Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

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Leraje
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

What are Dracs committing? we need something that is capable of outrunning them. :twisted:
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Gamma Probe.
Freyland wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:28 pm I haven't seen me for awhile! Go me! (Me largely shooting mech's in the back, but hey....)
That's the safest way to do it. You shoot them head on they have the annoying habit of shooting you back!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Leraje wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:53 pm What are Dracs committing? we need something that is capable of outrunning them. :twisted:
Heavy and a medium lance, and "armored infantry" (?). So yeah, we're not faster than the bear, but we're faster than the slowest guy in the group.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 6:45 pm Did the fighter that hit out Griffin carry like GRs? Because that's a truckload of damage.

No way to repair armor between battles, huh?
Two of them had ER PPCs, and two had full loads of HE bombs.

And yeah, we basically have two-three hours between "sets" of battles, which is barely enough time for a mech to sprint over from its previous battle.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:27 pm
Leraje wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:53 pm What are Dracs committing? we need something that is capable of outrunning them. :twisted:
Heavy and a medium lance, and "armored infantry" (?). So yeah, we're not faster than the bear, but we're faster than the slowest guy in the group.
Gamma-probe then, light mechs are useless unless it's bunch of Adders.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

[] Gamma-Probe: 4 medium mechs; more than enough for the job, but could be used elsewhere later?
[X] Delta-Sweep: 4 light mechs; should be enough for the job, but clan mechs are tough and have pulse lasers, so the speed won't make as much difference.
[] Alpha-Ranger: 4 "heavier" medium mechs; Lich's mech has some armor damage, could definitely be used elsewhere

Send the lights, hide behind the dracs and their infinite supply of mechs, don't cry too much when half our pilots don't come home.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Gamma-Probe - almost unanimous
Januar 5, 3052, 1346 hours
Katsura River Valley

This winds up being pretty much a no-brainer. Gamma-Probe can get to where they need to go and then get out. Nobody's sure why the House Kurita guys think that two lances of heavy/medium mechs is appropriate for a raid behind enemy lines, but Akalon just says "No, be quiet. We're not having this conversation."

Gamma-Probe is Akalon in an upgraded Vulcan, Bass in a Phoenix Hawk 3M, AWS in the Phoenix Hawk LAM and another pilot in a Phoenix Hawk 3D. The Kurita force brought eight standard mechs, and four three-man squads of battle armor. We'll see how they stack up against the clan battle armor. Bass's guess: "Yeah, right."

The clan force guarding the staging area is ten medium and light mechs, with a Hellbringer and Mad Dog on the heavy side of things. And also twenty Elementals, so we've got our work cut out for us.

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
Our lance deploys a little to the east while the two Kurita lances and their battle armor buddies come in from the northwest, getting the drop on a Hellbringer. Bass and the other Phoenix Hawk drill a Mad Dog with their Phoenix Hawks' extended-range lasers, melting a substantial amount of armor, which allows AWS to fire the Phoenix Hawk LAM's snub-nose PPC at the 60-ton mech's right torso. The high-energy particles melt through the remaining armor and contact an LRM ammo bin, which promptly explodes, sending a gout of flame out the back of the mech while its right arm goes flying off. With the mechwarrior unable to compensate, the mech drops to the ground, practically glowing red - it fired a lot of weapons. Another jet of flame blows out the left side of the mech as it hits the ground, leaving it little more than a pair of legs attached to a mangled mess. AWS smiles.

The Kurita Archer takes most of the return fire, including a center torso armor breach.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon follows the rest of his lance southeast, the group putting a hill between themselves and the bulk of the clanners. A Mist Lynx (a fast 25-tonner) tries to run up behind Bass - Akalon targets the mech with the Vulcan's twin medium lasers - one of the weapons makes contact with the left arm. The limb disappears as nearly a ton of LRM ammo detonates, puzzling our mechwarrior, who wonders if the clanners maybe forgot to close up their ammo bins before firing up their engines. Other than the loss of the left arm, though, the Mist Lynx seems more or less functional.

AWS jumps into a lake on top of the hill to the south, using the opportunity to fry an Elemental with a blast from the snub-nose PPC. "Think I'm finally getting the hang of this gun." our mechwarrior mutters.

To the west, a Hellbringer and a Wolverine exchange taking major damage, both mechs on the ground by the end of the massive weapons exchange. A nearby Kurita Griffin stomps on one of the Hellbringer's legs, cracking an actuator and the A-Pods (which might technically be useful this battle as the Kurita force has battle armor capable of climbing up a mech.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The two lances of Kurita mechs finally finish off the poor Hellbringer, knocking out its XL engine to force a shutdown. In the process, their Rifleman takes multiple armor breaches, as does the Wolverine. The Rifleman's situation is so bad that the mechwarrior actually doesn't reach the reactor shutdown button in time, and the mech deactivates, going into a "maintenance rest" position. Not great, given that there's a Kit Fox pointing a gauss rifle at his head. The Wolverine "just" drops to the ground.

