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The wedding reception announcement of the invasion of the Capellan Confederation might be my favorite moment in the Battletech fiction.
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Jul 12, 2011 11:21
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Technically Jaime Wolf entered the game in 3005 but otherwise  JohnWilkesGoonth posted:The wedding reception announcement of the invasion of the Capellan Confederation might be my favorite moment in the Battletech fiction.
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Jul 12, 2011 13:43
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Thank yew, thank yew.
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Jul 12, 2011 14:45
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Thanks for the chatlog. What's the deal with Takashi's feud with Jamie Wolf? I read the novel Wolf Pack when I was little, and I remember it dealing with the end of the feud ("yeah, Teddy, you're right it's a bad idea to keep this vendetta going; I'll just off myself instead"), but I don't remember it giving any details as to why the feud started. Is it because the Dragoons left Kurita to work with Davion?
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Jul 13, 2011 00:47
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The origins are in Wolves on the Border, far and away the best BT novel ever.
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Jul 13, 2011 01:34
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The decision to go balls-out is definitely up there with the Wedding toast and Bunny-slippers-Comguard-spanking as one of the best in all Battletech history. I may have to read it again this week.
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Jul 13, 2011 02:15
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Defiance Industries posted:The origins are in Wolves on the Border, far and away the best BT novel ever. Truth. This book sucked me into the Battletech fluff when I first read it. Then I read it again after the Warrior and Blood of Kerensky trilogies and the Twilight of the Clans arc. The subtle references at the origin of Wolf's Dragoons blew me away. It doesn't hurt that it has some great characters and some badass Mech combat.
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Jul 13, 2011 02:35
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Short version: The Dracs realize that the contract for Wolf's Dragoons is running out. The Dragoons have been remarkably resistant to the Company Store (Heavy markups on prices, and trying to drive the Dragoons so far in debt they have no choice but to resign) Meanwhile, the Dracs have been using Wolf's Dragoons to train the Ryuken, six regiments of elite Draconis Combine samurai. The liason between Wolf's Dragoons and the Combine is Minobu Testuhara, who was previously disgraced for letting Jaime Wolf live in an ambush when the Dragoons were working for House Steiner (thought it would be an ignomious way for a warrior to die) Takahashi Kurita gives Warlord Grieg Samsonov unofficial, but direct orders. He does not want the Dragoons leaving Kurita service, even after their contract expiry. Samsonov starts framing the Dragoons for warcrimes, etcetera, and replaces Tetsuhara (who's now the general of the Ryuken) with a ISF officious jerk to ratchet up tension. Kurita "terrorists" seize the Dragoons Orbital Facilities and hold them hostage against the Dragoons good behavior (This had been tried once during the Marik Civil War. To say it didn't work out too well for the Marik's involved would be an understatement) The Dragoons see what they're being set up for and fight their way to the Comstar HPG on AnTing and send out a general recall to ALL the Dragoons regiments on the various worlds. The message "Meet up on Misery. We're blowing this pop stand" The Kuritans massacre the Dragoons on the orbital facility, killing everyone involved. Takashi Kurita sends the Ryuken to intercept and destroy the Dragoons on Misery. One big motherfreaking battle later (Samsonov hangs back, hoping the battle will destroy the Ryuken, so he gets all the glory).. the Dragoons are severely wounded, but win the battle. Wolf tries to convince Tetsuhara (his friend) that he's been betrayed by Takahashi Kurita, but Tetsuhara's path his clear. He failed his lord, and there is only one path left to him.. committing seppuku, or ritutal suicide. Wolf travels to Terra, sneaks Tetsuhara's swords past ComStar security, and during one of the pre-wedding balls, drops them at Kurita's feet, and tells him exactly what he thinks of him.. causing a huge loss of face, not only for ComStar (who had guaranteed the safety of all), but the Coordinator too. The Coordinator takes this.. rather personally. Not only does he decide that Warlord Grieg Samsonov deserves to die for screwing up his orders, but the Dragoons have caused him way too much trouble. This leads to the infamous "Death to Mercenaries" order by Kurita.. from now on, any mercenaries captured in battle will be put to death. Takahashi spends most of the Fourth Succession War trying to kill Wolf. By the time the Fourth Succession War is over, the Dragoons have been reduced from five plus regiments to a single mixed regiment. Hanse Davion gives them Outreach as a thanks for so ably distracting the Combine, and they settle there (reactivating the world's hidden factories, and rebuilding their strength for the next few years). For more reading: (Wolves on the Border) http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Wolf%27s_Dragoons http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Minobu_Tetsuhara
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Jul 13, 2011 04:03
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What is this bunny slippers thing?
