Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Scotty on December 08, 2016, 02:41:10 pm
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Alright guys, I've been inspired to try something. It's not a traditional Let's Play, but more of a play-by-post game. It's also going to be less focused on the minutiae of the rules, and more on the feel of smashing 'Mechs together. As such, I want this to also include a roleplay element. Finally, I'll be using some alternate and unofficial rules, explained below.
1) Double Blind. When you are not in Line of Sight of an enemy, they will not be displayed. I'll be using MegaMek in order to take screenshots, which automates that fairly easily, but it's definitely something to know ahead of time.
2) Simultaneous movement. This is where things get tricky. In order to cut down on time waiting for everyone to see what happened, plan their move, and execute it, I'm going to have everyone plan their moves simultaneously, and express it to me in the following format: (W)F2L1F2R1 where each number is the number of hexes, not movement expended. In that example, the 'Mech is Walking, moves forward 2 hexes, turns 1 hexside left, moves forward 2 more hexes, and then turns 1 hexside right. All 'Mechs will move simultaneously, with "ties" "broken" by weight, and then by BV. I'll determine how many hexes each 'Mech moves, and break it down into a series of individual moves. A 'Mech (A) that moves 12 hexes in 1 turn, and a 'Mech (B) that moves 5 hexes in 1 turn, would end up executing their respective maneuvers as: AAB AAB AAB AAAB AAAB. Introducing more 'Mechs makes it more complicated, but that's the general concept. It would interact with Double Blind such that if after one set of moves results in clear line of sight, then I'll inform you that you were able to catch a glimpse of the other unit, even if your move ends with it out of view at the start and end of your move. So that I don't go ****ing insane trying to figure out how to stagger 'Mech activations, the turn will be split into a number of sub-phases equal to the slowest 'Mech on the field (minimum 3, once again for sanity purposes)
If there are four 'Mechs, A, B, C, and D, and they move at a rage of 12 (light), 5 (heavy), 7 (medium), and 3 (assault) hexes respectively, then the order would look something like: AAAACCBD AAAACCBBD AAAACCCBBD, with conflicts (terrain that is suddenly impassable) resolved as they arise. To be extra clear, these are not separate moves, they are merely the points after which I check the game state for things like line of sight matching up.
3) Blind Target Modifiers. I am not going to tell you what number you have to roll on 2d6 in order to make the shot. I will tell you a difficulty, in terms of "easy", "possible", "difficult", "improbable", and "impossible", and you can choose whether or not to take the shot.
4) Blind Damage and Heat. I will not tell you how much damage you did. I'll happily describe the state of a unit's armor or dangling and destroyed components, but exact point values will not be given. Additionally, we'll be using Direct Blow (each margin of success increment of 3 results in an additional point of damage or better cluster roll bonus) and Glancing Blow (meeting the target number exactly deals half damage, round down) rules, so just because you hit doesn't mean you did the amount of damage you thought you could. Likewise, I won't be saying heat levels, but I will be describing temperature inside the cockpit, and whether the heat is affecting your capabilities.
5) <SECRET RULE> I can't actually talk about this one yet, for ~reasons~, but it will affect how your guns operate 'under the hood'. When I can talk about it, this one will be revealed. I'm sure some of you will figure it out before then, but it will appreciably change the way you conduct combat. Part of this requires that the game take place at thee depths of the Succession Wars, and my target year will be 3015 regardless of faction picked.
6) Roleplaying. I don't want to see "Put your 'Mech in X hex and shoot at Y target with A, B, and C weapons" from anybody in this game. What I do want to see is "take the left side, and take down that X", leaving exactly how to go about it up to your teammates. As such, actual moves will be PM'd to me, and not put in the thread at large when I make it. Additionally, pursuant to 3) above, I will not be telling you your pilot's skill levels. I will say "Green", "Regular", "Veteran", and the like, but the exact value of your skills will remain unstated.
If, after reading all of those conditions, anybody still wants to play, comment on this thread with a callsign. :)
Sign-up Roster:
The_E: "The_E"
-Joshua-: "Bommel"
Phantom_Hoover: "Phantom Hoover"
IronBeer: "Ferris" (geddit?
AdmiralRalwood: "Archmage"
StarSlayer: "Shidachi"
JSRNerdo: "Null"
Lepanto: "Utopian"
Scourge of Ages: "Scourge (of Engines)"
niffiwan: "PPC"
Please PM your moves, and though you may plan your moves with each other (and I have no way of enforcing it even if I said not to). Please remember to send me your moves in such a way that I can understand what direction and how far you're going. As a reminder, light woods cost an additional point to enter, heavy woods cost an additional two points to enter, and going up or down a level is one extra point per level changed. You can see that in the Locust's move below. Ideal syntax for sending me moves is to start with either W, R, or J depending on whether your 'Mech will be walking, running, or jumping; then say the number of hexes you plan to enter (hexes may only be entered in front of you or behind you, for any of the 'Mechs you're all using. You can't go backward if you're running), or the number of hex facings you intend to turn. Any questions, just ask. Alternately, if the idea of planning your move out in a specific and odd syntax bugs you, just tell me where you want to go and I'll plot a course there, just don't complain if it isn't exactly how you wanted to move.
Example moves:
RF6R2F2 (Running movement, forward six hexes, right two hex sides, forward two hexes)
WF3L1 (Walking movement, forward three hexes, left one hex side)
JF5L1F1:S (Jumping movement, forward five hexes, left one hex side, forward one hex, facing south)
Jumping is a little tricky, so just tell me the direction you want to take to get there; or tell me which hex you want to end up in and I'll put you there (or as close as you can manage). Remember, when jumping you must take the shortest possible route to the target hex.
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I am interested. My Callsign would be my forum name.
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Also worth mentioning: this game, regardless of faction, will be combined arms heavy. In a double blind situation infantry and fast vehicles are worth their weight in gold, and there's a decent chance that if anybody wants to play as an infantry platoon leader or somesuch that I'll find some way to adapt from D&D/Pathfinder a couple infantry combat scenarios on top of the roleplaying potential.
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I am also interested! My callsign would be "Bommel"
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As an additional note, due to the play-by-post nature of it, and the general lack mandatory of huge time commitments, I'm hoping to post updates several times a week, and will be requesting input nearly as frequently. Especially in a combat, which could last a couple dozen turns and requires a minimum of two inputs from everybody each turn (movement and firing orders).
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Put in for ComStar.
Callsign can be something to do with Iron, because I'm feeling uncreative at the moment.
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Callsign: "Archmage".
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Updated first post to clarify movement weirdness, also included list of players.
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Are we volunteering to be characters or active participants? If its the latter I don't have the experience in TT to contribute, in case of the former sign me up to get stepped on.
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It's the latter, but it's the latter in the form of not actually needing to know a lot of the background stats beyond "I can move this fast" and "I don't like taking big hits often". Being "the rookie" might be fun, besides! :D
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Okay I'll get stepped on then, call sign "Shidachi"
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Let's do it! I can't think of a callsign right now, but I'd preferably like to drive a light or medium robot. I have played enough MWO to know how to weapon boat.
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Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal!
MechWarrior: Kally "Utopian" en-Korvare
For 'Mech, the biggest assault I can get! Preferably long-ranged. If you desperately need vehicle drivers for some reason, I could be one instead.
Why are people voting for ComStar? Not complaining, just curious.
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Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal!
MechWarrior: Kally "Utopian" en-Korvare
For 'Mech, the biggest assault I can get! Preferably long-ranged. If you desperately need vehicle drivers for some reason, I could be one instead.
Why are people voting for ComStar? Not complaining, just curious.
Because it is different. Also they get the best gear at this point in the line. While most Successor States are still struggling to put two Assault 'Mechs in a Lance outside of the Commonwealth, the (secret) ComGuard and ROM can basically conjure a Level II (six 'Mechs) of King Crabs out of thin air.
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This sounds cool but I think I'm going to be too busy over Christmas/New Years to participate, so I'll just watch from the sidelines. If you don't mind, and it's still going towards the end of Jan, then I'd be keen to join.
