I'm getting the flu, so the update will likely take happen tomorrow if it happens at all this weekend. Rest assured that the fight was run and that Bravo lance = god tier while the DCMS and Alpha Lance = trash tier.
If we hit 3055 before I get in, sign me up as a Tank commander if we're gonna run stuff like that. Alacorn:
"The Alacorn's popularity also received an unexpected boost when its crews discovered that the unique truncated pyramid can of the popular Federated Suns Pharaoh beer was the perfect track tension gauge. As only a freshly opened can has the exact measurement required, Alacorn crews are renowned for making frequent and extremely thorough track maintenance checks."
Note: I'm still sick, so this is the best you'll get. Also, I'll be going back to the vignette style of battle reports as they're more enjoyable to write and I don't have to worry about losing track of things as I did here.
=====================
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what occurred, I should probably explain a little about deployment in Battletech and why this one is the way it is. See, due to the way Battletech determines when your units arrive (it does some weird math that involves subtraction and division), Bravo lance has been split up into three waves of units rather than the more sensible strategy of rocking up together. In this three wave structure, Joanna and Goon will be the first mechs from Bavo lance to arrive, followed by Radek and Hansan in round 2, and Bidoof in Round 3. Alpha Lance, thanks to driving huge fuck-off mechs, will arrive at the beginning of round 9.
The Snakes' first group, on the other hand, all show up together in the centre of the map while their reinforcements rock up together on round 8.
So, you know, this should be fun.
Also making the fight 'fun' is the fact that the map we're fighting on is, in all honesty, absolutely tiny. It's so small that Corn could —if I've done the maths right theoretically hit a target on one side of the map from the other with his gauss rifle. Well, if Cornuthaum could hit things, that is.
To counter the DCMS' initial numbers and weight advantage, Joanna and Goon deploy in the top right-hand corner of the battlefield —almost immediately in range of every mech on the field due to the ridiculously tiny size of the combat area. Our allied Commando —a liaison unit from the baron's guard— decided that discretion is for cowards and instead deployed as close to the enemy as possible. On the one hand, I want to applaud the courage of the MechWarrior driving the thing, but on the other hand, I think they're a fucking moron.
Almost immediately, Goon rushes toward the enemy force, the young MechWarrior taking the adage 'speed is armour' to heart as he runs as far as he safely can. As if in competition, Joanna's Locust matches pace for a moment before she pushes the throttle and sends it hurtling toward the mass of vehicles and mechs at an eye-watering 130 kph.
As the two mechs charge forward, the Draconis force reacts — the five members hurtling like a hammer blow toward the lone Commando that dared to intrude on their perimeter. Unfortunately for the Dracs, some of their crews are... less than skilled —the driver of one Saracen hovertank moving too far too fast and scraping the hovercraft's armoured skirt against an outcropping of sharp rock. Almost immediately, the fast-moving hovertank crashes to the ground and slews to a halt —disabled!
For a long moment it seems that these early moments of the battle will be spent manoeuvring around, and then the Vulcan takes aim at our distant ally...
Like a thunderstorm from nowhere, the battlefield instantly bursts into violence —lasers flashing, missiles burning, and PPCs sparking as weapons turn every which way seeking targets. All around Goon and Joanna, the metal-rich sands erupt into pillars of flame and pools of glass as lasers and missiles slice through the air. Joanna, saved by her speed sails through the firestorm with grace while FacelessGoon braces his mech under the savage caress of a handful of missiles. The two MechWarriors, blinded by the sudden onslaught, let loose an assault of their own only to curse as their attacks sail harmless past the Griffin and Vulcan they targeted.
The Commando, though battered by the Pegasus and Maxim, fares far better. Swivelling to face the immobile Saracen as it stalks toward the dense knot of enemy machines, the light mech lets loose a flight of ten missiles from its twin SRMs. With a shriek that echoes across the dry shrubland, the corkscrewing missiles slam into the stationary hovertank and tear away at its armour —another great rip appearing in its armoured skirt as one missile slams into the machine's frontal armour.
