Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

Post Reply
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Graham IV + Sakhalin |||||
Genoa + Graham IV |
Just Sakhalin |
In the end, the majority of the command staff feel that we can go to work on Sakhalin.

Delta-Sweep and Delta-Recon lances get put on the Sparrow, along with a pair of aerospace fighters and four hovertanks that we stuff into the Sparrow's extra mech bays. The Union-class dropship and those two lances are headed to Graham IV to help some Kuritans rustle up Star League tech.

The rest of us load up and head for Sakhalin. Most of the trip passes without incident.

---

From: ybting@octopusoverlords.localnode.mercnet
To: All Company

Another reminder to everybody to perform better vetting regarding people claiming to be selling Star League era technology. Even though it's a little more likely than it was twenty five years ago, there are still a lot of scammers out there. The relevant individuals' pay will be docked appropriately.

-CO

---

Our arrival and landing on Sakhalin is uncontested - we're just a bunch of uncharacteristically heavily armed merchants looking to pick up some ore from the surface. Our dropships scatter upon arrival, hitting atmo pretty quick. We make contact with the Capellan-backed mercs as well, so we're ready to go. Just need to find exactly where our target installations are.

October 9, 3052
Target Alpha One
Ambient Temperature: 4C

Alpha company deploys on board the Moonraker, with our Seeker providing backup. Alpha-Ranger lance locates and draws away most of the forces guarding out closest target, leaving Alpha-Urban lance facing just two lances of mechs - a heavy and a medium. Alpha-Urban is led by Moley, driving a "downgraded" Summoner. The Lieutenant is backed up by Hyena driving a Warhammer 7S, Moneyshot driving a Hunchback 5M and a fourth mechwarrior driving a Caesar.

This will be a pretty good demonstration of clan and star league tech against "standard" tech for sure. The battlefield is completely flat, although it's covered with dry scrubs which are highly susceptible to being set on fire. Thus, if we need cover, we can create it.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"For shit's sake, this crap is going to give me a seizure." Moneyshot comments upon engaging the enemy.

"Right." Moley orders. "Four, break west, then engage enemy flank. Everyone else, with me."

'Long-range' fire erupts from both forces - our Caesar pings a gauss slug off the leading enemy Archer's left arm, while Hyena absorbs a few LRMs. Moley's extended-range PPC melts some armor off the same Archer's right leg while his LBX autocannon scatters pellets across the enemy heavy.

Hyena targets a PPC at a more distant Orion while sending a couple of streak SRMs at the Archer as well. Still, a large amount of our ordnance misses, and nobody's particularly happy.

"Ugh, you're not kidding." Moley comments. "Anybody have better luck with night-vision mode?"

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Moneyshot dodges multiple lasers from an approaching Wolfhound and ducks into the nearby scrubs to avoid an SRM salvo from its buddy Javelin - this forces our mechwarrior to whiff with the Hunchback's AC/20, but he does burn some armor off the Wolfhound's left torso with a laser.

Hyena's mech beeps, informing him that the extended-range PPC in the right arm has been disabled - autocannon rounds from a Rifleman in the back of the enemy formation are the culprit. The nearby Archer hunkers down slightly, launching its LRMs as well.

"Slag. Off." Our mechwarrior says through gritted teeth, firing the other PPC and some streak SRMs at the enemy missile boat. The PPC shot burns through the fellow 70-tonner's right torso, detonating an ammo bin and scattering mech parts across the scrubland.

Moley pulls ahead of the pack a little, the Summoner's advanced technology making a pretty big mobility difference - an AC/20-equipped Centurion's right arm has all its armor burned off by a PPC from the Summoner.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The AC/20 Centurion keeps pressuring our lance, attracting Hyena's attention - our mechwarrior unleashes the Warhammer's short-range weaponry and the remaining functional PPC, frying the damaged right arm. Our Caesar joins in the party, putting a gauss slug through one of the Centurion's ammo bins, annihilating it, setting off several secondary explosions.

A Rifleman continues pelting Hyena's mech with long-range autocannon fire, the Warhammer's right arm going limp under the onslaught. Moley targets the 60-ton mech, stripping off a significant amount of armor with the Summoner's weapons.

To the west, Moneyshot continues engaging the Wolfhound and Javelin, the two sets of mechs exchanging lasers inconclusively. Still, our mechwarrior sidesteps the Javelin pilot's clumsy attack, tripping the 30-tonner and forcing it to the ground.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Rifleman buckles as Hyena and the Caesar focus fire on it, a gauss slug from the Caesar breaching armor and cracking the gyro housing. Moley, meanwhile, jumps in to engage another Centurion, this one more laser-equipped (CN9-AL model).

Moneyshot circles the Javelin, whose mechwarrior manages to avoid the Hunchback's autocannon but not the lasers, losing armor on an arm and a leg, the mech smoking from the received damage.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Hot hot hot." Hyena mouths, running the Warhammer out of the flames started by incoming laser fire.

That doesn't dissuade our mechwarrior from blasting a hole through the Rifleman's center torso though, causing the mech to simply fall over, although not before it gets one last laser blast through our Warhammer's right torso to blow out a heat sink.

Moley continues running circles around the Centurion, blasting off armor with the PPC and LBX autocannon, while Moneyshot fries the Javelin's right arm with lasers and steps on the back of its right leg, ripping off the remaining armor and dropping the mech to the ground again.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The right torso of Hyena's Warhammer flashes red then black as autocannon rounds from the Orion hammer away at it - our mech's counterfire causes some armor damage but doesn't penetrate the 75-ton mech's protection. The nearby Centurion eats a gauss round and a PPC blast from our Caesar, while Moley shears most of the left torso armor off the Orion.

To the west, the Wolfhound gets the drop on Moneyshot as our mechwarrior concentrates on the Javelin, causing an armor breach on a rear torso section.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Caesar and the Orion circle dance around each other, the Orion's LRM rack crumpling as a gauss round impacts it. This leaves Moley's Summoner free to give it a good lashing from its LRM launcher - one of the missiles connects with the Orion's SRM magazine, destroying the mech.

