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BattleTech ships big. Pictured: 
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Aug 25, 2020 06:36
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:13 |
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Ninurta posted:while the Wolverine in the lower left corner also misses Buttstomp. Also, there's a Hadouken involved. I think that's a Quickdraw. You can tell because two of the lasers are pointed backwards to  The cardboard token from the 4th edition box is the coolest the Quickdraw has ever looked (and even it fucks up and mounts the two rear lasers forward because those rear-mounted lasers just don't make any sense).  Edit: Those tokens made a lot of really garbage 'Mechs look surprisingly cool. This is the coolest the Panther and Vindicator have ever looked.       I'd have to say this is the iconic Grasshopper for me, too. It's just weird and alien and flexible in a way 'Mechs don't normally get depicted and I'd say it's part of the reason the Grasshopper's one of my favorite 'Mechs to this day.  Obligatory: 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Sep 12, 2020 |
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Sep 12, 2020 18:23
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I have a real soft spot for most of them!      It's just a pity even they can't make the Dragon look cool.  
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Sep 12, 2020 19:28
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The 4th ed standee art communicates everything you need to know about the Vindicator, though. It's slow (you can tell, because it's bulky), easy to use (because it's got only the one really big gun), and it's designed to get shot at (you can tell, because it's bulky). Likewise the Clint. You know the Clint is a trash mook because they gave it stormtrooper face but it's not as bulky as the Vindicator so it's probably less ok to let it get shot. Edit: and the 4th Ed Awesome is the Platonic Ideal Awesome that every other Awesome aspires to be. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Sep 12, 2020 |
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Sep 12, 2020 19:42
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Far Country's just bizarre. So a crew of four mercenaries and some DEST Ninjas misjump and wind up Somewhere. Misjumps in BattleTech are a big deal. Usually just kill you, but since BattleTech's hyperspace is basically Warhammer 40000's The Warp without any deamons in it, Hyperspacet can do loving anything including dumping you into a star system in another galaxy or even shunting you off into another universe entirely if you gently caress up the space trigonometry. So these Mercs and DEST Ninjas aren't the first people to misjump and wind up at this particular Somewhere (which I will call Birbworld for no particular reason). A group of tank drivers from before the age before of BattleMechs suffered the same fate about 3 centuries earlier, so Birbworld is now populated by humans who have no poo poo founded cities that serve as an allegorical representation of greed, religion, and military might. These three allegorical (but somehow real) cities don't cooperate and wage perpetual war to kill each other with steam-powered tanks. Meanwhile, Birbworld's native inhabitants, a race of pseudo-anthropomorphic bird cavemen, are being oppressed and slaughtered by the humans because they're too stupid to just avoid them. These three allegorical (but very real) cities are somehow evenly matched even though one of them is supposed to be better at fighting than the other two. So one of the mercs dies at some point, and the other three basically pick a city to lord over in their BattleMechs while the DEST Ninjas steal a Locust and decide the mercs are crazy and go live in the jungle with the Cavebirbs. The Cavebirbs help the DEST Ninjas not get instantly murdered by the mercenaries because they think the Locust is an avatar of their god, the DEST ninjas kill one of the mercenaries and take another Locust so now they have TWO gods. Then the rough plot of Avatar happens and the DEST Ninjas decide the two surviving mercenaries are Their Problem After All and employ precisely none of the stealth ninja assassination skills they've been trained in their whole lives and don't actually do anything to eliminate the mercs even though killing them is supposedly their highest priority. Then the two surviving mercenaries kill each other, one by shooting the other's Javelin until it blows up and the other by lawn darting his Phoenix Hawk LAM into a rock moments later because he didn't realize he was running low on space jetfuel. So then the DEST Ninjas decide to take their DropShip (which was broken but it's working now DON'T ASK QUESTIONS) and go live on the moon, the results of this being: A) The Cavebirbs and the maybe twenty surviving allegorical human civilians have to work out their differences without the oversight of the only humans the Cavebirbs respect (which undoubtedly ended with the Cavebirbs poking two-meter spears through the twitching bodies of all the surviving humans) and B) The DEST Ninjas all asphyxiate on the moon. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 13, 2020 |
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Sep 13, 2020 03:17
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Bug Squash posted:Aren't those also the only aliens in Battletech as well? Nope! BattleTech does have other intelligent aliens, but the Cavebirbs are the most intelligent / the only ones capable of communicating with humans. It's possible the Sadly, BattleTech's version of the Genestealer isn't sapient (and doesn't steal genes). They're also three meters tall and have chameleonic skin so they're more like genestealer-shaped Lictors. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Sep 13, 2020 |
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Sep 13, 2020 18:37
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Protomechs are baby mechs that more closely match Human physical movement. I'm a fan of Alex Iglesias's unofficial Protomech redesigns, he really makes them look kinda neat. I'm torn though, because a big part of the charm of protomechs is how incredibly stupid they look.  Link for big
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Sep 18, 2020 14:05
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You'll like this one, then! It's a late-era protomech that's basically a Proto-LAM.
