Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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NickAragua
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:31 pm Stock Cyclops is pretty meh, so fix it up and stick in mothballs till it can be improved. How easily can we source an XL engine for it?
Not easily, but we can do it. We'd need some serious factory time to put it in, though, and the AC/20 would no longer fit, so we'd probably need to swap it out for a gauss rifle (basically a CP-11-A refit). At that point, we could max out the armor and still have seven and a half tons left over - which we could use for a bunch of stuff - command console, up the LRM from 10 to 15, up the SRM from 4 to 6, install a Beagle and/or some ECM.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:22 pm [] Assign the Cyclops to one of our lances (anyone with a ground-bound mech can feel free to claim it)
[x] Put it into storage for now until we can figure out how to make it into an actual assault mech

[] Alpha Command
[] Gamma Battle
[x] Keep it guarding the dropships
Stock Cyclops is pretty meh, so fix it up and stick in mothballs till it can be improved. How easily can we source an XL engine for it?
Agreed.

And on the tank, "a powerful tank with mobility issues" seems like a perfect fit for defending the dropship.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:22 pm [] Assign the Cyclops to one of our lances (anyone with a ground-bound mech can feel free to claim it)
[x] Put it into storage for now until we can figure out how to make it into an actual assault mech

[] Alpha Command
[] Gamma Battle
[x] Keep it guarding the dropships
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 5:13 pm
Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:22 pm [] Assign the Cyclops to one of our lances (anyone with a ground-bound mech can feel free to claim it)
[x] Put it into storage for now until we can figure out how to make it into an actual assault mech

[] Alpha Command
[] Gamma Battle
[x] Keep it guarding the dropships
Stock Cyclops is pretty meh, so fix it up and stick in mothballs till it can be improved. How easily can we source an XL engine for it?
Agreed.

And on the tank, "a powerful tank with mobility issues" seems like a perfect fit for defending the dropship.
Since there’s no need to rush the Cyclops into service might as well build an even better Cyclops!

And every tank has its place and the place for this tank is doing a good job guarding our dropships.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 5:13 pm
Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:22 pm [] Assign the Cyclops to one of our lances (anyone with a ground-bound mech can feel free to claim it)
[x] Put it into storage for now until we can figure out how to make it into an actual assault mech

[] Alpha Command
[] Gamma Battle
[x] Keep it guarding the dropships
Stock Cyclops is pretty meh, so fix it up and stick in mothballs till it can be improved. How easily can we source an XL engine for it?
Agreed.

And on the tank, "a powerful tank with mobility issues" seems like a perfect fit for defending the dropship.
It's a mobile turret! Reminds me of an Atlas... :)

But yeah, these are good calls.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 7:56 pm It's a mobile turret! Reminds me of an Atlas... :)
Hey, Atlas is a spry little mech, you want a turret - try an Annihilator - it's has Urbie speed.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:34 pm
Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 7:56 pm It's a mobile turret! Reminds me of an Atlas... :)
Hey, Atlas is a spry little mech, you want a turret - try an Annihilator - it's has Urbie speed.
Thankfully, we haven't come up against the Wolf's Dragoons. We can't penetrate that kind of plot armor.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 5:13 pm
Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:22 pm [] Assign the Cyclops to one of our lances (anyone with a ground-bound mech can feel free to claim it)
[x] Put it into storage for now until we can figure out how to make it into an actual assault mech

[] Alpha Command
[] Gamma Battle
[x] Keep it guarding the dropships
Stock Cyclops is pretty meh, so fix it up and stick in mothballs till it can be improved. How easily can we source an XL engine for it?
Agreed.

And on the tank, "a powerful tank with mobility issues" seems like a perfect fit for defending the dropship.
Concur.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:39 pm
Leraje wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:34 pm
Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 7:56 pm It's a mobile turret! Reminds me of an Atlas... :)
Hey, Atlas is a spry little mech, you want a turret - try an Annihilator - it's has Urbie speed.
Thankfully, we haven't come up against the Wolf's Dragoons. We can't penetrate that kind of plot armor.
Hehe... "if you are tied to Clan Wolf roll 6d6 and pick 2 best as a result"
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Mothball the mech for now - almost unanimous
Keep the tank guarding the dropship - unanimous
Over the next couple of weeks, the Cyclops gets repaired - the techs reattach the leg, replace the AC/20, bolt armor back on, then box it up and wheel it into the Jumbo. The tank maintains patrol outside.

The memorial service for the killed infantry is somber and kind of awkward. We never really experience casualty rates like this, so everyone is still in shock, even the folks that didn't really interact with the gauss rifle guys. Needless to say, El Guapo looks heartbroken.

Over the next three weeks, we get some downtime, as things have quieted down. For us, at least. Civil unrest in a nearby major population center has reached a boiling point, resulting in a running fight through a city between two lances of light mechs and "vigilante"-operated civilian equipment, causing major damage to the buildings and multiple casualties.

By the end of the year, our excavation crew makes good progress on Site Green. The report on what they've recovered is pretty disappointing, though - there are no intact units, and it's basically a bunch of spare parts - and not very rare ones at that. A 1-ton gyro is probably the most expensive thing we've found so far. We load up a convoy with what we've recovered and get ready to move out.

December 31, 3045
Site Green Transfer Area

Beta Company is in charge of defending the transfer - Beta-Hunter is conducting the initial part of the escort, with Beta-Fire lance taking over mid-route while Beta-Assault defends the last leg of the trip. Our loading zone comes under attack by an assault mech lance, backed up by a medium mech lance and an assortment of tanks. Beta-Hunter calls Beta-Fire in for backup, but we'll have to hold down the fort until they get here.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Hunter is badly out of position - the staging area is under attack, while we're probably a minute to the southeast, being screened by a couple of light tanks, which we'll ignore for the most part. Our Zephyr, which discovered the assault lance, gets disabled right away by laser fire from a Griffin 1S and SRMs from a Stalker, which means, if we want to recover it, we'll have to rout them long enough to get the engine fixed. The crew power down and abandon the vehicle for now, although the powering down part has already been done for them for the most part.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Wolf disables one of the screening units, a hopelessly outclassed Vedette which can't get a good bead on our Orion with its lone autocannon. Lasers and SRMs blast treads off both sides of the tank, immobilizing it.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Wolf's aim is thrown off a little as a salvo of LRMs dings our Orion in the head, but Hyena steps up and melts the drive fans on the offending Saracen with a shot from the Grasshopper's PPC.

