MekWars

On a side note, I'm learning how the tutorial works. Basically, as a cyan-named new player, you can only attack other new players, but non-cyan names can attack you. Once you get a certain amount of XP, you stop being cyan-name

Holy hell it's down to the wire (I'm grey)

You had me at battletech.

Awesome, I'll be waiting.
Clarifying on the Cyan-name faction: Members of it can reroll their unit garages at will, and never have to pay for repairs because of this. Also, once you hit 100xp, you can leave for a real faction.

In terms of general etiquitte that may not be obvious: the red button at the bottom right is your "Ready for a game" button. You have to toggle it on to attack and be attacked. The colored backgrounds of units are their weight classes. This is important for some of the composition rules found here: mekwars.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3538

www.wesnoth.org

Wesnoth is also pretty top tier, if only for a campaign where you can become a lich

Aww shit nigga.

I wanted to get into battletech for a while now.

SIGN ME UP

Got sucked into another game, but I can help periodically.

No worries, man.

Gonna be a couple hours before I can get playan.

Have a 1880s fully enclosed underwater diving suit.

fukkin neato

That thing looks fucking terrifying. I know it's barely able to move, slow, and only works underwater, but seriously. That's the stuff of nightmares.

thanks RNGesus

You can't marry one.

A man can dream.

They don't even exist.
If they did they wouldn't feel emotion of even think.

we can make them exist
we can give them AI that can feel emotion

here
Bad news is I got whooped hard. Good news is only 10 more XP until I get to join a proper faction!

How bad did it go? Did you run into an owens or something?

Not THAT bad, just too much Longbow, not enough speedymechs.

Just got my first user on board, was fun Played hide-and-seek in the city until I fucked something up and crashed the room.

Somebody named "Groomed" joined for the first time. That one of you guys?

Okay, so… how the fuck do I level up?

Aw yea, gonna get a faction!

...

Mekwars USES Megamek. It's a modded server for it.

I'm a legs person, and those are some fine gams.

Oh boy, time to pick a faction. What should I go with?

LONGBOW STRONK
TASTE THE SPAM

B-but I was the one with the Longbow when I lost…

Is there a spec mode? I'm fucking shit but i feel like watching games

There is, if you see a game going on, you can right click the room and spectate.

You'll be glad to know that I joined Space China, and it gave me two Locusts right at the start.

I stand corrected. THREE Locusts!

Don't know that specifcs for the Mechwars server, but the main factions should be:

Federated Suns/House Davion
Backstabbing fedrat bastards who are somehow always written as the good guys. Bland, boring and untrustworthy.

Lyran Commonwealth/Steiner
Space germans, they love big mech with big guns, have tons of money, a penchant for military officers who buy their rank rather than earn it and have the skills you would expect from that.

Draconis Combine/Kurita
Space weeaboo's. Some arabs (the Arkab Legions) scandinavians and other nationalities all pretending to be samurais in space. They even made Yakuza into military units (Ghost Regiments)

Free Worlds League/Marik
The balkans in space. Theoretically the only major state who's a democracy, though the seat of the head of state has been in the same family for nearly 500 years. Its made up of tons of minor factions who are all constantly fighting each other in various ways, some more violent than others. The regulans are the coolest of the bunch, earning themselves a bad reputation for going nuts with nukes latter in the time line.

Cappellan Confederation/Liao
Space china with some space highlanders and space ruskies and space hindu's thrown in for good measure. But mostly they are space china and in latter timelimes actively stamp out anything that doesn't look Chinese about them. They are the eternal underdogs, always being hte smallest of the great houses and taking a savage beating from the davions suprise attack slightly latter in the timeline than the server should be I think.

