Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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NickAragua
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
all three -4
dig/ops -3
dig/comms -2
pass on all -2
May 29, 3044
5km outside second dig site
Unzmarkt, Free Rasalhague Republic

Since we're the ones doing the attacking, we get to figure out how we're going to approach it and at what time. In the end, we decide to hit all three facilities. Beta-Assault will hit the ops center, supported by artillery. Alpha-Command will hit the comms center, backed up by air support. Gamma-Battle will hit the dig site, with infantry support (no, not the gauss guys, we're going to keep them on ice for a little while) to help disarm any surprise gifts these guys may leave behind.

While we coordinate our attacks to be simultaneous, we'll resolve Gamma-Battle's confrontation first. Gamma-Battle is Scrub in the Warhammer, Cylus in the Grasshopper, Xwraith in the Thunderbolt and a guy in the Grand Dragon. The infantry tag along in an SRM-equipped Maxim hover transport.

As mentioned before, the garrison is a light mech lance backed up by a medium-heavy mech lance, plus two tank lances. The things to watch out for will be a Hetzer with its AC/20 and a ground-bound Thunderbolt. It doesn't hold a candle to our modified 5SE in terms of maneuverability, but it's a pretty tough customer.

Scrub takes a moment to take in the sunrise, before marching through the urban area between Gamma-Company and the dig site. That's when the shooting starts.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our lance advances south along the streets, opening fire immediately. Both sides score a couple of minor hits, with Xwraith being the only one to inflict any meaningful damage, cutting armor off a Vedette with the Thunderbolt's medium lasers.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Scrub engages the Thunderbolt advancing up the street towards her, scoring a pair of PPC hits across the hostile mech, in addition to sweeping a laser across the head. The enemy mechwarrior's aim is disrupted as a result of this, and he winds up eating pavement.

To the east, Cylus tracks a J. Edgar as it moves to harass our Grand Dragon and cuts across an avenue to intercept the light hovertank and surgically remove its drive fans with the Grasshopper's lasers.

A little less further east, Xwraith steps aside, avoiding fire coming down the street, and stomps flat the damaged Vedette. A relatively minor decrease in firepower, but every bit helps.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The guy in the Thunderbolt struggles to get up, but eventually succeeds, backing up in an attempt to lure Scrub closer to his buddies. Scrub isn't going for it though, electing to back up and fire two PPCs overhead. Her SRMs plow into a nearby Vedette while the Warhammer's foot crushes an annoying Striker tank underneath.

The Grand Dragon plays cat and mouse with the Hetzer to the south, staying just outside of its weapons range while putting PPC shots and LRMs into it, slowly chipping away at armor and wheels.

As Xwraith advances, a Jenner tries to jump up over head, unloading lasers at our Thunderbolt. Xwraith is on the ball, however, lifting the ER laser up and slicing through the 35-ton mech's hip joint. It lands on a rooftop, but sideways, unable to maintain balance.

Our Maxim hover transport reports destroying a Galleon light tank, but has taken heavy motive system damage. They'll unload the infantry then leave the battle area.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Scrub's pursuit of the Thunderbolt is stopped by an Ostsol that bravely gets in the way, slicing a laser across the Warhammer's leg. The 60-tonner eats two PPCs and a full short range salvo, armor running down and flying loose left and right. An annoying Vedette underfoot is kicked over as well.

Our Maxim reports being immobilized (although it does take out a Skulker scout tank as well), with the infantry scampering out rapidly. They're not in the best position, there's a Stinger nearby with its machine gun. Which it uses to finish the tank off, destroying it.

Cylus finishes off the Grand Dragon's "duel" with the Hetzer by the simple expedient of walking over the wheeled assault gun.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
The Ostsol goes down under sustained fire from Scrub's Warhammer.

Our infantry manages to run off into a building before getting splattered by that Stinger, so, good job guys.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
The Ostsol doesn't give up, moving out of the Warhammer's way and melting armor off its right side. However, Xwraith jumps after it, and Scrub spares a single right-arm PPC shot for it, disabling the 60-tonner's right arm. Not very critical, all the Ostsol's weapons are in the torso, but still. The Ostsol keels over once again, where Xwraith stomps on its right torso section and takes out a laser.

Cylus chuckles as an Urbanmech steps in his way. The Grasshopper easily avoids the swinging autocannon (taking a little bit of laser damage), then slices armor off the trashcan with its own lasers. As the poor little thing struggles to remain upright, Cylus boots it over, briefly glancing down in disgust as heat sink fluid sprays out all over the Grasshopper's leg.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus has somewhere to be (namely: bailing out infantry), so our mechwarrior leaves the Urbanmech for the Grand Dragon coming up from the east. But all of the Grasshopper's potential targets slink out of sight, so the Urbanmech gets another dose of lasers in addition to the PPC. The damage is telling - it keels over, again, which breaks the autocannon off. Cylus makes an expression of disgust and moves on. Again.

Scrub continues taking fire from the Ostsol, frowning. "Can you... get that guy? He's kind of annoying." she remarks to Xwraith. Ignoring the armor damage indicators, Scrub focuses and puts a PPC shot directly through the cockpit of the Shadow Hawk up ahead. But she'd already squeezed every trigger for an alpha strike, so the precise kill becomes a mangled wreck as a leg comes off and the rest of the head is wrecked.

"On it." the mechwarrior responds. After a few more solid laser doses, the Ostsol's mechwarrior has had enough, and begins a retreat. Our Thunderbolt lets it go.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus has a puzzled expression as a Clint whooshes out on its jump jets and lands right in front of the Grasshopper. "Well, if you insist." The Grasshopper's large laser slices through the Clint's rather thin armor and detonates the autocannon ammo stored in the right torso. The Clint ceases to exist as a single entity.

