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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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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 15:46 |
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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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This is such a great story. Minobu is fabulous. But the book is also very sad (for reasons that I don't want to get into just yet). As I recall reading, the Clan stuff was already planned when this book came out. Even Natasha Kerensky was always going to be what she was, at least in broad strokes. But yeah, what a place to start. The actual first story was Decision at Thunder Rift, which was okay. It went too hard on how infantry can take out 'mechs, which came about a bit too early. The Sword and the Dagger was commissioned first, but didn't get finished. And it was awful. I think it's one of the few novels I've only read once. I hate everything by Thomas S. Gressman though. I don't think I've been able to finish even a single one of his novels, which is a shame since they're set during Task Force Serpent.
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May 16, 2023 22:39
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Slavvy posted:Do the novels go as far as operation bulldog? They go past them to the FedCom Civil War. Operation Bulldog gets a number of skirmishes and battles summarized, but I reckon most of it was left to the tabletop game. Three operations get video-games, MechCommander, MechAssault (I think) and MechWarrior 3. Okay, so the latter is actually just after the neutralization of Huntress, but it almost is.
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May 17, 2023 01:51
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Doesn't Bynfield also call him a crazy samurai here? Or is that later? I think that she does get a bit shirty with him because she assumes he'll be nasty to her because she's just a tech and he's a samurai.
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May 21, 2023 20:25
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aniviron posted:The Panther does get jets, which can be just as good as being fast, in the right environment. The Panther has two things going for it: 1. PPC 2. Jumpjets The only other IS light 'mech I'd consider is the Wolfhound. Is our campaign before that comes out?
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Jun 4, 2023 01:47
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I'm more of a "seek-then-destroy" type, so I prefer Mediums rather than Lights. I should like the Locust because it's so purely a scout, but that's all it's good for. Aside from terrorizing infantry, and even there.... Commando's sort of the best of a bad bunch. I kinda like the LAMs in theory, but they're so awful in every practical (and gameplay) sense. Light 'Mechs didn't become cool until after the Clan era. Cougar, Adder, Fire Moth, Hollander.... I mean, there's the Urbie, but y'know, it's the Urbie.
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Jun 4, 2023 08:07
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William Henry Hairytaint posted:Mediums are my preference but I do like a lot of lights, they're just very challenging to use in the approximately lance sized battles that you often get in TT or Megamek. Well, yeah, that's my big issue, isn't it? I've played mostly MechWarrior video games, where you're a prima-donna hot-shot one-man-army. I'm sorta not good at thinking in terms of lances and teamwork, more along the lines of, "Stop stealing my kills, just distract the others while I take care of business."
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Jun 5, 2023 04:20
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Captain Foo posted:I just fired up mw4mercs and in your second mission spectre is grousing at convoy drivers, lol Most relatable MechWarrior protagonist, ever. Hates escort missions, same as all of us.
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Jun 5, 2023 21:52
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Should be a cakewalk! ... I've just jinxed it, haven't I?
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Jun 12, 2023 22:04
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Amechwarrior posted:Flip the script. Sterling and Sable had to make some hard choices and the techs came up with this config with what they had available. One of the techs has an uncle at Ceres Arms and shoots him his field refit data saying "This poo poo is pretty nice, you might want to just make it like this. Not having AC/2s is always an upgrade." This. Oftentimes, field refits work out so well, the principal is all like, "Dude, that's grody. Yoink!"
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Jun 13, 2023 21:11
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glwgameplayer posted:As someone who played the 2018 video game. I ran it because it was the one they stuck you with as a starter and I expected it to be a decent, well-rounded starting mech. Dude! Dude, dude, dude! It was surprising how useful that Spider was. O! M! G! "I'm just gonna jump here, and see where everything is." Boom! Instant visibility on everything. "I'm just gonna jump here, and shoot this generator." Boom! All those turrets go offline. Really taught me to appreciate Light 'Mechs. Still got side-lined later on.
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Jun 14, 2023 01:22
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This doesn't look remotely fair. Kill the Firestarter fast, step on the Scorpion. Mob the Pheonix Hawk and the Trebuchet. Kick the Stinger if it peeps. Then get the dropship to surrender.
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Jun 14, 2023 21:58
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They were just copying things from all sorts of Japanese cartoons, right? The Stinger, Wasp, Pheonix Hawk and Valkyrie were different Robotech / Macross veritech fighters, right? I might have the names wrong, it's been a while and I'm too lazy to check. So, they just went right ahead and grabbed the LAM feature from the Robotech as well, were all like, "This might be too OP," and made them a little too awful in trying to balance it. Yes, BattleTech is a bit more on the "hard" side of Science Fiction. Like, there's no anti-grav, interstellar travel has limitations, interstellar communication is expensive and also complicated, and things break down when the industrial base that has to support it no longer exists. I really love the setting. They put a good deal of thought into it, which is cool. It's not perfect, but at least they did a little bit of research and tried to think about why things are the way they are.
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Jun 22, 2023 23:17
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Scintilla posted:Bah, 'tis but a scratch. Careful he doesn't... bite your... kneecaps? I don't think I'm doing it right.
