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OddHaberdasher posted:Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but those look like minuses next to those numbers. As in, we'll be eating a net loss of money by the end of the contracts. Am I simply reading this wrong? I'm guessing that we'd be selling the salvage we get from the contracts that allow us to claim it, to make up the deficit, which means aim for the cockpits. Because this, I'm voting for Contract Three because it leaves us less in the red while still giving us opportunities at salvage. Contract Four is tempting, but it'd take a lot of sold salvage for us to get back in the black from that. Also, gently caress yeah Firestarters are one of my favorite light 'mechs. If/when possible, I'd like to ditch the heavy flamers for a PPC and whatever else will fit in the extra room (like another SRM rack or a laser). Though, if you're looking for a pilot for the Guillotine, I am first lance commander...
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Jul 23, 2020 05:03
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EclecticTastes posted:I'm guessing that we'd be selling the salvage we get from the contracts that allow us to claim it, to make up the deficit, which means aim for the cockpits. Because this, I'm voting for Contract Three because it leaves us less in the red while still giving us opportunities at salvage. Contract Four is tempting, but it'd take a lot of sold salvage for us to get back in the black from that. Contract 3 for this reasoning.
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Jul 23, 2020 05:43
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Contract 1 Mechwarrior Salaam Bhai
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Jul 23, 2020 06:11
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D, Contract 4 6 million is the price we just paid for one, admittedly very nice, mech. We will make up the deficit againts real foes that we have salvage rights for in no time. Also: ew riot duty
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Jul 23, 2020 06:13
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Small update--I've dorfed all our MechWarriors for now. That shouldn't stop people from sending in new folks, just letting you know that...it might be minute before things open up for you. Carry on!
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Jul 23, 2020 06:25
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I’m voting for D: Contract 4 Let’s get all the salvage we can and see what fun toys we end up with. As for dorf name either Damanation or Damas Daran, whichever you prefer.
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Jul 23, 2020 07:57
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CONTRACT FOUR--Guerrilla Warfare Go big or go home! High salvage rates are nice and while it means we have to be careful in our fights, a few good scraps can pay huge dividends for us. Plus this contract doesn't have us pissing off any of the major houses or periphery states. Only downside is the Niops Association is a one system minor on the fringe of space so if their military doesnt have a lot of goodies we'll be SOL in the middle of nowhere.
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Jul 23, 2020 08:39
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Put me on the pilot bench as Lem Niscate, please!
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Jul 23, 2020 09:08
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Sure, why not. Dorf me as Izzy Monaco and get me killed in some sort of eminently-avoidable way, please!
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Jul 23, 2020 09:57
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habituallyred posted:D, Contract 4
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Jul 23, 2020 13:49
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Can I vote for waiting a month and seeing if we get any better rolls? All of these are kind of pants.  Contract 1 is ugly- we're guaranteed to lose money, we can't salvage anything, our allies will be incompetent and our enemies not, and we're not even getting paid any extra if we lose a mech. The only silver lining is that it's close and quick so we'll be back on the market quickly. Contract 2 is a bit better, but woof, losing >2 million C-bills per month of fighting and only salvaging 30% of what we kill makes that a hard road. Plus it's so far away that we're looking at a >1 year contract for the privilege of losing that money. No me gusta. Contract 3, while distasteful, has some things to recommend it. 12 jumps / 6 months is a pretty beefy contract, that's well over a year, which I'd normally steer clear from this early. But, our negotiator got us enough compensation in transport costs that we're only losing ~100k/combat month, which with a salvage of 50% will be easy to compensate for even if we're only shooting up pickup trucks and surplus light tanks. No battle loss compensation, but we're fighting green troops- natch- so we *probably* won't lose too much. Contract 4 is a major gamble. Guerrilla contracts are really hard to pull in supplies for, so we'd want to heavily load up on ammo, armor, and common internals before we go. We're losing ~1 million per combat month, but we're salvaging 80% of what we kill- pretty generous- so there's a decent chance we could come out in the black, if we're lucky. It's also the furthest out, though, practically all the way to the periphery. I'll vote for Contract 3- Riot Duty because it's got the easiest path towards giving our folks experience without losing much money! Contracts 1 and 4 are reasonable picks- 1 because we wouldn't lose much and we'd be back on the market soon with a slightly higher merc rating, and 4 because it's possible to get ourselves good money if we're lucky. But I think 3's slightly the best bet. Contract 2 is just a horrible one though. We should really start looking for more admins, particularly a transportation admin- early on, transport costs will cripple you, so the sooner you can get someone to improve those rolls in contract generation the better. Plus I want an admin buddy to talk poo poo about the overpaid mechwarriors with.
