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Holybat posted:I agree that for me one of the big positives of the Battletech boardgame is that there's no restrictions or army requirements built in. I personally love that when it comes down to it, I don't have to give a single poo poo about whether or not fielding a Grasshopper "fits" with a faction or whatever. I wonder if the Combat Manuals failed because when they came out the BT buying base was 99% people who already knew the ins and outs of building a faction-friendly unit according to fluff so the books wouldn't be of any use. But for some of the newer players I've introduced to the game they did want to have a bit more "structure" to the force building and all that, so hopefully this can help those kinds of players out. This is why I'd specifically want it in Alpha Strike. I've burned out on the game locally because it just became an arms race to see who could find the most absurd variants to give everyone a bad day, and it's just not as interesting as something like Kings of War where I have to make real choices about what I can bring to the table for any given match.
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May 14, 2024 05:39
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I maintain BattleTech is best as a GM'd experience, because a GM can keep that under control.
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May 14, 2024 05:44
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The ideal solution is always playing with people who aren't terrible, but failing that the Adepticon Open-3.0 ruleset is real good for making tournaments fun and getting people to use mechs outside their comfort zone. There's still quite a bit of meta-skill at working out which of the options to take will give you the best use of the guns on a given chassis, but in the end it comes down to positioning and luck in the end rather than just list-building your way to victory. Alpha Strike lacks the granularity to make that sort of thing work well though.
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May 14, 2024 05:54
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PoptartsNinja posted:I maintain BattleTech is best as a GM'd experience, because a GM can keep that under control. I cannot disagree with that sentiment. I actually find I enjoy playing little games of Battletech with my son more than with guys at the FLGS of late. For one, he's way more interested in the emergent story of any given game and is known to jump up from his chair to start roleplaying the mech combat when something particularly awesome happens that he wants to visualize. Second, I'm mostly just picking random mechs that he likes in addition to whatever random new models I happen to have painted up, so we're not really ever in danger of fielding anything too broken or aggravating. Plus, if the BV lies to me, the kid is only 8 so I can tone down my play to keep things fun for him. I'm looking forward to getting Mercenaries this summer and easing into taking combined arms in Battletech and I guess in theory the Commander's Edition I ordered should show up too at some point so I can try making more engaging games of Alpha Strike for my son at home (he's getting into Kings of War recently because huge armies are awesome and I think seeing a bunch of mechs and vehicles all lined up will grab his attention). I am very frustrated with the FLGS though because I ordered the Alpha Strike CE around the start of the Mercenaries Kickstarter and the owner thought it was an exclusive part of the Kickstarter. Thus I've been waiting for him to receive his retailer pledge for god knows how long so I can get my copy of the book. I didn't realize for months that this is what happened because getting anything through the shop takes forever and a half to begin with, but after like 6 months I started pressing him on it and welp. I kind of wanted to tell him to cancel, but he'd paid for the Kickstarter at that point and I felt guilty so I didn't. I really want to support the FLGS but when retail products can take over a year to get into my hands (and it's also this bad for anything that isn't FFG or GW), I'd rather just order it direct. Other guys have been saying the same thing unfortunately, but he's basically the only place to play Magic locally so that's easily keeping him above water and nothing is likely to change.
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May 14, 2024 06:05
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The only time I ever played a GM'd Battletech campaign, I enjoyed it way more because I suspected (and he later confirmed) that he just ignored any NPC dice rolls behind his screen that would have hosed the flow of the game. The only PC that ever got headcapped was someone's annoying teenage kid, and it was some silly David/Goliath shot (I wanna say an Urbie taking out a Zeus), if it wasn't obvious enough.
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May 14, 2024 14:30
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Every now and again Urbies need to remind everyone that they are threatening, no matter how cute they look.
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May 14, 2024 14:32
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The most dangerous Urbie I've ever seen was more on the zombie side than the giant-slayer side. Had less structure remaining than I think I've ever seen anywhere (both arms missing, one leg, all torsos holed and I think one side gone) and then every shot at it started missing. I was watching, not playing, but I remember the opfor player specifically saying he didn't even care anymore if he won or lost, as long as he killed that motherfucker. I had to leave, so I never saw if he did, but I did get to see three turns of that thing loving dancing between the raindrops. The guy who ran the Urbie, who was an rear end in a top hat but an excellent painter, ended up painting one with a 40k-style banner behind it going SHOOT ME SHOOT ME RIGHT HERE that was in the LGS's display case for a while. The owner of the shop loved telling the story behind it.
