Bossing Around Mad Cats for Fun and Profit: Let's Play MechCommander 2!

[Artanis]

A lot of people have been doing LPs recently, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon try to do one as well. I chose MechCommander 2, the sequel to the classic MechCommander (aka MC1). The name is about as apt as it gets: in the MechCommander series, the player is a MechCommander, and his job is to...command mechs.

Shocking, I know.

In less smartassed terms, MechCommander 2 is a small-scale RTS set in the Battletech universe. The premise is that, while the Mechwarriors drive the mechs and shoot the guns, the MechCommander - me - tells them where to go and who to kill. Between missions, I also handle the purchasing, decide on the team and the loadouts, and pick who goes in what mech.

MechCommander 2 is set at the start of the FedCom Civil War, during which the "united" House Steiner and House Davion decide they hate each other after all and start killing each other. In particular, MC2 looks at Carver V, a planet in the aptly-named Chaos March that's divided between Houses Davion, Steiner, and Liao. So far, it's more or less at peace, largely because the Davion and Steiner leaders are good friends and Liao sucks at fighting. Lately, however, some bandits have been making life hell on the Steiner forces, but House Steiner can't send reinforcements for fear of touching off a war there. The solution? Mercenaries.

That's where I come in. I play a mercenary MechCommander brought in to fix the bandit problem without looking threatening to the Davions.


tl;dr version:

The MechCommander 1 intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8mOiRLQB6E) shows what a MechCommander like me does.
The MechCommander 2 intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfUv62zFres) shows the situation that I'll be doing it in.


So, with the initial pleasantries out of the way...Let's Play MechCommander 2!



List of Updates:


STEINER CONTRACT:

Mission 1: Island Recon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7274973&postcount=4)
Mission 2: Base Gemini (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7281549&postcount=12)
Mission 3: Ambush (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7295679&postcount=28)
Mission 4: More Convoy-Hunting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7314108&postcount=32)
Mission 5: Prison Break (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7327056&postcount=36)
Mission 6a: Combat Rescue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7341612&postcount=46)
Mission 6b: Striking the Enemy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7361486&postcount=58)
Mission 6c: Fun with minelayers (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7375603&postcount=70)
Mission 9: Showdown with the Bandits (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7391621&postcount=97)


Interlude: A Buyer's Market (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7405272&postcount=100)


LIAO CONTRACT:

Mission 1: Another jailbreak (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7411311&postcount=110)
Mission 2b: Grand Theft Battlemech (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7453724&postcount=140)
Mission 2a: Fun with minelayers, take 2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7507272&postcount=167)
Mission 3: Moon Shots (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7540148&postcount=178)
Mission 4a: Legion vs. Lance (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7686731&postcount=198)
Mission 4c: Deep Strike (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7776095&postcount=205)
Mission 4b: More fun with mines (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7798127&postcount=214)
Mission 5: Ganging up on the little guy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7817471&postcount=221)


Interlude: Old Adages (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7828783&postcount=231)


DAVION CONTRACT:

Mission 1: Goin' to Town (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7905476&postcount=233)




Artanis's Supporting Cast


The Mercenaries

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Diazpic.png

Diaz is Artanis's Tactical Officer. Usually the voice of reason keeping the trigger-happy nutjob dashing and brilliant Artanis in line, she also takes care of negotiating contracts and signing new Mechwarriors.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Cashpic.png

A cynical, hard-bitten veteran of Tukayyid, Cash runs the outfit's Mech Bay. An expert on weapons both classic and cutting-edge, he makes sure that the team goes into combat with the loadouts that Commander Artanis demands.



House Steiner

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Renardpic.png

Colonel Renard is the leader of the Steiner forces on Carver V and Artanis's first employer there. Once cool and competent, having a massive war spring up around him drove him thoroughly insane by the end of the contract. It was at his suggestion that Jason Cho attempt to kill Artanis, ultimately costing the Liao commander his life.



House Liao

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Mandrissa.png

Mandrissa Anita Cho is the nominal ruler of Carver V...or would be, if Liao held the planet. Terminally ill and now childless, all she has left is a crumbling kingdom and revenge against Artanis for the death of her son.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/JasonCho.png

Captain Jason Cho was the commander of Liao forces on Carver V and heir to the Mandrissa's throne. His incompetence led to the near-destruction of the Liao armies, forcing an alliance with Steiner. He died in battle trying to carry out one of the terms of that alliance: the destruction of Artanis and his mercenaries.



The Resistance/House Davion

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Baxterpic.png

Baxter is the leader of a resistance movement fighting for Carver V's independence. He has managed to gain the backing both of House Davion and the revenge-seeking Artanis, giving him an edge that he hopes will lead to the liberation of his world.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/People/Kelly.png

Major Susan Kelly is the leader of Davion forces on Carver V. Once a subordinate of Colonel Renard, she does what she can to avoid Davion-Steiner bloodshed, but to little avail. She is currently supplying Baxter with funds and letting Artanis draw on her stash of Clan OmniMechs.

[Celesyne]

Oooh, the Mechcommander games are a series I've never managed to get my hands on. Are we going to be making realistic Mech load-outs or load-outs like mine (the 4 Clan ERPPC - 1 CSTRK Nova Cat)? Oh, and how much reader participation are we talking here mr. holy kitty?

[Artanis]

For loadouts, lots and lots of lasers and pulse lasers, if I can help it. A big part of the MechCommander games is salvaging the mechs you kill, and you can't do that if you overkill the mech too badly. Unfortunately, PPCs - especially Clan ERPPCs - are really, really bad about turning their victims into glowing powder :smallfrown:

For audience participation, probably not much. I can try to work people in as characters, but I don't know how much I can manage :smallredface:

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 1==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: LZ Alpha - Steiner/Bandit Border

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner1map.png



TEAM:
--HACKSAW, Bushwacker
--LONGSHOT, Bushwacker
--FLASH, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner1team.png



==MISSION LOG==


Talk about a rude awakening. Dragged out of bed and over to my console whilst being told that a mission was already in progress. My Tactical Officer, Diaz, blamed it on Colonel Renard, our employer. Frankly, it didn't matter right then who was to blame: I was getting paid a large number of c-bills to do a job, and that job needed doing right away.

At least the team wasn't that bad. They'd be using stock configurations - which I generally hate with a passion - but two stock Bushwackers should be enough to handle anything on a test run like this. The Razorback would provide some sensor coverage, and had some decent firepower for a 30-tonner.


As Renard and I traded the formal pleasantries typical of a new business relationship, Diaz suggested a weapons test to make sure that my console was hooked into FedCom's systems correctly. Renard agreed, and I set about levelling a nearby abandoned airfield, sparing only the hangar.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner101.png

I was then told that the hangar was what I was supposed to destroy, and that everything else was what I was supposed to spare. Spoilsports.


After destroying the hangar, I ordered the team to proceed towards the nominal objective for the mission, hunting down and killing a bandit patrol in the area. Yes, the bandits had apparently sent tanks and mechs to make sure no enemies were on a deserted atoll a million miles from anywhere. It's missions like these that every mercenary loves: getting lots of money for blowing up blithering idiots.

Lightweight vehicles came in ones and twos as the team circled the atoll, but no real resistence surfaced until the team was halfway to the extraction point. There, two Urbanmechs, backed up by a Centipede hovertank, were waiting for my forces. Unfortunately for the bandits, they were outweighed about 2:1, and the area was far from urban, screwing over the Urbanmechs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner102.png

The Urbanmechs tried, but never really stood a chance.


That left the last island, and the extraction point. However, as the team headed for their ride home, the supposedly-defeated bandits gave it one last go. A Starslayer was waiting across the channel to the last island, and it had a handful of hovertanks and LRM Carriers as support.

Such a force had no real chance to actually win a fight against my team, but they could cripple - or even destroy - one or two of my mechs in the process of dying. They advanced quickly, giving me little time to decide on a course of action.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner103.png

I chose to book it back inland, leaving the LRM Carriers stuck on the other side of the channel. With the enemy firepower cut in half, Flash was ordered to take out the tanks while Hacksaw and Longshot focused on the Starslayer. This fight lasted a lot longer than the Urbanmech fight: Starslayers are pretty tough for Liao mechs, and the Bushwackers' stock weaponry meant that my side was pretty much relegated to waiting for the slow-ass LRMs and PPCs to recycle.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner104.png

Sadly, when the Starslayer went down, its engine blew, meaning no salvage. I had to content myself with the salvage claim fees that I would save by sending the recovery plane after an Urbanmech instead.

With the Starslayer dead, its buddies were easy pickings for 140 tons of mechs, and then all that was left was waiting for Meat to get what was left of the "new" Urbanmech to the extraction point.


When all was said and done, a rude awakening resulted in 43,000 c-bills, plus an Urbanmech that would be worth another 34 grand when I suckered Steiner into buying it off me.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%201/Steiner1complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Timberwolf]

Heh, this takes me back.

Longshot was always my lucky mechwarrior. Give her a 5 ppc madcat and watch everything go boom.

Personally, I'd have picked up the starslayer there, but that's applying knowledge of the game from many, many play throughs.

[Artanis]

I always try to grab the Starslayer, but this time the reactor blew :smallfrown:

[Fri]

I've been wanting to play this game for so long. It's free now?

How difficult is it? since I'm actually horrendeously bad at strategy game. But if this game is turn based at least I can think my way out of my conundrums.

[Errant_Polearm]

It's real-time, but you can issue orders while paused.

Also, I though it was a pair of Harassers with the Urbanmechs?

[Artanis]

Fri: For me, the default difficulty in both games is just about right for me: not too hard, not too easy. In MC1, the easy and hard difficulties also seem right about where an easy difficulty and a hard difficulty should be as well. MC2 not quite so much. But hey, they're free, so it can't hurt to try, right?

And yeah, you can give orders while it's paused. I think there may be a few screenshots here and there that I take while it's paused, for that matter.



Errant_Polearm: Harassers, Centipedes, something along those lines. I did the writeup quite a while after actually taking the screenshots, so I forgot which of the little ultralight hovertanks they were :smallwink:

[Raroy]

Thank you for introducing me to this game. At first, I didn't think too much of it. The Tutorial missions were terrible. But after the first misson, I was hooked. Good luck on your lp.

[Artanis]

Thank you, I appreciate it :smallsmile:


Also, if anybody has comments on stuff, I'd love to hear them. I like to think I get better as I go along (the third installment should be quite a bit better than the first two), and constructive criticism would go a long ways towards improving things :smallsmile:


Mission #2 should be ready and posted within an hour or two, just a couple last tweaks and new screenshots in areas that were lacking, plus trying to incorporate any advice I get in the meantime :smallcool:

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 2==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Secure Hostile Area

LOCATION: Base Gemini, Adam Sector - Bandit Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2map.png



TEAM:
--DAGGER, Bushwacker
--LONGSHOT, Bushwacker
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2team.png



==MISSION LOG==


Oh thank God, this time I got to the mech bay before we launched, giving me a chance to change our mechs' loadouts before the mission. Although Steiner's selection had little variety - not even Pulse Lasers! - they did have a near-infinite supply what what they did offer. That gave me and our head tech, Gunnery Sergeant Cash, free reign to make our loadouts not suck...which for the moment meant loading up on lasers and LRMs.

(Note: I'll spoiler my explanation of my assessment)

Right now, I have access to a small number of weapons: non-Ultra autocannons, lasers, PPCs, and missiles. Well, and flamers and machine guns, but flamers are worthless and machine guns are only useful if you have literally nothing better to put in a slot.

When customizing a mech, there's two constraints: space and heat. Each weapon has a size and a heat rating, and I have to fit all the gear into the available space while not going over the maximum total heat rating. Autocannons' advantage is low heat, but they're big. Energy weapons are small, but generate tons of heat. Missiles are too few in number and too varied to really generalize as a category.

The problem with autocannons, however, is that you can also trade space for heat capacity by adding heat sinks. This offsets energy weapons' primary disadvantage to the point that you can get about the same firepower for less space and/or less heat...and no ammo usage. The most egregious offender is the Clan Ultra Heavy Autocannon: it's so big that you can get 90% as much firepower by filling that space with heat sinks and Inner Sphere Pulse Lasers.

PPCs are good weapons overall, and the big, solid smack they deliver is really good at popping mechs really fast. The problem with them, however, is salvage. A major aspect of this game is salvaging mechs, and you can't do that if you overkill the mech and the reactor explodes. No, you want to do juuuuust enough damage to down the mech, and PPCs don't "do" non-overkill.

That leaves lasers and missiles. LRMs have overkill problems since they fire in volleys, but they're the best long-range option I have until I pick up some ER laser weapons. Since I prefer to fight at the outer edge of medium range, that means I'll be using LRMs to support my Large Lasers for a good long while.


The new loadouts were a big success with the pilots: the trigger-happy Longshot loved her Bushwacker's higher rate of fire; Dagger, the promising (if still green) new pilot of the other Bushwacker, liked not having to worry about ammo as much; and Palerider, the sensor specialist assigned to the newly-long-ranged Razorback, loved being able to stay the hell away from things wanting to obliterate the little scout.


The first objective was to capture a resource bunker near the LZ. By "near" I mean "within LoS of the drop point." 4500 C-bills for a short walk? Yes please!

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2RPbuilding.png

Of course, I would've grabbed the RP building even if I wasn't being paid to do so. RPs aren't like C-bills: I usually start a mission with a few, can get more by capturing RP warehouses and the like, and then use them to call in support like repair trucks, in-mission salvage and refit, and airstrikes. So I was basically being paid in exchange for accepting an IOU for free goodies. Such are the sacrifices made in the mercenary line of work.


Diaz then officially put the primary objectives on my console: retake Base Gemini, namely by killing everything that moved. For all my faults, skill at omnicide isn't one of them. There was also some stuff about HQs and sensor controls that I was sure would take care of themselves.

Gemini South was the closest of the two halves (two halves? Gemini? Get it? Oh, the legendary Steiner wit!) of the base, so it was going to get cleared first. Palerider informed me that there was only one mech in the base, so I had him hop the wall and grab the gate control. The Bushwackers stormed in, and the fight was on!

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2southassault.png

Well, not so much a "fight" as a "merciless slaughter". With the main resistance coming from two LRM carriers and an Urbanmech. The LRM trucks blew almost the moment that Longshot and Dagger caught sight of them, leaving the Urbanmech and a couple ultralight vehicles that had wandered in. The team's missile racks alone almost outmassed the Urbanmech, so you can imagine how well that turned out for the bandits.

Once the smoke cleared, the aforementioned sensor control building did, indeed, take care of itself, being about three feet from where my victorious mechs wound up. I had a few extra RPs, so I used some of them to call for a repair truck. After all, the team had used about 20% of their missiles, and those bandit bastards had scuffed Longshot's paint!



One down, one to go. Gemini North, while smaller than its southern twin, was much more heavily defended. Tanks, mechs, and even infantry sat within its walls (which, unlike Gemini South, were actually still intact), and the front gate was guarded by three medium-weight vehicles and four SRM turrets. It would be a tough nut to crack with only two Bushwackers and a scout. Just as I was preparing to order the frontal charge, however, I noticed that Gemini North had a fatal flaw...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2islands-1.png

The turret control was accessible by jump jet and COMPLETELY UNGUARDED.


Palerider was the first to volunteer for the dangerous mission. Of course, by "volunteer," I mean "had no choice because he was the only one with jump jets," but I digress. He hopped his way across, took an SRM hit as he jumped into the base, and captured the turret control. An entire base's worth of combatants turned towards him, and to buy Palerider time while the Bushwackers punched their way in, I spent some RPs to give him fire support in the form of a Long Tom artillery battery.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2northassault.png

As artillery and laser fire tore into bandits at the rear of the base, the Bushwackers ran straight into a rarity in war: a plan working to perfection. Thanks to Palerider, the base's defenders were being destroyed by their own turrets.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2traitorturrets.png


Smashed by mechs on one side and pounded by artillery on the other, bandit resistance fell apart. Longshot and Dagger easily smashed their way through to relieve the beleaguered Palerider.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2northassault2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2artillery.png

And in less than two minutes, Gemini North was in our hands.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2northclear.png



With the bandits all destroyed, all that was left was to recapture Steiner's HQ. I put that off for a while as I spent the rest of my RPs to salvage four mechs - three Urbanmechs and a worthless POS Fire Ant - before Steiner could charge me for the recovery. All in all, it was a dream come true: lots of salvage, lots of cash, being paid twice (once for the RP warehouse and once via the salvage fees its RPs saved me), and we even got to be the "good guys" for once.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%202/Steiner2complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==


Notes: A couple of bits of info that may be of interest:
*The lower-left holds a LOT of useful information, namely the minimap. The big circles on it are sensor radii, with the really, really big ones being the local sensor grid. When I cap the sensor control, it turns from red to green, showing that it's my grid.
*You can also see in a couple shots - such as the one where I'm calling in the artillery battery - the support tab, where I, well, call in support. RP buildings are worth 10,000 RPs, and you can also capture RP trucks worth 4,000. The Long Tom cost me 8,000 RPs, and an in-mission salvage is a full 10,000. The repair trucks are 6,000 RPs each.

[Timberwolf]

If you use Twitch, thats my dream team reassembled.

Longshot, Palerider and Twitch. Longshot was always my lucky charm as she can be in every single mission. The other 2 - Palerider because by the end, he's just awesone with the sensors and Twitch is just awesome anyway.

But not as awesome as Longshot, she always got the highest kill count for me.

[SparkMandriller]

Jade Falcon was here.
Inner Sphere is a loser.



You should play the rest of the game with level 1 zellbrigen. It could be like hard mode.

[Inhuman Bot]

I've been wanting to play this game for so long. It's free now?

Really? Where? I only ever played Mechcommander 2 briefly when I was younger, so playing the entire game would be nice.

...And I'm the only one who didn't use Longshot well, aren't I? :smalltongue:

[SilentDragoon]

The link is just a few posts up (post #3). Downloaded it myself, looks like a lot of fun.

[Artanis]

You should play the rest of the game with level 1 zellbrigen. It could be like hard mode.

...what? :smallconfused:



Really? Where? I only ever played Mechcommander 2 briefly when I was younger, so playing the entire game would be nice.

...And I'm the only one who didn't use Longshot well, aren't I? :smalltongue:

Probably :smalltongue:

She's got such stupidly high gunnery skill that she's pretty much the obvious first choice to use. Stick her in a mech with jump-jets for piloting practice, and you've got an Ace in no time flat.

[chiasaur11]

Probably :smalltongue:

She's got such stupidly high gunnery skill that she's pretty much the obvious first choice to use. Stick her in a mech with jump-jets for piloting practice, and you've got an Ace in no time flat.

Does she kinda remind anyone else of Starbuck?

Just asking.

[SparkMandriller]

...what? :smallconfused:

No focus fire.
No artillery.
No breaking line of sight.

Final destination.

[BooNL]

I approve of this Let's Play.

I haven't played MC2 in a very long time, should install it again, good game. I remember Worm in a Raven is awesome :smallbiggrin:. Also remember reloading countless missions to get my first Mad Cat.

As a suggestion for more viewer involvement. How about letting us choose your pilots and mechs for each mission? We promise not to screw you over :smallwink:.

[Artanis]

The problem with that is that I wanted to make sure I finished the game, so I...kinda already did so :smallredface:

[HenryHankovitch]

If I Recall Correctly...

There's an annoying hick pilot with a hillbilly accent called Rooster...in MechCommander 1, I believe he's a noobie light-mech pilot. And then, in MC2, you run into him as an elite assault-mech pilot, right? Kind of an inside joke. I cringed whenever I heard his voice on the comms.

"Rooster here!"

[Timberwolf]

You only have to use him once i believe.

IO always liked claymore. he was funny.

[Artanis]

Yeah, Rooster was really bad in MC1. And you don't actually have to use him, especially if you have other veteran (or better) pilots, which you usually do by that point in the game.

[BooNL]

The problem with that is that I wanted to make sure I finished the game, so I...kinda already did so :smallredface:

That's too bad, though it is fortune that you have already finished the game. Means more updates!

Anyway, subscribing as I'm interested in seeing how this pans out.

[Istari]

Is there a way to set units to different task groups for quick selection?
Playing the game without them on hard is a nightmare and I couldn't figure out how to do it

[Timberwolf]

ctrl 1 - 9 i believe. It's been a while though.

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 3==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Ambush

LOCATION: Carroll Sector - Bandit Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3map.png



TEAM:
--DAGGER, Bushwacker
--FLASH, Bushwacker
--LONGSHOT, Hunchback
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3team.png



==MISSION LOG==


So it turns out we weren't so thorough with Base Gemini as we thought, because a few people survived to be interrogated. Turns out there was a big convoy wandering around that included a Mobile HQ vehicle, and Renard wanted it captured. I wasn't sure why he was having me do it, since "delicate capture operation" and "people who drop artillery into explosives-filled combat areas" don't usually go together. But then, I wasn't about to turn down a few grand in c-bills over it.


For this mission, we stuck with the Razorback + 2x Bushwackers that had worked so well thus far, but we had enough tonnage (and c-bills!) available to buy and send a Hunchback as well. Palerider and Dagger kept their Razorback and Bushwacker, respectively, while Flash was put in the second Bushwacker. Between its jump jets and (once I replaced the HAC with a loadout that didn't suck) its massive firepower, the Hunchback was the most powerful mech I was dropping. As such, it got my best Mechwarrior, Longshot.

Between four mechs, I had three front-liners, three fast mechs, and two jumpers. Diaz also gave me some strange looks when I gave her the mech assignments, but simply rolled her eyes when I asked her why.



When the team dropped in, Diaz took control of my console to show me something rather interesting: there was a bandit checkpoint just north of the LZ with heavy turret cover and a hill nearby. However, the bandits were also morons, and had put a big fuel dump right next to the turrets' generators. Suddenly, Renard's choice made sense: the turrets would rip a normal commander to shreds, but a trigger-happy pyro more daring one like me would blow the fuel tanks, destroying the generators and thus shutting down the turrets.

Exactly three seconds after the team crested the hill and reached LRM range, the turrets were down.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3fueltanks.png


To their credit, the bravery of the bandits' warriors was almost as great as the stupidity of their architects, and the checkpoint's defenders charged up the hill to defend their post. Unfortunately for them, I had the high ground while they had Fire Ants. That meant that I was raining missiles and laser fire into their cockpits while they were giving my mechs a gentle foot massage with flamers and machine guns.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3chkpntassault.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3chkpntaftermath.png


The fight actually lasted a surprisingly long while. The Fire Ants were tenacious little bastards, and it turned out that they were backed up by a decent number of tanks, and eventually even an Urbanmech. One of the tanks even managed to burn away some of Longshot's leg armor. By the time the checkpoint's defenders were gone, Diaz was telling me that the convoy was just moments away from entering the engagement area.

Unfortunately for the bandits, the convoy's escort was a smaller version of what had been guarding the checkpoint...and I still had the high ground.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3highground.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3HQcap.png


The Mobile HQ held some interesting info that Diaz quickly decrypted, and by "interesting," I mean "the entire bandit command structure." Apparently, the bandits were led by a guy named Vong, a former Liao officer. Imagine that, the suspiciously well-armed bandits attacking Liao's enemies were led by a "former" Liao officer. Just as quickly, Renard's intel staff decrypted the bandits' local maps, and he came on the line to tell us that there was a weapons facility to the northwest that he wanted captured.

