Hardened armor has an intro date of 3049. Have some more ambition, you can technically have more armor than any entire light mech.
Normally I don't mind rp over effectiveness. Normally the rp friendly platform for this can't potentially net you nine million cbills to buy two separate mediums and a lifetime supply of paint to do them up with skulls.
I will also admit that I have precisely zero nostalgia attachment to the Banshee, but am easily swayed by claims of that one time someone did something cool with one.
And I'm not going to try and stick to a hard line of "don't sell the Banshee", mind you. It's certainly not my first choice of IS-tech Assaults; that would probably be a Highlander, Atlas, or Cyclops.
And I'm not going to try and stick to a hard line of "don't sell the Banshee", mind you. It's certainly not my first choice of IS-tech Assaults; that would probably be a Highlander, Atlas, or Cyclops.
All three of those are entirely solid choices, if for drastically different reasons. The stock Banshee just lacks an essential niche beyond 'second worst 3025 assault mech' to give it any purpose in life.
Now now, no need to go that far - the bar was recently raised to 'more than any Light mech'. Lights top out at 35 tons, so 35.5 tons of Hardened armour gets to that goal, but gives you three more tons of payload than maxing armour.
Also, MegaMekLab doesn't seem to have Hardened in its options - is it particularly recent?
Thanks. Huh, so I don't know all the rules for the internal options, but just going for Endo Steel and a Light Fusion Engine at 3/5 still leaves you with 39 tons for weapons and equipment, after spending 35.5 tons on armour. Admittedly that's nowhere near the 55.5 tons using the maximum efficient amount of Standard armour gets you with those same internals, but when compared to the 46 tons a Tech Level 1 3/5 100-tonner has left after spending on armour, it's pretty competitive. Especially with the huge increase in durability Hardened armour gives!
Thanks. Huh, so I don't know all the rules for the internal options, but just going for Endo Steel and a Light Fusion Engine at 3/5 still leaves you with 39 tons for weapons and equipment, after spending 35.5 tons on armour. Admittedly that's nowhere near the 55.5 tons using the maximum efficient amount of Standard armour gets you with those same internals, but when compared to the 46 tons a Tech Level 1 3/5 100-tonner has left after spending on armour, it's pretty competitive. Especially with the huge increase in durability Hardened armour gives!
RE: Banshees and other 95-ton chassis:
If you're following the AtB ruleset strictly, you don't get to pick which mechs you encounter or see on the market. And the odds of encountering an assault mech are not very high in general. Even if you're running an assault-weight lance (300-380 tons), it's only about a 10% chance of seeing an assault mech in the opfor (20% odds of assault lance, 50% odds that the lance in question is actually a tank lance, and non-zero odds that the "assault" mechs wind up being heavies instead).
And then you take into account the fact that the mechs are generated from RATs, which are weighted towards the lower end of the weight scale generally, so you're more likely to see Awesomes and Battlemasters than Highlanders and King Crabs when you see assaults.
So, it might be crap as is, but I'd rather have a 95-ton mech on the team than not.
RE: Banshees and other 95-ton chassis:
If you're following the AtB ruleset strictly, you don't get to pick which mechs you encounter or see on the market. And the odds of encountering an assault mech are not very high in general. Even if you're running an assault-weight lance (300-380 tons), it's only about a 10% chance of seeing an assault mech in the opfor (20% odds of assault lance, 50% odds that the lance in question is actually a tank lance, and non-zero odds that the "assault" mechs wind up being heavies instead).
And then you take into account the fact that the mechs are generated from RATs, which are weighted towards the lower end of the weight scale generally, so you're more likely to see Awesomes and Battlemasters than Highlanders and King Crabs when you see assaults.
So, it might be crap as is, but I'd rather have a 95-ton mech on the team than not.
My first question would be 'Is there actually any 95 ton IS chassis we are likely to see in the very early 3050s that isn't some form of Banshee variant'?
My second is whether in MekHQ games a slow medium mech with assault armor and Falcon Punch has enough utility to justify foregoing the payday that selling it represents. Like, if it draws assault mech level aggro, that's great. If the enemy generally ignores it while it runs up and kicks their legs off, that's even greater.
My third question is if you honestly thought the prospect of Battlemasters and Awesomes being much more common was supposed to deter us from selling Bloaty McBloatface.
My first question would be 'Is there actually any 95 ton IS chassis we are likely to see in the very early 3050s that isn't some form of Banshee variant'?
