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Lava Cannons, Graviton Guns, Gravity Disruptors, Piston Fists, Self-Destruct Devices, Plasma Vents, Mortar Tubes, Electron-Flux Whips, Flakk Turrets, Smaller Mecha (see Macross Attack), BattleMech Tasers, Cruise Missile Batteries, Radiation Beams... It's actually harder to name weapons that haven't been mounted on giant robots.
Minimal change, but any designer in pseudorealistic universe would see it and wouldn't build the tank the way it's presented in TRO unless someone got a hefty sum of money sideways. This is Steiner we're talking about with the DI Schmidtt.
I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree on this, since I find these little quirks and inefficiencies are what makes BattleTech fun for me. I'm one of those players who actively advocates against more Warlords and Hellstars, you see. What you call 'botches', I see as the current design direction of TPTB. While there are monsters in the new books like the Black Knight, I expect to see more designs like the Quasimodo and DI Schmidtt, functional designs, that while far from optimized, are still functional when they hit the table. I'm happy with this design direction, and while I don't agree with your assessment, I hope you can find your own sweet spot in the universe as well.
Well, there are obviously flawed, like Atlas having crappy ranged firepower, or Rifleman overheating as hell and having only modest armour, and there is stupidly flawed, like Di Schmidt taking XL engine to save tonnage and rack the cost up to stratosphere and then wastes eight tons to mount whoping two flamers. First are okay with me, second irritates me to no end. I see what you mean. But then again, they've always been around... Hatchetman with XL engine and SHS, Goliath with XL engine, extraneous heat sinks, URBANMECH with extra heat sink... Right from the beginning.
I'm of the opinion that the charm of BattleTech revolves around inherently flawed units. The flood of "easy win" machines in TRO 3058 - 67 actually soured me on the prospect of the game itself. I actually like TRO 3075 and 3085 for the obviously unoptimised machines contained in them. I guess we're of entirely different opinions, given that for myself, the Quasi is one of my favorite units out of the 3145 era. It's not game-winning by a long shot and the flaws of a 5/8/5 Close Combat Unit are all too obvious, but it serves as a modern Anvil replacement where it functions perfectly in a Lance environment, plugging a gap in the FWL orbat. Different gaming philosophies I guess. My group tends more towards narrative campaigns where salvage is a huge factor. It's shaped my playstyle dramatically.
Ah. I see what you're getting at. For me, for all their flaws, none of these machine are "I win" easy mode buttons like the Warlord, Thunderhawk, Devastator or Hellstar (though the Tian Zhong is coming a mite close). But unlike absolute rubbish like the GRF-5M Griffin, they're not "Lose At Army Selection" choices either. All of them can do a job, if not well, at least decently, but suffer from the typically expected factional "Ooh Shiney" syndrome of new 'Tech. Thing is as a Marik, after being force fed stinkers since 3058 onwards, I can work with "flawed but functional" machines. Or maybe my standards on what makes a playable 'Mech are just much lower. Looking at the Albatrosses, Storm-Tempest, Griffins and Shadowhawks that are being pushed out of service by the newer designs, flawed as they might be, I see things I can actually work with. The Quasimodo for instance is a very capable mobile cavalry blocker. It's not a one-on-one duelist, but when operating in a mixed force of Carronades, Anzus and Yeomen, becomes a very capable lynchpin for a Lance.
I'm sorry, but some of the machines presented in the 3145 TROs ahould have never been or need a serious redesign :-) How so? I'm genuinely interested in why you think so? I think they're head and shoulders ahead of many of the designs produced between 3058 and 3067. Plus as a bonus, no one House got an entire force of stinkers.
TRO 3145:
Hmm. Seems to be some infighting between the Republic Remnant and the Fortress Republic forces. That said, the new Alpha Strike miniature wargame ruleset looks good too. The ability to resolve full company on company engagements in under an hour is surprisingly good too.
Also, malignancy?! Yes malignancy. Field Manual 3145: Devlin Stone is back and rearming the Republic behind the fortress walls like crazy. Also, they destroyed the reborn ComGuards so that gets boos from me.
