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I wouldn't say alpha strike is a progression to BattleForce, they're kind of similar conceptually but in terms of the rules, they don't have the same bones.
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Sep 9, 2023 04:22
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Defiance Industries posted:Great information. Count Thrashula posted:Also great information. I appreciate it, thanks! I couldn't figure out why the hell there was more than one of some of the Ops books. Did A Time of War change much in the last decade or so? If not, I may leave that one for last. Mechwarrior: Destiny looks neat, how different is it from A Time of War (I see it says narrative RPG, but that means different things to different people, so I don't want to make assumptions)?
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Sep 9, 2023 06:21
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Defiance Industries posted:I wouldn't say alpha strike is a progression to BattleForce, they're kind of similar conceptually but in terms of the rules, they don't have the same bones. The progression is probably more in terms of "you liked using lots of mechs? how about using lots more" Although, Alpha Strike is a direct descendent of the BattleForce rules - it was a refinement and evolution of a set of optional rules for BattleForce included in Strategic Operations called "Quick Strike." So it's not as far off as one might think.
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Sep 9, 2023 06:52
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grissenko posted:I appreciate it, thanks! I couldn't figure out why the hell there was more than one of some of the Ops books. Did A Time of War change much in the last decade or so? If not, I may leave that one for last. Mechwarrior: Destiny looks neat, how different is it from A Time of War (I see it says narrative RPG, but that means different things to different people, so I don't want to make assumptions)? It's roleplaying with less focus on crunchy stat calculations, focused around getting through scenes instead of calculating exactly how much damage that Firedrake Needler did
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Sep 9, 2023 08:47
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One are the things I’m keen to avoid is that pointless smash up between two lances, even with a mission. I want to run my new Lance of mechs as a mercenary company and an incentive to see how their fortunes play out after more than one game. I see there are multiple campaign systems, is there baby’s first? I’m familiar with normal wargaming strategic campaigns but not sure how to manage mech purchase, repair, experience, determining missions, etc. - kinda like 5 Parsecs from Home but for BT?
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Sep 9, 2023 08:51
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Rules for everything exist but they're all spread out in many supplements. For example, you can find repair and maintenance rules in one book, costs and availability in another, the actual "Campaign Operations" has some really good information on creating and using your unit. But there's still a lack of guidance for actually running a campaign. You could make it up, I ran a campaign as a GM where I made up contracts and opfors and missions and such for my players. But I did it all via fiat. I picked stuff that sounded like it would be fun for everyone involved. But I want a book you can just follow the rules of to play a campaign with persistent forces. No need to make things up or adjudicate. GM optional. The closest thing are the two Starterbooks which had a simplified campaign system laid out in full. Those were meant to have two persistent forces with players taking turns playing the non-persistent opfor, with a few missions where their forces directly fought each other. You could also use a conversion factor to turn the points into actual C-Bills for using the normal purchase and repair rules. But if you strayed in that direction you still needed to use fiat for various things to keep things running. If I recall, there wasn't a given time between missions, for instance. There was also this free PDF supplement, Chaos Campaign: Succession Wars, that used a similar system to model a multi-mission planetary assault with persistent forces. But it was designed with one player being a GM who could adjudicate rather than two players going head to head. I think it would have been a killer way to do a head to head mini-campaign if only a little more editing was done to excise the need for a GM. There are also other products that use the same "Chaos Campaign" system - a free PDF of the same name that has some rules and tables, countless PDF products with historical missions laid out using those rules, self-contained campaigns more like the Starterbooks in various Era Report books and larger PDF products, and the Total Chaos book that was a whole-rear end 15 year long Jihad era campaign... but those again had holes in them that needed to be smoothed over. (For instance, using the Turning Points PDFs as a campaign required you to incorporate the generic mission types of your choice from one of several of the more full campaigns, and you needed to figure out for yourself how you wanted to generate your unit. It was very DIY. Which is okay, but not exactly pick up and play.) I get it, I sound like I'm a slave to the rules. Yeah, I am, I want something that lets me play a campaign with someone where neither of us has to make decisions except how to run our unit in combat and in between combat. BattleMaster fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 09:48
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I would be playing solo so pitting my persistent mech lance against ephemeral opponents works fine. The starter books like Sword and Dragon, you say? I found a PDF so maybe I should look through that - I kinda like the idea of procedurally generating contracts, income, expenditure, repairs, etc. but maybe I can use the 5PfH system for that, but fight the battles in the BT paradigm or something like that?
