fine, i will just dump mechs then. Lets do clan.

Steiner = Germany

I thought Kurita and Lao would be flipped, but what do I know.

and germany = central europe

but seriusly, where is russia represented?

The US isn't Davion. The US was the Terran Hegemony, which got torn to shreds.

And the Russians were Tikinov, which is part of Liao. Most of the time anyway.

>Periphery
>Africa
...Ha.

That makes the Taurian Concordat France/America (Deep South, basically, minus the religion and racism).

Rasalhague is Scandinavia, Marik is the Balkans, Draconis is Japan/Germany while Capellans are China/Russia, Steiner is American-ish (re: economy) while Davion is totes Western Europe (lol New Avalon).

>>14029099
>Rasalhague is Scandinavia
Isn't it Rasalhague WAS Scandinavia? Haven't the last bits of them been completely absorbed into Clan Ghost Bear or something?

am I doing it right

>>14029217
close enough

Jade Falcon is bp?
Also, I miss the Wizkids Mechwarrior. Does anyone still play?

>>14029265

I believe Steel Wolves were Russia. Then again, my sources were MechWarrior: Dark Age.

Okay, can someone explain to me what's up with Battletech and its history? I looked it up and there's a bajillion different eras and wars. Which are the main ones and what are their different appeals? Does technology change between them and are the models you buy era-specific?

>>14029517
models arnt completely era specific. certain models become available in certain eras, but older models are always updated with newer tech variants.

>>14029517
tech changes, but older mechs are still usable in later eras. For ex. an old Warhammer from 3025 will fight fine in 3060, It may not have advances like double heat sinks or extended range weaponry, but it can work.

3025 is the first major time point. Low tech Inner Sphere powers scrabbling for control. Mechs are pretty simple

3050 Clans invade. They have shiny toys like pulse lasers and double heat sinks. The Inner Sphere powers gain a little tech too

post 3050 it's a little all over the place

>>14029596
So the era you play depends on the rules and technology available. Interesting.

>>14029517
It was complicated for me at first too. And I'm still new to the game, so, let me try and break it down.

You've got Earth (Terra) and about 20,000 colonies spread throughout the stars. Not to get too deep into it but this becomes the Star League and the Great Houses after about 500 years. There's infighting, someone attempts a coup and the military force of the Star League leaves to prevent a massive civil war (the Exodus). The civil war happens anyway (the First Succession War) and a great deal of technology is lost in the interim. The Second, Third, and Fourth Succession Wars are multi-House conflicts that basically equate to World Wars on Earth in scale and effects on the galaxy. The level of technology is still in decline. By the end of the Fourth Succession War a Mary Sue in one of the Battletech books finds a Macguffin that contains technical details about stuff lost during the preceeding three hundred years of warfare, and things start to look up. But about 30 years after this, everything changes. In or around 3050 the military forces that fled the "Inner Sphere" colonies as part of the Exodus, return as the Clans, martial entities that are bound by honor. They possess superior technology unhindered by the 300 year decline experienced by the Inner Sphere, and war begins as they attempt to reclaim the lost days of the Star League. Long story short, they fail pretty hard at this, and instead settle in the Inner Sphere. This is about when Comstar, the interstellar communications provider, decides to wage a religious war as a faction called the Word of Blake to bring about the downfall of the Houses to accomplish exactly what the Clans wanted (a unified Inner Sphere under the principles of knowledge and enlightenment). Then they fail. And as far as I know that's about where the universe is at right now.

>>14029517
Ooooh boy, you kicked the hornet's nest there...
First: models are always forward-compatible, but few are "backwards" compatible.


1) Star League. The bright, shiny past. Facitons:
The modern ones, minus ComStar, Plus the forces of Amaris the Usurper and the Star League army.
The Star League Army defects at the end, and flees the Sphere, vowing to return...
Not played a lot, heavily restricted in the mechs.
TROs: 2750, Operation Klondike (traces the creation of the Clans)


2) Succession Wars. Lasts from the death of the Star League unbroken for almost 300 years of tearing shit up. Mad Max tech, few advanced weapons. The people who run the FTL communications system stockpile advanced tech, murder anyone who's about to make a scientific breakthrough, and cultivate an unceasing war for their own benefit.
Meanwhile, the Ex-Star League Army is rapidly advancing their tech and preparing to rape everything
A lot of people like the era, and it's where the game started.

