How to make Solaris 7 fights interesting for non-pilot players

[freakacid]

Hi all, I am new,

I am planning a mechwarrior time of war RPG campaign with 4 or 5 friends (some part time participants). The story is set on Solaris 7. Basically my players start up as washed up persons (1 or 2 mechwarriors, engineer, businessman, maybe secret agent in disguise, street gangster). They will arrive on Solaris 7 and meet in a situation, where they need to work together to escape (they´ll start in a prison faced with wrong accusation of murder or something like that). They´ll be stripped of their equipment and wealth, and are not going to own a mech (at least in the beginnning). To aquire ressources and a mech (by doing jobs, participating in street crime, by finding some generous patrons trust, by proving their skills and beeing hired...) will be their task for the first few sessions. I have a few nice ideas for that. It will be urban/crime/conspiracy background.

However. I want (at least later) to have some Solaris fights. I am looking for ways of making the fights interesting for the "non mechwarrior players" (only a few will be pilots). Do you have ideas for that? Are there any ressources?

I thought about a few things like - one person in the basement of Steiner Arena trying to control the obstacles/walls in favor of the teams champion - other option: the configuration of the enemy mech is not known to the players, so watchers can try to watch and roll if they can find out what kind of weaknesses and modifications are there - also scouting operations that give an advantage on inititative rolls? - maybe betting on other mechs and then piloting those ??

do you have further ideas?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Solaris 7 is a great setting for non-mechwarrior roleplaying.

Unfortunately a problem you'll never get away from is there are mechwarriors, and then there's everyone else.  I think it's a fool's errand to try to balance the spotlight between players with mechwarrior PCs and players with nonmechwarrior PCs... I don't think it can be done.  So it's a mistake to try.

That being said, roleplaying can be very rewarding if everyone is a mechwarrior, or noone is a mechwarrior.  There's plenty to do outside of a mech in a setting like the Game World.. from breaking into a rival stable's facility to scrounge for parts (or to sabotage a mech!) to cutting deals with shady types to secure money to keep your stable afloat, the sky is the limit.

Wanting to add actual mech fights on top of those adventures can pose problems no matter which side of the binary state the PC party resides.  Two ways around that: 
1) make the players part of a dinky "1st level" stable that requires the mechwarriors to do their own repairs and conduct their own out-of-cockpit adventures to keep their stable ready for upcoming matches.  (basically, everyone is BOTH mechwarrior and not-mechwarrior)

2) allow the players to make secondary mechwarrior PCs.  Those guys are the pampered jocks who just sip drinks and party with mechbunnies while the "real" PCs do the hard work that keep the jocks in the spotlight.  Allowing the players to don a larger than life arena persona for mindless mech bashing can add some robot stompy fun, as well as allowing them the satisfaction of getting to partake in the spoils of their regular PCs' toils. (basically, everyone gets 2 characters! One each mechwarrior and non-mechwarrior)

[freakacid]

Thank you! Your reply is very helpfull.
My aim was to basically to have a group of non mech-pilots supporting their champion and working on building a very low level stable. However I think they´ll need at least one mechwarrior in their middle - a champ that they need to support.

I am planning 80% non mech, maximium 20% mech fight.

Having second characters would be an option... maybe I can realize this also by "betting" (they bet on a player and then slip into its shoes)

I dont want to have many mech fights, maybe one as kind of a "season finale".
I think it would be ok for the players, if there would be a match against an NPC (or a part time player), as long as they can participate from time to time (do some rolls, if they are able to hack stadion control, participate as sports-journalists doing some live casting [obviously some propaganda battle included] or try to work as external eyes [in boxing the coach is quite important, working as the boxers external eye - actually I have read some   [real life]  scientific papers on that interaction, or trying to catch opponents radio talk... i like the idea...]).

Do you think that won´t work at all?

If all of them are mechwarriors - they´ll need to fight against each other, which might ruin team cooperation.
No one beeing able to pilot a mech would be an option, but would make the goal of "pushing a champion" only indirectly possible.

[Maelwys]

During the fight its going to be hard for you to find something for your non-pilot PCs to do. If you trust them, you could have them piloting your player's opponent, as long as they don't go too easy on them. Or maybe you could have them run a simultaneous game in order to find out who the next week opponent is (so if the PC is in the round of 16, then maybe they can run some of the other pairs to find out who proceeds to the next round).

