/btg/ - Battletech General

400 damage per ton. Adam Steiner's Axman shoots 30 INFORMATION PELLETS at the Cockfalcons.

>Well, they are. They can reach out to 1500+ meters, and Battletech guns can't. Therefore, the WW2 guns are more dangerous. QED.

>I'll take game simplification and pic related for c500 Alex

>>I'll take game simplification and pic related for c500 Alex

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A retcon is not Battletech. That's an ass-cover to hush up the fact that CGL fucked up the ranges for no good reason.

Let's not forget the naval lazors and PewPewChoos.

The Invader JumpShip's anti-asteroid defense consists of two bog standard PPCs. I imagine naval grade weaponry can vaporize some big space rocks.

Not too big, though. BattleTech is a low-tech, "restrained" setting after all.

It's a necessary part of making giant robots a viable weapons platform.
Gundam does the same thing with Minovsky particles.

He's shitposting, do not respond

Whatever is the difference between somebody shitposting and somebody who is convinced they're correct but actually aren't? How is that distinguishable if the shitpost isn't blatantly obvious (and I mean extremely shitposty)?

>How is that distinguishable if the shitpost isn't blatantly obvious
Well, in this case, he refers to something created by FASA as being CGL's fault, which is a very common troll/shitposter move

Daily reminder that pedos aren't cool

About the range crap, I can't be the only one that plays with Extreme and LOS brackets right? It reflects just fine how you can hit way the fuck out there but it's hard to get the aim perfect in ten seconds while everything in bucking around. Careful aim helps somebody who is laying a trap or sniping though.

>Depends on the critical rolls. You have seen the Urbanmech comic, right?

Nah. Cray and others have run he numbers on the energy output needed to wreck a ton of solid steel (which results in extremely conservative numbers because BT armour isn't just steel, it's steel with diamond fibre reinforcement over some other dense metal I can't remember the name of) and scaled that to the Small Laser's 3 points of damage. Energy output was high enough to turn the Abrams into a puddle of molten metal.

>CGL

FASA. If you're gonna blame someone at least blame the right people.

Hey, Melissa was 18 when I married her!
Shit was so cash.

SSW update when?

Never, he does the MUL now.

Is there ANY faction that uses small cockpits on more than one-offs other than the Word of Blake?

As a general rule, the dumber their post is, the more likely that they're 'only pretending' to be retarded. This isn't absolute. I've seen some deep-down scarily stupid shit posted here in earnest. But in general it's true.

Also watch out for the ones who start shitposting wildly when they're losing an argument as some kind of kamikaze damage control.

Republic of the Sphere (using old WoB designs)
Davion (One Phoenix era variant and DA homegrown tech)
Liao (Jihad variants and DA homegrown tech)
Steiner (One variant)
New Comguard (for the tiny time they existed)

You know, just going into megamek advanced search and selecting small cockpit does all the work for you.

Oh, and some Old is the New New upgrades.

>Dat fuckin Lyran/RotS Clint

What weapons pair well with snubbies, either on the same mech or on a buddy mech?

Something longer range. Snubbies are mainly your close in bracket guns. Because without that 9 hex short range, you might as well be packing regular PPC's and doing more damage. Even with some cheap LRM's, you can be sitting pretty at 7 hexes and getting all short numbers all the time.

Of course you can also go balls to the wall close brawler and just stack a bunch of cheap critseekers in there to take advantage of the holes the snubbie is blowing in the enemy.

As someone new to the tabletop, one thing I don't understand is what is the in-universe reasoning for running on pavement being more difficult than running on dirt or through a field?
Why is there a chance to skid any time a mech (or other vehicles) turns while running on a road but not over bare ground?

Because Battletech physics run on "fuck you"

Can't dig your feet into the turf. You'll notice that wheeled vehicles can also skid in similar conditions. Only thing that doesn't is tracked tanks.

Running on pavement is basically mech drifting, leaning the whole machine into cornering and such, not just letting the DI do all the work. It's why you need a piloting roll.

