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  The year is 3015. The Third Succession War is winding down, but low-intensity conflicts continue to plague the Inner Sphere. In the Free Worlds League, the Marik Civil War is slowly dragging itself towards its humiliating and ignominious conclusion. In the Lyran Commonwealth, Archon Katrina Steiner plans the first drafts of a peace proposal she hopes will allow her nation’s armies to rest after centuries of warfare. To the east, the Draconis Combine is busy digesting the worlds it has seized from the Federated Suns, reasserting the Dragon’s authority over its southern borders. The Federated Suns are likewise consolidating their gains, ably led by their new Prince, the shrewd and calculating Hanse Davion. In the south, the Capellan Confederation redoubles its efforts in espionage and subterfuge, stoking the fires of rebellion in both of its larger neighbours. Finally, on ancient Terra, ComStar plots and plans and weaves its web of control over the entire Inner Sphere. It is a time of both danger and opportunity. Demand for battlemechs, skilled mechwarriors, and deniable assets remains high. Into this environment steps the Sterling and Sable Company, a freshly minted group of adventurers, eccentrics and former soldiers itching to try their hand at this whole ‘mercenary’ business. About Battletech Battletech is a hex-based Tabletop RPG where teams of bipedal robots battle it out for factional supremacy. There is a whole expanded universe including books, video games, animated cartoons, etc. but the core concept remains the same across all media. Most readers will probably already be familiar with the brilliant Battletech Let’s Plays run by SomethingAwful’s very own PoptartsNinja, whose style I have Running a mercenary company? How will that work? Our mercenary group will begin work in 3015 and continue through the Battletech timeline, until either the company is destroyed or we hit the current franchise end date of 3150. The story will follow the Battletech canon, so the Succession Wars / Clan Invasion / Jihad will all take place on their historical dates and the thread will have to deal with the various difficulties / opportunities those events present. The initial contract is a bog-standard pirate hunt, but after it has concluded the thread will be free to vote on what the company does next. Volunteers from the thread will take control of the company’s mechwarriors for the span of each mission, while I control the enemy forces arrayed against them. For this LP I will be using MekHQ to keep track of the company’s finances, assets and personnel. Battles will be conducted via MegaMek. This will help streamline things since Battletech requires a lot of dice rolls and having everything automated gives me more time to work on the narrative. It also lessens the chance of me making gameplay errors. You said we can vote on things? That’s right. The following will be up for the thread to decide: Contract Votes – The Sterling and Sable Company begins this LP under a pirate-hunting contract. Once this draws to a close, I will draw up a selection of new contracts for the company to pursue. These contracts will vary in their location, mission type, payment, salvage rights and other aspects. It will be up to the thread to read through the details of each contract, weigh up the pros and cons, then choose the one they feel will be the most profitable / interesting / exciting. Salvage Votes – Salvaging enemy equipment is the lifeblood of a mercenary command. Most missions will end with a list of salvageable OpFor units being presented, with the thread deciding which units should go to the mercs and which should be left to the employer. The total amount of salvage the company has a right to will vary by contract, so make sure to think carefully before laying claim to something. Logistical Votes – A logistical vote will take place before the start of each new contract and occasionally between missions. The matters under consideration will include the recruitment of new personnel, the purchasing of new equipment / sale of old equipment, and whether to repair salvaged units or strip them for parts. If there is XP to be assigned this will take place then as well. Ad-Hoc Votes / Event Votes – There may be other events where voting is allowed, for instance, whether to break a contract with a duplicitous or exploitative employer, whether to take a side in the Succession Wars / fight against the Clans, etc. These will happen as and when appropriate. What happens if the company goes bust? Good question. Mercenary life is hard, both in-game and in the canon. If the company goes deep into the red I can take out loans, but these come with nasty conditions and may wind up being merely a stay of execution. If the situation becomes unmanageable I will give the thread a vote to decide whether they disband, join a Great House, or turn to piracy, write a final update about their subsequent fate, then let the thread create a new company for us to follow. I want to be a pilot! How do I sign up? Great. Send me a PM and I’ll add your username to my master list. If you don’t have PMs, I’m afraid you’re out of luck, because I don’t do email communications. You can still take part in the thread discussions and audience votes. What is the deadline for orders? The deadlines for player orders are Tuesday and Saturday, 9:00 PM GMT. If you have the misfortune to live in a country that is not Great Britain, you can use this handy website (https://greenwichmeantime.com/current-time/) to figure out when this is in your local area. Just a quick warning: I won’t be chasing anyone for orders. If