Author Topic: The Diamond Shark tank and Sea Fox preserve: Cause somebody has to start it...  (Read 238230 times)

Arkansas Warrior

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In general, the clan pilots only outperformed the spheroid ones because of their tech advantage.  That's not confined to the Ghost Bears.
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Kitsune413

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Why is the aerospace phenotype strange?

I think that in an effort to make the clans appear alien at first glance to throw off readers they threw in aerospace pilots to be bizarre. But I dont personally find them interesting. I feel like the elementals add to the setting. I like the mystic caste too.

But aerospace fighters break the rule of cool. Aerospace fighters are cool. Attractive people in aerospace fighters are cool. Sterling Mckenna is cool. Notice how she doesnt resemble a xcom sectoid?

Though, with elstars now maybe ill have to get used to the bizarre.

Clan diamond shark likes to be on the cutting edge of trueborn technology. But I always hope they will just keep making more odd ethereal space beauties.
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rebs

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Can't say I disagree with that sentiment.  I figured the McKennas tended to look more "normal" due to being born to a general bloodline, and not one that itself had been modified to the point of Mechwarriors, Elementals and ASF pilot lines. 

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wantec

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I think some of the "failures" of the aerospace phenotype has more to do with aerospace pilots having a harder time surviving the destruction of their fighter than MechWarriors and Elementals. I bet pilots have a harder time surviving to win a bloodname, thus making it harder to advance useful, notable skill advancements through to the next generations.
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Tai Dai Cultist

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I think some of the "failures" of the aerospace phenotype has more to do with aerospace pilots having a harder time surviving the destruction of their fighter than MechWarriors and Elementals. I bet pilots have a harder time surviving to win a bloodname, thus making it harder to advance useful, notable skill advancements through to the next generations.

Could be.

I always figured it had a lot to do with the technological edge being less important for aerospace combat.  Mechs don't care about being flanked or tailed, they can still shoot back.  A Clan ASF pilot otoh, can't bring his better tech to bear when his target is behind him or perpendicular.

Furthermore to dovetail with your thought,  the superior Clan ASFs are equally subject to death-by-popgun-induced-PSR as IS ASFs in atmospheric combat/ground-to-air fire.

So trueborn MechWarriors and Elementals have the paired advantages of superior tech and skills, whereas the Aerospace pilots don't get as full benefit of the tech advantage.

Kitsune413

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Can't say I disagree with that sentiment.  I figured the McKennas tended to look more "normal" due to being born to a general bloodline, and not one that itself had been modified to the point of Mechwarriors, Elementals and ASF pilot lines.

As a GM especially, I know that I'm not going to get a lot of Time of War players who jump at the chance to play a clan aerospace fighter. Halflings and gnomes are cooler by comparison (Though not in the setting) But a lot of my players are interested in elementals.

If Sterling McKenna was an ASF phenotype, I doubt Harrison or Caleb would be taken in by her.
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Arkansas Warrior

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I think some of the "failures" of the aerospace phenotype has more to do with aerospace pilots having a harder time surviving the destruction of their fighter than MechWarriors and Elementals. I bet pilots have a harder time surviving to win a bloodname, thus making it harder to advance useful, notable skill advancements through to the next generations.

I don't know, seems like it'd be pretty unlikely for an elemental to survive the destruction of his suit.  Even elemental-to-elemental augmented combat sees like it'd be pretty lethal, or at least leave most veteran elementals missing limbs.
Sunrise is Coming.

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Rainbow 6

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I don't know, seems like it'd be pretty unlikely for an elemental to survive the destruction of his suit.  Even elemental-to-elemental augmented combat sees like it'd be pretty lethal, or at least leave most veteran elementals missing limbs.

Don't forget the clans can regrow limbs.

Arkansas Warrior

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If they're patient enough to wait.  How many ristar elementals are going to want to be off the line for months regrowing a leg, relative to the ones that go the Malavai Fletcher route?
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Diamondshark

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Don't forget the clans can regrow limbs.

Also, as per the Blood of Kerensky, Elemental Battle Armor (and presumably the others)  have systems specifically designed to preserve a severed limb and the point it was severed from, in order to make re-attachment as easy as possible.
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Kitsune413

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Starting to worry for wellspring! Havent seen him in a long time.  :(
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rebs

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Same here.  Last I saw him was a month or so back.  Hope he's OK.
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Foxx Ital

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I don't know, seems like it'd be pretty unlikely for an elemental to survive the destruction of his suit.  Even elemental-to-elemental augmented combat sees like it'd be pretty lethal, or at least leave most veteran elementals missing limbs.