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AC5-loving Rookie from yesterday here
Here's my 3049 (I guess it's Marik themed) lance made from your suggestions
- Archer -4M
- Archer -2S (Salvaged?)
- Lancelot -03 (seems a better choice than a Rifleman, but I can't find precise availability for this variant)
- Shadow Hawk -5M (maybe swap for a Wolvie or Griffin)

If customization is allowed, the ARC-2S loses a ton of LRM ammo for CASE in both side torsos, and maybe one of the rear lasers is front-mounted

Is it good enough?

Also reposting this nifty variant you guys made

>precise availability for this variant
Downtech lancelots are rare as fuck and only exist in the Draconis Combine at the time you're playing.

Also, the Calloway Archer and Shad will be extremely rare as they're starting production right at your game start. Depending on when the Archer actually rolled off the line, might not even be any at the time you play if the first ones don't hit the showroom floor until fall or winter of 3049.

Why 3049 though? Mariks don't do shit but chortle while they make loads of money during the invasion.

Question: is there any anime or big robot shows you like other than Battletech?
I love Fang of the Sun Dougram not just for the models, but the story. I'm glad FASA was allowed to use the art for the early mechs.

>Why 3049 though? Mariks don't do shit but chortle while they make loads of money during the invasion.
No particular reason, I just saw which faction had my chosen mechs in that era
I don't really have any preference between the houses/periphery guys, but I like to have lore coherency with my forces
I only played with standard and introtech so far, I've yet to try in practice the more advanced technology and the whole Clan shtick (beside the videogames obliviously)
However, I'm finding the pre-succession wars timeline quite interesting, especially when Stephan Amaris calls Kerensky a faggot, shoots a dumb kid with the swaggiest pistol, and becomes king of the IS for 10 years

I like the Iron-Blooded Orphans.
Since the feeling looking at the Gray Death Legion in spite of the Gundam.

Lots. But it's hard to find one that's got Battletech's kind of earthy feel. Like you said, Dougram. Crusher Joe feels very Battletech even though it doesn't have much in the way of mechs. Dirty Pair is kind of similar in that respect. So is Irresponsible Captain Tyler. A bunch of the UC Gundams can be pretty good mechwise. Trigun has the Succession Wars feel in spades. Patlabor is pretty much the days of a Battletech security mech force on a backwater world. Memories is just excellent for a salvage operation.

Don't forget the actual Battletech cartoon from the 90's. It's cheesy as all hell but somehow manages to be pretty charming.

If you just want a general anime list that's a lot bigger, because there's a lot of good shows, but they might be fantasy, full hotblooded super robot or modeled after pure 70's/90's/2000's scifi.

I couldn't make it halfway through the first season. Had some good designs and a decent overarching plot, but man did the episodes themselves tank. I haven't been so disappointed in lost potential in a mech show since Gasaraki.

3049 isn't an era though. It's just a key transitional year. It's like picking 2784 because you want to play the Succession Wars.

The Invasion itself doesn't hit full swing until early 3051.

I quit because the politics were awful, even for a Gundam show.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Patlabor are absolutely awsome.
Dragonar is pretty good as well as Vifam I think it's called. I don't know if they are Battletech quality though.

>big robot shows
Shows, not a whole lot, but mainly because there's not a whole lot out there.

Of course, Robot Jox for camp and so-bad-it's-good'ness. As far as Animu goes, beyond the aforementioned Dougram (I actually did not get any enjoyment out of Macross save for saying "Oh, it's a rifleman" a few times), my love of Battletech ended up inspiring me to watch Escaflowne, which in turn gave me a big weeaboo phase, eventually making me come back to Battletech.

Game media? If you haven't already, the Front Mission series of games are right up our alley, and though they're dated, the Earthsiege games were really good, too. It's a travesty that Sierra decided to shelve the whole giant robot part of the franchise when Starsiege Tribes took off.

These two MIGHT be interesting to some people.
Armored Trooper Votoms
and
Armor Hunter Mellowlink

Mellowlink is on youtube and Votoms is in the process of being put on youtube on the same channel. Votoms is more gritty than Dougram, and I only found it blah. I just started Mellowlink, which is in the same universe as Votoms and it looks a bit better.

Also I have a retarded fondness for Macross II even though it's crap. The mecha designs and warship designs of the UN Spacy fleet were cool back in the day.

I second the emotion about Macross not being too enjoyable. Seeing the old Unseen in action at times was cool.

