/btg/ Battletech General!

ded thread, ded game

>>52967192
>>52968546

I did one for the Wolves as well a while ago but the file is on my proper laptop which is in for repairs since MSI can't into fans.

The fifth most common 'Mech for the Wolves may be the Naga. Things drop off real sharp after the Adder, really. If not the Naga, then probably the Mist Lynx.

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>>52968630

Reposting since new thread started and I wasn't paying attention to the post count...

What initiative should the turrets act on? First Always? Last Always?

>>52968729
Fixed emplacements don't count for initiative. They're like offboard artillery that way.

All they do is act in fire phase.

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>>52968729
>What initiative should the turrets act on? First Always? Last Always?
Are you playing 2p with the turrets neutral, or is osmeone controlling them?

If you want to play 2p with a neurtal party, the Junkyard Arena in the Solaris VII set (AKA the "Royal Fantasy" joke XTRO) has rules for automated combat turrets. If not.. well, here ya go.

>>52968549

haha Greater Valkyrate

>tfw Battletech ended up with one of the most incompetent companies who is squandering the license

Why are we still here? Just to suffer?

>>52969756
We're not the musicians that keep playing as the Battle-Titanic is sinking yet, so... there's some hope.... maybe?

>>52969756

If you think THATs sad, remember Catalyst recently won the licence for the D&D card game, so they're going to have money to burn for years to come.

I mean, at least we're probably going to get more plastic lance packs right guys?

Right...?

>>52968549
You know that BA seriously looks like someone forgot to add something to CT before he was finished working on the artwork and now everyone is stuck with this one.

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>>52969585
haha Burrock Confederation

>>52969984
>I mean, at least we're probably going to get more plastic lance packs right guys?
>Right...?

Nope. The important people at Catalyst have no interest in developing the game any further. Some writers are still trying to push product(primarily low cost to produce PDFs) but the writing is on the wall.

>>52971351
I'm starting to believe that this is the case, yeah. Otherwise, wouldn't someone have produced something by now? It's suspicious. And frankly depressing. I feel like I got into BattleTech in its twilight days, as the fire's dying and the game's going with it.

Who /clanwolf/ here?

>>52971511
Don't cry because it's over
Smile because it happened

>>52971511

Do remember that it's hateful communities like this one, and pirates like most of you are, who have brought things where they are. Your actions have fractured and driven away the player base, and cost Catalyst enough money from product sales to bring us to this point. You have only yourselves to blame.

Not that you're willing or capable of understanding truth when it's spoken to you, of course. No, you'll just blame the only company in the business who wants to make BattleTech actually work, without the self-awareness to understand that it's people like you who have driven away talented production staff, and who have cost us the money required to actually produce material. Keep being mad and celebrating the demise of one of the elder statesman of tabletop wargames and all too soon, enjoy having no BattleTech at all. You've killed something that could have been saved. We sure hope you feel good about it.

-The Catalyst Observer

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>>52971600
>Your actions have fractured and driven away the player base

>>52971511
>Otherwise, wouldn't someone have produced something by now?

We're still in the general two splatbooks a year and a new box every three years deal that it's been since the fanpro days. We used to only get one new hotspots a year and maybe a tro or field manual or something. What's ground to a halt is the books that move the metaplot forward and that fucking sucks.

That's all on them rewriting illClan like twice. They need to get their plan laid out for the post Dark Age like yesterday.

>>52971600
Trying to do some more renovations, Loren?

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Picked up some used unseen Hellhounds and Celestials recently and the Celestials have this weird whitish gunk holding them to the base. Anyone have any idea what it is and how to remove it?

>>52971794
That is epoxy. You aren't dissolving that with anything short of a long soak in acetone. They're unpainted though. Any reason why you need to debase them?

>>52971748
Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if Battletech was open source like eclipse phase is with some "official" material published every so often but nothing holding back other companies from making miniatures.

>>52971706
BT's reputation for having a virulently racist playerbase is why a lot of people I know won't even think about playing the game, and /btg/ definitely is the worst of it. I mean when you guys outright idolize nazis like NEA, what do you expect?

>>52971846
They've turned a blind eye to fan stuff forever, as long as it doesn't get industrialized. Only the Russians have ever broke that streak.

>>52971824
Was just thinking about detailing the base more with debris and such. If it is that difficult to remove I'll probably just prime over it and add some flock on top. Thanks for the information.

>>52971868

You don't have to bait him. NEA hasn't been around in like 3 weeks.

>>52971868
I've literally never heard that BT has a racist playerbase.
Citation needed.

>>52971868
I know you're trolling, but I want to hear this

So, we doing a /btg/ game tonight? I've missed like four weeks in a row and I finally got time this weekend.

>>52971600
You know, saying "it's all your fauuuuuult" and screeching autistically isn't super helpful. The fans mostly want BattleTech is live and CGL isn't helping any.

>>52971868
>baitfish.png
/btg/ isn't the worst parts of the playerbase, by a huge margin. Have you BEEN to the OF? Like, ever?

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>>52971868
>Its the anon who says untrue shit about NEA and pretends to be him every so often
I thought you left already after last time

>>52971600
Release products people actually give a fuck about, not Turning Points: Sun Tzu Fucks Blonde Bitches or Touring The Stars: Satan's Taint. Or yet more Alpha Strike material, which is what's splitting the fanbase.

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>>52971794
Thinking about it, where is the cockpit located for the hellhound? Is it the top window or the slit under it closer to the torso?

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>>52972099
>tfw despite some people being salty about certain parts of the Jihad and Dark Age being a mess, both actually did stuff.
I'm not sure which is worse, bad material and us complaining about it or no material and no new discussion about the game at all

>>52971917
As my earlier reply said, it's not even bait now.

>>52972697

I've always thought that the two slit things at the top were heat vents and the cockpit was just below that.

>>52972811
If you want some new discussion, I have a new entry in the "Shit I just now realized by reading the novels" category.

Caleb was banging Sterling just like his old man and she liked him even better. They kept up their relationship for almost ten years. She betrayed him on Palmyra because in a very unclanner-like fashion, she got fucking pissed that he cheated on her.

What is it with Davions and misusing their dicks?

>>52972697
Isn't it based on the Wolverine? I don't recall offhand but that would probably make the "slits" the cockpit glass but the reality is it's like the Assassin and you get to pick which way you like better.

Was Ulric Kerensky's actual plan to destroy the Clans by getting the invasion delayed?

Because looking back if he loved the Clans then being the first to land on Terra and becoming ilClan would have been a better plan.

>>52973041
Yes, it is. The name was changed to purge all references to Clan Wolverine. It was the original Wolverine IIC.

>>52973082

If the Clans had never invaded they would have been safe.

Becoming ilClan wouldn't work, either. The Bears, Falcons, and Jaguars were all very powerful militarily and politically with serious grudges against the Wolves. It would just degenerate into a Reavings-style shitshow if they'd tried that.

Tukayyid and the Truce saved the Clans, but the Crusaders are too far up their own asses to admit it.

>>52972811
I think the reality is that they'll make a big push after they see how the PC game does.

>>52973253

Yay, more 3025-era shit.

>>52973273
...or a full reboot.

>>52971600

Reducto ad absurdum abounds here, friend. On both sides.

Not everyone that frequents /btg/ is toxic. In fact, I'd say it's not even the majority.

Not everyone at CGL lacks a moral compass.

To say that CGL is clean of any of the responsibility of the failings of BT is silly. It wasn't /btg/ that diverted funds to home renovations, thus ruining a large portion of the trust CGL had built. That trust correlates directly with customer confidence. We didn't do anything to kill that confidence - that was all on CGL. Both for the event itself and the shitshow of PR decisions that followed. Now we're in a age of silence from CGL on the issues that matter the most, and CGL is *still* wondering why they've lost the faith of those still around?

I want to get into the Lyran Alliance/Commonwealth and would like mech suggestions.

What's your favorite Lyran mech for the light, medium, heavy and assault classes?

Memes aside, please. I get it, the Commando is battle armor and the Zeus is a solid light.

>>52973501
Or how they fucked over all the Shadowrun freelancers and producing one of the worst SR editions, both in terms of the quality of the physical product as well as incomprehensible rules that required a massive fan errata to begin to be playable. It's not just BT that CGL has screwed over

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>>52973297
I would be so down for that, at this point. It's absolutely commendable that we've managed to keep most of the old material valid for something like 30 years, but the original rules weren't the greatest. The construction rules are an illogical mess.

So, change of direction in thread: What would you do in a reboot of BT?

>>52973929
Unironically make the FWL the "main" faction.

Because a group of different people banding together in common defense, who aren't the richest or strongest, is more interesting and compelling then reading about the strongest faction crushing people.

And the FWL produced interesting characters despite getting a fraction of the showtime.

I'd enjoy a book about Photon Brett-Marik rising through the ranks under a pseudonym, more stories of Gerald Cameron-Jones leading the Rolling Thunder, or the Sirian Lancers clinging to the League and reminiscing about glory days in the Terran Hegemony.

Just saying with regards to the metaplot.

>>52974067
I like it.

>>52973929
>>52973297
Worst idea ever, better start a new franchise from the scratch

>>52973297
I'd just grog up at that point and wash my hands of CGL. Maybe buy some minis from IWM but I'd be done with anything new bookwise.

>>52974443
This.

>>52973772
>Lyran
Hollander, Griffin, Defiance, Hauptmann

>>52973501
>Not everyone at CGL lacks a moral compass.

Found the CGL shill

>>52973868
Yeah, that sums up 4e pretty well.

>>52973929
>What would you do in a reboot of BT?

Mostly make mechanical changes, and mostly the stuff NEA has suggested. Switch to a 2d10 bell curve, completely rebalance weapons, fuck with weights a bit so that 20 tonners can still be viable combatants, and generally look at things with an eye toward making sure that if a concept isn't game-viable, don't go with it (ie, if you have to nerf a unit so hard that it becomes pointless, like LAMs, then don't have them at all). Completely redo all aerospace rules and units.

In terms of fluff, I'd probably make sure that the starting 5 factions were a little bit more balanced, and set the game to roughly 3000, with a full suite of primitive tech and intro tech already in play, with some, not a lot, of prototype advanced tech like in the Sword & Dragon book. Generally space out events a little more, so you have 5-10 years of metaplot, and then a 10-year update book, and then another 5-10 years of metaplot. Let things change over a longer period of time, so that there's a 30-year tech renaissance instead of magically giving everyone 3050-era tech in 5 years. Upscale the Clans so that they aren't killing RCTs with a binary; instead of 9 regiments in an invading touman, there's like 35, but they don't have the ridiculous tech advantage that they originally did (just a smaller one). Change the way the universe works to make Warships viable without completely dominating everything forever by their very existence.

Put a in hard rule at the dev level that a fan of a faction cannot be a writer for that faction. Get rid of company-run official forums completely, and all employees have a total gag order on social media about the game. Rename the franchise so that we can have vidya and miniatures from peope who aren't Microsoft or IWM, and go get a bunch of Japanese mecha designers to review art make sure that the designs make any sense at all.

It is time once again to discuss Hotaru's Law.

