Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

[Leraje]

How much crab meat did we dig out of the cockpit?

A good amount, but it was past its expiration date.

GMO meat just does not keep that long.


Option 1.

[$iljanus]

[x] Continue fighting, collect disabled vehicles and salvage
[] Pull back, call it a day

Well... I'd rather take the second option, assuming that it won't be too expensive/difficult to replace our lost tanks.

But... our "allies" actually showed up. If we bail on them now, I suspect that they will be "late" to all future endeavors. There is still an enemy star? I'm assuming it's the light lance? I think it would be useful to know what's left.

Also, I'm not there, so it's a much easier call for me.

I agree with all of this, especially the last part.

Agree with the above! Also since we're on our own after FedCom bought our home base and a drop ship out from under us I think any opportunity to grab salvage as long as the odds aren't suicidal is worth taking.

[gbasden]

[x] Continue fighting, collect disabled vehicles and salvage
[] Pull back, call it a day

Well... I'd rather take the second option, assuming that it won't be too expensive/difficult to replace our lost tanks.

But... our "allies" actually showed up. If we bail on them now, I suspect that they will be "late" to all future endeavors. There is still an enemy star? I'm assuming it's the light lance? I think it would be useful to know what's left.

Also, I'm not there, so it's a much easier call for me.

I agree with all of this, especially the last part.

Agree with the above! Also since we're on our own after FedCom bought our home base and a drop ship out from under us I think any opportunity to grab salvage as long as the odds aren't suicidal is worth taking.

Yes, let's bail out our allies.

[Zenn7]

[x] Continue fighting, collect disabled vehicles and salvage
[] Pull back, call it a day

Well... I'd rather take the second option, assuming that it won't be too expensive/difficult to replace our lost tanks.

But... our "allies" actually showed up. If we bail on them now, I suspect that they will be "late" to all future endeavors. There is still an enemy star? I'm assuming it's the light lance? I think it would be useful to know what's left.

Also, I'm not there, so it's a much easier call for me.

I agree with all of this, especially the last part.

Agree with the above! Also since we're on our own after FedCom bought our home base and a drop ship out from under us I think any opportunity to grab salvage as long as the odds aren't suicidal is worth taking.

Yes, let's bail out our allies.

And rebuild our stockpile with salvage.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Keep it going - almost unanimous

"Fine." Zenn7 responds. "Let's finish these guys off."

Round 8:

Spoiler:

CJ and the Drillson hovertank are the only ones that can engage - CJ hops above a PPC fired from a Talon, but takes a grazing medium laser to the dome. Our Victor lands just in time to watch the allied Crusader take multiple lasers and machine gun rounds to the back from the nearby Incubus. It staggers as a leg actuator is hit, then the torso shatters as some LRM ammo goes off; the ejection seat and an arm go flying outward, and the remains of the legs fall to the ground.

CJ's gauss rifle nearly takes the right arm off the Talon attacking him - that ought to reduce its effectiveness with the PPC.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

CJ's hit to the Talon's right shoulder pays off - it's unable to bring the PPC to bear and has to be satisfied with landing a grazing laser hit, supported by a laser from a nearby Zephyr. The Zephyr is quickly discouraged as Zenn7 is able to bring the Awesome's PPCs into play, firing through a cluster of buildings to land a shot on its right side.

CJ continues working on the Talon, running the Victor's lasers across its left arm - the shoulder joint fuses and melted actuators can be seen beneath the peeled-off armor.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

The Talon runs into the ruined facility - which turns out to be a mistake. Our battle armor is waiting around a corner, blasting the light clan mech with their small lasers, and its left arm goes limp. CJ follows, giving it a few taps with the Victor's SRM launcher, then plants the Victor's 80-ton-rated boot into the back of the light mech - one of its leg actuators snaps. The clan mechwarriors may say they disdain physical attacks, but they have no problem stomping battle armor.

But, just going to show how good battle armor is compared to being an unarmored squishy, the trooper that got pressed into the ground transmits "I'm alive! Holy shit, I'm alive!" after the Talon departs.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

The Talon runs past CJ's Victor, rapidly disengaging.

To the north, Atrophy takes some missile fire while observing the Thunderbolt continue to get pounded. It's doing all right against three mechs, two hovertanks and an Elemental point, but there's just too much firepower there in the end. Its armor is breached and the machine gun ammo explodes, sending the mechwarrior for a flight. Our Drillson gets a good hit in on the Incubus while the Thunderbolt's last weapons fire damages the hostile Mongoose, but that's the end of the guerilla guys.

"Great, now they're all gonna shoot at us." Siljanus comments.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 braces his mech behind a building, blasting away with PPCs at a Zephyr hovertank to the north. It's not quite eliminated, but a giant smoking hole in its right side armor is enough to convince the crew that this fight is over.