Our mechs pull back a little, snapping off ineffectual laser shots while Bass' Phoenix Hawk takes a couple of LBX autocannon rounds, absorbing the pellets without much issue.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
The Kurita Archer leaves the battlefield, apparently having taken too much damage to continue fighting.

Bass, Akalon and the other Phoenix Hawk continue their wide arc to the south, Bass dragging a large laser beam across a Nova's head across a small valley.

As predicted, the Kit Fox uses its gauss rifle and medium lasers to eviscerate the downed Rifleman - the 60-ton mech's right foot disappears after a gauss slug slams into it, the right arm is cut off by a medium laser while the second laser enters directly into its center of mass, cutting bits of engine and gyro off. A nearby Centurion and a Shadow Hawk team up on the Kit Fox, the Shadow Hawk wrecking the light mech's leg with its autocannon - thankfully, that'll take the extremely mobile gauss rifle out of action, as it drops to the ground, unmoving. The mechwarrior must have blacked out - the short-range missile to the mech's head probably didn't help.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
The Kurita guys, in brave samurai fashion, cluster around the downed 25-ton Kit Fox and blow it to bits, while we exchange fire with the clanners on the hill to the east. Both us and the clanners lose some armor, while a Kurita Warhammer loses one if its PPC arms.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Glad you guys finally decided to join the fight." Bass comments as the Kurita mechs decide to engage the main body of the clans that, so far, we've been screening by ourselves. Gamma-Probe lance concentrates fire on a Stormcrow that moves a little too slowly, our Phoenix Hawks badly overheating themselves with their extended-range laser fire, but we score enough hits that the large amount of armor melting off the clan mech unbalances it, and it has to drop to a knee to prevent from falling over.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
A clan Mist Lynx (the same one whose LRM ammo Akalon detonated earlier) makes a tactical mistake (probably on account of his bell still ringing from the ammo explosion), jumping in within Akalon and AWS's jump jet range, allowing our mechwarriors to get behind the 25-ton mech and open fire with weapons, followed up by a rousing game of mech soccer, with the Mist Lynx serving as the ball. AWS takes a couple of laser hits from the clan back line, but the Mist Lynx loses its right leg - it twists to avoid Akalon's kick, only to run into AWS' boot. The right leg snaps off, the tear continuing through the torso section above, also separating the arm, and the light mech flops to the ground. It's not too much firepower loss for the clanners, as that mech had already lost its LRM/10 launcher, but every little bit helps.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
The Kurita Warhammer moves forward, Akalon and AWS briefly jumping behind it - the 70-ton mech lands a PPC shot on an approaching Nova. The shot should have taken the head off the clan mech, but just barely grazes it; instead, the Nova returns fire with its LRM/20 launcher, one cluster of missiles landing on the Warhammer's center of mass. Akalon cringes, already knowing what's going to happen - the machine gun ammo bin there detonates, ripping the Warhammer apart.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
A pair of clan mechs try to do a flanking run around our units, but Akalon is on the jump, firing the Vulcan's jump jets until they glow red hot and landing above a Mist Lynx. The Vulcan's laser blasts through the light mech's right torso, melting engine shielding and a jump jet. The damage is severe enough that the clanner decides to bug out right then and there.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
The allied Centurion takes a couple of laser blasts from an Ice Ferret that runs in while Gamma-Probe lance is cooling off - the left torso comes apart, half the LRM launcher falling off with the arm, and the mech dropping to the ground from the excessive damage.

Gamma-Probe's extended range weapons work great, as do the double heat sinks on the Phoenix Hawks, but we still have to spend some time cooling off if firing an excessive amount of lasers.

Round 11:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Phoenix Hawks focus fire on a Stormcrow trying to cross the valley between the clan-held hill and ours, a couple of pulse lasers stripping armor off the 55-ton mech and one zapping through to burst a heat sink and crack some engine shielding.

The Kurita battle armor, meanwhile, joins the fight, but not exactly in the way they wanted - a couple of stray cluster rounds from a Nova's LBX autocannon perforates one of the troopers, dropping him to the ground.

Round 12:
Spoiler:
Image
The damaged Stormcrow moves south, trying to get away from at least one of our Phoenix Hawks, but runs into an SRM salvo from the Kurita Wolverine - the missiles completely perforate the clan mech's engine, forcing it to shut down immediately and flop face first into the ground. It's dying salvo, though nearly cores out the Wolverine as well, while the nearby Ice Ferret blasts the 55-ton Kurita mech's right arm off, and the Wolverine joins the Stormcrow on the ground, where its left leg promptly snaps off.

Round 13:
Spoiler:
Image
Akalon watches the Nova to the north try to get a good angle on Bass' mech, but our mechwarrior fires up the Phoenix Hawk's jump jets and puts a hilltop between himself and the clan mech - this allows Akalon to redline the Vulcan's jump jets and land directly behind the Nova, unloading lasers into its back. A little engine damage causes the mech to stumble, at which point Akalon's machine gun rips through its cockpit, taking it out.

