That's what I thought. Shoot, gonna be a pain having to remember to leave 1 crit/1 ton open since it's not making them as big as they're supposed to be.
It gets even weirder. I haven't tested it enough to reverse-engineer how it's figuring the tons/crits out, but sometimes it rounds up correctly, and other times it doesn't. Any time it should be 4/4 it's correct, it seems. But I've had it go 1/1 or 2/2 when it should be +1 to each on a number of different designs I was trying to put together.
I still really like Remlab as a free browser-based tabletop rules unit garage, but it's worth noting that you'll want to watch its calculations.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
I think I'm going to push a MM game off to next week, to put some time into creating a decent scenario (and install MM on my laptop). Plus there seems to be a push to murder dudes with missiles in MWO this week, which is hard to pass up.
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H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
What's more interesting to me is initially there were 17 extant Clans when they were introduced, and there are 17 weight classes (20-100) in traditional gameplay. I'm surprised the initial line-up of Omnis weren't just totems for each Clan.
So I was thinking about the above post I made in the MWO thread. Here's the Clans that existed by the mid-31st century:
Blood Spirit: Crusader, extreme isolationists with few resources but top-notch warriors
Burrock: Crusader, expert bandit hunters (with extensive ties to the Dark Caste), periodically shifted tactical doctrine to surprise foes
Cloud Cobra: Warden, Aerospace Fighter focused warrior-monks with a cosmopolitan mixture of different religious sects
Coyote: Warden, created omnis, native (North) American-themed, former leading power. Prefer big slow heavily armed mechs
Diamond Shark: Warden, formerly (and eventually) known as Sea Fox; mercantile space fleets.
Fire Mandrill: Crusader, fragmented into many 'kindraa', that spent more time fighting eachother than anyone else
Ghost Bear: Crusader (initially, shifted later), conservatives who are big on family and community
Goliath Scorpion: Warden, Wandering seekers of Star League artifacts who used drugs to induce prophetic visions, strict adherents of zellbrigen
Hell's Horses: mixed (Crusader leadership, Warden majority), Combined arms with conventional vehicles, believe in caste & ____born equality, invented Elementals
Ice Hellion: Crusader, reckless aggressors prone to biting off more than they can chew, prefer light mechs & fast mediums
Jade Falcon: Crusader, rigid traditionalists who see themselves as the Wolves' rival, very belligerent, favor blitzkrieg attacks on enemy command or main forces
Nova Cat: Crusader (initially, shifted later), aloof mystics prone to sudden and perplexing shifts in policy and allegiance
Smoke Jaguar: Crusader, Oppressive warmongers who brutally suppressed the lower castes and conquered Inner Sphere civilians
Snow Raven: neutral (later Warden), cagey mercenary expert space navy & aerospace force
Star Adder: Crusader, pragmatic conservatives known for strong strategic planning but blunt tactics
Steel Viper: mixed (Warden leadership, Crusader majority), less extreme version of Blood Spirits, sensible tactics but rigid & inflexible command structure
Wolf: Warden, pragmatic liberals known for cautiously probing situations initially, but taking quick decisive action once a plan was formed, invented Elemental armor
For curiosity's sake, the remaining three clans which were long gone by the time of the invasion were:
Mongoose: absorbed (destroyed really) by the Smoke Jaguars long before the political divisions of the invasion question when the other clans got tired of their constant mugging attacks and political manipulations
Widowmaker: absorbed (destroyed really) by the Wolves long before the political divisions of the invasion question when their sakhan (Vice President) accidentally headshot Nicholas Kerensky's mech during a trial he was refereeing, instantly killing the Clans' founder. Implied to have been running an extensive black ops organization for Nicholas during the early years (among other things, potentially even framing the Wolverines for the incident that led to their annihilation).
Wolverine: Annihilated by a joint force of clans shortly after their conquest of the Pentagon Worlds due to the use of a nuclear device to destroy a genetic repository of Clan Snow Raven following disputes over the distribution of war materiel formerly belonging to commands whose personnel had primarily become Wolverines.
Some of the original omnimechs kind of are totems, but not all of them, and others are kind of muddled as to who they are supposed to represent. Here's that list:
Hellbringer: Loki, 65 tons - partnered to the Thor, uses electronics warfare
Summoner: Thor, 70 tons - obviously inspired by the Thunderbolt
Timberwolf: Mad Cat, 75 tons - Catapault (CAT) with Marauder (MAD) arms and tonnage
Gargoyle: Man o War, 80 tons - ?
