Entropy Inc. (My attempt at a long running MekHQ story)

[MoleMan]

Introducing Entropy Vehicles:
Entropy Vehicles is family business, established on the independent periphery planet of All Dawn in 3005 by self-taught technician Roy Alvarez. Entropy Vehicles began making light military vehicles, for whoever had the cash, finding their niche reconditioning ubiquitous old AC5 cannons and slapping them on wheels for a reduced cost. Success led them to branch out into the light tank market with their first official product, the Pachamama Light Tank, 2xAC5 on a 35t chassis results in a limited but effective platform, fielded in 3s and 4s where possible, making use of massed long ranged fire leaving short range coverage to infantry support. Extremely low production costs have allowed Entropy to sell the Pachamama at hyper competitive prices, even compared to mainstays such as the Vedette, enabling them to all but corner the local market, although the rumoured bribes to local officials will certainly have helped. The design remains virtually unknown outside of local systems, however, and requires close range support (typically provided by infantry) should opponents get within the AC5 minimum range.


The Inti INT-1E
This success emboldened Entropy, in 3035 ambitious new CEO Claire Alvarez (son of Roy) introduced their first model with legs rather than wheels. The Inti INT-1E is a curious, but canny new mech model. Based Entropy’s speciality, 2 reconditioned AC5s make up the entirety of the armament, mounted on reconditioned and strengthened Locust chassis. Smaller engines make for a poor top speed, cementing the Inti’s role as a cheap direct fire support mech with powerful long range punch. Interestingly, the Inti makes use of cheaper commercial armour, it’s lower armour class reflecting the likely opposition the Inti will face, tanks and industrial mechs with lower power weaponry, including it’s spiritual mother, the Pachamama light tank. This does mean that the Inti will require significant upgrades if it is to penetrate the Inner Sphere mech markets, however, it is uniquely suited to its initial target market of the local periphery systems that Entropy machinery already dominates.



Entropy Inc.
The innovation of Entropy Vehicles doesn’t end at the factory, the company has come up with a unique solution to increase the visibility and presence of their products on the galactic arms market. Claire, a talented mech pilot herself, has organised an offshoot mercenary company, Entropy Inc., which will heavily feature their own machinery, the idea being that successful combat encounters featuring the Pachamama and Inti will be tremendous marketing material, raising their profile, driving sales and supercharging their research and development.

Entropy Inc. began life with 3 Inti prototypes and 6 trusty Pachamama tanks, soon hiring an infantry jump platoon, and a Scorpion light tank for close in support, as well as experienced ex(?)-pirate to handle the training of the new recruits. Entropy began their first contract, hired by their own planetary government to hunt down and eliminate a local pirate band.





Business Targets:
3 missions successfully complete = remove prototype quirk
10 missions successfully complete = add good reputation
20 missions successfully complete = gifted a dropship to spread info further (contract search radius = 200 light years

Send back 10 tank units to R&D = Make a single improvement to the Pachamama
Send back 50 tank units to R&D = Create new Pachamama variant
Send back 10 ‘mech units to R&D = Make a single improvement to the Inti
Send back 50 ‘mech units to R&D = Create new Inti variant

50 kills by tank/’mech unit type = remove a negative quirk
50 pilot kills = AC5 SPA

10m C bills sent back = upgrade armour on Inti
20m C bills sent back = add 1 secondary weapon to Inti
40m C bills sent back = Add a quirk
100m C bills sent back = Design a new unit

[MoleMan]

(not sure why the img tags aren't working for me :( )

I'll be updating this thread with my progress as I go (it will be slow!).

