Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

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

Post by Leraje »

gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:26 pm
So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[X] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[ ] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[X] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

Using the two clan ER PPCs will leave us with 1 of those and the five clan ER medium lasers. We can either ship those back to our R&D facility or use some to upgrade our mechs (we have very many mechs with medium lasers, so it won't be an issue to find somewhere to put them).

[] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[x] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs


[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish

If we decide to do the contract anyway, those who are still waiting for refits should pick replacement mechs from the remaining rides in the first post.
Agreed. For a temp ride I'll go with Awesome or a 'Hopper.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:26 pm So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[x] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[x] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

[x] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs

[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:18 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:26 pm So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[x] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[x] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

Using the two clan ER PPCs will leave us with 1 of those and the five clan ER medium lasers. We can either ship those back to our R&D facility or use some to upgrade our mechs (we have very many mechs with medium lasers, so it won't be an issue to find somewhere to put them).

[] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[x] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs

[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
Send at least 1 of the clan ER ML's back for research.

3 BILLION??? WOW!!! That's one heck of jump start!
Leaning towards this.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[x] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[x] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

[x] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs

[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

Actually I'll change slightly, give it the Griff, it's main job is a mobile sniper, hopefully the extra punch of the CER PPC will make it slightly more effective.

We should try and get a better mech for Stefan Asap, hopefully the good salvage opportunities in this contract mean we can get a LV 2 mech for him.
moleymoleymoley wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:05 am So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[X] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[X] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

[x] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs

[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

AWS260 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:04 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:26 pm So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[x] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[X] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

[] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[X] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs

[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
Ship one of the medium lasers back (along with 1 ER PPC), then put the rest of the ML and PPCs in.

There is a spare Marauder available, right? Then I'll take that for the contract.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in
* I'll defer to the more experienced folks here.

---
[] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[X] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs
* Seems like R&D can do it's research with just one sample. No reason not to use everything else.

---
[X] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish
* I say we proceed. We still have a respectable amount of firepower with the absences, correct?
[/quote]

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

Post by Hyena »

gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:26 pm
So, let's pick up to two clan ER PPCs to carry out upgrades.
[X] Grasshopper GHR-5N (Hyena's ride)
[X] Merlin MLN-1A (Stefan's ride)
[X] Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
[] Griffin GRF-1N
[] Write-in

Using the two clan ER PPCs will leave us with 1 of those and the five clan ER medium lasers. We can either ship those back to our R&D facility or use some to upgrade our mechs (we have very many mechs with medium lasers, so it won't be an issue to find somewhere to put them).

[] Ship remaining weaponry back to Dowles
[x] Use some of it to upgrade our current mechs


[x] Go do the contract anyway, we'll see our mechs when we finish up (or have them shipped in if possible)
[] Pass, wait for refits to finish

If we decide to do the contract anyway, those who are still waiting for refits should pick replacement mechs from the remaining rides in the first post.
Agreed, for obvious reasons...
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

There's only 2 ppcs spare
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

moleymoleymoley wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:54 pm There's only 2 ppcs spare
THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!

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

Post by $iljanus »

Just to refresh, what exactly is equipped on my Mackie currently?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Gauss Rifle, 2x PPC, 2x Medium Laser. ~20 heat sinks. Basically max armor. 3/5 movement.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:58 pm Gauss Rifle, 2x PPC, 2x Medium Laser. ~20 heat sinks. Basically max armor. 3/5 movement.
Ooh, I forgot I had a gauss rifle! Thanks. Now just gotta hunt down a Clan mech with an upgraded gauss rifle...
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Grasshopper ||
Merlin |||||||
Thunderbolt ||||||
Griffin ||

Use some to upgrade current mechs |||||||||

Do contract anyway ||||||||||
We decide to upgrade the Merlin and Thunderbolt - the clan-spec PPCs will completely wreck their heat curve, but, in practice, you generally wind up firing the PPC separately from the other weapons anyway, and this will improve our long-range firepower for those mechs considerably.

Akalon comes sprinting back onto the Sparrow minutes before it departs. The mechwarrior doesn't say much, but we're happy to have him along for the ride. Mounting two clan-spec extended-range medium lasers on his Vulcan turns it into a mid-range sniper rather than a close-range brawler, and we wind up pulling the other two medium lasers in favor of heat sinks. This gives the Vulcan the ability to jump and fire twice before having to take a cooling break.
Spoiler:
Image
Saffel is where we're going. Only two jumps from Outreach. Things look relatively peaceful this far into the Inner Sphere.

