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[Knave]

Tedros wouldn't mind riding in something more modern for a while if we end up upgrading something   (Vulcan or P-Hawk either way - as long as his Vulcan is safely stored)

Building out some combined arms might be fun (If you're into that sort of thing!) - gives a change of pace from the mech only. Though a full 36 mechs has a certain 'je ne sais quoi'

And a lil tactics here and there isn't a bad investment, helps avoid fighting in hurricane winds

[Mephansteras]

I'd say upgrade at least one PH now. Better to have more modern kits available if we need them.

Combined Arms is fun if you want to do it, although even heavy tanks are super fragile. I'm more fond of LRM carriers doing indirect fire support, personally, but you get what you get when it comes to salvage.

Another Awesome or a Marauder could be good. They are both quite solid mechs, and right now we don't have any decent heavies or assaults in reserve. (Quickdraws are just Jenners that can punch things harder).

More tactics sounds good, yeah. Getting rerolls to help deal with bad situations is never a bad thing!

[Fishbreath]

Tedros wouldn't mind riding in something more modern for a while if we end up upgrading something   (Vulcan or P-Hawk either way - as long as his Vulcan is safely stored.

There are some interesting (custom) options within reach for a Vulcan: double heat sinks+ferro fibrous armor+five ER Medium Lasers, for instance, or double heat sinks, 2xERML, 2xMPL. The interesting canon refits are either endo-steel (out of reach for us) or XL engines (out of reach without a long stay at a maintenance facility).

Combined Arms is fun if you want to do it, although even heavy tanks are super fragile. I'm more fond of LRM carriers doing indirect fire support, personally, but you get what you get when it comes to salvage.

Another Awesome or a Marauder could be good. They are both quite solid mechs, and right now we don't have any decent heavies or assaults in reserve. (Quickdraws are just Jenners that can punch things harder).

More tactics sounds good, yeah. Getting rerolls to help deal with bad situations is never a bad thing!

I'm not super-committed to combined arms, but figured it was worth discussion, at least. Knave's comment about 36 mechs does ring true: "We are an elite mech battalion. That's our thing," is a nice way to sell ourselves to potential employers.

1Kk Phoenix Hawk we can probably do before/on the way to the next leg of our commitment to the Federated Commonwealth. The 3K refit probably not.

I quite liked Marauders in my MechWarrior 5 run, although (like the Warhammer) I suspect they're the kind of mech that gets significantly better when you add 3050+ tech to them. The Awesome is the AWS-8Q model, which is of course the best variant, and might serve as a good anchor for Third Company (combined arms or not).

[Mephansteras]

Marauders make excellent sniper platforms for a pilot with high gunnery, in my experience. Though most of my modern BT experience comes from the HBS game these days. I'd be comfortable adding either mech to our stable. Maybe both, depending on the price. We've got a healthy cushion of credits available right now, and those are solid investments.

I'd say that unless someone super wants a tank added to the company it's better sold or salvaged.

[Fishbreath]

Hide and Seek
Bear's Bruisers and Ortega's Outriders make a diversionary raid on a Capellan position southwest of the main effort.

Deployment


By 'diversionary raid', the colonel apparently meant 'utter destruction of your foes'. There's not really room to maneuver, as the Bruisers and Outriders come upon this Capellan firebase.

We're only required to knock out half of this force, but withdrawing in such close quarters is probably going to be harder than fighting it out.

Turn 1


The LRM and SRM carriers are quite dangerous, so we'll look to eliminate them first. Much of this fight, tactically, is going to be moving quickly so we're hard to hit, while putting our superior gunners in position to shoot effectively.

You may have noticed the Bastards wearing a new color scheme—Mephansteras' remark that this outfit is probably a camo outfit rather than a parade colors outfit prompted me to look through the skin options for MegaMek, and wouldn't you know it, there are some camo options.

The allied Hatchetman ends up notching the first kill of the day, taking down the SRM carrier—far and away the most dangerous thing on the field, which means we can more safely close to pulse laser range.

Turn 2


The Capellan Phoenix Hawks make what I would call a poor move, opening themselves to rear torso shots from a pair of our mechs.

Linebuster puts a pair of LBX-10 slugs into the side of the Bulldog tank, and torches its fuel supply with a medium laser, while Teddy Bear pumps additional fire in as well.

