Hello and welcome

We should have four characters up and ready to go soon. As soon as all characters are created, skills assigned and sheets updated we are good to go!
Welcome to the Inner Sphere.

Excellent news!

By way of introduction, I'm playing Michael Kreig, pilot of the Ferret scout helicopter Ophelia's Dragonfly. My flight crew and I were part of a Search and Rescue group before we got hired, so plenty of scouting, recovering people, and getting into places we shouldn't be, but not a lot of front-line firepower.

Technically you arent hired just yet. We will be beginning the game on the day Bubba's Raiders has their hiring day. That way I can ease all of you into the unit from the get go, all fresh

Fair enough that.

All part of the grand plan hahaha. And its a nice set up for what I basically consider a session 0 where all characters will be introduced organically. At least all starting characters. Even without a full RTJ up we are looking at five already

Hello,

Future Mech Pilot waiting to join up.

I have gotten some excellent questions on the game mechanics, so added a post to the mechanics post hoping to clarify a little how stats and skills work.
Let me know if there are questions.

The soggy end of an old cigar clamped between his teeth, Oskar stomps into the OCC.

"W'at'r'you lookin at, sweetums? Take a picture, it lasts longer."  He spins a small chair around, straddles it, and rests his elbows on the high, red, plastic back.

With four players ready and two more nearly there I say we are good to go!
Ill give it one more day, and we have game on in 24 hours!

In reply to Oskar Kettel (msg # 9):

*Glances meaningfully at the cigar* Ahh good, I was worried for a minute I'd be the only one with vices around here.

It better not be my cigars tho

If you two want to smoke those things you can do it in your own rooms.

I am pretty sure that as the owner of the company I am allowed to smoke wherever I please.
Comes with the territory.
That said, a word of advice...

Do not, I repeat, do not, smoke in the cockpit of a Battlemech. The smell will never get out of the seats and it fogs up the vision of your neurohelmet.

He only smokes one cigar a day though... Medics wont allow it.

So... We all ready for kick off?
If so... Welcome to Moxley IV
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:22, Sat 25 Feb 2023.

*double checks everything*

I think I'm ready to go, yes.

Hello all, from your friendly neighbourhood mechanic.

You break it, I'll fix it. Try not to break it so much though, ya?

I'm out of town two more days then I should be ready to go, but I can catch up :)

Welcome to the club Jo.
Take your time. We'll have you catchin up when you get here.

All NPC's have been updated with a little background to give you all a sense of who's who.

Hey guys. Out and about this morning will get a post in this evening hopefully.

No rush buddy

Since I am getting numerous requests on how to actually work the skills and stats system I will be adding a list of akills later today for each stat so things might be a little clearer. It will take me a bit to set up and will be no means be all inclusive, but it will at least clarify some things I hope. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, feel free to react and interact in the Ambrose system thread. I will give it a bit longer for everyone to get a chance to react.

It makes me glad to see how many people wish to be a part of the game. I hope I can make it a fun experience for everyone. I will surely give it my all to make this work

Hi folks!

Hi Trevor

*waves*

'ello.

Hello Newly added people.

Welcome aboard everyone!

*reviews mech list*  and Mechwarrior with experience...

I eagerly await my assignment to the trashcan...

Actually... there are quite a few non-mechwarriors currently.  Eileen doesnt necessarily want to pilot the Mad Cat, especially in combat, but she is probably dying to get under the hood to see what makes it tick.

Not too many mech pilots... And aome might even bring their own Mech.

Piloting Bubba's Mad Cat however... Hrm... So far only the colonel himself has ever piloted that thing.
Looking under the hood as a mechanic... That will surely happen!

If anything we have extra mechs still, not even counting the trash can team.

Well that presumes there are no npc mechwarriors, and even if there aren't its never terrible to have a plan 'B' ride ready for when the sexy ride is in the shop for repairs.

Trash Cans are are a terrible ride, but they're like a fixer up home, theres lots of room for improvement cause really... it cant get much worse.

Own mech??? what are you some kind of noble or something...

The cost of Bubba's munitions probably cost more than my ride, so i know you're not looking at me.

Some bring a mech, others their VTOL. I guess they wanna really convince Old Buford to hire them...
And yeah... We have spare Mechs. Really only the Warhammer and Highlander see regular use as they are Bubba's weekly ride and McNuir's baby. The omni is Bubba's but they havent gotten it to work properly yet

That sounds like a challenge XD

In reply to Josephine 'Jo' de Vries (msg # 37):

It is ;)

Something for techies to (role)play over.

At work for one shift and I miss so much! Not used to a flurry of activity on RPOL. Haha

In reply to Colin Browne (msg # 40):

This is of course preferable to returning and nothing changing at all...

Just a heads up for everyone, I'll be on limited access to the game for the coming weekend. I'll post if I can, but it will be next Wednesday before I have full access again.

Thanx for the heads up Michael.
I cant promise we go slow, but ill sure have you tag along ;)

In reply to Colin Browne (msg # 40):

No worries Colin. You are in the batch of people that is now in the convention center.
The whole selection process is in a way a prologue so we can all get a feel for each others characters, and ao you can get a feel for my storytelling style.
When everyone gets hired we move on to the actual stories, and i will certainly tru to pace it all so everyone gets enough time to react.
Personally I can usually do a couple posts per day most days, i know that is not for everyone thoigh.

I'd like to add that my inbox is always open for everyone's questions and suggestions, and I aim to make this a fun game for all first and foremost.
A gun game... With regular plot twists haha

We'll wait for Trevor and Tamara to answer the first morally highly ambiguous question before continueing the Moxley thread Colin. Meanwhile, how many seconds does Colin wait before answering?

15ish seconds. Give or take a couple seconds.

Good. Good to know. Quite a while then.

Yeah. I think it’s realistic for him to debate for a moment before deciding.

Looking for that thread :)

In reply to Trevor James (msg # 49):

Ambrose system thread Trevor

wait I thought we were in the convention hall?  Or are just two in the Ambrose system, planet Moxley IV thread still?

The players are split up.

Some of us got a pass on the first half of the test and sent to the conference hall.  Those of us that didn't are lingering behind in the original thread.  Where.. it's safe... and not about to explode...

That'll teach you to pass the test.

Its ok i'm going to get the explosion started quickly, it will be over soon...

Eileen just failed, i blame the blind rage she's feeling at the moment for that.

20:58, Today: Eileen Sutherby rolled 19 using 1d20+14.  Conference Room Check.

I think you’ll get a chance to shoot him Eileen

Well i shot something.

If this is all a test, that smoke detector was in a good spot to see everything, if it's not that was a warning shot to prove that eileen is trigger happey.

either way if shooting him sets it off, you take him alive, and make sure you immobilize his hands so he doesnt set it off with a manual trigger.

Jo needs to take a look at that thing to see if its really a bomb, and if so, if it can be set off remotely by someone out of the room.

Either this is an exercise and it ends or the next words out of Eileen's mouth is to throw Mr. Suit on top of the suitcase to make sure he's the first one that goes if theres an explosion... where upon she'll start interrogation/negotiations.

She's really in a bad mood at the moment.  If she just ruined her chances to join the unit, she's good with that.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:38, Wed 01 Mar 2023.

lol Rachet.  wow...hahahah

apologies mike, Eileen is not usually a loose canon like that, Mr. Suit just really hit a nerve.

It's all good. She'll get to prove that in the days to come since from the snippets I've picked up from your posts, you and I might both be flying the same bird.

Yes, Eileen is actually not suppose to enter combat often, she's suppose to be a paper pusher.

If she does, it's usually in a Ferret, though she can sludge mud, pedal savanah masters or tromp about in mechs fine.   She's a 3rd Gen Military Brat, so it's sort of in her blood.

Thought as much, yeah Mike and Co. are a Ferret crew too.

Eileen does just about everyone on clover by herself.  She's less of a Ferret and more of a victim of her mad experiments.

She was trying to work out the spec to improve the perfection that is the Ferret with a Fusion and Engine ... Endo and Ferro... which should yield assorted improvements.

Maybe something to spend her sign on bonus for.

We have a bunch of savannah masters... its.. not impossible to maybe borrow one to experiment on, though buying one with her sign on bonus would probably work better.

So my potential mod check list is a small fusion engine, 1/4 ton of endo steel and a ton or two of Ferro.

Owning a Ferret is like owning a tiny house.  The modifications and upkeeps are alot cheaper and easier to do :D

Yeah, I wouldn't mind taking one of the Savvie engines for the Dragonfly if we end up combat lossing one since they're the same size on both craft, but for the moment, I am just happy to have a craft to fly, and maybe an employer to fly it with.

