New OOC thread cause the other one was getting sort of long.

Mission 16 in wrap up, i have to do bookkeeping on the last two missions at this point.

Missions 17 will be duo fold.

The academy mission will be run for the Pussycats (CO) lance and Ironswords (XO) lance.

Kappa has been gone going on two weeks, so we'll work on the presumption that this will remain to be so for Mission 17.

Other changes include...

Hank's departure, and Piotr's hiatus to take care of personal issues.

For these reasons, the Pussycats will be going back to a one lance format.

Piotr has requested to be put back in the freelancer pool, where he'll take some time to lick his wounds, and make passes at the omni biotechs.

So...




This message was last edited by the GM at 00:50, Sat 23 May 2015.

Whoo!

I'm excited. :D

Back!

Well, sort of... that last trip has brought about a cross country move in the next month.  Think I'll probably sit out M17 as well and get relocated before coming back swinging.

(hugs)

Good to hear from you.

Okay will put you on reserve beside Piotr as a freelancer and we'll see what we see when you get back.

Kitten...

Ironswords also have a Heavy Ferret (Regular crew) transport to go with the Karnov (Regular Crew) and the Trailer (Which is an Elite Crew).  Not that I expect them to all get fully loaded but...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Sat 23 May 2015.

In reply to Adam Carlyle (msg # 6):

I thought the ferret was a bomber?

Nope, transport.

I loaded up on transports and didn't pick up bombers.  I know that they could do some serious damage but the strafing rules/bombing rules mean it's so easy to hit them that it almost guarantees your bomber/strafer getting shot down.

Working on Defense Mission now, which includes...

Adam, Alaric, Greyson, and Svetlana.

Alaric... what's your call sign?

Greyson working to see what sort of shape youre in later today.

How about "Veles"?

Just as a heads up to everyone, DriveThruRPG.com free item of the week is the A Time of War Quick Starter PDF. I figured some of you may be interested in this.

 Polish's the windows and checks the oil while waiting for the gas tank to fill up.?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Wed 03 June 2015.

Just a lil distracted the last few days apologies for those on City defense.

I should be able to get something up tommorrow.

my hype for fallout 4 is now real...

Hype?

eagerness to do something...such as play fallout 4 which had its trailer released...

ah~!

(ugh)

Baby off today (forgot) and home.  I might have less time than i thought.

(SORRY!)

Attendance Check.

Working on the defense mission and need to see who's about.

So far we have Adam, Alaric, Svetlana, and...

Olaf?

Greyson?

yep

For the city defense darling.

Academy mission is waiting on Penny... and will have to wait till tommorow, it's running late and i'm off to bed soon.

Olaf was going to be off protecting Piotr, since the player is off doing RL things.

I'm not sure about anyone but Alaric and Svetlana being there as well as the Omni support of Lina last I remember seeing.

Right i had a quick solution for Greyson, the Omni militia was going to loan him an X-3.

A little lighter and slower than the Valkyrie, but it'll have have (2) LRM5 and (2) Medium lasers, so the weapon load will be very similiar to what he's use to.

Any damage that the mech takes, he's responsible for repairing, his Valkyrie is collateral for it's reasonably intact return.

It's a better option than working out the nickles and dimes on what his Valk looks like after the last mission.

Only snag was he mentioned going on (?) hiatus to play a video game?
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:33, Tue 09 June 2015.

I knew Greyson had taken a beating but I couldn't remember just how badly.

Are we also getting Echo for the deadly duo ;)

I hadnt thought about it, but i think not.

Fair enough.

I'd say that if he doesn't pop in for your attendance check that is a good sign that he's still on hiatus.

I'm here

*grins*

We know you're here Svend :P  Kitten was asking about those that are not in the Lancer mission or the Academy 'A Bridge too Far' mission.

Those paltry few it seems will be guarding the supply lines.

Right so I'm having a bad few weeks, waiting on a joint MRI, Apple has pre-released IOS 9 stuff which is going to have me fairly extra busy with work for awhile, and today my computer is now heading towards needing wiped and re-installed. My posting rate might be down for a few days.

Noted.

whew...


so much to do here.

okay will start and just get a move on and hope to get as much done as possible.

One step at a time :)

I'm currently at the dealer get a leak in my car looked at. Floorboards were soaked. I might be a little sporadic posting if needed. I'll check periodically.

BMs all seem a little distracted at moment, we'll see if we can get things back on track though.

Hey folks!

I have just one final thing to wrap up with character creation before everything is finished. Spending some of the extra C-Bills on some supplies (armor, maybe an extra laser in case one gets blown off, maybe a decent crew). I'm still pretty hazy on how this works, is anyone able to help shine some light on it for me?

Thanks! :)

He's got the standard three rolls, at +0 and the option for the standard gimme for armor and ammo rolls.

he's in a javelin-10F so probably wont need ammo.

I've suggested ferro and DS/HS to him as possible rolls.

Working late. Got assigned last minute duties for end of year tech conference. I have to now give an hour & 35 minutes presentation and also train 12 high school students before Wednesday. I'll be busy this evening and when I break tomorrow once presentation is nailed, I'll post my targeting and firing rolls. Sorry for delay.

Standard Armour will give him 4 tons to purchase at 10 000 cbills/ton + tonnage mod of 1.3 so that would cost him 52 000 cbills to stock away in personal storage.

DHS is always good for energy mechs.  TN9+ on 2d6 will let you buy one for 60 000 cbills if you make it.  If you do you can spend 600 cbills to pull one of your regular HS and put it into your personal storage.  Spend 18 000 cbills more and you install the DHS onto your Javelin for extra heat goodness.

Ferro is good but you need enough to slap on a full load.  That will take you more than one roll.  Arguably about three rolls.  With that in mind you might want to go for Endo instead (it will take three successful rolls as well and you can't double up rolls aka roll two or three times for Endo in one acquisition phase).  Ferro if you make the TN8+ roll will let you buy up to 2 tons worth.  Endo is a TN11+ and you can buy up to 1/2 a ton.  Endo is better (arguably) but harder to come by.

Really it all comes down to what you want to do with your Javelin, if you want to keep it and mod it, or sell it later on for a different more expensive ride.

Also...

You'll want to look at this thread in another game that Kitten uses for reference:
link to a message in another game

Message #10 has the details on you deciding just what type of personal 'storage' you have.  She has base levels at 'free' and higher levels cost money but not upfront.  It's docked out of your pay after the mission gets done.  You can only change them though during the major interludes when auctions happen, you get access to make more acquisition rolls and the like.

There is a lot of potential nuance to how you do things and you'll learn a lot just by watching what others do and seeing what people have in play during the missions and in between them.

Getting ready to post my movement and firing. Thanks for giving me a few.

Hi all.  Just checking in, with a week before my cross country move I'm still on the bench but should be back in within the next couple of weeks!

Archetypes... finalized.

link to a message in another game


Will be of limited use/interest for you though you should review it since future players joining will use these.

Current players do get to review the alt section though.  Even if they dont want to be hassled with a second mechwarrior, the option to play tech, conventional,or even infantry support WITH your current mech warrior is now an available option for alts.

I believe Akarian had an interest in this, now is the time to submit such request, once missions end i'll be swamped and wont look at them.

I think my biggest question about conventional alt option is if that character gets their own availability rolls, or if the main character needs to split their 2 availability rolls to also purchase ammo, repairs, customization parts, etc for the alt?

At most an alt will add one availability roll.

Infantry Alt will get an availability roll for ammo that the infantry can use (mostly missiles)

Conventional will add one roll, for equipment usable for their rides.  (They're not rolling for gyros or actuators and stuff).  Remember the main character actually OWNS the tank, the conventional character is just 'hired' to drive/pilot it for them.  Will mull over specifics tomorrow.

Technicians will add a roll for anything, and be usable for salvage operations (if they're assigned transport of some sort to get them to the front).  (This unit is considered a 'combat' unit and counts against the weight and number of units allowed.)

---

So...

During bookkeeping, Main character gets one roll for each mission they've done since the last bookkeeping, plus one if they have an alt.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:51, Sat 20 June 2015.

Sounds fair, i'll get you a PM tomorrow.

(Happy Father's day to all you dads out there!)

Kitten, figured I'd throw it out here, since it might help someone else as well.

Adding jump jets to a mech that didn't have jump jets.. is it possible under the modification rules?

I've looked at the sliding cost tables listed and all of that makes sense, what I don't know about is critical/placement with regards to the rule of "everything must go in arms, unless critical space was created by removing something first" are jump jets an exception to this, given they don't work in the arms and typically end up in legs?

It is possible.

They still have to fill vacated critical spots, as of the last time I spoke to Kitten about it, cause I'm looking on eventually moving into a Hunchback and giving it 3 jump jets and it has the capacity to with criticals I can open up.

Edit:

Though it is a lot more difficult cause not only are you finding tonnage but also crit spaces as well as making sure they are balanced.  If you have an odd number you have to have a CT spot.  Even and you can spread them between torso and legs.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Thu 25 June 2015.

Well thats what I'm wondering, as normally a CT only has 2 free critical spots at most, and a lot of mechs have nothing to vacate from their legs. (Their just empty..)

Which means you need to find mechs that have gear in their CT as well as usually HS in their legs.

It's possible that Kitten might relax it insofar as allowing JJ to go in legs but that will mean you're stuck with even pairs of them.

Possible, with logical limitations.


1 ~ Jump Jets may only be placed in the torso or legs.

2 ~ Critical space must be available for Jump Jet Placement.

3 ~ Jump Jets must be placed in a symmetrical fashion.
ie.  If youre going to have an odd number of jump jets, the odd numbered Jump Jet would need to go in the Center Torso.



Requirements one and two are the killers, because with the mech modification rules, it's hard to get the critical space to install jump jets on a mech that doesnt have jump jets.

Conversely, mechs with jump jets are actually good mechs to modifiy,because you can remove the Jump Jets to make room for equipment.

---

(Suggested things to look for.
Heat sinks in Torso/legs... These can be moved to the arms, making room for jump jets.
Check your mech for a variant that jumps, and slowly aim towards converting your mech towards that variant.
All else fails... sell the mech for one that jumps.

Right, so thats what I was mostly expecting.

Using my mongoose as an example, I could free up 1 critical space in the CT and fill it with a single JJ, but couldn't use the other free CT critical, nor the other free critical slots in the RT/LT, or legs. (Since nothing was vacated, they just never were filled to start with.)

Which squarely moves me into suggestion #3 buy a different mech.

Thanks Kitten, I can stop crunching math now.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Thu 25 June 2015.

Yeah.

I treat mechs as specific designs with specific limitations.

Theyre not Mr. Potato heads that you can modify with the use of math using construction rules.

The biggest thing to look at for mechs that you want to modify is actually the available critical space available.  Everything else you can tweak with more or less, but available critical space is hard to work around.

Biggest exceptions to this rule are the criticals used for endo, ferro, and... a little used for IS/DS HS.

---

Mongooses are a great mech, they're just off the shelf mechs that are hard to modify though.

Commandos, at the same weight are slower but have better critical options, though they are slower and off the shelf dont jump.  They are however a great fixer up mech.

It's all a trade off.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Thu 25 June 2015.

I was going to suggest to you a Spec to add Tinker.

Let someone put something in a normally unused Crit spot for each level.  Bend that concept rather than breaking.  Still won't be a Mr. Potato Head but it will allow a little more flexibility if someone wants to take up one of their options with Tinker.

