Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

[TotallyNotEvil]

I'm still fuzzy on that.

Did we not actually own "our" stuff. I get that the government of the world is changing, but did they just come in and take everyone's possessions? What about the people that lived there? Do they lose ownership of their houses?

If my car is parked in a lot, and the lot gets sold, I still own the car.... So, why did we lose stuff that we owned? And was our money sitting around in bags stuffed under beds? Or was none of this really "ours"?

A large chunk of our mercenary activities' profit was being funneled to the planet, where it was invested by the "local OO government" in local infrastructure - dropship landing pads, reconstruction/excavation efforts, etc. The planet is now owned by FedCom, thus all the government-owned objects are also owned by FedCom.

Now, if your mechwarrior took their share payouts/salary and bought a car (or real estate) and it's on-planet, the car/real-estate still belongs to you.

So in other words, publicly owned infrastructure is now FedCom controlled, but private ownership still works like you'd expect it to (it might be different if it was the Capellans or Dracs taking over)

I somehow didn't see this discussion, but the FedCom claiming a planet the OO invested in I kind of get, but a jumpship is kind of forcing it. Money is money, but you can't just buy a jumpship without like ten years of waiting, can you?

[NickAragua]

I somehow didn't see this discussion, but the FedCom claiming a planet the OO invested in I kind of get, but a jumpship is kind of forcing it. Money is money, but you can't just buy a jumpship without like ten years of waiting, can you?

You can't buy the jumpship, but if you're FedCom, you can get it classified as planetary property and pay the crew a bunch of money, and you own the courts.

[Zenn7]

Never split the party.

Splitting the party has never been a historically good move for us. Look what happened to the party we left on our former home world!

[Zenn7]

I somehow didn't see this discussion, but the FedCom claiming a planet the OO invested in I kind of get, but a jumpship is kind of forcing it. Money is money, but you can't just buy a jumpship without like ten years of waiting, can you?

You can't buy the jumpship, but if you're FedCom, you can get it classified as planetary property and pay the crew a bunch of money, and you own the courts.

The system is rigged against us little guys. Not like we're Wolf's Dragoons and they'll treat us with the courtesy and respect we've earned in our company's proud history.

[$iljanus]

I somehow didn't see this discussion, but the FedCom claiming a planet the OO invested in I kind of get, but a jumpship is kind of forcing it. Money is money, but you can't just buy a jumpship without like ten years of waiting, can you?

You can't buy the jumpship, but if you're FedCom, you can get it classified as planetary property and pay the crew a bunch of money, and you own the courts.

The system is rigged against us little guys. Not like we're Wolf's Dragoons and they'll treat us with the courtesy and respect we've earned in our company's proud history.

Sometimes I think we should have tried for independence, even if the odds were kinda bad and we would be forcing it down the throats of people on the planet. Fight the system and all that.

Oh and don’t split the force.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Wait three days

May 9, 3054

"Is that an Overlord?" AWS asks as Delta lance trudges through the intense sandstorm. The weather has basically grounded all of our aircraft, starting up just a little bit after landing - but it's a great opportunity for our mechs to sneak around, get some sensor scans and establish a perimeter while hostile aerospace units and vehicles are hunkered down.

"Yeah." Freyland confirms. "Sensor signature is definitely Overlord. We don't know what's on it, and the storm is almost out. Back to base, everyone."

Delta lance has located two targets of interest - the Overlord and a communications hub. The latter should be taken out to hamper long-range comms in the area - without it, locations that we are hitting in the area will take longer to receive reinforcements. For example, from said Overlord. We don't know how many mechs it has on board, but chances are that those mechbays aren't empty.

Lich's Zeta Lance gets the job of taking out the comms hub. The lance consists of Lich/Timber Wolf, Stefan/Trebuchet, WestOrEast/Griffin, Bass/Stormcrow. Delta lance's scans indicate a star of heavy tanks (mostly Demons) and a light/medium mech star, along with some minimum-value stationary turrets. The structures look a little tougher than the ones we've been blowing up recently, so a "quick" hit and run may not be practical. But we'll see. For support, Lich has a Long Tom deploy some distance from the battlefield - while we're engaging the ground units, it can do some damage to the stationary structures and soften them up or destroy them.

