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There are some pretty neat special ammos in Battletech, which is why I like running designs with multiple tons of ammunition so I can carry a variety of different sorts. Of course, this invariably bites me in the rear end when someone TACs or crits one of my ammo bins, and suddenly I am walking around with only half a 'mech.
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Jan 15, 2018 22:31
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| # ? May 23, 2024 19:58 |
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She’d had the Shadow Hawk dream again. Towering over New St. Andrews’ dunes and desert houses, she’d walked through the market square as if she was just another bargain hunter. She saw through its dozens of cameras, but somehow the panoramic view, the thermal imaging, and magnetic-resonance scanning weren’t overwhelming her. The Shadow Hawk received all that information constantly, it was only the pilot who wasn’t able to process it—and she didn’t have a pilot. The strange thing was, no one seemed to realize she was a Shadow Hawk, even when a careless step crushed an apple cart and its vendor. The people of New St. Andrews were no strangers to BattleMechs, but this was something else entirely. She’d broadcast a sheepish ‘sorry,’ but no one had paid her any mind. It was a strange sensation, like being a giant in a world of papier-mâché. Inquisitively, she’d turned her arm-mounted laser on the crowd. That was where she woke up. It was where she’d always woken up. She’d only piloted a Shadow Hawk once in her life. It’d been a cranky dual-cockpit training model she’d sat in to let the technicians fine-tune her “MechBuddy,” the rather-unimaginative nickname the Republic Army had given the Pilot PA(L) that created a virtual link between her brain activity and the operations of a BattleMech. Piloting that Shadow Hawk had been nothing like her dream, it’d been two hours in a stuffy, unfamiliar cockpit that lacked the basic ergonomics of her Dragoon II. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the unnaturally smooth synthskin patch there. It still felt strange, though she had to admit her neck wasn’t in any way stiff. The jump warning sounded again, more insistently. Ten minutes to hyperspace. More than enough time to make the bridge, not enough time to don her uniform. It was comforting—in its own irritating way—to be reminded that General Marduk was still an rear end in a top hat. He resented being placed under the watchful eye of one of the Republic’s Champions, especially one who’d only achieved the rank of Captain before her ascension. Captain Serena Brannigan had little sympathy. The General of the 331st Minnesota Tribe traditionally refused the Champion position. The Wolverines were beholden to themselves first, and to the Republic second. That was the entire reason she was here. Marduk resented that, too. She pulled on the ballistic cloth singlet that served as the last line of defense against penetrating shrapnel injuries. The armored Pilot PA(L) meant the Republic didn’t use the shorts and cooling vests of past eras, but the singlet had about the same shape to it and the mechwarrior in her appreciated that. Designed to be as light and flexible as possible to make wearing it under a suit of rigid power armor feasible, ballistic fabrics of various types were common in the Inner Sphere, even if their use had fallen out of favor. More than capable of stopping a bullet, ballistic cloth lacked the rigidity to protect the wearer from a kinetic impact. Bullets and large pieces of shrapnel would still break ribs, but even a little extra protection might be enough to preserve the life of a trained pilot. Life was cheap, BattleMechs were common. Good training was expensive. Captain Brannigan was out the cabin door a moment later, pulling herself along the wall handgrips. It would’ve been easy to launch herself towards the bridge like a missile, but in zero gravity a missed handgrip could leave her floating during the jump, and that was as likely to kill her as a drive failure. “General,” Serena tipped her head as she slipped onto the Roseau's bridge. Marduk nodded in acknowledgement, gesturing to the empty seat beside him. Serena wasn’t even strapped in when she asked, “All the ships are in place?” “Aye,” he gestured towards the Roseau’s transplex canopy. Even DropShips had cockpit glass, but the Excalibur-class Roseau’s were narrower than those of a typical Union. Not that it mattered much, in the event of an actual space battle they glass was protected by tightly-closed and sealed emergency bulkheads. There was often nothing to really see when two ships exchanged fire in space. Lasers and PPCs were invisible, autocannons and gauss rifle rounds were too small to see, and the smoke trails of missiles dispersed quickly, leaving a smoggy haze in the