Another Zephyr attempts to engage CJ, melting some armor off the Victor, but takes a gauss slug and some SRMs - the SRMs cause one of the drive fans to disappear, greatly reducing the hovertank's speed.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The other Talon and a Zephyr engage our Drillson as it swoops forward - which is an opportunity Zenn7 takes to stand still and fire PPCs. All three particle beams connect with the light mech, flaying away armor. The left leg separates at the hip while a hit to the center of mass exposes the gyro and engine - it drops to the ground, smoke pouring out.

CJ and our battle armor squad work to corner the Zephyr - it puts up a good fight, lasering off quite a bit of armor from our Victor, but a gauss slug drives through the hovertank, splitting it in half.

Atrophy and Siljanus tangle with the Incubus and a supporting Zephyr - atrophy losing another autocannon in the exchange while the Incubus takes multiple leg and arm armor breaches.

With two mechs, a hovertank and two Elementals (the other three apparently having been eliminated somewhere along the way) facing four assault mechs - even slightly beat up - the rest of the clanners retreat.

We've got two crippled hovertanks that we are able to recover. Damage to our mechs is moderate - Zenn7's Awesome will need its sensor package replaced, while Atrophy's Annihilator lost two of the LBX autocannons and an arm actuator. Zenn7 got lightly dinged, but will be fine. The allied force was basically annihilated - the mechwarriors ejected and survived, but their mechs are gone.

In fact, as our salvage crews start loading stuff onto flatbed trucks for transport to our drop zone, the guy in the Thunderbolt comes limping up and red-faced (and not just because of the multiple cuts and bruises), yelling about how Atrophy blew up his mech so we owe him a new one, and how the liaison's going to hear about this and do we know who he is, and all the usual stuff that pissed off nobles yell about when they get their family mech blown up.

We've coincidentally salvaged a mixed star of mechs.

A Talon - an Ostscout-fast 35-ton mech with an XL engine. Its armor is... well, light, but it packs two medium lasers and an extended-range star-league PPC; things are kept cool by the eleven double heat sinks. This one will need its left leg re-attached and some work on the engine and gyro.

A Hellbringer - heavily armed but not armored 65-ton omnimech, packing clan-spec weaponry. Two large lasers, a medium laser and an ultra AC/5. Its right torso section and an LRM launcher are missing due to an ammo detonation, as are the two machine guns. The mechwarrior ejected, so it'll need a new cockpit as well. Technically, the guerilla guys got this kill, so this would definitely shut the complaints up, but on the other hand it's in-demand clan tech.

A Cestus is a 65-ton classic Star League design. This one doesn't have working legs and the ejection seat has been fired, plust a couple of the star league double heat sinks have been blown out. However, it does have some impressive firepower and decent armor - two large lasers, two medium lasers and a gauss rifle with three tons of ammo. Reasonable speed and the double heat sinks keep it relatively cool.

The Grizzly is not an omnimech, but it's definitely a clan design. The only weapons that survived were a gauss rifle and an LRM/10 launcher, though. It also is missing its entire left side.

Finally, there's Star League Hussar, a 30-ton ultra-fast recon mech with paper thin armor and a single large laser. And double heat sinks for some reason. It lost a leg in the fighting.

So, how do we handle this complaining guy?

[] Ignore him, who gives a crap about some ranting crazy guy
[] Review battle ROM recordings from the Annihilator, that should clear things up. Unless Atrophy did accidentally shoot him.
[] Give him one of the salvaged mechs to shut him up
-[] Pick which one

[Freyland]

If they are the ones that killed the Hellraiser....

[$iljanus]

Quietly review the ROM footage. How long do we have to play nice with the locals? I do not like this backwoods “noble’s” attitude. Unless he’s right.

I’d even consider giving them that mech they took out but to any other pilot if the ROM footage gets us off the hook.

[TheMix]

Quietly review the ROM footage. How long do we have to play nice with the locals? I do not like this backwoods “noble’s” attitude. Unless he’s right.

I’d even consider giving them that mech they took out but to any other pilot if the ROM footage gets us off the hook.

Solid analysis. +1

Also...

"What? Absolutely not! We need to make good on these two mechs we lost. We held half the clan force for you, you gotta help us out!"

So... if they had pulled out when we advised them to, they'd still have 2 of their mechs. They should be thanking us. If we hadn't come, they'd probably be having this discussion with their captors...

[TotallyNotEvil]

Ok, hear me out: we pay him just enough to make him shut up for a bit, and we keep the Good Stuff for ourselves. Need that clan gear to keep our machines fed and happy!

[X] Give him one of the salvaged mechs to shut him up
-[x] The Hussar

[Leraje]

Ok, hear me out: we pay him just enough to make him shut up for a bit, and we keep the Good Stuff for ourselves. Need that clan gear to keep our machines fed and happy!

[X] Give him one of the salvaged mechs to shut him up
-[x] The Hussar

And rip out DHS out of it if we can

[TheMix]

I suspect the problem is going to be that the prick lost a heavy mech. And is therefore unlikely to be satisfied with a light mech.

[$iljanus]

I suspect the problem is going to be that the prick lost a heavy mech. And is therefore unlikely to be satisfied with a light mech.

