/btg/ BattleTech General

What do you look for in a mech? Aesthetics? A certain move profile? Weapons like gauss rifles?

>What do you look for in a mech

Not being Davion or Clanner. Everything else is fine.

>Aesthetics?
Bingo. I like mechs that look good. Battlefield performance is, outside of extreme cases like the Targe or something, not a real concern for me. Most mechs do just fine on the tabletop but some simply look better than others.

Armour, firepower, mobility, usually in that order. With light mechs, it becomes mobility, firepower, armour.

Aesthetic first. Then go for the rest through tinkering with the stats for fun.
>The Shad CAN be useful!

A decent movement profile and at least one good ranged weapon.

Maximal maneuverability is mandatory

Number of guass rifles or CERPPCs or CLPLs. Nothing else is important.

I want to be a Gunsmith pilot.

...

Does “Can it burn my enemies alive efficiently?” count as firepower or aesthetics?

Yes.

of course

You know, this made me wonder: why didn't some enterprising company try making treadhead stand-ins for the 55 ton trio to capitalize on the poor-ass Merc market and weapons/ammo logistics already in place for some of the most common 'Mechs around? Are they any good? Hell no, but for the same price as a stock Shad you can by two tonk versions.

I'm a huge fan of troopers, so anything in that vein already gets my loyalty. I like being able to handle any situation to some degree with effect. I also like Light 'Mechs, so... yeah not a lot for me till the Star League tech makes a comeback, assuming I want speed with my Light Trooper.

Trooper mechs are best mechs.

I just deployed this hurts my blood

>sucks for the same reason it's awesome.jpg

Next time, don't let the Maxim get close. Now this is a valuable learning experience

Do we have the Second Succession War PDF anywhere? I can't find it.

wouldnt have been so bad if i hadnt just finished fixing it up from a cache mission

>why didn't some enterprising company try making treadhead stand-ins for the 55 ton trio to capitalize on the poor-ass Merc marke

Fuel-Cell Engines are a recent retcon that they've ham-fistedly explained away as not being used because they were more complicated than ICE and therefore unpopular even though the performance they offer is excellent and they aren't *that* much more complex than ICE, along with having been used in civilian applications the whole damn time.

Plus, as you note, poor-ass mercs. They're not going to have much cash to throw around and if it really comes down to that you're competing with the Scopion and Vedette.

What, did the gauss rifle destroy the XL? I'm trying to figure out why the mech auto-ejected when the side torso still had 1 internal structure.

exactly what happen xl ate the explosion

Yes.

mediafire.com/folder/cj0tjpn9b3n1i/Battletech

Under Sourcebooks.

Auto-ejection goes off automatically in case of an ammo explosion. Guass Capacitor detonations "count as" ammo explosions.

Yeah I originally had them with ICEs but the Tonkfin was AWFUL. No armor at all. So I scootched them into the Clan Invasion era and went FCE with them. Damn lore. I just knew I had to avoid SFEs that early on since most of them were still going towards 'Mech production. If I had made them Jihad era, then SFE would have been the way I went with it I think.

Autoeject sends you flying at basically any internal explosion. Going by TacOps this includes even when having CASE, and you have to turn it off completely.

Those probably fall under the numerous undocumented Vedette variants, or at least the Shadowhawk and Wolverine. Also a Manticore is already basically a rolling combo of Griffin and Wolverine.

Oh of course; it's almost a purely marketing stunt.

My only suggestion on the 55 ton tanks is to make them 50 tonners instead, this way they fit into a light vehicle bay. Shouldn't be too hard to rejigger things around, otherwise looks good!

can anybody give me a quick rundown of the clans before tukayyid

And that basically brings us back to undocumented Vedette variants. And for what it's worth keeping the ICE you can drop Vedettes to 4/6 and copy the Shadow Hawk or Wolverine's weapons, in the Shad's case you can only stick one of the missile launchers in the turret though, personally I'd prefer the SRM as you can also stick the laser there, and fixed arcs hurt long range weapons less. The Wolverine's loadout can all fit in the turret and leave you with a half ton for more armor, or put the SRM on the hull and get a whole ton. Griffin can't be done, unless you think 3/5 is acceptable.

