Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II  (Read 205636 times)

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #450 on: 16 February 2018, 10:22:31 »
Date: September 3, 3027
 
Location: Carver V

Title: Caught in the 'Mech Flush

Author: Dale L. Kemper
 
Type: Short Story (BattleTechnology 12)

Synopsis: Sub Commander Clarson Kelly of the 10th Chesterton Reserves recounts his engagement with a cadre of bandits known as the 'MechPirates on Carver V in mid-3027.  Kelly estimated the bandit strength at 7 'Mechs, compared to about 42 Chesterton 'Mechs onworld.

The bandits landed near Desmond, a village used by the Chesterton forces as an emergency supply point, and overwhelmed the local infantry garrison, which fled after its support weapons were destroyed, leaving the bandits free to loot the two warehouses there. 

Kelly's CO, Commander Gunther, led the Pursuit Lance to rendezvous with Captain Miller's Command Lance 30 minutes after the bandits touched down, and they deployed in rough terrain, near the Molito Reservoir, along the most likely path for the bandits to take back to their LZ, on a grassy plain 15 km from Desmond.

As the bandits approached, mostly in ragged FrankenMechs, the concealed CCAF troops observed three continue to move forward, carrying their stolen 'Mech parts, while another four, members of the "Backstabber" recon lance, dropped their loads and concealed themselves underwater in the reservoir, clearly intending to ambush any pursuing CCAF forces that overtook the lead elements.

Miller ordered Pursuit Lance (Kelly - Javelin; Gunther - Trebuchet; Franklyn - Wasp; and Higgins - Cicada) to engage the bandit ambush force under water, while the Command Lance intercepted the bait elements.  It went poorly, and Higgins slippped and fell into the water.  Kelly went to help, but was surprised by the sounds of banging metal.  He heard the hiss of underwater laser fire, and the crump of underwater missile detonations.

Moving blindly through the murky water, Kelly encountered a bandit Centurion, and hammered it with his missiles.  The bandit withdrew, revealing the shattered wreck of Higgins' Cicada.

Trying to find his unit, Kelly followed the sounds of battle and found Gunther's Trebuchet in a crossfire from two bandits - a Stinger and a Panther.  As Kelly moved to support his lance leader, he was struck from behind by the Centurion.

Kelly fought desperately against the heavier 'Mech, but was forced to fall back until Franklyn arrived with his Wasp to even the odds, tackling the Centurion and sending crashing facedown into the mud.  A solid kick from the Javelin breached the cockpit.

With the Trebuchet still engaged with the Stinger and Panther, Franklyn and Kelly turned their attention to the fourth bandit, a Whitworth.  Water pressure caused the Javelin's missiles to misfire, destroying the launcher.

Approaching the Whitworth to engage it hand to hand, Kelly noticed a strong current pulling at him, and realized that it signaled danger.  He motioned to Franklyn to warn him, and then grabbed hold of the sunken wreck of an ancient ground vehicle, while the water in the reservoir surged through the now broken dike, which had collapsed from the impacts of stray shots and the vibrations of the 'Mechs fighting nearby.

Fifteen minutes later, the reservoir was completely drained.  Kelly saw Franklyn and Higgins both survived, as did Gunther (albeit with a skull fracture).  The bandit Stinger pilot was the only survivor on that side, and he surrendered without further combat.

The three leading bandits managed to escape, but had to drop the supplies they'd stolen.  Kelly was made acting Lance Commander until Gunther returned to duty, and was granted a ten-day furlough in Dalensport.

Notes:  This is Dale Kemper's only short story.  His other work includes scenarios (Kell Hounds and Sorenson's Sabres) and TROs (3025, 2750, and 3050), as well as a few more scenarios for BattleTechnology.

The 10th Chesterton Reserves is not a canon CCAF unit.  The Chesterton Reserves was a brigade that included the Ariana Fusiliers, the Chesterton Voltigeuers, Hamilton's Highlanders, Lothar's Fusiliers, Sung's Cuirassiers, and Kingston's Legionnaires.  Those not destroyed in the 4th Succession War defected with Pavel Ridzik and formed the core of the Tikonov Free Republic's armed forces, later the AFFC Republican regiments. The 3025 Capellan sourcebook doesn't list any front line force as being posted to Carver V.

The infantry garrison is noted to be equipped with a tower-mounted "Strident Anti-Air Missile Launcher."  I wonder if that means it was equipped with a Garret D2J targeting and tracking system, given that system's notional superiority for anti-air use?

Under the modern ruleset, Miller's orders are insane.  The Javelin has no functional weapons underwater (assuming it's not the Fire Javelin variant), and the Trebuchet loses the use of its LRMs.  Far better to ambush the ambushers when/if they come out of the water, taking advantage of their relative immobility slogging through the shallows to hammer them with missiles - any armor holes combined with falls into water would result in flooded sections and likely insta-kills.

The accompanying Rules Variant section on Underwater combat acknowledges that non-energy weapons can't be fired under the standard rule-set, but proposes an optional rule where ballistic and missile weapons can be fired, but must make a 9+ on 2D6 each time it is fired to prevent the barrel from exploding, rendering the weapon non-functional for the rest of the engagement.

Frankly, the bandit tactics greatly confuse me.  If you have air superiority (the setup explains that the 10th Chesterton Reserves' aerospace assets were deployed to another world), why not land directly adjacent to the village, let your troops scatter the defending infantry, and be gone with your prize before the garrison can react?  Was the DropShip in such bad shape that the lone Strident SAM site was an existential threat?  (Could be, but that should've been clearly stated, if so.) 

I suppose that the village could be completely surrounded by sufficiently rough terrain as to make a proximity landing unfeasible, but still - it's not like villages are typically super-dense.  The central square would probably have sufficed to touch down.

Backstabber lance is pretty slow for a recon lance - mostly 4/6/4 (assuming the Centurion's retrofitted jump jets are maximized), and a lone 6/9/6.  If any pursuit force came by that was fast enough to overtake the lead elements, they'd leave the Backstabbers in their dust (though, perhaps the idea would be to have the Backstabbers fall on the pursuers once the battle began).

Running the D.R.A.G.O.N. game club at UC Davis in the 1990s, I had these rules sprung on me unexpectedly - the GM had us pick our forces, then rolled on a table for terrain conditions.  I ended up with a set of LRM-20 variant Catapults (no lasers) and some Vindicators guarding an underwater base against an attacking Awesome and support units.  The GM ruled that I couldn't have the Catapults equipped with torpedoes, since I hadn't declared that before terrain was chosen.  (OpFor was run by GM's best friend...Grrrrr).  I came away with a strong distaste for both underwater combat and the GM. 

Things didn't improve when I played out the British Isles campaign in Fall of Terra - I lost more than a company of ComGuard cadet 'Mechs trying to cross a wide river - getting stuck, falling, getting torso breaches, flooding.

As for the CCAF force - one question is why they went down into the muck to fight the bandits hand to hand.  It would have been much more effective (especially given the background that the reservoir had been abandoned centuries ago) to simply shoot out the dike and pick off the 'MechPirates once the water finished draining.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2018, 14:39:45 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #451 on: 16 February 2018, 15:26:08 »
Date: September 3, 3027
 
Location: Carver V

Title: Flush and Flood, Mud and Blood

Author: Dale L. Kemper
 
Type: Scenario (BattleTechnology 12)

Synopsis: This scenario accompanies the short story "Caught in the 'Mech Flush" in the same issue of BattleTechnology.  It pits Kleinholt's Battalion of the 10th Chesterton Reserves against a light company of the 'MechPirates.

Backstabber Lance fields four 'Mechs with varying pre-existing damage: Centurion with a broken rear laser and intermittently functional AC/10, Whitworth with a broken head laser and only 50% jump capacity, Panther with a misfiring PPC, Stinger with no armor on the right leg.  They deploy on the north side.

