Battletech: Clan Wolf is "Licensed to il"

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Sidesaddle Cavalry: Mar 15, 2013; Oh Boy Desert Map

Oh. Well in that case, I knew that!

# ? Feb 2, 2024 20:16

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# ? May 31, 2024 10:31

Azhais: Feb 5, 2007; Switchblade Switcharoo

What he's saying is that you should field nothing but flashmans

# ? Feb 2, 2024 20:21

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Azhais posted:

What he's saying is that you should field nothing but flashmans

Orions.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 21:00

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Arquinsiel posted:

Sword and Fire: somehow Gressman kind of managed to get worse at writing in his second book. Also funny how "who killed Morgan?!?!?!" has become this big fandom mystery when it's flat out stated in the book. The poison that killed him is available on three planets. Two of them are in the Lyran Alliance, one of those is in the Lyons Thumb and has DCMS peacekeepers on it. The third planet is in the Draconis Combine. Conveniently the Nekekami pop up to go "hey that dude what did it, he's Loki. We've met him on ops before" and at this point while "secret Wobbie plot" is always an option... let's all just acknowledge that it's obviously Katherine and move on, yeah? Kind of an anti-climactic 12 hour fight for Huntress, and weirdly, even discounting the surprise protomechs, it seems that the whole omnimech superiority thing and Clan age prejudice has been clearly debunked here given that just two Galaxies managed to do as much damage as they did to ten full regiments.

I think the reveal that Sharon Bryan was on some secret mission to retrieve tech from Huntress and bring it back is supposed to point towards WoB and show that they'd infiltrated Loki. She'd have killed Morgan after. And now that we know the mysterious jump sequence we see in one chapter is WoB, it's one more piece of Jihad foreshadowing.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 21:12

Amechwarrior: Jan 29, 2007

Strobe posted:

Oh, yeah, I was thinking the "40 years" meant you were talking all-time.

Amechwarrior has a bullseye on it: it's not a weapon in 3025, it's the concept of a mech with max armor that don't cripple themselves with heat. Avoid big batteries of LRMs, AC/2s and usually AC/5s and otherwise any combination of SRMs, lasers, PPCs, and AC/10s and 20s will be efficient. There literally is not enough of an efficiency gap to worry about it outside of being a well armored and functional unit.

One other thing - You also have to check for ammo bombs like the side torsos on the MAD and HBK with nothing but ammo in them. That can ruin otherwise very strong candidates. Oddly, CT ammo isn't quite as bad as an ammo bomb side torso.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 21:35

General Battuta: Feb 7, 2011; This is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, you keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the posts from the screams.

The reveal that the crazy jump signature in THE HUNTERS was a WoB superjump is super cool...eeeexcept...isn't a superjump basically one-way? It takes out the KF drive and battery. Did the WoB ship just end up stuck in that wherever system on the Exodus Road forever?

Or maybe the writers had figured out the superjump thing but not the drawbacks at that point.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 21:44

Sidesaddle Cavalry: Mar 15, 2013; Oh Boy Desert Map

Strobe posted:

Orions.

Leaguers stay winning

# ? Feb 2, 2024 21:58

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Defiance Industries posted:

I think the reveal that Sharon Bryan was on some secret mission to retrieve tech from Huntress and bring it back is supposed to point towards WoB and show that they'd infiltrated Loki. She'd have killed Morgan after. And now that we know the mysterious jump sequence we see in one chapter is WoB, it's one more piece of Jihad foreshadowing.

That's just been introduced in the next novel, but I haven't seen the outcome so far. It implies that she's just being a shithead Lyran social general thusfar at least. Also...

General Battuta posted:

The reveal that the crazy jump signature in THE HUNTERS was a WoB superjump is super cool...eeeexcept...isn't a superjump basically one-way? It takes out the KF drive and battery. Did the WoB ship just end up stuck in that wherever system on the Exodus Road forever?

Or maybe the writers had figured out the superjump thing but not the drawbacks at that point.