Go FCE and you can keep them 5/8 and add a couple of tons of armor for Shad and Wolvie, and copy the Griffin's guns at 4/6.

They held nose up and finally got BTFO.

Wolves: Clan Just As Planned
Jade Falcons: WE HATE THE WOLVES REEEE
Smoke Jaguars: All war crimes, all the time. Also assault 'Mechs.
Ghost Bears: Smoke Jaguars II: Ghost Bear Boogaloo.
Steel Vipers: WE HATE THE FALCONS REEEEEE
Diamond Sharks: Give me your shekels.
Nova Cats: Dude weed lmao.

How come /btg/ hates clan?

I imagine the reasons are varied per individual. Common themes:
1) They're space furries.
2) The honor duel system doesn't make sense.
3) Tend to be Davion levels of mary sue.
4) Poor implementation of nonsensical fluff.
5) The biggest shitters in the BT fandom tend to revolve around Clan shit.

In my ongoing AtB campaing, I have gone with effiency with the mechs weapons. Also if I get some mech or tank as salvage that I have not seen before I tend to take them in and see if they are worth the damn. That's how I got a Charger that was in my unit for better part 30 years until the guy piloting it retired. Some of the oddieties are hit or miss. Miss side I would say is the Jackal, that ERPPC it carries just runs way too hot and other armament is a Streak-2 so yeah not my favourite light. Then I ran into this light mech called Falcon Hawk and and now I have found a new light mech that I will equip my unit with the Firestarter.

I actually don't, but I was summing things up for speed and memes. 1/2 to expand.

Clan Wolf likes lighter, faster 'Mechs and is based around the Ice Ferret and Gargoyle. They are pragmatic and will honour the enemy only so long as the enemy proves themselves worthy of it. They made the best progress in the Invasion because they dealt fairly with their OZ and had planned their logistics.

The Falcons are political masters and hypocrites. They rarely if ever treat their opponents in accordance with Zellbrigen but whine to the high heavens if the enemy does anything they don't like, while also pretending to be above the political fray. They are still buttmad with the Wolves because Kerensky chose them over the Falcons. They like the Kit Fox, Summoner, and Hellbringer.

Clan Smoke Jaguar is all about excessive force. Whatever they do, they do 110% and full-on, with zero fucks given about the consequences. They are also extremely vindictive and will exterminate civilians at the drop of a hat. They favour warriors to the exclusion of all else, and it's crippled their Clan's infrastructure and logistical base so they are forced to prey on others, feeding back into the might makes right ideology they cling to. They also play politics but pretend to be above it, except they aren't as skilled as the Falcons. They like the Dire Wolf, Storm Crow, Mad Dog and Mist Lynx.

Clan Ghost Bear got very little characterisation in this era except for hating mercs and having an even bigger hair trigger and love of property damage and atrocities than the Jaguars, which mightily pissed their OZ off. This gets completely tossed out the window when they randomly turn into the Care Bears circa 3055. They prefer heavier machines and are fond of the Executioner, Mad Dog, Viper, and Fire Moth. They also love Elementals and physical strength.

2/2

The Nova Cats were all into vision quests and prophecies off the field but this rarely panned out in their favour since they would throw away advantages or do dumb shit. They have a love-hate relationship with the Jaguars and like ER Lasers. They don't get much development until 3058.

The Vipers have their own interpretation of what Kerensky really wanted, which was of course secretly revealed to them alone. They like combined-arms fighting with Elementals, hate the Jade Falcons since they want to be the political leaders of the Clans, and tend to use Omnis with SFEs like the Crossbow and Battle Cobra.

The Diamond Sharks are dominated by their merchant caste and were mostly interested in the Invasion as a way to access new markets and resources. They didn't fight much and had no real speciality.

