For Want of a War: A Battletech AU Quest

[atrophy]

[x] Operation Quick Buck
-[x] Wasp WSP-1

[x] Operation Charlie Lance
-[x] Quinn/Clint, Diego/Valkyrie, Fiona/Firestarter. Put a veteran officer in charge, perhaps Atrae/Dervish
-[x] This will be a training lance and will have the mobility necessary to run away when they need to.
-[x] Stick Jackson Cotes into the Rifleman and Gunner lance while Hammerlock gets the Phoenix Hawk and joins Ranger lance.

[x] Stalker STK-4N at 70%

 

[KnightDisciple]

Will look over plans in a minute, but, @4WheelSword , number-crunching aside, are the Mechs we have in reserve considered to be at 100%, or will be for the purposes of selling or assigning?

EDIT: I am writing up comprehensive plan now. Trying to avoid major reshuffles, but it's inevitable. So many mechs!

 

[KnightDisciple]

Okay, finished coffee #2, feeling the buzz. Prepare to be Sarna'ed! Because I like to make sure we're all on the same page for what gear does what.

[X] Plan Sabre Sharpening
-[X] Operation Quick Buck: Select up to eight 'mechs to sell
--[X] Rifleman RFL-3N
--[X] Wasp WSP-1
--[X] Whitworth WTH-1
--[X] Firestarter FS9-H
--[X] Clint CLNT-2-3T
--[X] Valkyrie VLK-QA
-[X] Operation Rank Up: Promote a leader for the 3rd Lance
--[X] Corporal Gotzman
-[X] Operation Heavy Metal: There are also rumors of two assault 'mechs on the open market. Do we want one?
--[X] Both, but we'll be eating Ramen for a while...
---[X] Stalker STK-4N at 70%
---[X] Longbow LGB-7Q at 75%
-[X] Operation Charlie Lance - Build a 3rd formation for the Company: Grenadier Lance (Assault/Heavy Cavalry Lance)
--[X] CO - Corporal David Gotzman - Thunderbolt TDR-5S
--[X] XO - Corporal Connor Orixsky - Stalker STK-4N
--[X] Private Darius Hammerlock - Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
--[X] Private Jackson Cotes - Banshee BNC-3S
-[X] Ranger Lance Adjustment (Command/Fast Cavalry Lance)
--[X] CO - Captain Shane Leather - Phoenix Hawk PHX-1
--[X] XO - Corporal Michael 'Paladin' Sharpe - Phoenix Hawk PHX-1D
--[X] Private Fina Iolith - Phoenix Hawk PHX-1
--[X] Private Quinn Kay - Vindicator VND-1R
-[X] Gunner Lance Adjustment (Fire Support Lance)
--[X] CO - Sergeant J. 'Farsight' Boywifed - Shadow Hawk SHD-2H
--[X] XO - Corporal Kate ' Supernova' Leathem - Longbow LGB-7Q
--[X] Private Diego Del Mundo - Trebuchet TBT-5N
--[X] Private Atrae Sadia - Dervish DV-6M
-[X] Reserve Mechs
--{X] Wolfhound WLF-1A
--{X] Wolfhound WLF-1B
--[X] Crab CRB-20
--[X] Wyvern WVE-5N


NOTES:
-This should cover all 12 Pilots and all of our mechs
-We're selling 6 Mechs and buying 2; both that we're buying are heavy/assault, but we're selling 1 Heavy, a couple Mediums, and a couple Lights.
-The Riflemant really isn't great compared to other options, and doesn't fit well in any of our Lances. If we get to a Reinforced Company maybe we can afford an AA lance or whatever, but not right now.
-Grenadier Lance has 2 fast Heavies, and the Stalker and Banshee. Lots of long-range hatred to throw at the enemy, and even more up-close.
-Ranger Lance is actually pretty good at range thanks to the 3 LLs and the PPC and LRM on that Vindy. All have jump jets. The Vindicator's slower, but it can serve as a sort of long-range supporter, which is important to make it easier to fall back.
-Gunner Lance says fuck you we have LRMs now. I put Sadia in the Dervish because it meshes well with her special stat, aka the one where she loves LRM 10s. It has two of them! Hopefully she's not cranky about not having her PHawk any more.
-The Wolfhound is a solid Light mech to have, so keeping both of those. The Crab is a solid trooper but doesn't fit super-well in any of the lances. I could see an argument for swapping it in for Private Kay's Vindicator, even without the Jump Jets. And the Wyvern can pinch-hit in Ranger or Gunner Lance.
-I'd have put Captain Leather(pants) in an Assault, but I feel like he needs time to get better at anything heavier than 40 tons first. If we can get our hands on a Thunderbolt 5SE, the one that has Jump Jets, then we need to slap him in that until we get a Highlander.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

[X] Plan Sabre Sharpening

Click to shrink...

