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Dec 1, 3047 - We arrive back in the Inner Sphere at the Rasalhague planet of Thule. This is one of three planets under the control of Baron Jorgennson.
You see, we agreed not to tell anybody else ComStar’s secrets, like that an Explorer Corps exists, the location of Columbus, etc. I’m totally okay with that. But, that relic of a JumpShip at Haven has only a tiny value to ComStar who has tons of JumpShips, plus some really advanced ones, and that one is primitive. But it does have value to me. I contact the Baron and he takes my call (Remember, Rasalhague likes me, we have a unit in Rasalhauge, service, etc.) I tell him that I know the location of a relic JumpShip from the 2300s and I want to claim it as my own, but I need his help. He makes me a counter offer. If it works, and it is what we say it is, he’ll trade me a common Merchant for it. I agree in theory, but I want a Union DropShip too. He laughs. I point out that a relic JumpShip from the 2300s could go for a lot on the open market, but he reminds me that DropShips often cost more than JumpShips. A merchant JumpShip is much better in terms of use. I accept. I leave some of my technical crew behind on Thule. They will jump to Haven. My rule is simple. Two jumps away from Haven, blindfold everybody on board, jump to Haven, download the route to chips and erase it. Fix the JumpShip, both come back, do the same thing on the way back. That way the Baron’s forces will never know where we went. Total expected transit time there and back, from Thule, 11 jumps, so about 3 months there, 3 back to Thule. Plus time repairing ship. We have a Merchant class JumpShip at Thule in 7 or 8 or more months. We can get it back to Epsilon Eridani from Thule in, let’s see, 4 months. It works, and On February 4, 3049, our new Merchant class JumpShip arrives at Epsilon Eridani. We rechristen it. Alright, now I have no clue what has been going on in the meantime, so let’s find out. |
Meanwhile......
Brought back post-Explorer Corps campaign to see what we is doing in the middle years. June 1, 3042: I send Vehicle Company on another garrison contract, this time to Tall Trees, a nearby planet. A three year contract. They leave to start their contract. Aleph Company - Phaeton Company Trinity Company - Contract Begins April 30, 3042, ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Due Back June 27, 3042 Hex Company - Contract Begins April 30, 3042, ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Due back Oct 28, 3042 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Contract Begins April 30, 3042, ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. What I’d like to do is the contract for Hex, Trinity and Heliades companies for the FRR. Then I can come back and do everything else. Support: Battle Loss 50% AND Straight Support 50% Length: 4 years Remuneration: No Command: House Salvage: Shared Transport: Full Salary: x3.7, x1.1, x1.3 13.5 % bonus April 30, 3042 - We arrive on Kempten and begin our contract. This contract includes us moving around, sentry work, and so forth. It’s possible we might get raided by silly Dracs, but no one else will hit Kempten. We also might get moved if things start to fall apart. Unlike other mercenary units with the FRR, we have freer reign and are able to move about the populace. Most other Merc units, the few that the FRR has, are confined to certain bases and such. However, we are one of the heroes of the revolution, so we are okay. |
I’m not kidding. Rasalhague history texts spend a lot of time on the Ronin Wars and talk about the only two mercenary companies to act honorably. Of which we were one, according to them.
What I will do is roll to see if there is any action every so often. Perhaps a raid or something will come to break the monotony. Jan 3, 3043 - We are moved to a planet near the border, Holmsbu. They are having problems with pirates. May 1, 3046 - We found no pirates during our stay on Holmsbu. The FRR would like to re-up our deal. Let’s contract it: What we paid to get there, get back, and during the contract: 9,431,460 - salary and upkeep for my peops 26,721,116 - Salary and bonus 1 mill support Total Made: 18,289,656 Before I agree to more contracts, I need to know what else is going on in K&C world, so let’s rewind and meanwhile this thing. |
Jun 10, 3042 - Contracts:
ComStar wants us for an Objective Raid somewhere. Probably the periphery. Capellan Confederation wants us for Retainer. An Independent World in the Periphery wants Pirate Hunting Since we may not be getting any major contracts, I will probably consider good contracts that are far away. How much can this indy world afford, you know? Where and who? Herotitus, a planet between the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. We decide to send Delta Company. Contract: Transport: 50% Salary: x2.7, x1.3, x1 Salvage: Full Command: Independent Length: 3 months Remuneration: Yes Support: 50% Straight Support 45% Bonus Alright, Delta Company will arrive on Herotitus on Oct 30, 3042. |
The other contract is an Objective Raid by ComStar. Their target is….Buenos Aires. A planet deep in the Capellan Confederation.
We send Aleph Company. Contract: Salvage: Full Transport: Full Command: Indy Salary: x4, x1.6, x1.2 Support: 50% Battle Loss Remuneration: No Length: 1 month 20% Bonus Aleph Company will arrive in Buenos Aires Sept 12, 3042. |
July 1, 3042 -
Contracts: Federated Commonwealth wants Garrison Free Rasalhague Rep wants Pirate Hunting FedCom wants Cadre/Garrison. I send Phaeton Company to the Cadre/Garrison world - Smolnik. We can be there on Oct 8, 3045. Contract: Salvage: Full Transport: 50% Salary: x3.7, x1.3, x1.3 Length: 4 months Remuneration: Nope Support: 50% Battle Loss Command: House 37.5% Bonus |
I want to keep a mech company on Eridani these days, so Cinq will stay here until Defender returns.
Aleph Company - Arrive Sept 12, 3042 Phaeton Company - Arrive Oct 8, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Arrive Oct 30, 3042 Cinq Company - Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Due back Oct 28, 3042 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. I go ahead and do the Phaeton Company Contract. We are not attacked. We will be back on May 28, 3043. End of Phaeton’s Contract: Just 1.2 mill made. Phaeton Company is now Rating A. |
Now just two contracts left. Aleph Objective Raid and Delta Pirate Hunting.
We will begin with Aleph’s Obj Raid on Buenos Aires. ComStar is pissed off because crazy chick Romano Liao is so crazy that she has ordered the HPS station on Buenos Aires taken. Instead of causing an international incident, ComStar prefers that we hammer the small Liao guard. Sept 15, 3042 - We land at Buenos Aires and meet several ComStar folks who give us an update on the situation. Warrior House Kamata has the planets around Betelgeuse, including Buenos Aires, and they captured the HPG station at the behest of House Liao. There are a company of Kamata mechs garrisoning the station, because neither Liao and Kamata except trouble this far into Capella space, and they are keeping away ComStar ships. Hence, us. I know. Frankly, you could have totally foreseen that ComStar would hire mercenaries, but Romano Liao is crazy, not smart, and House Kamata is one of the weakest of Liao’s Warrior Houses. Anyway, our goal is to send away the Kamata forces, and the ComGuard will attack us, and we will run before them. Then it doesn’t look like ComStar just hired someone to take it for them, nor does it appear as if they took it themselves. Obviously, it wouldn’t fool smart people, but it gives the veneer of deniability that is needed. Our foes: Vindicator Cyclops Locust Raven Hunchback Rifleman BattleMaster 1D Cataphract 2X Dervish Firestarter Urbanmech Marauder 3L All are veteran Here is their Cataphract, a mech usually in the hold of Liao, and a recently introduced mech a few decades ago. It is a 70 ton heavy mech with a large laser, AC10, 2 medium lasers and SRM4 plus 4/6 movement and 13 tons of armor, which s just one ton shy of the maximum amount you could put on a 70 ton frame, so that’s good. I like them, and in fact, I once had a modified one as Braham’s own.  |
Here we go
There are some trees, a small pond, a concrete center and a few buildings here. We win init 9 to 6. We throw a lot of fire at their BattleMaster. We lose init 10 to 12. More exchange of fire. We win 6 to 4. I am keeping the middle my ground by having my lighter mechs hop around in and around and behind buildings. Meanwhile, I am bringing my anvil lance and a few hammer lance forces down the left flank while my other hammer lance forces stand under cover and fire, keeping their forces pinned. This is a perfect synergy of why you have all three units on your squad, instead of just fire support or just assault or just scout. One pins them, another assaults them, and a third corrals them - all have value. Our Striker destroys the RA of their BattleMaster. Our Awesome’s LRM15 hit the MG ammo on their BattleMaster and it ‘splodes. It’s engine fails and goes up and strips some armor from their Rifleman and Firestarter. We win init 8 to 7. More weapons fire exchanged. They charged a few mechs into the middle to try and break my trap. Now they are exposed. We win 10 to 7. I move our Striker, Champion and Warhammer next to their Hunchy. Their Cataphract destroys the RT of my Warhammer. Their Marauder hits its engine and gyro once each. Our ‘Hammer hit’s the AC20 ammo in their Hunchback and it lights up. Our Awesome’s LRM15 gets a Limb Blown off critical on their Cataphract’s RA. Our Hammer remains standing despite gyro hit. We win 12 to 7. I move our Striker and Champion up to their Cataphract. Their Rifleman destroys our Warhammer’s CT. Our Stiker hit’s the SRM ammo on their Cataphract and it splodes. Our BM hit’s a pair of leg actuaotrs on their Cyclops. Our Hunchy destroys the RT of their Rifleman. Their Cyclops makes all three piloting skill rolls of 7 and remains standing. Wow. Our Hunchy kicks and hits an actuator on their Rifleman, so it falls and destroys its LL. And with that, House Kamata calls an end. They agree to leave the HPG station. We agree to allow them to leave. Salvage: Hunchback LA, RT Cataphract RA, LA, LL Rifleman RA Warhammer RA, H, LT, LA, LL, RL We need about 15 tons of armor. Other than the Warhammer, we didn’t lose too much armor. Sucks that we lost a mech without getting one back, which is quite rare. Five days later, the ComGuard “attacks” and after some weapons fire, we run and leave them the station. They use our attack as an excuse to increase their guard. |
Sept 21, 3042 - Let’s settle up:
Salvage: Full Transport: Full Command: Indy Salary: x4, x1.6, x1.2 Support: 50% Battle Loss Remuneration: No Length: 1 month 20% Bonus We Spent: 150,000 - Armor 175,000 - ammo 415,770 - salary and upkeep We Got: 429,926 - Salary + bonus 1.45 mill - 50% battle loss for armor and Warhammer 1,139,156 - Total Made We will arrive back at Epsilon Eridani on Jan 15, 3043. We will move a Warhammer in the garrison to replace the destroyed one. |
Aleph Company - Due Back Jan 15, 3043
Phaeton Company - Due Back May 28, 3043 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Arrive Oct 30, 3042 Cinq Company - Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Due back Oct 28, 3042 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Now just Delta Pirate Hunting, left, so let’s do Delta’s Pirate Hunting Oct 30, 3042 - Delta arrives at Herotitus and they inform Delta that they are raided about every two-three months by a new pirate group which has about a company of mechs, and they want us to hide out and wait for the pirate’s arrival. Our contract runs four months or until they arrive. Feb 3, 3043 - A black JumpShip arrives in the Herotitus system and we are told they are the pirates. They usually hit the mining complex on the red hills, so we go and hide out here. Feb 9, 3043 - The pirates arrive and begin to fight some corporate tanks and vehicles. While they are busy, we warm up our mechs, and then cut them off from their DropShip. Desperate, they charge Delta Company in order to break through and make it back to their vessel. The Pirates: Wasp x2 Marauder Griffin Phoenix Hawk Catapult Blackjack Wolverine Atlas Javelin UrbanMech Goliath Scorpion Quickdraw We are fighting by a coast. This is their Quickdraw, a 60 ton heavy mech with good 5/8/5 movement, light armor (8 tons), an LRM10, SRM4 and 2 front facing medium lasers, with another two facing the rear, and 13 heat sinks. There are variants of the Q Draw I think are quite playable, but the main one is not one of them  |
We lose init. I am moving out a large unit right down the coastline in order to just end this. We have better mechs and better MechWarriors. Our BattleMaster hit’s the SRM 6 and PPC on their Scorpion, meaning it has no weapons left. It falls and hit’s a couple of leg actuators.
We lose init 5 to 8. Their Scorpion fails to stand. I move three mechs by it - BattleMaster, Banshee and Awesome. We concentrate all of our fire on their untouched Marauder. By the end of the turn, it has had its AC5 exploded and destroyed. Three kicks later from our assault mechs and the Scorpion is destroyed. We win init 11 to 7. In two turns so far we have taken out two mechs, and not little jinky light mechs, but a Marauder and Scorpion. Our Awesome destroys the LA of their P Hawk. Our Awesome falls, which sucks, cause I had positioned it to kick a Wasp. We lose init 4 to 5. We stand up our Awesome and move into some light woods. It’s not much cover, but its something. They surrounded our Awesome with four mechs - Griffin, Wasp, Quickshot, Catapult. Our Black Knight hits one of their Wasps in the head and nails its sensors. Their P Hawk falls. Our Banshee punches and destroys their Griffin’s RT. After being kicked three times and them missing a 5 on a kick, our Awesome has to try 5 pilotng rolls (3 kicks, 1 miss, 20+ damage) and fails on the last one. We win 11 to 7. They literally put a mech on all six sides on the Awesome. Instead of playing around, I just eject the Awesome. Our Banshee destroys the LL of their Urbie. Our B Knight hit’s the Griffin’s engine. Our Jav gets a through armor critical on their Atlas and hit a leg actuator. Our BM destroys the CT of their Griffin. It catastrophically fails and there is a BOOM that deals a ton of damage to our mehc,s and also shreds their Wasp. Their Wasp is destroys, another kill for the BattleMaster. Then the Wasp’s engine also fails containment and it explodes too. Wow. Their P Hawk loses its LL. Their Atlas, Urbie, P Hawk and Q Draw all fall. We lose 4 to 8. Several of their mechs fails to stand - Urbie, Wasp, P Hawk. Their Atlas and Q Draw do stand, however. I hop our Spider to where he can Punt the Atlas H. Our Banshee destroys their Q Draw’s RA and our BM it’s torso. Their Cat goes internal with a Medium Laser to our Hammer’s head. Their Cat then falls. Our Spider kicks…and his the Atlas in its CT rear armor. The Atlas reels and falls down. We lose 8 to 9 . We only have two more rounds of LRM ammo in our Cat and then we’ll have to move forward. A bunch of their mechs are savaged, I just need to finish them off. Expect this round to be We Kill Many Injured Mechs Round. Our Jav with a chance to Punt the Atlas. Our Crusader destroys the LL on their Wasp. Our B Knight hits their Atlas’s AC20. Their Wasp and Q Draw both fall. Our Banshee punches and destroys the CT of their Q Draw. It’s engine explodes, and it destroys the Wasps’ CT. Then the explosion hit’s the ammo on their P Hawk and boom! Three kills in one punch. Then the Phoenix Hawk’s engine explodes (I am not making this up). It deals 27 damage to our Javelin, which is destroyed. Then the P Hawk hits their Wolverine’s AC ammo and it explodes too. 4 kill on them and 1 on me in one punch. Our Crusader, their Cat and their Blackjack all fall. And with that, they surrender. Wow. Salvage: Marauder LA Scorpion H, LT, both Left Legs, both Right Legs. Griffin RA, RL, LL, H, LT, LA Wasp Hx2, RT, RAx2, LTx2, LA, LL, RL Quickdraw H, RL, LL Phoenix Hawk RA, RL Wolverine LL Once we get back, I assign a Phoenix Hawk from our garrison to replace the destroyed Javelin. Two pilots leveled up: Lt Miguel Juarez, in the Banshee, gets another edge. Cristina Fernandez, in the BattleMaster, lowers her piloting and is now a 2/2 pilot. We need about 45 tons of armor after that. |
The surrendered mechs still operational are turned over to Herotitus, who could really use them.
We get ready to settle up: We Pay: 636,408 salary and upkeep 450,000 armor 200,000 ammo 1.85 mill transport We get: 925,000 Transport 684,883 Salary + Remuneration + Bonus 40,000 - Support Again, no salvaged mechs, just pieces. We arrive back on July 29, 3043. |
Okay, let’s rewind. Back to Epsilon Eridani
November 1, 3042 - Defender Company got back a few days ago and I can send either Cinq or Defender out on a contract. Let’s see what is out there. Corporation wants Garrison Capella wants Garrison Capella wants Cadre/Garrison Taurian Concordat wants Garrison Wow, not a lot of versatility there. We decide to send Cinq to the Cadre/Garrison contract. Where to? Carmen. Let’s go ahead and do it. Contract: Length: 6 months Transport: 50% Salary: x3.7, x1.3, x1.2 Command: House Remuneration: Nope Support: 50% Battle-Loss Salvage: Full 17.5% Bonus Before they Leave, Ted orders them, and all other units to turn in their spares parts to the garrison, because no one is using them. Feb 27, 3043 - We arrive on Carmen. There is a militia here that needs some training, but the governor recently had a falling out with the local Warrior House, so we are hired to give the boys in green some training. Sept 1, 3043 - No one attacked Carmen, which would be tough this far inside the Confederation, and our training is complete. We made around 200k. We arrive back at Epsilon Eridani on Dec 15, 3043. |
Dec 1, 3042 - 6 more graduates from the Essex Academy, but we will put them in the garrison force until we get enough for another company.
