|
If you're using Megamek anyway, maybe have a few players willing to do real-time games, and those who aren't can RP.
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2023 19:27
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 08:54 |
|
|
The flat style is very difficult to parse at a glance. I would suggest isometric.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2023 12:56
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:
Not something you see very often!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2023 22:12
|
|
|
CirclMastr posted:I seem to be slightly surrounded. Any suggestions where I should jump to? 1610 (facing 1510) would protect your rear mostly - 1711 is the only rear-arc spot the Javelin can jump to, and I don't think that it can actually shoot there if it managed to land.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2023 16:01
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:HBS buffed the damage for pretty much every weapon, including the AC/5, which in the tabletop is pretty anemic, dealing the same damage as the humble Medium Laser while weighing eight times as much. There's an option in the "Advanced Combat" tab of the Megamek options for "(unofficial) Increased AC Damage" that gives 1 extra damage to the AC/2 and AC/5. You can also use the "Tacops Rapidfire Autocannon" rule to allow regular ACs to fire as if they were Ultras, but with an higher jam chance than a true UAC. These go a long way, in my experience, toward making them (and the mechs built around them) more viable even if they're not a total HBS rebalance.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2023 12:08
|
|
|
The Jenner is one of the meanest light mechanics around. Freaky fast, jumpy, and weapons that much heavier units are jealous of. Biggest weakness is heat.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2023 21:42
|
|
|
I forget - do you have fire and smoke enabled? Smoke combined with speedy mechs has... consequences.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2023 15:16
|
|
|
That's important information for players - smoke imposes to-hit penalties. On the MekWars server I used to play on, they eventually disabled smoke because getting 13+ TNs was too easy with lights.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2023 16:06
|
|
|
Sarna has them. In this fight, there's only three weapons on the player side. Against mechs or vehicles, Medium Lasers do 5 damage, Machine Guns do 2, and flamers do 3. Flamers and Machine Guns do bonus damage against infantry, and flamers are very good at starting fires. I'm not certain if flamers raising heat levels is an optional rule in the current ruleset.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2023 19:33
|
|
|
Koorisch posted:Oof, those mechs do sure pack a punch if they hit you, that Cicada and the Commando both have nasty weapons for this tonnage to face, not to mention all the vehicles that can get behind you. The other weakness for the big guns here is that they produce a lot of heat, and neither the Cicada or the Commando have a lot of heat sinks. Just moving and firing is going to accumulate heat, and if you can add more it can really hurt them. There's a really sneaky way to exploit this, but I don't know how much Scintilla wants non-players giving tactical advice.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2023 16:17
|
|
|
In that case, there's three things that become very important. 1. Forests don't move, making them fairly easy to hit even at range. 2. Any energy weapon can start a fire. Flamers are guaranteed to do it, while it is a die roll for things like an ML, but it can be done. 3. In addition to producing lovely concealing smoke, fires raise the heat of any mech that passes through them. All this means that fire is your friend in this fight. Smoke will give you an incredibly effective barrier against long range fire if you move carefully, and burning down any forests that the Cicada and Commando happen to step into will deny them safe use of their weapons.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2023 16:26
|
|
|
0518 and 0704 (where the Cicada is) are the same level (0), and there's no way to draw a line from one hex to the other that doesn't go through the Level 2 terrain between the two. LOS should be blocked.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2023 23:02
|
|
|
Space Kablooey posted:How much can 'mechs torso twist? I'm assuming they can't turn 180deg normally... As a general rule, torso twist allows you to change one hex facing to either side of the direction of your legs for the purpose of firing torso, arm, or head mounted weapons. Arm mounted weapons on all mechs have an extra hex side of fire (based on which side the arm is - right arms can fire further to the right, left arms can fire further to the left). This means that an arm mounted weapon can always be fired directly to the rear with a torso twist (a fine compensation for the arms being the easiest parts of a mech to damage due to generally carrying lighter armor and being linked to the torso). Mechs that lack certain optional actuators (Hand and Lower Arm) in either arm (and aren't using the provision some heavy weapons have to spread critical slots between locations) can also flip arms, allowing them to fire all arm mounted weapons directly to the rear. The Jenner (with the four medium lasers) and both Locusts (for the machine guns) in this match should have this ability, but none of the others do (all the OpFor mechs have hands, the Vulcan lacks hands but has lower arm actuators). Making good use of this is tricky, especially in this kind of broken terrain where "just run past the enemy at full speed*" isn't really an option (jump jets negate the advantage because you can set facing to any direction when jumping).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2023 23:45