The rest depends on what you want your Ferret to do. Gunship? I'm partial to the quad RL-10 once that becomes available, SRM-2 and ammo before that. SAR bird like the Dragonfly? Light MG and ammo. Scout? Beagle probe and duct tape to double the armor. ;)

Agreed, presuming you have an enviroment, it's a very versatile toy.

Eileen thinks and plays with concepts a little out of the box when mucking around with the Ferret, we'll see how much the GM lets me actually practice, they're grounded on the notion of what you SHOULD be able to do as opposed to what the RULES say you can do so, we'll see.

ie.  We have a Union, with two Aero bays, but no Aero Fighters...

We should be able to slot a Ferret in each bay, and once the union lands open the bay door and fly out.  Quicker deployment than unloading the ferret out of the cargo bay to assemble and go.

Logic says you should be able to do this, but... there are no rules for it.

I think the Campaign Ops books has a section for hot dropping, to including launching fighters once you break atmo.

Logic and roleplay are the golden rules. The rest... Optional

If you play it out, only the sky is the limit. And with a Ferret ... The sky isnt

The best kind of rules.

Aeros yes, conventional fighters maybe, vtols... no.

The way it looks right now all players will have signed a contract by the end of thursday.

Meaning that at the end of thursday we conclude our prologue, and will be starting Chapter 1.

What I would like everyone to do, is select 5 different skills they find fitting for their character, and add an extra point to those skills. Please pm me your selections.

Also, select 1 primary skill, and add 3 points to that one.

So by the weekend we should all have a character with some skills! Yay!

I'd like to also take this moment to thank all of you for the activity. I know I pulled a few fast ones on you all, and tested your patience, but you stuck with me. That, I appreciate!

Im off to bed now, last bits of prologue will be tomorrow, mostly for the three in the convention centre. The others... Eat your fill, have some drinks ... Pretty soon it will be just rations ;)

Hello all. Ill be playing Roland Skinner. Prefer real name OOC - Tom.

BattleTech is one of my all time favorites and I have always loved the roleplay aspects which we neglected in my opinion. Im excited about the opportunity to play this game. And thanks to the GM for letting me in at the last second.

'ello Roland.

*waves*

In reply to GM (msg # 70):

So that a total of 6 skills (primary get +3 and 5 others get +1)?

I guess I should ask is this before training with the unit or after training?

As my character wouldn't have pilot as she has not actually done it yet

Welcome Roland!

The 'primary' skill should probably be something your character knows you are good at and have done before.  Some of the other skills you can probably fit in as 'natural talent' but never actually used so you can surprise yourself at being better than expected.

In reply to Candice Rohdes (msg # 74):

Doesnt really matter too much. Its more like last minute update to your character so if you decide she does have pilot after all thats good

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 62):

So after a long night of brainless work that left me time to think, I’m not sure up armoring/ up gunning the Ferret is worth it. Fusion yes because fusion makes everything better, but the rest… not so much. I’ll elaborate when I get home.

Also hello Roland!

So in my thinking, I remembered something important. A VTOL's survivability is directly tied to how much armor its rotor has, since half the hit locations are 'rotor'. Yes, it gets some magic protection that means that you can survive 3-5 rotor hits depending on what's hitting you, but that's your lifetime in a VTOL.

3-5 hits.

After that, you don't become a pillbox; you become a crash site.

Enter 3051.

Starting soon, and for something like the next thirty years in canon, everything, everything that mounted an AC/10 will be mounting an LB-10X. There's no reason not to. Better range, better heat, lighter, smaller, more versatile. Only C-Bill cost keeps the AC/10 around long enough for specialized ammunition to enter the field.

And the LB-10X is murder on VTOL's. -3 to hit with cluster rounds, and an average of 6 fragments hitting, each one in its own location.

Which loops back to my point about armor and hit locations. An average LB-10X hit will chop the rotor off a Ferret. You have a better chance of surviving a Gauss Rifle or Clan PPC hit than an LB-10X hit. And they're everywhere. Urbanmechs, the joke of the game carry one. Cheap ICE tanks use them as main guns. The FedCom is about to roll out the Centurion upgrade with one that's as fast as a Bug mech. Any and all of these can end a Ferret in one shot.

You only have three defenses, really.

1: Something solid between you and the gun: Preferably a mountain.
2: Never touch the bubble: With a Ferret's speed, staying away from LB-10's is possible, but sometimes the objective is inside the radius.
3: There's always a bigger fish: If you can't put something between you and the gun, and have to go inside the doom bubble, your best bet at living to fly back out is to convince the gunner that there's something better to spend his shot on every second that you're there. Otherwise you are relying on RNGeezus (All glory to his cubic goodness!) and GM fiat to live.

That's why I'm starting to think up gunning the Ferret is a bad idea. Nothing you can mount outranges the LB-10X, and every gun you add to it makes you a bigger fish. I mean, sure, on paper, the quad small laser/dual medium laser versions can do some extremely nasty things to targets, especially if you can get Clan guns, but they also exponentially move you up the threat scale.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:42, Thu 02 Mar 2023.

In my experience there are effectively 3 VTOLs on the field.  Meaningless ones, Dead ones, and that annoying thing with a clan ER large laser that is always out of range.

Luckily we are in an rpg, and not on tabletop ;)

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to being a meaningless PC. ;)

Are we going to be using the straight BattleTech combat system?? Or no?

No. We use the d20 system as explained in the mechanics section. Battletech is used for the story, background etc... Not for the combat system

To be fair this is a typical Mechwarrior view point, mechs are suppose to be the king of the battle fields?

There are other things that can be done to contribute on the battlefield, especially in a roleplaying game that has room to let you do so.

Yes... combat on the field is hazardous... but there is really one solution to your problem.

Don't get shot.

It's an easy enough solution especially in a ferret because unless there is something else in the air faster than you (Aero?) you're moving a battleboard or two around and should be able to pick your moments.

If you get shot down, you picked poorly.

If you think in the box too much your problem doesnt improve much. You need to think out of it.

The extra armor is NOT for the LBX auto canon, not everything carries it.  It's a common upgrade for AC/10s but the AC/10 was never a great weapon anyway, so it really needed that improvement if were being honest.

IF there are things on the map with an AC/10 then the Op Force is not using their opposition weight effectively and our side should have an advantage for that.  Also if they're carrying an AC/10 and they're carry slug and shotgun rounds, that's at least 20 rounds of ammo spread over two locations looking to explode.  Usually in the torso somewhere, and rear torso armor is always thinner, so those four small/2 medium lasers start looking more effective when the mech has less than half the front armor to defend against it.

If i'm being honest were never going to take something down by ourselves.  We just have to pull our weight and since our force weight displacement is so small it's not terribly hard to do.

You wanted to mount RL10's which is a great idea.  They let you exploit opening, and reach out to touch them to avoid short range fire power.  It works.


I'm personally looking for heavier armor, because i know my play style, and will have to worry about other things like medium lasers hitting me.

On a ferret, a medium laser hitting you, everything feels like a rotor unless you armor up.  Even SRMs start to look like heavy damage, yes they can take out the rotor, but more than half the time they're not.  Taking a SRM to the side in some Ferret variant will bring it down just as fast as in the Rotor.


Regardless.  You're citing issues i'm not clueless about, and if theres any arguement to be had, that's what the ejection system is for.  If you survive the encounter... the financial loss of a feret is about as bad as the financial loss of an gauss rifle exploding.  I'll send Bubba the bill and hopefully get a replacement.

I imagine... it Battle Inspired roleplaying... not combat.

If possible Bubba will surely replace the ferret when it comes to that Eileen.

Concerning our timeline...
The year is 3051. So everything up to and including 3050 can be considered canon.
Anything 3051 and beyond... Might get an alternate timeline depending on how well the Raiders do ;)

So... i'm trying to get a feel for where the technology currently is...

The Helm Core was found 3028, so it's been around and developing most of Eileen's life.

So the 3050 technology while expensive is available.

The notion of 'power armor', predates the clan from the star league 2720, but was considered lost.  Till the clan showed up a year ago.  Now Battle Armor is probably a hot topic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/battl...r_timeline_question/

I dont believe it would exist or develop as a military application, but i think it might have existed in a commercial application to load carge and freight, in place of fork lifts and such, or for construction projects?

Clan tech, and the novelties that they produce have been started in 3050, and been around for a year.

There is a Clan Mad Cat in this unit, so obviously it fell off a truck, and probably will be a strong plot line... or not... in the campaign.

I am curioius what variants it is, but just base improvements in engine, internals, armor, and modular design will all be considered ground breaking.

It is the kind that is super hard to fix when it gets damaged.   Because even clan fibrous armor is not fixable...

