/btg/ BattleTech General

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What's your favorite:

>Com Guard original mech design
>Com Guard variant of a common design
>Com Guard division

WoB mechs and divisions are also allowed.

>>53249747
Fuckers charge too much for my damn phone bill.
>>53249799
Now that's an image I can get behind.

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>>53249799

AT&T, please go!

>>>/g/

>>53249799
>Com Guard variant of a common design
I wouldn't call the base design common per se, but the clanbuster King Crab is pretty nasty

>>53249978
What's funny it's one of the rare variants that actually works well in MWO aswell especially on Faction Warfare-

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>>53250266
Urbie-chan, you're so scandalous! <3
DON'T JUDGE ME!

>>53245097
>start rebuilding the demo teams, especially by making a few apologies behind the scenes and kissing some ass since that's one of the big promotional things they get for free, then we could be talking.
That would require admitting that they're wrong. And giving us the FUCKING SHIMSEEN, because I can't run intro scenarios as a "formal" Demo Agent without them. So I do demos and shit on my own, with no support. Someday, maybe we'll get more than the current 10 decent map boards, too.

Also, more support than "here's some pdf credits to our store that barely fucking works" would be nice. Something? Anything?
People don't want pdfs as prizes.

>>53249832
>>53249670
>Lancemate for a Griff, Pixie, and Wolverine
Assuming you want to keep it a Medium lance?
Yeah, a 'Hopper will have difficulty keeping up with them. Depending on where you are in the Sphere, I'd pop in one of the following -
>Lyrans: Starslayer.
Good, solid all-range punch, fits well with the speed profile, and it can move in close or back off depending on where you need the hits. Also works well with the Steiner Griffin.

>Combine
Well, you're already playing Azami or Vegans anyway, so... a couple Salad-shooters or another Pixie. Keep the speed up, add some more threat to the lance. Alternately, throw in a Kurita Shad. Yes I know it's a crippleware griffin. It's still pretty great.

>FS
Enforcer all the way. A Centurion fits the weapons profile better but it's too damned slow.

>Marik
Trebuchet, probably. build a little firebase in the back with the Griff and the Treb, go in kicking and spotting with everyone else.

>>53251037
I forgot, is the Starslayer a retconned Lyran design or was it always one of theirs?

>>53251585
It was one of those 3058SL designs reintroduced by the lyrans, with a SW downgrade retconned in later

>>53249524
Phoenix Hawk.

>>53251585
Originally from the McCarron's Armored Cavalry scenario pack, where it didn't have any factionality and was only available from random star league caches. Original TR:3058 put Blue Shot Weaponry on Solaris VII. Don't know which way Blue Shot leaned during the Star League.

>>53250731

We own the IP. As far as reality is concerned, we're incapable of being wrong. We haven't mistreated anyone who hasn't deserved it, and while there was a minor financial hiccup, Catalyst Game Labs has completely recovered and will be sure to continue running the BattleTech franchise for decades to come.

Sorry to disappoint you. You're just going to have to get used to BattleTech being the the best hands it's ever been in.

-The Catalyst Observer

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>>53252876

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http://store.steampowered.com/app/637090/BattleTech/

Does anyone know when the public beta is?

I wanna buy the Mechwarrior bundle from backerkit before it's too late.

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>>53253084
Nevermind, read the Polygon article, am retarded.

Have cool robot picture as apology.

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>Then we'll send the Locusts in to finish them off!

>>53249799
>WoB mechs and divisions are also allowed.
heretic

>>53255364
how

>>53255230
I remember a long time ago there was fan site of a battalion's worth of BT fans that each had a Locust.

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>>53255794

Well, you might not be able to afford an Awesome. But who needs an awesome when you and 4 of your buddies can locusts instead??

It might not be glamorous. You're easily cored by the bigger guns. But you can work your way up through reputation via boring guard jobs until you can afford a bigger mech! And you can be proud that it isn't an urbie.

Only girls ride locusts

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>>53252876
This is my favorite /btg/ meme. I swear, I smile every time this name pops up with a post.

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>>53256564
>You're easily cored by the bigger guns.

Yeah, I hear that happens all the time.

>>53256610
I haven't seen that pic before and it elicited many a hearty chuckle from me just now. Well played, anon. You're alright.

>>53252876
Almost got me, but you forgot the CGL party line is that Demo Agents should be grateful they're "allowed" to demo the game at all.

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Locustposting?

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>>53257969
>Locustposting?

It's one of the easier Unseen to draw.

>>53258031
I'd like this way better if the Medium Laser looked more like a 2x4; it'd mirror the cockpit shape and make the 'Mech look more relative to itself shape-wise. I always thought something looked off to me about it and now I know what it is. Maybe I'll shoop what I mean to clarify.

>>53258197
>draw
Ha. If you can even draw. I try, but I can't make it work. I used to be able to... long ago.

>>53256711

The trick is to learn how to jump and dance.

But then why by a Mechwarrior when you can instead go on shows of death defying feats! Watch the locust walk across this beam! Oh no, the pilot does a jump, will they stick the landing??

>>53258529
This looks good except it has no shading in the low spots which makes it look flat.

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The original!

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>>53258732
Gotta love buggy shitposting.

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Any news on the boxed set?

Just finished a combined arms Dark Age game with a buddy. The scenario was a mixed company plus a lance of offboard artillery. One lance of mechs, one of v's, and one of infantry. Main purpose was to try some new shit under fire and see how it worked.

We tossed BV out the window just to encourage trying new toys, and instead did a rough guideline of max units, tech level, amount of clan stuff allowed and tonnage. The BV still wound up being pretty similar between both sides.

I grabbed a nominally fedsuns force and he had a republic one.

Things I learned.

ReLasers are garbage. Everyone already knows that but the main factor that makes them that way is the heat. If you dialed it down about 20-30%, then they'd be a pretty fun choice. Ironically, the Templar I took with a giant brace of them was the only surviving fully functional mech at the end. I ran that thing hotter than a RFL-4D.

Shields are actually not total garbage. I took the plasma rifle black knight and being able to switch the shield mode around during weapon phase actually made it tactically viable vs all the equipment that doesn't take changes into effect until the beginning of a round. It was especially nice when I came up against my opponent's LBX's sandblasters since it nullified shots to the actively covered area completely. You can even switch the mode around when you're using the shield arm to prop up after a fall.

Bearhunters are trash. They seem good on paper but the range is just terrible. You're better off with a conventional rifle platoon or proper support weapons.

The Artillery really was the star of the show though. We both took 4 Longtoms. I had half my lance at 1/5 and the other half at 7/5. It let me basically have one pair that could hit wherever pretty regularly and the other relegated to predesignated targets set along all the major choke points. By the time we finished the match, the entire city was rubble, smoke and fire, while the frozen countryside melted to ruined craters.

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>>53258732
>The original!

Some day I'll put mine back together.

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Race me, /btg/

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>>53261044

Pre conversion version.

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>>53261044
the XXL Supercharged model goes 50/75[100]

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>>53261044
>>53261295
Fast!
>>53261454
I don't know romanized moon runes but isn't it Kamikaze?

>>53261483
I'm pretty sure it is, but I was really drunk when I entered it into HMV and haven't yet fixed it

>>53261454

Someone posted a +700km/h frankenmech on discord using MASC+Supercharger. Certain death.

Now I kinda want to make a race course and race these fucking things.

>>53261454

>>53261508
Ah I figured it was like that. Heineken (or alcohol of your choice) strikes once again.
>>53261510
One wrong piloting skill roll and it's like a dozen NASCAR crashes with the chance of an engine possibly going critical.

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>>53261526
So fast I forgot the damn image

>>53261540
>Heineken
Four Roses, thanks.
Personally I can't stand heineken but to each his own

>>53259482
Were you using errata'd RE lasers?

My understanding is that Bearhunters are better in the RPG than the tabletop.

What is the secret to importing custom mechs into megamek?

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>>53261454
>>53261483
>>53261545

Gotta go faster.

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>>53261895

Placing the files into the correct folder.

>>53261940

And to discord, I ask why. This is not survivable.

>>53261995
Did this, keeps tossing me an error.

>>53262044

No clue, just posting what someone else posted on the discord.
>>53261044, >>53261295, and >>53261940 are my mechs.

https://youtu.be/zyjibMw7VNQ

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I'm tired and it's almost time for bed, but I gotta make a racing map for megamek...

...or, I could be an irresponsible adult...!

