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[Fishbreath]

In the Mech Lab

The Opinionated Bastards reach out to FedCom officials via hyperpulse message, and the deal is made. We can now buy advanced Inner Sphere technology; our mech techs place a large order of double heat sinks on the same day.

Since the Awesome is a large part of our combat strength, we'll have to hold off on refitting it until we're between contracts. By February 6th, however, we're ready to start on Severe's new ride, the Koshi. Hanzoku demonstrates to the techs how the omni system works, and all agree the interchangeable pods are pretty nifty.

The problem is, we don't have very many podded weapons: just a pair of Clan ER Medium Lasers. Those go on, of course, but that leaves quite a bit of space left over. (Since the Koshi is an omnimech, we can't alter its armor configuration without totally redesigning the chassis.) The techs scratch their heads, then draw up plans to wire in three of the ER Small Lasers from Hanzoku's old mech in fixed mounts. They can't be swapped as easily, but at present, we don't have enough Clan salvage to make that a problem.

Kepano Endo, one of the company's original techs, takes a look at the specifications, grunts, and gets his team to work. On February 9th, he announces it's finished. Severe takes it out for a spin and pronounces it good.



And good it is, at least in large part. It moves 7 hexes while walking or 11 while running, and can jump 6 hexes. Its five lasers generate 24 heat, while it sinks 20 per turn. Its alpha strike at ranges up to 6 hexes is a highly respectable 29 damage, dropping to 14 damage at ranges out to 15. (That's the same range as an Inner Sphere large laser.)

Unfortunately, it's rather lightly armored. The arms in particular are pretty floppy, with only four points of armor and four points of internal structure. PPCs of any flavor will readily knock them off, as will Clan large lasers, lucky missile hits, and more. As such, the armament is placed in the slightly more durable side torsos. No important equipment is in the arms. This makes it a little harder to target enemies behind the mech, but also makes it less likely we'll lose Clan equipment. At present, we don't have enough of it to throw it away.



In the Field

Nox is quiet through most of February. On the 22nd, a panicked Rasalhague intelligence officer lets us know that a large Clan force has jumped into the system. On the 25th, they reach Nox and make landings. By the 27th, the planetary capital has fallen and Clan forces are advancing on our sector. While the Rasalhague crews pack up the DropShips, the Opinionated Bastards are tasked with making a delaying attack on an overextended Clan force.

The Action of February 27, 3052

We've had about enough of being outgunned by Clanners, so we deploy Drake's Destroyers and Second Lance against a short star of Clan heavies and a handful of reinforcing lights. Our Rasalhague ally is driving a Scorpion, a rare quadruped mech, armed with a PPC and an SRM-6 launcher.

The map is a minuscule section of hilly badland with next to no cover. It's going to be bloody, but we've also caught this detachment off guard, so hopefully it's not terribly bloody on our side. Knock on wood.

Round 1



We come over the ridgeline on the west side of the map and find the Clan forces arrayed before us. Only four mechs are in evidence at present, the heavies; we stumbled onto them before we found their screening forces. The latter should arrive shortly.

Although the numbers are heavily in our favor owing to whatever minor losses the Clanners took elsewhere on the planet, intelligence suggests these Clan pilots are more skiled than those we've faced previously. We'll see how that plays out.

In the north, Drake is the target of most of the Clan fire, but gives out a beating too. He hits the enemy Mad Cat in the head; with a Clan PPC, he would have knocked it out instantly. As is, he wounds the Clanner pilot.

Return fire from the Mad Cat and Ryoken, however, knock out his right torso, which dramatically reduces the effectiveness of his armament. His center torso armor falls under the onslaught of the Mad Cat's LRM-20 launchers. The Awesome is alive, but on shaky ground.

Round 2

The Clanners look at Drake's battered Awesome and seem to think it's crippled enough to ignore for now. They probably aren't wrong.



He calls out for focused fire on the Ryoken, and most of the lance complies. Woad, chasing the Mad Cat further north, decides to shoot at the target directly in front of him.

Woad's gamble pays off. His lasers cut into the Mad Cat's left torso, striking its LRM ammunition and slicing off its left arm.

He attempts to kick the Clanner to add injury to injury, but doesn't quite connect. Wizard, along with Milspec and our ally in the Scorpion, engage one of the enemy Fenrises and pierce its armor, but can't quite bring it down.

Round 3

I'm a little concerned for the Awesome, which is attracting fire from the Ryoken and the southern Fenris.



Rook in the Stalker has laid down some serious damage, but not quite finished anything off yet. I have high hopes she'll manage to do so against the Mad Cat.

It's a close-run thing, but unfortunately, Drake's Awesome goes down to center torso destruction. It'll probably be salvageable, but will take some time and some doing to put back into service. At the very least, it's down for the remainder of the contract.

