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The colours in the old are nicer though. A bit of red for the cockpits and so on. Breaks it up a bit, y'know?
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Aug 20, 2023 00:04
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I like the new cockpits, the red glow is a bit too evil robot.
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Aug 20, 2023 00:55
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Some mechs still have red cockpits, but it looks like they're gradually being phased out. As an aside, here's a little interim update to show how the repairs are going.  Our mechs and salvage have been recovered, along with compensation for battle damage and the reward for the last mission’s secondary objective.  As per the thread’s instructions, I immediately sell the Stinger. As a happy accident, it turns out that I have been recording the ransom value of the mechs in the salvage updates instead of the sale price, so the unit sells for double the anticipated profits.   Sadanobu gets to work stripping the vehicles, starting with the armour. Removing / repairing armour is pretty simple and can be done by even green techs. In fact it’s an excellent way to train up new technicians since even if they roll a critical failure they won’t damage anything vital. You might lose the armour, but that's dirt cheap and easily replaceable.  Our other techs get stuck in with repairs. There aren’t any major fixes, so it all goes pretty smoothly.  Johann orders the parts needed to repair the Phoenix Hawk and Trebuchet. Some can be found on Castor, but most need to be shipped in from off-world. MekHQ has a dynamic supply system where the more industrialised a world is, the higher the chance you’ll be able to source a particular part, so if you’re out in the boonies you might have to wait a month or three for a replacement engine to ship in.  We are also running a bit low on armour, so Johann also orders some more of that too.    Slowly but surely, the components are shipped in, and the techs begin the process of rebuilding the Trebuchet and Phoenix Hawk.  On May 10th we get this interesting bit of news. Wolf’s Dragoons have signed on with Janos Marik and are now attacking the Lyran Commonwealth.  Once the Phoenix Hawk is fully repaired it’s time to begin the refitting process. I choose Samuel Kost to oversee the project, since he is the most experienced tech we have and therefore the least likely to fail the final roll that can double the length of time the mech spends in the repair bay. Even so, he still needs an 8+, so there’s a better than average chance he’ll fail. Even simple refits are complicated, especially in the LosTech era.  Thankfully it all goes well. Sam curses and chain-smokes a hundred of his rancid cigarettes to put himself in the right frame of mind, and the refit is completed after only five days.  With all the repairs and modifications completed, I have the techs mothball all of the company’s battlemechs. Mothballed mechs don’t require any maintenance, which saves a lot of money in the long run. Rule of thumb is, if you have a mech you aren’t using, mothball it as soon as you can. Mothballed mechs can be reactivated within 24 hours, which is usually short enough that you can have them up and running in an emergency. Our work on Castor is done, but the contract was for a full year, so all that’s left to do now is kick back and draw our salary until 3016. I'll give it another day or two before concluding the personnel vote and advancing the timeline some more. Scintilla fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Aug 20, 2023 |
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Aug 20, 2023 07:35
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There was some very nice stuff from this campaign, three more medium mechs is a solid gain! That said, the only thing i could think of at this stage is possibly to refit the SHD-2H to a 2K or one of the Locusts to a LCT-1E.
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Aug 20, 2023 11:57
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I see why you went with the easier repair rules. There were at least 4 different repairs/salvages that would have failed if we weren’t using the easier repair rules. Along with a couple failures that I think may have done some damage. We’re doing good I’d say. Scored us some new mechs and a bunch of money. Though I think we used up a lot of the money on parts, refits, and so on
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Aug 20, 2023 13:10
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Nice job, techs
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Aug 20, 2023 15:22
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Koorisch posted:That said, the only thing i could think of at this stage is possibly to refit the SHD-2H to a 2K or one of the Locusts to a LCT-1E. There's enough time and resources to do these. At this point in time the company has nearly 2 million C-Bills in the bank, and all our techs are twiddling their thumbs. Refitting the Shadow Hawk into a 2K will replace its weapons with an LRM-5 and a PPC and add 5 extra heat sinks, basically turning it into a quasi-Griffin. It will cost 220,000 C-Bills to buy the PPC and the refitting process will take 3510 minutes at minimum. Refitting one of the Locusts to a 1E will replace the Machine Guns with Small Lasers and add half a ton of armour. We already have the Small Lasers, so it won't cost anything, but will take 1760 minutes at minimum. Impromptu Thread Vote: Should these refits be carried out? Please vote yes or no for both.