>>53262229
Every time I see this image I think Bill Watterson drew it.

>>53262380

Susie grew up. The Mechwarrior life isn't what she was dreamed it would be.

She smokes to deal with the loss of friends and the constant boredom.

>>53261778
>My understanding is that Bearhunters are better in the RPG than the tabletop.

The BA version can be fine in BT if using the TacOps BA vs BA rules and with the right platform, namely the Buraq in hunter killer config, which has the speed to actually close to range and fuck other BA squads up bad.

>>53259482
LBX's fucking shred shields though

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Anyone have experience with A Time of War?

Im itching for a Battletech RPG experience, and would like to have a way to introduce my friends to the world with something other than the wargame.

>>53263786
Mechwarrior 2/3E are vastly superior options for this sort of thing over ATOW

>>53264253
In what ways?

I'll look at it them tommorrow.

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>>53264527
MW3e for the goofiness, comprehensive stats/fluff, and cleaner character generation (see attached PDF). MW2 for the lowered crunch and more direct translation to TT gameplay.

Either one is better-arranged than the massive culsterfuck that is AToW.

>>53262754
>namely the Buraq

>listen, what if what if
>we stuff giant burly men
>into robotic ponies?
>that go FAST?

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>>53249747
bump

Someone redpill me on Blakist mechs. I'm kind of new.

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>>53249747
Is the rumor true that the new game's campaign will have the Taurian Concordat as the bad guys?

I remember someone complaining about how also the "good guys," you worked for were slave-owners? Who's that?

>>53265504
They are talking about Magistracy of Canopus backing up the side you are playing in the Single Player campaign and yes they have slavery branded with different name and this has caused some players being butthurt about "working for Feminazis slavers."

>>53265637
Is there a quick-and-dirty /btg/-style description someone can give on this faction, or should I just google it?

But yeah, so it seems like the second question I asked was answered, but what of the first? Any confirmation on who are the "bad," guys?

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So I was checking out the GenCon website and noticed they've put up an event list for the con, with descriptions and details on exactly what each event is, and I stumbled upon this;
>https://www.gencon.com/events/105056
>Join Harebrained Schemes’ Jordan Weisman & Mitch Gitelman for a conversation about HBS’ recently released BATTLETECH videogame.

I'll admit that it's vague, and there also stands the possibility that they could be referring to the beta, but it could mean HBS intends to release the new vidya just before GC, an auspicious time considering the history BT shares with that particular con.

What do you think, gents?
Could we be getting the new game sooner than expected?

>>53265842
>considering the history BT shares with that particular con.

I don't know this. What happened?

>>53265842
>considering the history BT shares with that particular con
Besides Catalyst releasing pretty well nothing until said con, isn't Gencon the one convention that every games company focuses on?

>>53263232
It burns up their uses quick, but the shield totally nullifies them. He had nailed my right torso with a couple gauss hits that punched through, but when I stumbled on his LBX Von Luckner the next round, it saved my ass. He rolled almost entirely right side.

Shields should just be treated as neat disposables, especially since you can jettison them. I wasn't super concerned with it lasting the whole match.

>>53261778
>Were you using errata'd RE lasers?

Yeah

Have the people on BTGame forums ever played Battletech?

They're so extremely uppity about any slight difference in the game compared to the TT as if they actually never had the chance to play and see just how horribly designed the game is (inter-weapon balance is a great example of this).
It's like I'm reading Dawn of War forums again with all the cries of "this isn't like on the TT, therefore it's wrong" when any clinically sane person knows Warhammer 40k is not really even playable as a game ATM.

>>53266596
There are two types of people looking forward to the game, those that want Mechcommander 3 and those who want Megamek 3D. Tabletop issues will obviously crop up in the second.

For me, the more it drifts away from regular battletech, the less excited I get. But I think any kind of new battletech videogame will be worth checking out. I just don't know if it will be something I'll still fire up years later with mods once in awhile like Sins of a Solar Empire or something.

>>53266650
I don't really fall under either of those.

I'm a dirty bastard who saw MWO, thought "wow, that's neat," and then read the Blood of Kerensky. Now I'm getting into the game bit by bit, and haven't played on the tabletop at all.

This game is the closest I'm really going to get any time in the coming years, so I'm pretty hype. I dig the new aesthetic because it's the one that I was introduced with, and my only real experience with the wargame or the RPG is watching HyperRPG's DFA.

>>53266650
I mean, I'd understand if someone got uppity if they allowed lights to fly, made ACs into some sort of artillery, etc.

But they're making the same game, just fixing what's broken along the way. For that matter, TT and Megamek are identical (minus battling spreadsheets and dice) and I'd say they've played neither.

I think it's the kind of people who never played the TT, never started MegaMek because eww... where are the graphics and are fed the cool-aid that the game is somehow super-amazing.

>>53263786
I still played with aToW and don't mind it, though there are some issues that I have with the character sheets themselves chewing up too much space on some categories (Who gives a fuck what lifepaths you took) and not enough on others (Take any additional lifepaths and you're guaranteed to run out of room on the skills/traits tables)

Once you get into the game, it's jesusfuck lethal, but the positive is that it keeps the 2D6 system from tabletop and doesn't get too wacky with it. Some sort of color coding for the inventory list to signify what level of Equipped you need to use it would have been nice, too. Pages and pages of lasers and gauss sub machine guns, and all you can take is a glock or revolver.

But character generation takes a dogs age. It seriously needs automation. Your players won't put up with that shit at all. Make some pregens and let them pick from the list... of course, I've been given the run around for "making characters" ever since I started GMing, so chances are it doesn't matter which edition you use, you'll still be nagging your players to get their shit together and make a character concept.

The best thing about aToW is that they went out of their way to have it support everything that can be done in Battletech, and then some.

MW2e had some wonkiness but was pretty easy to grasp. The one that stuck with me? Explicitly saying that "Throwing weapons" doesn't apply to Grenades, but never explaining what roll to make to throw a grenade.

3rd edition is crunchier than 2nd, but the 2D10 system was always off-putting to me, as well as the lifepaths that could sabotage your character from the get-go. The wounds system is interesting, but for something so important, I still can't figure out why they didn't put it on the cheat-sheet.

Actually, that's a common issue I've had. Playtest yourself through the games first. Every edition has some super important part of the mechanics tucked away on a random page.

>>53266650
>those who want Mechcommander 3 and those who want megamek 3d

Well both parties are about to be sorely disappointed.

It's getting the "Make it the alpha strike of alpha strike" treatment something fierce.

>>53258873
>Any news on the boxed set?
Usually there's no news about anything until it's already on the boat.

>>53266978
I dunno man. Last demo I saw made it look like Front Mission:Battletech in terms of gameplay. And while that's not exactly what I would choose if I had my way, it's not Alpha Strike levels of abstraction.

>>53265684
>Any confirmation on who are the "bad," guys?

Well what I gathered was that the rival house that usurped power will be the main opponent's in the campaign. Taurians are probably backing them, but I think it will be more of Cold War way of supplying weapons and mechs to them and possibly some mercenaries.

>>53265480
Better than the sum of their parts

Also don't use them with BV. Especially don't use them with BV if you want to use Manei Domini.

>>53266245
I thought you could only jettison shields with the quirk?

>disposables

Eh, I feel like BT's melee weapons and handheld rules are a total clusterfuck anyways. I think any mech with hands should just be allowed to carry stuff like a hatchet or shield.

>>53267936
>I think any mech with hands should just be allowed to carry stuff like a hatchet or shield.

So do I, or at least any versions that fit within the two hand carry weight. But what I'm more pissed off at is the recent trend to turn all handheld chassis guns into sidesaddle hard forearm mounts.

>I thought you could only jettison shields with the quirk?
Maybe I misread the rules. I know that the shield will continue to bog you down if you keep it after it's all used up. It doesn't automatically come off. It would be such a gimp if you can't toss them though.

>>53267640
Boy I can't wait to work for the Taurians! Chances they will be made to look like bumbling idiots not worth the trouble of conquering: 100%

>>53268115
You don't get a campaign path for the space cowboys. It's planet of the space amazons or sandbox nothing.

>>53266978

Someone hasn't watched any of the gameplay demos. Go crawl back into your hole.

>>53268221
>Lacks the depth of megamek 3d, more like alphastrikemek 3d
>Went from free movement to grid movement and turn based, nothing like mechcommander

>>53265684
>Is there a quick-and-dirty /btg/-style description someone can give on this faction, or should I just google it?

