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For some reason I've now started to imagine this music playing whenever the Firestarter gets into melee range.
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Apr 3, 2020 01:11
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Well. Unless you're on the OpForce, then it's more like this.
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Apr 3, 2020 01:22
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That makes me imagine a lance of heavy/assault mechs panic-firing into a jungle trying to nail a hit-and-running Firestarter but failing to as a result of it having a million evasion pips. The perfect mental image for the Firestarter.
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Apr 3, 2020 01:31
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Seeing some of these new bits and pieces is making me want to buy all the DLC and go in for another go. In the close to launch version I kept a Shadowhawk around as my light chaser and puncher into the late game but that little guy looks beautiful as the idealised version of a late game scout/harasser/assassin
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Apr 3, 2020 02:30
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The Firestarter is basically everything you want a light mech to be.
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Apr 3, 2020 02:49
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PoptartsNinja posted:Like the one in the last update!  I cannot wait to see this build in action. I need to see just how ridiculous it is.  I dread to see what its final form is going to be radintorov fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 03:03
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Nthing the joy of the Firestarter. I had one on my most recent non-ironman Career, but stopped playing due to one-too-many game crashes. My ironman runs were less successful since they were done before the escort fix and I was bad at choosing Argo upgrades.
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Apr 3, 2020 03:59
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So this is more in reference to your first post, but why the aversion to using your main character (JSON) in missions? I've played this game way too much, but I always use my main guy because he doesn't go against my crew's salary and can't be killed. Also, I'm learning a lot following this LP. I always just rush for Assaults and then crush everything.
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Apr 3, 2020 04:09
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Heir03 posted:So this is more in reference to your first post, but why the aversion to using your main character (JSON) in missions? I've played this game way too much, but I always use my main guy because he doesn't go against my crew's salary and can't be killed. In Career mode they don't count towards your final score while other pilots do
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Apr 3, 2020 04:17
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Career mode is scored, and one of the categories is on EXP earned by pilots who 'live in the barracks', ie, everyone but your commander. Because your commander is immortal, and everyone else can die, it'd be kind of cheating to let you just pool up in him. Also the Commander starts out with far more XP than any of the other pilots, and they're less fun like that. I don't know if PTN is going for full on Kerensky in the score, but you can basically never use the commander if you are. Also goodness aside, Firestarters sit with the Grasshopper, Centurion, and Kintaro for me in Just Dang Fun to use group.
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Apr 3, 2020 04:22
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Right, so that "tiny" maniac of a giant robot, that is named so you think it's best used to set poo poo on fire, is in fact a goddamn ninja that will gleefully murder anything and everything by knocking it over and executing it via headshot. So uh... remind me to check how much I'm paying the pilot of mine for, uh, no particular reason. 
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Apr 3, 2020 06:42
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glocknar posted:Right, so that "tiny" maniac of a giant robot, that is named so you think it's best used to set poo poo on fire, is in fact a goddamn ninja that will gleefully murder anything and everything by knocking it over and executing it via headshot. It has flamers, meaning it's anti-infantry 'Anti-infantry' is just a nice way of saying 'warcrimes extravaganza machine'
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Apr 3, 2020 13:20
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Is flamering a bunch of infantrymen to death even a warcrime in BT? I thought warcrimes started around nuking population centers.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:09
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SpookyLizard posted:Is flamering a bunch of infantrymen to death even a warcrime in BT? I thought warcrimes started around nuking population centers. The Firestarter (stock) has 4 flamers, that's 4 platoons worth of fiery death in one shot.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:13
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It's more that anti-infantry mechs often get deployed to 'riot control' operations.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:13
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IIRC from previous BattleTech threads, Firestarters have a particularly bad reputation for being war crime mechs, to the point that in most of the Inner Sphere there's a huge stigma if you're piloting one.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:20
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I like that the endgame optimised firestarter murderbot literally has the weapons loadout of an assault mech.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:26
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The only 'Mech with a worse in-canon reputation is the Scarecrow from the 3100s. Sarna doesn't mention it, but the Scarecrow's target is "infantry" in name only, its real intended target is civilians. The Scarecrow is a black-ops murder 'Mech the Federated Suns only officially confirmed existed in the 3140s. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 14:27
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Im not sure if Brigador or Battletech has a worse in universe reputation for civillian murder
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Apr 3, 2020 14:56
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Well there was that one time on Kentares IV where the Kuritans wiped out the entire population because of an assassin... This is one of those games where I'd love to play it, but my system just doesn't quite have the horsepower to run it. I've watched some pretty decent LP's, but about everyone who does LP it has this annoying habit of reading all the dialogue out loud thus really slowing down the action.
