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Scintilla posted:It's us. We were PTN the whole time. PoptartsNinja posted:But do I even exist? For all you know I'm a figment of everyone's collective-subconscious desire to have a BattleTech thread on SA, and the thread itself is yet another BattleTech-related mass hallucination like the Phantom Mech ability and giant butterflies. The real PTN was the friends, stories, and TACs we made along the way. 
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Nov 13, 2015 14:37
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The real PTN was the dice. :battletech:
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Nov 13, 2015 14:50
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It's us. We were the dice all along. The signup list is a glorified random number generator.
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Nov 13, 2015 15:24
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Scintilla posted:It's us. We were PTN the whole time. PoptartsNinja posted:It'll be a couple of days. I took a short break Lord Koth posted:Wouldn't the comically evil, mustache-twirling villains in this example be the WoBbies, which Kernoff became part of? 
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Nov 13, 2015 15:30
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And that, grandkids, is the story of how I learned the true meaning of Christmas!
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Nov 13, 2015 15:38
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PoptartsNinja posted:But do I even exist? I sure hope so... I'm going to be really bummed out if your Star Trek: Online LPs were just a figment of my imagination.
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Nov 13, 2015 18:26
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 Riker would have noticed all these references to Precentor Martial Ian Davion.
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Nov 13, 2015 18:31
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PoptartsNinja posted:But do I even exist? For all you know I'm a figment of everyone's collective-subconscious desire to have a BattleTech thread on SA, and the thread itself is yet another BattleTech-related mass hallucination like the Phantom Mech ability and giant butterflies. We're all just Ghost Heat in a 6 PPC Stalker.
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Nov 13, 2015 18:35
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Devorum posted:We're all just Ghost Heat in a 6 PPC Stalker. Hey, screw you. I'm the 6 PPCs in a Hunchback from Beta. Sadly, I cannot actually find the gif we had of that from back then. It was hilarious.
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Nov 13, 2015 18:55
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Zaodai posted:Hey, screw you. I'm the 6 PPCs in a Hunchback from Beta. Was that a playtest Mech to stress test something, or was  really thinking that could work?
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Nov 13, 2015 19:07
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Look into your heart, you know which answer is true.
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Nov 13, 2015 19:21
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Zaodai posted:Hey, screw you. I'm the 6 PPCs in a Hunchback from Beta. Wasn't it 9 PPCs because the `Mech data was stored on the client side rather than the server so you could mod an XML file and tell the server all your energy slots were full of PPCs and you had 20,000,000 heat sinks and a 900 standard engine? I don't remember who found and hacked that. It was probably ModPud (go figure). PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 19:45
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Dolash posted:For that matter, how do we know any of these other posters are real? I put forward the theory that PTN, in an effort to create the biggest and longest-running LP in forums history, has actually made up all of his players and their accounts to create the illusion of an active thread. It's all just been PTN, playing both times all along. Not only has nobody died, but nobody has won or lost either! Scintilla posted:It's us. We were PTN the whole time. PoptartsNinja posted:But do I even exist? For all you know I'm a figment of everyone's collective-subconscious desire to have a BattleTech thread on SA, and the thread itself is yet another BattleTech-related mass hallucination like the Phantom Mech ability and giant butterflies. Soup Inspector posted:The real PTN was the friends, stories, and TACs we made along the way. Volmarias posted:The real PTN was the dice. AJ_Impy posted:It's us. We were the dice all along. The signup list is a glorified random number generator. Volmarias posted:Look into your heart, you know which answer is true. Man, this poo poo got real deep real fast... Let's just get back to wrecking giant robits that are inexplicably the most efficient warfighting platforms in the galaxy by smashing them into one another with some semblance of "tactics" and story. :battletech:
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Nov 13, 2015 19:50
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GhostStalker posted:most efficient warfighting platforms Not the most efficient. Just the most impressive!  And I can't write fluff while I'm at work, sorry.
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Nov 13, 2015 19:58
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PoptartsNinja posted:And I can't write fluff while I'm at work, sorry. It's all good. We'll just be here waiting warmly for the next Political Update and vote whenever you find the time to finish writing and post it.
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Nov 13, 2015 20:18
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PoptartsNinja posted:Wasn't it 9 PPCs because the `Mech data was stored on the client side rather than the server so you could mod an XML file and tell the server all your energy slots were full of PPCs and you had 20,000,000 heat sinks and a 900 standard engine? You were still limited by the number of hardpoints that were coded. I know it was 6 in the torso where the AC normally goes, because it was hacked into the variant that normally has medium lasers there. I think that hunchie also gets a laser point in each arm, and maybe one in the head? So it could be 9. And yeah, it was that you could create a variant in the client, then modify the XML file it generated by hand, and as long as you didn't go back into the mech lab in the client it never bothered to sanity check the loadout in-game. You couldn't hold enough heat sinks to make those PPCs not spike your heat like crazy, but fortunately a wall of completely unexpected PPCs pretty much wrecked anybody's poo poo in one shot. As for who found it, the first person I remember posting about it was DearPrincessCelestia here on SA.
