/btg/ BattleTech General

/btg/ is dead, long live /btg/!

First Succession Wars isn't that bad, but still not better than ilClan

Old Thread: ===================================
First Succession War
mediafire.com/download/dp9iiecoaz4c29k/E-CAT35235_BattleTech First Succession War.pdf
===================================

>/btg/ does a TRO:
builtforwar.blog(not spam)spot.com/

>How do I do this Against the Bot thing?
pastebin.com/pE2f7TR5

>Overview of the major factions?
bg.battletech.com/universe/great-houses/
bg.battletech.com/universe/the-clans/
bg.battletech.com/universe/other-powers/

>How do I find out what BattleMechs a faction has?
masterunitlist.info/

>Map of /btg/ players (WIP):
zeemaps.com/map?group=1116217&add=1

>BattleTech Introductory Info and PDFs
bg.battletech.com/?page_id=400

>Rookie guides
pastebin.com/HZvGKuGx

>Sarna.net - BattleTech Wiki
sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page

>Megamek - computer version of BattleTech. Play with AI or other players
megamek.info/

Unit Designing Softwares
>SSW Mech Designer
solarisskunkwerks.com/
>MegaMek Lab
megameklab.sourceforge.net/

>BattleTech IRC
#battletech on irc.rizon.net

>PDF Folders
mediafire.com/folder/9q792hobnbpw3/Battletech
mediafire.com/folder/sdckg6j645z4j/Battletech

Other urls found in this thread:

mediafire.com/download/2dma8anux6ov4ho/Missing_Objectives_books.rar
mediafire.com/download/5z1o36r4thbvhb3/35OB006-Objectives-Periphery.pdf
mediafire.com/filedrop/filedrop_hosted.php?drop=51ce3dba1293291de6062ac6fc347fce758306a60d745d0d03d2c00ad60137ac
youtube.com/watch?v=0N_RO-jL-90
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

>On a tangent from the LAM discussion, what PXH variants would you guys recommend for Late SW to Clan Invasion era play?

Normally I'd say the -1D, because getting more SHS on a PXH is always useful, and the -1K is IMO pretty terrible (taking away the jump jets makes it no longer a PXH). However, the fact that PXHs generally lead recon lances mean that the tend to run into infantry a lot (or should, anyway), and so totally losing the MGs is actually a dumb idea.

I'd prefer a custom ride that drops 1 MG and 1/2-ton of MG ammo to add 1 heat sink or 1 ton of armor.

If you're OK with the 3048 retconned refits, all of them kinda suck, but the -3D sucks the least *All* of them are overgunned, even for a Mech that's supposed to jump in, fire, and jump away to vent heat. The -3M was the best one originally, but with the changes to AMS ammo it's got way too much.

Of course, the best possible Pixie to pilot through the SWs is the PXH-1c. Good luck getting one, though.

>>Those 3 LAM's...actually escape with their lives as the thing turns into an out of control fireball straight out of an 80's action movie

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. A) BattleTech is a game of the 80s. 80s game. 80s action movie. What's the problem? B) Shit like this is *fun*, in small-to-moderate doses. Not everything has to be full grimdark "humanity sucks forever" all the damn time.

I may have also just finished rewatching Independence Day, though (since the new one is coming out), so that may be coloring my views at this moment.

Does anyone have the Objectives: Periphery pdf?

Just spend the 5$ or whatever the hell it is.

>I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. A) BattleTech is a game of the 80s. 80s game. 80s action movie. What's the problem? B) Shit like this is *fun*, in small-to-moderate doses. Not everything has to be full grimdark "humanity sucks forever" all the damn time.
>I may have also just finished rewatching Independence Day, though (since the new one is coming out), so that may be coloring my views at this moment.

There is nothing wrong with it. It's just when the only mention of LAM's in the book is just a canonization of a scenario that's been put forward a hundred times unofficially, I can't tell if it's in earnest or not.

Like "Yeah, that's cool. Let's do this."
vs
"There. Now you dumbasses can quit bringing that what-if up."

mediafire user here. I don't have these. I would like a link too. IIRC someone already did upload the missing Objectives, but I didn't download it at the time

>But it's already on mediafire...
just wanted to keep everything at one place. I've deleted it, sorry anything

my archive fu is still good
mediafire.com/download/2dma8anux6ov4ho/Missing_Objectives_books.rar

Here you guys go

mediafire.com/download/5z1o36r4thbvhb3/35OB006-Objectives-Periphery.pdf

What's missing anyway? I have Caps, Suns, Lyrans, Marik, Drac, Periphery, Clan

Any others?

thanks guys

>Like "Yeah, that's cool. Let's do this."
I don't get how it couldn't be this.