Our infantry report that they have taken no casualties so far, and have damaged a Scimitar hovertank, disabling its main gun and inflicting motive damage.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
"What did you do to that poor guy?" Scrub cringes as she walks by the Urbanmech as it struggles to get up, managing only to snap off its small laser. A Stinger jumps in to help out its buddy, but is completely cored out by a pair of PPC hits and short range fire.

Cylus is intercepted by a Panther, which pings some SRMs off the Grasshopper's armor, then eats a bunch of lasers. Cylus blocks a kick with the bigger mech's leg, causing one of the Panther's actuators to blow out, and the hostile mech has to take a knee.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus jumps over the struggling Panther, blowing it away as one of the Grasshopper's lasers catches the SRM ammo bin.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus apparently has a shoulder chip regarding Panthers - another one goes down in front of the Grasshopper, its left arm flying off and the torso section with the SRM launcher crushed. With Xwraith squashing the remaining Scimitar hovertank, that basically leaves the Thunderbolt by itself.

Technically, there's a Jenner somewhere on the field, but its got a hip actuator gone, so it won't be much help, either. The guy in the Thunderbolt retreats.

The crew of the Maxim is toast - the four tank crew didn't make it out. The infantry has a couple of injuries, but nothing serious. We get them to work sweeping the area for planted explosives, then call in the salvage crews.

Gamma-Battle is still in the green - the Warhammer's armor has a bunch of red and yellow spots, but we don't have any internal damage. So, they'll be able to provide backup either at the comms center or the operations facility.

[] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility

A wrench gets thrown into our plan - somebody launches an attack on one of the facilities we are to defend. A lance of corporate security has intercepted the attackers, but is calling for support. Our employer suggests that saving this lance is a contract-required action. The only unit that'll get there in time is the aerospace flight that's intended to support Alpha Command. We can tell our employer to piss off ("I busy, go away."), since we're technically only contracted to defend the facilities and conduct training exercises, but there's no telling where the two lances of enemy units attacking the corporate security guys will go afterward. And also no telling how the arbitration will go afterwards. Plus, it may be a good idea to maintain continued good relations with our employer, since we still have like a year and a half left on this contract.

[] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off
Last edited by NickAragua on Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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[] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[x] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility

If Alpha command is able to hold its own, decapitating our opposition's command and control capability at their ops facility should be the priority.



[x] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off

Not good business to antagonize our employers...until it's necessary of course.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:18 pm [x] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility

[x] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Leraje wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:07 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:18 pm [x] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility

[x] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off
As we are sending off Alpha Command's air support, sending Gamma to back them up seems like it would make more sense? Or am significantly under-appreciating the force Beta Assault is facing at the ops facility?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:26 pm
Leraje wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:07 pm
NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:18 pm [x] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility

[x] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off
As we are sending off Alpha Command's air support, sending Gamma to back them up seems like it would make more sense? Or am significantly under-appreciating the force Beta Assault is facing at the ops facility?
I came to my decision thinking that a decisive blow at their command center will leave the rest of their forces in disarray. But I could use some advice about the ability of Alpha command to pull off their end of the operation without air support? Is it too big of an ask?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Alpha-Command could do it - the main difficulty will be the likely artillery strikes, which we have no way to counter other than "keep moving and hope they don't get lucky".
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:00 pm Alpha-Command could do it - the main difficulty will be the likely artillery strikes, which we have no way to counter other than "keep moving and hope they don't get lucky".
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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NickAragua wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:18 pm
[X] Move to back up Alpha Command at the comms center
[] Move to back up Beta Assault at the ops facility


[X] Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike
[] Tell them to piss off
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Gamma Battle reinforces Alpha Command - almost unanimous
Reinforce corporate security with Alpha-Strike - unanimous
Gbasden frowns while processing the situation change, then informs Larry that air support is on the way. "Gamma-Battle, what's your status?"

"Green and yellow. A little red." Scrub responds. "No armor breaches, ammo expenditure low. And, uh, irrelevant, mostly, anyway. We lost the Maxim and all crew, but the infantry is sweeping the dig site now."

"Right. Why don't you take your mechs, and get over here. We're going to need some backup." Gbasden transmits.

"Understood, major. On the way. We'll be there... " Scrub pokes at the nav computer, setting waypoints. "... twenty minutes."

-----------------

Meanwhile, our aerospace fighters move to support the corporate security guys. They're a hodge-podge mixture of ... less-than-stellar units. An UrbanMech, a Stinger, a Kurita-variant Phoenix Hawk, and a Hunchback. Attacking them is a medium mech lance - two Wolverines, a Griffin and a Locust, backed up by a lance of tanks, including an LRM Carrier. That one's going to be a little rough, we'll have to take it out quickly.

We also detect hostile aircraft coming in, which is why our Lightning has no bombs, so that it can dogfight, while the Lucifer and Shilone are loaded to the gills with bombs - the Lucifer has clusters for tank hunting, the Shilone has HE for mech hunting. This is going to be a bit of a turkey shoot, as the fog down on the ground really screws with visibility down there, while our aerospace fighters can use their sensors.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Well, we've got a minute or so before the hostile aircraft show up. The Lightning dives in and gives a solid burp from the AC/20, more or less blowing the top off a Maxim hover transport. Our Shilone dives in on a Condor and wrecks it, cutting through armor with lasers then sending LRMs in to finish the job. Our Lucifer's run on the Hetzer is a little less successful, but the assault gun is still slowed down by wheel damage.

Return fire is completely ineffective, LRMs arcing lazily up into the sky.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
The Lucifer spots a worthwhile target for its cluster bombs - a Griffin and a Wolverine moving through the fog pretty close together. Down go the bombs. The two mechs take major armor damage from the bomblets but remain upright. A few autocannon rounds arc up and miss, while a salvo of LRMs explodes against the heavy fighter's armor, but the aero jock remains in the air.

