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Poll

Choose the starting Era

3030s - 4th Succesion Wars, basic technology only, Star League 'Mechs are rare, Clans aren't a thing yet
- 1 (12.5%)
3040s - Renaissance era, basic technology, but advanced designs begin appearing. The dawn of the Clans
- 4 (50%)
3050s - Clan Invasion, Clan tech is rare but possible, while advanced IS design and tech starts appearing
- 3 (37.5%)
3060s - FedCom Civil War, widespread advanced tech in the Inner Sphere, Clan tech is slightly less rare
- 0 (0%)
3070s - Jihad era, Clan tech is uncommon, while everyone in the IS is running advanced technology.
- 0 (0%)
3140 - Dark Ages. Tech is... weird. You might have militarized agro-Mechs charging cutting edge Clan designs sold to IS troops.
- 0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 8


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Author Topic: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Operation Eclipse  (Read 42069 times)

Hanzoku

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Decided to run another MekHQ campaign, so the first step is asking for submissions for anyone who wants to create a character.

Before we get into the details of what I'd like from character submissions, there'll be a poll for what era to play in. My preference is just before the 'Clan era, but I'll leave the results up to the voters.

For those who are interested, we'll be playing with 'Mechs, vehicles, infantry (unarmored or battlearmor, depending on the era), aerospace and artillery. 'Mechs and battlearmor are the most likely to see combat, while vehicles depend on the terrain they would deploy in. Infantry, artillery and aerospace are more used for special missions, but may sometimes be present in battle.

Table of Contents:
Introduction and Character Signup Information
Game Settings
Special Missions

Dossiers and TO&E

Operation Misdirect - Company Setup and En Route
Operation Misdirect - Week 1
Operation Misdirect - Week 2
Operation Misdirect - Week 3
Operation Misdirect - Weeks 4-5
Operation Misdirect - Weeks 6-7
Operation Misdirect - Weeks 8-12
Interlude - Journey to Outreach and Reorganization

Operation Blue Paladin - Week 1
Operation Blue Paladin - Week 2
Operation Blue Paladin - Weeks 3-4
Operation Blue Paladin - Week 5
Operation Blue Paladin - Week 6
Operation Blue Paladin - Week 7-End
Operation Blue Paladin - Interlude

Operation Bronze Eyes - Weeks 1-3
Operation Bronze Eyes - Week 4
Operation Bronze Eyes - Week 5
Operation Bronze Eyes - Weeks 6-9
Operation Bronze Eyes - Weeks 10-11
Operation Bronze Eyes - Week 12
Operation Bronze Eyes - Week 13-End
Operation Bronze Eyes - Interlude

Operation Eclipse - Weeks 1-2
Operation Eclipse - Weeks 3-4
Operation Eclipse - Week 5
Operation Eclipse - Week 6
Operation Eclipse - Week 7
Operation Eclipse - Week 8
Operation Eclipse - Week 9
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 01:59:15 am by Hanzoku »
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Knave

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2019, 10:09:15 am »

Obligatory PTW, looking forward to seeing a combined arms approach! (The more infantry the better, right?)

Hopefully Princess is a better at using VTOLs than last time I played :)
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Hanzoku

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2019, 11:08:53 am »

According to the more recent release notes, Princess knows how to use VTOLs without sideslipping them off the map all the time. The air support also uses rockets and bombs (though bombing is bugged as out of range right now)
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Iduno

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2019, 11:12:55 am »

COmbine arms? Earlier is better. It's also when you get the weird quirky mechs.
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A Thing

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2019, 06:56:54 pm »

Since I kind of want to see the battlearmor in action I'm going with clan invasion. Looking forward to another one of these, I think the first one is what got me into MekHQ and Battletech actually.
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Rince Wind

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2019, 06:50:18 am »

Some modern stuff mixed with old school heat hogs, modernizing into the invasion - 3040s sound best to me.
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Hanzoku

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2019, 02:43:34 am »

Well, that was a race at the end between the 3040s and 3050s. I find it interesting that noone voted for later eras, but I think like me, most people like the build up from Succession Wars technology through Star League/Advanced IS into Clan technology.