|
|
|
glwgameplayer posted:Melee is weird because it's not a very good option most of the time I imagine? Since you're at risk of stumbling and falling, and it doesn't deal all that much damage compared to the guns you have (On a well-armed mech at least) Melee damage is derived from the weight of the Battlemech, which is why it is so anemic at this tonnage. Meanwhile, after a certain point weapons don't get any stronger, you just mount more of them. Kicking forces a PSR if you miss, but inflicts a PSR if you hit, which is potentially quite useful, and gets very powerful as tonnage goes up. Unlike the HBS computer game, you don't have to pick between melee and weapon combat. As long as you haven't used arm-mounted (for punches) or leg mounted (for kicks) weapons, you can use the melee attack if you're adjacent to somebody.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2023 15:11
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:That’s a fair point. Did FASA have a master plan to introduce the Clans later on and gave Charette specific guidance to assist with foreshadowing, or did they have only a vague outline that they later backfilled using some of Charette’s ideas? I suppose we’ll probably never know for sure, unless there’s an interview somewhere that explains it all. Doing some research, Wolves on The Border was released in '88, the Wolf's Dragoons sourcebook was released in '89, and the Clans made their big debut in Technical Readout 3050 in '90. TRO 3050 doesn't mention the Dragoons' Clan origins, but Wolf's Dragoons does include "descendants of Kerensky" as one of the most common theories as to their origin (along with "descendants of Amaris" and "idealists who managed to find a Castle Brian in the Periphery"). The pretty short timescale makes it plausible that it was, in fact, fully planned by FASA, and there's at least something in the sourcebook to support it.
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2023 01:36
|
|
|
You can send books to a Kindle (or a device running the Kindle app) over USB using the program Calibre that aniviron linked to.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2023 08:56
|
|
|
Firing on the Stinger could lead to capturing a Stinger. Which is an excellent reason to let it go.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2023 02:09
|
|
|
Piell posted:The -3C is one of the best Cicada designs but Cicadas are bad so that just makes it kind of mediocre, let's wait for something good and take nothing for now. Even with no jump jets, 7/11 with a PPC has the potential to be extremely dangerous at lower levels - it is as fast on ground as a Jenner, but without the Jenner's need to get in close. Zipping around at long range to make itself extremely difficult to hit while still bringing heavy damage (for the size level), or else making mad dashes to the rear to pound the other guy's rear armor with that same heavy damage (note that a single CT (rear) hit with a PPC would destroy a Commando or Locust, and would burn clean through the armor of any mech used in this battle, while a LT(R) or RT(R) would take that torso (and attached arm) straight off a Locust). That is not a trivial capacity. Checking the list, without LosTech, the CDA-3R is the fastest PPC-armed 'mech in the game. Only a few hover tanks (which have their own special serious vulnerabilities) can match it. That's far from nothing.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2023 22:30
|
|
|
TheParadigm posted:I think more common use of quirks could also go a long way towards making AC's better: There's a fairly simple tradeoff that makes use of their low heat generation, which are the cooling jacket negatives paying for accurate or stabilized weapon. A Mekwars server I used to play on allowed pilots to develop skills, which included a bonus with specific weapons - I had a 2/5 pilot that had a -2 bonus to the AC/5. Even with a substantial BV penalty (the Clint was well into the heavy/low assault cost range), firing that thing on a 0 was really powerful.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2023 23:15
|
|
|
Space Kablooey posted:i don't know which side here is the stupid one: the one where they invented a thing before it had any use or the one that invented a thing designed to be defeated by yesteryear's tech The RVN-1X's electronics warfare equipment did, in fact, debut before it had any function in play - it was intially just a 'mech with 7.5 tons of wasted space - but in-universe it is supposed to be an attempt to replicate the LosTech Guardian ECM and Beagle Active Probe - shorter ranged and heavier than those two systems, but better than most people had. The BAP is of somewhat limited use unless you're playing double-blind (which is a pain in the rear end on an actual tabletop for obvious reasons, but quite easy in Megamek). In the fluff it is a lot more important. The Guardian ECM blocks a BAP and a C3 network, but also nullifies NARC systems and the Artemis IV fire control systems. Of those systems, only the C3 network postdates the ECM's invention in-universe - the other two systems are merely LosTech. In fluff, the primary function is wrecking communications, which is all but impossible to represent in standard tabletop play (though in a GM format like this one it is possible that Scintilla could find a way to make use of it).