I apologize; I was unclear. I didn't mean that YOU personally felt something was wrong with it. I am 99.9% sure that your latter scenario, "There. Now you dumbasses can quit bringing that what-if up.", is the correct interpretation.

It is TPTB who almost certainly think that there is something wrong with it, not you, user.

To expound a little further, today, a new Epic Rap Battle of History came out, featuring George RR Martin vs JRR Tolkein. In the video, Tolkein makes what I feel is a very relevant point about how much GRRM's fantasy world sucks:

>We all know the world is full of chance and anarchy!
>So, yes, it's true to life for characters to die randomly,
>But news flash: the genre's called fantasy!
>It's meant to be *unrealistic*, you myopic manatee

I almost feel that CGL has forgotten that games are supposed to be *fun* and somewhat escapist. There's certainly a spectrum here between My Little Pony(shit) and going Full Westeros, but CGL has been going further down the Westeros side of the scale than I really enjoy. If all the characters are assholes, everybody dies, and there's nothing inspiring in the game fluff, what's the point of making yourself feel bad by continuing to read it?

I don't remember uploading any Objectives, to be honest.

I've created a folder where anyone can upload files to it (yeah, that "btg uploads" means that). I would be very happy if you or anyone else upload these files there
mediafire.com/filedrop/filedrop_hosted.php?drop=51ce3dba1293291de6062ac6fc347fce758306a60d745d0d03d2c00ad60137ac

I'm disabling the upload option today to prevent abuse or ebin trollers

Done.

damn, that was fast
thanks a lot, user

>the Concordat's Warhammer and Thunderbolt lines survived
that's a relief

But losing the Hatchetman, Wolverine and Marshal lines is a major bummer.

what about the rommel

GUYS. Hey, hey guys... Plog still remembers Battletech...

Wait, what the fuck happened to her face?

>GUYS. Hey, hey guys... Plog still remembers Battletech...
what do you mean by this? he never forgot Battletech. Plog even did part of the /btg/TRO art

I don't think they ever got licensed to manufacture that. Got the Commando lines still going though, so that's good. Fun little non-bug light to have around.

>On a tangent from the LAM discussion, what PXH variants would you guys recommend for Late SW to Clan Invasion era play?

You really don't have many options in that era. If you're going up against 'Mechs all the time, then the -1D. The -1K is shit, like a Vindicator from which all the things that make the Vindie awesome have been excised.

If you're going for custom jobs, I like to just pull the MGs for flamers in each arm, or swap one of those for a heat sink. You can also pull one jet and a half-ton of MG ammo for another sink.

Once you get up to TL-tech, the -3K is a nice upgrade for 'Mech killing, and the -3S is an extremely nasty infighter. Unfortunately, the -3S uses MASC, an XL, and a has a massive torso bomb, but it's still a very viable design to go out and pop Clan lights even during the middle Invasion.
I should also point out that you can pull a sink off of the PHX-3K and you'll have enough crits to give it TSM and a flamer in the head to tune heat, which gives you some interesting tactical options.

If you're willing to wait to 3055, the Watchman is a PHX replacement built on the ENF frame, and widely-available to mercs with no CGL-related bullshit attached. It's a bit slower and five tonnes lighter, but it's cheap as shit, easy to repair, hard-hitting, and replicates the original Pixie weapons load with enough sinks to actually use it. The -4DM is a 5/8/5 with a PPC and 3MLs; pretty sure I don't need to explain how to use that. Only problem is that a single Gauss round or cERPPC will go internal on the arms and side torsos on both variants.

rebuilt after cockpit hits melted half of it and her arm

that skin isn't the original either by the look of it.

I think it's just that Plog can't draw humans very well.

>dat cameltoe

>>dat cameltoe

He can draw PARTS of them really well, though

What issue to individuals have with anything after the Third Succession War?

I notice the Fourth Succession War and forward, people seem to have a lot of criticisms about the direction Battletech's taken.