That said, we'll be starting in 3046, giving a short period to build up and then launch into the 3050s. Now for the unit's backstory, and then its open season for character/unit requests.



House Kincaide is an old, proud line from the Lyran Commonwealth world of Ridderkerk. The Ducal Guard skillfully protects the planet from raiders from the Draconis Combine, as it has for centuries.

Albus Kincaide was the third child of the family. With a 'heir and a spare', those born after are expected to make their own ways in the world. House Kincaide normally expected them to go into service with the LCAF, or now with the AFFC. Unfortunately for Albus, a defect in his inner ear meant that while his sense of balance was perfectly fine, the neurohelmets used by BattleMechs and AeroSpace fighters caused blinding nausea. The Duke refused to allow one of his children to serve in the infantry or vehicle forces, and Albus found himself shunted aside.

In most other cases, he would have become one of the thousands of others bored, rich dilettantes that infested the courts of the nobility of the Commonwealth, but Albus refused to be cast aside so casually. He threw himself into his studies of the military arts, following courses of study from the Commonwealth, the Suns, and new course books from the combined Federated Commonwealth. He learned Japanese simply to study the military tactics of the Draconis Combine without the biases of Lyran translators. He even managed to acquire some training manuals from the Com Guards, interested in the differences in tactics their base 6 formations offer versus the standard formations of the other powers.

To his frustration, despite his high marks in command, Albus was unable to secure a military position, even in his homeworld's militia. To the neo-feudal armies of the Successor States, a military leader's worth stemmed first from their battlefield achievements, and a military leader who couldn't even fight at the controls of a BattleMech was not worth listening too.

By his 25th birthday, Albus' frustration finally reached the tipping point. Taking his trust fund, after hacking access into his family's financial systems, he used a portion of it to book passage to Galatea, departing without the notice of his dismissive family.

It would be several months later that a routine inspection of a number of secondary and tertiary warehouses and hangers revealed their contents to be missing, routed onto a Mule around the same time Albus disappeared.

Arriving on Galatea, chosen both for its closer proximity and lower profile compared to Outreach, Albus began the process of building his own mercenary command. To attract new recruits, he let rumors begin to circulate that for those looking to make a new start, particularly those Dispossessed through the fortunes of war, it might be possible to earn a spot in the unit and once again fight or fly in a 'Mech or AeroSpace fighter.



Character submissions are now open. Here's the following information I need from you:

Name
Call-Sign
Age
Birthday (year not needed, month and day are)
Specialization

Background

The available positions are: 'Mech pilot, AeroSpace, vehicle crew, VTOL crew, artillery or infantry.

This campaign will be played with tactical support from Aerospace, Artillery and Infantry forces, but it does mean that they (often) won't be in the battles or a major focus. Vehicle forces will be switched out depending on the terrain type - a hover lance won't be deployed to a deep woods map, for example.

I'll go further into depth on the available missions in a coming post where I list the options being used for this game.

The starting company will be partially influenced by what people want to play to begin with, but the rest of the company will be generated randomly.
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Burnt Pies

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2019, 01:52:39 pm »

Name: Susanna Nova
Call-Sign: Starburst
Age: 27
Birthday: 17th Jun
Specialization: Mech Pilot

Background: Susanna grew up with the firm belief that she would make an excellent mechwarrior. Every single piece of media she had watched reinforced this notion in her mind; the plucky young aces would always outshine the old guard. However, upon entering the Military Academy of Somerset, she quickly had to bury this notion. Her 'natural talent' certainly existed, and made her one of the better cadets in her class, but compared to the experience and knowledge of her instructors, she was completely outmatched. At first, she accepted this with good grace; making a fuss about it would only make her look whiny, a reputation no cadet wants to bring upon themselves at a military academy. Upon graduation, however, Susanna found herself serving under a commanding officer who seemed to embody the very worst of every Lyran stereotype; an overbred noble cretin that should have been swept out of the LCAF by Katrina Steiner's reforms years ago. Her lingering conviction that she could do better, that she could be the hero of her story returned in full force, leading her to butt heads with her CO at almost every opportunity, with her frequently calling out what she saw as foolhardy orders. Needless to say, this sort of insubordination couldn't be tolerated in a military (especially by an officer who only had their posting due to noble connections), and Susanna quickly found herself before a court martial. Discharged from the LCAF, she soon decided that the only possible job for her as a young mechwarrior with a chip on her shoulder was to join a mercenary band; one that had a commanding officer that wasn't prone to the sort of idiocy she had just been court-martialled for calling out.
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Knave

