>>12602264
Cool recap bro

Also, archived thread.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12546242/

Shameless bump.

Also, strategic 'campaign maps' in MS Paint: Y/N? I figure it might help you guys with planning your next move while on the job.

bumpan for great justice

>>12602380
That would be a huge help man

Also, Love the quest :o

any chance of salvaging anything useful off the dead pirate mech?

>>12603004
The Shellcracker commander claimed the salvage before you did; His unit's Hunchback destroyed the Sentinel, and as such, the salvage goes to his unit. It's pretty obvious that you and the other mercs will be competing to get kills here on Hellhole, because a kill equals salvage rights for that unit.

>>12603026

well, fuckballs.

gonna go read the archived threads. Probably better to know than ask.

Mining Camp Three, Corvatti Mercenary Coalition Base Camp
Mining World LV-515A(also known as Hellhole)
The Periphery
May 16th, 3059

It's been two hours since planetfall and the Coolfaces and the other mercenary outfits have been settling into their bunks in Mining Camp Three. Henry's been keeping to himself aboard the DropShip Basroil, leaving you and the other mercenaries to do your jobs with no oversight. It's practically a paradise, aside from the lunar-esque landscape and the chemical-green clouds that block out the sun during the daytime.

Mining Camp Three's proven spacious enough for the entire coalition force, allowing everyone to bunk comfortably. The garages have plenty of space allowing you to fit all of the tanks and 'Mechs easily. It appears that they used to house Corvatti MiningMechs, but all the digging equipment and cargo-hauler trucks are mysteriously absent.

The other mercenary commanders have called for a meeting among the CMC leaders, and you find yourself heading for the boardroom that served for the meetings of the camp's corporate overwatch committee. Even if it's a civilian set-up, it'll do well enough for intelligence and command briefings.

The Demon Lord, in his typical flight-suit(he hasn't seemed to take it off since you met him) and his two wingmen, 'Pixy' and 'PJ' they call themselves, are telling the rest of the command staff what they saw during their pursuit of the escaping pirate 'Mechs.

>>12603186
The one who seems a bit older, Pixy, is leaning over the boardroom table, and fiddling with the holographic map.

"Alright, here's what we found out. We got as far as this little canyon to the southeast of here, marked in purple, before ground fire started forcing us away. The pirate 'Mechs were making their way in, in single-file. It's large enough to house a DropShip, but we never saw one. There's a bunch of caves down there that we could see, and at least a few had openings large enough to fit 'Mechs in them. If they took the miners' digging equipment like we think, they might be using it to dig themselves a hideout for raids into Lyran space. Meanwhile, we saw a lot of other mining camps along the way, and from what we saw, they had NO occupation forces whatsoever." The other mining camps are marked in red, with the CMC camp and DropShips marked in orange.

>>12603225
"No occupation force? WTF bro"

>>12603225
Myself, I'm feeling like we should try to secure each of these individual camps before heading all the way to the purple canyon.

Perhaps clearing out the one just south of our current position, first, is in order.

>>12603315
Assuming there's anything there to fight. Galm Squadron didn't see anything.

>>12603330
That said, it's better to check them out first.

Last thing we need are baddies flanking us from the rear, and stealing our dropships.

FUCK YEAH, MECHWARRIOR QUEST

I say we check the canyon first

>>12603345
Yeah, good point. Seconding this

>>12603225
So, what, they waltz in, kill the miners, and take their gear to dig a hideout when free labor was staring them in the face?

Are these pirates retarded, or something?

fuck yeah, mechaccountant time.

>>12603402
We're past the accountant part bro

Time for MECHSTRATEGY QUEST

Lets sweep through the mining camps left to right, and look for some loot.

Afterthat, lets form up outside the canyon.

>>12603434
>Lets sweep through the mining camps left to right, and look for some loot.

I'm voting against this one.
Especially if said "loot" was initially Corvatti's.

5-finger discounts aren't part of our contract unless it was never CMC gear.

Stealing their stuff might not be a good idea when we're riding in their dropships and still haven't been paid, yet.

>>12603315
>>12603345
>>12603434

"Whoa, there, Jussi. You ain't runnin' this show. You may have netted us triple pay, but we don't answer to you." Captain Slade Olin of Slade's Marauders is taking offense to you presuming you can order him and his men around. "I've got no problem with you, Jussi, but we're partners here. Good plan, so I'll go with it my way."

The Wardog commander(young, and it looks like he's some rich pretty-boy fresh from high school; he's clearly inexperienced and has never seen combat before), Lucas Menson, decides now is a good time to pipe up and interrupt the big boys. "I think Jussi has the right idea. In fact, I'm going to go and organize the Wardogs right now!"

"Yer too eager, kid." The Revenant commander, Lieutenant McGrath, growls and the youngster quiets down. "Keep actin' like that, and your entire unit's gonna get killed. Just because you picked some 'cool' name, it doesn't make you invincible."

Argyle and Rolling look to each-other and then to you. "Hell, I'll get the moving. We should all probably take a seperate camp, and investigate." Argyle nods and turns to leave. "I'll be getting the tankers saddled up."

Menson turns and darts out, enthusiasm very apparent on his face as he grins about being able to help further the operation in a productive way. Olin mutters and leaves, followed by McGrath. They obviously bear you no ill will; They simply prefer to run their own show. The Phalanx commander, Captain Mark Barlin, has with-held any sign of opinion on the matter, as have the Demon Lord, and Lt. Cain of Cain's Claws.

One by one, the mercenaries file out, with Major Rolling of the Shellcrackers staying behind, patting you on the shoulder in that fatherly way he seems to have developed over his years of combat and command experience. "Good plan, Jussi." Not waiting for a response, he follows the crowd as well, leaving you alone in the briefing room.

Wat do?

>>12603592
Whoa. Shit, we're leaving already?
Let's go get Jacobs and the weeaboo to organize the troops.

WE'RE ROLLAN OUT

>>12603713
FUCK YEAH

We get to see our own troops in action!

Speaking of which, we need to strike up a rapport with the lower ranks. Get the troops pumped up.

>>12603592
Hmm...

Let's not take *all* of our tanks. If we're going to be clearing out these mining facilities, especially as it's kind of out-in-the-open, I think that bringing some hovers is a good idea, and possibly bring at least a couple squads of ENV-SUIT infantry inside of at least one of our Goblin tanks, should we need to clear any of the buildings out.

>>12603713
>>12603745
You move to the garages to find Jacobs and a few of the technicians working on one of the Vedettes. One of your technicians, a rather deep-voiced man of Spanish descent by the name of Lopez, is complaining to Jacobs.

In Spanish. "Fuera de mi espalda, mi teniente. Estoy haciendo lo que puedo, aquí. Este tanque tiene algún problema con el sistema de rotación de la torreta, y necesito hacerlo de nuevo en línea antes de que ve el combate."

"I know, Lopez. Just fix it. Where's the crew for this thing?" The tank crew in question seems to be conspicuously absent. "No, wait, don't tell me. I'll guess. Hmm...The driver shot the gunner again?"

"Me gustaría que lo hizo, pero no."

"Uh...the crew of the other Vedette stole all their stuff again?"

"Eso es siempre divertido. Todavía no hay."

Suddenly, there's a banging noise inside the Vedette crew compartment, and a nasally voice speaks up from inside. "Hey, Lopez? Is Sheila ready to go, yet?"

All color drains from Jacobs' face. "By God, the boy sleeps in that thing? I mean, come on. That's...just messed up."

"Si."

>>12603881
WHO THE FUCK GAVE CABOOSE A TANK?!

WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CABOOSE DRIVES A TANK!

>>12603881
Oh geez.

OK, Caboose is in front. He can't kill us that way.

>>12603881
>notsureifwant.jpg

Hey OP can we get a breakdown of our forces?

>>12604069
2 Vedette Tanks, AC/5 design, circa 3025
2 Goblin Infantry Support Vehicles, circa 3058
1 Condor Heavy Hovertank, circa 3026
1 Von Luckner Heavy Tank, circa 3025
1 Vindicator(your personal ride)
1 Infantry platoon armed with lasers

>>12604089
Let's not bring the Luckner with us, as it's big, slow, and cumbersome.

Plus, if we're doing any cave-crawling, it's ultra-short range will come in handy.

But having infantry to clear out those buildings, the Goblins to carry them, for sure... depending on the distance, the Condor may be well suited for a fast-deployment reinforcement, but the Vedettes seem well suited to joining as extra fire support.

>>12604089
Don't forget the infantry are keeping Henry safe from the ebil pirate sappers. Besides, we don't want our ride off this planet getting taken.

Note to self: Keep an eye out for tunnels. If those pirates are smart, they'll be digging tunnel networks with all sorts of backdoors. Also, look out for hidden explosives. It's possible they could have trapped everything.

>>12604089
Also, Op please note that the Vindie is the 3L variant with ERPPC, Medium Pulse Laser, and far more heat dissipation than it will likely ever need.

>>12604143
yeah, can we see if one of the more infantry heavy companies would mind taking over that duty to free up Namakara's men in case we need some ground pounders

>>12604149
Yeah, the 3L model's a nice 'un.

>>12604143
So, that effectively knocks you down to an all-vee force.

Ready to move out, anons, or would you like to strike up a report with the troops like >>12603745 wanted?

>>12604221
>report

lulz, I'm still derping at times it seems.

Before we move out, can we check the mining equipment here? I mean, I know we're not mining technicians or geological engineers, but if this mining camp had any kind of geological survey equipment, such as ground-penetrating radar or sonar, that could help us in mapping the pirate tunnels and making sure that they're not digging one right under our base.

>>12604242
lets get to know them a little bit

>>12604254
Certainly. As you head to inspect the few remaining pieces of mining equipment, you notice that the pirates weren't exactly picky about what they took when they left the camp full of dead miners. A few small drills intended to make holes for blast charges are really all they left behind. They took the blast charges. They must have taken the geo-surveillance equipment for their digging.

>>12604278
ok, skip to combat

>>12604278
Well, what about central administration? Does it have a listing of what each mining camp had, or what they were specializing in?

>>12604333
Ooh, clever. Didn't think someone would think to check that.

Upon heading to central administration, your techs get you access to the password-locked computer terminals so you can access some of the files. Checking over the terminals, you find an audio log, several text-reports about mining progress, and camp sensor contact reports.

>>12604358
Haha! Intel!
Alright, let's check that, starting with the sensor logs, then the audio log, and finally the mining reports.

>>12604371
this

>>12604371
Sensor contacts are reported at multiple time periods, on average once every two weeks, like clockwork, at the edge of the camp perimeter, for about year before your arrival. 'Mech contacts, at the fringe of the camp's radar, but never getting any closer.

Then, according to the sensor log, BattleMech contacts with different radar signatures approached the camp, remained on-station for about two minutes, and then a vehicle contact arrived - A heavy APC. Shortly afterwards, a door breach is detected at one of the entrances to the camp. The sensor contacts then leave the vicinity, and the normal once-every-two-weeks sensor contacts resume, like clockwork.

Wondering where on the lyran border we are? if it's where i think it is, these pirates could be from the Marian hegemony. that could be bigger trouble than what a mixed batallion could handle.

>>12604420
Waitwaitwait,

the sensor contacts that actually attacked the camp are different than the ones that always appear at the edge of the radar?