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Apr 3, 2020 16:14
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Fortunately, I hate the sound of my own voice so I won't be doing any of that. I try to focus on what I'm doing and why: like when it's safe to try for a knockdown KO kill or why I'm trying to blitz down a certain target even though something else might have more firepower (generally it's because the thing with more firepower has already taken an action and the thing I'm shooting at hasn't).
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Apr 3, 2020 16:27
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So I started this up again thanks to this thread. I got a pair of Vindicators (same version) as my Mediums, then an Urbie and a pair of Commandos (different versions) as my Lights. My second mission, which was only a 1 skull, put me up against a Fed Suns lance consisting of a random forgettable Light 'Mech, a Griffin (!), and a Thunderbolt (!!!), plus a second lance of three Javelins. I was not expecting significant resistance, so I bid my salvage all the way down. I didn't manage to preserve either the Griffin or the Thunderbolt, but I did get one piece each from them, the TDR manually and the GRF from a lucky salvage roll. I'm about 200 days in now and my Vindicators are still my heaviest 'Mechs. I did manage to complete a Firestarter from salvage and I have a +60 melee damage arm mod, so I have that going for me. Zurai fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 21:31
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PoptartsNinja posted:Fortunately, I hate the sound of my own voice so I won't be doing any of that. I try to focus on what I'm doing and why: like when it's safe to try for a knockdown KO kill or why I'm trying to blitz down a certain target even though something else might have more firepower (generally it's because the thing with more firepower has already taken an action and the thing I'm shooting at hasn't). You've got a good voice! Nice pleasant cadence and tone. Don't start reading the text, though.
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Apr 3, 2020 21:59
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I feel the text lingers there for just long enough for most people to read it. But then again I'm a fast reader so I might have a slightly skewed opinion of it.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:04
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If the text isn't there long enough for people to read it, it's certainly there long enough that you have a pretty wide window to pause the video and read it.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:05
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Read, no. Paraphrase, sure. Smash your way through 15 text boxes in 2 seconds and sum it up with "This guy is an abrasive idiot, we all roll our eyes at him in our private lance channel".
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Apr 3, 2020 22:13
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goatface posted:Read, no. Paraphrase, sure. No, just don't read the text boxes. Laughing at those chucklefuck 'mechwarriors never gets old. Although when you're doing the same mission archetype for the fifteenth time feel free to smash through the dialogue if it's the same stuff. The stuff is on screen long enough that people can pause it if they want to, there's nothing wrong with your voice, but that stuff doesn't need to be read by you. Paraphrasing is fine in general, but the real joy is your insight into the game, both strategy and lore wise.
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Apr 4, 2020 03:01
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PoptartsNinja posted:The first one I'm probably going to run will be Joint Venture, to unlock the Hatchetman as a fightable enemy 'Mech. That flashpoint's second mission is kinda notorious, so we'll see how I do. There is a surefire way to prevent the second reinforcement lance from even dropping: Take option B for the first flashpoint mission, where you fight the mystery box Opfor with the AWS. If you do this, then in the second mission, the second reinforcement lance, the one that lands on the hill overlooking where you fight the vanguard lance, never spawns. This happens for me 100% of the time.
