CAMPAIGN INFO & SIGNUP

Discussion in 'Campaign - Skjaldborg Saga' started by MagnusEffect, May 4, 2012.

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  1. Bronsk

    Bronsk New Guy Thrall

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    Magnus,

    Sorry about yesterday, had to bail. The wife almost cut the end of her finger off while slicing veggies and was understandably distressed. Sounds like I missed one hell of an event.
     
    Bronsk, May 27, 2012
    #41
  2. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    No worries dude. We were wondering where you went, but totally understandable. You did miss some good fun, but don't worry, we will have more; this Weds in fact. I also need at least two people I can rely upon to help me with running missions. I didn't mind running the show alone yesterday, but it is exhausting and not something I want to do everytime. I'm hoping to delegate a lot of it to the mech lance commanders. Right now I have David, OOdlez, and Sardonic (do you three still want the job?), although if someone wants to substitute, we can hopefully work something out.
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2012
    MagnusEffect, May 27, 2012
    #42
  3. David Hawk RavenWater

    David Hawk RavenWater New Guy Thrall

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    i kick ass so il take the job
     
    David Hawk RavenWater, May 28, 2012
    #43
  4. 00dlez

    00dlez New Guy Thrall

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    My GF wants to hang on weds... will try to talk her out of it
     
    00dlez, May 28, 2012
    #44
  5. Trevnor

    Trevnor Tokin' Canadian Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Wait... You don't want to hang out with your girlfriend so you can play Megamek? I'll entertain her in your absence if you like? :)
     
    Trevnor, May 28, 2012
    #45
  6. Skoll

    Skoll Swine Fornicator Banned

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    [​IMG]
     
    Skoll, May 28, 2012
    #46
  7. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    @ Skoll: hahaha! TRUTH!

    UPDATE:
    Thanks to Xander's suggestion, I'm setting up a Dropbox account to make our dealings easier for everyone. Once it is setup with all the data, everyone will have easy access to a fully updated copy of MekHQ+Megamek with my MMP already integrated 24/7. No more hassles of making sure the appropriate data goes into the right file whenever there is an update (I will have already done it for you). Dropbox will also allow me to quickly update campaign files, upload new maps, and keep the growing number of essential .mul files easily organized and accessable to everyone. The one drawback is that it will require you all to create an account and gain access to the shared folder (mostly just so I can easily get to your post-mission .mul files when I need them. Dropbox is free, very simple to sign up for, low resource usage friendly, and actually quite useful for other applications as well. I hope everyone can be on board with this. It will make my life a lot easier.
     
    MagnusEffect, May 29, 2012
    #47
  8. 00dlez

    00dlez New Guy Thrall

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    I'll probably just hang out with her tomorrow instead of Weds.

    Do you need a mission on Weds or what? Just someone to run Op Force? A whole mission?
     
    00dlez, May 29, 2012
    #48
  9. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Probably some version of what we were doing before. We've only killed 6 of their mechs and another 4 have been sighted. "Details of enemy force are still unknown" ;) but the pirates still have quite a bit of fight in them. I want to do a few more mission types before we end this contract. We've already done two search+destroys and an escort mission. I'm thinking of throwing in a "chase" mission for weds along with more standard stuff.

    There have also been some tweaks done to a few of the skills to deal with recently found issues:
    -Tech/Mechanic is now MUCH cheaper (but is only used on conventional forces; tanks, VTOL, etc.)
    -Tactics is slightly cheaper per level, but more levels must be bought to max it out
    -Scrounge is also slightly cheaper, but requires more levels to max out
    -Leadership is the same cost, but now has more levels before maxing it out.
    -Same with Negotiation
    -Other skills have been changed slightly, but I don't think they will effect any current characters

    Same meeting times as before since I haven't heard too many objections on the times (3pm,8pm,1amEST). I may or may not be around for all of them, so I could use your help OOdlez (and David). I can show you how to set everything up. Also, I expect to have the Dropbox file ready by tomorrow so everyone can have access to it.
     
    MagnusEffect, May 29, 2012
    #49
  10. Conlaoch

    Conlaoch New Guy Thrall

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    Well done with all of this. Am I too late to get in on it? Perhaps I could run some of the pirates, if you don't want them all to be bots, or however you're doing it. I'm going to pull down those files from Dropbox in the meantime, so let me know.
     
    Conlaoch, Jun 3, 2012
    #50
  11. Orcinus

    Orcinus Veteran DovaOrca Berserker

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    Exactly why I wanted to be an NPC. :D
     
    Orcinus, Jun 4, 2012
    #51
  12. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Also, besides the occasional roaming gang of highwaymen, organized crime, military coups and whatnot, i also get to look forward to this everytime i fly in:

    [video=youtube;v_z5HtME9n8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_z5HtME9n8&feature=player_embedded[/video]
    The airport is the infamous Toncontin "international" Airport: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toncontín_International_Airport
    We essentially land in a damn pit. There is a running joke with our crew that TACA (a central american airline) stands for "Take A Chance Airlines".