Much better!

I will comment on two points tho:
1) I'd like to see Darius in the Banshee, as someone raised a samurai melee combat should be his thing, and weight is paramount in that. Not that the 5SS Thud isn't a superb machine, but still.
2) The Wyvern would be much better than the Shadow Hawk for Boywifed, especially in a Fire Support lance.


[X] Plan Sabre Sharpening

 

[KnightDisciple]

Much better!

I will comment on two points tho:
1) I'd like to see Darius in the Banshee, as someone raised a samurai melee combat should be his thing, and weight is paramount in that. Not that the 5SS Thud isn't a superb machine, but still.
2) The Wyvern would be much better than the Shadow Hawk for Boywifed, especially in a Fire Support lance.


[X] Plan Sabre Sharpening

Click to shrink...

Swapped Wyvern and Hawk.

As for the Banshee, that was intentional. Cotes has an explicit perk with Ballistic weapons, and the 3S has that big honkin' AC-10 for him to exploit. Also putting the newbie in the most-protected Mech.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

Honestly, I'd sell the Shadow Hawk. It's just not good at anything, and not in a useful way either. The cannon is too weak to be a main weapon, the LRM is too weak to be a main weapon, the SRM is too weak to be a main weapon, and a single ML isn't a main weapon even for a bugmech. It has no range at which it's halfway decent, to say nothing of being good. It can't even take full advantage by being a 5/8 55t as it doesn't sport the full compliment of JJs it could and should.

Swapped Wyvern and Hawk.

As for the Banshee, that was intentional. Cotes has an explicit perk with Ballistic weapons, and the 3S has that big honkin' AC-10 for him to exploit. Also putting the newbie in the most-protected Mech.

Click to shrink...

For my counterpoint, I wrote a short haiku*:

If space weeb can't smash,
why katana?

*I don't know how to write haikus

 

[KnightDisciple]

Honestly, I'd sell the Shadow Hawk. It's just not good at anything, and not in a useful way either. The cannon is too weak to be a main weapon, the LRM is too weak to be a main weapon, the SRM is too weak to be a main weapon, and a single ML isn't a main weapon even for a bugmech. It has no range at which it's halfway decent, to say nothing of being good. It can't even take full advantage by being a 5/8 55t as it doesn't sport the full compliment of JJs it could and should.


For my counterpoint, I wrote a short haiku*:

If space weeb can't smash,
why katana?

*I don't know how to write haikus

Click to shrink...

Counter-counter points:
-Thunderbolt faster, for faster melee
-Flamer is basically a Mech Fire Dagger

EDIT: You snuck in notes on selling things after I posted. Hm. Maybe keep the Valkyrie instead?

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

The Whitworth has adequate armor, significantly more firepower and a full complement of JJs that should, in tactical situations, make it as fast or faster than the Shadow Hawk.

8t of armor, solid movement profile of 4/6/4, two LRM10s with one ton of ammo each make for a respectable long-ranged throw-weight and the three MLs are a nasty close-quarters backup. Adequately cooled, too.

Not flashy, but dead solid. I'd keep that instead of the SH, we can fit it reasonably well in many diffrent lances.

Counter-counter points:
-Thunderbolt faster, for faster melee
-Flamer is basically a Mech Fire Dagger

EDIT: You snuck in notes on selling things after I posted. Hm. Maybe keep the Valkyrie instead?

Click to shrink...

Fine, Batman.
For now.

 

[4WheelSword]

Swapped Wyvern and Hawk.

Click to shrink...

Problem here - Boywifed is also a ballistics specialist and the wyvern has no AC. Just missiles and lasers.

 

[KnightDisciple]

You convinced me, I've swapped the Whitworth and Shadow Hawk. Consider yourself a good persuader helped by us being in the ShitTechEra; the Shadow and Phoenix Hawks are two of my generally-favorite designs even if the SHawk is admittedly just kind of "meh" without getting SL, Royal, or Clan tech involved.

EDIT:

Problem here - Boywifed is also a ballistics specialist and the wyvern has no AC. Just missiles and lasers.

Click to shrink...

Damn knew I forgot something. Swapping things back around. Should have trusted my gut.

EDIT2: I think we're back where we started. I know the Whitworth has 2 LRM 10s but the Wyvern's got more armor and more non-missile firepower, and HANDS. Meanwhile Boywifed's probably gonna be headshotting, and I bet in time we'll be able to manually update loadouts if we have enough downtime, though @4WheelSword can correct me there.


Also we're at a full Company and a spare Lance of Mechs. We're well on our way to being a freaking Battalion, kids!