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Jul 23, 2020 13:50
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Contract Four, D. There's hardly any good FWL fights going on in canon, so let's switch that up.
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Jul 23, 2020 14:38
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Contract 4 Oh hey, a battletech LP! I was supposed to play in a robot tabletop game then the campaign was cancelled, so I guess I'll just have to settle for dying vicariously against the bot. Make Morgan Vance a mechwarrior please, and put her in the slowest laserboat you have.
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Jul 23, 2020 14:55
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Contract Two
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Jul 23, 2020 15:19
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If people kick the bucket enough, could you make me a pilot? Also contract 4 !
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Jul 23, 2020 16:15
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Money is incredibly important, and being able to fund upgrades and better staff is probably priority 1 right now. Is there a reason that the transportation costs are 2-way? Do we need to come back to our current location to get a new contract? Odd, I had always picked up a new contract in the system where the old one ended. Mukaikubo's right though, sometime's it's worth waiting a month until something better comes along, both for contracts and also for Mech eBay. So I'm voting for Contract 3 Also, if possible, put me in the pilot bucket: Jimmy Polk
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Jul 23, 2020 16:23
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El Spamo posted:Money is incredibly important, and being able to fund upgrades and better staff is probably priority 1 right now. Is there a reason that the transportation costs are 2-way? Do we need to come back to our current location to get a new contract? Odd, I had always picked up a new contract in the system where the old one ended. Mukaikubo's right though, sometime's it's worth waiting a month until something better comes along, both for contracts and also for Mech eBay. You can get contracts wherever you end up, yeah. But you get a pretty hefty bonus to the roll for how many contracts are available if you're at a hiring hall like Galatea, or at a faction capital. So it's not out of the question that if we take contract #4 on Niops that we could pick up a contract there immediately (though usually you want to rest your command a few months between contracts if we have that optional rule on), or we could go to a closer- if less pleasant- hiring hall like Astrokaszy or even Westerhand in the Capellan confederation.
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Jul 23, 2020 16:38
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I was also mercenary as gently caress and did not care what kind of contract it was as long as the cashflow was positive.
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Jul 23, 2020 16:43
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HereticMIND how are you going to play out the combats? Have you considered trying to have a human sit in as the opfor because otherwise starting with a full company of mechs and such a huge sack of cash means the game is just too easy because the bots don't really fight all that well.
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Jul 23, 2020 20:19
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Saros posted:HereticMIND how are you going to play out the combats? Have you considered trying to have a human sit in as the opfor because otherwise starting with a full company of mechs and such a huge sack of cash means the game is just too easy because the bots don't really fight all that well. I will be playing the combats, but I don’t trust my internet connection/router to play nice with my laptop for long enough to have someone else be OpFor, so at the moment I’m going up against Princess for all combat missions. Besides, with my skill level, I find that the bot is more or less an even opponent. EDIT: Also,  VOTE CLOSES AT ~2300 HRS ET FRIDAY NIGHT, so get your votes in now or be stuck with your indecision!
HereticMIND fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Jul 24, 2020 |
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Jul 23, 2020 21:03
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Bleh, house command. I guess it's understandable given we're a brand new company. Except for mission 2 though, I guess the Fedrats must be really desperate if they want a brand new command like us to help train their troops. Or they're plotting something. Either way it's a clear signal we should avoid that mission. The other three contracts seem reasonable though. Contract 1 is quick, Contract 3 shouldn't have too much serious opposition and Contract 4 has the potential for a very high payday. I'll have to toss my vote to Contract 3. Like I said, we're a new company and we haven't really fought together before. This should be a good way for us to get some experience without potentially tripping over each other in a real slugfest like the Niops Mission. But still one and four are equally good choices if you don't want our first mission being strike breakers which is a fair call.
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Jul 24, 2020 07:16
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Roughly FOUR HOURS until I tally your votes! Get them in now!
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Jul 25, 2020 00:08
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Are you going to try and renegotiate the terms? Did I miss you saying you've done it already? Sub 50% transport fees is just rude.
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Jul 25, 2020 00:20
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goatface posted:Are you going to try and renegotiate the terms? Did I miss you saying you've done it already? I don't think that's an option currently in the rule-set I'm using, nor in the version of MekHQ I'm running (0.46.1). Maybe once the stable version of 0.47 rolls out, that might be an option, but for right now I'm working with what I got.