There's also a gaggle of lesser states like the Magistracy of Canopus (space las vegas run by amazons) the Taurans (used to be the biggest of the lesser states but the davions stole much of their territory so now they hold a grudge), tue Marian Hegemony (a 3rd world shithole pretending to be imperial rome. They are mostly bandits), the Circinus Federation (a bandit kingdom run by spacepirates pretending to be mercenaries) the Oberon Confederation (a banditkingdom run by spacepirates without the pretence) and the outworlds alliance (weird mix of space amish who want to be left alone, libertarians and anarchists)

Of course, there's always the option of remaining a mercenary without affiliations, going where the jobs are, and possibly turning pirate.

Mind you I don't actually play on their servers, so I can't say how closely they stick to canon or which factions are playable.

Good to know I chose right, then!

I have never heard of Battletech in my life, but the screenshots are intriguing. Should I still give it a shot?

Stick it to the fedrats then.
Do yourself a favor and learn to use indirect fire with your LRM's and alternate ammo types for your LRM's and SRM's. Laying down minefields, ambushes and pelting the enemy with missiles while they can't shoot back is the traditional Liao way. Use those urbies and make the Chancellor proud!
Sadly, pic related is most likely your boss.

I Wirr make Boss ploud!

Also, pic is my mech garage, for reference, lightest to heaviest.

Is there a single player campaign or skirmish mode?

Huh, could you give me a quick summary of all the designs.

Don't worry, just found a 1d4chan page.
1d4chan.org/wiki/BattleTech#Federated_Suns

Well, I lost of my shiny new mechs to a weeaboo curbstomp. I nearly broke my keyboard out of rage

its like you want to go bankrupt :^)

I would, but apparently when attacking a planet, you're limited to mech-only armies unless you already have at least 20% planet control

Though I did find out a neat little tidbit, if it turns out to be true:
The Periphery faction can't conquer planets, instead, their battles produce more salvage and money. Also, you can always use whatever units you like in Periphery battles

I guess I can't have everything.

I forgot you could add notes to the terrain. Good job.

This is a pretty entertaining fight, Anons

Welp, guess I know who I am joining
When I get this to work, anyway.

Congrats on being purple user!

Thanks bruh, I like being purps

The wiki should have a run down of each design. If you can launch megamek seperately of mechwars it should also let you view their stats in detail. This won't help much until you learn the rules of the game though.
sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page
If you want to read up on specific weapons or compare them keep this list in mind
sarna.net/wiki/Weapons_and_Equipment_Lists

...

Well, I finally got into the stuffs, but I don't really "get" it yet. I'll probably double down tomorrow, but for now at least, I can make an army, color said army, and apparently seduce the CO's daughter.
Neat stuff.

Well, had my first fight.
Was rather flattened. Only managed to kill one odd tank at the very end.
Still, can't complain, was fun all things considered.

Trying to come up with clever names for my armies. Like, "5th Slambanian Regiment"

Sorry I had to leave.

Just found out about Custom Logos

Nice. I should see about getting one myself.

If Comfey's reading this, do you have an army around 3325 points? I wanna engage in glorious combat.

Yo, going to have to leave for a bit. Maybe another time.

'Sfine, 'sfine. I'll just watch these other thread-goers play for now.

Wait, how did that Update get in there?

Okay I think I can explain this game.
Its a game that releases your inner /k/, /m/, and bug hating passion.

Not the Starship Trooper kind either.

Can confirm.

But I own several pet A. achatinas.

How do you stop them from breeding?

I don't.
I originally only had two.
I now own 14.
Ever since then I just regularly check their tanks and destroy the eggs. They can be sneaky fuckers at times and hide them really well, so you gotta look hard.

Protip: Don't believe the Locust's Lies

I'm done. This game could've been good.

You could always just play MegaMek on its own.
With MekHQ they have some semblance of a campaign structure, though it comes with a lot of makework for maintaining and repairing shit between missions.
Just need a place to meet people to play with.
Alternately, get some practice in on MegaMek to figure out how to fight effectively in the game and watch for the next time MekWars starts a new Cycle. They do so every few months I think.

