One bit of advice: when facing Clanners, trim their numbers to matching BV values to represent the bidding process. Since the bot can't handle Clanner tactics, their hardware and training edge means that also coming with higher numbers will slaughter the unit. Equal BV makes it fairly reasonable matchups.
Action Items/Voting
I'll handle any items not voted upon.
- We need to take a contract. I [cur]strongly[/cur] recommend the Pirate Hunting contract. We're also short a tech or two. We need some time on a softball contract to build up a stock of spare parts and ammunition to last us through a tougher contract.
- Should I rearrange the lances to be two formations of roughly even weight?
- Should I refit the Explosive Locust? I need to check the rules to see if that's plausible while the contract is ongoing. It might have to wait until we return to Piedmont after it's over.
- Any changes to mech assignments? The two ComStar pilots, Dare and Payne, can't be reassigned. Neither can Jamil, who drives the custom Vulcan VL-2T.
- You can claim a mechwarrior and give him or her a nickname. I'll try to follow claimed mechwarriors more closely in future updates. Available mechwarriors:
- Captain Halit
- Lt. SG Ishikawa
- Lt. SG Atkinson
- Lt. JG Dare
- Pvt. Jamil
- Pvt. Ec
- Pvt. Ortega
- Pvt. Ngo
- Pvt. Frajtov
- Pvt. Kohler
- Pvt. Kojic
- Pvt. Payne
Transit back to Piedmont should cost about 1.7 million C-bills.Why not look for more contracts in this part of space?
I'll take Private Jan Kojic, nickname Euchre, he he. Let me know what I'm driving currently.
Since we have one less mek than pilot, we should be looking towards buying a (cheap) mek. After the contract, since we might get lucky and snag one as salvage.
How did you get this started? Has there been any updates since 2015? The hardest part of Against the Bot is getting the thing.
EDIT: Nevermind, turns out that the latest versions of MekHQ apparently has everything.
https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1487/79/1487794688435.pdf (https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1487/79/1487794688435.pdf) seems like useful link
Why not look for more contracts in this part of space?
It's much harder to find contracts off of our homeworld (or another suitably well-known, well-traveled mercenary world, like Outreach or Solaris VII).I don't know how the engine handles this, but we have a full staff of admins, and 3 months to do this (from what I gather including months-long waiting/travel times is standard on contracts, so we're not jumping the gun that much, by starting early.) I'm not saying we have to take it, but it might be a good idea to assign someone to keeping an ear out.
Our net income before share payment is 1.106 million C-bills. After shares, the company nets 884,800 C-bills per month.Also, I hate to argue for reduction of my own shares, but if we are sure we need to spend 1.7 for transport as part of the contract, shouldn't we take those expenses into account, before splitting our profits? That's the way they taught us in ComStar Personal Accounting for
I don't know how the engine handles this, but we have a full staff of admins, and 3 months to do this (from what I gather including months-long waiting/travel times is standard on contracts, so we're not jumping the gun that much, by starting early.) I'm not saying we have to take it, but it might be a good idea to assign someone to keeping an ear out.
Also, I hate to argue for reduction of my own shares, but if we are sure we need to spend 1.7 for transport as part of the contract, shouldn't we take those expenses into account, before splitting our profits? That's the way they taught us in ComStar Personal Accounting forDuPilots.
Action Items
- First up, deployment. Should the light lance remain in training, or deploy? Units actively seeking out combat have a much higher chance of finding it. On the other hand, Hasek10 is correct in saying that the game will generate roughly even forces. (Not quite BV-equivalence, but approximately weight-equivalent for sure.) That could make for a tough fight, given the light lance's actual weight and inexperience in piloting.
- Next, ongoing procurement. I want to have about four million C-bills in hand before we leave; that leaves room for transit back, transit to the next world, and some downtime if we roll a bunch of undesirable contracts. Should we save the money, or secure sufficient spares and ammunition for a long, independent operation? In either case, I'll get spares for commonly-used weapons and so on. If we're planning on taking a long, independent contract, I'll also likely want to get more actuators and some spare arms and legs. The latter would set us up for a longer contract out of contact with friendlies. The former might yield a treasury which can absorb the price of a light or medium mech.
- Mechwarriors are still available to claim; all you need to do is say so and give me a callsign. I'll try to follow claimed mechwarriors more closely in future updates. Available mechwarriors:
- Captain Halit
- Lt. SG Ishikawa
- Lt. JG Dare
- Pvt. Jamil
- Pvt. Ec
- Pvt. Ortega
- Pvt. Ngo
- Pvt. Frajtov
- Pvt. Kohler
- Pvt. Kojic
- Pvt. Payne
offer us 30% salvage rightsDoes that mean we have to pay 70% for any salvage we get? Or that they pay us 30% for stuff we don't get? (or both?)
