/btg/ Battletech General

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

Nostalgia edition

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

TtS: Brownsville
mega.nz/#!7xMngZBR!d0Ayoy_8rDrtsXZ7-M6wGPrmDq8O8F5_0d4G8dkLxzM
===================================

>/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:

sarna.net/wiki/IIC
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

First for actual content

Guys, post merc units, house units, mechs, vees, spacecraft, NPCs, stories, waifus, fuck, whatever. Anygoddamnthing original from your games

I have a 3025 lance for the Taurian Concordat that consists of a Mad Cat Mark II, a Stealth Pillager, a Thunderhawk, and a Hellstar. They time-travelled there by mis-jump to prevent the Taurian Concordat from being wrecked by the bullshit Xin Sheng plotline. They came with a copy of the Helm core that let the Taurians resume building WarShips in 3030 and their first ship was an upgraded version of the Leviathan II.

Am I doing it right?

>Am I doing it right?
No

>go to LGS for battletech stuff
>they had battletech stuff past tense, made shelf space for things that actually sell
>haha user no-one's talked about battletech in like a decade
Fuck

It's no worse than Far Country

>They time-travelled there by mis-jump to prevent the Taurian Concordat from being wrecked by the bullshit Xin Sheng plotline. They came with a copy of the Helm core that let the Taurians resume building WarShips in 3030 and their first ship was an upgraded version of the Leviathan II.
The terrible thing is, it's only the second silliest taurian Battletech time travel story that I's seen
Also, let's not carry that evil over from the last thread, OK?

Thinking of putting together a word of blake unit to give general opposition at some point in the future to, well, everything I have I guess.

I've got a bunch of mechs from the starter set laying around as well as a few others to spare (really need to inventory everything), but what's some good bog-standard mechs that can be assigned to them? Preferably things I could maybe grab from Warhansa to supplement (I guess that does help cover project phoenix stuff by having decent enough reseen versions of their own).

Maybe a scary half dozen with networking to be a good villain goon-squad, with a couple of alternates to swap in.

One of the things I have done for my own AU is go through the Clan Invasion timeline and attempt to deal with the problems caused by the tech retcons and the more bone-headed character moments.

A lot of tech has been around for over two decades in 3050 now and certain designs from TR 3058 have been back-dated for introduction as early as the 3040s. It makes the designs from TR 3050 absolutely nonsensical since the OOC reason was that the Houses were flinging shit at walls to try and do something, anything about the Clan tech advantage when after the tech retcons they had 20-odd years to work that crap out. Designs don't have to be fully optimised but given the backdating that's gone on they should make a hell of a lot more sense than the idiocy going on with the Panther, Cicada, Marauder II or Hunchback.

I also increase the size of the Clan forces to account for how much better off the IS should be with the gear retcons in place.

>The terrible thing is, it's only the second silliest taurian Battletech time travel story that I's seen
I NEED THE TRUTH

It's a Master Amarasis job on the OF. You could probably find it by googling Battletech fanfiction, literally.
It's 100% batshit

>because nobody replies to anything but arguments, bait and rarely AUs anymore.
Like, if we want a better thread, we need to actually respond to design challenges (I'm pretty sure that there's literally two guys who do that with any regularity and, and one of them is still using HMP) and post stories and units and other actual content more

/btg/ as a whole is lazy as fuck. Our namefags are the only productive ones, and they're all working on projects already.

>Our namefags are the only productive ones, and they're all working on projects already.
It's not just the namefags that contribute, though (ship researcher from the last thread/guy who did the 4e counter scan and scale/assorted other things I don't need to take credit for here). Still, I'm working on renovating my workbench and cleaning up the library right now, so I've been pretty laid back in the thread.

Frankly, there really haven't been any good prompts lately other than "I ordered a limited selection of 'Mechs from warhansa, can you get me a starter force and a 3050s force from them". Too much regurgitating old shit, no prompts for something that would require research or discussion to hash out.

