/btg/ Battletech General!

bampu

Wolf cucked the sphere. Alaric did! He took a Wolf army to Terra. There was NO ONE left to cuck, da wimmiz wuz his.

>photo in corner of cockpit

Pathos!

>52827545
And here I was thinking we'd seen the last of you
No such luck, I see

I wonder if there was a way for us to set up one of those RISK games with the IS map and see what crazy results we end up with. Would certainly be fun for AU Building

Anyone know if it's been announced when/if this is getting printed again?

Where all the Terran women at? The Republic player learned I don't let anyone have planets I don't want them to. Blood Spirit tactics are tops.

Last I heard they were angling for a reprint, and Catalyst usually releases stuff around Origins and Gencon.

Thanks user

You have less luck of having a proper release than theArmored Core board game

>Catalyst usually releases stuff around Origins and Gencon
This. Very this. Worth noting though that Origins is usually a tiny trickle compared to what they put out at Gencon.

Though I might be talking out of my ass, I think the next "Boxed set" is going to be for alpha strike. I don't know if that means two boxes simultaneously or if it's just the one.

Just shut the fuck up user. You aren't funny. You aren't clever. You aren't original. You're trying to force a meme, and succeeding only in being a worthless cunt. If you had the courage of your convictions, you'd put on and keep on a trip rather than hiding behind user like a worthless cunt.

Find new material, because the only reason anybody cares about what you post is that you're wasting perfectly good thread space being a worthless cunt.

This super hot HGN-732 son of a bitch is fucking crushing lights and basically youre fucked. How? Click here to find out!

Where?

>I wonder if there was a way for us to set up one of those RISK games with the IS map and see what crazy results we end up with.

The Draconis Combine? You know what the Draconis Combine is? It's a sitting duck, a road apple, Newman. The Darconis Combine is weak... it's feeble... I think it's time to put the hurt on the Draconis Combine...

Apparently the new Inner Sphere in Flames rules are a bit better than the old ones, but the old ones had the Taurian Concordat duking it out with the Lyrans for control of human space as a fairly probable end-state thanks to the fuckery involved with factories.

Which I guess is marginally better than the AFFS and Lyrans duking it out for control that you get from using troop numbers, skills, and experience from the FMs and such.

While the factory stuff is nonsense, fluff-wise the Concordat has always been an interesting place with its pros and cons. At the risk of stirring trouble up, I should say I always found the Concordat, flawed as it is, a more interesting faction and setting than the Combine or Suns.

Yeah, I don't mind the Concordat as written. A lot of fans replace the Concordat as written with the Concordat they would have written though, in ways fans of other factions don't. That tends to not end so well.

>a lot of
See, I've only ever observed Medron and that guy MA do this on the OF. No more often than any other factional AU.

Really it's that those two, especially the first, do it so damn often that it feels like there's more then of them. Other factions don't have that sort of relentless faggot going (though MadCap would have probably gotten as bad if his shit didn't get canon; we'd likely be laughing about 'Xin Sheng Industries' instead)

Just about everyone does that with their chosen faction in home games.

When they're a writer it becomes canon. *cough* xin sheng *cough*

Plus Master Arminas did that Goliath Scorpion storyline that kinda wrecked the Scorps for me.

>the scorp khan or whatever kills 10-15 smoke jaguar keshik Warriors in a fight inspired by Steven Segal
My sides were crit'd

I did that some with the FWL in my campaign setting but that's partly because they get ignored so consistently.

Having been in the BT community for a while, I've seen rather more of them. A fair number also convince themselves that the stuff Medron says is right, or use his website as a source.

YMMV. I've been playing the game, probably like you, since the Clan Invasion happened and honestly I've seen more FedCom/FedSuns ones.

I'm still not sure if he or drakensis is the king of ridiculous AUs

I kinda get that, because they kinda did get reverse sheng'd pretty hardcore, and I know a lot of people like pre Coleman CC over it's later incarnation, so I'm not surprised taurian fans are the same way with the TC

A big part is the pre-Coleman/Shraplen Concordat was a great setting for a variety of campaigns. The Jihad era and beyond pretty much killed the periphery in BT.