Whoa. People, we got a third group on-planet. Didn't see this one coming, I tell you what

> but all the digging equipment and cargo-hauler trucks are mysteriously absent.
. . . Are there drill-tanks in this setting?

>>12604420
Calculating with the last of the regular mech contacts, when is the next contact scheduled to occur?

>>12604467
not necessarily, the first set of contacts could have been a scouting party.

>>12604515
But why continue checking the camp every two weeks, then?
Have one of our techs run a comparison between the radar contacts in the mining camp's computers, and the radar data from our mech and see if there's a match.

>>12604510
Scheduled to occur in the next two days. However...

>>12604542
The sensor contacts from the pirate 'Mechs do NOT match the radar contacts that attacked the camp. They DO match the radar contacts that scouted out the edge of the camp, however.

So whoever hit this camp, it wasn't the pirates you fought.

>>12604582
Alright, make a note to disseminate the information concerning the scouting contacts to all of the merc commanders; we might be having a big ol' brawl in two days.

Now, let's listen to the audio log.

>>12604582
Well, shit!
We killed a guy for no reason! For all we know, they were serious bros just comin' to say 'yo, saw your Dropship land.'

> then the audio log, and finally the mining reports.
Waiting for these, then.

Also, estimated sizes of these 3rd party 'Mechs?

>>12604607
Hate to say it, but you DID shoot first. However, the planet's supposed to be uninhabited. So, whoever either one of the other two groups are, they're both here under suspicious circumstances.

>>12604611
Sensors indicated that the lance of 'Mechs that hit the camp were all in the medium weight class, and technological make-up indicated Star League-era technology in good condition.

Listening to the audio logs, you find a large number of miscellaneous audio reports with boring labels. 'Boring Day', 'Quiet Day', 'Quiet Boring Day', etc. You skip over these, until you see one labeled 'Dropship Launch?' A few others labeled 'Dropship Launch 2?' and 'Dropship Launch 3?' are also listed. Then there's an audio report with a blank title, and a timestamp dating to just before the attack on the camp.

>>12604685
>technological make-up indicated Star League-era technology in good condition.
We are going to kill them and take their stuff. Kill the meat, save the metal.

Let's listen to the dropship audio tapes, though the blank one is likely to hold the most information.

>>12604685
start with the unmarked one, then go to the three dropship launches

>>12604709
The first log loads pretty quickly. Timestamp says 'August 14th, 3058.'

>click
"OK, so, uh, Camp Overseer Peter Gibbons. Lemme just say that some weird crap's going on. Power spikes consistent with a Dropship launch out in the middle of nowhere, and we definitely saw it lift off. It's burning for orbit right now, only, it's not our's. And we never saw it land, so it was here before we ever showed up. This begs the question of 'what the fuck?' There's gotta be a Jumpship in the system, only, Corvatti's not supposed to be back with our hired guards for a while. So, this is officially weird. Nobody wants to go check it out, so, we're stuck here waiting for someone with a lot of big guns to deal with it."

"Hellhole sucks."

>click

Second clip is listed as 'October 31st, 3058.'

>click

"Whoo! Yeah! Here I am NOT getting hammered at the Halloween party! Because that dropship we saw? Yep! It's back! Burning for the middle of nowhere, just like it was when we got here! Seriously, how the hell could Corvatti miss this? We have God-knows-who running around on our rock, and we're a fat juicy target for anyone with a gun and some potential buyers for raw ore. And since this is the Periphery, we might be on a pirate den, and not even know it. This isn't cheap; This is the kind of stuff they make 'Mech armor out of. If anyone comes at us, they've got a one-way ticket to being millionaires, and we can't do crap."

Gibbons groans. "Why does Corvatti never do security surveys?"

>click

We gotta find out where that dropship supposedly landed and took off from, and have Dead Sky do a fly-by recon.

>>12604892
And, the last Dropship launch clip, listed November 2nd, 3058.

>click
"So, good news/bad news. One, the dropship launched again, and they've definitely noticed us. They just...aren't bothering us. It's weird, it's like having a next-door neighbor and you don't know their name. They seem friendly enough, though. Mining Camp Five's overseer reported in, said a bunch of BattleMechs approached the camp and 'waved', then went on a jolly stroll toward Mining Camp Six. So, they don't seem like they'll bother us."

"Also, good news/bad news moment. Mike got his wife pregnant. Good news, yes. Little bundle of joy on the way. Bad news, yes. When the kid applies for college, and has to write down his homeworld, he'll have to put 'Hellhole.' Sucks to be him."

>click

And, finally, the unlabeled clip, with the timestamp of November 13th, 3058.

>click
"Are you shitting me?! Right outside! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. You're sure they're not the others? The neighbors? Different transponders, you're certain. Fuck. Fuck! Get everyone into lockdown, get the stunguns out of the armory, just in case!"

You can hear a distant explosion, and some sirens going off. "Crap! They blew up the front door! This isn't right!"

The next few minutes are the good Mr. Gibbons freaking out over what to do, followed by the door being rammed open, and authoritative/aggressive shouting. "Get on the ground! GET ON THE GROUND!"

"Someone shut that thing off."

>click

>>12604971
okay so we attacked a potentially friendly force that could have possibly given us information about any other forces on the ground. good job us. Okay so I'm going to suggest we go to the valley and see if we can smooth out relations with the pirates.

>>12605024
and I just realized I said "okay so" twice derp

>>12605024
LOVELY.

They probably have a shoot-on-sight deal going for us now, since we killed their dude in the Sentinel and looted his ride.

>>12605040
True but I still think it's a risk we should take

>>12605024
>pirates

They probably think WE'RE pirates. Think about it.

>loot
>shoot on sight
>combat drop instead of just landing like normal people
>deploy ASFs prior to atmospheric re-entry
>tail them back to their hideout with said ASFs

All things considered, I wouldn't be surprised if this is actually some lost Star League colony and we're fighting the planetary militia or some shit.

>>12605074
No, mercenaries, YOU are the pirates!

So, you decide on a course of action? If there's anyone lurking, I must insist you weigh in on this, because decisions from a larger player-base make Quest threads awesome.

> You're sure they're not the others? The neighbors? Different transponders, you're certain.
So, a Fourth party? While Third party is miners?

>Mining Camp Five's overseer reported in, said a bunch of BattleMechs approached the camp and 'waved', then went on a jolly stroll toward Mining Camp Six.
What is the Mining Camp Six's report on this?

>>12605159
Alright, let's get on the comm with the merc commanders. Let them know that we may be dealing with 2 different groups, and that the one possibly non-threatening group will be coming around in 2 days.
Then we stick with the plan of having our ground troops secure the other mining camps, see if they had the same things happen to them as this one.
Other merc commanders have independent command, so we can only suggest or ask nicely.

>>12605258
Nah.

Miners are Corvatti, so, the third party is whoever attacked the camp. Second party's local pirates(if they're pirates).

>>12605258
You don't see any similar reports from Mining Camp Six, but you do see the Mining Camp Five report, a short text document that says ''Mechs came by, said hi, and left.

PS. Need more cupcake mix. Got any left? We have a birthday next week.'

>>12605275
The other merc commanders, upon hearing this, are very confused at first, but eventually, everyone but Frenzy Company agrees to hold their fire in the event of an encounter.

The Frenzy Company commander is noticeably quiet about it.

>>12605327
Should we try to convince the Frenzy Company commander to not engage on sight?
We could try telling him that the enemy likely has fully-kitted out Star League lostech; but that just might make him MORE willing to shoot, in order to salvage them.

>>12605366
Theoretically, yes, if you were willing to try and bring that up with him.
Also, I think we'll stop here for tonight. Two reasons - One, I think it's the wrong night for it. Participation seems pretty low right now, and I need to go to work tomorrow.

>>12605469
Participation will always be spotty in the beginning of a quest, and without a regular schedule. And of course, the time is important as well.

Right... I'm only 2/3 of the way through the second thread, having finally decided to read up and participate despite knowing zip about Mechwarrior. I just wanted to say that you're doing great OP, and that holy shit you guys are all brilliant in managing to get triple pay, full salvage, and all those other wonderful perks. Again, I have no knowledge of Mechwarrior, but I'm guessing that 750,000 a month plus whatever we can salvage will be enough that we can afford some more tanks or a new mech after this stint.

You know, assuming we survive. Keep up the great work OP!

>>12605469
Alright; when are you running this next?

EVERY GOD DAMN TIME THERE'S THIS THREAD AND I"M EITHER GETTING READY TO LEAVE FOR WORK, OR JUST COMING BACK FROM IT!
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

on the bright side tho my name recommendation for Ludo Jessi stuck and thats pretty damn cool

>>pic related our mech!

keeping thread alive in OPs absence

OP is gone for the night why keep it bumped?

bumping for later

bump

And I return.

As such, you still need to decide on a course of action.

>batept Antigenes

What are you saying, Captcha? My antigenes are doing something batept?

What's an Antigene anyway?

>>12612790
And so have I, for at least an hour or two. Ok my suggestion is to play this out like we know it will happen. Each merc force is going to do their own thing, so we can rely on any one of them per se..... get that kid with the war dogs to see if he can offer some men to make sure Henry and our rides dont leave without us. Beyond that, leave our main battle tank behind with our platoon to protect the drop ship, while the rest of our force heads out on a recon of each of the bases, nothing too indepth, we will just make a run past each installation and skirt the outskirts of the canyon. Make them nav points A-J and lets hold our damn fire until we can figure out what sort of neighbors we are looking at....the friendly ones or the blood thirsty ones.

>>12612899
This. In fact, let's see if we can't absorb the Wardogs outright by the end of this. We could use some crunchy infantry to screen the tanks.

rolled 40, 31 = 71

>>12612790
Also keep up the good work OP! I'v been waiting a damn long time for a Mechwarrior Quest

>>12613060
Glad to provide

>>12612899
So, you're going to go and bother the Wardog commander, now? Alrighty, then. You find him in one of the larger garages, getting his men organized into platoons and loading them into heavy APCs with treads. Some of them mount machine guns, other mount SRMs, and all of them might be mistaken for tanks by people who have no clue what they're doing.

The Wardog commander has no idea what he's doing, and is bugging his technicians about it. "Well? Are the tanks ready to move out?"

You might want to save the technicians.

>>12613104
well lets try to teach the rookie

rolled 96, 52 = 148

>>12613104
Be the quick talking Capellan that we are and give the kid some props and adulation so that he may take our advice about keeping some men for garrison duty, and to lay off the techs, hopefully we are the charismatic sort

>>12613144
Success!

"Oh. Really? Leave some guys behind? Aren't we supposed to be going on the offensive?" The boy's obviously doing the Lyran method of officer selection proud by being a paragon of 'not knowing what the hell they're doing.' Menson thinks for a bit before nodding. "Alright, I'll leave both of my rifle platoons behind. You seem to know what you're doing...All we need are SRMs and machine guns anyways." Oh, joy, they're using machine guns. That'll be useful against 'Mechs.

>>12613104
lets save the techies then.

>>12613144
Second this.
Maybe lightly suggest that according to the mining camp logs, a regular patrol of mechs may be showing up in two days and he should scout areas around the camp where he might want to put his tanks hull-down.
That should keep him out of trouble.

