Recent Posts

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General BattleTech Discussion / Re: Mercenaries Kickstarter Discussion 6: the 1st 3rd Star League conversation

« Last post by MarauderD on Today at 11:05:39 »

My original cost was about $170, and now has dropped to $140 which is still extreme.

Just for comparison's sake, what was your pledge, did you order mats, and where are you shipping your order?  I came in at $167, which I thought ridiculous for shipping in the lower 48.

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Off Topic / Re: My running days are over

« Last post by dgorsman on Today at 11:03:26 »

Walking is the usual suggestion.  It's not quite as strenuous a workout but can still do well at least until the arthritis really starts kicking in.

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General BattleTech Discussion / Re: Mercenaries Kickstarter Discussion 6: the 1st 3rd Star League conversation

« Last post by The Eagle on Today at 11:01:56 »

My original cost was about $170, and now has dropped to $140 which is still extreme.

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Off Topic / Re: NFL 2024-2025 Your team hoping for a Swift return to dominance

« Last post by JadeHellbringer on Today at 10:57:56 »

NOT TRADE FOR A QB NAMED WILSON! Anything but that.

Well... yeah, I was keeping focused on the draft itself. But... yeah, this was an odd move. I kind of get the coach-messianic complex of 'I, and I alone, can fix this screwup player', and sometimes it actually works- Belechick had a remarkable habit of turning players with attitude problems into stars, or in the case of Randy Moss, BACK into stars. (We'll give him a mulligan on Aaron Hernandez). It CAN happen. More often, it ends up blowing up in the face of the coach.

I have no idea if Zach Wilson can flourish at the pro level at this point. He clearly never was going to in New York- they made the move last offseason to get  his replacement, and when that went down the drain on opening night, he got his second chance. It, ah... didn't go great, spoiler alert. But there were moments, big plays hidden among the rubble, that made you think 'ohhhh, THAT'S why he was picked so high.', and that's- I have to presume- what Payton is looking for, how to get more of that.

He's never going to win the starting job- he's competing for the backup job with Jaret Stidham, and it's an uphill battle for him. Nix is starting, barring injury. But if Wilson is the backup, and ready to spell the team in the event of Nix being unavailable, then... okay. Like I said, this is a 5-12 team at best already, whereas the Jets went into last year looking at making a playoff run. So it's not like he's going to torpedo his team this time the way he did last year- there's no damage to really be done, we just need someone who can take over a little here and there on the way to another loss. If he can do that, and not throw four picks a game... they didn't give up much for him, and maye he can revive himself a little to be flipped somewhere else for a return.

Low-risk, low-asset, modest upside. My biggest worry was that he was 'the plan', and Denver was going to try to revive him instead of picking a QB- with that danger passed, I'm okay with Wilson as the backup moving forward, if he ends up being such.

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MegaMek Games / Re: Setting to disable bombs in AtB?

« Last post by dgorsman on Today at 10:57:32 »

There isn't a game setting for that, in MekHQ or MegaMek.  The closest I can think of would be to back out the EnemyAirSupportBombers scenario modifier from the groundBattleModifiers manifest file which will prevent dedicated bomber formations showing up.  You might also look into modifying the scenario template and modifier XML files, which have an allowAeroBombs element that can be set to 'false'.  Otherwise you need to walk through them manually, which I also do if just to tone it down or select something more appropriate e.g. a full bomb load on a heavy fighter typically leaves them with an impractical thrust value, or F-rated pirates get air-launched Arrow IVs replaced with rocket launchers.

Best bet for dealing with pesky bombers is to deploy your own fighters on overwatch.  If you're not willing to spend the support point to deploy reinforcements, you can always add them as 'free' via manual deployment from the TO&E.  Tactics can also assist keeping your units alive - keep them to the corners where fighters have a hard time making the turn while staying on the map to make an attack.  Identify locations where fighters cannot get to and move into those dead zones, preferably close to the starting point of the flight path where you can take potshots at them (if they stay on the map).

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Fan Scenarios and Campaigns / Re: Holographic training field rules?

« Last post by Charistoph on Today at 10:31:22 »

The hard part is tracking Damage from them.  Either they all "miss" for some reason, or I have to personally track where the Damage lands so they can "clear" it when they figure it out.

Of course, that only applies if the unit they are chasing shoots them at the same time.

If the ones they are chasing don't fire after the holograms are engaged, then it isn't really a problem (aside from maybe determining XP and Honor gains). 

But if they get in to position to be engaged by both...  That's what's driving me a little crazy in figuring out at this point.

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BattleTech Miniatures / Re: Slowly getting back to paining

« Last post by MarauderD on Today at 10:19:48 »

Nice work--good dark green for the lance & Longbow!

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General BattleTech Discussion / Re: Mercenaries Kickstarter Discussion 6: the 1st 3rd Star League conversation

« Last post by Charistoph on Today at 09:54:55 »

Mine doesn't seem to have been updated.  The values haven't changed, and the shipping tax is still in place.

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Off Topic / Re: NFL 2024-2025 Your team hoping for a Swift return to dominance

« Last post by Kit deSummersville on Today at 09:46:04 »

Denver... ok, so, here's the thing. They're getting blasted, but what was the option for them?

NOT TRADE FOR A QB NAMED WILSON! Anything but that.

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Clan Chatterweb / Re: The Remembrance: Mostly Boat Lists?

« Last post by cmerwin on Today at 09:37:12 »

it seems to me that, as a work of epic poetry, the Remembrance ought to consist largely of epic catalogues.  The most famous example of this is the exhaustive, 29 contingent, 46 captain, 1186 ship long list in the Illiad, but these are also found in The Faerie Queene, the Aeneiad, and Paradise Lost. Oh, and the Illiad has a second, shorter list that details the Order of Battle for the trojans.  They seem to be useful to a Loremaster-useful context for battles and history as well as getting the Bloodnamed excited to hear that they are recorded in a line of the Remembrance-if only as a name and a mech-and useless to a novelist or most rulebook writers.  Which would neatly explain why, even if the Clans use a lot of catalogues in their epics, we don't see a lot of them-they're dull and repetitive and we don't need to name every warrior who participated in Operation Revival.

Though, I do think that a 'boat list' of all the Bloodnamed who participated in that campaign would be a nice thing to have.  Maybe make that the canonical catalogue portion of the Remembrance, if the authors would be so kind?

I absolutely think the Remembrance would include a boat list of each of the founding Bloodnames from OP Revival. As you said, the Illiad goes into _great_ detail about who went off to fair Ilion. Moreover, as a foundational piece of political propaganda (like the Aeneiad), it would be important to catalogue who they were, their great deeds, and the vile forces that opposed them. But most importantly, it sets up a tone for what is and isn't worth of recording.

And it seems like most of the rest of the Remembrance(s) is/are similar. It outlines the unique identities of each Clan and what their values are, and then lists bullet point moments and people involved that were somehow foundational to changes in that Clan. In some cases, there are a few passages which have somewhat prophetic sounding bits, about the Clan's "future".

I agree it's mostly boat-lists, but in the service of social programming/propaganda.

I would _love_ to see a physical copy of the Rememberances ala the forthcoming Sun Tzu's the Art of War (Translated and Annotated by Jaime Wolf).