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Scintilla posted:I would never be cruel enough to saddle a player with the stock Quickdraw. What about the incredibly stupid one with the rear-mounted SRM-4? Because of the way its arm quirks work, the stock Quickdraw nearly has more rear-facing firepower than forward-facing firepower. The QKD-4H "fixes" this by instead saddling the Quickdraw with 25 shots of SRM-4 ammo it will never be able to use.
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Nov 6, 2023 05:13
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biosterous posted:Scintilla, will our ammo count at the end of the mission matter for future missions? i figure Mike would let his teammates know how much verisimilitude to expect. i'll probably deploy with 12 rounds of SRM ammo, unless we'll need the full load for later There might be scenarios in the future where a single lance will have to fight through multiple missions back-to-back with limited options for resupply, but in that case I'll be sure to let everyone know that's what's happening. For this mission I'll let the players decide how much verisimilitude they want. PoptartsNinja posted:What about the incredibly stupid one with the rear-mounted SRM-4? That one is so pointless I forgot it existed.
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Nov 6, 2023 06:12
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The design quirks here have some interesting potential. Everything except the T-bolt can flip arms due to hyper-extending actuators, and the T-Bolt has no multi-target penalty. Both of those have the potential to be useful. The weight of the QKD makes any physical attacks it carries out pretty damaging (6 for a punch, 12 for a kick unless I'm doing something wrong), and at 5/8/5 it is mobile enough that it might have an opportunity to make those attacks.
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Nov 6, 2023 06:28
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 I'm the Marauder.PoptartsNinja posted:Some ammo tips: Exactly the advice I'm looking for, thanks! Think I'll go with 8 since that thing scares me, even with narrow profile. PPCs are more fun. So what does deep snow do?
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Nov 6, 2023 08:55
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Out of curious, what does the Evasive Action SPA do?
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Nov 6, 2023 12:09
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PoptartsNinja posted:The Thunderbolt's SRM-2 and Machine Guns are really risky. The SRM-2 will function just fine with between 6 and 9 shots (24-36 ammo explosion damage), and the Machine Guns can get away with 3 shots per gun. You probably won't need to use them, but they are free damage if something gets into kicking range. This sounds good. 6 shots of SRM-2 and 6 shots of MG.
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Nov 6, 2023 14:05
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Farseli posted:So what does deep snow do? Deep Snow costs +1 additional MP to enter and doing so runs the risk of the mech bogging down. There will be a more comprehensive description of them in Turn 0, but they're basically environmental hazards. Rorahusky posted:Out of curious, what does the Evasive Action SPA do? Evasive Action is a homebrew SPA that lets a pilot use the Evasive Movement rules. By forfeiting the right to fire during the shooting phase, the pilot gains the ability to move evasively, inflicting an additional +1 penalty against incoming weapons fire and physical attacks. The unit must use its Running MP, have undamaged hips, and will gain an extra +2 heat at the end of the round.
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Nov 6, 2023 16:58
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So the 'Mech equivalent of running serpentine? I like it!
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Nov 6, 2023 20:43
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Can 'mechs walk on that bridge?
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Nov 6, 2023 20:56
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Space Kablooey posted:Can 'mechs walk on that bridge? All of the bridge hexes have a CF of 60, so mechs weighing 60 tons or lighter can cross over it. Of course, shooting a bridge hex will lower its CF... -- Okay, so provisional ammunition loads are as follows: Farseli (Marauder) - 8 AC/5 rounds CirclMaster (Thunderbolt) - 16 LRM-15 rounds, 6 SRM-2 rounds and 6 MG rounds biosterous (Quickdraw) - 12 LRM-10 rounds, 12 SRM-4 rounds AJ_Impy (Dervish) - Gigachad full load  If all this looks good I'll go ahead and start putting Turn 0 together for Wednesday.
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Nov 6, 2023 21:06
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Bloody Pom posted:So the 'Mech equivalent of running serpentine? I like it! I wasn't picturing Jeanne as looking like Alan Arkin
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Nov 6, 2023 21:21
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heck yeah! and confirmed, 12 shots each for the LRM and SRM for me
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Nov 6, 2023 22:29
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Scintilla posted:AJ_Impy (Dervish) - Gigachad full load Lock and load.