In a move bound to further annoy players who declared their personal fannons end in 30xx, BattleTech has released Technical Readout 3145, Era Report 3145 and Field Manual 3145 should be hot on their heels. And my love for BattleTech grew three sizes that day. For everyone for whom the MWDA setting was a turn-off, the 3145 era feels like a breath of fresh air. Forget your preconceptions and dive in. TSEMPs and Re-Engineered Lasers for everyone! It's politics as usual in the wake of the collapse of the Republic of the Sphere. Trillian Steiner barely holds together a Lyran Commonwealth quailing under a two-front was, facing the resurgent Jade Falcons and their new Khan Malvina Hazen's aggressive Mongol doctrine and Alaric Steiner's new Wolf Empire. The Hell's Horses face a crisis for faith, forced to choose between supporting the Falcons and forging their own destiny. The Dragon roars, having annihilated the seditious Nova Cats and smashed into the heart of the Federated Suns, aided tacitly by the betrayal of the Davion's former allies in the Raven Alliance. Daoshen Liao's Cappellan Confederation now stands as the Inner Sphere's premiere military superpower, their hidden military buildup putting lie to Devlin Stone's dream of disarmament. It's target? New Avalon. Shattered by betrayal and the incompetence of Caleb Davion, the Federated Suns stands on the cusp of what will either be it's finest hour, or it's darkest defeat. A Phoenix in purple, Jessica Marik's reborn Free Worlds League quietly girds itself for war against enemies on all sides. With both Regulus and Andurien refusing to cooperate and the Wolf at her door, a new Captain General finds many willing to smother her nascent state in its infancy. And lurking at the core, the Republic remnant lurks like a malignancy, waiting for their time to come again. The gangs all here, and it's nice to watch the writers gleefully stretch their legs, unbound by the need to cling to the material foisted on them by WizKids. They've done a fantastic job so far, polishing up the gems of the Jihad era and turning them into well thought out plot points that roll the universe forward. It's simple, unpretentious BattleTech, returning to its roots to wallow in intrigue and warfare. Unburdened by the need to keep fan favorite characters alive and no longer straight-jacketed by Michael Stackpole's heavy handed fiction, it's a no holds barred slug-fest where nothing, not even the Kell Hounds, Nova Cats and Eridani Light Horse are held too sacred to be fed to the meat grinder. The Kuritans are back to being bad-ass all-conquering space samurai. The Cappellans are playing aggressively for keeps rather than defensively. The Free Worlds League are no longer the joke enemy faction. The Wolves are back to kicking ass and taking names (and then writing about it in the Remembrance). If you thought the Dark Age couldn't be saved, think again. If you liked the Dark Age, well... drink deep. And if you, as a BattleTech fan can find it in your heart to hate these 'Mechs, I pity you.
Well. I wasn't expecting a blowout quite like this, so I'm going to man-up and confront the issue. To the player of Beagan Burlesquetu - Regardless of intent, I behaved like an ass and I apologize fully for my actions and choice of character. It was not my personal intent to offend, nor to downplay the contributions of your character. I'd like to think that I had all my cards on the table from the start - I've made mention of Alek's instability since the character creation thread. To the players at the table - you signed up for an adventure, not an exploration of the fragility of the Human mind. On that level, I screwed with everyone else's expectations by playing up those aspects. I apologize. For the most part, I've managed to enjoy myself, at the expense of people's desire to participate. I believed that by unraveling the entire background of the case, I was helping as a player - I will readily admit what I believed was wrong. I came to the table with an entirely different expectation from the rest of the group on how to handle what appeared to be a Sandbox. I've seen firsthand that what I do well and enjoy about this character doesn't work in a group environment. If it will improve the situation, I'm stepping out. It's not out of a misguided martyr complex, simply the straightforwards recognition that I was the spare and it doesn't make sense for another player to leave to accommodate what I've done so far, especially given how divisive an influence I've been.
None taken. Just... an odd choice for the game as a whole I think.
