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[Mephansteras]

Neat, glad this is back!

And may all your home-buying experiences be swift and painless.

[Fishbreath]

And may all your home-buying experiences be swift and painless.

They have been neither so far, but I think we're through the worst of it now.

[EuchreJack]

Refit the Thunderbolt.  And maybe the Raven.

[Kanil]

Refitting the Thunderbolt to the TDR-5SE or TDR-5SS variants are both valid choices, as is simply leaving the MG/SRM ammo bins empty if refitting is too much work. If you want a custom, I'd drop the MG/SRMs for 4 heatsinks... but there's a lot of other things you could do too.

What matters is that all the ammo is kept in the CT, where it's protected by as much armor as possible, and has lots of crit padding... ... and if you're taking CT crits, you're probably having a bad time anyway. A smoking crater is only marginally worse at fighting than a gyroless 'mech (although there is a lot less to salvage.)

And maybe the Raven.

The Raven is destroyed. "Salvage" in the salvage screen describes a unit destroyed beyond repair, but still having left over stuff. You shoot the torso out of a 'mech, there's still two legs you can strip for parts (unless you shot them off too.) We're just picking over the scraps on that one.

[Hasek10]

Good to see you back at it Fishbreath!

I'm always in favor of refit kits whenever possible, simply because the maintenance on custom units tends to be a PitA. I'd say Pick your favorite TBolt variant and do the work on it.

Quick question for FB and others!

In terms of refit/repairs, whats your criteria for selecting the repair site? I usually switch everything to Transport Bay when I'm in the dropship, In the Field when I'm on a raid, Field Workshop for non-raid "offensive" contracts, and maintenance facility on Garrison contracts. I'm considering adding in house rules for mobile field bases and repair trucks/other support units, but I'm not sure exactly what I'd do.

[Blaze]

Any C-Bills spent on making our newest acquisition less explosive is C-Bills well spent IMO.

What are we looking at in terms of contracts now?

[Hanzoku]

If you are interested in doing a custom build of the Thunderbolt rather then a refit kit, something like this is a pretty good upgrade in my opinion:

Code: (Thunderbolt TDR-5S Yuksel) [Select]

Movement: 4/6
Engine: 260
Double Heat Sinks: 14 [28]
Gyro: Standard Gyro

Internal: 104
Armor: 197/211 (Ferro-Fibrous)
      Internal  Armor
Head     3       9
Center Torso     21       30
Center Torso (rear)       10
Right Torso     15       23
Right Torso (rear)       7
Left Torso     15       23
Left Torso (rear)       7
Right Arm     10       19
Left Arm     10       19
Right Leg     15       25
Left Leg     15       25
 
Weapons   Loc   Heat
Medium Laser   LT   3
Medium Laser   LT   3
Medium Laser   LT   3
LRM 15   RT   5
Small Pulse Laser LA   2
Small Pulse Laser LA   2
Streak SRM 2   HD   2
ER Large Laser   RA   12

Ammo                Loc   Shots
LRM 15 Ammo        RT   8
LRM 15 Ammo        RT   8
Streak SRM 2 Ammo      RT   50

Equipment   Loc
Artemis IV FCS   RT
CASE           RT
C3 Slave   CT


Changes from stock:
- Replace the armor with Ferro Fiberous, which tends to be reasonably available, unlike endosteel structures
- Replace the heatsinks with Doubles
- Replace the machineguns with small pulse lasers
- Replace the SRM2 with a more efficient Streak system
- Replace the large laser with an ER version
- Add Artemis IV FCS to the missile launcher
- Add C3 slave for possible inclusion in a C3 lance
- add CASE for the ammunition, meaning that the mech should generally be recoverable, outside of engine destruction.

[Rince Wind]

Most of that stuff is probably way out of reach for some small noname Merc outfit.

I think someone wanted Ngo a couple pages back, but if not I'll take her, callsign Wizard.


I would have bought the Archer, ripped out the rear lasers and replaced them with heatsinks -> fire those LRMs all day long (if you don't move too much)


When you got less than expected for accepting that contract earlier did you mothball mechs in advance? Because payment depends on what is in the To&E at the time of signing the contract. So if you have a clan mech it would be worth showing it off to potential employers, even if you don't intend to field it, same with other expensive gear, like that XL-engined star league mech or whatever.


