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PoptartsNinja posted:Let’s Read Mechwarrior Dark Age I...I suddenly realize I've read this. And the next 8 or so books. I got rid of them a long time ago, and apparently Eternal Sunshined the memories, but now they're all coming back to me.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:04
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berryjon posted:I don't know what that is. A bunch of ludicrously overpowered Dark Age stuff, not sure how canon they are though. It's in the latest version of MegaMek under 'Experimental' tech. Includes such bullshit as the RISC Hyper Laser, a 20 damage energy weapon that weighs 8 tons with a range of 25 hexes, RISC Viral Jammers which are supercharged ECM units, RISC Pulse Modules that weigh 1 ton and add -2 modifiers to any laser weapons they're attached to, Super-Cooled Myomer that is basically MASC that doubles heat sink effectiveness and Advanced Point Defense systems that can shoot down Arrow IV rockets along with other missiles. Edit: They're all described in Interstellar Ops, if you want to check the specifics. Scintilla fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 00:10
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Devorum posted:I...I suddenly realize I've read this. And the next 8 or so books. I got rid of them a long time ago, and apparently Eternal Sunshined the memories, but now they're all coming back to me. That's no real shock. Even by the pulpy as gently caress standards of B-Tech books, the Dark Ages novels are all eminently forgettable.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:11
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This one is especially bad because it's Stackpole's fantasies of how he should be a super elite commando and show all those people who look at him like he's a complete schlub.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:31
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I never understood Stackpole's inferiority complex. I mean, the guy made (makes?) a good living as a fiction author and he wrote some of the biggest fan favorites in the setting he worked in. That's not an easy thing to do.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:37
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Anyone know the rates for tie-in fiction these days? I suppose it will depend on whether Btech books are done flat fee or with royalties.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:53
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Pretty sure he got paid a flat rate. Back when FASA was falling apart there was some drama about them still owing him a bunch of money for the last few novels he wrote for them.
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Jan 2, 2016 01:02
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PoptartsNinja posted:So who could it be?! Wait, I know this. It's the Sith, right? Also, from now on when I read Mason's name I'm thinking "Manson."
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Jan 2, 2016 01:05
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Charles or Marilyn?
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Jan 2, 2016 01:07
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Skippy McPants posted:I never understood Stackpole's inferiority complex. I mean, the guy made (makes?) a good living as a fiction author and he wrote some of the biggest fan favorites in the setting he worked in. That's not an easy thing to do. He probably tried to write non-genre fiction and got turned down a lot.
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Jan 2, 2016 01:25
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PoptartsNinja posted:Please trust me not to be an rear end in a top hat with indirect fire. We can't account for every contingency but I guarantee you'll fire at whatever your spotter picks out for you. I dunno. My experience with LRM fire is pretty much the same as with water: the amount of people telling you 'its sucks don't use it' and the misinformation from people discussing how it works without knowing the specifics themselves does FAR more to obfuscate to its usability and smoothness than the actual rules themselves. poo poo, even you aren't immune to this. I'm pretty proud that I got it right the first time, since, well... I mean, come on. I've been hearing tales of how complex and headachey Battletech Rules Are for years now and.... this is a rule that I can summarize in a paragraph and calculate math with the same ease and mechanics as my regular shots. As far as Mechrules go, this is easy. The mechanics look like they were designed to be integrated smoothly and without hastle. The only actually complex and hard part about indirect fire is that it requires an Internet Hi-Five to pull off. From my admittedly rookie perspective, I'd go so far as to say coordinating movement is more complex. Not even kidding. Indirect LRM fire.  HEY, shoot this jerk! I can't, there's a mountain in the way! Just fire over it! You can do that? Okay. How do we do that? Its easy. You draw line of sight and check cover from me, with ranges and arcs checked from you. That's it? You add a +1 for 'blot out the sun' tax, and my own move mod which I'm using for my own shooting anyway, and another 1 if I shoot too. Which I am. So... +1 to +4 to fire over the mountain. Depending on how much we jostle the camera.. ..and the missiles. Don't forget your own movement. Oh right. That always happens. I don't know why I thought it worked any differently than usual. Is that it? yeah. No, wait. Since its a top-attack, you won't hit the ground if that jerk is in cover. So its actaully a bonus! Huh. What is it? Oh, nothing. I thought you said this game was complex.And that's my experience with LRMs. Basically everyone is krab tier when talking about something that is actually super simple. TheParadigm fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 02:05