It wasn't even a crazy jump signature in the book, it's just a "we got a hint of an incoming ship as we jumped out. No way to know if they spotted us :shrug:

". It being the superjump was basically a retcon.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 22:07

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Arquinsiel posted:

That's just been introduced in the next novel, but I haven't seen the outcome so far. It implies that she's just being a shithead Lyran social general thusfar at least. Also...

It doesn't have one. The new tech the Lyrans debut for TRO: 3060 are the Ultra and LB-X 20s, and those were already in production before Bryan returned. That's why I think Morgan's death is more Jihad foreshadowing, it's a plot point that has no relevance except to show Katherine had a vested interest in the mission's success.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 22:14

General Battuta: Feb 7, 2011; This is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, you keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the posts from the screams.

Arquinsiel posted:

It wasn't even a crazy jump signature in the book, it's just a "we got a hint of an incoming ship as we jumped out. No way to know if they spotted us ". It being the superjump was basically a retcon.

I thought it was unusually big but maybe I'm completely confabulating that.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 00:39

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Nope, text calls it out specifically as a "the electromagnetic trace generated by a Jumpship" or words to that effect three times within two pages. Happens in the same system as the Battle of Trafalgar so it's plausibly a Ghost Bear ship on the way to the Inner Sphere with more civvies. The Invisible Truth is the only ship that detects it, as an incoming signal. It's the kind of thing that's passed into fandom legend as definitely 100% having happened in these books, but I've yet to find it.

Defiance Industries posted:

It doesn't have one. The new tech the Lyrans debut for TRO: 3060 are the Ultra and LB-X 20s, and those were already in production before Bryan returned. That's why I think Morgan's death is more Jihad foreshadowing, it's a plot point that has no relevance except to show Katherine had a vested interest in the mission's success.

TBH I think that's more connected thinking than FASA were using at this point. I'd bet that the idea was that Marshall Bryan was just gathering whatever non-specific intel "looked juicy", not stuff that was planned to show up in TRO 3067 specifically. They definitely weren't planning for the company to fold and for FanPro to be carrying the line, for example.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 01:38

GD_American: Jul 21, 2004; LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

The greatest overpowered weapon in 3025 was armor. They had so many specific weapons loadouts in mind (or for the Cicada/Charger and the like, movement) that armor was always about the fourth priority.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 02:25

Atlas Hugged: Mar 12, 2007; Put your arms around me,
fiddly digits, itchy britches
I love you all

Crazy Joe Wilson posted:

Jade Falcon birbs have come to terrorize in the name of Chinggis Khan Malvina (I painted this Trinary based on the Dark Age clix schemes for Jade Falcon, my friend couldn't decide which one he liked better, so he gets both).

These are real pretty. Well done dude.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 02:58

Nebalebadingdong: Jun 30, 2005; i made a video game.
why not give it a try!?

marauder!

# ? Feb 3, 2024 18:50

Owlbear Camus: Jan 3, 2013; Maybe this guy that flies is just sort of passing through, you know?

Your freehanding and panel shading are crazy good. You using magnification?

# ? Feb 4, 2024 18:19

The Malthusian: Oct 30, 2012

I recently rediscovered the old Wizkids Mechwarrior CMG. What's the scale like on those minis? Would the tanks and infantry work with current Battletech's 1/285 scale?

# ? Feb 7, 2024 09:56

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

The Malthusian posted:

I recently rediscovered the old Wizkids Mechwarrior CMG. What's the scale like on those minis? Would the tanks and infantry work with current Battletech's 1/285 scale?

I bought some off ebay and rebased onto hexes, they work fine.

# ? Feb 7, 2024 12:03

Crazy Joe Wilson: Jul 4, 2007; Justifiably Mad!

The Malthusian posted:

I recently rediscovered the old Wizkids Mechwarrior CMG. What's the scale like on those minis? Would the tanks and infantry work with current Battletech's 1/285 scale?

I see a lot of people using the vehicles and infantry. The Battle Armor are a bit large compared to CGL's Elementals, but are otherwise fine.