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2019, 03:06:38 pm »

Name: Billy Kaine
Call-Sign: Knave (nice and simple!)
Age: 34
Birthday: Feb 5
Specialization: Mech Pilot

Background: Born on a northern Periphery backwater known as Von Strang's World. Billy's position as son of as Warden allowed him the privilege of being able to train to become one of the world's few mechwarriors as part of Baron Strang's Guard Division. It wasn't long until he began participating in the frequent raids that the Baron arranged on the lightly-defended Lyran border worlds. It was during one of these raids where the Guard Division was ambushed by a merc unit on garrison duty. Outgunned, Knave drew the mercenary unit's fire and gave the Strang raiders enough time to withdraw to the dropship before having to eject due to damage. Left behind by his unit, and making an impression on his captors, they offered him a job in their own merc outfit. He ran with them for a time before finances got the better of them and they were forced to disband. Now on Galatea, he looks for his next opportunity to explore the stars.

Apart from being a competent mechwarrior, Billy is known as being both gregarious and eccentric. When outside his cockpit, he's often seen wearing one of his many trademark long-fur coats. He does his best trying to acquire a new one on as many planets he visits as possible.
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A Thing

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2019, 06:08:48 pm »

Going to take a Mechwarrior generated from my own MekHQ campaigns for this, hopefully it isn't too simple.

Name: Ichiro Kobayashi
Call-Sign: Tengu
Age: 39
Birthday: Oct 16
Specialization: Aerospace Pilot

Background: Ichiro led a dissipate lifestyle in his youth, the 5th child of six, very little was expected of him. When a series of deaths, exiles, and illnesses led to him being considered the de facto heir of his family fortune he was unprepared. He was forced into the Sun Zhang Academy by his mother who decided that he would either "crash, or fly." Fly he did and with surprising talent, however his past caught up with him, and when his instructors heard of what he did on REDACTED, it was decided that seppuku would be a gracious offer. Tengu, however, being the man he was and still is, saw dishonor far more appealing than death and fled the Combine. Many years went by and one day he found himself on Galatea, and on seeing the offer for dispossessed Aerospace pilots, he decided he would try his hand at flying once again.

fakeedit: yeah somewhere along the line I decided he'd probably do better as a aerospace pilot with a callsign like Tengu. Feel free to make him a Mechwarrior instead if there is a greater need for them.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2019, 06:14:40 pm by A Thing »
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Rince Wind

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2019, 03:57:55 am »

Name: Matt Fischer
Call-Sign: Wind
Age: 32
Birthday: June 5th
Specialization:MechWarrior/Jack of all Trades

Matt has done a lot of things during his "career". Hailing from Freedom in the Lyran Alliance he used to be a mildly successful racing driver when his employer got hold of some mechs that were not battleworthy anymore. Good thing it is the 3040s, and not a few decades earlier when "not battleworthy" was not a label applied to any mech able to move under its own power. Anyway, racing cars weren't all that hot when you could watch Solaris 7 matches instead, so Matts boss had the bright idea to have mechs racing each other and some vehicles on the same track. Most of the mech pilots were former military, but it turned out Matt could cope with neurohelmets as well.
The "Mixed Racing Arts" events were quite successful at the beginning, but the novelty soon began to wear off. Some of his teammates had shown Matt how to aim with a Mech, and he got into Solaris style matches. Just not on Solaris, it was more of a travelling circus, but as most people can't afford the real deal they had no lack spectators. Here Matt earned his Nickname, because he preferred to be up in the air, jumping around.
What they did lack were decent MechTechs and business acumen, so the show went bust after a while when more and more of the Mechs broke down. Which in turn led Matt here to Galatea, because he knows how to fight in a mech. Right?
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Hanzoku

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Re: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Choose your Era
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2019, 05:28:35 am »

I'm not going to go into the details of setting up MegaMek - if people are interested, I can link back to the posts in my last Let's Play, so this will more be to indicate what settings are being used.