Stunned by the ferocity of the assault and unused to piloting in low-gravity environments, the undertrained pilot of the DCMS Warrior moves too far too fast —the low-flying VTOL stalling on a sharp turn and crashing to the ground in a blossom of fire. As the red and orange fireball expands into the cobalt blue sky, Radek and his heavily-armoured Hunchback finally march onto the field —the AC/20 wielding war machine striding past the stricken Saracen to face down the swiftly approaching Vedette. A few moments behind Radek's juggernaut, the ungainly form of Jack Hansan's Talos emerges from a sea of four-meter tall Gamba Grass —the energy-heavy mech turning toward the mass of DCMS machine to the south.
Seeing the balance of power swinging away from his favour and already down a machine, the commander of the DCMS detachment does the only thing he can do and orders his forces to focus fire on the Talos. With cool professionalism despite their unfamiliarity with one another, Goon and Joanna respond like a well-oiled machine —Joanna's ultra-light Locust dashing across the hardpacked earth toward the Hetzer's rear while Goon waddles forward and turns his ER PPC on the Vedette.
With shrieks and roars and barks, the assembled war hosts let loose on one another —missile launchers, lasers, autocannons filling the air with death as mechs turn this way and that as they charge toward their enemies. Despite the single-minded fury of the assault, no warrior falls victim to the onslaught; the speed of the forces and the freshness of their armour throwing off targetting reticules and dissipating much of the damage —though Hansan's mech shudders under the barrage. Cursing as her machineguns spray one burst after another into the hardpacked dirt behind the racing Hetzer, Joanna lashes out with her Locust's splayed foot and grins as the talons rake across the machine's thin rear armour. An instant later, her grin redoubles as she spies the enemy Vulcan attempt the same trick on Radek's Hunchback only to crash to the ground in a cloud of dust.
As the light mech begins to rise to its feet —its pilot understanding that a stationary mech is a dead mech— an unfamiliar voice pours into its cockpit.
"Heh," chuckles the voice, "nothing personal kid."
With a keening wail, the unassuming form of Bidoof's UrbanMech crashes to earth behind the rising Vulcan before charging toward its exposed back —the molten glass beneath its feet no impediment to the Urbanmech. Short compared to the other mechs on the battlefield, most variants of the egg-shaped mech were widely considered an object of laughter to many a MechWarrior across the Inner Sphere. Unfortunately for the Dracs, Bidoof's Urbanmech was not most variants.
With an almighty boom, the top-heavy mech's AC/20 fires —the overpressure throwing up an obscuring cloud of dust in an instant. With a loud shriek, the 300mm shell pierces the air between the UrbanMech and the Vulcan before slamming to earth a bare meter from its target and erupting into a pillar of flame. As if mocking the UrbanMech's efforts, an equally loud boom rings out from Radek's Hunchback as the MechWarrior triggers his AC/20, and an instant later his target —the Vedette— disintegrates into a cloud of metal shards as the colossal weapon strikes true.
Ignoring the one-upmanship, Bidoof lashes out with one of his mech's oversized feet —the multi-ton lump of metal slamming into the back of the Vulcan's knee like a battering ram. For an instant, it seems as if the MechWarrior piloting the machine will be able to keep the mech upright before, like a felled tree, it falls to the ground with an almighty crash.
Taking heed of the Vulcan's folly Joanna dashes across the scrubland like a ballet dancer; her mech's feet barely touching the ground as she hurtles toward the immobilised Pegasus scout hovercraft. To the west, the hulking form of Radek's Hunchback does the same as Radek seeks his latest prey —each footfall shaking the earth as it approaches the grounded Maxim hovercar. Meanwhile, to the north, the athropodic form of Goon's Scorpion stalks toward the exposed back of the Drac commander's Griffin; his ER PPC swinging as he prepares to sting.