That's a good suggestion, i'll think I'll add that.

Level one will be a critical for each level they have in tinker, level two could double it, so you could 'cheat' on up to four criticals with level 2 tinker and maxed spec.

Still... for the cost, i'm not sure it's worth the 100+ xp ?

Well between Tinker adding up to 2 additional tons of possible mods and at second level adding a +1 to Availability Rolls the fact that you'd spend 25xp on Level 1 and 50xp on Level 2 followed by around 25xp for that Spec...

I know Luc and most Bug Warriors would likely take it given the choice.

Welcome back Roger, I have to see what's happening with the Light Lancers.

If the unit disbands, you'll be put in the active freelancer pool.

Quick note...

Akarian is forming up a quick, nimble, skirmish/scouting unit, that relies on speed... EW... and fire support to complete missions.  Finesse, Tech, and use of advance rules like EW, Artillery, and so forth can be expected.  A more advance game can be expected here.

Adam is putting together an old fashion brawling unit.  They go in, get dirty.  Two units in, one unit out.  Less stress is put on advance rules that make use of EW and Fire support.  A more basic game can be expected here.

Priority Freelancers.
You've all been priority freelancers... at one time or another.  With the rise of personal inventories and conventional units, you can stay a priority freelancer and stay clear of the hassles involved with being a part of a set unit.  You can favor one unit over the other, or pick the one that makes the most use of your talent.  Specialized mechwarriors (like EW) or LAM Archeypes, players that want to stay unattached (for whatever reason) can stay a priority Freelancer.

They will get to play every mission, how welcome they are depends on what they bring to the missions.  If believe you can stay in demand and bring more to the mission than you cost, being a Priority Freelancer is not a terrible thing.

per player request, all recent mission threads made available for reading.

They are still in need of final summary and bookkeeping so please do not post on them, they are there for review and research, not comments.

Comments and questions regarding them should be made here.

im thinking of um...well...mostly just retiring in general...it was fun playing with you guys, ive just lost that spark for the game...I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors...

Hope I didn't scare you off with my PM, but if your not feeling the game, sometimes its as simple as that.

Best wishes Greyson.

Don't think it was Akarian. Think it was the lack of being able to play something bigger. I understand Kitten has her idea going, but a lot of players feel really limited in Lights.
In my experiences, you move in a Light mech. Speed is your defense. Takes some getting used to, especially if you are one of those plodder types. Most players I know head right forAssaults thinking bigger is better. I tend to favor Mediums over everything else. I just think from what I gathered he was really hoping to get into something bigger.

I really like the campaign being light/medium based, and I even enjoy the mod limits as a sort of puzzle. It's really refreshing and requires a lot more thought in some ways than the old heavy/assault mech throw down that is so typical.

I don't think you're wrong though, I was talking about running a game IRL here as there is a decent sized group of players in the area. I wanted to keep it light based though, interest immediately died down to almost nothing. 3025 tech era and such wasn't helping much either, everyone was wanting unlimited double heat sinks and the rest. It really doesn't appeal to me now adays.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Wed 01 July 2015.

You can run a medium mech here for sure, just need to be canny about how you do it so that the tonnage you bring is worth the tonnage that it gives the OpFor to use against you.  It's a mixed bag really but I've been playing in a 45 tonner pretty well now since M13.

Hell if I re-did Adam as a Lyran I would have the coin to buy a 55 ton Hoplite.

Old time players understand my philosophy.

I tend to let players play, and do what they want.  My thought is there's no one way to play the game and i dont want to taint people from what they want to do.  That said, it's about time that i repeat the driving premise for the campaign again, cause as ive been remined... it's been at least over a year since i've said it out loud.


Bigger is not better, bigger is just bigger.

Takes the concept of strategy out of the game, cause you dont move or go anywhere fast.  Bigger relies on lots of guns and armor to carry the day.  It's a slugfest that takes little thought, little strategy, and in the sense of mission objectives, really lacking in ability to do what needs to be done.

Scout...?  too slow.

Urban fighting?  good luck with that movement profile.

Hit and run?  well maybe hit, now they're rear guard for the units retreat.


They also have an awesome mech footprint.

Missions are not a reflection of reality.  Missions are balanced on the player units that go into the mission.  The larger the mechs used in the mission by the players, the larger the op force gets.  This being the case, the mission doesnt get easier by piloting big mechs you make it harder.  Reliant of arm and weapons scales.  The Op Force gets more armor and weapons too.  You actually slow down making it easier for the op force to hit you.  You actually give the op force more guns to focus on one hapless player and ruin his day.  God forbid you team with lighter players your footprint will get them all killed.

ie.  The Pussycats run a balanced unit that averages around 35 tons.
Raven, Panther, Jenner...  All built and modified tough and mean, no flabby fat among them.  All can take damage, all can dish it out.  No obvious weakness.  Add Regina a 30ton feral freelancer that more than earns her keep.  That's 135 tons of nastiness that can handle most missions that come their way.

now lets introduce a Lyran Mechwarrior into a light unit Akarian wants to put together.  Say he has...
Mongoose, Spider, and Whitworth.... tack on a 40ton hunchback, with a character that has sub average skills cause, Lyran mentality takes away .  That's also 145 tons of mechs... but... theres a problem.  The Hunchback pilots skills arent on par with the rest of the lance.  A Warrior VTOL comes in behind him and triggers an ammo explosion in the back early in the game.  You now have 95 tons of mech in a mission designed for 145tons.  Everyone is giving the Hunchback player a dirty look for bringing a large mech into the game and getting blown up and leaving them over matched now.

Why is the Hunchback going to get blown up?  It's the least mobile...it has ammo vulnerabilities, and the player probably lost initiative one time too many, or fell down because they didnt have a decent pilot skill, or they're 50 tons of ineffective mech cause their gunnery skill wont let them hit.

---

Is there a use for the Lyran Mechwarrior...

Yes... but very specialized... the suggesting to revamp a heavy into something like an Arrow IV mech, or an off map bombardment mech by an alt, isnt a terrible job for a lyran minded mechwarrior.  The weight is off the mission and sub standard skills wont kill the mission.

The larger Op Force that the smaller unit now has to face is not only harder to defeat, it's going to take longer, cause they have more armor... and they're over matched by a factor of 3:2...  yes, the Op Force will have a large component of Conventional which normally gives the player the edge,but that edge goes out the window with such a weight imbalance.

All unit commanders, and veteran players by now understand this.  When you start tipping into the higher mech weights you're making the missions harder, youre playing against

"Ling's Rules of Engagement."

Really really really old players that have been with me know, that i started Battletech on RPOL in a campaign similiar to this one with shared BMs and multiple merc units.  I loved that concept.  What i didnt like, was that there tentative medicore play by slog footed heavy and assault players with no talent beyond self preservation and kill stealing were rewarded.  It made for a really uncooperative environment that rewarded the selfish and made for really really long games as everyone looked to survive the mission and kill steal experience from one another, it felt more pvp at times the way they threw each other under the bus for personal gain.

Ling's rules of engagement, broke that thinking.  Lighter... quicker... smarter... meant more got done using synergy and we broke the bank and got rich very quickly.

Old time players that were in Mac's games will vouch that Ling's Wolf Pack was easily the most successful unit in Mac's game, and ton for ton would mangle any of the other units, and quite often shocked the BM's with the ruthless prejudice we put the Op Force down with to complete the mission.  We would finish an entire mission in the time it took other unit to just muddle through a single turn.

Adam and Teri were both in Ling's unit and can vouch first hand for what i'm saying, other players from Mac's game can vouch at how quickly we went from a brand new unit to the meanest unit in the game in what felt like over night to me.


Yeah, i'm on rant...  Final comments on the topic of my views here...

Players are free to pursue whatever makes them happy in the campaign within the scope of the game... roleplay... dont role play... dive deep into the game, or just show up to post your turns, take a hiatus from the missions here and there.  Play what makes you happy.  It's your character.  Theres no one way to play the game, as the constitution says, youre all entitled to pursue your personal happiness.

That said...

This is a player driven campaign.  Supply and demand is determined by the players.  God help them, if a bunch of Lyran minded players wanted to get together and play a unit I'd given them my blessing, then give them last rites as i tore them up after a proper warning.  Your pursuit of happiness is fine, as long as it doesnt interfere with another players pursuit of happiness.

That Lyran minded Hunchback that got himself shot up, is not only unhappy at this point, he's also left me three irritated players in an unfair situation.

Case in point...

I lost Hank from the campaign recently.  I actually liked Hank, he was a solid motivated player, but he was in a blackjack, a larger mech that was unpopular with unit commanders.  It's a player driven campaign, i can not make the players like the Blackjack character, when he's weighed in to equal nearly two mechs and isnt viewed as being worth the opposition that's going to bring.  Hank eventually up and left which bothers me cause i thought he was an okay player that under different circumstance might have done better and been happier.

If i have a function here, it's to provide my players with an enjoyable experience.  I can only do that by affecting the environment, i cant make them play nice with one another.  I need them to look at one another and compromise.  I need some players to understand that individual happiness is not always achieved the same ways for different people.  I need those people to understand that what they want may not always be popular, and there is a reason for it and consider the position of the greater contentment of the players (themselves included).

I lose players... good ones... bad ones.. indifferent ones... a campaign like this is built to have a rotating player base and survive.  I miss some players more than others, i remember them all, and they leave their mark on the campaign in some way shape or form.  If they go... they go with my blessing, because none of us are paid to be here and when it's not fun and work, it's time to close the shop.  If you go, just want them to be aware, that it's their choice, and to know what they're leaving behind.  Time... work... and things in the flesh and blood world cost me players that i hate to lose and there is much affection on each side when the parting of ways happens.

My personal goal, is to see if i can evolve this campaign to the point where it wont need me anymore.  Good people and good documentation is needed for that.  I'm durable and last longer than most, but even I wont last forever.  I'm just curious if this will out last my twilight campaign.

^.^

A very inspirational speech indeed kitten, its just that I have very poor luck in general, and to you it seems like light makes right, and that their is no real room in your game at all for anything over 20 tonns, which removes a lot of options, which makes sense in one perspective, but kills other options.

an example being a heavier set up mech would be perfect for hold the base style missions, getting their turn to make sure where the lights come home and recupperate doesnt get blown to bits by the advancing armada of enemies, along with missions where we actually definitavely push back the enemies, because even if they are clunky or slow or have a bigger electromagnetic footprint, having something that could make sure nothing comes up behind you and bottles your ass in is something i would like around me...

sorry for my rant and the reason im back is because it popped up on my list even after i removed it...

end of the day, light and medium mechs are best together for scouting/raiding things, heavy/assault mechs are good at map clearing fights and last ditch effort defenses...in my mind at least...
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Wed 01 July 2015.

anything over 20 tons is a bit of an exaggeration.

With Tech Warrior you can get something as large as 50 tons.

With the use of Lyran mentality you can get something all the way up to 55 tons.

The question is, once you make this character, will there be any sort of demand/welcome for it.  I'm not the judge on that matter.  As noted, this is a player driven campaign, talk to Adam and Akarian about it, the unit commanders.

From the unit description, it sounds like the hammer anvil approach is not something his unit is gearing towards, which leaves Adam as a possible commander for you.  If you can sell him on this, by all means generate the character.