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Aug 20, 2023 19:44
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voting Yes on the refits, those are both really solid improvements.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:09
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I figure Yes makes the most sense for both. Nothing to do but wait around anyways. BT, especially without SL tech or other things future in the timeline, REALLY hates on those smaller ballistic weapons. PPC's gonna be better at hole punching than the AC/5 at similar ranges plus you ditch the AC/5 ammo and SRM/2 ammo for safety measures. For the Locust, having one be a bit more dangerous and tanky (as much as a 20 ton mech can be 'tanky') is only a good thing. As long as we have SOME anti-infantry capabilities, we should be good.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:13
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Abstaining on the Shadowhawk, the 2K is clearly better but I don't really have an opinion on whether it's worth the cost, plus I have always found the SHD endearingly lovely. Vote yes on the Locust upgrade though, the opportunity cost is negligible and it's a better variant.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:23
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Scintilla posted:With all the repairs and modifications completed, I have the techs mothball all of the company’s battlemechs. Mothballed mechs don’t require any maintenance, which saves a lot of money in the long run. Rule of thumb is, if you have a mech you aren’t using, mothball it as soon as you can. Mothballed mechs can be reactivated within 24 hours, which is usually short enough that you can have them up and running in an emergency. That's really convenient. Not really what "mothballing" means, but yeah, cool. Are they mothballed with weapons and armour? Because that's even better than what the video-game did.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:30
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I don't know about the SHD but it does sound good, so I will vote yes. Removing any MGs is a big plus for me, so yes as well. Can we do it's on both LCTs?
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Aug 20, 2023 20:31
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painedforever posted:Are they mothballed with weapons and armour? Because that's even better than what the video-game did. Yep, mothballed mechs keep their current loadout / condition. Space Kablooey posted:Removing any MGs is a big plus for me, so yes as well. Can we do it's on both LCTs? Just one. I plan on using infantry as part of the OpFor in the future, and having at least some mechs with Machine Guns helps ensure that fighting them won't be too tedious for the players.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:36
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I'm going to say Yes on both of them. I feel like giving the Shadow Hawk a more focused combat role and removing some of its ammo will help it out. Slightly upping the Locust's damage output and armor is also a win as far as I care
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Aug 20, 2023 21:39
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abstaining on SHD-2K, yes on LCT-1E
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Aug 20, 2023 22:23
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One of the Shadow Hawk's problems is that it's full of explosive ammo that it just can't use quickly enough. An average game probably isn't going to last more than 15 turns, and a Shadow Hawk has 3 weapons systems that will still have ammo left after Turn 15 even if they're fired every single turn (and two of those will still have over half of their ammo left). The SHD-2K doesn't completely alleviate this because it's still saddled with an LRM-5; but a Shadow Hawk with 1 ton of LRM-5 ammo is still far safer than one with 1 ton of LRM-5 ammo, 1 ton of SRM-2 ammo, and 1 ton of AC/5 ammo. And PPCs are just good weapons that never really go obsolete.
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Aug 20, 2023 23:40
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yes on both refits
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Aug 21, 2023 00:01
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Yes to both, machineguns are deathtraps and basic AC/5s are woefully inefficient. There really isn't a reason to keep MGs for anti-infantry purposes when flamers do the same job just as well while also having more anti-armor utility. Kind of a shame we wrecked that Firestarter. Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Aug 21, 2023 |
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Aug 21, 2023 00:13
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Every battletech video game I've ever played has been a conflict between fitting weapons I think are cool and fun vs fitting ML's and PPC's to everything because they Just Work
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Aug 21, 2023 00:18
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Considering how often you have CASE in the games, you tend to not notice ammo explosions as much while here in TT they're absolutely catastrophic and *will* ruin your day when you get TAC'd, like how we saw earlier with that Whitworth turning into a smoking husk.