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Apr 4, 2020 13:40
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Unless I am missing something about the game you can't jump then melee like you can in normal BT right? That really limits the abilities of backstab mechs compared to just all headcappers, all the time.
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Apr 5, 2020 03:29
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Saros posted:Unless I am missing something about the game you can't jump then melee like you can in normal BT right? That really limits the abilities of backstab mechs compared to just all headcappers, all the time. Support weapons actually fire after a DFA, so it's not that bad, although without leg mods you take a bunch of damage that way.
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Apr 5, 2020 05:14
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PoptartsNinja posted:My favorite Flashpoint is "The Hounds of Zaroff" with UrbanMechs. I haven't tried that flashpoint yet, but that sounds like a fun time. PoptartsNinja posted:The first one I'm probably going to run will be Joint Venture, to unlock the Hatchetman as a fightable enemy 'Mech. That flashpoint's second mission is kinda notorious, so we'll see how I do. I really like Hatchets now that you can put high damage uacs/lbxs in the HCT-3F while the HCT-3X is pretty good as is, and if you can get one I think it competes with your Firestarter for best melee mech.
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Apr 5, 2020 06:35
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Saros posted:Unless I am missing something about the game you can't jump then melee like you can in normal BT right? That really limits the abilities of backstab mechs compared to just all headcappers, all the time. You're correct that the only jump/melee is a DFA and not a standard jump and punch, but I don't think it limits your backstab potential. You just build them with weapons instead of arm mods, like say, a PHX with twin mpulse and twin snub PPCs which is an absolute monster in terms of getting behind and coring just about anything, then laughing in evasion until next turn. if COIL evasion pips built on jump (which I believe they do not) it'd be even more insane.
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Apr 5, 2020 06:55
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Psion posted:You're correct that the only jump/melee is a DFA and not a standard jump and punch, but I don't think it limits your backstab potential. You just build them with weapons instead of arm mods, like say, a PHX with twin mpulse and twin snub PPCs which is an absolute monster in terms of getting behind and coring just about anything, then laughing in evasion until next turn. Unfortunately the COIL is only based off of regular moves. I kept wondering why my Assassin was doing base damage until he charged into 6 purple evade and had sparkly legs. He still missed.
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Apr 5, 2020 07:18
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This tread made me start up this game again, get the DLC's and try out career mode. I got an assasin and an M-coil in the goodypack you get at start.  After using it on a handful of missions, the arm containing the M-coil got blown of by repeated hits wrecking the M-coil and keeping the rest of the mech intact. :battletech:
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Apr 5, 2020 10:45
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poo poo I need the DLCs if I can get my second favorite mech of all time. Love the Hatchetman.
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Apr 5, 2020 10:53
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Arban posted:This tread made me start up this game again, get the DLC's and try out career mode. Same except a L-Coil and whew boy that is a weapon. 3 pips is a long range accurate AC/20, 4 pips is instant death for most medium/light mechs and 5 makes the poor assassin melt down.
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Apr 5, 2020 11:32
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PoptartsNinja posted:Fortunately, I hate the sound of my own voice so I won't be doing any of that. Well, I really like your voice and your commentary is always appreciated. 
