|
Oof, a HBK-4H. Arguably one of the most glaring examples of what Succession War equipment shortages can do to an iconic design. Still less of an abomination than the -4N though 
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 17:14 |
|
|
Bloody Pom posted:Oof, a HBK-4H. Arguably one of the most glaring examples of what Succession War equipment shortages can do to an iconic design. I'd still consider either of those over a -4J. If you want a Trebuchet, get a Trebuchet, don't do that to a poor Hunchback. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:23
|
|
|
Now see, I respect Swaybacks because they're doing their own thing, and often do it pretty drat well. The -4J also doesn't explode if you look at it funny like the Treb does. The -4H is a textbook example of a 'good enough' field refit that somehow manages to feel disappointing despite technically being able to output the same amount of damage.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:28
|
|
|
All of mine become 4P very quickly
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:29
|
|
|
Bloody Pom posted:Now see, I respect Swaybacks because they're doing their own thing, and often do it pretty drat well. The -4J also doesn't explode if you look at it funny like the Treb does. Personally, my pick for a weird offbrand Hunchback is the -4SP. Trades some of the damage of the AC/20 for more critseeking at similar range, keeping the same general threat profile.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:31
|
|
|
i appreciate that all the panzyr lore shown here fits with the HBStech lore for the area  please don't make us defend the spaceport
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:39
|
|
|
-4N seems very confused. Can't throw many missiles, can't really crit seek, doesn't have brute firepower...
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:41
|
|
|
Speaking of the Hunchback, Tex's latest BTech video was about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9tgyAwuVk Suddenly recalled that as I was reading the latest posts.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:41
|
|
|
Oh poo poo, I didn't even notice that I was on the pilot list for this one! And I was just slandering the Trebuchet  e: I will not be opting for Inferno ammo, as even in a simulated environment I would prefer not exploding and also being on fire. Xarn posted:-4N seems very confused. Can't throw many missiles, can't really crit seek, doesn't have brute firepower... It's a Hunchback that, for some ungodly reason, is trying to do a Shadow Hawk impression. That tells you everything you really need to know. Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Sep 3, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2023 22:44
|
|
|
Azhais posted:All of mine become 4P very quickly Ah yes, the glorious Partyback variant, all the lasers!
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 01:36
|
|
|
Bloody Pom posted:Oof, a HBK-4H. Arguably one of the most glaring examples of what Succession War equipment shortages can do to an iconic design. There are two other canon field refits on the OpFor team, although both of them improve on the original designs from a gameplay perspective. The Periphery is strapped for tech at this point in the timeline, so weird rejigs are pretty common. Scintilla fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Sep 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 07:06
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:There are two other canon field refits on the OpFor team, although both of them improve on the original designs from a gameplay perspective. The Periphery is strapped for tech at this point in the timeline, so weird rejigs are pretty common. That stock Griffin is actually a tasty find for the time period though, I think right now the only production variant swaps the PPC for a bunch of lasers. Shame it's only a simulation
Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Sep 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 08:45
|
|
|
Bloody Pom posted:That stock Griffin is actually a tasty find for the time period though, I think right now the only production variant swaps the PPC for a large laser. You must be talking about the GRF-1S, it has one LL, two ML's and changed the LRM-10 into a LRM-5 with four extra added heatsinks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 08:56
|
|
|
painedforever posted:Oh my god, I'm in a Shadow Hawk with a PPC and jumpjets! I mean, they are a House unit in all but name. And eventually (3060), they admitted that. Also, my first introduction to them was reading about how they kept getting whipped by Wolf's Dragoons, so they decided the best response was to try to murder all their dependents. Not a great first impression.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 12:37
|
|
|
Koorisch posted:You must be talking about the GRF-1S, it has one LL, two ML's and changed the LRM-10 into a LRM-5 with four extra added heatsinks. There's another canon variant for the era now, as well (the -1RG) but definitely not something done on a production line.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2023 17:33
|
|
|
A Royal Guard Griffin somehow making its way to the Aurigan Reach would be a story all by itself. The Fusiliers are mostly made up of whatever House Decimis could salvage from the debris field.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 19:04
|
|
|
Ah yes, the Hornet, the walking egg mech.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 19:14
|
|
|
One of the most suicidal machines ever constructed. A 20-ton mech built with Star League tech that nevertheless can't keep pace with a Phoenix Hawk.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 19:28
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:One of the most suicidal machines ever constructed. A 20-ton mech built with Star League tech that nevertheless can't keep pace with a Phoenix Hawk. Yeah, I don't see any drat reason why you would pick this over, say, a Locust.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 19:35
|
|
|
Objective: don't fall over Lmao Koorisch posted:Yeah, I don't see any drat reason why you would pick this over, say, a Locust. Because it's in the pile
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 19:51
|
|
|
The Hornet doesn't even have the excuse that most early Battlemechs do where people were just seeing what worked and what didn't. It was produced about a decade before the Amaris Civil War.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 21:51
|
|
|
Well, as Tex would put it, it was a "product of the military-industrial complex".