NEA would normally handle this, but he's out. Since you're new I'll refrain from memeing.

Most of the MOC's reputation as a slave-owning state is overstated. It's in no way like the Confederacy. There are 2 forms of legal slavery in the Canopian state. The first and most common is that a person may legally sell themselves into "slavery" for a period of time to pay off a debt. They aren't forced to do so, but it is an option, and if they do they have significant legal protections. It's a choice a person is allowed to make, that's all.

The second is that a noblewoman may take a male as a spouse and the male may not refuse. This is the dodgier one, but given the traditional behavior of nobles through human history and pretty much throughout the Inner Sphere, it's not like it's something new. The MOC just took the behavior nobles exhibit anyway and codified it into law.

What the MOC isn't doing is creating an entire demographic of slaves ("all men", "all people of X color", "all people from Y planet"). Capellans do this, they just call them the "servitor caste", and somehow they don't get shit on for having slaves. Would the faction be less hypocritical if they didn't have slavery at all? Definitely. But they're hardly the Confederacy reborn like the memeing makes it out to be.

>>53268068
>Maybe I misread the rules.
You apparently did, because the "Shields cannot be jettisoned." is flat out stated.

>It would be such a gimp if you can't toss them though.
And that is one of the major reasons people don't like shields.

>>53268925
The capcon are total bastards and everyone knows and accepts that, so nobody makes much of a deal over them doing the slave thing, but the MoC gets portrayed as a good guy place, so the hypocrisy is more blatant and therefore mocked

>>53268925
This would be about a million times better if you didn't mention the Confederacy at all. It has no bearing even as a point of comparison. Even in its own war, it was between two slave owning republics. Abolition was a brilliant tactic by Lincoln in the later part of the war to sow chaos, gut the southern workforce, and get a shit ton of free soldiers. He just didn't have the political clout to do it earlier because he would have lost a lot of the midwestern states.

Also the word you're looking for in the first bit is Indentured Servitude, and that shit is as old as feudalism. Very popular in the colonial era for colonists to work off their passage as well.

>>53268925
What I really love is how the capellan use of slavery used to explicitly be one of the major reasons why the MoC and TC hated them, before xin sheng magic hit
Funny how times change, eh

>>53269242

I was mentioning the Confederacy because every time MOC slavery gets mentioned, a couple of people (idiots mostly) get on here and scream that anyone who supports a slave owning faction must agree with the South and therefore are Confederates. Or something like that.

And yeah, I know what indentured servitude it. It's been pointed out a lot, but people still call it slavery when the MOC does it.

>>53269168
>MoC gets portrayed as a good guy place

NEA argues, and I agree, that the MOC is a only good guy place in comparison to some of the other powers in Battletech and isn't necessarily a good guy faction by some objective standpoint. I'd personally rather live in the MOC than in the Combine or in the Marian Hegemony, for example. I personally think that if they didn't have slaves and indentured servants at all, people would get pissy because they <don't> have any clearly identifiable bad things about the faction.

How that may change in the upcoming game, I don't know. I'm not especially hopeful, given that a nuanced portrayal showing them as a relatively decent faction with some unpleasant warts would require good writing and that's a thing that doesn't happen in Battletech as a rule.

K, I'm not an MOC fanboy, so I'm done with the defense and discussion sans memes. New guy, hopefully that at least gets you started on your question.

>>53269261

I thought the MOC and TC still hated the Capellans, they just allied with them for strategic reasons. You can positively despise another country and still be allies if the payoff from alliance is sufficient.

Also, we don't have slaves. The Confederation has servitors, so I don't know what the TC and MOC would be mad about anyway.

>>53269423
>we

They, you are a real person not affiliated in any possible way to the 31st fictional space government

>>53269423
The MoC loved the Capellans. Sunny personally went on a galavanting tour of the realm, killing pirates and romancing the princess instead of ruling his own state. But unlike when Victor did it, it didn't blow up in his face.

Where they start to fall out of love was when the Caps told them they wouldn't be getting any support when they got overthrown by the Blakists and the robes were brainwashing their people by the millions, and then later when the MoC worried that Sunny's kids claiming both thrones and turning them all into a single state.

Doashen fortunately learned from Victor's mistake and gave his sister the throne and the dick.

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>>53268644

>was free moment
>realised free movement was a shit show in turn based strategy
>went back to hex based
>switched from 2d6 to percentile
>changed turn order to a more modern, single player friendly initiative system for turn based strategy
>rest of Battletech 3025 rules appear to be there with minor balance changes

>"IT'S ALPHA STRIKE"

You clearly haven't played Alpha Strike.

I would tell you to never reproduce, but you are on /btg/, so....

>>53269423
The way things were written certainly doesn't seem to suggest that, considering how many times they fucked themselves over to benefit the CC for nothing in return

>>53269386
>in comparison to some of the other powers in Battletech
A lot of people ignore this point. Every faction has blood on their hands. There's no such thing as a good guy in the BT-verse. There's those that have done less evil, but everyone's done some pretty horrific shit through all of the SWs. Some have worn that hat with pride (like the DC with the Kentares Massacre or other atrocities committed), and others keep pulling that hat back on when someone tries to yank it off.

>>53269821
Does the Regulan hat say "Fuck Poulsbo" ?

>>53269821

Not MY faction, though.

I think there's a fair argument to be made for the pre-clan outworlders and pre-FM TC wearing the whitest hats in the setting
(And to a lesser extant the pre-HB:MPS MoC)

>>53269821
Honestly, that's just people and countries in general. It all depends who is running the show at a particular point in time. Take the Swiss for example. Neutrality is their meme but four hundred years ago they were the most feared mercs in Europe.

The only people who never did those sort of things are ones too small and isolated or with too little power to have the opportunity.

>>53269459
>>53269459
>>53269459
>you are a real person
debatable

>not affiliated with a fictional 31st century space government
fukken PREACH IT ANON

>>53269583
Hey, at least one of us is married.

>>53270040

But anon, it sounds like what you're saying is that a faction can only be a white hat as long as it remains completely irrelevant to the setting, and as soon as it actually matters in the larger context of the game it automatically becomes, to a greater or lesser degree, an evil faction.

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>>53270479

>>53268115
>>53268151
I don't get it. HBS could at least get word of mouth advertising by running a Taurian faction angled as being like browncoats from Firefly (since that's basically who the TC are).

Instead we get stuck with the MoC shit even though they have almost no following and girls pretty much don't play BT.

>>53270317

Being married to your job doesn't count.

>>53268925
>it's a defensive rationalization of slavery episode

>>53270479

Huh, well I guess the FWL is the purest faction after all.

>broken hand, typing hurts, back to lurking

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>>53270658

>girls don't play BT

Me and a friend do. We're hyped.

>>53269386
Hell I'm pro-CSA and can see the Canopian system is entirely different.

If the faction was better written and didn't cowardly ditch the amazon/matriarchal trappings it originally had I'd still like it.

But like with the CapCon they let fanboys write for it and they wrote out "bad" traits so their guys could be the "good guys".

>>53270689
Accident on set?
I swear to God your bones have the worst luck I've ever heard of

>>53270479
It's more the current crop of writers' near-masturbatory obsession with pointless civilian casualties than anything else

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>>53270776

Actor forgot choreography, started flailing with sword while camera was running. Almost got out of his way. Almost.

Am killing his career, with some luck.

>>53270828

Was his name Doug?

>>53270689
It kinda is. For example, it's the only house without state terrorism.

In the Lyran Commonwealth Loki is literally called "State Terrorism" by its citizens.

>>53270828
I don't know what to give more condolences for, your injury by an idiot or the fact you have a Shad 2D in your Crusher's lance.

>>53270828
Fucking Christ, I don't know how you don't kill at least three people every job

>>53270952

It's the TO&E for campaign. Using Xotl's RAT. Player rolled the 2D, couldn't use a reroll to get something else (had already minmaxed his PC too hard and no rerolls left), and cannot stop bitching about it.

Each player has 1 lance, with a MW3 PC in charge, and each PC runs their own 100% independent tech staff/parts warehouse, so one person doesn't get shafted by having to be the supply officer/bitch. Using MHQ to generate the contracts/missions/OPFOR (~3 PC lances/mission). It's running an full Accountech campaign, but either other people or the computer do 95% of the work for you. Best kind of GMing.

>>53270955
Bodies = surprisingly hard to dispose of in quantities greater than 1.