>>12613311
"'Hull down?' What?" You think to yourself, 'Sweet Fucking Crap, how does he not know what 'hulling down' means?' Suppressing the urge to Gibbs-slap him, you explain calmly, and he nods in comprehension. "Alright, I think we can do that. Wardogs! We're heading out!"

Excellent! Potential problem later has been averted.

>>12613437
that man is going to get us killed one day.... I feel it

>>12613437
Sweet Fucking Jesus Christ on a stick!
He didn't know what hull-down means? We're going to have to watch him. Not because I'm afraid of him backstabbing us; but that he's so stupid he'll mistake us for the enemy and shoot us, or even worse, hit us because he's not looking where he's firing.

rolled 51, 35 = 86

>>12613437
I'm out OP, you may want to do this when theres more interest from the anons, that being said I'm glad the pup is scouting out areas to put our tanks hull down in the even we need to defend this rock from invasion..... it will make him look good to the other merc groups when they shit thier pants as a dropship arrives in 2 days

>>12613514
You realize we already have the ultimate accidental teamkiller ON OUR OWN PAYROLL.

>>12603881
>>12603897
>>12603963

I have a question. If those mechs that we shot at when we first dropped in weren't hostile, and didn't mean us any harm, then why didn't they at least try to show a white flag as they approached? Or, I dunno, radio us? It just seems a bit odd that if they really were innocent and we're at fault for attacking first that they would have at least asked us to stop. Or do radios not work in Mechwarrior? I know zilch about the setting other than "Oh boy giant mechs" so if there's something that would have prevented them from talking to us before we shot then I guess nevermind.

Also, give the Wardogs commander a copy of an Infantry tactics handbook. Please. He needs to read something like that desperately.

>>12613581
I think we should consider the so called 'neighbors' at least potentially hostile, but less dickish than the pirates that killed the minors.
If we have a chance to negotiate with them, take it, otherwise, we may as well shoot them before they can shoot us.

>>12613581
Radios are the primary method of non-FTL communication, so, yes, radios work.

As for the (possible) pirates...Well, considering you launched aerospace fighters, hot-dropped 'Mechs(a hot-drop is when you just drop 'Mechs from low orbit and let them clear away an LZ for the main force), and your DropShips were coming in pretty fast(normal for planetary invasions)...Yeah, they had an opening to say 'hey, what's with the hot-drop, guys? We're not doin' anything.' They might have just decided 'crap, these guys mean business, shoot at them.' You're not really 100% sure, here.

While the rest of the ground-pounders check the mining camps, let's ask Dead Sky if they could look for those mystery dropships mentioned in the audio logs. They might not find anything, but at least scouting out possible landing zones would be useful.
Remember to ask nicely; they're not under our command.

>>12613663
There's every possibility that the guys we're fighting are the descendants of a lost Star League colony. Corvatti said this rock was uninhabited, so they HAVE to be pirates, or something Corvatti missed.

>>12613663
Okay, thanks. Also, As I read the previous threads last night, I was struck by how it became a bit harder to understand exactly what was going on during the battle. If you could include a bit more information, not necessarily voiced by the characters, of what happens between each screenshot/turn to help those of us who cannot into Megamek/Hamachi (macs suck), it would really help I think. Like, the Shellcracker got the kill. Okay. How? With what weapon? I know it sounds a bit contradicting for me to ask for some OOC words to show what's happened, but to then ask for the IC dialogue to be more descriptive, but....

Arg, I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Maybe post the battle as it goes, using the characters talking like you did in the second thread, and once the battle has concluded, provide a sort of summary of what happened? Who fired what, make notes of any impressive hits or misses, that sort of thing.

Either way, you're doing a good job OP, I've enjoyed reading the thread and hopefully participating will be even more enjoyable.

>>12613756
Oh...shit, samefagging, but a thought just occurred to me. What if Corvatti brought us out here under false pretenses? They KNEW about these neighbors and wanted us to kill them so that nobody else would know about Hellhole? The audio log said a single shipment of ore would 'make someone take a one-way trip to being a millionaire.' That's a lot of money, and entire planet full of the stuff? I can see why Corvatti would want to keep the information a secret.

>. . . Are there drill-tanks in this setting?

Digging vehicles, yes, drill tanks digging through stone with ten miles per hour, no.

>>12613763
Certainly. Like I said, the information was disjointed, and coming a little too fast due to time constraints. Normally, tabletop Btech and Megamek take WAY longer than what we had for proper planning and tactics, and with multiple people giving additional input, that'd slow it down more. It was a bit of a rushjob.

>>12613819
Awesome. Thanks OP.

So, just to make sure I understand: Argyle, the Wardogs and the Shellcrackers are pretty okay with the plan from last night, and are willing to follow it, though under their own command. The other companies are going to do their own thing. Do I have it right?

If I do, then I think we should coordinate with the Shellcrackers and Argyle's units to try and explore three of the camps simultaneously. The Demon Lord and his wing can be on standby to assist any of our three forces should we meet heavy opposition, assuming that the Demon Lord is okay with that.

If all goes smoothly, that will leave one camp remaining, which I suppose either the other companies will have explored or we can all converge there before going into the purple canyon.

>>12613980
This sounds like a plan to me (I hope we can get some bigger mech's like this bad boy later)

>>12613980
Allow me to break it down for you.

>Bros: Argyle's Armored Guerillas, the Shellcrackers, Dead Sky(by extension of you and Argyle getting along), the Wardogs(the leader's a rookie but he's practically taking orders from you)
>Other Guys(not bros, but willing to work with you, no problem): Slade's Marauders, Phalanx, Cain's Claws, Revenants
>Assholes: Frenzy Company(One guy DID threaten to shoot you back on Outreach)

The Shellcrackers and Argyle's Armored Guerillas are more than receptive to the idea of coordinating your efforts, and Dead Sky's practically in the air in about five minutes.

You mentally go over your to-do list: You got the Wardogs to work perimeter duty and keep an eye on Henry, you got some valuable intel and passed it along to the other commanders, and you've checked the battle-readiness of your troops and gotten your infantry and tanks ready to rock. Is there anything you're forgetting before you set out?

BUMP! GET IN HERE PEOPLE! OR I WILL HAVE A ATLAS TRASH YOUR HOUSE!

>>12614096

OP, exactly what kind of forces do the wardogs have to work with?

>>12614096
I think were all set (do we have any attack helicopter's and if not I think we should have some in the future)

>>12614134
Six Heavy Tracked APCs(two with SRMs, two with machine guns, and two with LRMs), and four infantry platoons(two armed with rifles, one armed with machine guns, one armed with SRMs). All infantry and infantry-carrying vehicles, another sign of the commander's inexperience in combat. They didn't have the foresight to pack inferno rounds for the SRMs.

>>12614179

Thanks, I just now found this quest and began going over the archives. I like it thus far, good work.

>>12614096
We have any historical records for this sector? Any other name for this rock besides Hellhole we can research? And make sure to test all of the company's radios before moving out, we don't want unexpected interference cutting our boys off.

>>12614096
1:Make a note of all this crap if we bite it.

2: Assign one of the Veds to comms.

>>12614179
So they can't do jack if they're attacked by 'mechs, am I understanding you right? Shit. In that case, I'd say leave them at the camps after they've been searched to secure them. After all, that's what infantry are for: holding ground.

>>12614197
You didn't see anything in the Administration terminal about planet history or past off-world involvement. For all intents and purposes, this SHOULD just be another rock out in the Periphery. Mining World LV-515A, as Corvatti calls it, is all you've got to go on as far as another name is concerned.

As for the radios and comm equipment? Works fine.

>>12614197
samefagging, but also if we could grab some techs and do some communications band monitoring, to see if the pirates or neighbors are on any frequency we can tap into

You know what, let's deal with this shit after we get back.

We should look into pimping out one of our tanks into a mobile command vehicle or a comms vehicle at some point, but other than that we've warned the others to be careful. Let's go scout.

>>12614233
The Wardogs will be hanging back at your base camp in Mining Camp Three to secure it and keep Henry from leaving you behind. Phalanx, Slade's Marauders, Frenzy Company, and Cain's Claws all have sufficient infantry/battle-armor assets to sweep and hold the camps you take, and since they're moving out too, they may make themselves available for such a purpose.

>>12614239
Your chief technician Larry gets on it immediately. "Got boring tuning up the tanks. We'll sweep the comm channels and see if we can't find anything. Lopez! Get on it!"

"Si."

>>12614283
damn it I hear larry with sarges voice!

>>12614283
Hell Yeah. Well, with the Rookie watching our ride and the hammer falling, lets get to moving out, Eh chaps?

Allright, time to decide marching order. Close together formation or spread out? Which units are good at scouting? Should we be in the front or the middle (front will draw fire but be first to contact and therefore increase our team's survivability, middle will allow us to come to the aid of any part of our squadron)

>>12614346
Infantry if any ought to go first, keeping an eye out for any traps or environmental hazards, our mech in the middle, and any spare vehicles bringing up the rear?

>>12614387
>>12614346
Infantry ought to be in loose formation, wouldn't want to get raked by gunfire or a cluster of LRM's and lose half the company.

>>12614387
This sounds like a sound formation lets go with this one

lol, I hear lopez in his robotic voice and Caboose in his voice too.

I don't know spanish, can anyone tell me what he was saying in that first post he was in?

>>12614416
Sadly, Megamek won't let you do stuff with infantry formations. They occupy a hex. The exact detail of the formation you describe will mean crap as far as gameplay goes when combat is initiated.

Just a heads up.

>>12614387
Disembarked infantry? We're not going through jungle or city here, we want to keep mobile until we get to the camp itself.

Anyway, is there any particularly rough terrain or cave exits on the way to our camp?

Oh, before we leave, make sure we bug Dead Air to prep for launch if we need to call him in for support or recon.

>>12614436
Ah, my bad, i'm not familiar with the program being used, so i figured i'd just apply what i knew of mixed force tactics. Load up the infantry, mech in front, and proceed to camp i suppose.

>>12614464
Allright, mech in front then, vehicles in spread formation behind (a couple of hexes between each one).

Let's MOVEOUT!

>>12614497
Alrighty, then! Who wants to step up and run the show here?

Also, I suck at computers. How do you take a screenshot of JUST a window? I need to use MSPaint for this again.

>>12614541
Just trim it in paint afterwards. Heck, it doesn't take that long.

I'd step up if I had ever played using megamek before or even played actual battletech and not just mechwarrior. Can one spectate?

>>12614564
'm actually not sure if someone can spectate. Never tried before.

>>12614541
I fancy myself a decent commander, but my only BTech experience is a couple Mechwarrior computer games. I'm here mostly for the preparation and deployment phases.

>>12614599
Since no-one else is here go for it!

>>12614599
read the previous thread involving combat...I have neither hamachi nor megamek, and have no grasp of the tabletop ruleset. Unless its a play by play mspaintfest, my tactical know how does me no good.

I36 stichiza...Ok Captcha, Commander Stichiza taking lead, unless someone else with the prerequisites steps forward.

>>12614706
Well, if nobody else steps up, you'll need to get Hamachi and Megamek. If you do, get version 0.35.19. It's the one I use, so it'll be compatible.

>>12614719
You might need to just describe it by hand, OP. Looks like no-one's played with Megamek here.