With nary a warning, Jack Hansan's Talos opens fire on the stationary Hetzer with everything it has —emerald and sapphire beams of light pouring from its lasers and turning the self-propelled artillery piece into little more than twisted scrap. An instant later, Radek's cannon barks once and the crippled maxim ceases to exist; a cloud of fire and dust replacing what was once a crewed machine. As if in response, the Drac Griffin lunges forward and opens fire on Radek's Hunchback; a half-dozen blazing holes appearing in the juggernaut mech's thick armour. Caught off guard by the sudden motion, FacelessGoon curses as his well-aimed PPC strike goes wide; the man-made lightning splashing harmlessly against the ground.
Meanwhile, ignored by all save his target, Bidoof kicks the leg off the Vulcan and sends it sprawling to the ground amidst a shower of snapped myomer fibres and shattered metal.
Having had enough abuse and sure that their reputation is in ruins, the pilot of the Vulcan chooses dishonour before death and triggers their mech's ejection system. With a single solid crack, the mech's cockpit explodes outwards, and an instant later the MechWarrior's seat shoots into the air atop a pillar of smoke and fire.
Spying the destruction of the Vulcan out of the corner of her eye, Joanna charges her mech toward Drac commander —the veteran MechWarrior twitching her machineguns in acknowledgement as Hansan's Talos races past to join Radek in annihilating the Pegasus.
Like starved dogs, Radek and Hansan tear into the Pegasus; lasers carving through flesh and metal with equal ease as they sweep across its buckled hull again and again. Valiantly, the crippled machine attempts to fight the two mechs off with a hasty flight of missiles that smash into the Hunchback's chest, but it is all for nought. With a shriek of overheated air, the deadly lasers finally shut off, and a moment later the supine machine falls to pieces —glowing chunks of metal scattering across the scrubland and setting the grass alight.
An instant later, a crack like thunder rings out across the battlefield as Bidoof's AC/20 opens fire. Like a beer can in a garbage press, the front armour of the final Saracen crumples inward as the 300mm shells strike true —the 35-ton hovercraft skidding backwards through the air before crashing to the ground as its tortured skirt finally gives out.
Not to be outdone, Goon and Joanna open up on the Griffen as it turns to assault Radek's Hunchback —PPC and machinegun fire sending it hurtling to the ground in a shower of shrapnel but not before it batters Radek's mech. As if seeking vengeance, Goon and Joanna lash out at the prone machine; Goon smashing the mech's left leg while Joanna slams a talon into the head.
Like something out of a comedic holo-vid, the Griffin rises to its feet and move to flank Goon only to have the agile Scorpion outmanoeuvre the medium mech and outflank it. Seeing this, Joanna dashes around the other side of the Griffin and brings her guns to bear on its exposed back. Simultaneously, Radek moves his Hunchback toward the now isolated command mech and loads one of his two remaining AC/20 rounds while Bidoof and Hansan prepare to finish off the Saracen.
With a dull crump of detonation, the wounded Saracen explodes into flame as Bidoof and Hansan rip it apart —one last spiteful flight of missiles exposing the internal structure of the Talos' right arm and damaging a large laser, but not getting vengeance.
As if showing the now deceased crew of the Saracen how it's done, Radek, Joanna, and Goon open up on the Griffin and send it to the ground in a shower of metal —both legs now utterly devoid of armour. Before the mech is even still, Joanna and Goon kick at it once more and rip off its right leg.
Everyone moves toward the Griffin, and Hansan finds the one building in Battletech that can't double as a bunker and so falls to the ground and damages his left leg's armour, as well as exposes his right arm and centre torso's internals. Meanwhile, Bidoof slowly makes his way towards the rest of his lance.
Once again, Bravo lance open fire on the downed Griffin. After the smoke clears, we find that the Griffin's right arm and torso have been turned into scrap. The FedCom Commando, somehow still alive after all of this, proceeds to rip into the Griffin's centre torso and brings it to an eye-watering three points of internal structure.
Wanting the Griffin dead, Joanna and FacelessGoon kick it while it's down with Joanna's Locust scoring the killing blow on the centre torso. Cornuthaum better watch out, this Locust is coming after his Atlas!
