Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH Part Two · 11:39pm Jun 11th, 2020
Boy, do I really need this not to suck after the couple of days I've just had...
So, cash was a problem again. Alarhan decided that they better get some more cash in before they tried that flashpoint. There were a couple of missions yet, the first being a half-skull assassination and one more being a one-skull battle mission.
Alarhan only had the Blackjack, Firestarter, Locust 1E and Assassin available to her. If anything got damaged, that would be it for a bit. The half-skull mission would JUST pay for the end-of-month expenses at max cash, to Alarhan decided to play it safe, rather than risk it.
She took the Blackjack, and gave Scarlet (who was a bit tougher than Poppy) the Assassin.
This tuned out to be a wise decision. While the three vehicles and locust escort were no problem, the enemy was a Cicada CDA-3C with a PPC and it managed to take out the Assassin's arm.
(Because of course the AI was landing all its hits on the same location.)
And that was that for a bit, with only three functional mechs. It would be nine days before it was worth trying anything else.
So decision time. There was enough in the kitty to cover the trip and the next month's deadline, and it would allow all the mechs (and most of the pilots) to be ready when they arrived. Or the other option would be to stay behind, wait a bit and try for the one-skull missions.
Alarhan talked to her superiors, and elected to take the gamble.
(Reload on standby...)
A few days before arrival (and the cash was looking grim again), the mechs were all repaired. Lynessa was back on her feet, and had the Locust 1M fitted out. They only had a single LRM 5, but she noticed there was JUST enough tonnage for an LRM 10 and a ton of ammo if the Locust carried nothing else, so if it stayed right back in the one in fourp'nnies it out to be okay.
The -1S locust got the same treatment, only with an SRM-6 instead. Neither was a great choice, but it was, at least, SOMETHING.
The scaffolding was fixed, so hopefully that would keep the repair time down. Lynessa wasn't going to attempt to do anything else yet though, with money being very tight.
The Locusts were done, to Lynessa had the Heat Exchanger installed on the Blackjack in place of a heat sink. In theory, this would make it able to run a little cooler (or at least not overhear as fast). Heat was a particular issue, and all of the current mechs were rather heavy on laser weapons. That was down to a day's work, which was good!
And they arrived at Tarragonia to investigate the flashpoint.
Which was to rescue some chap who’d found a starship or something from pirates.
It was a two-skull mission. Thiiiis was going to get messy. Again.
Before they set out, Alarhan increased her piloting 5 and thus gained Sure Footing, and Pskeeie raised her tactics to 5 so she had Sensor Lock.
Lynessa got back into her enforcer, Mylassta took the Blackjack, Alarhan the Assassin and Pseekie the Firestarter - this was the best line-up they were going to get. (And they would go for maximum salvage, a 6/27.)
It was time to get started.
The first contact was a slightly banged up Shadowhawk. That was still quite bad, though, since it was a 55-ton mech, heavier than any of Lynessa's. But with the sensor lock, they were able to pelt it with a little fire first.. But the Bulwarked pilot, plus the cover, granted it 60% damage reduction. This was not good.
The paladins manged to take out the Shadowhawk with light damage - but the second mech (of three) was a Vindicator.
As they moved to attack that... Enemy reinforcements arrived.
This was going to be really bad...
And the THIRD enemy Mech was a HUNCHBACK. Whose AC 20 was likely going to take out any of the mechs with a single hit.
Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!
Lynessa elected now seemed like a good time to break out that precision fire, and aim for the right torso.
The managed to chip away at the enemy...
Until the first enemy of the reinforcements came in - and UNDAMAGED Hunchback. (Which, it turned out, was supported by an undamaged Vindicator and Shadowhawk.)
Yeah, this was not looking good.
And an undamaged vindicator.
And then it said there were more enemy contacts moving in.
(SERIOUSLY, the first Flashpoint you're given in the first month requires you to fight three medium lances?
