Let's Play Together: GM'd Battletech via Megamek III

[NickAragua]

Thanks for running it mate, was good and educational too. For my part agree with all of below, I don't think I really understood the movement mods and how they affect the game till the end. LOS was hard with so many units, I tried to stay behind or in trees but yeah luck plays some part.
For my part, it didn't realy click that we needed to take out the APCS which would stop the enemy otherwise i would of concentrated on them earlier. Kicking stomping was very effective at the end

Look forward to the next one, i'm sure we'll do better next time! It was an ugly win.

For next time, maybe a google docs spreadsheet with the units and just update with damage or any changes as we go, i did that at home fro my units and it worked a treat.

One thing I was thinking about is that I'd upload the "current state of the game" save after doing the opfor movement each turn, that way you guys could plug it into Megamek and check your turn possibilities, LOS, etc.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm just glad that we didn't get anybody killed.

[NickAragua]

I'm just glad that we didn't get anybody killed.

Thank RNGesus for the Search & Rescue squad.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Is there a trick with megamek to stop it corrupting the display, i'd try and do a turn and open a submenu screen or whatever and then it would overwrite the next level up screen so in the end I couldn't see anything.

[NickAragua]

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.p ... msg1377564

This post may have your solution.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.p ... msg1377564

This post may have your solution.

Thanks!

[El Guapo]

Our team's MVP today is the Stefan-controlled Archinerd in the Dervish, with three kills.
I also helped, destroying or disabling a whopping six tanks and APCs by driving them over flimsy bridges, off a cliff or into buildings. In my defense, half of those were 5+ piloting checks, which are pretty likely to succeed.

Tactical analysis:
- Most importantly, line of sight. With an engagement this large, it's critical to stay out of LOS of as many enemy units as possible.
- Fire at the easiest target. With this many targets in play, getting enemy numbers down is important. If you have trouble figuring out your 'to-hit' number, feel free to ask. I don't think it's practical to provide every possible firing combination unfortunately, but there generally aren't that many optimal shots.
- Keep it moving. Especially with jump jets, you can easily rack up a +3 or +4 movement mod. Try to stay out of short range unless you're targeting that particular unit.
- Throw your weight around. When you've got a bunch of heavies while the opfor is all tanks, lights and mediums *and* you auto-win initiative, you want to be doing a lot more kicking, punching and stomping.
- Do your best to avoid running on pavement or roads. That results in piloting skill rolls, which result in mechs falling over.
- Remember to maximize your movement mod while minimizing your to-hit modifier. Magic numbers for walking/running are 3/5/7/11 hexes moved, while for jumping it's just every odd number (+1 for jumping). Meanwhile, walking is a flat +1, running is a flat +2, jumping is a flat +3. If you're jumping, but you can make it by running, you should run instead. If you're under your walk or run MP, try to figure out a way to extend your movement to at least the next mod threshold.
- Even with all that, sometimes you just have bad luck (see Stefan's Vulcan getting blown to bits on the first turn by a random SRM).

For my part, I need to figure out a better way to visually communicate building heights and CFs, and be more explicit in calling out damage to player units and its consequences.

Was the display of enemy unit movement mods useful?

Good game, guys.

Thanks for running this. Mainly I think that we badly screwed up our positioning at the start of the battle. We should've just put all our mechs in the city center, and then as vehicles and mechs came onto the roads leading into town, moved into position and focused fire on them. I figured that out after a couple turns, but by then a lot of damage had been done and we had a lot of mechs out of position.

The display of enemy movement mods was useful (though I was initially confused by what you meant by "mods"). What would also be useful is if you could just paste the "to hit" modifiers in the OP for these battles so that we can easily refer to them while planning our moves and shots.