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[Fishbreath]

How many of you participants in this thread are still out there, I wonder?

I played through MechWarrior 5 at the end of last year, and started experimenting a bit with tabletop BattleTech afterward. Naturally, my thoughts turned here—this wasn't my longest-running Let's Play, but it is my favorite. I spent a little time putting together an Alpha Strike version of the Bastards circa October 3052—subbing in a few canon units of similar stats for our custom setups. The Bastards might be my miniature painting project for the year, since I have 3D-printable models for everything but the Flashman. That brings me to two questions:

1. How do the Bastards paint their mechs? Parade ground-style with a dashing color scheme? Camouflage?
2. Second, and more pertinently, if a few of you former participants are still on hand to vote, would you be interested in a few updates through the end of the winter?

[EuchreJack]

It's ALIVE!!!!!

[Mephansteras]

I'm still around, and I'd be happy if you picked this up again for a bit.

I'd have to say the Bastards are more of a camo group than a parade group. Not that it matters much when you're looking for a several-story tall machine, but no reason to make it any easier on the enemy than you have to!

[Fishbreath]

Hey hey, two's (a) company! I will bring my old MegaMek install over from the old laptop and get familiar with it again.

I ran across a tutorial for painting camouflage without having to be a very good miniature painter, and a few test units the week after Christmas came out well. The Bastards' homeworld Piedmont is covered in forest and jungle, so a greens-and-browns scheme might be fun.

[Mephansteras]

Looking good!

[EuchreJack]

Nice!

[Fishbreath]

Introduction
Goodness me, where were we?

Last time out, in the course of beating up on the rebels, we salvaged an Emperor EMP-6A. The Emperor was one of the earliest assault mechs produced (entering service in 2502), and the first 90-tonner to mount jump jets. It's an extinct design these days, too. Our ComStar liaison observes the ongoing salvage and repair work with a blasé attitude: typical, given how many Star League relics we've glimpsed in ComStar's service, during our time on Tukayyid. He reminds us that we are significantly over our salvage allotment, and that he will be reviewing our future claims with a very critical eye.

Linebuster is excited to get to grips with his new ride, but our techs say it'll be another few weeks before it's ready. They're also hard at work on Drake's Awesome, but the challenges of integrating Clan tech with an Inner Sphere mech have not diminished since last we checked in, and it's still a ways off. In the interim, Drake is driving a Warhammer, back at the helm of Drake's Destroyers—currently a 275-ton heavy lance.

We'll come back to unit status later in the post, but our liaison informs us that our services are required. A rebel force is attempting to escape a ComStar encirclement. We will be holding the line.

The Action of October 9, 3052
As the sun sets, heavy snow falls over the battlefield. Neither of Tukayyid's moons is visible in the sky.

Turn 1-2
The enemy force is two lances, with an expected lance of reinforcements. Bear's Bruisers take the field first, with Second Lance (less Rook, whose Stalker is still being patched up after her duel with the Emperor) due to arrive in seven turns.



The rebels deploy to the flanks of our assigned corridor. With the benefit of initiative, Teddy Bear and Severe shade to the west flank, against the Vulcan and Wasp, while Euchre and Hanzoku head east to tussle with the Phoenix Hawk and Hermes II. The vehicles will probably be slow to join the fight; it's dark, and they've taken some damage elsewhere in the campaign.

The darkness and difficult weather mean that shooting is going to be hard: the only Bastard to take a crack at an enemy this turn is Severe, whose Clan ER Medium Lasers have a reasonable chance at hitting the rebel Wasp, which is bogged down in swampy terrain. She hits with one of her two shots, and slices the left arm off of the opfor scout.



Turn 3
Maximum aggression from the rebels this turn, as the Vulcan and Phoenix Hawk get into close combat range with us.



Some adjustments bring Severe behind the Vulcan and get Hanzoku's guns onto the Phoenix Hawk, but the shooting is going to be challenging.

Not just for us, though. A lot of weapons fire crackles back and forth between the 'mechs engaged, but none of it hits. (Only the Phoenix Hawk, host to an elite rebel pilot, is hitting on less than 12.) In between the lasers, missiles, and machine guns, mech pilots jockey for position to score melee attacks. Severe kicks the Vulcan in the back, but doesn't knock it over; the Phoenix Hawk kicks Euchre's Trebuchet and tips him over in the snow.