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Nov 6, 2023 23:13
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Looks good to me. I'll be surprised if I find myself wishing I had more AC/5 ammo.
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Nov 6, 2023 23:16
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Scintilla posted:AJ_Impy (Dervish) - Gigachad full load 50% Infernos? At most, cold temperatures can ever increase 'Mech cooling is +3, so infernos can still be a nasty surprise and it's exactly the sort of thing Taurians would do.
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Nov 7, 2023 02:02
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PoptartsNinja posted:50% Infernos? Actually yeah, good point. Let's put in a spicy surprise.
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Nov 7, 2023 02:58
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I still think you should hot-load the LRMs too, to either blitz something at point blank with 20 LRMs or to increase your own chances of exploding spectacularly. I wouldn't recommend hot loading at any other time, but it's a simulator. Experienced mercs are going to game that poo poo.
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Nov 7, 2023 03:06
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So seriously speaking, what's going to stop the players from just using maximum MP and trying to evade most of the enemy fire to just rush the exit line asap? The enemy can't physically stop them unless they're using mines right?
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Nov 7, 2023 03:42
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PoptartsNinja posted:I still think you should hot-load the LRMs too, to either blitz something at point blank with 20 LRMs or to increase your own chances of exploding spectacularly. You know what, why not? Let's go full piñata here. extra spicy.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:28
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Infernos and hot-loaded LRMs together in the same unit are also exactly the kind of pyrotechnic insanity you'd expect from the Taurians, so it's thematically appropriate too. The Concordat is basically Space Texas With Nukes. Now, can we convince Scintilla to turn on the AoE ammo explosion rule?
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Nov 7, 2023 04:39
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Slavvy posted:So seriously speaking, what's going to stop the players from just using maximum MP and trying to evade most of the enemy fire to just rush the exit line asap? The enemy can't physically stop them unless they're using mines right? Apparently bonus cold hard c-bills
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Nov 7, 2023 04:45
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Alright then, maximum carnage it is!
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Nov 7, 2023 05:48
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Space Kablooey posted:Apparently bonus cold hard c-bills I guess in that aspect it's not 'realistic' because a real attacker would prioritize preserving their force and completing the breakthrough asap instead of trying to decimate the delaying force, but as a training exercise for the fusiliers it makes perfect sense
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Nov 7, 2023 06:16
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"We're expecting the Taurians to be total bastards here" isn't a terrible training paradigm.
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Nov 7, 2023 07:01
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I always get those guys confused with the magistracy of canopus
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Nov 7, 2023 07:16
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The Taurians have always approached war with the mindset of 'How do we pile enemy corpses high enough to use as makeshift fortifications?' Edit: Let's be honest here, the only reason why the Taurians even threw Ostergaard under a bus at the end of HBS Battletech was because he went AWOL with his forces. The whole 'war crimes' thing was just a convenient excuse to pin all the blame for the Taurian's blatant bastardry on one person who was already dead and couldn't defend himself. Had he not gone rogue and instead returned home as ordered after the ruse was discovered, the Taurians ultimately wouldn't have cared one bit about the civvies he deliberately targeted. Rorahusky fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Nov 7, 2023 |
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Nov 7, 2023 11:21
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Something something The Ares Suggestions
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Nov 7, 2023 15:42
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PoptartsNinja posted:"We're expecting the Taurians to be total bastards here" isn't a terrible training paradigm. Weren't the Taurians the anti-Davions? Like, paranoid (with good reason) about the Davions, and slightly better insofar as their government is concerned?
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Nov 7, 2023 19:33
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painedforever posted:Weren't the Taurians the anti-Davions? Like, paranoid (with good reason) about the Davions, and slightly better insofar as their government is concerned? Thomas Calderon is the super ultra paranoid  Davions! one, but he won't be Protector for another year or so. Aside from that, yeah, the Taurians have several long-running historical grievances against the Federated Suns.
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Nov 7, 2023 19:41
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Would it be more faction appropriate in this time to just kill everyone before moving on or try to push past as quickly as possible? Looks like the Lance has two 4/6/0 and two 5/8/5s. You'll probably want to position the slower units up on one of the two sides and push forward while the others can jump in and out of the ravine as needed. Possible weakness are if they OPFOR 'Mechs simply stands in blockade on whatever side the ground-bound units are on.