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 21:52
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:A Royal Guard Griffin somehow making its way to the Aurigan Reach would be a story all by itself. The Fusiliers are mostly made up of whatever House Decimis could salvage from the debris field. Oh dear
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 22:28
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:A Royal Guard Griffin somehow making its way to the Aurigan Reach would be a story all by itself. The Fusiliers are mostly made up of whatever House Decimis could salvage from the debris field. Awww, you can do it little training buddy
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2023 22:50
|
|
|
Rorahusky posted:The Hornet doesn't even have the excuse that most early Battlemechs do where people were just seeing what worked and what didn't. It was produced about a decade before the Amaris Civil War. Kerensky was calling the shots at that point and he only had one idea for a battlemech: have it be big and slow
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 00:01
|
|
|
I’m not an expert, but a mech of that size with that movement profile seems highly unfortunate. Not fast enough to dodge bullets and not bulky enough to take them. Granted designers in universe don’t have the magic of clear concise numbers to guide them. And have to deal with resource shortages and stuff. This still seems like a bad idea though. If you’re going to go big and slow on a light mech, at least have the audacity to give it an absurdly large gun like an Urbie
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 00:13
|
|
|
Maybe the better question is could the materials and man hours used to build that thing be better spent on a squad of harassers or something
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 00:40
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:Kerensky was calling the shots at that point and he only had one idea for a battlemech: have it be big and slow if there was one thing his progeny did right, it was to ask the question 'what if it was big AND fast?' And that's how we got the Executioner, which can run fast enough to catch up to something like the Hornet and then score a field goal with its mangled torso. Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Sep 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 00:40
|
|
|
glwgameplayer posted:I’m not an expert, but a mech of that size with that movement profile seems highly unfortunate. Not fast enough to dodge bullets and not bulky enough to take them. "We had a guaranteed military contract! Renovation program! Spare parts for twenty five years! Who cares if it worked or not? I am convinced that this is how most Star League defense contracts worked.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 00:47
|
|
|
glwgameplayer posted:I’m not an expert, but a mech of that size with that movement profile seems highly unfortunate. Not fast enough to dodge bullets and not bulky enough to take them. The Hornet can't get away from a Flashman, a mech which is not only almost quadruple the size of the Hornet, but carries the Hornet's entire mass in JUST LASERS.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 01:49
|
|
|
Also the benefit of sims is that you get to use all the ubermechs that you'll never ever eve nbe able to afford the medical treatment for looking at the pricetag of them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 02:39
|
|
|
ilmucche posted:Awww, you can do it little training buddy Mood: Hesitant.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 02:52
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:The Hornet can't get away from a Flashman, a mech which is not only almost quadruple the size of the Hornet, but carries the Hornet's entire mass in JUST LASERS. To be fair, very few things can get away from a Flashman. 5/8 is shockingly fast for a pre-Clan 75 tonner. The Flashman's real charm is that very few things things slower than it can out-fight it. The Hornet is one of the few 'Mechs I'd imagine could consistently lose a fight to a Clint.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:21
|
|
|
Koorisch posted:Ah yes, the Hornet, the walking egg mech. ... how is this this hilarious little thing not as infamous/loved as the urbie? I've never seen that art before, but its got that eggshell theme down pat! TheParadigm fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Sep 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:28
|
|
|
I don't think you can put an AC/10 on a Hornet
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:31
|
|
|
The Urbie can do at least one thing passably, and furthermore, it can even do that one single thing pretty well. I can't really imagine a purpose for that thing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:33
|
|
|
The Hornet did one thing really well and that was dying in instant action in Mechwarrior 2 Mercs, because it was the first IS light on the list.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:38
|
|
|
TheParadigm posted:... The Urbie has the benefit of being so wildly and heavily specialized that you can call it the slowest light mech, the light mech that matches speeds with assault mechs, and the light mech packing an AC 20. People remember the extremes, and the Hornet is just kinda meh. It is a silly little pumpkin though
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 03:49
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:To be fair, very few things can get away from a Flashman. 5/8 is shockingly fast for a pre-Clan 75 tonner. The Flashman's real charm is that very few things things slower than it can out-fight it. The downgraded Flashman, even if slower, is still a beast of a Mech. It was the Mech I would always assign to lancemates in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries because it's a zombie flashbulb that was relatively cheap to repair.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 04:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 17:14 |
|
|
