Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

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Zenn7
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

gbasden wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 3:49 am
Zenn7 wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 7:49 pm If we can keep air support closer to on-hand, sure, go for heavies.

Just historically, we've often been presented with choices that are along the lines of:
Air support in probably useful time (say 40 seconds)
or
Air support when the fights over (say 2 minutes)

Medium air support in 40 seconds that's there to help is better than super heavy air support that arrives after the fight's over.
That's definitely true of ground battles, but most air or space conflicts it seems that we are able to field our choice of craft. For those kinds of fights, heavys are a definite advantage. Now that we are fielding Clan tech, it seems like maybe the close air support isn't *as* critical?
Definitely agree it's only a ground battle issue and all heavy for air/space fights would be better.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Zenn7 wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 7:50 am
gbasden wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 3:49 am
Zenn7 wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 7:49 pm If we can keep air support closer to on-hand, sure, go for heavies.

Just historically, we've often been presented with choices that are along the lines of:
Air support in probably useful time (say 40 seconds)
or
Air support when the fights over (say 2 minutes)

Medium air support in 40 seconds that's there to help is better than super heavy air support that arrives after the fight's over.
That's definitely true of ground battles, but most air or space conflicts it seems that we are able to field our choice of craft. For those kinds of fights, heavys are a definite advantage. Now that we are fielding Clan tech, it seems like maybe the close air support isn't *as* critical?
Definitely agree it's only a ground battle issue and all heavy for air/space fights would be better.
And when space battles come up there’s usually the chance to damage dropships carrying enemy units which is a win for our ground forces. Also you never know if it gives us a chance to grab a dropship which has been forced down. So much winning! :horse:
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

Zenn7 wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 7:49 pm If we can keep air support closer to on-hand, sure, go for heavies.

Just historically, we've often been presented with choices that are along the lines of:
Air support in probably useful time (say 40 seconds)
or
Air support when the fights over (say 2 minutes)

Medium air support in 40 seconds that's there to help is better than super heavy air support that arrives after the fight's over.
Well, we have far fewer lances now, so it should be possible to keep closer overwatch.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep to medium-heavy |
Move towards heavy |||
Move towards heavy, but keep medium units around for air-to-ground support |||
"All right, here's what we're going to do." Zenn7 says, rubbing his temples. "We're going to sell all the fighters and get you guys some VTOLs instead. Everyone on board?" He asks, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

Everyone is suddenly silent, several mouths hanging open.

Zenn7 breaks out into a grin. "Just kidding. We'll see if we can find you guys some heavier fighters, but we still need faster units around in case our mechs need backup quickly."

---

June 23, 3053

Gamma Lance - consisting of Wolf/Hellbringer, Bass/Stormcrow, TheMix/Mad Dog and Backwash/Griffin, backed up by a Falcon hovertank - stumbles upon another couple of lances of pirates setting up turrets along a known convoy route. So far, that seems to be the pirates' "modus operandi" - set up "concealed" turrets along a convoy route, ambush them, eliminate the underpowered escorts and grab the goods.

It doesn't work so well when we send a pre-convoy patrol over before they finish setting up the turrets. The local militia's artillery support claims they'll be able to shell said turrets while we work on the mechs and tanks. Meanwhile, two lances of militia mechs - one assault, one medium are on approach as well, courtesy of Scrub's "gentle encouragement". Not to mention a "liaison" Griffin along for the ride. So really, our job is to prevent these guys from escaping.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
A Goblin tank rolls up towards our lance, firing its large laser at TheMix's Vulture, melting armor off the left arm. Our mechwarrior returns fire, blasting chunks off the Goblin's armor off with pulse lasers as infantry unloads from the back of the tank.

Wolf and a Manticore exchange fire, while Bass directs the Stormcrow's lasers towards a nearby a Vedette.

Our Falcon zips southwest, firing its laser and SRMs at a Blackjack to the north, delivering a good amount of damage, including a headshot, but one of the hostile mechs, an Assassin, spears the Falcon with its medium laser, immobilizing our hovertank.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Right. Good idea, hovertank crew, let them think they've got a chance." Wolf states with a smirk.

"Stay clear of the northwest." Bass points out. "We've got incoming allied arty there."

It doesn't help. The artillery goes super-wide, one Long Tom shell completely wiping out the infantry squad that just unloaded from the Goblin. Granted, it also takes a bunch of armor off the Assassin, a nearby Vedette and the Goblin, but it also hits TheMix' Vulture. Another shell hits Wolf's Hellbringer and the nearby Blackjack, not to mention killing the crew of the Falcon as they clamber out. At least Wolf is pretty sure - the human body isn't designed to bend like that.