Meet: Ralili Museveni, regular Carlotta Rios, regular Giselle Bateaux, green Lanica Dresdin, veteran Tomoyo Shimizu, regular Taheera Mahmoud, green (I roll 1d6, on a 1 or 2 they were green, 3-5 regular, 6 veteran, just one veteran per class allowed, that’s our bright shining star) Dec 18, 3042 - We honor the Fall of Andurien Jan 1, 3043 - 11 enrollees into the Essex Training Academy. Wow, that’s a lot: Current Class: 3rd Year: 8 2nd Year: 7 1st Year 11 The Academy’s fees almost pay for themselves now. We have invested well over 100 million into it. Feb 1, 3043 - Aleph Company returned last week, so we can send out Defender whenever we want. Contracts: Corporation wants Garrison St. Ives Compact wants Retainer Federated Commonwealth wants Objective Raid against….Outworlds Alliance. That’s way too far away. Wait, I can’t do that anymore. I gotta take combat where I can. Aleph Company - Phaeton Company - Due Back May 28, 3043 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Back on July 29, 3043 Cinq Company - Back on Dec 15, 3043 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. We will send Defender Company to Lushann. With so much of the FedSuns military oriented towards the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation, Duke Sandoval wants to raid Lushann Industrials Limited, one of the weaponry factories in the Outworlds Alliance. By having a raid or two, the Duke expects that the Alliance will not be tempted to use the FedSuns distraction against them. We are to land on planet, see if the defense allows us to raid the Lushann plant, if not hit whatever targets we can quickly, then dust off. They don’t want any of the salvage or supplies, they just want to take the Outworlds Alliance off guard. Contract: Salvage: Full Command: Liaison Remuneration: Nope Transport: 50% Support: Battle Loss 50% Salary: x3.7, x1.6, x1.4 Length: 1 month 17.5% bonus Defender company arrives in Aug 13, 3043. |
Aug 13, 3043 - We arrive on Lushann. Capt. Matthew Humphries and his Defenders begin to look for opportunities. A quick scout of the Lushann Ind. Lim. shows that there are way too many defenders for a simple company of mechs. Around a battalion of tanks, plus infantry and a company of mechs. That’s too hard.
Aug 24, 3043 - We find a perfect target of opportunity. There is a Lushann Storage facility about 120 klicks southeast of their main factory. There are just a company of mechs there, and that’s it. It doesn’t even look like there are tanks or anything there. Time to mount up and ride out. Aug 25, 3043 - Our DropShip arrives and we disembark about ten klicks from the facility. Seeing us on their radar, they warm up and move towards us to keep the fight away from the storage facility. I’m sure they radioed for help too. At the end of round ten, if we have not won, we must surrender and surrender any salvage as well. Otherwise, the enemy will close and destroy us. If we finish early, we can grab the salvage and pieces with my mechs with hands, load them up, and blast off. Our Foes: Phoenix Hawk Charger Locust Archer Stinger Cyclops Warhammer Shadow Hawk Victor Enforcer Griffin Jenner Looks like they got one mech each from the Fed Suns and Drac Combine in the Enforcer and Jenner at some point in time. The pilots are regular, with a handful of greens and a vet in the Cyclops. We are fighting in an industrial area a bit away from the storage facility. This is their Cyclops. It is an underwhelming assault mech of 90 tons, with an AC20, LRM10, 2 medium lasers and an SRM4. It only has 10 armor on each arm, 17 on each leg, etc. It’s not a good mech. The weapons are okay, although they resemble the kind you might expect on a mech 10-15 tons lighter, and the armor is what you would expect on a mech 25 -30 tons lighter and the speed is on a mech about 20 tons lighter, so it is underwhelming. Still, leave it alone on a battlefield at your own danger because an AC20 backed by SRM, LRM and lasers can kill mechs.  |
We lose init 4 to 10. Because we have to win quickly, I am pushing my mechs forward. We target their Archer and they target my Warhammer and both go a bit rocking.
We lose 6 to 9. Their Enforcer jumps on top of a building, it collapses, and it falls, and the pilot blacks out. Idiot. To be fair, we hopped a Firestarter on top of a building. We hop out Jav behind their Griffin’s rear on top of a building. We lose 7 to 8. Enforcer still asleep. Our Whitworth destroys the RL and RA of their Stinger. Our B Master destroys the RA of their Archer and then hits one of its LRM20s. Our Hunchback destroys its RT and hits its gyro twice, killing the Archer. Their Cyclops falls and takes some damage. Their Enforcer pilot wakens. We lose 6 to 7. Their Cyclops AC20 hits our Orion in he head and destroys it, killing the pilot. Our Hunchy hit’s the LRM ammo on the Cyclops and it lights up. We win 10 to 9. Just an exchange of fire We lose 8 to 9. I order our G Hopper to charge their Enforcer. There is a building right behind him, so if he survives, he gets blasted into a building. Our Hunchy misses a 4 on his AC20. Their Locust survives. The Grasshopper hits, and here is why I wanted to do this. Their pilot takes even more damage than before, the mehcs falls, and he needs to avoid an 11 to not fall unconscious. He rolls a 12 so he stays awake, but I think you’ll agree that was totally worth doing. They retreat and we let them. We take the salvage and leave. Salvage: Archer missing RT, RA with one engine and three gyro hits Cyclops LA ,LL, RT Repair: Orion needs H In three missions, Defender Company has gone from 14 MechWarriors to 11. There are rumors they are cursed. Contract: After we fix the Orion, we lose 1,535,603 They will arrive back at Epsilon Eridani February 13, 3044. They stop at Outreach and recruit: Shen Yu, elite. |
March 1, 3043: We pay 17,670,000 in order to fix up a bunch of salvaged mechs we stored in our garrison years and years ago but never fixed up. Here are the mechs we add to our garrison:
Commando Banshee Stalker Locust Flea Wasp Cicada Spider Stinger Archer Awesome That means we now have 55 mechs in our garrison, and we have 9 MechWarriors using those mechs. One of the things that Ted wants to start doing is having our techs build mechs. He invests 10 million into a state of the art workshop, better than what we already had. We have all of these mech parts we got from a ton of salvage, so what he wants to do is see what we can assemble with these parts. For example: We have: Locust Head, Left Torso, Right Torso, Left Arm, Right Arm, Stinger Left Leg. If we wanted to build our own 20 ton mech, we would only have to buy weapons, right leg, engine and gyro. Let’s do it as our first homegrown mech, experimentally. Our name for this mech is the Comet, CMT-1: 20 tons 5/8/5 4 tons of armor 2 Medium Lasers 5 Small Lasers Some heat sinks in the legs, so if it stands in water double dispersion; lasers all in torsos, etc. It will take us 4 months to get this ready. How much does it cost? Since we have a lot of parts already, not that much: 100 engine: 133,335 C Bills 300,000: Gyro 135,000: Lasers 150,000: Internal Structure and armor for leg and CT. Total: 718,335 We pay it. Comet will be ready in July. Why is this mech good? You are harder to hit the more hexes you move. Once you move 5, you are +2 to be hit, and once you move 7, you are +3 to hit. You are also +1 to hit when you jump. A jumping mech that hops 5 is +3 to hit, whereas a mech that moved it on the ground is at +2 to hit. There is no mathematical difference between moving five and moving six. You can jump 5 or 6, either way its +3 to be hit. The 20 ton mechs that jump move 6/9/6, and that means they are spending a half ton on the 6th jump jet, and tonnage to the bigger engine. By going to 5/8/5, my mech can pack 4.5 tons to spend on weapons, while still having 4 tons of armor - virtually maximum. Because I don’t want to be afraid of ammo explosions on such a light mech, I knew I wanted just energy weapons. Meanwhile, I also knew I wanted to stay away from heat problems, and use tonnage on heat sinks. One possible configuration I was looking at was 4 medium lasers and one small laser, but jumping and firing all of that would be a ton of heat. Instead, I decided to go with the 5 small lasers and two mediums. It has good medium range weaponry for its weight, comparable to a Mercury’s two medium lasers and better than Wasp’s ML and SRM2. Then, when I jump in close and outflank someone, I have five small lasers. Even if I jump 5 and unload all 7 energy weapons into my foe, I still make 16 heat, which is a bit of an alpha strike, but okay. It also increases significantly my ability to seek out and find vulnerable rear armor and holes in armor, and its damage ability actually increases. Two small lasers weight the same as one medium laser, and two 3 twice, instead of 5 once. Not a big deal on other mechs, but it means I can dole out 25 damage from my weapons if they all hit, plus my hands are free for punching. It’s not bad at all, and I just designed it, so I want to see how it performs. |
June 1, 3043 - Phaeton Company is now back, We take its items as per Ted’s request.
Aleph Company - Phaeton Company - Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Back on July 29, 3043 Cinq Company - Back on Dec 15, 3043 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Back on February 13, 3044 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Let’s do some contracts for Aleph Company. St. Ives Company wants us for Garrison Capella wants us for Objective Raid on Fed Com. Nope, can’t take this. Capella wants us for garrison. Wow, a very Liao flavored month there. Plus, nope on all three counts July 1, 3043 - How about more contracts: St. Ives Compact: Security FedCom: Relief ComStar: Objective Raid on Capellan Confederation FedCom: Pirate Hunting St. Ives: Cadre/Garrison I send out Aleph company to the St. Ives Compact We arrive on Oct 15, 3043. Ends April 15, 3044. We arrive back on July 21, 3044. No fighting while we are there. Let’s do money: 2,130,660 - what we made |
Aug 1, 3043: Delta Company just got back.
Contracts? Free Worlds League: Garrison Free Rasalhague Republic: Garrison Suck. Boring 3040s. Aleph Company - Back on July 21, 3044 Phaeton Company - Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Back on Dec 15, 3043 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Back on February 13, 3044 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Sept 1, 3043 - Independent Planet in Periphery: Planetary Assault Free Worlds League: Obj Raid on…Fed Suns. Damn it, I have to decline. Corporation: Cadre/Garrison Corporation: Garrison Well. Might as well do a contract. Phaeton is send to… Ambergrist in the St. Ives Compact. We arrive on Dec 16, 3043. Arrive back Aug 30, 3044 Any combat?? Let me roll. Nope. Money? 1,337,625 made |
Oct 1, 3043:
Aleph Company - Back on July 21, 3044 Phaeton Company - Arrive back Aug 30, 3044 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Back on Dec 15, 3043 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Back on February 13, 3044 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Let’s see if we can get enough parts for another mech. I have these pieces: Atlas, H, RT, LT, RL, LL, RA, LA Let’s just build an Atlas from it. Nothing special, your normal Atlas will be fine. Cost to do this: 900,000 Gyro 2 mill - engine 500k - CT Structure and armor 3.4 mill total. We pay it and will have an Atlas up and running in just 2 months. (A 300 engine is easier to find, and we are following established blueprints). |
December 1, 3043: What’s next? Any mechs ready to be built? What do we have?
We got extra Wasp parts from a more recent company, and we are able to build another Comet. 3 months this time, because we know how to make them. We just need 675k, because we had the leg. We just got 8 more MechWarriors from the Essex Academy. Meet: Niklas Klaus, green Damon Jones, veteran Mitch Raymond, regular T’Kelah Oronko, green Waheed Umbria, regular Bayarmaa Borjigan, green Rosario Jiminez, regular Marian Johnson, regular December 18, 3043 - All of the Kilts and Commandoes honor the Fall of Andurien Jan 1, 3044 - We get a new class of 7 at Essex. 3rd Year: 7 2nd Year: 11 1st Year: 7 |
Tethys Company (According to Hesiod, the Eridanus River was the offspring of Tethys)
Lt. Samia Oudghiri, regular, BattleMaster Mitch Raymond, regular, Thunderbolt Rosario Jiminez, regular, Hunchback Carlotta Rios, regular, Atlas Sgt. Damon Jones, veteran, Archer Waheed Umbria, regular, JagerMech JM6-A (with the 2x LRM 15s) Tomoyo Shimizu, regular, Griffin Stacey Stowers, regular, Striker Sgt. Lanica Dresdin, veteran, Comet Marian Johnson, regular, Spider Ralili Museveni, regular, Cicada Bayarmaa Borjigan, green, Locust 1E Samia has been with us for a long time, and was one of a few people permanently stationed on Epsilon Eridani, but now she is taking the lead of our newest company. I really like most of the mechs here. Replace the JagerMech with a similar but better Catapult, The Cicada with a Javelin 10F, and the Striker with a heavier more powerful assault mech, like an Awesome, and the company would be close to ideal. I wanted to give it good mechs because of all of my mech companies, this is the one most missing experience. Just two vets, one green, and 9 regulars. It needs battle experience, but instead we are going to keep it on Epsilon Eridani for a while, training the folks much like Ted did with everybody back in 3037-3038. The hope is that people will grow a bit, and then I don’t have to keep back a fighting mech company all of the time. |
Jan 2, 3044: Here is our current status of companies. As you can see, I currently have three here, but I’m okay with sending Delta and Cinq back out.
Aleph Company - Back on July 21, 3044 Phaeton Company - Arrive back Aug 30, 3044 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Back on February 13, 3044 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Before we do that, Ted has a trip to make. Jan 14, - Ted arrives on Outreach for some recruiting. We can’t have a bunch of regular or green companies, and he prefers we create companies more like Heliades with elites and regulars working side by side. Jan 21, 3044: Ted recruits two disposed MW’s a month, no matter, what I roll, and they are guaranteed elite, no matter what I roll. So, let’s just get a few recruits. (It is allowed by the game, but I don’t want to mine this elite MechWarrior mine too much) March 30, 3044 - Ted arrives back home with 6 new elite recruits. Engracia Diaz Colette Maigny Marcus Bochelli Kate Mallery Randa Kanagarajah Talib Shadi Talib is showing some nice leadership skills, so he is promoted to Sergeant for now as a member of our garrison. My guess is I will hand him the Lt post for the next company. |
Ted Izumo creates three awards for members of the Kilts and Commandos Company. He will not retroactively give these out, but they are truly missing:
Tartan Badge - The highest honor was can bestow, given for severe courage, bravery and ability to overcome all odds. Black Badge - The middle honor we can bestow. If someone with a Red Badge does another act of bravery, then this is awarded. Further acts will not get the Tartan Badge. The Black Badge can also be awarded without first giving out the Red Badge for acts beyond a normal Red Badge: Red Badge - Given to show dedication, skill, or an act of courage beyond the call of duty. The lowest of the three awards. Our organizational chart: However, any Captain or above has field command over anybody they are with. So, if Trinity and Cinq are sent on a mission, Capt. Jason Thomas has field command over Cinq. Similarly, Ted is the XO of the unit, so although he is a Captain, he can tell Jason Thomas and Matthew Humphries what to do. Colonel Braham Essex: Aleph, Phaeton and Tyhon Companies Captain Jason Thomas: Trinity, Heliades and Hex Companies Captain Matthew Humphries: Delta, Defender, Cinq Captain Ted Izumo: Tethys, Garrison units, Vehicle |
EVENT: April 1, 3044 - The Capellan Confederation has perfected Triple-Strength Myomer. This experimental myomer was initially researched by Davion in the early 3000’s, before they let the Capellan Confederation steal it, thinking it worked. It reacted violently to a certain mixture of gases that House Davion used against them in the Fourth Succession War. When a mech goes overheat by a certain amount, instead of its speed decreasing, it increases, and it does a lot more damage in physical attacks. So, for example, a mech with 5/8 movement normally would become 6/9 and they would overheat. It takes up six critical slots worth of internal space and it is quite costly. It will be a while before the CC has TSM, because it has a stigma, but it is now developed.
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April 2, 3044 - Tethys, Defender, Delta and Cinq are all here. Let’s do some contracts for my peops:
FedCom: Obj Raid - target: Capellan Confederation Drac: Obj Raid on Fed Com - Nope FedCom: Cadre Corporation - Garrison Small Periphery Realm: Garrison Let’s look at the Fed Com target. We are to hit Castrovia, a minor Cap world in the heart of their realm. It is a system about which nothing has ever been written ever. It is so boring here, that the defense is very weak, while the Caps push their units to the borders with Marik and the Fed Com and the St Ives Compact AND the periphery. 9 jumps away. Let’s send in Delta. Delta in Castrovia. Salvage: Full Salary: x3.7, 1.6, 1.4 Remuneration: Nope Transport: 50% Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Liaison Length: 1 month 25% Bonus Delta will arrive on July 15, 3044. Since the Cadre contract involves no attacking at all, Ted changes his mind and sends out Tethys on it, so they can get some experience. Target: Shipka, six jumps away. Tethys will arrive for a Cadre contract on June 19. Let’s finish up Tethys right now. Cadre Contract: 3 months, back on November 1, 3044. They lost a bit of money, but it was worth it to get an official contract under their belt. Aleph Company - Back on July 21, 3044 Phaeton Company - Arrive back Aug 30, 3044 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Arrive July 15, 3044 Cinq Company - Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Back on Nov 1, 3044 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Let’s do Delta’s contract now. |
July 15, 3044 - We arrive on Castrovia. Our liaison meets us on planet and this is where the situation is explained. There are no house troops on Castrovia. No Warrior House, and no Liao troops. The only troops are some militia of no consequence. However, recently a mercenary company has taken a contract from the planetary Baron to garrison this planet. The mercs actually were on contract with the Federated Commonwealth, but they fled and stole some materiel in a contract dispute, and Davion wanted a company sized unit to teach them a lesson, and if possible, end their existence. Due to our success in company on company battles, our name came up, and we were sought for this task.
