Battletech General: Guts Edition

Fuckin Butte Hold up in this bitch!

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>>49631581

>>49631743
NEA, motivate me on Star Trek ships. What would you realistically conceive as a second line ship in the 2370s?

>>49631778

2370, Jesus, that's well beyond the time I normally care about Star Trek for RPGs. I generally play pre-TOS, since I don't like magic technology solving all problems for everybody, everywhere, if you can just invert the correct particle and interlace it through an adequately-phased tachyon field.

That said, by 2370, you're into Season...7....of TNG, I think, and just prior to the Dominion War. The obvious 2nd-line ship of the period is the Miranda/Soyuz, because they're fucking everywhere. The other really major one I'd consider is the Ambassador-class; you don't really see them anywhere on film except in "Yesterday's Enterprise", and honestly, they ought to be more common than they are. Excelsior-class, of course, are still front-line ships into the early 2400s, and knowing Starfleet, probably into the 2500s as well. Centaurs and Cheyennes are the other ships I'd consider at all common in the 2nd line. Constellations I'm pretty sure were almost completely phased out by the time period you're looking at.

Front-line ships at that time would be Galaxy, Nebula, Nova, Akira, Intrepid, Steamrunner, Olympic, and perhaps the New Orleans, Springfield, Niagra, and Norway classes. Oh, and technically the Defiant-class (it was built by 2370, but was put in storage and wasn't pulled out until 2371).

Unfortunately, I'm a huge fan of the little DD-style patrol ships (like the Paris and Kestrel from Starfleet Museum), and there aren't really any in active service at this time. No, runabout's don't count.

>>49632120
Oh man, I'm talking about hauling out some of the 2340s ships so I can get them in for the Dominion War stuff I'm working on for /stg/, not more recent stuff. I don't want to use only FASA ships so that people who dislike them have more options.

>>49632137

You may be in trouble, then, since there's next to nothing in regards to stuff Starfleet used between 2300-2355, aside from the obvious Miranda/Soyuz, Excelsiors, Constellations, and Ambassadors.

Maybe you could stretch some Federation-class and Saladin-class in there, but honestly, I'd go to Starfleet Museum and refluff some ships.

Soo...apparently you can devastate a whole continent with a single Firestarter when the winds are right?

>>49633408
>I'm asking for a friend

Speaking of Firestarters, they seem to be the 'Mech of choice for the... less well adjusted Mechwarrior. I think one of the books had a Firestarter pilot of the "constantly flicking a lighter" sort, and I remember one merc/bandit unit using an entire lance of them and burning down everything in sight just for maximum bastardry.

>>49633488
When your entire mission objective is in your mech's name, and your orders are "burn everything down until you hit bedrock," the brass aren't exactly looking for the most well adjusted pilots.

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>>49633579
Fired up.

>>49633647
Firebats are pretty much correct, though the Terran Confederacy used convicts for all their troops, they put pyromaniacs in those suits. Presumably with less stringent resocialization the normal troopers got.

>>49633408
The fires in Fort MacMurray this past year were believed to be man made, so probably a cigarette butt or campfire...

Now imagine a 10-meter tall machine spitting plasma flames in multiple directions as far as 90 meters.

>>49633488
Pretty much. Got a buddy that likes to roll in a FS in MWO, he pretty much just cackles with glee while fwooshing enemy mechs. I think the only reasonably-well adjusted FS pilot I've seen was a guest on the Death From Above series, and he swapped out the flamers for medium lasers. Go figure.

I fucking love the firestarter, probably one of my favorite light (and medium) mech

>>49633658
Old, Confederacy era firebats were batshit insane pyromaniacs with control chips drilled through their skull into their brain and strapped into the suits. Newer ones mentally unstable and/ or foolhardy people.

The flammable liquids they carry around also exhumes fumes into their suit over time that rots their brain.

Their suits also have the same design flaw as the Marauder armour, in that the padding inside absorbs sweat and gets super moldy. Combine the mold with the brain rotting noxious fumes and most firebats end up either braindead, explode and burn inside out from ruptured fuel tank, or if you're one of the few capable of surviving long enough to become a veteran and not a vegetable, you get retrained to become a Reaper jetpack trooper.

>>49633861
>I think the only reasonably-well adjusted FS pilot I've seen was a guest on the Death From Above series, and he swapped out the flamers for medium lasers. Go figure.

The Omni should be less attractive to psychos and more attractive to the aerospace jockeys as it doesn't melt anything resembling something they could hit from above.

>>49634467
I'm probably a bad Firestarter fan because my favourite Omnistarter is the one with the LB-10 and only two flamers. I expect the lighter-flicker brigade gravitates towards the Prime.

>>49632120
Haha NEA you're such a nerd!

can you do Babylon 5 ships next?

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Beginner to Battatech here. Other than the little intro book in the starter box, what is the best way to start on getting into the lore? And also are there any QT aliens in the universe?

>>49637038
>And also are there any QT aliens in the universe?
No aliens at all, sorry buddy
and Far Country was retconned into an in-universe sci-fi book, so stuff it

>>49637038
That doesn't mean there isn't Arcturian poontang, though.

And all Mechwarrior women are wild haired wearing mesh tank tops and high-hipped 80's panties.

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>>49637038
>what is the best way to start on getting into the lore

Get the Battletech Universe Guide (it's free on the main BT site, comes up as the first hit on Google at least for me when you search for it) for the basic primer. Then it's time to go deeper: read the old House handbooks (the 16xx series), then the new House handbooks, plus the Periphery books (I'd go with the 1st Edition for the fantastic Space 80s art, the 2nd Ed for the lore which took some retcons between the editions). You want to know about the various armies? Read the Field Manuals. The Clans? Invading Clans, Wolf, Jade Falcon and The Warriors of Kerensky. That ought to get you started.

And no, there are no aliens. There are, however, dragons (though they may be extinct). If you want to get on with a cute blue-skinned babe, your best bet is the Magistracy of Canopus. If there's a fetish somewhere between Gilfillan's Gold and Antallos, the Canopians can provide.

Actually, why go for an alien at all, when the Mechwarriors themselves look like pic related.

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>>49637038
A non-novel summary of the history of the universe up to 3025: https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebrained-schemes.com/kickstarter/BATTLETECH-TIMELINE.jpg

And a map to go with it, pic is it.

So you are alance of medium mechs and suddenly several lances of these fuckers charges at you with thruster mounted movement.

What do you do?

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>>49637540

Pic related

>>49637314
I'll admit dats pretty hot. Are female clanners attractive?

>>49637540
Pack in tight, focus fire, and maneuver. Call in an airstrike or arty barrage if possible.

>>49637314
I cant seem to find all the old house handbooks in the mediafire files. Am I just retarded?

>>49637852
They're just called House ____. If they aren't in one mediafire, check the other

>>49637556
They aren't that terrifying until you gotta deal with them in space, I'd say.

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>>49637556
Counter with Gears.

>>49637899
Found em, guess I was just retarded.

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How do you guys tend to play BT? Do you carefully manage your heat or go balls to the walls, gambling on that reactor not going critical? Deliberate maneauvers or straight at 'em?

I ask because my friend and I play and we have radically different styles but seem to come to victory on about even terms with even teams. (But it seems RNGesus is with him a lot more often.)

As an aside, does anyone have Carl as a Mechwarrior? I've seen it floating around before.

>>49638162
I usually wait until I'm in a good position to wail on mech's then I just alpha strike until they die or I turn off. I don't just alpha strike every turn though hoping I get a hit at long range.

>>49638162
As I have played more, I tend to play more conservatively. Too many times has an experienced opponent capitolized on a risky maneuver that I made, because I did not consider all the possibilities.

>>49638162
I like playing danger close. Meaning I jump in, alpha strike and then try to DfA anyone who survives.

I don't win often. But when I do, it's great.

My usual list is:
Javelin
Enforcer
Grasshopper
Highlander

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>>49638162
I tend to play conservative, so much so that a friend of mine calls me a Lyran social general because I do it so by the book. Mediums to heavies, careful advance into contact, etc. This is because when I try to be a clever git something usually bites my arse.