Turn 3


The Princess bot is really good at getting into my blind spots.

That said, the Capellans are wavering, and look like they're about to break and run for it.

Turn 4


It's a little late for them to break and run for it.

Pvt. Forakis slices the leg off of one of the enemy Phoenix Hawks with a barrage of pulse laser fire. (editor's note: the second leg, as it turns out, which is why the pilot bails.) The allied Hatchetman proves its worth once more, with the kill on the downed Vindicator. Linebuster takes the head off of the other Phoenix Hawk (another one for the hangar, perhaps?)

Cleanup
With just the enemy Griffin left in play, it's a race to see who can score the kill more than to see who will win. It ends up being Linebuster, who cannily switches his autocannons to cluster ammo, and knocks out the enemy mech's engine.

Damage, Injuries, Salvage


Milspec took most of the hits this time out, but nothing made it through his Crab's shell. He was lightly wounded in the action.



So we destroyed one Phoenix Hawk with a headshot, and the other by taking out both legs, and as it happens, both can be saved.

That would put us up to six, if we want to keep both of them. Between mothballed mechs and salvage, we're up to half a company of spare mechs. If we buy the Awesome and Marauder on the market, that puts us four mechs away from a proper battalion, which is pretty neat.

Kill Boards
Linebuster puts his Emperor to good use with a trio of kills.

Last Mission


All-Time Leaders

• "Rook" Ishikawa (29, 9 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Drake" Halit (17, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Woad" Kohler (14, 5 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Carcer" Ngo (12, 5 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Teddy Bear" Jamil (11, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Wizard" Que (8, 6 mechs, 6 Clan kills)
• "Severe" Payne (8, 6 mechs)
• "Linebuster" Atkinson (8, 2 mechs)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (6, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kill)
• "Euchre" Kojic (6, 2 mechs)
• Simona (6, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Double Dog" Dare (5, 2 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Blinky" Stirzacre (5, 1 mech)
• "Milspec" Ortega (4, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Ker-Ker" Ec (3, 2 mechs)
• "Pepper" Popalzi (3, 1 mech)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (2, 2 mechs)
• "Kicks" Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• Pvt. Erine Forakis (1, 1 mech)
• "Faceplan" Farooqi (1)

Status
It's still November 21, 3053.

Our FedCom liaison informs us that we should be prepared to ship out as early as December 12 for the next phase of the contract.

Action Items
Bear's Bruisers took next to no damage and spent very little ammo on the last deployment, and can continue their march to join up with the main effort, if desired. (They may or may not arrive in time.) Alternatively, they can withdraw with the Outriders, let the techs reload ammo bins and patch up armor, and stand ready with our reserve lances, in case there are any final loose ends to tie up after this assault.

Should we buy the Awesome (6.6 million C-bills) and/or Marauder (6 million C-bills)?

Should we keep the two new Phoenix Hawks?

If so, should we refit some/all of them (in addition to the one we just picked up)? The 1Kk refit is in reach, just, but anything more complex than that will have to wait. As a reminder, the 1Kk has much better armor than the -1 variant, plus ERLLs and MPLs, but loses the jump jets.

[Mephansteras]

For the PHs, I'd say let's upgrade one to the Kk and leave the others for now. And I'd vote to grab the Awesome and Marauder. Getting up to a Battalion size would be good, and they're solid mechs to build a lance around.

For tactical concerns, my vote would be for the Bruisers to join up with the main assault. If they don't show up in time they're still in good shape to help out with an after phase if necessary, and if they do show up in time we might need the extra muscle.

[Knave]

As for Shopping, I agree - grabbing at least the Awesome would be lovely to start building out the next company.
And I think Meph has the right idea - upgrading 1 to the 1kk and leaving the other... original for now seems like a good compromise.

And yeah - I imagine the Bears are close to 100%, so are happy to continue on and help on the next leg

[EuchreJack]

All sounds good.

[Fishbreath]

Stand and Fight
In spite of Rook's seniority, Sixth Lance is first on the field, and so Sgt. Khadjikyriakos is running the operation. The Bastards don't put a massive amount of weight on rank, at least not when tactical considerations are at play.

