Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

Post Reply
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm [Never split the party.
+1
For once El Guapo speaks wisely. May be there's hope for him yet. :D
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82094
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Leraje wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:23 pm
El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm [Never split the party.
+1
For once El Guapo speaks wisely. May be there's hope for him yet. :D
Agreed. Something something blind squirrel...
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:43 pm
Leraje wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:23 pm
El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm [Never split the party.
+1
For once El Guapo speaks wisely. May be there's hope for him yet. :D
Agreed. Something something blind squirrel...
Yeah, stay together.

If they engage us, we kill them. If they don't, can we send our ASF's out to take care of them before they spot us? Or land, wait for them to leave and relocate ourselves? Seems like having them follow us though could result in them attacking us on the ground where our dropships are more vulnerable?
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

As the wise and coolest of the cool Al Green said regarding combat drops:
Oh baby
Let's, let's slay together ('gether)
Lovin' you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad
Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Why, somebody, why people break up?
Oh, then turn around and make up
I just can't see
You'd never do that to me (would you, baby?)
Just being around you is all I see
Here's what I want us do

Let's, we oughta slay together ('gether)
Loving you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad
Come on
Let's, woo (let's slay together) let's slay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41247
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:43 pm
Leraje wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:23 pm
El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm [Never split the party.
+1
For once El Guapo speaks wisely. May be there's hope for him yet. :D
Agreed. Something something blind squirrel...
While I have everyone's attention, I'd like to discuss my revised plans for the blimp brigade...
Black Lives Matter.
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:19 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:43 pm
Leraje wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:23 pm
El Guapo wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm [Never split the party.
+1
For once El Guapo speaks wisely. May be there's hope for him yet. :D
Agreed. Something something blind squirrel...
While I have everyone's attention, I'd like to discuss my revised plans for the blimp brigade...
Orderly!
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Stay together - everyone else
Scatter - 1
September 7th, 3047
7km north of main landing zone
Errai, Federated Commonwealth

Our dropships stay in formation as they descent. The prospect of engaging a four-dropship formation does not appear to make the local militia fighters enthusiastic, so they circle around at maximum sensor range and watch us descend. The Moonraker gets blown slightly off course and winds up coming down several kilometers from the rest of the cluster.

Upon touchdown, we immediately deploy patrols and begin recon operations.

The Moonraker comes under attack almost immediately, with four armor companies closing in from multiple directions, supported by mechs. Beta-Hunter intercepts one group, while Beta-Assault and Alpha-Ranger defend the dropship. Beta-Assault is Zenn7/Awesome, Moley/Thunderbolt, Siljanus/Mackie, LordMortis/Victor, while Alpha Ranger is Cujo/Wolverine, Gbasden Mk III/Griffin, Stefan/Trebuchet and the lone NPC mechwarrior in an Ostroc.

Incoming forces are a mixture of light, medium and heavy tanks, with three medium mechs in support... and an assault lance. Two Longbows, an Archer and a Victor. Our plan is to push the perimeter out and screen the dropship - our two mech lances should be able to handle the assorted tanks.

Round 1:
The first attacks on the dropship come from the southeast, where some hovertanks and an LRM carrier roll in and fire their weapons at maximum range. The Moonraker returns fire but most of its shots go wide, only a few LRMs blasting chunks out of a Drillson hovertank. Zenn7 adds a couple of PPCs to the mix as well, but its armor holds up.

Gbasden is the only one to score meaningful damage, rattling the crew of the LRM Carrier, which is good because it'll prevent that damn thing from lobbing LRMs at our dropship for a few seconds.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Cujo pairs up with LordMortis and moves to take on some forces to the north, targeting a Saladin hovertank that's closing in. The Wolverine's large laser temporarily disables the hovertank's autocannon, which is a relief (and the vehicle's driver swerves to turn around as the gunner struggles to repair the weapon).

To the southeast, Gbasden finishes off the LRM Carrier, cutting through the side with the Griffin's laser array (the 1S has three lasers on its right arm instead of a single PPC - power requirements are actually higher, but it does turn the mech into a serviceable short-range brawler).

The Moonraker continues getting pelted with LRMs from the Archer as well as autocannon rounds from the Vedettes, but its armor holds. It retaliates with an LRM salvo, the port-side battery immobilizing the Drillson that escaped Zenn7 (which enables a large laser turret to cut the hovertank in half), while the starboard-side batter detonates the fuel tank of a Vedette to the west.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 moves to help out Gbasden, blasting a Clint with one of the Awesome's PPCs - it punches through the left torso armor and blows out a jump jet. The latter mechwarrior engages the Archer firing LRMs at our dropship, but is unable to distract it long enough. The two mechs exchange physical attacks as the Archer's attention is still mostly focused on our dropship.

To the north, LordMortis lasers a Packrat then nails it with a six-pack of SRMs, blasting the wheels on the left side off and sending a single SRM through an armor breach which cuts fuel to the engine, sputtering it out. The infantry inside had already gotten out, though. The Packrat returns fire with its SRM launcher, scattering SRMs across the Victor's armor but doing no meaningful damage.

To the south, Siljanus' draws a bead on an approaching Longbow, firing the Mackie's PPCs at it and sending a gauss slug in for good measure. The gauss slug goes wide, but the PPCs impact the left side, one disabling an LRM launcher for a substantial firepower reduction. Combined with fire from the Moonraker, the damage is too much for the missile-toting assault mech and it goes down. Our Ostroc moves to engage a cluster of tanks, lasering a Scorpion. The mech heats up quite a bit, but the Scorpion is destroyed.

A Drillson gets in close to the Moonraker and unloads its short range weapons, doing substantial armor damage, but is subsequently disabled by the dropship's gunners.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Despite his mech basically glowing red at this point, Zenn7 easily overcomes the "swimming" targeting reticle and gets a two-fer. A PPC blast blows away the Saladin that Cujo previously damaged (just as the crew finish repairing their autocannon and get back into the fight), while the small laser zaps a Ferret that attempts to fly by and drop infantry on our Awesome.