River_Bed_[1268]: Turn 0 Gudrun Magos frowned and swept a strand of honey-blonde hair out of her face as she peered down at the master command console’s readout. The ancient computer system hummed audibly as it performed basic diagnostic scans on each of its attendant virtual reality piloting pods, hunting for bugs and errors that might impact the experience of their users. A series of mechanical beeps sounded, and the icons for pods 3, 5 and 10 flashed yellow, indicating minor faults. Gudrun sighed, then manually selected the pods in question and keyed in a command that would reboot them. Like the battlemechs they emulated, most of the pods were at least a century old, and minor bugs and glitches were common. Thankfully, a hard reboot was usually enough to fix them. The pods themselves had been placed in the mech bay beneath the palace, the only space that was both large and secure enough to hold them. The egg-shaped machines looked like giant metal kidneys, their domed roofs perched on top of a jumbled mass of servos, shock absorbers and gyroscopic doodads that could emulate the feeling of piloting a battlemech. Power cables the size of Gudrun’s arms linked the pods to the palace’s power grid, forming a snaking arterial web that further reinforced the biomechanical feel. “Hey Gudrun! Is everything alright?” Jenna Sable called as the lights on the three faulty pods dimmed. She and the rest of her lance stood in an empty mech bay nearby, pacing about while they waited for the Fusiliers to arrive. All wore their cooling vests. The pods simulated everything, even raising the temperature inside to emulate overheating. A tightness gripped Gudrun’s chest as the other mercs eyed her suspiciously. It was hard to blame them. Gudrun was a pirate, and a traitor. By all rights she should have been exiled or executed along with the rest of Preston’s company, but Jenna had vouched for her. Gudrun still wasn’t entirely sure why, but she was determined to repay that kindness however she could. “Yeah, I’m just flushing a couple of bugs!” she replied truthfully. Jenna nodded, and Gudrun felt herself breathe easy again. She had volunteered to act as the administrator as soon as she had found out they were running simulated battles. Spending years obsessing over her test scores had given her an encyclopaedic knowledge of how the simulator pods functioned, including their various idiosyncrasies and the applicability of their virtual battlefields. Simulations were her specialist area, and if she ran them well enough, then perhaps the other mercs would recognise her sincerity. As the pods slowly cycled back up the doors to the hangar creaked open and the six Fusiliers finally made their entrance. All of them were young, with none older than their mid-twenties. Etienne Decimis strode out in front, moving with the confident swagger of a man born to rule. He was shorter than his grandfather, but just as muscular, and he had a full head of iron-grey hair. He looked irritated, and his expression darkened when he noticed the simulator pods. “So, you’re the mercs my grandfather has saddled us with,” he began, looking at Jenna and the others with thinly disguised contempt. “What were you called, again?” “We are the Sterling and Sable Mercenary Company, my lord,” Jenna replied smoothly. “Your grandfather has asked us to spar with you, to help prepare you for the rigors of real combat.” Etienne raised an eyebrow. “Sterling and Sable, eh? Never heard of you.” “That is not surprising, my lord. Our company is quite new. We were founded a little over a year and a half ago.” “A year and a half ago? And you want to train us?” Etienne snorted incredulously. “You’re all newbies yourselves! What could we possibly learn from you?” Jenna simply smiled and gestured at the pods. “Why don’t we find out? If you beat us, then clearly we have nothing to teach you. We can end our contract early, and seek our fortune elsewhere.” The young prince laughed derisively and made for the nearest pod. “Fine by me. I hope you’ve chartered a DropShip, ‘cause you’re about to get whipped.” Gudrun winced as the Fusiliers climbed into their pods. She had firsthand experience of what Jenna and her lance were capable of. Sterling and Sable weren’t newbies. They were ice cold professionals who had taken her old company apart like a biology teacher dissecting a frog. When everyone was ready Gudrun turned back to the command console. All three of the faulty pods now read green on the display. Relieved that she did not have to delay, Gudrun performed some final checks before navigating through to the directory that contained the map ROMs. The battlefield she settled on was called River_Bed_[1268]. The environment was based on an arid world whose name Gudrun could not recall. As the title implied, the primary terrain feature was a dried-up riverbed that ran across the top third of the map. A series of rocky buttes peppered the battlefield, providing both shields for the participants to hide behind and vantage points for them to snipe from. The riverbed was also not completely dry, and crossing it often meant contending with thick patches of mud that sucked at a mech’s legs, slowing them down if they were lucky and immobilising them if they weren’t. Overall it was a fairly simple map, but it tested a variety of skills, which is why Gudrun had chosen it for the first encounter. Gudrun waited until the map had fully loaded, then opened a communications channel to the pods. “Attention mechwarriors, this is Gudrun Magos, the administrator for this simulation. The training session will begin shortly. In the unlikely event of a fire or electrical fault, the emergency shutdown button and manual exit levers are on your left. If you encounter a serious glitch or other technical issue please contact me immediately on channel 3-C. Ping me now if you have heard this message.” A series of green diodes lit up as the pilots acknowledged her broadcast. “Very well. All of my readings are nominal. Beginning simulation in 3… 2… 1…”  N/A  N/A  N/A  N/A    Player Status  Enemy Status   Special Abilities: -Toughness: Grants bonus to consciousness rolls. -Small Pilot: Negates ‘Cramped Cockpit’ penalties. Primary Objectives: -Defeat the First Decimis Fusiliers (0/6) Secondary Objectives: -Humiliate Etienne Decimis (100,000 C-Bill reward) Non-Isometric Hexmap:  Next Orders Due: Saturday 10th 9:00PM GMT. Scintilla fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Sep 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2023 06:04
|
|