In reply to GM (msg # 357):

It came in via railroad.

GM, welcome back, I'm glad to hear everything is alright in the real world for you now.

Zi, welcome aboard.

Well, an artilleryman without artillery is just an overqualified infantryman, so I'll man the Long Tom.

And an artilleryman with artillery is compensating for something. ;)

Kidding of course, Ophelia and I will be happy to back Hawk 1 up on spotting targets for you.

Speaking of which GM is it a LT-MOB-25 or 95?

The 25 is more widespread and can operate independent of its tailers giving it some much needed strategic mobility with a detached top speed of 54kph (5 hex) while limiting it to the 3t of comms equipment and 4t of ammo it carries. Normally 7t of comms equipment and 9t of ammo at a measly 25kph (2 hex).

While the 95 is a FedSun exclusive, at least till after the Jihad and also not on the MUL, but simplifies the design by building it onto a single tracked chassis giving it an extra 5t to work with while limiting it to a max speed of 32kph (3 hex).
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Sat 25 Mar 2023.

Welcome Zi Rui!

Thanks for the welcome.

Its the 25 Rui. Sorry...

Good to know, then it's not likely that we'll need to utilize the trailers on the current mission as I doubt a raider camp will require 45 rounds of Long Tom ammunition. Unless of course you wanted us to act as a Command-and-Control hub with the extra 4t of Comms Equipment?

The Long Tom isnt all that fast. By the time its in the mission area the opp will probably be over. Thats why its staying home. I need to look up the range of the thing to see if it can be used in support...

30 mapsheets or about 15km

In that case she will have to head out with Badger team and set up at the edgebof the mission area to be of use...
You would be Badger 5.
It would be critical to stay out of any direct fighting. One of the Savannah Masters of team 3 will join you as your support.

Yeah, with the carriages the Mobile Long Tom is abysmally slow, only 21.6kph, but dethatched it can reach up to 54kph. But the main benefit to Artillery is its range, diagonally over 30 standard 16x16 hex sheets, the Long Tom can reach out to 21.6km, though horizontally that's only 14.4km, so an average of 18km.

As for infantry overwatch, unless the squad in question is packing long ranged support weapons, there's not a whole lot more they can do that the Long Tom's four machineguns can't.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Sat 25 Mar 2023.

Thank you guys, but the posting rate here is too slow and eratic for me to make any kind of commitment. Thank you for allowing me in. Good luck and have fun.

take care roland

Thanks for the writing folks, but I'm stepping away as well.

Have fun!

Good luck y’all!

So, out of curiosity, what's everyone's mid and end game gear wish list looking like?

Personally, wasn't expecting to start with a Long Tom of all things, though certainly not going to complain. But my immediate wish list for the LT-MOB-25 involves shifting things around and perhaps adding some additional support elements to increase strategic mobility by mostly eliminating the need for the trailers.

First off would be nice to offload the 3t of Comms Equipment and 2 out of 4 MGs to squeeze in an extra 4t of ammo. FF would also be lovely, though could just shift some points around to give me 18 across the front and sides to make it possible to survive a direct hit from another Long Tom. Not that I'm anticipating such in the near future.

While those previously mentioned support elements would come in the forms of a modified Tracked Coolant Truck, primarily repurposing the insulated cargo to serve as a Mobile HQ with the Comms Equipment from the 25 and one of its trailers. As always FF would be wonderful, would allow me to better armor the turret, though at least adding a single point from the rear would be sufficient to let it survive a near hit from a Long Tom.

While either a Tracked or Wheeled Heavy APC reproposed for Cargo would not go unloved, especially with FF. Wheeled could even tow the trailers without slowing the rest of the artillery convoy down, assuming clear terrain, giving it a whopping 16t+ cargo potential, depending on how much armor one wishes to strip from the trailers.

And that's just immediate to mid goals, all of which could be had for less than 637k c-bills, though would require hiring another 4 tankers. Though could do without the Heavy APC and save about 174k c-bills and 2 tankers.

Beyond that though, would adore getting ahold of some Fuel Cell Engines, could upgrade the convoy described above to be both strategically and individually faster and haul more, not that they'd really need to haul more. In fact, could get the whole convoy moving 64.8kph cross country, trailers included, by sacrificing 1 MG and 1t Cargo on a Heavy Tracked "APC" while shifting 3t of ammo from the Long Tom to the "Coolant" Truck.

Hell without the trailers the Heavy Tracked APC alone could hurl itself across a field at 129.6kph with a 160 class Fuel Cell Engine and enough cargo capacity for an Elemental Point to be braced inside ready to pounce.

Course... the cost would be a bit steeper, albeit only 1.62 million c-bills more, less than most light mechs.

