/btg/ BattleTech General

>Resilience

The Capellan Confederation is nothing if it isn't resilient. It survived despite being born in the middle of a Davion invasion, it survived the sacrifice of Capella Prime, it survived four (frankly disastrous) Succession Wars, it survived the St. Ive's secession and reabsorption, it survived the FedCom threat, and it continues to survive into the 32nd century. It has survived despite being the smallest successor state, and it has survived despite roughly half of its Chancellors being insane, incompetent, evil, or all of the above‡. Luck had a great role to play in the Confederation's ability to withstand so much consistent hardship and conflict, but even more than that, the strength of the Capellan people made it possible. From the very beginning, their culture has held the welfare of the nation above that of the individual. To them, sacrificing their wealth, their labor, their time, or even their lives is simply the fulfillment of a duty they accepted as children, and shirking that duty is as alien to them as surrender would be to a Kuritan or peace would be to a Davion. They have been taught, and truly believe, that placing the nation above oneself extends all the way to giving up their life. When common Capellan citizens are so committed that many would die to protect something as abstract as "nation," it should come as no surprise that they can withstand the Liao family, lack of luxuries, and constant threats from larger, richer neighbors. The Capellan military takes that dedication even further, and it has demonstrated over and over again that they are some of the most dependable soldiers in the Inner Sphere. If they weren't, the Confederation would have been extinguished a long time ago.

Don't you wish you lived in a Capellan-model state now?

>Don't you wish you lived in a Capellan-model state now

Well...

>Clans not human

I'm telling you, Focht, that yarn about aliens taking on the appearance of the SLDF is just plain nuts.

>Don't you wish you lived in a Capellan-model state now?

Since Xin-Sheng pretty much fucks all that, no.

I mean, it's not like it's an unknown scifi trope

And now I'm imagining Knights of Sidonia as the Fleet of Blake, fighting mimic aliens in the depths of the Deep
youtube.com/watch?v=sF4D-NLykFs

>the game's scope goes from "A singleplayer skirmish game." to "A full singleplayer campaign, skirmish mode, the inclusion of vehicles and multiplayer."

You know all those things you said where in the original Kickstarter as goalposts which they reached in the first month if I remember correctly. So they knew the scope they where getting into from the start. This was late 2015 and early 2017 was estimated as the release date, So I was wrong it's only late about year so far.

It's not an unknown scifi trope, but BT doesn't use it, and people seem to realize that they're not among others in-universe. Hence, Focht was having a Star Watchers moment when he suggested it to everyone.

Well, he was more making a Flying Spaghetti Monster statement to illustrate they didn't know anything about the invaders so they better get out there and actually find out something. Because when you can't even rule out mimic aliens, then you really don't know shit.

>Gauna could be indistinguishable from humans

Oh, Tsugumi, you're such a kidder!

Angela's theme songs get stuck in your head though, don't they?!?

Do any of the modern BT novels (like the stuff distributed alongside the HBS game) still create any famous mech squads or are did they drop that in favor of strict militarism (nameless soldiers in nameless squads taking orders from the high up to fight their fight and go home, instead of the more laid back Kelly's Heroes style groups) over the years?

The gundam discussion last thread reminded me that this was a thing.

Is there anything stopping the Ghost Bears from becoming ilClan?

>any famous mech squads

Not reallly. If they did that, they could get sued, since famous mech squads are a directly owned trademark jointly owned by HG and Playmantes, since Able Squad existed in the Exo-Squad cartoon and the Robotech Defenders toy line.

Plus that would be fun and exiciting storytelling. That is directly opposed to CGL's mission statement AND we'd just all call them Mary Sues anyway.

Yes. Ben Rome stepped down.

Mostly they just bring back the old boys like Rolling Thunder and Sorenson's Sabres. The other newer oddballs are all much larger units than a lance or a company.

>That is directly opposed to CGL's mission statement AND we'd just all call them Mary Sues anyway.