Fair enough. Also, I do have the files to start my own server of Mekwars, though it will take quite a lot of work getting it functional…

continuing from
It's not the game itself I'm done with, it's that particular server. So we could go the Blackjack-and-Hookers route. I've composed a checklist of things that need to be done to make it playable:
At this point, the game is technically playable, but the step afterward is a doozy:

Theres a tabletop simulator thread?

continuing again from
Keep in mind, all the stuff I've listed can be freely edited, so we COULD go all out and make a big fictional chan-themed map and factions and everything. The question is, is that worth a good few hours of messing around in a text editor?

There was, a good while back. It did prettty well.

I have no reason to doubt those trips!; Its a shame I didn't see the thread. I actually been having a lot of fun with that game.

MegaMek's Rats and the MasterUnitList should have you covered on what mechs each faction should have.
The FieldManuals also have the rats, with the addition of letting you see how common each mech or tank is.

As for maps over which planets?
Either this
iscs.teamspam.net/
Or alternately, make a scaled down map that contains the specific bits the campaign would be focused on.
For example, the Battle of Tukayyid with players taking over units that fought in there on one side or the other.

If you want to make your own AU, go for it.

That's at least the second time I got quads in this thread alone.

I'm sorry anons, I can't for the life of me figure it out…

Okay since people want to start their own server, I'll see what I can do to host one.

So what Era does everybody want?

I like the clan invasions myself, but 3025 would probably be better for introducing new players to the game. Less weapons and equipment with special rules to keep track of

If you can figure it out, I commend you.

Even though I just got stuck in a other hoop, I just made it before two hoops before me.

Have you figured out how to actually get it to recognize mechs put in the database?

Also good news: turns out it's possible to attack from reserves on the main server, though it's probably limited in some way…
Looking back, if we get out numbers high enough, we could probably end up overpowering and bullying the weebtrash faction.

The server?
I'm still attempting to compile the latest version

Progress was going along fine until I reached pic related, the only thing that is missing is JAVAC (Despite installing JDK) and I can't get Eclipse to work in order to solve it.

Sounds like Java is pointing to the wrong directory in your registry. Try reinstalling it or at least double checking you have the files its asking for in the directory its mentioning.
I've had that problem with java before, where it kind of forgets where its installed and suddenly can't find itself when you try to run megamek. Reinstalling should fix it, alternatetly try manually uninstalling all versions of java you have before reinstalling.

Ahh. Here's to hoping we get our memetech up and running.

Also, I managed to compile it in my past efforts. If you want I could mega you the compiled version…

If you guys get your own server, I'll definitely be joining in. As is, it's just got too many folk what are already good at the game. I barely understand how things work as is, and just keep getting wrecked.

Well, good news. I got a server up right now, and I'm currently setting up the mechfiles.

Just as long as I get muh locusts. I want to run fast.

Most important lesson for new users would likely be figure out how the movement and targeting mods work, and learn heat management.
To break the mods for shooting down:
If you moved 3-4 hexes, +1 targetnumber for enemies trying to shoot you. 5-6 +2, 7-10 +3.
+1 tn for every hex of forest or smoke between you and the attacker too, including the hex the target is standing in. Driving up enemy target numbers is your best defence, so get used to making sure you move enough to make yourself a difficult target. Also, keep in mind your attacks get a penalty based on your own movement, +1 if you are walking, +2 if you are running. The game handles calculating all this shit for you, but its important when you are positioning yourself in the movement phase, to insure you are either moving fast, got cover or both, to limit the amount of damage you take.

Secondly, when you over heat, your mech slows down and you get a penalty to your target numbers for attacks. Over heat enough and ammo can detonate too.

Here's a long list of various tables that might come in handy for reference. Don't worry, you won't need to memorise this shit. Just use it as a reference for what things give penalties to hitting targets, exactly how high you can overheat and so on.
sarna.net/wiki/CBT_Tables

I have some more good news, then.

cont
also here's a basic guide to battletech tactics
benhrome.wordpress.com/category/gaming/battletech/strategy-and-tactics/

Thanks bruv. Good stuff. Didn't know about the move bonus, I thought it was just a down for you.