A weapons facility. The sort of thing that House Davion would put OmniMechs around, and the bandits had one? I wasn't about to argue, though: whatever plans were in there, I could use to make - or force Steiner to sell me - new weapons.


The bandits were once again let down by their architects. The base guarding the weapons facility was absolutely surrounded by high hills. For a moment, I felt sorry for the poor bastards who kept getting assigned to defend these places. Then that moment ended as I remembered how much even a salvaged Fire Ant was worth.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3weapattackB.png

When the dust settled around the smoking ruins of Fire Ants, tanks, and an Urbanmech, we were in the process of capturing the weapons facility.

Cash was absolutely giddy - relatively speaking - as he called me up and told me that the facility had a boatload of pulse lasers and large pulse lasers. Looks like we'll be doing a bunch of refits before the next mission!

(Note: I like Lasers better than PPCs because they fire faster for less damage per hit, meaning more salvage. I like Pulse Lasers better than Lasers for the exact same reason. The downside? I might need a heat sink or two to offset the higher heat cost.)

(Note: That's Cash in the upper-right.)

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3weaponscaptured.png


Remember how I said that weapons facilities were really important? Well, the moment the team captured it, Diaz informed me that a counterattack was inbound. With little time to spare, I patched up the team, called in a Long Tom battery, and considered taking a nap as I awaited what I assumed would be another beatdown.

But you know what they say happens when you assume.

After a few minutes of waiting, Palerider reported a single sensor ping. But then, he reported more pings. And then more. And then even more. It was the biggest bandit force I had yet seen. Fire Ants, LRM carriers, tanks, and even a Starslayer swarmed towards the base, using sheer numbers to get through the Long Tom's kill zone and smash against my defenses.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3banditcounter1.png

The vehicles proved easy prey for the artillery barrage, but the mechs got through to the base's very walls. Lasers and small arms hammered my defenses, and a reactor explosion nearly took out the Long Tom. At that point, I decided that a different tactic was called for and sent new orders to the team: "All units, CHARGE."

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3banditcounter2.png

Laser fire downed one Fire Ant. SRM turrets downed a second. Then nearly a dozen LRM racks and almost as many lasers came to bear on the Starslayer. Durable though he was, the bandit couldn't withstand so much firepower, and quickly fell.


And then, just like that, it was over. All three medium-class mechs had suffered damage, and Palerider's armor had mostly been replaced by scorched holes, but the bandits had broken. We had won.

Exhausted but victorious, it was time to call in the salvage teams and go home.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%203/Steiner3complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Anonomuss]

Really enjoying this LP, keep it up! *Suscribed to*

[Artanis]

I will admit, I am contemplating going back and starting a run-through the "normal" way from mission 5 onwards. With the experience I'm gaining, I find myself wanting and/or needing new screenshots to go with the posts better, and wind up going back and replaying missions anyways.

Plus, it'd let me get a little more audience participation.

What do you guys think?

[Timberwolf]

Audience participation is good.

I normally bring along the Shootist to that mission. Horses for courses though as it removes the option for the second Bushwacker (replaced with a Razorback as you don't pick up anything in the 40 ton range until later). It is nice being able to pack 4 PPCs and a shedload of other weapons onto a mech.

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 4==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Little Yangze River - Liao/Steiner Border

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4map.png



TEAM:
--FLASH, Shootist
--DAGGER, Starslayer
--LONGSHOT, Hunchback
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4team.png



==MISSION LOG==


Things were starting to get tense on Carver V. More bandits had been spotted, and not a dinky little convoy this time, either. This was a big supply train with a good amount of firepower behind it. We, of course, had the job of taking it out, but there was one teensy, tiny problem: they were dangerously close to Liao territory. The convoy's last known location, in fact, was within view of the river that marked the border between Steiner and Liao. If the bandits were working with Liao - and it looked more and more like they did - this mission could get real interesting real quick.

And by "interesting", I mean "bloody."

Anticipating a possible fight against Liao regulars, I managed to pry a 70-ton Shootist away from Steiner for Cash to cram Large Pulse Lasers into. For that matter, he was also busy sticking pulse laser weapons on everything we had, with the only exception being the already-maxed-out little Razorback.

Even with an impending bloodbath looming over us, I had to look at the long term success of the company. As such, I put Flash, my worst shot, in the Shootist, while putting Longshot, my worst driver (but best shot) in the jump-capable Hunchback. Nothing helps a pilot learn not to fall over like having to jump around a lot. Palerider stayed with his Razorback, of course. That only left 50 tons of drop capacity, so Dagger was in a Starslayer. It was the first time since arriving on Carver V that the good ol' Bushwackers had been left behind.


The trip to the convoy was largely unremarkable. A force of tanks and a Fire Ant quickly fell before so much firepower, and it wasn't long before we had reached a ridge overlooking what had to be the convoy in question. That's when Palerider gave us the bad news:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4convoypings.png

Not only was the bandit camp right on the walls of a Liao outpost, but seven vehicles and two mechs were in the nearest one-half of it. If there were LRM carriers and Starslayers among those pings, we could be in for a hell of a fight...and even if we weren't, we were liable to piss off Liao and have a Great House on us.

Regardless of the situation, we were here for a reason, and I gave the order to charge. Luckily, the nearest vehicle was a fuel truck, and the fight started with a bang.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4convoyattack.png

Just as luckily, the vehicles all turned out to be unarmed cargo-haulers, and the mechs were Fire Ants. As feared though, the initial resistance wasn't all the bandits had in store, and the team's advance ground to a halt in the face of combat vehicles and Urbanmechs while the cargo trucks fled straight for the Liao outpost.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4convoyattack2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4convoyattack3.png

When the base was clear, Liao called us up and said that they didn't see any more bandits and that our mission was complete. Palerider then told me that not only had three bandit trucks escaped to the Liao outpost, but that a Sha Yu bearing Liao colors had crossed the river and was inbound. Even as the Sha Yu opened fire, Renard gave the order to attack.

(Note: That's Renard in the upper-right)

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4Liaoconvoy.png

Of course, you realize, this means war.

I made a point of calling in the salvage plane to fix up the Sha Yu before attacking Liao territory. It was shredded, half its limbs were blown off, and its only remaining weapon was a Medium Autocannon, but by God, I wanted that thing to shove in Liao's face.

When the last bandit truck had been destroyed, Renard called again. He sounded...I guess "unhinged" would be a good word for it as he told us that Liao must pay, and we'd be extracting payment. I was not pleased with this until he told me exactly what payment he had in mind: a weapons facility to the northwest of the Liao border fort, and a supply base along the coast.

Obviously, I expected a little supply base to have less resistance. I figured I'd take it out, use the RPs there to repair and maybe salvage something that could be used in the attack on the weapons facility, and then hit the main target. I found out the hard way that Liao wasn't screwing around, even with its RP warehouses.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4southLiaoattack.png

I ran into Anubises. They're 30-tonners, but they weren't like the Fire Ants and Urbanmechs I'd been up against thus far. No, these were solid (for their size) combat mechs, they had credible stock loadouts, and were faster than anything on Carver V. Even Ullers can't keep up with these things. The south attack netted me the RPs I wanted, but most of those went to repairs and there was little to salvage. I was back to square one.

All that was left was the weapons facility. Liao may not be as good as Steiner or Davion when going toe-to-toe, but they sure had the high ground with this place.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4weapsfac.png

The turrets were trivial and would do nothing for either side...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4turretcap.png

...as I stormed up the hill. More Anubises, more Sha Yus, and more of those damned LRM carriers awaited me.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4weapsattack.png

The facility held Gauss weapons. Good weapons, but not really my thing.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4weapscap.png

With Diaz telling me that reinforcements were inbound, it was time to leave. Meat's new Sha Yu came in handy as its speed let me call the salvage plane that much more quickly, and the team reached the extraction point on a hill to the west just in time to avoid another real fight.

We had won, we were 60 grand wealthier, and we had a new batch of weapons for Cash to play with that may help in future action on behalf of our employer. Best of all though, we had probably just started a war. After all, for mercenaries, war is a business...and business was about to become a whole lot better here on Carver V.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%204/Steiner4complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Timberwolf]

Good result that. IIRC aside from the S Cat, there's no other mech in the 40 ton range so the Sha Yu definately fills a hole in the grand scheme of things.

Plus I believe it has a better sensor than the Razorback.

[Raroy]

Viewer participation is always good. What I want is a pilot who specializes in small arms to pilot a fire ant all the way through the whole game. I assume this is reasonable, of course.

[BooNL]

Viewer participation is, as mentioned, good. If we're making requests here, I request adding a Raven to the standard roster as soon as they come available. Man, I love those little mechs.

[Artanis]

As an experiment, I played this mission as part of a fresh run-through. It went so much better than trying to use the old stuff that I've decided to go ahead and just do the whole run-through again. That means that there's now room for some audience participation, and that hopefully the quality will increase a bit. Since the first bit of audience participation starts after this mission, I'll discuss it a bit more at the bottom of the post.


==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 5==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Rescue

LOCATION: Darian Sector - Liao Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5map.png



TEAM:
--FLASH, Zeus
--DAGGER, Bushwacker
--LONGSHOT, Starslayer
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5team.png


==MISSION LOG==


When Renard called us up to give us the next mission, he was standing next to Ambassador Yee, House Steiner's local "Political Representative". They had clearly been arguing over the recent action in Liao territory, with Renard just as clearly not caring one bit about Yee's objections. Either way, it didn't matter much as Renard got straight to business: one of his spies had been captured by Liao, and he wanted him busted out of prison and brought back. He also made the "offhand observation" that there was a fuel depot nearby and that, should it just so happen to explode, it would no doubt distract the local Liao forces.

Yee started yelling again as the transmission cut out.

I shrugged it off and called up Cash to see if the new mech was ready for action. After the last mission, Steiner had decided to let us buy a Zeus, an 80-ton Assault-class mech with such stupidly high heat capacity that it can handle SEVEN large pulse lasers with room to spare. Once Cash got through with it, Flash wouldn't even have to aim.

Dagger was put into a Bushwacker with a brand new pulse-oriented loadout, and Palerider kept his Razorback, its armor winning out over the new Anubis's speed. Longshot got the Starslayer because it was better than the Hunchback in pretty much every possible way.


The mission was a night operation, because we all know that stealth and massive fuel explosions go hand-in-hand. Well, blowing stuff up I could do.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5fuel.png

In what I'm sure would shock Steiner's mission planners, this alerted the nearby Liao forces...who were the exact same forces defending the weapons facility. This actually turned out to my benefit though, as I was able to hammer my way up a line of them, rather than fighting them all at once.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5weapsattack1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5weapsattack2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5weapsattack3.png


The weapon facility held ER laser weapons. Finally, FINALLY I had some long-range energy weaponry that wouldn't ruin all my beautiful salvage. As usual, unbridled joy was etched on Cash's face. I don't know why people keep calling him "dour" and "hard-bitten" when it's so easy to make him light up like a kid with a new Lego set. A Lego set with giant death machines and city-razing kill-beams, but I digress.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5weapscap.png


Next up was the resource trucks. While they were a secondary target, I was still being offered money in exchange for being given free stuff, and no mercenary would turn down an offer like that. A check of the map also showed more stealth enhancers (i.e. fuel tanks) near them, so it was win-win.

The fuel depot and its precious resource trucks were surprisingly heavily guarded, with two Sha Yus and several vehicles in and around the complex. The attack was short and brutal: one Sha Yu made the mistake of investigating the team's sensor pings by himself...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5RPtruckShaYu.png

...and a volley of weapons fire into the fuel tanks reduced the rest of the garrison to a single crippled Sha Yu while plunging the area into nice, stealthy darkness.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5RPtruckfuel.png

(Note: I actually regretted blowing up the tanks because that darkness made further screenshots of the place suck. Granted, there wasn't much more to take pictures of, but still.)


As usual, Palerider's little Razorback had wound up outrunning the rest of the team and getting torn up. Luckily, all that guarded the next objective, a Mech Repair Bay, was an Anubis and a couple vehicles. Palerider got first dibs on repairs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5repairs.png


With the rest of the area clear, it was finally time to go after the prison itself. After securing an outer ring of LRM turrets, I was given a choice: fight my way through more turrets to go in the front door of the prison complex, or sneak in the unprotected back door. I chose the sneaky option...and then found out that it involved fuel tanks. AGAIN.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5prisonfuel.png

Seriously, it's like Liao wanted me to blow up their stuff or something.


Just like at the weapons complex, the explosion attracted the local guards, and just like at the weapons complex, 215 tons of Pulse Laser-armed Battlemechs plowed its way up strung-out line of enemies.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5prison1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5prison2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5prison3.png


Upon capturing the prison, I was in for a bit of a surprise: the Steiner spy was an old Mechwarrior, Steel. He said he was tired of working for Steiner, and wanted to join up with us. I can't blame him, really, what with the winding up imprisoned in such an explosion-happy area and all. Diaz said she'd look into it and, if he checked out, she'd add him to the roster.

(Note: That's Diaz in the upper-right. I am totally going to have to add a cast list to the OP.)

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5prisoncap.png


With the prison captured and all the real objectives complete, it was time to wrap it up and head for the extraction point. Thanks to the resource trucks I'd captured along the way, I had enough RPs to salvage a Sha Yu before extraction, saving me a good 40 grand or so in salvage fees. I was probably just going to sell it to Steiner anyways because I had more than enough for my purposes, but c-bills are c-bills.

I still wasn't sure how, exactly, things had turned out well, but they had. There were enough fuel explosions to attract every Liao with a gun for a hundred miles in every direction, but we still managed to get in and out without Liao command realizing that we were there. Maybe it was all part of an insurance scam. If so, I now had another 79,000 c-bills to use on blowing up more of their stuff.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%205/Steiner5complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==


I get to choose the order of the next three missions, so I'm going to let you guys vote on which one I do next. You can vote for the whole order if you want, but I only really need the next one.

The three choices for the next few missions are:

6a) Combat Rescue: Claymore
--A Steiner force was nearly wiped out trying to destroy a bandit airfield, and I have to go rescue the only survivor, Claymore, and his Atlas.

6b) Sector Occupation: Garrison
--Liao has a base and a chemical plant near the Liao/Steiner border, and I'm to go destroy them. Killing everything that moves is a secondary objective.

6c) Defensive Counter: Base Aries
--A Liao attack is inbound to a Steiner base, and I have to protect it. If you want to see minelayers in action, this is the time.


I'm also going to go ahead and ask if you want me to start spoilering the pictures and/or posts to help load times. And, as always, further commentary and advice is always welcome.

[chiasaur11]

Rescue.

Can't go leaving men behind willy-nilly!

Looks bad on the record.

[Celesyne]

Especially if there is even a slight chance they may survive and are in an Atlas... and might be more than a little peeved about being left behind.

[The Glyphstone]

Plus, he's British. Can't go wrong there.

[Artanis]

So far, that seems to be 3 votes for rescuing Claymore. Any other voters out there?


Also, any opinions on whether or not to put the posts in spoiler tags from now on?

[Johnny Blade]

Also, any opinions on whether or not to put the posts in spoiler tags from now on?
Yeah...I'd favor that.


Also voting to rescue Claymore. He could be useful.
Afterwards, I say attack the chemical plant. Fuel the fire, make sure Steiner needs mercenaries even more next week. :smallcool:

[Timberwolf]

Get Claymore, if only for the Fatlas

[Breltar]

Just a bit of FYI, the Mechcommander series is not free, they only released the engine for free and all the mechs and the storyline is still copy written.



In 2006 Microsoft released a modified version of the source code along with most game assets (i.e. everything needed to compile the game without networking support and without all the art) under a Shared Source licence in order to demonstrate its XNA Build system.

From wiki.

Basically MS released the code but not the art and networking files. It isn't 'free' it just is almost abandonware.

[Rama]

I'd say a rescue is definitely called for. Can't have too many favors to call in later.

[Artanis]

Just a bit of FYI, the Mechcommander series is not free, they only released the engine for free and all the mechs and the storyline is still copy written.




From wiki.

Basically MS released the code but not the art and networking files. It isn't 'free' it just is almost abandonware.

Without all the art, but that implies that there's still enough art to run the game. I'm pretty sure the copy I'm using was compiled from what Microsoft has up for grabs, but I'll go double-check just to confirm, and take down the link to where I got it just to be safe.



Edit: Upon double-checking, I found a connection going from microsoft.com to where I got my copy of MC2, so I'm sure it's legit. I'm going to leave the link removed though.


In LP-related news, it looks like rescuing Claymore wins the vote, so that's the next one I'll be doing. I'm also going to go back and put this page's posts in spoilers to see how that works out, so let me know what you guys think.

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 6a==



==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Rescue

LOCATION: Hart Airfield, Hart Sector - Bandit Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6amap.png



TEAM:
--FLASH, Zeus
--LONGSHOT, Starslayer
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6ateam.png




==MISSION LOG==


So Steiner sent a "Heavy and Assault" Lance in to destroy a bandit airfield. Said lance got its butt kicked and its Atlas was hiding in a corner waiting for us to bail him out. Sounds good, right? There was one catch though: the inital force was an absolute minimum of 310 tons, and we only got 160 tons of drop weight. 160 tons to storm an area that had already beaten twice that.

I could only hope that the Steiner lance had taken a whole lot of bandits with them.

I needed a jumper that wouldn't get blown apart by turrets, and that meant Longshot in the Starslayer. I needed firepower, and my deadliest mech was the Zeus, which I gave to Flash. Finally, I needed sensors, and having 30 tons left meant that yet again, Palerider would be in the Razorback.


After dropping in, it didn't take long to meet resistance. It seemed that the team was already doomed to be overwhelmed by the bandits' almighty...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6afirstenemy.png

...two 30-tonners and some tanks?

There's no way crappy tanks and light mechs could take down four heavy and assault mechs. I pushed on to a strongpoint on a ridge up ahead. Surely it held some clue as to how a major force was beaten.

I was wrong. It held Fire Ants, light vehicles, and no way to keep Palerider from hopping up and capturing their turret control. It fell in under a minute

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6aridgebase.png


The terrain got rougher, a series of hills cut by ravines. It was good terrain for a defensive stand. In fact, a quick look around the map showed that it was some of the best such terrain in the entire engagement area. And stand the bandits did.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a1stfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a1stfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a1stfight3.png

It was a long, drawn-out battle. I hit the bandits hard enough and fast enough that they couldn't bring their entire might to bear all at once, but they just. Kept. Coming. Try as they might though, the light vehicles, Fire Ants, and Urbanmechs they fielded simply didn't have enough potency to keep me from grinding my way towards a nearby supply depot. About all they could do was slow me down and force me to slug it out for a while before proceeding to the airstrip.

And that's when it hit me.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6abomber.png

Steiner had been wrong: the first attack group hadn't been beaten into oblivion, they'd been bombed to death. The bandits had thrown themselves in front of a vastly superior force, using their lives to buy time for the bombers to pound the Steiner mechs. Even 80+ ton mechs would fall under enough airstrikes, and it seemed that that had to be what had happened.


Originally, I had planned to go find Claymore's Atlas first, then send him and the team for a leisurely stroll through the airfield to turn it into burning rubble at a nice, relaxing pace. Now, I didn't know if Claymore was even really hidden, as opposed to inadvertantly serving as bait. The strike on the airstrip took on new urgency, and I sent Flash's slow Zeus straight there while performing brief repairs on the faster Longshot and Palerider. The three reunited just outside the airstrip, and immediately launched their assault.

Luckily, it seemed the bandits had already used up all their forces trying to keep me from getting to the bomber that even at that very moment was being fueled and prepped for launch. All that was left was a Starslayer and a few light vehicles.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6aairstrip1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6aairstrip2.png


It didn't take long for the hard-hitting attack group to make its way to the air control tower, depriving the bandits of their ability to coordinate their air assets. All that was left was to salvage a half-dead Starslayer, find Claymore, and go home.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6adeadtower.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6arescue.png


Or so I thought. I was really, really starting to hate the bandits when, upon rescuing Claymore, I was informed that there were two airstrips. I told Claymore to get his Atlas's fat ass in gear and point it towards the second airstrip.

There was a large base standing between us and the bridge to the second airstrip. I decided that being hit from behind would probably slow me down more than fighting my way through that base's defenders, so I sent the team - reinforced by Claymore and the new Starslayer, piloted by Dagger - to sieze the high ground and hammer their way in. Unfortunately, the sedated turtle's Atlas's slow speed caught up to us, and by the time we got there, the bandits had prepared a defense. A very, very numerous defense.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndfight3.png

More 30-tonners and more vehicles already held the high ground, and the team wound up badly outnumbered as the top of the hill turned into a brawl. Palerider was sent around to grab a turret control in the hopes of slowing down the stream of reinforcements, and found himself going 1-on-1 with a Raven.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6aRaven1v1.png

Despite trading control of the turrets several times as the two scouts danced around each other, the gambit worked. The SRM turrets slowed down the inbound vehicles enough for the team's size to overwhelm the bandits' numbers, and the three-and-a-half bigger mechs punched through to take the base.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndbasesecure.png


There wasn't much left that was even remotely combat-worthy, so I didn't bother with the salvage plane just yet. I instead merely called in another repair truck to speed up refits on the five mechs already standing. As before, I sent the slowest first and let the faster ones catch up.

Thankfully, the second airstrip was just as drained as the first. Its defenders had made their stand on the hill, and once again all that was left was a Starslayer and a couple of hovertanks. The turret grid - such as it was - was captured before it could fire two shots, and the few defenders simply melted under the team's massed fire.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndstrip1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6a2ndstrip2.png


Now it was time to head home. I didn't wait to hear whether or not there was a third airstrip, my job was done and I was getting my people the hell out of there.

Even with the airstrips down, Renard was not going to be pleased. If anybody still needed confirmation that these were no ordinary bandits, we officially had it. No mere bandits would fight that tenaciously and that suicidally, and there's no way in hell mere bandits could get their hands on that kind of air power. No, these were front-line Liao regulars, and I could already practically hear Renard's sanity breaking as the last shreds of hope for peace disappeared.

Carver V was at war.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206a/Steiner6acomplete.png




==MISSION COMPLETE==


Claymore is rescued, and now I have an Atlas to play with. I don't know how much I'll use it due to it being so slow, but that much firepower could come in real handy if I find a situation for it.

With this mission complete, it's time for more audience participation, voting on which mission to do next: attacking the Liao base and its chemical plant, or defending the Steiner base from assault. Let your voices be heard!

Additionally, with the missions getting longer and more action-packed, there's bound to be more and more pictures with each post. This one had 20, if you count the map, team, and completion screens. As such, I'm going to spoiler them from now on. I'd like to know if anybody has any objections to me doing so, and welcome any comments and/or advice as to the layout of it.

[Breltar]

Defend the base IMO. If you want to use the atlas, kit it out with long range and hard hitting weapons or all short range close in, don't split the difference as it excels in sticking to one role.

You should be able to adjust the camera angle and if you can then take some shots at lower plane of view like almost mech height. The age of the game will show but its a neat vantage point.

[BooNL]

Attack the chemical plant!