WestOrEast turns up the Griffin's ECM, jamming outgoing comms. Kind of. It's a comms hub, so the action is more symbolic than anything else.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Stefan runs up into a cluster of dried-out trees, unleashing the Trebuchet's LRM racks on a Demon tank driving down the nearby road - almost all the missiles hit, blasting chunks off the heavy tank - basically every one of its right-side wheels cracks and is left behind on the road, leaving it tilted and stationary. A gauss slug flies over the Trebuchet, causing our mechwarrior to cringe slightly.

Lich follows suit, firing the Timber Wolf's lasers and LRMs at a more distant Demon. While fewer missiles hit, they're more effective individually, and the wheeled heavy tank embeds itself in a nearby building as it tries to avoid the barrage, becoming stuck entirely.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The first Long Tom round whooshes down, a massive explosion emerging from the comms hub complex.

"That was a little bigger than I thought it'd be." WestOrEast comments.

The reason for the bigger explosion is that the Long Tom round landed on top of an SRM Carrier and lit off the ammo.

The light star comes out to engage us - vintage Star League mechs, including a Hussar, a Talon and an Ostscout. The Hussar takes some laser fire, its armor evaporating under the onslaught (not that there was much to begin with), then some LRMs fly in from Stefan's Trebuchet, popping a foot actuator . The mech stumbles, going down to a reverse-jointed knee.

Bass takes a couple of laser hits, but the Stormcrow's armor holds up.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The guy in the Hussar gets up and runs off - even with a damaged foot actuator, if a Hussar wants to leave, it will leave. Not much we can do to stop it. By the time it gets back with reinforcements, we'll be gone.

A Demon tank rolls out in front of Stefan, eating multiple lasers from our Trebuchet - this one's armor actually works, however. Furthermore, a gauss slug spangs off the Trebuchet's left torso, but the impact is at an oblique angle and the slug fails to penetrate.

The Talon and Ostscout sneak around WestOrEast's mech, opening up with lasers and scoring multiple hits, the Griffin warning the mechwarrior about a rear armor breach. Bass moves to cover the Griffin, engaging the Talon with lasers and causing a right torso armor breach.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Lich and Stefan split off, heading north into the complex - Lich wanting to take out the Kintaro lurking in there. The Ostscout pursues, avoiding most of our laser fire.

Bass and WestOrEast continue engaging the Talon, our Griffin scoring a head shot while our Stormcrow twists around and blasts the light mech's left arm. Unfortunately, it wasn't the PPC arm - but the damage distracts the clan mechwarrior long enough for WestOrEast to run in and crack its left leg, dropping it to the ground.

"Leave him, he's not going anywhere." Bass comments.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

"Uh... maybe not the best idea." Stefan mutters as the Trebuchet's armor levels suddenly drop from green to yellow after the mech is worked over by multiple laser blasts and the heat levels shoot through the roof. Which isn't helped by the flamer turrets bathing our Trebuchet in sticky flammable gel.

He really just wanted to get some back shots on that Star League-era Crab, which he does, blue coolant fluid spraying out the back of the hostile mech. Lich's weapons fire mostly just melts armor from its front. At least the Crab winds up on the ground, where Stefan can deliver a kick to the downed mech's center of mass, shaking bits of gyro off the Trebuchet's foot as it withdraws.

Lich is targeted by the Kintaro, which, in turn is targeted by Bass - both mechs lose a little bit of armor.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

As Stefan pulls back out of the facility, a Demon tank and Ostscout pursue him. "Don't worry, we got you." Bass calls out as him and WestOrEast move to help. The Ostscout zaps one of Stefan's lasers off, damaging the right shoulder actuator, while the Demon tank proves surprisingly nimble, avoiding all of WestOrEast's fire. Unfortunately, a heavy tank is not *that* nimble, so Bass lasers its right-side wheels off.

Lich grunts as multiple lasers from that surprisingly effective turret connect with the Timber Wolf's head.

The Crab pilot takes multiple tries to stand up, but eventually succeeds.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"When you three are done with that one Ostscout... " Lich calls out, pursued by the Crab and Kintaro while backing away from the laser turret. "... maybe someone can back me up here?"

The Crab slips on the pavement and falls, no doubt due to going a little too fast with a damaged gyro, while the Kintaro takes multiple laser blasts from the Timber Wolf. Lasers melt leg armor while the LRMs fly in - the 50-tonner's left leg takes a significant amount of damage, multiple actuators disappearing under missile fire.