TROs: 3025, 3026, 3039 (Clans: Golden Century book)

3) Clan Invasion. The remains of the Star League military, who buggered off rather than escalate the Succession Wars, come back to try to conquer shit. They have amazing tech, elite pilots, and an honor-bound ritualized form of combat that does them no favors.
TROs: 3050, 3055

4) The Truce. The clans are beaten back through a combination of clever maneuvering, treachery, and luck; they are forced into a 15-year truce. Certain factions violate this, but it remains largely intact. The main factions proceed to develop tech at a breakneck pace and try to kill each other with it. The Clans almost dissolve into civil war, and several are either destroyed or join the Inner Sphere.
TRO's: 3058, 3060, 3065


5) The Jihad. Current era, just wrapping up. The phone company's crazy god-is-the-machine cultists go apeshit on everyone with nukes. Something bad happens in the Clan homeworlds, and the FTL comms go out. Mary Sue vonSueinstein leads the inner sphere to heroic... yadda, yadda. Earth gets invaded, evil phone company is defeated and scuttles off twirling its moustaches.
TROs: 3075, 3085, Project Phoenix

6) The Dark Age - where the WizKids game was set. Evil phone company breaks an enforced peace, sets off the war again. Mechs are rarer, vehicles are more common, and people go back to calling a machine gun on a forklift a tank.
Wiz Kids really fucked the pooch on the story here. Supposedly Catalyst are going to fix it up.. soon. Ish.
TROs: None as yet (there was a record sheet book, and some supplemental stuff).

>>14029265

I do, I have a fucking crate of spirit cats

Now.. The Clans are heavily influenced by Russia - even though they're technically the Mongols. They speak English with a lot of Russian-influenced terminology.

America is sort of the Republic of the Sphere, sort of the Terran Hegemony (the first Star League), but in the novels they kind of treat the Davions as Americans too.
Also, each major faction has several minor factions. For instance, the Kuritans had the Scandies in their territory, until right before the Clans hit (they seceded, then Ghost Bear absorbed them), and still have the Arabs, even though the ruling culture is Japanese.

America was stated as never really surviving. I forget why but it was a logical reason.

Steiner and Davion are both Germany, though Davion could be considered a different time period Germany than Steiner, sort of. Marik is closest to the remnant of America but it still is more along the lines of some kind of shitty middle east type thing. It's filled with lots of infighting and is full of zealots(Word of Blake).
The Clans have been cleansed of any nationality other than petty rivalries, their only heritage is battle.

>>14029517
Eras are mainly defined as pre-Star League, Star League, Succession Wars, Clan Invasion, Jihad, and(ugh) Dark Age.

The pre-Star League era covers everything between the launch of Sputnik until 2570. Almost nothing happened here that has any real reflection on BattleTech. In 2020, General Motors is stated to have built the first sustainable fusion reactor along with MIT. In 2026, the first spacecraft using a workable fusion drive is made. in 2108 the first JumpShip is made and makes a round trip from the Sol system to Tau Ceti and back. A whole fucking lot of nothing happens, other than colonization, until 2439 when the first BattleMech is created. It inexplicably dominates warfare forever thereafter. The Star League is founded in 2570 and ushers in an era of relative peace until 2780 when it is torn apart by war. At this time Aleksandr Kerensky takes most of the Star League military personnel and equipment and disappears into the uncharted space beyond the Periphery, eventually leading to his son Nicholas founding the Clans.
[cont'd]

>>14029699
Honestly TRO 3075 and 3085 were pretty much the Dark Age TROs, despite being made after the fact. Lots of Dark Age designs are in there, made proper for BattleTech as much as possible. There's also a segment in 3085 that is basically going 'OH GOD WOULD YOU JUST FUCKING SHUT UP ABOUT LAMS CHRIST GODDAMN HERE'S SOME UPDATED ART AND SPECS FOR THEM BUT IT'S NOT TECHNICALLY CANON UGH'

3085 as a whole seems to be a book of Catalyst going "yeah sorry we fucked up and had to sell to Wizkids, here's the best we can do as a consolation"

Here's part two of my fucklong thing that I'm writing up for you guys.

[cont]
In the mean time, the Inner Sphere dissolves into a zillion nation-states that tussle for control of the Inner Sphere for hundreds of years, eventually consolidating into the Successor States, which are ruled by the Houses Davion, Steiner, Liao, Kurita, and to a much lesser extent, Marik. These guys are constantly deadlocked in endless war and almost every facility able to create 'Mechs, tanks, AeroSpace fighters, hovercraft, and JumpShips are wiped out. 'Mechs are important, valuable family heirlooms passed down for generations and jury-rigged constantly to keep working. Think a giant walking equivalent of a knight's set of armor and sword during the times of feudal Europe. You get called to battle and you pack up your 'Mech and go to where you're told, and hope that neither you or your 'Mech are blown to bits. 'Mechs are often used on sustenance farms as farm equipment, and sometimes their weapons are just kept in storage for the most part in favor of putting combine harvester bits on them or whatever. They're also very valuable to have around because of the rampaging bandits that plagued just about every planet. By the last century or so, a single lance(4 mechs) could take an entire planet on their own. No new 'Mech designs are made for hundreds of years.

