/btg/ - Battletech General

Why is the FWL so popular here? Or is it a meme?

That's not really a Plog issue though, it's a BT issue. Outside OS launchers, rockets, and some Arrow IVs, one must simply accept that everything in BT is a portal to the missile dimension.

I've always figured the BT missiles were something like the ones used in Robotech, the small and stubby ones that the Zentraedi high-ranking officers' mecha used. It would make sense considering their short range and lack of a decent homing system.

Then again, if memory serves, official art has the Clans' LRM have a 120-millimetre diameter, which would make it about the size of a Milan. How and where they stack them, nobody knows.

They're really LRM IICs, and defy the laws of the universe.

It's worse. My memory didn't serve and the LRMs were actually 200mm in diameter, which makes them bigger than a Hellfire. Also: IR homing? With the amount of heat 'Mechs emit in fluff, the missiles ought to be homing on them like sharks to blood.

Mostly it's coincidence, coupled with two of the namefags really liking burd. Last time we did a non-ballot-stuffed poll the FWL got like 20% of the votes, which is only a little bit above what you could normally expect. There's also a solid Blakie contingent here, which bleeds over into liking the FWL a bit. The other major contingent is the peripheryfags, and we have a few vocal Fedrats, Elsies, Hats, and Dracs but only a couple of each at any given time.

Personally I'm a merc/foreverGM, with a fondness for pirates as a "there but for the grace of God go ye" message to my players. Plus you can do all kinds of crazy-ass shit with pirate 'Mechs.

It's a flexible faction, lots of character, its leading House is complex and interesting, and its relative lack of involvement in a lot of story events makes it perfect for AU's up until the Jihad shits the bed for everything.

WoB did nothing wrong.

The whole treatment of missiles in BT is bizzarre from ant realistic perspective. Launching a shit ton of guided missiles with warheads that barely scratch your target individually makes no sense. Having deep bins of ammunition to reload them repeatedly makes no sense.

Even the heat/energy requirements are strange. If anything those should be well below the levels autocanons require.

Of course cataloging all the stuff that flat out makes no sense would take a book on its own.

When was that poll?

>autocannon

Another several cans of worms. Such as: why do the smaller calibre guns (AC/2s and AC/5s) have minimum ranges? Why won't the 100mm rounds of a Pontiac 100 AC/20 fly past 180 metres? Etc.

The Master did nothing wrong

I thought the in universe explanation for the tiny weapon brackets was that mech armour was so tough that the effective range in which a weapon still carries enough energy to damage it is very small

Couple months ago, IIRC. Of course, given how well my brain handles time when I'm off my meds, that could mean "last November".

Who is it besides Muninn?

And yet it still crumples like a tin can when a mech falls over

Here's roughly how I figure it:
/btg/ is in large part comprised of folks as are disgruntled with the OF and TPTB, and so this place would have disproportionately large numbers of folks as like factions that are ignored or disliked by TPTB and/or the OF crew

CA. As a fellow ForeverGM, he's more spread out than Muninn, but IIRC he's made a couple offhand remarks about preferring them for his personal shit.

That and the 2EXTREEEME electronic warfare environment. Of course, with the Extreme Range rules the game gets a lot more interesting, and I highly recommend them.

>CA. As a fellow ForeverGM, he's more spread out than Muninn, but IIRC he's made a couple offhand remarks about preferring them for his personal shit.
While I like the Militia, Free Worlds Guards and the Metal Guards schemes, (what can I say, purple is my favorite color), I used to play the Lyrans and the Coyotes. The SLDF thing is just an outgrowth of my desire for all factions to have a reasonable standing army, I actually find them pretty boring to play... which is probably why I'm stuck playing the RWR a lot.

Astonishingly, materials respond in different ways to different forces delivered at different angles.

>likes the Guards and Militia
You're welcome to marry my daughter and be given three warships

Proud heel player reporting in: my factions are the Draconis Combine, Jade Falcon and St. Ives, which is sort of the runty member of a heel tag team who has a fit with his mates and goes his own way.

>St Ives

That Capellan commonality? Why?

Dude, the St Ives Compact was independent for 30 years.

Muh Falconbro.

Lol when was that? Long before dark age?

>magic sibkos and logistics
>heel

Are you serious? It was independent from 3029 to 3063.