Having the other PCs doing things during the game can work (like controlling the arena walls), but the timing can be tricky, and you might wind up just making both parts take a long long long time.

[freakacid]

oh, parallel games is a great idea!

Good thing is, for opponents I might have some part time participants that might be opponent champions.

making fights tooo complicated might be an issue. I am very familiar with solaris fights (have played a league system on BT Solaris Rules for 4 years twice a week...with great house rules, with self printed c-bills, with 20+ people participating...those were the days...long, long ago). Some of the new players are not yet that familiar with battetech...

I might keep it simple in the beginning. Maybe also have them play "Holovid Mechbattles ;)" against each other for getting warm with the setting.

[trboturtle]

Okay, Solaris VII has a lot of potential outside the arenas.....

1) Crime. You can't swing a sleeping cat without hitting a gang member. Street gangs all the way up to Yakuza and Triads. Real easy to get on the wrong side of a Crime Lord, or work for/against same.

2)Spies. Like Gangs, all the intelligence agencies have agents on Solaris, and there's double-dealing, triple-crosses, meeting in seedy bars-type skulduggery all over the place. Maybe the PCs are spies for one of the great houses, or maybe they end up getting involved in a spy caper.

3) Celebs. You have the top fighters, but there are others who grab the spotlight. Tabloids chasing tri-vid stars, TV notables, nobles from all over the Inner Sphere. Maybe the PC know a celeb, or maybe they have to do a job for/against a celeb.

That's a good start I think.....

Craig

[PurpleDragon]

I've always wanted to see how this might be played out.  How did this person get pur in that position?  Who in their right mind would go to an arena match on foot against a 'mech?  It's an old video.  But I still like it and think it has some good implications as to what a non-pilot might do on Solaris VII.  At first you think it is a clan mech hunting down a bandit, but at the end, it pans out and you find it's an arena. 
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al_SlO5DAkw

[Lord greystroke]

I have always liked the idea that MechWarrior's have lots of non-combat skills and abilities and as a GM even gave a few free points away to them that could only be spent on non combat stuff so they could have fun with the techs and such like works well for smaller games for my last campaign we had the
MechWarrior leader who was a big business man as well
MechWarrior / mercenary broker
MechWarrior/ mob enforcer
MechWarrior/ spy who spent most of his time hiding in plan site as a rich noble   

meaning you can have the business men the spies the techs be mainline PC's and MechWarrior's  so your end of session final can be a battle royal

[freakacid]

obviously i am goona do that with my design.

My question specifically was about the 1 or 2 hours of mech arena fight that might happen every 3 or 4 sessions. how to keep this moments interesting for other players that dont run a mech.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

obviously i am goona do that with my design.

My question specifically was about the 1 or 2 hours of mech arena fight that might happen every 3 or 4 sessions. how to keep this moments interesting for other players that dont run a mech.

I'll repeat my advice because I firmly believe it:

Either everyone or noone drives a mech.  It's impractical to the point of essential impossibility to ensure everyone gets equal fun when you let some players get a mech but not others.

If one is going to go down the path anyway, I think the most promising option is the suggestion upthread to allow the players with non-mechwarrior PCs to play the NPC opposition during the matches.  At least then the most risk is to the GM's fun rather than any of the players'.  Of course you'll also have to watch out for self-interest making the players soft-ball the NPCs.

[VictorMorson]

SEEK OUT AND OBTAIN THE REACHES AND UNBOUND.

I can't stress that enough.  The player's guide to Solaris VII has some good stuff in it too of course, but those two books do a TON to flesh out Solaris.  In particular the Reaches.  Get them if you plan to do anything on Solaris and you won't regret it.

I'll repeat my advice because I firmly believe it:

Either everyone or noone drives a mech.  It's impractical to the point of essential impossibility to ensure everyone gets equal fun when you let some players get a mech but not others.

Give the players an alternate NPC to run during on-board missions.  Not their main character, but some sort of reserve pilot or the like. 

It's not ideal but I've found this is entirely acceptable with most folks.

[freakacid]

yeah, great. I am not sure if all players really do want to pilot a mech (most of them have no BT background, we played Rouge Trader (Warhammer 40k universe, basically space a crew of space pirates) and focused on role playing. I am going to master now, and have decided to switch to BT/Solaris, because I am well aquainted with the Lore and wanted a "urban scifi setting" which is not as "over the top" as warhammer. Mechs however are a nice "add on".