>>53270873
>it's the only house without state terrorism.

Counterpoint: Regulans

>no, not seriously

Was there ever a map which shows the size of the space occupied by the inner sphere and clan homeworlds relative to the milky way galaxy?

Like, how much of our galaxy has been explored in the battletech universe?

>>53271089
>It's the TO&E for campaign. Using Xotl's RAT. Player rolled the 2D, couldn't use a reroll to get something else (had already minmaxed his PC too hard and no rerolls left), and cannot stop bitching about it.

Hell I would just roll with it as a guy down on his luck-story; maybe make some jokes about it.
Sorry that dumb ass injured you though.

>>53271319

From the MOC to the Clan Homeworlds is about 2000 light-years at the outside. The IS is about 1000 LY across, and it's something like 6 months travel time from the IS to the Pentagon cluster, which works out to between 600-900 LY. So 2000 LY at the outside is a fair maximum estimate. The explored area can't be all that "deep", but IIRC Oystein and Cray estimated it's about 100 LY in depth.

The Milky Way is a disc about 100,000 LY across and 1000 LY deep. That gives the Milky Way a volume of 7,853,980,000,000 cubic LY.

If we assume that the whole area between the IS and Homeworlds has been explored (which is has NOT), we get a rough teardrop shape with the IS at the bulky end, and a volume of about 114,159,000 cubic LY.

So at the absolute MOST, only 0.00001453517% of the Milky Way has been explored. So they technical answer to your question is therefore, "not much."

>>53271319
Yeah. The inner sphere is pretty fucking tiny. That's what happens when you only get 30 light years per jump and a week to charge.

The cool thing is you get all the famous nearby stars in the map though, just because closer things are brighter in the night sky.

>>53271541
To build upon this Anon's math, if we simply use the number of star systems compared to the number of stars in the MW...

There's about 1200 (I'm rounding up and including the known empty ones) known star systems in the entire IS, from the core to the very fringes.

In the entire Milky Way, there's an estimated 100 billion stars. That's 100,000,000,000 stars, estimated based upon current standards, with some estimates going as high as 400bn.

That means in the BT-verse they've explored about 0.000000012% of the stars out there. Of course, that says nothing about dwarf planets or protoplanets in star-less systems. Or even the planets within each star system.

>>53271089
Regulans aren't a house. Plus you're probably talking about derp age anyway.

>>53272341

Stop being autistic and lurn2humor. That was very clearly a joke, and he even called it out as such.

>>53272454
Chill out, hunnie, I was being silly too. No need to autiz out and jump to his defense, ok sweetie?

>>53272341

To add to >>53272454's point, NEA's making the statement that the FWL doesn't need a state-sponsored terrorist group because they already have the Regulans (and their propensity for ridiculous overkill and not fighting "nice") as an existing component of their FWL Successor House.

It's a joke and everyone else got it but you. Good job anon. Being on the spectrum can make comprehending jokes hard, but if you keep practicing you'll be able to figure it out. Eventually.

>>53272341
>Plus you're probably talking about derp age anyway.

Regulans are cool dudes in the Dark Age. They go nuclear in the Jihad.

>>53272630
>It's a joke and everyone else got it but you. Good job anon. Being on the spectrum can make comprehending jokes hard, but if you keep practicing you'll be able to figure it out. Eventually.
Jesus, how hard did she trigger you?

>>53270873
Why would the Lyrans need state terrorism? They're orderly space Germans.

>>53273027
>Lyrans
>Orderly

Tharkad and Arc Royal are not the whole of Lyran Space, friend.

>>53273083
Aside from Skyeniggers what places require state terrorism?

>>53272911

Telling an idiot that they're being an idiot and why they're being an idiot isn't being triggered.

>>53273207
The former Rim Worlds, the former Bolan Thumb, the Freedom Theater, and some others. Imagine it like the Federated Suns. Only the Crucis March is happy loyalist land. In Lyran space, it's Donagal, Arc Royal and Coventry Provinces.

>>53273273
It's how, not what. And with you it's definitely how. Boy-howdy.

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Best configuration, normal or player made of this thing.

>>53274618
Config A is the best canon one.

I used one in my Jaguar star for a tournament and it was a solid contribution to our victory.

>>53274935
When you alpha strike and use your jump jets you overheat really badly. How did you handle the heat spike? Newbiw here.

>>53275967

Jump away into cover or out of LOS the next round while you cool down. The round after, jump back in and unload. Repeat until tired.

>>53276079
I'm kind of a brute. I'm used to loadouts that have me firing something every turn. Alternating like that... I'm going to have to learn patience.

>>53276444
Don't jump into an alpha strike. Jumps should only be used to get stuck in faster, and for DNA maneuvers. (don't take this seriously I'm a terrible player >>53276079 had really good advice)

>>53276444
Have you never driven a Griffon or a Pixie before?

>>53276993
Okay I did use both, but the Griffin was a version with DHS, so there weren't many problems there. I used a couple Pixies, and I managed to do okay with them. It's just I'm usually a brute player. Having so much firepower at one range that can overheat so badly makes me... twitch.
Am I secretly a dumb Clan pilot?

>>53277080
Sounds like you're secretly a Star Adder who wants ALL THE LAZERS

>>53277290
Wait... my gf is into sneks... tell me about this Star Adder! I DO love the lazers! What kind of guys are the Adders?

>>53277340

They're basically CLAN TROUSER SNEK.
...
...
...
In that any given Star Adder who gets written about is a dick.

>>53277422
Then should I be the snek who pierces the heavens?

>>53258873
What's this? A new and modern version of the game without the fucking ugly minis from the 80s?

>>53277422
Also the writers jacking them off like a teenage boy home alone for a long weekend

>>53278083

Yup. That's why it's shit. Same reason as the upcoming video game.

>>53278449
Go away and take your doomsaying with you. There's enough of that shit in the world that it doesn't need to be spread here too.

>>53278542

Why don't you just make me, shill.

>>53278613
Shill because I'm sick of doomsaying? Whatever you say, champ. Go back to the OF or wherever you come from and talk about how everything post 3SW ruined the franchise forever.

>>53278449
>Being a nostalgia faggot

Fuck off sperg, those minis were garbage and the series has been dead so long it aint even funny. A fresh try on it aint bad at all.

>>53278613
And just for saying dumb shit like this I'll be sure to buy into every new piece of merch there is.

>>53278640
>Go back to the OF or wherever you come from and talk about how everything post 3SW ruined the franchise forever.

That's not true at all. Everything after the War of 3039 is was ruined the franchise forever.

>>53278648

The video games, except for Megamek, have never, ever been good. Anything that makes the game more accessible brings more undesirables into the franchise as well, so video games are a double whammy against the real fans.

>>53278083
No, it's the same old 25th anv box that was out years ago, I just wanted an image.

>>53278708
>The video games, except for Megamek, have never, ever been good. Anything that makes the game more accessible brings more undesirables into the franchise as well, so video games are a double whammy against the real fans.

I like the fact that you never replied to my argument from yesterday or the day before.

These days, most of the hardcore anti-alphastrike, "change nothing god damn it" crowd got their start in the video games. That was the gateway drug. Now you want to remove the gateway? That's just stupid.

>That's not true at all. Everything after the War of 3039 is was ruined the franchise forever.

Then just fucking play that. If you have no interest in doing anything else, don't ruin it for the people that do.

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>>53278708
>The videogames have never been good

Is MegaMek truly the closest and most accurate version of the game to tabletop I can play? I wanna get started in this franchise but seems hard getting materials physically

>>53278786

First, I wasn't that person. More than one person can have a correct (my) view on the matter.

Second, the more people who play later eras there are, the less the odds of my getting to play the good portions of the timeline, as there's more competition. Making sure as few people play those other eras is in my best interest, and you can go fuck yourself if you think I'm not going to operate in my own best interests.

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>>53278708
>The video games, except for Megamek, have never, ever been good. Anything that makes the game more accessible brings more undesirables into the franchise as well, so video games are a double whammy against the real fans.

I had great memories of MW 1, 2 and 3, and the Crescent Hawk's Inception. I played the board game BEFORE the vidya and understood the limitations of each game. (Still a little miffed 3 wasn't more fleshed out and regular PPCs weren't on the main campaign, but it's still my fav.)
Anyhow you're objectively wrong in every aspect and I hate the music you like.

>>53278883
I fully understand and support your viewpoint but you absolutely do not seem fun to play with

>>53278894
>understood the limitations of each game.