Macross Plus movie was seriously awesome.
And the soundtrack by Yoko Kanna was excellent.

I'd also second Tylor and Patlabor, both are a little old but still great.

Dancouga was kind of neat for one of those old 1980s combiner into a big mech shows.

Genesis Climber MOSPEADA had those battle armor that turned into motorcycles, and some decent mechs. One of them ended up in that Spider and the Wolf comic from Fasa back in the day. It's a pity the show ended with just a terrible ending.

Gunbuster also deserves an honorable mention for getting mechwarrior cockpit uniforms right.

So uh, I play MWO (don't judge I just like blowing mechs up), and I was just wondering for theme purposes because I like that sort of thing, does using Clan Mechs mean you're not with the Inner Sphere?

Depends on the era, really.

In early Clan Invasion and MWO's "alternate timeline", Inner Sphere is not supposed to have any ClanTech.

In mid-late Invasion and beyond, the IS start getting ClanTech and Clan 'Mechs either through salvage or through trading with the Warden Clans.

Dragonar has a main character mech like the Raven with ECM capacilities. IIRC it deflects missiles this way and is kind of ugly, but useful.

Patlabor, hell yeah!
Kanuka a cute.

Speaking of busters, there's this. I would pay for a BT anime centred on these upstanding men and women.

>Space weebs being disgusted by bigger space weebs
Sasuga Kuroryu

Only if done by Gainax,
if it's KyoAni I'm out.

Around what year is the alternate MWO timeline in anyway?

MWO is in 3052 right now. About to roll into 3053 as soon as the new calendar year begins.

>is there any anime ... you like other than Battletech?

Honestly, Girls und Panzer is one of my favorite things.

I guess that makes me a pedo too, according to , but it's just a fun, adorable show to watch that scratches my /k/ itch adequately.

Andurien Rangers campaign user here, got a request to throw out there:

A custom variant of a heavy mech for a Humphreys NPC my players are going to be escorting. Could be anything available to the League in the mid 3060s that you think cries "Andurien".

I was thinking maybe a Warhammer or Marauder.

To the user last thread who thought the MAD and WHM were too Regulan, I just thought they'd fit as being pretty common, since Regulus is next door and could be bought from, the Rim Commonality makes one too and so does Free Worlds Defense Industries (and they have a connection through Andurien AeroTech). I mean it doesn't have to be either a MAD or WHM but I feel like they fit Andurien as well as Regulus.

Is Full Metal Panic a good enough Battletech-like show? It's been a while since I have seen it, but if I'm right doesn't it have ground based mechs that fight rather "realistically" until the weird stuff happens later in the series?

Also Sasuke and Chidori forever.

Pedo.

AC/5?

Why not Heavy Rifles instead?

WHM instead of MAD, but showing off the comparable and often advantageous Heavy Rifles over AC/5s

>Regulans
>Sharing with Anduriens

Heh.

Also, sarna saying Tematagi makes the Warhammer is bupkiss. That's an error from the original House Marik book they corrected way back in TRO:3050. That place has always been Spider central. The only other place in the FWL that made Marauders was Gibson (they changed the name of the plant on the world from FWLDF to Gibson Federated in Objective Raids). And Tommy Boy gave that to the robes back in '54.

You asked about iconic though. Anybody and their dog can scratch up a Marauder or a Warhammer somewhere. They're some of the oldest continually produced machines in the sphere. But in the FWL, they are iconic of Regulus. Well, at least until they go full tard in the DA and switch over to Neanderthals and Violators.

Anduriens got a few iconic things, Stingrays, Space Dragon Infantry, Quickdraws and Stalkers but saying Warhammers or Marauders is plain laughable. Doesn't mean they don't have some and don't use them because they sure do, but they sure don't scream Andurien.

How about the whacky and baffling spectacle of a Quickdraw that doesn't suck?

>Not driving one that sucks even more than usual
It could be like Red Jack Ryan. The pirate king drove a broken ass Quickdraw while his lancemates were in an Awesome, Orion and Thunderbolt. Now I feel the need to paint "Haha Butte Hold" on a Quickdraw

In fairness, who's going to bother shooting at a broke-ass Quickdraw when you have an Orion, Thud, and Awesome bearing down at you?