Pic related: instead of the usual 'Mechs, I took a bunch of lights for support and decided to send them in through what I thought was a gap in my opponent's defences. This happened.

>>49638309
>>49638316
>>49638404
Thanks for the input. I take some risks when I play but most of the time I am conservative. I do enjoy my physical attacks though. I favor 2 mediums, a heavy, and a scout in my setup. I always drop a Lynx in a lance. (The original one.)

>>49638539
Fucking infantry...I know that feel.

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The friend I mentioned, though, will fire barrage after barrage of Snub Nosed PPCs until his 'Mechs are glowing like the FREAKIN' SUN! And when it comes time to shut down or explode he'll make that roll no matter the penalty.

Meanwhile the volume of fire is turning my guys to slag as they try to dance around that rave he's puttin' on.

>>49638162
I lean towards two types of units; tough, heavy gun machines and jumping brawlers. In both cases I'm a firm believer in concentration of firepower. I also tend to be willing to run hot in order to put out more firepower in 3025, though in later eras I tend towards fully or oversinked designs.
So I guess fairly conservative

>>49638853
I think if I played past 3039 I would also play conservative, simply because of things like gauss, UAC, TAC, and DHS making it way easier to slag a mech from a distance.

Before clans though you pretty much need to get up close and personal to do a significant amount of damage.

>>49638853
>>49639153
Oh yeah, I like the earlier eras a lot more. Heat management is core to the game to me and having double sinks and efficient weapons takes that factor away. That being said I do like to raw dog a clanner with fists and feet a-flyin'.

>>49635696
I like it because it's an omni that got a sword variant.

That's so fricking IS, I can't help but love it.

>>49639693
>a clanner with fists and feet a-flyin

Ever since I learnt the hard way that the AtB Clanners don't respect zellbrigen I've fought them with every dirty trick I can.

>moving forward, my scout discovers a twin-PPC Nova and an Executioner
>the Nova gives me both barrels, I make a note on who's fighting who
>the Executioner then fires his PPC and blows up my scout

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>>49638162
>Deliberate maneauvers or straight at 'em?

Maneuvers. In a battle without a defined objective aside from simply "kill the enemy", my preferences lean toward either a refused flank, or an attack from a defensive position, depending on terrain and comparative forces.

In the refused flank, the idea is to exploit greater movement speed/jump capability of your units to mass onto one flank or another. The pic related should explain it pretty well. The trick is finding terrain suitable for isolating and slowing down the OPFOR's ability to support one another's formations. Trying this on a salt flat isn't going to work well. You may also have to forcibly "drag" your opponent across the terrain to isolate their forces, which makes it more difficult still. This is a tactic I tend to use when I'm either outnumbered, fighting with lighter forces against heavier ones, or both. For reference, this is also how I took down a 3050 DC C3 company with a fluff-compliant star of Smoke Jags.

In an attack from a defensive position, it's even easier. Take up a good firing position with good lines of sight, and support it with stuff that makes you fire more accurately at long/medium range. Pick 1-2 things per turn (centers of gravity) that will hurt your opponent the most if they lose them, and focus-fire the *shit* out of them. Repeat until your opponent has no more centers of gravity and has closed the range with stuff good enough to actually matter (1 spider behind your lines doesn't matter), then charge down out of the firing position and mop up. This is a tactic I tend to use when I'm driving heavy units, and at conventions (since it's easy to get other people to participate).

It's important to remember, though, that I tend to play in large games (12 units/side minimum, and more commonly in the battalion range), where these tactics can actually matter. In games of that scale, deciding to run hot or DFA with an individual Mech doesn't *usually* matter as much.

>>49640409
>It's important to remember, though, that I tend to play in large games

I guess you could take some of the sting out the random crit in fives vs fives if you'd mix different unit types rather than go straight mech though.

>>49640409

I refuse to believe that you exist. Nobody actually pulls this sort of shit off in games. Diagrams are nice and all, but it's not like opponents are just going to cooperate and move like you want them to.

>>49638765
If they're overheating that bad, then they have significant penalties to hit, as well as their mechs will slow down (unless jump jets). Back up and exploit the range band limitations of those snubbies.

>>49641217
They do.

>>49641466

Is that addressing the second sentence, or the third sentence?

>>49641591
probably both.

I mean, people did retarded shit in response to their opponent's tactics IRL. No reason why they couldn't in BT.

>>49641217
If he doesn't exist then I certainly don't either. My group plays campaigns on Mapmaster maps only so maneuvers actually come in to play quite a bit due to the size of the play areas we have.

>>49641661
This. On a 3x2 you can maneuver plenty.

I always hate rooting people out of defensive positions though. It's fucking boring unless you have a real campaign objective to do so or a good scenario. Usually I'll just give someone the old friendly "Really, asshole? You're gonna make me come over there and get you?" And then I'll use my boys to set fires at various points between the two groups to make instant cover and block LoS so I can close the distance safely.

But if that's like the third time in a row they're pulling that trick, I'll just park my forces and see how they like being bored out of their skull.

>>49641891
I know almost nothing about the actual rules of BattleTech, but that sounds like the sort of problem that calls for artillery.

>>49641217
>it's not like opponents are just going to cooperate
>>49641625
>No reason why they couldn't in BT.

The thing about using tactics like this in BT is that they're situational. You have to have the right force mix, recognize your opponent's force mix, and be able to recognize that you have a mobility advantage. You have to be able to recognize the terrain and understand whether or not it is suitable for this tactic *prior* to the game, and then you have to commit to it from your deployment on.

During deployment, if you deploy mostly-evenly across the board, the vast - VAST - majority of opponents will also deploy mostly-evenly across the board. So you have to understand what to do it they don't; if they load up entirely on one edge of the board for an attack in oblique order, or in one huge cluster of mechbrick, this isn't going to work and you need to find another tactic. If they deploy how you want them to, then you have to move in a way that baits your opponent into a position where they can be isolated by the terrain. If they don't move roughly how you want them to (granted, this is unlikely if they've deployed evenly across the board in the first place), then you need to understand how either to convince them to move where/how you want them to, or else know when/how to bail out on the tactic, regroup, and try something else.

Like ANY tactic aside from "move straight ahead and shoot/melee", there's going to be a ton of potential failure points. Part of the mastery of tactics is finding a way to either bypass those failure points, or recover if an opponent hits them by accident or design. But if you go into a game without an understanding on when, why, and how to accomplish all of these steps, then it's probably not going to work. Granted, it can still not work (see also: TACs, headcaps), but there isn't a battle plan on the planet that can't be undone by bad luck. "Give me a general who is lucky" is remembered for a good reason, after all.

>>49641935
We usually allow a free offboard long tom for both sides if people get too turret-techy. The thing about artillery is that it scatters so much, you either need a lot of it or absurdly good gunners for it to be effective. Well, if you're not counting TAG anyway.

But at that level you also allow mines too which shakes things up defense-wise.

>>49641935

That is *exactly* the sort of problem that calls for artillery. Or airstrikes. Or LAM flankers. Or massed level-bombing. Or fire/smoke to cover your advance into their fire pocket and to burn their cover away. Or airdropped Battle Armor directly on their position. Or - preferably - all of the above.

You know what's really funny? Dropping Thunder minefields just *behind* somebody's position, and then setting fires in such a way that the fires are blowing towards them. They either stand and get roasted, or they have to fall back out of their defensive positions and into the minefields.

Unfortunately, the basic BattleTech ruleset that is used by 90% of players doesn't cover any of those except for the "airpower" ones...and 90% of *those* 90% of players refuse to use airborne units wholesale. Which means that many BattleTech games boil down to a cluster of adjacent assault Mechs with Guass Rifles, PPCs, and LRMs sitting in a woods on a hilltop because all the counters to that formation are advanced rules and rarely - if ever - come into play. Which does get old.

>>49641217
>I refuse to believe that you exist.
Having met NEA in person and played games with him, allow me to assure you that this does in fact happen and he definitely exists. If you choose to disbelieve that, that's your problem. The rest of us will profit from his wisdom in your place.