Oh, no... it just meant the reinforcement lance have moved into sight. It didn't MATTER, because there was no way that I could win a battle against six mechs heavier than me with early-game pilots and basically unoptimised stock mechs. I gave it a shot, but was not even CLOSE. I managed to take out four, but the remaining two did a wipe.
Whelp, bollocks to that; that would be fundamentally game over. RELOAD, and sod that flashpoint, I'm gonna ignore it until I AT LEAST have some (decent) mediums. Lesson learned.)
Alarhan blinked. So, actually, she though, no they WOULD stay where they were for a good few days until the Enforcer as fully repaired and stuff.
So, nine days late, when the Enforcer was repaired, Alarhan and Pseekie increased their piloting and tactics to 5 respectively, and Alarhan lead the lance out (Enforcer, Blackjack, Firestarter and Locust 1E to fight a 1-skull battle mission. She took the Enforcer, passing the Blackjack to Scarlet.
And even there, the enemy managed a load of precision fire which damaged the Blackjack...
Salvage was a piece of Javelin (which would complete one) and a piece of Commando.
But this meant the lane was down to TWO operational mechs (the Firestarter got hit by a Flea and took overheat damage), as the new Javelin of course, had no weapons mounted...
But FINALLY, it was at least a platform in which some damned LRMs could be mounted, so Lynessa added an LRM 15 and an LRM 5 with two tons of ammo, because the lance was desperate for some long-range firepower.
So, back to a good wait, until there was actually some mechs to fight with...
While they were waiting, Summer brought back some nice meat from a little trip down to the planet.
The scaffolding completed and the Locusts were being armed and outfitted; Lynessa had Farah start on the Structural Repair for 90k (leaving them with just enough to scrape by the next payday).
The lance was ready again though, so it was time for some more missions!
There were two available 1-skull contracts - and escort mission and a base defence mission. Figuring the latter would be the most difficult, Lynessa opted to tackle that first.
so with Lynessa in the Enforcer, Mylassta in the Blackjack, Alarhan in the Assassin and the excited summer in the Firestarter, they set out.
This base had turrets, but they needed a couple of APCs to be escorted to them. Summer and Alarhan rushed out to do that and the APCs activated the turrets.
The enemy reinforcements got a little hairy, since they appeared from two directions (and neither that Darius had indicated) and manged to heavily damage several and destroy one of the buildings. But the lance and turrets just barely managed to destroy them.
Still, a good bit of salvage and the lance was undamaged, so they were ready to go for the next mission.
And this time, it was an escort mission...
The first couple of enemy javelins went down nice and easy. The convoy was actually at the extraction point before the enemy reinforcements arrived - another couple of Javelins (10-Fs with lasers) and another Panther arrived. One of the Canopian APCs took a hit, but they were away and the squad efficiently mopped up the enemy mechs - though not without the Firestarter taking some hits.
Again, though, max salvage landed all serviceable mech parts - which gave Lynessa a 10F Javelin and a 9R panther. Finally, a light mech which could have a little more teeth!
Lynessa elected to outfit the Panther with a PPC and an LRM 10, which left enough for an extra ton of armour. Finally, the lance was starting to have some long-range firepower. (Though this came at the expense of not fitting jump jets.)
In fact, at this point Lynessa elected to cancel the work on the two Locusts (1M and 1S), as it hadn’t been started yet, and the six days it would take to fit them was better spend out outfitting the missile Javelin and Panther. Put both of them and the 10F Javelin into storage.
And that was it for contracts in the system. There were a couple of travel contracts for the Appian system - one claimed it was for dealing with a pair of opposing assaults. It was very generous salvage (from the Capellan Confederation), but it WAS a two-skull mission. Still, that was about it, and it would give the new mechs time to be finished, so Lynessa elected to have a try.
(Reloading on standby again...)
Off they set... Only to run into power issues.
Lynessa though discretion might be the better part of valour.