Hyena begins pulling back to the east, intending to disengage, but, in doing so, gets a parting shot at the Centurion, which loses its right torso and arm to the Warhammer's trusty remaining PPC.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Hyena and the Centurion "agree to disagree" and both disengage, going their separate ways. The Phoenix Hawk engages Moley's Summoner, while our Caesar moves to back up Moneyshot, engaging the Javelin.

A lot more fires are started in the dry shrubbery, but no critical damage happens, although Moley's right leg flashes yellow, indicating the armor being just about gone.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Phoenix Hawk makes a tactical mistake and winds up taking a spread of LBX pellets to the torso, several of which go through existing armor breaches and completely shred the gyro, dropping the mech to the ground.

Moneyshot runs his autocannon ammo dry, but finally inflicts enough damage on the Javelin that the light mech retreats, leaving just the Wolfhound and four fixed turrets to the southwest.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The turrets don't last very long - our Caesar sends a single PPC shot and a gauss slug into the building housing them, and the whole thing just shreds itself. We review the battle ROM later, and it turns out there were at least five tons of various kinds of ammo in there.

The Wolfhound figures it out at this point and books it. Having accomplished our objective here, we don't chase it down.

Salvage is a little 'meh'. With most of our kills here coming from ammo explosions, the only things left are a cored Rifleman and a Phoenix Hawk LAM missing a gyro. The latter could be useful for spare parts for AWS' ride, but otherwise it's nothing we really want at this point.

---

Gamma Company sweeps about a quarter of their area of operations, and while Battle Lance detects local militia units, they choose not to engage - the hostiles are nothing to write home about and they're not defending anything we're being paid to destroy.

Beta Company (with Freyland's Ranger lance attached) sweeps through their area, uncovering one of the target locations. As Beta-Assault makes their approach, a Gazelle-class dropship lifts off. We're looking at almost two companies of light and medium tanks, plus two medium mechs; additionally, four aerospace units are making their approach to the area, trending on the heavier side.

Beta-Assault can likely take the tanks - we've got an Awesome, a Victor, a Hatamoto-Hi and an Annihilator, but will struggle against the combination of tanks, stationary turrets and air support.

What does Beta-Assault call in for support:
[] Lance of hovertanks to harass the enemy tanks and attract strafing runs away from our mechs
[] Lance of artillery loaded up for anti-air action
[] Flight of aerospace fighters to deal with the hostile aerospace
[] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units
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 (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:32 am [x] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units
Send in a flight with a 50% bomb load - that way they'll reach AO in a reasonable timeframe to drop the load and to engage the OpFor flyers.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Isgrimnur »

Smoke is concealment, not cover. Cover stops bullets.
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 (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:12 am Smoke is concealment, not cover. Cover stops bullets.
Fair, although, in the case of lasers, that can be argued either way.
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:48 am
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:32 am [x] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units
Send in a flight with a 50% bomb load - that way they'll reach AO in a reasonable timeframe to drop the load and to engage the OpFor flyers.
This looks like a good plan.
User avatar
Hyena
Posts: 2279
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:14 am
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

I'm glad I survived, but I guess I didn't get the Timberwolf I applied for?
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
User avatar
TheMix
Posts: 10903
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:17 am
Leraje wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:48 am
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:32 am [x] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units
Send in a flight with a 50% bomb load - that way they'll reach AO in a reasonable timeframe to drop the load and to engage the OpFor flyers.
This looks like a good plan.
Agree

Black Lives Matter

Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41245
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

TheMix wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:54 am
Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:17 am
Leraje wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:48 am
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:32 am [x] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units. Follow up with Blimp Brigade.
Send in a flight with a 50% bomb load - that way they'll reach AO in a reasonable timeframe to drop the load and to engage the OpFor flyers.
This looks like a good plan.
Agree
Agreed, as amended.
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 (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:35 pm
TheMix wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:54 am
Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:17 am
Leraje wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:48 am
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:32 am [x] Flight of aerospace fighters loaded with bombs to quickly deal with ground units. Follow up with Blimp Brigade.
Send in a flight with a 50% bomb load - that way they'll reach AO in a reasonable timeframe to drop the load and to engage the OpFor flyers.
This looks like a good plan.
Agree
Agreed, as amended.
Agree brigade and all
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 (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

[GM Note: sorry Hyena, I forgot to switch you to your clan mech for the last scenario]

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Aerospace flight at 1/2 load; bring blimps - unanimous
"Strike flight en route. ETA one minute." comes the message as our assault mechs move to engage. It's really not fair: we've got Zenn7 in the Awesome, Atrophy in the Annihilator, CJ in the Victor and WestOrEast in the Hatamoto-Hi . Plus a pair of Shilones and a Starfire, loaded up with a light bomb load.

The opposition... well, mineral extraction and refinery operations on this world apparently don't warrant too much in the way of defense. There's a lance of Vedettes, and a lance of Vedettes. And also a lance of Vedettes. A couple of SRM Carriers and two medium mechs. And you'd think they would have seen us coming, fielding that Hi-Scout drone carrier.

Well, not our problem.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
A Lightning zips overhead, aiming at some of our mechs. Specifically, the Annihilator, which eats a burst from the aerospace fighter's nose-mounted autocannon directly to the center torso. Armor holds up, though, and Atrophy is able to land several hits from the 100-tonner's LBX autocannon on an SRM Carrier making an approach.

It seems that the hostile aerospace fighters are *really* hostile though - a substantial number of cluster bombs drops on the area of the refinery complex where the enemy tanks are, taking two out.

Our anti-aircraft fire from Zenn7 and CJ scores a couple of hits on the Lightning targeting us, but the aerospace fighter remains airborne.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
As the SRM Carrier's crew pick their teeth up off the ground, having been substantially rattled by Atrophy's autocannon fire, WestOrEast charges forward, detonating the vehicle with several pulse laser blasts from the Hatamoto-Hi. Atrophy's aim is thrown off somewhat by a Thunderbird making a strafing run at him, and the mech beeps, informing our mechwarrior of a center torso armor breach.

