Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[Zenn7]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

This one looks like they used the new tech well, let's keep it as is.

[AWS260]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

Will this give us enough Phoenix Hawks to make an all-Pixie lance?

[El Guapo]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

This one looks like they used the new tech well, let's keep it as is.

Agree.

[NickAragua]

Will this give us enough Phoenix Hawks to make an all-Pixie lance?

Sure, but, for some reason, mechwarriors who drive the same model of mech don't get along when put in the same lance. Even different models of the same chassis is a little risky.

[$iljanus]

[x ] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies

I like that it's "factory ready"

[gbasden]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

Agreed.

[Leraje]

Will this give us enough Phoenix Hawks to make an all-Pixie lance?

Sure, but, for some reason, mechwarriors who drive the same model of mech don't get along when put in the same lance. Even different models of the same chassis is a little risky.

Only an All-Atlas lance works well.

[Zenn7]

Sure, but, for some reason, mechwarriors who drive the same model of mech don't get along when put in the same lance. Even different models of the same chassis is a little risky.

Only an All-Atlas lance works well.

An all Awesome lance might just work too. We had 2 Awesomes in a lance and they got along well.

[$iljanus]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

Will this give us enough Phoenix Hawks to make an all-Pixie lance?

The Pixie Chicks!

[gbasden]

[x] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, replace one of our existing Pixies
[] Buy Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D, strip it for parts
[] Pass

Will this give us enough Phoenix Hawks to make an all-Pixie lance?

The Pixie Chicks!

OK, I LOLd.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Buy the Phoenix Hawk

El Guapo, being our self-appointed mech-E-bay expert, doesn't waste any time mashing the 'buy' button. We also acquire ~30 tons of AMS ammo. The Phoenix Hawk goes into Gamma-Probe lance, replacing the Javelin. It's a lot more durable and provides a lot more firepower.

June 8, 3049
Abiola Corporation Maintenance Area
Zoetermeer, Federated Commonwealth

Our efforts to track down the mechs that attacked our Champion take a month or so, but eventually pay off. Looks like Gamma-Probe is going to get to try out its new Phoenix Hawk, while AWS should get to put the LAM's maneuverability to good use. The ambushing mechs were last tracked to a maintenance facility owned by a local corporate outfit, which refuses to provide their logs. Our liaison is a little bit miffed and clears our planned operation - Gamma-Probe will raid the facility and forcibly extract any data. Gamma-Command will stand by in case things get out of control.

Our liaison brings his Enforcer along for the ride to supervise and hopefully talk these corporate security guys down. Gamma-Probe and Gamma-Command are Akalon/Vulcan, Drazzil/Cronus, AWS/Phoenix Hawk LAM, Phoenix Hawk 3S, Scrub/Warhammer, Angel/Flashman, Cylus/Grasshopper and a Thunderbolt.

We pick a particularly cold day to do this, so that the tanks on guard duty are greatly slowed down. It's the usual assortment of hovercraft and light tracks, although there is a Rommel and an SRM Carrier we have to watch out for.


Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Lt. Zimmer to Abiola Corp. This is your last chance to give up the data, or we will take it by force."

"Negative Zimmer, we do not recognize your jurisdiction here."

"Fine. Overlords, you are cleared to engage any units that attack you or stand in your way."

It's not a terribly well-maintained corporate security force here, that's for sure. They do have a medium mech lance on site, however, so it won't be a complete walkover. Our newly-acquired Phoenix Hawk trains its lasers on a turret sticking out from the facility, hoping to take it out and make AWS' life a little easier as our LAM whooshes about two thirds of a kilometer in the span of ten seconds. The extended-range lasers make contact with the building, but not the turret.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Our brand new Phoenix Hawk fires at a distant Rommel tank, scoring two hits with its extended-range lasers, and then is engaged up close by a Pegasus hovertank. In about five seconds, it goes from being a brand new mech to brand new mech with a major engine shielding breach. Good job, numbnuts. Akalon frowns, attempting to stop the tank, but only manages to damage armor.

A Jenner moves past Drazzil's Cronus, sending a spread of SRMs and lasers at the liaison's Enforcer, which absorbs the damage and counters with its autocannon, stripping armor off the Jenner's left weapons mount. Drazzil blasts the one one on the right with the Cronus' laser, wrecking one of the 35-tonner's lasers and an actuator.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

AWS zips through the base, connecting to one of the servers in there with a "canned" hardware/software module designed specifically to hook up wirelessly and grab data off a server. The LAM takes a few SRMs but is otherwise untouched.

Akalon immobilizes the Pegasus that crippled our new Phoenix Hawk as the damaged mech jumps away, letting its double heat sinks easily handle the combination of engine damage and jump heat. No way, that would have happened with single heat sinks.

To the north, Drazzil and the Liaison continue engaging the Jenner and a pair of tanks, to little effect, although Drazzil does squash a Harasser as it zips around nearby trying to get a back shot.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The liaison's mech takes a few shots from an autocannon turret in the base, while our exchange of fire with the Jenner doesn't go to either side, although a Griffin joins the brawl.

Akalon avoids the Rommel's AC/20 fire and inflicts solid armor damage, though the tank remains intact.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Hey, guess what, it's snowing! Also, Gamma-Command shows up, as things have definitely gotten out of control. They cover our crippled Phoenix Hawk's retreat, then move to engage.

Long-range fire doesn't do much, although that Rommel tank is getting pretty beat up.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Jenner tries to get around the back of Scrub's Warhammer, but Cylus is on the job, cutting off the 35-tonner's damaged left weapons rack and scoring a large laser hit on the head. Scrub uses the break to blast through the Rommel's armor, putting it out of the fight.

