Blasphemy!

Just a footnote:

The next mission is presented to the merc officers (Pax, Luc, Ana, Kurt) and they filter information down, so... you cant quite put yourself at the place of the debriefing, though you can roleplay with your commanding officer about being told about it.

(mostly so i dont end up roleplaying with everyone abuot it.)

I have a question regarding the whole "fighting in a vacuum" thing, specifically how it affects heat dissipation.

I did a little Googling on it the other night when it was brought up, mostly answering the question of "is it that hard to get rid of heat in space?" It turns out that, yes, there is really only one reliable method: radiating it outward. Since these 'Mechs haven't been altered to turn their heat-sinks into big hot-plates, the half-effectiveness rule makes sense.

Something else I saw, however, hinted that any device that isn't running hot would eventually get hyper-cooled, to the point where ice might form on it if there's any moisture nearby. There's no "room temperature" in space.

Might I suggest an add-on to the rules re: heat dissipation in a vacuum? Specifically, allow units to go into negative heat, equal to their (modified) heat-dissipation value. For instance, a base 'Mech with ten heat sinks would only disperse 5 heat per turn, but could actually go to –5 heat if just sitting around. A larger 'Mech with, say, 20 sinks could go down to –10.

They wouldn't cool off any faster than the rules state, but it would give them a buffer you wouldn't be able to get in other environments.

Random question:  Has anyone paid to participate in the closed Beta for MechWarrior Tactics?  Is it worth the 20 bucks?  The game looks like it has a ton of potential, but it seems like it's been in closed beta forever, making me worry that I'll be throwing the money away and it'll never launch fully...

Nope, but I really should take a look at it, given I'm sorta competing against it.

 I am wondering if the .5 rule extends to lrm or srms on a low gravity world?.

In reply to Kitten (msg # 1):

For the faithful, there is no fear of death.  Hassan's funeral shroud will be much less encumbering than a space suit.  Faith and speed will be his armor against the vacuum, Insh'Allah.

Besides, I'm going to let the Vindicator and Blackjack kill everything.  :)

Status of Mercs Bookkeeping, and Unit organization for next contract.

Arms Inc. (leadership 4)
 (30t) Valkyrie - Odin   /Kurt  - Ready {suited}
 (35t) Jenner-F - Avenger/David - Ready {suited}
 (40t) Whitworth- Viking /Roger - Ready {suited}
 (35t) Panther  - Catgirl/Teri  - Ready {suited}


Iron Swords (leadership 4)
 (30t) X-3a     - Burner / Lucius  - Ready (suited)
 (35t) Jenner-F - Dust Storm/Raith - Ready {NO suit}
 (35t) Raven-1x - Rook   /Jennifer - Ready {suited}
 (30t) Valkyrie - Reggie /Regina   - Ready {PSuit}

Valkyries (leadership 4)
 (30t) X-3c     - Dragaon/Anastasia- WIP {suited}
 (30t) A-3      - Ironmaiden/Lina  - Ready {PSuit}
 (25t) Xa-3     - Hina             - Ready {NO suit}
 (25t) Xa-3     - Helia            - Ready {PSuited}

Lancers (leadership 3)
 (25t) Mongoose - Traxx / Pax      - Ready {suited}
 (40t) Whitworth- Lucky / Donovan  - Ready {suited}
 (30t) Spider   - War Dog/Joaquin  - Ready {suited}
 (25t) Mongoose - Akarian          - Ready {suited}

Freelancers (leadership 2)
 (45t) Vindicator - Malcolm        - Ready {suited}
 (45t) Blackjack  - Big Jake       - Ready {suited}
 (35t) Jenner-F   - Scorpion       - Ready {NO suit}

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:21, Tue 27 May 2014.

For those... wondering where i came up with the rules for the next mission, they were pulled from the (old?) Compendium Rules.

I'm using the Low Gravity and Vacuum rules, as written in the book.  So the Decompression rules, and the movement rules are not up for negotiation at this time.  This is the first time i'm really using these rules (that i can remember) so i'm actual looking forward to trying them out.