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Jul 25, 2020 00:35
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From memory renegotiation is dependent on a skill your leader has.
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Jul 25, 2020 01:13
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Toss me in as Joanna Summers for the first available spot (need not be pilot, though would be nice) and voting on Contract 3.
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Jul 25, 2020 01:43
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HereticMIND posted:I don't think that's an option currently in the rule-set I'm using, nor in the version of MekHQ I'm running (0.46.1). Maybe once the stable version of 0.47 rolls out, that might be an option, but for right now I'm working with what I got. To renegotiate, you need an admin of the correct specialty who has the Negotiate skill at greater than the starting level. So to negotiate transportation fees, you need an Admin/Transport, then you need to spend XP on the Negotiation skill for them. It's irritating and time-consuming and I like it way less than I liked the FM:Mercs Revised approach to negotiating contracts.
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Jul 25, 2020 03:03
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Mukaikubo posted:To renegotiate, you need an admin of the correct specialty who has the Negotiate skill at greater than the starting level. So to negotiate transportation fees, you need an Admin/Transport, then you need to spend XP on the Negotiation skill for them. It's irritating and time-consuming and I like it way less than I liked the FM:Mercs Revised approach to negotiating contracts. Ah. So that's one thing to grab on our way to the contract, then! Also,  ONE HOUR UNTIL THE VOTES ARE TALLIED!
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Jul 25, 2020 03:09
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HereticMIND posted:Ah. So that's one thing to grab on our way to the contract, then! Yeah. You really, really want at least an Admin/Transport and an Admin/HR ASAP to start leveling them and pouring XP into negotiation for the transport admin. Command and Logistics are also super important. Basically the ATB rules made, in collective, admins pretty powerful. The upside is in the default XP rules they gain XP pretty fast so it won't take VERY long to get them negotiating for you. Also since I was here first I am clearly the boss of all admins. 
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Jul 25, 2020 03:14
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Guess what? I'm calling the vote early!With a VERY tight vote, it looks like CONTRACT 4 is gonna be our first assignment! (For the record, Contract 4 had 7 votes. The next highest was Contract 3 with 6.) Now, to work on the next update! Pardon me! EDIT: Ok, so I'm gonna have to do some serious summarizing/trimming down when I do the update (dear LORD I need to stop taking screenshots every five minutes...). I'm probably gonna split this into two updates: housekeeping and combat. HereticMIND fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Jul 25, 2020 |
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Jul 25, 2020 03:43
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CONTRACT ONE, UPDATE ONE: CUT THOSE TEETH! (PART ONE--KEEPING HOUSE) So, the ink is drying, the hands have been shaken, everything seems to be in order, and now we're on our merry way towards our new home for the latter half of the year. Alright, pack it in kids, we're setting off! But first... We've got to get Murai Kubo some new friends. They're looking pretty lonely, and it wouldn't do just to have one administrator on deck. So we're going headhunting! Every two weeks, we roll to see who we can hire from the Personnel Market. This option here lets us spend money to weigh the rolls a certain way so we can more exactly find who we want. Think of it like holding a certain kind of job fair or a recruitment drive of a specific position for those two weeks, if that helps visualize things. We set up our rolls as above... And check if our efforts have born fruit! Well, whaddya know! Looks like putting out those "HELP WANTED" ads paid off! (We've also got an infantry unit that wants to hitch a ride...but gently caress that noise, because of ew, infantry.) We nab the guy we were after (sorry, infantry unit, but we don't like you). Let's see what we're dealing with! Pretty competent, but if he's gonna be rolling with Murai, he's gotta be a smooth talker. Luckily, every new hire comes with some XP to spend on skills, so we can easily take care of this. There we go! That's much better. (I promote Murai and also completely by accident hire some more transportation administrators over the next few weeks so we can get a good administrator corps going)  Huh. The Unit Market updated. I decide to do some more shopping; never know what might come in handy! Five things catch my eye: The Dragon -1N, the Quickdraw -4G, the Awesome -8Q, the Panther -9R, and the Phoenix Hawk -1. I really could use that Dragon (it's such a useful brawler; yeah, the AC/5's damage output is middling, but the LRMs can be useful in quite a lot of pinches), especially at that price point (85% of full price). The Panther even more so because it can hit above its weight class (its PPC armament can be useful for taking