void. Two ships close enough to attack each other would nonetheless be too distant for their bridge crews to actually see. It took Serena a moment to recognize the faint sliver of a distant JumpShip, without the kilometers-long solar sail deployed, it scarcely seemed longer than the head of a pin. “All ships are in position and report readiness. I saw no point in delay.” Serena didn’t argue, there was no purpose to it. Instead, she took a jab at Marduk’s ego. “And the Legion?” Marduk kept his expression carefully neutral. Marduk didn’t like the Legion, there weren’t many but there were just enough to give Serena a little muscle if she needed it. “The Legion’s battalion has been separated as per President Amaris’s orders. You know this.” “I thought they were,” Serena agreed. “But you woke me, so I needed to double check.” He sighed, his face falling for just a moment. Turnabout was fair play, but that didn’t mean the Clan-descendant had to like it. Before either could utter another word, the Helmsman cut in. “JumpShip Sioux Falls has finished the final charging sequence. All drives fully charged, they are sending to all ships: jump in ten, nine, eight, seven—” “JumpShip Odessa reports a drive failure, they’re abort—” *************************************** Serena hadn’t had time to eat anything before the jump. That had probably been for the best, the stream of stomach acid that her body decided needed to be on the far side of the Roseau’s bridge was by far the smallest and least offensive of the stream of disgusting projectiles currently splattering against the transplex canopy windows. To say she felt wretched would have been an understatement: she felt like a poorly-microwaved burrito, at once chilled to the bone while her skin felt like it was close to melting off. The stimulant injector in her neck kicked in to force her mind back to focused lucidity. She took stock of the situation in an instant. Marduk hung unconscious in his restraints, and the rest of the un-augmented Minnesotans did likewise. She elbowed him in the ribs, drawing a grunt that proved he was alive but utterly failing to wake him. The Sioux Falls’ jump drive, normally a faintly audible hum transmitted via vibrations through the docking collar that held the Roseau in place, had fallen completely silent. She called up a diagnostic on one of the chair’s displays, and queried the JumpShip’s computer. The drive was simply gone, leaving an empty husk of a vessel. They wouldn’t be taking the Sioux Falls home with them. Serena called up the Sioux Falls’ sensor feed. Capturing local ships to make the trip home was the job of the power armored trooper carriers massed on the JumpShip St. Cloud. A few BattleArmor units had been dispersed to other ships, just in case, but if the St. Cloud had vanished without a trace—a real concern—they might be stuck, which meant they were dead in the long term. Fortunately, the St. Cloud appeared bright and clear. Only the Odessa and Montevideo were missing. She already knew the Odessa aborted, but if the Montevideo’s drive failed they could’ve wound up anywhere. Or nowhere. She hoped the ship’s computer had simply defaulted to the thirty light-year jump into an uninhabited star system as planned, but there were worse ways to go than firing your component sub-atomic particles towards the galactic core. A failed jump was a quicker death than most. The Odessa and Montevideo had both been on opposite ends of the flotilla, and each had carried one of the DropShips containing the Legion. That left her only the one company aboard the Sioux Falls. For a moment she stared at Marduk’s unconscious face as waves of paranoia rampaged through her conscious mind, but those faded as the stimulant injector gave her a second dose. Jump Psychosis was a real worry, especially when her body still probably thought it should be unconscious. With no immediate threats on the Sioux Falls’ sensors, Serena simply did her duty, setting the fleet’s DropShips to auto target anything lacking a Republic IFF. Only then did she wipe her mouth, and settle in to wait for the Minnesotans to recover. Marduk, she suspected, would certainly resent that she’d woken before he did. The Map  331st Royal BattleMech Division (Clan Wolverine)   OpForce Clan Coyote Beta Galaxy, 67th Assault Cluster, Command Supernova Primary Objectives - Defeat all Clan BattleMechs (0/10) Secondary Objectives - Defeat all Clan BattleAmor (0/5) Pilot List AAAAA! Real Muenster Cascade Jones painedforever chktshadeclaw paragon1 Defiance Industries Keru (Passed, holding for player availability) Sair Alternates Lemniscate Blue LeschNyhan Affi the JJ PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jan 21, 2018 |
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Jan 16, 2018 08:21
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PoptartsNinja posted:Alternates Just FYI I've had a name change.
