Battletech General /btg/: Purple Bird Edition

and tell me this Archer does not look like a heavy, less retarded Mandrill

XTRO Primitives V is out, btw
mediafire.com/download/yb4d49e12iya8ct/E-CAT35XT015_XTRO_Primitives_V.pdf

Hey guys I've just woken up from a 16 year coma and I'm looking to getting back into Battletech. I used to play Word of Blake, Clan Blood Spirit, and the Circinus Federation and I'm just wondering what I should buy to catch up.

And Nelson succeeds in fucking up yet another mech. It's even in a 3/4 pose too!

Not sure if serious...

>Hey guys I've just woken up from a 16 year coma
Christ

the starter set of a different game.

>I've just woken up from a 16 year coma
it shows. You want to *buy* things instead of pirate them

If we don't, who will?

So, I'm presently GMing a campaign set during the Clan Invasion, mostly using Warchest and Megamek. I'm wondering, just to prevent the occasionally very lopsided scenarios that Warchest turns out with, what might be some good curveballs to toss at the Clan player beyond the usual vehicle/trap/ambush shennanigans?

>Word of Blake

Why do people like them? They're obviously the bad guys. Remember Myndo Waterly? They're like her.

The giant Intro box set with the Atlas on it is a great buy to start you off. Gets you a pile of minis and the current rules.

Get the 4th printing of Total Warfare if you want the everything-and-the-kitchen sink rules. Add Tactical Operations to that if you want to replace the old Maximum Tech book (aka, add another sink to your current one).

Also, Blood Spirit is dead. RIP.

Because some people like old space wizard C*.

So... new XTRO is out. Not up here yet though.

Posted at the end of last thread, friend.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW!

America got into a war in the Middle East after a terrorist attack, constitutional rights are suspended until further notice, it's public knowledge that torture is a military policy, the minimum wage went up, gays are allowed to get married and serve openly in the military and Michael Jackson is dead.

Or a short hop up-thread.

Literally

Oh cool. Thanks! :)

>all that reused vehicle art
REEEEEEEE

They almost never get new vehicle art.

Myndo Waterly was a great woman who did nothing wrong.

So there is an Orion where the SRM is in the arm.

Four, if you count the -V, -VA, and -V-DC.

Can I just say that I think the Trooper is so cute.

Just have faith in TPTB to do the right thing. They'll pay attention to the FWL when the plot needs them to.

I dunno. Give them a smaller, weaker opfor, but also an equally reduced amount of time to kill them in? Or, they need to capture a certain pilot alive, or a certain proportion of the enemy alive.

Or, enemies can voluntarily shut down on the field to make themselves worth only half victory points

>what might be some good curveballs to toss at the Clan player beyond the usual vehicle/trap/ambush shennanigans?
Terrain and force composition that disproportionately plays to IS strength (like say Hunchbacks and Awesomes in a plains-plains mountainous heavy woods map set-up)

>Just have faith in TPTB to do the right thing.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Civil unrest or guerilla combat. Those were only sucessful against the Smoke Jags but every Clan had to deal with them to some extent. Also ComStar dickbaggery.

Force selection wise LosTech has been retconned to be widely available prior to the Clan invasion so if you want to go nuts with upgraded designs feel free.

The next mission is an assault mission, so there's going to be an urban map. He's going to be allowed a full binary, so I'm thinking a merc company on the heavier end with a couple Lostech mechs?

Mercs are still kinda screwed for advanced gear until the mid-50s, the advanced tech was fairly widespread but confined to House militaries. It's be unusual (ie, Kell Hound/Wolf Dragoon) but not absolutely impossible.

If it's an urban fight don't even bother with 'Mechs. Just spam infantry, Hetzer/Demolishers and SRM carriers from hiding, not many Clan machines have Active Probes or anti-infantry weapons.

Heh, now that's an idea. It'd probably drive him nuts, and it'd be fun for BA on infantry action.

i would actually play that xtro primitives orion. it's a pocket assault that still manages to outperform a chunk of the tro 3025 actual assaults.

Based FWL

Gud morning, btg

OHAYO GOZAIMASU

...

I love that white-haired fellow's boxer act. I mean, wearing a robe, undressing when it's time to get serious, an entourage just to carry his crap...

When you're the coordinator of the Combine, you can do whatever the hell you want as long as you say "It will be your great honor" in front of it.

