NEA, motivate me on Star Trek ships. What would you realistically conceive as a second line ship in the 2370s?
Cooper Murphy
2370, Jesus, that's well beyond the time I normally care about Star Trek for RPGs. I generally play pre-TOS, since I don't like magic technology solving all problems for everybody, everywhere, if you can just invert the correct particle and interlace it through an adequately-phased tachyon field.
That said, by 2370, you're into Season...7....of TNG, I think, and just prior to the Dominion War. The obvious 2nd-line ship of the period is the Miranda/Soyuz, because they're fucking everywhere. The other really major one I'd consider is the Ambassador-class; you don't really see them anywhere on film except in "Yesterday's Enterprise", and honestly, they ought to be more common than they are. Excelsior-class, of course, are still front-line ships into the early 2400s, and knowing Starfleet, probably into the 2500s as well. Centaurs and Cheyennes are the other ships I'd consider at all common in the 2nd line. Constellations I'm pretty sure were almost completely phased out by the time period you're looking at.
Front-line ships at that time would be Galaxy, Nebula, Nova, Akira, Intrepid, Steamrunner, Olympic, and perhaps the New Orleans, Springfield, Niagra, and Norway classes. Oh, and technically the Defiant-class (it was built by 2370, but was put in storage and wasn't pulled out until 2371).
Unfortunately, I'm a huge fan of the little DD-style patrol ships (like the Paris and Kestrel from Starfleet Museum), and there aren't really any in active service at this time. No, runabout's don't count.
Josiah Evans
Oh man, I'm talking about hauling out some of the 2340s ships so I can get them in for the Dominion War stuff I'm working on for /stg/, not more recent stuff. I don't want to use only FASA ships so that people who dislike them have more options.
Easton Brown
You may be in trouble, then, since there's next to nothing in regards to stuff Starfleet used between 2300-2355, aside from the obvious Miranda/Soyuz, Excelsiors, Constellations, and Ambassadors.
Maybe you could stretch some Federation-class and Saladin-class in there, but honestly, I'd go to Starfleet Museum and refluff some ships.
Blake Bailey
Soo...apparently you can devastate a whole continent with a single Firestarter when the winds are right?
Blake Allen
>I'm asking for a friend
Speaking of Firestarters, they seem to be the 'Mech of choice for the... less well adjusted Mechwarrior. I think one of the books had a Firestarter pilot of the "constantly flicking a lighter" sort, and I remember one merc/bandit unit using an entire lance of them and burning down everything in sight just for maximum bastardry.
Chase Richardson
When your entire mission objective is in your mech's name, and your orders are "burn everything down until you hit bedrock," the brass aren't exactly looking for the most well adjusted pilots.
Jaxson Robinson
Fired up.
Joshua Jackson
Firebats are pretty much correct, though the Terran Confederacy used convicts for all their troops, they put pyromaniacs in those suits. Presumably with less stringent resocialization the normal troopers got.
Blake White
The fires in Fort MacMurray this past year were believed to be man made, so probably a cigarette butt or campfire...
Now imagine a 10-meter tall machine spitting plasma flames in multiple directions as far as 90 meters.
Brayden Jackson
Pretty much. Got a buddy that likes to roll in a FS in MWO, he pretty much just cackles with glee while fwooshing enemy mechs. I think the only reasonably-well adjusted FS pilot I've seen was a guest on the Death From Above series, and he swapped out the flamers for medium lasers. Go figure.
Gavin Turner
I fucking love the firestarter, probably one of my favorite light (and medium) mech
Landon Campbell
Old, Confederacy era firebats were batshit insane pyromaniacs with control chips drilled through their skull into their brain and strapped into the suits. Newer ones mentally unstable and/ or foolhardy people.
The flammable liquids they carry around also exhumes fumes into their suit over time that rots their brain.
Their suits also have the same design flaw as the Marauder armour, in that the padding inside absorbs sweat and gets super moldy. Combine the mold with the brain rotting noxious fumes and most firebats end up either braindead, explode and burn inside out from ruptured fuel tank, or if you're one of the few capable of surviving long enough to become a veteran and not a vegetable, you get retrained to become a Reaper jetpack trooper.
Aiden Mitchell
>I think the only reasonably-well adjusted FS pilot I've seen was a guest on the Death From Above series, and he swapped out the flamers for medium lasers. Go figure.
The Omni should be less attractive to psychos and more attractive to the aerospace jockeys as it doesn't melt anything resembling something they could hit from above.
Oliver Garcia
I'm probably a bad Firestarter fan because my favourite Omnistarter is the one with the LB-10 and only two flamers. I expect the lighter-flicker brigade gravitates towards the Prime.
Ryan Martin
Haha NEA you're such a nerd!
can you do Babylon 5 ships next?