Probably. But if the ROM footage shows that it was Clan fire that cost him the mech then “the problem” turns into a “his problem”.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

-Give Hellbringer |
-Give Hussar ||

-Review ROM recordings -> Give Hellbringer ||
-Review ROM recordings -> Give Cestus |
-Review ROM recordings

-Ignore ||

"... really?" Zenn7 asks, rewinding the footage, the little black box connected to a holo projector in the Thunderball - our Overlord-class dropship. "You just *had* to take that shot, huh?"

Atrophy shrugs. "Stupid bastard kept hitting me with LRMs, I thought he was one of them."

Zenn7 stares. "You thought a classic Thunderbolt was operated by the clans."

"What, they use salvaged Inner Sphere gear." Atrophy counters.

"Sure, but usually they're not shooting at each other." Zenn7 sighs. "Look, just... next time, let the clans blow the allied unit up instead and save your autocannon ammo. Now, you wouldn't have this problem if you used PPCs like a real mechwarrior..."

---

With the ROM recordings showing that a) the Thunderbolt actually shot at Atrophy a couple of times with its LRMs and b) Atrophy accidentally (or "accidentally") dinged the Thunderbolt's machinegun ammo bin with an LBX pellet or two, we decide that Atrophy was "under combat confusion caused by incoming friendly fire". So, as far as we're concerned, the screaming Combine nobleman gets squat. Amazingly, the liaison backs us up, telling him to piss off (using much more polite and euphemism-laden Combine terminology).

"The Draconis Combine does not have much appreciation for incompetence or dishonesty." the liaison explains. "At least on the surface." he adds with a smirk.

With that resolved, our target in this area has been destroyed, so we pack up our dropships and perform an incident-free sub-orbital hop, relocating to our next target's area. A simple but critical communications hub controlling traffic between multiple industrial sites - taking it out will snarl everything for months.


May 13, 3054

As usual, we send out our hovertank patrols to beat the bush and locate it; Delta lance is eventually able to pinpoint it thanks to the Beagle Probe on AWS' Phoenix Hawk LAM. The signal comes from underground. As we move to take a closer look, a transmission comes out on the general frequency.

"This is Star Commander John Rosse to approaching mechs. You are Inner Sphere surats, and therefore not worthy of a proper batchall. However, we will grant you the honor of engaging and destroying your pitiful mechs in combat. I will even take your Nova for myself."

"Great." Freyland states. "Gamma Lance, you there?"

"Yeah." Wolf replies. "We're about a minute out. Sure you don't want to wait for us?"

Freyland shakes his head. "I don't think they're going to give us a choice. Delta Lance - spread out and stay on the move. Let's see if we can just take the facility out and get out."

The hostile mechs resolve to some classic Star League designs - two Black Knights, a Warhammer, a Hoplite and a Lancelot. None are front-line mechs, but the "royal" Star League versions of the Black Knight and Lancelot are nothing to sneeze at.

Delta lance is Freyland/Nova, SgtSoldier/Phoenix Hawk, Akalon/Vulcan, AWS/Phoenix Hawk LAM; Gamma Lance is Wolf/Hellbringer, 9B/Archer, TheMix/Mad Dog, Backwash/Griffin. We also have a Falcon hovertank.

Round 1:
[camera feed disrupted]
"What is this pathetic thing that you send at me?" comes the taunt as our Falcon is evaporated.

Akalon and SgtSoldier focus fire on a Hoplite - a 55-ton mech with no arms. Out of its right side comes a gauss slug, tearing into Akalon's right leg, blowing out an actuator. The enemy mech takes a knee from the incoming fire, but looks fine otherwise.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Freyland jumps up to the lip of the underground crater, unloading the Nova's lasers on a Black Knight - the hostile mech's armor holds up despite the multiple angry red welts.

SgtSoldier and Akalon continue hopping around, firing at the Hoplite, but its armor refuses to yield. SgtSoldier's mech takes a couple of PPC hits as our mechwarrior hops around the Hoplite's back - he gets the rear shot he wanted, but the round-top mech simply rotates and blasts him with its gauss rifle. The Phoenix Hawk's left arm goes limp and the mech is unable to find purchase on the slippery surface, dropping to the ground.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

SgtSoldier levers his Phoenix Hawk up, unlike the Hoplite, which continues having to brace itself with a knee to prevent from falling over.

Freyland hops north, instantly regretting it as his Nova gets stuck in some sort of muck. Our mechwarrior continues melting armor off the Black Knight with the Nova's many lasers, status indicators going from green to yellow. Akalon and AWS add their firepower, forcing an armor breach on the target's center torso. SgtSoldier adds a large laser from the Phoenix Hawk's remaining arm, noting with satisfaction the bright blue coolant fluid spraying out from beneath a fried actuator.

Freyland's mech beeps as the left torso loses all of its armor after a PPC and several pulse laser shots, then everything goes white temporarily as a pulse laser makes its way across the Nova's head.

