Bay 12 Games Forum

I've been interested in trying to "roleplay" some missions with MekHQ, as so far all i have been doing was random battles with Princess on Megamek.
After googling about that "Against the bot" campaign often referenced for that kind of solo MekHQ game, i found this thread :
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/megamek-games/getting-started-with-against-the-bot/

That refer to a custom MekHQ build ( from Dylan's BattleTech Emporium ) that include Against the bot as a campaign , does this mean the MekHQ from megamek.info does not feature that campaign ?

Additionally, there's talk about some against the bot rules that could be downloaded here :
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/megamek-games/campaign-rules-against-the-bot-thread-3/

But maybe i'm looking on the wrong place but i see no download ?

So any help please ?

You have to be signed into their forums to be able to see the downloads. You do have the correct rules though and your first link is the way I use it to set up the campaign.

Contract generation is in the development versions of mekhq and I use it fairly often. It's about a thousand times better than the stable version and I haven't had in crashes or issues with it at all honestly.


As for the questions most of yall have had about the force scaling. Mekhq options gives you the choices to decide how evenly matched or over matched your forces are. I've had some missions where the odds were heavily in my favor, and other missions where it was possible to win but with the odds stacked against you.

From my general experience of about threeish months messing around with mekhq, the missions tend to be pretty nicely balanced out in the variety you get. The difficulty for the missions also depends on what sorts of contracts your company accepts. Garrison contracts by nature tend to have easier missions by default just due to the low risk nature of those contracts. You can also see the veterancy level expected for the hostile forces raised against you listed on the contract when you accept it.

3025 as the year, Free Worlds League.

I keep meaning to see whether MekHQ already handles everything related to running a mercenary company (presenting contracts, letting me choose one, rolling randomly behind the scenes to see what sorts of OpFor actually exist wherever I choose to go, generating battles based on my force and the OpFor as a function of that), or if that's something I'd have to build into a fork.

It does. It's all added in it. At least contract generation is. Mekhq is designed with merc company play in mind.

Also, on a sidenote, OP, if your looking to get a game for this started, shouldn't it be in Play With your Buddies instead?

I would prefer another action or two before posting the update.

There will be no battle map this turn.

A wild idea crosses your mind as you look at the newly warped in IR destroyers and battleship. As far as you had known, those ships were definitely not native to this region. Your ship personally hadn't been in any raids against the IR, so it was very unlikely that you would be associated with any pirate factions. To top it off, the last time someone had checked the IR space, there certainly hadn't been a capital ship along their borders, which meant they must be new arrivals to the area. They might not even be aware of your faction's existence, it wasn't like your group had raided IR space in a while.

At your order, your view screen is filled with the sight of a aging human looking to be around in his fifties. He has a slight paunch to his stomach and his hair had gone grey a long time ago. "This is Militia-Ship 01 requesting assistance. Ventros Space station is under assault from pirates. We humbly request your assistance in dealing with the scum. We've engaged the escort located by our vessel in boarding actions. We request that you leave that one to us."

His face stares back at your impassively for several long moments before pulling up something on the console at his chair. You can see his eyes flicking down for several long moments as he reads through whatever he has pulled up before finally speaking. "Militia-Ship 01, This is the Capital Ship Ebbor. We weren't aware a station had been set up in this sector of space. We are willing to offer our assistance in removing the pirates from your space."

You offer your thanks to the captain and cut the coms, at the same time you ensure that your coms officer sends out a alert to the Tyros and Ventros telling them not to fire on the IR ships lest they ruin your rather quickly thought up plan. You received affirmatives from both of your allies.

You glance towards the readout of your ship and note that the two laser banks you had diverted power from had been repowered. You tap the icon of LB's 3 and 4, sending repair crews to those sections to fix the issues with them.  About a moment later your coms officer pipes up, "Boarding teams have breached the ship and engaged the ship crew. The officer with estimates the ship should be under your control shortly, the crew is lightly armed."

Your Faction!

Your ship, You order repair crews to being fixing the damaged LB's and remain in station around the Xilos Escort as your boarders begin the assault.

The Ventros fires out another barrage of laser beams and missiles from it's weapons, only to have the beams slam into the shields of the Xilos Battleship and cause the shields to spark a little bit. The missiles impact a moment later and don't seem to have much of a effect against the hostile ship either.

The Tyrol roars to life as it's engines kick into high gear and the escort ship darts forward, the escort ship gunning it as it moves to assist the Ventros. You received a message for it that it is targeting Xilos Destroyer 1. A barrage of missiles escape from the ship as it fires at Xilos Destroyer 1.

The boarding party, The pirate marines burst into the escort ship the moment the hull is breached. Their rifles blaring as pulses of energy fly towards the defending crew. Several of the defending crew fall under the hail of laser fire and give only ineffective return fire.  20 marines vs 24 crew.  Six crew died!

