Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[AbduluCthuluZulu]

I feel like UACs without jamming are a fitting ballistic equivalent to ER/Pulse weapons. Like ERs/Pulses, there's a UAC for every base autocannon class, and in practice they have more damage potential but at the cost of extra heat. [Increased ammo consumption also helps balance them out.] None of the other post-succ ACs ever truly fit into this mold like UACs could if you ask me, not even LBX.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I feel like UACs without jamming are a fitting ballistic equivalent to ER/Pulse weapons. Like ERs/Pulses, there's a UAC for every base autocannon class, and in practice they have more damage potential but at the cost of extra heat. [Increased ammo consumption also helps balance them out.] None of the other post-succ ACs ever truly fit into this mold like UACs could if you ask me, not even LBX.

LB-X at least have their own niche. Beyond being a straight upgrade to vanilla ACs if special ammo isn't in play, I don't think there's a single weapon in the game that's as good at fishing for crits and headshots as the good ol' LB 10-X AC. That's an average of 6 chances per pull of the trigger, with a -1 bonus to hit out to 18 hexes, to get a TAC or a pilot injury (which is going to get even spicier with floating crits as a default rule). And that's all for less weight and crittage than the vanilla AC/10, with the ability to fire normal shells for the same boom if you wanted to. Hell, even the LB-5X starts looking a smidge attractive with an average of 3 crit opportunities per shot.

(The LB 2-X is still completely hopeless, though.)

Those things are, conceptually at least, the most interesting and unique weapon variant ever added to the game. I love 'em.

 

[Snekposter]

LB-X at least have their own niche. Beyond being a straight upgrade to vanilla ACs if special ammo isn't in play, I don't think there's a single weapon in the game that's as good at fishing for crits and headshots as the good ol' LB 10-X AC. That's an average of 6 chances per pull of the trigger, with a -1 bonus to hit out to 18 hexes, to get a TAC or a pilot injury (which is going to get even spicier with floating crits as a default rule). And that's all for less weight and crittage than the vanilla AC/10, with the ability to fire normal shells for the same boom if you wanted to. Hell, even the LB-5X starts looking a smidge attractive with an average of 3 crit opportunities per shot.

(The LB 2-X is still completely hopeless, though.)

Those things are, conceptually at least, the most interesting and unique weapon variant ever added to the game. I love 'em.

Oh yeah, the LB 10-X is hands down my fav weapon in MW5 for its versatility. Although there you're less interested in crit-fishing and more in having an AA weapon.

Whoever the fuck decided the Igor should be a thing needs to die in a very, very, very hot fire.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

Vidya time -- What's the status of the MW5:Mercs YAML and other YAM-whatever mods post the "I can't believe it's not MW5Clans" DLC? I know the clan and tech advancing mods had a completely different system for clanner gear, which is apparently officially a 6th star of quality/rarity, so I figure it probably needs a bit of work to do, and the implementation of Omni-mechs is different compared to the YAML way.

 

[Bassomatic]

I sadly am little nervous posting pics because i'd be easy to phone book but omg did I have an amazing time at the tourney.

I went 2-0 and invited back to ranked stuff. I WILL get a blood name. The best was I covered an Orion in mines. Hilarious.

 

[AbduluCthuluZulu]

Vidya time -- What's the status of the MW5:Mercs YAML and other YAM-whatever mods post the "I can't believe it's not MW5Clans" DLC? I know the clan and tech advancing mods had a completely different system for clanner gear, which is apparently officially a 6th star of quality/rarity, so I figure it probably needs a bit of work to do, and the implementation of Omni-mechs is different compared to the YAML way.

YAML, Yet Another Weapon, and Yet Another Clan Weapon are updated. Yet Another Equipment isn't updated, but it still works with the current version. Updates for the other Yet Another mods are being actively worked on according to the team. I have no clue what they're going to do with Yet Another Clan Mech seeing how its most major function [The custom Clan Invasion faction] is rendered obsolete by Shadow of Kerensky.