A simple goal. Find the mercs, named Marc’s Machetes, and take them out. They are garrisoning one of the few DropPorts on the world. The very one we are at. Our task it to attack, destroy, grab salvage, and dust off. July 17, 3044 - We scout around for a couple of days. We want to hit Marc’s Machetes but not the regular militia units here for the Caps. Also want them all at once. We discover that they meet up near the DropPost itself twice a day for flag raising and lowering of their unit’s flag. That is when they will hit them. Taking our Marc’s Machetes has not military value for the FedCom, it’s totally a vengeance thing, but as a merc, I have to admit that I am totally okay with it. July 18, 3044 - Early in the morning hours, we drop our mechs out of our DropShip. It is a few minutes before anyone notice a dozen extra mechs in the streets, because we painted our mechs with the color and standard of the Machetes, so we do not stand out. The Machetes have only been here for a short while, and their mechs and configurations are not well known. When we are noticed, no one thinks anything is awry, and we enter the cleared out wide open tarmac like area that has the flag post and the Machetes. Suddenly, they turn around and see us. I think they are mad. Our foes: Atlas Warhammer UrbanMech Hunchback Vulcan Commando 1D (With Large Laser and SRM6 and low armor) Banshee Blackjack Awesome Merlin Hermes II Ostroc Their Atlas is elite and a few of their other pilots are veteran, the rest regular. There is a large lake to one side, and the rest is coast with a small hill. Here is the Ostroc, a less common Star League mech with lower tech. It features an SRM4, 2 large lasers and 2 medium lasers. 15 heats sinks, 5/8 60 ton mech, no weapons in the arms but low armor there too. It’s not bad, but not great.  |
Here we go!
We lose init 2 to 4. Our Banshee takes off the Commando’s RA. Their Atlas needs a 10 to hit our Spider with its AC20, rolls a 12, an destroys its RA> Our Warhammer takes the RT of their Commando. We lose init 6 to 7. I move our Battlemaster to a place where we can punt the head. They exposes their Hermes II in order to risk a punt on my Dragon;s head. Our Crusader blows off the Rl and tehn destroys the CT of their Commando. Their Warhammer gets a through armor critical on our BM and hit’s a leg actuator, but it manages to keep standing. Our BM kicks and hits he Blackjack add…deals 17 to its RA. That could have really crunched it elsewhere. Their Hermes II misses my Dragon’ We lose 3 to 7. Our Banshee takes the RA of their Hunchback. Our Crusader nails the AC5 on their Hermes II. Our Black Knight hit’s the AC ammo on their Urbie and it goes up. Their Hermes II and Hunchy both fall. For the third consecutive turn, our BM takes 20+ damage and does not fall, despite leg actuator damage. Our Banshee tries to punt the Blackjack head and instead destroys its RT and hits its engine twice. The Blackjack goes severely overheat and manages to avoid an ammo explosion and shutdown. We finally win init 10 to 5. Their Hermes II and Hunchy stand. Our Awesome lances a PPC into the Hunchbakc’s LA and destroys it. Their Ostroc gets a through armor critical on our Black Knight and hit’s a foot actuator. Our Crusader destroys the Blackjack;’s CT. Ou rBlack Knight nails the AC20 on their Hunchy. It falls and our B Knight does not. We win init 9 to 7. Our Crusader destroys their Hunchback’s ammo and it goes up. Our Hermes II destroys the RA and RT of their Hermes II We lose 4 to 10. We hop our Wasp into a swquare where it can play Punt the Awesome. We accidentally set one of their woods on fire last turn, and this is eh pace, so there is fire and smoke and woods protecting the Wasp, plus it natural 6 movment jumping. Our Warhammer takes out their Hermes II Left Arm. Just some weapons fire exchanged and our Wasp misses the kick opportunity. We lose 9 to 10. Our BattleMaster and Banshee have both taken some serious damage but not lost any limbs. For example, the BM has just one internal point left in its RA. I want to limit their exposure, so I am leaving the Awesome out as a target and pulling back other mechs. I also expose our Warhammer, just in case they want more targets. They hit our Warhammer’s head twice with missiles. That could be dangerous later. Our Hermes II hit’s the AC5 ammo on theirs and it explodes. We win 9 to 8. Their Awesome, whom we’ve been wailing on backs into the heavy smoke. I hop a P Hawk and Wasp by it, but we turn our fire on their Ostroc. Our Awesome destroys the LT of their Awesome, Our Black Knight’s large laser hit their Ostroc’s H, and nails the life support, and their pilot blacks out. Their Awsome falls and hit’s a PPC in their RT while their Ostroc falls with a KO’d pilot. We lose init 5 to 7. Thier Awesome rises. I moe my P Hawk to Punt. Our Hammer destroys the Merlins RA and our B Knight its RT and our Dragon its LT. Our P Hawk kicks and destroys the Awesom’s CT> Their Awesome punches and destroys its LL however. It falls and Maria Santos blacks out. With their Awesome dead, their Ostroc savaged and ko’d, their Merlin denuded, they have left a crappy Vulcan, Warhammer, Atlas and Banshee left, so they run from the battlefield and we let them. Salvage: Commando 1D RL, LL, LT, LA, H UrbanMech RA, LL Blackjack RA, LT, H, LA, LL, RL Hunchback H, RL Awesome LA, RT, RA, H, LL, RL Merlin LA Ostroc Repair: Spider RA, P Hawk LL Khalid Hussein, the Hermes II pilot, gets his 4th kill and is now elite. |
End of Contract:
We pay: 450k transport after 50% weighed in 150k armor after 50% weighed in 381,822 - salary and upkeep 425k - to repair P Hawk and Spider after 50% taken out 175k - ammo We get: 346,852 - Salary and bonus We lost: 1,234,970 We also gained a lot of mech parts and an Ostroc. Not bad at all. I like contracts where I gain materiel and Delta Company’s personal war chest can absorb that amount easily. Delta Company returns on Nov 2, 3044. |
Let’s rewind.
May 1, 3044 - The Comet is done. What parts do we have for another mech making scheme? I find another set of parts, H, LT, RT, LA, LA, RL and LL of Locust, Wasp and Stinger parts and we will make a third Comet. Contracts: Dracs: Pirate Hunting Free RR: Security Dracs: Obj Raid on…Fed Com FedCom: O Raid on…Caps again? Corporation for garrison Several contracts to look into. No to 2, 3, and 5. 1 and 4, however, are possible. The Fed Com wants to hit Repulse, which is waaaay away from us, on the rim of the periphery. What would the Fed Com want to hit there? The Drac contract is a private one of the side from a Duke having pirate problem and he wants to keep his own troops home while we go hunting. Alright. Who to send? How about Cinq. Cinq Company’s Contract to smash Pirates: Salvage: Full Salary: x3.7, 1.2, 1.2 Command: Indy Remuneration: Yes Length: 3 months Support: Battle Loss 50% Transport: 25% 5% Salary Bonus We arrive on Suianheer on Sept 19, 3044. I’ll keep Defender company here for now, just in case. Aleph Company - Back on July 21, 3044 Phaeton Company - Arrive back Aug 30, 3044 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Returns Nov 2, 3044 Cinq Company - Arrives Sept 19, 3044 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Back on Nov 1, 3044 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. |
May 17, 3044 - We are alerted to the presence of tanks of an unknown nature racing towards Kressly Warworks. We order our current garrison forces three, tanks, to hold, while Ted orders Defender Company to go smash.
30 minutes later, the tank forces run away. However, a company of unknown mechs appears on our screen and it is about to hit our complex. Ted had already placed some MechWarriors on alerts, and now he moves out with all unassigned MechWarriors. Here are our troops for this battle alone: Ted Izumo, elite+, Stalker We have ten other MW. I’m assigning the following mechs: Orion Warhammer Awesome Comet Thunderbolt Merlin Battlemaster Charger 1A1 Commando Striker We go heavy since we hold the defensive ground and we don’t have many good scout units. Green pilots in Commando, Striker, Charger and Merlin. Elites everywhere else. Raiders: Victor Centurion Dervish Jenner Locust 1E Griffin Goliath Grasshopper Enforcer Phoenix Hawk Marauder 5R (with 24 heat sinks, three large lasers, 2 mediums) low-tech Thug There are, generally, some good mechs here. Yeah, the Goliath and Grasshopper might be a bit underwhelming, but they have serviceable weapons. The Marauder, Thug, Enforcer, P Hawk, Griffin, Centurion, Victor, Jenner, Dervish are all solid mechs. The Locust 1E is the best variant of the Locust, easily (two medium lasers, 2 lights). Not a bad force at all. All veteran, by the way. They have 12 mechs, all vet. We have 11 mechs with 4 green and 7 elite. The BV is almost dead even. This may be a battle we lose, badly. Ted has ordered the cadets to assemble in mechs, so if he needs too, he can order them out of the complex and to whatever we need. They are all considered green or worse. Here is their Thug. Popular during the Star League, this 80 ton assault mech has two PPCs and 2 SRM4s, with 19 heat sinks, 4/6 movement and almost max armor. It’s not a bad mech at all.  |
We are in the middle of a small plateau. They are all around us.
We lose init 7 to 10. They start in three of the four corners. That gives me an angle to turn my back too - not smart. I move our Warhammer to where it can punt their P Hawk. Comet jumps to Punt a Jenner. Their Thug and my Hammer both fall after taking some damage. That sucks cause now my hammer can’t kick. Our Stalker misses a kick 5 on their Dervish, Our Comet only connects with the Jenner’s CT. Not a good turn for us. We win 8 to 4. Our Hammer took a lot of damage last turn. Wow. Looks like he lot half of his armor. Our Striker in their Grasshopper’s rear. Charger in Goliath rear. We stand up the Warhammer. T Bolt Punt P Hawk. Orion with a MAD punt chance. Let’s hope, with two punt chances and two rear attack chances that some goes down this turn. Their Thug arises. Our Stalker destroys the LA on their Jenner. Their MAD hit’s a leg actuator on our ’Hammer. The Dervish hit’s a foot. Our Charger falls but our Wahmmer manages to keep upright. Our Orion kicks and destroys the RT of their Marauder. Our T Bolt kicks the CT of their P Hawk and this a gyro and engine each onc.e It falls and their pilot blacks out. Again, I miss good kicks like the Battlemaster missing a 4 and our Stalker getting a glacing blow with a 3. We lose init 4 to 5. We eject our Hammer since it can barely move and it is red everywhere but its head and internal in FIVE locations. It disturbs me that they were able to so effectively take out a good mech like that so quickly, but they are better able to triangulate their fire than I can. Commando in the Centurion’s rear. Merlin in the Locust’s. We stand the Charger up and move it behind their Griffin. Striker two spaces behind their Enforcer. I leave my T Bolt behind to solo the wounded MAD while my Orion is ordered to move to the group of mechs around the Charger and Striker. I am also hopping my Comet over to help. Our Awesome hits the hip and lower leg on their Thug. Our BattleMAster hit’s a foot on their Centurion. Our Charger and their Thug fall. Our T Bolt kicks and hits their MAD’s gyro. It remains standing. Their P Hawk pilot awakens. We win 10 to 2. Their P Hawk stands. Their Marauder falls. We have to eject the Charger. Like our Warhammer, it was also savaged. Comet behind Dervish. Our Stalker carves off the LL on their Jenner. Their Jenner, Centurion and Thug all fall, and their Thug destroys its LA. Ted kicks and destroys the Jenner. Our Striker misses a kick and falls. We win init 11 to 3. They stand up their Thug and Centurion. Our Striker fails to stand after failing to roll a 6 three times. Ouch. Their Victor hit’s a foot on my Awesome. Ted hits LRM10 and PPC on their Goliath. Our Awesoem find the Thugs’s SRM ammo and it goes up. The pilot of the Awesome is Marcus Bochelli. Our T Bolt destroys the RT of their Locust, and then hits its gyro once. Our Awesome tumbles. Their Victor kicks and destroys our Awesome’s RT> Their Centurion destroys our Commando’s RA. Our Comet kicks their Dervish’s H, but it doesn’t go internal. We win 9 to 2. I am forced to eject our Awesome. Our Striker stands. Orion behind their G Hopper. Comet behind their Griffin. Their MAD tries to stand, falls, and destroys its gyro. Dead MAD. Their Victor hits our Commando’s hip. It falls. This is crazy. You cannot believe how many attacks I have plugged into their Goliath, P Hawk, Centurion, and all of these guys are not dying. I am rolling incredibly unlucky on my to hit rolls and damage is getting really spread out. We kick the Enforer, it falls and edstroys its LL. Despite numerous chane to punch heads, open rear critical areas, and almost destroyed legs - not a single one hit. With that, Ted calls us off. This is the first time forever that we have actually lost on the field of battle. Their remaining mehc move on towards our complex. Salvage: MAD 5R 2 gyro hits, 1 engine hit, missing RT, Jenner missing RT, LL missing engine, gyro fixed Locust RA. Repair. Awesome RT Commando RA Ted Izumo now has tactical genius. About 60 tons of armor because they savaged us so badly. I mean, this wasn;t even close. |
Price:
2.6 mill to fix and repair and rearm everyone, including the salvage. Ted summons the cadets. They are in every mech that isn’t rare or LosTech - 19 mechs are rolling towards the forces we just hammered. They don’t know these are green or worse pilots, so they decide to retreat. In the Jenner cockpit we find some information about the BattleMaster 2C. It appears they were sent to get it. I don’t know by who: Corporation - Wants a highly valuable commodity that is more portable than ore. Think Tank - Wants it to have for research Rival Merc Company - Score to settle House Kurita, Liao, Marik - For the materiel, or for research Another Academy - Wants it for teaching theirs All of these make sense. They failed, but they beat us, and Ted is not pleased. |
May 21, 3044: Ted files the following analysis of battle:
The mechs we chose were not the reason we lost. We had four real assaults and another assault subbing for a scout mech. We had some seriously good heavy mechs in Thunderbolt, Orion and Warhammer. The Commando sports a powerful weapon’s suite and the Comet was solid. The Merlin was okay. The mechs chosen were not the issue. Neither was us being down by one mech. We are a merc group that specializes in company v company combat, and rarely loses. We regularly fight against superior numbers and 11 v 12 was not significant. Neither was the experience level of the pilots the issue. Despite having four green pilots, we had seven elites. Those elites were in the best seven mechs we had, limiting the pain of the 4 green pilots. Seven elites should have really ruled. What was the cause of our loss? Ted contributes it to the following: 1). The beginning formation of beginning in the middle allowed them to concentrate fire on our mechs, but left us unable to do so unless we exposed our rear. 2). Their company, although not particularly experienced or heavy, was a well suited company. 3 assaults, 2 heavies, 5 mediums, 2 lights. This is not a very heavy company. However, the mechs were well suited to each other. There was a good assortment of scouts, harassers, long range combatants and up close mechs. They used each well. 3). The area we fought in was not conducive to our mechs. Sure, we’ve won in lots of places, but there are some types of terrain we are better in fighting than others. This map had only a handful of trees and none in good fighting areas. The slopes were just enough to prevent moving about quickly while low enough to allow long range sniping. The result was a bad map. As such, the combination of formation, a well rounded opponent and a poor terrain for defense led us to lose. |
June 1, 3044 - No longer content with the loss, Ted decides to spend $$ to upgrade our garrison mechs with existing variants that will cost minor money and time because they are already known.
Locusts are now Locust 1E. This is the best variant. Still not great, but okay. Hermes II to the 2M variant with a bunch of lasers and no AC5. Stinger 3G with more armor and 2 medium lasers Jenner to JR7-F which I love Striker to the 2S with an AC10 and PPC and medium lasers instead of AC5, PPC, large laser and medium lasers. It never had the heat sinks for the other others, so let’s slide to the AC10 one. This will take about a month for all of the changes and a few hundred thousand. |
Alright, let’s do Cinq Company’s Pirate Smash
Sept 19, 3044 - We arrive at Suianheer System. There are have been a recent slate of raids by a band of pirates in the periphery. Oct 2, 3044 - After arriving on planet and setting up anticipation of another raid by the pirates, a regiment of Dragon troops arrives in system at the nadir jump point and waits to recharge before jumping back out. Oct 5, 3044 - The Pirate arrive at a jump point just two days away from the Suianheer planet. DropShips detach and race for the planet. Seeing this, the Dragon forces, who do not know about our presence, send their own DropShips and fighters to the pirate point. The Duke cannot reveal our presence, since the Combine has a Death to all Mercenaries edict right now. Therefore, we cannot go out to contest the presence of the pirates. Oct 7, 3044 - The pirates land outside an industrial area lightly guarded and make off with a lot of ore. Oct 8, 3044 - After the pirates have blasted off, the Dragon forces arrive at the Pirate Point and attack and capture the JumpShip. With no where to go, and the planet’s AeroSpace assets clamping down, the pirates have no choice but to be either blown up in space, or to surrender. They surrender. Oct 11, 3044 - The Duke agrees to pay our contract, but we protest. Seeing combat was part of the deal, and our salvage was supposed to be part of the compensation. If he had just allowed us to fight the pirates on planet, we could have nailed them, but we were held back. Since they held us back, they should pay us extra to compensate our time and travel. The Duke disagrees. We point out that we can take the contract, quite publicly, in front of the Mercenary Commission Review Board and complain quite loudly. The Duke agrees to relent, and makes an offer he suspects will make us happy. He tries to trick us. He offers us a Daboku. This 3038 LosTech mech was the second such mech designed in the Inner Sphere. The reason that it is way back here is that it was discovered to have several design flaws due to an improper understanding of the new technology. Therefore, they have not been made in several years, and the few that remain have been moved far away to places like here. The Duke thinks we will consider it a rich payment, but instead he knows he is unloading on us a ticking time bomb he doesn’t want to have to give to one of his few MechWarriors. Of course, we know the Daboku’s issues, we have fought against them. Still, this mech is going to cease to exist quite soon, and will quickly be quite rare, despite the flaws. We happily accept. We lost about 1.345 mill on the contract. We will arrive back on Feb 2, 3045. Let’s rewind back to… |
Aug 1, 3044 - Aleph Company just got back. Let’s send out Defender Company on a contract.