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Jan 16, 2018 08:38
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2/4 ships made the jump. Nice odds. What's jump psychosis anyway?
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Jan 16, 2018 08:42
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Me and Keru's lance is a Rolling Thunder reunion, so that's pretty sweet
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Jan 16, 2018 08:53
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I've made the list! Yes! .... Merde, merde, merde. What do I do? What do I do?
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Jan 16, 2018 08:56
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painedforever posted:I've made the list! Yes! Look at your Mech. Look at the enemy. Gauge their reactions. Plan around that and the terrain. Then throw all that poo poo away and go for whatever has a high chance of  (actual odds of succeeding be damned)
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Jan 16, 2018 08:59
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painedforever posted:I've made the list! Yes! You're in an LRM boat, those specialize in exploiting openings in armor from long range because they scatter around an enemy. Some of us are going to close but you should hang back and pummel from range.
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Jan 16, 2018 09:04
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The players have a bunch of heavies and assaults with long-range firepower and a lance of light brawlers with good crit-seeking potential. Punch big holes and then have the lights pick off the weakened targets and clean up elementals.
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Jan 16, 2018 09:11
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Whelp. This'll be interesting. How do y'all wanna coordinate?
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Jan 16, 2018 09:31
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Paingod556 posted:Look at your Mech. Look at the enemy. Gauge their reactions. Plan around that and the terrain. Going for the odds works for most of us though, if that's what your heart says.  Wolverine force is a bit smaller than expected.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:03
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Defiance Industries posted:You're in an LRM boat, those specialize in exploiting openings in armor from long range because they scatter around an enemy. Some of us are going to close but you should hang back and pummel from range. No, painedforever is in the Rampage, which performs well in the medium range band for its Gauss rifles. It's also extremely tough.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:05
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paragon1 posted:Whelp. This'll be interesting. How do y'all wanna coordinate? Discussion in thread with gdoc backup is a good method.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:05
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So the name Brannigan combined with dreams of being a giant machine has me curious to whether Serena is a deliberate reference to Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series?
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Jan 16, 2018 10:16
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PTN, you can take me off the alternates list since I got to play in the previous scenario.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:22
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I don't have PM access. Yet. If I'm the only one left out, I'll loosen my purse strings and buy it, sure. Or we can use e-mails. Mine's easy, 'cause it's my username. Or we could do it in public. Defiance Industries posted:You're in an LRM boat, those specialize in exploiting openings in armor from long range because they scatter around an enemy. Some of us are going to close but you should hang back and pummel from range. I meant from a commands/instructions perspective, but sure, that's always cool. I'm not the missile boat though, I've got the Guass and lasers. Still configured for a long-range punch, but not as much as some of the others in the star. I only have as much armor as a Heavy though, but I guess I'd be better off trading punches than the others seeing as I've got the shield and the weird AMS. I'm assuming we're starting at the DropShip at 0431? And we're heading towards the North East? The lance of lights needs to spot/scout, but not engage until we know what's out there. Move North-Easterly, skirting that hill? Mountain? Anyway, in an abreast flank, so that they can cover each other. The Coyote's also set-up as a missile boat, but it does have a melee weapon. I think he'll have to screen the rest of us. The Dragoon II is configured for maximum awesome with the ECM and the probe, but I don't remember what the range is on the Plasma Rifles. At any rate, she needs to be our ace-in-the-hole, flank around to the west, sticking to the forests, but heading generally