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

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:16 pm

BTW, I can see the maps just fine now at work. I hadn't mentioned anything earlier because I've been off for 3 days.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:46 pm

I'll jump to 1116, land facing SW, and shoot the lasers at the scorpion with a kick for good measure. And an airstrike sounds lovely.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:55 pm

I assume you mean the Saracen?

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:33 pm

NickAragua wrote:I assume you mean the Saracen?

Sure. One of those S sounding tanks.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri Oct 06, 2017 10:45 pm

ok, I'll fire everything at the Skulker. With me still and him only moving 2 spaces, should just be the -2 smoke penalty.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Oct 06, 2017 11:22 pm

Correct, although at distance 7, your medium lasers are at long range (+4) and your large laser is at medium range (+2). LRM is at the "sweet spot" of short range but not minimum range.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:26 pm

I'll walk (or run - not jump) to 1515 and turn to face north. I doubt I can hit anything so I'll cool off.

An airstrike sounds good to me. If no one has responded positively I'll suggest 508. Of course I don't actually know the airstrike rules.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 3:58 pm

Madmarcus wrote:I'll walk (or run - not jump) to 1515 and turn to face north. I doubt I can hit anything so I'll cool off.

An airstrike sounds good to me. If no one has responded positively I'll suggest 508. Of course I don't actually know the airstrike rules.

Huh. For some reason I just assumed the pilot would choose, but 508 definitely seems optimal.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:01 pm

Madmarcus wrote:I'll walk (or run - not jump) to 1515 and turn to face north. I doubt I can hit anything so I'll cool off.

An airstrike sounds good to me. If no one has responded positively I'll suggest 508. Of course I don't actually know the airstrike rules.

You guys can nominate priority targets, but the pilot is an NPC, so he may have different thoughts on the matter

.

There's a whole section of arcane rules on "aircraft on ground maps" in the Total Warfare book (and, in fact, I recently implemented AI handling of aircraft on ground maps in Megamek, although it hasn't made it into "general release" yet). But basically, the aircraft needs to fly directly over a ground target to attack it. It might be difficult to do so this turn, since the aircraft *must* fly a certain number of hexes and doesn't get to attack if the required movement takes it off board. Once it flies over a ground target, it can either shoot with weapons or drop bombs.

Note that "aircraft" refers to fast-moving aircraft like aeros, dropships and conventional fighters, and not helicopters, which are treated as ground vehicles for most purposes.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:24 am

I made some minor adjustments:
Isgrimnur jumped to 0917 instead of 0916 so he could a) punch the Saracen and b) not get shot at by the infantry in 0915 and the Skulker
Madmarcus walked to the woods in 1415 and faced southwest instead of north with the intention of helping laser the Skulker

Turn 9:
"S&R here. We've got confirmation that they're holding our target. Hold one... "

Isgrimnur jumps into the wreckage of the MG turret and avoids a salvo of SRM/2s from the Saracen along with a bunch of shoulder-operated missiles from the infantry next door. Gbasden also jumps in and unloads lasers (holding one to keep his mech from heating up). Between the two of them, they destroy the remains of the vehicle's skirt, preventing it from remaining above ground, and it settles down just short of the smoke.

El Guapo scores a large laser and LRM/5 hit on the Skulker's rear armor, but it holds, while Madmarcus draws a bead on it through the smoke and punches through the right side with the large laser, coring the vehicle. El Guapo takes a couple of SRMs from the helicopter but his armor holds up.

The Maxim comes up the road to the south of the building complex and unloads on the Skulker as well, perforating the remains.

"Hold on, got a bad angle here...", the air support needs to jink to avoid a bunch of LRMs and AC rounds coming its way from the hovercraft/APC cluster in the northwest. He takes a couple of minor shots but it barely even dents the armor.

Raw firing and heat data

Spoiler:

"We've got the target! Need evac now!" Can be heard through some gun fire.

"Roger that. Jump south to 1019, we'll pick you up." Pipes up the Maxim. The jump infantry have grabbed the imprisoned mechwarrior and jump to the Maxim's location.