Characters are going to be something like this (meeting with my friends in a few days, they´ll have to decide)

1. Washed up former military, maybe with some nobility background, but has ****** up something important. Ends up on solaris, needs to proove himself, needs to re-gain his reputation/honor. Maybe has a drug problem (this might be the choice for a probable "champion" that will be supported)

2. woman, blue collar background, was working in agriculture/industry. Is basically a tech, knows how to control an industry/agro mech. Strong character, tries to climb up socially. Has experienced some bad story, maybe hatred (such as: some minor noble has killed a significant other, she is looking for revenge. The "enemy" might be a solaris champ now, OR he/she is a noble person working on some conspiracies in solaris now).

3. Older Guy, his background is a little bit "mysterious". has recently worked for some big company. Now is trying to establish himself as a coach. Might be a buisness coach/consultant or manager for a stable. However, might also be funny because he has some very esoteric/religious understandings of coaching, a little bit like a guru.

4. Sports Journalist/Media guy: someone in constant battle for attention. Is a fanatic fan of the games, media, live casting and so on are his ways in. Has worked as an intern at a stable, but was "cought up in a history of office pranks" (i took up that one from the solaris book/mw third"). His motivation and skill lies in talking, manipulation, media use. Has some technical/it skills.

5. Gambler. Some relations to the underground. Is constantly trying to make a good deal. Is heavy on betting, but has some problems with money. Some money sharks are after him. He might be a good fighter because of his history on the street.

Maybe there will be some creative other options. The idea is that they try to establish their own little stable, but start with no mech (, maybe I will tease them by giving the mech and directly taking it away by authorities in the very beginning, who will never give them back, using bureaucratic tricks).

what do you think? That might lead to many possible story lines and chances for cooperation.

[freakacid]

p.s. I own the "reaches"

[PurpleDragon]

Or, you could give them a worthless piece of ....     I mean a 'mech and have it sooooo broke down (salvage quality only) that they can't do anything with it.  It might not have any papers.   Serial numbers may be all mismatched.   Or even erased.  Even salvage has some value; you know the total combined cost is something something than the pieces all together or something.   
 
Maybe if the tech and the stable manager were doing something with it when the gambler's bookies come calling....     ::)
 
I played opfor in a game wherein one guy, a mechwarrior, had murder charges trumped up against him; and, while he was in jail, someone tried to toss an explosive device in.  Quick thinking player had his character pull the mattress on top of him under the steel rack.  Allowed him the equivelant of a D&D save. 

[trboturtle]

You could have the players be part of a Collective (Less structured that a stable, member having a more eclectic set of skills, more RPG opportunities)

Craig

[freakacid]

great ideas. i like the idea of the useless mech ;) maybe add some bureaucratic crazyness to it (I am playing with some sociologists and people working in politics, so there are plenty of options and ideas).
They might have an evening long discussion about which form of self organization and "governance" they choose for their form of playing together ;) heheh

[freakacid]

 We are on Solaris VII (3025) and no one of my players event wants to be a mechwarrior :)

we have a ex military infantry grunt who is fighting his ptsd...(Liao)
we have an ex mercenary with unknown origin (woolfs dragoners, not unraveling secrets here now, just in case my players start reading the forums..) now working as a manager/consultant...building connections...
and we have an Liao ex noble whos family has lost its honor and he is now working as an arms dealer (deep periphery)...

there will be one or two more regular participants ("tech"? / "drug cook/mechwarrior doping expert"?) and a few part timers that might play mechwarriors/arena champs...

lets see how it goes.

[PurpleDragon]

Sounds good.  Have fun and your players will as well. 