The limitations are unacceptable. If you cannot do something correctly and perfectly, then you should not try. To do otherwise is an insult to the fanbase.

>>53276079
>Intentionally breaking LOS.
>maximum dezgra

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>>53278935
Num, num, num, now THAT... is good bait.

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>>53278935

>>53279042
Is it?

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>>53271319
Google being down right now, I found this through Bing (search terms "BattleTech" "Inner Sphere" "Milky Way").
It *ain't* a big chunk of the galaxy.

>>53279909

No. The simple act of breaking LOS isn't dezgra. Even doing it repeatedly to stay out of LOS isn't dezgra as long as you're not avoiding the fight completely. Fuck, even in the Thurston novels, somebody tags their Bloodname opponent with a NARC, jumps out of LOS, and indirects them to death, and nobody bats an eye.

What's dezgra is either failing to engage at all (the spider who challenges a Dire Wolf and then just jumps away playing "ring around the mountain" forever), or the guy who dings his opponent for a tiny bit of damage, and then runs away for the rest of the game until time is called, since "damage done" is a tiebreaker. For a good explanation, go download the Trial of Bloodright rules off the official forums.

>>53270668
NEA and Muninn are both married to real women (not mechfus or waifus)

>>53280061
>yfw you find out they're married to each other and Muninn is a cute blonde girl who wears purple bird shirts

Just like in my manga

Crazy question but what if WoB hadn't been allowed asylum in the League and had instead been forced to hide out in the periphery?

Tech-wise and such how might that have affected the League?
Alternatively, without WoB poisoning relations you think the League would have gotten ComStar assistance since in the 3050s they were kinda supposed to be the arsenal of the Inner Sphere?

>>53280266
>Tech-wise and such how might that have affected the League?
No C3i but honestly wouldn't matter much beyond that
>Alternatively, without WoB poisoning relations you think the League would have gotten ComStar assistance since in the 3050s they were kinda supposed to be the arsenal of the Inner Sphere?
I could see that, yeah

>>53270828
>vlc

I know /btg/ is doing a TRO but would anyone be interested in contributions to a sort of add-on to FM:U for a fan campaign?

Pretty much doing write ups for new regiments, their (brief) histories, officers, compositions, etc.

I could make it up all myself but in the past I've found /btg/ contributions to have a more natural/organic feel to them. Like it's not just me munching everything up.

>>53280751
I would be interested in contributing to such a thing, sure
What precisely do you have in mind?

>>53280457
Oh hell, I didn't notice that. If this was old /v/, there would be a bunch of funny tabs like, "Is Naruto real?" and "My Little Pony pron" and some such.

>>53280829
>gay sex with hats on

>>53280931
"Midget & giraffe pron"
"Can I have my own sparkly vampire?"
"Is there a 51st shade of gray?"
I miss old /v/.

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>>53278875
>Is MegaMek truly the closest and most accurate version of the game to tabletop I can play? I wanna get started in this franchise but seems hard getting materials physically
Yes. It's literally a tabletop simulator. Although some maps are easier to get in Megamek and there are options to use earlier rulesets if you go digging.

>>53280061
I'm also quite happily married to a woman who indulges my robutt needs. In my group we currently have:
• My brother's (confirmed female) fiancee
• one of the counter girls at the LGS
• The Fifty-Foot Lesbian.
So.. yes. There are ladies and also persons who engage in heterosexual intercourse for the purpose of procreation who play.

>>53281913
>heterosexual intercourse for the purpose of procreation

You disgust me.

>>53270668
>>53281913
I guess put me and my husband (female) down as the 4th married couple

>>53282911
I've been meaning to ask: In recent canon, do mechwarriors still wear minimal clothing to alleviate the heat in a cockpit? Or do they have special thin cooling suits now(for those who can afford it)?

Because I can definitely see someone at Catalyst saying that the whole "underwear and cooling vest get-up is too cheesy and dates the franchise. We need to modernize." or something to that effect.

>>53283548
Probably.
Though, I gotta say, I've been playing battletech for getting on for 25 years, and even in the old days I always pictured mechwarriors in jumpsuits over cooling vests or coolant suits if they're fancy.
Maybe it's a robotech holdover, I dunno

>>53283625
Im new to Battletech(only having gotten into it last year), and Im glad Im not the only one to imagine mechwarriors wearing some sort of thin, breathable jumpsuit. I also imagine some use the heat excuse to get out of uniform(those Hawaiian shorts arnt going to wear themselves), or they just cant afford or be bothered to purchase a jumpsuit.

>>53283679
I figured the short shorts and tank top combo would still be a thing with pirates and the most raggedy-assed mercs, but virtually everyone else would be wearing the jumpsuits

>>53283548
I imagine it would be something like soldiers in wartime. Are they well organized, do they have access to an FOB to collect themselves, are they getting resupplied? If yes, they probably have some sort of cooling suit that also helps with the g force of whipping a 100 ton mech around 180 degrees to fire behind you in less than 3 seconds.

If they're cut off, out inna jungle for weeks at a time, very little contact with command and no resuply, things are just going to get torn up. When those cooling suits have a hose leak or a radiator pump fail, they turn into insulating suits. Not long before those are getting stripped off

>>53280000
That's pretty humbling, similar to the Traveller Map
https://travellermap.com/

Also, Nice Quads

>>53283548
>>53283886
Well there is pictures from WW2 from Pacific, Eastern Front and North Africa of which pilots are pretty much wearing only boxers and T-shirt for the combat missions. Basically everywhere where the climate was really hot.

I would imagine the same thing would be true for the mechwarriors fighting in areas where the outside tempetures combined with the fusion reactor, would require the pilots wear as little as they can.

>>53278883
>First, I wasn't that person. More than one person can have a correct (my) view on the matter.

Bullshit. I gave no details about my argument that you ignored or even more than a vague timeframe. So, what, you just happened to notice that someone you agree with failed to post a cohesive counter argument? Yeah, bullshit.

>Second, the more people who play later eras there are, the less the odds of my getting to play the good portions of the timeline, as there's more competition. Making sure as few people play those other eras is in my best interest, and you can go fuck yourself if you think I'm not going to operate in my own best interests.

So if some 40kid wants BT to die because the few games of BT being played takes away from his chances to play 40k, that's a totally valid standpoint?

p.s. everything before 3039 was absolute garbage. Two words: Medium lasers. They're so good they stay relevant into the high-tech eras, and in your garbage eras they're dominant as fuck. 10/10 excellent game design

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>>53284300
In theory battlemechs cockpits are self contained enough that it takes a good bit of external heat to affect the internal temperature. In crunch terms temperature only starts effecting things at 50C/122F plus, though even this only adds to the heat level of the mech, cockpit particulars don't really play out in game short of when you've got busted life support.

And if you have a functional cooling suit it and you're feeling too hot, taking it off would be worse.

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>>53283625
>>53283679

If you guys read the fluff, full body cooling suits were Star League Lostech and only Comstar and the House Kurita personal guard had them by the end of the Succession Wars.

Even after they come back into production, most people still went with shorts and a t-shirt or tanktop with a cooling vest into battle because of three reasons.

First, because it's considered manlier/more respectable to have the vest instead. It's why you have art of old man Takashi himself half naked in front of his Battlemaster while his troops are suited up.

Second is because the coolant vest doubles as a bullet proof vest, a succession wars solution to the infantry scrubs looking to claim an easy mech from a downed mechwarrior knight.

Third is because it's affordable as personal gear. Same reason loads of mechwarriors still used the big bulky reliable nuerohelmets when the tech had been advanced enough to reduce it down to a headband by the mid-3050's.

Even in the Dark Age, not just the wannabe clanners and the mercs, but the Prince's Champion still does the old ways.

Just showing that availability doesn't overtake the cultural stuff built up over hundred of years.

In fact, jumpsuits or coveralls are usually what's stuffed into the bottom of the eject seat with the survival gear to help them survive if they get shot out of the mech, not when they're driving it.

>>53286161
>In fact, jumpsuits or coveralls are usually what's stuffed into the bottom of the eject seat with the survival gear to help them survive if they get shot out of the mech, not when they're driving it.

I don't know if I am remembering this right, but didn't in one of the first novelizations of the Gray Death Legion, Lori Kalmar came out of her captured mech topless? Is it uncommon for some not to even have a vest? Also how the hell could a Locust overheat to that level?

