/btg/ BattleTech General

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So which Unseen look like what? I've got a bunch of paper cutouts from an old edition of Battletech, but there were no rules in the box and of course none of the cutouts themselves are labeled.

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>>54444317

Emperor's Teeth, anon! Didn't you ever watch Robotech as a kid? In your picture, from left to right:

Marauder
Wolverine
Wasp (in the foreground with its back to the camera)
Stinger
Griffin
Phoenix Hawk (with its back to the camera)


In this picture, from left to right:

Phoenix Hawk LAM in Airmech mode
Warhammer
Crusader
Archer
Stinger

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>>54444317

Here are some (where the heck is my Wolverine?!?) of the Unseen from Dougram. From left to right:

Thunderbolt
Griffin (metal model)
Shadow Hawk
Griffin (plastic model)
Battlemaster
Goliath

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>>54444317
>>54444490

Non-picture-for-ants version.

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>>54444317

Not all my mechs were fit to be photographed. My Locust is missing an arm, my Longbow is missing its head, the Scorpion and Galleon are in pieces, and I've never owned a metal Rifleman.

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>>54444843

I should mention the Galleon, like the Locust, is also from Crusher Joe, but it's a "good guy" vehicle. That's Joe and 'is lot (Talos, Alfin, and Ricky) down there in the lower right-hand corner of the picture.

>>54444888
>>54444843
>>54444573
>>54444490
>>54444428
>>54444317
Thanks for the tips, man. Big help.

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Man ... quiet morning here on /btg/ ...

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Favorite clan and why?

>>54446878
Coyote, because of reasons I'm not sure of. Faded glory, I guess. Or that they're nerds screaming they're total badasses.

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>>54446878
Woof, and I also like the jobber clans of Fire Mandrill and Blood Spirit.

>>54446878
Tie between Ice Hellions and Snow Ravens. The former because gofast and loving Light 'Mechs and the latter because they are chill.

Muninn, show yourself.

>>54446878
Clan Blood Jabroni

Wolf.

Feel free to hate me but started from the cartoon then MW2, so anyone who hates Jade Falcon is ok with me.

>>54446878
>favorite clan
Savages, the lot of ya. Can't even call a Madcat by the right name.

>>54446879
Those angry angry Side torsoes

>>54446879
Is that a crusader ?

>>54447959
>Is that a crusader ?
Yeap.

>>54447927
They are angry.
ANGRY ABOUT LRMS

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>>54446878
Smoke Jaguars.

Wolves and Nova Cats are tied for second place.

>>54446878
Hell's Horses. I enjoy the fact that they treat Vees equal to mechs in terms of Zell.

>>54446879
I haven't seen the anon who does these around for a while, it's too bad

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Gaiz, I gotta admit, I love your game, but the truth is I'm not very good at it.

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Are there more of these?

If not can someone make one for Free Worlds League mechs?

>>54444189
how bout a contest?

We build a mech battalion in MekHQ, (no techs or support, just pilots and meks only.) assign them TRO's, and see who would run it?

>>54450742
I appreciate you and all that you stand for. Glory be upon you honored citizen.

So did Blakist ever become televangilists for the war effort? Cause that would complete the feudal cycle.

Return of the Warden Wolves?
Return of the Warden Bears?
Return of the Warden Falcons?

>>54450718
Play more. Half of it is just learning to read the map.

Ask around to see if anyone's willing to play via Megamek.

ack, i'll never forgive myself. I bought a linebacker pack on MWO for 20 bucks, then tried running it with an AC/20 and 2 ATG 3's.

I never got my ass kicked so hard in my life.

I think there are too many old farts on MWO, its getting to be stiflingly competitive.

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>>54450963
>>54450946

Depends. Do you know what tier you were playing at? If you're playing at tier 2 or 3 and you got rekt after being out for a while, that's understandable. If you got rekt in tier 5 you might need to git gud. I'm on a bit of an MWO kick this weekend, so if you want I can play wingman while you get back in the saddle. Hit me up in IRC.

>>54450942

The IRC is a decent place to ask. I'm usually down for a game, and I have a friend that runs a dedicated server with multiple instances so people can play without worrying about connection issues.

>>54451079
Part of the problem was that the meta changed faster than I could grind out C-bills to get the 'mechs and weapons.

That hasn't changed and it's getting old fast.

>>54450718
It's okay. I'm pretty shit at it too.
As long as you're having fun exploding robots, that's all that really matters.

>>54447205
>Ice Hellions
Hell yeah, Clan James Dean
They were too fast to live and, too young to die.

>>54451171
But you're good at catching rules exceptions. You just need to practice more. Get a group, then show them who's boss.

>>54450742
The only FWL nicknames are really Discoback, Fire Vulcan, The Good Wolverine, the Rambo and the Mad Ronin. And those are for specific variants like Pixie or Hothammer.

Liao gets nicknames for whole chassis because of all the nonsense names they've given their mechs since Xin Sheng.

Well, I guess for the FWL, the Trebuchet has always been affectionately known as the Trenchbucket.

I've almost finished my Battallion. It just needs air support and heavy cavalry (fast heavies)

>>54446878
Tied between Jade Falcons and Diamond Sharks.

>>54452771
Battalion of what? What forces? What era?

>>54453508
Its civil war era.

I call them the Iron Guard, they are Seigebreakers sent against the clan homeworlds. I want them to fight a nearly full reserve Trinary.

>>54453546
Mercenaries, House forces, Comstar...?

You basically answered one of the questions and still gave no real detail of what kind of forces.

>>54453508
The Line (Company)
-Full Frontal Assault (lance)
--6 Assaults (including 2 Fafnirs)
-Line Aboad/Line Astern (2 lances)
--1 Assault, 2 Heavies

Auxillaries (Company)
-FMJ Heavy Recon (Lance)
--4 Mediums
-Heavy Cavalry (Lance)
--6 Fast Heavies

Air Support(Company)
-Light Air Support (Lance)
--5 Medium Aero
-Heavy Air Support (Lance)
--3 Heavy Aero
--2 Heavy VTOL

Artillary (Company)
-Light Fire Support (Lance)
--4 Medium LRM mechs
--1 Heavy LRM mech
-Heavy Fire Support (Lance)
--3 Gauss Tanks
--2 LRM Tanks

>>54453583
Davion Aligned Mercs mixed with Honor Guard

>>54453744
I might change The Line Abroad Line Astern and bring them up to a full lance to make them less irregular, you should see my dragoons rating.

>>54453744
Forgot Rear Guard in there somewhere.

its 4 Riflemen and 2 Jenners.

>>54453744
oops.

The Line (Company)
-Full Frontal Assault (Reinforced Lance)
--6 Assaults (including 2 Fafnirs)
-Line Aboad/Line Astern (2 Under Strength lances)
--1 Assault, 2 Heavies

Reinforcements (Company)
-Rear Guard (Reinforced Lance)
--2 Jenners
--4 Riflemen
-Heavy Cavalry (Reinforced Lance)
--6 Fast Heavies

Auxillaries (Company)
-FMJ Heavy Recon (Lance)
--4 Mediums
-Light Air Support (Lance)
--5 Medium Aero
-Heavy Air Support (Lance)
--3 Heavy Aero
--2 Heavy VTOL

Artillary (Company)
-Light Fire Support (Lance)
--4 Medium LRM mechs
--1 Heavy LRM mech
-Heavy Fire Support (Lance)
--3 Gauss Tanks
--2 LRM Tanks

>>54453866
I'd recommend getting some Arrow IV tanks and some Long Tom tanks if you want good artillery. LRM boats are great for mobile firepower, but if you're going to use 'mechs for that purpose, mix them up with LRM and direct fire weaponry, like Gauss Rifles, ERPPCs, and AC2s.

>>54451459
I thought Pixie was general nickname for Phoenix Hawks due to PXH shorthand.

>>54454480

It is. I have no idea what that other poster is referring to.

>>54446879
My only complaint is that the SRM-6s aren't on the outside of the lower legs. Otherwise, fantastique.
>>54444444
Get curious.

>>54454480
It's from PXH-1

The one is the i

>>54453866
I dunno, its too irregular, I think.