As a consolation prize, Rook takes down the Mad Cat. Under heavy fire, both Fenrises fall down. Wizard stomps the southern one, crushing it.

Round 4

The pilot of the enemy Ryoken ejects, for reasons not entirely clear to me. His mech was still in fighting shape, just shut down and fallen over. We may be able to salvage it, too. Although we're already at our salvage limit, there isn't going to be a Free Rasalhague Republic to complain for very much longer.

In a curious exercise in futility, the remaining enemy mech on the field, a Fenris, tries to stand up five times, failing the first four attempts. On the fifth try, he manages to stand... directly in front of Double Dog, who'll compete with Carcer and Woad for the kill. Double Dog gets it.

Round 5

We reset, arranging ourselves to meet the Clan reinforcements. Inner Sphere screening units might have retreated, but Clanners are cut from different cloth. The two lights will attempt to avenge their compatriots.

Round 6

The enemy deploys at the northeast corner and southeast corner of the maps: a Koshi and a Puma, respectively. Perhaps we can score some spare parts for Severe's new ride.

The Koshi manages to find a spot where it's very difficult for the northern force to hit it. In the south, however, the enemy Puma takes a solid thrashing.



Round 7



This time, the Koshi isn't so lucky. The Puma, too, is facing down a ton of firepower.

Carcer's mech takes a hit to the head, knocking her out, but Woad retaliates by downing the Koshi. Wizard brings down the Puma, knocking out its engine with a shot to the left torso.

Damage, Injuries, Salvage

Salvage is good. Because its pilot ejected after it overheated, the Ryoken is simply sitting on the battlefield, crippled but able to move under its own power. Drake, extricating himself from the Awesome's cockpit, calls Rook on his handheld radio and has her bring in Hanzoku, who simply starts the Ryoken and marches it off the field.



Contrary to reports, the Awesome is down, but not out. The Rasalhague officers, watching reconnaissance reports warily, agree to loan us a few tanks to drag it back to the DropShip. As our techs cut into the shattered center torso, they find enough of the internal structure left there to make a rebuild a possibility, but it's going to take a long time to get it back into full-on fighting trim. Drake is out a ride for now.

We receive about two and a half million C-Bills in battle loss compensation, most of it for the Awesome. Our Rasalhague liaison is sheepishly apologetic as he authorizes the payment.

Kill Board(s)

Last Battle



After-battle review suggests Rook should be credited with the Ryoken, in addition to the Mad Cat. That breaks her kill drought, and puts her ahead of Drake again in mech kills.

Wizard has another good day, making ace on four Clan mech kills and one vehicle kill. She's the current leader in Clan kills.

All-Time Leaders

• "Rook" Ishikawa (26, 7 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Drake" Halit (14, 6 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Woad" Kohler (13, 5 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Carcer" Ngo (11, 5 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Wizard" Que (5, 4 mechs, 4 Clan kills)
• "Teddy Bear" Jamil (5, 3 mechs, 2 Clan kills)
• "Double Dog" Dare (5, 2 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Linebuster" Atkinson (5)
• "Severe" Payne (4, 4 mechs)
• "Ker-Ker" Ec (3, 2 mechs)
• "Milspec" Ortega (3)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (2, 2 mechs, 1 Clan kill)
• "Euchre" Kojic (2, 2 mechs)
• Gwenael Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (1, 1 mech)

Status

The Bastards pack up and burn away from another fallen world. In the command center of the Union dropship we've crammed into, Drake asks an officer where we're headed next.

"A little nowhere world I doubt you've heard of," the officer says. "Tukayyid."

It is now March 11, 3052. We land on Tukayyid in two days.

Contract Status

Once we land on Tukayyid, the Rasalhague Republic will likely extend our contract by another two weeks to cover the travel time, which will push us into June. I can't imagine they have much money left, though.

Unit Market

Nothing to report. The only mech available this month is a Blackjack BJ-1.

Finances

We have 31.621 million C-bills in the bank.

Repairs and Refits

As mentioned above, the Koshi is in fighting shape right now. We will have to do a little more work on it, swapping out the Clan anti-missile systems for Inner Sphere versions of the same. We can't get ammunition for the Clan system, so right now it's just taking up weight.

Surprisingly, the techs have managed to get the Awesome into something approaching fighting shape. It's standing on its own two legs, and looks approximately like it did prior to the last battle. The techs have also informed Drake that it's just in cosmetic good shape right now; it could possibly be rushed into combat, but would be questionably functional.

In the next mech bay over, the newly-salvaged Ryoken looks to be in pretty good shape. That's a little misleading, though. It's missing a few at-present-irreplaceable Clan double heat sinks, and its right arm, where most of its ER Medium Lasers are mounted, is in dire shape beneath the armor, barely attached to the chassis. It'll need to be replaced; when reattaching it, the techs discovered critical damage we won't be able to repair. To replace it, we'll have to take all the medium lasers out, as well as the armor, and I don't want to have to deal with that yet.