HPG test

>>53286920
>Also how the hell could a Locust overheat to that level?

Condition of the machine. Remember most of the early books had damaged or semi-functional mechs. Ironically, you see this sort of thing again in the early Dark Age novels but not for the same reason. There it's the clicktech rules that can make you overheat just by running.

>Is it uncommon for some not to even have a vest?
It was not uncommon to wear nothing under the vest. Nasty was famous for it. But everyone almost always had a vest.

>>53286920
Remember, they were from a Periphery world. In a more populous world, or even one not so war-ravaged, even during the 4th SW, would still have the ability to repair heatsinks or perform some heat exchanger work. Those sorts of things are common tech even by our standards, and even for the 80s standards. But since they're out in the fringes, even having an operational 'mech is a feat unto itself.

Not having a vest would be virtual suicide in a 'mech. They're also not hard to run, so they'd be readily available, maybe a bit expensive, but since it becomes nearly impossible to operate a 'mech without it, especially in those days.

>>53287914
>>53288019
All right, thanks guys. It's been a while and I was just wondering. Makes sense now.

Questions:
What's the difference between the Star Adders, the Cloud Cobras and the Steel Vipers?

Do these three clans survive the dark age?

How should I role play them?

So I guess MWO just fucked a bunch of folks in the ass. Glad I didn't stick around for that.

You know the ceramic dropships from wayback? The guy that produced those feels like he got really ripped off. He's saying he's lost hundreds of millions of c-bills.

>>53289395
>You know the ceramic dropships from wayback? The guy that produced those feels like he got really ripped off. He's saying he's lost hundreds of millions of c-bills.
I always wanted those. I have a mech scale leopard from IWM and the DA Aurora, but never got my hands on the cold cast union or leopard. Only ever saw two leopards go for sale over the years and it was for a ton. I've never seen one of the spheroids for grabs.

>>53289391
Vipers die in the Wars of Reaving. The other two become kings of the Homeworlders.

Best way to get a feel for them is to flip through Field Manual Crusader Clans from the PDF list in the OP and then you can read Wars of Reaving for fun too if you feel like. Random Assignment tables for them will give you an idea of their force types and you can look the mechs up on Sarna.net or the individual Technical Readouts.

>>53289575

I think he still does some sort of work. Recently he sold a ceramic spheroid "totally not a union" on the facebook page.

Could be worthwhile to hit him up and see if he's got anything for sale.

>>53287342

Holy shit, the HPG network is back online? Praise be to Blake!

I'll never reveal the location of my black box!

>>53289395

It's funny. My RVN-3L got a MAJOR upgrade from the new skill update. With the twin ERLLs on it, I can now engage targets at upwards of 1.6km. Yes, 1.6km. You can't even see enemies that far out on max settings on a 1440p monitor that far out a lot of times.

But, it did fuck me on skill point transfers in the process.

How effective is surface to orbit fire under the current rules?

>>53291927
define effective

i mean, there's no shooting back. so... eventually, very effective.

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>>53291927
Inaccurate but dangerous as Hell. Eventually. Under RaW it's nowhere near as devastating as it should be, but it's still pretty scary.


>>53288434
>>53288019
>>53287914
Back when I was in the Navy, my carrier lost A/C for a week. In August. In the Persian Gulf. My workcenter was isolated from the steam tanks for the cats, and all we had to deal with was the heat from and thirty tons of test system computer banks. Above thirty Celcius, 'trons start malfing. At forty the human body starts having serious problems. We hit fifty-five. There's old fluff that describes 'Mech pilots wearing hunting vests with icepacks over their internal organs - or even flannel soaked in a bucket of ice water. I'd have killed for one. As it was, we had to abandon the workcenter and power everything down.

In the SW era, it wasn't uncommon to cannibalize a few engine sinks off of something like a Locust or Stinger to get other designs running (there's a number of examples in early scenario books), or for the techs to leave in a reactor with cracked shielding on stuff that "doesn't overheat" because the alternative was a 'Mech without a reactor. So Kalmar piloting in a Speedo and a freezer-vest that's basically just a couple Camelbaks and a pump running through her cockpit mini-fridge is entirely likely.

>>53291998
I meant firing missiles from the ground at spacecraft.
I'm trying to figure out the proper quantity of launch platforms for a divisional level Space Defence battalion

>>53289816
Thanks, bud. Will do.

>>53292411
>I meant firing missiles from the ground at spacecraft.
Crossing the Atmo barrier screws targeting, and missiles already aren't especially effective against larger spacecraft other than threshing them. A dozen AA-AIV trailers could protect a drop-port from a couple of DS, but not a concerted invasion. You'd probably be better off hitting the enemy landing site with a couple of cruise missiles than trying to shoot them down in orbit with subcaps.

>>53292691
The objective is to toss probably nuclear missiles at any WarShip that gets close-in for orbital bombardment, there's already gonna be conventional AAA units attached as well
I was figuring three batteries of two launchers to each company in the battalion, so 18 for the division

>>53292796
Still kind of pointless. There isn't much that a ground defense point can mount that will actually threaten a WarShip. A WarShip can sit outside range and lob missiles, or even teleoperated-ones, and simply blast the point from far away. A surface-to-orbit fire point is mainly designed for shooting down large descending objects, like DropShips, and provide enough 'mech-scale firepower to thwart any ASF attempts.

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>>53292404
your superior officers didnt let you bring a desk fan or something at least?

>>53292988
After a certain point fans actually just make things worse

>>53292988
Once the air's hotter then your body temperature, blowing it around just makes people even hotter rather than cooling them down
I worked a summer in a plastic factory, and it hit fifty some days, it was profoundly horrible

>>53293049
Like a convection oven.

>>53293049
I know. Just joking.

But you'd think that strategists would take into account how fucking hot it would get out there and issue a few blocks of ice per ship or something. The logistics couldnt be too preventative for that.

But then again, there's a reason why Im not in the military.

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>>53292796
Using nukes that close to atmo is not only against the Ares conventions, it's stupid. Not to mention pointless. Not only are Nukes especially vulnerable to AMS/bracketed laser batteries, they can't really threaten a Warship sitting in geosynch or a satellite's L2 that's throwing tele-op missiles down your gravity well anyway.

Speaking of warships and shit. I was playing a pocket warship and squadron megamek game with a friend the other day and it kept locking up second or third round like clockwork. We gave up after three tries.

Anybody else had that problem playing with capital scale fighters or DA tech in .42 where the game freezes?

The only cool stuff I got to see was that when a teleoperated missile misses, you get to take control of it and swing it back around for another pass. That was awesome.

I'll update my stuff for our next game. I just hate getting all my settings just right and importing my custom designs.

>>53293146
That looks like the opening of a Transformers comic.

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>>53293129
>But you'd think that strategists would take into account how fucking hot it would get out there and issue a few blocks of ice per ship or something.
>But then again, there's a reason why Im not in the military
They issued modern climactic control systems, but a specific single-point-of-failure (which is technically classified, so I can't go into it) went out in an unforseen/undesigned-for way. It took a week to repair, and the regular backup and bypass systems couldn't compensate. They corrected it in port, and in the Reagan-class, but with something like that you don't actually find out until it happens.

>The logistics couldnt be too preventative for that.
Water is the single most irritating part of logistics on a ship with 6,000 crew. They use the reactor as a desalination plant but you get just about enough to survive and wash your nuts with. Not only that, but cranking up the humidity inside a mostly-sealed space is a death sentence for 'trons. Part of the reason we had to bail from the shop is that our own perspiration and breath were >literally< making it rain in there. Once you hit 90-100% humidity, evaporation can't cool you anymore, and the radiative/convective cooling isn't nearly as useful as you'd think. So the ice would basically be incredibly heavy, eat up a lot of space, flood everything, and do fuck-all. Particularly when you have a nuclear steam engine pumping out hundreds of millions of watts downstairs.

>>53293318
Don't use DA tech, but I ran capital scale games in the latest version of .42 in MM without issue.

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>>53291524

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>>53295757

>>53295757
Is this Gundam

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>>53297131
>Is this Gundam

No. This is, though.

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>>53297131
Same mechanical designer. Different choreographer though.

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>>53297524
>No. This is, though.

So is this.

>>53297524
>>53297896
>>53297905
Could any Battlemechs take on anything from Gundam?

>>53298152
I don't think it'd be a terribly unfair fight, at least when we talk not too much later than the One Year War. The good ol Zaku, Dom, GM and Guntank would all fit in fairly well in battletech on the ground. Of course, they're primarily built for combat in space, so that's kinda a big difference.