But I'm thinking in addition to a lance, there should be other org specs

2 attachment
3 detachment
4 lance
5 reinforced lance
6 cavalry lance

>>54455009
Oh hey Clan (9) From Outer Space won the get. Go Ice Hellions!

>>54455058
Better than calling it a Penix Hawk.

>>54455138
detachments can only be assigned in twos, one for each flank, and only to reinforced and cavalry lances. Attachments can only be assigned to reinforce a regular lance or be used as messengers and decoys.

>>54455214
the rule is that if a reinforced or cavalry lance is down 3 mechs, they move in and reinforce.

>>54444189
Is this bonkers?
Cause it feels to me moving an armor column is like moving mounted cavalry. Any horsejaws wanna think of a clever cavalry name for a standard lance?

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>>54446878
L O D S
OF
E M O N E

>>54456572
>shares a totem animal with House Amaris
>wealth-focused and undermine Clan cultures

Try Space Jews.

>>54456976
What are some standard Amaris mechs for different weight ranges?

>>54451079
>>54451171
>>54451146

Hey guys, hit me up, I'm testocoles on MWO

>>54457628

friend invite sent

i'm doing some CW stuff with some bros atm

>>54457977
okay, imma take a short water break.

>>54457224
Their signature home-grown designs are the Phoenix (50t), Dragoon (75t), and Rampage (80t). However, the former started as a Primitive, and the other two didn't really achieve their full potential until they got smacked with the Beating Stick of SLDF Technology after the Coup.

>>54457224

there's also that Whitworth variant with SRMs and infernos they used to raze entire cities during the civil war.

>>54450718
My suggestion? Keep trying new things.
Some folks like the idea of big huge mobile turret mechs, but are actually better at handling whiplash-speed lights. Maybe some vees, some VTOLs...

Is there a separate guide for hosting megamek games? I am seemingly not finding much fortune in getting through the plethora of port nonsense involved in the process.

>>54461346
I love me some stompy Assaults, but people hate me the most when I use vtols.

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>>54450718

---MWO forum suggestions

1.) Make sure you guys are matching based on BV.
2.) If you are a weaker player try taking units that seem under-gunned but have HIGH armor. This will allow you to make a mistake or two on positioning and live to tell the tale.
3.) Mech suggestions:
Assault: Banshee 3S, Awesome 8Q
Heavy: Grasshopper (5H or 5N), Thunderbolt-5S (GREAT all-around unit in TT)
Medium: Wolverine 6R (good at all ranges, durable, great for kicking off legs, SRMs for crit seeking) or Kintaro 18 (tons of armor)
Light: Locust 1E (move fast to stay alive) or Wolfhound (the downgraded 3025 version)
4.) Never, EVER, EVER use sub-optimal movement. Know your movement modifiers. This is a game of dice, but you can tip the odds in your favor by not letting your opponent have easy to-hit numbers. You must create an advantage. Remember- 3 hexes is +1 for him to hit you, 5 is +2, 7 is +3 and 10 is +4. You must, whenever possible, at least make the modifiers match. (ie you run 5 hexes, so his modifier is +2, as is yours for running) To WIN you use your modifiers to your advantage. (example, walking 5 with a wolverine causes you a +1 because you walked, but your opponent a +2 because you moved 5 hexes) If you can't move fast enough to create an advantage use cover. If you're in a light woods hex your opponent gets an additional +1 modifier, and you get no modifier to hit him. These are light examples, but by making his modifiers higher than yours you create the advantage for yourself.
5.) If you are using different skilled pilots, put your better gunners in your most ranged units.
6.) Direct fire support (PPC's, Large Lasers, AC5's) are usually better than LRM's. LRM's only have 1 hex where they are at short range (7 hexes away). This makes it difficult to hit your opponent and often puts you at a disadvantage.
7.) Most importantly- be patient. Don't make a crazy rush on your opponent until you KNOW you can kill something in one turn and then get to cover in the next.

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>>54450718
Graphic posted by NEA, Demonstrating a method for obtaining an advantage through positioning

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30 missiles, no waiting. And if I'm lucky, 2 or 3 might even hit!

>>54462486
other good mechs:

Jenner 7F (the all energy version), Javelin 10F (all energy again), Wolverine 6M, Griffin 1S

>>54450718
Waxon waxoff, grashopah. Play games, then play some more games. It'll start clearing up to you in action.

>>54450718
*Find a playstyle that works for you. There's a lot of ways to play the boardgame, and not just 'all-mech' or 'all-vehicle' -- brawling, long-range sniping, artillery barrages, etc. Find what you're good at and good at setting up.
*Find ways to counter unit types. It doesn't require a lot of thought, either. If someone's using long-ranged indirect fire units, rush up on them with close ranged units to keep them from firing. If they're doing the same to you, use skirmishers to interdict them or lay traps, like minefields.
*Keep playing. A lot of getting good is just learning the basics and how units interact and how to play things against each other. You don't always have to do a slugfest head-to-head -- flanking and shooting someone in the back is much more effective.

>>54463022

What exactly am I seeing here?

>>54464484
Rolling up your enemy's flank. Red left and middle move straight ahead and don't support Red right, while Blue moves to roll up Red right with all of its forces and then flips back to take out the trailing Red left and middle.

>>54464547

I don't understand. What does that work? Why does the red group on the upper left take so long to do around the green parts (I assume those are trees?)?

From a purely wargaming perspective, I've only really played 40K and AoS, which is basically just about running directly forward and smashing the other guy. It's inefficient to try and manuever around when you have a tight turn limit. You win with a combination of matching your good guys against their bad troops and simple dice luck. I have no frame of reference for what you're talking about.

>>54446878
Nova Cat because "Edge."

>>54464641
... but that was retarded.

>>54464636
Certain terrain can slow units down to the point that running around is still faster, and break line of sight. In the example shown by >>54463022
the red forces are already separated by terrain while the blues have more open room to maneuver. In figure 3, one blue even runs into the woods to get a cover bonus.

IK short, Red made an exploitable mistake upon deployment, and Blue took full advantage.

>>54463022
Don't do this if their flank is in heavily covered terrain or city.

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>>54446878

best of the best

>>54465577
My man.

Would a MechWarrior (tabletop, obviously) campaign based around the PCs finding the caches of the late Wolverine clan just prior to the Clan Invasion be interesting?

>>54465637
That's an Explorer Corps game, and a relatively generic plotline to boot. The Wolverine "mystery" is retarded and needs to end.

>>54465701
Well, jeez. Excuse me for not being incredibly familiar with what other people run in their games.

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>>54446878
>SQUAWKS FURIOUSLY
>in green text

>>54465701
there is no mystery anymore.

The old version was that "some Wolverines possibly avoided the annihilation on Circe, and show up in IS as the Minnesota Tribe".

The version from Betrayal of Ideals says that they had a good run at escaping back towards the Inner Sphere, but their luck ran out. A few ships got delayed and missed the big fight.

That's the gist of it.

>>54465637
a lostech cache is a pretty generic storyline. At least in the price of glory, there was a hidden reason to it.

>>54465997
>there is no mystery anymore.
Mostly it's a problem of me not giving a fuck about the Wolverines anymore, and I'm tired of them getting pointed out all the time.

>>54465997
I'm not familiar with Path of Glory, I'm afraid. Still, good to know it's generic. Hadn't put a lot of thought to it in any case.

>>54465997
Heh, I ran a lostech cache game once. Got my revenge on the players for a double cross in pathfinder by having them fight a running battle against comstar for it only to find out that comstar had already looted it. The only thing they left behind was an upgraded charger.

>>54466027
true, it was a long time before that loose end got tied up.

Then again - people did the same with Smoke Jaguars, after they got offed, and now it seems the Blood Spirits, and Ice Helions at least are the new new Wolverines.

Guess it happens, when a faction is offed completely. 'Cept flaming monkeys, fuck those guys.

If you want to be hipster though, go with RWR

>>54466114
I said Price of Glory.

The path of glory is about combine-cgb war.