Oh and good news, jumpship animation skip mods are no longer needed. PGI shortened the vanilla game's animation dramatically and synced it up with the loading screen so it doesn't waste time anymore. The original animation is only used for campaign mission cutscenes now.

All in all, I was able to play the DLC just fine using my relatively basic YAML setup. The gameplay was fun [Just be prepared for a challenge, they did NOT nerf clan tech like MW5C did], the story was nice and had some intrigue to it, and there's even a surprise cameo from a MW5C character in one of the missions.

 

[BlackDragoons]

I sadly am little nervous posting pics because i'd be easy to phone book but omg did I have an amazing time at the tourney.

I went 2-0 and invited back to ranked stuff. I WILL get a blood name. The best was I covered an Orion in mines. Hilarious.

I think its agreed upon that posting pics is fine, just get table shots and nothing else. Its pretty agreed upon that phonebooking people over sharing hobbies is pretty detestable..

But I also get the paranoia.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I think its agreed upon that posting pics is fine, just get table shots and nothing else. Its pretty agreed upon that phonebooking people over sharing hobbies is pretty detestable..

But I also get the paranoia.

You can always do the Current Year War Special: show off the table but blur everything else. It's a bit more effort but it should be decent enough for anonymization and the editing will wipe off EXIF data.

 

[Snekposter]

Just be prepared for a challenge, they did NOT nerf clan tech like MW5C did

Thank fucking God!

 

[BlackDragoons]

Thank fucking God!

I'm kinda dreading my first encounter with the clans. I'm not close to the clans and just finding any heavy hitting mechs with any god damn lostech/newtech shit I can get.

 

[Snekposter]

I'm kinda dreading my first encounter with the clans. I'm not close to the clans and just finding any heavy hitting mechs with any god damn lostech/newtech shit I can get.

Exactly how it should be. Running YAML/YAWC? If so, did they keep the DLC balance instead of their MWO one?

 

[AbduluCthuluZulu]

I'm kinda dreading my first encounter with the clans. I'm not close to the clans and just finding any heavy hitting mechs with any god damn lostech/newtech shit I can get.

To give you an idea: I went in with a YAML-ified Dragon Sidewinder, Boar's Head Atlas, La Malinche Banshee, and Otomo Battlemaster thinking I'd steamroll the first mission.
I got squad wiped on my first Clan encounter and forced to re-evaluate my tactics.
The only IS mechs I had that remained competitive throughout the DLC without needing a clan tech upgrade were Nikolai's Nightstar and and the Sidewinder [But that's becuase I upgraded the Sidey with every bit of YAML tech and cheese I could find, to the point that it was basically a Timberwolf but with more armor and an AC/20.]

 

[Snekposter]

To give you an idea: I went in with a YAML-ified Dragon Sidewinder, Boar's Head Atlas, La Malinche Banshee, and Otomo Battlemaster thinking I'd steamroll the first mission.
I got squad wiped on my first Clan encounter and forced to re-evaluate my tactics.
The only IS mechs I had that remained competitive throughout the DLC without needing a clan tech upgrade were Nikolai's Nightstar and and the Sidewinder [But that's becuase I upgraded the Sidey with every bit of YAML tech and cheese I could find, to the point that it was basically a Timberwolf but with more armor and an AC/20.]

FUCK YEAH. Now that's what I want to see out of the Clan Invasion: Complete pants-shitting terror.

 

[AbduluCthuluZulu]

Also good news: Yet Another Legendary Mech has updated, which is a pretty big source of lore mech additions for both the Inner Sphere and Clans.

 

[dame dudi jench]

Overall, I like those proposed changes.

FASA's designers were not good at game balance, and neither Wizkids, FanPro nor CGL have done a great job of it so far either. Ever since the fiasco that was the introduction of ClanTech, a lot of new shit is just supposed to be "sidegrades", but the opportunity costs for them tend to be absurdly outsized compared to their benefits. These changes address most of those. I'd love for vanilla Autocannons to get some kind of buff, but being completely honest here they're a legacy weapon category that's been completely replaced by Ultras, and the changes to Ultras and RAC help with that.