>>49642059
Fires only add heat I think (2 per hex moved through IRC), so I've always found the best way to deal with them encroaching is just to bust through if they're on top of you. But if they're blowing toward you, then you should have a nice 3 or 4 hex smoke buffer to get your guys out without the enemy catching LoS or going through the fire. Of course that assumes a force that is not retarded and knows to leave their positions when they become untenable. Which if somebody is playing Parking Simulator 3050, might not be in a hurry to do.

Artillery has never been worth the BV to me because the results are too unpredictable. It usually takes a minimum of three or four shots for me to hit something. Whereas I can take a Gauss Field Gun platoon and lay down the hurt far more consistently. That's a good counter to the static people too. Take massed guns even cheaper than theirs.

Indirect LRM fire with spotters is also nice.

>>49642216
>Which if somebody is playing Parking Simulator 3050, might not be in a hurry to do.

There are other ways to play battlettech? If I've got access to Devastators, Nightstars, Pillagers, Thunder hawks, Alacorns, Salamanders, and Dragonfires, I see no reason whatsoever to play any other way. By the legitimate and tournament rules of the game, parking and shooting is clearly the best way to play.

>>49642482
Luckily, the answer to that part of the game is a Davy Crockett or three. Or so many heavy woods hexes blocking LOS and movement that the only option you have is to change your play style.

>>49642482
Fucking FedCom

>>49642520
>Davy Crockett or three

Advanced rules, I don't agree to their use.

>so many heavy woods hexes blocking LOS

There's like two mapsheets where this is a problem (three, if you include box canyon). If I'm rolling out mapsheets, I'm comfortable not worrying about that. And I'm certainly not going to agree to play on your custom home-brew mapsheets.

Again, by tournament legal rules, parking and shooting with guassboats, PPC boats, and LRMboats is clearly and obviously the correct way to play. If CGL wanted it any other way, they wouldn't penalize to hit rolls from movement so much.

>>49642620
>Advanced rules, I don't agree to their use.
Fair enough, though playing TL only is a lonely and boring way to go, and with IO era changes, weapons with denser rules are becoming TL all the time.

> And I'm certainly not going to agree to play on your custom home-brew mapsheets.
And I won't play on the same 15 mapsheets we've had since 1984 over and over again.

>parking and shooting
Is not prohibited by the rules, certainly. Fair play and not wanting to be the only player sitting out of the game because literally all you bring are gausswalls are the main modifiers of the behavior. If you constantly showed up to my games with the same company of mechs over and over, I'd ask you to change it up a little. If you don't want to, then that's fine, but don't expect a place in the game.

>>49642620
Ironically, at the closest thing to "proper" Battletech tournaments to exist, they use custom maps

>>49642740
Sir, you are being trolled. Be Advised

>>49642564

Quit your bitching. You got the legitimately incredible PNT-10K, GRD-6K, and HTM-27. No wonder they had to give the FedCom such good machines, the early 3050 meta was Dracs all the way.

>>49642887
My bad.

>>49643013

For your penance you must play five games as the FedCom using 3058+ forces against Drac 3050 forces, as is ordained by the RATs from FM: U.

May the Dictum Honorum have mercy on your worthless soul.

We do lots of custom mech challenges, but how about one for vehicles and BA?

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>>49642887
>>49643567

I am in awe of your sarcasm and general trollishness

>>49642620
Sounds like you need to get some Uziel 8S in your life.

Or rather, rammed up your mechs' collective asses

What kind of garrison would the clans leave on an average, unimportant world in the middle of their OZ?
Specifically the jade falcons or wolves, in the mid-late 50s

>>49644352
Solhama/2nd line units. I mean that's why they even exist, anon. Well, unless you're a Blood Spirit...

>>49644352
>Specifically the jade falcons or wolves, in the mid-late 50s
You mean after they've torn each other apart in the Refusal War? Some solhama mamas if you're lucky. It's a miracle other clans didn't take the opportunity to move in and stake big fat claims in the IS.

>>49644377
Obviously, but I mean like what size and composition of such units; a binary? a trinary? A short cluster? A single star? A star each of tanks and elementals? Mostly SLDF and IS salvage? Mostly IICs and other second-line machines? Omnis because lolwolves? That's what I'm interested in

>>49644467
What your looking for is pretty much a textbook Provisional Garrison Cluster. For those Clans and at that time, it would almost certainly be all mechs, no omnis, and a good amount of old SLDF stuff and some of the C refits.

>>49644467
Falcons literally lost twenty clusters and had to permanently disband the better part of two galaxies at the conclusion of the Refusal War. Also, them using their garrison solhama clusters as meat shields at the beginning of the war stripped most of the backwater occupation zone defenses bare.

The wolves took it even worse if you count the three galaxies that fled to form CWiE.

So less than even >>49644714 is saying.

>>49644467

>Omnis because lolwolves?

Wolf second-line forces in that era had like a Star per Cluster of Omnis. The Falcons had slightly more.

But to answer your question, maybe a Star of peacekeeper sub-caste infantry and some old vees. PGC forces get deployed to more important posts.

I forget what the correct name of them is, but Trial By Chaos awkwardly retcons in a level of warrior regarded and equipped even more shittily than Second-Line or Solhama and says they've always been there.

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>>49644406
>It's a miracle
We call it fiat here.

>>49644757
>I forget what the correct name of them is, but Trial By Chaos awkwardly retcons in a level of warrior regarded and equipped even more shittily than Second-Line or Solhama and says they've always been there.

Wait what?

>>49640163
I've never played a Clanner who follows their rules. They have NO HONOR. So I don't either.

>>49645186
Haven't read that novel, but aren't those the guys who failed out of the Warrior Caste and got relegated to "police" duty? (Well, what any sane culture would consider police-work....) Or am I thinking of something else?

>>49645186

Paramilitary Caste, went and looked it up.

They're basically the Clan version of police.

Shit gets weird because they're warriors who aren't warriors because they failed training but are somehow still part of the Warrior caste because reasons and get Warrior ranks but don't fight because they aren't Warriors shut up the Ghost Bears are fucking awesome, suck their dicks.

This is legitimately a plot point in the novel and it retcons these asshats into having always existed in every Clan and on every Clan-held world if not in every Clan settlement.

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I've a challenge for you all.

Going back to our minor periphery power that we were working on last week I'd like to see a couple unique(as in one of a kind) mechs that could potentially be found in such a state circa 3060-65 or so. Something a noble born commander would ride...perhaps with a bit of Lyran or even Solaris bought clan tech on board. Take it places only a periphery junkyard genius could take it.

Lets see what you're made of /btg/.

>>49646636
>Take it places only a periphery junkyard genius could take it.
All I hear is Blazers and proto-DHS, the ones that you can mix with SHS.

>>49646636
No idea how this would actually work rules-wise, but: one-use heatsinks. Large tanks filled with water or something similar, which are 'pumped full' of heat and then jettisoned, providing a major one-time heat reduction.

>>49647046
those exist, they're called cooling pods, and they're a solaris VII specialty

>>49647066
Oh, cool.

>>49647104
sorry, they're called COOLANT pods. my bad.

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>>49647066
Coolant pods are fun.

>>49646636
So a young noble takes his family Charger to Solaris, wins a few matches, then loses one horribly and trashes the thing. One night of too many drinks with the techs later...

The Charger "Invincible II". Arms replaced with clusters of coolant pods, the four Magna Large Lasers left in stock were hastily attached together in pairs and stuck in the side torsos, and a pile of Stealth Armor totally not stolen from a Liao-affilated stable was used to armor it.

>>49647169
And the 400 XL is from a trade with a Drac stable. What they gave for it no-one remembers, but they're somewhat sure it wasn't anything important.

>>49631558
Got the Intro Box and main rulebook, what next?

>>49647046
Another interesting one is radical heat sinks, which is like like MASC for heat.

>>49647861
Play some games, get familiar with the ruleset.

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I'm only posting this here because I'm trusting you guys on this one.

This past weekend I, for the first time, was forced to hide my powerlevel on the subject of CBT.

