Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

[Leraje]

Vote Results:
Quickdraw upgrade:
[] Standard armor (176/201)
[x] Ferro-fibrous armor (197/201, possible logistics issues)

Case or no case:
[] CASE - slightly reduced armor, Quickdraw unavailable for Luthien
[x] no CASE - maximized armor, Quickdraw available for Luthien, small risk of ammo explosion during battle

Galleon GAL-102 tank.
[x] Buy the overpriced ferro-fibrous armor
[] Pass on the Galleon

Locust for 1.6M C-Bills.
[] Buy the really overpriced ferro-fibrous armor + AMS + CASE
[x] Pass on the Locust

Caesar CES-3R.
[] Buy the Caesar, slot it into one of our lances
[] Buy the Caesar, strip it for parts
[x] Buy the Caesar, slot it into one of our lances only if we can figure out a way to up-armour it, otherwise strip for parts unless someone wants to drive it.

Pick 2:
[x] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Beta-Hunter lance
[x] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Gamma-Battle lance
[] Lancelot from Alpha-Heavy lance
[] Griffin from Delta-Ranger lance

[$iljanus]

Do our Ranger and Hunter lances act in a recon/skirmisher role? They might benefit from being upgraded to a longer ranged and more accurate weapon.

[Freyland]

For the Quickdraw, more armor, no ferro-fibrous. I want to keep participating in fights, not sit out.

Buy the Caesar, put in a Lance.

[Zenn7]

Quickdraw upgrade:
[X] Standard armor (176/201)
[] Ferro-fibrous armor (197/201, possible logistics issues)

Case or no case:
[] CASE - slightly reduced armor, Quickdraw unavailable for Luthien
[X] no CASE - maximized armor, Quickdraw available for Luthien, small risk of ammo explosion during battle

[X] Buy the overpriced ferro-fibrous armor
[] Pass on the Galleon

[] Buy the really overpriced ferro-fibrous armor + AMS + CASE
[X] Pass on the Locust

[X] Buy the Caesar, slot it into one of our lances
[] Buy the Caesar, strip it for parts
[] Pass

[] Upgrade Mackie with clan-spec large pulse lasers
[X] Leave Mackie as is

Pick 2:
[x] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Beta-Hunter lance
[x] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Gamma-Battle lance
[] Lancelot from Alpha-Heavy lance
[] Griffin from Delta-Ranger lance

[NickAragua]

Do our Ranger and Hunter lances act in a recon/skirmisher role? They might benefit from being upgraded to a longer ranged and more accurate weapon.

The Ranger ones, yes, when appropriate. The Hunter lance, not so much.

[NickAragua]

Do the numbers you posted include melee? I noticed we pilot ninja-mechs (what with all the kicks to the heads). I can't help but think more armor is better for melee.

No, but the mechs are roughly the same weight (the Grand Dragon is a little lighter), so they do more or less the same melee damage.

[$iljanus]

Do our Ranger and Hunter lances act in a recon/skirmisher role? They might benefit from being upgraded to a longer ranged and more accurate weapon.

The Ranger ones, yes, when appropriate. The Hunter lance, not so much.

Then I think upgrading the Grasshoppers would be my choice.

[moleymoleymoley]

Quickdraw upgrade:
[] Standard armor (176/201)
[X] Ferro-fibrous armor (197/201, possible logistics issues)

I think we need advanced tech Vs the clan threat

Case or no case:
[] CASE - slightly reduced armor, Quickdraw unavailable for Luthien
[X] no CASE - maximized armor, Quickdraw available for Luthien, small risk of ammo explosion during battle

but we still need mechs

[X] Buy the overpriced ferro-fibrous armor
[] Pass on the Galleon

Willing to bet we'll need the armour

[] Buy the really overpriced ferro-fibrous armor + AMS + CASE
[X] Pass on the Locust

locusts are awful

[X] Buy the Caesar, slot it into one of our lances
[] Buy the Caesar, strip it for parts
[] Pass

Gauss rifles are going to be very useful

[] Upgrade Mackie with clan-spec large pulse lasers
[X] Leave Mackie as is

Added to hit skills with the PPC can be a game changer Vs the superior tech of the clans

Pick 2:
[x] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Beta-Hunter lance
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N from Gamma-Battle lance
[X] Lancelot from Alpha-Heavy lance
[] Griffin from Delta-Ranger lance

I don't know why but I have a soft spot for lancelotls

**************

All this advanced equipment being passed around and I'm still putzing around in my introtech Tbolt if the Caesar has jump jets can I have it please? If it fits my pilots skills?