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Apr 6, 2020 21:47
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Let’s Play BattleTech: Career Mode – Cluff’s Stand On the way to Cluff’s Stand I start work on a critical early game Argo upgrade: the second Med Bay.  Commander, the existing Med Bay is able to keep up, but just barely. Nobody’s dying for lack of treatment, but our medics are overworked. Beta Pod has an entire additional medical bay, unused and waiting to be renovated and powered back up.  The expanded field hospital allows for two MedTechs to work side by side, meaning more capacity to treat patients. The cost includes the salary of an additional skilled MedTech to treat your injured MechWarriors.  Right now we’re more limited by pilot injuries than ‘Mech damage or money, so I prioritize this over expanding the Mechbay. Without this, our engine upgrade means we’re going to be traveling faster than our Mechwarriors heal.  Ooh, it’s this event. This one’s a no-brainer. Anyone who leaves to join Grayson Carlyle will never be seen again (and they’ll be killed because the Gray Death Legion gets decimated on a regular basis). If this were a B-Team Mechwarrior like Karen or Grouchy I’d be tempted to take the 100k, but  Especially since she’s currently making the second highest pay on the team, right after Venom. That’s right, our Firestarter pilot’s got the most experience out of all of our Mechwarriors at the moment.  The Black Market on Cluff’s Stand has a Gauss Rifle++, which is two tons lighter than the standard Gauss Rifle and takes up one less critical slot. I would be all over that if we had a Hunchback or something to put it in, but it costs 4.884 million c-bills and we’re a bit short. My dreams of a Gauss-carrying ‘Mech will wait for another day.  This is also really tempting. Hit Defense +3 is the equivalent of 3 evasion pips. All Mechwarriors pick up hit defense as they level the piloting tree, so between a +3 gyro and the +6 they get at piloting 10, that means every ‘Mech can be at a base +9 evasion before any evasion pips are taken into account. Light ‘Mechs get a bonus to their evasion on top of this, mediums are neutral, and every other weight class takes a penalty. This is a key reason the Firestarter is not only viable but one of my top three endgame ‘Mechs: evasion’s power is exponential. The more evasion you have, the better evasion is. There’s a good post about this on Reddit of all places, but the gist of it is: evasion isn’t very efficient on assault ‘Mechs where each evasion pip is at just a 5% improvement. Evasion is significantly more powerful on light ‘Mechs. To paraphrase: taking a mech from a 95% chance to be hit by an enemy attack to an 80% is pretty nice. Taking a mech from a 20% chance to be hit to a 5% chance is a 400% increase in survivability. I want this very, very badly. I want this more than I want a Marauder. This is the critical piece of wargear our Firestarter needs to turn into a monster. It will keep the Firestarter viable even at the point in our career (around the 2.5 skull difficulty level, typically, so where we're at right now) when enemy gunnery starts ramping up. There are points when the Firestarter sometimes isn’t entirely viable because the enemy can actually semi-reliably hit it with their attacks and this gyro fixes that. We can just barely afford it but I hold off in case of unexpected expenses. We’ll run a few missions first, see if we can’t pick up another million C-Bills or so, and then pick it up. Fortunately, Cluff’s Stand is pretty lucrative!   We’ve come across a target of opportunity that we’d like you to take advantage of. There’s a local government lance conducting a long-range patrol, and it’s isolated from its supporting forces. If you strike quickly, it should be possible to destroy the lance before local government command can order reinforcements into the area. The implication, of course, is that if we’re not quick enough, we’ll have multiple local government units up our exhaust vents. So, what else is new? That sounds like “10% pay increase for completing the bonus objective” to me! Sliders: Payment +0 (c492,600) / Salvage +0 (3/13) Cluff’s Stand 1: Hostile Territory (Commentary with Guest!) After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 25/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Centurion, 1 Griffin, 1 Firestarter, 1 Panther, 1 Javelin, 2 Spiders, 1 Flea, 4 Commandos Allied Casualties: Centurion: 1 