Well, the 4SW was where what I refer to as "protagonist syndrome" set in, where the needs of an interesting wargame setting took back seat to the needs of novel plotting.

>where the needs of an interesting wargame setting took back seat to the needs of novel plotting.

As well it should have.

are Griffons and the Zeus supposed to be almost the same size?

>hand-built
>hand-build
>hand-build
>hand-build

I never really understood Battletech's obsession with "hand-building" things which, as far as I can tell, often involves machining each individual part by hand.

>GRRM

It's interesting how the fatty who has done nothing much beyond bash away at a keyboard for four decades writes "grimwank", as opposed to the guy who lived through the Somme. Now a lot of people have made that comparison, I'm sure - but generally it seems to be more about "why isn't Tolkien a mess" instead of wondering why GRRM likes to make everything terrible.

All Mechs are supposed to be within 1 meter (high or low) of 11 meters high. There's a single source (a size chart in TRO 3039) where this isn't the case, but in practically all other art, and in Techmanual, they're described as being universally 10-12m high, irrespective of mass.

All battlemechs are relatively 2 levels tall. Plus or minus a couple meters.

that's an ugly gal

>I never really understood Battletech's obsession with "hand-building" things which, as far as I can tell, often involves machining each individual part by hand.

It's just another way of showing how shit everything had gotten by the end of the 3SW.
Also another way of emphasizing the "knights riding giant robots" thing they were going with in the old rulesets. "My BattleMaster uses only the finest heat sinks, handcrafted by the greatest artisans on New Avalon, peasant!"

...

Speaking of that ERB, I particularly liked the jab about the backstory of every tree branch.

>I never really understood Battletech's obsession with "hand-building" things which, as far as I can tell, often involves machining each individual part by hand.

Because it's basically how people keep old cars and planes functioning in the real world that haven't had parts for them made in almost a century. That's what machine shops are for.

Plus that's how prototypes are made and can be done basically on a garage level, like the Solaris chop shops if you read the old Reaches rules. And how many defunct designs get their spares like older Assassins and Grasshoppers before the lines were rebuilt. Places like the Fedsuns did this on an industrial scale to maintain their Javelins and the Dracs did the same for their Jenners.

So saying a part can't be made for something becomes more a question of tech level than scale. This also matters less at the hand-built level. The inner sphere was able to duplicate clan tech weapons within a couple years of the invasion in lab settings. They just couldn't find a way to industrialize it effectively.

What that all means in the end is that keeping a particular design around becomes a matter of how bad do you want it. And the answer for LAM's in the end was "we don't want them enough to bother that much"

You'd figure they'd still keep a few around for their commando or specops teams but it just didn't turn out that way.

Yeah I made a thread there and regretted it. Came here and got the answer instantly without beemers shitting things up.

It's not so much that they take themselves seriously, as that they take everyone who isn't one of the Chosen Few as being beneath contempt.

Hahahaha, no :)

I enjoyed watching (ancestrally) Capellan philosophers wreck Western philosophers.

youtube.com/watch?v=0N_RO-jL-90

Between >6 and 12. Minus 1 level tall quads and 3 level tall superheavies.

Well, purely by rules logic, has it perfectly right. All mechs can shoot over Level 1 obstructions, and have full cover behind Level 2 objects, so they're 2 levels tall.

That's better. Just want to slap anyone that thinks all mechs fit neatly inside ultra specific size bands. FASA people said some really dumb things, including the 2 level ruleset aspect pigeon holing everything visually.

>Places like the Fedsuns did this on an industrial scale to maintain their Javelins and the Dracs did the same for their Jenners.

This is the odd part. If you have half a dozen machines spread across a hundred star systems, then whatevs. But when a you've got 5,000 guys hand-making each individual heat sink, actuator, etc...

she looks like a grown up fucking cabbage patch kid

Well, yeah. Think pre-automation assembly lines. Like the ones we had cranking out hardware for WWII.

Nice to see how far the Capellans have come as a faction.

That's how low level factory work is still done today. Look at all the fancy car companies that put out like eight or twelve cars a year. What's odd is that sometimes they call those factories in battletech, but I think only if they actually make whole machines instead of just parts.

IMO that wouldn't be "hand-made" - even if hands are involved, they're not individual craftsmen and the parts are largely produced by mechanical process rather than by Joe Actuator getting out his grease pencil and thermal lance to make an actuator for a Zeus.