I've seen some bellyaching about how it makes Clan Autocannons even better, but who the fuck cares when the problem with Clan stuff is and has always been Energy Weapons + busted DHS anyway?

The battletech setting is my favorite ever and I agree these changes are good. But fundamentally the game just isn't good, and nibbling on the edges like this won't bring in new blood. It was built by Jordan Weisman to be a beer and pretzels quick-play game that was all about pushing your luck with the heat curve. That kept games moving fast b/c it was relatively easy to blow up and mechs had paper-thin armor much of the time. Double Heat Sinks, even moreso than clantech, ruined the game b/c 20 base heat reduction made medium laser/pulse laser spam optimum even for fast jumping mechs. Now, decades later, the game still uses the same shallow beer-and-pretzels ruleset. Except it's even dumber b/c the heat mechanic is now mostly irrelevant and it's not quick-play because there are 30 years of sidegrade equipment rules and combined arms mechanics to wade through, and mechs move way faster and are harder to hit. and that's before we get to how miserable it is to resolve missile and LBX attacks. playing megamek really drives this home b/c it automates all the bookkeeping so you see how little there is to do in terms of decision-making. It's like using the advanced squad leader ruleset to play checkers.

Alpha Strike could have revived game by being a new X-Wing/clickytech, but b/c Randall Bills is a bad game designer and won't let go. So AS sucked too and doesn't give the player anything in the way of interesting risk/reward mechanics or decisions to make. That said from a business perspective i have nothing but props for the CGL team, they have managed to make a viable business out of churning out terrible lore updates and unnecessary technical read-outs to an ever-dwindling audience of people who got into the game decades ago and still have fond memories of it/are extremely autistic. the kickstarter model is the real genius move as it lets them extract a lot of $$$ out of that group, even if it slowly shrinking. they are all middle-management in IT or whatever and have lots of disposable income/no families to spend $ on.

 

[EscapeVorkuta]

I wish these developer faggots made it easier to use my Hosas sticks on Mercenaries. I love the game, but the immersion would reach next level if I didn't have to go through Thrustmaster's shit software and Joystick Gremlin or whatever the fuck. Maybe I am just a retard.

The new DLC is quite good though. Fuck the Clans.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

Fortunately for me every group I've played with has allowed UAC Unjamming optional rules. I think one autist argued it, but he got BTFO'd by others saying "Just let them unjam dude."

IDK about the new locations going to actually get to try them soon. Had a game with them, but I was majorly out of it so the others had to keep telling me where shit hit LMAO.

IDC where Battletech stands, I enjoy playing it with others. I do agree Alpha Strike lacks a bit, but Alpha is to quickly play games with looser rules. It's fine. Shit does not have to compete with 40k or GW. I do with CGL and the fans were less faggy. That'd be swell.

 

[Tactical Wizard]

FUCK YEAH. Now that's what I want to see out of the Clan Invasion: Complete pants-shitting terror.

My favorite bit of clan invasion lore comes from the first days of the incursion into the inner sphere. There's a part where someone's on the radio trying to report what's happening and there's someone in the background, screaming about the Devil's army being set loose and then just repeating "we did not repent!" over and over again while he's melting the barrel on a machine gun.

 

[Snekposter]

My favorite bit of clan invasion lore comes from the first days of the incursion into the inner sphere. There's a part where someone's on the radio trying to report what's happening and there's someone in the background, screaming about the Devil's army being set loose and then just repeating "we did not repent!" over and over again while he's melting the barrel on a machine gun.

Yeah, and then once the Inner Sphere gets its shit together the Clans (the smart ones at least lol) realize that instead of the Great Houses being trapped in the Inner Sphere with them they're now trapped in the Inner Sphere with the Great Houses.