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Scintilla posted:A bunch of ludicrously overpowered Dark Age stuff, not sure how canon they are though. It's in the latest version of MegaMek under 'Experimental' tech. Includes such bullshit as the RISC Hyper Laser, a 20 damage energy weapon that weighs 8 tons with a range of 25 hexes, RISC Viral Jammers which are supercharged ECM units, RISC Pulse Modules that weigh 1 ton and add -2 modifiers to any laser weapons they're attached to, Super-Cooled Myomer that is basically MASC that doubles heat sink effectiveness and Advanced Point Defense systems that can shoot down Arrow IV rockets along with other missiles. In the clix game RISC gear was only marginally better but came with hefty penalties if you rolled badly. Dunno if they translated them to be better in the classic BT game. poptarrtsninja posted:
The vast majority of HPGs were destroyed by viruses or bugs in the software/hardware, only a handul were assaulted by actual combat troops. One I believe was even attacked by an individual posing as a tourist in an HPG station. The solution of using the B circuits for extra parts falls apart in later novels, when it's shown even completely healthy replacement parts get hosed up by the viruses present. In "A Bonfire of Worlds" even, nu-Comstar builts a completely new HPG, and I mean new everything, and it still cascades into destruction. Tucker Harwell later surmies there is something disrupting hyperspace itself, not just the HPGs skippy mcpants posted:That's no real shock. Even by the pulpy as gently caress standards of B-Tech books, the Dark Ages novels are all eminently forgettable. I've got most of them, the the only ones I would say that are completely worthless would be the Proving Grounds Trilogy, the Combine books (mostly because of the author, the source material had a lot of potential), and the one or two stories that had no actual main characters. Most of them were decent, as decent as a Battletech book could be. The last 5, which all had to do wit hthe FWL and House Steiner were better than most older Battletech novels. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 02:06
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There's also implied rapes in a couple of them, that was in atrocious taste.
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Jan 2, 2016 02:39
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Crazy Joe Wilson posted:In the clix game RISC gear was only marginally better but came with hefty penalties if you rolled badly. Dunno if they translated them to be better in the classic BT game. RISC gear is better than Clan stuff but also tends to blow up at inconvenient times. The aformentioned 20 damage 8 ton laser blows itself up 10% of the time when fired, for example. The pulse laser module only blows itself up and trashes the laser it's attached to 3% of the time.
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Jan 2, 2016 04:38
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TheParadigm posted:And that's my experience with LRMs. Basically everyone is krab tier when talking about something that is actually super simple. This didn't need to be brought back up. Edit: I'm going to pull the veil back a little bit: I don't have every rule memorized, and I try to answer questions sent to me as quickly as possible. That often means answering when I'm at work, since I usually have SA open for browsing when I have downtime. When I'm at work I don't have access to my rulebooks, so crunchy questions might get an 'I don't know, I need to look that up' or even an outright incorrect answer if I'm certain I do have a rule memorized but have forgotten a line or two, which is what happened the first time I explained the indirect fire rules to you. Until your questions necessitated a re-read of the indirect fire rules I would have been waiving the +1 'spotter' penalty from your attacks because while I remembered 90% of the indirect fire rules, I'd forgotten that specific line entirely. If or when the thread pointed out I hosed up I would have continued to waive that penalty for the rest of the mission, just like I have with every other forgotten penalty. So misinformation or not, I wasn't lying to you.  Please trust me to not be an rear end in a top hat. I am not going to intentionally gently caress over a player. If I accidentally gently caress over a player I will make good on it. Double Edit: And despite what Zaodai seems to think, I'm not an antagonistic GM. I just like to keep fights entertaining for the players and the thread in general and that usually means keeping the stakes high or adding in a few surprises for spice. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 05:00
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Honestly, that sounded worse than it was meant. I wasn't complaining about you so much as..... really ALL the input about indirect fire I've had in total. Thread and #megamek included. Everything you just touched on is like, a non-issue for me. You're a great resource, and its a habit to to double-check conflicting sources of information, which is what led to the confusion. I ended up finding a book to borrow and realized how much goons talk poo poo, basically. I did feel like banning something was something of a knee-jerk, though.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:16
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Zaodai posted:Personally, I'm not big on giving someone the power to retcon deaths (beyond PTN himself, obviously). The whole "where are they now?" idea could be neat for living characters, though. I just wanted Engine Joe back. 
