Battletech

[Insatiably Bored]

eek, how in hells did I miss this, stop looking over the wanted pages for a week and I miss some good stuuf. any chance there is still some room for another players? if so I can have a profile up in a day or too.

[Jack Stryker]

I based the unit size on what i've read about mercenaries, especially what Phelan Kell said during the clan invasion about having just 2 regiments making the Kell Hounds one of the smaller units.  I put the size of the unit in my character's profile, too, the Strikers are a reinforced battalion in size, with appropriate dropship assets, and an extra reinforced company of support units (like a couple aerospace fighters, some artillery pieces, field bases, that sort of thing.

As of now, we have a few people who've claimed places.  The command lance has three people including my character, and we have one mechwarrior in a smaller 'Seeker' scout/spotter/fast reaction company.   I've heard a couple folks voice interest in playing tankers, which is always welcome.  Having MechJocks and groundpounders in a roleplay is always good. 

And i'm working on the new thread right now.  Hopefully i'll be able to toss it up soon.

[Ramael]

One more time, just checking on this.

Can I just ask-did you dispense with the system idea completely? Also, your plot...mercs are being dropped in to defend something, but are then turned upon by the planetary forces? Who is the first protagonist, i.e. who is the mercs first given enemy? I'm thinking if I can draft up a pirate character.

[Jack Stryker]

If there are pirates, they'll be an entirely seperate force, perhaps jumping in during the chaos to see what they can scrounge up and run away with.  And I think things would be much easier without the system.  Mostly, I leave it to everyone to fight on their own accord, and know the chances of being hit or not, especially if you're fighting main NPCs or other PCs.

If we actually get enough players, I might actually suggest people joining with the Defending forces of the planet, or even the attack force coming in from the lord that will double cross the unit.

[HairyHeretic]

I based the unit size on what i've read about mercenaries, especially what Phelan Kell said during the clan invasion about having just 2 regiments making the Kell Hounds one of the smaller units. 

Wasn't he trying to lie through his teeth under interrogation though?

[Ramael]

If we actually get enough players, I might actually suggest people joining with the Defending forces of the planet, or even the attack force coming in from the lord that will double cross the unit.

If you have details on either of these two forces, I'd be interested to read them. If my character could start as an enemy to your crew, then once the betrayal has happened, my character could be a feasible ally. There is potential for tension and drama there.

Just playing with ideas, though, nothing concrete.

[Jack Stryker]

Well, being against the Strikers at the start would mean you're either part of the defending planet's militia or whatever home guard unit is currently stationed there.  As I said, pirate positions could be added in, it's just that pirates rarely attack in any sort of way except for the occasional raid, and that's only to grab what they can and get out before anyone can really organize a response.

[Anathanasia]

I based the unit size on what i've read about mercenaries, especially what Phelan Kell said during the clan invasion about having just 2 regiments making the Kell Hounds one of the smaller units.  I put the size of the unit in my character's profile, too, the Strikers are a reinforced battalion in size, with appropriate dropship assets, and an extra reinforced company of support units (like a couple aerospace fighters, some artillery pieces, field bases, that sort of thing.

As of now, we have a few people who've claimed places.  The command lance has three people including my character, and we have one mechwarrior in a smaller 'Seeker' scout/spotter/fast reaction company.   I've heard a couple folks voice interest in playing tankers, which is always welcome.  Having MechJocks and groundpounders in a roleplay is always good. 

And i'm working on the new thread right now.  Hopefully i'll be able to toss it up soon.

A battalion is still a pretty respectable size. Still a ton of positions open, as well, if I'm reading this right, including three mech company commanders. I take it the command lance you're referring to up there is the seperate battalion command, right, Jack?

[Jack Stryker]

right now I have it set up as a reinforced Battalion.  Jack is in overall command, along with A Company.  the rest of the battalion is B, C, and D companies, with a small E Company of more irregular forces that i'm setting up with the person looking to be in charge of that right now.  Along with the battalion, there are 2 companies of mixed artillery, aerospace, transport, and repair units that are basically support units.  they'll mostly be with the dropships of the unit, or bringing supplies and supporting fire to the front lines.

[Anathanasia]

Ah, I see what you're doing now. It's a reinforced mech battalion of four battlemech companies plus additional support assets. I usually expect a 'reinforced battalion' to have the support/armour/infantry assets as the 'reinforced' part.