>Frankly, there really haven't been any good prompts lately
>Too much regurgitating old shit, no prompts for something that would require research or discussion to hash out.
Well, in the interests of promoting discussion, I've got two:

Which non-BattleTech sci-fi setting do you think would blend with BattleTech in a fun or interesting way?
And
Since ISIF is still pretty shit, how would YOU design a BattleTech strategic-scale wargame? Mechanically, scale, level of detail ECT

Is Shadowrun cheating?

Not if you've got a good explaination why

The thing about strategic scale wargames is you should never use them as framework for a campaign of smaller games. Either the strategic elements are so important the tactical battles become a foregone conclusion, or the strategic elements are irrelevant to the battle itself. The only scale where I think using a strategic game to frame a tactical game would be really big games of Alpha Strike, playing at the regimental scale.

>how would YOU design a BattleTech strategic-scale wargame?

I wouldn't. No matter what you do, not everything is going to be completely equal. And if it's not, autists are going to REEEE over the perceived imbalances. It's a completely losing proposition given the nature of the fanbase. The only thing that's guaranteed to result from such an effort is butthurt.

Although, to be fair, ANY product is an inherently losing proposition given the nature of the fanbase. I'm honestly hoping that CGL gives up and either shutters the franchise or completely reboots it in a way that totally and utterly invalidates ALL previous material. And I hope that CGL outright says that they're invalidating all the previous material because people are giant shits. Preferrably naming IRL names (and forum handles when those aren't known) as the specific reason why things have to be reset. God knows CGL is a shit company, but the people in this community are orders of magnitude worse.

(I actually and finally had my first in-person fanbase experience where I genuinely and honestly hope the person dies IRL. Nothing of value to the human race would be lost. I want this person to die more than anything I can think of right now. He ACTUALLY "reeee'd" over using level 2 tech in a game set in 3055, and threw a person's mini across the game store and claimed to the owner that he was triggered by post-Clan cheese. The owner backed him; the guy orders $1000/month from the store, and nobody wants to fuck with him because he open-carries. Fuck Texas.)

>Fuck Texas.
I found your real problem

Planning a small campaign for a 3040s-ish game centered around a lostech factory on the border world of New Cupertino, an inactive factory that once made GPS and flight recorders.

>Since ISIF is still pretty shit, how would YOU design a BattleTech strategic-scale wargame? Mechanically, scale, level of detail ECT

As mentioned above (though I fundamentally disagree with almost everything else he said) the problem with a strategic scale game is that you're either going to piss off people who want all factions to be balanced or people who want the game to reflect BT fluff.

The FedSuns/FedCom is just given so many advantages over the other factions in the 3025-3067 era- which is when most people set their games- that you have to decide which way you're going to go. Either the FedCom/FedSuns is handed a giant pile of advantages because that's what the fluff says and the people who want all factions to have a chance get pissed off, or they aren't and it pisses off the people who are FedSuns/FedCom fans (most of the fanbase, if the polls on the BT forums and my IRL experience is reflective of what's happening there) will get pissed because the fluff advantages of their faction are being ignored. And they're already pissed off by pretty much everything after 3030 and especially what CGL did with the Jihad and 3145+ era.

The closest you could probably get to a workable solution would be setting a smaller-scale campaign in and around the Chaos March where planets vie to keep their independence and the larger factions only have limited forces available. But that'd be a really niche product set in a very short playable period.

fuck you, the fanbase is mostly made up of mature and well-balanced people, just look at the people in #battletech for example.

the WoB had pretty decent Griffin, the -4R, and shad, the -7CS/7M, so three of these variants, call it two griffs and a -7M shad. add a Marauder II, salvage from outreach or Case White, either WD or export from Blackwell grabbed off the shipping dock.
then, a Thud-7 or 9M and a Lineholder-LHW to round it out
there. a tough but not silly WoB Level II

>I actually and finally had my first in-person fanbase experience where I genuinely and honestly hope the person dies IRL. Nothing of value to the human race would be lost. I want this person to die more than anything I can think of right now
>the guy orders $1000/month from the store, and nobody wants to fuck with him because he open-carries. Fuck Texas.)
Well shit nigger, you've got your solution. 'Confront' him outside the store, a slow parking lot, no cameras. Pop him three to the chest, go over, take the gun outta his holster without leaving prints. Tell the police that you had a disagreement about what he'd done, and the fucking psycho nerd, he drew on you, but you got the first shot off.
That is, if this is a real story in the slightest, and you are an actual texas boy, not a pussy transplant, both of which are unlikely

Depends how they time traveled.

