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 »

AWS260 wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:13 pm
Let's pick a contract (or not) - we could probably take both, with the Al Na'ir contract likely to be done before anyone even gets to Alkaid.
[x] Al Na'ir extraction raid: quick, good pay, counterproductive for overall war effort vs clans
[] Alkaid corporate succession dispute resolution: long, boring journey, easy, ok pay
[] None, take a break for a month and see what else we get
Looooooot.
This - it won't significantly impact the Combine's war efforts, but it might significantly impact OUR contribution to the war effort!

Do any of these involve more high tech shopping options? If so, how many?

And the Guap ain't going no where now that we got his tinker toy up and running again. Besides... when he leaves the mech cockpit, he's going to start training our blimp brigade.
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Hyena
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

Zenn7 wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:54 pm
AWS260 wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:13 pm
Let's pick a contract (or not) - we could probably take both, with the Al Na'ir contract likely to be done before anyone even gets to Alkaid.
[x] Al Na'ir extraction raid: quick, good pay, counterproductive for overall war effort vs clans
[] Alkaid corporate succession dispute resolution: long, boring journey, easy, ok pay
[] None, take a break for a month and see what else we get
Looooooot.
This - it won't significantly impact the Combine's war efforts, but it might significantly impact OUR contribution to the war effort!

Do any of these involve more high tech shopping options? If so, how many?

And the Guap ain't going no where now that we got his tinker toy up and running again. Besides... when he leaves the mech cockpit, he's going to start training our blimp brigade.
Yes to this as well.
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NickAragua
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
None ||
Al Na'ir ||||
Alkaid |
After some discussion, we decide to take the Al Na'ir contract. Our liaison is a very pale individual who habitually wears a beret and talks a lot. He especially starts talking a lot when we are en route to Al Na'ir and receive several large crates labeled "Experimental Gear" and "For Field Testing". Inside are several... well, let's just say that the clan battle armor looked a lot cooler. These kind of wide-chested, waddling suits come with digital instruction manuals and are apparently armored with "stealth armor". According to the specs, it can stop a medium laser blast. For weapons, it carries a rapid-fire grenade launcher, which is kind of disappointing except against infantry targets, which it will massacre rapidly.

We also order about a million C-Bills worth of structural elements and actuators for our heavy mechs. We've got several standard Jenners in storage, so we use parts from those to fix the up-teched Jenners and the Venoms. Freyland's Delta company will be receiving the new light mechs.

One thing we haven't quite figured out is what to do with the last Jenner that we captured. It's to a whole bunch of computer equipment that appears to be designed to share targeting data with other mechs (to a much greater degree than things like TAG designators and NARC pods), but whenever we try to boot it up, it complains about lacking a "master unit". So we're not really sure what to do with it at this point. We can pull the equipment to free up tonnage for extra heat sinks, more armor, or put the fourth laser back on. Or we can leave it in case we find a "master unit" (we *are* going back into Kurita space so it's possible) and stick the mech into storage for now.

[] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

For our aerospace forces, we refit our Lucifers with Artemis IV to slightly improve their firepower. The long-suffering Chippewa loses two nose-mounted lasers and the SRM launcher, gaining another aero double heat sink to make it heat-neutral, while adding Artemis IV for the LRM launchers, and adding another three tons of armor, bringing it up to 66% of the Lucifers' armor.

Well, it's not really long-suffering, it's just that we keep losing these whenever we deploy them, so the guy flying the last one has proposed some extra armor - "I never use those short range weapons anyway".

We also acquire a new Stingray F-92, as well as a Hellcat with a beagle probe. Tank-wise, we grab up a Chapparal artillery tank: our first Arrow IV platform.

We get to work customizing the Rifleman, or at least we put in the factory order to get it done. It'll be a little while, since we've decided to put CASE in. Since nobody's using the Hunchback, we're going to hold off on messing around with it for now. Too bad we don't have that Striker from way back when, that would have been a good mech to put it on.

We also re-constitute Delta Company's sweep lance from salvaged mechs: it's got all the cool toys now. Two Jenner JR7-K (a standard Jenner but with CASE for the SRM ammo and ferro-fibrous armor), an Ostscout with an XL engine and two medium lasers, and one of the Venoms. Should be an unholy terror as long as they don't stand still.

Siljanus' Beta-Hunter lance gets a replacement mech in the form of a Thunderbolt upgraded with a clan-spec PPC and an extra heat sink.

Wolf's Grasshopper 5J has finished refitting - the techs pulled one of the Streak SRM ammo bins (two tons of Streak/2 ammo is a little excessive) and installed an extra heat sink to keep the mechwarrior nice and cool.

We've got a couple of mechs that we acquired through salvage that are pretty solid stuff.
Grand Dragon DRG-5K: A straight-up upgrade of the original Grand Dragon. It's got an extended-range PPC, three medium lasers and an LRM/10 rack with two tons of ammo, built-in CASE preventing catastrophic destruction. It's low center of mass makes it both harder to land solid hits on it and less liable to get kicked over or tripped by physical attacks. The DCMS engineers also outdid themselves, as the torso has a 300-degree swivel range, letting the mech basically cover all angles. Its main weakness is the XL engine which is both expensive to repair (took us half a million C-Bills to fix it) and seizes up whenever a side torso section is taken out.

Dragon DRG-5N: This chassis was the predecessor to the Grand Dragon and is slightly less spectacular than the DRG-5K. It carries an ultra AC/5 and an LRM/10 rack, plus a medium laser, with CASE for all the ammo. It's got the low center of mass, but no extended torso swivel range.

Jenner JR7-K: As described, it's a standard Jenner but with CASE for the SRM ammo. If picked, we'll upgrade the heat sinks to doubles.

Venom SDR-9K: It's a beefy Spider. Four medium pulse lasers give it a massive damage increase over the original ultra-fast mech. Whoever drives it will be able to get the heat sinks upgraded to doubles.

Ostscout OTT-7J (XL): This is one of the engineers' pet projects. We had a "spare" (?) 380 XL engine rated for 35 ton mechs "just lying around" (?), so the mech tech swapped a standard Ostscout's engine out and installed a whole bunch of extra armor, two more lasers for a total of three, and a Guardian ECM suite. Combined with its improved sensors, this thing is an excellent electronic warfare platform, pretty nasty and can take a hit (when the hostiles can land one).