MekHQ
Repair and Maintenance
- Quirks are on
- Damage or Destroy parts by a margin of failure (3)
- Maintenance Checks are on
- Maintenance cycle is 30 days with a -1 modifier
- Quality modifiers are NOT used Basically, it leads to a snowball effect. Once a part worsens, its nearly impossible for a tech to straighten it out again. Once it gets to the point where the part takes damage on the check, you can't fix it anymore.
- Only damage parts that are already at worst quality is OFF This is to balance not using the quality modifiers. I might play with these settings if it leads to weird behavior.

Supplies and Acquisition
- Waiting period is 1 day between acquisition rolls, using the Administration skill.
- the option that only support personnel can make acquistion checks is turned OFF.
- 2 point penalty for Clan equipment
- Planetary Acquisition System is turned ON
- Searches within 2 jumps from neutral or allied factions
- No Clan/Inner Sphere supply sharing
- No Clan parts from non-Clan factions (yet)
- a penalty of 4 on acquiring Clan parts from non-Clan factions

Tech Limits
- Limit units and parts by year is ON
- Disallow extinct units and parts is ON
- Allow the purchasing of Clan units and parts is OFF (for now)
- Allow the purchasing of Inner Sphere units and parts is ON (of course)
- Only allow canon units for purchase is OFF
- Only allow canon variants as refits is OFF
- Maximum tech level is Experimental
- Variable tech level is ON
- Use faction intro dates is ON
- Use ammo by type is ON

Personnel
Pretty much everything is switched on by default. The highlights:
- Use individual initiative bonus is ON
- Use toughness is ON
- Use Artillery skill is ON
- Allow Special Abilities is ON
- Use Edge is ON Each PC gets one point of Edge to lower the chance that a freak headshot murders you on your first mission. The second freak headshot still will, of course.
- Track Time in Service is ON
- Show Origin Faction is ON

Finances
All defaults again, except for...
- Clan-tech price modifier is set to 4.0 to start with, and will creep down as their tech becomes more available.

Mercenary
Experience
Skills
Special Abilities
Skill Randomization

All settings default.

Rank System
- Star League rank system (for now)

Name and Portrait Generation
Personnel Market
Nothing interesting here. Everyone should get portraits if I copied the images correctly.

Against the Bot
- RAT Generator is in use
- Skill level is Regular
- Share system is OFF - Albus is bankrolling the unit himself.
- Do retirement/defection rolls at contract completion is off - they'll be handled once a year.
- Customize retirement rolls is ON
- Founds never retire is ON (and PCs are all Founders)
- Track unit fatigue is OFF
- Instant delivery from the unit market is OFF
- Contract search radius is 400 light years initially
- Double enemy vehicles is OFF
- Allow Enemy VTOLs, Aero and turrets/infantry is ON
- Use DropShips is ON

MegaMek
Custom
- Autocannons deal increased damage: AC/2 does 5 damage, AC/5 does 8, AC/10 does 12. This applies to ALL autocannons, including LB/X and Ultra models.

Basic Options
- Skip ineligible during movement/firing/physical is ON I don't need to be constantly reminded that someone is knocked out.

Victory Conditions
- Skip all phases when forced victory occurs is ON

Allowed Units and Equipment
No changes

Advanced Rules
- TacOps ECCM is ON
- TacOps Ghost Targets is ON
- TacOps Dig In (Infantry) is ON
- TacOps Using Non-Infantry Units as Cover (Infantry) is ON
- TacOps Vehicle Crews is ON
- StratOps Quirks is ON
- StratOps Partial Repairs is ON
- (Unofficial) BA Grab Bars on Standard Mechs is ON I finally found the fluff explanation as to why it was Omni-Mech only, but I still think that it makes more sense that BattleArmor can ride on anything.