Hotaru's Law is the same as Odin's but the only difference is that it is HOTARU'S. Hotaru honors the chosen dead warriors who have honored her by spilling blood and killing on the damned battlefields. These chosen few, mostly of Nordic descent, shall enter the Gates of Valhalla. Hotaru is a Fascist and Hotaru will tolerate none of that faggot communism, Liberalism, or Democracy. To die with your boots on honors Hotaru. Everytime you life a mug of Mead to your lips you must show gratitude to Hotaru and Odin. Hotaru tolerates no cowards. To die is but gain, for a Warrior's Fate gains you Valhalla. Hotaru demands that the strong rule the weak and destroy the undermen. When the Northern winds blow, you can feel Hotaru's cold breath and hear her voice on the wind. She promises glory and victory.

Submit to Hotaru's Will.

Hotaru is Valkyrie to all chosen warriors.

Her Celtic Hair, her Nordic Eyes. The fiery spirit that consumes her.

She is become Death, destroyer of worlds. Ragnarok rests in her fingertips. Deny her, Blaspheme her, she will endure.

Hail the New Dawn

>>52974936
>Put a in hard rule at the dev level that a fan of a faction cannot be a writer for that faction.

This honestly doesn't fix much. Have you seen how Coleman wrote the Davions/Taurians/MoC? Kicking the legs out from under the other guys works just as well as propping up your favorite.

Also, IWM is fine as a miniatures company. They're really good casters and have good customer service and decent prices. What they need is artistic oversight on the sculpts, which they have been getting off and on lately. It's good that they're separate too. Otherwise people lean to the mini table creep for bigger and bigger forces that winds up with pushing shit like Alpha Strike and Battleforce which is bad on the game. CGL is in the process of falling into that trap right now.

>Change the way the universe works to make Warships viable without completely dominating everything forever by their very existence.
Impossible. I'd honestly rather remove them completely to keep the ground game from becoming even less significant. And I say that as somebody that actually plays Aerotech. We need jumpfleets with combat dropships and fighters that don't work in the broken squadron way that large scale games use.

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During Kerensky's Exodus a sizeable portion of SLDF troops, particularly those not from Hegemony worlds settle down in the remains of the Rim World Republic, which is at that point still under SLDF control. This means the annexation of their world by the Lyran Commonwealth doesn't happen. Colonel Ezra Bradley, CO of the Eridani Light Horse is named President, founding House Bradley. While still not rivaling the Commonwealth, the Republic is strong enough to survive as a Periphery Nation.

Here are the borders from 2750:

How would this change the events of the Succesion Wars? Would the nation survive until the Clan invasion? How would the Clans change their plans, when the Wolf Dragoons report that the Nation that brought down the Star League still existed?

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So, some people love it; some people hate it. Most people acknowledge that it does the job it's designed for just fine (mobile urban combat turret). However, I don't think anyone can really argue that it's an ideal light mech for a mercenary force that's equally likely to be hired for raiding as for defensive roles. The mech has many drawbacks; for instance, it only has so much ammo before you're reduced to nothing but a small laser; it's got a completely unnecessary heat sink that could give you an extra ton to play with elsewhere; it's just goddamn slow. So how would you "fix" the UrbanMech? What would you do, either in TT or BATTLETECH, to make it more your speed ("nothing" being a perfectly valid answer to this question)?

Why aren't auto cannons more accurate than most weapons?

Lasers fire short timed beams, or flashes rather. Missiles fire all over the place, and can end up losing their tracking and fly off somewhere. But autocannons are essentially giant assault rifles, and or cannons respectively, based on the make. They fire rapid barrages of rounds. So why not give them near misses in addition to misses? For example, a hit represents the majority of the salvo landing on target. You might miss a few rounds however, but get the rest of the salvo on target. This could represent a near miss. This might lead to half damage instead.

Autocannons are a heavily debated thing. Some say they are fine, others think they are woefully under-powered. Both have viable arguments for their cases, but I was wondering if the tier of weapon could be made different. Lasers are meant for hard hitting power and versatility, but are hot as hell. Missiles are kind of the middle road, dealing good damage, with decent heat build up an weight. Autocannons are heavy as hell, deal okayish damage, and produce little heat. You can't really change heat much, and if you alter the weights a lot of mechs get thrown off balance. Damage and range are hard to fiddle with as well. So why not make autocannons more consistant in nature. Giving them partial misses of say, 50% damage, would put them sort of like missiles. They can land full or partial hits. This way, no major systems get changed, the weapon still does the same amount in one shot, but the average damage increases due to higher hit chance.

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Having been recently told not to put in any more dark themes in my writings I was also informed BT-era medical tech is pretty much far in advance of our own. A little memory jog indicates I've been seeing robotic limbs that look uncannily natural, while their installation and usage didn't require much rehabilitation or discomfort to the user. No mention of essence drain or other aesthetic issues from what I saw in Shadowrun, at least from the 10 or so fanfic books I've read back to back.

This old BT comic cover also features a Shadowrun style cybereye, which I assume has a lot more features than the Optical Mark Is we currently have installed today.

What's your take on 31st Century healthcare? Are they so advanced as to make cyborgs out of people on a whim, or are such capabilities considered lostech or accessible only to the nobility?

What would be the footprint of a lance of battlemechs?

For arguments sake, assume that the only combat element is the mechs.

From my thinking, it seems like one would need:

- CO who may or may not be one of the mech warriors

- the four mech warriors

- a chief tech

- four techs

- At least a squad of infantry to guard the mechs - they could also pull double duty as astechs or mech warrior trainees.

- a doctor/medic, cook, armourer, some kind of supply officer and a couple of drivers.

Non-personnel assets are easier and mostly consist of logistics and support vehicles. Maybe a recovery vehicle and mobile gantry?

Of course, sky's the limit when you add ASF and other arms.

>>52973929
Fix the FASA-economy.
Boost construction rates.
Allow for a metric crap-ton of crappy tanks and weapons to be mass produced. Like sending T-74s against a Shadow Hawk 2H might have a chance, but if the pilot played it right, maybe not.
Make the FWL more of a defined good guy.
No new birth Liao crap.

One thing that has always confused me in Battletech- while there's a clear demarcation between 'Primitive' components and 'Standard' (3025) stuff, and an even clearer distinction between that and Lostech...I see some bits of fluff and scratch my head.

Case in point, was reading up on the Zhukov, and this is listed in the description:

"Its first major deployment was with the Wolf's Dragoons whereupon the Zhukov has since seen constant improvements and tweaks as suggested to Aldis Industries by the field units that use it. Despite this, the Zhukov's constant updating was eventually halted by Aldis Industries in 3058 when it could no longer keep the design in pace with advancing technologies.[5][3]"

There are designs that have been in continuous production for centuries unchanged, both 'mech and vehicle...what, exactly, about the simple-as-a-brick Zhukov 'can't keep pace' when the thing came out in 3030? We have 'mechs being produced unchanged from their original specs (heck, the 'retrotech' thing brought original DV-1S Dervishes back into production, and they were first made in 2520!) and yet somehow, this particular tank is obsolete or not worth 'updating' after 28 years?

I always assumed this was just fluff and fiat; some writer schlepped that in there for 'realism' or some such. But, aside from the 'Primitive/Standard' line, is there actual obsolescence in Battletech?

>>52975642
Whether or not the CO was another 'warrior would depend upon the unit's origin. For example, a mercenary unit would have the CO leading from the cockpit in many cases. A house unit may not see that, depending upon the level.

Each 'mech would have a Tech and 4 Astechs. Granted they can split up as needed, but that's considered the minimum level of technical resource to keep them in operational condition.

Security forces would be at least a platoon of infantry. But that's also hard to say since security elements will guard more than just a lance of 'mechs, they'll guard whole sites or even parts of a site which will encompass more than just a lance.

Doctors and medics would be shared amongst the unit. Armorers would be as well, since the only real armory work needed for the pilots would be service and repair of personal weapons or sidearms. Supply officers would also be split up.

>>52975538
There's been as many variants made by guys here for the Urbie than I think are guys who lurk /btg/.
Some ones I think I can remember:
Replace AC/10 with PPC, work from there.
Recently - compact gyro and engine, 7 MLs, better engine & JJs and so forth. (I think this was posted within the last few weeks.)
Ridiculous Urbie LAM.
Urbie arrow delivery syste (because war crimes)
2x LLs in place of the AC and DHS.
There is just so much munchkinism you can do.

>>52975611
Good prosthetics were stupid common, even in the darkest days of grogtech. You need two hands to count all the people with robot legs and laser hands in the books leading up to just the 4th Succession War. The biggest disability was it made piloting a mech or fighter much more difficult if you had replacement parts. Everyday stuff was fine though.

The reason full combat cyborgs were very rare outside special cases was more a matter of social stigma rather than lack of tech.

But just look through some of the old books that have that info (Intelligence Ops I think had all the original prosthetics and Hotspots 3072 had the Blakist plus reprints of the FCCW era advances)

>>52975778
>>52975611

>What's your take on 31st Century healthcare?

Whatever makes the game universe the most miserable for the most amount of people. It's a wargame, not a happygame.

-Starscream

>>52975691
It was a running narrative that the late 3050's had so much new stuff coming out that all the standard and even Invasion Era upgrades were not selling well for companies in-universe compared to lostech asskickers and brand new designs. That hurt a lot of smaller older companies that relied on their tried and true products to stay afloat. This continues up through the end of the Fedcom Civil War and into the early Jihad. It's only after you have the Word of Blake occupying every major state capital and also every state's major manufacturing world as well as other factories all over getting destroyed that the Inner Sphere finally turns to Retrotech out of desperation.

In the case of the Zhukov, they basically did what the Capellans should have done with the Po, recognized it's niche and kept it there. Remember, old tech didn't just survive when so many things went lostech because it was older. It survived because it was more rugged. That ruggedness is a fluff thing that causes many people to keep old level 1 standard tech around. Also why you have things like the tech downgrades in the Dark Age for similar reasons.

>>52971600
>cost Catalyst enough money from product sales

Good, I'm actively trying to kill you off.

>>52968549
I want to watch people play this game, or read some good battle reports. Anyone got any recommendations for good ones?

>>52974471
>I'd just grog up at that point and wash my hands of CGL. Maybe buy some minis from IWM but I'd be done with anything new bookwise.

THIS is what's actually the coup de grace for BattleTech.

>>52975407
I've always wondered why that border was so fucking dead.

>>52975611
>based on the hit animated series

lolwut

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>>52975611
>The Battletech Series comic
At least post the cuter ones

Reminder that in Japan this is still canon

>>52975821
>disliking Herb

I bet you are one of those butthurt FedRat fans who were pissed their fictional faction of choice weren't winning fictional wars

>>52973929
>What would you do in a reboot of BT?
Quite a bit.

Let's look at some of the weaknesses of BT.

1) Story don't make sense.
FASAnomiks alone makes the story silly. We're all familiar with how different the inner sphere would look if it followed logic. Also, the aesthetic is odd. Future of the 80s sounds awesome until you start injecting future of the now in. It's almost bipolar. Then we get the old problem with sci-fi settings: In the 2017 of BT, humans are on their way to colonize mars.