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Aug 21, 2023 01:32
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Yes to both
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Aug 21, 2023 01:34
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Slavvy posted:Every battletech video game I've ever played has been a conflict between fitting weapons I think are cool and fun vs fitting ML's and PPC's to everything because they Just Work Yeah, that's kinda the pain in the rear end about BT. It'd be honestly more efficient if every single AC/2 and AC/5 were replaced with energy weapons (mostly medium lasers) or missiles (because long range or crit fishing). But that's why we have all of these fun, mostly janky designs.
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Aug 21, 2023 01:43
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This is why I dramatically buff AC2 and 5s whenever I play the PC games. AC2s at 1.5 tons (or thereabouts) are vastly more palatable than stock.
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Aug 21, 2023 01:45
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Mekhq has a button that ups the ac damage to help it out. 3/6/12 maybe (can't recall if the 20s were changed). I didn't set it because princess likes putting 27 vedettes in every mission, but it's there.
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Aug 21, 2023 03:34
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For me personally it is never an option really taken in the games, but there's no substitute for weight reductions on the non AC20 autocannons. Never happens because then you have to re-do a jillion stock variants, but it's the only way to make the curve of weapon progression work out. I still feel like it's worthwhile because the AC2 and 5 armed units tend to be the most criminally under-armored (and sometimes sink'ed or ammo'd) so the fixes are easy, but it's still a lot more to change than designers tend to be willing to do. In the FPS games like MW5 at least you can easily take the tactic of making the small ACs damage over time weapons with rapid fire, vs single big shot snub nosed howitzer style AC20s, but that's not possible in a tabletop setting, really. (OK I guess you can kinda do it with the many shots on the cluster table, but, then what's the point of the LBX existing?)
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Aug 21, 2023 03:55
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Light AC/5s are actually decent simply due to how many of the things you can cram into a heavier chassis, where pod space is the limiting factor over tonnage. Strap four of them together and you've effectively got a smaller, heavier, longer-range LB-X/20. AC/2s are just miserable in every iteration however, even the rotary ones. Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Aug 21, 2023 |
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Aug 21, 2023 04:00
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Yes to both If we push the PHX into Ruby Lance, one of the LCT pilots can take the VL-5T. If we expect infantry and other stuff, bring the 1V and if not, bring the 1E. The VL-5T still bring some MGs to the table in either Lance config. If we can vote where to put the new units - PHX to Ruby (as Lance Commander, push the VL-5T to one of the LCT pilots) SHD and TBT to Sable (Replace the PNT and STG respectively) Edit: Do we need to sign up as pilots for the next contract? How long is the current waiting list? Amechwarrior fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Aug 21, 2023 |
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Aug 21, 2023 08:36
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Amechwarrior posted:Edit: Do we need to sign up as pilots for the next contract? How long is the current waiting list? There are currently four pilots left on the waiting list. If I reach the end and nobody else has signed up I'll probably go back to the beginning and PM former players to ask if they want another go. If anyone new asks to play after that I'll give them priority.
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Aug 21, 2023 08:53
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Yes to both.
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Aug 21, 2023 19:40
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Both refits have been voted through by a pretty overwhelming margin, so let’s get going. Kai-xi volunteers his Locust to undergo the refit. We have all the parts we need, so Sadanobu gets to work right away. The Shadow Hawk needs a PPC that we don’t have, so it gets added to the requisition list.  Schneider promptly uses his logistical nous to scrounge one up locally. It’ll take six days to get here, but we have months left before the next contract vote.   Three days later Sadanobu finishes working on the Locust. Kai-xi is pleased with the extra firepower, but brashly announces that the extra armour isn’t necessary and that Muto should have added a third Small Laser instead.  After another three days the Shadow Hawk’s components arrive and Kost begins work on the refit.  Kost works on the Shadow Hawk for a full week, but removing the old weapons systems proves more complicated than he anticipated. He curses even more loudly and smokes even more cigarettes before cracking his knuckles and getting back to work.   After another seven days the kinks have all been ironed out and the Shadow Hawk has been refitted to its 2K variant. It may be derided as a poor man’s Griffin, but that PPC still packs a decent punch.  As an aside, I’ve made proper datasheets for our new mechs. I’ve updated the style a little bit; now they also show where the ammunition bins are located.
