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This is such a great story. Minobu is fabulous. But the book is also very sad (for reasons that I don't want to get into just yet). As I recall reading, the Clan stuff was already planned when this book came out. Even Natasha Kerensky was always going to be what she was, at least in broad strokes. But yeah, what a place to start. The actual first story was Decision at Thunder Rift, which was okay. It went too hard on how infantry can take out 'mechs, which came about a bit too early. The Sword and the Dagger was commissioned first, but didn't get finished. And it was awful. I think it's one of the few novels I've only read once. I hate everything by Thomas S. Gressman though. I don't think I've been able to finish even a single one of his novels, which is a shame since they're set during Task Force Serpent.
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May 16, 2023 22:39
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Scintilla posted:Have I mentioned how much I like Charrette’s description? Every sentence either advances the scene or conveys new information, even though he’s technically only describing how hot Minobu is feeling. That's a really good point I hadn't realized until you called it out.
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May 16, 2023 22:56
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Do the novels go as far as operation bulldog?
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May 16, 2023 23:49
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Slavvy posted:Do the novels go as far as operation bulldog? I want to say that's in the start of the "Twilight of the Clans" eight part series but it's been decades. It should be those or the books right before them chronologically. The novels really cover almost all areas except during some time skips and the most recent stuff.
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May 17, 2023 00:39
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Slavvy posted:Do the novels go as far as operation bulldog? The only stuff we see of it is in a stackpole novel so it is laser focused on what Victor and his idiot friends do, you don't really get any kind of feel for the scope. You can read book two of TotC but if you are expecting the feel of some kind of large military operation you will be disappointed.
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May 17, 2023 01:09
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Slavvy posted:Do the novels go as far as operation bulldog? They go past them to the FedCom Civil War. Operation Bulldog gets a number of skirmishes and battles summarized, but I reckon most of it was left to the tabletop game. Three operations get video-games, MechCommander, MechAssault (I think) and MechWarrior 3. Okay, so the latter is actually just after the neutralization of Huntress, but it almost is.
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May 17, 2023 01:51
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I asked because mech commander 1 is my all time favorite giant robot game. Following a davion guard unit from the initial landings, through the inevitably atrocity-packed cities, all the way to the desperate last stand for the space port would be some good stuff in book form The expansion with the deranged jaguar colonel trying to score some star league nukes would also be rad
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May 17, 2023 02:17
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painedforever posted:MechAssault MechAssault was the start of the Word of Blake Jihad. Slavvy posted:I asked because mech commander 1 is my all time favorite giant robot game. Following a davion guard unit from the initial landings, through the inevitably atrocity-packed cities, all the way to the desperate last stand for the space port would be some good stuff in book form Operation Bulldog is mostly glossed over in favor of the attack on Huntress, but the second book of the Twilight of the Clans series focuses on it (if I'm not misremembering). All of the games are apocryphal, but the 1st Davion Guards (along with four entire Kurita regiments including the 5th Sword of Light) did attack Port Arthur and drove a Nu Galaxy cluster from it. Nu Galaxy uses a blood red and gray scheme. Unfortunately, all those times you were fighting JagerMechs in Mechcommander may have just been trigger-happy Davions attacking the 2nd Legion of Vega, who use an almost identical colorscheme.  (this is a joke)Actually unfortunately, the really pretty blue and gold colorscheme the Davion Guards were sporting in the game isn't accurate. The gold is a stand-in for the Davion Guard's red and white stripes so they wouldn't need to try to program three-color sprites for Multiplayer. The sound of bagpipes intensifies... 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 03:15 on May 17, 2023 |
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May 17, 2023 03:00
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Hell yeah nothing like those weedy little bagpipe tunes to get the blood pumping Those models are clearly recreating the agonizing mission where you have to escort a convoy of ambulances and a maddog turns up right at the end
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May 17, 2023 03:36
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I got some bad news for you PTN. The scheme that they were using in the 3060s was that awful one where they painted themselves like the French flag, not the one with the subdued stripes.
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May 17, 2023 03:40
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That's literally what I said, yes. Tricolor paintschemes wouldn't have really worked for MechCommander's multiplayer so they replaced the red and white with tan/gold. Blue and gold looks amazing together so it really worked for the game, it's just wasn't the actual Davion Guards scheme at the time.