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Sep 9, 2023 11:25
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Southern Heel posted:I would be playing solo so pitting my persistent mech lance against ephemeral opponents works fine. The starter books like Sword and Dragon, you say? I found a PDF so maybe I should look through that - I kinda like the idea of procedurally generating contracts, income, expenditure, repairs, etc. but maybe I can use the 5PfH system for that, but fight the battles in the BT paradigm or something like that? There's a set of AI rules out there as well but it's in Beta and I can't find the PDFs.
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Sep 9, 2023 14:07
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I don’t need AI rules really, just the whims required to make a typical campaign fit the specifics of the BT universe! Either way: first I need to play a game!!
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Sep 9, 2023 14:36
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BattleMaster posted:Said a bunch of informative stuff about campaigns. I was tangentially wondering about this, if they had ever released anything more comprehensive for running campaigns or not since last I was in this, sounds like not. I did a campaign a great many years ago that was good fun, but I ran it as GM for two players who ran a single merc company against opfor that I put together. As you mentioned, very DIY, fiat for so much. It was good fun, but as you said, nothing was really pick up and play. It's a shame they haven't wandered that direction to fill the gaps. My getting back to BT now is, funnily, as a result of having several conversations with local BT players who have expressed desires to play narrative campaigns.
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Sep 9, 2023 15:00
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Southern Heel posted:I would be playing solo so pitting my persistent mech lance against ephemeral opponents works fine. The starter books like Sword and Dragon, you say? I found a PDF so maybe I should look through that - I kinda like the idea of procedurally generating contracts, income, expenditure, repairs, etc. but maybe I can use the 5PfH system for that, but fight the battles in the BT paradigm or something like that? ETA: alternatively, Operation: Flashpoint has a good chunk of a campaign just right there in the book. It's set on Kaumberg in the Lyran half of the FedCom during the Civil War and I think there are three factions available to side with and OpFor provided for all of them. Arquinsiel fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 16:12
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There are a lot of people signed up for Southern Assault 3 this year in Winston-Salem. Over 90 people are on the list to come stomp, punch, and otherwise shoot/destroy gigantic stompy robits, are any of y'all making the trip?
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Sep 11, 2023 20:08
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Icon Of Sin posted:There are a lot of people signed up for Southern Assault 3 this year in Winston-Salem. Over 90 people are on the list to come stomp, punch, and otherwise shoot/destroy gigantic stompy robits, are any of y'all making the trip? What the heck I just moved out of the Triad area to Pennsylvania, I had no idea there was a Battletech scene down there.
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Sep 11, 2023 20:51
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Count Thrashula posted:What the heck I just moved out of the Triad area to Pennsylvania, I had no idea there was a Battletech scene down there. It's Fortress Games/Minis, the owner (Bobby) runs the online store out of his basement. Last year there were ~70 people that showed up for the tournament, and it's already looking bigger this year! People came from near and far (there was a guy I played from Michigan, and someone else from PA I'm pretty sure). We got in 6 games in 2 days, and everybody got a borderline obscene amount of swag (including the store's own 3d-printed mech, the Percival). It was a blast, and I can't wait to go back for more 
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Sep 11, 2023 21:57
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 Working on recreating the finale of the Jeronimo campaign featuring my kitbashed versions of the Goon Po and Sunfire mechs. Now just trying to decide if I should splurge for a Mackie.
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Sep 11, 2023 23:41
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I bought a beginner box and four blind packs with store credit yesterday, since I've been playing armored core and have mechbrains. I've never played battletech, have no one to play with, and am going to look up solo variants. How bad did I hosed up with these first purchases Blind packs were Battle Cobra A, Kodiak, Shadow Cat, and Turkina A. Was hoping for something I'd recognize from MW2 when I was a kid but I really only remember the Nova and Timber Wolf
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Sep 12, 2023 15:22
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The Beginner Box is very beginner and is not usually something I'd recommend for anyone with tabletop experience. It still gets you two mechs, some core concepts, and I think a map so it's not entirely useless, but you'll want to move on to the full rules sooner rather than later. You might try the two mechs in the box against one of the Clans, but it's not going to be very balanced.
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Sep 12, 2023 15:26
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The Battle Cobra's a pretty reasonable match-up for a pair of IS mediums. It's faster, and the Large Pulse Lasers are as murderous as ever; but a Griffin and Vindicator should be able to take it on fairly reliably. It can also be run as one of the ComStar configurations with IS tech; so you could fairly evenly run a ComStar Battle Cobra and the Griffin vs. the Shadow Hawk. Or just proxy, as long as you know what's what and both players agree on it, any 'Mech can be anything.