Bass duels inconclusively with a nearby Ice Ferret, meanwhile.

Round 14:
Spoiler:
Image
Bass heats his mech up pretty good, melting a significant amount of armor of an advancing Stormcrow - it looks like there are only three clan mechs left on the field, to our six, so we've probably got this in the bag, especially seeing as how our mechs are fast jumpers while theirs are mostly ... well, they're fast, but they're not jumpers.

Round 15:
Spoiler:
Image
"Somebody's made a mistake." AWS comments - three of our mechs get the drop on one of the Stormcrows. An LRM salvo from the Kurita Dervish exploits the damage we do to its armor, disabling one of the arms, the firepower forcing the mech to a knee.

Round 16:
Spoiler:
Image
As the Stormcrow gets up and moves north to join its buddy, we continue picking away at the two mechs. With no heavies to anchor our line, the situation becomes very fluid - what we excel at, actually. Until a Stormcrow draws a bead on Bass with its ultra AC/20 and saws his Phoenix Hawk's left leg off. Akalon retaliates by disabling the offending autocannon with the Vulcan's lasers, the mech's heat alert beeping up a storm. Both Bass and the Stormcrow drop to the ground.

It's crazy, but the Elementals actually shoot at something - the Kurita Dervish gets close to a few, and the ping some rifle rounds off its leg.

Round 17:
Spoiler:
Image
Both Bass and the downed Stormcrow get up, although Bass's feat is a little more impressive, considering that the Phoenix Hawk's left leg is little more than perforated metal shards.

Gamma-Probe lance splits their fire among the Stormcrows, with one Phoenix Hawk jumping behind the southern one and sawing its right arm off, while Akalon disables the right arm on the northern one with the Vulcan's lasers, continuing to ignore the blaring heat alarms. A pair of SRMs from a nearby Kurita Shadow Hawk blasts the leg actuators on Akalon's target.

Bass focuses on the southern Stormcrow, flaking armor off the mech, but then his mech just stops and drops to the ground as lasers pierce the engine shielding and the reactor initiates safety shutdown.

So does Bass's target after getting stomped by our other Phoenix Hawk as it goes down.

With the bulk of their mechs out of action, the Elementals and remaining Ice Ferret retreat to the north.

We did pretty well - Akalon's Vulcan and the second Phoenix Hawk are in excellent shape, with only minor armor damage. Bass's Phoenix Hawk is leaving the battlefield on the back of a salvage truck, while AWS' Phoenix Hawk LAM has an armor breach on the left arm.

The Kurita guys did marginally less well - out of the eight mechs they showed up with, they have three functional ones left: a Shadow Hawk with a busted autocannon, a Griffin with multiple armor breaches and a Dervish. Their battle armor was pretty useless, except for absorbing a couple of bursts from an LBX autocannon. Well, who knows, maybe they'll get there eventually. It's definitely better and more maneuverable than our stupid grenade launcher suits.

Our salvage is a couple of Mist Lynxes, a Stormcrow and the Nova. The Kurita guys walk away with an engine-killed Hellbringer, a Vulture missing most of its torso section, an engine-killed Stormcrow and some spare parts belonging to a Kit Fox (at this point, the 25-mech is just a loose gauss rifle with a cockpit and a leg lying somewhere nearby).

We could probably hook up a trade, but there's nothing particularly attractive for us, and the salvage we did get has a lot of medium lasers.

Our next assistance request comes from a local planetary militia force, of all things. Two mech lances, one medium, one light, accompanied by a light armor lance, some infantry, and a Monitor naval vessel are attempting to hold a bridge crossing against ten clan mechs, mediums and lights, plus something like forty Elementals.

We could send a real mech lance over, which would cut into our mech lance budget (we're down to eight operational lances, and can probably put together another one from mechs that are starting to come back from earlier battles). Or, we could send some of our hovertanks over, this is more their speed. The Scimitar/Drillson lance has slightly longer range but is a little slower, while the Falcons and Zephyr really cook up close, as long as they don't get hit.