FedCom - Garrison Dracs - Garrison. Really? Independent Planet in the Periphery - Garrison Corporation - Extraction Who and where? It’s a company in the Capellan Confederation that needs us to hit a St. Ives Compact world and that is not something we do. We never work for great houses against the little guys - the Compact or the FRR. In Liao the companies are state sponsored. Sept 1, 3044 - Phaeton company is back too. Our Comet is done. What’s next for our techs? I have some weird body parts. I have five Whitworth left arms and four Atlas right arms but no other Atlas parts. We are creating a new mech based on a Stalker H, LT, RT, RA, LA and RL The Attila, ATA-1A: 85 tons, 3/5 movement, 22 heat sinks, maximum 16.5 tons of armor, Hand actuators are placed back on. 2 PPCs, 7 Medium Lasers, 2 SRM6s. Heat Sinks in the legs. Nothing in the arms. Medium Lasers in head and center torso. Each torso is full with identical configuration - 1 PPC, 2 lasers, SRM6, in ton of ammo, 4 heat sinks. Now, let’s look at the Attila. This assault mech is designed to use PPCs at range before closing and tearing into mechs with a cavalcade of lasers and missiles. The two PPCs and running or walking will not take you overheat, with running and both PPCs putting you at 22 heat, which is exactly what you can disperse. Once you close, you slide off the PPCs and into the close range weapons. 7 Medium Lasers, and 2 SRM6s will take you overheat. The Lasers make 21 and the SRMs 8, so you will go 6 overheat. Ideally, you use all 7 lasers for a turn or two until you made some holes, then a mix of lasers and SRMs to find the holes. The PPCs help make holes too. Heat sinks are in the legs so you can disperse extra heat when standing in water. Nothing in the arms so if one gets blown off, the mech is still fine and it is free to punch. You’ll note that my mech names are very similar to actual Inner Sphere mech names, and that’s one reason why I did that classification project. The only assault mechs with higher Battle Values - Atlas, one highly unusual variant of the BattleMaster, low-tech Highlander, Imp, King Crab, Marauder II. That’s a bunch of 100 ton mechs 15 tons heavier, a Highlander that’s 5 tons heavier, and a BM with jump jets (JJ really jumps your BV up). I am very comfortable with the Attila. It will take us four months and some cash to do: Engine: 1,445,000 Gyro: 900,000 Sections and Armor: 650,000 Weapons: 310,000 Total: 3,305,000 |
Alright, let’s do some contracts:
ComStar: Retainer? FedCom: Obj Raid on….Caps. World: Krin. 7 jumps away - one jump away from capital Sian. Marian Hegemony in the Periphery: Obj Raid - Marian is a lousy employer. Nope. Free Worlds League Corporation: Security. Let’s start with the Security contract: Lengkong, a planet 14 jumps away near the edge of Marik space. In a few months, the company CEO will declare that his third son, instead of his first, will be the heir of the company, and that may make some serious waves. Just in case it turns violent, they want a company of our mechs there to put on a show of force. The Obj Raid on Krin is simply to hit their world with Marik colors on our mech, and then destroy a small military base on an island, and then leave. Their intel says there is just one company of mechs, and there is an unguarded drop port right there that we can land out, jump out, destroy them, grab salvage, and be in and out in a day. Hopefully. We will send Defender on the Make Marik Look Bad contract and Phaeton on the one to Marik space. Defender ‘s contract. Salvage: Full Command: Indy Remuneration; Nope Salary: x3.7, x1.6, x1.4 Support: 50% Battle Loss Transport; 50% Length 1 motnh Bonus 12.5% We will arrive on Oct 23, 3044 Phaeton’s Contract: Salvage: Shared Salary: x4, x1.3, x1.2 Support: 50% Battle Loss Command: House Remuneration: Nope Transport: 50% Length: 4 months 45% Bonus They will arrive on Dec 24, 3044. |
Let’s do Phaeton’s Contract First:
Dec 24, 3044 - We land on Lengkong, just a week before the announcement is made. Jan 1, 3045 - The announcement is made with the new year that the CEO’s heir will be his third born. He had never announced his heir previously, but people had always assumed it would be his firstborn. Dave, his firstborn, is very gregarious and nice and everybody likes him, but he has a cruel streak, loves power, and is not the most competent scion of the family. However, the third born, Steve, is competent, quiet, and aloof, but does not attract the affection of others easily. Neither are perfect choices, but the CEO wants someone not cruel and competent over someone who might be good with contracts and PR and such. Jan 5, 3045 - There has been a lot of grousing by associates of Dave. He freely gives of his wealth, although he will be quite mean to employees that complain. He wants to be liked, and desires power, and he is liked generally, and thus there are many who would prefer to see someone like Dave in the seat rather than Steve. Jan 15, 3045 - Protests begin outside the corporate headquarters. We are ordered to station a lance in the courtyard in front of the HQ at all times to make sure there is not any damage done. Our mechs with machine guns are fitted with rubber bullets while those with SRMs are given tear gas canisters to fire instead. Jan 27, 3045 - The protests get worse and worse as more and more people gather, more than the courtyard can hold. We are ordered to fire tear gas on the crowd from our Javelin and Jenner and the rubber bullets from our P Hawk. Sgt Mary McDonnell, in the Jenner, radios back for clarification, and gets the same order back. They are ordering us to fire on civilians when they have not attacked the company, they are just really packed in tightly. Sgt. Mary McDonnell radios Lt. Martin Fitzgerald for orders. He tells everyone in Phaeton Company to suit up and get their gear into their mechs as soon as possible. Lt Fitzgerald belays the order and commands McDonnell to not attack unless Fitzgerald gives the order himself. She agrees. |
Immediately one of the higher ups gets on the radio and is pissed off. He orders us to fire again.
Lt. Fitzgerald points out the following two things, while opening up the channel for all to hear, including the locals. 1) We are contracted for a security duty contract, not a riot duty one. We are to protect the HQ from attackers. The protestors are not attacking the HQ, therefore attacking them does not fall under the purview of our contract. 2) Attacking civilians is a violation of the Ares Convention unless they are attacking you, and only then you are to use the minimum force necessary. Going in guns blazing with mechs and their weapons is not the minimum force, and they are not attacking, therefore, attacking them first is a violation of the Ares Convention, and using mechs against would be a violation, even if they attacked first. Instead, infantry, the police, and other forces should be used first. Obviously, this corporate blowhard doesn’t know anything about war, because he starts calling us cowards and will sue us for every M Bill we have and yadda yadda. Our mechs are warmed up and everybody is in them. We are told again to fire on the crowd, or else we are in violation of our contract, will be deemed rogue, and will be attacked ourselves. Lt. Fitzgerald was afraid it would come to that, and that is why, unknown to the blowhard, he was broadcasting the entire conversation. Within a minute, a call comes in from the planetary governor’s office. We take it. It informs us that it is taking over our contract from the company, because they are being silly. Our new contract, with the same exact terms, is to protect the citizens form the company in case it wants to use infantry or vehicles against them. Within an hour, the predictable becomes fact. The company has mobilized their full two companies of tanks and moved them in. We follow the governor’s lead and attack the 24 tanks. |
We don’t think that they will allow too many losses before running. They are regular tank pilots.
We win init 8 to 5. I move our forces cautiously. Our Jav destroys a Harasser Missile Platform. Our Zeus disables a Saladin. Pegasus is immobile. We lose 5 to 10. A J Edger and Harasser are knocked immobile. Their Shrek gets lucky and hit’s an 11 on our Jenner and ingites the ammo and it goes up. Our Rifleman destroys their LRM Carrier. We lose init 4 to 6. We immobilize a Drillson. That means there are currently 4 immobile tanks - Drillson, J Edgar, Pegasus, Harasser. Our Zeus destroys a building that was hiding two tanks. Their Ontos gets a through armor critical on our Zeus, hits ammo, and it explodes. We knock a Condor Immobile. Our Warhammer kicks a Scimitar immobile. We win init 8 to 7. Our T Bolt launches its weapons and destroys the LRM Striker Light Tank. It is not recoverable. We lose init 6 to 7. Our Cat destroys their Condor. Our Warhammer gets a PPC and medium laser hit. We kill the crew in one of their Ontos. We win 4 to 3. Our Warhammer skids and falls and opens up its CT hitting its gyro once. Ick. It then destroys a building one of their tanks is hiding it with its weapons. Our Griffin destroys a Drillson. Our Catapult destroys another Ontos. With so many of their tank destroyed or immobile, the rest run away. We lost two mechs - ouch. However, we gain 13 tanks. We have shared salvage on this contract, so we’ll walk way with some cash and tanks. Our Catapult Pilot - Eleanor Bates, is now a veteran. Salvage: Harasser Missile Platformx2 Saladin LRM Carrier Condor x2 Scimitar Drillsonx2 J Edgar Pegasus Ontosx2 LRM15 Lost Jenner, Zeus Jenner RA, H Zeus, RA, LA, LT |
Feb 1, 3045 - The company’s military has been trounced, and the demonstrations are going along nicely.
April 24, 3045 - Our contract ends without further issue: We Spent: 538,950 - Salary and upkeep 270,000 - Armor 245,000 - Ammo 1.4 mill - Transport We get: 1,192,164 - Salary + Bonus 700,000 - Transport 135,000 - Armor 4,350,000 - Loss of Zeus and Jenner Shared Salvage: Salvage: Shared Harasser Missile Platformx2 - 1,120,000 Saladin - 911,000 LRM Carrier - 1,872.000 Condor x2 - 1,425,000 Scimitar - 727,000 Drillsonx2 - 5,000,000 J Edgar - 729,000 Pegasus - 841,000 Ontosx2 - 4,532,000 LRM15 - 175,000 Total: 17,332,000 Shared Value: 8,666,000 I take: Ontos x2 LRM Carrier Saladin Scimitar LRM15 Total Money Made: 12,589,214 We will arrive back home on Aug 11, 3045. At that point, we will be adding the following mechs to Phaeton Company: Atlas, Comet Mary McDonnell and Martin Fitzgerald are awarded the Red Badge for their application of ethics and the Ares Convention to avoid firing on non-combatants |
Rewind….
Defender Company’s Contract is up next. Oct 23, 3044 - We arrive on Krin at the exact place we were told to land. We immediately disembark, with the hope that the defender will scramble and hit us. Nothing on our scopes. We move towards the base we were supposed to hit, but it has been abandoned. A quick search shows it hasn’t been used in about a year. We slice into with weapons anyway. We take some pictures of its ruined state, hop back into the DropShip and blast off. Defender ‘s contract. Salvage: Full Command: Indy Remuneration; Nope Salary: x3.7, x1.6, x1.4 Support: 50% Battle Loss Transport; 50% Length 1 motnh Bonus 12.5% We lost 630k on the contract We arrive back on Jan 2, 3045. |
Back to Sept 3044:
Aleph Company - Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Returns Nov 2, 3044 Cinq Company - Returns on Feb 2, 3045 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Jan 2, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Back on Nov 1, 3044 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Oct 1, 3044 - Ted organizes the home tank defense (not including the tanks we get from the Phaeton Contract). Here is what we have at home: Warrior Attack VTOL 2 Ferret Light Scout VTOL 3 Savannah Master Behemoth Assault Tank 3 Harasser Missile Platform 2 Ontos Heavy Tank Demolisher Assault Tank Pegasus Scout Tank LRM Carrier SRM Carrier AC2 Carrier 3 Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun 3 Goblin Medium Tank J Edgar Hovertank Scorpion Light Tank Von Luckner Bulldog Medium Tank Leviathan Belfry Devastator Patton SRM6 Truck That’s 31 vehicles. We also have four infantry squads. The first 6 and the last vehicle should not be a part of our normal T&O. That leaves 24 tanks exactly - or a full two companies of tanks. When the Vehicle Company gets back in less than a year, we are going to convert it to a battalion. |
Nov 1, 3044 - Let see if we can find a contract for Aleph Company.
Free Rasalhague Republic - Pirate Hunting ComStar - Defensive Campaign Free Worlds League - Security FedCom - Recon Raid No garrisons this month! The only company I got to go out with is Aleph. Nah, Ted, bends the normal rules and will send out newly returned Delta Company for some lovin’. Alright: We are sent to New Caledonia, where a small group of pirates have been hitting from the many Periphery worlds nearby. It is 16 jumps away. Aleph Company will arrive on March 29, 3045. Contract: Salvage: Full Command: Indy Remuneration: No Salary: x4, x1.3, x1.2 Transport: 50% Length: 2 months Support: Battle-Loss 50% 37.5% Bonus Delta Company wants to drop some metal on the FWL contract perhaps, so let’s get some info on that. We learn that there have been rumblings on some of the former Andurien worlds and we are asked with…..No that’s NOT going to happen. How about the Recon Raid by the FedCom? The FedCom wants a small company to drop quietly into the Drac world of Saffel, which was taken by them in the war of 3039. Most of the FedCom effort has been in slowing down Fomalhaut and Quentin build ups, and very little has been placed on Saffel. There are few FedCom folks left as a result. We are to drop in quietly, do some reconnaissance to get the FedCom some info without revealing our military presence, and then perhaps be signed by one or more contracts to hit targets of opportunity on Saffel. We will arrive on Saffel, which is 34 light years away, in two jumps. We will jump to Northwind, and thence to Saffel. We can be in their system and on planet by Nov 22. Contract: Salvage: Full Command: Liaison Remuneration: Nope Length: 1 month Support: 50% Battle loss Salary: x3.7, x1.4, x1.6 Transport: Full 35% Bonus |
Nov 22, 3044 - We land in the midst of Iwanji, the largest city on the planet and the largest spaceport. It lies on the southern cost of Dovejin, the northern continent. The planet is largely boreal and arctic, with only some warmth around the center. There is just enough agriculture there to feed the 1.3 billion people on planet. The rest of the planet works on exporting a modest amount of metals.
We have brought the Boomerang Spotter Plane plus two infantry platoons. Nov 24, 3044 - We have finished a quick scout of Iwanji, which was already known. The rest of the planet is our concern. Due to its proximity to the border and its status as a recently captured planet, a Ghost regiment is stationed here, with its great equipment and such. However, it has to defend the entire planet, along with militia. We leave Iwanji and travel along Dovejin’s coast to one of the many boreal forests on the planet. Nov 27, 3044 - Just like intel suspected, our infantry scout out a small military base in the south eastern corner of the continent. The trees are cleared out here. There’s nothing else here. Dec 2, 3044 - There are many mechs and tanks in the mining areas, and one has to step back and ask why. Sure, this is the only major economic export of Saffel, but it’s not worth that much money. I mean, two jumps away is Zollikofen, which has tons of minerals and metals. Why raid here? Sure, have some defenses, but this seems like overkill. Especially for a planet recently conquered, one would think the populace needs a greater military presence right now. So, it’s odd. Dec 10, 3044 - We find one mine strangely undefended. Why would the normal mines have extra defenders, and then this one seem undefended? This is really weird. Our liaison marks it as a spot to explore further. Dec 15, 3044 - We find another military station, about 50 klicks from the undefended mine. It’s a new complex, and looks no older than one or two years. Perhaps its proximity allows the Dragon to relax their gasp a bit, but our scouts show just two companies of mechs from the ghosts here for the entire area. Dec 22, 3044 - Our Recon Raid has finished, and we are contracted for an Objective Raid on the mine. We accept. Our DropShip with materiel moves to an industrial center near the mine. Dec 25, 3044 - We quietly observe the mine for a day, and still find nothing. Dec 26, 3044 - Our DropShip leaves as if it is done, but then suddenly makes a quick move for the mine area to drop us off. Their forces note this, and a company of Ghosts are dispatched from their station to follow our trajectory. We arrive at the mine, and our infantry begin to assault the security here. Within a few minutes, everybody has surrendered and our infantry begin raiding the mine while blips show up on our sensors. The Ghosts have arrived. Here are their forces: Thug 11E - 2750 Thug Shootist 7A - 2750 mech Sentinel 3M with Ultra AC5 Wolverine 7K - A new mech being made on Marduk XL engine, 2x heat sinks, large, medium and small pulse lasers, two SRM6s. Panther Warhammer 6K Wasp 1K Awesome Spider Shadow Hawk 2K Archer 2K Quickdraw There are some hills, a few conifers, some ice, snow, and pavement. Here is their Shootist, a mech that first debuted in 2621. 70 tons of machine with 4/6 movement, 13/26 2x heat sinks, ferro armor, ER large laser, AC20, 2x medium pulse lasers, small laser, CASE for the ammo and completely full armor. Nice.  |
There are many threats here. As always, I want LosTech first, but it’s not necessary. They are all vet.