I don't know. I don't get the same response elsewhere that I get here. It's kinda odd, 'cos I do play Shadowrun - and I have no problem with stripping "myself" down to minimal essence. And I did spend multiple years in the military - so I do have a handle on the idea of 'volunteering'. Getting soldiers ripped to pieces by Chryssalids (and Tentaculats... and Poppers...) has always hammered home my own failure as a Commander. It's always about how I made a bad tactical choice, and it seems to avoid triggering the same thought process this does. But XCOM spent the entire game with Shen and Valen bluntly hammering the whole "We're Going To Fight Them, Not Become Like Them" angle. Feels kind of like a bait-and-switch. I think it's a variety of personal factors which have left me psychologically primed to see this as horrific. It feels unethical - makes me a hypocrite for reasons above, but we can't always be rational individuals.
Oh, that's not the mec-suits. That's the G-mods. Good point about the morality issue, but there is a solution: don't use the arm and leg G-mods then. XCOM has always partially about fashioning your own narrative and making your own choices. "Mechs sound impressive, but there's a reason to keep your best and brightest out of a set of metal pants: upgrading a soldier to Mech status disqualifies him or her from receiving genetic enhancements." I don't know. The more I read, the more queasy I get.
The articles I've seen suggest that the mec-suits are things people get in and out of. They don't have their arms and legs hacked off. I don't think she can take those off. EDIT: Here's a better shot.
Polygon XCOM Enemy Within Release Article I'm somewhat creeped out by the idea. Seriously. On some level, the thought of reducing the men and women under my command to quad-amputees to "better" fight the aliens is absolutely morally horrific to me.
Ooh. That's a legal minefield right there. As an aside - the remastered Macross Plus Blu Ray has both the option for English Subtitles and an English Audio track. I'll admit I fan-gasmed.
Mechanics:
Combat Gear - Parade Armor (+3 ARM), Buckler (+1 Shield), Longbow, 17 Arrows, Sap. ----------------------------- Aleksander advances, nocking an arrow and firing a hasty shot. By Cayden's Blessed Mug... what is WRONG WITH YOU TODAY?!, the 'other' screeches inside his skull.
PGI, the producers of MechWarrior Online has just opened a charity fundraiser to pay respects to a young player who recently lost her battle with cancer. They're selling a custom Jenner Light BattleMech themed after the girl's favorite 'Mech with all proceeds going to charity - I personally think it's a nice gesture worthy of support. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society, net of applicable Sales Taxes and third-party transaction fees such as credit card and payment processing fees. These fees typically represent less than 4%. For clarity, IGP and PGI are not making any money off of the donated funds.
"Haggling with the entertainment, apparently..." He rolls his eyes. Not bad. Still standing and able to pronounce. You sure you want to give that up? "I'll be have what he's having." He gestures to a severely inebriated patron at another table. "I need to get drunk. I'm almost there, but I need to get there a lot faster, thank you very much." --------------------------------------
Either works for the plot. Probably just arrived, went to the Garrison, got discharged and got sloshed.
Good to be here.
Congrats all!
Favorite movie.... favorite movie... that's a tough one... wait... no it isn't. GHOSTBUSTERS. Seldom does a movie possess the same addicting madcap mix of zany chemistry and witty snark. Even rarer if it has action movie effects thrown in. It's why "Sorry [INSERT NAME HERE], I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought." is wedged in my vernacular. -------------------------- also, if you care, tell me what sets your PC apart from the other in your grouping. Clinical depression, mostly. :-P. Seriously though, with his slightly cynical and jaded personality, Aleksander provide the straight man to the rest of the party's more boisterous and upbeat characters. In terms of combat ability, Aleksander also provides a dedicated source of ranged missile attacks which is currently lacking in what appears to be a rather melee-centric party. "What sets me aside? What kind of a question is that? A man on the line is the same as any other man, save for the cards he's been dealt."