[] Send mech lance, Delta-Sweep (lights)
[] Send mech lance, Alpha-Ranger (mediums, but minor battle damage)
[] Send a hovertank lance (3x Falcon, 1x Zephyr)
[] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:02 am

[] Send mech lance, Delta-Sweep (lights)
[] Send mech lance, Alpha-Ranger (mediums, but minor battle damage)
[] Send a hovertank lance (3x Falcon, 1x Zephyr)
[X] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)
Seems like too low a priority to spare a mech lance right now. And seems like it's probably better to have a mix of short and long-range tanks.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

El Guapo wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:21 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:02 am

[] Send mech lance, Delta-Sweep (lights)
[] Send mech lance, Alpha-Ranger (mediums, but minor battle damage)
[] Send a hovertank lance (3x Falcon, 1x Zephyr)
[X] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)
Seems like too low a priority to spare a mech lance right now. And seems like it's probably better to have a mix of short and long-range tanks.
Agreed. Hovertanks should be able to bug out if things go south, failing that, they are less valuable than mechs.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:02 am Another jet of flame blows out the left side of the mech as it hits the ground, leaving it little more than a pair of legs attached to a mangled mess. AWS smiles.
Image
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

:mrgreen:

[X] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)

That's a lot of elementals, which are useless at range, would you salvage and use their suits or are they too big for our guys? Also, are you taking bondsmen?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

For all that Elementals are talked up so much, they seem to do little more than annoy and soak damage- valuable on its own, but not the iron men I've been lead to expect.

40 of them, however, is a shitload of armor points walking about.

Also, god damn but these fights are always uneven as hell. 8 shitty IS lightweights and 4 disposable vehicles vs ten lean, mean killing machines and their fourty murder buddies.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:48 am For all that Elementals are talked up so much, they seem to do little more than annoy and soak damage- valuable on its own, but not the iron men I've been lead to expect.

40 of them, however, is a shitload of armor points walking about.

Also, god damn but these fights are always uneven as hell. 8 shitty IS lightweights and 4 disposable vehicles vs ten lean, mean killing machines and their fourty murder buddies.
Unless we can destroy their mechs before those 40 elementals get into the thick of the fight, or destroy the elementals before they do and still take their mechs, I don't see this fight going well.

[X] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)

Remind them this is not a suicide mission, it starts going south, get the hell outta there!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Leraje wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:08 am
El Guapo wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:21 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:02 am

[] Send mech lance, Delta-Sweep (lights)
[] Send mech lance, Alpha-Ranger (mediums, but minor battle damage)
[] Send a hovertank lance (3x Falcon, 1x Zephyr)
[X] Send a hovertank lance (2x Zephyr, 1x Scimitar, 1x Drillson)
Seems like too low a priority to spare a mech lance right now. And seems like it's probably better to have a mix of short and long-range tanks.
Agreed. Hovertanks should be able to bug out if things go south, failing that, they are less valuable than mechs.
All our assets are valuable...but some are more valuable than others.

Send in the hover tanks!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Hovertanks - 3x Falcon, Zephyr ||
Hovertanks - 2x Zephyr/Scimitar/Drillson ||||||
January 5, 3052
Shaidan Basin, Amori Military District

As it turns out, it's a lot quicker to get fast hovercraft over there than our mechs. After a little bit of discussion, we decide to send the Drillson, Scimitar and twin Zephyrs in to tag targets for the Kurita LRMs.

The clan mechs are a little weird, stuff we haven't seen before - a lot of them look like standard Inner Sphere mechs: two Jenners, two Locusts, a Griffin and a Shadow Hawk. Although, granted their mass readings are all wrong and their weapon loadout doesn't match any configurations in use in the Inner Sphere. Also, a few other mechs that our hovertanks identify as "Incubus", "Horned Owl" and "Conjurer", which we have no idea of their capabilities.

Plus the enormous gaggle of Elementals splashing through the swamps.

The main bad thing about the Kurita setup is that they've set all their mechs up in a swamp. Which, granted, has lured the clanners into said swamp as well, but it means everybody's maneuvering options are limited.

Except for ours, because we have hovercraft. Ha ha!

Round 1:
Spoiler:
Image
The standard long-range exchange of fire occurs. The Kurita Warhammer is being smart and camping out in the narrow brook to the west, which lets it keep cool and deliver a PPC blast to the advancing "Shadow Hawk"'s right arm, while letting the water absorb several LRMs that would have hit its legs. It still takes some damage, though.

Round 2:
Spoiler:
Image
We keep our hovercraft on the east side of the river, waiting for the clanners to engage the Kurita force a little closer - the hovertanks aren't brawlers, and zipping in to battle against mechs likely equipped with pulse lasers isn't the best idea without backup.

The Warhammer continues enjoying the benefits of hanging out in the brook, the water absorbing a pair of laser shots, but streak SRMs begin to pelt the torso and arm armor as it delivers a PPC blast to an advancing Conjurer's torso, with an allied Striker tank joining in to pelt the clan mech with some SRMs.

The Monitor naval vessel gets in on the action as a Jenner opens fire on it, blasting the main gun assembly with a good number of SRMs. Between the minor hull breach and the complete loss of turret traversal ability, the Monitor's usefulness is pretty reduced.

Round 3:
Spoiler:
Image
The Clan mechs have apparently decided that they've had enough of this nonsense and move to engage at optimal weapons range: one of the Jenners plasters a Kurita Wolverine with short range missiles - it doesn't actually inflict too much damage, but does score a head shot, with several Elemental squads joining in. After taking three missiles to the cockpit, the mechwarrior decides he's had enough and passes out, the 55-ton mech dropping into the muck.

