Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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Zenn7
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

gbasden wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 10:40 pm Agreed. Send in Alpha-Strike and Alpha-Command. As long as there aren't any gauss toting Atlas' around, at least.
Agreed, and agree with the cluster bombs for armor hunting.
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Cylus Maxii
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

[] Leave the security patrol to get out or not on their own
[] Send in Alpha-Strike, medium-heavy air support equipped with:
[X] HE bombs, for mech-hunting (and/or increased ability to damage the grounded dropship)
[] Cluster bombs, for tank-hunting (and/or increased ability to damage the grounded dropship)
[] no bombs, for better anti-air capability
[X] Send in Alpha-Strike *and* Alpha-Command and see if we can take the dropship down as well as bail the corporate guys out
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NickAragua
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
send in Alpha-strike and Alpha-command - unanimous
cluster bomb loadout - 2
he bomb loadout - 1
Loading bombs onto planes is a pretty quick process, so our aerospace fighters are in the air and whistling in in no time. Alpha-Command lance pours on the speed, but our aerospace fighters will get there first - realistically, the situation will be resolved one way or the other way before our mechs arrive, but they'll still be able to take a pot shot at the dropship.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our first order of business is for the Chippewa to drop all eighteen cluster bombs on the Triumph-class dropship parked to the north. This will a) lighten the load on our assault fighter and b) take a good chunk off the dropship. The dropship takes a significant amount of damage, but its armor holds up.

Our Shilone drops an eight-pack of cluster bombs on a Locust, blowing through its center torso armor. The mech detonates as its ammo goes up.

The corporate hovercraft and hostile armor exchange fire, but it's not too effective.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The Chippewa's estimate regarding the dropship being unable to fire at it from the ground proves incorrect - the Triumph's turrets swing up and perforate the aerospace fighter as it swings off to make a strafing run on a Maxim transport. The Maxim is blown away by the 90-ton fighter's firepower, but the Chippewa breaks up after being pounded by LRMs, lasers and autocannons. The silver lining is that it looks like at least one of the Triumph's autocannons got jammed by the cluster bombs.

Our Lucifer goes in for a bombing run against a Stinger, the bombs stripping armor from most of the bug mech as well as disabling the right arm (the one with the laser). Our Shilone gets a strafing run in on a Scimitar, causing heavy damage but not destroying it.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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"Right. Strike-Three, stay clear of that dropship." The flight leader announces. Our aero jock ejects safely and floats to the ground. Now he just has to avoid the platoon of angry infantry that have managed to dismount from the Maxim he blew away a couple of seconds ago.

Now here's something we haven't seen in a while, a Stinger LAM. We've discussed LAMs at length, so nobody's particularly scared of this thing, but it's still amusing to see someone trying to use one. Our Shilone pilot whiffs all his shots at it however, as it's pretty nimble.

One of the allied Scimitars reports being disabled by a Patton tank.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"Last run. Enemy aircraft are almost here." The flight leader states.

There are a few explosions as our fighters continue circling around for their last bombing runs. The Scimitar that our Shilone damaged earlier blows up as it fires its autocannon- the damage must have been more extensive than it appeared. The Lucifer and Shilone make a bombing run, causing major damage to the back of a Vulcan and, between the two of them, causing a Vedette to more or less disappear - between all the ammo/fuel tank explosions and the bomb hits, there's barely a scrap left.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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A pair of enemy fighters come screaming in. Our Shilone dives to avoid an attack by a Sabre, barely managing to avoid the incoming salvo as the Sabre begins tailing our heavier craft. Our fighter jettisons its bombs as well, scoring minor damage on a Patton tank. A second corporate Scimitar reports being disabled ("we've got a mech crawling up our ass, abandoning tank!", etc)

Our Lucifer takes a tail shot from the enemy Eagle's laser, but that's not really a big deal.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Engaging bogey two... sonofa!" Our Lucifer pilot curses. She gets a few good laser hits on the Eagle, and then the damn thing unloads a full salvo of wing-mounted rocket pods. Luckily, the Lucifer is a brick, so the damage is just armor.

But things aren't looking good for the corporate guys down on the ground - the last hovertank has been disabled. This just leaves a single Striker tank. At this point, we'll need to secure the area if we want to recover those guys.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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The Lucifer manages to bank away from the rest of the withering rocket barrage, and moves in for a quick strafing run on a J. Edgar hovertank, which succeeds as the little thing "settles down". The corporate Striker tank is disabled by a strafing run from the hostile Sabre. That's it for the corporate ground units.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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Alpha-Command arrives. A little too late to bail out the corporate guys, but just in time to take out the dropship before it tries to lift off. Gbasden and El Guapo unload on the Triumph's right side and nose, gouging chunks of armor out with PPC blasts and a slug from the gauss rifle. Gbasden takes a headshot from a stray LRM, but a single one of those isn't going to take off an Awesome's head.

Isgrimnur and Stefan turn their aim skyward, trying to swat a Sabre that makes an attempt to strafe Stefan's Catapult, with some success - Isgrimnur's autocannon and lasers play along the small fighter's left wing, and he's pretty sure he can see a wheel fall out.

Our Lucifer gets in the back of the Eagle, scoring a couple of hits with lasers, but takes another laser to the nose. The fighter's computer system starts complaining loudly and beeping, and our craft begins to lose elevation.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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It's El Guapo and Gbasden's turn to get strafed as they continue pounding the dropship. El Guapo loses some armor on the right arm to fire from the dropship , while Gbasden takes several torso shots. The dropship is heavily damaged, however, a thruster burnt by a PPC, a cargo bay door blasted open by another (with boxes spilling out) and a shot to the nose with another gauss slug.