With just one major continent, the planet is mostly water, and kind of cold.

March 16, 3051
Saffel, Draconis Combine

We get to the ground unchallenged - the local garrison does not appear to be inclined to give a hard time to a small dropship flotilla. We set up a landing zone out in the mountains and send out recon patrols. The good news - we are able to link up with elements of Densham's Dislocators, the merc company we're contracted to bail out. The bad news - the local militia and a lance of 36th Dieron Regulars are all over them. Alpha-Ranger lance counts a company of light mechs (including three heavies), as well as two lances of tanks.

Worse, the Dislocators' position is being shelled by artillery from a nearby firebase, and they've got aircraft closing in. Their screening force here consists of a pair of Vedettes, a Hetzer and a Condor, plus a Dervish - not exactly the cream of the crop.

Alpha-Ranger's goal here will be to take out the Bulldog tank hanging out in the back with all the antennae poking out of it, as that's what's coordinating the artillery bombardment. Delta-Recon is interrupting their patrol and moving in, and we've scrambled aerospace fighters of our own - hopefully we can wrap this up without a protracted fight and bust the Dislocator force out with a minimum amount of damage.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The militia fighters take a pass at us, scoring a couple of LRM hits while we fire back up. Mostly, the firing is ineffective other than taking some armor out.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Break right!" our lance leader calls out. Artillery starts landing, but it's way behind us. Our target is that Bulldog right there. Of note is the Grand Dragon - this appears to be a souped-up version.

An allied Condor hovertank gets disabled right away by an SRM salvo from a militia Packrat, while our return fire is ineffective.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Ugh, goddammit." comes a curse from our Griffin pilot as a Saladin zips up and lets rip with its AC/20 - the mech staggers as most of the center torso armor comes off, but our mechwarrior manages to keep to a knee drop rather than a flat out faceplant.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Delta-Recon has circled around the main hostile force and is in a good position to strike at the command Bulldog. Their Assassin spares a laser blast and a couple of SRMs for an AC/2 Carrier, followed up with a boot through the engine block, to clear the way, while the Firestarter and Spider concentrate fire on our target.

To the west, an allied merc Hetzer gets blown up by a Pegasus hovertank running circles around it.

As far as our main force goes, our Griffin 1S scores a hit on a nearby Locust, basically freezing its right MG actuator in place - the mechwarrior then follows up by hopping up and backhanding a nearby helicopter, knocking its rotor off and forcing the Warrior VTOL to make a crash-landing. Nimbly dodging a clumsy kick from said Locust, our mechwarrior watches with amusement as the bug mech falls over and finishes crushing its right weapons mount.

To the east, our Dervish and a 36th Regulars Enforcer tangle - the Enforcer's autocannon experiences its well-known ammo feed problems, letting our Dervish get in a few short-range attacks with lasers and SRMs. The two mechs circle each other, probing with kicks and both wind up taking a knee.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Ranger Lance, fall back to the east. Maintain engagement for now."

The Dervish and Enforcer continue their duel as our mech pulls back - the Enforcer takes some more SRMs and lasers but its armor holds up, then it returns fire with its autocannon - this time the weapon functions just fine and the Dervish's left shoulder joint is shredded.

One piece of good news is that the allied Vedettes to the south manage to shoot down a Meteor strike fighter as it comes around for another pass, causing it to plow into the ground and disintegrate on impact.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Recon lance, you've got maybe ten seconds before we have to disengage." Alpha-Ranger's lance leader informs his counterpart.

There's a burst of radio traffic from the Bulldog as a pair of artillery shells land amongst a formation of enemy tanks, disintegrating a small hovercraft and flipping over a Scorpion tank.

Luckily, Delta-Recon no longer has the problem of dealing with the Bulldog as our air support arrives and a Lightning rips the heavy tank to shreds with a burst from its nose-mounted autocannon. Our Eagle flies south, dropping five fuel-air bombs - the heroic Packrat from earlier disappears in the conflagration, while a Panther is caught in the blast as well, setting off a secondary detonation from its SRM ammo. Return fire from the Orion below hits the Eagle in the tail section, causing the aerospace fighter to vibrate as the aero jock fights to keep it level.