1/6
Some time ago someone (IIRC Munin) asked how /btg/ would reorganise the military of a Successor State assuming a rebuild is neccassary. My answer was focused on improving logistics by only using a single Mech for each role and building Lances like BA squads. Without SLDF amount of forces this might reduce tactical flexiblity too much, a problem solved by the Omnimech.

So here are six Omnimechs designed for this purpose, the difference between this series and the Celestials or the Clan Omnis is that the entire military is supposed to use these. Regular Battlemchs would only serve in Militias as the personal vehicle of retired/noble Mechwarriors. Both halves of the FedCom after the Civilwar (and no Jihad) or the Republic after the Jihad have the opportunity to take this decision in my opinion.

The configs are build with this scheme:
Prime: remodelling of a Mech which symbolises the intended role
A: alternativ to Prime with the same target
B: shortrange/melee fighter
C: longrange fighter
D: unique purpose based on the Mech
M: mixed tech config which rebuilds the Prime with Invasion Era clan gear, to be assigned to lance commanders, veteran NCOs and ace pilots depending on unit rating and availibilty of course

Since the series is supposed to be deployed until significant technological advancement is made I did use a decent amount of level 2 tech. The high initial costs would be offset in a TCO analysis.
Keep in mind that the Mechs are supposed to be used in combined arms warfare, so no special effort was made to deal with aero and regular infantry or use artillery since the support elements should do this more efficiently.

Any comments would be much appreciated

The first mech is inspired by the Mongoose, A config is a Firestarter light, C a sniper and D is supposed to give long-range-recon elements decent IDF ability.

2/6
The second mech is inspired by the Viper and the Stealth, A is supposed to help lesser pilots offset the jump penalty, B gives a tribute to the Nightsky, C is another sniper and D is the only infantry hunter in the series.

3/6
The third is a cavalry design inspired by the Stormcrow and Men Shen - I tried it as the fasted means to bring a Gauss to the party. B resembles the Ti Ts'ang, C is a fast Griffin, D is my tribute to the Rifleman.

4/6
The fourth is supposed the replace the 5/8/5 mediums as workhorse and tries to be a Summoner while it rather resembles the Falconer.C is a variant on the Archer and the D tries to tick all the boxes by bringing a headcapper and a cluster weapon while dealing decent damage down all ranges.

5/6
Zeus. Assaults are only to be assigned to special formations which specialise in their use. B is a Victor, C inspired by the Warhammer/Marauder and D shall bring death to conventional forces.

6/6
The mech for the General who wants to be in the action. Prime is supposed to combine elements of the Atlas with the technology of a Communications Mech like the Cyclops-HQ. A is a tribute to the SLDF King Crab, B might be a Nightstar without jets and the C is a long range support platform.

All right any critc is welcome...

So what is the most prolific Assault mech that can be found in the Inner Sphere?

In the SW era it would be the Stalker I believe.

Back in the early days of the Star League it probably would have been the Striker.

Not him, but what about Jihad and Dark Age?

Off the top of my head I can't recall any newer assault being fluffed as especially numerous, especially given how things have gotten a bit more faction specific, so the Stalker could well have the top spot still.

Still some other assaults that are at least fairly widespread if not as numerous include the Longbow, Battlemaster, Cerberus, and Pillager. The Awesome is also found almost anywhere, though the FWL long had notably more than anybody else since they had the only factory.

What are some good Clan retrofits of Inner Sphere designs?

Do you mean actual retrofits like the shitty "C" models from the 3050s, or proper stuff like IICs?

For the latter the IIC versions of the Clint, Guillotine, and Highlander are all very good.

C models from the 3050s. Ersatz models interest me.