AWS and Akalon busy themselves getting close enough to designated locations to have their data spikes run.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Drazzil's Cronus takes a bit of a beating and is knocked over, losing the right arm laser and an actuator. The liaison's Enforcer covers our mech a bit, immobilizing a Skulker tank as it fires its laser our way.

Cylus looks on with derision as the Jenner continues to try to harass our heavy lance. Swinging the Grasshopper's left arm around, our mechwarrior blows off the Jenner's other weapons mount, leaving it with just an SRM/4 launcher, then sidesteps, allowing the light mech to slip and fall over.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Akalon, having finished some data extraction, jumps north and fires the Vulcan's lasers into an SRM Carrier, which explodes as its ammo stores go up. This will let Gamma-Command push into the facility.

Drazzil continues fighting the Jenner, neither mech gaining an advantage, while Scrub blows the turret off the top of a building after it flames AWS' mech a little. Drazzil does take the moment to kick the engine out of a nearby Galleon tank. With the liaison disabling the SRM Scorpion that took Drazzil's laser out, that just leaves the Jenner.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Akalon takes the long way around the twenty-four SRM tube turret to spike the last designated location, while the command lance engages forces in the middle of the base.

Scrub hangs back, blowing the last of the Jenner's weapons systems off with the Warhammer's PPC. The persistent little mech calls it quits at this point and cedes the field.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

AWS finds a corner to transform into mech mode, then hops out and nails a Hunter tank with the snub-nose PPC. The left-side tread melts into the snow and the tank is immobilized.

To othe north, Scrub engages a Centurion, firing PPCs and medium range weapons at it. The end result is an armor breach on the lighter mech's left torso while it is unable to inflict meaningful damage in return, only hitting with a few LRMs.

Our liaison gets in trouble, whiffing a kick on a Vedette and falling over, the damage to the rear cracking open a pair of heat sinks.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Further bad news - the security guys appear to have gotten a few more tanks started up, adding a Manticore, a Pike, an SRM Carrier and a Bulldog to their lineup, all emerging from hangars near Scrub's Warhammer, who has to disengage from the Centurion to deal with the new problem. Her first target is the SRM Carrier, which isn't quick enough, and eats fire from pretty much all of the Warhammer's short range weapons, disappearing in an ammo explosion.

A matching ammo explosion happens in the middle of the base, where our Enforcer's ammo bin goes up after a couple of autocannon hits. Amusingly enough, the mech is still intact, but the automatic ejection system fired anyway. The mechwarrior survives the process, so we'll have to pick him and his mech up. A little too late, Angel levels the building housing the offending autocannon turret, while Cylus takes out a Saracen hovertank zipping around.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Scrub backs up into some trees and blows away a Bulldog tank with the Warhammer's short range weapons, while sending PPC blasts into the Centurion. The blue lightning breaches the 50 ton mech's center torso armor, cracking the engine shielding.

In the center of town, an LTV-4 hovertank, a Goblin, the hostile Wolverine and Griffin brawl with AWS' Phoenix Hawk LAM, Cylus' Grasshopper and Angel's Flashman. The Flashman takes some damage, but carves up the Goblin with its lasers, while AWS stomps the LTV-4 flat after it blasts armor off the Flashman with its PPC.

Our Thunderbolt to the south takes out a small laser turret while avoiding fire from a nearby Pegasus.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The Pike support vehicle explodes under Scrub's focus as the Centurion slips on the pavement and drops to the ground.

Drazzil's mech has multiple armor breaches, so Akalon orders him disengage. On his way out, the Cronus stomps through a Vedette's armor and destroys the engine.

The Wolverine gets in behind Angel's Flashman as our mechwarrior moves to scoop up the liaison, but Cylus is on the job, jumping in and bowling the hostile mech over.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Scrub breathes out as the Manticore falls apart under sustained fire and stops sending PPC blasts her way.

Cylus jumps north to keep the Grasshopper and Griffin under control, blowing off the Wolverine's right arm with a laser salvo.

Akalon is forced to disengage as well due to multiple armor breaches and a busted shoulder actuator, as there's still a substantial number of Vedettes and other tanks on the east side of the base.

At this point, we can either attempt to disengage, as we technically have the data we came for, or we can stick around and try to secure the area so we can recover the liaison's mech (and drop some of the crappy salvage into our employers' warehouses to build up our salvage credit for when there's something we actually want). Gamma-Probe lance is down to basically AWS' mech for combat-effective units, while Gamma-Command is still in the green and light yellow. The remaining hostiles are an armless Wolverine, a Griffin in the center with three Vedettes, a Maxim hover transport and a Goblin tank in the east. There's also an active 24-tube SRM turret that we'll want to stay clear of and forty LRM tubes that have been consistently peppering us with indirect-fire LRMs (not very effectively).

[] Disengage and retreat.
[] Continue fighting and secure the area.

[AWS260]

[] Disengage and retreat.
[x] Continue fighting and secure the area.

We came all the way here, might as well.

[Leraje]

[] Disengage and retreat.
[x] Continue fighting and secure the area.

We came all the way here, might as well.

Agreed.

[gbasden]

[] Disengage and retreat.
[x] Continue fighting and secure the area.

We came all the way here, might as well.

Agreed.

Might as well get some salvage.

[Zenn7]

[] Disengage and retreat.
[x] Continue fighting and secure the area.

We came all the way here, might as well.

Agreed.

Might as well get some salvage.

What a buncha crap you losers have. We'll take it (out from under you) and give it to our employer so we can get the good stuff if we ever find any.

[$iljanus]

[] Disengage and retreat.
[x] Continue fighting and secure the area.

We came all the way here, might as well.

Agreed.

Might as well get some salvage.

If we don't have a pressing engagement, why not?