I must say, I rather hate the hex design. Leaves north and south, without giving any options for east and west. Stuck with northeast/soutwest and such.
Personally, I generally prefer the squares system, but I'll give credit where credit is due, octagon is better.

NEW SERVER. THE HAPPENING IS UPON US
NEW IP: 174.106.83.254

Do I add anything for the "chat port" or "data port"?

Those should be fine as what they already are.

Hmm. seems as though the chat isn't responding for me. Froze up as I tried to start a campaign account.

Oh, just lost connection fully. Guess that's why.

Yeah, turns out it tried to generate a nonexistant mech

Looks like it did work, it just took ages to do, and froze up the thing when it did.

fuck, and here I was trying to fix it.

Oh, I reset your account trying to fix it, you have to log in with a blank PW and re-register

Did the server go down? I got disconnected and now it keeps saying "NoOPList" when I try to connect again.

Yes. I'll need to tweak it a bunch later.

That's why you go for a Mech that only has energy weapons mounted, like Awesome and overheat even faster and die anyway.

Is it okay I help?

Sure.

Sure, join the server and tell me your name here, and you get admin.

I'll get around to it soon, hopefully.

Eh, I meant with making textures and units but okay.

Server's currenttly down while I mess with buildlists, but it'll be up soon.

Is the linux build of Mekwars a piece of shit still?

Aw shit, Mekwars. Been a long time since I played that, should really get back into it but I totally forgot where I was. Wouldn't mind playing some MegaMek with you spergalergs though.

Was there ever a difference in OS builds? I thought it all ran in Java, hence why it ran so poorly.

Truth be told, what I really need, is faction/planet ideas for this Original the Universe

We'll seems I won't be able to play this shit with you guys, my Java is fucked up from my installing of Ant and now I can get no .jar's to run.

Same here unfortunately, good ole college internet blocks virtually anything to do with vidyer games so I'm out for the count.

Honestly, as neat as MekWars is I think I'd rather play custom MegaMek games with the rest of Holla Forums.

MekChan server up, IP at

Huh. Apparently you can do tutorial-games without going out of reserve. Meaning the whole was mainly just me not knowing how to use this. I guess we could stick around in the main server, at least for now.

This looks fun as fuck, may join in. I'm rusty as fuck to any strategy games though.

On the MekChan server, I have managed to make a Terran Republic faction, to impress the brass. The question is, what kind of units should they use? I'm sorely tempted to make them a mostly-tanks faction.

Better yet, we could probably use MegaMekLab to actually homebrew some TR forces

Being hit by a rock explodes your ammo?

If you're really unlucky, or really damaged, yes.

Ammo explodes under 2 circumstances, failing an "ammo goes boom check" from over heating, or a critical hit to an ammo bin. So yes, a rock thrown hard enough could set it off. Crits to ammo bins are the most common cause of mech death in the 3025 era in general. Latter on you get CASE to limit the damage from an ammo explosion.
So if, as in the case of the Owens of Truth, falling debris from a collapsing building crushes a mechs ammo bin it does indeed have a chance to detonate something in the bin, setting of a chain reaction in the tightly packed explosives in there…

The Holla Forums server is slowly coming along. The next hurdle holding everything up is some busywork of reformatting RATS into buildlists that the server can use. It's mostly just moving around text.

But WHILE I'm doing this, I need idea guys to start brainstorming possible operations. Operations are basically the things that it handles in the actual MegaMek program, rather than the server thing. Keep in mind different factions can have access to different operations.

Wasn't really ready for MekWars so I downloaded MegaMek and gave it a whirl for a few hours against some bots.

Bots are kind of stupid and can take a long time but it gave me enough of an experience that I enjoyed. Can be a little slow to make moves every now and then but this is battletech we're talking about anyways. Much faster than charts and rolls.

