Author Topic: Let's Play... BattleTech! Rise of the Hard Light Brigade  (Read 62603 times)

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Offline niffiwan

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
You made a comment earlier that you'd misunderstood how easy vehicles were to repair, backed up by the fact that the Manticore & Hetzer were written off.  Do vehicles have to survive in order to be repairable?  (I don't have a copy of TacOps, or whichever sourcebook these rules are in).
« Last Edit: June 19, 2013, 07:58:20 pm by niffiwan »
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Offline Scotty

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
I was under the impression that a single destroyed location meant recoverable, but have since been educated on that.  I'm pretty sure that I have to capture it alive in order to get the vehicle in repairable condition.

Both the Hetzer and the Manticore were not repairable, that much I know, and both of them suffered catastrophic damage to only one section.  In light of that, it's clear that the destruction of one section is enough to destroy the vehicle.  I'm not sure, however, if the fact that they were body locations mattered, or if the turret would make it salvageable.

 

Offline Dragon

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
So that it for the Urban Renewal Box, then? We'll have to get a Spoonzer II, it seems. That Crab might work better than the Manticore, though, just make sure it watches it's step... :)

 

Offline Scotty

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
The Urban Renewal Box is indeed destined for the trashbin.  Rest assured, the Spz.Kpfw. II is going to exist, and as soon as I can make it.  I can't guarantee it'll be better than the Hetzer, but honestly speaking it's hard to make it worse.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Well, actually, it's pretty easy, the Hetzer is one of the few vehicles from the original TRO that you had to actually worry about with a 'Mech, and probably the only one in its weight class.
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Offline Dragon

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Indeed. Think that you could've rolled a 10 ton APC with a puny MG or a Savannah Master with a puny laser and no armor to speak of. :) A Hetzer is actually a pretty nice vehicle. I learned to watch out for their AC/20 in MCO and, as Spoonzer proved, they can be a lot deadlier on tabletop.

 

Offline Mongoose

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Personal log, Master Sergeant Anthony "Mongoose" Sato, dated Feburary 20, 3049:

So much for easing our way into this first contract.  Seven weeks of transit to get to this hunk of rock, and our dropzone is practically on top of the enemy HQ.  I have no idea what the jocks were doing out there, but every 'Mech came back pretty dinged up at the least, and the Vindicator wasn't much more than a walking slag heap.  With all the smacking into buildings the hotshots must have been doing, you'd think they'd forgotten where the IR mode switches were.  My team's going to be pulling triple shifts for at least a week to take care of this.  At least we're better off than Red's boys...if they can dredge up more than twenty kilos worth of scrap combined from what's left of the vehicle fleet, I'll be shocked.  What was I thinking when I signed up with this outfit?

(I have no real idea how this universe works, so someone can feel free to whip up a fun backstory for my guy if they're bored.)

 

Offline StarSlayer

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Manticore's kaput...

Well ****.  Guess its for the best I didn't become too attached to the tank.  I'll hope for the best when it comes time to look at the cavalry remounts.
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world”

 
Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Battle report, Corporal John "Scourge" Aherne, Operation Daybreak, op date 12/02/3049:

Report, eh? kk, let's see here. Well, inbound to Milos, our employer gives us some fresh intel. They found the pirate base, and we didn't even have to hunt anything yet! Good news. The dropship pilot and Commander Strobe decide on a drop point right next to the city. Cool, stand up fight, get it over with.
Now, there's not much to say that's not obvious from the recordings, so I'll just stick to what I saw: Us tanks go scouting ahead of the main force, looking for targets of opportunity, and our ally Phoenix Hawk goes ahead with us, before splitting off to hack through some buildings. More meat for us.

There're three mechs vs us two tanks - a Vindicator, a Rifleman, and a Hermes. Iron's Hetzer trades blows with the Vindicator, takes a PPC but pummels it to scrap with its AC/20. I got a lucky PPC shot on the Hermes, all but crippling it, and Starslayer kept the Rifleman on its back with sustained missile fire. Things are looking good, despite both tanks losing a little armor.

But while the first one explodes, a second Vindy moves up, and it unloads at us. We take a PPC through our left side armor which takes out our engine. Worrying, yes. Then an Icarus punches a LL through the last of our front armor. It starts a small fire, knocks out the electrical systems, and sends some of equipment in the cabin bouncing around like shrapnel. Nancy Ma got hit in the head and ankle and went out cold. When we had all the fires extinguished, the whole crew had minor burns and/or cuts, but Nancy had clearly taken the brunt; we had to use all the meds in the first-aid box just to keep her stable and breathing.

When the battle was over, we heard that the Hetzer was immobilized shortly thereafter, with Iron taking severe injuries himself, but thankfully surviving. Easy and Rapier carried the day, getting 16 kills between them, 13 of which went to Rapier. That's pretty danged respectable, no matter who you are.

UPDATE: When I was released from the medical bay with a clean bill of health, I went to the garage to check up on my tank. Mongoose had bad news: Cora is beyond repair, and is getting scrapped. Man... just. Man. *sigh* Well, at least they managed to salvage my hula-girl from the turret dashboard.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2013, 02:47:32 am by Scourge of Ages »

 

Offline Patriot

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Just don't even think about sending us scouts to do a combat lance's duty Scotty :P

Lookin forward to our first scout/raiding party :)


Semi-related, just netted myself a Star League Cache special mission, have to defend a Thunderbolt from 3 mediums with my Wolverine xD

 

Offline FireSpawn

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Personal Log #001, Corporal Xanthus "Fire Spawn" Kalerg

Not to self, begin design process on funny/insulting decals for the bottom of our 'Mechs feet. I also have resolved to do a shot of whiskey every time one of our 'Mechs axe kick the arms off the enemy.