Here are the settings I've used to start the campaign if anyone wants to take on a similar challenge (I can email the save file across if anyone wants it):

Campaign options:
•   Load up ATB Starter 4.0
•   General tab:
    o   Choose name – in this case Entropy Inc.
    o   Camo – Republic of the sphere – militia – Thai Tigers
•   Repair and maintenance
    o   Untick damage/destroy by margin of failure
•   Supplies and Acq
    o   3 penalty for clan equip
    o   2 Max acquisitions
    o   Use planet-based acq
    o   Untick disallow acq clan parts from non clan
•   Tech limits
    o   Max tech level unofficial
•   Personnel
    o   Rand origin for dependents
    o   Family level of relation – grandparents
    o   Track total earnings ticked
    o   Random divorce method - percentage
•   Finances
    o   Pay for repairs ticked
    o   Clan tech multipliers 2x10
•   SPAs
    o   Removed:
   Animal Mimicry (ridiculous isn’t it?)
   Blind Fighter
   Eagle Eyes
   Gunnery specialisation (makes no sense to me that a MW moving from Regular to Vet could get this SPA and suddenly become worse with a weapon type)
   Range master (requires too much attention to make use of this)
   Sensor geek
   Tactical genius
   Zweihander
    o   Added:
   Blood stalker (40XP)
   Gunnery Energy/Ballistic/Missile (40XP)
•   Skill randomisation:
    o   Extra randomness
    o   Small arms skill -10 for both (they’re never used and just make things messy)
•   Markets:
    o   Instant unit delivery off
•   ATB:
    o   Skill Level Veteran
    o   Use share system
    o   Opfor lance ratios 1:1:1 (I prefer just mech fights but I know that’s unrealistic)
    o   Allow enemy vtols on
    o   Allow enemy aeros 1/6
    o   Allow enemy infantry/turrets 1/6
    o   Light conditions and planet conditions OFF (both are more annoying than the realism they bring)
    o   Contract search radius = 50 to begin with
    o   Merc company size limits ON (make it harder for the company to get too big)
    o   Generate chase missions ON
    o   Stratcon ON

Megamek Options:
•   Basic:
    o   Skip ineligible during movement and firing ON
    o   Flamers per BMM (make them slightly useful)
•   Victory:
    o   Skip all phases when victory ON
•   Advanced rules:
     o   Infantry dig in ON
     o   Battlefield wreckage ON
     o   Mechwarriors cannot spot ON
     o   BA Grab bars on standard mechs ON
•   Advanced combat:
     o   Starting fires ON
     o   Burst fire MGs ON (sounds cool, no idea how to use it)
     o   Unjam ultra autocannons ON
•   Advanced ground movement:
     o   Taking damage ON
     o   Attempting to stand ON
     o   Careful stand ON
     o   Vehicles can be abandoned ON (makes sense to me)
     o   Jumping into heavy woods PSR ON
•   Initiative rules:
     o   Infantry move after others ON (I like infantry, this makes them slightly less completely useless)

[MoleMan]

Well then, first mission complete! Well kinda, in the first run the first mission involved unidentified air dropping fuel air bombs on the company, wiping everyone but a single tank off the face of the planet. Not a great start!

The first mission was being hired by their own planetary government to hunt down and eliminate a local pirate band.


The first scenario involved ambushing a medium tank lance, and yielded the Inti's first blood, Boss' INT-1E scoring a good kill on a Pirate Pachamama (ominous!). 2 of our Pachamama tanks took crippling damage in the brawl, rendering Pachamama Albert unable to move above a crawl for the rest of the campaign, but resulting in the destruction of the 4 enemy tanks, allowing us to salvage a Falcon hovertank to add to our ranks.

Scenario 2 was altogether more terrifying, an assault on the pirate tank base, requiring us to face a tank patrol, the garrisoning tank units, as well as missile emplacements, a true test of the new hardware. Fortunately, some slightly older hardware decided it had a point to prove, as Pachamama tank Bertha went HAM and killed or disabled no less than 4 enemy tanks, whilst Boss and Grunt also chipped in with a kill a piece in their Inti's, forcing the tank base to power down it's weapons and fall under our control.

Scenario 3 was another facility attack, where the local government assigned us a liaison of a venerable old GRF-1N, a mech our pilots could only sigh and make doe eyes at. Again, Pachamama Bertha ruled the roost, racking up 3 more mission kills, whilst Boss' Inti took down a CarbineMech.

Destroying these facilities reduced the Pirates effective strength to near zero, and the contract became a waiting game, Intel suggesting their entire force had been reduced to 3 light mechs somewhere on planet. The alert came through that a civilian column was under attack, and Boss was the only person capable of reaching them in time. Unfortunately her single INT-1E wasn't sufficient to defend the column, who were wiped out despite her best efforts, taking down a pirate WSP but the remaining two PNT's drove her off with ease.