On the plus side, our Lucifer pilot manages to regain control of the aircraft before it hits the ground.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The woods where El Guapo was taking cover catch on fire, so he needs to relocate. It's for the best though, the obscuring smoke combined with heavy woods cover will let our mechwarrior get shot at a little less. Lining up a shot with the gauss rifle, the Marauder puts it directly into the nose, causing sparks to fly out. More sparks than expected anyway,

Isgrimnur is in his element now, jump jets firing to land in the middle of a bunch of enemy mechs and set the hatchet swinging. The Stinger LAM takes a laser to the left torso, while the Vulcan loses pretty much all armor from its legs, having to go down to a knee to avoid falling over.

Our fighters work the Sabre over as it and the Eagle make a pass at Stefan and Isgrimnur, the light fighter rapidly losing elevation. This time, our mechwarriors are ready and Stefan blasts a chunk out of the heavy fighter with LRMs, taking out a medium laser. Sure, he takes a headshot from one of its large lasers and his woods catch on fire, but he can take it.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Gbasden takes some serious fire from the dropship, dropping to a knee. Isgrimnur engages a Patton tank with good effect, prying a large amount of armor from the turret, although he takes a kick to the back from a Wasp. Stefan brawls with the Stinger LAM, causing the lighter unit to lose left leg armor with a kick, even as it avoids his lasers.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Lucifer gets a good bead on the Eagle and blasts away - lasers carve chunks out of the left wing, destroying one of the hostile fighter's main guns - a large laser. While it's buckling around, our Shilone gets in behind it and blows it away with an alpha strike, lasers and LRMs breaking the craft up in midair. That's one problem out of our hair.

Gbasden backs away from the Triumph, letting it focus on El Guapo as he expertly maneuvers the Marauder through the woods. A trio of PPC shots to the nose blast through into crew compartments and destroy an LRM launcher, while the gauss slug flies in through a gap to blow up something internal.

One of El Guapo's PPCs shuts down from the dropship's counterattack, but it's too little too late.

Isgrimnur watches with detached horror as Stefan's Catapult collapses after the Eagle's last strafing run. Second large laser to the cockpit is a little more than the mech can take. He crushes the right side of the nearby Wasp with the hatchet, then moves over to inspect the downed Catapult.

With their dropship broadcasting an unconditional surrender, the rest of the mechs (and Patton tank, plus the Sabre fighter) beat a rapid retreat. Most of them. The Urbanmech waddles away as fast as it can, too, just that "rapid" isn't really the right term.

Stefan doesn't survive.

The dropship is in pretty bad shape, but repairable. We'll have to figure out what to do with it later. For now, we have another problem. Delta-Ranger reports that hostile forces are pushing through the gap left by Alpha-Command. They can delay and harass, but not hold them. Alpha-Command should be able to get back to the gap, but is a little beat up: Gbasden's Awesome has multiple red and yellow armor sections, El Guapo's Marauder is down one PPC. Stefan's Catapult is out of action. The Hatchetman is the only mech in pretty good shape. Alpha-Strike can also swing by on the way back to base, they're in ok shape - other than being down one fighter. The Lucifer is solidly in the yellow, while the Shilone is green but is halfway done with its LRMs. No bombs left on either.

Delta-Ranger repots two heavy mech lances (three Crusaders, a Thunderbolt, an Orion, a Rifleman and a Banshee), a light/medium mech lance, plus about about a company and a half of light/medium armor (they must have unloaded from the Triumph earlier). The units retreating from Alpha-Command's recent engagement also appear to be headed in that direction. So we either engage them here with a beat-up lance and a medium jump-capable lance plus aircraft, or we let them through and engage them at whichever facility they choose to attack - all of the places we're supposed to guard are defended by an intact lance, we just don't know where the attacking mercs will go. Obviously it'd be preferable to engage with a fresh lance, but we don't really want to risk damage to what we're supposed to protect.

We have a couple of approaches we could take to this:
[] Have Alpha-Command and Alpha-Strike move into position to block the breakthrough while Delta-Ranger delays.
[] Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:44 pm
Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
+1
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:33 pm Stefan doesn't survive.
Image
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

AWS260 wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:27 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:33 pm Stefan doesn't survive.
Image
Been there. I'll pour out a quart of axle grease at your memorial.
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Zenn7
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Hyena wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:20 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:44 pm
Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
+1
+2
Zenn7
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

AWS260 wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:27 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:33 pm Stefan doesn't survive.
Image
Alas poor whats-his-name... we remember him well.

Actually, if you could have only held out 2.5 more years, you could have baptized our memorial/cemetery on our new home world.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »


Zenn7 wrote:
Hyena wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:20 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:44 pm
Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
+1
+2
+3

Lure them in and kill them all! FOR STEFAN!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

I AM SPAR...DEAD

Least i went out swinging. Deposit my ashes in the walls of the base so i can watch over you. Noone believe in ghosts anymore right?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

+4 for Let them through and engage them at one of our facilities with a fresh force (plus Delta-Ranger).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Let them through and engage later
"Beta-Hunter, be aware that primary hostile force is now vectoring in your direction. Suggest you move out and intercept them before they hit your location." Madmarcus advises.

"Look, Lieutenant." Wolf suggests. "We can intercept them just past this little town over here. If Delta-Ranger can split them up a little, we should be able to pick them apart."

"Let's do it." The lance leader responds. The Archer, Orion, Guillotine and Stalker move out, flanked by the Zephyr hovertank.