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May 17, 2023 05:08
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In the UK long ago there was a special bundle where you could buy Mechwarrior 4, Black Knight and Mech Commander 2 all in one. They came in a special case with a big beefy manual that included detailed breakdowns of all the various mechs and weapons systems. I loved MC2, but it had some nasty bugs. In particular, the AI will aggressively attack the first thing it sees and fixate on it forever after, never changing targets even if another mech shoots at it. If you deploy a Razorback or other fast mech and run it through the objective points you can make a conga line of angry enemies follow you across the entire map.
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May 17, 2023 11:10
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Scintilla posted:In the UK long ago there was a special bundle where you could buy Mechwarrior 4, Black Knight and Mech Commander 2 all in one. They came in a special case with a big beefy manual that included detailed breakdowns of all the various mechs and weapons systems. "Train to zone!"
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May 17, 2023 12:32
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Weird Ambush Convoy mission but ok
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May 17, 2023 13:50
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Let's Read Wolves on the Border, Part Four Chapter Six Chapter six is split into two subsections. The first is from the perspective of Augustus Davis, Baron of Batan. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Davis is on his way to meet Jaime Wolf in order to negotiate the terms of the Dragoons’ occupation of the spaceport. It is made clear very quickly that Davis has no love for House Kurita or anyone who fights for them. quote:The Dragon had brought war to the Quentin system for centuries, and with it much suffering to both inhabited planets. The total annual output of the mines of Quentin III was less than a single month’s quota in the days of the Star League. Quentin IV had fallen on even harder times. It’s research facilities were gone, and the few industries here struggled to stay alive. Now the Dragon was back, and Quentin IV would suffer again. It’s hard to overstate just how destructive the Succession Wars were. The Capellans, Combine and Fedsuns have all conquered Quentin IV at one point or another, destroying most of its infrastructure in the process. Some sourcebooks indicate that bioweapons were also used as part of a scorched earth policy during the First Succession War, making the planet’s atmosphere caustic and harder to breathe. Davis’s car makes it through the security checkpoint and into the spaceport. A Lance of battlemechs on patrol forces the car to stop and make way, which badly unnerves Davis. quote:As the ‘Mechs lumbered past his car, shaking the ground with every stride, Davis shuddered and sat back, his hatred vanishing under a wave of fear. He had known of their size, but the physical presence of the huge legs blurring past the window, each foot large enough to crush the groundcar, was unnerving. He took one of his shaking hands into the other. When that didn’t stop the trembling, he held them between his knees. He was still holding them that way when the car began to move again. I like this passage because it brings up how frightening battlemechs are to regular people. It’s a perspective we don’t often get because most battletech fiction is written from the perspective of mechwarriors, but even a lowly Locust or Stinger would be absolutely terrifying to a non-soldier like Davis. Eventually the Baron makes it to the Dragoons command post. He is presented with the same ‘five Colonels’ test as Minobu, and correctly concludes that it is an attempt to put him off-balance. Unfortunately his prejudices get the better of him and he picks Colonel number 5, assuming Jaime must be the biggest, meanest looking man in the room. The Colonel, Shostokovich, makes a joke at Davis’s expense, but the real Jaime Wolf intervenes before the Baron is humiliated too much. The conversation between Jaime and Davis reveals a great deal about their respective characters. Davis is suspicious of the Dragoons’ intentions and assumes that they will be plundering his holdings and using his citizens as forced labour. Jaime assures him that this is not the case, that he actually wants to avoid conflict with the locals and that he is prepared to compensate Davis (in C-Bills, no less) for any inconveniences the occupation might cause. Davis is surprised by Jaime’s apparent generosity, but Jaime explains it in terms of a business transaction, which allays his suspicions somewhat. Davis also notes that Jaime has failed to turn off the Holomap showing the Dragoons’ positions and commits the details to memory so that he can inform Davison high command later on. Of all the minor characters in Wolves on the Border, Baron Davis might be my favourite. His role in the story is tiny, but he gets a ton of characterisation in the short time we see him. A lesser author would have presented him as an oafish, bumbling blowhard, the idiot inbred Davion nobleman who only