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Arkansas Warrior

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Didn't the Sharks have a WarShip called Megalodon?  Or was that just a hoax?   :)
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rebs

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Maybe it went down like the Titani...  oh, wait, that's a useless metaphor in this universe  ;) 



Now I'm thinking El Chupacabra light Omnifighters to be marketed in the Imperio! (secretly, of course, shhhhh...)  Or Jackalope hovertanks for the Horses...
« Last Edit: 06 August 2013, 09:37:55 by rebs »
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Kitsune413

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We apparently had little to do with the vast majority of things in the new tro. Though we are trading a few of the vehicles around.

Also, I accidentally posted the following in the Protectorate Thread, where I meant it more of a discussion for this one.

Quote
Hmm. The Draconis Combine killed our supplier of Shadowhawk and Griffin battlemechs.

I know that the Random Assignment Tables aren't meant to be an end all be all of inventory that the clans have available. Or even the most likely. They're just a game aid.

But I'm always confused on how mechs we produce are less likely to be found fielded by us than other factions.

Maybe its not as strange as I think. But we don't field any Vulture IV's!
Clan Snow Raven and Clan Ghost Bear are far more likely to field Savage Wolfs than us. (Cha-Ching!)

The Mad Cat Mk II is one of the ghost bears primary battlemechs!

(Also of note, We don't sell anything to Clan Jade Falcon! The only thing that might be traced back to us is are Griffin IIC's. So there is a chance its a Griffin IIC we bought from the nova cats, refitted, then sold to them... and a better chance that it isn't! Odds of them getting from Clan Cobras seem pretty slim. Could just be leftovers though.)Modify message
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Rainbow 6

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Maybe the Combine sold you the production lines for the Shadow Hawk & Griffin IIC's?

Tai Dai Cultist

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Maybe the Combine sold you the production lines for the Shadow Hawk & Griffin IIC's?

Naah, those are too valuable for domestic use.

However there's certainly no reason they couldn't export some units to the Foxes.. what better way to pay for all the Mad Cat and Vulture Mk IVs imports?

Kitsune413

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Someone said in the Nova Cat thread that the DCMS sold a lot of Nova Cat material to the Sea Foxes. But I'm not sure where they got it.
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Tai Dai Cultist

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Some of the captured Nova Cat facilities that the Combine couldn't easily put back into production were sold (or claimed by Trial of Possession) to the Foxes.   I'm not sure the vibe was there to assume ALL of it was.

Rainbow 6

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I think there was something in TRO3145 Kurita about the Combine selling some of the Cats production sites to the Foxes.

Kitsune413

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I think there was something in TRO3145 Kurita about the Combine selling some of the Cats production sites to the Foxes.

Thank you. I'll look it up!  :)
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Kitsune413

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I also wonder what we're going to do with Comstar Assets in the league. I wonder if this includes property? That's maybe one of the most interesting developments.
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Kitsune413

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Hmm. Nykvarn facilities? I guess it makes sense we'd have enclaves in the Draconis Combine. But kind of terrifying when you consider how things went for the Spirit Cats. Thought I may just be reading that wrong.

The Cizin is awesome. Didn't realize there was a Sea Fox vehicle (well. Ex Nova Cat Vehicle) in the TRO.
« Last Edit: 13 August 2013, 16:31:00 by Kitsune413 »
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rebs

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The Clan Protectorate is a triumph for the Foxes.  It's something that came up during the grand venture of the IS invasion, and netted us a state on the fringes of the old Terran Hegemony worlds.  It makes us look like candidates for ilClan, even.  We have stuff going on in spades. 

It's just a great time to be a Sea Fox. 

But is that just the calm before the storm? 
« Last Edit: 13 August 2013, 17:21:41 by rebs »
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Jaim Magnus

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But is that just the calm before the storm?

Yes.  Beware the trap of Terra.
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Kitsune413

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The Clan Protectorate is a triumph for the Foxes.  It's something that came up during the grand venture of the IS invasion, and netted us a state on the fringes of the old Terran Hegemony worlds.  It makes us look like candidates for ilClan, even.  We have stuff going on in spades. 

It's just a great time to be a Sea Fox. 

But is that just the calm before the storm?

Even in Field Manual 3085 our touman was getting insanely large because we just aren't fighting any Wars. Gamma Aimag is pretty battle hardened because they were near the Republic when things got crazy there. As well as being near the Clan Occupation Zone.