A pulse laser zaps armor off the Kurita Assassin's left leg - meanwhile, the Conjurer in the back rapid-fires its pulse laser and blows the left arm off a Kurita Stinger while frying a heat sink with another laser. The bug mech is in pretty sad shape, a problem which is exacerbated when an Incubus runs its pulse laser down the poor 20-tonner's center torso; at that point, the mech just falls apart.

A squad of Elementals jumps in close to the Monitor, sending SRMs into its primary fuel tank and blowing it sky high. Or is it the four tons of ammo blowing up that does that? An academic question, really.

The Kurita Warhammer responds by frying an advancing Jenner's right arm with one of its PPCs, and we all know where Jenners keep half their weapons, so that's pretty good, even though this is a weird Jenner design with sixteen SRM tubes instead of the standard laser/SRM (or just plain laser) loadout. Still, the clan mech's momentary hesitation allows a Striker tank to lock on to it with LRMs and blast the left arm off as well, leaving the mech with not much to go on as it drops to a knee in an attempt to balance itself.

Round 4:
Spoiler:
Image
As our hovercraft back off to prepare for another attack run, a couple of clan mechs close in on the main Kurita body. You'd expect this to turn out poorly for the two mechs that chose to land in a swamp, but the Conjurer just absorbs all the Warhammer's point-blank range firepower and keeps going, although it's lost a good amount of armor.

The Assassin tries to get a good angle on the Conjurer, and actually succeeds, but also lets most of the Elementals and a bunch of clan mechs have a good angle on itself. Lasers and SRMs vector in, blowing away arms and legs, until the mech is nothing but a fusion engine and a couple of ammo bins strapped to a cockpit. To add insult to injury, when the wreckage hits the ground, one of the ammo bins explodes.

Round 5:
Spoiler:
Image
As the clanners shift their fire to the Kurita Phoenix Hawk and Panther, our hovertanks come around for a pass on a Locust hanging out in the back. Despite being slowed down by the mucky terrain, the mech avoids most of our fire, only taking a few LRMs and a medium laser.

The main good point here is that the Elementals, based on what we know of their capabilities, are probably going to be running dry on SRMs soon, which should let our hovercraft harass them with impunity from a 90+ meter range. That just leaves those pesky clan mechs un-handled.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
"Swing around, target that Griffin... whatever the hell it is." Our lance leader orders. It's not a bad idea - the Griffin's operator has decided to jump into some muck, and spends a little too much time trying to spring himself loose, and not enough time paying attention to the four hovercraft directing all weapons fire at him. Several medium laser blasts and SRM salvos later, the 40-ton (?!) mech is staggering, and the Kurita Warhammer uses the opportunity to disable one of its arms. One of our Zephyrs takes some major motive damage from nearby Elementals that had saved some SRMs - while not entirely disabled, it's slowed down enough that the only option is to retreat at this point.

A mech labeled "Horned Owl" (massing 35 tons) blasts away at the Kurita Panther, taking out its right leg and the left arm, effectively disabling the fellow 35-tonner. Upon hitting the ground, it stops moving entirely.

Meanwhile, a clan "Shadow Hawk" gets in among the Kurita vehicles and splatters a Striker tank, and a Kurita Wasp takes some major damage as well.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
"We are unable to hold these bridges." comes a transmission from the Kurita Warhammer. "Trigger the charg... ". At this point, the transmission cuts out, and we watch the heavy mech drop into the water with a several smoking openings in its center torso, though not before taking the Conjurer's left arm off and inflicting major torso damage with an SRM salvo.

Our hovercraft break south, intending to get a couple more shots off before leaving - we get the drop on a Jenner, and our Drillson also nails the Conjurer with some LRMs, taking out a pair of the 50-ton mech's lasers.

Round 8:
Spoiler:
Image
Nobody noticed it with all the weapons fire, but a squad of Elementals have managed to make it on board one of our Zephyrs, which is somewhat intimidating. For now, the battle armor troopers are unable to finish our tank off, but neither is our tank able to shake them off.

Our Drillson manages to nail a clan "Jenner" with its large laser, sawing off the left arm and cutting into the torso, which damages the gyro and engine shielding, causing the mech to wobble - although it ultimately remains upright.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
One of our damaged Zephyrs tries to gun it down the river, hoping to escape the Elementals on the shoreline, but is immobilized by laser fire from the battle armor suits and sinks.

The swarmed Zephyr meets its end, the clan Elementals ripping the plating apart and "vacating" the crew (and putting a few MG rounds through the main turbine to boot).

The Kurita Trebuchet falls, destroyed by a series of pulse laser blasts to the torso.

The Kurita Vedette, of all things, manages to blow the right arm off the clan "Shadow Hawk", severely damaging the mech's right torso as well. However, without any mechs to hold things down, the remaining Kurita tanks and infantry are quickly massacred, and our remaining hovertanks retreat across the river and back to our territory.

