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long-rear end nips Diane posted:Light mechs are also good for hiding behind terrain for a few turns then darting out to contest a key objective at the end of the game. This is 100% true, but I'd like to add that I like to use VTOLs for this. In particular, the Anhur Transport (BA) or Karnov UR Transport (BA) with jumping battle armour if the era allows, or the classic Karnov with anti-mech rifle jump infantry for Succession Wars. Fast VTOLs are the most incredible thing for moving far while staying around cover because of their 1-level height. Also good for making slow assaults suddenly have to do the ants in the pants dance 
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Jul 9, 2020 06:49
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Isn’t the Stormcrow/Ryoken some kind of ultra efficient crunch optimum? Something about a sweet spot in terms of speed, armor, pod space? Light mechs really shine when you’re playing double blind and actually need scouts. Unfortunately it’s drat near impossible to run double blind in a physical game, you gotta take it online. MechWarrior Living Legends, a superb game with a genuine Nazi on the dev team, also did a great job of making lights vital. You always needed fast mechs to grab flank objectives, hunt down artillery, or screen the big bois from battle armor. I miss that game but gently caress Nazis.
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Jul 9, 2020 06:52
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Man thinking back on it it’s amazing how good the first wave of Clan omnis look. There are a whole bunch of iconic designs in that lineup, all with a coherent visual language and sense of common origin, and I don’t think it’s just due to exposure. Did they bring in new artists or something? Whoever worked on that really brought their A game.
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Jul 9, 2020 06:56
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General Battuta posted:Man thinking back on it it’s amazing how good the first wave of Clan omnis look. There are a whole bunch of iconic designs in that lineup, all with a coherent visual language and sense of common origin, and I don’t think it’s just due to exposure. Did they bring in new artists or something? Whoever worked on that really brought their A game. There are several artists working on the Kickstarter redesigns, but all of them have been deliberately trying to adhere to a consistent core theme and it shows. I'm pretty sure I've seen PLOG's signature on a couple of the sketch designs so it's not necessarily new artists so much as actually putting in effort to keep things coherent.
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Jul 9, 2020 07:01
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I said come in! posted:Still trying to work my way through understanding the basic rules, and something I am confused about is what is the advantage of the lighter mechs? What prevents them from just getting completely steamrolled over by a huge mech with like 12 guns? Besides stuff other people have already said, the advantage of faster mechs (and speed scales inversely with size) increases the larger the battlefield is. A single mapsheet game is tilted WAY in favor of large mechs.
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Jul 9, 2020 07:21
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It also sometimes requires a willingness to deliberately avoid shooting or being shot at, frequently in ways that drag the game out significantly and aren't actually fun for either side. Playing a Light 'Mech, particularly one that relies on speed as armor, to a perfect game is abject misery for anyone involved while the Light 'Mech spends dozens of turns firing one or two weapons that hit on 11s or 12s and their opponent's weapons are all hitting on higher than that.
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Jul 9, 2020 07:26
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General Battuta posted:Man thinking back on it it's amazing how good the first wave of Clan omnis look. There are a whole bunch of iconic designs in that lineup, all with a coherent visual language and sense of common origin, and I don't think it's just due to exposure. Did they bring in new artists or something? Whoever worked on that really brought their A game. If you're referring to the original Clan omni art, their look, oddly enough, came from RAM limits. Technical Readout 3050 (where they debuted) came out in 1990, the same year that the first BattleTech Virtual Centre opened, and the designs were (according to Weisman, and if I'm remembering him correctly) always intended to be used in those Centres. Weisman told me that though they'd crammed an absolutely insane amount of memory in those pods for the time (IIRC 32 or 64 megs), RAM was precious because of everything the pods were trying to do and those limits informed a lot of the visual appearance of the first omnis: the boxiness, the interchangeability of sections in a bunch of the chassis, and so on. It was an attempt to make them as memory-non-intensive as possible.
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Jul 9, 2020 07:30
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Strobe posted:The Black Lanner is my favorite mech to actually use in the game and its 55 tons. The D config is probably one of the most cost-effective Mechs in the entire game by BV.  Lanner D Crew. I have so many good memories of those peeling open and exploding an isolated assault mech in the first five turns of a game.
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Jul 9, 2020 11:54
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So does DrivethruRPG do sales on Field Manuals every once in a while? I want to get Field Manual 3085 but I ain't paying 25 bucks for just the few pages I want to read out of it.
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Jul 9, 2020 15:23
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Are current gen plastic models intended for vehicles anytime soon? If not, what is the best way to get them?