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Jun 26, 2023 21:46
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Oooh, Hunchback's in a bit of trouble, no? Leg ain't lookin' too healthy.
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Jun 28, 2023 22:16
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Yes! AC/20 for the kill! Love AC/20s going off. Just makes me feel good.
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Jul 5, 2023 21:23
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Space Kablooey posted:"I got all kinds of upgrades and my 'mech is fully blinged/Sometimes I like to fire my cannon just to hear my own ears ring..."  Oh Black Pants Legion, why are you like this?
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Jul 6, 2023 00:28
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This was a quiet turn. Everyone gearing up for the big push. Ooo, I kinda wish all of them were tiny little miniatures that I could pick up and mash together and make "p-chew! p-chew!" noises with.
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Jul 9, 2023 22:33
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Scintilla posted:No orders received for Hunchback HBK-4G: GM assumes control. So, does the GM get the XP for the kill?
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Jul 12, 2023 20:50
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Scintilla posted:
Was the Phantom 'Mech trait ever in the list?
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Jul 16, 2023 00:37
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No! They shot the Warhammer! That's the my favourite 'Mech! Well, at least the Firestarter pilot survived. MVP, right there.
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Jul 19, 2023 21:26
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I'd suggest sweeping away the rabble first. The tanks and the Stinger, and then the PH. The Scorpion can go jump off a cliff.
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Jul 20, 2023 22:31
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D-d-d-double kill!
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Jul 25, 2023 21:37
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Smashy-smashy kill-kill! Smashy-smashy kill-kill!
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Jul 26, 2023 20:40
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Well, Stackpole is readable. He's predictable, but he is readable. Now, Thomas Gressman, on the other hand...
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Jul 27, 2023 01:10
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Scintilla posted:Nah, they're fighting to the bitter end. Really!? More fool them, I guess.
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Jul 30, 2023 20:25
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Does machine gun ammo also explode? Is ammo "ammo" for the purposes of the rules? Because you'd think that missiles would be more likely to explode than bullets.
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Aug 9, 2023 03:50
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That was so hilarious. And an appropriate end to a Scorpion. Good squash-y-ing. I'd vote for the Blackjack for decent support and bringing the battle to such a satisfying conclusion.
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Aug 9, 2023 20:40
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Good haul. Love me some Phoenix Hawk. I have a thing for a lot of the original Unseens. Probably because their designs came from really talented people.
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Aug 10, 2023 23:54
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Nathan Howell and Gary Tschetter. Nathan, because who doesn't love a pyromaniac? And Gary because the dude was just an introvert who was too shy to speak up.
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Aug 17, 2023 22:22
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The colours in the old are nicer though. A bit of red for the cockpits and so on. Breaks it up a bit, y'know?
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Aug 20, 2023 00:04
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Scintilla posted:With all the repairs and modifications completed, I have the techs mothball all of the company’s battlemechs. Mothballed mechs don’t require any maintenance, which saves a lot of money in the long run. Rule of thumb is, if you have a mech you aren’t using, mothball it as soon as you can. Mothballed mechs can be reactivated within 24 hours, which is usually short enough that you can have them up and running in an emergency. That's really convenient. Not really what "mothballing" means, but yeah, cool. Are they mothballed with weapons and armour? Because that's even better than what the video-game did.
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Aug 20, 2023 20:30
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Slavvy posted:The biggest problem it has is being mediocre while looking super cool BattleTech runs on the "rule of cool". Not superhard, but pretty close. Is it possible for me to run this software on my system and just play solo? Because I really like how it seems to give news updates from the wider universe, which is awesome.
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Aug 23, 2023 22:38
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So, not the Kuritans as a mercenary. No way, no how. Eesh. I think I'd vote C as the best of a bad bunch. Let's not run out to the Periphery just yet. I don't think we're that hard up on cash (or reputation).
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Aug 24, 2023 22:25
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We're pretty far from WoB or Clanner times, aren't we?
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Sep 2, 2023 05:09
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anakha posted:Ah, the Black Thorns, pet merc company of James D. Long and to date might be the best example of a merc group that nobody aside from the author cared about, to the point where they got killed off by accident because the writers never bothered to track their whereabouts during the Jihad. Thanks for this! I'd lost the link. I really hated the Black Thorns books. It was heartening to learn I wasn't the only one.
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Sep 3, 2023 09:43
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Oh my god, I'm in a Shadow Hawk with a PPC and jumpjets! This will be epic! Is it just me, or are McCarron's really good, but criminally underused in the books? They're reliable and they're loyal to Liao, but they're not a House unit.
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Sep 3, 2023 21:53
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Well, as Tex would put it, it was a "product of the military-industrial complex".
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Sep 5, 2023 21:52
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 15:46 |
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So, what do you reckon? Me (the Shadow Hawk) and the Gladiator wheel towards the left of the map, and I hop onto one of the mesas and provide long-range fire with my PPC and LRMs, while he runs interference? And the rest of the lance wheels right and starts taking out the enemies there?
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Sep 6, 2023 21:24
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