Price of glory is the 3rd novel in the Grey Death Legion storyline - Comstar frames GDL for a war crime to have them branded renegades, just to have an excuse for killing them, simply because the fiefdom they got on Helm contained a Star League Field Library, that C* wanted to destroy before it fell into Successor State hands.

Carlyle got it, and that's the deal with Helm Memory Core.

>>54463022
>>54464484
>>54464636

What you're looking at is a tactic called a "refused flank". NEA went into this in detail (which is where I'm taking this from, since I'm not this good). Each red or blue square is assumed to be a lance (4 Mechs) in size.

NEA's example assumes that all the Mechs on the board have roughly equivalent combat power, and that the blue Mechs give up a small chunk of that in order to mount jump jets to let them essentially ignore terrain. So that ifall the Mechs on the board are 75 tons, then the Red Mechs will fight as though they were 75 tons, and the Blue Mechs will fight as though they were 70 tons (they have to give up a percentage of their combat power to gain maneuverability).

With that maneuverability advantage in mind, the Blue Mechs deploy in such a way as to bait the Red Commander to match his deployment. Since the Red commander knows his Mechs have better combat power, he has an incentive to do this; in a lance on lance engagement, the better combat power of the Red mechs will let him win via attrition.

Once the deployment is completely, the Blue commander uses his superior maneuverability to isolate one Red Lance, and gangs up on the other two. In Step 1, we can see Blue shifting to their right while Red attempts to move forward and start the attritional spiral as fast as possible.

>>54466454
>cont

In step 2, you can see that the leftmost Blue lance has ignored the terrain, isolating the left Red lance. The leftmost Blue lance engages the center Red lance and loses some combat power. However, on the right side, two Blue lances engage a single Red lance. This grants an effective combat power of 300 (x4 75 ton Red Mechs) vs 560 (x8 "70" ton Blue Mechs). There's a neat thing NEA expounds upon sometimes called Lanchester's Square Law, which is a real military tactical guide that states that the difference in combat power between two units isn't equal to the difference, but is equal to the <square> of the difference. If you're outnumbered 50 vs 100, you shouldn't expect to lose and kill 50 of their guys, but instead you'll lose and kill only about 25. Here, that basically translates to being outnumbered 4 to 1 instead of 2 to 1, so the Red lance gets killed pretty quickly, inflicting a small amount of damage on both Blue lances.

In Step 3, the battle in the center continues as the isolated Red lance on the left has to pick its way through the terrain. The center Blue lance moves into the woods to defend itself while holding the Red lance in place. It's purpose is more to keep the Red lance busy and survive with maximum combat power intact while the other two Blue lances get back into the fight.

In step 4, all three damaged Blue lances engage the damaged center Red lance. If you're tracking the casualty numbers next to the lances, you'll know that the center Blue lance is roughly at 1/2 strength, the other two Blue lances are roughly at 3/4 strength, and the center red lance is at roughly 3/4 strength. Using the tonnages to represent combat power again, that means there's a total of 560 Blue tons (x8 70 tons Mechs) against 225 Red tons (x3 75 ton Red Mechs). Red isn't outnumbered 2.5 to 1, they're outmatched about 5 to 1, and because they spread damage back out over the Blue forces, they go down quickly enough to not cause a casualty.

>>54466473
>cont


Finally in Step 5, we see the final battle positions, where Red has a remaining combat power of roughly 300, against Blue's remaining combat power of roughly 560, which makes the endgame almost a sure thing in favor of Blue.

The goal is to use terrain and maneuver to isolate sections of the battlefield and bring overwhelming combat power against those specific sections in turn, rather than simultaneously (Red's plan). The hard part is knowing when, where and how to make that happen. Sometimes the terrain isn't suitable for it. Sometimes your forces aren't suitable for it. Sometimes the enemy forces are capable of matching your ability to maneuver and can keep up with your lateral shifts. Being able to understand when you can do this and to pull it off against an opponent is what makes one a good general.

On the last part, I don't think there's a way to just learn when and where and how to do this stuff. That's the part that, IMO, comes from experience, while the rest can be learned more academically.

2 Units Attachments*
3 Units Detachments**
4 Units Short Lance
5 Units Reinforced Lance
6 Units Cavalry Lance

* Attachments can only be assigned to short lances temporarily, otherwise are used as decoys or messengers
** Detachments are rare. A full detachment can only be added in pairs to a reinforced or cavalry lance, and assigned to each flank. Air, Artillery, and Fire Support Detachments can be assigned partial detachments, which are not assigned in pairs.

Is this complete nonsense? I picked up this old cavalry book and have been trying to apply its theme's to armored companies. The guy who wrote it was kind of a genius, its weird, he predicted the advent of "armored cavalry" in the 1900's. I just found it sitting in an old hobby store in the bargain bin.

>>54466606
That was under a section titled "unit designations".

This one is called "Armored Cavalry Designations"

"A cavalry company, as you know, is 36 men. But an armored cavalry will each have a complement of 6 men, led by a lieutenant. Therefore, each iron hide will be considered for ranking purposes to be a a company of cavalry, or a full company of infantry.

ARMORED COMPANY DESIGNATIONS

8 Units Irregular Company
12 Units Standard Company
16 Units Reinforced Company
24 Units Light Battalion
36 Units Full Battlation

He goes on to say, "And if there is ever more than a Full Battalion of iron hides engaged, god help us all."

>>54466786
Well, he's not wrong.

The thought of two armored battalions going after each other in a cityscape or suburb....yeah. Shit's gonna get flattened.

>>54466786
He even predicted the advent of "air mobile artillery" in the form of planes and as he calls it, "Planes and other Contraptions"

He went so far as to designate a reinforced company with two irregular comanies, one for "mobile land artillary" which he thought would be horse drawn and mobile, like mortars or cannons, and the other for "Contraptions", (of which he had "serious doubts about their accuracy") which would attack from the air. Despite his misgivings, he went on to call them "split companies" and had great faith in the power of technology. He had dreams about mounting a gatling gun from a hot air balloon, but insisted that the ledger show them as "irregular companies" so as not to alarm technophobic generals.

>>54466902
I'm thinking this could be a really cool plot hook, like some weird Davion loophole that allows them to engage one of the clans major homeworlds without offending parliament by breaking the treaty, hiring mercenaries and ex-patriots to go on a suicide mission against an entire reserve trinary.

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>>54466944

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>>54467140

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>>54467267

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>>54467343

>>54467425
One of my favorite lines was, "Irregulars do not need to be designated on the ledger. The less said about them the better."

>>54467140
>>54467267
>>54467343
>>54467425
this has got to be one of the most elaborate trolls I have ever seen..

>>54466473
>>54466454
>>54463022

Whats that Union Horgwarsh you're feeding the boy?

Ain't none o dat don't make sense.

>>54466473
>Lanchester's Square Law
you know, come to think of it, I often asked the question whether it was better to be outnumbed 100:1000 or 10 to 100.

I believe in legend of Davy Crocket. Ten men could stand against a hundred. But hundred men against a thousand? A thousand against ten thousand? That's why he lost. There were 2000 o them and less than a hunnert of us!

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It's been too long /btg/

>>54463022
I'm confused. Is this for the boardgame or the video game? Cause if its for the board game that is not how initiative works.

You usually move 2 mechs at a time, taking turns. And you resolve all fire simultaneously.

If its MWO, that looks like you are just moving to the right flank.

>>54468217
Holy shit you're back.

I was just about to ask where you'd gone.

>>54468468
Flanking is how you secure an advantage. Its the basic principle on which asymmetrical warfare was founded. Attacking from a direction from which they are unable to fully defend or secure cover from, you do more damage with less men.

>>54468468
i think with just a lance its just one mech at a time, back and forth. You should label your diagram with paired 1's, 2's and 3's near the arrow which projects their movement.

>>54468468
Its for the board game. You have to use the left lance as "bait" and move your other two lances while hoping the terrain stops your opponent from following/reacting to you in a timely manner.

