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It's a real thing, not Clan magic bullshit.
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Mar 30, 2011 05:53
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SynthOrange posted:It's a real thing, not Clan magic bullshit. Please stop. Those lasers cool something ELSE off, not their own power supply. Otherwise they would violate the laws of thermodynamics. Also, now I have to tell myself to stop too.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:08
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Obviously those lasers are pointed at a mirror and are thus self cooling. 
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Mar 30, 2011 06:17
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Battletech 'Tech is now Magic. Problem solved, please stop arguing about it. Incidentally, I have Bonus Update 5 processing and two new contests in honor of my having beaten that awful game.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:20
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Veyrall posted:We've been down this road, its not a good road and it ends with physics discussions. And friends don't let friends discuss physics in BT You're right. While I still maintain it's dumb, this can go nowhere but bad. New thought: The Yeoman is a giant meat tenderizer. Is it more effective as a fire support mech or will it do more damage by falling over missiles-first onto infantry?
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Mar 30, 2011 06:25
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Bonus Update 5 Since I have some RL stuff (job interview) and my update has been delayed (back to back shifts at work), enjoy the 5th and final mission of Battletech for the Sega Genesis! It's a really short game. Battletech: Mission 5 (no commentary necessary)! Video Contest! Play through mission five with a PPC, Large Laser, and Missiles... and immediately blow your arm off by overcharging the PPC. Beat the mission with only lasers and missiles. or! Fanfiction Contest! Justify why recovering one dude's (ten) giftake samples was so important that you immediately jumped from Star Commander (with Bloodname) to Khan. Use at least 1000 words. or! Fanart Contest! Draw a picture of the Wolf Spider. It's a Timberwolf-derivative with a more streamlined torso and a Marauder-esque autocannon replacing the right-shoulder missile rack. GA) Your vote counts for 5 votes next time GB) Reinforcements! On turn 10, you enter the map as a 2nd Donegal Guards Locust! You do not count towards survival, and you will most likely die a horribly messy death, but you may distract the Clanners for a turn or two. GC) Name a Clan Omnimech, any one of your choice (even if it doesn't appear in this battle). If you'd specifically like to name one of the designs in this battle, we can work something out. Other, Unrelated Contest: Entertains us with the Battletech Book 'Far Country' in some way (Let's Read it, explain how a Scout-class Jumpship can carry a Leopard dropship and draw diagrams, Film yourself lighting a copy on fire or destroying it with fireworks, reenact a scene from the book using your old G.I. Joe Snake Eyes action figures to represent the DEST troopers, do a dynamic reading, create an itemized list of terrible thing you'd rather do than read Far Country and then take pictures of yourself doing some of them, I don't care)! It may be available in PDF format, I honestly haven't looked. FCP1) Help me plan the next scenario! FCP2) Name five Clan Omnis! FCP3) Help me write fluff that makes 'Far Country' a canon story in my timeline! FCP4) Choose whether one Great House or Clan suffers either a windfall or a setback of some kind. FCP5) Poptarts, I'm not doing this for the prize, I'm doing this to inflict Far Country on everyone! PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 30, 2011 06:29
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Question: I have some free time coming up, and while I may or may not be able to get ahold of Far Country, my local library's online catalog has some assorted BattleTech books. Would any of the following be crappy enough to sub in for Far Country? Call of Duty Test of Vengeance Path of Glory Dagger Point Illusions of Victory Keep in mind that I have no idea what's in any of these books.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:44
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I've read all 5 of those and while they're of varying quality (subjectively speaking), I can safely say, without having read Far Country, that none of them are even half as bad as Far Country.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:46
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Man, I have no idea where anyone could find Far Country these days.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:56