As i said, I try not to meddle with character approach as much as possible, though i do drop warning when i see the potential for disaster, particularly when it's likely to spill over to more than one player.

Its one thing to take an accidental ammo explosion in a 30 ton mech, with 'average' foot print, do it in a 50 ton mech, and your lance maters are going to have a harder time picking up the pieces.  This is just a warning, because if you go this route, you need to earn your weight in the mission.  You must be prepared to engage and successfully deal with at least your mech weight on the mission map, is the yard stick of success for a good player/mission.  The larger you get, the harder it is to meet that mark.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:14, Wed 01 July 2015.

Greyson as I said in my PM I was happy to look over and work with you on some designs if you put them together. EW is a complex one though, and would take quite a bit of effort. The reality is support stuff is hard to do, as often the best support is a good offense in these campaigns. Playing heavier mechs(40+) really is essentially a bit like doing the EW above in this campaign, it takes a good amount of work and finess for it to pay off and be favored.

Kitten and Adam might laugh at me, but I've probably sunken 15+ hours into various ways to redo Akarian with this mulligan and unit re-org. Now that's an advanced character and a unit leader so there are a lot of extra considerations, but I'm sure I'd probably be at least half of that for a heavy weight, or EW character.

The Spectres have some room for a heavier mech or two like whitworths or custom jobs. This is mostly for the LRMs, but a mech that can move 4/6/4 or better, has a bunch of armor and can dish out some damage to, isn't without merit.

15 hours.

(shudder)

Yes.  From all the questions you ask me, yes...i can see that.

If i didnt have to muck over campaign stuff, i'd probably be tweaking stuff out like you and Adam, from the stuff Adam's grinding up, he's throwing some serious time into the mini mulligan thing too.

Like i said, were here cause we love the game, not cause were being paid for it.  If you're throwing 15 hours of thought into it, you probably have a great love for the game, i wouldnt laugh at that (some one else might but not me)

Yeah... the biggest benefit from archetypes is for characters with Excess cash to throw it into character development...

I'll admit, it's a cheap ploy to suck money out of the player economy early.

:P

Archetypes have been twinked.

All of them have a modest 'advantage' now, to help the Archetype identity along, and added a modest limitation to Tech Warriors initial mech selection.

It doesn't help this happened on the week I decided to take off work *laughs*, but yeah I love this game/campaign a lot. I've invested endless hours into it really. I mean I had a Battletech/aerotech background from 20+ years ago, but never got into conventional units, infantry, advanced tech or the rest. I remember doing most everything from like 4 sheets of paper, and a bunch of paper mech print outs full of Robotech rip offs which was fantastic.

Since starting this game I've also bought the 4 big Classic Battletech books as well.

Anyways back to LAM crunching after that latest archetype tweak... Pilot 5 required now, I may just have to turn Akarian into a bloody LAM commander at this rate.

If you want  a special  brand  of torture, crunch numbers for a ew lam commander...

Done that.

heh... i'm only EW LAM deep, i'm stepping back from command.

As a primary...

100 Accuracy
100 Physical
050 Mental

025 Edge
075 X-Train Aero
025 X-Train Tech
025 Tinker
025 Noble

2.7 million
2.47 million LAM

230 k for equipment... picked from Penny... probably the Elite Ferret/Infantry, Plug suit, Endo Steel... in that order of priority, though to get the ferret i'd have to pick up rank... budget... super tight.

Swap Noble for Leader, if i was going for a Unit Commander role.. .which i'm not.

---

As an alt...

100 Accuracy
100 Physical
025 Mental

075 X-Train Aero
025 X-Train Tech
025 X-Train Tinker

2.2 Million
2.1 Million 15t EW LAM

... mmm ... start looking at PS or Endo for the future development... i suppose...  tigher...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Wed 01 July 2015.

I will still see myself out, not because i cant be a heavy, its because I am burnt out on this and I lost that spark for it, But maybe one day I will come back, either way, im going, see ya'll another time.

No worries, wil honor your wishes and hope you prosper.

If you feel the urge please look us up. will remove your ID in a few days when i clean up the cast list.

As a new-ish player in this game, I have been going back and forth if it is worthwhile for me to make any changes to my character.  Reading the comments in this thread, and some of the debate over light vs non-light, I wonder if I did not create a character that fits into the overall cohesion of the game.

Most of the games I have played/run in my time were on the Heavy/Assault side with some Mediums sprinkled in.  As was pointed out, most players liked tons of weapons and armor, but due to either heat buildup or just general 'Mech slowness there was not much close-in fighting.  I personally wanted to use a Hatchetman or the like, but was never able to close the distance to make it worthwhile.  And I wonder if that "tainted" my views on how to run things.

I was never really into the idea of running light 'Mechs before this game. And I think part of my issues when I first started came from the mindset of "find a spot with some cover and fire away" school of battle.

With that in mind, I have been wondering if I need/should adjust my skills and possibly even my 'Mech. It is definitely slower then what most people are running. And one of the reasons I took it was for the LRMs. Since I would have range and could fire across the map. But that style does not seem to fit in to what the others are using/playing towards.

Anyone have any thoughts on that? Or might be able to present me with some alternatives?

This is the first online Battletech, and indeed the first I have played at ALL in about 6 years. It is different then those I am used to, and I need to adjust my mindset to fit. Just wondering if anyone is willing to give me some help with that change.

Storm, I think most of it comes down to how you want to play the game.

The "take cover and blast things with LRM fire" option works perfectly with how I was running the Ironswords XO unit, and will ideally be running the Spectres. Since with Hawkeye LRMs, you can actually be in full cover and also don't need line of sight to the enemy.

Key thing is to identify how you want to play, close up hand to hand, knife fighting with weapons, the mid range game, the long range game, or something else like EW? Long range in this campaign tends to IMO be tough to do, unless you are indeed doing something like TAG + Hawkeyes, and even that can be hard to maintain on some maps, due to them being smaller size and not a lot of cover.

Thank you for the input.  I think from my own experience the LRM "fire and hide" method is not working for me. So I mightlook for something that can move faster and maybe mid-or close range.

Also, at the risk of sounding dumb, what is "EW"?

Besides the sound you make when a slug crawls over your skin.

EW is short for Electronic Warfare.

Using Beagle Probes and Guardian Suites for scouting or jamming, etc. There was a lot of the ECM/Guardian stuff going on in the Academy mission with Penny and the Pegasus hover craft.

As noted...

There is no single way to play this campaign.

The whitworth is certainly larger and lighter, but the jump jets help it along, and your willingness to work with the game plan in the form of providing Hawkeye support helps to endear you to your commander.

The real question you should be asking yourself, is, are you happy with your role in the campaign.  If youre comfortable with your role in the unit, i dont see a problem.  You Functioned perfectly on the last mission, you provided support, and when the call went out to step up and move in to absorb your share of punishment as the 'heavy' reserve, you didnt hesistate and you were rolling in to break the back of the Op Force.

4/6/4 is really the minimal movement profile players should consider.  Slower and you better be bringing something outstanding to the unit.

I would consider the 'average' speed for the campaign to be 5/8/5 or 8/12/0

The ability to reach +3 Def or +4 Def Modifier is usually pretty vital to making certain you arent sectioned out as a slow moving target and death by the BM.  The whitworth is slow... but it's got good armor, and weapons that function at all range.

If you want to play a Hatchetman, the campaign does allow for the use of melee weapons.

I would suggest the Valkyrie as platform.  It's quicker than the Hatchetman and will close easier.  The weight is perfect for weapons since, 30tons is the breaking point for the Hatchet and Sword installation.  Removal of the Valks LRM gives you 6 tons, 2 tons for the melee weapon and you have 4 tons left to tweak the Valkyrie, and 3 criticals in the CT.

Going CAT, Physical Combat, and Mech Specialist for options is a pretty uber combination.  You're closing to whack them with your weapon and using CAT as you close to do it... nothing wrong with that at all.

It's a build i've considered... but never had a chance to play... cause... well... so many builds... so few alts (you're limited to one alt)

or... very little of it, with them canceling each other out...

Ah, EW makes sense now. I knew it had to be something simple.

I am pleased with the way the last mission worked out, and my role in it.  I felt I was not contributiing as much, but that is more on my inexperience with the group I think. Seeing everyone rushing up and trying to close and I was falling behind made me feel I was not helping much.  But at the end I definately saw that change when I was able to move in and take some of the heat.

I do like the idea of working on modifying the Valkyrie.  I have not looked much into modifications in this game, so I am not sure how complicated it would be.  But I will look over and play with some of the archetypes and see if I find something I might want to switch into.

Mech mod Thread...

link to a message in another game

not terrible.

The Valkyrie is the easiest mech to modify, you drop the LRM 10 and ammo.

That gives you 6 tons and 2 + 1 torso criticals to use, as well as the arm criticals for new equipment... subject to available parts.  At the start you can modify with standard tech without concern for availability, you start making availability rolls if you want advance tech stuff.

A big stick to whack someone in the head with, is pretty low tech, but also not common in the military either (if we were on solaris that's different), so you might need to make a modest roll for those.

Swords are easier to come by, because the skill challenged Omni locals, find them easier to use than the Hatchet.

On a Valkyrie the Hatchet does 6 damage with a -1 attack bonus, the sword does 4 damage with a -2 Attack Bonus.  Read up on physical weapons and the notes on how to use them here...
link to a message in another game

Physical weapons are based on Pilot Skill... not accuracy.  Bad for your ability to shoot stuff with weapons, good if you want to try and win initiative more.

Hey Kitten! I do not see Alaric in your to-do list thread. Are we good, or should he be up there as well?

Over sight was arranged by unit from last mission and forgot to add you

Hey Kitten, I should have my ES installed at this point yes?  If not, it sounds like we have an opportunity now to have it installed.

Assuming I'm able to get my hands on that 0.5t BTC we salvaged (is anyone else from my mission interested in it?) that should still leave me 1.25t short of 35tons.

Yes, you'll have time to have the tech crews at the academy do it for you.

(checks calendar... It's July.)

So i'll start working on this aggressively starting tommorrow.

The only light lancer that has returned is Roger, Still hopes for Pax, Dono, and Svend, but for now i'm listing them as MIA.

Two units.

The Ironswords and the Spectres

Pick one, or stay a floating Freelancer, which isnt necessarily bad if that's what you want.

(Sorta like being single, everyone nudges you to get married, but really theres nothing wrong with being single if that's what you want.)

Good enough.  When you're ready I can fill in the last 1.25t

Of the two units, which one has the down & dirty, git 'er done mindset?  That's the one I would like to join.

Ironswords.

We'll do the job till we're dead or you find someone better.

That's the motto from back when Zoe Hargrieve first made the unit, to when it was taken over by Lucius McMurphy, to when I took it over.  It's not that we can't finesse our way through things but more often than not we know shit goes to hell and a handbasket ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:24, Wed 01 July 2015.

I'm pretty sure I've been in that unit before, under your command as well.  Regardless, I'm in.  Let's shoot stuff!

I was XO in a Urbanmech a the time and technically it was called the Rat Pack under Zenha Grey's command. ;)

and then... there was the divine wind known as the ferret pilot, and an ammo explosion later, you werent.

A lucky Ferret hit, and the mech was gone, not I...well mostly as we know he had half his limbs replaced with artificial replacements but those are the costs of doing business as a mechwarrior :P

 I was in the Iron swords with my other mechs..Not sure if i would be useful back there again. No idea about the Specters unit but if not then i guess i would shift into the freelance pool?.