Assuming you mean just the original batch that were predominantly weapon swaps, and not the ones that are full on Clantech, the Victor C is basically a VTR-9K/D only with Clantech weapons, including a Streak SRM, and the GR replacing the AC/20 means it can handle the heat of ER lasers fine. The MAD is definitely an improvement on the 3R, Clan LPLs instead of PPCs, a Clan UAC/5, and unlike any of that bunch, it introduces a structural improvement, IS CASE, the medium lasers are IS. The Atlas is solid as well, using a Clan UAC/20, LRM 20, and SSRM 6, though keeping IS lasers like the MAD. The Whammy gets a nice full set of Clan lasers, including LPLs replacing the PPCs, along with a Clan SSRM 6, though it can run even hotter because of the ER lasers. MGs are still there though.

The Archer is the same, just with Clan weapons, which again means running warm even when only using the lasers due to ER. Does make rear defense a bit better though. The Shadow Hawk is another straight swap to Clan guns, which does improve its firepower some, due to an SSRM2, the lack of minimum range on the LRM, and the extra damage of the ERML. The AC is now an LBX 5, but with one ton of ammo the flexibility is limited in the span of one battle.

The not so good ones would be the Rifleman, it has two LPLs, which also means it runs even fucking hotter. And the Thud is fucking weird. 2 ERSLs, 1 ERML, 1 ERLL, and 1 LPL. Runs hot, especially if you try and use the ERLL and LPL together.

When you say full-on Clantech do you mean like the IIC types or IS models built (re)built from the ground up as Clan machines? If the latter could you give an example?

The Thunderbolt (Clan) has hear issues but it's a favorite of mine.

The latter. As an example, the Champion C, it's full Clantech, including structural stuff like DHS, an XL engine, and ferro-fibrous armor. 5/8/5, 2 ERMLs, 2 MPLs, 2 SPLs, LBX 10, SRM6 with artemis, AV 192.

Most are in fluff old, being upgraded SL machines from the early Clan days, many being stuff associated with the Dragoons because they came to the IS with the introtech models like the Firefly, Hoplite, Shogun and Imp. They can be found in Historical and RS Operation Klondike, and RS 3050U unabridged.

There are some newer ones too, the Falcons started building Battlemaster Cs in the Jihad for example.

Why TPTB just don't call these mechs IICs is a mystery.

>Why TPTB differentiates refits from entire new mechs

Oh gee, user. I wonder why

Not all the IIC mechs are entirely new mechs. Most are just refits with clan tech.

I think you may be right, but can you give some examples? I can't remember of any IIC that's just a refit

Orion IIC comes to mind. Theres a list on Sarna : sarna.net/wiki/IIC

So i tried experimenting with ATMs for a while.

I know they are supposed to be clan MMLs, but they dont make sense because clan LRMs have no minimum range, so there is no need to swap to a shorter ranged ammo type.

A LRM-20 with artemis is 6 tons, a ATM-9 is 5 tons. The LRM-20's medium range bracket is roughly the max range of the ATM-9. The ER ammo does basically no damage, and the medium range ammo does less damage than the LRM-20 on average, especially when you take into account the fact that the LRM-20's medium range bracket is nearly the ATM-9's maximum range (when using medium range ammo).

The ONLY time where the ATM-9 actually out-performs the LRM-20 is literally at 3 hexes or below with HE warheads. At 4-9 hexes, you are firing HE warheads with range penalties while the LRM-20's short range is 1-7 hexes.

Unless you are trying to bore the enemy to death by sniping them at 27 hexes with ER ammo or can reliably get into 3 hex range and stay there, LRMs seem to be better.

The Orion IIC is practically a new mech though. New skeleton, new engine, new armor, etc. It's like saying it's the same axe after five new blades and three new handles.
IIRC the only thing the same is the tonnage and SRM.

Highlander IIC.

A few other 'Mechs are also said to have been refits at first but then new chassis were constructed.

>LRMs seem to be better.

Yep.

You can kind of argue for an ATM of equivalent weight to an LRM launcher loading one ton each of ER and HE ammo as long as it's not a particularly missile-heavy design but in general LRMs are better.