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Jul 13, 2011 06:09
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Basically, Hanse Davion wakes up, calls out to the New Avalon port authority about "What's in that unscheduled drop shipcoming in? When told it's a certain military unit, realizes that it's an attack (the real unit is defending the Shipyards at Kathil and rescuing Justin Allard from Sian), tells them to sound the alert, and in his night clothes, runs down to his battlemech and starts the defense of New Avalon against enemy mechs (believed to be Death Commandos, but were really ComStar agents trying to destroy the New Avalon Institute of Science, because it had the ability to bring the Inner Sphere out of the Scavenger wars, etcetera.. filled with LosTech). Gets slightly wounded, but manages to beat off the attack. Now that I think about it, the drop ship might have been the one sending a preggers Melissa Steiner-Davion back to Tharkad. I'll have to read the books again at some point. SirFozzie fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Jul 13, 2011 |
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Jul 13, 2011 06:19
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It was another Stackpole moment basically. He kills like four mechs by himself, including a Marauder.
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Jul 13, 2011 06:36
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I think at least two of those were using the Marauder's arm as a weapon.
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Jul 13, 2011 07:40
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It is literally the most  thing in Battletech history. That shows you how awesome the OTHER two events must be for me to even consider them.
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Jul 13, 2011 14:26
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Thanks for the details. Also, Hans is clearly the most baller dude in the entire Inner Sphere. He even hangs out with Buckaroo Banzai.
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Jul 13, 2011 18:42
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He's pretty awesome until you hear the dialogue Stackpole makes him say. In fact, every character Stackpole has written is diminished by them having give Stackpole lines. Jesus christ.
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Jul 13, 2011 18:44
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Defiance Industries posted:He's pretty awesome until you hear the dialogue Stackpole makes him say. "Kai Allard-Liao felt the weight of his ancestors upon him as he tried his best to live up to his parents' imaginary expectations. 'I ruin everything I touch,' he thought, effortlessly downing a fifth Clan heavy in his Centurion."
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Jul 13, 2011 18:49
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Which books are all these in? I seem to have a gap in stuff that happened a few years before 3050.
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Jul 13, 2011 18:53
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Defiance Industries posted:He's pretty awesome until you hear the dialogue Stackpole makes him say. Stackpole can't be as bad as Robert N. Charette. Wolf Pack is a very boring and poorly written novel. (We cloned Jamie, but made it a girl clone.  ) Robert Thurston is alright. The Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogy was pretty decent as far as gaming novels go, although it did feature a lot of creepy Clan incest. Why would you have a baby with a fellow sib?
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Jul 13, 2011 18:58
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Diogenes Cynicus posted:"Kai Allard-Liao felt the weight of his ancestors upon him as he tried his best to live up to his parents' imaginary expectations. 'I ruin everything I touch,' he thought, effortlessly downing a fifth Clan heavy in his Centurion." Specifically clanner's days. PeterWeller posted:Stackpole can't be as bad as Robert N. Charette. Wolf Pack is a very boring and poorly written novel. (We cloned Jamie, but made it a girl clone.
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Jul 13, 2011 19:18
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Eh, it's still creepy that all these people who are basically fraternal twins have all this sex with each other. Also, Aidan Pryde, the protagonist, has a daughter by one of his sibkin.