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Aug 22, 2023 05:38
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It's just a shame the SHD-2K doesn't remove one heatsink to get another pair of Jump Jets, then it'd have the same jumping ability as a Griffin.
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Aug 22, 2023 19:40
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Scintilla posted:
Nice! Is there a preset sequence of where the ammo is consumed from?
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Aug 22, 2023 21:01
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Space Kablooey posted:Nice! Is there a preset sequence of where the ammo is consumed from? Not usually? On TT, you just mark off from a bin on the crit chart. But we're in MM where you can manually select which bin to draw from, but I don't know how it picks the default bin if more than one is available or if they're in different locations.
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Aug 22, 2023 21:48
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Personnel Vote Results Well, the results are in for the former Prowlers. Let’s see how they all performed. Bringing up the rear are Cletus West and Sarah McKinley with 0 votes apiece! I guess they were just too forgettable to be worth voting for. In joint fourth place are Lucas Shaw and Nathan Howell with 3 votes each! Sorry fellas, you’re just too old and crazy to be worth our while. Just barely ahead of them is Gary Tschetter with 4 votes! He took the easy path, but not the right one, and now he’s going to pay for it. In second place we have Gudrun Magos with 8 votes! She’s made mistakes, but Jenna Sable thinks she might yet be redeemable. By process of elimination, that makes Harathi Vraman our winner, with 10 votes to his name! Roger Sterling feels a pang of empathy for the man’s past experiences, and agrees to give him another chance. There were also 4 votes for the None option. It occurs to me now that ‘None’ voters were always at a disadvantage; I’ll probably allow ‘None’ votes to count for double if a vote like this ever happens again. -- The paper file hit Harathi Vraman’s bunk with a muted thud. Harathi stared at the bundle of documents, seeing them clearly but struggling to comprehend the implications of their presence. After nearly a minute he tore his eyes away and looked up at the man who, five minutes earlier, had entered his cell unannounced and made him an offer his brain could barely process. A thousand questions swirled through his mind, but he managed to sum them all up with a single word. “Why?” he asked, his soft voice booming in the silence of the brig. “Because you are not like the others,” Roger Sterling replied. “You are neither a monster, nor a criminal. You’re just a man who stumbled once and never quite found his footing again.” “How can you be so sure?” “Because I’ve read your file. Your record is actually quite positive. The Procyon garrison commander had nothing but good things to say about you.” Harathi flinched at the mention of Procyon. Bitter memories flooded his mind, familiar and nauseating like a recurring sickness. Karna’s Wasp tumbling to the ground, its head reduced to a smoking ruin by a Capellan Centurion’s autocannon. Gretchen screaming as her Assassin was methodically dismembered by a concealed Schrek PPC Carrier. Driscoll fatally overheating his ancient and cherished Lynx in a desperate attempt to hold the line long enough for Harathi to escape and warn HQ about what was happening. “I am a coward,” Harathi said, as much to himself as to Sterling. He sat down on his bunk and hid his face in his hands. “I don’t deserve a second chance. Leave me be.” Several quiet seconds passed. Then footsteps rapped against the cold concrete floor, followed by a harsh metallic rasp. Harathi looked up to see that Sterling had pulled down the bunk on the opposite wall and was now sitting across from him. His expression was strangely sympathetic. “I know how it feels to watch friends and comrades die fruitlessly,” he said, his voice sombre and reflective. “I know the helplessness, the frustration, the impotent rage, and later… the shame. The self-doubt. The poisonous little whispers that scratch at your conscience, asking whether you really did enough, whether you could have fought harder, whether there wasn’t some brilliant strategy you could have employed that would have saved everyone.” Harathi met Sterling’s gaze. The man’s eyes were clear and honest, and Harathi immediately knew that he was sincere. This wasn’t some half-baked attempt at emotional manipulation. The man really did know exactly how he felt. “What happened on Procyon sent you into a nosedive, but there’s still time to pull up.” Sterling glanced pointedly at the file on Harathi’s bunk. “I can’t force you to sign that. Every man has the right to choose his own destiny. But I would be happy to have you on board.” Slowly, Harathi picked up the file and set it in his lap. It was a personnel contract for the Sterling and Sable mercenary company. He stared at it for several long seconds, grappling with his own thoughts and feelings. The contract was a lifeline, a golden lottery ticket that might unlock a better future, but did he really deserve it? No. He deserved to die. He wanted to die. He was a useless coward with no hope and no future, and opened his mouth to say so. “Do you have a pen?” A bolt of shock rippled through Harathi as he heard himself speak. It seemed that, deep down, some small part of him still clung to hope. Sterling produced a ball-point pen. “Good man,” he said, smiling as he handed it over. “I’ll probably just run away the first chance I get.” Harathi mumbled morosely as he signed on the dotted line. “I have every confidence that you won’t.” -- Alright! There will probably be one more interim update to close out the year, then I’ll write a ‘state of the company’ update including a vote for the next contract.
