Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[Zenn7]

Drop the bombs. Preferably on the retreating targets.

Yes, but don't go out of our way, don't want to lose a round or two of their support just to make the bomb drop more fun.

[NickAragua]

Stand by, technical difficulties...

Spoiler:

hit a bug where the game freezes up every time a bot unit tries to use a search light.

[El Guapo]

Sounds like the work of l337 h@xx0rz.

[$iljanus]

Sounds like the work of l337 h@xx0rz.

Or ComStar...

Oh and...

[X] Drop the bombs, get to Beta-Assault's position faster
[] Keep the bombs, get to Beta-Assault's position a lot slower, possibly after the fight is over

If we could drop them on actual targets that would be better but if that will make them late for the party then ditch the bombs.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Drop the bombs - 5
Keep the bombs - 3

Hackers thwarted

Beta-Strike's flight leader sighs. "Well, here's 180k down the drain." and hits the release button on the cluster bombs mounted on the aerospace fighter. The munitions streak down and slam into the ground, blasting apart rocks and dirt.

En route to Beta-Assault's position, cloud cover combined with the rapid onset of darkness means the battle will be fought at night. We brought our coolant truck along to keep things chill.

"We're beginning evacuation, heading west. Cover us." calls out the guy in charge of a couple of industrial mechs and trucks.

"Are you kidding me?" Zenn7 answers. "Don't bother, we'll mop these guys up."

"Negative, we're evacuating."

"I said, stay there. Enemy forces are coming from the west. Go that way and you will die."

"I'm not staying here man, we gotta get outta here!" comes the increasingly panicked response.

Zenn7 curses, then orders the rest of the Beta-Assault to engage the hostiles as quickly as possible.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our mechs lumber forward as best as they can to attract enemy fire away from the facility. Zenn7 and Zarathud each light up a Scorpion tank. LordMortis levels the Victor's gauss rifle in that direction as well - the gauss slug gets there before Zarathud's PPC blasts and weakens the armor enough that the little tank evaporates when hit by the PPCs. Zenn7's victim simply takes an armor breach and drives away.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

A Warhammer lights up Zenn7 and the coolant truck with a searchlight, allowing a Rifleman to open up with its autocannons. The damage to us is minimal, but the Warhammer eats six PPCs from our Awesomes. So maybe the searchlight was a mistake, and it flickers away as the enemy mech is brought down to the ground by combined firepower.

The coolant truck also does its first useful thing ever, managing to spray Zarathud's mech. The actual amount of cooling done is relatively small, but this will allow our mechwarrior to fire three PPC shots with the next salvo, rather than having to scale down to two.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 continues trading shots with the Warhammer, while Zarathud engages its Rifleman buddy. All three of Zarathud's PPC shots land, but the Rifleman's armor holds - for a second. Then something blows internally, and the ejection seat rockets off into the night.

LordMortis takes advantage of the Warhammer's weakened armor by sending a gauss slug into its leg, crumpling the internal structure and causing the 70-ton mech to flop over to its right side, the searchlight flickering off.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

While we were busy blowing up the heavy mechs, the lighter raiding units have gotten into the facility and started picking it apart. The buildings are pretty tough, so they should last a while, but we have the problem of getting there in the darkness. On the plus side, our air support has arrived, having ditched their bombs. One of our Lightnings gets to work immediately, unloading a burst from the AC/20 into a Scorpion tank, which disintegrates under the assault.

Zarathud and Zenn7 both turn their PPCs on a nearby Javelin which jumps in, firing its SRMs. Most of the PPCs and SRMs go wide, but one of Zarathud's shots saws the left leg off the smaller mech, effectively taking it out of the fight.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

One of our Lightning pilots has to fight the urge to use his lasers to set one of the buildings on fire to provide better lighting - the illumination provided by the other Rifleman to the south appears to be gone, probably because one of the the units attempting to evacuate managed to blow out the searchlight.

We don't have much in the way of visible targets, with our jump-capable mechs moving forward as fast as they can while the Awesomes stomp along behind them. We score a couple of PPC hits but don't inflict much meaningful damage.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

A Stinger jumps up on top of a building just above Moley as our "faster" mechs bound forward, but gets knocked right back off by Zenn7's PPCs (our mechwarrior having no better targets at the moment).

The enemy Rifleman in the south catches one of our Lightnings with a couple of blasts from its deadly accurate autocannons and the aerospace fighter wobbles, beginning to lose altitude. Hopefully our aero jock can get that under control.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The hostile light mechs take out a machine gun turret, the building underneath it collapsing as an ammo explosion rips through it.

The Rifleman continues tracking Strike One as it plummets downward, autocannon rounds and lasers gouging chunks out of the aerospace fighter. Our aero jock manage to unstall the fighter and level out some distance above the ground, but that was a close call.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Another Stinger, having just finished off the MG turret and full of confidence, jumps north, engaging Moley's Thunderbolt. Our mechwarrior unceremoniously puts a large laser through the bug mech's ammo bin, scattering it over the battlefield.