The Locust with the missing right-side machine gun pod takes a pair of laser blasts from our Ostroc, breaching its torso armor and brushing the internals - the bug mech staggers then falls over, its heat signature indicating critical engine shielding damage.

Our Griffin, however takes a second hit to the center torso from the Saladin - this time, the mech just can't take it and disintegrates. The allied Dervish's LRM ammo bin detonates as well after it takes fire from a Locust that gets on its tail.

Round 7+
Our aerospace fighters engage in a little bit of dogfighting as they leave, our Lightning taking out a Mechbuster in mid-air, while our Lucifer inflicts major damage on a Sparrow.

The rest of Alpha-Ranger lance clears the field, while Delta-Recon lance takes two casualties - the Javelin is destroyed by a deadly-accurate PPC blast from the Grand Dragon, while the Firestarter (the cool new toy) is legged by an SRM salvo from a Pegasus hovertank.

Not the most impressive first showing. We only managed to spring one Vedette, while losing three mechs (and getting three mechwarriors captured). So now we have to rescue *more* people. We did take out their command vehicle, though, and some basic trajectory analysis lets us figure out the location of the nearby artillery base.

With Freyland's Delta-Ranger lance running a diversionary attack to lure hostile forces out of there, Alpha-Command lance moves in to take the artillery base out. We've got a few choices to make.

First, where does Gamma-Strike go? This aerospace squadron (minus the Eagle, which is currently rattling back to base) can reinforce either Delta-Ranger's diversionary attack or Alpha-Command's facility attack. Their fuel-air bomb load will be highly useful in both situations.

[] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command

Since we're "on the attack", we can get some of our infantry to infiltrate into the artillery fire base a little bit to mess with the hostiles there. We can either have them plant some explosives or set up field guns for fire support ahead of time. The field guns would be pretty helpful in taking out any tanks as they come out of the base to engage our mechs, but if the artillery zeroes in on them, that's going to be a lot of dead dudes. On the other hand, planting bombs might get our people caught, or they may turn out to be duds.

[] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field guns
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[x] Air support for Alpha-Command
Carpet-bombing a base is always fun. We do not need it intact, right?
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[x] Deploy field guns
Sounds a bit more useful. Hope that PBIs know how to shoot and scoot.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[X] Air support for Alpha-Command
My decision is based on ignorance and assumptions. :)
If we took out the source directing the artillery fire, how dangerous is it now? If not that dangerous, then we could probably use the help elsewhere. HOWEVER, if there are plenty of other sources that can call in artillery strikes, then that base is still a primary target and probably needs the additional strafing.
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[x] Deploy field guns
Again, not sure here. Is it common for there to be tanks and heavy ground forces at a base like this? If so, then I think having additional backup for our mechs makes the most sense. 1) It keeps our ground troops potentially safer. 2) Our mechs can presumably destroy the base easily enough if run into less heavy ground resistance (so we wouldn't need the bombs).

I'll happily change my vote if my speculations are off-base.

Also.... for the images.... green triangles are our mechs, red triangles are enemy mechs, blue squares are our ground vehicles, and red squares are enemy ground vehicles? .... Hmmm.... what are red diamonds?
Last edited by TheMix on Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by NickAragua »

TheMix wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:45 am If we took out the source directing the artillery fire, how dangerous is it now? If not that dangerous, then we could probably use the help elsewhere. HOWEVER, if there are plenty of other sources that can call in artillery strikes, then that base is still a primary target and probably needs the additional strafing.

Also.... for the images.... green triangles are our mechs, red triangles are enemy mechs, blue squares are our ground vehicles, and red squares are enemy ground vehicles? .... Hmmm.... what are red diamonds?
Rustling up additional artillery spotters is pretty easy - until we take the artillery pieces or their supplies, they'll be able to shell battles in which we're engaged.

Diamonds, I believe, aerospace fighters.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Okay. If we assume the artillery is still a major concern until dealt with, then that should be the priority. Changed my vote.

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

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:33 am
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[x] Air support for Alpha-Command
Carpet-bombing a base is always fun. We do not need it intact, right?
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[x] Deploy field guns
Sounds a bit more useful. Hope that PBIs know how to shoot and scoot.
Godspeed, infantry friends! Have fun storming the firebase!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

$iljanus wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:17 pm
Leraje wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:33 am
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[x] Air support for Alpha-Command
Carpet-bombing a base is always fun. We do not need it intact, right?
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[x] Deploy field guns
Sounds a bit more useful. Hope that PBIs know how to shoot and scoot.
Godspeed, infantry friends! Have fun storming the firebase!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Occurs to me that I should have asked where I'm being deployed in all this. Assuming I am. That might make my voting a little easier. 8-)

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

Post by gbasden »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am

[X] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command


[X] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field guns
I figure Delta-Ranger probably needs the help more. And captured infantry is better than dead infantry.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

[X] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command

[X] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field gun


The better DR do the less likely AC are to have surprise reinforcements I guess?

