/btg/ - BattleTech General

I love BJs.

File: 2017-07-28_MegaBlackjack105-1A.png (26KB, 300x950px) Image search: [Google]

26KB, 300x950px

>Blackjack
>Weight not divisible by 21
It's like they weren't even thinking.
I love the old Blowjob too.

I'm using the BJ-2 in a game this weekend. It's probably going to be set in the late 3050s.

Anyone have some custom variants for it that would be appropriate for the era?

I toyed with the idea of using FF armour but I'm not sure what alternate weapon loadouts would be optimal. Dual LLs and SSRMs seem pretty solid.

Rolled 4, 6, 4 = 14 (3d6)

OP's Ops
Era: 2nd Succession War
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year:

Rolling for starting dosh

>>54576387
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year:

Starting Cash: 160 Million

>>54576415
Still need a year.

>>54576432
how bout 2860?

>>54576526
>how bout 2860?
Alright.

OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

What should our unit composition be? Standard organization is 3 Lances of mechs and 1 lance of aerospace, plus a dropship. (I think the dropship is free)

>>54576376
ERLLs and paired MLs with extra DHS is decidedly solid

>>54576581
Continuing with Campaign Ops

OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

Starting Cash:
160 Million
Minor Power:
0.8
Era Modifier 2821-2900:
1.5

Total Starting Cash: 192 Million.

>>54576581
With a hundred and sixty million, I'd say a reenforced company, if not two.
Alternately, a LAM lance, two air and two mech lances, real combined arms shit

What are some of the most cost efficient mechs (most BV for C-Bills)?

>>54576704
SFE gausswalls.
Like that one Fafnir, or IIRC one if the Pillager variants

>>54576648

OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

Total Starting Cash: 192 Million

Alright, here are the costs to buy mechs:

EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY & COST TABLE
Example Unit
Availability
Cost
Light BattleMech or Aerospace Fighter, any Satellite
4
3,000,000
Medium BattleMech or Aerospace Fighter
5
6,000,000
Heavy BattleMech or Aerospace Fighter
6
9,000,000
Assault BattleMech, any Small Craft
8
12,000,000
Light Combat Vehicle
3
500,000
Medium Combat Vehicle
4
1,000,000
Heavy Combat Vehicle
5
1,500,000
Assault Combat Vehicle
7
2,000,000
Conventional Fighter
5
1,000,000
Battle Armor, Single*
5
750,000
Conventional Infantry Platoon, Foot
2
1,200,000
Conventional Infantry Platoon, Motorized
3
2,000,000
Conventional Infantry Platoon, Jump or Mechanized
4
2,800,000
ProtoMech, Single*
6
1,000,000
Support Vehicle, Light (<5 tons)
2
250,000
Support Vehicle, Medium (6 to 100 tons)
3
750,000
Support Vehicle, Heavy (101 to 1,000 tons)
5
2,250,000
Support Vehicle, Super Heavy (1,001 to 100,000 tons)
7
20,000,000
Exotic unit (LAM, Super-Heavy ’Mechs, etc.)
10
50,000,000

>>54576754
the first number is availability, the second is cost.

>>54576753
there are no guass cannons during the 2nd succession wars. All L2 tech is strictly star league era mechs, and most modern mechs haven't been invented yet.

>>54576754

>Alright, lets start calling out mechs.
>Anything from 2860 or earlier is okay
>No faction restrictions

OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

Total Starting Cash: 192 Million
Availability Modifiers
Clan equipment for non-Clan Force (after 3070)
+3
Tech E and F Equipment for non-Clan, non-ComStar Force between 2860 and 3040
+5
First Star League equipment for Clan Force
-2
Cross-faction: Acquiring another faction’s exclusive equipment (includes Clan
acquisition of Inner Sphere equipment)
+2
Green Experience
-2
Regular Experience
0
Veteran Experience
+2
Customized unit
+TP Value
Elite Experience
+5
Cost Modifiers
Fusion engine in combat vehicle
x2.0
XL engine in any unit
x2.5
Light fusion engine in any unit
x1.5
Clan equipment for non-Clan Force (3049-3070)
x5.0
Clan equipment for non-Clan Force (3070+)
x4.0
Tech E and F Equipment for non-Clan, non-ComStar Force between 2860 and 3040
x5.0
Tech Rating E equipment
x1.1
Tech Rating F equipment
x1.25
Customized unit
xTP Value

>>54576858
Mackie it up.

When you call out your mech, to roll type "roll+2d6" to see if you make the acquisition roll.

>>54576881

>>54576881
type "roll+2d6" in the options box to roll for your Mackie.

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)

>54576904
It's "dice+2d6", not roll

>>54576858
"roll+2d6"
Give me that sweet, sweet thud.

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

>>54576921
>>54576938
Now they tell me.
Rolling for Thud

>>54576921
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie MSK7A

Rolled 6, 1 = 7 (2d6)

Grasshopper 5H

>>54576988
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860
192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thug 10E
171M

>>54577033
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860
192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thug 10E
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M

>>54577051
>>54577108
I believe he said thud as in thunderbolt not thug

>>54577168
>>54577108
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M

>>54577051
King Crab
>>54577808

Rolled 1, 5 = 6 (2d6)

>>54577808
>>54577896
Durr

Rolled 6, 2 + 2 = 10 (2d6 + 2)

>>54577808
Rolling for Awesome and King Crab

Rolled 1, 4 = 5 (2d6)

>>54577978
Fuck, I was trying to roll twice
First was for Awesome, this is for king creb

Rolled 5, 2 = 7 (2d6)

rolling for stalker

>>54576822

>"All L2 is strictly SL era 'Mechs..."

Anon, the 2nd SW book literally has the Houses using SL tech. Machines with GRs appear on the MUL for the Early Succession Wars, which covers the 2nd SW. I would be somewhat surprised to see one in the 3rd SW and there shouldn't be any around by the 3th SW though.

>>54577978
okay, you get the awesome, but not the king crab.

>>54577896
>>54577922
>>54577978
>>54578007
>>54578173
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome
150M
-12M Stalker
138M

We are going to need some operating capital when we are done guys

>>54578510
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome 8Q
150M
-12M Stalker 3F
138M

Rolled 3, 6 = 9 (2d6)

>>54578607
Another thud

Rolled 4, 5 = 9 (2d6)

>>54578607
An Archer, for fire support

>>54579265
>>54579294
can you gaiz name the variant you want to use?

>>54578607
A Warhammer, for killyness
Anyways, this should take us to two lances

Overall, considering things so far, it seems pretty clear that what we're putting together is a specialized pirate-murdering unit who's sole purpose is to REMOVE BANDIT with extreme prejudice

>>54579265
>>54579294
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome 8Q
150M
-12M Stalker 3F
138M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
129M
-09M Archer 2S (butt lasers and all)
120M

Rolled 4, 3 = 7 (2d6)

>>54579323
Archer-2R and thud-5S
Also rolling for
>>54579343

>>54579343
roll and state your model number

>>54579377
>>54579366
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome 8Q
150M
-12M Stalker 3F
138M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
129M
-09M Archer 2R
120M
-09M Warhammer
111M

>>54576345
It'd have to be a vehicle then, the first multiple of 21 that's divisible by the 5 ton increments 'mechs are measured in is fucking 105t.

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)

>>54579409
A single Vindicator 1R (from a capture)

>>54579382
>>54579409
Whammer-6R (unless a Royal is available with those numbers, in that case one of those)

Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d6)

>>54579409
A Pillager (downgrade or OG, as the roll dictates)

Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)

>>54579409
Another Stalker

Hey guys what's going on? What's being rolled for?

Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

>>54579409
Atlas (because kERENSKY RaSCAL FUCK GET REMOVED)

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

>>54579409
Last anon trying for KINGEST OF CRABS

Rolled 5, 5 = 10 (2d6)

Rollin for some RFL-3N Rifleman action, need that air defense.

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d6)

Rolling for a second Mackie

Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

>>54580098
Having two wouldn't be a bad plan

>>54580234
Yeah, one shoots, then while it's overheating and cooling off the other one shoots.

Rolled 4, 2 = 6 (2d6)

Rolling for a second archer

Alright, the next mech will take us to 16, that is a full four lances
So roll for the last brick in the murderwall that's been amassed here

Rolled 1, 6 = 7 (2d6)

>>54580447
Time for another Awesome

>>54580305
>while it's overheating and cooling
>implying you should ever fire both LLs on a RFL-3N unless you plan on being dead next round

>>54580616
actually the way aerospace at least goes, it's workable. Cap off everything in the arms on one turn, you're at +8 - cool off the next turn, while the ASF has to make its direction change and come around on the low altitude map. Come turn 3 you're back at 0 and ready with all four big guns.

Granted, you're not gonna sustain heavy fire like that EVERY turn, but the ASF rules help you a little in the 4-0-4-0 firing format.

>>54579545
>>54579579
>>54579598
>>54579621
>>54579648
>>54580098
>>54580207
>>54580234
>>54580430
>>54580534
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome 8Q
150M
-12M Stalker 3F
138M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
129M
-09M Archer 2R
120M
-09M Warhammer 6R
111M
-06M Vindicator 1R
105M
-00M Pillager (Denied)
105M
-12M Stalker 3F
093M
-12M Atlas 7-D
081M
-000 King Crab (Denied, Already rolled)
081M
-09M Rifleman 3N
072M
-12M Mackie 7A
060
-09M Rifleman 3N
51M
-10M Awesome 8Q
41M

Alright, you got 40 million left. You still need to pay for salvage, maintenance and repairs. Do you want aerospace?

See, this is what I mean.

The first designs were good, for their time, cause they only had single heat sinks and no XL engines. They had good heat profiles and tons of armor.

It was the refits of old IS tech that were really garbage tier, because they didn't use range brackets, heat cycles or make efficient use of the extra tonnage.