The Crab and Kintaro return fire, but between having to take a knee and falling over, only one laser hits. Lich's mech also annoys him with multiple "NARC beacon attached" warnings. But there's not much to be done about it at this point.

Stefan takes a right torso armor breach, causing the Trebuchet to beep at him more than it was already.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Lich backs up to temporarily get out of the downed Crab's line of fire, opening up on the Kintaro as it gets up. One of the Timber Wolf's lasers connects with an ammo bin, shattering the mech. The LRMs fly through empty space. Return SRMs ping off the Timber Wolf's armor, but don't inflict much damage.

"Guess these rear line mechs don't have CASE, either." Lich comments.

WestOrEast finally gets a good bead on that obnoxious Ostscout - the Griffin's PPC flies wide, being an un-guided "slow" beam, but the lasers connect to devastating effect. One fries the left arm while the other severs the left leg, causing the 35-ton mech to flop to the ground, where missiles crack open its left torso.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

"Artillery, cease fire. We'll handle the rest ourselves." Lich orders after a particularly poorly-aimed Long Tom round sprays the Timber Wolf with debris.

The rest of the fight is pretty uneventful - the Crab is unable to get up and the quad laser turret is removed by long-range LRM fire.

Damage to our units is minimal, although Lich got dinged a couple of times, and Stefan's mech will need a new arm.

"This is Mechwarrior Orran. It seems that you Inner Sphere surats have defeated me." the Crab's operator remarks over the open frequency. "Quite the feat of arms." Lich is pretty sure he detects sarcasm in that one. "But I have no desire to serve you as bondsman - I am too old and set in my ways, and you probably don't even know what a bondsman is. Grant me Hegira or Bondsref, or finish me."

Wolf's time in clan "captivity" has clued us in on what a bondsman is (kind of like a trial apprentice thing for "proper" mechwarriors), but Lich has no clue what those other terms mean.

[] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[] "Whatever, you can go."
[] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

[El Guapo]

[X] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[] "Whatever, you can go."
[] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

I assume the answer is going to be "no", but worth asking.

We should also ask him what hagira and bondsref mean.

[TotallyNotEvil]

How good was this guy?

[El Guapo]

If the guy isn't interested in signing on, is there any way to take his mech? Like when he's asking us to



I assume he means by blowing up his mech with him inside? Could we



by having him get out of his mech and *then* killing him?

[NickAragua]

How good was this guy?

Not the bravest mechwarrior or best shot you've ever seen - the Ostscout and quad laser turret did more damage. But he did display enough discretion to be the last surviving mobile unit on the field.

If the guy isn't interested in signing on, is there any way to take his mech?

If he doesn't want to get out of his mech, we can peel him out of it, but we risk destroying it. It's a Star League Crab, so it probably won't blow up, but we're not exactly using precision cutting tools here.

[El Guapo]

I think it's worth trying to peel him out of the mech if he doesn't sign on. If we wind up blowing up the mech...no loss, as we wouldn't be getting it anyway in that scenario.

[Leraje]

[X] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[] "Whatever, you can go."
[] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

I assume the answer is going to be "no", but worth asking.

Agreed. I kinda forgot - which clan are we dealing with anyway?

[NickAragua]

Agreed. I kinda forgot - which clan are we dealing with anyway?

According to the liaison and the contract terms, Nova Cat. Although the planet is "co-operated" by the Smoke Jaguars, so who knows, really. Not much difference in practical terms, although, as we all know, the Jaguars are a little more "bristly".

[Leraje]

Agreed. I kinda forgot - which clan are we dealing with anyway?

According to the liaison and the contract terms, Nova Cat. Although the planet is "co-operated" by the Smoke Jaguars, so who knows, really. Not much difference in practical terms, although, as we all know, the Jaguars are a little more "bristly".

Tansmit this before every engagement as batchal

[$iljanus]

Offer him a spot which he’ll throw back in our face in some insulting way. Then finish him.

[TheMix]

I was thinking more along the lines of ...
"We are taking your mech. You can either come with it, walk away, or... Your choice."

[El Guapo]

You know how aging clan mechwarriors will commit borderline suicide at the end of their careers by serving in infantry units? Can we do that, but have him be the test pilot on our new blimp brigade?

[$iljanus]

Truth be told, these Clan types are kind of fanatical so maybe we should do him a solid and let him die gloriously in battle.