[NickAragua]

All this advanced equipment being passed around and I'm still putzing around in my introtech Tbolt if the Caesar has jump jets can I have it please? If it fits my pilots skills?

The hilarious part is that the 5SE holds up super well even in 3052's high tech world. The armor is rock solid and it's got great maneuverability. If we can hook up some more double heat sinks, then we can refit it to a 9SE (which is basically the same thing as the 5SE except with large pulse laser and no heat issues).

No jump jets on the Caesar, but if you want to give it a try anyway, we can set that up.

[moleymoleymoley]

Aww, nah, I'm a big fan of jump jets so I'll keep being a Tbolt bro until I get my Thor

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Quickdraw - standard armor, max armor, no case (player override)
Buy the galleon
Pass on the Locust
Buy the Caesar, use it
TheMix to Crusader
Mackie - Leave as is (player override)
Upgrade Grasshoppers |||
Upgrade Lancelot |

"... but that's the optimal weight distribution!" the tech argues.

"Yeah, and that's great, but most people shoot for center of mass." Freyland counters, rolling his eyes. "That means that, no, I don't want less armor on the torso than on the legs. So, please, more armor plating up top."

"... that, and the ammo is all in the torso." our mechwarrior adds, under his breath, but not quietly enough for the tech to avoid overhearing it.

"Yeah, well, maybe you should put some CASE on that." comes the response.

"Maybe you should put some CASE on your ass so you don't stink up the cockpit after those cafeteria burritos." Freyland quips back.

---

Our other refits feature less witty banter - the Grasshoppers get their PPCs replaced with clan-spec large pulse lasers and an extra heat sink added with the saved mass, while a Griffin GRF-1DS from Delta-Ranger lance gets its excessive heat sink load reduced and extra electronic warfare equipment mounted on it (active probe and guardian ECM) plus a little extra armor. This has the other upside of freeing up an additional four double heat sinks.

It takes several weeks for the crew of the Overlord to patch up their battle damage, the fighter bay door proving the most difficult. Luckily, one of the jump points we stop at on the way has the spare parts they need.

We fill out the Long Tom lance with qualified crew, put together two hovertank lances, and set up a heavy tank lance as well (Manticore, Demon, Shreck PPC Carrier). There's some discussion amongst the tankers as to what their fourth unit should be.

One option is a 60-ton Tokugawa heavy tank. It packs an AC/10 and an SRM/6 on the turret and can keep up with the Manticore, having roughly the same speed, armor and firepower.

Another option is a 60-ton Bulldog - with lighter armor than the Manticore and as much speed, its main draw is the presence of eight SRM tubes and large laser (we might consider dropping one of the SRM ammo bins to load up on extra armor).

A third option is a Von Luckner. This 75-ton juggernaught has heavy duty armor and excessive short-range firepower: an AC/20 and sixteen SRM tubes, all mounted on the turret.

A fourth option is a Patton tank. A 65-tonner that can keep up with the Manticore and has more armor, its a little deficient in firepower, only mounting an AC/10 and an LRM/5 launcher.

One other option that gets floated is to pull out one of the Behemoths we've got sitting in storage. The Behemoth is a painfully slow 100-ton tank, but it packs a significant amount of firepower - twin AC/10s and twelve SRM tubes on a turret, twenty LRM tubes in the front, and also bristling with SRM tubes on the front and sides. Armor is comparable to that of the Patton.