It's like a variation on the old joke about "I don't have to outrun the bear; I just have to outrun you."

Handbook House Marik confirms Nimakachi made the Warhammer, and had plans to continue it again on the eve of the Jihad. And I don't see the Regulans, during peacetime, being averse to selling to pretty much anyone but maybe Liaos. None of those common mechs really "scream" either province, they're just produced by companies in those areas. Simply correcting the record.

I suppose I associate the Warhammer with the Anduriens because it was a Defender's WHM that 86'd Duncan Marik.

I'd be interested in a highspeed QuickDraw variant, for certain.

I figured the same with the Regulans. They're merchants first and foremost, after all.

>None of those common mechs really "scream" either province, they're just produced by companies in those areas

Correcting the record back the other way, what a place produces is what is iconic to them. Is the Shadowhawk a common design? Yeah, you can find it everywhere. But when you talk about iconic mechs of the MoC, then it floats right up to the top of the list. Iconic doesn't mean exclusive.

>It's like a variation on the old joke about "I don't have to outrun the bear; I just have to outrun you."

It's never a good thing when your lance commander pilots a LAM and nobody else does.
"You guys hold off the Falcons, I'm gonna go get help!"

Norman Dike is not supposed to be your role model for command. Instead, I suggest pic related.

Iconic implies you think of a faction (Jenner and Dracs, Atlas and Lyrans, Awesome and Mariks) which those common designs you've listed do not do. You tried but that's not how you correct the record.

Trebuchets are literally more iconic to the Regulans than Warhammers and Marauders and they don't even make them...

You just listed some common stuff yourself. Atlas is a common command mech across the board. People meme about Lyran scout lances but they don't think of the Atlas as some kind of mainly Lyran mech. It has too much history everywhere.

Anyone done a Quickdraw with a guass rifle before?

A real one, not a light job.

Trebs are way more iconic of the Marik political power block of the FWL.

Yet they're iconic with the factions I mentioned, which you admit to with the meme reference. That's what iconic is. Also see: who hit the nail on the head with the Regulans. They're known for their Trenchbucket lances.

...

Not in the fluff, where they're directly referenced as an iconic part of the Regulan Hussars to the extent that each Hussar regiment keeps at least two lances of the things.

Come on man. It's basic stuff in the original House Marik book, Rolling Thunder and FM FWL.

What's that?

A Solaris Quickdraw. An energy boat with a hatchet.

relatively easy to design.
but no canon QKD with gauss that I know of

That's not a bad little mech.

Looks like a lighter, more mobile Cestus. I like it

>Capellans don't even build the Quickdraw
>they're getting neat prototypes while manufacturers like the League get squat

I need that emoji with tears in the corners of his eyes

Amateur to the game here but when looking at record sheets like this one how to I tell what type of heat sinks it has and how many tons of armor?

Stop playing NPC factions.

Heat sinks are easy. If you look on the bottom right under Heat Sinks, it's 10 (20) Double. So it has 10 double heat sinks that provide 20 points of dissipation. Armor is a bit trickier, though all you have to know is the armor type (in this case, it looks like it's standard armor), and how many points per ton it provides. Standard has 16 points per ton, and this Quickdraw has 192 points, so that's 12 tons.

tl;dr, 10 DHS, 12 tons armor.

Thank you! Will the record sheet specify if the armor is anything but standard?

Mostly not on canon record sheets. I've never been sure why, but generally Hardened armor is the only one to be listed on the armor diagram (The type is under the Center Torso total). Instead, you need to infer from the critical slots. If that Quickdraw had Ferro Fibrous armor, it would be listed with Endo Steel in the Critical Hit Table. However, SSW reports everything but Ferro Fibrous on the sheet for easier reference.

Tell me /btg/, what's the shitmech you secretly like?
I dig the Whitworth, the loadout is nice and gives that feel of "trying it's best but it's not enough"

I'll just leave this here.

Whitworth and Blackjack for me.

Blackjack all the way.

Quickdraw and Trebuchet.

That too, times ten.

>arguing over what's fluff-accurate for FWL sub-factions

Easily the Blackjack

Probably the Rifleman

Look at me. Look at me. I'm the Muninn now.

Blackjack. Load AP, bully with long range shots.