We also have a "spare" standard Awesome. We got a replacement head and everything.

If anybody wants to drive one of these, feel free to speak up.

Our current player roster is as follows:
Maj Yu-Bao "Zenn7" Ting - Awesome AWS-8Q
Cpt Demesu "Leraje" Jafar - Black Knight BL-6b-KNT (upgraded, clantech)
Cpt Shinko "Freyland" Mori - Wolverine WVR-6M
Cpt Patrick "El Guapo Mk II" Allain - Marauder MAD-5S (upgraded, clantech)
Lt Varada "Cylus Mk II" Sunondo - Grasshopper GHR-5H
Lt Karla "Wolf" Mellum - Grasshopper GHR-5J (modified, star league, clantech)
Lt Omer "Siljanus" Nanji - Mackie MSK-8B (star league tech)
Lt Nicolas "Akalon" Dvorak - Vulcan VL-5T (upgraded, clantech)
Lt Daniel "Moley Mk II" Adepapo - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Cpl Nara "AWS Mk II" Cutillar - Phoenix Hawk LAM PXH-HK1R (star league tech)
Cpl Zea-Chin "Hyena Mk II" Cao - Grasshopper GHR-5N
Cpl Tomoyuki "Bass" Owen - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3M (star league tech)
Pvt Wai-Ha "Zarathud Mk IV" Wu - Hunchback HBK-4G
Pvt Catriona "Xwraith Mk V" Dellas - Thunderbolt TDR-7M (star league tech)
Pvt Tessa "TheMix" Eng - Crusader CRD-3L (modified)
Pvt Allen "Stefan Mk VI" Nattore - Trebuchet TBT-3C (star league tech)
Pvt Jesper "SgtSoldier" Myhra - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D (star league tech)
Pvt Gurudasa "Isgrimnur Mk II" Naimish - Thug THG-11E (modified, star league tech)

---
Spoiler:
Image
Al Na'ir is a paradise. If you enjoy having basically no water, a thin atmosphere tainted by sulfur where you have to wear a breath mask if you go outside (and it still smells like rotten eggs all the damn time). With no concern for pollution, industrial production byproducts waft freely among the rocks and sand. Despite this, it's home to over a billion people. After several generations in the low gravity environment, everybody's tall and skinny. With no reason to go outside, everyone's pretty pale too.

The thin atmosphere, combined with the high value of the local production facilities means we will be restricted from using fuel-air ordnance.

The other concern here is that the surface gravity is .6g, which will let us go nice and fast, but will also cause our mechs to blow out actuators and bump into things if we do so. As usual, we'll leave it up to our individual mechwarriors whether to respect the gravity limits. The recommendation is to stick to your mech's rated speed, unless it's a total emergency.
Spoiler:
Image
We get to orbit unchallenged on June 6, somehow succesfully posing as parts buyers, and basically hit the jackpot right away. It seems, from local news reports, that there's a major demonstration going on where the local manufacturing concerns are showing off for the DCMS. Every single muckety-muck on our target list is going to be there, as will be every single piece of equipment we're supposed to take. The Sparrow comes down first, with Delta Company spreading out and figuring out where things are.

The convention is being guarded by a heavy mech lance, a mixed heavy armor/hovercraft company and a couple of loose light mechs.

Zenn7 laughs. "I'm just going to take the Moonraker and Seeker, bring my assault lance and some support units to blow away the guards, bring the battle armor and a bunch of infantry to scoop up targets, and we'll be back in orbit before dinner."

Siljanus and the Fire Lance leader look at each other. "What about us?"

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."

Author's note: Incredibly lucky break for us.
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Leraje
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:52 pm [] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[x] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[x] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."
So we landed on their front lawn...
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AWS260
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

Leraje wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:52 pm [] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[x] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[x] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."
So we landed on their front lawn...
I agree with both of these. Hopefully it's not a

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

Post by Freyland »

I miss my upgraded heavy. *sniff*
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TheMix
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Leraje wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:52 pm [] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[x] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[x] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."
So we landed on their front lawn...
I don't have an issue with this. The third option is tempting, but it also feels a bit like it would be tempting fate.

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

Post by $iljanus »

So essentially our “battle armor” with grenade launcher is this…

Image

Cool! And I can see how it could blend into an urban environment.

Oh and leave the Jenner alone while we figure out the “master unit” thing.

And I support option 2 since you never know what hostile force may suddenly make an appearance.
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Zenn7
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:52 pm [] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[x] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[x] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."
So we landed on their front lawn...
This is good.

Nice of them to freshly mow it and get it all fancied up for us.
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Hyena
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

TheMix wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:28 pm
Leraje wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:52 pm [] Refit the Jenner to something a little more sensible
[x] Leave it for now, we've got plenty of mechs

[] "Stay and guard the Moonraker."
[x] "Beta-Hunter lance, hang back. Move in and engage if we run into trouble. Fire lance, defend the dropship."
[] "Both lances, move in with me - let's get this done quickly."
So we landed on their front lawn...
I don't have an issue with this. The third option is tempting, but it also feels a bit like it would be tempting fate.
Yes.
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Leraje
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

$iljanus wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:38 pm So essentially our “battle armor” with grenade launcher is this…

Image

Cool! And I can see how it could blend into an urban environment.
That's why we should've held out for Lyran-manufactured BA.
Image
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

Am I still riding an unmodified Tbolt? :lol:

Second option for me, seems a bit too good to be true
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep Jenner as is, for now - almost unanimous
Beta Hunter reinforces - unanimous
"Right. Beta-Hunter, hang back a little then come in and engage. Beta-Fire, stay with the dropship, keep your eyes open. Let's move out."

June 6, 3051
Fletcher Convention Center, Habitation Dome 8D
Al Na'ir, Draconis Combine

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"I'm it?" Our Zephyr's driver exclaims. "No, bitch, TAG, *you're* it!"

Except he TAGs the nearby pavement.

The whole thing, from our end, is an exercise in futility, as we don't have a single LRM, laser-guided bomb or Arrow IV missile in the area.

Our battle armor's first outing is so far a disaster - a Zephyr hovertank comes around a corner as they move into position and lets rip with lasers and SRMs, downing two troopers. The Zephyr avoids all return fire, including the grenades.