Salvage rights primer:
Full/none: what it says on the tin.
e.g. 30%: after a battle, we get first crack at what we want to keep, but can only take 30% of the mechs/vehicles available according to C-Bill value. The salvaged units are ours to do with what we want. Some-to-most of them will be suitable for salvage only, too heavily damaged to rebuild.
e.g. 30% (exchange): the employer takes all the materiel, but provides us with 30% of the C-Bill value thereof.
I'll take Private Jan Kojic, nickname Euchre, he he. Let me know what I'm driving currently.
Since we have one less mek than pilot, we should be looking towards buying a (cheap) mek. After the contract, since we might get lucky and snag one as salvage.
How did you get this started? Has there been any updates since 2015? The hardest part of Against the Bot is getting the thing.
EDIT: Nevermind, turns out that the latest versions of MekHQ apparently has everything.
https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1487/79/1487794688435.pdf (https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1487/79/1487794688435.pdf) seems like useful link
Private Kojic is currently the odd man out, sitting on the sidelines sans mech. I can leave him there, or I can put him into one of the Trebuchets, if you'd like.Why not look for more contracts in this part of space?
It's much harder to find contracts off of our homeworld (or another suitably well-known, well-traveled mercenary world, like Outreach or Solaris VII).
I think we should accept the surrender. I don't think the salvage is worth the risk of losing more to SRM/LRM carriers.
- As far as this contract goes, we have two options. We can attack the pirate base, or accept the pirates' surrender and head home. In both cases, we'll be paid the remaining balance of the contract. In the former case, we have a chance at more salvage, although there are no heavy mechs among the enemy's known forces. In the latter case, we don't risk losing any further mechs in a costly battle, but we'll have to pay 185,000 C-bills to the employer to cover our over-salvaging.
Seconded. Getting salavge is good, but getting paid without having to actually put yourself in harm's way is better (especially seeing as how we don't get loss compensation on this contract.)I think we should accept the surrender. I don't think the salvage is worth the risk of losing more to SRM/LRM carriers.
- As far as this contract goes, we have two options. We can attack the pirate base, or accept the pirates' surrender and head home. In both cases, we'll be paid the remaining balance of the contract. In the former case, we have a chance at more salvage, although there are no heavy mechs among the enemy's known forces. In the latter case, we don't risk losing any further mechs in a costly battle, but we'll have to pay 185,000 C-bills to the employer to cover our over-salvaging.
Seconded. Getting salavge is good, but getting paid without having to actually put yourself in harm's way is better (especially seeing as how we don't get loss compensation on this contract.)I think we should accept the surrender. I don't think the salvage is worth the risk of losing more to SRM/LRM carriers.
- As far as this contract goes, we have two options. We can attack the pirate base, or accept the pirates' surrender and head home. In both cases, we'll be paid the remaining balance of the contract. In the former case, we have a chance at more salvage, although there are no heavy mechs among the enemy's known forces. In the latter case, we don't risk losing any further mechs in a costly battle, but we'll have to pay 185,000 C-bills to the employer to cover our over-salvaging.
30% isn't that bad. It's not great, but we still pulled out over an entire month's worth of pay from the last mission. Drop a couple of heavies and maybe some tank support and a single battle could potentially yield more salvage than the actual payment for the entire mission.
Of course, that depends on what's defending the base, how much of it, and how confident one is on actually beating it without suffering too many losses
That SRM group was really nasty, and encountering a second one as well as actually having to fight the pirates mechs at the same time (rather than spraying fire as they legged it) could be disastrous.
That SRM group was really nasty, and encountering a second one as well as actually having to fight the pirates mechs at the same time (rather than spraying fire as they legged it) could be disastrous.
SRM carriers are 3/5 speed and have 12 armor. While they demand respect, they aren't typically very threatening. Of course, when you get a chase battle and 5 of them phase in out of thin air right next to your units, that is a problem, but not one you'd expect to see in a non-chase battle.
We didn't get a screenshot of the pirate base defense, so we don't know what's there. Lacking that information, I'm always going to go with attack, because salvage is great.
The real trouble is that the AI seems to use its initiative pretty intelligently; it's hard to end up on top of vehicles at all times, and being next to but not directly on top of some of BattleTech's vehicles is infinitely worse than having to shoot it out with them at longer ranges.