Cementing her reputation for being in the right place at the right time, Boss was again the only mech within range as an alert went out that the pirates had unearthed a Star League cache. Arriving on the field just as the pristine SL mech was powering up, Boss engaged at maximum range. Boss' targeting system had never seen this machine before, it moved like the wind, and it's single large laser was reaching out much further than it had any right to, although the Pirate's aim was wild. Scoring several wonder hits (rolling 12's and 2x9's!), the SL mech's odd armour disintegrated, and Boss began to understand why it could move so fast. Within 4 volleys the internal structure of the enemy mech was exposed pretty much everywhere, and it began to flee, only to trip on rocky ground, knocking the fight out of the wounded pirate. She powered down the mech and waited to be taken into custody.

Further inspection of the mech revealed it to be a 2700 vintage Hussar-200 Mech, with only superficial damage, however the tech arrayed on the mech was well beyond our field based tech's abilities to maintain, so it was sent straight back to the factory for a more thorough analysis by our slightly more competent (but still utterly baffled) R&D team, consisting of Roy, and a dog eared copy of the Battlemech Manual. The array of Star League tech present was an absolute treasure trove of information, even though Roy has never heard of, never mind seen, the majority of the tech on display. Packing Victory Anchor 2 Ferro fibrous armour, a Diverse Optics ER Large Laser, Field Ranger Sightseer Comms, Ranger LAF 2 targeting and tracking, as well as DOUBLE heat sinks, all coupled with a speed faster than almost anything that exists on planet, mech or otherwise, this find will supercharge our R&D for years to come. Once, that is, Roy ctrl-F’s everything against the planetary library’s copy of the Helm memory core. (GM Note: This was an incredibly lucky find, I’m going to GM it so that any Mechs/Tanks/Money we send back to the company for the next 5 years will count double).

This final roll of the dice from the Pirates was the final straw for them, with news coming through that they had fled the planet, hoping to find easier pickings elsewhere in the galaxy.

Completion of mission:
  •   No one decides to retire, early completion bonus helps to top up low funds (1.8m C bills)
  •   Most of the prisoners want to join the crew, jumping at the chance to sign up for a legit operation instead of fighting tooth and nail for scraps. We sign up regular Mechwarrior Louise Perez, who seems to be a bit of an enigma, her papers say she hails from Terra, and her belongings suggest she is extremely wealthy, what she’s doing out here is a mystery, but she’s more than happy to trade in her demolition mech for a pair of AC5s now that her injuries have healed. We also take on 5 regular vehicle crew and an elite vehicle gunner, sending the 4 remaining prisoners off to jail.
  •   The Hussar and the Scorpion Light Tank were sent back to the factory, everything else was absorbed into the TO&E

Total Kills:
  •   Captain Claire ‘Boss’ Alvarez – INT-1E (1) – 3 Mechs, 2 Vehicles
  •   Pachamama #1 (Albert) tank crew – 1 vehicle
  •   Pachamama #2 (Bertie) tank crew – 7 Vehicles
  •   Pachamama #5 (Einstein) tank crew – 1 Vehicle

Awards:
  •   Purple Hearts:
    o   Captain Claire ‘Boss’ Alvarez
    o   Lt JG Raph ‘Grunt’ Tablang
  •   Combat action:
    o   Captain Claire ‘Boss’ Alvarez
    o   Lt JG Raph ‘Grunt’ Tablang
  •   Galactic War on Pirating:
    o   Captain Claire ‘Boss’ Alvarez
    o   Lt JG Raph ‘Grunt’ Tablang
  •   Marksmanship:
    o   Captain Claire ‘Boss’ Alvarez
    o   Lt JG Raph ‘Grunt’ Tablang
    o   Lt JG Ricardo ‘Chatterbox’ Riviera
    o   Master Sgt Earl ‘Bagpipe’ Eyice
  •   Military training instructor
    o   Lt JG Ricardo ‘Chatterbox’ Riviera

[MoleMan]

Can anyone tell me how to embed the Imgur images please?

[Middcore]

Can anyone tell me how to embed the Imgur images please?