I'd start off by rewrtiting the origin story. At some point in human history, a particularly nasty virus went around. This not only killed off a lot of folks but also dropped the fertility rate of survivors. Society collapsed. We damn near reverted to bronze age tech before picking ourselves back up again. A lot of tech was lost, and more importantly, what is considered important traits in things changed.

>>52977598
cont.

Consider a datapad in BT. A modern analogue might be a tablet. Now we value tablets based on their display resolution, speed of processor, thinness, light weight, and having enough battery to go a day or two without making the tablet too heavy and thick. In BT, their cultural understanding of things is informed by their crawling out of a very nasty dark age not all that long ago - and having a lot of those values justified and reinforced by stellar colonial life. They value things that last. So the value of a datapad would be based on its toughness, reliability, longevity measured in centuries, and battery capacity measured in... well, quite long. They don't care if it can only display four colors on low-resolution non-touch displays. They don't care that the damn things weigh close to two pounds. They want to know - need to know - that the device will survive being used to fend off a bear attack, leverage a garage door open, be used as an expedient paddle, and then finally passed on to their kids and their kids kids. And that's just digital devices. That attitude is pervasive across all of what humans make in BT. That's why stamped steel rifles with iron sights are the norm, while lightweight plasti-guns are the norm in our current society. In that kind of environment, 500 year old war machines make a lot more sense. Cycling 200 year old ammunition makes a lot more sense.

The shit birth rates explain the low growth of the inner sphere. The unknown nature of exactly how much time has past and what happened during the collapse answers any "well we can do X with todays tech" problems. In essence, it gives us another answer to questions like these and other science facts beyond "giant walking robots, just enjoy it ffs."

>>52977611
As an aside, in this version of BT, the year is just a reference. 3017 in BT may or may not be 1,000 years after 2017. The dark age was bad enough that the calendar was lost for awhile. Once they came out, some wise men made an educated guess what the year was and off we went. Modern BT scientists acknowledge that the year is probably much later.

>>52977598
>>52977611
>>52977624
Simple and elegant. I love this. I love this so very much.

>>52977598
>>52977611
I like it, aside from the fertility rate part.
Messing with that would have a vast array of sociocultural knock-on effects that would leave societies that look utterly alien to modern humans and I for one would rather not go that far

>>52975642
>What would be the [logistical] footprint of a lance of battlemechs?
CO -> Either the Lance Leader or one of the admins. Often has negotiating or technical skills to pull double-duty.
The MechWarriors. In small merc companies the MWs usually also have some level of crosstraining, probably as AsTechs.
Doctor of some kind, usually a paramedic
Chief Tech. Usually has at least one other fully-qualified Tech; if military or well-equipped units, you have a tech per 'Mech. One tech can handle all four 'Mechs for day-to-day maintenance, but anything past cosmetic damage and you need a full team.
Six or seven AsTechs per Tech. Pretty much anyone can crosstrain into this role and blow a few man-hours. Preferably, though, someone's well-trained in Explosive-ordnance disposal and loading.

A Supply corporal to handle materials requisitions and keep track of your paperwork. Sometimes, especially in military units, this role is combined with the next one.
A Yeoman to handle personnel paperwork, hiring, pay, &c.

Cook, Armorer, etc, yes.

MASH vee for the medic, field kitchen, and some personnel transports or trucks for the ground crews. All of that is folded into having your own dropship or MFB.


Security for State commands is handled by the overall army. That might be a seconded command, or in the case of an RCT organic support from their own infantry. In Mercs, it's often a specialized infantry company/batallion, marines from the dropship crew, or a locally-hired minor security unit and/or militia.

>>52975691
You can either spend tens of thousands of man-hours and millions of CB updating your electronics and hardware to chase the latest trend - while trying to sell them to people who by and large are perfectly happy with teh tank they just bought - or just fall back on a dependable and solid design for fifty years and wait for the tech to shake out.

>>52977611
cont.

2) The mechanics are sometimes broken

I'd go ham on the mechanics. One ton five damage no ammo weapons? Hell no. Autocannon would make sense - maybe an automatic TAC chance. I'm no game designer. LB-X wouldn't be one-point hits, but rather a fraction of the damage in the location hit and a smaller fraction in each adjacent location. Same effect, less prone to nonsense results, and faster to play.

Missiles would be quite different. An LRM-5 would be a long-range missile launcher that holds five missiles. Different missiles would have different capabilities. Maybe each launcher can only guide one missile at a time. I can imagine point damage and cluster missiles being available. Maybe the cluster missiles have an unguided, indirect fire mode. Maybe you can launch as many indirects as you want in a turn, since you're not guiding them. There's your basic artillery. Maybe artemis allows another missile to be guided - basically an add-on guidance package.

Needless to say, old record sheets would be wildly invalid. The new construction rules might feature a more impacted set of 'Mech weights. Care would be given to try to match the flavor of pre-existing 'Mechs. Hunchbacks would be brutal close-in fighters with large-caliber low-velocity autocannon. Warhammers would be big boys with two big PPCs and a respectable spread of backup ordinance. Locusts would focus on speed at the expense of just about everything else. You get the idea.

Again, I'm no game designer, but if I was forced to make a change, I'd make it a big change.

>>52978045
A Battletech 2e would basically require CGL to give a shit about the franchise enough to take a risk that big. And I frankly think they lack the writing talent to sell this rebooted Battletech universe.

>>52978154
Not going to agree or disagree with you, but the question was "what would you do" not "what do you think is possible" or "what do you think CGL will do"

Out of the classic 3025 mechs aside from the ones that already have, which would make for good omni models?
I have an idea about FWL/FS/merc omnis competing with the dracs for market share

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>>52979676
>Out of the classic 3025 mechs aside from the ones that already have, which would make for good omni models?
An Omni based on the Trinity fifty-fives? Honestly, something that can ape the loadouts of all three shouldn't be too hard. An Omni-Stalker could also be fun.

>>52973772
>What's your favorite Lyran mech for the light, medium, heavy and assault classes?

Zeus, BattleMaster, Banshee, Atlas.

>>52979702
Frankly, the most common 'Mechs in the game circa that time should have been the testbeds for Omnitech. 55 ton trio, Wasp, Stinger, Pixie, Stalker, Archer.

>>52979676
The Warhammer stands out as an excellent candidate, large bays in each side torso plus the gun arms, it would be a very easy conversion.
Maybe also the archer, though it'd probably feature two big torso bays but fixed arms, which I think would be good. Limited Omnis are exactly what early IS machines SHOULD be like

>>52975407
>How would the Clans change their plans, when the Wolf Dragoons report that the Nation that brought down the Star League still existed?

But by your own fluff, it isn't the nation that brought down the Star League, it's the nation that became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SLDF. Hell, the Wardens would probably ask Jaime Wolf to try to make an alliance with them.

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>>52975538
Pull the engine out of a scrapped Stinger or Wasp and use it to make this. Heresy, I know.

>>52976041
Sweet! Now would you mind looking up the personal contact info and home addresses for some of those guys, and get serious about it?

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>>52971600
>Be kid
>Buy BT when it's first offered to the public. Happy with my 2nd edition BT core game
>For years buy lots of FASA products
>Company IP changes hands
>Though having difficulty, throughout the years still buy from Fanpro & Wiz Kids
>Generally love the product, warts and all
>Catalyst gains IP
>product begins to suffer, even in distribution
>porch bux
>new birth
>what is continuity and fact checking in products?
>Randell
>Suddenly not too interested in maintaining a customer relationship with Catalyst
Yeah I'll roll the dice on the next business that gets the IP. Thanks.

>>52980107
The sad part is, all those allegedly different companies were some of the same people from the FASA days.

>>52980238
Customer loyalty throughout several companies based on appreciation of quality of work, customer appreciation and work ethics... go figure.
I just don't feel like spending money to give a certain Catalyst employee more funds to embezzle to pay for his significant other to have another outdoor scratching post for her vag. Also Randell. Whatever.
This reminds me of some video game companies on discussions on /v/ claiming pirating is killing the industry when it's their business practices that are doing it. I won't buy from some of the major vidya companies for the same reasons: bad service, nasty attitude from employees, poor products, etc.
You'd think somebody had heard of the term "customer service" once in a while. Heh.

>>52980107
>>new birth
What's this one? Doesn't ring a bell.

>>52976414
The book has been out of print for a long time in Japan.
It's about 20 years ago.

>>52980953
Xin Sheng, though he places it oddly in the sequence, as that was late FASA.

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Recently I found a series of old Battletech quest threads from 2013 in the /suptg/ archives, MechEngineer Quest. Really great actually, and I just finished blasting through most of. Problem is I just realized there's only a few left in the archive, it seems to have ended rather abruptly after +6 months of regular posts. Anyone know what happened to it?

>>52981426
Yeah I messed up. I just went with stream of conscious in that list.

>>52979744
Haha you're so funny demonstrating your illiteracy to him!

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>>52981864

>>52971600
Well I mean as the owner of three full boxed sets (one of the old crappy prints, and two of the decent molds), and every lance pack, I'm trying my hardest.

Sell me miniatures idiot.

>>52973772

>Light
Hollander, because I feel like its very Lyran. It's just a walking weapon platform.

>Medium
I don't like most of the medium mechs the Lyrans field, or at least the ones that are Lyran in origin. Steal something from the feddies or an old SLDF mech

>Heavy
Barghest. I think it's one of the coolest looking quad mechs around. There was this movement around the time Mechwarrior 3rd Edition came out to make Lyrans the 'quad mech' faction with random mech tables containing more goliaths and scorpions and the Barghest being pictured 100 times in the Lyran source book. I bought this, I see the Lyrans as very quad mech heavy, and the Barghest works well with this.

>Assault
Fafnir. It feels like the natural progression of the hollander.

I realise this basically look like I'm a Gauss Spammer, but honestly I barely play lyrans and don't Gauss Wall when I do.

>>52981484
It died amidst stolen money and autistic screeching

Posting because I haven't played BT proper since I was a pretentious preteen.

Does anyone remember fondly during the Harmony Gold debacle when game stores and even some of the books basically told you to use proxies because fuck it. Pepridge Farms remembers.

We used to taunt the trust fund kids playing warhammer 40k with it a lot.

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Revisiting an old doodle of mine concerning the Templar, trying to strike a balance between the TRO and the MW4 depiction of the thing.

I personally find the middle one the most endearing with the jutting rounded canopy for the cockpit, but I'm not so sure about the rest of the mech.

>>52983825
You shouldn't lean to the MW4 version at all really, as that's just a Templar III instead of a regular Templar. Same deal if you were doing a Vulture or a Black Knight.

>>52983957
actually the MW4 versions were simply redesigns (in case of Templar, it was the original version that was fucked up later in TRO 3067) that were used later in MWDA minis and now in TRO 3145

>>52984115
The Templar was in Field Manual Fedsuns first, and not fucked up. And yes, the MW designs were used in DA and then given different chassis designations when canonized. That doesn't change the fact that they are different designs now, just like the DA Blackhawk, Koshi, Panther, Spider, etc etc.

>>52982585
There was autistic screeching?

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>>52979755
They kind of were.

>>52979757
>The Warhammer stands out as an excellent candidate, large bays in each side torso plus the gun arms, it would be a very easy conversion.
What is the Loki, Alex?

>Maybe also the archer
Mad Dog.

