Battletech

[Coalition]

The problem is that building Mechs has never been a problem for Terra. The problem is building the ships to transport them. Drop Ships and Cruisers and Battleships are MASSIVE projects in time, money and material. The idea that no one noticed the first IS Battleship in over a hundred years is a stretch. The idea that the WoB built an entire fleet and no noticed or acted just bites the bull. Also figure that most the Mechs being turned out by the IS were absolute crap. The Comstar and later WoB weren't using cheap-o-tech but the latest and greatest the IS could produce.

You're right. Most of the WoB ships were from the FWL, just with program traps. The rest have been slowly built in secret, over several centuries. All they need is access to a ship graveyard (which the crew of the Manassas from "Living Legends" can help with) and the ships can be recovered. From there, you have an entire planet of technical specialists that can be tossed 'theoretical problems' that actually solve problems with the demothballed ships.

As for the first battleship built recently, try the Leviathan 2. A Clantech Warship, 2.4 MT, and pretty much caused minor heart attacks among players when first spotted in Aerotech Record sheets. The Ghost Bears have 3 of them.

Now if you really want evil, WoB would use the older Dropship designs from Dropships & Jumpships, where it said the max mass for a Dropship was 200 kT. Unfortunately, all the newer rules set the limit to 100 kT, so the idea was dropped.

In order to get shipping capacity, Comstar might offer to buy up older Jumpships for protection. If anyone attacks a Comstar flagged Jumpship, that nation gets interdicted. Over time, people learn to respect Comstar's neutrality for Jumpships, in addition to HPGs. Comstar refits the ships for higher capacity, allowing them to get by with lower maintenance demands (so they can use the Jumpships during a 'scheduled refit' instead of having to repair the ship). The initial crew is kept, but all the replacements are the True Believers. Presto, Comstar can now use the ship for classified missions since the necessary maintenance is much lower. BTW, three guesses who hired the initial attackers.

A second trouble is, as Tyyr pointed out, it makes no sense that ALL of the great houses would just go "Okay, we'll kill each other off while you build a massive fleet in orbit of Terra". A number of the houses were looking into rebuilding their losses and repairing their infrastructures. Falling on each other like starving wolves is just not a part of that.

The Houses might not want to, but the troop bigotry and hatred is still there. Tell FedSuns troops along the border that the Draconis Combine has POWs, and provide evidence, and they will go on their own initiative, before even giving their bosses a chance to negotiate (the Draconis March in the FedSuns HATES the Draconis Combine). Duke Hasek (IIRC) is in charge of the Capellan March, and he wants to destroy the Capellan Confederation. Give him some news that says the FedSuns capital just got bombarded, add in a few raids from troops dressed up as Capellan, and kick back.

For Warships, are you referring to real warships (aka KF core of 45.25%) or the pocket Warships (cargo Dropships packed with missile launchers)? The first requires orbital infrastructure to be built, the second can be built on the ground.

Even more fun, remember the Dragoons' raid on Mars? What do you suppose that did for public opinion? "Mercenaries attack Sol! Word of Blake drives off the invaders!" Followed by lots of people on Earth signing up to support the WoB as they set up better defenses, to make sure it neverhappens again. Cue various ads of people saying "I'm doing my part".

Both the Lyran Alliance and the Draconis Combine were in s**t shape. Neither of them were really in a position to start another war with anyone. With them and the Comstar having to worry about renewed clan attacks. Picking fights just isn't smart.

Draconis Combine didn't pick a fight. It got fights picked with it by the FedSuns, it had the rebels try to seize power, and political problems were set up with the Clans. All of them aided by WoB, but no actual military expenditure, saving WoB troops for real problems.

Lyran Alliance, I think WoB had to pick a fight with FWL dressed up as Lyrans, plus Tharkad got bombarded by the Invincible. Again, they didn't pick a fight either.

[Deepcrush]

And with all of that going on and yet no one caught on. That doesn't seem like writers fluff to you? IMO, the whole thing would have been better if they had just gone with the truce. As soon as the IS attacked the Smoke Jaguars, boom, truce over. Then they could have fallen into a cold war plot wise to give the writers time to rebuild the fan base around the IS and level the playing field a bit with the Clans.

-------------------

Okay, seems we have a few Battletech fans here. Depending on how many people want to sign up for a Mech/Elemental game. I'll start a write up on it. Right now that I recall its Tyyr and Myself though I'm hoping for more.