I don’t receive any instructions by the deadline, I will take control of your unit for that turn and attempt to make a decent play with it vis-à-vis the mission objectives. If this results in your unit being destroyed or left out of position, then so be it. I know it's not ideal, but I want to keep things moving quickly. If you have a personal crisis and have to pull out midway through a mission, let me know and I’ll call in a substitute. Can we discuss the Battletech rules / sourcebooks? Discussing the rules is fine, as is helping new players understand things. Posting direct links to pirated sourcebooks is not fine and will get you reported to the mods. Can we talk about the Clans / Fed-Com Civil War / Jihad / Dark Age? Go right ahead. Battletech’s lore is one of its strongest aspects. Since we’ll be proceeding through the official timeline anyway, certain events are guaranteed to be topical! --- Current House Rules: OpFor Initiative – For this LP I will be following the standard set by PoptartsNinja in that the OpFor will always lose initiative. This means that players will see my movement ahead of time. -OpFor Aces - OpFor mechwarriors with the 'Tactical Genius' SPA are considered Ace pilots and have higher initiative than the players, allowing them to move in the players' movement phase. This makes them difficult to predict and hard to pin down. An Ace may appear as part of the initial enemy force or as a reinforcing unit. Design Quirks – Design Quirks are in play, both positive and negative. XP, Leveling and Special Pilot Abilities: See this post for more details. Kinder Maintenance – The default maintenance system in MekHQ is absurdly brutal and often results in your technicians doing more damage to your battlemechs than the enemy. Repairing their blunders also costs money, and failed repair rolls can result in your techs destroying the parts they are working on, costing even more money by forcing you to order replacement parts. I have therefore toned things down a bit; maintenance checks will now take place every month rather than every week, era-specific repair rolls have been turned off, and the default maintenance modifier is now -2 rather than -1. Ejection Rules - For this LP, ejection rules have been tailored to increase a pilot’s chances of survival. Ammunition explosions in a unit without CASE will automatically trigger an ejection. I am also using the Skin-Of-Teeth Ejection rule, giving pilots a slim chance to survive even if their mech’s head is blown off. Players can also request a manual ejection if they feel their mech has taken too much damage or if their pilot is in danger of dying. However, players should not feel pressured to do this; ultimately the goal is to have a fun time with stompy robots and if a mech is destroyed or a character dies then I will simply roll with it and continue the story without them. Ejection rules for the OpFor will be determined on a mission-by-mission basis. Mobility Kills – Mechs that lose a leg or suffer a destroyed Gyro will be considered mission-killed and removed from play. Early Mech Destruction – Players who suffer the incredibly bad luck of having their mech shot out from under them early in a mission will be invited to play again during the next mission. Character Death - If a character takes six pilot hits during a mission and dies, I will roll a d6 at the end of the mission. On a roll of 1-4, the character dies permanently. On a roll of 5-6, I will remove one pilot hit from the affected character. The character will miraculously cheat death, albeit with crippling injuries that will take months to recover from and may force them into retirement or a non-combat role. Flamers - Flamers, Vehicle Flamers, ER Flamers and Heavy Flamers deal damage and inflict heat simultaneously instead of choosing one or the other. MegaMek / MekHQ Technical Difficulties – Hopefully this won’t be an issue. I have Paranoid Autosave turned on, so MegaMek will be autosaving after every phase, and I will be saving manually as well. I’m using a stable version of both programs so the chance of glitches is small, but it’s better to be safe. And last but not least… Don’t be a dick. If your favourite character gets killed, don’t give the players crap for it. poo poo happens in Battletech. It’s even canonical – most new mercenary groups don’t even survive their first year. Similarly, don’t whinge if a particular vote doesn’t go your way. -- Table of Contents Contract I: Eliminate Preston's Prowlers Mission 1 - Destroy Pirate Lance: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, After Action Report Intermission I Mission 2 - Over The Hills: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, After Action Report Intermission II Mission 3 - Preston's Last Stand: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11, Turn 12, Turn 13, Turn 14, Turn 15, Turn 16, After Action Report Conclusion Personnel Vote Results I, State of the Company and Contract Vote I Contract II: Boot Camp Introduction Mission 1 - River_Bed_[1268]: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11, Turn 12, Turn 13, Turn 14, After Action Report Intermission I Mission 2 - Snow_Scar_[3901]: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11, Turn 12, Turn 13, Turn 14, After Action Report Intermission II Mission 3 - Cityscape_[9994]: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11, Turn 12, Turn 13, Turn 14, Turn 15, Turn 16, Turn 17, After Action Report Intermission III Mission 4 - Frozen Assets: Turn 0, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8, Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11 -- MVP List: Destroy Pirate Lance (Player MVP): Yukiko Ishimura (Panther PNT-9R) (CirclMaster) and Alexander Hanh (Stinger STG-3G) (Otter Madness) Destroy Pirate Lance (OpFor MVP): Lucas Shaw (Shadow Hawk SHD-2H) Over The Hills (Player MVP): Anna Heimer (Jenner JR7-F) (ilmucche) Over The Hills (OpFor MVP): Cletus West (Commando COM-1D) Preston's Last Stand (Player MVP): Louis Belkof (Hunchback HBK-4G) (Gwaihir) Preston's Last Stand (OpFor MVP): Thabo Ngumo (Trebuchet TBT-5S) River_Bed_[1268] (Player MVP): Jenna Sable (Wolverine WVR-6M) (Slavvy) River_Bed_[1268] (OpFor MVP): Jeanne Turgot (Hornett HNT-152) Snow_Scar_[3901] (Player MVP): Tsing Yeoung (Dervish DV-6M) (AJ_Impy) Snow_Scar_[3901] (OpFor MVP): Jean-Paul Camus (Wolverine WVR-6R) Cityscape_[9994] (Player MVP): Roger Sterling (Victor VTR-9B) (Otter Madness) Cityscape_[9994] (OpFor MVP): Etienne Decimis (Griffin GRF-1N) -- Let's Read Wolves on the Border Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 -- Fan Art, Memes and Other Stuff: Cicadas With Hands     Urbanmech Shenanigans  Helpful Links: The Battletech LP by PoptartsNinja that started it all is here. The sequel thread to the above can be found here. PTN's Alpha Strike thread (also featuring mercenaries!) can be found here. PTN's latest thread, featuring Star League adventures in the Deep Periphery, can be found here. Scintilla fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Apr 28, 2024 |
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Feb 12, 2023 18:13
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 The Sterling and Sable Company was formed in late 3014. The company is named after its two principal founders, Roger Sterling and Jenna Sable. Roger Sterling is a former Hauptmann in the 19th Lyran Guards who resigned his commission after three quarters of his company was wiped out due to faulty intelligence and over-eager superior officers. Many of his former subordinates joined him in exile and now make up a plurality of the company’s forces. On the other hand, Jenna Sable is a mechwarrior-errant and former Davion noble who fronted most of the money needed to get the company started. Other adventurers and misfits quickly joined, giving the company the strength it needed to operate as an effective fighting force. Dramatis Personae Sterling Lance:     Sable Lance:     Ruby Lance:     Other Mechwarriors:   Technicians and Mechanics:    Medical Personnel:  Administrative Staff:  These are the currently named and backstoried characters in the company. I will probably end up making a graveyard for the ones that die, including their length of service, cause of death, etc. --- State of the Company, Castor VI, January 14th 3015  This section will contain a brief overview of the Sterling and Sable Company prior to the start of the game. I won’t be going into the nuts and bolts of MekHQ; this is just to present some basic information about the state of the company. Everything is fairly standard for a brand new company; twelve mechwarriors, some support staff, an entirely mech-based force, and no DropShip.  Most mercenary companies start out at company strength, ie. twelve mechs, and Sterling and Sable are no exception. There are three lances in total; Roger Sterling’s command lance, Jenna Sable’s all-purpose lance, and Mike Clements’ recon lance.  Here are the lances in more detail. I have tried to give the company a good spread of decent units to start out with, but nothing too overpowered. No inexplicable Star League Royal variants here. We do have one Heavy Mech, Sterling’s Warhammer, but that’s all. Heavy and Assault Mechs are rare in this period, so we might not encounter any others for quite a while. Everything else we have is either Medium or Light.  We have some supplies to start out with, but again, nothing too fancy. We have plenty of spare armour, some ammunition, and a few heat sinks. Other spare parts will have to either be purchased from elsewhere or stripped off salvaged units.  Our financial situation is precarious. One and a half million C-Bills may sound like a lot, but a single bad engagement can easily beggar us. Replacing a 1-ton mech gyro costs 300,000 C-Bills. Our current contract also only barely covers our basic expenses.  Here are the details of our current contract. The monthly payout is pretty lacklustre, but basic pay isn’t everything. The planetary government have agreed to a Battle Loss Compensation rate of 50%, which means we get back 50% of the damage we take in cash. Salvage rights are also extremely important, since we can either refit salvaged units for our own use, strip them for parts, or sell them for extra C-Bills. For this particular contract we’ll also be earning a bounty for any enemy personnel taken alive. This isn’t part of MekHQ, just a little something I added on to hopefully earn a bit more money. I can add the cash in and remove the imprisoned pilots using MekHQ’s GM function.  