exists so that Jaime Wolf can dunk on him. While it is true that Jaime does outmanoeuvre Davis, it isn’t because the latter is stupid; in fact he’s actually quite canny and observant. He also seems to genuinely care about the people of Quentin IV and wants to spare them from yet another brutal raid at the hands of the Combine. He’s cynical and prejudiced, but not stupid or evil. Davis leaves after concluding the deal and the narrative switches back to Minobu. The first thing Jaime does is order one of his men to reset the Holomap. quote:The air above the table shimmered as the image changed. Additional details of the terrain developed while coloured images representing units flowed across the map. When they came to rest, the simulacrum was far different from what had shown during Baron Davis’s visit. In particular, the blue, symbolising Dragoons units, was far more prevalent. New unit markers had appeared, most in and around Batan. None of the units previously shown, except for a few at the Batan spaceport, occupied the positions they had a few minutes before. Turns out the Holomap was actually a ruse and Davis has just been fed a huge amount of false information. Davis is canny, but Jamie is cannier, and now his forces have an advantage in public relations, logistics and counter-intelligence. Writing a smart character can be tricky. A bad author will simply tell his readers that a character is smart and/or capable without any evidence to back it up (James Long), while a mediocre one will have the plot bend itself around them to make sure they always come out on top (Michael Stackpole). A good author will do what Charrette does here and actually set things up by showing the character in question making logical decisions that result in believable payoffs. Minobu is impressed that Jaime is capable of operating on so many levels, and when the Dragoons begin to discuss their real plans he acknowledges that they could very well be hiding things from him too. The tactical discussion that follows is a bit complicated, but basically involves the Dragoons intentionally weakening one of their own flanks in order to bait the Davions into attacking there. Once the enemy is committed, the plan is for that flank to retreat and the rest of the Dragoons to swing around and smash the strung-out Davion line. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Napoleon did something very similar in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. quote:When the enemy was strung out enough, the Dragoons would strike, hitting the Davion right flank and engaging them in a holding action. Meanwhile, the main force would attack the real target, the city of Fasohlt and its BattleMech factories, whose defences would now be weakened by the absence of units on their way to hit the supposedly vulnerable Dragoons. It was a complicated plan, one Minobu would never have considered for Kuritan House troops let alone mercenaries. Wolf and his officers, however, did not seem to think the complications unusual, and their tone was confident. With the plan decided, the chapter begins to wind down. Minobu appreciates Jamie’s tactical and strategic acumen, but finds his and the other Dragoons’ flippant attitude towards the Coordinator disturbing. For all his virtues, Minobu is still a Kuritan at heart. Chapter Seven Time skips ahead three days. Minobu and Colonel Shostokovich tour the Dragoons positions, and the two men develop something of a rapport, even if Minobu doesn’t really understand the big man’s sense of humour. Several small but important details are mentioned in passing. The Dragoons are salvaging the Davion DropShip from several chapters ago. The Dragoons commanders have dispersed to their various combat zones. Takashi Kurita’s arrival is repeatedly delayed due to unspecified reasons. Eventually Minobu encounters Jaime Wolf again, and we get an interesting description of one of his captains. quote:William Cameron was Wolf’s filter. Data relayed from the field and the main battle computer through the Tacticon B-2000 system on board the Captain’s CP10-Z Cyclops BattleMech were fed into the unit he carried on his shoulder. Thus, Cameron was able to monitor all Dragoons communications simultaneously, making sense of what would have been senseless babble to most other people. The Tacticon B-2000 system is an extremely rare bit of kit that is almost extinct in the Inner Sphere at this point in the timeline. The system allows a mechwarrior to coordinate an entire brigade, and used to be a standard component on the CP10-Z Cyclops. However, the system is delicate and its battlefield utility made units mounting it a priority target, so most were destroyed during the Succession Wars. No doubt this one came from the Clan stockpiles that were initially used to kit the Dragoons out. Cameron alerts Wolf to the fact that one of their commands has run into difficulties. Several battlemechs have unexpectedly been lost in Fire Rift, a volcanic valley near Fasolht. Intercepted communications reveal it to be the work of the Snake Stompers, a veteran mercenary unit with a burning hatred for House Kurita. The Stompers have charged in without orders, but are skilled enough to give the Dragoons a serious headache even without