# ? Feb 7, 2024 13:45

Sidesaddle Cavalry: Mar 15, 2013; Oh Boy Desert Map

The Malthusian posted:

I recently rediscovered the old Wizkids Mechwarrior CMG. What's the scale like on those minis? Would the tanks and infantry work with current Battletech's 1/285 scale?

The tanks are too big to fit on 30mm hexes, though you could use the hoverbike infantry as a proxy for some kind of hovercraft

# ? Feb 7, 2024 16:24

Crazy Joe Wilson: Jul 4, 2007; Justifiably Mad!

So I'm running a mercenary campaign for 3 kids at my school using Alpha Strike. Today during their fourth contract they fought Clan 'mechs and the hurt was brought. They won by the skin of their teeth but one of their Hunchbacks ate an ammo explosion on a through armor critical (rolled a 12, then a 2). The Nova T is a mean medium for only 42 points.

Also, I learned today that the Savannah Master was named after the Mechwarrior that got beat in the vehicle's trial run. lol.

# ? Feb 7, 2024 20:37

The Malthusian: Oct 30, 2012

Crazy Joe Wilson posted:

I see a lot of people using the vehicles and infantry. The Battle Armor are a bit large compared to CGL's Elementals, but are otherwise fine.

Great, I�ll see if I can pick up some of the mid-size and smaller vehicles for cheapish. Weirdly, VTOLs are pretty expensive on the secondhand market. And I do like the look of some of the single or dual-figure battle armor�could work as stand-ins in other systems as light walkers or robots.

I�m assuming like the other Clix figures that a quick acetone bath is still the best way to get their weird thick paint off?

# ? Feb 8, 2024 02:33

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Crazy Joe Wilson posted:

I see a lot of people using the vehicles and infantry. The Battle Armor are a bit large compared to CGL's Elementals, but are otherwise fine.

I would have thought they were smaller, although I haven't checked. Some of the other BA is actually smaller than the IWM equivalents, like the Infiltrator Mk I.

# ? Feb 8, 2024 20:46

Typical Pubbie: May 10, 2011

I want to dive into Battletech fiction. What's the best written Battletech novel?

# ? Feb 9, 2024 16:09

Crazy Joe Wilson: Jul 4, 2007; Justifiably Mad!

Typical Pubbie posted:

I want to dive into Battletech fiction. What's the best written Battletech novel?

Wolves on the Border.

Damocles Sanction.

Pandora's Gambit + To Ride the Chimera.

I'd also throw in the Highlander duology by Michael C. in the Dark Age.

# ? Feb 9, 2024 16:17

FishFood: Apr 1, 2012; Now with brine shrimp!

Victor Milan's trilogy are my personal favorites; cool battles and great pulpy characters slathered in the author's deep and abiding love for New Mexican culture, but in space.

If you're alright with short fiction, the modern Shrapnel anthologies are usually chock full of great stuff. I think Travis Heerman's "Daybreak on Shining Mountain" from Shrapnel #2 might be my favorite piece of Battletech fiction of all.

# ? Feb 9, 2024 16:43

PhotoKirk: Jul 2, 2007; insert witty text here

FishFood posted:

Victor Milan's trilogy are my personal favorites; cool battles and great pulpy characters slathered in the author's deep and abiding love for New Mexican culture, but in space.

This right here, along with Wolves on the Border and Double Blind.

# ? Feb 12, 2024 15:45

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Shadows of War, Gressman's last novel in the Twilight of the Clans mini-series, is basically a series of people we know from previous books being worried about casualties, getting attacked by Smoke Jaguars yet again, then getting mad about it and killing a few before being sad about retreating and having "only" about 50% of their unit left... for the whole book.

Until Bulldog shows up, and saves everyone just too late to really matter.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 03:36

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

That one really does feel like they contracted him for two books, only to later realize there wasn't enough meat on the bone

# ? Feb 13, 2024 04:21

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Dude started strong but could not maintain the anticipation. Oh well. Now back to Stackpole, for what is quite likely his weakest work: Prince of Havoc.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 04:35

Saint Celestine: Dec 17, 2008; Lay a fire within your soul and another between your hands, and let both be your weapons.
For one is faith and the other is victory and neither may ever be put out.
- Saint Sabbat, Lessons; Grimey Drawer

Can I just say how good the Mauler 4R is?