The Thunderbird pays the price for it, while it's focusing on the 100-ton obvious target, Zenn7 and CJ turn their guns skyward again and pepper the aerospace fighter with PPC and gauss rifle fire. The pilot is unable to maintain control and slams into a building to the north.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
CJ rounds the corner to find a Griffin getting ready to ambush Atrophy's Annihilator - the Victor's alpha strike connects solidly with the 55-ton mech. No armor breaches, but that was a lot of damage, and the enemy mechwarrior is unable to keep his mech upright.

WestOrEast continues moving forward, firing pulse lasers and a PPC at a Vedette to the northeast, which is where things go wrong. A couple of autocannon and rocket blasts ping off the 80-tonner's armor, while a laser blast from the Goblin goes wide. Then, Atrophy does a double take as the Hatamoto-Hi simply drops to the ground. Atrophy's fire heavily damages the Goblin in return, fusing the tank's treads to the point where it can't even move any more. The crew scampers out pretty rapidly.

Review of the battle ROM shows that a burst from the Goblin's machine gun is what took our mech out.

[AN: lol wut, through-armor critical to the cockpit with an MG]

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"Four reporting. Three is down, I'm pulling back." Atrophy states, blasting away with the LBX autocannons at a laser carrier which decided to try to cross the street some distance to the north east. Two slugs and a number of pellets connect with the lightly armored vehicle, destroying it.

"Acknowledged, four." Zenn7 replies, zapping a distant Vedette with the Awesome's PPCs. "Two, what's your status?"

"Working on that Griffin." CJ reports, planting a gauss slug in the Griffin's left torso, shearing off the attached arm in the process. A couple of SRMs cluster around the head, and the 55-ton mech rocks back and forth before dropping to its now much heavier left side.

"Air support?" Zenn7 follows up, smashing an adjacent Vedette aside with the Awesome's foot - the tank flips over and explodes.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Ten seconds." comes the reply.

"Great." Our lance commander states as the hostile aerospace fighters come around for another pass.

Atrophy takes up the anti-aircraft role this time, firing the LBX autocannons skyward - one of the clusters impacts the Lightning just as it lines up an autocannon shot - the round detonates in the barrel instead, sending the fighter corkscrewing off into the distance. Our mechwarrior quickly switches targets to another aerospace efighter, sending it into the ground as well, far to the south.

CJ moves to help Zenn7 out, blasting the Phoenix Hawk trying to get behind our Awesome with the Victor's gauss rifle - the 45-ton mech's left arm crumples and one of the jump jets fizzles out. Previously damaged by a bombing run, the Phoenix Hawk looks like it's had enough. Additionally, our Victor breaches the armor on an adjacent Vedette while stomping a second one - it's looking like this may be our first elusive hat trick.

Zenn7 helps out a little, too, blasting through the armor on a more distant Vedette with the Awesome's PPCs.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Anti-aircraft fire and ultra autocannon rounds from our Starfire aerospace fighter severely damage the Eagle still circling around, forcing it to retreat. This allows our Shilones to drop some fuel-air bombs on the area, destroying three additional Vedettes while CJ opens up the Hi-Scout drone carrier with the Victor's arsenal (mostly just a gauss rifle shot).

With the remaining opposition limited to a couple of SRM turrets and a random infantry squad staggering around in the smoke, the field is ours. Normally, this would be a pretty straightforward and boring salvage and recovery operation. There's a lot of sighing, for sure - WestOrEast didn't even have time to reach for the ejection lever.

"Wow, what at stupid way to die." CJ comments on the way back. "Survived fighting the deadliest enemy the Inner Sphere has ever faced, only to get killed by some random schmuck with an anti-infantry weapon."

One of the Lightning fighters actually survived being shot down relatively intact, the aero jock did a fairly good job of landing. We keep that one.

---

Alice "WestOrEast" Rabenek joined us in 3049, while we were garrisoned on Zoetermeer. Over the course of the next three years, this mechwarrior mostly drove the Hatamoto-Hi, scoring 14 kills over the course of 12 missions - the biggest being a 100-ton King Crab belonging to some mercenaries on Graham IV. She survived two battles against the clans. Her final payout goes to a husband and two children, relocated to core Lyran Commonwealth space from Zoetermeer when the clans invaded that world.

---

As our lances continue moving forward, looking for additional facilities on the target list, Gamma company encounters hostile forces trying to push in on the Thunderball, our Overlord-class dropship. Since they're not anywhere near any of our targets, we'd normally completely skip these fights, have the Thunderball lift and relocate.

However, we detect a Griffin 1DS and a Zeus 9S among the forces pushing forward - these two mechs have Star League tech, including the ever-coveted double heat sinks. Gamma-Probe would be facing the Zeus (along with the rest of its heavy mech lance) plus a company of medium/heavy armor, while we'd have the firepower from the Thunderball and one of our hovertank lances. Gamma-Striker lance would be facing a light and a medium mech lance, backed up by two medium tank lances - but we'd also have two lances of heavy merc tanks on our side. Getting good tech for salvage is tempting, but these fights are not even remotely required by the terms of our contract, so we're risking our necks for around twenty five double heat sinks, twenty of which we'll have to wait until we're at a factory to be able to extract. Which, if any, of these fights do we take?

[] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
TheMix
Posts: 10903
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

For those not in the know, how significant is the Overlord assistance?

A heavy lance and tanks vs a mixed(?) medium/light lance sounds like nice odds in our favor.
But a medium lance against a heavy sounds a little rougher. I tend to not put too much stock in our tanks. History would suggest that most of the fighting will be done by the mechs. Unless the Overlord significantly shifts the balance, this one doesn't seem worth it.