>>54580976
whoops, have the awesome at the bottom listed as 10M

OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
180M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
171M
-09M Grasshopper 5H
162M
-12M Awesome 8Q
150M
-12M Stalker 3F
138M
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
129M
-09M Archer 2R
120M
-09M Warhammer 6R
111M
-06M Vindicator 1R
105M
-00M Pillager (Denied)
105M
-12M Stalker 3F
093M
-12M Atlas 7-D
081M
-000 King Crab (Denied, Already rolled)
081M
-09M Rifleman 3N
072M
-12M Mackie 7A
060
-09M Rifleman 3N
51M
-12M Awesome 8Q
39M

>>54581046
You can still afford 4 light aerospace fighters for 12 million.

>>54581046
I would like the see the "Periphery sucks and they should not get nice things EVER"-guys face right now with that Assault company

>>54581079
Yeah, maybe, but they are paying out the nose for it. The list price for those mechs is on average about 3 million cheaper than whats listed.

As for personnel, so far we have 16 mechs

16 mechs
16 mechwarriors
16 techs
96 atechs

Do we want aerospace or no?

>>54581117
also, do you want any vees?
I don't know any vees from that era without looking them up.

>>54581137
Most of the common stuff you see on board 3020s should be on 2SW aswell

>>54581117
we are also going to need to roll for a dropship and a jumpship.

>>54581117
All things considered, this is very, very clearly an elite beatstick unit intended to deploy alongside existing AMC units whenever face needs to be especially wrecked, so more then an organic air lance probably isn't needed

I'm surprised none of you went for any star league era equipment or veteran units

>>54581046
How do you want to organize these units?

3 lances of 4 mechs are standard.

>>54580976
OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
-09M Grasshopper 5H
-12M Awesome 8Q
-12M Stalker 3F
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
-09M Archer 2R
-09M Warhammer 6R
-06M Vindicator 1R
-12M Stalker 3F
-12M Atlas 7-D
-09M Rifleman 3N
-12M Mackie 7A
-09M Rifleman 3N
-10M Awesome 8Q
039M Total Remaining Cash

Personnel
16 Mechwarriors
16 Techs
96 aTechs

>>54581305
>or veteran units
I'd bet a few dollars that a decade of FMM(r) conditioned people to start thinking about pilot stats AFTER getting the unit mech list, only to be hit by CampOps' greasy overcomplicated resurrection of the original MercHandBook's system

>>54581504
Dude, it was listed under availability modifiers, which i posted in >>54576858

>>54581004

This really depends on the 'Mech and variant. There's usually something that can rescue a shitpile like the Charger but if you get lumbered with the crap one there's not much you can do.

>>54581305

Atlas and Pillager are SLDF, anon.'Hopper too.

>>54581403
Oh, I guess technically we failed the acquisition roll for one of the awesomes and a mackie.

Fuck it, too late now.

>>54581565
What I mean is it doesn't have and E or F components.

>>54581403
okay, so what sort of dropship and jumpship do we want?


OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860

192M Starting Cash
-12M Mackie 7A
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
-09M Grasshopper 5H
-12M Awesome 8Q
-12M Stalker 3F
-09M Thunderbolt 5S
-09M Archer 2R
-09M Warhammer 6R
-06M Vindicator 1R
-12M Stalker 3F
-12M Atlas 7-D
-09M Rifleman 3N
-12M Mackie 7A
-09M Rifleman 3N
-10M Awesome 8Q
039M Total Remaining Cash

Personnel
16 Mechwarriors
16 Techs
96 aTechs

>>54581649
LARGE SPACECRAFT TABLE
Type
Base Equation
DropShip
(Cost in CB / 50,000,000), round up to the nearest whole
number + 5
JumpShip
(Cost in CB / 100,000,000), round up to the nearest
whole number + Number of Docking Collars + 3
WarShip
(Square Root of [Tonnage / 5,000]), round up to the
nearest whole number + (Square Root of Number of
Docking Collars), round up to the nearest whole number
Space Station
(Cost in CB / 50,000,000), round up to thr nearest
whole number
Miscellaneous
Unique
+10. Applies if less than 10 of the spacecraft exist in an
given era. (Example: most Inner Sphere WarShips in the
thirty-first century)
Very Rare
+6. Applies is less than 100 of the spacecraft exist in
an era (Example: Monolith DropShips in the thirty-first
century, almost all WarShips)
Rare
+3. Applies to less common spacecraft for an era
(Example: Scouts, Tramps, Mammoths, Star Lords in the
thirty-first century).
Average
+0. Applies to most spacecraft by default.
Common
–1. Applies to particularly prolific spacecraft (Examples:
Mules, Invaders, Merchants.)
Lithium-
Fusion Battery
+2
Military
+1. Military spacecraft are more controlled and more
difficult to acquire than civilian vessels.
Government
Force
–2. Government Forces have better access to large space
-
craft than others. This only applies to non-Clan factions.
Clan Force
–4. Clans have maintained a large inventory of space
-
craft from the Exodus and a high level of technology.
Cross-Faction
+2. Spacecraft built or used primarily by one faction are
harder for others to acquire. This includes a Clan Force
acquiring Inner Sphere equipment or vice versa.
Inner Sphere/ Periphery era
Modifier
Crew Skill
Modifier
2100-2412
–3
Green
–1
2412-2570
–4
Regular
0
2571-2650
–5
Veteran
+1
2651-2750
–6
Elite
+3
2751-2820
–6
2821-2900
–2
2901-3049
+0
3050-3067
–1
3068-3084
-2
3084-3130
+0

>>54581649
A Mule, Bucc, Old DroST or Danaeis would be what's good for a DS, with a Union and Leopold second and third in line IF and only if the first roll goes well
Jumpships are unnecessary, if the government of the OA needs this assault team somewhere, they'll cough up the jumpers

>>54581698
Well, I'm assuming you only get one of each, as you don't actually own it.

Whats your first pick?

>>54581686

Let me clean that up a bit.

Modifier
2100-2412
–3
2412-2570
–4
2571-2650
–5
2651-2750
–6
2751-2820
–6
2821-2900
–2
2901-3049
+0
3050-3067
–1
3068-3084
-2
3084-3130
+0

Crew Skill
Green
–1
Regular
0
Veteran
+1
Elite
+3

>>54581747
A mule DS, with a Union as secondary.
And a Merchant JS, though, I'd also pull for trying for whatever WarShip has the best numbers, because fuck CGL cowards

File: house kurita r&d lab.gif (2MB, 500x281px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 500x281px

What benefits do swords have over axes? Is it just a cosmetic difference, or do they have different rules?

>>54581824
>WarShip
lol, no.

roll yo. Target number is
+5 standard
+4 160M/50M round up
-1 Prolific Model
-2 Government Forces
-2 2860
4 or higher TN

>>54581931
Swords do less damage, but are more accurate.

Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d6)

>>54581950
screw it, I'll roll

>>54581931
Swords land hits a little easier. Hatchets do double the damage that swords do. Swords are complete garbage really. They're basically just a bonus to hit for punch level damage without letting you punch with both hands. Only reason to have swords is flavor. Vibroblades are a little better.

File: battletech___hatchetman_by_steampoweredmikej-d5oqvx2.jpg (579KB, 1201x999px) Image search: [Google]

579KB, 1201x999px

>>54582021
>>54581994
Thanks. That was really the decider for me between FedSun and Combine. Axes it is.

>>54582020
damn, just barely.
alright, you got your mule.
Jumpship seems kind of irrelevant.


OP's Ops
Era: SW2
Faction: Outworld Alliance
Year: 2860
Dropship: Mule
Jumpship: Merchant
Finance: 39M

Mackie 7A
Thunderbolt 5S
Grasshopper 5H
Awesome 8Q
Stalker 3F
Thunderbolt 5S
Archer 2R
Warhammer 6R
Vindicator 1R
Stalker 3F
Atlas 7-D
Rifleman 3N
Mackie 7A
Rifleman 3N
Awesome 8Q


Personnel
16 Mechwarriors
16 Techs
96 aTechs
13 support

>>54582115
Let's go WarShip, TN is 5 for a Lola I, or 7 for a III

>>54582115
This makes me want to make my own OA force. I'll have to take a look at their production and MUL and see what I can throw together. I get the feeling it'll be Wasps and Archers as far as the eye can see, though. Merlin is at the tail end of the era I normally play.

File: Cougar.png (700KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

700KB, 1920x1080px

bad wallpaper mech bump

>>54584329
>. I get the feeling it'll be Wasps and Archers as far as the eye can see, though.
Basically, yeah
Somebody here suggested adding Whitworths, Riflemen and Strikers to their production list and it seems perfectly reasonable to me

>>54587388
>>54587388
>and it seems perfectly reasonable to me

It's not. No periphery nation should ever be able to easily get assault mechs, regardless of when you are in the timeline.

>>54589198
Don't you mean no periphery nation should be able to get mechs at all?

>>54587388
>>54589198
>>54589418
Someone really needs to fix FASAnomics

>>54589198
I was wondering how long it'd take you to show up

>>54587388
>seems perfectly reasonable to me
Not really. The OA are supposed to suck with mechs by design. They had half their realm taken in the Succession Wars by the Dracs and even the Merlin was a Lyran coming in and setting up shop, not anything homegrown. They got their birds and that's what they're famous for.

I honestly don't see what the obsession is with some people to treat the periphery like a big state instead of a bandit kingdom +1 or sue merc unit +1. Most of their own rulers don't even care about how much stuff they produce until the 3050's. Like the MoC might be Shadowhawk central but they were shipping a big chunk of that to the Davions instead of building up their own forces.

>>54590172
I'd argue that more mech variety doesn't actually *change* anything about the periphery beyond making them more diverse on the table, and I can't see any problem with that

>>54590264
>and I can't see any problem with that
If I don't like a faction, why should anyone be allowed to have fun playing it?

>>54590264
Expanding the industrial base changes a whole ton about their feel. Honestly it does for any faction. Just look at Tortuga or Randis after they got production. There's always random old relic clunkers for variety anyhow.

Always seems the people arguing for this sort of thing want to do something silly like main a faction on the table that's not geared for army building that way.

Like saying you want to main the Kell Hounds in 3025 and complaining that their entire roster is spelled out.