>What's odd is that sometimes they call those factories in battletech
What's really weird is that even being a notable number, but...

For anything I'm doing on my own, I don't even bother with numbers any more. The whole thing is such a mess.

>generally it seems to be more about "why isn't Tolkien a mess" instead of wondering why GRRM likes to make everything terrible.
Bill Mauldin summed it up perfectly in 1944. Pic related. Tolkien >was< a mess, but he'd seen heroes and he knew war for what it was and what it could be. A man who's seen death appreciates life more, and wants to bring things of beauty into the world; so he wrote a war that was hard and ugly, but in which despair and hate are eventually crushed by stout arm and solid heart (and the greed of a lost soul, but that's neither here nor there).


GRRM is a nihilist wanker who thinks there aren't, and should never be, heroes.He's spoiling for a fight in the way someone who's actually fought and suffered (almost) never does. He sees only the ugliness of Mankind, not the split seconds of heartbreaking beauty and the joy inherent in life itself.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled BT conversation with a message from Qwikscell:

"It may be a piece of shit, but it's still better than a hole in the dirt. Most of the time, anyway."

I was speaking of their respective fictional universes, and the mentality of GRRM fans. How they see the two and go "Why isn't Tolkien's world as bad as George's? It's too unrealistic and fantasy!"

I think Tolkien was as an individual considerably less of a mess than most.

>all this GoT comparison when Battletech is more like a war game made by Ubisoft and written by JJ Abrams

I wonder who would direct a BattleTech movie.

And what era would it be set in? Maybe do the Warrior Trilogy as a trilogy of movies?

Maybe James Wan, but I need to see how he handles Robotech first.
If I had to choose a setting it would be Fourth Succession War or War of 3039. If it does well enough they could do a Clan Invasion sequel.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, I think.

Yeah I think you need a 4th SW movie first, to really set things up. Then, Clan Invasion (ending being Tukayyid), then Operations Bird Dog/Bulldog as the last in the trilogy.

I was wondering if you guys have made any custom variants of the Toro or Talos.

Or really of any mechs made in or available via imports to the Taurian Concordat during the Clan Invasion to Jihad era.

I'm making a mercenary unit that's going to be hired out to the Concordat was thinking of spicing it up with new variants during their tour of duty.

She's a Drac, not a Capellan.

The Toro variants I whipped up were boring as hell but address some issues it has, namely the minimum range issues. I'd remove one of the LRM5s, and one ton of ammo, and replace it with either an SRM4 and one ton of ammo, or an SRM2 with one ton of ammo and a Medium Laser.

Toros are literally extinct until late-Jihad and the Talos has been extinct since the formation of the original Star League.

Michael Bay.

Not even joking.

>the Talos has been extinct since the formation of the original Star League.
You mean the fall of it. It soldiered on by sheer numbers produced in second line units until the early succession wars. But yeah, long gone by the Jihad.

I'm working on a campaign based on the events surrounding the FWL vs Regulus in the Dark Age. And as such, I'm wondering about the units both sides are using. What are commonly seen Regulan mechs? What are commonly seen FWL mechs? I expect the Regulan forces to be more uniform and more motivated, while the FWL has more diversity and more skill/support.

What's your favorite medium mech and why?

Enforcer, because Enforcer

Hunchback

Yeah I could see that

Vindicator. It's cute.

Vindicator. Always Vindicator.

Are lances any good? Just stumbled across the Volkh and was thinking about giving it a shot.

Men Shen, because it's fast and has a config for every job.

I'm pretty sure those that have been here a while have seen me respond with this to almost every variation of "what's your favorite mech". I can't help it, it's like an IS Stormcrow/Nova Cat.

Men Shen is pretty good, I don't blame you.

Lances are better than triads or Level IIs, but not as good as Stars.

>Capellans get best IS medium
>Capellans get best IS omni

porchbux.jpg

Regulans have made Marauders and Warhammers since forever. Also Patriots in the 3060's. Ostwar since the Jihad. DA has the Violator and Neanderthal while Andurien, Oriente and Marik build the cooler bird shit.

Kinda blows that they gave the Regulans the DA totem lemons.

You know one of the biggest things that blows though? You know how Marik has used the Orion so much it's basically the iconic mech of the state? The giant SL-era factory that churned them out in unbelievable numbers and survived everything all the way through the end of the Blakists got retooled in the 3090's to make farm mechs. Orion production is DEAD in the FWL come the Dark Age.