>>54466454
The whole thing is kinda doofy since it assumes a few things that nobody who's not a rookie would make. First is that if you have slowbies, you cluster them up, don't spread them out like that in deployment. You gotta load the strategic placement on the front end since there's not a ton of maneuvering you can do that you haven't determined several moves ahead. Second. If you're forced into that kind of deployment you crush into the trees for cover and to break LoS or start some fires to buy time to get your guys to cluster or force the jumpers into point blank where your individual superior firepower and armor can carry the day.

Sure it winds up being a more even grind and slug that way, but better than being retarded and getting fully wiped out just by being too slow to respond. Hell, that entire thing is why I'm loathe to take anything slower than a 4/6 and prefer 5/8's with jumpjets.

What's really crazy is that apparently though, this kind of thing works enough on the table that NEA wrote a thing for it. I mean, I'm not terribly good but that just reminds me of when I was like a teenager and people wanted to bring the biggest baddest boys to the table and screw being able to actually move them anywhere where they might make a difference to the overall battle.

>Since the Red commander knows his Mechs have better combat power, he has an incentive to do this
This is the biggest mistake. It assumes something like "I want a balance between having more firepower than him but him not having enough of his forces clustered together to focus fire on me effectively". If you got firepower and armor advantage, but no speed advantage, then you cluster up and focus fire on his meanest boys. I don't particularly like it since you wind up basically playing turret tech more than anything, but that's more a comment on what styles are more fun to play than what you can do to win.

>>54463022
they should be moving back and to the right, then to the right and up

>>54468576
Big guys should stick together is a good maxim.

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>>54468718

Btw just a bit of warning, the newest dev build in Megamek seems to have rather nasty jump bug , basically everytime you try to jump over a building you would be able to cross without a problem the game thinks you are trying to land on the building and if it can't support your mechs weight it will do the normal "you fall down several floors"-thing and take some damage and your mech ends up prone to ruins.

Flanking
-Moving to the sides of an enemy force or group.

Things to remember while flanking:
++Is there adequate cover?
++Is the area you are moving into clear of enemy forces?

>>54468822
We Megas XLR now.

>>54468756
No matter how stupid looking it is, if Jason builds it, it will be perfectly balanced and will function as intended.

>>54468822
god that would suck, having destuctable terrain that won't support your weight..

could you imagine MWO with that? I'm not sure whether that would make me laugh or cry. I guess thats why it feels more like a simulator than a game sometimes, but we forget its both.

>>54468877
Not many clients computers can support 32 GB of RAM.

Sometimes I think the Drac's have a better combat philosophy. T'sun Tzu said that the fate of the battle was already predetermined. What mattered was to understand why you fight.

There take is a bit more nihilistic. Fates of empires are, for the most part, predetermined, not all subject to the wills of even the most powerful individuals. Empires must respond as they must respond, people do as they must as honor and principle dictate.

If anything, individual choice is a process, a sum of the collective individual, each person contributing their own small share to the advancement of whatever cause it is they believe in.

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>>54469069
Except the Dracs are a bunch of personal glory hounds that put their own honor above any bigger goal. It's why getting them to use C3 outside the gangster, prisoner and dumping ground units was like pulling teeth.

>>54469069
Sometimes I would like to see the Dracs stand up for themselves. For instance, even though the universe has them canonically all speaking basic due to its technical fluency, occasionally they could slip into the old tongue. The Davions have already started doing it.

You could have an offensive racial stereotype being broadcast on DC media like an Asian Businessman who sells Electronic Media called "Tokyo Joooooe!" who is basically doing asian yellow-face and have a Kuritan nobleman shake his head while murmuring "disgusting"

>>54469143
Yeah, but its not just glory for yourself, its glory for your community, glory for your Zaibatsu (Corporation) glory for your race and for your nation.

Most cultures will accept an outsider if they make an honest effort to follow their ways and their culture, but there is ethnic pride in all cultures.

>>54468921
They managed it years ago in the Red Faction games.

Hell even Crysis had a bunch of destructible buildings and that's the same game engine.

>>54469069
With Liao, its different. You aren't fighting for glory, you are fighting for the people. You are protecting and preserving a 3000 year old culture and ensuring to its prosperitiy. All your peers evaluate you according to what good you have done.

>>54469281
You'd probably also need two video cards linked up in crossfire or SLI

>>54469285
But Liao is not above doing favors. They are not always so much concerned what you have done for the people, as what you have done for them lately.

They all have their own little initiatives and pet projects and pogrums, and the military is no exception.

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>>54469166
Kuritans don't give a shit about that. Most Kuritan citizens aren't even asian. Don't confuse all the Drac samurai trappings with the Japanese. It's not even close. Chu-i Henry Yoder from Bad News is the same as Tai-sa Yuya Yamato from Galedon in the eyes of the Combine.

Or just hop over the border into the Draconis March and look at all the samurai crap the Sandovals do on Robinson like the top knot

>>54469242
>there is ethnic pride in all cultures.

There's local pride for their world but the states themselves are not ethnic states. It's more like being proud you are American where a ton of different peoples make up the same overarching group.

>>54469347
In the Confederation, building a park is easy, even though nobody wants one. Building an office is hard, cause a lot of people want one. Building adequate housing is impossible, because everybody needs one.

They are more concerned with getting free labor out of their supporters than they are with the success of their program, they are more concerned with the programs image than its actual outcome.

>>54469285
Liao is literally the commies. They talk about the people and stuff, but it's more about who you know and who owes you favors at the Chinese Space Kremlin.

you can not celebrate ethnic pride without ethnic stereotypes! Its how we learn to appreciate and evaluate other cultures!

How can we be tolerant if we are not even able to express the pride we feel in other peoples cultures? Let alone pride in your own nation, your own culture..

I am proud of being an American. Its kind of embarrassing now, people are so "embarrassed" of being American that they treat you poorly if you show even a HINT of patriotism.

Isn't that what Battletech is all about? Celebrating each others diversity in our warrior cultures? Appreciating that there are things about each other we don't like, and that there are things about ourselves we can't change? Understanding that even though nations may be enemies or rivals, they can still show each other respect?

>>54469242
>Yeah, but its not just glory for yourself, its glory for your community, glory for your Zaibatsu (Corporation) glory for your race and for your nation.

Exactly. But the order is

>You
>Your Family
>Your Unit
>Your World
>Your Warlord
>The Dragon

That's not the order it's supposed to be, but it is how they are in practice. Personal glory waaaaay up at the tippy top.

I mean, maybe its just a little bit patronizing, but its well intentioned, well meaning, its like saying, "You know, for a little guy, you sure kicked that big guy in the face pretty hard!"

>>54469534
Of course if you suck, you just suck.

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>>54469562
>>54469534
gee grandpa, I sure do love your stories!

>>54469500
>How can we be tolerant
>celebrating each others diversity in our warrior cultures?

This is what I like about ancient fuedal space empires. They're not tolerant of shit.

"You, Space Amish people we just conquered."
"Just Amish is fine."
"Whatever, here's your Combine get started kit of kimonos, katanas, tea sets and secret ninja police."
"What was that last one again?"

It's nice to have some people just be unapologetic for once. Or at least like the Romans, where they set up shop and did their own thing without completely stripping away the culture from the locals.

>>54469604
for some reason i'm having trouble picturing Amish in kimono's. Its just.. the beards. I keep seeing the beards.

>>54469677
It's 100% canon too. The Combine conquered about half the Outworlds back in the day.

>>54469677
Are the cowboy samurai of Dieron easier to picture?

>>54469788
Yes.
I am down with this.
Instantly picturing 10 gallon hats with tiny oni masks buckles on the front, two horns sticking out each side like a minotaur.

>>54469143
Is that some sort of panda rat?
Is that rat wearing a diaper?

>>54468576
>The whole thing is kinda doofy since it assumes a few things that nobody who's not a rookie would make.

But that's the thing. People DO make those kind of mistakes. Hugely experienced people. All the time, IRL as well as in the board game. There are literally thousands of examples in real warfare when you step back and look at the movement of a force and you can think to yourself "what the literal fuck was he thinking?"

More importantly, it's an example to show the basic <concept> of a refused flank and how it relates to Battletech. It's going to be a ton simpler than in a real game because it's a fucking example and not meant to be nitpicked. One might as well say that IRL military wargaming (the real professional stuff) is useless because a battlefield won't actually be made up of little blocks of troops. Or that a teenager learning to drive a car in a straight line in an empty parking lot is worthless because there's no other traffic.