>how would YOU design a BattleTech strategic-scale wargame? Mechanically, scale, level of detail ECT
First of all, I'd design it as an operations-level game, not strategic, since that's what ISIF is meant to be.

Most "historical" events would need to be random - shit like the Helm Core and Black Boxes. Even the New Dallas-style Primitive/Royal cores should be an option.

Units would be highly abstract. "Initiative" allows the player to shift combat results one position on the CRTs. Basically, lighter units are faster than heavy, and 'Mechs are one step better than the equivalent vee formation (so the 3rd Davion Assault Guards would beat a Kurita Assault Armor formation), and aero superiority grants a bonus point of initiative to fights in that area. Otherwise, units are classified by weight, priority/tech level, morale, attack, and defense. Certain units, like the Illician Lancers, would get special abilities (Assault Drop) that affect their combat capabilities.

Units can take various actions; garrison duty helps rebuild them and offers a stronger defensive posture, scrounging lets them roll on an even table with a chance of pulling an event card (see below), cadre gives a bonus to recruitment rolls, etc.

Transport should be a serious concern. Add in a "holding box" for transport units that you have to draw from for your military needs. Pull below certain thresholds and your political and economic indices are damaged.

Economic and espionage factors should also be important, but I'm running out of room here. I like the idea of a BT CCG-style concealed build queue, which you have to allocate resources to but the opponent can't see without running recce missions. And of course, he can pop off an objective raid to try to bust it up.

Sample Event Card:

>Black Boxes
You have found plans for a pre-HPG faster-than-light communication system. You may manufacture them as a secret R&D project , costing and -1 Transport asset for 2 turns when complete.
Effect: Halves Political and Transport penalties for a ComStar Interdiction. Cancels effect of all enemy ComStar Moles (if any). Add a bonus of + to your Intelligence Services rank.

>Star League University Enrollment Records
You find a clue pointing to a library of hardcopy Star League-era technical works. Select an enemy-held planet within a minimum of 3 Jumps of the unit's current location. If this unit launches a successful Objective Raid against it, gain +1 to your Technical Index.
If failed, the enemy may roll a d6: on a 5+, they gain the bonus instead.

Indices:

>Political Index:
This represents both your apparent strength among the Successor Lords and the level of support you enjoy from your people. You can gain Political Index points by destroying enemy units, capturing territory, and spending points from your Economic (social programs) or Intel (propaganda) indices. You lose Political points for embarrassing military losses, foolish political actions, and having civil unrest within your borders. In the 4th Succession War Scenario, the Federated Commonwealth has the highest Political index at the beginning of the game; normally, however, the Successor states are in a state of relative balance. Certain events will be affected dramatically by your Political Index.

>Intel
Represents the efficiency of your intelligence services and your information advantage over your neighbors. Intel may be spent in attempts to discover enemy secret projects, uncover hidden units, protect your own assets, etc. You can also foment rebellion to make invasions easier, target enemy officials for assassination, etc.
ComStar usually has the highest Intel rating.

>Economic
Represents not only your state's purchasing power, but also its trade assets and overall development. The Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance usually has the highest Economic Index.

>Technology
Tech represents your level of tech recovery. It affects your ability to build new units and the cost to upgrade or colonize planets, as well as their strength. ComStar usually has the highest Technology Index, and frequently runs Intel operations to attack the Tech index of other nations.

How about a simple design challenge along those lines?

Design a simple "C" variant of an Inner Sphere mech from the 3050s. Or later if you want, but the 3050s seems to have been the era for them.

Alternatively, do a complete Clantech remake of Star League or later IS design of your choice.

Yeah it is kinda funny that some don't get the IIC rating. May be some technicality?

Are there any civilian type vehicles such as this fucker's ride described in any of the Mechwarrior RPG sourcebooks? From the TRO's I can only remember the James Bond car and various lorries and all-terrain vehicles.

If that's the mission I think it is, fuck that guy and his opera.

It's precisely that mission, and DOUBLE FUCK that guy. The only way I could clear that one was memorise precisely where every enemy was and sort out the quickest route to each group.