"That's the screening force gone, now we need to haul ass.", Leraje states.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"Don't. Move. A. Muscle." is the sage advice from the tank commander. Reasonable when you're immobile and surrounded by four mechs whose mechwarriors have itchy trigger fingers.

One of the convoy units reports being disabled by a Javelin.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Fire arrives from the north-east, bringing some relief to the convoy - the Marauder (the Marik prototype with binary lasers) "sneaks up" on an SRM Carrier and blows it to bits with a laser shot and SRM salvo, while our Trebuchet disables a pursuing Drillson hovertank, although not before it gets an SRM salvo off on a cargo mech, blowing off an arm.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Another of the convoy units gets blown to bits by an enemy Hunchback. Beta-Fire's Trebuchet fires LRMs at long range at the enemy mech, a good cluster of hits disabling the menacing autocannon and cracking a hip actuator, knocking the enemy mech to the ground.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Fire's Vindicator blows away a Galleon tank pursuing the rest of the escaping convoy elements, which look to be in the clear for the most part, except for a couple of VTOLs buzzing around and the Javelin. Beta-Fire's Crusader finally destroys the Galleon it's been dancing with for the last half a minute, moving on to other targets.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Notice the little "b" next to the Battlemaster's name plate. That's not just an "alternate design", re-arranging weapons for a little more efficiency or something like that. That is a Star League royal mech. The "b" packs a pair of extended-range PPCs and a large pulse laser, has endo-steel structure, double heat sinks, the works.

Hopefully taking out its support units will be enough to get it to withdraw, otherwise we're in for a tough fight.

Leraje avoids some LRMs coming from the east, the sources being a Stalker and a Longbow. We'll keep our distance and attempt to engage the softer targets.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Wolf fires some LRMs to get the Battlemaster's attention. They neither hit nor attract attention, but it was worth a shot.

The Javelin goes after one of the last convoy units in the area (there's another cargo mech sneaking around the south, so he should be pretty safe). Our Marauder blasts the light mech with two blazer shots, overtaxing our machine's heat sinks but knocking the enemy mech to the ground, where it crushes its left arm.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Fire is going to have some trouble with the big guy unless Beta-Hunter can spring themselves loose and get over there. Wolf switches targets for a moments, pounding the damaged Hunchback with autocannon and LRM fire, while Hyena covers Beta-Hunter's rear by engaging the Griffin 1S.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
"Oh, right. Shit." Wolf comments as the Battlemaster finally stops taking long-range shots at Beta-Fire and turns its attention towards our Orion. The Battlemaster is a little surprised initially, and only scores a single laser hit, while our Orion delivers a laser and SRM salvo, the autocannon burst going wide. "Hope you guys are backing me up, otherwise this is going to be a short fight." Wolf comments over Beta-Hunter's frequency.

Beta-Fire's Marauder blasts the Javelin up close with a solid salvo from the SRM launchers, knocking its left missile rack out and a bunch of other components besides. The light mech has had enough and pulls out.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
"You know how sometimes you get really focused on the giant 85-ton Star League assault mech that's blasting away at you with PPCs and Weisman knows what else? I got behind a little hill, dodged the PPC and large laser, the green lasers go wide too, then next thing I know, I'm flying through the air with my mech split in half." Wolf tells the story some time later.

"What happened?" asks an incredulous Hyena. "I was busy with that Griffin, I didn't see."

"Little piece of shit Vedette dinged me with a pair of SRMs and blew my ammo bin!"

"You gotta be kidding me."

"Nope." Gbasden says. "I've had it happen to me. Jumping around in my Thunderbolt, and suddenly I'm looking through a hole in a plasterboard wall in some poor guy's apartment building. Little autocannon round got right through the center torso armor, blew the whole thing to bits."

Isgrimnur nods. "Yep. I was there. Had to pick him up, too."

"At least we got a big enough piece of that Hunchback that it decided to retreat." Wolf comments with a head shake.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
Leraje moves up, taking Wolf's place and engaging the Battlemaster, the two mechs exchanging a solid volume of fire. Our Guillotine takes two hits from the assault mech's extended-range PPCs, but applies enough lasers that the armor loss unbalances the other guy and he's forced to take a knee to avoid falling over entirely.

Beta-Fire's Trebuchet takes out one of the two remaining Vedettes in the area.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
Beta-Fire's Crusader blows up the Vedette that got Wolf('s Orion), while Hyena continues engaging the Griffin. Our Grasshopper inflicts heavy damage, blowing out a leg actuator and a torso-mounted heat sink. Additionally, Hyena's presence there holds Beta-Hunter's rear flank against the assault lance to the east, which stays at long range and engages with LRMs and PPCs, but is unable to inflict much damage. The rest of our mechs concentrate fire on the Battlemaster, bringing it down to the ground again.

As the enemy mechwarrior struggles up, we receive chatter on the general frequency requesting a cease fire. It's not a bad idea, we've got a disabled tank and a bunch of our tech crew that we need to bail out, not to mention Wolf needs a pickup (Siljanus is on it). Plus, if we keep fighting, we're a little beat up and there's a fresh assault lance over to the east of us. But that Battlemaster "b" really is a nice mech...