>>54590364
Maybe if we were talking about King Crabs and Grasshoppers and Pixie LAMs, but do you really think that strikers and riflemen and whitworths would be outside the existing theme of "shitty SLDF leftovers bailed out by a superb air force"?

>>54590172
Luckily the MoC was able to add half a dozen regiments with magic :)

File: 1334746639591.jpg (54KB, 550x669px) Image search: [Google]

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>>54590364
Well yeah, it's feasible to give someone like the OA some Drac salvage (Panthers, Jenners, etc) to fill out their force, and some SLDF clunkers as well, but the question that keeps coming up is "why do these factions exist if they cannot be militarily self-sufficient?" and it's honestly a problem. Look at the modern world, for example. A country like the US can steamroll a country like Iraq who has an army that's battle-tested and has loads of armor, planes, and other weapons of war simply due to an issue of lack of quality in equipment and lack of economy. Just because you can make 5-6 different 'Mech chassis doesn't mean you have the economy to use them, or the training, or that they are as good as what the forces around you have. There's also the quantity issue. Making 5 Strikers a year isn't going to make you all that great when you consider attrition due to pirates and border raids by more powerful entities, as well as replacing things that simply broke down. Nobody says that a country able to crank out T-55s is "unrealistic" if it's a far weaker country to the US, they simply know that the T-55 is worse than the Abrams, and don't even consider it a thread. Do this with the Periphery so it makes sense for them to be sovereign but at the same time keeps them sub-par and a secondary player at best. Amp up conventional production; we should have several home-grown tank and APC designs from the Periphery to compensate for lack of 'Mechs, then go through all the "jobber" designs and assign a few to each state. Boom. Blackjacks and Whitworths and Hornets everywhere, and it doesn't change anything except increase the diversity at the table a little because suddenly you'll get people playing them when they can be more than Stingers-'n-Shads-a-Go-Go.

Just a thought; I know not everyone will agree and I'm certainly not trying to upset anyone. Keep in mind I'm mostly advocating for ramped-up conventional production and a bit more 'Mech diversity, that's all.

>>54590635
It puts them dead even with the Capellans in terms of chassis produced until the Raven and Cataphract hit the prototype stage.

You know all they produce before the Merlin? Bugs. All three bugs. That's all they got. If you can't see how doubling their lines and stuffing the weight on doesn't change their flavor and quite radically, then there's not much to say. Their mech forces are supposed to be miserable even compared to Dracs, with their fleets the only thing giving them an edge and not enough to keep the Dracs from gobbling them up anyway. OA is what Snakes grind experience and salvage on in campaigns the same way Marik and Davion do the Capellans.

Whitworth is full on Drac flavored too, as much as Awesomes are Marik.

They're not a major player and they're not meant to be. Hell, even in the DA, it's the Ravens doing all the heavy lifting. You need to imagine the OA for what it is in that era. It's not the OA of the Reunification War. It's not a state, it's like half a state, the shit half, the piece that was just too much trouble for the Dracs when there were juicer targets like Quentin so much closer to home. OA is the bottom rung among the real periphery states, right before you descend into the pirate kingdoms. It's about five steps below the Taurians and about two above Star's End.

>>54591284
Then why bother making it a faction? It should have collapsed like the remnant of the RWR, only to become a state again later when the Ravens scooped up the worlds and re-orged them.

And the Cappies, even considering how poorly-off they were they shouldn't exist anymore, and I say that as a dirty pre-Xin CC fan still have more production that anyone in the Periphery, except possibly the Taurians, by leaps and bounds. In fact, by the commonly accepted metric, given the warmongering nature of the Successor States, only the Taurians have any right to be a Periphery state at all. The rest should have balkanized into Bandit Kingdoms long ago.

>>54591250
>"why do these factions exist if they cannot be militarily self-sufficient?" and it's honestly a problem.

It's like you never read about all the deep periphery Kuritian colonies and prisons abandoned or even all the worlds in the Inner Sphere itself that got left to die. There simply isn't the infrastructure to control all that stuff after the fall of the Star League. Just look how shit every Successor State's Near Periphery is. The Outback, Pesht, Timbuktu, etc

There's a lot of stuff that's just plain not worth it to take or hold.

>>54591408
I'm not even talking about the Successor States necessarily; pirates and bandits could easily, and should have, destabilized these nations and caused them to crumble, or simply turn into oppressive hellholes to maintain order. You don't even need to figure the 5 main factions into it if you don't want to; pirates and bandits have as much military clout as the OA or MoC (pre TA) and that's an issue if you're talking about a nation continuing to exist. There are plenty of real world examples of nations falling due to external forces that end up as powerful as they are, but are they themselves nationless.
>it's like you've never
Pre-discrediting someone to make yourself sound smart isn't the best direction to go, anon.

>>54591357
>Then why bother making it a faction?

Same reason Istanbul stamps "The Holy Roman Empire" on their manhole covers.

>>54591477
In such an aggressive setting I don't think "putting on airs" is a sufficient reason, but then again so much about the setting is fucked from a logical standpoint I shouldn't even be complaining about it, really. It is what it is.

>>54591250
I generally agree, my thinking is that the big three Periphery States should each, to match the lore, possess a military and military industry capable of defeating a committed assault by one of their Successor State neighbors, simple as that

>>54591460
Ironically, the Pirate Kings existed before the modern periphery did. It was supposed to be balkanized and lawless as fuck before 1987, with only small remnants of the old Periphery States surviving out in the frontier.

>>54591517
>defeating a committed assault
That anon here, and I disagree with this, but only to the extent that the Periphery should have sufficient military might to reasonably make it a supreme risk for a Successor State to commit that many forces and weaken a border with another Successor State. Said State would win, but it would likely cost them more developed territory than it won them. As it stands, only the Taurians are at that level. Basically, they need enough tanks and jobber 'Mechs to actually speedbump like the lore implies they would.

>>54591541
Yeah a lot of these issues stem from the "evolving" lore which translates to "we though of this after the fact and just crammed it in there"

>>54591460
To be fair, Periphery 1e straight out depicted everyone *but* the TC as being on the verge of total collapse while the TC was decidedly supposed to be on the way to the big-time

>>54591595
>but only to the extent that the Periphery should have sufficient military might to reasonably make it a supreme risk for a Successor State to commit that many forces and weaken a border with another Successor State.
That's basically what I meant, that the periphery state should be able to solidly beat what their neighbors could throw at them without weakening themselves to the point of getting fucked by another successor state, and put up enough fight to make it chancey even in that case

I definately agree on the tank thing, what the periphery really needs is a solid MBT (and for that matter, so does everyone but the lyrans)

>>54591597
I wonder why they changed it.

>>54591653
Yeah people clamor for 'Mechs but really what the Periphery needs are a bunch of home-grown ICE MBT, combat vehicle, and IFV/APC designs that are somewhat min-maxed to represent the dedication of design necessary for a vehicular substitute for 'Mechs. There are a goodly number of Vee designs out there as well that might suffice too; you'd have to peruse the old SLDF lists and whatnot as well as what was added after the fact and come up with something.

>captcha 3025 Group
Ha.

>>54591717
I mean, I think the periphery needs better mech diversity but tanks are definitely the big thing.
I'd also bring back primitives and make them very common, but that's just my weird fetish

>>54591826
>I'd also bring back primitives and make them very common, but that's just my weird fetish

Agreedo

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>>54591826
>I'd also bring back primitives and make them very common

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>>54591717
I always enjoyed, the clean, if a bit boring, designs some of the fan TROs did on tanks.

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>>54592664
That is quite lovely, though for the Periphery purposes we'd have to stick with predominantly ICEs and FCEs, with SFEs reserved for upgrades in the Invasion era and later.

>>54592466
>>54592598
>>54591826
I can sign that too.

My two cents on the periphery MBT is that it should be an old design, pre-SW, maybe even pre-SL, and have both a SFE model that's the 'original' and a ICE downgrade

I always liked the Brutus as a high-end Periphery tank. Either acquired from the Capellans, or the Capellans stole the factory and lied about it.

The Alphard Trading Company was a big supporter of the RWR, so anything they built is good, and I remember the Marian Hegemony had partnered with Kali Yama Industries back in the 3020s.

>>54591357
>Then why bother making it a faction?
It's basically a player-merc-regiment-sized faction with a proportionately sized 'Mech factory. It also works as a sideshow playground for fighter-centric antics in a universe that's intrinsically not-fighter-centric.

And, like all player-regiment-sized units, their 'Mech diversity depends more on their history and who've they hired recently than on what they produce natively.

>It should have collapsed
>the commonly accepted metric
I thought "are 'Mech factories present" was the commonly accepted metric? Bandits, as a rule, won't try to knock out a 'Mech factory.

>>54591517
>>54591595
>>54591653
All three of the TC, MC and OA possess sufficient military power to defeat a committed attack from nearby House forces. They also possess approximately the same production per regiment as the Houses.

Don't forget, if you mass troops on your periphery border, you're not just leaving a gap open for your neighbor to exploit, you're leaving that gap open for *months*.

>>54591597
I dunno. While it described the Periphery at large as balkanized and lawless as fuck, it also described the TC as stable, the MC as growing, with Oberon, the Marians and Circinus maturing into genuine statehood.

>>54594872
>All three of the TC, MC and OA possess sufficient military power to defeat a committed attack from nearby House forces

In 3025?! You're off your fucking meds. The TC maybe, but the MOC military has less chance against a House than I do of nailing Natalie Portman.

If I was redoing things, I'd hand out a bunch of Primitive factories to all the major and maybe some of the minor states, with only a few new 3025-tech lines, mostly to reintroduce a couple of dead mechs (mackie, toro, Talos) and concurrently add extra units equipped with these new primitives to everyone's armies.
I'd also add a bunch more DS and JS yards, because those are really important (which I'd also do to the IS on an even larger scale)

>>54590172

Not just suck with 'Mechs, but be Space Amish who object to war machines in general. It's one thing to set them up with additional production to start with and another to AU it in, even if it's been there all along. To me it messes a bit too much with the faction's characterisation, YMMV.