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Jan 2, 2016 06:19
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:I just wanted Engine Joe back. I think we all (maybe with the exception of Zaodai) do. Blast from the past, that. What was that, the second mission in this thread?
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Jan 2, 2016 06:32
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Engine Joe was the thread's first real tragic hero. I didn't even join the forums until like a year after he died and I still remember him somberly.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:37
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TheParadigm posted:Honestly, that sounded worse than it was meant. I wasn't complaining about you so much as..... really ALL the input about indirect fire I've had in total. It's not necessarily that the indirect fire rules are difficult. They're pretty straightforward, but the difficulty comes from keeping track of all the exceptions, as well as all of the new exceptions added by optional rulebooks. For example, a `Mech with TAG doesn't have to declare that it's spotting. If it hits with its TAG the target will be a valid one for indirect fire even without semi-guided LRMs. Or the fact that infantry can spot without adding a movement penalty since they don't suffer those (another reason why Sylphs are pretty terrifying in the right hands). And one from TacOps: A unit with broken morale can't spot for indirect fire. Lots of exceptions. None of them apply. As a general rule when you spot for indirect fire without any extra special equipment, it's usually safe to assume you'll be adding somewhere between +2 and +3 to the firer's shot as long as your line of sight is clear. Simple. TheParadigm posted:I did feel like banning something was something of a knee-jerk, though. It was, and I didn't (and still don't) plan on banning anything in the core rules.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:56
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PoptartsNinja posted:It was, and I didn't (and still don't) plan on banning anything in the core rules. Except for, as I recall, starting a shitload of fires, because that's just a dick move if you're not playing MM
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Jan 2, 2016 07:02
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:I just wanted Engine Joe back. I figured that's what was bringing on the death rectons in the first place. Hence my evil cyborg zombie Caballero. PoptartsNinja posted:
I don't think you're an antagonistic GM. But you do play AS the antagonists, and you write the story. So when you're playing the bad guys of the scenario, who happen to be genuinely bad guys, I assume you'll do evil, nefarious things. It's honestly not intended as an insult or a degradation of your GMing. To the contrary, I mean it as a credit to your writing. I genuinely believed you were going to spring a trap on them because 1) Dickbag Cappellans, 2) you hadn't mission killed those guys like you normally would if they were safely ignored in any other mission. If you HAD sprung a trap on them, I wouldn't have seen it as being an antagonistic or bad GM. It would have been perfectly in character for the force you were playing as. And contrary to popular belief, I will never make a recommendation that I believe will sabotage the efforts of the players. Even if I am cheering for the OpFor. I cheer for them for story reason, and I may root against the players. But it takes a special kind of rear end in a top hat, even by my standards, to watch someone wait 3 years to get a chance to play and then try and ruin their fun. It is part of why I refrain from offering tactical movement/firing advice and mostly stick to campaigning in political votes and stuff.
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Jan 2, 2016 07:24
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Zaodai posted:And contrary to popular belief, I will never make a recommendation that I believe will sabotage the efforts of the players. I know you don't, man. And I don't really think you view me as antagonistic. I just do run scenarios where I'm at a disadvantage on occasion. VVV Nah, he raised a good point. I absolutely could have brought both of those machines back into the fight at some later point. They were close-to-but-not-quite mission killed. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 13:37
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I know Zaodai doesn't believe he's sabotaging the players, but he has enough of a track record now that 'don't do what Zaodai says' is reasonable advice.