And here’s our first mission of the contract! Each contract we take will have a certain number of missions the company will need to complete before it can be considered fulfilled. In this case our players will be intercepting a pirate lance in the wilderness. Let’s wish them the best of luck! --- Castor VI, January 14th, 3015 Jenna Sable’s boots drummed a steady beat against the hard concrete floor as she trotted down the corridor connecting the barracks with the mech hangar. Alarms blared in the distance, a droning keen that cycled up and down like the territorial shrieks of a predatory bird. Jenna paid the sound no heed and kept walking, pausing only to sidestep a security officer coming from the opposite direction. The young man frowned and paused as if to challenge her, but closed his mouth and hurried on past after noticing the cooling vest and neurohelmet tucked under her arm. Jenna ignored the faux-pas and kept walking. The officer had only been doing his job, and besides, she didn’t look like a mechwarrior. Standing just shy of 4’10, with a slight build and delicate features, Jenna Sable appeared far younger than her actual age of 25. The four years she had spent as a mechwarrior-errant had sharpened her previously doll-like features, but not enough to give her the hard, lean look of a professional soldier. A dozen more steps took Jenna into the mech hangar. A huge expanse of steel and ferrocrete greeted her as she stepped inside. Girders hung like spiderwebs from the vaulted ceiling, supporting a vast network of cranes, pulleys and heavy-duty machine tools. A noxious smell tickled Jenna’s nostrils, an unpleasant mix of grease, lubricating oil, and those rancid cigarettes that Sam Kost insisted on smoking. A small army of astechs dashed hither and thither, the alarms stirring them into action like a swarm of angry fire ants. Jenna plunged into the throng, jogging towards the dozen mech bays set into the opposite wall. Once, those bays would have held battlemechs belonging to the 30th Marik Militia, but they were off-world at the moment, helping to put down Anton Marik’s mad rebellion. Now their sconces were occupied by the battlemechs of the Sterling and Sable Company, the newly minted mercenary company of whom Jenna Sable was a founding member. Weaving between the astechs, Jenna quickly made her way over to the north west corner of the hanger, where the battlemechs of Sable Lance were being prepped for launch. As Jenna reached her Wolverine she caught sight of Sadanobu Muto, her technician, kneeling by her mech’s right foot. He looked up as she approached, then barked some orders to a nearby astech, who quickly disappeared. “Everything okay?” Jenna asked, nodding at the Wolverine’s foot. Going into battle with a sticky foot wouldn’t be pleasant, but Muto’s boyish grin dispelled her worries. “Just a last-minute visual inspection. Wouldn’t want you to trip and fall on your first outing.” Jenna returned his grin. “Indeed not. Sterling and Sable are a serious company. Mechanical pratfalls are not on our agenda.” Muto chuckled, but his expression quickly turned serious. “They’ve made their move more quickly than I expected.” Jenna nodded soberly. The pirates calling themselves Preston’s Prowlers had lain low ever since their DropShip had crashed. What raids they had conducted had been small and limited in scope, targeting provincial towns and villages hundreds of miles from the capital. Nobody had expected them to launch a raid on New Villastellone itself, especially not barely a fortnight after the Silver and Sable Company had arrived to reinforce it. Was it overconfidence? Desperation? Or simple ignorance? Before Jenna could contemplate further the astech Muto had sent away earlier returned driving a mobile scissor-lift. Jenna quickly clambered into the cradle. She could freeclimb up into her Wolverine’s cockpit if she had to, but using the machine was quicker and safer. “Good hunting!” Muto called as the scissor-lift’s arm began to rise. “Bring me back some salvage, yeah? Something good, like a Star League Griffin!” Jenna laughed. “I’ll let you know if we find one!” Then she got to work shrugging into her cooling vest and neurohelmet. Once the lift was level with the Wolverine’s head she swung her legs over the side of the cradle and carefully clambered into the mech’s open cockpit. Wolverines were notorious for two things; their versatility in combat, and the sheer discomfort of actually piloting one. The Magna MKII Medium Laser built into the head provided decent punch at close range, but its bulky cooling assembly ate into the mech’s cockpit space, leaving it cramped and difficult to move in. Thankfully, that wasn’t a problem for Jenna. Her small stature allowed her to easily fit inside, even with her bulky cooling vest and neurohelmet. Ensconced inside, Jenna initiated the mech’s startup sequence. Her fingers danced over the central control panel, muscle memory selecting the correct buttons and switches without her having to consciously consider them. The canopy slid down and sealed itself shut, pressurising with an audible hiss. A soft vibration shuddered through the cockpit as the Wolverine’s engine cycled up out of low-power mode. As the mech’s DI Computer finished booting up, a hauntingly familiar female voice emanated from its speakers. “REACTOR… ONLINE. SENSORS… ONLINE. WEAPONS SYSTEMS… ONLINE. ALL FUNCTIONING SYSTEMS… NOMINAL.” Scintilla fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Aug 24, 2023 |
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Feb 12, 2023 18:14
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(This post reserved)
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Feb 12, 2023 18:14
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Oh man, I love a good Battletech LP. I'll be definitely keeping an eye on this
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Feb 12, 2023 18:40
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Tibbeh posted:Oh man, I love a good Battletech LP. I'll be definitely keeping an eye on this I hope you enjoy it! I saw that PTN was doing an Alpha Strike LP set in 3150, so thought it would be interesting to run a classic campaign in 3015. It seemed like a decent period to start off - everything is still low-tech, but not for too long, because in thirteen years time the Helm Memory Core is going to be discovered. Anyway, I've had one person sign up to be a pilot so far. Just three more and we can do the first mission.