Yeah Battle Armor in 3051 is something incredibly new. Though FedCom, FedSun's and the Lyrans did manage to field some power armor in 3050. I think 3052 is when it sorta becomes standard, then it is still not that wide spread.

I’m curious to roleplay out the First and Second Wave of the invasion. I have been wanting to play someone that is more interested in the context of the Invasion rather than the actual fights.

The techs working on the mad cat will eventually have to replace the clan ferro with innersphere ferro.

It will be heavier, or have less protection.  Either way it will loose slot space for the omni pods.

I'm not sure about the endo steel...   (shrugs) perhaps inner sphere endo steel will have to slowly replace it too.

It will be a constant battle to fix stuff yes. And eventually the clan tech will be gone... Or will need to be replaced with salvaged materials...

One of the first groups to field battle armor was the grey death legion, but it was very light armor, fast agile and almost certainly built in 2750.

*chuckles at Eileen* With a Presence of 2, Mike's a plug-ugly Face Eileen.

Presence isn't always about appearances but can be considered social presence, charisma, or inspiring personalities you want to follow.

Eileen's got a presence of two also, i justify the low score as a sheltered life, the company of books over people, and any other number of things.

She's easy on the eyes, but who wants to hang out with a crazy red head pulling guns out and shooting smoke alarms?

I DO

That just proves youre crazy, and would probably split me in two, so... i'm going to have to find someone more my speed.

^.^

This could also be Eileen getting too little sleep and too much coffee?

I think it's hilarious the first impression she's made cause she's going to be embarassed about the whole incident in the near future.

Oh me me crazy redheads...

Oh and as I am a nerd...   a 4 gunnery in normal tavletop in this game is the same as having +18 total...  so yea my +9. Is like a gunnery base 8....

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 100):

Well, no one's perfect, and Mike's subject to making mistakes.

On the hanging out with crazy redheads, something tells me I don't really get a choice in it. You don't get to pick who flies on your wing after all.

Hard to say, i haven't seen any real modifiers, a helpless smoke detector is hardly a fair target to compare to combat.

Did anyone else roll for stats instead of using the point buy?

Math said point buy was better by a wide margin. So I did not.

With the RPOL dice roller?  not a chance  this dice roller utterly hates me with a passion even more than my own dice...

4,3,3,3,3,5  well that example ould only be 3 less than point buy... and an amazingly good roll for the dice roller...

There we go this is what i expect from this dice roller.. 5,3,2,1,2,1

13 rolls to get better than the point buy...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Thu 02 Mar 2023.

I rolled mine

I went points buy, in part because I was bringing a whole team, and in part because putting my hands in the fate of RNGeezus never ends well. (All glory to his cubic charity!)

well point buy is 24 points, divided by 6 is an average of 4 per stats.

rolling 6d6 you get an average of 3.5 for each stat.  You're also capped with a stat of '6' this way, while point buy lets you go up to seven.

If i'm going to gamble on rolls there have to be a favorable odds incentive.

Something like a d6 roll for each stat and having say a pool of 4 points to allocate at the end would be the mininimum to get me to even look at random numbers.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Thu 02 Mar 2023.

Oh. I didn’t go that far into it. I figured I’d be able to roleplay whatever I got.

I dont consider myself a min/max power gamer, but i do like a well thought out character can be both engaging to roleplay with and effective when the lead starts flying.

If i dont suck and drag 'the party' down i'm doing okay.

The wargame mechanics are significantly different in that they assume a sizable penalty based on your targets movement, terrain, range and such.  The cinematic system does not go into that level of detail, nor does it use the bell curve of 2d6 (for better or worse) so it will tend to have an easier time against very hard targets but have slightly fewer near automatic hits.

I find that good Role play is supported by good Roll play, not all games need a direct 50/50 split but some measure of each is always better than all of just the one.

I try to keep an open mind.

I've played the BT computer game and the 'rules' are not battletech but you can tell the programmers love the game because it has the feel of the board game when you play.

i read somewhere that someone thought battle armor was pretty useless.  They're out of their mind.  It's probably one of the most broken and over powered aspects of the game when properly implemented.

Assuming you are talking about Hairbrained Schemes recent Battletech PC game, yes it has people who care about the game, including the original creator of the IP returned after a long, long, time doing other things.

The move away from the table top dice rolls is a bit unfortunate, but they did a good job of making it work and still be faster to play, and there are mods (3062 in particular) that put battle armor back in if you are into that sort of thing.

Hbs bartletech is a great conversion to computer as they have done it imho.

I took the points. Dont like the odds in the dice roller.

The only good battletech conversion on computer in my opinion is MegaMek
Not much for graphics, but at least that is almost a direct conversion

It is the most literal translation of the game.  It was actually most useful in my circle to resolve questions about line of sight.

I still fire it up on occasion. Im the only classic battletech player in my area.

* laughs *

I've been giving nicknames for everyone, but Eileen never assigned one to herself, she would be ashen to hear herself called Gunbunny, but i think it's hillarious, so it has my endorsement to stick.

Do gGunbunnies eat Clover? If so I foresee a new Callsign

She still thinks of herself as Clover, but that's more the name for her ride, so she's not married to the identity.  She has no official reason to change it at the moment, i was just putting my player endorsement on the nickname, cause i know she'll hate it.

Those are the best callsigns. Usually those earned, given by others. The ones we ourselves usually dislike.
My old battalion called me 'Luilak', which roughly translates to slowpoke or lazy ass. I hated it, but the name stuck.
I earned it because I was always the slowest on the crash course. Always just in on time, with mere seconds to spare. Seems they figured out I could do it faster but why would I? I hated the crash course.
The gunrange was my spot, but did that earn me a nickname? Nope... They went with slowpoke hahahaa

Well Eileen did 'stuff' for Sutherby's so her 'callsign', if she had one, would change with the assignments.

If she gets labeled gunbunny she won't like it but wont protest thinking it's just a temporary designation, till it stuck.

I'm a hard core spoiled civilian, never been to boot camp, but i've roleplayed enough times with people that have been to get a pretty good feel for the culture, or at least my impression/interpretation of it.

Can confirm that nicknames are usually derogatory or poking fun of a mistake than cool. There also tend to be the ones that people call you that differ from the “official” nicknames.

Eileen probably has you listed in her head as 'Crewcut'

Colin’s previous callsign was Splat, so that new one is fine with him. Lol

btw...

I suspect that Mike and Eileen won't get along well, at least not at the beginning.

She's left a bad impression with that whole Mr. Suit incident, and they're probably too much alike for Eileen to take a liking to from her end.

Regardless of how it goes, it's all roleplaying so...if you think i've crossed a line, let me know here out of character, and if appropriate i will apologize for my future bad conduct.

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 121):

You are not allowed to assign your call name, it is against the rules.

gunbunny sounds nice though, i'll post it next time :-)

Oh and i beg to differ Eileen about you giving me the idea.... and i quote...

""Rock Star?  So you're in the entertainment field?", Eileen spoke slowly, there was a slight but notable direction in tone towards more casual and friendly.  Civilians were... civilians."

I think this whole notion of callsigns was made popular to roleplay from the Movie Top Gun.  It might have existed as actual military culture, but it didnt become mainstream till then.

I actually dont think they used callsigns in any of the novels, did they?

It was a QUESTION... not a statement, in reflection that in context you mentioned being a Rock Star first, so she was just repeating what you said.  That aside Mr. Suit broke up the conversation, so it's fair that Candice remember it however she wants but from her point of view, that credit for giving you the notion is out of right field.

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 132):

Not to my knowledge no. Cant remember any callsigns used.

In reply to GM (msg # 134):

I recall that they would refer to each other as Unit w/a number.
Example Recon 1, Recon 2

That's more like an Ops designation than a recurring call sign.

Honestly i first encountered it in Mac's game, a campaign here which was trying to play by table top rules.  Table top rules done work on RPOL so i refined and fixed it, but he did use Top Gun like calls signs which i took away from him and used in every campaign i played in since.

Honestly before that campaign i hadn't seen it before.

I'm sure she is, Mr. Wolf in Pulp fiction was a cleaner too...

Mr. Wolf was a brilliant role by Harvey Keitel... Like Mr. White was too...

In reply to GM (msg # 138):

Charlie the cleaner, only one that you need to know.  Works for a gold coin per body.  100% guaranteed service.

Charlie was in the restaurant business.  Hence... the reservations.

Lore question. Are the Clan Invasion details general knowledge in this game or are they still mostly a mystery?

It's been a year since they've arrived, and there are bonds men in the unit, so if they're still a mystery i would be surprised.

That probably depends on what you call details.  If you want to know what clan mechs look like, or what the names of a few of them are you should be good.