Black Lives Matter

Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

The Overlord is a very beefy spheroid dropship. We've encountered a few but have never taken one down, on the ground or in the air. For long-range firepower, it's got three LRM/20 racks, multiple PPCs, large lasers and AC/5s. If someone gets close, two AC/20s and a lot of medium lasers will polish them off.

The best way to approach an Overlord is to shell it from out of range with artillery or extreme-range weapons.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12664
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [x] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Let's be greedy.
User avatar
TheMix
Posts: 10903
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:17 pm The Overlord is a very beefy spheroid dropship. We've encountered a few but have never taken one down, on the ground or in the air. For long-range firepower, it's got three LRM/20 racks, multiple PPCs, large lasers and AC/5s. If someone gets close, two AC/20s and a lot of medium lasers will polish them off.

The best way to approach an Overlord is to shell it from out of range with artillery or extreme-range weapons.
So it basically is the equivalent of at least a couple decent mechs.

Black Lives Matter

Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
User avatar
TheMix
Posts: 10903
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

AWS260 wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:19 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [x] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[X] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Let's be greedy.
Wouldn't "greedy" be both? Based on my updated understanding of the Overlord, it seems like both battles are doable.

Black Lives Matter

Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41245
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[X] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
I dunno, doesn't seem worth it overall. How many double heat sinks do we have currently? Odds are that we wind up with way fewer than 20 salvageable depending upon what state the relevant mechs are in (assuming that they don't get away) and there's a decent chance that we lose Star League / Clan tech as part of the battle.
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 (G2)

Post by gbasden »

TheMix wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:57 pm
AWS260 wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:19 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [x] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[X] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Let's be greedy.
Wouldn't "greedy" be both? Based on my updated understanding of the Overlord, it seems like both battles are doable.
Yeah, lets really be greedy.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:59 pm How many double heat sinks do we have currently? Odds are that we wind up with way fewer than 20 salvageable depending upon what state the relevant mechs are in (assuming that they don't get away) and there's a decent chance that we lose Star League / Clan tech as part of the battle.
Less than 10 spare ones currently. I don't remember exactly, but I think there's about 4-8 heat sinks between those two mechs that are outside the engine that could get destroyed by random crits or the relevant mech section getting destroyed; otherwise, the ones that are built into the engine will generally survive unless the mech gets blown up by area effect weapons (artillery, bombs) - those two particular mechs have CASE so ammo explosions don't annihilate the mech completely.
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 (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

gbasden wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:04 pm
TheMix wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:57 pm
AWS260 wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:19 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [x] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[X] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Let's be greedy.
Wouldn't "greedy" be both? Based on my updated understanding of the Overlord, it seems like both battles are doable.
Yeah, lets really be greedy.
Greed…is good.
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 (G2)

Post by Leraje »

$iljanus wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:15 pm
gbasden wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:04 pm
TheMix wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:57 pm
AWS260 wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:19 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm [x] Gamma-Probe (medium) + Thunderball (grounded Overlord) + hovertank lance vs heavy mech lance and tank company
[X] Gamma-Striker (heavy) + two merc heavy tank lances vs medium + light mech lance and two medium tank lances
[] Neither: get everyone into the dropship and relocate
Let's be greedy.
Wouldn't "greedy" be both? Based on my updated understanding of the Overlord, it seems like both battles are doable.
Yeah, lets really be greedy.
Greed…is good.
Loot!!!
moleymoleymoley
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 10:04 am

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

BOTH!! :horse:
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Just Gamma-Striker |
Just Gamma-Probe |
Both |||||
Neither |||
October 10, 3051
Kimball District

"Right." Wolf states. "Take down that Griffin. Try not to blow it up. The rest are irrelevant."

Our mechwarrior briefly glances at the assorted mercenary tanks rolling up alongside us and doesn't say anything about them. One of the allied tank lances is actually a couple of minutes behind us, while the other is... well, it's not bad. It's a Manticore, an SRM Carrier, a Po Heavy Tank (basically an AC/10 on a turret) and a Maxim hover transport.

"Whatcha guys got in there?" Bass asks the Maxim.

"Lasers." the hover transport responds.

Bass has the Stormcrow move its left arm up and down in acknowledgement.

We've got Wolf in the Loki, Bass in the Stormcrow, Stefan in the Trebuchet and also a Rifleman.

The battlefield is a series of canyons, former quarries, no doubt, framed by a very pretty pink sunset over red sand.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our lance advances down a canyon, passing an allied SRM Carrier. We'll likely come back here in a bit so that our fellow merc can get some action as well.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
A Stinger runs up, spotting our mechs advancing through the canyons. Wolf takes a couple of pot shots with the Hellbringer's PPCs, but is unable to land a hit.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Stefan, though, runs forward and lands all four of the Trebuchet's lasers on the Stinger as it hops to the east, melting chunks off of Wolf's armor. The light mech's armor holds up, but a lot of it is in molten pools on the ground.

Wolf and the Rifleman focus fire on a Packrat to the north, one of Wolf's lasers nearly breaching the light vehicle's armor, followed up by multiple pellets from the Rifleman's LBX autocannon - the vehicle more or less falls apart.

Bass engages an Enforcer at long range - "Holy crap, I can't believe I can target it from that far away!" is the main comment as the Enforcer's armor absorbs multiple laser shots.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
A Harasser mounting a couple of lasers zips forward as our lance backs up; the light hovertank catches a large number of LBX pellets and careens to a stop as its lift fans give out.

Wolf backs up as well, planting two PPC shots on the Enforcer as it hops on top of one of the canyon walls up ahead, while Bass moves the Stormcrow southeast. The damaged Stinger gives chase, hoping for backup from its buddies, but it will be too late - two of the Stormcrow's lasers spear the bug mech through the center of mass. It shudders and drops to the ground.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
The allied SRM Carrier moves up a little too far, and the hilltop Enforcer nails it with the autocannon and large laser, breaking it down into smaller bits. The Enforcer pays the price, however, as Wolf blasts it in the right hip joint with one of the Hellbringer's PPCs, forcing it to a creaky knee.