To the north, LordMortis and Cujo pivot west, where a Longbow and a short tank lance are closing in on the Moonraker. LordMortis punches a gauss slug and a laser through the side of a Vedette, immobilizing it when the laser melts its engine down to slag.

To the south, Siljanus continues engaging the Longbow, blasting it with a PPC and a gauss slug, which blows out a leg actuator on the already ungainly mech. This causes it to stumble and become easy prey for the Moonraker's LRM gunners - a salvo bears down on the 85-ton mech and thoroughly explores every hole in the armor, including one that leads to an LRM ammo bin, scattering the assault mech across the battlefield. The Moonraker's gunners also knock over the Archer that's been harassing the dropship as Gbasden attracts the attention of its escorting tanks (by jumping over and kicking through the armor of a Galleon while the Griffin cools down).

To the west, Stefan and Moley work on a tank lance. One of the tanks has already been taken out by our dropship, and the Saladin there proves elusive, but Stefan chases down a Scorpion tank as it closes in on the back of Moley's Thunderbolt and stomps the light tank flat.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 continues southwest, supporting Gbasden's efforts against the out-of-sight Archer by blowing away a Vedette. The infantry he left behind try to get some shots off but whiff as a couple of laser blasts from the Union disrupt their aim (and a few individual troopers' existence). The Archer remains upright, weathering the hail of weapons fire from Gbasden and the dropship, but then our Griffin cracks the enemy mech's hip joint, sending it tumbling down.

To the south, Siljanus switches targets from the destroyed Longbow to an approaching Hetzer, blasting it with two PPC shots but failing to breach armor. Our Ostroc, having kept the Victor and tank cluster there busy, manages to take out a Quasit militiamech. Just goes to show you shouldn't be using converted industrial mechs in a combat role - the mech seems to take a laser and a kick just fine, but then as our Ostroc steps back, the thing just starts rattling and then blows up.

[mechanical notes]
Spoiler:
Industrial mechs may take a crit when they take damage from a physical attack. crit happened to be on an ammo bin.
To the west, Stefan takes out the previously elusive Saladin hovertank, its right-side armor no match for the Trebuchet's lasers at close range.

To the north, Cujo designates a Longbow for the Union's gunners (by targeting it and helping with a large laser blast as well). The LRM salvo from our dropship blows one of the LRM racks off the 85-tonner and sends it tumbling to the ground.


Having taken heavy damage, while our mechs are basically unscratched and the dropship still has a good amount of armor coverage, the rest of the hostiles pull back. The Archer struggles up but makes its way out of the area as well, although it's not going anywhere fast.

It's looking like the hostile force's retreat path is going to take it straight into the back of Beta-Hunter as our lance engages the other half of the attackers (quite a good distance away from our dropship, thankfully). The good part is that this second force doesn't have any assault mechs - the bad part is that there's a two companies of little anklebiters (and not so little - we count at least three LRM Carriers and several assault-weight tanks), in addition to two light and medium mech lances. Having to deal with extra bad guys (a pristine Victor, a damaged Archer and Longbow, company of light and medium tanks) coming in from the back is not going to be that great, so we need to send some backup. The question becomes, how much backup do we send?

We can send Alpha-Ranger, they'll get there pretty fast. They'll even beat the reinforcements there. We can also send Beta-Assault, it'll take them a while (they'll arrive a little after most of the reinforcements). We could send both, but that'll leave the Moonraker uncovered, except for a pair of aerospace fighters, until the four additional ASFs we'd be able to scramble from the rest of our dropships get there.

[] Send Alpha-Ranger
[] Send Beta-Assault
[] Send both

[AN: Hope you guys enjoy the graphics upgrade for destroyed tanks]
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

[x] Send Alpha-Ranger

It's speedy and we still have our dropship protected. Would be bad if our ride got blown up.
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 2:54 pm [x] Send Alpha-Ranger
[] Send Beta-Assault
[] Send both
NickAragua wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 2:54 pm [AN: Hope you guys enjoy the graphics upgrade for destroyed tanks]
Looks really good. Have to try the .9 version ad see if it'll work with my existing campaign, .8 was refusing to load it for some reason :(
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12665
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

$iljanus wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:19 pm [x] Send Alpha-Ranger

It's speedy and we still have our dropship protected. Would be bad if our ride got blown up.
Yep.
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

$iljanus wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:19 pm [x] Send Alpha-Ranger

It's speedy and we still have our dropship protected. Would be bad if our ride got blown up.
Agreed! I'm rather attached to the Moonraker.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

gbasden wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:39 pm
$iljanus wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:19 pm [x] Send Alpha-Ranger

It's speedy and we still have our dropship protected. Would be bad if our ride got blown up.
Agreed! I'm rather attached to the Moonraker.
And to show our love for the Moonraker... :wub:

Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

gbasden wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:39 pm
$iljanus wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:19 pm [x] Send Alpha-Ranger

It's speedy and we still have our dropship protected. Would be bad if our ride got blown up.
Agreed! I'm rather attached to the Moonraker.
Can't risk the dropship and Alpha Ranger might be able to help whittle the other guys down before the retreats show up.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Welp, I had an update written up, but then went on vacation and forgot to upload a couple of the relevant files to dropbox. Namely, the update itself. So... we'll have to wait until I get back on Tuesday night for the next update.

Sneak preview:
Spoiler:
Image
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Alpha-Ranger - unanimous
Zenn7 thinks it over for a minute. "Lieutenant, go help Beta-Hunter out. We'll hold down the fort here, we couldn't get there in time to help anyway."

Beta-Hunter picks a pretty dense forest in which to stage their interception. We had to re-jigger Beta-Hunter a little bit - it used to be a lot of LRM boats, but since we only sent part of the company in, the Archer and Catapult stayed behind. Well, the Archer stayed behind... on Wright. In pieces. As did Leraje's previous Guillotine. But we were able to buy a replacement one, thankfully. So currently, it's Leraje/Guillotine, Angel/Flashman, Wolf/Warhammer, Cylus/Grasshopper, a pretty heavy-duty brawling lance. We've also got one of Hawk's people with us, a guy in a Panther.