In 3039, a Star League memory core containing an absolutely enormous amount of data is unearthed, and technology ceases to be magic for most people in the Inner Sphere as just about every forgotten thing is remembered. A slew of new war machine designs come in, though at this point they're still inferior to the patched-together Star League mechs, and for the first time JumpShips can be manufactured again. Medicine, transportation, etc are all given a massive boost. Life is pretty good.
[cont'd]

3050. The Clans are coming back as they always intended, in a mad drive to gobble up as many planets as they can as they plow their way through the Inner Sphere. Their destination is Terra, where they intend to reform the Star League. They are only stopped after getting half-way there because of some shitty deus ex machina that caused a huge shitstorm amongst the fans back in the mid-90s when it happened. Some hardcore neckbeards still refuse to speak of it. Basically, ComStar(AT&T in SPACE) pulls literally hundreds of 'Mechs out of their asses and stop the Clans for a 15-year truce on the planet Tukayyid.
The Inner Sphere rallies and eventually goes to Clan space and completely wipes out the Smoke Jaguar clan, then goes to the Clan home planet of Strana Mechty and fights a battle to stop the Clans from ever trying to take Terra again. They win, because this is bullshit.

[cont'd]

Around the time that the Clans were stopped for good, Victor "Mary Sue" Steiner-Davion was usurped in his lands by his bitch sister while he was off leading the group stopping the Clans. Somewhere around this time, as well, both Victor and Katherine(his sister) stopped being written as competent but flawed people and instead as a shining white knight who could do no wrong and an angry, treacherous harpy with a tenuous grasp on sanity at best, respectively. A civil war erupts in the Steiner/Davion realms, which were previously united by Victor and Katherine's mom and dad getting married. Long story short, Victor wins and Katherine is thrown in jail or whateverthefuck. Not much else exciting happens during this time and it's a pretty weak era. Its only saving grace is that a lot of people know the shit from the era because it is where Mechwarrior 4 took place in and a whole shitload of iconic designs came out around then, like the Uziel and the Cougar. Though it's weak it's honestly the last one that's even slightly palatable.

[cont]

>>14029993
You should read Randall Bills' post "To LAM or not to LAM" on the official site...
http://www.classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=blog&blog=BattleBlog&start=26&count=1
There's a long, passive-aggressive rant about how he hates weeaboo robot designs, and how no-one should want them but I suppose you can sort of have them but we'll put them in the vaporware book..

Incidentally, Interstellar Operations? That book was supposed to be done in March. Of 2008. "The Rules are in IntOps" are a common joke among the playerbase.for shit that's never going to happen. Basically, it's him condemning them to a death sentence. Only fan uproar - and quite a lot of it - got them in the 3085 book at all.

I could go on about this and several other situations, but I'll simply say that I think Bills is as toxic to the game as that shitbag thief Coleman is. On a side note, he joined the company right around the middle of the Clan Invasion era, and has been largely responsible for steering it ever since.

JIHAD: During the late bits of the FedCom civil war until right after it, there was a whole lot of shit building up. The Word of Blake, which splintered off from ComStar after ComStar stopped the Clans on Tukayyid, declares a jihad on the Inner Sphere and pulls out all this shit that they had been hiding since the Star League era. They do crazy shit like make cyborg zealots who integrate directly to their power armor or 'Mechs and they sling nuclear weaponry every which way(which was previously outlawed during the succession wars because people realized "HOLY SHIT WE'RE GONNA BOMB OURSELVES INTO THE STONE AGE"). I really, actually, honestly don't know how he Jihad ended. It's that confusing and disappointing. The black sheep of the video games, MechAssault 1 and 2, take place during this shit. They're fun but they're also absolute fucking heresy, which is ironically amusing in a dark way because they're all about killing crazy people who shout "heresy" at everything. The death throes of BattleTech as owned by FASA are here, and the escalation of 'Mechs and weaponry are fairly ridiculous, and the rules for the tabletop at this level are hopelessly convoluted.

Then, FASA goes belly-up and sells the license to WizKids. The fans wait anxiously for what's next, then weep when they see what comes.

>>14030143
I've seen it. I hate Bills. I really do.

Talking to some connected people, like Alex Iglesias(et Flyingdebris), they seem convinced that Coleman just made a shitty mistake because he's bad at bookkeeping. I'm mad at Coleman but I'm not punching-holes-in-walls pissed like I was when I first found out.

Incidentally, Iglesias did a picture request for me that eventually got retooled slightly and became official art. If you look at his devArt gallery at the Uller Variant A picture, I requested that :3c

WizKids proudly announces MECHWARRIOR: DARK AGE, a shitty dumbed-down tabletop system using their HeroClix architecture. Its only benefit is that some of the models that are true to older BT designs are kind of nice to have around, and they're pre-painted. I have a Zeus on my desk right now that's painted in Steiner livery and it is p cash. It cost $2.