Always wanted to get into battletech, my dad used to play it when I was kid and he had this gigantic custom foam hexboard in his basement. This was a great reintroduction into the series. I've been dying for some robot game with some meat on it and this really fits the bill with me.

Especially when I don't really work my way around a chart table too quickly to keep my opponent entertained for long

Really glad this exists, the unit table is extensive if not technically complete. Will be playing some no restrictions 5k point games on LAN with some close friends in no time at all. Might even get my dad to play.

He was pretty deep into the game so I'm sure he'll mop the floor with me

Anyways, maybe when I really get my head wrapped around everything I'll come join the 8ch server but until then, cheers.

How many of you are still playing? Is the 3025 server reasonably populated?

The one in the OP? Decently populated. I'm also still working on the Holla Forums server.

Welp, played a couple matched, but then the match got bugged at the end and it thinks I'm still in it. Guess I wait…

The problem's been fixed, but it looks like the thread died…

...

How's that coming along? Be nice to actually do some real BT stuff for a change.

It's on hiatus. But the good news is I'm figuring out methods to make the big public server less infuriating.
First step: When starting out, NEVER GO INTO ACTIVE DUTY. Instead, arrange Tactical Sim/Training games with other people from here, and use Games -> Attack from Reserve. This way you get the rewards from playing a game, and no risk of losing your good mechs to some shitter from Draconis Combine.

That's just stupid. A laser hit or explosive, I can see it. But being hit by a rock….

To be completely fair, it wasn't just a rock. It was a falling building.

TrashMan ready to join the battle

So what do to? Core server? Some private one? Faction?

Core server, yeah.

Sorry I wasn't able to battle you. I'm stuck in a second game that won't end because my last partner was an idiot and messed with the room settings.

So when will the Holla Forums campaign take place? All I want to do is bully some clanner nerds in melee.

Also, being able to make your own custom meks would be pretty spiffy. I know there is a thing for it in megamek, but I am not sure if mekwars supports it

It's an AU, so the year is irrelevant. All the planets and factions are custom. Hell, even the mechs could be, if I get some mech-designers.

While homebrewed mechs would be fun, it would probably ruin any semblance of balance for competitive play. Most of the standard machines aren't very well optimised, so most homebrews just end up being optimised CLPL+TC boats with 7/11/7 movement or somesuch.

Do you want the 'Fuck you clanner' special?

True, but I personally always side on the field of more potential fun while having the possibility of cheese rather than always the same but competitive.
But that just might be me.

Perhaps later. Right now I need to fix up some shit.

But right now lets talk factions. We could have factions loosely based off of chanboards. What do you guys think of that?

Also the admin fixed my bugged match, so I can do matches again!

Oh, I figured out how to get aircraft. Either spend reward points on them or get them from other players. Now to find out if they're any good.

It's a odd feeling of Nascar'ing too fast to where both sides have to skip the firing phase because neither of them can hit the broadside of a shopping mall.

AND BY THE SECOND TURN, YOU BLEW UP TWO OF MY UNITS ALREADY

AC-20 is love, AC-20 is life.

Turns out you can't use aircraft. Like, at all…

Just wait till you see what a UAC 20 followed by a LB 20X can do…

Never forget, Draconis is Scum

How delicious.

That was a long fucking game, thanks to Trashman, and those who watched.

Just a heads up, don't do a defect to a different faction if you just picked your starting one, you'll basically get insanely fucked by the program taking at least 75% to 90% of all your currently owned units.

Yikes. I'll try my best to play games with you, help earn those mechs back.

Warning: do not pick the Training Sim missions for grinding, they are pretty much worthless in general.

Can you use custom 'mechs you make?

I one made a custom quadraped that had two UAC/20s.

You can't make this shit up.

Well fuck. Looks like the only risk-free way to grind is to play against cyan-names.

Honestly, I though it wouldn't last 3 fucking hours, given that we only had about 4000 points worth of stuff.