>>54591250

I'm preetty sure the production diversity for 'Mechs you're arguing for here is greater than pre- 4th SW Cappies and roughly on par with pre-3039 retcon Dracs. Both can be fixed but then you're adding more production and difversity to IS nations to justify the Periphery getting the same or you have to argue for the OA not getting gibbed completely in a time when the Striker represented a major improvement over the Dracs' only home-grown assault, the Charger.

>>54595498
I'm also all in favour of increasing mech diversity in the IS, too

>>54595623

Cool. Now be prepared to justify why you are giving more production of certain designs to IS factions when you just KNOW the Feddies will REEE if you give anything half-decent to the Dracs, the Purple Birds will flip their shit over the Lyrans getting yet another assault line, and the Capellans will rage at anyone even remembering that the FWL exists.

There's a reason I confine myself to unfucking retardation (and also WarShip designs) when I do AUs. Nobody really seems to mind if you make it so that poorly-detailed events are better fleshed out and rely less on "faction A was the designated carrier of the idiot ball, so Faction B reamed their assholes out" and more on "things were evenly fought and could have gone either way but didn't" and even the few people who do give a shit about WarShips think the canon ones for the SL and AoW era are completely moronic.

Messing with production, troop numbers, and stuff we do have a lot of detail on inevitably triggers some autist who will tell you why you're wrong.

And hell, some days that autist will even be the person in your mirror.

>>54595882
>Now be prepared to justify why you are giving more production of certain designs to IS factions when you just KNOW the Feddies will REEE if you give anything half-decent to the Dracs, the Purple Birds will flip their shit over the Lyrans getting yet another assault line, and the Capellans will rage at anyone even remembering that the FWL exists.

"Fuck you, that's why".

There. Justified. Never knowtow to autists.

>>54595623
>>54596174
This is something that I liked about the 3145 TROs. Everyone got something useful.

>>54596462

Except the Suns.

According to them, any way.

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>>54596616
The suns got a lot of decent stuff, but I can see how people would gloss over it because every page's fluff tells about how much the Feddies suck and how much the Cappies and Dracs pushed their shit in.

>>54596887

Their complaints mostly revolved around the units they got not being outright superior to everyone else's.

>>54596887
What happened to Shimmy anyway? I love his stuff.

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>>54597207
got a dayjob but still pops in when he can.

>>54597235
That good. I wish him well.

>>54597091
>the units they got not being outright superior to everyone else's.

In fairness, based on past history, that <is> getting screwed over for the Feddies. They actually did lose something, it's just that that something was an ever-growing list of ludicrously optimized units.

>>54597289

At best it marginally closed the power gap to other factions, who still don't have anything that rivals the variety or optimisation the Suns have.

>>54597621

Yes, but to the Feddie fans, they are undeniably losing something. Dat (power) gap. That's why they keep flipping their shit each time something new gets released wherein other factions get nice things.

The fact that the power gap should never have existed in the first place doesn't change the fact that Feddies ARE losing something. I hate myself for not being able to think of another analogy, but it's a ton like civil rights politics. Majority (white male) people (ie, Feddies) are mad because they are losing the freedom to legally discriminate against people not like them (ie, unit optimization). Both groups in question (white men/Feddies) are definitely losing something (freedom of discrimination/exclusive access to optimized units). The fact that that group never should have had that "thing" in the first place doesn't enter into the equation: they're still losing it and that makes them buttmad.

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>>54597778
wew lad.

>>54591250
>a country like Iraq who has an army that's battle-tested and has loads of armor, planes, and other weapons of war simply due to an issue of lack of quality in equipment and lack of economy
Uh, not to derail the thread, but the US steamrolled the Iraqi military because the Iraqis were cartoonishly inept. Like, the 1991 Iraqis would have lost a war with the German Wehrmacht of WW2, much less the US-led Coalition, because they were just that damn dumb at the tactical level. Iraqi technological shortcomings helped, a good deal, but their lack of economy was just a symptom, not a causative factor.

Read the following threads, especially the posts by IXJac:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/iraq-circa-1991-versus-germany-circa-1941.114534/
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/1944-germany-vs-1990-iraq.224292/

>>54597826

It's a completely terrible analogy and that's all people are going to focus on, but anon's point isn't intended as bait, I think. Suns players don't get to have unit superiority over everybody else anymore. Whether it's right or not that they had it, they've lost it. It's been taken from them by TPTB.

What group of people isn't going to bitch up a storm when you take something away?

>>54597913
>It's a completely terrible analogy

Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm posting while doing political science homework and that's the only place my brain seems capable of going right now.

>if I told 12 year old me that I'd still be doing homework, voluntarily, when I was 24, he'd probably find a chair to climb on and slap the shit out of me

>>54597826

You don't have to be mean about it.

>>54597969
Dude be cool. It's the end of the month and I'm behind on my oppression quota.

>>54597913
If he didn't want to bait, he shouldn't have used a bullshit example. The fact that he can't think of anything better means we should point and laugh at his mental deficiencies.

>>54597969
>You don't have to be mean

And you don't have to bring up retarded social justice talking points in /btg/, but here we stand.

>>54597913
That's a fair point, but still seems more like projecting. I haven't seen much bitching in /btg/ as of late. Aside from that Sparrow/ringalingadingdongchingchong fanfic spaz.

>>54598047
>>54598094

Move the analogy just slightly to the American civil war and slave owners losing their slaves, and the anology holds up just fine without the SJW-isms.

Slave owners = Suns players.
Slaves = Superior unit access.

Slave owners lost their slaves.
Suns players lost their superior unit access.

Slave owners are buttmad since they lost a thing.
Suns players are buttmad since they lost a thing.

Analogy works fine. Just ignore the SJW part of it.

>>54597855
Well yeah that was probably a bad example. The only real combat experience they had was against Iran and that's not exactly sterling. It's the only thing that popped into my head in the way of the equivalent of a modern Successor State invading the equivalent of a modern Periphery State that had any kind of military industrial complex to speak of. I mean the example of Russia rolling the Ukraine isn't very good either, though maybe the trouble they've had in Chechnya is better? I dunno. Insert major world power vs. minor country with actual military production example here, in any case.

>>54598165
...Man, now I kinda want to see a Battlemaster cracking a Chainwhip over a field full of Cattlemasters or Stingers.

>>54598176
The Soviet invasion of Finland?

>>54597913

>Suns players don't get to have unit superiority over everybody else anymore.

They totally do though. They've still got access to the shitloads of excellent stuff from earlier eras of the game and even the best stuff from the 3145 TRs is still nowhere near that level. The other factions got designs that were mediocre rather than balls-out terrible, and for the first time in a long time the Suns got designs that were, by and large, also mediocre.

Everyone else be like "Yay, we didn't get shat on for a change." Suns be like "NOOOO, WE AREN'T SHITTING ON EVERYONE ELSE THIS TIME!" as though they suddenly can't flood the map with Gausswalls and Clantech salvage/purchase/refits that are overall better than anyone else's options.

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Thinking of picking up some Robotech RPG Tactics minis. Anyone have experience playing Phoenix Hawk LAMs, or should I just stick to the standard man-bot configs?

>>54599368

Be prepared for Sembieda and HG to hit you with C&Ds, I guess.

I think IWM does minis of the new LAMs from TR 3085.

They're not great in either 'Mech or ASF mode since they're slower than normal 'Mechs or ASF of the same tonnage and usually have fewer weapons. What you really want to do is zip around in Land-Air mode cheesing it with +4 TMMs and using range bands to stay unittable. Watch out for flak and artillery.

>>54599429
Good to know. I'm a sort of new player, so I don't have much experience with air units anyway. Mostly I just wanted to use the Battloids as Wasps and Phoenix Hawks, but I can't seem to find any sets that have just the manbots without the planebots.

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>>54599620
Don't bother getting the Battroids or the Glaug. They're too big to be light and medium mechs in BT scale for the former and the Glaug is stupendously large. If you want the AirMech and fighter modes, they're okay, but the fighters are a bit large.

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>>54601702

How anal are Dark Age Jade Falcons about using Battlemechs as front-line units, particularly captured IS models? Is it acceptable or absolutely dezgra?

>>54601788

It's the Cockfalcons, anon. If they say they hate something and think it's 100% dezgra, they just mean it's wrong if anyone else does it and fine if they do.

>>54601788
Basically this >>54601877

They even field Industrial Mech mods.

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>>54603497
Whatever tripfaggot

>>54603497
Jet fuel can't melt endo-steel beams. Duh.

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>>54601877
hahaha

How many galaxies did Clan Wolf have when Revival launched?

Not just those in the invasion itself, but total? The Bears had 12, the Jaguars 11 and the Falcons 10, so I'm guessing the Wolves had to have at least 10.

>>54595305
Primitives are so simple that you can have cottage industries for them. You don't need a factory to knock out a steel plated, steel framed 25 ton walker with a couple MGs and a little missile launcher bolted on.

>>54604478

Nobody knows, anon.

The oldest material (WCSB, JFSB, Invading Clans) implies that the Big Four are roughly as strong as each other and have left substantial troops at home. One Clan even opened the bidding process at 12 Galaxies. The big four are said to be stupendously powerful and wealthy, with a ton of forces and real estate back in the Homeworlds.

However, we never get a good look at the Wolves' size circa 3050, and material from the Refusal War era and later on is strongly suggestive of them being around 35 or so Clusters beforehand, as opposed to the Bears' 50-odd. The Bears are also the only ones we can point to a solid estimate of force size for because we know exactly which units pre and post date Revival.

My initial headcannon would put all four Invading Clans in the 50-60 Cluster range, but this gets fucked hard by later material. Basically the issue is that a lot of the early material was written before they had committed to a lot of the ideas they would develop for the Clans later on, so a lot of things either don't line up or line up poorly.

Guys, anyone have access to the new TRO:SW and Mechmanual? Poorfag here ;(

>>54604609
Something else to consider here, when comparing the Wolves to the Bears, is force composition. The Bears are the only Clan to have entire Galaxies with nothing but BA troops. The Wolves still make up the vast bulk of their forces with 'mechs, like the rest of the Clans.