[] Fine, cease fire it is.
[] That's a nice mech you've got there, and you just blew up one of ours...
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:08 pm [] Fine, cease fire it is.
[x] That's a nice mech you've got there, and you just blew up one of ours...
Do we have any standby flights that we could scramble for extra firepower?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:13 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:08 pm [] Fine, cease fire it is.
[x] That's a nice mech you've got there, and you just blew up one of ours...
Do we have any standby flights that we could scramble for extra firepower?
Unless we've got reinforcements to help like that ready flight, or you really think we got a lot better shot than you're making it sound like, I'd say we better quit the battle while we have a choice in the matter.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:44 pm
Leraje wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:13 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:08 pm [] Fine, cease fire it is.
[x] That's a nice mech you've got there, and you just blew up one of ours...
Do we have any standby flights that we could scramble for extra firepower?
Unless we've got reinforcements to help like that ready flight, or you really think we got a lot better shot than you're making it sound like, I'd say we better quit the battle while we have a choice in the matter.
I agree. As nice as that BM is, we don't seem to be in a good tactical situation.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Leraje wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:13 pm Do we have any standby flights that we could scramble for extra firepower?
Nothing close enough to make a difference, unfortunately.

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
cease fire - almost unanimous
Leraje grits his teeth, then accepts the cease fire. Siljanus scoops Wolf up and then we begin recovery operations.

The transfer point we've set up near our dropships gets hit with another attack as well. It's being guarded by Beta-Assault. In addition to the usual assortment of light and hovertanks, there's a heavy tank lance and a medium mech lance, plus a pair of aerospace blips coming in. The good news is that those aerospace blips appear to have violated the planetary militia's airspace, and the militia guys have scrambled a pair of Thunderbirds to intercept and lay the 100-ton smack down.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
From right to left: Zenn7, Zarathud, Coolant Truck Buddy, LordMortis (MK II), Moley.

The approaching force includes an "interesting" Vindicator variant. Normally, the Vindicator is a slow, brick-like 45-ton mech. The "Avenging Angel" variant upgrades the engine and jump jet capability at the price of taking off a significant amount of armor. So maybe taking point in it isn't the wisest idea - it takes three PPC shots from our Awesomes and a large laser from Moley, losing all armor on its left leg and cutting into the structure. A testament to the mechwarrior's skill, the mech remains upright.

Zenn7 briefly glances at the status indicator for our transfer station, noting that one of our defensive turrets has been taken out.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
That Behemoth to the west is probably our biggest problem, as the Vindicator pulls back. That, and the Griffin, which is picking off our defensive turrets one by one. Zenn7 begins dealing with the Behemoth, putting a pair of PPC shots into it, although the 100-ton tank's armor shrugs it off.

Zarathud takes a second to leg an approaching Wasp, not wanting to deal with a bug mech picking at the back of our assault lance later.

Moley and LordMortis focus fire on an LRM-equipped Bulldog in the back of the enemy formation, scoring LRM and gauss rifle hits respectively, which causes some tread damage but the tank is still functional. Return fire is not very effective, with just a few LRMs flying in at us.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The hostiles continue hanging back, lobbing LRMs our way. Zenn7 continues blasting away at the Behemoth, gouging out good chunks of armor and causing the turret to lock up temporarily with electrical interference. Otherwise, it's armor damage all around.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Gotta keep clear of that SRM Carrier. It won't be a problem in the future though, as Moley takes it apart with a blast from the Thunderbolt's large laser and an LRM salvo. Our mech takes a PPC from a distant Panther, but armor holds.

The fire LordMortis started previously blocks line of sight from Zenn7 to the Behemoth, so our mechwarrior switches targets to the Bulldog that LordMortis and Moley worked on previously, breaching the heavy tank's armor with a seris of PPC blasts.

Zarathud and the Behemoth exchange fire, neither inflicting major damage.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Here they come.

Zenn7 removes a major source of LRMs, blowing through an LRM Carrier in the back of the enemy formation with a pair of PPC shots.

LordMortis sees the Wasp that Zarathud legged get up and open fire on Zenn7 and decides to put the bug mech out of its misery, coring it out with a shot from the gauss rifle.

Zarathud takes down one of the approaching Scimitar hovertanks, blasting through the skirt with a PPC to let all the air out.

Moley, meanwhile, jumps in to engage the Behemoth at close range, strategically blasting away damaged tread sections to immobilize the assault tank. Not even one actual armor breach, but the tank can't move, so it's basically out of the fight, which is a load off our back.

Return fire is scattered LRMs with little effect, thankfully.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Two things - looks like a Hetzer got into the transfer point and is blowing away the buildings and defensive turrets - we need to deal with that. LordMortis is on the job, blowing away a Scorpion tank with a long range gauss shot on his way to take care of it.

Second, the hostile aerospace fighters have arrived. "Watch your rear arcs!" Zenn7 calls out, putting a PPC through a Scorpion's armor, satisified as the light tank puts it in reverse and rolls away.

Zarathud tries, and blows away a Scimitar hovertank that tries to get by - a shot from the small laser slows it down enough that the PPCs are able to finish the job. The annoying little Ostscout zips around the back of our Awesome, tossing a laser and a couple of punches into the thankfully thick enough rear armor.

The fast Vindicator eats a gyro shot through the back, courtesy of a laser from Moley's Thunderbolt. Then one of the militia Thunderbirds gets shot at and returns fire, blowing the poor Vindicator's arms and legs off. Moley reports a center torso armor breach as one of the hostile fighters, a Shilone, drops a load of HE bombs on the Thunderbolt.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The last of our defensive turrets explodes. Maybe we should stop using second hand MG turrets with four tons of ammo apiece for some reason.

Zarathud has had enough of the Ostscout's bullshit, and, as it jumps away to pick at Moley (successfully removing the Thunderbolt's right arm), the 35 ton mech's center torso disappears under a PPC onslaught, leaving a giant hole where the engine used to be.