I was also thinking, if we want to spread the PCs out a little bit more, we could switch my character to owing that debt of honour to a different company commander. I'm not saying that's definitely what I want to do, just putting that out there in case we'd like to consider it. That way if someone takes a company command spot and there's no other PCs in their company, I could possibly move over there so they're not alone. We can leave it for now, till we see a full complement.

[RubySlippers]

I have a couple ideas for a hover vehicle what are you looking for a pure scout, a scout that can go in to really hurt mechs etc. and open up on blind sides or  a scout that fires at range with LRM.

The first I can strip down a 10t troop carrier, add a larger engine and more armor with no weapons and likely go very very fast.

The second I have an idea for a nice 15t mech with three machine guns and could go in and fire at a mech when say a leg is gone and its on its back or belly on the blind side and go old school on it. It would also sport decent armor and be fast.

The third I can go for a modified 20t to 30t mech with LRM and that has speed naturally.

So what is your pleasure?

[RubySlippers]

I got my mech a modified this: http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/Vehicle/VehicleInfo.asp?ID=86

It had no turrent, more armor around her (from said turrent), three machine guns with 150 rounds of ammo and is a scout, communications relay, spotter vehicle and carries a medic and has two beds (yes she gets cramped when fully loaded) and well attacks only when a mech or whatever is so hurt she can get into a blind side and open up a can of pain. Or when firing on say troop carriers and the like. 

She is not a coward you go in under fire to pick up a hurt mech pilot or soldier with that. But I figured there was no use the company spend alot for a scout and it was tossed together from older blueprints and spare parts they had. lol

Missles are expensive after all and machine gun ammo isn't.

Oh I forgot the odd .5t I dropped is for a medical compartment GM for a strict 15t of little armored vehicle so shouldn't be that cramped two beds and what the medic needs to try to stabilize the wounded. Is that ok just make the addition under the mech I sent you.

[Anathanasia]

That design is for 18 years after the start of our game, Ruby...though it's custom, so Jack could certainly rule it's available.

Still, if you want to do something light and fast, why not take an actual battlemech? They are much more survivable than a vehicle, where by all rights, one single stray LRM missile could blow you the hell up with a lucky shot/roll. I mean, there's a Davion Locust variant that mounts two LRM 5s...not to mention, most combat vehicles are designed with the idea of a crew, at least 2 or 3, whereas mechs are built for a lone pilot.

Do what makes you happy, of course, I'm just wondering why you're so keen on playing with handicap, Ruby? 

I think you're previous idea of a VTOL for scouting would actually be a sweet idea, if you don't want to play a mechwarrior for whatever reason. Sure, fragile, but you want speed and maneuverability, that's your bag. Being able to go up also means you don't have to maneuver around terrain, which makes staying at long range much, much easier.

[Jack Stryker]

I want to avoid customs, actually.  Cutomizing a canon 'mech or vehicle is a-ok, but custom machines are something i'd rather avoid.  Sticking to the canon CBT machines will allow for less confusion, as most everyone is already familiar with the designs and their capabilities. 

Also, I thank everyone who's signed up so far for staying away from the gundam 'mechs.  Honestly, I tried this at one point and had half a dozen people trying to pass off gundams for battlemechs.

[ChaoticSky]

Also, I thank everyone who's signed up so far for staying away from the gundam 'mechs.

*coughs and glances at Noto* https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=63088.msg2858501#msg2858501

the black knight is alittle too humanoid i thinks, but its up to jack if that qualifies or not.

not to step on toes D: just probably better if its looked at now... rather than possibly having to change it later >_>

[Jack Stryker]

I'm actually still talking with him about his profile, but I have no trouble with the Black Knight itself.  I'm talking about people trying to stick their guys in with an actual gundam from that series.

[Anathanasia]

I want to avoid customs, actually.  Cutomizing a canon 'mech or vehicle is a-ok, but custom machines are something i'd rather avoid.  Sticking to the canon CBT machines will allow for less confusion, as most everyone is already familiar with the designs and their capabilities. 

Also, I thank everyone who's signed up so far for staying away from the gundam 'mechs.  Honestly, I tried this at one point and had half a dozen people trying to pass off gundams for battlemechs.