As to why /btg/ hates the Clans, I don't think they really do. Most of the tension comes from the grog factor and constant irritation at how the IS tech base has never caught up with the Clans. I started playing in the mid-nineties so neither has bothered me that much though I agree that by the 3150s Clan tech should really be more wide-spread.

/btg/ in general doesn't really hate the Clans. There are some who are still buttdevasted that the Clan Invasion Era pretty much dragged their Mad Max grogtech Era behind the barn and gave it ER PPC (Clan) shot to the head. So Clans get hated due to that.

Then there is people that minmax their mechs and Clan mechs where easy way to do that before FedCom Civil War tech introduced some IS mechs that you could do the same. And generally being that competive in Battletech is looked down on.

I started my interest in Battletech with Clan Invasion Era, especially with Mechwarrior 2 so having Clans being part of Battletech has been the normal state to me. What I dislike is how some of the Clans, looking at you Ghost Bears,where used as this Deus Ex Machina to solve big plot developments like in Jihad.

Dumb question, but can I make multiple melee attacks in a turn with a single mech? Like if I make a hatchet attack, can I also kick?

You can punch twice, or once of anything else.

No. There is a special piloting ability that allows for it, but those are outside the realm of ordinary play.

Do we have stats for all the meximechs?

That would be the Melee Master trait for the pilot and then there is Melee Specialist which makes the melee attacks with -1 hit modifier and +1 damage. Both can be found in Campaign Operations book.

This was my take on the set

mediafire.com/file/i11bkac2lj9y5if/Meximech Manufactorium.rar

what is this "ilClan" thing?

Best clan.
One to rule them all.

Finishes the plotlines of the 3150 era and prepares for the next era and/or a timeskip.

Will be released some time before the heat death of the universe.

Probably.

ah. so probably 3150 ends with a clan grabbing earth because the republic fell apart and making another earth-based central power and the other clans having to toe the line?

though, i will laugh if it's some come from behind shit like the frateris getting earth or something

Thanks user that's actually really helpful and pretty much exactly what I was looking for. You wouldn't happen to have any artwork of a clan lineup would you? Or just any decent artwork of the average clan soldier

You mean the book or the concept? Conceptually it's some bullshit made up by some Crusaders that the Clan that takes Terra would be come the leader of all the Clans, hence ilClan ala ilKhan.

So the book that's been in limbo for years signifies that some serious shit is going to happen by the name alone. Personally I hope the ilCLan concept ultimately shown to be irrelevant because as said, it's just some bullshit some Clanners conjured up out of nowhere.

>All those versions of ther Taquito.

When I try to open the rar it pop ups an error tough, I have to install that somewhere?

There's a bunch in Field Manual: Crusader Clans and Field Manual: Warden Clans from the OP.

They're Megamek MTF's.
Open in Megamek, MegamekLab, or choose to open as a notepad file (though it'll be formatting text, MML is your best bet)

Unless you downloaded the wrong thing? xD

I'm pretty new with BT and Megamek specially, but I can't friggin open the rar and the meklab doesn't seem to find the rar anyway.

Might want to try re-downloading first.

You reek of both and use their memes. Begone back to your containment board.

Tried it, same error.

Would someone be so kind as to give me a rundown of Diamondshark/Seafox mechs?
What do they use specifically?

>Reading the Reunification Wars.
>See how the Taurians have fallen.
They were pretty badass, why does CGL hate them again?

They use a lot of everything, and jsut about everything they make can be easily used by others, they are merchants after all. The Tiburon from 3145 is about the only exclusive thing they run IIRC.

But aside from that, the Piranha, Solitaire, Thresher, Grendel, Ha-Otoko and Mad Cat Mk II are all designs they came up with off the top of my head.

why does CGL hate them again?

They don't.

CGL doesn't hate the Taurians per se, they hate Medron Pryde and a couple others on the OF and so hobble the Concordat to piss them off.