I've gone ahead and added the various mechwarrior claims since the last update. Remaining are Captain Halit, Private Ngo, and Private Frajtov.
Edit: the pirate base defenders include 18 vehicles, two medium mechs, and 10 civilian vehicles, split between industrial mechs and armed trucks and personnel carriers.
I plan to play out the update tonight or tomorrow, taking us back to Piedmont and rolling up the next batch of contracts. Here's what I'm hearing as far as action items:
First, there's a strong consensus on taking the money and heading out.
Second, I believe Hasek10 had some reorganization ideas, but I didn't hear anything on that topic otherwise. Reorganization doesn't need to happen immediately, but should be discussed if it's desired.
Either way, speak soon or forever hold your peace, until Saturday when the next entry runs.
Not for me, actually. That Locust is a death trap waiting to happen, because it simply CANNOT go against the opposition a heavy lance faces. Its nice to hit the weight limit for the weight class you want to be in, but it's better to do so by using designs in that weight class or just above. Sticking a light mech into a heavy lance means that it'll face heavy and assault designs that will chew it to bits.
I should point out, that as far as I can tell, I'm the one that needs a mech.Not really. Lieutenant Dare (me) is also out of a 'mech. I would suggest that we take risk buy a 'mech with the money from an advance on a contract. Otherwise I must (respectfully) request to be assigned a 'mech currently piloted one of the enlisted men on a temporary basis.
I should point out, that as far as I can tell, I'm the one that needs a mech.Not really. Lieutenant Dare (me) is also out of a 'mech. I would suggest that we take risk buy a 'mech with the money from an advance on a contract. Otherwise I must (respectfully) request to be assigned a 'mech currently piloted one of the enlisted men on a temporary basis.
I wonder, by "poorly equiped Capellans", if that means "Poorly equipped for Capellans" or "Adequately equipped for Capellans, which means horribly equipped by every else's standards". :PIt would roll on the Capellan RAT table of the appropriate grade. So poorly equipped by Capellan standards. Expect UrbanMechs.
Salvage might be 70%, but it's from a poorly equipped enemy. We are unlikely to find anything really worth 1.5 million/month (and we're giving up loss compensation.) My vote goes to Propus.
Also, does buying more parts increase our transportation costs? If not, what are the drawbacks?
It sounds like you're saying that it does not increase transport costs ( unless we buy ~1.5k tons of parts in addition to our 0.5k tons of 'mechs.)Also, does buying more parts increase our transportation costs? If not, what are the drawbacks?
I'm actually well-equipped to answer this one, because I rewrote the code that determines travel costs not long ago. In short, we rent DropShips and pay for transit on JumpShips. JumpShips cost 100,000 C-bills per collar per jump. DropShip costs are determined based on what we have to carry. Since all we carry is cargo (which includes mechs in mothballs), we pay, at present, about 230,000 C-bills per jump—100,000 for the jump, and 130,000 for a Buccaneer (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Buccaneer_(DropShip)) to get us to and from planets. It has 2300 tons of cargo capacity. If we go above 2300 tons, it's cheaper to rent a Mule (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Mule), which has about 8000 tons of cargo capacity and costs about 180,000 for a jump.
I don't know, the main source of income from my games is salvaging and selling enemy vehicles in droves, it far outweighs whatever the contract pays.
That said, guerilla campaigns are brutal because of the complete lack of supply. If the consensus is to go for it, I suggest tripling whatever we think we need in way of supply, and make sure to bring plenty of limbs for all the mechs.
Salvage might be 70%, but it's from a poorly equipped enemy. We are unlikely to find anything really worth 1.5 million/month (and we're giving up loss compensation.) My vote goes to Propus.
I think you are highly overestimating the impact of the "poorly equipped enemy" here, and also underestimating the resale value of a mediocre unit. A Wasp really sucks, but it still sells for like 700,000 C-Bills. You only need to scrap two of them to get to your 1.5m mark.
Vedettes are a common and mediocre tank, but still sell for 250k. The 10 SRM launchers on a SRM carrier sell for a pretty penny. Ditto the AC/20 on a Hetzer.
Based off my current games, I would estimate the difference between 30% salvage and 70% salvage being worth at least 15 million C-Bills. That is way larger of a factor than 3m larger contract or 10% battle loss compensation.
orbital satallite networks aren't a thing in battletech, so long as patrols don't sight you, its quite possible to manage it, funny enough :P
Training up some of our rookie pilots is probably wise.Agreed. To do that, our rookie pilots need to be lead by a Lance Commander of skill Veteran or better. Currently, our "Light" lance can not train, as the Lance Commander is only a Regular pilot.