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May 14, 2024 14:41
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PoptartsNinja posted:I maintain BattleTech is best as a GM'd experience, because a GM can keep that under control. 100% agreed. I find it pretty rewarding to GM too since it gives me room to play around with units or rules that I might not otherwise if it was just the standard pvp stuff. Plus I'm scratching my RPG itch in making the scenario/campaign fluff
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May 14, 2024 16:17
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Holybat posted:I wonder if the Combat Manuals failed because when they came out the BT buying base was 99% people who already knew the ins and outs of building a faction-friendly unit according to fluff so the books wouldn't be of any use. But for some of the newer players I've introduced to the game they did want to have a bit more "structure" to the force building and all that, so hopefully this can help those kinds of players out. I'm one of these players myself, just getting into the game. I've been having some difficulty putting together what the "iconic" Mechs are for each faction in the modern era. Obviously the RAT Said helps (for those who have one) but it's the stuff that veteran players know that I don't that I wish I knew. Things like the panther and Jenner being iconic Draconis Combine mechs. I feel like everyone has some things (wasp, stinger, Shadow hawk, whatever), but I'd love a table of "everyone gets these" plus a secondary of "this is what makes an AFFS force feel like the FedSuns", and hopefully the new books will help with that
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May 14, 2024 20:15
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Signal posted:I'm one of these players myself, just getting into the game. I've been having some difficulty putting together what the "iconic" Mechs are for each faction in the modern era. Obviously the RAT Said helps (for those who have one) but it's the stuff that veteran players know that I don't that I wish I knew. Things like the panther and Jenner being iconic Draconis Combine mechs. I feel like everyone has some things (wasp, stinger, Shadow hawk, whatever), but I'd love a table of "everyone gets these" plus a secondary of "this is what makes an AFFS force feel like the FedSuns", and hopefully the new books will help with that The Mechbay interview with Joshua Franklin confirmed the new Force Manuals will do basically exactly this, if I understood it right
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May 14, 2024 20:28
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Arquinsiel posted:I regularly point people to Plasticraic Gaming who is happy to haul boxen over to the UK and post from there for people, but nobody ever takes the Command Lances off his hands. When you sent me over to him I didn't realise he would do a spot of cross border smuggling! I just figured posting from Ireland would jack the price too high form me to bear.
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May 14, 2024 20:34
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Signal posted:I'm one of these players myself, just getting into the game. I've been having some difficulty putting together what the "iconic" Mechs are for each faction in the modern era. Obviously the RAT Said helps (for those who have one) but it's the stuff that veteran players know that I don't that I wish I knew. Things like the panther and Jenner being iconic Draconis Combine mechs. I feel like everyone has some things (wasp, stinger, Shadow hawk, whatever), but I'd love a table of "everyone gets these" plus a secondary of "this is what makes an AFFS force feel like the FedSuns", and hopefully the new books will help with that You can sort of do this by sorting the master unit list by faction to see what they're actually producing in any given era. It won't tell you all the details (like the Jenner being out-of-production and extremely rare), but it does do a reasonable job.
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May 14, 2024 20:47
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PoptartsNinja posted:You can sort of do this by sorting the master unit list by faction to see what they're actually producing in any given era. It won't tell you all the details (like the Jenner being out-of-production and extremely rare), but it does do a reasonable job. Yeah, I never knew that about the Jenner! The master unit list by faction is nice, but it doesn't really talk about popularity or what makes a "typical" force. For instance I've also heard people talk about the... FedSuns? being a huge autocannon proponent. That's fun, but idk where I'd conveniently find info like that.
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May 14, 2024 21:32
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Field Manual: Federated Suns will teach you all you need to know about the lamest Great House.
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May 14, 2024 21:35
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I have no particular interest in the Fed Suns, but thank you. When trying to introduce people who are not particularly engaged or interested in the universe at all, I don't have an easy way to offer them particular flavors to focus their interests. Handing somebody the master unit list and saying go doesn't really help anyone out. Especially since the master unit list doesn't give you the ability to see which units are unique to a faction, nor which ones are common rather than rare.
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May 14, 2024 22:06
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The Outback is the most fertile untapped storytelling area in the Inner Sphere.
