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[GraalOtonami]

Out of curiosity, how far are you willing to go in changing chassis and components? At some point, mechs cease to be what they were, and become something else entirely, will you be turning these into entirely new chassis or just keeping them as a variant Mech?
An example of this is a variant I made of the Titan prototype, transforming it into an entirely different mech with better engines, all short ranged weaponry and a change to the armour type. I decided that the change was vast enough to the point that I renamed the chassis and called it a Titan II-IS, with variants named after Greek titans. I reasoned that my team of 15 Elite Mech Techs modified the Mech and created something entirely distinct from the original.

[Hanzoku]

My personal rule has been that engine changes and structural changes are off limits. Weapons, heat sinks and armor can all be swapped out, but anything further requires a factory as it does essentially require rebuilding the 'Mech from the skeleton up.

I would allow a swap from an IS XL engine to a clan XL engine though - basically on the thought that the 'Mech's internal spaces are already configured for an XL engine, and you're fitting a smaller part into the available space.

[Rince Wind]

CASE is a factory refit as well, iirc. But if can I try to fit it into every refit that could use it. Elite MechTechs help a lot because they allow you to do factory level refits in a maintenance hangar. (Not that the game cares, it is one of those rules you have to enforce yourself)
I usually try to keep the "spirit" of the mech intact. So an Ostroc would never become an AC toting mech and the Trebuchet would stay as an LRM support (well, the LRM version at least).

I have two Grasshoppers with DHS, those can use more lasers. One has a Clan LPL as its longrange weapon and some IS MPLs in addition to the regular MLs and is really scary, the other one has a C3 slave and is basically the heavy spotter (the other one being a PXH) for a Stalker and the Hatamoto-Chi Master. But they are still Grasshoppers.

[Fishbreath]

Mind if I snag Hernandez? After his performance in that sim, I'd like to dub him Kicks on account of that drive-by Puma punting.

Welcome to the team!

Out of curiosity, how far are you willing to go in changing chassis and components? At some point, mechs cease to be what they were, and become something else entirely, will you be turning these into entirely new chassis or just keeping them as a variant Mech?

I follow rules similar to Hanzoku and Rince Wind—engine, structure type, and sometimes armor type are fixed per chassis. I'm willing to go a little further in changing the flavor of a chassis, provided it takes a lot of time and there's an existing variant with a similar weapons fit. (Missiles on an Awesome? I can buy that. An AC/20? Not so much.)

[Hanzoku]

I allow CASE refits stock, mostly because I hate it when my Marauders decide to spontaneously stop existing because of the haywire crit rules.

If they ever redesigned the BattleTech rule set (which isn't going to happen anytime soon, but still...) I'd make crits more common BUT when you roll against the spots in the section, you can crit an empty spot. It's then not selectable the next time that section suffers a critical hit, but it changes a crit on the Marauder's LT from 100% chance your mech evaporates to a 1 in 12 chance, then 1 in 11, 1 in 10, etc.

[Fishbreath]

You can roll crits against empty spots already, can't you? At least, there are tons of (crit, no effect) in the combat logs in MegaMek.

[moghopper]

Do we have a stock of pulse lasers? It might be a good idea to outfit some units with them for close combat duty.
A few mechs with jump jets, pulse lasers, and maybe some flamers would make decent urban combatants.

[Rince Wind]

You can roll crits against empty spots already, can't you? At least, there are tons of (crit, no effect) in the combat logs in MegaMek.

Those are only possible crits. After rolling one you need to confirm it (needs to be either 7+ or 8+ on 2d6, can't remember). This roll also defines the number of crits. A 12 means three crit rolls.

[Hanzoku]

And once a crit is confirmed, it can only hit actual equipment - slots taken up by internals or armor don’t count. If the only equipment in a torso section is an ammo bin, well... hello critical existance failure.

[Fishbreath]

And once a crit is confirmed, it can only hit actual equipment - slots taken up by internals or armor don’t count. If the only equipment in a torso section is an ammo bin, well... hello critical existance failure.

Well, blow me down. I went and looked up the rule, and wouldn't you know I've been doing it wrong all these years.

[Fishbreath]

Tukayyid from the Sidelines

The Opinionated Bastards spend the month of May engaged in the typical activities of warriors removed from the fighting. Some work on maintenance. Others hit the simulators. Still more poke around the small city where the Bastards are ostensibly guarding evacuees from the combat zone, looking for leisure and finding little of it. Drake spends some time with MechTech Endo, learning the ins and outs of his Awesome's guts. Between the new double heat sinks, the new power conduits and mounting points for the Clan PPCs, and the general rebuild-it-from-scratch thing, it's a serious project, and is going to be a serious project for some time longer.