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Jul 13, 2011 20:39
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Diogenes Cynicus posted:"Kai Allard-Liao felt the weight of his ancestors upon him as he tried his best to live up to his parents' imaginary expectations. 'I ruin everything I touch,' he thought, effortlessly downing a fifth Clan heavy in his Centurion." Anything that came out of Diedre's mouth after she and Kai started loving made me roll me eyes and wonder if Stackpole had ever actually had sex with someone and then talked to them after. PeterWeller posted:Stackpole can't be as bad as Robert N. Charette. I'm not a fan of Wolf Pack, but Wolves on the Border is awesome. Charette wrote one book that was as boring as the stuff Stackpole wrote, and one book that's better than every other BattleTech book there is. Charette wins.
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Jul 13, 2011 23:10
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Der Waffle Mous posted:I think at least two of those were using the Marauder's arm as a weapon. After pistol whipping a Griffin, no less.
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Jul 14, 2011 16:12
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Interesting information on the latest preview of the Wars of Reaving book: A) Diamond Shark and Snow Raven get called on the carpet before the Clan Council (probably for the Diamond Shark trading with the Inner Sphere, and Snow Raven's move into the Periphery) B) Following on any punishments for A) The home clans apparently repudiate the Great Refusal and elect a new IlKhan, but then there's an announcement that changes everything. (what that announcement is, who knows?) C) The next year is dealing with the aftermath of the announcement, both in the Clans and the Inner Sphere (sounds like the Hellion Tantrum occurs here, other clans start trying to mobilize to move into the Inner Sphere, but no one really has the ship power to move 30 billion people, so they start fighting each other for it. D) The Coyotes get hosed, royally. The Coyotes face a trial (probably of absorption), Hell's Horses go through some kind of trial of Refusal, and one of the home clans bites it at this point. (maybe the Diamond Sharks, they note this is the last update provided by the Diamond Shark Clan Watch) E) Continuing on from D, this takes us to 3082, where the last update from Hell's Horses Clan Watch, and the last event is called "The Council of Six Clans". Sounds like there's a lot of merging of home clans, etcetera.
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Jul 15, 2011 18:22
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Ugh. Is there anyone who used Chaos Campaign rules, because I'm trying to grasp them and some parts are tad confusing.Things I'm struggling to understand: - The rules seem to imply that player should use a persistent force, considering there are costs for buying and repairing mechs, but I haven't seen indication on how to organize the initial force - should I just set up some arbitrary amount of BV/mechs and then fill them up with help of unit generation rules from Total Warfare? - Are the campaigns one player vs GM working as OpFor, or two players each acting as different side in the conflict. At first I thought it's the former, but then I noticed some Tracs have bonus points and/or objectives that apply to the side that I assumed to be OpFor. So is it two players, each with his own force/WP or are these so that you could play the Tracs from whichever side you prefer? And if two players then who'd pay the Trac WP cost then? - Ammunition reload costs - are these per unit or per ton of ammo reloaded? The rules weren't too clear on that Any help would be appreciated 
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Jul 17, 2011 18:51
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Malek Deneith posted:Ugh. Is there anyone who used Chaos Campaign rules, because I'm trying to grasp them and some parts are tad confusing.Things I'm struggling to understand: When I've run campaigns using this system, I used a persistent force for the player(s), organized according to the personal preferences of the player and purchased using the Warchest Point system as outlined in the campaign rules. As for scenarios, I played it as one player against the GM's OpFor, but you could also set it up in different combinations to suit the number of people in your campaign. You could keep a GM as the OpFor or have a other players fill in that role. Ammunition reloads are purchased by the ton. Hope this helps a little.
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Jul 17, 2011 19:53
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Defiance Industries posted:I'm not a fan of Wolf Pack, but Wolves on the Border is awesome. Charette wrote one book that was as boring as the stuff Stackpole wrote, and one book that's better than every other BattleTech book there is. Charette wins. I'll give the guy another shot if I can find WotB at my local Half Price. Is it going to take until page 300 for some mechs to start fighting? I'm not reading Btech novels for high drama and great dialog; I'm reading them for sweet robot fights.
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Jul 18, 2011 04:02
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PeterWeller posted:I'll give the guy another shot if I can find WotB at my local Half Price. Is it going to take until page 300 for some mechs to start fighting? I'm not reading Btech novels for high drama and great dialog; I'm reading them for sweet robot fights. Nah, it's nothing like that. Most of the book is Wolf's Dragoons fighting for and against the Draconis Combine. It's well worth the read if you can find it. Lots of stompy robot action.