SgtSoldier ducks under a gauss slug, but eats a few SRMs, the Phoenix Hawk losing coolant fluid and a jump jet. Our mechwarrior kicks the Hoplite in the right leg in frustration.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Watch that muck!" Freyland warns as both SgtSoldier and Akalon get themselves stuck briefly. Not for long, but long enough.

Freyland's lasers melt armor off the other Black Knight - the first one having decided to shut off its searchlight and stop lighting itself up.

"That's one new bondsman." comes a taunt over the general frequency as SgtSoldier's Phoenix Hawk seizes up - its right torso is melted to slag by a laser from the Lancelot and the XL engine immediately shuts down.

Akalon and AWS's added firepower brings the second Black Knight to the ground, however.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Freyland jumps north, forgetting his own advice for a second as Akalon struggles to get out - the Nova's lasers focus in on the target Black Knight's center torso, breaching armor and lighting it up on the heat indicator - an engine hit. Its right arm and attached PPC melt off as well. The incoming fire causes Freyland to drop to the ground entirely.

AWS takes a gauss slug, breaching right torso armor, as the Phoenix Hawk LAM approaches the Hoplite to deliver a kick, dropping the saucer-top mech to a knee again. The kick costs our mechwarrior - the LAM briefly has to make contact with the ground to stabilize, but the same slippery surface that got SgtSoldier earlier gets AWS - the right side of the mech shears off as it crunches against a wall.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

With the transformation equipment inoperable and being stuck on the ground like a fish while facing the cave wall, AWS makes the call to power down and climb out.

"A curious little machine, surat." comes the not-entirely-unexpected taunt. "Too bad flight is not generally useful underground."

"Pull back to designated nav point." Freyland calls out. "Let's let the big guys handle the rest of this, we've softened them up enough."

The other thing that is softened up is Freyland's Nova, which loses its left arm, and, consequently, the lasers mounted on it. Four of them. Akalon turns the Vulcan around mid-air and tries to cover his lance leader, blasting a few chunks out of the Lancelot's armor, but it doesn't help much.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"Reinforcements have arrived." Wolf calls out, entering the cave. "Cozy."

The cave is lit up by flashes of PPCs and lasers, as well as a single gauss trail, but nothing connects.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Freyland's left torso section melts under fire from a Black Knight - it's hard to tell which one, but it doesn't matter - the Nova's left arm is now off and it's weaponless.

Wolf moves forward, retaliating with two PPC shots to the right torso, melting the pulse laser mounted there, while the rest of Gamma Lance focuses fire on the Black Knights - although TheMix delivers a pulse laser blast to the Lancelot, causing an armor breach.

"Ah, finally, a challenge." comes the taunt.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

With one of the Black Knights trying to retreat from the cavern, the odds are a little bit more in our favor - we have four pristine mechs to their four beat-up mechs. 9B attracts a good amount of firepower, but the Archer's armor holds up. The Black Knight at which Wolf and Backwash fire, however, wobbles and falls over, breaching its right torso armor.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

The clanner appears to have stopped sending out taunts now that we have the upper hand in mass and firepower - especially when Backwash sends a bunch of LRMs into the Hoplite's cockpit, taking it down. Backwash's right arm is exposed after a gauss slug hits it directly, but armor replacement isn't a problem for us.

9B's LRM salvo may have also soured his mood a little more directly, with multiple armor breaches.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

It's TheMix's turn to slip on the slick yet hard surface, cracking one of the Mad Dog's pulse lasers. Our mechwarrior gets back in the game however, sawing off the remaining Black Knight's arm, while Wolf's PPCs and lasers take the left one off. It's not quite an even amount of mass off both sides however, so the heavy mech becomes unbalanced and keels over, literally glowing from both externally applied heat and its engine going crazy with all the missing heat sinks.

Backwash switches targets to the Lancelot, pinging it in the left torso and dinging the engine, while 9B swaps LRMs in exchange for PPC fire from the Warhammer.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Backwash appears to be on fire today - as TheMix blasts it with the Mad Dog's pulse lasers, it rocks a little bit and staggers, giving our Griffin a chance to line up its long-range weapons. The LRMs arrow in on the upper torso section, including a few to the head, and the 70-tonner slowly drops to the ground.

The Lancelot takes fire from 9B and Wolf, losing most of the rest of its weapons.

"You've defeated me this time, surats, with your dishonorable tactics, but I will see you destroyed yet!" comes the final "taunt" over the general frequency.

Wolf smirks. "I look forward to seeing you try."

The three surviving clanners disengage, limping out of the cave, leaving our salvage crews to pick over the two mechs we took down and recover ours as well. Our salvage ratio isn't that great from the five mechs we recovered after the last fight, so the Hoplite and Warhammer go into the segment of the Jumbo designated for Kurita salvage. That's all right, they're not that great.

Freyland's mech is pretty beat up, as are AWS' and SgtSoldier. Akalon's Vulcan escaped catastrophic damage, but still has a damaged leg actuator.