Seems our opponents are going to have a lot of PPC-sized holesSo, I was looking through pilot's stats (trying to figure out if I was veteran enough to take over training the rookies ;D) when I noticed Linebuster was a specialist in Gunnery/Ballistic, but had a 'mech loaded with what (to my eye) looks like energy weapon systems.
185 tons is still a medium lance. I don't know exactly what the cutoffs are.Right, sorry. What Hasek actually said was 200 (I guess I confused it with 280?):
0-130 tons - Light Lance
131-200 tons - Medium Lance
201-280 tons - Heavy Lance
281-380+ tons - Assault Lance
swapping those lasers for AC/5s (and maybe a Gauss Rifle?)AC/5s are quite possibly the worst weapon in the game. Gauss rifles exist in 3050, but are pretty rare (in theory.)
swapping those lasers for AC/5s (and maybe a Gauss Rifle?)AC/5s are quite possibly the worst weapon in the game. Gauss rifles exist in 3050, but are pretty rare (in theory.)
Instead of ruining a reasonably well put together laser boat (armor allotment aside,) it'd probably be better to just get him a new 'mech.
Or just ignore the specialization for now, since ballistic mostly just sucks, until ultras, LBX, and gauss comes out. We should find something suitable in time.
Obviously, we need to buy aHunchbackUrbanmech, dump Linebuster (Hasek10) into that, and give me the Lancelot.
And gauss rifles are certainly not common in 3050, but they aren't really prototype-artifact type stuff either (the contemporary version of Atlas- AS7K - has one in standard configuration). I am sure we can find one or two in our adventures.
AC/5s do tend to underperform in a lot of situations. That said, there's a couple reasonable ballistic mechs that I could find my way in to if things go well for us. The Annihilator, King Crab, Mauler are all solid assault candidates with scary ballistic loadouts. Even heavies like the Orion (The ON1-8K with the LBX) or various Jagermech chassis' have enough ballistic weaponry that I would find myself effectively utilized.
Currently, I don't think MekHQ and ATB handles Clan opponents very well. The Princess bot doesn't have any mechanism to enforce Zellbrigen, and My latest ATB campaign involved my Veteran Assault lance up against a Binary + change of extremely dangerous clan mechs. We'd have to figure out a way to bid their force composition down to something reasonable or we'd all be dead pretty fast.
I did not mean "let's go out and hunt us some Atlases", I was merely pointing out that while a Gauss Rifle would still be high-tech in 3050 it is no longer the bleeding edge of the Art it was in 3040s, as exemplified by it being mounted out-of-the-box on some of the more expensive mechs.
The A-rank Kuritan RAT has the AS7-K at roughly 1 in 100 assault 'mechs. We'd have to wail on the biggest and the best of the Combine for quite a while to find one, then have to disable the 'mech without critting the damn thing and having it explode.
The Mauler, at least stock, is pretty crap. I mean, 4 long-ranged machine guns? There's far better ways to reach out and touch someone then using an AC/2, much less four of them. Giving someone with ballistic skill an AC/20 is another prospect, especially with how the bot likes to get in close in just about all cases.
My solution to clan opponents is to reduce the clan force count until the battlevalue of both sides is about equal to represent the 'bidding process', and it has lead to tough but fair fights in my opinion.
Should we deploy a second lance for the upcoming mission? Ker-Ker is still recovering from her wounds, though not in any way that would penalize her piloting or gunnery.
It might be worthwhile to deploy the Cadre Lance. They won't be expected to do much of the heavy lifting, and they're also not down a mech (while the Medium Lance, at present, is). That, and battle is a much more effective teacher than training.
Should we buy a mech? More than one mech?
(I'm still not at all sure how to figure out which of the four different kinds of gyro a given mech requires.)
For Culise, about Rook:I'm not too familiar with the nitty-gritty of the game. What do folks in the thread generally foresee as being optimum for how we're running now as far as lasers versus guns?
- Rook now has enough experience to buy a Weapons Specialist trait for large lasers, which will further improve her enemy-shredding ability in the Flashman, but tie her down to mechs with large lasers. Should she buy that trait, or save for improved piloting/gunnery down the line?
Teddy Bear scores his first mech kill, knocking out the Wolverine menacing Ker-Ker with a hit to the ammo reserves.
Which is a shame, because other attacks decapitate it; we could have taken the chassis if it hadn't blown up.
For Culise, about Rook:I'm not too familiar with the nitty-gritty of the game. What do folks in the thread generally foresee as being optimum for how we're running now as far as lasers versus guns?