"What are you morons shooting at?" Wolf asks over the dedicated channel. "Adjust your fire to indicated coordinates, now, or, even better, just cease fire." Without waiting for a response, Wolf fires at the nearby Blackjack, frying its right arm with a PPC blast - this looks like an upgraded-model, as it's packing extended-range lasers (well, just one now) and streak SRMs. Backwash takes advantage of the damage to the hostile mech to let rip with the Griffin's extended-range PPC and LRM rack, cracking through the center torso armor and watching as the Blackjack wobbles, indicating gyro damage. The damaged 45-ton mech wobbles and falls into the lake it decided to land in, at which point its sensor signature goes to complete zero.

"Sweet, first kill!" Backwash calls out.

TheMix, meanwhile gets into some nearby woods, hoping for a little protection from the incoming artillery. To help ensure he's super save, our mechwarrior uses the Mad Dog's right arm pulse laser to saw the Assassin's right arm off, along with most of its torso - but the lighter mech refuses to give up, kicking the heavier Mad Dog in the right shin, then moving on to harass the next target.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"That's better." Wolf mouths as the next artillery salvo lands around a Manticore way to the north, cracking its treads, focusing most of the Hellbringer's firepower (a PPC and three lasers, holding one PPC to manage heat) on a Vedette approaching from the north - the tank's left-side armor evaporates and it moves to retreat.

"Need a little backup, getting pinged pretty good." TheMix reports, the Mad Dog taking multiple laser hits. Our mechwarrior gives a pretty good accounting though, immobilizing the Goblin with pulse laser fire. The allied Griffin helps out as well, frying a nearby Vedette's treads with the PPC, leaving the hostiles at just the Assassin missing an arm, the Vulcan, a Griffin and a Manticore moving at a snail's pace.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
It seems that we forgot to tell the hostiles about some minefields that we pre-placed in the area before engaging them. Which the hostile Griffin discovers as it steps on one, its left leg coming off entirely.

The Manticore that got nailed by artillery before is completely disabled by laser fire from Bass' Stormcrow, the heavy tank grinding to a halt as its engine gives out.

The allied Griffin takes a good number of LRMs from an LRM turret that the pirates had deployed. Maybe *he'll* tell the allied artillery to focus fire on that?

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Well, there's a lag time. Meanwhile, Backwash's Griffin and the hostile Vulcan catch the edge of a Long Tom blast, although the Vulcan can't afford it, really. Normally, Bass would be worried about a mech directly in his rear arc, but a Vulcan 2T isn't exactly overflowing with short-range firepower - it's a great anti-infantry mech with the flamer and MG, but all it's got for anti-mech weapons is a medium laser. And the AC/2. It takes a couple of armor breaches from long-range shots by TheMix's Mad Dog, as well as losing a foot actuator when Backwash steps on the back of its ankle.

The "mined" Griffin stops moving for whatever reason, so now it's just the Vulcan and Assassin.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"You two going to give it up, or what?" Bass asks, throttling the Stormcrow forward.

Thanks to a PPC blast from Backwash, the Vulcan will have to - its right leg cracks in half under the strain. Meanwhile, the allied Griffin takes careful aim at the downed Griffin's left leg and melts it to scrap as well.

The Assassin bugs out, leaving its friends behind - nothing in our lance can keep up with it. The turrets are reduced by the allied artillery, and we don't even need the two militia lances.

We're able to recover the Falcon, and, the crew only had one KIA - everyone else will live. Eventually. We lift the high-tech Blackjack BJ-2 out of the river. We might keep it, or we might just take it apart for the spare double heat sinks and high-end weaponry. The rest of the salvage we hand over to the local militia - two medium mechs "only" missing a leg each, plus three tanks. Damage to our mechs is minimal - just armor.

---

Things are quiet over the next couple of months. We continue running patrols, but after the aerospace and two ground massacres, whoever was raiding the ore shipments appears to have decided to lay low. This gives our techs time to finish repairing Atrophy's Annihilator and CJ's Victor. Our efforts to track down the source of the raiders eventually pay off, and we locate a dropship from which some of the mechs we've fought came - a Union-class, landed out in some pretty "wetland" terrain nearby.

It's defended by a reinforced company of medium armor and a four-pack of turrets. Ideally, we want to try to get the drop on it, so we'll send our "Waddle" infiltrator battle armor to do a little skullduggery prior to launching an attack. They can do a little "computer hacking" - one option is simply to disable the turrets; a very low-risk scenario with almost no chance of giving the bad guys any warning about our impending attack.

Alternately, they could attempt to suborn the turrets and have them open up on the hostiles. The turrets aren't exactly top-of-the-line stuff, but it'll provide a distraction while our mechs move in to engage. This has a non-zero but still pretty low risk of being detected and giving early warning about our attack.

Finally, they could attempt to disable the dropship's engines, preventing escape entirely. If it pans out, it's great - it means our mechs can simply sit out of the dropship's maximum weapons range and blast away until it falls apart or surrenders. Otherwise, we'll be on the clock, as the dropship tends to keep its engines "warm" and ready for liftoff - this usually means a five minute window between attack detection and the dropship lifting off on a plume of plasma fire.

Obviously, we'll have a couple of aerospace flights standing by to intercept in the latter scenario, but it's much easier to do this on the ground.