Everyone, however, was apparently a critic.
Payday:
As they were a day out from Appian, there was just time to do that Heat Exchanger refit than Alarhan had in that bizarre dream...
Summer increased her piloting and tactics both to 5, granting her Sure Footer and Sensor Lock, so she was able to properly do her scouting job.
Mylassta improved her guts to 5, so she could take Bulwark (so cover and guarded gave her double the damage reduction).
Poppy stayed an all-rounder, improving both piloting and guts to 3.
Lynessa improved her guts to 4 (for an extra health!)
Alarhan improved her piloting to 6 (for extra defence) and her tactics to 4.
As the lance prepared to drop, Summer grumbled a bit about having to exchange her fast, jump-jet capable Firestarter for the Panther, but only half-heartedly.
Time to see what this was all about... An enemy assault mech, potentially being attacked by another enemy assault mech... And a lance of mediums and one light to deal with it...
Well, the first assault mech apparently had a full lance with it. And just as Lynessa spotted them, the Taurian forces dropped in. This was going to be messy again, wasn't it?
Lynessa Sensor Locked one of the contacts and it was the assault mech - a Stalker! Time to beat a hasty retreat, and hope that the incoming Taurian lance attracted its attention.
It still got off several shots on Summer's Panther, though, landing a nasty head hit; Summer was highly grateful of all the extra armour, though, suddenly! But for all it did, her CT was soon quite critical.
The lance pulled back, taking shots at the pursuing Spiders (Summer just broke and ran). They then retreated to the very edge of the operational area and waited until the sound of fighting eventually stopped, leaving two Taurian mechs. The first, a flea, came rushing in and was easily dealt with.
The other sat there. Eventually, the lance eased forward and Lynessa locked it - a Banshee. Well, that was better than it might have been, though it was at roughly 50% armour.
But, without a spotter, the squad were able to pummel it from long range. It manged to get a couple of PPCs hits on the Enforcer before the LRM and PPC fire (Summer was ALL in having some payback, even if on someone else) until the disabled all its weapons. Then it was a case of backing off and shooting it until it finally fell over! Phew!
After all that, there was but on piece of banshee (and none of Stalker), bit there WAS a nice + Large Laser! Lynessa select from the max salvage parts to complete another locus 1M - that could be sold - and a couple of spider parts.
Summer would be out for a while, so she spent the time improving her guts to 4 and her gunnery to 3.
Alarhan improved her tactics to 5 - while she didn't get Sensor Lock, the -45m minimum range would help anyway, especially with her current assassin mount.
Mylassta elected to upgrade her guts to 6, giving her a +15 overheat threshold, which would help with the Blackjack, which did run rather hot at the moment.
Time to stat working down the other contracts. Firstly, am assassination for the pirates, dealing with an official in a Cicada with a "very heavy escort" (though this WAs only a 1.5 skull mission...!)
With Summer and the Panther down for the count, Pseekie jumped into the Javelin.
The "heavy defences" turned out be a Vindicator, a Locust -1V, a Crab and a frelling Shadowhawk - naturally instantly running into the lance as they tried to skirt around.
Fortunately, the lance was able to hammer at them piece-meal taking the biggest threat (the Vindicator) out first.
The Shadowhawk soon followed, but dealing with the Crab -
- and the Locust -
- WHICH WOULD NOT FREAKING DIE FRAGDAMMIT caused some severe damage to the lance.
But they were down and then there was just the Cicada to go.
(WHAT. THE. FRACK?! Engaged the Cicada, blew its leg off and the Darius said "enemy is making a run for it mission failed?" I BEG you pardon game?
Okay, no. We've not having that crap. Back to the mid-mission post esort-death save and reload.)
The lance finally kited the Cicada far enough away that their combined firepower actually, finally took it out without it being able to instantly flee.
But the lance was pretty damn fracked-up.