So while the Bears may have a distinctly larger number of organized troops, it's likely that their actual unit size of 'mech forces isn't significantly larger than other comparable Clans.

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Blakists had it right, BT needs more over the top superweapons.

>>54606695
Were they kind of like the Secret Weapons of the Luffwaffe or something?

>>54606695
>tfw that's not even homegrown Blakist but just a refit of some old SL defense stuff that survived the Coup and Focht was too lazy to put back in service.

Comstar were a bunch of fucking penny pinchers after Holy Shroud. "Warships are expensive, just mothball like all of them but three."


>>54606759
Kinda. They were the only people to rediscover and improve all sorts of SL tech in three hundred years. The clans only dicked around with weapons and breeding while the Blakists were solving the super heavy problem, improving jump drives for the first time in centuries, improving HPG's for the first time in even longer than that, making new LAM's, the first successful battlemech drones, Castles Brian and restoring terraforming on a scale not seen since the 2700's.


Speaking of all that. Did we ever find out what happened with Cortland? He kinda pulled a Van Braun at the end of the war but I never saw where he ended up.

How do through armour crits work? Wouldn't ask but my computer has hidden my rulebook from me

Just had a gyro shot out of my pristine MAD 3R

>>54606859
It's a spot on the normal hit table, when you roll a 2. Location is always center torso (or left or right if you're using left or right side table). Lots of people prefer floating crits where it rerolls the location for the TAC instead of it always being the CT.

>>54606908
Many thanks

Guess my captain is out of the fight this game

>>54606851
>Kinda. They were the only people to rediscover and improve all sorts of SL tech in three hundred years. The clans only dicked around with weapons and breeding while the Blakists were solving the super heavy problem, improving jump drives for the first time in centuries, improving HPG's for the first time in even longer than that, making new LAM's, the first successful battlemech drones, Castles Brian and restoring terraforming on a scale not seen since the 2700's.

Didn't they do all sorts of Shadowrun style body enhancements and stuff as well?

>>54606961
Yeah, but they weren't super special in that regard. All the covert agencies of the Inner Sphere had access to most of those kind of things as well as the clans. What was unique about the Blakists was the scale they implemented all that stuff. The Rabid Foxes might have an assassin with infrared eye implants and myomer replacing his meat muscles, but the robes deployed guys like that by the platoon.

>>54592598
My Heavy Rifles long for this day

>>54592598
>>54607041
>having primitives when it was fusion engine production that was the bottleneck for everything

Gentlemen, we need Dieselmechs. Industrials, Primitives, proper Grogtech chassis and fire control, it doesn't matter. But it needs that heavy ass no heatsink fuel guzzlin' engine.

What if we refluffed the LGR to be a 40s-era prototype developed on the way to redevelopment of the regular GR?

>>54607399
The Clanner aeros would be fucking eaten alive during the Invasion. They would have actually needed to bring in their warship fleets to force ground combat.

>Hope you like extreme range, tube trash

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>>54607472
IIRC didn't they already only have a middling performance?

Ok so apparently there's gonna be a series of short stories at Gencon. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FUCKING NOVELS

>>54608135
It's weird. It's been the longest general delay I can think of for a BT product, this "we're gonna have novels, novels are coming", and then delay after unspecified delay. We got Betrayal, and we've had some nice Battlecorps compilations, and this collection in particular looks really cool (follows a Grasshopper through its multi-century history, which is definitely my shit), but where's the spine novels? Hell, where's that Kell Hounds thing we were promised?

>>54608135
>>54608212
>CGL making promises then not keeping them
Sounds like business as usual, boyos. Don't know what you expected honestly.

>>54607989
Yeah. They got shrekt in a dogfight with Wrasselhogs for example. In Book 3 of the Clan Invasion series they even comment that aerospace fighter combat is the one area the Clans don't dominate.

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>tfw you lose 2 enforcers in one game to through armour ammo explosions

>>54607989
It was middling against Kuritan Shologar, Shilones, Lucifers, and Reavers

Now imagine whole squadrons of twin LGauss Lucifers knocking down enemy fighters and droppers in atmo.

>>54599133
for my money as a Suns player, it's not about this scat obsession everyone seems to think we have (that's really more a feature of Lyran porn...). I don't care who's shitting on who.

What I do dislike is that the worthwhile designs we get, after putting up with an era of mediocre trash like the legionnaire, is placed directly in the path of the incoming drac invasion and there's virtually no time between "we got this!" and "we lost this to the combine!"

Add to that how I hate the Vulpes. Yeah, I know plenty of /btg/ posters love the thing. I don't. I don't have anywhere to fit it in my Suns forces. Ought to be a capellan mech.

>>54608135
>Ok so apparently there's gonna be a series of short stories at Gencon.

They've been doing that every year since like 2010. That's the Battlecorps Compilations. We didn't get Front Lines in normal print last year so maybe that's them finally getting it where I can get my hands on a copy.

You should pick them up if you haven't. They're really good, like Shrapnel good. Start with Volume 2 though. Volume 1 is kinda weak, unless you really like Star League and FCCW stuff.

They've been having regular print novel issues since A Bonfire of Worlds. I don't recall them ever getting any of that solved with Roc. Don't see why you would expect them to this time unless they made some kind of big announcement.

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>>54608542
I have a battered housewife relationship with my enforcers. They job constantly and do more harm to themselves than the enemy, but I love them so.

>>54597855
>Wehraboo bullshit

>>54608542
>>54609122

I suppose I'm the lucky one here. They always carry their weight for me. But I don't use them as straight up brawlers either like some people tend to. I like to use them to bully enemy mediums and slow lights. Engaging anything big unless you got a big group is asking to get splattered.

You know what always lets me down though? The hatchetman. Too slow to really tangle with anything it can reliably bully and not tough enough to take on things in it's bracket. The abysmal rear armor makes sure you get extra fucked if you go chasing fast lights.

It's almost like it's exclusively designed to take on the Fedsun enemy mooks of Vindy's and Panthers respectively. Close in under the PPC's minimums and smasherize em. Like it's a Feddie mook but without the mook numbers that actually make the things it's competing with work pretty good together.

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Around Dracs, _____ _____

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>>54609265
drop slacks?

>>54609265
Admire Racks.

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>>54609239
Thats how i see them. But I'm not very good so it never works well at all

>>54609122
It was their first game out, first game out for my new Merc group as well the Lucky 3s. I was using a pair to harass as my assaults did their work. Instead of having a brawl with my assaults the enemy decided to smash/look at funny my shiny new enforcers


>>54576206
More generally. Are there any good resources out there to improve as a player. I've been playing AtB for a while and and feel just as bad.

>>54608212
The first two parts of the Kell Hounds story is out already......

>>54609048
They did release Embers of War and Betrayal of Ideals though. May be they got sued by Roc too lol

>>54609541
Where? The first part came out in Battlecorps, but the other two, which are to make up the rest of the novel, I don't think have ever been released.

Also, the new anthology is just that - new. No Battlecorps stuff. I really like the concept:

"In BattleTech: Legacy, thirteen all-new stories chronicle the fortunes and tragedies of a single ’Mech across several tumultuous points in its wide-ranging combat history." They're following a Grasshopper across the years.

>>54609239
Yeah, every success I've had with enforcers comes from harassing slow meds and lights. Sometimes I use them to taunt heavies, but otherwise never go for a stand up fight unless I'm sacrificing them as a delaying tactic.

Intro and lostech Hatchetmen are more difficult. Usually you want to pinch below you're weight class and hope you can land a hit with the Hatchet. The jihad and civil war versions can be a bit nastier though.

>>54609658
If your a backer for HBS Battletech you can get part two.

>>54609589
Not in print they didn't. Roc has the right to print novels only, not e-pub.

Which ironically there are some gencon 2008 copies of Bonfire floating around but I never managed to snag one. Same for Front Lines apparently. Only ever seen at Gencon 2016 in the wild.

>>54609807
Ok so no excuse then just "how can I fuck up battletech even more?"

>>54609877
Catalyst can get away with releasing print novels if there's a TRO section in the back, making them game books.

Speaking of rights bullshit.
When it comes to Battletech/Mechwarrior, who owns what? Isn't Microsoft involved somewhere?

>>54610377
Microsoft owns the rights to any digital representation of the Battletech and Mechwarrior IPs. That's unit creation software like Heavy Metal Pro, games like MechCommander, and so on.

>>54610428
Who owns the rights to the tabletop games?
Books/novels?
Isn't the rights to the physical models owned by someone else too?

>>54610510
Topps owns the rights to the Battletech and Mechwarrior Dark Age lines, Roc owns the rights to print the novels, the TV and film rights are owned by a third group (Probably Disney through their buyout of Saban who made the cartoon, but I can't be sure), and the miniature rights are held by Iron Wind Metals.

>>54610510
>Who owns the rights to the tabletop games?
Topps, licensed to Catalyst Game Labs (CGL).

>Books/novels?
I think that Roc owns those rights, but I'm not 100% sure of that. I also know that it is different in Germany.

>Isn't the rights to the physical models owned by someone else too?
Ironwind Metals owns the rights to produce minis for BattleTech. Alpha Strike, interestingly enough, they do not produce minis for, CGL owns those rights.

Lets think of a game where you control a handful of mech factories.

Year: 3081
Location: The Periphery

You have 4 factories. Each factory can produce

1 Light every 3 months
1 Mediums every 6 months
1 Heavy every 9 months
1 Assault every 12 months

You have 2 years to prepare for the coming invasion. What do you have each factory build?

>>54610903
Seems easy enough, just go 1/1/1/1. In 2 years, you'll have 8 lights, 4 mediums, 2 heavies, and 2 assaults. The extra time on the Heavy factory can be spent building spare parts for future repairs.

>>54610956
yeah, but what model?

>>54610956
this here is an example of troll logic.

>>54611087
There's not enough information for anything more detailed. "The Periphery" is a big place with a lot of different military forces that don't all have access to the same designs and materials.