proper support. Realising he can’t afford to take the situation lightly, Jaime scrambles his Command Lance and gets ready to join the fight personally. Seeing Minobu standing nearby, Jaime offers him the chance to suit up and join him. quote:“Chu-sa, you are here to observe how we operate. Want to come along with me?” Jaime ushers Minobu over to the hangar. On the way they pass Jaime’s Command Lance. Captain Cameron’s Cyclops is present, along with a blue and gold Archer – the very same one that Minobu encountered on Dromini VI during the prologue. Minobu is happy to see it there, thinking that the pilot is a worthy warrior and hoping he can meet them later. Jaime gets suited up and asks the senior technician, a sarcastic woman called Bynfield, to fix Minobu up with a spare battlemech. After some back and forth Bynfield offers Minobu a VND-1R Vindicator. The Vindicator is quite similar to Minobu’s old Panther, but he still makes sure to question Bynfield about its quirks and capabilities. There is a good reason for this - while a mechwarrior can theoretically pilot any battlemech, there are enough differences in cockpit layout to make it potentially quite challenging. quote:The computer readout showed only one non-standard system – a Holly launcher replacing the Capellan-built Sian / Ceres Jaguar missile system. The Holly’s discharge rate was slightly inferior to a factory fresh Jaguar launcher, but its reputation among mechwarriors of the Inner Sphere was far superior. The unit’s maintenance record was spotless, and the BattleMech’s overall record was nearly as good. Battlemechs are precious in the late Succession Wars era, and most have been salvaged and refitted many times over. Even a unit carrying a stock loadout may have been rebuilt using components from different manufacturers. While a mech’s DI computer is a rugged device that can usually handle these differences, they aren’t perfect and many battlemechs wind up developing small glitches and quirks from being refurbished so often. Thankfully this isn’t the case for Minobu’s new Vindicator. Our hero gets suited up, with Bynfield offering to take his gear back to HQ. quote:Minobu stepped in her way. “You may take the uniform when I am gone. The swords I must take with me.” He lifted the wakizashi. Loosening the sageyo cord, he looped it over his shoulder, and retied it. He settled the sword where the blade would not get in his way when he clambered aboard the mech. He did the same for the katana, his motions quick and practiced. This isn’t just Minobu being stubborn. In bushido, swords aren’t just weapons, but symbols of status. During the Shogunate, only samurai were allowed to carry weapons, and as late as World War II Japanese officers carried fully functional katanas into battle alongside their firearms. The same is true in Battletech, where anyone of importance in the DCMS is expected to carry a blade and be versed in its use. Minobu rides a lift up to the Vindicator’s cockpit and climbs inside. We get a detailed description of how neurohelmets work, including how they sync the pilot’s own sense of balance to the mech’s gyro. Wolves on the Border is full of similar passages that describe how the tech and the world function, and it’s one reason why it always ranks so highly on ‘books to read first in Battletech’ lists. After getting over the initial sensation of vertigo Minobu is ready to sally forth. quote:A rush of adrenaline came with the sense of the machine’s balance. He was in control of the BattleMech. The view screens, set to the visible spectrum, revealed the ground crew clearing away. As he moved the mech out of the vehicle park, he lifted the PPC in salute. 
Scintilla fucked around with this message at 06:58 on May 28, 2023 |
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May 21, 2023 10:29
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May 21, 2023 13:40
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Aw he can blast some fools again 
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May 21, 2023 13:47
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Scintilla you read through made me go and grab this off Amazon.
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May 21, 2023 16:47
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Doesn't Bynfield also call him a crazy samurai here? Or is that later? I think that she does get a bit shirty with him because she assumes he'll be nasty to her because she's just a tech and he's a samurai.
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May 21, 2023 20:25
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Technowolf posted:Scintilla you read through made me go and grab this off Amazon. Glad to hear it! The book is well worth a read. painedforever posted:Doesn't Bynfield also call him a crazy samurai here? Or is that later? I think that she does get a bit shirty with him because she assumes he'll be nasty to her because she's just a tech and he's a samurai. Yep, she does. Minobu rubs her the wrong way by calling the Vindicator ‘adequate’, then she’s annoyed when he wants to take his swords into the cockpit. He doesn’t mean any offence, he’s just so stoic and hidebound that he doesn’t realise he’s offended her until it’s too late.