The 10th Chesterton (Kingston's Legionnaires?) lance is undamaged, fielding a Trebuchet, Javelin, Cicada, and Wasp.  They presumably enter from the south, but it's not specified.

The CCAF force wants to destroy all the 'MechPirates or force them off the map.  The 'MechPirates' goal is to destroy the CCAF lance underwater, in order to launch the ambush on the other CCAF lance.

If the reservoir dike is destroyed, the side with the most intact 'Mechs wins (still able to move and fight). 

The map is two standard BattleTech maps side by side.  All hexes are considered to be Depth 3 water, except existing water hexes, which are considered to be shallows.  Underwater, ACs and lasers have 1/2 range, flamers and machine guns do not work.  All other weapons operate normally.

From Turn 5 onwards, a D6 is rolled at the start of each turn.  The dike breaks on a 6, forcing a PSR check at a +3 penalty.  Failure results in a five-hex skid towards the eastern edge, which can be halted on subsequent turns by a PSR at a +5 penalty.  Going off the map to the east results a Level 3 fall, with accompanying damage.

Movement is halved due to deep mud conditions, following the drainage.

Notes: This clarifies that the CCAF force isn't a pair of short battalions, but one reinforced battalion.  It may be the case that two shattered battalions were condensed into one reinforced battalion, and that this training rotation was for the purpose of getting the two formerly separate commands to work more effectively together as an integrated unit.

Of course, since there is no unit designated as the 10th Chesterton Reserves, its existence is quite non-canon.  That being said, there are ten Chesterton Reserve units, with the 10th listed in the Liao sourcebook being Kingston's Legionnaires.  It only has two battalions circa 3025 (under Majors Kingston and Loo), but perhaps they stood up a third battalion under Major Kleinholt by 3027, which would explain the training assignment.

The pre-existing damage on the bandits fits their FrankenMech description, but the total lack of armor on the Stinger's leg, if used under the standard rules, renders it immobile from the get go, since the section will flood and the actuators will short out as soon as it steps into the shallows.  With that sort of damage, it shouldn't have been assigned to the underwater ambush from the start. 

It's interesting that the special rules for weapons fire underwater presented in the same issue aren't more directly referenced, especially the 9+ check to use a non-energy weapon.  My guess is that those rules were written after the scenario was finished, as an expansion on the weapon restrictions presented therein. 

Under these conditions, LRMs and SRMs effectively function like torpedoes without any modifications required, and PPCs dominate the underwater, being fully functional without range restrictions.

It's unclear why the mud terrain restriction only goes into effect after the water drains away (the duration of the draining isn't given - five turns, perhaps?).  The mud was there all the time - just covered by a lot of water.  Given some of the descriptions in the alternate rule section, Dale Kemper appears to have envisioned the water having a buoyant effect on 'Mechs, letting them float. 

If operating under the standard rules, the scenario is nearly unplayable.  Jump jets will not work, the mud will overwhelm the Piloting 5 MechWarriors, so they'll be stuck and immobile.  There will be a painful slog through the muck to reach effective firing ranges for anything, and victory will go the side that manages to breach the others' armor and flood them.  Most likely, the dike will collapse long before the combatants reach each other, and then it will be a battle of the PSRs to avoid being dragged off the edge.

If you play only under the constraints given in the scenario (with all units assumed to have torpedoes and underwater-optimized PPCs), then the battle should be for control of the western edge, since you don't want to be anywhere near the dike when it goes.  Backstabber lance has 155 tons of equipment, against 145 tons of CCAF, but many of the bandit weapons don't work.

The two sides are pretty well matched on long range firepower, each able to lob 30 LRMs downrange.  The Backstabbers add a semi-functional PPC to that.  If the bandits can concentrate fire on the Trebuchet and make it flood, they can gain a significant edge on the Capellans, whereas it's harder to take the three long-range bandits down that way. 

After the Trebuchet, the Javelin is the biggest threat (especially since all the individual hit locations for the SRMs will each cause breach checks), so massing the long range fire on it as it approaches would be recommended.  The Cicada and Wasp are limited to half-range lasers.

It seems like it would be optimal to simply wait until the enemy is in position, then shoot the dike, but that's not an option in this scenario. 

For the CCAF, you have the luxury of time.  Have the Trebuchet hang back and provide suppressing fire with the LRMs (LRTs?) while your troops go prone for better cover.  Gunther will be more accurate at long range with Gunnery 3, and has the potential to hole the enemy 'Mechs with missile fire, neutralizing them without them being able to get off a shot.  The Whitworth is the obvious primary target, since taking it out removes 2/3 of their missile launchers from play.  The Panther's PPC will only fire on a 7+ to begin with, so the Centurion is the secondary target.

Come in on the southwestern edge and move to long range with the missiles, then trade volleys until the dike breaks.  The damage done while being dragged along the reservoir bottom should result in more flooded body sections (since the water isn't gone immediately). 

All in all, this is an interesting concept with unique challenges.  However, there are a number of areas where the rules are maddeningly unclear:

Is the movement restriction the entire time, or only after the water drains? 

How long does it take for the water to drain? 

If you succeeded in the first PSR to avoid getting swept away, do you need to make it again every turn? 

Is the bandit Stinger's leg flooded and immobile from the start? 

The range restrictions are presented as being from the energy dissipating in the water, and the cannon shells facing drag effects in the water.  Yet the fiction calls the water murky and hard to see through - shouldn't there be LOS limitations?

Why are missiles treated as torpedoes?

Why does it matter how much damage a 'Mech takes when it goes over the edge, since it's out of the scenario at that point?
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

  • Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 24875
  • Dang it!
    • Battletech Fanon Wiki
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #452 on: 19 February 2018, 06:59:06 »
Does the lack of Torpedo  and underwater rules info mean the scenario predates these rules set?
I wasn't playing yet when this magazine was published, but it does sound like it was assumed torpedoes could be swapped into the regular missile launchers.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #453 on: 19 February 2018, 09:31:37 »
The article in the issue on underwater combat discusses torpedoes, but the scenario explicitly tells players to treat missile weapons as they would above water.  The scenario was probably authored before the article, and wasn’t revised before publication.

Torpedo and other underwater rules were included in the original BattleTech Manual, which collected the rule sets from BattleTech, CityTech, and AeroTech into one volume, and which predated BattleTechnology 12’s publication.

The optional rules in the magazine allow autocannons and missiles to fire underwater, but with critical misfires from rolls of 8 or less each time they are fired.  Those rules, however, aren’t explicitly referenced by the scenario’s “Special Rules” section.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #454 on: 20 February 2018, 12:39:07 »
Date: September 9, 3027
 
Location: Galatea

Title: Intercepted Information on Solaris

Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter (SNES MechWarrior)

Synopsis: Larman Sholest tells Herras Ragen that one of his informants says someone is after information that a spy intercepted on Solaris.  He says it doesn't make any sense to him, and asks Herras what he makes of it.

Notes: Larman Sholest is billed in the "cast 'o characters" in the introduction as "an experienced merc who knows his stuff."  One the one hand, he does have his own network of informants (just as the Bounty Hunter and, apparently, most other lone-wolf mercenary types do).  On the other, he seems unable to comprehend a fairly elementary situation, and passes it to Herras as a referral.  Again, I know it's just a framing device to set up a mission, but the writing is so simplistic that it makes Larman look brain damaged.

From Warrior: En Garde, we already know that Solaris VII is a hotbed for interstellar espionage.  Why is it so hard to comprehend that a spy intercepted some information and that at least one other interested party wants it? 

The fact that the information was intercepted means it was probably a hard copy (or a data core) that was being physically transported, rather than being sent via ComStar.  So, there's a spy who bushwhacked a courier and stole some data, and someone is offering money to whack the spy and retrieve the data.  This sounds like a tasking for the Solaris City Police Department, rather than dispatching someone from Galatea to take it by force.  How would Herras even make it there in time to do any good?  And how does Herras know where to go on Solaris VII? 