First point of order: Any one interested in continuing needs to give me a compelling (or random) reason your PC is on the road to Sandpoint Why Aleksander is in Sandpoint:
With a disgusted groan, he balled the parchment and hurled it at the wall, nearly upsetting his precariously balanced drink. "Regretfully, your services are no longer required..." he slurred, staring venomously at the discarded missive and chasing it along with a stinging epithet. So this is to be it then? The voice inside his head probed warily. This is to be the high point in the life of the greeaaaat Aleksander Kramer. Formerly Corporal, now drunken sod... He managed to slur another insult regarding someone's mother into his drink before he noticed people were staring. Impressive. You're having a one sided drunken argument with yourself in a backwater dive bar after losing your job. And, I might add, possibly scaring any possible future employers. Good job Aleks. Your mother would be proud. Staring at the reflection of himself in the rotgut that passed for alcohol in Fatman's Feedbag, he realized that the one thing he and his self-loathing could agree on was that they hated the rational part of his mind. Regardless, the point still stood. He WAS making a fool of himself. Not that it mattered now, but at one point it might have. And perhaps, just perhaps, out of respect for the persona he carried in those better times, it might just matter again. With a wordless sigh, he raised himself from his table, leaving a single shiny silver coin resting next to the half-full tankard. Maybe somebody in this town might need an able body... That upcoming festival might be as good a place as any to start looking...
Second point: Please tell me which type of adventure you like best: McGuffin search, dungeon crawl, mystery, urban etc and why. It'll help me tailor gameplay a little. I've always preferred more Mystery/Investigation/Politics to Dungeon Crawl. Not that I don't enjoy a good scrap of course. "It's always the same story with people isn't it... Someone always wants something that belongs to someone else... They go after it... and then Gods help us all" For round 2, please explain how you see your character progression in terms of multiclassing, feats, foci etc. Again in IC would be better than out.
His choice of combat style mirrors his own lack of confidence and a need to keep people at a distance, so Archery is an obvious fit at least initially. By the time he gets good at it, it'll probably play to his ego to want to master it. "Oh sure. Everyone loves a dashing swordsman... Everyone thinks they're good... Nobody goes into the fight thinking it's going to be them bleeding out with a sucking gut wound. Me, I prefer to end things right from the start. You just need to threaten to put an arrow through a hoodlum's face once. You do it once... He backs down... word gets out... and suddenly you have a nice quiet street corner."
I'll get the three requests done as soon as I finish up work. Bad office day.
As a player with vested interest... Less is more... :-P
As for player information: I own a copy of the original Pathfinder 1: Rise of the Runelords. I played in a campaign that spanned approximately 2 sessions, then went kaput. We didn't get much beyond the first 3 encounters. I'm a regular to PBP campaigns, though I have not played one recently. My last game on the Paizo Forums was the now defunct CthulhuTech campaign, The Screaming Sky where I managed one to two posts a day, barring outside interference such as business trips. My style of posting tends towards the 'introspective', with a major focus on character personality and thoughts. Also, in case of emergency, Aleks can be rapidly rebuilt from a skill focused Ranger to a stock 2H Fighter with minimal hassle while keeping the same back story.
Aleksandr - for backstory are you saying he's now posted in Sandpoint? That day job might get in the way a little. You can have him be mustered out if you like better... Well... I just had Aleksander discharged. Hope that works better for the campaign.
Corporal Aleksander Kramer, City Guardsman (Urban Ranger 1). Fluff and character as attached. Slightly miserable sod. Just checking in with the GM:
I'm using the 'Exile' trait from the APG to represent Alek's banishment to the boondocks. Is that okay with you?
Interested. Definitely interested. Been interested in actually playing RotRL for a while. Interested in running a non-magical martial character. I tend to do badly with full caster classes. Fighter probably, though I'm not averse to Paladin, Barbarian or Urban Ranger. Probably a standard Human. Will do up a character when I get off work.
I don't know how he's responsible but...
UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defence (Proudly sits next to XCOM: Enemy Unknown like a proud grandparent)
Guilty Pleasure:
Did I say that it was?Put all the fancy CGI and special effects into the movie you want. In the end, it still boils down to this.I fail to see how that's a bad thing... Then we are in accord over this. :-P
Put all the fancy CGI and special effects into the movie you want. In the end, it still boils down to this. I fail to see how that's a bad thing...
I get the Robotech retro feel that looks like the classic "only this young Asian heroine can save us now" approach is part of it. Maybe not with singing, mind you. That isn't actually exactly that retro if the Japanese have anything to say about it... Even the singing bit... ----------------------- Feels like Monsterpocalypse, the movie. New trailer lacks the rocket punch though, so it's 200% less cool.
http://www.dorktower.com/2013/04/19/the-path-to-a-munchkin-pathfinder-cover / Am officially amused. So going to get this when it releases.