(Somehow I seem to be missing most of the movement images from this turn :/)
As the DCMS reinforcements finally reach the battlefield opposite Alpha Lance, the bruised and battered members of Bravo get ready to finish the fight. Composed of an AC/20-wielding Hetzer, an ECM-carrying Zephyr, a Shadowhawk, and a Panther, the Draconis reinforcements are mobile and hard-hitting, and it'll take some clever manoeuvring to avoid losses while we close in range. As such, Bravo lance sweeps north —Joanna's Locust and the FedCom Commando outflanking the AC/20-wielding Hetzer while Goon positions his Scorpion directly to the north of the Shadowhawk and Panther, and Radek follows close behind.
Meanwhile, to the east, the heavily armed and armoured host of mechs that is Alpha lance slowly advances toward the DCMS reinforcements. Outmassing their enemies more than three to one, the assault and heavy mechs of Alpha will be the anvil to Bravo's hammer —and should hopefully absorb most of the Snakes' fire.
With a sound like thunder, the swiftly approaching forces open fire on one another; autocannon shells and missiles piercing the air as mechs jostle and twist. Amazingly, out of the hundreds of shots fired, only the Zephyr strikes true —its medium laser lightly scoring Radek's armour but doing little else.
Like a steel tide, our forces in the east sweep toward the outmatched Draconis forces with their guns at the ready. Still embedded in the collapsed building and unable to move without risking more damage to his mech, Jack Hansan can only watch with envy as the other MechWarriors push their machines to their limits.
Finally recovered from Bravo lance's onslaught, the Draconis forces advance apace —the Zephyr and Hetzer racing toward Alpha lance while the Shadowhawk moves to engage Joanna and our allied Commando as they counter the Hetzer. Noting the threat, Radek outflanks the Shadowhawk only for the Draconis Panther to outflank him! As the three-stooges-esque scenario takes shape, Goon manoeuvres his Scorpion into the abandoned mining town and aims the distant Hetzer.
Once again, almost every MechWarrior in our company misses their mark due to the speed of the engagement; lasers and missile sailing in all directions only to splash harmlessly against the ground with only Bidoof's AC/20 scoring a blow against the enemy Zephyr. As if to show our men and women up, the allied Commando unleashes hell on the enemy Panther —Combine armour flying in all directions as lasers and missile slam into the light mech moments later. Seething, Bidoof and Joanna immediately strike out against their nearest opponent —the Locust's talons scraping yet more armour from the Hetzer while the UrbanMech's large feet crush the Zephyr and sends its wreck sprawling across the ground.
With their mobile ECM destroyed by a murder-egg, the remaining Draconis forces attempt to make the best of a bad situation; the Panther and Shadowhawk moving to trap Radek's Hunchback between them while the Hetzer brings its AC/20 to bear. Seeing this for what it is, Joanna throws her Locust into overdrive and charges forward; the light mech slamming one taloned foot into the Shadowhawk's back and sending the fifty-five-ton mech crashing to the ground. Realising that their plan has gone awry, the pilot of the Panther triggers their mech's jump jets and hurtles into the air.
An instant later, the sniper mech crashes to earth behind the quadruped mech and opens fire —man-made lightning flashing slamming into the Scorpion's spindly legs and converting what little armour remains into steam. Stumbling under the force of the blow, the Scorpion's own PPC blast goes wide; a pool of glass as wide as a car flashing into existence by the downed Shadowhawk's head.
His mech badly wounded by the Panther's particle weapon, Goon dashes toward the safety promised by Iof's slowly approaching Atlas; the towering assault mech only just entering range as the Scorpion scuttles close. Turning toward the trundling Hertzer, Iof doesn't hesitate before opening fire —the bass roar of her AC/20 booming out across the empty scrubland and turning the fearsome field-gun into little more than twisted and burning scrap.
With the tide of battle turning so drastically against them, the morale of the two remaining DCMS MechWarrirors breaks utterly. To the north, the Shadowhawk awkwardly rises to its feet only to go crashing down again as the FedCom commando batters it to the ground, while to the east the Panther dashes toward the heavy mechs of Alpha lance in a suicidal banzai charge.