With additional details, this could have been a good scenario hook - "A spy intercepted a [faction]
 courier and stole [data type] on Solaris.  [faction] is offering a reward to get it back.  My trusted informant on Solaris tells me that [insert name here] Stables is protecting the spy while he tries arrange to sell it to the Dark Wing.  I don't have the firepower to take on an entire stable, but I bet you could pull it off." 

These SNES hooks just chap my hide (not a pretty sight!) because they're set in a universe that broke new ground in terms of the immense amount of world-building that FASA did in the 1985-1990 timeframe (House sourcebooks, novels, etc.), but the SNES interludes are excessively vague in the mission descriptions and, when they do cherry pick elements from canon fiction, they misuse them (including details of a top secret meeting in a NewsNet feature, for example.) 

I'd be curious to know what sort of creative interaction FASA had with the developers, but my guess is "little to none."  What makes this so odd is that the SNES MechWarrior is essentially a remake of the Activision MechWarrior game, which showed evidence of massive collaboration between the developers and FASA.  Why was that model not continued?
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #455 on: 20 February 2018, 12:54:08 »
Date: September 18, 3027
 
Location: Galatea

Title: Rescued Spy Pinpoints Duff Skully

Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter (SNES MechWarrior)

Synopsis: MIIO agent Lana Mann sends a message to Herras thanking him for saving her from her captors.  She offers Herras the location of Duff Skully - Cawdor - as a reward.

Notes: Sigh.  This interaction between Mann and Herras pretty much discounts the attempt to reframe Herras as an MIIO troubleshooter, since Mann would have passed him the data because of their shared mission, rather than as a reward for services rendered. 

Though, perhaps the explanation can be salvaged if we assume a high level of compartmentalization at MIIO.  She may be in Information Gathering, while he's in Covert Operations...or perhaps she's MIIO and he's DMI - an MI4 "Stealthy Fox," chalking up Lana's offer of the info as a reward to a failure of MI7 (MIIO Liaison) to keep the Ministry in the loop about Herras' operation on Galatea. 

Still, it makes it clear that her "lost" holodisc intel reports weren't being intentionally dead dropped at Club Zero-Zero by Mann, since she had no idea who Herras was prior to the rescue.  Perhaps MI7 was obtaining her reports through routine inter-agency information sharing and they were dead dropping them at Club Zero-Zero for Herras.

It's not clear from the YouTube "Let's Play" video what Herras did to rescue Mann.  Did he assault the HQ of her captors and break her out?  Or did he assault the HQ of whoever had the data the bandits wanted, and meekly deliver the ransom to get her freed?

Herras takes this information and slaughters Skully in a boss fight on Cawdor, leaving only the as yet unnamed leader of the Dark Wing lance to bring to justice.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #456 on: 20 February 2018, 16:53:24 »
Date: September 25, 3027
 
Location: Wyatt

Title: The Fifth Kill

Author: Thomas S. Gressman
 
Type: Short Story (BattleTechnology 0201)

Synopsis: Captain Kensie Shaneyfelt recounts a battle over Wyatt to BattleTechnology reporter Greggson DuVall.

Shaneyfelt, a Corsair pilot in the 10th Skye Rangers, relates that he grew up on his grandmother's tales of Celtic folklore, especially those of the Irish hero Kensie, who was killed by a rival chieftan that had been turned into a giant red eagle by a druid.

In July 3027, a Commonwealth military intelligence officer arrived on Wyatt with a report that the 4th Defenders of Andurien may be planning an attack against the world.  Kensie took special notice of the information that one of the FWL double-ace pilots, Major Dmitri Pawoloski, always painted his fighters to resemble red eagles. 

He began having nightmares about being killed by the Red Eagle, and never getting the fifth kill that would mark him as a combat ace.  His performance began to slip, resulting in a non-fatal downing by a bandit Sparrowhawk and being sent to sickbay by Flight Leader Maria Entz for psych evaluation. 

With no sign of improvement after several days, the flight surgeon grounded Kensie, relegating him to manning the radio shed.  The nightmares continued.

On September 25, the 10th Skye Rangers' aerospace squadron was scrambled to intercept incoming fighters and DropShips.  Kensie watched his squadron launch without him, and monitored the battle from the ready room. 

Hearing reports that Major Pawoloski, the Red Eagle, has been spotted, Kensie grabbed a flight suit and ordered his Tech, Dieter Jurgens, to prep his Corsair.

Kensie launched into a furball, where a swarm of Stingrays, Thrushes, and Sholagars were pushing the Skye Ranger squadron back with sheer numbers, and entered the fray by shooting down a Stingray - kill #4.

Kensie spotted a Slayer painted as a red eagle closing on Luke Kurtz's (Kensie's wingman) rear, and executed a maximum burn to interpose his ship between the Slayer and Kurtz's fighter, losing most of the right wing's armor.  Kurtz and Judy Haring counterattacked against the Slayer, but an autocannon burst destroyed Kurtz's Corsair, and then the Red Eagle went after Haring, tearing her ship apart.

As the Slayer turned back towards Kensie, Pawoloski broadcast a taunting challenge, expressing condolences that Kensie would have to die before getting his fifth kill.  Kensie pulled out of a power dive into Wyatt's gravity well and vectored towards the Slayer head on, firing all lasers.  Damaged, the Marik pilot tried to break contact, but Kensie managed to close and fire, exploding the Marik ship with a point-blank barrage. 

Kensie managed to bring his crippled fighter in for a landing on the planet's surface.  Once grounded, Kensie learned that the rest of Blue Squadron had managed to drive off the Andurien DropShips, and that Luke survived his orbital ejection.  Given his performance, Kensie's grounding order was lifted, and he never had another nightmare.

Notes: Editorial was a bit loose in this story, which refers to Kensie's unit as the "10th Sky Rangers" and the FWL unit is written as the "4th Defenders of Andarien" - pretty much par for the course, given similar misspellings in TRO:3025 and TRO:3026.

This is one of the few aerospace-themed stories to be seen in BattleTech fiction, and fits the space combat theme of issue 0201 (a cross-promotional effort with the AeroTech boxed set).  Gressman added several major aerospace scenes in his novels, featuring Star League vs. Clan fleet actions during Operation SERPENT.

I was surprised that the only FWL-specific fighter in the story was the Stingray, with the rest of the Andurien fleet being Liao and Kurita fighters (ostensibly there either as salvage - the Thrushes - or brought there by defectors - the Sholagars and Slayer). 

The fact that the 10th Skye Rangers' aerospace elements seem to be primarily Corsairs was also surprising, since that's a core AFFS fighter.  This may be the result of increased trade between the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth, and a unit close to Terra, like the 10th Skye on Wyatt, would be positioned to be an early beneficiary of such trade.

The choice of OpFor was also a bit odd.  Dame Humphreys was legendary for citing the Home Defense Act and refusing to release her provincial troops to use for anything but the defense of her Duchy.  Yet, here they are attacking the Lyran border.  The Sirian Lancers or the Silver Hawks would have been a more credible OpFor, given the stellar geography and House Humphreys' reticence to support House Marik's military adventures.
« Last Edit: 21 February 2018, 10:11:00 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

  • Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 24875
  • Dang it!
    • Battletech Fanon Wiki
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #457 on: 21 February 2018, 07:59:14 »
What good sounding story, i wish it were canon.  :(

House units were always raiding during the late Succession Wars.  Maybe the raid if this was the Defenders, was part their method of training.  Though it did sound like there as bit of vanity-Jealousy mixed in there with the Marik pilot.

Even if the Corsair was primarily a AFFS Aerospace fighter, the odd ball fighter will likely end up in service with someone else.
The Slayer was more known to be a Kurita fighter than a Marik one.   
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #458 on: 21 February 2018, 08:42:43 »
What good sounding story, i wish it were canon.  :(

House units were always raiding during the late Succession Wars.  Maybe the raid if this was the Defenders, was part their method of training.  Though it did sound like there as bit of vanity-Jealousy mixed in there with the Marik pilot.