The old template, would it be best to do it by planet or by territory?

that's a tough one, because MA is a total fucking loon, but on the other hand drak DID do a Avatar SI/Azula AU fic, so I think he wins, but narrowly

The only part of the DA that I've ever really liked were the wacky little splinter factions, and I've been thinking that the whole idea might actually fit into the Jihad and early post-jihad era better

Does this work?

it's close, very close, only problem is putting all the independent worlds on grey background instead of white

The pre-FM Periphery in general was much more fun and interesting
It was really disappointing how many interesting plot threads got dropped between Periphery '58 and FM:P
>st.Ives/TC/MoC alliance
>WoB influence growing in the magistracy
>OA finally getting it's shit together WITHOUT clan magic
>huge waves of emigration from the IS founding large numbers of new colonies
>space motherfucking Texas Rangers
>Marian Hegemony facing actual fights instead of walkovers
That could probably be fixed in photoshop or even paint

I really like the atlas, but during and after the jihad there really aren't much in the way of decent non-lyran variants to be had
Anyone have anything good?

How about this one?

Oh fuck, that's excellent. Thanks a lot buddy
This is all I need, but do they've got a 67 blank? The difference is pretty small but helpful

anyone know if the mechwarrior clix are in scale with the current minis? I have an oppiurtunity to pick up a few lances worth for pretty cheap. Obviously, I'd rebase them, but what do you guys think?

Most of the mechs are N-Scale (well, they all are, but some mechs are weedy little bastards), but the infantry and vehicles fit okay.

Check the website shown on the image, it should have all the maps. They're colored, but you can just grayscale them.

I guess it's relevant to you and also the main conversation here, but I've always thought the full-retard jihad taurians would have made a superb DA-style splinter faction, just not running the show as a whole
Like imagine them as a bunch of militia retards nurtured in the 50s and 60s by the capellans in the TC, planning to support a pro-cap coup that never came, but in the mid-60s the blakists show up with the Vendetta, dubious mercs for bulk and some Phoenix machines and get them on-side, setting them loose in 74 with like four regiments and far too many nukes to rampage across the capellan march
Being either the TC or FS and trying to deal with them while also keeping whatever worlds they've "liberated" for your own would be a really fun campaign, I think

How many scales are there for battletech, I'm a bit of a noobie

Oops wrong post

Most of them aren't. The MiningMech and Phoenix Hawk are both in scale; so are some of the vehicles (artillery, trailers, some of the light tanks, the Enyo).

>How many scales are there for battletech, I'm a bit of a noobie
The main scale is theoretically 1:285, aka "6mm" (based on the hieght of an average human model), or "NZ"/"Z" railroad scale depending on the country you're from. In reality the models vary from ~1:300 to 1:250 and the it's kinda always been a little wonky. On the bright side, most things in that scale range work well. Many manufacturers make modern troops, terrain, and tanks in 6mm because it's super cheap.

The Mechwarrior Clix game is officially 1:144, or 10mm/"N" scale. Unfortunately it's WAY wonkier and there's a bunch of random shit that's either stupidly huge or scaled properly for BT. The "Museum-scale" 'Mechs on the IWM website are also 1:144.

Then there was an abortive line of "micro-scale" minis that are about a third of the size of the standard ones, and some stands of fighters and dropships made in that scale as well for fighting in games with Warships. Both went over like a lead balloon.

WarShips are their own scale-ish, I forget which but I think it's something like 1:1000 or 1:1200, which are pretty standard for naval games.

There was a limited run of 28mm models which got their license pulled ages ago. There are still a few models avialable in the IWM archives, but they're all infantry and/or powered armor for the RPG.

Finally, there's "map-scale" which is 1:1000, and really used only for DropShips that are going to be used on the map instead of the standard dropship counters. Although there is one mad whoreson making his own kitbashed mapscale models..

Is it a mess? Yeah. But realistically 1:285/6mm is all you actually have to worry about.

>There are still a few models avialable in the IWM archives, but they're all infantry and/or powered armor for the RPG.

They weren't for the RPG, they were for BattleTroops, the long-dead squad level infantry combat game.