The heat rules i did on the fly, estimating the effects of Vacuum on the mechs ability to vent heat.

I actually like Hina's rules regarding starting at negative heat.  While it will make the game a little more complicated for bookkeeping, i think we shall use it.  It should help to take some of the sting out of the current mission rules for the red line pilots among you.

---

Will look at finalizing the Valkyries.

Releasing the Unit today for players to look at and comment on here, if something is not accurate.

Will also release the Op Force list for you to review (The Level of challenge was decided on by your unit leaders, so they get the credit/blame for that).


Paraphrasing the immortal words of George Carlin, "Frak that, I'm a cat.  Ask the dog."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:17, Tue 27 May 2014.

Just a couple of things that have been bouncing around my brain concerning this decompression/disabled thingy...

It seems to me, there's a fair chance that there's going to be alot of disabled mechs laying around the battlefield.

Which brings to mind, there's a good chance there will be tons of salvage (either for us or the enemy), and how does that affect the normal end of mission plans.

We can't just run off the field if 1/2 our lance(s) is disabled nor can our enemy. That's something that needs to be taken into consideration.

As I see it, once you're on the field, you either hold it, or you die(or be disabled) defending it.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Tue 27 May 2014.

Mission objectives.

Part of the objectives for both sides, will be to get disabled mechs off the field.

Heat buffer sounds nifty, whats a tad more book keeping and math? :)

Can't wait to get started, even if space means there is a good chance, your knocked out of the mission.

In reply to Malcolm Strauss (msg # 39):



Eh, I did, and I wasn't that impressed. It is kinda fun, but the engine was really laggy and crashed a lot.

On top of that, it wasn't balanced very well in my opinion. Because it's all 3025, there is no CASE, and as a result, ammo based weapons are a HUGE liability. I don't know if it's because they do their crits differently or what, but it was a problem.

I did a PvP match, and every single mech on the field that had ammo in it died in one round of shooting due to ammo explosions. (and that wasn't just lights. I had 2 stalkers, and the lightest mech on the field was a hunchback)

It has been a while since I played, so it might be different now. But development didn't seem to be moving very quickly. It definitely had potential, but I wouldn't shell out the money until that potential is more fully realized.

I stopped playing MW tactics, mostly because i didnt like building a library and getting use to the cards, and then watch it all wash away because it's a beta and starting over.

If they ever leave beta so you can keep the cards, i'll give it a revisited look over.

I recall in one of our previous missions (I think a mexican rule), a mech carrying another mech had to have hands, so, that implies that each lance must have at least 1 mech with those and if that mech goes down, then what?

Can we have the option of having tow cables?

No tow cables.  To hook something up like that would take more time than is reasonable to have in a 10 second battletech turn.

On the plus side, the light gravity means that it'll be easier for mechs to be dragged off the field.

(checks something)  Yesss!!  I have hands!!  If we drag an enemy mech off the field, can we keep it?

In reply to Kitten (msg # 51):

What about some kind of giant battlemech lasso...

:D

Mechs are not stray kittens/puppies that you drag home to ask your mom if you can keep.

Please just wait for mission specifics.

I suppose for this mission youre using nothing but LBX ammo.

In reply to Helia Quinn (msg # 53):

Did you want to try to swap out a short ranged missile launcher for a lasso gun?

I'll borrow Wonder Wife's Lasso ;)

 Normal battle fields of today have armor recovery vehicles,which can tow/drag tanks back to base, though i suspect that a mech is slightly harder to manage being all arms and legs so to speak.

The problem here is...

We're in space, on an active battlefield, needing to drag off mechs in mere seconds rather than minutes or hours.  Especially if we're loosing.  We don't have any void capable recovery vehicles either.

I didn't mean to start a brouhaha, it's just something that came to mind when I thought about the likelihood of a bunch of disabled mechs on the battlefield.

Anyways, we should let Kitten work up her mission specifics before further comment....