>>54611154
you can build anything you want.

>>54611154
build anything you want except clantech

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>>54610903
>>54610990
In 3081? Shit man, I go for all Light 'Mechs all the time. That gives me 48 Light 'Mechs to murder the fuck out of anyone. In that era it's so easy to make Lights that hit super hard and are really fast, even with 3050s era tech in the Periphery (things like the Jackal and most of the re-discovered SLDF Lights) that any equivalent BV force that isn't complete cheese is going to have a tough time. Hell even if I were stuck making Panthers that's still 48 fucking PPCs at your face. Going all Mediums is almost as good, since they can be almost as fast and have heavier armor, but you'll end up with less firepower overall that's less maneuverable to boot, and you can't spread it out as easily to respond to enemy movements.

>>54610903
>inb4 le "Periphery shouldn't have mechs" shitpost

Real answer: I'd do 2 light factories and two medium factories. The heavies and assaults just aren't going to do enough to make up for the lack of numbers that their construction times dictate. With the lights and mediums, I'd be able to respond to a lot more threats. I also would consider putting the factories to work making tanks and shit instead, if that's an option.

As for what designs I produce, that depends entirely on where I am and what is fluff-appropriate. If it is generic "Periphery", then generic designs: upgraded bugs and the like.

>>54610903
>>54610990
>>54611198
Dammit nigga is it 2 or 3? I guess 2 then. In that case I still get 32 Lights, so I'd still do it that way.

No, you don't get it. These are like, lostech factories, they can produce 'anything'. They can even change what they are producing every quarter.

You can literally pick which mech you want to build, you just can't do clantech

>>54611230
Its 3. sorry dude, little hungover.
and a little buzzed.

>>54611641
24 TLN-5Ws
12 TLN-6Ws
12 JA-KL-1578s
Pew pew nigga

>>54605765

They only have one Galaxy of Elementals, and even if you take that away it still leaves them as a top-tier Clan for size.

I still find the Wolf size stupidly small given the early fluff and amount of real estate they own, but this is what you get with FASA; shit just doesn't make sense. Sure, why not, let's just have the Falcons probably be roughly level with the Bears before the Refusal War, but the Wolves? Lel, fuck them and fuck logic, let's position them alongside the third-tier Clans and expect that to make sense.

>>54606851
>Comstar were a bunch of fucking penny pinchers after Holy Shroud. "Warships are expensive, just mothball like all of them but three."

They were also worried about the Successor States finding out. It wasn't as though they needed to keep them active, nobody could attack Terra (those Dantes would fucking *delete* invasion forces all by themselves, aside from the usual ASF vulnerability they have on the tabletop) and if they wanted to go on the offensive they could re-activate them whenever they needed to.

>>54607472

>what are ER Large Lasers
>what are OmniFighters regularly equipped with
>which has better Threshold value

No.

>>54607989

Tyra as Kai of the skies and the Kuritans were shown to be wrong. Neither are persuasive, especially when you have Victor and company gobsmacked by what pilots the Clans see as failures pull on a regular basis.

Add this to the OP from now on, since the only other location is on the OF, and Xotl's RATs are actually good.

>>54612471
Fuck me. Well too lazy to delete: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yh0d5y4f0j3jkiv/3028-3050%20Random%20Assignment%20%26%20Rarity%20Tables%209.1.pdf?dl=0

>>54608212

It's CGL's thing, anon.

>product is announced
>hype builds
>get asked where it is after radio silence
>tee hee guys, you know we have cash-flow issues, we haven't actually paid anyone involved in it so work has ground to a halt
>also we're a small company that is mostly staffed by volunteers, surely you can't expect us to do things in a timely fashion
>now go, forum warriors, and defend us from the mean people who actually think we should show basic human decency if not actual competency

>>54610428

I think they licensed the creation shit to Rick Raisley directly, which as usual has bitten them in the ass repeatedly since he can't be fucked updating it and won't let anyone else do anything with it.

I think they even stopped advertising it as offically connected with the game in the main rulebooks.

>>54612561
when are you going to stop throwing bitchfits about this crap?

>>54612825

First one I've ever thrown, forum warrior.

Do you a deal though. Won't happen again if CGL can get its shit together and act like any one of the many, many small gaming companies that actually manage to get shit done.

>>54612561
>I think they licensed the creation shit to Rick Raisley directly, which as usual has bitten them in the ass repeatedly since he can't be fucked updating it and won't let anyone else do anything with it.

It is his. Rick has the license to develop the official software for it. Now granted programs like SSW and MML are fine, even though they're not official. Even way back when The Drawing Board was a thing, when HeavyMetal was still being actively developed, it wasn't a problem.

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>>54612471
>>54612486
Added to the last pastebin.

>>54612908

I think it's less "fine" and more "exists in an area that is difficult to enforce."

If he wanted to do anything about the freeware, he'd have to get a lawyer involved. Then if they refused to co-operate, he'd have to go to court. And then because these days he does fuck and all with HM and the other stuff is free it's hard to show he's been impacted on and difficult to get a winning payout that will make it all worthwhile.

But if the fans are capable of throwing together tweaks and getting it operating on modern OSes you would think Raisley could as well. Or just migrate to Java.

In b4 anyone points out that Raisley's super BF Medron Pryde legit thinks that Java is malware just waiting to fuck your computer over, refuses to install it on his computer, and tells everyone else HACKERS GONNA GIT YA with it.

>>54612880

That's a completely unreasonable position to hold. You know damn well they're a small company almost entirely staffed by overworked volunteers. Expecting them to get product out on a strict schedule like companies without cashflow issues such as Wizkids and WOTC is completely asinine.

If you genuinely wanted to help them continue producing product, you'd go demoing games to build a player base so they can fix the cashflow issues, and you'd go run interference for TPTB against the harrassing fanbase, so they can concentrate on getting product done rather than defending themselves on the forums all the time.

>>54613171
They're a company, buying their shit is all the help they need if they're competent. Why would I want to work for them for free if they're shit? It'd be better for them to go under and let the license pass to a company with cashflow.

>>54613171
Wow, the retard is strong with this one.

So, I understand the point you're trying to make: support a company through a rough patch if you want products. That's reasonable. What *isn't* reasonable is supporting a company with a history of chronic fuckups and delays and not performing ethically. Unethical companies should not be supported (of course, expecting products from said companies is stupid, which is why I don't, but that's another point altogether).

>>54613278
>What *isn't* reasonable is supporting a company with a history of chronic fuckups and delays and not performing ethically.

Counterpoint: which game company <doesn't> fall under this classification?

>>54613171
Lol defending themselves on the forums? The TRUE TPTB abandoned the forums long ago. Beneath them I suppose. Is that you Worktroll?

>>54613252

I'm not entirely sure if he's baiting or if he's one of the forum warriors.

>>54613171

Other small companies with cashflow issues still manage to get by, mostly by prioritising the payment of writers and artists so they can get the damn product out and make more money. Nobody's talking about (relative) titans like WOTC, just the baseline companies.

The writers also have the option of not using the OF. Some do. Herb once even banned all the writers from the place when their shitposting got too extreme. They're adults, they can figure out how they should use their time.

>>54613316
Wizards of the Coast. They're dicks but not unethical. They deliver products on-time as specified and always pay their contractors and employees. I don't like WotC much, but they have ethics. They just suck as game designers.

>>54613332

>worktroll

He's online ATM and it is the sort of thing he has said in the past. We know he lurks here and likes to bitch us out too.

It could be him but who really gives a shit? OFFICIAL FORUMITE SPOTTED! aside it doesn't really matter.

If he's baiting, pretty well done. If he's serious, retards gonna retard and fanboys gonna be blindly loyal.

>>54613339
He's baiting, but being very obviously tongue-in-cheek about it, so may as well play along. It's a slow day in /btg/.

>>54613171
>they're a small company almost entirely staffed by overworked volunteers. Expecting them to get product out on a strict schedule like companies without cashflow issues such as Wizkids and WOTC is completely asinine.

There's a small Japanese & Korean restaraunt in town. Virtually everyone working there is either blood related to, or married to the family that owns it. The service is kinda shitty as a result. I still eat there on an irregular basis, because the food really is some of the best in town. On a bad night, I once had to wait roughly an hour after ordering, before I got my food, but I excused it because it WAS new years eve, and they were packed.

I could see each and every last one of them working hard. I knew they weren't just standing in back, jacking off and talking about TV, I could see the effort they were putting in. I could see other patrons getting their food, so I knew mine would come eventually.

With Battletech/CGL, I have no such indication that my order will ever arrive. I have been waiting for it, FAR longer than is reasonable. Like waiting through four other entire meals without getting a damn thing.

If CGL REALLY is this incapable, then they need to pare down and focus hard. Instead of promising all these different sourcebooks and novels, they should promise ONE sourcebook, and ONE novel. And then, when those have been released, promise the next.

They also need to eliminate drains on their manpower and community good will, like their ridiculous fucking joke of a store. if having to "defend" themselves on the forums is slowing things down, then they should get the fuck off the forums.

>>54613350
There have actually been issues between WotC and their artists more than a few times, and not just in the past either.

https://www.vandalhigh.com/blog/2015/7/3/the-problems-with-artist-pay-on-magic

>>54613380
>It's a slow day in /btg/.
What should we talk about then? We had a little Periphery discussion, but that petered out. Most people don't talk about custom 'Mechs, and the "be the military procurer in 3081" thing just above these posts died out too. /btg/ is just really picky about what it discusses, and 90% of that is relegated to things people can argue and get angry over, so trolls actually contribute more to these threads than they rightly should, I hate to say.

>>54613862
I thought it was just because it's Sunday.

Whats everyone's weight sweetspot? Mines 65

>>54613802
Did you read that article? It says they don't pay competitively, not that they don't pay *at all*. If the worst that Mohrbacher can say is that they don't give licencing rights and they don't pay as well as they maybe should, that's still leagues better than CGL's "we don't pay contractors at all" method. Sure, WotC could pay better, but at least they actually *do* pay and pay on time, as promised.