Of course, we even get another "last hurrah" in the form of the WoB LAM rebuilds, so it's pretty darn obvious that the only real reasons LAMs don't get much face time is Catalyst doesn't want this to be Macross MKII.

(Seriously, I wish they'd just allowed two-man crews for LAMs from the start and had done with it.)

>Orion production is DEAD in the FWL come the Dark Age.

I will punt Weisman in the nuts if I ever meet him

The Cappies had the VIndi before porchbux, but I can see how it would seem unfair that they also get the best Medium Omni to boot.

Vindicator is meme trash.

Best Gen II or lower IS Omni, which isn't a lot of competition. The Preta is just damn nasty, and the Sarath and Gauntlet (which is basically a more optimized Men Shen chassis) take the crown in the dark age.

I know, and I'm fucking mad. At least we got the XPL Marauder II, which is nice as a I MUST REMOVE LIGHTS machine.

This is bait.

Any reason in the fluff why the black jack was so fast to be an omni?

>Best Gen II or lower IS Omni

Best back the hell up there, before I fuck you're waifu.

Because they decided to base the medium omnis on existing mechs to save devtime, and the Firestarter and Blackjack gave a good range of speed options. Now, the really good idea would have been to make a 55 ton 5/8/5 Omni that has configs to mimic the Griffin, Shadowhawk, and Wolverine... But the whole Unseen issue prevented that.

No, it's truth.

It's OK, I guess, in the 3025 era, where anything with a PPC is kinda scary.

AA is shit, SIC is decent, and after that it rapidly goes downhill. It's not amazingly durable or particularly versatile, like Vindie fans love to claim. It's just a fat Panther.

tfw the Black Hawk is 5 tons too heavy

2slow2use. Sorry Lie-ran.

Meant to say gen II or lower IS MEDIUM Omni. It's certainly not the best gen II or lower IS Omni across all weight classes

Vindicator is good.

I didn't know that thanks. I always thought it's a black jack.. some of the omnis get nice but i've had good luck with firestarter and it seemed so common lore it made sense.

hot argument there champ

I'm the defense. I can just sit here. It's the prosecution that needs to prove something.

I'd argue with you, but it can't be a meme when it's older than the concept you think a meme actually is.

>4/6/4 mech with a PPC
>best IS medium

Ok, you lose.

The mech itself is one of thousands. The people who spam it every time someone asks here are taking it to meme trash status.

>What's your favorite medium mech and why?
I really, really like the Griffin. It's just sexy, and it's good in literally every era of the game, even the Age of War. I know the Wolvie is better-designed, and I love the Shad and Pixie, but she's the Queen of hte Unseen for me.

Now, for later eras the Nightsky is my homegirl. I know the wraith is better, but again there's just something so viscerally satisfying about taking Sharkey McJumpenslash out and pulsing anything I can catch to death as I repeatedly brain it with an axe.

>Any reason in the fluff why the black jack was so fast to be an omni?
It was cheap, the line was disposable, and the electronics were flexible. Unlike, say, the Centurion, the BJ >needed< a wholesale ugrade, and the line was (if not worthless) at least not the highest priority out there.

Rifleman
When I played the original Mechwarrior fot the IBM PC as a kid I wanted the Warhammer from the cover. My dad was way better at the game, since I could barely read, and quickly got me a save game with the Rifleman and convinced me it was "good enough", and I could get the Warhammer after getting the C-Bills through some missions. I never bought the Warhammer and played the entire game with my Rifleman.
Also my dad's favorite was the Battlemaster, but when I bought MW4: Mercenaries it became the Daishi because he powergames like you wouldn't believe.

Fun fact. All the BJ-O lines were brand spanking new lines, not conversions.

The development of the Capellan PP Phawk killed the Pocket Hammer line and Blakists blew up the BJ-2 line.

The FedCom gave the Dracs their shittiest designs in a show of solidarity. The Dracs then made lemonade out of lemons.

And to give the FedCom the finger right back, exported Omnis that couldn't handle Clan OmniPods, which the FedCom bitched about and forced them to fix.

This is literally the explanation given.

>exported Omnis that couldn't handle Clan OmniPods

u wot

That's the wrong Rifleman when talkin' medium mech though.

The medium RFL is a bit better than the first heavy ones though.