A few infantry from an LRM platoon eat LRMs from the Archer as well, taking some casualties.

Our Flashman exchanges fire with a Crusader, the two mechs scoring laser hits on each other's armor.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Our two Falcon hovertanks break north and get intercepted by a group of militia hovercraft - one of our Falcons opens up on a Harasser, breaching the hovercraft's armor with a laser blast, then gets blown away by an SRM salvo from a Zephyr.

Zenn7 sights a Guillotine to the north - the Liao variant with jump jets. Three PPC blasts take off two tons of armor, causing the mech to stagger a little but the mechwarrior keeps it upright. Meanwhile our Hatamoto-Hi moves down a parallel street and immobilizes an SRM Carrier with its twin PPCs. The enemy Crusader pings our assault mech in the head with some LRMs, but armor holds.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Guillotine steps out of line of sight, the mechwarrior obviously having an understanding of what the eventual outcome of that "duel" would be. Zenn7 opens up on a Rommel tank to the north, hoping to take the AC/20 out of action, but the tank is tough, absorbing all three PPC shots without too much trouble.

Meanwhile, our second Falcon pulls back to the south, chased by the Zephyr. Both hovertanks get flipped over by an artilley round landing nearby.

Our Flashman moves northeast to help the Hatamoto-Hi engage the Crusader as our mechwarrior clears his head after getting dinged a little. The Crusader takes some more armor damage, causing it to stagger backward and fail to inflict anything in return.

Our Victor takes a break from shooting its gauss rifle at a dual AC/10 turret with our UAC/5 field gun infantry rolling into position and taking over - instead, an enemy Archer takes the gauss slug instead.

Our battle armor troopers hide out in a building, allowing them to avoid taking any more casualties.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Our jump infantry platoon gets revenge on one of the Kurita hovercraft, firing their small arms as the vehicle passes by the building they're camping out in. A few lucky shots make it into the hovertank's fuel lines, lighting it up. No salvage, but good shooting.

Our battle armor troopers engage an enemy Jenner from inside a building, using the cover to prevent themselves from getting blasted and pinging some grenades off its right weapons mount. Well, it was a nice try anyway, guys - then, the Guillotine kicks the building, crushing another battle armor trooper with collapsing debris.

Zenn7 continues the duel with the heavy armor to the north, heating the Awesome up pretty severely, but inflicting major armor and tread damage on a Rhino, with not any serious damage in return. Our Hatamoto-Hi and Flashman continue engaging the Crusader, taking some LRM fire but inflicting several armor breaches - our Flashman circles around the back of the enemy heavy, delivering a nasty kick to the rear torso from a short nearby building - the left arm and attached weapons go flying off.

Our Victor disables the AC/10 turret and moves north to engage the Archer.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"It's just me now, this grenade launcher isn't cutting it." The lone remaining battle armor trooper reports. "Bugging out."

"Right." Zenn7 replies. Obviously we have some work to do on our battle armor doctrine. Our mechwarrior contents himself with blasting a hole through a Rommel's front armor with PPCs, watching as its turret sags.

The Rhino had switched streets to avoid our Awesome, but that doesn't help it as our Flashman steps out and makes the assault tank eat lasers, fusing its treads. The reply LRMs cause some armor damage, but nothing our mech can't handle.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Siljanus brings his lance in from the northeast, sealing the trap.

To the west, our infantry make hash of a Galleon light tank's treads, disabling it in the middle of the street.

Zenn7 fires the Awesome's PPCs at a Jenner that skylines itself going after our Flashman, smirking in satisfaction as the light mech drops to the ground. It's not out yet, but that was a good hit. Our Flashman takes an armor breach to the center torso, so the mechwarrior will have to be careful (or, better yet, pull back).

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our support laser infantry is having a field day today, directing fire against the Guillotine as it moves west and scoring a headshot along with some other minor armor damage.

Zenn7 fires PPCs at a Manticore to the north, blasting off enough armor that our Flashman's lasers can open up a breach, inspiring the driver to run his vehicle off, the tank's gunners pinging a few LRMs off the slightly worn armor.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Our jump infantry take some casualties as the Guillotine works on their building, although they manage to score some damage against the mech and cause an armor breach on the left leg.

Our Hatamoto-Hi and Zephyr disable the Partisan tank, melting two of its autocannon barrels and sending a PPC shot through a left side armor breach to melt the engine. Our AC/10 field gunners engage a Von Luckner with fire from their field guns, scoring a couple good hits, but are unable to clear their hiding place before a burst from the tank's autocannon levels the structure.

To the northeast, Siljanus' lance continues engaging the stationary defenses, with Siljanus picking an LRM/20 turret off a building roof with a dead-on shot from the gauss rifle. The Victor continues battling the Archer, the latter mech's LRM launchers being all but useless in the situation, but it still holds its own as well as it can.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Jenner has made its way through nearby alleys and moves to harass Zenn7's Awesome, but a gauss slug from our nearby crew-served weapon brings it up short. This lets our mechwarrior sight on the light mech, shearing off its left leg with one PPC shot and right weapons mount with another one, bringing it flopping to the ground.

A Scimitar and the Guillotine get in behind our Flashman as the mech tries to retreat from the Von Luckner to the north, damaging an arm actuator and blowing out a laser. Our Hatamoto-Hi retaliates by stitching pulse laser blasts across the Scimitar's motive surfaces, deflating its skirt and settling it down on the pavement.

Our ultra-autocannon infantry finally pick off the Sniper artillery turret that's been dropping shells on us the whole time.

The Archer, getting some backup from an eighteen-tube SRM/6 turret to the west, forces an armor breach on the Victor, although no critical equipment is destroyed thankfully.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Our support laser infantry gets their second Galleon kill of the day, blasting through the armor on the second one that crosses their line of fire. The light tank opts to retreat.

The Guillotine chases the Flashman as our mech retreats, but runs into Zenn7, eating an armor breach to the right leg from PPC fire and a small laser head shot. The Flashman capitalizes on this and shreds the damaged limb with lasers, throwing some flamer into the mix as well.

Our Hatamoto-Hi disables the remaining Scimitar as it zips by.

To the north the Victor and Siljanus' lance knock down both the Archer and Phoenix Hawk with concentrated weapons fire.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
"Leave him for the infantry." Zenn7 tells the Flashman. "Rally on me and push north."