Stefan fires lasers and LRMs at another Stinger coming in, this one just losing most of its left arm while avoiding most of the incoming fire.

To the east, Bass runs across an opening, blasting another Harasser as it zips in, cutting it into bits with the Stormcrow's lasers.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"There's the target." Bass calls out. "Firing to disable."

The Stormcrow's lasers pierce the target Griffin's rear armor, but fail to inflict any critical damage while everyone else's fire against it is mostly ineffective. Stefan manages to land a solid kick on a nearby Stinger as it harasses our Rifleman, nearly breaking its right leg off and knocking it to the ground.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
We get a little mobbed, so the Rifleman and Stefan back up. The Rifleman unloads slug rounds from the LBX autocannons and lasers onto the Stinger that Stefan damaged earlier, blowing off its right arm and left leg, dropping the bug mech to the ground. A nearby Wolfhound takes a good chunk out of the Rifleman's armor, however, lasers flashing across the narrow canyon - our mech retaliates with a solid kick to the 35-tonner's left leg, cracking the hip actuator - although, to the mechwarrior's credit, the mech remains upright.

The allied Maxim reports taking heavy damage - the laser infantry dismount as the hover transport struggles under fire from the Griffin. Wolf jumps in to help, putting the Hellbringer's bulk into use to knock the Griffin to the ground.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Unlike what we usually, expect, the dismounted laser rifle platoon maintains discipline and opens fire on an approaching Wasp, blasting chunks off its armor. Our Rifleman moves back behind the hill, trying to help the little guys out as well - the LBX autocannons bark and a Stinger's left arm comes off, while one of its jump jets misfires and blows out. Unfortunately, it doesn't work too well for the infantry, who get strafed by machine gun fire from two of the bug mechs, reducing their numbers to the point of complete ineffectiveness.

The Po tank's engagement with the Wolfhound doesn't go well - the 35-tonner puts laser to turret, and an AC/10 round explodes in the barrel, rendering the tank useless.

To the east, Bass engages a trio of vehicles, blowing out the back of a Maxim hover transport with the Stormcrow's lasers.

Wolf and Stefan continue to engage the Griffin as it attempts to retreat, inflicting major damage on its right torso. Even the mech's double heat sinks are hard pressed to keep up with the incredible heat suddenly coming out of the damaged XL engine, and it drops to the ground again.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Additional allied merc tanks come in from the northwest, but they're likely only going to serve a cosmetic purpose at this point.

Watching the Griffin crack its hip wide open and split its foot actuator, Wolf is satisfied that it's not going anywhere (although our mechwarrior frowns when observing bright blue fluid spraying out of a ruptured heat sink), and moves to the west, to engage the Wolfhound and Whitworth. The Whitworth's left arm melts under sustained PPC and laser fire, while blocking the Wolfhound's punches and delivering a kick to the lighter mech's right leg - although the little guy is a lot more nimble than it looks.

A Stinger hops in to engage our Rifleman, the remains of a poor infantry guy smeared all over its foot, and is completely taken apart by the mech's LBX autocannons, which saw both the arms off. The Rifleman takes only minor damage, although its left leg armor is breached, but the Stinger drops to the ground and stops moving, the mechwarrior inside knocked out.

To the east, Bass burns the damaged Enforcer's left arm off, along with its laser - the loss of limb causes the mech to buckle and its right leg to snap off.

Stefan, meanwhile, melts the main gun off a Vedette.

At this point, the remaining enemy units (not that there are too many) book it. The Griffin heroically covers his compatriots' retreat, disabling a pursuing merc Maxim hovertank - we kind of let him be for a little while to see if maybe he'll pop another actuator on his own or decide to bail out.

But, he seems reluctant to undertake any kind of foolish move like jumping or running, so eventually we have to either come after him or let him leave.

On the one hand, we want those double heat sinks and the large pulse laser (and even the beat-up XL engine). On the other hand, as usual, it sets kind of a bad precedent to shoot up retreating forces - what if it's us retreating around here one of these days?

[] Let him go
[] Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully/then leg him if that doesn't work

The good part is that we didn't really take any meaningful damage, although our merc buddies will probably want some of that salvage to replace the SRM Carrier they lost and make up for the mass infantry casualties. Which is fine, other than the Griffin, everything else is basically crap, only good for collecting ammo and armor (we've sure come a long way, a haul like this back at the start of our company would have made or broken us for a contract).
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

[] Let him go
[] Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully/then leg him if that doesn't work

Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully, then let him go if that doesn't work?
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 12:13 am Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully, then let him go if that doesn't work?
Only if he can walk the mech off the field. The moment he falls again, mech is ours.
moleymoleymoley
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 10:04 am

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

[] Let him go
[X] Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully/then leg him if that doesn't work

Try and boot him to the ground? Less likely to result in explosions?
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41245
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

moleymoleymoley wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:11 pm [] Let him go
[X] Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully/then leg him if that doesn't work

Try and boot him to the ground? Less likely to result in explosions?
I agree with this.
Black Lives Matter.
User avatar
Hyena
Posts: 2279
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:14 am
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

moleymoleymoley wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:11 pm [] Let him go
[X] Offer him a job/try to get him to surrender peacefully/then leg him if that doesn't work

Try and boot him to the ground? Less likely to result in explosions?
Yep. Keep kicking him in the ankles until both actuators are out.

We can do a called kick shot on ankle actuators, right?
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
Freyland
Posts: 3041
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:03 pm

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Freyland »

Hyena wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:58 pm
We can do a called kick shot on ankle actuators, right?
My toddler used to do it all the time.
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
User avatar
Hyena
Posts: 2279
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:14 am
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

Freyland wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:30 pm
Hyena wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:58 pm
We can do a called kick shot on ankle actuators, right?
My toddler used to do it all the time.
Well there you have it. Can we just call this "Toddlering" a mech from now on?
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

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

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Offer job -> leg if not ||||||
Offer job -> let go if not |.5
"Look, mechwarrior." Wolf tells the Griffin's operator. "You're not going to make it. Your friends are all gone, your remaining lancemate is a Wolfhound down on a knee and you've got three mechs bearing down on you at full speed."