LordMortis finally gets into the base, engaging a Vulcan and a Mongoose (a recon design dating back to the Star League - this particular 25 ton machine features none of the advanced star league toys, but does have speed comparable to a Locust. Its three medium lasers give it a good punch for a 25-ton mech, but, well, it's a 25-ton mech). The Victor's ranged weapons zero in on the Vulcan, the gauss rifle putting a hole through the right leg armor and a laser melting the hip joint, which interrupts the 40-tonner's attempts to tear down another building. LordMortis' kick separates the Mongoose's leg from the rest of the torso. It's no hat trick, but it'll do just fine.

One of the evacuating units reports being disabled by hostile units, so we'll have to wrap this up pretty quick before the base and personnel take too much damage and casualties.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

The Vulcan struggles to get up, which prompts LordMortis to jump over. An erratic move on the smaller mech's part enables it to avoid the gauss slug, but not the spread of SRMs, one of which makes contact with an armor breach and hits the MG ammo bin, sending the mech sky high. It's a shame, too, that was a 5T, the good Vulcan design with four medium lasers.

Zarathud gives the approaching Dragon a solid kick, removing most of the armor from its right leg, and with that the rest of the hostiles retreat, leaving their legless Mongoose buddy and a bunch of ejected and legged mechs behind. The best haul, salvage-wise is the Warhammer and Rifleman, which will be good for either spare parts or putting back together.

"So, bad guys are gone. No need to evacuate." Zenn7 states over the open frequency.

The guy in charge of the evacuees doesn't seem to agree and continues marching his Harvester Ant off into the distance, followed by a LoaderMech and a coolant truck.

How do we handle this:
[] Let him go, it's not our business to resolve internal labor disputes
[] Call up Larry, see what he has to say on the subject
[] Threaten to open fire if they don't turn around, as this kind of looks like our paycheck trying to walk away

[El Guapo]

How do we handle this:
[] Let him go, it's not our business to resolve internal labor disputes
[X] Call up Larry, see what he has to say on the subject
[] Threaten to open fire if they don't turn around, as this kind of looks like our paycheck trying to walk away

Feels like a heads up / FYI is in order here. If Larry doesn't care, not sure how much we should care.

[Isgrimnur]

+1

[Leraje]

+2

[AWS260]

+Larry

[gbasden]

+Larry

Tell Larry to get his people under control.

[Freyland]

There once was an employer named Larry
Whose men once faced a force quite scary.
They went on the run
Though the enemy was dead and done
And led our Man on a chase quite merry.

[$iljanus]

[] Let him go, it's not our business to resolve internal labor disputes
[] Call up Larry, see what he has to say on the subject
[x]Threaten to open fire if they don't turn around, as this kind of looks like our paycheck trying to walk away

Wiser heads will pick the second choice but I’m feeling a bit peckish.

[Zenn7]

[] Let him go, it's not our business to resolve internal labor disputes
[] Call up Larry, see what he has to say on the subject
[x]Threaten to open fire if they don't turn around, as this kind of looks like our paycheck trying to walk away

Wiser heads will pick the second choice but I’m feeling a bit peckish.

We call up Larry and wait for his response, they might get away. In which case I'm sure his response will be "you need to track them down". Screw that, let's just stop them NOW!

[Isgrimnur]

No reason to not follow them while we're on the call.

[Zenn7]

No reason to not follow them while we're on the call.

I guess, but I think they can outrun us.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Call Larry - 9
Threaten to open fire - 2

Zenn7 thinks about it for a second, ordering LordMortis and Moley to follow the escaping units.

Larry thinks about it for a second.

"Let them go."

"What?" Zenn7 does a double take.

"Let 'em go, I want to see where they're trying to take whatever they're taking." Larry confirms, an amused smile on his face. "Dumbasses have their cargo bays filled to the gills with tracking devices. But if you can, have your people follow them to confirm they don't ditch."

Zenn7 shrugs. "Whatever you say, Larry."

Where the "evacuating" units go is an unregistered drop port. Runway. Barely cleared flat terrain in the middle of nowhere where somebody managed to land a Leopard CV. Our mechwarriors observe the industrial mechs and coolant truck get unloaded, and the dropship clear for takeoff.

Larry tells us to shoot it down. Gamma-Strike is in position to intercept, and we scramble Delta-Int as well, since those fighters are super fast.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Gamma-Strike moves towards weapons range. We're going to get to try out our new Eagle here, with its twin PPCs it's a pretty nasty customer. The Corsair is still showing up as a crappy pirate mech on sensor readouts, much to the aero jock's chagrin and everyone else's amusement.