-----------

The Union that disgorged the mech company decides to support them a little more by lifting off and heading our in a sub-orbital hop. Our un-committed aerospace fighters engage its escort, but are unable to prevent it from coming down almost right on top of Delta-Ranger's position. Our mechs are nimble enough to avoid getting sumo dropped, but it's still an unsettling experience. Not to mention they have to run a gauntlet of dropship fire.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"Move it! Maximum speed, don't stop until we're out of weapons range!" someone calls out. As we run by, we unload LRMs and other long-range weapons at the giant ball of death that's decided drop in on us. Archinerd takes a few LRMs to the right side, while Paingod's PPC blows out an autocannon turret. A minor firepower reduction, but still.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland breathes out a sigh of relief as the distance indicator to the dropship goes beyond maximum LRM range. Now, we just need to stop a swarm of tanks, mechs and hovercraft. Madmarcus absorbs the last of the LRMs the dropship is capable of firing at us, and we make our way to the town Wolf has designated as the interception point.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Our lance continues moving south as a lance of hovercraft (and a Vedette) move rapidly. A few LRMs from Freyland's Quickdraw impact a Plainsman hovertank, and an autocannon round goes flying overhead, but otherwise nothing serious happens.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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Paingod cuts it a little too close to the Union and catches another salvo of LRMs while attempting to take out a Saladin hovertank. Freyland takes that kill anyway, blowing the mobile AC/20 away with a laser and streak SRM salvo.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Hunter arrives from the south, while the bulk of the enemy force enters from the north. Delta-Ranger is totally clear of the dropship's firepower, which just leaves the firepower of all those mechs. Thankfully, the assault mech is a standard model Banshee, so that's about as threatening as a medium mech (unless it gets close, then you better hope you're buckled up)

Madmarcus scowls as the Plainsman unloads a salvo of SRMs at our Wolverine, and the SRM launcher flashes red after firing its last missile load - seems the ammo feed mechanism has been severed by a stray SRM. At least the Plainsman is history, after being carved up with lasers and the last of Madmarcus' SRMs.

Freyland, helped by Paingod's PPC and Archinerd's LRMs, takes out a Vedette to the west, nearly wiping out the advance lance.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The main body of the enemy force engages Delta-Ranger at maximum range with LRMs, to little effect. Our return fire isn't really that effective either, although Madmarcus dings a Drillson hovertank with a medium laser.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The bulk of the enemy lighter units close to range and get stuck in.

Archinerd flits backwards through the town, firing LRMs at a Scimitar that shows through an opening. The hovertank's armor is breached and the air cushion lets out. Freyland finishes it off with lasers.

Paingod jumps forward, avoiding the majority of the incoming LRMs and autocannon rounds (only eating one of the latter), then kicks over an approaching Drillson hovertank.

Wolf engages a Vedette that's moved past the town, scoring multiple hits with the Orion's LRMs.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland also backs up. Being the last one out of line of sight, the Quickdraw takes a couple of AC/5 rounds but nothing serious. Our mechwarrior squeezes the trigger for lasers and streak SRMs, being rewarded with a light show and a pair of smoke trails, followed by a Condor hovertank kicking up a dirt plume as black smoke starts pouring out the side.

Wolf is unable to get a good bead on a Jenner running past as the little mech zaps the Orion with lasers. In frustration, our mechwarrior kicks out at a nearby Vedette, nearly breaching the right side of the tank.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland keeps pace with a Valkyrie running by, unloading lasers into its left side. This time, the streak launcher doesn't fire, eliciting a "goddammit" from our mechwarrior. Madmarcus lays into the same mech as well, causing it to lose armor cross the torso section and an armor breach on the right arm. Avoiding a clumsy punch, Freyland brings the Quickdraw's leg up, breaking the Valkyrie's leg off just above the knee. As it keels over, the mechwarrior inside punches out. Not very successfully - the ejection seat brushes the adjacent building, sending the poor guy tumbling to a nearby rooftop.

Paingod times a jump to land almost on top of a Saladin, then turns north and fires at a Scorpion tank, blowing it away with the Griffin's PPC and LRMs. The cockpit heats up quite a bit as the cooling systems are unable to keep up, but it's worth it - the light SRM-toting tank is destroyed. The Griffin shakes a bit as SRMs pepper it, and LRMs from longer range, but armor holds. The Saladin is flattened.

Wolf continues "dueling" with the Vedette, marveling at the unusual sturdiness of the vehicle - despite multiple laser and autocannon hits, as well as a kick, the tank is still going.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Jenner nimbly dodges past Wolf and Archinerd (who gives it a pair of lasers to the left side to remove some armor), then runs right into Siljanus' Stalker coming around the hilltop. Lasers carve away the light mech's armor, while a salvo of SRMs goes internal, cracking engine shielding and busting up a pair of actuators on the left leg. The little mech keels over, snapping off its left weapons mount.

Freyland continues flitting between buildings in the small town, picking off another Vedette.

"I got him, I got him!" Hyena calls out, firing the Archer's LRMs at the Vedette Wolf has been picking on. Except the LRMs miss. Wolf and a Shadow Hawk exchange fire, our mech coming out a little worse, although both get pockmarked armor.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
The Jenner's pilot is unable to get the mech back up, snapping off the damaged leg and having to bail out.

Freyland's eyes go wide as a heavy mech lance, with a heavy tank in tow, stomp through the center of town. That Quickdraw's pretty good, but not that good, so off go the jump jets and the mech lands out of sight, behind the Banshee. All lasers and the SRMs fire at the back of the assault mech. Combined with an LRM/20 salvo from Hyena's Archer, it's enough to knock the big bastard over.

Wolf confronts a swarm of tanks emerging from the town, absorbing a good amount of autocannon fire and knocking the treads off of one. Archinerd disables another one, while Beta-Hunter's Guillotine finally finishes that one Vedette that Wolf started working on almost half a minute ago. Well, 'finishes' is a strong term. The tank's crew just finally has enough and peels off from the breakthrough attempt.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
There's a vaguely familiar charge-up sound and then a gauss slug flies right past Freyland's Quickdraw as our mechwarrior jumps north. Quickly zeroing on the target, our mechwarrior returns fire. The lasers fail to penetrate the heavy tank's armor. We've never seen one of these before, so we'll have to examine the data later.

Hyena engages a Crusader coming out of the southeast corner of the town, clustering lasers and LRMs around the 65-ton mech's upper torso, scoring a head shot.

Siljanus and Archinerd team up on another Crusader, hitting it with large lasers and LRMs. Paingod adds a PPC, which hits an ammo bin, but disappointingly, doesn't blow the mech up - looks like the bin was empty. Still, the damage causes the enemy mech to fall over.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland seeks to close the distance with the gauss tank, avoiding another slug and cutting into the heavy tank's treads with lasers and streak warheads. One of the tank's laser barrels burns out, and then it stops moving. Our Guillotine helps clear the air a little as well, destroying a Scorpion tank zipping around underneath the nearby Banshee while avoiding the assault mech's fire.