[TheMix]

Truth be told, these Clan types are kind of fanatical so maybe we should do him a solid and let him die gloriously in battle.

That's definitely why I'm not sure we'd want him. I don't see him actually wanting to join with us "inferior" pilots. But I'd be willing to let him walk away.

That said, I think we probably need to put a bullet in him.

[Isgrimnur]

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

11. I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.

[El Guapo]

Truth be told, these Clan types are kind of fanatical so maybe we should do him a solid and let him die gloriously in battle.

That's definitely why I'm not sure we'd want him. I don't see him actually wanting to join with us "inferior" pilots. But I'd be willing to let him walk away.

That said, I think we probably need to put a bullet in him.

But like, definitely after we peel him out of his mech, right?

But on the off chance that the guy is willing to consider signing up, I think we need to pursue it. One, it should get him out of the mech at some point without destroying it. Second, even if he's not the best mechwarrior he'd be invaluable as a source of intel on the clans.

[$iljanus]

Here’s the deal. Your story can end here in your broken mech or you can continue finding battles and proving yourself but not as a mere garrison (insert Clan euphemism for rear forces here).

[AWS260]

[] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[1st choice] "Whatever, you can go."
[2nd choice] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

Do we really want a Clan weirdo? He'll be so awkward and judgy.

[$iljanus]

[] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[1st choice] "Whatever, you can go."
[2nd choice] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

Do we really want a Clan weirdo? He'll be so awkward and judgy.

Sometime in the mess hall…
Me: Hey what happened to all the doughnuts?
Clan dude: You Inner System types are soft and fat so I spaced them!
Me: Well, perhaps we should get more fit. Notices crumbs on Clan dude’s face and jelly stains on fingers Oh you hypocritical SOB!

Yeah I could see this guy being a total tool.

Edit: After a little searching perhaps there is a way to get the mech after all…

A warrior whose personal honor would not allow them to serve as a bondsman could avoid this fate through ritual suicide known as a bondsref. Prior to being claimed by the victor and given a bondcord, a warrior could take their own life or have an accomplice kill them and so "refuse the bond." Once a bondcord had been given, the bondsref could only be performed with the permission of the bondholder; to do otherwise was considered a cowardly and dishonorable act.

As long as his suicide doesn’t involve self destructing in his mech…

[El Guapo]

[] "It would be a waste to kill you - come fight for us. On the next contract. You even get to keep your mech."
[1st choice] "Whatever, you can go."
[2nd choice] "Fine, I'll finish you off."

Do we really want a Clan weirdo? He'll be so awkward and judgy.

Sometime in the mess hall…
Me: Hey what happened to all the doughnuts?
Clan dude: You Inner System types are soft and fat so I spaced them!
[Laugh Track]
Me: Well, perhaps we should get more fit. Notices crumbs on Clan dude’s face and jelly stains on fingers Oh you hypocritical SOB!
[Laugh Track]

Yeah I could see this guy being a total tool.

C'mon, we're going to need him for our mechwarrior sitcom. Someone's gotta be the straight man.

[gbasden]

There's no real reason to kill him, and it's only a Crab. If he doesn't want to join up I vote for letting him walk.

[Isgrimnur]

Or scuttle, as the case may be.

[gbasden]

Or scuttle, as the case may be.

An excellent point, sir!

[El Guapo]

There's no real reason to kill him, and it's only a Crab. If he doesn't want to join up I vote for letting him walk.

Yeah, but it's a Star League Crab. Not that it's completely game changing, but still good to grab any Clan / SL tech we can get.

Also, if we did let him walk, do Clan rules prevent him from rejoining the fight against us, or are we going to see him on the battlefield in the next engagement?

[NickAragua]

Also, if we did let him walk, do Clan rules prevent him from rejoining the fight against us, or are we going to see him on the battlefield in the next engagement?

Probably not the next one, given that his gyro got dinged.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

It's a waste - |||||
Whatever, go - |||
Offer to join -> peel out if he refuses |||
Finish off - ||

"Ok, I don't know what have of those words meant." Lich begins. "But it'd be a waste of a good mech... are you even listening to me?"