The Leopard launches its on-board fighters in response to our approach.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

A Thrush light fighter gets within range of the Corsair and Eagle, taking a pair of large laser blasts and a PPC to the front, going from being a lightly armored fighter to an unarmored fighter, buckling and spiraling downwards out of control.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Delta-Intercept zips in behind our target as our heavier fighters engage the bulk of the enemy force, focusing their fire on a Shilone, which takes some major armor damage and loses some equipment. Our Lightning takes some damage to its avionics system, but the aero jock keeps it level. The same cannot be said for the Shilone, which loses altitude rapidly.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

All our fighters engage the dropship as it lifts up - a little while longer and it'll be out of atmo and free to go. Our Lightning takes a serious beating, losing multiple lasers, as does our Corsair, but they hold together, although the guy in the Lightning has to drop altitude. The Corsair keeps a Hellcat off his tail, forcing the medium enemy fighter to lose altitude as well.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Shilone that we damaged previously comes back and gives our Lightning a good what-for with its LRMs, causing our fighter's engine to blow out. Our aero jock somehow manages to ground the aerospace fighter without wrecking it completely, but is out of this fight for sure.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Leopard is taking some serious damage to its port side. A pair of our light fighters, the Sparrowhawks peel off to engage hostile fighters while the rest continue hammering on the damaged dropship - a couple of PPC shots from the Eagle take out one of the laser bays. Our lights have some good success, causing severe engine damage to a Centurion and a Sholagar, taking those two out of the fight. In fact, the Sholagar completely loses it and spirals down to the ground, turning into a fireball when it hits.

A pair of additional sensor blips show up, two heavy fighters closing in from the north.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

With the air a little bit cleared, we think we can concentrate on the dropship, although that's not quite true. Delat-Intercept's Sholagar winds up with a Sparrowhawk on his tail, taking an engine hit and having to peel off. The enemy aircraft is shot down however, so it's more or less an even trade.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"He's about to hit upper atmo, last chance, guys." Gamma-Strike's current flight leader calls out from the Corsair (the actual flight leader, in the Lightning, currently climbing out of her aircraft and cautiously eyeying the engine block that appears to be hanging by a couple of wires).

The Corsair gets in on the Leopard's weak side, introducing multiple armor breaches and slagging several bay doors, then peels off, at which point the Eagle takes its place. An internal explosion blows out another bay door and about half the dropship's port side. The wreck loses altitude rapidly as escape pods pile out from the relatively undamaged right side.

With our Sparrowhawk shooting down another hostile light fighter, the remaining enemy fighters retreat, having nothing to protect any more. Which also allows us to call search and rescue for our downed Lightning and the pilot.

Our Lightning will need a completely new engine, which, in an amusing bit of trivia, costs 666,667 C-Bills. Combined with the structural damage, the repairs take over two weeks. The Leopard CV is beyond repair, but the spare parts are going to be worth a lot of money to the right buyers. None of the buyers in-system have given us any good offers, but now that we have our own courier service, we may be able to rustle up some buyers elsewhere. Surprising that the locals are being cheapskates considering how much money they're throwing around hiring us and other merc groups to shoot at each other.

-----------

While trolling around the latest data dump from outsystem and trying to find buyers for our growing collection of dropship wrecks, El Guapo stumbles upon an amusing advertisement.

"Getting swarmed by enemy armor? Artillery lagging too far behind to be useful? Quartermaster run out of cluster bombs? No worries, try all new BBQ-brand Fuel-Air Explosives! When you just absolutely, positively, need to blow up and set everything in a 75-meter radius on fire, but don't want nuclear fallout contaminating the ground for the next 20-84 years, we've got you covered."

"But don't take our word for it, check out what Kapten Witmeyer of the First Rasalhague Drakons has to say about it." a brief pause, and then a different voice comes on. "I used to catch a lot of flak from the ground pounders about how I should have blown up more tanks and infantry on my bombing run, but it's not my fault - my Eagle just doesn't have that many external hardpoints. Well, when my quartermaster ordered a whole load of these BBQ-brand Fuel-Air Explosives, I sure showed them. Next time we went into battle, there wasn't anybody left to complain afterwards, up or down!"

The advertiser guy resumes talking, really fast. "Legally required disclaimers follow: Testimonial was made by paid spokesperson and is not necessarily reflective of actual combat experience. Thermobaric weapons operate at reduce efficiency in thin atmospheric conditions. User is liable for all war crimes committed using this weapons system."

"Now available in extra-large version with a 105-meter blast radius."

Advertising boiler-plate aside, fuel-air bombs look like the next "hot" thing for aerospace support. Basically a cluster bomb with a three (or four, for the large version) hex blast radius, it's better in just about every way, with two major exceptions: cost and effectiveness in low atmospheric pressures. Each fuel-air bomb costs about twice as much as a cluster bomb, while doing half the damage in thin atmo (which Unzmarkt has). Still, the blast radius is pretty nasty and could be useful for taking down large crowds of tanks and infantry. We can also invest in thermobaric explosives for our Long Toms, which is a bit of a risky proposition because the scatter combined with the blast radius results in a non-trivial risk of friendly fire when fired close to friendly units.

[] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

[Isgrimnur]

[] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters

[El Guapo]

[X] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[X] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

Yeah, I'm all for bigger explosions. May have limited utility for our current engagement, but I think it's worth buying for future gigs.