>>52979755
I understand why they went with what they did - converting captured chassis for the Thud Omni and the Archer Omni first, then making test-bed designs with lesser-used lines (Flea, the remains of the Jenner plant and/or a Locust line etc.) while they kept testing. But there's really no reason NOT to shift one of the super-common lines - say, the Shads - over to Omni-production. Plus it would have given htem an excuse to play with the Reseen idea >right< when it was most needed and they still had the money/artists to get away with it. Instead of, you know, Wizkids handing the damned job off to Dave White.

>>52980107
>>52980762
This is basically me.

>>52981484
>Anyone know what happened to it?
The dude running it had some personal problems crop up and had to quit.

>>52984597
>There was autistic screeching?
Dude, it's BattleTech. That goes pretty much without saying.

>>52985089
>They kind of were.
I know what you mean, but you know what I mean. No Thud Omni? I'm mean we should have gotten proto-Omnis first, like regular 'Mechs but with one or more locations converted to accept Omnipods. Man that would have been cool.

>>52985322
The Thud gained five tons and became the Thor. Also, the first omnis seen in the IS were the end result of a couple centuries of designs.

>>52985322
I think that FASA was trying to avoid confusion in the early days of the IS omnis. The Clans already had a shitload of Omnis based on the more common SLDF/IS designs.

Adder/Nova = Crab
Mad Dog = Archer
Summoner = Thor
Hellbringer = Whammy
Mad Cat/Timby = well duh.
Warhawk = Awesome
Gargoyle = Banshee
Executioner = Atlas
Dire Wolf = King Crab

Later on they refined the designs and changed some of the >in-character< history, but that appears to have been the original intent.

>>52985322
That's basically what the old handheld guns were before they tried to abandon that concept.

>all the stupid side arm mounts like on the new shimseen wolverine

>>52985492
>>52985540
>>52985573
I mostly just wish we had gotten proto-Omnis first is all. And more like I'm taking about and less like the Mercury, which in the old fluff at least was where the idea came from.

>>52985735
The Mercury is still where the idea came from, but the fluff for that was clear that it made repairs easier. Single location omni slots wouldn't make any sense, because at that point why not just do it to a whole mech?

>>52986011
Cost? Ease? If you can make 3-4 of them in the time it takes to make one full Omni then you've got something. I mean I think it's a neat idea but that's just me. I guess it depends on how hard it is to Omni compared to a regular 'Mech. It could also be an "after the fact" thing to save resources in the places where that's a big deal.

>>52986119
There is no fluff describing how long it takes to make an omni versus a regular mech.

>It could also be an "after the fact" thing to save resources in the places where that's a big deal.
Aside from fixed criticals and location items making that difficult. Omnis do actually have different construction rules with regards to crits, you know.

>>52985089
>an excuse to play with the Reseen idea >right< when it was most needed
They kind of were - the Inner Sphere designs in TR:3055 were just about all based on & poised to replace the older designs, and this is before the lawsuit was even a thing.

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>>52975611
At the high end, you have Star Trek type lostech stuff that's only a bit more likely to heal you than kill you.

>>52981484
As >>52985089 points out, the person running it had life happen and it was dropped.

>2013
Where has the time gone?!

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>>52986469
And there's always a low end.

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>>52964931
>Random awesome pencil bro stats battle bump.

This was actually my proposal, done (perhaps ironically) in ink rather than pencil.

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>ywn kill someone with your dick gun that can only shoot missiles.

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enjoy :)

thanks to the anons who previously noticed Cyclops had SHS instead of DHS

>>52988598
Fantastic! Great work.

Do you think it would be possible to make a fan unit and a scenario book like the old 1980s stuff? Gray Death Legion, Fox's Teeth, Black Widow type stuff? 12-15 scenarios. A dozen pilots plus tech staff? House or merc unit? Or would partisanship be a real bitch?

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>>52988960
>Do you think it would be possible to make a fan unit and a scenario book
Pretty easily, really. Just look at the FM:Mercenaries books. That's basically what you'd be doing.

>like the old 1980s stuff?
That's the harder part. The old scenario packs have a bunch of fluff relating to the pilots as well as the events or battles involved. Plus the scenarios were often pretty imbalanced, or had lots of units on two mapsheets, because that's all you could expect people to have by default. The Total Chaos ruleset is a slightly more plausible option to use in comparison. I made some that I post every now and then and still use every now and then.

>>52985089
Shad lines weren't common. Only the Mariks and Canopians had them, and why would the Mariks get omni-Shads? Why would they get nice things at all?

>>52989121
I had two ideas, one is to make a version of say, Gray Death Legion or Sorenson Sabres but with a core group of silly characters that get involved in some weird plot.
The second is something similar but they would use the mechs from the /btg/ compilation.
It was just an idea. Nothing necessary.

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>>52983301
>Does anyone remember fondly during the Harmony Gold debacle when game stores and even some of the books basically told you to use proxies because fuck it.

I don't remember being *told*, no, but what we had was what we had.

>>52988598
>That Big Daddy and Wolverine

My side torsos, this is great.

Anon doing the BT Risk map, Regulus is missing.

>>52985089
>What is the Loki, Alex?
>Mad Dog

They're Clan omnis. We're talking IS omnis.

TRO update: delayed by a week or two on account of me having lots of overtime work.

Bright side is some of the resulting cash not going to mortgage savings, gas, and other such fripperies will make its way into the TRO coffers.

>>52990654
Comstar does it again.

>>52990760

The Raptor is an Omni-Bug, the Owens is an Omni-Jenner, Blackjack, Firestarter, and Black Hawk-Ku speak for themselves, the Avatar is a combo of the Warhammer and Maruader (or at least could be if not for loldracs configs) and the Sunder and Strider are just their own weird, bullshit thing.

>>52990654
Or is it?

>>52988960
>would partisanship be a real bitch?

Probably not, as long as you sound people out for bro-tier attitudes beforehand. Venomous factionfags and embittered grogs can't help outing themselves pretty quickly, it's in their nature to vent regularly.

Creative differences can be another story but it's not like those are inevitable or unsurmountable. As long as you're up front about what you want then it shouldn't be a problem. If you want that rock-and-roll big hair and headbands aesthetic of the old BT books then you just have to make that sort of thing clear from the start so that someone of a darker disposition doesn't come along with a story of WMD, warcrimes and broken hopes.

>>52990859
Strider is an Omni-Cicada and the Sunder is just a beautiful beast.

>>52991279

I always wish the Sunder had better canon configs. The clantech one is pretty good though, and probably common in the DCMS.

>>52990809
To what extent is the total lack of fucks people seem to give about the TRO killing your motivation?

>>52991250
>Probably not, as long as you sound people out for bro-tier attitudes beforehand. Venomous factionfags and embittered grogs can't help outing themselves pretty quickly, it's in their nature to vent regularly.
>
>Creative differences can be another story but it's not like those are inevitable or unsurmountable. As long as you're up front about what you want then it shouldn't be a problem. If you want that rock-and-roll big hair and headbands aesthetic of the old BT books then you just have to make that sort of thing clear from the start so that someone of a darker disposition doesn't come along with a story of WMD, warcrimes and broken hopes.

I play old Lyrans, some Fed Suns, mercs and Clans because silly. However I do play bad guys so my friends can have somebody to fight and beat up on games that isn't a pushover. So I don't really care that much about factions.
I am totally for this. I honestly don't care in what fashion. All I want is a unit that starts off very small, overcomes some trials with some of them being serious and silly, and ends up a company sized force that /btg/ guys can use for reasons. I don't care about canon, or making Catalyst love it.
Art style: - I would love the old stuff from Gray Death Legion in terms of character art. Or even taking real life photos and making "our versions" of them for pilots, techs and such.
I want each story / scenario to have something unique to it, be it terrain, silliness, just something that would make players say, "Hell yeah, I want to play that!"

We could offer ideas for pilots, techs and support personnel each with photos, silly or not. Mechs could be anything from stock models to bizarre things as long as it's not too stupid. At the end, the unit is pretty much established as a company (doesn't matter if merc or house unit) and there you go.

It's just an idea.

>>52975538
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH8AhE2ndZE

>>52988960
I'm in! we could do some over the top unit. I always thought Battletech had space for some crazy, Kojima style merc unit

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>>52986374
>They kind of were - the Inner Sphere designs in TR:3055 were just about all based on & poised to replace the older designs, and this is before the lawsuit was even a thing.
Well, yes and no - assuming you mean the IS '58s. They didn't fuck with any of the really >good< ones. The Blackjack and Firestarter weren't exactly iconic, you know?
The Owens really doesn't owe much to the Jenner it's based on, being more of an uptonned Locust-M/S in most of its configs. And the BH-Ku/Avatar/Sunder are all re-engineered Clan designs on IS chasses (along with the Rakshasa, Bushie, &al.)..

Most of where they went with the "replacement" Unseen in that area was a streamlined, Loose'd up design. Look at the Chameleon (VT-1D Trainer Valkyrie), Lineholder (Streamlined-up Griffin), Falconer (small-Bug), and the Watchman (Pixie). The "Marauder successors" are their own thing, but also kind of indicative.

>>52991841
>Falconer
>small bug

The fuck?

>>52991618
You see, I'm on board. Would it be merc unit, dedicated house unit that became a merc unit? What kind of commander would run this thing? Love interest female pilot like Lori Kalmar? What silly and serious environments could we use for battles? Something like two units coming toward each other in a city and end up fighting in and at the outskirts of a BT futuristic of a spam factory? Would the dropship pilot be insane? What color markings and logo would it have? There is so much /btg/ we can do.
Let's make history!

>>52989349
>>52988960
>>52991250
I've seen a couple of attempts, and I'm working on a ruleset that will be helpful, but really it's just too much work for most people. At least, if they aren't getting paid. A big part of what you need is an editor who's both merciless and dispassionate, AND who can get shit in on time. I may be the first two but I'm really struggling with the latter.

>>52990760
>We're talking IS omnis.
Well, as I said in the earlier post, I suspect they were trying to avoid confusion between the Clan "retread" omnis and the new IS ones.

>>52990859
>the Sunder and Strider are just their own weird, bullshit thing.
Strider is kind of a Super-Locust/Cicada

>Sunder
Supposed to be sort of Thuddy by way of the Summoner, but it's mostly just a hot fucking mess, I agree. The Prime and "D" kind of feel like a Victor. Ish.

>>52991537
If it helps, I'm still interested in it, I just keep quiet because I'm not working on it.

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>>52991879
Sorry, Falcon-Hawk. Started typing and forgot where I was going with it.
Uh.. weed, in this case. Had a really shitty night, threw out my rotator cuff falling down the stairs at the LGS yesterday when my left leg went out. So I haven't slept for more than an hour or so straight and I'm crossfading narcotics and a low-THC/high CBD medical strain to keep the swelling down.

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>>52992100
>threw out my rotator cuff falling down the stairs at the LGS yesterday when my left leg went out.

I'm not current on the latest rules ... what does that do to your piloting skill rolls?

Some of the old turbogrogs at my shop started playing this, and, being a turbogrog myself, the densely packed datasheets and mathematical formulas involved in performing basic actions gave me a stiffy.

What is the best starting point for jumping into this game?