    So if you don't hear from me by July, you can probably assume the worst. :p
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2012
    MagnusEffect, Jun 4, 2012
    #52
  13. Conlaoch

    Conlaoch New Guy Thrall

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    If we don't hear from you, we'll raise a pint and kill some dracs in your memory. and then raise some more pints, cause the first would be lonely.
     
    Conlaoch, Jun 5, 2012
    #53
  14. Zechs Marquise

    Zechs Marquise New Guy Thrall

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    ... and then kill a lot more dracs ;3
     
    Zechs Marquise, Jun 9, 2012
    #54
  15. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Okay.. I was kind of slow to post here, but I'm alive!

    Anyone do anything with the campaign while I was gone?
     
    MagnusEffect, Jun 22, 2012
    #55
  16. Orcinus

    Orcinus Veteran DovaOrca Berserker

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    Not really.

    Unless you count Skoll running about salvaging clan tech from anything he can get his grubby mitts on.
     
    Orcinus, Jun 22, 2012
    #56
  17. Zechs Marquise

    Zechs Marquise New Guy Thrall

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    Yellow all! Looks like things will get started again by next Saturday >:D
    Also, looks like we might get a time skip :3

    WARNING!

    Pointless Zechs ranting below!


    With this, and that my mech got kinda Blown up…
    I was thinking about making a utility, LAM, Mech.
    As said before, I’m insane, so let’s move on to some details! ;3
    First off, was reading up on Lift Hoists here v
    http://battletech.rpg.hu/mechfactor...h_equipments&selected_type=7&selected_eqid=63
    and it says each hoists means a unit can lift up to half its tonnage: So our VTOLs can lift: 30 tones: we have 4 mechs that weigh that much or lighter (all Javelins who are pretty fast on their own…) and we have 4, 30 ton, VTOLs, with two lift hoists: best part is none of our other vehicles are 30 tons or lighter.
    So the VTOLs have two functions, moving our Javelins around, some of our most mobile mechs, and hauling salvage/supplies (30 tons of ammo, armor, damaged/destroyed components is plenty to get just about any of our combat units from basically destroyed to full strength given that our heavyweights ti the scales at 50) but it does not help our troop mobility at large.
    (so obviously we might want to get some WiGEs and/or give them more hoists to get them up to 60 ton capacity as was intended)
    Also, our Taskmaster is the only thing we have able to move a mech weighing 35+
    but it moves at 3/5 when tuging anything 26-50 tones and a mind numbing 2/3 when puling anything 51-100 tones: we need a more dedicated hauler: I think we should convert the recovery/transport vehicles to use lift hoists: we can just assemble armored trailers for them planet side when needed and otherwise have their affective cargo space increased 2.5 fold with the option to increase it to an entire 5 times for the cost of moving 1 slower then present (to the speed of the task mastertheir fallowing anyways, and it might also be encumbered)
    without changing anything else, we can do this by dropping the cargo and picking up a bigger engine and 4 lift hoists, each can pull 25 tons at 6/9 speed (5 tones more and faster then their old 5/8 speed) 50 tones at 5/8 or 100 tones at 4/6.


    Anyways, I have gotten side tracked, but back onto point :3
    I’m thinking, plot wise, it would be a WiGE or even a Lighter than Air LAM, notice I said plot wise, because: I can’t get LAMs to work in megamek… I can also thus say it is like the Shadow Hawk LAM and lacks an Airmech mod(but meh)


    One of Zechs’s Crazy ass Ideas you’ve not herd yet: Atlases on balloons!
    … I want to know why there is no Lighter than air crafts, I want a Mecha blimp! XD
    No, really, think about what all a battlemech would need to get airborne by lighter than air means? A bladder, possibly mounted on the back that can be inflated and then jump jets, done. Once the bladder fills up it is lifting the Mech so the jump jets only have to push the Mech, instead of pushing and lifting the Mech as normal (accounting for increased airspeed even after air resistance;))

    Heck, you can make the bladder, and even the JJs, be detachable/disposable for a surpize deplotment without the lose of fighting tunage.
    And while this has the obvious weakness of “they can just shoot the balloon and Mech goes boom!” how big is this weakness? Unless they basically shatter the balloon it will just slowly leak out and the mech comes down to a nice slow fall: the mech also has jump jets, so it dos not even need the balloon to land without harm push com to shove anyways. :3
    So the big drawback to Balloon Mechs is: if their balloons gets popped they have to land, safely, and then they need to get new balloons latter?
    (obviously a balloon LAM mech would not fight in its flight mode do to the clumsy nature of its flight and how easily its means of lift could be rendered unsustainable (baring catastrophic damage, it would be easy to fix the balloon part, but time consuming, careful work to do so)
    ____________________________________________________

    Leaving the balloon idea behind..
    I was thinking of making it be a 55 tonner (it’s a LAM and it has to be at least mid-range weight to get the best use out of its utility… so it’s not going to be usable as a starter) with 10 tons of armor, 2 med lasers, a flamer, 4/6/4 moment, a salvage arm, a spot welder, 2 lift hoists and 2 tons of cargo (while it could just hoist everything around, hoisted stuff can get shot at directly, things like ammo comes to mind, and more valuable parts)
    The basic idea here is that the mech can haul itself and parts/supplies around, then extract the unit that needs to be repaired away from a threated area to relative safely and conduct repairs (who looks for a crippled hunchback in a valley that is only accessible by air anyways?) it would also let us move PCs around more easily, as there is an aircraft (if a slow ass one) on site from the get go
    (could be neat for more active players to use LAMs, as their mech can get from fight to fight more realistically)

