/btg/ Battletech General

>But since I think it's a kind of boring design it's for the best
What's wrong with an anorexic griffin?

>dat spoiler
I have never hated you more. And I don't even hate you normally. How dare you insult my mechfu.

I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better. I've had too many Griffins get rolled up on to feel comfortable without a backup gun.

I didn't say it was shit, I said it was kind of boring. But I understand user, it's near and dear to your heart. Can we still be friends? I'll give you old SLDF equipment, access to mothballed warships and totally leave you to die at Kerensky's hands.

Sounds like a match made in Battletech. Let's be friends indeed.

As for good ol' Black Bessie, I do kinda feel like it needs a backup ML or something. But I also like the PPC/LRM combo. I'm surprised PPC/SRM combos don't exist more actually, the Toro would be a good chassis for it too.

>I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better
Pulling a ton of LRM ammo for a ML is a pretty simple fix.
Plus, it was meant to be deployed alongside tanks and infantry with short-ranged weapons, so it's understandable.
And if you run it in later eras, it pairs well with the TC's later day trooper, the thunderbolt.
I've let my inner drac loose and run lances of a thud leading three toros before, and it does very well. Also, pairing them with the 6ML stinger in light lances is hilarious

The real winner is a LL/SRM-6 combo.

Or PPC/SRM-4 combo if you're some kind of pussy who believes in half measures.

>I'm surprised PPC/SRM combos don't exist more actually, the Toro would be a good chassis for it too.
I feel like that's kinda the panther's thing, and it and the toro are similar enough already.
Swapping one LRM rack for a SRM-4 could be nice, though.
Maybe combine it with a PPC to LL+2ML swap for that sawn-off stalker feeling

Happy day! Found these ladz in a box in the attic, when I was so sure I had simply thrown them away. Looks like a serious repair job is in order, and I can't promise the Archer's rear-firing medium lasers will ever be the same...

>get generic brown cast
aw yeah someone actually read the fluff
>but they have "ethnicities"
WHY
IT'S BEEN LITERALLY A THOUSAND YEARS
THAT'S LIKE PUTTING "GAUL" ON YOUR CENSUS FORM

Oooh, a LL/ML/ML/SRM-4 combo on a Toro would be spicy as fuck. It's the mini-Stalker the Periphery never knew they wanted.

LL/SRM 6 would be sexy too. I wonder if you can get a Blazer/SRM 4 combo on there, for that real Periphirat feel.

>I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better. I've had too many Griffins get rolled up on to feel comfortable without a backup gun.
This. I know a lot of people love the Griffin, and I love the way it looks, but I have the same problems at times.

Because they worship other cultures out of a misplaced sense of guilt. That's why.

More art like this?

So what happened in the inner sphere after the FedCom civil war happened? All my knowledge of the setting comes from the games and the novels, but apparently the setting has advanced like 100 years beyond that?

>a Blazer/SRM 4 combo

Blazers weigh 9 tons.

You can just *barely* cram it all on if you use Endo and Ferro together.

Not sure what the obsession with Blazers is either, given their other designs it seems the PPC, Large Laser, and A/C-10 are more the TC's thing.

>Maybe combine it with a PPC to LL+2ML swap for that sawn-off stalker feeling
>Oooh, a LL/ML/ML/SRM-4 combo on a Toro would be spicy as fuck. It's the mini-Stalker the Periphery never knew they wanted.
It'd be a great buddy mech for the thud, too.

Short answer: Everyone acted like retards for 90 years and now hardly anything makes sense.

There is a longer answer but trying to summarise a decade of fluff and about a dozen SBs in a two thousand character post isn't going to happen. We can help with more specific questions though.

I like Blazers, but at some point a few people around here decided that they were "totally PaF" and I'm kinda bemused about it myself. I guess it's an experimental-type weapon the Periphery could actually have since it's just two Large Lasers welded together poorly?