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Jan 2, 2016 14:12
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PoptartsNinja posted:
Exactly. It is the intelligent alien birdspecies. Them existing creates a psychic backlash that ripples across hyperspace, disrupting comms. And now they're coming for us! Edit : vvv At this point I'd be happy if the explanation was that someone was recreating that time travel event that Comstar accidentally stumbled upon some time back in an adventure book, and we all just reset time to PoptartsNinja's timeline after the HPGs give up the ghost for real. evilmiera fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 16:28
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Weren't we promised a canon answer to this in one of the upcoming Kickstarted books? Not that anyone cares by now.
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Jan 2, 2016 18:58
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evilmiera posted:vvv At this point I'd be happy if the explanation was that someone was recreating that time travel event that Comstar accidentally stumbled upon some time back in an adventure book, and we all just reset time to PoptartsNinja's timeline after the HPGs give up the ghost for real. I dunno if that'd fly, we'll be going pretty far off the rails in 3035.
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Jan 2, 2016 19:34
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PoptartsNinja posted:I dunno if that'd fly, we'll be going pretty far off the rails in 3035. Ah, so the Tetatae invasion force will finally arrive and crush humanity beneath their scaly feet?
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Jan 2, 2016 20:09
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PoptartsNinja posted:I dunno if that'd fly, we'll be going pretty far off the rails in 3035. Rails? Where we're going, we don't need... rails.
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Jan 2, 2016 20:13
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evilmiera posted:Exactly. It is the intelligent alien birdspecies. Them existing creates a psychic backlash that ripples across hyperspace, disrupting comms. And now they're coming for us! Dachshundofdoom posted:Ah, so the Tetatae invasion force will finally arrive and crush humanity beneath their scaly feet? My only regret about quitting MWO is that I didn't write more posts about bird aliens while paraphrasing foucault. e: squawk
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Jan 2, 2016 20:20
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My only regret about MWO was that it wasn't any good.
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Jan 2, 2016 21:06
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That's why I said quitting, love
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Jan 2, 2016 21:36
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Orders sent. Carefully standing and attempting to wallop the grey 'n' red Marauder.
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Jan 2, 2016 22:09
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Soup Inspector posted:Orders sent. Carefully standing and attempting to wallop the grey 'n' red Marauder. Isn't carefully standing the one that skips your entire turn to stand? Instead of a pilot roll and, what, 2mp?
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Jan 3, 2016 04:11
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It uses all your movement points, I'm pretty sure it does not "skip your turn". You can still stand and fire all your weapons.
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Jan 3, 2016 04:14
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Yeah, the way I had it explained to me was that it just uses all your MP. Since I don't intend on moving this turn that's a small price to pay for minimising the chances of :battletech:, as humorous as it would be.
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Jan 3, 2016 13:35
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Defiance Industries posted:There's also implied rapes in a couple of them, that was in atrocious taste. I think those were the Draconis Combine books, which only proves my point that they were easily the worst DA books. And I guess Caleb Davion was implied to have done that as well to Danai Centrella-Liao. I still wish the authors had made the best of that decision and had Danai give birth to a kid who she could use to claim lordship over Liao AND Davion space, would've almost been worth it, almost.
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Jan 3, 2016 14:21
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One of the players requested a delay, since it's That Time of Year we'll be pushing things back until the 6th. I'm going to do as much as I can in the mean time, and we'll probably get another Ghost War update. Or two. Or I'll drop some vague hints about future things.
