive to repair. This repair bill comes to a whopping 1M C-Bills. The rest of the mechs can be fixed with little problem. The guy in the Thunderbolt managed to bail out, so he's all right. Other than the verbal reaming for losing an expensive mech to a bunch of dinky little conventional fighters.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
LordMortis
Posts: 70097
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:26 pm

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

:pop:

We don't get our asses handed to us often.

My memory of MegaMech is that the enemy air support could be brutally unfair from the campaign generator. Though I have to admit I can never tell how you get so much narration and choice from the same game I played, so I have don't know what your inputs and outputs are. :envy:
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

LordMortis wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 3:07 pm :pop:

We don't get our asses handed to us often.

My memory of MegaMech is that the enemy air support could be brutally unfair from the campaign generator. Though I have to admit I can never tell how you get so much narration and choice from the same game I played, so I have don't know what your inputs and outputs are. :envy:
Yes, this. You are amazingly good at spinning stories from the results of each round.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, that was pretty rough. Six aircraft, three loaded with bombs and rockets. And the bot isn't shy about concentrating fire.

June 28, 3040
Alpha-Two gets the drop on the units screening the Vasp dropships, using the cover of fog to get into their formation before they have a chance to respond. Our mechs are a Griffin, a Merlin, a Trebuchet (5J) and an Ostsol. The screening force consists of a reinforced lance of light mechs, a lance of heavy tanks and some assorted light units.

Alpha-One and Beta-Two are en route and will hit the position in about 2 minutes, but the fog is slowing everyone down.

Sensors indicate a pair of hostile aircraft approaching as well, plus three mechs limping in from our earlier skirmish at the Sparrow.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The Griffin and Merlin disable an SRM Carrier that's become separated from the rest of its buddies. That's a big load off our backs right there. Our Ostsol is engaged by three light mechs and takes some damage to the left arm, but melts pretty much all the armor off the Jenner's center torso with lasers. The two mix it up with physical attacks as well, the Jenner delivering a kick while the Ostsol throws a one-two punch and knocks off a bunch more armor.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The Jenner jumps away to cool off. Our Trebuchet harasses a large cluster of units to the east, but doesn't achieve much and eats three SRMs from a nearby Commando.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Griffin and Merlin hop into the main battle, and it's a bit of a mess. The Griffin takes the right weapons rack off a Locust with the large laser, while the Ostsol fires at it from the opposite side. The loss of armor drops the mech to the ground, where it loses more armor. In exchange, the Ostsol takes a couple of laser shots from a Jenner. Taking advantage of the Locust's distress, the Griffin curb stomps it, crushing the left torso section, completely disarming it, while managing to avoid a kick from a Jenner, which also falls over.

To the west, the Trebuchet engages a Packrat that has already off-loaded its infantry, zapping it with lasers then kicking it over for good measure.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The downed Jenner fails to get up and the second impact knocks the mechwarrior out. The Ostsol takes the opportunity to focus lasers on its left torso and disable it. It absorbs some fire from the nearby Firestarter, but armor continues to hold. The poor crushed Locust struggles to its feet and begins limping away. The Merlin follows a Wasp trying to get behind the Ostsol and blasts the building it landed on. An extra kick sends the building down and the little mech tumbling to the ground.

The Trebuchet jumps north and applies a combination of lasers and boots to the LRM Carrier, breaching its armor.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
The Wasp tries to get up, but its left arm is caught in the debris and comes off, which causes the mech to fall back down and the mechwarrior to black out.

A pair of fighters come screaming in on a strafing run against the Ostsol. The mechwarrior is distracted enough that the Command is able to put a grouping of SRMs into the upper torso, one of which hits the dome. Shake it off. The left arm takes a few missiles as well, showing minor actuator damage.

The Merlin fires a symbolic PPC shot and LRM/5 salvo at the distant Manticore, and gets lucky as a couple of LRMs blow right through the front viewport and detonate inside the tank, taking it out of action permanently.

The Trebuchet gets behind a Locust with a "different" paint scheme, putting a couple of laser blasts into the engine block. As the mechwarrior tries to deal with the unexpected heat, its leg gets kicked out as well.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The Trebuchet takes a beating from the Commando's SRMs, and the nearby infantry join in too. Armor holds up, but the mechwarrior is knocked around, throwing his aim off, causing his shots to whiff. Not the kick though, that's the Commando's right leg armor gone. The Ostsol and Griffin engage the remaining non-crippled Jenner, blasting away armor chunks.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The Trebuchet and Merlin swap out, the Merlin taking the Commando's SRMs while the Trebuchet goes to work on a Vedette to the south.

The Griffin jumps over and takes the bunker out from under the Jenner as it lands on top. The bird-legged mech collapses into the rubble. The Ostsol and Firestarter both inflict armor breaches on each other with weapons fire and physical attacks - the Firestarter's arm comes off, while the Ostsol shows breaches on the right leg and its left arm is nearly gone.

The Vasps appear to have had enough and their remaining units retreat. As for our reinforcements, in the words of El Guapo, "The best kind of fight is the one that's over before you get there."
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

As Alpha-Two (and late arrivals Alpha-One and Beta-Two) are mopping up, a cloud of smoke puffs upwards some distance away. A Triumph-class drophsip, lifting off. That's probably enough to house the entire remainder of the Vasps - the bastards are running for it!

We can't let that happen, so Gamma and Beta air wings take off and give chase. The dropship has a bit of an escort - eight aerospace fighters and a pair of conventional fighters, which we're not really sure how they're planning to recover since the Triumph doesn't normally have aerospace hangar bays. The main concerns are the dropship and a pair of 100-ton fighters, a Riever and a Thunderbird.

We've got our standard array of Lightnings, Lucifers, plus a Shilone and a Slayer.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our first wave of aircraft moves in on the Triumph as the hostiles begin to vector in for an intercept.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Our target and the heavies.

"Stay in formation until maximum weapons range."

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Beta-Air-Three engaging target."
"Beta-Air-Two engaging targets."