towards grid 1501. Wolverine's got jump-jets, so he's our skirmisher, hit and fade. Is it possible for him and the Black Watch to jump jet over onto the formation on 2216, and (if need be) bombard the base? I dunno, I'm just thinking out loud. We'll talk more once we've got our objectives, and we've decided on how to talk. EDIT: Don't bother correcting me on our objectives or on figuring out ranges. I've calmed down a bit, and I've watched a video of someone teaching BattleTech using Tabletop Simulator, so I've got some of the basics. Anyway, I also need to thank PTN. I know my birthday isn't until Sunday, but I'm grateful for my early present, and I promise to try and not break it. painedforever fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Jan 16, 2018 |
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Jan 16, 2018 10:30
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painedforever posted:I don't have PM access. Yet. If I'm the only one left out, I'll loosen my purse strings and buy it, sure. Or we can use e-mails. Mine's easy, 'cause it's my username. I have PMs, can email, can set up a google doc, and have Discord. If everyone is on Discord we can find and friend each other then set up a private chat. I am really excited to pilot the Dragoon 2. ECM and a BAP is pretty awesome, though it is more of a mid-long range mech and I am slow. Also if I run and shoot everything I will gain 6 heat, so I have to be careful alphastriking. Can anyone clue me in on what the Plasma Rifles do?
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Jan 16, 2018 15:04
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Against Mechs, they're pretty simple: 10 damage and the target gains 1d6 heat. Against infantry or elementals though.. They just plain do a *shitload* of damage. Might be like 3d6 or something.
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Jan 16, 2018 15:12
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Gwaihir posted:Against Mechs, they're pretty simple: 10 damage and the target gains 1d6 heat.  Well uh I guess I know what I'll be doing once we get close and spot some battle armor!
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Jan 16, 2018 15:14
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It's better than 3D6, it's 10+2D6 split into clusters of five. Against Elementals this is fan-loving-tastic because it means you can't waste all the damage on a near-dead suit with a bad roll.
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Jan 16, 2018 15:32
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I've already informed PTN, but I'm sitting this one out due to real life stuff, so one of the alternates will have to buddy up with Defias Industries.
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Jan 16, 2018 15:40
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Huh, so they've managed to slip their leash already. Well at the very least we can count on them to be loyal enough to kill Clanners.
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Jan 16, 2018 16:40
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:I have PMs, can email, can set up a google doc, and have Discord. If everyone is on Discord we can find and friend each other then set up a private chat. Discord works for me. Same username as here (of course). Feel free to friend me. I don't voice-chat really, but tippity-tappity-typing is all-good.
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Jan 16, 2018 16:49
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painedforever posted:Discord works for me. Same username as here (of course). Feel free to friend me. I don't voice-chat really, but tippity-tappity-typing is all-good. Discussion ITT is great since everyone can see, paired with gdoc to make sure no one's really stepping on each other's hexes. Here's such a doc for you all to use! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15-Wzf4bGRlQXfdhp_NyHd3M0Tr9UGjDSHXldaCfY1_4/edit?usp=sharing
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Jan 16, 2018 17:13
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Strobe posted:It's better than 3D6, it's 10+2D6 split into clusters of five. Against Elementals this is fan-loving-tastic because it means you can't waste all the damage on a near-dead suit with a bad roll. I knew I forgot something! Yea, the +10 part is sorta key. I think against Elementals it's 10+2d6, unless they mount fire resistant armor (Salamanders) in which case the damage is cut in half. It's the Clan Plasma Cannon that does 3d6 damage to units that don't track heat.
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Jan 16, 2018 17:19
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Gwaihir posted:Discussion ITT is great since everyone can see, paired with gdoc to make sure no one's really stepping on each other's hexes.  Thank you sir!I have reviewed our mech roster and our scouts are squishy as gently caress so I feel like we need to be really careful with 'em. We have five (!) LRM 20s - do the Wolverines think that indirect fire is dishonorable?