Time to settle this once and for all. Which is the better hawk, Phoenix or Shadow?

Phoenix, unless it's the Shad-K. The budget Griffin is a nice one, the stock H is undergunned and the D is simply horrible. I still can't understand how the Fed Suns create the best 3025 Pixie variant and cock up their Shad so totally.

Black Hawk :)

All the brainiacs must have been in the Pixie team.

>Thunderbolt (Clan)

Jade eats all your medium weight pussy

Say hello to my Thunder Hawk.

>Design a simple "C" variant of an Inner Sphere mech from the 3050s.
Assassin: Pull the missiles for a Clan-10 and an ERSL, add a CMPL. Enjoy your new 'mech, Solhama trash.

There's a 30-ton hovercar in the first edition RPG.

Stooping Hawk F. It's a nightmare to actually kill (stupid luck aside) and it's a brutally hard-hitting infighter.

I read that challenge in his voice and dare not refuse it, but I'm away from my computer right now.

Did someone on the dev team have "Hawk" as his Indian name?

>hardmounted CCC
Dunno about the rest (endo on a 3/5, for example) but that's pretty alright.

Emperors got pretty common after the 60s, but the stalker still probably holds the #1 spot

>many being stuff associated with the Dragoons because they came to the IS with the introtech models like the Firefly, Hoplite, Shogun and Imp.
In light of the revelation that the Clan homeworlds are hard places to live and resources are scarce and fiercely contested, the Dragoon Compromise (in hindsight) appears all the more interesting to me. I mean the Wolfs dropped something like 640 BattleMechs or more on this program, along with a squadron of WarShips. That's a lot of resources. For that effort they could have deployed two more galaxies of at least garrison-quality warriors in Clan terms.

I guess the it just shows how dedicated they were to the Warden philosophy, and how rich they were compared to other Clans.

Well, those mechs were from third and fourth-rate caches, not so much frontline gear. It would still put a big crimp in the Wolve's ability to rebuild/expand their second-line units, though, for sure

The WarShips have always been interesting to me, though. The clans gave the dragoons WarShips on the basis that they thought that an average IS merc unit would have them. What would make them think this? Were large numbers of Star League-era mercs running around with their own WarShips? Were they looking at trends in WarShip proliferation in the days leading up to the Exodus and extrapolating to the point where they figured that WarShips would end up common enough for unremarkable mid-tier mercs (which were after all what the dragoons had been intended to look like) to maintain a WarShip to regiment ratio that high?
It's interesting.
Also, I can't help but think that the IS that the clans were *expecting* to send the dragoons to would make an interesting AU

Is New Styris a major factory world of the Federated Suns?

I read losing it to the Capellans has been seen as a major blow in the Sun's wartime production.

And now that they have it, are the Capellans even putting it to use or are they just sitting on it to deny it to the Suns?

>Is New Styris a major factory world of the Federated Suns?
It was after the 4th war when Johnston Industries opened up. Then the Syrtis Shipyards appeared at some point. I'm pretty sure the shipyards were destroyed and the mech factories irradiated during the Jihad though. By the Taurians, I think. Not sure how much production they do anymore.

>What would make them think this? Were large numbers of Star League-era mercs running around with their own WarShips?
Yes. There were a number of "mercenary" groups that had WarShips. They were house troops who acted like mercenaries though, to troll the SLDF and cause trouble amongst the Houses. Presumably the Clans felt such a practice continue? The biggest problem to figuring out why the Dragoons were such a large force is that the information on the mercenary trade in the Star League era is rather sparse, though the SL would likely limit the size of mercenaries for practical reasons.

>Is New Styris a major factory world of the Federated Suns?
Yes. The main Johnston Industries factory is there, and as said, the New Syrtis Shipyards were there.

Do the Wolf's Dragoons trade with Clan Wolf and Clan Wolf-In-Exile for weaponry?

Or do they just get everything as salvage now?

I noticed most of the stuff I've seen them using before hitting the Federated Suns was Lyran made.