The Shilone drops its load on the other Wolverine, whose left arm is destroyed as it falls over from the repeated blasts.

Our Lightning continues its reign of terror, taking out an LRM Carrier with its AC/20.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Our aircraft have to take a break to circle around and regain altitude. Our Shilone pulls some serious g's and the aircraft rattles, but manages to level out and come around for a strafing run on the enemy Locust to help our Hunchback and Stinger. They *should* be able to handle a single Locust, but you never know with these corporate guys.

The Locust makes a heroic effort, flaying armor from the corporate Hunchback's flank, but the Hunchback turns towards it and lets rip with the AC/20. When the smoke clears, the bug mech's left leg comes off. Then the allied Stinger delivers a kick, which causes the Locust to explode as its MG ammo goes up.

The remaining enemy mechs - the two Wolverines and Griffin, plus the Hetzer, retreat through the fog and disappear off sensors as they go passive. The incoming aerospace blips can be observed turning away as well.

"Thanks for the help, Alpha-Strike! You can fly air support for us any time!" the lance leader on the ground sends up.

"Sure thing, pal." Strike-three responds. "Just keep that money coming."

"Had to be a diversion." the flight leader muses. "They ran off after losing a couple of crappy tanks and a bug mech. Fuel check."

"Twenty minutes to bingo." Strike-two reports. "Would have been there already, but I dropped all my bombs." he adds with a chuckle.

"Is that enough to get us to Alpha or Beta?" the flight leader asks, monitoring comms.

"No." Strike-Two answers. "We'll have to VTOL it and get a tow."

Alpha-Strike considers making an attempt to fly back to Alpha-Command or Beta-Assault's battle zone, in an attempt to neutralize the artillery batteries that have already opened fire on our lances. The problem being that they probably won't have enough juice to make it back to base. We can send recovery vehicles out, but the aerospace units will be sitting ducks on the ground meanwhile, especially if we don't manage to secure the area.

Artillery is kind of a crapshoot, but Beta-Assault reports being fired on by at least seven tubes, while Alpha-Command reports fire from five tubes - given enough volume and luck, those arty rounds will eventually give our mechs trouble.

[] Attempt to neutralize artillery
[] Return to base
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

[X] Return to base. Bingo is bingo.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

Cylus Maxii wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:50 pm [X] Return to base. Bingo is bingo.
Yeah, wiping out our air support for a not seemingly essential task seems like a bad idea.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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Cylus Maxii wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:50 pm [X] Return to base. Bingo is bingo.
+1
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Leraje wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:16 pm
Cylus Maxii wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:50 pm [X] Return to base. Bingo is bingo.
+1
This.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

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[X] Return to base.



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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Don't even need to count.
Alpha-Strike's flight leader only considers the possibility of ignoring fuel restrictions briefly. Very briefly. "Alpha-Strike, returning to base. Good luck, Command." comes the transmission.

"Well... " Gbasden says as he throttles the Awesome forward to advance on the comms center. "At least we've got some ground backup. Keep moving, don't let the arty get a fix on your position." He doesn't add that it's likely the artillery will target his Awesome as the slowest unit on the field.

In addition to Gamma-Battle coming in about a minute into the fight, we'll have Gbasden/Awesome, El Guapo/Marauder, Isgrimnur/Hatchetman and Stefan Mk III/Catapult. The new mechwarrior is an expert shot with the LRMs, having shown an uncanny ability to cluster them on target during simulation runs.

Standing between us and the communications center is a heavy mech lance - Quickdraw, Catapult K2, Rifleman, Grasshopper. They're backed up by a couple of lances of light armor and hovercraft, and a heavy/assault tank lance. That and the artillery battery somewhere out of our reach.

The good news is that a cold front is moving in, so it's going to seriously slow down any tracked or wheeled vehicles working against us.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Gbasden watches a Ferret lift up over a building, no doubt moving to drop infantry off somewhere where they'll make his life uncomfortable. Wanting none of that, he puts a shot from the extended range PPC in the Awesome's right arm through the ultra-light VTOL, all but evaporating it.

El Guapo and Isgrimnur note a Saracen hovertank zipping out from the facility and both focus fire on it. A pair of PPC shots and a gauss slug from the Marauder blow chunks out of the armor, then Isgrimnur finishes it off with the Hatchetman's autocannon. The hovertank's missiles go flying everywhere but at El Guapo's mech.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
El Guapo frowns as a Thumper round lands close to his mech, chipping armor off the left side. A further mild annoyance is that the Quickdraw to the north refuses to engage.

Gbasden moves forward, intending to take out the K2 Catapult that's just powered up. The enemy mech climbs over a hardened structure, firing lasers and MG rounds at our Awesome, but Gbasden fires the torso-mounted PPCs at the building, bringing it down, then giving it a point-blank shot from the extended-range PPC. The lack of charge-up time really helps with aiming it at up-close targets.

Isgrimnur helps out with the autocannon and medium lasers, the stress causing a left torso armor breach on the 65-ton mech.

Stefan opens fire at some turrets to the north, but the structures are pretty hardened, so it'll take a lof of concentrated effort to bring them down.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
Despite the sub-zero temperatures, Gbasden's Awesome is nice and toasty from firing off those PPCs. But he gets to cool it off for now, as the Katapult disengages.

