Well, in the spirit of keeping at least some of the suboptimalness, what about the -7M Mod 2 I edited in there? Keeps the XL engine, but rips out the MASC in favour of a second ton of SRM ammo, an extra heat sink, and some armour over the Mod 1.
EDIT: Or, to keep true to Succession War design, I could skip that extra heat sink and throw in an extra ML, to be a bit overgunned and undersinked for my tastes, but still more reasonable than some canon designs.
Now, before we get all excited about the Life* of Fun** and Adventure*** that await us as mercenaries in the Inner Sphere, we should take a moment to meet our brave comrades in arms!
* Life may only be ~1-6 weeks.
** Fun isn't guaranteed.
*** Adventure isn't either going by how valuable year-long training contracts can be.
First up is Company commander IofTheBunny. A veteran of many conflicts despite being only 30 years old, Iof is our best MechWarrior by far and forms the core of our Assault Lance in her Atlas -7D. [MECH]
Next up is Cornuthaum, Iof's mirror in more ways than one. Piloting an Atlas -7K, Corn combines an extremely powerful attack with an equally strong defence while being relatively mobile to boot. Featuring our only example of the incredibly rare and powerful Gauss Rifles, the only problem with Corn's Atlas is the person piloting it —his mediocre 5/6 piloting/gunnery skills somewhat reducing the effectiveness of his armaments (Sorry, Corn). [MECH]
Next is Emy. Like Corn, Emy's skills leave a little to be desired, but their Orion is fucking mint. Featuring an LB X-10, a NARC pod, LRMs, SRMs, and medium lasers, Emy's Orion can turn enemies into a fine pink mist from near, far, or wherever they are. [MECH]
Fourth up is Ostrich. Honestly, there's not much to say about her; her skills are… okay. I might deride anything above a 5 as being useless, but that sort of thing really only matters when dealing with fast-moving targets or firing outside your weapon's range band. Given that Ostrich is tooling around in a Marauder kitted out with multiple PPCs, I'd say she'll do just fine. [MECH]
Fifth is HMS Sophia, another very good MechWarrior for our band of troops. With 4/3 piloting/gunnery skill, Sophia should do very well in her Jenner —especially if I manage to get her behind our enemies' mechs. [MECH]
Next is… *sigh.* Next is Bidoof in his Urban Mech -R60L. With good gunnery and piloting skills, our 'favourite' marsupial-thingy should be able to murder any enemy stupid enough to close with his AC/20-wielding egg. [MECH]
Sixth is Radek in a Hunchbak -5M. Like Bidoof, Radek is a decent enough MechWarrior, and his mech packs an AC/20. Also, like Bidoof, Radek's mech is pretty slow, though it makes up for it by being tough as hell and actually being able to mount a decent selection of backup weapons. [MECH]
Next is RangerKarl. With decent skills and a good mech, Karl is a solid part of Charlie lance and will be the axis around which it turns (assuming I remember to use tactics). [MECH]
Third to last is Faceless Goon: okay MechWarrior and pilot of our only multi-legged mech! Featuring an extended Range PPC to snipe at targets from long range and an SRM 6 to fend off anyone who gets too close, Goon's Scorpion tells the mid-range to fuck off entirely which should result in ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER. [MECH]
Next, we have a pair of VTOL crewmembers who somehow wandered into our muster area by accident and were too embarrassed to admit their mistake. Tooling around in a Warrior H-7 Attack helicopter, Commander Error and his gunner, Guiomar Assedio, will be exceptional scouts for Charlie Lance and can do a decent amount of damage if they have too. [MECH?]
Second to last is Jack Hansan in a modified Talos. With pretty poor skills, I'm hoping his mech's speed will let him get in the rear arc of enemy mechs before cutting loose with a barrage of laser strikes. [MECH]
Finally, we have Astaroh-M. Poor skills but a very good mech (2 ER large lasers, 2 medium pulse lasers ), Astaroh-M should eventually turn into a decent MechWarrior with training. [MECH]
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Now that we know our comrades, I should probably go over the screens we'll see most often in this LP.