Yeah captured infantry is likely to have less morale impact than dead infantry.

That might be a nice mechanic to introduce into retirement on mekHQ actually
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

Omg stratcon is out :dance:
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

Leraje wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:33 am
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[x] Air support for Alpha-Command
Carpet-bombing a base is always fun. We do not need it intact, right?
NickAragua wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:10 am [] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[x] Deploy field guns
Sounds a bit more useful. Hope that PBIs know how to shoot and scoot.
I agree with this.

One question on the infantry, though - if they can potentially infiltrate the base, instead of planting mines could we have them sabotage / bomb the artillery instead? Seems like the main priority right now is shutting down that artillery however we can.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:41 am One question on the infantry, though - if they can potentially infiltrate the base, instead of planting mines could we have them sabotage / bomb the artillery instead? Seems like the main priority right now is shutting down that artillery however we can.
It'll still basically resolve to land mines in terms of game mechanics, but we can have the infantry focus their efforts on the artillery.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:19 pm
El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:41 am One question on the infantry, though - if they can potentially infiltrate the base, instead of planting mines could we have them sabotage / bomb the artillery instead? Seems like the main priority right now is shutting down that artillery however we can.
It'll still basically resolve to land mines in terms of game mechanics, but we can have the infantry focus their efforts on the artillery.
Ok. Then I guess I'll switch my vote on that to 'landmines', with my mental image of the infantry being the commandos from Command and Conquer.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 11:21 pm
NickAragua wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:19 pm
El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:41 am One question on the infantry, though - if they can potentially infiltrate the base, instead of planting mines could we have them sabotage / bomb the artillery instead? Seems like the main priority right now is shutting down that artillery however we can.
It'll still basically resolve to land mines in terms of game mechanics, but we can have the infantry focus their efforts on the artillery.
Ok. Then I guess I'll switch my vote on that to 'landmines', with my mental image of the infantry being the commandos from Command and Conquer.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 11:23 pm
El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 11:21 pm
NickAragua wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:19 pm
El Guapo wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:41 am One question on the infantry, though - if they can potentially infiltrate the base, instead of planting mines could we have them sabotage / bomb the artillery instead? Seems like the main priority right now is shutting down that artillery however we can.
It'll still basically resolve to land mines in terms of game mechanics, but we can have the infantry focus their efforts on the artillery.
Ok. Then I guess I'll switch my vote on that to 'landmines', with my mental image of the infantry being the commandos from Command and Conquer.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

[X] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command

[X] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field gun
Minefields have always been good to us. Well, not always. Occasionally.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

AWS260 wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 2:22 pm
[X] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command

[X] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field gun
Minefields have always been good to us. Well, not always. Occasionally.
Good to us, not so good to the civilians. Good for the lawyers though.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by gbasden »

Stefan Stirzaker wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 11:32 pm
AWS260 wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 2:22 pm
[X] Air support for Delta-Ranger
[] Air support for Alpha-Command

[X] Plant "minefields" in artillery base
[] Deploy field gun
Minefields have always been good to us. Well, not always. Occasionally.
Good to us, not so good to the civilians. Good for the lawyers though.
If there are civilians living in the middle of an artillery firebase, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. :)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

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

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
air support for alpha ||||||
air support for delta |||

field guns ||||
minefields |||||

Tie-breaker: minefields, focused on artillery pieces
March 18, 3052
Kodo Foothills, Saffel

"Don't worry, we'll just run by them." Freyland tells El Guapo as they coordinate their plans. "We've got a couple of lances of those Dislocator guys hanging out here, they'll be good meatshields."

"Hope you're broadcasting on just the private channel." El Guapo replies with a smirk.

"I mean uh, valued comrades in arms." Freyland backpedals, briefly glancing at the comms console to make sure he's on the private channel. "Looks like they've got one medium tank lance right here, and a heavy lance with some SRM Carriers that ought to trundle up by the time the fight is over." He rolls his eyes. "Anyway, see you on the other side."