To the west, an additional lance of enemy medium tanks arrives, as the hovercraft and APCs break south to join them.

New objective: Retreat off the southeast corner of the map (eastern half of the south edge or southern half of the eastern edge). Protect the Maxim and infantry.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:33 am

How about a jump to 1018 facing north to interpose myself between the infantry and the Maxim. I'll fire the medium lasers and punch the building to degrade the troops a bit.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:57 am

Jump to 0920 and engage any targets of opportunity

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:07 am

Jump to 1221 facing N. Fire if I can see anything and have a to hit roll of 11 or better.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:48 am

Couple questions - in which hex does the southern half of the eastern edge begin? I assume halfway down the right side of the map? Hex 2523 qualifies, right?

Next, is there any way to get an additional bonus on a piloting roll? By like not firing on a turn or something? Would take a lot of movement to walk down to the eastern side of the map, so I'm figuring that it's probably worth risking a jump when I am escaping, but wondering if there's any way to help my chances.

Also, if I jump off the board to escape, do I need to make a piloting roll on that jump? I assume that if I faceplanted in my escaping jump, it wouldn't matter?

Given how many movement points it would take to walk, and since running would also require a piloting roll, this turn I'm going to stay still, and fire my large laser and LRM5 at the Condor Heavy Hover Tank. I don't see any targets (still mobile and fighting) within medium laser range, but if I'm missing one I'll go ahead and fire the medium lasers at said target.

Plan is probably next turn to jump to the southeast and pray, and turn after that jump off the map.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:41 am

El Guapo wrote:Couple questions - in which hex does the southern half of the eastern edge begin? I assume halfway down the right side of the map? Hex 2523 qualifies, right?

Next, is there any way to get an additional bonus on a piloting roll? By like not firing on a turn or something? Would take a lot of movement to walk down to the eastern side of the map, so I'm figuring that it's probably worth risking a jump when I am escaping, but wondering if there's any way to help my chances.

Also, if I jump off the board to escape, do I need to make a piloting roll on that jump? I assume that if I faceplanted in my escaping jump, it wouldn't matter?

Given how many movement points it would take to walk, and since running would also require a piloting roll, this turn I'm going to stay still, and fire my large laser and LRM5 at the Condor Heavy Hover Tank. I don't see any targets (still mobile and fighting) within medium laser range, but if I'm missing one I'll go ahead and fire the medium lasers at said target.

Plan is probably next turn to jump to the southeast and pray, and turn after that jump off the map.

2518 and anything to the south counts as "southeast".

Remember that you can hop two levels down (for example, from 2121 to 2220) at one MP per level change in addition to the standard cost for moving forward, without jumping and the associated PSR.

There's not really any way to improve your piloting roll odds, but if you aim your landing east of the hill, you're pretty unlikely to get shot at.

In Megamek, the way to exit the board is to end a movement turn directly on the edge, and then you can auto-leave next turn, if your mech is upright and your mechwarrior is conscious.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:51 am

NickAragua wrote:
El Guapo wrote:Couple questions - in which hex does the southern half of the eastern edge begin? I assume halfway down the right side of the map? Hex 2523 qualifies, right?

Next, is there any way to get an additional bonus on a piloting roll? By like not firing on a turn or something? Would take a lot of movement to walk down to the eastern side of the map, so I'm figuring that it's probably worth risking a jump when I am escaping, but wondering if there's any way to help my chances.

Also, if I jump off the board to escape, do I need to make a piloting roll on that jump? I assume that if I faceplanted in my escaping jump, it wouldn't matter?

Given how many movement points it would take to walk, and since running would also require a piloting roll, this turn I'm going to stay still, and fire my large laser and LRM5 at the Condor Heavy Hover Tank. I don't see any targets (still mobile and fighting) within medium laser range, but if I'm missing one I'll go ahead and fire the medium lasers at said target.