[] Disable turrets - very low detection risk
[] Switch turrets to our control - low detection risk
[] Disable engines - moderate detection risk
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

[X] Switch turrets to our control - low detection risk

We will just have to come in hard and fast. Could those militia lances help us out here?

Also, could a Long Tom theoretically fire from our own dropships landing sites? At this point we should just get a proper, veteran Long Tom crew.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:57 pm [X] Switch turrets to our control - low detection risk

We will just have to come in hard and fast. Could those militia lances help us out here?

Also, could a Long Tom theoretically fire from our own dropships landing sites? At this point we should just get a proper, veteran Long Tom crew.
This side stuff doesn't usually work well for us so yeah, not eager to blow it all trying to get the dropship disabled.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:57 pm We will just have to come in hard and fast. Could those militia lances help us out here?

Also, could a Long Tom theoretically fire from our own dropships landing sites? At this point we should just get a proper, veteran Long Tom crew.
We'll have a heavy militia mech with us (a Cataphract), and a lance of heavy tanks. The assault lance is currently "deployed elsewhere".

As for artillery, we can bring off-board artillery. We don't want to put it too far away, because the time lag between firing and the round landing gets longer and longer, to the point where the fight will be over and the dropship surrendered and shells will still be landing and wrecking our salvage. Not to mention it becomes less useful against mobile units.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 11:11 pm
TotallyNotEvil wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:57 pm [X] Switch turrets to our control - low detection risk

We will just have to come in hard and fast. Could those militia lances help us out here?

Also, could a Long Tom theoretically fire from our own dropships landing sites? At this point we should just get a proper, veteran Long Tom crew.
This side stuff doesn't usually work well for us so yeah, not eager to blow it all trying to get the dropship disabled.
Agreed.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Alternately, they could attempt to suborn the turrets and have them open up on the hostiles. The turrets aren't exactly top-of-the-line stuff, but it'll provide a distraction while our mechs move in to engage. This has a non-zero but still pretty low risk of being detected and giving early warning about our attack.
Causing chaos is a good advantage and worth taking the reasonable risk.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by gbasden »

$iljanus wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 12:51 am
Alternately, they could attempt to suborn the turrets and have them open up on the hostiles. The turrets aren't exactly top-of-the-line stuff, but it'll provide a distraction while our mechs move in to engage. This has a non-zero but still pretty low risk of being detected and giving early warning about our attack.
Causing chaos is a good advantage and worth taking the reasonable risk.
Agreed!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:01 pm
[] Disable turrets - very low detection risk
[] Switch turrets to our control - low detection risk
[X] Disable engines - moderate detection risk
Can't we have our mechs just out of sensor range while they attempt this? If it works, then we sit out of dropship range and take it out with minimal risk. If it doesn't, then we attack.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Switch turrets to our control - almost unanimous
July 29, 3053
"If you can do it, go for it." Zenn7 tells the "Waddle" squad.

No reason to dick around on this one - we simply bring in the assault lance. Zenn7 in the Awesome, Siljanus in the Mackie, Atrophy in the Annihilator (our techs have finally put it back together) and CJ in the Victor (same deal). Backup is provided by a Scimitar hovertank with a TAG designator, for a Chaparral artillery tank. We also bring a coolant truck to hang out with Zenn7's Awesome and hose it down with coolant fluid as necessary.

Spoiler alert: it's always necessary.

Our local militia pals bring a Cataphract and a lance of heavy tanks, which will be arriving any minute now. Honestly.

The Waddles avoid the patrols around the dropship and get back out, planting a little "surprise" in the local turret setup's targeting control software.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"What's this little thing?" Atrophy muses as a little Sprint scout helicopter zips up, causing his mech to light up with a TAG detected warning.

"It'd probably be more threatening if they had homing artillery." CJ comments. "They don't have homing artillery, right?" our mechwarrior follows up.

Atrophy shrugs, stitching shots from the Annihilator's pulse lasers and LBX autocannons across the sky until some connect with the little VTOL craft and evaporate it. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway."

The suborned turrets go to work, unloading missiles and even a couple of PPC blasts at the armor company guarding the Union. One Scimitar hovertank has its main gun (the AC/5) jammed as a result, but mostly it serves as a distraction, allowing our mechs to close in and open up - Zenn7 blowing away a little Scorpion tank with all three of the Awesome's PPCs.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The armor company decides to move out of the range of our mechs, a fairly wise move, instead, focusing on finishing off the suborned turrets. The allied Cataphract, which approached from the east, gets surrounded a little bit and knocked down but its armor is still up.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
As the Cataphract gets up, an LRM salvo from the Union catches it in the center torso, destroying its gyro - the 70-ton mech wobbles then falls back down to the ground, the mechwarrior opting to power down for the rest of the fight.