TO&E
The TO&E stands for Table of Organization and Equipment. It displays the lances of the unit that are ready for deployment.
Briefing Room
We'll be seeing a lot of the Briefing Room as it plays a massive role in the core loop of fighting battles and completing contracts.
Planets are colour-coded by their owner –yellow is the Federated Commonwealth, Grey is neutral, White is ComStar, Red is the Draconis Combine, Purple is the Free Worlds League, and Black are uninhabited by mapped star systems. If you click on a planet, an overview of information is provided. Some will also have a history section up to 3145.
Personnel
This lets you deal with all your meat bags. There's really not a lot to say about it, otherwise.
Warehouse
This is where we put the shit we buy, recover, and salvage.
Repair Bay
I hate this screen because it always shows me such awful things.
Seriously though, damaged Mechs are listed in the upper left. You select one, and a list of needed tasks is given. You select a tech on the right, select the task to do and click on the 'Do Task' button. There's also a tab for acquiring needed parts, and you can also mass repair/salvage mechs and vehicles.
Infirmary
If you lot get hurt, you wind up here. With the most adequate medical care we can afford, you'll be up and at 'em as soon as possible.
Mek Lab
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON BUT I CAN MAKE THE NUMBERS GO UP. 10/10. (Okay, it's a place where you can edit mech loadouts provided you have the parts).
Finances Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
This screen is a reactionary class traitor and should be expelled from the party.
Overview
These screens boring and informative. Transport Breakdown and Cargo Capacity/Usage only really apply once we have DropShip support to the unit. As we're currently hiring transport to take us and our things everywhere, these screens don't help much. Personnel breakdown and Hanger Breakdown are both interesting as they give us a list of the types of personnel we have in our unit, as well as the exact number of machines. Parts in use is self-explanatory, so we'll move on to the Dragoons Rating.
This one basically explains what our rating is and why. We're using the default method of rating our company, and I don't know what that entails at all . Seriously though, we're a 'C' rated unit right out of the gates —mostly due to having a shitton of support staff on hand. Now, normally a C rating in Battletech would just be okay. One of the quirks of Battletech is that ratings are reversed from what you'd expect with 'A' ratings meaning the rated thing is shit/really common, and 'F' meaning that it's the best. Luckily, I chose to reverse this as I think it's stupid which means that we're really... an okay unit.
Huh, funny how that worked out.
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Now that all that boring stuff is out of the way, let's get to the good stuff!
First discovered in 2310, Tharkad's cliamte is comparable to the arctic wilderness of Terra. The original colonists introduced many cold-weather plants and animals from Terra. Despite being an icy and rugged planet industries and population centers sprang up on almost every continent and Tharkad has served as the capital of the Lyran Commonwealth since 2407.
As the capital of the Lyran Commonwealth, Thakard is home to many vital parts of the Commonwealth. House Steiner rules from the Triad, a large government campus containing over 300 buildings ringed by the Royal Court, the Royal Palace and the Government House. Other locations of importance to the Commonwealth are Asgard, the command center for the entire Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, the capital Tharkad City, and the Nagelring one of the Inner Sphere's premier military academies.
Tharkad is home to a Defiance Motors factory located on Elizabeth's Island, part of the small Tatyana Island chain, the factory produces engines and combat vehicles. The Lockheed/CBM Corp. facility in the town of Cold Creek is located in the snowy tundra of Bremen and produces aerospace fighters, DropShips and small craft. Tharhes Industries is located in the city of Weibetal in the snowy tundra of Bremen and the planet produces BattleMechs and Battle Armor. The Tharkad Aerospace Group produces DropShips and is located in orbit of Tharkad.
For those of you who may not know much about Battletech, Tharkad is basically a planet in the midst of an ice age. Rugged, cold, and hard, the people of Tharkad are a fitting match for their homeworld and give the state a heavy Germanic feel. Incredibly wealthy due to their industrial base, the Lyran Commonwealth was one of the four Successor States that emerged from the collapse of the Star League seeking to restore the League with themselves at the head.