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This sounds cool but I think I'm going to be too busy over Christmas/New Years to participate, so I'll just watch from the sidelines. If you don't mind, and it's still going towards the end of Jan, then I'd be keen to join.
This is absolutely an option for people who can't be sure to commit to anything. I can also open up support/admin positions for roleplay and non-combat opportunities if the issue is not being able to keep up with the regimented pace for combat. Particularly things like Techs and Medics are going to be in high demand but fairly low/non-urgent commitment.
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So, for those of you not particularly familiar with The Story So Far, I am going to
shamelessly steal borrow these amazing posts from a guy on the Something Awful forums that goes by PoptartsNinja. This actually goes a fair bit beyond when our game is going to be set (3005-3015ish to start), but it's funny enough I can justify putting it in here.
Once upon a time, Humans figured out that if you break the universe just right you can travel 30 light years in an instant. So they colonized the stars under the direction of a council of space fascists known as the Terran Hegemony. Now, the Terran Hegemony wanted to continue to exert direct control over all of humankind, which they accomplished in a few ways but mostly achieved because it turns out that exploring for new habitable worlds is very expensive and they could pick all the best ones for their loyalists.
Eventually humanity expanded so far that Terra simply couldn't field enough manpower to control them directly, so they not-so-quietly manipulated the emerging planetary governments into a form of pseudo-feudalism lead by charismatic individuals that the Terran Hegemony could easily manipulate and formed the Space Roman Empire Star League. These individual House Lords would form a "ruling council" that was still still pretty much under the thumb of the First Lord of the Star League largely because the Terran Hegemony manipulated all of these new feudal states into a cold war with one another. In order to keep this cold war from becoming a hot war, the Terran Hegemony then formed the Star League Defense Force to go blow up anyone who got too uppity.
Eventually BattleMechs are invented and the technology is very quickly leaked to the Great Houses by the Terran Hegemony. Although officially it's because BattleMechs are really awesome and impossibly tough weapons of war that don't rust and can last for centuries, the introduction of the BattleMech did a lot to keep the minor brushfire wars that kept cropping up from turning into all-out orbital bombardments and nuke fests (BattleMech duels are very romantic and fit the feudal aesthetic the Terran Hegemony was pushing for).
BattleMechs soon became the dominant military weapon as even the Terran Hegemony bought into the hype, and eventually it became ingrained in the Inner Sphere's collective consciousness that 'once a planet's BattleMechs are gone, that planet is lost.'
Then humanity expanded farther than the five original House Lords could control, and a new batch of Periphery Lords started cropping up. The House Lords had been established for several generations at this point and because they were all pretty much complete idiots did everything they could to keep the new Periphery Lords off the council and/or tried to turn the new space nations forming on their borders into virtual slave states.
One of these states was the Rim Worlds Republic, which borrowed very heavily from Rome and was actually a dictatorship lead by House Amaris. Skip ahead a century or two and one Lord Adolf Hitler Stefan Amaris decides he's not really content being House Steiner's whipping boy. Stefan Amaris ingratiates himself with the First Lord's son. Now, by this time, even First Lords have become as corrupt and inept as the Great Houses they once manipulated. The First Lord winds up dying and his young idiot son gets put in charge with Aleksandr Kerensky, commanding general of the Star League Defense Force, serving as regent.
Seeing an opportunity, the House Lords quickly undercut the First Lord's power, leaving him no one to turn to for help save his old friend Stefan Amaris.
Stefan promptly (and publically) murders Richard and the Rim World Army seizes control of the 103 Terran Hegemony worlds (including Terra itself) in a single day, making Stefan Amaris the new First Lord of the Star League. The Great Houses were pretty OK with this, all things considered, and the Star League likely would've continued as before except that Aleksandr Kerensky, as former Regent, had gotten pretty used to the idea of being in charge and started a massive war to 'avenge' Richard.
In spite of this, Stefan Amaris ruled the Star League for thirteen years (which is, coincidentally, the length of the reign Richard Cameron's father enjoyed making Amaris's rule pretty legitimate). Kerensky eventually invaded Terra and killed Amaris leaving the Star League with no strong successor. Not being a member of a noble family himself and with Space Feudalism prepped for centuries to doom the Inner Sphere, none of the Great Council voted for Kerensky. As the SLDF couldn't fight all five great houses at once, Kerensky took his people and ****ed off into deep space to (eventually) form his own Star League. With blackjack genetically engineered animals. And hookers incest.
The five House Lords then proverbially started trying to club each other to death and last-man-standing gets to be First Lord. Except the clubs were nukes and battleships.
Eventually the Great Houses so thoroughly demolish their own infrastructure that they sit down and negotiate, but the only thing they agree on is: "Hey, maybe stop with the nukes and the orbital bombardments and just do everything 'cleanly' and 'honorably' with BattleMechs (and occasionally shooting our own rioting civilians with machine guns and jets of superheated plasma)!"
A few centuries of this and it's 3025, the era this game is set in. Human space is falling apart, BattleMechs are still around because their armor is a steel/ceramic composite that doesn't rust on a meaningful timescale, and most Great Houses can only produce about 100 BattleMechs a year. A lull in the succession wars has finally broken out giving the Inner Sphere a brief 5-10 year respite (the longest they'd had since Richard Cameron was killed) to rebuild.
So of course the Great Houses are prepping for the next big war in the pissing contest to see who gets to be First Lord (spoiler: the Capellans) and for the first time in about 700 years two of the Great Houses who don't share a border have actually decided that maybe they don't hate each other (this will change) and are trying to work out a way to tag-team the other three before the 4th Succession War starts in earnest.
So, after Aleksandr Kerensky took his ball and went home left the Inner Sphere forever they wandered in the desert for about a year spent a year traveling to a star cluster notable only because it was hidden from the Inner Sphere by a giant nebula.
He settles the several dozen million SLDF members (and their families) across five worlds (the Pentagon Worlds) and, being complete idiots wanting to live comfortably speaking their native languages, they tended to form colonies and cities built around their old Inner Sphere affiliations. Needless to say things are peaceful and happy for about six minutes before the various SLDF communities started fighting over resources. The Pentagon Worlds were very poor in natural resources and so Aleksandr Kerensky had to form a kind of Star League Defense Force Defense Force in order to keep the colonies from murdering each other too badly.
Long story short, things are stable right up until Aleksandr Kerensky gets himself killed in a police action. The SLDF goes full Ouroboros and is so efficient at eating itself alive that after five or so years of Pentagon Wars the five planets basically turn into interstellar Mad Max (Kerensky took the SLDF into deep space not to protect the SLDF but to keep them from doing precisely this to the entire Inner Sphere).
Anyway, the Mad Max who arrives to save everyone is Nicholas Kerensky, Aleksander's idiot son, who is just visionary enough to see the writing on the wall. Nicholas is charismatic enough by which I mean he convinces 600 whole people to grab their BattleMechs and join him in a second Exodus (this time to the Kerensky Cluster, a nearby mostly-habitable star cluster that Aleksandr eventually hoped the SLDF would expand out into once they worked out their differences).
Nicholas lays out his grand plan for the future: A(n insane) caste-based society lead by honorabru warriors (with him at the top of the pyramid). If he sounds like a crazy doomsday prepper / cult leader you've pretty much understood everything you need to know about Nicholas Kerensky. He divides up his people into 20 groups of 30 warriors and gives them all a spirit totem animal from a list of animals that he thinks are totally metal totally metal.
He and his Clans then sit on their thumbs for a while until the SLDF annihilates most of its war machines (and population). And then they invade.
600 people are sufficient to take over the Pentagon Worlds because after five years they have about twice the BattleMechs of everyone else. Wanting to avoid losing as many as possible Nicholas institutes a system where his men are encouraged to attack with only just enough forces to guarantee a win, and everyone who didn't support his insanity from the outset becomes a second class citizen in one of the slave castes (laborers, merchants, technicians, or scientists). Since Nicholas was the only one with guns and BattleMechs are really good at turning people into a fine red mist nobody really protests being dehumanized (their last names are stripped away and they literally become property of their Clan).