As I mentioned in the meant to be humorous recruiting speech and poster...Ironswords are a melting pot and we can find use for just about anyone.  What are you in these days Roger?  Javelin or something else?



Currently the Ironswords have the following Mechs:

Adam Carlyle ~ Hatchetman, 45 tons, 4/6/4, 2 AC/6's, 2 Medium Lasers
David Crain ~ Jenner, 35 tons, 7/11/5, 4 Medium Lasers

---

Currently the Ironswords have the following Support:

Elite Tractor-Trailer, 50 ton transport that can haul away 38.5 tons of salvage
Regular Karnov, 15 ton transport that can haul away 9.5 tons of salvage
Regular Heavy Ferret, 7.5 ton transport that can haul away 4.25 tons of salvage

Since it probably got buried in the other thread I'll throw it out here.

Spectres is a light weight force recon style unit, which focuses on rapid response, scouting, and quick strike missions.

Light mech fire power is complemented by carrying TAG for Hawkeye fire support provided by one or two missile heavy mechs, and conventional VTOLs. This enables the light units to effectively scout as well as spot for the units providing fire support. Which can in turn, then focus on indirect fire and avoid heavy return fire and line of sight issues.

Ideally EW support complements the unit, protecting and if need be countering enemy ECM.

---

Overall a more specialized unit, that requires a bit of cooperation and coordination between members when it comes to mech designs and other support aspects to function optimally.

Currently the Spectres consist of:

Akarian Euclid - Falcon 30 tons, 7/11/6, Light TAG, 3 Medium Lasers.
Joaquin Cortez - Spider 30 tons, 8/12/0, Light TAG, 4 Medium Lasers.


Conventional support and transports are still being confirmed.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:16, Thu 02 July 2015.

 Roger is piloting a Javelin 10N, slightly modified by removal of one bank of srm 6's, in trade for extra armor over the delicate parts of my mech.

Just to keep everyone in the loop...

Javelin only really needs 2-2.5 tons of armour on top of it's base.  Looks like you added 2.5 tons of armour and CASE and aren't using 1 ton of your freed up tonnage.

You might want to look into acquiring SRM5's.  At 2 tons a piece a pair of them would free up 2 tons compared to the SRM6/Ammo you dropped being 4 tons.  If you can get 6 tons of Ferro Armour that will give you the same AV as 6.5 tons of standard.  That would let you have your CASE in one torso, load 1 ton of ammo without would be 20 shots and toss an SRM5 in each torso.  A little less ammo than you have now for your SRM6 but you'd have a second launcher meaning more damage output as well as redundancy in case one launcher gets damaged.

Just a long term thought for you Roger :)

His issue might also be cash.

I did say long term. :)

Sides you'd need multiple occasions to build it up.  Try for an SRM5 and Ferro this time around if he has the money.  Do the same thing next time around.  Both times see if anyone is getting rid of/selling any extra Ferro to top things off.  It's not a I want it now plan.

Tentative 'Beta List', for Mech Perk List for common 20~30 ton mechs.

If your mech is listed among them, you may consider them for use immediately.

Will grandfather the length of time you've been using your current mech where appropriate.

link to a message in another game

Will add more as time allows, you may request specific mechs and i will try and do research on them for results.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:08, Thu 02 July 2015.

Go Death From Above! :P

I'm sure that Adam would like to know about the Hatchetmen in the short and Hunchback in the long term.

Those are nice perks. The flaw for Spider is one I've played many times before. Might as well just play like you know you aren't getting out when things get down & dirty. I would get the two perks myself.

Still working out the cost/familiarity requirements.

I try to give each mech 3~4 perks/flaws is the thought.

Perks / Flaws are pretty settled for those mechs, the cost i'm tweaking abit, i want it to be affordable, but not a monty haul giveaway.

   I'm looking for suggestions.  Bad Kitty is going to be as tricked out as possible very soon.  I'm not looking to trade my heirloom Panther for something different.  Other than saving up for a new power plant, what should I do with my availability rolls and soon to be growing pile of C-Bills?

Youve had bad kitty forever, i'm not sure how many missions, but you can probably pick up a perk or two at this point, if you want a suggestion where to throw your money at.

You could also start banking Hoff Heat Sinks.  At 100k a piece they are more expensive that DS/HS and you need 2 of them so you can cycle them correctly but they are the closest you'll get to true DHS and arguably are better since they are only one critical spot.

But Kitten is right.  Picking up the Mech 'quirks' are useful.

Hoff Heat sinks... they would be incredibly expensive to put on a LAM...


~.~

100k cb x 1.75 = 175k cb = 1.2 = alot of loot.

But it would let you put ER Medium Lasers on the LAM and not worry about heat.

ER ML 160k cb x 1.75 = 280k x 1.2 = Even more loot.

Medium Lasers arent bad, the strafe damage on both are the same, and the heat curve is actually better.

I've been hanging around here since Mission 8.  I think the +1 to piloting in the city could be a very useful.  Fire support could also be a useful thing.  I've got enough missions under my belt to get both, once Bad Kitty is kitted out.

Mech perks have been tweaked.

After some thought I thought it would be best to try and keep some play balance between them.

General rule at the moment is (2) Perks for the mech, (3) if they have a flaw.

We revise this slightly (again) later to add an additional perk to mechs that i judge to be unpopular, for various reasons, to tweak the balance again.

Done mucking around with the Mech Perks chart for now.

If you REALLY want me to add something, or i missed your mech let me know and i'll try and add it.

Mostly pleased with it at the moment, cost seemed balanced for what you get out of it.  Like everything else, the larger the mech, the more expensive it is to do anything with it, and this is no exception.

Save me some time, and if youre doing perks, let me know how many familiarity points you think you have and if you have the cash you can pick up the mech perks now.  They'll become effective after i confirm money and time in mech are accurate.

I... THINK i got stats up for all mechs that players are currently using, or may want to use, if this is not the case, let me know and i'll work on getting stats up.

exceptions, are the Ultra Lights and LAMs, which will require special research.

Looking at perks, is buying heirloom as part of an archetype and the initiative bonuses gone now than with these perks?

Or is it those perks are in addition to the +1 and only available if heirloom was bought initially?

Yeah, was about to announce that.

The current line of perks, was inspired by the Heirloom concept.  This being the case, it will replace the old Heirloom mech trait.  Instead of purchase Heirloom they'll get...

They may spend  10k cb to increase Mech Familiarity by (1), they may purchase this (10) times.

Character that are not using Archetypes (like Teri) may keep their Heirloom mech status.

Hopefully this doesnt mess up too much stuff.

>.<

It's a pay it not or pay it later sort of thing with Heirloom.  You can buy it at the start for less at a glance when you use the archetype system and many have that option or you can play in it for a good time and buy it later but at a slight increase in cost.

It was always a nagging bother, that the Heirloom was available at the start but could never be earned back no matter how long you piloted the mech afterwards.

The new perk system, it hit me this morning offered a chance to fix that.  10 missions seems like a darn long time, but there are characters around that have that many familiarity points...

Regina who's been around from the start has easily a dozen familiarity points.  While not easy, it's possible to earn Heirloom in a new mech.

Will need to review the Archetypes and decide if all of the archetypes should be allowed to purchase Familiarity to various degrees.

I'm thinking 3 will be 'average'.

Tentative unit assignments.  If you hvae a problem with this, best speak up now before it's firmed up in stone.

Iron Swords
Adam
Hans
David
Teri
Roger

Spectres
Akarian
Joaquin
Damien
Alaric
Svend

Freelancers
Electra

Regina
Luc
Rymin

Reserve
Olaf
Pax
Donovan

Did i forget anyone?

Trying something different, Akarian and Adam will be helping me with bookkeeping, character wise at least, leaves me free to resolve mission and campaign stuff.

I think i'm going to cut out the use of infantry for repairs/salvage.

If i cut that out, i think the process gets significantly simplier.

For a campaign of this scope, it's just a level of detail i dont want to deal with anymore.


Anyone using infantry with astech/scavenger is going to have to pick new specialties for them, or sell them back for full cash refund.

The level of complexity they add to bookkeeping is just a serious thorn in my side on several levels.

I may have a simplified FLAT amount of armor they help repair and maybe even salvage but the specialized infantry is just a terrible pain to deal with.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:50, Mon 06 July 2015.

If they are a big pain, cut them by all means is my suggestion. Else expect more, as I was already planning on buying them, and have been talking to WarDog about a ferret or two full of them as well.

Variable levels is a pain

Tracking infantry, apply for repairs, applying for salvage, loaning them around...

really they're a little too flexible which creates too many pauses in the bookkeeping to work out.

A flat 4af repairs/salvage for each experience level is what i'm going to be looking at.

Useful off the mission but not overly complicated.

Infantry are suppose to be there to fight, but they're being used as auxillary support waaaaay too much.  In many ways more useful than techs, which isnt appropriate imo

Well when 4 option level scavengers can loot 3 tons of armor alone that's 30k right there, if not being used to help pull expensive components. So it's certainly tempting to use them for support as is.

So I though of the infantry, when you took scavengers/astechs that you were really just buying more aux support units than pure combat squads.  They certainly are very expensive if you use them like that and in a number of missions wouldn't be able to use them at all when it comes to hit and run.

Woke  up and decided the year is 3030 and that the campaign was due for a minor tech adjustment.


Beta Ferro Fib, will be available on a tn 7+

Beta Endo Steel will be available on a tn 10+

---

Beta+ Ferro Fib, will be available on a tn 9+

Beta+ Endo Steel will be available on a tn 12+

The new versions are not compatible with the older versions.  They require two less critical spaces.  The 18 Critical space are default allocated as {6 RT/6 LT ~ 3 RA/3 LA}
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:08, Wed 08 July 2015.

Alaric rolled a 10 yesterday evening for Endo during character creation, can he go ahead and pick it up if he wants to? Or is it just the way of the market at work?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:06, Wed 08 July 2015.

If he wants he can have Beta Endo.

Roll was made yesterday and that's what was available yesterday.

Will let him take back the roll if he wants to try for the new Endo steel, but honestly, bird in hand.

Speaking of, are the people who declined a mulligan due up for availability rolls?

Everyone, those who did, and did not take mulligans get two new rolls for the finished contract.

Waiting on my lazy ass to tell you how much you've made before opening that can of worms.

Copy, standing by for monies!

Thanks Kitten, will pass it along.

Paydays are a good thing.  I've got some modification expenses coming up.

Paydays are awesome. I'm more looking forward to getting some xp so that I can get Alt Equipment. Having a Config B would be nice.

twinked the equipment chart.

Added New and True, Ferro and Endo is not readily available.  Rolls for them will be allowed with Future Auctions, or with the use of Academy Prestige, earned from missions.

---

The Academy researchers have been looking at the Old Hoff Heat Sinks, which they use on their power loaders, and have been working on improving it.

Added New Hoff Heat Sinks and Omni Triple Strength Heat Sinks...

---

Added Small Cockpits, which is pretty much from the Max Tech book.

You replace the standard cockpit with this small one.  The Small one only weighs 2 ton, and removes the 2nd Life Support, which is made available for equipment.  The down side is, that the tight space is harder to operate in, and the mechwarrior is at a penalty of 1.

This is considered a 'downgrade', and counts (1) tons against the mechs Cap.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:40, Wed 08 July 2015.