>>12614719
Why don't YOU command our forces and let the computer control the enemy? It's a good idea to address this now, since I highly doubt that this will be the last time that there's ever combat and no one online with experience playing the tabletop game. Best to come up with a backup plan for when this happens.

>>12614759
Well, I would, except the computer's absolutely ruthless when it's not derping hilariously. It'd probably kill your main character in under six rounds.

But, we'll try it.

>>12614719
I'm not sure what good getting megamek does me, seeing as i don't know the rules.

Might be best to either control our forces yourself, or ad hoc the combat via description. Or call the game until someone shows up.

>>12614777
Alternately you play both sides while posting pictures. But that'd take ages.

>>12614719
Is there a reason you don't use the Stable? I mean, it seems like there's a new DEV version every damned week.

>>12614801
Actually, the very way the program works prohibits someone playing two sides at once. We either go with the computer or get a second player.

As for not knowing the rules, Megamek does all the rolling and makes it easy for non-Btechers to work. It's like training wheels.

>>12614808
I update very infrequently. My last Megamek version was from last year. 'Twas a 'spur-of-the-moment ooh shiny new dev version' thing. Plus, I like to find the bugs and report 'em. Feels like I'm helping.

>>12614777
Meh, it's a risk we'll have to take. And we've got full repair coverage now, thanks to GENIUS NEGOTIATIONS, so even if our mech is totaled, it'll be covered. Just, you know, make sure we have something so that we don't die from the atmosphere is we eject.

>>12614847
Hamachi has decided it doesn't like my system. Sorry, gonna have to be you vs the comps.

>>12614879
Eh. Alright.

Pray they don't single out Jussi's Vindicator.

>>12614900
Keep us updated on casualties, if we start losing men we need to be aware. And unless the signatures match those of the obviously hostile group, we don't want to be the first to fire on the neighbors again. They may yet be of use, what with their fancy schmancy tech.

Also, Plot armor OP, Plot Armor. as long as we have a hazard suit we can always bail, right?

>>12614900
Holy Father who are in heaven, please make the random number generators of the Megamek program favor us and our allies and grant us a swift, easy, yet still exciting and interesting victory. Amen.

Well, I've done all I can.

>>12614946
Don't forget the ritual sacrifice of a football player.


Also, OP, did our comm scanning ever turn up anything?

>>12614966
Larry and Lopez are working on it now. They'll probably have something for you, assuming you and your merry band of Trolls make it back from the sweep intact.

Working on your army now, sit tight.

>>12615039
And here you are. It's crap, but it's a good way to show you how good your guys are. For those who don't know how Btech stats work, higher gunnery and driving is a BAD thing, and that's what those two numbers by the drivers/pilot's names mean. Except for Infantry, where 'Driving' is replaced with an Anti-Mech score. Namakara's infantry platoon is basically hardcore.

>>12615134
Alrighty then, set the scene OP, unless its the obviously hostile group, in which case open fire and report the contact to base. if it's our neighbors, i wanna negotiate.

>>12615134
I like how more than half of our forces are better at shooting than us. No, really. It shows that we're not a one man army, and that there are more experienced people working for us. Hopefully we'll improve over the course of the quest. That being said, holy fuck Namakara's men are fucking crazy.

>>12615244
After heading southeast into Mining Camp Five for about two hours, you finally spot it off in the distance. The natural lunar-esque landscape gives way to what's clearly been engineered and constructed. Someone in Corvatti had the bright idea to lay out a bunch of plastic trees, spread out the structures, and make a paved road leading through it.

And a lake. They made a small lake, and a bridge. Corvatti's borderline incompetent when it comes to construction priorities, obviously. "Uh, Troll One, this is Troll Two." Jacobs' voice is heard clearly over the radio. "Picking up some contacts on thermal, not sure if it's the pirates or the guys that hit the camp."

Yellow hexes are deployment zone. Orders?

>>12615449
From where are the enemy coming from?

>>12615465
Southeast, roughly the center of the camp. Looks like they were on watch or something. You don't have a visual yet, but your radar's detecting one lance of light 'Mechs, same radar signatures as the guys that you fought back at the landing zone. In other words, the neighbors.

>>12615481
Parley. Radio the lance and ask for negotiations, commander to commander.

>>12615497
Second. We should try to talk with them. And make sure that they fire first, not us this time.

>>12615134
>Dexter Grif
>Grif

We're fucked. He's in control of one of our better tanks too. Ah well.

>>12615449
Deploy our infantry to the fore, and have our Vedettes guard the flanks with their mobility. Goblins behind the Infantry to support them. Luckner, us and the Condor near the middle and to the rear, ready to move in case there is fighting to wherever we're being pressed the hardest.

>>12615497
>>12615510
Thirded. Though I stick by my deployment outline, just in case. >>12615525

>>12615497
The radio crackles for a minute as you switch to an open channel and ask to parley. There's a slight pause.

"With all due respect, off-worlder, go to hell. You killed one of our men. You're not about to trick us with sweet-talk after making a widow of Alan's wife. You're obviously here on a pirate-hunting operation, so we'll dispense with the pleasantries. You're mercs. We're pirates. Let's do what comes to us naturally. I knew it was a bad idea letting Corvatti set up shop without bothering them, but the Colonel just HAD to veto my plan for a tax..."

Power-up spike from the pirate 'Mechs. They're registering more clearly now. Formation?

>>12615550
"Well maybe you should have said something once you noticed us. Radios have longer range than most weapons you know. Regardless, we apologize for our actions and would like to talk."

I know little about Mechwarrior, so if that last bit is untrue, leave it out.

>>12615550
Then Perhaps today IS a good day to die! Signal base the neighbors are hostiles, and to advise other companies to disregard ceasefire orders, Frenzy company will certainly be pleased. Proceed with above battle plan.

>>12615550
Well, we've blown it. Time to earn our pay. How many mech powerups are there?
>>12615525
seems like a good deployment as far as I can see. However a flamer will be able to toast our infantry if they get close.

Comm back to base indicating we've come into contact with hostiles.

Oh, one more point - make a jab at the pirates regarding killing the innocent miners - yes, they didn't do it but they don't know WE know that.

Something on the lines of "Hey, an eye for an eye. Better than killing unarmed miners, eh?"

>>12615614
"That wasn't us, you bastard. But who cares? As long as Corvatti gets their precious rock, right?"

>>12615590
The pirate lance comes out of hiding, and consists of an Ostscout, a Wasp, a Mercury, and a Firestarter. The Coolfaces have initiative. Orders?

>>12615678
>Firestarter
>awesome infantry
>ohshit.jpg

KILL THAT FUCKIN' THING NAO

>>12615678
>that formation

It's just like I imagined it would look like... Brilliant OP. As I have no idea about weapons and such for Mechwarrior, I'm going to do my best and say have the Luckner and Condor target their most heavily armed mechs, while the Vedettes try to flank around and hit them from behind while the rest of our forces keep their attention. We stay mobile, taking the heat off our infantry and the Goblins if they look like they're being overwhelmed.

>>12615678
So let me get this straight. They're pirates, and crying about ONE GUY getting killed, even though they saw us coming and made no attempt to communicate.
They are the worst pirates ever.

>>12615678
If i recall correctly, this is the kind of thing that establishes our reputation....What say we, Anons, fight and gain fame, or run away and try at diplomacy later, saving our morality from question? Lawful neutral, or Neutral Good? I myself am no big fan of Corvatti, but they seem pretty intent on killing the hell out of us. I'm not entirely convinced they are pirates though.

>>12615738
Yeah, pretty much.

That, and I didn't want to let all the time I spent TRYING to make a decent Megamek map go to waste.

Besides, you guys like combat and strategy.

The other pirates here probably don't suck as much.

OP, if you're on a Windows OS, hold ALT when you press PrntScrn, that'll capture just the active window.
It will capture the ENTIRE window, so you might still have to chop stuff out.
Also, kill anything that threatens our precious infantry.

>>12615752
order units to shoot to cripple, anyone? taking prisoners as opposed to wiping out our only lead. I'd prefer to spill as little blood as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li6Mbj-8OP4

For anyone who cares, battle music!

I have a question. If our infantry are armed with lasers, do they have any chance of actually hurting mechs? I mean, so far all I've seen is that infantry are either given MGs, lasers, or other infantry weapons. No AT teams or equipment. So I'm just wondering, are they even going to be able to do anything other than shoot ineffectually and die?

>>12615792
I agree with shooting to cripple, but only because I want that salvage.
Cockpit shots if the opportunity presents itself.

>>12615792
>>12615896
Shoot to salvage.

Sorry for the sudden wait, anons. Computer crashed on me, so, I had to reboot.

Thank the infinite gods of gaming for Paranoid Autosave, which I set Megamek for JUST in case of this event. Praise Foresight!

Ree-bootan Megamek.

Mechs are busy shooting. Please wait warmly.

>>12615952
>>12616042
Remember, we don't want to take too many losses, so if we really have to we should call in Dead Sky to help us out, though we may have to cede some loot to him. Other than that let's rock.

>>12616048
Worst pirates but pirates none the less, Have At You!
Dibs on the shiny one.

>SITREP
The screenshot has a 'tactical map' to the right, I maximized that so you could see it. The squares are tanks, the triangles are 'Mechs, and the diamonds are infantry.

The Vedettes moved to flank as planned. One was intercepted by the pirate Mercury, and the other was intercepted by all three of the other pirate 'Mechs. The Von Luckner, the Condor, and Jussi's Vindicator moved to engage directly. The infantry could only move so fast, so they're high-tailing it for the ensuing combat up ahead, and the Goblins are hanging back to ensure they live.

The opening volleys have yet to be fired. Jussi's up first, and has his choice of LRMs, a PPC, and a Medium Pulse Laser.

Would you like me to pick targets, or should you, Anonymous?

>>12616191
Our tank on the bottom left might be in trouble.
I say might because I dont know the battletech system.
How would a Vedette fairy against a Mercury?

>>12616191
THE OSTSCOUT'S BACK IS EXPOSED

ALPHA STRIKE THE FUCKER

>>12616191
Uhhh.... LRMs are missiles.... right? Uh, fire whichever has the highest chance of hitting one of the three mechs that have intercepted the second Vedette. Whether we damage it is secondary; we're looking to draw some fire away from our tank.

>>12616233
>did not even look at the map first, derp

Well, since the Ostscout has kindly given us an open shot at its backside, target it.

>>12616191
Woah, what's happening lower left? One unit vs a mech? Damn.

Concentrate fire on the flamer thing first if it's facing away, otherwise shoot the scout.

>>12616226
A quick battletechwiki search shows a Mercury as a 20 ton mech with an assortment of lasers for armaments. Easy to repair as well, handy for us.
>>12616227
Best take an advantage as we can though.

>>12616191
The Vindicator and one of the Goblin vehicles open fire on the Ostscout who was foolish enough to turn his back on you and the rest of your force. Jussi's PPC shreds the Ostscout's left arm off completely, though his LRMs and the Med. Pulse Laser miss. The Goblin misses with its large pulse laser and volley of SRMs. Meanwhile, the Vedette being intercepted by most of the pirates exchanges fire with the pirate Firestarter, commanded by Sgt. Leonard Church. The tank's cannon and machine gun miss completely at almost point-blank range.