In MWDA, all mechs were regulated or some shit by some asshole named Devlin Stone, so most people have absolutely no access to proper BattleMechs. They resort to strapping pellet guns to farm 'Mechs. The books are okay sometimes, but mostly they prattle on for literally paragraphs about OH MY GOD TIHS MECH IS SO SHITTY COMPARED TO A REAL BATTLEMECH. The plot is that some impossible galaxy-wide plan has been enacted, taking down the Hyperpulse Generator network almost entirely, disabling FTL communication in between planets. Mail and data are delivered pony express style by couriers on JumpShips or whatever. It's fucking bullshit and I don't think the story was actually concluded by the time WizKids bit the big one too. Everything about that series is a fucking mess and most fans including me have washed their hands of it and collectively pretend it never existed in the first place(much like Bills has with LAMs).

And that is my history of BattleTech. I am sad to say that I know way more than what I've posted here but come on, how many people actually wanted to know what fucking year the fusion engine was invented?

>>14030149
>>The end of the Jihad

So, group of mercs rescue a Word prison camp, liberating a whole bunch of captured pilots and civvies. Among them is Marty Stu MkII, Devlan Stone (tm). He forms an elite mercenary and House military alliance, plows through all who oppose him, lands on Earth, and proceeds to fuck his way through every obstacle before him.

Did I mention his paint scheme was clearly designed by a 3rd-grader?

He founds a new super-special-awesome club by demanding most of the territory of the old Terran Hegemony and goes Relena Peacecraft on the Inner sphere (demanding that armies scrap their mechs, etc.) to prevent more war. He founds a group of fellow militant pacifists, names himself Protector Wind - oh, shit, wrong movie. Sorry. No, now he's the president-for-life and head of the Awesome Club.

Meanwhile, the Free Worlds League collapses into a massive civil war, the Wolves join the Lyrans.

>>14030286
dude. why so bitter?

Unless someone has a question or something, I'll be dropping my trip after this post as it has served its purpose. I'd also like to ask that everyone request archiving over at suptg and the other place as well. I think saying its name is an autoban?

I regret my computer being dead or I'd provide lots of interesting BT pictures, some of which are very fucking hard to find anymore.

>>14030357
Oh, I'm bitter mostly because I was only old enough to get into BT around the time it was spasming like an old, blind animal in its death throes. Age 14, 2005, too late.

But come on, if you've got the paintings from all the trading cards and you're dedicated enough to dump them you probably have a good idea of why I'm pissed at MWDA, don't you?

>>14030392

Thank you, Bt-Historian. Your work is appreciated.

>>14030143
Never seen this before and all I can say is thank fucking god. LAMs are fucking stupid and deserve to stay dead.

>>14030357
So, there's this thing where the fiction suddenly becomes incredibly shallow and a massive "codex creep" sets in. Everyone draws a line somewhere. For a lot of people, it's the Dark Ages and Jihad; most of the designs abruptly get very ugly, the fiction is reduced to, as he pointed out, a lot of whining and cookie-cutter plots, and most of the defining elements (and people - no, not Victor Davion, Mike Stackpole and the original artists) of the original universe and game are violently removed.
It also invalidates a large number of earlier designs though massive power creep.

Tack that on to the company going under, then getting bought up by a pointy-haired boss from hell who used to be middle management and part of the art department, who declare the universe to be their own personal fanfiction emporiium.. yeah.

Clans come next, because, again, power creep and a sudden change in tone in the game. Also, a large number of designs got abruptly yanked from circulation, and it pissed people off.

It's worth noting that in both places, the storyline was violently advanced and compressed form the original plans.

>>14030351
Isn't there some evidence that Devlin Stone may actually be some guy from earlier in the canon who disappeared and then got a name change?

Either way I hate him and I wish he'd die.
Also, it's funny how in the first DA book, geriatric Victor Davion sounds like early BT Victor again finally instead of Victor Doesnowrong.

>>14030446
dark age, yes. But I thought clan invasion and fedcom civil war was alright. Civil war was a little cleche, but it was still interesting. And the clans were beat more due to manipulation by ComStar than by volume of force. That and that pilot crashed her fighter into the bridge of that ship, i think

>>14030462
Oh god, BARF
Every time I see that poor Armorcast Vulture underneath that disgusting 40k kitbash I want to cry a little. Those Armorcast BT statues are rarer than a modest Clanner and I want one so bad, but this fucker had to waste it on such a shitty thing.

>>14030462

Well a lot of us like LAMs. So I respect your opinion, but fuck you.

>>14030464
One of the things that bothers me abut BT is that some of the codex creep is hard to identify because BT has always been run on a tight budget, so official art has always varied from great to absolute horseshit.