Warhawk: Masakari, 85 tons - named after a kind of Japanese battle axe
Executioner: Gladiator, 95 tons - IS boggled by purpose for an assault with MASC
Dire Wolf: Daishi, 100 tons - great death in Japanese
As far as I know, there was no 90 ton omni in the original Clan line-up.
So, here's a fun thought exercise: if you were designing the initial Clan mech line-up for their introduction to the IP, and were told to make them all totems for the clans of that era, which would you change, which would you keep as is, and what would you do for the 90-ton mech?
I like your summary. I'd also modify Coyote to include something about the scientist caste conspiracy.
Honestly, most of that was from memory with some quick spot-checking on Sarna. The scientist conspiracy was something that came in after I'd sort of fallen off the wagon for a while, so I really don't know much more than the early teases that cropped up in one of Robert Thurston's books were Horse (a freeborn Jade Falcon warrior) was sent to the Jade Falcon base on Huntress (pre-Task Force Serpent) where they were testing a LAM to investigate, and found clues that they were secretly trading gene samples with other Clans.
Edit: In point of fact, I greatly misremembered the little bit about the scientist caste conspiracy I did know when I originally made this post apparently.
I really want to order some of those, but when I went to put together an order earlier it totaled out to like $100 so I had to walk back from the edge.
I really want to order some of those, but when I went to put together an order earlier it totaled out to like $100 so I had to walk back from the edge.
I did a slow bleed ordering from him. The shipping is expensive since he has to toss it over a long distance.
So far I have assembled: Catapult, King Crab, Warhammer (new), and Timber Wolf (new). I posed photos of the Catapult and King Crab a while ago and need to take photos of the Warhammer and Timber Wolf. The Timber Wolf came with an insane amount of parts for multiple variants.
H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
Sorry I missed this earlier. Was having dinner, or I'd have asked what all I needed to know to watch. I don't wanna bother you while it's underway, but afterwards I'd be much obliged if you would let me know how to join in for the future.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Will do! The next time I will run MegaMek is probably two or three weeks from now. I'll write up a short primer post for next time.
+1
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H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
edited March 2017
Awesome. I had MegaMek on a different computer several years ago, but I only ever putzed around in matches vs AI. I'd need to install a Java Runtime Environment for it, right?
IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
My local group just started our new Wars of Reaving campaign today. We're a six-pack of Trueborn and just underwent our Trial of Position today.
Me and my Shadowhawk IIC (Standard) actually did fairly well, bringing down my first opponent within three turns while taking little damage. Didn't do so well against our next, a Stormcrow-B minus its AC-20 arm. Amusingly, the third pair's battle lasted well over thirty turns. The winner of that fight took off that Stormcrow's other arm within one more turn, taking the title of Star Commander for our campaign.
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg) Backlog Challenge List
Oh hey, they got stackpole writing some novelles. He's pretty much a fixture in battletech books, but he wrote the clan invasion books and Vlad's rise to ilkhan of the wolves so it'll be good I bet.
Oh hey, they got stackpole writing some novelles. He's pretty much a fixture in battletech books, but he wrote the clan invasion books and Vlad's rise to ilkhan of the wolves so it'll be good I bet.
Yep, that was one reason I put in for that backer level. I remember reading his books long ago and enjoying them.
You know what? I blame myself. I clicked the button and remembered the date too late.
Pretty sure that's my fault.
What's even worse is that this isn't going to end with today. The shenanigans will continue through the weekend and probably well into Monday before the internet has had it's fill.
Since I have no idea about the Jihad Era I can't help you there... But for the 3025 era you could be funny and run 5 Wasp 1As or 1Ks. I was going to say 4 Locust 3Vs but if you're in an Urban environment the Wasps would do better. Plus you can do some jump kicks or DFAs with them.
How many urbies can you cram into 2000 points?
Because I'm pretty sure the correct answer is Urbanmechs.
I was going to suggest that (I think it is 4), but figured if he is at a tournament that the others would hate him for not being able to move into combat range till the next day.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
As much as there's a bunch of joke suggestions up ^there^, there's actually a solid strategy behind some of those: Wolf Pack Light Swarms.
Find yourself some solid middle-speed Light 'Mechs with punchy loadouts and halfway decent armor, and just fucking Zerg swarm that shit. Unless there's a force-balancing modifier or requirement for number of individual units, I think you want to be spreading your BV out as much as possible to as many separate units as you can field.
This is actually an acknowledged problem with the Alpha Strike rules; Light Swarms are completely dominant over heavier-but-less-numerous formations, or even mixed-formation force builds. The same problem applies in Classic BT, but because of the extra level of detail and randomness on how damage is handled, the fatter units usually have a longer lifespan. Usually.