on heavier 'Mechs), and there's two of them on sale, one at 80% of the full price! Surefire purchases, right? WRONG. Those three 'Mechs are on the Black Market, a place where only the desperate purchase from. Why do you ask? Because of this. When you try to buy from the Black Market, a roll is made. If you pass, you get what you purchased. If you fail...you get nothing. So, yeah. If you're feeling lucky, go for it. Otherwise, stay the gently caress away from the Black Market. If you couldn't tell, I did not pick up those two 'Mechs (the Dragon and the Panther). They're useful to have, but they're not worth getting scammed over. Anyway, it turns out our employer also has a storefront we can buy from. They're selling a Quickdraw, an Awesome, and a Phoenix Hawk. Much as I like the Quickdraw, it just doesn't have the gun power we need. I find it to be too under-gunned for its weight class. And the Awesome does what it does so much better. I pick up the Awesome for our heavy lance (which means we can shuffle around the Shadow Hawk AND one of the Crusaders, replacing them with both this and the Guillotine I purchased earlier) and the Phoenix Hawk (our hunter-killer lance needed some extra juice, which means we can mothball the Urbie for now and shift the Firestarter to our light lance), hire two more 'Techs to maintain them, and move on. Besides, we might get some better salvage later on, so these two 'Mechs are more like impulse buys that could help us. Nothing else happens of note; just hiring and shuffling people around as we head towards our destination. Not a single interesting thing. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. One of our 'Techs fumbled and broke a jump jet. Thankfully, it got fixed. The month before, they degraded the quality of the 'Mech they were working on. We eventually reach our destination. Time to make whatever preparations we need now, because for the next six months we are going to have very little time to rest. Gotta head over to the Briefing Room to set up our lances and assign them. Everyone is ready to rock. Let's advance time. May 30th, we get our first two missions. A Recon Raid where we're attacking and an attempt to break through the enemy lines. Let's look at the Recon Raid first, just to see what we're going to be dealing with. Our first mission is more or less a smash and grab that could pay off big time. There's gonna be some snowfall, which could help with the heat. Charlie Lance is on point for this. Let's see who our employers sent to help us. A Jenner -D. A pretty spry 'Mech, all things considered, and a decent scout. Looks like the MechWarrior isn't half bad either. Who are we up against? Lots of light and medium hover tanks with two 'Mechs supporting them. Not exactly good salvage, but also not too tough either. Let's do some further homework, first, though, before we cast judgment. First up is a Regular rated Kintaro -18. It's a pretty decent missile boat for its weight class but can't take a whole lotta hits with its armor distribution. Those SRM 6s can shred you, though, so we're gonna have to play this carefully. Interesting to note is that all that ammo is stored in the side torsos, which means if we get lucky on a critical hit, we can send this thing to kingdom come. Of course, we wouldn't be able to salvage it, but I'm willing to make that trade when the time comes. Next up is the Regular rated Thorn -N (shown here is the -F variant--unfortunately I couldn't find the -N stats in the Purchase Unit function of MekHQ for some reason; looking on Sarna, they're functionally identical). It's a light 'Mech that's more of a fire supporter than a straight brawler. With an LRM 5, it can be a nuisance, but you could easily ignore it and go for the bigger fish. Of the two 'Mechs we have to deal with on this mission, I'm more afraid of the Kintaro rather than the Thorn. Those SRMs, man. They can do lotta damage and can trigger Pilot Skill Rolls (basically rolls to make sure you don't fall over), so when we start this mission, we're gonna have to make killing the KTO-18 a priority. Let's also check out what's what with the Breakthrough mission, so we can look at what might happen. This is a thunder run, through and through. We don't have to kill everything, we just have to get to the northern edge with at least three of Alpha Lance's 'Mechs. With the new Phoenix Hawk I bought, that shouldn't be too hard. I wanna see who we're rolling with and who we're up against, though. We can also spend a reroll too (hopefully) to get better conditions to fight in. Looks like we've been shafted here. The Clint isn't that great of a 'Mech, to be frank. At least it's jump capable, which means it'll be able to keep up with us.  