The Crab scrambles, attempting to get up, slips on the pavement and falls back down before finally managing to get up again, trying to book it to the north, wobbling around ("like a rookie after playing a round of jump-shot" is Lich's exact description), then falling over again. Lich watches with disbelief as the Crab pumps its legs, eventually finding enough purchase on the pavement to yet again try to get up, only to overcompensate and plow into a building. This time, it stops moving.

"You know what, maybe you don't get an offer of a spot in our company. You kind of suck." Lich concludes. "But we're keeping the mech. Salvage teams roll in, you have two hours. Two, Three, you're in charge of local security. Four, back to base with me, I've got a serious headache brewing. And what the hell happened to my leg? Ow."

The haul isn't too bad, although we designate most of it for our Draconis Combine employer. Our liaison informs us that he intends to use the DCMS share to supply the local guerillas. "Perhaps some of these faster units will enable them to show up to battles on time." he adds with a wry smirk. The Crab does have a bunch of double heat sinks we'll be able to pull out, as well as a pair of Star League tech extended-range lasers. Not quite the "front line clan equipment" we were hoping for.

Lich, is out of action for the rest of the month - somehow, our mechwarrior managed to break one of the bones in his leg (and get a concussion, but that'll clear up quicker than the leg will take to heal). Stefan's Trebuchet is going to be out of action as well for the rest of the contract, unless we can scrounge up parts to fix a 50-ton mech's endo-steel arm.

---

May 11, 3054
Caripare, Shared Clan Nova Cat/Smoke Jaguar Administrative Territory

Further recon patrols eventually locate another industrial target - a fairly substantial facility. One of our hovertank patrols tangles with a Nova Cat hovertank star, disabling four out of five and running the other one off; a second hovertank patrol of ours is completely eliminated by a star of light mechs. They do manage to take out a Mongoose via gyro hit while trying to get away. The third (short) hover lance gets through the hostile patrols and plots out a route to the target. They are run off by a star of light mechs, but are able to avoid that engagement.

Zenn7 takes the assault lance in, backed up by two squads of battle armor troopers. We've got Zenn7/Awesome, Siljanus/Mackie, Atrophy/Annihilator and CJ/Victor. The short hover lance is two Drillson hovertanks and a royal Zephyr. The battle armor is two squads of "standard IS battle armor". We'll see how they do.

There are many target structures (eleven), defended by a star of hovertanks, a star of heavy mechs (including a Hellbringer); the light mech lance is also returning from a patrol. On the plus side, the local guerilla forces have committed a heavy mech lance; and they're actually already there when we show up. Amazing.

One of the good parts is that we get our Waddles to sneak in and plant a bunch of landmines before the shooting starts. Not too many, but a good number.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our hovertanks swing in to deliver lasers and SRMs (although not very many hit) to a 70-ton mech identified as a Grizzly. The SRMs ping off its armor with little effect, but enough that it is unable to score hits on our hovertanks.

CJ's target, a Zephyr hovertank, dances between the facility's buildings. CJ snaps a shot off from the Victor's gauss rifle, which somehow goes all the way through a building and out the other side, with enough force to blast off a drive fan and cause the hovertank to crash into said building.

Zenn7 and Siljanus inundate a Flashman with PPC fire, but the 75-ton heavy mech's thick armor holds up.

Atrophy doesn't have line of sight on any of this, so the Annihilator just pumps four slug rounds into one of the target buildings, gouging out huge chunks of the structure.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Support-One here, my lift fans are chewing dust. Bailing out." comes the report from one of our Drillsons. A couple of the light mechs that had chased them off earlier are still in the area and one, a Talon with a clan-spec PPC, fries multiple components on the hovertank.

"Showing you mercenaries how it's done!" comes a transmission from the guerillas. "We just took out a Hellbringer!"

Zenn7 rolls his eyes. That's probably one of the easiest clan mechs to take down, given its low armor and ammunition stored directly next to the engine (although, to be fair, the engine is an XL engine).

Atrophy's Annihilator rocks after taking a gauss slug and multiple pulse laser blasts from the Grizzly. Atrophy returns fire, planting many LBX pellets into the heavy mech, but both remain upright.

The Cestus (a "classic" 65-ton Star League design) tries to get a piece of Siljanus' Mackie, but a hundred-ton mech packs a lot of armor - the Cestus' left leg no longer has any armor left.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Our two remaining hovercraft continue circling around, taking a little laser fire but delivering some good damage - including our Drillson blowing out a laser on the hostile Flashman. And then a Mongoose chases our Zephyr down and systematically blasts its drive fans off with its medium lasers.