As much as there's a bunch of joke suggestions up ^there^, there's actually a solid strategy behind some of those: Wolf Pack Light Swarms.
Find yourself some solid middle-speed Light 'Mechs with punchy loadouts and halfway decent armor, and just fucking Zerg swarm that shit. Unless there's a force-balancing modifier or requirement for number of individual units, I think you want to be spreading your BV out as much as possible to as many separate units as you can field.
This is actually an acknowledged problem with the Alpha Strike rules; Light Swarms are completely dominant over heavier-but-less-numerous formations, or even mixed-formation force builds. The same problem applies in Classic BT, but because of the extra level of detail and randomness on how damage is handled, the fatter units usually have a longer lifespan. Usually.
It is really hard to find units with BV that low that are decent speed, punchy and any armor at all. Pick one. Two if you are lucky.
Even a Commando 1D runs 558 points. Which might not be a bad mech to consider. It has papermache armor and no jump jets but a hell of a punch for a 3025 era light mech. A Javelin costs a bit more (594) and gives up a little firepower in exchange for jump jets.
The Panther 9R is just about the creme of that bunch but costs 769.
At just 504 points I would seriously consider an Urbanmech as well.
Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
For 3025: Five Wasp WSP-1A's, using the 80 spare BV to bump up skills.
This gives you a spread of five Medium Lasers and five SRM-2s on a series of 6/9/6 chassis with 70% armor coverage each. It's a bit of a compromise, but I'd have no hard feelings rolling this out.
And yeah, 2k BV isn't much to work with. Disgustingly enough, you can get up to a hundred-tonner under that value; hell an AS7-D fits. Knowing that, I'm not sure how I'd feel about five Wasps versus a single fatty in this case. I think it comes down to what kind of battlefield conditions and mission requirements you're expecting to deal with.
A pair of Chargers.
I'm guessing at that point value you're going to be fighting a lot of lighter mechs, so having an 80 ton punching bot or two could really play to your advantage. Assuming they can close range, anyway.
Especially in an urban environment I'd wager an AS7-D against 5 wasps. Hell, probably a company of wasps. It has two weapons that will cripple one in a single hit (the AC20 and its foot), rear firing lasers so you can't try to stay behind the thing and an LRM20 if they try to stand off. And max armor for a 100 tonner.
38
Beta Date! Gameplay Video! New Partnership! Exclamation Points!!!
Posted by Harebrained Schemes LLC (Creator)
Hey everyone, Mitch here.
I’m happy to tell you that our Kickstarter Backer Beta is on track for release on June 1st. The game’s looking good, playing well, and the team is firing on all cylinders but we need to take some more time to further test and bugfix our multiplayer code before confidently releasing the beta into your hands - that way, we can minimize networking issues and everyone can have a good time on day one.
Posts
It gets even weirder. I haven't tested it enough to reverse-engineer how it's figuring the tons/crits out, but sometimes it rounds up correctly, and other times it doesn't. Any time it should be 4/4 it's correct, it seems. But I've had it go 1/1 or 2/2 when it should be +1 to each on a number of different designs I was trying to put together.
I still really like Remlab as a free browser-based tabletop rules unit garage, but it's worth noting that you'll want to watch its calculations.
But it will be the last chance for us to run under the old MWO rules...
Edit: Didn't read the MWO news. MM away!
Steam: betsuni7
So I was thinking about the above post I made in the MWO thread. Here's the Clans that existed by the mid-31st century:
So, here's a fun thought exercise: if you were designing the initial Clan mech line-up for their introduction to the IP, and were told to make them all totems for the clans of that era, which would you change, which would you keep as is, and what would you do for the 90-ton mech?
Honestly, most of that was from memory with some quick spot-checking on Sarna. The scientist conspiracy was something that came in after I'd sort of fallen off the wagon for a while, so I really don't know much more than the early teases that cropped up in one of Robert Thurston's books were Horse (a freeborn Jade Falcon warrior) was sent to the Jade Falcon base on Huntress (pre-Task Force Serpent) where they were testing a LAM to investigate, and found clues that they were secretly trading gene samples with other Clans.
Edit: In point of fact, I greatly misremembered the little bit about the scientist caste conspiracy I did know when I originally made this post apparently.
I wonder what this is?
Hello, sailor.
Unless I'm off my mark, that's an IK MWO-model Dragon. 'Tis a fine looking rig, one that @DaMoonRulz would be proud of!