Are you paying attention /pol/fags? is how to troll. The first half is bullshit, and the second half is completely, objectively, true.

I looked up where that came from (Mecha Press, Issue 01), and I think I may actually have this magazine in a box around here somewhere.

About to start a jihad era RP campaign with some friends, but all of us are pretty new to the game. GM has set a limit of 1400 BV2 for starting mechs. Can you guys name some appropriate pre3060s mechs, please?

If you got it then scan/take pictures of all the material. We're missing a ton of the old magazines in the archive. Mecha Press, Future Wars, Mech Factory. Only thing we got in full is Battletechnology and that's because it was straight canon for the longest time so people who were completionists all had full sets.

Almost forgot, he recommended a minimum speed of 4/6 and suggested having hands wouldn't be a bad choice.

It is Mecha Press (I can't remember the issue number, but there's issue breakdowns out there so it wouldn't be hard to find). I used those shield rules for years before TacOps came out.

What are bugs good for starting in the 3050s? The Wasp and Stinger in particular seem like suicide boxes.

Bah, replied to the wrong guy. Anyways, I have the issue too, so if you can't find it I'll scan the article and put it up.

Any Inner Sphere Mech less than 35 tons which can't jump at least 7 hexes and carry max armor is a suicide box as soon as the Clans hit.

He's giving SW era Heavy values. Grab an old Thud or Mad or Archer and upgrade it as you go along. Armor will serve you better than fancy guns right now. Otherwise you're gonna be stuck with an advanced tech medium.

Bugs are always suicide boxes. Embrace it. Even 3rd War material said light pilots were a special brand of crazy.

>(like the stuff distributed alongside the HBS game)

The mercenary company in Apparent Heir is some smalltime merc unit, which gets wiped out halfway through the book, only survivor being the protagonist.

Personally I thought the two novellas are kinda...boring, You would expect book about Battletech have mech fights, but nope there is couple quick fights and none of them are even fought by the people we are following. 2nd book was especially bad as that spent way too long time in that god damn prison camp, where our heroes are pretty much doing the plot of Prison Break minus the tattooes.

I'd really suggest thud or Archer over a MAD unless they have pre-first mission access to a 225 engine and another PPC

He is talking Jihad Era, you know time when Marauders actually started getting armor in places where it mattered.

Yeah, but on his budget, 3025 is all he can afford

> Even 3rd War material said light pilots were a special brand of crazy
Any particular books go into more on that subject?

OK, so far, an issue of Newtype featuring Kia Asamiya's artwork from Silent Moebius on the cover, Richard Corben's graphic adaption of Harlan Ellison's Vic and Blood: a Boy and His Dog, and my old sketchbook from one of my college art classes.

No Mecha Press ... yet!

I was thinking a Grand Dragon or a nightsky 5t might be good choices

Almost every Locust pilot ever written comes to mind.

>Teddy's suicidal banzai buddy in the Legion of Vega, always first in the fight and even takes on a Lyran scout lance of an Atlas, a Griffin and two Zeuses with no fucks given
>The Caballeros scout covered in children's toys
>The Sorenson's Sabres manletmental

If I want to look over a bunch of scenarios for BT, what books should I look at? Preferably stuff with pre-generated forces and set-ups.

Thank you.

The old unit books are the best for that. I recommend McCarron's Armored Cavalry as one of my favorites. But they're all pretty great. The specific war scenario packs have that stuff too. And then later they're blended in with the main plot books like the Jihad but use a more abstract system instead of set force lists.

Cheers, I'll dive into the archives and see what I can find.

What is the best themesong for a random mercenary mechwarrior? My vote is for Get Paid, by Emphatic.

Anyone have Panther variants to share?

I want to build a Panther company but with some variance.

Well, I'm not a Feddie, but I used to be a decade or so ago. Since I missed the end of the last thread and that Crapellan shit burns my eyes, here's something to help.

Take 8.

CA, what's better to use, a HPPC or a Snub or regular PPC with a cappie?