The Phoenix Hawk that our Thunderbolt and Guillotine teamed up on gets up, slips on the pavement and falls down, the mechwarrior knocking himself out.

Siljanus fires the Mackie's gauss rifle and a few energy weapons, holding a PPC to conserve heat. The medium laser turret in front of the Mackie sags and the building collapses, and then Siljanus is hit with a wave of nausea as the Mackie's gauss rifle blows up again after getting pinged with an SRM. This time, our mechwarrior was ahead of the game and didn't eat a full lunch before going out, so he's just hit with a wave of nausea and passes out from the pain, the mech standing there briefly before keeling over.

Our Hatamoto-Hi loses an arm to LRMs from a 45-barrel turret to the north, which our Victor takes out, but not before it lets out its last salvo.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Thunderbolt disables the remaining Skulker, while our Guillotine saws the leg off the Phoenix Hawk with the unconscious mechwarrior to prevent it from getting up later (the mech was in pretty good shape otherwise). Our Hatamoto-Hi stomps around the corner, getting the Von Luckner that was waiting for Zenn7, cracking through the tank's armor and causing it to slip its treads to boot.

With that, there are no mobile hostile units left on the field. The Archer, a Crusader, a Galleon tank and a Manticore got away, along with a Harasser from way early on, but the rest of the units are ours to salvage. The Locust uses its superior mobility to hide among some buildings then makes a run for it when our infantry move in to do a sweep. It's pretty good - for a Locust. Well, no matter.

There's not much left of the Falcon that got blown up or its crew, mostly just carbon scoring on the pavement. Our AC/10 field gunners and jump platoon took some heavy casualties as well.

Salvage is a couple of high-tech turrets with Artemis systems - we also grab a pair of TAG Scimitars, along with the beat-up Guillotine (legless, the mechwarrior bails out) and the Phoenix Hawk, mostly for spare parts.

Our MVP this battle is the mechwarrior in the Hatamoto-Hi, who got an "ace", scoring five mobile kills. It's not quite as cool as a mech "ace", but you almost never see that in an actual fight - mechs are a little more rare than one might think.

---

When Siljanus wakes up, he's once again in the sick bay, his head in traction, the Moonraker thrusting towards the nadir jump point at a comfy 1G.

"Kind of getting to be a habit, isn't it?" TheMix states.

"Damn gauss rifle blew up again, didn't it." Siljanus responds.

"Yeah. Doc says you're only gonna be out for a couple weeks this time. Gotta watch the head, big guy."

Siljanus chuckles, wincing. "You're one to talk, driving a Crusader. That thing has enough ammo in it to launch you into orbit."

"True, but at least my ejection seat works." The other mechwarrior replies.

---

Funerals for the infantry and battle armor personnel are held en route to the jump point. We're not terribly happy with the battle armor's performance and will have to re-think our usage of it. If we'd used them more appropriately, they'd have done better but they got caught out in the open by a hovertank and had no chance.

Replacement armor and battle suits are ridiculously expensive: 500,000 C-Bills per ton (although, to be fair, a Waddle... sorry, uh, "Infiltrator Mk I"... suit mounts only a third of a ton of armor. Replacement battle suits are 350k C-Bills apiece (and we need two of them). For reference, a Firestarter's engine costs that much.

We like our Falcon hovertanks and have the opportunity to grab a replacement one. The turret-mounted weapons are highly effective and we like the speed and the techs (and our wallets) like the fact that it doesn't have any crazy star league tech on it. But, as we've seen, sometimes, they blow up.

[] Replace Falcon
[] Just go with our existing Scimitars and Zephyrs instead, Weisman knows we've got plenty

We also loot crate after crate of high-tech components (and capture all the targets attending the convention), and, upon returning to Outreach, our employer gives us a cut of the goodies. We get 14 points of "stuff". Available components (that we're interested in), one point per piece of equipment.

[] Double Heat sink (we have 10 currently)
[] LB-10X autocannon (we have 3 spares)
[] Medium Pulse laser (we have 2 spares)

---

Inner Sphere tech news update:

Mechwarriors on Solaris VII have taken to mounting reinforced spike plates on their battlemechs. Initial reports indicate that spikes make it more difficult to land effective blows with melee attacks, although it does eat up tonnage. We're unlikely to install this on our mechs, as we need all the tonnage we can spare for guns and real armor - we'll leave the show-boating to the Solaris jocks.

Federated-Boeing Interstellar has announced a partnership with the Federated Commonwealth to produce capital-scale missile launchers. While FedCom (or, really, any other Inner Sphere power) lacks any WarShips on which to mount said launchers, they can be placed in fixed installations to drastically improve a planet's defense against approaching hostile spacecraft.

Warner Inc. and Jalastar Aerospace have announced the release of the Sparrowhawk SPR-6D, using an XL engine to mount an array of pulse lasers. If we see these, we'll be sure to snap them up, both to replace our crappy old Sparrowhawks and because we could use the spare medium pulse lasers.

Kallon industries has announced a production run of the HNT-171 Hornet, a 20-ton mech with a medium laser, an LRM/5 rack and an AMS installation. Two tons of LRM/5 ammo keep the mech over-supplied with LRM ammo, although it is protected by CASE to prevent a total blow-out. It's got ferro-fibrous armor and endo-steel internal structure, which makes all of no difference, since it's not really fast enough to avoid weapons fire and doesn't have enough armor to withstand it. We'll be taking a pass on these, except in cases of salvage, when we could always use more ferro-fibrous armor.

The Clan front is still calm, with no offensive actions taken by the clans.

The only other major news is that the world of Gei-Fu (as of a few months ago) attempted to secede from the Capellan Confederation and join the nearby St. Ives Compact, but the uprising was put down by forces from Warrior House Hiritsu.

---

Contract options:

Once we get back to FedCom space, only one option strikes us as interesting: a treasure hunt on Graham IV, a relatively low-G world a few jumps from Terra. Back in the days of the Star League, this world held vast resources and multiple military manufacturing facilites and academies. Then, when Stefan Amaris the Usurper took over, his forces dropped a large number of nuclear warheads on major population and industrial centers. Today, the world has a population of ~400 million, living mostly in orbital habitats and near the poles, where there was a little less "applied nuclear proliferation". The nuclear winter is long gone, and there are still a few manufacturing facilities here and there, but nothing compared to the planet's heyday.