The replacement Guillotine annoys the piss out of our mechwarrior, as we haven't had a chance to relocate the leg-mounted jump jets upwards to the torso and move the heat sinks down to the legs. So, no taking a bath for extra cooling for now.

We begin the battle from a high ground position, but we'll be able to move down into the woods as necessary to reduce the volume of incoming fire.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our mechwarriors watch with some amusement as a Spider takes a step into a lake and glops down, then frantically (and unsuccessfully) struggles to get up.

"Forest fire?" Wolf asks.

"Nah." Leraje responds. "We're trying to minimize collateral damage."

"And get down from the ridge, let's quit silhouetting ourselves." He adds as a sizeable number of autocannon rounds and LRMs come our way. Not much hits, except a few LRMs on Wolf's Warhammer, while Cylus scores a non-crippling hit on a Bulldog tank.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The Spider finally manages to get up, it's armor all dented from scraping underwater rocks. Our new plan is to engage the hostiles in the woods - we'll be able to stalk around and uses the dense trees to manage line of sight while picking off strays.

The militia decide to clear themselves a path through the woods by using energy weapons to blast through the tree-line.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Alpha-Ranger arrives to the west, having circled around the back of the enemy force. Sensors report that additional hostiles are about thirty seconds behind Beta-Hunter.

A Ferret drops some infantry off close to Angel's Flashman, which turns out to be a mistake - our mechwarrior turns the 75-ton mech's flamer on the troops as they run for the cover of a nearby forest, frying them to a man. Before they croak, they do wind up designating our mech as a target for indirect LRM fire. The LRMs pretty much all miss, but they do start a fire.

Cylus and Leraje move in to engage hostiles to the northeast. Leraje favorably exchanges fire with a Bulldog, cutting its treads to ribbons and immobilizing it while taking a minimum number of SRMs in return. Cylus blows the left arm off an approaching Stinger, causing major torso damage as well, while Wolf scores a PPC hit on a Galleon tank but fails to breach armor.

(guess where the infantry was in the above screenshot)

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Stinger isn't quite destroyed, but its right arm looks like it's about to fall off, and the mechwarrior fires up the bug mech's jump jets, leaving the battlefield.

Wolf moves up with the rest of the lance, and is engaged by a Commando trying to sneak around the back. The Warhammer fires all of its short range weapons - the lasers cause a right torso armor breach, which is exploited by an SRM salvo - one of the SRMs clips one of the Commando's ammo bins and shatters the 25-ton mech. Our Warhammer doesn't remain undamaged, however, taking two actuator hits to the right leg from the Commando's SRMs before the lighter mech is blown apart. Wolf keeps the Warhammer standing, however, but our mech will be slowed down considerably.

Leraje is so distracted by all the ammo explosions that he misses all of the Guillotine's shots. Or maybe it's the incoming firepower from a Rhino that rolls up, or getting booted by a Griffin which jumps in to the rear left of our mech.

Cylus lasers an AC/2 carrier that's been pelting us with light autocannon rounds, reducing the 60-ton vehicle to slag with the Grasshopper's weaponry.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Wolf's Warhammer creaks and groans as the damaged actuators protest being made to work anyway.

Cylus and Leraje break south to engage a cluster of tanks, with the waterlogged Spider getting in the way as well. The Spider takes multiple laser hits from Leraje to the torso and arms, blowing out jump jets and actuators. Our Guillotine follows up with a kick, cracking the 30-ton "not a bug" mech's right leg and sending it flopping to the ground. Cylus melts through the left side of an LRM Carrier and immobilizes it. We take some armor damage from laser fire, but nothing major. And a glancing hit on our Grasshopper from a Hetzer's AC/20, but at least not the entire shell hits.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The militia forces retreating from our dropship arrive to sandwich Beta-Hunter. Wolf hangs back (having no other option anyway) and blows away a Savannah Master as the rapid hovercraft tries to get around the back of our lance.

Leraje and Cylus continue engaging the two enemy assault tanks. Leraje has pretty good luck against the Partisan, avoiding its quad autocannons and breaching the left side armor with laser fire. Cylus disables the Rhino, after putting multiple blasts through the assault tank's right side and melting the engine.

Cujo's lance mixes it up with tanks to the west, trading armor damage. Although we come out ahead, we still take a few laser hits that we'd rather avoid. At least no AC/20 hits from the Hetzer, we really need to take it out.

Our Panther buddy from Hawk's group reports disabling a Vedette. That's great little guy, now watch out for the twenty other tanks.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Alpha-Ranger gets in among the LRM Carriers in an effort to disrupt their LRM barrages, which are starting to take a bit of a toll on our armor. Cujo uses lasers to cut through the armor on one, then sends SRMs into the breach. The vehicle remains intact, but pours out black smoke as its engine is destroyed. Stefan blasts and kicks through the armor of another LRM Carrier - the tank remains intact, but burbles and turns to retreat rather than continue to fire.

Cylus moves on from the crippled assault tanks, running west and ignoring laser fire coming in from some infantry. The Grasshopper focuses its lasers on a Scimitar hovertank, blowing it away. Mindful of the Hetzer underfoot, our mechwarrior lifts a 70 ton foot and squashes it, the fuel tank detonating in the process.

To the east, Angel finally manages to finish off a Scorpion tank that's been moving around the trees on a hilltop and pelting our Flashman with MG fire (the autocannon being ineffective at this close range). With a couple of lasers through the chassis, the tank stops moving. Wolf, meanwhile, has no ground targets to shoot at but does get a good bead on one of the Ferrets zipping around, evaporating it with a PPC blast.

Our Panther buddy reports that a Victor has engaged him, which isn't going to go well if he doesn't get some help. He'll have to come to us, though, we're a little busy.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
A Bulldog and a Longbow arrive a little late from the east. The Longbow immediately takes a PPC hit to the left missile rack from Wolf's Warhammer, stripping off what little armor there was from the previous engagement. Wolf ducks away behind trees before the enemy 85-tonner's LRMs can home in.