Atrophy plays the "dance" game with a little Darter scout car that zips up to our mechs. The light vehicle, surprisingly survives, but has more LBX pellets embedded in it than armor at this point, and zips away just as fast. Siljanus' eyebrows raise up meanwhile - "how the hell does a little Savannah Master survive getting hit by a gauss rifle?" - our mechwarrior inquires.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"Ready for target designation, Scimitar." the Chapparal calls out, as one of their Arrow IVs goes wide, with no TAG to designate targets. "Any time now."

"Sorry, chappy, they just got blown up." Atrophy informs the artillery crew while blasting pulse lasers and LBX autocannon rounds into the sky, which track and connect with the nearby Warrior attack helicopter, although somehow the little thing keeps flying. The mechwarrior grunts as a Savannah Master slides up behind the Annihilator and puts a laser blast into the left arm, frying an actuator.

"Don't worry guys." Siljanus calls out. "I got this."

Zenn7, Siljanus and CJ open up on the Union from long range, PPC blasts and gauss rounds flying at the spherical dropship. Zenn7's PPCs mostly just blow off chunks of armor, although one causes the release of some kind of orange fumes from the top of the dropship. Siljanus' PPC and gauss attacks focus on the main thrusters at the bottom of the craft - two of the fusion jet exhaust ports are blown off, and the dropship's weapons turrets go limp.

"Yeah, it's not going anywhere. Let's mop up the rest of these scrubs."

CJ gets started on that by blasting SRMs and lasers at a nearby Vedette, hitting it at just the right time to detonate an AC/5 round exiting the barrel of its main gun, causing the weapon and the vehicle to shatter.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Here, let me show you how it's done." Siljanus calls out over lance comms, watching with amusement the Warrior helicopter dance around Atrophy's LBX rounds - a single PPC blast flies through the VTOL's fuselage, leaving just the tail rotor intact.

"Bleh." Atrophy returns, turning the Annihilator's pulse lasers downwards to fry the annoying little Savannah Master zipping around underfoot.

CJ joins the party as well, blasting away a Galleon tank with the Victor's entire weapons array (lasers, SRMs, and a gauss slug). Zenn7 is the only one who's left out of the fun, his mech rocking as missiles fly in, one dinging the cockpit.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 backs up into some nearby cover, firing the Awesome's PPCs at a distant Condor hovertank which has been plinking us with its AC/5. Electric arcs play over the hovertank's exterior as its fans stop spinning and it settles down onto the dirt.

Siljanus, meanwhile, moves west, blasting away at a Striker tank with lasers, a PPC and the gauss rifle - the lasers are what actually melts the light tank's treads, preventing it from moving any further.

A Scimitar hovertank tries to duck down into a slight water-filled depression in the ground, but CJ is all over that, blasting it with SRMs and lasers - the hovertank dips into the water and doesn't come back out.

The less said about Siljanus' failed attempt to stomp on the nearby Hunter tank, the better.

The remaining tanks, having figured out that they have no chance of holding against four assault mechs, zip off into the distance, leaving the Union by itself.

"Beta-Lance to Union-class dropship. Do you want to power down yourself, or should we do it for you?" Zenn7 broadcasts over the general frequency.

---

Other than the Scimitar and its crew having been evaporated by a fuel tank explosion, and a little actuator damage, our mechs and mechwarriors are in decent shape after that.

Our main decision is what to do with the Union. Amazingly enough, we were able to capture it ... more or less intact. Engines and life support systems will need some serious work, but it's good otherwise. We could hand it over to our nominal employer and basically have free pick of other salvage for the rest of the contract duration, or we could claim it and hand it over to our colony - the latter option would mean we'd have to give up most salvage for the rest of the contract. Not that it's been all that great, but we did salvage (some of) a mech with double heat sinks.

Of course, as time goes on, it's likely that the great houses will allow the release of double heat sinks into the general market; double heat sink manufacturing is a highly profitable business, with more and more people getting into it. But for now, the main source of those is either salvage or being hooked up via contract terms.

[] Hand over the dropship - basically free pick of salvage for the rest of the contract
[] Keep the dropship, hand it over to our colony - will have to give up significant amount of salvage for the rest of the contract
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

So... I thought our employers are our colony....

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

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 12:35 pm

[] Hand over the dropship - basically free pick of salvage for the rest of the contract
[X] Keep the dropship, hand it over to our colony - will have to give up significant amount of salvage for the rest of the contract
Seems like a dropship is a rarer resource than the salvage that we can reasonably expect from this mission.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Isgrimnur »

A dropship in hand, etc.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

TheMix wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 12:50 pm So... I thought our employers are our colony....
Technically, it's the local planetary government - it's just that the stuff being pirated happens to have been going to our colony so we've got a vested interest in making sure the piracy stops.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Captainwolfer »

Quote from NickAragua on Sufficent Velocity in response to me asking if we have a use for another Union:
Nah, right now we've got enough carrying capacity for all our mechs, and if we want a dedicated air/tank/infantry transport there are better options.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Isgrimnur »

I'm sure we could sell it.

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

Post by NickAragua »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 1:12 pm I'm sure we could sell it.