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Are aliens ever mentioned?

>>54469987
In a book later declared non-canon which everyone despised, Far Country.

>>54469936
The issue is that it sets a bunch of silly conditions when the entire thing can be reduced to "If your opponent is slow and already spread out, just string him out and pick him off piecemeal with superior force" And that covers a whole lot more than a refused flank by itself. As a teaching aide anyhow.

The original thing was made by NEA as a thing to illustrate what a refused flank manuever was when somebody asked. And it does its job at that.

But posting it as advice on getting good. Come on now.

>>54469875
Do not insult Master Splinter so!

>>54469987
>Maaa! I posted it again!

>>54470041
That was never declared noncanon and those stone age tech birds are no different than a dozen other sapient stone age species in Battletech. The rule is no spacefaring or advanced aliens.

>>54470041
>>54470074
I think the issue is that aliens of any kind that are sapient kind of detract from the story on a whole, because they will naturally draw some focus off of the overarching fluff. I mean if they are Neolithic then yeah, whatever, but then you have crazy shit like maybe the Wobbies decide to experiment on them to make MD Cyborg alien shock troops or something, and really the game already has enough batshit stuff in it as-is.

>>54470132
Not really. 99% of alien fauna is considered annoying and or dangerous by Battletech humans. And the WoB worshiped technology and mankind. They would never deal with bigfoots and bird people, especially when you have billions more actual humans and all the medical data of thousands of years to know how they work and how to innoculate them against all the strange diseases of the known universe.

The only people who might have tried anything like that were the Society and they didn't bother because they came from a bunch of shitty rocks that are the Homeworlds that didn't have anything like that as well as a culture already set up with a mass production scale method of making artificial humans that you could genetically modify and abombinfy to your heart's content.

>>54470242
So you don't think the theory of evolution applies to humans? Do you believe in evolution?

anyone grabbed TRO:Succession Wars?

>>54470401
Not him, but how does that relate at all? He's saying why experiment on aliens when you have humans whose entire biology is completely explored and readily known

>>54470401
Are you retarded? It doesn't matter about their evolution. They're all 200,000+ years behind us. They're not Neolithic. They're Paleolithic. It affects jack shit in the timeline of Battletech. And they're all hunted and scattered on whatever worlds they live on.

>>54470441
And that humans outnumber every sapient race in the inner sphere by a factor of about a fifty million to one.

>>54470401
It stopped applying to Battletech humans when they started genetically engineering themselves like the Clanners, or augmenting themselves like the Wobbies.

>>54470519
I just see those things as evolutionary forces at work.

How is preserving the human form as it is now a worthwhile goal?

>>54470401
>>54470441
>>54470519
This argument is why sapient aliens in BT are stupid. Because there's enough to fight over without having to go all autism slap-battle over bird people too.

>>54470519
maybe the truth is you just prefer the human aesthetic. Maybe you find the human body beautiful and you don't want it to change.

>>54470559
Well, I do like tits.

>>54470551
Sapient aliens are fine. They've been around not doing anything important since 1985. It's advanced ones that suck. The second they get spaceships or laser guns is the second the universe all goes to shit.

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>>54470575
TITS

>>54469936
>. People DO make those kind of mistakes. Hugely experienced people

Fuck off, no they don't. if real officers made those sorts of mistakes they wouldn't make it past the rank of private. Real american military people aren't that incompetent and don't make flawed decisions like that.

>>54470551
Of course. Mechs are about people. Giant manifestations of their inner desires. They are at once great and terrible, a manifestation of peoples ideals, hopes and dreams.

When they clash, they become fragile and human, their flaws amplified and exposed, their loyalties plain for all to bear witness. Only someone with passion would be willing to risk their lives for one last shot at glory before the time of all war ends. One last chance to prove themselves, to show that they had merit, at the very least, they died for what they believed in.

Its one last chance to ride the rollercoaster of humanity before humans are tamed and once again pacified.

>>54470624

Pickett's Charge never happened, folks. You heard it here.

>>54470055
>But posting it as advice on getting good. Come on now.

It's appropriate to post, because understanding basic tactical principles is one of the steps towards getting good. Know the IRL tactics first, then figure out how to apply them to the game rules. An obvious one is Concentration of Force and maximal projection of force. Or in Battletech terms, gausswalls and/or LRM boating. If you don't know the principle, then you have to figure it out on your own, which clearly doesn't happen as often as we'd like given how often players spread armor damage over multiple targets and lose because they got focused down one unit at a time.

>>54470624

You have to be at least 18 to post here.

>>54470692
>Biting the bait
Why?

>>54470624

>Real american military people aren't that incompetent and don't make flawed decisions like that.

uwotm8

I hear about the stupid shit merkin officers do all the time. Their fuck-ups in war games down here are legenday, like getting one of their Arleigh Burkes shitstomped by one of our Collins-Class subs and then bitching to the ref and ignoring their ruling and sulking off home, much less all the friendly fire incidents because reading a map is totes hard, especially when you've got a fucking GPS to tell you where you are and that hey, maybe don't call down artillery support literally right on top of yourself.

Or what happened to NEA.

>>54470624

Mistakes do happen. Also, private isn't an officer rank. You're thinking of Lieutenant. And there's a reason new Lieutenants are the butt of jokes about bad judgement.

So, recon cameras. Why didn't we see them more in the SW-era for the purposes of LRM fire support and stuff? The Boomerang had one; the rules for them were established long ago. So why did the ball get dropped? Is it because they are in some ways a better choice than TAG, especially early on?

>>54470692

What sourcebook was that from? I didn't find it on sarna. In any case, we're talking about real people who are professionals not making mistakes. Fictional characters can do anything the author wants them to.

>>54470728
Because they didn't actually exist, mechanics-wise, until TacOps, long after the Succession War era. They're a backfill tech, meant to explain things we knew were there but never had rules for. By the time they came around, they were done printing SW-era units for the most part.

>>54470755
God I hate when they do that.

>>54470728

Partly what >>54470755 said, partly because the rules keep going back and forth as to whether they can even do that. Last time I asked I think Xotl said no but I think that's changed and they can again.

>>54470728
>the rules for them were established long ago

Didn't get rules until TacOps. It was just a fluff thing. Like how the Bugeye existed but there were no rules on how to construct it.

>>54470728
There wasn't enough equipment to take advantage of it, and very few units have attached artillery or rapid support to make use of it. Succession Wars armies are basically good at frontal charges and little else.

>>54470705
>Or what happened to NEA.
I've not heard this story, on-and-off BTGer.

>>54470773

The thing I hate more is when they introduce tech that's meant to have been around forever but was never used because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Like Fuel-Cell Engines, which are way easy to make, have an intro date of way the fuck back when, and are a straight upgrade to FCEs on vehicles but nobody used them because they weren't introduced until recently rules-wise.

>>54469296
Dude. Red Faction, released in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, supported destructible terrain technology. This is OLD school tech now. Stop acting like it'd require cutting edge hardware.

>>54470805
Ironically, when reading something late Succession Wars like Heir to the Dragon, there's a shit ton more conventionals than mechs, but the mechs use the old LORD OF THE BATTLEFIELD kind of rules so ten regiments of tanks and infantry is basically shit and considered almost a non-threat compared to the single regiment of Battlemechs brought to the field.

>>54470834

And more recently, Red Faction: Guerilla managed destructible buildings with physics. No terrain deformation, but still leaps and bounds ahead of the original.

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>>54468478
I'll be around for a bit.

>>54470834
The old Mechwarrior games like 2/Mercs/3 had destructible terrain.

>>54470831
I can fucking sign this. If you put something into a game where people can build custom units, you better fucking make rules for it. Now, mind you, I love ICEs because FUCK YEAH DIESEL POWAH but FCEs are way more efficient and not even that much pricier. I suppose they're a bit more dangerous on a combat vehicle but no moreso than a Fusion Reactor, and certainly not a Fission one, which was an option as well.