Adding new concept to the campaign. (This is all research that turns up at the Academy)





Think of Hot engines as the poor man's XL engine.

Presuming your standard engine weight 10 or more tons, you save 5 tons on the weight of the engine, at the expense of taking an engine hit, which makes the engine more fragile, and costs you 5 heat sinks.  It's also a little more vulnerable having Engine crits in the Right and Left torso.


Hot Engines are about 50% more expensive than standard engines, which isnt terrible when you consider that XL engines are 400% more expensive.

Mechs that use a lot of heat sinks... probably wont want a hot engine.

Mechs that run cool (Ballistics and Streaks), will probably give them a second look.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:14, Wed 08 July 2015.

Okay...

The way units are always in flux, the unit handicap concept is just a wash.

I'm making an effort to moving to a player handicap system instead.

Before...

a characters mission weight was determined by the mech they piloted, and nothing more.


Im moving toward adjusting this, based on how developed the character is (xp they have)

How much advance tech they have (the use of Endo Steel and DS/HS)

and the skill the player displays during a mission.


The weight of the mech multiplied by the handicap, plus an adjustment for conventional units, will determine the characters effective mission weight for future mission calculations.

As noted here...
link to a message in another game

Hmm so we're saying that saving 2 tons of weight via endo is worth 200% op force weight?

That seems a bit extreme.

2 ton of weight from endo steel = +1 handicap

So in Akarian's case... if nothing else is looked at...

30 ton mech x 1.1 = 33 tons effective mech weight.

Oh well I think the chart is missing a decimal point than.

As starting handicap of 1.0 + 1.0 from endo is 2.0 not 1.1.

Endo is currently listed as 0.25 per .5 tons, not 0.025.

1.1 seems much more reasonable though.

In the Extreme Case...

Regina...

She's a 683xp character, in a 30ton mech that uses Endo Steel, piloted by a skilled player.

So..

Base 1 + 0.29 + 0.30 + 0.2 = x 1.79 Handicap.

Her Valkyrie is 30 tons x 1.70 = 51 tons effective Mission weight.

Yeah, i just noticed i slipped a decimal.  The final numbers havent been firmed up yet, just presenting the concept for the moment.

Yeah, i just noticed i slipped a decimal.  The final numbers havent been firmed up yet, just presenting the concept for the moment.

Well I think the concept is sound, numbers will need tweaked likely as data comes in.

Though that doesn't sound to unreasonable in Regina's case.

One thing to note (fair/intentional or not) is that unit commanders will get hit harder with this, due to the XP from promotions.
Likewise EW characters and others that spend heavy into support skills, will cause over all more op force as well, despite not necessarily having increased damage output.

You have more xp, you have more developed characters.  Doesnt matter if it's from a promotion or not, you still have the 25 xp to throw into things to make the character better at what he needs to do.


Average leadership these days seems to be around a 4, but i remember the dark days of command when leadership was like... a two.

While they dont benefit themselves directly they do improve the effectivness of the overall unit.  Just because they arent doing damage directly, reducing the TN for a whitworth to hit with LRMs at long range, or providing defensive def modifier on with EW, provides the unit with a notable benefit.

If this werent the case, why would anyone play them?

Fair enough, I think it will likely work out mostly okay any which way you cut it. As a base line system it won't ever be perfect in every situation, but the manual handicap adjustment can be used to fine tune things, if something is off to much.

It also nicely accounts for free lancers which the old unit handicaps really didn't handle.

Though of course there is still a huge difference between a well ran unit that works together, and a disorganized/weakly led one. Individual level handicaps are likely to just make the later unit even more doomed.

That's actually accounted for in the player handicap.

Hey Kitten!

In the Pussycats XO thread for Mission 16 (link to a message in this game), you listed 'half base xp for Alaric and Quinn.' I did not participate in that mission, I am guessing that means I should not be receiving exp from it, is that correct?

Correct was working off a cellphone and mostly looking over completed objectives, i would have caught it come time to work out the contracts, no worries though thanks.

Right.

So here's the deal, been mucking around with the campaign bookkeeping and i have to admit, it's pretty messy.

Long time players know that i usually give players a mulligan to redo their characters to correct mistakes of the past.

Well, after looking over the mess that is the bookkeeping for the campaign, i'm putting it on the table to ask for a campaign mulligan, to just reboot the campaign and start the bookkeeping over.  I have some idea's to streamline the bookkeeping but they're really hard to implement on the patchwork of bookkeeping that's about right now.

At this point it's really easier to scrap it over, start over.

Not asking this lightly to be certain.


Storyline will continue where it is now, i just need to work over the campaign before moving forward.

The main issue is the entire system of personal and unit upkeeping is just too detailed to maintain easily in it's existing format.  It probably does seem bad from your point of view, but from the top to do for over a dozen characters, it feels staggering.

The second issue, is the disparity of power between veteran players and new ones.  It really is huge.  While not as big a concern as the monolithic bookkeeping, it is something that has me concerned.

A 'modest' bonus of cb and xp will be allocated for veteran players, so that they are rewarded for long time attendance in the campaign, but they (myself included) will likely lose more than they gain.

No alts at this time.


The alternative, if theres a serious player uproar of denial to this proposal is to push forward and patch current characters and clear out current bookkeeping which will include hacking away and discarding huge parts of the current system to streamline it.  No complaints as that happens since the opportunity to start over fresh was declined by you already.

Well, they've been rebooting Spiderman, Batman, and Superman for years.  I could live with being considered in such company.

At this point it's due for some serious overhauling, it's not going to be pretty either way, probably prettier (imho) to just burn it all down and start over.

Everyone is closer to a level field, and players can reorganize as they see fit.

Adam and Akarian will be unit leaders again, and people get a chance to reinvent themselves.

After two years, some of you might be looking for an excuse to let go.


Will give it a day or two, for discussion then will make a decision on which way were going based on player input.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:41, Thu 16 July 2015.

As a new-ish player to the game, I will go along with the majority decision.  I have enjoyed the game so far and would like to continue playing either way.  Since I do not have that much time invested(relative), it will not upset me to reset everything. But I can see how others would not like that idea.

 I have no problem with streamlining the book keeping and game system if it helps make it easier for you. So if redoing the system makes it easier..i say go for it.

I am also a newer player and this decision does not directly affect me as strongly as it does more veteran players. I do however support a move toward bookkeeping simplification as it strikes me that this will allow for more time on all sides to just enjoy the game. Moves that increase fun are good ones in my book. :)

In reply to Alaric Drusus (msg # 158):

Yeah, what he said.... MOAR FUN!

Okay, I'm counting five player support, and elsewhere i've got Adam and Akarian's blessing on this.

So i can shed all the old bookkeeping as obsolete and start over.  Mulligan thread is up.  On player... one post.

Keep the old character... make a new one...

Doesnt matter to me.

Old unit formations will stand unless i'm told otherwise.

Units may be renamed... or not.  Old designationations are used, as a reference but may change.  At this time, i am aware of only two players who want to be merc commanders, so we will be on a two unit format.


Ironsword
Adam, David, Teri, Roger, Piotr


Spectre
Akarian, Damien, Joaquin, Svend, Alaric


Freelancers
Regina, Olaf

Familiarity points will depend on the mech you pick.  IF you take something like a locust, that's been around forever  you'll get full FP.  If you take something that's only been around for the last few years, like a Hatchetman or Wolfhound, the FP will be cut down.

Since I have just completed the character mulligan discussed previously, can I simply keep that and call it done? Do I need to redo the availability rolls or are those good as they stand? Is it acceptable to assign the "up to 1 fp" to the Jenner I went with on the Mulligan?

Yes, you may keep your current character, it has minimal effect on you.

mostly you have one familiarity point with your character, and a few more xp and cb to start with.  Just update the character and post it in the campaign mulligan thread and it'll be fine.

Roger just found 26 xp and 260k cb.

He can have 3 fp's for his wolfhound, but that's it.  It hasnt been around all that long, and 3 fp is generous for such a new mech.

He does not have to spend any of these, and he too can repost Mikael with the new additions and be considered done with the process.

Kitten any idea how we are handling conventional combat units going forward? Should we simply consider them off the table for now?

Looking at rebuilding again, and as always a ferret or two starts to look like it would be in the plan. Need to plan availability rolls and all.

Characters allowed one conventional unit, for each point of rank that they have.  Not to exceed the characters mech weight.  Characters that are considered officers may select Conventional 'Unit support' units.  Each unit is allowed (2) Officers.  Everyone else is considered a normal Mechwarrior who promotes as a NCO.

Transports are going away.

Will allow characters without rank to purchase a single squad of infantry.

All conventional units will be consider 'regular' and will improve over time.


Holding off on rolling for conventionals, since i have to adjust the rolls and accomodate new rules for them.

Base availbility {Round all fractions up}

Tracked  ~ Unit weight / 5    + 0
Wheel    ~ Unit weight / 4    + 2
Hover    ~ Unit weight / 2.5  + 3
VTOL     ~ Unit weight / 1.5  + 4

Conventional Unit Support  +2
Conventional EW            +2

ie
5 ton ferret
5 / 1.5 = 4 + 4 = Base tn 8+


12 ton warrior
12 / 1.5 = 8 + 4 =  Base tn 12+


adjusted as normal with character stuff like mental, rank and options.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:56, Thu 16 July 2015.

Thanks Kitten,

Seems like tracked availability rolls got a lot easier. By that formula I could pick up a 30 ton LRM carrier (not that I would) on a 6 before character mods. Makes sense that tracked things would likely be the most common around though.

In reply to Akarian Euclid (msg # 167):

Yes.

You could, but that would also eat up 30 tons of your allowed available conventional.

So... you need to balance that into the consideration too.

Heirloom mech perks, do they start at rank 1 or 0?
Can they be upgraded with xp or have specialities as any normal option can?

It seems like most folks are in favour of a reboot so I'll throw my 'aye' in as well if that makes life easier for you Kitten.

Now to look over the templates to see if there's one I like or just keep David as-is...

Heirloom perks are level one, and never go up.

YOu may use it as a basis to learn specialty, but if you lose the mech/perk, you lose the specialty till you can find a new mech to relearn the perk.

---

The new archetypes are pretty cool David.  You've been with me forever, and i know youre losing a lot so i appreciate it.  Look at this as an opportunity to try something different?

Is all infantry now "regular" level only as well for initial purchase?

For instance, if I want to purchase a Ferret scout TN8, and roll a 12, can I spend another 35k to buy a squad of elite infantry to go with the ferret, or am I only allowed to purchase regular infantry?

In reply to Akarian Euclid (msg # 172):

Infantry is all regular, and prices for them need to be adjusted, as well as reworked.

Things like ast tech and scavenger arent going to be infantry skills anymore.

Should be noted were in the middle of a contract bookkeeping, so players will get 2 availability rolls on top of the ones they get from archetype.


David, Teri, Penny, Akarian, Damien, and Joaquin.  Your new character may.

They may select anything with an availability roll of tn 10+ and purchase it as one of their contract availability rolls with out rolling (your academy bonus)

or...

You may try and roll for something harder, with a bonus of +4 to your die roll to reflect your academy bonus.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:24, Thu 16 July 2015.

This may be a good time to point out that each game has a wiki available to the GM which you might find more convenient than maintaining a separate game for the same purpose.  The advantage to the wiki is that you can link topics from individual pages for much easier reference instead of digging through umpteen different threads to find that one answer.