day repair, Thoth injured Rewards & Interesting Salvage: 886,680 c-bills, 3 CN9-A parts. I was tempted to grab the Griffin parts instead, but we’re at 1/4 for both Centurion and Griffin parts and because we blew both legs off the Griffin it only dropped two additional pieces; while headcapping the Centurion got us three. I’ll take one complete Centurion over 3/4ths of a Griffin. This gives us a second Centurion to use and I’ll equip it eventually. It’s nice to have several 50 ton ‘Mechs, some flashpoint missions are hard-capped at 50 tons. We got a 40% pay bonus for each government lance that dropped in on this battle. That’s a huge payout, if we hadn’t gotten a full Centurion out of this I’d have been kicking myself for not asking for more money. MechWarrior Stat Ups: Rocky: Gunnery 8 (8/4/5/6). Gunnery 8 unlocks Breaching Shot, which allows him to ignore cover (woods, usually, 20% damage resistance), guarded (40% damage resistance), and enemy ‘Mechs with Bulwark which enhance existing damage resistance by a further 20%. Breaching Shot’s downside? It only works if you only strike the target with a single weapon. This makes it ok for LRM boats who are juggling enemy agro on base defense missions but you know what else ignores enemy cover and guarded? Shooting them in the back. The local government authorities here on Cluff’s Stand have recently taken a shipment of military vehicles, including an operational Demolisher. This represents an unacceptable buildup of force on this world, but also presents us with an opportunity. We have people in place prepared to steal those vehicles, but without ‘Mechs providing escort, they’ll be attacked as soon as the local government command notices they’re leaving without orders. Get the vehicles to an extraction point, and keep them intact. Commander, if that Demolisher has ammo on board, this mission might be short and simple. Those things are terrifying. It’s an escort mission. If it was short or simple I wouldn’t be showing it off. Sliders: Payment +1 (c729,300) / Salvage -1 (2/10) Cluff’s Stand 2: Grand Theft Auto (Commentary) After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 26/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Archer, 1 Trebuchet, 1 Hunchback, 1 Phoenix Hawk, 3 Locusts Allied Casualties: None Rewards & Interesting Salvage: 802,230 c-bills, 2 ARC-2R parts, 1 PXH-1 part. We only had two guaranteed salvage on this one, but I’ll take 2/4ths of a heavy ‘Mech, even if this is the worst of the two Archer variants. I wouldn’t be sad if the Archer was our first heavy. The Phoenix Hawk is a disappointment, I won’t be trying for it.  We require a small but overwhelming military strike to infiltrate local government territory and disable their communications facility. As a prelude to hostile actions elsewhere in Cluff’s Stand, it’s imperative that the local government network goes offline, to remove their ability to coordinate a response. A ‘prelude’ sounds like more work ahead for us, so let’s get this done, Commander. The only reason there’s ‘more work’ for us after this is because I chose to do this one first. Sliders: Payment +1 (c384,200) / Salvage -1 (2/8) Cluff’s Stand 3: Stop the Signal (Synopsis) Not much to say. We crushed a few half-armor light ‘Mechs and blew up some turrets. It’s a pity the game doesn’t track how many of each ‘Mech you kill, I have a feeling we’re well on our way to our hundredth dead Javelin. After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 27/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Commando, 2 Javelins, 1 Firestarter, 2 Locusts, 1 Flea, 4 base turrets, 4 defenseless buildings Allied Casualties: Enforcer 2 days damage (turrets  ).Rewards & Interesting Salvage: 557,090 c-bills, FS9-H parts, LCT-1S parts, COM-1B parts, JVN-10F parts  Locusts are pretty dire. We’re not at the ‘collect ‘Mechs like Pokemon’ stage of the game, so this is cash fodder. It’s a rare-ish variant though, so I might hold onto it. While running the clock on the Enforcer repairs, we get another bad event. For once, it’s not Karen’s fault!  The first two options make the Mechwarrior sad and they could pick up bad traits. The third option is even worse! Since we’ve got the Argo’s gym, the option to let them have a boxing match is open. That probably won’t leave both of them injured and the winner may even walk away with high spirits. I choose the gym.  