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2023 05:05
|
|
|
Elevation mostly matters for LOS calculation. If it doesn't let you see over trees to hit a target otherwise blocked, it isn't a significant aid.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2023 09:22
|
|
|
Captain Foo posted:This isn’t usually how ammo works in battletech, though Your confusion is almost certainly coming from the computer games, which almost invariably simplify it to just "LRM ammo", but that isn't how it has ever worked in tabletop. This is because tracking it that way makes much easier to just record with a tally mark or similar, speeding play. That 16 shots of LRM-15 ammo is 16 salvos, not 16 individual missiles, and can only be fired from an LRM-15. One ton of LRM-15 ammunition contains 8 salvos, the Trebuchet carries two tons. Mechs like the Commando (which had a SRM-4 and a SRM-6) from last mission that have two sizes of the same launcher have to have two separate ammunition systems, because SRM-4 ammo can not be used in a SRM-2 or SRM-6. Dachshundofdoom posted:That being said, the TBT-5S does appear to be carrying 80 shots for those SRM-6s compared to the more normal looking count of 15 on the Scorpion, I'm going to assume that's either a typo or displaying the "real" missile count as opposed to being the most optimistically designed mech of all time with all internal space filled with ammo. The TBT-5S sheet Scintilla posted quite clearly says "30" shots, not "80". SRM-6 has 15 shots per ton, the TBT-5S carries two tons. The ammunition count is correct. If it were the "real" ammo count, it would be even more nonsensical, because there are 90 missiles in each ton of SRM-6 ammo (as opposed to 100 missiles in each ton of SRM-2 or SRM-4 ammo). Gnoman fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Jun 17, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2023 10:19
|
|
|
Dachshundofdoom posted:It's worth pointing out for people only familiar with the HBS computer game that there is no "double damage melee" rule for vehicles. This is entirely correct, but there IS a special melee situation that can occur with vehicles. While only one 'mech can be in a hex at once, vehicles can share a hex with another unit, including an enemy battlemech. Standard weapons cannot be fired at range 0, so a mech sharing a hex with a vehicle can't be attacked by said vehicle. Kicks, on the other hand? Kicks can attack at range 0. Meaning that if you share a hex with a vehicle, it can't shoot you but you can kick it to your heart's content.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2023 15:57
|
|
|
As long as the Locust moves after the Demolisher, the Demolisher can never ever hurt it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2023 02:13
|
|
|
evilmiera posted:You know that could actually be a thing. Some RNG isn't quite so R depending on how it's been programmed. The MM RNG has been extensively statistically tested because people feared things just like this. It is no less random than the pair of dice that come in the box.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2023 01:24
|
|
|
That AC/20 hit in the single worst place.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2023 08:19
|
|
|
With a hip and a leg actuator out, the Stinger's effectively mission-killed. It's a short range mech, has to spend MP (and make a PSR) to even stand up, then has to make PSRs if it wants to run without falling over. It will be very difficult for it to pose any kind of threat. Pick it off as a target of opportunity if you don't have anything better to spend the heat on, but don't waste ammunition or focus on it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2023 16:15
|
|
|
Dachshundofdoom posted:Warhammer The lack of hand actuators does in fact hurt your punches. The other thing to consider is that a successful kick forces a PSR, and doing more than 20 damage in a round also forces a PSR. A kick from a 70-ton Mech should do 14 damage, meaning that if you also hit with as many as two of the lasers you'll get to 20. Not to mention that a kick is almost guaranteed to hit the legs, so a successful 14-point kick will take the Treb down to one point of armor on that leg, a serious vulnerability. Your other option would be to Run to 2908 and dump your PPCs into his back. That would come at a noticeable heat cost.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2023 04:13
|
|
(Also the reason you can't bold is you're using \ instead of /)
|
Loading Infernos into an SRM-6 is, to use a technical term, a dick move.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 28, 2023 10:35
|
|
|
glwgameplayer posted:Edit: Hang on I just realized. I can torso twist without changing which part of my body the enemy is shooting at right? I might not be getting shot in the back after all Torso twists never change hit location tables.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 28, 2023 14:36
|
|
|
William Henry Hairytaint posted:Can someone please explain what the little bars next to the mech icons are? From playing the last couple months I've figured out the top one is somehow indicative of damage done, although I don't quite get how and when it turns to yellow or red, and I know the little pips below both bars are the to-hit mod for movement, but I have absolutely no idea what the second green bar is. They're percentage of armor and internal structure remaining, I think.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2023 19:03
|
|
|