If you want to know how their internal ranking system works, or details about the technology that takes a while longer to show up, and even then I wouldn't call it general knowledge.

well for anyone paying attention that are elemental warriors and a madcat in the unit, so ... *shrugs*

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 144):

Where is the notes on Elementals? I must have missed it.

As far as lore, mostly looking for whether people know the Clans exist and are invading. I understand that details of their inner workings and tech are still a mystery. Plus, the idea of OmniMechs is so new that to the layman, they might just be a different type of mech for inner sphere forces.

Max is an elemental.

he's seven foot tall and no nonsense with the feel of an elemental.  At least that's Eileen's tactical evaluation.

Much can be learned from the backgrounds of the NPCs.

Yes, Maximus is a Freebirth former Elemental that got saved by Johnsson and bonded to him to repay a life debt. The Union class dropship is old... Very old... Its a clan ship probably used in the exodus... Salvaged by the Raiders and how they found Maximus, its only survivor.
Origins of the Mad Cat/Timberwolf I leave for all to discover in story.

Yes... Information is rare, especially out in the periphery. But you have found the one unit with inside information.

Cool. I didn’t want to assume anything. Honestly, Colin would likely find Clan tactics fascinating and want to study them but as a civilian, the access he would have is a question mark.

Maybe why dad flagged the Colonol for a person of interest, but Eileen's knowledge of him predates all this news so who knows.

That is quite possible. For one reason or another Sutherby security had Johnsson flagged that much is certain

Do the people from the first wave into the conference room know about the "in it for life" bit yet? I know it was said to the second group when they finished with their questionnaire but I was thinking it hadnt been said inside yet. Just want to verify Jo's knowledge before posting.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:06, Sat 04 Mar 2023.

Not mentioned to the first wave group.

That would have definitely gotten Eileen thinking.  She's "in between" at the moment, so she's just looking for a port in a storm.

What Eileen said, though Roland’s most recent does mention that.

Getting pretty hard to get a word in edgewise here.

I've pulled Jo's post since by the time I could reply, Bubba was already gone.

Do we have an expected response time for posts before the story moves forward?

Im not running over too much am I?? Just trying to keep things interesting and push alittle. I take guidance very well. Im not actually an asshole. But there are some serious problems with signing a blood contract against ourselves. But thats just me.

I post a lot, but alot of it is personal reflections so they shouldnt affect anyone.  The exception is if someone starts a direct conversation with me, then i post something in response to said stimulation.

I suggest just posting something, 'quick' to get your word in edge wise
and then going back and edit and fix typos and what not to avoid people posting ahead of you.


When in doubt just post what you have, because better a little out of order than none at all.  Just because others post more than you, should not discourage you from posting anything at all.  I suspect the game master in general would be pretty thrilled with a post as youre capable and comfortable with delivering.


The game master is on record somewhere as posting 2 twice a day...  So i try and keep my 'meaningful' post to one or two a day, unless prodded by personal roleplaying conversation.

I will tend to post simple posts just saying I am paying attention. I have run several games on RPOL and it elicits the players to respond if there is activity on the board.

I dont post my inner thoughts though so you will tend to only hear what a say a see what I do or how I act. I send my inner thoughts only to the GM.

No.  I can see signing a life time contract being something you hesistate over.  To be fair, this is a mercenaries game, which hints at a certain carefree attitude so a life bond, sounds counter intuitive to that.

Your character passed game master screening, so he must have thought it was worth working with.  If after this you feel you're not good to join with your character, its early i suggest scrapping and starting over.

There was a moment in there after Eileen nearly put a bullet in the unit lawyer where i was certain i was going to have to write her off and start over.

I nearly nearly nearly shealfed her to play a big muscle headed infantry man, good thing i didn't cause it looks like we have enough PBI's around.

Following Jo’s example and taking down my post because so much happened while I was writing it.

Really by the end, the decision to join or not join for the PLAYER should be pretty easy.  Cause if you don't join you should be contemplating a new character.

Roleplaying some hesisitation should be fine, but as a fellow player we should understand game master need players, but players need game masters too.

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 160):

We got to find a reason to get our characters to sign their live away :)

Consider it not signing your life away, but signing to gain a family for life.

Well i have it built in that Eileen's family is 'gone' so she's on her own from the moment as far as immediate kin is concerned, but she does have extended family, and close friends.

No one has mentioned anything about this blood oath, so the 'details' are something she needs to hear about.

Does it mean just forming this bond with a bunch of strangers, this isn't so terrible cause if you join a mercenary unit, you more or less do the same thing.  You say it's a life time commitment, but is it really?  Even in real families you sometimes go your separate ways when things dont work out.  If you board a dropship and leave one day are they really going to pursue you to the ends of the inner sphere?  They dont have the manpower for that, so would they bother?

Does it mean cutting ties with everyone she knows?  That's a harder sell for her.  Just because you sign on to this, doesnt mean you need to deny everything in your life before it.  She'll draw a line on this one in negotiations if it comes to it.

This whole blood oath thing came up for the people in the 'second wave' not the first.  Rather than that bomb skit, Max should have been covering this important detail to the first wave, so that we dont have a schizm of information, but he's an elemental chowder head, so that can be overlooked for him not being the brightest.

No ties need to be cut at all. But where the Raiders are going... Ties might be hard to hold on to...

I can see why Max was okay with Eileen shooting Burt.  You dont really need a lawyer when there are no laws to navigate...

Oh but home base is still very much in the Ambrose system, so you will get to spend that cash, and might need a lawyer. Still, Max hates the numbers guy. Because well... Its a numbers guy, not a warrior. There's no honor in law and finance.

Eileen doesn't know that really, or it was never implicitly stated.

That's funny that Max likes Eileen, because that was one of her aspects at Sutherby's
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Sat 04 Mar 2023.

I think most of the characters have signed on at this point?

Would it be fair to motion a new thread, outlining the compensation, and exactly what last minute preparations we have to prepare for the trip, as well as purchases we might make?

That's a good point, but feel free to just use the Moxley Thread for that. We might visit this planet some more times, it has abig city, so most common stuff should be findable here

Are we going to see a contract???

I presume we do... i presume its acceptable to Eileen and wont ask for her first born son or a life of submissive servitude.

She knows her paperwork enough not to do anything stupid here and to haggle Burt into submission if he does.


Assorted verbal terms were made, and presuming that's whats put on paper that's fine.


I personally don't need to know the fine details of the issue.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Sat 04 Mar 2023.

Guys, I have no references and am going to have to rebuild by library. What references should we all be relying on?? And what would have a price list for our personal gear as well as for our mechs etc?

In reply to Roland Skinner (msg # 170):

The contract is in essence a standard mercenary contract except for that one clause on desertion. But then again... Wartime desertion is still punishable by death in a lot of militaries so even that is not all that strange.

The signing up for life bit is more a figure of speach. Once a Raider always a Raider, thats kind of what they mean by that. They wont force an 80 year old to still hit the field, so once you retire you become an alumni sort of

I have dozens of Battletech books, dozens more PDFs, and I still tend to just search for whatever setting data I want on https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page because it is easier.

As for items, costs, and effects I don't think we are using that kind of thing.  Skills determine success, items are cosmetic or at most unlock the use of skills you can't otherwise use.

So... Cbills dont have a lot of value behind enemy lines, in claner space, in the periphery.

Might as well spend some of it before we go....

Sarna.net is my go to as well

i might have missed it, are we operating on a deadline?

In game yes. Dropship leaves at 20.00.
Ooc, nope, Ill give everyone time to decide what the do with the rest of their day

Sorry about the delay lost power yesterday and last night and today was a lot of running about.

No worries. Gonna wait with chapter 1 until everyone has their characters ready for action.
Our target? Strana Mechty!
Our timeline? In due time!

Everyone is sorr of finalizing their character for now before we lift off the Union dropship and head to Raider home. Feom there on... The stars are the limit

I think mine is complete based on what you said.

Most of you are I think. Chapter 1 will kick off tomorrow anyways. Anyone coming in later can just post in the Ambrose thread anyway so I know what it is they wanted/needed to buy before departure

Do you actually need a comprehensive list of equipment?

It would be boring but i'd type it up if you did, 70~80% of it is very mundane.

If i want trade bait items, do i need to detail what i have purchased?  basically a bunch of small durable goods which i can use to trade with people out yonder?

assuming that there is someone to trade with...

No need to list every item you wish to buy. Unless it is something rare or special then please consult with me for availability. Steltenpool city, on Moxley IV is a big city. A lot of stuff is easy to find

Got a pair of related questions as I draft my moving post.

@GM: Are Eileen and I taking over the aerospace deck with our Ferrets, and can we launch/land from that deck when grounded, or are the Ferrets general cargo?