Our three assault mechs engaging the Grizzly and Cestus get into a solid brawl. The Grizzly loses its right arm to continued PPC and laser fire from Zenn7 and Siljanus. The Cestus returns fire, a gauss slug and laser beam doing little other than kicking up water. However, the last laser, maybe because of recoil from armor loss, or maybe because he's a good shot, but Zenn7's targeting system suddenly goes "fuzzy" and the armor indicator on the Awesome's head goes "red".

Atrophy decides to put an end to some of this by cracking the Cestus' right leg.

"Dude, I had his left leg ready to go!" Siljanus cracks.

"Sorry, I'll ask him to hold still next time." Atrophy counters. "Never mind, there we go."

The Cestus then falls over and its left leg cracks anyway.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The Grizzly moves towards Zenn7, whose Awesome is convalescing in a small pond (and slowly evaporating it), snapping off a gauss shot at Atrophy's Annihilator, wrecking one of the LBX autocannons. Surprisingly agile, it still takes multiple LBX hits. Before it can do anything else, Siljanus lifts the Mackie's massive leg and kicks the Grizzly in the back, sending it flying towards Zenn7 - its head bounces off the Awesome's center torso armor, the leg cracks and it settles down on the shoreline.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

CJ hops into the facility's perimeter - it's already a total mess with most of the designated buildings blown to bits. Still, there's a Black Knight guarding the interior, and the two mechs exchange fire, neither the Victor nor the slightly lighter laser-focused mech giving any ground.

Atrophy and Siljanus work on one of the remaining target structures, blasting enough holes in it that it likely won't be useable for anything any more.

The guerillas report losing their Wolverine, but being able to take out a Hussar.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The battle seems to be fairly even to the north - the guerillas take down a Flashman but their Archer takes a pounding, leaving them with a Crusader and a Thunderbolt.

Our battle armor gets into the base and engages the remaining units there - a Zephyr hovertank is swarmed by one of our squads, who use their claws to peel bits of armor off the hover tank as Zenn7 helps them with a PPC blast.

The ones trying to swarm the Black Knight don't do so well, but manage to avoid getting squashed.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

As we take out the last of the targeted structures, an explosion to the north announces the demise of the allied Archer. CJ uses the opportunity to jump in behind the Black Knight, putting a gauss slug through its back. It's not quite destroyed, but its heat indicator spikes - major engine damage. Some SRMs breach its right arm armor as well, taking out multiple actuators and the PPC.

At this point, we've rendered the facility inoperative for what's going to be a long time - between their buildings being all shot up and the landmines all over the place, it's going to be months if not years before it's back in operation. Despite losing two hovercraft, their crews have made it off the field safely, so we can call it a day and leave - the guerillas are getting pounded and there's still a star of clan mechs up north. Zenn7 sends the message informing them of such decision.

"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!"

On the one hand, our mechs are a little beat up and it's really high time for us to clear out. On the other hand, maybe we can finish or run off the rest of these clanners and both a) recover our two hovertanks and b) grab salvage.

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

[Isgrimnur]

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

[NickAragua]

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

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

[TheMix]

[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.

[NickAragua]

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.

A star is five mechs. Although at this point there's only four mechs - they're all light, but no less of a threat for it. There's an Incubus, two Talons, and a Mongoose - and also three Zephyr hovertanks. All four mechs have both long-range and short-range weapon options and are Ostscout-fast and not jump-capable - but with much better weapons and armor. The Zephyrs have three medium lasers apiece.

[Isgrimnur]

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

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

Scrambled or just beaten?

[TheMix]

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.

A star is five mechs. Although at this point there's only four mechs - they're all light, but no less of a threat for it. There's an Incubus, two Talons, and a Mongoose - and also three Zephyr hovertanks. All four mechs have both long-range and short-range weapon options and are Ostscout-fast and not jump-capable - but with much better weapons and armor. The Zephyrs have three medium lasers apiece.

So a safe bet that they are going to completely dismantle the remaining allied mechs?

[NickAragua]

So a safe bet that they are going to completely dismantle the remaining allied mechs?

Yeah, almost guaranteed without our intervention.

[NickAragua]

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

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

Scrambled or just beaten?

The latter.

[AWS260]

[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.