I say the Lyran Commonwealth was one of the four Successor States because it has slowly been merging with the Federated Suns ever since Melissa Steiner (the current archon of the Commonwealth) married Hanse Davion (the ruler of the Federated Suns). In time, this merging will lead to a formal union of the two states into the Federated Commonwealth (a name chosen by committee if I've ever heard one), but they are technically different states for now. That said, MekHQ and I both consider it one state so that's the way it'll be displayed.
As a whole, the Lyran Commonwealth is renowned for its strong economy, powerful nobility, and its policy of promoting officers based on pedigree as well as talent. Unfortunately for the Lyran's, that's a bloody stupid idea and it's resulted in their officer corp being of mixed quality. Even though incompetent "social generals" aren't the rule, the prevalence of them has hindered the Lyran state and sent many a poor soldier to their untimely end. Generally speaking, the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces engage in defensive campaigns with heavier BattleMechs (you may insert a joke about Steiner Scout Lances here).
Frankly, it's good that the Lyran's are so wealthy as the Clans are currently beating them to a pulp on the frontlines and they'll need to replace their losses ASAP. Speaking of, let's talk about Wealth Redistribution: namely, the redistribution of wealth from the Commonwealth's coffers to our pockets!
(Click to expand)
Title
Title
Title
Title
Title
Vote:
Which contract should we accept?
[] FedCom vs Draconis Combine - Extraction Raid
[] FWL vs FedCom - Objective Raid
[] FedCom vs Draconis Combine - Garrison Duty
[] FWL vs FedCom - Extraction Raid
[] Comstar vs Pirates - Recon Raid
Finally, we have Astaroh-M. Poor skills but a very good mech (2 ER large lasers, 2 medium pulse lasers ), Astaroh-M should eventually turn into a decent MechWarrior with training.
Just under the start date it states the contract length. Combined with the travel time, it works out to be about 24 months. (Not that you'll be sitting through it, mind you).
Can people who haven't joined the merc company yet vote, now that the game has officially started? Also, I didn't see our company's name - do we have one? We need something that will strike fear and/or hilarity into our enemies. It's hard to pilot a mech when your hands are shaking after all - whether that's from terror or laughter, matters not (although if we go for laughter, we're likely to be underestimated and get some easy wins in early, whereas if we go for fear we might pull aggro from an Elite force early on).
Also, since I didn't make it into the first cut, I'll change my mech for something that could possibly have been an ancestral. I'll have it ready soon-ish.
Can people who haven't joined the merc company yet vote, now that the game has officially started? Also, I didn't see our company's name - do we have one? We need something that will strike fear and/or hilarity into our enemies. It's hard to pilot a mech when your hands are shaking after all - whether that's from terror or laughter, matters not (although if we go for laughter, we're likely to be underestimated and get some easy wins in early, whereas if we go for fear we might pull aggro from an Elite force early on).
Also, since I didn't make it into the first cut, I'll change my mech for something that could possibly have been an ancestral. I'll have it ready soon-ish.
Yes. Currently, it's Sufficiently Velocity but you can vote to rename it. I'll be letting MekHQ handle mech assignment (essentially, whenever I hire someone I'll change their name to be whoever it is that was next in line. If they don't have a mech, I'll assign them one at my discretion and if they come with one then that's that.)
It's a long haul of a mission, but it should be lucrative with its favorable salvage terms. The extraction raid vs. FedCom also looks like it'd pay well, and it's much shorter, but the salvage terms are for exchange only.
Does MekHQ simulate the salvaging in depth? Or is it just, here's a roll of what's left, there you go, hope you have space?
Also, it doesn't feel right to do an op for the FWL when we're starting out on Tharkad. Just seems wrong. I'd go with the FedCom Garrison slot if there's a vote involved.
Does MekHQ simulate the salvaging in depth? Or is it just, here's a roll of what's left, there you go, hope you have space?