[xwraith]

[X] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[X] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

Yeah, I'm all for bigger explosions. May have limited utility for our current engagement, but I think it's worth buying for future gigs.

+1 Artillery needs their toys as well and we can always have a pre mission bombardment round if we have good recon.

Bet it's also effective against fixed fortifications as well.

[AWS260]

[X] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[X] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

Smells like victory.

[Zenn7]

[X] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[X] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

Yeah, I'm all for bigger explosions. May have limited utility for our current engagement, but I think it's worth buying for future gigs.

+1 Artillery needs their toys as well and we can always have a pre mission bombardment round if we have good recon.

Bet it's also effective against fixed fortifications as well.

This works.

[Leraje]

[X] Fuel-air bombs for our aerospace fighters
[X] Fuel-air rounds for our artillery
[] Pass until we get back to a planet where the atmosphere is a little thicker

Smells like victory.

Fuel-air bombs for everyone!

[$iljanus]

I say fuel air bombs for everyone!

[Hyena]

No reason to not follow them while we're on the call.

I guess, but I think they can outrun us.

Not without legs they can't...

[gbasden]

I say fuel air bombs for everyone!

I agree we should buy them, but why not continue to use the cluster bombs while on Unzmarkt? If the new bombs aren't terribly effective here, no reason to pay twice as much when they aren't going to give us maximum punch.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Fuel-air for aerospace - 8
Fuel-air for artillery - 7
Pass for now - 3

After some discussion, we place an order, although we're unable to secure enough ordnance for any kind of sustained operations - twenty three small bombs is enough for a trial run.

February 10, 3045
Otvos Federally Protected Wetland

The next couple of weeks pass without much further incident, allowing us to repair our mechs and aerospace fighters and start getting bored. Then, Marvello steps up their operations and Alpha-Command lance finds itself working along-side low-grade Marvello mercs (and a liaison in a Jenner), facing down almost two companies of tanks.

"Hey, remember when we used to fight other mechs and battles were actually a challenge?" El Guapo remarks as our mechs advance on the hostile force. And sure, our mechs do tower over the opposition.

"Sure, good times. How many Marauders did you go through?" Isgrimnur quips in response.

El Guapo chuckles. "Two, at least. First one blew up when the autocannon ammo in the left torso went up."

"And the second one?"

"Autocannon ammo in the left torso."

Isgrimnur rolls his eyes. "What about the Banshee?"

El Guapo sighs. "Yeah, that was a good mech, too. Freaking SRM ammo blew. Too bad there isn't a system to vent those explosions out the front and back of the mech."

Isgrimnur thinks for a second. "Hey, remember that time you stepped into a pond and flooded your legs?"

El Guapo nods, wistfully. "Yeah. Remember that time you got burnt to a crisp?"

Round 1:

Spoiler:

As usual here, it's damn cold. And that's great, because it really inhibits the ability of the various tanks to move around, while our mechs with their myomer musculature and heat-generating weapons will be able to zip around nice and fast.

Our first target is a Partisan. Normally, a Partisan isn't really much of a threat for its tonnage, packing only four light autocannons. The LRM variant replaces those with sixty LRM tubes, which it happily fires at Gbasden, peppering our Awesome with about twenty missiles (a few hit the water). Our PPC equipped mechs retaliate, with El Guapo's PPCs finishing the tank off.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Hey there little buddy." Stefan remarks, somewhat condescendengly, to the nearby Vedette. "Careful you don't get zapped in those woods, there's a lot of bad guys in there." His targeting system alerts him to the presence of indirect-fire targeting data for a Plainsman hovertank just over the thick patch of trees. "Whoop, gotta go."

The Catapult's LRMs fire overhead at an oblique angle, but by the time they get there, the hovertank is already in the drink, courtesy of Gbasden's PPCs. El Guapo manages to spot an LRM Carrier at the gauss rifle's maximum range and puts around through one of its sides. That'll keep it out of action.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Stefan and Isgrimnur, with their Vedette buddy, engage a lance of tanks, including a pair of LRM Carriers, a Manticore and a Pegasus. Isgrimnur avoids most of the incoming SRMs, then brings the hatchet down on an LRM Carrier to crush it, while Stefan uses the Catapult's lasers to power through the armor on the other and fuse a large chunk of its treads.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur jumps north, keeping up evasive action to avoid incoming fire from the bulk of the hostile force to the southwest, disabling the nearby Pegasus hovertank with a burst from the AC/10. Disabling is a pretty loose term, the hovercraft sinks in the lake. The evasive action is mostly effective, just a few LRMs hit our mech.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The allied Jenner reports disabling a Saladin, shortly before his transmission cuts out (we later learn that he wound up taking an AC/20 round which took off the left leg, and then the left weapons mount snapped off upon impact with the ground).