Most of this round is spend jockeying for position and trading armor damage.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
"Here he comes." Angel warns Wolf as the Victor fires its jump jets up and moves towards our Warhammer. Wolf turns the Warhammer to the incoming threat and unloads just as the assault mech lands. All the important weapons hit, but it's an assault mech, so its armor holds up. Wolf's mech rocks as the Victor's autocannon roars to life and blasts armor off the left torso. Wolf manages to keep the Warhammer upright, while the Victor goes down to a knee. Angel attracts quite a bit of fire on top of the hill, keeping our mechwarrior from doing much damage but keeping the fire off of Wolf in the process. Wofl's mech heats up quite a bit from all the weapons fire, even the increased heat sink count unable to keep up with the rapid PPC fire. And the fight isn't over yet.

To the west, Leraje, Cylus and Alpha-Ranger hop back and forth, their high mobility confounding the tankers' efforts to target them. Leraje disables a Manticore with lasers through the side and into its power plant, then stomps on a Scorpion tank, while Cujo destroys a Scorpion tank and cracks through the armor on an LRM carrier. A productive few seconds, for sure.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Angel moves towards the Victor, firing at it to attract attention, which works - the enemy mech lets rip with its AC/20, disabling one of the Flashman's large lasers after blasting through all of the armor on the right arm. The damage throws our mechwarrior's aim off and most of the Flashman's laser go wide. However, this leaves the Victor open to weapons fire from Wolf's Warhammer. Our mechwarrior takes advantage, damaging several actuators on the Victor's left arm with a laser and stripping armor with the other short-range weapons and a PPC. The Victor keels over this time.

To the west, our Ostroc disables a Scorpion tank while Cylus punches through a Goblin's armor to immobilize it via engine damage.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Angel's Flashman vibrates under rapid fire from the Victor's AC/20. Somehow, our mech's armor holds, but is little more than a memory at this point. Our mechwarrior is unable to keep up with the loss of nearly three tons of armor and the mech falls over. Between continued fire from Wolf's Warhammer and Angel's Flashman, the Victor takes several armor breaches, however and is also forced to a knee. LRMs from the Longbow keep Wolf from capitalizing on the advantage as the Warhammer beeps incessantly, regaling our mechwarrior with stories about "internal damage, left torso". Still, Wolf swings one of the Warhammer's PPC arms and connects with the Victor's head, rattling the mechwarrior as he tries to get his mech up.

To the south, Leraje and Cujo move to mop up a couple of loose Vedettes and help our Panther buddy out. Cujo blows up one of the Vedettes with a salvo from the SRM launcher, detonating its fuel tank. Leraje is unable to seal the deal on any of his targets, however, scoring multiple hits but no armor breaches.

To the west, Cylus stomps a Hunter support tank flat.

With their force severely damaged, the militia initiate a retreat, offering a cease-fire. We're not really in any position to refuse, so we accept it. Wolf and Angel let out a sigh of relief as the Victor jumps away and Angel levers the Flashman off the ground.

Salvage is mostly crappy tank wrecks, but there are some spare parts we need, including a large laser for Angel's Flashman that we can pull off a Bulldog. We also grab a Manticore, a couple of LRM carriers and the Rhino, mostly for the LRM ammo, but also so we can strip armor. The rest, we'll shove into the Seeker and leave it to Hawk's people to deal with.

We're able to fix most of the damage within a couple of days, but one of the actuators on Wolf's Warhammer's leg is unrepairable. We're also (already) running low on Gauss rifle ammo (there was a logistics mixup), so our mechwarriors will need to be conservative with that. Or we could ask Hawk if his local intel guys can arrange for the purchase of gauss slugs from the locals. But then again, that might lead to them being less effective at finding the smugglers they're supposed to be looking for.

[] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[] Tighten our belts, suck it up
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:18 pm
[] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[X] Tighten our belts, suck it up
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:18 pm [] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[x] Tighten our belts, suck it up
Can we have machine shop of the dropship produce some - I mean all the rounds are metal "melons"?

Or assign a few PBIs (if we have any left) per Gauss-equipped mech to play gunnery crew and muzzle-load the cannons with stuff. j/k
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »


gbasden wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:18 pm
[] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[X] Tighten our belts, suck it up
Since rustling up some smugglers is our mission we should make due with less.
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:00 pm
gbasden wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:18 pm
[] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[X] Tighten our belts, suck it up
Since rustling up some smugglers is our mission we should make due with less.
We have to be careful not to degrade our combat effectiveness too much though.

Any options for off-planet resupply or just checking locally on our own w/o calling in Hawk and potentially messing the mission up?
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Zenn7 wrote:
$iljanus wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:00 pm
gbasden wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:18 pm
[] Ask Hawk if he can hook us up with some gauss slugs
[X] Tighten our belts, suck it up
Since rustling up some smugglers is our mission we should make due with less.
We have to be careful not to degrade our combat effectiveness too much though.

Any options for off-planet resupply or just checking locally on our own w/o calling in Hawk and potentially messing the mission up?
Understandable. So in addition to pursuing creative supply solutions, are we in a position where the shortage of gauss rounds is an unacceptable risk?
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
suck it up - 3
ask Hawk for help - 1
We decide to hold off on using Hawk's "intel assets" for now. Shipping gauss slugs from off-world is an option, but will likely require us to "run a blockade", as the local militia aero jocks are now buzzing around, super unhappy about their breached airspace and recent casualties.

September 20, 3047
Loua Marshlands (Federally Protected)
Errai, Federated Commonwealth

Hawk's investigations bear some fruit, as his people uncover a large shipment of parts being assembled at a staging area before being loaded onto dropships for shipment off-world. We're going to put the screws on this operation by intercepting one of their delivery runs - the way they do it is they basically stage "militia training exercises", having mechs and tanks lug crates around. The planetary militia is at least partially in on it, as are some subset of the guys operating the warehouses and factories involved.