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Nov 7, 2023 23:14
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painedforever posted:Weren't the Taurians the anti-Davions? Like, paranoid (with good reason) about the Davions, and slightly better insofar as their government is concerned? I wouldn't say with good reason. The Davions barely know they exist.
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Nov 8, 2023 00:26
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For the most part, the Taurians are just holding a grudge from all the way back of the days of the Reunification War, when the Davions and the SLDF forced the Periphery States into joining at gunpoint. At this point in time, the Taurians are no more or less concerned that any of the Periphery nations over invasion from the Successor States, and they mostly just use the Davions as a convenient boogie man to justify pouring so much money into military readiness. That said, Thomas Calderon is a direct result of being raised in such an environment, and fully believes his family's propaganda about how Daviosn are always looking for an excuse to invade, hence his massive paranoia that such an invasion is imminent every time the FedSuns so much as twitch.
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Nov 8, 2023 01:30
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What I'm hearing here is that the taurian concordat is the Madagascar of the inner sphere
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Nov 8, 2023 02:24
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Slavvy posted:What I'm hearing here is that the taurian concordat is the Madagascar of the inner sphere Personally, my go-to comparison is the Ottoman Empire. They're something of the eternal also-ran of the galaxy, not quite Inner Sphere and not quite Periphery, everyone keeps thinking they'll collapse with one good kick but they have a way of hanging on.
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Nov 8, 2023 02:29
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They're basically North Korea, they are obsessed with the idea that they are the arch enemy of a major power, and the most likely thing to kill their citizens is their own government. They also made not signing any kind of treaty about battlefield conduct their entire personality.
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Nov 8, 2023 03:01
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That is extremely unfair to both North Korea and the Ottoman Empire.
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Nov 8, 2023 04:15
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Slavvy posted:I guess in that aspect it's not 'realistic' because a real attacker would prioritize preserving their force and completing the breakthrough asap instead of trying to decimate the delaying force, but as a training exercise for the fusiliers it makes perfect sense
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Nov 8, 2023 04:40
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Defiance Industries posted:They're basically North Korea, they are obsessed with the idea that they are the arch enemy of a major power, and the most likely thing to kill their citizens is their own government. They also made not signing any kind of treaty about battlefield conduct their entire personality. This reads as Space Texas though.
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Nov 8, 2023 05:29
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Foxfire_ posted:A run-through isn't realistic either since reality wouldn't have a mapsheet line where crossing means you're free. and clear. You'd have to fight the defenders enough that they aren't willing/capable of pursuing, or outspeed them and endure backshots until out of weapons range Also true. I guess it depends on what the opfor is fielding too
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Nov 8, 2023 05:30
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Snow_Scar_[3901]: Turn 0 A gust of frigid air rippled down the frozen ravine, whipping through the trees and blasting thin streamers of white powder from the many snowdrifts dotting the landscape. Inside her simulator pod, Anna marvelled at the stark beauty of the frigid valley stretching out in front of her. She knew it was an illusion, an infinite number of ones and zeroes stitched together into a tapestry of light and colour that was being projected onto her senses by a powerful computer, but the sight of it still dazzled and amazed her. Having grown up on a tropical world, Anna had never even seen snow until a couple of years ago. Seeing an entire world coated in it was almost beyond her comprehension. Remembering what she was here for, Anna drove her battlemech forwards. The Thunderbolt was the archetypical heavy mech, armed to the teeth and protected by armour thick enough to endure a direct hit from the heaviest Autocannon shells. Its varied mixture of weapons made it a versatile combatant, while its specialised computer systems allowed it to engage multiple targets at once without the usual