Your URL's need to actually have the image type file extension at the end for the embed here to work.

So for example, for the All Dawn Pirate Hunting image (first one in your last post), if you right click on it on Imgur and hit "Open image in new tab," and then use that URL for the embed, it works.

[MoleMan]

Thanks!

[Hammer]

Great work!

[Motsognir]

Just caught up having found and read your work MoleMan. It's a great idea, and I hope to see more. If I can find the time I might give the scenario a go myself.

[MoleMan]

Cheers guys, apologies it's so slow!

[MoleMan]

With their first mission complete, the company returned to their factory HQ for a thorough service, bringing the units into tip top shape. The search for our second contract took a little while, our non existent rep doing us no favours. We finally received a contract offer from the  Enders Cluster, A lower tech, barren world on the edge of Lyran space, which seemingly didn't warrant a significant government response to their rioting problems. The contract paid well, but offered very limited salvage and battle loss compensation. On the plus side, this was a Steiner funded contract, good work here could only help our rep with the Lyran government.



The first scenario was a baptism of fire, wasting no time, the rioters pulled together a suspiciously large force of 12 civilian mechs and vehicles, supported by a small but potent rebel force of 3 medium battlemechs. The boggy terrain and rainstorm conditions further added to the chaos, as we committed our entire force alongside the loyalist civilian forces. The battle was an apocalyptic scene, with 30+ muck covered units everywhere, constant crashes of machinery falling to the ground under withering fire or simply unable to cope with the terrible conditions, but the Inti began to show their true value as they coped with the conditions far more effectively than their wheeled cousins. Incredibly, despite an incredible amount of firepower being disgorged, the only confirmed kill for our forces went to Pachamama 2 (Bertie), taking out a Quasit, whilst Pachamama 3 (Carles) took multiple hits to the drivetrain and had to be temporarily abandoned.

One thing noted by Claire was the effectiveness of the WSP piloted by Lt JG Ricardo Rivera, it's jump jets allowed it to present a tremendous threat to the opposition, claiming several kills, including a 50t Trebuchet, before it was unceremoniously de-legged by the rebel commander in their WLV, might we include some JJs on future Inti variants? Hectic fire eventually began to thin out, numbers were steadily whittled down, and the WLV taken down by a staggering 9 hits in the same turn, forcing the Rebels and Rioters to withdraw. We took the WLV as battle salvage, instantly boosting the threat level of our company, despite the many repairs it required. Following that mission, one of the loyalist pilots came forward, identifying themselves as Musa Bin Usamah, a previously escaped slave who came to Enders cluster to live a quiet life, but upon realising there can be no such thing for him, offered his reasonable mech piloting skills for our company, bringing his wife.



A quiet few months suggested we had knocked the wind out of the rioter's sails, however, intelligence received word that a significant force was going to attempt to break through the government lines, in an attempt to sow havoc in their heartlands. Our cavalry lance mounted up and began to make their way to the weak point, to bolster defences, only to walk straight into a delaying force. With somewhere to be already, our force attempted to ignore the meagre forces and punch straight through, and our loyalist allies detailed a few artillery pieces to attempt to hold off the delaying force, which worked fantastically well until a lucky AC2 shot immobilised Pachamama 6 (Fury). Our force continued on, detailing the newly purchased Ferret VTOL to sweep back and pick up the tank crew, utilising its massive speed. It was at this point, just as the VTOL was loading up, that the allied artillery misjudged their shot, dropping a shell squarely on the VTOL, destroying it, the disabled Pachamama, and killing both sets of crews, a horrific accident, or was it? Further investigation showed PCM 6 was crewed entirely by recruited pirates from our last mission, if it wasn't for the fact that the artillery crews seem completely unable to hit a target we designate, this incident could be considered fishy...

Eventually our force made it to the site of the breakthrough, albeit slightly late, and aside from a few extreme range potshots, had very little impact on the fight, as the small number of defenders were able to use the geography of the narrow canyon, the preexisting minefield they had sown, and their supporting artillery (our warriors winced whenever they heard the shells flying overhead) to utterly destroy the attackers, despite being outclassed 3:1 (by BV).