Recruitment

One of the Clanners survives, clambering out of the wreckage of the Mad Cat. He's quickly taken into custody by our pilots. We're about to cut him loose—the Clanners don't pay ransom, and keeping a bunch of prisoners on hand isn't really in the cards—when Hanzoku asks to have a word.

After a conversation of surprising speed and length, Hanzoku explains that the Clanner, Simona, is now a bondsman in Rook's service—an indentured servant who must prove himself to possess loyalty, integrity, and combat skill to earn his freedom back.



Mechwarrior Claims and Assignments

• For the record, the following mechwarriors are claimed.
  
  • Captain Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras) - Awesome AWS-8Q (out of action)
  • Lt. SG George "Linebuster" Atkinson (Hasek10) - Lancelot LNC25-02
  • Lt. SG Mariamu "Rook" Ishikawa (Culise) - Stalker STK-3F
  • Lt. JG Sung-min "Double Dog" Dare (a1s) - Thunderbolt TDR-5S-T
  • Sgt. Jose "Milspec" Ortega (milspec) - Crab CRB-20
  • Cpl. Damayanti "Carcer" Ngo (Dorsidwarf) - Flashman FLS-7K
  • Cpl. Tedros "Teddy Bear" Jamil (Knave) - Vulcan VL-5T
  • Cpl. Ferdinand "Woad" Kohler (A Thing) - Grasshopper GHR-5H
  • Pvt. Jan "Euchre" Kojic (EuchreJack) - Trebuchet TBT-5S
  • 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 - Archer ARC-2K
• The following mechwarriors are available.
  
  • Pvt. Gwenael Hernandez - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1K
  • Pvt. Kevin Stirzacre - Wasp WSP-1A
  • Rec. Simona - Ryoken/Stormcrow B

Action Items

• We can take advantage of the Awesome's downtime to refit it now, adding double heat sinks and Clan ER PPCs, or we can rush it back into action so Drake has a ride again.
• We can refit the Ryoken further, switching to Inner Sphere double heat sinks in OmniPods. Doing so might not actually gain us anything over its present, damaged state—I'll have to look at its current setup to see if it has the internal space to fit Inner Sphere heat sinks. Or, we can leave it as-is, down two heat sinks. (If we're going to add Inner Sphere heat sinks, we should probably also take the time to scrap its damaged arm and replace it with a new one.)

[Mephansteras]

Ouch. I'd say refit the Awesome. No point in taking it out half-finished only to get possibly destroyed for good.

What are the stats on the Ryoken? I'm not familiar enough with that one to have an opinion either way.

[Culise]

"I'm sorry, you said I have a what now?"

I'm in agreement with Meph: let's definitely get the Awesome back in fighting trim before we field it again.  Looking up the Ryoken-B, it's a flexible 55-tonner in a close-combat configuration.  I suppose it depends on how badly we'll need the additional heat sinks, but the arm also sounds pretty badly-off.  If we need the arm refit in either case, I think we should go for it. 

[Hanzoku]

The Ryoken is a fast, ground-bound medium mech. It can travel 6/9, is well armored and at least in the primary configuration, carries enough heatsinks to run and fire 2x ER Large Lasers and 3x ER Medium Lasers each round, forever.

The Ryoken B is a short range face-pounder. Think a Hunchback, but twice to three times as good. Unlike the stock Ryoken, it can't fire everything without causing heat buildup. Remaining heat neutral, it can double up on the Ultra AC/20 and two lasers, or fire five lasers at walking speed.

Its downsides are that it uses Clan-spec FF Armor and Endosteel Internals. Unless we can find someone who can hook us up with a spare arm, removing the arm will mean we can't replace it until we can salvage another one. The armor can also be an issue, as the best source is stripping clan vehicles to the chassis. Otherwise, we have to kill mechs and salvage their armor.

As an aside, the best mech types to salvage are the Loki, Black Hawk and Daishi - all of them use standard internals, and the Black Hawk and Daishi use standard armor as well, making them relatively easy to keep operational.

You just have to, you know, kill a Daishi first. No sweat, right?

[Fishbreath]

It costs an arm and a leg (ha), but salvaged Clan limbs and armor are sometimes available on the market, especially when we're working for a power fighting the Clans, and we can also trade bits and pieces of our scrap Clan mechs for bits and pieces more relevant to our functioning ones. ("I'll give you a Mad Cat arm and a Puma leg for your Ryoken parts!")

[Hanzoku]

Oh, for the action items:

* Awesome - no time like the present to repair the internal structure, swap the heatsinks, and turn it into a 3x Clan ER PPC monster that'll make anyone it runs into have nightmares... or die.

