Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[White Devil]

A Lance of four Atlases wearing Jenners as clothes.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Atlases with shoulder-mounted UrbanMechs as turrets.

Jokes aside, though, the nice thing about BT is the varied eras give you an opportunity to expand (or limit) the tech you want to deal with. Want to tighten the belt and force people to pay attention to heat? Succession Wars era all the way. Want to see how tough your guys really are? Drop them into their bog standard stuff and make them face the Clan Invasion. Cool toys mode? Jihad or Civil War era.

It's kind of why I love the Rifleman 3N.
That thing has shit for armor, overheats instantly when you fire its main weapons... but somehow, it really appeals to me to play without all those shiny bells and whistles and just go for the basic, almost traditional loadout of an old-timey mech. Like, it's some no-nonsense machine that really needs you to act smart about choosing your position, your targets and your attacks. It feels like a challenge in a good way.

I absolutely love the toys that we got in the Civil War era, but there's something insanely appealing about ditching all that ER-this and LB-X-that and just go for an old-fashioned, back-to-the-roots asskicking with regular heat sinks, regular armor, regular lasers, regular missiles in mechs that become toasty after even just using half their weapons. Making heat management more of a problem adds an interesting layer of "high risk, high reward" gameplay.

Also, since CGL's new Battle Lance and Command Lance contain redesigns of Battledroid-era mechs, I've decided to buy them and paint them in some classic 80s BT paint-scheme (The Trove has the old CamoSpecs book, so I guess there's going to be something neat in there- otherwise, I'll have to look for some other artworks) and go for some Reunification/Early Succession Wars rock-em-sock-em fun. I'm halfway tempted to print out the most important rules from Battledroids and go full 1st Version Glory.
Too bad we don't have a neat redesign of the Crusader yet, the newish design doesn't sit that well with me.

I always imagine that upon firing the first salvo of missiles, he blows his own hands off (it's even worse at the miniature, where the hands really look like there is no way they wouldn't be in the way of the missile ports).

A Lance of four Atlases wearing Jenners as clothes.

What would be more awesome?
4 Atlases using a Barghest as a battering ram.
-or-
1 Atlas hip-firing a Longtom artillery gun that he picked up from the ground?

 

[Corn Flakes]

1 Atlas hip-firing a Longtom artillery gun that he picked up from the ground?

Funny you should mention that. You can't do it with a Long Tom. That's 30 tons.

But you can do it with a Sniper, at a mere 20 tons, if you have an Atlas with TSM installed. Pack a few rear-mounted flamers to help manage heat, and you could have an Atlas hip-firing an artillery cannon while wings of fire sprout out behind it. There ain't no rules on recoil, after all.

Of course, the 20 tons is just for the gun, not the ammo. So with each shot the Atlas would have to lower the gun, open the breech, slam a new round in, and pick the gun and aim up. Which actually looks more badass now that I think about it.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Funny you should mention that. You can't do it with a Long Tom. That's 30 tons.

But you can do it with a Sniper, at a mere 20 tons, if you have an Atlas with TSM installed. Pack a few rear-mounted flamers to help manage heat, and you could have an Atlas hip-firing an artillery cannon while wings of fire sprout out behind it. There ain't no rules on recoil, after all.

Of course, the 20 tons is just for the gun, not the ammo. So with each shot the Atlas would have to lower the gun, open the breech, slam a new round in, and pick the gun and aim up. Which actually looks more badass now that I think about it.

Let's settle for "bolt-action Thumper artillery cannon".

 

[Corn Flakes]

Let's settle for "bolt-action Thumper artillery cannon".

That's a 15/5 gun and 100 rounds of ammo. Even if you're only firing over open sights with direct line of sight, that's a lot of boom ready to be parked on top of a hill.

Oh, that noise? Just all the Commonwealth players in the room jizzing in their pants.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I'm frankly astonished they didn't go back and add the recoil rules from heavy gauss rifles to any Mech-mounted artillery bigger than Arrow IV.

Heck, the Improved Heavy Gauss weighs just as much as a Sniper, after all.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I'm frankly astonished they didn't go back and add the recoil rules from heavy gauss rifles to any Mech-mounted artillery bigger than Arrow IV.

Heck, the Improved Heavy Gauss weighs just as much as a Sniper, after all.

Ironically, the Sniper is considerably smaller than an Arrow IV launcher.

Physics-wise, there's a good reason for the artillery guns not to have the HGR recoil rules applied to them. Gauss Rifles deal damage entirely through kinetic energy. The artillery cannons lob a relatively slow shell packed with BattleTech's wonderful Mystery Explosives. The recoil on Gauss Rifles must be out of this world. One wonders whether Gauss Rifles became LosTech not because coilguns are hard to make (they aren't) or the capacitors just weren't good enough (they seemed to do plenty for PPCs), but because no one could figure out how to make mounting brackets that didn't snap in half the moment the pilot pulled the trigger.

No wonder the Hell's Horses decided to go with rate of fire instead of raw projectile mass with the HAG.

 

[TFT-A9]

Ironically, the Sniper is considerably smaller than an Arrow IV launcher.