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May 14, 2024 22:12
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GD_American posted:The Outback is the most fertile untapped storytelling area in the Inner Sphere. The thing I fear becoming Lostech the most is Blooming Onions.
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May 14, 2024 22:14
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Signal posted:Yeah, I never knew that about the Jenner! The master unit list by faction is nice, but it doesn't really talk about popularity or what makes a "typical" force. For instance I've also heard people talk about the... FedSuns? being a huge autocannon proponent. That's fun, but idk where I'd conveniently find info like that. Not really a proponent, every nation has a weapon they either do particularly well and/or one they don't produce a lot of. - Federated Suns makes autocannons, but doesn't really have any weapon shortfalls. Their production shortfall is assault 'Mechs. Until the 3050s they barely produce any, and most of what they do produce goes straight into the Davion Assault Guards. - Free Worlds League makes a lot of LRMs and doesn't make many PPCs, their PPCs are usually reserved for their production of Awesomes and everyone else makes due without. - Draconis Combine has the best PPCs (and directed energy weapons in general) but doesn't make many LRMs, their LRMs are usually reserved for their fighter aircraft - Lyran Commonwealth is notable for their lack of production shortcomings, they make a little bit of everything (in the 3050s their specialty becomes Gauss Rifles) - Capellan Confederation's production issue was heat sinks, which is why a lot of their 'Mechs are "over armed and under sinked." In the 3050s their production specialty becomes EWAR gear and stealth armor. Likewise, every nation sort-of has their own way of building Mech forces. Sometimes this is by design, usually it's by necessity. Prior to 3050: Draconis Combine doesn't field many medium 'Mechs, they usually jump straight from lights to heavies, with assaults reserved for extremely important individuals. If you do see a DC medium it will probably be a Phoenix Hawk, a Hunchback, or something they stole from House Davion. They actually produce very few of the "common" Inner Sphere designs. Their most iconic 3025 'Mechs (in order of most to least common): - Panther - Spider - Dragon - Charger - Atlas - Jenner Federated Suns produces almost no assault 'Mechs, most of their assault 'Mechs are concentrated into the Davion Assault Guards because when they don't concentrate them they lose them. Nobility pilot whatever they inherit and deal with the consequences. Their most iconic 3025 'Mechs (in order of most to least common): - Wasp & Stinger - Valkyrie - Javelin - Enforcer - Shadow Hawk - JagerMech - Crusader - [Cataphract (after eating the CapCon)] - Marauder - Victor Capellan Confederation produced a little bit of everything but not a lot of any one thing, so their forces 'feel' better if they're mixed weight classes. It's illegal for the nobility to own BattleMechs in the Capellan Confederation. Their most iconic 3025 'Mechs (in order of most to least common): - Locust - Vindicator - Warhammer ... Yeah, that's pretty much it. They get the Raven in the 3030s but it's not common until the 3050s; and they lose the Cataphract to the Federated Suns for quite a while so I didn't include it. Free Worlds League has the second best production in the Inner Sphere, but they're hampered by most of their FWLM's favorite design (the Hermes II) being generally pretty terrible. Their most iconic 3025 'Mechs (in order of most to least common): - Hermes II (no plastic mini) - Cicada (no plastic mini) - Trebuchet (in Regulus) / Wolverine (everywhere else) - Guillotine - Orion - Awesome - Longbow (they no longer produce it, but they have/had the biggest stockpile) Lyran Commonwealth has the best 'Mech production, but the skill of their pilots tends to be inversely proportional to their 'Mech weight class. Nobles have to provide their own 'Mechs, and the ones whose families can afford assault 'mechs also tend to be the ones who absolutely shouldn't be leading people in combat. Their most iconic 3025 'Mechs (in order of most to least common): - Commando - Wolfhound (in the 3030s) - Griffin - Thunderbolt - Banshee (esp. the one we got a mini of) - Zeus - Atlas PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 22:27 on May 14, 2024 |
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May 14, 2024 22:25
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As the timeline advances the factions all get much more distinct (and in my opinion much cooler) flagship units. The days of “what permutation of large lasers, medium lasers, maybe a random AC and maybe some missiles will be on THIS mech” are long past.
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May 14, 2024 22:29
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Thunderbolts are produced in multiple places in the CapCon even in the depths of the Succession Wars. By the 3150s they're building no fewer than six variants on three planets.