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Jan 3, 2016 21:35
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Let’s Read Mechwarrior Dark Age A Brand New Era, A Brand New Saga! GHOST WAR a BattleTech novel NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MICHAEL A. STACKPOLE Part 6 Chapter 13 Victor’s still here and he’s namedropping all the dead people. Stackpole fellates Victor’s “keen intellect” and “hunger for knowledge” then praises his “ability to learn” as his greatest strength. His and every other human being since the dawn of man. Victor is then described in terms akin to the Borg: given enough time to adapt he’ll learn the way to beat anyone.  Mason then compares the average citizen to dogs, saying that dogs growl before they bite. Wait, no Stackpole dialogue: first the hackles rise, then the dog growls, then the dog snarls, then the dog bites. Which is patently untrue and the whole point of the stupid analogy is that the people are nervous but if someone is out there egging them on they’ll probably turn into murderous cannibal zombies. Or something. Anyway, we learn that Victor has a special interest in Mason, having: quote:recruited me, engineered my education, and guided me to my present role as a Ghost Knight. Mason presents two theories about why Victor cares: either Mason is Victor’s “everyone I knew and love is dead” hobby, or Mason reminds Victor of someone (spoilers: Phelan (Ok, I was just guessing there but on the next page Stackpole spells it out, it’s Phelan. Mystery solved)). I can already tell this chapter is going to be insufferable, so of course Victor proves me right by telling Mason how he met Devlin Stone. Blah blah blah he’s Uther Pendragon. Mason asks: quote:”I read one history that suggested you intended to use him as a puppet and take control of the Reformation.” Which would have been remarkably shrewd and potentially politically astute of Victor if it were true. So of course it’s not. Victor “instantly recognized success.” Also Devlin Stone was apparently a social Darwinist. But of course Stone murdering his way through the nobility of the former Terran Hegemony worlds was necessary because otherwise society would have collapsed. Anyway, Victor’s granddaughter Nessa shows up to save us. Mason “sees her as a cousin” and manages to avoid describing her in overly-sexual terms, just mildly sexual ones. Progress? She chases Mason out and the chapter ends. Chapter 14 Mason has a bad dream. OH NO. Then he has breakfast.  Time for another interminable debriefing, which Mason spends flirting with Janella. In front of their boss. Totally professional. Mason and Janella’s direct superior is a woman, so Mason immediately describes her in in terms of her physical attractiveness (she’s in her 70s). No, seriously. quote:She wore a cream-colored jacket and skirt over dark brown boots, with a royal blue blouse beneath. The outfit complimented her olive skin, a fact made apparent as she smoothed the skirt, then leaned forward. I haven’t been keeping track, but I should’ve done a ‘Stackpole Fact’ counter just to document the number of times Ghost War uses the word fact. My gut says a lot since it’s a word Stackpole loves to throw around casually. They chat about the state of the Republic, and that there are clearly two bands at large: the “lions” and the “jackals”—those who caused the disaster and those who are feeding on it. It is confirmed that the HPGs were attacked, so this wasn’t some hyperspace disruption. Aerospace fighters, space marines, and etc, and their JumpShips were capable of doing multiple jumps. Three or more. So yeah. Either the Wobbies or ComStar itself, since they were the only ones doing any real hyperspace research. Chapter 15 The briefing continues. Interminably. So now they’re explaining the new factions for the Mechwarrior: Dark Ages clickygame. Dragon’s Fury is the Not-Kurita faction in the Republic. Another threat is some fat bureaucrat whose “green eyes glowed with intense hatred” (lol). Mason continues to be insufferable, so at least there’s one constant in this slog of a novel: quote:I could never beat Katana Tormark in a sword-fight, but then I knew the best defense against someone with that sort of skill is a 12.5mm sniper rifle at one klick.  Anyway, they don’t discuss too many of the other factions (because they’re all stupid and who gives a poo poo, they were just using two as examples). Oh, and then this bombshell drops: quote:The Republic had maintained order and guided progress through economic stimulus and education. Those who opposed The Republic could not participate in the prosperity, and those who made The Republic better were vastly rewarded with money and honors. So yeah, The Republic doesn’t want to fight its own people but needs to keep the “Jackals” under control. So when Mason asks what the plan is, the response is pretty much: “gently caress if we know.” And then the chapter ends.
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Jan 4, 2016 03:53
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PoptartsNinja posted:Let’s Read Mechwarrior Dark Age So is there a particular reason that character is named like that, or did Stackpole pretty much just go "Hey this guy is good with swords, so I'll literally name him after a sword!"? What's next, Shotgun McGuire? Urbanmech Johnson?
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Jan 4, 2016 12:19
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