@ Eileen: If the aero deck is ours, are you cool with Nadia as your roommate?

In reply to GM (msg # 185):

Ok I'll just list trade items.   And if it matters we can just assign a cbill value to any trade.

Just doing this as a random idea as the deep periphery might not use chills. And clanners definitely don't.

I asked this, at least one is available, and you would get first pick if so.

The other might have an actual Aero in it.

I did suggest that since the ferrets are so small, that they should both be able to operate out of the same bay.

(In drop ships and jump ships, two small bays could be installed at the cost of one large one.  So a possible partition or loading system might work to give them both access one at a time for launch?)  Nothing has been finalized, though it was decided that if there was only one, it was yours, and that Eileens could be loaded on and off as cargo, kept in the repair bay where she could fiddle with it.

I'm good with Nadia as a bunk mate regardless. I'll need someone eventually and she's a stranger on the dropship.  She'll accept anyone, though would be more comfortable with a female character.

There's a Lightning Aero in one aero bay. The other one could either hold both Ferrets if needed.

If we have top cover in the form of a Lightning I’m good with being in main cargo.

I don’t think us using the aerospace bays was ever a need, just a flavorful add-on

If the Union ever gets a full twelve Mech load the Ferrets will have to go in the aero due to lack of space. They have only one dropship after all.

This is why our first mission is to ‘acquire’ a bigger drop ship! I’m personally fond of the Fortress… ;)

Then maybe our Intelligence Officers should start to see where exactly one could easily get lost

I hear there are plenty at the clan homeworld, shall we head on over and look over the used dropship lot?

Maybe something gently used with a few hundred light years on it.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

Sure thing. Then maybe you can challenge someone to a Trial by combat for ownership of said Overlord.

when i get +14 or more gunnery we can have a chat about that.

Thats not an impossible starting bonus.

7 from agility, +7 skill ranks, make it a primary skills and you can add +4, so you can in theory get it to 18.

Did the generation get changed somewhere?  I thought it was 6@+1 +1@+3

even if you were allowed to put them all in one skill that would be +16.  Based on what hesaid i assumed that had to be different skills

OMG
Shopping spree?
This will take some time. Let me get my character sheet finished with the equipment. LOL.

When i shot out the smoke detector i was granted agility and skill rank to my roll.

which maybe was a little too high to be honest.

Maybe a fraction of the ability score and the skill rank might be better?

Agility is limited to 7, skill ranks either 1 or 3 right now, 10 shouldn't be to much for an extreme specialty.

In reply to Tamara Clay (msg # 201):

But wouldn't adding 1 to a skill under agility make it an 8?
Let me know if I did this wrong

If you have agility 7 and add a skill rank of 1 to it then yes you get a total of 8

Great. Thanks for confirming :)

Rule of cool gave a great bonus on that shot. And you kind of uses a cannon on a fly

groovy.

Unless woken, Eileen sleeps for a few hours.  I presume she's left alone at this point and will wake up in space, travelling 'somewhere'?

you mentioned something about a moon.

That would be correct. Unless. She is a light sleeper if so the launch at 20.00 will certainly wake her up.

That, or the sound of very loud reading. Nadia’s planning on leaving her in peace and catching up on her journals.

Which book would you recommend?
I'm looking for a complete list (if there is one) for personal equipment.
Thanks :)

The mechwarrior rpg combat equipment book has some stuff, but I mostly use the project Mechwarrior rpg wiki

LOL
Found something interesting... gone back to 1986, Battletech 1607 - Mechwarrior 1st edition :)

I own that book (it was terrible) and the 2nd edition one (much better)

None of the MechWarrior RPGs are very good.  The Time of war series that mixes in Battletech are better but there has never been a good way to do the Human scale side.

I use a homebrew system that works okay.

Started developing it to play on RPOL, rules light, style heavy.

GM here seems to be doing that too, so no complaints.

Rules light, style heavy indeed.
The rules system is actually based on a tabletop wargame I am creating, and is designed to mix vehicular combat with personal combat seemlessly. So yes it is intended to work with both small arms fire and the big guns on Mechs and tanks, although things like an ER laser will absolutely obliterate a person in a single shot. The other way around however works too, as even a pistol that is well aimed and fired by a crack should could in theory find a weak spot in a cockpit glass and take out a pilot... In theory, with many many modifiers.

Most checks will usually be a stat+skill+modifiers+d20 needs to equal or beat 21. In combat it is originally intended as just skill+modifiers+d20 needs to equal 21. For starting characters that is hard usually, but it will grow quickly as I am not afraid to hand out experience, and players usually throw stuff in combat once they figure out what they need and when they need it.

That said, I am always open for suggestions on anything at all, so never hesitate to pm me concerning anything related to the game or the mechanics.
It is OUR game after all. It only works if we ALL enjoy it.

My plan was actually to develop a training regimen for the crew in as immersive an experience as I could get. The Time of War and ATOW Companion book actually has quite a few lists of equipment if that interests you for sources.

@GM: Did you have any issues with the list I sent you in the PM?

None at all Colin

So I’ve had time to think while I was driving and I have a very non-canon but potentially cool idea for the Ferret’s and Savvie’s to deploy off axis in the field. A Mark VII landing craft could carry our current recon element, and land it just about anywhere on planet, putting them on the ground where the hostiles aren’t looking because of the big scary Union and Mechs over there.

o.O


... and where do we find this landing craft?

Same place you find anything else. Somewhere where someone left it unattended.

whoa, fast paced game!

Yeah it has been Oskar, very fast, and I’ve been traveling.

@Eileen: A generic landing craft like the Mark VII should be pretty easy to find. It was more a longish term idea, something we might invest in as a group (The reconnaissance element that is)

for small drops that don't use mechs...

it's not a terrible investment, does it take up a docking collar or is it carried as cargo?

It takes up a small-craft bay. The jump ship has space for 2 plus the docking collars. Small craft have transit engines so hypothetically it could be carried on the Merchant, transit in-system with the Union and dock up in orbit to transfer over the crews before landing.

A Mark VII would hardly take up space, but can easily carry a recon element. That, ir we just drop an elemental from orbit, watch him get mad about that, and pick up the pieces

In reply to Oskar Kettel (msg # 222):

Slow at the moment actually as work is killing me. Will be replying to all the posts soon tho.

And no worries Oskar, you are assumed to be on board just like the others.
Yer a Raider now!

In reply to GM (msg # 226):

LMAO!

I’d like to do some roleplay with folks but I’m not sure how to approach it with Colin. His focus is on the training and tactics, so I’m not seeing an easy way to jump into one of the ongoing discussions.

Hmmm, that's a tough one Colin. I know I've got Michael free and I'd be happy to play off you, unfortunately he's not in the Mechbay, so you might need to come up with an excuse to wander some to find him.

Have you found a bunk yet? Or did you just go straight to work?

Colin didn’t get a bunk yet. He was too eager to get a start with his equipment.

Well maybe while the program loading is going on would be a good time. You might even be able to convince Mike to be your test dummy, er subject for the first run.

If Mike doesn’t mind Colin snagging the other bunk, I think they will get along just fine. Mike is currently in his bunk?

The other bunk in Mike's room is occupied by Darius already, and no he's not in his bunk, he's in the "smoking section" at the end of some hall playing his guitar. Just follow the flamenco music. ;)

Got it. Post incoming.

This is a good time of day *snorts* to RP with me anyway. I work overnight, so I can be fairly quick to respond reliably.

Our MechWarrior Trevor will be taking a step back from the game for now due to 'life's circumstances'.
He asked me to remove him from the game, but rather we keep him around as an npc that is just 'there' for when he finds moments to play.
It is a life contract after all :D

For now, be safe Trevor. And find us whenever you need a distraction.

Ill most likely have the Raider arriving at the moon base end of today or tomorrow, doing a 24 hour time skip of sorts. The trip was meant for each of us to get to know the others a bit and I think so far thats working. We can just wrap up the ongoing conversations when we land and go to land, ill be assuming everyone will be rested and well when we do.
Roleplaying a sleeping character isnt that exciting anyways

Everyone, I am running another game using the original Star Frontiers rules from the 1980 and I have roo for a few more players. Some of you guys are fantastic writers and I would love to have you. I ran it past the GM here and he said it was ok to invite you to join.

This game will not be just based on the Star Frontiers game system and setting but with many modifications especially regarding robots and computers.

This game will combine elements of Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Shadowrun, Traveler, Aliens, War of the Worlds, Starship Troopers, Dune, Logan's Run, The Black Hole, Enders Game, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Expanse as well as others. - I have already added Smart Links and gyro-stabilization mounts from Shadowrun and Apesuits from Aliens. I have improved the robots rules and the character creation. I have added Sanity rules to the game.