- Rook now has enough experience to buy a Weapons Specialist trait for large lasers, which will further improve her enemy-shredding ability in the Flashman, but tie her down to mechs with large lasers. Should she buy that trait, or save for improved piloting/gunnery down the line?
1 unmentioned killI Am Credit to Team!
As a heads-up, I'm probably going to take this week off for Thanksgiving. I have a lot of cooking planned.
Also, I'm pleased to see this let's play proving inspirational. I'd love to see notes from other campaigns as they progress.
Sounds good. Since no one else seems to have anything else to add and since I've always been a fan of flexibility, I'll go with waiting for Gunnery. Thank you. ^_^For Culise, about Rook:I'm not too familiar with the nitty-gritty of the game. What do folks in the thread generally foresee as being optimum for how we're running now as far as lasers versus guns?
- Rook now has enough experience to buy a Weapons Specialist trait for large lasers, which will further improve her enemy-shredding ability in the Flashman, but tie her down to mechs with large lasers. Should she buy that trait, or save for improved piloting/gunnery down the line?
I'd probably wait for gunnery, myself. Assuming we're using default skill costs, specialization is 40 XP and going to 1 gun is 60, so it's not that much of a savings.
While some good 'mechs with lots of large lasers do exist they're typically more of a weapon that gets paired with others. Your Flashman for example has two, but it also packs 4 mediums as well, which wouldn't get any better. Also ER and Pulse versions of the large laser are considered different weapons, so in the more distant future you wouldn't really be any better at using the advanced guns, should we happen across them.
Meanwhile a gunnery buff works all the time, everywhere.
Ultimately, it's not a life changing decision, so if you like the idea of melting faces off with LLs, or want to have first dibs on a CGR-SB Charger, go for it. If not, gunnery (or something else entirely) is fine too.
Oh man, it's Saturday and I totally forgot about this. My wife and I are looking at buying a house, you see...
I may have an update for you midweek. We'll see.
Oh man, it's Saturday and I totally forgot about this. My wife and I are looking at buying a house, you see...
I may have an update for you midweek. We'll see.
Hope the house buying goes well! Living in a very urban area I've resigned myself to never being able to afford one until I move to somewhere cheaper :P
My mercs had a big set back in their most recent mission. 2 of my mechs (Wolverine and a Trebuchet) suffered catastrophic ammo explosions before turn 4 against a squad of vehicles. They even blew up one of my mech jockeys with missles afterwards :(
Wow, not only have I moved out of the Cadre lance, but I didn't die!
...seriously, when I read "onlyEuchre andHanzoku (in the Trebuchet and the jump-capable Guillotine) arrive in the first round"
my thought was "I'm so dead"
Trebuchets have a tendency to blow up, hence my concern.
And may all your home-buying experiences be swift and painless. :)
And maybe the Raven.The Raven is destroyed. "Salvage" in the salvage screen describes a unit destroyed beyond repair, but still having left over stuff. You shoot the torso out of a 'mech, there's still two legs you can strip for parts (unless you shot them off too.) We're just picking over the scraps on that one.
Movement: 4/6
Engine: 260
Double Heat Sinks: 14 [28]
Gyro: Standard Gyro
Internal: 104
Armor: 197/211 (Ferro-Fibrous)
Internal Armor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 21 30
Center Torso (rear) 10
Right Torso 15 23
Right Torso (rear) 7
Left Torso 15 23
Left Torso (rear) 7
Right Arm 10 19
Left Arm 10 19
Right Leg 15 25
Left Leg 15 25
Weapons Loc Heat
Medium Laser LT 3
Medium Laser LT 3
Medium Laser LT 3
LRM 15 RT 5
Small Pulse Laser LA 2
Small Pulse Laser LA 2
Streak SRM 2 HD 2
ER Large Laser RA 12
Ammo Loc Shots
LRM 15 Ammo RT 8
LRM 15 Ammo RT 8
Streak SRM 2 Ammo RT 50
Equipment Loc
Artemis IV FCS RT
CASE RT
C3 Slave CT
Of course I'd be in favour of expanding, so I can claim a MechWarrior as well.Surely we can find him a 4/5 or better guy and a 'mech with our millions?
Would getting a vehicle platoon to shore up our weaknesses be a viable idea? Maybe a small group of LRM carriers to provide fire support from behind a hill or something similar?
(doesn't sound Japanese at all, if that was what you were implying with her coming from the Combine)
I'd like to claim Xue-Min "Wizard" Que (doesn't sound Japanese at all, if that was what you were implying with her coming from the Combine).