"Damn it! Caboose! AIM! It's a very simple thing! AIM! THE! AUTOCANNON! And try not kill any of our own guys this time!"

"OK!"

"Holy shit, INCOMINGINCOMINGINCOMING!" The Firestarter returns fire with an barrage from its entire weapon array, missing with all but two SRMs. The tank crew is rocked, but still focused and ready to fight.

>>12616385
Meanwhile, over on the western flank, the Mercury has gotten behind Grif's tank. His driver Simmons voices a very important complaint. "Grif! GRIF! Big stompy thing RIGHT BEHIND US!"

"Oh, son of a bitch..." Grif rotates the Vedette's AC/5, and scores a direct hit on the Mercury's left arm, shredding some armor off. The Mercury responds with a bit of laserfire, causing minimal damage to the tank's vulnerable rear.

Lt. Jacobs contributes to the battle by firing his tank's AC/20 and three salvos of SRMs(two SRM-6s and an SRM-4) at the Ostscout, missing COMPLETELY. He is supported by a volley of fire from Namakara's infantry some distance away. Namakara's infantry miss by a small margin.

The Condor tank fires an AC/5 and a pair of Medium lasers into the pirate Wasp's rear to try and get it off Church's Vedette, just in case. The Ostscout returns fire with a medium laser on the Condor and misses, while the pirate Wasp attempts to attack Church's Vedette with a laser and SRMs, missing once again.

>>12616385
Sheila! No!

......man, if a tank can survive point blank fire from an entire mech's weaponry except 2 SRMs, then these must be some damn well armored tanks. I like it. Much better than most setting, where mechs shred through tanks like wet paper.

>>12616397
>>12616385
>tl;dr
missmissmissmissmiss

RNG hates EVERYONE

>>12616439
Except Jussi. He blew a limb off with the opening shot of the fight.

Your main character is a badass.

>>12616397
>The Condor tank fires an AC/5 and a pair of Medium lasers into the pirate Wasp's rear to try and get it off Church's Vedette, just in case. The Ostscout returns fire with a medium laser on the Condor and misses, while the pirate Wasp attempts to attack Church's Vedette with a laser and SRMs, missing once again.

You didn't say whether the Condor hit or not.

>>12616423
>man, if a tank can survive point blank fire from an entire mech's weaponry except 2 SRMs, then these must be some damn well armored tanks.
No, the mech missed with everything BUT the two SRMs.

Hurrah for our CRACK TROOPS AWESOMENESS AIMING

>>12616449
It hit with a Medium Laser.

Yes, one Medium Laser.

Your soldiers are not exactly from Wolf's Dragoons. Except Namakara's infantry - They MIGHT qualify.

>>12616451
Ooooooh. Well, still. If it can take 2 hits from what I'm assuming is Anti-Vehicle weaponry and survive, that's pretty good right?

>>12616397
Volley Set? SERVE!

Mayhaps our tanks will his the Ossie their next volley, so we should fire on the 3 mechs rearing to take out one of our tanks. Must save Church!

>>12616477
Meh. Hitting 1/3 shots seems to be about the norm for our whole outfit in this round. Though since the Condor's firing skill is 2 and low is good, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed.

my god next we are going to hear sarge yell at griff

Now comes the painful part, people. Melee attacks. The tanks are close enough to come into melee range with some of the pirate 'Mechs.

Kicking your tanks, the 'Mechs crumple some of the tank armor, but no extensive damage is done. "Shit! Troll One, this is Church! Left side, taking minor damage! We're still here, but we're getting pretty fucked up! This flanking maneuver was complete bullshit!"
There's a dull 'thunk' on the other end of the comm, and one of the crew members, Gunner Tucker, crying out. "Ow! Son of a bitch!"

>sitrep

The map shows the situation. Grif and Church both need some help, or those 'Mechs will tear them apart. The Goblins are in a good position to help Grif if they high-tail it, but that'll leave Namakara and his infantry defenseless. The rest of your forces are pretty much engaged with the bulk of the pirate lance.

>>12616550
Yes, the infantry will be defenseless, but the 3 enemy mechs near them are already occupied with Church's tank, us, the Condor and the Luckner. Just have them stay as far back as they can to fire at the enemy.

To sumarize: Goblins go help Simmons, everyone else help Church and take down the 3 mechs. Keep the infantry away from the firestarter, which I assume has flamethrowers or other anti-infantry weapons. Luckily, it's the farthest from our infantry. Condor moves to get a rear shot at the Wasp, we try to get a side shot at it. Luckner goes for the Ostscout again along with the infantry.

>>12616550
Church is the top side vedette, right? Have him reverse so if the mechs want to stay in close range we can hit them in the rear with everything. Should be ok to leave the infantry unsupported, send the goblin to help bash that other mech - or can the flamer mech get round to the infantry in one go?

>>12616550
Well they'd have to go through us and the heavy tank to go for stompage, and the heavy and hover might be able to handle the one armed Ossie, we should help church while our Goblins move on the mercury. Provided this ends quickly we can flank on the remaining mechs once the mercury is down.

Well, I'm going to sleep, hope the RNG favours us a bit.

Though I don't mind if Church buys it, he's an asshole.

>>12616721
but then his ghost will haunt us or some shit!

>>12616604
I'm going to second this plan.

>sitrep

As you can see, the pirates have other plans. Here's what happened:

>Goblins move to support Grif's Vedette
>Ostscout breaks and goes to help the Mercury
>Grif gets away from the Mercury, Mercury moves and comes around behind him again
>Jacobs and Jussi move in on the Wasp to take him down, Wasp evades, ends up in Condor's firing arc after Condor moves back a bit to cover Namakara; Infantry were defenseless and all the pirate 'Mechs are too fast to pin down in one location, so the Condor moved back to cover the infantry
>Infantry fall back a bit to avoid getting killed
>Church backs up as planned, gets pursued by the Firestarter

Not as planned.

>>12616762
If Creed were here, this'd be different.

>>12616762
Guiess it's time to fire and cross our fingers?

>>12616859
Pretty much. It boils down to 'Grif targets the Ostscout or the Mercury', and 'what does Jussi fire', really. I got it covered. Will report the damage when it happens.

>>12616762
So.... nothing was fired? Or does that happen next?

>>12616890
The brief exchange of fire is incredibly disappointing. Namakara's infantry concentrate fire on the pirate Wasp, causing minor damage with their laser rifles. Jacobs fires all of the weapons on his Von Luckner tank at the Firestarter pursuing Church, and completely fails to hit the pirate. You miss the Firestarter as well, despite your originally good aim.

The Goblins both open up on the pirate Ostscout, causing minor damage, but the pirate Mercury tears into Grif's Vedette with its lasers. The tank commander coughs loudly as klaxons sound. "Son of a bitch! Pirate got the damn engine! Our tank's stuck! We literally can't move! Guys, if you don't help us out here, we're going to take a dirt nap! Get these guys off us!"

Church's voice crackles in over the radio. "I'm still here! Pirate's causing some damage to the left treads! If he keeps it up, we're gonna slip out and get stuck! We need help! We can wait, but not for long!"

>>12617041
God damnit, why won't they just sit still and let us shoot them? I mean really.

>>12617041
Crew of the disabled tank, bail, a tank is a tank, people are harder to replace.
Lets focus on keeping Church's tank rolling and shooting, and make sure the bailed out crew gets to safety.

We need air support, radio in for some help.

Mechwarrior Quest! Jubilation!

>>12617041
Send the Von Luckner to take out the Wasp, backed by the infantry. The Firestarter's too far away to be a viable threat to Namakara. Have the Condor break off and go to help Grif and the Goblins. The Vindicator advances and helps Church out with the Firestarter.

Let's save Grif, boys!

>>12617041
Okay. Condor, Jussi, Luckner, Infantry. Fire at the Wasp. Church, try to GTFO of the Firestarter's range, and if possible add your fire to ours against the Wasp. Goblins, Griff, target the Mercury.

Splitting our fire isn't working, so let's focus our attacks.

>>12617144
You want our crew to bail while they're still within range of a pirate mech, when they've just as much said that this is about a grudge and will likely not take prisoners?

>>12617192
would you rather them sit in a disabled hunk of metal, which is a bigger target? a few plates of metal is a small comfort when they just cracked it open and turned your tank into a metal box.

>>12617213
Yes. Yes, that IS better. Since at least the armor has a chance at dealing with any hits. Also, you're quite wrong. People are easy to replace. Hundreds of thousands of C-bills worth of machinery? Not so much. I'm not saying that we should think of them as expendable, it's just that they're safer in an armored box then they are out in the open. Especially since the Goblins and possibly the Condor are coming to distract the Mercury and the Ostscout. And at least it can still fire its weapon, even if it can't move. It might get a lucky hit.

>>12617293
Your logic, though cold, has defeated me. Sit tight Grif, we're comin!

>>12617170
Grif struggles with something, as if wrestling with the controls of his tank. "Damn it! Simmons! Get the hatch! The hatch!...Shit, hatch's stuck too! We're canned meat unless you get down here! Our turret's still active, so we can still shoot back, but I don't know how useful we'll be!"

>IE. I forgot to activate optional 'Vehicle Crews Can Bail Out' rules hurr durr

>>12617165
Jacobs is quick to comply, turning his tank around. "Roger that! On it, boss! Namakara, coordinate and ready your men to fire! We need to frag that Wasp!"

The Wasp breaks south, and makes a run to support the Mercury. "Shit! It's getting away! Condor, giving pursuit! The Ostscout's closing in on Grif's tank, too!"

"Goblins moving to support! Hold him down!"

"This is Namakara! All enemy forces are out of our weapon's range! We're effectively useless to you at the moment! Lure them back to us!"

"This is Jacobs! Enemy targets moving too fast! Redirecting fire to the Firestarter, opening up!"

The situation's destabilizing; Most of the pirate lance is now converging on Grif's position, and it's just you, Church, and Jacobs facing off against the Firestarter.

>>12617327
Thank you. And if it's any consolation, I don't want them to die either. I just doubt that they'd be any better off outside the tank than inside it. Especially if they don't have airtight suits, in which case going outside is certain death.

>>12617384
"Church, Empty your weapons into that mech's cockpit, scare it off, or kill it dead." just in case, We should unload our PPC into it as well.

>>12617384
Well, if us, the Luckner and the Vedette can't take down a single mech, then we deserve to be bested. As for the others converging on Grif... Fuck. Have the infantry move and go for the Wasp, it's damaged. Everything south that can hit the Ostscout, do so it's got a wide open shot at Grif's backside, and he can't move. Bye god, if he can't hit the enemy when it's RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO HIM.....

>>12617442
>>12617446
Another exchange of fire across the mining camp. The Condor completely misses the Wasp, while the Goblins concentrate fire on the Mercury. The combined fire manages to tear the Mercury's arm off. Grif's turret fires and misses its target before the tank is hit yet again.

Grif yells in pain as his head smashes on the controls from the rocking of the tank while under fire. "Fuck!"

"Grif! Donut, help him! Commander, this is Simmons! Grif's hurt! We're too busy helping him! We're going to be out of action for a little while!"

Meanwhile, you fire your PPC and miss the Firestarter, but Jacobs makes up for it by firing his AC/20 and ripping it's right arm off completely with a direct hit. "YES! Suck on THAT! I'm coming at you like a baby-making machine! BALLS TO THE WALL!"

