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We start to see the downsides to being a merc in the Inner Sphere. Any mercenary unit smaller that a battalion are pretty much dead mechwarriors walking. They can't afford their travel and repair expenses and even something that seems a no-brainer like "we own our DropShip!" isn't as cut-and-dry as you'd think since the best transport for a lance is the Leopard, and Leopards are holes in space you throw money into (a Leopard can't carry enough cargo to offset its operational expenses, they're pretty much operated entirely by the Great Houses as raiding forces). The only real long-term hope of a merc lance is that a bigger unit will recognize them as skilled or hard-working and hire them to replace combat losses and help pay their overhead by taking bigger contracts. Or, better yet, that a couple of bigger groups will happen to need a lance at the same time and compete for them. Edit: Or that one of them is the grandchild of a CEO willing to hire them to not break anything and look impressive "defending" company picnics and golf events. More likely, a few merc lances will be sitting around on Galatea watching all the good contracts get snapped up by big units and will band together (and almost certainly die) taking on something big enough to pay their operating expenses but for which they're unprepared and probably not equipped to handle. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Feb 7, 2018 |
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Feb 7, 2018 01:41
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so lots of explosions
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Feb 7, 2018 02:00
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Amechwarrior posted:That might be Beta 1 actions, but Beta 2 changed it. One hit destroys equipment and sets off ammo bins more than 1/2 full, weapons take two hits with the first causing a +1 penalty to fire it. Beta 2 also increased the base odds for critical hits and "fixed" the blank space problem. The end result was bugged, but overall it works nicely as is, with the backend bug in place. If they fixed that bug, they might have to lower base crit odds to compensate if Beta 2 action is the intended rate. Also, for anyone else not familiar with the Beta or BT, in this game the Machine Guns (our Firestarter has two) are the only weapon with an increased critical hit odds. So it's wonderful when it comes to finding an open location and disabling/exploding equipment. Thanks for the clarifications on this, I haven't played nearly as much Beta2 as I did Beta1. Also GoonForce is totally fine, this isn't the end of our unit or anything! I will get the commentary done this evening and then the update should be out tomorrow. I have a new mic on the way and once that arrives I can start arranging co-commentators to join in and add some colour.
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Feb 7, 2018 02:08
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I threw a pilot into the doc. I know nothing about the mechwarrior setting, but I am fully willing to strap into an artillery mech and pummel our enemies with a missile storm before they know what hit them.
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Feb 8, 2018 07:08
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Threw one in a day or so ago. Hoping she gets in after we get something long range so that she's less likely to die from an ammo crit... Or die of heatstroke.
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Feb 8, 2018 19:15
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Less than 20 minutes after finishing off the Light Mech Lance, GoonLance detects new contacts further down the valley. They move in to finish the job. Lionheart bravely deciding to lead the from the rear and urging Jimmums to take the fore. <Click the image to see part two of the mission> https://youtu.be/5vXY5n3b3YY  ************************************ Two injured pilots, two crippled mechs and a whole ton of damage. Thankfully, we completed our objectives and did not kill the pilot of the Wolverine - the enigmatic Pirate Captain. Within minutes of the last shot being fired, a hovercar jets into the area, broadcasting a ComStar clear code. Our representative confirms it is legitimate and a commando team is allowed to land at the Wolverine wreckage. They swiftly cut open the cockpit of the downed mech before hauling the injured pilot away, blasting back off in the direction of the SpacePort. ComStar direct a recovery operation to return the Firestarter and all the salvage to the port as per the salvage and recovery clauses of our contract, meanwhile GoonLance begins their own, slower, return. As the day continues reports arrive to say that the conventional forces assaulting the pirate hardpoint in the hills have completed their attack. The capture of their leader seems to have broken the pirates moral and they have fled the battlefield.  Troy Burnett, our ace tech, completes his assessment of the damage sustained by our mechs when they arrive in the mechbay and he provides the following report:   : “Yo! Your robots are pretty broke. We have loads of armour and ammo in storage, but you didn’t tell me to buy any actual mech parts before we left Galatea... So some of the stuff we lost we can’t replace.” (oops) : “This Trebuchet is wrecked! It’s what, 200 years old, has been in hundreds of battles and your man here takes it out in one engagement - against Locusts! - and he totally destroys it. Nice work. It needs a new arm and a totally rebuilt torso to anchor that in. I can do it, which is drat lucky for you, but it is going to take time, a lot of time. Since all I have to help me is the ‘talent’ you hired off the street, I don’t really know what you are expecting in terms of quality. Did I mention that the LRM15 AND the Medium Laser from that arm are toast? We don’t have any replacements for them, even if we do get a new arm.” : ”The Firestarter isn’t mission capable, the Trebuchet can be slapped together and marched out the door without it’s arm if we have to, but we need a new leg for this guy or it’s just so much scrap metal. I would say your highest priority is getting this mech on its feet again, before you do anything else.”  : “The other two are ok and don’t require a lot of work. I’m gonna make a request here that maybe you let me repair their armour before we use them again? Oh and I guess the good news is you did get me to buy ammo, so there are no problems with resupply.” : ”Our contract contains a Battle Loss Compensation clause, ComStar honor this and provide the following:” : ”In total we receive 71,657 CBills, it is a depressingly small amount. I will make sure to renegotiate this clause as we need to be covered for damages when working on behalf of an employer.” (The payout is low because of a small mistake I made reporting the damage into MEKHQ, future CLB payouts should be higher.) “I have also spoken to ComStar about a bonus for taking the Pirate Captain without seriously injuring him. They have awarded us a hefty 250,000 CBill bonus for this work. Although they refused to put anything but ‘Services Rendered’ on the credit note. Interestingly, they won’t comment on that activity at all, I get the impression that they would prefer we all pretended that it didn’t happen.”: ”As for salvage, we have the following to pick over:”code:code:Options (A). Absolute Minimum We salvage a Locust leg and fit that on the Firestarter. This means that instead of 40 armour and 40 internal structure this leg will only have 30 armour and 20 internal structure. (6 and 4 in tabletop values). Cost - 8,000 CBills (B). Cheap complete repair We salvage the Locust leg and Griffin arm. We also salvage the Griffin’s LRM10 and a Medium Laser, as well as a Heatsink. This lets us restore both mechs to full functionality. The Trebuchet will mount the LRM10 and Medium Laser in it’s new left arm and the heatsink is for the Firestarters’ leg. This configuration will leave the Treb underweight, but we can worry about that later. Cost - 262500 CBills (C). Best options Same as above but instead of the Locust leg we grab the Commando leg. This will get us a lot closer to returning the Firestarter to having the same armour as it used to. Cost - 262900 CBills (D). Something else :”I doodled an idea for something in the margin here, if you give me full control of the budget I promise I can make you a rad frankenmech...”: “We can also purchase other goodies to put into storage with what is left of our salvage budget. Finding equipment for mechs really isn’t easy, there isn’t a huge amount of equipment available on the open market, battlefield salvage is probably our best bet for stocking up on rare weapons or spare limbs.”: ”No matter what we do, I will focus on getting the Firestarter and Trebuchet online asap. This means that we may not have time to replace armour on any of the Mechs if something happens on Freisland and we need to react.”: ”If we get all the parts we need out of salvage we can completely repair our mechs. Here is the estimated time for each one.” (times are given in minutes as that is what the techs work in):code: : “If I may, we also have two injured Mechwarriors. Jimmums has managed to break multiple ribs and Figment has a bad concussion. They need to be looked after just as much as the mechs”: “Sure.”  : “They are both going to be out of action for awhile. My prognosis is good, with both of them recovering, Figment in roughly a week without complications and Jimmums will be back in action after a month or so. I wouldn’t recommend piloting a Mech with broken ribs for a couple of months or so myself, but I doubt I will be able to stop Jimmums from climbing back into the cockpit once he can breath without flinching.”  : ”Because we are two Mechwarriors down, we need to hire two replacement pilots. I have already spoken to the potentials and we have two new members of the company signed on today. Welcome George “Stovepipe” Jacobson and Arlen Richard Spencer “Inspector”, two Dispossessed camp followers who were in the right place at the right time.” George “Stovepipe” Jacobson - SHD-2H Assignment Piloting - 2 Gunnery - 3(2) Tactics - 2 Guts - 2  Arlen Richard Spencer “Inspector” - FS9-9H Assignment Piloting - 3(2) Gunnery - 2 Tactics - 2 Guts - 2 : “Both mechwarriors are green (all 2’s), however Inspector is listed as a Light Mech Specialist so he gets a familiarity bonus to pilot the Firestarter, bumping his Piloting to 3 while in any mech of that size bracket! Stovepipe is known as a good shot with an Autocannon, his Gunnery skill is increased by one when piloting a mech with an Autocannon.”: “Speaking of green mechwarriors, we need to level up our existing team! They all have a skill point to assign to their stats. We will leave that until the next update however, we have enough to deal with already!”: “Finally, I have compiled all the suggested names for our unit and I would like to get that squared away. Please vote for your favourite!”(1). GoonForce, GoonLance (2). Clan Wolf, Wolf’s Goons (3). Crimson Vambrace, Red Guard (4). The Wardogs (5). F1rst Try Solutions (AMechWarrior suggested a load of stuff but to keep things simple I will stick with his first suggestion) (6). Wolf’s Drag Goons (7). The Word of Lowtax (8). The Guziki-Associated Freelance (9.) The Coldstream Legion Edit: Apologies to those whose company suggestions I missed, I should have them all showing now! Phrosphor fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 21:51
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"Also that building decides to explode." is very good commentary. Well done.