And I vote to buy the Guillotine. It is almost as good as a Grasshopper (personal preference, really), both punch well above most other intro level heavies.
The Shadowhawk is pretty bad. It can do nothing, but that at all ranges.
Started my own campaign in 2990, coming up on 3020 now, then I am going to timeskip the next 30 years and get my commander's newborn to a sensible age just as the Clans arrive.
Once I get there, I might just send you a MUL for them. Mayhaps we'll see one another on the field of battle, friends or enemies, only fate can decide.
Are you using the setting that ignores darkness penalties to movement? Because otherwise pitch black missions SUCK for any mechs without jumpjets.
Delay. Heavy and assault mechs literally cannot move in pitch black without jumpjets.Can't they move at normal speeds, with a PSR?
There's also a +7 modifier to difficulty between 'pitch dark' and 'tornado'.
In Reserve Lance, Wizard is the most talented pilot but Teddy Bear is the senior Bastard; he gets a promotion to Corporal and leadership of the lance.
Think we could use a new name though. Reserve lance isn't punchy enough!
QuoteIn Reserve Lance, Wizard is the most talented pilot but Teddy Bear is the senior Bastard; he gets a promotion to Corporal and leadership of the lance.
Ooo I almost missed Teddy Bear's promotion - Will try not to get everyone killed, despite riding in perhaps one of the lightest mechs in the company :P
Think we could use a new name though. Reserve lance isn't punchy enough!
Personally I have a hard time not buying every Stalker I come across. Do you play with quirks? Because then the Stalker gets another 4 heat capacity above and beyond what the heatsinks provide.
Thanks for letting Bear test out the Dragon. in a meta way part of me thinks why wouldn't Tedros accept assignment in a larger/better mech, but the RP side of me definitely agrees he should stay put in his Vulcan. His backstory seems to be fairly mysterious (no known homeworld), so I like to imagine the Vulcan has been with him or his family for a long while. And with the upgrade the the 5t, I imagine he'll be spitting out a good deal more damage now.
I'm fine leaving Drake in the Awesome. Maybe reward Rook with it?
Hi!
I will take:
Pvt. Abdul-Hafiz "Pepper" Popalzi - Archer ARC-2K
Unit Market
There isn't much worth mentioning for sale: an UrbanMech, a Dragon, and three Wasps. We'll keep our eyes peeled for better stuff.
Right now, the two big things for IS tech is the double heat sinks (an utter game changer for designs like the Crusader), and LB 10-X autocannons. Why that one? Because it makes regular AC/10 autocannons obsolete by allowing both ammo types while being a ton lighter and a critical slot smaller, and firing for one less heat at a slightly longer range. It's sort of silly but I love swapping out the AC/10 on anything that uses one for the LB 10-X version.^
Also, in the Warehouse section, you can right-click on a podded item and remove its pod without any skill check or time needed, so being in a pod is not a major issue.
Lack of replacement parts is, of course. I think we should (role-play?) wise see if we can get a steady source of IS double heat sinks in exchange for some or all of our clan tech. The one part to keep is the ER PPC. If we can slap that onto Drake's Awesome with double heatsinks, he can reach out and potentially headshot enemies with frightening ease.
Oh dear, it's been a few weeks. I've had house painting and yard work to do, and now BattleTech PC is out, but nevertheless I will find the time to play another month and/or battle here on Friday.
* Ryoken - see if we can trade parts and stuff in IS double heatsinks to get it working. Maybe stick Simona into it since he has experience piloting omnimechs and well, ultra-elite gunnery is nothing to sneeze at.
I like option one. While improved ground speed would be nice, the more Armor the better. The Awesome is just too much of a target to go without max armor. Plus, with jump jets to get over rough terrain and the longer range PPCs it should be easier to get/stay in the fight anyway.
You could also take a look at the royal Stalker.
I think I asked before, but anyway: Do you play with mech quirks? Because the Stalker has an awesome one that gives it an additional 4 heat dispension for free. It has the no-arms disadvantage as well though.
“No one is exactly sure what happened to the original team of ComStar mechpilots, or why the backup lance was painted in the wrong colours with cOMsTAr written on their backs in still-wet white paint,”
Yeah, def glad that we had the bad crit karma in our sim match! Losing the awesome and drake would have been very not... awesome. :P
That Battle Report must have taken a good chunk of time to write up though. Kudos to you, Fish!
Are you still recruiting pilots?
Edit: I recall there was a previous megamek lp, and I was assigned to a Toro. Did that thread die?
Are you still recruiting pilots?
Edit: I recall there was a previous megamek lp, and I was assigned to a Toro. Did that thread die?