A Seydlitz pours on the afterburners and engages our Lightning head on, which is a bit of a mistake as it takes an AC/20 burst, blasting through its left wing. The Lucifer adds a large laser, watching as sparks fly along the light craft's fuselage. The smaller fighter does score several laser hits on our Lightning but the armor holds fine.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Seydlitz has had enough and zips off. We slow it down a little, trying to wait for the other three aircraft to catch up and engaging a couple of lighter fighters while firing LRMs at other distant targets. The hostile Cheetah pulls up out of the line of fire, while the Thrush comes in - most fire misses, but a laser does ding the lighter fighter's cockpit.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Got one on my tail." the Slayer calls out as the aero jock unloads on the Mechbuster coming up - the conventional fighter takes some serious damage, losing an SRM launcher and the avionics system. Its return fire cracks open one of the Slayer's heat sinks, which is annoying but not fatal yet.

"Got him." the Lightning pilot replies, blasting the Thrush with the AC/20 - it avoided the burst last time, but not this time, and disintegrates in mid-air.

Our Lucifer, meanwhile, focuses most of its lasers on a Centurion, shooting it down. The impact with the ground finishes it off.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Our second trio of aircraft arrives, pouring on the thrust to get to the fight quicker.

Meanwhile, our already engaged aircraft make a move on the dropship, with the Slayer and Lightning deftly avoiding its front firing arc - the Lucifer is a little slow so it just stays out of medium weapons range.

Our Lucifer engages the Riever, taking some damage from the nearby Corsair and losing a small laser, while the Slayer and Lightning pound on the Triumph.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our backup moves in to weapons range. The reinforcing Lucifer and Shilone open fire on the Riever after it finishes its pass on Beta-Air's Lucifer, inflicting severe damage - the aircraft spits metal chunks parts out the back as lasers and LRMs make contact. The heavy aerospace fighter is unable to maintain control and spirals down into the dirt below, sending a good chunk of debris flying as its on-board SRM ammo goes up.

Beta-Air's Lightning continues making hash out of the Triumph's left side, blowing out a vehicle bay door. Hope you guys have those tanks strapped in tight! He momentarily panics as a Thunderbird opens up on him but then the Thunderbird shudders after Beta-Two's Slayer sends a couple of lasers up its tail pipe, which causes the enemy aero jock to lose a lot of altitude. With Beta-Two's Lucifer savaging a Defender-class fighter and sending it towards the ground as well, this represents a serious shift in the balance of firepower.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The Defender finishes crashing, unable to pull up in time, leaving just the Thunderbolt struggling at ground level. With a messed up engine, that thing is barely going to be able to land, let alone get back up to the fight.

Beta-Air's Slayer finishes off the Mechbuster, cutting it to bits with lasers, while Beta-Air's Lucifer targets a Cheetah as it flies over Gamma-Air, causing it to nose dive.

Surprisingly, the guy in the Thunderbird levels out.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Half of our units engage the remaining Corsairs while the other half continue plastering the Triumph. They inflict enough damage that the ponderous dropship is unable to stay airborne and slams into the ground.

The two Corsairs hit the afterburners and buzz off, as does the Thunderbird and Cheetah.

We wind up grabbing *some* salvage but there's not much left of the aircraft that went down. Still, our aero techs have a good chuckle at one of the fighters, the Centurion - it's a CNT-1A. They stopped manufacturing this variant back in 2520, so it's a real museum piece, complete with primitive cockpit and primitive armor.

Beta-Two's Lucifer took some damage to the landing gear, so it has to land on its fuselage, causing more damage. But at least we have plenty of spare landing gear systems from the salvaged fighter wreckage.

Interrogation of the Triumph's surviving crew reveals that that was basically it. There are a few Vasps that survived the drubbing who have gone to ground with the local rebels, but Vladimir himself appears to have already escaped to their jumpship. It's probable that he's got a good sized group of marines keeping the crew subdued. We have our jumpship crew review their sensor data and they conclude that the rat bastard has jumped out.

We'll need to track him down in order to complete the contract. Based on the analysis of our interrogations and data captured from dropships, we've got a couple of lines on where he might have gone:
Spoiler:
Image
Clayborne II: 4 jumps away in the Circinus Federation. Likely stopping point as the Circinus guys would be all too happy to have an extra jumpship at their disposal. Plus, only 3 days to the jump point.
Zorn's Keep: 2 jumps away in the Circinus Federation. Possible stopping point as it's the only way out of this galactic cul-de-sac we're in. The only populated planet in the system is ~19 days away from the standard jump points though.
Trondheimal: 4 jumps away, in the Illyrian Palatinate. Likely stopping point as the Illyrian Palatinate is in need of mercs to repel Circinus aggression. 12 days to jump point.
Tormentine: 6 jumps away in the Free Worlds League. A possible waypoint en route to Astrokazsy, which is famous as a place where you can get "non-board" contracts. 11 days to jump point. Planet defended by a FWL garrison, so unlikely to be where he stops off, but they'll definitely be able to tell us if our quarry has gone that way.

The whole point of the contract is to recover the jumpship, so we'll need to search those places. We come up with the plan of casting off a dropship ship off at Zorn, then jumping forward to either Trondheimal, Tormentine or Clayborne while the Zorn dropship is en route. This will allow us to search two places at once. Depending on what he's planning to do, we might be able to catch the jumpship while it's charging or without Vlad on board to tell it to jump out.

So, which system(s) do we search concurrent with Zorn's keep, and which company carries out which search?

Some options:
Zorn [drop off one Union] -> Clayborne [drop off one Union]
Zorn [drop off one Union] -> Trondheimal [drop off one Union] -> Tormentine

Status:
Alpha Company: 100% strength (once we replace Isgrimnur with AWS)
Beta Company: 100% strength
Delta Company: ~100% (three "substitute" mechs, including Freyland and Paingod)
Gamma Company: ~100% (three "substitute" mechs, including Hyena and Scrub)
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Zorn [drop off one Union] -> Trondheimal [drop off one Union] -> Tormentine

I like this option. If they went to Clayborne and the Circinus Fed wants the jumpship, they may have it already. And Trondheimal and Tormentine sound like the only way to go out. If they didn't go out then we know we're chasing them through this cul-de-sac.

Beta to Zorn, Gamma to Trondheimal, keeping Alpha with the jumpship (leave our company commander in charge of the jumpship in case a command decision is required). I know we serious hurt him, but I'm possibly making a false assumption he still has some mechs, possibly more than Delta can handle

In this case, I'm assuming you mean ALL of Beta Company, Gamma Company, etc (union's carry 12 mechs iirc). For Zorn, might want to swap out Beta 3 for one company from Delta so we have some scouting ability if needed. Gamma is covered already.
User avatar
Hyena
Posts: 2279
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:14 am
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Did we ever assign me a sub mech? I would love to try that PPC Atlas out, but if it's already occupied, just put me in something heavy.