---

We pack it in again and head towards our final target - a major distribution center for manufactured products - clan weapons, etc. The letter of our contract is pretty clear - we blow it up, then we leave. Our liaison suggests that we can waylay and capture some of the convoys heading in and out of the area, getting our pick of extra salvage (which hasn't been terribly plentiful this contract) and helping equip local resistance forces with the rest.

Delta and Zeta lance are out of action for a while, but we've got four fully functional lances we can commit to this. There are three convoys we've identified so far, so that could be a pretty good amount of equipment. Of course, the longer we hang out here, the more chances that our Star Commander pal gets his mech fixed up and comes after us again, with more firepower.

How many of the convoys do we hit?
[] One
[] Two
[] Three
[] Zero, just hit the distribution center and bug out

[Freyland]

:sadmechface:

[TheMix]

How many lances do we need for the distribution center? 2 to make it quick and painless? Then opt for 2 convoys with the remaining lances?

[TheMix]

Also, that was definitely the worst outcome I can remember. Did we send a medium lance against a heavy? Is that why we got chewed up so bad?

[Zenn7]

How many lances do we need for the distribution center? 2 to make it quick and painless? Then opt for 2 convoys with the remaining lances?

Yeah, send anything we don't need for the distribution center after a convoy.

[NickAragua]

Also, that was definitely the worst outcome I can remember. Did we send a medium lance against a heavy? Is that why we got chewed up so bad?

One of the pilots was a gunnery 0/piloting 1. Luckily, he was driving the Lancelot rather than one of the Black Knights. But the Black Knights had pulse lasers and gunnery 3, which basically means gunnery 1.

In other words, elite pilots better than ours.

[Leraje]

Also, that was definitely the worst outcome I can remember. Did we send a medium lance against a heavy? Is that why we got chewed up so bad?

One of the pilots was a gunnery 0/piloting 1. Luckily, he was driving the Lancelot rather than one of the Black Knights. But the Black Knights had pulse lasers and gunnery 3, which basically means gunnery 1.

In other words, elite pilots better than ours.

Hehe... best pilot I have in my campaign has gunnery 0 backed by ballistic specialization + Gauss specialization. In a 4xGauss Anni with aim high/low enabled she's a head-capping machine.

Also, any Clanner with a last name is worth watching out for - thyu had to earn it a hard way

How many lances do we need for the distribution center? 2 to make it quick and painless? Then opt for 2 convoys with the remaining lances?

Yeah, send anything we don't need for the distribution center after a convoy.

Agreed.

[$iljanus]

How many lances do we need for the distribution center? 2 to make it quick and painless? Then opt for 2 convoys with the remaining lances?

Yeah, send anything we don't need for the distribution center after a convoy.

I like this plan.

[TheMix]

Do we have any idea what defense forces are waiting in the target? That will definitely affect decisions.

Also, what are the make-up of our available lances, i.e. light, medium, heavy, etc.? For those of us that have no idea what the designations mean.

[AWS260]

Noooo LAMmy! Please be OK.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

3 ||
2 ||||||||

May 14, 3054
Convoy Point Epsilon

"To vehicle and cargo mechs. We have you surrounded. In case you don't know the drill, I'm transmitting a set of nav points for you to follow. Do not deviate from them or attempt any long-range communications. If you do... " Leraje leaves the sentence unfinished.

Epsilon Lance has successfully got the drop on a few cargo mechs heading towards the distribution center. As they begin to comply with the instructions given to them, our lance's sensors go a little fuzzy. But there's no mistaking it - sensor contacts. Fast, light units, closing in.

"Boss, I've got airborne contacts closing in as well, three aerospace fighters."

"Can we get some of our own?" Xwraith wonders.

Leraje thinks for a second. "Yeah. We've kept the aerospace fighters grounded up to this point, but it looks like the clanners are escalating. So we may as well too. Command, we've got incoming aerospace - scramble anything we've got."

"Understood, Strike One and Two are on the way." comes the reply.

Epsilon Lance is Leraje/Warhawk, Moley/Summoner, Hyena/Timber Wolf and Xwraith/Thunderbolt. Once they get close enough that their ECM doesn't matter, the guys trying to get their convoy back are a bunch of hovertanks and a few VTOLs - backed up by four light mechs.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Hey, don't these guys usually work in fives?" Moley asks.

"Yeah. Stars, they're called. Wonder where the fifth guy is." Xwraith responds.

"Maybe he tripped harder than that Hussar just tripped." Moley transmits, snickering as he watches said Hussar, indeed, enter a gravel pile and trip, ripping some armor off itself as it faceplants.

"Stay focused, guys." Leraje calls out. "Convoy units, keep it moving." He says, waving the Warhawk's torso menacingly at a nearby cargo mech.