... ... I just geekgasmed...
I invoke 19 minutes of Itano Circus. Whatever has transpired previously is now invalid.
Jerkiness may well be associated with religion but is not sufficient in and of itself to constitute a religion. I don't know... I'm of the perspective that loading all the Jerks in the world regardless of race, creed, nationality or religion into a box and shipping them off to say... Mars would make the world a lot more pleasant for those who are left. Unfortunately, I'm sure I'm on the jerk list, so it may not necessarily be in my best interest to propose it's implementation as policy. It'd be nice if we could, but some atheists on this message board consider it their religious duty to assert the 'toxicity' of theism. Well... maybe they had a bad run in with a Theistic jerk or two or ten? I mean, angry people, usually have a reason for anger independent of their own personal belief system right? Might have been a bad run in with a well meaning albeit poorly conceived attempt at help or even getting trolled by a religious bigot. I mean, it's like a Paladin thread... There's usually enough people on both sides throwing rocks that pointing fingers isn't going to solve matters. EDIT: If this comes across as patronizing, I preemptively apologize.
So... basically... can I summarize a major argument running through the thread as "Some Atheists jerks act like Theists jerks", respectfully agree to disagree on the existence of God and leave it at that?
I'm not singling you out or anything... just that I'm a believer in the 'we shall discriminate against all equally' school of political thought, so this whole development of an overly sensitive right-wing religious mandate is interesting in a rubber-neck-car-crash sort of way. The Singaporean government does get called a police state every now and again by the Western media, but frankly the "Police-Your-Own-Or-We-Will-Do-It-For-You" mentality leads to fairly mellow Atheists/Theists over where I live, with the exception of a few professional fields where one group or the other has congregated into an echo-chamber.
Just playing the Devil's Advocate... In a Democracy, if a certain strata of society is morally motivated to skew government policy to match their belief, and they happen to be the majority section of the populace... Then what? The way the situation in the US is being described here, I'm going to assume it's a socially self-reinforcing tyranny of the majority has established itself. So how would you go about disentangling the two? Take this as coming from a person who lives in a country where the government has pretty much mandated "Live and Let Live" into the legal system and wields it like a bludgeon whenever someone plays the religion or race card.
In general, I would much prefer to deal with non-proselytizing theists than proselytizing atheists.The difference is, on the whole it's "OK" to be a theist in the U.S., but not an atheist. The proselytizing atheists are attempting to shift public perception to the point where people who actively disbelieve don't have to pretend to be religious just to avoid being branded as "obviously immoral deviants." They do it on the internet because it's harder for people to kick their ass there, and because there's an illusion of anonymity, so they don't feel like they'll get fired from their jobs for not being members of the God club. I'm not trying to start anything here, but I'm wondering if this is a cultural issue rather than a religious one. I've seen the exact thing happen in inverse over here in Singapore in certain industries with people discriminated against because of the religious beliefs. The same thing happens to Atheists in different fields. Which generally makes me muse that it's more case of an old boy's club rather than a religious issue with people seeking to attract more similar belief systems with the unfortunate effect of creating self-perpetuating echo-chambers.
The Hunt For Red October Worst Connery film appearance?
I want to say Toy Story, but I'm going to have to go with The Lion King. Favorite movie involving talking animals?
Ahh... the joys of serving in a multi-talented conscript army... There was an infamous incident involving a 'casserole' that was made from thickened sauce created from several pooled MRE packs (I think it was some sort of pasta), instant mashed potato powder, canned sausages, mushrooms, diced vegetables and way too much grated parmesan... We followed it up with an improvised 'chocolate cake'. How we managed to acquire all that in the field was... well... the less you ask...
Like Car Cuisine... with a Tank... My IFV was infamous in the field because of the really random stuff the vehicle commander would cook up in the field over the engine block, a bad habit that very rapidly spread to the grunts on board.
Idle Musing: I wonder if you can still pull off Tank-Cuisine with a D-Engine Vehicle...
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