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>>52992152
Nothing good, I'll wager. Pilot hits are never fun.

>>52992195
>What is the best starting point for jumping into this game?
Quickstart rules, up for free on the website. Grabe the Battlemech manual beta from the troves and a copy of MegaMek (make sure Java is up to date), and get some practice in.

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>>52992195
>What is the best starting point for jumping into this game?

Get them to get you stuck into a game up at the LGS. Seriously, you'll know if you're bitten by the Battletech bug. It never quite goes away...

>>52991841
>assuming you mean the IS '58s
I mean 3055. The Gallowglas is Grasshopper redux, Hitman is an Assassin, etc.

For the IS '58s, I thought the Firestarter replaces the Phoenix Hawk, and the Blackjack stands in for the 55-ton trio.

>>52992100
Oh damn. Feel better, bronon.

>>52988556
god that cringe artwork though

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>>52993235
Archer's face is fucking priceless honestly.

Who would win, Battlemechs or Evangelions?

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>>52993637
>Who would win, Battlemechs or Evangelions?

Please don't take this the wrong way, anon, but this sounds like a question that would come from my 12-year-old son (who would sday it's a trick question, because the answer is Saitama).

>>52993511
lol

>>52993801
>saitama
Your wife's son is a fag

>>52993637
At least make a comparison with real robots, anon.
The only mecha shows I can think of with lower tech than BT is Armored Troopers VOTOMs, Flag, and Patlabor(maybe).
>>52994145
OPM isn't bad, people who actually buy into the Saitama hype are.

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>>52988556
>ywn kill someone with your dick gun that can only shoot missiles.
TacOps has rules for that. They're kind of shit though.

>>52993112
Ahh, I see what you were getting at. My bad. And yeah, I'll be fine in a couple days. The one advantage of Ehlers-Danlos is that I recover damned fast from most of the dislocations I wind up having. It just hurts like a motherfucker and makes me immune to most local anaesthetics.

>>52993801
Dude, BattleMechs are about the size of the Eva's prog knives.

>>52994640
>OPM
Saitama is fucking awesome, but people who use him as a bludgeon to "win" over other characters/IPs are doing it wrong. His powers aren't the point of him.

>>52994681
Yeah, that's sorta what I meant but you articulated it better.

>>52991947
>Would it be merc unit, dedicated house unit that became a merc unit?

Personally, I would just make the Diamond Dogs.

But I would likely go basic merc with few initial house ties. Maybe an infantry force that just worked their way up to include armor, vehicles, mechs ect.?

>>52991599
Thank you good sir, I was entertained and then I watched the next one where 8 Urbies curbstomped the two heavy stars of Clanner mechs and laughed out loud.

>>52971923

Well, 2/5ths of the original factions are "yellow peril" stereotypes.

>>52995828
Hey, the Cappies were Red peril before Xin Sheng.

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>>52982585
>>52985089
>>52986545
That's unfortunate, MechEngineer was quite a good quest, with real involvement and even a decent artist. It even avoided the pitfall of turning into another waifu quest.

Would anyone be interested in another quest like that?

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>>52995828
It's something of a massive stretch from "some of the things in the game kind of look racist when glanced at as shallowly as possible" to "a significant number of the players are racist".

Second, basing a nation on the politics and, uh, habits of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere is no more racist than basing one on the vastly overplayed Nazis. You're also misusing "Yellow Peril". That was all about the fear Inscrutable Asians would steal the West's God-given technical advantage, wind up pulling the strings behind crime, and generally infiltrate/mind-control/rape their way to power while leaving an ineffective shell of White government as a veneer over their activities. Check shit like the Shadow or Fu Manchu novels to get more. In the Eighties there was a resurgence, fuelled by the Fall of Detroit and all that shit, but again it was about economic warfare and cultural subversion. The Dracs.. well, they don't really go for "subtle".

On the Liao front? We're talking classical insane Banana Republic/Tin-Pot commie dictators. They represent the Vietnams, Cambodias, and Central American fuckups extended into space; the Green Hell, yes, and even the Red Tide/Domino Doctrine, but by no means the Yellow Peril. Their characterization slowly morphed into "inbred Norks", but the Green Hell is still very much a part of who they are. Hell,. Xin Sheng is basically just their crazy inbred monarch jacking off to the Han, which has happened more than once in the RL history of China. Not to mention Korea. Mostly because that will usually get you shot.

So.. yeah. If you look past a single-sentence description of the two realms and actually examine their historical context? They're extensions of real, historical forces. And not in the "lol unga-bunga" way that a lot of people try to go with.including a couple of the writers. Probably isn't helping my case, but frankly most of the novels were pretty shit anyway

>>52996094
Huh. I did some digging, and found an interview the folks at Sarna did with said artist. Turns out he was Shimmering Sword,who's done QUITE a lot of very good Battletech and Mechwarrior art.

Here is the very brief interview: http://www.sarna.net/news/miniatures-mafia/

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>>52996095
<cont>
Also, because I spaced on it. If you want a look at the Eighties version of the "Yellow Peril", read "Rising Sun" and foundational cyberpunk like "Aidoru" or "Neuromancer" and "Blade Runner". That's what FASA's people would have been pulling from - and WERE, in the case of Shadowrun. BattleTech comes from a different literary tradition, and has very different goals for characterization.

>>52996095
Remember when the Liaos tried to put a fake on the throne of the FedSuns? One of the foundational events of the metaplot? The bit that caused Hanse to decide to kick the shit out of the CC rather than go all in on REMOVE DRAC in the 4SW? That's right there in your definition of Yellow Peril.

>>52996273
By that definition the FedSuns and ComStar are also Yellow Peril factions.

>>52996183
>http://www.sarna.net/news/miniatures-mafia/
Oh wow I had no idea this was a thing that happened. Huh. The interview, I mean.

>>52996883
Yup, I was surprised that there was any "coverage" of it. Makes me sorry I wasn't there to follow it in real time.

>>52996981
Yeah me too. I didn't really think it'd be any kind of deal. Especially not outside the board.

>>52975611
>while their installation and usage didn't require much rehabilitation or discomfort to the user

There's Justine and Candace, who both remark that their reha actually took lot of time and effort, and they're 0,0001%ers.

So a thread questioning the lack of boxed set existence was deleted from the battletech facebook group.

That sort of action has long since been expected on the OF, but it seems like CGL might have been applying pressure on the FB group operators.

Are we entering a new age of CGL censorship?

>>52997730
Nobody is stopping you from observing that the damn thing is out of print, you mong.

>>52994871
I'm totally for this. We get a guy with mech training. Maybe the residue of an infantry platoon managed to cause a pilot to eject from his mech from spamming infernos, or stole a mech from an enemy mech bay.

What are Diamond Dogs? Just the idea for a name? I'm good with that if so.

Which house ties?

>>52997920
>What are Diamond Dogs? Just the idea for a name? I'm good with that if so.
Pretty sure it's the name of the mercenary unit from the most recent Metal Gear Solid. Or robotic drones named after the David Bowie album used by the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

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>>52997920
>>52998100
>What are Diamond Dogs
These things

>>52998100
>>52998209
Nice. It has that Cranston Snord's Irregulars feel to it. Sign me up!

So what kind of guy would be the commander? Would he be a guy thrust into a leadership position? Would he be a A-Team Hannibal Smith? A Grayson Carlyle? An old Patton type? He would have to have some flair to go along with the aesthetic.

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Bumping with IIc

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>>52999147

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>>53000144

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I've got a meeting at 10:30, but ... where is everybody else? Are we all being (mostly) responsible today?

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>>53001642
>Are we all being (mostly) responsible today?
My work allows me to hang on my computer doing work while having a screen open with /btg/ and junk on it. So... mostly.

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>>53003092

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Oh God, not again...

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>>53004568
I keep forgetting how damned good-looking that -5K conversion actually is. I need to do one eventually.

>>53005092
Proof that Wilson's Hussars are secret white supremacists.

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>>52996188
>Aidoru
I tried finding Aidoru. Could you please tell me the author or the publisher? Can't find it on my own.

>mfw activating MASC on a Dasher IIc

>>53005123
Wilson's Hussars died for your sins.

>>53004823

What's the point of this design? Specifically, why cargo space on a mech? Going camping with five tons of tents, sleeping bags, and MRE's?

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>>53005851
If the rules allowed it, that'd be where the Elementals claw their way out of the unfortunate mech, like it was Alien. That's why it's called Kane. Pic related could (in theory) carry an entire star of Battle Armor.

>>53005412
It's by William Gibson. Might be "Idoru", can't remember (Gibson has a bad habit of using a REALLY old Romanization system, so it's damned annoying to read if you speak Japanese).

>>53005982
You know, you could just use a VDNI cockpit and have a little BA pop out when you kill it, too.

>>53005445
>Wilson's Hussars died
>Smithson's Chinese Bandits died
>Romanov's Crusaders died
>Little Richard's Panzer Brigade Died

>Wolf's Dragoons survived despite atom bombs and serving no plot purpose any more
>Kell Hounds apparently survived unless the Green Birds got them finally

I don't even hate the Dragoons but can we just let them go away?

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HI!

now that I have your attention, let's define what our merc unit will have! We all know it is hard to get shit done, so let's split our needs in 3 levels: basic, standard and complete.This way we can get at least SOME shit done before interest dies.

anyway, what do we need:

Basic
>Unit name
>Main company
>>Lance formation type
>>Mechs on each lance
>>Pilots (name and skill) for each mech

Standard
>Unit insignia
>Unit camo scheme
>Unit backstory
>Auxiliary company
>>Define the same thing we did for the main company
>Quirks for mechs
>Special abilities for pilots and lances

Complete
>Art for pilots
>Backstory for everyone
>Create unit composition for other Eras
>80's like scenarios


To kickstart this thing, I suggest we create a merc unit in Dark Age (so we can use almost everything published in TROs, along with /btg/TRO and >>52988598 mechs). The Galatean Defense Force (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Galatean_Defense_Force) is an interesting faction to be part, since everyone from every faction (including Wobbies sympathizers) could be part of.

am I missing something? Can we start?

>>53006311
Wilson's Hussars should have died repeatedly, rather than limping on for decades. So it's legacy people picking up the name for the MRBC cred rather than what we got.

>>53006963
Let's establish what mechs we have access to as well. IS Merc availability plus what?

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>>53007011
>So it's legacy people picking up the name for the MRBC cred rather than what we got.

"Dread Pirate Roberts" was already taken?

>>53007044
If you're using the Thane, Kitefin or the Geist, expect questions about Mary Sueness. Or you'll need a really good story. Not that it's a big deal, I'm just poking fun.

>>53007106
That's the Bounty Hunter's shtick, more than anything.

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>>53007044
personally I wouldn't mind use EVERYTHING available, we are being influenced by Diamond Dogs and Metal Gears Solid after all.

As long we have fun I'm down for everything. Pic semi-related

>>53007275
STANDING

>>53006963
An idea: - A chief tech along the lines of Chief Sakaki from Patlabor. He's an older guy, has seen a lot of action, is a damn good tech. The problem: he's addicted to sweets to the point of being distracted from his duty. Sometimes he disappears from the unit to try new candy. Otherwise, damn good tech.