As missiles and laser beams tear up the ground around the charging Panther, it seems, for a moment, that the suicidal pilot will achieve the honourable end they dream of. Then, all of a sudden, Alpha and Bravo lances adjust their aim and the light mech goes stumbling as an overwhelming barrage of fire crashes down upon it. As the light mech slides to a halt amidst a cloud of dust and smoke —its armour plating torn open in a dozen places and its myomer muscle fibres smouldering like the ends of cigarettes— the spindly form of a Locust approaches cautiously; machineguns flicking across the prone mech's body like stubby antennas. For a long moment, it seems as if the insectile machine will leave the ruined mech be; before, without warning, slamming one splayed foot through the Panther's ruined centre torso.
As the last echoes of battle fade away into the still midday air, the distant headlights of Baronial transports appear in the distance. Heat slowly dissipating from their mighty warmachines, the members of Alpha and Bravo lance prepare for their inevitable debriefing and the drinking contest that will surely follow.
=====================
Okay, I have good news and bad news.
First up, the bad news: this was not the main Drac base. I know, I know, it's unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. According to the few prisoners who would talk to us and the documents they didn't burn, this was just a forward operating base/temporary holding location for cargo that was being shipped in from other landing sites. Apparently, they'd smuggle their equipment down in pieces, collect all the components at the base, and then ship it to another location to get assembled into a working mech or tank or whatever.
That said, there is some good news: despite their best efforts, our friends in lockup were unable to burn all their highly sensitive and important documents, so we were able to identify roughly where and when one of their next few shipments will come down. That information will be shared on a need to know basis only, but you can expect an operation soon. If the Dracs don't want to commit to a stand-up fight, we'll have to smoke 'em out.
We also figured out how the Dracs got onto the planet in the first place. As near as we can tell, they made use of the same cross-border smuggling system everyone else uses to get their hands on Combine products. To get on-planet, they disassembled their mechs and hid the pieces in standard cargo containers before landing at remote locations across the planet and reassembling them. Given the amount of money involved in these kinds of smuggling operations, it's likely that the local fixer is some kind of noble, and quite possibly a turncoat, too.
To get onto the planet undetected, the smugglers must have bugged the Polis spaceport's RADAR system and ordered it to ignore any dropship bearing a particular transponder code. As smuggling systems go, it's neater than trying to sneak things by customs though it's also liable to fail hard once someone figures it out. Usually, I'd say the Baron that runs Polis is the prime suspect, but according to our latest recruit, the assassin claimed that he was squeaky clean. Plus, I mean, if he wanted us gone, he wouldn't need to bother with sneak attacks and whatnot.
Annoyingly, that leaves the question of who this 'Susanoo' character is rather up in the air. With luck, we'll be able to capture someone who can tell us more, soon.
=====================
Post-battle:
Unit status:
Honestly, this screen is pretty good for us!
Bidoof was apparently crippled, but I believe that's just the game getting confused by the fact that he ran out of ammo for his AC/20. Similarly, Radek's Hunchback took damage from wading through all that fire from the DCMS, but because it has so much damn armour that damage is meaningless. I can't read the text for Hansan due to the awful colour choice, but it shouldn't be anything time in the mechbay can't fix as he only busted a leg thanks to stepping on (and through) that building.
Ally status:
Also good is this screen. Our sole ally survived, meaning that we don't lose money due to a minor contract breach. Yay!
Injuries:
Not one of our MechWarriors was even injured!
Salvage:
Keeping up the pattern, the salvage screen is also wildly in our favour!
I grab the Griffin, Panther, Vulcan, Shadowhawk, gun Hertzer (it has an AC/20 we can salvage), and Saracen. The Vulcan and Shadowhawk can be recovered, and the rest can be salvaged or sold as needed.
Captured personnel status:
We captured a bunch of people, killed a few others, and severely injured the rest. We have a very depressing line of work, but a well paying one.
Killscreen:
8 out of the 13 vehicles/mechs that appeared in this mission were killed by Bravo lance, thus confirming that bravo Lance = god tier.
Alpha lance helped but, you know, not much.