By taking down this giant pile of tanks (and a reinforced company of mechs, including a light and a medium lance, backed up by a few heavies), we're hoping to capture a few of the individuals involved (as well as some evidence).

Delta-Ranger tracks the "convoy" through some wetlands. In concert with some of Hawk's hired help, they'll engage and harass said convoy until Alpha-Heavy splashes into the fight. Hawk will also be launching a pair of aerospace fighters to help out.

In addition to Madmarcus/Wolverine, Archinerd/Dervish and Freyland/Cronus, Delta-Ranger has Paingod in a Merlin (a little slow, but we're short on Quickdraws). Alpha-Heavy is Thud/Awesome, El Guapo/Marauder, Fury/Grand Dragon and Hyena/Grasshopper.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The "hired help" isn't much to look at - a laser-equipped Hetzer, a Saladin, a Wasp and a standard Javelin. Hawk's liaison to these merc is in another Javelin, the "Fire Javelin", which is all lasers as opposed to two SRM/6 launchers. Other than Paingod landing a couple of LRMs on a Scimitar hovertank to little effect, long-range weapons fire proves fairly ineffective.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The lighter units try to run past us, while the heavies provide fire support. Madmarcus re-evaluates our earlier conclusion that the hired help isn't any good - the Saladin lands an AC/20 round on the right torso of an approaching Javelin, blasting its arm off, and taking out the SRM launcher to boot. With some extra help from Madmarcus' lasers to one of the legs, the 30-ton mech drops to the ground.

Archinerd attempts to engage a Cicada, scoring an armor breach with the Dervish's lasers, but fails to capitalize with SRMs.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The guy in the Javelin briefly tries to get up, but its hip gives out and the mech slams back into the ground, shutting down.

The allied Saladin zips in through a gap in the enemy formation, firing its AC/20 at a Panther. The shot hits the 35-ton mech directly in the head, bringing it to the ground. Unfortunately, that's the end of that hovertank's career, as a hostile Guillotine targets it with its laser array and takes it out of action.

Madmarcus targets a Wolfhound from the back, weathering a couple of light autocannon rounds. The 35-tonner takes enough damage from our Wolverine's lasers and SRMs that the mechwarrior can't keep it upright, and it drops to the ground, crunching one of its lasers. Our mechwarrior stomps on a nearby Scimitar hovertank as well, immobilizing it by ripping off the main drive fans.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
One of the hostile Vedettes hits a bump, which causes one of the cargo crates it's carrying to "jump" (improperly secured, no doubt) just as it fires its autocannon at the allied Hetzer. The crate is hit by the autocannon round, and then the Vedette simply explodes.

Freyland exercises the Cronus' armor and mobility by absorbing a few SRMs from a "distant" SRM Carrier (but not distant enough to avoid getting pelted), then drills into the back of the nearby Hunchback, disabling its AC/20 with a laser blast. Unbalanced, the enemy mechwarrior can't stay upright as our Cronus plants a boot in its ass and the mech keels over to the left.

Madmarcus jumps forward, absorbing a large number of SRMs and a light autocannon round or two, but strips the armor off an aproaching Panther's leg, tripping the 35-ton mech up.

Archinerd, meanwhile, fires LRMs at an escaping Cicada, the salvo breaching leg armor and blowing out enough actuators that it falls over a small cliff and into the muck, then breaks the leg on a Wasp that tries to run by.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Hawk's air support arrives as the guy in the Wasp bails out. As the Panther that Madmarcus damaged struggles to get up, it gets pummeled with AC/10 rounds and lasers from a Slayer, its SRM ammo going up. The Shilone releases a large number of rockets from wing-mounted pods as well as its standard armament, causing heavy damage to the escaping Wolfound, but fails to seal the deal.

Freyland, annoyed with the SRM Carrier, jumps up to it, counting on Madmarcus and the liaison Javelin to take care of the Hunchback nearby, and blasts it with lasers and SRMs at short range. That does the trick, "forcibly shutting down" the vehicle's engine by direct application of short range missile. Paingod, firing from a flanking position, sends a throwaway salvo of LRMs from the Merlin's small launcher at the Bulldog adjacent to Freyland and gets a one-in-a-million (well, it's really more like one in a few hundred, but still) shot - one of the LRMs loses guidance halfway there, but the other four punch through the exact same spot and detonate the fuel tank just as the tank it releases its last LRM salvo (which blows away about half a hired Javelin's torso section).

Madmarcus does prevent most of the Hunchback's shots from hitting Freyland's Cronus, although the liaison's Javelin slips and falls over instead of hitting with any shots or kicking the back of the enemy mech.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Paingod aims a PPC shot at the Hunchback Madmarcus just targeted and wrecks its left arm.

Freyland engages a pair of Vedettes, disabling one with laser and SRM fire. The other one manages to avoid our Cronus' attack.

To our great surprise, the allied Wasp knocks down the Guillotine just as the 70-tonner is about to clear the area, tripping it up.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Archinerd, having been dueling with a Commando for a little while, lets the smaller mech escape. For certain definitions of the word anyway, just far enough to get a good lock with LRMs and blow its right leg off.

Freyland keeps working on the Hunchback, staying in its rear arc to avoid its considerable forward firepower and kicking it over.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The Cicada that Archinerd nearly legged limps off the field, turning around, while a Locust, a Wolverine and a Condor get past us. However, El Guapo's lance is now in position.

Fury's second laser shot of the fight takes the head off the escaping Hunchback with the damaged autocannon, right at the neck.

Thud and Hyena each take down a Vedette, although a kick from the nearby Griffin forces our Awesome to a knee, even as El Guapo unloads into the 55-tonner, peeling off almost two tons of armor with PPC shots, lasers and a gauss slug.

As the hostiles turn to retreat, the aerospace fighters come around for another pass, distracting the Marauder long enough for Archinerd to exploit its left torso weak spot and blow the ammo bin. Combined fire from Thud, Hyena, Fury and El Guapo brings down the Guillotine, El Guapo scoring a pair of PPC hits to melt one of the legs. Thud also disables a Maxim hover transport as it tries to get away.