Darn, that's too bad. There aren't many decent VTOLs out there, so I whipped up a quickie just to see what I could do for a cool scout using some level 2 tech. I think a scout VTOL with TAG is an awesome idea, btw...consider it mast mounted over the rotors like they do with real helicopters these days and it'd give our scout a really solid role for combat scenes too! I mean, if we're freeforming it, we should at least let the Inner Sphere have access to thousand year old technologies like guided artillery shells... >.>

I've often thought it'd be nice to update the 'base' technology of the pre-clans Inner Sphere to use more recent technology than Vietnam-era conventional tech. The game is almost 30 years old, the early days of the Information Age, and like so many 'sci-fi' settings they actually come off pre-IA in a lot of their tech. I just don't think Lostech would have taken them back THAT far, y'know? Though this may not be the place or the game...I'm just highly caffeinated right now, don't mind me... 

[RubySlippers]

No I want to keep this simple for role-playing I figure the commanders had this body, spare weapons and engines and tossed something together to meet a need and let me oversee the work being the scout and tagging expert of the lance.

VTOL are expensive and complicated, mechs are nice but spread their limited armor to thin so a hover craft with no turrent and refitted could do the work nicely on a budget.

I have an idea GM your the GM, you decide what they have spare around to tinker with and say something canan that hovers in the 10 to 20t range, a Hover APC or a light tank where the thing was damaged or stripped of weapons so they could go on a mech you know - useful surplus.

Then get me the game specs and I can play around. Go for a scout, spotter-tagger and medical evac vehicle with some well dirty cheap shot firepower to get a mech or whatever when its down. I can be creative but need a machine and trust me no weapons will be complicated or expensive.

[Jack Stryker]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Category:Combat_Vehicles

This is a great list of combat vehicles that could fit your needs, Ruby.  And yes, Ana, we are able to use 21st century tech like guided artillery shells.  Though the TAG laser is normally used for guiding semi-guided LRMs and Arrow artillery (which doesn't exist in 3042 anyway), it should be able to be used for artillery barrages.

As a side note, anyone know of a program that will allow for customization of stuff like tanks and aerospace fighters or even dropships?

[HairyHeretic]

Hmmm. Do we have, or need, any fliers?

[Jack Stryker]

So far, we have no pilots, either for conventional or aerospace singleships.  It would be nice to have a fighterjock among the ranks, but it's not required.  Even an LAM would be acceptable, if one wanted to use one, though they'd have to keep in mind that they're extremely rare by this time, so fixing anything would be tough, especially the conversion equipment.

[Anathanasia]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Category:Combat_Vehicles

This is a great list of combat vehicles that could fit your needs, Ruby.  And yes, Ana, we are able to use 21st century tech like guided artillery shells.  Though the TAG laser is normally used for guiding semi-guided LRMs and Arrow artillery (which doesn't exist in 3042 anyway), it should be able to be used for artillery barrages.

As a side note, anyone know of a program that will allow for customization of stuff like tanks and aerospace fighters or even dropships?

TAG irks me itself, some...1 ton for a laser designator?! Oh hell, I can't start thinking about this stuff, it always leads to me ranting about autocannons and the laws of physics... 

Yes, thank you for simple 21st century tech! (I always figured the reason for LRMs/SRMs being less-than-guided is because they are more like mini-missiles, swarms of them...only way you could pack 480 LRMs into a single Archer)

I've just been playing with Vehicle Construction Forge (at the bottom...Vehicle Factory doesn't seem to work). Has some bugs, but it does the trick. That site, www.solaris7.com, has other editors, including DOS based(!) aerospace editors. Haven't tried those, though.

[HairyHeretic]

No, I think a LAM would be way too hard to keep going. Let me take a look over the fighters.

[Jack Stryker]

Well, I prefer to think of the TAG laser as the laser designator, plus a powerful communications array to signal back to wherever the artillery is about the information.  given the long ranges that the artillery can be shot from, a large comm array would be necessary.  at least, that's how I always think of it to account for the ton the thing weighs.

and cool, HH, fighter jocks, ground pounders and mechjocks are always a good mix.  At least, for constant irritations between one another 

[RubySlippers]

I need game specs not general descriptors, and a vehicle. How about this its COMMON and they seem to be modified all the time.

Heavy Hover APC

I figure a bit larger power plant, remove the troop carriers and reconfigure would be sweet. And I'm sure there are enough around to get one.

And I think I will go with a turrent for a Tagging Laser. :)

I need help on the modifications though. And GM I forgot to do a history I'll do a new character sheet once I get a new vehicle worked out.