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Aug 23, 2023 06:37
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Koorisch posted:It's just a shame the SHD-2K doesn't remove one heatsink to get another pair of Jump Jets, then it'd have the same jumping ability as a Griffin. There are a lot of "It's a shame" or "If only"s about the Shadow Hawk. It's definitely not the worst 'Mech in the setting, but it's probably the most consistently disappointing.
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Aug 23, 2023 07:06
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The biggest problem it has is being mediocre while looking super cool Many such cases
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Aug 23, 2023 07:13
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You don't really need to excel too much when you're that cheap to repair. It's a bigger Panther. That's not too shabby, at the end of the day.
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Aug 23, 2023 07:17
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wiegieman posted:You don't really need to excel too much when you're that cheap to repair. Faster with no worries about having to get to the perfect range for both guns (we just saw how much of a pain it was for the Scorpion to try and use both the PPC and SRM). Perfectly acceptable trooper/spare for the 3025 era.
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Aug 23, 2023 08:38
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Great writing on Harathi!
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Aug 23, 2023 14:16
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In the end, both Harathi Vraman and Gudrun Magos accept the company’s offer of employment. Prison records are doctored, bribes are paid to guards and wardens, and the tech crews are firmly instructed not to ask any awkward questions about the two new Astechs who suddenly turned up to work yesterday. Shortly afterwards a DropShip arrives to take the remaining prisoners into custody. The bounty payments amount to just under 100,000 C-Bills. Their jobs finally done, company personnel kick back and relax for the remainder of the year.  On the 20th the Capellans attack the Marik-aligned world of Hassad.  In a tit-for-tat response, the Free Worlds League seizes the Capellan border world of Jasmine.  Roger Sterling may be a mercenary now, but he is still a proud Lyran at heart, and he is happy to learn that his home planet is back in the Commonwealth where it belongs.  News arrives that the Kell Hounds, the vigorous mercenary unit that have racked up an impressive list of victories despite only operating for five years, have suddenly disbanded. What on earth is going on? Phantom Mech shenanigans, that’s what. The next three months are relatively quiet, but in October news emerges that sends chills down both our new recruits’ spines.  Janos Marik brings the hammer down on the rebels. As expected, many are executed, but even those who aren’t have little to look forward to other than a lifetime of hard labour.  Three days later this interview is broadcast, highlighting the risks that mercenaries can sometimes face. The Combine is infamous for its poor treatment of mercenaries, but every Great House has stabbed its hired guns in the back at one point or another. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to us…  November and December are also very quiet. The New Year comes with barely a whisper.  On the 4th another interview is broadcast featuring a merc group who only pilot Marauders. Kooky, but hey, the Marauder is a fine battlemech.  On January 9th, the contract is officially completed! This is it for the interim updates. I’ll be compiling a follow-up on the overall state of the company, and then it’ll finally be time for the contract vote.
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Aug 23, 2023 20:40
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