(Someone please claim the good sergeant, so I don't have to type 'Khadjikyriakos' quite so many times. In fact, I'm going to call her 'Sgt. K', and assume you know who I mean.)

The Battlefield
It's quite a large field, and relatively open except for a few stands of woods.

As you can see from how far I had to zoom out to get the whole setup.

Rook and the Raiders deploy in the north, where the longer-ranged units can shelter behind the arc of woods in front of them. In the south, Sixth Lance will cover their flank, skirmishing with anyone who gets too close.

The Bruisers are due in 12 turns or so. Enemy reinforcements are on the way as well, but information is spottier there.

Turn 1
Rook and Ker-Ker, with longer-range weapons than most of the rest of this force, split up to the north, while Carcer and **Faceplant move south to form an ad-hoc demi-company with Sixth Lance. At the end of the turn, everyone is still outside of weapons range.

Turn 2


Rook is just within LRM shot of the advance portion of the enemy force, and will take a crack at them this turn.

She lands nine LRMs on the enemy Flea, and Pvt. Selvåg from Sixth Lance cuts off its leg above the knee with a very lucky large laser shot.

Turn 3


The FedCom Phoenix Hawk is again a bit over-excited, given the balance and distribution of forces on the field. I'll kick the bot controlling him, and replace it with a more cowardly one.

By being closer to the enemy, he gets the kill on the downed Flea, and takes no damage in return. Maybe he was just daring, more than cowardly. Elsewhere on the field, fire is exchanged ineffectually.

Turn 4


Turn 4 sees the battle collapsing toward the south of the field, where the short-range units have more space to maneuver (although less cover).

We get the better end of the exchange of fire this round: bin Ala' al din, in the TBT-5N, does heavy damage to a Vedette's tracks, and Ker-Ker cuts the arm off of the enemy Wasp. In return, Mats Johansen in the TBT-5S gets pretty low on right torso armor, behind which there is an awful lot of SRM ammo.

Turn 5


Johansen books it out of danger. Ker-Ker finishes off a Vedette that the FedCom Phoenix Hawk immobilizes (he does, at present, seem daring more than foolhardy), while Rook knocks down the enemy Trebuchet with a volley of LRMs and large laser fire.

In the south, Sgt. Khadjikyriakos unloads a volley of laser fire into the enemy Raven, stripping armor off of several of its components and nearly knocking it over. (Oh for an LB10X!)

Turn 6


We have returned (unintentionally) to operating lance by lance. The Raiders move forward up north, while Sixth Lance jockeys for position in the south.

Sgt. K legs the Capellan Raven (whose pilot ejects; Philippa gets the kill), and the FedCom Phoenix Hawk scores another kill, stomping through the roof of the Harasser missile platform.

Turn 7


Most of Rook's Raiders stay still this turn, despite being relatively close to enemy forces: they're screened by woods, and the easier aiming will hopefully yield dividends on the Wasp and Vedette nearby.

Rook does most of the work on the enemy Wasp, but Faceplant scores the kill.

Turn 8


The Bastards close the range, but gunnery is largely ineffectual. Chatter over the radio nets suggest there are reinforcements nearing, but it's not clear whether they mean allied or enemy.

Turn 9


Rook eliminates the scout vehicle that ran out in front of her with a volley of laser fire (missiles held in reserve this turn). Faceplant immobilizes the Vedette in front of him with his UAC/5, then finishes the job with a stomp, while he peppers the Capellan Trebuchet with LRM fire.

Things are looking up, but now, emerging from the treeline ahead of the Bastards, are Capellan reinforcements, and they're pretty weighty: an Awesome (although the less cool 8V variant), two Cataphracts, and a Shadow Hawk.

Turn 10


The Bastards redeploy quickly to meet these new threats. In the south, Sixth Lance is going to have to fight a holding action and retreat toward support; they've taken a bit of damage already, and although they probably win a stand-up fight, it doesn't seem worth the risk when they have a lovely stand of trees to hide behind.

In the north, Ker-Ker notches a mech kill: a headshot on the damaged Capellan trebuchet.

Turn 11


In the south, Sixth Lance takes the relatively cautious maneuvering by the Awesome and Cataphract as a chance to make a run for the center of the field. In the north, Faceplant is in the middle of a few enemies, in search of a back shot on the Cataphract up there. Hopefully he doesn't live up to his callsign.