Fun write up by the way, love reading these. :smallsmile:

I've just finished mission 4 myself, had first contact with house Liao and am 2 Sha Yu's and an Anubis richer. I'm thinking of picking up a Hollander and training one of my warriors to be a sniper, though I've never done that and I'm not sure of the effectiveness of a mech carrying only 1 weapon. The image looks really cool though. What do you guys think?
Hollander, yay or nay?

[king.com]

Hollanders are just not worth it, 1 shot to seriously harm a mech or it is entirely useless. If you want a sniper, just hold out for some clan tech and hop in a Catapult, very powerful ranged mech and swap in some swarm lrms and you are a walking killing machine. Snipping doesnt really work in this game until the clan gauss rifles which are needed on assaults or clan heavys to be really helped.

[BooNL]

I know it's not the most optimal route and Catapults are definately better ranged support. I just want to know if its viable.
I've played the game a couple of times and I like to try new tactics. I think I run multiple light mechs as well this game, mostly relying on Liao mechs to get me through the missions.

Really, the image of a small mech with a single armor shattering gun is just awesome. In Mechwarrior 4: Mercs, my favourite mech was an Uller for the exact same reasons (light mech with 2 clan ppcs, yummy!).

[Rama]

I say defend the base. Any time we can get paid to let a couple of miles worth of thickly laced mines do the job for us is a good day in my book.

[Artanis]

Fun write up by the way, love reading these. :smallsmile:

Thank you, I appreciate it :smallsmile:



I'm thinking of picking up a Hollander and training one of my warriors to be a sniper, though I've never done that and I'm not sure of the effectiveness of a mech carrying only 1 weapon. The image looks really cool though. What do you guys think?
Hollander, yay or nay?

It isn't really a problem of carrying only one weapon so much as it is that that one weapon doesn't use everything that the mech has to offer. The Gauss Rifle is a good weapon in and of itself (unlike other ballistics), but a stock Hollander uses only 1 of its 22 available heat points. You can make it better at its job of delivering big, long-range hits by filling it with LRMs instead :smallfrown:

[Istari]

I vote chemical plant
MC2 rocks! It's like my favorite game ever

[Johnny Blade]

I also (still) vote for the chemical plant.

[Artanis]

So far it's 3 for chemical plant and 2 for defending the base. Any more votes?

[Guancyto]

Well, the chemical plant lets you nab a couple of Men Shen.

So let's do that. But base defense afterward.

[Artanis]

Since it doesn't look likely that defending the base is going to pick up another three votes anytime soon, it appears we have a winner. Up next, the chemical plant!

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 6b==



==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Base Leo, Garrison Sector - Liao Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bmap.png


TEAM:
--FLASH, Shootist
--LONGSHOT, Starslayer
--DAGGER, Starslayer
--PALERIDER, Razorback

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bteam.png



==MISSION LOG==


It was official: Renard had snapped. The info from the airfield mission had broken his sanity like an Elemental breaks foot soldiers' spines: instantly and brutally. When he called us on VidCom, he declared that Liao was trying to "destabilize his command," and that "I will respond," namely in the form of open war against Liao. When Ambassador Yee tried to reason with him, he basically accused her of working for Liao, which shut her up quick.

Renard had ordered a series of strikes against Liao targets, and we were assigned to hit a base near the border. It had a chemical plant nearby, and he suspected that it could be producing chemical weapons to use on him. Somehow, I managed to restrain the various snarky remarks that came to mind as I graciously accepted the mission.

I was tempted to give Palerider our new Raven, but once again gave him the Razorback instead: it was every bit as good as a Raven in a fight, and you never know when those 5 tons might come in handy. And by "never know" I mean "when looking at this mission's drop weight." I couldn't fit my beloved Zeus in with any credible support, so I pulled out the Shootist for Flash while giving Starslayers to Longshot and Dagger.


The drop zone was well south of the intended targets, and I immediately had an interesting choice: go for the base, or go for the chemical plant. The choice became an easy one, however, when I saw that the base had a repair bay. Hitting it first meant that I would be fresh against both targets, as opposed to being damaged and depleted when I hit the other.

Resistance was light at first, but gradually ramped up as the team fought their way to the base. First it was just a vehicle or two...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bbase1.png

...then a group of vehicles and a Men Shen...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bbase2.png

...then a LOT of vehicles and a second Men Shen.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bbase3.png


Fortunately, Men Shens are basically Ravens on steroids: good scouts, but they can't fight as well as their weight would suggest. On top of that, the LRM carriers that made up the bulk of their support were surprisingly little help, as the fragile vehicles went down quickly. Palerider got beat up as usual, but otherwise it wasn't a terribly threatening fight. It wasn't long before the Men Shens tried to flee, only to be cut down by laser fire.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bdeadmenshens.png


With the base's defenders cleared, it was a simple matter to capture the base's HQ and the repair bay out front.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bbasecapture.png


The first objective was complete, and it was time to move to the second: the chemical plant. Everybody got their turn in the repair bay, then went off to make the trek between the two. Halfway there, however, I found another reason to be glad I had taken the repair bay first: a minefield.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bminefield.png

It was also another reason to be happy I had brought a Razorback instead of a Raven: mines only detonate when stepped on by something heavier than 30 tons. This meant that unlike a Raven, Palerider's Razorback didn't have to worry about them one bit.

The minelayers were quickly destroyed by very long-range fire, which drew the defenders out of a small outpost behind the minefield.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bminebase1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bminebase2.png

Of the defenders, one was a Fire Ant that, being 30 tons, walked through the minefield unharmed, only to be blown apart by the team's combined firepower. The other two were medium vehicles, which fell victim to their own mines.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bminebase3.png

That left an open shortcut for Palerider to take, snagging a resource building along the way, as the others took the long way around.


I refrained from saying as much, but things had been too easy. This place was too close to the border to be so lightly guarded, so I suspected that the chemical plant had to hold the majority of Liao's firepower in the area. I was still skeptical as the only thing on Palerider's scope guarding a resource building was an LRM Carrier.

I sent him for a closer look. Whatever was in there, if I was going to get swarmed, I wanted it to be on somebody who could get out of there and to friendlier ground. It didn't take long for Palerider to run into the LRM Carrier's 65-ton, 10 LRM-rack-carrying friend, a Liao Catapult.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bcatapult.png


Remember how I mentioned the two vehicles that were destroyed by their own mines? Well, when the Catapult showed up, I immediately wondered whether or not its pilot would fall for the same thing. Keeping the big mechs well out of the way, I had Palerider lead the Catapult to the minefield, staying just out of LRM range the whole way.

He fell for it. The Catapult charged into the minefield...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bcatapultmines1.png

..and chased Palerider all the way to the outpost as the little scout took potshots at him. Even after the mech was crippled, its pilot kept trying, only ejecting when a missile to the cockpit convinced him to reevaluate the situation.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bcatapultmines2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bcatapultmines3.png


I asked Diaz to look up if we had any medals to award for successfully pulling off one of my suicidal hare-brained schemes brilliant and cunning plans as the team made its way towards the south of the chemical plant's complex. They grabbed a resource building there as Palerider gathered sensor data on the base's nearby defenders. The initial layer consisted of just a couple of vehicles sitting between two fuel tanks.

The vehicles turned out to be fuel trucks, which was good because it meant the team's attack would be silent and stealthy, like ninjas!

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bfuelexplosion.png

Diaz then hit me with a rolled-up magazine when I said as much.


Stealth - or lack thereof - turned out not to matter too terribly much as the remaining defenses consisted of a Catapult, a PPC-carrying Storm tank, and some turrets that couldn't cover their turret control. Unlike its buddy, this Catapult fell to the more conventional tactic of running up to point blank and laughing as it tried to get back to LRM range. The things are so ineffective at that range, in fact, that I was able to ignore while I destroyed the Storm when it showed up.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bchemattack1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bchemattack2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bchemattack3.png


After that, all that was left was to blow up the chemical plant, mop up some infantry, call in the salvage plane, and go home. We wanted to get out quick, too, because with Liao, there's no telling what tricks they were setting up for us at that very moment. Luckily, right across the border was a Steiner base where we could drop the new mechs for refits.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bcomplete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Demented]

This has convinced me to play through MechCommander 2 again!


35-ton mechs actually can go through minefields. Don't tell Palerider. Though, for being lighter, the razorback is better armed and has jumpjets. All the raven gets is ECM and enhanced sensors.

Regarding hollanders: An urbanmech can carry a full gauss cannon for 5 tons less. It is fairly slow, but it has jumpjets...

[Errant_Polearm]

It wasn't long before the Men Shens tried to flee, only to be cut down by laser fire.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206b/Steiner6bdeadmenshens.png



Getting their target to run and shooting them in the back, huh?
It does seem like the enemy should retreat sometimes, though, and I've used the tactic too, so I won't complain.

[Artanis]

Yeah, I really hate how the AI locks on like that, especially when it's a scout mech that has to run away sooner or later. I've been doing everything I can to avoid doing it, but in this case, I didn't think that Palerider would survive the fight unless he ran away. It was pretty much either shoot the Men Shens in the back or else lose Palerider :smallfrown:

[SparkMandriller]

See, even the AI's abiding by zell! Except well it's not. But it's trying, which is more than you can say. Freebirth.


The AI in the game is pretty terrible, though, isn't it? Chasing targets they can't catch while ignoring the guys shooting them, running into minefields, s'not good. Gonna have a hard job keeping this interesting, though you're doing okay so far.

[Demented]

You can usually 'solve' that problem by leading with a heavy mech. If things get too hot you can say goodbye to your heavy mech; they're too slow to run away properly. Though, that can mean spending a lot on repair trucks, and I like my salvage.

[Starbuck_II]

I love how huge explosions = stealthy. Like Ninjas!:smallbiggrin:

[Ka-ther Fangfoot]

I like to lead with my big mechs full of pulse lasers, and the only mission so far that I did not get on my first try was the moon drop one. I use repair trucks all the time, but even with not salvaging all that many mechs I have excessive amounts of money lying around.

[BooNL]

What's with all the Raven bashing? They're my favourite mech *goes to sulk in a corner*.

Anyway, I think I've caught up with you Artanis. I'm at the start of Campaign 2 at the moment (3rd mission).
I'm having a bit of trouble deciding on a close combat mech for my team. The Zeus and Highlander are good choices but the former lacks jump jets and the latter is incredibly slow (despite its jump jets).

My standard team so far is: Highlander, Catapult, Raven and then whatever else I can fit in with my drop weight. So far it's usually a Liao Hu (did I spell that right?) or a Hollander.

The Hollander's actually pretty fun, sniping off heads at maximum range is a nice past-time. I was actually surprised the first time I took one with me, Dagger (the pilot) had the highest kill count for two or three missions. After that, the Highlander just owned her...

I've got three elites so far.
Longshot - Laser, Pulse Laser, PPC (honestly, you can't build a good Assault Mechwarrior with the lower level skills...)
Worm - Sensor Specialist, Light Mechs, Long Range (usually seen in a Raven)
Steel - Toughness (yuck), LRMs, Long Range (seriously, the guy starts with insane stats)

[SparkMandriller]

What's with all the Raven bashing? They're my favourite mech *goes to sulk in a corner*.

I like Hellbringers. :(


The Zeus and Highlander are good choices but the former lacks jump jets and the latter is incredibly slow (despite its jump jets).

Two Starslayers. Got the speed, got the guns, got the jumping, got the ability to team up to backstab people. More armour, too, overall, though you'll need to avoid letting one get focus fired unless you hate your pilots. Starslayers are actually surprisingly good.

[Timberwolf]

Highlander. For my money the second best assault mech in the game, after the Blood Asp. Give that thing a Heavy UAC, pulse lasers and streak srms and watch it shred stuff.

[Artanis]

What's with all the Raven bashing? They're my favourite mech *goes to sulk in a corner*.
Ravens aren't bad mechs, and I'll always have a soft spot for them because coming with a Large Laser was a big deal early in MC1. It's just that the Raven's two main advantages, the advanced sensor and ECM, rarely if ever make a real difference. With so damned many scout mechs out there, that means there's usually something that gives you more of what you want.




Liao Hu (did I spell that right?)

Close. It's Lao Hu :smallsmile:




Steel - Toughness (yuck), LRMs, Long Range (seriously, the guy starts with insane stats)
What's sad is that Toughness is probably one of the two or three best skills (behind Laser and occasionally Sensor) at that level :smallfrown:



Regarding close-combat mechs, old habits die hard for me. Salvage and ammo-related problems played a much bigger role in MC1, so I wound up using a lot of ER Laser-type weapons and Large Pulse Lasers. In MC2, I haven't managed to completely break myself of that no matter how hard I try, so I find myself using the Zeus - and its insane 72 base heat capacity - a lot :smallwink:

The fact that all the Autocannons suck doesn't really help matters though :smallfrown:

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 6c==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Defend Friendly Area

LOCATION: Base Aries, Fetters Sector - Steiner Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cmap.png


TEAM:
--STEEL, Catapult
--HACKSAW, Bushwacker
--TWITCH, Bushwacker
--CLAYMORE, Men Shen
--WORM, Anubis

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cteam.png



==MISSION LOG==


After my strike on Liao's chemical plant, I hadn't waited around to see what scheme they were concocting for me. They adapted, however, and sent their scheme after me, in the form of a massive attack against a refit base that I had sent my newly-salvaged mechs to.

Liao had seriously planned things out, too. They had waited for the first-string combat team to head towards home, then used a feint to draw off the Steiner troops defending the base. Even ordering Longshot et al to turn around and go back to the base would only get the pilots there in time, so the only reinforcements close enough were a backup team on training exercises one sector over. Ultimately, the base's defense wound up consisting of the salvaged Catapult and Men Shen, piloted by Steel and Claymore (respectively); an Anubis piloted by Worm; and two Bushwackers piloted by Hacksaw and Twitch.


Before launching their attack, Liao had snuck in and captured the local Sensor Control, as well as a forward firebase that would have stood in the way of one of their main attack routes. Worm and Claymore, respectively, were sent to take them back.

Worm reached his objective first. Whatever had captured the Sensor Control had long since moved on, as it was only guarded by a pair of LRM Carriers. Despite the vehicles' firepower, the speedy Anubis easily destroyed them simply by dashing into point-blank range.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6csensorattack.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6csensorcap.png

Claymore reached his objective not long thereafter. Like the Sensor Control, the firebase also had virtually no defenders: just a single Rommel medium tank. However, that tank was backed up by the very turrets that Claymore had been sent to capture, and the brief fight was long enough for Claymore to be injured by a hit to the cockpit.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cturretattack.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cturretcap.png


In the short time remaining before the Liao forces arrived, I sent Worm and Claymore to grab whatever RPs they could while I assessed my defensive options. Half my tonnage was still using stock loadouts and the other half was piloted by inexperienced Mechwarriors, so I needed some way to lighten the load that the mechs would have to bear.

The answer was mines. Lots and lots of mines.


It didn't take long for my defensive strategy to be put to the test. The first attack group was a sizeable force of vehicles and a Sha Yu that approached the forward firebase. The Sha Yu and several LRM Carriers quickly fell victim to the mines, much to my delight. However, between their numbers and the handful of mine-immune hovertanks, they were able to overcome their heavy losses and destroy the turret control.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cturretfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cturretfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cturretfight3.png

There were only three hovertanks left after that fight, and they would eventually fall prey to the main base's turrets in the blink of an eye.

(Note: Seriously, I was looking the other way for like, five seconds when they got to the main base, and they were dead when I checked back in on them)


The second test of my defensive strategy came when a trio of Starslayers led a half-dozen choppers past the still-incomplete minefields to the west of the lake. They attacked one of the main base's central turret bunkers, with the Starslayers getting into firing range before finally running into mines. The area was too treacherous for most of my forces to go help in the fight, so Worm wound up being the only one able to assist the turrets in repelling the enemy before they could destroy the turret control.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cstarslayerattack1.png

I don't know what it is about Starslayers, but they always seem to give me the most trouble here on Carver V. Somehow, one of them managed to get through the minefield, through the turrets, and through Worm's lasers to attack my main force. For the first time since the assault began, the combat mechs saw, well, combat. Brief combat, but still combat.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cstarslayerdead.png


By this time, the main team's pilots had arrived at the base. With their mechs still a good distance away, I assigned Longshot to the battered, salvaged remains of that Starslayer. However, she would prove not to be needed as my defenses finally came into their own.

You see, I had mined the roads...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6croadmines1.png

...the forest...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cforestmines.png

...the fields...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cfieldmines1.png

...the other roads...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6croadmines2.png

...even more fields...

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cfieldmines2.png

...and really, pretty much the whole damn engagement area. What little got past the mines was easy prey for the huge number of turrets surrounding the base.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6cbasekill.png


To be honest, once the Starslayer-led attack was repelled, the rest of the battle was pretty uneventful. I spent most of it munching on popcorn with Diaz and Cash as we watched wave after wave of Liao forces get their legs (and wheels and tracks) blown out from under them. The repair techs would be working overtime to get so much legless salvage back up and running.

We all agreed that it would be best if those repairs were done in a more secure area though.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%206c/Steiner6ccomplete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Demented]

I'm pretty sure that fielding that many mines violates some form of legal convention.
Even if it does take 40 tons to activate each mine.

[Breltar]

!Caution Mines!

Hilarious.

[BooNL]

Yay, Steiner still holds their base! Though by the time their own reinforcements show up you'll have switched sides. I hope you forgot to clean up those mines :smallwink:.

Nice touch using different 'Mech Warriors, though they didn't really have a chance to develop, did they?



There's two things I don't like about MC2 in comparrison with Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries (the other 'mech game I have the most experience with).

In MC2, heat is only used to measure how many weapons you can fit on your mech. It has no use in game. I find that a shame as in MW4, managing heat is one of the most important aspects on the field.

Also, every single mech in MC2 is an omni-mech... So far, I've been keeping the mechs close to industry model. So if the mech has ballistics weapons, I'll just put a better gun in it, but I won't fill all the slots with LRM's.

And a final rant. They wrecked Ullers to uselessness. They were so awesome in MW4 with their double PPC's.

[SilentDragoon]

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I think Uziel was the smallest with double PPCs in MW4, if you're restricting yourself to stock loadouts.

[BooNL]

*facepalm*, you're right, it was the Uziel I was thinking about. Now what the hell is an Uller then?

[SilentDragoon]

Two Large Lasers instead of PPCs I think. With heat management in play, one of the worst possible scout mechs to use.

[Artanis]

Nice touch using different 'Mech Warriors, though they didn't really have a chance to develop, did they?

Twitch and Steel have both had a few chances at jumping practice with salvaged mechs (Steel even got to Veteran), but otherwise, not a whole lot of development, no :smallfrown:



There's two things I don't like about MC2 in comparrison with Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries (the other 'mech game I have the most experience with).

In MC2, heat is only used to measure how many weapons you can fit on your mech. It has no use in game. I find that a shame as in MW4, managing heat is one of the most important aspects on the field.

At least MC2 has heat, unlike MC1 :smalltongue:

I always figured heat management was handled by the Mechwarriors. Remember, as a MechCommander, you aren't actually in the field. All you really need to know is how much heat each mech can handle, and let the pilots deal with using it :smallwink:




Also, every single mech in MC2 is an omni-mech... So far, I've been keeping the mechs close to industry model. So if the mech has ballistics weapons, I'll just put a better gun in it, but I won't fill all the slots with LRM's.

They kind of had to. In MC1, one of the biggest gameplay elements was using whatever components you wanted and/or could get your hands on*. As such, that kind of customization was probably the #1 thing they couldn't get rid of in a sequel.

FWIW, they did manage to downplay it a bit, with the component grid and heat ratings putting constraints on customization that weren't there in MC1.


*The backstory even makes a mention somewhere that the IS mechs they brought were actually "omni-fied" or something so that they'd be able to use captured clan tech.



*facepalm*, you're right, it was the Uziel I was thinking about. Now what the hell is an Uller then?

In both MechCommander games, the Uller has a C Ultra Light Autocannon, a C ER Laser, and a couple of dinky short-range weapons. They're actually really good for their weight when modded, and in MC1 manage to wind up with one of the more usable stock configurations as well.

[Demented]

I've only played MW2 and MC2, so I suppose I don't know what a non-omni-mech is. If it fits, it ships. :P Though, a Rifleman II-C with missile launchers did seem odd (and likewise, anything with ultra autocannons in it that didn't have barrels half the length of the mech).


The default 'Prime' configs in MC2 don't always put the weapons in the right order for them to be fired from the correct hardpoints of the mech. The default Mad Cat config ends up firing its PPCs from its right arm and right torso, for example. That's usually enough reason to reconfigure them for me.

[SparkMandriller]

Also, every single mech in MC2 is an omni-mech...

Not like MW4 is any better. What couldn't you modify in that game?


And a final rant. They wrecked Ullers to uselessness. They were so awesome in MW4 with their double PPC's.


Maybe I'm misremembering, but I think Uziel was the smallest with double PPCs in MW4, if you're restricting yourself to stock loadouts.

Thinking of adders, bros.


*The backstory even makes a mention somewhere that the IS mechs they brought were actually "omni-fied" or something so that they'd be able to use captured clan tech.

Haha wow are you serious? That's, uh, wow.

[Breltar]

Not like MW4 is any better. What couldn't you modify in that game?
The mechs can't have any weapon in any slot, so at least with the rifleman you did have to put in a ballistics weapon in the arms... even if that meant LBX autocannons or machine guns.

Thinking of adders, bros.
Adder aka Puma to us IS crazies. It has two PPCs and nothing else.


Haha wow are you serious? That's, uh, wow.

The IS eventually gets some omni style capability, but they never really follow exact BT canon for the video games.

All in all I liked MC2, but it is obviously dated nowadays and hopefully the free release of MW4:Mercs will give the whole series a much needed boost.

[SparkMandriller]

Oh, right, that's a point. When he said omnis I assumed he meant special omni bushwackers or whatever. You know, specially made ones for random mercs.

Though wait, now that I think about it, are there any IS omnis in MC2? I can't think of any.



Also MW4's slot system sucks because it doesn't let me build any of the K series catapults. PPC catapults look awesome. They should be in every game ever.

[Artanis]

In MC2 they never say one way or the other whether the IS-tech mechs are omni or non-omni. One way or the other though, their gameplay mechanics work the same way as the Clan-tech Omnimechs that eventually get brought in.


Also, there are a couple personalized mechs you run into here and there, including the Atlas that Claymore pilots when you rescue him.

[SparkMandriller]

Wait, they don't? I thought you said the backstory suggested they did. Oh well, guess it's just BT video game magic again. Not that I really have a problem with that. Lances of Blood Asps, hoo.

And hey, I was wrong, Men Shen's in. Bringing the grand total of IS omnis in that game to 1.

[Artanis]

MC1 says somewhere or other. MC2 doesn't.

[SparkMandriller]

Well, don't I look stupid now?

[Artanis]

Ah ha, finally found where I had read that about MC1: the game was supposedly part of Operation Bird Dog (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Operation_Bird_Dog), which used captured and DC-made omnimechs.

[SparkMandriller]

MC1 didn't have any of the DC omnis though, did it? I'll admit it, it's been forever since I've played it, but I'm pretty certain it didn't.

[king.com]

MC1 didn't have any of the DC omnis though, did it? I'll admit it, it's been forever since I've played it, but I'm pretty certain it didn't.