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Feb 8, 2018 22:13
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For the repair job my vote is B for a cheap complete repair.
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Feb 8, 2018 22:28
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Do the Best (option C). What's 400 CBills between friends? Oh, and (1)
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Feb 8, 2018 22:35
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drat 'mech jocks think spare limbs just grow on trees, don't they? 
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Feb 8, 2018 22:35
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Those LRM salvos are a thing of beauty. And I'm loving the little Urbanmech that could.  As for the choices, I'd say B for the middle of the road repair, also Accept Comstar help, and 3 - Crimson Vambrace for our name. Perestroika fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 22:36
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C) Best repair option. The frankenmech is tempting, but nah. Don't overwork the technicians but accept ComStar's help. (This definitely has no chance of backfiring or leaving us in debt to ComStar whatsoever.) 7) The Word of Lowtax, GoonLance PenguinSalsa fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 22:39
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I was happy to see you taking that second battle a but more seriously and then the firestarter got literally dunked on
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Feb 8, 2018 22:50
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Reapirs: C What would be the point of a middle road repairs that saves a whopping 1.5% of cost in exchange for what, 30% less armour? Name I'm going for option 5
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Feb 8, 2018 23:26
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More armor means cheaper repairs down the line. More Internal Structure means the Firestarter might actually survive attempting a Death From Above. I vote for C, somewhat primo repair job. Frankenmechs wait until we're reasonably in the black. Use the ComStar techs offered, if it's clear that they're offered for free, or no more than standard MechTech pay; we're some minor merc operation; they don't have any real reason to screw with us. Edit: If, on the other hand, they don't specify the payment terms, refuse them. They do have incentive to deny us as much pay as they can get away with, and as controllers of the best FTL communication, they can get away with quite a lot. F1rst Try Solutions (Option 5) has a nice ring to it. GasconGlucose fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 23:31
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Mystery Option! D! Refuse comstar help because robes Also
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Feb 8, 2018 23:45
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D. RAD FRANKENMECH Accept the spooky help - This won't bite us in the rear end later for sure! (7)Wolf's Drag Goons - I don't feel I should be voting for my own naming suggestions. In regards to the overtime - Can we not do overtime on the largest/hardest tasks (rebuilding locations) and push overtime on the trivial stuff like armor and ammo? Otherwise, no overtime yet.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:06
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When are we next due in the field?
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Feb 9, 2018 00:08
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GasconGlucose posted:Use the ComStar techs offered, if it's clear that they're offered for free, or no more than standard MechTech pay; we're some minor merc operation; they don't have any real reason to screw with us. Best Option Repair Why quibble over 400 c-bills? Split the Difference with 10 hour repair shifts, we need to be up and working but we don't need dead technicians. Next time, hire Technicians from House Kurita, 10 hour shifts are light duty compared to the Dragon's official 14 hour work day Accept ComStar's Help and use that help to reduce our own tech workload wherever possible. ComStar doesn't gently caress around with the help, if they're paying us and offering help with repairs they A) still need something done and B) know something we don't. ComStar takes promising small-time periphery mercs into long-term positions (with the ComGuards (which don't exist  )) all the time. Make sure they're offering their expertise for standard rates or better and accept.Word of Lowtax to get into ComStar's good graces.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:15
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PoptartsNinja posted:Accept ComStar's Help and use that help to reduce our own tech workload wherever possible. ComStar doesn't gently caress around with the help, if they're paying us and offering help with repairs they A) still need something done and B) know something we don't. ComStar takes promising small-time periphery mercs into long-term positions (with the ComGuards (which don't exist Is that an actual thing in this game? Is there an actual storyline, like in MW2: Mercenaries? Or is this effectively a rogue-like strategy game?