So I went on a work-related trip a few hours away from town, and carpooled home with some colleagues. I'd brought the first two BattleCorps anthologies with me (found them in Value Village for 5$ apiece) and was reading them in the backseat while my buddy sitting next to me was napping.
The front passenger, however, noticed I was in possession of some reading material, and asked me what it was. I flashed him the cover, brushing it off saying I'd "found it in a thrift shop, and that it looked kind of cool", before following up with the faux-suspicion that I was "pretty sure it was based on a videogame".
Much to my surprise, our driver (one of my superiors) was able to positively identify it in less than a second through the rearview, before rattling off a mostly accurate history of BT and MW.
>mfw
I covered again once we arrived back home, gauging his knowledge by asking him about the vidya, and informing him I'd "played the shit out of MechAssault when I was a kid."

So my questions to you gents, are as follows;
Should I pursue probing his interest in TT and related topics?
Should I reveal my own powerlevel?
should i just go ahead and suck his dick?

>>49649705
The D is calling for you.

>>49649705
might as well just go all in, see what happens

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Stat me, brothers.

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>>49650159
And this one while you're at it.

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>>49649705

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>>49650179
I've been waiting to use this, thank you anon.

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>>49650159

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>>49650159
Ended up kinda like a burly slower Ostroc.

Is there a decent IS mech with twin SRM, twin LRM, twin [good energy weapon]?
Only one which comes to mind is the Archer variant

What are some mechs that use the LGR well?

>>49650765
The common or garden Stalker with twin LL, twin LRM10, twin SRM6?

>>49650948
I always forget the Big Dildo of Love with ugly knees
Is there anything else?

>>49651025
Off the top of my head, I can only remember the Stalker, the Crusader and the Dervish having the LRM/SRM/energy weapon combo, but for the last two you sort of have to stretch the meaning of "decent".

>>49650765
5/8/5, two LRM10, two SRM2, two MLs.
Well, the Dervish technically fits, although 'good' is really subjective in this case.

Battlebump

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Design Challenge Time:

The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation informs you she needs a new consort who has both brains and martial talent.

She tasks you to develop a new omnimech, of any weight or mission type, for what you feel the Confederation needs most.

And she tasks you to form a new Warrior House, along a tactical specialty and composition you feel would go best with your omnimech design.

Go.

Players who don't like omnis or who main pre-omni eras can simply design a new BattleMech that you feel the CapCon would need

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>>49653294
I make a slightly updated version of the Cyclops Hekatoncheir

>>49651281
There's the Lineholder, which is halfway there and apparently a pretty good pack machine.

>>49653417
Lineholder doesn't have SRMs

>>49653797
Let's make a custom variant with SRM then
We'll call it the Butteholder

>>49653818
You'd have to give that one JJs though so that it can actually hug people's butts.

>>49653818
Easy. Go to DHS, drop half a ton of armor, add CASE and a SRM 6. There, your lineholder is now literally half a stalker.

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I have all 5 Heroclix Jaegers. If put these bad boys on some hex bases for BT how should I stat them out. I was thinking of using them for some Solaris VII games.

Speaking of mech designs, what do you feel would be a good cut-off point where 3/5 is a good speed - 85, 90 tons? I'm disappointed by the lack of twin AC/10 mechs and I'm trying to come up with one.

>>49649705
come clean, get gaming buddy

>>49650887
Vanquisher. It's a C3i sniper, and it does that very well.

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>>49654403
>Desire for incinerator turbines intensifies!

>>49654403

There were MORE of those? I only got - and only ever saw - the starter pack with Gypsy Danger. I thought it flopped and they never released any others.

Shit, what are those going for on Amazon these days?

>>49653294
I want to fuck the chancellor of the Capellan Confederation.

>t. Hanse

>>49655518

Nailing a Centralla WOULD be nice, wouldn't it?

>>49654876
Yeah, 85 tons is good, though 80 can be fine. Of course, if XLFEs are an option, I'd recommend 4/6 XL for 80/85 tons unless you're going full energy zombie
>I'm disappointed by the lack of twin AC/10 mechs and I'm trying to come up with one.
Have you heard of our lord and savior Hammerhands?

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>>49655654
Not to mention Daddy Bandy, which does most things the Hammerhands does but better (despite being a MAD refit instead of a Whammy derivative/ancestor).
>Drops BXK/Whammy's PPCs to mount ACs-10
>Swaps close combat missiles out for LRM racks
>Adds MLs to season, drops MGs
It's actually a really nice all-rounder platform, even if the twin-10 armament usually means being chronically under-armored, and small LRM racks go foom a bit too often. Hell, it's why that one Liao Crud with the MMLs and plasma rifles is so damned awesome.

>>49655736
I assumed he meant straight 10s, not LBXs. Because otherwise yeah, best bandersnatch, the emperor and that one nightstar all also go on the list

>>49655654
>Have you heard of our lord and savior Hammerhands?

I have (in fact, what I have in mind is a bulkier Hammerhands). However, the Hands went extinct and whilst it has the AC/10s, it's also a bit slow for a 75-tonner plus rather undergunned in the secondary weapons department (although you could strip the SRM and add more lasers). I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Damn, for a life-long Drac player I have a most shamefur love for the AC/10. Hell, one of my longest-lived units is a Legion of Vega lance with two Centurions, an Enforcer and a Dervish.

>>49654876
I'd say that 3/5 works all the way down at like 75 tons.

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>>49656168
Dracs and AC/10s you say?

>>49656311
That "change the AC/5 to the 10 and the LRM10 to the 5" is actually one of my favourite modifications for the Dragon. Finally enough gun for the old DRG.

>>49656189

Well, given that movement in Battletech is only important insofar as it lets you move to a good stationary firing position, 3/5 works all the way down to 55 tons or so.

>>49656453
While I love AC/10s, honestly the Dragon not just being the Grand Dragon by default is stupid as fuck. And CA's version is just a slightly more mobile Centurion/less mobile Vindicator so it's not that impressive.

>>49655523
Who hasn't done that? Besides, I'm not interested in syphilus or meme factions.

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>>49656475
What mech weights are the pointless ones? I remember reading before that a few of them do nothing better than a weight bracket 5 tons lighter or heavier would do.

I want to say one of them was 65 tons.

Pic unrelated.

>>49656531

20, 25, and 30 tons are all pointless for combat units. 40 and 45 tons are pointless for anything but combat recon units.

>>49656168
>I have (in fact, what I have in mind is a bulkier Hammerhands)
Oh, yeah, definitely. The Hammerhands really does work a lot better at 80 or 85 tons than at 75

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>>49656498
It ends up jumping and having a GR for a later variant. Aside from the MW4 inspired 7N, none of the Dragons have the GR anyway.

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>>49656498
>slightly more mobile Centurion/less mobile Vindicator so it's not that impressive.
5/8 vs. 4/6/4 is kind of a wash, honestly. It's pretty easy to push out that +3 TMM while advancing with a DRG (beating the Vindie), and with 4j vs. 8r you're looking at very similar movement in tight spaces even if you want to be pulling constant 180s. The only thing the Vindie has on an AC/10 DRG is max-range firepower. The DRG is just as fast as the Vindie, a good bit harder (100+ IS vs. 75, 10t armor vs. 9), closes better and hits harder when it gets there, and has a better heat curve.
The CN9 is actually out-gunning both the other two (by a couple of points), but it's slower and loses in armor the added toughness its larger size would gain it - and then some.

So.. yeah. It's better than either of the comparison units you cited, even if it's only an incremental increase. Now if only the damned thing ever got a hand actuator..

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>>49640409
>For reference, this is also how I took down a 3050 DC C3 company with a fluff-compliant star of Smoke Jags.

I'll take "things that never happened for $500, Alex." Or can't happen, for that matter. the only C3 Drac Mechs in 3050 are PPC dragons, Atlases, and Cyclopses, and you seriously expect anyone to believe that you could take a star with a range of weight classes and beat that much raw armor? You could take a full fluff binary and not beat that.

>>49642216
>Take massed guns even cheaper than theirs.