I will cut you

Not many, but here, bud.
fuckyeahjapaneserobots.tumblr.com/post/111080890950/rocketumbl-むにゃ

A sawn off Stalker is Aces. Fund it. I'd do it, but I'm shitposting between player reactions at my table.

Good luck, I'm behind 7000 Mackies.

>Not sure what the obsession with Blazers is either
I personally like Blazers because they're a unique idea in BattleTech that would totally exist in real life.

>"Guys, guys, what if we taped two large lasers together?"
>"That's genius, Doug!"

I just like seeing them on mechs, they're a neat weapon that gets little to no screen time (kinda like Mech Mortars in that way).

The thing about them is that they basically need DHS to be worthwhile.

The best use the Periphery could make of them until the... mid to late '60s? I forget when exactly they got DHS from the Trinity Alliance... is to pull A/C-10s off things and replace them with a Blazer and 5 Heat Sinks to try and handle the load. Or A/C-20s with a Blazer, 8 SHS, and a ML.

Not sure they have many A/C-10 and -20 things until the later 3050s though so even then I dunno.

I fucked my math. A/C-20 would be a Blazer and 6 HS plus an ML.

Somehow the weebs still nail the BT feel more than BT does.

What happened to Arthur Steiner Davion?

>the literal slavers are the good guys
>the traditional folk who just want to live independent of the FS are the bad guys
reeeeeEEEEEEE

>Mech Mortars
I am probably the biggest fan of these things on this board and even I have to admit how shit they are. I still love them though.

Yeah, I know. I like them all the same but they really are kind of a narrow-application weapon, especially for a group of powers that are technologically behind.

time for fan-creation content that shits all over the main story

randall bills a shit

He became the next in line for leadership of the Word of Blake and vanished when the rest of their forces did.

He's probably still alive and probably still leading the WoB remnant.

I'm not sure what you guys expected.

The Aurigen Coalition is clearly not around after the events of the game and the Taurians are the most expansionist and militaristic power in the neighbourhood.

Well assuming the mod tools are as robust as Shadowrun Returns, that's easily possible. Though Randall isn't writing it, merely cheerleading for it.

I understood it would have to die at the end of the game, but I don't need a lecture about how problematic the Concordat is compared to the GREAT MATRIARCHY.

>Taurians are the most expansionist and militaristic power in the neighbourhood.
What? They're the paranoid leave-us-along guys.
Hell, less than a decade later the MoC fucking *invaded* the CapCon, the first time a periphery state did that since the RWR.
If anything, the factions should be reversed

Considering those mechs were based on the old Dougram mechs (Shadow Hawk, Griffin, Wolverine,) they did a good job.

Are they even going to release mod tools this time around? I seem to remember them saying no during the kickstarter but maybe I'm thinking of something else.

Feels good to know they're gonna get Fronc'ed.

They're expansionist, but in the colonial sense, not in the invading sense. They're about the only state in 3025 that gives a shit about settling brand new worlds.

I mean you guys are saying this like the MOC isn't going to fuck the mcs over at some point.
We're playing a merc group, everyone fucks over merc groups.
Overall, I don't really care one way or the other who the factions are. The gameplay looks solid and that's pretty much all that matters in my opinion. It's silly to put the ethnicities but honestly the nonsense of the mixes makes it look like they used a RAT.
Also, sauce on that "not including white protagonists" thing from HBS.

>They're expansionist, but in the colonial sense, not in the invading sense. They're about the only state in 3025 that gives a shit about settling brand new worlds.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm just saying that invading neighbors is about 20x more the MoC's thing than the TC's, even more so in 3025.

What really annoys me is that, seemingly, you''e not really playing a merc group - just an iformal unit of the MoC military. If I'm playing mercs i should be able to choose MoC or Taurians, raid the cappies or FS, chase pirates, or sit around guarding something from pirates, or do a down-low job to help one noble sabotage another despite both being nominally on the same side, or try to depose the ruler of this periphery shithole and make it *my* periphery shithole.