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Jul 9, 2020 20:36
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Baron Porkface posted:Are current gen plastic models intended for vehicles anytime soon? If not, what is the best way to get them? For now if you don't want the metals I'd recommend third-parties like HepserusII on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/HesperusIIMinis and Metal Core https://www.metalcorecollectibles.ca/
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Jul 9, 2020 21:05
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Reaper's got some interesting plastic tanks in their CAV line, I'm not sure how they compare to BattleTech's scale. Most of their robits are oversized but the tanks look like they're pretty ok. Edit: I mean, it's not like a Demolisher II actually fits in a hex. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Jul 9, 2020 |
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Jul 9, 2020 22:14
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My cousin and his fiancée have been getting into miniatures games recently and I’ve been thinking about getting them into Battletech. What does Alpha Strike play like at a lance v lance level? I’ve seen a lot of talk about how it makes larger games much faster/feasible - does it turn smaller ones into rocket tag?
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Jul 9, 2020 23:38
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I'd say lance vs lance is the nebulous zone for BT. For classic it's best for more experienced players (or groups), while for Alpha Strike, yeah, for me at least it gives the rocket tag effect. I like AS at about the company level (12 mechs per side) or larger. Might be good for training games, though. It's pretty easy to scale up after getting the hang of things and knowing you want more.
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Jul 10, 2020 00:06
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Mode 7 posted:My cousin and his fiancée have been getting into miniatures games recently and I’ve been thinking about getting them into Battletech. I'd do 8v8s (or really 8 vs whatever) with you controlling an opforce for them and letting them control a lance each. I've had good results with that with my players, because it lets them get attached to their 'Mechs while also letting you help them get comfortable, lets them have full control over which 'Mech gets to take advantage of the lance SPAs, and etc. before you start pitting them against targets of equal difficulty.
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Jul 10, 2020 00:42
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When I played I ran an OpFor against the players who were a small mech company. Most of the battles would either have one side withdraw or a win/lose trigger so not everything would have to be killed (usually) to finish the game. Most games took a good afternoon but when we played at a local game store (to use their terrain) we'd get a number of the 40k players watching. One battle for example was a delaying action where they had to keep the OpFor from crossing a bridge long enough for engineers to wire it to blow (because for reasons it couldn't just be shot down with gunfire). The fun part was that they also had to A) keep the enemy far enough way from the bridge to not endanger the engineers and B) get over the bridge themselves before blowing it. As the battle went on more enemy units would show up as the larger force got closer. Taerkar fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Jul 10, 2020 |
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Jul 10, 2020 01:55
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I do feel BattleTech really shines brightest when it's a GM'd game with a story scenario.
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Jul 10, 2020 02:08
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PoptartsNinja posted:I do feel BattleTech really shines brightest when it's a GM'd game with a story scenario. But a curated, story-based Battletech game can be fun as hell. I ran one a few years ago with four friends, each of whom controlled a single mech in the Black Omen mercenary company - which had the misfortune to be stationed near the coreward periphery around the late 3040's. Hint, hint. All but one of the players were new to Battletech, so I tended to make the first few sessions "easy mode". I never fudged dice rolls, but if someone was having a rough time, I'd occasionally have the OpFor make minor mistakes - which is easy to do in a narrative game - yes, this enemy could finish off the wounded Griffin, but the pilot got rattled when a Hunchback's shot shredded his left torso armor. I also used a modified "edge" system from the old Mechwarrior RPG, allowing the players to spend it reroll an important (or catastrophic) roll. As the campaign went on, I started giving them each a couple of Mechs to control. We went through the obligatory Clan invasion storyline, and their cakewalk garrison duty turned into a desparate fight for survival and escape. If a player lost their mech(s), I'd draft them to help me run the OpFor for the rest of that session, and we always found in-story reasons to find them a new ride for the next one. It was so much fun, and I really miss doing it, but some of the participants have since started families, and they can't spare 4+ hours on a weekend anymore.
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Jul 10, 2020 06:23
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New project: Don't think I'll ever get a PLA stuff again, but the little truck from Metal Core is fantastic
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Jul 13, 2020 01:58
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Is that a 'Mech-scale Union?
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Jul 13, 2020 03:54
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Yep, it sure is! First heavy coat of primer. Dreading having to sand it again, but I might have no choice
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Jul 13, 2020 09:57
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It's specifically this mapscale Union: https://hardwarestudios.co/product/monitor-dropship/
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Jul 13, 2020 21:59
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BULBASAUR posted:Yep, it sure is! Lore question, how many mechs can fit in these giant balls?
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Jul 13, 2020 23:29
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I said come in! posted:Lore question, how many mechs can fit in these giant balls? https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Fortress 12 mechs, 12 vehicles, and lots of dudes with guns
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Jul 13, 2020 23:35
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A company and two ASFs E: ^^^ this is a Union, not a Fortress
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Jul 13, 2020 23:36
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I said come in! posted:Lore question, how many mechs can fit in these giant balls? 12 'Mechs and two Aerospace Fighters. There are instructions on the webstore for that model to build it as a magnetized carrying case for 'Mechs. 