No one except Clan Wolverine, who think maybe this whole "Clans" and "slavery" thing is going a little too far. Fearing he's about to lose control of the Clans, Nicholas paints the Wolverines as traitors and they get wiped out (except for the ones who escape). When he starts to lose control again less than a decade later he tries to do the same thing to Clan Widowmaker. Who kill him.
The Clans continue because by the time of Kerensky's death they've all drunk the kool-aid and most of the civilian castes think being a slave is preferable to being eaten in a literal cannibal holocaust.
Some 200 or so years of cloning and incest later the Clans decide they need to share their enlightenment with the Inner Sphere and launch an invasion in 3048 (about 25 years after the Battletech Kickstarter game is going to be set), interrupting the lead-up to the 5th succession war and accidentally uniting the entire Inner Sphere against them.
Once upon a time there was a man named William Blake. Blake was the Star League's minister of communications, and was responsible for keeping interstellar communications working. Like most people in the Star League, he was more than willing to keep working under Space Hitler Stefan Amaris. Now, Blake loved one thing and one thing only: being a goon reading other people's space mail.
When Kerensky invaded Terra to kill Amaris, Blake was the first to realize that no matter who won the Inner Sphere was going to go to complete ****, so he kept ComStar, the Star League's communications division, completely neutral. He did so by whining at both Amaris and Kerensky until they made Terra's HPG off-limits and promised both that he'd keep sending their messages no questions asked.
When Amaris died and Kerensky abandoned Terra, the Terran Hegemony had been completely devastated and pretty much the only Star League office with any sort of power or organization left to pick up the pieces was the judicial system ComStar. Blake immediately seized control of Terra and issued an ultimatum to the Great Houses: Terra and every ComStar facility is neutral. **** with us and we'll stop sending your space mail and let your enemies eat you alive.
Blake, who had recently watched Mad Max was actually very intelligent, predicted the complete collapse of the Inner Sphere's infrastructure and feared it meant the eventual extinction of humanity. So he wrote books, doctrines and contingency plans to guide ComStar after his death and try to keep the space internet working as long as possible. Being a manipulative asshole member of the Terran Hegemony, most of his plans involved pitting the Great Houses against one another in order to keep ComStar in an advantageous position.
Eventually he died, and his words and writings all get recorded and studied intensely. Gradually ComStar starts to find it easier to get recruits by adopting a quasi-mystical bent and presenting Blake as a prophet. Blake's words became canonized and somewhere around the time the Inner Sphere stops nuking itself to death ComStar crawls so far up inside its own asshole that even the people at the top start looking on Blake as some holy messenger rather than a frightened smart guy who just didn't want humanity to die out.
Around this time ComStar's attitudes change and rather than simply preserving every bit of knowledge and technology they can get their hands on they begin hoarding it instead. As technology gets lost, rediscovered, lost, rediscovered, lost, and rediscovered ComStar stops helping with the rediscovery and starts making sure that most technology starts getting "lost for everyone who isn't ComStar." Rather than protecting humanity ComStar starts secretly seeking to control it and all is going swimmingly and ComStar gets more and more smug about it until suddenly the Clans show up.
Finding someone with technology better than their own ComStar pretty much ****s a brick and goes into panic mode since it's something Blake's writings never accounted for. Since their leadership has been growing steadily more bug**** crazy over the centuries the Space Pope Primus, a woman named Myndo Waterley, interprets the arrival of the Clans as the final culmination of Blake's prophecies and the destruction of the Inner Sphere from which ComStar will rise ascendant. She immediately throws in and helps the Clans only to pretty much instantly betray them when they learn the Clans mean to conquer Terra, the seat of ComStar's power (and the place where ComStar's best stuff is "hidden").
So ComStar tricks the Clans into an unwinnable battle of attrition by making the Clans (and their relatively small militaries) fight a literal ocean of men and equipment and eventually force a 15 year truce. Around this same time Myndo Waterley dies. The next leader of ComStar throws off many of the mystical trappings ComStar has relied upon and, as most of them have been drinking the proverbial kool-aid, a new movement called the Word of Blake splinters off. They do nothing for a while and then suddenly take over Terra because ComStar left it basically unguarded. Also spies. Also one of the guards was a Dervish which, as BattleMechs go, is a colossal piece of ****.
So the Word of Blake does nothing for a good while little longer except revel in their smug superiority. A new Star League forms, and just when Word of Blake gets recognized and invited to sit on the Star League council alongside ComStar and the five Great Houses, the New Star League dissolves. I'd say the Word of Blake goes crazy but they were already, so instead they do what any crazy religious fundamentalist does when they're apoplectic with rage, Pinky: they launch a Jihad and try to take over the world Inner Sphere. But this happens in 3067, 17 years after the Clans were stopped and 42 years after the HBS Kickstarter is set.
So, let's talk about the Great Houses.
There're five Great Houses in the Inner Sphere, and most use a pseudo-feudal government. We'll start with the only exception:
The Capellan Confederation, while feudal in theory, doesn't really give their nobility much in the way of special privileges above and beyond the average citizenry, and even has ways for normal citizens to become nobility. They have the most upward mobility as long as you're a useful and contributing member of Capellan society, and as long as you jump (or roll over (or die)) whenever a member of House Liao asks you to. That said, most of the Confederation's populace will never perform enough meritorious deeds to become a citizen unless they join the CCAF, so most people languish in some form of poverty. This is the favorite nation of Loren Coleman, who currently runs Catalyst Games and maintains the BattleTech tabletop game. The Capellan Confederation is famous for having at least three 'heroic terrorist' characters, much in the same way that Dominic Deegan was famous for its heroic orc rapist.
The Capellan Confederation in 3025 is 1985 Post-Communist Russia. They were a power once but their glory has faded pretty heavily. They do a lot of posturing but no one really takes them seriously anymore. They are also simultaneously Yellow Peril the nation. They're led by the "inscrutable" Fu Manchu Maximillian Liao who is, in canon, literally insane. He is famous for such feats as: trying to replace another House Lord with a body double, having a Fu Manchu, and losing pretty much every fight he gets the Capellan Confederation into. He will be succeeded by his daughter Romano Liao who is a female Chinese Joseph Stalin who will become famous for murdering most of her nation's nobility and a good portion of the average citizenry, shrieking like a harpy, and losing every fight she gets the Capellan Confederation into. The Confederation's industrial capacity is the worst in the Inner Sphere, which doesn't help them much when they get half their army killed.
The Capellan Confederation hires a lot of mercenaries because their army is tiny, backwards, lacks initiative, and generally poorly trained. They're also one of the most likely Houses to abandon, betray, or **** over the mercenaries they hire. They just put out enough mercenary contracts that the chance of bumping into a screwjob is relatively unlikely.
The Free Worlds League is next. They neighbor the Capellan Confederation and ate about half of it during the first three succession wars. They're the Byzantine Empire, and are known for not doing much. The Free Worlds League actually has the second best industrial capacity in the Inner Sphere but they don't use it for much. They're the only nation lead partially by a parliament, and they're usually bogged down by bull****. They elect their House Lord and are prone to massive civil wars. They've also been the most overall peaceful nation since the second succession war, and often have long stretches of only attacking the Capellans.
The other Great Houses tend to ignore the League, which will simultaneously come back to bite them in the ass (when the Word of Blake uses the League's industrial capacity to fuel their Jihad) and prove completely justified (when the League collapses and Balkanizes in the 3070s). Incidentally the League's current ruler, Janos Marik is known only for having an eagle tattooed on his forehead (and while whatever mysterious thought process lead him to believe that was a good idea it does speak worlds about his character*). He's eventually replaced by "Thomas Marik" who is a Word of Blake sleeper agent. The League's industrial capacity is only really hindered because they don't produce many PPCs yet most of the BattleMechs they produce have at least one (and often two or more) PPCs.
The Free Worlds League is the most likely nation to have missions against itself since many of the internal factions hate each other.