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Nov 13, 2015 20:45
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This thread has the best derails  I'm looking forward to when the Battletech game comes out, and we start having a PTN narrated VLP with guest stars. It'll be the show of my dreams!
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Nov 13, 2015 21:08
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Zaodai posted:You were still limited by the number of hardpoints that were coded. I know it was 6 in the torso where the AC normally goes, because it was hacked into the variant that normally has medium lasers there. I think that hunchie also gets a laser point in each arm, and maybe one in the head? So it could be 9. And yeah, it was that you could create a variant in the client, then modify the XML file it generated by hand, and as long as you didn't go back into the mech lab in the client it never bothered to sanity check the loadout in-game. You couldn't hold enough heat sinks to make those PPCs not spike your heat like crazy, but fortunately a wall of completely unexpected PPCs pretty much wrecked anybody's poo poo in one shot. The best part of all that is now Clan 'Mechs put out that much damage on Alphas as a matter of course.
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Nov 13, 2015 21:08
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Devorum posted:The best part of all that is now Clan 'Mechs put out that much damage on Alphas as a matter of course. "Why do you have such a problem with Clantech, DI?" There you go
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Nov 13, 2015 22:21
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Campaign Update 2 “I don’t like this.” Qiang Marcus rubbed his eyes, wigging his fingers beneath the thin transplex riot shield on his domed helmet. Marcus still thought the huge, bulbous things looked more comical than threatening, but he’d seen enough soldiers blackjacked by desperate criminals to appreciate the benefits. Security detail was never enjoyable and often uncomfortable but when the site they were securing was the blackened husk of ComStar’s primary office on Abadan this was shaping to be the most uncomfortable security detail of Marcus’s career. Everyone was on edge. The guards, the sallow, dark-eyed locals, and the officers who showed their discomfort by issuing conflicting orders. “Shut up, Grouse,” Marcus grunted as his fingers wrapped once more around the stock of his laser rifle. Its presence was reassuring, even though he half expected the specter of Jerome Blake itself to come storming out of the charred rubble behind him. It hadn’t happened yet, but the way Grouse kept on you’d think he’d only been delayed because he meant to invite the ghosts of Aleksandr Kerensky and Stefan Amaris along to help. “I’m telling you, Tartan. This ain’t going to end well. The red birds, ComStar, Abadan, none of it. Did you hear the Prefectorate Guard was ordered out? The whole operation’s being handed to that creep “Xuan Wu.” I’m telling you, the gods are displeased and the Confederation’s going to be punished for our temerity.” “You’re forgetting we have Sun Wu on our side now,” Marcus countered. Grouse had earned his nickname for his constant complaining. He’d been beaten and bruised for it but after two decades he was now the best boxer in the company. He’d never stopped grumbling even once, as a veteran he’d earned the right. Marcus was just in no mood today. He’d just managed to get out the “If” that started his full retort when the deadman’s switch under the HPG failed to receive the hourly all-clear from the admin building or the back-up all-clear from the small training facility ComStar had been permitted to build on Abadan’s second continent. If knowledge of it would have been any consolation to Marcus, the “relatively small” ten megaton warhead under the HPG’s primary receiver was more than powerful enough to vaporize him instantaneously. **************************************** Duncan Marik moved another unit in the vast expanse of his war room’s holotank and signaled for the computer to run another series of simulations. Another run, another Capellan breakthrough. This time in only three months. So far, the best-case scenario had cost him a half-dozen worlds. His only son—his only child—was alive. He was alive and held just out of Duncan’s reach. How many planets was Carlos worth? It was the kind of harsh arithmetic he expected the likes of the devils Hanse Davion and Takashi Kurita would have had no problems with. He know what Janos Marik’s answer would have been: not one. Not one world was worth the life of an heir, even if that heir was a blood relation. He would have left his own sons to die in a situation like this, and simply found another heir from the extended family and groomed them instead. Janos always maintained that historically, the best heirs were the ones groomed for the job, rather than the ones born to it. Duncan wouldn’t have been Janos’s first choice, he knew that, but with Duggan and Thomas killed in the same bombing that claimed Janos Marik’s life, the task had fallen upon him all the same. Duncan was no Hanse Davion, no Takashi Kurita, and he was certainly no Janos Marik. He had no forces to spare and there were no mercenary forces close enough that he trusted to do the job. The Lyran Commonwealth was buying up Mercenaries in droves to fight off the very same invaders who’d recently swept (relatively peacefully) through the Free Worlds League. Duncan wouldn’t have trusted the un-hired dregs on Galatea to tie his boots. Janos Marik had always maintained that the moment the Captain-General of the League showed weakness the League was doomed. The old man had been wrong before. Duncan needed an asset that wouldn’t hurt the League’s ability to resist the outside help. He’d beg for help if he needed, but one way or another he was going to rescue his son. Request Assistance From A) ComStar B) Stefan Amaris C) The Red Corsair D) Hanse Davion E) The Clans PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 23:20
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Can we choose more that one ally? Comstar carried the message and they just lost and hpg. Seems a natural alliance
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Nov 13, 2015 23:24
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C Comstar are gonna be gunning for blood not rescue missions, the Clans are insane and you know you can't trust the other guys. Pirates though, they can be bought.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:27
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ComStar would seem to be the most obvious, but I'll hold off voting for the time being. Want to give it a bit more thought.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:27
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D because its so loving crazy without being too loving crazy.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:28
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EDIT: Changing my vote to C:The Red Corsair. Would be nice to see what they've been up to, and continues that relation between Duncan and those pirates.
Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 23:30
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E) The Clans. That political update was far too reasonable for the faction of "No, You." It's time for the FWL to do something stupid.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:38
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Comstar is the natural option.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:45
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This is an interesting vote. Comstar would, on the surface, seem the logical choice. They're fighting a common enemy. On the other hand, Comstar are not nice people, and they just lost some facilities. They may hold Carlos partially responsible for the attack on their on-world assets. Not directly, as they already know he didn't lead the assault, but by virtue of being the (as far as they know) "real" target the Cappies were after. We know the Cappellans were already planning to dick-punch Comstar, but they may not know that. At the very least, they're more likely to capture Carlos and try and use him as leverage against the FWL than they are to return him peaceably or in good will. Asking Amaris for help would be a deal with the devil. He'd probably lend it, but he'd either backstab you to kill Carlos in an attempt to destabilize the league, or he'd demand assistance against the Clans from the FWL in exchange. If the league were going to fight the Clans, they'd have probably done that already. No reason to go kick hornets nests you've already gotten away from. The Red Corsair. A pirate, in name. Isn't the Red Corsair we're dealing with in the PTN universe a fake? IE not actually a pirate, but someone who took up the mantle to escape detection? It's been awhile since we've dealt with the Corsair, my recollection is hazy. Could be viable, if the FWL can afford to pay, which it sounds like they can. Probably one of the stronger options. Hanse Davion. Not really sure how I feel about this one. Hanse understands the value of family, or at least he would in the official timeline. He's got no real reason to care, though. The Clans. Ah, the hilarious joke option. They have some begruding respect for the way Marik already handled their prior situation. To go and ask for help to reclaim his freeborn son? Throw all that good will in the dumpster. They'd probably laugh in his face, especially since they're more focused on Amaris. The FWL has nothing they want, and they would find all this work for one freebirth to be stupid, even by Clan standards. And that is saying something.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:50
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So, back there on the planet, there's still a surviving Comstar lady who can corroborate Carlos' statements and battle ROMs proving that the capellans are the ones that attacked and destroyed the HPG and murdered all their staff. So, if Carlos and that lady get rescued by Comstar, presumably all hell breaks loose as Space AT&T goes apeshit against the Capellans. That's an obvious and immediately sensible outcome that I suppose Duncan Marik would benefit from. What are the other options like? Amaris is the batshit guy, right? Someone remind me what's the deal with Hanse Davion. And also I sorta forget what all has happened with the Corsairs. ...reading a story one chapter every two months for five years or whatever makes it really hard to remember what's going on.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:52
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C) The Red Corsair.
