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[Mephansteras]

I'd vote Salvage now, then focus on least-damaged mechs, then most damaged last.

My thinking is that we've got a few days before we're going to have any heavy fighting. If we do need to fight, we can probably get away with just having our best fit mechs doing the fighting. Worst case we have them escape first and have the rest of the team do a fighting retreat.

Salvage, at least of ammo and armor, seems like the highest priority since we've absolutely used up a bunch of our stockpiles taking out the first two objectives.

[EuchreJack]

Salvage is probably a priority, then just patch up all the armor.

As a note, repairing armor is a low risk repair task: We just lose armor if we fail it.

Armor also covers up more serious damage.

Probably should get Pvt. Forakis' Phoenix Hawk leg looked at.

More specifically, I suggest the following 2-day repair plan:
Day 1:
Orel Pestunov (Elite) repairs the Phoenix Hawk leg of Pvt. Forakis'. It should be complete by end of day or early Day 2
Chika Heri (Veteran) and Euchre (Regular) strip the vehicles of armor & ammo. We can then abandon them.

Day 2:
Orel Pestunov (Elite) finishes the leg repair above, proceeds to repair armor
Chika Heri (Veteran) and Euchre (Regular) repair armor and reload ammo

The way that the battle generator works, we should be able to do repairs on Day 2 before any potential Day 2 missions, so this should increase the chances that we're "good enough" for combat operations.

I think Arm & Head repair work can be saved for Day 3 & 4 by Orel Pestunov (Elite) and Chika Heri (Veteran).

[Fishbreath]

The way that the battle generator works, we should be able to do repairs on Day 2 before any potential Day 2 missions, so this should increase the chances that we're "good enough" for combat operations.

I'll be doing some dice rolling outside of normal battle generation to determine what happens on each day (if ordinary battle generation doesn't give us anything), and when it happens. I think I settled on some kind of combat action on 11+, -1 for each major objective completed, -1 after 5 days, and another -1 once the main force is in-system and it's clear that this isn't just a retaliatory raid.

[Fishbreath]

Mission Log
Day 1 Repairs
Euchre: 1xp +50 points of armor (3.125 t) -7 shots of LB10X solid -2 shots of LB10X cluster

Chika Heri: +120 LRMs (1 t) +59 points of armor (3.6875 t)

Pestunov: Repairs the PXH-3K and the Crab.

-55 points of FF armor (3.07t)

Cargo State 4 tons of leg actuators 53 rounds of LB10X solid shot (5.3t, 10 per ton) 28 rounds of LB10X cluster shot (2.8t, 10 per ton) 1080 LRMs (9t, 120 per ton) 35 points of ferro-fibrous armor (1.95t, 17.9 points per ton) 224 points of standard armor (20.81t, 16 points per ton) 1 ton of rescued Leopard crew

44.85/70 tons capacity

Day 1 Notes
We didn't get very much out of the vehicles. One of them, a Hetzer, still has 44 points of armor on it, and was destroyed by a pair of PPC shots through the right side rather than immobilization or criticals. It is inoperable, but in good enough shape to tow with us for a look tomorrow.

Perhaps the Bastards will celebrate future December 21sts as Blinding Lightning Day, if the rest of the mission goes to plan.

Day 2 Repairs
Euchre: -195 LRMs -39 points of armor

Chika Heri: -4 points of armor (after salvaging 44)

Orel Pestunov -93 points of armor

Cargo State 4 tons of leg actuators 53 rounds of LB10X solid shot (5.3t, 10 per ton) 28 rounds of LB10X cluster shot (2.8t, 10 per ton) 885 LRMs (7.375t, 120 per ton) 35 points of ferro-fibrous armor (1.95t, 17.9 points per ton) 108 points of standard armor (6.75t, 16 points per ton) 1 ton of rescued Leopard crew

28.175/70 tons capacity

Day 2 Combat
Combat action on 9+ (11, -2 for main objectives), roll is... 9.

According to the random encounters table, this mission is a Probe (Attacker), and will take place at 8:00 p.m. Since it's an attacker mission, we can ignore it, but recall from the house rules post that attacker missions reduce the enemy's skill, equipment level, or morale for the invasion phase. (All those values start at highly unfavorable levels for us.)

In character, the opportunity presents itself to bushwhack a patrol some distance outside of a small town, seeing what local defenses are like outside of strategic targets. Resistance is likely to be light to moderate at worst. Some enemy reinforcements may be in the area. Achieving the probe objectives (destroy 1/4 of the enemy force, losing less than 1/4 of our own) may or may not leave us time to salvage. Clearing the field altogether, and advancing to catch any potential reinforcements, would give us a window of time in which we could pull some additional supplies from anything we defeat.

Day 2 Notes
We're in pretty good shape, repair-wise: everyone is ready to go except for Pepper in the Archer. Wizard is still recovering from her light wounds yesterday, but is still able to fight if needed.