Here we go! We win init 7 to 6. We hammer their Wolverine. We are fighting around a medium sized hill and all of our mechs started on one side and all of theirs on another, so we need to meet up before blasting can occur. We lose init 8 to 11. They set the forest where my Awesome was standing on fire last turn, so I have to move it. Just minor weapons fire. We lose 6 to 9. More minor weapons exchange. Their Spider Kicks my Awesome an it falls. We win 9 to 6. Our Awesome falls, then arises. Their Shadow Hawk destroys the RA of our Hermes II. Our Awesome punches and destroys their Spider’s LL. We knock their Warhammer down after some Spider, Wasp, Hermes II and Awesome fire at it. We win 12 to 8. They stand up their Hammer and we hop our P Hawk over for a Punt chance on it. Our Awesome destroys their ‘Hammer’s LA. Their Quickdraw is hammered and falls, destroying its RA. Our P Hawk only kicks their Warhammer’s left torso, and it doesn’t fall. It does take out a Medium Laser though. We win 7 to 2. They manage to stand their one legged Spider. Spider chance to Punt Warhammer. Their Quickdraw tries to stand, falls, hits its SRM ammo and explodes. Their Warhammer slices off the Head of our Catapult, and kills elite MechWarrior Stacey Dutch. Their S Hawk destroys the LA on our Spider. Our Cat hits an engine on their Warhammer. Our Spider kicks their Warhammer in the head, but it reels, does not fall, and takes no additional damage. We win init 6 to 4. Their Awesome destroys the LL of our Wasp. Their Wolverine destroys its LT. Their Warhammer falls and destroys its CT. We lose 7 to 9. I have to leave my sniping place from my Awesome because the fire has spread here. I move my heavy forces out of their small woods in order to get firing lane son critical mechs. Their Spider falls and destroys its LT. Their Shootist destroys the Wasp’s Rl and RT. Our Black Knight destroys their Archer’s LA. Our Battlemaster hits SIX leg, foot and hip actuators on their Archer. Dang. Their Archer fall sand destroys its LL . The Archer had to roll 7 times and needed a 13 each time. Heheh. Battlemaster screwed it up. We win 8 to 7. We eject the Wasp. Their Archer does not even try to stand. The Archer is actually salvage, because one leg is destroyed and the other has all four actuator’s hit - quite rare. Our Dragon destroys the RA of their Thug. We lose round 10’s init 5 to 7. Spider with a chance for a Sentinel Punt. Our Awesomes destroys the Wolverine’s CT> It is recoverable (I rolled an 11). Their Shootist’s AC20 hit’s a PPC on our Warhammer. Our Crusader hit’s the Thug’s SRM ammo in its RT, but the CASE keeps it alive, and the RT destroyed. Our BM hits its engine and gyro once each. Their Thug tumbles. Our Banshee kicks and destroys its LA. Our Spider falls after missing a kick and being kicked by their Wasp. We win init 9 to 8. P Hawk with a chance to punt their Wasp. Their Thug pilot tries to stand, falls, and is knocked unconscious . Our Spider stands and moves into some heavy smoke. Our Banshee hit’s the Shootist’s AC20. Our Crusader destroys its LT. Our Dragon hits its gyro twice and dead walking Shootist. Our Spider kicks the Sentinel….hits…CT. doesn’t even fall. With that, they decide to leave. We have several mechs and parts to collect, plus ores from the unguarded mine. After some investigation, it appear they have an underground smelter and we get refined bars instead of pure ore. Salvage: Quickdraw LL, RL, LT Warhammer with missing gyro, missing LA Spider LA Archer 2K with missing LL and four actuators hit Wolverine 7K with damage to engine, gyro Shootist mising LT with gyrox2 Thug 11E missing RA, RT, LA Repair: Hermes II RA Catapult H Spider LA Wasp LL, LT, RL< RT Well, we lost a lot of parts for mechs, and we also lost a pilot. Sucks. Melissa Darrow’s got 4 kills. She is now a vet. The FedCom has their contract done, so we hurry up the DropShip and blast off. |
Dec 20, 3044 - Time to settle up this contract.
Salvage: Full Support: 50% Battle loss There are two contracts, the first a Recon Raid and the second nan Objective Raid, but they had the same terms. What we spent: 208,356 - Salary and Upkeep 2,050,000 - To fix my mechs 250,000 - Armor 126,000 - Ammo 4,900,000 - To fix the mechs we recovered. Most of the losses are not LosTech, but we do have some 2x HS and CASE which cost us a bunch on the open market. What we made: 883,975 - Salary and Bonus for both contracts 125,000 - Armor 1,025,000 - To fix mechs Our Total Losses: -5,500,381 We swing by Outreach on the way home. A quick recruiting brings us Zhang Tai, a new lady, elite, for the Catapult. Delta Company is now Dragoon Rating A. |
We arrive back on Jan 30, 3045.
Aleph Company - Arrive on March 29, 3045 Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Arrives back Jan 30, 3045 Cinq Company - Returns on Feb 2, 3045 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Jan 2, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Let’s fast forward and do Aleph’s contract: March 29, 3045 - We arrive in New Caledonia. The Rasalhague forces in system know where the pirates are striking from - a system called Star’s End about two jumps from here, and on everybody’s map as a haven for pirates. Nasty. There are a large number of pirates in and around Star’s End, but we don’t want to just wade in there and hammer everybody. So, instead we set a trap on New Caledonia. With the Rasalhague forces obviously out and about, we squirrel ourselves near the only industrial area of significance on the planets - its timbering interests. April 25, 3045 - An unknown JumpShip arrives in system at a pirate point. April 28, 3045 - They arrive on planet, about 20 klicks away from our position. We warm up and head out. They notice us long before we thought they would, and they begin to move quickly back towards their DropShip. Vehicles they were fighting get a chance to destroy one in the back as they flee quickly. Fighters are ordered to the DropShip as quickly as they can be scrambled. Within a few minutes, they have loaded back up. We will not reach them in time. Rasalhague sends a Leopard CV class Dropship with some AeroSpace fighters to the Pirate point. They are closer to it than the pirates, and the hope is they will arrive there first. As we reach the site, we see the final mechs board. We are just far enough away to lance some energy at them with PPCs, but it hit’s the DropShip instead, who gets really pissed off and lays down covering fire. Within fifteen minutes, the pirates have surrendered from the 6 fighters around them. Pretty much, we did nothing at all. We were supposed to hit them, we failed, and Rasalhague was able to pick up the pieces. Wow. We lost about 1.4 million on this contract. We arrive back on Sept 21, 3045. |
Let’s rewind.
Dec 1, 3044 - The first Attila is complete and we can put our techs to work on another mech. I have the following parts from a Griffin: Head Left Torso Right Torso Right Leg Left Leg Right Arm Left Arm Engine All I need: gyro, CT, and that’s it, I could build a Griffin. Or, I could use it to build a new mech. I like Griffin’s though so I drop some cash and finish a Griffin. It will be done in two months. In other news, we have some new graduates today. 7 new graduates to be precise. Here they are: Jerry Cornelius, green Radhi Bashasha, green Sláine mac Sengann, regular Esther Feinstein, regular Vera Vasquez, green Fyedora Mihailova, veteran Roza Varba, regular Time to make a new company with our people. Say hello to the newly minted Brawler Company. Anvil Lance: Lt. Talib Shadi, elite, BattleMaster Esther Feinstein, regular, Wolverine Engracia Diaz, elite, Thunderbolt Roza Varba, regular, Stalker Hammer Lance: Sgt. Kate Mallery, elite, Archer Sláine mac Sengann, regular, Awesome Colette Maigny, elite, Merlin Fyedora Mihailova, veteran, Marauder Thunder Lance: Sgt. Randa Kanagarajah, elite, Jenner JR7-F Marcus Bochelli, elite, Comet Jerry Cornelius, green, Locust 1E Vera Vasquez, green, Stinger 3G There we are. Say hello to our newest unit. |
Aleph Company - Returns on March 29, 3045
Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Arrives back Jan 30, 3045 Cinq Company - Returns on Feb 2, 3045 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Jan 2, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Brawler Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045. Dec 18, 3044 - We honor the Fall of Andurien. |
Since we just fought against our first LosTech equipped new mech with the Wolverine 7K, it’s time to talk about what the Inner Sphere is doing right now.
For centuries, the Inner Sphere has been continuing to produce the mechs that had factories not destroyed in the first two succession wars. Mechs like the Wasp, Locust, Crusader, Phoenix Hawk, Battlemaster and more were even made in many of the houses, creating a large number of them. Those mechs that had all of their factories in one of the Houses, had their mechs become the mainstay mechs of those militaries, The Vindicator and Catapult for Liao, Enforcer for Davion, Panther, Dragon and Jenner for Kurita, Zeus for Steiner, Goliath for Marik. At the beginning of the 31st century, the first brand new designs began to, very slowly, roll off the factories. The Merlin, Wolfhound, Raven, and Hatchetman showed that new designs could be made. There were numerous mechs still running around that had been made in huge numbers once, but had their factories destroyed, like the Clint, Ostscout, Ostsol, Ostroc, Scorpion, Whitworth, and more. As LosTech began to be recovered, one of the key uses was to first do field refits. These were techs for companies taking a LosTech weapon or equipment and replacing existing weapons. This was unable to do things like change the armor, internal structure, engine, and so forth. Instead, you could add double heat sinks, swap out weapons, and add equipment like ECMs or Artemis IV. The Draconis Combine was the first house to build new mechs from the LosTech, but a Hatamato-Chi was virtually identical to the old Star League era Thug, and the Daboku had some structural problems that would eventually be fixed and the mech reimagined and renamed Mauler. Over the next few years, there will be a few new LosTech designs debut - Wolf Trap, Mauler, Axman, Caesar. There will also be a few factories that had to stop building Star League era mechs, because they lost the technology, but with it regained, will once again be putting out those mechs - Hermes and Guillotine. You see, a factory puts together all of the parts, and often builds a few themselves, but they import the rest. If you lose the ability to get sevrel of the parts, even if your factory is fine, you can no longer assemble the mechs. Anyway, you can expect us to fight against mechs with field refits, new designs, and some old Star League era mechs starting anew. However, the most likely source of LosTech will be factories that built mechs for years and years, stopping their line for a bit, retooling it, and making new LosTech versions of older mechs. The example of the Wolverine 7K is a perfect example. In some cases, you’ll even see several different versions of the same mech because it is in different houses. In the old world, the basic design of mechs was built, and various houses might incorporate field refits, but now variants are going to become more popular, because construction materials like MASC and XP engines are being used. The problem with this is the first group of mechs are simply going to try to fix problems mechs had in the previous incarnation, and often ,they will go way overboard to do so. For example, let’s take the BattleMaster 3M. This mech will have a ERPPC, SRM 6s, and 4 medium lasers. If you fired everything, you would make 32 heat. They made the BattleMaster’s heat sinks double. So it dissipates 18/36 heat. You Don’t make 36 heat though, so why the extra heat sinks? Another example is the Awesome. This one with rock 3x ER PPC and run 20/40 heat sinks, plus have some short range weaponry. So, while the first Awesome went just 2 overheat when you fired all three PPCs, this one goes 5 overheat when you do. The Hunchback pulls off a ton of ammo for the AC20 for CASE and to upgrade the small laser to a small pulse laser. Now it has 5 shots instead of 10 - That’s stupid. The Grasshopper is given 2 tons of ammo for one SRM2 Streak. Each ton has 50 shots, you would never fire 100 shots from anything, certainly not a streak that only uses ammo when it locks on and not when you miss. They’ll start doing stupid things like put Artemis IV on LRM5s and have a laughable One Shot SRM4 launcher on the Quickshot. In other words, they don’t understand how to make mechs with LosTech yet. Now, there will be a few deigns coming out soon that either by luck or by design will actually be good. However, be prepared for some awkward mechs in the first round of these new mechs. After that, once the Inner Sphere shakes out the issues, it will start making good LosTech mechs in the early 3050s, but it is going to take some time. A well designed mech, without any LosTech, can beat a mech of the same weight with LosTech every time, if it’s not equally well designed. |
Jan 1, 3045 - 9 new enrollees in the Essex Training Academy.
3rd Year: 11 2nd Year: 7 1st Year: 9 Time for contracts, and Defender is back in system, so we can go ahead send them and/or Brawler Company. Drac: Security FedCom: Cadre Free Worlds League: Retainer St. Ives Compact: Object Raid on…Caps. Since Tethys so rarely gets to do contracts, I decide to send it on the Cadre Contract to…Sarpsborg. 7 jumps away. Contract: Length: 3 months Salvage: Full Command: House Support: 50% Straight Support Salary: x3.4, 0.8, 1.4 Remuneration: Nope Transport: 50% Tethys will arrive on March 28, 3045. They will come back on July 25, 3045. We will have lost 600k |
Next up is Defender Company to do the Objective Raid on Holloway. 12 jumps away. Contract:
Salvage: Shared Salary: x3.7, x1.6, x1.2 Remuneration: Nope Transport: 50% Command: Indy Support: 50% Battle Loss Length: 1 month 27.5% Bonus We will arrive on May 10, 3045. Let’s do the contract. May 10, 3045 - We arrive at Holloway. The brother of crazy Romano Liao, Tormano Liao, runs a covert organization out of Davion space called Free Capella which wants to replace Romano with himself. It agitates on many worlds, and the Compact gives it a lot of tacit and logistical support. Hence, us. Holloway is one of the worlds with the strongest support for the Free Capella movement. However, a company of Liao mechs have become very suppressive of citizens, and trying to root out the Free Capella sympathizers. They are destroying farms, houses, families and more in a brutal suppression. The St. Ives Compact wants us to go in there and destroy them. They can’t send their own forces, so it has to be mercenary. May 19, 3045 - Defender Company has located the Cap company in the Holloway equivalent of their great plains. We decide to attack them here, where they are away from a lot of people, but it’s out in the open, with little room for ambush, to hide, or to run away to. Here are the Caps: Victor Stinger Firestarter Phoenix Hawk UrbanMech 60L (with an AC20 and one ton of ammo) Stalker Longbow 7Q Cicada JagerMech JM6-A (with the 2x LRM15s) Cataphract 1X Locust BattleMaster Wow, hello heavy metal. Victor, Stalker, Longbow, BattleMaster all assaults. Cataphract, JagerMech are both heavies. Then you have a light mech with an AC20. The Cicada is a 40 ton mech with the weapons and armor and speed of a lighter mech. It moves 8/12, has just 2 medium lasers and a smaller laser, and has just 4 tons of armor. What is it good at? Charging. It will deal an incredible amount of damage on a successful charge, and twice as much as a 20 ton mech.  |
Their pilots are all regular. The only thing on the map are a few rocks here and there, and that’s it. No buildings, no water, no trees, no hills, no elevation, no roads, no bridges, no ice, no snow, no pavement, nothing but a few hexes with rocks in them.
This will probably end quickly. We win init 9 to 6. Just an exchange of long range weapons. We win 9 to 3. We focus a lot of weapons in their BattleMaster and them on ours. Theirs falls, ours does not. We lose 6 to 7. Orion in their Cataphract’s rear. Their Battlemaster rises. Our Archer hits their BM’s PPC. Our Orion is hit in the head twice, but still has some external armor. Our Griffin destroys their BM’s RA. Our Firestarter gets a Limb Blown Off crit for its LA> Their BM fals when ours kicks it. Our BM took a lot of damage, still standing fine. We win init 10 to 5. Their Cicada and Locust are trying to outflank us. Hermes II behind their Locust, to keep them busy and off our backs, literally. Our BM is down to about 60% of his starting armor and our Orion down to 80%, while their BM is down to 15%, Victor down to 60% and Cataphract down to 75%. Pretty good exchanges, I’d say. Their BM rises again. Grasshopper in the rear of their Cataphract. Our P Hawk destroys the LT of their Victor. Our Firestarter hits its AC20. Our Hermes II kicks their Locust and it falls. We win init 8 to 6. Their Locust stands up and runs over behind our Whitworth and Archer. We will end this. I order my Hermes II to charge their Locust from the rear. P Hawk in their Cataphract’s rear arc. Our P Hawk destroys the Cat’s LL. Our Stinger hit’s the SRM ammo on their BM and blows it up - Boom! Our Griffin takes out their Victor’s CT> Their Cataphract hits its gyro when it tumbles. Our Archers kicks and destroys the LL on their Locust. Then Our Hermes II charges and hits it. It destroys the Locusts CT, LA and RT> We lose init 4 to 5. After killing three of their mechs in one round, we now have a numbers advantage that I intend to use from here on out. Their Cataphract fails to stand. Our G Hopper hits an Lrm20 on their Longbow. We win 4 to 3. Our Javelin ignites their Longbow’s LRM5 ammo and it goes up. Our Hunchy’s :LA is destroyed. Their JagerMech falls. Our Firestarter kicks and destroys the ammo for their JagerMech and it explodes. The engine goes up and our mechs nearby take some damage. The Stinger took 26 and its CT is destroyed. The Firestarter falls. Our Jav kicks and knocks down their Stinger. And with that they concede. Their Urbie was out of ammo, Stalker has taken some damage, and that just left some minor scout mechs left. We took out all of their heavy metal except the Stalker which was on its way out. Salvage: BattleMaster LA, RL, H Victor LA, H, LL, RL, RA, RT Locust RL, H, RA, LT Longbow RT, LL, H JagerMech H Cataphract with 2x gyro hits, missing LL Ours - Stinger H, RT, LT, LA, RA, LL, RL Repair: Hunchback LA We had a pilot notch their 4th kill - Jussi Johansson, of the Hermes II gains an edge. |
Contract Stuff:
What we Spent: 731,160 - Salary and upkeep 600,000 - Transport after 50% taken off 330,000 - Armor 210,000 - Ammo 445,000 - Fix Hunch 800,000 - Fix Stinger What we Get: 434,764 - Salary and bonus 165,000 - Armor 622,500 - To fix Hunchy and Stinger We use the dead Stinger as an excuse to rebuild a Comet for the mech unit. |
Shared Salvage time:
Only one question - Are there enough parts to allow me to take the Cataphract? Parts: BattleMaster LA, RL, H - 1,800,000 Victor LA, H, LL, RL, RA, RT - 2,900,000 Locust RL, H, RA, LT - 650,000 Longbow RT, LL, H - 1,655,000 JagerMech H - 750,000 Cataphract: We fix the gyro. 5.2 mill Total Salvage Value: 12,955,000 Shared Salvage: 6,477,500 We take the Cataphract and some pieces. 3,783,104 - How much we make after fixing the Cataphract We arrive back at EE on Oct 12, 3045 |
Okay, let’s rewind back….
