2016-12-08 - /btg/ Battletech General!

The four digit number is the year, the middle two digit is the month, the ending two digit is the day. How do you not know how date writing works?

>Working vindie because broken one makes me sad.

If you squint just right, you'll see there's one standing next to the Spider.

I think he's getting at "Why are the threads being dated now," and while he's asking, I'd ask that if it is going to be dated, that the date goes behind the /btg/.

I asked about Lyran mechs in the last thread, but what about classic Suns mechs?

What would be their staples in the 3025 to 3050 eras? Besides acquisitions from the Lyrans like the Hatchetman.

So I was digging in the unit quirk overrides file saw this:

The proper names for quirks can be found in the
l10n/megamek/common/options/messages.properties file. Search for the "QuirksInfo" section.
The name you want will fall between "option" and "displayableName". For example, if you wish to apply the
"Anti-Aircraft Targeting" quirk to a unit, you will find the following entry in the messages.properties file:
QuirksInfo.option.anti_air.displayableName
The name you want to include in this file for the entry is "anti_air".

But I looked through my entire megamek folder and was unable to find any such file. Does anyone have the proper quirk list as used by megamek?

Bugs, VALKS, javelins, Blackjacks, Dervishes, Shads, Enforcers (big-time), Centurions, Pixies, the other standard common mediums, wolverines, captured drac shit in fairly large amounts, larger numbers of riflemen than they'd like, crusaders and archers like everyone else, Jagermechs, some thuds, Warhammers, Marauders, some Awesomes, some Victors, a few Battlemasters and the usual scattering of Cyclopes and Atlases

I said it before... but my OCD is raging. I see eleven mechs... not twelve. (And yes I know the artist who made this answered for it before.) Mah OCD!
Nice pic though.

Nevermind, I unzipped the megamek.jar file and was able to find it in there.

Does anyone have a copy of the AtB rules? The link in the OP leads to a 404'd page, and googling it leads to the same.

I see 11, too, user.

The 12th is obviously holding the camera.

...

>The 12th is obviously holding the camera.
Then who was phone?
Couldn't help myself.

>Hey guys, say cheese!
>accidentally press the alpha strike button

Yeah, the date is superfluous. All posts have date and time, so don't need it in the thread title as well

plz do not bully the bugs

Gentlemen, I am putting together a campaign for a party that wants to play a Goliath Scorpion Seeker and their retinue - is there a decent book in the vast BT library that would help me come up with some good locations for them to visit as they travel across the Inner Sphere all messed up on Necrosia? Also any additional information/imagery for Seekers would of course be appreciated.

Also - what would a Seeker's Mech look like? Do they adhere to one of the Galaxy paint schemes or do they just paint it however?

Have them go to Apollo, the old capital of the RWR. It may be in the bumfuck periphery but it still has all its Amaris era castle grayskull fortifications intact. Bonus, the Falcons own it now so they get to deal with the burds.

On the spinward end of things, there's Columbus, the old SLDF headquarters for their equivalent of the Explorer Corps and run by Comstar nowadays. That could be a nice adventure. The whole place is even built into a hollowed-out moon with the biggest drydock facilities known to exist in the periphery and only matched by similar installations like the Ruins of Gabriel in the IS proper.

That's a couple places off the top of my head they would both have a lot of interest in and would be in their likely travel range.

what I've always wanted to know about the seekers is how the fuck do they get around? does clan HQ detach a DropShip and JumpShip combo and the 30-40 requisite crew, plus like ten years of supplies for them for every single seeker?

If you download megamekHQ it should be in the docs folder.

So the inner sphere. Why was it called that?

Was it simply a matter of trying to look ahead? Kind of how central park was built on the the edge of new york city at the time?

Technically can't a seeker take bondsmen? So I mean, a dropship for maybe a Seeker and their 4 mech piloting slave-buddies and then all their various support personnel isn't too crazy

Why does it need to be looking ahead? The closest areas to Terra are the Inner Sphere. There you go.

>not really in anything else
>not really a sphere

really makes you think

Because its not full of taurian, canopian, and clanner degenerates. Brotherhood if Randis nore like botherhood of idiots

>nore like botherhood of idiots

Beautiful

Aside from the usual Bugs and Archers and common Unseens, they're big on the Centurion, Enforcer, Dervish, Victor, and JagerMech.

Tech retcons throw the Devastator and some other things to them in the mid to late 3040s too.

The AFFS side of the 3020s is written as a relatively light-weight force in the SBs, not that you'd know it from the novels or average tabletop experience. They bulk up a lot with the FedCom merger though.

The Suns is actually stated to have the fewest Battlemasters of any House. It's *viewed* as iconic for them by the fans thanks to Hanse, but the Lyrans, FWL, and Dracs have a lot more.

