Let's Play Together: GM'd Battletech via MegaMek XII

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:42 pm

Get to the watah! Loader into the pool and lob LRMS at whatever's in range.

TotallyNotEvil · Post by **TotallyNotEvil** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:19 pm

> LICH: Jump 5 northwards, staying within 14 hexes of the Black Hawk @1529 and shielded by the hill as well as possible,and fire ERPPC and LRM.
> LICH Decoy: Nothing.
> ARC-2R: Nothing.
> ARC-2R Decoy: Move, fire SRM and melee the Thor @1518.

As long as I proc 5 moved for making hitting me harder, wherever will be within 14 hexes of the Black Hawk and still behind the hill to shield me from the Loki and Nobori-nin.

Let's nail that Black Hawk before it fucks someone up, and before it gets to cover. We are nearly all in position to move + shoot it.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:38 pm

Mackie from hex 2624 to hex 2425 then fire at Black Hawk in hex 1529 with whatever is most effective. However, can I take a shot from where I’m currently positioned? I can limit my exposure if I can fire from where I’m at.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:41 pm

TEAM KURITA
Crusader >> pass
CRD-3R DECOY >> move to 2018; fire AC/5 at the better chance of either Gargoyle 1517 or Summoner 1518

TEAM OO
THEMIX >> rotate one to face sw; fire LRM/10 x2 @ Black Hawk 1529
THEMIX DECOY >> pass

For personal understanding, my missile shots will get negative modifications for
1) +2 due to medium range (not sure about this... it looks like short range is the minimum range; which implies that LRMs don't actually have a short range)
2) +1 due to the light woods at 2325
3) +1-3 due the target's movement... this round? or last round?
4) my turning? the notes would imply turning doesn't affect targeting

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:46 pm

$iljanus wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:38 pm Warhammer Decoy from 2412 to hex 2011 and if possible fire at Mad Cat in hex 1208

Unless my math is off, you'd need like 7 movement points for that (2 for the open hexes + 3 for the water hex + 2 for the light woods). The decoys only have 2/3.

I may have screwed up the movement a bit. I thought I copied the movement costs to my notes, but I apparently only got some.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:21 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:46 pm
$iljanus wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:38 pm Warhammer Decoy from 2412 to hex 2011 and if possible fire at Mad Cat in hex 1208
Unless my math is off, you'd need like 7 movement points for that (2 for the open hexes + 3 for the water hex + 2 for the light woods). The decoys only have 2/3.

I may have screwed up the movement a bit. I thought I copied the movement costs to my notes, but I apparently only got some.

Oops that’s right! Thanks!

Warhammer decoy to hex 2212. Fire if able at best target.

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:47 pm

Nick, can you upload the save file?

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:34 pm

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uefx6jlskx7ve ... av.gz?dl=0

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:37 pm

Whatever mechs can target the Black Hawk, do so, priority given to the expendable decoys

Sorry for how vague this is but I do not know how the rules work enough to make anything more solid.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:46 pm

All good. Your mechwarrior knows what they're doing. Other than the whole "climb into a sweaty cockpit above a 30 ton fusion reactor to kill people in exchange for money" thing.

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:16 pm

NickAragua wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:34 pm https://www.dropbox.com/s/uefx6jlskx7ve ... av.gz?dl=0

Thank you, will post my moves in a bit or early AM. Feeling exhausted atm.

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:17 pm

WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:37 pm Whatever mechs can target the Black Knight, do so, priority given to the expendable decoys

Sorry for how vague this is but I do not know how the rules work enough to make anything more solid.

Someone trolling hard for a promotion, quiaff?

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:14 pm

Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:17 pm
WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:37 pm Whatever mechs can target the Black Knight, do so, priority given to the expendable decoys

Sorry for how vague this is but I do not know how the rules work enough to make anything more solid.
Someone trolling hard for a promotion, quiaff?

Those who can't fight, lead.

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:24 pm

WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:14 pm
Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:17 pm
WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:37 pm Whatever mechs can target the Black Knight, do so, priority given to the expendable decoys

Sorry for how vague this is but I do not know how the rules work enough to make anything more solid.
Someone trolling hard for a promotion, quiaff?
Those who can't fight, lead.

Now given that the only Black Knight on the field is on our side and is driven by me...

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:24 pm

BL-KNT >> 3824, fire ErPPC ad ErLL x2 @ Nova 1529
ON1-K >> Stay Put
BL_Bait >> stay put
ON1_Bait >> 2207, fire @ Hellbringer 1306

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:28 pm

My marauder can't hit the rear arc of the Thor or the Man O' War, can it?