This. The best battletech play is infantry with massed field guns supported by indirect-fire tanks. Mechs are by far the least realistic portion of an otherwise fine game. And if you have to use mechs at all, then by definition you should be using the biggest, baddest mechs around so that they can soak up the fire from all those infantry guns.

>>49643968
>you need to get some Uziel 8S in your life.

For the BV required to get a Uziel that has a good enough pilot to actually hit while jumping, I can take enough Guass rifles that something is going to hit. And Uziels, like all Mechs under 70-ish tons, can't take a hit.

>>49656475
>3/5 works all the way down to 55 tons

This, pretty much. Movement in Battletech is a secondary concern at best. You only have to move a couple hexes per turn to make artillery completely miss, if there even is any.

>>49656531
>What mech weights are the pointless ones?

Most of them under 70 tons, except for reconaissance missions that for some reason can't be performed with a perfectly good and much cheaper VTOL or hovercraft.

>>49656573
What about the Vindicator?

>>49656857
>For the BV required to get a Uziel that has a good enough pilot to actually hit while jumping, I can take enough Guass rifles that something is going to hit. And Uziels, like all Mechs under 70-ish tons, can't take a hit.
Oh yes, the legendary two-gauss monster that clocks in at 1393 BV
How could I have forgot.

>>49656738
Cute image macro commentary, but it doesn't change the fact that that Dragon really isn't much better than either of the 'Mechs I already mentioned. It's better, just not enough that relishing praise on it is due in any light.
>inb4"lolumovedthegoalposts"
No, I just originally claimed it wasn't that impressive and was a 60-ton version of two existing 'Mechs. Which is, incidentally, one reason the Introtech era is hard as balls to design for, so no hate, just commentary.

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>>49656857
>I'll take "things that never happened for $500, Alex
He did it about two years ago, in-thread. It's not only possible, it was fun as shit to watch.

>>49656866
(they're trolling)

>>49656974
Eh, the macro was actually referring to the quality of the 'Mechs in question, not yourself. I agree that none of them is spectacular. There's enough difference between the way they play, though, that just calling it a "fat Vindicator" does the DRG refit there a disservice.

>>49657018
Fair enough. No harm done anyway, I post on 4chan. Thin skin does not do very well here.

>>49655929
IIRC the Rifleman II also has dual lbx10's, along with two LPL's.

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>>49653390
Sounds like a plan. Here you go.

>>49657287
Oh right, forgot about that thing (probably since it never got a TRO entry that I know of)

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>>49637607
they are about the same, except for elementals they are massive
which makes them cuter

>>49656531
I think it has to do with the constructuon rules, regarding breakpoints with engine weight or jump jet weight.

>>49656531
>>49657635
Yeah there used to be a chart. I thought I had it but I don't.

Also there are people who basically claim that if a 'Mech can't have 20 armor in the arms/side torsos, it's useless. Which is why Hardened Armor on Lights is so subversively funny.

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>>49657635
>>49657863

>>49657945
90 and 55 tonners seem to have some issues based on that chart.

>>49658223
55 tonners have half-ton JJs, and possibly more importantly, one-ton IJJs, going for them, but the chart doesn't really reflect that

>>49657863
>if a 'Mech can't have 20 armor in the arms/side torsos

The benchmark is having a minimum of 25 armor (or damage capacity) in a location which contains explosive components. If you have less, you should add more armor, get a heavier mech, or take out the explosive components. If you can't do any of those, then you've designed a pretty shitty Mech.

The reason is because the most common medium/long-range impacts come in groups of 5, 10, or 15 points. 25 armor lets you soak a 15-point hit and either a 10-point hit or 2 groups of 5 (more commonly 1 group of 5 and 1 group of 1) into that location without going internal. Having only 20 armor on the location subjects you to taking potential internal explosions from only 2 hits from the most common long-range weapons.

>>49658501
>a minimum of 25 armor

You're aware that would basically preclude using ammo-based weapons on anything smaller than 75 tons, given the need to armor the rear side torsos as well, right?

>>49658534
I'm sure that anon does, because that benchmark is for optimized mechs. Ammo-based weaponry doesn't play nicely with optimization.

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>>49658534
>preclude using ammo-based weapons on anything smaller than 75 tons

Yes, and?

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>>49657287
Did someone say Rifleman II?

>>49658332
Also, the chart doesn't note the difference in some of those optimal weights isn't necessarily big. There's only a one ton difference between a 5/8 SFE 55 and 60 ton mech, only a half ton with an XL.

>>49659319
Only a half ton when going 6/9, I mean.

>>49631558
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjEeDz51pHE

It'll be shit.

>>49659369
It is set on 3025, of course it will suck. At least we will be able to mod it and play with glorious Dark Age tech on it

>>49659369
I'll bite. Why?

>>49659369

So we have a point of comparison for the noise which you no doubt fondly term "an opinion", what relevant media do you think ISN'T shit?

>>49659170
CA how would you do a 3067 refit?

Question:

What is the standard order of fire? I ask because I see chaff grenades could help protect whatever launches it but ONLY if they got fired first. Can you launch VGLs outside of the firing phase or something?

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>>49660037
Probably something like pic related. But the AES variant is fun as hell, because knocking flyers out of the sky like it was going out of sky is 10/10.

>>49660083
All weapons fire simultaneously.

>>49660276

If so how does one use VGL Chaff grenades then?

>>49660482
The effects last until the end phase of the next turn. So you take advantage of it then.

>>49659579
*derp age

IlClan will be the epilogue of BattleTech as we know it.

>>49661501

If it ever fucking releases.

CGL is terrified, that's why we've been stuck in 3145 for so long and why they keep doing historicals or TTS articles.

>>49661526

Well, maybe if some of you people weren't such tremendous autists and militant fanboys they could release a product without worrying that they're going to lose a quarter of their customer base no matter what they do.

CGL's got massive problems, but let's not pretend that the fanbase is as innocent as the driven snow and hasn't brought a ton of this on themselves, here.

>>49661751

Anon, the vast majority of this is traceable to the FedSuns fans on the OF, who have been chimping out for years.

The problem CGL has is that FedSuns fans make up the majority of the fan base.

So they can either tell an interesting story where the Suns aren't always the best at everything and watch the forums melt down while bleeding money because the majority of the fanbase rage quits, or they can tell a shit story nobody on staff wants to write where the Suns gets back to where they were in 3028 and nobody can challenge them ever and nobody else gets the spotlight.

A large section of the fanbase is toxic, no doubt. But let's also not pretend that CGL hasn't bought at least as much of it upon themselves.

>>49662092
I'd say that the Liao and clan fanboys (bears in particular) are just as big of an issue as the suns these days. Maybe more, since they are also the writers

>>49659369
Having played it at PAX, I kinda disagree.
It feels like X-com without a grid and with much more interesting damage charts.

>>49662092

You're aware that everything you typed is evidence that >>49661751 is correct and the underlying problem with IlClan is the fanbase, right? You and >>49662161 are literally agreeing with the central point that the fans -Suns, Cappies, Bears, or whatever - are the problem.

>>49662161

Eh. FASA content really focused on the Suns and Falcons, with an uptick to the Cappies and Bears at the end.

Dark Age was a shit-show but also focused on the Suns, Cappies, and Falcons.

Over time people who were fans of other factions either stopped caring or, with the shitshows that were the Dark Age and Jihad, they either gave up caring much or moved on to other games.

Between time, declining product quality, and so on the fanbase CGL has left that's rusted on is Suns, Cappie, and Falcon oriented, in that order and with a significant gap between.

There's pretty much no hope of growing the game again. The rules system is a tough sell in today's market and the amount of backstory is stupid huge. So to keep the game going they have to pander to a fanbase that keeps getting smaller. But the fanbase keeps getting smaller because of their past fuck-ups, and a fair chunk of CGL staff were involved with FASA or WizKids.