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May 14, 2024 22:31
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I was trying to leave-off the commons unless they were in some way extra iconic. Federated Suns and Free Worlds League got all the Macross destroids, Lyran Commonweatlh got almost all the "bad guy" Dougram combat armors.
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May 14, 2024 22:39
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I think you will find that there are in fact plastic minis for the Cicada and Hermes II, they're just not currently in production and might be described as not very good.  Actually the old Cicada plastic is totally fine and I'd be fine if a new fancy plastic Cicada was largely the same.
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May 15, 2024 00:19
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Atlas Hugged posted:I think you will find that there are in fact plastic minis for the Cicada and Hermes II, they're just not currently in production and might be described as not very good. Signal posted:Yeah, I never knew that about the Jenner! The master unit list by faction is nice, but it doesn't really talk about popularity or what makes a "typical" force. For instance I've also heard people talk about the... FedSuns? being a huge autocannon proponent. That's fun, but idk where I'd conveniently find info like that. There's even 'Mech chassis that fit Periphery forces more often than not, like the FedSuns Wasp & Stinger mentioned before but also weird ones like the Drac Grasshopper & Whitworth
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May 15, 2024 00:54
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PoptartsNinja posted:- Snip - Holy poo poo, thank you! That's an excellent breakdown. Would you have it in you to do a similar analysis of the ilClan-era situation? My friends like the Clan mechs a lot aesthetically, but idk anything about the "Clan Protectorate," or the Ghost Bear Dominion.
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May 15, 2024 01:03
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Is there a goon BattleTech Discord filling the role of the old #megamek channel on SynIRC at this point or are people just scattered through various other servers? It feels like some of the questions we're getting here of late would really benefit from having us grogs be able to provide instant feedback to people being interested.Defiance Industries posted:Field Manual: Federated Suns will teach you all you need to know about the lamest Great House. 
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May 15, 2024 02:28
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Sidesaddle Cavalry posted:Thankfully these two are being solved in Mercenaries KS minis. I haven't had a Cicada shot out from under my pilot yet, and need to get that done at some point if I want to call myself a real Marik player. That looks like a really fun little lance pack, but I had to pass on it since I've got all of those mechs from other sets over the years. Maybe if it ends up in the discount bin at the FLGS....
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May 15, 2024 02:34
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The RecGuide Cicada is extremely nasty too. 8/12(16) with 2 MVSPLs and a Medium R-E, it's one of the best backstabbers in the game.
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May 15, 2024 03:28
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PoptartsNinja posted:Not really a proponent, every nation has a weapon they either do particularly well and/or one they don't produce a lot of. I'm guessing the Battlemaster isn't actually a Davion-design then, even if one was Hanse's favorite mech. Also the Capellans fielded a big unit of only Goliaths in the 4th Succession War. Where did they get that many if they aren't actually producing them?
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May 15, 2024 09:19
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PoptartsNinja posted:Not really a proponent, every nation has a weapon they either do particularly well and/or one they don't produce a lot of. Can you do the same for the Periphery? (Then someone please put this in the Op).
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May 15, 2024 09:26
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Libluini posted:I'm guessing the Battlemaster isn't actually a Davion-design then, even if one was Hanse's favorite mech. A lot of the weird themed units for the 4SW CCAF were very much author ideas for fun and really only explained as Star League leftovers.
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May 15, 2024 09:45
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Rules question: I've got my hands on a copy of Total Warfare finally (thanks to some company in Germany listing it on eBay) and I'm reading the WiGE rules so I can better understand how LAMs work. The first thing that jumped out at me is that under Running/Flanking, it states that WiGE vehicles always run the risk of sideslipping when moving at Flanking speed. Then in the sideslipping section, it says that WiGE vehicles only risk a sideslip when moving at Flanking, then changing faces, and then moving after the face change. I assume the correct way to read the rule is the latter, full explanation and that moving in a straight line while Flanking does not require a sideslip check every hex. Also, officially I think the LAM rules are spread across at least three books: Total Warfare (basic WiGE and Aerospace rules) Interstellar Operations: Alternate Eras (LAM rules specifically) Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules (Turn Modes) A couple of other rulebooks are mentioned, but I think these are more edge cases and fighter mode specific, but with those three you're good to go for Mech mode and Airmech mode. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 13:06 on May 15, 2024 |
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May 15, 2024 13:01
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Icon Of Sin posted:Fortress Games/Minis has announced that Southern Assault 4 is locked in! From their facebook page: Quoting myself from last page, because jesus gently caress the signups are almost full already  event is sitting at 108 signups/110 slots right now.