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Feb 14, 2023 07:07
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I don't have time right now to sign up but i'm watching with interest.
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Feb 14, 2023 07:23
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AtomikKrab posted:I don't have time right now to sign up but i'm watching with interest. i sent in a signup with the request of "please always do my moves for me, my schedule is weird and i can't commit to giving orders but i want to see if i blow dudes up or get blown up" so if i'm the one person who signed up, then you can probably do the same! and if i'm not, then, lol welp that's fine too
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Feb 14, 2023 15:36
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Can I watch for now, and then join in later on? I played a bit along with PoptartsNinja during his big LP, and I really love tabletop (but don't get the chance to, hopefully that will change after we move to Auckland *fingers crossed*). Will you be showing us how stuff works? When we talk about "BattleTech Classic", is this, like, old FASA rules, or is this the new Catalyst Labs stuff? Is there a difference? By the way, I'm not asking if one is better than the other, just if there are differences, because I have a bunch of really old books (and scans of books that sadly fell apart).
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Feb 17, 2023 06:10
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painedforever posted:Can I watch for now, and then join in later on? I played a bit along with PoptartsNinja during his big LP, and I really love tabletop (but don't get the chance to, hopefully that will change after we move to Auckland *fingers crossed*). Of course you can join in later! Just send me a PM when you're ready and I'll put you on the pilot list. I had intended to send a link to the quickstart rules to all new pilots, but I might post a primer in the thread explaining all of the basic movement and shooting rules if it proves helpful. 'Battletech Classic' just refers to the classic tabletop game rules. I call it that to differentiate it from Alpha Strike, which is the ruleset PTN is using for his current LP.
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Feb 17, 2023 08:26
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Okay, so it's been ten days and there's been almost no interest. I could close the thread now, but I want to make a go of it, so I'm going to revise the opening and have a thread vote on the opening mission. Hopefully this will spark some discussion and get people interested. If not, no problem, I'll wait another couple of weeks and then close the thread and we can all move on. -- Galatea, Late 3014 The dying rays of the setting sun swept over Galatea City, settling over its many districts and buildings like a burnt orange blanket. On the fourth floor of one particular building, the light slipped in through the windows of the office of the Sterling and Sable company, bathing the room in a warm amber glow. Streaming in through half-shuttered blinds, the light formed a striking pattern on the opposite wall, alternating bands of light and shadow that quivered and shifted as the sun gradually sank beneath the horizon. Papers rustled as the office’s sole occupant glanced up from his desk. Roger Sterling was a tall man, broad shouldered and thick-limbed, whose craggy face bore the stresses and triumphs of a military career that had spanned a quarter of a century. The remnants of that career still clung to him in the form of his old Hauptmann’s uniform, so immaculately ironed and starched that a casual observer might assume that he was still a serving officer. It would take a keener pair of eyes, or another military man, to notice the slightly lighter patches where the rank insignia and white horsehead patch of the Lyran Guards had been carefully unstitched and removed. Sterling stared at the pattern on the wall, struck by its simple beauty. For a brief moment, it looked to him as though the plain drywall had been replaced with tigerskin. A small smile tugged at Sterling’s mouth as he considered how wealthy they would need to be to purchase a tigerskin tapestry of such immense size. He indulged himself in the fantasy for a few more seconds, then shook his head ruefully and got back to work. The Holovids painted a one-sided picture of mercenaries as heroic wanderers, jetting around the galaxy in their DropShips, endlessly seeking their fortune across the myriad battlefields of the Inner Sphere. They rarely mentioned the other side; the negotiations, the admin work, the maintenance schedules, the tedious discussions about salaries and overheads; in short, the general pen-pushing drudgery that had to happen before the heroic battles could begin. Sterling was no mercenary, but as a former Hauptmann of the Lyran Guards he was well-acquainted with the administrative aspects of a military command, and securing office space had been one of the first things he had done after landing on Galatea. The current office was small, barely bigger than a couple of broom cupboards, but the rent was cheap and it was only a couple of blocks away from the nearest hiring hall. The furnishings, like Sterling himself, were sturdy and without ostentation. His humble oak desk took up most of the north-western