The northern Cataphract is in dire straits now, with armor shredded off of multiple limbs and severe internal damage all along its right side. Faceplant doesn't.

It's about time to tell the allied Phoenix Hawk to run for it; enemy fire takes its arm off.

Turn 12


The Bruisers arrive on the field. Teddy Bear stays north, rushing to help the Raiders clean up on that side of the field, while Linebuster and the Guillotine drivers head south to back up Sixth Lance. (Sgt. K and Lise Selvåg in the Raven are staying on station, hidden by the trees, while the pair of damaged Trebuchets legs it.)

Ker-Ker takes out the Pegasus with an aimed shot through its front armor plate, while a barrage of LRMs from Rook's Stalker finds the holes in the Cataphract's armor and cracks its gyro's casing. The massive spinning elements shatter, carving a path through the rest of the mech, and it collapses to the ground.

Turn 13


It looks like the Trebuchets and FedCom's Phoenix Hawk will escape the field successfully. The reinforcements continue to advance at best speed.

Carcer gets the enemy Stinger, a team effort with Rook. Pvt. Selvåg, dancing around the enemy mechs, puts a solid shot into the rear armor of the SCorpion tank—she's not a great gunner, but she is pretty lucky, so far.

Turn 14


Ker-Ker and Faceplant stay north to deal with the Shadow Hawk, while the rest of the company on the field moves south toward the Awesome and Cataphract. In ordinary circumstances they would probably be running now, but there's not a lot to run to, at this point, as the AFFC offensive rolls up the Capellan lines.

Carcer finishes off the Scorpion tank, while Selvåg both dodges all the incoming fire from the Awesome and Cataphract, and cheekily carves a hunk out of the Awesome's arm with her large laser.

Turn 15
No photo this turn. The enemy Shadow Hawk escapes the field after taking heavy internal damage, while the rest of the Bastards trade fire with the two remaining Capellan mechs.

Turn 16


Not a lot to report. The two doomed Capellans move north toward the previously-engaged Bastards, hoping perhaps to score a kill against previously-damaged mechs.

Turn 17


The Capellan mechs are on the edge of the board now, probably looking to disengage next turn. We'll do what we can to prevent that. Teddy Bear uses the awesome maneuverability of the Vulcan to get in close and unleash a full volley from his weapons.

Once again, our FedCom ally (whose bot is not running away like I expected it to, after replacing the starter AI with the 'run away' AI) does serious work: even down an arm, he cuts the leg off of the Awesome with accurate fire. The Cataphract is knocked prone, too, unable to escape this round.

Turn 18
Linebuster gets the kill on the downed Cataphract, again using cluster ammo at long range to find the holes in the enemy's armor.

The smoke clears, and no Capellans are left in the field. The radio nets tell a similar tale all across the front line: organized resistance is breaking down, Capellan units are beginning to surrender, the fighting is slowing to a halt.

Damage, Injuries, Salvage


Carcer and Mats Johansen both take light injuries in the course of the fight.



Kill Boards
I don't know if Rook is one for a post-mission drink, but she'll have as many Tsingtaos as she wants tonight, on the rest of the company, now that she has crossed two more milestone on the kill board: double ace in mech kills, six-time ace overall.

Last Mission


All-Time

• "Rook" Ishikawa (31, 10 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Drake" Halit (17, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Carcer" Ngo (14, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Woad" Kohler (14, 5 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Teddy Bear" Jamil (11, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Linebuster" Atkinson (9, 3 mechs)
• "Wizard" Que (8, 6 mechs, 6 Clan kills)
• "Severe" Payne (8, 6 mechs)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (6, 4 mechs, 2 Clan kill)
• "Ker-Ker" Ec (6, 3 mechs)
• "Euchre" Kojic (6, 2 mechs)
• Simona (6, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Double Dog" Dare (5, 2 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Blinky" Stirzacre (5, 1 mech)
• "Milspec" Ortega (4, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Pepper" Popalzi (3, 1 mech)
• "Faceplan" Farooqi (3, 1 mech)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (2, 2 mechs)
• "Kicks" Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• Pvt. Erine Forakis (1, 1 mech)
• Sgt. Philippa Khadjikyriakos (1, 1 mech)

Status
It is now November 22, 3053.