A small number of militia units manage to clear out, but we capture the rest. We hand prisoners and most of the salvage over to Hawk's people, but we do keep the legged Guillotine. First of all, we can pull an actuator to fix Wolf's Warhammer and a heat sink to replace one that blew out on Paingod's Merlin, and second, you can never have enough spare jump-capable 70-ton mechs. Having taken out the necessary spare parts and fixed the internal structure, we box the long-suffering machine up and put it into the Seeker's cargo bay.

After a couple of days, Hawk's people finish examining the nav systems on the captured vehicles and talking to the prisoners (they extract a surprisingly substantial amount of information with, according to our medical staff, no signs of torture). Hawk tells us that one of his people will need a ride off-world for a little bit.

Whichever dropship and escort fighters we use will be unavailable for at least two weeks (burn to jump point; jump out and recharge; burn back to planetside) and is likely to be intercepted, because, in Hawk's words, "full disclosure, we'll be putting some transponder beacons on the dropship that gets sent out, and hopefully that'll attract the right kind of attention and we can get detailed scans on interested parties, and maybe take some of them out."

The Moonraker and Sparrow are functionally identical, and we're not sending out the Seeker on account of it being weak. The Moonraker's crew are better shots on account of having more experience, so sending them off will deprive us of the use of the more experienced crew while they're gone, as well as an aerospace squadron. On the plus side, doing Hawk a favor like this will also let us pick up some supplies wherever we jump to, for example, gauss rounds (and also SRM/2 warheads - Archinerd used an incredible amount of those in this last fight).

[] Send the Moonraker + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Send the Sparrow + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Let Hawk send his dropship instead
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:37 pm
[X] Send the Moonraker + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Send the Sparrow + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Let Hawk send his dropship instead
Might as well send the more experienced ship and crew to give them the best chance of success.
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

gbasden wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:37 pm
[X] Send the Moonraker + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Send the Sparrow + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Let Hawk send his dropship instead
Might as well send the more experienced ship and crew to give them the best chance of success.
Seconded.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote:
gbasden wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:37 pm
[X] Send the Moonraker + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Send the Sparrow + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Let Hawk send his dropship instead
Might as well send the more experienced ship and crew to give them the best chance of success.
Seconded.
Thirded. Best to optimize our chances.
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:55 pm
Leraje wrote:
gbasden wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:31 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:37 pm
[X] Send the Moonraker + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Send the Sparrow + ASF squadron for two weeks
[] Let Hawk send his dropship instead
Might as well send the more experienced ship and crew to give them the best chance of success.
Seconded.
Thirded. Best to optimize our chances.
Fourthed
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Send the Moonraker - unanimous
We load fighters into the Moonraker (including one of Hawk's guys, a little Sholagar), and get burning for orbit.

September 27, 3047
En route to zenith jump point
Errai, Federated Commonwealth

The transponder does, in fact, attract attention from two distinct groups of aerospace fighters. Several squadrons of heavies vector in from multiple directiosn. One group wants us to heave to for cargo inspection, the other group wants us to cease violating FedCom airspace. Then they start yelling at each other over the general frequency as well. Something about jurisdiction and all that other nonsense. It's a moot point, we're not heaving to for nothing and we'll violate whatever airspace we want, since we're pretending to be Kuritans. The Moonraker's captain even gets one of his Kuritan crewmembers to yell something into the comms about honor and pork fried rice for a little extra "authenticity".

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our craft advance in formation around our dropship, waiting for the hostiles to close range.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Long-range weapons fire erupts as said weapons range is closed. Our Gotha drops back to engage a Riever, savaging the 100-ton behemoth with laser, missile and PPC fire. The hostile craft's armor holds, however, even with a couple of helpful autocannon and LRM salvos from our dropship. The aero jock loses it and is unable to undertake meaningful evasive maneuvers. The Moonraker also performs a similar service for one of the Lucifers thrusting in.

A few short-range fighters move in to engage at close range, but Hawk's little Sholagar buddy zaps one in the tailpipe with lasers, and the little Seydlitz drifts out of control.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Hostile light fighters continue to attempt to engage our dropship while the heavies have dropped back. A Sparrowhawk eats most of the Moonraker's forward firepower, losing just about all of its armor and taking multiple sensor hits. One of the little anklebiters blows away our Chippewa, though, with a lucky laser hit to the fuel tank.

The pilot ejects successfully, but, seriously? It's not quite as bad as a 65-ton mech getting an ammo bin blown out by a through-armor shot from an AC/2, but still.

Round 4-5:
Spoiler:
Image
Spoiler:
Image
Our Gotha keeps picking on the Riever, but the 100-tonner's aero jock finally gets a hold of his aerospace fighter and calls in some backup, which sends our fighter scrambling to evade. A little dogfight continues around the Union, but is no threat to our dropship. Probably.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
We do manage to scoop up our ejected aero jock while forcing the light fighters into an evasive pattern.

Round 7:
The Moonraker blows away one of the light fighters while our Lucifer cripples the second one. The remaining bad guys give up their pursuit after the second group of aerospace fighters arrives and opens fire on all combatants without bothering to sort it out.

While they're shooting at each other, the Moonraker recovers all of our fighters and goes up to maximum acceleration to clear the area. A dropship might have a slower combat speed, but if it picks up a little distance, it's got way more endurance than some aerospace fighters. So, it gets the rest of the way unimpeded, transmitting logs of the action back to our position on planet via tightbeam.

