OOC chatter

[Recklessfireball]

Yeah, we have had some bad luck rolls. And concentrating the entire lances fire on one mech is actually a good tactic, as you want to whittle down the enemies numbers as quickly as possible.

In BattleTech, it's important to remember the following thing: MOVEMENT IS LIFE.

This is particularly true when piloting light and medium mechs, which have high speed and maneuverability, but very thin armor. When I lose initiative, I will typically jump as far away as possible, into cover, and with my back facing away from the enemy. When I win initiative, I will try to run (it's less heat buildup and your attack penalty for movement is less) into cover somewhere, putting myself behind the enemy and out of their line of fire, if possible. If I can run behind them and also get close enough to kick during the physical attack phase, that's even better.

I will never walk in a light or medium 'Mech, if I have any choice about it. The only time I sit still is if I have extremely long range weapons (LRMs, AC/2, AC/5, etc.) and am fighting enemies with much shorter ranger weapons. Then I may get on a hill with heavy woods or stand behind a lvl 1 building (like the locust at 1011) and snipe.

[wolfpack]

Correct with light mechs it's about moving fast. Swarming works for them but exposes them in particular if they lose initiative. look what happened to the wasp in a single round.

heavier mechs can walk and fire, the best is when they can get their back to a level 2 and stand there so lighter mechs have to come in in their front firing arch.

[Recklessfireball]

Hee, hee. Yeah, that poor Wasp; we really kicked the crap out of that thing. At least Ivan and Zeke will have a good supply of spare parts to repair their 'Mechs with.

[GreyWolfVT]

Well it is not exactly easy to plan a move when we all move first then the enemy moves, they get the advantage there since they get to wait for us to all move then can swarm one guy. If I had known they were all going to swarm on me I never would have moved to "screen" as the order had called me to do. I would have moved to a completely different position. It's also been at least 7+ years since I played this FtF. Honestly most of the last 7 years I've spent playing D&D or similar, nothing really "mech" based. In most cases i was able to see where the enemy was moving to to be able to act better.

[wolfpack]

just need chucks move to go to fire phase

[GreyWolfVT]

hmm fire we get some air support to drop some napalm on E1 and those LRM's?

[Recklessfireball]

Well it is not exactly easy to plan a move when we all move first then the enemy moves, they get the advantage there since they get to wait for us to all move then can swarm one guy. If I had known they were all going to swarm on me I never would have moved to "screen" as the order had called me to do. I would have moved to a completely different position. It's also been at least 7+ years since I played this FtF. Honestly most of the last 7 years I've spent playing D&D or similar, nothing really "mech" based. In most cases i was able to see where the enemy was moving to to be able to act better.

Yeah, I feel you, dude. Losing the initiative in this game can really hurt. Not much we can do about that, although there might be some advantages/talents or such that can be taken to give a bonus on the roll. I'll have to go skim through the book and see if I can find anything. Since one of their 'Mechs is effectively immobilized now, that should make the initiative less painful from now on, since we can outmaneuver them more easily.

In terms of tactics and roleplay, you actually achieved the desired effect of drawing fire from Coughlin to yourself (much as I was trying to do with my initial move, the other side started mass firing on me), it was just very risky, because your 'Mech only walked 3 hexes, which made you very easy to hit.

When I gave the order to screen, I really just meant for you guys to back up and provide covering fire for BuckshotChuck/Coughlin during his advance. As a player, I don't expect you to feel bound to follow my orders to the letter. The game would be no fun if you didn't have some player agency in planning your own moves and tactics, so don't feel bad about interpreting my orders during RP liberally and creatively.

Your initial move, where you ran up to cover the Spider's rear arc in case someone tried to backstab it, was actually a good idea, but I think it would have helped you to move into the light woods hex at 0511, instead (provides the same coverage to Buckshot's Spider but makes it harder for the enemy to get behind you and lets you take advantage of the woods cover). Then moving from there, to other woods hex nearby. Running in a looping arc, from 0511, to 0611, 0712, 0713, 0613 and, finally, into the light woods at 0514, would have enabled you to repel attacks against the Spiders rear arc while giving the enemy a +3 modifier to hit you (+2 from moving 5 hexes and +1 from light woods). Plus whatever move modifiers the attacker incurred.

Anyway, I hope you take my comments as advice, rather than criticism. There's a lot of nuance to this game and it can be hard to remember everything if you haven't played it in a long while. Fwiw, overall, I think you're doing quite well for not having played in nearly a decade.

[Recklessfireball]

hmm fire we get some air support to drop some napalm on E1 and those LRM's?

Well, problem is we haven't got an air lance.

The Fusiliers have a Slayer and a Corsair, but they're probably tied up with flying air support for their own unit.

[wolfpack]

You'll get the hang of it again. It's like chess, you have to know how many moves the other side can make with their ubits and move accordingly. You'll knock the rust off and be fine.

[GreyWolfVT]

You'll get the hang of it again. It's like chess, you have to know how many moves the other side can make with their ubits and move accordingly. You'll knock the rust off and be fine.

Chess ah yes another game i play but ... always tend to miss at least one or two moves after the fact... Lets just play 5 card draw or black jack

[wolfpack]

lol

also if you ever need to know something like what weapons or movement the enemy mechs have i is listed on their sheet under the mech sheets thread.

[GreyWolfVT]

Yes but can we rip an Long range laser off an enemy mech and weld it to our own mech? Or take LRMs and use them on our own mech? Call it battlefield upgrades

[wolfpack]

Yes but can we rip an Long range laser off an enemy mech and weld it to our own mech? Or take LRMs and use them on our own mech? Call it battlefield upgrades

those kinds of changes take a long time to put in place, you have to make sure it doesn't affect tonnage and could fail. But say taking the downed wasps hand and medium laser and replacing your damaged one is a fairly quick and easy fix.

[Recklessfireball]

Yes but can we rip an Long range laser off an enemy mech and weld it to our own mech? Or take LRMs and use them on our own mech? Call it battlefield upgrades

Coughlin has Engineering, Technician, and Tinkering skills all of 5 or better, so it might be possible, depending on what wolfpack allows.

[GreyWolfVT]

I like your style of thinking Recklessfireball

[wolfpack]

Oh I absolutely allow retrofits into new variants. You may very well even encounter some.

It just time (several weeks of downtime) the equipment needed, and a more difficult tech roll to accomplish it.

When retrofitting keep in mind tonnage allowances. You can't go over your mechs original tonnage.

I have a grasshopper variant I played when we hit recovered tech that was a mech killing machine. Grasshopper is one of the best mechs to retrofit because of the 11 tons of heat sinks you can replace.

[Recklessfireball]

Sweet.

Yeah, the Grasshopper is a great 'Mech. Even in its standard configuration, it's one of my favorite heavies.

[GreyWolfVT]

I'll consider that laser idea wolfpack question being how long would that take? if only I had the ability to jump back over there kick the guy and steal his laser.

[wolfpack]

I'll consider that laser idea wolfpack question being how long would that take? if only I had the ability to jump back over there kick the guy and steal his laser.

lol no it is going to take tech work to get it fixed. if the wasp or stingers laser survives it will be a few hours downtime to fix your medium laster and hand actuator.

[wolfpack]

until then you have your srm 2 launcher