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Sep 12, 2023 15:38
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big cummers ONLY posted:I've never played battletech, have no one to play with, and am going to look up solo variants. How bad did I hosed up with these first purchases where are you, there’s a chance a BT scene could be there
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Sep 12, 2023 15:48
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Bummer that the beginner box is oversimplified but that's what I get for picking the cheapest option. Seems like the route to go for future model purchases would be to buy exactly what I want. Would any of the mechs I got so far be able to 1v1 a timber wolf? I have really fond memories of the timber wolf as a kid playing mw2 Sidesaddle Cavalry posted:where are you, there’s a chance a BT scene could be there I'm not an especially social person at the moment, mainly gonna be looking for solo variants. And eventually rope my gf into playing a super simplified version since she's very new games that aren't The Sims or Mario
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Sep 12, 2023 16:33
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Arquinsiel posted:What you are looking for is the warchest system in the Chaos Campaign free PDF. It abstracts repair and supply to be a simple points system where you dedicate a point to a task to get it done and fight battles to gain points. Thank you, I started looking at the Chaos Campaign and Random Assignment Tables and then got dragged into Campaign Operations over the last few days I have put together a two-lance Mercenary company, and a solar system in which it operates. I have all the background ready - but I'm a little disappointed that when it actually comes to setting out a campaign so I'm going to take the series of missions in Sword and Dragon and see how they pan out! Cheers!
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Sep 12, 2023 17:10
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big cummers ONLY posted:Bummer that the beginner box is oversimplified but that's what I get for picking the cheapest option. OK well to get you started there's the BattleMech Manual + the Clan Invasion box for your robot preference For bigger games with less detail there's the Alpha Strike box or Commander's Edition for just the rules. I like the original rules though because you get to see exactly how a robot blows up. Good to see ACVI influencing folks to play robots though Sidesaddle Cavalry fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Sep 12, 2023 |
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Sep 12, 2023 17:11
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big cummers ONLY posted:Would any of the mechs I got so far be able to 1v1 a timber wolf? In general the random mech boxes are for weirdos like me who have been at this for decades and like going "I will buy X random boxes and make a unit out of it", but blind buys are also fun and there's no real bad options so TBH just buy whatever feels like the most fun. If you're playing solo then there's no need to worry about a hypothetical "metagame".
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Sep 12, 2023 17:43
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They were a great hook for me. I bought two initially and both mechs looked cool so I went back for the beginner box and two more. I think you're right that I should be done with the blind ones for awhile, too many mechs I don't know or care about
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Sep 12, 2023 17:52
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Well now you care about the Kodiak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPlXXUhtVqc
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Sep 12, 2023 17:55
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big cummers ONLY posted:Seems like the route to go for future model purchases would be to buy exactly what I want. Would any of the mechs I got so far be able to 1v1 a timber wolf? I have really fond memories of the timber wolf as a kid playing mw2 The Timber Wolf is a 'Mech that's almost accidentally really well optimized, it'll handle your two IS mediums without too much trouble and just kinda walks all over the Battle Cobra in any config. Of the 'Mechs you already own, the Shadowcat's the best matchup, but it's one the Shadow Cat will probably lose most of the time. The Kodiak's slightly stronger than the Timber Wolf, but if the Timber Wolf plays to its strengths (better range, higher speed) it's not a totally uneven matchup. They're only about 100 bv apart. The Turkina's an absolute monster, though. It and the Kodiak are about the same weight (the Turkina's actually a little lighter) but you can probably expect the Turkina to win that 1v1 more times than not (especially if there's little cover on the map). If the Kodiak makes good use of terrain and can get in close it'll eat the Turkina alive at point blank ranges. It's definitely a game of rocket tag, though, and the Turkina's a rocket tag champion. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Sep 12, 2023 |
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Sep 12, 2023 18:59
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PoptartsNinja posted:The Timber Wolf is a 'Mech that's almost accidentally really well optimized, it'll handle your two IS mediums without too much trouble and just kinda walks all over the Battle Cobra in any config. Of the 'Mechs you already own, the Shadowcat's the best matchup, but it's one the Shadow Cat will probably lose most of the time. The Kodiak's slightly stronger than the Timber Wolf, but if the Timber Wolf plays to its strengths (better range, higher speed) it's not a totally uneven matchup. They're only about 100 bv apart. The E variant of the Turkina is terrifying at close range. Six Streak SRM6 racks and a HAG40.