How valuable are early Ral Partha minis compared to modern stock?

You left out the best scale of all.

I, um, had a mess of, um, those... yeah. For science reasons. ... Yeah. I used to take the Hunchback IIc's autocannons that fired off those big rubber shots and play with one of my cats with it. I swear this is true. When I would fire off a shot only from the IIC, my male cat would grab the shot, play with it for a few seconds, and bring it back to me like a dog. Before he died of old age and such I would play Kitty Battletech with him for so many days. Good kitty times. And so, um, yeah... science!

The autocannon on the Summoner had fucking range.

That it did. I don't know how old you are, but I grew up with the original transformers where some bootlegs or originals made it across the pond where the original springs for the missile launchers would fire off a small projectile that little kids and kitties could choke on. The IIC had large enough projectiles as not to be dangerous.

>How valuable are early Ral Partha minis compared to modern stock?

Well, this lad was NIB after all these decades. I sold 'im for $75.00.

... and this wasn't even RP's first go at it!

>How many scales are there for battletech, I'm a bit of a noobie

Maybe it's cheating, but I've seen pics on here of people playing Battletech using the 1:100 scale Bandai models, too.

I have no hope of ever finding that searchlight...

Is that larger Warhammer the same size as those models made under the Robotech license about 15-20 years ago? They might have sold them under the Exosquad license too.

Official scale is Microarmor-scale, so somewhere floating around 1:285 scale or z:scale.

The only reason "Scale" started to become a point of debate was becuase there were people trying to use clix as a cheaper substitute for the Ironwind Metals pewters.

There were also a lot of people who've gaffed from buying a set labeled as "Battleforce", because IWM/CGL were testing out an even smaller scale for their huge-numbers wargame that would eventually become Alpha Strike. There were many who ended up buying this pewter set somehow not stopping and considering "Why does this pack of 12 pewter mechs cost as much as the pack of 4 pewter mechs"...

But yeah, If it's standard IWM/Fasa/Catalyst minis you're dealing with, you're using the norm, not the exception.

Hey /btg/, I need help adding a custom to Megamek.

Since you can't modifiy Dropships in MML or otherwise, direct editing of the unit file is the only way to go, however, I have no idea how the fuck to get the resulting custom unit back into MHQ to allow for it's use.

Any help to get this done would be appreciated, because I really need these BA bays and there's nothing 3053 that really has any.

Does scale matter in batttech? As long as it's base takes up the hex, line of sight doesn't matter for height, correct?

If you modify the file manually, place it in the folder with the rest of the units, delete the units.cache file in the main MM folder, and then start the program, MM should add it when it goes through its initial scan.

So just drop it in mechfiles and delete the unit cache file?

>Is that larger Warhammer the same size as those models made under the Robotech license about 15-20 years ago? They might have sold them under the Exosquad license too.

No, it's one of the 1:100 Bandai Macross kits. Those old Robotech Defenders kits are considerably larger. Pic related may not be the *best* example - the purple Goliath in the middle is a die-cast-and-plastic Dougram toy that it somewhat smaller than the Macross model in . The little guy in front *is* Ral Partha, though.

here

Tried it by dropping it in the mechfiles folder and the customs folder specific to the campaign, neither worked after deleting the unit cache and loading the campaign.

>The only reason "Scale" started to become a point of debate was becuase there were people trying to use clix as a cheaper substitute for the Ironwind Metals pewters.

I could only see this being a problem when it starts hitting someone in the pocketbook (i.e., sellers of IWM models). You could argue that on a macro-level, this'd hurt us all, but that's getting into slippery slope territory, I think.

>Does scale matter in batttech? As long as it's base takes up the hex, line of sight doesn't matter for height, correct?

If you're playing with hex maps, not, I don't see how it could matter. After all, even the original Battledroids models (the plastic ones from Dougram like this Wolverine, not the old metal miniatures) barely fit in a hex themselves.

If I don't want a particular miniature, I just buy cheap Gashapons or Russian miniatures and use them as either proxy models or custom mechs.

It works pretty well.