TWO Star League era heavy 'Mechs?! At least one of them's green as grass because otherwise, this would be a nightmare. Jesus Christ. The Marauder -1R (shown here are the -3R stats; the only difference is that the -1R has CASE; basically what CASE does is prevent ammo explosions from cascading, if I'm remembering right) is made for sniping. The AC/5 might not do much damage, but it can certainly be shot from a safe distance. The CASE prevents it from dying to an ammo explosion, so we're gonna have to go for headshots. Like I mentioned before, the MechWarrior driving this thing is super green, so we've got some lucky stars to thank. The Flashman -8K is the deadlier of the two 'Mechs we'd have to face on this mission (shown here are the -7K stats; the differences are the -8K has an anti-missile system, a Medium Laser in the center torso, a better engine, and double heatsinks which allow it to sink more heat). It's a pure laser boat that can absolutely shred through lighter 'Mechs (which has me kinda worried about our medium lance as they're our hunter-killers) and it's fast. And it looks like the guy driving this isn't as green as we're hoping him to be, so we have to be VERY cautious about going toe to toe with this. Both 'Mechs are nightmares to go up against, but the Flashman is the one we need to look out for. If we can somehow kill that thing, our lives will be made MUCH easier. The Marauder could possibly be a problem, but the MechWarrior piloting it is green, which significantly decreases its threat value. Either way, it's gonna be a slog. With that outta the way, it's time to vote. ----------------- Which mission do we do first? (Both missions happen on the same day; this just tells me which one you wanna see first) A) RECON RAID B) BREAKTHROUGH Should I spend a reroll on the Breakthrough mission? A) YES (specify what; your choices are TERRAIN, MAP, LIGHTING CONDITIONS, and WEATHER) B) NO ----------- CURRENT MAKEUP OF OUR FORCES Alpha Lance Bravo Lance Charlie Lance Reserves Full Active Roster (as of May 30th, 3025) You have 24 hours to submit your votes! EDIT: It’s been pointed out to me that on the Breakthrough mission, we wouldn’t control the battlefield after the mission, which means that we’d give up whatever we’d kill. Keep that in mind when you’re voting! HereticMIND fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jul 26, 2020 |
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Jul 26, 2020 02:16
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You have a broken URL link here:quote:First up is a Regular rated [urlhttps://www.sarna.net/wiki/Kintaro]Kintaro -18.[/url] It's a pretty decent missile boat for its weight class but can't take a whole lotta hits with its armor distribution. Also I'm voting to see A: Recon Raid and Reroll our green ally if possible. He seems like he will just drag down that mission,
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Jul 26, 2020 02:35
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Damanation posted:You have a broken URL link here: Thanks, and fixed. Unfortunately, rerolling our allies isn't an option for either mission--we work with what we've got. HereticMIND fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jul 26, 2020 |
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Jul 26, 2020 02:37
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I'm voting for A: Recon Raid first. Also I have two questions: 1. As someone completely unfamiliar with the mechanics of the game, what does the reroll entail and what are the possible options? 2. Should I find a picture of David Cage for you to use, and if so what size should it be?
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Jul 26, 2020 02:40
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CirclMastr posted:I'm voting for A: Recon Raid first. Also, I have two questions: 1. The reroll can either change the terrain type of the map we'd be fighting on, the map itself, the weather conditions that board will have, or the lighting conditions we'd have to fight in. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't carry over if we don't use it (if it does, feel free to correct me). 2. I'd ask that you didn't, seeing as how I have tons of pictures already to work with (mainly from scrouging around the official forums and various other places). If you're intent on sending one in, though, please make sure it's 150x150 pixels. If it's too small or too big, MekHQ might have a hard time reading it.
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Jul 26, 2020 02:49
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D..did our employer on the Breakthrough piss off ComStar or something? Sheesh... Well better see how that ends up first. B
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Jul 26, 2020 02:50
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Jossar posted:D..did our employer on the Breakthrough piss off ComStar or something? Sheesh... Well, Niops does have a cache of Star League tech they're sitting on, seeing as how they're more or less isolationist during the Third Succession War...
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Jul 26, 2020 02:51
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It has to be A: Recon Raid.
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Jul 26, 2020 02:52
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Yeah, let's go with A. Because even aside from the two Star League-era mechs, what the hell is up with that tank lineup? THREE Demons, as in these ones? As in mounting a Gauss Rifle tanks? To say nothing of the 3/4 in a Burke and its 3 PPCs. At least the Hetzer is relatively slow and short ranged.
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Jul 26, 2020 03:12
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Lord Koth posted:Yeah, let's go with A. Because even aside from the two Star League mechs, what the hell is up with that tank lineup?  How did I miss that.
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Jul 26, 2020 03:14
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