Phelan felt his heart begin to pound again, but it was no longer from nervousness. Suddenly he saw what Ulric had always wanted from him. I am a fusion between the Clans and the Inner Sphere. I know, I understand, what Ulric could only ever hope was true. He nodded his head, then slammed his fist into his left palm.

"Special people, you say. Special circumstances, you sputter. I disagree with every cell in my body! Yes, Kai is special, and so is Victor and so are the Dragoons and the Hounds and the Genyosha, but they are not unique. There are countless special people in the Successor States. The Com Guards, before they fought us at Tukayyid, were untried forces. The Wolf Dragoons you faced are all orphans adopted at the end of the last war or freeborn offspring of those Wolf Clan members who originally ventured out into the Successor States.

"Look at me. In the Successor States, the only thing remarkable about me was my family and my hardheadedness. Granted the latter has been of help in the Clans, but had I completed the course of study at the Nagelring, I would have been just another MechWarrior—probably not even a Leftenant. Yet here I stand among you, the leaders of the Clans, having commanded a Star and having won a Bloodname."

He pointed back at the ilKhan. "This is the truth the ilKhan has seen. Three hundred years of breeding has not made us all that different from each other. Were we to proceed, it would be the battle of a knife against a grindstone. Yes, we would get sharper, we would win great victories, but in the end, we would be ground away to nothing.

"The ilKhan's agreement with Focht buys us the time we need to prepare ourselves for the future. This invasion will never again know the lightning victories it did at the start. As ComStar showed us, our tactics are not suited to a long, drawn-out conflict. You did not prepare for that and you lost. The Wolf Clan did prepare for that and we won."

Phelan pulled his head up. "The world-by-world conquest and administration of the Successor States will be nothing if not long and drawn-out. In the fifteen short years the ilKhan has bought us, we can prepare the bases we need to continue our conquest. He has been true to his role as war leader because in seeing defeat on the horizon, he has stopped us from rushing headlong into it.

"Remove him, repudiate the deal, and the Clans will be a memory long before the agreement has run its course."

Phelan returned to his seat and Natasha gave him a wink. Ulric graced him with the barest of nods, then turned to the assembled Khans. "You have heard the arguments. Weigh them, then make your decision. Shall the ilKhan be removed and his deal with ComStar rescinded? How say you, children of Kerensky?"

"Nay," he and Natasha cried as one. They smiled at each other because their voices were not in the minority.

As the monitors winked out and the other Khans left the room, Ulric approached him and Natasha. "You were able to point out that of which I could never convince them."

And of course Phelan's words would be proven entirely correct when Task Force Serpent showed up and eliminated Clan Smoke Jaguar. While losses were extremely heavy for the Inner Sphere, they could be made good on, whereas CSJ getting wrecked and everything of value either carted away as isorla or blown up was a permanent wound to the Clans. Even if the Great Refusal hadn't been won the Inner Sphere had the means to strike at the Clan Homeworlds and completely wipe out an entire Clan, whereas the Clans themselves could not do the same to the Sphere.

 

[RSU 1741]

Even if the Great Refusal hadn't been won the Inner Sphere had the means to strike at the Clan Homeworlds and completely wipe out an entire Clan, whereas the Clans themselves could not do the same to the Sphere.

The even funnier thing, is that with all the Dark Age/Jihad retcons and desperate attempts to make the lore make sense you end up with the sober realization that a minor Inner Sphere power (as much as the WoBbies were minor) ended up building an entire army of souped-up cyborgs armed to the teeth with Omnimechs, nukes, custom bio-plagues and mass drivers, all hellbent to kill every single Clanner at the head of a somewhat united Inner Sphere. Even if it was in theory. And even the entire Clan Homeworlds (in the laughable theoretical case they could unite and fight properly a serious Inner Sphere expedition) could have only countered with space assets, or simply die in flames.

Btech never made sense and the Clans are cool, but their entire lifestyle and setup is plainly absurd. It's like Slovenia being a serious opponent for the US or something.