We have three open pilots right now. I don't have you on my list and I don't remember a Toro, so I think that was a different one. Your options are:
Pvt. Gwenael Hernandez - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1K: a relative rookie, currently assigned to Drake's Destroyers
Pvt. Kevin Stirzacre - Wasp WSP-1A: a veteran held in reserve, but we'd aim to find him a better mech and get him into one of the fighting lances if you pick him
Rec. Simona - Ryoken/Stormcrow B (missing lasers): an elite Clanner driving a Clan mech.
I really like Blinky, for sure. :D
We picked up Kevin in this post (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=167593.msg7730692;topicseen#msg7730692) as a FRR survivor having lost his original mech and seeing that the O.B. were pretty OP.
Thats quite generous of you.
If its okay with everyone else I would like to take Kevin. Would Blinky be a good callsign?
Edit: Out of curiosity, what mechs are available?
If the company's cool with buying something new, then buy something new we shall.
I don't quite know how long I plan on doing this. I don't really have an ending in mind. Maybe the FedCom Civil War? That's still about fifteen game years away. Drake will be closing in on 60.
Mind if I snag Hernandez? After his performance in that sim, I'd like to dub him Kicks on account of that drive-by Puma punting.
Out of curiosity, how far are you willing to go in changing chassis and components? At some point, mechs cease to be what they were, and become something else entirely, will you be turning these into entirely new chassis or just keeping them as a variant Mech?
You can roll crits against empty spots already, can't you? At least, there are tons of (crit, no effect) in the combat logs in MegaMek.
And once a crit is confirmed, it can only hit actual equipment - slots taken up by internals or armor don’t count. If the only equipment in a torso section is an ammo bin, well... hello critical existance failure.
I say take the contract. Money while we refit is good, and rebels shouldn't require our a-game.
Feels rough having to do rebel ops on the people whose world was just tipped upside-down, but I guess that's MercLife™, right?
If the company's cool with buying something new, then buy something new we shall.
I don't quite know how long I plan on doing this. I don't really have an ending in mind. Maybe the FedCom Civil War? That's still about fifteen game years away. Drake will be closing in on 60.
If the company doesn't want to buy anything, I can just chill at base. Should I cook some tacos? or maybe pierogi?
Don't you have to be able to pay the full cost of the DropShip in MekHQ? A Union-class alone would be around 215 million C-Bills.
Meanwhile, we've got the 44.0 stable out and 45.0 dev release out. Lots of new goodies in those, you may consider upgrading the campaign (although, you'll have to merge any custom features you've coded up :()
I see you turned on the isometric view during the 2nd battle, and I guess that is what made kicking the locust impossible. It was probably a level above me and I used my arms for firing. Or did it fall down and I couldn't kick because of that?
What's the current state of the sphere? I don't have strong opinions on where we go, really, though I think we should aim for somewhere that'll get us work appropriate to our capabilities.
I'm good with the line-up on lances and name suggestions. Making the reserve lance combat capable would be good, I think, that way we can tackle more difficult contracts if desired. And we can still use it as a reserve force to fill in gaps as needed.
For promotions, I think Rook and Double-Dog make sense to go to captain. That way we have a captain for each company. And I'm fine with Teddy getting a promotion.
Wow! It's back! I remember stumbling across this thread semi-recently when looking up some Megamek info and thinking of it fondly :)
Great to see you're taking another crack at it! And always happy to see Teddy taking out some opfor vehicles.
I think the promos suggested make sense for sure. Heading to Hiring like like Outreach is never a bad idea for some upgrades, but a contract is a contract, no matter where we get it, right? :P
And don't see the issue with getting rid of the Clan spares. Surely there's a buyer who would pay top dollar for such oddities!Fun fact: Someone (not us) with access to a factory can stick Inner Sphere components into a Clan Mech. And they'll turn a profit on it, too!
Lots of great battle reports to read through. Fun to see how our groups perform against each other! Thanks for posting them.
20% battle loss is the better deal if we see any action whatsoever, so I am voting for that.
Does straight support cover our payroll expenses?
Hm, then on a low-intensity conflict, it should work out to about the same.20% battle loss is the better deal if we see any action whatsoever, so I am voting for that.
Does straight support cover our payroll expenses?
Yup, all of our ordinary maintenance and salary costs.
Or we need one of those Leopard drop ships from MW5. The variant that has seemingly endless storage for extra mechs and salvage despite looking tiny on the outside :D
In mothballs, we have a Quickdraw 4G (bin Ala' al din's mech), a Whitworth-1 (Johansen's), a Locust (Severe's), and a Wasp (I don't recall if it belongs to someone).That is not much of a reserve, another Phoenix Hawk would be a good addition. I also like Phoenix Hawks: They're good mechs.