And the salvage was principally five pieces of five different mechs. Woo. And Mylassta and Pseekie were both out, due to a head hit and Crab managing to land BOTH Large Lasers on her Javelin at max range, while she was dodging, in the same location, because of course it did.
So that was it for a week.
In the meantime, the structural upgrade was completed. Lynessa had Farah start on harness for the mechs, which would further improve the repair speeds.
(Ah, there's the medical bay upgrade, juust need the beta pod... which is worth 900k and the paladins are barely breaking-even at the moment... Typical.)
Lynessa upgraded her gunnery to 6; Pseekie spent her sick-bed time improving guts to 4 and piloting to 5 (for sure-footed) and Mylassta spent her laid-up time working on her tactics (bringing it to 5, and thus gaining the reduction to minimum range).
Assassination of a pirate in the jungle was up next; hopefully, Lynessa thought, this wouldn't be quite as trying... Alarhan moved to the Blackjack, Poppy to the Javelin and Scarlet took the Panther (the Assassin was starting feel a bit insufficient, so Lynessa figured she experiment with a harder-hitting lance.
(No, WHY did I expect the RNG to not be a little pile of unfun crap today, just like everything else? First restart after the entire enemy force (like eight mechs) attacked me at once. doesn't matter that their lights, no-one can hit anything (funny how the RNG decides that I've not brought the Assassin which was useless against anything but lights), and it manages to do better precision fire than my ACTUAL precision fire.
And again. As after going the OTHER way, thefirst thing it did was get a head hit on the command, and once again, manage to hit - with a barrage of missiles and lasers - repeatedly - ONLY on location on the commander's mech.
So, no, I'm not having fun with this; frankly, this feels like the mission is deliberately stacked against me, so I'm not doing it. Reload and that's why we do the saves...
Lynessa decided to take the one-skull travel contract to the next system while the mech were being repaired.
By day 72, all the mechs were back in working order, and Lynessa fitted the Enforcer with the +Large Laser.
So, Poppy in the Assassin and Scarlet in the Javelin. Off to destroy a planetary governor’s convoy for the pirates.
(As the Panther is apparently totally useless.)
Even this mission proved to be incredibly trying, with the enemy immediately scoring a head hit on Poppy. The lance finally took out all four vehicles, the spider, javelin 10F and kintaro facing it, but it meant another round of repairs. If it wasn't for Summer and co only being a day from operation, it would be looking very bleak for the company (and the next mission would have to be full cash).
The only consolation was that there was an AC 10++, LRM 10+ and SRM 2+ and the max salvage allowed Lynessa to take all three and some mech pieces.
And there we shall leave it for today.
So, that basically mostly sucked. Y'know what I said about how nice that first session was? Yeah, the AI and RNG were determined that I was just not allowed to have any fun today, because there's nothing like being continually frustrated by your stress relief when you could really use it, is there?
Hopefully tomorrow might go better. And, like, in more terms than just BATTLETECH would be favourite.
It would be so nice if life came with a quicksave/reload feature.
It occurs to me that theoretically having a goddess backing you means that the "bizarre dream" may have been a legitimate prophetic one that convinced her to avoid the disastrous results it would have had. For similar reasons, Kinnegan gets first dibs on my player characters because, aside from her codename being an actual real-world surname, timey-wimey nonsense is her entire shtick.
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Sure could have used some reality altering quick/save loading this week, that's for certain, it has been, if you will forgive the atypical use of uncensored expletives on this site (I swear like a sailor in meatspace), it has Been A Bit Of A Shitter, (See next entery for the worst of it, up until Friday was just the run up.)
...
Actually would be nice if BATTLETECH came with a quicksave feature, because manual saves and not being able to overwtire manual saves (seriously , though HBS, how did you manage to not make that be a thing, especially when you have a serious problem that "too many saves slows the loading down") I mean, at least saving is better than it was, but it means that you have to prune you mahnual saves AND the game's auotsave checkpoints...