Even if the Corsair was primarily a AFFS Aerospace fighter, the odd ball fighter will likely end up in service with someone else.

The Slayer was more known to be a Kurita fighter than a Marik one.

Pawoloski was explicitly noted to be an ex-Kurita aerojock that defected (not clear if to the FWL in general, or to the Duchy of Andurien in specific).

One or two Corsairs would have been par for the course, but the entire 10th Skye aerowing seemed to be made up of only that model.  It's not surprising, though, in the context of the parts of the FedCom treaty that promote free trade between the two nations.

You make a good point re: training.  Having the Defenders get some extra live-fire training in makes sense in light of Duchess Catherine Humphreys' ambitions to secede.  And the Concord of Kapteyn makes getting that training by raiding nearby Capellan systems politically untenable, leaving the Lyrans as the only feasible option (unless she wants to take a swipe at some Marik Militia formations and kick things off early).
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kit deSummersville

  • Precentor of Lies
  • Freelance Writer
  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 10397
  • The epicness continues!
    • Insights and Complaints on Twitter
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #459 on: 21 February 2018, 10:01:05 »
One or two Corsairs would have been par for the course, but the entire 10th Skye aerowing seemed to be made up of only that model.  It's not surprising, though, in the context of the parts of the FedCom treaty that promote free trade between the two nations.

Plus it's a Star League design, they tended to be spread out a bit in the Succession Wars.
Looking for an official answer? Check the Catalyst Interaction Forums.

Freelancer for hire, not an official CGL or IMR representative.

Everyone else's job is easy, so tell them how to do it, everyone loves that!

Millard Fillmore's favorite BattleTech writer.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #460 on: 22 February 2018, 11:18:28 »
Date: September 25, 3027
 
Location: Wyatt

Title: Kill Zone Over Wyatt

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.
 
Type: Scenario (BattleTechnology 0201)

Synopsis: FWL Admiral Janos Kleber launched this raid-in-force against Wyatt to relieve LCAF pressure elsewhere on the Steiner/Marik border, hoping to eliminate the salient into Marik space it represented.  His intent is to screen his DropShips to enable them to land on Wyatt intact and deploy the 4th Defenders of Andurien.

General Felix Mario Radnor, commander of the Wyatt garrison, deploys a squadron of new Davion-made Corsairs along with the militia fighters.  In a straight up fighter engagement, the Steiner forces have the edge, but would be overwhelmed if the attack force's four Unions get involved.

Lt. Sharlene Gurtman recounts that the 4th Andarien [sic] pilots came in at high-G and swarmed the defenders, led by the fearsome Red Eagle.

The FWL flotilla has 1 Slayer, 8 Stingrays, 2 Thrushes, 2 Sholagars, and 4 Unions.  The LCAF has 6 Corsairs, 3 Seydlitzes, 2 Lucifers, and 2 Chippewas.  They deploy on the standard AeroTech map, ignoring the moon and gravity effects marked there.

The FWL scores 100 points per DropShip that lands on Wyatt, and 1 point per ton of fighter destroyed. 

The LCAF scores 1 point per ton of fighter destroyed, 1 point per 5 points of damage done to a Marik DropShip, and 500 per DropShip destroyed.

The FWL is forced to retreat once 390 tons of fighters have been lost.  The Marik forces also withdraw if Admiral Kleiber's command ship is lost.

Slayer Pilot Dmitri Pawoloski's reputation is such that enemy pilots falter as they get close enough to see his Red Eagle paint scheme, applying a +1 to-hit penalty at medium range and a +2 penalty at close range.

Kensie Shaneyfelt's Corsair can only join the battle after a Steiner fighter is damaged by Pawoloski's Slayer.

Notes: So, it seems that my guess that the Corsairs are the fruit of the FedCom treaty was right on the nose.  The garrison seems to have just 2 Lucifers and 2 Chippewas, while the 10th Skye contributes the Corsairs and three Seydlitzes.

This "raid in force" seems a bit understrength - only one reinforced battalion.  Where are the rest of the 4th Defenders of Andurien?  And where are the other fighter carriers?  The FWL force has 13 fighters, but the four Unions only have room for 8.  Did the other five fighters come from the small craft bays on the FWL JumpShips?  There should have been at least one more Leopard CV in the FWL lineup.

And where are the rest of the 10th Skye Rangers?  If the ratio of 2 fighters per company holds, then there are 4-5 companies of Rangers onworld, plus another two companies of militia forces.  If that's the case, why are 6-7 companies of LCAF forces worried overmuch about 4 companies of Defenders, given the 10th Skye's veteran status?

Interestingly, none of the pilots have skill levels.  Was Gunnery not used in the original AeroTech ruleset?

The statement of motivation explains why Wyatt is being hit - to facilitate strategic maneuvering on the Lyran/League border.  But this makes the unit choice very out of character.  Since taking power, Dame Catherine Humphreys has routinely withheld her provincial forces (the Defenders of Andurien) from the FWLM, citing the need to retain them under the Home Defense Act.  Why would she green-light the use of the 4th Defenders on a raid-in-force intended to affect the strategic balance on the Lyran border?

On tactics, I would recommend that the Lyrans concentrate on the DropShips.  They're Victory Point fountains.  Burn at top speed to get to the Droppers and concentrate on one at a time.  Watch to see if the Mariks are particularly protective of any particular one, and focus on that (angling to win the engagement in one fell swoop by smoking the Admiral).  Form a compact group and hit the target ship from one direction - doing damage to the same armor facing and only taking return fire from one facing's weapons.  With luck, you can cripple or destroy a DropShip in a single pass.  The first pass will, of course, be the most effective, with Marik fighters tearing at your flanks.  On the plus side, the Thrushes and Sholagars are only minimally armed.  The Stingrays and Slayer are the main threats.

For the League, I would recommend sending your fighters in well ahead of the DropShips to try to thin out Steiner numbers.  Have three DropShips follow in a second wave, with the fighters of the first wave doubling back to escort them.  Have the fourth DropShip hang further back.  The Admiral's command ship should be one of the Second Wave ships, with the lagging one a decoy that may draw off some of the Lyran fighters.

If the Lyrans swarm your ships, take the opportunity to concentrate your fire and rack up points on kills.  If any of your DropShips gets hammered, make sure to reorient to have your strongest armor facing their attacks.  Keep up the pretense if they go after the Admiral's ship - don't give any sign that you're particularly protective - but perhaps bring in the decoy closer to make it a more attractive target.  You only have to cross 20 hexes, so if you can trick the Lyrans into splitting their focus, most of your force should land intact.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 4241
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #461 on: 22 February 2018, 11:57:06 »
And where are the other fighter carriers?  The FWL force has 13 fighters, but the four Unions only have room for 8.  Did the other five fighters come from the small craft bays on the FWL JumpShips?  There should have been at least one more Leopard CV in the FWL lineup.
As demonstrated by House Liao in The Sword and the Dagger, aerospace fighters can travel for long distances using external tanks, without exposing their carriers.
Alternatively, one of the Unions may be a Union CV refit. These exist in canon. See TRO:3025, Corsair entry.
Sarna.net BattleTechWiki Admin
Author of the BattleCorps stories Feather vs. Mountain, Rise and Shine, Proprietary, Trial of Faith & scenario Twins

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #462 on: 22 February 2018, 12:10:15 »
I recalled the use of external fuel tanks for system transit in Sword and the Dagger, but my main question was how the fighters got to the Wyatt system in the first place. 

A Union CV is a possibility I considered, but then you take a company of ground troops away from a Defender battalion that's already outnumbered two to one by the garrison.  Not good odds if you're trying to seize the world.