Should we engage, or leave the patrol unhassled?

[Mephansteras]

I vote we engage, but let Pepper and Wizard sit it out. We've got enough firepower that we should be able to smash a probing force pretty easily.

The more damage we can do the better, especially if this could reduce the amount of enemy forces in the area for when we go hit the depot.

[EuchreJack]

Let's gank 'em. 

And Pepper & Wizard can guard the supplies back at base.

[Fishbreath]

Sounds good. I'll get that set up for (perhaps) this weekend.

Checking a few things in the save led to a bit of morning mech lab work, and some proposals for the Archer. It is perhaps our heavy mech in most dire need of modernization: it's the furthest thing in the world from heat neutral, and its secondary armament leaves something to be desired when the missiles aren't an option.



The designs here address the heat concerns by the standard Inner Sphere trick of switching from standard heat sinks to double heat sinks. Both refits trade the pair of large lasers for a single long-range weapon that can be used alongside the LRMs, plus some medium lasers that can be used alongside the new long-range weapon for a short-range punch. Both also add 1 ton of armor for better durability.

The PPC refit is more heat-neutral and has slightly better long-range damage. The ER Large Laser refit matches our logistics train better and fits an extra medium laser in for close-in work.

We don't need to make any choices on this for a couple of months of in-game time, but I had time for playing with the mechlab this morning, and not for any actual gameplay, so.

[Mephansteras]

I have a slight preference for the PPC build, since more punch at longer range is always good, as is more armor (even if just a touch). But either is fine.

[Culise]

I'm inclined to vote for engagement. Blinding the enemy by knocking out their patrols should be worthwhile even thematically, and given that it's reflected mechanically as well in the house-rules, I vote for taking advantage.

[Knave]

Hello! haven't had much time to jump in here (now a proud papa, as of last week! ), but wanted to add my voice to the the 'let's blow up the patrol' group!

I like the ER Large Laser build as it suffers less if a fast enemy gets up in the Archer's grill, but both are good

[Mephansteras]

Hello! haven't had much time to jump in here (now a proud papa, as of last week! ), but wanted to add my voice to the the 'let's blow up the patrol' group!

Congrats!!

[Fishbreath]

December 22, 3053
Well, that's a pretty unanimous vote in favor of attack!

First order of business: spending a bit of XP. Wojtek is now a 3/4 veteran (gaining the Hopping Jack trait), and Teddy Bear is now a 2/3 elite (gaining Melee Specialist).

Drake has 60 xp in the bank, and not a lot to spend it on: he's already at 0/1, and the difference between 1+ and 0+ piloting is very small. He could spend the XP on Tactics (50xp, initiative bonuses and auto-generated mission condition rerolls), Strategy (30xp, controls lance deployment limits and makes reinforcements arrive faster), Leadership (20xp, increases the size of unit we can sustain and increases the amount of damage the enemy has to deal to us to force us from the field in battle), and Negotiation (30xp, mostly just increases unit rating).

The Against the Bot rules also say you're allowed to purchase pilot abilities. Energy Specialist might be a good choice, at 40xp.

Patrol Ambush
Drake sets us up in ambush positions, but we're a bit off of the patrol's route—not enough time to get a good sense for its track, and it's not as though we have the prior day's route to extrapolate from.

Instead, we're advancing from the south. At Hanzoku's suggestion, we're borrowing a page from the Clan playbook and advancing in two five-mech stars, rather than splitting into 4-4-2 or 3-3-4 units. Euchre, Drake, Linebuster, Hanzoku, and Woad make up the heavy star to the west, while Teddy, Wojtek, Milspec, Blinky, and Pvt. Forakis are the light star to the east.

The Capellans have an augmented medium lance on the field: four mechs, two vehicles.



Sensor readings are fuzzy at first, but it appears that the enemy reinforcements have arrived early today. (Once again, I set them up to arrive late in the MegaMek lobby, but here they are, not late. I must be doing something wrong there.) In any case, this is going to be a stiffer fight than it first appeared.

Round 1


The heavies take up positions on high ground, from which they can take advantage of their long-range weapons. The mediums advance on the east side, hoping to take up flanking positions.

Drake and Linebuster each score a hit on the Tiger tank in the middle of the field. Strange to see one on the field here: it's an ancient design, dating back to the 2400s, and is best known for its service with the Federated Suns. The local defense forces here must have found a cache of them somewhere.

Round 2


The Capellan militia commander is canny: he's concentrating his mech forces, which will make them a tougher nut to crack.

Blinky and Milspec are lined up to finish off the Tiger. The rest of the eastern star will work on the Drillson hover tank. The heavies will take potshots at what they can, including (probably) that over-eager Hermes.

Blinky is first on the board with the Tiger. Otherwise, we trade fire with little effect.