Zenn7 exchanges PPC fire with an approaching Panther as it moves to back up its Griffin buddy. Our Awesome loses some armor - the Panther loses its right arm and a good chunk of the right torso. Zenn7's Griffin dance partner identifies the coolant truck as it continues to keep our Awesome cool and kicks it over.

The Hetzer in our transfer point is disabled by an allied Thunderbird, thanks buddy!

However, our transfer point is a mess and hardly usable. Given that and their losses, the remaining hostile units beat a rapid retreat.

The loss of equipment at the transfer station will greatly slow down the rate at which we can work on Site Green, reducing how fast we can funnel equipment back and forth between our dropships and the Star League bunker. Combined with the fact that there's almost no advanced tech there that we've found so far (compared to the losses we've taken defending it), we're seriously considering cutting our losses.

[] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty

Wolf will need a temporary replacement mech. A few choices:

[] Cyclops (unaltered)
[] Warhammer WHM-6D (good heat management, excellent armor, reduced firepower from base design)
[] Marauder MAD-3R(O) (as standard Marauder, except ammo has been moved to less vulnerable location)
[] Something lighter (we've also got a Catapults, a Katapult, ground-bound Thunderbolts 5S and 5SS)

It looks like the Overlord-owning guys are done digging at Site Blue. We observe them packing it in and lifting off - the Overlord, escorted by an Achilles-class dropship. The Achilles is a "dropship interceptor", packing an ungodly amount of firepower into a 4500 ton aerodyne chassis (without going into an exhaustive list, it basically has two or three of everything) - originally manufactured in the Draconis Combine, it's basically as close to a WarShip as we get in the Inner Sphere, sacrificing carrying capacity for a massive weapons loadout. It still has room for four aerospace fighters (or boarding craft) though. Whoever these guys are working for, they're not screwing around. Any interception attempt will run into the Achilles and multiple flights of heavy fighters, but it's also our last chance to get at whatever was at Site Blue.

[] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[] We never really had a chance here, forget it
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [X] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[X] We never really had a chance here, forget it
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [x] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty

[] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[x] We never really had a chance here, forget it
We need a gunship of our own
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

AWS260 wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:00 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [X] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[X] We never really had a chance here, forget it
Yeah, this seems right. What would our chance be of winning if we attacked? Sounds like maybe 10% - 20%, if that?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:31 pm Yeah, this seems right. What would our chance be of winning if we attacked? Sounds like maybe 10% - 20%, if that?
Let's just say I'm not confident of my ability to deal with that dropship *and* its escort fighters.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

I'm not sure about site green. It seems to be a bust but I have a case of FOMO if we abandon the site so I'm undecided for the moment.

But I'm more certain about not tangling with that dropship.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

$iljanus wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 5:57 pm I'm not sure about site green. It seems to be a bust but I have a case of FOMO if we abandon the site so I'm undecided for the moment.
If there were a better place to put those crews to use, I would be all for it, but it seems like the choice is Site Green or Sit On Our Butts.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:09 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [x] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty

[] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[x] We never really had a chance here, forget it
We need a gunship of our own
This - can we find a gunship? Or maybe we can get a flight or 2 of aerospace superheavy assault fighters loaded up for attacking dropships or something?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Let em go but lets find out how much a GunDrop is
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [x] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty

[] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[x] We never really had a chance here, forget it
We need a gunship of our own
I'll go with this as my final answer and agree that we really need to save up for a gunship. Time to cancel bagel Tuesdays to save our C bills!

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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:18 am
Leraje wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:19 pm [x] Keep digging at Site Green
[] Call it a day, pack it up and pull back to our dropships and garrison duty

[] Hit them with every aerospace fighter we've got
[x] We never really had a chance here, forget it
We need a gunship of our own
I'll go with this as my final answer and agree that we really need to save up for a gunship. Time to cancel bagel Tuesdays to save our C bills!
I'm pretty sure that the technical term for those ships is "space war blimps".
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep digging at Site Green - almost unanimous
Let the dropship go - unanimous
Our aerospace flight leaders look at the sensor contact info, look at each other and all four of them simultaneously shake their heads. Scrub smirks. "Yeah, I didn't think so, either."

We decide to keep excavating and opening things up at Site Green, you never know.

Wolf climbs into the Warhammer for the time being. It's no Orion, but the 6D is a solid mech. Scrub approves: "I used to drive one of these."

Of the units we salvaged in our battles of Site Green, some of the more interesting are a Drillson hovertank and a Behemoth. The Drillson is a fast-moving hovertank that packs a large laser. This variant has a... large number of SRM tubes, some on the front, some in the turret, along with a couple of front-mounted MGs for anti-infantry work. For a hovercraft, it's slow, but it makes up for it with... well, firepower. You know what, maybe we won't be considering using it as a support vehicle, there are better options out there.

The Behemoth is best described as a heavily armored grounded blimp. Its main armament is a pair of AC/10s, but it also brings a large number of SRM and LRM tubes to the party, and is covered almost all around by MGs. It's incredibly slow, though, being unable to keep up even with an Awesome, so it'll slow down any lance it deploys with to an unacceptable degree. So ok, maybe we didn't really recover anything all that interesting.

Good news though, Larry offers to buy all that stuff off of us for north of a million C-Bills. Plus a cool 2 million for the "Avenging Angel" Vindicator (after we give it a little tech time, re-attaching all the disconnected arms and legs).

There's a considerable amount of discussion regarding our desire for a gunship of our own. When we get out of this hole, we'll start looking around for something similar - Achilles are pretty rare, but an Intruder is not out of the question.

