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3030s - 4th Succesion Wars, basic technology only, Star League 'Mechs are rare, Clans aren't a thing yet

1 (12.5%)

3040s - Renaissance era, basic technology, but advanced designs begin appearing. The dawn of the Clans

4 (50%)

3050s - Clan Invasion, Clan tech is rare but possible, while advanced IS design and tech starts appearing

3 (37.5%)

3060s - FedCom Civil War, widespread advanced tech in the Inner Sphere, Clan tech is slightly less rare

0 (0%)

3070s - Jihad era, Clan tech is uncommon, while everyone in the IS is running advanced technology.

0 (0%)

3140 - Dark Ages. Tech is... weird. You might have militarized agro-Mechs charging cutting edge Clan designs sold to IS troops.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 8

[NickAragua]

Yeah, in most cases, Artemis IV isn't that great - on mechs, tonnage is at a premium and a ton for a small damage bonus for a single missile launcher is usually not worth it. Although I might be convinced that it's ok for the bigger launchers, e.g. LRM/20, as that gets you 3-4 point damage improvement in most cases for a single ton. For a 5-rack, that's only a 1 point damage improvement for a ton, hardly worth it. For an SRM/6, it's questionable - the damage improvement is only about 2 points (1 extra missile), but you get an extra location roll.

And then it gets negated by ECM, which, as time goes on, every other mech has.

Not sure how I feel about it on tanks. The one place where I'd like to try it is on those aerospace fighters whose weapons generate more heat than they have heat sinks. Since, on an ASF, overheating = control roll = lawn dart, I usually don't feel too bad about taking off a laser or something and sticking an Artemis IV in there instead.

Amusingly, the Defender II is a super dumb place to put an Artemis IV. Especially two of them. For LRM/5 launchers. Two tons, for basically two points of damage. Just... why.

Put an Apollo on an MRM/40, though, and now we're cooking with gas.

[Hanzoku]

Operation Blue Paladin – Week 1

Once on the ground, they had a few days to organize and prepare before getting underway. The first thing they did was get acquainted with a new veteran ‘Mech tech, Mairona Brabiner, who they had hired from Federated Commonwealth employ as part of their contract.

Captain Nova transferred Corporal Ragozina to Kaine’s lance temporarily, bringing them to full strength. They were assigned scout duties, while Hovi’s Hailstorm took over its familiar duties defending the company’s landing zone. The Training Command began running training missions immediately, with the goal of graduating some of the MechWarriors so that operations could begin.

Unfortunately, neither Air Lance was ready to fly, lacking a pilot for the Sparrowhawk, and with Ichiro’s wingmate still in training. The thrust of the Shilone and the Sparrowhawk was too mismatched for them to effectively fight together as a pair, so the Brotherhood’s air support was grounded in the short term.

Taking up the slack, the special forces deployed on ground recon duty, but found nothing nearby. Ranging farther out, Kaine’s Kings sparred with the Liao forces on October 15, warding off a probing push by a mixed group of vehicles, fighters and ‘Mechs.

Spoiler: Probe (Defender) (click to show/hide)

Victory Condition: Destroy 2 enemy units before Turn 6, 3 enemy units before Turn 8, or 4 enemy units after Turn 8.
Loss Condition: Lose 2 units



The two forces close on each other, a few LRMs are fired, but at these ranges and speeds, there are no hits.



The Iron Brotherhood focuses on the slow-moving Hetzer as the range closes. Vo is blocked by terrain but takes a potshot at the Liao Vindicator. A few hits are scored, but the sturdy tank rumbles on without noticeable damage.



Wind and Ragu focuses on the Vindicator, and Knave targets one of the Vedettes. Vo is blocked by a stone spire and the sloping terrain and misses out on any shots.

The Vindicator goes down under the combined fire from the Shadow Hawk and Griffin but is quickly back on his feet.



Vo circles behind to deal with the two Hetzers at the rear of the formation, joined by their AFFC escort in his Locust. A Whitworth gets behind Wind’s Griffin, and Ragu and Knave move to flank him in turn.

While the Whitworth keeps his feet from their weapons fire, Ragu kicks his head straight off. The ‘Mech flails as its last burst of signals goes wild and its legs tangles with Wind’s, knocking him to the ground.



The Vindicator starts fading north, but Vo, Ragu and Wind aren’t having any of it and target it mercilessly. Knave targets one of the Liao-pattern Vedettes at his feet instead.



The Cavalry’s air support arrives, their runs targeting Ragu and the Locust. In turn, Vo and Wind continue attacking the Vindicator, Ragu targets the Defender making an attack run against her, and Knave is dueling three Vedettes now.

