Lets All Play Battletech and rewrite Inner Sphere history

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Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Defiance Industries posted:

Did you think they wanted you to be clustering them in five-missile groups instead of five-damage groups?

That's like hives-inducing levels of gently caress that.

PoptartsNinja posted:

Right, same as plasma rifles vs. battle armor. I've been misreading that for ages.

So have I, until about three months ago. Previously, I thought it was single-missile hits for Standard and HE, and groups of five for ER.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2018 03:24

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 20:43

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Spitballing from outer space here: LRMs always "hit", but subtract the MOF from the cluster roll (any reduction below 2 no missiles strike the target).

# ¿ Mar 2, 2018 06:49

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

quote:

- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Septicemia B-Z (3 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 8, miss!

Since this has a very real chance of leaving the Septicemia B-Z dead, I think this is an important one to point out.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2018 02:45

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

Zero chance since it's hitting side armor, but you're right I need to fix that.

Fixed.

Dang, I was looking at a different 'Mech's firing report when I quoted it, even though I quoted the right one.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2018 02:49

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Defiance Industries posted:

There's level 2 machines with AC/20s, but I think there's a couple reasons you don't see AC/20 based heavies in 3025.

One, Cavalry heavy is a GREAT match for an AC/20, maybe even the absolute best thing you can put them on. But before XL engines you didn't really have room for a lot of guns. You can just barely squeeze one into a Dragon at the expense of its entire arsenal, but it leaves you without even a medium laser to spare.

Two, sticking an AC/20 into most of the heavies would kind of raise the question of "Why not just use a Victor?" Basically all the heavies are 4/6, and you have to gut basically their entire arsenals to fit an AC/20, so you've got... a 4/6 machine with an AC/20 and not much else.

I would have sworn there's an Orion with an AC/20, but I can't find it to prove its existence.

An AC/20 is only two tons heavier than an AC/10. If something mounts an AC/10, you can probably find a couple other tons to make it fit. The Orion is a prime candidate for it.

That said, I'd take an AC/10 over an AC/20 eight or nine times out of ten, so I don't actually do that, but it's entirely possible.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2018 03:41

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

The AC/20 covers the minimum range on a 'Mech that's not known for running cool in the first place. It's not a perfectly optimized bracket-fire monstrosity, but it's functionally a decent 'Mech with max armor, a huge hole puncher, and some critseeking potential. It'd basically turn it into a mini-AS7-D (I mean, you'd lose the lasers, but meh) that's faster, and thereby fix the Atlas's single greatest weakness. :shrug:

It'd be perfectly fine in 3025's stock 'Mech field of aggressive mediocrity.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2018 03:53

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

It was more a comment aimed at how the two weapons mesh horribly (or not horribly, as I tend to think). At 5 hexes, the AC/20 and LRM (which is not the primary weapon) have the same modifier. In PTN's houserules, the LRM never suffers penalties worse than medium range anyway. Firing at medium range is neither unheard of nor particularly a bad idea unless you're so short on ammo that you have to make every single shot count.

In a sense I'm more taking issue with the hyperbole of suggesting that an AC/20 on a slow-ish platform is a terrible idea. There isn't an AC/20 platform that isn't slow in 3025. None of them have armor even approaching good, most of them have armor that struggles to be mediocre.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2018 04:09

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Defiance Industries posted:

It definitely explains the existence of the Shadow Hawk.

This is really late, but after scuttling around in a Shadow Hawk for like six (contiguous) hours in the Grinder at Adepticon, I have a new appreciation for it. It's not supposed to be fighting heavies and assaults, or even appropriately armed other Mediums. It's designed to run into a Wasp or Stinger in a dark alley and gently caress 'em up, and then do so to three or four more in succession.

I managed to score five kills against lighter or slower opposition, and it wasn't even that difficult. Eye-opening experience.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2018 03:38

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

Not really, no. I'd probably be really sad about it in a blog post on my badly-drawn webcomic.

Worse case scenario, I'd try to continue on Patreon until/unless I found another venue.

You'd probably be able to use the BattleTech forums in the Fan Fiction section at last resort. Or Tumblr, or a blog type site with comments enabled.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2018 18:33

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Jesus that's a lot of enemies.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2018 00:11

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

AJ_Impy posted:

Check below the 12-24 sinks to the 0-30 heat indicator.

The 0-30 heat indicator is where the overflow is stored. When a 'Mech hits 30 (after heatsinks), it automatically shuts down. It's not the maximum you can generate in a turn.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2018 05:18

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Leperflesh posted:

this is why I had contingencies in my orders, in addition to two cases of not totally clear LOS.

also "just look up the to-hit modifiers" has gotten quite complex now, with weapons that give to-hit bonuses, camoflauge, I think our pilots have special cybernetics or some poo poo too? after turn one's firing when ptn posts the first firing logs I'll feel a lot more confidant. the quick start guides and even the battletech books I own have been left in the dust by the tech levels we're at now.