Church, on the other hand, has no such luck as the Firestarter outflanks him yet again. "God-dammit! Caboose! Aim high! Tucker, bring us about, prep the machine gu-" A series of explosions and a flurry of machine gunfire cuts Church off. "Shit! Commander, gun-stabilizer's shot to shit, and I think we slipped our tread!" They haven't, but it's obviously taken damage, extensively. They'll be slowed, if not outright stopped by it.

>>12617631
Shit, this is getting intense.

Alright, get Nakamara in there with the Firestarter. Risky, but his guys are good. If we can take out that damn 'Mech, we can bring Jussi around to help Grif.

>>12617631
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU MISS WHEN THE BARREL IS PRACTICALLY PRESSED AGAINST THE ENEMY?!?!

*deep breath* This is aggravating. Still, we managed to get a few hits in at least. Nothing to do really as far as orders go. Try to maneuver for rear armor shots, and keep concentrating on one target.

>>12617631
WHERE'S THAT AIR SUPPORT?!

>>12617701
.....yeah, we really should have called for that earlier. Get on the horn and ask the Demon Lord for some sup[port if he's not already engaged.

>>12617748
"Roger! Galm Squadron launching now! Contact in...sixty seconds."

"In sixty seconds, we'll all be dead! Wait...Sir! Pirate 'Mechs are breaking contact! Mercury's at a full run, and the Ostscout and Wasp are heading southwest! Firestarter's cut off from his buddies! I think we got 'em!"

"Incoming fire! Incoming fire! Condor engaging! Goblins engaging Ostscout!"

The pirates and your men engage one another one last time, the Ostscout annihilated completely by a burst of weaponsfire from your Condor. "Call that salvage!"

"Fuck yeah! We're winning!" Church is triumphant in his failure to hit anything, as his tank's stabilizer damage makes it impossible for his turret to target the Firestarter effectively.

Your own weaponsfire, and Jacobs', miss the Firestarter as well, leaving him totally unharmed. However, he misses Church's tank, so, more useless exchange of fire. Namakara is, again, out of range.

The Wasp and the Firestarter are all that's left of the pirates on the field now.

>>12617683
I agree, we need to take out the Firestarter so that Jussi can start lending his firepower to the others.

>>12617831
Wait until the Firestarter moves, and then DFA his ass with Jussi! DO IT!

>>12617831
The Condor is a fast tank, right? Have it follow the Wasp and Mercury, aiming for legs. Granted, following could lead to an ambush, but I think if they had more guys they would have come to help by now. If the Goblins can keep apace, have them go with the Condor.

>>12617886
Mercury's off the field entirely, bro. We don't need to deal with it. Full retreat, left the board. We can't follow.

>>12617866
THIIIIIS. DEATH FROM ABOVE

some people need to learn how to shoot!!!

>>12617831
We should be enough to take out the Wasp and the Firestarter.

We should have Dead Sky follow the Mercury. Take a shot if he wants, or follow it back to their base.

>>12617911
....dude. The quest isn't restricted to the game. Just because it moved off the board in Megamek doesn't mean it's suddenly disappeared in the "quest world". It's still there. Worst comes to worst, we need a new map to show it and any followup forces.

>>12617983
Oh, and looking at the map, it IS still on the board. At the very edge, you can see it on the minimap.

>>12617945
Suddenly, EVERYONE learns how to shoot!

The Wasp is taken down by a concentration of fire from Grif's Vedette, the Goblins, and the Condor. A direct hit to the ammo bay triggers the auto-eject system, and the pirate MechWarrior punches out.

>>12617911
Meanwhile, your DFA attempt doesn't go QUITE as planned, but between you and Jacobs hammering it pretty badly, the 'Mech takes some damage.

"Wasp down! Call it salvage, boys! Let's mop up!"

You get a message over the radio, giving you pause. "Wait! Mercenaries, hold your fire! I surrender!" The Firestarter raises its arms into the air and powers down to minimal reactor power: The universal sign of surrender among BattleMechs. "Please, don't shoot. I surrender." This isn't the same pirate that you were speaking to earlier.

>>12618050
HOOOOOLD. And go scoop up the ejectee before he dies.

>>12618050
Alright, we really need info, so I guess we should accept his surrender.
Should have done that in the first place, punk.

>>12618063
>scoop up the ejectee before he dies
Oh, good catch!
Seconding this.

We'll owe Dead Sky for their fuel for bringing them out here just to intimidate the pirates to surrender.

>>12618063
"We're on it. Namakara's too far away, we'll just grab him with the Goblin."

"Commander, this is Simmons. Grif's stable, now."

"Church, here. Slipped our tread, gonna need something to tow me back...Oh, stop whimpering, Caboose. We can get it running again."

"Namakara, here. We'll take the Firestarter pilot in. Goblin, get into position, we need him inside your troop bay fast before he dies."

>>12618050
Okay, let him live, do whatever standard prisoner-taking procedure there is among mech pilots. And get our Condor after the Mercury!

>>12618102
Make sure they're restrained, but (mostly) comfortable.

>>12618102
caboose needs some help....

ask our captive(s) what the hell happened to the minors. They should have noticed SOMETHING, extra dropships or otherwise.

>>12618111
"Uh, Condor here. Mercury's hauling ass, I think he activated his MASC. No way we'd catch up by now."

Jacobs laughs. "I say let 'em run! He can warn the rest of his friends!"

"Uh, Goblin Two, here, seeing some activity from the Ostscout cockpit. MechWarrior's still kicking!"

"Namakara, here. We'll get him, same as the Firestarter."

Anyone want a salvage list?

So.... what's the rule of salvage when a pilot surrenders? Do we still claim salvage and get his mech? Oh, and before we leave, MAKE SURE to pick up the two arms that were blown off the enemy mechs, as well as any other remains at their point of death (well, not death since they're mechs, but you know what I mean)

>>12618186
YES. Give us the list of our delicious winnings. And, if possible, an initial estimate of repair costs.

Can Galm squadron catch up the the Mercury? It really would be best if it can't warn the rest of their forces. And, I don't want to sound rude, what with the overall successful combat, but having it so that any enemy can retreat and become untouchable just by leaving the Megamek map seems a bit cheap and unrealistic. Unless the Mercury actually has some sort of very fast boost ability, restricted to that class of mech that would explain it's unstoppable escape.

inb4 lol u talk about realism wen their are mecks an shit

You know what I mean.

>>12618189
Pretty much the same as if you'd taken him down in combat. You get his stuff. It's just in better condition.

Also, obligatory victory music. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=PvH5uBpzXX0

>>12618247
>Mercury actually has some sort of very fast boost ability
That would be the MASC system that our Condor mentioned.
Boosts speeds to normally impossible levels.

>>12618256
Fuck yes. Both for salvage AND music.

>>12618247
Yeah, I know, I hate it too. But, limitation of Megamek: It can't keep track of every piece of information that would generally add up and make sense after a fight's over. Plus, the Mercury pretty much had a twenty second head-start, and it DOES have a MASC. It was hauling plenty of ass.

Salvage list, one moment.

>>12618290
There is a megamek thing, it keeps track of the campaigns you run... as well as salvage, and a hell of alot more...

Its pretty nice.

>>12618306
...
Wat.

Why was I not informed of this?

Why, I ask you?

>>12618323
It was on their website....

lemme look for it in a moment

>>12618268
>>12618290
Ahh, okay. I wasn't sure if MASC was something specific to it or a catchall for "It's gone, deal with it". But yeah, if that's it's special thing, I understand. Perhaps in the future, if something does escape and it's possible to pursue, have 2-3 rounds of any of our forces that follow it exchange fire with it before assuming it manages to escape. No need to use another map, just use this one and show the results of the shooting. Just a thought.

Though the Galm squad, being fast fighters, might be able to catch it? If so, ask them to go for it, but if not then I suppose thank them for the intimidation assist.

>>12618335
MekHQ

>>12618286
Anyways, salvage list:

>OTT-J7 Ostscout light 'Mech, extensive damage. Projected cost for repairs: At least 2,000,000 C-Bills
>FS9-C Firestarter light 'Mech, moderate damage. Projected cost for repairs: Approx. 500,000 C-Bills
>WSP-1A Wasp light 'Mech, ammo bay detonated, interior totally destroyed, unsalvageable
>Three pirate MechWarrior POWs

Okay, if we salvaged the Ostscout and the Wasp:

Ostscout is fast, has fuckall-guns, but has the best sensor package ever. If the package is intact, then it's worth a fortune in both C-bills and utility.

Wasp: Good solid 20-tonner. Medium laser and SRM2. Fast, jumps well. A good tag-teamer for our Vindie, if a little short-ranged.

Firestarter: Dedicated flame/Anti-infantry 'mech. Don't ever tell our infantry to engage one ever again, guys. Good to have if we're ever going to go hunt infatnry-heavy forces, though.

>>12618379
which ones are we getting?

And is there anyway we can reduce the costs? welds cars to them or something?

>>12618379

Can we strip guns or sensor packages off of the Wasp at all, even if the frame is unsalvageable?

>>12618379
....what about the individual weapons? I'm guessing that, like cars, mechs are worth more for individual parts than as a whole. How much would it cost, for example, to fix up the Ostscout's weapons to sellable condition?

>>12618385
Alternmative suggestion...

We ought to sell the mechs, and pool for VTOL's instead...

They are faster than mechs, and depending on the VTOL's we get, they can outshoot a mech...

for a fraction of the cost...

>>12618379
Addressing the man we spoke to before. "This really could have been avoided, though i suppose you're lucky we decided to take you alive, and rescue your buddies. We may be mercs, but we aren't monsters. Now to the matter at hand, you're either a bad liar, or a very bad pirate. The hell is going on on this piece of shit planet?"

Also, contact the other companies, have they made contact with hostiles, neighbor or otherwise?

>>12618435
Clarifying: the one who surrendered.

>>12618424
Breaking down the 'Mech and salvaging just the weapons is doable, but again, Megamek limitations. Not 100% sure how that'd work out, but it's certainly worth a shot. I'll find ways to work it out, don't worry. Thanks, Highlander, for telling me about that thar campaign thing. I don't doubt it'll be useful for just this occasion.

There is absolutely NOTHING on the Wasp that's salvageable. Internal ammo bay explosions don't exactly make it easy on the 'Mech. Firestarter's actually pretty functional as it is - Weld it's arm back on or whatever, and it'll be serviceable again in record time.

>>12618484

You have total warfare, right? Just torrent the Tech Manual, and extrapolate. The cost of a few guns here or there, maybe %10 of cost for the electronics/sensor suite, that sort of thing.

Tactical/Strategic Operations have rules for this sort of thing, too.

For all Battletech-illiterate brosephs, http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page. If an unfamiliar word, unit name, piece of technology or whatever else BT-specific comes up, enter it in yon search field in the above website. One-stop solution to all of your Battletech questions.

If the electronics suite on the OTT is still kicking, might leave it to lay in the hangar until we find sufficient capital for repairs and a new pilot. Or if feeling particularily bold, offer its' pilot a bond contract. Another use would be cannibalizing it for spare parts, selling to fellow mercs as-is or in pieces, or trading for favors to be called in on a latter date. The last option might be a viable ace in the hole when things inevitably turn more complicated...