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Sep 18, 2020 18:15
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I like to play a game of "count the faces" on the Svartalfa. These are my favorite:    
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Sep 20, 2020 |
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Sep 20, 2020 13:18
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WilWheaton posted:how does that even walk forward? BattleTech tripods are essentially bipods with a spare leg they just lift off the ground, but they can change direction without cost by just changing which two legs they're walking with at any given time. They don't fall over if they lose a leg they just have to start paying MP to turn. They make a miniscule amount more sense with the third leg poking out the back like a tail but I figure that Triskelion pilot is making a crude innuendo.  Edit: All of the canonical tripods are also pretty hilariously bad. Two of them are superheavy (125-135 ton) "superweapons" and the other one is basically just an extremely expensive Catapult. BattleTech has a long-running trend of weird prototypes and "superweapons" actually being total poo poo, which I find refreshing. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Sep 21, 2020 |
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Sep 21, 2020 02:44
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My favorite thing in Boondoggles is still the Banshee Aerospace Fighter, the one from the cartoon. For those not in the know, AeroSpace Fighters have fusion engines and stay airborn with raw thrust. They they can be unstable in atmospheric flight because they've got so damned much of it and because "aerodynamics" is lostech. The The  That big arch right behind the cockpit? That's the air intake for a massive 25 ton ejecting-pilot-eating jet engine. The Banshee fighter only weighs 50 tons, so full half of its weight is devoted to a big engine that only (sort-of) works while the fighter is in an atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, it's got lovely armor and its armament is so limited (two medium lasers and nothing else) that 20 ton scout fighters can shoot it down effortlessly. In exchange for the 25 tons of firepower it could have been carrying, the Banshee got a lead anchor that was supposed to give it "better handling" in an atmosphere. Which it actually does! In theory. But only because the Banshee is so incredibly, impossibly slow for a fighter of its size that some 80-100 ton assault fighters can readily outrun it. In practice the Banshee's anemic fusion engines still outperform the turbojet so significantly that the jet engine only helps the Banshee land. Which it does like this:  Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot. After the Free Worlds League dissolved, one of their surviving polities took the Banshee and designed their own fighter around it. They were pretty broke so they built it out of "primitive" materials (i.e. steel and aluminum), and called it the Malaika.  The Malaika, made out of recycled soda cans, is still both faster and tougher than the original Banshee with 7 structural integrity to the Banshee's 5. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Sep 21, 2020 |
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Sep 21, 2020 17:58
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Oh, hey, you're right. I just associate it with the Lyrans because of the cartoon (and because the Malaika calls the Banshee out as a Lyran design). House Davion building some trash garbage for their Lyran allies is pretty in character.
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Sep 21, 2020 18:20
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At least they didn't design the Storm Raider.