>I forget when exactly they got DHS from the Trinity Alliance
They actually all recovered DHS on their own by 54, even the OA. It was mostly XLs and endo and gauss that the MoC got from the CC

The only time I can think of off-hand for the MoC doing that is the Andurien Secession, which was highly unusual for them.

The Taurians started more shit with the Suns and Magistracy than the Magistracy has with anyone else.

The actual "sit off on the side and mind their own business" Periphery faction was the Outworlds Alliance. Definitely not the Taurians.

That's not something you can really plan for narratively though, at least not at this level.
That's the sort of thing you would write minimal script for or do in an open RPG,
That would be an excellent idea for a single player mode besides the campaign, but as long as the narrative is well written I don't terribly mind being railroaded too much.

>Dougram

Different style here, but same source material.

> They're the paranoid leave-us-along guys.
Their paranoia leads them to attack people. They're basically a crazy militia type who rants about black helicopters and fluoride in the water, then the moment anyone so much as looks at them funny they gun him and a half dozen bystanders down and claim self defense.

>The Taurians started more shit with the Suns and Magistracy
What, once with the MoC and once with the suns two hundred and fifty years apart and the second under the influence of lolcoleman counts as "aggressive"?

At least twice with the Suns since the Malagrotta Incident was them probing to see what would happen.

So three times more likely to start shit with others than the Magistracy.

Especially if, as it seems from the fluff people have posted this thread and last that the Aurigen Coalition was just a Magistracy front butting up against Taurian space.

They take a historically dim view of that sort of thing.

Sure it is. Open world games are all the rage these days

The problem is, you're both technically right, just at different times.
Prior to the trinity alliance, the taurians were more timid-paranoid, after they went full retard violent paranoid.

>Malagrotta Incident
I would count that half at most since the suns/SLDF were 100% guaranteed going to invade the TC no matter what

Except that the Suns and Capellans and Free Worlders really do attack them.

>Free Worlders
Yeah the FWL doesn't have much to do with the TC my dude

>as soon as coleman starts writing everyone's characterizations get fucked up and people turn into retards for no reason
Yep, sounds about right
>[angry hasek noises]

>get fucked up and people turn into retards for no reason

>Look back at the first novel to have Caleb the madman and his clanfucking daddy
>Written by Coleman

It checks out.

The FWL has very little to do with them simply because of distance, the Suns barely even remembers that they exist half the time, and the Capellans are usually too busy to bother with attacking a periphery state.

Which BT author is the best?

Literally the only times the Suns have gone after them was when the Taurians attacked first.

The Capellans have made unprovoked attacks in the past and were a lot worse on them in their early history. Really you would expect the Taurians to reserve their hate-on for the Capellans.

I actually really like Herb and Randall when they aren't writing for their favorite faction or doing petty vindictive shit. Out of the semi-modern guys anyway.

A bunch of the Battlecorps nobodies who are in the compilation books are pretty great too.

Victor Milan and Thomas S. Gressman tend to get the most respect around here.

I suppose the caveat is that Gressman also wrote The Dying Time which gets people riled up.

A lot of other authors rely on Canon Sue characters and/or the antagonists literally standing around going "Durr? Hurr? Hurr durr." until it's time for them to lose. Which is egregious even in gaming fiction.

To be fair, TDT was pretty bad.

>Really you would expect the Taurians to reserve their hate-on for the Capellans.
I mean, they kinda DID. Like half of the characterization in periphery 2e was "we trust the fucking capcon and especially sun-tzu like a hole in our head", AND 1e suggested that aside from thomas calderon folks distrusted the CC as much as the FS
It just all disappeared because lol trinity alliance magic

That's assuming the hate is cultivated based on actual history. It isn't. It's a tool for keeping the TC's people from realizing that their rulers are every bit as bad as a successor state. These are people who herd their own civilians into battle as human shields, and then flatten both the enemy and their own people with artillery. The Suns is a more convenient hate sink because it is more powerful than the Capellans, and thus seems more threatening.

Anyone have a screen cap of the contentious post on Facebook? I refuse to give them views or revenue.

