Mechwarrior: Online, Calling all Mechwarriors! (I know theres at least a few of us here Options

[Stahlseele]

i am playing the MekTek variant right now, i can confirm this:
both a RAC10 and a RAC20 are in there . . CLAN RAC10 and RAC20 . .
i never bothered with anything else but CERLarge Lasers, especially in the campaign.
nothing says:"hello, i love you" quite like 8xDaishi with 6x CERLarge Lasers.

[CanRay]

And I'm thinking of getting the BattleTech Introductory Box Set, as one member of my group is thinking of GMing, and wants a game...

Oh, and I have a coupon!

[Stahlseele]

uhm . . what do you mean, GMing?
is he talking about the table top minatures turn based strategy game of BattleTech, or the MechWarrior Pen and Paper RPG game?

Because CBT does not need a GM. It needs 2 or more players, some dice, some mapsheets and some miniatures . . hell, technically, not even that . .
But having the real miniatures and more dice makes it easier . .

[Starmage21]

uhm . . what do you mean, GMing?
is he talking about the table top minatures turn based strategy game of BattleTech, or the MechWarrior Pen and Paper RPG game?

Because CBT does not need a GM. It needs 2 or more players, some dice, some mapsheets and some miniatures . . hell, technically, not even that . .
But having the real miniatures and more dice makes it easier . .

It is not necessarily a true miniature game in that regard. It was originally designed for two or more players, one of which is taking the role of GM.

[Tanegar]

It is not necessarily a true miniature game in that regard. It was originally designed for two or more players, one of which is taking the role of GM.

Um... no. There is no GM in BattleTech.

[Falconer]

Canray... the current edition boxed set is really good I'm told for starting players/groups it has the basic 3025 rules, some plastic minis, and maps. After I'd been playing a few years I picked up a 3rd ed boxed set which was pretty good as well (had usable unseen plastic minis... some maps...). It's on par with that one... the 2nd and 4th kinda sucked (cardboard cutout mechs to put on stands and the like...). After that, you're looking at the Total War rulebook... then the Tech Manual if you also want to build your own gear.

You won't have to deal with half the insane stuff Pax brings up either as that's all in really advanced rulebooks which are completely optional to use. Tac Ops and Strat Ops are the two books which contain all that.

Actually there can be a GM in BT depending on the type of game. If you're running an ongoing campaign someone has to put the OPFOR's together. Generally player vs player head to head is pretty brutal with one clear winner and a lot of wreckage to the winner. And because of that doesn't lend itself to a long standing campaign... it's the classic counter-suck win-more.. the guys who win the first round have body armor and better weapons compared to the other side and tend to steamroll the next few rounds. So generally for an ongoing cooperative campaign... you go with one guy who charts up the OPFORs and runs them as a GM.

[_Pax._]

Or, if you want to play a double-blind game (meaning, "yu do not get to be an omniscient god of the battlefield - you know know what your people's eyes, ears, and sensor suites can tell you". Requires THREE maps, though - one for each player, plus one for the GM/Referee.

[almost normal]

I've always wanted to run one of those. As it stands, I played in one once. 3 rooms. My bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen. Was slow, but that just forced you to think more about each move. Since we were seperated by rooms, Comms chatter was hand-written and passed along by the GM.

[Stahlseele]

i've played in one once . . the most horrible thing you can do is to add in mine fields and LRMs fired from behind a level 2 elevation while having a mech with LRM as spotter so it's REALLY hard to notice that the missles ain't coming from that mech . .

[Falconer]

If you're going to do double blind... computer is the only way to do it. The megamek program has come a long way since I last proofed it's original generations of code. But I thought it supported double blind now but I haven't touched it in years now.

I used to program the old combat engine for the battletech muse/mush. The problem there was they'd never let me put in collisions even to just stop folks in their tracks. So you'd end up with the similar problem of star fleet battles where all the ships in a fleet would pile together into the same hex and form voltron. But with large 200x200 hex or larger mapsheets... travel speeds became a huge issue for heavy and assault mechs. Our experience was that generally the mediums and fast heavies were the most coveted mechs simply because if there was a fight they were the most likely ones to be able to get there in time... or if there was a fight and it went south... they were the ones likely to be able to run away and fight another day. (4/6 heavies can't do much to run down a 6/9 or 5/8/5 unit when it's set on running away, especially if there's any cover to break LOS and the pilot is good).