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

Post by Isgrimnur »

:wink:
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

The less said about Siljanus' failed attempt to stomp on the nearby Hunter tank, the better.
Indeed... :ninja:

And what's the upside to giving the Union to the colony? Yeah there might be better rides than a Union but as mentioned I'm sure there's a market for a slightly banged up dropship and the current salvage we're getting is meh. (at least for a veteran company like ours). Unless there's a hidden bunker out there filled with double heat sinks and pristine SLDF tech that we can salvage...
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 6:12 pm And what's the upside to giving the Union to the colony? Yeah there might be better rides than a Union but as mentioned I'm sure there's a market for a slightly banged up dropship and the current salvage we're getting is meh. (at least for a veteran company like ours).
Currently, our colony has to rent space on other dropships for interstellar trade and can't explore the local system either, so it's a solid step on the road to self-sufficiency (once all the mech bays get converted to cargo space).
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zarathud »

We took this mission to help the colony. So let’s do what we came for.

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

Post by $iljanus »

NickAragua wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 8:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 6:12 pm And what's the upside to giving the Union to the colony? Yeah there might be better rides than a Union but as mentioned I'm sure there's a market for a slightly banged up dropship and the current salvage we're getting is meh. (at least for a veteran company like ours).
Currently, our colony has to rent space on other dropships for interstellar trade and can't explore the local system either, so it's a solid step on the road to self-sufficiency (once all the mech bays get converted to cargo space).
Thanks for the info! I’m all for building up infrastructure so let’s slap a new coat of paint on her and hold onto it.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:30 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 8:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 6:12 pm And what's the upside to giving the Union to the colony? Yeah there might be better rides than a Union but as mentioned I'm sure there's a market for a slightly banged up dropship and the current salvage we're getting is meh. (at least for a veteran company like ours).
Currently, our colony has to rent space on other dropships for interstellar trade and can't explore the local system either, so it's a solid step on the road to self-sufficiency (once all the mech bays get converted to cargo space).
Thanks for the info! I’m all for building up infrastructure so let’s slap a new coat of paint on her and hold onto it.
Yeah, let's get that colony going better. Some of us may retire there someday (some sooner than others...)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 11:09 pm
$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:30 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 8:20 pm
$iljanus wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 6:12 pm And what's the upside to giving the Union to the colony? Yeah there might be better rides than a Union but as mentioned I'm sure there's a market for a slightly banged up dropship and the current salvage we're getting is meh. (at least for a veteran company like ours).
Currently, our colony has to rent space on other dropships for interstellar trade and can't explore the local system either, so it's a solid step on the road to self-sufficiency (once all the mech bays get converted to cargo space).
Thanks for the info! I’m all for building up infrastructure so let’s slap a new coat of paint on her and hold onto it.
Yeah, let's get that colony going better. Some of us may retire there someday (some sooner than others...)
Keep the space egg... waiting list to get one from the shipyard is a bitch.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

[X] Keep the dropship, hand it over to our colony - will have to give up significant amount of salvage for the rest of the contract

It's a bloody spaceship. And a pretty good one as well- it has almost the same firepower as a freaking Overlord (with the Union having a extra 3x LRM-20s while the Overlord has 1x LL, 2x AC/20s and 3x PPCs, while all the rest is the same), and not that much less armor (644 vs 792) given it's over six thousand tons lighter (3600 vs 9700).

It's the workhorse dropship against which everything else is measured.

And for context, a new one, if you managed to get in the century-long waiting list, runs a spicy 225 million C-bills.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep the dropship - almost unanimous
"Hey Zanthe, want a Union?" Zenn7 asks our former unit commander via video comms.

"What, like a dropship?" Scrub asks.

"Yes, like a dropship." Zenn7 answers, patiently.

"Sure, we'll take it." Scrub smiles. The sound of a screaming child can be heard in the background. "I don't think Persephone likes it, though."

Zenn7 smirks. "Did you really name your kid Persephone?"

Scrub shrugs. "It was either that or Athena. The galaxy we live in, I don't think she's destined for a time of peace."

It's Zenn7's turn to shrug. "Fair enough."

---

In a pretty neat turn of events, we find a small consignment of clan salvage for sale. An Ultra AC/10 with two tons of ammo, an ER Large Laser, an ER Small Laser, a Streak SRM/4 and a ton of ammo, plus a few tons of clan-spec ferro-fibrous armor. Only 2.7 million for the lot. No room for negotiation though, it's kind of a package deal. Given that normally you have to pry clan equipment out of destroyed clan mechs, it's still a pretty good deal.

We also score a Star League-tech Zeus. We'll keep it in mothballs for the time being.

Aerospace-wise, we find a Riever F-100b for sale. This hundred-ton fighter is kind of a boner actually - it mounts an AC/20, twin AC/5s and an LRM/10. And 28 heat sinks. "Maybe it was designed to be mounted on the back of a Rifleman? Make it a super-heavy land-air mech?" one of our mechwarriors comments. We'll customize it next time we visit a factory.