Turn 4
The enemy mechs aren't interested in sticking around for a fight, given that their objective is to escape out of our corridor to the north. Teddy Bear and Severe can keep up with the jump-jetting enemy Vulcan, and are going to do so. Euchre and Hanzoku, on the other side of the map, are slower than the rebel Phoenix Hawk, however, and will do their best to slow it down until the rest of the Bastards arrive on the scene.



Weapons fire is inconclusive once again. If Euchre were a crack shot on the order of Drake or Rook, he would have had a chance at the Phoenix Hawk, but as it is, the Bastards are limited to melee. It goes in our favor: Teddy Bear and Severe (who is a melee specialist!) take the rebel Vulcan's legs out from under it. We may get a good shot at it next turn.

Turn 5


The enemy Vulcan is going to get a hit or two on Severe, probably, but he's going to eat an alpha strike from two mechs in response. Hopefully it's a good trade.

East and a bit south, Euchre turns around to face the inbound Wasp (now unbogged) and Hermes, along with the vanguard of the enemy vehicle force. Hanzoku jumps his Guillotine after the Phoenix Hawk one more time, but he'll probably turn south next turn—the Bastards stick together, and Euchre isn't especially mobile in these conditions, the only mech in Bear's Bruisers without jump jets.



Bringing her mech to a halt and peering through the driving snow, Severe is the first to score today, precisely carving the center torso out of the rebel Vulcan. All of the Bastards will turn south now. Second Lance will have to deal with the Phoenix Hawk when they arrive.

Turn 6
Severe is a bit too aggressive in heading back to the fight, and lets a Wasp get behind her.



Teddy Bear will do his best to ping it with some medium lasers, but he jumped too—again, a shooting challenge, in these conditions.



Further south, our ComStar liaison unit is absolutely fearless, and justifiably so. No weapon hits this round.

Turn 7
Teddy Bear judges the range perfectly, and although he probably won't land any weapon hits on the Wasp, he's absolutely going to be able to kick it.



Severe again didn't quite judge the movement right, and ends up out of effective range of the Wasp, without the fire arc to hit the tank southwest of her. Teddy Bear isn't able to land a kick on the enemy scout, but the Wasp's pilot misjudges the increasingly tricky terrain, and falls attempting to hit Teddy Bear's Vulcan.

The rebel reinforcements arrive on the field—a lance of combat vehicles. Nothing to be concerned about, especially given the difficulty of landing weapon attacks today. The rest of the Bastards arrive next turn.

Turn 8


Second Lance arrives on the field. The Phoenix Hawk manages to sneak through the cordon somewhat, but Double Dog in the Thunderbolt, Pepper in the Archer, and Wizard in the Guillotine will all have shots on it.

Attempting to get up, the opposing Wasp slips again and destroys itself, in an ignominious end. I don't think anyone's getting the kill credit for that one, although if you squint, Teddy Bear caused it by being close enough to tempt the Wasp into attacking.

Turn 9


Up north, the Phoenix Hawk's elite pilot lives up to his skill level, dancing around the heavies of Second Lance and setting himself up for a parting shot on the Archer. (Pepper will turn around to take it to the face, at least, and see if he can knock the grin off of the rebel pilot's face with his battle fists.)

Down south, things are looking rough for the ComStar Vulcan. We'll see if we can't help, once we polish off this Scimitar.



Severe's status displays bleat alerts as the Scimitar lands hits on her, punching through the last of the armor on the Mist Lynx's left leg, and most of the armor on its left arm. Euchre is quick to avenge his lancemate, however, with a medium laser hit that pierces the tank's battered frontal armor, weakened by a pair of hits from Hanzoku.

The Phoenix Hawk and Archer trade kicks, but both mechs remain standing.

Turn 10
The rebel Phoenix Hawk escapes, but the action isn't over yet. The rebel Hermes II is beating on the ComStar Vulcan, which is not long for this world. On the plus side, it's standing still, which means we have a couple of shots at hitting it.

Second Lance is on the way, but they'll be a long time coming. (Except for Wizard, who has the advantage of jump jets in her Guillotine.)