That brings up the question of what the FWL is actually trying to accomplish.  If they really wanted to take Wyatt and trim off the Lyran salient, they should have brought about two regiments (to get the three-to-one advantage recommended for offensive operations).  Hitting it with a reinforced battalion seems intended to cause a ruckus and pull in Lyran reinforcements, denuding other areas of the League/Lyran border where the Seven Solons feel there's a threat (the threat was probably the one demonstrated by Operation THOR, which repositioned 130 regiments - 30 'Mech, 100 infantry and armor - in 3027 and scared the FWL enough to put them on a full war footing).

But the two battalions of ground troops (estimated) on Wyatt should be able to deal with one battalion of FWL raiders without needing that much in the way of reinforcements, and who's to say the reinforcements would come from other border worlds, rather than the Lyran interior? 

It would seem that the Seven Solons wanted to poke the LCAF with a small stick to see what would happen in the aftermath of THOR.  The fact that they went to a formal war footing may have been what forced Humphreys to cut loose one of her battalions.  An Andurien unit then makes sense - the other FWL border garrisons are needed to keep an eye on the Elsies, and the 4th Defenders won't be missed on the generally quiet Capellan border in the post-Kapteyn period.
« Last Edit: 22 February 2018, 13:16:30 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #463 on: 22 February 2018, 16:33:45 »
Date: September 27, 3027
 
Location: Galatea

Title: Recruited by Yerg Gantor

Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter (SNES MechWarrior)

Synopsis: Herras celebrates the death of Duff Skully (reduced to a "smoldering mess" according to an intercepted report from Vermin Minter) at Club Zero-Zero, and predicts that the last surviving member of the Dark Wing will be the hardest to track down, since nobody knows his real name. 

Cearle Jamist, the bartender, tells Herras that Yerg Gantor (the cockney accented merc whose ambush Herras foiled earlier) is looking for him, and passes along a holovid.  On the vid, Gantor offers top dollar and the location of the Dark Wing leader in exchange for running a mission on Quilon.

Notes: This brings up the question of mercenary reputation.  Most mercenaries seeking to make a name for themselves trumpet both their real name and their callsign far and wide.  Natasha Kerensky, the Black Widow, for example.  Others, however, prefer to work anonymously, and rely entirely on their concealing persona.  The Bounty Hunter is a key example, always seen in his LosTech PA(L) suit.  The head of the Dark Wing also seems to prefer anonymity - perhaps out of fear of retribution, or perhaps because he's come up from the ISF and prefers the shadows. 

Of course, since every character listed in the manual is, by now, either an informant or #P, it's not a huge leap to figure out that [SPOILERS! ::)] Yerg Gantor is the Dark Wing leader. 

The odd thing is that Gantor appears to have been trying to kill off his former Dark Wing partners in any event (a falling out among thieves?).  Vermin Minter even attributes the murder of Duff Skully to the Dark Wing (stating "The Dark Wing has struck again!") 

One wonders why Herras didn't just shoot the leg off of Yerg Gantor's 'Mech and then, I dunno, interrogate him to find out who the last member of the gang is?  I just get the feeling that if a Death Commando had been in Herras' place, the entire Dark Wing and Mercenary Underground would have been rolled up and dead/surrendered within a month.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #464 on: 23 February 2018, 14:32:43 »
Date: October 3027
 
Location: Port Moseby

Title: NightShadow

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.
 
Type: Encounter (BattleTechnology 0102)

Synopsis: Presented as an in-universe training tool for MechWarriors and trainees using FASA's MechWarrior RPG, this Encounter gives referees the tools to incorporate the Nekekami into their "simulations."

Kelvin Horst, owner of Horst Metals Enterprises and last living member of House Horst, lives in his palatial country estate at Horstwald - a refitted fortress dating from the Age of War.  He sends his representative, Sendic Henning, to hire mercenaries to guard a valuable delivery (a book-shaped item wrapped in paper) from the time it arrives to when it can be shipped onto another freighter the following day - amounting to roughly 20 hours of sentry duty at Horstwald to supplement his 20 servants and bodyguards.

A map is provided, showing Horstwald's layout and giving details on the alarm system, the main building, the west wing, the servants' quarters, the garage, the gatehouse and gate, the estate wall, Lake Horst, the patio pool, and the surrounding woods.

A second map gives interior details of the west wing, where the package is being stored.  It features an entry hall, bathroom, conference room, dining room, kitchen and storage pantry, offices, a den, bedrooms (with Horst's having a secret elevator to the vault), a house security room, a wine cellar (with a secret door to the outer vault), the outer vault, and the inner vault.

The mercenaries have full authority to deploy the seven guards and themselves as they see fit. 

Once the defenses are set, the game master will follow the Encounter guidelines to have the Nekekami agent test the mercenaries' defense plans.

The Nekekami will infiltrate Horstwald and try to slip by or neutralize sentries, enter Horst's bedroom, drug him to get details of the security plans, then take Horst to the Outer Vault and eliminate the guards there with grenades and gas.

Upon opening the vault and discovering the prize is not there, he will interrogate Horst again to learn that it is hidden in plain sight in a fake book back in Horst's library.  Once he has the book, he will kill Horst and then lie low until the search has died down, or steal a guard's uniform and blend in.  If flushed, he will make for the woods (relying on traps he placed on the way in to slow pursuit - mines, explosives, tripwires, etc.), or go for the garage to steal a vehicle.

If forced into combat, the Nekekami has a dagger, three throwing knives tipped with nerve poison, a silenced pistol, climbing claws, 20 meters of climbing rope, 10 caltrop mines, three lengths of tripwire, a vial of truth serum, two gas grenades, and three flashbombs.

If the mercenaries thwart the Nekekami entirely, Horst will reward them handsomely.  If Horst dies, Horst Metals Enterprises will tie the payout up in court.  The Nekekami will try to commit suicide if trapped.  If the mercenaries do take him alive, the LIC will collect him and be a source of future contracts.

The package is a list of senior ISF agents in the Draconis March, along with identifiers, code words, and call signs.  Horst's intent is to put it aboard a Horst Metals Enterprises ship bound for New Avalon.  If Horst dies and the mercenaries retain the book, they will soon be targeted by the ISF and more Nekekami.

At the referee's option, Sendic Henning may be an ISF agent, serving as an inside man for the Nekekami.

A brief bio identifies the Nekekami agent as Hanzo Lee, an expert in traditional weapons who avoids unnecessary bloodshed. 

Notes: The Nekekami are given a full article in the same issue.  Successfully transitioning to canon, they appear in Heir to the Dragon and the Twilight of the Clans series (a quartet having been slipped aboard TASK FORCE SERPENT).  They appear to have originated in BattleTechnology, since they don't appear in canon fiction until Heir to the Dragon (published in 1989), while BattleTechnology 0102 was published in 1987.

Keith had a penchant for creating societies of ruthless assassins in the Combine.  Mercenary's Star featured an exile from the Saurimat - a more Azami-themed group of assassins (later retconned into temple guardians, with the assassins being a renegade sect that was quickly snuffed out).  For the Nekekami, Keith went full ninja. 

One plot hole immediately stands out - why are the freighters bringing the item to the DropPort on Port Moseby and having it wait there until it can be loaded onto another freighter?  Why not just keep the DropShip out at the Jump Point until the second freighter arrives, and transfer the goods through a ship-to-ship umbilical, or aboard a shuttle?  What is gained by hauling it all the way in-system?  In deep space, at least, nobody is going to be sneaking up on you.

Essentially, this MechWarrior RPG scenario tasks the players with defending their castle against Batman.  Just on first blush, it's going to be pointless to maintain a wide perimeter - he'll just take out guards or slip by them.  A better option would be to concentrate your security at key chokepoints (Horst's bedroom, the outer vault, the inner vault) and hope to overwhelm any intruder with massed firepower.  Put a reaction team in the wine cellar.  If he gasses the team in the outer vault, the reserve team can open the secret door and storm in while the Nekekami agent is trying to use Horst's handprint to get the vault door open.  (Even more fun - wait until the Nekekami agent is in the inner vault, then sneak in from the wine cellar and slam the outer vault door shut, tossing in some knock out gas of your own, first.)