*no curse no curse no whammies big money no curse*
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Heh, the PPC Atlas might be a little hard to pilot, the head is completely wrecked.

---------------------------
I'll be on hiatus for the next week for vacation, so here's a picture of a Union-class dropship burning for orbit.

Code: Select all

/--------\
|        |
|        |
|        |
\--------/
    ||
   |||||
   |||||
   |||||
    |||
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

It takes us a couple more days to pack everything up, then a whopping 18 days for our dropships to rendezvous with the jumpship. We release the captured non-merc prisoners, since we're not getting paid to get involved in periphery nonsense. By mid-july, we jump to Zorn, where, happily, we discover that the Sparrow's repaired docking collar holds up. Beta-One, Two and Delta-One, backed up by Beta-Air, detach to pay a visit to the planet in the Moonraker, while the jumpship charges and makes its way onwards, dropping Gamma company off at Trondheimal to investigate it. The rest of the company will move on to Tormentine - Gamma is expected to arrive in Trondheimal at the end of august, and Alpha Company won't be in Tormentine until the mid-Setember.

In Gamma Company, Scrub will take one of the older-model Warhammers while Hyena will climb into a Thunderbolt TDR-5D. I mentioned it briefly before, but this is a variant that removes pretty much all the weaponry except for a down-graded LRM launcher and packs in an AC/20 instead. Pretty straightforward.

On the plus side, due to cramped quarters on the Union (normally most of the tech crews live on the Jumbo, where we converted one of the unused cavernous cargo bays into a more or less serviceable living quarters), the mechwarriors get to help out with maintenance and repair on their own mechs. Not that they didn't before, but now they get paid for it, giving everyone a nice little pay bump (about 220 C-Bills a month, which isn't much considering we've started paying out profit sharing again, due to having more money than we know what to do with).

We hit the ground on Zorn's Keep on August 19, 3040. Over the course of our 17-day burn to the planet, we pick up a little bit of intelligence.

It seems that a force from the Federated Commonwealth has been sent here as well in an attempt to track down the missing FWL jumpship. Sure, FedCom controls a couple of shipyards, but it never hurts to grab an extra Jumpship. You never know when Hanse Davion will want to renew his marriage vows or invade the Draconis Combine again.

The local Circinus Federation troops deny us landing clearance and refuse to share any information. So we'll need to force our way down and into any facilities we want to examine.

The FedCom commander offers for us to pool our forces. On the plus side, the FedCom guys will carry some of the weight in terms of fighting. On the minus side, part of the contract involves us sharing any data we discover on the matter of the FWL jumpship.

Of course, chances are we'll find ourselves at odds with them sooner or later anyway since their ultimate objective would prevent us from completing our contract. But it might still be worth it to work together with them for now.

Thoughts?
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Work with the FedCom. It'll make getting down/set up easier and we'll know where they are/what they have if (when) it comes to blows.
User avatar
xwraith
Posts: 1085
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:42 pm

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by xwraith »

Hopefully we're devious enough to pull this off (if indeed this is where they are).

Good luck Beta & Delta 1!
I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

We shake hands with the FedCom guys via radio and begin de-orbit burns.

Our landing is uncontested - we deploy and begin joint operations immediately. Our initial goal is to locate any tracking stations that may have gotten sensor readings on incoming jumps over the last month or two. We don't have the foggiest idea where such a thing might be, so the first thing to do is to get a hold of some planetary militia. They come to us instead, when Beta-One is out on patrol and our aircraft are doing overflights of installations we spotted on the way down.

That leaves Beta-Two and a (grumpy, tired) Delta-One to hold down the fort at where the Moonraker and a FedCom Leopard touched down.

When Beta-One makes an attempt to come back to the dropship, they are headed off by a swarm of lighter units. By the time they can punch through, the situation at the dropship will have been resolved one way or the other.

The incoming force is a mix - about half and half lighter tanks and mechs backed up by trundling behemoths. Not the Behemoth tank, more like LRM Carriers. But there are also a pair of 80-ton tanks packing AC/20s. And a 95-ton Ontos, bristling with medium lasers. Luckily, we spot them some distance out.

Most of the FedCom lance is out on patrol, leaving a single Goliath to help with the defense. A Goliath is a decently armored 80-ton mech, armed with a PPC and a pair of LRM/10 launchers. And that's it. Beta-Two is a Flashman, an Archer, a Stalker and an Orion, while Delta-One is Madmarcus in an AC/10 Wolverine, Paingod and Archinerd in Dervishes and Freyland in an Ostroc. And of course we've got the Union.

We'll need to take those LRM Carriers out ASAP, otherwise our dropships are toast. On the plus side, the snowfall should slow them down a little bit. Having learned our lesson some time ago, and detecting the Circinus guys coming in with pretty decent warning, we deploy way forward of the dropships to screen them.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
There's a patch of woods up ahead which Delta-One can use to play hide-and-seek with the enemy units. We send a few symbolic LRMs off into the distance, but they whiff.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Archinerd's Dervish appears to be getting ignored, which means it's a great time to plant the mech's feet down for a nice stable firing platform, get a solid LRM lock on a distant LRM Carrier that's not paying attention and send twenty Listen-Kill LRMs roaring off. The LRM Carrier takes fourteen of those on its left side and begins belching smoke as the crew takes the vehicle out of range.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Lighter enemy units move up on the east flank. Archinerd takes another LRM Carrier out of action, this time immobilizing it. Freyland and Madmarcus both get their licks in as well, Madmarcus on a Drillson hovertank, Freyland on a Vedette, but the armor holds up there.

Round 4:
Paingod rapidly cycles targets, firing SRMs and a laser at a nearby Vedette and LRMs at a distant Demolisher. Probably should have just focused on one, though, as every shot whiffs. Madmarcus and Freyland inflict some minor armor damage as well. On the plus side, none of the incoming fire connects.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Whew, that snow's really starting to pile up. Freyland jumps southeast out of the woods and away from a hostile tank cluster, targeting an SRM Carrier instead. One of the Ostroc's lasers goes wide but the second drills through the front, giving the crew a much-needed heat boost. Beta-Two's Flashman targets a Vedette Freyland had damaged earlier, blowing through the front armor with a pair of large laser blasts. The tank's turret begins rattling and it starts backing up.