"Likewise." El Guapo responds.

Freyland directs his lance to engage the enemy force - our goal here is to bypass them and get them chasing our mechs, rather than move to reinforce that artillery base when El Guapo starts his attack.

Delta-Ranger is currently Freyland in a Wolverine 6M, as well as an Ostroc, an upgraded Dervish (double heat sinks and streak SRMs being the upgrades, plus additional armor), and a Griffin 1S. The hostiles in the way are a mixed force of tanks and mostly light mechs, with a pair of heavy mechs from the 36th thrown into the mix.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
"Ranger Lance, move to nav alpha. Target that Archer." Freyland says, throttling the Wolverine up, the rest of the lance keeping pace more or less.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
"Hey boss, isn't that one of the guys that took a chunk out of Alpha? Looks just like that Archer we saw on the feed."

"Probably." Freyland shrugs. "Not our problem. Light those woods up for smoke."

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
We engage the closest enemy units - the lance of light mechs with the Archer leading them. Freyland snaps a shot off at the Panther in the back, melting a little armor off one of its legs, but the laser's time on target is cut down a little by LRM impacts from the Archer. Our mechwarrior spares a glance to the north, seeing our Griffin nail the Commando with its large laser and heat sink fluid spraying out from the 25-ton mech.

Our merc allies to the northeast report engaging the hostile forces, somewhat inconclusively.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
"Boss, I've got six sensor pings coming in, aerospace fighters." One of Freyland's lancemates reports.

"Great. Keep it moving." our mechwarrior responds, turning the Wolverine's firepower on the nearby Panther. A PPC from up north flays armor from the Wolverine's leg, but Freyland is rewarded for his fire against the nearby target as the right torso armor buckles under laser fire and an enormous cloud of coolant fluid emerges from the breach - when the "smoke" dissipates, the Panther is on the ground, with multiple internal components visible. The Wolverine rocks under LRM fire from the Archer, but that should ease up a little now that we've closed in on it.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland smirks as the Archer tries to back up when we close in - the enemy mech trips over some random debris and falls on its back, rolling down a small incline and leaving a bunch of armor plating on the hillside. A quick glance to the right shows our Griffin coring out the damaged Panther with multiple laser blasts, while our Dervish does its best to keep the up-armored Wasp off our Griffin, with limited success.

Shame about the Panther, but, well, it's a Panther. House Kurita probably has thousands of the things.

Our merc pals report losing a Vedette to the north.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Incoming!" Our Dervish lancemate calls out. Freyland spares a glance to see how she's doing - not so hot. A Dervish is no match for an Archer, but especially so when the mechwarrior in the heavier mech is obviously better. Another glance at our Griffin as it takes the Wasp LAM's only real weapon off (the right arm laser, along with the right arm), and then the Wolverine creaks and groans as a Mechbuster unloads a bunch of bombs on our mech. With multiple actuators destroyed, it's a wonder our mechwarrior is able to keep the mech upright at all, only having to drop to a knee. Cringing, Freyland aims the Wolverine's laser skyward and spears the Mechbuster* with lasers, one through each wing.

The damage doesn't seem too bad, but the ground attack craft quickly goes out of control and corkscrews into the ground just a little ways from our damaged mech.

Our allied mercs to the north "report" getting massacred by the incoming aircraft - Freyland throws out a perfunctory "pull back" suggestion, but it's likely too late for them.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Freyland uses the nearby incline to lever the Wolverine up and stagger to the western edge of the battlefield, our Dervish providing covering fire against a nearby Boeing Jump Bomber** with LRMs. Weathering the storm of its bombs, the Dervish basically leaves the bomber missing its left wing and most of the tail section.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
As we can see, the allied merc force didn't do too well.

The militia aircraft zoom away, presumably to come up for another pass - but by the time they get back, we'll have met up with the merc heavy tank lance and be ready to lead the main enemy force on a merry chase.

With a last few parting shots that don't land anywhere near a mech, the rest of Delta-Ranger lance leaves the field. The lieutenant in charge of the merc heavy tank lance with which we rendezvous sounds unhappy that his tank lance got fried. "Man, you guys need to start getting some salvage together for us or we won't be able to do much more to help."

[] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)

Delta-Ranger lance is in pretty good shape, other than Freyland's mech which will need some major work on the left leg with a pair of blown-out actuators. Including the hip joint.