Skill gain:
Ostrich and Cornuthaum both get a bump to their shooting skills, while FacelessGoon, Astaroh, Emy, Hansan and Radek all get an increase in their piloting skills.
Hanger:
We have tons of repair work to do. Honestly, it's mostly minor stuff: ammo replenishment, armour replacement, etc. The bulk of the actual work is on the mechs we captured The Panther can be repaired if we want, but it'll take ages and cost a lot so it might be better to sell it as it's worth ~1 million C-bills.
Prisoner:
uwu, what's this?
Everyone, please welcome RecklessPrudence to the team. While we don't have a mech ready for them right now, depending on our choices, we may have an additional mech for them to pilot, or we can buy one.
Also, now that we're talking prisoners, the baron who helped us capture the Snake's FOB has offered to essentially purchase any prisoners we wish to part with for a fair price (the exact value of which is dependant on the MW in question). He said something about it being future leverage on the Lord over the border, and it's not like you have the ability to do anything with them. It's honestly a good deal, but some of them may choose to switch sides in the future, so it might be wiser to say no.
Vote:
Which repairable mech should we keep? You can vote for as many as you like, but the rest will be sold.
[] Shadowhawk
[] Vulcan
[] Neither
Should we strip the inoperablePanther for parts, or sell it?
[] Strip it for parts
[] Sell it immediately
Should we sell the salvage vehicles, or strip them for parts?
[] Sell the salvage
[] Strip the Salvage
[] Write-in
Should we ransom the remaining prisoners to the Baron?
[] Yes
[] No
[] Write-in
Which repairable mech should we keep? You can vote for as many as you like, but the rest will be sold.
[X] Shadowhawk
Should we strip the inoperablePanther for parts, or sell it?
[X] Sell it immediately
Should we sell the salvage vehicles, or strip them for parts?
[X] Strip the Salvage
Should we ransom the remaining prisoners to the Baron?
[X] Yes
The funny thing is I'm actually like "oh, shit, Hetzers!" because I'm used to, as a player, using them well and lurking behind cover until someone wanders close at which point the Hetzer pops out and blows off their arm or something. The AI doesn't do that I suppose...
Which repairable mech should we keep? You can vote for as many as you like, but the rest will be sold.
[X] Shadowhawk
So long as we can actually turn it into something worth using - rip out the AC/5, put a spare PPC there instead, maybe upgrade the SRM2 to a 4 or 6 (lookit that, we just got a spare 4 from that Panther, so long as it's intact!) or mount a second one, maybe rip the LRM5 for more armour and the bigger/extra SRM, along with two tons of ammo, one of them Inferno. Up the JJs to max, keep the ML, add a second one. Make a Panther's bigger, faster, tougher brother, or the unholy hybrid of a -2D and a -2K.
Should we strip the inoperablePanther for parts, or sell it?
[X] Strip it for parts
We've got a functional Panther, might as well build up some sort of spare parts inventory for it. Also, its weapons might come in handy for the Shadow Hawk refit.
Should we sell the salvage vehicles, or strip them for parts?
[X] Strip the Salvage
Should we ransom the remaining prisoners to the Baron?
[X] Yes
But caution him to take care with who interrogates them and who sees the results of that interrogation - we know he's got some dirty people in his organisation, don't want them getting wind of what we know (no matter how little that is).
Not that I'm assuming we'll make it that far, but if we get all the way to 3062, how do the Battletech vets among us feel about the IS Light Engines? I know IS XL Engines are often looked down on for killing mechs before their time, but what about their cousins?