The Bastards celebrate a hard-won victory, as news of Capellan units surrendering pours into our headquarters in that Tsing City hotel. The veterans congratulate Sixth Lance: this is their first combat deployment, and they acquitted themselves well. Drake allows himself a smile. He might have preferred to be in the field, but coordinating this two-pronged attack took a fair bit of staff work, and as the unit grows, he might find himself watching operations like this a little more often.

The stand-down order arrives later in the evening: organized Capellan operations on Tsingtao have ended, and second-line FedCom units take over security duties. A uniformed figure slips into the Bastards' party at the hotel, and pulls Drake aside for a quick briefing.

Evidently we have a dedicated FedCom liaison now, from the AFFC's Department of Mercenary Relations: Hauptmann Catriona Toman, who introduces herself in a way that says she pretty clearly would have preferred the Davion/Federated Suns rank of 'Captain' instead of its Federated Commonwealth equivalent. Apart from that quirk, she is brisk and businesslike.

Tsingtao is secured. The Capellans must answer for their attack. The top brass in the Sarna March have decided that their response will be taking a Capellan system. We will be part of Operation Hephaestus, the assault on Ares, the wheels for which are already turning. The 1st FedCom Regimental Combat Team is already en route, and will pass through Tsingtao to pick up the Bastards.

Or, potentially, only some of the Bastards. Hauptmann Toman lays out the plan for us: an advance force raids strategic objectives on Ares, softening the world for invasion in the days before the main force lands. We are developing a reputation for lightning strikes and independent operations. The AFFC has noticed, and thinks we might be the best fit for the advance raid: one company of mechs, landed about ten days before the invasion starts, running at maximum operational tempo before linking up at the landing zones.

The Hauptmann is quick to point out that this isn't an order: we're free to say 'no', and AFFC regulars will conduct the advance raid instead. The Bastards will land as one unit, with the main invasion force. On the other hand, she says we will be extremely well-compensated if we take on the advance raid, in addition to our contract for the planetary assault—she doesn't name an exact figure, but does insinuate that it's well into eight figures for a little more than a week of combat. "Think about it," she says, "and let me know in the next two or three days." Advance elements will be leaving on December 12.

With that, she excuses herself, surreptitiously taking a bottle of Tsingtao from the open bar on her way out.

(note: I'm working on some house rules for the advance raid, which I will finish and post if we decide to take FedCom up on the offer, or at least decide to hear the offer in full.)

Contract
Capellan forces onworld have been defeated. (If any scenarios are generated between now and the official end of the contract, I will remove them by GM fiat.)

Finances
We have 73.183 million C-bills in the coffers, after purchasing a Marauder and an Awesome.

TO&E, MechWarrior Claims, and Mech Assignments
Units lacking a bolded callsign are free to be claimed.

Sgt. Khadjikyriakos' callsign is temporary, because her surname is a lot to type. Feel free to pick another one.

• 1st Company
  
  • Drake's Destroyers
    
    • Major Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras) - Awesome AWS-DRAKE
    • Cpl. Ferdinand "Woad" Kohler (A Thing) - Grasshopper GHR-5KOB
    • Pvt. Jan "Euchre" Kojic (EuchreJack) - Lancelot LNC25-0B
    • Pvt. Abdul-Hafiz "Pepper" Popalzi (mrkilla22) - Archer ARC-2K
  • Rook's Raiders
    
    • Captain Mariamu "Rook" Ishikawa (Culise) - Stalker STK-3Fb
    • Cpl. Damayanti "Carcer" Ngo (Dorsidwarf) - Flashman FLS-7K
    • Pvt. Elroy "Faceplant" Farooqi (NickAragua) - Dragon DRG-5N
    • Pvt. E-Shei "Ker-Ker" Ec (Kanil) - Lancelot LNC25-0B
  • Bear's Bruisers
    
    • Lt. SG George "Linebuster" Atkinson (Hasek10) - Emperor EMP-6A
    • Lt. JG Tedros "Teddy Bear" Jamil (Knave) - Vulcan VL-5T
    • Pvt. Ed "Hanzoku" Yuksel (Hanzoku) - Guillotine GLT-4L
    • Pvt. Xue-Min "Wizard" Que (Rince Wind) - Guillotine GLT-4P
• 2nd Company
  