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Secure the area - unanimous

Scrub looks at the pile of wrecked tanks surrounding her mech, and the Centurion slowly crawling away down the road to the north. She personally only took out the heavy tank lance and the Centurion, but still allows herself a satisfied smirk.

"Probe lance, hang back. Command lance, let's finish these guys up. I'll move around the north edge. Command-four, move around the south."

Round 15:

Spoiler:

The snow has gotten deep enough that AWS gets stuck after jumping the LAM to the east. But so do the Griffin and Wolverine, a mistake that Cylus and Angel exploit to force multiple armor breaches on the latter mech and knock it down to the ground.

To the northeast, Drazzil continues picking off tanks, absorbing a few indirect LRMs but lasering and stomping another Vedette, leaving it just the damaged Cronus against a Goblin tank and a squad of infantry toting a man-portable machine gun.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

Akalon jumps west next to the LRM turret, finishing off the building.

The Griffin moves to try to cover the Wolverine, but gets stuck, pummeled by AWS and Cylus. The mech has to take a knee to avoid faceplanting, at which point Cylus takes a second to crack one of its legs with a solid kick.

Round 17:

Spoiler:

The downed Griffin takes a shot at Cylus as our mechwarrior moves north to take care of some tanks - AWS replies by putting a couple of laser blasts through the cockpit. Cylus melts down a Vedette as it tries to slip past Scrub.

Round 18:

Spoiler:

Angel hammers the SRM turret, not quite destroying it, but inflicting some major damage on the building. That's our last major threat in the area, once we take it down, it's smooth sailing. The Wolverine stays down and we leave it alone for the moment.

Round 19:

Spoiler:

Angel backs up briefly from the barrage of SRMs, allowing Cylus to come in and finish the turret off. AWS jumps in to take Akalon's place, "manually" removing an MG turret from its mounting.

To the northeast, Drazzil finishes off the remaining Goblin - it's pretty easy for a mech to take out a lone tank, you just park yourself on top of it and start prying things off until it stops moving.

To the southwest, our Thunderbolt takes a surprising amount of damage from a nearby infantry platoon, but stomps a Vedette.

With their force now consisting of three damaged hovercraft and a tank against a heavy mech lance, the remainder of the corporate security people surrender. This allows us to get some haulers in to recover the liaison's Enforcer, as well as all the other stuff. The salvage, as predicted, is all crap, so we hand it all over to the Lyrans to do with as they will.

We'll get to work analyzing the data we recovered and see what we can dig up.

----

"The repairs cost how much?" Scrub asks, incredulously looking at the tech's report.

"Six hundred and forty thousand C-Bills." Akalon answers.

"Wow, those XL engines sure are something." Scrub responds, sighing. "Ok, stand your lance down for the week for repairs, draw a replacement mech while yours is in the shop."

Akalon shudders.

It's actually a pretty quick repair, but a single laser blast from a crappy hovertank caused over half a million C-Bills of damage to our newest Phoenix Hawk. Not a very impressive performance. Akalon's Vulcan is out of action for a couple of weeks as we have to ship in new arm actuators and rebuild the right arm from scratch more or less due to shoulder actuator damage. Gamma-Command's Thunderbolt took several internal hits - those infantry lucked out when the mech kept getting stuck in the snow with its back facing them and kept pouring on the machine gun fire.

Just as quickly, the snow melts and everything dries up. We also consider a subcontract offer from a two other merc groups operating on-planet. The back story is that it seems that Flegmann Industries has recently refused an acquisition bid from Sukarto Processing Inc. The Sukarto guys weren't too happy about it, so they brought in a bunch of mercs to shake Flegmann down, but the latter also brought in some mercs. The two sets of mercs and corporate security guys both sustained heavy casualties and want to bring in some fresh troops.

Which is where we come in. The terms for both contracts are pretty straight-forward - we'd detach two lances for up to five months to serve under merc command, until either the other side gives up or the five months is up (they don't say, but that's probably the extent of their budget). We're expecting to face a mixture of reasonably equipped "regulars" (other mercs) and "greens" (corporate security). Salvage is kind of awful at 10%, but the money is good - we're looking at a 44M C-Bill payout. They're also willing to let us use their facilities for refits. They're not quite factory-level facilities where we can replace a mech's internal structure, but still pretty good.

When we ask our liaison about it, he shrugs and informs us that as long as we avoid destroying their factories and maintain our force commitment to the main contract (which we'll be able to do with a lance to spare), none of the mercs or corporate security forces are considered critical to planetary defense. In otherwords, he doesn't really care one way or the other.

Details:
"House" command
Regular/C allies
Regular/D and Green/F hostiles
5 months contract duration, 2 lance commitment at all times
10% salvage
80% battle loss compensation
44M C-Bill expected profit

Sounds good. Both companies have access to factory facilities that we can use to carry out at least maintenance-class refits of our mechs on planet, rather than have to ship them off to Twycross or Rasalhague or wherever. There's not much practical difference between the two companies and their hired merc outfits, Sukarto is financially a little bit bigger, but apparently not big enough to just swallow Flegmann outright. Both make various low-level parts used in non-too-fancy military tech - tank treads, ICE engines, stabilizer systems, that sort of thing. Sukarto's got the edge in wheel manufacturing while Flegmann dabbles in laser lenses. Neither has any particularly good or bad reputation, either for product quality, treatment of customers or their workers. Obviously, we won't be able to take both contract offers.

[] Take the subcontract - Sukarto
[] Take the subcontract - Flegmann
[] Pass

[Leraje]

I'd say pass, house command is usually a mess. But if we really had to pick one I'd opt for Flegmann - decent relations with them may be useful in case we decide to reactivate ML plant at some point and use them as a source for lenses.