Not the most efficient victory for the clans, especially with the bridge charges going off, which means only their jump-capable mechs can cross this river (and Elementals have to catch a ride), but they took out a good amount of hardware without fully losing any mechs. The four that did take heavy damage probably won't be participating in this invasion any more at the rate things are going, but the Kurita guys lost a lot more. We may theoretically be able to recover our drowned Zephyr if the invasion is repelled, but it's unlikely.

Up next, we have a "request" from our liaison to supply a mech lance "suitable for operations in a suburban environment". The goal is to defend an outlying Luthien Armor Works plant from a clan star that broke through allied lines. Luckily, the Kurita forces and us will have had enough time to set up an ambush in the suburbs through which the clanners are moving in.

We've got a few lances that can do the job:

[] Alpha-Ranger: fast, maybe not too suitable for ambush warfare
[] Alpha-Urban: two heavy, two medium mechs, including a Hunchback.
[] Beta-Assault: kind of longer-ranged than we'd prefer for a point-blank ambush
[] Delta-Sweep: four light mechs, not the most useful for an ambush
[] Gamma-Battle: Solid up-close lance, but maybe we'd like to save them for later
[] Heavy Tank Lance: Heavy metal, but the tanks are mostly long-range combatants
[] 1st Hover Lance: 4x close-range hovertanks, but maybe not the best for the suburban environment
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

NickAragua wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:15 pm

We've got a few lances that can do the job:

[] Alpha-Ranger: fast, maybe not too suitable for ambush warfare
[] Alpha-Urban: two heavy, two medium mechs, including a Hunchback.
[] Beta-Assault: kind of longer-ranged than we'd prefer for a point-blank ambush
[] Delta-Sweep: four light mechs, not the most useful for an ambush
[X] Gamma-Battle: Solid up-close lance, but maybe we'd like to save them for later
[] Heavy Tank Lance: Heavy metal, but the tanks are mostly long-range combatants
[] 1st Hover Lance: 4x close-range hovertanks, but maybe not the best for the suburban environment
This seems like the perfect engagement for them, so I'd use them rather than save them for another hypothetical engagement that may or may not be a better fit.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Do we have any info on the make-up of the Clan star? Or the allied forces?

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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

TheMix wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:35 pm Do we have any info on the make-up of the Clan star? Or the allied forces?
Clans: Mixed medium-heavy star
Friendlies: Heavy lance, 3x infantry platoon
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Then I'm on board with Gamma-Battle assuming they are at least mediums.

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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

Though I really hope their heavy isn't like the one we fought. Since we won't have "Dead-eye Guapo" to help.

(Sure hope I got the credit right since I didn't go look it up...)

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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by $iljanus »

Trying to decide between Alpha-Urban and Gamma-Battle but I think I'm tending towards Gamma. As El Guapo said it's probably better to deploy them in the battle we know vs a hypothetical situation in the future.

If you can remind me, what's the makeup of Gamma Battle?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

Yeah, Gamma-Battle. If this is their optimal fight, let's take advantage of it.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

$iljanus wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:24 pm Trying to decide between Alpha-Urban and Gamma-Battle but I think I'm tending towards Gamma. As El Guapo said it's probably better to deploy them in the battle we know vs a hypothetical situation in the future.

If you can remind me, what's the makeup of Gamma Battle?
Black Knight, Grasshopper, Catapult. We'll have to sub in something else for the Thunderbolt, that's a little shot up with two armor breaches and only six shots of LRM/15 ammo left.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Hyena »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:52 am
$iljanus wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:24 pm Trying to decide between Alpha-Urban and Gamma-Battle but I think I'm tending towards Gamma. As El Guapo said it's probably better to deploy them in the battle we know vs a hypothetical situation in the future.

If you can remind me, what's the makeup of Gamma Battle?
Black Knight, Grasshopper, Catapult. We'll have to sub in something else for the Thunderbolt, that's a little shot up with two armor breaches and only six shots of LRM/15 ammo left.
Not even sure if this is an option, but do you need to sub me and my Grasshopper in? (Unless I am otherwise indisposed...or you know, dead or something...)
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Gamma. Not biased at all :D Though tbh, I'm a beet leery of bringing a Cat into a close-range fight.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by El Guapo »

Yeah, is it possible to swap out the Catapult for something more short range? Or do we need something in the back shooting LRMs down boulevards?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by gbasden »

Not to swim against the tide, but I'd vote for Alpha-Urban. It even has urban in the name! And I think we want to save our heavy punchers for a more difficult battle.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

gbasden wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 3:39 pm Not to swim against the tide, but I'd vote for Alpha-Urban. It even has urban in the name! And I think we want to save our heavy punchers for a more difficult battle.
I agree with this.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TheMix »

I confess, I have no idea what the makeup is of any of our lances. So I don't know which lances are heavy hitters. If it's overkill, then I'm okay with sending a lighter lance. Though, perhaps overkill makes more sense. If a lance can get the job done without taking significant damage, it can potentially be used again.