>>54613096
There's nothing to enforce. Unless they were taking payment, which is even a shaky area, there's absolutely nothing keeping them from creating software that does the same thing as long as they aren't claiming they're the official software.

It's like how OpenOffice/LibreOffice can still build competing products of Microsoft Office.

>>54613958
I did read the article, and getting paid is certainly better than not, but screwing people doesn't really make WotC that much better in terms of dealings with artists and creative staff. Especially since they have less excuse due to the millions of dollars they make a year.

Also, why the fuck do you niggers always assume people don't read what they post? Yeah some people are idiots but it makes you come off like a pissant when you jump into it with the "I bet you're ignorant" shit. That article was also the first thing I found; I can recall reading others where artists were paid less than they were promised or paid months later than they were told they would be. Not gonna be arsed to dig it up for someone who takes this sort of tone with the debate though, so pardon me for that.

>>54613907
That's true. And there ain't much to talk about unless we make something up. Which has a pretty high failure rate around these parts unless it involves bitching, like I said before.

>>54613941
All Light chassis weights, 40, 50, 70, and 90. If I had to pick one weight though, I like dinking around with 30t chassis for some reason.

>>54614659
>I can recall reading others where artists were paid less than they were promised or paid months later than they were told they would be.
Please do actually find that, since I've never seen it or heard of it, and I've done my homework too.

And the reason I generally assumed you hadn't read it is because on 4chan, that's the general rule as you well know. Most folks here post shit without an understanding of it. That you do and draw conclusions I don't agree with is honestly a nice change. For the record, I do disagree with your conclusions, especially since Mohrbacker actually admits that WotC is generally fair, he just has a few specific issues, namely the rate being a bit low and the rights not being his. These are real issues, but it is worse elsewhere as he even notes. Other games pay less (he says "Magic is the best paying gig in gaming") and other companies don't necessarily give rights to the art either.

All of this is moot regardless. WotC is generally accepted to be fair in their dealings, outside of the anecdotal evidence you claim to have seen and I've never heard of (please find and release contemporary reports of WotC screwing people and I'll be happy to say you were right). Without those reports, I can't accept that companies like WotC are on the same level as CGL, who has dozens and dozens of reports that they simply don't pay people for work or just steal it. It isn't even the same category of behavior.

Furthermore, you originally asked for companies that don't fuckup constantly, delay products regularly, and aren't ethical. Dislike WotC all you want, but they don't fuckup business choices, delay their products, or be unethical. We could discuss other companies if you'd like, but the truth is that CGL's level of horribleness is not the norm. Lots of small companies try to behave well and have good intentions. Companies like CGL and Palladium are the exception, not the rule.

>>54614787
Well I did a little digging, and I can't find anything I had previously read, but it's likely it was either from blogs that no longer exist, or dubious sources, given it's the internet we're talking about. I'm honestly not that broken up about it. If it makes me "wrong" then that's fine; my main point from the start was that WotC underpays given the % that pay relates to profit and company worth, which is also something Mohrbacker points out, and is something that I think is actually an understated issue. I know a lot of artists and it's a tough field to be in (my gf has a degree in illustration, and she has a whole cadre of friends who do art) and they are constantly underpaid, berated for charging too much, etc etc. That WotC actually pays? Yes. That is good. That they pay what amounts to a "living wage"? I think it's silly that artists have to live on just over minimum wage, but as a person in business for myself, I can attest that people expect you to sell them hand-made goods at the same price as a big-box store sells something which is comparable in their minds, even though it's usually far more cheaply made. Course that's all anecdotal, as you say, and my personal experience, as well as that of my acquaintances and friends, isn't definitive, and I'll admit that. It is, however, understandably biasing. Now, I will agree that WotC > CGL. That is not up for dispute. What was up for dispute was that WotC should be treating artists better, and they don't. Or didn't, for a time. Back when artists made royalties, that was a dream. And now, WotC announced a commission pay increase for artists, or so I have read, which is a good thing. So I suppose it moots the pay complaints I had. But as you said, there are other issues, and again as you said, it's worse, or at least the same, elsewhere.

I wasn't the original anon you were speaking to in >>54613316, but I understand that CGL and Pal are exceptions, not rules, at least in terms of abhorrent behavior.

>>54615164
>I understand that CGL and Pal are exceptions, not rules, at least in terms of abhorrent behavior.
Based on what I've read from you, I think we're just saying the same basic thing (CGL sucks and the gaming industry is not good to artists generally) and disagreeing on the details of WotC's degree of dickery (and as a Magic player, WotC is full of dicks, let me tell you what).

Let's call it a truce and just agree that CGL is awful and the gaming industry isn't amazing for artists.

>>54615259
Cheers.

>>54615298
Nice to have a civil debate on the 4chins. Rare, these days.

>>54615164
>>54615259

IMO, WotC is the exception that proves the rule. While CGL and Palladium are definitely on the bottom tier of companies, every tabletop gaming company with any significant market share of which I'm aware, with the sole exception of Steve Jackson Games, has had problems with either colossal and continual fuckups in the production process, or unethical behavior, or both.

The underlying theme for this conversation path is "what company would we be OK with taking over for CGL if/when they lose the license", with the hope that we could reveal a company who <wouldn't> continually fuck up the property and/or demonstrate continued unethical behavior once they had possession of the Battletech license. I don't think there <IS> a company whom we could genuinely trust with it.

>good job on both of you for a civil conversation

>>54615341
>Steve Jackson Games gets Battletech tabletop license.

....Man, I don't even know what to think about this, other than that GURPS fans will be impossible to live with.

>>54615395
GURPS fans are already intolerable, so not much will have changed.

>>54615431
You must have thin skin if you think they're intolerable. They're far less odious that 4okids or Pathfinder enthusiasts.

>>54615462
I can find many things intolerable, anon. There's a reason I hang out here and /stg/ while ignoring a lot of /tg/.

I don't even think you fags play the game, you just come here to bitch about the forums.

>>54616922
I may be a fag (mmm, delicious dicks) but I definitely do play BattleTech. I don't even go to the OF, not even to complain about shit. I mostly buy mechs and paint them for a fun hobby, occasionally playing with my friends whenever we can pin everyone down in one place.

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Can we not gripe and talk mechs?
All I have of said mech. I happen to really like em, am I wrong? What's it's best variant IYHO? What customs do you have?

Hey, I'm coming back after a big break from things - there a new book that handles merc unit creation, or are we still using FM: Mercs Revised?

Thoughts on this Level II?

>OTL-5M Ostsol
>RFL-5M Rifleman
>TDR-7M Thunderbolt
>BCN-3R Buccaneer
>TMP-3M Tempest
>EXC-B2 Excalibur

>>54617047
>I happen to really like em, am I wrong?
Nope! Caesar's are pretty good.
>What's it's best variant IYHO?
All of them except the -4R are good. The -4R is alright. I love the -4S, just because I love the sheer stupidity of the heavy gauss rifle. I don't know about the CES-5D yet, tho. Per sarna, it's bonkers.

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>>54617047
I like this custom, which makes it a tough brawler.

>>54617067
Campaign Operations is the newest book, though it's a lot crunchier than it had been.

>>54617286
>I don't know about the CES-5D yet, tho. Per sarna, it's bonkers.
We just have a description, not stats at the moment.

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>>54617047
My favorite version is the Cataphract.

>>54617314
Thanks, that's just what I needed to get re-started.

>>54617047
The base version is a solid enough machine. I never found it to stand out, but I've also never complained when I had one. It's good.

>>54617335
I have noticed that Cataphracts are tough mechs to kill and do reasonably well in the field, (Megamek experience) if I ever fight Capellans in AtB I allways hope I get few Catas for salvage, instead of the wall of Vindicators I allways to seem end up with.

>>54618371
They really don't have any terribly weak version except the -0X, and even then the EW capability is actually not too bad on the 4th SW battlefield (pre-3039 retcon). I suppose the -4X isn't the best unless you're using a lot of specialty AC ammo, in which case it's a pretty good not!Rifleman actually.

goodnight battlebump

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Anyone else disappointed with TRO Succession Wars?

I mean, I get that it was supposed to be the platform to bring Shimseen back into the game, and that plan flopped thanks to the way weisman worded the HG agreement back in '95, plus Coleman being a no-show at court.

Still, from the previews, it looked like what we were getting was a new batch of completely re-illustrated succession wars era mechs with a 21st century aesthetic update. They might as well have just done another print run of TRO 3039.

>>54620369
The irony is remember the previous TRO:Succession Wars? Just as bad of a cockup.

I just can't believe they didn't even rewrite anything or fix any of the TRO:3025r Succession Wars or TRO:3039 retcon fuckups.

You would figure that they would have been better off just shoving that book off for next year or doing a PDF only release for the effort they put into it. I can't believe it actually went to print. I understand the court thing fucking them, or wanting to put out a TRO but it is a goddamn tragedy to put this to print.

>>54620369
That's been another problem CGL is having lately it seems. The Battlemech Manual was originally advertised just using some fluffy insert that really didn't tell you fuck-all about the book, so that the Drivethru RPG comments and Facebook questions were all like "okay fine, but what does the book actually do?" Now there's this one, which if you were on the OF you had a dev say "yeah, 95% reprinted material, just something for new guys", and that made perfect sense, but again, that's not really stated as clearly as it could be on the book's various actual sale pages. They say it's a "compilation volume", but that there's new material muddies the waters, and a common complaint I'm seeing is people buying it expecting more than they're getting. Maybe it's on them for not doing more research, but unless you're reading the OF (or reviews from people who already bought in) you're not getting that info regardless.

>>54620453
I'll be honest, the retconning is less of an issue to me. If they're putting a TRO into print, I expect a solid amount of new content and organization. Get the point across: Who uses it, how common is it, how is it used, and what variants does it have? I've heard people complain about TRO 3039, but I haven't taken any issue with it. The only real retcons I noticed is them making Star League era mechs in retrotech versions in limited numbers.