The url would be wiki.rpol.net/?id=56363 (which you can create and edit as you see fit).

ugh.


not the first time someone's suggested i should look into making a wiki.

The last time was for my PF game.

I suppose i will consider it, though no promises.

wow.  you can do some cool things with the ruling i made on it this morning.

To re-iterate.  It counts as level one, for an option you do not already have.  You may invest xp to pick up a specialty in this option, but it will only be usable in heirloom mechs.  If the mech is lost or changed, you need to work on heirloom status all over again to get the spec back.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Thu 16 July 2015.

I've got a wiki setup for a game I'm running and I'm willing to help run you through it and answer any questions to the best of my ability.  I can provide a link via PM if you're interested.

They really are handy.

Larger dice count as -1/-2 for purposes of mech fu correct?

Aka attacking someone with Physical 6 2d8 if you only have a physical of 5 results in a +1 TN to hit them in physical combat? (+1 for each point they're below 5)

Actually a good question, i suppose we're enjoying the larger dice thing and going with it, at least as far as Energy, Missile, and Ballistics is concerned.  Mostly to account for the presence of extreme range.

Even willing to presume CAT will allow weapons with a range of 3 or less to fire at range 4, and count it as extreme.

Do we want to keep it for everything else?  Pilot checks and physical combat?

Yeah its an important question since mech specialist would allow applying a 2d7 or 2d8 to initiative, pilot checks, and thus also physical combat.

I'm okay with keeping it, it only changes the % curve a bit in general, with the bigger dice of course allowing you to pull off a better chance at high TNs or impossible TNs. Like a character jump jetting down next to a +5 moving VTOL and attempting to punch it out of the sky. Normally that would be 13+ and impossible. (Assuming standard 5 physical)

I'm tentatively allowing it for now, though reserve the right to change it, if it becomes a problem later on.

I need to look at phsyical combat harder and make sure the dice size arent messing it up.

Reminder...

AC/2s are considered standard tech, and do not require a roll for modifications.

For modification purposes...
At this time, you automatically make availability rolls to get CASE.  (Safety first for all you ammo using sorts)

Most unit assets... gone.

Only unit asset that i'm tracking is prestige points, which are used to buy unit level functions.


Personal over head... also gone.


Players will have 12 tons of space to put all their material possessions in.

No single piece of equipment will weight more than 2 tons.

A spare mech is considered (4) tons for storage purposes.

Armor, internals, weapons, equipment, they all fall under the 12 ton limit of stuff.

---

Units are allowed (2) officers, the CO and XO, who are the lance commanders.

These characters are alloted an extra (2) tons of inventory for each rank they have.

Freelancers are considered unit commanders of... themselves, and will get 1 ton of inventory for each rank they have.

---

Non-Infantry Conventional Units skill levels... Gunnery 4 and Drive 5.
Makes it easy for the BM to calculate numbers.

Green Units ~ Standard Conventional units ~ No Specialties.

Regular Units ~ Standard Conventional units ~ (1) Specialty

Veteran Units ~ Command variant Conventionals units ~ (1) Specialty

Elite Units   ~ Command variant Conventionals units ~ (2) Specialty

How the units specialty is determined is still a work in progress.

---

Salvage

Characters have a Salvage Rating equal to their Mental rating + X-tech + Tinker.
A squad of infantry will add one to the characters Salvage rating.

One Salvage point = 10k cb of equipment recovered off the battlefield.
One Salvage point = 16af of field repairs.

So a character with a Mental rating of 2, X-Tech 1 and a squad of infantry is worth 4 salvage points

They can recover 32af of armor from the field, and use it for repair on their mech... If they took no damage they can just salvage a Medium Laser... if they took a lot of damage, they wont bother with salvage and will draw armor from their personal inventory to repair 64af of armor damage.

Quicker... and more individual oriented, though players in the same unit can pool their resources to salvage larger things like a Guardian Suite on the field that someone might want, but cant salvage by themselves.


Unit resources can also be spent on salvage operations doubling the pay out value for disabling a mech.  Mech is also automatically available to anyone that ones to buy it for an up/down grade... or for the really rich for a spare mech.

Handicaps take into account Character development (xp used), mech development, and player skill.

The first two are hard math calculations.


the last is subjective, based on what i've seen in the campaign.  Take it all with a grain of salt, a high handicap means i think you do well, and you weigh more heavily on missions.  If you're new, it means i havent seen you play enough and you'll be around +.000.  A low or negative handicap means i think you struggle and you will weigh less heavily on missions.  Starting handicaps will range from -.2 to +.2 .

During the course of the campaign it will go up or down, based on what happens on the missions.

+.200 Adam
+.100 David
+.100 Piotr
+.000 Teri
-.100 Roger

+.200 Akarian
+.100 Joaquin
+.000 Alric
+.000 Damien
+.000 Svend

+.200 Regina

---

To refresh your memory...

Handicap is used to determine you effective mission weight for mission Op Force calculations.


ie Himiko is in a 20 ton locust and has a handicap of x1.305 = 26.1 tons, fractions all round up so she's valued at 27 tons for missions.

Conventional units will be added to the handicap, which have a flat value.  (to be determined later)

* * * ATTENTION * * *


yeah... i know this process can be drawn out, and take forever as you discuss and work out the numbers again... and again... and again...


Thats fine.

So i'm going to put out a little incentive for players to wrap up and get their paper work in sooner, rather than later.


I'm going to be going through characters, and as i do, I'm going to be waving my magic fairy god mother wand around here and there.  If i'm good with your character sheet and i've marked it completed, based on how long you've been in the campaign, and what i see on the character sheet, i will offer you stuff to buy.

The sooner you get your stuff in, the better your odds are of getting the chance to buy something cool.  The longer you wait, the more likely youre going to end up with a rock.  Character in after the 20th will get no bonus... but will have had the advantage of 4 full days to uber tweak their characters.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:38, Fri 17 July 2015.

To save yourself grief...

players should make the purchases from availability, but not make mods to their mechs till after i post any bonus material they might want to buy (which may be included in mech mods)

Hey Kitten!

Thank you for taking a look at the revised Alaric already! :)  It looks like the character options section of the sheet still show his old options (hazard checks/tactics/damage magnet/Edge 1) instead of the ones I switched him to with the character mulligan (Heavy Mech Specialist/Energy Weapons/Edge 0). Additionally, the inventory lists Endo Steel and I believe the purchase was for Beta Endo Steel, does that need to be adjusted?

Options, fixed

'Endo' with out notation is pretty much understood (by me at least) to be Beta.  The easiest to get.  The newer versions are available though because of the harder availability rolls (really beta is pretty hard as is) no one is attempting them.

Awesome, thank you! :)

(Keep in mind this is subject to my time to actually sit down and work through the character sheets.  I work top down... and will aspire to do...around four or five or so a day.)

I've been put on... by David... to make an attempt to create a wiki for the game.


I suppose after all this time, it's due.

VERY little done with it, so far ive only created a Table of contents, the intro and archetypes...

Very very very very useless at the moment, will try and change that over time.


Link is, http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=56363

When it's actually worth a darn, I'll put it out in the reference section.

New Ballistic Spec...


Hail of Bullets ~ cost 15xp
Machine Guns may be used to spray an area defensively with bullets, acting as AMS to knock down missiles.
10d6 Ammo used and 3 Heat generated

---

Wall of Lead ~ cost 35xp
Machine Guns may be used to spray an area defensively with bullets, acting as AMS to knock down missiles aimed at a target within 30 meters.
10d6 Ammo used and 3 Heat generated


New Tactics Spec...

The lonely road ~ cost 15xp
+1 bonus to character's tactics when they are not part of a Lance

---

I work alone ~ cost 35xp
+1 bonus to character's tactics when they are not part of a Lance
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:36, Sat 18 July 2015.

As discussed by the battlemasters and unit commanders, Only half the mental rating (rounded down) will be used for calculating leadership.  This means that initiative, will get notably harder for missions and no longer be quite the cake walk youre use to.

The beta use of options to increase dice modifier, is being concluded as i make a final decision.

I've decided to use the larger dice modifier from options only for weapon attacks.  Weapon attacks have a limited number of character adjustments and the use of natural tn 13+ for extreme range makes use of the larger dice.


For other skills it gets really mucky using it for pilot checks and other things.  I'm not going to go through the particular incidents that i'm concerned, suffice to say they're there, and serious enough for me to make the call at this time to discard them for non accuracy options.

{Stroke's locust's foot affectionately}

I've always loved this mech.

My only regret about piloting the locust, is the total lack of torso space for equipment.

2 CT and 1 RT critical is all i'm every going to have for equipment on it.

Was asked if you could take a mech spec twice.

I said no.  It would be like taking ballistic twice which is pretty breaking.


I was also asked was there a way to take more specs.

I said no.  Specs may not exceed options....


So heres what I was thinking...

For purposes of spec you can take repeat options.  In the case of mech spec you would have to spec in the same much.  The option bonus would cap at two but you could take more specs by developing them both and get a plus two benefit much earlier.


Ie you could take mech spec light twice develop both to two.  Only get a plus two bonus for pilot but be allowed to take four specs from light much spec.  Allowing you to take both shoot on the fly and run and gun.

Maybe... if you max both options... I would bump the bonus to three....

Just thinking out loud.  Thoughts...

It's seems super expensive (your now losing an option plus 75xp on top of it, to get 2 more specs), but seems like it might work okay.
The trade off of being able to grab 2 specs and 2 options level bonuses for only 50 XP initially invested vs a full 75 is an interesting one.

Although it does make use of one of those "exception" type rules which always makes things a bit more clunky and feel off. E.G 4 levels of ballistic options essentially bought, but only 2 levels count for bonuses. As a designer I never like those types of exceptions as it usually means you're doing something the system wasn't designed to do, and are writing a one off vs redesigning the core system.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Mon 20 July 2015.

Balancing it in my head.

Let's say...

We leave normal single option progression the way it is, and it's considered 'normal'.


Let's say we have something we call a 'specialized' option.  Not only are you good with an option, youre pretty darn godlike.

Option bonus would work as...

1st 25 xp ~> +1 Bonus +1 Spec
2nd 50 xp ~> +2 Bonus +1 Spec
3rd 75 xp ~> +3 Bonus +2 Spec

So after 150xp put into the option you'd have a +3 bonus, and 4 specs in it....

It is a double sized option though, meaning youre giving something else up.

Overall, it's costing you a bonus to something, but youre getting the same number of specs, they're just all concentrated in one particular option.


So for 150xp, i could be +3 Ballistics...
Have Cluth and Deadly shot, as well as fully developed fire discipline and sure shot... for another 100xp.

Sure... that's 250xp and 2 options gone, but look at what youre getting.

Yeah 2d9 for dice to roll for Ballistics.
Fire Discipline, Sure Shot, Stand and Deliver, Sniper

That sounds really interesting actually.  Let's say 100xp for piloting 5 then 150xp for triple assault mech specialist, meaning my init and physical attacks are at base 2(!)

I would have to go with pulse lasers so I don't completely tank my shooting phase.

That would use up 250 of your 350xp...

with the remaining xp, you could pick up 50xp accuracy for a base of 6

and invest the last 50 xp into pick up ... shoot on the fly or run and gun, both sort of help you, for a hatchetman, shoot on the fly is better... youre never going to move fast enough for run and gun.

I think... i shall go with this double option concept as a Beta test, to see how it works out.