[gbasden]

I'd say pass, house command is usually a mess. But if we really had to pick one I'd opt for Flegmann - decent relations with them may be useful in case we decide to reactivate ML plant at some point and use them as a source for lenses.

Excellent point.

[Zenn7]

I'd say pass, house command is usually a mess. But if we really had to pick one I'd opt for Flegmann - decent relations with them may be useful in case we decide to reactivate ML plant at some point and use them as a source for lenses.

Excellent point.

I'm in favor of taking one (what else we gonna do while we're here???). Leraje makes a great case for Flegmann, so I'd say that one.

[$iljanus]

I'd say pass, house command is usually a mess. But if we really had to pick one I'd opt for Flegmann - decent relations with them may be useful in case we decide to reactivate ML plant at some point and use them as a source for lenses.

Excellent point.

I'm in favor of taking one (what else we gonna do while we're here???). Leraje makes a great case for Flegmann, so I'd say that one.

I'm good with this decision.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Pass - 4
Flegmann - 4

Nobody in our command staff is terribly enthused about taking on a contract with just 10% salvage. However, since we don't have to pay extra travel costs or personnel salaries, it's basically free money. Other than the part where we have to put our lives and equipment at risk. Plus, as some have pointed out, we can use our contacts with Flegmann to help us out if we decide to repair and reactivate the laser factory back at the Octagon.

On our end, it seems that our little data-steal has stirred up a bee-hive. Isgrimnur's Alpha-Urban lance spots a company of light and light-medium mechs, backed up by the usual assortment of light hovercraft and Vedettes, heading towards our landing zone. While this group has very little chance of actually causing any damage, it will be annoying to have them get any kind of sensor data on what we've got. After they refuse to halt their progress, Alpha-Urban lance engages. We've got the upgraded BattleAxe, Isgrimnur's Hatchetman is back from its Twycross refit, Hyena's Grasshopper is ready to go, as is Paingod's Merlin.

Isgrimnur has his supporting infantry retreat. The composition of the enemy force features a disproportionate number of anti-personnel weapons, so putting infantry into this fight would be pretty suicidal. Our lance commander also calls for backup - Cujo's Alpha-Ranger lance is on the way, with Cujo's Wolverine, Bass in a Griffin, Stefan in a Trebuchet, plus an Ostroc.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our interception takes place in some woods - we exchange long-range fire, but to no effect.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Our BattleAxe has yet to test its XL engine upgrade in the field, but now's the time. The mechwarrior fires both PPCs at an approaching Saladin, blasting it to bits and causing its AC/20 round to go wide.

Isgrimnur's Hatchetman is buffeted by SRMs from a nearby Pegasus and thus misses its shots on the other Saladin.

An Assassin jumps in in front of Paingod's Merlin, distracting our mechwarrior from its original target, but takes some major damage to its right leg and is tripped up.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Alpha-Ranger arrives to the south, aiming to keep any units that got past Alpha-Urban from getting any further.

The knocked-down Assassin tries to get up, but fumbles, faceplanting on the ground. To add insult to injury, it sprays coolant fluid all over the place. Paingod leaves the stricken mech for now, coming after a Saracen to the east.

Isgrimnur jumps in next to a Wasp, swinging the hatchet and taking off the left half of the bug mech. Hyena is in that melee as well, cracking a nearby Jenner's leg, sending the smaller mech flopping to the ground. It's not quite as spectacular as what Isgrimnur did, but accomplishes the same goal.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Paingod's Merlin gets pounded by SRMs, the damage staggering the mech and causing our mechwarrior to miss most of his shots.

To the west, our BattleAxe crunches through a Saladin's thin armor, and the hovertank reconsiders trying to push through.

Isgrimnur chases after a Scorpion mech, cracking multiple actuators on its front right leg with the hatchet. The quad takes a "knee", despite the increased stability afforded to it by the four legs.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur, feeling he can catch up to the Scorpion later, hops over behind the Dervish as it splashes down in a nearby pond. Thumbing the LBX autocannon over to slug ammo, he lets a slug fly, hitting the mech directly in the back of the torso. The round basically shreds the gyro, sending the mech toppling into the water, where the engine floods and the mech shuts down.

The Scorpion tank doesn't get too far, taking fire from Paingod as well as a few mechs from Alpha-Ranger, and is knocked down to the ground again.

Our BattleAxe is performing pretty well, putting the Artemis targeting system to work disabling a Pegasus hovertank with a salvo of SRMs (helped by a PPC shot).

Hyena takes a bunch of SRMs and autocannon rounds, but the Grasshopper's armor holds up, and our mechwarrior takes the turret off one of the offending Vedettes, while smashing the treads on another.

To the south, a Cicada and a Locust try to break past Alpha-Ranger. Stefan is on the Cicada, damaging its right side and causing an armor breach with the Trebuchet's lasers. This slows the enemy mech down enough that our Ostroc can catch up to it and leg it. Cujo uses the Wolverine's lasers, followed by a kick to blow the right leg of a Wasp trying to get by as well.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur chases after the Scorpion tank, firing another slug from the LBX autocannon into it. Combined with previous damage, the armor is breached, and the engine shielding cracks, releasing a cloud of steam. He swats the nearby Scimitar's autocannon aside with a swipe of the hatchet before crushing it, then watches a couple of laser blasts from Paingod's Merlin come from behind, detonating the Scorpion's ammo bin.

Hyena moves to block the remaining Vedettes from following their buddies to the south, stomping on a Scimitar to create an impromptu roadblock.

The Vedettes give it up, along with the Assassin, which staggers up and limps off the field. The Crab obligingly follows. In the end, three bug mechs get past our blockade, but by that point, we've scrambled Alpha-Heavy to intercept and they don't get close enough to our landing zone to get any meaningful sensor data. Damage to our forces is minimal, just armor and ammo expenditure.