February 1, 3045 - Delta is back, Cinq is back in system and arrives in a day. We also have Brawler we can send out. Let’s look at contracts! FedCom: Obj Raid on Dracs. FedCom: Obj Raid on Dracs FedCom: Cadre FedCom: Obj Raid on Dracs Outworlds Alliance: Garrison Wow, the FedCom really wants to raid the Dracs! Let’s see what we gots. Targets for the three contracts: Kaus Australis, one of three systems in the Kaus constellation that are colonized (Kaus Media and Kaus Borealis are the others). 5 jumps away. One way out there in boondock land. Vega - 6 jumps away, right near Kaus Australis just one jump away. Let’s send two companies for these contracts, one to each system. Brawler: Salvage: Shared Salary: x3.4, x1.6, x1.4 Remuneration: No Command: Indy Support: 50% Battle Loss Transport: 50% Length: 2 months 5% Bonus Going to Kaus Australis Cinq: Salvage: Full Salary: x3.7, 1.6, 1.4 Command: Liaison Length: 1 month Remuneration: nope Transport: 50% Support: 50% Battle Loss 20% Bonus Going to Vega We will use the same transport to Kaus Australis, and then Cinq will split off and go one more jump. We can arrive at Kaus Australis on April 9, and April 14 for Vega (It takes a long time to get from the jump point to planet in the Kaus Australis system). Where is the Cadre assignment? If it’s nearby, perhaps I’ll send out Delta for a quick assignment. It’s about 14 jumps away. Nope. That’s okay though, Ted prefers a mech company at home at all times. |
Aleph Company - Returns on March 29, 3045
Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Arrive on April 14. Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Oct 12, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Returns on July 25, 3045 Brawler Company - Arrive on Apr 9 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045 Let’s do our Vega and Kaus Australis raids. April 9, 3045 - Brawler Company arrives on the industrial world of Kaus Australis. It is a fair distance from the star in this system and it does have some minor germanium deposits which put it on the map. The easy ones were taken a long time ago, and only a few hard to get at mines are left. The planet has less than a million people living on it. Kaus Media buys its ores and mineral output while Kaus Australis buys their food. It’s a very symbiotic relationship. Because the world has only some minor (these days) mines and a small number of people, it does not warrant major garrisons, since it is both a low priority world for invasion and lessened need for internal security. There are just a battalion of Dracs here plus the militia. The FedCom wants to convince the Dragon that they are preparing for another invasion, so they have authorized a bunch of mercenary raids over the next few months at a large variety of targets. Some targets are of military benefit, some are of economic benefit, some of industrial. On a few worlds, there are no targets at all, the unit is supposed to land, attack a meaningless minor building or complex, destroy it, and blast off, putting the defense on high alert and perhaps making a few intel people spend some sleepless nights trying to figure out what the FedCom goal of that strike was. In this system, Brawler is supposed to unload, hit a mining interest, and then blast off. It doesn‘t matter which one, any is fine. April 11, 3045 - Brawler’s DropShip arrives in the DropPort facilities above Kaverni Bay, a large underground city. About 300,000 people live here, and the rest underneath domes scattered around the world. We take a shuttle into the city. Domes control the DropPort, and there are some vehicles there and such. We arrive in Kaverni Bay to look around. Many of our people have never seen an underground city before. Kaus Australis’s atmosphere is hostile, but the ore here is too valuable not to mine. There are a lot of lights here, but the city literally never sleeps - there is no nighttime. April 24, 3045 - After some scouting, we realize we cannot attack in here, and we don’t want to hit one of the smaller domes around the planet. That leaves one possible target. April 26, 3045 - We arrive back in the DropPort. This is it. Only here can we attack and not completely cripple Kaus Australis but yet hurt them. We have to attack the DropPort itself. In this area are many tanks and such, plus we expect to find some mechs around, but we don’t know how many or where. We turn on our mechs and head out. We damage a nearby ring used to dock a DropShip. Klaxons begin to sound. Civilian personnel and vehicles evacuate, which is what we want. A few more energy weapons tear into the infrastructure, careful not to kill anybody. With a few moments, a few blips appear on our screen. Our enemies arrive. Our goal is to hammer them, force them to leave, grab the salvage, and run before reinforcements arrive. It looks like they sent whoever was available. The Dracs: Ontos Manticore Mauler City Assault Tank Saracen Hunter Patton Hetzer Galleon Vedette Von Luckner Cyclops Quickdraw Grasshopper Wasp There are a lot of heavier tanks in there. The mechs are vets, the tanks are regulars. Assault tanks are the Ontos, and the heavy tanks are the Manticore, Mauler, VonLuckner, and Patton. I can’t recall exactly what mechs I’ve shown. So, here is Vera Vasquez’s Stinger. It’s a pretty common 20 ton light mech, but not at the level of the Wasp and Locust, but the next most common light mech after them. This is the 3G variant with two medium lasers and max armor.  |
Good luck to Brawler on their first official mission together. Kick some Drac butt! Hah!
Tell |
Thanks!
|
Here we go.
Despite the fact that we are fighting 14 vehicles and have several green pilots, and are facing some heavy units, I still think we should have this. There are a few fuel tanks on the map. We win init 7 to 6. All of their units save one start behind some buildings. We will try to move around with our heavy metal. A few of their units sneak out in the building, so we destroy the building. We lose 4 to 8. Weapons fire exchanged. Their Hunter is immobilized. We win init 6 to 5. Our Merlin destroys their Ontos. Our first kill for Brawler Company. Our Stalker falls under an onslaught of weapons. A Hetzer is knocked immobile by collapsing buildings we destroyed. We win init 11 to 9. We stand the Stalker. Their Wasp falls while running on pavement. We knock their Saracen immobile. We plug a lot of weapons into their Grasshopper. Then our Locust destroyed their Fuel Tank. They deal 50 damage to their Vedette and 40 to their Quickdraw. Their Hopper falls. Their Vedette is immobilized by the blast. We lose 6 to 7. Just an exchange of fire. We win 10 to 5. Marauder behind their Cyclops. Our Archer hit’s the ammo on their Mauler and blows it up, boom! Our Thunderbolt immobilizes their Patton. Our MAD kicks their Cyclops and it falls to the ground. And with that, they concede and leave. We have more than enough time to load things up, and during the battle we destroyed a lot of buildings, so damage has been done and we are out of here. Salvage: Hunter Light Support Tank - 1,135,000 Ontos - 2,265,000 Hetzer - 665,000 Saracen - 813,000 Vedette - 750,000 Patton - 2,754,000 |
Let’s settle up Brawler’s contract:
We spend: 302,958 - salary and upkeep 200,000 - armor 125,000 - ammo We get: 250,000 - transport 100,000 - 50% battle loss 236,645 - salary + bonus 4,191,000 - shared We take the following tanks: Hunter Ontos Vedette We will arrive back on July 21, 3045 |
April 14, 3045 - Cinq company arrives at Vega. There are several other merc units on this very important world. They have already started to hit things here. Our job is to land and get a hit in during all of the commotion.
April 20, 3045 - We arrive outside of a medium industrial plant. We attack the planet and within a few minutes, it is being raided by FedCom infantry and we stand watch. We see a few infantry, but no one major until we are done less than an hour later. April 23, 3045 - Since our first attack went by without a problem, we are tasked with another. There is a large brewery here than is used to make beer for export. It’s not a military target, so it is believed that we can hit it, take it down, without ease. This is silly. I don’t want to be destroying breweries. We are warriors, not junior high kids that got drunk one night and threw some rotten eggs and tp’ed a house. We approach the brewery, but instead of just attacking and fading, we start firing at the countryside and causing a scene. As we hoped, some units catch us as we finish blowing up the brewery and leaving the area, since we gave them a clue we were here. I don’t want to keep doing this. Unfortunately, it looks like a battalion of mechs instead of a company. Well, we missed. Time to run. April 24, 3045 - After waiting out the night we are ready to blast off, contract done. We will arrive back on July 24, 3045. We lost about 250k. Aleph Company - Returns on March 29, 3045 Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Cinq Company - Return on July 24, 3045 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Oct 12, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Returns on July 25, 3045 Brawler Company - Back on July 21, 3045 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on June 12, 3045 March 1,3045 - We take a look around the garrison to see what our next project is. We have a lot of Awesome parts, and we build a new Awesome from them. Contracts: FedCom: Cadre ComStar: Obj Raid on Dracs Free Rasalhague Republic: Garrison Where is the cadre contract? About 16 jumps away. We’ll keep Delta on planet for a month. |
April 1,3045 -
Ted’s recruits from Outreach (just like last year): all are elite Mabel Baker Gina Callocia Ernesto Herrera Akwasi Opoku Lacey Kline Abigail Richards Ted gets an offer from Duke Sandoval for the Wolverine 7K. It’s the first one that’s been captured from Kurita space. They can take it, analyzie it, find where the parts are coming from, field test it, etc. Ted doesn’t want money for the mech, but mech for the mech. We don’t want money, we want materiel. Duke says he doesn’t have any unassigned LosTech mechs, but raises his offer significantly, and Ted accepts. Ted takes the $$ shopping. We acquire a Trebuchet and a Longbow. Aleph Company is back. That gives me Delta and Aleph I can send out immediately. Contracts: FedCom: Riot/Garrison - Yuck -no way am I ever taking a riot contract Free Rasalhague: Obj Raid on…Trolloc Prime, Dracs - rumored to have ghosts of former units on it Free Worlds League: Garrison Magistracy of Canopus: Planetary Assault Corporation: Cadre/Garrison. Where? Breukelen. 8 jumps away. Delta to Cadre/Garrison Salvage: Full Salary: x4, x1.2, x1.3 Support: 50% Battle Loss Remuneration: Yes Transport: 50% Length: 5 months Command: House 25% Bonus We arrive on July 2, 3045 We arrive back on March 12, 3046 after the contract ends and we return home. Our contract breaks even. No one attacked. Aleph, Obj Raid on Trolloc Prime. As we approach the FRR for the contract, they have pulled it and already assigned it. Ah well. |
July 1, 3045 - Since three companies return this week, we solicit contracts for Aleph Company.
Capella: Security Drac: Obj Raid on Rasalhague - nope I don; do this. FWL: Obj Raid on Capellan Confederation on Barras Canopus: Garrison Barras is really far away. We hold off. Vehicle Company returned. Time to organize the new Tank Battalion Vehicle Company becomes Tank Alpha Company, with the same people and tanks as before. Tank Beta Company Lt. Jasmine Prasad, elite, Behemoth Assault Tank Sonora Alvarez, veteran, Patton Gavin Taylor, regular, Scorpion Light Tank Alia Qasim, veteran, Vedette Sgt. Molly Martin, elite, LRM Carrier Robert Sanchez, veteran, Hunter Nick Sergeant, elite, Ontos Cao Ren, regular, Harasser Sgt. Dylan Austin, elite, Von Luckner Eydis Magnusdottir, veteran, Hetzer Dawid Wozniak, regular, Pegasus Jelena Kramaric, regular, Goblin Tank Gamma Company Lt. Famasa Lukumi, elite, Devastator Malinda Papadakis, veteran, Bulldog Keerat Malhotra, elite, Ontos Raphael Feldman, regular, Scorpion Light Tank Sgt. Anouk D’Aubigne, elite, Leviathan Belfrey Edgar Danvers, veteran, Demolisher Irene Federov, regular, Scimitar Stephanie Rogers, regular, SRM Carrier Sgt. Raiko Hayashi, elite, Patton Bailey Pethebridge, veteran, LRM Carrier Mona Garrison, veteran, Hetzer Adrienne Pelensky, regular, Saladin |
August 1, 3045 - We have Cinq, Tethys, Brawler, and Aleph Companies here, and Phaeton gets back in 10 days, plus Tank Battalion.
We look through the garrison pieces to see what mech we build now. We have a ton of Quickdraw pieces so we build a Quickdraw. Free WL: Cadre FedCom: Garrison St Ives: Garrison FedCom: Security FedCom Garrison Yangtze, three jumps away. Contract for Tank Battalion: Salvage: Full Salary: x3.4, x1.4, x0.9 Remuneration: Nope Length: 2 years Transport: 50% Command: House Support: 50% Battle Loss 5% Bonus We arrive on Sept 9, contract ends Sept 9, 3047, and it arrives back on Oct 20, 3047. Nothing else here. Aleph Company - Phaeton Company - Back on Aug 11, 3045 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Returns on March 12, 3046 Cinq Company - Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Oct 12, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Brawler Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Oct 20, 3047 |
Sept 1, 3045 - Phaeton, Aleph, Cinq, Tethys, Brawler - all here right now. Take Tethys off for garrison, and that leaves four companies. Contracts:
Corporation from Compact: Cadre/Garrison ComStar: Obj Raid on Caps World: Zanzibar, 16 jumps away FedCom: Garrison Drac: Guerilla FedCom: Obj Raid on Dracs World of Ascella, a border world 5 jumps away and 21 light years away from Kaus Australis. I want to do the raid, no question. First, let’s assign peops for the Cadre/Garriosn contract. Ambergrist - 13 jumps away. Contract for Phaeton Company: Arrive on January 27, 3046 Contract ends April 27, 3046. Arrive back Oct 5, 3046. We lost about 800k on the contract Nobody attack while they are there. Who wants to raid Ascella? We’ll send out Cinq. Contract: Salvage: Shared Salary: x3.7, 1.6, 1.4 Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Indy Remuneration: Nope Length: 2 months Transport: Full 5% Bonus We arrive on Oct 27, 3045. Aleph Company - Phaeton Company - Back on Oct 5, 3046 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Returns on March 12, 3046 Cinq Company - Arrive on Oct 27, 3045 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Returns on Oct 12, 3045 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Brawler Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Oct 20, 3047 |
Oct 27, 3045 - Here on the border world of Ascella, our DropShip will be fully inspected upon landing, so we cannot just wait in our DropShip, then pop out, then go back in when done and blast off.
Because of this restriction, we only have a few options. First, we can assault drop and then roam free on the planet. Second, we can land the DropShip in a place not a DropPort unload quickly, and then…what. Blast it off again? Hide it? It’s a giant DropShip, neither of those are happening. Our goal here is to destroy a building at a small military outpost. It’s doesn’t even have mechs as defense, but there are tons of Drac mechs on this border world. The world does not have a lot of financial value, but it has a ton of military value. Ah, we have an idea. Before we leave, we take all four infantry platoons. Oct 28, 3045 - Our DropShip lands in a field about 20 klicks from our target. Meanwhile, yesterday we landed our infantry in the nearest DropPort, and they have approached the target after renting some lorries. They are there now, just waiting. Will the garrison forces leave their posts to hit us? I doubt it. It’s be interesting to see how they respond. I begin to march my mechs towards the military outpost, making no secret of my presence. Our infantry report that all of their vehicles are moving to the side of the outpost that we are coming from. A few fighters pass overhead but some long range laser weapons tell them to go elsewhere. 5 klicks in and our sensors are picking up some heavy magnetic blips on our sensors. Meanwhile, since the vehicles have exposed their flank, our infantry relocate to where they are in the place across from the empty place in the defenses. 2 more klicks, and we see mechs on the horizon. The enemy has arrived. While we join battle, an infantry platoon sneaks up to the building and is able to drop some charges before leaving, with the tanks’ attention elsewhere. They sent a full company of nearby mechs. Okay, here is the deal, we are facing a company of good Drac defenders. At any time I can withdraw back to our DropShip. We don’t even have to fight these guys, so we begin a tactical retreat, moving at their speed back. We go back three klicks before we encounter a problem. Some more VTOLS and fighters are approaching, we speed up our flight in order to give us a little space, then spent a few turns firing into the air and creating a wave of weapons they cannot fly into. We are able to squeeze another klick and a half before the Dracs close on us, just 2.5 klicks away from the DropShip. Our foes: Jenner Locust Centurion Hatchetman BattleMaster Assassin Orion ON1-K - a great variant with max armor Shadow Hawk 2K Warhammer 6K Dragon Phoenix Hawk 1K Charger 1A9 Mech threat level - Orion, BattleMaster, Warhammer, Charger, Centurion, Hatchetman. Mech desire level - Charger 1A9, BattleMaster, Orion, Warhammer, Centurion, Assassin Alright, here is the Assassin a fairly rare 40 ton mech with incredible 7/11/7 movement, just 4.5 tons of armor (ick), 10 heat sinks, SRM2, LRM5, Medium Laser. It’s a sucky weapons configuration for the mech.  |
We are fighting by some small hills and a small pond in the middle of the field. These guys are all vets.