Turn 11
They're low-percentage shots, but it won't take a lot of lucky hits before the Hermes starts to feel it.

Euchre is unloading a dozen SRMs and some medium lasers at the hovertank in front of him—the shorter range means he's more likely to hit it than the Hermes, even though it's moving faster.



Turn 12
Euchre and Teddy Bear occupy a woods line, which will allow them to shoot relatively freely at the enemy vehicles, while providing some cover in return. Severe and Hanzoku station themselves a bit further back, to provide flank protection.



Turn 13
Perceiving that the Hermes is going to try to make a run for it around the eastern flank of our position here, Severe plans to head him off at the pass.

Teddy Bear pours fire into the hovertanks directly in front of him, but Euchre doesn't have a shot.



Turn 14
Cunningly maneuvering out of sight of Hanzoku's Guillotine, the Hermes puts itself right into Severe's sights. Sadly, the difficult conditions mean she can't land the hits. She's well positioned to stay ahead of her quarry, though, and it's driving right into the teeth of Second Lance to boot.

Euchre immobilizes the Pegasus hovertank that he and Teddy Bear have been tag-teaming for the past few turns, just in time for Teddy Bear to stomp on it. It probably won't last through next turn.

Turn 15
Sitrep:



Unlike the main body of the rebel force, its rearguard was undamaged. I'm still comfortable with the lineup of our forces, however, and their chances against the rebels still fighting. From here out, I'll narrate important events, but screenshots will be limited.

Speaking of important events, Teddy Bear obliterates the Pegasus hover tank that Euchre teed up for him. Euchre knocks out the motive systems on a hovertank this turn too—but this time, it's over a lake, and it splashes into the water and sinks below the surface as its engines sputter out.

The Hermes slips in the deepening snow and plunges into the lake adjacent to it. Icy water breaches its hull as it hits the bottom, and the pilot bails out.

Cleanup
It's a bit of a slog, literally, as the snow deepens enough to hinder our mechs' movements. Eventually, we round up the last few enemy tanks, at the cost of light damage to Teddy Bear's Vulcan, Severe's Mist Lynx, and Euchre's Trebuchet. Euchre, additionally, had his bell rung a bit when his mech fell in the snow.

Damage, Injuries, Salvage
Light, light, none.

Kill Boards
Euchre makes a big jump, and now leads the cohort of regular-rated mechwarriors. Pepper and Faceplant are waiting for their first kills.

Last Battle


All-Time Leaders

• "Rook" Ishikawa (28, 9 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Drake" Halit (14, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Woad" Kohler (14, 5 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Carcer" Ngo (11, 5 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Teddy Bear" Jamil (11, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Wizard" Que (8, 6 mechs, 6 Clan kills)
• "Severe" Payne (7, 6 mechs)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (6, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kill)
• "Double Dog" Dare (5, 2 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Euchre" Kojic (5, 2 mechs)
• "Linebuster" Atkinson (5)
• "Milspec" Ortega (4, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Ker-Ker" Ec (3, 2 mechs)
• "Blinky" Stirzacre (2)
• "Kicks" Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• Simona (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (1, 1 mech)

Status
It is now November 1, 3052. The Bastards are off contract as of October 15.

Finances
The Bastards have 69.436 million C-bills in the coffers.

Repairs and Refits
The Emperor is now in service. Tech extraordinaire Kepano Endo indicates that Drake's Awesome refit is still... 88 days away. Oof.

It's not as bad as it sounds, though: by the time we travel back to Piedmont (or some other destination with a hiring hall), it'll be almost done, and by the time we arrive at whatever contract is next, it'll definitely be done.

Reorganization
When last we spoke, we discussed adding the Emperor to a lance with the Awesome and Stalker, to form a deadly assault lance with firepower at all ranges.

We could still do that, but last mission's events—particularly, Euchre being stuck without jump capability while the rest of his lance could maneuver freely—has me thinking that maybe a jump-capable lance is a good plan, and the Emperor, with its jump jets and good ground speed, is a natural anchor for it.

Picking up the Emperor also means we have five full lances of mechs (once we hire another pilot, which I will do when we arrive wherever we're going next). I don't think we can quite get away with advertising ourselves as 'a battalion-strength mercenary unit' yet, but we're getting there. Two full companies would make us decidedly larger than average for a mercenary unit, although not larger than average for the ones you've heard of.