So, we've got to decide which company (minus their air support) to detach for sub-contract duty. The opposition is expected to be corporate security and battle-worn mercs, and we expect to be doing a mixture of rapid attack and defensive missions. Realistically speaking, we'll also be able to pull in air support from our main force, since we're on the same planet and aerospace fighters are, well, pretty fast.

[] Alpha Company - Mixed mech company - heavy/assault lance, ranger (heavy recon) lance, heavy urban lance
[] Beta Company - Heavy mech company - assault lance, 2x heavy lance
[] Gamma Company - Mixed mech company - command lance, medium lance, probe (recon) lance
[] Delta Company - Medium mech company - 2x heavy recon lance, 1x recon lance

Current TO&E (finally got around to updating the roster):

Spoiler:

Alpha Company
Command company

Heavy Lance
Elite
Lt. JG Patrick "El Guapo II" Allain - Marauder MAD-3R (upgraded)
Cpl Emyflor "Fury" Hovakimian - Grand Dragon DRG-1G (modified)
Pvt Wayne "Thud II" McIlwraith - Awesome AWS-8Q (upgraded)
Pvt Holly "Bully" van Aalst - Thug THG-11E (modified)

Battle Lance
Veteran
Cpt Zofia "Cujo" Cubo - Wolverine WVR-6M
PFC Ben "Stefan IV" Kalkman - Trebuchet TBT-5J
PFC Tomoyuiki "Bass III" Owen - Griffin GRF-1S
Pvt Yuki Sato - Ostroc OSR-2M

Urban Combat Lance
Veteran
Lt. JG An "Isgrimnur" Tallib - Hatchetman HCT-3F (upgraded)
Lt. JG Ragnhild "Paingod II" bin Najm al Din - Merlin MLN-1A
Cpl Zea-Chin "Hyena II" Coa - Grasshopper GHR-5N
Pvt Phung Phong - BattleAxe BKX-7K (upgraded)

Strike Squadron
Veteran
Lt Matthias Baune - Shilone SL-17
Sp Charlie Schaefer - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)
Sp Loc Do - Shilone SL-17


Beta Company
The heavy metal

Assault Lance
Elite
Cpt Yu-Bao "Zenn7" Ting - Awesome AWS-8Q
Cpl Omer "Siljanus II" Nanji - Mackie MSK-8B (upgraded)
Cpl Daniel "Moley II" Adepapo - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Pvt Ratan "LordMortis" Suryanarayama - Victor VTR-9B (upgraded)
Pvt. Ambjorn Li - Coolant Truck 135-K

Hunter Lance
Veteran
Lt. JG Demesu "Leraje" Jafar - Guillotine GLT-4L
Lt. JG Cynthia Samways - Archer ARC-2R (modified)
Pvt Karla "Wolf" Mellum - Warhammer WHM-6R (upgraded)
Pvt Frederick "Xwraith" Hakim - Catapult CPLT-C1
PFC Zenobio Akrivopoulos - Zephyr Hovertank (Royal)

Fire Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Elizabeth Bolam - Cyclops CP-10-Q
Pvt Dermott Snow - Grasshopper GHR-5N
Pvt Allen Nattore - Stalker STK-3F
Pvt Tessa Eng - Crusader CRD-3L (upgraded)

Strike Squadron
Regular
Ens Lurdes Tarquini - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)
PO1 Flawiusz Drzewucki - Chippewa CHP-W7
Sp Kathryne Bangash - Gotha GTHA-400 (upgraded)

Gamma Company
General Purpose
Command Lance
Elite
Cpt Zanthe "Scrub" Pappathanassiou - Warhammer WHM-6Rb
Lt. JG Evdokiy "Angel" Mahaev - Flashman FLS-7K (modified)
Cpl Varada "Cylus" Sunondo - Grasshopper GHR-5H
Cpl Lynn Zeng - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE (upgraded)

Striker Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Ramon Vazquez - Griffin GRF-1N
Cpl. Loren Burgess - Champion CHP-2N (modified)
Pfc. Bhadrasrenya Jannavi - Hunchback HBK-4G
Pvt. Catriona Dellas - Crusader CRD-3L (modified)

Probe Lance
Regular
Lt. JG Bernard "Drazzil II" Barreau - Cronus CNS-3M
Pvt Nara "AWS II" Cutillar - Phoenix Hawk LAM PHX-HK1R
Pvt Nicolas "Akalon" Dvorak - Vulcan VL-5T (modified)
Pvt Bonie Khachaturian - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D

Strike Squadron
Veteran
Ens Leslie Leshtchenko - Lightning LTN-G15 (upgraded)
Sp Aneko Kiyomizu - Eagle EGL-R9 (upgraded)
Sp Ragna Ruff - Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded)

Delta Company
Recon

Ranger Lance
Elite
Captain Shi-Wen "Madmarcus" Xu - Wolverine WVR-6M
Pvt Mariana Connibeer - Exterminator EXT-4A (upgraded)
Pvt Shinko "Freyland III" Hauli - Cronus CNS-3M
PFC Nori "Archinerd" Goto - Dervish DV-6M (upgraded)

Sweep Lance
Veteran
Lt. Bettina Bosse - Ostroc OSR-2M
PFC Sixten Wisth - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1 (modified)
PFC Tom Chagares - Griffin GRF-1S
PFC Gregory Molnes - Cronus CNS-3M

Recon Lance
Regular
Lt JG Lindy Gonzales - Firestarter FS9-H (modified)
Pvt Anne Kolettis - Assassin ASN-21
Pvt Jennifer Valdez - Ostscout OTT-7J
Pvt Jesper Myhra - Firestarter FS9-K (modified)