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Nov 13, 2015 23:54
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Zaodai posted:This is an interesting vote. Comstar would, on the surface, seem the logical choice. They're fighting a common enemy. On the other hand, Comstar are not nice people, and they just lost some facilities. They may hold Carlos partially responsible for the attack on their on-world assets. Not directly, as they already know he didn't lead the assault, but by virtue of being the (as far as they know) "real" target the Cappies were after. We know the Cappellans were already planning to dick-punch Comstar, but they may not know that. At the very least, they're more likely to capture Carlos and try and use him as leverage against the FWL than they are to return him peaceably or in good will. Ninja'd in my overview of the situation, although for me I'd think the FWL wouldn't entirely know the Clan reaction to their offer and might see using them as potentially less dangerous than trying to deal with Comstar or Amaris, making it slightly above hilariously stupid, but still pretty loving stupid. Which is why I want them to do it, because this is the FWL. So E
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Nov 14, 2015 00:01
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Zaodai posted:The Red Corsair. A pirate, in name. Isn't the Red Corsair we're dealing with in the PTN universe a fake? IE not actually a pirate, but someone who took up the mantle to escape detection? It's been awhile since we've dealt with the Corsair, my recollection is hazy. Could be viable, if the FWL can afford to pay, which it sounds like they can. Probably one of the stronger options. The Red Corsair is Melissa Steiner in disguise here in the PTNverse, and she has Morgan Kell and Team Banzai with her last we checked. Duncan interacted with her when ComStar tried to grab the Helm Memory Core under the guise of the Red Corsair when she was there first. They got away with a bunch of mechs in the cache, likely Royal variants. For that reason, I'm gonna vote the Red Corsair. ComStar might be the logical choice in this case, but Duncan has personal history with the Corsair, and I want to see more of Melissa and Morgan.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:06
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I wanna see some clanners destroy some Capellans so E
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Nov 14, 2015 00:06
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Both Amaris and the Clans are probably too busy with one another. Although I would like to see a FWL Clan teamup, so that's still tempting, but I doubt that they'd go for it. Hanse probably still has his hands full, remember that he had to let the Duchy of New Syrtis go to maintain control over the Combine's remnants. So it seems like Comstar and the Red Corsair are the best options, but I'll let some other posters give their opinions before I vote.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:08
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GhostStalker posted:The Red Corsair is Melissa Steiner in disguise here in the PTNverse, and she has Morgan Kell and Team Banzai with her last we checked. Duncan interacted with her when ComStar tried to grab the Helm Memory Core under the guise of the Red Corsair when she was there first. They got away with a bunch of mechs in the cache, likely Royal variants. Yeah, that sounds about right. I honestly think the Red Corsair is the best option, if you care both for Carlos and the FWL. No way of knowing that for a fact, but it'd come with the least baggage and the most cards on the table all around. Hell, they could offer the Corsair and company safe haven within FWL space as part of the payment. Gets them somewhere safe AND does so in a way that makes sense publicly without arousing suspicion. Everybody wins. I don't know if I want to vote in favor of that, or hilarious clusterfuck crazy train territory, personally.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:10
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C because the Mariks in this timeline are so great, and I want to see the Dread Pirate on their team.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:12
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D) Hanse Davion. I'm sure no one here is surprised by me voting this way, but it honestly seems like the most sensible option. ComStar will be putting the screws to the Cappies regardless, and it's hard to trust them to be delicate in this situation, so it seems both redundant and risky to pick them. They're also not good to be in debt to, favors or otherwise. The RWR is right out, and the Clans are going to be too busy fighting them; Duncan would look foolish to allow them to transit the FWL only to desperately call them for help and harm their campaign against Amaris. That leaves the Red Corsair or the Draconis Suns. The Red Corsair and friends are probably ideal for pulling off the extraction of Carlos, but not enough to blunt the Cappies' advance, which is Duncan's quandary - he needs a solution that recovers Carlos alive without sacrificing millions of his people and their homes to the Capellans. By contrast, while both halves of the DS are a bit busy with the Clans themselves right now, I'm sure Hanse wouldn't mind kicking the Cappies while they're already suffering through an interdiction. It opens another front and forces the Capellan Confederation to choose between keeping its gains against the FWL, or losing vitally important worlds to their hated enemy - and either way Duncan and the FWLM should be able to take advantage and push back once the Cappies are in disarray. For Hanse, hitting the Cappies hard might help to bring the Duchy of New Syrtis back into New Avalon's political orbit - or at least prevent them from going too far afield, and make reintegration more possible down the line. Considering how much prime real estate is owned by the Duchy right now I'm sure that would factor in to Hanse's potential willingness to "help" the FWL, though I'm sure even with the move already being in his favor he'll want to extract something in return from Duncan as well. And, even if not, targeting the Sarna Commonality/Sarna March would give an opportunity to replace the lost industrial weight of the ex-Capellan March, so either way it likely works out in the DS's favor as well as the FWL's. Overall it seems like the choice that would allow Duncan to hurt the CC the worst, and hurt the FWL the least, while ensuring that Carlos is recovered - and recovered by the FWLM, and not a foreign military or pirates, as well.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:13
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If you do pick the Red Corsair, that gives you Morgan "One of the best pilots in his generation, also has weird phantom mech ability (lol)" Kell to drop on the Capellans
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Nov 14, 2015 00:13
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I Bid C. Even the slightest chance of more pirate mechs is worth taking.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:15
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If you want a proper Charlie Foxtrot: Get the Pirates involved! I mean after the last Pirate mission? Why vote for anything else.  terrenblade posted:I Bid C.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:18
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