Plan is probably next turn to jump to the southeast and pray, and turn after that jump off the map.
2518 and anything to the south counts as "southeast".

Remember that you can hop two levels down (for example, from 2121 to 2220) at one MP per level change, without jumping and the associated PSR.

There's not really any way to improve your piloting roll odds, but if you aim your landing east of the hill, you're pretty unlikely to get shot at.

In Megamek, the way to exit the board is to end a movement turn directly on the edge, and then you can auto-leave next turn, if your mech is upright and your mechwarrior is conscious.

But I can't back down a hill, right? The problem is that IIRC each turn is also a movement point, so going down one space from where I am would be 3 MV of turning then 2 MV down a level. That's all I can do walking in one turn, and that would leave me with my back turned to the action and unable to attack anyone. And even then, the turn after that I could only walk two more spaces forward, since the next move after that would be 4 MV (to walk from level 5 to level 2). So, walking off the field doesn't seem like a realistic option.

Unfortunately it sounds like I can't jump off the board (from, say, 2221 to off the board), so the revised plan is as follows:

(1) As before, stay still this turn and fire at the Condor (and if I can hit anyone with the medium lasers, shoot at them too)
(2) Next turn (depending on what's going on in the base), probably jump to 2322 (say)
(3) Turn after, walk to 2521
(4) Depart

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:07 am

Technical difficulties means I won't be able to process the turn until tonight.

On the plus side, this gives you guys a chance to correct some of the movement orders:

Madmarcus: 1221 is out of your jump range, as it's 7 hexes away and you only have 6 jump jump jets. I was going to correct it to 1220 instead.
Isgrimnur: The building at 0919 is height 6 (which, I will admit, is impossible to read in the screenshot, sorry about that), which means you won't be able to clear it with your 4 jump jets. You'll want to pick another space. I was going to correct it to 0819.

Also, looks like Flickr is screwing us on image resolution, so I'm going to be posting to both imgur and flickr.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:47 am

The direct line route is three spaces over the building.

>0817-0818-0819-0920 is within my jump capability.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:04 am

Isgrimnur wrote:The direct line route is three spaces over the building.

>0817-0818-0819-0920 is within my jump capability.

Unfortunately, you can't change directions mid-jump. Well, you can, a little, but not as much as you're describing. The rule is that, when jumping from hex A to hex B, you have to follow the shortest possible route (and if there are multiple "shortest" routes, then you get to pick which one). In the case of attempting to jump from 0917 to 0920, there's only one shortest route (the straight line), but your mech is unable to clear the building at 0919, so you can't actually carry out that jump.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 2:48 pm

That is not what the Introductory Rules lead me to believe:

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:32 pm

That rules excerpt is just the "you can pick amongst the shortest possible routes if they are tied in length" that Nick was saying. In that case there were three possible shortest routes of equal length (4 spaces), so even though one of those routes is impassible, the pilot can choose one of the other two routes.

However, in your case there is only one "shortest route" (of 3 hexes), that route is blocked, and there is no alternative route of equal length that you can choose instead.

As I understand it.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:06 pm

Yep. The only shortest route between 0917 and 0920 is 0918-0919-0920, but it's blocked by the tall building.

By contrast, if you wanted to jump to 0517, you'd have your pick of 5 paths, each of which are 4 hexes long and some of which are illegal (so, fewer in practice). It's a weird quirk of the hex system and the rules, where some straight lines are better than others - you can't jump around the 0919 building when going straight south, but you can easily jump around a hypothetical tall building in 0717 when going from 0917 to 0517. I might be inclined to GM rule that you wouldn't be able to do that, either, but Megamek is more of a stickler for the rules as written than I (although I'm less likely to freeze when encountering unexpected data).

Anyway, wouldn't you rather shoot at something?

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:09 pm

Turn 10

Gbasden jumps in between the enemy infantry and our escaping rescue squad. He takes some small-arms fire, but it's only two damage. His lasers fry three troopers, but, more importantly, greatly reduce the structural integrity of the building.