...

>with a cappie

Capellans spoil everything, so probably the HPPC

...

Dunno, what are you trying to do with it? A line mech is better suited for the HPPC, a skirmisher or brawler will get more mileage from the Snubbie, and the 1337haxxor sniper kiddie might be useful with the Capacitor PPC.

HPPC is better if it's your primary weapon. Capped regulars are better of you are packing another high-heat weapon, or TSM
Capped snubbies are really only good for high mobility lighter designs IMO

In short, the best bang for the buck. I shouldn't have said Snubbie, because yeah, better at short range.

You see this is what I don't understand. Doesn't a regular PPC with a cap pretty much act like a HPPC all the time? Wouldn't the weight savings be worth it? I confus.

Capacitor is only used every other turn. That's the price you pay for the slight weight savings.

>Capacitor is only used every other turn.
Well hell. I guess you can't have two cappies and charge one and fire the other.

Nope, but you can do that with two separate peeps.

I unfortunately kind of figured it was that way. I kind of wanted like PPC rifle with two "magazines" which were the cappies attached to the side which the pilot would switch between the two, constantly giving punishing firepower.
Thx to all who answered though. This is why /btg/ is da best for BT.

TFW you get a BLK-7-KNT-L, take the large lasers off the torso and medium lasers off the arms, bolt on another large laser to the left arm to match the one on the right, bring the medium lasers on the torso up to six, swap the head small laser for a flamer to counter-gotcha infantry-gotcha, lose four heatsinks, add some armor and add some jump jets. Then realize you could have just slightly modified a Flashman.

>fuck you though this thing is awesome

I was making a custom Introtech machine earlier and it occurred to me that I could rip one of the LRM20s off the Archer, a ton of ammo, and the two rear-facing MLs, and replace them with two Large Lasers and some SHS and it'd actually make a pretty nasty Pirate command ride. Three tons of ammo is plenty for the remaining LRM20, and once that's gone, it can zombie brawl with fists and LLs. If it weren't such a pain in the ass, I'd have removed the arm MLs and turned the CT(r) ones forward for maximum punch.

Victor-9B is less than 1400 BV2 goes 4/6/4 and has a hand. You'll want to trade the 20 cannon for a gauss rifle at the first opportunity to give yourself a bit of range or go all out refit with an ERPPC + double freezers + LB-X/20.

>take highly mobile close assault mech with weapons that all work well together

>gimp it out into a turretfags wet dream

Why are you so terrible? Do you hate brawling that much?

GHR-5J would work as well. ER-Large, 2 ML, Streak 2 + AMS isn't great but could be improved by losing the streaks for SRM + infernos

>>gimp it out into a turretfags wet dream
C'mon user, a single GR on an assault isn't enough to get wallowsteeler excited.

Though I do like the VTR-9K/D more than many, I agree if you want range better to start with something that already has it instead of modding a brawler. Given the other criteria, for heavies I'd look at a Thud or Archer 2S.

To be fair, the Victor has somewhat anemic armor. Though that can be sort of mitigated by converting to FF at the first opportunity, so it's not so bad. Still, I've had an inordinate number of bad ends with Victors, so I tend to shy away from them. I think I have to second the Thud suggestion upthread. The Ost 'Mechs also aren't bad options; they aren't terribly common or uncommon, and are old as hell so parts aren't too hard to get. The Sol is a zombie but the Roc is a better overall machine, I think. I just like having SRMs for the utility they bring to the party. Of course, you could also tear a single ML out of the Sol and replace it with a Flamer to make it much more flexible. The only issue they have is their arms come off quite often because they load most of their armor in the torsos. Which makes sense since they have no arm-mounted weapons.

