1200 Days - Gramps' run at a Kerensky rated career

[MarkDey]

A few hours after we break orbit to make our way to the jump point, we are hailed by another ship.

Event - Travelers in Need: A passenger ship is requesting assistance in dealing with an outbreak of Periphery Pox. Wanting to stay on House Davion's good side, and not wanting to risk a disruption in morale, I authorize the release of some medical supplies.
Result: -1 Medical Point for 14 days. Morale +1. Reputation with the Federated Suns increases by 1.

President returns to duty and a flashpoint contract is reported in the Brockway system, where our Lyran Commonwealth representative is asking for our help in dealing with a problem related to House Davion. We're close enough for it to be tempting, and the contracts in Ridgebrook are poor, so we keep moving on. As we do, the monthly financial report comes due, and the normal rate of pay is maintained. Eventually, we find a good set of contracts and a short distance into orbit at Carmichael, so we head there.

 

[MarkDey]

Event - Happy Birthday: The day after we leave orbit, I cross paths with an obviously happy Youngblood Wisniewski. It turns out that it's her birthday. Shortly after parting ways, I come across Darius and ask him to arrange a small party in the lounge.
Result: Morale +1, Youngblood Wisniewski gains High Spirits for 30 days

____After the party, during next morning's briefing, Darius takes the opportunity to note that the first Youngblood lance has reached the limit of their simulator training, and they are ready for deployment. Youngbloods Munteanu, Lechner, Petrenko and Zhang have started asking Darius about when they will go on their first drop. I say that I'll think about it, and want to make sure that there are some easier contracts for them to start with. So far, we've been able to avoid any deaths, and if we lose any of our elite crew, it will be a big loss and probably set us back on the MRB score as well. I could split up the lance and mix two elites with two Youngbloods, but they've been mostly training as a team this whole time and I wouldn't want to ruin a good thing.

____Arriving in Desolate Plains shows us a system rife with opportunity. House Davion is battling Taurian and pirate forces, and House Kurita is looking to disrupt Davion operations. All of the contracts are available for us to take, and with the store mostly devoid of interesting items, we get to work.

 

[MarkDey]

____After repairing the Death Map and the Advanced Command Module, Yang asks me to visit the mech bay to talk about Bull Shark X. We haven't been using it much on our recent contracts, and he has an idea on a role it could play. The refit plans he shows me keep it as a unit that would draw fire and shrug it off with heavy armor, cockpit bracing, and a lostech stabilization gyro. The weapons, however, all focus on delivering a large volume of small damage hits, turning it into a giant multi-barrel shotgun. This would be the sort of mech to point at a low value chassis that just needs to go away, and odds are that it and all of its equipment would be completely obliterated by the attack.
____One plan has a long range loadout, using all four of our LB 2-X++ autocannons, an LRM 20 and LRM 10 both optimized for stability damage, and a Snub PPC modified for extra damage for enemies that get close. The second plan has a shorter range set of weapons, using all four of our LB 10-X+ autocannons and pair of SRM 6 launchers optimized for damage, although it has much less armor. The last plan adds jump jets, and carries the four LB 2-X, two ER M Lasers, and two Snub PPCs. After some discussion, I approve the long range loadout, and Yang gets to work. After a few days, the Cluster Shark is done, and the other Bull Shark is renamed to the Ultra Shark. The two ER M Lasers that were removed are then loaded into the Orion 40.
____Checking the contracts in Brockway, I find a mixed bag where only four out of the seven contracts listed are ones that we can take. There is, however, a higher skull flashpoint in the system, and it's a short trip into orbit, so I decide to stop. It'll be a good place to give the Younglboods some actual combat experience. The monthly financial report is filed as we travel to the planet, and I find myself smiling as I mark the four new pilots as being eligible for combat bonuses in the coming month.

____I am not smiling when Darius wakes me up a few hours later.

Event - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Ayasha Hadley, the thief that tricked us and escaped Federated Suns custody, has contacted us from Brockway. She plows on with her job offer before I stop her, saying that Youngblood Grimes looks just like a Davion official who has access to a Mydron research facility. If we agree to let him work with her for a few weeks, then we will get one of whatever she finds. I eventually decide to see what it would be like working with her instead of against her for a change.
Result: We get some advanced autocannons, but Youngblood Grimes will be away longer than expected. Youngblood Grimes gains Criminal, and is unavailable for 30 days. We gain an AC/10++ and an AC/20++

____As we pull into orbit, Darius and Yang work with Sumire and the rest of their crews to manage all of the buying and selling of mechs and equipment. Once I get confirmation that all of the money is in our account, I pull up our MRB registry. After delegating to Darius some questions about how we raised so much cash over such a short period of time, I look at our score. I now understand why there were questions as we are at 90% of the maximum points for the C-Bills category! After that, it'll just be visiting enough star systems and making the Canopians hate us even more.