Interceptor Squadron
Veteran
Ensign Dave Malavika - Sparrowhawk SPR-H5
Spc Lenka Modry - Sholagar SL-21
Spc Blanch Henry - Sparrowhawk SPR-H5

Epsilon Company
Expansion Group

First Lance
Cpt. Britt Moring - Warhammer WHM-6K (Olesko)
Pvt Erika Schliefen - Catapult CPLT-C1
Pvt Dermott Lindsey - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Pvt Tiara Durrani - Rifleman RFL-3C

Second Lance
Lt JG Kung-zheng Dotto - Sentinel STN-3L
Cpl Muhend Kiplagat - Wyvern WVE-6N (modified)
Pvt Zina Ochieng - Griffin GRF-1S
Pvt Elizabeth Morris - Hunchback HBK-4G

Assault Lance
Lt. Jg Chris Stallon - Stalker STK-3H
Cpl Admes Mercouri - Longbow LBG-7Q
Pvt Neva Orga - Warhammer WHM-6R (upgraded)
Pvt Suljo Djukanovic - Atlas AS7-WGS (Samsonov)

Air Squadron
Lt. Sabeer Rahman - Vulcan VLC-5N
Sp Norimi Shini - Thunderbird TRB-D36
Sp Corban Christakos - Lucifer LCF-R20 (upgraded)

Search and rescue team:
SRM jump infantry squad, with Ferret Scout VTOL for transport
Warrior H-7C
Ostscout OTT-7J

Space Assets
Invader-class Jumpship
Escorted by Lucifer LCF-R15 (upgraded), 2x Shilone SL-17 and 1x Sparrowhawk SPR-H5
"Moonraker" - Union-class Dropship
"Sparrow" - Union-class Dropship
Seeker-class Dropship
Overlord-class Dropship
Jumbo-class Dropship


Additional Ground Assets
4x Long Tom Artillery
Gyroslug Rifle / Support Laser infantry platoon, with Maxim (SRM4) hover transport
LRM jump infantry platoon, with Maxim (SRM4) hover transport
AC/10 Field Gunners (mechanized transport)

[Leraje]

[] Alpha Company - Mixed mech company - heavy/assault lance, ranger (heavy recon) lance, heavy urban lance
[] Beta Company - Heavy mech company - assault lance, 2x heavy lance
[x] Gamma Company - Mixed mech company - command lance, medium lance, probe (recon) lance
[] Delta Company - Medium mech company - 2x heavy recon lance, 1x recon lance

Gamma seems like the best mix for a detached deployment within given parameters, followed by Delta.

[AWS260]

[] Alpha Company - Mixed mech company - heavy/assault lance, ranger (heavy recon) lance, heavy urban lance
[] Beta Company - Heavy mech company - assault lance, 2x heavy lance
[x] Gamma Company - Mixed mech company - command lance, medium lance, probe (recon) lance
[] Delta Company - Medium mech company - 2x heavy recon lance, 1x recon lance

Gamma seems like the best mix for a detached deployment within given parameters, followed by Delta.

Agree.

[Zenn7]

[] Alpha Company - Mixed mech company - heavy/assault lance, ranger (heavy recon) lance, heavy urban lance
[] Beta Company - Heavy mech company - assault lance, 2x heavy lance
[x] Gamma Company - Mixed mech company - command lance, medium lance, probe (recon) lance
[] Delta Company - Medium mech company - 2x heavy recon lance, 1x recon lance

Gamma seems like the best mix for a detached deployment within given parameters, followed by Delta.

Agree.

I always favor Gamma when mixed company is called for. They have the light recon, heavy hitters and medium in-betweeners to do it all.

[$iljanus]

[] Alpha Company - Mixed mech company - heavy/assault lance, ranger (heavy recon) lance, heavy urban lance
[] Beta Company - Heavy mech company - assault lance, 2x heavy lance
[x] Gamma Company - Mixed mech company - command lance, medium lance, probe (recon) lance
[] Delta Company - Medium mech company - 2x heavy recon lance, 1x recon lance

Gamma seems like the best mix for a detached deployment within given parameters, followed by Delta.

Agree.

I always favor Gamma when mixed company is called for. They have the light recon, heavy hitters and medium in-betweeners to do it all.

Gamma seems like a good fit.

[Isgrimnur]

June 8, 3049

Lt. JG An "Isgrimnur" Tallib - Hatchetman HCT-3F (upgraded)

:drools over the rumored 5S specs:

[El Guapo]

June 8, 3049

Lt. JG An "Isgrimnur" Tallib - Hatchetman HCT-3F (upgraded)

:drools over the rumored 5S specs:

Can we just skip straight to the variant that's just a bunch of hatchets taped together with a cockpit and some jumpjets?

[Isgrimnur]

I like the way you think.

[AWS260]

Have you seen the Gloomhaven character Hatchet? A hatchet in each hand, about 8 more strapped to his legs and torso, and a quiver on his back full of hatchets. A hatchet quiver. Did I mention that his name is Hatchet?

[Isgrimnur]

[Freyland]

Based on the crazy way he is standing, he must really have a lot of hatchets.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Delta Company - 1
Gamma Company - 4

"All right, Captain. Things seem pretty quiet for us here, so I'm taking Gamma Company, and we're going to mop up some corporate security and mercs." Scrub tells Zenn7. "Have someone stay on the horn in case we need air support."

June 14, 3049
Corporate Data Center
Zoetermeer

While Gamma Company moves to the staging area used by the Flegmann mercs (taking a ride on the Moonraker), we continue tracking down the guys who tried to ambush our Champion. Interrogation of the personnel captured in the recent recon breakthrough attempt combined with data recovered from the previous data run leads us to another facility.