"You did pretty well, how about you join up with us, spare yourself the pain of what's going to happen?"

"Go shove a cooling rod up your tailpipe." is the response as the Griffin continues to limp away.

"You first." Wolf says. "Striker Lance, resume fire. Take out the legs."

There's a chorus of 'understood', 'sure', and 'got it', followed by a flurry of laser fire. The Griffin drops to the ground, missing a few more arms and torso sections than we really want, but the bulk of it, the engine, is still there. We grab the Enforcer as well for spare parts, leaving the rest of the salvage (mostly bug mechs and crappy tank wrecks, as usual) for our merc pals.

---

Thunderball LZ

A mixed tank company - heavy-medium-light - approaches the Thunderball. Neither Akalon, nor AWS nor SgtSoldier are really sure what they're hoping to accomplish charging up to an Overlord-class dropship like that.

Since what we're trying to defend is effectively fixed (unless we want to try to lift off), this is a great place to use our Behemoth tank, backed up by a pair of Falcon hovertanks, including everybody's beloved Hooch n' Scooch.

"Oh." AWS states, briefly popping up high in aerospace fighter mode. "Looks like they've got a heavy mech lance coming in, too."

Akalon rolls his eyes. "That's... not really going to help. But we better take that Zeus out, the ER PPC and large laser outrange anything the Thunderball has." He adds after thinking for a bit. "I bet that's what they're counting on, make us come to them."

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our mech lance and hovertanks advance towards the incoming sensor contacts. AWS transforms into airmech mode to go a little bit faster.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The sensor contacts advance towards our dropship and ground units, although they're keeping out of the Thunderball's weapons range for now.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Some LRMs and lasers fly back and forth, but nothing makes contact, even when it's one of the incoming tanks firing on our very large and completely stationary dropship.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
A hovertank gets a little close to the Overlord and gets blasted by autocannon and PPC fire, along with a good spread of long-range missiles. Its turret locks up as the vehicle spins around, then it just settles down to the ground. Our Overlord takes a couple of light autocannon and LRM rounds but its armor is way too thick for that.

Akalon and SgtSoldier feel out the armor on a couple of tanks with their longer-ranged weapons, melting a little off.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon and the rest of the lance hops forward. Akalon zaps a Drillson hovertank with the Vulcan's lasers, cutting off enough drive fans that it skids to a halt while missing Akalon's mech with every one of its shots.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon blasts through a Vedette's armor, sending a couple of MG rounds and a swoosh from the flamer in to help, stomping another Vedette's treads for good measure. SgtSoldier, nearby, smirks as an autocannon blast from the nearby Rommel hits the hillside in front of his Phoenix Hawk, while AWS melts the skirt of a nearby Scimitar, immobilizing it as well.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
"Here come the mechs. Everyone back up." Akalon orders.

SgtSoldier and the other Phoenix Hawk switch up their targets, jumping in behind a hill to have it absorb some of the incoming fire. The Rommel tank is immobilized with a large laser through the engine compartment, while the Scorpion tank miraculously survives the laser barrage from SgtSoldier's Phoenix Hawk.

Although the crew still pops the hatch and climbs out, booking it off the field on foot.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
We may be hot shot mechwarriors with clan and star league tech all over the place, but running four medium mechs up to a heavy/assault mech lance is still not really something we can do, so we continue falling back to the dropship, hoping to lure the Zeus and its buddies out to us instead.

The Hooch n' Scooch, along with its pal, zip in behind a Hetzer trying to close in on our dropship with a hill in between the two, and unload lasers and SRMs. The wheeled assault gun can't take the punishment and its AC/20 ammo (and also the fuel tank) explodes, sending the remnants of the main gun tumbling forward.

SgtSoldier takes a few LRMs and a couple of grazing PPC shots, but the Phoenix Hawk's armor holds up.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The problem with pulling back is that our lance is kind of medium-ranged for the most part, so we have a slight disadvantage in firepower until we lure the mechs in.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The Zeus begins the anticipated long-range bombardment of the Thunderball, a well-placed ER PPC shot knocking out one of the dropship's autocannons. However, AWS melts through the side of an approaching Striker tank with the Phoenix Hawk LAM's snub-nose PPC, and this causes the hostiles to get a clue and start backing up.

We don't really have the firepower here to take down the heavy/assault mechs unless they walk up to the dropship, so we're content to let them go.

Overall, that went pretty well - no meaningful damage to our forces, other than a little boo boo on the Thunderball and two lances of hovertanks/light armor taken out. The Behemoth was out of position this time so it wasn't nearly as useful as the last time, we could have probably benefitted more from another hovertank. Next time, we'll make sure to just use it as a turret.

---

Overall, we scored twelve double heat sinks and a 275 XL/55 ton mech engine (the latter being *quite* shot up) from all that, at no real cost to ourselves. Not bad.

With the pressure from hostile forces greatly lowered, Leraje pushes Gamma Company to sweep several extra sectors, and Gamma-Probe is able to locate a facility used for staging vehicles. And a few mechs, but mostly vehicles.

We haven't gotten the chance to try the "downgraded" Warhawk out yet and Gamma-Battle lance hasn't gotten into any fights yet - so they're less likely to fall asleep in their cockpits mid-battle. Additionally, Leraje has a little more experience commanding hovertanks, so he'll be able to bring in two to help out.

Wolf's lance is closer and thus less likely to provoke additional reinforcements, but they've already been in a fight today (the salvage crew was able to patch up the minor armor damage and handle ammo reloads).

Gamma-Probe will be used to run a diversion to draw a few tank lances out.

[] Attack immediately with Gamma-Striker lance; less reinforcements; less hovercraft; tired mechwarriors
[] Attack after some delay with Gamma-Battle lance; more likely reinforcements; more hovercraft; fresh mechwarriors
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:36 pm [] Attack immediately with Gamma-Striker lance; less reinforcements; less hovercraft; tired mechwarriors
[x] Attack after some delay with Gamma-Battle lance; more likely reinforcements; more hovercraft; fresh mechwarriors
Overall, that was very worthwhile.