Is that rust?

battle bump

Lead rot, yeah. It's most commonly caused by exposure to acetic acid. I'd hit that sucker with some diluted baking soda and a toothbrush, then prime it. About the only way to stop it. Also, that red lead oxide is toxic as hell.

To be honest, about a third of my Unseen are recasts of Takara and CMS gashapon (most of the rest are Robotech Tactics/Arii stuff). It's impressive the amount of detail they can stuff into a shitter rubber mini. Once you get that into a decent resin, they look really damned good, and they're fun to play with.

Wait, how would a mini come in contact with acetic acid?

>Is that rust?

No, it's just a really awful 25-year-old paint job. Back then, I used enamel paints, and I hadn't the skills or materials to do the paint job right.

Official Miniatures that are awful.

>Madcat/Timberwolf
They've never had a good timberwolf model. How hard is it to make a meaty version of this. Hell look at the marauder and catapult miniatures. How hard is it to make that? I've used MK.IIs as stand ins every time I've fielded a madcat since it came out. For such a core part of the universe, it seems stupid they don't have a better model.

>vulture/Mad dog
Again, fucking anorexic. Torso is awful. Again they've showed they can do it better with the Vulture MkIII.

>Any Reseen Warhammer Design
The Tomahawk Destroid design is too iconic to replace. They need to do what they did with the new Shadowhawk and Griffin, bulk it up, and make it actually look like a threat, and stop putting muliple guns in the arms, it makes them look non-functional. This one is probably a legal nightmare though, since it was the Warhammer from the Mechwarrior trailer that re-ignited the harmony gold bullshit.

Anyone else have any sculpts they hate?

Depends on what they are.

Out of pack unseen usually goes from around $12-30

If they're bad models or have better sculpts since, some are lucky to go for $1.

You can get lucky as well, I've picked up an old Griffin, Old battlemaster, Wasp, Stinger for as little as $7, usually from people listing them incorrectly or in the wrong ebay section.

In the UK and Europe there's a slightly lower price point but then increased scarcity (I have no idea why, but its probably because of its much lower popularity than in US).

It's vinegar.
Acetic acid is vinegar.

That I knew, but I don't understand what someone is doing bathing a mini in vinegar.

Well... Maybe small amount of its fumes over a long time is enough to cause such damage?
Years of exposure or what not.

>Wait, how would a mini come in contact with acetic acid?
It's vinegar. Most wood outgasses a small quantity of it as it rots, with oak and pressboard being especially bad. So if you leave it on a bookshelf or in a drawer without decent ventilation, after a decade or so shit'll start to rot. It's not a problem as long as the model is sealed, but if something is sitting in the "unpainted" pile for a couple decades it can get really bad. Lower-quality alloys (like the BD pewter and Dave "I'm Randall's Uncle" the Toymaker use) rot much more agressively than the later RP leaded pewters. The newest stuff (Ralladium etc.) is much more corrosion-resistant, although the tin can react if you leave it in an electrolye - say, a pool of paint water - in contact with other metals.

Also, if you're a dingus like me, you can forget that RTV silicone caulk uses acetic acid to cure and try to cast a new leg for your lead MAD II...

Also, once one mini is oxidized, it can cause a small electrolytic reaction and speed up the rusting if it's in contact with other shit in the case and the humidity gets high enough. Salt air is really bad for that. That's how a car battery works - controlled rotting of lead plates. on the bright side, a good cleaning with a base like Windex (ammonia and alcohol) or baking soda and a simple coat of paint will stop the shit.

Where do you usually get your gashapons from? Any other battletech sized mechs you know of?

Finally finished the doodle, so here's the 80 ton Striker battlemech.

>As long as it's base takes up the hex, line of sight doesn't matter for height, correct?
So long as it fits in the hexes.

Clix don't fit in the Battletech hex maps. Part of the contention with the IWM scale creep is because minis are getting bigger while the hex maps are the same. They're starting to look like one of those circus bears balancing on a ball.