My own campaign started 3025 and is nearing 3055 now, we have some dropships, even a jumpship, and some clan mechs that are mostly mothballed unless we fight clans (we had an incident recently with loosing a Nova Primes arm and most of the lasers within it. Kinda hard to replace.). It is always a bit strange coming back from the clan front and then fighting someone else, and weeks of fighting give you salve worth less than one good clan heavy.

I also write an LP about it, but in a German forum.


Edit: Did you ever consider changing the AI setting for the liaison mech to cowardly? (right click on it before you click launch mission, though it can be changed in the lobby as well, iirc.) Then it might not die just as often and steal your points.

[Fishbreath]

You know, you're right. My mistake. Ngo was claimed, and I just forgot to update my notes. It's Carcer Ngo in the future, from Dorsidwarf.

[Fishbreath]

Homeward Bound Again[/u]

The Opinionated Bastards pack up and head home from Propus, celebrating the New Year on the way through [http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sichuan](Sichuan). We've all survived 3050, and the company is in better shape now than when we started. 3051 looks bright.

You may recall that Propus was a long way from Piedmont. We keep an eye out for interesting contracts on the way home, but none present themselves.

Arriving on Piedmont, the mechanics get the mechs out of mothballs, training resumes, and the minor damage which accumulated on Propus is finally fixed. Woad's Grasshopper has its last jump jet back, and Ker-Ker's Frankenstein Lancelot once again has a large laser.

The techs put Double-Dog's new Thunderbolt into the repair bay, then spend some time digging through factory plans and archives. Veteran mech tech Kepano Endo finds something interesting in the public records of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery...



Late in the Third Succession War, the Draconis Combine invaded Galtor III, led by the Bremond Draconis Mustered Militia. That unit's commander, Mary Tallman, had a customized Thunderbolt TDR-5S, retaining the large laser but ditching all the other weapons in exchange for eight medium lasers, four in each side torso. The remaining weight and space was filled with heat sinks.



This seems like just the thing for money-conscious mercenaries such as ourselves. It takes a few weeks, but soon the

Status[/u]

It is now March 19, 3051.

Finances

We have 9,559,943 C-bils in the bank. Training and other expenses run to about 145,000 C-bils per month.

Training

Among others, Rook improves her gunnery to 1+. Her piloting remains at 3+.

The green pilots have all improved somewhat over the course of the last few months. Euchre and Woad are a mere few battles away from joining the ranks of the regulars, and Wojtek is only a little behind them.

Owing to her superb performance over the contract at Propus, Carcer Ngo has been promoted to Corporal.

Organization

Current lance rosters:

• Heavy Lance (275t)
• Captain Drake Halit, Awesome AWS-8Q
  
• Lieutenant SG Rook Ishikawa, Flashman FLS-7K
  
• Corporal Carcer Ngo, Crab CRB-20
  
• Private Woad Kohler, Grasshopper GHR-5H
• Medium Lance (190t)
• Lieutenant JG Double Dog Dare, Thunderbolt TDR-5S-T
  
• Sergeant Milspec Ortega, Phoenix Hawk PHX-1
  
• Private Ker-Ker Ec, Lancelot LNC25-02 "Frankenstein"
  
• Private Severe Payne, Locust (Custom, 3 medium lasers)
• Cadre Lance (270t)
• Lieutenant SG Linebuster Atkinson, Lancelot LNC25-02
  
• Private Hanzoku Yuksel, Guillotine GLT-4L
  
• Private Euchre Kojic, Trebuchet TBT-5S
  
• Private Wojtek Frajtov, Trebuchet TBT-5N
  
• Private Teddy Bear Jamil, Vulcan VL-2T Custom

Spares

As far as big-ticket items go, we have two spare large lasers, one spare PPC, one two-ton gyro, and one three-ton gyro. We have a little short of 60 tons of armor; we'd probably want more going forward.

MechWarrior Claims and Assignments

• For the record, the following mechwarriors are claimed.
• Captain Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras)
• Lt. SG George "Linebuster" Atkinson (Hasek10)
• Lt. SG Mariamu "Rook" Ishikawa (Culise)
• Lt. JG Sung-min "Double Dog" Dare (a1s)
• Sgt. Jose "Milspec" Ortega (milspec)
• Pvt. Ferdinand "Woad" Kohler (A Thing)
• Pvt. Jan "Euchre" Kojic (EuchreJack)
• Pvt. Cathrine "Severe" Payne (Burnt Pies)
• Pvt. E-Shei "Ker-Ker" Ec "Frankenstein" (Kanil)
• Pvt. Ed "Hanzoku" Yuksel (Hanzoku)
• Pvt. Ik-jun "Wojtek" Frajtov (Blaze)
• Pvt. Tedros "Teddy Bear" Jamil (Knave)
• Pvt. Damayanti "Carcer" Ngo (Dorsidwarf)
• All mechwarriors are currently claimed. As the unit grows, there will be more mechwarriors to claim.