>>49662257
What seems to be missed here is that CGL IS the fan base. Their problems are the same problems, it isn't the fanbase dragging a decent design crew down, it's a sloth grabbing it's own damn arm and falling out of the tree

>>49662257

Or they could have tried to broaden the fanbase during the FASA days rather than keep the spotlight on the Suns and have done something other than the moronic shitshow that was Dark Age which caused most of the players they did have to give up on the game.

How about we stop bitching and start designing mechs?
How about another itineration of the ongoing better 3050 machines project?
This time, the Cataphract, Pixie (canon ones aren't BAD, but they are a bit drastic), Assassin, and Marauder (again, same thing as the pixie).
Bonus round: design the 'missing' 3050 versions of the Longbow and Merlin (as though they had first appeared in 3025 instead of 3058)

>>49662556
>please don't talk about unpleasant stuff, just keep doing the stuff we always do already!
>la la la la la go away bad vibes, come in good vibes, la la la la la la

>>49662636
But bitching IS doing the stuff we always do already anon!

>>49662636
I mean, we've been through this a hundred times or more, and I'm just kinda tired of it, and would rather see original content rather than yet another round of the same bitching

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>>49662556
>Bonus round: design the 'missing' 3050 versions of the Longbow and Merlin (as though they had first appeared in 3025 instead of 3058)
I have some bad news for you, anon. The Longbow also came out in a 3025 sourcebook.

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>>49662747
<cont> The Longbow isn't quite as old as the Merlin, but Sorenson's Sabers was one of the first sourcebooks actually written for BattleTech (as opposed to BD). Coming in from 1987 IRL, it only postdates TRO 3025 by about 9 months...

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>>49662556

Assassin sucking and the Longbow being an under-armoured missile boat are kinda integral to their character. Outworlds can't even build 3050 tech until the late 60s.

but here are the others.

>>49662747
>>49662824
I meant TRO 3025, not 3025 generally. I should have specified. I'm well aware of Sorenson's Sabers and the Merlin's very long history as a construction example

>>49662824

>Longbow
>60 tons

I haven't drunk enough to deal with this shit, anon.

>>49659369
k
here's your (You)

>>49662954
Funnily enough, you can almost make it work. Ditch small laser and you can get 9.5 tons of armor, remove the extra sinks and only carry two tons of LRM 20 and one of LRM 5 ammo and it makes the weight, though of course overheats pretty bad and doesn't have much endurance for it's big launchers.

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>>49662556
You just want to see what horrors reside in my customs folder(s), don't you?

>>49662706
>original content

Quite a few of these posted 'mechs are either just tiny modifications or re-posts.

There hasn't been "original content" in this general for quite a while. Well there was that one guy drawing 'mechs in a new art style, but that's about it.

>>49664378
There was an attempt to make a Canada+Poland periphery state, who loved wolverines, stalkers and blasers

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>>49662556
Okay, here's a Marauder upgrade that's a street legal Class D refit kit. Upgrading to FF went almost entirely to bolstering the MAD-3R's piss-poor side torso armor. No CASE because of the dimwit at CGL who decided that putting in a few sheets of FF, some sensors, and some explosive bolts required a full factory.

>>49664708
>Poland
>into space
Pick one and only one.

Friendly reminder that the Dark Age plot makes sense and some "fans" dislike it just because it differs a lot from the original plot, the one that is actually a cluster fuck of nonsense stories

Muh lostech
Muh space feudalism
Muh religious comstar
Muh low level warfare

And thanks for the soft reset Dark Age was for the franchise

>>49666119
That's nice, (((dear))).

Disappointed battlebump

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>>49662092
There's literally nothing wrong with being a Federated Suns fan

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BOOM!

>>49670012
I wish bugs were still viable. Derp Age ruined everything.

>>49671222
Oh yes, the dark age.
Not the XL letting 50-tonners go as fast as them, and the pulse laser letting big fat mechs gun them down if they pull in close.

>>49671222
>>49671260

>implying they were ever viable

I wish we could go back to talking about something like tactics (like in >>49640409) instead of just continually coming up with new mechs that are just little tweaks to the 3500 existing mechs, or bitching about literally every facet of a game we profess to enjoy.

I like learning things from threads, not just reading stuff that makes me question why I bother participating in this fandom.

So, I've got a group of nerds all wrangled up, 3025-3028 setting. Now I'm trying to figure out where to start the campaign. Thoughts? I'm thinking mercenaries (because it's a bunch of new players, so the freedom is nice).

>>49673406
Do a Marik force engaged in their abortive border attacks on the Lyran Commonwealth during the 4th war. It's a fairly underplayed setting.

What happened to that sweet new Periphery realm we were working on? /btg/ was getting shit done, for once, then it just vanished.

>>49673406
Mercenary is good. I'd put them on the lyran/league border; it's the succession wars at their purest

>>49673854
>>49674150

There's a good battlecorps story about a guy in his family Dervish from the Border Protectorate that hits a Lyran world in a spoiling raid that's 3005-3020'ish if you guys haven't read it.

Just thought it was worth mentioning since that border almost never gets official fiction.

Also, while I brought up official fiction, I was reading some Dark Age novels since I've never gone through all of them and I want to be caught up for when I read era report 3145.

Did you guys realize Alaric failed himself out of clan warrior graduation for almost half a decade? Then with that late start, he was still running Clan Wolf less than ten years later?

Clan stuff always throws me for a loop. On one hand they seem to have this huge turnover where people go from nobody to Khan in five years like Phelan. But then you have some just hang onto their positions for decades.

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>>49674118

For me, at least real life on my end happened. My kid had a birthday and started a bunch of various lessons, so my schedule has had difficulty adjusting and I've been on /btg/ for maybe 2 hours in the last week. I collated a compliation of pretty much everything that we'd worked on and posted it so anyone who wanted could continue it. It's attached again.

Because I drew the TO&E confusingly, the "combat formation" is supposed to be roughly analogous to a battalion-sized formation. You could count on 15 Mechs (in two, 3 light mech recon units and 9 "lances" of 1 medium/heavy Mech and 3-5 vehicles each) at a minimum, for a total of between 42 and 60 combat units total. In addition, if the regimental/banner commander decided, there's an optional attachment of 6 assault Mechs in two, 3-mech formations. In a single banner (read: regiment), there are two of these combat formations in total; doctrinally-speaking, the assault Mechs are assigned only in a full 6-mech lot to the combat formation where they're most needed.

Anyway, there's some stuff that still needs to be worked on or decided, and honestly, there needs to be a single person or (max) two people acting officially as a "Line Dev" to outright say "no" to things, but we're more or less at a point where it's not unreasonable to start asking for volunteers to do planetary and unit writeups (both combat units and TRO entries for the custom-ish stuff). Once the various manuscripts are collected, we'd need somebody to do layout and transform this into a PDF suitable for competing with official product (and with a "Touring the Stars" title purely optional, of course), because if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing, and if it's worth overdoing, it's worth going totally batshit crazy over.

>>49637038
>are there any QT aliens

No. Fuck off.

>>49640409
>For reference, this is also how I took down a 3050 DC C3 company with a fluff-compliant star of Smoke Jags.

You also used ASF, and most of their mechs were Dragons, so...not exactly hot shit.

>>49674150
I was thinking of starting them off fighting in the Periphery, hunting a bandit/pirate lord to get their feet wet. Maybe start around the area of the Lothian League/Circinus Federation/Illyrian Palatinate?

>>49674118
I'm honestly just waiting for inspiration to strike, and then I'll toss up a bunch of planets or units or whatever

>>49675068

There are two criticisms there. One is legit, and one is unfair.

Yes, I had a pair of ASFs - IIRC I was using Visigoths, and for sure each was carrying a 1/2 bomb load. The ASFs made two passes in total over the field. In one pass, they destroyed a C3M Atlas. In the second, they did some miscellaneous damage and one was shot down. They had no other meaningful impact on the battle. That is a legitimate criticism, however, as ASFs were in the battle and did have a meaningful impact in shutting down one of the C3 nets of one lance.