Nah, you were running with FedCom recaptured omnis i think, though the tech trade with Dracs at the time was pretty high.

[Breltar]

Oh, right, that's a point. When he said omnis Also MW4's slot system sucks because it doesn't let me build any of the K series catapults. PPC catapults look awesome. They should be in every game ever.

With the free release coming for MW4 it includes the mektek modded mechs and I believe there is a 'katapult' that has gun arms where the missile racks (mickey mouse ears) should be.

The mektek mods double the amount of mechs in that game and once the free release happens they will be around for purchase in the single player campaign too. :smallsmile:

[RandomLunatic]

MC1 did not have any of the IS Omnis. OTOH, all of the Clan 'Mechs save one were Omnis (the Hunchback IIC being the holdout).

The manual mentions that units fighting the Clans often retrofit prototype adapters that allow Clan equipment to work with Inner Sphere-made components, and vice-versa. Basically hand-waving the matter of how your techs are pulling it off.

[BooNL]

What I meant with omni's was not that every IC 'mech was modified to be an omni. What I meant was that MC2 doesn't even make a distinction between regular hardpoints and omni hardpoints.

Every 'mech is capable of fielding any weapon they want, provided they have the slots for it. How is it a Catapult, with an insane amount of missile bays on its chassis, can fit in a AC if they want? It doesn't make sense.
Granted, I've never played the boardgame and I know MW4 isn't perfect, but at least you have take the choice of 'mech into consideration.

Also, you guys wouldn't happen to know if there's a Mech Warrior roleplaying game out there? (table-top, not pc game)

[Brother Oni]

Also, you guys wouldn't happen to know if there's a Mech Warrior roleplaying game out there? (table-top, not pc game)

There's Mech Warrior, which used to be published by FASA. It was re-released by another company in 2007 according to the Wikipedia.

The only other major table top version is the Battle Tech minatures games.

Wiki link of Battle Tech games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_games).


My brother used to play Mech Warrior and my favourite story was when an Elemental (clan power armour soldier) ambushed a mech, put a shaped breaching charge on the cockpit and waved goodbye to the pilot before jumping off. :smallbiggrin:

[Artanis]

The manual mentions that units fighting the Clans often retrofit prototype adapters that allow Clan equipment to work with Inner Sphere-made components, and vice-versa. Basically hand-waving the matter of how your techs are pulling it off.

Well now I feel kinda stupid. I couldn't find my manual, so I figured I had to've read it somewhere else :smallredface:



What I meant with omni's was not that every IC 'mech was modified to be an omni. What I meant was that MC2 doesn't even make a distinction between regular hardpoints and omni hardpoints.

This.

Even in MC1, that sentence or two in the manual is the only time it comes remotely close to acknowledging a meaningful difference between omni and non-omni. MC2 just figures that players - especially those who had played MC1 - would be too busy playing with the customization to care about a fluff distinction with no effect on gameplay :smallwink:


As a vaguely-related side note, the single most popular multiplayer mech in MC1 was Mad Cats that wound up very, very close to stock. Players always kept the 8 LRM Racks while replacing the ER PPCs with (usually) ER Large Lasers to raise money for more Mad Cats :smallbiggrin:

[Eldariel]

As a vaguely-related side note, the single most popular multiplayer mech in MC1 was Mad Cats that wound up very, very close to stock. Players always kept the 8 LRM Racks while replacing the ER PPCs with (usually) ER Large Lasers to raise money for more Mad Cats :smallbiggrin:

Though the 8 LRMs was simply because of the Missile Boat ban online; otherwise you just stacked as many LRMs as you could on every mech you had and Alphaed everything to oblivion.

But man, Mad Cat was just awesome; a Heavy Mech with the speed of a Light Mech? Yes, please! Though there is something to be said about A-type Atlas and the Masakari too. I hated how multiplayer was always Clan vs. IS though; IS needed huge extra tonnage allowances to be anywhere near equal (their only advantages were like...standard PPCs and Advanced Sensors).

[Artanis]

The only Clan vs. IS match I ever saw online was when I suckered somebody into playing low-resources, and then proceeded to beat his Cougars with my Centurions. Otherwise, it was pretty much always high-resources, and everybody played Clan tech because there was no point to using IS with that much to spend.


And yeah, good ol' 4/6 4/6 8/10 no boats :smallsmile:

[Eldariel]

I did IS vs. Clan too much; just got a bunch of Awesomes whenever playing IS, ran up to the skin, laughed at their ER PPCs and LRMs and Boom Boomd the face. Of course, whenever I faced someone actually competent, I got my rear handed.

[Artanis]

==STEINER CONTRACT, MISSION 9==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Littlebear Island, Ivan Sector - Bandit Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9map.png


TEAM:
--LONGSHOT, Zeus
--FLASH, Zeus
--DAGGER, Zeus
--PALERIDER, Men Shen

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9team.png



==MISSION LOG==


This was it, the final mission of the contract. Steiner intel had found the bandits' HQ, and our job was to take it out. In a few short hours, we'd be free to look for another job...and not a moment too soon, because Renard was going deeper into insanity at an alarming rate. He spent most of the briefing ranting about how he couldn't trust anybody and how we didn't want to be part of the "plans" he had for Carver V. Working for paranoid lunatics was usually either lucrative or suicidal, but considering that Ambassador Yee - and Renard's entire command staff, for that matter - were conspicuously absent from the VidCom picture, I didn't want to take my chances.


With the island no doubt crawling with bandits, I couldn't afford to be hit from behind during my final assault. Thus, my tactics would be simple: work from the outside in, using a long series of short, sharp fights to clear the enemy layer by layer until only the HQ was left.

Even more than usual, this called for overwhelming firepower, and for me, overwhelming firepower meant Longshot, Flash, and Dagger in Zeuses. Even my scout would be big, a 55-ton Men Shen piloted by Palerider.


It didn't take long before I was glad I had brought so much firepower. The team had been dropped in a ravine, the end of which had been heavily fortified by the bandits. I mean really, really fortified.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9ravinefort1.png

Luckily, there was a way up out of the ravine that led to a plateau overlooking the fortifications. And wouldn't you know it, there were fuel tanks there.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9ravinefort2.png


Rather than starting with a bang as usual, I decided to draw in as many bandits as possible, hoping to catch them in the explosion. There turned out to be a few more bandits than expected: about half a dozen mechs and nearly three times that number of vehicles. Even after a heavy firefight and the fuel tanks going off, there were still three Fire Ants coming after us.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9firstfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9firstfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9firstfight3.png


As the fort was overwhelmed by the firepower of Assault mechs (and the more literal firepower of exploding fuel tanks), Diaz told me that she was intercepting a transmission from the bandit leader. She patched it through to my console, and I heard Vong in the midst of telling Liao that his forces were being overrun and he needed support. In response, Liao basically told him to go to hell and stop calling.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9diaztransmit.png

Win or lose, the bandits' fate was now sealed. If we failed, he was abandoned, trapped, and soon to be without most of what firepower he had left. However, I almost felt sorry for what had to happen when he called me directly and declared that he was not going to go down without a fight.

Renard, of course, then called me to rant about how our job was to finish off Vong. I told Diaz to mute him.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9renardtransmit.png


When everybody had finished blathering, it was time to start my sweep. Moving clockwise around the island from the ravine fort would ultimately take me to the first objective, a weapons facility, while minimizing the chances of a two-front fight and netting me some RPs along the way.


The first stop was a resource building guarded by a pair of vehicles I hadn't encountered before: Swarm LRM Carriers. They're a lot like LRM Carriers, except that they replace the normal LRMs with long-range area-effect rockets. Swarm LRMs are very, very dangerous...if you can hit with them. If you can't, you wind up with nothing more than a pretty light show and a bunch of friendly fire casualties.

I ordered the team to use the radical strategy of keeping moving.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9RPbuilding1.png

The second RP building, on the western edge of the island, was a similar deal.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9RPbuilding2.png


With that flank secure, it was time to attack the weapons facility. It had a suspiciously light garrison, with only a few vehicles showing up on Palerider's sensors. I found where the rest of it was hiding though when I noticed a Mechwarrior barracks that sat right next to a platform big enough to park a handful of powered-down mechs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9barracks.png


While the ammo dumps made an inviting target, the RP truck parked next to them dissuaded me from blowing them apart. With flat terrain and no explosives nearby, my assault would have to go down the old-fashioned way: a face-to-face pounding match. There was no point in delaying, so I gave the order to charge.

295 tons of laser-toting death stormed into the complex, and my console almost instantly informed me of four mechs powering up. The barracks had indeed turned out to have powered-down mechs next to it, and just like that, the vehicles were reinforced by four Urbanmechs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weapfight1-1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weapfight1-2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weapfight1-3.png


The battle gradually drifted east, out of the complex and towards the ruins of a small industrial town. More vehicles and mechs poured out of the shattered area, picking up where the now-beaten previous group had left off.

The running battle continued its eastward march as my mechs chewed their way through the bandits faster than they could join the fight on their own. By the time the last bandit was eliminated, we were getting close to within sensor range of the main enemy encampment.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weapfight2-1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weapfight2-2.png


It was the exact sort of thing my sweep had been designed for. Had I gone straight for the enemy HQ, I might've had these guys sandwich me. This way though, an entire flank of the future HQ assault was clear.

The reward for the battle was substantial. Not only was there a resource truck and resource building, but the weapons facility held Ultra Autocannons. Unlike their mundane counterparts, these autocannons were not entirely without merit (...well, other than the HAC, that is).

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9weaponscaptured.png


Next up was clearing the center of the island, then proceeding to what was probably the second-most heavily defended point left, the fuel refinery in the southeast.

The center proved to be tricky: the only resistance was a pair of (thankfully non-swarm) LRM Carriers sitting by some fuel trucks, but there was a resource truck nearby. With LRM Carriers' tendency to explode when destroyed, Palerider had to lure them away so that they could be killed without setting off a chain reaction that would take the beautiful RPs with them.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9islecenter.png


After eliminating the LRM Carriers and stopping for brief touch-up repairs, it was time to attack the refinery. Unfortunately, I had been right in my assumption that it was crawling with vehicles and mechs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9refinerydefenses.png

But on the bright side, it was also full of fuel tanks, giving me a head start on clearing it out.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9refineryfuel1.png


The explosion alone was almost enough, devastating the bandits' primary defenders. All that was left was a few Fire Ants, who were quickly mopped up by the team. Once they were gone, nothing stood between me and the refinery.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9refineryfight.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9refineryfuel2.png


The perimeter was now secure. Nothing was left to reinforce the bandit HQ as the final showdown between me and Vong went down. We had the advantage of initiative: the bandits had to stay put while we chose when and where to attack, and thanks to the exploding refinery, they wouldn't see us coming until it was too late. The bandits, however, had the advantage of fixed defenses to help them.

They also had numerical superiority. BIG numerical superiority.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9HQdefenses1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9HQdefenses2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9HQdefenses3.png


I called in a Long Tom on a ridge overlooking the base and steeled myself for the coming fight. The plan was simple: draw the bandits out and then make my stand on the high ground, trusting my firepower.

The first half worked to perfection, with the bandits taking the bait and following me up the hill.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9hqfight1-1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9hqfight1-2.png

The second half of the plan, not so much. Vong himself led the charge, using his Lao Hu's jump jets to negate - and reverse - the high ground advantage. He was backed up by Swarm LRM Carriers, forcing the team to scramble out of their kill zones and into Vong's sights. When he landed, the team desperately focused their fire on the toughest bandit they had yet faced, hitting him with a full barrage straight to the cockpit as he took off. By the time he landed again, he was dead.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9vong.png

But the battle was far from over. Driven berserk by the death of their leader, the remaining bandits tore into the team with an unholy frenzy. Swarmed from all sides, the team was twice pushed off the top of the hill and to the very edge of turret range, and twice the team clawed their way back up.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9hqfight2-1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9hqfight2-2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9hqfight2-3.png


When the smoke cleared, all four of my Mechwarriors were wounded, the sheer volume of enemies having guaranteed multiple cockpit shots. Flash was the worst-off of all of them: with her mech's head armor almost completely blown away, she was wounded so badly that the shock of ejecting could have killed her.

The bandits though...

The bandits had fought to the death. The hillside was strewn with blown-apart mechs and the burning, twisted remains of combat vehicles.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9HQaftermath.png


It was almost anticlimactic, really, when the team mopped up the two or three vehicles that had stayed behind and burned down the bandits' HQ with their lasers.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9HQdestroyed.png


The trek back to the extraction point was highlighted by more than sixty thousand RPs being used to salvage bandit mechs, including Vong's Lao Hu. As the bloodied, exhausted team waited for pickup, I leaned back from my console and grinned at Diaz. With the bandits destroyed, we had won.

And most importantly of all, nothing helps a mercenary make money than a win on his resume.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Steiner/Steiner%209/Steiner9complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==


Don't worry folks, there's plenty more to come :smallbiggrin:

[The_JJ]

Fun game. Wonder why I've never heard of it...

[Artanis]

It didn't last very long, IIRC. I remember the hubbub that went through the MC1 multiplayer community when the first few screenshots came out, and then it just seemed to fall off the face of the Earth. I never heard of it or saw it in stores or anything after that, and only discovered it when another thread prompted me to poke around wikipedia's Battletech-related stuff on a whim.

[Artanis]

==INTERLUDE: A BUYER'S MARKET==


Everybody in the company was busy as we wrapped up our contract. Cash was working on the half-dozen Steiner mechs we had bought before we left, Diaz was busy looking for a new employer, and I was doing the most important job of all: collecting our paycheck.

Renard only grudgingly handed over the c-bills. He obviously didn't trust us - even by mercenary standards - but since we'd been brought in pretty much by the Archon herself, he didn't have a whole lot of choice. The unofficially-required pleasantries exchanged during our final meeting were even more forced and hollow than usual, but it didn't really matter in the end. Renard was rid of the bandits, we had our money, and neither of us had to put up with the other anytime soon.

Renard's insanity aside, I hoped that all of our contracts could be so profitable. We had come to Carver V with two Bushwackers and a Razorback, and were leaving with fully two dozen mechs, seven of them Assault-class. Where we had started with a mostly-green Mechwarrior corps, Dagger, Flash, Palerider and Steel were skilled veterans while Longshot had grown into one of the truly Elite.

And best of all, we were hundreds of thousands of c-bills wealthier.


When I returned to our base of operations, Diaz informed me that she had already found a new contract for us: working for House Liao. It turns out that we had literally blasted ourselves a job opening, doing so much damage to the local Liao forces that they needed reinforcements. Since there just so happened to be a certain company of mercenaries whose work Liao had seen up close, well...

I just wished I could see Renard's face the first time we dropped into combat against him.

[chiasaur11]

No loyalty to anyone but your paystub, turning around and attacking an ally as soon as someone else pays a dime more, and the only response you conscience had was enjoyment at the thought of the look on your former client's face?

Could learn to like you, yes?


(Sorry. Had to get it out of my system.)

[Demented]

@Renard,
So long, and thanks for all the mercs mechs. :smallbiggrin:

[SparkMandriller]

All this Mechcommander talk has made me want to play it, but the AI is terrible and makes things boring.

We should all get together and play sometime. You guys would be much more interesting than the AI.

[Guancyto]

@Renard,
So long, and thanks for all the mercs mechs. :smallbiggrin:

Hey, you got a couple of mercs off him too!

Steel and Claymore are some of the best. :smallbiggrin: And Steel was a covert operative who may or may not have had access to classified Steiner information, and Claymore was one of his Assault 'mech pilots.

That's got to be a kick in the teeth right there.

[blackouttwo]

This Let's Play has been awesome from day one. It just got more awesome, because the Liao campaign was always great fun for me. Can't wait to see how you handle things while you've got Liao 'Mechs on tap instead of the super-powerful Steiner 'Mechs.

One thing I've noticed is that you seem to be avoiding non-combat interaction between your player character and any of his employees/employers. :smallconfused: Any particular reason? It'd add another dimension of storytelling to the whole thing. There's no problem if you don't, but I think people always like a Let's Play that has that more than a Let's Play that doesn't.

[Artanis]

I originally tried to do that, but ran out of steam pretty quickly. I decided that doing things the way I am now would probably work out best, especially since I was new at this sort of thing :smallredface:

[blackouttwo]

Ah. Well, understandable.

Another thing I've noticed is that you don't have any specific 'this pilot works with this pilot' plan. In a lot of MechCommander Let's Plays I've read(most of which are now defunct, the rest of which are slowing down, and none of which are as compelling as this one, IMO), the player encouraged audience participation by allowing the audience to vote on who would always work with whom, which pilots were permenantly assigned to which mechs until such time as they got a promotion, etc. Just some food for thought, figured I'd throw that out there. Even if there's no specific interaction between pilots and the player character outside of missions, it'd add to the illusion that your mercenary unit is becoming more than some ragtag warband from the middle of nowhere. :smalltongue:

[Artanis]

I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future. The next update, which'll be posted here shortly, should have at least a little of that, I hope :smallsmile:

[blackouttwo]

As a side effect, it lets the audience work on cool names for the individual lances, and lets you permit them all to vote on which lances to send out on specific missions. :smallbiggrin: Aren't duty rotations fun?

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 1==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Rescue

LOCATION: The Gulag - Steiner Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1map.png


TEAM:
--STEEL, Lao Hu
--CLAYMORE, Catapult
--HACKSAW, Bushwacker
--TWITCH, Starslayer
--WORM, Raven

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1team.png



==MISSION LOG==


Just a few short days ago, we had been fighting against Liao on behalf of Steiner. Now, we were doing the opposite. In the army, joining our enemies to fight our one-time allies would be betrayal and treason. For mercenaries like us, it was business as usual.

Liao's local ruler, Mandrissa Anita Cho, seemed reasonable enough. Her son Jason, on the other hand, was an arrogant prick securely under his mother's thumb. I cringed at the fact that he was also the commander of Liao's local forces, and thus the one we'd be taking orders from.

(Note: the cast list in the OP has been updated)

Most of the briefing consisted of both Chos giving long-winded descriptions of their innocence in the bandit matter that I neither believed nor cared about. When they finally got to the point, they gave us a mission to liberate The Gulag, a political prison that Renard had set up. I guess the Mandrissa must've been impressed by the way I had snuck into their own prison (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7327056&postcount=36) while working for Steiner.

At any rate, the first-string Mechwarriors were having a much-needed rest, and Flash was barely out of the hospital. I made the decision to hold them in reserve and send in the backups for the initial drop. Steel would lead the way in the new Lao Hu, followed by Claymore in a Catapult, Twitch in a Starslayer, and Hacksaw in a Bushwacker. Worm would be running recon in the Raven.


It didn't take long for Renard to realize what was going on once we dropped. In less than a minute, Diaz told me he was calling and patched him through. He had a few standard-issue insults about mercenaries and money, and patched me through to a live feed from the prison. Renard then swore that no prisoners would be left by the time we got to the Gulag, and the prison's guards opened fire.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonscuttle.png


Time was of the essence. Innocent people were dying, and they were taking my paycheck with them. I ordered the team into action, and they blasted through minimal resistance on their way to a ridge overlooking the eastern edge of The Gulag. There was little time to spare, as mechs and vehicles had nearly finished off the main prison building.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonarrive.png


I gave the order to charge. Five battlemechs raced down the hill and cut a bloody swathe through the Centipedes and Hunters as they dashed to save the complex. Seemingly caught unawares, a single Razorback was the only mech to turn and help the doomed vehicles, and its reward was to be cut down by the team's lasers.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonfight2.png

A Zeus charged down the hill as the Razorback fell, but despite its armor and firepower, it simply could not stop the mercenary onslaught.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonzeus.png

The final defender was a Hunchback that plodded in from its post guarding the front "gate" a ways down the road. It didn't last long under the team's withering fire.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1HBKguard.png


Renard called to rant about "conspirators" and "anarchists", swearing that The Gulag would be destroyed. The transmission cut off just as he turned to order somebody off-screen to scramble bombers.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonaftermathrenard.png

Thankfully, not all was lost. As I scrambled to grab RPs with which to salvage the nearly-pristine Zeus, I got yet another call, this time from a guy named Baxter. He claimed to be with a resistance movement, and that he was sending a convoy of transports and ambulances to get the prisoners out.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1prisonaftermathbaxter.png


There was just one problem: the whole sector wasn't safe for the prisoners, and the only way to get them to safety was via a heavily-defended airstrip nearby. We would have to take the airstrip, and protect the convoy from the reinforcements that Steiner had sent from there.

...I guess that's actually two problems, but I digress. After salvaging and repairing the Zeus, I sent the team across the ridge east of The Gulag to meet the Steiner reinforcements. The first wave was a trio of choppers that posed little threat to the team.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1choppers.png

The second was two Hunchbacks and two Hollanders. This can be a tricky combination to fight, since staying out of the Hollanders' range puts you right in the Hunchbacks' sights, and vice versa. Fortunately for me, I had enough firepower for it not to matter a whole lot.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1reinforcements1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1reinforcements2.png


With the would-be Steiner attackers crushed, I pulled the team back to The Gulag for repairs. I was just in time to find myself in the middle of a traffic jam as Baxter's convoy arrived at what was left of the prison and began the evac. He called me up to tell me that he had to get underway, and that we needed to have the airstrip clear by the time they got there.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1trafficjam.png

I found myself starting to like Baxter. No insane ranting, no lie-filled politicking, just the facts. It was a shame he was probably going to get killed in the crossfire sooner or later.


When everybody was patched up, it was time to clear the airstrip. It had heavy SRM turret cover, so I would have to draw its defenders out and fight them in the open. I needn't have worried on that front: when I drew into LOS of the airstrip's defense grid, its defenders charged out without any prompting. Most of the defenders were Centipedes, which were little threat even to Worm's Raven.

The Atlas that came with them, however, was another story.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1atlas.png


Longshot stepped to the front of the formation and met the Atlas head-on. With hundreds of lives on the line, two Assault mechs stood toe-to-toe in the driving rain and slugged it out.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1airfieldattack1.png

It was not a fair fight. Zeuses - and the rest of the team, for that matter - were designed to blast an enemy to smithereens before it could get close. Atlases, on the other hand, are designed to survive just such a barrage while it closed to HAC range.

The Atlas proceeded to do exactly that, storming through the team's massed firepower and handing Longshot her ass on a 100-ton platter.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1airfieldattack2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1airfieldattack3.png


In the end though, the Atlas was just one mech. No matter how durable, nothing can withstand nearly four times its tonnage firing at it. It eventually fell, leaving Longshot standing...if only just.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1atlasdead.png


With the Atlas down, the Centipedes were little more than an afterthought. Even the team's capture runs through the SRM turrets wound up being more painful than the mop-up. With the final obstacles to a safe evac removed, Baxter called up one last time to thank me for my help.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1airfieldsecure.png


It was certainly an interesting start to a new contract. Despite the apparent ease of taking on such scattered resistance, the implications were not good for the people of Carver V. The war had spread to the civilian population, and with Steiner and Liao at each others' throats, it was only a matter of time before Davion - and their Omnimechs - were dragged into the fray. And then there was Baxter, who was just going to make things even more complicated.

Four-way wars are depressingly common in the Inner Sphere, but four-way battles on a single planet, not so much. And we were caught right in the middle.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%201/Liao1complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==



It's time once again for audience participation!