Having spent the 80s and 90s reading Dragon Magazine, I always felt that BattleTech's RPG-side was undersupported, compared to what TSR was producing for D&D in its periodical.  It's clear that, in this second issue, William Keith was clearly trying to establish Pacific Rim Publishing's BattleTechnology up as a source for RPG scenarios.

This initial offering looks like a lot of fun, assuming the GM doesn't go out of his/her way to screw the PCs with a betrayal by Sendic Henning.  (A betrayal is warranted, though, if the PCs come up with a plan that, when paired with the Nekekami guidelines, will end the scenario prematurely in a curbstomp.)

The only problem I see is with the setup.  (Granted - without a setup, there's no scenario, but...)  Horst could have handed the book straight to the LIC, which is openly coordinating with MIIO at this point.  The setup even states that the LIC has a large listening post on Port Moseby.  Horst could have given the book to the Davion Ambassador on Port Moseby.  (If Helm has a Davion Ambassador, Port Moseby has one.)  Scan the book into a digital file and summon a ComStar courier to take it to the local HPG for transmission to the New Avalon.

I'm not even sure what good this data will do when it arrives.  Horst's plan is to ship it via one of his own freighters to New Avalon.  From Port Moresby, such a journey will take weeks (assuming the freighter is a DropShip getting Pony Expressed between JumpShips) or months (if the freighter he's using is a JumpShip going there jump-recharge-jump).  As soon as the ISF became aware of the book's theft, they would have begun changing codes and alerting their agents.  By the time that the book gets to the MIIO on New Avalon, 90% of its contents will be old news.

I do think content like this suffers from the contrivance that BattleTechnology is an in-universe publication.  While that helps add immediacy to the news articles and interviews, it makes anything presented as game support material (presumably the primary role) awkward, since game stats wouldn't fit in an in-universe publication, and makes it unclear if the events in the "simulation" were based on canon in-universe events.
« Last Edit: 23 February 2018, 14:48:29 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

skiltao

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 1218
    • SkilTao's Gaming Blog
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #465 on: 24 February 2018, 23:17:18 »
The choice of OpFor was also a bit odd.  Dame Humphreys was legendary for citing the Home Defense Act and refusing to release her provincial troops to use for anything but the defense of her Duchy.  Yet, here they are attacking the Lyran border.  The Sirian Lancers or the Silver Hawks would have been a more credible OpFor, given the stellar geography and House Humphreys' reticence to support House Marik's military adventures.

The Home Defense Act only allows a province to retain 75% of its forces within its borders. The scenario may have meant to use the 5th Defenders, who were stationed on Nestor in mid 3025, or perhaps (like the Lyran forces on Wyatt) regimental postings had changed by 3027.

Quote
painted his fighters to resemble red eagles. <snip> His performance began to slip <snip> With no sign of improvement after several days, the flight surgeon grounded Kensie

I wonder if the story was inspired by the TOS episode "Balance of Terror," or (especially since the main story points are fairly different) if they're both drawing on a common source.

The FWL force has 13 fighters, but the four Unions only have room for 8.  Did the other five fighters come from the small craft bays on the FWL JumpShips?  There should have been at least one more Leopard CV in the FWL lineup.

Yeah, a Leopard CV fits better than anything else, I think. Given the flight *is* short a fighter already, it'd be easy to handwave the CV as too damaged to enter the fight.

Quote
And where are the rest of the 10th Skye Rangers?  If the ratio of 2 fighters per company holds, then there are 4-5 companies of Rangers onworld, plus another two companies of militia forces.  If that's the case, why are 6-7 companies of LCAF forces worried overmuch about 4 companies of Defenders, given the 10th Skye's veteran status?
<snip>
The statement of motivation explains why Wyatt is being hit - to facilitate strategic maneuvering on the Lyran/League border.

The Davion book says RCTs only keep about half their forces on their HQ world, with the rest scattered around nearby worlds - no reason to think the Commonwealth would be different, especially with Davionists assisting in the Lyran war games. Also, some of the fighters could be an indepenent wing (not attached to any ground unit); and if Wyatt is being used as a jumping-off point (the 3025 deployment tables place two regiments there), the bulk of its normal forces may currently be jumped off.

It wouldn't surprise me if Wyatt had no more 'Mechs than the invading Free Worlders do. For what it's worth, 3:1 odds may be rare; MW1e gives a range of roughly 1:1 to 2:1 for attackers trying to assault a world. (I suspect unfavorable odds come down to the attackers having superior skills, weight, ambition, or an ignorance of last-minute changes in the garrison.)

Quote
Interestingly, none of the pilots have skill levels.  Was Gunnery not used in the original AeroTech ruleset?

Average piloting rating of 5 and average gunnery rating of 6, with the option to randomize skill levels (similar to the one in BattleTech). Improvement works by committing to improving one skill or the other, then completing five kills to improve piloting by a point, or ten skills to improve gunnery by a point. (Wonder how well that works with TR:3025 Notables which mention kill counts.)

One plot hole immediately stands out - why are the freighters bringing the item to the DropPort on Port Moseby and having it wait there until it can be loaded onto another freighter?
<snip>
Horst could have handed the book straight to the LIC, which is openly coordinating with MIIO at this point.  The setup even states that the LIC has a large listening post on Port Moseby.  Horst could have given the book to the Davion Ambassador on Port Moseby.
<snip>
As soon as the ISF became aware of the book's theft, they would have begun changing codes and alerting their agents.  By the time that the book gets to the MIIO on New Avalon, 90% of its contents will be old news.

Are you sure the item was brought in-system by a Horst ship? It may have needed to reach trusted hands before passing out-system again (or maybe it originated on Port Moseby). The LIC/MIIO may have preferred Horst's shipping over ComStar for various reasons, and decoding the book was going to take time anyways... it'll have some retrospective value, helping to sift through already-out-of-date intel. Also though, the communications lag works both ways. It'll take time for ISF code changes to propogate.
Blog: currently working on BattleMech manufacturing rates. (Faction Intros project will resume eventually.)
History of BattleTech: Handy chart for returning players. (last updated end of 2012)

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #466 on: 25 February 2018, 02:45:42 »
Horst’s contacts that stole the book were killed shortly after they passed it to one of Horst’s couriers.  The book arrives on one Horst freighter, stays 20 hours, and then takes off on a different Horst freighter.  Given transit times, the pickup freighter must have already been inbound from the jump point when the first freighter arrived.

Perhaps one came in at the zenith and the other at the nadir, making it more efficient to meet in the middle, while giving Horst the opportunity to verify the book’s authenticity.

For the Wyatt garrison, I was speculating about their ground strength by assuming they’d have two fighters per company - the “standard” ratio for the Third Succession War era.  I can certainly buy that the 10th Skye is scattered among several worlds for garrison duty, but the ratio-based estimate suggests 4-5 companies of Skye Rangers alone, not even counting the tanks, infantry, and artillery of the Wyatt garrison.  I can buy four Defenders companies for a quick smash-n-grab raid or recon in force, but it’s not enough to make Wyatt call for enough reinforcements to affect the strategic balance along other parts of the border.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

skiltao

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 1218
    • SkilTao's Gaming Blog
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #467 on: 26 February 2018, 20:22:54 »
I know that's the only way we have to estimate forces, I was just trying to show how many factors can throw it off. Also, a simple measure of the ground forces doesn't give a good picture of what the strategic ramifications will be; the effectiveness of the attackers depends on what the ground targets are, and the effectiveness of the defenders depends on how they're distributed among those targets. (If I remember correctly, Wolf's Dragoons damaged an aerospace facility of some kind on Wyatt something like a decade earlier; and the 3025 deployment tables put two regiments of Lyran troops there.)

Taking the book from the zenith to Wyatt and then out again to the nadir would be a good explanation, but I think you're misremembering. The package didn't arrive on Wyatt under Horst's auspices.