There were pirates with their own warships in the late SL, so mercs with them seems reasonably likely

>Yes. There were a number of "mercenary" groups that had WarShips. They were house troops who acted like mercenaries though, to troll the SLDF and cause trouble amongst the Houses. Presumably the Clans felt such a practice continue?
Sure, but if the only mercs that had that stuff were disguised house units, then why would the clans think it'd be a good cover for a unit manifestly not part of any house military?

Sometimes the Clans are dumb? Like sending the Imp and Annihilator with Wolf's Dragoons.

>Like sending the Imp and Annihilator with Wolf's Dragoons.
Actually, that reminds me of another bit of interesting dragoon-related fluff.
3025 calls them the only mercenary unit STILL capable of building their own archers, which implies that merc units building their own mechs was a thing in the past. Maybe they were planning on passing the Imp and annihilator off as homegrown designs, thinking that there'd be plenty of those running around

Likely that's the excuse they came up with when people asked.

>Sure, but if the only mercs that had that stuff were disguised house units, then why would the clans think it'd be a good cover for a unit manifestly not part of any house military?
The Clans had functionally zero intelligence on the Inner Sphere. They went with what they had, which was "Pirates and mercenaries might still have Warships, even though both were funded by the Houses." Plus remember, this is a group, that even after the Dragoons explained their society, rolled up and tried to bid with the defenders.

What were the 4th Donegal Guards doing on New Syrtis during the Jihad?

I thought all Lyran units returned to Lyran space after the Civil War?

It'd be a thing in the future too. Bander, the guy running the Cronus line, the GDL's power armor - even Lady Death had 'Mech lines running. You've also got groups like Blue Shot and Battle Magic basically running garage-level outfits that do hot refits and even hand-assemble frames. It's not out of the question for a top-thirty Merc unit to have the resources to make a few 'Mechs of their own. Or for someone with a feudal holding to bump out a few tried-and-true simple things like the Centurion, Orion, or Griffin, as long as you could source weapons and engines for 'em.

Actually a crowd of Lyran units were still awaiting transport home when the Jihad started.

For some reason their AFFS brethren that fought in the Alliance were all home already.

Errybody post more minis

>For some reason their AFFS brethren that fought in the Alliance were all home already.

Odd given it was said Katrina took the majority of the Commonwealth's JumpShips when she broke the Lyran half of the nation away.

>that feel when you recognize the source of that pic

No doubt. But there was presumably some kind of precedent that would make them think that people would actually buy that
>Plus remember, this is a group, that even after the Dragoons explained their society, rolled up and tried to bid with the defenders.
Yeah, I suppose. I guess I like thinking of the dragoons more as a smart idea for a totally wrong context than as 'it's amazing that these utter idiots didn't blow the whole scam much earlier"

In the age of Mad Maxtech any excuse but "we found another Star League cache" would probably be taken with a grain of salt.

>Yeah, I suppose. I guess I like thinking of the dragoons more as a smart idea for a totally wrong context than as 'it's amazing that these utter idiots didn't blow the whole scam much earlier"
Agreed. The setting would probably be something close to the Empires Aflame book, if anything.

Dare I ask? I'm assuming it's a "something naughty happens to a small girl" source.

Yeah it's one of those things in FM:U that made me wut hard.

Ara ara, CampaignAnon, you wouldn't want an old source like that.

>even Lady Death had 'Mech lines running
It always seemed terribly strange to me that pirates were building a mech just as advanced as their actual state neighbors, maybe even a bit more so, just on pure homegrown tech in a shithole backwater with literally no friends or preexisting industry

There's also Blood and Wolf

Maybe WoB helped them.

>In the age of Mad Maxtech any excuse but "we found another Star League cache" would probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Agreed, I was saying that presumably in the past mercs building their own mechs was a thing that had had happened, and that the dragoons were thinking would be common in the IS that they expected to show up to

Annnnd now I'm sure I don't.

Right on. I just think they should have done a little recon for their recon first. I mean they had the foresight to leave the warships behind, right?

k

I just never thought I'd see you ask for the source to a well known doujin.