This new book though is all over the fucking place. We've got mechs with star league technology, age of war designs, and new Ravens and Hatchetmans bumping shoulders. I can see them finally including the Chameleon, Merlin, Cronus, and other mechs that were shown in late TROs that were purported to be from the 3025 period (and for most, they did), but it's really all over the place and they didn't put their foot down on what year it's supposed to reference. An early succession wars book? Great tie in with the new 1st/2nd succession wars product. A 3025'ish book? Ties in with the HBS Battletech and upcoming Mechwarrior 5. But seeing a Raven alongside a Night Hawk and Kyudo before the Jihad period would be just fucking weird, much more so before the helm core.

>>54620637
>The only real retcons I noticed is them making Star League era mechs in retrotech versions in limited numbers.

First of all retrotech means primitive mech production after the Age of War. Second of all, those were extinct chassis outside Comstar, and not just limited production but full production in some cases.

They're not supposed to be walking around in any kind of numbers. Like look at the Thug and Guillotine. The Thug entry itself said they're using a giant fucking stockpile of Warhammer PPC's to make them when just down the way, Ronin is so hard up for Warhammer PPC's that they're pulling them from their Marauder line and slapping LL's in the Mad. A giant fuckup of flavor and clash with all the previous 3039 and early 3050's material.

This isn't minor tweaks, it's taking things that had maybe a dozen or less of each operational in the whole inner sphere and multiplying their commonality exponentially.

It's as big a retcon as saying the Successor States actually had Warships in 3025, but downgraded them to conventional DS weapons instead of capital guns. It fucks things up that much.

>>54620637
It's only really clear what the book means to do if you read the back text: it's not stated anywhere else. The back says it's a book for new guys who just got a copy of the Manual. In that light, a book of just all mechs makes sense. But the various art styles makes it feel pretty schizo, and the time mix is odd too. I guess they wanted to avoid just making a discount TR 3039 by putting only mechs from that book in it, but overall it still kinda feels that way, and rushed to boot. Could have been good with consistent art and a bit more thought on the mech selection. But then it would have cost more (and probably missed GenCon), probably defeating the point. I'm chalking this one up to business realities/hunger for cash.

So what's the haps? I guess the new "book" was a flop then?

>>54620854
They shat out a TRO reprint collection just to say they have a TRO in print.

The last two real new books 2nd Succession War and Battletech Manual are actually pretty great.

>>54620854
Depends on how you define flop, I guess. It's not out in print until gencon, so who knows. But considering it's largely a recycle job, costs on it are going to be pretty low. Could be easy money for CGL.

And yeah, the other two books out recently have been solid.

>>54620868
Anyone got the pdfs in the share folders yet?

>>54621098
2nd War is up.

>>54620917
>Could be easy money for CGL.

They should just do a crowd-funding run. And not for a book, but FOR A LAWYER AND A GODDAMN ACCOUNTANT.

Goddamn serial dipshits, building appealing settings and games and then flippityflopping it all down facefirst like a giant sandwich that took over 25 years to make. Out of sheer ineptitude and lack of thinking.

>>54621117
>Goddamn serial dipshits, building appealing settings and games and then flippityflopping it all down facefirst like a giant sandwich that took over 25 years to make. Out of sheer ineptitude and lack of thinking.

You're saying that as if FASA was any better. Like the only good move those people have made was selling the license to vidya as soon as humanly possible since Mechwarrior is the only reason this setting even exists anymore.

>>54617209
I think it works.

>>54621110
Saw it. Was talking about the TRO:SW and MechManual.

PD: Blessed be the Anom that uploaded the 2SW book.

>>54620868
>The last two real new books 2nd Succession War and Battletech Manual are actually pretty great.
This
I enjoy a lot of Catalyst product.
This past while though, besides the Battlemech Manual and the Succession Wars books, CGL's offerings have left me wanting.

And to be honest, though there's a lot of brown-nosers who say otherwise, I think Randall is the root of the problem. More than Porchgate issues, I've picked up this vibe from him that he is not in the least bit interested in Battletech anymore. At first I thought he was putting his heart into Shadowrun instead, but from what I've heard, they're getting shafted, too. He's blowing his wad on making all of these shitty fly-by-night boardgames and RPGs like Valiant, Cosmic Patrol, The Duke, so on and forth that nobody ever wanted instead of consolidating and improving on their core franchises. Even Leviathans, which looked like it could well have stood on its own two feet, took them so long to get it out the door that the steampunk boat had already sailed and it was no longer worth pursuing.

...and if that's the case and Randall really has lost the love, that's fine, but he should break off and start a new company, or sell the Battletech/Shadowrun licences to another group, or put it directly under Topps' control, but it's like looking at a loveless marriage.

could someone explain to me this issue i'm having with the Ymir BWP-3A.

the damn thing is supposed to have 16 DHS, but in both the official record sheet and the SSW file only allocate TWO of them to the critical chart.

Am I missing something here? Is this some lost star league tech that allows a 360 engine to take on more than ten sinks? or is this an error they hard coded into SSW to keep the theme?

>>54622008

I generally like to let people argue and theorize as they will here without interfering, but I have to say that, based on Randall's interaction with me during the making of the Manual, he's still very interested in BT. He went through the manuscript line by line (and read every draft; think of how many times he's read the BT rules over the years and that stands out all the more), read all million of my comments, answered all my (many) questions, wrote the Battlefield Support rules in that book and was responsible for some of the graphic decisions made, and participated in the debates over its direction. And I watched him at MechCon last year just shooting the shit with random fans in long conversations who wanted to talk about BT whatever. He definitely still loves it. But you're right as to the amount on his plate.

>>54622145
Rules say that your engine supports (rating/25) heat sinks without having to allocate.

360/25 = 14.4 rounded down to 14. If the Ymir has 16, then you only have to allocate 2.

>>54622565
It does say that. someone should tell the mechfactory app guys, in there it never lets you put more than ten in the engine ever. and SSW messes up sometimes and doesn't let me put more than ten in sometimes.

>use pen and paper
yeah...yeah...

>>54622707
use meklab.

From comments I read here, Rick Raisley is considered to be delinquent in his updating of the HM property. But from a conversation I had with him a few years back, I quite agree he's put enough time into the HM project. Mayhap someone young will take over?

On another note, how goes the 4Chan TRO? The blog's last update was end of April. It is now end of July.

>>54595090
Look first to thine own meds, anon. In 3025, the nearest FWL regiments are stationed on Andurien and Payvand. The Capcon has three regiments spread across a similar range, but those defend the area around Betelgeuse and Buenos Aires from the FWL concentration near Savannah. The only way the MoC is in danger is if Andurien and the CapCon work together.

>>54624519
Not him but the 8th Orloff didn't really give a shit about MoC forces while they were terrorizing the Rimward border.

>>54624585
The 8th Orloff probably terrorized the MoC on a few occasions too.

And the forces of the Duchy of Andurien undoubtedly could have rolled up the MAF if they'd gone looking to pick a fight there instead of against the Liao.

>>54622707
I have never seen SSW mess up with engine sinks.

>>54624399
The last update was over 10 years ago, and that was a fan patch to get the TW equipment into the game. Are you seriously suggesting that not including rules additions and errata is "putting enough time into the project?"

>>54624519
>In 3025, the nearest FWL regiments are stationed on Andurien and Payvand.

The original argument was whether periphery nations could defend against a "committed" attack. I don't consider normal border skirmishes and raids to be a committed attack. The fact that there's only a few FWL or CapCon regiments stationed in that area means nothing, except that they don't expect there to be an attack from the periphery in that area.

A committed attack is a major offensive. At a bare minimum, it's an attack in regimental strength. More reasonably a divisional (3 regiments) attack along with supporting forces. IE, the Successor House is really "committing" to the attack.

Aside from taurian nukes and/or warships, nothing any periphery nation has can reliably repel a committed attack against 3 Mech regiments and their supporting armor/aero/infantry forces.

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>>54597207
As anon >>54597235 says. I decided to take a break from doing so much art for others, so I got myself a bill paying job.

Commissions backlog is about gone, though I do trickle in work for CGL. The mini's I've worked on for them have been a shit show, but now that it's all a little more public, can say it is kinda hard for CGL to put them to use when in a court battle.

And for the anons that rightfully shit on me for not finishing my own book, that's the other boon to my day job. Gonna finally be putting my remaining art time into working on that again, without monetary concerns.

>Final commission attached, almost finished.

>>54625858
I'm glad you're doing well.
I recently discovered that piece you had worked on with the ZSU-23-4 in a mountain patrol and made it my start up screen for windows. That AA tank is one of my favorite real world machines.

>>54625929
Oh gawd, that piece is so old and terrible lol.

new thread with updates to OP
>>54626126

>>54625758
Any of the big three could see off a 3 regiment+support attack, but the problem is that they *couldn't* see off three or four of those, which is a what the big guys could feasibility spare.
Though of course if battletech didn't operate under the assumption that 1.5:1 ratios are somehow more than enough for a major attack, the relative military sizes wouldn't be a problem, especially if they also stopped ignoring the existence of fortifications while they're at it

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>>54625996
I couldn't resist. I've always wanted a tank like the ZSU-23-4 in BT that wasn't as heavy as the Partisan.
And I'm not even Russian. lol

>>54624625
Andurien only had five 'Mech regiments. They're better equipped than the Magistracy, but not so much as to make victory certain. I imagine that's why the two of them were plotting an alliance.

>>54624625
Well sure. There are fewer regiments along the periphery, but they do the same stuff they'd do anywhere else. Heck, by 3028, the Magistracy had even recaptured Thurrock from the FWL.

>>54625758
>>54626146
The objection I made in >>54594872 is that the Houses *can't* afford to divert enough regiments for that. The Suns, and only the Suns, could maybe scrape up three regiments for it, but not multiple times.

>>54626216
>Well sure. There are fewer regiments along the periphery, but they do the same stuff they'd do anywhere else. Heck, by 3028, the Magistracy had even recaptured Thurrock from the FWL.
Whoops, this is responding to this >>54624585

>>54626366

That is objectively untrue for any House other than MAYBE the Cappies after getting BTFO'd by Davion.