These days though they seem to have found a competent art base though, because I rarely see bad art from the latest products.

Bills is a petty, stupid old man who has no place running a franchise, because he puts what he wants in the canon instead of what the fans will want/buy.

Oh. I read about an interesting thing the other day. One of the MekTek mechs has become canon and is in the Virtual World pods(the twenty that remain or whatever). The Deimos, created by some guy at MekTek who has been MIA in Iraq(or Afghanistan, can't remember) since 2005. I hope he is alive and manages to make it back someday and see the miniatures and the TRO art and shit.

It's always depressing when a BT fan dies, because they often leave an indelible mark on the fandom going all the way back to stuff like Multiplayer Battletech: Solaris or whatever. :c

OH THATS ANOTHER THING I'M BITTER ABOUT: EA pulling the plug on Multiplayer Battletech 3025 unexpectedly with no explanation just weeks before its release. That game looked better than MW4, had solid gameplay, and hell, maybe it would've rocked the MMO world the way WoW did a couple years after its release was scheduled. Maybe today instead of every MMO trying to kill or be WoW, we'd have MPBT-killers or copiers.

Damn it.

Just report him and move on.

Also, I'm recasting my plastic Wasps and Stinger's legs to make LAMs. Because why not?.

>>14030530

Oh, I see. That bloody image too, the tool of thousands of strawmen. Truly, I am wounded by your originality.

That said, fuck your shit. I'm having fun.

>>14030464
Most of Stackpole's stuff was mediocre and he had a nasty habit of making fusion reactors mushroom cloud all over the battlefield(hell, if i remember right, in mechwarrior living legends the particle effect's development name was "stackpole"). He left the franchise because he's whiny and demanded more pay than any other contributor.

>>14030597
>casting
OH SHIT SON
you better be really fucking careful and don't go showing those neckbeards over at Lords of the Battlefield
they will go Word of Blake on your ass if they find out you're casting shit.

Seriously, they go fucking insane even if someone is just casting unseens for themselves and not selling them or anything. ORIGINAL OR NOTHING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>14030597

Awesome. I'm planning to get some plasticard to build the new stealth-fighter-esque Stinger LAMS from TRO:3085. They look bloody nice.

Also: Wasp LAM w/Bomb Bay. Can technically (With some Tac/Stratops modification) carry a 4-man BA team. Ha.

>>14030620
Isn't a chain-overload on the tabletop also called a Stackpole?

>>14030694
>>14030694

Indeed. Only happens with optional engine explosion rules, too, which are occasionally referred to as 'Stackpole Rules'.

>>14030650
>Lords of the Battlefield

Who are they?

>>14030694

Basically, because Stackpole liked making dead 'Mechs go BOOOOOOOOM. Engine explosions, ammo chain-gangs, fuck he even buried an army of Jade Falcons by having the main character rig his 'Mech to self-destruct in order to set off a bunch of explosives, thereby collapsing a valley's worth of rocks on said army.

>>14030664
You know what else weighs 4 tonnes?

An Alamo tactical nuke.

>>14030650
You want to know the best part? I resculpted my box set Catapult into an Unseen Marauder and I'm using gashapon for some of the other Unseen. The LotB guys can get fucked.

>>14030650
>>14030815

A haven of Battletech grognards. Who are pretty OK most of the time, but certain things make them piss their britches.

Personally, I'm all for recasting some stuff, like the Unseen. Especially the Macross-era ones. Not like you're getting them otherwise, and some of them were damn good- for parts to kitbash or by themselves.

>>14030832

Yeah, the Alamo's a classic. Coolest nuke delivery device ever.

A 4-ton FAE bomb does nice things, too.

>>14030860

Ayup, the Bugs were always superb. Better than the current "Let's spam rocket launchers" sculpts.

>>14030860

Amen. I've made a point out of using old Wasp recasts to make myself a star of Classic Vixen/Incubus 'mechs. Can't stand the new sculpt, frankly.

>>14030830

They lampshaded that Jade Falcon burial in the TechManual, and said very obtusely that the whole thing was very, very stupid.

Kai's Twycross craziness was one of the few Stackpolings I approve of, mainly because he purposely did it in a very precise manner that technically should have been the ONLY way he could make his reactor go supercritical.

Plus the fact that the Jade Falcons shat themselves when they encountered him forever after was pretty funny.

Really, the Blood of Kerensky trilogy is probably the best BT fluff there is.

>>14031124

It's pretty much SOP for anyone who encounters Kai in a 'mech to shit themselves violently.

In the Classic Battletech game, how deadly are missiles? I see plenty of old 3025 'mechs armed with only or mostly missiles. I know the Catapult is a later IS favorite, and I know of the earlier Trebuchet and Archer 'mechs. The Vulture is, of course, great, but it's Clan tech.