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May 21, 2023 21:27
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I finally got a library card but my local sadly does not have wolves on the border. I think it was in that battle tech book pack so I may get an e-reader so I can read terrible books without people seeing me read them. What are the best e-readers? The internet seems split on opinion
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May 21, 2023 23:06
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ilmucche posted:I finally got a library card but my local sadly does not have wolves on the border.
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May 21, 2023 23:12
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ilmucche posted:What are the best e-readers? The internet seems split on opinion If you mean software for a device, I highly recommend Calibre https://calibre-ebook.com/ If you mean a dedicated tablet, I like my kindle well enough but prefer Calibre except when traveling.
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May 21, 2023 23:15
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Calibre for managing the files + moving them all nicely sorted onto my phone, then the FullReader app for actually reading them
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May 21, 2023 23:35
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Ardlen posted:You can try an interlibrary loan. It is free, just might take some time for them to get it to you. Had a look, they don't have any Battletech related stuff in the system. It's a group of pretty small libraries where I live unfortunately aniviron posted:If you mean software for a device, I highly recommend Calibre https://calibre-ebook.com/ Can this put stuff onto a kindle? The bit of research I've done says that you have to email books to a kindle for some reason?? Sorry I know like nothing about e-readers
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May 22, 2023 08:43
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You can send books to a Kindle (or a device running the Kindle app) over USB using the program Calibre that aniviron linked to.
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May 22, 2023 08:56
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Cool, I guess I'll go with that one then. Thanks!
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May 22, 2023 09:05
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In other news, I am now in Hong Kong waiting for a connecting flight to take me back to good old Blighty. Updates should resume this Sunday. I will also be continuing the Let’s Read, although updates for it may become more intermittent.
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May 22, 2023 12:45
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How do I sign up to the pilot list? It's been an age since I last had a chance to :battletech: and the itch to mech is starting again.
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May 22, 2023 20:08
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Z the IVth posted:How do I sign up to the pilot list? It's been an age since I last had a chance to :battletech: and the itch to mech is starting again. Just have to send Scintilla a PM
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May 22, 2023 20:24
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Looking forward to being surprised about the game state because I've forgotten most of it. I think I was going to punch a tank and someone was going to shoot it? please no spoilers
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May 22, 2023 22:19
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i just started a new BTA campaign in HBS Battletech and one of my starting pilots is Amechwarrior
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May 23, 2023 01:36
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Z the IVth posted:How do I sign up to the pilot list? It's been an age since I last had a chance to :battletech: and the itch to mech is starting again. Just send me a PM and I’ll add you to the pilot list.
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May 23, 2023 08:39
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Captain Foo posted:i just started a new BTA campaign in HBS Battletech and one of my starting pilots is Amechwarrior Nice. Let me know if I die. I'm in a few (maybe all?) of the big mods due to the work I did developing the AI mod and user made Flashpoints. I still get pings here and there to answer mod questions about making FPs.
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May 23, 2023 09:09
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Amechwarrior posted:Nice. Let me know if I die. I'm in a few (maybe all?) of the big mods due to the work I did developing the AI mod and user made Flashpoints. I still get pings here and there to answer mod questions about making FPs. Will do! Right now you’re piloting a Phoenix Hawk!
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May 23, 2023 16:53
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i was thinking about the cicada with hands earlier, and then i though about the fire moth/dasher and the falconer, and well, behold, the falconmoth
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May 25, 2023 13:54
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biosterous posted:i was thinking about the cicada with hands earlier, and then i though about the fire moth/dasher and the falconer, and well, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s0ldo3K9HU
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May 25, 2023 14:10
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biosterous posted:i was thinking about the cicada with hands earlier, and then i though about the fire moth/dasher and the falconer, and well, what in the
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May 25, 2023 15:27
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biosterous posted:i was thinking about the cicada with hands earlier, and then i though about the fire moth/dasher and the falconer, and well, It's... Beautiful
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May 25, 2023 16:06
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 falconer stl plus arms from fire moth stl plus my first time playing around with tinkercad
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May 25, 2023 16:22
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