IR Empire

Destroyer 1 guns it's engines as it starts to move towards Xilos Battleship 1.

Destroyer 2's engines roars to life as it follows it's sister ship and travels toward Xilos Battleship 1.

Capital Ship Ebbor slowly begins to move as it's engines turn on and it travels towards the Ventros Space Station. Your sensors detect a rather large energy signature beginning to form at the front of the ship.

Xilos Raiders

Escort 2, Remains dead in space as it's crew musters to fend off the boarders. The defending crew scramble into cover after that initial salvo from the pirate marines. A few of the braver crew poke out and return fire with their sidearms. Several of the rounds hit but the damage is absorbed by the armour.  20 marines v 24 crew.

Destroyer 2, appears to realize that new ships have jumped into the system. It's engines flare out as it moves closer to the Ventros space station. It's weapons fire out again as the laserbeams arc around and slam into the station shields. The shields collapse entirely under the weight of the assault right as the railguns fire. The shards of metal shooting out from the tip of the destroyer only to miss the station entirely. You can only imagine the yelling that the gunner is getting for missing a stationary target.

Destroyer 1, opens fire on the Ventros space station as well. It's laser beams slamming into the armour of the station. A few armour plates seem to be scorched.

Battleship 1, sensing that the Ventros space station might be nearing it's end, opens fire with all of it's weapon systems. Laser beams arc across the station and dance across the plating, scorching a few of the armour plates. Shards fired from the railguns slam into the station armour and the plates visibly dent from the impact. Finally, a pair of missiles slam and explode across the station armour.

10/10

Eh, another one of those damn nobles! Stop mandating adamantium toys dammit! 

How well known is our pirate group?

I mean, apparently they send a Capital ship after us, which means it's rather serious, isn't it?

Your faction is known to the IR although your not considered a very large threat. More often, most of your skirmishes as of late have been against the Xilos Raiders.

Capital ships aren't exactly common, but they aren't super rare ships either. A few pirate factions actually have the funds and resources to fund their own capital ships. You've heard rumors that your faction has a capital ship but your not aware if there is any truth to the matter, or where it might even be.

*Edit* Also, if I didn't make this clear. There are three groups in play right now, Your Faction, which controls the Ventros space station, The Tyrol Escort ship and yourself. The IR Empire, which has those two destroyers and capital ship. And finally, the Xilos Raiders, another pirate faction which is currently assaulting the space station.

Your fingers dance across the console screen as you power the weapons that are readied and available for combat. You can hear a few other groans on the bridge as the other bridge crew climb to their feet or right themselves, most of them appear to have minor injuries of some sort. You start barking out commands, "Man your stations! Now! Helm, power to the engines and begin evasive maneuvers. Weapons, lock onto the hostile escorts and open fire!"

As your yelling out orders and commands to the bridge crew, your Coms officer pipes up, "The hideout is under heavy assault. Three destroyers and a battleship are pounding into her with heavy weapons fire. The station reports that shields are holding for now but most of their weapon systems were disabled from the initial salvo."

On the view screen, you can see the station shields flaring out brightly as multiple laser beams lance across it and ripples running through the shields as it's impacted by heavy railgun rounds. Your destroyer roars to life as the ship shakes with vibrations as it enters into combat speed. You turn your attention back to deal with the two hostiles directly a head of you.

At your command, vibrant, blue beams burst from the sides of your ship and arc around till they all converge on the first escort. It's shields flare out and spark as they absorb the fire from your lasers. Your feel a small jerk run through the floor as the railguns fire next, sending a burst of gigantic metal shards out from each gun at unbelievable speeds.  You can see the escort you had fired upon veer off to the side barely dodging the burst of shards from one gun while the four shards fired from the other impact into the shield and promptly cause it to overload and flare out. Excellent, you hadn't actually damaged the shield generators, it would just take a few minutes for them to cool off. At that point, a pair of missiles burst from the tip of your destroyer and slam into the shield-less escort. The missiles themselves might have been out of date by a few decades, but the heavy payloads were designed for use against capital ships and the resulting explosions completely obliterate the targeted ship.

At the same time, the other escort darts around you, gaining speed as it's captain brings it alongside your ship, a barrage of laser beams bursting out from it as they hammer into your shields. The shields flare out wildly before sparking as they come to close to collapsing beneath the impact. To make matters worse, the remaining escort seems to be doing it's best to actually hug close to your destroyer, your weapons are having issues being brought to bear on it.

You hear one of your bridge officers call out, "Shields have nearly collapsed sir!" A few seconds later the sensors office calls out, "The sensors are picking up multiple rifts opening up near by. Multiple ships are inbound into this area. I'm unable to determine if they are friendly or hostile yet!"

You've wiped out one of the attackers, although the other is harassing your ship. The Ventros was under a heavy assault and had most of it's weapon systems disabled for the moment. And to top it off, your sensors had picked up seven new contacts that were in the process of jumping into the system.

What do you do?