---

September 3, 3053

"So, target elimination?" Thud asks.

"Yep." El Guapo replies. "Our intel guys have identified the guys that got away from the dropship. Cheap merc tanks, led by an Enforcer."

"Wow, that's sad." comes a reply from another lance member.

"Yep. Well, that's how it goes. Militia observer in a Wolverine, militia assault lance for backup, and militia artillery."

"Great." Isgrimnur states, rolling his eyes.

"Better than them shooting at us." El Guapo retorts.

"Not by much." Our mechwarrior sighs.

Alpha Lance is El Guapo in the Dire Wolf, Isgrimnur in the Thug, Cylus in the Grasshopper and Thud in the upgraded Hunchback. We've also brought along a pair of Drillson hovertanks, our newly-acquired non-waddle battle armor and three field gun crews, all surrounding the area where the enforcer is located - a factory zone.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
El Guapo approaches from the northeast, perching his Dire Wolf in a nice little cluster of rocks and woods. With the clan-spec extended range lasers and the hostile units lighting themselves up with searchlights trying to find our incoming units, it's like a turkey shoot - an SRM Carrier's treads melt under laser beams and the vehicle stops moving.

One of our field gun crews, operating a trio of ultra AC/5s, blasts away rapidly at a Condor hovertank patrolling the nearby river, sinking it.

"Not our job to pull it out of there." Thud says with a smirk, then frowns as a PPC blast and LRMs char armor off the Hunchback.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus opens up with the Grasshopper's large laser and LRMs on a Maxim hover transport trying to cross the water - damage to the lift and drive fans causes the hovercraft to drop to water level and take on water. Our mechwarrior watches infantry scramble out for a swim, their guns sinking to the bottom.

To the south, our Drillson tanks have found the target Enforcer and engage it with long-range weapons over the water, where the Enforcer's short-range mobility doesn't shine.

"Getting a little shot up here." Thud reports, letting rip with the AC/20 on a hovercraft - long-range fire takes its toll on the Hunchback's armor, but it continues holding for the moment.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Um." Cylus reports. "I'm stuck."

El Guapo does a double take. A multi-decade veteran like Cylus getting stuck in a river? "How?"

"I don't know. Just... mech won't walk and my jump jets are underwater... no wait, there we go. Phew." the mechwarrior states with a measure of relief.

The allied artillery punctuates the conversation with a barrage landing amongst the main group of hostile tanks, a Maxim flipping over and catching on several power lines.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Another artillery barrage comes arcing in, this one blasting the treads off a Goblin medium tank, but the hostiles have finally found their targeting systems and one of our Drillson sinks under the water as it's immobilized by autocannon fire from a Vedette, while the other one's on-board ammo is detonated by the Enforcer's autocannon.

El Guapo retaliates by connecting one of the Dire Wolf's lasers with a different Vedette's fuel tank, but privately, our mechwarrior is fuming - now we have no way of stopping the Enforcer from escaping to the south.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Additional artillery rounds come in, nearly destroying another SRM Carrier while other shells do eliminate an entire infantry platoon.

"Target is getting away." El Guapo notes. "Anybody have a shot?"

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Sorry, Captain." Isgrimnur reports for himself and Cylus as his mech rocks from the AC/20 impact. "There's a Demolisher in the way."

"No there isn't." Cylus states, as the Demolisher explodes under laser fire from the Grasshopper.

Isgrimnur grumbles.

Our battle armor troopers, having hopped all the way across the river, engage an infantry platoon, their small lasers easily eliminating the unarmored troopers - all told, the platoon's count is reduced by 50% in very short order.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus and Isgrimnur advance to the south, Cylus immobilizing a Vedette with laser fire.

Our battle armor squad attracts the attention of the Manticore, which fires its PPC and SRMs at them. Three troopers are eliminated by direct hits - they're tough, but not that tough.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
As our remaining battle armor trooper jumps away to the west, hauling an injured pal with him, artillery fire comes down and finishes off the machine gun platoon, preventing them from firing on our retreating unit.

"Actually good shooting." Cylus remarks. "Move south and pursue the Enforcer, three, I've got these two tanks."

Isgrimnur acknowledges by jumping south and squashing a Vedette.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Allied artillery rounds land on top of the Manticore that Cylus was about to stomp, blasting some armor off our mech as well. "Never mind." our mechwarrior says, disappointed, firing up the Grasshopper jump jets to move south, where Isgrimnur has already finished off the Hunter light support tank as it blasts the allied Wolverine with a last ineffective missile salvo.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Seems that the Enforcer got stuck like Cylus did earlier - mud bottom, jump jets underwater - except the mechwarrior lacks the expertise to spring himself loose. Cylus takes advantage of this by blowing out the 50-ton mech's AC/10 ammo bin with a single shot from the large laser. The mechwarrior goes for a flight, landing in the water nearby.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I surrender!" the mechwarrior says as Isgrimnur and Cylus move to pick him up.

"I'd hope so." Cylus comments.