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Question: I have some free time coming up, and while I may or may not be able to get ahold of Far Country, my local library's online catalog has some assorted BattleTech books. Would any of the following be crappy enough to sub in for Far Country? Far Country is unreadably bad and I have nothing good to say about it other than "At least 90% of the characters die". Do you remember when I read Star Trek / X-Men: Planet X in my STO LP? I actually kinda liked that book. Those are all better than Planet X (even Illusions of Victory, which was a hilariously pointless story). Hell, I actually really liked Test of Vengeance, for trying to get into the 'how the Clans are evolving' storyline that got snowed under by the Jihad and the loving Dark Age. So yeah, I'm afraid none of those will work. I do know that BattleCorps has a PDF of it, but you'd have to pay for a subscription and I want something perfectly clear: I DO NOT ENDORSE SPENDING ANY MONEY TO READ FAR COUNTRY, IT IS A TERRIBLE TERRIBLE BOOK. So please don't spend any money to read it, it really is that bad.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:56
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However, if you were to join BC anyway for the sake of reading other things, or already have a membership (I'm like... the second or third dude registered as Lyran?) you might as well. E: oh heh, Dagger Point. That's the novel where Capellans literally KILL BABIES. Like on-screen where the Death Commando kills this whole family and then sees the baby and is like "Well I guess since I'm here I probably should." it was so hilariously dumb. Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Mar 30, 2011 |
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Mar 30, 2011 07:10
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raverrn posted:Man, I have no idea where anyone could find Far Country these days. That'll do, I suppose. I'll have a look at it next week and see if I can produce anything, assuming no one beats me to it.
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Mar 30, 2011 07:17
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PoptartsNinja posted:DO NOT READ FAR COUNTRY, IT IS A TERRIBLE TERRIBLE BOOK. ...it really is that bad. Since the dawn of time, when man first learned to speak, one question was always feared, for it always brought misfortune on those that asked it. Borne out of ignorance, this fateful question exists in every known language, for it is universal in the pain and suffering it brings. Ever since man warned other men of the horrors of a corpse-filled battlefield, the dangers of an active volcano or the madness of a movie directed by a crazy german ex-boxer, there is alway one individual, displaying a lack of any survival instinct, that has to ask it Today, that poor soul will be I. *ahem* "It can't possibly be that bad, can it?"
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Mar 30, 2011 07:32
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radintorov posted:"It can't possibly be that bad, can it?" Mechanically? It's not poorly written. If the author had continued to write about the pre-Battlemechs Draconis Combine? I'd have been thrilled. But no, it's complete and utter crap. Picture the worst book in the 'Let's Read Terrible Star Wars Books For You' thread over in the Book Barn. This book is an order of magnitude worse, because it not only completely misses the point of the Battletech universe; it does so in such a way that nobody can even pretend it's Canon. It's pretty much a colossal trainwreck by an author who, I believe, only wrote that single book (actually, he apparently wrote 3 novels before vanishing into the ether, never to return).
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Mar 30, 2011 07:47
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radintorov posted:Since the dawn of time, when man first learned to speak, one question was always feared, for it always brought misfortune on those that asked it. It's got LAMs in it, Locust worshiping bird aliens, it's been so long that I can't remember clearly anymore thank god but possibly steam powered tanks, nukes and it's all baked into a story that will make you cringe every second page.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:21
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If you know nothing about Battletech and it's the only "Battletech" novel you will ever read, it's probably not that bad, just very pulp.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:32
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PoptartsNinja posted:Bonus Update 5 Oh shiiiit! I just finished my entry but I won't have access to a scanner until mid-morning PST. Don't close the contest until I can get it in! Please!
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Mar 30, 2011 08:36
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A word of warning for those trying to dramatically read it, the grammar is terrible... like hard to read out loud terrible. Honestly, i haven't gotten a good run of it yet, either, the difficult names or terrible grammar make it either boring or cringe worthy. But I strive for the thread!