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Jul 18, 2011 16:51
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Okay cool. That was my problem with Wolf Pack. It had all this boring and generic political intrigue and hamfisted romance that overshadowed and delayed the few interesting mech battles. On a different note. I gave a guy on ebay a stupid amount of money for an old RP light lance still in the package. So I got an unseen wasp, stinger, griffin, and most importantly, phoenix hawk coming in the mail.
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Jul 18, 2011 19:58
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PeterWeller posted:I'll give the guy another shot if I can find WotB at my local Half Price. Is it going to take until page 300 for some mechs to start fighting? I'm not reading Btech novels for high drama and great dialog; I'm reading them for sweet robot fights. I read them more for bastardly behavior, myself. The mech fights are all pretty much the same; read enough BT novels and you just start skipping them.
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Jul 18, 2011 21:02
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PeterWeller posted:Okay cool. That was my problem with Wolf Pack. It had all this boring and generic political intrigue and hamfisted romance that overshadowed and delayed the few interesting mech battles.
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Jul 18, 2011 21:28
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Defiance Industries posted:I read them more for bastardly behavior, myself. The mech fights are all pretty much the same; read enough BT novels and you just start skipping them. Eh, I read licensed fiction for the things that got me into the license in the first place. If I want to read about grand intrigue or the life of a future soldier, I'll read Dune or those Fleet books. When I get a book that says "Battletech" on its cover, I expect to read about a bunch of sweet robot fights. That's what I liked about Thurston's books. Sure I might have to read about weird incest or Aidan's bellyaching from time to time, but I know I'm only a couple pages away from another scene where robots pummel each other mercilessly. quote:Highly jealous right here. If it makes you feel any better, I did pay about 20 bux each for two mediocre and two decent mechs.
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Jul 18, 2011 21:47
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It does. My Griffin cost me about 5 bux, and I just had to strip the enamel paint off it  My Shadowhawk was new in the pack though, and he turned out sweet.
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Jul 19, 2011 00:32
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I had no trouble using simple green to strip the layers of Testors enamel I heaped over those old mechs from when I was a kid. They even smelled like sweet sweet licorice for a few days afterwards.
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Jul 19, 2011 00:38
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I think the Griffin was painted in nail varnish, it took two months of a bath before I could START scrubbing it clean.
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Jul 19, 2011 02:27
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So, all of my mechs just got snowed on by Citadel Purity Seal. GW can't replace the mechs, obviously, but they did give me a nice gift certificate. I'm not really sure what to do with it because I don't play Warhammer anymore. My friend recommended that I just go nuts on Epic tanks and use them as Battletech tanks. Has anyone ever tried this?
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Jul 19, 2011 17:36
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Yes, it works. I've used Rhinos for tracked APCs a few times. Protip: http://pitoftheoni.blogspot.com/2009/08/when-good-models-go-bad.html This poo poo is recoverable.
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Jul 19, 2011 17:55
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Haraksha posted:So, all of my mechs just got snowed on by Citadel Purity Seal. GW can't replace the mechs, obviously, but they did give me a nice gift certificate. I'm not really sure what to do with it because I don't play Warhammer anymore. Always use a paint on varnish. Vallejo Model Color has never let me down.
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Jul 19, 2011 20:39
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I've only heard horror stories about purity seal. I use Testor's Dullcoat, and it has never failed me. If they're snowy, you can hit them with a gloss varnish, then hit them with another dullcoat, and it should fix the problem.
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Jul 19, 2011 21:43
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Yeah, I've had some luck with paint on varnish fixing my mechs. It's not 100% though.
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Jul 20, 2011 02:22
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So, I guess I'm down to choosing between the Blood Bowl boxset and a bunch of Epic Leman Russ's to use as Battletech tanks. I really wish I could just get new mechs though. The tanks are something I would probably use, but using counters for vehicles doesn't really bother me the same way it does for substituting mechs.
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Jul 20, 2011 07:41
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