Schedule

It turns out that I will, in fact, be buying a house (or at least, it's overwhelmingly likely that this will be the case). As such, I'll have limited time to spend on BattleTech, what with the packing and things. I hope to stick to one post per week, but bear with me if the schedule slips. I'm not abandoning it or anything.

Action Items[/u]

Contracts Available

Contract time! Our options are...

• The Federated Commonwealth wants us to participate in a Planetary Assault against the Draconis Combine. Though it may seem unwise to participate in an attack against the same government which controls our homeworld, such arrangements aren't unheard of among mercenaries. There are rules to protect us. As far as the details go, we'd be traveling two jumps to Nashira. Command rights are liaison, which I believe means we would control the allied mech detailed to keep an eye on us. Transport costs are fully covered, we would get 60% salvage rights, and, most interestingly, we'd also get 100% battle loss compensation. The contract would last five months, ending in early September, and would net us approximately 17,525,000 C-bills.
  
• The Draconis Combine wants to hire us for Garrison Duty on Darius, which is facing sporadic attacks from the Free Rasalhague Republic. I'm not sure how they find the time, given their current troubles with the Clan invasion, but such is life in the Inner Sphere. Darius is six jumps away. House command rights means we'd have to deal with a friendly AI unit. Transport costs are fully covered, salvage rights are 40%. We receive no battle loss compensation, but the Combine will cover 60% of our monthly operating costs. Garrison contracts always last a long time; this one is twenty-two months, ending in March of 3053. I believe we would have the option of taking side contracts during our garrison time; we'd also have access to good repair facilities and spare parts. Estimated profit over the nearly-two-years of time under contract is 52,650,000 C-bills.
  

We can also elect to take no contract and try again next month.

Long-Term Goals

• Are we interested in hiring more pilots? As Rince Wind noted, a bigger table of organization and equipment yields fatter contracts, which translates to better equipment and bigger contracts. Another lance or two would also give us better depth, allowing us to stand up to longer contracts more readily even if we run our spare parts stock down.
  
  • If we are interested in expanding the company, I'll keep an eye out for good pilots on the personnel market and hire at my discretion.

[Blaze]

I'm going to tentatively push for the Planetary Assault, but that decision mostly rests on whether the "Transport is fully covered" clause also includes the hiring of a dropship. Nobody wants to take a combat heavy contract and be stuck patching up in a field workshop.

Otherwise, I believe we'll be facing mostly vehicles early on; which should be fairly manageable. Higher salvage limits and full damage compensation means more C-Bills for us, and I think the risk is worth the reward.

I'm going to vote Yes on the more pilots. With the cadre lance moving up to the regulars, we should start training up the next group before the inevitable losses hit.

[Kanil]

It's a pretty radical departure from a typical Thunderbolt, but there should probably be enough of it left over after each fight to put it back together.

I'd pass on the Garrison contract. Both because it takes forever, and also because thematically getting raided by the FRR for almost a year after Tukayyid is just silly as hell. The Planetary Assault seems to have pretty much everything you'd want in a contract, but if others want to wait another month, that's fine too.

Adding on another lance is good, either through salvage or through buying new 'mechs. That said, we already have a couple green pilots, so ideally we try to only pick up regulars or better -- adding pilots that are either abysmally bad or require extensive training isn't really a great plan.

Edit:

Of course I'd be in favour of expanding, so I can claim a MechWarrior as well.

Surely we can find him a 4/5 or better guy and a 'mech with our millions?

[Mephansteras]

I vote to do the Planetary assault. The money looks good for a 5 month contract and the rest of the deal sounds amazing.

I also think adding another lance or two sounds like a good strategy.

[Culise]

I'll join the Planetary Assault crowd.  Something like half again as much per month in expected pay, plus better salvage and loss compensation. 

[Rince Wind]

As a mere reader I'd vote for the Assault, but stock up on parts.

Of course I'd be in favour of expanding, so I can claim a MechWarrior as well.
Just be away that you will then be required to have more lances an active duty. (I think that just depends on the total number of units in the ToE&E.