In the opening movie for Mechwarrior 4, the Shadow Cat is knocked out by one volley of LRMs.

So, just how deadly are the missiles in the miniature game?

>>14031285
>>14031285

Missiles (Hereafter referring to LRMs, MRMs, SRMs, Rocket Launchers and ATMs; Thunderbolts/Arrow IVs area whole different breed) are critseekers. Since they strike on the cluster hits table instead of pumping all the damage in one spot, they have a higher likelihood of doing more critical damage; at least once the armour has been stripped off of the 'mech by other, heavy-damage-in-one-spot weapons like lasers.

So ideally, you hold the missiles until you've punched some holes in an enemy. In this regard, they're superb, as they have a high chance of inflicting multiple crits, destroying guns, ammo or engines. When used to sandblast the armour off an enemy, they tend to do less well, especailly agaisnt assaults and heavies.

Thundebolts are massive "fuck-you and the hex you're standing in" single location massive-damage things; Arrow IVs are much the same, except they're artillery missiles and have an even bigger fuck quotient. Also with spotters, can be fired from several mapsheets away. Yeah.

Also Missiles are wonderful for their special utility ammo types; like FASCAM and such. The notorious inferno SRMs, too.

tl;dr, missiles are good.

shit son i missed out on an awesome thread

>>14031484

Yes, yes you did.

>>14031285
Long-range Missiles, PPCs, and Gauss rifles are the only reliable ranged support the IS really gets. LRMs can also fire indirectly - either with laser-guided mssiles, or a random dude calling in the fire - which helps a lot.

SRMs hit harder (2 points per missile that hits, instead of 1), but come in smaller racks and spray all over the target instead of hitting in clusters (like the LRMs do).

As far as effectiveness? One of the deadlier tactics in the game is deploying a conga line of heavy missile mechs behind a cliff, and sending out a fast light and some infantry in APC's to spot for indirect fire. It only lasts for a few turns, but 2-3 (sometimes 4 or more) turns of fire completely unmolested is a hell of a thing.

Likewise, a lot of Light mechs use SRMs as a cheap, massive damage hose. The Commando is the most famous, but there are several others.

>>14031500
>>14031403
I see, thank you both. Next question: can you hit the cockpit directly?

>>14031403

Missiles and PPCs are unironically the coolest weapons in the whole game.

>>14031554

Yes. In a couple of ways:
First, is to strip all the armour off the head section, and then either inflict a critical on the cockpit slot, or destroy all it's internal structure. Usually it takes a couple of hits, but some guns, like the Gauss rifle, do enough single-shot dmage that one head hit destroys the entire head, armour and all. This is known as "Headcapping", and is a source of great rage sometimes.

The second way is when a weaker hit, while not destroying all the armour, gets luck and rolls a through-armour critical, and hitting the cockpit critical slot. This si incredibly jammy and is always the result of unreasonable luck.

tl;dr, yes.

>>14031285

For reference; the LRMs one-shotting the Shadow Cat in the MW4 movie is most likely the result of the volley getting retardedly lucky and rolling at least
Two TACs, and either inflicting 3 engine hits via this way or setting off enough ammo explosions to waste the 'mech. So by all rights, that pilot in the Shadow Cat is the single most unlucky person on the goddamn planet.

>>14031606
Heh.
>>14031652
Haha, AMS didn't work and she didn't eject.

>>14031652
id say the vulture pilot from the intro is pretty unlucky, 1 vs 4 where a uziel and novacat fuck his day up

>>14031652
The pilot in the Shadow Cat was unlucky by sheer merit of being in a cutscene, where sometimes the "freem!" of a small laser spells the end of an Atlas.

Because dramatic.

>>14031790

His own bloody fault for swapping out his Pulse lasers for what look like an array of MGs and low-caliber autocannons. Seriously, WTF.

>>14031795
I remember reading an excerpt from a Battletech book that was wanking to the Atlas, where some clanner was blowing up a light 'mech, and between his bouts of "you can't defeat me Yugi" he expresses concern about a few small weapon hits capping the back of his 'mech's leg.
>>14031790
That Vulture would've nearly died, too, if they were playing with the game's rules. I first learned my Battletech stuff from MW3 and then 4, followed by Mechassault, and standing next to a dying 'mech is what you never ever want to do.
Which is why the Hatchetman seemed like the stupidest idea to me.

>>14031841
>>14031795
>>14031790
>>14031652
>>14031606


The ridiculousness of all that Clan equipment being concentrated on one planet, where none of the belligerents are Clanners notwithstanding, of course...

>>14031863

Reactors don't really go critical often and the only other way to be damaged is if the radius exploding ammunition rules extra rules are on.

>>14031907

Reactors only go critical that badly if there's optional rules on anyway.