In any case, here's what I'm thinking.



Drake goes from Captain to Major, and we arrange the Bastards into two companies. First Company has most of our striking power.



Euchre moves into a Lancelot in Drake's Destroyers, while Linebuster takes the Emperor to lead Bear's Bruisers—now a jump-capable striker lance with a serious punch. Second Lance ("Rook's Raiders", maybe?) centers around the long-range firepower of the Stalker and Archer, although everything but the Archer is also pretty capable in a brawl.

Three heavy lances, all very similar in combat power, makes for a dependable core force.



For the moment, in Second Comapny, only Fourth Lance ("Ortega's Outriders"?) is a true combat unit: it features our two Clan mechs and an elite Clanner pilot in one of them, and will hit well above its weight, even if the Ryoken is down a couple of ERMLs.

Units from Reserve Lance will cycle into other lances as needed, to handle battle damage. Two heavies and two mediums make an awkward lance weight—just above the medium lance cap, so they'll face much more challenging opposition. We have a pair of Phoenix Hawks in mothballs, and could convert Reserve Lance to a combat unit with them: two Phoenix Hawks and two Trebuchets is a solid medium-weight force.

Mechwarrior Claims and Assignments
(A blast from the past, some of these names, I suspect!)

• For the record, the following mechwarriors are claimed.
  
  • Major Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras) - Awesome Custom (refitting)/Warhammer WHM-6R
  • Lt. SG George "Linebuster" Atkinson (Hasek10) - Emperor EMP-6A
  • Lt. SG Mariamu "Rook" Ishikawa (Culise) - Stalker STK-3Fb
  • Lt. JG Sung-min "Double Dog" Dare (a1s) - Thunderbolt TDR-5S-T
  • Sgt. Jose "Milspec" Ortega (milspec) - Crab CRB-20
  • Sgt. Tedros "Teddy Bear" Jamil (Knave) - Vulcan VL-5T
  • Cpl. Damayanti "Carcer" Ngo (Dorsidwarf) - Flashman FLS-7K
  • Cpl. Ferdinand "Woad" Kohler (A Thing) - Grasshopper GHR-5H
  • Pvt. Jan "Euchre" Kojic (EuchreJack) - Lancelot LNC25-02
  • Pvt. Cathrine "Severe" Payne (Burnt Pies) - Koshi Custom
  • Pvt. E-Shei "Ker-Ker" Ec (Kanil) - Lancelot LNC25-02
  • Pvt. Ed "Hanzoku" Yuksel (Hanzoku) - Guillotine GLT-4L
  • Pvt. Ik-jun "Wojtek" Frajtov (Blaze) - Trebuchet TBT-5N
  • Pvt. Xue-Min "Wizard" Que (Rince Wind) - Guillotine GLT-4P
  • Pvt. Abdul-Hafiz "Pepper" Popalzi (mrkilla22) - Archer ARC-2K
  • Pvt. Kevin "Blinky" Stirzacre (moghopper) - Ostroc OSR-2C
  • Pvt. Gwenael "Kicks" Hernandez (Sheyra) - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1K
  • Pvt. Elroy "Faceplant" Farooqi (NickAragua) - Dragon DRG-5N
  
  
• The following mechwarriors are available.
  
  • Rec. Simona - Ryoken/Stormcrow B (missing lasers)
  
  

Action Items
First: time to pack up and head somewhere we can pick up another contract. Back to Piedmont? Or should we try another hiring hall world, like Outreach or Solaris VII? Cost is no object: we can go anywhere in the Inner Sphere without seriously hurting our financial reserves.

Second: the reorganization. Does First Company look good? Should we pull some mechs out of mothballs to transmute Reserve Lance into a fighting unit, once we pick up another mechwarrior?

Second part two: how do we like the suggested names?

Third: any thoughts on promotions? With Drake now a battalion commander, we could name two pilots company commanders and promote them both to Captain, if we wanted. Maybe Teddy Bear deserves to be a lieutenant, too, if he's potentially losing command of the lance named after him.

[Mephansteras]

What's the current state of the sphere? I don't have strong opinions on where we go, really, though I think we should aim for somewhere that'll get us work appropriate to our capabilities.