Apparently so. It's best not to think about it too hard.

I forget the name for it but they do form a retinue. I just assumed transport assets and logistical support was bound up in the nebulous but highly coveted "Seeker's Rights."

What are the mechs you guys find the most visually pleasing?

Imp

I can't imagine the Seekers would paint their Mechs IAW the rest of the Clan's Touman - they're not really military at that point so much as they are heavily armed explorers. The lore describes them as something similar to a Knight Errant which I think gives an even stronger argument to them having unique looking Mechs.

Warhammer
Raven
Marauder
Archer
Kodiak
Bandersnatch
Axman
Hatamoto

A lot of people here love the Hound and say they only wish it had CASE, but even then 3-ammo bomb in the LT that takes out two of your weapons kinda bugs me. What could replace the SRM4 to at least take it down to only 2 explosive slots?

I thought some Seekers at least had to make their own way, taking rides where they can get them and all that.

Blood Kite.

Prior to the invasion it probably would've been much easier, just operating in Clan space - but starting in 3050 that would have to change. On one hand you have sudden access to the Inner Sphere which must've seemed like a gold mine to the Seekers - but it's entirely hostile territory with no way to get around reliably. Can you imagine a Clanner trying to sneak around the Inner Sphere, pretending he's not vat-born to try and hitch a ride to some system that he thinks might have lostech?

ML battery.

Or I guess you could rip the SRM out and upgrade the LB-10X to a -20X.

I would say four RL/10s and a sink, real periphery style. Or two MLs and a heat sink if you're being boring and practical

I'm now picturing this monstrosity duct-taped into the LT with "WOOF WOOF!" painted on the barrel. Glorious.

That would make an amazing variant and I'm gonna use it, but it makes more sense as a variant than an upgrade per se

My main man here.

King Crab.

Mackie. (FATSPACEMAN)

...

Any drawn by Plog in TRO 3145
Those mechs made me into battletech again

>dem mk IV omnis

but the best of the 3145 omnis was the Slowki

[LTACs externally]

Start with the unseen, and then some others like the Shadow Cat. I like pretty machines, even if they sometimes suck performance-wise.

Can Clanners use iNarc, or is that Dezgra?

Since that was a Word of Blake or ComStar only piece of kit for a while, they wouldn't have had reliable access. Even if they did still have it, they'd be unlikely use it over their own Narc beacons.

What's a mech that can effectively lead lances of Locusts, Stingers, Wasps, and Commandos?

But they could use it if they had it due to Clanner narc-missiles working with iNarc, yeah? Or is iNarc and Narc separate LRM ammo types?

Phoenix Hawk, or any of the trio of 55 tonners (Griffin, Shad, Wolverine).

grasshopper

GO FORTH MY LITTLE MINIONS

Too slow

The Phoenix Hawk is pretty much what you're looking for.

iNarcs share the same pods to an extent with standard Narc beacons, but the Clans don't make anything other Homing pods, so there would be no reliable way to use the other iNarc pods. And even then, those alternate pods would probably be considered dishonorable.

I meant do the LRMs required for Narc also work with iNarc

Campaign game, I'm playing Clanners, ally playing ComStar, can I take Narc ammo to work with his iNarc?

Yes if the LRMs have Narc capable missiles loaded.

Phoenix Hawk or Chameleon

>sad pinup wallpaper noises
Have I been doing it wrong? Would people prefer real girls for these?

please no 3DPD, i want kurita cat girls

I'm a big fan of what you're doing as you're doing it. Still waiting on my phone company one though, hoping you find a good pic soon.

A lot of Clan 'Mechs, but most especially the Timber Wolf and the Fire Moth AKA Gangsta Moth.

Alright, looking to round out my ASF wing in my merc unit. So far I've got two flights, one for heavy attack and another for bombing runs. Looking to make a third that can fulfill the role of interdiction/interception and some recon.

Needs to be IS, anything from 3067 and below (ideally designs that are still produced, no SL lostech), so no Jihad designs. Prefer engine speeds of 6/9 or 7/11 and above.

Was considering getting a bunch of Daggers or Defiances, but I'll ask here first before pulling the trigger.

There are a LOT of these. Assume both canon and MWO versions for most of them where applicable:
>Catapult
>Cyclops
>Vindicator (MWO)
>Blackjack
>JagerMech
>UrbanMech
>Daikyu
>PP Marauder (deal with it)
>Dervish
>Stalker (MWO)
>Juliano
>Gun
>Locust (MWO, Japanese & Shimmyseen)
>Raven
>Firefly (pic related version)
>Sling
>Commando (canon only)
>Unseen Wasp
>Unseen Stinger
>Snek
>Cicada
>Zeus
>Wolverine (Unseen)
>Huron Warrior

That about does it, I think. I probably missed a few.