Any Gundam, however, is always OP.

>>53298241
Make that "anything with a beam weapon". Remember, mega-particle weapons have a penetration rating of "fuck you and the mountain behind you".

WHAT DO IF MECH FALL OVER

>>53298592
BUT BENIS IN ROPOBUSSY :DDDDDDD

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>>53298152
>Could any Battlemechs take on anything from Gundam?
Most UC mecha use a modified charged-particle fission reactor that goes violently supercritical when breached and has barely any armor from the rear. Then again, Minovsky particle dispersion >fucks< un-adapted 'trons.

Now as far as WarShips? Even being generous, most of the Gundam ships have a handful of NPPCs and some Cap-missile launchers, plus a few AC batteries for close defense. They have larger fleets but a couple of heavy NAC boats could tear through entire wings of Gundam ships.

>>53293146
>That Urbie in the front left, painted to look like an Atlas head on legs.
Kek.

>>53298152

They're considerably more maneuverable than the games suggest, at least jump-capable mechs in particular.

In one movement phase it's not uncommon to jump over a building behind another target and pivot 180 degrees to bring your guns to bear.

>>53298241
The Dom kind of sticks out in BT terms given its hovering.

At least until someone invents vehicular magclamps that lets an Atlas stand on a pair of Savannah Masters like hover skates.

>>53289395
>So I guess MWO just fucked a bunch of folks in the ass.

What happened?

>>53300291
I'm assuming the new skill tree launched with the Javelin patch on the 16th. I haven't played since the 15th and haven't patched yet, but I don't really care about the switch because I own zero modules and had only just started to unlock Elite tier stuff on one chassis. So it affects me basically zilch. Plus I don't play seriously at all' I just like GOING FAST and wolfpacking heavies and assaults in my Locust.

>>53300291
New Skilltree happened and some people didn't read the news about it and how PGI was going to handle the old modules. Ie you would not get Cbill compensation but XP you could use to skill your mechs.

Personally I took off all my modules beforehand and just sold everyone of them and got atleast half of the Cbills back that way.

>>53300408
I logged in to take a look at the new skill trees, and to see my Javelins.

Not bothered by losing C-bills / XP because the whole fucking game has been a Sisyphean experience anyway, what's a little more.

Mostly just irritated that they're skimping on decals. The most fun part of the game is painting mechs, anyway.

>>53289395
>I guess MWO just fucked a bunch of folks in the ass.
In other news: Sky blue today

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Lady K bump

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>>53298152
Gundam humanity doesn't break the laws of physics so they're constrained to our Solar system.

But keep in mind the mobile suits in Gundam are space fighting vehicles. Back on land, only Gundams (the most expensive and powerful mechs the army can field at any moment) stand out.

Mobility wise, Battletech robots are more agile than mobile suits.
Melee wise, mobile suits get beam sabers (yes, the ones from Star Wars) so it's virtually not a contest.
Range-wise, both settings employ massive ECM tactics and as such, both sides could only ever target stuff manually. Gundam is slightly more brutal in this regard as they even remove all forms of communication... You're on your own until the battle ends if you don't practice hand signals well enough. Likewise, all Gundam pilots are trained to fight on manual aiming all the time.


So the machines are roughly equivalent with a bit of an edge in favor of Battletech but it would most likely come down to the pilot's ability to fight manually and BTech ones don't really practice that all that much IIRC.

>>53298152
me and my old game group crunched some numbers years ago and found that most gundam series mechs are taller but lighter than 'mechs.

with the added density they are considerably hardier and most likely have a lot thicker armor made of equally exotic stuff.

we concluded that and atlas would eat GMs and zakus for breakfast but once you got to the obnoxiously fast real gundams like Freedom that had beam weapons not too dissimilar to PPCs that could constantly fir then you have a real 'who hits who' first.

blunt answer is that 'mechs have hands down better armor and more overbearing firepower in the heavier mechs. gundams are way OP sophisticated and are often really maneuverable when they have their flight packs but what good would that do if they get CT'd by an AC/20.

>>53305519
wow i worded that poorly, to clarify the 'mechs are denser and hardier. in theory.

If they made a Battletech porn parody movie who would you want for each character?

Is anyone having problems running Solaris Skunk Werks? Uninstalled and downloaded the last version, but i will no start.

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>>53305600
an charger fucking an urbanmech

>>53306016
Poor little white Urbie. You know the Penetrator is going to be a part of that, and a Locust.

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What's the House Stark of BT?

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>>53304632

>>53308128
He almost looks like he's shrugging. I'm cool with that.
I know he's a "he" because I lifted him up. Don't judge me.

>>53308555
>mechs as hamsters
I never knew I wanted this but I do.

>>53308630
Fireball in a hamster ball. You got yourself a new Sega game!

>>53301737
Truthfully it was people themselves fucking it up as the new skilltree and the way PGI was going to do the compensations for modules was announced quite a bit time ago and it was even explainend in the damn patch notes several days before the patch itself hit. As much as PGI screws up and does things rather retardly, they can't help if people are too lazy or ignorant to read the news about the patch that's going to do major change in the game.

>>53308694
I'd give it a shot, it can't be worse than current Sonic games.

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>>53308694
>>53308818
I now want to play Super Mandrill Ball.

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>>53306564
The Camerons, complete with the unnecessary slaughter and the daughter married off to the foreign barbarians so she can come back with her Dragons/Ravens and sort shit out.

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>>53304810

That webm reminded me of this GIF.

We desperately need a new book to talk about

>>53314580

You'll have another Touring the Stars about a world that was settled in 2750, completely depopulated in 2791, and had absolutely no impact on the plot or technology of the Inner Sphere except for people who were keeping score of "who owned the most planets", and you'll damn well like it.

>>53314077
Nice dubs and awesome banshee.

So, I'm looking to move on from Warhammer 40k and I've been eyeing Battletech for awhile now. Could someone answer a few questions?

Mechs. I've seen the record sheets for mechs from all the different eras and I was curious: do you NOT customize them and fit them out however you want? From playing MechWarrior and the like I always got the impression that you got to pick what your mechs are armed with, but all the record sheets I have list exactly what each mech is outfitted with.

Lances. I'm not quite sure how building a lance works. I get that a lance consists of 4 mechs, but I'm not quite sure how balance is determined (i.e. 2000pt games for a game of 40k). Is it all based on tonnage and a "force organization"-like chart (i.e. one HQ and two troop choices minimum for a legal game of 40k)?

Eras. If I decide to field mechs from 3050 and I play a pick up game against a lance fielding mechs from 3100 will I be at a huge disadvantage?

Thanks in advanced.

>>53314580
Why? There's all kinds of shit to talk about, it's just that /btg/ is mostly comprised of people who only speak when coerced to. The IRC is the same way. I think it's just the fandom; we're mostly adults and we have jobs and other concerns so when there's nothing at-hand to discuss, nobody wants to bother making shit up.

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>>53315501
I'm not an expert but I think I can give you a good starter.

Mechs - Yeah there are a massive number of production models, and these can be a good start, especially to learn how to fight. However you can use MegaMek or SkunkWerks and make your own, print out your own sheets, then make up your own story and whatever and there ya go.

Lances - It does depend on the use of the unit. It's good to know what you want to do with them, maybe deal with weaknesses in various model machines. However it's also not out of the realm of possibility that you have an old mercenary unit and they have a weird lance because that's simply all they could afford or find.

Eras - Sometimes. You have to understand that many worlds in the Inner Sphere aren't decked out with the top of the line machines. It's not impossible to be dealing with lower tech units. We have a battle value system that will give you a kind of a good idea what can go against what if you need to balance a fight between aged machines and newer ones for a challenge. Swarming can be a bitch to deal with when you have two or three bastards causing you to deal with piloting skill rolls multiple times.

Hope that helps. I'm sure some of the veterans can do better than I just did though.

>>53315501
Mechs: Typically, no. Most people play with stock designs. Most of them are interestingly balanced, with only a few outright bad designs. It's very easy to use the construction rules and build a twinked-out machine that will stomp any stock design, but that's not necessarily the fun in the game. There are rules for customizing units in a campaign, though.