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Jan 16, 2018 17:22
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Well, note that these LRMs are packing Clan spec ammo with no minimum range- There is absolutely no reason you can't be skirting around 7-14 hexes and blasting those things right in an enemy mech's face. (Also, none of your mechs are equipped with TAG to actually help with indirect fire, so it's likely to be a really bad idea in practice.) That Coyote with 3x LRM20s is a 5/8 so it should definitely be using the speed to do more mid/close range skirmishing, while the far slower Black Watch is built specifically for plonking in place then sitting still and unloading. Running especially on that mech is a trap, since you're giving yourself a +2 penalty to hit while only gaining a +1 defensive mod. e: I do think I specifically recall one of the 'Mechs in the Wolverine training mission ages back using indirect fire, but it might have just been a normal LRM shot from long range with a great vantage point.
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Jan 16, 2018 17:59
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Have we met these characters before? Everyone seems to know who they are.
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Jan 16, 2018 18:12
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I don't think we've seen these specific characters before, but we've met other members of the 331st in past missions.
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Jan 16, 2018 18:36
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Synthbuttrange posted:2/4 ships made the jump. Nice odds. 8/10, better odds. Fuzzy Mammal posted:Have we met these characters before? Everyone seems to know who they are. We met Serena when we last saw Stefan Amaris VII, at least. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jan 16, 2018 |
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Jan 16, 2018 19:06
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PoptartsNinja posted:8/10, better odds.
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Jan 16, 2018 19:30
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Alternate pilot, standing by. PMs should be active.
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Jan 16, 2018 19:43
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:Whoa, they sac'd 10 jumpships for a deep strike - isnt that a lot? Go big or go home. Though in this case, since it's Clan Wolverine returning to Clan space, I guess it's technically "Go big and go home."
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Jan 16, 2018 19:46
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:Whoa, they sac'd 10 jumpships for a deep strike - isnt that a lot? Not for the people that have orbital factories to give away for free. And waste jumpships just to research how jumpships work. They've got a proper space navy too, which I think means they're producing jumpships (military navy ships have jump drives built in right? They're not Battleship Riders?).
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Jan 16, 2018 19:48
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:Whoa, they sac'd 10 jumpships for a deep strike - isnt that a lot? The NRWR has the ability to make jump drives. Hence why they can afford to spend a few jump drives making Jump Torpedoes (which they used to take out the Clan flagship in the Andurien campaign).
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Jan 16, 2018 19:52
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DatonKallandor posted:Not for the people that have orbital factories to give away for free. And waste jumpships just to research how jumpships work. They've got a proper space navy too, which I think means they're producing jumpships (military navy ships have jump drives built in right? They're not Battleship Riders?). Blackwater navy gets fancy light jump drives that only eat 45% of your ship's mass allowance rather than 90%. If you mount one of them no one cares what you're doing you're a warship.
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Jan 16, 2018 19:57
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Synthbuttrange posted:What's jump psychosis anyway? Short answer: bad things happen to people's brains when they undergo a jump, but FTL is too useful for anyone to care. Multiple jumps in quick succession can cause increasingly severe problems, so a long jump would probably be similarly bad. Cynical answer: its Battletech's easy explanation for weird or stupid things.
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Jan 16, 2018 20:45
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Warping space is bad for your brain. It's a pretty standard sci-fi thing.
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Jan 16, 2018 21:18
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The NRWR spends all that money on a fancy jump armada and then is too cheap to spring for a few hundred tin foil hats? For shame.
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Jan 16, 2018 21:19
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| # ? May 23, 2024 19:58 |
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We also shouldn't skip over the first part of the update. Mindlinking tech does have side effects - and pretty awesome ones. I really like that all the NRWR shenanigans do seem to have downsides.
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Jan 16, 2018 21:29
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