Isgrimnur jumps south, correcting course just in time to avoid slamming into a building. He unloads his longer-ranged weapons at a Vedette to the north, scoring a direct hit with the PPC, although the vehicle keeps chugging along. He takes a couple of SRMs and an AC/5 round to the right torso, but the armor holds (although it's looking a little thin with only 5 points left).

El Guapo gets a good lock with his LRM launcher and scores a hit on the Condor, though his large laser goes wide. As an afterthought, he tracks his medium lasers to the infantry-occuped building firing on Gbasden and puts a pair of shots into it. The weakened structure collapses, killing the remains of the enemy infantry squad. An AC/5 Vedette and the LRM-equipped APCs let him know he's not alone by pumping ordnance into and around the forest, but scoring no hits.

Madmarcus can't draw a bead on the enemy vehicles, between all the jumping, their rapid movement and the smoke all over the place (best "to-hit" number was 14).

The Lucifer flies over the enemy vehicle cluster, avoiding an LRM/20 salvo from the Hunter, and dropping several bombs. The Vedettes in 0612 take some tread damage, while one of the bombs sends shrapnel through a Saracen's undercarriage, causing it to grind into the dirt and stay there.

Raw firing and heat data

Spoiler:

Same images, except on Flickr

Spoiler:

The rescue squad piles into the Maxim, which books it out of there, heading south. It drops just behind a cliffside, avoiding all enemy LOS.

The long-range enemy units (Hunter, AC/2 Vedettes, LRM/5 APCs) all choose to climb the hill to get better firing angles. The helicopter continues zipping back and forth over the base, taking potshots with its SRM launcher and AC/2.

Sensors show another lance of enemy vehicles closing in from the northwest.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:09 pm

NickAragua wrote: Madmarcus: 1221 is out of your jump range, as it's 7 hexes away and you only have 6 jump jump jets. I was going to correct it to 1220 instead.

I mistyped. I meant 1321. 1220 works just fine.

I think I can jump to 1624 so I'll do that. And target the helo if possible. I wouldn't mind knocking out another vehicle but escorting the Maxim out seems prudent.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:31 pm

There's no way for me to fire and then jump, right? Seems like I can't do much good staying and firing, since I don't think it would make much different to the Maxim (looks like the only real threat to it at the moment is the helicopter), and I'd probably take a ton of fire from the vehicles. So, probably start moving to escape the battlefield.

One question - what elevation is the helicopter at, in terms of firing at it?

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:38 pm

Helicopter is currently at height 5.

It's always move then fire. So yeah, you're probably better off packing it in and bugging out.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:00 pm

I'm thinking a jump south to 1122 and shoot the Condor with the large laser.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 10:59 am

Would a shot from 2323 to 1224 pass through 2222 (which would block LOS)? I don't think so - I don't think a line from the center of those two hexes passes through 2222, but just wanted to confirm.

If not, then I'm thinking that I will jump to 2323, land (god willing) facing northwest (e.g., towards 2222), then torso twist one facing to the left (towards 2223), and fire my LRM5 and large laser at the helicopter. If the odds of hitting in that situation are possible (e.g., if I don't need a 13+ for those shots).

Then next turn I should be able to walk to 2521.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:51 am

You'll have line of sight on the chopper for sure, but I think your shots are going to be in the 14+ range - (4 base, +3 attacker jumped, +6 defender movement, +2 medium range).

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:59 am

NickAragua wrote:You'll have line of sight on the chopper for sure, but I think your shots are going to be in the 14+ range - (4 base, +3 attacker jumped, +6 defender movement, +2 medium range).

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:01 pm

Ok then, I'll just jump to 2421, facing the same direction.

I don't suppose that there's a "scoot" or "roll" option for moving one space without getting up if I fall down, is there?

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:06 pm

Heh, I think there's a "Crawling" option in one of the rulebooks, but I don't think it's actually implemented in Megamek.