Oh, I forgot to say! It's neat how the titular "fifth kill" from the aerospace story lines up with the rules for improving aerospace skills.
Blog: currently working on BattleMech manufacturing rates. (Faction Intros project will resume eventually.)
History of BattleTech: Handy chart for returning players. (last updated end of 2012)

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #468 on: 27 February 2018, 00:42:18 »
You are correct - it just says it was “mailed” to Horst by his agent.  Since there aren’t regular Draconis Postal Service runs into Lyran space, that implies it was aboard a ComStar courier vessel, which also explains why the ISF couldn’t strike at the ship prior to delivery.  Good catch.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #469 on: 28 February 2018, 02:40:29 »
Reading through Catastrophe Unlimited now.  It immediately resolves one of the issues we discussed in the reviews of Heir Apparent and Apparent Catastrophe.  The Litzau homeworld is “Maldive” - not Maldives or Valdives.  I wonder if it was my unanswered question about it on the HBS forums that got it fixed.
« Last Edit: 28 February 2018, 04:00:55 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 4241
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #470 on: 28 February 2018, 03:07:27 »
But right on the first page they anachronistically stuck Walter in a COM-3A (which isn't supposed to exist for another 24 years). Ah well. Still reading. New BT fiction is always good. Still curious if this will end up being canonized.

Edit: Looks like there is actually a lot of universe building in the book, with interesting information that actually makes sense and fills in some logic holes. Like how the "ComStar Tiers" are explained, or the downgraded show equipment on Solaris instead of the oh-so-invaluable real combat ammo & armor.

So as to not derail this thread, I've openened a new thread here: Catastrophe Unlimited
« Last Edit: 28 February 2018, 05:59:00 by Frabby »
Sarna.net BattleTechWiki Admin
Author of the BattleCorps stories Feather vs. Mountain, Rise and Shine, Proprietary, Trial of Faith & scenario Twins

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #471 on: 28 February 2018, 04:03:20 »
Speaking of anachronisms, why is Gray Noton hot stuff on Solaris VII in 3001?  Given a birth date of 2985, he’s only 16.  The story claims he arrived with his own ‘Mech and capped a contender...at 13 or 14?  That’s getting into Rhonda Snord levels of precociousness.

Walter comments that Noton “was a merc” - but canonically, Noton’s Merc period was 3010-3015.  In 3001, he’s barely started his impressive minor league career.  It seems as though this was written to take place around 3018, not 3001.  (Of course, that can’t work either, since Walter joins the Kell Hounds in 3010)
« Last Edit: 28 February 2018, 13:10:23 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

  • Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 24875
  • Dang it!
    • Battletech Fanon Wiki
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #472 on: 28 February 2018, 06:57:49 »
I wonder if that book will be published as one book with all three novelettes merged together.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
It'll be four segments in total, since they met all the stretch goals. 
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Date: January 31, 3016 [See Notes]
 
Location: Mallory's World

Title: Archer Lore

Author: Randall N. Bills
 
Type: Sourcebook Fiction (MechWarrior Online)

Synopsis: On the Oregon plains of Mallory's World, Morgan Kell accepts defeat and awaits his death at the hands of Yorinaga Kurita's Warhammer.  The acceptance leads him to a sense of calm that he feels in his soul, and even in his bones - feelings he's not experienced since his time in the Periphery.  He wistfully thinks of a woman named Tempest, and recalls the joy they experienced together.

Yorinaga launches an Alpha Strike, but misses with all his shots.  Even though he is stunned at still being alive, Morgan's combat reactions are swift, and he fires a full barrage of missiles at the point-blank range Warhammer.  A second Alpha Strike from the Warhammer also fails to connect, leading Morgan to wonder if he is already dead.

Notes:  Though the MWO "Lore" articles have been advertised as canon (the fiction, at least, if not the Hero 'Mech variants), the date given - February 23, 3016, contradicts the one given by the "Historical Turning Points: Mallory's World" Track "The Duel," which puts it on January 31, 3016.  The non Turning Points source material just puts it in "early 3016," so it can be assumed Randall checked the Kell Hound scenario pack, but missed the reference in the Mallory's World book.  While the general rule of thumb is that "the more recent source is the most canonical," in this case, I'll assume that the official Catalyst product supersedes an online forum post, keeping the official date on January 31.  (Or, since the death date of Ian Davion also kept switching around in the early source material, this could be more evidence that Interconnectedness Unlimited is using time travel to muck with historical events on Mallory's World. ;) )

The story cuts off just before Morgan's famous 'Mech bow and Yorinaga's surrender.  Stackpole's accounts have previously given us the point of view of other Kell Hounds and of Yorinaga, but this is the first time we get to see the "Phantom 'Mech" incident from Morgan's point of view.  The trigger event for Phantom 'Mech seems to be a zen-like calm and acceptance of death.  If we're looking for an in-universe explanation, it would seem possible that that mental state interacts with the neurohelmet to create a targeting system disruption field, or something along those lines.

Equally interesting, Morgan thinks back to spending joyous times with "Tempest" in the Periphery.  Presumably, this was during the time he, Arthur Luvon, and Katrina Steiner spent gallivanting through the Periphery as the "Red Corsair" and her consorts.  It's really a shame that ROC and FASA nixed Stackpole's proposal to write a novel of that story.  So far, all we have of it is a few references in Warrior: En Garde and the prologue, "Disappear," in the special edition of A Time of War.  "Tempest" probably isn't "Tempest Storm," of Snord's Irregulars, since she was only born in 3009. 
« Last Edit: 13 March 2018, 03:44:03 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Date: November 19, 3018
 
Location: Zaniah III

Title: Archer Lore

Author: Randall N. Bills
 
Type: Sourcebook Fiction (MechWarrior Online)

Synopsis: At St. Marinus House on Zaniah III, Morgan Kell awakens screaming from a nightmare of the battle on Mallory's World.  He attempts to calm his panic with deep breathing exercises, but fails, leaving him questioning his sanity as he ponders what happened.

Curling into the fetal position, he rides out the painful panic attack repeating the mantra that he must remain in exile until he can figure out the phenomenon, lest it prove too dangerous for himself, his family, and his unit.

Notes: The setup in Warrior: En Garde focuses mostly on the fact that Morgan disbanded 2/3 of the Kell Hounds and left without explaining why to Patrick and Salome.  This vignette shows that Morgan was teetering on the edge of insanity from the implications of the Phantom 'Mech Ability, suffering from physically painful panic attacks, and fearing that the phenomenon could harm himself and those for whom he cared. 

He may not have explained what was going on to Patrick and Salome, not because he was coldheartedly following a zen vision quest to go on an inner journey (which was somewhat implied in the resentful dialogue between Patrick and Salome in En Garde), but because he was falling apart and didn't want them to see what a wreck he'd become, or because he feared that proximity to him might negatively affect them.

The Kell Hound scenario pack, which includes rules for Phantom 'Mech Ability, suggests that any Player Character that develops the ability become an NPC thereafter, because they'd become overpowered.  This shows that they'd also be better off as an NPC, because they'd have to be loaded up with a baker's dozen of Negative Trait - Psychosis modifiers. 

Based on Morgan's state of mind two years later, it's interesting to speculate what would have happened if Ian Davion had survived his fight with Yorinaga Kurita, during which Ian also manifested Phantom 'Mech abilities.  Would Hanse have had to become First Prince after Ian went stark raving mad?  Would the Federated Suns have suffered under the rule of an insane monarch, forcing Hanse to team up with Michael Hasek-Davion to overthrow him?  The aims of the Dragon might have been better served by letting Ian win on Mallory's World...
« Last Edit: 12 March 2018, 12:09:23 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 4241
PTSD is that bad. But I still don't buy into the faux PMA mysticism.

That said, even assuming PMA is real for argument's sake - what's the evidence Ian Davion had it?