[Coalition]

And with all of that going on and yet no one caught on. That doesn't seem like writers fluff to you? IMO, the whole thing would have been better if they had just gone with the truce. As soon as the IS attacked the Smoke Jaguars, boom, truce over. Then they could have fallen into a cold war plot wise to give the writers time to rebuild the fan base around the IS and level the playing field a bit with the Clans.

Nobody caught on because the WoB was smaller than neighboring Houses, or the Clans. WoB was literally half the size of the DC, FWL, LA, or FS. Up until the 2nd Star League was disbanded by the CC, LA, and FS, the WoB was very happy. The Clans were basically a force that wanted to conquer everyone in the Inner Sphere, and the 2nd Star League was a force that had mehods in place for peace. So WoB supported the 2nd Star League, because it was the best chance for peace. They saw chaos near them thanks to the FWL and CC, and proceeded to send businessmen and diplomats to ask the worlds to join the WoB. Remember, the worlds near Terra were originally the Terran hegemony, which meant they had the best factories, and have been fought over for over two centuries because the House Lords were greedy. WoB offers them a chance for peace, and rebuilding assistance.

Basically, nobody ever asked "What if the Star League is disbanded because three of the powers decide to leave?" If they had, somebody would have asked, "What would the WoB do if their favorite political structure got torn down because three people turned into whiny brats?"

Now the fun stunt is when you compare WoB to the Invading Clans:
Invading Clans:
~300 million people total (the first four Clans) (most of these are poor worker caste who have not had that much advanced technology, medicine, etc)
~140 regiment equivalents (convert the number of Galaxies used to Regiments)
~60-70 Warships
~1 year long comunications and supply chain

WoB:
~6 billion highly educated technological people, plus their other businesses (cable, telecomm, phone, mail, and similar services) Terra is the one planet that has not been fought over in any of the Succession Wars, so it has never been nuked, attacked with bio or chemical weapons, or had enemy troops attack it.
~100 regiments
~40 Warships
Situated at the center of the Inner Sphere for the shortest supply and communications lines, plus HPG centers already present

WoB should have been much bigger and effective. Then again, if you ignore Fasanomics, Luthien should be able to support the entire DCMS, Tharkad the LAAF, New Avalon, Sian, and Atreus their militaries, etc. Check out the Ngoverse series for Battletech, if you want to see what a low-tech planet should be able to do. Cannonshop, blacktigeractual and Deathrider6 are the main authors on classicbattletech.com.

For the Smoke Jaguar attack, it would have taken a year for reinforcements to arrive in the Inner Sphere. The goal was to Annihilate one of the Clans, and they did. IIRC, that Annihilation basically stopped the invasion. I'll have to read up more on that.

Okay, seems we have a few Battletech fans here. Depending on how many people want to sign up for a Mech/Elemental game. I'll start a write up on it. Right now that I recall its Tyyr and Myself though I'm hoping for more.

I'm a fan too.

[Deepcrush]

I'm a fan too.

I've noticed several times over about this. If I write up a RP, would you be in?

[Coalition]

I've noticed several times over about this. If I write up a RP, would you be in?

Sure. Of course, if I try to be a merc, I'd go for trying to get a Mule Dropship, and stuff it full of stuff that the planet needs, in addition to weaponry, mechs, vehicles, troops, etc. A Mammoth would be even more fun, with lots more cargo capacity. A Behemoth would be out of the question, as the fluff says it cannot land (me, personally, I think it is due to the exhaust annihilating anything nearby, rather than structural limitations).

The other fun is hiring up to max on my tech support, and having them work on the planet. Teaching, basic repairs, projects that need to be done, etc can all be helped by a convenient source of technical personnel, plus relatively unlimited power (a dropship's fusion plant). Follow that up with medical support, to help the local town. The town pays for materials, and everyone in town gets nearly free medical care, so my doctors and nurses stay in practice. Lots of cargo means I can bring in schoolbooks to educate the kids, or even computers if possible.

Heck, I'd sell power to the town as well, the bigger the town, the better to avoid minor engine twitches from frying the whole grid (if anyone runs the numbers for a Leopard Dropship, it puts out a lot of TeraWatts in Strategic Mode). Cheap power, water purification, communications, all sorts of things can be rented to provide additional income before you even get into battlefield salvage. Use your troops as OpFor to let the planetary militia train, and you promote better coordination betweenthe locals and your troops.

From there, you try to recover money from your troops. Most of them are going to be young, male, and bored. As a result, you should hire a few prostitutes, and charge. The costs will be lower than the town prostitutes, so the money goes back into your bank account. With medical checkups, you also know your troops aren't picking up new and interesting local (bacterial, viral, and/or fungal) cultures. Set up a beer for your troops that they enjoy, and sell that to them as well. Lots of fun ways to recover your payroll.