  • Fourth Lance
    
    • Captain Sung-min "Double Dog" Dare (a1s) - Warhammer WHM-6R
    • Pvt. Catherine "Severe" Payne (Burnt Pies) - Koshi/Mist Lynx
    • Pvt. Gwenael "Kicks" Hernandez (Sheyra) - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1Kk
    • Recruit Simona - Ryoken/Stormcrow
  • Ortega's Outriders
    
    • Lt. JG Jose "Milspec" Ortega (milspec) - Crab CRB-30-UK
    • Pvt. Kevin "Blinky" Stirzacre (moghopper) - Ostroc OSR-2D
    • Pvt. Erine Forakis - Phoenix Hawk PXH-3K
    • Pvt. Ik-jun "Wojtek" Frajtov (Blaze) - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1
  • Sixth Lance
    
    • Sgt. Philippa "K" Khadjikyriakos - Thunderbolt TDR-5S-T
    • Cpl. Margita bin Ala' al din - Trebuchet TBT-5N
    • Pvt. Mats Johansen - Trebuchet TBT-5S
    • Pvt. Lise Selvåg - Raven RVN-2X

Repairs and Refits
Our techs spend a marathon night, from the 21st to the 22nd, working on battle-damaged mechs, and by noon, every one of them is ready to fight again.

Unnecessarily, as it turns out, but good work regardless.

In terms of Phoenix Hawks, we have six: one 3K, one 1Kk, three stock models, and one refitting to 1Kk. I would favor refitting one or two more to 1Kk or 2K standards—the 2K is the same as the 1Kk, except with four medium lasers in place of two medium pulse lasers.

Our salvaged Raven is the 1X model, which was the late-3030s prototype of the chassis, which carries 7.5 tons of prototype EW gear that is impossible to replace like for like—we have Beagle Active Probes and Guardian ECM suites now. If we want an EW Raven, we can refit it to 3L standard. Otherwise, the 2X variant (same as our existing Raven: good armor, large laser, 2x medium laser, SRM-6) would be a fine choice.

Organization
Between salvage, mechs brought to the unit by new hires, and purchases, we have already ten of the twelve mechs we'd need for a third company: two Awesomes, a Marauder, a Quickdraw, three Phoenix Hawks, a Whitworth, a Raven, and a Wasp. The unit market hasn't reset, if we want to add any other chassis from the last update.

Action Items
Do we take the advance raid assignment?

Do we refit any of the three stock Phoenix Hawks?

What do we do with the salvage Raven?

What do we do with the salvage Awesome?

[EuchreJack]

Advance Raid!

Suggested name for Sargent until claiming: Sgt. Khad

[Mephansteras]

I'm fine with the Advance raid. Pay sounds great, and our lances are all quite capable. We should be able to manage pretty well.

For the Raven, I'd say go with the 3L model. Having some EW capabilities is handy.

For the Awesome, what are our options? I'd rather go something like a 9Q, but I don't know how hard that is to get to.

No strong preferences on the PHs.

[Fishbreath]

Advance Raid!

Suggested name for Sargent until claiming: Sgt. Khad

Noted!

I'm fine with the Advance raid. Pay sounds great, and our lances are all quite capable. We should be able to manage pretty well.

For the Raven, I'd say go with the 3L model. Having some EW capabilities is handy.

For the Awesome, what are our options? I'd rather go something like a 9Q, but I don't know how hard that is to get to.

No strong preferences on the PHs.

On Ravens: the 3L is a little more complicated than I realized: it has an XL engine, so that would amount to a full rebuild during downtime on a well-equipped world. Since the 1X essentially wastes 7.5 tons, and the 2X refit only takes a day or two, I switched it to that standard instead. (There is a potential '2XOB' variant, following the naming scheme I've been using, that replaces the large laser with an active probe and ECM suite, a medium laser, and a heat sink.)

The Awesome 9Q is still a few years away in canon terms, but it's not a hard idea to come up with independently (8QOB). A very common trend in Inner Sphere mech design, at this point in history, is 'but what if double heat sinks, and more guns?' Lots of work, though—about two months, more time than we have before we turn around and ship out again.