My call sign is not Catgirl.  With the reset, it is now Kate.

Noted, wasnt noted in mulligan so wasnt updated.

In reply to Kitten (msg # 205):

I didn't think of it in time, sorry.

no worries, a minor update, already done.

Working with Lina to get my character finalized and approved.

The Hatchetman is an experiment, really.  I'm curious to see how it works but if it looks like I'm going to be a liability then I'll swap out to my backup plan: sniper blackjack

No matter to me. I dont mind waiting.


Waiting for Joaquin and Damien too.

Should be good to go Kitten

I've been trying to follow the discussion, but it's not clear to me (likely a consequence of still being new, or of moving over the last two weeks). What is the current mechanical effect of x Mech Specialist? Is it +1 to piloting rolls per level, instead of the die size increase?

That's correct Alaric, straight +2 (or rather -2 from your pilot, so 6 is now 4) now vs 2d8 at level 2.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Wed 22 July 2015.

Pilot skill isnt like accuracy.

Accuracy, the options cross each other a lot less often.


For piloting the adjustments overlap...


So someone with mech specialist could get plus 2, that same someone with physical combat could get another +2 for physical attacks, this same someone could get +2 for hazard checks.

They're now rolling use 2d10 to land a death from above and 2d12 to avoid falling from a death from above.

The dice get really strange an wacko, worst, is trying to fit it all on a mech sheet in an easy to read format.  Physical combat is mucky enough is it is.  It doesnt need the convert to levels to figure out a basic punch to the face.

The above would be 4 levels of attack bonus, and 6 level of physical defense....  NOt too terrible sitting here looking at it, but to force a BM that's not familiar with the stats to do it, seemed unnecessary cruelty to BMs.

Easier to just leave it as a flat bonus number and adjust by tactics, physical attacks, etc as needed.

Wait are you saying these are + added to dice rolls and not modifiers to actual base ability?

Cause that impacts the whole physical vs physical combat + thing that goes on. EG attacking someone with pilot 6 when you are 5 is +1 to hit, or vice versa.

They are modifiers.  You'll note anyone with mech specialty has had their TN reduced by one, and it's not even noted that they have mech specialty on their mech sheets.

Okay, great that's what I thought, on same page than.

FINALLY Back from the Anniversary weekend. Mom and Dad sprung a surprise on me and showed up at my door at 6am Wednesday morning (they were suppose to be here Wednesday evening). Needless to say it threw my planning all out of wack. Was good to see them and get away.
On a side note, shoulder surgery is scheduled for the 29th. Shouldn't slow me down too much I'm hoping. Being regulated to my recliner is going to leave me pretty board, so I figure I'll have my tablet to keep me occupied.
Plan to catch up shortly. Know I'm behind the curve on the new makeover and all that.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Thu 23 July 2015.

Akarian is going medical on us soom and i have a camping trip with the family coming up and will be out for a long weekend.

Just trying to get us all sorted out before then.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:05, Wed 22 July 2015.

Just in case you somehow missed it...

http://bg.battletech.com/news/...tiatedthree-two-one/

Hi everyone.  I'm back with lots of catching up to do it seems.

(Hands Olaf his campaign mulligan and tells him to make a new character)

sowwy.

Woah, what happened?

*sharpens pencil and gets to work*
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Fri 31 July 2015.

Woooo

http://battletechgame.com/

Almost makes me willing to go into a office everyday again, but no.

Hello everyone.

My physiotherapy is over and I have mostly recovered from the car accident I was in last fall.  I am hoping to come back and play again, although I may have to review how much time I have, what role I would be able to play, and get back to know my character again.

I hope everyone has had fun here and not stressed Kitten too much like I was doing,

- John aka Mattias Hudson

gives Matt a hug.

Always great to racquaint with old players.

Did a cocamalign reboot.  Out of pocket and typing on phone.

Will give you and Olav your bonus start xp and cb when I get home.

Till then figure out a charaster start.

Archetypes, specs,mech familiarity to name a few of the notable new things that hopefully justify a much needed reboot.

And if either of you need a hand let me know and I'll help.

As an aside Kitten you totally sound drunk on your phone.

not use to typing on the phone.

a novelty.

waiting for baby to come home and get settled then will give the campaign a through look over to see what needs to be done.

Hey Kitten, quick clarification question.

How is sure shot going to work with Ultra weapons?

Misses will still miss.

Natural rolls that trigger jams and ammo explosion will still happen.

These are mechanical defects from firing too fast that have nothing to do with aiming accurately.

If youre going to stop the jams and explosions have an edge in your pocket if youre firing quick and loose.

I think he's more wondering that with Ultra you roll on the SRM2 missile hit chart and on a 8+ you'll hit with two shots instead of 1.  So the question is if you roll less than that will Sure Shot stop the extra round from firing and causing heat.

Yes to both aspects of the question.

(ponders)

will have to think about that one.

Currently (before coffee) i think you roll number of hits, and if it misses, you generate no heat for the miss, but it still misses, they're not steak all of a sudden and all hit.

Right....

It's been 15 months since i closed my last Pathfinder Campaign on RPOL.


I had a good premise for a new campaign last night, and in the midst of ... slowly ... putting it together.  I have not opened the campaign to a cattle call yet, since i am still currently working out the particulars.

Have a look... and if youre interested... drop me a RTJ.

If not, i'm not offended.


link to another game

I am having an issue finding subcategories of experience options such as "Tactical Hunch" or "Giving Orders."  I have gone through the threads in both Mercenaries and Bookkeeping as well as Kittentech.  Can someone direct me to the thread or wiki entry?

(hugs)


sorry sorry...


In the midst of re organizing...

The link is at the top of the reference thread but for a quick note...


This is the root of the wiki...
http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=56363


Tactical Hunch and Giving Orders are specialties for the options 'Tactics' and 'Leadership', respectively.

If anyone has questions on where to find anything, please ask me.  I'm in the middle of reorganizing, if i dont know the answer it's possible one of the players will know it and answer it off the top of their heads, were still all friendly Matt.

(hugs)

Thank you for the link, Kitten.

I am not trying to sound unfriendly.  *hug*  :)


Hmm, I have another question.  Given how old my rule book is, I seem to recall that AMS now adjusts the missile roll table by 4 instead of shooting down a d6 worth of them.  How would that interact with a streak system, where one does not normally roll on that table?

[Answer: Streak automatically rolls an 11 on the number of missile hits, subtract 4 for the AMS]
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

Real Tech meets BattleTech - Cooling Vest

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001P...su_dp?tag=duiwath-20

That's exactly what it would take for me to move to Florida where my family is from.  So thanks for that, now I am out of excuses!  :P
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

Need to look at AMS again.  I though it was still a d6 missiles knocked down, it's been... like... never.. since anyone has used AMS,so i'm going to have to look...


why am i looking... who's using AMS?

I was building my character, and was thinking of picking up ballistics ability and machine gun AMS.  I probably will not go that route anymore.

Sorry for not being around the last month. I had a few things hit all in succession to keep me very busy.  I am trying to catch up now and see where everything stands.  It looks like there is no active mission at the moment. Am I missing anything? Are we still in the rebuilding process?

Welcome back Damien, there is an active mission, but you aren't in it, so you and some others are still in the mulligan phase.

Ok, cool.  I need to get my stuff organized anyway.

wb ami, i'm in player mode, and developing some stuff elsewhere but keeping tabs on stuff here too.

I saw the post about your other game so I looked it over. Sounds like an interesting spin on traditional fantasy types.

And I lost whatever I had written up for myself, so I need to start over.

In reply to Damien Cole (msg # 245):

That campaign is full up and i'm actually working on getting character sheets finalized and squared away...

At the moment its very closed with a very dedicated and solid looking player base.

Sowwy.

I meant what I had written for this game. I do not think I could keep up with another game at this point.  Sorry if that was misleading.

Ah~ That's MUCH better.

^.^

 I would guess that one of the first rules of combat applies here, No plan survives contact with the enemy.

I don't have an abundance of experience here from which to speak, but I have encountered situations where the plan didn't survive contact with the plan before.

Actually in my case, no plan survives contact with vacation.

Quick rules question, do AC/2 Lights and Rapids draw from the same ammo or do you need two bins?

They were like any other ammo using weapon.

Sometimes they work from one bin (like a blackjack), sometimes they draw from separate ones (like a whitworth).

I only asked because they have two different ammo/ton numbers.

oh, you mean are they the same weapon?

no they're not.

AC/2 rapids do not use the same ammo as AC/2 Lights.

It's like saying, do Machine guns and AC/2's share the same ammo bin.

They both do 2 damage, but they're different weapons.

---

For the curious, design justifications for the weapons and ammo usage...

ie...  Roleplaying reason...

The AC/2 rapids were considered a field weapon, and intended to use as a field weapon.  They use the standard Ballistic formula of 100 damage per ton.

The AC?2 lights, were considered a 'hold out' weapon, or a replacement for Machine Guns.  They are notably lighter than the AC/2 rapids and on par with Machine guns.  To reduce the weight to hold out status, or increase the range from machine guns, much of the performance is credited to the non-standard ammo that the AC/2 light uses.  While the cost per ton for an AC/2 light is the same, you get much fewer shots per ton than the AC/2 rapids.

This was not considered an issue for the Omni Engineers because they were considered a reasonable replacement for Machine guns which for the most part were two weapons per ton.  The ammo while reduced was reasonable for two AC/2 lights, it only really became a problem when they were treated as 'main' weapons and more than two ac/2 lights were going to be installed.  Not really a problem for Omni Power loaders who had limited hard points and ample weight displacement for weapons.


ie... Play balance reason...

Machine guns have a obnoxious ammo count that players (before burst MG) were unlikely to ever consume.  So i decided to create an anti mech version of the light MGs as a quick replacement for mechs armed with the MGs.  The justifcation for the greater range was a drastic reduction in ammo.

AC/2 rapids were considered the 'upgunned' version of the weapon for combat and patterned after SRM2s.  Same weight and range, and damage outline as an SRM2.  The notable difference being the reduced cost of the ammo, which was acceptable since they actually got half the use of the ammo.

(a SRM 2 will get fifty shots... an AC/2 rapid triggering two shots will go through the same fifty shots twice as fast.)

Whiile the SRM2 is considered a non popular weapon, the aspect of allowing Ballistic focused characters a light ballistic weapon, was really needed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:09, Wed 19 Aug 2015.

And Knowing is Half the Battle.

While the new weapons might seem random with no basis, closer examination or questions to me, will show that there are rules as a basis for most of the stuff i've introduced, and even roleplaying support for.  The exception perhaps being the EW rules, which Battletech really just for the most part ignores.

How goes the battle?

Its a bit Rocky I right now..

No quick knock outs alas.

(Ponders)

It's still early in the reboot process.

If were rebooting the characters, i'm wondering if we should just not work half measure and reboot the campaign with a new premise using the current batch of characters.

Thoughts?

Do you want to finish this story line out or should we start a new one?

New one would fall in one of two directions...

Tauren's, Comstar's direction or Solaris' direction, which was the direction the campaign was going to head once the Omni campaign was wrapped up.

Solaris might be interesting, I'm good either way, though I wish we weren't losing players so much. Seeming like I'll need to find a new XO, for Spectres.

I think my character would fit right in at Solaris.

Well if we go to Solaris, it would be a new format, with 'Stables' and 'Teams' instead of units.