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May 15, 2024 13:29
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), but hoping to make it this year!
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Sidesaddle Cavalry posted:A lot of the weird themed units for the 4SW CCAF were very much author ideas for fun and really only explained as Star League leftovers. This opens up even more questions. Did the Capellans find some weird caches of just Goliaths? And then decided "we absolutely need 36 of them all in the same unit"? (Sometimes I wish authors in large franchises were a bit more under editorial control, lol)
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May 15, 2024 14:17
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Libluini posted:This opens up even more questions. Did the Capellans find some weird caches of just Goliaths? And then decided "we absolutely need 36 of them all in the same unit"? I feel exactly the opposite. Given the sheer scale of the Battletech universe and the number of wild, inexplicable and "immersion-shattering" things that happen on just Earth there should be a lot more random weird bullshit going on all over the Inner Sphere.
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May 15, 2024 14:37
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Libluini posted:This opens up even more questions. Did the Capellans find some weird caches of just Goliaths? And then decided "we absolutely need 36 of them all in the same unit"?
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May 15, 2024 15:05
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Arquinsiel posted:Yes. That's exactly what happened. They found a SLDF repair depot hidden under a glacier on Tantara that had enough to outfit a single battalion. That's actually awesome, though putting all of their eggs into one basket is one of these typical bad decisions the Battletech-universe is littered with. I'm guessing this was explained after the fact, because I don't remember this ever being explained in the Warrior-trilogy. General Battuta posted:I feel exactly the opposite. Given the sheer scale of the Battletech universe and the number of wild, inexplicable and "immersion-shattering" things that happen on just Earth there should be a lot more random weird bullshit going on all over the Inner Sphere. My view is a bit biased, since I grew up with the German SF-Goliath Perry Rhodan, which has an almost Stalinist approach to editorial control, but the series still has filled up with insane and weird poo poo over time. The explanation above for why the Capellans did this is completely fine, for example. Stackpole didn't put it into the book where the unit shows up, though. (If later editions corrected that, my bad. I read the Warrior-trilogy a long time ago.)
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May 15, 2024 15:18
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Comstar posted:Can you do the same for the Periphery? "Everyone uses whatever they can get." The more common the 'Mech, the more likely you'll see it in the periphery. And to keep "true" to the periphery feel, never use the latest designs unless your periphery nation actually makes it (like the Taurian Neanderthal, or the Canopian Ebony) or they were a Word of Blake ally and you're playing in (or immediately post) the 3070 WoB Tantrum. The periphery nations are 100% production shortfalls, they all make a little bit of everything but not in enough quantity to have a specialty. Whatever era you're in, a good rule of thumb is to limit a periphery command to 'Mechs from the prior era (with very rare exceptions for commanders / aces / mercenaries / fallen nobles who fled into the periphery). So in 3050, the Periphery should still mostly be limited to 3025 designs. In 3060, some 3050s designs are ok. In the IlClan era, Jihad-era designs should be around, etc. If you're doing a GM'd experience and want to get really fluffy, you can do things like "this 'Mech with double heat sinks never got its engine heat sinks upgraded, so the engine sinks 10 instead of 20" which is really common in the periphery but there aren't really any design rules that support mixed heat sinks (because it's a pain).
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May 15, 2024 15:43
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Libluini posted:That's actually awesome, though putting all of their eggs into one basket is one of these typical bad decisions the Battletech-universe is littered with.
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May 15, 2024 16:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:"The more common the 'Mech, the more likely you'll see it in the periphery." This is the part that's hard to grok as a new player. Especially since "Everyone has the wasp and stinger, they're the most produced mechs by far!" isn't reflected in the RATs
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May 15, 2024 16:37
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Atlas Hugged posted:Also, officially I think the LAM rules are spread across at least three books:  Anyways, you're correct on WiGEs only checking for sideslip if they Flank forward a hex after turning. Same as hovercraft. PoptartsNinja posted:(like the Taurian Neanderthal, or the Canopian Ebony) 
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May 15, 2024 17:26
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