Another problem we always had to deal with was the whole 'win-more' problem... it was inevitable that some mechs would end up captured and we'd use the savage repair rules. Units killed by artillery were unsalvagable, those dead by head shots or engine crits were salvageable... (XL engines tend to result in a LOT of salvage since theyre rarely cored like 3025 mechs are).

[Stahlseele]

Yes, Megamek supports DoubleBlind.
Has done so for quite some time by now.
And it makes it easier, true, but there is nothing like telling the GM to get the Pilot of the Mech you just headshotted into a neutral room to tell him HEADSHOT! to the face! ^^

[taeksosin]

Huh...does playing around with Megamek require having some core rulebooks around so that you know what the heck you're doing? I'm interested in this "tabletop" you all talk about, and would like to know more.

[Tanegar]

Not at all. MegaMek spells out everything right there in the interface. When you take a shot, it tells you all the modifiers (range, attacker's movement, target's movement, LOS, attacker's heat level, etc.), and gives you the final target number, plus (helpfully) the probability as a percentage of rolling that target number or higher on 2d6. You do not need the rulebooks in front of you to play MegaMek; it automates everything. It's really quite well-made.

[KarmaInferno]

Hey Falconer, I spotted someone with your name in-game, was that you?




-perfecttommy

[Falconer]

Probably... was giving the game a spin for a little while... I'd either have been in a JR7-F or a newbie AS7-K... if I'm in a match which gets the JR7 steamrolled and killed early I just quit and hop in the AS7 for another quick match. Though I have about 14mil in the bank... no clue what to buy... if I could make the Cataphracts move fast.. might be worthwhile (fast as in 5/8... though it looks to me like engines in game are heavier than in board game... moreso than just including the extra gyro weight with the engine in one blob unit would explain).

Game hasn't changed much matches seem to go steamroll. And those of us playing solo seem to be meat for the organized teams. There's a few very glaring bugs too... worse than before... spawn and can't move and whenever I hit asdf it fires all my weapons until I overheat instead of moving... a few insufficient memory leak crashes... a random disconnected from server.

[_Pax._]

[...] it looks to me like engines in game are heavier than in board game... moreso than just including the extra gyro weight with the engine in one blob unit would explain). [...]

Cockpit and Internal Structure also get piled onto the engine for weight purposes.

[bannockburn]

Ah, Nostalgia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7w88yQVlVY...eature=youtu.be

[KarmaInferno]

ECM has been implemented. StreakCats and LRM boats everywhere cry delicious tears.

On the other hand, my superspeed Cicada with a mix of sniper and close range abilities is super fun now that I am not getting pummeled with clouds of missiles anymore.

Also, Carole Ruggier, voice actress who did the computer voice for previous Mechwarrior games (and many other things), is back, and is smugly announcing when you've taken critical damage and stuff.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


-k

[X-Kalibur]

ECM has been implemented. StreakCats and LRM boats everywhere cry delicious tears.

On the other hand, my superspeed Cicada with a mix of sniper and close range abilities is super fun now that I am not getting pummeled with clouds of missiles anymore.

Also, Carole Ruggier, voice actress who did the computer voice for previous Mechwarrior games (and many other things), is back, and is smugly announcing when you've taken critical damage and stuff.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


-k

Now you just need George LeDoux announcing as Duncan Fisher.

[taeksosin]

Hooray, will be worth playing once finals are over again!

[CanRay]

ALL WILL FEAR MY MIGHTY PINK FLOYD HUNCHBACK!!! MUH-HA-HA-... Ha?

...

Damn overheating from firing nine lasers at a time.

[Stahlseele]

they changed some stuff,
no costs for repair and rearm, but less money from playing cautiously . .
stalker is now in, next mech to come is the orion.

[Fabe]

Now you just need George LeDoux announcing as Duncan Fisher.

Well they do hope to one day add Solaris Duals.......

[Tanegar]

stalker is now in, next mech to come is the orion.

OK, I quite like the Orion, but WHERE'S MY FUCKING WARHAMMER?!

[Stahlseele]

The Warhammer is forbidden.