In any event, my marauder is going to stay still and fire both PPCs and the Gauss again at the Thor. Decoy stays and keeps looking menacing.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:30 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:43 pm Also for Kurita forces I'll have the AWS (SRM) decoy turn to the right and move forward as fast as feasible.

So, it looks like my Awesome ran forward, when the decoy was supposed to run forward. Oh well.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:34 pm

Well, might as well have the Awesome keep going. He'll run to 3110, and then fire at anyone he can plausibly hit (seems likely that the forest cover is blocking any shots, unless I'm missing something).

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:47 pm

Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:24 pm
WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:14 pm
Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:17 pm
WestorEast wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:37 pm Whatever mechs can target the Black Knight, do so, priority given to the expendable decoys

Sorry for how vague this is but I do not know how the rules work enough to make anything more solid.
Someone trolling hard for a promotion, quiaff?
Those who can't fight, lead.
Now given that the only Black Knight on the field is on our side and is driven by me...

Now that I've double checked and saw that the enemy has a Black Hawk, not a Black Knight (no way to get thoseconfused), I understand what you were getting at and have changed my input!

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 1:07 pm

Experiencing technical difficulties with vibrabombs. Update will be up later tonight.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 2:18 pm

NickAragua wrote: ↑Fri Oct 01, 2021 1:07 pm Experiencing technical difficulties with vibrabombs. Update will be up later tonight.

We got em on the run!

TotallyNotEvil · Post by **TotallyNotEvil** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 2:33 pm

Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:34 pm https://www.dropbox.com/s/uefx6jlskx7ve ... av.gz?dl=0
Thank you, will post my moves in a bit or early AM. Feeling exhausted atm.

Wasn't there a new build necessary to use these saves?

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 6:53 pm

TotallyNotEvil wrote: ↑Fri Oct 01, 2021 2:33 pm
Leraje wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:16 pm
NickAragua wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:34 pm https://www.dropbox.com/s/uefx6jlskx7ve ... av.gz?dl=0
Thank you, will post my moves in a bit or early AM. Feeling exhausted atm.
Wasn't there a new build necessary to use these saves?

Yeah, but I downloaded it for temp usage.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:12 pm

[AN: took a little longer to get the update out, there sure were a lot of issues with vibrabombs]

"Target that Black Hawk!" Lich calls out, aiming the Griffin's PPC and LRMs at said mech, but being unable to connect. A brief glance at the remote controlled mech's status indicator shows that its SRM/6 launcher has been disabled (and in fact its entire left torso section is gone).

TheMix rotates his mech to the left, keeping the legs firmly planted for increased accuracy and lets rip with the LRMs. Most of the warheads go wide, although a few do connect with the squat mech's left arm.

Siljanus does likewise, except without having to rotate the torso more than a couple of degrees to keep the PPCs and gauss rifle pointed at the incoming medium. Both PPC shots connect, although the Black Hawk's low profile keeps the second one from doing any real damage (especially when about half the charged particle beam intersects with a battle armor suit clinging on to the left torso).

Moley helps out with the Black Hawk, sending a few LRMs and a laser towards the medium, the laser going wide but a few of the LRMs pinging the center of mass.

Isgrimnur finally gets his LoaderMech into the water, protecting its legs from incoming fire, which should slightly increase its longevity. To our mechwarrior's great delight, he's even able to get a missile lock on the approaching Hellbringer. At which point the Black Hawk, despite being the target of a significant amount of firepower, spears the LoaderMech through the center of mass, badly damaging the engine shielding. One of the lasers does hit the water instead of a leg though.

"Almost at the mines... " WestOrEast reports, watching the somewhat laggy feed from the LoaderMech. "... nope one of the vibrabombs just blew. Damn Loki is too heavy."

El Guapo mostly ignores the chatter, keeping his mech steady while the cockpit heat slowly climbs and aiming at the Thor that's broken north to engage one of the Kurita drones there. Another PPC shot takes a sizeable chunk off the 70-tonner's right torso. An SRM-toting LoaderMech runs up to the Thor as well, pinging several SRMs off the fairly thick armor, but the Man O' War unloads short-range weapons on it, blasting it with a laser and multiple SRMs, as well as managing to swing around an ungainly-looking autocannon and blast the poor LoaderMech in the center of mass. With the gyro shredded, the mech drops to the ground and ceases moving entirely. The Thor targets the other nearby autocannon-equipped LoaderMech, which was previously missing an arm, and somewhat surgically removes the rest of its limbs. El Guapo notes with pleasure yellow indicators on both the left leg and right torso armor sections of the target outline.