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Mar 30, 2011 08:36
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Question: I have some free time coming up, and while I may or may not be able to get ahold of Far Country, my local library's online catalog has some assorted BattleTech books. Would any of the following be crappy enough to sub in for Far Country? It saddens me somewhat that I know I've read all these books (I can see them sitting on one of my "read" shelves) but that I only remember two of them. Illusions of Victory and Test of Vengeance. Illusions of Victory was actually pretty decent, though it doesn't really have anything at all to do with the Great Houses aside from being the backdrop to one of the plot points. Test of Vengeance I think is one of the ones where Victor is flying around the Clan homeworlds blowing stuff up. But it may be after he gets back. In any event he has his Clan bondsman and his Dire Wolf, beyond that I don't really recall anything about it. But it's very pro Victor.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:45
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Zaodai posted:It saddens me somewhat that I know I've read all these books (I can see them sitting on one of my "read" shelves) but that I only remember two of them. Illusions of Victory and Test of Vengeance. Illusions of Victory was actually pretty decent, though it doesn't really have anything at all to do with the Great Houses aside from being the backdrop to one of the plot points. Test of Vengeance I think is one of the ones where Victor is flying around the Clan homeworlds blowing stuff up. But it may be after he gets back. In any event he has his Clan bondsman and his Dire Wolf, beyond that I don't really recall anything about it. You're thinking of something else. Not sure what because "pro-Victor" just means "Stackpole wrote it." Don't get me started on his poo poo. Victor isn't in Test of Vengeance; in fact, other than the Khan of the Hell's Horses, probably the most major character in the story is Ragnar Magnusson. Test of Vengeance is, I think, the only novel written from the PoV of the Infantry, which makes it kind of cool. The only novel where Victor is actually in the Clan Homeworlds is Prince of Havoc, and that's only like half the book anyway.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:58
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Since my memory isn't very clear on it, I'll just assume you're correct. I honestly have no idea which book I mean then, or it could be several of them running together in my head. I know I've read ToV, but from your description none of that rings a bell at all. So I dunno what the gently caress. But I'm pretty sure Illusions of Victory is the book that takes place around the arenas of Solaris. Right?
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Mar 30, 2011 09:02
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It's hard to truly encompass the sheer level of stupid in this book. Nonetheless, I had to try. Here is how the first contact between mankind and another sentient species was portrayed in Far Country, in a dramatic audio reading. 
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Mar 30, 2011 09:16
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Zaodai posted:Since my memory isn't very clear on it, I'll just assume you're correct. I honestly have no idea which book I mean then, or it could be several of them running together in my head. I know I've read ToV, but from your description none of that rings a bell at all. So I dunno what the gently caress. Yeah, Illusions of Victory is about a Steiner Banshee pilot and a Davion Pillager (because you know Davion doesn't make a single Assault that can stand up to a Banshee, so they had to give him a St. Ives machine) throwing down and it spills over in to this city-wide riot.
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Mar 30, 2011 09:18
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Oh, hell, yes. I'm not as good on Battletech fluff as I am on Star Wars, so I'll be referencing the wiki on this pretty heavily, but now I absolutely have to see just how this book stacks up to The Crystal Star.
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Mar 30, 2011 09:45
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Tragically, since my oral exams are in two days (*hrnk*) and I will probably be either boisterously celebrating or mourning for the weekend after that, I don't think I'll be in any shape to compete in either the fanfiction or Far Country contests this go around. Next week I will hop back on the contest train with whatever rolls around then.
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Mar 30, 2011 13:20
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HUUUUURRRRRR "oral".Tempest_56 posted:This is like dousing yourself in gasoline to cool off. Chronojam posted:Actually I was wrong here, there were Battlemasters piloted by Kell Hounds. But, those are nothing like the missile boats.
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Mar 30, 2011 14:19
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You should go and stand on top of the little mech and strike dramatic poses for photographs while he struggles to get up.
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Mar 30, 2011 14:22
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Arquinsiel posted:This will actually work if you keep the gasoline flowing. Not well, but some. Same as pissing on a mortar. Honestly, volatile fluids make excellent coolant, particularly with open air exposure, since they will evaporate quickly and take the heat with them. Only problem is that once you hit a certain heat threshold the gas isn't doing any cooling anymore.