The second criticism - that most of the OPFOR was "just" C3 Dragons - is unfair. First, the point of the exercise was to test a fluff-accurate C3 company posted by another Anon; his posting determined the OPFOR. Second, the only meaningful C3 mechs *available* for use in the year 3050 ARE Atlases, Cyclopses, and Grand Dragons. A C3 company made up entirely of the former two mechs is patently absurd, so criticising the choice of Grand Dragons is absolutely petty. Finally, 8 Grand Dragons still have 8 ERPPCs and 8 LRM-10s, all hooked into a C3 net, have equal maneuverability of a Stormcrow, and mount 80 tons of armor by themselves, which is just about double the weight of armor mounted by the entire Clan ground force (Mist Lynx, Stormcrow, Mad Dog, Warhawk, and a mid-range heavy I can't recall, approx 10 tons of armor = ~45 tons of armor total). This is leaving the Atlases and the Cyclopses totally out of it. Thus, this argument is, frankly, crap on its face.

More importantly than ALL of that, though, is the face that the refused-flank strategy described (and the attendant ability to destroy the enemy in detail) is in fact what allowed me to win against a force that absolutely everybody on /btg/ (who bothered to comment on the battle) thought was going to win. I mentioned it only because it was posted on /btg/ and was a valid point of example, not that I feel it makes me some sort of tactical genius.

>>49675219
Sounds like a good start to me man

>>49646027
Someone has to lock up drunk and disorderly elementals.

>>49675334
>blah, blah, self-justification-blah

tl;dr

Fuck off. He had Dragons. Dragons are shit. You had Clan stuff and ASF, therefore you accomplished nothing.

>>49659369
Well at least the graphics look good

File: spesspoland vees.png (178KB, 2000x1590px) Image search: [Google]

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>>49674118
>>49674927
I did some units for it, based on stuff suggested in that PDF/the thread in general. I think it's the most up-to-date one; I made a few changes after posting it initially. I'm also down with fluffing out a world or two, if need be, assuming we're not looking at releasing a Field Manual here and I don't need to do more than a dozen pages at the extreme most.

>>49664378
>one guy drawing 'mechs in a new art style

Repost?

>>49675334
>muh refused flank

The sad thing is that often both sides deploy in bad enough order for this to work, people need a diagram to illustrate how to do it, and a tactic used since Egyptians poked Canaanites in the eye is considered advanced by this chucklefuck >>49641217

>>49665363
Nigga they intoed spess. They also intoed stealth tank and slapping Putin's face with balls of large steelness. Poland is into screwing in of lightbulbs with just its lonesome self, you're just too backwards to know it.

>>49675695
>people need a diagram to illustrate how to do it,

In fairness, not everybody reading may have experience with it. I'd rather use a diagram and be clear, and maybe educate a lurker or a newbie who's unsure to translate how a general tactic works to practical use on the tabletop, than assume everyone already know what we're talking about.

Something playing other BT groups (or playing at cons) has taught me is that the vast majority of people DON'T consider stuff like this when they're selecting forces, or deploying, or even while playing the game. Sure, they might know that the seven classical maneuvers of warfare exist (even if they might not *know* that they know them), but actually employing them on the table with deliberate intent is an entirely different thing. If that makes sense.

>>49675783
It really just indicates that most people are barely able to function. The basic principles are just that, basic, but it never ceases to amaze me just how many people can't really pick a force, evaluate the enemy force, deploy their force in a good manner, respond to enemy deployment, keep in mind an overall goal and act to achieve it, etc. To me these things all flow together as naturally as breathing.

>>49675366
So, here's the start that I've cooked up. The players are hired on Galatea into an existing merc company that has a contract, but needs pilots and mechs. This lets the backstory and starting mechs (limited to lights/mediums) for the individual players be pretty open. This gives the players a bit of command direction as well. The contract is to take down a bandit/pirate lord in the Periphery, close to the Marik/Steiner border. Haven't worked out the specifics yet, but the thought is that the final fight to kill the pirate/bandit lord coincides with an event that kills the mercenary commander they're working for, which then completes that segment of the campaign and effectively gives them free reign from there with a bit of experience.

>>49675916
Not who you were talking to, but I'd play in that game. I hope your players aren't as big of flakes as mine were when I tried to do a 4th SW game with them doing stuff in the not-yet Wrasslehog area of DC/Lyran space.

>>49675334

You actually totally gutted my C3 net my turn 2 of combat operations, the Atlas and Cyclops were dead from some lucky hits, and my dice were even colder than usual. Between the C3 net being totally down, the worse IS pilots and well, hopes and dreams being dashed...yeah it was doomed from Turn 3 or so.

I wouldn't mind playing this again though.

>>49674277
Title?

>>49655054
Cherno Quest was the only good thing to come out of Spacebattles.

I miss those threads...

>>49675916
That sounds like a very solid intro. Wiping out a pirate gang also gives you an excellent opportunity to hand them the DropShip which they'll need to make it as mercs on their own organically, which is all to the good

>>49676228
Abandonment

High Value Target was also good for Marik stuff in the same compilation. It's about the Orloff Grenadiers on the other side of Marik space at the Capellan Border though.

>>49676334
Oooh. There's an idea. I was thinking have the mercs take over their now-deceased commander's dropship, but I could have their dropship get hit while they're out scouting and then the players feel like they earned a dropship.

>>49676428
This reminds me. Anybody know if the print version of Battlecorps 6 is out? Sarna says it came out for gencon but I can't find it anywhere.

>tfw the stupid autopricer crap on amazon has already raised Battlecorps 5 to $90
>Still MSRP on ebay
What the hell? How do amazon sellers not see this destroys their ability to actually sell stuff.

>>49676475
Oh, are they taking over the unit instead of going their separate ways?
I figured that their could be a salvage split with the unit they were formerly working with where that got one of the pirate's DropShips (presumably the smaller, crappier one, being subcontractors) while the other guys got the other, enabling them to split off on their own.
But if they're taking over the show, you could have the one that got them there being on it's very last legs, maybe even finally giving out on approach, with a near-crash landing, and everyone loading up in the pirate's old ship to leave.

You also have a great opportunity to introduce whatever support crew you want them to have, either as rescued prisoners from the pirates, or as people who ended up stuck on the shithole planet where the pirate base was, and see the players as their only ticket out

>>49676656
I had been thinking of them taking effective "command" of the unit, letting them A) stick with a support crew they're already somewhat familiar with (given that the trip from Galatea to the Periphery isn't exactly a short haul, plus the time they've spent between battles with them), and B) so I don't have to drum up a bunch of new NPCs when I don't have to. Your idea is good too though, I'll have to mull them both over.

>>49677055
Hmm, what if capturing the pirate ship, and therefore getting everyone a ride out of there is how they end up in charge after the death of the former commander?

>>49677055
Hell, even if they were splitting from the other guys, some of them (including support crew) might elect to patch over and go with the PCs rather than their old unit. Let them keep the NPCs that they like, plus a few new guys to fill the gaps, like the ship crew. Plus this way you can add colourful weirdos who would have no reason to have been with the old unit to the crew

>>49675540
Wow, you have one hell of a Chip on your shoulder.

Show us on the dollie where the Bad Dragon penetrated you.

>>49676512

>What the hell? How do amazon sellers not see this destroys their ability to actually sell stuff.

It's bots, m8. They set the price a bit higher than other vendors on the theory that once other stocks are gone customers will have to buy from them. But when you get a bunch of bots running on the same logic the price spirals out of control. I've seen relatively new game books going for prices in the thousands on Amazon due to this phenomenon.

When can you turn heat sinks on and off? Every phase, end of every turn, what?

So, /btg/, how would you feel if the mandate Kerensky laid out, to protect the Inner Sphere from threats, came true in the form of an actual, but somewhat small, Ayy Lmao faction? I know there is some in-universe speculation regarding that.

>>49677548
Fuck off outta here, you're probably the same guy who wanted sexy aliens

>>49677548
Aliens flat out don't belong in battletech. I got lots of other universes I can check out for that stuff.

The in universe speculation is just paralleling the stuff mankind has been saying about otherworldy creatures since they crawled out of caves. It's not meant to be taken seriously, just like Ancient Aliens on the History Channel today isn't.

