[NGTM-1R]

Wait, it's clan time already?

Transit time. They'd land next week, which even if they're burning at multiple Gs or coming from a pirate point probably means they're already insystem.

EDIT: Historically, the Bear attack was poorly planned and did not account for local conditions, resulting in the 1st Hussar inflicting very high casualties and forcing the Bears back to their opening bid to actually take the world. With the presence of the 14th Legion of Vega and our unit on the planet, there is a real possibility that the initial attack force will go down in flames before the remainder of the Bears can deploy.

[The E]

True that.

Too bad that we're not going to be able to use that to talk to the OpForce, I'd feel a lot better about this if we had undamaged units.

Still, even if we do manage to fend off the first wave, there's still the issue of getting away afterwards. If we knew about clan customs, we might be able to secure the planet, but as it stands...

[Dragon]

Personal log, Master Sergeant Anders "Rapier" Bullman

So that was the HAYMAKER sub-op. We came across a bunch of Hussars and stomped them into the ground. I love fighting in the cold, makes heat buildup much less of a bother, meaning I can fire full salvos of PPCs almost as fast as I can pull the trigger. I've got 3 kills today, the only other one went to Duck. Oh, and Easy got knocked out. Again. Didn't woke up till we were all done. I hope he's not gonna make a habit out of it, of we're in trouble. For a bunch of lights, the Hussars managed to inflict plenty of damage, taking out Easy's heat sink, damaging Werewolf's Grasshopper and scrapping some armor off my Awesome. Not that it helped them, but the mechs somehow managed to crawl away when we were regrouping and not paying attention to them. Well, bummer, not that they had any good stuff to salvage. I guess they mostly done it to spite us, because it's not like those mechs will be good for anything but scrap. Overall, this was a good mission, but could've went better. Easy got a star on his Combat Wound Ribbon, while I got a DMA. And of course, a new campaign ribbon for all of us. I hope that BRAWL sub-op goes this well, too. The other lances are green as grass, but if they do make it, that's gonna be one profitable campaign.

At the ship, everybody is excited about how the campaign's going. DCMS is making progress, so are we. There are some rumors about an unidentified WarShip being spotted nearby. I have no idea where they come from, but I'm sure it's just rumors. There are no WarShips in the IS, and certainly not in FRR. It's probably a JumpShip that FRR is trying to use to reinforce the planet. DCMS better intercept it, and any DropShips it happens to be carrying, or we're in trouble.

[The E]

Small nit: Noone in the Inner Sphere will even think about shooting down a JumpShip, they're far too precious a ressource for that. Even DropShips are rarely engaged and destroyed.

[Dragon]

Thanks, corrected. Forgot about that, Clans have somewhat less qualms about shooting things down than the IS (I'm currently playing MW2).

[FireSpawn]

Personal Log:

Well ****. We're in the meat grinder now, assaulting a planet like some sort of badasses. I just hope our Robot Jox Warriors don't let their rigs get beat up more than they did in that last sortie. It's just no good for my health! I mean, I was replacing some armour on "Rapier's" AWS (I call it Norris. Dunno why, but with all the kicking things to death, it just feels like it fits) when my welder suddenly flares and sets my goddamn Junk on fire!

Sure I may have been drinking a bottle of...."Something" that also can double as coolant in a pinch, and suuuure I may have spilt some as I was welding with one hand and drinking with the other....But the fact of the matter is that it wouldn't have happened if those guys learned how to not get shot.

Now as much as I'd love to continue talking to a mic when I should be working, I'm gonna finish here. I think I have some calibrating to do. And drinking. And playing five finger fillet with the jump troops. Heh, those idiots don't realise how deft with your hands you have to be when fixing 'Mechs. Oh well, easy bills.

[esarai]

Personal Log:
Cpl. Dejere "Esarai" bin Hassan

Wooo, finally an op!  Sounds like it's going to be heavy.  I felt a little left out on the last sortie... I wish I could've seen Easy and Rapier's mech-fu live.  Kicking in a mech is not an easy thing.  The way they describe it, it's like they tried to play soccer with a Vindicator.  Hmm... perhaps we should try that.  Get all our mechs out, giant balloon, soccer. 

Back on topic, the op is Light Hammer and I'm on sub-op Brawl.  13th is taking the 1st Hussars on a Stand Up, but they're worried about the 13th's untested status.  So that's where the 12th comes in.  We're their backup, in case it goes all to ****.

I'm gonna give the Hussars a merry rave party while the 13th drops as much brass and lead as they can.

I must thank Strobe for the upgrade to my Wasp.  This new 1M setup is nice.  3 medium lasers.  Superior to that pea-shooter SRM-2.  That thing was damn inaccurate.  Back at Sun Zhang, it hit Cmdr. Nakamura in the ass during a gunnery drill and I wasn't even pointing it at him.  Going to have to mind overheating, the mech's heat rating is at 9 now, and I've only got the engine sinks to chill it with.  The climate is frigid, the 11th was fighting at -50, so if the conditions persist it won't be a significant matter.

Ooh, gotta remember, cold air gives JJs a bit more kick.  Don't want to be falling down 'cuz of it.

[Patriot]

A little nitpicky bit of info Esa, you're forgetting the 1 heat for walking, 2 for running(replacing the walk heat) and however much Jump Points(minimum of 3 IIRC) you use is also worth heat.