[Deepcrush]

Yeah, just so you know. I'm basing the scale of the game on the point scale. So, you can have any of the following...

One Mech, players choice by faction.
Five Elementals, players choice by faction.
Five Tanks/AFV, Inner Sphere only.
One Infantry Platoon, players choice by faction.

I will assign missions for players to cover and set up a time table for everyone. Also, if people want to work together and make a full Star then I'll let the team fill out the left over Points with NPCs.

[Coalition]

Yeah, just so you know. I'm basing the scale of the game on the point scale. So, you can have any of the following...

One Mech, players choice by faction.
Five Elementals, players choice by faction.
Five Tanks/AFV, Inner Sphere only.
One Infantry Platoon, players choice by faction.

I will assign missions for players to cover and set up a time table for everyone. Also, if people want to work together and make a full Star then I'll let the team fill out the left over Points with NPCs.

A Clan campaign? That prevents my economic go-happy fun, and lets the GM assign to us what is needed, rather than the players trying to take every advantage they could.

For my unit, I'd go with five tanks, firing from cover, in a first strike mode. Maybe a pair of Shreks, an LRM platform, and I need to find 2 more vehicles. I am tempted to prefer fusion powered energy vehicles, to improve my supply situation (my tanks can run off the same fuel as a Dropship, and the power demands are trivial).

Other ideas for the other two vehicles would be:
Coolant Truck
MASH truck
Engineering Truck

I'd be tempted to grb the Engineering vehicle and the MASH truck. Both of those have non-battlefield uses, I can use the Engineering vehicle to set up prepared positions, and the MASH truck will be useful for handling casualties.

Now the fun would be using a VTOL APC with as much infantry as I can shove inside. Their job would be to drop on an enemy Dropship, kill/capture everyone inside, and seal the doors so the original owners cannot get inside.

Which TROs can we use, 2750, 3025, 3026, 3050, 3055, 3058, 3060, 3067, 3075, Project Phoenix, and/or TRO: Upgrades?

[Aaron]

Whats the status on AFV's in BT? I've been out of it for a long time but I recall that tanks with specific rounds where considered a threat to mechs.

[Deepcrush]

Whats the status on AFV's in BT? I've been out of it for a long time but I recall that tanks with specific rounds where considered a threat to mechs.

Due to the long period of war. AFVs from the IS started to replace Mechs as front line units. AFVs can be fitted with just about any weapon a mech can. The problem for AFV is they are slower and less agile then a Mech. Or at least against a Clan Mech that is.

A Clan campaign? That prevents my economic go-happy fun, and lets the GM assign to us what is needed, rather than the players trying to take every advantage they could.

Umm, no. The GM can't let you go around writing up your own missions and payouts.

I haven't picked a starting date for the game. When we have all the players together, they can vote on the era.

[Vic]

Hmm, sure, count me in. How about four good old Warrior H-7 VTOLs and a Planet Lifter to carry extra fuel, ammo, spare parts, etc. Just 'cause I'm VTOL happy at the best of times .

[Aaron]

I think I'd go with a platoon of infantry.

[Deepcrush]

Okay, it just rang in my head that I forgot to point out that Aerospace Elements are treated as Elementals for unit value. The updated chart is as follows.

One Mech, players choice by faction.
Five Elementals, players choice by faction.
Five Aerospace Elements, players choice by faction.
Five Tanks/AFV, Inner Sphere only.
One Infantry Platoon (32 men), players choice by faction. May take four light vehicles, players choice by faction.

Hmm, sure, count me in. How about four good old Warrior H-7 VTOLs and a Planet Lifter to carry extra fuel, ammo, spare parts, etc. Just 'cause I'm VTOL happy at the best of times .

I'm afraid I don't know that model. Could you link it to me?

I think I'd go with a platoon of infantry.

Thats fine. You can also choose how to outfit them. This includes the weapons and vehicle choices.

[Tyyr]

Actually ASF's are two to a point, not five.

Hmm, Marauder IIC for me. Lemme ponder the exact mark.

[Deepcrush]

Actually ASF's are two to a point, not five.

Hmm, Marauder IIC for me. Lemme ponder the exact mark.

Yes but if they are taking IS units like many people do, then two IS ASFs vs a Clan Mech, the Clan Mech still easily wins. So I'm trying to balance it out a bit.

[Aaron]

Thats fine. You can also choose how to outfit them. This includes the weapons and vehicle choices.

It'll likely be light infantry, if I can find a decent write up of what weapons and vehicles are available.