[freakacid]

first real session was fun

- we have a weapons dealer trying to sell 50tons of lrms (he was ripped of, because they do not have explosive heads), but are artemis guided (we are playing 3025, so most of the people won´t realize the strange electronics, however, ROM and so on might be interested where this Star League Technology is coming from). He is is under pressure to pay his debt (1.000.000 cbills) to an interspacial pirate / mafia like organization. He is strongly advised not to expose his source - they might be after him, if he does.
- he has a body guard, a ex infantry guy, good fighter, quite stubborn, not interested in politics (imagine an asian verion of mike from breaking bad, or bruce willis from sin city)
- there´s someone working for wolfnet... very interested in the technology, working undercover on solaris to uncover hidden structures in the IS, trying to establish a stable...very in the beginning. he is a business/face guy with an ex mercenary - now manager/consultant alias.. (also to the other players).
- fourth player is working for solaris authority, he is a corrupt customs officer. has connections to local triads... taking money from them...

they went to a arms fair, found each other, trying to make a deal. however, triads observed the interaction and want their part...because its on their turf (most of the action is in cathay). Customs guy joined the group planning to provide proper papers for the deal - hoping to get percentage/help with an own problem...
Group went to a bar to make a deal out of sight, but triads came in... after a very tense situation, it ended in a little bar fight
- the body guard eventually built an molotov cocktail like weapon from a liquor bottle and threw it at one attacking thug after a discussion became a fight
- most of the group escaped the bar, having an internal struggle on who was taking the "sample rocket" to the car (different parties, the wolfnet guy tried to take it and escape), custom guy was taken by triads, but as they knew him from before, he was able to get away, promising to cut a percentage of the deal to them...(but they are threatening his family now...)

actually the fight in the bar was complicated, because I (GM) was not prepared for it. I was not sure how to model the situation:
one thug attacking with a dagger-> running towards bodyguard trying to stab him
bodyguard (won initiative because of combat sense) threw molotov in front of attacker, then shot with his gun (missed)
other player used medusa whip on thug
---- is it possible to make 2 attack moves in one turn (2 simple actions?)
---- is it possible to attack (Melee), then walk, then attack again (small weapons) on one turn?
---- how would one play the molotov on the ground?

we managed to play this out, but were not sure about correct rules (i am asking for next time).

in the evening the dealer, his bodyguard and wolfnet guy [still pretending to be a businessman with connections] but was imprisoned by a swat team (they caused to much public annoyance). Customs guy was able to convince his colleagues to let them go, as they were attacked by the tridas. However, his aim in was only to force them to let him participate in the deal.... he is playing a double game...but some of his high ranking colleagues are developing an suspicion against him

this is really fun. no mechs so far ;)

next time we´ll have a little simulator mech fight between the son of the customs guy (he wants to push his talented but unreliable 17years old son into the arenas, hopes the others might be able to pave the way, at least Wolfnet guy has made some promises...) and a seasoned mechwarrior they met at the arms fair.

[PurpleDragon]

It sounds like y'all did, indeed, have fun. 

Rule of thumb, don't get bogged down in the rules.  If it makes sense and works, go with it.   The rules are guidelines.  I use them only to try and maintain some consistancy.  I have been guilty in the past of getting bogged down in the rules; and, that usually ends the game; at least, for the night.  One of the things I do when I am uncertain about a rule is to look at some of the game mechanics of other games and their rules.  I generally tend to default to D20 D&D 3.5 when I am in doubt.  I am not a rules Guru so I will let someone else answer whether you did it right or not.   If I were following how I would do things using your example, the second attack would not have happened by the same character in the same turn. 

Something else to look into: as much as people disliked MW 3rd ed, it did have some good charts and things to it for combat turns.   For example, there is a chart that describes the various actions you can take (with examples) and what kind of action it is during a game turn that represents five seconds of time.  It might help you to see where the actions in AToW are supposed to work. 

[freakacid]

A new player wants to join. She is not experienced with BT, but had the Idea to be some kind of cyborg. Well, I have some Ideas - as there are implants available.

Is there a list, which tech would be available around 3025... she might play someone comstar related or someone with background in the NAIT... my group already is on a trail to some recovered lostech from a cache...

I found the list in AToW / and ATOW Companion, and assume Availability E, maybe F might be ok? Or are there lists by year?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

A ComStar link is certainly possible, especially given the hindsight after what the Blakists invented for the Manei Dominei.  But if anything, that feels too easy.  Plus it raises a natural question that has to be answered: Why is ComStar allowing her to run around in the players' party?  There are lots of possibilities and lots of potential hooks for that character, but as the GM you'll absolutely need to answer it in some way.

If it were me I'd prefer to go in a different direction.  Definitely look into the cyber cat-girls of Canopus.  It's totally a thing.  Maybe she got sick of being kawaii and defected from her Pleasure Circus, and got some badass combat implants along the way somewhere.