Just hope we don't need to retreat anytime soon and risk getting shot up when we do as payback for us doing that.
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 11:52 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:36 pm [] Attack immediately with Gamma-Striker lance; less reinforcements; less hovercraft; tired mechwarriors
[x] Attack after some delay with Gamma-Battle lance; more likely reinforcements; more hovercraft; fresh mechwarriors
Overall, that was very worthwhile.

Just hope we don't need to retreat anytime soon and risk getting shot up when we do as payback for us doing that.
Agreed.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Attack some time later with Gamma-Battle - unanimous
October 11, 3052

"Ok." Xwraith comments as Gamma-Battle lance approaches the "armor" staging area. "Let's say, for argument's sake, that that's a staging and supply for vehicles."

"Yes." Leraje states, walking the Warhawk forward at a leisurly pace. "Let's."

"So I guess my question is, for our compadres in Probe Lance, what do they think a tank is? Last time I checked, it's usually an armored metal box, with wheels, treads or fans, possibly with a rotating turret on top. Am I wrong so far?"

Leraje already knows where this is going, but is somewhat amused, so lets it continue.

"Furthermore, a battlemech can loosely be defined as a twenty-plus ton combat walker with usually two, sometimes four, legs as the primary motive type." Xwraith continues. "Now, I understand that maybe if you've been drinking a lot of engine room hooch or maybe you have a concussion, or are hallucinating from staying up for seventy two hours straight, but how exactly do you repeatedly say that this is an armor staging area, when it is clearly a mech staging area?" Xwraith finishes, pointing the Thunderbolt's main gun, an extended-range large laser, in the direction of the mess we're about to enter.

Leraje smirks. On the plus side, we've got a lance of mercenary mechs with us, and have also brought a pair of heavy tanks - a Demon and a Manticore, and waiting a little bit gave Gamma-Striker time to catch a little catnap, so they're able to simultaneously hit the northern side of this rather sprawling facility. If we do well in these engagements, we'll be able to clean up Gamma company's sweep area without any further opposition (leaving just four more "take a week to march across in a mech" areas to finish off).

We're fighting a lot of fixed weapon emplacements, multiple tank lances and almost a whole company of mechs.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Demon tank starts the party off, sending a gauss slug into the base. Leraje watches with some amusement as an Urbanmech's autocannon arm is annihilated.

One of the mercs, driving a Crusader 5M, lets fly with LRMs at the Sniper turret that just lobbed a shell in our direction - the missiles cluster around the artillery emplacement and a large explosion annihilates the entire structure.

Return fire from the base, in the form of lasers and LRMs, blasts our Catapult, although the armor holds. Still, our mechwarrior has to drop down to a knee to avoid faceplanting.

Leraje's first shots with the Warhawk are aimed at a Hunchback trying to hide behind a building. It's mostly successful, although it loses all the armor off its right arm to a PPC shot.

Pretty good way to start things off, overall.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Leraje wipes sweat from his forehead as firing all four of the Warhawk's PPCs seriously taxed its heat sink capability. "Damn, I gotta go easy on these things." our mechwarrior mutters, firing only three PPCs to let the cockpit return to below-sauna temperatures. Two of the shots connect to a different Hunchback (we count at least two on the field so far), stripping armor off its torso but failing to breach.

Our Demon and Manticore focus fire on a large laser turret that's been zapping our Catapult - when a Griffin lands on the same structure to briefly recharge its jump jets, both of our tanks fire their main guns (and an LRM salvo from the Manticore). The building comes down, eliminating the quad large laser turret and dropping the Griffin several stories to boot. Nice.

Our allied Archers "accurately" blast the top of another nearby building, eliminating several racks of LRM/15s. Theoretically, you could call it a precision shot, but when the entire structure is covered in missile pockmarks, that's more luck than anything else.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Leraje shakes his head watching the Savannah Master zip by our Manticore. In a way, one can admire the raw insanity that it takes to zip around the modern battlefield in a little hovercar with a laser strapped to the back.

One can also admire the fact that the Manticore's PPC blast is wider than the little vehicle.

Leraje shrugs then turns his attention back to pounding a Hunchback half a kilometer to the north. Three PPC blasts impact the 50-ton mech, melting through the center torso armor, providing a satisfying glow both in the visible and infra-red spectra. To add insult to injury, the nearby allied Crusader unloads on said Hunchback, knocking it to the ground with multiple streak SRM warheads.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Hunchback to the northwest eats a PPC and LRM salvo from our Manticore (which is proving to be quite deadly in this scenario). The LRMs home in on an armor breach caused by the PPC blast and knock out the Hunchback's autocannon.

To the east, our Grasshopper uses its pulse laser to good effect - while helicopters are a little hard to hit due to their fast movement, the pulse laser lets our mechwarrior "walk" his shots, right through the front of the little VTOL. He's rewarded with a solid "poof", as helicopter-launched SRMs ping off the 70-ton mech's armor.

Leraje sends another shot from the Warhawk's PPCs down range at the distant Hunchback he just assisted in knocking down. This time, the enemy mech's head evaporates, removing it from the fight for good.

"Well, that's one less mech." our mechwarrior comments.

Our Catapult holds down the west flank, legging a Wasp with laser fire and an accurate kick, although our mech is briefly covered in coolant fluid from multiple ruptured heat sinks.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
A Scorpion tank falls victim to our Catapult's lasers, but a hostile Stinger ducks under the 65-ton mech's kick, leaving it flailing around on its side as it falls over.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Demon tank puts a gauss slug and a laser beam through a Falcon tank zipping around, one of those two things making contact with the fuel tank. A grouping of SRMs blasts apart a good number of SRM-toting infantry as well, the group getting finished off by a nearby allied Orion. So far, our tanks have gotten as many kills as our mechs - not bad.