Character are not starting off as basic characters with level one skills and no money. The game includes ground forces, space forces, spacers, star pilots and aliens.

I have also added a new element of character creation adding in priorities like the Shadowrun system - More Atts, Skills, Resources, Social Standing and Lifestyle.

I am looking for reliable adult players only! This is a game for role-players not gamers. I have room for only three more players.

I have two great characters immediately available for immediate play - a female technician/computer expert familiar with the criminal underworld, and she is also noblewoman fleeing galactic bounty hunters. And a Spacer Pilot, Security Tech/Corporate Samurai type. There is room to customize them.

This is a very solid group of role-players. We are looking to add two or three new players immediately who are mature and can keep up.

Please join us On the Fringe.

Search for - Star Frontiers: On the Fringe.

GM is witch_hunter007.

And yes I did indeed allow that post

Thanks brother. I appreciate it.

I'll come over and take a look, but I can't promise anything because A: My plate's pretty full atm, and B: I don't know Star Frontiers at all so you'd have to hold my hand for all the rules.

Edit: I love me some good High Sci-Fi, so it appeals. I'm Viragos
This message was last edited by the player at 16:03, Fri 10 Mar 2023.

Apologies... i'm sort of at my limit on free time or i would consider it.

Thanks for checking it out. Its an intense game. Rules are simple though. Very high level of roleplay.

Colin, I can't wait to play Mechwarrior '51! Now with only 157,294,321 bugs still to clean up.

I'll take a look at it tonight. I have to prep for a BT Demo game I am running tomorrow!

Colin isn't smart enough to actually write the software, so you'll have to find a work around for the bugs. That's why he bought a coding and compiling AI to do the heavy lifting on that end.

Alright, now to decide how much "War is Hell" to put in this next post. *chuckles*

It's 3051, the clan have been walking all over the armed forces of the inner sphere.

Eileen should know what a Mad Cat is and looks like, if not the intimate schematics of the design?  Yes?

We still have a year before Space AT&T kicks the clan to the curb,  i would say a schematic for a madcat is definitely not common knowledge.

It took 6 months after its first battle deployment and a lost battle and retreat before the first Tiger tank was captured,
This message was last edited by the player at 15:02, Sat 11 Mar 2023.

Given that news takes about half a year to get from terra to the outer reaches, and that jumping three or four systems takes weeks... A year after the invasion the achematics are rare at best and still highly guarded secrets.
Has she seen footage? Maybe. Does ahe know the names of designs? Inner sphere names perhaps. Is clan tech common knowledge? Deifinately not yet

Not the schematic, but recognizing the mech and knowing they're a madcat.

The mad cat is almost certainly the most recognizable configuration of clan mech in 3051, if your character is from the northern end of the inner sphere, or has visited a world that has seen them it is very likely she knows that it looks like a Catapult with Marauder arms and or has seen some still footage of them.

Having any more details than that starts to look like an intentional focus or interest of the character and might even want to be represented by a skill in information gathering or research of some sort.

In reply to Tamara Clay (msg # 252):

Eileen's actually in R&D so she actually has a pretty good handle on things, or as good as most people in the Inner Sphere are going to have, mostly basing her research on the Helm Core.

That sounds exactly like a character aspect with skill points devoted to it, making you intentionally focused on it and not limited to common knowledge.

Well that said she's never seem a Mad Cat schematic, though she's worked with inner sphere versions so she'll have a clue what to do with this stuff, so she's on the learning curve.

She'll likely have some idea of what she is looking at for sure. At least more than Cassidy does as he is originally from a lot further south.

Btw, love how you play Eileen deducting that info btw

To everyone who I've been steamrollering with my posting rate.

I apologize and I'll try to slow down some so everyone has a chance to post.

Don't worry on my account - the last 3 days have been nonstop but I'll get caught up tomorrow!

Its been a lot of character to character conversations. In game its an hour spent so no worries, its not like people miased a whole world invasion

I have opened up the compound for players to explore and rp in. If you have your character going from one location to the next please end your post with where they are going if they do.
Something like so:

---> to barracks...

That way I can keep track of who is where. Any rp outside the compound grounds will be on Raider Moon.

Feel free to round up any conversations on the dropship at your own pace.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:12, Sun 12 Mar 2023.

*checks out all the new threads*

So I guess based on there being a hangar, Clover and the Dragonfly are actually probably in adjacent bays there, and Eileen and Nadia should move our conversation to the Hangar?

That, or the actual engineering facility. But I can imagine the two walking the grounds checking stuff out as they talk so Im not too bothered by it really.
Its when stuff gets busy that I tend to lose the birds eye view sometimes

Eileen will spend a lot of time in the engineering facility, but it's probably not prepared to handle vehicles, which would take up too much space there, so she'll probably be in the vehicle bay.

The repair facility actually is prepared for vehicles up to J. Edgar size tanks. It was once a Lyran forward operations base that over the past two hundred years had gotten in some disrepair but is stull pretty functional.
Eileen can if she wants, hold her beloved Ferret right near her workspot. And that will still leave room for repairs and what not on Savannahs etc...

No, it's a complete unit when it's done, the four leaf clover will be built in the Engineering shop though...

So yea we are going to have to snag a drop ship soon as it looks like we are at 15 mechs already....

Luckily some like the Urbies are purely for base defense. But yes, another dropship would be nice. Something like a Leopard maybe? Do you have any parked in a secret barn somewhere?

*digs into his personal sheets* You know... A Mule cargo Dropship can be converted into a pretty snaz Batallion sized carrier, with more room for cargo than an Overlord.

I mean we'd obviously need to Pirate... ahem, legally acquire one, but it would serve a dual purpose as more transport capability, and camouflage as a civilian vessel for our little scouting expedition.

Interesting idea indeed. Maybe you should take that up with operations eventually ;)

If we are going to Clan space, we are going to need a Texas-class warship because that’s about the only thing that is going to stand a chance of making it past the outer reaches of the Pentagon Worlds.

I was at reserves this weekend. Boy do I have some catching up to do on here.

Just a little bit. Mostly conversations. Story wise we only just arrived 'home'

Eileen, I have not forgotten about you. You're my top priority when I wake up.

No worries, i was going to have a follow up post anyway if you didnt post.

Here is an interesting question/thought problem.

If the Rifleman-2N clocks in at 50 tons and subsequent models are 60 tons, how would you rectify the missing 10 tons when trying to update it? Is it the chassis that defines the limitations of the mech or simply design choices?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:47, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

In this particular case...

The Rifleman-2N is an established mech and should have established stats.

They're using 'Primitive Components', so in a sense it's not going to be anything close to the Rifleman of today.

From a gamers point of view, it is a Rifleman in name only.  It is as you say, 10 tons lighter and has primitive Tech.  From a roleplaying point of view its using antiquated parts that are hard to find, and electronics/fire control that are vastly inferior to what's used in 3029.  {in BTA, Primitive mechs have limited sensors, meaning the current generation of mechs will see and shoot at them while they're still trying to figure out where the bad guys are.}


Less cut and dry are player built designs.

There are two obvious benefits to being 'underweight'.  The first is the presumed faster speed.  A normal commando with the 150 engine moves 6/9, but if it somehow ends up 20 tons, should the engine now drive it to 7/11?

The second benefit is Armor.  Your armor limited to double the internal structure.  So that 20 ton commando with a 25 ton internal structure will be capable of mounting more armor than a 20 ton counterpart.

Is the mech 'Built' that way, or was it a 'Frankenstein' design that was accidentally produced.  Either way... it would be up to the game master of a roleplaying game to decide how to handle this.  I say roleplaying, because on table top play, very rarely will this occur, and if it occurs there are clear stats to use (like in Cranston Snord, they have a mech with A Rifleman's body mounted on a Wolverines legs... There are clear stats in use).

The most common occurrance of this will be Frankenstein mechs.  Mechs that end up this way by accident, not design.  You might think of combat damage as a form of Frankenstein modification.  A Centurion gets the Right Arm location blown off.  In theory that's 12 tons of weight that was blown off.  In theory the Centurion now weighs 38 tons.  That 200 engine should now improve the reduced weight of the mech to 5/8, but... it does not.  Table top gamers will say that's wrong, it should.  But there are roleplaying reasons for it, ie. the actuators are calibrated to torque and move 50 tons of displacement, which includes how fast these actuators will move it.  So just because the mech is lighter now, is not instant justification for it moving faster, because it was not ever part of the design.