Or perhaps tie in the ready-made Free Worlds taboo against cybernetics.  She could be a former FWLM mechwarrior who suffered the worst fate imaginable... burned almost alive in her cockpit.  She rejected being an invalid forever and got robo-whatevers and turned merc/gladiator when her family/unit couldn't handle the grossness of it all.

Perhaps take the Free Worlder attitude and reverse it entirely.  You can make up some world or colony that she happens to be from where they LOVE cyber enhancements, and don't see anything wrong with "improving" on nature's model.  (this hypothetical world could tie back to ComStar, as a secret test bed for what would in the future become MD robo-terror-tech)

[freakacid]

great ideas. where can I find info on cyber cat girls of canopus? Sarna didnt help, which book?

A mechwarrior with implants turned tech was also one of my basic ideas...

another one was someone working somewhere deep in the vaults of a "solaris museum of ancient technology" beeing part of a secret society of admirers of lostech/cyber enhancement that are always on the hunt for technology (not for use, but rather for their collection)....

Comstar will be one of the (secret) enemies of my party... so if she has a comstar background the story would be something like beeing someone who has "deserted" from comstar... however, not my favourite option, as it would make it difficult for her to move in public.

a planet of technology savvy people might be interesting as well!

[guardiandashi]

I think its the ATOW companion that goes into detail about some of the canopian cyber implants/mods

they have been briefly mentioned in other resources I want to say an old laio or Free worlds house book, and almost definitely in the periphery books.

basically think of an "adult" version (not all adult but definitely aspects) of when the circus "comes to town"  its a traveling event has a bunch of tents/prefabs that they set up as a sort of temp town (kind of like a county fair) and have a whole bunch of things ranging from juggling, and weapons demonstrations, hocking cheap goods, various "games" freak shows etc.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

great ideas. where can I find info on cyber cat girls of canopus? Sarna didnt help, which book?

ATOW Companion, yeah.  It doesn't really have a Shadowrun style Street Samurai Catalog list of cybernetics.. but it does give you an idea for a framework of individual pieces of tech you might want to create for your campaign.

Other sources should have additional info about Pleasure Circuses.  A catgirl (or mermaid, or Brony, or whatever) doesn't have to be a sex performer...although some certainly are.   What better worker for a simple freak show than someone who can just pop off her day-to-day arms and legs and pop on functional but bizarre looking limbs while on the clock?

[Lord greystroke]

Also for the heavy cyber aspect you could have a Cappy as one of their old 3rd edition rolls was them turning you into basically a proper cyborg

[freakacid]

cappy?

edit: Cappy = Capella , now I got it ;)

[Lord greystroke]

Capellan Confederation also known as house Liao they were pretty into the making people better you would be using the same stuff as everyone else for the implants but with a different style choice for your background on the player

They can rebuild you; they have the technology. All it will cost you is your soul

that was the old line for the death commando rolls back in the day also you should remember you don't have to be of Chinese extraction in the Capellan Confederation they have Russians and such like the old language choices used to be Russian, Scottish Gaelic,Hindi, Arabic so they had more variation but with the newer stuff and changes to the state the Chinese part becomes the only bit left 

[bluedragon7]

As that Quote is from 3rd Edition (~3067) i am not sure this represents the cyberware available to Liao in 3025 correctly.

Actually I thought the degree of cyber came due to close relations with Canopus coupled with data from the Helm memory core and research into triple strength myomer.
Not really available in 3025.

But the magistrate of Canopus has always been known for good medical capabilities, even back in 3025.

[Lord greystroke]

most if not all of the technology is available in 3025 just depends on cost making the availability worse of course but it can be done true the TSM isn't about but that's only one minor thing the quote is just used because its cool and shows the mentality

[bluedragon7]

most if not all of the technology is available in 3025

Certainly not, especially not just to everyone. 3025 was the time of LosTech and unless you are Comstar technology is not available, only randomly discovered but not understood. Exemptions like Justin prove the point, his Arm was an engineering masterpiece.

That's not to say heavy cybernetics are impossible but they are not plausible for just any affiliation. The mention in Mechwarrior 3rd reflects a completely different timeline where this kind of technology is significantly more common. If you look into the books for the 3025 timeline implants were rarer with the most commen of them just being better Peglegs.