>>54470808

Massive, life changing injury because a new lieutenant couldnt read a map and so led NEAs unit into a training area rigged up with pyrotechnics. NEA got partly blown up because of a lieutenants pride. The LT didn't even get punished, iirc.

>>54470853
Right, but the mech focused units generally don't have listed attached conventional and infantry support.

>>54470808

He had some officer dipshit who marched them through an area they weren't meant to be in and it was either mined or being shelled. His leg got rekt because of it. I forget the precise details but that was the gist of it.

Bonus sub story: The Collins picked up the Burke on passive sonar and went to hide in the mouth of an estuary to lie in wait because they could see the course the Burke was going to take up the coastline. Burke comes charging past, Collins lights it up and declares it dead. American captain starts bitching about it and says it would never happen in the real world because they would have gone to active sonar under those circumstances. Gets told to stop being a whiny little bitch and after the Americans threaten to pull out of the exercise entirely unless the death of the ship is overturned, they get their way.

>>54470873
MW2 barely had any -- most of the map was open plains.

MW3 had more ground objects, thankfully. Even actual people and animals and such, not the 2D AOL Running Man in MW4.

>>54470831
>intro date of way the fuck back when

I always thought the intro date was around the FCCW. They weren't stupid enough to shove it farther back were they? I know the things didn't even exist until Tech Manual.

>>54470911
As an American you can imagine the near-constant string of shame I feel at how my countrymen and country act on a regular basis.

>>54470905
Honestly, I wish Battlemechs were treated differently in-game, and while still given the front-and-center treatment they deserve, they were also from the start paired with tanks and infantry more commonly in stories and art, to better convey the "these are fucking rare and awesome" aspect of them. Doesn't stop people from ignoring canon and using tons of 'Mechs or only 'Mechs (same as people ignore RATs and whatnot, which is fine) and it makes the universe feel better overall, and make more sense.

>>54470945
>They weren't stupid enough to shove it farther back were they?

Anon, this is CGL. Of course they were.

>I know the things didn't even exist until Tech Manual.

TacOps puts it at 2046.

As in two thousand and fourty-six.

Yes, really.

>>54470911
Sounds kind of like a friend of mine who washed out of the merchant marines. They wouldn't let him join cause his family wasn't in the Navy.

>>54471016
To be fair, the "combat FCE" comes much later, if I recall right. Isn't it in something like 2900 or so? I forget.

>>54470745
...Just in case you're actually this woefully uneducated, and not just trolling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge

Lets all take a moment to separate fiction from fantasy.

>>54471092
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRbvNL1PHKg

>>54470982

It's a good story but the best source of REEEEE fuel was our F-111s. American forces would bitch to the high heavens about those. There was one incident where they flat accused us of cheating because their aircraft couldn't do what those did so we had to be operating them outside the rules. Pity they've been decommissioned.

Based on the stories I've heard it seems the joint ops are done by the Americans to show off their shiny new toys and by us to troll them.

>>54470982
>they were also from the start paired with tanks and infantry more commonly in stories and art,

They were. Well story end, not art end necessarily. The last hurrah of conventionals was probably the Battle of Tukayyid. Then everything kinda goes mech meckity mech until the DA where you get more SW type numbers again. The problem was giving v's a buff around Total Warfare that made all the old stuff and the new DA much less believable.

Ignoring a lance of Regulators smashing up your lines because a Rifleman is wiping the floor with your command lance only makes sense if it's the Legend Killer nowadays.

>>54471041

Combat Vehicle Fission which is right above the Combat Vehicle Fuel Cell is for 2882.

FCEs have an intro date of 2046 (Western Alliance).

>>54471050

Hey fuck you. I'm 20 and all this wargaming shit is pretty new. That was a civil war battle, well fine. You know how long we covered the civil war in school? Two days. General Grant and Abe Lincoln beat Robert E Lee and the South when the South tried to secede because Abe Lincoln declared all the slaves would be freed. There was a battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg. They fired a shell called a minie ball.

That's it. That's literally everything I learned about the civil war. Don't fucking blame me about being uneducated when I was educated by a school system designed by old people like you.

So say I want to know more. Will you help me or are you going to grog out more because young people don't know as much trivia as old people?

>>54471185
Not him but take a break and go watch Ken Burns The Civil War. You'll really enjoy it.

Also, like half of what you said about the Civil War was wrong. Not blaming you, just telling you.

>>54471185
Short version would be "there are numerous instances in history where even legendarily capable politicians and commanders make boneheaded decisions." As such, complaining that X fictional character is unrealistic because the book depicts them as very capable and then has them cock up in style is not just possible in real life, it's common. What's unrealistic is unrelenting skill.

>>54471185

>trivia

Anon. No. Just not even.

Assuming you're not baiting, and are actually serious, you should know about Wikipedia. It will have a shit ton of articles on all the ass-backwards decisions of generals through history.

The one and only problem BT sometimes has is that failures look extremely fiat-driven since they happen to characters we are told are military savants rather than them being the culmination of chance. It winds up looking more like "slipped on a banana peels and died, lol" rather than "did what I thought was the right thing, got spanked."

Readers will accept the latter if it's properly written but poor writing, which BT gets a lot of, leads to the former.

>>54471185
Spoken like a true manchild.

If you're 20, you've had plenty of time to come to grips with how terrible American education is, and take some responsibility for educating yourself. It's not like you're living in the pre-internet times where you had to actually go to a library.

You're an adult. Every deficiency you have not corrected is now your fault for not having corrected it.

Welcome to being a grownup.

>>54471185
So long as you will commit to listen, then sure.

>>54471185
>Don't fucking blame me about being uneducated when I was educated by a school system designed by old people like you.

Young people generally are stupid, but I'll be dipped if this is not a really valid point.

Start by wiki surfing about battles and warfare for a few weeks and see what catches your eye, anon. I'd start by looking at the page on the seven classic maneuvers of classical warfare, and see where that takes you, since a lot of this discussion has been about tactical competence.

Once you've looked a round for a few weeks, come back and ask questions about the things that interested you and maybe how they relate to the tabletop game.

>>54471116
>F-111s
nice larp kiddo

>>54471317

>it's an americans can't figure out how to use something so therefore nobody else can episode

>>54471185
Just to give a frame of reference here, you're on the younger side of the average age of BT players. Most of us are old enough to be your father. We've had time to research historical battles and more. So don't be too discouraged if a lot of it sounds foreign or you're not aware of it immediately.

>>54471278
>, like half of what you said about the Civil War was wrong.

FYI, I'm a history teacher outside Chicago. That stuff is basically the mandated curriculum. It doesn't matter if it's right, we teach that or we're fired. We have no input in the matter.

>>54471312
>>54471348

Thank you. I'll try the wiki thing.

>>54471353
Where I grew up, that was always important as it feathered into the state history class the next year with the Indian Wars. So many of the players are the same and you have to explain why the southern plains got fucked of protection for years and where the Buffalo Soldiers and the Federal army came from to remedy that.

I guess most places don't say much about the latter half of the 1800's in America though, despite it really being the time when we become the county we know today.

>>54471317
>Not knowing the RAAF had switchblades too
Granted, they were the only foreign operator of the F-111, but they routinely did things with them the Yanks thought were fucking impossible

Both the Battlemech Manual and TRO: Succession Wars are out. If any of you rich bastards who don't get paid only in paper have a copy...me love you long time?

We're not armchair generals.
We're better than armchair generals.
Armchair generals have to learn all that stupid history.

I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk! Alcoholics have to go to those stupid meetings!

>>54471695
I have a question. Do you guys say Yanks as a don't know or as a don't give a fuck?

You know, the same way Americans say Brits without giving a fuck for separating the Irish or the Welsh? Or even just saying the English or England to really fuck with the Scotts too?

>>54471772
And no Macross mechs. Dougram yes, Macross no. Is the Robotech movie giving Harmony Gold ideas over copyright fits again? It's a little too specific to be a simple art issue...especially when the Wasp has been pulled and yet there's usable art (or is it?) for the MAD, WHM, and WSP, and color plates of the PXH.

>>54472131
What? We got silhouettes for TRO:SW or are we missing the entries completely?