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

January 15, 3046
Garrison Patrol Zone 77A

Well, it's the new year. The latest data dump from an incoming jump ship brings news of factories re-opening across the Inner Sphere. Although, apparently, Brooks Inc. has ceased production of the Thumper artillery vehicle due to lack of sales. Our Long Tom operators refuse to speculate why. But, mercs around the Inner Sphere are abuzz with excitement as, apparently, the Capellans are starting to put out air-launched Arrow IV missiles, both homing and non-homing variant. If we can get ourselves some, we'll be able to finally put those TAG lasers to use for something other than pinging enemy units for LRMs.

More locally, things are pretty quiet, except for an encounter that Alpha Command has while out on patrol around one of the Unzmarkt Resource Ltd facilities on a nice, cold day. Not like "oh, this is refreshing", more like "there's fog coming out of my mouth when I breathe, and if I lick a metal pole, my tongue will get stuck".

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Ok, looks like a "light" probing force, three assault tanks, two heavies, two lights and a Rifleman.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Uh..." Stefan calls out over comms as LRMs and other long range weapons begin flying back and forth.

"Uh what?" El Guapo prompts.

"Uh, they've got an Atlas." Stefan answers, slightly panicked.

"Better hang back, we're on our way." Gbasden responds.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Isgrimnur goes evasive while Stefan plants the Catapult behind a rock, exchanging LRMs with the hostiles and recording their composition. Incoming fire is ineffective, as is our outgoing fire.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Gbasden and El Guapo make contact with the southwest elements of the hostile force. Gbasden takes a few LRMs from a Hetzer while avoiding the LRM Carrier's firing arc. To the northeast, Stefan and Isgrimnur continue dancing around, delaying any close engagement.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
At tempting as it is to close in and whack it with the hatchet, Isgrimnur chooses to avoid jumping in after the Phoenix Hawk. It's got a big 100-ton buddy a little too close.

El Guapo comes over a hill and blows away the LRM Carrier as it rattles Gbasden's Awesome, throwing our mechwarrior's aim off.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Well, if you insist on going behind this rock... " Isgrimnur thinks to himself as he moves the Hatchetman at a good run behind some cover. The two 45-tonners exchange close weapons fire, losing some armor, then Isgrimnur's hatchet crushes the hostile mech's left leg, bringing it to the ground.

El Guapo catches up the Hetzer that had overplayed its hand and crushes it, an explosion coming out from under the Marauder's foot.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
El Guapo and Gbasden team up on a Partisan tank lobbing LRMs at us - one of Gbasden's PPCs breaches the assault tank's armor then El Guapo's gauss slug finishes the job, cracking the tank in half. El Guapo takes a beating from the nearby Brutus, losing a good chunk of armor and having to take a knee - thankfully the damage was all spread out due to being from SRMs.

Isgrimnur moves rapidly southwest, with the Atlas in hot pursuit. Our mechwarrior manages to land a laser head shot, but is still eager to rejoin the larger mechs.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
A Harasser tries to get around the back of Gbasden, but Isgrimnur turns it into swiss cheese with the Hatchetman's shoulder-mounted autocannon, following up with a couple of laser blasts to the ammo bins, causing it to disappear entirely after a fireworks display.

The lucky little piece of crap manages to blow Gbasden's right arm off with a lucky SRM, but not before our mechwarrior blasts the approaching Atlas with three PPC shots, rocking it a little bit.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Rifleman steps out from behind a rock, firing at El Guapo - our mechwarrior returns the favor, breaching the enemy mech's right torso armor with a PPC and a laser blast, while the left leg eats a gauss slug that gets stuck inside a heat sink. The 60-tonner can't take the punishment and goes down.

To the east, Stefan uses the last of his Catapult's LRMs to immobilize a Zhukov heavy tank.

For whatever reason, the hostiles mount a fighting retreat. We give them a few parting shots, Gbasden disabling an SRM Carrier, while El Guapo legs the Rifleman. Isgrimnur racks up a kill on a Manticore but takes a hip shot from the Guillotine as it leaves. At that point, we let them go - when an Atlas wants to cede the field and your Awesome is missing its right arm, while your Hatchetman is limping, you let it go.

Salvage is a bunch of tanks and a legged Phoenix Hawk, which we'll be stripping for parts to fix Isgrimnur's mech. Most of the tanks aren't really worth considering, but the option is there for us to keep a few if we want:

A Manticore, a standard 60 ton "main battle tank", featuring a PPC as the main gun, backed up by an LRM/10 and an SRM/6 rack, as well as a medium laser. Capable of keeping up with a standard heavy mech, it's also got pretty good armor.

A Zhukov, a 75-ton "technical" with a pair of turret-mounted AC/10s (and an SRM 6 in the front as an afterthought), average speed and good armor. Only two tons of ammo for the autocannons means it'll run out of ammo pretty quickly in a sustained engagement, and then it's a 75 ton brick.

Neither has any special features that make them stand out.

[] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

The local "lightly used aerospace fighter" market meanwhile has a 100-ton Thunderbird, so any lance that wants some close air support will be able to have it.

[] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:53 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Thunderbird - Yes, please :)
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:53 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Thunderbird - Yes, please :)
I concur. Do we have a pressing need for additional armor units? If so, then I would keep the Manticore. Otherwise sell it off and save our C bucks for that fancy space blimp that El Guapo keeps going on about. Can we get sponsored advertising on the side of a space blimp?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:57 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Can we get sponsored advertising on the side of a space blimp?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Leraje wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:53 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Thunderbird - Yes, please :)
Always yes for Thunderbirds.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

gbasden wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:27 pm
Leraje wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:53 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Thunderbird - Yes, please :)
Always yes for Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds are go.
Black Lives Matter.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:59 pm
gbasden wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:27 pm
Leraje wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:53 pm [] Keep the Manticore
[] Keep the Zhukov
[x] Fix 'em up a little then sell for extra cash instead

[x] Buy the Thunderbird - 6M C-Bills
[] Pass
Thunderbird - Yes, please :)
Always yes for Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds are go.
:handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep the Manticore - 5
Sell the Manticore - 5
Thunderbird - unanimous
Everyone wants a Thunderbird, nobody wants a 75-ton technical with ammo issues. After some hemming and hawing, we decide to put the question about the Manticore in a different way. Who actually wants it in their lance?