[Mephansteras]

Given that information, I think it makes sense to go with whatever options we can do quickly and easily for now. We can upgrade everything more when we've got some more downtime.

[Knave]

Definitely think we should take on the raid. We thrashed the Caps quite easily this last mission. a tough week of combat seems like a lucrative (and FUN!) change of pace and I imagine will put us through our paces. Would expect us to look quite battered by the end, not unlike a John Wick film 

Agree that any upgrades we do now should look for quick wins, and we can save our more fanciful/difficult upgrades for when we have more downtime planned.

[Fishbreath]

Advance Raid House Rules
We can bring three lances of mechs.

We will have three primary targets on Ares: a sensor/C3 facility for the orbital and deep space defenses, an aerospace fighter base, and a munitions dump. Each will comprise a separate scenario. In all cases, mission success will involve destroying one or several buildings on the map and withdrawing.

There may also be objectives of opportunity, or combat with roving defenders as our presence and location become more known. These will become more likely as we complete more of our main objectives.

Mechanically, for opportunistic secondary objectives, I'll skip random scenario generation for the advance raid part of the contract and roll 2d6 each day, with a combat event on 11+ or 12+ (undecided which), -1 per main objective we complete, and -1 once the main body arrives in-system, three days before planetfall. For the last few days, we could conceivably be fighting some kind of action daily.

Destroying either the sensor/C3 facility or the ASF base will allow the main force to land without losses, almost certainly. Leaving both active means some dropships may be hit on the way down—possibly including dropships carrying the rest of our unit. Destroying both means a guaranteed safe landing.

Additionally, any completed main objectives or generated secondary objectives in which we are the attacker will reduce either the equipment quality or the experience of the defenders for the planetary assault portion of the contract by 1 level.

Advance Raid Options
We can run the advance raid one of two ways, if we decide to conduct it ourselves. In both cases, our arrival will be covered by a diversionary aerospace fighter strike. We should be able to get groundside without issue.

Lightning Strike
We pack into three Leopard dropships, and FedCom leaves us on Ares with twelve mechs, a truck or two carrying a tech team and a couple tons of supplies, and that's it. We're fully on our own. Any repairs are done in field conditions, and anything beyond a few tons of supplies has to come from battlefield salvage, or not at all.

On the positive side, we would have no fixed positions to defend. We can ignore generated scenarios where we're the defender, and we don't need to leave a lance behind on attacks. If we elect for a combat landing on one of our primary targets, we can surprise the enemy, and may get some fire support from the Leopards before they dust off.

Mechanically, we can bring two tech teams and 40 tons of supplies.

Secret Base
The AFFC seconds a Union dropship to us. We land it on Ares, and use it as a base of operations. We can bring a few more tech teams and a reasonable (though not huge; there's not much room in a Union beyond the mech cubicles) supply of spares and ammunition. Any work we have to do on the mechs would happen in comparatively luxurious transport bays.

On the flip side, we would be responsible for someone else's DropShip. Once it lands, it's pretty much landed—spheroid DropShips are not known for their agility in atmosphere, and the Capellans will be looking for it, so taking off again The AFFC will insist that we leave a lance of mechs with it to defend it at all times. Losing it wouldn't be the end of the world for our FedCom relationship (the fortunes of war), but the circumstances of the loss would be important. Landing on one of our primary targets and losing it to the defenders wouldn't look great, for instance.

Mechanically, we can bring six tech teams and 100 tons of supplies.

Contract Details
The advance raid will pay 30 million C-bills, 30% battle loss compensation, and 100% exchange salvage rights. (That is, we're paid 100% of the salvage value of enemy forces we destroy, on the grounds that it's less to fight when the main body lands, but we don't get to keep any of it, on the grounds that we can't afford to be in one place for that long.) There may be some room for negotiation on these points.

For the planetary assault portion of the contract, when our advance force rejoins the main body, pay for five months comes to about 80 million C-bills. The initial offer is House command rights, 25% battle loss compensation, and 60% salvage rights.

Finally...
There are some moving parts to this that I've never done before, in MegaMek, so it may be a little bit until I get to advancing the clock, while I practice in lower-stakes scenarios.