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Sep 21, 2020 18:42
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The Wolfhound was designed by Clovis Holstein. Clovis was a chronically depressed genius achondroplastic dwarf space pirate seditionist who also just so happened to be the illegitimate (and only) son of one of the Inner Sphere's greatest early supervillains, Duke Aldo Lestrade. Clovis is basically Kai Allard Liao's entire extended family wrapped up into a single individual and without Kai's amazing 'Mech piloting skills. The Wolfhound was so much better than every other light 'Mech in service when it was introduced that it wound up starting a 'Mech design renaissance; in spite of the fact that Clovis couldn't figure out how to program a safety for the chest-mounted medium lasers that would prevent the Wolfhound from accidentally blowing its own arms off. Duke Lestrade had his balls blown off by House Kurita and decided that was somehow Katrina Steiner's fault. He's one of the more realistic and believable Stackpole characters. Edit: It also got some amazing art in one of the best April Fools Jokes Catalyst has ever done. 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Sep 21, 2020 |
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Sep 21, 2020 18:55
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Polaron posted:Okay, what on earth is this goofy thing: That's definitely a linebacker. It's 5 tons too heavy for its engine, so rather than being another accidentally optimal Clan 'Mech it's merely mediocre. The 'Mechs in the background are a Phantom and a Rakshasa. Edit: Clan Snow Raven Scientist #1: "poo poo, now that we've been kicked out of the Clans, we have to start designing our own... not fighters." Clan Snow Raven Scientist #2: "You mean 'Mechs?" Clan Snow Raven Scientist #1: "Sure."  Clan Snow Raven Scientist #1: "How do arms?" PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 11:41
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DCMS infantry uniforms are made of a dirt resistant material that's comfortable, breathable, and doesn't show sweat. DCMS troopers always look nice in parade formation even if they've just been in combat. The material is also incredibly flammable and bonds instantly to human skin when it catches on fire, so nobody else will touch the stuff for combat duty; even the Capellan Confederation uses less dangerous poo poo. The Draconis Combine's troopers still consider it worth the risk because their samurai generals will execute them during surprise inspections for being too unkempt, even if they're ten seconds out of combat. That's also why the primary color of the DCMS uniform is "Dirt"  As much as House Kurita is known for using the color red, they actually use brown, tan, and khaki far more. The Federated Suns has more BattleMech regiments with primarily red color schemes than House Kurita does. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Nov 23, 2020 |
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Nov 23, 2020 20:39
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The Clans love any sport that lets them punch each other. Football, Hockey, Lacrosse, Full Contact Basketball... if they can sneak in an elbow strike or beat someone to near death with a stick, the Clans are all-in. If you had to spend all day with other Clanners you'd want to punch Clanners too. It's an entire culture of indoctrinated child soldiers who have been genetically engineered to be hyper aggressive and who are told from birth that the only way they 'matter' is if they die heroically enough for the Clan to decide to use their genetic material at some point. Edit: Picture tax. 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 13:14 on May 21, 2021 |
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May 21, 2021 12:36
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May 27, 2021 03:31
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Defiance Industries posted:It's more like "yeah they should be using camo but also ranges should be 10x what they are and neither of those is fun" Camo literally doesn't matter when another BattleMech can see you through a building with magnetic resonance scanning as an overlay on the pilot's HUD, and can do so with such precision that some Mechwarriors go out of their way to glue magnetic strips to their 'Mechs to make scary demon faces appear if the enemy switches to MagRes. Mechwarriors are almost never fighting each other using the visible light portion of the spectrum and you just can't hide a BattleMech from thermal optics or MagRes scanning. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 16:13
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BattleTech is a silly, generally fun universe. ... That makes me want to paint some minis in vaporwave colors.
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Jun 13, 2021 17:34
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RBA Starblade posted:Does anyone ever try to put magnetic strips on their mechs to make them identify as another mech to gently caress with people? The Chameleon is a trainer that is specially designed to be easy to mock up to look like other 'Mechs for training purposes (in theory) so yeah, they can do that. Extra cruft tends to get blown off immediately / turn into shell traps when the real fighting starts. Voice of the Dragon Productions (a branch of the ISF) can make a Locust look like a pretty convincing Mad Dog in their movie shoots. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 19:42
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Big Beef City posted:I think those are supposed to be like...a MILE tall or whatever, aren't they? I don't think an Atlas is gonna take too much paint off it. BattleMechs generally range from about 12 to about 16 meters tall. The usual average is around 13-14 meters for a medium or heavy. A few superheavy units like the Ares tripod can top 20 meters, but no, nothing in BattleTech can really scratch anything in Warhammer 40k in terms of scale. Technology and development wise, the Star League was about equivalent to the Tau (right down to having a similar limitation on how far their ships can travel). Hyperspace in BattleTech is very much like the Warp, if the Warp was completely empty and you only needed to pass through it for an immeasurable fraction of a second to reach your destination.