[Lord greystroke]

I think your missing the cost element cash is king looking at the rules you should be able to do nearly anything it is cost and availability that changes so a man on the street is screwed in 3025 not a rich noble how rich very I would say 

[bluedragon7]

Maybe this needs to be separated into a different thread by the mods as it is turning into a new topic?

In 3067 rarity can be compensated by money relatively easy, but in 3025 this was not that easy, as availability of rare items was not managed by production but quite often by luck of finding it in a StarLeague cache as the secrets of its production have been lost in time.

If you just look at the rules now you entirely miss the point of the 3025 setting.

[Lord greystroke]

I see but the rules are how one gauges things as they are the rules  fluff is fine but it appears everyone thinks that the man on the street is the view one looks at because in 3025 its much bleaker to a rich man on a nice planet you don't even notice because you have it good money and power are the only thing that make a difference

your universe your way of doing business

[bluedragon7]

Yes, but the rules to describe the 3025 setting are different to the rules now, aren't they? ;) And in them implants are way rarer than in MW3 or AToW and Liao was not particularly known for it.

If you play in that era, it is helpful to point out the differences in the setting, otherwise you could just play in current time.

[Lord greystroke]

I think your getting hung up on the later quote used for flavour and fun if this person is using the dreadful ATOW rules with the companion  they show that it is easy enough to replicate the good old days of 3025 and it is the changing of availability and cost all of that I mentioned 

[bluedragon7]

No, I am hung up on the suggestion that Liao would be an ideal heritage for a cybered character in 3025.

While in 3060+ they might be a prime choice, in 3025 they are not.

[guardiandashi]

cost and availability are definitely issues in 3025 but frankly some are considering it bleaker than in some cases it was..

lostech was definitely a thing but I am going to say in some ways you could use the analogy example of fallout to get an idea of some of what happened.

in the star league things were in general pretty good massive advancements spread fairly far and wide yadda yadda.  then they had a war (several but details) and that civilization fell.
in 3025 they are living in the ruins of that civilization but in some cases are starting to actually recover.

one thing people had done what with people being people id they would go and get bits and pieces of what was left and tend to concentrate the "good stuff" to a few areas.  thus you get things like the davion core worlds... and the outback.

each house had somewhat different priorities and what they managed to recover and or salvage.

Laio has always been a population rich house and territory poor (because davion took over huge swathes of their territory early on and marik to a lesser extent did the same.

to some extent you could say (I know its not true exactly but....) that Laio is southeast asia mostly china and india they have a fair amount of "people tech" in the warrior novel Justin had forced Candice to eject and she got her shoulder chewed up by a canopy that didn't clear completely, se had already gotten MID (Myomer implantation Device) "repairs" when they actually talked. so the units were around but the problem was that while the equipment still worked.. in a lot of cases it was more or less "black box" tech IE they know if they use the device it does "something" but they often don't know exactly how or why it does or doesn't work, so they might do the equivalent of trying to use a device intended for repairs of "limb" muscles and attempt to use it for a repair of torso muscles and get "bad results"

[freakacid]

ahhhh, cappy=capella  O0

[bluedragon7]

that the Liao royal family has access to lostech does not make the whole house well equipped in regards to implant technology

MIDs work as black box type lostech, not requiring much knowledge to be used, but on the other hand no one understands how they work.

Real myomer implants require a much higher level of sophistication as they need to be grafted to the body and not many doctors outside of comstar and maybe Canopus know how.

They only start reappearing after the 4th succession war and then it is indeed Liao that starts the first experiments with elective implants, which are those that increase the strength of the user. In 3025 those have not been developed yet.

[Lysenko]

Certainly not, especially not just to everyone. 3025 was the time of LosTech and unless you are Comstar technology is not available, only randomly discovered but not understood. Exemptions like Justin prove the point, his Arm was an engineering masterpiece.

I sometimes wonder about that. The Capellan aero-pilot in "The Sword and the Dagger" (2nd BT novel published)  has a bionic leg. I have no idea if an aerotech fighter has foot controls or not, but still.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I sometimes wonder about that. The Capellan aero-pilot in "The Sword and the Dagger" (2nd BT novel published)  has a bionic leg. I have no idea if an aerotech fighter has foot controls or not, but still.

I remember novels having the ASF thrust tied to pedals.