Siljanus' Crusader target gets up, somewhat painfully, then eats a substantial amount of laser and SRM fire, along with another PPC shot from Paingod. It returns fire, disabling our Zephyr hovertank, but the armor loss unbalances it and down it goes again, this time scanners showing its center torso armor completely gone. Siljanus easily ignores the attacks of the nearby Shadow Hawk as well.

Hyena's Crusader target gets away, but an Orion presents itself for pummeling by LRMs and lasers and is knocked over.

Wolf and Madmarcus engage the Thunderbolt, blasting it with enough ordnance that it has to take a knee to retain stability.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
The Banshee makes a critical mistake and slips on the pavement, falling over on its right arm. Freyland takes advantage of this, blasting the PPC off the assault mech with the Quickdraw's lasers. The amusing thing about the standard model Banshee is that the PPC is about 2/3 of its firepower, so now it's just reduced to an autocannon and a dinky little small laser. Next to it, the Rifleman falls over as our Guillotine works it over with lasers and a boot.

Siljanus continues focusing on one of the damaged Crusaders - a large laser blast from the Stalker cracks open the gyro housing, causing the enemy mech to wobble. This leaves it wide open for an AC/10 shot from Wolf, which goes through the structure and hits the engine. Upon hitting the ground, the 65 ton mech shuts down completely.

Archinerd targets the second Crusader in the area, jumping in right behind it and opening up with lasers and SRMs at the heavy mech's rear armor - a laser torches an LRM ammo bin, and this one was completely full, annihilating the hostile mech.

Faced with these catastrophic losses, someone in the opposing force broadcasts their surrender over the open frequency. We make the standard arrangement - anything that can walk off under its own power is free to do so, we keep everything else. A single Locust did manage to break through, but the defensive turrets at the facility we're guarding here drive it off.

The remaining mechs (and tanks, uncomfortably) load up into the Union and blast off.

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

We hold a brief funeral service for Pvt. Leon "Stefan Mk II" Eng. He'd only been with the company for two years. Over that time, he participated in 9 missions and racked up 8 kills, including two light mechs. Having joined our company on Basalt during our cadre duty contract there, he got to travel halfway across the Inner Sphere, shooting at all kinds of opponents with that Catapult.

Stefan, feel free to pick a replacement mech (subject to player override, mechwarrior will be the same regardless):
[] Hunchback HBK-4H (AC/10, 4x medium lasers, no jump jets)
[] Stefan Mk II's Catapult (2x LRM/15, 4x medium laser, jump jets)

We strip the double heat sinks from the Chippewa. We're also going to keep the XL engine and the small pulse lasers.

In addition to a bunch of the usual mech and tank wrecks (including a Crusader with severe damage to both engine and gyro), we recover the gauss rifle tank. A detailed search through our database indicate that it's called a "Demon". Originally a Star League design, this wheeled heavy tank fell out of use once the tech to make gauss rifles and cellular ammo storage bins became impractical. But, we're in the future now and both gauss rifles and CASE are back. Nothing complicated about this tank - one big gun with a couple of smaller weapons on the sides and front. The CASE prevents the on-board SRM ammo from blowing up.

Unfortunately, our Zephyr hovertank was rendered inoperable by stray weapons fire. It... wasn't very good anyway, but it did have some good toys on it. We'll strip off all the good stuff (NARC, TAG, ECM, armor) then sell the wreckage off for scrap.

We get one of our dropship crews to come out and take a look at the Triumph we captured last mission. It's a giant god-damned mess. Some of those gauss slugs El Guapo put through the front really ricocheted around in there and made a mess of the interior. And then there's the external damage from PPCs and such. The chief engineer informs us that it'll probably take about eight months and about 5-6M C-Bills to fix all the damage.

The thing about the Triumph is that, while it's better than the Seeker in terms of transport capacity and firepower, it's an aerodyne dropship, meaning it needs long, flat, relatively hard terrain to land. Unlike a spheroid, which can pretty much land anywhere it pleases as long as it's not too tilted. Also, aerodyne dropships have notorious 'blind spots' on their aft-port and aft-starboard sides, letting hostile fighters (and mechs, when on the ground) get in there and fire with impunity.

Selling it will be tough, as there's a strong suspicion that Larry didn't really offer us "fair market value".

[] Repair it and replace the Seeker (we don't need two tank/infantry transports at this time)
[] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
[] Sell it as is for a small percentage of actual worth, not worth the hassle
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

I'll take the catapult again thanks. It did fairly well last time.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2020 1:38 am [] Repair it and replace the Seeker (we don't need two tank/infantry transports at this time)
[x] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
[] Sell it as is for a small percentage of actual worth, not worth the hassle
Does not sound like there is any real advantage to replacing the Seeker. But we're here for a long time still, no reason we can't repair it and get more money than just the small percentage of actual worth.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

[] Repair it and replace the Seeker (we don't need two tank/infantry transports at this time)
[x] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
[] Sell it as is for a small percentage of actual worth, not worth the hassle

Only if we’re fairly certain the sale price will cover our costs and give us some profit for our troubles.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

$iljanus wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:20 am [] Repair it and replace the Seeker (we don't need two tank/infantry transports at this time)
[x] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
[] Sell it as is for a small percentage of actual worth, not worth the hassle

Only if we’re fairly certain the sale price will cover our costs and give us some profit for our troubles.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Drazzil »

$iljanus wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:20 am [] Repair it and replace the Seeker (we don't need two tank/infantry transports at this time)
[x] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
[] Sell it as is for a small percentage of actual worth, not worth the hassle

Only if we’re fairly certain the sale price will cover our costs and give us some profit for our troubles.
I'm with $iljanus.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

[X] Repair it and sell it to someone who's going to pay more then a couple of million C-Bills
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
repair the dropship and sell it for better value later - unanimous
March 30, 3044
Kjelstad Plains
Unzmarkt, Free Rasalhague Republic

As we clean up the mess from repelling the mercenary attack on URL facilities, the planetary militia calls us up to remind us of the side-contract we took with them. They need a force to delay two lances of mercenary mechs moving in on militia-controlled territory, until the militia guys can get in position. Gamma-Probe has the speed to get there, though not necessarily the firepower to take down a pair of Warhammers and a Dragon backed up by three Jenners, a Panther and a Stinger.