The Lyran Commonwealth is pretty much every warring German state from the 1600-1800s. It has the strongest economy in the Inner Sphere and produces the most BattleMechs. House Steiner also loses the most BattleMechs since most of its military leadership is the very model of a modern major general. By which I mean they are promoted by nepotism and family connections rather than actual capability. They're on relatively peaceful terms with the Free Worlds League (they still raid each other, mind, but the borders remain largely unchanged) and as they're the richest they hire a fair number of mercenaries to shore up their defenses and raid the other houses. They're currently lead by Katrina Steiner, who is probably the single most capable politician in the Inner Sphere in 3025.
The Commonwealth considers it a status symbol for a noble to have a mercenary lance or company on retainer (so they can pretend they're a general even if they're not in the military), but at the same time they're also prone to making stupid and risky decisions and tend to lose a lot of fights with House Kurita.
The Draconis Combine was founded by a literal weaboo named Angus Kurita, and it's considered a mark of pride that many members of House Kurita have blue eyes. They are Space WWII Imperial Japan, which means in 3025 they're typically used as the setting's 'big bad.' In spite of this they're often portrayed heroically as the nation is very Honorabru and plays up the Samurai asthetic. House Kurita is actually politically fairly weak, as the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine is largely a passive 'father figure' who makes suggestions rather than giving orders and otherwise has to hope his Warlords do something no stupid. Needless to say this rarely works out for the best. Their neighbors ****ing hate them because when they're at their best they often conquer large huge numbers of their neighbors' planets before overextending themselves and slowly losing them all.
House Kurita is lead by Takashi Kurita, a man who bucks the passive 'father figure' role and takes a very active and aggressive (but not complete) control of the military. House Kurita wins more fights than they lose, but they're theoretically hampered by their adherence to a vague Space Bushido and more practically by their "win or literally die" attitude that doesn't tolerate and heavily punishes even the slightest failure. Their industrial capacity is the middle of the road.
House Kurita doesn't much like mercenaries as they feel people who fight for money are unreliable, and they tend to penny-pinch and fight hard for every negotiable point on their often barely-negotiable contracts. In a few years Takashi Kurita will also publish a 'death to Mercenaries' order ordering every Mercenary operating inside the Draconis Combine put to death. So, y'know. Take their contracts at your own risk.
Finally the Federated Suns are the Space Hansa / Dutch / French and, eventually, in 3039 they become Space America when Michael Stackpole starts writing novels about them. They become the 'designated good guys' for a long stretch (before the Capellans superseded them). Their impression as the 'underdog' is aided largely by the fact that they're bordered on one side by the Draconis Combine (who is never not invading) and on the other by the Capellan Confederation (who are lead by lunatics). Their industrial capacity is the second worst in the Inner Sphere since nearly half of the Suns is still recovering from a massive Draconis Combine assault a few centuries before. The Draconis Combine actually came a hair's breadth from capturing the capitol of the Federated Suns at one point (and put innumerable civilians to the sword in the process), and so large swaths of the Federated Suns so vehemently despise House Kurita that anti-Asian racism is practically an institutionalized feature of their planetary governments.
The Suns are lead by Hanse Davion, who is the most accomplished Successor Lord in terms of military acclaim (in terms of actual prowess Theodore Kurita, Takashi's son, probably has him beat). Hanse hates Maximillian Liao more than he hates Takashi Kurita since Lo Pan Max once tried to replace Hanse with a brainwashed body double in an attempt to puppet-rule the Federated Suns. The Early Federated Suns also has a lot of Arthurian parallels with Hanse playing the role of King Space Arthur.
The Federated Suns hires a lot of mercenaries and treats them better than most other nations, but they absolutely need the help to shore up their defenses so most Federated Suns contracts are combat heavy and the Federated Suns rarely has enough manpower to stage a rescue if things go wrong.
* Janos Marik is also Sean Connery (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Janos_Marik).
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Vote 1 capellan confederation for space tyranny and squawking!
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As a friendly reminder, to folks who might have commitments that prevent participating in the campaign as a combatant, we will have a couple spots open for Techs, which will be an involved role but involved in such a way that the decision making can be handled in a single fairly short block of time with little need to respond quickly. Basically, at the end of a given combat, I'll put up a list of repairs needed for 'Mechs that took damage or expended ammunition, how difficult each task is, and how long it takes to do each task. You'll have a pool of time to attempt those repairs, and the ability to choose between taking your time and making it a bit easier, or doing a rush job to save time but make the job harder (or attempt it normally). Extra time is in full increments of the job's starting time, while rush jobs halve the time required for each level attempted (i.e. the difficulty increases at 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 time). Time requirements for rush jobs round up (i.e. 45 minutes becomes 23 minutes)
Just send me a PM (or post in the thread) the order you want to accomplish those tasks, and I'll roll the dice on them. You may also budget time just in case you fail, and put 'if time allows' decisions at the end in case you get it the first time. A tech normally has 480 minutes (eight hours) of time to work in a given day. As an example, if after a big fight there is a Light 'Mech (Wasp -1K) that lost an arm to a single big hit that did no damage anywhere else, you might see a task list like:
Replace Right Arm (240 minutes, Difficult)
- Replace Upper Arm Actuator (90 minutes, Very Easy)
- Replace Lower Arm Actuator (90 minutes, Very Easy)
- Replace Hand Actuator (90 minutes, Very Easy)
- Replace Armor, 5 points (25 minutes, Very Easy)
- Replace Medium Laser (120 minutes, Easy)
Where the indented lines cannot be done until the one they're under is completed. If you're pressed for (in game) time, that could mean a post looks like:
Replace Right Arm
(Retry if failed)
Replace Upper Arm Actuator (1/4 rush job)
Replace Lower Arm Actuator (1/4 rush job)
Replace Hand Actuator (1/4 rush job)
Replace Armor, 5 points
Replace Medium Laser
(Retry all if failed)
Doing all that, if the first attempt failed it'd be those two and nothing else (arms are hard, yo). If the first attempt succeeded, you'd be able to continue down the list, and if you succeeded every roll would have spent a total of 454 minutes of time, and still have a few minutes left for wasting at the end of the day.
If playing a tech and you do have the time to engage more frequently, you might just try to repair the arm, and then wait for the result, then try again. I'm not going to force you to do it one way or the other.
Now, if you do fail a repair roll, it's not the end of the world. When it happens, I make a second roll, against your margin of failure. If that roll is below your margin of failure, then the part is damaged (or if it was already damaged, is destroyed), and you'll have to attempt to fix it before you can try to replace it again. Or if you have an extra piece of equipment, just try again with that. Destoying common components like armor plate and actuators while attempting to replace them is really goddamn difficult, to the point that regular Techs, working in the field with no repair bay support are literally incapable of ****ing it up that badly. Green techs doing an incredibly ****ty rush job might be able to manage it, but it's still pretty difficult. It's when you get to things like replacing fusion engines that doing it badly enough can result in some serious damage. But then, that's what extra time is for.
If anybody reading wasn't sure they'd be able to keep up on a mission to mission basis in combat, but thinks they could do that for ~20 minutes on a given weekend, spots are still open (and will likely remain open during the campaign).
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I think I could handle some technical duties, sign me up!
Eric "Scourge of Engines" Lathram, Professional Mech Meddler!
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Since the above is a bit of a mouthful, you can also just post things like "Work on reattaching the arm until it's done, and then rush through getting it moving again. Don't skimp on the laser adjustments." Basically as long as I know what you want I'll make it happen.
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And it looks like the voting has closed! ComStar is the winner with 4 votes. Not a majority, but certainly a plurality. It looks like we will be members of the Blessed Order. I'll get our 'Mechs rolled up post-haste. We will be playing as members of ROM, the ComStar intelligence and special forces arm. Our specialty will be high threat extraction and high profile elimination, with a particular emphasis on false flag operations. Ours is the arm that silences the enemies of the Blessed Order.