Tedros wouldn't mind riding in something more modern for a while if we end up upgrading something :D (Vulcan or P-Hawk either way - as long as his Vulcan is safely stored.
Combined Arms is fun if you want to do it, although even heavy tanks are super fragile. I'm more fond of LRM carriers doing indirect fire support, personally, but you get what you get when it comes to salvage.
Another Awesome or a Marauder could be good. They are both quite solid mechs, and right now we don't have any decent heavies or assaults in reserve. (Quickdraws are just Jenners that can punch things harder).
More tactics sounds good, yeah. Getting rerolls to help deal with bad situations is never a bad thing!
Advance Raid!
Suggested name for Sargent until claiming: Sgt. Khad
I'm fine with the Advance raid. Pay sounds great, and our lances are all quite capable. We should be able to manage pretty well.
For the Raven, I'd say go with the 3L model. Having some EW capabilities is handy.
For the Awesome, what are our options? I'd rather go something like a 9Q, but I don't know how hard that is to get to.
No strong preferences on the PHs.
We can also break things up and choose lances that make a better mix of firepower and maneuverability, which might not be a bad idea.
Not sure from a mechanical standpoint how things like lance weight work for this sort of deal in MegaMek. So, DM's prerogative if there are solid reasons to restrict what lances we bring (including stuff just being too big a pain).
Strategy Blinding Lightning
Possibly too aggressive, then. But I like the basic idea.Sir Yes Sir!
How about this?
Drake's Destroyers for firepower, Bear's Bruisers for a mix of speed and power, and Ortega's Outriders for speed. Lots of energy weapons in this set-up, which helps reduce our ammo concerns.
We land at the Sensor base and take it out immediately, moving on to the Aerobase immediately afterwords. From there we try to melt into the countryside and stay low for a little bit before hitting the supply depot. Maybe have the Outriders do a strike somewhere else to cause confusion in the meantime and obscure what our next objective would be.
A few days before the main force arrives we hit the depot and focus on staying out of sight and ambushing patrols until help arrives.
(This set of lances also has the advantage of including most of the active player's characters)
@Fish - Very cool that you're trying some fancy scenario design for us!
Nope, I just picked them out of the list of premade options in MegaMek.
They do look amazing, though! For reference, or if you want to play around with them, they are:
- Airbase: 45x45 Airfield (Dervs Map Pack 3)
- C3 Facility: 48x48 The Depot (VictorMorson)
- Depot: 55x55 Secret Depot (Jayof9s)
For parts, sticking to mostly armor seems reasonable. Should we bring some leg actuators? I feel like a legged mech would be the worst thing for us on this kind of operation.
Leg actuators are a good idea for sure, given how painful it is to lose them.
They don't have a tonnage weight in any rules I can find, so I'll say a full set of leg actuators (one each of upper, lower, and foot for each weight of chassis we have) will come to 4 tons.
What paint job are you going to apply on them?
Too bad about the dropship, hopefully the FC bosses aren't tooo upset by the loss. Who knows maybe we'll get it back.
So I guess we're heading straight into the next mission sans repairs right? Tedros & Drake will have to be careful about errant headshots now that the armour is already dinged :P
The way that the battle generator works, we should be able to do repairs on Day 2 before any potential Day 2 missions, so this should increase the chances that we're "good enough" for combat operations.
Hello! haven't had much time to jump in here (now a proud papa, as of last week! :D ), but wanted to add my voice to the the 'let's blow up the patrol' group!
First order of business: spending a bit of XP. Wojtek is now a 3/4 veteran (gaining the Hopping Jack trait), and Teddy Bear is now a 2/3 elite (gaining Melee Specialist).
Drake has 60 xp in the bank, and not a lot to spend it on: he's already at 0/1, and the difference between 1+ and 0+ piloting is very small. He could spend the XP on Tactics (50xp, initiative bonuses and auto-generated mission condition rerolls), Strategy (30xp, controls lance deployment limits and makes reinforcements arrive faster), Leadership (20xp, increases the size of unit we can sustain and increases the amount of damage the enemy has to deal to us to force us from the field in battle), and Negotiation (30xp, mostly just increases unit rating).
The Against the Bot rules also say you're allowed to purchase pilot abilities. Energy Specialist might be a good choice, at 40xp.
Just catching up after a few days off with baby.
Why should the bastards avoid combat a bunch? Every battle won counts as making the future invasion easier.