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Sep 12, 2023 20:23
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Yeah, I'm talking about the Turkina Prime specifically since they'll have an Alpha Strike card for it. Find me a Turkina variant that isn't an absolute monster.
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Sep 12, 2023 21:04
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The Turkina looks like the lovechild of a muppet and pac-man.
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Sep 12, 2023 21:13
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It's a King Crab Mk. III, in the same way the Dire Wolf is basically a King Crab Mk. II. I love the new minis for making the King Crab -> Dire Wolf family relationship clearer. And since the Jade Falcons wouldn't touch any 'Mech named after a wolf, they made their own version. With Jump Jets. And squawking.
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Sep 12, 2023 21:15
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Flying saucer chicken with Dumbo ears
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Sep 12, 2023 21:16
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PoptartsNinja posted:Yeah, I'm talking about the Turkina Prime specifically since they'll have an Alpha Strike card for it. The T is kind of lame for a 95-ton juggernaut. The M loadout I understand because you get the mass for less BV but the T is not so good and its headcappers make it a priority target Sidesaddle Cavalry fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Sep 12, 2023 |
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Sep 12, 2023 21:19
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Sidesaddle Cavalry posted:Flying saucer chicken with Dumbo ears Yeah, the Hoplite is a silly 'mech.
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Sep 12, 2023 21:33
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PoptartsNinja posted:It's a King Crab Mk. III, in the same way the Dire Wolf is basically a King Crab Mk. II. Dire Crab...uh...Coconut Crab?
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Sep 12, 2023 21:46
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Remember kids, carcinization applies to all evolution (including that of the battlemech!).
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Sep 12, 2023 22:39
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Man, I really wish there was a magic Alpha Strike app where I could just input the chassis I have and in what quantities and then it just spits out all the possible combinations of formations with different variants possible.
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Sep 13, 2023 00:54
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Atlas Hugged posted:Man, I really wish there was a magic Alpha Strike app where I could just input the chassis I have and in what quantities and then it just spits out all the possible combinations of formations with different variants possible. Eh, why legitimize WYSIWYG play? If I want to win a game because I spent more money that's what phone games are for.
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Sep 13, 2023 01:34
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Because they want to? The same reason you built an entire regiment that's not just a pile of whatever mechs you had on hand when you had the idea? Why does winning a game have anything to do with it?
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Sep 13, 2023 02:50
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I've never played battletech before, but I liked the minis. Dragon-Con's paint & take crew were offering invasion salvage boxes for $5 so I bit. I painted up this little guy knowing g nothing about anything, and I thought it looked cool so I entered into the competition they were running.  Well I won first place, and Catalyst was at the con and donated a whole pile of stuff to the event, and they gave it all to me.  A Game of Armored Combat Battlemech Manual Invasion Salvage display box Grasslands Map pack and the paint set. Tomorrow a couple friends are coming over, one of whom has played the game, I think? I also bought the beginner box so my girlfriend and I can internalize the movement and shooting before going in the deep end, but I think it should be fun. I printed a bunch of hex terrain for the box set maps and painted up the starter lances. I wish I had time to paint the Griffin and Vindicator but they only arrived today and the epoxy is only now set on their base magnets.  Anything I should know?
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Sep 13, 2023 05:50
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Defiance Industries posted:Eh, why legitimize WYSIWYG play? If I want to win a game because I spent more money that's what phone games are for. I don't really see it as WYSIWYG and it's not something I would require or expect out of an opponent. If I have an Atlas, I don't mind fielding it as literally any variant of an Atlas, up to and including Atlas II and Atlas III designs. But if someone wanted to field an Atlas and only had a wine cork, that's absolutely fine. The reason why I buy mechs, and I think this reason is universal because other people also seem to buy a variety of mech chassis and most people don't just play with bottlecaps, is because I like the way the mechs look and I like fielding them as the mechs they actually represent. But that's as far as I take it. It's not like if someone fields a Catapult variant with lasers instead of missile launchers I'll flip the table over if they get out the standard plastic model. What I want is to be able to quickly build an Alpha Strike force without having to cross reference the MUL against my cabinet of curiosities. Like say I wanted to build a Fire Support lance, it would be nice to select "Fire Support" from a drop down menu and for this theoretic app to just autogenerate a list of potential mechs from a chassis database that I populated with all the mechs I own that met the various requirements for that formation type. Like I could spend a week and catalog all of my mechs, all of their variants, and the roles of all of their variants, but it would be nice if there was something automated to help. I know it's not likely to ever be a real product unless I learn to code for myself, which is also why I described it as magic in the first place.
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Sep 13, 2023 07:45
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