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Alright, I have rolled up the 'Mechs you may choose from. Pilots and 'Mechs may not be dissociated from each other. You pick the whole package. 'Mechs that are not picked have a higher chance of appearing in the campaign, either with opportunities to acquire them later (the Blessed Order appreciates actions that increase its inventory), or as potential enemies. Mostly so I don't have to re-random up some random badguy. Without further ado, here they are. Out of the 'Mechs you do not pick, I will pick a number to reach 12 total 'Mechs. In missions where more than the number of players are deployed, players determined either at random, or by 'rank' in the campaign will control additional 'mechs. "Control" is rather loosely defined, however, where you tell the pilot in-character what to do in a message that would take less than ten seconds to say, and I will have it execute that order to the best of my understanding/ability.
Light 'Mechs:
Green LCT-1V Locust
Green LCT-1V Locust (Special Ability: Multi-Tasker)
Regular STG-3R Stinger
Regular WSP-1A
Regular FFL-4B Firefly
Regular THE-N Thorn
Veteran FS9-H Firestarter claimed: JSRNerdo
Green FS9-H Firestarter
Regular OTT-7J Ostscout
Medium 'Mechs:
Regular CN9-A Centurion claimed: -Joshua-
Regular WVR-6R Wolverine
Green WVR-6R Wolverine
Green DV-6M Dervish
Veteran GRF-2N Griffin claimed: IronBeer
Elite SHD-2H Shadow Hawk claimed: StarSlayer
Heavy 'Mechs:
Elite CPLT-C1 Catapult (Special Abilities: Hopping Jack, Gunnery Specialization - Laser) claimed: AdmiralRalwood
Regular GLD-2D Galahad claimed: Aesaar
Regular TDR-5S Thunderbolt (Special Ability: Hopping Jack)
Regular ON1-K Orion
Green BL-6-KNT Black Knight
Green ARC-2R Archer
Regular MAD-1R Marauder claimed: The E
Assault 'Mechs:
Veteran HGN-732 Highlander claimed: Phantom Hoover
Veteran AWS-8Q Awesome claimed: Lepanto
Note: the Highlander and Galahad have Gauss Rifles, and as such on some missions they will not be available where secrecy must be maintained.
Please pick your 'Mechs. Players who have expressed a preference already, and whose picks line up with that preference, will receive priority in the event of a conflict. I recommend a fairly balanced group of 'Mechs.
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Samantha "Null" Graves will take the veteran firestarter.
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For records' sake: I'm calling dibs on the Veteran Griffin.
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Archmage wants the Elite Catapult.
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Calling the MAD 1R
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Calling the MAD 1R
I knew this was going to happen the moment it rolled up on the table.
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Calling the Awesome. I'm a sucker for big 'Mechs and big energy weapons. I've played enough MekTek to know that I'll suck if anyone gets inside my PPCs' minimum range, so anyone willing to run interference on pesky lights and mediums would be appreciated.
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I'd like the centurion!
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I'm calling the Highlander again, then, since it seemed to go unnoticed on IRC
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I will put in for the Shadowhawk please.
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Alright, **** it. Calling the Highlander. Callsign Stormlord.
Can't guarantee how much time I'll have in a month (which is why I'm picking this mech), but for now I'm in.
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I already called the ****ing highlander! These are mechs, not pies!
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Zellbrigen!
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Alright, **** it. Calling the Highlander. Callsign Stormlord.
Can't guarantee how much time I'll have in a month (which is why I'm picking this mech), but for now I'm in.
PH already called the Highlander, so I'll give you the Galahad instead, which has not one but two gauss rifles, and will be under the same conditions.
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I had not heard of the Galahad before. I was afraid it would be horribly ugly but upon investigating it actually looks pretty good. I am happy with it.
These are mechs, not pies!
You can't prove that.
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Alrighty, got the 'Mechs claimed, and I'll be picking five more to make a total of 14; 12 of which will be available for every mission, two of which will only be available during secrecy optional missions. Two of them, as such, will not actually have pilots assigned or associated to them. After that, I'll get our tech teams set up, and it'll be briefing time for the first scenario.
I was out of the house all day, or that'd probably have happened today. :P
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ok - sign me up as a mech fixer, keep me happy pilots or your ride'll end up at the end of the TOFIX list :p
Nickname: PPC (since he's always banging on about how every mech with an autocannon would be better off with a PPC, and heat be damned!)
(name/ethnicity/background etc can be up to you to fit in better with your story. Or I can try to grind out some inferior ~words~ if you wish)
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Something tells me that my 'mech ends up at the bottom of the repair lists...
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I had not heard of the Galahad before. I was afraid it would be horribly ugly but upon investigating it actually looks pretty good. I am happy with it.
it does look like it skipped arm day, though
(http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/7/7a/SLGalahad.jpg)
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Was this one of the unseen? I've seen pictures of the Galahad that look like a Rifleman with a AWACS dome.
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/total n00b :banghead:
Curious as to what is this exactly. What, as in "here's the scenario, stuff happens, ok I respond in totally plain english 'my character will go here go here do this do that', Scotty interprets it, and then we see what happens" ????? :nervous:
Guess I'll watch from the sidelines, I am no ComStar fan (aside from not really logging in often since my attention remains elsewhere). Strangely seems potential boredom fun though.
(omg that last sentence was so broken lol)
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Basically! I'm hoping for things slightly less ambiguous than something I can interpret. :P. But that's the general idea.
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And we have our roster! These ranks are a hoot, so I'm going to type out all of them.
MechWarriors (this is also where you correct anything wrong that I might have missed):
Demi-Precentor Epsilon XVII Charlie "Shidachi" Crawford - Shadow Hawk SHD-2H - Elite (StarSlayer)
Adept Epsilon XV Erik "The E" Kalayjian - Marauder MAD-1R - Regular (The E)
Adept Epsilon XI Kevin "Archmage" Turnpenny - Catapult CPLT-C1 - Elite (AdmiralRalwood)
Adept Epsilon IX Dwayne "Ferris" Metherall - Griffin GRF-2N - Veteran (IronBeer)
Adept Epsilon VII Lisa "Throttle" Turgoose - Wolverine WVR-6R - Regular (NPC)
Adept Epsilon VI Adina "Viper" Davenport - Centurion CN9-A - Regular (-Joshua-)
Adept Epsilon V Cecelia "Phantom Hoover" Palazim - Highlander HGN-732 - Veteran (Phantom Hoover)
Adept Epsilon IV Samantha "Null" Graves - Firestarter FS9-H - Veteran (JSRNerdo)
Adept Epsilon III Gilbert "Nightfall" Tufan - Firefly FFL-4A - Regular (NPC)
Adept Epsilon II Amatullah "Stormlord" Ouma - Galahad GLH-2D - Regular (Aesaar)
Acolyte Epsilon XIV Christel Murphy - Locust LCT-1V - Green (NPC)
Acolyte Epsilon III Kally "Utopian" en-Covare - Awesome AWS-8Q - Veteran (Lepanto)
Techs:
Demi-Precentor Zeta I Eric "Scourge (of Engines)" Lathram - Veteran (Scourge of Ages)
Adept Zeta XIV Norma Tseng - Regular
Adept Zeta XII Isabelle Linneberg - Regular
Adept Zeta X Anniken Aherne - Regular
Adept Zeta V Christie Siebert - Regular
Adept Zeta V Christina Edwards - Regular
Adept Zeta IV Sanije Haxhi - Regular
Adept Zeta III Debaprosad "PPC" Kazaz - Regular (niffiwan)
Acolyte Zeta VI Mary Wiegand - Green
Acolyte Zeta III Parwati Adjeng - Green
Medical:
Demi-Precentor Kappa VII Ailani Pualani - Elite
Admin:
Demi-Precentor Chi XVII Kevin Jeannin - Regular
Really lucked out on the roll with the doctor. That should mean that if you take serious hits during a scenario that it won't take terribly long to get you patched back up and out there into the fight. This roster should also provide a pretty good idea of what spots are still open, if anybody reading wants to hop in somewhere. First scenario should be up later tonight!
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How does us being Comstar fit into this being Battletech and Comstar not doing much unless extreme things happen?