Advanced Combat
- TacOps Enhanced Missile Defense is ON
- TacOps Partial Cover is ON
- TacOps Vehicle Effectiveness is ON
- TacOps Vehicle Firing Arcs is ON
- (Unofficial) No Through-armor critical is ON
- (Unofficial) Vehicle Damage thresholds is ON
- (Unofficial) Variable vehicle damage thresholds is ON
- (Unofficial) Unjam Ultra Autocannons is ON
- (Unofficial) Ultra Autocannons TO-Hit roll twice in Ultra Mode is ON

Advanced Ground Movement
- TacOps Sprinting is ON
- TacOps Careful Stand is ON
- (Unofficial) Vehicles can be abandoned is ON
- (Unofficial) Ejected Pilots flee is ON
- (Unofficial) No movement penalties for night/fog is ON Seriously, screw the standard rules. Oh, its a moonless night and heavy fog? Guess your Atlas CAN'T MOVE. It's not like it doesn't have 5 different sensor modes or anything.

Advanced Aerospace
- Allow aerospace units on ground maps is ON
- (Unofficial) Allow return flyovers is ON

Initiative Rules
- Infantry doesn't count for movement or deployment initiative are ON
- Simultaneous targeting, firing and physical phases are ON.



If there are any rules you want to argue should be on (or turned off), feel free to let me know.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2019, 04:16:18 am by Hanzoku »
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Rince Wind

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Sprinting can be useful, not being able to shoot and being easier to hit balances it. Princess hardly ever uses it, so it won't gimp itself by sprinting all the time.
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Hanzoku

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Name: James Gundersen
Call-Sign: Glaive
Age: 22
Birthday: September 11
Specialization: MechWarrior

Background: James Gundersen hails from the Free Rasalhague Republic world of Gunzburg. Growing up, he experienced first hand the Republic's birth struggles as it freed itself from the domination of the Draconis Combine and fought through the Ronin Wars. He saw BattleMechs fighting first-hand, and this instilled in the young James a burning desire to one day pilot one of those fearsome machines himself.

Unfortunately, his scores were not good enough to earn him a spot training to use one of the Gunzburg Militia's few BattleMechs. He was instead assigned to the infantry battalions, where he was a dedicated but not enthusiastic soldier.

He learned to pilot 'Mechs from an unlikely source - those mercenaries who had the misfortune to be stationed on Gunzburg. Unlike the majority of the population, James did echo the Iron Jarl's anti-mercenary sentiments, and as one of the few sympathetic locals, he found it easy to make friends with the mercenary commands who were stationed there. There, he learned haphazardly the arts of the MechWarrior, but in doing so, alienated himself from his fellow soldiers.

He asked for and was discharged from the militia in 3045, and it was with great relief on both parts that he took passage to Galatea, seeking an opportunity to finally pilot a 'Mech into combat.
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Hanzoku

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@Rince Wind: I go ahead and added Sprinting as an option. I've never used it before, so it'll be interesting to work with.

I think we've had the initial round of characters, so at this point people can either claim NPCs, or submit characters who will become the next recruited character.

I rolled up the units and ended up with a good mix - 6 'Mechs, 3 Vehicles, 2 AeroSpace, and 1 infantry unit.

The units are:

Stalker STK-4P
Warhammer WHM-6R
Griffin GRF-1S
Shadow Hawk SHD-2H
Wolverine WVR-6R
Commando COM-2D

Centurion CNT-1D
Sparrowhawk SPR-8H

SRM Carrier (Standard)
Behemoth Heavy Tank (Standard)
Devastator Heavy Tank (Standard)

Iron Brotherhood Heavy Infantry (Laser Rifles/Heavy Support Lasers/Ballistic Plate)

I then rolled up the pilot skill:
Susanna Nova - 2/2 (Elite, Cluster Master, Melee Specialist)
Billy Kaine - 3/3 (Veteran, Pain Resistance)
Ichiro Kobayashi 3/3 (Veteran, Human TRO - Aerospace)
Matt Fischer 3/3 (Veteran, Hopping Jack, Dodge) The template was regular skill level, but already had Dodge and a point of Tactics. I let that stand.
James Gundersen 6/6 (Green)

So overall, the dice went high for the PCs, which I'm pretty OK with. Its easier to pick up new hardware then it is to train someone to Veteran/Elite status.

The NPCs are... less good, though the Aerospace Pilot is good.
5/6 (Green)
6/8 (Ultra-Green)
3/4 (Veteran, Shaky Stick)

Here is our setup as of now: For officers, feel free to let me know if you want a different name for your unit:

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