corner. Next to it stood a small bookshelf full of literature on some of the Inner Sphere’s most successful established mercenary companies; the Northwind Highlanders, McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, the Eridani Light Horse. A pair of filing cabinets bracketed the doorway, their stout bodywork and sloped tops vaguely resembling a pair of Urbanmechs standing at attention. The floorboards outside the office creaked. Sterling sat back in his chair, anticipation rising inside his chest. He knew that stride. Almost before the knock came, he barked, “Come in.” His voice was clear and strong, able to cut through a rowdy barracks like a PPC through a Javelin’s head armour. The door opened, and Johann Schneider ducked inside. The quartermaster was slightly taller than Sterling, but a great deal thinner, giving him a lanky, gangly profile. His dark complexion meshed poorly with the fading sunlight, making him look more like a bronze statue than a man. He strode up to Sterling’s desk, taking care not to bump his head against the light fixture, and dumped a bundle of beige cardboard folders on his desk. “Found four,” Schneider said simply. He was a blunt man, always speaking in a clipped, hurried tone, as if every second was precious and he could not bear to waste a single one. Sterling regarded the folders for a moment. Each was stamped with the grinning skull of an Atlas battlemech, with the letters ‘MRB’ stencilled boldly underneath. They were mercenary contracts, officially certified by the Mercenary Review Board. “So few?” Sterling asked, picking up the first folder. Schneider shrugged wearily. “Dunno what you were expecting, Rost. We’re a new company, unproven. No record, no brand to trade on. Lucky we could scrape this many.” That much was true. On paper the Sterling and Sable mercenary company was a powerful force, with a company’s worth of battlemechs and more than enough support staff to maintain them. In reality though, that counted for little. Even the most promising new mercenary companies were lucky to last a year, and the ones that did rarely made it two. Those that did survive and made a name for themselves would have their pick of contracts. Everyone else had to make do with whatever they could find. Sterling grunted softly. He had worked his way up through the ranks before. The nepotism of the LCAF was legendary, but he had managed to claw his way past the imbeciles and the favoured nephews to a position that reflected his abilities. Doing it again would be tedious, but that didn’t matter. He owed it to the men who had followed him here, and the newcomers who had signed on afterwards. “Okay, let’s have a look,” Sterling said, flipping open the first contract.  “Pirates, eh?” Sterling frowned, peering down at the contract. “Is that really the right word? They betray their liege for a usurper, then abandon him when things get rough. Surely ‘deserters’ is a better description. Or ‘traitors’. Or ‘traitorous deserters’.” Schneider shrugged again. “League says they’re pirates.” He leant forwards and tapped the page with the financial breakdown. “Pay’s terrible, but salvage favours us.” Sterling nodded. The monthly take barely covered their expenses, but a 60% salvage rate was unbelievably good. Feeling optimistic, he put the file to one side and bent to examine the next contract.  “Doesn’t surprise me that this has happened,” Sterling said. “Intrepid and Bronson have had it in for one another for years. Personally, I’d have gone for the Bulldogs. Vedettes are just too underpowered for my tastes.” “Better not tell Bronson. They’re willing to give us a pair.” Schneider pointed out. “Oh I wouldn’t turn them down. More guns are always good.” Sterling jabbed his thumb down at the section on compensation. “Better be careful, though. They’re not compensating us much for damages.” “This one’s a bit better for that.” Schneider said, pointing to the next contract.  Sterling’s face darkened. “I don’t much like the thought of working for the snakes. I like the idea of shooting at civvies even less.” Schneider nodded in agreement. “Dirty business. But pay is good. Thought I should show you, just in case.” Sterling grunted an acknowledgement. The pay was good, and they were mercenaries now. Still. The thought of it left a bad taste in his mouth. Hoping for something a bit more palatable, he reached for the final contract.  “Garrison Duty. That’s more like it.” Sterling knuckled his moustache and peered down at the briefing. “Strange, though. The AFFS are normally on the ball when it comes to redeployment.” “Could be a trap,” Schneider suggested. “Draw the Capellans out, then smash them.” Sterling nodded. Leaving a border world essentially unguarded was a grievous error, especially when your next door neighbour was Maximillian Liao. Either it was a trap, or the new Prince wasn’t nearly as clever as everyone said he was. Over the next hour, Sterling and Schneider pored over the contracts. Eventually Schneider had to leave in order to take inventory of the company’s supplies, leaving Sterling alone in his office. The former Hauptmann drummed his fingers against his desk, his mind adrift on a sea of possibility. All of the contracts had their merits, even the Combine one. But which should he sign? -- Contract Vote A: Preston's Prowlers B: Corporate Warfare C: Friendly Persuasion D: Border Watch Voting ends next Wednesday!