I have two votes to ask for this time around. The first is that I have two missions to choose from, so it's up to you guys to pick which one I go with.

2a) Mobile Intercept: Killdeer
--There's a bunch of Davion troops headed to reinforce a base, and I have to stop them before they can do so. Expect lots of minelayer action.

2b) Facility Assault: Hijack
--Davion and Steiner have bases on opposite sides of a river, and I attack both to try to spark a war between them. Also, there's weapon facilities...plural!


The second is that I'm going to go with blackouttwo's suggestion of letting readers suggest and vote on lance names. While I think I'll stick with choosing the pilots myself for the time being, "first-string" and "second-string" aren't very dramatic names and could do with replacements :smallwink:

For reference, the primary lance is Longshot, Flash, Dagger, and Palerider. The secondary lance is Steel, Twitch, Claymore, and Worm.

[blackouttwo]

Awesome as always.

Spoilers! For those of you who haven't played MC2, don't click.

Baxter always was my favorite character, if only for the theme music you get during briefings while you're working for him during the Partisan campaign towards the end of the game.


For reference, the primary lance is Longshot, Flash, Dagger, and Palerider. The secondary lance is Steel, Twitch, Claymore, and Worm.

Alright. I vote for the primary lance to be called one of the following: Alpha, if we're going for a formal designation, Hammer Lance if we're not.

For the secondary lance, I'm voting for either Beta or Hawk Lance, because of Worm's sensor specialization and their general usefulness in smaller mech's(if I'm not mistaken, the secondary lance has a reputation for piloting smaller mechs).

[Demented]

What would Hammer have to say about not being in the Hammer lance? :p

[blackouttwo]

Excellent point. :smalltongue:

Hmm...I'm now leaning towards Spear Lance or Axe Lance. Axe Lance especially, since the heavier mechs' job is to hack-n-slash their way through any opposition they come across.

[Cristo Meyers]

Definitely go with 2b. Raising more trouble means more business opportunities.

[Guancyto]

2b for what is probably the best single weapons facility in the entire game.

And a ton of free 'mechs.

Since they have to do a little more dodging fire than soaking it, Beta should be Dance Lance Revolution. If not now then if you make another lance in the 3rd campaign it might be appropriate.

As befitting the fact that they are an elite commando team, Alpha should be the Lance Without Pants (or the No Pants Lance, which ever works better).

[The_JJ]

Yeah, 2b.

And... [weapon] Lance just sounds... off to me. Both clishe and nonsensical at the same time.

Lion/Eagle for the primary, something else for the secondary.

Or like a Thor/Loki thing.

Achilles/Ajax?

[chiasaur11]

Galactica and Pegasus.

My reasons are my own.

[blackouttwo]

Achilles? :smallconfused: I don't think that'd...fit. We're trying to create an atmosphere of success. But Thor/Loki...I like that. I'm changing my votes to that. Also, 2b. Just for the Davion mechs we'll get.

[The_JJ]

Well he won.

But yes, getting offed by the goddess of love and her nambypamby boytoy is kinda sad.

[Errant_Polearm]

Another vote for 2b: Hijack. With your love for lasers I doubt those Davion mechs will see much use, but if I recall correctly what you get from their weapons facility will.

The primary lance's call signs make me think "Rangers" or "Rough Riders", that sort of thing, but I don't have any suggestion for the other.

[Artanis]

Well, I can tell you right now that the Enfields won't be seeing any use because they are outright, objectively inferior to Starslayers :smallfrown:

[Timberwolf]

Don't knock the enfield. Given some love in the mechlab, it's very effective. I personally prefer it to the Starslayer. Of course, compare it with one of the other mechs you pick up there and they're both somewhat inferior.

[Istari]

I'm playing through this again on hard this time, and it is definitely much harder.
Most early Steiner missions were almost a cakewalk, but now I find I have to re do them several times. Any advice?

[Demented]

You can always exploit the AI, assuming hard doesn't change the behavior any. Send in a fast unit, have them all target it, then run the fast unit away and pick off the oblivious simpletons.


Don't knock the enfield. Given some love in the mechlab, it's very effective. I personally prefer it to the Starslayer. Of course, compare it with one of the other mechs you pick up there and they're both somewhat inferior.

The Enfield is identical to the Starslayer in every way, save that it has 12 less heat, no jumpjets, and costs 5750 credits less. That's a shame, seeing as it's so much better looking.

[blackouttwo]

The Enfield's better than the Fire Ant and Urbanmech, at the absolute least. Take some solace in the fact that you'll get a Shadowcat. That's always nice. Clan Gauss Rifle this early in the game is impossible to replace or get onto any other mechs.

[Artanis]

The Enfield is identical to the Starslayer in every way, save that it has 12 less heat, no jumpjets, and costs 5750 credits less. That's a shame, seeing as it's so much better looking.

Exactly. It'd be a poor Commander who sends his troops into combat with objectively inferior equipment when you can get better stuff for a relative pittance :smallcool:




The Enfield's better than the Fire Ant and Urbanmech, at the absolute least. Take some solace in the fact that you'll get a Shadowcat. That's always nice. Clan Gauss Rifle this early in the game is impossible to replace or get onto any other mechs.

I didn't mean to give the impression that I was going to toss out all the salvage. I just meant that the Enfields are useless and going to be sold off since I have several Starslayers stockpiled, and can buy more if I want. There's lots of mechs in both missions that will come in really handy after I salvage them, but Enfields aren't one of them :smallwink:

[SparkMandriller]

Exactly. It'd be a poor Commander who sends his troops into combat with objectively inferior equipment when you can get better stuff for a relative pittance :smallcool:

Hey, hey, you gotta save your cash so you can afford to buy a company of blood asps when they become available. That's like, the whole point of MC2.


(So nobody wants to play with me?)

[BooNL]

I like the distinction between the heavy lance and the light lance.

Hammer lance is, of course, a classic. How about Thunder lance and Inferno lance?

If we're allowed to make 'mech suggestions. Worm in a Raven is my favourite combo and I'm glad to see you use him in the previous mission! I'd like to see a Vulture in there as well, though they're massively inferior to the Catapult...
What level do you get the Mad Cat again?

Mission 2b definatelly. I've recently done 2a and its a dud, a couple of 'mechs for salvage, but a rubbish mission.

[SparkMandriller]

I'd like to see a Vulture in there as well, though they're massively inferior to the Catapult...

!?

Catapults have 1 extra space, and possible jump jets, but Mad Dogs have better starting armour, better maximum armour, much better speed, and better heat capacity.

You must really like jumping.

[BooNL]

Indeed, I really like jumping...

Armor is pretty useless on a LR 'mech, they should be out of the usual line of fire. LRM's don't take up a lot of heat, so extra heat management isn't overly useful. This is of course, assuming you don't ditch the LRM's for other weaponry.

Granted, Vulture's are tougher 'mechs, but IMO the extras aren't overly useful.

[SparkMandriller]

Clan LRMs get pretty hot though. I guess it's not really an issue for a while, but once you get access to them there's no real reason not to upgrade. Except cost, maybe, but it's not like the game doesn't give you ridiculous amounts of money.
As for the extras, I guess I'm just not as patient as you seem to be. Waiting for slow mechs to get to places makes me boooored, so faster is better. Armour doesn't really matter because the AI is stupid and just attacks whatever it sees first, but that just proves that we should be playing against each other, right? I mean, damn, there are eight player maps, I dunno where else I'm gonna find another seven people.

[blackouttwo]

I've got to agree with SparkMandriller there, on just about every count. Vulture vs Catapult stock models, with two players and no AI, the Catapult's jumpjets won't be much help.

[BooNL]

True, a Vulture beats a Catapult in a straight fight, no argument there.

My argument, however, is that most of the Vulture's features are moot when the 'mech is used to its full potential, which is ranged combat. If an assault 'mech gets within close (or even medium) range, both the Vulture and the Catapult have already lost.

However, consider a situation where an assault 'mech does break through the line and is charging. In this case, the only thing a Vulture can do is run, until it's boxed in and dies.
The Catapult on the other hand, can simply jump to the next cliff and continue its barrage from there.

[SparkMandriller]

Yeah, but what happens when the Catapult's fighting enemies with long range weapons? I doubt its back armour is gonna last long enough for it to find a cliff, jump up, and then run far enough to get away. Not like it's gonna be outrunning anything under 90 tons, either. Except Urbanmechs. Great work, Urbanmech.

But anyway now that I look at it this is getting like one of those ToB threads or something where everyone just argues forever and nobody gets anything out of it at all, so maybe we should stop. I'll just, y'know, make a mental note that if we should ever play against each other, kill the Catapults first. Catapults must die.

[Artanis]

It seems that 2b is the winner, but I don't see that great a consensus on names. Thor Lance and Loki Lance are ahead, but only by one vote, so I'll leave that open a while longer :smallsmile:




re: Catapult vs. Vulture


In practice, at least for me, the two wind up fairly close to equal in MC2. Fighting alone and needing to escape are rarely, if ever, issues in the game, so it comes down to performance under fire. The Vulture's biggest advantage is that its higher heat helps it deal with my love for energy weapons, while the Catapult doesn't get beat up nearly as much for some reason that I've never been able to figure out :smallconfused:

[Timberwolf]

The Enfield is identical to the Starslayer in every way, save that it has 12 less heat, no jumpjets, and costs 5750 credits less. That's a shame, seeing as it's so much better looking.

I guess it's a style thing. I don't use jump jets much and rely on low heat weapons that make big holes (aside from when I use a PPC boat, which I do with a Zeus at this point in the game)

Vulture vs Catapult - if you're a puretech maniac then it's Vulture all the way just for the Clan weapons, especially if you modify. I always rip out it's little dinky lasers for more armour but essentially leave it stock after that. If you assume equal weapons, I still think vulture - same job, 5 tons lighter, looks better, better name. Yeah, vulture for me.

[SilentDragoon]

Maybe I've just played MechWarrior games too often, but I never want to use a Catapult due to the enormous cockpit/head that they have. I've beaten too many of them in a single head shot to have any respect for them or to try and put my mercs in them. The only way I would use one is as an extreme range sniper or long range ballistics weaponry in conjunction with a few other mechs that could draw fire. The Vulture doesn't share the head shot weakness to the same extent, so it was my heavy missile battery of choice in MW. Does that carry over to Mech Commander? I've only played a few missions, but it seemed my mercs really easily destroyed the enemy Catapults.

[blackouttwo]

Near as I can tell, Catapults are pretty awesome when you get the chance to use one. Vultures are just plain better, but for the time you have them and before you encounter House Davion units, Catapults are fairly good heavy units....nothing compared to Atlas's or Zeus's though.

[Artanis]

The writeup for this mission is taking a bit longer than expected. Something about the mission messes up my "rhythm", so to speak, so I'm having a little trouble putting together a good run at it :smallfrown:

Rest assured though, I am working on it.

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 2b==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Seize Assets

LOCATION: Jacksen Sector - Steiner/Davion Border

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bmap.png


TEAM:
--STEEL, Lao Hu
--TWITCH, Starslayer
--WORM, Raven

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bteam.png



==MISSION LOG==


While it was only a matter of time before Davion got drawn into the war, Liao didn't want to wait that long. They decided that it would be to their advantage to hasten the inevitable, and found the perfect opportunity to do so. In the Jacksen sector, Steiner and Davion had bases staring each other down from across opposite banks of a river. Each House also had a weapons facility there, holding tech that they no doubt wanted to keep out of the other's hands.

Our job was to sneak up the Davion side, capture their weapons facility, and steal the mechs from a salvage yard next to it. They would probably blame Steiner for the attack. We'd then take the stolen Davion mechs across the river to capture both the Steiner weapons facility and the HQ of a base a ways to the south. They would definitely blame Davion for this.

The first issue was that Davion had a sensor net directly between our drop point and anything remotely of interest. That meant I would need a mech with ECM to go in and take out the towers without being detected, which in turn meant Worm in a Raven. Since I needed to fight my way into a Davion base to capture the RPs I'd need for the salvage yard, I wanted firepower and jump jets, which I got by putting Steel in a Lao Hu and Twitch in a Starslayer. Longshot and company would be held in reserve for the salvage mechs.


The first part was simple enough. Worm ran into a few of the worst-placed turrets I've ever seen, but was otherwise uncontested on his way to the sensor towers. Meanwhile, Twitch and Steel made themselves useful capturing a few RPs outside the sensor net's coverage while they waited.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bdeadsensor.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2beastisleRP.png


Other than Worm drawing a couple hovertanks into the turrets as Twitch and Steel caught up, there was little worth noting until I prepared to make my assault on the Davion RP base. I had the option of sneaking around and hitting it from the side or of fighting my way down a line of firebases along a ridge. I had no idea what defenses were in the RP base itself, and I didn't want to wind up being flanked, so I took the latter option.

At first, things looked like they'd be easy as I ran into a single Wolfhound. They may be combat-oriented, but they're 30 tons, and as such not really that great in a fight.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bwolfhound.png


Of course, the pilot seemed to realize that and immediately booked it towards the nearest firebase. The firebase's turrets, placed to defend from a Steiner incursion, were no threat. The Enfield and second Wolfhound waiting for him there, on the other hand, were.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bfirebase1-1.png


As the three Davion mechs engaged the team, Worm gave me bad news: more sensor contacts - big ones - were inbound.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bfirebase1-2.png


They were Jagermechs. Armed with four Light ACs, Jagermechs are similar to Catapults in that running up next to them would completely neutralize them. Unfortunately, things were not so easy since there was two of them, and thus they could cover each other. The team was quickly pushed down the hill from the firebase and clear past the second sensor tower.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bjagerfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bjagerfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bjagerfight3.png

One batch down, plenty more to go.

The RP base was guarded by vehicles and three Enfields. After a quick repair, I started trying to draw out the defenders one at a time into the guns of a nearby firebase I had captured.

The plan worked brilliantly, with one Enfield coming out to engage while his two comrades resolutely stayed at their posts. He walked right into the combined fire of three mechs and several Autocannon turrets, precisely as I had planned.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2brpbasestart.png

What I had not planned for was the Enfield making a beeline for the captured turret control and blasting it to smithereens.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bEnfieldkillsturrets.png


The battle to clear the rest of the RP base's defenders promised to be a tough fight. It did not, however, live up to that promise as my mechs' jump jets and Liao-wrought speed kept the defending Enfields from bringing the majority of their firepower to bear. It was a long, slow fight, but not a particularly threatening one as the two remaining mechs were picked apart at long range.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2brpbasefight.png


With the RPs in hand, it was finally time. The Davion defenders were cleared, their RPs captured, and now, their weapons facility and salvage yard, with its two Jagermechs, two Enfields, and one Shadow Cat, lay open and unguarded.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bdavionsalvage.png

And the weapons facility? The weapons facility held Clan energy weapons. Even after more than a decade of reverse-engineering, Inner Sphere weapons were still flat-out worse than their Clan counterparts, and we had just captured a weapons facility full of Clan Pulse Lasers, Clan ER PPCs, and everything in between.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bweapcap1.png

With the weapons facility captured and the team nearly 300 tons heavier, it was time to cross the river and go after Steiner.


When I got to the Steiner weapons facility, I was greeted with a really rather depressing sight: Steiner had shelled out the money to build heavy turret cover for it, but had put the control buildings where the turrets couldn't really protect them. They had also put them where mechs and vehicles in the base couldn't protect them, for that matter. It was like they wanted me to turn their defenses against them.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsteinerweapturrets.png


I swung around wide and approached from due north, minimizing what little cover one set of turrets could provide to its control building. Longshot took a couple hits capturing the building, but nothing a quick hop to the Davion repair bay across the river couldn't fix. Two Highlanders came out of the base to oppose the team, but when faced by fire from their own turrets and my ridiculously numerous team, they lasted barely long enough to down the turret control. An LRM Carrier also showed up at some point, but was killed by Longshot almost before I noticed it.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bStweapturretcap.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bStweapfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bStweapfight2.png


With the base clear, Longshot jumped her Shadow Cat over the wall and captured yet another set of incredibly ineffectual turrets, leaving the weapons facility open. After the treasure trove in the Davion weapons facility, I couldn't wait to see what was in the Steiner one.

It held Swarm LRM racks. Swarm LRMs are incredibly deadly, but have targeting issues. And by "targeting issues" I mean "tend to blow up your own guys more than they do the enemy." Even the normally giddy Cash seemed disappointed.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bweapcap2.png


After brief repairs, it was time to head towards home. Our last objective was to capture the HQ of a Steiner base right next to the extraction point, but first, we had to get past a small base standing in our way.

I guess it wasn't terribly surprising that its defenses were disproportionate to its size, given that it was guarding a bridge that went across the river into Davion territory. Still, three mechs and a decent turret grid was going to be a hell of a fight for such a small reward.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsteinermidbasedefenses.png

I figured there was little point in waiting and sent in the troops. Skirting a minefield, they charged up a hill overlooking the base and, in a rare move for me, opened fire on the turrets' generator. I normally prefer to capture the turrets, but they weren't liable to be open for capture anytime soon and I decided just to take them out of the fight ASAP.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsteinermidbase1.png

With the turrets down, the mechs charged out to meet my forces. Two of the defending mechs turned out to be Razorbacks, and didn't last terribly long. The third, however, was a Zeus, and caught Longshot with a couple of volleys.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsteinermidbase2.png

The misstep cost me dearly as a lucky hit blew the Gauss Rifle off of Longshot's Shadow Cat. With only minimal backup weaponry, I would have to hold her out of combat for the rest of the mission. Even with one of my mechs out of the fight though, one Zeus didn't stand for long against what was left.


Like I said, it wasn't much of a prize. I shrugged and sent the team on to the HQ building and extraction point. After the previous couple fights, I wasn't expecting much out of the Steiner defenders.

I expected wrong.

The logical place to start the attack was a hill outside the base's eastern wall. It was high ground, and it had a turret control that, surprisingly, was actually protected by its turrets. That would give my long-range mechs a fortified impromptu firebase from which to rain death onto the Steiner defenders. It would also protect my flank from the Razorback or two that were wandering around.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsoutbaseturretcap.png


Steiner refused to take the bait, so more active measures were called for. I ordered Twitch to jump the wall in the southeast corner and capture the turret and gate controls there, opening the way for a frontal assault. He succeeded, but the rest of the team couldn't get to him before Steiner forces arrived.

And by "forces", I mean "a Highlander." Things did not go well for Twitch as his horribly outmatched Starslayer was pounded while he stayed at his post, desperately trying to keep the Highlander from recapturing the two control buildings.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsouthbasetwitchjump1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bsouthbasetwitchjump2.png


The Highlander, even when backed up by a Bushwacker, stood no chance against the team's full might, and Twitch managed to get out alive. Wounded and with his mech half-destroyed though, he would have to join Longshot behind the lines.

With a foothold secured, the team rested and regrouped while I watched a Hollander get blown apart by the hill turrets when it came out to investigate. Now, the only defenses still standing between me and a successful mission was the two mechs defending the HQ building in the northern half of the base.

I captured the controls to the gate separating the two halves of the base, and launched my assault. One of the mechs turned out to be a Zeus, which put up a real fight before finally being brought down. The other was another Hollander that went down to stray fire while I wasn't watching.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bHQfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bHQfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bHQcap.png


All in all, it had been a very profitable mission, Swarm LRMs not withstanding. Lots of salvage, plenty of cash, and most importantly, Clan energy weapons.

I had also had a chance to see Davion forces in action. Their defensive architecture was much more competent than Steiner's - or worse, the bandits' - had been, but the forces I had come up against had been less than impressive. Stock Jagermechs are good at their job of providing fire support, but are even worse than Catapults when isolated like they had been when I fought them. Enfields are just plain bad, especially when you're like us and can buy Starslayers at the same weight. And for all the hype over Davion's vaunted "imports", the only Omnimech I'd encountered was my new Shadow Cat.

I doubted it would last though. Major Kelly, the local Davion commander, was no moron, so I figured it wouldn't take long for her to realize that Liao was up to their usual tricks. And when people mess with Davion, it's only a matter of time before Mad Cats start showing up.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202b/Liao2bcomplete.png


==MISSION COMPLETE==



Any more votes for the lance names? So far, only one of them has more than a single vote.

[The_JJ]

Lighting and Thunder.

Yes, I'm taking my vote away from the one that's winning and redistributing it.

Deal. :smallwink:

[The Glyphstone]

Larry Lance and Curly Lance. Then, if you need a third-string set of pilots, they can be Moe Lance.

[Uncle Festy]

Larry Lance and Curly Lance. Then, if you need a third-string set of pilots, they can be Moe Lance.

This. :smallbiggrin:

[blackouttwo]

Yeah, I'm gonna go for Curly and Larry Lance. Just for the sake of finally having some official designations for the 'Mech lances.

Also, YAY! Clan energy weapons AND a Shadowcat!

[Artanis]

Just to note, I reserve the right not to use a set of lance names that I really dislike :smallwink:

[SparkMandriller]

Swarm LRMs are incredibly deadly, but have targeting issues. And by "targeting issues" I mean "tend to blow up your own guys more than they do the enemy." Even the normally giddy Cash seemed disappointed.

Has anyone ever found a good use for swarm ammo in this game? Because the only thing I've ever seen it do is miss. I suppose it'd be good against someone who was AFK, maybe?

[Eldariel]

Has anyone ever found a good use for swarm ammo in this game? Because the only thing I've ever seen it do is miss. I suppose it'd be good against someone who was AFK, maybe?

I suppose they can be relatively efficient if you can get a 4-point surround with Swarm LRM-stacked mechs on a large enemy group or something... That way they'll take hits regardless of where they move. But considering that requires a 4-point surround, no, not really.

[BooNL]

They can be effective against the computer though. Have them go after the heaviest 'mech you have and you can pick them off easily with swarmers.

Of course, by the time enemy 'mechs get close enough they should be a pile of dust anyway.

I've had some success with them in the past though.

[chiasaur11]

Just to note, I reserve the right not to use a set of lance names that I really dislike :smallwink:

I knew we should have gone with Shemp lance and Fake-Shemp lance.

[SparkMandriller]

They can be effective against the computer though. Have them go after the heaviest 'mech you have and you can pick them off easily with swarmers.

I tried that, and half the time the enemy managed to get away from them even at walking speed. They did manage to kill some Urbanmechs though!

They've even got an incredibly distinctive firing sound to let people who aren't paying attention know that they should start moving. Maybe the developers are trying to make people abide by zell too. :/


Oh yeah and also while we're on the subject of terrible weapons, how about heavy large lasers? Heavy mediums could theoretically be of use on a short range focus Cougar, but I have no idea what larges could be good for. I mean 18 heat, damn.

[Artanis]

Has anyone ever found a good use for swarm ammo in this game? Because the only thing I've ever seen it do is miss. I suppose it'd be good against someone who was AFK, maybe?

Hell, even Cash can't think of anything. In his little spiel about them, he says, "they're good for taking out lots of vehicles," which I guess they would be if I ever ran into that many vehicles. There's only one time they might be even remotely useful for that, and that one time, I'll have a Long Tom backing me up.




Oh yeah and also while we're on the subject of terrible weapons, how about heavy large lasers? Heavy mediums could theoretically be of use on a short range focus Cougar, but I have no idea what larges could be good for. I mean 18 heat, damn.