>>54471695

Still a bit salty over that too. We were forced to upgrade to the F-35 because they wouldn't give us the rights to keep manufacturing parts, except that the F-35 is like ten times shittier at what we need it to do.

At least according to specs. Maybe we can figure out how to fly those properly too, but it's still an unnecessary "upgrade."

>>54472153

The F-35 isn't all that bad, it has some freaking insane sensors. That said, I think it's far too damn expensive even for what it brings to the table. You have my condolences for having your arms twisted in the matter.

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>>54472097

Oh, we know. But it also pisses off the people from America who aren't what they would call Yanks, which makes it *even better.*

>>54472195
Good. Some good old fashioned shittalking makes me respect it more.

>>54472195
"I ain't no goddamned yankee!"

I'm Texan but you get used to it. Don't you Paddy?

>>54472182

The biggest problem for us is the range. We could launch F-111s from RAAF Amberly and hit Jakarta if we needed to, F-35s have less than half the range and have to be parked right on the fucking shoreline of WA to do that.

>>54472222

>tries to troll Australian by calling them Paddy

0/10, try harder next time.

>>54472253

I have to agree. Less than a thousand mile range on a CARRIER FIGHTER is just... it's painful.

>>54472265
Sorry Abbo.

>>54472097
>Brits without giving a fuck for separating the Irish or the Welsh? Or even just saying the English or England to really fuck with the Scotts too?

None of those are different. They're all British.

>>54472279
Well, the Welsh aren't really humans, so they don't count as members of the superior British people. They're more like mascots.

Ireland is cute and all, but it ain't exactly what I'd call a NATO powerhouse.

>>54472457
GIve us nukes then, ya wee prat

>>54472468
Yes. That sounds like a great idea. America hereby acknowledges Ireland and Whales independance and congratulates them on becoming a full nuclear power, with its respondant NATO powers and priveledges as well.

Somebody give that guy a membership jacket.

>>54472495
Drunken Irishman see Leprechaun at missile silo, Ireland now at DEFCON 4

>>54472525
We are a sensible people that specialize in artisianal java apps.

>>54472540
Thats right!
We are a knowledgable people completely untouched by the madness of the fae. Isn't that right, Mr. Pickles?

Its not an entirely unsensible plan. I think their militaries regional military's have more love for each other than they do for America.

Worse case scenario, Ireland, Scotland and England all nuke each other, everybody wins.

>Ramshackle: The ’Mech’s controller rolls 1D6 at the start of the battle. The result indicates what negative quirk, if any, applies to that ’Mech for the duration of the battle: Sensor Ghosts (1), EM Interference (entire ’Mech) (2), Hard to Pilot (3), Cooling System Flaws (4), Poor Performance (5), or no negative result (6).

This fucking quirk man. It's a grab bag of death.

>>54472691
sounds like just the thing for Solaris Trashmatches.

>>54472691
Seems like something inspired specifically from the original Mackie scenario.

We had to have a bit of lovecraftian madness ourselves to conceive of the Orwellian aesthetic. Counter Balancing 3 continental powers on the edge of a razor is a bit of a feat as is.

4 powers is stability, but 5 is power, and power in this scenario is disaster. We might have a united western european contingent in the Global Theater of Global Thermo-Nuclear Warfare, but then we would have to answer the pan pacific problem, of what to do about South America and African nations.

>>54472468
>>54472495
You fucking know that if we gave Ireland one single nuke they'd just stick it in a town square someplace and people'd walk by all "Oh lookit that, it's that nuke people's been talking about. get me picture with it Fannie!"

>>54472766

You say this like they'd be sober enough to operate a camera.

>>54472540
Pardon, my knowledge of modern irish culture is based entirely on situational comedies written by yuppie northshire writers.

>>54472804
The future can be better in every way yet still leave you yearning for the past. Sometimes it is best just to take comfort in the familiar.

>>54472766
Until the IRA stole it anyhow.

>captcha East Francia
Help, my computer is connecting to the tenth century!

>>54472828
The thing is, I no longer understand the game. Global Thermo Nuclear Warfare was the one thing I was really good at, I knew all the players, I knew all the strategies, but I didn't understand the metaphysics.

Not only do you have cultural powers, ideologues and ethnic and regional ties, but as a spiritualist I must admit to a great deal of superstition surrounding the game.

Some events seem so extradinarily unlikely that I would have thought them some feat of extraordinary propaganda, but they are yet, unbelievably, true, more plausible in happenstance than the alternative.

So it looks like the canon quirk listing got some changes. The Nightstar no longer has its crazy Accurate Weapon (All), but has Variable Range Targeting. How will my AFFC mechs do well now?

>>54472887

By spamming gausswalls and Clan tech, same as always.

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>>54470596
She's raising my flag, if you know what I mean.

PURPLE BIRD STRONK

>>54472883
See, the game is based on the dubious prospect of your nations survival. Without some strategy to ensure the continuation of your society, the game is nothing more than posturing and scheming for political clout, banging the bully pulpit to induce rage and terror in the masses, to get them to fear what they do not understand and support you, the sane sensible man who does the exact opposite of the sane, sensible thing.

Because of the complexities of the human character, and the bizarre nature of the weapon and its blasphemous litanies and proceedings that must be invoked to unleash it, baiting the boar and rattling your sabers can sometimes be a boon to peace.

>>54472919
>Dracs get a halfway decent gausswall
>sell it to everyone instead of having an actual faction exclusive

Sasuga Snake-san

>>54472919
I guess. To you Wobbies who liked the Celestials, they've got Improved Communications now, for some bitching C3i resistance.

C3 will never translate into live action. It would be better expressed as training.

Or a nueral network virtual reality simulator.

New book

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/collections/battletech/products/battletech-technical-readout-succession-wars

>>54472959

i feel bad for you anon

>>54472959
>>54473192
Yes, bad news anon, Improved Communications no longer has the only reason I gave it to the Celestials.

>>54473174
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58131.0;all

No Warhammer or Marauder, damn

So I have a lance of Von Luckner K75Ns that were thrashed pretty hard at the end of a campaign here. I'm looking to replace them as the cost to repair them will not be worth it. I'm mostly looking to replace them because they're the only fucking units I have that have MRMs, and I fucking hate lugging a few tons of that around just for them.

So, suggestions? I was considering a Merkava IX, possibly.

>>54473347

Alacorns.

The answer is always Alacorns.

Otherwise, repair and replace with an LRM-15.

Narrow/Low Profile is now a stacking Glancing Blow, along with damage reducing armors, though it doesn't work against physicals and Streak type weapons.

>>54473347
>>54473435
What this nigga says. Alacorns are beasts in any incarnation, can't go wrong with them. The LRM-15 change isn't a terrible idea either though.

Also, honestly, I've had pretty good results with the good ol' Manticore. I know it's not exactly a Von Luckner, but Manticores haven't ever let me down, so I'd be remiss not to recommend them.

>>54473347
The Po II would fill a similar role with a similar gun and even has a Gauss Rifle variant you can sprinkle in there for extra long range slapping power. The Challenger would also be a workable stand-in if you have access to them.

>>54473435
I already have a pair of Alacorn MkVIIIs that I run alongside a pair of Demolisher IIs. They're my linebreakers or position holders in close fights. Nothing fucks with them unless they want to stay afar, and then welcome to the pair of Challenger XIIs and Glories in the same company, bitch.

>>54473479
Manticore isn't a bad idea. Thanks. I was trying to avoid the LRM change since that's just more expense and time, but it may be an inevitability.

>>54473480
I'll check it out, thanks.

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>>54473284
>>54473174
It does contain MW4 Locust, though

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>>54473347
Bam. It's an absurd XL refit, but hey.

>>54469464
Not according to Xin Sheng.

The whole of the Confederation was uplifted.

>>54473539
Locust was a Dougram design.

>>54473610
Locust was from Crusher Joe.

>>54473610
Even worse, that's MW4 Flea. No locusts on MW4

>>54473539
That's a Flea, dog.

>>54473645
fuck right yes. It's late, sorry. Still not Macross.