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Feb 22, 2023 22:09
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My vote is for A. From my little experience playing Megamek, getting a decent stockpile of salvage and spare parts is really important in the early game more than cash
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Feb 22, 2023 22:33
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A seems good. (Also I propose you post and link the thread in the new LP thread, I only saw the thread by accident.)
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Feb 22, 2023 23:03
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hmm. torn between A and D, i like the salvage on both. gonna flip a coin. looks like A is my vote!
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Feb 22, 2023 23:35
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A If nothing else we'll have enough armor for the rest of our lives. Just not quite enough time for me to sign up for piloting, sorry.
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Feb 23, 2023 01:32
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A Save the metal.
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Feb 23, 2023 05:13
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SIGSEGV posted:A seems good. Good shout, I'll post a link in there.
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Feb 23, 2023 05:54
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Going with [b]A[/] here Will enjoy watching! I don't remotely have a clue for how gameplay goes, so I'm going to be cheering you all bringing metal legions of death along!
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Feb 23, 2023 06:12
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Gotta vote A and also PM incoming.
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Feb 23, 2023 06:24
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If you're using Megamek anyway, maybe have a few players willing to do real-time games, and those who aren't can RP.
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Feb 23, 2023 19:27
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Voting A
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Feb 23, 2023 20:58
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Okay, so it looks like we might have enough players to begin soon. I'll give it another couple of days, but before we begin, there's something I'd like to discuss. MegaMek has an option to enable isometric mode in all of its mapsheets, which makes it quite a bit easier to understand differences in elevation. Non-Isometric:  Isometric:  Is there a preference for either of these? I'm currently leaning towards isometric since it might make things a bit easier for new players.
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Feb 25, 2023 12:50
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The flat style is very difficult to parse at a glance. I would suggest isometric.
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Feb 25, 2023 12:56
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I prefer isometric.
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Feb 25, 2023 17:08
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I usually switch between the two but it's been a long time since I've Megamekked.
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Feb 25, 2023 21:36
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Another vote for isometric.
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Feb 26, 2023 00:07
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I've no clue what I'm looking at, so this'll be a fun way to dive face first into robot madness. Sent off a PM to see if I can grind some poor rear end in a top hat through the wringer. Isometric is a little more pleasing to the eyes. My vote's for that.
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Feb 26, 2023 01:13
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My one worry is that it does obscure the bottom of some hexes, where the height readout is, if the hex in front is taller, but also it's generally quite obvious from context.
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Feb 26, 2023 01:47
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I don't know much about Battletech, but I'll be watching as I've always been interested. I'll also throw my vote behind A and the Isometric view.
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Feb 26, 2023 23:55
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SIGSEGV posted:My one worry is that it does obscure the bottom of some hexes, where the height readout is, if the hex in front is taller, but also it's generally quite obvious from context. This is the primary reason why I switched as needed, and might be an idea when relevant.
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Feb 27, 2023 02:57
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Okay, it looks like a consensus has emerged around both the contract vote and whether to use isometric mode for the mapsheets. In the latter case I think I'll provide a non-isometric version of the map for Turn 0 of every mission, but use the isometric version for every turn after that. This will let players cross-reference any hexes whose heights are obscured. I'm happy to announce that we now have enough players to begin. I'm still making a few last-minute preparations, but my current plan is to post Turn 0 on Wednesday. I'll be sending PMs to all players with links to the Quickstart rules and instructions on how to submit orders at that time. Since we're just starting out, and because we have some players who have never played Battletech before, I'll also be giving everyone some extra time to submit their orders.
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Feb 27, 2023 19:11
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Oh cool, looking forward to it! My trip out to Auckland got delayed for various reasons, so at least I can watch and see what's up before I try to claim a pilot for the next mission.