If I had a c-bill for every Davion dog I've sent to that glittering Arby's in the sky with a 16 point kick... I'd be able to pay the Kokuryu-kai to emigrate.
I love brawling, of a very Drac necessity, but the clan invasion is not a good time to have a max range of 9 hexes. Once you leave the comforts of introtech, the number of weapons with a short range of 6-7 hexes starts stacking up. The -9B has 4 jets but no supercharger, TSM, MASC, partial wing, improved JJ or anything else to help it catch/range on Clanners who are as fast or faster with more and longer ranged weapons. Would the game be better if technology advanced in a way that didn't make turret-tech the obvious solution? Yes. Do people play BT with the number of house rules necessary to do that? Not that I've heard of. Realpolitik is a gauss rifle is better on any mech than a AC/20 as soon as gauss is available and forever thereafter.

Some of the upgraded Osts fall in the BV limit too. 3050 Ostroc is good though low key upgrade, DHS lets it use all its guns more than the original even with ERLLs. No CASE though which would have been nice.

Unless the guy running the campaign is a jerk I doubt he's going to be throwing new players in IS stuff right up against the Clans. Depending on how nice he's starting them off there may be a lot more room for mediums than a lot of us are giving credit for really. A Wraith more falls in the BV limit for example.

or the Griff 1N

Then you use it as its supposed to. Ambush out of 'cover' (los) into the thick of things trying to close on your buddies. Jump behind enemies so you're never facing their full weapons.

Are tripods any good?

Please tell me what this is from

I'd still also suggest myself, the archer. Because its a SIMPLE AND CHEAP to maintain heavy. It doesn't have crap loads of fancy stuff. Which means logistically it'll work out better in the long run. Whilst everyone else is finally got enough cbills to do maybe one or two things to their mechs. The archer driver will be able to spring for 2 or 3 or even more. Heck or maybe something major like full ferro so his armours even better. I dunno. The point being higher tech stuff is gonna be harder to keep up, whereas 4 meds and two lurm lacks is old simple tech.

Which is why putting the goose on a victor instead of the ac20 is bad.

I'd say so. They move like a quad and get the effective same PSR bonus (-1 for being a tripod, -1 for a dedicated pilot), but lack the space restrictions and firing arc issues, and can change facing any number of hexsides for only 1 MP. They get 360 degree torso twist, and the dedicated gunner lets them engage up to three separate targets with no penalty, and superheavies get bonuses to heat related rolls and initiative with the technical officer.

Downsides are the bigger cockpit is 1 ton heavier, the structure is a bit heavier because of the 5th limb and you lose more weight by having to armor it, losing a single leg they suffer exactly like when a biped does, and hits to a destroyed center leg transfer to the CT.

So they've got they're ups and downs, but given how much the devs love to saddle new toys with disadvantages greater than their advantages and render them worthless, it's almost shocking how good tripods are.

Is Tikonov pretty much the only Slavic world? Are any of the other former Tikonov Grand Union worlds particularly Slavic?
Last, how badly damaged was Tikonov during the Jihad?

Sounds like they make surprisingly good infighters, with the 360 torso twist making them really hard to escape the firing arc.

How do they do on the physical attack front with trying to kick?

>Last, how badly damaged was Tikonov during the Jihad?

Bad enough they don't build shit in the DA but tractortech. It's only important as a Prefecture capital.

>How do they do on the physical attack front with trying to kick?
The -1 PSR bonus for the dedicated pilot applies to physical attacks too, and with the cumulative PSR bonus of -2 they're less likely to fall a tripod would have an edge in a kicking match.

Do you know dae way..of the clans
TRIAL OF EBOLLLLAAA

Sad!

come mah bruddahs, i shall show you dae way, to dae clan homewhurlds.

Those Stoner motherfuckers did the same to Achernar, Kalidassa and 3/4 of Irian. Then never rebuilt places like Dieron.

>Take the best of the surviving core world factories outside Hesperus
>Turn them into glorified forklift factories

And people dare ask why the RotS is the most hated faction of pretty much all time. I mean, hell, they're not even an actual Republic.

Jeesh, Wiseman was truly trying to burn down every development that the setting had done with Dark Ages. And it didn't even work as grogs still hated DA and stayed playing 3028.