>>14031795
> where sometimes the "freem!" of a small laser spells the end of an Atlas.

I can do better than that.

>>14032229
You know that Jump Platoon was neck-deep in the strange for the next 20 years. Hell, that BattleROM would be the kind of propaganda tool that any general would do.

Don't care if it >was< stripped already, that's fucking awesome.

>>14032229

Fuck yeah MEGAMEK!

>>14031907
Yeah you have to take more than 6 engine hits and make a modified roll of 10 I think.

>>14032229
Beats my friend's lucky shot, where she merely cored out the engine of a Marauder with a teeny vehicle autocannon.

BUMP FOR BTECH

I thought America was evenly spread around the whole IS and it's factions. FWL has a "frontier US" feel to some parts, while Lyrans and Feds both have a significant anglo-saxon cultural slant. And it should be noted that English is a primary or shared primary language for Lyrans and Feds, and "secondary primary" for every other main faction. Even Dracs and Caps, which is saying a lot. I would read into this as anglo-saxon descendants being a significant minority in all parts of the IS.

One question though - how do you use aerospace and conventional fighters in MegaMek? I figured movement out tentatively, but dropping bombs is still way beyond me.

>>14031500
Light, cheap SRM boats are excellent. I remember killing a Marauder, a Warhammer and two Jenners in one equal-score battle with a COM-3A. Shit was quite cash, although I admit that it racked all of it's kills after a prolonged long-range combat with my heavier lance members had stripped at least two thirds of every enemy's torso of armor.

bump

Curita means band aid in Spanish.

>>14037683
I would asworn it was Yenda

>>14035655

While all of Earth's cultures have spread out all over the IS, most of America's colonies were close to Terra because the Americans were the first to get into the colonization game. The Terran Hegemony's been explicitly described as being the closest to America IN SPACE, and taken out in the writing so that no present-day faction could make that claim.

Periphery = Africa
Not really, no.

Outworlds Alliance are Amish with Fighter Jets
Taurian Concordat are schizophrenics with the largest army.
Magestry of Canopus are a Matriarch Orgyland.
Marian Hegemony are ANCIENT ROME IN SPACE
Circinus Federation are ultraviolent conglomeration of criminals and pirates
Rim Worlds Republic.... I know nothing about, but it's likely not space-africa.
Astrokazy is Ancient Arabia.

Russia is mainly found in the Tikonov region, between Fedsuns and Capellan turf.

Clans are everyone, as they were whoever joined the star-league in an exodus. However, I tend to liken them to Mongol Hordes. Totemic, Fast moving, Either taking "slaves" or killing resistance...

As for the USA... I was reading something about that in JHS Terra, which has a section on how terra progressed from the world wars, onwards. It seems something like the US's economy shifted or something, or they didn't invest in space colonization. Either way, it states that the US isn't really represented as a faction in Battletech. If you want the same kind of military mentality as AMERICA FUCK YEAH, then you want to look at Davion, but if you've especially got a taste for Tex-Mex cowboys shit, you want to look at Marik space, where they have what are coined the "Southwestern" worlds, which are primarily agricultural, and are heavily wild-west influenced.

Camacho's Caballeros are an example of a merc unit from the southwestern worlds. If you don't have one of their books handy, there's a short story about them in the 25th anniversary art book.

>>14038082
I wish I could grab the Sombrero Atlas images and other fun stuff from the SA forum campaign, but unfortunately the forums are trying to browbeat me into paying 10 bucks for a subscription to do that.

As much as I enjoyed the Let's Plays, fuck that noise. Too much of an effort.

rolled 8 = 8

Rolling for BV suggestion. Also, 5.152.158.73 is looking for one more player for a 4 player match, if anyone's interested.

>>14038313
good to see the 10bux is keeping riff raff like you out.

>>14040155
SA sucks now anyway so its 10bux well saved.

rolled 16 = 16

>>14038396
what version and network?

>>14030620
>Most of Stackpole's stuff was mediocre

The problem being that the rest are shit.

>>14030462
>>14030462
Is that a Tau Titan?

>>14043680
should be

>>14031841
No kidding.

If he'd equipped his mech as the B variant, he'd at least have taken one or two of the others with him. Especially since he got the opening shot.

3MPL's, 2 Streak 6's, 1 LRM20, and still heat stable [barely]. Easily 50 damage in the first salvo, enough to outright kill almost any light mech.

Mad Dog B is up there with "mechs you never want to be ambushed by, especially from behind."

>>14043885
Forget the B, the D with those sweet sweet ATM 12's...

Oh man. 3 damage per HE missile, 4 racks of ATM12 launchers... 144 damage.

>>14043885

I've always had a soft spot for the Nova. In particular for the Prime Config. Something about being able to spam twelve ERML at once just resonates with me.

anyone up for a MegaMek game?

bamp, im lookin for some play on the hamachi server

>>14028916
It used to be incorrect to categorize any of the Successor States as being "X nation in SPAAAAAACE," but the writers have flanderized it some.