Hyena picks off one of the approaching hovercraft at near maximum range, blasting it with an extended-range PPC shot from the Timber Wolf's right arm. It's not even a direct hit, half the particles going past the hovertank's front, but it's enough to completely slag its skirt and let all the air out. The "Lightning" (not to be confused with the aerospace fighter of the same name) dips down and kicks up a cloud of dirt.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Moley frowns as VTOL (tagged by the computer as a "Donar") zips in. Firing up the Summoner's jump jets, our mechwarrior sidesteps its attack and opens up with the 70-ton mech's weapons. Between the LBX autocannon and the grazing hit with the extended-range PPC, the helicopter's rotor blade is sheared off and it drops to the ground. Unlike most Inner Sphere helicopters, however, instead of blowing up right away, it just sits there, the sprayed-up dirt slowly settling down around it.

Hyena turns the Timber Wolf's PPCs on a lone tracked vehicle in the back of the hostile hovercraft swarm, blasting it through the side - the vehicle is intact, but its turret sags and the driver turns it around.

To the south, Xwraith opens up at a distant Zephyr hovertank as a Locust approaches the Thunderbolt - even if it's some kind of Star League model, a bug mech is a bug mech and can be temporarily ignored. The LRMs blast off the Zephyr's drive fans, bringing it to a rapid halt. Satisfied, our mechwarrior opens up on the approaching Locust, but it jukes, taking only a brief grazing hit from a single laser while unloading pulse lasers on Leraje's Warhawk. Our mechwarrior is unable to score any hits on it in return. To add insult to injury, the Locust gracefully pirouettes to avoid Xwraith's "swatting" kick, delivers a kick of its own to the Thunderbolt's shin, then zips away.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Moley steps around another hovercraft while firing at a Thorn - a classic Star League light mech, although nobody really sure what niche it fills. The THE-N has the speed of a Wasp or a Stinger, but no jump jets; armor is still that of a light mech; and armament is two medium lasers and an inexplicable LRM/5. However, Moley's LRMs and LBX pellets fail to penetrate the light mech's armor.

Xwraith scowls as the Locust continues avoiding the Thunderbolt's fire - but the effort costs the other mechwarrior and Leraje plants a PPC on its left side, frying the left weapons pod - although the Warhawk takes a good amount of armor damage from continued pulse laser fire. The backswing with its PPCs fails to make contact as the Locust continues bobbing and weaving, avoiding Xwraith's kick as well. In fact, our Thunderbolt overextends and has to drop to a knee.

"Why you little..." is our mechwarrior's commentary.

Hyena continues the Timber Wolf's streak - although the extended-range PPCs miss, a light-weight hover APC catches several pings from a pulse laser, its armor evaporating.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Xwraith levers the Thunderbolt up, moving forward, while Leraje brings up the rear. The Hussar that had previously tripped runs between the two mechs, catching all four of the Warhawk's PPCs, including one to the center of mass. It burns through the whole mech as if it wasn't even there, coming out the other side and spraying Xwraith's mech with debris - the Hussar drops to the ground, cored out. The Locust continues blasting armor chunks off the Warhawk, but Leraje sticks the 85-tonner's leg out and the Locust's right leg cracks. Our mechwarrior smirks, moving on to other targets.

To the north, Moley continues getting swarmed by a hovercraft, the Thorn and the Phoenix Hawk. The solution he comes up with is to get a bit of an altitude advantage on the Thorn and boot it in the chest. Its LRM ammo bin detonates - the blowout panels in the back prevent the mech's total destruction, but can't prevent its engine from being crushed when it hits the ground.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The rest of the force trying to recover the vehicles turns and retreats, in a fairly orderly fashion. Moley manages to catch a fleeing hovertank with the LBX autocannon, sending it sky-high as an ammo bin blows - the rest of our weapons fire is ineffective.

We avoid further pursuit as the clanners are heading towards their aircraft, which choose not to engage as our interceptors vector in. The salvage haul is pretty good - all the tanks and the mech wrecks will go to our employer, but we'll get first crack at whatever the convoy was carrying. We'll pick through that stuff later, though - one of our hovertank patrols reports that the other convoy we're monitoring has accelerated their pace.

We've got two lances in position to help intercept - Beta lance is our fresh assault lance, but they're pretty slow and may not be able to catch up before the convoy gets away. Epsilon lance is currently supervising salvage operations - they're a little tired and have taken some battle damage, but are still combat effective and considerably faster. The hovertanks report that the escort force is five medium mechs - which they obviously can't take themselves.

[] Send Beta Lance
[] Send Epsilon Lance

[Hyena]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

3 ||
2 ||||||||

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

[TheMix]

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

Hope so. I agree that sending a lance that may not catch up seems pointless. Here's hoping our boys aren't too tired or banged up.

[$iljanus]

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

Hope so. I agree that sending a lance that may not catch up seems pointless. Here's hoping our boys aren't too tired or banged up.

Speed is the key so I choose Epsilon but if things go pear shaped I wouldn't press it and don't have a problem withdrawing.

[Zenn7]

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

Hope so. I agree that sending a lance that may not catch up seems pointless. Here's hoping our boys aren't too tired or banged up.