The Firestarter seems really simple to repurpose, though, especially if we somehow succeed in recruiting its' pilot under trustworthy terms. Just... better not to use the guy against his own outfit if we do.

>>12618484
I can smell the roasted troops already

>>12618484
Didn't we blow off one of the Wasp's arms during the first round? At least THAT and whatever weapon was attached should be salvagable. And as for individual weapons, I just meant like, say what weapons the Firestarter and Ostscout had, and decide which if any are ruined beyond repair. Then let us know which are left, and we can use the prices on http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page to figure out about how much each individual weapon/system goes for.

>>12618528
Alrighty, can do. Hooray for /rs/.

>>12618435
"Alright, alright. Look, just, don't kill us, alright? We'll tell you everything you need to know. That idiot McGann dragged us out here for an ambush. The Colonel vetoed it, but he went and did it anyways. McGann's the MechWarrior in the Mercury. The one who got away. We're just protecting our home, alright? You came in hot-dropping 'Mechs, Dropships burning on a planetary-assault vector, heavy comm chatter, and then shot at us when we got close. What were we supposed to think? We figure Corvatti knew about the miners getting killed, thought WE did it, and sent some mercs to kill us. Or maybe they always planned to, I don't know." So, they know something.

>>12618571
Huh. One second.

...No, reading back. That was the Ostscout.

>>12618611
"Well, from our perspective, we came in system and found everyone dead, and your mechs the only contacts. What were we going to think, especially since you didn't open a comm channel."

>>12618639

Bah, Ostscouts may as well not even have arms. No weapons in them, no hand actuators, useless little sticks.

>>12618611
WIthout any lifesigns, except for your crappy little mechs... What the hell were we supposed to think?

>>12618684
"Look, all we know, about six months ago, a Union Dropship landed, deployed two lances of 'Mechs, and started attacking the camps and taking their mining equipment. We know where the ship landed, and our Jumpship's still out of the system. So, if there's anything in orbit besides your ride, it's their's. They took the miners from Camp Five, and started digging for something. None of the major ore deposits are anywhere near the dig site, so they're not here for the metal."

>>12618611
"Calm down man, we'll see to it that you and your lancemates get medical treatment, but we need you to do us a favor and call off the rest of your people, and let them know you are alive and well so we dont get a retaliatory lance up our already damaged ass. When we know what the hell is going on here, we'll probably let you go if its within our contract to do so, we have our own problems with Corvatti, for sending us out here with no threat assessment. Are there any more of your group stationed at the other mining camps?"

If he complies, call off the mining camp raids, blame it on lack of intel, and call people for a new strategy meeting at base.

>>12618710
OH NO
ALIENS

>>12618639
Oh. Well damnit, I know we knocked the arms off two mechs in this battle. The second was near the end. *reads* Ah, we knocked an arm off the Mercury. So add that to the salvage.

>>12618779
Does our vinny have hands? if so, we have a club for it!

>>12618729
>ALIENS

>>12618729
If only we'd be so lucky. More likely it's something ranging from Corvatti's cutthroat competitor to SPACE TALEBAN. In any case the competition's likely to be very stiff and very well-armed.

>>12618710
>started digging for something
Star League Cache?
That would definitely be worth massacring innocent civilians for.

>>12618725
"No. Just this one, promise. The Colonel ordered no engagement with you, after seeing what you were bringing. We were just going to dig in and hide for a while until you and the other off-worlders left. McGann had other plans."

>>12618826
would it be possible for us to have a meeting with this Colonel... We may have similar goals... ANd we love getting paid twice.

>>12618825
These other off-worlders are the same guys that massacred Camp Three, and the sensors back at the camp confirmed one lance of medium 'Mechs with Star League-era make-up. They already know the location of one cache, so, this makes sense. They might've gotten the info from a bunker somewhere and gone treasure-hunting.

>>12618826
"Ok then, let's make this simple, does your group intend to interfere in the mining operations of the Corvatti Corporation?"

If he says no, i want this Colonel on the horn, so we can patch this rift before it gets any bigger. The extra support for taking on the Mystery Dropship and its two lances would be appreciated.

>>12618793
>>12618729
HUMANS?

OH NO NOT THIS SHIT AGAI-

Hmmm..... OP, any chance you could give us a ballpark estimate for how much we could get for the remains of the Ostscout and Firestarter on the open market?

>>12618889
Firestarter? Quite a bit. Good condition. I'd say upwards of 2-million C-Bills, give or take. Rough estimate, given battle damage.

The Ostscout? You'd be lucky if you got anything more than a few hundred thousand. The troops did a number on it.

>>12618881
"We kept to ourselves, ran patrols in their area, but we never intended to do anything to them. We're pirates, but, we have no interest in serious profit. Crazy, I know, but we have our reasons. Tell you what, we'll get you in touch with the Colonel ASAP if you let us go."

>>12618931
what if we use the scout for parts, and sell that instead?

And, would it be possible to get a list of what our tanks are worth?

>>12618961
I am in favor of letting them go, so that we can have a meeting with the colonel...

The Ostscout isn't a terribly appealing 'mech, at least for an outfit like ours that needs more firepower first and foremost. But if we invested the 2 mill required to repair it, we might walk away with a fair profit from the investment after selling it.

>>12618931
Hmm... And if we repair the Firestarter? Pay the 500k C-Bills, would we be able to get more thank 3.5 mill?

What parts of the Ostscout are still usable and could be fixed for sale?

Persoanlly, I'd be up for taking a more tank-heavy format for our outfit in the future, hence my questions about selling the salvage rather than keeping it, but that's just my personal preference. I love tanks. If we can get a couple more Luckners to form a squad for Jacobs to lead, and another Condor to compliment the one we have already.... Bring in a few more Vedettes to fill out the force.... *drools*

Any other thoughts on the future look of our company?

>>12618961
"I doubt your friends are in any condition to go anywhere right now, as one spent a minute or so in the atmosphere, and the other survived his mech being shot up, tell you what, you aren't our enemies, and since we're here to protect Corvatti interests, we have no reason to keep you as prisoners, but in the interest of those two, you should probably come back to our base, get a doc to look you over, and radio from there."

>>12619018
What does the Vendetta have?

I think we really need to get a recon mech, though. Something we could load with sensors and ECM.

>>12618984

The Ostscout's issue is that it's like the Cyclops - there's an overwhelming disconnect between their fluff abilities/value and what the rules give, since most of the Ostscout's advanced scouting sensor/comms equipment has no ingame effect or pricing.

That assumes, too, that this is the unlikely instance of an undamaged SL-era Ost with full sensor equipment. Most of them had their hard-to-maintain equipment pulled and replaced with shitty stuff during the Succession Wars.

I'm in favor of just selling the damn thing and keeping the cash towards repairing the more worthwhile 'mechs we might salvage.

>>12619018
Mostly, just random miscellaneous spare parts. Armor here and there, the Medium Laser can probably be torn out and repurposed.

>>12618982
>>12619021
"Well, it's not like we have much choice. We're stuck out here unless we go with you."

>>12618962
In a minute.

>>12619032
Looks like VEdettes go for ~750,000 C-Bills, so a little less than one month's pay. Condors are ~1,200,000 C-Bills, and Luckners are ~3,700,000. Vedettes have and AC/5 main cannon and a Machine Gun for dealing with infantry.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Vedette
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Von_Luckner
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Condor_%28Combat_Vehicle%29

I'm seconding the guy who said we should contact the other merc outfits and get this new info to them ASAP so they don't run into these (somewhat) friendly pirates and fuck shit up after we just not fixed it.

Well, keep the mercs other than frenzy company from fucking it up anyway. Its pretty much a given they'll mess this up somehow, if not now then later on.

>>12619086
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Yellow_Jacket

We should switch as many out for these later on.

1mil, gauss rifle, and ammo for 16 rounds.

>>12619114
I'm thirding this.
Sure, the other guys miss out on salvage.
But they also don't run the risk of dying, either.

The big question is whether the Raiders have already left the system or not. If not, then we should try to find them, and coordinate an attack against them to steal their Star League equipment.

>>12619086

Any of the Saladin/Scimitar/Saracen Trio are good picks for fast, low-cost bring-killy-death-to-our-foes options, if we're considering more tanks.

I'd prefer to get a full lance running first, but still. The firestarter is a better-than-nothing start.
If we want cost-effective 'Fuck You", we should look at Hunchbacks. Shit is so cash.

>>12619114
Well, first, you need to drag the crippled tanks and salvage away. Larry and the technicians head out with some leftover Corvatti cargo trucks and start towing the tanks and wrecked 'Mechs away, picking up spare parts and loading them in.

Lopez's one response upon seeing the damage to the surrounding area, the tanks, Grif's head, and the 'Mechs: "Madre de dios."

Holy Fucking Shit! You guys made it through your very first live fire exercise and against the computer too.....your hella lucky this was a derp match cuz I'v seen the computer get ruthless fast. Also I love the OP and all you participants, you guys are great!

>>12619132
Yeah, but those are 400.000 more each. I'm not saying we shouldn't, just that it shouldn't necessarily be something to build our force entirely around.

>>12619139
....oh yes. Only 200k more, an an AC/20? AND 60 km faster? Saladins look good. Definitely a good anti-mech vehicle. And the Scimitar is almost as fast, is about as much as the Vedette, and has the same AC/5 with two SRM/2s. Saracen doesn't have a cost listed, but looks good for long range missile bombardment, yeah.

In light of this, maybe pick up 2-3 Scimitars after this gig, and a Saladin.... I don't know, I'm getting ahead of myself.

>>12619159
We nearly lost Grif, and Church's tank is crippled, i'd call this match a draw, since we won by virtue of having air superiority. but yes, we made it against the computer.

>>12619132
Gauss cannon gunship for one mill... you know, at first, the thought is tempting.

Then I think of Church and Caboose with a flying sure-kill death device constantly positioned most likely behind us, and I start to wonder if we might actually want to get scorpions instead.

>>12619220

Thing is though, that the Gauss Rifle on the Yellowjacket is so incredibly superior to anything we're packing right now, it really isn't funny.
Gauss Rifles are utter rape.

Also, don't forget that while the SSS hover trio are cheap and fast, they have shit-all armor. So they need to be Always moving,a ll the time, to rack up a lot of to-hit penalties so they don't get munched.

>>12619251

Given that our combat is handled by Megamek, thsis houldn't be an issue.

>>12619251
1.15 mill...... Scorpions look hella cheap though, but I'm guessing they make up for that in having a lack of armor. I for one would rather have a few well armored tanks than a lot of cheap ones that have to be replaced, along with crew, every other battle.

>>12619276
>>whoops Friendly Fire is turned on
>>ChurchandCaboosetrollfaces.gif

>>12619264
Yeah but.... it's not a tank. Can we get a Gauss Cannon on a tank? Because I would be very okay with that.

>>12619299

Cheap, paper armour and slow.

Po tanks, while also cheap and full of flaws, are probably a far better investment if we're looking at hordes of mook backup.

What's funny about this entire conversation is, you still have bank loans to pay off.

And both Grif's and Church's tanks are totally undeployable now. One's got a destroyed engine, the other has a ruined tread and gun stabilizer, both have extensive armor damage. Between them both, there's barely enough parts for one working tank.