The rest of our forces aren't quite as battle hardened. But they aren't slackers either and whenever one Aimag gets near another one we do ritual combats to keep things good.

But with Tiburon Khanate about to hit the Capellans and the Ilclan about to go down I think we'll see a lot more combat soon.

Should we be afraid of a crotch kick because things are going well? ...

The reavings were a bit of a surprise. But it knocked the amount of clan factions down to a reasonable level.

What happened to the Nova Cats sucked. But there was massive foreshadowing before it happened. There were the Spirit Cats and there were the visions.

Whats happening to the Federated Suns now is kind of rough. But it was foreshadowed too and honestly its made that faction interesting again.

Whats happening to the Lyrans is super rough. But its also giving them a chance to be interesting and I think they're going to pull through.

The Free Worlds League is all back together again after being the most interesting they've ever been (and I'm a Free Worlds League Fan)

So if Clan Sea Fox suffers from a massive crotch kick then I hope we at least hit everybody like we did in the Reavings, fighting hard enough where they just let us leave instead of getting smashed against us.

But the likelihood of our faction dieing isn't very likely and if it does, you come hang out with me. I'll run some Sea Fox campaigns about survivors. Won't even be an AU. We'll keep it canon and fun.

At this point though, we might be the ones delivering.
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jklantern

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I also wonder what we're going to do with Comstar Assets in the league. I wonder if this includes property? That's maybe one of the most interesting developments.

Restaurant Franchises.  "Come for the HPG Access.  Stay for the Irish Bacon."
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Kitsune413

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I'll also say, and I stick to this, that the Spirit Cats are far more interesting that the Nova Cats.

Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon are really how the clans were introduced to the Inner Sphere. The Jade Falcons are also a reminder and representation of the Crusader legacy of the clans. They are like Clans Vanilla and Chocolate.

Clan Ghost Bear has basically wrapped themselves up in Rasalhague. This reminds me of a writing trick. If you have a character archetype but the character is incomplete and boring, you can take another type of character, put it into one person and that person becomes interesting and well rounded. Well Rasalhague and the Ghost Bears have done this. They've taken the elements from both factions and put them together to make one interesting faction.

This has happened somewhere else too. Clan Snow Raven is interesting. They are Machiavellian and interested in Aerospace assets. Well the Outworlds League, a Periphery Faction whose interesting perk was that they also liked Aerospace but didn't have anything beyond that to make them interested fell in with the Ravens. These two factions together are interesting.

Clan Diamond Shark/Clan Sea Fox: You know Ferengi are pretty disgusting looking so I hate it when people compare our clan to them. Considering we're awesome clan warriors. But Sci Fi Settings like a couple of things and one of the things they like is traveling merchants / gypsies. So Clan Sea Fox has made this more interesting, far more interesting, by being a Warrior Merchant gypsy society.

Which is as interesting as a Comstar Tech Cult.

Anyways, then there were the Nova Cats. The Nova Cats had a good start. They were Warrior Mystics. This is always cool. Give them a penchant for Marksmanship and a little bit of a trade background and they're a cool culture.

But things kind of get messy when they link up with the Draconis Combine. Its not a marriage of two cultures. The Draconis Combine is a faction that likes to be exactly the way it is. Its interesting the way it is and it doesn't really need changed. They're already oppressing the Azami so it isn't like that's something that adds character for the Combine.

The Mystic Caste might have helped maybe. For the most part the Draconis Combine was kind of crushing their rule of cool.

But the Spirit Cats, they're referred to as Cultists and Ascetics and they're jumping into the Free Worlds League whose job is to be as varied and interesting as possible really adds to the Free Worlds League. A lot of people aren't interested in the league and unless you are willing to dig it up yourself its not obvious that the Regulans, Orient Protectorate, Anduriens etc are all unique factions inside of a bigger faction. For the longest time when I first got into Battletech I explained the Free Worlds league as the faction that fought civil wars all the time.

The Clan Protectorate on the other hand is pretty obviously its own entity and part of the Free Worlds League so its existence punctuates and accentuates the way the Free Worlds League Works.

Just like their crazy tattoos, talking to spirits and seeing visions really pushes forward what the Nova Cats were.

Anyways, maybe this post is misplaced. But I wrote all of it to say, basically, I don't think any factions are going to be murdered anytime soon. I could be wrong. But the Battletech universe is kind of getting it down to a manageable and interesting amount.
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Kitsune413

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Restaurant Franchises.  "Come for the HPG Access.  Stay for the Irish Bacon."

I thought we were doing the Pizza thing?
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