Could even swap out some Cargo for Lift Hoists to really crank that Cargo capacity. Though to keep from slowing down the convoy would have to limit it to 1 per "Coolant" Truck/Heavy "APC", but even then, that's a net benefit of 19t, 25t external for 6t internal.

But Zhang isn't really here to play "Salvage King", but if anyone's crazy enough to try, 4 Lift Hoists on a modified 50t Hovercraft could easily haul an Atlas at 97.2kph. Gives a whole new meaning to "Steiner Scout Lance".
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Sun 02 Apr 2023.

I think a lot of us started fairly close to the 'have what you want to play with' threshold so the end game gear probably looks like clan tech upgrades to what we already have, or in some cases later tech Inner Sphere upgrades.

Eileen is sort of strange.

At the moment she's air recon, but she's actually intended to be a sort of utility character to supply whatever the unit might need.

A specialist will always be better than Eileen, but when you have no one really prepared to do something, she'll often be a good person to send to do something.

So she has no set path on gear.

Her short term pet project is to build a 'Banshee', which will be a up toned {10t} VTOL based on her current ferret, that incorporates all the bleeding edge technology around... Endo... XL engine... Ferro... and Option mounts {conventional Omni}...

Eventually when it comes to light how useful her research is, they may not want to risk her pretty head in combat missions and ground her.  Per her background, she's never actually flown a military mission, though she's watched it countless times from the safe confines of a command center, so she knows what's suppose to happen.

In reply to Zhang Zi Rui (msg # 376):

Nero's goal is to find out who killed his family and if they happen to be in an area where a battle is, he wants what can do the most damage.

So...
* Upgrade Engine for that ever increasing speed.
* Upgrade weapons with some kind of guidance for accuracy.

Yeah, was honestly expecting to start in a Thumper or something then build up from there, but then again Vees are significantly cheaper than Mechs so I suppose if you got the C-bills to spare there's no reason not to spend the extra million to start at the apex.


And unfortunately, Eileen, normal Vee creation rules don't allow Endo, especially since they already have the slot to crit conversion rate, 1 slot to 7 crits. But then again, the "Illegal" quirk exists for a reason, ie to ignore those rules at one's own risk.


You're in the Mercury right Nero? Then probably should look forward to an XL engine with some Pulse Lasers.

If this was proper BT Classic probably you wouldn't see much benefit from a larger engine till you can find a 250 XL, mostly as it'd let you reach the 10-hex move modifier with a Walk action rather than a Run action, reducing your accuracy penalty by 1 in the process. While Pulse Lasers, particularly Medium Pulse Lasers due to greater range than Small (180m vs 90m), could increase your accuracy by 2. After which you could start looking for clan tech equivalents or even a Clan tech Targeting Computer for another 1 bonus. Though without the weight savings from Endo Steel or Ferro Fiber, the added weight of the Pulse Lasers or Target Computer would likely require removing some weaponry, while the extra heat could be easily solved with Double Heat Sinks.

Unfortunately, that'd all but require rebuilding the mech from scratch, so would be a major time and cost sink, 1.667 mil C-bills for the 250 XL engine alone. Especially since there isn't a production variant with those changes available. Though instead of an XL engine, you could always get the MCY-97 which has Myomer Accelerator Signal Circuitry, which in turn allows you to push your engine a bit harder to go 33% faster, doesn't help with accuracy though. Additionally, there is the risk of breaking the MASC and your mech seizing up mid combat leaving you helpless till it's repaired the longer you use it but is otherwise fine for short bursts of speed every other round/post.

In the meantime, though, DHS, FF, and MPLs should probably be your focus.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:15, Sun 02 Apr 2023.

Was fuzzy on this one, because Ferro is just about as bad on the critical spaces and they use it all over the place.  I was trying to find the rule on why Endo is prohibited on Vehicles.  Can you give me a hint on where this ruling is?

[want to see/read up why ferro is okay, but not endo...]

In reply to Zhang Zi Rui (msg # 380):

Has a 280 Vox and Jumps.
Lighter, faster engine, Pulse and Targeting Computer were my thoughts too.

For Colin, I think he wants to figure out what exactly his role is long term. He has a knack for tactics and is pretty much a 3050 TRO for Inner Sphere. The training equipment is mostly to help the company as a whole mash and try new things without the massive combat experience required to pull them off in the field.

Personally, I think Colin would do great in a field command role. He went to Filtvelt Academy and then became dispossessed. He young, eager, and wants to make the entire company deadlier.

As far as a mech, I think he would be drawn to proven, versatile medium/heavy mech for his final ride. Top candidates in my mind are Shadow Hawk, Ostroc, Oststol, or T-Bolt.