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Jul 13, 2020 23:42
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It is extremely tempting to buy that.
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Jul 13, 2020 23:56
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Honestly that's why I got it. I made it so my top has magnets and pops off like a lid- so I can carry my toys inside  The material has been a pain in the rear end to work with tho
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Jul 14, 2020 19:24
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Is Tactical Operations: Advance Units & Equipment a newer version of the TechManual book? Or is it okay to buy both?
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Jul 15, 2020 16:16
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TechManual is the construction counterpart to Total Warfare: whatever is in TW can be built with the TechManual. Tactical Operations was the expansion book that came after TW and TM: one part a pile of alternate play rules, and one part a mountain of new equipment. As that book was enormous, they've now split it into two: Advanced Rules and Advanced Units & Equipment. But TacOps in any form has no overlap with TM, so you can get both and be fine. However, if you own the BattleMech Manual, you'll find there's a decent amount of overlap there (the BMM pillaged the most popular optional mech rules and mech gear from TacOps). Out of the whole expanded core rulebook line past TW, TacOps is by far the most commonly used: a lot of its equipment is standard issue now for later-era games (set in about 3090 or later, i.e. TRO Prototypes and later).
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Jul 15, 2020 18:08
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Are Total Warfare or Alpha Strike expected to get a current gen update/reprinting?
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Jul 16, 2020 00:34
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TW just got a new print run like a year ago.
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Jul 16, 2020 00:48
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Yeah, TW's latest printing (the 6th; blue Atlas cover, no 35th anniversary logo in the corner) is three very minor pieces of errata short of complete, while the latest (2nd) printing of AS: Commander's Edition is 100% up to date.
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Jul 16, 2020 03:38
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Well, thanks to a last minute shipment from Mother Russia finally arriving, I am in the process of homebrewing a squad of mech-sized Xenomorphs from Alien inspired by the Nightmare Asylum comic. Which is a lot harder than you'd think!  There doesn't seem to be any mech-sized organic enemies in Battletech canon, so adapting a squad of these led by a Clan Smoke Jaguar SaKhan gone mad is pretty tricky - but they do have internal and external skeletons, which is the hard part out of the way outside of some number crunching. Right now I'm just trying to figure out balance (1 clan heavy + 5 of these against 4 medium mechs) but here's the outline I have so far: -40 tons -7/12/6 MP -Claws & Talons for melee -Chainwhip for tail, with 2 hex range in front and rear to compensate for the tail's length -AC/10 substituted for acid spit I wanna do something for head biting because the scenario will take place in a vacuum and I wanna put the risk of violent decompression on the table. Then I just need to figure out the armor values balance as well as rename the internal components, which shouldn't be too hard. I might just copy the Ostscout's structure, probably. What do you all think?
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Jul 16, 2020 06:43
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Taintrunner posted:There doesn't seem to be any mech-sized organic enemies in Battletech canon There are the "dinosaurs" of Caph, but they've never bothered to give them stats, as far as I know. Presumably they would fare as well against 31st century weapons as anything else made out of flesh does.
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Jul 16, 2020 07:01
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Well, human sized xenomorphs are sort of hit and miss against human weapons, I figured we can apply the same logic to mech-sized xenomorphs.
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Jul 16, 2020 07:07
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Taintrunner posted:Well, human sized xenomorphs are sort of hit and miss against human weapons, I figured we can apply the same logic to mech-sized xenomorphs. Stat them out as 'Mechs of various sizes and weight classes (and engine ratings), give them a resistance to a weapon type (energy, ballistics, missiles), and then give them some sort of critical flaw like 'if they eat an engine crit it sets off their booby trap and they explode' or 'takes double damage from plasma weaponry.' And give them all a booby trap to represent them exploding into a cloud of acid when they die. Don't worry if they're underweight for their tonnage, or if they wind up over-engined, or if you have to throw in an XXL to make a 4/6/8 95 tonner with MASC and a hatchet. Just make them fun and try to make sure their engine ratings don't get too crazy if you do take the booby trap. Maybe do some crappy ones too, to be a 'horde' of easily killed trash to hide the one that's actually murderously dangerous. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Jul 16, 2020 |
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Jul 16, 2020 07:12
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I hunger for my robotic plastic sons to arrive.
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Jul 16, 2020 16:37
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The Battlemaster from the cover of Rolling Thunder may still not have a canon record sheet, but it's absolutely mentioned explicitly in the new Recognition Guide out today. The 3150 upgrade version does have a canon record sheet. Quad Autocannon Beemer is go.
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Jul 17, 2020 21:28
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That cover is also my favourite depiction of the BattleMaster, except for maybe  https://www.deviantart.com/steampoweredmikej/gallery/41141657/battletech I wish more BattleTech artists, especially the CCG ones, would post high-res versions of their art on the internet
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Jul 17, 2020 21:43
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