My second is whether in MekHQ games a slow medium mech with assault armor and Falcon Punch has enough utility to justify foregoing the payday that selling it represents. Like, if it draws assault mech level aggro, that's great. If the enemy generally ignores it while it runs up and kicks their legs off, that's even greater.
My third question is if you honestly thought the prospect of Battlemasters and Awesomes being much more common was supposed to deter us from selling Bloaty McBloatface.
Highlander is about it, according to a quick look at the Megamek RATs.
In terms of tactics, a 95-ton mech won't attract much more special attention than a 20-tonner, but, by virtue of being a ground-bound mech, it's likely to take more fire due to being less maneuverable (the bot will go for the easier shots almost every time).
The 3E variant of the Banshee is most definitely not worth keeping as is. I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about refitting it to something that has actual weapons (thus, 3M or 3S, with advanced tech modifications as they become available). Which costs money, sure, but not as much as buying a new mech (if one can even be found). My point was that assault mechs in general are not common, and thus, selling one should be considered very carefully, as you are unlikely to see too many going forward. The ~10M c-bill payday from selling a Banshee can be replicated by selling off the swarms of crappy vehicles that AtB loves to throw at you.
Highlander is about it, according to a quick look at the Megamek RATs.
In terms of tactics, a 95-ton mech won't attract much more special attention than a 20-tonner, but, by virtue of being a ground-bound mech, it's likely to take more fire due to being less maneuverable (the bot will go for the easier shots almost every time).
The 3E variant of the Banshee is most definitely not worth keeping as is. I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about refitting it to something that has actual weapons (thus, 3M or 3S, with advanced tech modifications as they become available). Which costs money, sure, but not as much as buying a new mech (if one can even be found). My point was that assault mechs in general are not common, and thus, selling one should be considered very carefully, as you are unlikely to see too many going forward. The ~10M c-bill payday from selling a Banshee can be replicated by selling off the swarms of crappy vehicles that AtB loves to throw at you.
Ok, so what I'm hearing is that presuming more freedom of choice than we will ever have there is really no good reason to not go for an 85 tonner and give it jump jets, or a 100 ton juggernaut, while never ever touching the intermediate steps. Unfortunately the RNG means that we're stuck with downright near canonical levels of assault mech availability. Bah.
How easy/hard is it likely going to be to actually source a 285 Fusion engine?
There's a couple vehicles that use 285s. The Ontos has a rather rare fusion engine variant, and the Puma has a fusion engine but is basically only used by ComStar and Clan second-line forces and won't be reentering production for a couple years.
So apparently I lied about things taking 1-3 days. For some reason, I've been super tired after work so you can expect the update by the end of the week/on the weekend. On the plus side, if you need a list of 100,000 structs ordered from lowest to highest and culled of duplicates, I'm your guy.
Also, why did no one tell me the Pillager was a thing? The more gauss rifles something has, the better it is, and the Pillager has two!
If you're hankering for more Btech action, my battletech quest just started chapter one. We're about to get into some of the real tragedy, so now is a perfect time to jump in.
So, apparantly my MekHQ CO likes to get "up close".
Melee specialist and Melee Master.
Double-kick on a 100 ton mech is effectively a UAC-20 that does not jam or run out of ammo.
It's also still only 3033, so he's sort of the baddest dude on the block. Even that Awesome-Battlemaster-Atlas combo was managable; while the rest of Alpha lance were taking apart the other two, Captain Dicksmash McKneestomper was testing out the jump jets and leg actuators by repeatedly jumping up and down on the Atlas lower extremities.
It actually plays more like Bloodbowl than Battletech at times
Seriously, who comes up with these names? (An XCOM mission name generator, that's who).
===============
Captain Iof's Atlas-D charged down the empty street like a bull in a china shop, the skull-faced mech not so much pushing through the greenery that lined the well-maintained road as crushing it underfoot. With gunshot-loud cracks, the spindly trees simply exploded; finger-sized splinters of wood shooting out in all directions as her 100-ton foot smashed them by the dozen. Behind the captain, the remaining members of Alpha Lance, Lieutenants Emy and Cornuthuam, and Sergeant Ostrich followed as closely as their own gargantuan mechs would allow.