Round 6:

Spoiler:

As our mechs engage the main body of the enemy force, Stefan watches with a twinge of guilt as the little Vedette buddy gets blasted apart by a salvo of LRMs from a Bulldog to the south (preceded by a PPC shot from the nearby Manticore). Gbasden melts the heavy tank's treads in exchange.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Additional Marvello units join the fray, drastically shifting the balance of forces in our favor.

Stefan is able to pick off an SRM Carrier, avoiding almost all of its return fire, while Isgrimnur disables a standard Partisan with a burst from the autocannon and a sweep of the lasers. Gbasden swings the right arm PPC around to take out a Packrat as it disables an allied Drillson.

That about does it for the hostiles, the rest of whom decide to pull back rather rapidly. We call in the salvage crews to recover wrecked tanks and the poor Marvello Jenner that completely shit the bed. Actually, it's repairable, but it'll probably take several weeks of work, what with the missing "arm" and leg.

After ranting about his blown-up mech, Marvello's liaison tells us that he's planning an operation to draw out the individuals that have been attacking his company's shipments. It'll be a pretty textbook ambush - we'll hide some lances next to and around the dropship, then wait for the bad guys to hit it. When they come into range, whammo.

"Thing is... only dropship I have available is a crappy Leopard. I know you guys have a couple of Unions, if we used one of those, it'd make the whole thing a lot more credible."

Gbasden raises an eyebrow, as if trying to say 'why exactly do we care', but a lot more efficiently.

"I have been authorized to offer you a substantial combat bonus of approximately thirty five million C-Bills, and we can probably get you some priority yard time in the orbital shipyards should you need any repairs."

For reference, thirty five million is about ten percent of the cost of a Union.

[] Sure, money is money
[] Forget it, risk your own dropship

[Isgrimnur]

El Guapo nods, wistfully. "Yeah. Remember that time you got burnt to a crisp?"

Which time?

[Isgrimnur]

[] Forget it, risk your own dropship

115% of repair cost and compensation for lost usage time on top, or nothing.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Raises a glass to verdette friend

[Leraje]

[] Sure, money is money
[x] Forget it, risk your own dropship

[gbasden]

[] Sure, money is money
[x] Forget it, risk your own dropship

Agreed.

[Zenn7]

[] Forget it, risk your own dropship

115% of repair cost and compensation for lost usage time on top, or nothing.

It's a selling point, if our dropship doesn't get beat up (or not badly), client's gonna save money.

Otherwise, yeah, risk yer own freaking dropship!

[$iljanus]

[] Forget it, risk your own dropship

115% of repair cost and compensation for lost usage time on top, or nothing.

It's a selling point, if our dropship doesn't get beat up (or not badly), client's gonna save money.

Otherwise, yeah, risk yer own freaking dropship!

Yup I concur!

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Forget it, risk your own dropship - unanimous

Gbasden shakes his head. "Sorry, no can do. We keep a lot of our stuff on those dropships and need them to get off-planet. The risk just isn't worth it. We'll send Beta Company to rendezvous at the designated coordinates. You sending anyone else?"

The Marvello liaison shakes his head. "Not much. I've got an Assassin and a Dragon that I can spare, but you guys will be doing most of the work. We'll put out the word."

February 23, 3045
Improvised "Cargo" Transfer Zone
Unzmarkt, Free Rasalhague Republic

So that's how Beta-Hunter lance winds up defending a grounded Leopard CV. Leraje directs our supporting infantry to set up in defensive positions as we wait, while Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire run patrols further out. Those two manage to reinforce the bulk of the incoming hostiles, but a reinforced medium mech lance with a short company of tank backup makes it past the other two lances to attack the dropship. The biggest threats will be a Zhukov heavy tank and an Orion, but they won't be the only ones.

The Marvello Dragon is here to help out, although the standard Dragon design is a little... lacking. An AC/5 and an LRM/10 launcher make up its long-range armament, while its short-range weapon is a single medium laser. The main thing it has going for it is its low profile, which makes landing decisive hits on it a little harder than on a comparable 60-ton mech.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

A good start, a J. Edgar hovertank rams into a tree as the driver oversteers trying to pull some sort of fast stunt move. Long-ranged fire doesn't score much damage, although at least the dropship's turrets put out a good volume of fire. Hyena takes a second to fire the Archer's lasers at a nearby patch of trees and start a fire for a little improvised smoke screen.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

We can all breathe a little easier as the Leopard's gunners disable an approaching Saladin hovertank. That thing can put a hole even in a dropship's armor if given the opportunity.

To the northwest, our infantry open up with their crew-served gauss rifles and support lasers, the gauss guys scoring a hit on an Ostsol approaching from the north. This causes the enemy mech to stagger, which, in turn, causes all of Siljanus' shots to miss.

Hyena uses the Archer's lasers to melt the treads off a nearby Vedette immobilizing it, while our Zephyr hovetank weaves in among the hostile armor and disables a second Vedette, helping secure the western flank a little.