>>49677500

End phase, IIRC.

>>49677548

I think BT is better off without aliens.

Hey guys, been AWOL for a while. Just wanted to let people interested in the TRO know that I've just sent some more commissions off to Plog. I'll be posting WIP sketches and stuff here as I get them.

Got majorly burned out on the project and Battletech in general, but largely recovered and ready to shitpost like old times.

>>49677584
Nope, dif guy, but his comment reminded me of the in-universe "What is our purpose?" Thing Clans have going.

>>49677803
Lies you've been playing Overwatch, and Battletech somehow makes you less salty now so you're back.

>>49677861
Anon, he was in the goddamn Outback watching fucking cows. I've been working on Star Trek shit for /stg/ and other books because of it.

>>49677861
well for the past three weeks I was chasing cows around on an ATV. But yes, before that i was playing Overwatch.

BRB making Plog draw BT.va

>>49677877

>plog
>drawing a person

Why would you inflict such terrors on the world?

>>49677925
I meant a BT version of her mech.

>>49677877
>chasing cows on an ATV in the great wide burning nothing of the Outback
I'm actually envious. I've never been. Love wild places like that.
>Plog BT.va
Nasty K in a leotard with fox whisker decals on her cheeks and a tiny Dire Wolf she has to straddle to ride? I'm in.

>>49676314
Nope. The first time I saw Top Gear 3025, it was on there.
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/top-gear-3025.224356/

>>49678176
>I'm actually envious. I've never been. Love wild places like that.

There were floods, too.

>>49659579
finally, I can't stand the clan wank that came in when they felt like tying the game to a stupid meta-plot.

>>49678324
There is beautiful thing that too.

>>49678339

This is Australia. If it's not on fire, it's underwater.

Get used to it.

>>49679961
lol I'm from a place that gets a few hurricanes a year, the storm here was nothing.

>>49679961
or it's venomous

as a biologist I'm always a bit baffled by the amount of FUCK YOU present on the fauna

>>49681612
A lot of Australia's flora and fauna could be renamed and placed in those creature guides in the back of BT handbooks and none would be the wiser.

>Here's a cute little critter that looks like a nature combined a duck with a beaver... it's venomous!
>Never mind, let's go for a swim... aww, a cute octopus with pretty blue rings - and it's deadly venomous!
>Fuck that, I'm going for a walk in the forest - except there's a bastard tree so venomous you'll be begging for death!

>>49677877

BT.va would probably have to be some kind of mixtech protomech with a lot of jump jets and a self destruct device.

Still sounds sexy though.

>>49681612
>as a biologist I'm always a bit baffled by the amount of FUCK YOU present on the fauna
I've always kind of reckoned that australia is where God ended up dumping all the weird leftover creatures that were really not suitable for anywhere else. How else do you explain shit like the duck-billed platypus?

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>>49682163
>How else do you explain shit like the duck-billed platypus?

Robin Williams explained it this way:

>Tom Waits said, "There ain't no devil. There's just God when He's drunk." Do you think that if God could get drunk, then He might get stoned, too? Look at a Platypus. I think you think He might.

>>49677584
>>49677593
>>49677594
>because the Clans are the only humans outside the Inner Sphere

>>49681604
love these.

>>49677593
>Aliens flat out don't belong in battletech.

Mostly this.

I'd be OK if the Puazi made it into the setting, though.

>>49682434
>implying they're not just canopian in bodypaint

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>>49682405
>love these

I was looking for one in particular the other night (pic related) that I had remembered doing for a local tournament and found several others that I guess I just never scanned.

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So I never really understood, is the Bandersnatch's legs supposed to be digitigrade or plantigrade?

'Cuz it's got some goofy ass legs.

>>49683246

Non-functionalgrade, actually.

>>49682550

Somebody get NEA to writefag some lewds about this, stat.

>>49675833
>To me these things all flow together as naturally as breathing.

Have you considered that you may be the outlier?

>>49683319
Why don't we send some of the plogbux to incase instead? That greasy polish bastard is probably the only one who would really *get* the MoC

>>49683536
>plogbux to incase

Do you want Mechs with dicks? Because that's how you get Mechs with dicks.

>>49684086
>Mechs with dicks
You saying he's going to rework the SL-mechs?

>>49683319
>Somebody get NEA to writefag some lewds about this, stat.
He's probably busy, but a new /efg/ is about to start up over on /d/ and if you get a request in at the top of the thread there's a decent chance it might get filled

>>49684086
>mechgirls with girldick
Sounds pretty good to me sempai

OHSHIT IT'S HAPPENING

https://benhrome.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/shutdown-sequence-initiated/

Now we don't have a developer at all. CGL really is going to kill Battletech, aren't they?

>bright side, burrs might actually lose a battle now

>>49684155
>There’s a lot of reasons why, but though I have every right to air them out here, I will not. Dirty laundry should stay in the laundry room, not paraded about in public
Coleman stole more fucking money, I'm sure of it

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>>49684086
>Do you want Mechs with dicks? Because that's how you get Mechs with dicks.

Is that a medium laser in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

>>49684348
>Incase draws a Mackie mecha musume
oh yes

>>49674927

I've been tinkering with various ideas for planets and other various pieces of data for this project but nothing is anywhere near ready yet. This is mostly because i've got more pressing projects this month.

>>49677803

Welcome back. Get in on our Space Poland project when you can.

File: Scopedog.png (88KB, 372x1088px) Image search: [Google]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xSGFgGiumM

>>49684155
>Now we don't have a developer at all. CGL really is going to kill Battletech, aren't they?

Hey as soon as Alpha Strike takes off and makes them that sweet Privateer Press money they won't need Battletech any more old man.

>>49685787
I just actually took a look at Alpha Strike. Eww. I mean, I get it, but eww. Maybe as a primer for CBT at cons and shit.

>>49686603

Whelp, that's where the future of the game lies. Shame you won't be joining us.

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>>49686875
>Whelp, that's where the future of the game lies.

We could always teach the next generation how to play it right.

>>49686951
Considering that's how I got into it 14-ish years ago, that's definitely a thing.

>>49686875
I'm cool with that, honestly. I'm having fun with what I've got.

Am I the only one who has never played the game because I have no one to play it with?

>>49687036
That's a damn shame Anon. Rural area, I take it?

>>49687036
You and a fair chunk of people anon. It's nothing be ashamed of. There are people who are interested only in the fluff and find the game tedious, and then there are people who like both, but have never played the game and then tell people who have played how the game works. We call these people "OF residents."

>>49687074
Yup.

>>49687091
I love the fluff and I've set the game up and tried to play it solo before (probably autistic but whatever, and I love tabletop games.
I always see those con pics and people's painted minis and I wish I could join in the fun.

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>>49687091
I'm one of those who got introduced to the setting through the console video games.

>>49687091
I went 20+ years without BT, between starying BT with my cousin as a teenager, to playing with a regular group beginning about a year ago.

>>49687145
>>49687430
Like I said, there's nothing wrong with it. As long as you're having fun and enjoying what aspects you enjoy, you're okay in my book. unless your only enjoyment is stirring up faction shit or playing armchair general when you've never even tried the TT. Then GTFO, it's old.

>>49683319
>Have you considered that you may be the outlier?

I might be, but my feeling is that I shouldn't be.

>>49687145
Megamek, man.

>>49684155
Looks like Muninn recovered from burnout just in time.

>>49687036
>>49687091
Seconding what >>49687660 said.
I loved the fluff, but had no one to play with so I downloaded megamek and started playing against the ai. Now I run a semi weekly rpg game.

>>49687791
Don't you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby

Clans delenda est

Finishing bump

>>49687660
Megamek is great, but it's not the same as tabletop.

Actually working out the to hit numbers, and seeing a mechsheet makes you think much more about what you are doing, at least for me. Tabletop made me eealize how much generating a +3 versus a +2 modifier really makes a world of difference. Manually calculating that I need 6's and 8's to hit versus my opponent needing 5's and 7's changes how you look at BT, and it in turn made me a better MM player.

new thread


>>49690095
>>49690095
>>49690095