Isgrimnur scrunches his face as he misjudges a jump and lands too close to a turret mounting a single flamer. His Hatchetman heats up way more than he anticipates as he unloads all the Hatchetman's weapons into the heavily armored structure, following up with a couple of kicks which chip off concrete but do little else.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Artillery rounds find their way towards Gbasden and the mechs clustered around the Awesome. Isgrimnur catches the worst of it as a Sniper round whacks the building he just landed on while chasing down the Quickdraw - the structure collapses, taking the Hatchetman down a few levels. On the way down, he fires the autocannon and a laser at the K2 Catapult, blowing off one of its PPCs - the hostile mech takes advantage of his vulnerable position (joined by the Quickdraw), and the Hatchetman's alarms start wailing - the left arm has come off, and there's severe damage to the hip actuator.

Gbasden, having cooled off, unloads PPCs on the K2 Catapult, blasting deep into its left torso, then following up with a kick. There's a flash from the left torso section as the left leg is ripped off, and then the 65-ton mech shatters, as its original Kurita designers felt that it needed a whole ton of MG ammo. Not that reducing it to a half ton would have helped.

El Guapo spends one of his gauss slugs, as well as slinging a pair of PPC shots at the offending Sniper tube - the Thumpers are way out of visual range, but the Sniper is *right there*. The gauss slug blows the barrel right off the artillery turret, eliminating at least that threat. Stefan moves up as well, zapping a Harasser out of existence with lasers as it peppers the Catapult with a few SRMs to little effect.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
"Gamma-Battle, coming in from the east. Any priority targets?" Scrub asks.

Gbasden shrugs as he maneuvers the Awesome out of the cul-de-sac with the burning Catapult wreckage. "Move in, take out anything that moves or shoots." He grunts as he sends a shot from the ER PPC into the Quickdraw that just landed next to him and is flaying armor from his mech with its lasers.

Isgrimnur struggles the Hatchetman up from the building rubble, avoiding getting attacked for the time being.

El Guapo and Stefan move into the facility, Stefan disabling a Saracen hovertank with the Catapult's lasers as it blasts more chunks out of the armor.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Pretty beat up, pulling out." Isgrimnur reports. With a missing arm and a cracked hip, the Hatchetman is going to get clobbered if it engages in any serious combat.

As Gamma-Battle arrives, Stefan moves in - he takes an SRM-fueled pummeling, sending his armor firmly into the yellow, but grounds a Scimitar hovertank with the Catapult's lasers. Our Grand Dragon, coming up from behind, disables the Scorpion tank unloading SRMs at Stefan as well.

"Hey, where's that lance of assault tanks?" Stefan wonders as he stomps a Galleon tank flat. But not too hard.

Gbasden gets a little beat up by that Quickdraw, the Awesome's left leg armor nearly gone.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The Grasshopper and Grand Dragon exchange some laser fire, neither mech coming out ahead.

The Quickdraw continues giving Gbasden trouble, staying behind him and out of reach of the torso PPCs. Isgrimnur sends a long-range autocannon shot its way, helping Gbasden keep the enemy mechwarrior on his toes.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The enemy Grasshopper mistakenly tries to take on the entirety of Gamma-Battle lance all at once and takes some major damage. Engine damage, the large laser blown out, and leg actuator damage (along with El Guapo collapsing the building under it) bring the enemy mech down to the ground.

Gbasden and Stefan work on the Rifleman to the west as it blasts our Awesome with its high-heat weapons array, inflicting a couple of armor breaches and blowing out a medium laser.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Quickdraw fires up its jump jets for another run at Gbasden. Our mechwarrior is ready this time, though and blasts it at point blank range with PPCs and the small pulse laser. The heavy weapons breach armor (except one that doesn't charge up in time), and the pulse laser tracks along the Quickdraw's right torso - directly into the SRM ammo bin. The 60-tonner explodes.

El Guapo takes the top off a stupid little machine gun turret that bothers him as he navigates around the wreckage and the fallen Grasshopper, while Stefan disables a Drillson hovertank. The Rifleman takes this opportunity to book it, jumping down from the building where it's camping out and losing line-of-sight to Gbasden pretty rapidly.

Our salvage crews discover the mystery of where those heavy and assault tanks went - apparently, their treads froze and their crews abandoned them without even getting into the fight.

Isgrimnur's Hatchetman will require at least a week's worth of work - the left arm can be re-attached and just needs some new actuators, but the left leg will have to be rebuilt completely due to hip joint damage. The mechwarrior himself managed to avoid any serious injury.

Somewhere between all those SRMs, Stefan managed to get a "laceration on the head", but should be good to go for the most part. The Awesome and Catapult are firmly in the yellow, while Gamma-Battle didn't really take any meaningful additional damage during this fight.

Who do we send as backup for Beta-Assault? They're facing two lances of mechs (one heavy, one light), a medium tank lance and are under artillery bombardment. Additionally, they report aerospace units closing in.

[] Everyone except Isgrimnur - some mechs with armor in the yellow
[] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
[] They can handle it, they've already got artillery support, the hell they need more mechs for?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Cylus Maxii »

[X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:17 pm
[] Everyone except Isgrimnur - some mechs with armor in the yellow
[X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
[] They can handle it, they've already got artillery support, the hell they need more mechs for?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Cylus Maxii wrote:[X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
I concur. Go get 'em boys!
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:17 pm [x] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Isgrimnur »

:(
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by LordMortis »

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:52 pm:(
Maybe you should switch tactics

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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

El Guapo wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:27 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:17 pm
[] Everyone except Isgrimnur - some mechs with armor in the yellow
[X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
[] They can handle it, they've already got artillery support, the hell they need more mechs for?
Get your undamaged cans over here!

(Always need more mechs, means less damage to repair later as we wipe the bad guys up quicker).
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

Cylus Maxii wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:26 pm [X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
Agreed.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Zenn7 wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:13 pm
El Guapo wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:27 pm
NickAragua wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:17 pm
[] Everyone except Isgrimnur - some mechs with armor in the yellow
[X] Relatively undamaged mechs - El Guapo/Marauder, Cylus/Grasshopper, Xwraith/Thunderbolt
[] They can handle it, they've already got artillery support, the hell they need more mechs for?
Get your undamaged cans over here!

