garyp
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by garyp on Jul 27, 2020 11:05:19 GMT -4
The comments that the Admin made in the leaderboard about failure of the all urbie empire in the alpha campaign has me curious about what actually happened. Was the force something along the lines of nothing but classic 3025 era UM-R60s with battle armour on handholds or was there an attempt to build a more balanced blend of urbies with different weapons and equipment for specialised roles? Any alpha testers care to explain how it went so wrong?
I'm not a member of the cult of the urbie. Sure their are some funny urbanmech memes and cartoons that people have drawn over the years, but after a while it can get a bit repetitive. But I feel like their might be an amusing story here that is worth hearing. Or at least a cautionary tale about the folly of trying to defeat your opponents by having them die of laughter.
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Post by keeperkomando on Jul 27, 2020 11:52:35 GMT -4
I never fought against the UrbanMecha myself. I was the leader of the Tau Empire located away from that fight. I am something different now given I volunteered and was asked to be one of the main examples to take screen shots for the promotional video Kris made. Back then most of us only had to deal with one other person as a main threat nearby, with only a few of us finding second combatants or players. We were asked not to be friends for purposes of game testing, so I would guess the UrbanMechs only fought against one person and not a two front war. We never saw the whole map there either, but is was much smaller, think 100 by 100 spreadsheet squares.
But Mistress Marik (a.k.a. Kaplen as she was known then) apparently had at least several companies of UrbanMechs being rode by Elementals in one or more battles, all very much pink. They never won a single match from the talk I heard, but non the less still did a disproportionate amount of damage then was to be expected. Or perhaps it was enough critical damages that successive offensive waves had to stop for repairs when they should have been able to steamroll further on?
I do know that Kaplen lost a lot of territory in the war on Urbies, but I guess it wasn't substantial enough? Maybe there was some effect like that of Russia in WWII wearing down the German advance. You will have to wait until either Fevir or Mistress Marik comes online to get the full story.
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Post by bucelufe on Jul 27, 2020 13:54:09 GMT -4
Elementals or any non magnetic BA for that matter can't ride non omni units so I am not sure why the admin let elementals ride urbanmechs....
Can you please clarify?
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2020 15:47:41 GMT -4
I am ruling that any Battle Armor can use Mechs for transport on the strategic map, as if techs added on hand holds, but only one platoon per Mech. You are correct in that it would not happen in a MegaMek battle or per normal BattleTech rules.
This is one of the few house rules I allowed here for strategic play only.
I will let those players whom this thread is about decide if they want to comment on their Alpha empires or not because I do not wish to give away information on how they might play.
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garyp
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by garyp on Jul 27, 2020 20:57:12 GMT -4
Allowing non-omnimechs to carry BA seems like a sensible idea. Given the expense of battlemechs it is likely players will initially be using mostly lighter units and giving those units some way to contribute to capturing territory seems like a good game mechanic decision. While not covered by the usual tabletop rules there are examples of improvised BA handholds in the fiction. I definitely remember in the novel Wolfpack some Wolf Dragoon techs welded grab bars onto some non-omni units to allow them to transport elementals. I believe I have seen the idea used elsewhere in the fiction, but I read it too long ago to remember where among the hundreds of novels and short stories.
Non-omni battlearmor transports would lack the power couplings to recharge the suits on the move, but battlearmor that deployed independently still operates quite fine on the strategic map so that shouldn't be an issue. I just assume they are using something like the small power couplers from the MW RPG rules to allow the BA to tap into the power of accompanying units to recharge when units pause to rest or to draw power from whatever civilian power infrastructure they encounter. The same as I just assume my military has capable group of staff officers that take care of all the logistics like food, water, fuel etc that isn't tracked in the campaign. |
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fevir
New Member
Posts: 13
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Post by fevir on Jul 29, 2020 23:24:39 GMT -4
Alright, to give you some idea to this story, and as keeper mentions, lets just say they did enough damage to constantly force repair pit-stops. No they didn't kill very much of my original task force, other than the odd motive system take-down. Yet it was enough I had to resort to purchasing a second wave to keep the momentum going, and gamble on using up supplies. I was mostly using Clan units at the time, a mix of mechs and my own elementals. I think that factors into it since my units were much more expensive while she could more or less spam these cheaply. We had about two battles a week for some time. Often 8-12 of her UrbanMechs at a time with support versus five for me plus support.
Some of it was my own fault, getting close enough to go for physical attacks with some of my lights and she got at least three lucky rolls for critical hits of 12 and knocked a leg off an Arbalest short its LRM ammo, and two Piranha. However those crits piled on in many other places as well. A lucky double gyro to a Hellbringer, several engine hits to a Warhammer IIC, cockpit damage to Burrock (mostly from elemental SRM) that all had to be addressed. Oh, and she eventually went for constant dfa attacks before realizing that sucked for us both. Those caused more criticals as well, which i felt better having fixed than not (actuators, weapons, etc). I took over half Kaplen's land area by the end and put down maybe44 Urbanmechs (it was nearly four companies total so I don't know exactly) of many differing types R60 with AC10, R60L with AC20, several long range R70s with Rac5's as direct 'fire support', and she had what I can only guess were AIV's with arrows artillery hidden somewhere I never found. Those arrow platforms actually claimed several of my elemental stands and took out an already crippled Mad Dog H that was withdrawing.
It wasn't what I was expecting at all I can honestly admit. Of course the mild shock value wore off rather soon and since it was obvious what I was fighting it worked more in my favor by the end since I could focus on units that countered slow as molasses, mostly shorter range autocannons. We did agree to let many of the elementals battle it out between their own kind.
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Post by moleman on Aug 3, 2020 5:05:09 GMT -4
Haha, that sounds great!
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fevir
New Member
Posts: 13
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Post by fevir on Aug 4, 2020 11:41:34 GMT -4
It did give me a chuckle and a sense of WTF in equal measures.
Sure there is a place for standardization in modern military's so that parts and ammunition are interchangeable to keep costs down, but in BattleTech I do feel you need a little more variation in capabilities, especially have more mobile units to support the slow assaults & heavies. But I never thought swarms of low armor, low speed lights would be a thing. Urbies are made for "Urban" combat, not offense and defense everywhere. However that +3 to hit jumping units really saved the UrbanMechs collective asses. Took just a tad longer to knock them down then I was expecting, but that is all they needed to pile on the telling hits. Regular autocannons firing several volleys a turn.
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