You're being rused m8

>only around for 30 years

Doesn't even count as a real faction

And 15-ish RL years, which is probably more impressive

Take a look at how they behave in dork age. Smoke Jaguar being evil isn't a meme, but the Falcons being worse than them in the 32nd century is true as all hell.

I misinterpreted the expression.

Is it weird that this never bothered me that much? Jade Falcon's a huge Clan with a lot of captured territory. Big stockpiles of resources and a large sibko pool always seemed to make sense to me.

It's more the application than the concept.

Russians delivered. These aren't bad.

Well, even I thought FASA had them pull out of the post-Refusal War nosedive too quickly, to be fair. But the idea that they saw that shitstorm coming and had a lot of resources banked for when it passed seemed logical enough to me.

>dat Mauler

It's a shitty 'Mech but I want one.

Shimmy's Stalker is well... a bit short in comparison. And dammit, I didn't notice those half formed missile holes until just now.

Same here. It's why I got it.

Definitely. They're frugal and very economic, and a have a Falcon's cunning or whatever.

>and a have
>tfw so tired i'm typing like mario talks

Problem is that if you accept the Falcons' rebuild speed as reasonable given their resources you really have to question why nobody else can do it, even much richer factions with more manpower and manufacturing to draw on.

BT's always going to have an issue with FASAnomics but the rebuild speed of certain factions at certain times is inconsistent with what everyone else can manage.

Specifically which Clans would you list as richer, or with more manpower or manufacturing? For clarification, not a disagreement.

How much did those bad boys set you back? I picked up an intro box a year ago and I hate the old-ass models, so I have been disinclined to expand further. I love the MWO designs though

100 plus 6 in shipping. Just a bit more competitive than IWM, honestly. If CGL can get into the plastics game with this quality I'd be all for it. Though they would need to resculpt the entire 3025 line up for the best results.

Not him (actually the Frodoposter), but...maaaaybe Star Adder?

Though for Inner Sphere factions I always figured technology was the hampering point, whereas the Falcons, being a Clan, didn't have that stumbling block.

took me a moment to figure out what's wrong with this marauder...

nice job.

Reposting mah Clan Cirno banner. So I suppose Kurita is Reimu, Marisa is Davion...what about the other houses or clans? Any chance for some Genspherekyo going on?

>realistic perspective
I think you're in the wrong place.

>Shimmy's Stalker

Who makes the one? On the left?

The left one is IWM's Stalker II.

The FASAnomics thing will probably always be a lingering issue. There are some examples I don't even feel I can mention because they invariably always cause heated arguments.

Will IWM ever have good casts?
I can't believe how much they charge for their shit - they're on par with GW from the early 90s.

Yeah, the only way you'd fully extricate FASAnomics problems from the setting would be to literally wipe the entire slate and start over, I think.

>Yeah, the only way you'd fully extricate FASAnomics problems from the setting would be to literally wipe the entire slate and start over, I think.
On that note, there's something I've always been curious about.
Has anyone ever put together a genuine Alternate Universe for battletech?
Like, not just the alternate history stuff that we see all the time, but a straight-up new setting using battletech ideas and rules

The cast is really letting down the otherwise rather nice design for the Stalker.

The WH Stalker is definitely on the large side of their models though. Looking at my one right now and it's pretty beefy big. Still, Warhansa's overall scale is certainly more consistent than Battletechs's wobbles though not perfect.

They have their odd pieces though.

Their Executioner is only slightly taller and considerably thinner than the Awesome seen in those pictures. It honestly the same size as the Highlander.

The Victor is huge. It's slightly taller than that Highlander, and considerably wider.

Summoner is big. Like, Highlander big.

Hellbringer, at least the one I got, is really fucking disappointing. It came with the summoners legs, but it's arms and torso were scaled properly, so now it looks fucking ridiculous with tiny arms/ torso and big thick legs.

Spider is okay, Commando is okay. Flimsy, but okay.

>Commando is okay. Flimsy, but okay.

Exactly as the actual Commando.

...

Welcome to Whose Star League is it Anyway, the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter.

Now let's play a game called Themes From A Hat! First topic:

>Phrases you can use to describe your battlemech but not your girlfriend

The most commonly used ride in the IS!