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Days Remaining: 298 ____ Career Points: 715,016 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
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____Sumire is about an hour away from being ready to depart for our first deployment, so I head to the staging area where the pilots have gathered for a send off. The MRB already rates this lance as a group of Masters, and they've been mentored by the best pilots I've ever known, so I'm not really worried about whether or not they will successfully complete the deployments - especially using our lostech mechs. I see that they've decided to keep their matching uniforms from the simulator tournaments, and wish them good luck as they gear up.

Youngblood Promotions
Youngblood Lechner, callsign Celt, qualified as a Master Outrider - 5 / 8 / 6 / 6
Youngblood Munteanu, callsign Diva, qualified as a Master Scout - 5 / 6 / 6 / 8
Youngblood Petrenko, callsign Bear, qualified as a Master Brawler - 5 / 6 / 8 / 6
Youngblood Zhang, callsign Fizz, qualified as a Master Striker - 5 / 6 / 6 / 8

 

[MarkDey]

- - - - - - - - Flashpoint: Extracurricular Activities - - - - - - -
Our liaison to the Lyran Commonwealth wants us to capture a munitions factory, which he says is disguised as a civilian warehouse, to provoke a response from House Davion and set up one of his political rivals for embarrassment.
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Mission 351: 3.5 Skull Capture Base ____ Employer: Lyran Commonwealth ____ Target: Federated Suns ____ Biome: Desert
Lance: Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Toothy (Diva), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: Movement towards the base is unopposed, but heavy defense turrets power up as soon as we enter their sensor range. 1x LRM, 1x Laser, 1x Sniper, 1x Shredder. Enemy reinforcements appear on our sensors as the turrets are destroyed. ON1-K (pilot kill), MAD-3D (pilot kill), WHM-6R, TDR-5S.

Salvage: MAD-3D assembled and moved into storage.

 

[MarkDey]

____ We begin our planned travel through a dozen systems before returning to the borders of the Federated Suns. After several weeks in transit with no worthwhile deployments, minor inconveniences begin to develop into significant annoyances.

Event - Rumble Seat: The constant seventeen second rumbling of the Argo while under thrust every 144 minutes eventually becomes too much to bear. Since we have improved the Argo's internal structure, I authorize Farah to start work on recalibrating the rotation controllers.
Result: Dr. Murad is able to permanently resolve the problem after using up a significant amount of reinforcing material. Morale +1. We lose 100K C-Bills.

____ I review the monthly financial report and keep pay at a normal level, noting that it is the first month where we have over one million C-Bills in monthly expenses thanks to the promoted Youngbloods. Also, Youngblood Grimes rejoins us from his partnership with Ayasha Hadley as we arrive at the Brisbane jump point. As it is a hub of black market activity, I suppose that I shouldn't be too surprised.
____ I consider stopping at Merlin to take the flashpoint job from Justin Allard, and ultimately decide to accept it. The store doesn't have much, but there are some reinforced cockpit bracing kits that we purchase. There are also a few contracts from the Federated Commonwealth, and one from the Draconis Combine. Normally, the system wouldn't be worth stopping in because of the distance to the planet from the jump point, but I figure that it'll be a good place to get some more combat experience. However, one of my pilots has immersed herself in a different experience.

Event - MERCENARIES! The Game: Hangover is engrossed with a simulator game where she is managing her own mercenary company. I experience an odd sense of deja vu as she asks me what I think she should focus on. I direct her to focus on contract negotiations - particularly improving her salvage rights.
Result: After a half-hour of examining the system and min-maxing some options, Hangover is in a much better financial position. Seemingly inspired, when I wake up the next morning, I talk with Darius about a few ideas that we can incorporate into our actual contracts. We see an immediate gain of 50K C-Bills.