Cujo reminds everyone: "Stay clear of those Warhammers and keep moving, they'll eat you for lunch if you stand still or get too close."

"Acknowledged." Drazzil joins the rest of the lance. "Lieutenant Mom." He adds, after muting the comms.

Our job will be made a little easier by the fact that it's pouring cats and dogs, with lightning zapping every which way and winds strong enough to knock over power lines.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"Stick to the outside of the formation unless one of them is too loose." Cujo orders. PPCs fly out our way, but nothing connects. None of our lasers connect, either.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
A Dragon makes a run at AWS' Phoenix Hawk but slips as it tries to tighten up the turn (our Phoenix Hawk was going just a little bit too fast) and winds up eating dirt. A Jenner tries to get in behind AWS, but our Vulcan is on the job, carving up the merc's right side with lasers, then giving it a solid boot to the now unarmored right leg. Several actuators pop and the Jenner goes down.

To the west, however, Cujo has to take a knee after eating two PPCs - one from a Panther and one from a Warhammer.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Dragon gets up, but the Jenner doesn't have much luck. Cujo struggles but manages to get solid footing and moves the Wolverine to follow Drazzil's Phoenix Hawk. The Panther continues firing at our Wolverine, gouging out chunks of armor with that PPC.

AWS runs around the north of the merc lance, sending a couple of lasers from the Phoenix Hawk's right arm into a Jenner, while the Vulcan makes its round from the south. A couple of lasers to the back of the nearby Stinger produce better than expected results, as the 20-ton machine's MG ammo detonates, scattering it over the flatlands.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Cujo has had enough of that annoying Panther chasing her Wolverine down and fires up the Wolverine's jump jets, throwing the other mechwarrior off his game. A large laser from the Wolverine cuts through the Panther's left torso armor, popping a pair of heat sinks, then the medium laser finishes off the rest of the structure there, sending the left arm dropping to the groumd, along with the SRM ammo bin. Bastard's lucky it didn't go off. The mechwarrior in the Panther decides against pushing his luck any further and fires up his jump jets to depart the battlefield.

The guy in the Vulcan following AWS gets into trouble as he whiffs a kick on a Jenner and finds himself on the ground in front of its other Jenner and Warhammer buddies.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
As usual, the battle de-generates into a melee with mechs intermixing and formations forgotten about. Cujo and AWS take some hits from the Warhammers, but just lasers, thankfully, so it's just armor damage. Cujo's return fire brushes across the western Warhammer's head, but is not enough to crack the armor.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Drazzil breaks south, firing on the Warhammer tracking Cujo. The Phoenix Hawk's large laser melts one of the 70-tonner's machine gun barrels, which is a purely psychological victory. Cujo's mech helpfully informs her that the left leg armor has been breached (likely by the Warhammer's PPC shot), but the Wolverine returns fire, scattering lasers and SRMs across the front of the heavy mech, which brings it to the ground.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our timer is almost up, so we get ready to bug out, while the hostiles regroup. Drazzil and AWS drill the Warhammer with large lasers as it gets up, the armor loss combined with driving winds causing the mech to fall over. Again. This time, the mech stops moving as the mechwarrior inside blacks out.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Drazzil takes a leg off a pursuing Jenner with a large laser blast. Well, the leg's still attached, it's just that the mech is on the ground and not moving.

AWS gives a parting shot to the downed Warhammer, aiming at the right torso with the hope of forcing an ammo detonation. Armor melts, but the ammo stays intact.

We deliver more punishment to the downed Warhammer as we continue pulling back, but the ammo bin detonation remains elusive, other equipment getting in the way of our lasers. Once the militia command informs us that their units are in position, we disengage. The militia guys wind up pretty happy with our performance - not only did we delay the two mech lances, but we took out half of them. The rest wind up pulling out without engaging the militia forces.

After that showing, and losing one of their dropships, the rest of the mercs that came in to attack URL and other facilities get back on their remaining dropships, leaving us to fix up the gear we salvaged from them. Saying that downtime on this planet is relaxing would be a lie, but, for about a week afterwards, we don't get shot at.

Then, the jumpship at the nadir jump point attaches all of its dropships and jumps out and another one jumps in a few days later. The militia asks us (per the terms of our contract) to send up some aerospace escorts for an incoming dropship, along with a lance to defend the landing site (not the spaceport in the capital for some reason).

Prior to the previous jumpship leaving the system, we debate ordering the construction of fortifications around our in-progress Dowles compound. The main proposals are to rely on mobile defenses or to build a wall with guard towers (and turrets). The folks suggesting to build the wall are further subdivided into a group that just wants a "standard" wall and a group that wants to build a wall tall enough to prevent most battlemechs from jumping over.

"Just" mobile defense has worked for ok for us in the past, but given what's going to be in that compound and the fact that our record isn't exactly perfect, it may be a good idea to prevent at least stray shots from hitting our buildings. We'll still probably have a wire fence or something just to keep local wildlife and casual intruders out.

The "standard" wall will cost 102M, and will easily be finished by the time the main compound is finished. We'll decide on "accessories" (e.g. turrets) later, but the wall is going to be ~15-20 meters of solid ferrocrete and rebar. It'll be enough to keep out tanks and walking mechs, and stray shots will hit the wall instead of the compound. The downside is maintenance costs and the fact that it ruins the view, thus messing with the morale of people living in the compound.

