Battletech - Blood of Kerensky

[Dire Lemming]

(I have no idea what to do... I guess I'll try turning on my MASC and moving as directly away from the enemy as possible while still maintaining cover, if I can't maintain cover... well screw it there's a chance he'll miss.

 

[Darimaus]

(I have no idea what to do... I guess I'll try turning on my MASC and moving as directly away from the enemy as possible while still maintaining cover, if I can't maintain cover... well screw it there's a chance he'll miss.

Ok, for the most part, I've tried to not give advice to people on these trials, since they are a very important part of deciding your role in the campaign. No offense to those who made warrior, its just that those who are confortable enough with the rule system, and with the designs they have chosen, should be the ones leading the rest of you. The lucky are there as a good luck charm .

That being said, I believe this case is a suitable circumstance to give you advice.

Advice #1: You've already won this challenge. You are very skittish right now, because you believe failure is not an option, but in fact it is. You already accomplished your objective, and being shot out of your mech will not penalize or disgrace you in any manner. You may ask why this is, and the answer is simple. This trial is unfair. You fight someone smaller than you to prove you are a warrior, but in order to advance further, someone roughly your size gets to capitalize on your damaged state. Follow that up with an opponent blatantly heavier than you and what you get is a trial where only the best of the best can become Star Captains right off the bat. Doesn't mean you can't start at warrior and move up. My advice to you is simple, stop feeling vulnerable and show your opponent some unholy fury.

Advice #2: Your opponent will NEVER show you his back the way you are moving. This is a one on one duel, and you are better than him at initiative. He can tell you are waiting for him to get too close, and as such will refuse to close in order to let you do that. He is a long ranged fighter, he isn't penalized for keeping you at range. While aiming for the back is an excellent strategy, it should be reserved for slow opponents, or much larger battles when an opponent isn't paying attention to you.

Advice #3: This has been brought up earlier, I'm just going to reiterate. You have a targetting computer. If you spend all your time shooting at your opponents center torso, especially with lighter mechs with very little armor, you may hit less, but every hit will be where its needed. If he hits you back, the locations will be random. You will kill him faster. heck, the leg is another good target, since you can run away and range him if he can't catch up to you. I will give this to you as a hint, since you could look up this info on your own. If you hit the center torso or leg 3 times, the mech will lose. Because of this, your best bet would be to not move at all, let your opponent bring the range to as close as possible to give you the best hit chance, and try to kill him before he kills you. Besides, if you down him on the same round he downs you, it still counts as your kill.

Advice #4: If you want to get out of his hit range, use a running jump into the forest. Because you can ignore a forest hex's movement penalty when jumping, and the forest hex increases the difficulty for you two to hit each other, its a much better place for you to fight him. Dive into the forest, wait for him to try and get to you, and use your jump jets to close and give yourself a better chance to hit, or more importantly, get behind him, since if he gets caught in heavy forest, he can run 3, you can jump 6. There is other terrain than hills here for you to take advantage of.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Wow, thanks, I can't believe how stupid I've been. What's really standing in my way is bad luck, which while common, hasn't been constant. And well, there's nothing I can do about that, so I guess I'll go for the forest with a running jump, and fire at him if possible. I didn't realize that it was good for cover.

 

[Darimaus]

Wow, thanks, I can't believe how stupid I've been. What's really standing in my way is bad luck, which while common, hasn't been constant. And well, there's nothing I can do about that, so I guess I'll go for the forest with a running jump, and fire at him if possible. I didn't realize that it was good for cover.

Ok, from what I can tell, your best bets in the forest would be 04,09 or 12,06. the latter would still put you within decent combat range, but they both work. You could also not move as far along those 2 routes. Its up to you. I need to know your ending hex to continue though.

 

[Darimaus]

Johan grits his teeth as missiles demolish more of his center-torso armor, largely unconcerned about the rest of the hits. "This surat must die! He is getting too lucky."

He turns the Stone Rhino away for a moment, running a short distance northwest before turning again to face his opponent, putting more distance between them to throw off the enemy's close-range advantage in firepower. Then he attempts to fire everything he's got at the Timberwolf.....

Johan turns northwest and runs 3 hexes to 27,14, then turns southwest. His torso is still twisted to the left, pointing south. This should put us 11 hexes apart as far as I can tell. Attacking with both ER Large Lasers and both Gauss Rifles.

Question: what is the penalty for trying to aim specifically for the Timberwolf's head or center torso? If the penalty is not too great, he will try and focus his targeting computer on one of those locations, but I need to know first.