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Feb 9, 2018 00:22
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Best Repair Option and if possible lets pay the over time, we need to get them mechs up and running. Accept ComStar Help, we're already taking their money, if they're offering us a freebie might as well, if it indebts us a bit to them then that's just a future in for a contract! I like the ring of F1rst Try Solutions Glad to see Nasir performed decently this round! Here's hoping I can eventually trade my Urbanmech in for a Jenner! Gotta love that laser alpha strike! Jimmy4400nav fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 9, 2018 00:22
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Best Repair Word of Lowtax Overtime Take the help.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:31
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Option C - Best Repair We gotta have mechs to do meching!
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Feb 9, 2018 00:31
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Cythereal posted:Is that an actual thing in this game? Is there an actual storyline, like in MW2: Mercenaries? Or is this effectively a rogue-like strategy game? You are basically dealing with two GM's. MEKHQ is dealing with all of our finances, skill checks for repairs, healing and generating contracts etc. Then I am adding a narrative to what is happening! If I go to pick up our next contract and there is another offer generated from ComStar I am going to be grinning like an idiot. EDIT: \/\/\/\/\/ Exactly what PTN is saying. HBS!Battletech is a game that is out later this year where you will run your own merc company, it has a story. I just have the extremally moddable backer beta, which I am using to provide persistance and a different way of running out our mech battles. Where we go and what we do, as well as the emerging story, all comes from another program called MEKHQ, which PTN gives some info on in the next post (cheers!). Phrosphor fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 9, 2018 00:38
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Cythereal posted:Is that an actual thing in this game? Is there an actual storyline, like in MW2: Mercenaries? Or is this effectively a rogue-like strategy game? "This game," meaning HBS's BattleTech? It isn't out yet but almost certainly not. What Phrosphor is doing is running a series of modded battles and simulating the background using a campaign manager usually reserved for tabletop play so anything could happen.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:39
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Whats the odds that mekhq ends up being able to give a better campaign than in game?
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Feb 9, 2018 00:49
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I have faith in Harebrained Schemes. They know what they're doing. PGI and Mechwarrior 5 not so much.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:52
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Can you import these kind of modded battles into multiplayer? I wonder if someone could write up an MP campaign externally.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:"This game," meaning HBS's BattleTech? It isn't out yet but almost certainly not. Oh, interesting, didn't realize all that was going into this. I'm getting big X-COM vibes from the style of gameplay. Going to be following this with interest. Choices: Complete Repair Accept ComStar's help Wolf's Drag Goons And for the HR department of this merc company, kill stats so far for everyone's performance reviews: Miranda "Figment" Burke: Spider SDR-5 (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Firestarter FS9-H) Locust LCT-1S (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Firestarter FS9-H) Wolverine WV-6R (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Firestarter FS9-H) I retract everything bad I said about the Firestarter, Figment currently leads the merc company on kills. Malik "Nasir" ibn Ahmad Urbanmech UM-R60 (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Urbanmech UM-R60) Griffin GRF-1N (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Urbanmech UM-R60) For a mech with such a derpy reputation and appearance, Nasir pulls up second place on kills for the company's first contract, split between the Urbie's AC-10 and melee (?!). Reginald "Lionheart" Edward Smythe Esq Commando COM-2D (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Trebuchet TBT-5N) Unluckiest bastard in the company to date? Probably. Jonathan "Jimmums" Jims Locust LCT-1E (Planet: Friesland, Mech: Shadow Hawk SHD-2H) Only one kill, but he's done lots of damage to targets the rest of the lance finished off. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 9, 2018 01:09
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For anyone not aware of how the HBS BattleTech campaign is planning to pan out: They are building an endless mercenary campaign, with a procedurally generated contract system like what MekHQ is doing here. There is a main story line with plot missions, but they can be ignored. The plot revolves around a disposed royal working to restore her throne and if you fail or ignore her calls, the restoration fails, but you keep doing your thing. You can take missions from the new royal order once the restoration is defeated or if you helped the restoration succeed they would probably keep offering you jobs. Like in this LP, you travel around a small slice of known space near some hot conflict zones fought over by elite units or travel to far out independent worlds plagued by pirates. If the beta files are to be trusted, it may be possible to accept jobs from these pirates too. Also like this LP, between combat is all about managing your repairs/wounded in terms of cost, time and availability and not running in the red. Apparently loans and stuff will be a thing, but we don't know much about the simgame details compared to what we know about the combat game. Recently one of the lead designers