Some (extremely well-funded) "treasure hunters" from Free Worlds League space have apparently gotten a hot tip that some of these industrial complexes didn't quite get destroyed, and want to hire some security forces to "proactively defend excavation operations" and "eliminate competition". Said opposition is likely to be other mercenary forces and corporate security, though planetary militia is a possibility as are elements of the 5th Lyran Regulars. We do not expect FedCom forces to become involved, however, unless existing strategic assets come under attack (or somebody blabs about Star League goodies right under their noses).

Details:
14 high tech purchase vouchers
Liaison Command
Green/D allied forces
Regular/B opposition
100% transport coverage
60% salvage
80% battle loss compensation
3 months estimated action time, 2 months estimated travel time
162M estimated profit

This isn't going to be a cakewalk, but salvage should be excellent and the pay is superb.

[] Take the Graham IV Star League treasure hunting raid
[] Pass, hang out on Outreach for a month

---

I'll be taking a hiatus until after July 4th.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:36 pm [x] Replace Falcon
[] Just go with our existing Scimitars and Zephyrs instead, Weisman knows we've got plenty

We also loot crate after crate of high-tech components (and capture all the targets attending the convention), and, upon returning to Outreach, our employer gives us a cut of the goodies. We get 14 points of "stuff". Available components (that we're interested in), one point per piece of equipment.

[5] Double Heat sink (we have 10 currently)
[5] LB-10X autocannon (we have 3 spares)
[4] Medium Pulse laser (we have 2 spares)

[x] Take the Graham IV Star League treasure hunting raid
[] Pass, hang out on Outreach for a month
We like the Falcon and have the money, replace it

Seems like we had an Annihilator or something that we needed 4 LB-10x's to upgrade. Let's get those and another spare for the pile. Not sure if we can upgrade anything w/ the MPL's, so we may want more, but lets at least get plenty of spares. Can never have too many Double Heat Sinks! If getting more of something would facilitate an upgrade we'd like to do, let's switch these some.

Sounds like a potentially rewarding contract.

Happy 4th Nick, enjoy your vacation from the war. :)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Freyland »

Which Falcon did we lose??
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Freyland wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:16 pm Which Falcon did we lose??
The Hooch'n'Scooch is still alive - the Upskirt is the one that got blown up.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:46 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:36 pm [x] Replace Falcon
[] Just go with our existing Scimitars and Zephyrs instead, Weisman knows we've got plenty

We also loot crate after crate of high-tech components (and capture all the targets attending the convention), and, upon returning to Outreach, our employer gives us a cut of the goodies. We get 14 points of "stuff". Available components (that we're interested in), one point per piece of equipment.

[5] Double Heat sink (we have 10 currently)
[5] LB-10X autocannon (we have 3 spares)
[4] Medium Pulse laser (we have 2 spares)

[x] Take the Graham IV Star League treasure hunting raid
[] Pass, hang out on Outreach for a month
We like the Falcon and have the money, replace it

Seems like we had an Annihilator or something that we needed 4 LB-10x's to upgrade. Let's get those and another spare for the pile. Not sure if we can upgrade anything w/ the MPL's, so we may want more, but lets at least get plenty of spares. Can never have too many Double Heat Sinks! If getting more of something would facilitate an upgrade we'd like to do, let's switch these some.

Sounds like a potentially rewarding contract.

Happy 4th Nick, enjoy your vacation from the war. :)
+1
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

Leraje wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:40 am
Zenn7 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:46 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:36 pm [x] Replace Falcon
[] Just go with our existing Scimitars and Zephyrs instead, Weisman knows we've got plenty

We also loot crate after crate of high-tech components (and capture all the targets attending the convention), and, upon returning to Outreach, our employer gives us a cut of the goodies. We get 14 points of "stuff". Available components (that we're interested in), one point per piece of equipment.

[5] Double Heat sink (we have 10 currently)
[5] LB-10X autocannon (we have 3 spares)
[4] Medium Pulse laser (we have 2 spares)

[x] Take the Graham IV Star League treasure hunting raid
[] Pass, hang out on Outreach for a month
We like the Falcon and have the money, replace it

Seems like we had an Annihilator or something that we needed 4 LB-10x's to upgrade. Let's get those and another spare for the pile. Not sure if we can upgrade anything w/ the MPL's, so we may want more, but lets at least get plenty of spares. Can never have too many Double Heat Sinks! If getting more of something would facilitate an upgrade we'd like to do, let's switch these some.

Sounds like a potentially rewarding contract.

Happy 4th Nick, enjoy your vacation from the war. :)
+1
Yeah what they said, about time we had some stiff competition.

Enjoy the break!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

How many mechs do we have that would benefit from double heat sinks but which haven't yet been upgraded with double heat sinks? My general instinct is to load up on double HS since it seems like almost every mech can benefit from them, but I don't know what the limits are on refitting the mechs that we have.

For now I'll say 4 LB-X 10s, 2 medium pulse lasers, 8 double heat sinks.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:40 am
Zenn7 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:46 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:36 pm [x] Replace Falcon
[] Just go with our existing Scimitars and Zephyrs instead, Weisman knows we've got plenty

We also loot crate after crate of high-tech components (and capture all the targets attending the convention), and, upon returning to Outreach, our employer gives us a cut of the goodies. We get 14 points of "stuff". Available components (that we're interested in), one point per piece of equipment.

[5] Double Heat sink (we have 10 currently)
[5] LB-10X autocannon (we have 3 spares)
[4] Medium Pulse laser (we have 2 spares)

[x] Take the Graham IV Star League treasure hunting raid
[] Pass, hang out on Outreach for a month
We like the Falcon and have the money, replace it

Seems like we had an Annihilator or something that we needed 4 LB-10x's to upgrade. Let's get those and another spare for the pile. Not sure if we can upgrade anything w/ the MPL's, so we may want more, but lets at least get plenty of spares. Can never have too many Double Heat Sinks! If getting more of something would facilitate an upgrade we'd like to do, let's switch these some.

Sounds like a potentially rewarding contract.