One of the Hetzers manages to get a lock on Ragu, and her ‘Mech loses its right arm, even as it’s laser cuts into the nose of the Defender, sending it out of control.

The Vindicator also loses its right arm as Wind’s lasers sheer it off at the shoulder.



The Defender stalls out and crashes, marking Ragu’s second kill of the battle. Vo finds herself flanked by the Vindicator and one of the Hetzers, but Ragu is coming to her aid. Wind targets the inviting rear of the other Hetzer, and Knave tries to finish one of the now four Vedettes he is tangling with.

Unfortunately, the Locust manages to steal his kill as one of its SRMs flies through a gap in the Hetzer’s armor and detonates its fuel tank. With that, the morale of the defenders breaks, and they withdraw.

AAR:
The unit’s Wolverine and Shadow Hawk both came back with moderate damage – particularly the loss of the Shadow Hawk’s arm. The Griffin had light damage, and the Phoenix Hawk had a few dings but was otherwise in good shape.

While the unit would have loved to take the Whitworth as nearly intact salvage, it would have brought them above their allowed amounts. They salvaged the remains of the Defender for sale, content that they were now well in the black for the next battle.

The pilot of the Whitworth was confirmed as KIA and his remains returned to the departing Cavalrymen.

Svetlana ‘Ragu’ Ragozina claimed both the Whitworth and MSF Defender as kills, a worthy first outing after graduating from the training command.

By the end of the week, most of the damages from the battle are repaired, and the techs are hard at work reattaching a new arm to the Shadow Hawk.

The coming week, the infantry are assigned as pickets against enemy activity.

[Rince Wind]

Yay, another battle! Those Hetzers can be scary.


Would you mind playing with isometric view? It makes it easier to read the terrain (at least for me).

Also does your version include the saxarba tileset and if yes, have you tried it?

[Hanzoku]

@Rince Wind:

Hetzers are scary, but they're slow moving, so generally you can avoid having one hit you from the rear. Saladins are far scarier for me, because they're fast enough that with bad initiative, they can get behind your 'Mech and land a torso hit.

Sure, I can give it a whirl and see how I like it. It'll be two updates before you see it, though as I try to keep a queue of posts available for when I get busy and can't play as regularly.

It includes a number of tilesets, but I've never used any. That said, a first time for everything, so I'll do an update or two with hq_saxarba along with the isometric setting and see what everyone thinks of it.

[Rince Wind]

True, Saladins are worse. And while they have less armor they are usually harder to hit.

[NickAragua]

"Boot to the head!"

The other scary unit on that field was the Mechbuster, with its AC/20. It's also a good thing the Grasshopper didn't show up, those guys are pretty tough customers.

[Hanzoku]

Yeah, we got lucky on the MechBuster's run. It ended its turn exactly above my 'Mech, which apparently doesn't count as being on the path for a bombing/strafing run. So naturally, I moved my butt out of its line of flight the next turn and it couldn't do anything.

Grasshoppers are indeed nasty customers. That said, the Iron Brotherhood may have screwed up a little. McCarron's Armored Cavalry is now murderously angry with them, and the regular rules of engagement are out the window.

[Rince Wind]

Can't wait for the update!

[Knave]

Grasshoppers are indeed nasty customers. That said, the Iron Brotherhood may have screwed up a little. McCarron's Armored Cavalry is now murderously angry with them, and the regular rules of engagement are out the window.

Ruh-Roh - did we kill an ejected mechwarrior or something?

[Hanzoku]

There may have been some general slaughter of an entire firebase, its defending infantry company and the reinforcing ‘Mechs, vehicles and planes on a ‘recon’ mission. Could have happened to anyone, very hard to say if we were responsible because there were no survivors we did nothing wrong.

[Burnt Pies]

We did nothing wrong and we'll do it again if they keep provoking us!

[Knave]

If they didn't want to be slaughtered they should have defended their firebase better! 

[Rince Wind]

Or not at all.

[Hanzoku]

Operation Blue Paladin – Week 2

James graduates from the training unit and joins Nova’s lance. The Brotherhood hires Noelle Al Gahary, an ultra-green MechWarrior with little to no skills. She is the third such MechWarrior to approach the unit, and Albus is resigned that until the unit develops more of a reputation, more experienced MechWarriors simply won’t be interested in joining. She is assigned to the unit’s Ostroc and immediately joins the Training Command.