I'm good with the line-up on lances and name suggestions. Making the reserve lance combat capable would be good, I think, that way we can tackle more difficult contracts if desired. And we can still use it as a reserve force to fill in gaps as needed.

For promotions, I think Rook and Double-Dog make sense to go to captain. That way we have a captain for each company. And I'm fine with Teddy getting a promotion.

[Knave]

Wow! It's back! I remember stumbling across this thread semi-recently when looking up some Megamek info and thinking of it fondly

Great to see you're taking another crack at it! And always happy to see Teddy taking out some opfor vehicles.

I think the promos suggested make sense for sure. Heading to Hiring like like Outreach is never a bad idea for some upgrades, but a contract is a contract, no matter where we get it, right? 

[Fishbreath]

What's the current state of the sphere? I don't have strong opinions on where we go, really, though I think we should aim for somewhere that'll get us work appropriate to our capabilities.

'Peaceful' is never quite the right word to describe it, but 'quiet' might work, right now? Or maybe 'shell-shocked'. The standard border squabbles are already beginning to pick back up, say our contacts, but there don't seem to be any big wars in the offing, as the major players lick their wounds. There will be ample action against the Clans in the territory of the Draconis Combine and the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth, since the Truce of Tukayyid only stops them progressing further toward Terra. Plenty of worlds near the top of the Sphere are still in play.

If we want a fight a step up from rebels and pirates, but not quite as many steps up as the Clans, we could see if House Davion has anything for us on the Capellan border, or insert ourselves into some minor Periphery war. Remember that we have access to advanced Inner Sphere technology through our deal with the Federated Commonwealth (we sent them some Clan salvage and they let us buy better gear), so sticking close to FedCom territory will make it easier to bring our mechs up to modern standards (where they aren't already).

I'm good with the line-up on lances and name suggestions. Making the reserve lance combat capable would be good, I think, that way we can tackle more difficult contracts if desired. And we can still use it as a reserve force to fill in gaps as needed.

For promotions, I think Rook and Double-Dog make sense to go to captain. That way we have a captain for each company. And I'm fine with Teddy getting a promotion.

I'll probably hold off on organizing Reserve Lance until we get wherever we're going, in case there's something better than a Phoenix Hawk or Trebuchet when we get there. (Not that I have anything against Phoenix Hawks or Trebuchets.) The two heavy mechs we'd be putting in mothballs (the Thunderbolt and the Ostroc) will make a great centerpiece for a heavy-heavy-light-light medium lance, as well, to round out Second Company. A pair of 35-tonners plus those two get to 195 tons, against the 200-ton cap.

The command lance/fire lance/cavalry lance structure of First Company pleases me greatly, so I hope voting continues to go that direction.

Wow! It's back! I remember stumbling across this thread semi-recently when looking up some Megamek info and thinking of it fondly

Back for a little bit, anyway! My summers have been very busy over the last several years, so this might end up being a brief return before it goes on hiatus again. I did really enjoy putting together this last entry, though, and once every other month or so is definitely possible even if I have a lot going on.

Great to see you're taking another crack at it! And always happy to see Teddy taking out some opfor vehicles.

I think the promos suggested make sense for sure. Heading to Hiring like like Outreach is never a bad idea for some upgrades, but a contract is a contract, no matter where we get it, right? 

I'm glad our lead scorer this past mission was here to see it!

As you may recall from way back, Against the Bot rules won't generate many contracts (rarely even a single one per month) when you're not on your unit's homeworld or at a hiring hall. We could easily kick back and relax for a few years on our current stash, but I don't think that's how the Bastards roll.

[Mephansteras]

Makes sense. I've vote going down to the Capellan border. Better salvage options, gets us in better with FedCom, and there is almost always something going on down there.

[EuchreJack]

Thanks for the upgrade Boss!

We should do well versus the Capellans, who are always starting some kind of shit in their area.  We should probably start upgrading for quality over quantity, and scout out for a veteran mechwarrior to add to the roster.

[Fishbreath]

Introduction
Competent staff work has been a hallmark of the Bastards' operations since the early days. Hearing the company's requirements (see what the FedCom brass has for us against the Capellans, pick up a new, veteran mechwarrior, try to fill out a fifth lance off of the unit market), our administrators present a course to Outreach.