BUT, with these temperatures, overheating is something us rookies have nothing to fear

[Scotty]

Just so everybody is aware, the Clans don't hit Thule until March of 3050.  It's still June 3049 here.  There's nearly another nine months to go before they show up.  Plenty of chances to get the company beaten into splinters long before the Ghost Bears show up.

[NGTM-1R]

Just so everybody is aware, the Clans don't hit Thule until March of 3050.  It's still June 3049 here.  There's nearly another nine months to go before they show up.  Plenty of chances to get the company beaten into splinters long before the Ghost Bears show up.

Curse you! You ruined everything!

...also that doesn't go with stuff from earlier in the thread. What.

[Scotty]

I'm leaning hard toward the planetary assault (also because it puts us in the FRR through early 3050), but please, discuss.

(bolded for emphasis)

...The Clan Invasion visits Thule in the very beginning of March, 3050.  Our contract is up on March 7, 3050.  We'll have roughly a week of OH **** time to fight the Clans before the contract is up...

3049-05-28

...

That ends the relevant portions of May.  Next post will be the first week of June and then the first week of our contract.  Planetfall is less than two weeks away.

No, it really doesn't.  Sorry if you misread it, but the timeline of events has been "June-March contract, early March Clans" for the whole time.

[deathfun]

Patient Logs - Dr. Bones

Major Caden "Easy" Webb

St. Ives - Operation Daybreak

Brought in barely able to walk, definite head trauma. Reactions were slow, responsiveness was lacking. Will have to check for brain damage. Minor lacerations were found haphazardly around the patient.

Addition - Patient moved due to pipe smoke causing unrest from neighbor. No permanent brain damage detected.

Thule - HAYMAKER Sub-Op

Came in with another head injury. Not as severe, he was able to walk straight and there was only some minor bleeding. Signs of a concussion have not manifested yet, but given his previous injury, will have to hold patient for the time being.

Addition - Patient has been released, no concussion.

[Patriot]

So Scotty, what's going on?

Also, had the weirdest thing happen to me, had to go to Damian(right next to Thule) on a Pirate Hunting contract. Start date went from September 1(day i was actually on) to February 27, the next year. And it's a 6 month contract. I am gonna get sooooo boned
Although it did give me enough time to convert my first Banshee, it is now officially a rape machine with a 0/1 pilot(gotta love skilled pilots making good kills every time they enter a battlefield) BV without pilot is 1422, with pilot it's 5131(wow..)

Hoping to see an update on the Brawl sub-op soon Scotty :3

[The E]

A 0/1 pilot? In a BANSHEE? Poor bastard...

A pilot of that caliber (Which, for the uninitiated, means that this guy will almost always have target numbers to hit a target below 5 or 6 on 2D6, making him absolutely god-tier in a cockpit) deserves, nay, NEEDS a better machine. Or at least a Banshee variant that does not suck.

[niffiwan]

BNC-3S - Lyran variant from the late succession wars.  I'd take it over the stock Atlas any day

And that pilot - he's what, as good as Kai Allard-Liao? 

[Patriot]

Oh, but the banshee he's in is my recently refitted one E, had him pilot the 3E version since the get-go of my campaign(it was his starting mech)

It now has 4MPLs 2 PPCs and an LRM20 + Artemis, maxed armor. This all thanks to Double Heat Sinks and an XL Engine.
So, i think he has a machine worthy of god-tier skills. Had him pilot my Atlas(got that thanks to a Star League Cache mission) when it was being refitted.

So no need to worry bout him, i do have 2 Banshees now, salvaged another 3E in a battle against a bunch of Canopians, sadly couldn't get the Stalker(it got blown up with an ammo hit). But hey, i have another 1/1 pilot who has an 8Q Awesome, though not in the same lance.

Clans are in for a hurting regardless :3

[The E]

More or less. Certainly up there with the best of the best.

Clans are in for a hurting regardless :3

Well, if you can get them into a bidding war, you're basically set for a huge win (But then, it took the IS a long time to figure out how clan honor works, and I do not know how much of that particular set of rules is represented in the game)

[NGTM-1R]

And that pilot - he's what, as good as Kai Allard-Liao? 

Depending on the sourcebook Kai has ranged from 1/1 to 0/0, with 1/0 and 0/1.

[Patriot]

More or less. Certainly up there with the best of the best.

Clans are in for a hurting regardless :3

Well, if you can get them into a bidding war, you're basically set for a huge win (But then, it took the IS a long time to figure out how clan honor works, and I do not know how much of that particular set of rules is represented in the game)

There's actually nothing representing the bidding in the rules, as far as i've found it. Doesn't matter, i have 2 lances with Assault mechs, though only a lance worth is actually piloted.
Though i still have a few weeks in-game to even worry about seeing clanners.

EDIT: I just thought of something.

We should have some house rules about the possibility of encountering clans during the invasion.

If you're in a contract when the invasion is happening, you roll a 1d6 and on a 5 or 6 you instead encounter clan units as opposed to whoever you are supposed to fight. Let's call that the bad intel got me screwed over thing.
Of course you roll that right before you stick your RATs into the blender.
Though this does mean that you now have an extra unit in each lance to add, which will be whatever the lightest possible unit is for the given lance(a Heavy Lance will receive a Medium unit for instance).

If anyone cares to give feedback on it, i have no use of it just yet, so there's still time to fine tune this

[Scourge of Ages]

Scotty posted a little bit about what will happen. I don't think there was any provision for accidentally running into them, Ghost Bear doesn't exactly seem the "sneaking around, posing as garrison" type. He mentioned that the employer has a chance to extend the contract and use us to fight though.