What's the disposition of Gamma-Probe lance (AWS/Pixie LAM, Bass/Phoenix Hawk 3M, Akalon/Vulcan, plus a Phoenix Hawk 3D)
[] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)

* The Mechbuster is a cheap, light-weight conventional fighter mounting an AC/20. It can also carry weapons such as bombs on external hard-points. It's widely used by planetary militia across the inner sphere and beyond, as the AC/20 is capable of threatening even the toughest of targets.

** The Boeing Jump Bomber is an extremely cheap, fast, unarmed (except for external hardpoints) conventional "fighter". Other than its low cost and speed, there's nothing to recommend it, and thus it's rare to see even in the most cheap-skate planetary militia.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

[] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)

[] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[X] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)
I'm going to defer on the first one. I don't understand the relationships well enough yet. So I don't know if we need to be nice or not.

For the second one, I'm assuming that the diversion lance isn't going to get re-engaged? So they should be okay, right? Seems like sending more force to take out the artillery makes more sense. Get in, get it done quickly, get out. The less time spent, the less chance for reinforcements to show up.

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

Post by $iljanus »

TheMix wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:38 pm
[] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)

[] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[X] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)
I'm going to defer on the first one. I don't understand the relationships well enough yet. So I don't know if we need to be nice or not.

For the second one, I'm assuming that the diversion lance isn't going to get re-engaged? So they should be okay, right? Seems like sending more force to take out the artillery makes more sense. Get in, get it done quickly, get out. The less time spent, the less chance for reinforcements to show up.
I'm all for helping our infantry friends and Freyland's lance is a diversion so they should just tease the enemy a bit but don't get into a protracted engagement.

And I'm with TheMix with not knowing enough about whether to stay on the good side of our would be allied support or if we have the luxury to tell them to do better next time (favoring option 3)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm [] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[x] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)
But ultimately defer to the people on-site for this choice.
NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm What's the disposition of Gamma-Probe lance (AWS/Pixie LAM, Bass/Phoenix Hawk 3M, Akalon/Vulcan, plus a Phoenix Hawk 3D)
[x] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)
Alpha already has air-support inbound for extra firepower, so minimizing the chances of extra OpFor mechs showing up seems to be a better option. Besides lighter mechs do not mix well with arty.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Also... it feels a bit weird to be voting on the reply. If I understand, it's Freyland that will get to deliver the reply, right? So I figure it's his call to make.

Edit: Oh. Might be a "whoops". I don't see Freyland in the last page or so. Is he not participating, but the character is left from the last campaign?

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

Post by gbasden »

Leraje wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:56 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm [] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[x] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)
But ultimately defer to the people on-site for this choice.
NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm What's the disposition of Gamma-Probe lance (AWS/Pixie LAM, Bass/Phoenix Hawk 3M, Akalon/Vulcan, plus a Phoenix Hawk 3D)
[x] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)
Alpha already has air-support inbound for extra firepower, so minimizing the chances of extra OpFor mechs showing up seems to be a better option. Besides lighter mechs do not mix well with arty.
Agree with both of these options.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

gbasden wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 3:32 pm
Leraje wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:56 pm
NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm [] "I'll uh, think about it." (brush off, deflect)
[x] "Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." (sarcasm, eyeroll)
[] "Why don't you get some yourself next time, and maybe don't get half your company captured." (condescending, not wrong)
[] "Go pound sand, asshole." (direct)
But ultimately defer to the people on-site for this choice.
NickAragua wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm What's the disposition of Gamma-Probe lance (AWS/Pixie LAM, Bass/Phoenix Hawk 3M, Akalon/Vulcan, plus a Phoenix Hawk 3D)
[x] Helping Freyland's lance with their diversion (greatly reduced chance of these extra mechs getting back in time to make a difference vs artillery base)
[] Reinforcing Alpha-Command lance's attack on the artillery base post-haste (still pretty decent chance of no further enemy reinforcements, opportunity to get in there quickly and help snipe the artillery if the infantry can't get it done)
Alpha already has air-support inbound for extra firepower, so minimizing the chances of extra OpFor mechs showing up seems to be a better option. Besides lighter mechs do not mix well with arty.
Agree with both of these options.
These both sound good.

To everyone deferring on the first question because it's up to Freyland - if these aren't personal decisions, it's really up for vote. Nick will call out a personal decision or note when something is subject to that person's override on the vote. So feel free to provide your feedback. :)
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