Archinerd continues firing on a cluster of hostile long-range weapons systems, giving an AC/2 Carrier a solid LRM workout as the LK missiles plow through its left side and disable it.

The allied Goliath takes a PPC shot and a couple of LRMs but its armor holds up.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
On the west flank, Beta-Two's Archer disables an Ontos with a long-range LRM salvo. The enemy assault tank would have eaten our mech for breakfast at close range, but keep it at LRM range and it's basically helpless with only ten LRM tubes. Archinerd switches targets to engage a Demolisher tank, combining LRM fire with Paingod and Beta-Two's Stalker - the incoming fire nearly blows the turret off, knocking the crew around as well.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
A very brave Pegasus zips up to our Stalker while said Stalker is busy melting a Maxim's motive elements with lasers. It actually avoids most of the incoming fire, and Madmarcus' boot just rips chunks out of the front armor.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Pegasus goes for another pass on the Stalker, and this time Beta-Two's mechwarrior is ready and puts the hovercraft into the drink with a full laser salvo.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
This is looking pretty static, but we're chipping away at the incoming enemy units at a pretty good rate. Free from the interference of hovercraft, Beta-Two's Stalker takes out one of the approaching 80-tonner tanks, a Demolisher, blasting it with lasers and LRMs. Madmarcus chases said hovercraft down, blowing away a previously damaged Drillson with a burst from the AC/10. The Wolverine takes a PPC shot, but armor holds.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Eight LRM salvos is what it took Beta-Two's Archer to take out one of the incoming LRM Carriers. And the thing isn't really dead, it's just armor breached, one of the missile racks is jammed and a couple of the crew are beat up.

To the east, Freyland decisively finishes a game of cat-and-mouse with a Saladin, avoiding the enemy vehicle's AC/20 while zapping it in the side with a large laser, taking out the engine.

Beta-Two's Stalker trades fire with a Jenner, the Circinus mech taking more damage than it puts out and losing a leg in the process.

At some point during this whole mess, Archinerd's LRMs also crippled a Devastator tank up north, as when our mechwarrior checks the targeting display, the tank isn't moving.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
The east flank lighter units try to break through the woods there.

A salvo from the Stalker takes out an SRM Carrier, while, to the west, Beta-Two's Orion engages an Urban mech, inflicting heavy damage on the machine with weapons. However, the little trashcan manages to jump out before the 70-ton kick lands, causing our mechwarrior some embarassment as he lands face first on the ground instead.

Madmarcus sinks an LTV-4 as it tries to go for a strafing run on the Stalker, and that about does it for the bad guys. They haven't even scratched our dropships (or, for that matter, breached our mechs' armor), while having over half of their units crippled or destroyed. The guy in the Orion took a minor ding after that last spill against the Urbanmech, but should be fine.

We can't really afford to pursue the retreating force, but we do get our salvage crews going almost right away. The only downside is that we basically blew through our entire stock of Listen-Kill LRMs that we brought, so we'll have to switch back to standard ordnance. But on the plus side we've got plenty of LRM 20 reloads from a captured LRM Carrier and some SRM 2/LRM 10 reloads from a captured Drillson hovertank. We're (as usual) short on tank crews and also don't much care about tanks anyway, so we're just going to strip the captured units for parts, then lay them out under a tarp until we can get the Mule to pick them up.

We also pick up quite a few prisoners, so we'll be asking them some questions. And also moving our dropship somewhere that it's not going to be subject to constant attacks by stupid little militia units.

Freyland's feedback on the Ostroc is "I hate large lasers", while Paingod isn't too impressed with the Dervish's lack of PPCs. At least the LRM/10 launchers feel familiar. When we ask the FedCom guys about the possibility of them sharing some LK warheads, their supply quartermaster scoffs. "Sure, I'll just run out to the quik stop and pick up some high end prototype equipment for ya. You guys want some Star League toilet paper while I'm at the hardware store?"

Archinerd MK II's "Sure, if they take a discount coupon." at least gets an amused chuckle.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

September 3, 3040
We spend the week packing things up and relocating dropships to a better landing zone. The FedCom guys go first without a hitch, then we take the Moonraker up for a low-orbit hop.

Unlike the FedCom craft, we get intercepted by several flights of aerospace fighters, mostly lights and mediums but a pair of heavies. On the plus side, the FedCom guys send in four fighters to help out, so the odds go from an unpleasant-looking 12:3 to a pretty reasonable 12:7. Although the FedCom heavies (a 100-ton Riever and a 75-ton Eagle) fall behind their lights (a Cheetah and a Sabre) and won't join the fight for about a minute. Well, better late than never.

"Stay in the sensor shadow and stay in formation." Beta lead informs the rest of the aircraft. She's referring to the fact that a dropship is a pretty big sensor signature, so when trying to target smaller fighters at long ranges, most targeting systems become confused.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
One of the FedCom guys decides not to listen.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The lighter Circinus fighters push forward while the heavier ones struggle to keep up.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Charlie-Two, get back in formation!" Beta lead calls out, then sighs. That dumbass is going to get himself blown up. Well, he doesn't get entirely blown up, but a Circinus Sabre approaches from starboard and puts a pair of lasers through the armor. There's some brief screaming over the radio and a puff of debris comes out the back of the Cheetah. He's out of action.

On the plus side, a Circinus Thrush gets a little too close to our death ball and gets blown away by a combination of fire from our fighters and the Union's batteries. A Cheetah also takes some damage from the Union's starboard batteries as it makes its approach.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
That damaged Cheetah turns out to have taken more damage than the aero jock thought and breaks up as he tries to hit the accelerator to the avoid the Union's fire. Our Lucifer takes some fire as a Sabre gets on his tail, but a Lucifer is a little tougher than a Cheetah so armor holds up. Our Union blows away a Seydlitz as the light fighter tries to make a strafing run, LRMs taking it apart completely. Our Shilone fires at a Stingray, dodging incoming fire while delivering a couple of solid hits to the enemy aero's front.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Here we go, it's a furball now. "Break formation and engage!"

"Moonraker, taking fire. Armor holding." the captain reports. The dropship practically glows as it fires all the weapons it can without overheating. We inflict some serious damage on incoming fighters while taking a little bit back, but nothing serious. The Circinus Lightning is looking a little beat up and drifts out of control, while the Stuka doesn't but is still missing large chunks from the armor.