Though ostensibly an assault lance thanks to the presence of two Atlases, an Orion, and a Marauder, Alpha lance was today on guard duty —the dozen-strong convoy of vehicles hiding in the depths of the village bearing a valuable and irreplaceable cargo: prisoners. Though a long and tedious commitment —as Lieutenant Cornuthaum had faithfully since reminded Captain Iof once every hour— a tingle in her gut had pushed the mercenary commander to volunteer her lance for the role. A longtime mercenary, Iof had come to trust her instincts as much as she trusted her mech; the nagging suspicion that the Dracs would try something with the convoy accompanying her right up until her sensors started screaming.
A full lance of heavies, Iof thought as she peered at the tan and ochre specks through her neurohelmet's visor; the Snakes really want their people back.
From her vantage point high above the scattered buildings of the town, Iof could see the assembled DCMS host in all its glory —three full lances of mechs stampeding their way through thickets of trees. Leading the charge like the Samurai of old, a mass of medium and light mechs swarmed toward the centre of the town on a path that cut just north of Alpha lance; the galloping mechs backed by a force of heavy mechs that strode forward with ominous purpose.
Two Warhammers, a Banshee, and a catapult. She counted as she scanned the massed ranks of Draconis warriors. This isn't going to be fun.
"Emy, you're with me," she barked at her second in command as she pulled back on her control sticks and slowed her Atlas' headlong charge. "Corn and Ost, you're on fire-support. Reinforcements are arriving in T-minus five minutes."
Glancing up at the three-sixty degree video feed splayed across her visor, Iof nodded with approval as she saw her lance split in two; the extensive training she'd put her lancemates through now paying off as Corn and Ostrich both slewed to a halt in a shower of torn-up bitumen. A moment later, Emy's own misshapen mech moved to cover Iof's right flank; the heavy mech's LB-X autocannon armed and ready to ward off any MechWarrior foolish enough to close. Without warning, a ripple of motion rippled through the mass of charging mechs and Iof cursed as she realised that they'd been spotted.
Like a dun-coloured tsunami, the line of Draconis mechs shifted course until it bore down on the mercenary lance like the Sword of Damocles —the glory of the kill irresistible for the honour-obsessed warriors. Grunting as she watched the approaching mass of machines, Iof simply gritted her teeth and rolled her shoulders; the tension that held her muscles taunt ebbing away as experience and training took over. Unlike the hero in a bad novel, or a desperate monarch seeking to regain a lost throne, Iof didn't need to tell her lancemates to hold.
Instead, she opened fire.
With a howling wail, emerald beams of laser fire spat forth from the Atlas's chest; the four pillars of light catching a too-eager Trebuchet full in the chest and flash-boiling its armour into steam. Surprised by such a long-ranged blow, the gangly mech's pilot froze for a moment, and their mech's feet slipped out from under it. With a crash that echoed across the forested mountain town, the fifty-ton vehicle stumbled as it tripped over its own feet, the massive war machine skidding forward a good dozen meters before crashing to a halt amidst a thicket of trees. Fighting to wrench her assault mecha into position, Iof thumbed the firing stud of her AC/20 only to curse as a half-dozen rounds fell around the stunned mech like raindrops —each of the forty-kilo rounds missing by a hair's breadth before exploding harmlessly against the ground.
Smiling thinly, Iof prepared to fire her LRMs only to flinch back as a flash of blue-white light lit the air, and a bolt of man-made lightning sizzled past her cockpit. Snapping her gaze to the trail of ionised gas the PPC bolt left behind, Iof growled as she spotted the distant form of a Warhammer bringing its right arm to bear on her mech —shimmering curtains of boiling-hot air rising from the still-hot PPC that lay buried in its left arm. Lifting her feet from her mech's drive pedals, Iof slammed the steering joystick to the side, and the heavy mech rocked in place; momentum taking over in an instant and dragging the crosshairs of her targeting system over her faraway opponent. Acting with speed borne of experience, Iof slammed the firing stud down just as the pale silver circle flickered gold; the shriek of her LRM-20 rewarding her as a torrent of missiles poured into the air. A split second later, the Warhammer rocked backwards as all but a handful of missiles struck true —peals of brilliant fire and greasy smoke filling the air around her target and obscuring it from sight.
"You're mine," she broadcast as a burst of heat flooded her cockpit, Emy's Orion splitting off to engage the swarm of lighter mechs as the mercenary captain threw her machine forward. Stepping out of the swirling mass of smoke, the Warhammer bowed its head, and an electric thrill ran up the captain's spine as a blast of blue-white light from the mech's remaining PPC signalled the duel's start.