How to fill out the heavy tank lance:
[] Tokugawa - average armor, speed, firepower
[] Bulldog - average speed, low armor, not that much better firepower
[] Von Luckner - slow, heavy armor, extreme short-range firepower
[] Patton - average speed, average armor, low firepower
[] Behemoth - ultra slow, heavy armor, extreme firepower

Some more MechBay listings that we encounter:
Cyclops CP-11-A-DC - a "fast" 90 ton mech. The command console weighs several tons but allows a dedicated commander/comms operator to sit directly on the battlefield and help coordinate. Armament is a gauss rifle, two medium lasers, an SRM/4 and an LRM/10, armor factor 160/279. Not very impressive on paper, but maybe we could pull the command console out to turn it into a standard CP-11-A with more ammo and heat sinks. As an amusing design quirk, the designers have attempted to compensate for the relatively limited amount of armor that the head can mount by adding extra plating in a cowl around the sides, which doesn't really help when the mech takes a gauss slug to the face. Costs 9.6M C-Bills.

Currently our lances are "all set", but given where we're going it may be worth it to have a spare mech.

[] Buy the Cyclops
[] Pass

---

Projected jump path:

Spoiler:

The repairs and customizations all shake out pretty well en route to Luthien. Our SRM/6 ammo stores are still a little low, but it should be enough to tide us over. Our mechwarriors and tank crews busy themselves with reading news reports, sleeping, playing networked trid games and taking shots of engine room hooch during the jump countdowns. The only problems are the usual complaints about the air on board the Unions smelling like feet, a few "maintenance incidents" with the latrines in the cargo space converted to crew quarters on board the Jumbo, and people yelling at each other about "cheating", "imba" and "lag" on the local instance of "World of MechCraft" (playing large-scale networked multiplayer games is pretty straightforward when planet-side with a good local network, but is a whole another undertaking while making an interstellar journey aboard a pair of jumpships).

As we approach Luthien, it appears that the clans have started up their attacks again. Reports from HPG downloads indicate attacks on Satalice in the Free Rasalhague Republic, as well as strikes on the industrial worlds of Irece and Avon in the Draconis Combine.

At the end of December, we arrive at the Luthien. Local traffic control quickly redirects us to Dragoon Control, although not without getting a quip in about "dishonorable mercenaries". The Dragoons rep transmits an approach route and landing zone. We get asked for some input on what our role should be in the upcoming fighting. The options boil down to either direct front-line duties on our own or support for front-line units. The former likely means we'll get pretty chewed up, but we'll also have our pick of salvage from what we take out. The latter means our salvage opportunities will be limited to what we take out ourselves, but we'll have more allied units fighting alongside us, which means that we'll be taking less fire from the deadly clan forces.

[] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[] Support role - less risk, less salvage

[TheMix]

Any idea about how protracted this is likely to be? If we are going to be here a while, then we probably should go with the Support role. Less salvage is still some salvage. And building our strength up more before becoming front-line fodder seems like a good idea.

Caveat: I wasn't around for the last campaign, so I don't actually know how well we go up against Clan forces. We seemed to seriously outclass the enemy forces in the last engagement. If we go up against those kinds of numbers, though, but equal/better quality, then we aren't going to last very long.

As for the Cyclops... pass, I think. I'm not sure one more spare mech is going to make that much of a difference.

For the tank, I don't have a clue. I'd say stay aware from the Von Luckner. Tanks that have to get close tend to get stomped. With that in mind, I generally prefer speed (to avoid incoming damage); but for low armor, speed needs to be really good. So the Tokugawa seems like the best option. The Behemoth could be interesting as a long-range option while the rest of the lance runs interference. But I'd worry about it being unable to keep up.

[El Guapo]

How to fill out the heavy tank lance:
[X] Tokugawa - average armor, speed, firepower
[] Bulldog - average speed, low armor, not that much better firepower
[] Von Luckner - slow, heavy armor, extreme short-range firepower
[] Patton - average speed, average armor, low firepower
[] Behemoth - ultra slow, heavy armor, extreme firepower

Do we have an assault tank lance? I think we should use the Behemoth for something given its firepower. I'd throw it in this lance except that I suspect it would slow the rest of the lance down too much. But if there's no assault tank lance to put it in, I'd probably still pick the Behemoth.

[X] Buy the Cyclops
[] Pass

Might as well have as a spare.

[] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[X] Support role - less risk, less salvage

Not to be a coward, BUT...this is dangerous enough as is. Let's let others go first - I'm sure that we'll be frontline before too long anyway.