All of the MechWarrior novels are.

I'd still rate it over shit like Roar of Honour any day of the week.

>All of the MechWarrior novels are.

I liked the one with the invasion of New Syrtis. It made me actually like George Hasek. That's also where that famous Katherine line came from, after he blew her off at the Second Wittington Conference.

Hey, By Blood Betrayed, while somewhat trite, was a pretty good novel. And one of the few Periphery focused novels we've had.

George Hasek was always one of my favorite FedSuns characters, what with the FCCW making everyone else into a total moron. He's probably 25% of why I dislike coleman's writing so much

I'd fucking hope they have mod tools. Otherwise it's release game, players finish game, players move on.

I'd like some sauce on that comment too.

This is probably an odd question but does anyone have either of the Mechcommander games in a non-torrent format?

Like on a CD? Cause I got em both.

How do people feel about Pardoe?

Muh scots, muh south
4/10, not the worst battletech writer

I was hoping for some kind of download that would get past my dormitory's internet blocks. Basically a MEGA or anything similar. Not even sure how well this shit emulates on Wine but I'm gonna go for it.

University, eh?
I can't think of any, but there's probably someone here who could mega the ISOs

Not even. A technical school that just so happened to buy the latest in anti-fun networking technology.

Highlander Gambit okay, impetus to war and roar of honor terrible. Haven't read the others.

Yeah, mine's rigged the same way. I just use phone hotspots and Starbucks wifi to get around it. If I had the ISOs, I'd mega them for you, but I don't. I'm sure someone here does, though

I'm happy my alma mater didn't block torrents. Sounds like yours is a real stick in the mud, man. Sucks, wish I could help you out.

I feel like I'm really sucking with Jump Jets /btg/ How do I get better with them?

What has Victor Milan even written?

Off the top of my head, all I can think of are those books about the girl who is the best ever at being an infantryman.

Putting them on designs, or using them in games?

For the former, remember the break points. 55 tons is as high as you can go for .5 ton JJs, 85 tons is as high as you can go for 1-ton JJs.

For the latter, only Jump if you can cross at least 5 hexes so you can stick your enemy with the same +3 modifier you've got, or if you need to break LOS, or if it gets you to their rear arcs and they have torso ammo.

Otherwise just run.

What was the book where they defend some ground installation during the FCCW(I think) and the MC was a bulldog vet with a Devastator?
I liked that one, whichever it was.

It really doesn't look solid though.

Brain fart.

I meant Robert N. Charette.

I'm sorry I should have mentioned for use. So it's really to hide or rear arc only. It just seems when I do so, my TMMs are so high it's not even worth doing the latter. Am I wrong or is it just pop behind and hope?

It's literally on the archives mediafire.

mediafire.com/file/hfakkogtxlkmvou/MechCommander.rar

That was a good one.

Flashpoint, I think?

PGI is still going to be putting out mechs that HBS can convert and sell as DLC post launch. So why would they allow custom content that could hurt sales, especially if they decide to do a clan invasion DLC campaign/sequel?

Maybe I'm just being cynical but I'm not hopeful for mod tools.

>For the latter, only Jump if you can cross at least 5 hexes so you can stick your enemy with the same +3 modifier you've got
I would say that you can get away with 4 in 3025 or if you're landing in cover. 3 works in cities or dense hills/woods, but not in more open terrain

Your to-hits might be better with punches too.

What I try to do is use JJ 'Mechs against things playing Turret Tech. That way usually the only modifier is the +3 from Jumping because I'm at short range and they're stationary. Regular pilots will have a 50% chance to hit at that point.

Pulse Lasers also go well on jumping 'Mechs. Have a go at the TR1 Wraith or the Vapour Eagle/Goshawk, those are pretty much the epitome of the jumping backstabber.

>claim to want to reinvigorate the fan base
>pick a sales model that just pisses off the fan base and hasn't been done with any other games they've released
>have released mod tools for all but one of the products they've released

I dunno.