Start was slow, which was my fault, given that I didn't read any tutorial or instruction or anything, so I kept fucking up my unit orders on the first two turns.
I never should have brought the Hetzer, that thing didn't do a thing the entire battle. Slow as hell, limited fire arc, only one weapon that never hits anything.

Still, I thought I would do even worse. Took out two of your tanks, heavily damaged 2 more and your only mecha.

In retrospect, using the Shadow Phoenix (or whatever it's called) at close range was not my brightest move.
And that Trebuchet heat issues. Fuck, that thing doesn't have heat sinks worth a damn.

You did well, all things considered.

Oh shit, that reminds me, I had pretty sweet little Hauptmann build back in the day. It'd be nice to roll that out.

Why do you make them sound like xenomorphs user?

The Shadow Hawk was kinda built to be like the duct tape to any lance, the only real bad move to do with him is to try to one-man-army him instead of keeping him with the group.

Alright. So I learned some tips:
First: Chat and banter with your opponent. This will make it so whoever loses won't be surpemely butthurt.
Second: As soon as you're sure you can't win, use /defeat. This ends the match at the end of the current phase, meaning your units will take less of a beating. The downside is this only works if your opponent accepts, but if you've bantered with them, they'll be more inclined to do so, even if they're Draconis scum.

...

Goin dooooowwn In a Blaze of Gloorrrry!

So yeah, it turns out about a good chunk of stuff that you may want to do (like rerolling up the account) is locked behind level door shit (which is not really explained at all). Until I know more about what the fuck the level up system is, don't defect until you have a sizable warchest in CBills.

Update: Turns out that the level system is just a fancy client way of telling you that you're not a moderator or admin.

Worst case scenario, you make an alt and start over, is the way I see it.

yeah it's starting to seem that way…

Holy hell, like 15 people on right now.

Well that regen went better than expected. Time to grind for dem CBills.

God, the RNG was really not with me that game.

To be fair, you were caught in a situation where you were forced into my defensive killbox, However I will give you props for damaging my field gun to such a degree that I didn't have enough troopers to properly use it. We both learned that proper usage of concealment and going prone really does help out a lot.

So it was a good learning experience for all.

I meant the terrain RNG, but yeah.

I wish more people would bump the thread…

I'd love to chat and have done some BT stuff over the years myself, inc over MM but I've just been busy.

Mind if I post some Level 1 and Level 2 builds?

Go right ahead.

I love this Longbow.

Friendly bump, just had a nice game against Ardebitis with some awesome beginners luck.

Those fucking Urbies though.

Is basically what happened lol.

Urbies are miracle of the universe.

...

Bump Lightyear

Sucks when a battle gets legit intense and then the internet connection shits itself.

Figure I'd make a few custom Urbies since that seems to be on everyone's brain.

—
Urbanmech UM-R60M

Formerly some largely stripped CCF R60L hulks found in an abandoned warehouse, this first run was given a significant upgrade with the simple internal frame of the Urbie replaced with standard materials to a functional endosteel structure. With the old frames parted out, the Liao armor was retained for a cost savings.

The funds from the frame sale allowed the factory to purchase an LB 20-X and a ER Small Laser for more accurate fire (and thus more damage) at range; the heat hit was evaluated as being well within even the parameters of the original SHS system employed by the 60L, and the optional use of either slug or cluster ammo gives a 60M pilot an option to engage at (longer) ranges than the AC20 slug-wise, while also giving the UM a devastating close-range munition choice for a nasty surprise. Better still, these two bins double the effective ammo load of the Urbie 60L, and the whole system is hooked into CASE in the event one of the bins cooks off. Even if it does, the ER Small on the opposite side of the mech (and the preservation of most of the SHSs) allows the 60M to remain in the fight albeit in a diminished capacity.

For a 60L pilot and maintenance crew, there are two (perhaps three) downsides. The first and second are largely the same, the cost and availability of the new equipment. The second option is a potentially pressing situation out in the field, although Urbies are not noted for their assault prowess and it is expected that the most likely environ to see and use a 60M with success is in a city (as usual). The third downside is that it's basically a souped up 60L; the LB and improved laser can give even a heavy mech a hard time in an ambush situation, but once the Alpha is out a well armed vehicle can still carve this one out with ease.