    An additional bonus is that the LAM mechs would have a fighter form, meaning? They can use the Aerospace hangers: a drop ship can hold 4 LAM Wasps or 1 normal Wasp: a LAM wasp might have 10%(2.5 tones) of its weight taken up by transformation gear, but 4 of them will beat a single normal wasp in a head on fight easy, and if your using an LAM mech to go head to head with something in its own weight bracket you’re doing it wrong unless the other mech is an urby that you’re out ranging :/
    [Downside to a PC doing this is they also have to be able to pilot an aircraft in addition to a mech, can help curve this by basically forsaking the aircraft gunnery and just going into Airmech mode(if you can figure out how to do so in megamek) in a fight if not fully slip into Mech mode, as both use Mech piloting/gunnery, but I digress]

    … and now I just realized Folkmar can’t be reworked to do his main role AND be able to use a LAM worth a damn.. oh well….

    in other news, a LAM Wasp with 3.5 tones of armor, 6/9/6 movement, 2 med lasers and a flamer? 1,926,875 C-Bills
    We can start with the stinkers :wat:;
    (added bonus, while their extra slow in the air, they are battlemechs, no crit once you lose 10% armor and just generally a lot more durable then other air craft of their weight :3)
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2012
    Zechs Marquise, Jul 6, 2012
    #57
  18. Dihm

    Dihm Speaker of the Word Staff Member Gothi SC Thane

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    Wait, is this getting started up again? Where is this dealie at Magnus?
     
    Dihm, Jul 8, 2012
    #58
  19. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Zechs... you just love to complicate things don't you :) First off, NO LAMS EVER... this isn't the Transformers RPG. I don't mind letting it slide for instant action games, but lets keep the campaign rooted in "reality". The only way I would allow LAMs in a campaign was if we were doing some SLDF special forces campaign back in the 2700s.

    Also, while zeppelins may have a place in civilian use or backwater garrison, they simply have no place in a mobilized mercenary command. Sorry... not happening.

    Thank you for the extra info on lift hoists even if it is throwing a wrench in my efforts. Those Karnov VTOLs you mentioned are there mostly for a non-combat role and as justification for us to be able to quickly redeploy mechs. The lift hoists WILL NEVER BE USED IN ACTUAL GAMEPLAY. Megamek simply doesn't have any coding to make use of them (same as your beloved spot welder). In other words, they are there simply for fluff. Furthermore, it makes no sense whatsoever for a 3 ton piece of equipment to be more or less effective depending on what you mount it to (the speed degradation does make sense though). Also, this:

    [​IMG]
    http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Tonbo

    The Tonbo can carry a Daishi (see picture) with only FOUR Lift Hoists. It can carry 112 tons max (see the Sarna link). I simply rounded up to 30 tons/ lift hoist to keep things easy to remember. I'm not saying you are wrong, but clearly the game is not following its own rules (according to the website you linked) on this matter. For purposes of our campaign AND TO KEEP THINGS SIMPLE I am treating the Taskmasters and Karnovs as capable of lifting 30 tons / lift hoist.

    That said, thank you Zechs for your continued enthusiasm. I will fix the RTV to be faster (and thus better for long distance transport) with the next big update to the Megamek Pack I'm working on. The Taskmasters are not really intended for heavy long distance transport, but rather as semi-mobile field repair bays. Their lift hoist are meant to be used while the vehicle is stationary.

    ---

    And thank you to all the new people interested in joining. To confirm, we will be starting up again on July 14th (this Sat). You will be able to keep the progress you've made on your old characters from the test campaign, readjust skills (or names/ages/etc). In terms of readjusting skills, I don't want to see min/maxing munchkining going on and would prefer to limit it to "minor" tweaks for those who have just screwed themselves up completely. Also, if someone wants to change classes, that will be allowed, but again... no min/maxing crap.

    Also, I can't stress this enough: Since our group is getting larger, I am REALLY going to need Lance Commanders to step up to the plate and help me run things. If you don't think you can do it, please let me know. We also need some admin guys (rank doesn't matter) who can help me create missions and maps. There is still a laundry list of things to add and I can only do so much in any given time.

    Finally, my MegaMek Pack ver 2.5 is getting close to release. I have about 20 new or "fixed" maps, about a dozen new lore-friendly mechs, and a bunch of other fixes to existing content from the vanilla Megamek. If you guys have any reasonable requests of things you want added or fixed, now would be the time to voice them.
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2012
    MagnusEffect, Jul 9, 2012
    #59
  20. Dihm

    Dihm Speaker of the Word Staff Member Gothi SC Thane

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    Soooo...

    Follow character making instructions in first post?

    I think I may join this, though I may not be able to step up as a Lance Commander, cause I got tons of shit already. :lol:
     
    Dihm, Jul 9, 2012
    #60
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