January 22, 3046
URL Patrol Zone 78A

Gamma-Battle lance encounters a hostile force probing in that's not responding to IFF or standard comms. It's a bunch of hovertanks and light units, with a short medium mech lance. Looks like they're just here to do some sensor sweeps, but we don't really want them doing that, so we need to get them out of here, quickly.

Gamma-Probe is within sprinting distance and will show up within half a minute to help out.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
From top to bottom: Xwraith, Cylus, Angel. Not shown - Scrub.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Xwraith lights up a Harasser missile platform, the ER laser going wide, but a solid LRM salvo impacting the dodging hovercraft, breaching its armor and deflating its skirt, causing it to skid along the ground before stopping.

To the south, Scrub has trouble hitting a fast-moving "generic hover scout", but nails a Condor with a PPC, zapping it out of control and into a nearby light pole. She takes some autocannon in return, but it's just armor damge.

"Keep them blocked up, don't let them past." Scrub reminds everyone.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Xwraith gets a little bit surrounded by anklebiters, taking down another Condor with a pinpoint shot from the ER laser. Cylus engages a couple of Vedettes and a VTOL directly to the south, while Angel gets bogged down by infantry unloading from a Maxim hover transport.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-Probe arrives from the north, engaging several units up there right away.

A Cronus jumps on top of a building behind Cylus, hoping to get some shots on the Grasshopper's rear arc (and maybe a kick, it's a low structure), but between our mechwarrior and Xwraith coming in to help out, the building gets brought down and the Cronus with it. Xwraith also takes a few seconds to kick the engine block out of a Skulker scout tank trying to zip by. That Vedette with the locked turret is a tough little tank, absorbing a kick from Cylus with little to show for it other than minor tread damage.

Angel catches the hover scout that got away from Scrub and stomps it flat.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Gamma-Probe continues engaging the northern screen. Akalon cuts through a Vedette's armor with the Vulcan's lasers, briefly covering the street in black smoke as fluids spray out of the breached engine. AWS engages the second Vedette in the area, blowing it to bits with a direct laser hit on the ammo bins.

To the south, a Falcon hovertank zips around to engage Scrub's Warhammer, peppering it with SRMs, but is melted to slag by lasers from Angel's Flashman. Scrub herself is busy blasting armor off an Enforcer, which takes a significant amount of damage but remains standing, while Cylus continues engaging the Cronus as it gets up from the rubble. The 55-tonner and Cylus exchange fire, then our Grasshopper reaches into the rubble with a 70-ton boot and breaks the Cronus' left leg, effectively taking it out of the fight as it topples over.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
We pick up the pace a little - Cylus hops away from the downed Cronus and melts a Scorpion tank down to slag with laser fire, then crushes a Galleon tank driving by. Angel is briefly tripped up by a Vedette, a problem which is cleared up when the Flashman steps on the tank's left side, crushing the treads.

Scrub continues engaging the Enforcer and its annoying Drillson buddy. The Drillson's drive fans are evaporated by PPC fire from the Warhammer, leaving the Enforcer on its own.

To the north, Cujo uses the Wolverine's medium lasers and SRMs to turn a Saracen hovertank into swiss cheese as it closes in on the back of Drazzil's Cronus, then delivers a bone jarring kick to the Wasp LAM that just landed behind our mech, knocking it over. Try to fly out of that one!

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The Wasp LAM is unable to get up, its right leg giving out as it tries.

Scrub hoses down the infantry with the Warhammer's machine guns as they try in vain to get to her mech to plant charges.

To the north, AWS blasts through the back of a Hetzer, taking out its drive train.

Cylus moves northeast, stalking after a Maxim and a Saracen. They avoid our Grasshopper's weapons fire, but Akalon comes running around a corner, cutting through the back of the Maxim's hover skirt and disabling it.

With Xwraith crushing a Scorpion tank that's been pelting our Thunderbolt with SRMs, the pitiful remnants of the hostile recon force retreat, leaving behind their legged mechs - an Enforcer and a couple of hovertanks (plus a VTOL) are all that get away.

There's a lot of salvage, but it's all crappy hovertanks and legged mechs. Although we will be keeping the Cronus for spare parts.

----------

Let's figure out who wants support units in their lance (no votes means nobody wants it).

The Manticore can keep up with the following lances:
[] Alpha-Command
[] Beta-Hunter (in addition to the Zephyr, greedy bastards)
[] Gamma-Battle
[] Ad-Hoc (could probably use the extra firepower)

The Thunderbird can keep up with the following lances (although the recon lances may not appreciate having a hundred-ton aerospace fighter flying overhead and attracting attention). However, when we call up the individual who sold it to us to check the fighter's status, he's nowhere to be found. Neither is the money.

Normally, we'd try to track him down. However, by this point, we've reached a very important landmark.

Our Garrison/Cadre Duty contract with Unzmarkt Resources Limited is finally over as of February 7, 3046. We've fought probably sixty or seventy battles on URLs behalf, moving them solidly from the middle of the pack to being one of the top dogs in the corporate food chain in this system. We've trained their corporate security forces, taking them from being a leak-ridden bunch of snot-nosed, unmotivated greenhorns to battle-hardened, loyal ... well, nobody would say experts, but they know which end of the laser the beam comes out of. Their equipment has been... well, they're not rolling in Star League tech or anything, but they've acquired a good number of medium mechs thanks to us. We'll be conducting one final "fire sale" before we leave, as we literally cannot fit all of our loot onto our dropships.

We even made an attempt to recover some goodies from a couple of Star League caches, although some would say it wasn't worth the investment in time, money, lives and equipment.