(Always need more mechs, means less damage to repair later as we wipe the bad guys up quicker).
+1
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Relatively undamaged mechs - almost unanimous
"Right. El Guapo, take Cylus and Xwraith and move to support Beta-Assault. We'll secure this area." Gbasden orders.

"Hey, what about me?" the guy in the Grand Dragon pipes up.

"Oh yeah, forgot you were here too." Scrub says with a smirk. "Go with them."

Our mechs move out, making best speed to the ops base.

---------------

Zenn7, meanwhile considers how to best deal with the hostile artillery pounding his advance. The solution that comes to mind is to have our artillery engage in counter-battery fire - our mechs can take the local garrison, but will have a lot more trouble with shells raining down all around. So that's what the plan is. Of course, we'll have to wait until the first arty rounds start landing around us to be able to track where they came from, and then it takes a while for the return fire to hit anything.

But on the plus side, we have Long Toms, so that'll be fun. And our recon teams were able to provide the artillery crews with targeting data for some sections of the base, to help ensure accurate fire. Beta-Assault moves in from the north.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Moley's Thunderbolt jitters a little as a couple of autocannon rounds fly in from down the street, pinging off the armor. The Thunderbolt's return fire zaps a Saracen hovertank zipping in, lasers slicing off large chunks of armor and throwing sparks out into the crew compartment.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
With a substantial amount of firepower flying down this street, our mechs opt to move laterally. The Saracen and a Warrior attack helicopter zip past, the Saracen getting caught in the blast of one of the enemy artillery pieces and flipped over. LordMortis takes a couple of laser pot shots at the chopper, but is unable to connect.

Zarathud moves down the eastern street, blasting away at a Kurita-variant Archer in the distance. Unlike the standard Archer, this one packs two large lasers for some massive punch at the cost of incredible heat. The 70-tonner takes three PPCs to the right torso section of the mech, blowing out the LRM launcher there after it fires its last missiles. Zarathud's mech takes a few LRMs in return, but nothing serious.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
While waiting for targeting data, our Long Toms bombard the known fixed artillery turret positions to the south of our mechs, with some effect. Enemy artillery fire proves ineffective for now. Moley blows the top off a Saracen hovertank as it zips around to harass Zarathud, with little effect. Our Thunderbolt takes a few SRMs in return, but armor holds.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
One of our Long Tom rounds lands a little ways from its intended target, but boy does it do some damage. A couple of mechs try to get clear of Zenn7's line of fire but run straight into an incoming Long Tom shell. A K2 Catapult takes an armor breach from the nearby shell and is knocked over, while a Rifleman that climbed up onto a building for sligtly better vantage regrets that decision - the building collapses and the mech is knocked over, gyro damage taking it out of action. Zenn7 can't make up his mind on whether to frown or smile, as some artillery shrapnel dings his Awesome a little bit as well.

LordMortis moves up, facing off against a Panther which makes the mistake of advancing too far down the street. The Victor sends a gauss slug at the hostile mech, shattering its left arm. The 35-ton mech winds up on the ground.

Zenn7 moves up from the northwest, vaporizing a Warrior attack helicopter as it rounds a corner - there's barely even any debris left.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
Zenn7 and LordMortis are finally able to provide targeting data to our artillery for counter-battery fire. Zenn7 is able to provide especially accurate data, as a Long Tom round basically lands on top of the mech, just a few meters short of a direct hit. The mech shudders, but stays upright.

Which is just as well - our arty needs to cease fire as the "ad hoc" lance has arrived and there's just too much risk of friendly fire now that we've got that ops base surrounded.

Our Long Tom batteries report incoming counter-battery fire as well, taking minor damage and displacing, although from what El Guapo reports, their shelling took out a Thumper tube on the south side of the enemy base. El Guapo and the Grand Dragon run into an Urbanmech firing its autocannon at them - the trashcan manages to avoid El Guapo's gauss shot, but then gets its autocannon blown off by a PPC, while the Grand Dragon surgically removes the right leg.

LordMortis moves south, engaging the Panther at point blank range with short range weapons, while feeding the Archer a gauss slug. Combined with Zarathud's three PPCs, the Archer's right arm goes flying off. That's about half its firepower gone. The Panther winds up on the ground again, where LordMortis delivers an 80-ton curb stomp, crushing the left torso. Miraculously for the mech, the ammo bin doesn't detonate, but its SRM launcher is now useless.

Xwraith engages a Dragon with the Thunderbolt's extended-range laser, the upgraded tech paying off in unexpected armor damage to the hostile mech.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Ineffective artillery fire continues to come in from the hostile batteries, while ours have switched entirely to counter-battery fire. So have half of the hostile batteries, with one of our Long Toms reporting taking motive system damage (not that that slows a Long Tom down very much relatively speaking).

A pair of aerospace fighters streak in, launching a strafing run on Zarathud. The Awesome staggers under the missile and laser impacts, but armor holds. Zarathud ignores the gnats for now and focuses on the Archer - three hits center of mass with PPCs cause catastrophic gyro damage, and the 70-ton mech wobbles to the ground. Then explodes.

LordMortis takes on the anti-aircraft role, firing three PPCs at the Thunderbird strafing Zarathud. The aerospace fighter is unable to compensate for the damage and slams into the ground further north, exploding on impact, leaving not much more than a crater. Zenn7 inflicts some damage on its Sholagar wingman, but that aerospace fighter escapes with only minor damage - just a laser disabled and some armor missing.