The week passes quietly enough. Kaine’s Kings are out on patrol, while Hovi’s Hailstorm secures the area of operations. On Sunday as Kaine’s unit is returning from patrol, they pick up signatures behind them. A sweep reveals that they’ve caught the attention of an entire battalion of the 5th McCarron’s Armored Cavalry. Kaine called in the report, and Albus coordinated the unit’s response with their FedCom liaison. It called for Kaine’s unit to lead the Liao forces on a merry chase – straight into the teeth of the FedCom forces waiting in ambush.

Spoiler: Chase (Attacker) (click to show/hide)

I’m only going to post the minimap once, because as you can see, the map design makes it awkward for the length of the post. We’re at the bottom. We need to get to the top, and most of the enemy deploys before we do. In our favor, all our designs have jump jets, though the Shadow Hawk can’t fully take advantage of that.

The moment Vo entered the area, the Brotherhood found out their intelligence was wrong. They weren’t leading the Capellans into an ambush, but they were subjected to an ambush themselves. The Liao forces immediately swarmed around her Phoenix Hawk, only to have her jump away to relative safety.



The rest of the lance arrived, and Liao forces identified Kaine’s Wolverine and began to swarm him. Wind loyally moved to back him up, while Ragu took advantage of the inattention towards her to make distance on the ground.

Swarms of missiles flew at Knave from every direction, but the darkness and their green experience caused their shots to go wide. Ragu, on the other hand, skillfully disabled one of the Pegasus’, her missiles and autocannon blowing its skirt wide and immobilizing the hovertank.  Meanwhile, the duo of Knave and Wind pounded an Assassin, dropping it to the ground with heavy armor damage.



The skirmishing continues as the mercenaries fight northward, harried by light ‘Mechs.



Little damage is being inflicted either way, but that may change as Liao air support comes in from the north, a MechBuster making a pass at Knave as they continue their head-hunting attack.

Ragu spoils the MechBuster’s run, her autocannon ripping into its engines and forcing it to wobble away, trailing smoke. Meanwhile, Knave and Wind punish a Locust that strayed too close to their heavier machines.



The pursuit continues, the light strike fighter making a bombing pass against Knave. Ragu shows her surprising gunnery skills as she once again against all odds scores against an aerial target at night, sending the fighter crashing into the landscape. Its bomb load was revealed to be air-deployed mines, which scatter all around Knave’s Wolverine. It would be a big issue... if he didn’t have perfectly functional jump jets and if they hadn’t scattered off-target behind him.

In fact, the mines prove to be a bigger danger to the Liao pursuers then the Brotherhood. There is a flash and a crump as the Assassin steps on one and loses its already damaged leg. A Skulker scout tank attempts to drive through the edges of another minefield only to have one rip it open from the underside.



Confusion overwhelms the pursuers. Without the pilot of the Angel to tell them where he dropped his load of mines, they seem to mostly be finding them by running straight through the thickest portions. In quick succession, the Firestarter, Wasp, Commando and Locust all lose legs, and many of the pilots eject to safety. A Swift Wind scout car is also destroyed by a mine, leaving any organized pursuit a faint memory.

AAR:
The mercenaries came out well from the failed Liao ambush, with only Vo’s Phoenix Hawk sustaining moderate damage. What did concern them was the obvious head-hunting attack on Kaine’s Wolverine. The Cavalrymen made several concerted efforts to down his ‘Mech that was defeated only through the conditions and their poor training.

Billy ‘Knave’ Kaine claimed the Assassin and Locust as kills, based on the damage he caused to their legs before they insisted on playing in mine fields.

Svetlana ‘Ragu’ Ragozina claimed two more honest kills – the Pegasus and the Light Strike Fighter, both victims of her autocannon.

Analysis:
I normally hate chase missions, and attacker ones even more because you get nothing from it except maybe a few points of XP, but I admit this one lifted my spirits because it was hilarious. Princess obviously has no idea how to handle mine fields, and it insisted on running all its units straight through this one. I don’t have any choice on the air support loadouts – that’s chosen randomly by the AI, but mines are obviously not a great choice for it.


Luckily there was little damage to repair, and the Brotherhood went into the next week with no change in assignments.

[Rince Wind]

Nice one!
I usually just delete Chase missions.

Something else princess can't deal with: lava
I played on one of the maps that come with the game, the top of a volcano. There is a thin crust on the lava which breaks on a 6+ if you walk over it. Princess rolled surpisingly well, but in the end RNG always wins. It is also a +4 to get out of the lava, so most pilots didn't make it.
Hovers apparently don't care. They still break the crust on a 6+, but can drive over it like it can over water.