>>53007457
I like this, but instead of sweets he vanishes to see local bands.

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>>53006155
Oh. I already read that one. Read almost everything of the "old stuff" by Gibson.

Was a pretty neat book with an interesting ending.

I really like how Gibson can choose some of the weirdest or most mundane topics and then wrap a cool plot around it. Like in that one book whose name i forgot, its all about jeans. Literally jeans. Just jeans sparking off inter-corporate espionage, shadowrunning-in-all-but-name, and clandestine market fights.

One of the old BT novels i can recommend is "Ideal war." Deals with the FWL and the wobbies. Really interesting perspective. Also the Captian General and Major Masters seemed like very decent people stuck in the muck of interstellar politics, with only loosing options available. Also really liked the characterization of those two people.

Are there any other novels or rulebooks, aside from the official and numbered novels, that focus on the FWL and those two persons?

>Know what happens after 3066 from the Mechwarrior games
>Know what kind of horror gets unleashed upon the inner sphere by Word of Blake
>Mfw see first hints and notice the writing on the wall in my current novel
>Mfw all the IS houses and the clans are too busy hurping durping again to notice the coming storm brewing on the horizon

Gives me mixed feelings, actually. Curious to see how it pans out, already wondering how many characters i know are going to die horribly.

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>>53007457
>A chief tech along the lines of Chief Sakaki from Patlabor.

Huh. Would you believe ...?

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Have you accepted the best PPC sniper into your heart?

>>53006963
I've actually got a full lance with supporting elements pretty much ready to go for something like this if you don't mind one person contributing that much at once

>>53007011
>rather than limping on for decades

Twenty-five years on Butte Hold and all they got was these lousy t-shirts.

>>53006963
>>53007681
>>53007457
I actually like the idea of the chief Tech being a veteran badass and also the unit CO. Maybe he's a former MechWarrior who's too old/sick/injured to pilot anymore, but can still handle a wrench and a myomer threader. Dude's got a "mother hen" personality, but the pilots are never sure if it's his 'Mechs or them he cares about more..

>>53008218
>Twenty-five years on Butte Hold and all they got was these lousy t-shirts.
On the bright side, when they got shafted by Valasek after that they at least pulled a Thud and a druggie in an Ostscout out of the deal.

>>53006963

What level of resources would this unit have?

Would they be well equipped or barely making their balance sheets black?

All mechs? Combined arms? Do they have droppers or jumpships?

>>53008619
Dropship would be an absolute necessarily for a functional unit, but I think a busted-up civilian ship would be better than yet another Union

>>53008619

I for one absolutely insist that, as a Merc unit, they have access to nothing higher tech than slugthrowers and technicals. Merc shouldn't be able to use high tech stuff like Mechs because the planetary governments would just confiscate them anyway.

>>53008267
Possible name: Kazuhiro Watanabe. I just like the sound of that name for reasons.

Pilot idea - Young guy who was to pilot his dad's upgraded Shadow Hawk. He did passable with it, but it wasn't his speed. One day an enemy had to leave the cockpit of their Black Hawk-KU because the sanitary facilities in the cockpit broke down and he had chili or some such. While the guy was out of the cockpit, our hero was driving by, saw the mech pausing before the start of a battle and took it. The pilot who lost the machine vows to kill our little pain in the ass if he can find him after all this time. Name: Blu Zedekiah Sanchez. With the MPLs of the KU he does better contributing in battle, but he only has a 5/4 skill rating.
Just an idea or two.

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>>53008834
Please leave. No-one wants or values your input.

>>53008834
Coowa Dooty and Gaylo called. They want their player back.

>>53008834
Ah, you again. I hoped you'd died

>>53008808

You'd be surprised how many units don't.

Droppers are expensive to run and a lot of the fluff makes note that mercs with droppers are prized by prospective merc employees because they have their own extraction, AND employers because they have at least their own in-system transport.

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>>53008619
Can we keep at "they have access to many things mercs normally don't, but hey aren't composed of 12 Hellstar" level of resource? It is Dark Age and they are in the middle of 4, 5 different factions (see map). The focus, after all, is making a /btg/ merc that would never be published by CGL, due to silliness or just filled with many references.

>All mechs? Combined arms?
first company is all mechs. second company is everything you want

>Do they have droppers or jumpships?
transport should be a thing, but we don't even have the first company made yet.

>>53009193

If that's the case, there's an idea I had.

A merc unit living out of a Dictator (Command).

If give you more room than the traditional, played out "Company of mechs in a union", but not as much as an overlord.

It also gives room for the actual logistics side of things, with 18 heavy vee bays, potentially including up to a whole tank company.

As well, with the cargo space, you could convert a small amount of it for a company of infantry or a BA platoon, as well, or strip a heavy vee bay for the same.

It also has a 704 ton cargo bay, meaning said unit would have excellent combat endurance when it comes to parts and ammuntion, and allow for salvage to be taken offworld for reconditioning or sale elsewhere.


For mechs, I'll reserve my thoughts, but given that they have access to a lot of buyers, the options are open. I think clan omnis are right out, though mercbait clan mechs might be an option. A Sunder with clan weapons might be interesting for their ace or CO, since everyone loves them and they're apparently very popular.

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bumping with some bro's brrrrrrrrrt

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I have created a pastebin with >>53006963 guideline and >>53009289 & >>53008903 suggestions

https://pastebin.com/3ffaLH9C

I chose the lance formations to be Command Lance, Pursuit Lance, and Battle Lance. See image for guideline.
Feel free to suggest changes

>>53009109
Yes, but RAW merceconomics fall the fuck apart without owning your own

>>53010518

Since when has that ever stopped things from happening in Btech?

>>53010518
>Yes, but RAW merceconomics fall the fuck apart without owning your own

Only if you don't get transport from your employer or you gotta go a long fucking way. A jump or two for a small unit is usually less than a couple tons of missile ammunition in cost.

Dpes anyone have those fan TROs /tg/ did with the really good art?

>>53010854
Are you talking about this?
>>52988598

>>53008098
Please post!

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>>53008098
Let's see what ya got!

>>53010288
I added the link for the next /btg/ thread.

So around what weight do we want the unit to lean towards?

Keeping in mind we have 24 mech bays to fill.

>>53011831
Let it be organic. Let people suggest pilots and we can sort them into lances and see what happens.

Would a merc battalion of 36 Griffins be viable?

>>53012382
I could MAYBE understand a house unit that just had a massive production run of them, but what explanation could you give for them getting all of them? What model types? I mean, wow.

>>53012400
Like a depot of SLDF Regular Army -1N models well preserved.

>>53011831

Not a bad idea. Just so you know, it's totally not the same anonymous person suggesting 12 different pilots all driving Targes.

>>53012334

Is there a RAT for the Dark Age era? Why not just randomize the faction RAT to roll on, and then roll on the RAT? Then have people submit pilots "to be used for Mech X"?

>>53012482
That would leave you no room for creativity or diversity. If you could make it fun, well, more power to you. Personally I love Griffins, but HATE the 1Ns because I have terrible luck with them. If you can pull it off, and make it interesting, post your results. I'd be excited to see how that goes.

>>53012533
I'm 50% with you. If someone has a good idea for a character in which the mech goes with them, so be it. If not, RAT. I'm for both at the same time. A little creativity, a little randomness. I'm game.
I don't know if someone has a Dark Age RAT though. I don't have one.

I have a few ideas for mechs, but they're either grogtech legacy models (Upgraded or not) or the cream of the crop cutting edge heavies and assaults.

My only real idea for a suitable mech for the unit, since it is apparently decently well off, is, again, a Sunder for the command lance with clan weapons, either for the CO or the unit Ace. Decently advanced tech, not shiny new, and requires a decent technical team. I think it'd fit well, and with the omni factor, making it an Ace Custom is far more feasible.

The only other mech I think might be fun to have in would be a Havoc, but that's decently new that I'm not sure a merc unit that isn't an A+ would have.

>>53011288
interesting stuff, but not the ones I was looking for. The artist for the TROs I'm thinking of apparently did the workfor them on commission for people from /tg/.

CO should be using an old as balls highlander that is liable to break at any moment but its the only assault the unit has acess to so

I want to get into Battletech should I go for Alpha Strike or should I get mats for the board game?

What books do I need to learn the basic?

>>53011295
>>53011365
Bear with me, I'm typing this half from scrap paper notes and half from memory

They're a almost-support lance of all shotgun all 24/7 periphery good ol'boys (and girl)

Sikorski's Hound Dogs
>Lance Leader
Władysław Sikorski
39 Years old
>The eldest son of an old mechwarrior family from Epsilon Eridani that fled disarmament and the formation of the Republic Of The Sphere, settling in the Fronc Reaches
>often curses extensively in Polish during combat
>something of a history buff, also has an elaborate moustache
>carries a replica Vis 35 pistol he bought from the SCA
>married to his second cousin, who works as an AsTech and ship crew
>loathes the Republic, pacifists, capellans, anyone stupid enough to get in an armed industrial, and doesn't much like canopians either
>enjoys cooking, accordion and playing darts when off duty
He pilots the family's second mech (his older brother got the Battle master), a Bandersnatch
Veteran rated with the cluster master SPA
>#2
Kathryn Calderon
31 years old
>The second of eleven children born to two former members of Clan Snow Raven who decided that they preferred the Inner Sphere lifestyle and 'defected', moving to the Calderon Protectorate
>became a mercenary with the full support of her family
>Is a quarter elemental, leaving her approximately 6ft three inches and fifteen stone, enjoys arm wrestling and drinking contests
>takes a certain relish in using large amounts of slang and contractions in her speech
>has built a still in a far corner of the ship's cargo bay and produces large quantities of moonshine that she sells planetside on occasion and drinks whenever she's off duty
>just celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary with her tech, Bobby Lee
Pilots a modified Hound, removing a heat sink to CASE-protect the ammunition and add a Small Laser
Veteran Rated, no SPAs
>con't

>>53013240
It wasn't the Built for War stuff, was it?

>>53013318
>and doesn't much like canopians either

[sjw noises]

>>53011295
>>53011365
>>53013318
>#3
Jim Valdez Jr.
26 years old
>born in the Taurian Concordat
>economics major before he joined the military
>became a mercenary became it was the only way he was gonna get a chance to travel the galaxy
>strong proponent of taurian reunification
>maintains an astoundingly strong hatred of the capellan confederation in general and sun-tzu in particular
>actually doesn't mind the davions much though
>is a model train enthusiast with an actually pretty impressive set up in his quarters
>utter mech nerd, is also a fairly good tech
Pilots a Hound modified with an LBX/20 autocannon, no SRMs, extra ammo, CASE and DHS,
Regular rated, no SPAs
>#4
James Henry Waco
28 Years Old
>born in the Filvelt Coalition
>formerly a member of the Thumpers before leaving in the hopes of founding his own mercenary unit
>was briefly the unit's leading vehicle killer despite his relative inexperience
>extremely easygoing aside from a handful of music and pirate-related topics that he is quite passionate about
>smokes cheap cigars on land, dips in space
>claims to be a distant relation of Wayne Waco
Pilots a Malice that he had captured, after losing his old Hound
Regular rated with the Sniper SPA

Techs
>#1
Patrick Gryzbowski
Age 37
>comes from a longstanding tech family that has gone to war beside and often married into the Sikorski mechwarriors for centuries
>he and Wladislaw act like brothers (and are actually distant cousins)
>doesn't like to let anyone but him, wladislaw and wladislaw's wife Maria work on the 'family' mech
>is a talented hunter and rifleman, likes to supplement the units regular rations with local game whenever possible
>married to one of the unit's admin staff
Veteran rated tech, good shooting skills but not a combatant
>cont

>>53013311
You'll want the quick start rules and the introductory rules first. Alpha strike is great but I would say it isn't the best to get right into, it feels very different from vanilla BT.