When they jump over to Sheratan, the jumpship spends the next seven days recharging, while the dropship makes a supply run. We'll obviously be picking up some Gauss rounds and SRM/2 ammo, but a quick check of the local markets results in two interesting finds:

First, a Chippewa W7 is on sale, which, while it'll run us a solid 9.8M C-Bills, is a replacement for the one whose microscopic remnants are drifting through Errai. That was a super lucky shot, our aero jocks are actually pretty happy with the W7 - the double heat sinks let them fire the pulse lasers and LRMs to their hearts' content, and we can probably take some of the rear guns off to up the armor - it's a little light for a 90-ton aerospace fighter, and we've yet to see any light fighter be discouraged from getting on a Chippewa's tail just because of a couple of piddly small pulse lasers.

[] Buy replacement Chippewa W7, 9.8M C-Bills
[] Pass

Second, someone is selling a Stinger LAM. A Mk I version, which somebody must have either kept alive through the whole of the succession wars or re-upgraded recently. Now, before anyone gets excited, the thing's got no legs. Or jump jets. And it looks like someone took a hatchet to the gyro. But, it does have two small pulse lasers and a medium pulse laser, plus the ten double heat sinks. "Only" 1.7M C-Bills. It's a complete ripoff, double heat sinks only cost 6k to manufacture, so we're looking at a 3000% markup. But the house militaries are snapping up about... all of the available production capacity... for the next couple of decades at least. So they're still pretty rare and thus any chance to get them is probably worth it.

[] By a "Stinger LAM Mk I" (aka bag of double heat sinks and pulse lasers) for 1.7M C-Bills
[] Pass
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:47 pm
[x] Buy replacement Chippewa W7, 9.8M C-Bills
[] Pass

[x] By a "Stinger LAM Mk I" (aka bag of double heat sinks and pulse lasers) for 1.7M C-Bills
[] Pass
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a really cool thing we just gotta have...?

From looking at my somewhat large collection of board games, I can go either direction.
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41247
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
Black Lives Matter.
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41247
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Leraje wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:47 pm
[x] Buy replacement Chippewa W7, 9.8M C-Bills
[] Pass

[x] By a "Stinger LAM Mk I" (aka bag of double heat sinks and pulse lasers) for 1.7M C-Bills
[] Pass
Agreed.
Black Lives Matter.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

El Guapo wrote:
$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
I'm an easy sell (and we can mine it for parts).

Buy em both! (time to check the latest shiny on kickstarter now)
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12665
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
Even I'm not that crazy.
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41247
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

AWS260 wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:42 pm
El Guapo wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
Even I'm not that crazy.
I think that everyone can agree that blimps are the true future of military combat.
Black Lives Matter.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

El Guapo wrote:
AWS260 wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:42 pm
El Guapo wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
Even I'm not that crazy.
I think that everyone can agree that blimps are the true future of military combat.
They probably don't need as many heat sinks
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:12 pm
El Guapo wrote:
AWS260 wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:42 pm
El Guapo wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:17 pm On the one hand, is buying a LAM just a case of FOMO and like a kickstarted board game it will just sit on the shelf? Or is it just a cool thing to have...?
It's worth buying for the double heat sinks. Unless our resident LAM enthusiast can convince someone else in the unit to pilot it.
Even I'm not that crazy.
I think that everyone can agree that blimps are the true future of military combat.
They probably don't need as many heat sinks
You should see how the Guap does with them in space!
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:20 pm
Leraje wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:47 pm
[x] Buy replacement Chippewa W7, 9.8M C-Bills
[] Pass

[x] By a "Stinger LAM Mk I" (aka bag of double heat sinks and pulse lasers) for 1.7M C-Bills
[] Pass
Agreed.
Looks good.

Any chance we might use the Stinger LAM for some of the more rare parts on our Pixie LAM to help with maintenance/repairs? Get a little more use than just the High Tech strip off gear.
User avatar
gbasden
Posts: 7664
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:57 am
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Leraje wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:12 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:47 pm
[x] Buy replacement Chippewa W7, 9.8M C-Bills
[] Pass

[x] By a "Stinger LAM Mk I" (aka bag of double heat sinks and pulse lasers) for 1.7M C-Bills
[] Pass
Yup.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82094
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

Buy all the things
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Buy the Chippewa - unanimous

Buy the bag of spare parts - 6
Pass on the bag of spare parts - 5
The guys on the Moonraker spend a whole bunch of time arguing about whether they'll get yelled at for spending two million C-Bills on some heat sinks and a couple of pulse lasers. In the end, the Moonraker's captain breaks the tie in favor of buying the Stinger LAM / bag of spare parts. "Better get a hold of the good stuff. Worst case scenario, I get yelled at for mis-use of company funds and get my pay docked. Not like I need to pay rent or anything, I live on the dropship."

While waiting for the Moonraker and Hawk's guy to come back, we keep an eye on local troop and cargo movements. Hawk's intel people get word of a parts shipment heading to the local spaceport. The manifest is obscured, but Hawk's guys figure it's some kind of lostech. So, we move to "redirect" the convoy. Isgrimnur will be joining Drazzil's lance in his upgraded Hatchetman, with Drazzil/Cronus in charge and Akalon/Vulcan providing backup. AWS will get to try out the Phoenix Hawk LAM, although whether our mechwarrior is comfortable enough with the flying part yet remains to be seen.

We intercept the small convoy a few klicks outside their latest rally point, and "redirect" them to a location of our choosing ("transmitting nav points. Deviate from your course or attempt radio transmissions, and you're dog chow.", Drazzil tells them).

But it seems they already got a distress call out, and a small swarm of tanks and helicopters, backed up by a light/medium mech lance, moves to intercept our "convoy".

"Orders, sir?" Akalon asks.

"Engage at will." Drazzil responds.

Round 1:
"Check this out!" AWS tells Akalon, firing up the Phoenix Hawk LAM's transformation to "airmech" mode.

"Eh, I can run faster." Akalon responds.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Despite sprinting at top speed, the Phoenix Hawk LAM rapidly overtakes the Vulcan. "WHOOOO!" AWS calls out with a grin.

Isgrimnur mutters something about comms discipline, then opens up a channel to Madmarcus in Delta-Ranger. "You in the area? I think we're going to need some backup."

"Acknowledged. Be there in a minute."