The "overboard" wall will cost 306M and will also be finished by the time the main compound is finished. This thing will be taller than pretty much all the buildings in the base and will take a significant effort to bring down. Not to mention unless bringing in a Phoenix Hawk or something comparable, most mechs won't be able to jump over said wall. The downside is considerable maintenance costs and preventing the sun from getting into large parts of the compound (it'd be almost 60 meters tall), causing severe morale issues among non-combatants.

Wall option:
[] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit
[] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit
[] "paranoid" wall - 306M, 30.6M/year maintenance, major morale hit

['Morale' affects the likelyhood of our combat and support personnel deciding to retire and go elsewhere]
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:44 pm Wall option:
[X] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit
[x] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit
[] "paranoid" wall - 306M, 30.6M/year maintenance, major morale hit
I'd prefer no wall, can live with a modest wall.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

[X] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit

We'd be much better off creating some revetments and bunkers that would allow us fortified positions against a ground assault.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:44 pm Wall option:
[] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit
[x] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit
[] "paranoid" wall - 306M, 30.6M/year maintenance, major morale hit
[x] make Space Mexico pay for it.
You know what also hurts morale among staff? When a stray gauss rifle slug kills 15 people in HR and IT.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:03 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:44 pm Wall option:
[] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit
[x] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit
[] "paranoid" wall - 306M, 30.6M/year maintenance, major morale hit
[x] make Space Mexico pay for it.
You know what also hurts morale among staff? When a stray gauss rifle slug kills 15 people in HR and IT.
You must have better HR than most... ("there goes HR... <morale buff>…")

But I agree with reasonable wall. Thought we were locating ourselves some place where Space Mexico is not a factor?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

[x] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit

I appreciate the importance of maintaining morale, especially in a mercenary unit where we need to keep our people happy. But we're also a military organization and a walled base isn't unreasonable. It will probably come in handy as we make more enemies in our field of work. Make sure you put in a nice water park though to make up for the diminished view!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Drazzil »

El Guapo wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:03 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:44 pm Wall option:
[] Skip the wall - free, no morale hit
[x] "reasonable" wall - 102M, 10.2M/year maintenance, mild morale hit
[] "paranoid" wall - 306M, 30.6M/year maintenance, major morale hit
[x] make Space Mexico pay for it.
You know what also hurts morale among staff? When a stray gauss rifle slug kills 15 people in HR and IT.
I'm with Guapo.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
no wall - 4
reasonable wall - 8
We decide on a wall that doesn't obscure the sun, although there's some support for not building a wall at all - at the end, most of us feel that protecting the compound from at least stray fire is worthwhile. Plus, once we get settled in and get a feel for the place, we can let people live outside the compound.


April 11, 3044
Orbital Descent
Unzmarkt, Free Worlds League

The militia calls us up and asks us to deploy a flight of aerospace fighters to help escort a corporate dropship coming down. We bring in Alpha-Strike (with a Lightning to replace the wrecked Chippewa), and, because we're so nice, have Delta-Intercept on standby.

As soon as the Fury-class dropship hits atmosphere, our sensors light up with at least two squadrons of fighters that don't respond to IFF pings and demand the dropship "heave to and follow the designated course". Mostly lights, but there are a pair of standard-model Chippewas (no pulse lasers) in the mix, plus a Thunderbird. The militia have scrambled a Slayer to help us out, and, given the strength of the incoming hostiles, we call in Delta-Intercept as well.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"... so I still don't get it, why don't they just use a cargo dropship? A Fury can only carry five hundred tons of cargo, just doesn't seem very efficient." Alpha-Two (in the Lucifer) muses.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"I don't know, would you want to bring a cargo dropship into this system? It's a goddamn free-fire zone out here!" Alpha-Three (the former Chippewa pilot, now flying the Lightning) responds.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Sure, but then maybe run more than one dropship at a time, like an actual convoy." Alpha-Two points out.

Delta-Intercept can really pour on the thrust when they need to, so they're here before the shooting even starts.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"If you guys could cut the chatter and focus...?" the militia guy in the Slayer finally loses his patience as we close to weapons range.

Delta-Interceptor gets into a furball with a mass of hostile light fighters. Our Seydlitz, Delta-Two, gets in behind a Cheetah, plastering its tail with laser fire. The light fighter peels off from the engagement, trailing black smoke. And by "peels off", I mean slams into the ground, exploding in a brilliant fireball. Our other fighters score hits while avoiding most incoming enemy fire, and the cargo dropship discussion trails off as everyone does actually concentrate.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
A couple of extra hostiles join the party by flying in from the north.

Delta-Intercept's Sparrowhawk reports taking an engine hit from one of the hostile heavies. With the aircraft vibrating back and forth, the aero jock makes the decision to bug out. Several enemy lights lose control and elevation as we open up.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
It's still pretty chaotic in there. The militia Slayer and our Lightning move in on a Chippewa, blasting away at it. Autocannon rounds rip chunks out of its aft armor and cause major systems damage, the 90-ton fighter slowly angling towards the ground. Then, the militia Slayer gets blown out of the sky by a little dinky Cheetah that sneaks up on him.

Our Lucifer finishes off a Thrush as it struggles to regain altitude, but the loss of the Slayer hurts quite a bit for firepower.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Lucifer gets behind a Sabre as it makes a pass on the dropship. The Lucifer's aero jock makes an exceptionally accurate shot with all of its forward weapons, breaching the Sabre's armor at just the right spot to light up the fuel tank.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Sparrowhawk manages to clear out, but our Sholagar in trouble. Our heavies move to support it, causing a Chippewa and a Thunderbird to lose altitude in an effort to avoid our fire. This gives our Sholagar pilot the chance to regain control of his aircraft.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
It's still complete chaos in here. One of Delta-Intercept's fighters takes a cockpit hit and spins out of the furball, heading for the ground (which it hits, although the aero jock manages to eject... kind of). Three more hostile fighters peel off from the engagement, but their heavies manage to stabilize.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Lucifer and Lightning "swarm" the Chippewa that's not trying to fly away while trailing bits and black smoke, taking it apart in mid-air. Our Shilone keeps a loose Cheetah off our guys, resulting in minimal damage.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
The air suddenly clears up, a hostile Sparrowhawk and a Thrush spiraling down to the ground as our Shilone and Lucifer take them down. Our Sholagar loops around to the Thunderbird, giving it a couple of lasers to the engine. It wobbles but manages to maintain altitude - barely. After taking a few rounds from the Lightning's autocannon, the enemy Corsair bugs out, followed by the remaining squadron of light fighters.