Anyway, the point is, despite getting ripped off for 6M C-Bills, a lot of our people are antsy to get off this half-frozen, miserable, polluted, low-gravity rock where you can't even go outside without a rebreather, and go check out our new home, even if we have to hitch a ride on some rented jumpships - ours is still working on repairs and won't be done for at least another four months, thus we'd have to leave it behind (with a marine detachment and as many aerospace fighters for defense as we can stuff into its hangars).

We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm
We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[X] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
I'm assuming that we'd leave some people behind temporarily to oversee and protect the jumpship as it finishes repairs, but most of us can head out before then I think. Seems worth collecting what we can out of Site Green, but I don't think most of us need to stick around for the repairs (especially since that "plus" could get really aggravating for those itching to get home and get on with things).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:25 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm
We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[X] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
I'm assuming that we'd leave some people behind temporarily to oversee and protect the jumpship as it finishes repairs, but most of us can head out before then I think. Seems worth collecting what we can out of Site Green, but I don't think most of us need to stick around for the repairs (especially since that "plus" could get really aggravating for those itching to get home and get on with things).
While we are finishing Site Green excavation (1 month), can we track down the dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days) as part of that 1 month?

Otherwise, The Guap's got it right.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm The Manticore can keep up with the following lances:
[] Alpha-Command
[] Beta-Hunter (in addition to the Zephyr, greedy bastards)
[] Gamma-Battle
[x] Ad-Hoc (could probably use the extra firepower)

We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[x] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[x] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
Put Manti on either Dropship guard detail or wherever it'll be most useful (AdHoc)

Might as well stick around to finish with Site Green and in the meanwhile look for the "used ASF salesman" - failing to deliver much wanted flying brick warrants being stepped on by a 70T mech :)
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm The Manticore can keep up with the following lances:
[] Alpha-Command
[x] Beta-Hunter (in addition to the Zephyr, greedy bastards)
[] Gamma-Battle
[] Ad-Hoc (could probably use the extra firepower)
That way we can all make fun of Beta-Hunter for not being able to handle a mission without a couple of vehicles to babysit them.
We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[x] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
What's another month at this point.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm
Let's figure out who wants support units in their lance (no votes means nobody wants it).

The Manticore can keep up with the following lances:
[] Alpha-Command
[] Beta-Hunter (in addition to the Zephyr, greedy bastards)
[] Gamma-Battle
[X] Ad-Hoc (could probably use the extra firepower)


We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[X] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[X] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

gbasden wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:43 pm
Let's figure out who wants support units in their lance (no votes means nobody wants it).

The Manticore can keep up with the following lances:
[] Alpha-Command
[] Beta-Hunter (in addition to the Zephyr, greedy bastards)
[] Gamma-Battle
[X] Ad-Hoc (could probably use the extra firepower)


We're also technically still conducting excavation operations at Site Green. Which of these things do we want to do?
[X] Stick around long enough to track down the "lightly used aerospace fighter" dealer who ripped us off (should be a few days)
[X] Stick around long enough to finish excavation operations at Site Green (estimated one month)
[] Stick around long enough for the jumpship to finish repairs (3+ months, depending on how well those go)
[] Enough of this crap, let's pack everything up and get out of here
This gets my vote.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Manticore assigned to dropship defense - 3
Manticore assigned to ad-hoc lance - 3
Manticore assigned to Beta-Hunter - 1
We'll need a tie-breaker here

Stick around long enough to finish excavating site green - 8
track down aerospace dealer - 5
Fury's lance leader asks Fury's advice regarding whether it'd be a good idea to have a Manticore in that lance
[] Sure, we could use the extra firepower
[] Nah, even if it's nominally fast enough, it can't keep up with our mechs through rough terrain.

We decide to stick around for a month to take care of unfinished business. In addition to tracking down the used aerospace dealer, we finish up excavation at Site Green and hold a few "fire sales".

Our continued excavation and opening up of storage rooms in Site Green yields a little more "conventional" loot, although one of the last storage areas we open has a spare TAG designator. So... not a complete flop, and we did get a lot of spare parts. Mostly for stuff we don't need, but we can add it to the 'fire sale'.

Our mech fire sale yields ~32M C-Bills for the mech and aerospace fighter wrecks we don't want to bring with us. With some of our techs having nothing better to do, they fix up a legged Assassin that we had salvaged in a battle some months ago using parts form our "working" Assassin. While way more work than can be reasonably justified, the techs and the mechwarrior driving it were complaining about phantom ammo bins appearing on the status readouts. So now the phantom ammo bins are going to be some other guy's problem.

We don't have a spare Star League royal Warhammer to fix the same problem for Scrub's ammo bins, though.

The real bonus is that we find a buyer on that's willing to take the dropship wrecks that we salvaged a while back off our hands for a total of ~300M. The Triumph is actually repairable, so they'll be getting that, plus many spare parts from a Leopard wreck.

We eventually track down the guy that ripped us off on the Thunderbird. Having a lance of mechs helps our negotiating position quite a bit, and after a few comments from Leraje regarding the difficulty of tap dancing through an aircraft junkyard in a 70-ton battlemech, the individual does his best to make good on it. He doesn't actually have a Thunderbird, but he gives us the "keys" to a working Gotha, which is only 60 tons and not that impressive as a fighter - it's got a PPC and twin LRM/15 launchers, plus a bunch of medium and small lasers, but only fourteen heat sinks. The rest of the stuff in his junkyard is crap and not even worth looking at ('not even for spare parts', according to our aero tech on the scene).

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

We'll be making a stop on Outreach along the way to drop off some mechs for refit. We do not currently have adequate factory facilities for some of the refits we're planning, so we'll be making use of rented factory space. So, let's discuss some mech refits:

1. Battleaxe BKX-1X
This 70-ton Warhammer predecessor needs a serious facelift. To that end, we're planning using a refit kit from Achernar Industries to carry out the upgrade, replacing the primitive armor mount points with standard ones and swapping out the "new in 2450" cockpit for something that's not steam-driven and installing jump jets using the freed-up tonnage.