Sounds interesting, I guess BMs would need to likely run multiple teams, without current resources. (Assuming we are talking about smallish teams.)

I actually wanted to do something like a solaris thing, for Mac's website,but couldnt get interest in the concept.

I'm willing to contemplate reviving it for a second try.


matchs are self  played, in that there are only one or two units, so after the initial map, there are no map updates for matches, and you have to track what's happening for yourself.

also, you start playing other players, and it's a duel atmosphere where one, maybe two players match off against each other.

For more than one vs one matches, some one involved should be willing to update maps to keep things straight.

I'm less inclined to do something like that with KittenTech and more inclined to do that with Time of War or Mechwarrior 2nd Ed for easy crossovers.  Solaris is great and all but I look at that more as a backdrop for the events going on in the city in an almost Shadowrun sorta fashion, minus the cyberware of course in pre-Jihad days.  For me I'd want more RPG with some duels otherwise it's just number crunchy 3.5 arena using giant robots...and that is something that I don't want to do.

Yeah, to be honest, I wasn't thinking of only small duels and between players at that. I enjoy the tactics and communications present with lance size units, I personally wouldn't want to lose that.

Mentally I was still thinking the mercenary unit aspect, but in Solaris setting/back drop, seeing more unique op force and equipment, etc. Different fighting conditions, yadda yadda.

In reply to Lucius McMurphy (msg # 266):

I have an abandoned (but not deleted) AToW game here on RPoL that attempted to do exactly what you're describing here, Lucius.  I was planning on running events both in and out of the cockpit but it never really took off.

One of my key points was that players had to be able to update maps on their own so I didn't get bogged down with all the work if the game became popular.

Really if it's only two units on the map you dont have much updating to do, since it's only two units to track, yourself and your opponent.

Regardless i just had my shower and concluded what i'm going to do.

Even if you have the inclination to play out the fall of Omni mission,i really dont have the interest to at this point and time.

My solution is to do for the campaign what i do for missions that have run and in need of being wrapped up, summerize it.

It's not going to be a thoughtless summary though, i'm going to slowly roleplay out the planned events on Omni, and the players will have an opprotunity to discuss and opt what they want to do as things unfold on Omni.

When Omni concludes, we will be 'somewhere', and where that somewhere is, is where we will pick up.  A conservative award will be alloted to the characters, based on the events that occur, and we will continue.

(Points)

New thread being typed up to wrap up the omni campaign, you may answer on it with a character post, or comment here in ooc, with your thoughts on what you should do.

Are we canceling the current m18 than? (I assume yes)

Yes, it's far enough along that i can presume that the outcome is at best a stalemate.

(If you want you can play it out to the bitter end, but it's just not a pretty outcome.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:47, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

No thats fine, if were killing the Omni campaign, its probably not worth fully finishing out. Outcome is very hazy, no need to risk major damage or death to members of the lance, when a whole new game is about to spawn essentially.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Agreed. Svend is a Solaris pilot anyway. He might just like going back to the pits.

I am really at a loss for what's going on here. Ending the mission/campaign 'early,' I get, but nothing else makes sense. What is Solaris? What kind of changes are we talking about?

Solaris is a planet equivalent to the Roman Colosseum

I don't think any decisions have been made to what we will be doing.

Info on Solaris http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Solaris

Mechanically there will be no changes but some additional XP/C-Bills perhaps.

The others have given you a good idea about Solaris I thin between the link Akarian gave you and Svend's short but sweet comparison.  Ultimately what it is comes down to where the Merc Org that we all fight under gets the next contract...which is decided by what Kitten mainly and BM's think is a good angle to take moving forward.

I'm undetermined at this point, i'm allowing players to pick their paths to play out.  I'm going to go with the individual decisions at this point, though unit commanders may make an effort to keep the unit together.

Obviously the longer you stay on planet the better the pay out is going to be, but you have to
expect an element of risk for that pay out as well, which will be decided by a few dice rolls.

Gunnery rolls to see how much damage you dish out in an encounter, pilot (initiative) rolls to see how little damage you take.

Like there ever was a question of if Lina was going to boost off immediately :P

Luc might or might not linger.  Depends a bit on Regina.

Adam...

Well we won't go there ;)

Regina wont really care, and would follow Luc's lead.

She doesnt like the Taurens, but she thinks the Omni concept is as a den of Heathens that work against Blake's will, so it's the choice of lesser evils for her.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:53, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Will slowly update the roleplaying thread every 48 hours.

Inactivity pretty much equates to having the character do whatever i consider easiest for me to resolve things.

Teri goes where the unit goes.

 He does not like fleeing the battle but he goes where his unit goes, still he will not like the reputation he is building up, even if it isnt his fault.

Well Mikael you are part of the Ironswords and if you stick with them they are staying on planet and not boosting.  Same with Teri.

You don't have to post like Kitten said but if you're sticking with the Swords even a short post in the IC thread saying they are staying with Lina will help.  Both for Kitten and for Lina in any RP she does.

I've been co-opted by my business partners for the foreseeable future.  If you think you see me doing things I swear it's not really me...

;)

Don't we have a book to follow Reggie?

Maybe, watching the things unfold to see where we end up.

The real question is, who is going to join the bulls... ;p

I dunno, one possible outcome was to have the planet captured, and the freelancers out of work, and the bulls offer you a contract, at which point it's a campaign to conquer the periphery.

Would you still allow two characters?  One for your Tauren campaign, the other for Solaris.

There is only going to be one campaign, i'm following player action to determine what the campaign direction is going to be.

Fair enough.  I'll go with the crowd when the crowd figures out where it's going.

David has indicated his destination so I may have to make a new character if the new campaign isn't Solaris.

His destination is anywhere off Omni, which is fine and a vague destination half way across the inner sphere which is really really far away, and only a tentative plan, so... you shouldnt need a new character, unless you want one.

 Everyone else having a heat wave also?, it has been kinda brutal here on the west coast. I may not be the sharpest cookie of the bag but I have notice the posting dropping off.?

It is crazy hot and humid here.  As for posting yeah round house.  Here though it's Kitten working out in more of a multiple choice adventure book how things wrap...last I knew.

 Think its time for the Clans to invade?.

No.  not quite.

The bad news, you already know it.  Critical burn out and a surge of real life activity detracting my attention from the campaign.  I'm still working through the start of my son starting school and arranging my activities around him.

The good news, the time down has given me time to mull over where to take the game.  It will notably deviate from what you might expect a 'normal' battletech game to go.  This is bad, if you just want to play standard table top battletech, but this might also be good if you like experimenting with new things and trying your hand at non standard battles.

If you've been in this campaign this long, you know something about the missions i put out.  The objectives arent always obvious, and the difficulty can be surprisingly hard to gauge.  So, when i say were going to get into even stranger rules and mission objectives, that should mean something.

I'm putting down the wrap up story line, and starting a new one... hopefully all tonight.

If i can, i would like to get it to the point where i can get a roll call, to see who's actually left, and interested in played.

Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind.

way the hell out there.

if you want to change character concepts, now's the time to do it.  Call it a free mulligan.

if you like your character, you may keep it, though you'll have to start off with a new mech..
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:27, Tue 29 Sept 2015.

Happy with Akarian, but that mulligan might make sense depending on what is left. Not a lot of point in having hundreds of XP pushed out into unit leadership spec, if its not going to be used.

I'm going to take advantage of the mulligan. Where do you want to proposed changes?

I am intrigued by the new direction and still present. Going to hold off on a final decision regarding keeping Alaric vs. coming up with a different person for the moment, but put me down for staying on board. :)

My husband and I have a guest coming in from out of state tomorrow, so I'll be a little less active on RPoL until next Wednesday, but I will keep an eye out for shiny, red text on my dash.

Give me a name, for roleplaying.

You can make a character later, but you have nothing but cash to start.

equipment is going to be roleplayed through, so you need to roleplay through Regina, to get your mech.

With the quick end to things Lina would stay with family.

For the time being use Luc since he is the most likely one to have followed Reggie all the way.

I'll go with the name Mortimer Grissom

done.

you'll get Svend's xp/cb bonus, but be allowed to pick out a new archetype to work with.

dont worry about the mech selection yet, you'll pick up a ride through the roleplaying.

I'll go with the name Jarold Harven.

Done.

off to bed, seeing a friend tomorrow morning so will be out till the afternoon.

I've been enjoying the campaign so I'll stick around because the premise for this campaign sounds quite intriguing.

Having read your epilogue Kitten, can I pretend the interim mulligan never happened and I was able to escape (barely) off-world with my old Jenner?  (If not the Jenner was worth a fair bit and I plan to roll up a new character regardless).  David took one of the Tauren first offers so it's plausible he made it off-world and headed in the general direction of Solaris 7.

New name for my guy?  Let's go with... Sean Reynolds, code name 'Firefly'

I might be slightly shameless...

No one gets to keep their mech.

You all get handed cash, and the opportunity to pick up a new one, as will be outlined in the roleplaying... (shortly)

Are we keeping the recently reworked characters or do we pick new templates?

you may keep the reworked character, if you want, or take a mulligan and make a new one.

Mechs all go away though and are replaced by money to buy a new mech.... to modify as noted.

Will open up the rollcalll section for players to post character sheets, when i'm ready to receive them.... please dont spam my PM till i'm ready to work on new characters.

After 24 hours, we've had a good turn out on the attention check.

So far...

Unconfirmed character/player list
Piotr      8 missions   +16xp / +160k cb / and up to + 8 fp start up bonus
Damien     3 missions   + 6xp / + 60k cb / and up to + 3 fp start up bonus
Joaquin    8 missions   +16xp / +160k cb / and up to + 8 fp start up bonus



Confirmed list +6xp /+60k cb/ NO FP FOR ANY ARCHETYPE.

Regina Arlington ~ +38xp / +380k cb (may purchase +1 rank for 100k cb)
Akarian          ~ +22xp / +220k cb
Jarold Harven    ~ + 8xp / + 80k cb
Lucius McMurphy  ~ +38xp / +380k cb
Mikael Blomquist ~ +26xp / +260k cb
Mortimer Grissom ~ +12xp / +120k cb
Sean Reynolds    ~ +35xp / +350k cb (may purchase +1 rank for 100k cb)
Teri             ~ +16xp / +160k cb

Piotr, has indicated, that he cant make the campaign cause of free time issue, hate to see him go but he has an open invitation to return if his schedule frees up

Damien i believe dropped out, and sadly to my knowledge has not checked in.

Joaquin had some medical issues, not sure if that's going to keep him offline or not.

Gave Olaf and Mattias a bump, to see if they're still interested.

We're looking at a count of about 8 players.

Unit organization will be a little different.

Regina will be a Liason Officer and show up where she is most useful.

You are 'one' unit, I'm good with calling you the Freelancers, unless you want to come up with a new name.

Lucius and Akarian are going to be the offical 'lance commanders' and lead missions, having a spare 'officier' around for over sized missions might be good, so if youre interested in making a Leadership type, there is room for it.

Everyone else will be mech warriors, and get assigned as needed from missions.  (ie, everyone is the equivelent of the old freelancers).

Mechwarriorrs with conventional units, when appropriate will have the option to take them along for missions.  (ie, they're on planet and available for use).  List them with the character as needed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:36, Tue 29 Sept 2015.

Roll call thread up, if youre not changing your character that's fine, you still need to post mech selection and modifications.

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