Leraje takes a brief palate cleanser, frying an LRM-lobbing Saracen tank inside the base, then squashing a nearby Packrat (that's where the now-evaporated infantry came out of). The Packrat's ammo bins get crunched as well, leaving our mechwarrior to quickly step back.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
"Watch your sixes, lance of mechs just showed up on sensors." Leraje warns, looking in concern at the radar map. Seems we got a little too excited about stomping the smaller scrubs and blowing up turrets and now have been pincered by a heavy mech lance. "Battle-Three, quit screwing around with those bug mechs and get back here, we need more firepower."

"Roger that." The Catapult reports, blasting the left arm and most of the left torso off a Stinger.

Leraje whips the Warhawk around, engaging the easiest target - a 70-ton Cataphract. Originally a Capellan design, the factories for the first batch of these mechs were captured by the Federated Suns back in the 4th Succession War, serving as an endless source of embarrassment for the Capellan Confederation. It's not the best mech design, having far too many guns and not enough heat sinks (and very low count of ammo for the autocannon), but it's got reasonable armor for its weight. The Warhawk's PPCs flay armor from the side of the mech, but it's undeterred for now. Until it trips on a rock and keels over to the right.

The incoming Grasshopper goes to work on an allied Archer, melting large amounts of armor from its arms.

To the northeast, Xwraith and our Grasshopper join the allied Crusader to engage a Firestarter, an Enforcer and some smaller units and tanks. Plus supporting turret fire from the base. The Crusader takes a good amount of armor damage, but remains intact (although it has to drop to a knee, which lets the nearby "Mirage" Firestarter breach its rear left torso armor with a kick), while Xwraith spreads LRMs around the Enforcer's head, dinging the cockpit a little. The Grasshopper goes ahead an puts a few lasers through a nearby Vedette's engine block, putting it out of action.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
"Are they... drunk?" Leraje wonders, watching the Cataphract repeatedly fail to get up, while its Ostsol buddy trips over a nearby rock and falls, shearing off its right arm. Our lance commander suddenly isn't feeling so threatened.

Still, the Ostsol makes up for it by melting a pair of wheels off our Demon tank, immobilizing it as a return for the gauss slug to the left torso. The Grasshopper continues working on the allied Archer, the mech's armor continuing to get thinner and the allied mechwarrior unable to remain upright.

"Battle-Three!" Leraje calls out, as the Catapult doesn't quite appear to have finished. But the sight of a Hunchback exploding after multiple lasers through the rear armor, including one lighting off an ammo bin, calms the lance leader down. "Never mind. Good shooting. Now, where are you going, big fellow?" he calls out to the Catphract, drilling it with another three PPC shots and dropping it back to the ground, this time with multiple armor breaches and a wrecked autocannon.

Xwraith and the Mirage Firestarter (the "Mirage" model swaps all the standard Firestarter's flamers with lasers) continue dueling inconclusively, lasers scoring armor off both mechs. Our Thunderbolt has the advantage in a sustained duel like that though, being almost twice the mass.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
"Fine." Leraje states at the messed up Cataphract moves to retreat. Instead, our mechwarrior runs up to the Ostsol, which had previously disarmed itself a little bit, and completes the process by blasting the left torso section with three of the Warhawk's PPCs - laser barrels melt and warp, the arm drops to the ground and the mech is suddenly in incredibly bad shape. Leraje lets out a breath of relief as the return fire melts some armor on the Warhawk. "Phew. Broke it in."

The Ostsol's mechwarrior, not used to that kind of punishment, is unable to keep his mech standing.

To the north, our Grasshopper takes a "golden BB" shot to the center torso as it moves to engage the nearby Enforcer - the objectively inferior 50-ton mech desperately fires all its weapons at the approaching imposing bulk and manages to get a small laser through a weak spot in the center torso armor, nearly melting the engine shielding.

By contrast, Xwraith finishes the duel with the Mirage Firestarter by delivering a cluster of LRMs to the damaged left torso section, separating the left arm and a basically every component mounted on said torso section, while sparing a couple of medium lasers for a nearby Stinger, melting through its center of mass and a good chunk of reactor shielding.

The only thing left to deal with now is a heavy-assault tank lance approaching from the southeast, in addition to the remaining medium mech lance in the base and the two heavy mechs picking on the allied Archers. Our Catapult has some armor damage, and the Grasshopper needs to clear out, but we're fine otherwise.

---

"Gamma Striker lance reporting. Engaged northern base section." Wolf reports. "Hostiles are two medium mech lances, two medium tank lances and eight... " the mechwarrior sighs. "anti-infantry weapon emplacements. Do you need us to sweep south after we're done here?"

[] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."
[] "Affirmative. Just blow the buildings and get over here."
Black Lives Matter
Zenn7
Posts: 4447
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:41 pm [x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."
[] "Affirmative. Just blow the buildings and get over here."
Am I missing something? Not sure what would even prompt us to consider having them hurry over here?
User avatar
Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:55 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:41 pm [x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."
[] "Affirmative. Just blow the buildings and get over here."
Am I missing something? Not sure what would even prompt us to consider having them hurry over here?
Should be able to out-range the assault tanks and kite them around...
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 (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:57 am
Zenn7 wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:55 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:41 pm [x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."
[] "Affirmative. Just blow the buildings and get over here."
Am I missing something? Not sure what would even prompt us to consider having them hurry over here?
Should be able to out-range the assault tanks and kite them around...
It’s all about the salvage.
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?
moleymoleymoley
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 10:04 am

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

Agree. This is fantastic reading nick 👍
User avatar
TotallyNotEvil
Posts: 235
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:03 pm

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

[x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."

I will always vote for salvage.
User avatar
Hyena
Posts: 2279
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:14 am
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:44 pm [x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."

I will always vote for salvage.
Second this.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41245
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:44 pm [x] "Negative. Take your time and rout the mobiles so we can get salvage, we've got this."

I will always vote for salvage.
Agree
Black Lives Matter.
Post Reply