Also, assuming we make it to 3058 when they're invented, Bidoof I just did something hilarious and managed to fit an LB 20-X and a ton each of slug and cluster ammo into an Urbanmech chassis. You have to go for Endo Steel internals, that's the only way you get enough weight, and if you want CASE and a Small Laser (or an ER Small), you can't increase the armour over a base UM-60L, but if you're willing to give up either or both of those, that's an extra half-ton to ton of armour - if you ditch both, you can get almost as much armour as a UM-60, only one ton off! That's without going for an XL Engine or XL Gyro - they'd both give another half-ton, but the engine would mean a side torso destruction is mech death, while the gyro isn't invented until 3067 and takes up all the remaining space in the CT. A Small Cockpit would give a whole ton of weight savings, but give penalties to any piloting roll you make. If you for some reason go for all three, as well as removing the one heat sink that doesn't come weight-free, you'd be able to max your armour as well as get CASE for your ammo and a SL/ER SL. Anything you do that adds weight back on like going back to a regular cockpit or having a standard gyro because 3067 hasn't rolled around yet needs you to either shave armour off or ditch CASE/your backup weapon, but you can do it!
Also, I'll be going back to the vignette style of battle reports as they're more enjoyable to write and I don't have to worry about losing track of things as I did here.
Ostrich and Cornuthaum both get a bump to their shooting skills, while FacelessGoon, Astaroh, Emy, Hansan and Radek all get an increase in their piloting skills.
Acutally... @prometheus110 , how heavily can we mod the Shadow Hawk? Can we turn it into something sane, like a -2K but without ripping out all the close-range weapons for heat sinks? 'Cos that would influence my vote.
EDIT: In fact, I'm assuming we can, so I changed my vote.
Acutally... @prometheus110 , how heavily can we mod the Shadow Hawk? Can we turn it into something sane, like a -2K but without ripping out all the close-range weapons for heat sinks? 'Cos that would influence my vote.
EDIT: In fact, I'm assuming we can, so I changed my vote.
Cool! I just wasn't sure how much we'd actually get to do with that, vs how much you'd be trying to avoid everyone customising their mech into an unholy abomination. I've actually built a whole design line for this Shadow Hawk, based on us getting this -2D and slapping on Panther weaponry to make it a weird hybrid of a -2D and a -2K, posted it in the general Battletech thread for review here.
Oh, and if the Panther's SRM4 is busted, or we save it for if our Panther's one breaks, two SRM2s works fine on the SHD-2B.
Which repairable mech should we keep? You can vote for as many as you like, but the rest will be sold.
[X] Shadowhawk
[X] Vulcan
Never have enough spare mechs. Mothball the ones you won't be using to save on maintenance time and costs. The Vulcan can be converted to a 5T (then swap out the full ton of MG ammo for a half ton and get more armor), the Shadow Hawk can be converted to a 2K (then ditch some of the way-too-many heat sinks to add an extra LRM/5 launcher).
Should we strip the inoperable Panther for parts, or sell it?
[X] Strip it for parts
Then sell the rest.
Should we sell the salvage vehicles, or strip them for parts?
[X] Strip the Salvage
For useful parts (weapons, ammo, armor) then sell the rest. Remember that "factory fresh" parts cost more than what you can get for selling battle worn parts with scorch marks and autocannon holes in them.
Should we ransom the remaining prisoners to the Baron?
[X] Yes
It's not much money but every little bit helps.
Two technical questions:
Are you using forced withdrawal rules? If so, you can generally ignore immobilized vehicles or ones with armor breaches - those are considered "crippled" and will not fire unless fired upon on a subsequent turn.
Also, AtB tends to have the scenario end at most when 50% of the enemy force is destroyed, I take it you're doing a more "fight to the death" thing?
So what do Toughness and Edge actually do, and what do our various other skills do? I've got Artillery at 4+, Ostrich, Bidoof, Goon, Error, and Astaroh have Small Arms at 4+ while Bunny, Corn, HMS Sophia, Radek, Karl, and Hansan have it at 6+, and Bunny, Corn, Sophia, Emy, and Karl all have Tactics at +1. Giuomar doesn't have any skills apart from Gunnery/Vehicle.
Does that mean I'm literally the only Mechwarrior, and one of two combatants without any skill at defending myself out of the cockpit unless you give me a Long Tom or something? I must have flunked my SERE course, and I shouldn't get in a backalley fight outside a bar after a battle, either!