Steiner is Germany, Davion is America/Britain.

Liao used to be "Soviet Union-like," but back then, none of the states were so cardboard in their characterization. Poor Kurita has it the worst.

Steiner is Germany, Davion is England/America. As For Russia, they're scattered all over the fucking place in the Inner Sphere, but the Clans have a lot of Russian in their history. Hell, their "home" world is named Strana Mechty and their most revered figure was the Russian-born general of the SLDF, Aleksandr Kerensky.

Whether or not this actually implies a greater number of Russians in their original numbers, I don't know for sure. I do think it points towards it, though.

I guess this is as good a place as any to drop the message since the last thread apparently died.

There's a LGS in downtown Washington D.C. which has been tricked into stocking Battletech products by some dickheads who told the owner(who has no prior experience with miniatures games) that Battletech was "the big game in the area" despite D.C. having absolutely no Battletech scene. I told her I would be interested in purchasing some stuff, which she seemed rather excited about and said she'd probably be able to give me a discount if I can just get it off her hands. So next Saturday(one week from today) I will be heading down to take a quick inventory of what she has and then reporting to anyone interested in getting some stuff for possibly cheaper prices. She's got a few books, some minis(I know she has at least 2 Atlas' and 2 Vultures) and some hex maps. If you're interested in seeing what she's got shoot me an e-mail and I'll let anyone who is interested know and we can discuss prices and getting stuff out from there.

Pole: I got your e-mail, just so you know.

>>14049201
2 hours from DC, im definitely making a trip up this weekend. what's the shop called?

>>14049227
Labyrinth Games and Puzzles. It's like half a block from the Eastern Market Metro station.

>>14049262
nice, thanks, ive been looking for BT miniatures locally for a while now.

>>14049270
They don't have a huge stock, but if you're willing to help her out she'll be grateful to you.

>>14040155
>he thinks paying for it makes it good

>>14049188
>>Whether or not this actually implies a greater number of Russians in their original numbers, I don't know for sure. I do think it points towards it, though.

It's not so much that they had a lot of them, but rather that they were led by Russkies initially
Aleksander, Nikolas, Katushya, and Anderey Kerensky, specificaly.

The Op Klondike sourcebook gives the names of all of the initial Clan Warriors, and there's a lot of other groups represented there. Here's the Khans and most of the SaKhans
Wolf Khan Jerome Winston - Brit, Lyran, asshole. Niko's wife, Jennifer Winston - may be adopted, might be an Amaris.
Ice Hellion: Steve Cage - ??? (hegemony, looks black)
Nova Cat - Phil Drummond - ??? Looks like a fucking Klingon, seriously
Goliath Scorpion: Cyrus Elam: ??? - Jenna Scott:
Hell's Horses: John Fletcher: ??? Patricia Cobb:
Jade Falcons: Elizabeth Hazen: Born in the former US or Canada. Married to DeChevalier (French)
Sea Fox: Daivid Kalasa: from St. Ives: Karen Nagasawa, Terran and Japanese.
Cloud Cobra: Rafe Kaardan : black, unknown homeworld. Windham Khatib: Persian, born on Procyon.
Widowmaker: Jason Karrige: Davion, from New Syrtis
Steel Viper: Ellie Kinnison. Born on Earth, long and pointy of face. Antonius Zalman: Born in Brazil.

>>14049188
>>Whether or not this actually implies a greater number of Russians in their original numbers, I don't know for sure. I do think it points towards it, though.

It's not so much that they had a lot of them, but rather that they were led by Russkies initially
Aleksander, Nikolas, Katushya, and Anderey Kerensky, specificaly.

The Op Klondike sourcebook gives the names of all of the initial Clan Warriors, and there's a lot of other groups represented there. Here's the Khans and most of the SaKhans
Wolf Khan Jerome Winston - Brit, Lyran, asshole. Niko's wife, Jennifer Winston - may be adopted, might be an Amaris.
Ice Hellion: Steve Cage - ??? (hegemony, looks black)
Nova Cat - Phil Drummond - ??? Looks like a fucking Klingon, seriously
Goliath Scorpion: Cyrus Elam: ??? - Jenna Scott:
Hell's Horses: John Fletcher: ??? Patricia Cobb:
Jade Falcons: Elizabeth Hazen: Born in the former US or Canada. Married to DeChevalier (French)
Sea Fox: Daivid Kalasa: from St. Ives: Karen Nagasawa, Terran and Japanese.
Cloud Cobra: Rafe Kaardan : black, unknown homeworld. Windham Khatib: Persian, born on Procyon.
Widowmaker: Jason Karrige: Davion, from New Syrtis