 

[MarkDey]

- - - - - - - - Flashpoint: Bourbon & BattleMechs - - - - - - -
Justin Allard has hired us to eliminate Mason Garrilac and his mercenary company. Apparently, they are a significant distraction. Our plan is to demolish the Stratford Narwhal - an old military base turned into a dive bar where he spends his days drinking.
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Mission 354: 3 Skull Destroy Base ____ Employer: Federated Suns ____ Target: Mason's Marauders ____ Biome: Desert
Lance: Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Toothy (Diva), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: The base is mostly ruined, but it looks like the bar has spent most of its profits on keeping the heavy defense turrets operational. Drunk pilots jump into mechs to defend their bar, and the fight begins. 1x Shredder, 1x LRM, 2x Laser. TBT-7K, CRB-20 (pilot kill), ASN-101, CDA-2A, WVR-6R, KTO-18, CTF-0X (pilot kill), ON1-V (pilot kill). The end of the fight is a tedious bit of surgery with the TAG to disable the Orion pilot, but it is eventually successful.

Salvage: ON1-V, CTF-0X, CDA-2A, ASN-101 assembled and moved into storage.

 

[MarkDey]

As we get underway, Darius notes a new flashpoint opportunity in the Mendham system about a house divided. A noble family in the Draconis Combine is requesting assistance in dealing with pirates. It's on our current flight path, so I mark it on the map to investigate later. The contracts in Midale are not great with only three available to us, but it's a short jump and the store has some Star League equipment. The trip in to orbit does not pass without incident.

Event - Distress Call: A civilian transport has sent out a call for help, and their engines appear to be in a critical state. I tell Sumire to head towards them, but carefully - just in case it's bait for a trap.
Result: When we arrive, there is only a lifeless hulk with a gaping hole from where their reactor apparently went critical. There is no one left to help, but we are able to salvage some useful material. We gain 10K C-Bills.

The monthly financial report keeps pay at a normal rate, and we scour the store for interesting equipment before starting on combat drops.

 

[MarkDey]

Robsart is our next stop, although I have second thoughts when I see the contracts available. There are only three available for us to take - the Capellans and Pirates are the ones offering the most jobs. Ultimately, I decide to stop after checking the store, and seeing that there is a Double Heat Sink for sale, along with a good amount of mech salvage. It's only a few days between the jump point and the planet, which helps make the decision easier.

 

[MarkDey]

We get underway, and in a few days I'm checking the contracts from the Horsham jump point. I find that there are five we can take, and they all look to be of good quality. The Draconis Combine has one mission against the Federated Suns, and the Federated Suns have four missions available against the Capellan Confederation and some pirates that seem to be working with them.

 

[MarkDey]

Our next stop is Mendham with the House Divided flashpoint, but Farah brings an engineering concern to my attention before we arrive.

Event - Power Interlock: Youngblood Berg is convinced from his recent technical studies that there is a noticeable drop in efficiency because of a power interlock. Dr. Murad explains that it's not isolated to that single system, but is a combination of effects from several centuries of neglected maintenance. I trust Farah's insight and direct them to leave the power system alone for now.
Result: No lasting consequences

The contracts in Mendham are poor, with only three available, mostly against different pirate groups. There is, however, a mission that I haven't seen before, titled Proxy War, which seems to be an interesting challenge with excellent salvage potential. The store also contains a good amount of mech parts, and is the last time we will be in Federated Suns space before we head back across Capellan territory, so I decide to unload our extra equipment here.

 

[MarkDey]

Mission 372: 3.5 Skull Capture Base ____ Employer: Draconis Combine ____ Target: Taurians ____ Biome: Polar
Lance: Toothy (Diva), Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: A small pirate base has been discovered, and we've been hired to capture it so House Kurita can gain supplies and information. Heavy turrets are detected as we approach, but there are no mechs to deal with for the moment. 1x LRM, 1x Shredder, 2x Sniper. About a minute or so after we secure the base, a pirate lance arrives via dropship to contest our presence. CPLT-C4 (headshot), TDR-5SE, ON1-K (pilot kill), WHM-6D.

Salvage: ON1-K, WHM-6D assembled and moved into storage.
Advancement: Celt, Bear, Diva, and Fizz improve their Guts from 9 to 10 - Max Skills

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____ A celebration is held in the lounge for the pilots, where their mentors present them with their MRB Max Skill Certifications and welcome them to the Elite Max of Gramps' Giants. Progressing from Master qualified pilots to where they are now in just under three months and twenty-five completed contracts is an impressive feat, and the highlights of their missions are displayed on the large screen. Darius overhears some of the other Youngblood lances already taking bets on being able to advance faster than that, but for now, I'm content to have this group finish out the contracts in this system.