Now, if you're willing to buy a bunch of the heroscape tiles, you get a lot more wiggle room. The other possibility is that you end up using miniatures rules and do away with hexes altogether. Not my tastes, but its your prerogative. Still, you're going to want to keep in mind that all parties need to be using the same scale minis, and most people aren't using N-scale clix / 3D printed stuff.

fuck dude thats awesome

>Where do you usually get your gashapons from? Any other battletech sized mechs you know of?
Ebay, Japanese import services, scouting tables at conventions, occasionally amazon (if you have an escrow shipper, the Japanese amazon site is excellent).

BT size:
CMS Dougram series 2 and 3. (Scorpion, Goliath, Shad, Stealth Griffin, Griffin S, Thunderbolt, a decent attack chopper, various small vees). Series 1 is N-scale, and the Wolverine in Series 3 is slightly bigger than an Assault (as you can see in) There was a short series of bottle-cap Macross gashapon in the right scale to get Stingers/Wasps/Phoenix Hawks, although the FA Valkyrie (AKA the Crusader) is a rare chase figure and runs ~$30-40. Also, no Destroids in that one. The rest of the figs run ~$5 but aren't the greatest quality. Still, cheap and good for covering the smaller Bugs.

There are a good dozen different series of Macross gashapon proper, so be really careful about your scaling when you buy. Most are ~1/200 (large but sorta usable), some are 1/144, and only a few are 1/285 (proper BT scale). Also, the Glaug is supposed to be much larger in Macross than the Marauder is in BT, so it's even harder to find figures; your best bet for that is to nut up and buy one of hte shitty boxed set plastics, then clean her up. Or try to find a vanishingly rare couple of non-scaled minis from the late 1980s, which are more expensive than just getting a pewter MAD.

For everything Destroid, the Robotech Tactics models really are your best bet -warts and all. The Valkyrie box gets you a couple Pixie LAMs or Pixies, the Destroid boxes net you either a pair each of Archers and Warhammers or of Riflemen and Longbows. It's like five bucks a mode lif you find them on sale online.

Marauders for comparison: Left is the MAD II from Clickytech, center is a cleaned-up plastic MAD, right is the RRPGT Glaug.

There is a lot of ugly in BT. I always hated the Striker for being one of them. I have never played that in combat. You sir, continually restore my faith in art work.
Class act, bro. Love it.

that's pretty damn good
At this rate the entirety of 3058 will be unfucked by the fall

Dropper user here.

I have run into an additonal problem.

I have managed to get my custom dropship fit to show in the refit options and purchase list for Megamek.

However, it does not have the transport bays listed.

Any ideas why this could be? I added 3 new types of bay to an existing dropship, and I'm wondering if that's it.

What are the best Kurita Mech designs in the 3050s and 3060s?

Any plans for a game tonight

This reminds me to a AU campaign I ran

>clan Jade Falcon pushes on and actually manages to reach Terra during the FedCom civil war beceause the wobbies and coms are having a scrap in Sol and they managed to clean up
>exuberantly march into Terra
>they expect a glorious new future, all the IS and the clans bowing to the ilClan
>no one actually gives a shit
>other clans refuse to accept it and just attack their IS holdings
>wobbies and coms manage a truce and evict them from terra righ away
>right after they got evicted from terra, clan wolf launches a trial of possession for the position of ilClan
>the falcons are assmad and take the bait
>get pummeled just as the Suns are winning the civil war and drip some intel to the Wolf Watch, they are more than happy to see clans beating eachother silly
>the clans are so divided about the while ilClan shit and ruleslawyering they all decide to take sides in it.
>Vlad accepts a Suns offer in return of ransoming off Katherine to him and goads the Falcons into a trap where the Suns and Wolves effectively destroy the clan together
>clans war eachother some more who was the biggest dezgra
>they finally decide the title of ilClan works like some WWE belt and goes to the one who defeated the last holder
>news coming in about the lyrans destroying the last vestiges of the falcons
>they of course dont give the slightest shit about it
>the entire thing was completely fucking pointless

I like merry clusterfucks..

I'm down, if we get more

Ones that are exported to the FedCom, like the Raptor, Firestarter Omni, Black Hawk-KU, Avatar, Gunslinger, and Sunder.

What about any of the ones with Japanese names?

As the user who requested it/put the ideas in your head, I give it a 9.5/10. Fucking. Boss. Sir. I want a Lance of them in mini form ASAP.