Cylus moves west, exchanging fire with a hostile Dragon. The Dragon's autocannon winds up jammed under Cylus' accurate laser fire, but otherwise the exchange is superficial armor damage.

Moley moves up to a stationary Sniper artillery emplacement and fries one of the barrels.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Zarathud takes a near miss from a Long Tom round, one of the Awesome's heat sinks blowing out.

El Guapo takes a brief strafing run from the Sholagar, returning fire with PPCs and a gauss slug, hitting with all three. The tough little fighter manages to remain in the air despite the pummeling.

Moley and Zenn7 jam the K2 Catapult and a Vedette in an alley that was "recently extended" by a Long Tom round. The Katapult loses its left PPC to a laser from Moley's Thunderbolt and keels over in the rubble, while the Vedette is destroyed by Zenn7's PPCs. Once on the ground, the Katapult's other PPC is destroyed by a series of curb stomps from our mechs. The mechwarrior winds up being unable to get up due to leg actuator damage.

Cylus chases down the Dragon as it tries to escape to the south - for all the hype surrounding that 60-ton mech chassis, it's just not that great when its main gun is disabled.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Cylus and LordMortis jam the Dragon between the two of them, Cylus jumping in behind it while LordMortis barrels in from the front. The mech tries to get around by going over a building, but Cylus drills through its right side with multiple lasers and lights off the autocannon ammo. Which lights off the other ton of autocannon ammo as well. And then the LRM ammo too. Long story short, neither that building segment nor the Dragon exist any more.

With Zenn7 and Zarathud starting to methodically plink the remaining turrets from beyond their effective range, a surrender request comes over the general frequency. The Hermes and the beat-up Panther manage to get away, as does the battered Sholagar. We send our faster units to flush out the hostile artillery battery - at the very least, they cease fire, although they do get away. It's just as well, our Long Toms were getting pretty beat up by *their* counter-battery shelling.

Our salvage is several beat-up mechs, including a K2 with both PPCs destroyed, and a Rifleman missing a gyro (plus the Urbanmech). We also grab the tank wrecks and some fixed emplacements - usual deal, strip them for spare parts, sell the chassis for scrap metal. We're going to get rid of the Rifleman and the Urbie, but the Katapult is a mech we've never actually managed to salvage (we've blown up quite a few, thanks to their on-board MG ammo).

[] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

Well, that's it. We've secured the dig sites and routed pretty much the whole crew of that Overlord. There are a few mechs left, but not enough to make a difference against us any more. The artillery pieces are pretty obnoxious, and we'll probably be seeing them again, but for now, things quiet down. Of course, our salvage guys barely have time to roll up the sleeves before we get a transmission from a familiar (if not terribly friendly) face.

"Good afternoon, Percentor Yong. What can I do for you today?" Scrub answers.

"I am given to understand that you fine folks have taken up archaeology." the percentor states.

Scrub shrugs. "Well, we're not really sure what we've taken up yet. We're just keeping our contract-defined area of operations clear of potentially hostile forces at this point." Nice poker face there, champ.

"Of course." the percentor says with a predatory smile. "I hope you will keep me appraised of any progress you make on the excavation, should you choose to make any. There are several individuals that are interested in... " he clears his throat, "... archaelogical finds, and you would find yourself well-compensated should you choose to deal with us."

Scrub keeps a neutral face. "We'll keep it in mind."

"See that you do." the percentor states, terminating the connection.

"Ugh. Sonofabitch gives me the creeps." Scrub comments with a shudder.

From our cursory inspection, looks like there's plenty of excavation to be done. How do we want to handle the dig sites?
[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by xwraith »

For the K2:

Drop the mgs, we know they are a vulnerability, replace with small lasers if you have to or maybe we can shoehorn in another heat sink somewhere, or add some more armor.

[x] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

I'm tempted to recommend option 1 but I'm worried about how much time we still have on planet and generating that amount of "noise" trying to find something.

Of course if we're really devious we have the "noise" be in the wrong places which shouldn't find anything. Once they leave empty handed with the a story about how nothing was there, then we do option 2 and try to find something just before we have to leave. Oh and mine the area where we really want to explore, don't want anybody poking about.

Still could cause some pain if somebody claim jumps the decoy, but then we just pull back. Of course if that vulture of a Comstar precentor has a mole in our group it won't matter much as he'll know we're bluffing. Then again he seems to be "conveniently" around at times.

Just a thought -- if not possible option 2

From our cursory inspection, looks like there's plenty of excavation to be done. How do we want to handle the dig sites?
[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[x] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
Last edited by xwraith on Mon Mar 02, 2020 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by gbasden »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm

Our salvage is several beat-up mechs, including a K2 with both PPCs destroyed, and a Rifleman missing a gyro (plus the Urbanmech). We also grab the tank wrecks and some fixed emplacements - usual deal, strip them for spare parts, sell the chassis for scrap metal. We're going to get rid of the Rifleman and the Urbie, but the Katapult is a mech we've never actually managed to salvage (we've blown up quite a few, thanks to their on-board MG ammo).

[X] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.



From our cursory inspection, looks like there's plenty of excavation to be done. How do we want to handle the dig sites?
[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[X] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm [] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[x] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[x] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
1. Not only "Eww, no jump jets.", but "Eww, it's a bargain-basement MAD/WHM.
2. Option 2. Hiring qualified outside help will involve communications and communications in turn involve Comstar. Certain percentor is already far to involved in the situation for my liking. We should keep external data-flow to a minimum, at least until we can better ascertain what is it we are digging up.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm [x] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[x] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
Though I agree with Xwraith, drop the MGs get HS/armor.

Yong already knows where it is, don't think we're going to convince him it's elsewhere (otherwise, how would he know we were into excavating all the sudden?).