This will leave it as a 4/6/4 mech with a pair of PPC arms, ten LRM tubes and six SRM tubes. Armor being at ~70% of maximum (144/217) is still an issue though, so we'll be considering further customizations. One suggestion is to remove the LRM tubes and ammo, as the mech has plenty of long-range firepower already, adding more heat sinks and armor instead. Removing the LRM tubes and ammo frees up 5 tons, which is enough to get to near-maximum armor and add a heat sink, letting the mech either fire both PPCs or a PPC and its jump jets. However, the mech's firepower winds up greatly reduced in that case - although it's not like there was an option to fire all those weapons at the same time anyway. Another option is to just remove one of the LRM tubes for two tons of extra armor, which lifts the armor levels to "reasonable".

[] Leave as standard BKX-7K - good firepower, heat issues, mediocre armor
[] Remove both LRM tubes - ok firepower, manageable heat, good armor
[] Remove one LRM tube - ok/good firepower, heat issues, acceptable armor

2. Mackie MCK-5S
This 100-ton behemoth (oversized even for a 100-ton mech) is a creature of legend. It also needs the same factory treatment as the Battleaxe, replacing old armor mount points and the "lever-and-dial" cockpit.

The good news is that the "modern" designs of this mech don't really need any after-market modifications to make them good.

The MCK-7A is able to punch through just about any kind of armor, packing a PPC, two large lasers and an AC/20. 21 heat sinks kind of manage the heat, although you have to give the guns a break, while a whopping four tons of ammo lets you tape down the trigger on the autocannon until you've shredded everything within a 270 meter radius. Near-maximum armor keeps the mech very well protected.

The 8B and 9H variants have only recently become viable with the proliferation of CASE. The 8B trades in the twin large lasers for an extra PPC, a pair of medium lasers and CASE for the 4 tons of AC/20 ammo, which is almost a requirement since that ammo bin is basically the entirety of the right torso. The weapons loadout gives the mech a little more flexibility at all ranges.

The 9H is like the 8B except it trades in one of the 21 heat sinks for a Beagle active probe, which is useful in a variety of environments to assist with targeting through heavy cover and detect "hidden hostile objects". We have a couple of spare Beagle probes in stock, so this is also a feasible refit.

There's nothing to be done about the fact that they're lumbering behemoths, though.

[] MCK-7A - good firepower, heat issues, right torso ammo bomb
[] MCK-8B - better firepower, heat issues
[] MCK-9H - better firepower, slightly worse heat issues, active probe

3. Cyclops CP-10-Z
This 90-ton fella is a little underwhelming. It packs an AC/20, SRM/4 and two medium lasers, as well as an LRM/10 for some symbolic long-range firepower. Armor is less than 60% of maximum (160/279). Where does all that extra mass go? Into a 360 fusion engine that propels the mech at a brisk 4/6. The firepower is kind of like an Atlas, except with less of everything. Its main draw is the presence of a dedicated computer that processes battlefield data, improving the command & control capabilities of the lance (basically, a flat initiative bonus).

The easiest refit is the CP-11-A. It's something we can do in our dropship bays - replace the AC/20 with a gauss rifle. This actually reduces the available firepower, but allows the mech to engage at long range, rather than have to close in to 270 meters where its weak armor doesn't really help.

There's a "field HQ" variant, which lets the mech serve as a mobile command center - instead of the AC/20, it carries a collapsible field HQ, which is great and all, but at that point it's basically a 90-ton paperweight.

The CP-11-A-DC is an 11-A, except it trades a ton of gauss ammo for a command console, letting a second person sit in the cockpit and issue orders while the pilot concentrates on driving the mech. Of course, some people refer to the guy in the command console as a back seat driver and aren't too happy with the idea of having an extra person in the cockpit. In game terms, that translates to even more of an initiative bonus. This will need some factory time on Outreach, as replacing the cockpit is a very involved process.

The CP-10-Q trades the AC/20 for an ten LRM tubes and a medium laser, as well as nearly maximizing the armor. The firepower is a little less impressive, but at least it won't keel over from a stiff breeze like the other ones.

If we find an XL engine somewhere en route to Outreach, then we'll consider putting that in, which would free up enough tonnage to maximize armor and upgrade the missile tubes to bigger versions.

[] CP-11-A - poor armor, ok firepower, easy heat management
[] CP-11-A-DC - poor armor, ok firepower (low ammo), easy heat management, command console
[] CP-10-Q - excellent armor, mediocre firepower, easy heat management


4. As a result of our salvage and purchases on Unzmarkt, we find ourselves in posession of a whopping sixty one aero double heat sinks. That's pretty much enough to refit every one of our aerospace fighters that needs it, so once we get that done, we'll see a significant upgrade in our aerospace firepower.
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Leraje
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:49 pm 1. Battleaxe BKX-1X
[] Leave as standard BKX-7K - good firepower, heat issues, mediocre armor
[x] Remove both LRM tubes - ok firepower, manageable heat, good armor
[] Remove one LRM tube - ok/good firepower, heat issues, acceptable armor

2. Mackie MCK-5S
[] MCK-7A - good firepower, heat issues, right torso ammo bomb
[x] MCK-8B - better firepower, heat issues
[] MCK-9H - better firepower, slightly worse heat issues, active probe

3. Cyclops CP-10-Z
[] CP-11-A - poor armor, ok firepower, easy heat management
[] CP-11-A-DC - poor armor, ok firepower (low ammo), easy heat management, command console
[x] CP-10-Q - excellent armor, mediocre firepower, easy heat management
Can we do a custom refit on Mackie based of 8B replacing the AC20 with a Gauss?
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