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

Problem here - Boywifed is also a ballistics specialist and the wyvern has no AC. Just missiles and lasers.

Click to shrink...

Tbh, I'd much rather be wasting that bonus to hit and using an actually good weapon, and the Wyvern has LL/LRM-10/SRM-6 vs the SH's AC-5/LRM5/SRM2. It's literally over twice the firepower, and tactically faster to boot due jumping farther.

The best, and arguably sole good gun the SH has is its single ML. It's not even a contest.

It just... Sucks so bad.

Unless you are using HBS ACs?

Maybe we can trade Wyvern or SH for an Enforcer.

Oh well, poor Boywifed will have to suck it up I suppose. It's otherwise a lot of good decisions.

Of course, this is all contingent on getting some votes

 

[KnightDisciple]

Yeah, this is where without knowing how nitty-gritty vs abstracted we are it's a hard call. If we're doing something more like Alpha Strike where a lot of the damage and attacks are abstracted, then it's less of an issue.

Alternatively, if we've hit a part of the game where we can customize our mechs somewhat, that'd be cool too.

 

[4WheelSword]

It's full battletech tabletop rules including total warfare and alot of tactical operations optional rules (like sensor ranges and minefields and such).
We're getting towards being able to do customisation. I wanted us to get to company strength before that and maybe get enough money to sit around for a few months.

Boywifed is in the unfortunate position that having a gunnery specialisation means they're actually slightly worse with non-ballistics iirc.
They could do with something with multiple autocannons tbh. Or some weird sniper.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

It's funny that, for their weight, our reserve mechs form an absolutely incredible light-medium lance. The Wolfhounds are close to as good as light mechs get, especially for this level of tech. An excellent combination of solid long-range weapon in the LL backed up by a murder of MLs for backstab work, paired to good speed and incredible toughness for light mechs (7.5t of armor and no ammo!).

The only thing they are missing is JJs.

The Wyvern is slower, but has great tactical mobility with its full set of JJs and backs a beautiful arsenal. It could be slighty improved by swapping the 2 SLs for a Flamer, to add anti-infantry capability, or an ML. But it's tough with 8t of armor and has weaponry worthy of a bloody Thunderbolt.

The Crab is the Wolfhounds writ large- the same heavy armor and no-ammo zombie abilities, a balanced weapons loadout with two big guns that it can fire all day long. I'd lose the SL for armor, and maybe the ML for a Flamer too, but that's honestly nitpicking. It's unassuming, but beyond solid. Crab is great.

The Wyvern is fire support, taking advantage of broken terrain to bring its many guns to bear while the Crab anchors the line and unassumingly punchs big holes in things while the Wolfhounds flank around. Great lance, all for 165 tons.

 

[KnightDisciple]

Honestly, @TotallyNotEvil , I'd argue we keep him in the Shadow Hawk for now and plan to change up the loadout when we hit that point. I think we're going to have an easier time adjusting the weapons loadout of a Shadow Hawk, than trying to up-armor the Rifleman.

EDIT:

It's funny that, for their weight, our reserve mechs form an absolutely incredible light-medium lance. The Wolfhounds are close to as good as light mechs get, especially for this level of tech. An excellent combination of solid long-range weapon in the LL backed up by a murder of MLs for backstab work, paired to excellent speed and incredible toughness for light mechs (7.5t of armor and no ammo!).

The only thing they are missing is JJs.

The Wyvern is slower, but has great tactical mobility with its full set of JJs and backs a beautiful arsenal. It could be slighty improved by swapping the 2 SLs for a Flamer, to add anti-infantry capability, or an ML. But it's tough with 8t of armor and has weaponry worthy of a bloody Thunderbolt.

The Crab is the Wolfhounds writ large- the same heavy armor and no-ammo zombie abilities, a balanced weapons loadout with two big guns that it can fire all day long.

The Wyvern is fire support, the Crab anchors the line and the Wolfhounds flank around. Great lance, all for 165 tons.

Click to shrink...

Honestly agreed. If not for the fact we've got a really nice jumper-focused group with Ranger I'd have them in there.

...We really just need to get a 4th Phoenix Hawk for Ranger Lance.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

...We really just need to get a 4th Phoenix Hawk for Ranger Lance.

Click to shrink...

Yup, it's begging to be renamed Phoenix Lance.

If we could fiddle with mechs, I'd say our top 3 must-have refits is turning the two standard P-Hawks into 1D variants, and losing MGs and SRM2 on the 5S Thud for 4 heavy JJs. Not quite a full 5SE conversion, but I'd rather keep the LRM15 and be careful with the heat.

Oh, and move the Thud center-chest bombs to the legs.