Drake signs off, and the Bastards pack into a rented Mule-class DropShip for a 70-day trip.

Transit to Outreach
Founding Day
On the way to Outreach, the Opinionated Bastards celebrate Founding Day: January 1. I leave the question of if the company formed three years ago, or if we merely picked up their story at the beginning of 3050, but in either case, it's still a young unit by the standard of mercenary commands in the 31st century. We passed Northwind on the way to Outreach. The Northwind Highlanders can trace their lineage back about seven hundred years—in fact, they predate the invention of the BattleMech by six or seven decades. Few mercenary groups have that much history, but few are as new as the Bastards either, or at least few of note. Young though their company may be, the Opinionated Bastards take Founding Day seriously, marking the occasion with as decadent a feast as they can put together while packed into a cargo DropShip.

While the reorganization is still a work in progress at this point, it's a sure thing that Milspec Ortega is going to end up in command of a lance. While everyone is in a celebratory mood, Drake delivers his lieutenant's bars, and after the rest of the crew has delivered an appropriate degree of razzing, doubles down with captain's insignia for Rook and Double Dog.

Clanner Hijinks (Part 1)
This is the first downtime Simona, our newest clanner, has with the unit. He is a little more aloof than Hanzoku, and a little more alien, but the two clanners together prompt each other to open up a little about their histories and traditions. Hanzoku explains to Simona that the Bastards don't solve disputes with combat trials, except maybe in the simulators, and also that Second Company is not a dishonorable back-line assignment worthy of fighting a trial over. Simona has trouble with the idea that anyone would see a simulated combat as sufficient. He does, at least, withdraw his challenge to Faceplant Farooqi over a spot in Rook's Raiders.

Relatedly, Rook gets a short primer in how Clan prisoner-taking works: tradition binds Simona to serve the warrior who took him captive. As far as that tradition is concerned, said warrior is Rook, who knocked out Simona's mech. Escape or purposeful neglect of his duties would reflect badly on Simona, but also on Clan Wolf, and even if Clan Wolf (Hanzoku says) is a little more pragmatic than average, the threat of dishonor still holds powerful sway over its members. The woven bracelet Simona has been wearing represents the duration of his bond: three strands, one each for combat talent, integrity, and loyalty. The subsequent conversation goes something like this, paraphrasing:

Rook: "Can I cut all three strands now?" Hanzoku: "That might come across as an insult, if you don't have good reasons." Rook: "Is 'I don't want a bondsman' a good reason?" Hanzoku: "No."

Simona may or may not stick with the Bastards after his bondcord is cut, but the odds are better if we ease him into the Inner Sphere way of doing business, Hanzoku thinks, rather than rushing to cut him loose. He is a very good pilot, and may be flexible enough to integrate in the way Hanzoku has. They settle on cutting the 'integrity' cord, at least: Simona did behave honorably, if not exactly in the traditional Clan sense, by not pressing the matter of his challenge to Faceplant.

(I don't know if Rook's player Culise is still around, but I'll leave this thread unresolved for now in the event that he/she is.)

Arrival
The Bastards arrive at Outreach on January 12, rent a spot to set up camp from the local authorities, and unpack their mechs.

Initial recruiting goes well—Outreach lives up to its name as the Mercenary Star, and we are all but swamped with candidates. We welcome Erine Forakis, formerly of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, to the Bastards.



Over the course of the next few weeks, the Bastards get into a rhythm of training and maintenance. On January 29, tech Kepano Endo announces that the Awesome is ready for a shakedown.

Organization and Refits (Action Items Inside!)
There's a lot to cover here, beyond the fluff above, so in mechanical terms, this update is going to be all administration.

Mek Market
There are five mechs on the market at Outreach:

• A Hornet (a 20-ton light mech)
• An Archer (70-ton LRM boat)
• A Spider (30-ton light, not recommended owing to lack of ejection system)
• A Zeus (80-ton assault mech, lightly armed for its size)
• A Phoenix Hawk (45-ton medium; we already have three)

None of them really speak to me, besides maybe the Phoenix Hawk.