On the plus side, I do have the "hull down" rule turned on, so if you fail your PSR by one, you're only taking a knee rather than falling flat.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:31 pm

Jump to 0923 with an about-(South)-face.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:20 pm

Minor order adjustment:
El Guapo jumps to 2322 facing northeast instead, due to only having 4 jump jets (I think we all forgot about the jump jet crit which reduced your jump movement to 4)

Turn 11
El Guapo sticks the landing despite his mech wobbling around like a college kid on spring break from New Avalon. He's got no line of sight on anything (which is just as well, since nothing has LOS on him).

Gbasden takes a pot shot with the large laser at the Condor, but only burns some dirt instead. A large amount of ordnance goes flying in his direction (mostly indirect-fire LRMs, but also some AC rounds), but it all misses.

Madmarcus can't even a bead on the helicopter, although Isgrimnur's reticle briefly turns green, just long enough for him to fire a medium laser and whiff. Well, it's hard to fire guns at a fast-moving, dodging VTOL while jumping through the air.

The only unit to score a hit is the helicopter, landing a single SRM on Isgrimnur's left torso, which barely dings the paint.

On the plus side, everyone's nice and cool now.

Raw firing and heat data:

Spoiler:

Flickr versions:

Spoiler:

Another lance of vehicles, Scorpions and Hetzers, arrive from the "northwest". Thankfully, these guys are mostly short-ranged, with an AC/20 and a bunch of SRMs. One of the Scorpions does have a long-range AC/5 though.

The LRM and long-range AC vehicles continue clustering around the hilltop, not terribly eager to give chase. The Condor does, however, going full out south, hoping to catch the Maxim. The Vedette next to him tries to follow suit but gets a little turned around in the smoke and smacks into a cliff. The vehicle is all right, but the driver's pride is not.

As a note, on the southern edge, hexes 1335 and anything to the east are valid exit points. As I mentioned before in passing, the way Megamek works, you need to end your movement turn on an edge hex, and then, if you're standing at the beginning of your next turn, you can simply leave the battlefield.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:41 pm

Put me on 1125 facing NE to engage the Condor.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 10:27 pm

I'll walk two spaces forward, then turn twice (turn around) to face the battlefield (and prepare to leave next turn). Not sure if I can hit anything, but if I can I'll fire at it (priority target being the Condor if I can hit it with my LRM5).

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:44 am

I'll jump to 1324, shoot the Condor with the large and medium lasers and give it a kick for good measure.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 11:59 am

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:41 pm

Jump to 1825 facing NW and use the large laser on the Condor.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:47 pm

Turn 12:

Our lance decides to blast the Condor to bits, which is a reasonable idea since it's the only thing capable of chasing the Maxim down at this point.

Unfortunately, the Condor is a little bit too fast for everyone involved, and delivers a full weapons salvo to Madmarcus' Firestarter, along with a quick reactive machine gun burst to Gbasden's mech. Combined with an AC/5 round from a Scorpion to the west, the center torso armor is looking very thin, at two points left.

Isgrimnur manages to avoid a full salvo of SRM/6 from the nearby Hetzer (that's 30 SRMs), although he takes some light AC fire from the northern hill top.

Then, one of the Vedette's on that same hilltop lines up its AC/2 and "pings" Gbasden's Thunderbolt in the center torso. At first, it looks like just a standard AC/2 ding, and then the LRM/10 ammo cooks off. KABOOM! The center torso is completely annihilated.

Gbasden himself remains unharmed, as his escape pod lands in the building right next door.

Raw firing data:

Spoiler:

Flickr:

Spoiler:

The new vehicle lance advances south east, seeking to close in with the rest the OO lance and make good use of their AC/20 and SRMs. The long-range vehicles atop the hill stay in place, mostly.

The air support is going to be able to hit pretty much any target on the field this turn.

Mechanically speaking, one of you guys will be able to pick up Gbasden if both of you end your turn in the same hex. The mechwarrior has a movement range of one hex (and can act as an indirect fire spotter, too!)

Of course, you could just leave him there, but he signs your paychecks.