Round 3


Aggression, on the part of the Capellan commander, as he commits two mediums and a hovertank into the teeth of our light star. The heavies begin to move back across the field. They'll take up positions in the woods Hanzoku is just entering, which will give them some cover while posing little obstacle to their outgoing fire.

Drake peels open the center torso armor of the Hermes with a pair of PPC shots, and Linebuster cores it with a large laser. Milspec stomps on the Drillson tank, cutting through its hover skirt and driving it into the ground. It's immobile, and should be done for next turn.

Round 4


The eastern star starts falling back to the woods, while the heavies make progress toward them. The terrain is rough, but as it happens, all of the heavy mechs but Euchre's Lancelot have jump jets, which helps them with the forest. (The Lancelot is pretty quick, even if it can't jump.)

Milspec takes out the Drillson, while Blinky takes heavy fire in return, with armor on both his mech's arms looking a very much worse for the wear.

The Capellans have been lucky with gunnery so far, while we have had the opposite experience, frustratingly. Drake remains calm, though, issuing clear orders without apparent difficulty from the distractions of driving a mech and firing its weapons, and we continue to hold the initiative.

Round 5


We pour an awful lot of firepower into the enemy Orion, and Drake separates its right arm from its body. Blinky makes it into cover, PPC shots from the Capellan Marauder splashing electric fire into the trees around him. He shoots back, and his aim is a little better, cutting into the Marauder's center torso.

Round 6


The Capellan Orion has made a bad choice; Woad, Hanzoku, and Euchre will disassemble it while Drake and Linebuster continue east to help the light star. Blinky and Teddy Bear, though both damaged, dance in and out of the treeline, looking for shots they can take (on account of being very good gunners) that expose them to limited enemy return fire.

Woad takes the other arm off of the Orion with a Streak SRM 2 shot, and Teddy's medium lasers slice into the Dervish's right torso and cut through an LRM launcher.

Round 7


It looks like the Capellans are retreating. The goal now is to cripple as many of them as we can. Since the patrol was on the field already, we don't need to go hunting for them: whatever we destroy, we can strip in relative peace.

Woad, predictably, gets the kill on the Orion: the Grasshopper has four medium lasers, two medium pulse lasers, and the brace of Streak SRM launchers it can unload on short-range targets, and it's hard to argue with that kind of firepower. Secondary explosions ripple across the Orion's left torso as its LRM ammo cooks off, and the pilot rockets skyward as the autoeject system pushes him out ahead of the fireball.

With a trademark cross-map shot, Drake wrecks the foot actuator on one of the enemy Phoenix Hawks, which may allow Hanzoku to catch up with it.

Round 8


Teddy and Blinky, being the most in danger of losing limbs to an errant shot from the retreating Capellans, fall back from the field.

Milspec takes a peppering of LRM fire from the retreating Dervish, the first damage to ferro-fibrous armor we've taken in this action. (That's a good thing—it's much harder to come by in the field.) Drake tries again on the distant Phoenix Hawk, to little effect, while the rest of the heavies team up on the Marauder and cut through its center torso armor. Its pilot struggles to keep control of his machine under the barrage, and ultimately fails—the mech tips over onto its side.

Round 9


The retreat continues. The two Capellan Phoenix Hawks seem likely to escape, unless Drake knocks out the damaged one with some characteristically excellent gunnery, while the Dervish and Marauder are probably not long for this world.

Drake does it: he sends a shot into the hip actuator of his target. The pilot, not keen to stay in a non-ambulatory mech, bails out. Hanzoku finishes off the Marauder with a medium laser through the tattered armor around its cockpit.

Wounded beyond its pilot's will to stay in the fight, the Dervish makes a run for it, as does the final Phoenix Hawk. The field is clear, and the Bastards come out on top.

Damage, Injuries, Salvage
Blinky's Ostroc will need some moderate patching-up: his right arm took some internal damage, and his left arm was right on the cusp of it. Teddy's Vulcan is a little battered in places, but still has armor coverage on all parts.

The Orion was too badly mauled to take anything useful from, but the other three mechs we knocked out can be picked over for useful supplies.

We also receive a kill bonus of 7.37 million C-bills.

Kill Boards
Six units killed (out of ten we faced), and six separate mechwarriors each accounted for one. Woad jumps Carcer on the overall list, and Linebuster just edges out Teddy on the tiebreaker. Blinky jumps several spots in one go.