 

[MarkDey]

- - - - - - - - Flashpoint: A House Divided - - - - - - -
Lady Suiko Nakano is concerned for her house's honor. Her daughter Mariko's association with a known criminal will soon bring Corina Luthendorff to the family estate in exchange for significant wealth. We've been hired to intercept and destroy Luthendorff's convoy.
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Mission 373: 2.5 Skull Ambush Convoy ____ Employer: House Nakano ____ Target: Pirates ____ Biome: Badlands
Lance: Toothy (Diva), Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: It takes us longer than expected to locate the convoy, but once we do, the fight is over quickly. Wheeled APC, 2x Striker NARC, Bulldog, ARC-2S (pilot kill), KTO-18 (pilot kill), PNT-9R.

Salvage: ARC-2S, KTO-18 assembled and moved into storage.

 

[MarkDey]

After selling all of our spare equipment and mech chassis, we get ready to leave orbit and start across the Capellan Confederation. A quick look at our MRB progress shows that we are only 22 million C-Bills away from the maximum C-Bills score! We are definitely within reach of my goal, and we may even be able to get the maximum score in all categories.

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Days Remaining: 211 ____ Career Points: 730,397 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
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We need fifteen more systems to max out the MRB score for Star Systems Visited. After approving a normal rate of pay for this month's finances, I sit down with Sumire and plan out the best course. We need to run some missions against the Magistracy of Canopus, and after a review of unvisited systems and likely employers, it looks like the best path will bring us back to the Free Worlds League, and then head rimward through Canopian territory. The journey starts on a good note.

Event - Happy Accidents: A refrigerated crate of medical supplies is opened and it actually contains frozen Triple-F Burger meat. Yang's excitement is contagious, and since we have a fully stocked garden, I task him with recreating an authentic Triple-F Burger.
Result: The burgers are delicious! Morale +2

Another end of the month, and another confirmation of a normal pay rate for everyone. The black market stores we pass on our trip have interesting equipment, but nothing that would be a direct upgrade to our mechs. It is tempting to purchase a second Star League Griffin, but the pressure of time weighs on my mind. Something else weighs on President's mind though.

Event - Memorial Wall: An evening knock on my cabin door, and a sleepless President wanting to talk give me a strong sense of deja vu. After hearing her out, I reassured her, and pointed out that we had a very similar conversation shortly after she joined Gramps' Giants.
Result: This time, she seems comforted, and is genuinely appreciative for the support. President gains Dependable, and has High Spirits for 30 days.

After we reach the border of the Free Worlds League, I check our MRB score again, and then ask Darius to organize a celebration. Not only did we earn a Kerensky rating, but we did it with five months to spare!

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Days Remaining: 161 ____ Career Points: 762,897 ____ Career Rating: Kerensky
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I decide to keep heading to Canopian space to try and get the highest possible score. The next financial report comes and goes as we pass through the Free Worlds League. Contracts are being reviewed as we arrive at each jump point, but so far, there are none that target Canopian forces. Curiously, there are also far fewer contracts than I would expect to see. It's almost as if time has stopped and no new mercenary work has come up over the past year for systems that we have already visited.

Event - Self-Improvement: Youngblood Mercier is bored, and asking for advice on how to be a more well-rounded pilot. I advise her to study some of the technical manuals to better understand the way things work.
Result: Youngblood Mercier gains Technician

Eventually, we arrive at New Abeline, and I decide to stop because we still have a good enough reputation to take some Canopian contracts and then just withdraw, further disappointing them.

 

[MarkDey]

We accept a travel contract in Bonavista for another Canopian job to ruin, and hope that there will be other jobs there that are worth our time. On the way, I get a private communication.

Event - The Warning: Another mercenary group commander has some advice regarding Youngblood Grimes. I hear them out and then delete the message.
Result: No lasting consequences.

The other contracts available are somewhat worth doing, mostly for the local government, but there are none that target the Canopians. For these lightweight jobs, I decide to move the contract terms to full C-Bills to make things simpler.