"Right. Alpha-One here, get salvage and search and rescue in here. I'm a little woozy from that cockpit shot so I'm gonna head back to base and take a nap." The flight leader announces. "You armchair economists are welcome to finish off the escort then return to base."

"Yes ma'am." Alpha-Three replies. "So anyway, that Fury probably had the infantry and tank bays converted to cargo. It's not that hard to do, and you'd probably be able to cram a couple megatons of cargo in there at that point. Not everyone has a Fortress lying around."

"Right?" Alpha-Two agrees. "Anyway, glad that party-pooper militia guy got shot down, at least we don't have to put up with him trying to tell us what to talk about."

"Uh... my comm unit's still on, guys." comes a miffed transmission from groundside.

Losing the Sholagar is annoying, and our aero jock is out for a couple of days with multiple cuts, bruises and a leg sprain. But the military hardware market on planet is fairly healthy, and we can secure a replacement light fighter. Our options are a Sparrowhawk, which packs 7.5 tons of armor for protection and brings four lasers to the party (two medium, two small), and a Sabre, which has half the armor and only three medium lasers, but is a little bit faster. It makes Delta-Intercept uncomfortably homogenous (with two Sparrowhawks), but it's really no contest (the other light fighter on the market is a Thrush, which has tissue paper for armor).

We salvage five wrecks, which are all completely unflyable, but the parts we're able to extract will sell for about 3.2M, about a third of that from the Chippewa we downed. That'll cover the replacement costs for our fighter. And, uh, the militia's Slayer, although it's not our problem really.

The militia command liaison "suggests" that we help them track down the source of the fighters that attacked this dropship. The forces we've allocated to the militia undertake this operation, although with minimal success for the time being. The only unusual incident happens while Beta-Assault is running a patrol and get accosted by a pair of mechs (a Hunchback and a Flashman) leading quite a large number of heavy tanks. The mechwarrior in the Flashman challenges one of our mechs to a duel.

The Flashman is a 75-ton ground-bound "disco-bot" (meaning all lasers all the time, except for an inexplicable head-mounted flamer), boasting average speed and average armor. Beta-Assault's options are:

Zenn7 / Zarathud in Awesome (will flip a coin which): As long as the Flashman is kept at a distance, it has no chance.
LordMortis in Victor: The Victor has a bit less forward firepower, but is much more maneuverable than the Flashman due to jump jets.
Moley in Thunderbolt: Has a 10-ton weight disadvantage, but a maneuverability advantage (it's the jump-capable Thunderbolt variant)

Who takes the duel:
[] Awesome
[] Victor
[] Thunderbolt
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Lets send one of the Awesome's in.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

Zenn7 wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 6:06 pm Lets send one of the Awesome's in.
This. End it before he can even get a shot off.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Everything is Awesome! (yeah send it in)
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:56 pm Who takes the duel:
[] Awesome
[] Victor
[X] Thunderbolt
Awesomes are boring and Thunderbolts are cool.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zarathud »

You are incorrect, mister. This job needs a little bit of Awesome.

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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 7:23 pm Everything is Awesome! (yeah send it in)
Awesomes are awesome!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

The name is a bit pretentious but Awesome is what Awesome does.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

$iljanus wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2020 4:14 pm The name is a bit pretentious but Awesome is what Awesome does.
If by pretentious you mean accurate, then sure.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Drazzil »

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

Post by Leraje »

Came across this thread by chance while looking up a solution for an issue I ran into with MekHQ subcontracts. While it did not provide the answer I was looking for, it did provide me with now with a week worth of binge-reading enjoyable to the point that I had to resister and express my thanks for the entertainment provided.

So, thank you all for fun times! :)

P.S. Would love to join in if you have room.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Welcome. NickAragua seems to have some decent coding chops, so he might be able to assist with his knowledge.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

And some excellent storyteller skills as well, which you've probably noticed. :)

Welcome to our little internet backwater!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Thunderbolt - 1
Victor - 1
Awesome - Many

1d6 - high = zenn7, low = zarathud - 5, zenn7 takes it
April 12, 3044
Beta-Assault Patrol Zone
Unzmarkt, Free Worlds League

Zenn7's Awesome AWS-8Q is a venerable mech that's been through quite a lot. Much like most Awesomes throught the inner sphere. There's probably not a single original part left in it, except maybe some of the central support struts - it was a war machine long before Zenn7 was born, and will likely remain one long after he moves on, one way or another.

It's not too surprising - it's very difficult to take an Awesome out of circulation permanently. Most other mechs have ammo bins which, when they blow, turn the mech into irrecoverable scrap metal. But the Awesome is just all PPCs. So you have to seriously lay into the center torso section and either "manually" wreck it or get the engine to blow. Which is a process made more complicated when the Awesome is filling you with PPC shots (or delivering an 80-ton boot if you get too close).

As such, Zenn7 isn't too concerned about the Flashman making its approach. It's not a bad mech, and it might become a pain if it gets in the back of our mech, but, realistically, unless it gets the drop on an Awesome, a Flashman has no chance.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 cracks his neck and throttles up. The neurohelmet isn't the classic bucket head, but having it on for several hours is still taxing. No matter what kind of high-tech padding and heat dissipation mechanisms you put in there, your head gets sweaty and itchy (and you can't take it off because then the mech falls over). At least it weighs just like a normal helmet, so you're not going to get permanent neck damage from wearing it too much (unlike the classic bucket head).