Oof. Ok, good and bad, but the good actually outweighs the bad. Having two pilot injuries sucks since Karen’s still injured and Thoth just got hurt. This leaves us with one effective Mechwarrior. On the plus side, our updated Medbay is only 10 days out, which will reduce this from 14-18 days injured to about 10-12? Roughly? And we got two permanent morale. That morale pushed us up above 31, which means we’ll start every battle with more resolve which means I can start trying for headshots earlier. More headshots means more salvage, so I’m calling this a win. Since I have money and we now have to run the clock to wait for our dumbass Mechwarriors to stop being injured already, I go ahead and buy that Hit Defense gyro.  It’s a solid upgrade for the Firestarter, but we do have to pull out a small laser and move the medium to the arm. Since the arm is more fragile than the center torso but gets an inherent +1 accuracy bonus, I don’t bother keeping our Medium Laser++ since it’s not providing any bonus damage. We’ll still have the Firestarter back before we have our full compliment of idiots. I mean Mechwarriors. When the Medbay finishes, I go ahead and spring for the Argo’s repair scaffolding. We don’t need the Mechbay space yet, and repair scaffolding is the cheapest Mechbay upgrade with the lowest upkeep cost, but it only unlocks after you’ve upgraded the Argo’s structure. I find it’s preferable to wait for scaffolding rather than picking up automation earlier. Automation is twice as expensive and early-on your travel times are so long you’ll finish your ‘Mech customizations before you make it to the next world anyway. With our faster engines, we’re starting to need the boost.  The platforms around here are meant to move automatically when they detect the size of the ‘Mech we’re working on, adjusting to be at just the right height. They’re all off-line, and we’ve been working around that, but… let’s get them fixed and speed things up. Sounds good to me! Satellite surveillance pictures show that a heavy lance was inserted onto the planet’s surface by a Canopian DropShip. Currently we believe they’re securing their LZ, preparing for whatever operation they have planned. Before they finish securing the area, we’d like you to interrupt them. They’re heavily armed, so expect strong resistance. If they just set down, they may not be battle-ready; we might catch them with their metaphorical pants down. Nice thought, but we won’t. Sliders: Payment +1 (c) / Salvage -1 (/) Cluff’s Stand 4: Hot Landing (Synopsis / No Commentary) We fought two lances of ‘Mechs up a river. The Canopians had a 20% armor malus and the only really interesting thing was encountering a Warhammer. After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 28/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Assasin, 1 Blackjack, 2 Griffins, 1 Vulcan, 1 Shadow Hawk, 1 Warhammer, 1 Wolverine, 1 Manticore tank Allied Casualties: Griffin 6 days to glue the arm back on. Rewards & Interesting Salvage: 722,500 c-bills, 2 WHM-6R parts. That brings us up to 3 Warhammer parts! We didn’t random into the third, which is unfortunate. An early Warhammer is a huge spike in power. Most heavy ‘mechs are mediocre to solid, but there’s only one heavy ‘Mech pickup I consider better than a Warhammer. I’ll be quite pleased if this turns out to be our first heavy! MechWarrior Stat Ups: Karen: Gunnery 8 (8/4/6/3), she also has Breaching Shot. We’ve got to run the clock to fix the Griffin’s arm, we’ve already had an event this pay period so we shouldn’t get another—  FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Those options are all poo poo. We eat a 500k cost for a “nothing happens,” we get paid 100k but the pirates get pissed and may revoke our black market access, or we try to warn the market which may not work. I’m pretty sure that last option is a joke. You can’t build reputation with local governments so as far as I know they can never be friendly. I chose to eat the 500k cost. We’ve got the money for it but now I’m pissed. We’re going to stomp on every local government unit we can from now on.  500k for 2 pirate rep isn’t worth it but keeping access to our steady-but-unreliable supply of LosTech is.  