[MoleMan]

A few months later, a huge irregular force assembled near the local Hydroelectric plant (AWESOME map, I love these new user designed maps), perhaps gambling on the proximity of the dam to protect them from artillery fire. They did not account for the fact that the artillery base had long ago considered this tactic, and had taken the time to calculate trajectories and practice firing at pre designated locations. This lack of foresight led to the death of an incredible 10 platoons of exposed foot infantry in the opening salvos, leading to massed panic, unshielded irregular agromechs piled into the river, leading to even further destruction, and a rapid disengagement by the rebel forces.

Subsequent engagements were minor, involving a capture raid on an enemy tank commander, a halfhearted breakthrough attempt and a minor staging area destruction, mainly achieved by allied artillery whilst our forces collected the runners.

It took a further two months before significant enemy activity was detected, in the uninhabited mountainous terrain to the north of the continent. A heavy Rebel convoy had been detected moving through the mountains, under cover of light snowfall, our units moved to intercept, despite less than ideal conditions for our AC5 heavy forces. Our command lance of 2x Inti mechs, 2x Pachamama tanks and new recruit, the extremely talented Euan Taylor in the rebuilt WLV moved to engage.



The large convoy defence force consisted of an Archer, 2x Wolverines and a Scorpion quadmech, along with 6 additional vehicles. Seeing we were significantly outgunned, our allies had detailed a GRF and PXH to go in with us, and promised an assault lance was inbound, but making slow headway in the tricky conditions.
We were initially successful, our mines blew the legs off a convoy crosscut, and Pachamama 1 (Albert) destroyed a convoy heavy APC, whilst Boss sniped a Peacemaker Policemech, and Lt SG Taylor danced around a Scorpion Quadmech, eventually taking it down. Things soon went downhill however, our attached allies became overconfident in their abilities, jumping in for close combat despite our force being much more suited for ranged combat, and they soon fell. Pachamama 1 & 2 (Albert & Bertha) were immobilised and evacuated not long after, leaving us massively outgunned. The artillery was having little effect and the assault lance was still not on scene, forcing us to let them go.

[MoleMan]

This loss was to prove costly for the Steiner loyalists, a month later this force had multiplied, and made a push to destroy an intel facility. The Archer and Wolverines returned, joined by a Warhammer, Wyvern, Trebuchet, and 10 assorted heavy-assault tanks, and, perhaps most terrifyingly, 2 assault aircraft loaded to the gills with bombs. Sensing we had no chance of defending the facility, we made the decision to evacuate immediately, and enact delaying tactics to slow the rebel pursuit. Again, artillery proved invaluable with their predetermined attack coordinates combining with the dense city location of the base, slowing the attacking units which were unfamiliar with the approach routes. This was excellently demonstrated by a stray artillery shell that scored a glancing hit on the pristine WHM, detonating the SRM6 ammo and making our job that little bit easier.
The incoming army focussed its firepower on the defending turrets and the installation, allowing the vast majority of the civilians to leave, however, the single largest civilian unit, what appears to be a civilian interpretation of the ancient Mackie, became the primary target for the incoming air power. The lead Riever dropped every single one of its bombs on the Mackie, and though only 50% of them hit the target, there was absolutely nothing left once the smoke cleared. Fortunately, the many base defence turrets track the Riever’s dive bomb attempt, and cause significant damage as the jet reaches its nadir, knocking out its AC20 and a chunk of its armour. The Thunderbird is less effective, spending it’s weaponry on a small APC, causing it to lose a lot of altitude and slow significantly, making it a great target for every unit in the vicinity, taking many hits and losing plenty of structural integrity, the Thunderbird never recovers and is taken out 2 turns later by continued massive combined fire.
New recruit Jun Kuhabara in his Javelin stupidly jumps into the maw of an LRM carrier, taking 40pts damage and a gyro ding, sending him to the ground. The next turn he manages to get up, run away and fall down twice, finally falling unconscious behind the protection of a tall building.