What does having or not having Tactics do - are those of us without it complete blunt instruments compared to the lucky five with it? Or does it not matter unless you're Lance lead? I notice everyone with it has 2 worse Small Arms than those without, is that roughly indicative of how expensive it is? Can we gain new skills, or only polish our existing ones? If we can, how do we - spending xp, or is it semi-randomised, or based on what training we do, or what? I notice I'm tied for second-best Piloting skill, and third-best Gunnery (also, holy shit@IofTheBunny , your stats!), how hard is it to get to 4/4 or improve past there? I vaguely remember 4/5 being IS Mechwarrior standard, although I can't remember if that was anything laid down in the rules, or just a convention of most players because paying for a better pilot than that got expensive if you wanted more than one. And... Clan standard was 3/2? I think? Or maybe 3/4? If the latter, Bunny's got them beat. If the former, he matches them - and in an Atlas!
Sorry for the barrage of questions, I'm just interested.
Well, Edge can be used to reroll things like head shots or critical hits while Toughness is something to do with the number of "hits" a character has.
Small Arms is probably mean for infantry while Artillery is probably used for various artillery weapons and the like. And yeah, you can get new skills by spending the XP that each character has.
So what do Toughness and Edge actually do, and what do our various other skills do? I've got Artillery at 4+, Ostrich, Bidoof, Goon, Error, and Astaroh have Small Arms at 4+ while Bunny, Corn, HMS Sophia, Radek, Karl, and Hansan have it at 6+, and Bunny, Corn, Sophia, Emy, and Karl all have Tactics at +1. Giuomar doesn't have any skills apart from Gunnery/Vehicle.
Does that mean I'm literally the only Mechwarrior, and one of two combatants without any skill at defending myself out of the cockpit unless you give me a Long Tom or something? I must have flunked my SERE course, and I shouldn't get in a backalley fight outside a bar after a battle, either!
What does having or not having Tactics do - are those of us without it complete blunt instruments compared to the lucky five with it? Or does it not matter unless you're Lance lead? I notice everyone with it has 2 worse Small Arms than those without, is that roughly indicative of how expensive it is? Can we gain new skills, or only polish our existing ones? If we can, how do we - spending xp, or is it semi-randomised, or based on what training we do, or what? I notice I'm tied for second-best Piloting skill, and third-best Gunnery (also, holy shit@IofTheBunny , your stats!), how hard is it to get to 4/4 or improve past there? I vaguely remember 4/5 being IS Mechwarrior standard, although I can't remember if that was anything laid down in the rules, or just a convention of most players because paying for a better pilot than that got expensive if you wanted more than one. And... Clan standard was 3/2? I think? Or maybe 3/4? If the latter, Bunny's got them beat. If the former, he matches them - and in an Atlas!
Sorry for the barrage of questions, I'm just interested.
Toughness I think is a bonus to injury-related rolls. Edge is rerolls, which will save your life from headcaps. Small Arms is gunnery for infantry, Artillery is gunnery for artillery, lance COs with Tactics X get X rerolls on the environmental conditions/map/time of day.
Thanks, guys! So I guess I'm useless with a pistol or rifle, but pretty damn good with a howitzer, then?
Also, @Radek, first chance you get, pester the MechTechs to at least yank a DHS for a ton of ammo, you've only got five bursts for that thing and an extra ton would double that! You can also ditch the Small Pulse Laser for another ton of ammo if you want, but that's your only real anti-infantry weapon, so you might want to keep it instead. One less heat sink still lets you run and fire the AC/20 while absolutely covered in Inferno gel without heating up at all. You can ditch more heat sinks and still run ice-cold usually, but if someone hits you with some Inferno rounds you might be sweating a bit. Also, get them to shift one or two (if you only get one ton more ammo) of the DHS' you keep to where you store your ammo, it'll mean less chance of it brewing up. You could theoretically ditch all but the base 10 DHS and the Small Pulse for a total of five tons of AC/20 ammo, or twenty-five bursts, all crammed into the CASEd side torso along with the two remaining outside-engine DHS' for padding, but I wouldn't recommend it - but there's still room to play even if you don't ditch all three DHS and the SPL, between the one ton of ammo you've got and the five tons you could potentially have.