Any ways... there's all sorts of ways this can end up happening, and each will have their own reasons for why it happened, as well as how it should be handled.  I can put a sort of ruling question down for this, mostly because Clover... is a test bed VTOL that is used to design equipment and test them in the field.  As such it has some justification (that will come out in roleplay) on why it's capable of operating under weight at times, as well as equipping non standard equipment.

modifications that will probably end up on the dragon fly.

My understanding is that the chassis weight limits are mostly for the myomer bundles being able to move the entire mech and are calibrated as such. The 2N is an upgrade from the primitive but still 50 tons. If you were to upgrade the myomer bundles to a standard RFL-3N, would that justify the weight increase or would you need to upgrade the skeleton as well?

As for the battle damage argument, I would say it still falls under the myomer bundle restrictions. If you had a Commando at 20 vice 25 with the same engine and calibrated it, you would go faster since the tonnage math for the engine comes into play. Myomer calibration isn’t something that you could do on the fly and likely needs depot level maintenance to achieve.

You'd have to increase the skeleton as well.  It's got the internals for a 50 ton mech, you'd have to at least add a ton to get it ready for a 60 ton mech.  You'd have to upgrade the engine too for the new movement profile, as well as the weapons.  (essentially it's a new mech)

The 2n has more in common with the Large Laser Blackjack than the 3N autocannons.

Agreed, this falls under my centurion arguement, that even though nearly a quarter of the weight was just shed, the centurion is still not going to go any faster.

Now we come to the woe that fills a MechTech in the first half of the 31st century. If we get enough Endo, that would solve the internal problem of “upgrading”, but you’re correct on the engine, which I had not taken into account for the upscaling.

Nothing an XL engine cant fix?

There is some variability in the weight vs movement of mechs in the rules as well.  In particular the carrying of temporary external cargo and how it impacts movement speed.  There used to be a set of rules for armless mechs.  The math in the system calculated the mech as if its arm structure and armor dots were part of the body and legs but the net result was that you would have the armor and frame of a mech 5-10 tons heavier with the weight and engine use of the 'smaller' mech.

Between those you could probably do some annoying math and end up with speed increase rules for missing arms, but I would still want that to be something you need at least 15 minutes in a repair bay to recalibrate for rather than an automatic battlefield change.

You can’t change it like a profile setting for a car seat? Lol

I'm trying to remember who has it in their signature line on the BT forums, but I think this sums it up nicely.

"Reality and Battletech go hand in hand like a drug induced hallucination and engineering a fusion reactor"

Keep in mind that Battletech is really a very early part of the 'dystopian future' fad.  Long before it was cool to wonder what is next if it all fails Battletech was asking where do we end up if everything keeps failing but slowly enough to trick us into not realizing it.

Arguably warhammer 40,000 is in the same style, but so much more crazy it is difficult to even connect the dots.

The 3025 level of technology isn't very different from the 1980s level for most things.  There are obvious exceptions for warfare and travel but even those are in many ways relegated to the level of barely understood magic.

sorta like how BSG seemed to use normal ballistic munitions instead of fancy energy weapons .

At close range, against big slow targets Ballistic munitions still make sense.  The energy requirement of even perfectly efficient lasers is quite high, and rocks are fairly inexpensive, even fancy ones.

The problem with BSG was more their software, but that had the in lore explanation of the Cylon intrusion systems.

yes, anything fancy got blown up in the first episode or two.

*tosses down the gauntlet*

Shoulda been mission ready Eileen... Hope that bucket of bolts you call a helicopter is flight worthy. ;)

Edit: Less challenge worthy, but if people want a birds-eye view of the compound for tactical reasons, this might be a good time to get a look around.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

Hi Everybody.
Farmer looking guy here.  Thanks for letting me be here (I hope) :-)

Mission ready is relative, Clover will fly, but she wont make her mission ready till she knows what the mission is.

The "blown arm off" and speed conversation, when running and you get hit on the arm, you go off balance and slow down, this is natural until you realise it and compensate (as mentioned with actuators) but the actuators were blown from that side too, so it's not a punch, someone has ripped your arm clean off, this also disorientates, again slowing you down.  Into the Mech Bay you go for a bit before back to speed.

Regarding BSG, WH40K and BT weapons and tech.  We have lost so much technology from before 400CE that it sometimes appears unreal, "lightbulb invented in 1800's"...no, it was back earlier than 500BCE, it was just patented in 1800s.  Same goes for potentially earth shattering or building shattering weapons that stories tell of but no evidence seems to be around, other than the melted to glass stones in Scotland and India (and a few other places like South America).  This is the excuses in WH40K, that Tech was lost, same for BSG so why not for BT as well, a lot can be lost and gained in 1000 yrs.

We'll get to our first actual mission by the weekend once everyone has a bit of a feel for the compound. Once again, conversations and stuff can be wrapped up at leisure, the Raider Moon thread will be where actual mission rp will be.
First up will be a scout/recon run. Everyone up to hunt some Pirates??

Adding to that, the mission thread will likely be a bit slower than the compound threads. I will be requiring regular rolls during missions and will be giving more time for all involved to react. I'll try to get everyone active every mission depending on character and role.

Characters not actively on/in mission can follow mission proceedings in the command center, and via comms if in holding/waiting pattern.

That all said, for now I would like all players to add +1 to two skills they feel they have been using in rp since start. Update your characters and let me know which ones.

Can Colin claim the Commando to ride in for the recon missions?

okily dokily

I'm going to presume that eventually, a lot of Eileen's test gear will be usable on the Dragonfly.  With some modifications they can probably share equipment.  Eileen just needs to settle and warm up to Mike, or at least his crew to feel okay to share the design specs and software.

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 292):

*chuckles* Mission planning is easy when you only have one option Eileen. The Dragonfly is still a stock Ferret, so that's the loadout I'm going with.

On that note: What if any construction rules are we using for modifications? Standard? Fractional accounting? Strictly RP? Because there's already been some things mentioned that people are doing to modify their rides that I don't know what rules they'd fit into (Endo-Steel on vehicles as an example)

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 298):

That would be very cool, I have some more RP ideas for modifications I'd like to explore as well, but I figured I'd establish Mike as a competent pilot and scout first before I started making serious modifications to my Ferret.

Assuming of course Mike and Eileen don't strangle each other first.

Clover makes use of Fractional Accounting, mostly for efficiency ..

ie.

The cockpit is suppose to be 5% of the units weight .25 tons for a ferret, but you're suppose to round up to the nearest half ton, which saves a little weight.

I use the fractional savings for armor.

XL engines and Ferro have been used in conventional units, just not for ferrets, there is no reason why you can't.  You just have to figure out how to get an XL engine that small.  I spoke it over with the GM and evidently it was allowed for a 'kit' conversion to be allowed, since the helm core has been around so long they exist was the call made.


'Down Sides' for XL, Ferro and Endo steel have been 'bulky' critical slot cost, which, do not exist for conventional units.

These concerns aren't addressed for XL or Ferro, so one could presume the same could/would be done for Endo.

Clover also uses Hard Points/Modules... which is sort of a conventional version of 'Omni'.

Cost for all these were caluculated and handed over the GM.  There is an Omni surcharge to be paid for any 'omni' unit or equipment they use.

Currently in the 'unloaded' form, Eileen uses it for Racing / 'fast' transport.  It's only '3' tons, so with the controls calibrated to handle those speeds, it Cruises at 25 and Flank movements at 37 hexes.

Clover also has a gaping hole in it's compartment that a bomb rack fits over, or a metal plate if it's not in use.  They're scaled to drop Motar sized munitions on ground targets.


Eileen is starting a Four Leaf Clover Project, which will be based around the XL engine she built, using endo steel and ferro to make a sort of super ferret, which has loads that scale up to weighing it in at 10 tons.

Way down the line, her Banshee project will take what she's learn to get working on the Ferret, and upscale it for use on a Warrior VTOl.

All the math i use, exist... somewhere... in some form and are semi logical extension application for the ferret, with a good bit of roleplaying justification.  I wont bore you with the numbers or justifications, i've presented them mostly to the GM to be vetted.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

Okay that makes sense.

I'll run a Ferret through fractional accounting on S!W and see what I come up with. From the look/sound of things right now though, Eileen gets the glory of being the gunship, while Mike sticks with the boring transport side of things. ;)

(I like the Recon loadout for Clover, it ties in nicely with my idea for a Remote Sensor Dispenser loadout on Dragonfly. As a pair they can cover a lot of ground with eyes.)

While critical slots aren't a problem for vehicles the real problem behind XL and ferro/endo tech is the credit cost.

There is a good chance your final build could be in the range of 10 times the cost of a normal version, and it still explodes when hit by a big gun once.

For PCs that is a good idea, for NPCs it just sounds like throwing credits down the drain faster.