There are none of those in this game right now, so go nuts. At worst, if the cybernetics aren't already baked into the skills, you're looking at a 1 point difference. 95% of the shots in this game are going to come down to:

Skill + your move type + enemy move mod + range (+ terrain) (+ heat penalty)

But really the more important takeaway from this conversation is just play the game and take the shots you want to. Building nested conditional chains is a lot more work for PTN for negligible at best advantage in a game with no Aces and lots of targets. Just pick one and shoot.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2018 17:59

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Bloody Pom posted:

Just a reminder to those who don't know: If I recall correctly, hitting the same target with two TSEMPs in the same turn will force a shutdown roll. Or it might force a shutdown outright.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Hitting a target with TSEMP at all prompts a roll. Hitting with multiple TSEMPs imposes bonuses to the roll (more likely to shut down).

EDIT: Heat from jumping is one per hex jumped, minimum of 3 heat generated.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2018 22:34

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Defiance Industries posted:

It's +1 walking MP and recalculating run MP from there

It's technically +2 Walking MP, but the heat penalties are already applying a -1 Walking MP at that point, so at 9 heat it effectively becomes +1 Walking MP.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2018 23:48

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

TSEMP does no damage and penalizes all your shooting by +2 the turn after you fire it. That's a pretty severe downside if you haveno better reason to fire it.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2018 19:45

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

Triple Edit (because I'm bored): The biggest reason I haven't bit the bullet and done 1-2-4-6 is ammo math. 3/4/6/12 is much more graceful than 3/[4.5]/9/18. I could push the ammo up to 4/6/12/24 except then we're straight back into the "too much ammo" territory for small launchers. 2/3/6/12 is definitely not enough.

Is it within the realm of possibility to adopt what I'm assuming is a not-infrequent house rule where LRM ammo is LRM ammo is LRM ammo - each ton gives you X missiles, and all launchers can draw from that bin as long as there are missiles left. When you start running low, the last salvo is the largest that the current launcher can manage with the remaining missiles. I'm going to assume LRM naming conventions aren't terribly important, and you can just call them the LRM 5/10/20/30 instead.

LRM ammo bins refusing to load smaller tube counts - regardless of tech or customization options - is one of the weird "verisimilitude" buttons for me, though, so take it as you will. :v:

# ¿ Apr 15, 2018 17:34

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

The Boggart 2 is also basically just an Ultra-Light Clan 'Mech that gets even better heat sinks and armor and doesn't have to pay for cockpits or gyros, and then benefits from extreme fractional accounting on top.

The interface line between protos and ultra-lights is weird, and the numbers do not match up at all well.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2018 02:10

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Defiance Industries posted:

I have a soft spot for TRO:3060 for giving me the Hauptmann, Barghest and Blitzkrieg, but there's three categories of machines in that book:

-Lyran Mechs
-IIc Mechs
-Ugly as gently caress

You take that back about the Cougar or I'll see you on the field at dawn. :colbert:

# ¿ Apr 16, 2018 03:47

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

I wish the 1st and 2nd Gen Protos would get re-imaginings like what were posted last page, in the same fashion as the new Classics for the old Unseen.

I also wish their rules were completely redone so they were 2 to a point instead of 5 and those two were a single 'unit' instead of five separate units, but the time for that came and went decades ago.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2018 04:46

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

RAW, hitting a shut-down target with TSEMP does nothing.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2018 02:15

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Olothreutes posted:

I think the head armor on Legion #3 didn't get updated.

ATMs do damage in groups of 5, which means there's a group of 1 left over after the initial 35 points are allocated. Ferro-Lamellor armor reduces all incoming damage by 1, to a minimum of 0.

It would still count as a Pilot Hit if the Legion weren't immune to those, but it does no damage.

FerroLam is actually pretty good against iATM-12s in particular, because it's cutting full 8 damage off of 36 every time.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2018 03:42

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

LOL, sure.

Hellhawk

Dubbed the "Famine Hawk" by its pilots for its often brutal heat curve, the Hellhawk is the second heaviest 'Mech in currently service in the Clan ilKhanate. Second in size only to Clan Jade Falcon's Shrike, the Hellhawk is a modern update of the aging Warhawk design. Topping out at 64 KPH, the Hellhawk is one of the slowest 'Mechs in Clan service. It's also one of the most heavily armed, having devoted over half its weight--a full 44 tons--to weapons and equipment. Six of those tons are hard locked: split between a trio of Heat Sinks locked into its 340XL Engine and an oddity among the Clans: an Inner Sphere designed Command Console for its cockpit. With their breeding program in shambles and every warrior--high ranking warriors especially--now a precious commodity, the Hellhawk was designed primarily as a command vehicle and to allow aging Clan warriors to offer their wisdom and insight to younger, more capable pilots. Derisively called "Crichell's Crutch" by younger warriors, none can doubt the Hellhawk's effectiveness as a command vehicle, only the wisdom of allowing aged warriors to reign in the killer instincts of their progeny.