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Jun 22, 2021 20:25
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Most of the novels are ok, but they're not high art. I'd argue that most BattleTech authors have contributed at least one genuinely good (or at least readable) novel to the franchise (although admittedly, several haven't). William H Keith gave us Decision at Thunder Rift which kinda kicks the whole series off. Robert N. Charette gave us Wolves on the Border which is legitimately the best novel in the franchise. Stackpole gave us Lethal Heritage (I'd argue the 1st book of the Blood of Kerensky trilogy is really good if you read it right after Wolves on the Border, they were published essentially back to back and Charette and Stackpole were clearly collaborating). Thurston gave us Way of the Clans (the other two books in the Jade Phoenix trilogy suck). Victor Milan gave us Black Dragon (Hearts of Chaos was his worst novel and it's still decent, just problematic in spots. I would still argue that the Camachos Caballeros novels are the best trilogy in the series). He also gave the series its single best character: Chandrasekhar Kurita. Coleman gave us Double Blind, which doesn't quite make up for the embezzlement but it's something. I've heard people say Forever Faithful is good but I don't read Blaine "Robert E." Pardoe anymore.  Edit: Chandrasekhar Kurita is a James Bond supervillain who was simultaneously the most loyal man in the Draconis Combine while also being a literal traitor who was selling consumer electronics to the Clans and, insofar as they were 'weakened' by having their homeworlds flooded with cheap luxury Space TVs, is almost directly responsible for the Wars of Reaving. He's a character who would be the villain of any other trilogy, but the Caballeros work for him. 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jun 22, 2021 |
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Jun 22, 2021 21:40
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GD_American posted:Milan made the genius move of making Chandy Kurita 100% correct. And the equally genius move of making everyone's fear that he was up to some shady poo poo 100% justified. The ISF fear that he was consorting with the Clans was correct, they just didn't realize he wasn't doing it to weaken the Combine in a takeover play. In Chandraskehar Kurita's paraphrased words: he denied himself none of the pleasures of the flesh because he had to deny himself the only thing a man of the Kurita bloodline truly cared about : ambition (for the throne). The Word of Blake had him assassinated because he was too effective at putting coalitions together to oppose them. He even convinced the Lyran Alliance to let house Kurita build a military base on one of their planets to better coordinate their attacks on the Word of Blake. He would've been a truly terrifying coordinator.
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Jun 25, 2021 05:34
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Defiance Industries posted:And of course House Kurita keeps the throne because they just do not gently caress around. Potential threats get chopped down. And even then, they still lost the Coordinatorship to the now extinct House Von Rohrs. Takashi Kurita was seen as a bad Coordinator because he was too active and kept his district warlords on short leashes (which kept them nervous). The Draconis Combine's warlords have traditionally held nearly unlimited power themselves in exchange for their loyalty which keeps pressure off of House Kurita because the warlords are arguably more powerful within their demesne. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Jun 29, 2021 |
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Jun 29, 2021 20:53
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GD_American posted:One thing that would probably get you killed in the Combine is pointing out that all the Von Rohrs lineage Who?
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Jun 29, 2021 21:39
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House Kurita's favorite passtimes include: showboating, executing members of the nobility (both foreign and domestic), and winning fights with the Federated Suns
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Jun 30, 2021 03:22
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Big Beef City posted:This is maybe its own tangent, but was anyone REALLY having warship fights? quote:On a more practical level, was anyone, ever, playing battlespace rules and using a warship (or more) in their campaign and if so can my hat fly off any higher? AeroSpace fighters have been folded into the base game and Naval poo poo is in the Strategic Ops optional rules now, for the most part. BattleSpace was always kinda like Battlefleet Gothic. It had a following, but that following was a relatively small portion of the fanbase and since BattleTech's player base is already pretty small BattleSpace never really got splat updates or anything. I own it but I bounced off the rules pretty hard. Edit: Fun Fact, Alpha Strike is pretty much just BattleTech played at naval damage scales.
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Jun 30, 2021 21:00
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:13 |
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Defiance Industries posted:This guy's got a real energy to him. He feels like he should be managing a tag team in 1980s WWF That's because it's Sergeant Slaughter with a mullet.
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Aug 6, 2021 01:34
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