Speed is the key so I choose Epsilon but if things go pear shaped I wouldn't press it and don't have a problem withdrawing.

Send Epsilon, but what about our air support that was enroute? Can we reroute them to join Epsilon there?

[NickAragua]

Send Epsilon, but what about our air support that was enroute? Can we reroute them to join Epsilon there?

Possible, but not guaranteed (unlike mechs, aerospace fighters eventually have to refuel).

[Leraje]

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

Hope so. I agree that sending a lance that may not catch up seems pointless. Here's hoping our boys aren't too tired or banged up.

Agreed. Was that a regular locust or IIC?

[NickAragua]

Agreed. Was that a regular locust or IIC?

It was a royal (1Vb) - these older clan mechwarriors are seriously past their prime, half of them aren't even getting real clan equipment. At least he wasn't the poor guy who got stuck in the "classic" Phoenix Hawk.

Still, it kept circling around and zapping away with those 5(!) pulse lasers and did a surprising amount of damage. One of these days, I'll teach the bot to "hit and run" with that kind of unit, rather than "run in then run in close circles" - the latter really reduces the Locust's ability to keep its movement modifier up.

[El Guapo]

[] Send Beta Lance
[X] Send Epsilon Lance

For purely selfish reasons, I choose Epsilon, but it also makes sense that a heavier lance might not catch up. If the damage isn't too bad, I think we'll be able to take some mediums.

Hope so. I agree that sending a lance that may not catch up seems pointless. Here's hoping our boys aren't too tired or banged up.

Agreed

[NickAragua]

AN:

Spoiler:

Sorry about the super delayed update - lots of technical difficulties

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Send Epsilon - almost unanimous

"All right, finish welding that armor plate on, then hit the release - we gotta go." Leraje tells the tech team working on the Warhawk.

"What? But we still have plating to install here, here, over there..." the tech protests.

"Yeah, I know. But we have hovertanks that need bailing out." Leraje replies.

The tech shrugs. "Whatever, your funeral."

Leraje smirks. "Sure is."

---

When we get there, the party has already started - the hovertanks decided to begin picking at the convoy and its escort mechs. In exchange for some minor armor damage to one of the five, one of the hovertanks has crashed into a tree. We'll need heavy equipment to separate those two.

Still, two of the convoy vehicles have been disabled while a third has made a run for it and gotten away, with the last one, a giant dump truck, still on the field.

As before, Epsilon lance is Leraje/Warhawk, Moley/Summoner, Hyena/Timber Wolf and Xwraith/Thunderbolt.

The hostiles are a star of medium mechs - two Sentinels (ultra-autocannon model), a Hoplite (with the gauss rifle), a Star League Crab and a Bombardier. The latter is another legacy Star League model, loaded entirely with LRMs and SRMs.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Sonofa..." Xwraith exclaims as a gauss slug and multiple autocannon rounds slam into her Thunderbolt. Thankfully, the gauss impact is at an awkward angle and only mangles some armor plating - the Thunderbolt's heavy armor continues to hold up otherwise.

Our lance mostly focuses fire on the Bombardier, blasting armor off, but the Hoplite and a Sentinel take a couple of hits as well. One of our hovertanks, the Zephyr, lets loose with its SRM launcher, pinging the Hoplite as it concentrates on Xwraith - a stray SRM gets through an exposed armor weak spot and the Hoplite's heat signature skyrockets. The mechwarrior can't quite deal with

"Good shot little fella." Xwraith comments.

"GFY, Epsilon four." the hovertank's commander replies.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The Hoplite shuffles around on the ground, but is unable to get up.

"Leave him for later." Leraje tells Xwraith. "I'll keep an eye on him - got a couple PPC blasts with his name on them if he actually gets up."

"How do you write on a high-energy particle cloud, anyway?" Xwraith wonders absently.

"It's a metaphor, mechwarrior." Leraje responds. "Now move up and engage the rest of them."

Xwraith does so, splitting the Thunderbolts weapons fire between a more distant Sentinel and the closer Bombardier - that "multi-trac" computer really makes doing that a cinch. One of the Sentinels lets rip with its ultra autocannon, the rapid fire shells shredding one of our hovertanks' skirts - but while it's busy doing that, Xwraith's medium lasers carve through the Bombardier's center torso, melting some of the gyro housing. The 65-ton mech staggers, giving Leraje a good opportunity to fry its right arm (and the SRM launcher housed there) with one of the Warhawk's PPCs. The heavy humanoid mech creaks and has to drop to a knee.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Moley and Xwraith continue moving up, attempting to encircle the short star of rear-line clan mechs, with the remaining hovertank providing a backstop.

The Crab fires at Moley, melting armor off the Summoner with its large laser, but weapons fire from our Summoner and Hyena's Timber Wolf (mostly PPC shots from the latter) connect with its center of mass, dropping it to the ground.

Leraje, meanwhile, continues firing at the Bombardier, melting through its torso with multiple PPC hits - the poor mech collapses, disabled.