The Hellhawk Prime is a close-range brawler, and comes standard with four Clan Heavy PPCs. Twenty seven Heat Sinks and Heat Radiating Armor allow it to fire two PPCs without major concern, but firing all four nearly maxes out the machine's heat capacity when it's standing still, and can drive a running Hellhawk straight into automatic shutdown.

I like this a very lot. I imagine the table-top use criteria for that many big guns is two-fold:

1) It's incredibly difficult to be reduced below maximum sustained effective firepower, even when mangled beyond easy recognition

2) The initiative bonus from the command console means it's comparatively easy to line up that decisive stroke where four Clan Heavy PPCs is going to wreck a motherfucker's day hard enough that it doesn't matter whether you're shutdown next turn or not.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2018 23:53

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

GOG keys don't go live until Tuesday at noon, unfortunately. No preloading for me.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2018 01:29

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

I really should've stopped and asked: "Do I really want to track 35 protomechs in addition to other forces in a mission where there are twelve active players?"

But I didn't because the math worked out OK. BattleTech in a nutshell.

The good news is that it's a story thread you don't even have to followup on, because all of the escaped Protos would be dead within five years whether there was a war going on or not.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2018 04:12

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Affi posted:

Good to know! (I�m going to die horribly to the first mech that spots me)

You cannot be the secondary target of an attack, either. Anything that shoots at you has to shoot at you and nothing else. Some targets are loathe to waste a big gun on a single infantryman, especially one they're in the process of hideously underestimating. :getin:

# ¿ May 4, 2018 00:04

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Farseli posted:

I'm curious about what is to the left where the line starts going back up but is less of a threat.

Infantry platoons.

# ¿ May 7, 2018 01:08

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

I would like to nominate both the Main Gauche and the Myrmidon for post-timeskip inclusion. The Main Gauche as the platonic ideal of self-propelled assault guns (A StuG by any other name) and the Myrmidon as a medium tank par excellence.

# ¿ May 18, 2018 01:07

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Is there any kind of aerospace presence in the NewTech future? That's my jam.

# ¿ May 27, 2018 22:00

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

The Hercules is one of the FWL's premier heavy cavalry units and it has a non-unique variant (and another unique variant).

# ¿ May 28, 2018 02:11

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

Xarbala posted:

this explains why the line devs forgot about it

# ¿ May 28, 2018 03:18

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

I'm kind of surprised you kept the different kinds of ECM instead of just taking more ECMs on a design.

# ¿ May 30, 2018 16:53

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

MVP for both is the dice.

# ¿ May 30, 2018 19:41

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

PoptartsNinja posted:

This is the Inner Sphere, 3062.

... It's a goddamned mess.

"It's a goddamned mess" is generally how it ends up looking whenever anyone starts taking a look at month to month events rather than decade to decade events. The Jihad is basically a Jackson Pollock painting, the Dark Age is nearly as bad, but the Star League Civil War and the early Succession Wars (which were bigger than anything else before or since and should look like someone ran the canvas through a woodchipper) look goddamn sedate because the maps were already nice and clean before the month-by-month got filled in.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2018 03:12

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

I hope we get to do a Clan perspective mission post-timeskip. The thread's irrational hate boner (seriously guy, give PTN some credit for doing them better) for them is kinda discouraging sometimes.

EDIT: to be fair I've only been following the thread for a year-ish I think, so if there were any good numbers of them before that I wouldn't recognize them.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 04:47

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

I am super-pumped for even the distant possibility of a return to the First Hidden War where Kerenskyean and Kuritan MechWarriors routinely challenge each other to duels in single combat.

MechWarrior Top Gun is all kinds of my poo poo.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 00:45

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

CourValant posted:

I'm assuming you mean First Hidden War post time skip, as opposed to the cannon First Hidden War?

Kerenskyean and Kuritan Top Gun would be awesome; The Gunslinger Program and TRO is probably my most favorite bit of fluff in BT.

Yes and yes.

One might even say :bisonyes:

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 00:55

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 20:43

Strobe: Jun 30, 2014; GW BRAINWORMS CREW

It's not as bad as most memes make it out to be, but it's definitely something that happens a fair bit. Mooooost of the genuine infighting comes from Andurien being buddy-buddy with the Capellans and/or wanting to secede. The other big notable fuckery that happens is honestly sub-state agnostic, when Anton Marik stages his rebellion on a federal level.

Sometimes it feels more like "the writers forgot to include the FWL in the metaplot, so have some flimsy justification for pretending you matter in the form of a civil war or inter-state squabble".

That's when it's not Operation Guerrero-like "the FWL is totally winning, but nobody is going to remember or care about this in five months" brief interludes.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 02:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Lets All Play Battletech and rewrite Inner Sphere history

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