I don't get to use Cougars :smallfrown:

As for using Large Heavy Lasers, they can sorta be used as an upgrade to (non-ER) PPCs late in the singleplayer game. Regular PPCs are hopelessly obsolete starting right about at the mission I just did, but Large Heavies have the same general balance between damage, RoF, and heat as a PPC while having better output pretty much across the board. The cost for that being 40% more heat*.



*Three slots' worth of PPCs is 10 heat, three slots' worth of LHL+Heat Sink is 14 heat. Under those circumstances, the LHL beats (non-ER) PPCs in all the "per heat" measurements as well.

Incidentally, this is the same metric I use to declare that ACs suck. ...well, that and the fact that they don't show up in screenshots worth a damn :smallwink:

[Johnny Blade]

Just here to cast my vote for Lightning and Thunder Lance.

[SparkMandriller]

I don't get to use Cougars :smallfrown:

They're no good anyway. Slow lights are just stupid. Just like a heavy mech, except with much less pod space and armour! Not feeling it, guys.

I guess they fit in other Falcon mechs, though. Summoner, kinda like the Timber Wolf except not really as good! Hellbringers, which are, well, Hellbringers, though at least we don't build them. But hey, I guess Turkinas are kinda nice, and Night Gyrs are basically disco mechs, which is awesome.

(The really hilarious thing is that the stupid light show heat sinks are still better than IS ones. The clans are such cheats.)


As for using Large Heavy Lasers, they can sorta be used as an upgrade to (non-ER) PPCs late in the singleplayer game.]

Yeah, I thought about that, but then compared them to ridiculous amounts of ERMLs, and they seem much worse. Maybe if this game had a different heat system so you could keep them as backups on mechs with long range weapons or something. Kinda sucks that you need to bring enough heat sinks for every gun you have, even though if you mix ranges you can't even fire them all at once.

[Errant_Polearm]

Compare 2 Clan ER non-large Lasers to 1 Heavy Large Lase: same space, each does half as much damage as heat produced, and the twin ER Lasers fire a little more than 1.5 times as quickly (3.0 ER versus 1.8 Heavy).

Having two weapons means not necessarily hitting with full force each time, but of course it's more likely to get some hits, so that cuts both ways. However, the special skills come into play as well, since Lasers (Standard and Heavy) are a Regular Skill (when there aren't many good choices) and ER Lasers are for Veterans (when there are more choices). There's also aimed shots and luck. By the time you have both ER and Heavy Lasers, hitting an enemy cockpit with 2.5-5 damage might not mean very much; hit him with a Heavy Laser, and you might scare him into ejecting (or just plain kill him).

Heavy Lasers are probably not as good generally, but they're not bad still Clan tech. I thought that would be good enough for you, commie sympathizer.

[SparkMandriller]

Oh, good point on the skill levels thing. I haven't played the single player in ages, so I'd completely forgotten about that. I had a look at the pilot stats when I was hoping people would be up for multiplayer, but I just assumed the skills were assigned at random. Because I'm smart like that.
Headshots, though, I dunno, I seem to remember even cockpits having ridiculous amounts of armour. I think the last time I played I had the difficulty up pretty high though, so it mighta just been that.



And how about you go murder some more civilians, freebirth?

[Errant_Polearm]

Upon further review, the head shots point is a mild stretch.

Dang it, where's that "Clanner Insults" book when I need it...

[Deliverance]

Thanks for the AARs, Artanis - they inspired me to pick up MC2 for the first time since I played the campaign through at the year of release. :)

This time, I set the difficulty level to veteran rather than the regular I used the first time around and it has proven a much more interesting campaign than I remembered it - I remembered it mostly as "pretty sucky compared to MC1's campaign, just move everybody around in one group and blast everything easily" (after all, MC1 had missions such as "capture trucks driving in several different directions before any escape" forcing you to split your group and value mobility), but after a few early scares with early Urbanmechs nearly knocking out cockpits in one lucky shot I am now almost paranoid with respect to safety and slapping on as much armour as each mech can support.

Also, it seems that higher armour penetration is needed such that relying primarily on pulse lasers (as I recall doing the first time around and as you seem to be doing now) makes for very long fights, though it is possible that I am mistaken generally higher armour on the opposition at the higher difficulty level with an increased need for armour penetration.

How do other readers deal with the increased lethality of higher difficulty levels in SP? More armour, deadlier longe range weapons, or better tactics?

My approach seems to work, but it is a very different feel - e.g. I just completed the early "get an atlas mission" by deploying two maximum armoured Zeus' stuffed with ER Large Lasers, ER Lasers, and ordinary lasers - completely forgoing sensors because using 30 or 35 out of the 160 drop limit would significantly reduce my firepower. It did prevent sneaky turrent captures by jumping, but when running in with a Zeus to capture instead the turrets usually only got off one or two shots anyhow.

Got to love those 72 heat the Zeus can handle.

[Timberwolf]

swarm missiles...

They are bloody nasty in large quantity. I shall put why in a spoiler.


When you assault the liao palace, you run into lots of Catapults loaded to the gills with the wretched things. They were lethal, particularly to your big, slow, tightly grouped (because of the narrow pass to get there) Blood Asps. The best way to avoid them was to run as soon as they fire. Any direction will do, as long as you're not where you were. They have heavily damaged my mechs with a single salvo before and I always tool up with max armour. I hate those Catapults.

[SparkMandriller]

How do other readers deal with the increased lethality of higher difficulty levels in SP? More armour, deadlier longe range weapons, or better tactics?

Stay at long range and shoot everything with ER PPCs. And bring a book, because it takes like 10 head shots to kill a medium mech.

I found higher difficulties tremendously boring, to be honest. The AI still refused to run, so it never got close to my guys, and it never switched targets, so it was still ridiculously easy to kite.
But hey, this was a few years ago, so maybe I'm remembering things wrong and it was really great and you'll enjoy it immensely, right? Right?


The best way to avoid them was to run as soon as they fire.

You say that like you don't always run everywhere...

How is everyone on this forum so patient? I couldn't even stand using Blood Aps at all, and you walk with them?

[Timberwolf]

When I'm firing, yes, I walk as all my mechs will stay together in a nice cohesive unit, no matter how fast they can run and also will fire more often and more accurately.

Anyway, you let them fire (so walk to give the swarm lrm's a target) and then leg it asap.

Getting from A to B though, yes, running does get it done quicker

[blackouttwo]

*nudges thread* Seriously? No other comments? >_> *is not making a thinly-veiled attempt to keep the thread on the 1st Page*

[Artanis]

It probably doesn't help that I've been taking a short break for a couple days to recharge. The next installment should be up tomorrow though :smallwink:

[SparkMandriller]

I could start complaining about things, if you'd like. That might help keep things bumped.

So, there's only one clan assault mech in this game, how much does that suck? Especially since there isn't even a good reason for the IS to have many Blood Asps anyway. Warhawks or Dire Wolves would have not only been much cooler, but a lot more appropriate.
Oh oh oh or a Stone Rhino. I've loved them ever since I saw the name.


Mechcommander 2 was not designed specifically to please me, and is thus stupid, discuss.

[blackouttwo]

To be honest, Spark, I agree with you on the 'only one clan assault mech' thing. I mean, come on. Of all the different Clan 'mechs you could've picked for the Assault class, not only was there not a Daishi, but the Blood Asp belongs to a relatively minor clan and has little to no exposure to Inner Sphere units. A Masakari and Daishi at the least wouldn't have killed them.

[SparkMandriller]

I don't see how I'm supposed to argue with you if you agree with me. :smallconfused:

[blackouttwo]

That's because you won. :smalltongue:

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 2a==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Ambush

LOCATION: Dearborn Sector - Davion Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2amap.png


TEAM:
--TWITCH, Zeus
--CLAYMORE, Lao Hu
--WORM, Men Shen

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2ateam.png

(Note: Yes, the mission was dark, and no, the screenshots aren't going to get much lighter :smallfrown: )



==MISSION LOG==


Liao's plan had worked: Davion had entered the war and Major Kelly was mobilizing her forces. In a move that was unusually blatant for Liao, however, Captain Cho was already launching attacks against Davion. The Dearborn sector in particular had become a hot zone, with Liao forces attacking a Davion base there.

The base had thus far held out, which was either impressively good for Davion or impressively bad for Liao. Either way, Davion was sending reinforcements that, given how the battle was going thus far, were sure to be enough to repel the Liao attack altogether. Our job was to make sure that those forces never made it to the battlefield.

Making a mental note to choose names for the lances before our next mission, I deployed the backup lance. Despite Longshot's protests over wanting to be the first to try out the new Clan energy weapons, a defensive battle was sure to be heavily tilted in my favor, especially given the terrain. It was a perfect opportunity to get the backups some experience before things heated up even more, so I sent Twitch in a Zeus, Claymore in a Lao Hu, and Worm in a Men Shen.


The mission started near dusk with the Davion convoys nowhere to be seen, so I sent Twitch and Worm east from the drop point to capture a resource building. Meanwhile, Claymore island-hopped west to survey and, if possible, capture a heavily-turreted resource base to the west.

It didn't take long for me to be glad I had sent Twitch along with Worm, because the pair quickly ran into relatively stiff resistance in the form of hovertanks, a mech, and multiple squads of power-armored infantry. Worm's Men Shen was torn apart pretty badly, but the defenders simply couldn't match up to the Zeus.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aeastfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aeastfight2.png

Claymore, on the other hand, had little trouble reaching his objective. The only mobile forces protecting the western RP base were a handful of light vehicles, and neither the turrets nor the vehicles were positioned to guard the turret control from an amphious(-ish) assault. Claymore took a couple of light hits, but was otherwise unscathed when he finished capturing the base.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aclaymorecap.png

RPs in hand, I assessed my options for where to make my stand. The Davions were certain to have road-bound vehicles, and thus the convoy was going to be following the road. With that in mind, the best place for a defensive stand seemed to be a half-built supply dump on the northwest corner of the lake, so I headed in that direction.

Twitch and Worm passed through a small town along the way which held an RP warehouse and, more interestingly, a nearby pair of enemy mechs. The town had terrible sight lines for my direct-fire energy weapons, so I ignored the mechs for the time being. The two enemy mechs followed, but seemed to be in little hurry to actually close the gap.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2atown.png


After clearing the depot's token defenders, I set to work preparing my own defense. It mostly involved mines.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2amines1.png

And more mines.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2amines2.png

I also added a long tom battery. And then more mines.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2alongtom.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2amines3.png


The two mechs from the village turned out to be Ullers, which the team managed to kill without blowing up their reactors, upping my OmniMech salvage count to three. Other than that, there was little to do but wait for the convoy.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aullers.png

The convoy included a few light mechs and vehicles that had to be killed the old-fashioned way. Otherwise though, my defense of the supply dump mostly consisted of grabbing some popcorn and watching the mines blow up the convoy.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aminekills2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aminekills1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aminekills3.png

The WHOLE convoy.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aminekills4.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2aminekills5.png

The last Davion to fall was a Vulture. It's a perfect poster child (poster mech?) for Clan superiority: superficially similar to the Catapult, but lighter, faster, tougher, and deadlier.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2avulture.png


Fortunately, "superior" does not include "mine-immune".

When the Vulture popped, Diaz informed me that the last element of the convoy had been destroyed. I sent Longshot in the salvage craft to pick up the Vulture, and to make up for leaving her behind, I let her have some fun using the Vulture's clan tech to blow up a few buildings.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2amyvulture.png


I'd now fought the Davions twice, and still hadn't had a chance to see their true capabilities, which worried me. What worried me more, however, was Commander Cho. Liao had never been good at a straight fight, instead relying on the sort of machinations that the Mandrissa was using me for. That Liao's local military commander was flinging his forces headlong at a hardened Davion base was not a good sign.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%202a/Liao2acomplete.png


==MISSION COMPLETE==

[blackouttwo]

Ugh. Jason Cho. Don't even get me started on him.

To the salvage of the Ullers and Vulture, I say excellent. :smallbiggrin:

[Timberwolf]

I do this almost exactly the same way but I bring a short range Highlander to do the jumping and then whatever I have kicking about to round out the numbers.

Works well

[blackouttwo]

When I ran this mission before I lost my disc(Should be getting a new one come Christmas :smallbiggrin: ) I always just went for an old-fashioned slug-fest. Saved RPs for me to pick up all the enemy mechs. Damage and risk to my pilots be damned, I was gonna save all my C-Bills for when it mattered!

[Guancyto]

Ugh. Jason Cho. Don't even get me started on him.

Pshaw, he's not that bad.

Campaign 3 Spoilers: I mean, you have to pay to pick up his Cyclops, but using the 'mech in every mission thereafter just to piss off the Mandrissa? Delicious.

[blackouttwo]

Wow. I thought I was the only one who did that. :smallamused:

[Timberwolf]

No, really not


I mean, by that point I already own 3 cyclops because it's that awesome and I like spares, but another will never ever hurt. Seriously, that Mech is Palerider's birthday, Christmas and just about everything else rolled into one. At least he can dish out almost as much firepower as a Shadowcat ! /sarcasm in the face of inferior spheroid tech

[SparkMandriller]

The two mechs from the village turned out to be Ullers, which the team managed to kill without blowing up their reactors, upping my OmniMech salvage count to three.

Your Men Shen is crying.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I would have sworn I salvaged a Mad Cat in this mission.

[The_JJ]

*bump*

I know I've seen you post around Artanis. :smallwink:

I want more ninja explosions.

[Artanis]

*bump*

I know I've seen you post around Artanis. :smallwink:

I want more ninja explosions.

The bandwidth limit on the photobucket account I'm using is running a bit low, so I was trying to stretch it with a few days off. It's been about long enough though, so the next post will be up shortly :smallwink:

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 3==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Carver V-A - ComStar Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3map.png


TEAM:
--LONGSHOT, Zeus
--FLASH, Vulture
--DAGGER, Starslayer
--PALERIDER, Uller

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3team.png


(Note: I've gone with Lightning and Thunder. That's the only combo with more than one vote, plus Thunder appeared in more than half the combo votes. So there ya go :smallwink: )



==MISSION LOG==


When the Mandrissa's call came in, she and Jason were arguing over strategy. Jason wanted to launch frontal attacks against Steiner and Davion. The Mandrissa wanted to stick with the tried and true Liao tactic of sneaking around until they could stick a knife in their enemies' kidneys.

The problem that Liao had on Carver V was that they couldn't call in reinforcements, while Steiner and Davion could. The only way for Liao to win was to cut off those reinforcements, one way or another. To do this, the Mandrissa planned to remove their ability to call for help in the first place.

When the Mandrissa explained how she would accomplish this, my blood ran cold: she would destroy Carver V's HPG. Nobody, not even the Clans, dared to piss off ComStar, who ran the HPG grid. If this went badly, House Liao was liable to wind up with its entire empire crippled by ComStar interdiction. The only ray of hope I could grab onto was that the HPGs were guarded by Davion forces, so maybe ComStar would buy that the HPGs had been caught in the crossfire of the war.

Either way, the team was going where I couldn't call in support, and was going to be fighting not just Davion OmniMechs, but probably Clan MechWarriors as well. That in turn meant I would be sending Longshot's newly-named Lightning lance, while Steel's newly-named Thunder lance stayed home.

Longshot was given my best fighter, a Zeus armed with Clan beams. Palerider got one of the new Ullers, and Flash got my biggest Clan mech, the new Vulture. I had fifty tons left and still needed a jumper, so I put Dagger in a Starslayer. I would have taken the Shadow Cat, but its still-irreplaceable Gauss Rifle had proven vulnerable to being blown off.


The mission started just as Carver V and its second moon were cresting the horizon. I wished that I had more time to admire the view, but my mind was forced to more practical measures. There were two objectives relatively close to the drop zone, and they were right next to a repair bay and a sensor control building. It was an obvious first target. It was also the most likely place to run into elite troops.

I was not disappointed.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3clanners.png

Palerider was able to identify two mechs guarding the four targets, a Thor and a Ryoken. Worse, one of the enemy pilots called me up to brag about how much better he, a Clan MechWarrior, was than my "ragged band". In a way, he had a point: Clan warriors are quite literally purpose-built for combat.

He was also outnumbered two to one.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3thorfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3thorfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3thorfight3.png

As expected, the two Clanners put up a hell of a fight, but never really had any chance to win. One of them called me from his ejection pod saying something about serving as a bondsman. I shrugged and had Diaz get started on the paperwork for hiring them as soon as we decided what to do about them, and made a mental note to check out their skills later.


Thankfully, the two Clan mechs both survived intact enough to be salvaged, and their defeat left the complex undefended.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3deaddropship.png

Cash was genuinely excited about what the weapons facility held, and this time I'm not being a smartass about it: it held Clan Gauss Rifles. As much as I prefer energy weapons, I still respect something that, as Cash describes them, "can take an Atlas's head clean off."

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3weapcap1.png


Next up was the HPGs and the weapon facilities near them. The whole shebang was in a set of craters defended by a ring of properly-turreted firebases. I was thankful to see that at least somebody in this system knew how to build a turret battery. I was not thankful, however, to see what kind of turrets the firebases held.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3turret.png

I'd seen turrets with everything from SRMs to Large Pulse Lasers, but the Davions' turrets? Gauss Rifles. A little three-turret firebase held more firepower than sector command centers twice their size. Dagger was going to be in for a world of hurt capturing those things.


Once the repair bay had patched everybody up, there was nothing to do but start securing enough of the perimeter to avoid being flanked. The "ramp" down to the nearest weapons facility was guarded by a pair of firebases (plus a couple Ullers that were quickly destroyed). Dagger got to work, braving the Gauss fire to capture a strongpoint from which to meet any defenders.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3gausscap1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3gausscap2.png


Those gauss turrets came in real handy real quick as a nearby patrol and the weapon facility's defenders hit the team in quick succession.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3wf2fight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3wf2fight2.png

Unlike Dagger, who had been through the turrets' field of fire quickly, the enemy mechs were held up by my own. Those that weren't cut down by laser fire were savaged by gauss rifles. Even power-armored infantry, which are normally a bitch to hit, were not safe from the ballistic weapons' scary accuracy.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3wf2fight3.png


This weapons facility was a letdown compared to the first: Clan Ultra Autocannon tech. Blech.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3weapcap2.png


I now had three choices: a frontal assault on the HPGs from where I was; a frontal assault on the third weapons facility; or a sneak attack the HPGs from the back door in the northeast, grabbing an unguarded repair bay along the way.

It was not a particularly difficult decision.

The northeastern crater was protected, but only by a few light mechs. I guess Davion figured - or at least hoped - that all the OmniMechs and gauss turrets would keep attackers from getting that far.

The fight was about as difficult as the decision to go there.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3NEfight.png


I refrained from destroying the turret generators because the HPGs were guarded by massive batteries of autocannon turrets, and I wanted those turrets. The team headed down the channel that led to the central crater, straight to the control buildings for those turrets. The Enfield guarding them charged out to engage the team while Palerider slipped past and grabbed the control buildings.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3turretcap.png


Of course, Murphey then decided that that was a great time for a couple of Storms to show up and start spraying PPC fire at my mechs. Fortunately, the autocannon turrets helped deal with them before they could inflict too much damage.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3storms.png


The only thing now standing between me and the total collapse of House Liao the destruction of the HPGs was some turrets that I already owned.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3HPGdown.png


And of course, Captain Cho decided to call me to brag about how his plan to cut off communications had worked. It was at that moment that I lost all respect for the man. It was the Mandrissa's idea to cut off Carver V from the rest of the Inner Sphere, and Jason had argued vehemently against such a move. And now he was claiming it was his plan?

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3Cho.png

I'd seen his like before: foolhardy, incompetent, and quick to claim other peoples' glory for himself. Things rarely ended well for such people.

I cut the channel and shook my head at Diaz. I could see in her eyes that she was thinking the exact same thing. But we had a job to do and a contract to fulfill, so we were damned well going to do it.


Our last objective was a third weapons facility, which sat in the final crater. It had roughly the same level of defenses as the second facility, but I was able to approach from an angle not covered by gauss turrets.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3WF3defenders.png

I didn't feel like going the long way around to grab the gauss turrets, so I decided instead to use the massive autocannon batteries surrounding what was left of the HPGs. Palerider snuck up close enough to take a potshot at the defenders and draw them to the turrets.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3WF3baited.png

It was pretty much a massacre.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3WF3fight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3WF3fight2.png


With the third weapons facility clear, it was time to grab its Clan LRMs and head home.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3weapcap3.png


The remaining patrols on the way back were easily avoided, giving me time to admire the scenery. Carver V and its second moon provided a beautiful backdrop to the battlefield. I felt a little like Neil Armstrong, other than the whole "using giant combat machines to kill dozens of people en route to destroying the single most important piece of machinery in the system" thing.

...which, come to think of it, is absolutely nothing like what Neil Armstrong would have felt, but I digress.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3scenery.png


I had faced Davion in a real fight, and I was impressed. They had shown much more competence in defense planning than Steiner ever did, and they were far more tenacious when the chips were down than Liao. And this is on top of the fact that Major Kelly was apparently skillful enough to get ComStar to have her defend their HPG instead of the mightly ComGuard.

Liao had gained an advantage for the time being. I only wondered how long that would last before Captain Jason threw that away.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%203/Liao3complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==


It's time for more audience participation! I have three choices for the next mission I do:

4a) Facility Assault: Legion
--Steiner has a factory building a new tank that might actually be worth its cost. I have to destroy the factory and all the prototypes before Steiner can deploy the thing.

4b) Acquisition: Base Hermes
--There's a Davion base that I'm supposed to take. The good news is that there isn't much left to help the defenders. The bad news is that I then have to hold it...and there isn't much left to help the defenders. Expect lots of minelayer action.

4c) Covert Ops: Orbital
--Steiner has some orbital guns that are shooting at Liao stuff. I have to sneak in and destroy them.

The next update may be a while thanks to the holidays, so there's plenty of time to vote!

[Timberwolf]

The Legion Assault is fun but big mechs needed, those things are scary. Base Hermes is also fun. The Covert ops is less so so I'd say get that out of the way first.

[Johnny Blade]

I vote for the facility assault.

[The_JJ]

w00t! Lance namer over here.


Anyway, I could live with some base taking and holding. Sounds fun.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I vote facility. Show those Steiner crazies that legs > treads

[Guancyto]

Go with the base mission, if only for the epic number of Clan 'mechs it will net you for the low, low price of a few minelayers.

[blackouttwo]

I vote for the Legion Facility assault. Kick Steiner's ass.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm just going to be contrary and vote for destroying the orbital guns. That mission annoyed me so much whenever I had to do it.:smallwink:
No, I'm not sore that Curly Lance and Larry Lance didn't even deserve recognition as a suggestion that got more than one vote, even if they got vetoed, why do you ask?

[BooNL]

+1 Base Hermes. The sooner you get those Mad Cats into action, the better!

[Artanis]

Don't worry folks, I haven't abandoned this LP. I fully intended to come back to it a day or two after the holidays, but then my photobucket account nearly ran out of bandwidth, then I got sick, and then I have a test coming up...