Unless we are secretly doing a dark age campaign? :P
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ComStar does plenty. You just don't hear about it because they control 95% of interstellar communication. :P Around this time, the ComGuard was being raised in secret by exterminating pirates in the Periphery, and the arrival of the Wolf's Dragoons (our first scenario is going to be ~a couple months before their arrival) threw everything into a tizzy.
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Also, requesting that my character be referred to as "Viper" instead: Bommel really doesn't work well on someone named Adina :)
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Some pretty badass names in that bunch. For those of us not familiar with the inner workings of ComStar, what do the ranks mean, exactly?
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The basic gist of it is:
Acolyte - lowest, least responsibility. Lower enlisted, in the military arm.
Adept - midlevel responsibility and usually high technical proficiency. NCOs, for all intents and purposes.
Demi-Precentor - junior officers. Notably different from most militaries in that this is not an entry level rank for anyone. Literally everyone starts at Acolyte and goes up.
The greek letter is for branch. Epsilon is MechWarriors, Zeta is for mechanic/technical personnel, etc.
The Roman numeral indicates years in grade. Promotion to the next rank happens after recommendation by superiors, or after 25 years in grade. So, if you suck really bad at your job, you could end up an Acolyte XXV.
It's a bit more nuanced than that under the surface, but that's the cliff notes.
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The Roman numeral indicates years in grade. Promotion to the next rank happens after recommendation by superiors, or after 25 years in grade. So, if you suck really bad at your job, you could end up an Acolyte XXV.
:nervous:
Acolyte Epsilon XIV Christel Murphy - Locust LCT-1V - Green (NPC)
That poor NPC, spending XIV years as a Green Acolyte...
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Yeah she ended up being a 32 year old green pilot. I think that speaks to a certain level of sucking at one's job.
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So, if I read this right, my character is a better MechWarrior than half the unit, despite being a rank lower than most and having only served for three years? Not complaining. :)
Looking forward to seeing what sorts of top sekrit assignments we'll be going on to hold back technological progress and fracture civilization. I voted for the FWL, but cultists with advanced tech and a ridiculous agenda that makes them (covertly) attack everybody will certainly be fun.
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Yeah she ended up being a 32 year old green pilot. I think that speaks to a certain level of sucking at one's job.
If I weren't gearing up to start DMing a D&D campaign, I'd have jumped into the shoes of that character just to prove her haters wrong....
....or die quickly. I mean, there's only so much you can expect from a Locust or its pilot.
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And we have our roster! These ranks are a hoot, so I'm going to type out all of them.
MechWarriors (this is also where you correct anything wrong that I might have missed):
Demi-Precentor Epsilon XVII Charlie "Shidachi" Crawford - Shadow Hawk SHD-2H - Elite (StarSlayer)
:nervous:
Oh Pants
Given my lack of TT experience I was not expecting to be put in what I assume is the senior officer position...
Welp guess I will need to not embarrass myself.
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ok - sign me up as a mech fixer, keep me happy pilots or your ride'll end up at the end of the TOFIX list :p
Nickname: PPC (since he's always banging on about how every mech with an autocannon would be better off with a PPC, and heat be damned!)
(name/ethnicity/background etc can be up to you to fit in better with your story. Or I can try to grind out some inferior ~words~ if you wish)
Hi Ho, could I plz claim this spot? ;)
Adept Zeta III Debaprosad "PPC" Kazaz - Regular
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ok - sign me up as a mech fixer, keep me happy pilots or your ride'll end up at the end of the TOFIX list :p
Nickname: PPC (since he's always banging on about how every mech with an autocannon would be better off with a PPC, and heat be damned!)
(name/ethnicity/background etc can be up to you to fit in better with your story. Or I can try to grind out some inferior ~words~ if you wish)
Hi Ho, could I plz claim this spot? ;)
Adept Zeta III Debaprosad "PPC" Kazaz - Regular
Certainly! Lemme update it, and I'll get on our scenario immediately after.
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Was this one of the unseen? I've seen pictures of the Galahad that look like a Rifleman with a AWACS dome.
You may be thinking of the Glass Spider (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Glass_Spider_(Galahad)), a Clan 'mech based on the Galahad (and which, yes, is on the list of Unseen):
(http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/8/87/Galahad.jpg)
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And now, the fun begins. Track 1 ("That's Not Supposed to be There"), scenario 1. "Digsite Approach".
Welcome to Jeppens, Demi-Precentor. Never heard of it? Neither has anyone else who doesn't live here – which is no one. This was originally a colony back in the days of the Star League, but it was abandoned early into the First Succession War, when the Outworlds Alliance couldn't show the flag anymore and it fell to the depredations of whatever pirates felt like pillaging that week. Turns out that was often enough to be a dealbreaker. The inhabitants packed up, and Jeppens has been an abandoned rock ever since.
At least, until as recently as nine months ago. An Explorer Corps vesseel returning to Terra to offload its survey data passed through the system and picked up unexpected comms traffic. It went dark fairly quickly, but that vessel, the Boundary of Imagination, was either fast enough on the con, or the group on the ground were shocked enough that they transmitted in the clear and the ship picked it up. A copy of the recording is attached to this briefing.
The salient point is this: the intercepted comms chatter indicated a cache of some sort under excavation. We have no records of a Brian Cache this far out, but records are notoriously sketchy from before the Reunification War. Odds are good that this is nothing, and that these yahoos are on a mission to nowhere. Unfortunately, ROM doesn't play odds when it can stack the deck. Go in, take them out, figure out what's going on with this digsite. In that order.
Both formations will deploy for this one, all pilots will sortie. More detailed briefing to follow.
The digsite is situated on the northern end of the southernmost continent, about ten miles inland. Our approach appears to have been undetected. No alarm has been raised, and no 'Mechs beyond the normal security detail we spotted from orbit have been scrambled. It's as good a shot as one could ever have. We'll be approaching from the southwest, ETA 1306 Lima. They should spot you a few clicks out, but we haven't picked up anything that can get away from you.
Go ruin their day. Weapons free on this one. Get the Highlander some exercise. No one leaves, not even with us.
Expected opposition:
Medium 'Mech Lance
Medium Armor Platoon
Scattered infantry presence
[OOC: It's already later than I wanted to be up tonight, and this is most of the legwork for getting the scenario started. Feel free to discuss potential strategy, with the knowledge that the map is hilly, with scattered light woods, and large enough that long sight lines of 30+ hexes are the norm and not the exception. Think about the groups you'd like to deploy in. I'll have the map up in the late afternoon US time tomorrow.]
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Assuming the intelligence is accurate, this is going to be a massive case of overkill.
Which is how I like it, of course, but I think we should plan for stiffer opposition than expected.
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Yeah she ended up being a 32 year old green pilot. I think that speaks to a certain level of sucking at one's job.
Either that, or someone who is happy to just do the lazy backwater guard duty jobs as long as they pay her.
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"We have plenty of long range firepower right?" Viper asked, near-whispering as she took sips from her cappucino. "I say we find a few higher positions, whack them from long range and use our smaller mechs to force them out in the open when they hide".
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OOC: Let's talk about organization. A standard Inner Sphere deployment would mean that our 12 mechs would be divided into three lances of 4 mechs each. ComGuard has a slightly different doctrine and organizes 6 basic units (i.e. single Mechs, vehicles, fighters or infantry platoons) into what is called a Level 2 unit. 6 of those form a Level 3, 6 L3s an L4, and so on up to L6.
---
Our 2 L2s are currently composed of 2 Assault Mechs, 3 Heavies, 4 Mediums and 3 Lights. Standard Unit composition for a Level 2 would thus organize us into one Assault L2 of Utopian, Hoover, Archmage, Stormlord, Viper and Me and one light L2. With that organization, Shidachi and his L2 would scout ahead, while the Assault L2 hangs back and provides long range support.
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(http://i.imgur.com/Hou4Xnr.png) (in ComStar uniform)
A young Acolyte nods along with the briefing. "Valid analyses, 'Viper' and 'The E'. Please allow this Acolyte to interject, though. We'd best not split up our units too far apart, in case unexpected hostiles flank our assault unit with our light unit out of position."