Last Mission


All Time

• "Rook" Ishikawa (31, 10 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Drake" Halit (22, 8 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Woad" Kohler (15, 6 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Carcer" Ngo (14, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Linebuster" Atkinson (12, 6 mechs)
• "Teddy Bear" Jamil (12, 5 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Wizard" Que (8, 6 mechs, 6 Clan kills)
• "Severe" Payne (8, 6 mechs)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (8, 5 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Blinky" Stirzacre (7, 1 mech)
• "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)
• "Milspec" Ortega (5, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Pepper" Popalzi (4, 1 mech)
• "Faceplan" Farooqi (3, 1 mech)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (2, 2 mechs)
• Pvt. Erine Forakis (2, 1 mech)
• "Kicks" Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• Sgt. Philippa Khadjikyriakos (1, 1 mech)

Mission Log
Day 3 Repairs
Salvage 114 standard armor

Use 10 LB10X solid shot 4 LB10X cluster shot 40 LRMs 6 ferro-fibrous armor 88 standard armor

Cargo State 4 tons of leg actuators 43 rounds of LB10X solid shot (4.3t, 10 per ton) 24 rounds of LB10X cluster shot (2.4t, 10 per ton) 845 LRMs (7.04t, 120 per ton) 29 points of ferro-fibrous armor (1.62t, 17.9 points per ton) 134 points of standard armor (8.37t, 16 points per ton) 1 ton of rescued Leopard crew

28.73/70 tons capacity

Day 3 Notes
Pestunov and Heri work like madmen to get the mechs largely turned around and ready to fight. The Archer is still pending, but everyone else is ready to go, barring a few points of armor missing off of a leg or a side torso here and there.

Day 4 Repairs
Salvage 129 standard armor

Use 89 standard armor

Cargo State 4 tons of leg actuators 43 rounds of LB10X solid shot (4.3t, 10 per ton) 24 rounds of LB10X cluster shot (2.4t, 10 per ton) 845 LRMs (7.04t, 120 per ton) 29 points of ferro-fibrous armor (1.62t, 17.9 points per ton) 174 points of standard armor (10.87t, 16 points per ton) 1 ton of rescued Leopard crew

31.23/70 tons capacity

Day 4 Notes
Wizard has recovered from her foot injury from the first day, and is no longer limping around camp.

Day 5 Notes
It's Christmas Day. Here in the northern latitudes on Ares, a gentle snow falls. The techs are caught up. Pestunov and Heri try their best to give the unit a Christmas present—a 270 XL engine salvaged from the Capellan Phoenix Hawk hanging from our repair vehicle's crane—but for all their efforts, they're unable to free it from the mech's frame. With long faces, they release the magnetic clamps and drop the Phoenix Hawk's corpse in the snow. The unit drives on.

Capellan radio traffic is increasing in volume. It's probable that they know we're here, and that they'll be searching for us in earnest now. It's only going to get busier from here.

[Mephansteras]

First order of business: spending a bit of XP. Wojtek is now a 3/4 veteran (gaining the Hopping Jack trait), and Teddy Bear is now a 2/3 elite (gaining Melee Specialist).

Drake has 60 xp in the bank, and not a lot to spend it on: he's already at 0/1, and the difference between 1+ and 0+ piloting is very small. He could spend the XP on Tactics (50xp, initiative bonuses and auto-generated mission condition rerolls), Strategy (30xp, controls lance deployment limits and makes reinforcements arrive faster), Leadership (20xp, increases the size of unit we can sustain and increases the amount of damage the enemy has to deal to us to force us from the field in battle), and Negotiation (30xp, mostly just increases unit rating).

The Against the Bot rules also say you're allowed to purchase pilot abilities. Energy Specialist might be a good choice, at 40xp.

I'm inclined to say Strategy and Leadership. More combat ability would be nice, but honestly he doesn't need much help on that front and it makes sense for the Commander to start specializing in command.

Pity about that engine, but a good battle regardless. We made solid money, our supplies are in decent shape, and we've dealt another blow to the local forces. Win all around, as far as I'm concerned!

We have until day 10 to take out the last objective, right? In which case I think we should aim to do that on day 7 or 8.

Might be wise to hold off on deliberately engaging any more enemy forces until then, so we don't run the risk of having to do that fight with damaged mechs.

[Fishbreath]

Some house rules notes:

Currently, we have the potential for combat on a daily die roll of 9+. Starting on day 6, that goes down by 1, and then on day 8 it goes down by 1 again. Finishing the last objective will also reduce it by 1. So, finishing the last objective will have us potentially fighting on a 6+ (70% chance), days 8, 9, and 10.

Remember that, for the planetary assault contract, the contract conditions start at Elite skill, A+ equipment, and High morale, and each victorious 'attack' mission during the raid can reduce one of those conditions by one step, so there's incentive to keep up the pressure if we generate attacks.

I think I'm going to reverse myself on saying we can always avoid combat on 'defend' missions; maybe I'll base it on a Tactics or Strategy check for Drake, with similar ramping difficulty.

[EuchreJack]

Makes sense. Imagine hunting down some commando raiders, only to have your planet invaded.

It was why the paratroopers right before D-Day were so effective. They didn't necessarily get ALL their objectives, but it hampered the Germans ability to repel the invasion.