Its so, so so so good for 2050 BV.

You get 2 Clan large pulses.
You get 4 light AC5s which you can load with precision rounds, flak, or flechette rounds for murdering infantry/VTOLs/fast movers
You get 2 Clan LRM15s which you can also load up with frag missiles.

Its like a swiss army knife of a mech.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 08:25

GD_American: Jul 21, 2004; LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

Clan-tech Mauler? What's the fluff on that one? (Haven't bought all the Rec Guides)

# ? Feb 13, 2024 13:22

raverrn: Apr 5, 2005; Unidentified spacecraft inbound from delta line.

All Silpheed squadrons scramble now!

A big part of the Recognition Guides are taken up by 3100+ 'updated' versions of 3025 and 3050 'mechs. Part of being so late is that Inner Sphere manufacturers can produce with some limits Clan-spec weapons and equipment, so most of them are mixed technology machines. It owns, more people need to try it out.

There's also the added kink that all the updates try to match the weapon layout of the original chassis, to make your neat Kickstarter minis valid. So you get stuff like that Mauler with the same missile / gun / laser loadout, or my personal favorite the Shadow Hawk update that has a Streak SRM, Light Autocannon and Medium Laser, but the LRM 5 becomes FIVE Thunderbolt 5s.

raverrn fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Feb 13, 2024

# ? Feb 13, 2024 13:32

GD_American: Jul 21, 2004; LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

oh, duh. I misread "2050 BV" as like "3050 (era) BV" and wondered if it was some salvage job retrofit for a Sword of Light CO or something.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 13:43

LaSquida: Nov 1, 2012; Just keep on walkin'.

raverrn posted:

A big part of the Recognition Guides are taken up by 3100+ 'updated' versions of 3025 and 3050 'mechs. Part of being so late is that Inner Sphere manufacturers can produce with some limits Clan-spec weapons and equipment, so most of them are mixed technology machines. It owns, more people need to try it out.

There's also the added kink that all the updates try to match the weapon layout of the original chassis, to make your neat Kickstarter minis valid. So you get stuff like that Mauler with the same missile / gun / laser loadout, or my personal favorite the Shadow Hawk update that has a Streak SRM, Light Autocannon and Medium Laser, but the LRM 5 becomes FIVE Thunderbolt 5s.

Wait, what version of the Shadow Hawk is this?

# ? Feb 13, 2024 15:37

SkyeAuroline: Nov 12, 2020

LaSquida posted:

Wait, what version of the Shadow Hawk is this?

SHD-5R, I believe.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 15:47

Nebalebadingdong: Jun 30, 2005; i made a video game.
why not give it a try!?

mechanized infantry with field guns

# ? Feb 13, 2024 19:11

biosterous: Feb 23, 2013

battletechnicals

# ? Feb 13, 2024 20:23

Arbite: Nov 4, 2009

PhotoKirk posted:

This right here, along with Wolves on the Border and Double Blind.

Speaking of the fiction, what's the holdup on the new audiobooks? It sounds like new recordings have been done for a while. I'm not in a rush to hear Hour of the Wolf, but still, let's get the pipeline going on some other things.

# ? Feb 13, 2024 22:50

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Nebalebadingdong posted:

mechanized infantry with field guns

drat, amazing work cramming a little scene in there.

# ? Feb 14, 2024 01:38

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# ? May 31, 2024 10:31

Crazy Joe Wilson: Jul 4, 2007; Justifiably Mad!

I have a bunch of spare 'mechs lying around not claimed by one of my factions, and since a number of them are Combine-specific, I decided to make a Dark Age reinforced company. Then I found Kurita seems to love C3M/C3S variants.

Will make for a cool opfor when a friend wants to borrow a force.

# ? Feb 14, 2024 03:16

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