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Mission 378: 1 Skull Capture Base ____ Employer: Magistracy ____ Target: Capellans ____ Biome: Tundra
Lance: Toothy (Diva), Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: Immediate Bad Faith Withdrawal. -10 reputation with the Magistracy of Canopus. -1 Morale

 

[MarkDey]

Mission 381: 1.5 Skull Assassinate ____ Employer: Free Worlds League ____ Target: Locals ____ Biome: Tundra
Lance: Toothy (Diva), Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: Straightforward elimination of a diplomat and their multi-lance escort. FS0-H, LCT-1V, LCT-1M, COM-1B, SDR-5K, 2x PNT-9R, SDR-5V, VND-1AA.

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Dissatisfied with the remaining contracts, I decide to leave, heading back through Canopian space and into the Free Worlds League. Seems like all of the powers that would fight the Magistracy are already our enemies and unwilling to give us contracts against them. New Abilene has some opportunities though, so we stop there.

 

[MarkDey]

We depart, continuing our search for jobs against the Magistracy. Morale has taken a noticable dip, but I should be able to help it recover before our time runs out by awarding bonus pay. Brixtana has a job for the Magistracy, but it turns out to be a travel contract back in New Abilene. We take the House Marik job against pirates before departing.

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Mission 384: 2 Skull Capture Base ____ Employer: Free Worlds League ____ Target: Pirates ____ Biome: Tundra
Lance: Toothy (Diva), Cluster Shark (Celt), Ultra Shark (Bear), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: A small manufacturing facility has been re-activated, and we've been sent to reclaim it. 3x LCT-1M, JVN-10A (pilot kill), JVN-10N (pilot kill), PXH-1 (pilot kill), CPLT-C4.

 

[MarkDey]

Having finally brought our reputation with the Canopians to the worst possible rating, we head back to the Free Worlds League for some profitable contracts before our time is up. A day into our trip, Farah comes to me with Youngblood Mercier, and I have a strong sense of deja vu.

Event - Power Interlock: Youngblood Mercier believes that there is a noticeable drop in efficiency because of a power interlock that she can fix. Dr. Murad sighs. I trust Farah's insight and tell her to leave the power system alone.
Result: No lasting consequences

Thurrock proves to be an excellent place to shop, and the black market yields a good amount of advanced equipment: Gauss++, another Star League Griffin, lostech Gyros. Surprisingly, there are no contracts available for us to take. Yang gets started on refits, putting the SHD-15 into storage, and we leave orbit for a better work environment. The new Star League Griffin is outfitted with a Snub PPC++ and 4x SRM6s, making it less armored than Toothy but more damaging.

Jumping into Alamagordo, the monthly financial report has another set of extravagant bonuses. There is only one contract we can take, but the store has a large amount of mech salvage that would let us build many more mechs, so I decide to stop. Quickly checking our MRB score, I notice the red highlights that indicate the time for our scoring period is almost up.

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Days Remaining: 57 ____ Career Points: 767,915 ____ Career Rating: Kerensky
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[MarkDey]

Our next stop is Leyda, a pleasant world that used to be a SLDF base, and is currently a vacation spot for the wealthy. There are a few interesting contracts, and it also looks like the sort of place where I might just let the next two months tick by while the crew enjoys themselves. On the way into orbit, I find that Youngblood Mercier is exercising her technical aptitude again.

Event - Moonlighting with an LRM: Youngblood Mercier is discovered trying to improve an LRM15. Since she has developed a good technical background, I have her spend a week in the mech bay under Yang's supervision.
Result: She has good success, improving the performance to cause additional stability damage. One LRM15 becomes an LRM15++. Youngblood Mercier is unavailable for 7 days.

After selling our excess mechs and reviewing our reputation, I determine that we only need one last contract to maximize our MRB score. Darius finds the best arrangement and I get the pilots ready for the drop.

 

[MarkDey]

Mission 386: 4.5 Skull Battle ____ Employer: Free Worlds League ____ Target: Pirates ____ Biome: Urban
Lance: Toothy (Celt), ANH-4G (Goth), Ultra Shark (President), Death Map (Fizz)

Report: Multiple pirate lances are moving in this area, and we will be deploying alongside a heavy House Marik patrol lance. Hopefully we can keep the collateral damage to the city to a minimum. The Marik lance consists of a Cyclops, Marauder, Catapult, and Grasshopper, so they should be able to take care of themselves. Celt sprints ahead looking for enemies and quickly finds them. 2x GHR-5H (one headshot), ON1-V, 2x BLR-1G (one headshot, one legs kill), ARC-2R (pilot kill), RFL-4D, TDR-5SE. During the fight, about a dozen buildings are destroyed from missed shots - so much for minimizing the impact.