* Ryoken - see if we can trade parts and stuff in IS double heatsinks to get it working. Maybe stick Simona into it since he has experience piloting omnimechs and well, ultra-elite gunnery is nothing to sneeze at.

[Fishbreath]

I have two refit options for the Awesome. I guess Mephansteras can pick, since it's Drake's ride.

Option 1: Armored Up

• 3 Clan ER PPCs (LA, LT, RA) - moved PPC from right torso to left arm to fit another heat sink
• 15.5 tons of armor - maxed-out, up from 15 stock, which may help keep the supremely-valuable, arm-mounted ER PPCs from getting knocked out
• Sinks 40 of 48 heat per turn
• Walk 3, Run 5... Jump 3 - jump jets on an assault mech are unusual, but yield better tactical mobility and evasion
• Underweight: only 72 tons of 80 used, and 72/78 critical slots - can possibly add a Command Console cockpit, if we can find one, to fill another 3 tons, which also yields +2 initiative when the Awesome is on the field

Option 2: Bigger Engine

• In large part, as above: same weapons, 1 less heat generated (because no jump jets)
• Walk 4, Run 6, no jump jets—same mobility as Carcer's Flashman
• 14.5 tons of armor
• No Command Console

Another refit worth considering, now that we have double heat sinks, is Rook's Stalker—without changing the weapons fit beyond moving some medium lasers into the center torso to free up arm criticals, we can almost double its heat dissipation (from 20 to 36 per turn) and add a full two tons of armor, both of which should significantly improve its staying power and short-range punch.

[Mephansteras]

I like option one. While improved ground speed would be nice, the more Armor the better. The Awesome is just too much of a target to go without max armor. Plus, with jump jets to get over rough terrain and the longer range PPCs it should be easier to get/stay in the fight anyway.

[Fishbreath]

* Ryoken - see if we can trade parts and stuff in IS double heatsinks to get it working. Maybe stick Simona into it since he has experience piloting omnimechs and well, ultra-elite gunnery is nothing to sneeze at.

We can buy Clan ferro-fibrous armor at a rate of 300,000 C-bills per ton, and should be able to trade for a replacement arm. We'll take a look at putting in IS heat sinks, but it'll be a long refit—the techs will have to fiddle with the heat sinks in the engine, too.

I like option one. While improved ground speed would be nice, the more Armor the better. The Awesome is just too much of a target to go without max armor. Plus, with jump jets to get over rough terrain and the longer range PPCs it should be easier to get/stay in the fight anyway.

It shall be done! I'm excited to see the Awesome in action when it's ready.

[Rince Wind]

You could also take a look at the royal Stalker.
I think I asked before, but anyway: Do you play with mech quirks? Because the Stalker has an awesome one that gives it an additional 4 heat dispension for free. It has the no-arms disadvantage as well though.

The Loki is a good target. It has wet paper for armor and more weapons than sense, so even if you knock some out it probably has enough left to make its heatsinks work overtime. Worth killing quickly all the time. Often worth picking as salvage for the aforementioned weapons. But using one? Unless you put on a lot of armor it is not a good choice. And putting armor on an omni is meh anyway. It also wouldn't really be a Loki anymore.

The IIC mechs can be really good. Some can trash most omnis in their weight class and then some. The Rifleman IIC is just pure munchkinism.

[Fishbreath]

You could also take a look at the royal Stalker.
I think I asked before, but anyway: Do you play with mech quirks? Because the Stalker has an awesome one that gives it an additional 4 heat dispension for free. It has the no-arms disadvantage as well though.

Yup, I do have quirks on.

The choice between the two Stalker variants falls to Culise, since it's Rook's mech for the time being.

The quicker refit leaves weapons as-is and adds double heat sinks (18) and armor (2 tons) only. The royal refit, the STK-3Fb, removes the SRM-6 racks, adds Artemis IV fire control for the LRM launchers, upgrades the LRM launchers to LRM-15s, and upgrades the large lasers to extended-range versions. It also adds double heat sinks (17 instead of 18) and armor (2 tons).

[Hanzoku]

A fairly quick and simple refit on the Loki Prime swaps the A-pods for two more heatsinks, letting it run and fire both PPCs while being heat neutral. Combined with the targetting computer, it can comfortably stay at long range and PPC things to death.

[Culise]

How much actual use have we gotten out of the SRMs?  I'd be inclined to go for the glory for those beautiful LRMs with fire control and ER-Lasers (is Guardian ECM also in the game?), but I also don't want to have both the Stalker and Awesome in the shop at the same time while we're technically still on the job (especially if the contract ends up extended).  Perhaps we get the Awesome armored up first since it's already in the shop for repairs, then bring the Stalker back for the royal refit. 

[Fishbreath]

I have a post for this weekend, but there are twenty-some battle pictures to crop and sort, so it won't be ready until tonight.

[Rince Wind]

Guardian ECM is in the game.