Happy 4th Nick, enjoy your vacation from the war. :)
+1
+7! But we should look out for some upgrade to either keep my Gauss gun from blowing up or for improving the medbay because I’m sick of getting all these head injuries. Now what was I talking about again? :think:

But yeah, double heat sinks pay some good dividends for future mech upgrade paths so more is better.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Take the Graham IV trasure hunting raid - unanimous

Two competing plans:
Double heat sink x8, LB-10x x2, MPL x4 ||
Double heat sink x5, LB-10x x5, MPL x4 |||||||
A couple of more upgrades happen:

TheMix's Crusader gets refitted similarly to a CRD-5M. Lacking a spare 260XL engine, we opt to go for some of the lower-impact upgrades - double heat sinks, anti-missile system in the head and CASE on the torso ammo bins. Well, that's what's going to happen once it comes out of the Dragoons factories on Outreach anyway, but that'll be months from now. When it's done, our mechwarrior will be able to hop around without reservation and unleash all the mech's weapons systems at will.

As for the Annihilator, the Dragoons are happy to bring it up to standard for us. Specifically, the ANH-2A standard. Four LBX-10s slowly stomping down the field, with four pulse lasers for close range firepower as necessary. If we can hook up some more double heat sinks, we can make it a 1G or a 1X instead.

With Xwraith's Thunderbolt TDR-5M hooked up, as well as Wolf's customized Grasshopper 5J and El Guapo's up-gunned Marauder, we're ready to do some treasure hunting.

Our other main repair expense is having to replace the worn-out cockpit on our BJ-3 Blackjack.

Anybody want to drive a Warhammer WHM-7S? This is a straight-up upgrade of the standard Warhammer. Twin PPCs? Extended-range. Medium lasers? Now pulse. The machineguns and shoulder-mounted SRM launcher have been replaced with twin Streak SRM/2s. Also, double heat sinks to handle the increased heat load. If we get this, we'll probably pull the small lasers to make room for more armor, as it's got the standard Warhammer's less-than-maximum loadout.

Regarding artillery crews - we've now got a total of two Chapparal artillery pieces, which mount Arrow IV missiles. Our Long Tom crews are excellent artillery gunners at this point, but we only have exactly enough people to crew the Long Toms. So, we could either have our Long Tom gunners switch over to the Chapparals, which means taking the Long Toms out of action, or hire new crews that won't be quite as good.

[] Sub in the Chapparals for Long Toms in our artillery lance
[] Start up a new artillery lance with crappier gunnery crews

That's our route:
Spoiler:
Image
--

August 23, 3051
Graham IV

Nobody challenges our dropship flotilla as we burn down to the uninhabited continent containing our employer's survey/excavation crews and light escorts. The radiation from all the nuclear weapons is long-gone, but nobody's had any particular interest in trying to re-settle and disturb the ghosts of Stefan Amaris' victims.

However, nobody, including us, has any problem looting their graves.

Which is how we wind up in our first battle here. It all starts with our employers sending out a bunch of their survey equipment out to conduct some seismic and mag scans. Alpha-Urban and Alpha-Ranger rotate guard duty, and Alpha-Ranger just happens to be "on" during a night-time move when a reinforced medium mech lance and a reinforced armor/hover lance comes knocking. There's some discussion between them and our convoy about who got where first and who's stepping on who's toes and then the shooting starts.

Alpha-Ranger is a Griffin, a Dervish, an Ostroc and a standard Wolverine. Moley's Alpha-Urban lance is about a minute away, so once they get there, they'll be able to help. Until then, those convoy units and Alpha-Ranger are on their own. Along with an un-named Falcon hovertank. We'll see how those guys do.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The tell-tale sound of whump-whump-whump indicates we're being shelled. There's also a whoosh, indicating an Arrow IV missile flying in somewhere.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Another set of whump-whump-whump-whoosh. Alpha-Ranger's lance leader orders the convoy units to keep moving, and the first artillery rounds land well away from the employer's units.

The ERLL Drillson is something we'd like to salvage if possible. The Phoenix Hawk LAM and Crusader 4K are pretty nice loot, too. The LAM for the double heat sinks and ER laser, the Crusader for the medium pulse lasers. Unfortunately, to get those, we'd have to defeat the mechs, which is no easy task for a lance of mediums under artillery fire.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Griffin jumps forward, firing its lasers and LRM launcher at a Vedette up ahead trying to get through a forest clearing to get at one of our employer's survey units. The lasers scar the ground around the tank, while a pair of LRMs fly straight down the exhaust pipe and cause the engine to shred itself, immobilizing the tank.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
An Arrow IV missile flies overhead and, with generous help from a Long Tom shell, blows open a cargo truck we're supposed to be escorting.

On the plus side, one of the Vedettes takes a pot shot at our Wolverine, but only sparks come out. Our Wolverine and Griffin team up on the Phoenix Hawk LAM, directing laser and autocannon fire at the 50-ton mech. They don't breach armor, but they do knock it down to the ground.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Falcon zooms around a cluster of trees, getting in behind a hostile Falcon and saturating it with SRMs. Somehow, the gunner manages to miss with the laser but land all twelve missiles on target, blowing pretty much every possible drive fan and other motive elemtn off the hostile hovertank, which skids along the ground merrily before coming to a stop.

While the crew celebrates, the enemy Crusader to the west plants its feet and unloads its own missiles at our hovertank. It's not nearly as accurate, but our hovertank is flipped over and disabled as well.

Our Griffin continues engaging the Phoenix Hawk LAM, although not with too much success, other than scoring a couple of laser hits.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Falcon's crew bails out pretty quickly, being under a Crusader's guns while upside down isn't the best. And then get splattered by an incoming artillery round as they break for the nearby woods.

To the north, our Alpha-Urban's Blackjack comes in and harasses the infantry that's got an allied truck trapped, allowing our guy to hit the reverse and get out of the trap. The rest of Moley's lance comes in from the west, but it'll still be a few seconds before they can engage.

Meanwhile, our Ostroc zaps the Crusader in the head with one of its large lasers. Firing both lasers heats the mech up quite a bit, but it was worth it, although the enemy mech retaliates by giving our Dervish the one-two with its pulse lasers and stripping some armor.

Between our Griffin and Wolverine, the only combat effective hostile on the east flank is the Phoenix Hawk LAM - the two Vedettes are now both pulling back.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
As our Griffin and Wolverine move west to help the beleaguered allied SalvageMech, the Phoenix Hawk pursues, losing an arm to a laser shot for its trouble. Our Ostroc's right arm comes off under pulse laser and SRM attack from the Crusader, but succeeds in diverting weapons fire away from the allied mech.