Our association with the Federated Commonwealth means they're willing to sell us something from their inventory up to 75 tons, as long as it's not a first-line unit they need on the Lyran/Clan front. We might be able to stretch a bit if we accept a scrap unit, but we'd be responsible for fixing it up, and we'd probably still pay a premium.

Clan Mechs In Storage
We have a few utterly wrecked Clan mech chassis in storage: a Hellbringer, a Timber Wolf, and an Adder. All three were cored, and most of the gear has been stripped from them for use elsewhere. My inclination would be to strip them the rest of the way: pull off the armor for use on our two existing Clan mechs, stash any useful-looking parts in a cargo hold somewhere, and scrap the rest.

First Company
Drake's Awesome is finished! Pepper joins Drake's Destroyers, while Carcer switches to Rook's Raiders, to keep both lances at the 280-ton heavy cap.

Second Company
Milspec moves to Fifth Lance (now Ortega's Outriders), and switches his Crab for a Phoenix Hawk to make the tonnages work. Double Dog moves to Fourth Lance.

Option here: refit the Crab (see below), put Milspec back in it, and give Wojtek an upgraded Phoenix Hawk (see below as well). Milspec has driven both chassis, in his time with the Bastards, and it's an open question which is better, so really it's down to taste.

Second Company, Sixth Lance?
Drake has now vacated the Warhammer in favor of his Awesome. We also have a Trebuchet (Euchre's old ride), a Crab (formerly Milspec's), and a Wasp (in mothballs) on hand. That makes a 190-ton medium lance (although we can probably do better than a Wasp, with 30 tons to spare for the fourth mech), which would be a solid addition to fill out Second Company.

Since Outreach is crawling with pilots looking for work, and we'll be here for a while, if we choose to refit any of our mechs, we can probably recuit another four mechwarriors to fill out Second Company while we wait.

Refits: Outreach Maintenance Facilities
Outreach hosts a few mech manufacturers. We probably can't buy anything from them, but their presence means that this world has expert mech techs and repair facilities to spare. We can rent space at repair facilities for 100,000 C-bills per bay per month, which will make any refits we attempt easier.

Refits: Phoenix Hawks
Generally, I'm pretty happy with the state of First Company's lances. Heavy firepower anchors all three (Drake in the Awesome-to-be, Rook in the Stalker, Linebuster in the new Emperor), and the remaining mechs in the company, even if they aren't up-to-the-minute with the latest in rediscovered LosTech, are still good designs. The Lancelots have a strong long-range punch, the Guillotines and Grasshopper can jump while still pumping out solid medium range damage, and the rest have their advantages too.

Second Company has some highlights—Severe and Simona, in our two clan mechs, are particularly deadly—but could stand to be improved a bit, if its lances are going to be frontline combat units just like First Company's. A natural place to start are the Phoenix Hawks: there are three of them in Second Company, and the design's ubiquity throughout the Inner Sphere means there are plenty of plans out there to work on.

At present, two of our Phoenix Hawks are the bone-stock PXH-1 variant (one large laser, two medium lasers, two machine guns, 128 points of armor, jump jets), and one is the PXH-1K (trades jump jets and machine guns for 152 points of armor and a small laser). There are two refit kits I have my eye on.



First, the easy option: the PXH-1Kk. It's an upgraded -1K, with no special tricks. The heat sinks become double heat sinks, the large laser becomes an ER Large Laser, and the medium lasers become medium pulse lasers. Still has 152 points of armor, and it would be heat-neutral firing all its weapons. The parts would only run us about 400,000 C-bills per mech, and the work would take between 20 and 25 days, if all goes well. It would deal more damage at close range, but the switch from medium lasers to medium pulse lasers mean it has to get closer to deal full damage—maximum range for an Inner Sphere medium pulse laser is six hexes, instead of nine for a medium laser.



Second, the all-out option: The PXH-3K. Our parts deal, and the extensive mech refit infrastructure on Outreach, put this in reach. It retains the jump jets from the -1, switches to an XL engine and ferro-fibrous armor (143 points) to save weight, and mounts two ER Large Lasers and two medium pulse lasers. Firing both of the large lasers, it's just on the wrong side of heat neutral when you count heat from movement, but the extra long-range punch makes up for that small drawback.