After you have the feel for the intro rules then you want Total Warfare, that's the current standard core rulebook. But if I'm being totally honest most of my games rarely leave the scope of the introductory book.

After a few game fell free to give alpha a try, I don't like it much but its very popular.

>>53006963

Neat concepts all around.

Were I a line dev for such a project, I'd put a couple of restrictions on composition (assuming a 3145 unit date).

1) no more than 2 of the same chassis of Mech in a lance, no more than 4 of the same chassis in the whole unit
2) No more than 1 Mech in 4 can can have an intro date after 3130, and no more than 1 Mech in 4 can have an "in service" date prior to 3067 (ie, representing both unit turnover, and a limitation on super-new stuff). No more than 1 in 12 should be old IntroTech machines - by this point in the timeline, that stuff has pretty much gone. Note that RetroTech and/or Primitive stuff that gets brought in during the Jihad isn't an "old IntroTech" machine, I'm talking WHM-6R Warhammers and the like.
3) No more than 1 Mech in 2 can have either ClanTech *or* Advanced Tech mounted, and preferably it should be 1 Mech in 3; those technologies have proliferated to Mercs, true, but they're still not anything like common.

Cool stuff. I'm looking forward to reading more when I get back from filming.

>>53013770
>#2
Bobby Lee Calderon
30 Years Old
>Farmboy turned MechTech
>grew up on the next farm over from the 'Calderon' family
>a youth of long hours helping maintain the family CattleMaster lead to a career as a tech in the Protectorate military, which he left to join his wife as a mercenary
>Tall and extremely strong, to the point where people joke that his arms contain the first known naturally occurring TSM
Veteran rated tech, though he is not at all familiar with clan or even some advanced Inner Sphere tech. Also a regular-rated pilot, though his gunnery skill is 6
>#3
Toshiro Yamata
>the only spheroid among the techs or mechwarriors of the unit, a drac expat who lived in the Out world's before joining the mercenaries
>practices kendo, quickdraw and actual swordsmanship when not working
>has gotten very fast and quite good at them all
>whiskey enthusiast, always trying the local stuff whenever he lands on a new world. Has accumulated massive piles of the stuff in his quarters and cargo hold, became whenever he likes a whiskey, he buys it in bulk because he knows he's not likely to ever find it for sale again
>unsurprisingly, also the unit's semiofficial bartender
Regular rated tech
I'll post the fourth tech and medic when I find that sheet of paper

>>53013842

Thanks a lot!

There's so much going on with BT that it's hard to sort it all out I just needed some sort of starting point.

New Megamek/MekHQ releases, yay,

>>53013318
>>53013770
>3xLBX-10, 4xLBX-5, LBX-20
You must really have a beef with vees and aircraft, huh

Dictator anon here.

I've got an idea for a battle lance, but it's more based on my playstyle than "traditional" lance tactics, that being one speed and as close to the same weight as possible for maximum interoperability.

Pilots can be fluffed how you want, but I'd assume they'd either experienced regulars on the cusp of making veteran, or veterans already.


Command: Beowulf BEO-12. Not an ideal choice but compared to making a 5/8 MAD custom or an ARC custom (Or, worse, trying to shoehown a 9W in), it provides needed ELINT support to the lance, as well as being able to call in Arrow IV strikes (Which I assume the unit will have either as towed launchers, or Valis or some shit, and allows for the Argus to us SG LRMs. 6/9/6 with decent armor and MASC allows for extra survivability and support with backstabbing if needed.

Brawler 1: A Sphinx, base model (Unless someone can argue otherwise). Uses up one of the more advanced units the unit has, but I figure an all-energy brawler that's easy to keep running is something any merc worth their salt would snap up in a heartbeat, and it's been around since the Jihad.

Brawler 2: Flashman, FLS-9C (Modified). While more vulnerable in a brawl due to the XL engine, I find Flashmen are tough enough to hack it in most combat conditions. This Flashman has been modified, as the C3i isn't very useful in a lance without C3, so it's been ripped out and another half-ton of armor has been added, as well another DHS (In the right torso) and the rear ML has been removed to be replaced with a fifth forward firing MPL in the left torso.

Fire Support: Argus, AGS-2D. Not the best choice, but it can keep up, has decent armor for a support mech, and decently deep bins even allowing for specialist ammo, it also keeps it further from close combat, keeping that XL safer.

Breakdown to follow of why the why overall.

>>53014597 cont.

I chose a missile boat for fire support because it allows for indirect fire and because I felt that going full direct-fire would be a bad idea. I also didn't want to choose top-range mechs all around, hence the Argus and Flashman. The 9C is a custom because this lance lacks C3, and thus it was likely removed for either a lance in the unit that does have C3i, or sold off for parts.

The Beowulf I did have to shoehorn in, but that's mainly due to not having much choice for actual command 'mechs, especially in the 5/8 range, at least without getting into refitting MADs or ARCs with bigger engines.

The Sphinx I chose mainly because I was going through clicktech, and because, well, it's a merc's wet dream if you can get one with it's ease of maintenance, delicious clantech, and all-energy load.

The Flashman is a solid, well proven design and I figure Defiance would be producing the 9C long enough for it to be floating around, and the custom is reasonable enough I think for a merc unit of this size to be able to do.

I can't wait until other companies besides iron wind metals carries the mechs i like. Just received the two Men Shen I ordered and between the two of them I got six left legs (fucking six) and no right legs. FML

>>53009289
The dictator is a really rare DropShip
A modified DRoST or Jumbo or Mule with mechbays installed would be a lot more likely

>>53014869

Show me a production military dropper that isn't a union, overlord, or conquistador that carries over 12 and less than 36 mechs, that isn't also too new for mercs to reasonable get?

It isn't ideal but the Canopians did find a bunch, so who knows what else is out there? Plus who said it's new? It could very well be salvage, reconditioned, or part of a cache.

>>53014519

If you can't punch it or chase it under a bridge, might as well bring a punt gun to fuck 'em.

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>tfw reading the BT novels
The Clans lost a war to a fucking internet company. This is the funniest thing I've ever read, was this intentional? Is this a commentary on how fucking evil Comcast is?

>Invade Space Japan
>Lose
>Invade Space China
>Lose
>Invade Space Germany
>Lose
>Okay guys let's set our sights a bit lower
>Invade a telecommunications company
>Lose

Imagine being one of the guys who lost to these people. Imagine being like a Marik, I'd kill myself. I'd put a gun in my mouth because the people who just rekt my shit then got their shit pounded by Walmart. Not even Walmart, Walmart is actually a successful company, they lost to Dunkin' fucking Donuts. They lost to an inept archaic bureaucracy that literally only exists because of First Mover Advantage. A failed state AND an inept business. You have to learn MacEcon to understand why ComStar still exists. Murray Rothbard and Maynard Keynes would've written papers joint on how shitty ComStar was. They certainly aren't still around because they're innovative, the last time someone invented something in the Inner Sphere was like 2000 years ago. It's like invading Zimbabwe and losing. Jesus Christ, I love this series.

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I'd like to submit a scout/skirmisher for the /btg/ merc unit. Pic related is his ride. At least, I'm pretty sure this falls into line with what you guys have so far.

Wallace Gavell
>age 46
>self-stylized "cowboy"
>speaks with a rough drawl
>hails from the Taurian Concordat, but settled in the Outworlds Alliance when he found the place getting too "big for its britches". Also hated the Capellans and the Trinity Alliance, but strangely has no qualms about the Magistracy
>His mother is from the Magistracy, or was when she was still alive
>Never knew his father, but his mother told him he was a Taurian and a good man who "died giving them a life"
>Owns his 'Mech, which was built from the ground up out of parts from his old Taurian WSP-1A and a salvaged chassis of a 1S, plus some "special toys" he picked up from "some friends"
>Consummate chain-smoker; has had throat cancer twice but survived. Says cancer's "too scared of him". Cockpit of his Wasp smells like old cigarette butts. Always rolls his own
>Has no real hobbies to tell of, but does like to sharpen his Bowie knife often enough, and even carves things once in a while. He tends to give the objects he carves away to kids
>Likes kids
>Hates most everyone else, but doesn't say much to or about anyone either
>Loyal, but stubborn, he'll follow most orders he thinks aren't "bullshit"
Regular-rated pilot, Weathered SPA

>>53014643

I should also mention that most, if not all of this lance, should either be owned by the unit or founding members, or has been bought from founding members who retired/got invalidated out of service.

Assuming this lance config ends up being used, I'm terrible at coming up with pilots so I'll leave that for others.

>>53014922
Fortress? Excalibur mite b cool.

Also, what's wrong with the union and overlord?

>>53015881

Union is played out and not what the original idea was for, since it's cliche as fuck to have a merc company living out of a Union.

Fortress doesn't carry enough, it's still only a company. I considered it but decided against it, if only becuase the Dictator allows more anons to contribute pilots, mechs, or vees.

Excalibur doesn't work for this theme, which is mech-heavy. If we were doing some kind of armored cavalry it might work, but not here. Also, still only a company.

>>53015680

Alternatively, upon thinking, one could easily replace the Argus with an Ostsol 6D.

That would make the entire lance ammo free, for extended raids or linebreaking, while keeping obvious pairs in the lance of brawler and support.

Also not as horribly vulnerable in close, and the TSM allows for extra closing speed from the support element that isn't MASC'd already, when needed.

>>53014519
>You must really have a beef with vees and aircraft, huh
A Schrek stole my prom date.

>>53015948
Imagine you're starting a handyman business and you're looking for a vehicle. Everyone does the same old same old. A work truck, a Sprinter, maaaaybe an Express. It's the same derivative shit over and over. You want to stand out. You want to be different.

So you start looking for a Subaru work wagon. You find the Sambar, and are like, whoa, that's a neat little thing. But man, it's not really what you're needing, right? Why doesn't someone just build a WRX/Impreza/Outback wagon in cargo truck trim? Then you could be different.

You could, but they don't. Because as much as a cliche as an electrician operating out of the back of an Express is, it's a cliche for a reason. Yeah, they're not the best thing in the world, but they're a known quantity. Better the devil you know and all that.

I probably don't need to point this out, but just in case I do: The Unions and Overlords are the Express vans of the BT universe. They're ubiquitous for a reason. Frankly, I see more attempts to justify weird one-off or refit dropships in PC merc commands than people just embracing the common. And that's a shame.

>>53017426
Aw man, outfitting my mercs with DroSTs is bad? I thought they were pretty common rust buckets that were easily had in the Periphery due to how many were abandoned there after the war.