It did work. DA was like Magic levels of popular among the random kids the first few years of its life. Still 10X as many DA minis made over its lifetime than Ironwind metal. Somewhere in the realm of 8 million.

It's the Battletech fans that got fucked. Ugly designs, incompatible different scale, different game, literal who factions, no ability to buy what you want and reliant on boosters. Faction locked army lists and pilot skills. Pretty much everything that regular Battletech folks hate about other mini and card games. Great entry point for random new kids. But then like all fads, eventually people move on and leave the other folks with the pieces. Wasn't until about the CGL era that they got off their asses and tried to gear things back for the regular fans.

>kalidasa and irian
Why do purple bird worlds get fucked over so much? Irian was cool.

I was talking in Battletech perspective. I am not sure why the rights holder mandated Dark Ages to be included in the Battletech lore, when it was in all intends and purposes a different game with it's own lore and factions.

Because unlike other states most of the good purple bird industry was old core worlds except like the Regulan worlds, Shiro III, Xanthe and Andurien. Kalidasa was like Luthien to the Dracs or Hesperus to the Lyrans.

And so when the RotS gets a perfect little 30LY circle, they take all the goodies.

Wizkids, founded by Wiesman kept the Battletech rights and all the DA stuff when it was coming out had a giant "Official Product of the Battletech Universe" seal stamped on it. It was basically like what Star Wars is doing now. "We're moving on to new things and if you don't like it then fuck you."

You wanna know the real fucking scary part though? You know who got IMR started and at least negotiated the Fanpro deal to keep stuff rolling in Forever 67 when Wiesman had intended to completely abandon the regular Battletech game? Fucking Loren Coleman. The man who saved Classic Battletech from the dumpster almost twenty years ago was Loren Pbux Coleman.

After Wizkids was bought out by Topps in around 2009 is when they made the decision to force DA to remain canon to CGL who I imagine wanted to change around some of the Early DA nonsense. And according to stuff published this last year, they actually got Topps to back off a little to fix stupid shit like the Proving Grounds trilogy now.

Keystone is their Hesperus or Luthien, but Irian is a close second and Kalidasa a third. Hurts to lose them.

>Fluff in Field Manual 3145 implies that all those worlds disliked the FWL and Republic equally and are happy to take Clanner cock
>But many of those worlds are from Stewart Commonality, literally "Loyalty Unbounded" or goddamn Marik aligned systems themselves

I mean, clanners are gonna clan. The Lyrans have no excuse.

So I'm pretty new and all this company swapping is a little confusing.

How does the fluff line up to the company swaps? When did FASA stop and what did Wizkids rule over - i.e. what parts of the Dark Age and Jihad were their ideas and what came later?

All you need to understand is that the leaders and writers haven't hardly changed dick no matter the company name. Jordan started FASA and Wizkids and was in control that entire time. Coleman was writing novels since Double Blind under FASA. So on. DA was a timejump and soft reboot that failed in the long term and then had to be reincorporated for continuity as the main game timeline caught up. DA also brought in a lot of non legacy people for the early novels which is why it feels so disjointed because those people didn't know dick about the atmosphere of the universe and had to crank out a full book on a short timetable.

Basically it went FASA 1984-2000 3025-3067 full continuity in realtime
Wizkids 2000-2008 Dark Age 3130-3143 timejump and full continuity in realtime
Fanpro 2000-2006 Forever 67, Early Jihad 3067-3068
CGL (made up of the US Fanpro crew after the branch closed, lot of old FASA and Wizkids guys as well) 2007-present Jihad continued directly from Fanpro until conclusion in 2012 where the two disjointed timelines were now completely connected contiguously. Jump to Late Dark Age afterward and continued the Wizkids DA material continuity. 2013-present.

Clans can't lose.

Forever 67 was pretty based.

Technically incorrect. Author fiat clans can't lose.

So was the stupidity of the Republic a Wizkids thing that had to be retconned in?