loss of accuracy. The design was rugged and dependable, and could go without maintenance for long periods without any significant drops in performance. It was present in every Great House’s arsenal and even most Periphery powers. By any reasonable metric the Thunderbolt was a stalwart of the Inner Sphere, with a proven track record of excellence spanning multiple centuries. And yet despite all that, Anna couldn’t help but feel a pang of dissatisfaction. The Thunderbolt might be war in a can, but it was also a lumbering leviathan of a machine that plodded its way through the snow like an overweight mall cop trudging towards the donut stand. Anna kept telling herself that its speed was average for a heavy mech, but compared to her swift-footed Jenner the difference in mobility and responsiveness was excruciating. As she moved forwards her eyes kept flickering to the walls of the ravine, picking out fellfields and scree slopes where the incline might be shallow enough to climb out. Anna itched to climb those slopes, and knew her Jenner would have done so effortlessly, but trying it in the Thunderbolt would leave her a sitting duck. As she rounded a large outcropping, Anna caught sight of the bridge that marked the ravine’s midpoint. It was thick and sturdy, with large ferrocrete support struts spaced evenly along its length. Anna’s visual sensors recorded no movement, but her thermals pinpointed a handful of hot objects approaching the bridge from the north. “Contact!” she reported dutifully. “Four Fusilier mechs advancing south along the bottom of the ravine. The other two are coming along the sides. Can’t make out which ones at this distance.” “Copy that, Mirage,” Mike’s gruff voice responded. “Alright Ruby Lance, let’s smash through. Our goal is to head north, but if the Fusiliers get in our way, blast them into scrap. Don’t hold back, and don’t be afraid to show a little brutality. After all, the Taurians certainly wouldn’t.”  N/A  N/A  N/A  N/A    Player Status  Enemy Status   Special Abilities: -Toughness: Grants bonus to consciousness rolls. -Evasive Action: By forfeiting the right to fire during the shooting phase, the pilot gains the ability to move evasively, inflicting an additional +1 penalty against incoming weapons fire and physical attacks. The unit must use its Running MP, have undamaged hips, and will gain an extra +2 heat at the end of the round. Relevant Design Quirks: -Hyper-Extending Actuators: The mech can reverse its arms as if it lacked Hand and Lower Arm Actuators. -Multi-Trac: The mech does not suffer the usual penalties when splitting fire between multiple targets. -Narrow Profile: The mech takes less damage from incoming weapons fire if the margin of success is +1 or lower. Direct fire weapons deal half damage, while cluster attacks receive a -4 penalty when determining the number of hits. -- Primary Objectives: -Ruby Lance reaches the Northern Map Border (0/4) Secondary Objectives: -Destroy at least three Fusilier battlemechs (0/3) (100,000 C-Bill reward) -Destroy all six Fusilier battlemechs (0/6) (200,000 C-Bill reward) -- Special Considerations: Arctic Conditions: The temperature for this simulation has been modified to mimic arctic conditions. Both player and OpFor battlemechs will sink an additional 2 points of heat per turn. Deep Snow: Certain hexes contain patches of Deep Snow. These hexes cost +1 additional MP to enter, and moving through one forces a piloting check. Failing this check causes the mech to bog down and become stuck, ending their movement prematurely. Jumping into a Deep Snow hex automatically causes a mech to bog down. Mechs with torso-mounted Jump Jets can automatically free themselves by jumping during the next movement phase (however leg-mounted Jump Jets are rendered temporarily non-functional, potentially lowering the unit’s Jumping MP for that turn). Otherwise, a mech must expend 2 MP and pass a piloting test to break free. If the mech fails to break free the first time, they can try again repeatedly as long as they have at least 2 MP remaining. The Bridge: A sturdy bridge traverses the midpoint of the ravine. The bridge is eight hexes long and stretches in a straight line from Hex 1217 in the south-west to Hex 1914 in the north-east. The bridge’s effective height means it is at 0 elevation and can be freely passed under by units travelling along the bottom of the ravine. Each bridge hex has a Construction Factor (CF) of 60, allowing battlemechs of equivalent tonnage or below to pass over. If a mech heavier than the CF attempts to pass over, the bridge hex will collapse and the mech will fall, taking heavy damage. Bridge hexes can be targeted by weapons fire, with successful hits lowering the CF by the amount of damage dealt. If a bridge hex’s CF hits 0, that section of the bridge is destroyed and falls to the ground, becoming a Rubble hex. Rubble hexes cost +1 MP to move into, similar to Rough hexes. Non-Isometric Hexmap:  Next Orders Due: Saturday 11th 9:00PM GMT.
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Nov 8, 2023 12:08
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