So it's very much alive and well, just a bit under the weather :smallfrown:




Edit: Addendum

It took my bacteria-addled brain a couple minutes to realize that this is a good chance to tally up the votes we thus far have for the next mission. So far, the count is:
--Facility Assault: 3
--Base Assault: 3
--Orbital Guns: 2

Said bacteria-addling also means there's still time to vote :smallcool:

[Johnny Blade]

Don't worry folks, I haven't abandoned this LP. I fully intended to come back to it a day or two after the holidays, but then my photobucket account nearly ran out of bandwidth, then I got sick, and then I have a test coming up...
That's kind of a recurring problem, isn't it?

Anyway, glad this is still around, get well soon, good luck, etc. pp. :smallwink:

[Rama]

I'll toss a vote on facility assault.

[BooNL]

Managed to finish these three missions last week. The Orbital Guns mission is pretty frustrating. In the end, I just threw stealth out the window and ran in, guns blazing, with a Mad Cat.

Worked like a charm :smallbiggrin:.

Anyway, could I suggest a second Photobucket account?

[Artanis]

Managed to finish these three missions last week. The Orbital Guns mission is pretty frustrating. In the end, I just threw stealth out the window and ran in, guns blazing, with a Mad Cat.

Worked like a charm :smallbiggrin:.

Anyway, could I suggest a second Photobucket account?

Yeah, I was thinking about doing that. But then I got sick and wasn't going to be doing anything anyways, so I haven't done it yet :smallfrown:

[Timberwolf]

Managed to finish these three missions last week. The Orbital Guns mission is pretty frustrating. In the end, I just threw stealth out the window and ran in, guns blazing, with a Mad Cat.

Worked like a charm :smallbiggrin:.


I always prefer to have at least some form of sensors. Uller and Shadowcat for me.

[BooNL]

I always prefer to have at least some form of sensors. Uller and Shadowcat for me.

True, I didn't get all the enemies because of my lack of sensors. The lack of jump jets was also slightly frustrating at times. The mission is clearly designed for two light 'mechs. I tore everything apart with my Mad Cat, it just wasn't funny anymore. Actually, it was :smallbiggrin:.

[Artanis]

I think I'm feeling well enough to give the next mission a shot, and it looks like the Facility Assault won the vote :smallbiggrin:


Edit: Oh great, now the game has decided to stop working right. Yet another thing to sort out :smallannoyed:

[The_JJ]

*poke*

Is it dead? :smallfrown:

[Ka-ther Fangfoot]

I don't see what the problem with the orbital guns mission is. I blew through it on the first try. Shadowcat and Razorback, I think. Light AC sniping FTW. The repair bay by the airstrip (I think) makes things a breeze, since if anyone manages to actually hit you, you can just go repair, and with light mechs, it doesn't even take that long to run back.

[Eldariel]

*poke*

Is it dead? :smallfrown:


I think I'm feeling well enough to give the next mission a shot, and it looks like the Facility Assault won the vote :smallbiggrin:


Edit: Oh great, now the game has decided to stop working right. Yet another thing to sort out :smallannoyed:

No? Wait 'till he gets the game fixed.

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 4a==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Legion R&D Facility - Steiner Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4amap.png



TEAM:
--DAGGER, Zeus
--FLASH, Zeus
--LONGSHOT, Thor
--STEEL, Vulture
--PALERIDER, Uller

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4ateam.png




==MISSION LOG==


The Mandrissa was pleased with our success on the moon. For now, we had the upper hand, with Steiner and Davion unable to call in reinforcements to offset Liao's home-field advantage. There was a bit of a problem though: tanks.

Normally, tanks aren't really that big of a deal, especially when they take on the kind of big mechs that I was fielding. Liao's intel, however, was getting reports that Steiner was building ones that were. We had to keep these so-called "Legion" tanks from reaching the field where they could turn the tide back in Steiner's favor. This, of course, meant me going in and blowing up everything that moved...and everything that didn't, for that matter.

Luckily, Liao had decided to fight like Liao for once, suckering Baxter into launching an attack of his own. They would provide a distraction and absorb the brunt of the first wave of defenders. Knowing the partisans, they were bound to have some other tricks that would help even further.

Not knowing precisely what we'd be up against, I deployed Lightning lance, with heavy firepower in the form of Dagger and Flash in Zeuses and Longshot in the Thor. For even more firepower, I grabbed Steel and put him in the Vulture. Palerider provided scouting support in his Uller.


The partisans' attack was already in progress when the team arrived, and I sent the big mechs to help. Palerider was sent due west along the coast to meet with a Liao operative who supposedly had some sort of info that would help against the Legion tanks.

The partisans were using vehicles, few of which were exactly front-liners. The battle did not go well for the partisans.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4arebelattack1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4arebelattack2.png

The only reason any of them survived was the fact that my forces got to the fight and bailed them out before the Steiner forces - which included mechs and held the high ground - could finish the massacre.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4arebelattack3.png


Meanwhile, Palerider was getting some interesting information from Liao's operative: the Legion tanks had weak rear armor. Of course, charging headlong into a swarm of 90+ ton tanks was still a bad idea, but at least it was something.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4aspy.png


With what was left of the partisans saved, they informed me that they had operatives of their own in the area. Specifically, they had a demolition team that was going to blow up the Steiner sensor grid. I was really starting to like this Baxter guy.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4asensor.png


With the Steiner sensor grid down, it was time to get to work. Two secondary targets - a factory center to the east and a major base to the northwest - flanked the Legion facility. At least one of them had to go to ensure that I wasn't surrounded during my assault, and the base had a repair bay.

I cleared out a couple of small firebases, called in a repair truck for a quick refit, then steeled myself for the counterattack launched by the base's garrison.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4aNWfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4aNWfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4aNWfight3.png

They sent everything they had, leaving the base undefended. It wasn't a bad strategy, really, given how many times I'd shown them that I could carve up static defenses. An en masse assault was their best chance to win, but even with a couple nearby patrols joining the fray, it wasn't enough. Soon enough, I had captured their base with its vital RP warehouse and repair bay.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4aNWbase.png


At the back of the base was the nominal objective in the area, a generator that powered a relay station. I have no damn clue what a relay station does, but I was being paid to blow it up. A couple of vehicles and a powered-down Shootist had been held in reserve to defend the thing, but they were quickly defeated by my freshly-repaired mechs.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4agenerator1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4agenerator2.png


With my flank secure and a repair bay in hand, it was time to take out the tanks. I found a massive hill overlooking the facility, and set up the strategy that had served me so well in the past: put a Long Tom up there and fight from the high ground. It'd work doubly well due to the fact that tanks have a harder time climbing hills than mechs do.

The facility's commander contacted me and informed me that he was happy to finally have a "worthy opponent" to test his Legions against. And he had no shortage of the things.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4atanks.png


I learned two valuable lessons as the Legion tanks lumbered up the slope. The first was that they each had two Gauss rifles, plus some short-ranged weaponry that totalled more firepower than many heavy mechs. The second was that they were smart enough to shoot at the Long Tom.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4adeadLT.png

The front armor was as tough as advertised, requiring a massive amount of firepower to punch through. The fight almost instantly devolved into a pounding match between the team and the enemy. It then, almost as instantly, returned to a "proper" fight when several mechs showed up to support the tanks.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4atankfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4atankfight2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4atankfight3.png

Between massed Gauss fire and exploding mech reactors, it was a tough fight that ended with Longshot and Palerider wounded, and Dagger nearly missing a leg. But in the end, formidable though they were, the tanks were just that: tanks.

(Note: And it would've been a hell of a lot harder if the AI hadn't flipped out and made the tanks stop fighting halfway through the battle :smallannoyed: )

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4atankaftermath.png


There was just one last objective, an industrial complex to the south, halfway between the Legion facility and the original LZ. I expected a quick jog in, explosion-fest, and jog out to the extraction point. It turned out to be more heavily-defended than expected.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4alastfight1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4alastfight2.png


After the battle against the Legion tanks though, Storms just seemed pathetic, even with a Highlander backing them up. It didn't take long before the area was secure and the objective destroyed.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4alastfight3.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4afactory.png


It had been a long, hard-fought mission, but not a particularly complex one. Drop in, kill everything that moved, and leave. It also gave me hope that we might actually pull this thing out after all. Those Legion tanks would've seriously messed up the Liao forces if they'd been put into full production, but a quick, well-aimed strike had headed off the problem before it could even appear.

I could only wonder what Captain Cho would do with one less thing to worry about.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204a/Liao4acomplete.png




==MISSION COMPLETE==


I'm sorry it took so long to get back to this, and I really appreciate everybody's patience. Like I said, every time it seemed like I was about to get started again, something got in the way :smallfrown: .

At any rate, there's two missions to choose from now: sneaking in and blowing up the orbital guns, or taking over the Davion base. Get to voting! :smallsmile:

[The_JJ]

I say we go sneaky.

[Timberwolf]

Orbital guns

[Rama]

I concur. Blow up the big guns.

[Johnny Blade]

True gentlemen know to appreciate a good explosion once in a while.

So blow up dem guns. :smallcool:


Also, I must say I liked it when at least Longshot had a slightly expanded role. I mean, I see that it's not the focus of the Let's Play, but the occasional one-liner would be nice.

[Timberwolf]

True 'dat

Longshot was always my favourite pilot.

[Eldariel]

Nice job there. Yeah, some Pilot-comments could be interesting. I mean, they can hardly keep their mouths shut in-game.

And yeah, I concur; I've always had a thing for blasting Orbital Guns. So let's go blast 'em!

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 4c==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Search and Destroy

LOCATION: Marko Sector - Steiner Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cmap.png



TEAM:
--FLASH, Thor

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cteam.png




==MISSION LOG==


Things were going surprisingly well for Liao. We'd bought them enough advantages to gain the upper hand, which was pretty impressive considering that they were caught in a two-front war. Of course, their enemies were also in two-front wars of their own, but I digress.

There was still a major problem though: air cover. Liao had plenty of orbital assets like dropships and aerospace fighters, but couldn't bring them to bear without them being shot down. While they could focus their forces against incursions better than Steiner and Davion, their offensives were stuck hoofing it, negating pretty much every advantage that Liao forces were designed for.

That was all about to change.

Liao intel had found a major battery of orbital guns behind Steiner lines, and figured out a way to air-drop 75 tons into the area. I opted to send the Thor, gambling on size over numbers and jump jets over sensors. Longshot, as my best pilot, assumed she'd get the nod, and was understandably upset when she learned I'd chosen Flash's (relative) subtlety over her penchant for collateral damage.


The first task was to link up with an intel operative that Liao had in the area, who would provide data regarding the orbital guns in the area. Flash easily blew away a Razorback wandering around the area and made contact. As always, Liao's intel was impressive: locations of three of the four guns, a warning that the fourth was mobile, and several other points of interest to help my chances (and more importantly, fatten my wallet).

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cintel.png


Recon photos showed an airfield almost due west of Flash's position with a sensor control building, a vital repair bay, and effectively no defenders. It was going to be a long, slow mission, and such a place would make an excellent base of operations.

Taking the complex turned out to be a good decision. The repair bay immediately came in handy, patching up damage Flash had taken from the turrets and the wandering Razorback's lucky shots.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4crepair.png

The sensor control also proved its worth as the new grid showed a vehicle convoy that was almost certainly the mobile gun.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cblips.png


The nearest secondary objective was a fuel depot along the (probably) mobile gun's route. Obviously, Liao's operative had heard of my legendary stealthiness, and found an opportunity to further enhance my ninja-like skills.

Also, something for Flash to tease Longshot about later.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cfuel1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cfuel2.png


The (probably) mobile gun had wandered off by this point, so I decided to go ahead and hit one of the static guns. It was in the dead center of a major base that obviously dated back to before the FedCom Civil War: the turret batteries' placement showed Steiner-level incompetence, but the batteries themselves were up to Davion standards.

Expecting the place to have some mobile defenses, I had Flash come at the base from its southwest corner, straight towards one of the turret batteries. After taking out a couple Vedettes patrolling outside the walls, my choice of jump jets proved its worth by allowing Flash to hop the wall and take the turret control with minimal damage.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cturretjump.png


It didn't take long for a Hunchback to show up and engage Flash. It also didn't take long for its pilot to realize that the turret control had been captured and switch targets. That was fine by me: losing some captured turrets was preferable to having HAC rounds slamming into Flash's Thor.

By the time the turret control was destroyed, the Hunchback was on its last legs. The Steiner mech never got to bring its HAC to bear against Flash before its pilot ejected.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cHBK1a.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cHBK1b.png


The base's other turret batteries fell even more easily than the first, and did most of the work against the base's remaining mobile defenders, a Razorback and a Vedette. Just like that, the orbital gun was defenseless...and promptly destroyed.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cgate.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cOG1.png


The side-trip and subsequent repair run had taken enough time for the (probably) mobile gun to wander back into the vicinity. Flash headed for the next target, and soon enough I could take the "(probably)" tag off the gun.

Note: Fun fact - there's a bug that let the repair run take less time than typing this sentence :smallcool:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cmobile.png


Its escort convoy was just some light vehicles that, as Diaz remarked, blew up in a Flash. The orbital gun was made of sterner stuff, but with nothing to protect it, it was only a matter of time before it blew.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cconvoy.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cmobiledead.png


A relay station was (more or less) on the way to the third orbital gun. I still have no idea what those things do, but I was being paid to capture it, so I captured it.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4crelay.png


The second static gun was on an island defended by a couple choppers. There wasn't even any turrets. It was destroyed quickly.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cOG2.png


Flash didn't even need a repair run before continuing the counterclockwise sweep of the area. Standing in the way of that sweep was a lightly-defended base with plenty of explosives and, more importantly, a repair bay. In a rare move, I decided to disable the base's turret generator rather than mess with the control building.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cgenerator.png


I then found that it was not quite as lightly-defended as I had thought, and a swarm of vehicles stormed into the base. As thoroughly outmatched as vehicles normally are - especially when up against a heavy Clan mech - there was more than enough to overwhelm a single Thor.

And by "overwhelm", I mean "get blown up by ammo dumps shot by".

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cammo.png

Flash still needed some repairs after the skirmish. Luckily, the repair bay had somehow survived an explosion that could be seen from space.

(Note: Seriously, WTF?)

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4crepairlives.png


All that was left was the final static gun, plus whatever defenders it may have. A quick look at the tacmap showed that those defenders certainly wouldn't be helped much by the area's turrets, which were even more mind-bogglingly badly placed than usual for Steiner.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cturrets.png


The fate of the final orbital gun came down to a battle between Flash and the only remaining Steiner unit in the area: another Hunchback. The duel would be fought next to a battery of turrets that I had had Flash capture, mostly for the hell of it since it was nowhere near anything even remotely worth protecting.

This fight went about like the previous Hunchback fight, with the exception that the Steiner mech didn't even manage to blow up the turret control.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cHBK2a.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cHBK2b.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cHBK2c.png


With literally nothing left to oppose Flash, I had her destroy the final orbital gun and head home.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4cOG3.png


Now Liao not only had home-field advantage, they also finally had an open battlefield that would let them use their speed against the superior Steiner and Davion firepower. Good luck trying to pin down somebody who can move fast enough to send a full-blown salvage team to clean up in Flash's wake.

As the extraction craft brought Flash home, I made a mental note to make sure that I sent Longshot on the next mission piloting an OmniMech with plenty of explosives.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204c/Liao4ccomplete.png




==MISSION COMPLETE==


That's right folks, I LIIIIIVVVVEEEE!

[Errant_Polearm]

Note: Fun fact - there's a bug that let the repair run take less time than typing this sentence :smallcool:

And it's certainly a good thing for that mission, letting it be fun rather than having to wait for pilot(s) running back and forth from the repair bays.

The little bits of characterization add to the story nicely, by the way.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm not surprised that the repair bay survived the ammo dumps cooking off. Have you ever actually tried to deliberately kill one? They're practically indestructible.

[chiasaur11]

I'm not surprised that the repair bay survived the ammo dumps cooking off. Have you ever actually tried to deliberately kill one? They're practically indestructible.

Obviously, they repair themselves.

[Artanis]

I'm sure they are. I just never had one in that position before, so I naturally assumed they'd be similar to MC1, and thus relatively easy to destroy.

[Eldariel]

Welcome back. Nice shooting, though that mission truly showcases the game's...amazing building placement. Also, that sounds like an Adamantium Repair Platform or something.

Good to see this is going on again; will be fun. Especially since almost all Let's Plays seem to run into some problems.

[The_JJ]

I think you should add the pilots (and thier stats?) to the cast page. Post. Spoilerthingy. Whatever.

[Rustic Dude]

Great Let's Play! Now I wish the exams were over to enjoy some mechanized action.

BTW, when you finish beating the poor campaign you should continue with the user-made campaigns. Most are superb and much more challenging than the original, with a crapload more of mechs. A bit painful sometimes.

[Artanis]

I actually tried to install one of the fan-made campaigns. I wound up having to reinstall the entire program. Twice.

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 4b==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Secure Hostile Area

LOCATION: Base Hermes, Colddain Province - Davion Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bmap.png



TEAM:
--DAGGER, Zeus
--CLAYMORE, Zeus
--FLASH, Thor
--LONGSHOT, Vulture
--PALERIDER, Uller

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bteam.png




==MISSION LOG==


With the Steiner orbital guns destroyed, Liao could finally bring the wrath of their aerospace assets to bear on Steiner and Davion. Seizing the opportunity, Captain Cho ordered a massive blitzkrieg along the entire border.

I was part of a strike against House Davion with the objective of securing Cho's flank. In particular, I was sent to take Base Hermes in the strategically-vital Colddain Province before Kelly could reinforce it, and then turn around and destroy those reinforcements.

Even with its walls shattered by orbital bombardment, I was still going to be dealing with Gauss turrets and Clan mechs. That meant Lightning lance. Flash kept the Thor, while Dagger would pilot a Zeus into battle. Palerider, as usual, was in his Uller. Longshot was still irritated, but seemed pleased enough with the Vulture's LRM racks. Finally, Claymore was sent along in a second Zeus, which left Steel available to pilot any Clan mechs we might salvage along the way.


The area was littered with resource bunkers and the remains of small firebases. I sent Palerider towards the nearest bunker, which was to the east of the LZ, while the rest of the team went north towards the largest surviving firebase. They met minimal resistance as they captured a sensor control building and strode into the firebase, capturing its resource warehouse and repair bay.

I decided to let Longshot blow up a couple turrets, but had to order her to stop when Dagger decided to join in the fun.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bearly1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bearly2.png

Palerider continued to wander around the area grabbing resources and capturing turrets. The turrets wouldn't do much, but I figured I might as well since they might kill a vehicle or two. The main force grabbed a batch of AC turrets on the way to the main base and then prepared for their assault.


Intel hadn't been kidding when they said the main base's defenses were (literally) shot to hell.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bwalls1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bwalls2.png


By this time, the reinforcements convoy was already entering the area, so there wasn't any time to lose.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bconvoy.png

I ordered the assault. Even with the walls destroyed and turrets no doubt in poor shape, the Davion defenders were tenacious bastards. The defense was led by Vultures, which packed enough firepower to be a threat even when outmatched as badly as they were.

Stubborn and potent though they may have been though, the defenders were still scattered, outweighed, and exhausted. They were unable to stop the team's advance.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bassault1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bassault2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bassault3.png


With the base captured, I set to fortifying my new possession. The first order of business was to grab some popcorn while padding my wallet complete several absolutely vital mission objectives that I totally wouldn't have done anyways, such as capturing all the turrets.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bfortifying.png


I salvaged and patched up a Vulture for Steel to pilot, then went about preparing to show Davion what I had once shown Liao: how much it sucked to try to get through my minefields.

(Note: I laid down lots of mines, but forgot to take pictures of most of them until after they'd been set off :smallfrown: )

A light mech and a couple non-combat vehicles were small enough to go through the mines without problems. My pilots used them for target practice.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bdavionmech.png

As for the rest of the mission, even Clan mechs are no match for having their legs blown out from under them.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4baftermath1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4baftermath2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4baftermath3.png


And that, as they say, was that. Go in, call the minelayers, then sit back and watch an entire Davion army throw itself straight into Cash's waiting arms.

Now, Captain Jason Cho had every advantage a commander could hope for. Initiative. Air superiority. Home-field advantage. Unbreachable flanks. And the services of the best mech company in the entire system.

I bet Diaz ten c-bills that he'd get himself killed when he botched it.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%204b/Liao4bcomplete.png




==MISSION COMPLETE==

[Eldariel]

Heya boys, a friggin' Mad Cat! Now things really get good.

[Foryn Gilnith]

You convinced me to crack open my old copy and play. I am very glad about that.

[Rustic Dude]

Congratulations on your Mad Cat. Good stuff. (A shame you won't load it with 4 PPCs :smallbiggrin:)

Also, I've got a question. I've tried re-installing the game in my two computers, one with Vista, one with 7, and I've got terrible slowdowns. Are you playing in a XP computer?

[BooNL]

I'm a bit annoyed with this game. I'm up to the last Liao mission, but for some reason the Quick Save/Load function is a bit wonky.

I was at the very end of the mission when Steel's Highlander blew up (damn Lao Hu's!), but when I reloaded the mission immediately ended in a "Mission Failed" and my 'mechs were nowhere to be seen on the field.

[Demented]

I had a bad slowdown problem in the menus (and only in the menus, bizarrely) when disabling UAC or running as administrator on Vista... I think I fixed it by not running it in any compatibility mode, but I'm not entirely sure.

[Artanis]

Also, I've got a question. I've tried re-installing the game in my two computers, one with Vista, one with 7, and I've got terrible slowdowns. Are you playing in a XP computer?

I'm using XP.



I'm a bit annoyed with this game. I'm up to the last Liao mission, but for some reason the Quick Save/Load function is a bit wonky.

I was at the very end of the mission when Steel's Highlander blew up (damn Lao Hu's!), but when I reloaded the mission immediately ended in a "Mission Failed" and my 'mechs were nowhere to be seen on the field.
Yeah, that's a known bug. It isn't a very long mission, so there's nothing you can do besides getting through it in one go.

Unlike MC1, as long as your pilot doesn't die and the reactor doesn't go up, there's no long-term consequences for his mech popping.

[Artanis]

==LIAO CONTRACT, MISSION 5==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Escort

LOCATION: Liao/Steiner Border

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5map.png


TEAM:
--DAGGER, Zeus
--FLASH, Zeus
--LONGSHOT, Mad Cat
--STEEL, Thor
--PALERIDER, Uller

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5team.png




==MISSION LOG==


I owed Diaz ten c-bills.

Somehow, Captain Cho had survived the meat grinder that he and Renard had personally turned the Steiner/Liao front into...a meat grinder that had left neither house with enough firepower to take on Davion. The only option left to the Mandrissa was to send her son to sit in a corner while she negotiated an alliance with Renard.

The two leaders decided that the alliance would be finalized by a personal meeting between Renard and Jason. With Liao's forces scrambling just to hold back the Davion tide, mine was the only unit available to form an honor guard for Cho.

I had Cash slap on a fresh coat of paint, and sent out my best pilots in my best mechs. Palerider was in his Uller. Steel piloted the Thor. Dagger and Flash were assigned to the two Zeuses that had distinguished themselves against all three houses. And leading them was Longshot in the almighty Mad Cat.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5meet.png

After we arrived, I tuned out the conversation between Cho and Renard, which mostly sounded like a diplomat-ese argument over who had the larger penis. I think Renard won that one, since he was the one that ultimately demanded payment for the alliance.

