The typical stuff soldiers talk about when they're not getting shot at.

All you noobs sorted out?

Soon as AC answers my talent question I'll be good but then again I'm looking forward to trying to get my hands on Zilch's close combat acquisition for the next mission.

Well that and seeing if we get our upgraded grenades and get to make our next advanced gear choices...

As long as AC has no problem with my character sheet, I'm ready.

should be good here

I'm still trying to make sense of some things. I've written up my main character but was waiting for confirmation that I did it right before spending time on my xp advances and comrade

What spec are you playing.  There's a lot of knowledge within the player base.  Probably easier to have us help than AC since he's busy running the game.  We can field the basic nuts and bolts questions.

Yeah, I was told I'd be moving up to management again on Monday, so I've got some sorting of things in my old job to get accomplished before that happens. Unions, and all. ;)

I've got every faith that most people who know how to play the game will have a character sheet, and experience point expenditures, that are all clear and accurate. If you think you've made a mistake somewhere, point it out, or ask in the forum here. Otherwise what you make of yourself is fine with me...you may not survive the next mission, so there's no reason to get attached to any hard figures just yet. ;)

I'm posting the intro of the teams when I wake up, so everyone who's got both their characters made can start right off with writing in the main IC thread then.

AC, would there be any objection to my character crafting a Catachan-pattern Auxiliary grenade launcher (aka Slingshot attachment).  :P

Summary executions aside, my primary character is specced out to be a sentinel keeping watch over chokepoints and making sure no-one sneaks up on us, but his stats make him unlikely to survive very many missions.  My comrade does one thing; put bolter rounds into the enemy.   He's a decent spotter as well, but if Silver bites the dust House would do a fighting retreat (Bulging Biceps) and provide covering fire until the Bugs overrun him.

Special gear requests is pretty much the only thing we can't help with.

If you need ideas on kit configuration, stat allocation and talents, we can help with that.

Moar slingshots!

Yeah if you're going to craft something like that it'll end up taking a few things...

Time.  Which you may or may not have enough of.

Parts.  Which you will likely have to trade for/make acquisition rolls between missions.

Skill.  Which you will likely have to make one or more Trade: Armourer rolls.

Mind you that I'm not AC and what I said above isn't the 'official' rules or even RAW ones, but I think this is akin to how AC might do it.  Of course for the same acquisition roll, when AC asks us for them before the next mission usually, you could try and simply 'find' a spare Aux GL lying around unused and proceed to use it after proper veneration of the machine spirits rite and install it.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Fri 16 June 2017.

There will definitely be vehicles available for use as the missions go forward in the campaign against the bugs, but you should expect them to be one-shot items, not carried over from scene to scene. Having a displaced operator on the battlefield gives me the same mental image as a Dispossessed MechWarrior...which was always an awesome image. Poor desperate bastards!

Also, there's a new Battlemech turn-based game that looks awesome. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opxoPpL0jVA

Crafting is something that can be done between missions, yes. You probably won't have time before the next one, though. Things move fast on a battlefield swarming with 'nids!

Oh, I didn't mean he was a Sentinel Walker pilot.  I just meant that he was very alert.  If playing an operator is an option, though, I might switch that for my primary.

I'm not actually worried about the slingshot, though.  With a strength bonus of 4, his range increment is still 12 meters;  not quite as far as the 15m sling range, but still decent.  I was just amused by the visual of a Catachan strapping some wood and nid-tendons on his lasgun and calling it an "auxiliary grenade launcher". :D

Yeah that Battletech game by all respects looks to be amazing.  Sadly I missed being able to be part of the Kickstarter campaign by a few hours which I'm ruing to this day cause of all the cool add-ons that it got.

As an aside...

DAMN Silver and House have fat wounds!

Yeah, the new Battletech game looks fucking epic.  I played a ton of Battletech table top and Mechwarrior computer games (even the newer-ish MWO) game in my life.  One of my favorite franchises.  I will be buying the shit out of that once it comes out.  We can get some multiplayer games going then!

I've always been a fan of the Thunderbolt, and my brother loved the Shadowhawk. I'm usually a Medium Mech kinda guy like the Griffin or the Starslayer, though once in a while a nice Heavy or Assault design comes along that catches my eye.

Thunderbolt was the first mech I played the game with so I understand your liking of it even if I don't use it much anymore though I still will from time to time as long as it's still 3025 era tech.  when you start pulling in left over Star League tech or Clan arrival and onwards I tend to go lighter and lighter.

I'm a backer for the BT game (in with the alpha strike funding)...the beta is pretty good thus far, although it's pretty funny to watch the fanboy rage about the changes to the AC/10 and heat scale on the forums.  And the Urbie sniper headshots.

Of course, fanboy rage on the BT forum is also like having a tea party with kittens.  So much more civilized than the rest of the intertubes :)

Having only watched a few short combat clips, I am confused how they let you take called shots on downed mechs regardless of distance, and how melee punches have a chance to his the legs, rather that everything BUT the legs, like the tabletop game I remember.

I get [and agree with] the called shot rule for mechs that overheat, or are made immobile. That's cool. And I like that there are ammo explosions, overheat dangers, and that pilots take damage with degrading stat lines [though I dislike that EVERY single time a mech falls over the pilot takes damage - there used to be a CON test in the old MechWarrior game].

So far, though, so good.

They streamlined a lot of the gameplay so that matches take on the order of 20-30 minutes, so there's a greater variety of ways to finish a match other than sandpaper the opfor to death.  Thus far the usual tactic is to knockdown a 'Mech with missile barrages and then called shot the s*** out of it with ACs.  I recall that there's a penalty attached to hitting a downed 'Mech unless you're right next to it (similar to TT) and there's also a possibility you'll lose line of sight if your only close 'Mech gets downed.  I haven't spent much time looking at the target modifiers, though.

Melee was also streamlined so it combines both kicks and punches.  They also boosted the melee damage of 'Mechs designed for melee like the Shadowhawk, so fisticuffs are definitely going to be a thing :D

Edit: and just in case I don't manage to make a real post over the next couple of days, pretend that Two-bit had a horrible accident with his new bionic heart involving a stick shift and a bowl of chili.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Mon 19 June 2017.

I have one more "fluff" post to make (tonight or tomorrow) then the following post (probably Thursday night) will me Mission Selection.

I have Saturday off work and will likely be offline from Friday lunch thru Sunday night.

In flat TT it was always a hit as well the test was to see if you went unconscious too.  When you get into the RPG versions yeah there tended to be a test to avoid the damage but often it wasn't an easy test to make so knocking mechs over with a kick or popping them in the head with weapons or fists was the quickest way to bowl them over.  Still it was a rarity in TT regardless if it was straight TT or RPG infused.

Interesting that they did the melee changes for the Shadow Hawk.  That was always fluff and never an actual mechanic.  Leads to questions of if they are going to take other fluff problems into account...weak legs, cramped cockpits, inefficient weapon systems and the like.

The did that fluff stuff with MWO.  Like the Centurion got extra armor on the left arm that has that shield looking thing.

Anyway, I'm good to continue progressing.  Not sure if our Ear to the Ground and/or Commerce investments are going to worth anything at this point.  We're not getting much of a shot to requisition gear.

Never got into the MWO, though my rig is a bit dated so even if I wanted to it wouldn't do very well currently I'd imagine.  It was top of the line...twelve years ago, lol.

Yeah I tried to add in my Ear to the Ground/Commerce into that little fluff e-mail for that ring of unapproved readjustment of former guardsman gear but how it pans out (and if I can try and get those melee adds in time to help in the next mission) is definitely still in question.