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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by moleymoleymoley »

[x] Alpha-Urban: two heavy, two medium mechs, including a Hunchback.

This, purpose built for ambushing in a city!
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

What's in which lance? A Hunchie really ought to be in a urban brawl like this.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by AWS260 »

The description said "suburban," so I'm pretty sure this battle will take place in a mall.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

Vote Results:
Spoiler:
Alpha-Urban |||||||
Gamma-Battle |||||
January 5, 3052
Luthien Armor Works Plant, Jirushi City, Luthien

Alpha-Urban lance gets "the nod", although we swap Moley with his head bandages and his Thunderbolt with multiple armor breaches out for Zarathud's Hunchback. The other two mechs are a Raven - the extra ECM action should help conceal us from any active probes - and the Caesar: this fella packs a gauss rifle, an ER PPC, four pulse lasers (although two are rear-facing, we didn't have the time to rotate them in the right direction) and way too many heat sinks.

The Kurita guys have brought a Crusader, a Thunderbolt, a Grand Dragon and a Shadow Hawk.

The clanners have a Timberwolf, a Stormcrow, a Summoner, a Mad Dog and an Adder (a squat little 35-ton mech with very limited torso-rotation capabilities but a good amount of weapons).

Round 1-5:
Spoiler:
Image
The clanners move forward, slowly picking their way through the suburbs between them and the factory complex.

Round 6:
Spoiler:
Image
Our Raven blasts a Stormcrow walking by, flaking armor off the enemy mech with lasers and SRMs - but perhaps it was a mistake. The clanners are quick to react, and before we can do anything, the Raven has already taken a gauss slug through the center torso, cracking the engine shielding, and the building it was hiding in is now a pile of rubble over a kneeling 35-ton mech with basically no armor left - the Stormcrow turns around and kicks it over, our mech's left leg snapping in half and the left weapons mount crushed on a rock.

Round 7:
Spoiler:
Image
Our mechs leave their hiding spots, as do the Kurita mechs.

Zarathud plows through the building where the Hunchback and Caesar were hiding, not even bothering to go all the way out, just far enough to fire the AC/20 at the adjacent Vulture. The autocannon slug spangs off the side of the Vulture's rather large cockpit, leaving just enough room for one of the Hunchback's lasers to get through the armor and fry the mechwarrior inside.

Hyena, meanwhile, moves around the corner, firing at the Summoner, scoring hits with PPCs and SRMs, but that doesn't prevent it from coring out the downed Raven with a gauss slug to the center of mass. The ejection seat misfires as the SRM ammo explodes and the mechwarrior winds up trapped in the rubble.

Our Caesar, meanwhile, moves behind the Timber Wolf, blasting away its left arm armor and half the actuators with the mech's extended-range PPC and a pair of pulse lasers, while sending a gauss slug into the Stormcrow's right arm. Return fire strips some armor from our mech, while the Timberwolf drops to the ground to avoid the inevitable kick through the rear torso. Hyena gives it a good stomp though, removing a significant amount of left torso armor.

Round 8:
[camera feed damaged]
Our Caesar tumbles off the small hill as the Timberwolf backs up, leaving Hyena and the Stormcrow more or less by themselves. The two mechs exchange fire, the upgraded Warhammer's PPC and lasers melting armor, while streak SRMs fly in - the left arm comes off, while an actuator on the right hand is damaged. Hyena's mech starts beeping, alerting our mechwarrior to a center torso armor breach. Still, our Warhammer is upright at the end of the exchange, the Stormcrow is not.

The Kurita mechs focus fire on the Timberwolf as it backs up, inflicting a good amount of armor damage, although the Shadow Hawk's autocannon blows out under return fire.

Round 9:
Spoiler:
Image
Zarathud moves southeast, engaging the Adder, which returns the favor - our Hunchback loses armor on the left leg. The Adder also fires its flamer, bathing our mech in superheated reactor exhaust - a heat sink basically evaporates while one of the actuators melts.

In exchange, Thud's autocannon barks, followed by a couple of medium laser blasts, and the Puma's left torso section disappears. The mech shuts down and drops to the rooftop where it was camping out.

Hyena and the Timberwolf continue exchanging fire, PPC blasts gouging huge chunks out of both mechs' armor, but the clan mech comes out worse off, since a couple of Kurita mechs help out, and is forced to a knee.

The Kurita Grand Dragon gets outmatched by the Stormcrow and forced to a knee as well after a couple of its leg actuators pop.

Round 10:
Spoiler:
Image
Both Thud and Hyena's mechs have overheated pretty badly, and thus creak and groan as their mechwarriors try to get them to move.