In reply to Michael Krieg (msg # 301):

Well the recon variant has a few options, this is the close support version, the fire version replaces the bombs with a LIGHT Tag for artillery spotting, while the solo Recon mission that have no ground support to be concerned with would just add armor.

It's been in discussion to use MG's to 'strafe' hexes too.

3 ammo per MG, per hex, with a minimum and max distance for the strafe.

So that MG on your ferret, isn't just for show and if you just go full auto on it to saturate the hex, you can actually empty your ammo pretty quickly.

This is true, but the cost of the ferret is minimal.

Mike's ferret cost under 50k.

Clover is slightly more than that, with the 'omni' cost... guessing under 60k.

Four Leaf Clover with literally all the bells and whistles on it is under 100k (brought with the sign on bonus).

So yes... the cost... for mechs in the millions of C-Bills gets obnoxious really fast (especially XL engines), but for something that cost less than an Archer's reloads... less harsh.

In reply to Colin Browne (msg # 296):

he sure can

I can see you guys running those Ferrets a bit like the Hueys in Nam. multi-role and easily changeable. Just way more advanced.
As for cargo loadouts I'll gladly allow door gunners with personel support machineguns. Just to fit the image :D

Actually a lance of battle armor braced to fire out the door with whatever their carrying is pretty OP.  Do it all the time in the computer game.  Battle armor fire Power + VTOL mobility, is just... broken.

If it works it isnt broken :D
Which computer game is that?

Fyi... raider mechs are all predominantly red. As in all armour plating is red, all other exposed stuff is likely metal or black. But if its an armour plate... Its a red armour plate.

I thought it was black with red accents. I’ll adjust my post.

https://twinfinite.net/2018/04...pers-new-background/

The first image, of the Mechs and tanks on parade, that could be an accurate depiction of the Raiders. If we had tanks... or ugly mechs...

I have launched the mission in the Raider moon thread. That said though, take your time wrapping up what you are currently doing without rushing it. The mission thread will be somewhat slower so everyone can react, so for the players that like posting more there is a whole day you can still sort of play out before that time

Is this something that you are think about for color scheme?

https://camospecs.com/unit/red-lancers/

Without the yellows yes. A bit like Kurita's sword of light units

If Mike and jo aren't slated for anything mission one, Eileen can use them to help with clover opts.

Can use at least one more body, pilot or tech.  Npc will do if all players are booked up.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:21, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

Mike's slated for support for mission one so he's taking his full complement (Dar and Nadia) but the whole team will happily help get Clover ready.

Jo's trained as a crew chief now on the Ferret. Entirely by accident of course. But if she wants to go... ;)


The Ferret and the Huey have nearly identical stats, so it seemed like a logical place to start.


It also makes for a hell of an Apocalypse Now/Full Metal Jacket moment.

I love the smell of inferno rounds in the morning!

Jo would be happy to help out with Clover for mission one.

okay, then Jo can help me set Clover up in the Hanger thread, she'll go over what she wants Jo to do for the missions.

So with fractional accounting and a fusion engine, I've managed to come up with the .5 tons I really wanted for the Dragonfly.

Now I just need to figure out the configs.

What shade of red is our company colors? I am playing around in MW5 and I want to make sure I get it right.

If you convert the armor to Ferro you can eke out a few more AF for the same weight too.  Doesn't sound like much but for a ferret you're looking at modest gains regardless.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Fri 17 Mar 2023.

In reply to Eileen Sutherby (msg # 322):

I'll probably do that too.

Cosmetically, I'd like at some point to give Ophelia Ah-64 Apache style 'cheeks' that house the Improved Sensors quirk, but I think that's probably a thing for once/after we get into Clan space.

I'd allow the cheeks too, add an extra ton of space or so

Since Nero's Mech was being hidden, he would request any paint job change was Camo style, what that be black lightning/tiger stripes?

A ton is pretty serious dedication for a Ferret.

Yeah it is, which is why I wanted it for a quirk instead of something that could be changed to fit the mission.

Improved Sensors basically gives the equivalent of a permanently mounted Beagle probe, and they did it in canon on the Ferret Fermi, though that doesn't happen until 3076. Loadout is (Clan ECM, Vehicular stealth armor, 1 ton of cargo) plus the Improved Sensors and Narrow Profile quirks. It's fluffed as a pure Special Forces insertion bird, and that fits.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Sat 18 Mar 2023.

Thats a lot of good quirks.

Yeah it is, I personally would have given it Difficult to Maintain and Non-Standard Parts to balance it out a little since it's supposed to be such a rare bird, but hey I'm not the AFFS either. ;)

it's also 3076 variant, so the things it's meant to deal with are a lot more advance and ugly, so i presume it's a little fairer that way.

Keep in mind that a 3076 production variant has been in development for 5-10 years, and it is almost always based on parts that are another 5-10 years old, often used for years as upgrades before being put into a factory fresh vehicle or mech.

All of that ignores completely the possibility of having uncovered lost tech either yourself or by some friend from your background.

All entirely true.

*chuckles* With all these infernos about, maybe I should have had Sabatino ride 3rd seat instead of Nadia. BBQ anyone?

Back from a three day wargaming convention. Been demoing Overdrive GodTear and Alpha strike.
Now gonna take a moment to get up to speed on the posts and then will reply accordingly everywhere.
Thank you for your patience.

Hi guys

New recruit here, nice to meet everyone.

Welcome Kevin and welcome back GM!

In reply to Kevin MacElroy (msg # 335):

Nice to meet you (and everyone else)

Heya new guys glad to have you along.

'ello Kev

Welcome!

In reply to Jason Kruger (msg # 338):

Cheers.
I did intro earlier but there was a convo going on.

Welcome aboard Nero and Kevin.

Kevin, if you hurry, there's a seat aboard Ophelia's Dragonfly for the op. Since I suspect at least part of my role in the unit is going to be your taxi service, seems as good a time as any to get introduced.

Sorry for missing that the first time Nero! Welcome :)

Hello all

I just wanted to extend this offer here again. I am interested in expanding my game to a second group of PCs. I would love to have some of you in my game but it’s a commitment. Players are required to post daily.

Everyone, I am running another game using the original Star Frontiers rules from the 1980 and I have roo for a few more players. Some of you guys are fantastic writers and I would love to have you. I ran it past the GM here and he said it was ok to invite you to join.

This game will not be just based on the Star Frontiers game system and setting but with many modifications especially regarding robots and computers.

This game will combine elements of Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Shadowrun, Traveler, Aliens, War of the Worlds, Starship Troopers, Dune, Logan's Run, The Black Hole, Enders Game, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Expanse as well as others. - I have already added Smart Links and gyro-stabilization mounts from Shadowrun and Apesuits from Aliens. I have improved the robots rules and the character creation. I have added Sanity rules to the game.

Character are not starting off as basic characters with level one skills and no money. The game includes ground forces, space forces, spacers, star pilots and aliens.

I have also added a new element of character creation adding in priorities like the Shadowrun system - More Atts, Skills, Resources, Social Standing and Lifestyle.

I am looking for reliable adult players only! This is a game for role-players not gamers. I have room for only three more players.

I have a great characters immediately available for immediate play - a female technician/computer expert familiar with the criminal underworld, and she is also noblewoman fleeing galactic bounty hunters.

But I could see adding a new group of three or four more players as well.

This is a very solid group of role-players. We are looking to add new players immediately who are mature and can keep up.

Please join us On the Fringe.

Search for - Star Frontiers: On the Fringe.

GM is witch_hunter007.

Sometimes things really do not go as planned.
After havi9ng an exvellent weekend of fun and finally getting home tired but looking forward to play... I got a call from work saying we had a missing client...
Needless to say, after her having been missing for over 4 days... my week was hell.
But, she's back here, safe and sound, so its business back to normal I guess...

What say ypou all we kick this mission into gear?

I've been quietly on standby.

You seemed busy and distracted and i didnt want to add to your backlog of reading.
o.~

welcome back.

gald she is safe, and when you are ready

Welcome back! Glad it worked out.

Ready to rock whenever you are!

Glad things are alright now. I’m willing and able to get started when you are!

I am so lucky to have such a great bunch of players. I really appreciate that!
In fact, just because I kept you waiting...
Here, have a bonus skill point!

Add it to any skill you wish.

Don't go getting all mushy now boss.

But glad your back and thanks.

I never get mushy... *sniff*

*wipes eyes*

NEVER!

FYI, we seem to have already lost Kevin again. He felt starting out with no skill points and just stats made his character seem like an 18-year old... Too bad he didn't give it a chance.
I hope he changes his mind, after all, skills grow quickly, and since they are usually a combination of 2 plus a d20 most rolls aren't in the realm of the impossible...