Progress speed doesn't matter too much so long as we can complete it before our contract is over. Not sure what the "reduced tech capacity" means in practical terms though?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm [x] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

[x] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
The longer we take, the more opportunity for Comstar to come in and appropriate the whole site with their own people. And we have the cash to burn.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »


gbasden wrote:
NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm



[X] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)


[X] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
Parts are parts. We can always strip or sell the Catapult.

Too many prying eyes so discretion is best for the dig.

But would we be able to effectively guard the site with option one or would someone else just pull what we did and take it out from under us?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Zenn7 wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:11 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm [x] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[x] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
Though I agree with Xwraith, drop the MGs get HS/armor.

Yong already knows where it is, don't think we're going to convince him it's elsewhere (otherwise, how would he know we were into excavating all the sudden?).

Progress speed doesn't matter too much so long as we can complete it before our contract is over. Not sure what the "reduced tech capacity" means in practical terms though?
I agree with this. On the dig site, I'm tempted to go with #3, insofar as Comstar already knows about the site, so the odds that we get to keep anything juicy are low. So I think our expectation should be to sell anything useful to Comstar, though option #2 has some optionality in trying to hide part of the findings (at considerable risk).

I'm also assuming that #2 would still allow us to finish before our contract is up; if not then we should do #1.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Hyena »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:41 am
Zenn7 wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:11 pm
NickAragua wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:59 pm [x] Keep the Catapult K2 (Two PPCs, no jump jets, two machine guns, two lasers)
[] Eww, no jump jets. Pass.

[] Go whole hog: re-hire excavation crews, bring in various tech experts, detail forces to guard these places. 10M/month, rapid progress, more chance of info leaks due to contractors.
[x] Use our own people, plus guard detail. "Free", but reduced tech capacity for us and slow progress.
[] We're obviously getting involved in something that's way above our capability. Clear out and forget about it.
Though I agree with Xwraith, drop the MGs get HS/armor.

Yong already knows where it is, don't think we're going to convince him it's elsewhere (otherwise, how would he know we were into excavating all the sudden?).

Progress speed doesn't matter too much so long as we can complete it before our contract is over. Not sure what the "reduced tech capacity" means in practical terms though?
I agree with this. On the dig site, I'm tempted to go with #3, insofar as Comstar already knows about the site, so the odds that we get to keep anything juicy are low. So I think our expectation should be to sell anything useful to Comstar, though option #2 has some optionality in trying to hide part of the findings (at considerable risk).

I'm also assuming that #2 would still allow us to finish before our contract is up; if not then we should do #1.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by AWS260 »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:41 am On the dig site, I'm tempted to go with #3, insofar as Comstar already knows about the site, so the odds that we get to keep anything juicy are low. So I think our expectation should be to sell anything useful to Comstar, though option #2 has some optionality in trying to hide part of the findings (at considerable risk).
Hiding any of what we find seems like a bad idea, given our last experience with them. If we find a big stash, maybe we can negotiate to keep a few trinkets. At the very least, we should make sure that Comstar's procurement office puts us on their list of preferred vendors.
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

AWS260 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:27 pm
El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:41 am On the dig site, I'm tempted to go with #3, insofar as Comstar already knows about the site, so the odds that we get to keep anything juicy are low. So I think our expectation should be to sell anything useful to Comstar, though option #2 has some optionality in trying to hide part of the findings (at considerable risk).
Hiding any of what we find seems like a bad idea, given our last experience with them. If we find a big stash, maybe we can negotiate to keep a few trinkets. At the very least, we should make sure that Comstar's procurement office puts us on their list of preferred vendors.
I agree. I'm just saying that #2 may give us some options later, though as you say those would all be fraught with risk.

By the way, can we do an investigation into how Comstar is learning this stuff, using both the last time and this time? Is there any indication that Comstar might have some sort of mole in our organization? Is it general Comstar intelligence gathering? Or is it that it's effectively impossible to communicate in the galaxy without Comstar listening in?
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by NickAragua »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:43 pm By the way, can we do an investigation into how Comstar is learning this stuff, using both the last time and this time? Is there any indication that Comstar might have some sort of mole in our organization? Is it general Comstar intelligence gathering? Or is it that it's effectively impossible to communicate in the galaxy without Comstar listening in?
We could try to figure it out. We don't really have much in the way of spooks, so timeframe and effectiveness will be unknown.

Historically, ComStar has been a neutral party, allowing anyone to transmit information securely and reliably. But they're a monopoly and a creepy cult, and have had several hundred years to crack any kind of encryption you can think to put on your data. Whether or not they actually read your emails, well, depends on who you ask. If you ask someone from the Gray Death Legion, then yeah they probably read your emails. If you ask over in Marik space, you might just wind up accidentally falling down several flights of stairs into a couple of high-power laser beams. There are rumors of FedCom developing a mechanism to circumvent the HPG system, but most people don't have an inside line on the goings on of Steiner and Davion royalty.

Also, recently, they've started hiring mercenaries to safeguard their HPGs after several incidents involving people trying to use mechs to break into their facilities.

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Keep the Katapult - 7
Toss the Katapult - 2

Hire more people for digging - 1
Use our own people digging - 10
Since we have plenty of storage space, it won't really cost us that much to keep the Katapult. Before we even consider using it, we'll make a few of our minor modifications to it (reduce the size of the MG ammo bin for more armor, or drop the MGs entirely in favor of heat sinks) - we'll figure it out when we're somewhere we can do refits.

Having potential ComStar or other plants nosing around while we're digging up old underground facilities doesn't really smile on us, so we opt to carry out continued "archaeology projects" using our own tech crews and personnel for security. It reduces the number of personnel we have available to work on our mechs (as they're off driving and/or maintaining industrialmechs), but it's been a while since we've had problems with not having enough mech techs.