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Mar 1, 2023 10:23
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Eliminate Pirate Lance: Turn 0 Thunderous footfalls echoed through the hills as the four battlemechs of Sable Lance slowly pushed their way across the wilderness. The lands north of New Villastellone were wild and untamed, an unbroken vista of rolling hills and scraggy woodland that stretched from horizon to horizon. There was almost no human habitation. There was no mineral wealth or arable land to be found, and most of the trees that grew there were too low-quality to be harvested for timber. The land wasn’t worth developing, so it had been left to nature. Jenna Sable’s heart thudded in anticipation as she drove her Wolverine forwards. After almost an hour of trekking through the brush a magnetic scan had detected four large ferrous objects moving south towards them. A familiar feeling of nervous excitement washed over her as she watched the sensor blips grow closer and closer. In minutes, maybe even seconds, the two lances would come face to face with one another. Behind and to the left of her, Alexander’s Stinger slowed briefly. He had chosen to run along the top of the narrow gully the rest of Sable Lance were travelling through, giving him a slightly better view of what was ahead. Jenna’s radio crackled as her former bodyguard abruptly opened a communications line. “Visual contact. Pirate lance at eleven o’clock. Javelin. Wasp. Shadow Hawk.” He paused for a moment. “Can’t make out the fourth one.” Jenna immediately sprang into action. She kicked her Wolverine into gear, easily outpacing Yukiko’s Panther. Ahead of her the gully suddenly widened, opening out into a broad, flat clearing. On the other side of the plain, four battlemechs stood silhouetted against the surrounding hills. The hulking machines still bore the purple paintwork of the 18th Marik Militia, albeit faded and grimy due to months spent on the run. “Confirm visual contact,” Jenna spoke into her comms. “Fourth pirate mech is a Whitworth. This is it, people. Let’s give ‘em hell!”  N/A  N/A  N/A  N/A  N/A   Player Status  Enemy Status  Primary Objectives: -Destroy Pirate Lance (0/4) Special Abilities: -Toughness: Grants bonus to consciousness rolls. -Small Pilot: Negates ‘Cramped Cockpit’ penalties. Non-Isometric Hexmap:  Next Orders Due: Tuesday 7th 9:00PM GMT. Players, please check your PMs! Feel free to discuss strategies, ask for advice, etc in the thread!
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Mar 1, 2023 12:39
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Gladiator pilot here. Advancing 7 gets the Javelin and Wasp in PPC range whilst remaining out of Whitworth LRM range. It's a low probability shot, of the two the Javelin is more dangerous, the Wasp more fragile. Probably looking to end up in 1418 this turn for the clearest shot. What's our targeting priority?
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Mar 1, 2023 13:21
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Just saw this thread in the new LPs thread. I want to join up as a pilot but I never played this before. I will see how the game is played by the pilots first.
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Mar 1, 2023 15:55
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AJ_Impy posted:Gladiator pilot here. Advancing 7 gets the Javelin and Wasp in PPC range whilst remaining out of Whitworth LRM range. It's a low probability shot, of the two the Javelin is more dangerous, the Wasp more fragile. Probably looking to end up in 1418 this turn for the clearest shot. What's our targeting priority? Panther pilot here. Never played tabletop Battletech before so feel free to direct me on specifics. Generally though, action economy is king. If we're talking low odds on hit, better to roll them against a target that needs fewer hits to go down.
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Mar 1, 2023 17:23
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i plan to run up to 1414 and  my large laser at the javelin(unless i have no LOS from there, in which case i'm moving to 1315 instead and from there)i also have never played any battletech outside the Mechwarrior games, and that was decades ago  i have picked up a bit more from grey hunter's HBS Battletech LP, so i think focusing down the javelin and maybe cooking off its SRMs would be cool and good biosterous fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 1, 2023 |
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Mar 1, 2023 17:58
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Well, if we're all in on the Javelin, it looks like I can run to 1518 and just barely be in range with my PPC.
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Mar 1, 2023 18:42
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biosterous posted:i plan to run up to 1414 and You do have LOS from 1414 since it takes 3 light woods to block LOS, but you are clipping the light woods in 1313 so it would be a harder shot from there than from 1315. Prior Battletech experience: First encountered it in a simulator pod in the Virtual World Battletech Center in the Trocadero, London, early 90s. Picked it up again with various Mechwarrior games later that decade and into the next. Found PTN's first thread, got into Megamek and learned the tabletop rules, joined a Mekwars campaign, became a faction head for two of its subsequent incarnations. Played in PTN's thread multiple times, was the first player headcapped by a Clan weapon and was grandfathered into the next mission by popular acclaim, played in the very last mission of the thread and made the very last attack that won it in a time-critical scenario. Played HBS' Battletech for 2,700 hours, including the same mod Grey Hunter is using for his LP. All in on the Javelin sounds good to me. Roll boxcars, Sable Lance.
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Mar 1, 2023 19:28
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Stinger pilot here. I am thinking of running up to 1515 to set up for next turn. Even if I am in range of the LRMs, I think I should be unhittable between hexes moved and terrain. My experience has only been in the PTN threads, but I've played twice in the old one and once in the alpha strike one. Getting the Javelin off the field is probably the beat idea.
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Mar 1, 2023 23:13
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That's all of us, there don't seem to be any positional conflicts, committing my orders.
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Mar 1, 2023 23:44
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