The MWO Raven. It literally is what got me interested in battletech.

wtf I want to give praise to Blake now...

I love what you're doing already, but if you wanted to do a one-off pic of Jenni Lee with a Legacy and other Blakist symbolism/nukes in the background I wouldn't say boo

WS article fag here: I'm partial to the Stingray, Transgressor, and Hellcat.

I'm a bit confused by the pre-'67, no LosTech thing if you're looking at Daggers and Defiances since those rely on advanced tech. But if you're going to get anything from that era and want 6/9 fighters, get Eisensturms.

No, 3DPD. Stick with the pin-ups.

Carrying on, then.

By that he means "please nothing that was only produced by the starleague and is hard to find partsfor" I assume, given the way he worded it

There are designs that existed only in the SL days, like the Firebird. They're basically rare pieces now.

Bingo. Need to consider replacements and replacement parts.

Especially don't do those slags, I looked them up and they're fugly.

OST- mechs. I don't get the hate (other than the Ostsol with its silly face). Cyclops, shame most variants are so shit. The dougram mechs are also a fave of mine.

i am okay with this

Here's another one for the Word, btw.

Fair enough.

Definitely go the Stingray, Transgressor, and Hellcat. They're energy-based, pretty tough fighters that are common enough and go 6/9.

And if advanced tech is on the table the Eisensturm is still the one to gun for.

The Dagger is OK but it's heavily Feddie so unless you like working with them it'll be hard to get your hands on the very Capellan Defiance, and vice versa.

I'm not such a fan of the Defiance though, it has less armour than the Dagger despite the lower speed and slightly greater payload.

kek

If only it were larger/hi-rez. I did try to find nose-art type pinups for that, but to no avail. Maybe my google-fu is weak.

Theres a reason for that. there is another, more used versions of the image

>come play, my lord

I think you meant
>Come play, my Star Lord

>
In re: your question about Shads and Scorps -
They have fewer Shads than most, since they don't have a line. They use the vastly superior GRF-1S instead, which basically covers the same role.

The Steiners deliberately repossessed all the Scorps they could get their hands on and scrapped them for parts, which means there are literally only a handful left in the 3030s on their side of the FedCom. The FedSuns follows suit a decade later.

As far as the Davion side, they only make a handful of 'Mechs, and most of them are troopers.
The standout designs are the Hornet, Wasp, Javelin, Valkyrie, Dervish, Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, Enforcer, Centurion, Rifleman, JaegerMech, MAD, Victor, and Longbow. They also have a lot of leftover Kintaros, and make the other two Trinity 'Mechs in lesser numbers with the Atlas.

(more in next post)

Don't they also have a reasonable number of legacy warhammers and marauders?

As far as line forces? The Davions tend to refit for survivability - or MASSIVE firepower and damn the heat. They use a lot of very solid trooper Mediums working in combination, backed up by a handful of much more-valuable Heavies and Assaults. They have a distinct bias toward fire-support machines (especially in the Heavies), and a lot of Command 'Mechs available for Lance leaders.

Contrariwise, the Lyrans have a much more limited palette of Mediums. They mainly make Griffins, Vulcans, PHXs, and Wolverines in the bracket, adding the Hatchie later. They seem to view Mediums as a way to stiffen lighter forces or round out heavier ones, rather than as a main force element.
Overall, the Lyrans seem to take the "Orion" philosophy in their refits - they like balanced jacks-of-all-trades rather than specialists (cf. the Battlemaster with LRMSs, their Banshee, etc).

Some of the signature Lyran designs that people usually ignore are the Thud, Crud, Chameleon and Flashman, although they also make the Highlander in (very) small numbers.

>Don't they also have a reasonable number of legacy warhammers and marauders?
Which "they"?
The Suns has a lot of legacy heavy designs - they bend a lot of their resources to keeping what big boys they have operational. They also raid heavily for salvage and parts for their bigger 'Mechs. Since the Davs >make< the Marauder, they have plenty (it's the only non-shit Heavy they make until they capture the Cataphract line, and promptly shit it up., and start making the Caesar).

The Lyrans make the Whammy, although the Falcons jack the factory during the Invasion, and export it heavily to the Suns during the FedCom era. They also have a good number of MADs and Archers, just like everyone else

Yeah, the suns.

Is there any particular faction that has more osts than the others?

Comstar, probably. Ostmann Industries was on Terra, and Kong Interstellar supplied the Star League.

Thanks a bunch. That helps a lot!

FWL also has a fair few I think

IIRC the cappies had a bunch before the 4sw, but I think they lost most of them in that business

Marauder (Classic)
Battlemaster (The version on the 'Total War' cover)
Warhammer (Classic and Catalyst version)
Hatchetman
Catapult
Mad Cat (Timberwolf)
Elemental