To the south, things go a little less well, Leraje's Guillotine exchanging fire with a Blackjack but neither mech inflicting any major damage, while Wolf's Orion gets harassed and tripped up by a Stinger Land-Air Mech, whose pilot pulls some fancy jumping maneuvers straight out of a cartoon and avoids being perforated by the heavier mech's infantry. The LAM won't be doing much damage to the dropship, but is still quite an annoying opponent to fight.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Wolf gets the Orion up from its kneeling position, muttering about little anklebiters. Leraje is still occupied with the Blackjack and, as a result, lets a bunch of other units through, including a Griffin 1S. The dropship reports taking damage but armor holding. When Wolf spares a glance at the area, the Griffin is on the ground, having taken a non-trivial amount of laser hits from the Leopard's short-range weapons.

Our gunnery is less effective than the Leopard's, the Ostsol continuing to avoid Siljanus' long range fire, while the Blackjack absorbs or avoid a pretty amazing amount of firepower from the Guillotine. And let's not even start on the darting Plainsman hovertank that takes quite a few hits from Wolf but keeps gliding along.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Wolf notices that the Plainsman has slowed down, then a target lock warning beeps and our mechwarrior just barely manages to maneuver the Orion out of the line of fire of the Leopard's gunners, who blow the Plainsman up with just about every forward-facing weapon they have. "Hey, watch it!" our indignant mechwarrior calls out.

Leraje continues engaging the Blackjack, sparing a few lasers for a nearby Vedette as it pumps autocannon rounds into the dropship. The treaded vehicle's fuel tank is hit and it burns up quickly, leaving our mechwarrior to kick the Blackjack, which goes pretty well - the leg crumples and the 45 tonner keels over.

To the north, a pair of mechs (an Ostsol and a Wolverine) move in on Siljanus' Stalker, inflicting some damage. The Ostsol, thanks to our gauss infantry earlier, has a center torso armor breach, but Siljanus is unable to capitalize.

The dropship reports taking damage to the docking collar as the Griffin and Stinger LAM work on it up close, evading the heavy craft's guns. We'll need to get back there and do something about it.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Ostsol runs a little past Siljanus, opening up on the Stalker's vulnerable right side as our lumbering mech turns to engage, but rescue comes from an unlikely quarter - the Gauss infantry plant a second gauss slug directly into the center torso, coring the enemy mech out.

Spoiler:

The Leopard's gunners waste their time turning the Blackjack into an engine, cockpit and gyro loosely held together with a couple of titanium bars

Round 6:
The hostiles, having taken some major damage without causing any significant casualties of their own, pull back, probably hoping to wait for the forces engaged by Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire lances. Siljanus and Wolf each take out a Vedette, but we call it a day as we're unable to keep up with the rest of the retreating forces, while Hyena's Archer delivers the death by a thousand cuts to the treads of the Zhukov, leaving it unable to move anywhere.

The dropship is a little bit beat-up, but better their docking collar getting cracked than ours. Salvage isn't that great, but perhaps the other two lances will make up for it. Speaking of which, the bulk of the hostile force attacking the dropship is coming from the south, along a fairly narrow valley, and it's a doozy. Two lances of heavy mechs, with backup from a reinforced mech lance and almost two companies of armor.

Approximate terrain layout
(green indicates light woods, dark green indicates heavy woods, blue indicates water)

Spoiler:

How did Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire deploy?
[] Beta-Assault in the north as an anvil, Beta-Fire in the south to drive the bad guys in the right direction
[] Beta-Assault in the south to engage the bad guys immediately, Beta-Fire in the north to catch stragglers
[] Write-in

Also, we have enough landmines to cover two hexes, approximately where did we place those?
[] To the east of the small lake in the south side of the map
[] To the east of the two lakes about a quarter of the way to the north
[] To the east of the wooded patch to the east of the two lakes described above
[] Write-in

[Zenn7]

So that's how Beta-Hunter lance winds up defending a grounded Leopard CV. Leraje directs our supporting infantry to set up in defensive positions as we wait, while Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire run patrols further out. Those two manage to reinforce the bulk of the incoming hostiles,

Might I suggest we don't reinforce the enemy?

while Wolf's Orion gets harassed and tripped up by a Stinger Land-Air Mech, whose pilot pulls some fancy jumping maneuvers straight out of a cartoon and avoids being perforated by the heavier mech's infantry.How did Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire deploy?

When did we upgrade the Orion with infantry?

Sorry, these were amusing typos, just having a little fun with them. You do an amazing job writing all this up and I appreciate it (as well as everyone else posting in the thread I'm sure). Please keep it up. In this depressing time, this is one of the few cool things I look forward to.

[] Beta-Assault in the north as an anvil, Beta-Fire in the south to drive the bad guys in the right direction
[x] Beta-Assault in the south to engage the bad guys immediately, Beta-Fire in the north to catch stragglers
[] Write-in

Also, we have enough landmines to cover two hexes, approximately where did we place those?
[] To the east of the small lake in the south side of the map
x] To the east of the two lakes about a quarter of the way to the north
[] To the east of the wooded patch to the east of the two lakes described above
[] Write-in

Beta Assault should be able to survive and inflict significant casualties/damage that Beta-Fire can mop up.