Salvage from this doesn't even make a dent in what we "owe" the local government, so we just hand it all over after hauling several hovercraft wrecks out of the water. We're able to recover one of our Drillsons but not the other one. The locals will walk away with a couple of 3052-model Maxim hover transports; which aren't actually that much better than the standard model - same infantry carrying capacity, streak SRM/2s instead of regular ones and a TAG laser for some reason, but it's the principle of the thing.

---

With another months' worth of patrols, it looks like we've run off or killed everyone that was trying to get at the various ore shipments moving to and fro. The guy from the Enforcer doesn't really know much ("I'm just a merc, we got hired to knock off some ore shipments, I never dealt with the employer", etc etc). By the beginning of October, Scrub leaves with the salvaged Union, escorting a substantial ore shipment ("now we'll definitely need to look into building a proper spaceport, having our dropship camped out on dirt for a long time just doesn't seem right"). Thus, the contract is completed and we are free to go, after sending some watered-down beer to the local artillery crews. They did all right.

---

Tensions across the galaxy are up a bit as a few minor clan raids are reported across the Tukayyid truce line. Technically against the truce, but it's not like there's anyone around that can enforce it. Still, low-level raids simmer across the new borders with clan space - meaning we'll be seeing plenty of work there if we choose to - both FedCom and the Dracs are hiring large numbers of mercenaries to garrison border worlds and attempt to conduct raids back across the truce line.

To compensate, it looks like the major powers of the Inner Sphere are rolling out new battlemech chassis and technology, along with upgraded chassis. To keep up with the mechs, new tank, aerospace fighter and dropship models are becoming more common as well. Additionally, the Draconis Combine and Federated Commonwealth are rolling out WarShip production as fast as they can. Thus, we have plenty of corporate-sponsored raiding contracts available.

Over the course of the year, ComStar has essentially split into two - with a group of die-hard believers in the dogmatic aspects of the organization's ideology splitting off into the Word of Blake and migrating to the Free Worlds League. What this means for the Inner Sphere is anyone's guess. But at least the ones that are left in FedCom space aren't as weird.

The mercenary world is changing as well - as of April, ComStar disbands the Mercenary Review Board. As it turns out when people find out that you've been holding back several armies' worth of mechs and warships while secretly plotting to take over the Inner Sphere, your credibility takes a hit.

Instead, the Wolf's Dragoons-backed "Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission" (MRBC) is now the intermediary organization for pretty much every "legitimate" mercenary contract.

We easily dismiss many contract offers with "exchange" salvage, and a particularly obvious "Relief Duty" contract by the "Free Worlds League" against targets on Sian (the capital of the Capellan Confederation - sure, we'll get right on that). There are several contracts being offered both for and against this imaginary "Aurigan Coalition" place, the Free Worlds League and FedCom are having border conflicts with various Periphery powers (all of which involve spending half a year traveling to various galactic buttholes). The Dracs and FedCom are offering a bunch of bullshit "exchange" salvage contracts against the clans - the whole system seems a little disorganized at the moment. Maybe it'll be worth it to head back to Outreach to see if we can get an update "direct from the source", and get some refits going?

[] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:42 pm [x] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
Need more Clan goodies :)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 12:14 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:42 pm [x] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
Need more Clan goodies :)
More toys!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Zenn7 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
Leraje wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 12:14 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:42 pm [x] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
Need more Clan goodies :)
More toys!
The work being offered leaves much to be desired. Back to Outreach!
Black lives matter!

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

Post by El Guapo »

$iljanus wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:53 am
Zenn7 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
Leraje wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 12:14 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:42 pm [x] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
Need more Clan goodies :)
More toys!
The work being offered leaves much to be desired. Back to Outreach!
Agreed.
Black Lives Matter.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

El Guapo wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 11:07 am
$iljanus wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:53 am
Zenn7 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
Leraje wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 12:14 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:42 pm [x] Back to Outreach
[] Stick around here and continue sorting through chaff (AKA take some time off)
Need more Clan goodies :)
More toys!
The work being offered leaves much to be desired. Back to Outreach!
Agreed.
+1
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Back to Outreach
On the way back to Outreach, our aerospace jocks and tech crews spend some time considering what to do with the, frankly horrible, Riever chassis. The standard refit kits all feature XL engines so we'd have to get ourselves on a priority purchase list to get those in any kind of reasonable time. We also consider a "simpler" refit.

The F-700 refit keeps the Riever's signature weapon, the nose-mounted AC/20, as well as the LRM/10 rack, but swaps out the twin wing-mounted AC/5s for twenty four SRM tubes, making it devastating at close range. To help it get there, it mounts a monster 400 XL engine which prompts one of our techs to wonder how they get the engine to stay in the fighter in the first place. Twenty double heat sinks keep things way more than cool, and we'll probably ditch a good number of them to add more armor instead.

The F-700a refit is a different approach - the AC/20 and LRM/10 are traded for twin LB-10X autocannons, and it mounts a whopping forty eight SRM tubes. Forty eight. That's almost an airborne SRM Carrier. The 400XL engine is downgraded to a 300 XL, making the fighter a slower but slightly more heavily armed and armored option.