"A shame these interlopers had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They probably are just mercenaries or treasure hunters chasing ghosts. But technology in the wrong hands can be worse for civilization's development than no tech at all, and the Blessed Blake's vision overrides a mere few individual lives."
"Also, now that I think about it, these treasure hunters would need both a JumpShip and a source of intel. I presume our brothers in ROM are already tracking down the rest of these loose ends. But do keep in mind that this operation may be larger and more capable than it appears, especially if they did indeed manage to find a cache even ComStar did not know about."
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I have literally no idea what my mech is good at btw, so if someone could give me a precis of that it would be just great
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Your Mech is a Highlander. Its main armament are its Gauss Rifle and an LRM-20 missile launcher, both of which are very long range weapons (The LRM flies out to 21 hexes, the GR can hit things up to 22 hexes away). Its secondary armament consists of an SRM-6 and 2 Medium Lasers, both effective at up to 9 hexes. This gives the Highlander firepower squarely in the middle of the Assault Mech range, and you will generally want to keep enemies at a distance of 10 or less hexes, which is the range where most of your weapons will be able to land hits.
The main distinguishing feature of your mech, however, are its jump jets. This turns the Highlander from a sort of average all-rounder into a heavy terrain specialist (this includes cities), able to reposition much faster than other assault mechs can in similar situations.
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We are playing with unit quirks, as well, so your Highlander in particular has Reinforced Legs - it takes less damage when performing a death from above. There's even a particular name for successfully executing one while otinging a Highlander: the Highlander Burial.
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jesus christ
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jesus christ
Blake's blood!
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It also looks pretty damn good (http://www.thewarstore.com/media/IWM/IWM205128.jpg), in addition to being one of the best and most flexible Assault 'Mechs of all time.
Orbital recon has given us a good view of the primary digsite.
(http://i.imgur.com/Edi9X9C.png)
That's it in the eastern quarter. We weren't able to nail down who and what was defending, but we did get solid readings on Magscan. We don't anticipate any more than a single Medium 'Mech Lance, and a Medium armor platoon. Infantry presence is unknown, but this terrain favors our 'Mechs to such an extent that it's just plain unfair if we have to go up against infantry. They don't stand a chance.
Our line of advance will be from the southwest corner of this image. Sporadic woods should be enough to mask our approach until we're within roughly 1 click. Our options for approach are highlighted on the map below. This is as close a view as we could get at altitude.
(http://i.imgur.com/K4UReIv.png)
The majority of the digsite is located underground. We were unable to locate the entrance conclusively, but analysis of track and tire patterns indicates that with a probability upwards of 90% it's the area circled in red on the blow map. Be careful of the area indicated by the red line - if I was planning an abush, that'd be where I'd put it.
(http://i.imgur.com/7p8xViR.png)
All available forces are deploying immediately. No need to make this drag on longer than it needs to. Death Erases Memory II-alpha will provide primary firepower. Application of Leverage II-alpha will accompany to hunt down stragglers and provide on-site recon support.
Onsite tactical decision making is entirely in your court, Demi-Precentor. Just remember: no one leaves. We'll deploy the salvage teams after you radio the all-clear. Mission duration, from landing to lift off, shouldn't exceed ten hours, unless we find something significant that didn't show up during our orbital flyby.
[OOC: if you guys can read hex numbers, tell me which one you want to deploy in. If you can't, describe it and I'll put you there.]
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Archmage frowned at the map. "I'm... wary of approaching from the most obvious direction. Perhaps we should take the time to circle around, and approach from the South-East? Or even split up, and try to take them from multiple directions simultaneously..."
He straightened with a shrug, addressing Shidachi. "Ultimately your call, Boss. What's the play?"
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(Because I didn't remember to post it in here anywhere, the two Level IIs (six units each) are as follows:
Application of Leverage II-alpha:
Demi-Precentor Epsilon XVII Charlie "Shidachi" Crawford - Shadow Hawk SHD-2H - Elite (StarSlayer)
Adept Epsilon IX Dwayne "Ferris" Metherall - Griffin GRF-2N - Veteran (IronBeer)
Adept Epsilon VII Lisa "Throttle" Turgoose - Wolverine WVR-6R - Regular (NPC)
Adept Epsilon IV Samantha "Null" Graves - Firestarter FS9-H - Veteran (JSRNerdo)
Adept Epsilon III Gilbert "Nightfall" Tufan - Firefly FFL-4A - Regular (NPC)
Acolyte Epsilon XIV Christel Murphy - Locust LCT-1V - Green (NPC)
Death Erases Memory II-alpha:
Adept Epsilon XV Erik "The E" Kalayjian - Marauder MAD-1R - Regular (The E)
Adept Epsilon VI Adina "Viper" Davenport - Centurion CN9-A - Regular (-Joshua-)
Adept Epsilon V Cecelia "Phantom Hoover" Palazim - Highlander HGN-732 - Veteran (Phantom Hoover) [alternate: WVR-6R Wolverine]
Adept Epsilon XI Kevin "Archmage" Turnpenny - Catapult CPLT-C1 - Elite (AdmiralRalwood)
Adept Epsilon II Amatullah "Stormlord" Ouma - Galahad GLH-2D - Regular (Aesaar) [alternate: ON1-K Orion]
Acolyte Epsilon III Kally "Utopian" en-Covare - Awesome AWS-8Q - Veteran (Lepanto))
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'Null' shrugs. "We've got a pretty good matchup here, and the woods in the south and southeast look like they'd be great for us faster 'mechs to run around and start making some lives miserable."
"I'm thinkin' we deploy the lights and faster mediums south, flank southeast and give our bigger 'mechs some room to engage," she adds with a grin.
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I agree with Archmage and Null. I suggest we deploy as far east as we can and approach from the south. It allows us to bypass the potential ambush and gives us clear sightlines all the way to the objective.
My suggested scheme of maneuver:
(http://i.imgur.com/Ub1j3mK.png)
Death Erases Memory makes its way to waypoint A. From there, take up overwatch positions as Application of Leverage moves to waypoint B and then across the eastern edge of the depression. On the way they can confirm or deny any enemy in the woodline to the east.
If they come under fire, AoL can return fire across open ground, or, if the enemy proves too much, they can duck into the treeline to the east (hopefully drawing the enemy out into the depression in pursuit). DEM can either support from their overwatch positions or move north if necessary.
Once AoL secures the objective, DEM moves north and joins them, freeing up AoL to conduct a sweep of the area to ensure no one is left. After that, we establish a perimeter and await further orders.
OOC: Scotty doesn't like MWO redesigns but they're better than TRO art or the models. (http://i.imgur.com/eaELG.jpg)
And The_E has the best looking mech of the bunch. (http://i.imgur.com/dRiZXB9.jpg)
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"For what it's worth, I agree with Stormlord's suggestion... and I'm very impressed with how quickly you whipped up those slides."
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"It's a good plan. I recommend we follow it. I am going to head for grid reference 1944, heading northeast to A. From there, I'll head towards the western overwatch position."
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"In that case, I think I'll deploy in the direction of 2144 and set up shop on, say, the southern edge of the depression; around about the potential overwatch site Stormlord marked near waypoint B. Should give me good LRM coverage while keeping my lasers close enough to play, and help keep an eye on those eastern woods if need be (or reposition to use them as cover)."
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"I'll go with The E on this one, in case anything bad shows up on our western flank"
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Cecelia "Phantom Hoover" Palazim makes no objection to Stormlord's tactical analysis but would like to formally question whether a 103 kilobyte PNG was truly the most efficient way to communicate it, or whether it represents an unacceptable squandering of the holy bandwidth entrusted to us by Blake.
She would also like to commend Adept Ouma's choice of callsign, in pious imitation of the many blessed icons of Original Characters recovered from the archives of the golden age of networking.
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I approve the proposed deployment plan.
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Utopian nods. "I concur with the plan so far. I will deploy with the rest of Death Erases Memory, taking central overwatch. As my PPCs have a minimum range, I shall keep distance from suspected hostiles at all times."