My head canon however retains the foot pedals to yaw.  An ASF, like a conventional aircraft, can spin on 3 axes, and a joystick only allows control for 2 of them.  You need the pedals for yaw, just like in an airplane because the joystick can't provide that input if it's already providing pitch and roll.  My head canon puts a second joystick in the pilots other hand for up/down/left/right thrust, leaving a third input (throttle) for forward/back thrust.

Either way, yeah pilots need feet :)

[freakacid]

last two session

session 2.

a new player was introduced. a cyber cat girl (PC) which was able to break free from a pleasure circus. now on solaris to build up  a new life. She has some piloting, tech and medtech skills, but is planning to do something in media buizness. Managed to get the (more or less corrupt) customs officer (PC) interested in her, they went on a date.  She also managed to get into the club "Walhalla" and get some respected stable owner (NPC) interested in her. Later on she had a date with the customs guy (PC) of the date was him trying to impress her with a visit to the bridge of a landed spacecraft that he was inspecting. They ended up on the bridge and she started to push some buttons, but luckily (that would have been a mess, the crew of the ship would was quite upset) the system was properly secured so she did not manage to do anything....:).. they left...it seems that those two PC characters are going to be in a love relationship.

the arms dealer (PC), his bodyguard (PC) and the manager (former wolfs dragoon...on secret mission to establish a  wolfnet safehouse/Stable on Solaris) are still struggling with one of the triads ("Burning Knifes"). They try to solve their problems by starting a gang war with another triad ("eternal light") by stealing some fancy motorcycles (that are iconic for the other gang) and by this disguising as that gang... they managed to get some attention in the burning knifes area and lured a few of their thugs into "enemy territory"...it ended in a wild motorcycle chase with shooting .... They managed to kill two "burning knives" thugs in their disguise. On their way back home, one of the players was stopped by police, but was able to talk himself out by referring to their friend in the customs office... (who will have to deal with the bureaucratic repercussions and internal revision later on...)

on the next gaming day cyber cat and customs guy were not available. So we played in a smaller group. Arms dealer went to a well renowned stable and talked to an experienced tech, trying to sell his Artemis IV rockets. He got them interested, but they said they need the lostech-guidance system as well, then they would pay a better price. The players decided to do some research and find sources for lostech, their starting point was the Mech-Museum (pretending to be journalists) where two of them booked an extended tour and had a chat with the experienced tech working there. The museum has a deep vault where university students do lostech archeology and try to learn from some found parts. They even have an old Archer 2Rb, which is out of order because of missing endosteel parts which cannot be reproduced. They players were able to obtain some information about the artemis system and about the security system of the museum (however an heist would be suicidal, as the museum has heavy security).  They also found out that one of the up and coming arena Mechwarriors might have a modified Dervish with some lostech Artemis, but this is not confirmed yet.

There was another funny episode in the museum: before leaving the museum one of the players was lifted by the atlas mech guarding the entrance for some funny photograph ("selfie"). The other player encouraged the pilot (via radio) to make a practical joke and scare the PC a bit. As the giant hand was starting to close and pretending to squeeze the player (not seriously, just shocking the little human in it) the weapons dealer missed a willpower check (because of his paranoia) and cracyly jumped out of the hand onto the mech torso (he was lifted high above - and even missed the roll for the jump- but was saved by edge...18m fall would not have been nice). The pilot of the atlas(NPC) himself, was also shocked by what he had caused, as he only wanted to do a little scare and opened the cockpit to calm down the player (he rolled a 1-1 on a willpower check). The player in his paranoia then jumped into the now open cockpit of this mech (that is in the museum mainly for show reasons) and nearly beat the pilot to death... it him a while to calm down and finally both left the mech and the players managed to leave the museum due to a good performance ot the other PC who pretended that was all part of a show... (and the museum staff was feeling guilty themselves, as their joke went a little too far as well).
[this episode might not sound very realistc, but it was hilarious]. The bodyguard PC meanwhile was doing some research about the triads and all of them were meeting in a park in Kobe, but they found out that they obviously had attracted some attention. They were followed by a surveillance guy (NPC) of an unknown organization. Bodyguard guy spotted him and managed to sneak up onto this guy, beat him unconscious and tried to bring him to his place. However the agent (NPC) had some suicide poison hidden in his teeth and killed himself before beeing tortured or giving away secrets (actually: thats a hint to "higher powers" that get interested in knowing where the artemis munition is coming from...some parties might try to cover up the recent discovery of a star league cache).

sorry for my lazy writing. I hope it gives an understandable summary of how the game develops, and is a nice way to take some notes for me as GM. Later on I might polish the text a bit.