The penalty is 4, but btw, you can't target the head. Its not an option.

 

[Dire Lemming]

I'll move to 04-09.

 

[Darimaus]

Trial #3:

OOC: Like I've said before, I don't like posting one half of a fight when the other hasn't finished yet, but this is also a very important round.

OOC: Arkhandus: I'm assuming you don't use targeting, because your movement increases the DC of your attacks by 4 (2 for running, 2 for range) you won't have a good chance of hitting with another +4 added.

Shooting Phase:

Mad Cat's Difficulty: You ran 3 (+1), Gunnery (+2), Range (Varies)

ER Large Laser = 7
x2 LRM 20 = 7
ER Medium Laser = 9
ER Medium Pulse = 7

Attacks:
x2 LRM 20 missile hit table: = 12 + 12 LRMs hit.
AMS: = 6 missiles destroyed.
Hit Locations:

The Mad cat unleashes all its available weapons on Johan, but connects only with the LRMs which batter his already weakened torso.

Center Torso: 6 Damage, 6 Armor Remaining
Left Torso: 6 Damage, 10 Armor Remaining
Right Torso: 6 Damage, 25 Armor Remaining

Johan's Difficulty: You Ran (+2), Gunnery (+3), Targetting Computer (-1), Range (+2)

ER Large Lasers x2 = 6
Gauss Rifles x2 = 6

Attacks:
Hit Locations:

Johan's Lasers go wide as he spins once more and tries a pot shot at the Heavy Mech in front of him. His Gauss Rifles are more accurate, sending a couple of basketball sized metal balls slamming deep into the holes already made in the mechs torso. This time, it lights up from within, then suddenly dims out as the mech loses power and falls onto its face. Smoke pours from the downed machine as the feeling of victory creeps into Johan's bones.

Congratulations Arkhandus, you made warrior. Like always, you have 1 round of free movement before your next opponent comes for you. (Warhawk, Hex 35,49. Its 39 Hexes away from Johan).

 

[Darimaus]

Trial #3:

No shooting phase for Asher and the Cobra, so next round. Movement Phase.

The Battle Cobra moves forward 9 hexes to 13,13.

Johan's opponent doesn't move this round.

Your turns.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Alright, I guess I'll try that standing still and targeting the enemy's torso thing you suggested. And sorry for the lack of RPing but I'm not sure enough about what I'm doing to go ahead and write a whole in character paragraph for it.

Or wait, does moving into that denser forest give my enemy a higher penalty? If so I'll move to 05-10 first.

 

[Darimaus]

Alright, I guess I'll try that standing still and targeting the enemy's torso thing you suggested. And sorry for the lack of RPing but I'm not sure enough about what I'm doing to go ahead and write a whole in character paragraph for it.

Or wait, does moving into that denser forest give my enemy a higher penalty? If so I'll move to 05-10 first.

Ok, heres how it works. Every forest hex between you guys give its difficulty modifier. This includes forest your opponent is in, but you don't take penalties for the forest hex you are in. This means you probably won't be able to hit each other. Heres the break down (assuming you moved to 05,10)

Trail #3:

Asher's Difficulty: You walked (+1), He Ran 9 (+3), Range (+2), Gunnery (+3), Targetting Computer (-1), 2 Light forest Hexes in the way (+2), 1 Heavy Forest Hex in the Way (+2)

2x ER Large Lasers = 12

Attacks

Asher doesn't hit the Battle Cobra.

Battle Cobra's Difficulty: He Ran (+2), Range (+2), Gunnery (+2), Pulse (-2), 2 Light Forest Hexes in the way (+2), 2 Heavy Forest Hexes in the Way (+4)

2 Large Pulse Lasers = 10

Attacks:

Battle Cobra misses Asher as well.

Now we just need Johan's movement and we can continue.

OOC: Dire Lemming: One thing yo ushould note. Unless you force the Battle cobra to follow you into the forest, its movement will give it a good enough bonus to be unhittable by you, and your lack of movement + its pulses allow it to have a small chance to hit you. I suggest jumping around a little, increasing his hit difficulty, and forcing him to follow you in, where his movement will be hindered.

*Edit*: I just perused the forest rules, since I haven't used them in awhile, and I just realized one other rule is involved that negates the last firing phase (I'm keeping it posted so you get an idea of how they affect hit difficulty). If 3 forests are between you and your opponent, you can't fire at each other. Likewise if 2 forest are between you and at least one of them is heavy, you can't shoot at each other. So that last round, nobody could have fired at each other. keep that in mind when you decide your next actions Dire Lemming.