I started paying attention real quick when his price was my head on a pike.

Cho agreed. And then he laughed and said he was planning to kill us anyways.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5betray.png

I immediately ordered the team to book it as Diaz looked for somewhere to run to. Within seconds, she had identified a nearby Steiner base that had been abandoned in the face of Liao's recent offensive. My mechs couldn't outrun both Steiner and Liao forever, so I sent them to hole up there until we could get a dropship through to pick them up.

I got lucky. Steiner's typical incompetence had left it wide open to jumpers, but the turret placement was pretty good for repelling a landbound assault.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5base1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5base2.png


Steiner was the first to arrive. Two Zeuses came into range and punched through the outer wall, then brought their ridiculous firepower to bear on the first of the base's two turret control. Even under the weight of an entire Lance's firepower, their legendary Steiner armor still held up long enough to take down the turret control and move to engage the team.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5zeus1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5zeus2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5zeus3.png

A Highlander and a Bushwacker arrived late. Had those two shown up with the Zeuses, I almost certainly would've lost at least one mech, and probably had another crippled. Thankfully, they were too slow to provide any meaningful support, and were defeated in detail.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5late.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5late2.png


After a wave of Hollanders and Razorbacks failed to make a dent, Cho told Renard to save his men. Liao backup had arrived, and so he would deal with us. Personally.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5choblips.png

My orders consisted of four simple words:

"Aim"

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5cho1.png

"For"

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5cho2.png

"The"

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5cho3.png

"Head."

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5cho4.png


Captain Jason Cho's death-scream had barely ended before the Mandrissa contacted me. As Jason's backup troops died, the Mandrissa told me that with her son dead, her line was ended, and thus her kingdom would soon have to go to another of House Liao's noble families. She barely held her anger in check as she warned me, "prepare for my response".

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5mandrissa.png


The first thing I saw was not Liao mechs, but Baxter's face opening up a communications channel. He was telling me that his forces were on the way to help.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5baxter1.png

THEN I saw the Mandrissa's response.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5liaoblips.png


They came at the base from two sides, trying to swarm through my defenses. And by "trying to" I mean "succeeding at."

I immediately fell back to the second of the base's turret umbrellas as Anubises and Sha Yus jumped the walls into the base.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5liaoattack1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5liaoattack2.png

The scout mechs were little threat on their own, of course. What they did do, however, was provide LoS for the Catapults behind them. Lightning Lance fired desperately at the only targets they could lock on to.

And then came the missiles.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5missiles1.png

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I couldn't get to the catapults. There was too much in the way. The walls that had served me so well in the previous waves were giving the damn things cover from my own guns. I was forced farther and farther back as Longshot and Dagger had their mechs start to come apart under the barrage. In desperation, I blew an ammo dump.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5ammo.png

It worked. It didn't scratch the Catapults, but it blew away the scouts and blasted a massive hole in the base's western wall. The Catapults had no choice but to move to where they could get LoS themselves.

Longshot led the charge, her mighty Mad Cat barely withstanding literal rain of fire as it stormed forward with lasers blazing.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5counter1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5counter2.png

With no more obstacles to keep them safe from 335 tons of raw fury, it was a fight the Catapults could not win.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5counter3.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5counter4.png


Longshot and Dagger limped to the repair bays to patch up what was left of their mechs as Baxter called with good news: his forces had arrived. The bad news was that they couldn't reach my position in time to help repel the next Liao wave, and I would have to retreat to join up with him.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5baxter2.png

With my team exhausted and bloodied and their stronghold reduced to ruins, I had no choice but to order the retreat. For the first time on Carver V, an enemy had beaten me in a pounding match.

But they had done so only at a terrible cost. As the remains of my five mechs staggered out of the base, they left behind a graveyard littered with Steiner and Liao corpses.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5graveyard.png


When the team reached Baxter's forces, I had to admire the rebels' courage. Even after the massive firepower I'd already faced, they were willing to throw themselves into the fray with little more than LRM Carriers and hovertanks. Several even drove fuel trucks, placing mobile bombs to the battlefield despite the risk that a stray shot would kill them all before they had a chance to get out of and away from the volatile vehicles.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5rebels.png


The last Liao wave wasn't as powerful as the previous one, but it was more than enough to have overwhelmed the team had I decided to stay and fight. Ravens and Starslayers appeared first, followed closely by Lao Hus. Longshot again stood on point, letting her tough Clan armor take most of the beating as I slowly fell back, retreating as each rebel line was wiped out.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5last1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5last2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5last3.png


Thanks to the rebels, the last Liao wave was beaten, buying enough breathing room for a dropship to extract the team. Steiner and Liao had thrown massive amounts of firepower at my team, yet somehow, Lightning Lance survived.

Liao had betrayed me, and Steiner was already after my hide. They had declared war on a mere company of mercenaries.

Well, if they wanted a war, I would give them a war.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Liao/Liao%205/Liao5complete.png




==MISSION COMPLETE==


Yeesh, that's a lot more screenshots than I originally thought I'd end up with. Almost 50% more than average!

At any rate, that does it for Liao. Next up, I get to start killing both flimsy Liao mechs AND incompetently-built Steiner bases! :smallbiggrin:

[SparkMandriller]

I've always wondered why you can't win that mission by sending out one Urbanmech and then ejecting as soon as the level starts.

Just another of those little mysteries, I guess.

[Eldariel]

I've always wondered why you can't win that mission by sending out one Urbanmech and then ejecting as soon as the level starts.

Just another of those little mysteries, I guess.

There's no victory without kicking ass.

[SparkMandriller]

Soundin' kinda Smoke Jaguar there, bro.

[Artanis]

Soundin' kinda Smoke Jaguar there, bro.

Nah, with Smoke Jaguar it was mostly just "there is no victory". Or at least it was from right around Wolcott onwards.

[SparkMandriller]

Well, they still had a good two and a half centuries of being hyper aggressive and smashing things. Lots of smashing things.

[Raroy]

I've always wondered why you can't win that mission by sending out one Urbanmech and then ejecting as soon as the level starts.

Just another of those little mysteries, I guess.

It would be impossible to safely eject when you are surrounded by hostiles.

It would also be metagamming.

Is it me, or is the first mission of campaign three strikingly difficult?

[The Glyphstone]

Is that Gulag? If you take all the shortcuts, you can get there in plenty of time.

[Demented]

Ejecting as soon as the level starts wouldn't get you a 'win', but... It does bring up the issue of why so many RTS games won't allow you to finish a mission with a loss. ("We've lost nearly everything and barely pulled out of the hotzone with the skin of our teeth, but [bleep] it, the tac screen says mission successful!")

You'd lose the urbanmech, and presumably the pilot (somebody would still have to exfiltrate him; those pods don't go into outer space on their own, do they?), but otherwise the outcome would be largely the same... Oh, and a few bits of the storyline around Jason Cho being dead would need some tweaking.

[Artanis]

Is that Gulag? If you take all the shortcuts, you can get there in plenty of time.

That's the first Liao mission. The first Davion mission is to clear and defend a city that's something like 800,000 square miles.

[Artanis]

==INTERLUDE: OLD ADAGES==


They say that a mercenary has no loyalty, that he is willing to betray anybody for a buck.

That perception is far from the truth. When we sign a contract, our loyalty is absolute for as long as that contract lasts. Those who don't operate that way soon find themselves unemployed and starving.

But a mercenary expects his employer to be loyal to him as well. Captain Jason Cho had not been loyal. Instead of abiding by the old code of not shooting at your employees, he and Renard had tried to take the lives of me and mine for their own personal gain.

And so we had a new employer: Baxter. House Davion was unopposed to an independent Carver V, so Major Kelly had teamed up with the resistence to fight the Steiner-Liao alliance. They didn't have the funds to buy the firepower they needed to fight on two fronts, but for the first time in my career, I didn't care about the money. None of us did. Diaz worked out a contract where Baxter and Kelly would pay us in logistical support and whatever cash they could spare, and in return, we would fight their war. I eagerly signed that contract, pledging my loyalty to Baxter and Kelly.


They also say that revenge is a dish best served cold.

I never agreed with that sentiment. The only cold I care about is cold, hard cash. No, my revenge would be the white-hot fury of lasers and missiles as they brought blazing ruin upon those who had betrayed me and my people.

I would make Mandrissa Anita Cho and Colonel David Renard watch as Baxter and I took them apart piece by strategically-vital piece. I would make them watch as their soldiers died and their schemes crumbled and their kingdoms burned. I would make them watch as their dreams of conquest vanished in the fires of a war that they had started.

In short, I swore that I would inflict the greatest revenge that the likes of those two tyrants could suffer: I would free Carver V, or I would die trying.

[Foryn Gilnith]

That last Liao mission killed Meat and Twitch (two of my elites). I'm sad.

[Artanis]

==DAVION CONTRACT, MISSION 1==


==MISSION BRIEFING==


TYPE: Secure Friendly Area

LOCATION: Bannikburg - Rebel Territory

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1map.png



TEAM:
--CLAYMORE, Zeus
--STEEL, Mad Cat
--DAGGER, Thor
--TWITCH, Vulture
--PALERIDER, Uller

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1team.png




==MISSION LOG==


To fight a war, you need beans, bullets, and bandages, as the old saying goes. Without those, you lose, plain and simple. That's why it was a Very Bad Thing when the Resistance detected lots of Steiner and Liao forces heading for Bannikburg, a vital supply depot and logistics hub. Without Bannikburg, the entire region could be lost. So, my task was simple: save Bannikburg.

"Lots of enemy forces" meant that I'd have plenty of chances for in-mission salvage, so I sent in Thunder lance, holding Lightning in reserve. Claymore took a Zeus, Steel drove the Mad Cat, and Twitch was in a Vulture. Worm stayed home in favor of Palerider, which left Dagger in the fifth mech, a Thor.

(Note: In retrospect, I should've put Worm in one of the starting mechs and held Dagger back with Longshot and Flash, but hindsight is 20-20 and all that.)


When the team arrived, I found out that by "heading for", Resistance intel actually meant "had already occupied", and Bannikburg had fallen to enemy forces.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1fallen.png

One way or the other though, our objective was for Bannikburg to be in our hands by the end of the mission. The first step along this road was to recapture the (formerly) Davion HQ building near our LZ. Enemy forces obviously weren't expecting an attack from my direction, and I made them pay for it.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1HQ1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1HQ2.png


With the HQ secured, I looked over the tac map. Bannikburg was a big city, but not a particularly dense one. It was, in fact, mostly open space, with just a handful of built-up areas around the various warehouses. That meant that while there was liable to be a lot of enemy forces, they were just as likely to be scattered.

I decided to head for the local Sensor Control. It was as good a direction as any to begin my sweep, and the sensors would come in handy trying to cover such a large area. There was also a repair bay and makeshift firebase along the way, which would make for a good base of operations.


The first resistance I ran into was a Shootist hanging out amid some larger buildings. It went down almost immediately, leaving me plenty of time to regroup before intercepting two Hollanders coming from the firebase to assist.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1shootist.png

We met the two light mechs near the repair bay, and while the Hollanders got off a few shots, they didn't last terribly long. Within moments, the repair bay and firebase were in my hands.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1hollanders1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1hollanders2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1base.png


The team made its way towards the Sensor Control, grabbing a ton of RPs along the way. There was very little resistance. A couple vehicles here and there, and that's about it. The only event really worth mentioning was when an Aerospotter had to be taken out all sneaky-like.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1spotter.png


The capture of the Sensor Control confirmed my suspicions about the enemy defenses in the city: plenty of them, but scattered. It was rare to see more than three sensor blips in any one spot.

I continued my clockwise sweep: there was a small bit of city-ness with a couple warehouses to the east of the Sensor Control, and due south of that was a causeway that led to turret-fortified high ground that would make a good place to make a stand against enemy reinforcements.


The warehouses had no sensor contacts around them. Liao showed, however, that there being no contacts rarely meant much with them around, and I ran into four mechs: two Men Shens and two Ravens. All four of them locked onto Dagger's Thor, managing to wound her and inflict some decent damage on the mech before being taken down.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1RP1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1RP2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1RP3.png


With the north clear, it was time to move to the south. Fortunately, that side of the river held almost no credible resistance, and all that stood between me and my objectives of securing the generator and clearing the rest of the city was a quick beat-down or two.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1south1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1south2.png


As I completed the sweep and cleared the last enemy troops from the city, another problem cropped up: enemy forces were inbound, and included a lot of heavy mechs.

Now that the city was in my hands, I had to defend the damn thing. The river made an obvious border, so I had three points to defend: the causeway in the east, a bridge in the middle, and my little firebase in the west.

The first attack came in the center as the enemy crossed the bridge before I could destroy it. That was probably for the best though, since now I had turret support and high ground. It was a tough group, and included a couple Shootists, but by this point, we had been in this situation so many times that we knew what was going to happen before the shooting even started. Predictably, the enemy didn't know what would happen, and tried it anyways.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1mid1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1mid2.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1mid3.png


As the fight raged on, I deployed minelayers to rig the causeway in the east. They finished not a moment too soon, as the sensor grid picked up an enemy squad just as the center attack was being beaten and the Shootists salvaged for Longshot and Flash to use.

Not much made it through the mines, and what did make it through got blown up by Palerider, a few turrets, and even more mines.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1east1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1east2.png


That left my base in the west. The sensor grid picked up the last enemy group, and it was a sizable one. I scrambled to repair and get into position to meet what was likely to be a bigger group than any I'd seen to that point.

The final attack was not Steiner mechs, and it was not Liao mechs...it was both. An Atlas led the charge, backed up by both Hollanders and Catapults. The mighty 100-tonner bore the brunt of all my firepower, keeping me off of its long-range allies.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1west1.png

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1west2.png

Unfortunately for him, "the brunt of all my firepower" was much, much more than even an Atlas could handle.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1west3.png

Steel's Mad Cat had taken enough damage for me to order him to retreat, but the rest of the team had a free run at the enemy snipers.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1west4.png


With that group down, the immediate threat to Bannikburg was neutralized. That was a good thing. However, what was bad was how thoroughly Steiner and Liao were working together. Inner Sphere forces could work together reasonably well when they wanted to - something that Clan Smoke Jaguar found out the hard way - but as part of the very same lance?

A 2v1 can be won by dividing the two and defeating them separately. On Carver V, it seemed, we'd have to go after both at once.


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/LegacyCWAL/MC2%20LP/Davion/Davion%201/Davion1complete.png



==MISSION COMPLETE==


I wish I had a good excuse for being slow with this one, but I don't. All I can do is hope that I'll be able to get the next one done faster :smallredface: .

Speaking of which, I have three choices of missions to do next, so it's time for audience participation! The choices are:

2a) Night Ops: Scorpio
--There is a Steiner base. It needs to explode. The problem? A tiny drop window means the attack will be on a strict time limit. Expect lots of stealth, mercenary-style.

2b) Combat Recovery: Dropship
--Steiner shot down a Davion dropship that got too close to a battery of orbital guns. I'm to go take out the orbital guns and rescue the dropship's crew and passengers. Also, I wind up with a worthless benchwarmer renowned and highly-valued veteran of Operation Bulldog.

2c) Mobile Assault: Mt. Cho
--The enemy has a major command base on top of a mountain, and I need to go whittle down the forces stationed there. Translation: blow up everything that moves and most of what doesn't.

[Timberwolf]

Just out of pure curiosity Artanis, why don't you use a Cyclops as your sensor mech ? It's fast enough to keep up with a Heavy / Assault force and can take way more punishment than an Uller. Plus it has way more guns and the biggest and best sensor suite in the game. It's pure personal taste, here, but once I get access to them, unless there's a militant and annoying weight limit then it's the one mech that is absolutely guaranteed to be in my drop.

I assume the benchwarmer is Rooster. (the horror, the horror). I say go Recovery. It's fun and the sooner he's rescued, the sooner you never have to hear him again.

[SparkMandriller]

Well, if he doesn't have a Cyclops, he's not gettin' one now.

[Eldariel]

Go Night Ops. Your stealth is already legendary. Needs moar of it. I hope there are lots of fuel cells around?

[Timberwolf]

Well, if he doesn't have a Cyclops, he's not gettin' one now.

There is a chance later, assuming he doesn't accidently blow it up. Still, if he does have one it is well, well worth using (I always felt that the Clans would have something a bit tougher as a sensor mech).

[Rustic Dude]

I vote for a good ration of Rooster, and keeping him in the main lance :smallbiggrin:

And what's your Mad Cat loadout, Artanis? I admit I'm curious about a laser-based MCat

[The Glyphstone]

Mobile Assault: Mt. Cho. Because playing tag with Long Tom turrets is a barrel of fun.

[SparkMandriller]

There is a chance later, assuming he doesn't accidently blow it up.

Really? Huh. Coulda sworn there was only one.

There's only one Summoner, though, right?

[Timberwolf]

One Summoner, one Ryoken / Stormcrow

The chance is...

At the end of the attack on the Mandrissa's Palace where you fight the Liao elite guard who have those wretched Swarm LRM Catapults

[SparkMandriller]

And you can't even buy Summoners for some reason. At least, I think. Not that it really matters when you have pretty much infinite amounts of Timber Wolves, I guess.

[Artanis]

Go Night Ops. Your stealth is already legendary. Needs moar of it. I hope there are lots of fuel cells around?

Two of the objectives are to blow up large amounts of explosives :smallbiggrin:



Really? Huh. Coulda sworn there was only one.

There's only one Summoner, though, right?

I have Cho's Cyclops, and you can buy them towards the end of the Liao campaign.

I don't really use them mostly because using a little mech like an Uller is what I've gotten used to, so I find it easier to manage the weight restrictions with the Uller than with the Cyclops.

I will be using the Cyclops in the last couple missions though.

And yes, there is only one Thor (and one Ryoken, for that matter). I actually find the Thor to be one of my most useful mechs because it's a jumper, and as such it gets a high priority.



I vote for a good ration of Rooster, and keeping him in the main lance :smallbiggrin:

And what's your Mad Cat loadout, Artanis? I admit I'm curious about a laser-based MCat

Lots of Clan ER Large Lasers and Clan Large Pulse Lasers. I believe a couple of Clan ER Lasers as well - two of them are the same size and heat as one Large Pulse, so I often swap out one for the other.

Plenty of armor as well.

[SparkMandriller]

I have Cho's Cyclops, and you can buy them towards the end of the Liao campaign.

Well, you can't buy them now. But there's that one I forgot about, so I guess it wouldn't be a problem even if you hadn't grabbed one.


I don't really use them mostly because using a little mech like an Uller is what I've gotten used to, so I find it easier to manage the weight restrictions with the Uller than with the Cyclops.

Guess there's less waiting for slooooow mechs to get to places this way too.

[Timberwolf]

This is just my personal view on the 'clops question.

If I'm only taking one sensor mech (which is sensible as they're the ones with less guns) then I like it to be able to survive and contribute lots, which is where the 'clops comes in. Palerider thought he'd died and gone to heaven when I got my hands on it. Generally speaking, for the Davion missions, there's usually no need to be obsessive about weight (due to the presence of the Great Advantage, namely being the only side that can field Clan tech and mechs) and I find that the ridiculous sensor range of the Cyclops makes it essential even when you have been hit with the <200 ton stick. If you do run into a powered down mech that escaped your quarter of the map sensor suite then who cares ? You have an assault mech You can happily stick a Gauss and PPC or a bunch of PPCs on without worry and if you do get caught out and expose your sensor mech to the world then it can take hits that the Uller / Raven / Razorback would fall over for. The Men Shen is what I use when weight really, really is an issue as it's tougher, has a decent sensor suite and you can stick a load of large lasers of whatever flavour on.

[Rustic Dude]

Thanks for the answer Artanis, I'll have to try it to see if I like it more than my usual CPP-Heavy Laser MCat.


This is just my personal view on the 'clops question.

If I'm only taking one sensor mech (which is sensible as they're the ones with less guns) then I like it to be able to survive and contribute lots, which is where the 'clops comes in. Palerider thought he'd died and gone to heaven when I got my hands on it. Generally speaking, for the Davion missions, there's usually no need to be obsessive about weight (due to the presence of the Great Advantage, namely being the only side that can field Clan tech and mechs) and I find that the ridiculous sensor range of the Cyclops makes it essential even when you have been hit with the <200 ton stick. If you do run into a powered down mech that escaped your quarter of the map sensor suite then who cares ? You have an assault mech You can happily stick a Gauss and PPC or a bunch of PPCs on without worry and if you do get caught out and expose your sensor mech to the world then it can take hits that the Uller / Raven / Razorback would fall over for. The Men Shen is what I use when weight really, really is an issue as it's tougher, has a decent sensor suite and you can stick a load of large lasers of whatever flavour on.

Remember that the Uller is much more nimble and because of that it's capable of doing two functions: harassing/baiting and sensors, using only 30 tons.

It's great with LRM and a Clan Light UltraAC when you have to pick greater, and short-ranged, targets. (Atlases, Zeuses, Hunchies...almost all Steiner Mechs. Highlander is trickier with that Gauss)

I liked the Men Shen too, though. Better when faced with LRM intensive enemies like Liao.

[Timberwolf]

Remember that the Uller is much more nimble and because of that it's capable of doing two functions: harassing/baiting and sensors, using only 30 tons.

It's great with LRM and a Clan Light UltraAC when you have to pick greater, and short-ranged, targets. (Atlases, Zeuses, Hunchies...almost all Steiner Mechs. Highlander is trickier with that Gauss)


Oh true, it's very nimble and one on one with almost any other light mech then I would favour it. Anubis... too thinly armoured to last long, Raven too lightly gunned. The Razorback, if set up right could be a handful though.

My worry about using the Uller as your only sensor mech is that it is built like it was made of soggy paper. It just eats a couple of PPC's / a decent sized LRM salvo and then falls over, leaving you with no sensors and a potentially dead sensor specialist. The armours' far too thin even after reconfigging it and the sensor suite is too basic for me to be comfortable even thinking about it as my primary sensor mech.

As what I see as my joint most important asset (with Longshot) Palerider is coddled and protected behind the biggest, baddest armour I can give him. If I really, really want to harass then I'll use the Uller sure, it's the best mech there for it, but not when it's my only sensor platform. If I was making a team for harassing with, say, a 200 ton drop weight then it would be a Cyclops (information is power and the scan radius being 3 times better than the Ullers is, this means that I can set things up to better suit me, attack from where I know the enemy is nowhere near etc etc) to pack some decent sized guns, an Enfield / Starslayer and 2 Ullers. However, since I'd want to blow things up ASAP, I tend to load up differently and the Uller only comes out when I have a 30 ton hole to fill / I don't have much weight to play with.

Highlanders are no bother at all when, in that same 200 tons, you have the Cyclops, a 5 PPC Zeus and your Uller (skulking at the back and letting the Zeus take the hits). I would be confident of killing said Highlander in maybe 2 shots from the Zeus and 1 shot from everyone else (assuming everything goes right).

[[QBS]TheMonkey]

Bump! Was greatly enjoying reliving MC2, have lost my disk!! :(

[Arwan]

what happened. :smallfrown: i was enjoying ninja stealth and mechwarrior rights to live violations. via trials of fire.

[The Glyphstone]

Great Modthulhu: Thread necromancy.