[freakacid]

My players might get some information about a lost jumpship with a dropship that might be drifting in space in a neighbouring star system after a missjump (and might contain some goodies)...

if they decide and manage to hire a suitable ship/crew ("Han Solo" style) and find a jumpship that is willing to bring them to the temporary pirate jump point of a neighbouring system...

are there any special rules for K-F jumping (we played Warhammer40K / Rouge Trader before, there the Warp was a big deal...people going cracy etc.)...

What would be a reasonable cost for a short endeavor like this (1 or two jumps, maybe two weeks, a small dropship+crew... mostly civil...they are not engaged in a fight [yet]?)...? I found some information about 3-5% of the price of a ship as baseline?

thank you!

[guardiandashi]

if there is a jumpship headed in the right general direction, its usually ~50,000 cbills per dropship per jump. so 2 jumps ~100,000 cbills each way.

typically it would be the dropship you would be leasing for a % of its value for the run. the jumpship I would typically charge the cost per jump, although if you want to be a touch mean... require them to pay the cost of all potential transport capability per jump.

so if the jumpship can only haul 1 dropper 50k/jump
if it can haul 3 150k/jump
etc.

[freakacid]

just some short conclusion of the last session.

Customs Officer (McGregor) found a dead guy on his couch in the morning [he was only connected via skype]. That guy was planted by the other players there, because they were not sure, if they could trust McGregor, and if the surveillance guy was maybe under his command. He did the right thing and called the otehr players.. actually they were in front of his house and observing how he was reacting.

Then they asked our computer/medical skilled cybercat girl (Syria Lagrange) to find out some details on the body. She was not able to get information, but had a friend she found on the way to solaris, a guy who runs a "dirty clinic" and is a collector of technology [and is very suspicous and conspiracy theory driven]. They carried the body there and asked him to do a scan of the body...
[later on that guy found out that there was a little self dissolving "GPS sensor" was inside the body, giving some hints towars ROM/ Comstar]. Paranoia Level went over 9000.

While this took place, the weapons dealer (dai-li) was informed that his contact who had delivered the artemis lrms was one jump away and would arrive on solaris soon. They went to to the spaceport to get in contact... however, arriving there, they saw news about a tragic missjump of an incoming jumpship. The jumpship arrived [with some damage], but the docking collar seemed to have not docked properly and one dropship was missing.... guess which one, and who was on it. They managed to get in contact with one of the crew from the jumpship, who is willing to give the jump coordinates where the ship was coming from - in exchange for the promise to save the dropship crew (his friends)...and he is promising lostech onboard...[if something is still salvageable after the misjump]

hope my players are torn between greed and paranoia now ;)---

next session will be about space...they are already hiring a crew...the paranoid doctor [temporary player] has some conections...

[freakacid]

puuhhh,

a little fallen behind with updates:

basically -
players hired a dropship and a jumpship. Managed to find the destroyed dropship drifting in space.
cargo still intact. Two other dropships approaching (1 day and 3 days away), first one "snords irregulars", wanting their part of the cargo. Second unidentified (will be comguard secret unit).

next session:
Boarding the ship, finding some survivors and many dead bodies in the ship. Searching every room, reconstructing what happened and finally finding a surviving traitor onboard hiding in a mech cockpit. Managed to open that, before he was able to power up the mech and kill everyone in the cargo bay...salvaging what was there... the whole thing under time pressure... gave the internal dynamics a nice boost.

My team managed to salvage 5 mechs and some cargo... however they have more trouble bringing it to Solaris as threatened by two other dropships. After intense discussions they managed to team up with another ship (in my game: a Snord irregulars unit) who also want their part--- my wolfnet agent however managed to do something like a hidden "batchall" with them - that will finally lead to a (trial of posession) like fight on solaris. The other players do not understand what is going on, and the clans were not mentioned, but some pathetic talk about honor and the true warrior (....) and so on was there for some good fun.

[the hidden clan style of acting of my wolfnet agent and the snords unit in 3025 might be a stretch of canon, but it is my game]