The Shadow Hawk that ambushed our Champion is there. Along with three other medium mech buddies and a lance of tanks, supported by five turrets. Delta-Ranger lance is assigned to seize the facility, bringing along Delta-Sweep for backup. The liaison's Enforcer is back up and running - all it took apparently was three tech teams working around the clock on it for four days straight - re-build the side torso section, re-attach the arm, new ammo bin.

None of the mechwarriors in Delta-Ranger are impressed with the relatively slow mech, but, if he wants to help, we're not going to stop him. Our goal here is to capture the Shadow Hawk and the facility. Figure out who hired him and why. As usual, our liaison asks them to give up peacefully, and they do not, so the shooting starts.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Freyland runs his Cronus forward and engages a Phoenix Hawk, avoiding some rockets from a nearby turret and sparing a second to blast an LRM assembly off the nearby building. Our liaison, meanwhile, eats a bunch of rockets and LRMs, but keeps his Enforcer upright. Other than a few laser hits, we don't see too much damage from either side.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Madmarcus and Freyland both jump into the facility as the target Shadow Hawk steps up onto a building. Madmarcus shoots at some of the building supports, sending the fellow 55-ton mech to the ground as the structure collapses underneath it. Our Wolverine takes some damage from the nearby triple SRM turret as well as a Trebuchet that runs in, but Freyland attracts the latter's attention with major leg armor damage before it does too much damage.

The Phoenix Hawk that Freyland briefly passed comes after Archinerd's Dervish. Our mech is far from helpless at short range, but is still at a bit of a disadvantage there. The two mechs exchange lasers and SRMs, with both taking minor armor damage.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Delta-Sweep deploys to the north, just in case anyone thinks about running that way.

Archinerd wins the duel against the Phoenix Hawk, stepping around the lighter mech and cracking through its right leg armor to damage the hip joint. The enemy mech remains upright, but, with hip damage, it's basically all over.

Our Exterminator gets its first mission kill, breaching a Vedette's armor and causing major motive damage.

Madmarcus continues engaging the Trebuchet, while Freyland keeps working on the Shadow Hawk, the two mechs exchanging stripped armor.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

As Delta-Sweep makes it into town, the situation devolves into a general melee.

And just as quickly, the melee more or less ends. Madmarcus finishes off the Trebuchet by melting through its right leg with lasers, Freyland disables a Saracen hovertank, while Archinerd finishes off his Phoenix Hawk opponent for good, drilling through the mech's left torso with the Dervish's lasers and blowing the same side arm off with SRMs.

The target Shadow Hawk get sandwiched between our liaison and Delta-Sweep's Griffin, knocked over with lec actuator damage, while the other Phoenix Hawk is bowled over by Delta-Sweep's Cronus.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The remaining Phoenix Hawk and target Shadow Hawk attempt to flee. Madmarcus prevents the Pixie from doing so by sawing off its right leg with SRMs, and blasting away most of its engine shielding via center torso armor breach.

Freyland, meanwhile, blasts a leg actuator off the Shadow Hawk, forcing it to the ground again, where the mechwarrior chooses to remain, being surrounded by two lances of pretty much intact mechs.

Delta-Ranger's Exterminator blows away the Maxim that's trying to get away as well.

The only "combat-effective" objects remaining on the field are an infantry platoon cowering in a building and the triple SRM turret that's currently spinning out of control after a couple of good laser blasts. Once the hostiles catch on, we cease fire and call in the salvage crews to fill the Steiner warehouses. So far, we've been credited with hauling in ~20M worth of salvage, which means we'd be eligible to grab ~4M worth of stuff if we wanted to. But there's nothing particularly exciting, so we'll keep building up salvage credit for now.

"I think we did better this time." Freyland comments to the liaison, noting that the man's mech is intact this time.

The damage to our units is armor only. There's a little internal damage to one of the Exterminator's arms, but otherwise it performed pretty well. We'll see what shakes out from the interrogations and data analysis, where those other two assholes went and what they wanted.

------

"So what's the situation?" Scrub asks the Flegmann merc commander, one Jonas Sandsmark of Sandsmark's Sanders Ltd.

"Well, we've got a couple of factories under our control, they've got a couple of factories under their control. After we first clashed, both of us took a lot of damage. We've been running skirmishes, seeing if we can't pull some of their units out of position, but they never take the bait. And we can't bring our slower units in, because of this."

The man wrinkles his nose and points to a point on a map at a crossroads.

"They've got an artillery battery that they move through this place occasionally. I want those units disabled or destroyed. They've also got some mechs and trucks the use to haul ammo around for them. Take it out, too."

Scrub nods.

"What about any escorts? And got any backup for us?"

Sandsmark sniffs. "They've got two light mech lances and two lances of light armor. Don't care about them. No backup, sorry. Unless... " the guy's eyes light up.

Scrub raises an eyebrow.

"... well, I know your people have other forces on planet. If you can second some aerospace units to us while they're gone, we can put our artillery battery at your disposal."

Scrub thinks about it. There are basically three options here - one, we take the artillery support. When we engage the hostile artillery, they'll be pretty distracted and probably won't be able to do much counter-battery fire, so that'll be pretty useful. The downside is that damage to the town indicated is unlikely to please our main employer, as it's on "the list". Using our own artillery is out of the question for two reasons - one, it's a quarter of the way across the planet and two, it's all Long Toms, which are great if we want to completely level the place, but not so great otherwise.

We could also simply send in our aerospace units as backup, but, using bombs will be pretty risky, we'll have to limit ourselves to HE ordnance and direct weapons fire to avoid excessive damage and setting the place on fire.

Alternately, we could simply commit two lances to the operation. This avoids too much risk to the facility, but we'll have to fight our way to the artillery pieces while being shelled.