A couple of autocannon rounds zip out towards us, but nothing hits.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Isgrimnur looks to target one of the approaching VTOLs, but his AA targeting computer shorts out. Our mechwarrior rolls his eyes and goes back to the standard targeting system augmented by Mk I eyeballs, which continue rolling up into the back of his head as he watches a Drillson hovertank up ahead hug a tree. An Ostscout lands next to our Hatchetman, delivering a kick to the right leg, then gets backhanded with said hatchet, which swipes three jump jets off the back of the lighter mech.

AWS continues whooping as the Pixie LAM's air mech mode zooms past all the bad guys and gets into the back of the enemy formation. In all the excitement, our mechwarrior misses every shot, but does manage to deliver a kick to the nearby Packrat, rattling it around a little.

To the north, a Ferret VTOL drops off an infantry squad to get in the way of the advancing convoy vehicles. Akalon doesn't waste much time on them, a burst from the Vulcan's MG and a quick squirt from the flamer annihilating the infantry while the Ferret is vaporized by a laser. That's a couple less annoyances to deal with.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Drazzil's mech rocks as he's engaged by a Saladin and the Ostscout, losing all armor from the right leg. The Ostscout's kick sends our mech to a knee with a damaged actuator. Isgrimnur runs over to intercept the Saladin, sparing an autocannon burst for the nearby Wolverine, and splatters the hovertank with a downward chop from the hatchet.

A couple of light autocannon rounds bounce off Akalon's sloped armor, but most of the firepower is directed against the convoy vehicles, while our mechwarrior engages a nearby Javelin with limited effect.

"Why you shooting at us guys, we're on your side!" comes the transmission from the convoy over the general frequency.

"Not any more." comes the reply.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon hops towards some wooded cover, blasting the enemy Javelin in the back with the Vulcan's lasers. One of the beams cuts through the rear torso armor and melts some engine shielding, sending the light mech's heat readings spiking into the bright red. The industrial mech he was trying to protect gets pounded though, dropping to a knee after taking multiple engine and gyro hits and losing both arms.

To the south, Drazzil struggles up and takes a rear armor breach as the Wolverine stays on him. Isgrimnur loses leg armor as well from attacks by the Ostscout while delivering multiple hatchet blows to the back of the Wolverine - it "blocks" one with its arm while losing armor and a heat sink to the second one.

Round 6:
[data feed damaged]
Akalon and AWS switch places - there's no room here for the Pixie to transform, so AWS reverts to standard Phoenix Hawk behavior. Akalon's lasers breach armor on a Scorpion tank, smoking its engine, while AWS fires lasers and machineguns at nearby tanks as well. The Phoenix Hawk's lasers cause heavy damage to a Hunter tank, while a nearby Vedette explodes after a couple of lucky MG rounds "interact" with a shell coming out of its main gun barrel.

Isgrimnur continues working on the Wolverine, blasting it with autocannon rounds then following up with a hatchet strike. This time, the 55-ton mech's right leg doesn't have enough armor to hold up against the impact and comes off.

To the north, Delta-Ranger lance arrives, with Archinerd getting the party started by disabling a Savannah Master using the Dervish's SRMs as it zips around.

The Ostscout disables a convoy APC. At this point, if we want to get enough of this convoy back to our base, we'll have to rout these guys.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The guy in the Wolverine doesn't do too well and knocks himself out trying (in vain) to get up. That leg's gone man, forget it. The Ostscout keeps going after Drazzil, our mechwarrior sweating as he's unable to get a bead on the nimble mech. Isgrimnur gets a good shot on it, though. The autocannon goes wide, but the Hatchetman's two lasers go straight to the center of mass, cracking engine shielding and the gyro. The Ostscout miraculously stays upright, but is in no position to continue its attacks.

Akalon jumps south to help out, picking off a Condor hovertank with the Vulcan's lasers. AWS, meanwhile, hops over a nearby Javelin's attempted punches and squashes the damaged Hunter tank with a well-placed kick.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon and AWS link up with Isgrimnur, Akalon blowing apart another Scorpion tank, then cracking the left leg on the Javelin as it threatens Isgrimnur's damaged right leg. Drazzil finally catches a break, using the time to blast a Vedette's armor open and further open the breach with a foot, pulling it out with bits of engine attached. It was a tough tank.

There's no putting the APC or the cargo mech back together, so we grab what cargo we can and load it on the other vehicles, while our salvage crew hauls the Wolverine back on a flatbed.

As Hawk's people predicted, the convoy turns out to have been carrying a bunch of experimental FedCom equipment. Hawk suggests that we can appropriate some of it for our use, of the parts that weren't blown up. "So what I want to do is bait these guys with some of their own goodies. My people found tracking devices on all these, so what I'm proposing is this: we use one of these prototypes as bait, leave the tracking device on and spring an ambush on anyone who comes after it. You guys can keep the other one, since this obviously places you at some extra risk."

The snub-nose PPC, in combination with a beagle probe and the double heat sinks we can pull off the Stinger LAM will allow us to upgrade AWS's Phoenix Hawk LAM to an HK1R, which is basically like the current model except instead of the large laser and standard heat sinks...

In general, the snub-nose PPC is a remarkably accurate PPC "shotgun", at least at short ranges (comparable to the maximum range of a medium laser). Not so much at medium at long ranges, but that's not the point. Of course, if we lose it, there's no replacing it.

The extended-range laser just has an upgraded cooling jacket and some kind of upgraded targeting software, so it shoots more accurately and generates a little less heat (although it's still an ER laser, so the heat-to-damage ratio is still through the roof, as the now-retired Xwraith III will tell you). Still irreplaceable if lost, but it's not *that* much better than a standard ER laser.

[] A Snub-Nose PPC
[] ER Large laser with upgraded cooling jacket (-1 heat)
[] Pass, we're not really up for serving as bait
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12665
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:34 pm [x] A Snub-Nose PPC
[] ER Large laser with upgraded cooling jacket (-1 heat)
[] Pass, we're not really up for serving as bait
Boomstick.
Post Reply