Until the the Cicada, Enforcer and Crusader decide to play football with it, and it goes down to the ground, the driver bailing out.

To the west, Moley and Hyena knock an Enforcer to the ground, although it's able to put a good amount of autocannon fire into Hyena's right torso, nearly removing the Grasshopper's armor in that location.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
"Go on, I've got this guy." Moley tells Hyena, jumping in behind the Enforcer as it gets up. The lighter mech swings its laser arm around and whiffs, while Moley punches a laser through the rear torso armor, then cracking its left leg in half as the mech stumbles, sending it back to the ground for good.

Our Griffin jumps west to help the Ostroc as the mechwarrior hops away from the Crusader's considerable firepower, scoring lasers across the front of the 65-tonner while the Dervish blasts the back.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The third of the employer's trucks catches an artillery round, blasting the engine compartment off entirely. We're going to need to run these guy off then find the artillery and take it out before we can repair the remaining vehicles and move on.

This happens pretty soon - our Griffin jumps in behind the Crusader and blasts it in the back of the head. Having already taken a headshot with a large laser there, the remaining armor simply disappears. Somehow, the mechwarrior manages to yank the ejection lever before being fried.

The Wolverine manages to disable the Drillson zipping around, blasting it with SRMs as it takes a pot shot at the Griffin.

Hyena and the BattleAxe run off the other Enforcer, while Moley stands menacingly over the downed one with the disabled leg, pointing the Thunderbolt's large laser at the cockpit.

While we'd like to capture the LAM with its double heat sinks, the mechwarrior in there simply transforms into fighter mode and zips off, leaving his buddies behind to fend for themselves.

It's unlikely that we'll be able to conduct salvage and recovery operations with that artillery hanging around. Tracking them down, though, will require us to tell our employer to suspend their operations in this area while we do so. However, this will slow our progress towards the supposed Star League cache. Do that enough, and someone else will dig the loot up first.

Or, we could suck it up and adapt to the artillery's presence, although having artillery shell our employer's guys constantly probably won't go over too well.

[] Halt operations in the area temporarily while we track down the artillery
[] Suck it up - vary our routes, search a different area, use our own artillery for counter-battery fire etc
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

How would it measure up against my Grasshopper with its current load out? If it's an upgrade, and still fits within my squad's needs, I'll take her out for a spin.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [] Sub in the Chapparals for Long Toms in our artillery lance
[x] Start up a new artillery lance with crappier gunnery crews
Arrows supposed to home on TAG, right? If that's the case we can affored a slightly less skilled crews.
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [x] Halt operations in the area temporarily while we track down the artillery
[] Suck it up - vary our routes, search a different area, use our own artillery for counter-battery fire etc
Deal with arty first - when we have to babysit units that get blown up by a near-miss from a shell, it's better to exercise some discretion.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:47 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [] Sub in the Chapparals for Long Toms in our artillery lance
[x] Start up a new artillery lance with crappier gunnery crews
Arrows supposed to home on TAG, right? If that's the case we can affored a slightly less skilled crews.
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [x] Halt operations in the area temporarily while we track down the artillery
[] Suck it up - vary our routes, search a different area, use our own artillery for counter-battery fire etc
Deal with arty first - when we have to babysit units that get blown up by a near-miss from a shell, it's better to exercise some discretion.
I concur.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Hyena wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:43 pm How would it measure up against my Grasshopper with its current load out? If it's an upgrade, and still fits within my squad's needs, I'll take her out for a spin.
Significantly better at long range due to the extended-range PPCs, but performance doesn't drop off at short range since ER PPCs don't have a minimum range. Same speed. However, no jump jets and a good deal less armor (about 30-40 points less off the top of my head).
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Zenn7 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:12 pm
Leraje wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:47 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [] Sub in the Chapparals for Long Toms in our artillery lance
[x] Start up a new artillery lance with crappier gunnery crews
Arrows supposed to home on TAG, right? If that's the case we can affored a slightly less skilled crews.
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [x] Halt operations in the area temporarily while we track down the artillery
[] Suck it up - vary our routes, search a different area, use our own artillery for counter-battery fire etc
Deal with arty first - when we have to babysit units that get blown up by a near-miss from a shell, it's better to exercise some discretion.
I concur.
I also agree.

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

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:14 pm
Hyena wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:43 pm How would it measure up against my Grasshopper with its current load out? If it's an upgrade, and still fits within my squad's needs, I'll take her out for a spin.
Significantly better at long range due to the extended-range PPCs, but performance doesn't drop off at short range since ER PPCs don't have a minimum range. Same speed. However, no jump jets and a good deal less armor (about 30-40 points less off the top of my head).
Sure, why not! I'd like to focus on killing them before they get into range to kill me first, please.

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

Post by $iljanus »

TheMix wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 12:20 am
Zenn7 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:12 pm
Leraje wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:47 pm
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [] Sub in the Chapparals for Long Toms in our artillery lance
[x] Start up a new artillery lance with crappier gunnery crews
Arrows supposed to home on TAG, right? If that's the case we can affored a slightly less skilled crews.
NickAragua wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:59 pm [x] Halt operations in the area temporarily while we track down the artillery
[] Suck it up - vary our routes, search a different area, use our own artillery for counter-battery fire etc
Deal with arty first - when we have to babysit units that get blown up by a near-miss from a shell, it's better to exercise some discretion.
I concur.
I also agree.
In agreement. Besides, once we get the new arty crew up to speed we’ll have two well trained specialized artillery units in the company.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

Yeah, makes sense to not get blown up while we do the mission.

Are there any scout mechs / tanks / blimps that we can send ahead to scout for the buried treasure so as to avoid delaying the overall mission too much?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Hyena calls the Warhammer
New artillery lance with "not as good" operators - unanimous
Track down the artillery - unanimous
We call in Delta company to find the artillery installation, with Alpha-Heavy standing by to move in and take it out once they do so. Delta-Ranger is intercepted as they move in on a cluster of abandoned structures, and are attacked by a reinforced tank company. Mostly light and medium armor/hovercraft with a few heavies. No mechs.