Would it be possible to craft us the fabled Nuke Urbie?

The construction plan I filed with the WoB lists my Urbie and my Arrow IV, but no Davy Crocketts!

First one to give me a warhead gets to stay on my dropship.

Ah well, thanks for tryin user.

It is the actual design though that raped the Hounds, though. IIRC MegaMek supports nukes, the question is if Davies are in there (it's been awhile since I've used it). If they are, and you have the right rules set up, then you should just be able to switch out ammo bins in-game.

I'm going to make a few for everyone to play with. I also made a variant of the 60M called the 60N, which is basically the same except it has Light FF armor. And two sub-versions of each with the light laser removed to shove in a little more armor. The 60N2 (Light FF, no laser) has 72% armor coverage, so it is quite a bit tougher than the 60L and 60M.

I also made three more variants, presented below.
—
Urbanmech UM-DF1

After the success of the UM-R60M in some sections, plans were made to made to use the remaining bare mechs in a totally new application. The Urbanmech had a reputation, due to the ubiquity of the 60L, of being a bit of a pushover against heavy mechs. With new technology coming out and Lostech increasingly returned to the battlefield, it made sense to develop a modern Urbanmech that was both affordable and powerful for its intended utility. A new Urbanmech, designation DF1, was proposed and designed.

In an interesting turn of events, the old Leenex 60 engine was trashed and replaced with new Compact engine. While the output was the same, the weight increase was negligible and its survivability as significantly increased. This improvement was offset somewhat with an extra light gyro being fitted inside the vehicle, but this was seen as a logical trade off as Urbies don't move much anyway. Although in the case of this model, this is less the case. In an unorthodox move, the traditional jump jet system was replaced with a modern design, improving the aerial mobility of the Mech by 50%.

The new endosteel frame from the 60M was retained, but the autocannon system was not. Instead, the DF1 utilizes two standard Large Lasers; powerful and easy to service. Since the SHS system of the old model Urbies aren't rated for that much thermal action, this is finally replaced with a DHS system. It is efficient enough to allow constant full output on a given target. One final improvement to the combat capabilities of this model is the installation of a targeting computer, allowing a pilot to easily damage an enemy a couple blocks down, or even try for a plausible chance at a headcap.

While the lack of an AC in this model would normally be a cause for concern, in this model it is not. The DF1 has over 99% armor coverage, with the front armor capable of sustaining at least one full blast from most heavy mechs. It's this combination of survivability, mobility and lethality that make this model of Urbanmech a concern for anyone looking to break a garrison quickly.

What in the absolute fuck is going on

Java's going on

Huzzah, my first actual victory that did not involve op! And against a full Lance of Assaults no less!

Well shit. I'm having some hardware problems so I guess I can't do that anymore either.

Some of you Draconis Combine are alright. Don't come to Mekwars tomorrow.

I actually found a version of MekHQ that lets you play in singleplayer in a competent manner.
Currently trying to make a mercenary force with a starting budget of 25mil. What should its name be?

"OP's Faggots" might be sufficiently memetastic?

I would have gone with Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters but if that isn't any good then will do just fine.

Bah, board just ate my long post about the different merc units already in battletech you could use.
sarna.net/wiki/Category:Mercenary_Commands

Necro-Bump

Sorry for my absence, I actually got banned from Holla Forums for a different thread.

Oh good, I'm no longer banned.

I like that name. Also turns out MekHQ bot campaigns are crazy-unforgiving, especially if you're new to the interface. But if you wanna try, github.com/MegaMek/mekhq/releases

Any news about that custom mekwars server you where working on?

How about an after-action report? I got started with an Against the Bot MekHQ campaign because I know very little about the Battletech rules, tactics, and strategy. I would for sure get stomped repeatedly on the server.