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>>53017470
Nah man, that's periph af. I'm talking about the dudes that discover Heavy Metal Aero and do shit like talk about their Achilles that's been modified for 'Mech deployment. Those gentlepeople get me like pic related.

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THICC bump

>>53006963
Please note in new to the universe so am learning lore on the hoof.
I was thinking a green mechwarrior and regular tech.
>Alida Maulana,32, thinking (5/6 or 7) to balance the average tech skill
> Not a bad sense of humour but keeps to herself
A quality control engineer at a mech factory( not sure where geographically would be best) in a previous life. Spend her days testing completed mechs. Basic stuff, walking out to the ranges test firing, bit of tinkering etc. The company would never let her run the 'cross country
' course as she had a tendency of tripping up. In the chaos of a clan raid she was in a completed Enforcer III under trails. She tried to fight off the Lance attacking with a supporting pair of urbans. They both got splattered and it all looked over. She ran for the hills after managing to leg a viper. However the clanners friend caught up and did the same and left her for dead. Hired as security/ all round tech help at other factories she made enough to make it on her own and find a company to join

She pilots the same but heavily modified Enforcer. UAC/5, to make sure she hits something at range,with 4 ERML,as a close range panic button, and a bigger engine as she felt a bit slow for some reason. Can post full build if wanted

Any good?

>>53006963
Let's get a small quick quad mech I there for a bit of flavour. Something like a Tarantula ZPH 1A or a weaponised harvestor.

Actually I would quite like the idea of a industrial mech converted. Using stuff like flamers and ballistics. You could even convert something like a Kiso for lols.

>>53015547
This one is set in 3145 my friend, that character, while pretty good, is a bit outdated. He'd fit more in 67

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>>52971600
3250 was a good idea. But CGL got spooked by the grogs.
Forget the grogs. All my young players were excited about what i told them about the reboot. the ilClan and what was coming next.
they were waiting to buy your next material. All the old grogs were whining about the new material and still playing with their LAMs in 3025, being insufferable assholes in tourneys and thumbing through the BT Compendium aka "the best version of the rules".

I lodged so much Alpha strike errata, helped playtest Strat Ops shit, actually tried to play Inner Sphere in Flames and the Interstellar ops rules that really did not work.

Herb held on for far too long. Rick Raisley needed to let go of the digital record sheet rights or pry it from his cheeto stained indifferent fingers. BT needed to go digital, I tried to use tablets for record sheets but there wasnt even an internal record sheet maker. Development was slow and playtesting was rare. You couldnt even help yourself and after trying to get people to play and keep interested I just couldnt keep it up any more.

My players didnt lose faith in the game. I did.
And then they followed.

And now we're playing Bolt Action and Infinity and hurling cash at other things.

I bought the Clan Wolverine novel. New novels would have helped, but they didnt come in time.

You've still got a chance CGL. But a lot needs to change. It needs to join the 21st century. give up on the grogs. tell them to play old versions of the game, and move towards the newbies.

>>53020653
Really old grog here. I love the old stuff, and am an unapologetic fapper to the unseen, but I pretty much agree. I have wanted some digital upgrades for a long ass time.
Years ago FASA contracted to make the Renegade Legion fighter game for DOS. That was DOS when 640k memory was a thing. I played the hell out of that thing until I broke it. I figured if they could pull that off for RL, they could do a basic set for BT and expand upon it throughout the years as real world technology improved, but it never did. Now MegaMek does what others don't.
It would have been awesome to play online with bros with a digital BT game to get them into it back then. Having all the die rolls and stuff automated would have been cherry, but noooooOOOOOooo. Praise God, Blake, , Nell Carter, Menudo or the coordinator (whoever you serve) for the MegaMek we have now.

I'll use whatever rules batch brings the most fun and diversity to the game, but would always appreciate the ability to play whatever rule set you want because preferences and again, fun.

As for this guy's photo, yeah minus the terrain, that's about 50% of the mechs and stuff I purchased throughout the years not including the metric fudge-ton of books. I had freaking OCD for old FASA stuff back in the day, and it kept through WizKids and FanPro. Catalyst... not so much.

I want to see efforts to gain newbies with a similar reach out to old timers. I'm one of those who doesn't want to leave anybody except ass munches behind. Semper Fidelis.

>>53021154
CGL can't make games, because FASA was stupid and needed money. So it sold off the rights to BattleTech piecemeal, and now we're at a point where the game can't go digital because Microsoft owns it. Hell without MS stripping Raisley of the rights, it's unlikely we'll get an official mech sheet creator.

>>53021429
MS isn't the one who gave Raisley the rights to create an editor, that was done by FASA/CGL directly, IIRC. MS only has rights to digital games.

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>>53021429
>>53021637
Why does the licensing of this franchise cause my headaches to have headaches?

>>53021864
Because FASA thought the end of the 90s meant the end of traditional gaming. Owing a lot of money to a lot of people (Stackpole, other authors, and so on), the owners basically decided to cash out in parts, rather than smartly.

>>53021898
And then they made a shit ton of money in Dark Age before letting all their remaining rights and company get bought up by a baseball card company. And then they had to license their own creation back from MS for the new Battletech PC game.

Jordan, Jordan, Jordan. You are a curious one.

So, is that battletech RISK guy still doing the thing? I haven't seen a map update in a few days.

>>53022225
Well in this case, it was Weisman jumping on to clix and other MtG styled games, rather than a self contained box.

>>53022251
Terra II won, all other factions are number two or lower.

>>53022270
>Terra II won, all other factions are number two or lower.

I don't care about who one. I wanted to see the final map.

>>53020653
>the BT Compendium aka "the best version of the rules

That's a particular grogism that I didn't know about and run into until I made the BMM. In the past I'd always heard that people liked the Master Rules, i.e. the last version of the original rules layout. What's the deal with Compendium worship? Is it just because it was the last version to have LAM rules?

>>53022878
I've only heard about that particular grogism from you complaining about it, so I can't comment with any authority, but - in the one specific case I've bothered to compare the Compendium with later books (that problem with the jump pathing rules) - the Compendium really is best written of the rulebooks.

Based on that, I would guess this particular grogism is looking mainly at concision and writing style (with the Compendium's style being easily understood by its adherents, if not by others).

>>53023293
The example is functionally the same between every iteration, just the newer ones actually explain why those paths work.

>>53023516
Yes, but that was never the problem. The problem was in figuring out what the rule "shortest possible" means - which is only unambiguous in the Compendium's version of the text. Every path in the example has a length of 4, so - in later rulebooks - it isn't clear that a 'Mech *can't* use a 5-hex path if all the 4-hex paths were blocked.

>>53022878
Other than LAMs, what honestly changed from edition to edition?

>>53023723
For mechs, not much in terms of combat. Some weapon systems waffle around like C3 or new tech like REEEELasers. Construction and compatibility has changed a little with stuff like no more fractional accounting, engine sinks, infernos, etc. Vehicles/BA/Infantry got the biggest boost as you used to be able to kill them in droves with fire based weaponry even more than today.

I think Aero on ground maps changed a bit, but I can't for the life of me remember the old rules. I barely remember the new ones for it.

>>53023723
Mostly, it was about folding in FAQ rulings, which is why the text slowly but surely grew in size over the years, as they tried to preempt more questions. Also, new equipment and unit types, and a few rule changes here and there (the BMR eliminated the Reaction Phase; kicking didn't used to be modified for damaged actuators, lots of other random little bits).

At the same time, there's a ton of text that has carried over almost untouched from 1985, or from whenever it first appeared in a rulebook. The main rules text has never been completely rewritten from start to finish, although TW and the BMM have made the greatest number of rewrites and changes.

If you had something specific you were wondering about, I could take a look.

>>53024017
Xotl, why haven't you graced us with your presence recently? Are your plans for invading Poland taking up that much of your time?

>>53024123

Yeah, basically. Fly out on 15 May, been really busy getting ready (and working to make money to eat while I'm there). Will be gone for three months, so there's a fair amount of prep.

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>>53022878
The compendium is really clear, simple, well-written, and divided in a way that makes sense. While the Master rules makes better use of the space available, the compendium literally shoves about half the era rules in IntOps, plus a goodly chunk of TacOps, into a document the size of IO's fucking introduction.

>>53023723
Most of the actual changes have to do with shufflling around the way some edge cases work, handling cover, and folding in sourcebook stuff and errata that FASA never actually published anywhere. They, uh,really didn't go much for that. Although their old GEnie listserv had an active document for years, as long as you were willing to pay for fucking GEnie in nineteen-ninety-goddamn-six. Or you knew someone on alt.rec.&c that was willing to email you a thirty-kb document privately and risk getting the mods up his asshole.
As bad as Catalyst is on some things, by Christ they're better than FASA EVER fucking was about online and offline customer support.

I think the biggest change Catalyst actually did was changing FF armor to round down, which changed dozens of record sheets and functionally accomplished exactly jack over shit.

>>53024123
Poor fucker's getting shafted with some NDA stuff (you can tell, because when you ask he doesn't say anything), and up to his tits in errata for the BMM at the moment, not to mention the points revisions we're working on for Alpha Strike taking up his "spare" work time.

>>53023874
>>53024017
>>53024407
Much appreciated.
>>53024407
Yeah I noticed that as FASA was FASA, at least their ability to make decent layouts in books was good.

>>53024290
Well there's three months where the useful output of CGL will be reduced by a third.

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>>53024688
Do we have a running list of competent and incompetent or morons that work for Catalyst? I know some of the real talent hangs out here.

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>>53024509
Yeah. For all that it takes forever and is a giant pain in the ass, traditional pasteups let you get a much better sense of the usability and quality of a layout than modern publishing software. Hell, when I'm working on a project as the editor, I usually go down to the printers' and run off a couple copies of at least one section, just so I can tape 'em to the wall and have a go at it.
I suspect that if FanPro had done that for TW, they might have had a much better layout for the rest of the rulebook product line..

>>53024688
Eh, Xotl manages to duck the run up to the drunken GenCon hysteria-fest most years and they survive. I frankly don't blame him. I'd be taking a vacation ~July-August myself in his shoes.

>>53024828
What software do you use, and what would you want to use if you had the chance?

>>53024800
>Do we have a running list of competent and incompetent or morons that work for Catalyst?
Using screen names and not RL, but this is whom I know from RL meetups and/or talking online with them

>Badasses
Shimmering Sword, Xotl, <he asked me not to say his name here>, Wackrabbit, TG Xarbala

>Fired badasses
Darian Wolffe

>Cool/competent enough dude that stopped taking their shitty paychecks when they wanted him to be line dev but not pay him for it
Ben Rome

>Overwhelmed dad who just wants to touch robots inappropriately but has to handle a whole bunch of shit he's not quiiiite qualified for
Randall Bills.

>Jackoffs
Kit, MadCap, most of the other authors

>The second circle of jerk-off, hoping to attain the first degree of circlejerk
Worktroll, most of the mods.

>Nonexistent
All of the Editors.

>Mommy, the internet hurts my feelings (and Honorary member of the Wargasmatron Soldiers for Warship Elimination)
Herb

>I only have this job because no-one else will do it. Not that I'm any damn good, but still.
Oyestein

>Liar, thief, coward, and ADHD-addled douchebag. Associate line developer for porches.
Loren Coleman