Think that spot for the mines is a likely point for the vehicles to come through (non-hovercraft at least).

[gbasden]

Approximate terrain layout
(green indicates light woods, dark green indicates heavy woods, blue indicates water)

Spoiler:

How did Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire deploy?
[] Beta-Assault in the north as an anvil, Beta-Fire in the south to drive the bad guys in the right direction
[] Beta-Assault in the south to engage the bad guys immediately, Beta-Fire in the north to catch stragglers
[X] Write-in - Beta Assault about halfway up in cover with Beta-Fire in the north so Beta-Fire is close enough to support if needed.

Also, we have enough landmines to cover two hexes, approximately where did we place those?
[] To the east of the small lake in the south side of the map
[X] To the east of the two lakes about a quarter of the way to the north
[] To the east of the wooded patch to the east of the two lakes described above
[] Write-in

[Leraje]

Approximate terrain layout
(green indicates light woods, dark green indicates heavy woods, blue indicates water)

Spoiler:

How did Beta-Assault and Beta-Fire deploy?
[] Beta-Assault in the north as an anvil, Beta-Fire in the south to drive the bad guys in the right direction
[] Beta-Assault in the south to engage the bad guys immediately, Beta-Fire in the north to catch stragglers
[X] Write-in - Beta Assault about halfway up in cover with Beta-Fire in the north so Beta-Fire is close enough to support if needed.

Also, we have enough landmines to cover two hexes, approximately where did we place those?
[] To the east of the small lake in the south side of the map
[X] To the east of the two lakes about a quarter of the way to the north
[] To the east of the wooded patch to the east of the two lakes described above
[] Write-in

Looks good.

Re: Infantry equipped Orion - Given that Commando is a standard issue Steiner PA infantry, we can probably get away with designating Wolf in ONI as
"Heavy PA infantry".

[NickAragua]

Heh, damn ComStar transcription errors.

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Beta-Assault to the south, Beta-Fire to the north as reinforcements - 3
Beta-Assault further north, Beta-Fire north - 2

Mines east of woods that are east of two lakes - unanimous

So that's what we decide. We'll leave the coolant truck behind since in this kind of close-quarters combat it's just going to get blown up.

A recon lance spoils our ambush a little, getting past Beta-Assault, so Beta-Fire will have to pick them up.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Here's Beta-Fire, getting ready.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

And here's Beta-Assault, powering up from a cold start (and in Zarathud's case, from being fully submerged within a lake). Moley disables one of the advance units, a Skulker scout tank, with accurate laser fire, while Zenn7 fires at a Wasp LAM zipping by. Three PPCs hit, with two knocking out an arm each. Zarathud's surprise attack annihilates a Scimitar hovertank, as its LRM ammo goes up under sustained PPC fire. A few LRMs ping off the Awesome's armor, but it's fine for now.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Marvello assassin moves in to finish Zenn7's target, but Zenn7 beats him to it, disintegrating the poor mech with another triple PPC salvo. LordMortis disables the nearby Saladin zipping around, which takes care of the advance force.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Zarathud suddenly feels a powerful need to go back into the lake, as that's a little more firepower than even an Awesome can handle. Zenn7 lucks out a little more, as two of the enemy mechs go into the drink and don't come back up for a little while, allowing him to engage the Archer to the south. The Crusader flanks around and unloads SRMs into the Awesome, but armor holds.

Moley disables a Manticore tank, but the Thunderbolt's right arm armor is almost completely stripped off by combined return PPC fire and a large laser from a nearby Bulldog. And the woods our mechwarrior was using for cover catch on fire, too.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

LordMortis takes over on the Crusader, stripping armor with the gauss rifle and lasers. Zenn7 meanwhile, gets into an underwater engagement with the Orion, which turns out to be a bad idea, as our mechwarrior loses two out of three PPCs when the right arm and torso armor is breached and floods. Granted, both of the Orion's legs are breached as well, basically meaning that mech will be hanging out underwater until we fish it out.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Zarathud steps out of the lake, blasting an LTV-4 hovertank as it sends a mis-aimed PPC shot overhead, while Moley kicks over a Packrat as the Thunderbolt continues exchanging fire with the Rifleman. LordMortis continues engaging the Crusader, taking off a lot more armor than his Victor loses. Zarathud's attention is drawn to the nearby Flashman, which rakes its lasers across the Awesome's torso as it moves north.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Bera-Fire's Marauder drills an approaching Harasser hovertank with its twin blazers, cutting the light vehicle in half. Per the terms of our contract with the Marik corporation that provided us with this model, we still send battlefield telemetry over to them (although they've long since stopped asking questions), but this is the first time in two years that it's actually done anything with those horridly inefficient weapons other ahn overheat.

LordMortis continues engaging the Crusader as the enemy mech moves north, stripping armor off its right torso with lasers and SRMs as it returns fire with its short range weapons.