Smashing through a strand of rail-thin birch trees, Iof dragged her crosshairs over the slow-moving sniper and jammed down hard on the firing stud. In the blink of an eye, trees hundreds of years old burst into flames as the flickering beams of light fell all around her target —the gnarled wood and waxy leaves exploding under the surge of heat. Grinning savagely as adrenaline suddenly flooded her system, Iof wrenched her autocannon into place and...
Gasped as her mech's sensors shrieked a warning; the thunderous roar of explosions filling the air around her as a half-dozen SRMs slammed into her machine. Snapping her head toward their source, Iof felt her face twist into a snarl as she caught sight of the unsteady Trebuchet and the smoke curling from its SRM launcher —righteous fury hardening her heart. Throwing her mech to the side, Iof fired back with her own SRMs only to growl as the interloper's lasers scored two long lines across her armour.
Bastard! She spat at the honourless DCMS warrior as the lighter machine began to move. "Emy," she ordered as she glanced through her lancemate's status, "I need you on the Trebuchet. Ostrich, you keep that Warhammer down. Corn-"
"Captain, your left!"
Iof flinched as Corn's warning crackled over the radio; her instincts screaming moments later as she caught sight of the same threat he had. Like a figure from myth, a Draconis Panther surged through the air to her left atop a pillar of plasma —flickering beams of blue light chasing after it as Lieutenant Cornuthaum desperately tried to intercept the light mech. Out of position and half twisted in the other direction, Iof could do nothing but watch as the Panther slammed to earth and let loose a blast of man-made lightning from its PPC; the beam of supercharged particles spearing her arm and turning armour to vapour in the space of a heartbeat.
Snarling, Iof twisted to face the lighter mech and returned fire —the emerald green beams of her medium lasers plunging deep into the opposing pilot's armour. Transfixed by the blazing rays of light, the Draconis MechWarrior did the only thing they could and activated their jump jets —the humanoid mech launching into the sky with a scream of superheated air chased by a shot from lieutenant Cornuthaum's Gauss Rifle.
As the battered sniper-mech rocketed away, a spindly Stinger suddenly appeared to Iof's right and let loose a barrage of its own —the storm of laser fire tearing away at the armour of her right flank and followed moments later by another blast from the Warhammer's PPCs. Distantly, Iof registered the shrill warbling of alarms and spared a moment to frown at the monitor to her right —the wireframe model of her mech it displayed flashing wildly as its right arm went from a healthy green to an ominous red.
"Gods damn them," muttered Iof as returned to the Stinger, her SRM coughing a half-dozen missiles into the air only for the deadly weapons to smash harmlessly across the forest floor as the Draconis mech dodged between the trees on its path toward her.
"Corn," she snarled to her second in command as the humanoid mech returned fire and scored a bright line across her Atlas' chest. "Where the hell is Delta?"
In response, a new voice crackled over the radio.
"Alpha-1 this is Delta-2," drawled Petty Officer Night as cooly as if he were talking about the weather. "Is that there Stinger bothering y'all?"
"Stop screwing around and help, Night," the captain told the hopelessly irreverent pilot.
"Rodger Dodger, ma'am. Hold on tight." Taking a chance, Iof glanced to the map to her left and grinned as she spotted the starburst icon of Night's Lightning approaching like a spear to the heart.
Three, counted Iof as she snapped her attention back to the Stinger —the light mech halting for an instant and snapping off a shot that soared past her head. Lips pressed thinly, Iof launched her mech to the side and twisted its torso as far as it could —the silver crosshairs of her targeting system falling on the light mech for only a moment before it took off running once more.
Two, she continued as a PPC blast courtesy of the wounded Panther slammed into the ground barely thirty meters to her right. An instant later, twin blast of lightning roared past Iof from somewhere behind her; the beams of charged particles slashing through the air courtesy of Sergeant Ostrich and evaporating vast sheets of armour from the distant Warhammer.
One.
The Stinger, barely fifty meters away, halted for an instant and raised its medium laser toward her cockpit. Time seemed to slow, and...
There was a sound like ripping cloth from somewhere behind the mercenary captain, and the Stinger simply disappeared inside a swirling vortex of smoke and fire. An instant later, the boxy form of Night's Lightning swooped overhead and peeled away —grey smoke pouring from its nose-mounted AC/20 as it sought out new targets. Turning back to the Drac's heavy lance, Iof smirked as the rest of Delta Lance entered the fray; their weapons booming as they tore into the mass of light mechs that swarmed between her and the Warhammer that had started this all.