[AWS260]

Cyclops CP-11-A-DC - a "fast" 90 ton mech. The command console weighs several tons but allows a dedicated commander/comms operator to sit directly on the battlefield and help coordinate. Armament is a gauss rifle, two medium lasers, an SRM/4 and an LRM/10, armor factor 160/279. Not very impressive on paper, but maybe we could pull the command console out to turn it into a standard CP-11-A with more ammo and heat sinks. As an amusing design quirk, the designers have attempted to compensate for the relatively limited amount of armor that the head can mount by adding extra plating in a cowl around the sides, which doesn't really help when the mech takes a gauss slug to the face. Costs 9.6M C-Bills.

[] Buy the Cyclops
[X] Buy the Cyclops, then swap out the command console for a DJ booth to provide a real-time soundtrack for our exploits. We'll need to hire a professional DJ or find a promising amateur from our ranks. In either case, they will go by the moniker "DJ Cyclops."
[] Pass

Just imagine how much better we'll perform with "Hot in Herre" and "I Will Survive" playing in the background!

[] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[X] Support role - less risk, less salvage

We mustn't jeopardize DJ Cyclops.

[Zenn7]

How to fill out the heavy tank lance:
[X] Tokugawa - average armor, speed, firepower
[] Bulldog - average speed, low armor, not that much better firepower
[] Von Luckner - slow, heavy armor, extreme short-range firepower
[] Patton - average speed, average armor, low firepower
[] Behemoth - ultra slow, heavy armor, extreme firepower

[X] Buy the Cyclops
[] Pass

[] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[X] Support role - less risk, less salvage

Not sure how many spare mechs we have to support being front-line. We went through them pretty fast in our last round with the clans.

[Leraje]

How to fill out the heavy tank lance:
[] Tokugawa - average armor, speed, firepower
[] Bulldog - average speed, low armor, not that much better firepower
[] Von Luckner - slow, heavy armor, extreme short-range firepower
[] Patton - average speed, average armor, low firepower
[x] Behemoth - ultra slow, heavy armor, extreme firepower

[] Buy the Cyclops
[x] Pass

[x] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[] Support role - less risk, less salvage

Leaning towards bigger fights for better loot.

[$iljanus]

Caveat: I wasn't around for the last campaign, so I don't actually know how well we go up against Clan forces. We seemed to seriously outclass the enemy forces in the last engagement. If we go up against those kinds of numbers, though, but equal/better quality, then we aren't going to last very long.

We were left to die by our employers but it didn't go quite as planned for the clanners…

(It was a hard won fight though)

[] Buy the Cyclops
[X] Buy the Cyclops, then swap out the command console for a DJ booth to provide a real-time soundtrack for our exploits. We'll need to hire a professional DJ or find a promising amateur from our ranks. In either case, they will go by the moniker "DJ Cyclops."
[] Pass

Just imagine how much better we'll perform with "Hot in Herre" and "I Will Survive" playing in the background!

[] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[X] Support role - less risk, less salvage

We mustn't jeopardize DJ Cyclops.

We should mount a disco ball as well to dazzle our enemies while playing It’s Raining Men Lead!

And I think as the front line units get decimated we’ll get ample opportunity to see action and score some salvage. Can’t get salvage if you’re dead.

[moleymoleymoley]

How to fill out the heavy tank lance:
[] Tokugawa - average armor, speed, firepower
[] Bulldog - average speed, low armor, not that much better firepower
[] Von Luckner - slow, heavy armor, extreme short-range firepower
[] Patton - average speed, average armor, low firepower
[x] Behemoth - ultra slow, heavy armor, extreme firepower

I would like to see some mass destruction handed out by this beast, it's going to have to be the centre point of the line though

[X] Buy the Cyclops
[] Pass

I have an inordinate fondness for designs that are flawed but characterful

[x] Front-line combat role - more risk, more salvage
[] Support role - less risk, less salvage

this company is too big and bulky, using the clans to sharpen the blade (murder and destroy the weak) sounds entertaining to me

[El Guapo]

I have some concerns that moleymoleymoley may be a follower of Khorne, the Blood God.

[Zenn7]

I have some concerns that moleymoleymoley may be a follower of Khorne, the Blood God.

I was thinking he's just waiting to be captured in honorable combat by the clans and become a bondsman since he seems to favor their philosophy.