The "simpler refit" brings the heat sink count down to 13 (which is the maximum amount of heat generated by the weapons) and more than doubles the armor from 14 to 29 tons, making it a Lucifer-like flying brick. Maybe only 28 tons and an extra ton of AC/20 ammo.

[] F-700 - speed comparable to medium fighter, requires use of priority purchases from contract
[] F-700a - slow, incredible firepower, requires use of priority purchases from contract
[] Simple - slow, massive armor

We also get swindled trying to by an Awesome AWS-9M, the successor to the original Awesome. Built around a trio of extended-range PPCs like the original, it's sped up by 33% via the use of an XL engine. It also mounts a bunch of short-range weaponry (twin Streak SRM/2s and a medium pulse laser) in an attempt to compensate for the original design's perceived short-range weakness. The designers, however, have failed to find the same delicate heat-management balance allowing the original to fire it's PPCs in a 3-3-2 pattern; Zenn7 shakes his head with disapproval and doesn't even get mad when it's discovered that our credits have disappeared along with the guy who showed us the mech.

---
Spoiler:
Image
December 2, 3053
Outreach - Nadir Jump Point

"Thunderball flotilla to Harlech traffic control. Request orbital and spaceport approach vectors and landing pad designations."

"Thunderball flotilla to Harlech traffic control. Repeat, request orbital and spaceport approach vectors and landing pad designations."

"Thunderball flotilla to Harlech traffic control. When you guys get done whacking off down there, you think you could get us some vectors, or at least tell us to piss off so we don't waste a whole bunch of fuel on the in-bound burn?"

"What's the problem, Captain?" Leraje asks Captain Gloria Doepker, unofficial leader of our dropship flight group.

"I don't know." she replies, shaking her head. "We've been sitting here at the jump point for several hours now, no response from traffic control."

"I noticed that." Leraje states, levering himself over to a nearby comms terminal to scroll through the comms logs. "What's the word from the local HPG?"

"Total blackout." the captain replies. "We already checked."

"Ma'am, incoming transmissions, two of them." one of the comms officers pipes up. "Here's the first one."

"This is Captain Maeve Wolf to all mercenary units present on and in-bound to Outreach. We're currently dealing with a little family business, so hold position until we've figured it out. However, if you just *have* to get involved and want to avoid getting blacklisted, contact us on the attached frequency. Contract is expected to be short-term but intense; payment will be crap, but you get to keep any salvage not previously owned by the Dragoons. We know what it's like for employers to micromanage us, so it'll technically be liaison command."

"Family business, huh?" Leraje comments, rubbing his chin.

"Here's the second one." the comms officer continues.

"This is Commander Alpin Wolf to all mercenary units receiving. If you want good pay and good salvage, and to be on the right side of Dragoons history, you'll make contact on the attached frequency. It'll be a quick but brutal fight. Liaison command, because we don't need people who we have to babysit."

Leraje and Captain Doepker look at each other, the former shrugging, the latter spreading her hands.

[] Call up Maeve Wolf's frequency
[] Call up Alpin Wolf's frequency
[] None of our business - wait for the Jumpship drives to recharge then go elsewhere
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

I assume that this is essentially a Wolf's Dragoons civil war?

What do we know about Maeve and Alpin Wolf? In terms of reliability / ruthlessness / etc.? Also in terms of who seems to be stronger / have the upper hand at the moment?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Maeve is currently acting commander of one of the Wolf's Dragoons batallions and has a reputation for reasonable competence and reliability.

Alpin has almost no record that you're aware of and it's not entirely clear why he's got half the Dragoons fighting for him.

Currently, Maeve's forces have been pushed out of the capital areas, but they're evenly matched for now - although this may change as more Dragoons units return home and pick a side.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 10:31 am [] F-700 - speed comparable to medium fighter, requires use of priority purchases from contract
[] F-700a - slow, incredible firepower, requires use of priority purchases from contract
[x] Simple - slow, massive armor
Brick!
NickAragua wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 10:31 am [x] Call up Maeve Wolf's frequency
[] Call up Alpin Wolf's frequency
[x] None of our business - wait for the Jumpship drives to recharge then go elsewhere
Alpin sounds like a pompous prick... What do we know of the potential employers dispositions?

Edit: Option 1 or 3, following Nick's post.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

I assume that Wolf's Dragoons units are very well equipped with top notch weaponry. Are we well matched enough to take either side on? If so there could be some good salvage opportunities. Of course, there could be some repercussions if we pick the losing side so I'm also okay with staying out of someone's "family disagreement".
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zarathud »

Maeve’s contract is to pick the scraps from mercs who help the other side? For little pay? Seems like she’d rather have no help.

Alpin’s contract is to get paid and salvage. Seems like he’s more desperate.

If we get involved, we’d better be committed to the winning side.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Freyland »

I'm always about the loyalty.
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