Lt SG Taylor again shows the way, dancing in to destroy 2x vedettes, an LRM carrier and a laser carrier, before noticing how terrible the pilot of the enemy Trebuchet is, and charges into his rear, knocking it to the ground whilst taking a little damage to his Wolverine. You could practically hear the Benny Hill music as the terrible Treb pilot takes 4 attempts to stand up, each time causing further damage, finally admitting defeat and powering down under the guns of the Inti, WVR and Sabaku Kase. With news of the final civilian units free of the battlefield, and a significant amount of ordinance still active and hunting down our mechs, the team decides to retreat, unfortunately leaving behind all of the tasty salvage we just bagged, including Jun’s beloved Javelin. No worries, we have a lovely Stinger he can pilot instead :/

[MoleMan]

That mission saw the completion of our contract, and we packed up to head home. The limited salvage opportunities on this contract, mostly swallowed up by the WLV, meant there were no Vehicles, mechs or money sent back for R&D. Fortunately, our relative success on the contract allowed our admin staff to negotiate a completion bonus, and we asked for tech & construction specs on the common Lyran mech, the Vulcan, with an eye on increasing the size of the Inti to include larger engine and better armour, refurbishing the abundant, and unloved Vulcan chassis (GM Note: We accumulated 5 Victory points, converted 4 to Support points, counting as 2 mechs sent home (doubled to 4 by the Hussar Tech), also, I love the ugly and practically useless mech that is the Vulcan, and I love the thought of ripping the arms off and just plonking on a bunch of AC5s).

Business Targets (number to date):
3 (2) missions successfully complete = remove prototype quirk
10 (2) missions successfully complete = add good reputation
20 (2) missions successfully complete = gifted a dropship to spread info further (contract search radius = 200 light years

Send back 10 (0) tank units to R&D = Make a single improvement to the Pachamama
Send back 50 (0) tank units to R&D = Create new Pachamama variant
Send back 10 (5) ‘mech units to R&D = Make a single improvement to the Inti
Send back 50 (5) ‘mech units to R&D = Create new Inti variant

50 kills by tank (17) /’mech (10) unit type = remove a negative quirk
50 (7) pilot kills = AC5 SPA

10m (0) C bills sent back = upgrade armour on Inti
20m (0) C bills sent back = add 1 secondary weapon to Inti
40m (0) C bills sent back = Add a quirk
100m (0) C bills sent back = Design a new unit

[MoleMan]

After 7 months of return, refit and repair, Entropy Inc. is heading back out again, this time to the neighbouring system of Waypoint, a minor periphery planet with good wheat, and therefore good beer! This is a very lucrative contract, with transport taken care of, 50% salvage rights, and 100% of battle loss compensation, we should come out of this looking quite healthy, even though the class of enemy is a step up from anything we’ve fought before.

[NickAragua]

Question: how do you generate the background bits in the biography?
Also: I like the achievement-like business goals

[MoleMan]

Cheers nick, big fan of your work!

The biography is from a spreadsheet battleclad and I worked on https://bg.battletech.com/forums/megamek-games/atb-unit-generation-tool-and-assorted-goodies/

It pulls from a bunch of options using excel's rng, and I cut and paste it into the open field in mekhq. I have my own modified version (v1.22 :D ) of the download in that thread, if the one above isn't working/is difficult to use (I know it's not very user friendly) let me know and I'll  tidy mine up and upload it

[Gadehos]

Hey MoleMan!

Tried to figure out the the biography sheet, with quite bad results. Also, tried to look out for v1.22 but could only find v1.17
Also I am getting confused where I should what i should "transpose" and how. These are these finer "details" that I have never use my computer for.

[MoleMan]

No problem Gadehos, version 1.22 only exists on my computer :D

I'll check it over tomorrow and post it up

[MoleMan]

Here you go, this should work https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EBcSqtidcEWdBRpULaNyGsMEIym3xxKI/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103103075656211712673&rtpof=true&sd=true

Best to download it and open it in Excel, I have no idea how to get the formulas to refresh in google sheets or openoffice

[Gadehos]

Damn man, this looks awesome. Thanks a bunch man.

[MoleMan]

Hey, sorry for the lack of updates for this, but it inspired me to move onto updating the Noble rules for stratcon, enabling an even better story telling experience, and I've even included some rules for prototyping mechs, feel free to give them a go, here: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/megamek-games/my-attempt-at-updating-noble-rules-for-stratcon/