[] Take the employer's artillery support
[] Send our own aerospace units as backup
[] Send a second mech lance as backup

[Zenn7]

[] Take the employer's artillery support
[x] Send our own aerospace units as backup
[] Send a second mech lance as backup

Charging their artillery with ground based units sounds... unappealing. Their help sounds... useless.

[Leraje]

[] Take the employer's artillery support
[x] Send our own aerospace units as backup
[] Send a second mech lance as backup

Charging their artillery with ground based units sounds... unappealing. Their help sounds... useless.

Agreed. We've had pretty bad experience charging arty pieces before.

[$iljanus]

[x] Send our own aerospace units as backup

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Use our own air support - almost unanimous

Scrub thinks about it for a little bit. Given our normal experience with "third-party" artillery support, she decides that we'll handle the situation ourselves.

"Lt. Dvorak, take your lance and put that artillery battery and their supply train down. We'll have air support with HE bombs to help you out."

"Understood." Akalon replies, looking forward to trying out the Wolfhound. Gamma-Probe lance is rounded out with Drazzil in a Cronus, AWS in the LAM and the upgraded Phoenix Hawk getting a second chance at the action.

Drazzil chuckles as the upgraded Pixie marches out of the hangar. "Try not to get your engine blown out by a random hovertank this time, the extra heat doesn't really help operate your mech." The mechwarrior offers some helpful advice.

"Yeah, yeah, bite me." comes the response.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Is that... an assault mech?" Drazzil asks, spotting it in mid-jump.

"Confirmed." Akalon reports. "Banshee, so you'll be fine. Just don't get too close."

Our mechwarrior ducks behind a building as a Saladin hovertank zips out from cover and blasts away at the Wolfhound with its AC/20. Apparently it wasn't a very well-maintained Saladin, because it just plain blows up. A hostile merc Panther hops up onto a building ahead.

While our rules of engagement technically call for us *not* to damage the facility, this one's just too tempting - Akalon fires up the Wolfhound's chest lasers and takes a few chunks out of the building as the enemy mech lands. It slips and crashes through the roof, at which point the structure explodes outwards, scattering corrugated metal sheets flying every which way.

Akalon cringes, comforting himself with the thought that probably nobody was keeping anything too expensive in a structure made of corrugated metal sheets.

A substantial number of LRMs comes our way, but they don't inflict any meaningful damage.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Taking light damage from artillery." our Phoenix Hawk reports.

"Got one of them." Drazzil counters. "Taking heavy LRM fire."

Round 3:

Spoiler:

"Probe-Three, artillery disabled." AWS reports.

The upgraded Phoenix Hawk puts its AMS system to work, shooting down a few LRMs from a salvo - way many more come in that the system can stop, but better use some extra ammo than have to take armor or structure damage.

A hostile Phoenix Hawk engages Akalon, the two mechs exchanging lasers. Akalon loses a bit of leg armor, while scoring a hit to the hostile mech's dome.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Our air support arrives.

Akalon wonders where that Banshee is going, but is too busy to follow up, having to engage one of his targets as well as two escort mechs. A well-placed laser from the Wolfhound's chest-mounted cluster blasts through the target's internal combustion engine, shutting it down for good. Or at least for quite a few days.

AWS runs south, where an escaping mech carrying cargo for the artillery is trying to make its way around the woods. Good luck carrying said cargo when missing both arms and more than half of the torso. Our mechwarrior shrugs and leaves the crippled husk struggling on the ground, moving north to back the rest of the lance up.

Our Lightning fighter reports destroying a truck trying to circle around the woods to the north, while the Eagle flies through a cloud of LRMs and drops a good number of bombs on a Long Tom artillery piece. It's still technically intact, but not going anywhere for a while.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

A tank and a light mech get behind our upgraded Phoenix Hawk, but the aero jock in the Lightning figures out which part of the toast has the butter on it and drops the rest of his HE bombs right on those two, blowing them away, leaving our Pixie free to disable the remaining Thumper artillery piece.

Our Eagle makes a pass on a Maxim hover transport, blowing the hovercraft to bits with its remaining bombs.

Akalon takes some damage from a Locust that chases him down, losing a little more leg armor (concerning but not fatal), swinging the right arm laser around and blasting the smaller mech to discourage pursuit.

That's all the artillery and logistics vehicles gone. The Banshee has thankfully made its way off the field for whatever reason. Our mechwarriors now need to figure out what to do next, basically three options - secure this area for our salvage crews, track down where the Banshee is going or call it a day and head back to base. The first option is good for our wallet, letting us build up some salvage credit with the mercs, but risks damage to our mechs and the facility. The second option is good for our curiosity, but will delay repairs to our mechs while they're in the field tracking down random "recon" assault mechs. The third option is the classic "just do what we're being paid to do". Currently, everyone is in the green and yellow for armor, although our aerospace fighters have used up all their bombs.

update: the artillery pieces are disabled, but not destroyed so could theoretically be reactivated. But their ammo supply is gone, so all they have is the ammo they're carrying on board.

[] Secure the area
[] Follow the Banshee
[] Return to base

[Leraje]

[] Secure the area
[] Follow the Banshee
[x] Return to base

Turn artillery wrecks to slag to ensure that they are not salvageable and return to base.

[AWS260]

[] Secure the area
[x] Follow the Banshee
[] Return to base

I believe the popular saying is "Curiosity rewards the cat." Or "The curious cat will surely receives riches and definitely not be killed." Something like that.

[Zenn7]

[] Secure the area
[] Follow the Banshee
[x] Return to base

Turn artillery wrecks to slag to ensure that they are not salvageable and return to base.

Definitely slag the artillery. Not sure if that's the "secure the area" option or if we can do that and return to base? If we can finish off arty and return to base, that's my vote. If we have to secure the area to take the arty out, secure the area.