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Mar 30, 2011 16:24
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Zaodai posted:Since my memory isn't very clear on it, I'll just assume you're correct. I honestly have no idea which book I mean then, or it could be several of them running together in my head. I know I've read ToV, but from your description none of that rings a bell at all. So I dunno what the gently caress. Illusions of Victory is a Solaris book, yes.
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Mar 30, 2011 16:25
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Hm, quite a few lucky hits this time around.
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Mar 30, 2011 18:48
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PoptartsNinja posted:Hm, quite a few lucky hits this time around. Since we pretty universally have worse to hits than them, I'm interpreting this as GOOD NEWS!
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Mar 30, 2011 18:51
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PoptartsNinja posted:Hm, quite a few lucky hits this time around. As if last turn wasn't lucky enough. My poor Nova. 
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Mar 30, 2011 18:52
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Mukaikubo posted:Since we pretty universally have worse to hits than them, I'm interpreting this as GOOD NEWS! Our luck has to run out sometime. 
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Mar 30, 2011 18:54
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WarLocke posted:Our luck has to run out sometime. Yes, but better for it to run out when facing the assault 'mechs, where luck really won't matter either way.
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Mar 30, 2011 18:57
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They could all banana peel the moment they touch pavement and knock themselves unconscious. Edit: Ahahaha, drat, I was not expecting that!
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Mar 30, 2011 18:59
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PoptartsNinja posted:They could all banana peel the moment they touch pavement and knock themselves unconscious. This would be a pretty drat hilarious outcome for our first battle with the big bad clanners.
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Mar 30, 2011 19:01
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Arquinsiel posted:You know the new box-set hit the streets today right?  I need to drop by tradgames more often. Would be interested to see if they have any new ideas.Arquinsiel posted:Tonnage is not a measure of weight, tonnage is a measure of mass. Mechs and vehicles have specifically calculated tonnages because that way it's easy to calculate the amount of energy you need to move it into orbit, thus allowing fuel calculations to be made easy for dropships. This is still a really bad excuse for locking designs down at a single weight. (In BattleTech weight and mass are really used interchangeably, as they are in everyday language because hey, we all live under one gravity.) The idea that orbital mechanics calculations for such a massive and complicated spacecraft ever could be made easy is kind of silly. There's also all the heavy stuff you have to bring with your mechs that will no doubt be subject to change. The point is that I should be able to bolt on 2 tons of reactive armor bricks if I want to suffer the consequences and enjoy the benefits. Like I said at length earlier, more meaningful metagame choices would help battletech, right now the metagame is fairly simple. Complaints of "boat" mechs and their success attest to this. They also point up the unfocused nature of canon mech designs which makes the metagame so far from the way it was "meant" to be. Watching those kinds of arguments in wargame communities is always amusing because it's so strongly reminiscent of real doctrinal squabbles. There will always be the old guard who refuse to acknowledge the benefit of coherent doctrine just because it's different from how it was in their day. In the particular case of 'mechs, the Navy brass resistance to the all-big-gun battleship comes to mind. It seems so obvious in retrospect that you would want as much armament as possible optimized for the ship's main role, but admiralties insisted on sticking dozens of short-range, low-caliber guns on ships long after their uselessness in battle became apparent. PoptartsNinja please understand that I only post because I come to this thread all the time to check updates and like to talk about battletech. I'm really not trying to derail. Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Mar 30, 2011 |
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Mar 30, 2011 19:04
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PoptartsNinja posted:They could all banana peel the moment they touch pavement and knock themselves unconscious. Judging by this, I'm expecting hilarity on part of the medium/heavy star. Star Colonel Dusk, if she can see this, is probably having this reaction: 
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Mar 30, 2011 19:04
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PoptartsNinja posted:They could all banana peel the moment they touch pavement and knock themselves unconscious. Alternately, "The Tramp."
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Mar 30, 2011 19:12
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:I demand that, if this actually happens to one of the assault 'mechs, its IS codename should henceforth be "Benny Hill." Or possibly "Buster Keaton" if we could manage to drop a building on it at the same time.
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Mar 30, 2011 19:14
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