[TotallyNotEvil]

I'd like to offer a different opinion on the tank: yes, getting close is dangerous.

But anything mounting an AC-20 is also extremely dangerous to virtually any combatant on the battlefield, be they tank or mech. It can be used to ward away mechs that want to stomp on our tanks, creating a little nope-zone, or in urban terrain it could wreck someone's day.

We should pull the Behemoth out of store even if it's to chuck it in with our Assault mechs.

[$iljanus]

I have some concerns that moleymoleymoley may be a follower of Khorne, the Blood God.

I was thinking he's just waiting to be captured in honorable combat by the clans and become a bondsman since he seems to favor their philosophy.

He sounds like he would be a bit of a downer at the next company party.

Hey, you know the Clans are kinda weird and scary but I’m digging this kids show they have, The Adventures of Clan Spaniel

moley cubed: Get your head in the game because the Clans are gonna turn you into molten slag,

Umm, okay. Well there’s this talking badassed parrot on the show…

As for the Behemoth, I was favoring speed for survivability but would the Behemoth be a good bullet magnet and take the heat off the rest of our units or in the face of concentrated Clan firepower be a one or two encounters and done kind of deal?

[Hyena]

I mean, I know we've mentioned moley(cubed)'s comments, but is no one else going to discuss how he was so excited he didn't bother with capital letters, but he bolded the SHIT outta that statement?

[AWS260]

DJ Cyclops getting down to the phat beats:

[moleymoleymoley]

I mean, I know we've mentioned moley(cubed)'s comments, but is no one else going to discuss how he was so excited he didn't bother with capital letters, but he bolded the SHIT outta that statement?

how else to translate the roaring inside my head?

(Also, how else will I get my hands on my precious Thor?)

[Leraje]

(Also, how else will I get my hands on my precious Thor?)

As a clanner wannabe you should refer to it by its proper designation - Summoner

[$iljanus]

DJ Cyclops getting down to the phat beats:

He’s very hypnotic. Are we doing dub step, bass trap, trance, some vintage Chemical Brothers stuff? Gotta break out the glow sticks!

[Hyena]

I mean, I know we've mentioned moley(cubed)'s comments, but is no one else going to discuss how he was so excited he didn't bother with capital letters, but he bolded the SHIT outta that statement?

how else to translate the roaring inside my head?

(Also, how else will I get my hands on my precious Thor?)

Epic response. Well played, sir.

[El Guapo]

I'd like to offer a different opinion on the tank: yes, getting close is dangerous.

But anything mounting an AC-20 is also extremely dangerous to virtually any combatant on the battlefield, be they tank or mech. It can be used to ward away mechs that want to stomp on our tanks, creating a little nope-zone, or in urban terrain it could wreck someone's day.

We should pull the Behemoth out of store even if it's to chuck it in with our Assault mechs.

Still not sure that we should trust the advice of TotallyNotEvil

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Tokugawa |||
Behemoth |||||
Patton |

Buy the Cyclops ||||||
Pass on the Cyclops |||

Front-Line |||
Support ||||||

The Behemoth gets "the nod" from the tank lance. This is one beefy tank, with a whopping seven person crew. En route, we remove a substantial amount of unnecessary machine guns, adding another six tons of armor.

The Cyclops gets ordered as well, although nobody's willing to drive it for now.

Our Overlord's fighter bay door continues to give us trouble, but our techs get it fixed during the burn-in. We're asked to detach two flights of fighters to help harass any dropships en route to the planet. As for the rest of our forces, we'll be working alongside Combine, Wolf's Dragoons and Kell Hounds units. Our jumpship books it out of there as soon as the jump drive recharges. We're about half a day short of the planet, on final deceleration, when the party starts.

---
January 2, 3052
Luthien Approach

"Multiple jump emergence signatures, zenith and nadir jump points. Mass readings indicate both warships and jumpships. Dropship launches detected - forwarding approach vectors. Warships are remaining at the jump points. They're here." is the summary of the chatter on the Thunderball's bridge. "None of the usual 'batchall' transmissions, either."

"Alpha-Strike, Beta-Strike... good luck." the Thunderball's captain transmits.

"Yeah." Zenn7 responds, looking at the inscrutable coordinate plots. "And to the rest of us, too."