Delta-Ranger is Freyland in a Wolverine, plus an Ostroc, an upgraded Dervish and a Griffin 1S.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"So you lost all your planet-bound assets in the divorce, and your kids hate your guts." Ranger Three calls out to Ranger Four over comms as we approach the armor contacts. "... did you at least get to plow the maid?"

"That's the stupid part." Ranger Four responds, laughing. "Turns out she got herself a boyfriend during the divorce proceedings."

Ranger Three bursts out laughing as well, her Ostroc shaking slightly as it passes by a cluster of trees. "And you didn't think about that possibility beforehand?"

Ranger Four shrugs, the Griffin keeping pace. "I routinely strap myself into a chair above a 20-ton fusion reactor situated next to a ton of explosive ordnance, and kill people in exchange for money. Does it sound like I'm the kind of guy to consider long-term consequences?"

Ranger Three smirks. "Touche."

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"If you two numbskulls are done with your soap opera, let's hear a ready-op. Move around the east side of the complex, split these guys up and take them out quick - we need to find that artillery base." Freyland cuts in, followed by a pair of sheepish-sounding "ready-ops".

We exchange some long-range fire, but nothing connects from either side, although it's obvious that the hostile Warrior attack helicopter is having trouble with its autocannon.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
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Our lance breaks left as a Pegasus hovertank comes zipping forward, but to our mechwarriors' surprise, not a single missile or laser issues from it as our Griffin brushes it with a large laser blast. Freyland squints at his targeting display and then through the cockpit.

"Does that thing even have any weapons on it?"

Not so much, as it turns out, but it does spot for some inaccurate LRM fire.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
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"Forget the stupid thing, engage the combat units." Freyland calls out, letting loose a solid burst from the Wolverine's jump jets to clear a building and unloading lasers and SRMs on a Galleon tank that happens to be underfoot. The 102 model may have a pulse laser turret, ferro-fibrous armor and a beagle probe, but it still can't take a medium laser and a six-pack of SRMs to the side without an armor breach. The tank swerves and backs off rapidly, although Freyland has to plant the Wolverine's feet to keep from getting knocked over by incoming LRMs. The fact that one of the feet is planted through the back of a Scorpion tank is a bonus.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
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Our Dervish jumps west to swap places with the Ostroc and engage the LRM-packing Hetzer, but gets knocked over by weapons fire volume from incoming LRMs. Freyland hops back north to help out, blasting another Galleon and knocking the pulse laser turret on top of the light tank out of action with an SRM salvo. A boot through the right-side armor convinces the driver to back out and follow his other Galleon buddy out of the area.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Watch that SRM Carrier!" Freyland calls out, jumping across the action to the west, the Wolverine's weapons hammering a Hetzer followed up by a foot knocking the front armor off the wheeled assault gun.

Our Dervish carefully stands up, opening fire with LRMs at the Drillson to the east and popping its hover skirt. However, the royal Zephyr swings around and cuts into our mech's right leg with lasers, severing it just below the hip. A PPC shot from the Manticore blasts through the staggering mech's center torso armor, and then the mechwarrior blacks out as it hits the ground.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland jumps south, blowing the SRM Carrier away with weapons fire before the crew can turn the vehicle around properly - an SRM lights up the fuel tank, while our Ostroc jumps southwest to cover that approach, drilling through an LRM Carrier's armor.

The downed Dervish is destroyed by weapons fire from the tanks that make their way over to take advantage of its disabled state - multiple shots hit the ammo bins, and even though they're covered by CASE, that doesn't really help when the center torso basically ceases to exist.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland and our Griffin hop southeast, collapsing a structure on top of a Goblin tank as it tries to hide in there. Well, now it can hide in there permanently.

The rest of the hostile units appear to be mounting a fighting retreat - their LRM-capable units "speeding" south, covered by the remaining Po tank (a nasty customer with an AC/10 that pings a round off Freyland's leg) and the Zephyr with its deadly laser array. The lance of Vedettes and Manticore are heading in a similar direction.

Our remaining mechs have no internal damage but plenty of armor sections showing red, so we could try to take some more potshots as we leave (that Zephyr looking particularly tempting as a target). Or we could simply leave things as they are, the lance moving on with their recon and calling in salvage crews to pick up what's currently on the field.
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El Guapo
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:50 pm simply leave things as they are, the lance moving on with their recon and calling in salvage crews to pick up what's currently on the field.
Doesn't seem worth keeping this going, especially since we need to stay focused on getting the buried treasure.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

El Guapo wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:04 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:50 pm simply leave things as they are, the lance moving on with their recon and calling in salvage crews to pick up what's currently on the field.
Doesn't seem worth keeping this going, especially since we need to stay focused on getting the buried treasure.
Agree. Though, will Delta be able to keep looking for the artillery?

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

Post by NickAragua »

TheMix wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:09 pm Though, will Delta be able to keep looking for the artillery?
If they move on, yes. Otherwise, that process will slow down depending on how many more of Delta's mechs get knocked out.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:04 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:50 pm simply leave things as they are, the lance moving on with their recon and calling in salvage crews to pick up what's currently on the field.
Doesn't seem worth keeping this going, especially since we need to stay focused on getting the buried treasure.
That and our risk vs potential gain seems badly out of whack against us.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:12 pm
El Guapo wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:04 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:50 pm simply leave things as they are, the lance moving on with their recon and calling in salvage crews to pick up what's currently on the field.
Doesn't seem worth keeping this going, especially since we need to stay focused on getting the buried treasure.
That and our risk vs potential gain seems badly out of whack against us.
Agreed. Stick to the original plan.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

Leraje wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:27 pm Stick to the original plan.
Yep.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Freyland »

Artillery hunt!

Is the Dervish pilot dead?
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

AWS260 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:37 pm
Leraje wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:27 pm Stick to the original plan.
Yep.
Works for me
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Freyland wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:42 pm Artillery hunt!

Is the Dervish pilot dead?
Yep, two headshots and two ammo explosions (with CASE) and failed "am I actually dead" roll.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Freyland »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:00 pm
Freyland wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:42 pm Artillery hunt!

Is the Dervish pilot dead?
Yep, two headshots and two ammo explosions (with CASE) and failed "am I actually dead" roll.
Boss: "I'm sorry, Dr. Freyland, but you're fired."

Me: "Hold on, let me check my 'am I actually fired' roll. Hah! Nailed it!"
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