Any easy guide for getting started with Against the Bot?

I followed a lot of the advice in this post for setting it up, tweaking some of it to fit my preference. Mostly because he seems to play with more restricted clan tech.
bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=41494.msg957784#msg957784

Thanks user.

Dubs names my company commander, 0 or 5 get to name the other 11 members. Also roll a d1000 with your post.

I mean one of the others.

...

It's actually pretty easy to play this. If it were a real game there'd be a hell of a lot of rolling you'd have to do, but here it's all automated. The main thing is learning the tactics of Battletech, which are quite simple as it's basically a cooler version of rockem-sockem bots. Two Mechs (mecha for weebs) get within 100ft of each other and shoot impossibly huge cannons at each other at point blank range until one of them blows up. Bigger mechs have more armor usually but might not be as heavily armed as a smaller one. And front armor will take more damage than rear armor.

Later on you can get into more advanced stuff. Just play some simple games. Take an Atlas or Mad Cat, and go up against a Jenner in single combat to figure out how everything works.

Take a look at this Battletech quick start pdf. It's a free pdf with the basic rules of play.
The gameplay is not very complicated, the more complicated part comes in once you grasp the basics and are moving on to things like force composition, customizing effective mech loadouts, and battle tactics.

The game simulates every aspect of the tabletop game, you can't break the rules, so eventually you figure out what you're supposed to do. It's pretty easy to play, just don't expect to be good at first.
Go get the latest build of MekHQ, and follow the steps in this
post if you want to get started with a fully functional singleplayer campaign. Otherwise you can use MegaMek itself to play around with custom skirmishes or the premade scenarios.

One thing I'm still working on as a new player is the importance of movement. Sitting seems to be a bad idea in an even engagement, because a mech that moved in the move phase gets a bonus to defence relative to how much it moved. Conversely, moving applies a penalty to the shooting rolls, again relative to how far/fast you moved. Balancing movement/defence and offence is a big deal, it's something I'm still figuring out. From what I can tell, like in the Mechwarrior games, using a faster mech and circling the enemy at maximum speed is good for survivability.

So favorites mechs everyone? My top picks are the Mad Cat, Marauder, and Raven. I seem to mine myself graviating towards the less humanoid mechs.

Guess I'm learning Battletech, was looking for a starter kit but nowhere had one. This seriously saves me a lot of trouble.

Always liked the Hauptmann for some reason. Very tough and versatile platform. Daishi is pretty tough too, although I'd prefer better integrated DHS placement and maybe a standard reactor (fun is being able to fit 4 LB 20-Xs, or 2 HAG40s + 2 HAG20s, on one 100t Mech…which the Dai would have some trouble with).

Mad Cat is great. Love the Phoenix Hawk as well. I almost always find myself unsatisfied with Light Mechs though, even when they have a superb utility. Just seems like a waste of money when you could use a Medium with a Light or Clan XL engine instead (IS XLs are AIDS).

I'm partial to the Thanatos.
MW4:Mercenaries made me fall in love with it. I picked it up it as soon as it became available in that game's campaign. Initially I just liked how bulky and wide it is, with big flat surfaces that remind me of a more realistic tank aesthetic.
Then I stuck with it in-game for the great utility of the 360º torso twist it had, and the charming run animation.

I love the design of it because it looks like something tank designers of today would build if they suddenly had access to the tech required for a mech to be feasible. It looks like someone actually set out to build a realistic combat vehicle that just happens to have two legs and some "arms" . I don't care for the mech designs that look like the designer was thinking "I'm gonna build a big metal humanoid thing" or the mechs that creep too close to just being a flashy sci-fi robot.
The many mechs that try too hard to look anthropomorphic really bother me.

I'm a sucker for the classics. Thunderbolt, Marauder, Warhammer, Archer.
On the clan side, Dragonfly B, Stormcrow and Bloodkite, if you really want cheese, Hellstar.

Anything happening on the MW front? Serb progress?