Two of our aerospace fighters flights have been assigned to work with the 4th and 5th Luthien aerospace fighter wing. Their task is to intercept and destroy a group of two Union-class and one Leopard-class dropship, burning in a relatively tight formation past one of Luthien's moon. The Kurita plan is to hit the dropships once while they're decelerating with a quick pass, then hit them again as they're about to perform atmospheric entry. Alpha-Strike's leader argues for a little bit with the Kurita wing commander about whether to focus on the escort fighters during the initial engagement or try to take down one of the dropships - the engagement window will be pretty narrow, so we won't have much opportunity to do that. In the end, the Kurita wing commander puts his foot down and tells our aero jock to "shut your mercenary mouth and do your job". Our lieutenant shrugs.

Two days later, by 0500 Luthien time, we get the launch order and zip off, the clan dropships having burned pretty hard at a very uncomfortable 3G. On approach, the clan dropships launch six escort fighters, identified as Jagatai A, Sulla Prime and Turk Prime. The Jagatai is a 70-ton heavy, the Sulla is a 45-ton medium, while the Turk is a 50-ton medium. Weapons loadouts are unknown, but we'll find out soon enough. The dropships actually look like standard dropships. We close in pretty rapidly, and they're unable to maneuver to take too much advantage of their long weapons range. About 40% of the allied fighters are a little slow to launch, so they'll be showing up to the fight a little late.

Alpha-Strike is a pair of Lucifers and a Stingray - the Lucifers are Strike Two and Three, while the Stingray is Strike One. Ueno is a pair of allied Sholagars, Osaka is a pair of Shilones, while Kawase is four Slayers and Kitte is a pair of Lightnings.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"Ow, slag, that hurt!"

"Ueno One, Union-class dropship is target... "

"Confirm Ueno One is down."

"Holy shit, that's an AC/20! Half my wing armor is gone."

"Nah, it fires faster."

"Like an Ultra?"

"Yeah, like an Ultra, now get your head out of your ass and get him off my goddamn tail! Sir!"

"Osaka Two here, engine is hit. Unable to match dropship acceleration. I'm disengaging."

"Kawase One, Jagatai is destroyed."

"Phew, thanks, buddy, that guy was crawling up my..."

"Save it, mercenary. Cut the chatter and focus."

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Sulla-class is disengaging. Strike Three, let him go, focus on the other fighters."

"Strike Two here, my fire control system is basically on manual, I can't hit shit."

"You think that's, bad, I got no... "

"Strike Three, confirm that St... "

"Ueno Two here, drifting out of control. Strike One and Two are down."


Round 3:

Spoiler:

"Negative, Strike One is still here, but I'm shot up. No armor, avionics are completely out, fighter's shaking like a... er... well, flight control systems aren't really working anyway. Disengaging."

"Kawase One here, you will continue to engage until your fighter is no longer combat capable."

"My fighter *isn't* combat capable. I can't even get to fifty percent acceleration."

"I won't repeat myself, merc. Continue engaging."

"While you sit over there at maximum range, with three of you dipshits can't even take out a single clan fighter? Well, here you go. Sulla down."

Round 4:

Spoiler:

"Strike Three here, what are you morons doing? Your interception vector is way off, you're not even gonna get a shot off!"

"Stay off the comms, merc!"

"Ugh, coordinator's beard, how can those clan dropships move so fast? We can't get a shot off."

"... told you dimwits."


Round 5:

Spoiler:

"... can't believe you three morons couldn't finish off a single fighter."

Round 6:

Spoiler:

"Kawase one, engagement window is closing - hostile dropship deceleration will take them out of our range in a few seconds. Make these last shots count."

"Bah, pathetic. Return to base and await further orders."

"... maybe if you guys quit whacking off back there and actually do some shooting, we could have stopped at least one of those dropships..."

---

That engagement went deceptively poorly. We lost a Lucifer, and neither our Stingray nor the other Lucifer will be in any shape to fight for quite some time - the Stingray took nearly total internal structure damage, so the repairs will take up to a month if everything goes well. The Lucifer will "only" take a week, but, given the way the clans fight, it'll be all over by that point.