"Hah! I have the first kill!" comes a transmission over the general frequencies. "Look at that slow Phoenix Hawk, it cannot even get up to use its weapons!"

"Great, here comes the chatter." Leraje comments, aiming the Black Knight's long-range weapons at the Black Hawk way down the hill, the cockpit heat climbing as the mech's heat sinks work overtime. The lasers and PPC form a pretty pattern in the grass but have no effect otherwise. A brief blip indicates that the connection to his remotely-operated mech has been severed, likely due to a medium laser through the head.

WestOrEast's moves the LoaderMech forward, firing lasers at the nearby Nobori-Nin, but a PPC blast comes in from the target mech, and the camera feed cuts out. "Just as well." the mechwarrior comments. "Don't have to drive that piece of crap anymore."

A massive explosion is visible to the north, with Kurita chatter indicating a completely destroyed LoaderMech, and two more disabled.

Having finished off their opponents, the Thor and Man O' War break east, pointing their menacing weaponry in our direction. El Guapo cringes as the two chunky mechs set off the "way too low setting" vibrabombs from upwards of 90 meters away. "Stupid dracs should have set the mass setting higher..." he mutters. The Nobori-Nin does manage to step on some vibrabombs, damaging its leg armor, but within a few seconds, the rest of the clanners stop short of the river (except that one Ryoken which dances among the conventional mines like some kind of ballet dancer, avoiding any damage whatsoever). Seems that they're on to that particular trick. At least it doesn't look like they've figured out about the decoy mechs yet.

Current battlefield status:

Spoiler:

Raw firing/heat data:

Spoiler:

Enemy movement modifiers:
Nobori-Nin: +2
Mad Cat 2133: +2
Man O' War: +2
Thor: +5 (+3 jumping, +2 heavy woods)
Mad Cat 1512: +2
Loki 1410: +2
Ryoken 2003: +4
Ryoken 1801: +2
Daishi: +1
Vulture 1205: +2
The rest are +3

Current Mech Status:
LoaderMech (PXH1 DECOY), disconnected (may still self-destruct)
LoaderMech (TheMix DECOY), right leg, right arm destroyed
LoaderMech (Lich DECOY), no arms, no weapons remaining
LoaderMech (CRD-3R DECOY), no arms, no legs, no weapons
LoaderMech (TDR-5S DECOY), disconnected (may still self-destruct)
LoaderMech (BLR-1G DECOY), destroyed
LoaderMech (WHM-6R DECOY), left arm destroyed, right leg armor destroyed
LoaderMech (Stefan DECOY), right torso armor destroyed
LoaderMech (Isgrimnur DECOY), 2x engine crit, 1 heat sink destroyed (+11 heat/turn, heat sink capacity 12 due to leg heat sinks). No torso armor. Pro tip: don't get out of the water.

Kurita Orion and Kurita Warhammer have been directly fired at and will not operate their decoys unless out of LOS of hostiles.

Note: you may trigger self-destruct on a decoy even if you're not operating it.

Graveyard:
LoaderMech (WestOrEast DECOY) destroyed
LoaderMech (Leraje DECOY) destroyed
LoaderMech (ARC-2R DECOY) destroyed

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:18 pm

Note - to load this save (first link), you have to use this MegaMek build (second link), as I had to make a lot of changes to get things working semi-properly (still a work in progress, but should be fine for playing around).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b7wary7grv9oq ... av.gz?dl=0
https://github.com/MegaMek/megamek/pull ... 3778105567

TotallyNotEvil · Post by **TotallyNotEvil** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:39 pm

Ahhh dammit, that was absolutely shit shooting.

With El Guapo spotting, the Thor doesn't have cover against indirect fire, yes?

Truth of it is that piloting decoys is a waste of a turn from our much, much better mechs. Time to stop messing around, I think.

They are great meat shields tho.

We did almost nothing to the Black Hawk. The Loki is now out of position. Let's try and take it out? It's thin-skinned.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:45 pm

TotallyNotEvil wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:39 pm Truth of it is that piloting decoys is a waste of a turn from our much, much better mechs. Time to stop messing around, I think.

Mechanically speaking, yeah. But the clanners might get suspicious if they don't shoot at all.

Of course, they're probably going to start getting a little suspicious given how easily the decoys are going down.

TotallyNotEvil wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:39 pm With El Guapo spotting, the Thor doesn't have cover against indirect fire, yes?