The much bigger drawbacks to the -3K refit are that parts will cost about 4.5 million C-bills per mech (we have 64 million on hand), it will be a full two months before the refits are done, and it's a more challenging job, which means there's a slightly greater chance that the wait will be longer even than that.

I like the -3K, personally, but if we don't want to spend 20% of our war chest on three medium mechs, I can see the logic there too.

Refits: Crab
Milspec's old Crab CRB-20 might be a better fit for Ortega's Outriders than the Trebuchet Wojtek is currently driving. If we think that might be the case, there's an upgrade of the CRB-20 that switches to ferro-fibrous armor and double heat sinks, using the weight saved to upgrade to ER Large Lasers, switch the small laser to a medium laser, and add a Beagle Active Probe and ECM suite. A pretty nifty command mech. Parts are relatively inexpensive at about a million C-bills, and work would take about 30 days.



Refits: Other
Not a lot of options unless we get into custom designs. There's a quick-and-dirty upgrade for Blinky's Ostroc: double heat sinks, ER Large Lasers in place of the standard large lasers. That one takes about 20 days and 500,000 C-bills. There's a Grasshopper refit that will cost 750,000 C-bills and a month of tech time, and give Woad a devastating short-range alpha strike with a mix of medium lasers and medium pulse lasers, along with a two-ERLL punch at distance.

Otherwise, the Dragon is already the best Dragon variant. None of the the Flashman, Guillotine, Lancelot, Thunderbolt, Trebuchet, or Warhammer variants in the databanks are within reach for a mercenary unit—they all involve Endo-Steel, and switching frame type is out of scope for what our techs (skilled though they are) can feasibly accomplish, even with access to good maintenance facilities here on Outreach.

Contracts
Given that we have some refits to work on (maybe), I won't list the contracts on the open market just yet. We also have the opportunity to go directly to the Federated Commonwealth for longer-term employment, but we will cede some control of the exact nature of the contracts to come if we go on retainer with them.

If we decide not to do refits, I'll post the contract list here.

Action Items: Summary
Condensed for your convenience.

Money on hand: 64.123 million C-bills.

• Should we buy a mech? Off of the mech market, or something from the FedCom contact?
• What should we do with those Clan mechs we have in storage?
• Second Company: should we put Milspec back into his Crab and give Wojtek the Phoenix Hawk, or leave Wojtek with his Trebuchet and Milspec in a Phoenix Hawk?
• Should we seek out longer-term employment with the Federated Commonwealth, or check the open contract market when refits are done?

Refit options:

Phoenix Hawk:

• PHX-1Kk (0.400M C-bills each, 25 days)
• PHX-3K (4.700M C-bills each, 55 days; including maintenance bays for such a big job at techs' request)

Crab:

• CRB-20+ (1.050M C-bills, 30 days)
• Listed in MekHQ as "CRB-30-UK", but it isn't like the actual CRB-30 listed on Sarna.

Ostroc:

• OSR-2D (0.450M C-bills, 20 days)

Grasshopper:

• GHR-5K (0.750M C-bills, 35 days)

Totals:

• With PHX-1Kk x3: 3.450M C-bills without maintenance bays, 4.050M C-bills with
• With PHX-3K x3: 16.350M C-bills with maintenance bays for PHX refits only, 16.650M C-bills with maintenance bays for all mechs

[EuchreJack]

I think you should mix-and-match on the Phoenix Hawk upgrades. Maybe one PHX-1Kk, one PHX-3K, and keep one at the default configuration for now (maybe to convert to the PXH-3S when we finally take on the clans, as it seems an ideal elemental/proto hunter).

[Mephansteras]

I'm with Euchre on the mix of Phoenix Hawk refits. Costs less and adds some flexibility (heat neutral short range is great for urban contact, for example).

I also like the Crab upgrade.

It would cost us a pretty penny, but I see that Ravens are on the FedCom list. That could really open up some tactical options if we go with that instead of a Wasp.

I'm also broadly in favor of adding another lance. We have the spare mechs and money to support it, let's make use of the opportunity before we go out again.

As far as Contracts go, my inclination is to see if anything amazing is out on the board, and if not we take our chances with FedCom. They're not likely to screw us over too badly, and they make very good friends. Especially with the relationship we already have with them. But since we're doing refits we can of course wait a bit before checking to see what it available.