Also, it doesn't feel right to do an op for the FWL when we're starting out on Tharkad. Just seems wrong. I'd go with the FedCom Garrison slot if there's a vote involved.
Hm... we seem to be too far from the Periphery for any Clan action, which is good this early, but it's definitely a border world, not very deep into FedCom territory. Likely to see opportunistic raids from Drac forces either hoping to catch the Lyrans with their pants down as they shift forces around to slow down the Clans, or some local Combine unit commander with a bug up their arse trying to 'regain lost honour' and attacking.
Luckily, the Dracs should be too busy at the moment with their own Clanner problems to really hit with much force.
Unless... how far into the invasion are we at the ...start? We're at the start, right? Couldn't find the date on any of those screens... of 3050? Are we early enough that high command is still in the "periphery pirates probably plundered a LosTech repository, and provincial politicians are panicking" mode of thinking? Or has it gone far enough that people are waking up to the threat they pose?
(Also I know you said it'd be mostly random, but when you get to me, if you have a choice of hires/spare mechs available for the Dispossessed, a Wolverine (6M for preference) or Crab pilot/from the hangars if one is available, please - assuming we're still talking about Mediums by then)
Hm... we seem to be too far from the Periphery for any Clan action, which is good this early, but it's definitely a border world, not very deep into FedCom territory. Likely to see opportunistic raids from Drac forces either hoping to catch the Lyrans with their pants down as they shift forces around to slow down the Clans, or some local Combine unit commander with a bug up their arse trying to 'regain lost honour' and attacking.
Luckily, the Dracs should be too busy at the moment with their own Clanner problems to really hit with much force.
Unless... how far into the invasion are we at the ...start? We're at the start, right? Couldn't find the date on any of those screens... of 3050? Are we early enough that high command is still in the "periphery pirates probably plundered a LosTech repository, and provincial politicians are panicking" mode of thinking? Or has it gone far enough that people are waking up to the threat they pose?
(Also I know you said it'd be mostly random, but when you get to me, if you have a choice of hires/spare mechs available for the Dispossessed, a Wolverine or Crab pilot/from the hangars if one is available, please - assuming we're still talking about Mediums by then)
How does switching from Single Heat Sinks to Doubles work, since you have to do 'em all at once, the ones in the engine and the externals? Is it a new engine, like when you rip one out for a bigger/smaller/XL one, or is it something you can just do if you get your hands on enough Doubles?
EDIT: Same question for going from Standard armour to Ferro-Fibrous, or vice versa - and chassis reworkings, to or from Endo-Steel. I know it's possible, but how difficult/time-consuming is it?
How does switching from Single Heat Sinks to Doubles work, since you have to do 'em all at once, the ones in the engine and the externals? Is it a new engine, like when you rip one out for a bigger/smaller/XL one, or is it something you can just do if you get your hands on enough Doubles?
EDIT: Same question for going from Standard armour to Ferro-Fibrous, or vice versa - and chassis reworkings, to or from Endo-Steel. I know it's possible, but how difficult/time-consuming is it?
It seems a little fiddly. Heatsinks are weird in that I have to change an enum and can't just mix and match double heatsinks with the singles. Armour will likely be much easier and I'm testing out the latest release of MekHQ now, so maybe it'll be different.
It seems a little fiddly. Heatsinks are weird in that I have to change an enum and can't just mix and match double heatsinks with the singles. Armour will likely be much easier and I'm testing out the latest release of MekHQ now, so maybe it'll be different.
Huh. I didn't think they'd let you mix and match - that went out the door a long time ago, because of min-maxers - but I would've thought it'd be a relatively simple process in the program.
Hey, maybe we can look forward to some raids when our employer's intelligence services say our targets are getting shipments of new mechs, whether they're newbuilds or old first-rate machines getting issued to militia, and we get enough salvage rights to take one or more for ourselves, huh? Even something fairly dinky can be worth a lot on the market, enough to stock up on parts for customisations!