Round 6;
Spoiler:
Image
The FedCom heavies are here, but the fight is basically over already. The Circinus guys mostly scatter, although a few get the drop on some of our fighters as the Union burns by. The FedCom Sabre falls out of formation, takes some damage and loses control. A Riever approaches the Union from the front and takes a pounding for its trouble, going into an uncontrolled spin as well.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
That poor FedCom Sabre is in trouble, but manages to survive, although his spacecraft is still out of control.

However, our Union is clear at this point. The Circinus guys aren't going to have the fuel to keep up with it, so they withdraw, as do the FedCom guys. It was a surprisingly bloodless fight - we took out three light fighters, but the rest of them should be repairable. Our damage was minimal, while the light FedCom fighters took some serious damage.

It takes a couple of days to patch up our fighters, and we even help the FedCom guys put their Sabre back together. Or we try to, but its landing gear is shot, so it's basically just sitting there on the ground after carrying out a "sliding landing". Which also completely warped the internal structure.If we salvage some landing gear, we'll help them out, but it's out of action for now. Repairs, according to our aero tech, will take almost eight weeks.

The Moonraker's LRM launchers were pretty effective but shot through about half of our LRM/20 stocks, even taking into acount the missiles we pulled off from the LRM Carrier. Plus, the Moonraker reports that they've blown through all their AC/5 ammo reloads. Should be fine, we'll encounter some more Vedettes sooner or later no doubt. Also, it turns out we forgot to bring SRM/4 reloads for the Shilone's rear-facing launcher. On the plus side, nobody cares because the chances of a Shilone firing its rear-facing SRM/4 launcher are very low.

Our questioning of captured prisoners reveals the location of a tracking station. Over the next two weeks, we run recon to confirm its location then dispatch forces to take it down. The FedCom guys commit a lance of heavy tanks (two SRM Carriers, a Manticore and a Zhukov) and a Hermes.

The garrison is pretty hairy - a batallion of tanks (36 of 'em), plus two mech lances - a light lance and an assault lance. Not the latest, coolest models - but still. A "standard" Banshee (the one that's way too fast and just has a PPC and an AC/5 for armament), a Zeus (80-tonner packing an AC/5, an LRM 15, a large laser and a pair of medium lasers) and an Awesome 8T (a silly variant which swaps out the PPCs for a pair of LRM/15 launchers and a couple of large lasers).

The main decision to make is which two lances we're bringing in for the fight (the tanks are, for the most part, crappy Vedettes). We can either bring Beta-One and Beta-Two or Beta-One and Delta-One (we need to leave a lance to defend the dropship). Delta-One is much more maneuverable while Beta-Two nominally has more firepower. We could also theoretically get our aircraft in there, but we didn't bring any bombs, so they'd just be doing strafing runs.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Zarathud
Posts: 16433
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:29 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

All mechs we would love to salvage. Send us in, Commander!
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

September 19, 3040
Zorn's Keep
10 Km outside Prill Tracking Station

The Circinus guys form up outside the tracking station as our units march and roll in at dusk. The snow is coming down gently (but not gently enough to avoid impairing targeting). It'd look pretty sad if there weren't so many of them. Our assault mechs lumber forward, while Delta-One will come in about thirty seconds after the shooting starts, just to give the Circinus guys time to commit to engaging the heavies.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"Conserve your ammo when firing at the little tanks." Zenn7 calls out. "That means you, LordMortis."

LordMortis pouts for a second, then forgets what he just heard and empties a burst of AC/20 round and an LRM/20 salvo at an incoming Harasser missile platform, annihilating the glorified technical.

We watch as a Ferret scout VTOL zips in, then gets caught in a wind gust and basically blown off the battlefield. No big loss for anyone, but kind of amusing nonetheless.

Zenn7 takes a few LRMs from a Hetzer as it absorbs a couple of PPC shots, but no armor breaches.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Goddamit, I said *conserve* your ammo." Zenn7 grumbles as LordMortis unloads another AC/20 and LRM salvo on the Hetzer pelting him with LRMs, throwing a couple of lasers in there for good measure. Zarathud's PPCs simply scatter the ashes. Zenn7 targets Drillson trying to flank around the east, putting a PPC shot in the front. Armor holds up, barely.

Moley gets an angle on a Vedette trying to hide behind the hill separating us from the opposing force, zapping it pretty good with lasers and LRMs - it remains functional but there are definitely bits missing off the side.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Here comes Delta-One. The militia guys seem pretty reluctant to close in and swarm us, which is fine, we've got the range advantage. The FedCom Hermes decides to be a little brave and charges forward past LordMortis' Atlas. LordMortis divides his amusement between that and the Locust to the north that keeps slipping on the pavement and falling over. "I'm telling you, I'm not a shitty pilot, the asphalt is slick with snow!" A Pegasus tank suffers the wrath of the Atlas' autocannon and missile racks, crashing down adjacent to the Circinus Banshee as it misses its shots.

Zenn7 puts a couple of PPC shots through the armor of the Vedette Moley nailed previously - the tank has enough and peels off. Zarathud watches a Spider soar through the air on a plume of jump jets and zaps it with three PPC shots, taking the left torso off. With a couple of shots from Moley, the mech *should* fall over, but manages to stay up, although its lasers go way wide.

Paingod works on a Drillson that tried to flank our units. The hovertank's armor remains unbreached, but a couple of air ducts come off under the Dervish's kicks, slowing the vehicle down considerably.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland is somewhat surprised when a Drillson hovertank nearly skids into the Ostroc, crashing into a nearby tree instead.

The main body of the enemy force tries to take cover behind buildings and trees, but Zarathud finds one Vedette, peeling off its left side armor with a PPC shot. LordMortis winds up not having line of sight to anything except a distant Scimitar hovertank, which he disables with an LRM salvo.

Archinerd and Paingod fire their LRMs at a Scorpion tank almost simultaneously, blowing it away with upwards of thirty missiles.

Having gotten slowed down by Paingod, the Drillson flanking around the east is unable to avoid the FedCom tanks' fire and is destroyed by an SRM salvo from the Manticore, although not before a couple of its SRMs cause the FedCom Zhukov tank to slip its treads and become immobilized as well. Annoying, but we've already got a quarter of their force down with almost no damage to us.