A wanted war criminal has been spotted on Cluff’s Stand. Unfortunately, he appears to have integrated himself into a pirate-aligned mercenary company. We need you to track him down and destroy his ‘Mech. If he ejects, we’ll take him into custody to be tried before a local government court. If not, no harm done - you’ll be paid the same either way. These days ‘war criminal’ basically means anyone on the other side of the battlefield. I wouldn’t worry about that ‘trial’ comment. There won’t be one. I don’t care. These local government assholes want to take 500,000 c-bills from us, we’re going to extract even more right back from them. Especially since the salvage rights on this one are total poo poo. Sliders: Payment +2 (c666,600) / Salvage -2 (1/5) Cluff’s Stand 5: Dead or Alive (Synopsis) Back already? Quick in-and-out, the local government wasn’t offering a bonus for more pirate bodies and salvage wasn’t worth the trouble of a firefight. The target was sitting in a Catapult K2 by himself within spitting distance of the drop site. We cored him out instantly and on the way back to the evac site a Phoenix Hawk was kind enough to keep jumping up onto buildings so we broke both of its legs. The rest of the OpForce never even caught a glimpse of us. After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 29/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Catapult, 1 Phoenix Hawk Allied Casualties: None Rewards & Interesting Salvage: CPLT-K2 parts, PXH-1K parts The Catapult K2 and PXH-1K are both bad so we came out ahead on this one. Take the money and run. A member of the local government chain of command in Cluff’s Stand has been troubling us. We need this irksome operative eliminated. Capellan intelligence operatives have located the target’s position planetside. The target seems to be just a low-level officer in the overall local government scheme of things - just a link in the chain. We just need to dive in, take out the target, and get out. Marina, by any chance is our target a certain SpaceCop who’s trying to get the black market shut down? Why, yes it is. Why do you ask? No reason.  Sliders: Payment +1 (c609,450) / Salvage -1 (2/8) Cluff’s Stand 6: Weakest Link (Commentary) After-Action Report: Battle Record To Date (Victory/Loss/Draw): 30/0/0 OpForce Casualties: 1 Rifleman, 1 JagerMech, 1 Manticore tank, 1 Striker tank, 1 Inferno Carrier Allied Casualties: None Rewards & Interesting Salvage: 761,812 c-bills, 3 RFL-3N parts, 1 JM6-A part  With a lucky salvage roll, we score our first heavy ‘Mech! The Rifleman’s only a 60 tonner, so I would hesitate to suggest that it’s good; but of the 60 ton ‘Mechs in the game the Rifleman’s the only one that’s worthwhile. All of the other 60-tonners are fast heavies like the Dragon and Quickdraw. The Rifleman’s smaller engine and lower top speed gives it more room for weapons and armor, and it’s got pretty good hardpoints. It also comes with a piece of wargear in the head that gives it 100 meters of extra vision range and reduces the effects of autocannon recoil. If we had a second Ultra AC/5 this thing could really shred things for us. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a single light ultra autocannon in any of the black markets we’ve visited.  So I do this instead! With two torso energy hardpoints the Rifleman’s a near-perfect host body for our pair of Snub-Nose PPCs. Combined, they do a whopping 200 potential damage! Although statistically they won’t do it every turn, they still compare favorably to our Griffin and Centurion which do up to 144 damage/turn with their SRMs. I leave space for a gyro in the center torso just in case and slap in a couple of small lasers into it for those times when some Spider or Javelin inevitably decides to With that done, we’re on our way to Adrar to unlock the Hatchetman!  Next Time: Against all odds, we manage to keep the Hatchetman alive.
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Apr 7, 2020 05:36
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I too was inspired by this LP to pop open battletech and get a career run going. The good: A pretty decent lance, Blackjack, Enforcer, Firestarter and Jenner. And a Commando-sized paycheck. The bad: Three of my four starter pilots are trash (one 3 as their top stat.) The worst: I'm on Lindsay and their mechwarrior hall is all trash pilots aside from the single half decent guy I pick up and the ones I can't recruit  2/3/2/2 pilots are so, so bad.
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Apr 7, 2020 07:44
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In honour of their pilot-killing skill, I'm proposing to rename Thoth to reflect that. "Guillotine", perhaps?
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Apr 7, 2020 13:57
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