twitter has been all about the piles of dead pilots and frankenmechs she generates during her tuning of the campaign. Release is "Early 2018" and my own guess is late March-May. EDIT: Pharnakes posted:Can you import these kind of modded battles into multiplayer? I wonder if someone could write up an MP campaign externally. Yes, in the beta we did manage to do a few modded MP matches. However, the beta has ended and only people who copied all the files to a second location can still play. They recently turned off the beta MP servers to configure them for the full game, so those who can still play, can't play each other. I've put together a mod pack of partially complete 'Mechs and other things to give us post-beta players something new to do. That Wolverine WVR-6R the pirate captain had was one of those, and the AI is running my own modded behavior file. It's nowhere near perfect but the stock beta AI is very incomplete and really bad at piloting 'Mechs. Amechwarrior fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 9, 2018 01:13
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Amechwarrior posted:For anyone not aware of how the HBS BattleTech campaign is planning to pan out: Their lead designer is also a goon, Isilidur, and tweeted this today: https://twitter.com/HBS_thratchen/status/961424074135121920 I started this LP because I am that drat excited for the full game to come out that I made my own version with duct tape and scissors.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:22
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Cythereal posted:
Re-watching the video, it looks like my mech kills the Griffin by headbutting it through the chest! The Urbanmech may indeed be derpy and the Jenner is my dream, but I'm proud of this little guy 
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Feb 9, 2018 01:25
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1. Full Repair 2. Accept Help 3.Goonlance Doing a great job with this so far, looking forward to more!
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Feb 9, 2018 02:03
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Mukaikubo posted:Phrosphor, I probably qualify at this point as a MekHQ expert, sad as that is, and I've been helping pitch in to develop the Against The Bot campaign rules for years now, so if you want anything at all in those directions I am Your Dude. (The number of multi-decade merc campaigns I've done in MekHQ doesn't bear thinking about, albeit mostly with the ATB rules in megamek and nothing at all in the Battletech beta! It's a really interesting idea.) Quick question for you, is there a way to get the mission generator to restrict the amount of forces it generates when rolling up an OpFor? So rather than rolling 15 light mechs (I already have vehicles and vtols disabled) it can roll up four mechs of a similar total BV?
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Feb 9, 2018 02:17
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Re-watching the video, it looks like my mech kills the Griffin by headbutting it through the chest! The Urbanmech may indeed be derpy and the Jenner is my dream, but I'm proud of this little guy Quite fair. I'm still not sure how good the Firestarter is, since Figment's been a part of team efforts for all her kills, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt at this point. I think my dream would be a Crab - quick, punchy, and an ammo-less armament is appealing for a mercenary outfit that has to pay for ammo. Probably hard to get a hold of one unless we really do jump into bed with ComStar, though.
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Feb 9, 2018 02:35
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1. Maximum Repair, going into battle half cocked seems like a good way to get into the never-ended death spiral even more than we already are. 2. All hail the Tech-Priests of Terra - they seem like trustworthy types. 3. F1rst Try Solutions seems good to me. The Fighting F1rst forging freelance fame and fortune. As for personal favorites, I always liked the Blackjack, particularly the large laser variant.
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Feb 9, 2018 03:29
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Phrosphor posted:Quick question for you, is there a way to get the mission generator to restrict the amount of forces it generates when rolling up an OpFor? So rather than rolling 15 light mechs (I already have vehicles and vtols disabled) it can roll up four mechs of a similar total BV? In MekHQ? Kinda but it's a little grody. It'll be much easier to do it via Megamek, where you can use the Create Random Army button. There you'll be able to set a number of meks, BV range you're targeting, what tech level you want, everything. Comes with a ton of random generation tables you can use to customize it.
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Feb 9, 2018 03:34
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Mukaikubo posted:In MekHQ? Kinda but it's a little grody. It'll be much easier to do it via Megamek, where you can use the Create Random Army button. There you'll be able to set a number of meks, BV range you're targeting, what tech level you want, everything. Comes with a ton of random generation tables you can use to customize it. Awesome, thanks!
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Feb 9, 2018 03:55
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1: C Full Repair and pocket the PPC + medium lasers Frankenmechs are awesome, but time consuming. Keep an ear out for even a regular old mechtech to slap on armor and such. 2: No overtime, Yes backup team
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Feb 9, 2018 07:46
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Oh, you jerk! I am so looking forward to BattleTech (it's the only time I've pre-ordered a game), and here you are, running a campaign on the Beta. Right, I'm going to follow along for a while.
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Feb 9, 2018 09:05
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