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The guy in the Flashman is being pretty clever, trying to negate the Awesome's range advantage by keeping a hill between the two mechs.

Round 3-6:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 watches the sensor dot on the other side of the hill get closer. It's still about twice outside maximum effective weapons range. Over the twenty plus years of owning the mech, our mechwarrior has made some customizations to the targeting software which take advantage of his ... extensive familiarity with the inner workings of particle projection cannons.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
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A little over half a minute later, our Awesome walks over the top of the hill, only to be confronted with the guy in the Flashman milling around in front of some rubble.

"Find anything interesting down there?" Our mechwarrior calls out over the general frequency.

"One second, think I lost my wallet." comes a somewhat amused reply.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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560... 550... 540... Zenn7 squeezes the triggers on the PPCs, sending the cockpit temperature up slightly as the Awesome's heat sinks go to work. A laser carves out a little armor over the 80-tonner's center torso, while all of the Awesome's PPCs strike true, melting armor off the right side of the Flashman. An actuator on the right arm visibly burns out as the 75-ton adversary falls over.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
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Zenn7 moves the Awesome next to a rock outcropping, which absorbs some of the incoming large laser fire while flaying more armor from the Flashman's torso and right leg. The Awesome's temperature would normally impede its targeting at this point, but Zenn7 has long ago learned to ignore the fuzzy reticle.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
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The Awesome's PPCs cause multiple armor breaches even as the Flashman finally manages to close to its optimal weapons range, opening up with all sets of lasers. Zenn7's use of cover negates a good chunk of the incoming laser fire while the enemy mechwarrior has had to scrabble across rubble while losing better than half a ton of armor with each hit.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
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"Ugh." the other mechwarrior sends over the open frequency. "I, uh, yield. No way I'm winning this fight. Let me walk off, and we'll be out of your hair." And truth be told, at this point, you can see the engine shielding and the gyro spinning around through the torso armor, while the Awesome is barely scratched.

Like all mechwarriors, Zenn7 is sympathetic to an honest surrender by a fellow mechwarrior. And, even, in some cases, by treadheads trying to play at being warriors. "Hope you learned your lesson." he states as he watches the other mech walk off the field, trailing smoke and bits of loose armor. The Awesome's cockpit quickly goes back to its normal temperature - without having to work off all that PPC heat, the cooling systems on the 80-ton mech are actually incredibly efficient.

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Delta-Intercept's replacement aircraft arrives within a couple of days (although the aero jock is out for a couple of weeks, so we sub in a slightly heavier Lightning). Repairs on the rest of the aircraft proceed apace and they're ready to resume operations by the end of the week.

We are unable to locate the base of operations for the guys who attacked the Fury-class dropship last week, and at this point the trail has gone pretty cold. We're also not sure what the deal was with those Flashman-led tanks - they kind of bugged out in a hurry and we lost sensor contact. We'll have to keep an eye out. The militia get a little more aggressive about wanting us to find where those aerospace fighters came from, but we just don't have the forces to commit to a search without leaving our current obligations uncovered.

The rest of the month passes without further incident. Near the end of the month, another jumpship arrives at the nadir jump point, transmitting HPG messages, unloading dropships and recharging while craft from the surface burn out. We get some bad news - our jumpship has been delayed several weeks in arriving here due to a faulty K-F drive coil. Apparently it's different from a K-F drive initiator (in the words of the just-arrived jumpship captain, "it's the thingie that goes around the core and makes the sparklies fly so the ship can go zhoop zhoop"), and the repairs aren't nearly as time consuming or expensive (though pretty expensive at 57M C-Bills).

El Guapo looks with amusement at the space-bay listings transmitted from the incoming jumpship. Nothing unusual, except for a Shilone SL-17R medium aerospace fighter. We've got a Shilone SL-17, it's a decent fighter. Not too durable, but it does ok. The 17R appears to have double heat sinks, though, which is pretty cool (har har). The only issue is why? The standard 17 model never overheats anyway (barring engine damage), it just doesn't have the guns. We could probably buy it just to strip out the heat sinks and put them on one of our fighters that does overheat. We'd be getting ten aero double heat sinks for 3M C-bills, which isn't exactly a steal, but it's not like we have a ready source of those. We can't use them in mechs, but there are very few aero jocks that would complain about being able to upgrade their fighter like that.

[] Buy the expensive but otherwise difficult-to-acquire double aero heat sinks, 3M
[] Pass

Another of our mechwarriors has finally earned their callsign. Leraje, welcome aboard! Feel free to pick one of two:
[] Cpl. Nicolas Dvorak, 2/3, Gamma-Probe (basically medium recon) lance. Drives a slightly modified Vulcan VL-5T.
[] Lt. JG Demesu Jafar, 3/3, Beta-Hunter (heavy) lance. Drives a Guillotine GLT-4L.

Additionally, Pvts Karla "Wolf" Mellum and Tyra "Siljanus" Drusse have been promoted to Corporal, with the corresponding pay bumps.

Moley and LordMortis have been watching Zenn7 and Zarathud in their sauna mechs (and Moley's Thunderbolt being none-too-cool itself) and have come up with the idea of dragging along, where practical, a 135-K coolant truck that we recently acquired. Basically, it's got twin "flamers" that can be loaded up with coolant fluid and sprayed directly at mechs to cool them off. Of course, the risk is that it's an easy target and will get splattered the second an enemy mech catches sight of it - but, on the other hand, having cooler mechs could be pretty helpful. It's not a major investment in terms of money, but it's pretty tough finding people willing to drive a dinky little truck with assault mechs stomping around.

[] See if we can experimentally incorporate a coolant truck into one of our lances
[] Pass

One of the dropships that's burning in from the incoming jumpship is a pretty unusual sight. It's a freaking Overlord! Neither the planetary militia nor Larry seem too happy about the fact that its trajectory is taking it directly to orbit over Unzmarkt. An Overlord is basically the holy grail of mech-carrying dropships, so we're about to have some serious trouble unloaded on us unless we can put a stop to it.
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