News reaches the Bastards both by radio intercepts and by our Free Rasalhague Republic liaison, who is a little more plugged into happenings than we are. The general impression is that things are going well. As mid-May passes, the news turns a bit more sour, but Hanzoku points out that Clan Wolf's victories are largely symbolic. The Com Guards have already won the balance of the fighting, and that's enough.

On the 20th, the fighting stops. The distant rumble of heavy weapons fire falls silent. News filters out: the Truce of Tukayyid is now in force. The Clans may not advance past Tukayyid for fifteen years.

With that, our purpose in the remains of the Free Rasalhague Republic is moot. Our liaison informs us that he'll be paying us the rest of our fee, and that we're free to stay for a while, but there's no more combat against the Clans to be had in his government's employ.

The Bastards stick around through the end of May, at least. Few of the planet's residents join them; most of the large population centers were ruined during the fighting, and despite its newfound historical importance, Tukayyid is still a backwater. Our mechs keep an eye on the loading process, as DropShips arrive to carry off the portion of the population which doesn't want to stay.

Kill Board(s)

Last Battle

Nothing much going on this month.

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 (7, 6 mechs, 6 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)
• "Milspec" Ortega (4, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Ker-Ker" Ec (3, 2 mechs)
• "Hanzoku" Yuksel (3, 3 mechs, 2 Clan kill)
• "Euchre" Kojic (2, 2 mechs)
• "Kicks" Hernandez (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• Simona (1, 1 mech, 1 Clan kill)
• "Wojtek" Frajtov (1, 1 mech)

Status

It is now June 1, 3052, and a very different world awaits.

The Bastards are not currently under contract.

Finances

We have 47.259 million C-bills in the bank.

Repairs and Refits

The Awesome is still three months away from combat readiness. Otherwise, we're in top fighting shape. An Ostroc is on the way for Blinky.

Mechwarrior Claims and Assignments

• For the record, the following mechwarriors are claimed.
  
  • Captain Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras) - Awesome Custom (refitting)
  • 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
  • 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) - 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 (mrkilla22) - Archer ARC-2K
  • Pvt. Kevin "Blinky" Stirzacre (moghopper) - Ostroc OSR-2C (en route)
  • Pvt. Gwenael "Kicks" Hernandez (Sheyra) - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1K
• The following mechwarriors are available.
  
  • Rec. Simona - Ryoken/Stormcrow B (missing lasers)

Action Items

The whole of the Inner Sphere is our oyster, as the saying goes.

• In the short term, we're in excellent shape. Our war chest is large enough to absorb a long wait while we refit most of our mechs to be more Clan-competitive. Alternately, we could take an easy contract while we're refitting, taking it a bit more slowly and getting our greener pilots some experience against an easy opponent.
• As it happens, there's just such a contract available: ComStar offers us a job fighting rebels right here on Tukayyid. Since some of Tukayyid's residents aren't happy about the devastation or the ComStar takeover and the Com Guards are seriously battered after the battle against the Clans, our services command a premium. ComStar would be paying us better than the Free Rasalhague Republic did.
• Do we take the ComStar contract while refitting, refit without taking a contract, or go looking for more opportunities to get stuck in against the Clans? (Although there was a truce, the Clans are a long way from the truce line across most of the coreward Inner Sphere.)
• On that note, what do we want to refit? I think it's probably a good time to get the Stalker done, at a minimum, but most of our heavy mechs would benefit from a double heat sink refit. We're a pretty energy-heavy company at present.

[Mephansteras]

I say take the contract. Money while we refit is good, and rebels shouldn't require our a-game.

[moghopper]

I say take the contract. Money while we refit is good, and rebels shouldn't require our a-game.

Agreed.

[Rince Wind]

I agree as well.

Do you use the PPC on my Mech a lot? If not, I wouldn't mind if my Guillotine went more in the 4L direction, especially with more armor. (Maybe ER-Large instead of the PPC or even a Clan Large Pulse if we have one an no one else calls dibs, DHS, CASE if factory level refits are possible, and armor up to the GLT-4L level. Depending in how much is freed by the DHS more medium lasers or some med pulses. Because few things are better than jumping behind someone in a 70t mech, pump him full of lasers and then kick him for good measure.)

Though you might have other priorities. My experience with the similar Grasshopper is that it is a very competetive mech even without advanced tech. But the Grasshopper has the edge on armor.

[GraalOtonami]

It's entirely likely that Comstar might provide some repair and refit assistance, getting some more eyes-on on sweet clan-tech while recording every second, taking the contract might mean putting all mechs into a Repair Facility almost on par with a Factory due to Comstar's aid.