Jonathan Morales
Beginner to Battatech here. Other than the little intro book in the starter box, what is the best way to start on getting into the lore? And also are there any QT aliens in the universe?
Henry Phillips
>And also are there any QT aliens in the universe? No aliens at all, sorry buddy and Far Country was retconned into an in-universe sci-fi book, so stuff it
Thomas Diaz
That doesn't mean there isn't Arcturian poontang, though.
And all Mechwarrior women are wild haired wearing mesh tank tops and high-hipped 80's panties.
Jacob Sullivan
>what is the best way to start on getting into the lore
Get the Battletech Universe Guide (it's free on the main BT site, comes up as the first hit on Google at least for me when you search for it) for the basic primer. Then it's time to go deeper: read the old House handbooks (the 16xx series), then the new House handbooks, plus the Periphery books (I'd go with the 1st Edition for the fantastic Space 80s art, the 2nd Ed for the lore which took some retcons between the editions). You want to know about the various armies? Read the Field Manuals. The Clans? Invading Clans, Wolf, Jade Falcon and The Warriors of Kerensky. That ought to get you started.
And no, there are no aliens. There are, however, dragons (though they may be extinct). If you want to get on with a cute blue-skinned babe, your best bet is the Magistracy of Canopus. If there's a fetish somewhere between Gilfillan's Gold and Antallos, the Canopians can provide.
Actually, why go for an alien at all, when the Mechwarriors themselves look like pic related.
So you are alance of medium mechs and suddenly several lances of these fuckers charges at you with thruster mounted movement.
What do you do?
Ayden Garcia
Pic related
Benjamin Ortiz
I'll admit dats pretty hot. Are female clanners attractive?
Adrian Bennett
Pack in tight, focus fire, and maneuver. Call in an airstrike or arty barrage if possible.
Blake Price
I cant seem to find all the old house handbooks in the mediafire files. Am I just retarded?
Benjamin Perry
They're just called House ____. If they aren't in one mediafire, check the other
Lincoln Hill
They aren't that terrifying until you gotta deal with them in space, I'd say.
Sebastian Rivera
Counter with Gears.
Gavin Morgan
Found em, guess I was just retarded.
Daniel Evans
How do you guys tend to play BT? Do you carefully manage your heat or go balls to the walls, gambling on that reactor not going critical? Deliberate maneauvers or straight at 'em?
I ask because my friend and I play and we have radically different styles but seem to come to victory on about even terms with even teams. (But it seems RNGesus is with him a lot more often.)
As an aside, does anyone have Carl as a Mechwarrior? I've seen it floating around before.
Ethan Hill
I usually wait until I'm in a good position to wail on mech's then I just alpha strike until they die or I turn off. I don't just alpha strike every turn though hoping I get a hit at long range.
Sebastian Cruz
As I have played more, I tend to play more conservatively. Too many times has an experienced opponent capitolized on a risky maneuver that I made, because I did not consider all the possibilities.
Nathaniel Lopez
I like playing danger close. Meaning I jump in, alpha strike and then try to DfA anyone who survives.
I don't win often. But when I do, it's great.
My usual list is: Javelin Enforcer Grasshopper Highlander
Dominic Smith
I tend to play conservative, so much so that a friend of mine calls me a Lyran social general because I do it so by the book. Mediums to heavies, careful advance into contact, etc. This is because when I try to be a clever git something usually bites my arse.
Pic related: instead of the usual 'Mechs, I took a bunch of lights for support and decided to send them in through what I thought was a gap in my opponent's defences. This happened.
Landon Stewart
Thanks for the input. I take some risks when I play but most of the time I am conservative. I do enjoy my physical attacks though. I favor 2 mediums, a heavy, and a scout in my setup. I always drop a Lynx in a lance. (The original one.)
Christopher Ward
Fucking infantry...I know that feel.
Jack Collins
The friend I mentioned, though, will fire barrage after barrage of Snub Nosed PPCs until his 'Mechs are glowing like the FREAKIN' SUN! And when it comes time to shut down or explode he'll make that roll no matter the penalty.
Meanwhile the volume of fire is turning my guys to slag as they try to dance around that rave he's puttin' on.
Brody Long
I lean towards two types of units; tough, heavy gun machines and jumping brawlers. In both cases I'm a firm believer in concentration of firepower. I also tend to be willing to run hot in order to put out more firepower in 3025, though in later eras I tend towards fully or oversinked designs. So I guess fairly conservative
Jaxon Thompson
I think if I played past 3039 I would also play conservative, simply because of things like gauss, UAC, TAC, and DHS making it way easier to slag a mech from a distance.
Before clans though you pretty much need to get up close and personal to do a significant amount of damage.