Round 5;
Spoiler:
Image
We move up a little and begin the firefight. Zarathud plasters a Plainsman hovertank that moves up a little too close too our formation. It gets a solid eight out of twelve missiles onto Moley's Thunderbolt, but armor holds, at which point Paingod finishes the hovertank off with SRMs. Zenn7 and LordMortis fire way down range along the east flank, disabling a Vedette and a Condor hovertank with PPCs and LRMs respectively.

Round 6;
Spoiler:
Image
Moley moves to flank left and takes a PPC from the Banshee, which discourages our mechwarrior somewhat, but not enough to prevent the Thunderbolt's large laser and LRMs from blowing the left side treads off a Vedette. Paingod and Archinerd fire at the same flank, disabling a different Vedette each with LRMs.

Madmarcus moves up the right flank, while Zenn7 provides covering fire. In this case, that means blowing both legs off a Commando, causing most of its RMs to go wide. Madmarcus' autocannon perforates a Galleon tank, while Freyland picks off a Packrat.

Zarathud fires only two PPCs to cool off a little, still disabling a Hetzer as it comes out from behind a building briefly. LordMortis fires in the same direction, connecting a laser blast with a Packrat's engine block.

With over half his force gone, the commander of the Circinus force sees the writing on the wall at this point and pulls his remaining units out before we surround them and take them apart. Their losses were actually relatively light, all things considered: "only" 18 tanks of various kinds, with a few others escaping. Mostly Vedettes and hovercraft, although there is that legged Commando. And the Spider that got its torso taken off, but escaped.

We hand a bunch of the crap to our FedCom buddies, grabbing the Commando (mostly for the SRM/4 reloads which we need), a Hetzer (for the AC/20 reloads), a Condor and a Vedette (for the AC/5 reloads for our dropship).

Wanting to make sure we get the tracking data before the FedCom guys, we rotate Beta-Two in quickly to supervise some techs as they get tracking data. While we're clapping ourselves on the back, Beta-Two gets hit with a massive counterattack, including an artillery battery, losing the Flashman and the Stalker. The Stalker mechwarrior gets away with a broken arm, the guy in the Flashman does not - he manages to eject, but then gets wasted by a stray artillery shell as the Orion tries to pick him up.

We'll be mounting a counter-counterattack, but meanwhile, let's check in on Gamma company, who arrived on Trondheimal two weeks ago.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Paingod »

Concentrated missiles for the win! I've always felt bad for anyone that gets a barrage; I imagine it's a real pucker moment.
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

September 1, 3040
Trondheimal
990km east of landing zone

Gamma company arrives on Trondheimal to find the place under attack by raiders. It's nominally controlled by the Illyrian Palatinate, which is another podunk periphery nation (apparently this one is smaller than its neighbors so it routinely gets crapped on). Well, we need access to any tracking stations to see if the jumpship we're looking for has made an appearance here. After not getting anywhere asking nicely, we move Gamma-One and Gamma-Two towards one such tracking station. The defenders rally to repel them - a light mech lance and an assault lance with a pair of Stalkers, backed up by a swarm of crappy tanks.

Guess we'll see how Hyena's AC/20 Thunderbolt performs. Gamma-Two is a Guillotine, a Blackjack, the Kintaro (sigh) and AWS driving a Phoenix Hawk. This should be a pretty straightforward battle. We'll sweep these guys aside (well, it'll be a little harder with two Stalkers in there), then proceed to the tracking station.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-One proceeds at maximum speed to engagement range.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Some symbolic weapons fire is exchanged at maximum range, with Cylus actually managing to land a few Listen-Kill LRMs on a Saladin, although they do little more than ding the armor.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Lighter enemy units charge in, and we begin the fight in earnest. A Saladin blasts Scrub's Warhammer center of mass with the AC/20 - armor holds up, but ouch.

Cylus jumps past the Saladin as it charges in, zapping a hover APC out of existence with lasers. The Saladin itself doesn't last long, as it gets taken apart by the Warhammer's short-range firepower. Scrub also spares a burst of MG fire for a group of infantry zip-lining out of a nearby Ferret, shooting them as they rappel down.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
With Scrub's center torso armor all but a memory, she pulls back, keeping her side to the enemy to try to minimize damage to the vulnerable section. It doesn't help - a Plainsman hovertank circles around and puts a bunch of SRMs into it, cracking the gyro housing and taking out a PPC. Cylus disables the hovertank, but it's a little too late. Scrub pours fire into a Scimitar hovertank, crippling it with an SRM salvo which blasts through the armor and destroys several lift fans - the piece of crap hovertank sends an SRM into the weakened center torso section as well, cracking the engine shielding. Better clear out.

Xwraith and Hyena inconclusively exchange fire with a few lighter mechs - Xwraith lands a few laser shots on a Javelin, but nothing serious.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Scrub's mech protests as the heat sinks work overtime to lower the oppressive temperatures, but not firing any weapons helps bring the heat down to manageable levels.

Cylus jumps towards Xwraith and Hyena, the three mechs helping cover each other. Hyena unloads an AC/20 burst at the nearby Drillson, nearly taking the front of the hovertank off. Xwraith covers Cylus, cracking the gyro on a nearby Javelin with a couple of medium laser blasts - the 30-ton mech is unable to stay balanced and falls over. Cylus lands in some woods, avoiding most of the incoming fire and taking out a Packrat zipping around the battlefield. An Ostscout goes to kick our Grasshopper, but the mech side steps and lands a backhand on the lighter mech's right arm, knocking it to the ground.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-Two finally arrives - just about time, as the Stalkers are about to join the fight.

Cylus jumps behind a cliff for cover from said Stalkers and a Quickdraw runs up right behind him on top of the cliff. Hyena is on the job and nearly takes the mech's right arm off with the AC/20, while sparing an LRM salvo for a distant Warrior helicopter, clipping the rotor. The Quickdraw is knocked off balance and falls to the ground. Cylus cuts through a Drillson's engine block, taking that hovertank out of the fight. The Ostscout keeps giving Cylus a hard time, banging the Grasshopper's shins, but loses its right arm to another backhand.

Xwraith jumps north, zapping the Javelin as it tries to get up, this time cracking the engine housing. The jumping Thunderbolt manages to avoid the majority of the incoming fire from the Stalkers and Crusader, no mean feat.