"It will be your great honor to get me a snack."
"It will be your great honor to scrub my Battlemaster with a toothbrush."
"It will be your great honor to sneak into a Robinson March Militia base and spraypaint Kurita Dragons over their stupid shield as a prank"

And that look on his face that says "I just realised I'm not wearing pants... fuck it. I'll own it. Pretend it was intentional."

>not going commando

Why

...

...

SRM 2 at Thunderbolt TDR-5S (Lyran Alliance); needs 6, rolls 11 : 1 missile(s) hit.

Thunderbolt TDR-5S (Lyran Alliance) takes 2 damage to CT (critical).
23 Armor remaining.
Critical hit on CT. Roll is 12; 3 locations.
CRITICAL HIT on Engine.
CRITICAL HIT on Engine.
CRITICAL HIT on Engine.
*** Thunderbolt TDR-5S (Lyran Alliance) DESTROYED by engine destruction! ***

Guess who got a new Thud!

aesthetically what is your favorite warship and your favorite aerospace fighter?

The warship would be Kimagure, which looks as if it could be a Traveller ship. Of the ASFs, the Slayer looks best.

Nice shooting and a cheap acquisition, two SRMs are pocket money compared to a Thud.

I feel like a heel, bullying bugs like this.

Was a pretty good bit of work for the night. Last night's defence didn't net me much butthis round was pretty amazing. Didn't lose any mechs or pilots (Few mechs in a bad state but I've got enough reserves to keep all 3 lances at decent strength) and netted 40mil in salvage.

Got two Stalkers already so I'm scrapping the new ones for spares. One of the thuds is salvage only, the other Thud and BM I'm keeping.

fug dis

Is there a planet called Hammerfall in the inner sphere?

Isn't that the name of a shitty metal band?

Don't think so

Why do you ask?

I was kinda hoping to make an OpFor unit named "Hammerfall Irregulars" for my players to face off against in a tutorial campaign.

Would it be three Hammerhands and a Warhammer?

SSW hasn't been updated since 2014. Is it considered out of date now? Should I use MegaMek Lab instead?

When it stopped being updated it had pretty much all the basics down. So unless you're working with 3090 or 3145, you're fine. Even then, it only gets BV wrong on a few items, rather than not working.

>Irregulars
boring

We need better unit name ideas.

How about the Stormhammers

Hmm okay thanks. Upon checking version numbers it seems that the SSW I have is 4 versions behind. I'll just grab the new SSW and Master files.

The last time I played Megamek it had a bug where it would fire machinegun arrays a number of times per turn equal to the number of machineguns in the array. And it would crash if I tried to use mech mortars. That was years ago though, hopefully it's been fixed. With the new game by Harebrained Studios in the works I got an urge to mess around with Megamek botmatches again.

Already a faction

Just proves that it's a good name

Damn right, son

>Stormhammers
>Already a faction

Well duh!

TRO Soviet Civil Wars when

Right after XTRO:Virtual Geographic Corps
I wish they'd do that as an April Fools

>Guess who got a new Thud!

Did that to an Awesome in our last campaign game. Of course, I'm playing Op4 so I don't actually get anything, but I did cripple the PC's biggest 'Mech before the final mission of their contract. :-D

Conqueror and Stingray.

I think he wants to do some kind of Elder Scrolls expy actually.

The Odin sons

pbbt.

battletech is so unrealistic.

Has a war ever puttered out due to media coverage and anti-war sentiment? Has a congress ever pulled war funding out from underneath a factions feet? Have mechwarriors ever been sent out to guard government boondoggles that never get built?

Battletech is dumb.

...

Do factions purchase millions of crappy, designed by committee deathtraps cause of government lobbyists?

Do they have problems fielding infantry because nobody is stupid enough to want to sign up for a 4 year stint in the next military quagmire?

Are their ranks filled with jarheaded idiots who light their own farts on fire and post it on youtube?

...

>Has a war ever puttered out due to media coverage and anti-war sentiment?
Yes.

>Has a congress ever pulled war funding out from underneath a factions feet?
Yes.

>Have mechwarriors ever been sent out to guard government boondoggles that never get built?
Yes.

>Do factions purchase millions of crappy, designed by committee deathtraps cause of government lobbyists?
Yes.

>Do they have problems fielding infantry because nobody is stupid enough to want to sign up for a 4 year stint in the next military quagmire?
Yes.

>Are their ranks filled with jarheaded idiots who light their own farts on fire and post it on youtube?
Yes.