*SIGH* I've got to get back to work, so many things came back busted up that us Techs have our work cut out for us.
Now, lets see what needs to be hit with my hammer first...

End Log
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Offline Patriot

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Also, of sort of important note, i think the roster needs an update to reflect the loss of our tanks :(

 

Offline The E

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Personal Log, Major Caden "Easy" Webb

Right, so we got our first combat mission as the reformed Hard Light Brigade. Our admin pulled up a little contract that, on the surface, seemed easy enough. Little "pirate band" making trouble down in St Ives. So we load up our Mechs and equipment, hijackcharter the nearest JumpShip, and off we go.

Approaching the planet, we're able to determine where our targets are bay the simple expedient of triangulating their comms chatter. These idiots are talking so much over wideband, I want to eliminate them just to make them SHUT THE **** UP. Seriously, how did these guys even manage to climb into their 'Mechs, it seems like we're hitting a training establishment here.

Anyway, so we know where they're hiding. Problem is, they're hiding smack in the middle of a goddamn city. So we have a little brainstorm. We could either land somewhere on the planet and wait for them to come out to meet us (Not bloody likely, given that Intel says they're a light to medium outfit), or we could pay them a visit. And by pay them a visit I mean landing our DropShip right outside the city limits, marching the HQ lance right up the main alley, and shoot them until they stop glowing.
For extra fun, we'll go in at night.

Personal Log, addendum.

Well, so that happened.

Nothing much to say about the walk up to the target; we went down a road while they were scrambling to counter us. Turns out, there isn't much that you can do when you have two AWS, a Hetzer and a Manticore coming up main street. I suppose that if they'd managed to concentrate their fire some more, or if they had been a little more lucky, it might have gone differently, but as it stands, I'm kinda glad that it was amateur hour.

Because this was one ****ed up sortie, let me tell you. Going in at night meant that we had to be extra careful walking down the streets (You'd think walking up a straight road would be trivial. It isn't. Stop asking.), and while we managed to approach to firing range more or less unscathed, post-battle examination showed that some of our opponents were apparently convinced that 'Mechs move by rubbing their faces vigorously on the tarmac.

As far as our combat performance went, I'm really impressed by the crews we have. Sgt Carver proved to be a veritable surgeon in the Hetzer, with a really impressive hit rate for weapons as notoriously unstable as AC/20s. The star of todays' performance, however, has got to be Master Seargeant Bullman. I thought I was pretty good at handling an AWS' weapons, but that guy is a ****ing artist with those PPCs. 13 kills this night alone, a well-earned promotion if there ever was one.

For myself, well, not too shabby if I dare say so myself. Would have been even better if a freak hit hadn't knocked me out cold for much of the action. Doc says there's no permanent damage, which I guess is good.

****ing shame about our tanks though. Seems that they're both irreparably damaged and only good for salvage. Gonna have to see about arranging some extra compensation for those crews, they really showed what disciplined crews can do.

Speaking of salvage, out of all this wreckage we managed to pull a slightly damaged Crab, which'll go a long way toward replacing those vehicles.

Well then. Let's see what our admin staff has managed to get for our next contract.
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Offline StarSlayer

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
What's the steps towards replacing the lost vehicles?  Is it randomized or do you get to select the remounts?  Would we be getting another Manitcore or possibly something like a Rommel, Patton or Po?

I'm willing to put up some of my cut of the payout towards the new vehicle.
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Offline niffiwan

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
From my reading of the AtB rules, I think you get a random pool of mechs/vehicles to buy from each month.
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Offline NGTM-1R

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Quote
So there's a Crab under a tarp in the hanger.

You always hear about people managing to fall over and their 'Mech flops around on the ground until they break their neurohelmet cradle and it gets loose and snaps their neck. But you never expect to actually see it.

The Crab? We saw it. No really, we saw it. Fell over into a building, flopped around until their neurohelmet cradle broke and the weight of their neurohelmet snapped their neck.

Didn't really want to see it happen. Liked it as an urban myth. Kind of thing that keeps you up at night, like cockpit fires and reactor accidents.
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Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
This is totally awesome; if you need another 'Mech pilot to bravely get himself killed, "Archmage" reporting for duty.
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Offline StarSlayer

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Quote
So there's a Crab under a tarp in the hanger.

You always hear about people managing to fall over and their 'Mech flops around on the ground until they break their neurohelmet cradle and it gets loose and snaps their neck. But you never expect to actually see it.

The Crab? We saw it. No really, we saw it. Fell over into a building, flopped around until their neurohelmet cradle broke and the weight of their neurohelmet snapped their neck.

Didn't really want to see it happen. Liked it as an urban myth. Kind of thing that keeps you up at night, like cockpit fires and reactor accidents.

Jimmie crickets you make it sound like its the cursed Crab.  Been kicking round the Successor States killing its own pilots since Kerensky left.  :P
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Offline NGTM-1R

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
Frankly, considering how the pilot died, I think that qualifies it for a possible curse.
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline deathfun

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Re: Let's Play... BattleTech!
I think that'd qualify a lot of things for a lot of possible curses
"No"