>"She's 100 tons, but she wears it well."

Could use some CASE in the torso

>she's pretty much a fat medium

>"She's a little simple but can take a beating and rides well."

>"The rumble seat quirk means two can ride at the same time!"

She's ugly and obsolete, but I still love her.

Are there any particularly Slavic worlds besides Tikonov and Marik?

The game section has little practical realism in the actual combat gameplay, even though they go pretty hard-SF with their tech in general.

What is important is that it is balanced around a multi-dimensional space of tonnage/heat/damage/range. It plays well.

She's heavier than she looks

"She's got a really roomy cockpit; give it a try and see for yourself."

If you take a look at Renegade Legion, you'll see a game where the real-life weapon caliber/range paradigm holds true. The larger the weapon, the longer the effective range. What that produces in *game* terms is a unit customization system where there's absolutely no incentive to use the largest gun, every time, all the time. The various IRL reasons why you don't do that (such as recoil of your 120mm gun ripping apart the frame of your HMMWV) aren't modeled in the system, so there's no reason *not* to use only 150mm and 200m cannons on every single grav tank in the game, completely ignoring the 25/50/100mm calibres.

BattleTech bypassed that issue by inverting the calibre/range paradigm, and for all that FASA fucked things up by making ACs too heavy (especially in the 3050+ game), they're correct that at least this makes sure all classes of AC at least have niche.

Does Strana Mechty count?

>She can jump 180 meters and weighs 35 tons.

>she can run twice as fast as normal for her weight, but only when she gets hot

I thought they updated those to keep them relevant?

I can't just trade her in for a new model, she's got sentimental value!

Ever since Hanse gave her that strap-on things have been so much hotter in here.

What unit eventually wound up replacing the Jagermech and units like the Centurion by the time of the Dark Age?

Thanks. It was for a special scenario involving Greenburg's Godzillas fucking with the WoB, I kept and repainted it later.

Daily reminder that FUCK DAVION

Newer versions. Centurion came out with the same thing just in omni even.

From LAW and Luthien with love?

>What unit eventually wound up replacing the Jagermech
The JaegerMech 3 and the Reseen Riflemen (ironic that the original replaces the upgrade in this case). The JM3 is ugly as sin but actually works kinda okay, and some of the Reseen RFLs are very much NOT shit.

>Centurion
The Centurion Omni, mostly. If by "like the Centurion" you mean "trooper Mediums" then that's a much broader question.

>"HAHA, BAKA GAIJIN. DRAGON KICK YOUR ASS INTO THE MILKY WAY!"

>"But we're already in the Milky Way!"

>"HAHA, OKAY. I KICK YOUR ASS RIGHT HERE THEN!"

>the post-sex cigarette after being snu-snu'd by an Elemental.png

I wouldn't say they entirely bypassed the issue though. I mean, the AC/2s main niche of plinking planes is small as hell, and one that isn't all that present in your average ground unit only game. And the AC/5 is just kind of there, and the only real niche I can think of is when you want to do autocannon things and simply don't have the weight for a 10.

Though the weight issue is certainly a big part of that as well, given that there are other things much better for punching holes for the same weight, and the fact that bringing multiple ends up with things like the Jagermech being a 65 ton mech instead of maybe a 40-45 ton one, where its AV wouldn't be quite as hideous.

I thought the AC/2's main niche was making grown men cry like babies after one scores a triple-critting TAC on your heaviest 'Mech and knocks out its engine in the first shooting phase of the game.

>benhrome.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/deconstructing-campaigns/

>short story about Julian retaking New Sirtys was cut to pander the grognards

Fucking grogs ruining everything they touch

Normally I'd disagree and shake my old man fist, but "We had a cover with a classic 'Mech on it so we couldn't have a Dark Age story in the book!" actually is pretty stupid.

The worst part is that I *understand* why they did. After reading Harebrained's forum I wondered how Battletech attracted so many bitter (for a lack of a better word) people. I have seen children more mature and respectful than those guys and I wouldn't be surprised more than a bunch would get touchy for buying anything Dark Age related

There are enough legitimate...issues with Dark Age's storyline that it doesn't mystify me as much, but personally I still would have bought the book. I just would have ignored the fiction since Dark Age isn't my cuppa joe.