Besides the Vindicator and the three bugs what were the most common designs in the Capellan Confederation from the late succession wars era (3000 or so) to the Clan Invasion?

>>54473672
Thud, Catapult, Cataphract, Raven

>>54473672
UrbanMech, Thunderbolt, Blackjack in the 4th SW era. Add the Raven, Thunder, and Cataphract in the early Invasion era.

>>54473672
Archer probably, since they're just super fucking common everywhere.

>>54473672
Thud, Rifleman, Wolverine. I don't know why people forget Kallon so much when it's one of the biggest facilities the Caps got in the old days.

Cataphract and Raven are 3025+ and while signature Capellan, not made in numbers enough to displace the old standbys until 3050's. Blackjack was a 4th SW retool only around for a couple years before into the Suns hands. Catapult is pretty Capellan but only in relative numbers compared to everyone else. Victors are around in good numbers too.

>>54473672
They had a lot of thuds, archers and crusaders, plus the 55 ton trio
Probably the archer would be the most common of those

Capellans sure have some western sounding names for their mechs.

>>54473889
Star League English. What did you think Successor Lords meant? They use Terran Hegemony standards for the same reason priests use Latin.

That doesn't change until Xin Sheng. And fuck Xin Sheng.

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Come to think of it, there was word of a Robotech movie maybe coming out some time soon. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what brought the wolf out of the fold. I mean, Nintendo canned that fan Metroid 2 remake because they were doing one themselves. Maybe HG thinks they can get away with this because they're gonna be big soon with 80's nostalgia.

I'd have clearer answers if more MWO mechs from Macross came out. Sadly, with the timeline moving to Fedcom, that means other mechs take priority. Ah well, I'd kill to see Alex's take on the Avatar and Sunder.

One last thing. Think someone could at least upload the new art from this TRO? I already have the TROs that this compiles, and I ain't buyin' the same thing twice.

>>54474045
>Nintendo canned that fan Metroid 2 remake because they were doing one themselves.

Pretty sure that got finished. I played it awhile back. Super satisfying, just what I wanted out of an old school metroid game. I think I'm probably one of the few people who played Metroid 2 when it was new too and liked it, so it was both a trip down nostalgia lane and a way better game.

>>54474113
Yeah, it was released the day of Metroid's 30th anniversary. Nintendo was pretty quick to shoot it down once they realized AM2R was finished and released.

>>54474148
At least fucking something got released for the 30th anniversary

>>54474193
Tell me about it. Fans were not pleased at Metroid's quiet birthday party, especially considering all the promotion for Pokemon's 25th.

>>54470853
Well that's because mechs have pretty much replaced tanks as the heavy hitters of armies in BT. Think about in modern terms, how scary of regiment of 100+ Abrams rolling against them would be to any army now days. Thats what mechs are in BT.

>>54474314

Without support?

Provided you have the correct gear... all those abrams would be fodder.

See: Iraqi Army against ISIS a few years ago.

There is a reason combined arms is the norm today.

>>54474314
No, that's what they were. Back then.

>That 3145 section "King No Longer"

At least with Battletech Manual, they seem to be getting that not giving mechs the main spotlight is a dumb idea. For awhile, they tried to do the "Just one part of a good combined arms force and no more important than the rest"

>>54474371
Well that's more of Iraqis being Iraqis, aka totally shit in all forms of modern combat.

But I was refering to >>54470853 scenario why you would be more worried about that one regiment of Mechs instead of the 10 regiments of infrantry and tanks, and take the presence of that Mech regiment into account of all your battleplans when facing that force.

>>54474445
Funny thing, in the early 2000' military "experts" where saying that the MBT was not the king of the battlefield anymore, and that COIN operations of future would not need them.

Well what I understand that was not really the case what happened and MBTs still got a big role to play.

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>>54474920
MBTs are mobile bunkers, and that's a big deal in urban warfare. I wouldn't be surprised to see future designs that are some kind of hybrid between the IFV and MBT where it has mostly anti-infantry weapons, with maybe a few anti-armor missiles for dealing with vehicles of its own kind, and armor rivaling an MBT, and of course plenty of infantry space, used as an area control bunker. So I guess something like that new Russian AFV they made on the Armata chassis.

Pic not related, but IFVs are fun, and I like MMs.

>>54474045
>I'd have clearer answers if more MWO mechs from Macross came out.

Dude, what? The only one missing is the Longbow, all the others have been in for a long time.

>>54469143
>bunch of personal glory hounds that put their own honor above any bigger goal
Sounds a lot like MWO gameplay...

>>54471050
What if you're not Murrican though? Nobody outside the USA gives two shits about the ACW.

>>54476234

Then you've had a proper education that would have talked about Hannibal and Alexander exploiting the retardation of their opponents right up through modern days to give you the same basic idea about how someone always finds a way to screw up a fight that couldn't or shouldn't be lost.

>>54476234

that's nice.

>>54446878
I like Ice hellion because of their hilarious incompetence. I like coyote for... honestly not sure.

>>54476650

SCIENCE!

>>54472691

Cool, you found the new one. Thank CA for that: it was his creation. I think it's a great way of simulating Third War-era machines without all those time-consuming pre-game damage tables and such that some books have.

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>>54476854

I was told informed of this quirk some time ago; I still strongly approve of it and wish it upon other GMs.

>>54476966

i blame grammatical errors on on BAC, sentiment will not change upon sobriety; i have players to torment

>>54457141
This is why I wired claymore mines to my mech in the tabletop.

>>54477005
RPG, excuse me. Too used to having to differentiate from MWO.

>>54473174
Anyone buying it?

>>54477005
Why not just use B pods?

>>54476966

Yeah, it's a winner.

Also note that there's been several other quirk text changes. Narrow/Low Profile has been mentioned already. Overhead Arms is no longer a "may use" but is "must use". You can add Extended Torso Twist to quads to let them regularly twist (Tarantula). Directional Torso Mount no longer blows up if you look at it funny, and can be given to quads to give them full turrets (like the original Goliath). Jettison-Capable Weapons can be switched between examples of the same machine. Oversized is no longer crippling. Good Reputation can scale as high as you want. And the most important, Ammo Feed Problem only has a 1 in 216 chance of exploding now, instead of a 1 in 36, so that basic, common workhorses like the Enforcer aren't exploding all over the place.

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>>54471348
probably the core problem with BT. everything is so old, the mini's look like ass, the art is garbage and the majority of the playerbase is a bunch of cunts.

When you get the rare group of newbies it can be fun but it only takes one old grognard to spoil everything.,

Most simple form of BT? (or any wargame i can use BT figures in?)

thinking of introducing my neph into some stompy robot fighting but he's still a young lad with a short attention span.

im currently reading alpha strike, seems simpler but maybe a little too complex? looking for something really slim.

>>54477659
Alpha Strike quick-start rules is the simpler you can get from Battletech

>>54477617
Well I would say that the main problem in BT are those grogs who are stuck on one Era, and see everything after that era something that spoils the game. Usually it is 3025 Introtech people that are the most loudest ones but I have seen few Clan Invasion Era grogs that look down FCW Era and truly HATE Jihad.

>>54477693
my core gripe of grogs is that they come in 2 main varieties
1) WAAC. Win At All Costs.
Best comments in the early days was "you just got to get good" with no other help or comments. Typically these grogs think theyre doing a good deed by killing the interest of groups.

2) You cant do that its not cannon
I understand this one, but the people who feel the need to disrupt ATOW campaigns because the scenario doesnt perfectly fit. i dont know much about BT lore, theres so much of it but ive seen two ATOW games go down the shitter which has me forever salty. one GM quit forever and the other now only plays DnD2e

I played alot of introtech with my brother a little of the clan invasion, we tried 3145 but its too damn hard to keep track of the massive number of weapons that come in to play unless you keep the game to like a single lance each. I felt with introtech it was easier to scale the game up to 3-4 lances each.

>>54477670
aye, can you think of other simple games you could throw BT figures in? ill see how he handles alpha strike when i next visit.

New thread.
>>54477799

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>>54473539
This is a flea

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>>54477617
That looks pretty nice, what are you using for maps?