The Ferret zips over to harass Gamma-Two and is taken out by a laser blast from the Guillotine.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The Javelin tries to jump away from the fight, stumbling as it lands due to gyro damage. We're still letting it go, there are other targets to take down that aren't running away.

Hyena's Thunderbolt takes some damage from the Quickdraw as it gets up. Cylus gives the Quickdraw something to think about with four lasers - the right arm actually comes off this time. The combined fire from the Quickdraw and lighter mechs throws Hyena's aim off, but he still manages to punch the nearby Ostscout out, knocking it on its ass.

Xwraith jumps south, blasting a Vedette's treads off.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The Stalkers briefly vanish behind the hill, as do our mechs. The Ostscout doesn't get clear fast enough and loses its left torso section to an AC/20 burst. Cylus jumps west and blasts through the armor on a Scorpion tank (a variant packing dual SRM/6 launchers). Both damaged units begin retreating.

Way to the southeast, a Spider and the Warrior VTOL move to harass our Blackjack but the Spider eats a couple of lasers and whiffs a kick, going to a knee.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Kintaro tangles with the Spider as it jumps away from the Blackjack. Xwraith briefly brushes the Spider's left torso with the ER laser, which takes off two jump jets. The Kintaro hits with a few SRMs, but then gets punched in the dome as it goes for the Spider's leg with a kick. Despite losing an actuator, the Spider remains upright.

Cylus tangles with the Quickdraw, stripping armor from multiple locations.

The Stalkers remain behind the hill, lobbing missiles at us at an oblique angle, and mostly not hitting.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Quickdraw appears to have had enough and begins a rapid retreat.

The Stalkers continue their indirect fire barrage against us, with limited effect. Cylus catches the Crusader moving from cover to cover, zapping it with all five of the Grasshopper's lasers. The armor loss forces the mech down.

The Warrior helicopter that's zipping around gets a bit of a beating, taking AC/2 rounds and a few SRMs which ding the rotor.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
"Up and over!" Cylus calls out as the Crusader crests the hill. Time to resolve this.

Hyena turns the Thunderbolt left and blasts said Crusader in the leg with the AC/20 - the leg-mounted SRM launcher goes flying off. Cylus zaps the Crusader from behind with lasers, and the mechwarrior inside must be pretty relieved at having shot his LRM racks dry earlier, as one of the lasers hits an empty ammo bin. The Crusader is unable to deal with the pummeling and falls over, crunching an actuator.

The Stalker to the west moves a little bit north and takes almost a full salvo from the Guillotine, melting large chunks of armor off. AWS jumps to its side, scoring a head shot with the large laser. Xwraith and AWS both combine kicks to knock the assault mech to the ground.

The Blackjack gets a two-fer, detonating the nearby Warrior helicopter as it struggles to maintain control with the damaged rotor, then breaching a Scorpion tank's armor with the AC/2s.

Our mechs are pretty heated up at this point, but we've inflicted a lot of damage. The Crusader is unable to get up, but the two Stalkers get away (though their screening units do not). We grab it for salvage and spare parts for the Thunderbolts.

We seize the tracking station and our techs begin going through the data. They estimate it'll take a couple of weeks.

Hyena reports being pretty unhappy with the 5D Thunderbolt's performance - it's got way too many heat sinks and not enough guns, and also not enough ammo for the AC/20. Him and the techs brainstorm a bit and come up with two ideas - either remove the four extra heat sinks to add four jump jets for extra maneuverability or remove two of the heat sinks to put back two of the original Thunderbolt model's medium lasers. Either that or eventually head back to the Inner Sphere proper, ditch the 5D somewhere and fix the Striker back up.

The only "permanent" damage is that Scrub's Warhammer is missing a PPC. Hopefully we can take down a Manticore or something and grab a replacement.

Having demonstrated our combat prowess, we are suddenly bombarded with offers of employment both from the Illyrian government and the raiders. The local government guys pay better but have worse equipment and troops, while the raiders don't have as much money to offer but are a little more experienced and have slightly better gear. We're not really talking about high tech core world goodies here, but it's the difference between the employer having actual tanks and mechs vs a guy in a t-shirt sitting in the back of a pickup truck with an SRM launcher, backed up by a 600 year old mech which has to walk its shots as the primary targeting mechanism.

So, which offer do we take?
30M, crap support
15M, decent support

Or we could just tell everyone to piss off, although that might inspire them to try a more aggressive recruitment strategy.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12663
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:34 pm 15M, decent support
It's not like we're going broke.

Would taking a contract here help or hinder our ability to track the AWOL jumpship? That's still the priority.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

AWS260 wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:53 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:34 pm 15M, decent support
It's not like we're going broke.

Would taking a contract here help or hinder our ability to track the AWOL jumpship? That's still the priority.
Probably help, as then we'd only have to repel attacks on the tracking station and our dropship from one side. However, they'd expect us to actually carry out the contract. Our jumpship isn't coming back here for another two or three months at the earliest, so Gamma will be stuck down there for a while anyway.
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Would helping the locals help us in any way, shape or form to accomplish our goal of with the tracking info?

If not, let's help the raiders - not only better support, but less capable units to defend the tracking station against.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

September 14, 3040
Trondheimal
Seland Industrial Zone, Illyrian Palatinate sensor network hub

Upon our acceptance of the employment offer from the raiders, they give us a list of targets they want destroyed or captured. One of those is a control center for a sensor network that allows the Palatinate militia forces to coordinate responses to raider attacks. Combined with some pretty impressive processing power in a nearby data center, they're really sticking it to the raiders. In fact, they also put it to good use against us, intercepting Gamma's recon runs twice. They're unable to capitalize on it though, as Gamma-Three evades them every time with no damage.

Eventually, Gamma-Three locates the sensor network control center and calls in support. Gamma-Two is in position to respond quickly, and we blitz the place. Gamma-One will arrive later and hit the data center. The Illyrian forces are able to scramble a pair of conventional fighters, but otherwise the facility is very lightly defended. We'll attempt to capture it if possible, which shouldn't be too bad: the garrison force is a single lance of medium mechs with a few tanks for backup.