With our hovertank breaching armor and causing an engine hit on the other Sentinel, the two remaining mechs - Sentinels both - decide to call it a day.

"We will be back, Inner Sphere surats!" one of the Sentinel pilots taunts over the general frequency.

"Sure you will." Moley retorts.

Despite getting throughly trashed, the clanners did accomplish one goal - denying us the cargo. Two of the convoy vehicles get away, while the other two... well, we're going to have trouble getting a legless cargo mech and an APC bogged down in mud back to our dropships. We can make it happen, but the salvage crews are already busy, between having to bring two of our hovertanks back and recovering the mechs we disabled. Even worse, while we were busy disabling the Crab and Bombardier, the Hoplite managed to get up and limp away.

A wash overall, but at least we get to pick up some salvage credit with our employer.

"Hey, Captain, weren't you gonna watch the Hoplite?" Xwraith can't help but needle Leraje.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut your trap." Leraje responds, chuckling.

---

"I am Mechwarrior Lucinda." the prisoner tells us. Specifically, Xwraith and Leraje as the two of them survey the Locust wreck from their previous battle. While Alpha, Beta and Zeta lance engage the forces around the supply depot (hoping to score a little extra loot), Epsilon gets to kick back and relax a little as our salvage crews haul clan equipment (and our disabled hovertanks) away. When one of the captured clan mechwarriors demanded to talk to the mechwarrior who defeated her, the salvage crew decided to comply - normally, captured mechwarriors are a little less noisy about it and more willing to wait until everyone leaves the field.

The clan mechwarrior holds out her hand with a data storage device in it. "This is my codex. I am sure my accomplishments qualify me as a bondsman."

Xwraith looks at her with a raised eyebrow, then gets a glimmer of recognition. "Oh, yeah, you were in that Locust when I crushed the leg." He smirks. "Sorry, Lucy, I don't think you're getting that mech back - pretty sure the Dracs are gonna take it for salvage shares."

The clan mechwarrior's jaw can be seen clenching. "I assure you, if you put me back in a battlemech, I will bring you both honor and victory. And my name is Lucinda."

Xwraith lifts a finger. "Now look here, Lucy. First of all, there's no way you're getting back into a mech while we're on a contract against your people. Second, you look like you're about twelve, so the only thing you should be bringing victory against is schoolwork. And third... "

Leraje puts a hand on Xwraith's shoulder. "Cultural hazard, mechwarrior. Go have an energy drink and let me handle this."

Xwraith sighs. "Fine, but I better not wind up having to babysit her."

Leraje smirks, calling Moley and Hyena over. "You two, have a chat while I set up an isolation run of this chip of hers and see what she's got on it."

Hyena whispers something into Moley's ear. Moley chuckles. "Yeah, she definitely ran circles around us, that's for sure." he looks at Lucy. "Too bad someone on your side thought it was a good idea to put up a bunch of light mechs against our heavies and assaults. So anyway... pulse or extended-range lasers?"

---

A clan mechwarrior with fairly excellent gunnery skill (better than average for our company) has offered to serve as our bondsman. The main conditions are that she refuses to work with anyone other than Xwraith (who defeated her in combat, even if under somewhat dishonorable terms), and demands to be assigned a mech. Her data chip gives her a kill record the length of a small novel, and indicates that she has fought in two "Trials of Position". The first one she won, the second one, she lost. Which maybe explains why she's been assigned to this random backwater and drove a Locust?

[] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

[TheMix]

[] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[X] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

I have no idea what is typical in this situation. But my gut does not like the idea of putting her in the field against her own. Though maybe the "honor" thing is dependable?

[$iljanus]

I’m kinda curious and I think honor is a pretty big deal to clanners. Would be good to ask “the experts” if there’s some loophole where a captured clan member can betray their surat captors but if she’s legit let the plucky pilot have a mech.

[TotallyNotEvil]

[X] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most

I find the fact that we just have like a big pile of Hunchbacks lying around hilarious. Also, she sounds like a novel protagonist, so might as well.

[El Guapo]

[] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[X] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

I have no idea what is typical in this situation. But my gut does not like the idea of putting her in the field against her own. Though maybe the "honor" thing is dependable?

Is it too dishonorable or what have you to park her until we are offworld? I'm happy to have her sign on, but seems like a reasonable precaution to not put her into battle until we're not fighting her people.

[xwraith]

[x] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

It might be a disaster, but it sounds like it could be entertaining.

[gbasden]

[x] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

It might be a disaster, but it sounds like it could be entertaining.

+1 for entertaining!

[Leraje]

[x] "Assign" her one of our spare Hunchbacks, but have Xwraith babysit her until we get her off world - a few days at most
[] Stick her in "secure quarters" like we do with the rest of the people who we capture during contracts and revisit the issue once we're off world

Let loose the war kitty

[Zenn7]

By now - have we heard enough about the clans and bondsmen and such to know they take this stuff seriously and we can trust this person?

If so, happy babysitting Xwraith!

If not, follow our usual policy, you can join after we finish the current campaign.