anakha posted:Blackjack The Firestarter is now completely impotent past range 3, is going to have great trouble standing with no arms, and won't be moving fast with the gyro hit. Might be best to worry about other targets in a format where there's no such thing as an init sink. glwgameplayer posted:Right now my best idea is to run in a circle before going back into the woods in 2714 to build an evasion mod before I light up the firestarter with my missiles. Running in a circle drains your MP quickly through turns. You probably won't get enough evasion mod (remember that it is based entirely on hexes, not MP expended) to bother with that way, and your own targeting penalty is based on if you use run MP or not.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 16, 2023 22:46
|
|
|
Can't you simply recreate the save by GM-ing all the data in manually? It would be tedious, but probably less so than working around a bug.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2023 10:51
|
|
|
From what I remember of the fluff, it isn't unheard of for some of the factions to be perfectly happy to hire "enemy" mercenaries once a contract's up. If you fought well enough against them to notice, surely you'll be an asset! More importantly, the enemy won't have your services now.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 25, 2023 12:32
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:I may homebrew this one a little to broaden the applicability a bit, eg. a Large Laser specialisation also applies to ER Large Lasers, etc. The comparison to a Pulse Laser isn't quite accurate - those weapons have built-in drawbacks to counter their greater accuracy. A Large Pulse Laser is only marginally longer ranged (maximum of 10 hexes) than a standard medium laser (max range of 9 hexes), has 150% of the heat of a standard Large Laser, and weighs 2 tons more. With those drawbacks, the accuracy bonus still makes it a potent weapon worth carrying. A Large Laser carried by a pilot with Weapon Specialist (Large Laser)? Is identical in every way to a large laser carried by anybody else, and will outperform an ER Large Laser in the hands of an equal-skill pilot without the specialization under most circumstances due to the hit bonus and lower heat. I'd argue that it is in the running for most powerful (if you can get the proper weapon) SPA "capstone" you have here. Particularly because you're probably not going to have any kind of rules to prevent optimal use - you'll likely have no objection, for example, to putting the guy with WS: Medium Laser in a Jenner or Swayback because you want the players to get what they paid for.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 1, 2023 21:11
|
|
|
Azhais posted:It's one of the reasons I always raise my eyebrow on tier rankings that put wolverines so high. That -1 piloting hurts Design quirks such as Cramped Cockpit remain an optional rule, and were not introduced into the game until 2010's Strategic Operations. As far as I can tell, it wasn't until 2017's BattleMech Manual that design quirks were assigned to existing canon designs. For the vast majority of the time the Wolverine has existed, that -1 to piloting did not exist. It wasn't even something you could point to being in the fluff from the beginning, unlike many quirks. The original TRO 3025 makes no reference to the cockpit being cramped - the in-universe flaw of the design is that the jump jets were overstrained (the WVR being one of the heaviest jump-capable mechs at the time) and prone to failure.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2023 07:58
|
|
|
Scintilla posted:
With a quick check, this will bring the torso armor just a little short of max, if anybody is concerned about exactly how much tougher it will be.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2023 16:22
|
|
|
The design quirks here have some interesting potential. Everything except the T-bolt can flip arms due to hyper-extending actuators, and the T-Bolt has no multi-target penalty. Both of those have the potential to be useful. The weight of the QKD makes any physical attacks it carries out pretty damaging (6 for a punch, 12 for a kick unless I'm doing something wrong), and at 5/8/5 it is mobile enough that it might have an opportunity to make those attacks.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2023 06:28
|
|
|
In a more freeform campaign, where you can refit relatively freely, a heavy chassis would be a no-brainer even if heavily damaged. Particularly on a training assignment where you'll have plenty of time to get it running. Without freeform refitting, that might be less true. Most of the heavy mechs available at the start of the Reunification War aren't that great - apart from the Catapult, Warhammer, and Archer, they're kind of undergunned for their size. Extending it to the end of the Reunification War adds a few very nice options - the Lancelot has Double Heat Sinks, and the Galahad has a Gauss Rifle, but either of those being out this far that soon is unlikely. Meanwhile two free Lights in perfect condition isn't bad in general, but the lights available in that period are uniformly pretty crap, and nothing special. The copious repair time available also works against this option, because there's less value in having them be pristine. I think B is the sensible choice - while nothing super special, most of the mediums in that era are decent workhorses, and a guarantee of two of them is attractive.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 25, 2023 14:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 08:54 |
|
|
Scintilla ought to do the full pulls for all so we can see what the other choices would have been.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2023 07:22
|
|