So does the Timberwolf, but as our Caesar moves to engage it, the Kurita Crusader opens up with its leg-mounted SRMs, plastering an armor breach with short, stubby warheads: one of the clan mech's ammo bins explodes, blowing the left arm off, with the rest of the blast redirected through blowout panels in the front and back of the mech. The 75-tonner seizes up and what remains of it drops to the ground. Sure, the Crusader shuts down afterwards from the incredible amount of heat it generated, but it was worth it.

Hyena performs a similar trick on the Stormcrow, absorbing the hostile mech's SRM salvo then detonating the remaining missiles in their ammo bins using a combination of lasers and streak SRMs.

With things going completely wrong for the clanners, the Thor simply turns around and walks off the field.

Other than the Raven being totaled, we did pretty well on that one, and so did the Kurita force, with only one seriously damaged mech. Hyena's mech has several armor breaches as does Zarathud's, but the Caesar is in pretty good shape, except for the mechwarrior's pride - nobody likes admitting that they fell while walking backwards down a relatively smooth slope.

We even managed to keep damage to the factory and town to a bare minimum, just a few stray blast craters and one partially collapsed apartment complex (and really, what's a few mech-shaped holes in some walls between friends).

Salvage will be pretty good - we scored a Mad Dog, a Stormcrow and an Adder. Not in the best shape, but we'll be able to pull equipment off of them.

---

Overall, reports indicate that the clan invasion is being blunted pretty badly - a good number of clan units have broken through the initial blockades of their landing zones, but have taken heavy losses as House Kurita and allied mercenary units bleed them for every inch. Clan and Kurita forces are converging on a valley just outside Imperial city and it looks like that's where they'll have their final battle.

We are expected to divert two lances to outlying sites, but the rest of our forces are expected to engage additional clan forces trying to make their way to Kado-guchi Valley and prevent them from joining the battle there.

One lance will be defending an iron mining complex out in the desert to the south of the Imperial City. The other will be defending a "Buda Imperial Vehicles" production complex. Despite the name, the weapons and ammo they manufacture are used for mechs as well, so it's not quite as much of crap job as one might think. Let's pick one lance for "desert hills" work (possibly night-time) and one lance for "heavy urban" work. Opposition is unknown at this time, but the Kurita force defending the mining complex is a light-medium-heavy mech company with infantry support, while the manufacturing complex is defended by a medium mech lance with infantry and battle armor support.

[] Alpha-Ranger: four medium, jump-capable mechs; can maneuver easily in any setting
[] Beta-Assault: basically guarantees we'll make hash of clan forces wherever they're assigned, but is slow
[] Delta-Sweep: four light, jump-capable mechs; can maneuver easily in any setting
[] Gamma-Battle: Solid up-close heavy lance, but ground-bound
[] Heavy Tank Lance: Heavy metal, but the tanks are mostly long-range combatants and slow
[] 1st Hover Lance: 4x close-range hovertanks; could be good in the desert
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by gbasden »

If we were to assign a lighter lance, such as Alpha-Ranger to the desert site, could we also use a hovercraft lance, or are we limited to strictly one lance per site no matter what it is?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

Given the fact that the clans are matching the Kuritas 1:1 in deployed units, I'm extremely suspicious of deploying one lance to aid a company of Kuritas.

Who else is in Alpha-Ranger with me?
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

NickAragua wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 6:23 pm [] Gamma-Battle: Solid up-close heavy lance, but ground-bound
Isn't Gamma-battle Black Knight, Grasshopper, Catapult and one more? If so, at least 3 mechs are jump-capable... Would "volunteer" it for the hills.

Alpha ranger for Urban.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by NickAragua »

TotallyNotEvil wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 7:22 pm Who else is in Alpha-Ranger with me?
Ostroc, Wolverine and Dervish 6M with double heat sinks.
Leraje wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 8:05 pm Isn't Gamma-battle Black Knight, Grasshopper, Catapult and one more? If so, at least 3 mechs are jump-capable... Would "volunteer" it for the hills.
Good point, I keep forgetting the BK has jump jets, heh.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Zenn7 »

If we thought Gamma Battle was good for the last urban fight, why not use it for this urban fight?

Send the 1st Hover Lancers into the desert as our where they might potentially be useful.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by Leraje »

Zenn7 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:17 pm If we thought Gamma Battle was good for the last urban fight, why not use it for this urban fight?

Send the 1st Hover Lancers into the desert as our where they might potentially be useful.
Howers and hills do not mix well iirc, especially at night.
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Re: Let's Play: Battletech via MegaMek (G2)

Post by TotallyNotEvil »

Leraje wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:25 pm
Zenn7 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:17 pm If we thought Gamma Battle was good for the last urban fight, why not use it for this urban fight?

Send the 1st Hover Lancers into the desert as our where they might potentially be useful.
Howers and hills do not mix well iirc, especially at night.
It says otherwise in the description?

1st Hover Lance: 4x close-range hovertanks; could be good in the desert
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