As the week nears its end and we patch up our mechs, another jumpship enters the system, providing a data dump. It seems that our jumpship has gotten their K-F drive coil repaired and has resumed traveling halfway across the Inner Sphere to get to where we are. They did wind up coming under attack at one of their stopovers. Well, technically, it wasn't them, it was a dropship that was catching a ride, but still. We even get a copy of the battle ROM.

Seems that, while waiting to recharge, the passenger Avenger-class dropship came under attack by pirates as it was trying to dock. Some of the pirates shot at our escort fighters as well, so the jumpship's captain order our fighters and his laser batteries to return fire. Things kind of deteriorated from there.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The Invader's laser batteries are nothing to write home about, and don't exactly have the best coverage, so we can pretend like it wasn't firing at anyone. A trio of Sparrowhawks and a Corsair engage our escort fighters - three Lucifers and a Shilone. One of our Lucifers works a Sparrowhawk's tail over with lasers, blasting large chunks out of its engine, and the light fighter peels off. We take some armor damage, while one of the Corsair's weapons winks out after a laser hit from another Lucifer.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
A second Sparrowhawk overdoes it with the g-forces and has to spend some time getting his fighter re-oriented properly. The area around the dropship clears a little - two of our Lucifers give chase to the out-of-control fighter, while our Shilone and a third Lucifer chase down the Corsair to the "south". The Corsair takes a beating and flies off, thrusters sputtering, while the out-of-control Sparrowhawk is pounded but remains intact. The Shilone's target drifts off as well, although both Corsair and Sparrowhawk fire up thrusters to get back into the fight.

The Avenger takes a beating (one of the fighters attacking it has a gauss rifle apparently), but it's pretty tough and should be able to hold up until we can get its fighters launched from our bays.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
"Dammit, number three, get back to the ship." the flight leader in the Shilone calls out to the guy in the Lucifer as he speeds after the Corsair. But she's got bigger problems, as the remaining Sparrowhawk has decided to take a pot shot at our jumpship. The Shilone swings around the back of the smaller fighter and blows through its rear armor with lasers, LRMs going internal and taking out the engine entirely, this becoming a rare case of an aerospace fighter we'll be able to capture.

One of our Lucifers goes to help out the Avenger, laying into the gauss-rifle-equipped craft and blasting a good chunk out of its engine.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
Two of the remaining fighters abandon their runs on the Avenger, a Cheetah making a pass at our jumpship, while another Sparrowhawk engages a Lucifer. Thankfully, our Invader's armor is a little too thick for the Cheetah's lasers, not even taking appreciable damage.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
A Stingray and a Sparrowhawk thrust in from the "east". They'll probably be a little too late to help their buddies out, but you never know.

The Avenger moves back towards our jumpship, while one of our Lucifers gets on the tail of a Sparrowhawk which is peppering the Avenger with laser fire. The Lucifer's lasers rake across the cockpit, and the small fighter drifts off, spinning lazily. The Cheetah gets pounded too, after taking another pot shot at our jumpship, and the aero jock has to content himself with drifting in space, waiting for his engines to restart.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
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Here come the new guys, two of our Lucifers move to engage them. The new Sparrowhawk gets really worked over, the fighter vibrating visibly as our Lucifers deliver their lasers.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
The damaged Sparrowhawk is out of control and rams into one of our Lucifers, completely breaking up - the Lucifer just goes spinning out of control, clipping his wingman and sending him flying as well. The hostile Stingray takes advantage by delivering a PPC and a laser to the rear of one of them. Although, it's a flying brick, so armor holds, obviously.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
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The Lucifers get it together and engage the Stingray. A Hellcat comes back, as does the Corsair. The Hellcat goes out of control while trying to avoid fire from the Avenger, though.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
The Corsair makes a pass at our jumpship, but its lasers are unable to penetrate the armor. With their Hellcat taking a major beating from the Avenger's fighters, the Corsair taking a cockpit hit from our Shilone and the Stingray suffering multiple armor breaches, the pirates decide to call it quits.

They actually only took "minor" losses - the pair of Sparrowhawks. Although, one of our Lucifers will need a good amount of time in the shop, on account of having been unintentionally rammed by one of the aforementioned light fighters. We repair the engine-less Sparrowhawk as best we can, then sell it.

Gbasden -
[] improves Piloting (2 to 1)
[] improves Gunnery (2 to 1)
[] improves Leadership (+3 to +4, improved odds of retaining personnel)

-----------------

Gbasden, Zarathud, don't read until the vote is resolved (others, put your votes in spoiler tags)
Spoiler:
We've got two mechwarriors who've pushed past 50 - Gbasden and Zarathud. Scrub considers and conspires with her fellow mechwarriors in their 30s how to handle this.

[] 50th birthday party!
[] 50th birthday party (surprise!)
[] No party :(
Black Lives Matter
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El Guapo
Posts: 41243
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by El Guapo »

Spoiler:
[] 50th birthday party!
[X] 50th birthday party (surprise!)
[] No party :(
Seems like an opportunity for wacky hijinks.
Black Lives Matter.
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Leraje
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 am
Location: NYC

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Leraje »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:38 pm
Spoiler:
[] 50th birthday party!
[X] 50th birthday party (surprise!)
[] No party :(
Seems like an opportunity for wacky hijinks.
Seconded.
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$iljanus
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Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by $iljanus »

Spoiler:
I like a surprise party! Will there be cake?
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
Stefan Stirzaker
Posts: 1136
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Location: Australia

Re: Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Leraje wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:52 pm
El Guapo wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:38 pm
Spoiler:
[] 50th birthday party!
[X] 50th birthday party (surprise!)
[] No party :(
Seems like an opportunity for wacky hijinks.
Seconded.
Thirded
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