Oh, and can you provide links to those canonical MWO "Lore" snippets? The MWO website structure is... not my friend when trying to actually find information.
Sarna.net BattleTechWiki Admin
Author of the BattleCorps stories Feather vs. Mountain, Rise and Shine, Proprietary, Trial of Faith & scenario Twins

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
PTSD is that bad. But I still don't buy into the faux PMA mysticism.

That said, even assuming PMA is real for argument's sake - what's the evidence Ian Davion had it?

Oh, and can you provide links to those canonical MWO "Lore" snippets? The MWO website structure is... not my friend when trying to actually find information.

Historical Turning Points: Mallory's World gives Ian a pile of combat modifiers to simulate a toned down Phantom 'Mech ability in the Track that pits him against Yorinaga and company (The Defeat of Nobility).  The ability combo given to Ian is nearly identical to what Morgan gets in the later Track, The Duel, strongly implying that Morgan and Ian both manifested Phantom 'Mech Ability.  If anything, Ian had it more strongly, since he gets 10 points of extra Edge, while Morgan only gets 5.

Sun Spider
Hellspawn
Thanatos
Viper
Roughneck
Bushwacker
Huntsman
Night Gyr
Kodiak
Archer
Story of the Legend Killer
« Last Edit: 12 March 2018, 13:00:13 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Date: April 28, 3001
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Catastrophe Unlimited

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel (Catastrophe Unlimited)

Synopsis: In the city of Fallville, Walter de Mesnil and Ivan Litzau audition to join a 'Mech stable with a simulator battle against the stable's star performers, Snorri and Aniki.  Ivan puts in a passable but unimpressive display in a Wasp, while Walter uses a COM-3A Commando to finish off a Locust and a Firestarter.

Stablemaster Simon Traeger rejects Ivan outright, and tells Walter that he's a good soldier, but would make a terrible arena fighter - being too efficient a killer in a setting geared for entertainment.  He suggests that Walter's merchandising appeal could be boosted if he had a compelling backstory.

Aniki enters the office and suggests that Walter could replace Nick (who is too drunk to fight) at the South County Fall Fair.  She suggests that his backstory could be as an amnesiac "man of mystery." 

Walter thanks Aniki, who compliments his simulator performance and tells him she thinks Ivan is cute.

Departing, Ivan tells Water he got what he needed, and should have confirmation in a week.  Walter answers that he hopes the Collective will be very surprised when their longshot plan comes together.

Back at the Vulture's Egg, Captain Isolde MacDonald reports to Sophia Litzau that Walter and Ivan have returned.  She recounts that of the original crew and escapees from the Golden Prosperity Reeducation Camp, only Isolde, Raymond Angelis, Ash Knight, and chef Jacques accompanied them to Solaris, with the rest dispersing throughout the Inner Sphere.

In the ship's mess hall, Walter reports that he got hired by the 'Mech stable.  Ray reports he's got a job offer from Paradigm Shifters, a 'Mech speed shop that just lost their best tech to Gray Noton's stable.  He says he'll be able to use their equipment to have their 'Mechs in top condition.

Isolde reports that it would be feasible to refit portions of the DropShip as a luxury hotel, to bring in extra money and built influence.

Notes: Walter argues that Gray Noton was a mercenary, and asks why his own mercenary background wouldn't be good enough as a merchandising hook.  The problem is, this story is set in 3001, while the Solaris VII box set establishes that Gray Noton (born 2985 - so only 16 at this point) came to Solaris VII as a stowaway, had a good run in the minor leagues, then left and did a mercenary hitch from 3010-3015 before returning to become a record-breaking champion.  So, circa 3001, Noton is neither a mercenary nor someone who should have much, if any, name recognition on Solaris.

Given Traeger's insistence that every fighter should have a hook for marketing purposes, it's possible that Noton's "hook" is "teen mercenary."  (He's death personified in a Rifleman, and plays bass in a boy band!)  If he has the skills to pull it off, that may explain why he got a pretty good run in the minor leagues before leaving to make the lie into reality.

The COM-3A Walter pilots is also an anachronism.  Per the MUL, the 3A variant debuted in 3025.  While it would certainly be possible that such a configuration had been created through a field modification during the design's 500+ years in service, and you can have any configuration you like in a simpod, this weapons mix wasn't formally dubbed "3A" until 3025. 

I was initially surprised to open the book and find Walter and Ivan on Solaris VII, since I'd assumed they'd follow the Victor Hargreaves/Viserys Targaryen model of bumming around the Inner Sphere, hat in hand, looking for support to liberate their homeworld.  That model (with House Hargreaves entering its fifth century of exile from Chesterton) doesn't seem to be terribly successful, so the Solaris VII detour is as good a gambit as any.  (Not to mention, this is a tie-in novel to the HBS BattleTech game, which was originally intended to have a PvP online mode set on Solaris VII, so of course they're going to show off the Game World in the novel rather than doing a whistlestop tour of Inner Sphere capitals that you can't visit in the game.)

It's not clear if Fallville is on the Grayland or Equatus continent.  It's out in the rural regions, where the residents don't have the opportunity (or funds) to go to the Class 5 arena fights in person.  Most of the "circuit" fights are described as weaponized IndustrialMechs going at each other.  The corruption in the games is just as evident as it was depicted in Warrior: En Garde, with fixed fights a common occurrence.  (As it remained until Kai Allard-Liao cleaned things up in the late 3050s.)
« Last Edit: 16 March 2018, 10:30:57 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Date: May 3, 3001
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Catastrophe Unlimited

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel (Catastrophe Unlimited)

Synopsis: Walter and Ivan join Aniki Sturludottir at the Bentlyville county fair to perform as part of the Windfall Warriors Unlimited stable.  Looking at the 'Mechs, Walter notes that the armor panels used are small, ceramic, and modular, for ease of replacement, and don't have much stopping power.  To compensate, Aniki explains that the autocannons shoot vulcanized rubber rounds, lasers and PPCs are powered down to be more light than heat, and missiles are more like fireworks.  Ivan questions the safety equipment, noting that Gray Noton killed his opponent in his second fight on Solaris, and Aniki clarifies that Noton was in a heavyweight fight involving military spec 'Mechs.  She adds that their pantomime fights fit in well among the pie, livestock, and produce contests.

Alexandra Fujitaka of the 'Mech Battle Commission briefs Walter on the code of conduct attached to his provisional license, including random drug testing.  She orders him to report to her if Simon Trager involves him in any illegal dealings.

Walter watches Snorri enter the Grind in a COM-3A Commando, starting off against a four-legged, two-armed Industrial FrankenMech (locally termed a MuttMech) named "Mabel."  Snorri gives a good show, finishing Mabel off with flair after letting it get some good shots of its own in.  Walter asks if he'll also run a Grinder, and Aniki says he'll be in a different fight, in the role of "The Rabbit." 

Notes: Aniki notes that the fair hosts a special fight - the Grind - placing one 'Mech against all comers, with the last one standing winning.  This is clearly a reference to the demo games run by Catalyst Agents at conventions - the Grinder. 

Based on what we see going on in Warrior: En Garde, the 'Mech Battle Commission is largely toothless, with games routinely being fixed as a means to launder money between criminal syndicates and their operatives.

Walter notes that the Commando has a holographic sensor package, giving the pilot a 360 degree view of his surroundings, and ensuring he can't be blindsided by a rear attack.  William Keith's GDL books described it slightly differently, implying that the sensors had a 360 view, but that the image was compressed into a forward mounted flatscreen view, giving the pilot a 360 degree picture, but with distortion related to the compression that took some getting used to.  This sounds like there's a mini holo-tank on the cockpit's dashboard showing an aerial view of the Commando and its surroundings.

The structure and aesthetics of the battles on Solaris in Catastrophe Unlimited are very reminiscent of those in "Real Steel" - starting out with county fair matches and working their way up for a shot at the big time. 

The MuttMechs sounds like heaps of fun.  A good kitbash project for anyone with a bucket of MWDA industrials lying around.
« Last Edit: 17 March 2018, 18:07:23 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.