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(Currently waiting for Phantom Hoover and IronBeer to pick deployment hexes.
An explanation for the new title: Operation: HOLY SHROUD is the name ComStar gave to the process of deliberately suppressing advanced technology, and killing or 'disappearing' anyone who could change that.)
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Looking at the mission brief I assume we are securing an SLDF weapons cache?
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Basically yes.
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aaaaaah **** put me next to aesaar, he probably knows what he's doing
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lol
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I put myself next to The E for that reason.
(Änd not because he has a shiny SLDF-era Marauder).
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Go ahead and put me near-ish to The E as well. Also check your PMs.
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Static crackles over the secure comms channel. “Shidachi, E, we read you on approach to final pre-contact waypoint. Target comms traffic has maintained background levels. They have no idea you're there. Engagement estimated in thirty seconds. Weapons free, say again, weapons free. You are good for guns, all targets valid. Blake's blessings go with you.”
Three hundred meters later, Shidachi's HUD chimed with the indicator they'd reached the nav point. Beyond this, the likelihood of detection rose exponentially. Contact was imminent. Acolyte Murphy's voice broke over the comms. “Making way to nav Beta. MagScan calibrated north northeast, eyes open. No contact on scopes yet.”
(http://i.imgur.com/XCRbxhQ.png)
The rest of the strike force started to spread out, moving in the directions they'd established in their briefing meeting.
[Awaiting input. Please PM your moves, and though you may plan your moves with each other (and I have no way of enforcing it even if I said not to), I have only provided the NPCs' moves so you can avoid running into them, and for some idea of scale. Please remember to send me your moves in such a way that I can understand what direction and how far you're going. As a reminder, light woods cost an additional point to enter, heavy woods cost an additional two points to enter, and going up or down a level is one extra point per level changed. You can see that in the Locust's move below. Ideal syntax for sending me moves is to start with either W, R, or J depending on whether your 'Mech will be walking (blue numbers below), running (yellow), or jumping; then say the number of hexes you plan to enter (hexes may only be entered in front of you or behind you, for any of the 'Mechs you're all using. You can't go backward if you're running), or the number of hex facings you intend to turn. I'll provide examples under the pictures below. Any questions, just ask. Alternately, if the idea of planning your move out in a specific and odd syntax bugs you, just tell me where you want to go and I'll plot a course there, just don't complain if it isn't exactly how you wanted to move.]
(http://i.imgur.com/gfR4UVN.png)
[RF10]
(http://imgur.com/MrN2jK9.png)
[RF4L1F1]
(http://i.imgur.com/TFB6Kqd.png)
[RF8]
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How are we supposed to plan out our movements without knowing what speed all of our 'Mechs are?
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Silly me, I forgot you guys don't know all of that. All movements are in the form of Walk/Run, with jump added if applicable after another slash.
Shadow Hawk (StarSlayer): 5/8/3
Highlander (Phantom Hoover): 3/5/3
Galahad (Aesaar): 3/5
Marauder (The E): 4/6
Catapult (AdmiralRalwood): 4/6/4
Awesome (Lepanto): 3/5
Centurion (-Joshua-): 4/6
Griffin (IronBeer): 5/8/5
Firestarter (JSRNerdo): 6/9/6
Locust (NPC): 8/12
Firefly (NPC): 5/8/4
Wolverine (NPC): 5/8/5
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After looking at the stats jump jets actually are the least efficient at covering ground (I guess these aren't like in Gundam :P), I assume they are instead useful for moving in the vertical. Is there some way to tell the topography on the map to know when they give a tactical advantage?
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(Each hex has a level associated with it, indicating height. They help establish LOS, but there's no major advantage for holding the high ground, except denying partial cover to your targets. It's not a huge deal, but it can tip a key battle. Jump jets that match walking speed will usually be able to match the running speed for defensive movement modifiers, and jump jets are very, very good at crossing things like rivers and cities, where there are inherent risks associated with ground movement.
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They're super useful for moving in any restricted terrain, including forests (in addition to what Scotty mentioned).
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"Breaking off to head to overwatch position Alpha 1. Scopes are clear, passive sensors cranked to max sensitivity."
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(Currently waiting on: Lepanto, JSRNerdo, IronBeer, Phantom Hoover to send me moves.)
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"Alright, let's go. Keep cover behind those woods if you can, they'll have a hard time spotting you through 'em."
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"Ferris, advancing. I'll try to keep my head down until things get exciting."
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(All moves received; update will be tomorrow after I get home from work.)
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Only seconds after the waypoint was reached, the scopes light up with positively identified targetes. Acolyte Murphy's voice rings over the comms first. “Contact! Positive ID on four tanks. Also reading scattered infantry in dug-in positions.”
Her voice wasn't alone for long. Nightfall was next to report. “Scopes show one BattleMech, a Panther 250 meters west of the objective.”
Murphy updated the situation moments later. “Make that two. Valkyrie within a hundred of suspected opening. Vehicles are on the move, looks like a convoy, roughly 500 meters west of objective alpha. Tally two platoons infantry.”
(http://i.imgur.com/aBRH7FK.png)
Enemy forces in sight
(http://i.imgur.com/U9ISpbB.png)
Friendly forces, post moves. Not all moves completed successfully, due to multiple 'Mechs attempting to enter the same hex (2641 had no fewer than three try to end up there).
(I will PM each of you with your available targets. If you don't receive a PM in the next ~hour~ or so, there are no available targets for you. All PMs have been sent.)
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"Our overwatch position will put us directly in contact!" Viper observed. "Frontal assault, lead?"
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"So much for trying to sneak around them... Firing LRMs on the near Scimitar!"
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Weapons fire for ArchMage
LRM 15 at Scimitar #2: Miss!
LRM 15 at Scimitar #2: Miss!
Heat effects
None
New Turn Begins
(http://i.imgur.com/g6jj8b8.png)
The left flank, occupied by Phantom Hoover and Aesaar
(http://i.imgur.com/XWz5c6a.png)
The main body of the group
(http://i.imgur.com/N26m2Tz.png)
Acolyte Murphy on the right flank
(http://i.imgur.com/tj96Lz5.png)
Tactical view.
Awaiting movement input.
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"Ferris, weapons hot!"
Machine-lightning smite thee, heretic!
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(Apologies for the delay, Christmas and whatnot. I'll try to pester people who still need to send in moves tomorrow.)
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(Not dead, just busy. Promise.)
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(So far I have received moves from JSRNerdo, StarSlayer, -Joshua-, The E, and Lepanto. I am waiting on moves from IronBeer, Phantom Hoover, Admiral Ralwood, and Aesaar.)
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I don't at all mean to rush you, but I am
going to stumble into doing just that curious what the holdup is and if there's something that the players can do to help things along :)
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Christmas happened and everyone had other things to focus on, I think.
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I am new to this thread, but would be interested in your game with simultaneous movement.
I can play in the next battle if you are already started.
....hopefully this might still be going...?
I saw the list of mechs still available.... so if it was still correct... I'll take the "Regular TDR-5S Thunderbolt (Special Ability: Hopping Jack)"
I think its actually called Jumping Jack but its all good since the 5S doesnt jump... perhaps it was meant to be a 5SE?
Anyhow... not sure when you guys play... except that you play on Sundays... just not sure of the time.
Callsign: MekMaster... or just "Master" :eek2: :lol:
Keep me posted with a PM.
-Mek
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I have been without internet for the last week and a half, my apologies. It has stalled, because trying to coordinate simultaneous movement is a ****-load of work.
"Hopping Jack" is correct; Jumping Jack reduces the jumping modifier by 2, Hopping Jack reduces it by 1 instead. It was assigned randomly.
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At least it's good to see you are still there.
So "stalled" ... Does that mean it will pick back up or not?
Personally it might be easier to have players say they run , turn to face hex xxxx, enter hex xxxx, turn to face hex xxxx, etc.... Just send them the map. If they can't finish the move because they can't count or forget their heat, then you can leave them short as if they had tried to do what they wanted.
Hopefully this Doesnt just fizzle out.