It's in heavy woods, so it's got as much cover vs indirect as it does vs direct.

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:50 pm

Do you have the map at a larger size? I can see the mechs but I can't make out the names for them

EDIT: Never mind, figured it out.

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:11 pm

Alright, my tentative plan is for my K. Phoenix Hawk to move to 1909 and fire at the Mad Cat currently on hex 1705. And for H-H to move around the hill and engage the Mad Cat currently at 2133.

TotallyNotEvil · Post by **TotallyNotEvil** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:34 am

... Wait, the Loki has its back turned?
To six of our mechs?

>LICH: Move to 2824, alpha strike 1630 Loki.
>ARC-2R: Fire all LRMs at 1705 MadCat, as it has its back to us, in whichever manner/whichever spotter is easier to hit with.
> DECOYS: Nothing

Hopefully, rolls won't be awful. No woods, mid range for everything. Come on now.

There's a Mad Cad with its back sorta-turned at 1705. It might be the time to move some serious Kurita mechs and try to concentrate fire on it's back/right side. We have a Warhammer, Orion, Wolverine and maybe Marauder that look like they could fire with just a single woods in the way if they move a bit. Who's piloting those?

With a bit of luck, we could put two mechs out of commission this turn.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:14 am

Question for the group at large (and NA, obviously). Is it worth trying to blow up the Kurita Crusader decoy? The Thor is right next to it. But... 1) it doesn't do much damage (as I understand it), and 2) I'm still unclear at the likelihood that the Thor would still be there when it actually blows.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:17 am

And possibly the same question for THEMIX decoy. The Mad Cat is adjacent. But so is the LICH decoy. And the battle armor is close. Should I blow it? (Assuming that "jammed" doesn't mean I can't. If it does, then would Lich blowing his possibly cause mine to also blow? Maybe move his to 2132 and get the battle armor too?)

Leraje · Post by **Leraje** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:08 am

Couldn't get the save to load, so I may be off with lines of sight.

BL-KNT >> backpedal to 3924, fire ErLL x2 @ Hellbringer 1630
ON1-K >> backpedal to 2704, fire AC10 and LRM @ Hellbringer 1410
ON1_Bait >> stay put

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:45 pm

Warhammer-K from 2605 to 2306. Facing towards Mad Cat in 1705 and fires

Would like to move my Mackie in 2624 to 2426 and shoot at that Ryoken in hex 1724 (it’s shallow enough for me to fire from?)

WestorEast · Post by **WestorEast** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:26 pm

Move H-H west and fire at the Mad Cat at 2133.

Move Phoenix Hawk to 1909 and fire at the Mad Cat on 1705.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Oct 03, 2021 3:13 pm

Decoy, keep decoying.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 12:19 am

I don't have time to do moves until tomorrow night, so if everything else is ready to process, go ahead and make the decisions for my guys. Probably shoot at the Loki with my Marauder if I have a decent shot at it, otherwise back up and then shoot at the Thor again.

moleymoleymoley · Post by **moleymoleymoley** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:58 am

Move Moley Tbolt to 2526 and fire everything that will reach at the Loki please

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:35 am

TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:14 am Question for the group at large (and NA, obviously). Is it worth trying to blow up the Kurita Crusader decoy? The Thor is right next to it. But... 1) it doesn't do much damage (as I understand it), and 2) I'm still unclear at the likelihood that the Thor would still be there when it actually blows.

Trying to predict where a mech will be a turn from now is pretty tough, but, with the exception of the slowest mechs, it's pretty likely that, unless downed and/or immobilized, a mech won't be anywhere near where it started.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:54 am

NickAragua wrote: ↑Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:35 am
TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:14 am Question for the group at large (and NA, obviously). Is it worth trying to blow up the Kurita Crusader decoy? The Thor is right next to it. But... 1) it doesn't do much damage (as I understand it), and 2) I'm still unclear at the likelihood that the Thor would still be there when it actually blows.
Trying to predict where a mech will be a turn from now is pretty tough, but, with the exception of the slowest mechs, it's pretty likely that, unless downed and/or immobilized, a mech won't be anywhere near where it started.

True. Except I'm still fuzzy on who goes when. If we go first, then the Clan mechs may still be where they are. Also, will a Clan mech continue forward and leave a potential enemy behind them? Both my decoys are prone, but not necessarily out. Assuming, of course, that the Clan mechs haven't figured out that they can ignore them. If they do stop to "finish off" the decoys, will they still be able to explode? (i.e. would the signal have already been sent?)