We lose init 6 to 8. This is the company with double Griffins. They run their Locust behind our Griffin so I walk my Wolverine up to it. We plug their Dragon and they our Awesome. Both fall. We win init 10 to 7. Our Awesome arises as does their Dragon. One of our Griffin’s hits their Jenner’s gyro. It manages not to fall though. We win init 8 to 6. While jumping (stupidly) their Jenner falls after the gyro damage. I concentrate some long range fire on their Orion. Our Zeus hits their Dragon’s ammo and it splodes. Their Orion falls. We win 6 to 4. Both their Orion and Jenner have stood up. They ran their BM up to us, so I am slamming it with weapons. I send some mechs overheat because I have such a good shot at the BM. One of our Griffin’s destroys the Jenners LA, LT and CT. Dead Jenner. Their Locust falls and hits its engine. We win init 9 to 7. Their BattleMaster gets a Limb Blown Off critical against our Awesome’s RA. Our Wolverine takes out the RL and RT of their Locust. We win init 7 to 6. Wolverine behind their Hatchetman. It hit’s an engine after going through the rear of the CT> Their Orion and Hatchetman fall. We lose 7 to 8. Wolverine behind H Man again. Their Orion stands up, their Locust pilot blacks out. Our BM hit’s the Orion’s ammo and it goes up. Our Awesome destroys their BM’s RA. Their BM tumbles. They choose to retreat. We allow it. Meanwhile, their building is exploded after our infantry put some distance behind them. We arrive back at the DropShip before more forces close. Salvage: Dragon RA, RL, LT, H - 1.9 mill Jenner H, RT, RA, LL, RL - 1.4 mill Locust missing RL and RT - 1.15 mill Orion RA - 550k 5 million even Oct 30, 3045 - Our Infantry and us have lifted off. Time to settle up. We paid: 300,000 - Armor 215,000 - Ammo 232,410 - Salary and upkeep 400,000 - To fix salvaged Locust and make it a 1E We got: 2.5 million - Shared Salvage 150k armor 206,317 - Salary + bonus Total Made: 1,523,227 We get back in EE on Dec 6, 3045. |
Back…..
Oct 1, 3045 - We have three companies here and Defender comes back in less than two weeks. What contracts are available? ComStar: Obj Raid on…FedCom - nope, sorrys. Free Worlds League: O Raid on…Caps. World: Palladaine a world we garrisoned once for Andurien. Corporation: Obj Raid, FedCom - nopes, sorrys Corporation: Cadre/Garrison I’m not allowed to do the O Raids on the FedCom. Let’s send someone to the Cadre/Garrison at…Alterf, Marik world 10 jumps away. Contract for…Brawler. Salvage: Exchange Support: 50% Battle Loss Remuneration: No Salary: x3.4, x1.3, x1.2 Length: 4 months Command: House Transport: 50% 15% Bonus Brawler arrives at Alterf on Feb 16, 3046. We end our contract on June 16, and arrive back here on Oct 25, 3046. Let’s see if anyone attacks. Nope. Now, we have an O Raid on Palladaine. Let’s see what I want to send… Aleph Company can arrive on March 2, 3046, do the contract, then get back around…Sept 5, 3046. That’s 11 months for one contract. Hmm, let’s see what the ComStar contract is, maybe I can get away with it. Planet is Imbros III, just 3 jumps away. There is an uninhabited continent called Fryggia, and ComStar just got info there is an old Star League polar research station on that continent, so we are tasked with landing there, making sure it is there, and securing it in case of hostiles. I think we can get away with it. |
Oct 31, 3045 - We arrive on Imbros III.
Nov 5, 3045 - We have used data to find a place to land our DropShip on Fryggia. Nov 13, 3045 - We have found the abandoned post. Not a lot here. Nov 20, 3045 - ComStar personnel have arrived. They spend time investigating the outpost. Dec 23, 3045 - They are done, no one ever bothered to check up on us, and we blast off. Jan 16, 3046 - We arrive back from Imbros III. We made 800k |
Backwind.
Nov 1, 3045 - We can build another mech with our techs. Let’s see what pieces we have. We use parts from various mechs and make another Comet. Contracts? Capellan Confederation: Obj Raid on…FedCom. Sorry, can’t. ComStar: O Raid on…Free Rasalhague. Hmm. I said I wouldn’t take contracts from houses against the little guys, this is from ComStar against the little guys. Still, I’m not sure. Corporation: Cadre/Garrison in…Fed Com…wayy too far away. Let’s look into the raid. Verthandi, which is forever away. Nah. Dec 1, 3045 - Cinq arrives back in 5 days. Before that, we get a new graduating class: 2 of them decide not to seek employment with our unit, leaving just 9. Maximillian Rayburn, regular Damario Lopez, green Wendy Padbury, veteran Olivia Patterson, green Hardeep Sharma, regular Lyle Vickers, regular Gustave Clapiche, regular Erin Osborn, green Zeng Mei, regular Using these, plus the older recruits, we create Lance Company. Anvil Lance: Lt. Akwasi Opoku, elite, Atilla Maximillian Rayburn, regular, Banshee Lacey Kline, elite, Cataphract 1X Zeng Mei, regular, Ostroc Hammer Lance: Sgt. Abigail Richards, elite, Longbow Wendy Padbury, veteran, Trebuchet Gustave Clapiche, regular, Griffin Ernesto Herrera, elite, Archer 2K Thunder Lance: Sgt. Gina Callocia, elite, Quickdraw Hardeep Sharma, regular, Locust 1E Lyle Vickers, regular, Commando Mabel Baker, elite, Spider We were able to find a Spider on the market and purchased it for Mabel. The rest of the mechs came from our garrison. |
After some negotiation, Defender, Cinq, and Lance companies are signing a contract as a battalion for the Free Rasalhague Republic on a retainer, and joining Hex, Trinity and Heliades companies.
They will arrive on April 16, 3046, just two weeks before the HTH contract is up. They will have an identical contract. Captain Matthew Humphries is in charge of the new battalion and given field command of both battalions. Captain Jason Thomas retains command of his battalion, but now answers to Matthew when needed. Since we have so many units, it helps to send some in contracts that take them a bit off the grid, you know? |
Dec 18, 3045 - Our forces acknowledge the 6th anniversary of the Fall of Andurien.
Ted purchases an industrial mech for Thoma Marie Essex, daughter of Braham Essex. Now she can learn mech piloting behind an actual mech. No weapons, of course, it’s just a LoaderMech. Aleph Company - Back on Jan 16, 3046 Phaeton Company - Back on Oct 5, 3046 Trinity Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Delta Company - Returns on March 12, 3046 Cinq Company - Arrive on April 16, 3046 Hex Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Defender Company - Arrive on April 16, 3046 Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - Ends May 1, 3046 Tethys Company - Brawler Company - Back on Oct 25, 3046 Lance Company - Arrive on April 16, 3046 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Oct 20, 3047 Jan 1, 3046 - We get a new class at the Essex Academy. 10 new admits. 3rd Year: 7 2nd Year: 9 1st Year: 10 We currently have 8 green MechWarriors in our garrison plus Ted, Tethys Company, infantry, vehicles, and the cadets if needed. Ted swings over to Outreach to begin his annual recruiting for some dispossessed MechWarriors for the next company. Feb 1, 3046 - Aleph is back. We pull out one of the two Jenners for a Comet. Time for a new mech to build. What can we build? We have all of the parts for a Commando, so we build one. Contract for Aleph? Fed Com: Cadre/Garrison St Ives: O Raid on…Caps ComStar: Defensive Campaign Let’s look at the Compact Contract. New Sagan, 9 jumps away. The Caps have such a thin defense, we should be able to land, hit, and launch without much trouble. We are tasked with destroying a supply depot with Capellan materiel, but we go in as if we can capture it, just in case. Contract: Salvage: Full Transport: 50% Support: 50% Battle Loss Salary: x4, x1.6, x1.2 Remunertion: No Command: Liaison Length: 1 month 47.5% Bonus We will arrive on New Sagan on May 21, 3046. |
May 21, 3046 - We land on New Sagan, and unload our infantry. Scouting reveals the supply depot was as asked to hit. Mechs or tanks, what’s on defense? Just tanks. Okay, easy peasy. Our goal is to penetrate, destroy the tanks, then take the stuff in the depot for ourselves instead of merely destroying them. We still deny them to the Confederation, which is the point, and we get some stuff we can sell or some C Bills.
May 22, 3046 - Here we go, we blast off with our DropShip, unload quickly near the depot, and move out. Within minutes we are there and ready to hit their vehicles. |
I've been reading along. Very cool dynasty. I've always been a fan of Battletech, etc. if though I don't play it much or know any of the history. What programs are you using to do this dynasty or is it all pen and paper? I saw the list of books earlier that you use.
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Glad ya like it! I use the Megamek program to actually play it, and some excel databases to keep track of the materiel, fighters, money, experience, kills, medals, and such. I'm getting a little tired of it, so after I get us through the 3040s, I intend to stop until the next obsession begins. From teh first one to this one was a year or so. |
Here we go!
We are fighting in the delta of a river. Luckily, most of their vehciles are hovercraft, which enable them to move over both water and land. There are 17 tanks approaching us, all regular. Let’s fight! We lose init 7 to 9. Our Griffin destroys a Pegasus. It was immobilized while over water, and sank. Our Awesome knocks their LRM Ontos immobile. We lose 8 to 10. Our BM knocks their Maxim immobile. Our Champion destroys their Hunter. We win init 8 to 7. We hop Adele’s Firetsrater behind their Zhukov, but it has so much armor that might not matter. Their Drillson hit’s the gyro and engine on our Griffin. Our Archer turns a Saracen to immobile. Our Comet destroys a Condor. Our Griffin tumbles. The tanks turn and leave, and we have to get some materiel. We let them go. Salvage: Pegasus, LRM Ontos, Hunter, Maxim, Saracen, Condor We grab some materiel from the depot, destroy what we can’t take and blow it up, and then flee. We arrive back on Sept 19, 3046. |
Contract Stuff:
450k - Transport post-50% reduction 495,649 - Salary + Bonus 120,000 - Armor 40,000 - Ammo We Made: 2.1 mill - Sale value of goods grabbed 484,876 - Contract + bonus 60k - Armor 1,539,227 - Total Made Plus we got six tanks |
March 1, 3046 - Delta returns in a few weeks.
The new recruits from Ted’s trip to Outreach. All are elite Nombeko Prismall Antonio Del Amico Irene Shevchenko Dragomir Osmochescu Delgree Otryad Gabriel Williams April 1, 3046 - We take contract bids for Delta Drac: Garrison FedCom: Pirate Hunting Corp: Extraction against Caps. Muridox, which is about 17 jumps away wand wayyyy out there The Pirate Hunting contract is going to be way out there too, though. Since we are about to have a new contract with the FRR, Ted decides to make it regimental and sends Delta, Tethys and Aleph will get caught out. The FRR is happy to add them. May 1, 3046: Contract Terms for the first three are up. Let’s do their contract: We made 6 million Our new Retainer contract from the FRR: Salvage: Full Command: House Support: 50% Battle Loss Length: 4 years Remuneration: Nope Transport: Full Salary: x3.7, x1.3, x1.2 with a 25% bonus for long campaigns 12.5% bonus This is a year longer. Because BattleTech fans know what is going to happen near the end of this contract, I am going to sim forward a lot before popping back and doing this one. We only have a few companies right now, so I don’t suspect it will take too long. Oh, time to look for something in the garrison to build. We assemble a Whitworth. |
EVENT: June 14, 3046 - The Outbound Light, a ComStar Explorer Corps JumpShip leaves Bone Norman in the periphery to points unknown on a long term explorer mission. This will set into motion a chain of events that will change the Inner Sphere forever.
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Aleph Company - FRR
Phaeton Company - Back on Oct 5, 3046 Trinity Company - FRR Delta Company - FRR Cinq Company - FRR Hex Company - FRR Defender Company - FRR Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - FRR Tethys Company - FRR Brawler Company - Back on Oct 25, 3046 Lance Company - FRR Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Oct 20, 3047 Ted goes back to Outreach for some more recruiting, but of a different nature. August 1, 3046: Ted has recruited 8 infantry platoons: Elite foot SRM Veteran foot Machine Gun Elite motorized MG Elite jump Flamer Elite motorized SRM Elite jump Laser Elite motorized SRM Elite foot Inferno We only had four platoons and we needed a lot more. Ted hops back home. Mvundi Atterson is promoted to Lieutenant. Time to build something else. Comet. Kressly Warworks has expressed admiration of our Comet. They aren’t going to add a mech line to their tanks anytime soon, it‘s way too expensive right now and the market isn’t there, but they like it. |
I hope you keep this going for a long time, am enjoying all this and have never read any of this so it's all new. Loving it all, thank you so much for the time taken with this!
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Sure thing!
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Nov 1, 3036 - Another mech to build, let’s go with…Warhammer from the pieces.
We have our two companies back - Phaeton and Brawler. Ted looks for some contracts: Free Worlds League: Security ComStar: Relief FedCom: Garrison Outworlds Alliance: Planetary Assault Corporation: Garrison I don’t want any of these. Dec 1, 3036 - More recruits: Orlando Morales, regular Muriel Armajani, regular Jacques Fournier, veteran Faith Thompson, green Kibali Karenga, regular Zhuge Ling, green Waleed Hadad, regular Say hello to…Mustang Company Anvil Company Lt. Gabriel Williams, elite, Orion ON1-K Jacques Fournier, veteran, Striker 2S Delgree Otryad, elite, Awesome Waleed Hadad, regular, Hunchback * (we purchased it off the market) Hammer Company Sgt. Dragomir Osmochescu, elite, Warhammer 6K Irene Shevchenko, elite, Stalker Antonio Del Amico, elite, Marauder Kibali Karenga, regular, Whitworth Thunder Lance Sgt. Nombeko Prismall, elite, Comet Orlando Morales, regular, Jenner 7-F Muriel Armajani, regular, Locust 1E Zhuge Ling, green, Commando We are almost out of good mechs for another company. Ted still has 8 green MechWarriors in our EE garrison unit |
We have the following low tech mechs that are common:
Awesome, Locust 1E, Shadow Hawk, Warhammer, 3 Wasps, Hermes II, Cyclops, Charger 1A1, 2 Fleas, Warhammer on the way next month form a contract. Then we have the following rare or high tech mechs: Exterminator, 2 Flashman, Mongoose, 2 Lancelot, Hermes, Highlander, Falcon, Firefly, Rampage, Lynx, Excalibur, Daboku, Shootist, Thug, the modified Orion. (We also have our mechs returning with Typhon Company and that will give us a boost) So, we only have 12 mechs in the garrison that are assignable. Ted decides to make our garriosn better immediately. We sell the following mechs for a 10% loss under price: Charger, Shadow Hawk, 3 Wasps I pick up: Wolfhound Javelin 10F Thunderbolt Trebuchet I know that’s 5 mechs for 4, but it’s a big increase in value. We also proactively purchase a Crusader. |
We have a battalion of mechs in Mustang, Brawler and Phaeton companies. Contracts?
FedCom: O Raid on Dracs. FedCom: Retainer St. Ives Compact: Security Rasalhague: Retainer Heh, I actually rolled a second retainer contract from Rasalhague. Part of me would love to do it. Send our Battalion on a new retainer contract. We could speed our contracts ahead by about three years in a few minutes. It’d be nice in a lot of ways. However, I was hoping I could have 2 regiments of mechs by the time we get there. We need another 5 regiments, and we aren’t getting too many more. After a year, we can assemble one. I also expected Braham to assemble an elite strike team with the good LosTech mechs when he got back. We have a company there, but preferably we’d take that off the grid and have a normal 9 companies. We could combine tank battalion with mechs for a combined arms regiment. That’s possible. We could also go to Outreach and recruit Mws with mechs, which is legal according to the rules of the game, but sitting Ted there and getting 24 recruit rolls a year seems a bit cheap. When it makes sense I do it, like to get dispossessed and to get infantry. However, I just don’t feel like camping out Ted on Outreach for a few years is the right way to build the K&C even if it is allowed by the rules and its not that much of a stretch in terms of game status (if a large regimental+ unit with a good rep wanted to recruit to fill up their ranks, and only got 20 mechs and warriors a year, that doesn’t seem too bad). There are numerous cases of mech commands taking a few years to rebuild, and this would be one way to do it (and these include some really high profile units too). On the other hand, how many more mechs would a battalion + get in the next two-ish years? I don’t know. Plus, I expect there will be some battles in the FRR before mid-3049 hits. We could scrag another company out there, if things fall right. I still will be far away from the resources for more companies. Flat out, I am of two minds. We are going at a good clip anyway, but we could go at a really good clip. Before I make some decisions, let’s find out what kind of resources we have. If we were to sell all of our mech parts, how much $$ would we make, roughly? 65,575,000 Well, that changes things. I have enough parts to sell for mechs. Now, it’s cheaper to build them, so I can sit on the build ones, but that is some good resources I can rely on to help me get to many companies. In other words, I do not need to keep my Company a day stuff up. We send Phaeton, Brawler and Mustang companies to the FRR retainer and are able to negotiate the same ending date at our other folks. Same terms too. They will arrive in May 16, 3047. |
Dec 18, 3046 - We honor the 7th anniversary of the Fall of Andurien.