Lances: Game balance is mostly determined by either BV or C-Bill amount. A BV-based match has an apt equivalent to a point-based match in 40K. It gives a rough idea of the combat capacity of the unit. You'll construct a lance around a given BV to fit your needs and any other appropriate restrictions (timeline, faction, availability, etc.). In higher BV games, you'll go outside of a lance and upwards. There's no actual force organization chart for those kinds of games other than what's established by the players (ie, this unit is my commander, etc.) and if there's appropriate game modes in play (like assassinate the commander).

Eras: Maybe. It all depends upon what you're fielding and how you field them. BT is a game where tactics and strategy far outweigh how big of a force you bring to the table. This isn't a game like 40K where you have to bring an uber-twinked out army to actually stand a chance. A light 'mech can stand up to an assault if the advantages and disadvantages of both are aware to the player.

>>53315501

First of all, no, you cant really customize mechs in any sort of 'standard' play. There are rules for i but its really reserved for RPG and for messing around in a group of players, at least in my experience.

Worry not though, there is likely a mech to serve the job you want to do, especially if you dont care about being faction compliant, which there is no need to be unless you want to.

A lance is just an in universe unit that denotes a 4-mech group. Its like a squad of infantry, its what everyone (in the inner sphere except for C*/WoB) uses because its really the smallest group you can build to accomplish a specific task. No, there are no hard and fast build rules like 40k, much more loosey goosey in that regard.

Balance is determined by BV (laughter here) but you'll quickly find out BV is, in my experience, a less than stellar measure of power, plus you have to account for pilot skill and player skill.

On eras:

Bear in mind: this is all coming from someone who thinks the best way to play is with some friends in a persistent campaign where competition is a friendly rivalry among PCs against the GM.

>>53315666
Fuck, I forgot to finish the eras thing, anyway,

>>53315654
>>53315622

these guys basically said what I was going to.

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>>53315501

First, welcome.

The main thing you need to understand is that there's a TON of different "correct" ways to play BattleTech. The game was originally conceived as something closer to a traditional "historicals" wargame, where you field what's appropriate for the time/place/faction/unit, and balance is a distant secondary concern. It is NOT designed in any way to be a balanced wargame; it can be made (roughly) balanced, but it's not designed that way.

My suggestion is to go to the OP and download a copy of the BattleTech Master Rules (out of date, but 98% the same as the current rules), TRO 3039 for lots of Mechs, and download a copy of Solaris Skunk Werks to print out record sheets and play around with designing units.

Regarding your questions:
>Mechs
The answer is "both". You can use the canon Mech configurations (what you see on the record sheets), completely custom Mechs, or canon Mechs that have been modified within tonnage and space limitations. Note that Mech optimization is very easy (again, not made to be "balanced"), and so using custom Mechs in points-based pickup games has a bad reputation. Meanwhile, if you're playing a campaign, Mechs get customized all the time as spare parts permit. Everyone is going to suggest that you start with canon Mechs only at first. They're right. Learn play first, and move into customizing later.

>Lances
Pick what you want to play. There are guides and/or random rolls based on different factions, if you care. If you have a GM, and he approves the lance, you're good. If you're playing a point game (Battle Value; BV) set to a certain amount, you can spend that many points or less, same as 40K. Each unit has a BV, modified by pilot skill. Tonnage is another way, but it doesn't work super-well depending on tech level.

Eras: You'll have less options, but if you're otherwise BV-balanced, you'll have a ROUGHLY even match. BV is NOT an exact science; BattleTech is functionally impossible to really balance.

Are there any vehicles that have stats but no associated artwork? Or any old vehicles that could use visual update?

I'm in the mood to do some non-work-related 3D modeling.

>>53317489
Some generic things from the old RS. Probably the most notable of those is the Hover Tank, which was updated as the LTV-4 in XTRO Primitives II, but they simply used the Scimitar art.

Several other XTRO Primitive vehicles do similar and just use existing art of a vehicle that's considered "close enough".

>>53317706
I think Saracen uses the same art work as Scimitar and then there is the different Weapons Carriers like AC/2 Carrier and such that don't have illustrations at all.

>>53317489
Worth noting are the things from the PDF XTRO series.
It's mostly variants, mind, but where all the XTRO mechs got new art, the new vehicles used rehashed art from the old TROs.

A few of said vees did, in fact, get updated drawings in the print TROs, but others did not.

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Who capellan here?

>>53315761
>download a copy of the BattleTech Master Rules

If only the Battlemech Manual were ready. It really looks like the best suggestion we could make for new players. Up to date, and easy to read.

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>>53319666
Only a bit.
My main is DC, but I couldn't say "No" to they Eyeleuka when it came out. Plus the Ti-Ts'ang and Lao Hu.

These plastics are for introgames, though.

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>>53315501
>Lances. I'm not quite sure how building a lance works. I get that a lance consists of 4 mechs, but I'm not quite sure how balance is determined (i.e. 2000pt games for a game of 40k). Is it all based on tonnage and a "force organization"-like chart (i.e. one HQ and two troop choices minimum for a legal game of 40k)?

Worth bringing up:

There's no actual "Set" number you're expected to aim for when building a lance. It's usually something agreed on by both players. However, I often hear about 4000 BV for introbox-tech lances (Basic tech level), and about 6000 BV for more advanced level lances (3050 and up)
You can play with the Gunnery/Piloting values of the Mechwarriors inside your 'mechs to scale the BV up and down, in order to better match your opponent. Myself, I pre-calculated a bunch of different lance combinations for 4000-8000 BV. You don't need to, but it does save a lot of time for setting up.

Clantech gets a bit wonky though. Remember that although clan mechwarriors are meant to have Gunnery 3, Piloting 4, this isn't reflected in the BV cost on the record sheets. Every pre-calculated record sheet in Battletech assumes that the Mechwarrior is a 4/5 warrior. What this means is that clantech is super expensive, and while it looks OP, can be tough to learn and difficult to balance against spheroid forces - but if your heart is set on the clans, don't let that get you down. Expect to face swarms, though.

>>53315501
>Eras. If I decide to field mechs from 3050 and I play a pick up game against a lance fielding mechs from 3100 will I be at a huge disadvantage?

I'd say no, though some would argue.

BV is a pretty good indicator of how well a 'mech will fare, but it does have it's limitations - mostly in place so that BV can be calculated by hand. When you start needing to use a supercomputer to calculate your BV, you've taken things too far for a tabletop game.

BV is pretty accurate. You can still viably field 3025 mechs against more modern designs and expect to do at least reasonably well. The issue is that with a bigger selection of equipment, mechs can be made to do more things better. Most of the gear that we see in 3050, like the ERPPC, Artemis FCS, Gauss Rifle, etc, are still commonly used on more updated designs.

The only part that 3050s designs suffer from is intentional "New Toy Syndrome", where the devs made mechs that use new technology, but in ways that are so terrible you're left scratching your head, especially if you play the DCMS. Atlases with Dual ERLL and 20 SHS, for example...

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>>53320035
>Atlases with Dual ERLL and 20 SHS, for example...

>>53299358

It's the urbie that believes in you that believes in me.

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>>53321004
「俺を誰だと思ってやがるキック!」
*kicks Urbie head-first into the incoming Clan assault.*

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>>53321004
>>53321597
And now Battletech style, edgy Kuritan name included.

>>53249799
I liked the 2nd Division for their part in Task force Serpent.

>>53249978
Did the Clanbuster Crab stay in production?

>>53251037
I like the Treb/Griffin combo myself

>>53320035
>You can still viably field 3025 mechs against more modern designs and expect to do at least reasonably well.

t. Kurita

>>53322107
Clanbuster Crab? Stats plez?

>>53321632
What's the meaning of that name?

>>53319666
Hey Satan, we aren't all Liaoists here yet.

>>53314580
Real printed novels would be nice.

>>53306564
The Davions.

>>53322328
Clanbuster King Crab, my bad.

>>53322338
It's from a samurai anime, I believe.

>>53322380
Making the Steiners the Lannisters?

>>53322107
On Mars, yes.

WoB used a bunch of them IIRC.

new thread
>>53322445

>>53322363
Those might just be a thing of the past

>>53322325
Granted, 3025 Kuritan mechs don't do well against any designs in general, but an 8Q Awesome or 4G Hunchback is no slouch in a modern game.

... but that's why any sane person balances by BV, not by tonnage.

does anyone have a link to download pdfs:

BattleTech: Combat Manual: Kurita
BattleTech: Campaign Operations
BattleTech: First Succession War
BattleTech: Combat Manual: Mercenaries

>>53324268
Check the archived in OP's post. All four should be in there.