Looking forward to putting this little bad-boy together (and finding him a spot in my rosters)! Thanks, @Betsuni!
Steam: betsuni7
I did a slow bleed ordering from him. The shipping is expensive since he has to toss it over a long distance.
So far I have assembled: Catapult, King Crab, Warhammer (new), and Timber Wolf (new). I posed photos of the Catapult and King Crab a while ago and need to take photos of the Warhammer and Timber Wolf. The Timber Wolf came with an insane amount of parts for multiple variants.
Steam: betsuni7
In just a few hours, I will once again be running a MegaMek game for the amusement and enjoyment of our master tacticians.
Tonight, we join Operation Bulldog, in the Smoke Jaguar Kicking-In-Of-Teeth.
See you in Vent at 7:30PM Central!
Me and my Shadowhawk IIC (Standard) actually did fairly well, bringing down my first opponent within three turns while taking little damage. Didn't do so well against our next, a Stormcrow-B minus its AC-20 arm. Amusingly, the third pair's battle lasted well over thirty turns. The winner of that fight took off that Stormcrow's other arm within one more turn, taking the title of Star Commander for our campaign.
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Notes: No update on beta date, but working is going smooth. New game screenshots to look at in the meantime.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1838879?ref=backer_project_update
Steam: betsuni7
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Yep, that was one reason I put in for that backer level. I remember reading his books long ago and enjoying them.
Steam: betsuni7
https://youtu.be/gJO-DkDfHZk
You son of a...
You know what? I blame myself. I clicked the button and remembered the date too late.
Pretty sure that's my fault.
What's even worse is that this isn't going to end with today. The shenanigans will continue through the weekend and probably well into Monday before the internet has had it's fill.
First tournament is Jihad Era tech, 5 mech maximum, 2000 points.
Second tournament is 3025 Era tech, 5 mech maximum, 2000 points.
Third tournament is Clan Invasion Era Tech, 5 mech maximum, 2000 points.
All point values to be based on http://www.masterunitlist.info
Who wants to help me make some broken ass lists?
Edit: Man, 2000 points is not a lot. I guess that explains how they want each tournament to be three games in three hours.
Steam: betsuni7
Because I'm pretty sure the correct answer is Urbanmechs.
I was going to suggest that (I think it is 4), but figured if he is at a tournament that the others would hate him for not being able to move into combat range till the next day.
Steam: betsuni7
Find yourself some solid middle-speed Light 'Mechs with punchy loadouts and halfway decent armor, and just fucking Zerg swarm that shit. Unless there's a force-balancing modifier or requirement for number of individual units, I think you want to be spreading your BV out as much as possible to as many separate units as you can field.
This is actually an acknowledged problem with the Alpha Strike rules; Light Swarms are completely dominant over heavier-but-less-numerous formations, or even mixed-formation force builds. The same problem applies in Classic BT, but because of the extra level of detail and randomness on how damage is handled, the fatter units usually have a longer lifespan. Usually.
It is really hard to find units with BV that low that are decent speed, punchy and any armor at all. Pick one. Two if you are lucky.
Even a Commando 1D runs 558 points. Which might not be a bad mech to consider. It has papermache armor and no jump jets but a hell of a punch for a 3025 era light mech. A Javelin costs a bit more (594) and gives up a little firepower in exchange for jump jets.
The Panther 9R is just about the creme of that bunch but costs 769.
At just 504 points I would seriously consider an Urbanmech as well.
This gives you a spread of five Medium Lasers and five SRM-2s on a series of 6/9/6 chassis with 70% armor coverage each. It's a bit of a compromise, but I'd have no hard feelings rolling this out.
And yeah, 2k BV isn't much to work with. Disgustingly enough, you can get up to a hundred-tonner under that value; hell an AS7-D fits. Knowing that, I'm not sure how I'd feel about five Wasps versus a single fatty in this case. I think it comes down to what kind of battlefield conditions and mission requirements you're expecting to deal with.
I'm guessing at that point value you're going to be fighting a lot of lighter mechs, so having an 80 ton punching bot or two could really play to your advantage. Assuming they can close range, anyway.
Kickstarter
38
Beta Date! Gameplay Video! New Partnership! Exclamation Points!!!
Posted by Harebrained Schemes LLC (Creator)
Hey everyone, Mitch here.
I’m happy to tell you that our Kickstarter Backer Beta is on track for release on June 1st. The game’s looking good, playing well, and the team is firing on all cylinders but we need to take some more time to further test and bugfix our multiplayer code before confidently releasing the beta into your hands - that way, we can minimize networking issues and everyone can have a good time on day one.