Jan 1, 3047 - We get the new class - 8 enrollees 3rd Year: 9 2nd Year: 10 1st Year: 8 Time to look at our garrison for another mech to make. We build a Jenner and make it a JR7-F. Mar 1, 3047 - Meet our new elite MechWarriors. Nathan Raleigh Gahiji Chalthoum Tanja Emminger Aidan Monroe Liu Zhen Angela Kaminski Ted chooses to stay on Outreach for something special. We will build a Blackjack 1DB which has two large lasers. |
July 1, 3047 - Ted gets his first hit. Let’s see what we got when we rolled a 10.
Ted has been trying each month to recruit a DropShip. It’s a really hard roll, and we get no bonuses. This month, we rolled a natural 10, which qualifies us for a few DropShips. We could take a Union which requires a 10. Here’s the deal though, if you take one that your number hits exactly, it’s not a part of your unit, instead it is a auxiliary that you do not own and which can leave you or do whatever it wants. DropShips and Jumpships do, very occasionally, swing by Outreach looking for employment just like infantry ,tanks, mechs, fighters and those who drive, fly and pilot them. It’s not common, so you have to throw all of your rolls into one roll basket each month. I figured why not, so I made out with a legitimate roll. There are a couple of 9s, but they are merchant class DropShips like the Mule, or just deliver a lance of four mechs like the Leopard. The only DropShips you can get with a 9 are the Mule, Leopard, Gazelle, Buccaneer, and Condor. Of those, the Mule and Buccaneer are cargo DropShips, the Leopard carries just four mechs, The Condor carries 12 infantry platoons and 20 vehicles, and the Gazelle carries 12 tanks and either 3 fighters or 3 more tanks. None of these are good for what I want, which is carrying mechs. Now, I could use them for other things, like transporting vehicles or carrying ammo and supplies, but no mechs. So, we are getting the Union as an auxiliary, because it is the best of the 10s, and it can carry 12 mechs. It is not ours, it just chooses to affiliates itself with us, if that makes sense. Meet the Robin Hood, a Union class DropShip, whose crew are joining our group. Ted sends them back to EE to join our groups there. Ted keeps up the recruiting, just in case. |
Oct 1, 3047 - Wow, I never expected this, but I rolled a freakin’ 12. Best 12 I’ve rolled in this dynasty, let me tell you. This is incredible! Here are all of the DropShips we can get, permanently, with a 9, 10, or 11:
Union Avenger Mule Buccaneer Condor Leopard Leopard CV Fury Gazelle Triumph Seeker Intruder Monarch We can also get, as an auxiliary, the following DropShips: Overlord (wow), Hamilcar, Achilles, and Excalibur. I need to look at some ships, because I don’t yet know what I want. I hope to find something good in the first category. An Overlord can drop an entire battalion of mechs, 36 of them, on the field. That’s some power. The Avenger is more of an attacking DropShip, with small amounts of cargo. It’s a warship in DropShip form. It only has 93 tons of cargo. It bombs, strafes, like a fighter, and can attack capital ships. Leopard CV is just a refitted Leopard for fighters. Fury carries 4 platoons of infantry and 8 light support vehicles. It’s more of a raider. The Intruder is a military spheroid that carries 4 platoons, 2 fighters, a bunch of cargo, and is really good at combat. It is designed to get in and out of hot zones. The Hamilcar is more of a raider/assault with 4 fighters and 8 mechs. It has low fuel and armor though. The Seeker is a troop carrier that carries 64 light vehicles and 4 infantry platoons OR 48 tanks and a lance of mechs. It’s not for the big things. We could get one to carry around our vehicles and infantry. The Achilles is designed for fighting and it can easily fight against fast fighters, and it has four fighters of its own. The Monarch is a passenger merchant DropShip. The Excalibur carries 90 tanks, 12 mechs and 12 infantry platoons - basically it carries a regiment of combined forces. It is the largest military DropShip is service. Taking an Overlord for my auxiliary would be nice too, but I really want to have a DropShip that is officially ours. It would be lovely to say this is ours, ha ha. I go the roll, let’s not waste it. A Union DropShip costs 160 million CBills. Based on the amount we made from the War of 3039, we could just about afford one. |
You can create Q Ships. These are merchant ships turned into combat cargo carriers, but they generally have little armor, few to no weapons. They also are not great at extracting or deploying forces with anything close to speed.
The best DropShip I can just flat out get is the Seeker. It can carry a lot of tanks. It’s also one of the faster military DropShips. On the other hand, I could get a Overlord as an auxiliary, or a Union flat out. We are going to do a Union flat out. Since we deploy as companies, it makes sense. Ted heads back to EE with the new Union. He rechristens it the Star River, as a nod towards our planet. We just built a Rifleman. Our next mech to build is a Phoenix Hawk. Oct 20, 3047 - Tank battalion finishes their contract and made about 2 million. We send them on another garrison at Acamar, just a jump away from EE. Nov 15, 3047 - They begin their new contract, and will be done on Nov 15, 3049. Dec 1, 3047 - Braham Essex is back in the Inner Sphere, and he puts the $$ he and Typhon Company made into our account from Thule. The injection of this 68 million dollars is probably enough to outfit us for a while. |
Say hello to the newest company and our newest MechWarriors at the same time. One leaves us, and we have 2 green, 5 reg, 1 vet.
Styx Company Anvil Lance: Lt. Nathan Raleigh, elite, Awesome Angela Kaminski, elite, Thunderbolt Qabihah Abbas, veteran, Warhammer 6D Neil Adrick, regular, Cyclops Hammer Lance: Sgt. Gahiji Chalthoum, elite, Crusader 3D Aidan Monroe, elite, Trebuchet Ricardo Vasquez, regular, Blackjack 1DB Hannah Feinstein, regular, Rifleman Thunder Lance Lt. Tanja Emminger, elite, Javelin 10F Liu Zhen, elite, Jenner F Hubert McCullough, regular, Locust 1E Scott Cavanaugh, regular, Wolfhound |
Here us our updated list:
Aleph Company - FRR Phaeton Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Trinity Company - FRR Delta Company - FRR Cinq Company - FRR Hex Company - FRR Defender Company - FRR Typhon Company - Due back April 12, 3048 Heliades Company - FRR Tethys Company - FRR Brawler Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Lance Company - FRR Mustang Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Styx Company - Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Nov 15, 3049 Robin Hood - Idle Star River - Idle Ted sends our Star River to the FRR to join our folks. It will takes some cargo commercially in order to pay for the journey. The Robin Hood is sent with Styx Company to its first assignment. Contracts for Styx Company? Capellan: O Raid on…Marik. FedCom: O Raid on…Dracs FedCom: Cadre Free Worlds League: Garrison Corporation: Extraction Which is closest? The Drac raid is deeeeep in Drac space. Ick. The Marik raid is against…Xanthe III, the ancestral home of the Humphreys family, Dukes of Andurien. Nope, sorry, not happening. Extraction? Sarpsborg, in the FedCom. Not easy to get away with, what do they want? They want us to hit a rival company and destroy it. Nah, not interested. Dec 18, 3047 - The 8th anniversary of the Fall of Andurien is held. |
Jan 1, 3048 - 5 new students enroll at the Essex Training Academy. A down year.
3rd Year: 10 2nd Year: 8 1st Year: 5 Contracts for Styx Company Rasalhague - Diversionary Raid ComStar - Defensive Campaign Free Worlds League - Obj Raid Against……Cappella. The planet of Bandora - on the border with the FedCom and just 37 light years and two jumps away from the FWL. 7 jumps away. Contract: Salvage: Shared Command: Liaison Transport: Full - Comp Salary: x3.4, 1.6, 1x3 Support: 35% Battle Loss Remuneration: Nope Length: 1 month We can be at Bandora on April 4, 3048. Ted hits Outreach again for more elite dispossessed MW earmarked for the next company. Feb 1, 3048 - Our techs start work on a Javelin. All of the Inner Sphere is immune to listen-kill missiles after being given the basic info. They are no longer being made. Ted buys up a lot of the former supply for storage, just in case we run into people that are not immune - like periphery, industrial mechs, etc. Mar 1, 3048 - 6 more elite MW have joined us. |
April 4, 3048 - We arrive at Bandora. Styx company has had a full intel briefing from our Marik liaison. On this border planet with the FedCom, are several top line mechs being tested. We are to engage a Liao Raven with updated technology, and bring it back to Marik, or data about it.
There are supposedly two on Bandora, a minor agricultural planet with little economic value, just a tactical one. In an invasion, Bandora is viewed as a secondary target, so the forces here are less than they would be at nearby Ingersoll, which is both a border world and one of he most important economic planets in the Confederation, or Capella, which is both border and has a lot of industry including battlemech factories. With Bandora a lesser target, it makes an ideal testing ground for the newest mechs off the line as they can be tested in good conditions but not in the obvious places for spies. Marik intelligence believes that there is a LosTech Raven in the garrison around the centralized area for several native plants that are hardy and easy to grow on the central continent near the equator. Marik believes that there are a battalion of Capellan forces on planet, and a company there. There is also a DropPort there. We are hailed many times by the locals, and lie and say we are a trading DropShip. Many military DropShips have some stealth technology in them, which allows them to jump into a system at pirate points and sometimes be unable to be seen until they are close. Our auxiliary Union, the Robin Hood also has such, and it looks very similar to a Mule visually from a distance, which is a typical commercial DropShip. The combination of some subtle ECM technology and the similar appearance allow us to land safely in the DropPort, and no one is around us to immediately notice that oh, there is a military DropShip in the port. Within minutes, our mechs are unloaded and still go unnoticed. This is a border planet people. Where are your civilian defenses? After some investigation, it appears that there are riots going on in the city next us and the local forces have been brought in to deal with it, so our landing and unloading in uncontested. We notice that there is a Raven as promised in riot control, but there are more than 12 mechs here, because of the riots. There is also a FULL company of tanks here as well. Within a few minutes, we are discovered, as Lt. Nathan Raleigh moves his troops away from the populated areas. A large park-like area used as the grounds for faires is serviceable for combat. Within a few moments, they close. Not all can get here immediately, because they are handling the riots. Each mech and tank is assigned a turn, 1-6 on which they will deploy to the map, while we will all start on the map. Alright, here are our foes: The mechs: Raven 3L Stinger Warhammer 6L (low-tech) Blackjack BJ2 (field refit to LosTech) Locust Centurion Rifleman Cataphract 3L (LosTech) Shadow Hawk Firestarter Stalker Clint And then some vehicles too. The mechs are vets, the tanks some green and some regular. Battle bate: us 19k, them 33k. This does not look good. Only the slow deployment can save us. Their Raven deploys before round 4. Here is this 35 ton mech loaded with LosTech electronics like TAG, NARC, ECM and a Probe. Their mechs come with NARC equipable SRM and LRM missiles in order to fully use the NARC beacon their Raven has.  |
We begin on a map with few woods, and that’s it.
We win init. Only their uptech Cataphract and uptech Blackjack, Clint, and three vehicles begin on the map. One quarter of their forces. We need to take down some of their mechs or vehicles immediately. The biggest threat is their Cataphract, so we focus some fire. Our Javelin misses four medium lasers on the Cat needing 7s. I didn’t deal as much damage as I’d hoped. Their Cat misses a kick on our Jenner, and is kicked by it., but manages to stay standing. We win init. More units join the field. I hope our Jav by their LRM Harasser. Our Awesome destroys the RT of their Cataphract, and because it has an XL engine, it is destroyed. Our Lieutenant gets the first kill - how appropriate. Our Jav knocks their LRM Harasser immobile. Their Locust misses a kick on my Jav, and is kicked, but stands. Well, we took out one of their best units. Now let’s see who I can savage in the next few turns. We lose 5 to 6. They get some vehicles including a Hetzer and a Rifleman mech. We concentrate fire on their Rifleman but miss some critical attacks. Their J Edgar is knocked immobile. We lose 3 to 4. Warhammer, Raven, Shadow Hawk, Firestarter, and a tank are joining us. If I can hurt or take down that Rifleman this turn, we may have a shot. Our mechs are barely scratched, and they brought in forces behind woods, leaving a turn for us to hit those exposed. Our Rifleman blows off the LL of theirs. Our T Bolt falls after taking some damage. We win 8 to 5. We stand our Tbolt. Our T Bolt hits their Blackjack’s engine once. Their S Hawk hits our T Bolts Large laser. Our Blackjack destroys their Blackjack’s LT. We lose init 2 to 11. All of their units are now on the field. We barely touch their BJ but they bring their Stalker around the woods and it is tapped by a couple of PPCs from our Awesome, but stands. We lose 5 to 6. Our Awesome hits their Stalker in the head with a PPC, shears off its external armor, and does not have any criticals. We concentrated on their Stalker and it stands. They accidentally set the woods my Awesome was in on fire. We lose 3 to 9. Our Crusader hits their Raven’s engine. We tear into their Stalker but it manages to keep its feet. We lose 4 to 6. Our ‘Hammer hammers the LT of their Stalker into nonexistence. Their Stalker falls and gets a limb blown off critical for its RL. We finally win init 11 to 7. Their BJ destroys my T Bolts RA> Our T Bolt destroys the BJ’s LL and CT. Our Cyclops hits an engine on their Stalker. A Saracen is knocked immobile. We lose init again 6 to 8. Their Stalker actually manages to stand. They run their Locust and Stinger next to my ‘Hammer and their woods by now are all on fire and smokey. Our Awesome destroys a Condor. Our Rifleman destroys the RA of theirs/ Our ‘Hammer kicks and destroys the LL on their Locust. Its pilot blacks out. Round 12 we win init 6 to 4. Their ‘Hammer hit’s a pair of foot actuaotrs in our Cyclops. Our T Bolt destroys their Ravens RT and since it has an XL engine, that’s it for it. Our Cyclops falls. After taking two medium lasers from my ‘Hammer on their Locust’s head, it is hard to awaken and the pilot is still blacked out. We lose init 7 to 9. Our ‘Hammer destroys the CT, H and RT of their Locust and then ingites its ammo. Our Cyclops hits four leg actuators on their ‘Hammer. They hit my Cyke’s hip. Our Cyke falls as well as their Warhammer. Our Awesome kicks and destroys the LL and LT of their Stinge.r It kicks and destroys the LA of my Cyclops. We lose init 5 to 8. Our Cyclops fails to stand but their Stinger does. We leave our Hammer on the ground, as do they. Our Awesome destroys the LT of their ‘Hammer. Our Crusader hits its engine three times and it is down. Trebuchet destroys Stinger’s RA. Blackjack the Warhamms LL. Our Rifleman hits their’s in the gyrp twice, taking it down. Our Locust destroys the Stingers RT. Their Stinger falls and destroys its own CT. Their Stalker pilot blacks out. Our Jenner kicks and kills the crew of a Goblin Medium Tank. And with that, they pull out. About 35 tons of armor needed We grab the salvage, including the dead Raven, and bust off. Salvage: Cataphract 3L missing RT (fixed the engine) 12,729,000 - current BV: 2,650,000 to fix LRM Harasser - 525,000 J Edgar - 730,000 Rifleman with 2 gyro hits, missing RA (Gyro fixed) - 4,000,000 - 808,000 to fix Blackjack LA , RA, RL, RT, H - 1,650,000 - includes 2xEr LL and 2xSRM2 Streak Stalker missing RA, LT, and two engine hits (engine fixed) - 6,150,000 : 1,350,000 to fix Saracen - 813,000 Condor - 1,217,000 Raven missing RT (fixed the engine) - 4,200,000 - 1.450 to fix Stinger LA, H, RL - 525,000 Warhammer LA - 950,000 Goblin - 607,000 Salvage Total Value: 34,096,000 Shared Value: 17,048,000 I could grab a uptech Cataphract and Rifleman. Not bad. I could get a Stalker, Rifleman, 5 tanks, BJ parts, Warhammer arm, and Stinger H and RL. So the question is which is better. Stalker and 5 tanks, or uptech Cataphract. Well, that’s silly, obviously the tanks Stalker and pieces. Repair: T Bolt RA, Cyclops LA -Take about 1.45 mill to fix these |
April 7, 3048 - We settle up our Shared Salvage with our client.
The Raven’s value is included in the salvage, but contractually we cannot take it. What we spent: 307,394 - Salary + upkeep 350,000 - Armor 1.45 mill - Fix T Bolt and Cyclops 2.158 mill - Fix Rifleman and Stalker 275,000 - Ammo What we made: 125,000 Transport 211,735 - Salary 17,048,000 - Shared Salvage 630,000 - 35% Battle Loss Total Made: Around 14 mill We will arrive back July 14, 3048. |
April 1, 3048 - Ted looks around the garrison for a new choice to build.
A Scorpion - we have all of the parts save one. Yuck though. April 12, 3048 - Typhon Company arrives back after a long contract. Braham orders they take a few months break on EE. He will join them, but on Outreach. After reviewing our new T&O, Braham chooses to head to Outreach to prepare some additions to Kilts and Commandoes. He is joined by his wife who will run Kressly Warworks from Outreach, just one jump away, for a few months. As a reminder, Braham brings the following mechs with him: Starslayer Phoenix Hawk 1b low-tech Hornet Catapult Hunchback 2750 Flashman Centurion Javelin Firestarter Aleph Company - FRR Phaeton Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Trinity Company - FRR Delta Company - FRR Cinq Company - FRR Hex Company - FRR Defender Company - FRR Typhon Company - Heliades Company - FRR Tethys Company - FRR Brawler Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Lance Company - FRR Mustang Company - FRR - arrive in May 16, 3047 Styx Company - Returns on July 14, 3048 Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker. Tank Battalion - Returns on Nov 15, 3049 Robin Hood - Assigned to Styx Company Star River - In the FRR |
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