>>12619299
We could cut a deal with an used scorpion salesman. I'm quite sure most package deals include pre-printed death notice letters and roughly matchbox-sized coffins for the physical remains for the crewmember's families.

Still, any word from the other units? Things might have gone ugly if one of the companies has bumped into the bad guys alone.

>>12619315

Hi there.

>>12619315
Tanks are so far down that it is not even funny...

I ran the scenario...

My brother had some AA mechs, and I ran with some Yellow jackets... 10 yellowjackets to his 3 large Riflemen fitted with AC/2...

I lost several copters.

He didnt win. at all.
hehe...

so yes, they are Powerhouses, even against the mechs designed to destroy them.

>>12619322
I thought so. Might not be good for us to get a reputation for being a swarm and loose 1/4 of our tanks ever battle type of outfit.

OP, what do YOU think? Did you have any preconceptions about what we'd buy that we can now twist and change into something completely unexpected?

>>12619340
OP what are our debts?
Also we need to thank Dead Sky for rendering us aide, even If it wasn't necessary.

>>12619340
I'd say its clear what Lopez's next project is then. THE DOUBLETANK! Time to throw the two together and see what we get. Anyway, we have a story to progress. enough discussion of what to do with cash we dont have.

Current plan of action: Call Colonel from our base, find out what Lopez and Larry found on the comms scan. See to injuries of our new guests.

>>12619344
....is that a tank with 3 of these supposedly godly weapons? Because if it is, I want one.

>>12619345
So, 3 mechs lost when outnumbered more than 3/1. Big surprise. Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, you clearly know far more about Mechwarrior than I do. I;m just a huge treadhead at heart, so I'd prefer to get tanks. Though I don't see why we can't have some air assets as well.

>>12619340
Well, how much do we owe? And the Vedettes are covered under the full repair clause of our contract. So we'll just pull back for now, and let the repairs take place. Meet with this mysterious Commander in the meantime.

>>12619407
lemme look up the Riflemens cost... battle-value, with 8 shots per mech...

Rounds fired, the riflemens shoot far more often than the yellowjackets.

>>12619299
Problem, Commander?

>>12619407

>....is that a tank with 3 of these supposedly godly weapons? Because if it is, I want one.

It sure is. They're favorites of mercs on a budget who can't afford battle mechs. Though, they still have a fairly hefty price tag.

Cost: 16,609,126 C-bills according to sarna.net

Yep, also get the testimony of the pilots, plenty of evidence to troll the fuck outta Henry such as something buried under the surface of hellhole and it sure aint minerals

>>12619407
>>12619433
Whoa, okay, what? That thing costs over five times more than our jump-capable, PPC-toting Vindicator? Fuck that noise. We're on a budget.

>>12619494
vindi costs three thousand?

hehehehe....
3 yellow jackets vs our vindicator... ill go run the battle right now.

>>12619425
Also, it looks like AC/20s do more damage than Railguns too....

OP, you still here? Would like to get the results of my comm scan, and our meeting with the colonel, done before turning in, unless we're stopping here, in which case who is on archive duty?

>>12619494
Well, considering that the Alacorn is packing more firepower than us, and what appears to be substantially heavier armor, it makes sense. It's more of a land battleship than a single-person vehicle like a mech, looks like. Might be something to save up for. I guess I just would rather have some fun with having what vehicles/forces we all like instead of turning it into whatever is most cost-effective right off the bat.

>>12619525

Yes, but AC/20s have a tiny range, whereas Gauss Rifles have one of the longest ranges around, a fraction short of some of the ER guns and certain LRMs.

Furthermore, AC/20s pile up a decent amount of heat, whereas Gauss Rifles generate practically none.

Then there's the advantage of the Non-exploding Gauss Ammo, too, so you can load up torso sections with it and not need to worry about ammo explosions.

Don't get me wrong, AC/20s are awesome, but Gauss Rifles are stupidly fucking nasty.

>>12619575
Meh. I can still field roughly 50 scorpions with that price.

I mean, 50 AC/50's!

>>12619613
Fair enough. This is all new to me, so I'm just going with whatever shiny thing that catches my eye at the moment.

Which is no excuse, but still..... Is the Railguns are so much better, even more reason to get a tank that can use them!

>>12619641

Oh come on, the alacorn is amazing. Maybe this will convince you.

>The Alacorn's popularity also received an unexpected boost when its crews discovered that the unique truncated pyramid can of the popular Federated Suns Pharaoh beer was the perfect track tension gauge. As only a freshly opened can has the exact measurement required, Alacorn crews are renowned for making frequent and extremely thorough track maintenance checks.

>>12619641
Good luck finding that many pilots for your suicide swarm tactics.

>>12619641
>I mean, 50 AC/50's!
>50 AC/50's!
>AC/50's!

Is that anything like the naval AC cannons that shoot tank sized projectiles?

>>12619678

Pirates managed it. Look up "Scorpion's Nest".

>>12619705
Yes. Because they're PIRATES!

>>12619687

It was a Typo. And I think Naval ACs only go up to NAC/40s.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12602264/

Making sure this got archived, and im hitting the hay since OP seems to have disappeared.

>>12619741
Same here gnite all

>>12619566
We are most certainly NOT stopping here. Sorry for that, computer crapped out on me. Second time tonight.

>>12619373
Your debts can be narrowed down to 'Tanks', 'Payroll', and 'Perishables.' Long story short, your whole outfit is in debt to the tune of 8.1 million C-Bills, give or take.

>>12619613
yeah... we got completely assraped by the copters...

It was not pretty at all.

>>12619797
Okay....that's is a very large debt.
Even if we sold all of our salvage, it will still only take care of maybe a quarter of our debt.
We need that Star League Cache and the Star League mechs, preferably by killing the pilots while they're still outside of the mechs.

>>12619833
not.... so large.

Couple of mechs could easily erase our debts....

>>12619797
Let's see.... We're in contract for 7 months, times 750,000 a month, Plus call it 3 mill if we sell all the salvage for this battle....

8,250,000 C-Bills. More than enough to cover all our debts completely. Plus more if we manage to get more salvage. And since we don't pay for our repairs, we don't need to worry about that. And I'd like to stress that being able top pay off all our debts after one contract, if we manage it, is a huge achievement in and of itself. Yes, I know it feels horrible, effectively doing a contract without any payment, but this way, we don't owe ANYTHING after this.. Every C-Penny we make is ours. Yes, we still have to pay the men, plus repairs for future jobs, but being debt free is a big thing.

>>12619802
Man, that is crazy. How can they be so inexpensive and yet still effective? I mean, from an economics standpoint, you'd think the company that produces them would start charging more for them since they're so good!

>>12619873
their battle value was amazing... The vindicator (in my mind) has never really been a top flight mech...

And, in older days, some of the greatest builds were VTOL builds...

>>12619873

'cause they're hard to make and shite at things like anti-infantry. Also, they cost as much as some vehicles. They're also big and heavy.

Doesn't help that Clantech is so much better, too.

>>12619908
Infantry?
Pff.
That is what variety does. Get a cheapy little crap copter with a machine-gun, and hold it back for as long as we need, until we see infantry.

Everything else dies pretty fast.

>>12619944

Mmmn. Remember though that VTOLs are fragile as fuck. 1-2 pts of damage to their rotors brings them down.

Now, when you hit things like the Alacorn, or a dedicated Gauss 'mech like a Devastator, then yeah, shit is nasty. But those also cost a lot and have huge BVs.

Playtest and Balance.
Your Gauss is huge. That means you have Huge BV.
Playtest and Balance.

>>12619566
Well, Lopez and Larry DID manage to scan all the comm channels, and they found a few interesting snippets. Back at the camp, after salvaging everything, they show you.

"This one was coming from somewhere west of here, unknown transponder signal." Larry explains as he plays the clip he recorded.

>click

"-plications. Just load 'em onto the trucks and hope nothing happens. We dig, get what we came for, and leave. Nobody needs to know what happened here. We'll just kill all the workers later and boost for the Jumpship."

>click

Larry switches over to another clip, while explaining. "We changed the channel after that to make sure that they don't notice we were on that frequency."

>>12619974
thats why AC/2 wrecks it so very, very much.

Unless they stay so very far away that Shooty shooty still works.

>>12620009

LB-X AC/2s do an even better job. Or LB-X AC/5s. Delicious flak.

>>12620022
Still...
It should be interesting, if we get as big as I hope... I want a powerful air-superiority...

Very... Very close air support.

>>12619985
Lets get that on a recording, and get ready to spam it on every single radio on the world.

And lets get a talk with the colonel now.

>>12619985
O.....kay? So the pirates are looking for something. We figured as such. And they've got some workers captive and are using them for labor. Well, guess we'll have to rescue them. Right after we've got our repairs done.

>>12619974
Ahhh. So they ARE fragile. Thought so. Aircraft have never been known for their durability.

Except for Warthogs.

I still think we should get some more tanks. A few Scimitars and a Saladin, a Condor, and two Luckners.

>>12620099
4 points of armor total on the rotars...

And if one is detroyed, it moves at 1/2
if both, then it crashes.

>>12620109
Okay. Sarna doesn't seem to give armor values except as the actual names of the armor, so I really can't tell which vehicles are better armored than others. That being said, I'm going to assume that most tanks have more than 4.

I'm losing mental coherence. I think it's actually a very good place to stop.

Vote the thread up in the archives. Sleep time.

>>12620133
YOu really need to get megamek.

Its pretty good in that regard.

>>12620133
And yes, most tanks have waay more than 4 armor...

But most tanks will get their ass kicked by the Yellowjacket,

>>12620140
Does Megamek work on macs? Because if it doesn't then I can't.

>>12620135
When will the next thread be?

>>12620150
its Java based... should work...

>>12620147
Sure thing man. That's what you have dedicated AA for. I'd like to see how well your trio of Yellowjackets do against a few Stinger-missile armed infantry (or the Mechwarrior equivalent), or an AA missile tank. Because the great thing about missiles is, they can target around obstacles, don't need direct lines of fire, and can track a moving target.

But yeah, getting a few VTOLS to swell our ranks sounds good. As long as we keep up with our ground forces as well.

>>12620178
ALready done it. I set 15 LRM tanks against 10 of the Yellow Jackets.

Fight went pretty well...

A gauss rifle does craploads of damage...


Still, the weapon of choice against VTOL is AC/2 (or my choice....)

>>12620158
Oh, awesome! Though I still say only a little more than a million C-Bills is way too cheap. Especially if they're hard to build. that should make them MORE expensive. Ah well.

>>12620178
oh, and I think I would want to see a fight between infantry and the yellowjackets...

Just to watch them explode...

>>12620205
Few markets for it, as well as the standard of almost all companies preffering Aerospace, mech, or tanks...

And the only things that work very well are aerospace, mech, and vtols.

In all cases, infantry and battle armor get the shaft.

Anyway. Gnight all.

Catch you tomorrow hopefully...

Happy Hallows eve.

>>12620178

>Stingers
>Guided AA Missiles
>Battletech

AHAHAHAHAHAHA


No.

>>12620225
As Games Workshop has showed us, if you have a small market then the only reasonable thing to do is to charge more and more and squeeze the money out of them :P