Physics-wise, there's a good reason for the artillery guns not to have the HGR recoil rules applied to them. Gauss Rifles deal damage entirely through kinetic energy. The artillery cannons lob a relatively slow shell packed with BattleTech's wonderful Mystery Explosives. The recoil on Gauss Rifles must be out of this world. One wonders whether Gauss Rifles became LosTech not because coilguns are hard to make (they aren't) or the capacitors just weren't good enough (they seemed to do plenty for PPCs), but because no one could figure out how to make mounting brackets that didn't snap in half the moment the pilot pulled the trigger.

No wonder the Hell's Horses decided to go with rate of fire instead of raw projectile mass with the HAG.

I mean with the HGR/iHGR just imagine what kind of projectile it takes to shear off 25 points (one and a half tons of Standard armor) in one fucking shot.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

The writeups for when the Draconis Combine started using prototype gauss rifles during the War of 3039 state that the modified Hunchbacks had a hell of a time staying on their feet from the gun's recoil. At least one pilot routinely used trees and buildings to brace against before firing.

 

[TFT-A9]

The writeups for when the Draconis Combine started using prototype gauss rifles during the War of 3039 state that the modified Hunchbacks had a hell of a time staying on their feet from the gun's recoil. At least one pilot routinely used trees and buildings to brace against before firing.

Wait there were canon Gaussbacks?

I'll be damned.

 

[Snekposter]

Not that hard to make a Gaussback. Its one more ton and but three less crits (two for a prototype Gauss), so I can't really think of a Mech besides the Hunchie you'd try it with. Everything else is either too valuable to risk (like a heavy or assault) or just doesn't have the room or tonnage for it. Plus with less heat and more ammo per ton you can easily make some adjustments to ammo and sinks to move tons/crits around to make it doable.

EDIT: According to Sarna those may have been rushed or field refits given there were only two of them, so balance issues are to be expected.

HBK-4G Hunchback Gauss Prototype
During the War of 3039 the 9th Ghost regiment fought the Screaming Eagles mercenary company during the Elidere IV campaign and fielded two modified Hunchbacks to carry prototype Gauss Rifles. Able to cause tremendous damage at unexpected range, the new weapons confounded the mercenaries' commander Colonel Walther Hokala and made him to surrender. Unfortunately the recoil from firing these powerful weapons often caused the Hunchback to stumble or even fall over, and when no solution to the balance problem could be found the Kuritans were forced to undo these modifications after the war's conclusion.[3]

 

[Corn Flakes]

Now that's a funny mental image. Experimental Gaussback plods over to the firing position at the testing range, braces itself, takes aim, and fires. Slug goes forward towards the target, gun rips out the back of the 'Mech and embeds itself six feet deep into the berm behind it.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Now that's a funny mental image. Experimental Gaussback plods over to the firing position at the testing range, braces itself, takes aim, and fires. Slug goes forward towards the target, gun rips out the back of the 'Mech and embeds itself six feet deep into the berm behind it.

Kuritan MechTech nods, looks down on his clipboard and notes "Live-fire test partially successful. No follow-up-shots possible. Reinforce berms on other test stands and add pulley-hook to Gauss Rifle barrel."

I mean, the Kuritan idea of decent weapon manifacturing is the Nambu Type 94.

 

[TFT-A9]

Honestly from a standpoint besides sheer rule-of-cool the biggest problem with the Hunchback is how the gun hunch sits way up high above the center of gravity.

Also, you'd think if it can handle what must be an ungodly amount of recoil and vibration from an AC/20 going full retard the mounts would only need a bit more reinforcement and adjustment to handle the single big shock of a Gauss Rifle firing. It's a slightly different animal, perhaps, and the slightly increased weight of the GR alone might make it harder to keep it flying out of the mech but... /shrug

 

[StevieLasVegas]

Decided to go with a Steiner army and getting the Battletech boxset as well as looking at some Etsy listings for 3D printed models (found an Archer model that has a variant pose where it's just flipping you off and I love it). For personal knowledge, are the Technical Readouts needed to let you know what to play with that army?

 

[Corn Flakes]

Decided to go with a Steiner army and getting the Battletech boxset as well as looking at some Etsy listings for 3D printed models (found an Archer model that has a variant pose where it's just flipping you off and I love it). For personal knowledge, are the Technical Readouts needed to let you know what to play with that army?

Nope! The Technical Readouts don't help with that, but the Master Unit List is there for you!

http://www.masterunitlist.info/Faction/Details/60

Lyran Alliance - Master Unit List

www.masterunitlist.info

Click on the eras on the right to see what the faction has available when.

 

[StevieLasVegas]

Nope! The Technical Readouts don't help with that, but the Master Unit List is there for you!

http://www.masterunitlist.info/Faction/Details/60

Lyran Alliance - Master Unit List

www.masterunitlist.info

Click on the eras on the right to see what the faction has available when.

I've been going through MUL already, but thank you. Are the TRs worth anything then, or can I save some cash and close the tab?

 

[Corn Flakes]

I've been going through MUL already, but thank you. Are the TRs worth anything then, or can I save some cash and close the tab?

They give you the actual BattleTech stats for the units. Unless you're planning on playing only Alpha Strike (as I've been doing), which the MUL provides the stats for, you'll need the TRs.

 

[StevieLasVegas]

Archer flipping the bird

I guess I can post the Archer in question while I'm here.

 

[White Devil]

Archer flipping the bird

I guess I can post the Archer in question while I'm here.

The Archer was one of the better re-designs. I still can't stand the Fatlas though.