The good news is we actually scored two out of the three fighter kills here, so we'll be salvaging a Sulla and a Turk. Granted, we're only talking about the nose section of the Turk and a small piece of the left wing, along with the left three quarters of the Sulla. Still, that gives us a pair of clan-spec extended range PPCs and a clan-spec extended-range large laser. Plus a small laser. Oh, and a 315 XL engine rated for 45-ton units. The tech teams are drooling already.

Beta-Strike will hit the rest of this dropship group in approximately sixteen hours as they enter final deceleration. We can either launch the attack simultaneously with the second combine force just prior to atmospheric entry, or we can attack in atmo. Their escort is down three fighters, but their dropships and the remaining fighters are basically unscratched.

The engagement window prior to atmospheric entry is very short, three or four minutes (turns) at most, meaning that we risk completely missing the boat and letting all the dropships land. However, we'll be backed up by a many, many tons of Kurita aerospace fighters - two Rievers, four Slayers and a pair of Shilones.

The engagement window within the atmosphere is a little longer - approximately five minutes. However, we will be on our own against an indetermine-sized clan force (depending on how much the Kurita guys take out), so it's a little bit of a crapshoot. Plus, if the Kurita fighters take all the bad guys out, we won't get any salvage.

[] Engage prior to atmospheric entry
[] Engage in atmo

[El Guapo]

[X] Engage prior to atmospheric entry
[] Engage in atmo

We'll get by with a little help from our friends.

[Leraje]

[X] Engage prior to atmospheric entry
[] Engage in atmo

We'll get by with a little help from our friends.

Just make sure this time around to keep our "friends" in front of us.

[TheMix]

Summary request (again).

Kurita is one of the Houses(?), right? i.e. They rule this region of space.

We are a mercenary company, but we aren't really under a contract? So who do we 'work' for? Are we being paid? Or is this more of a "fulfilling a promise" kind of thing?

Also, I'm pretty sure that the text is all flavor. Right? Or are the local forces really that disdainful? Because that read like they sat back and didn't engage while using us as cannon fodder. I'm happy to get the salvage, but we aren't going to last more than a couple engagements if this is how things are going to go.

i.e. I'm concerned about how much help we are really going to get in the next round. Which makes me think that the shortest possible engagement is the best because it means that we are more likely to survive.

[Leraje]

House Kurita
And yes, Dracs are that disdainful of mercenaries and will use them as cannon fodder or screw them over given an opportunity.

[Zenn7]

[X] Engage prior to atmospheric entry
[] Engage in atmo

We'll get by with a little help from our friends.

Just make sure this time around to keep our "friends" in front of us.

Yes, don't want to be their meatshields they use for kamikaze duty while they watch and insult us.

[NickAragua]

House Kurita
And yes, Dracs are that disdainful of mercenaries and will use them as cannon fodder or screw them over given an opportunity.

To add to that, we are being paid a nominal amount (we're technically subcontracting for the Wolf's Dragoons), but the main draw here is the opportunity for major clan salvage.

[TheMix]

House Kurita
And yes, Dracs are that disdainful of mercenaries and will use them as cannon fodder or screw them over given an opportunity.

To add to that, we are being paid a nominal amount (we're technically subcontracting for the Wolf's Dragoons), but the main draw here is the opportunity for major clan salvage.

Which means that we don't actually have to do everything they tell us? And we don't have to be their cannon fodder if we would prefer not to? Maybe if they shed some blood, they'd be a little more welcoming.

[TotallyNotEvil]

Aren't the Dracs supposed to be pretty good aerospace pilots? I recall that, at least on paper, their house designs are far and away the best ones, and the less prestigious nature compared to mechs means skilled and sensible people can actually rise in the ranks.

[$iljanus]

[X] Engage prior to atmospheric entry

Yeah, I think it’s best to run with a crowd even if they are a bunch of dicks.

[NickAragua]

Aren't the Dracs supposed to be pretty good aerospace pilots? I recall that, at least on paper, their house designs are far and away the best ones, and the less prestigious nature compared to mechs means skilled and sensible people can actually rise in the ranks.

They're pretty solid, and got in a good amount of damage. The flight leader wasn't incompetent, he was just an ass.

Also, this scenario had us out-BV'd by about 2:1.