Zarathud and the Flashman continue their duel, the Flashman losing almost two tons of armor after eating a full PPC salvo from our mech, while the Awesome's armor continues to hold up under continued laser fire.

Zenn7 may not have two of his PPCs, but he can still throw around the Awesome's 80 ton bulk just fine, knocking over the Archer and preventing it from firing its LRMs at LordMortis. Effectively. It still fires them, but the missile trails go way up into the sky and don't come back down.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's Archer opponent doesn't have much luck getting up - instead the mechwarrior inside cracks his head on something and blacks out.

LordMortis' Crusader opponent's right side is pretty weak, which is why it turns that side away from our Victor. This turns into a great opportunity for our mechwarrior to put a gauss slug through the fresh armor then follow it up with some lasers to blow up an LRM ammo bin (actually both of them), taking the mech out of commission permanently.

To the north, our binary laser-equipped Marauder takes a good chunk out of an approaching Manticore, allowing our Trebuchet to fuse its left tread with lasers, immobilizing it.

The Flashman gets away from Zarathud, which exposes the enemy mech to attack by Moley's Thunderbolt, the resulting left leg armor breach blowing out most of the actuators and sending the mech to the ground.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Disappointing as it is, Zarathud takes the Awesome out of its cooling off spot and sends three PPC shots in the Flashman's direction, melting the remains of its leg. The guy in the Flashman bails out after Moley delivers a stomp to a torso, the leg coming up coated with heat sink coolant fluid.

Zenn7 has to briefly stop dismantling the Archer with the blacked-out mechwarrior as the Centurion finally rises from under water and opens fire with its AC/20. Luckily, that shot misses, and Zenn7 stomps on the Archer's leg to make sure it doesn't get up, then turns the Awesome's attention to the Centurion. It's a little less intimidating with just one PPC though.

To the north, our Trebuchet gets around a pair of Saladins as they get slightly lost in the woods, destroying one with lasers, but failing to seal the deal with the other one.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Beta-Fire's Trebuchet continues its (relatively) all-star performance, taking out the second Saladin with a spectacular three-ton AC/20 ammo explosion. The light mechs (except that LAM) have all gotten clear of Beta-Fire, as have a couple of tanks, but Beta-Hunter should be able to handle them.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

And here we have a problem. A slow, lumbering assault tank lance joins the fight. Of major concern are a Demolisher, with its twin AC/20s, and a Behemoth with its... well, extensive array of short-range weapons.

Zarathud moves to put a lot of woods between the Demolisher and the Awesome, hoping that they'll absorb at least some of the deadly autocannon fire.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zarathud and Moley stick to the woods and smoke, hoping to avoid the heavy weapons fire coming their way. Between the two of them, they deliver a beating to the Demolisher, damaging its treads but failing to breach armor.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

We either have to take out a chunk of this main push, or more of the heavies to the south.

Zarathud finally manages to take out the Demolisher as its crew was a little rattled from the previous salvo's pounding and unable to fire back in time.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Luckily, "Combat Loss Grouping" starts to take effect for the enemy force.

The Urbanmech isn't really suited for high-speed breakthroughs, which shows as Moley is able to slice off its autocannon, turning it from a barely-mobile AC/10 platform to a barely-mobile small laser platform stuck in the water.

Zenn7 blows off the Centurion's left arm (and LRM launcher) with the Awesome's single remaining PPC, rendering it a lot less scary. The main body of the enemy force loses a Manticore and the Scorpion to mobility damage, while LordMortis puts a gauss slug through the back of the Rifleman, taking out its two medium lasers and a dinging the gyro, then cracks its right leg in half with a boot.

As it's looking increasingly unlikely that the remaining heavies will break through, they ask for a cease fire over the general frequency. The usual deal, any units and personnel that can walk themselves off the field get to leave. The Marvello rep in the Assassin doesn't appear to be having any of it and orders us to keep shooting. "These are the guys we've been trying to nail for months, we can't let them get away now!"

Salvage will be good, I'm especially happy about that Flashman

Contract-wise, you could probably argue it either way and it'd depend on how good our lawyer was vs how good their lawyer was and which way the Comstar arbiter leaned at the time. On the ground, we've obviously got the firepower to enforce our way. At the current point in time, we'd be letting about two lances of heavy/assault tanks and a couple of mechs go (plus some infantry skittering along that we've been more or less ignoring).

[] Tell the Marvello rep to stuff it, cease fire
[] Keep shooting, maybe we can get them to surrender unconditionally instead

[Zenn7]

[] Tell the Marvello rep to stuff it, cease fire
[x] Keep shooting, maybe we can get them to surrender unconditionally instead

Sounds like we can take them? Let's do them in and maybe end this contract early?

[El Guapo]

Contract-wise, you could probably argue it either way and it'd depend on how good our lawyer was vs how good their lawyer was and which way the Comstar arbiter leaned at the time.

Can we have a lawyer simulation? I think that would be riveting stuff.

[] Tell the Marvello rep to stuff it, cease fire
[X] Keep shooting, maybe we can get them to surrender unconditionally instead