Gamma-Two will form the spearhead of the attack, with their Guillotine, Blackjack, AWS in the Phoenix Hawk and Kintaro, while Gamma-Three will perform flanking maneuvers - they've got a Jenner, a Spider, another Phoenix Hawk and a Clint.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
AWS jumps out to the west, thinking to get the drop on a Scorpion tank, then nearly craps his pants as a Saladin zips out from an alley, firing its AC/20. A last-second juke causes the shot to miss, and the Phoenix Hawk's large laser even hits the target Scorpion, but that was close.

A figher goes to strafe AWS, but is nearly knocked out of the sky by Gamma-Two's Blackjack firing its AC/2s and has to abort its run, trying to regain altitude. Who says light autocannons can't be useful?

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-Two's Guillotine moves north and targets a Scorpion tank - that particular variant carries three tons of short range missile reloads as well as half a ton of machine gun ammo. Lasers punch through the armor, then the Guillotine's SRM launcher burps up a couple of listen-kill warheads, scattering tank bits all over the street. When combined with taking a PPC from a Griffin and a few other shots, the Guillotine can't remain upright and drops to a knee.

The Blackjack covering AWS moves up, firing at a Packrat with its lasers - it inflicts some damage, but a salvo of SRMs from an approaching Pegasus cracks our mech's hip joint, which is pretty annoying. AWS at least manages to take the Saladin out with a laser to the rear before it inflicts any damage with that monster autocannon, then clips the top of the Pegasus' turret with the Phoenix Hawk's foot.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
A Phoenix Hawk jumps up to fire at our Guillotine as it retreats to a side street to regroup, paying the price as it eats four laser blasts to the front.

The Blackjack manages to land a jump despite a damaged hip actuator, using its AC/2s to crack open a Saracen's hover skirt, forcing it to skid to a halt along the street.

AWS nearly jumps up as the Packrat he's running past explodes - the Kintaro unloads on it with SRMs setting off the on-board ammo. The confusion means that he misses trying to stomp the Pegasus hovertank scurrying around underfoot and falls flat on his face.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-Three arrives, providing some much-needed backup.

Gamma-Two's Guillotine pursues the hostile Phoenix Hawk as it attempts to retreat, this time knocking it over.

AWS gets up just in time to get plastered by the Crab as it comes out of its hiding spot - the two mechs exchange lasers, but the Crab has more firepower available. Can't slug it out with that one. At least our mechwarrior gets revenge on the Pegasus, using it a soccer ball to pass between him and our Kintaro. It doesn't survive.

The hostile Griffin, Gamma-Two's Blackjack and Gamma-Three's Phoenix Hawk get into a brawl - the Griffin and Blackjack land hits on each other, except the Blackjack takes a headshot from a PPC, then nearly kicks the Phoenix Hawk over.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Phoenix Hawk tries to get away, but is unable to both get up and jump away, which means it takes a zap to the engine from the Guillotine's lasers. The Clint knocks the troubled Hawk's right arm off with a laser to the shoulder, then the Guillotine cracks a couple of its actuators with a boot to the back of the leg.

AWS maneuvers around the Crab as it fires at our Clint, stripping armor from the left torso, and zaps it in the limbs with a couple of laser shots.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
With the Phoenix Hawk basically immobilized, the Guillotine and Clint move on to other targets. The enemy Griffin obliges, jumping in to engage in melee while firing a PPC at the Clint.

AWS, the Blackjack and Spider team up on the Crab, blowing out a heat sink in the torso and knocking the enemy mech down.

To the west, Gamma-Three's Jenner tangles with a Hunchback and a Scorpion tank. It actually takes more weapons damage, but then the Hunchback slips on the pavement and skids south about half a kilometer, stripping off a whole bunch of armor in the process.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
AWS moves west to take over for the Jenner, deftly avoiding most of the Hunchback's fire while stripping armor off its right side. The Clint zaps it a few times as well, and a kick forces the enemy mechwarrior to work really hard to keep upright.

The enemy Griffin makes a mistake and takes a large number of lasers and SRMs to the back from the Guillotine and Kintaro respectively, one of its foot actuators blowing out. A follow-up kick from the Guillotine disables the Griffin's right leg entirely, and then the left leg snaps off too. That mech's not going anywhere. On the plus side, we just scored a replacement PPC for Scrub's Warhammer!

Gamma-Three's Spider just about shuts itself down but jumps over just in time to disable a Vedette scurrying around under the Kintaro. And by disable I mean torch the fuel tank.

Our Blackjack is basically out of the fight with a hole in the cockpit and a cracked hip joint, but it still manages to shoot down one of the conventional aircraft circling around. It crashes into a building, and there's not much left of either object.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The two remaining mechs break off the engagement and move north, firing at us as they retreat.

Even though the Spider skids into a building next to the downed Griffin, it manages to crack into the Crab's torso section, damaging the engine and gyro, knocking it over.

AWS cuts into the Hunchback's rear section, blowing out a heat sink and a leg actuator, but that mech remains upright. We let him go.

Our Clint shoots down another Angel fighter, removing the enemy aircraft from the area, which basically leaves a couple of infantry squads that have been pelting us with shoulder-launched SRMs and some turrets, which power down.

We grab the Griffin for salvage, as we need that spare PPC and get our techs plowing through the sensor data.

Gamma-Two's Blackjack is out of action with a destroyed hip actuator. Gamma-Three's Phoenix Hawk is also out of action with a busted left leg actuator. However, between the two of them, they have enough working legs and actuators that our techs could get one fully functional.

Blackjack: 4/6/4, 4x Med. Laser, 2x AC/2
Phoenix Hawk: 6/9/6, 2x Med. Laser, 1x Large Laser, 2x MG

So the Blackjack has more firepower but is slower, the Phoenix Hawk has less firepower but is faster. Which one will it be?
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12663
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:34 pm AWS nearly jumps up as the Packrat he's running past explodes - the Kintaro unloads on it with SRMs setting off the on-board ammo. The confusion means that he misses trying to stomp the Pegasus hovertank scurrying around underfoot and falls flat on his face.
That was a deliberate tactical maneuver. I was ducking.
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

I would say Blackjack, but I think either would be fine.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

I would agree, but I'm in Squad Not-appearing-on-this-planet.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Blackjack, but overall, either is good.

PS: we really need to stop wasting so much money on these COMMSTAR chats. :)
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Zenn7 wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 8:11 pm Blackjack, but overall, either is good.

PS: we really need to stop wasting so much money on these COMMSTAR chats. :)
Good point. Let AWS sort it all out! :)
Post Reply