===============
All our units suffered some critical damage in the fight, though most are reasonably intact as their armour did its job. We also expended a ton of ammo in this fight, so we'll need to replace that in the mechbay, and I'll need to look at ordering extra.
That said, Iof took a hell of a lot of damage due to the Drac force focus firing on her mech (obviously trying to decapitate our leadership in the hope that we'd route). What's the Inner Sphere coming to when the Draconis Combine discards honour in favour of utility?
Iof took so much damage that her Atlas lost its entire right arm (and the medium laser it house). She also received a nasty hit to her mech's gyro, and one of her remaining medium lasers needs to be repaired.
We lost three militia mechs, but the Baron's forces were able to keep the Dracs away from the APCs carrying their captured troops. As a reward for our heroic action, the Baron has graciously given us the militia vehicles to do with as we please. Accompanying the vehicles are six assistant technicians to help us get our mechs back up to snuff. Dor thread purposes, said vehicles have been highlighted in the hanger bay image below.
Thanks to the level of damage being dished out (and some annoyingly lucky shots to the head), our MechWarriors took a few hits that'll need to be patched up. Luckily, it's nothing too serious.
Fun fact about the way salvage percent works in MekHQ: It's calculated across the lifespan of a contract instead of being a per-battle ratio. As a result of the battle so large, our lifetime claims have dropped from 80% down to 39% and introducing us to a whole new realm of finders-keepers.
Out of the working mechs available for us to claim, I end up grabbing both Warhammers, the Kintaro, Banshee, and the Firestarter. In addition, I take the Trebuchet, the Wasp, and the Panther to serve as spare-parts fodder/something to sell.
As we had surrounded the enemy forces and thrashed them so conclusively, I'm saying that we captured all of these MechWarriors. Other Draconis MechWarriors managed to escape somehow (Emy picked up the 1/2 guy right before the mission ended, so I'll be creating him using the GM tools). These sorry people, on the other hand, were either too wounded to leave, captured in their mechs, or just plain picked up by our mechs.
Self-Explanatory. Amusingly, Emy managed to kick the head off the Dragon after doing not a whole lot else to it.
Prisoner sale
No image, unfortunately.
We made 227,750 C-bills when the old prisoners arrived at the Baron's keep. Now we have a new bunch to look after, including a veteran who claims to want to defect.
We also picked up the pilot of that Catapult though he's unwilling to entertain the notion of defection. I guess honour still means something to some of the Dracs.
We also have a bunch of work to do to get our mechs back into shape
Iof needs a new right arm (meaning we have to order a bunch of parts for a lot of money), the second Warhammer requires a new let torso and right arm, and the Kintaro needs a new left leg. After that damage, we have a bunch of mechs who'll need to be rearmed and repaired in time for the dropship raid next week.
We could strip the second Warhammer for spare parts, or attempt to repair it. I'm tempted to keep it as it'd let us run a lance of three Warhammers at once, and that sounds like a terrible fantastic idea. We could, of course, always sell the Warhammer and/or other mechs as we only have 24m c-bills and keeping them will cost us more than a million c-bills per jump once the contract is over (in a year, mind).
The items labelled salvage, I'm tempted to just strip of their weapons/ammo and sell as we've done before.
Repair-wise, I feel like it'd be best to put Iof's mech at the bottom of the list due to the amount of work it'll take to get it operation and the dead time spent waiting for the parts to arrive. We'll order the needed parts now, but she'll given the first repaired Warhammer ASAP.
In the meantime, some of our pilots have gained a decent quantity of XP thanks to this battle.
Emy and DreamerGhost gained a rank in gunnery, bringing them to 4+ and 5+ respectively. Piloting is a decent skill, but I tend to avoid risky actions whenever possible anyway, so it's not as useful as it could be. Next time, both will get an increase to piloting as falling over does suck, and they're kinda terrible at avoiding that fate.
===============
Vote:
Accept Defector?
[] Yes
[] No
Mechs to Repair:
[] Write-in (please write this as a single line E.G Warhammer, Kintaro, Banshee)
Mechs to Partially Strip and Sell:
[] Write-in (please write this as a single line E.G Warhammer, Kintaro, Banshee)
Mechs to Fully Strip:
[] Write-in (please write this as a single line E.G Warhammer, Kintaro, Banshee)