Battletech is unpopular because it is uncanny valley. People don't like things that hit so close to home when they want to just play with giant robutts.

Well, that and it's one of the most poorly handled IPs in the history of tabletop gaming.

So if I want to get into Battletech, is there a book I could read to get an overview of the history, factions and mechs without having to read page after page on the wiki?

battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleTechUniverseGuide-1.pdf

Fuckers just don't give up.

>Has a war ever puttered out due to media coverage and anti-war sentiment?
3SW
>Has a congress ever pulled war funding out from underneath a factions feet?
Pretty sure that happened to the Burds several times
>Have mechwarriors ever been sent out to guard government boondoggles that never get built?
That was what the TSM was until GLORIOUS XIN SHENG made it work
>Do factions purchase millions of crappy, designed by committee deathtraps cause of government lobbyists?
You have no fucking idea
>Do they have problems fielding infantry because nobody is stupid enough to want to sign up for a 4 year stint in the next military quagmire?
Infantry rarely goes off-planet, it's mostly used in militias, so no.
>Are their ranks filled with jarheaded idiots who light their own farts on fire and post it on youtube?
This is literally the entire Clans.

That means you've got shit morale in that contract. Better start winning fast.

>This is literally the entire Taurian Defense Force

ftfy

Nah, until le ebin xin sheng idiocy maymay took hold, they were depicted as reasonably professional, about the same as everyone else.
It's certainly right for some of lower-end mercs in the old days, though, crazed rampages on account of fast food and all

I've been trying out refits in Megameklab but there seems to be a bug: I load up a Victor-9B and set the tech level from "introductory" to "standard" to pull the AC/20 and screw on the LB-10X, but the weapons like ERLL and LB-10X never show up in the equipment tab. Instead, I get shit like a rivet gun. What bothers me is that MML used to work like that for me, and now it seems to have shat the bed. Am I just missing something?

...aaand fuck, it turns out that I WAS missing something.

Just on a lark I loaded up another Victor, set the tech level to standard, and changed the year from the default to 3050. And lo and behold, the new shiny guns appeared out of thin air.

Son of a bitch, I don't think I had to set the year before to get at the weapons.

DESU, it sounds more like Katherine "fuck pintrest, I'm for incest" Steiner-Davion's LAAF, more than anything else

Great, now I have to fish this thing out of the river if I'm gonna salvage it for parts.

Reminder kids: don't go in rivers if you've got something wrong with your mech.

Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) must make a piloting skill check while moving from hex 1044 to hex 1043 (entering Depth 1 Water).
Needs 7 [5 (Base piloting skill) + 3 (Gyro damaged) - 1 (entering Depth 1 Water)], rolls 5 : falls.
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) falls 2 level(s) into hex 1043
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) falls on its left side, suffering 8 damage when hitting the water surface and 8 when hitting the ground.
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) takes 5 damage to RL.
22 Armor remaining.
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) takes 3 damage to LA.
1 Armor remaining.
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) takes 5 damage to LA.
Armor destroyed.
8 Internal Structure remaining.
Flashman FLS-7K LA BREACHED
Critical hit on LA. Roll is 7; no effect.
Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) takes 3 damage to CT.
6 Armor remaining.
Possible breach on CT. Roll is 6: no breach.
Flashman FLS-7K LT BREACHED
Flashman FLS-7K RA BREACHED

Pilot of Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) "Mekonnen Durojaiye" must roll 9 to avoid damage; rolls 8 : fails.
Pilot of Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) "Mekonnen Durojaiye" takes 1 damage, killing the pilot (6 total hits).
*** Flashman FLS-7K (Lyran Alliance) DESTROYED by pilot death! ***

plz do not lewd the Archon

We wuz giant robots an shiet.

Is there a way to set the new megamek to show All IS or All Clan like it used to? I'm tired of hunting variants through rules level.

Select all options using ctrl or shift

Make me, Lyran scum.

So I realised if I ripped off the turret on a Behemoth tank and put a 300 Fusion engine in it then max out the armor, I still have 32t leff for armaments. Should I mount an Arrow IV? If I do, what else should I go for?

I think I can reasonably fit a UAC20, RAC5, 2 tons of ammo for each and all with Case.

I'd say leave the turret, and just improve the armor without maxing it. Maxing armor on 100 ton tanks is iffy, since chances are they'll get critted to death before that.
At the least maybe consider using heavy ferro-fibrous to shave some armor weight off, since heavier vehicles can use it a lot more easily than any mech can.