>implying

During the period the Taurians got rekt, Medron and company were flavour of the month and working with CGL.

It's nice to imagine and they would have deserved it, but no.

>implying

I work with CGL, and I know that working with them doesn't safeguard your favorite faction. It is what it is.

>Medron and company were flavour of the month and working with CGL.
Yeah and Medron and company complain constantly about what happened to the Taurians at that time. They didn't write it, and no one at CGL liked them. What are you on about?

Makes sense. I have seen how much Medron gets picked on there.

He basically spends all his time in denial about how logical CGL's writing was with regards to the TC.

Medron has been in more than a few arguments with writers and factcheckers over the years with it. Last time I was there he still stubbornly insisted that the Taurians built Hatchetman mechs and Rommel tanks in the 3030s and anything else was a retcon. Oh, and the TDF should have been able to nuke its way to victory over the AFFS easily in the Jihad. It's no wonder they shanked the Taurians so hard.

Well that seems petty, there are plenty of shit Claner players or from other factions and they aren't raped as hard.

CGL unfortunately has a reputation for pettiness. In terms of annoying players, however, I can't really think of one that ranks as high as Medron.

They're a third-tier power that was written as having a long-term beef with the top tier power of the game.

Nothing about what happened came out of nowhere or was the result of authors deciding to shit on Medron. He pisses me off in many, many ways but this just doesn't make sense. Conspiracy theories aren't needed to explain what happened.

As a new player (not gonna lie, I only play with megamek because I don't have a group) what the deal with all that. Seems like a shitstorm forming, happening or recently abating is the normal way of the game. Why is medron so hated? Looked at the HS stuff he putted and there are good parts and retarded parts, and apart of being a shitty and smug Sci fi writer I don't see what's the deal.

stormfury

Didn't he disappear from the OF? He was posting here for a while.

A part of why he annoys people is that he would pass off his AU as canon to new players, then argue with people over "retcons" when called on it. Shit like that.

Ah, I see then, that's a shitty and stupid move, I can see why people dislike him.

His setting is like 99% retardation because it's set up to explain why the Taurians are number one and as says he often spergs about it and other long-corrected stuff (eg, the old TR for 3025 or Objective Raids) being the One True Canon that was what FASA intended and how nothing that contradicts it or what CGL writes is actual canon.

banned, kek

I missed that. What was it for?

>In terms of annoying players, however, I can't really think of one that ranks as high as Medron.

Scott Malcomson, aka Roy Calbeck, is the clear winner in this position. There's nothing as annoying as a fan trying to sue for ownership of the property as a result of 3 paragraphs of fluff being mistakenly published online during a period of license transition between compnies, and having the gall to openly proclaim his intent to make the universe "more fursona-friendly" if he won the case.

Granted, if we're talking only about people who used to post on the OF, you have Stormfury (as mentioned) and HeroChip (ie, the Bop Drive guy, IIRC) as strong competitors to Medron.

I know there are anons than hate anything periphery, but I really like them, what would be a good way to make them interesting without end in Mary sues territories in an AU (thing change after the Keresnky exode)

he kept autistically starting shit with Alexander knight and medron pryde so they changed the rules and permabanned him with no appeal

best day of my life

I think to fix them you need to either de-protagonise the FS or make it so that they aren't as tard-ragey about the Suns.

Also need to do something about the Trinity Alliance.

Everyone gets kicked in the nuts during the Jihad, any way.

Just look inward, and focus more on the shit going on within the state instead of defining them purely by relations with their neighbors. BT as a whole has gotten pretty poor at that as time has gone on.

You could also make them focus their hatred on the Capellans rather than randomly transfer it to the Suns, but the success with that depends on how hard you want to Coleman up your AU.

Honestly they have more reasons to distrust or hate the Cappies. Plus their dislike of the Suns for the Reunification War stuff didn't prevent everyone except Thomas Calderon from getting over it and removing him from power while wanting to do business with the Davions.

The Taurian "hatred/paranoia" of the Suns got seriously flanderized.