Salvage: BLR-1G, TDR-5SE assembled and moved into storage.

 

[MarkDey]

With 47 days remaining and our MRB career assessment having maximum points in all categories except for morale, I decide to spend those remaining days allowing the crew to enjoy shore leave at Leyda. It'll give them a way to spend the extravagant bonuses that I've approved for the coming monthly financial report. Not all of our trips to the surface are relaxing though.

Event - Criminal Ties: Hangover and I are returning from a tour when we realize that we're being followed. Turns out that the dangerous looking man has some friends, and is an associate of Hangover's from before she joined Gramps' Giants. My command reflex takes over before I have a chance to consider, and I find myself intimidating the guy.
Result: "Whatever your connection was, it's dead - now get out of my way. We're busy." Hangover's old friends don't resist our departure, and that's good enough for me. On the shuttle ride back, Hangover opens up a bit about her past. Hangover gains High Spirits for 30 days.

Weeks pass and as the clock ticks to zero, Darius arrives with the last monthly financial report. "Looks like this vacation time agrees with you, Gramps." I smile as I reply, "It's a nice change of pace. Seems like a great location for the MRB to come give us their official career assessment." He nods in agreement.

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Days Remaining: 0 ____ Career Points: 770,015 ____ Career Rating: Kerensky
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We are given about a twelve hour warning that the MRB will be sending a shuttle to give an in-person review of our company. After a quick meeting to go over what we should show them, and what we should definitely keep private, I encourage everyone to get some rest before they arrive. The MRB representative seems extremely impressed, and everyone on the command staff gives her a tour of their areas of expertise. I decide to stay with the representative for the whole time they are aboard the Argo, just to see her reactions. Darius displays our official plaque in the lounge, and Yang searches through the several crates of rewards, finding some salvage for a Star League Griffin and a Star League Black Knight, a Rangefinder+++, two ER PPCs, two PPC++s, and a dozen other assorted high-end items. Shortly after the MRB departs the Argo, Sumire and Farah take the Leopard down to the surface for a tour of some unique nature preserve. As I watch their path curving around the bright blue of the planet below, I take a long deep breath.

Life is good.

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Attached is my save game file, along with some screenshots of how the scores looked at the end, and my flight path to get to 170 systems. I didn't keep track of the last few months - the back and forth in the Magistracy of Canopus in particular would have been too tedious to follow.

I wasn't really sure if I would make it to a Kerensky rating until after the two year mark where I entered the Federated Suns at Lochmantle and sold 85 million C-Bills worth of mechs. After that point, I knew it was just a matter of grinding out the missions. Fortunately, Steam recognized the achievement - I'm glad that's working properly now.

One thing that I could have done better is making my reputation with the Canopians go negative earlier. For a long time, I was looking for missions against them in the Free Worlds League. Only recently did I realize that House Marik is not an enemy of the Magistracy, so I was looking for missions that don't exist! Purposely taking missions just to withdraw from them felt gamey, but it did lower my Morale score each time, which was a big problem. I was at the point where I could not take any more Morale hits and still max that score by the end of the game, so for the last six weeks I was just hoping that I wouldn't get a random event that would lower Morale. (Actually, with the way the end of the career worked, I had one last monthly financial decision to make, which would have let me boost my morale - I didn't know that when I was planning things out though.)

The biggest change I had to make to my gameplay was to focus on dismantling the enemy mechs. Attacking from the side and minimizing the damage to the CT as much as possible, trying to kill the pilot but strip off all of the other equipment. It worked... I'm just not sure if that's how I want to play my next game. In the end, having a TAG was useful to try to kill the pilot of a heavily damaged mech by hitting the head with a low damage shot that wouldn't destroy the CT. I usually didn't have the patience for such surgery, but it could be a helpful tactic in the early career when you have that random heavy or assault mech that unexpectedly appears, and you would really benefit from that upgrade.

It turns out that I could probably have maxxed out the score with Slow XP progression in the difficulty settings. I'm glad that I was able to develop some rookies and move them through Youngblood training into a combat ready lance, and then have them all survive to be Elite Max pilots. The key choices for difficulty settings to max out the career score seem to be 3 part mech salvage, unequipped mechs (especially when upgrading in the early game), and hard enemy strength. Everything else seems like you could set it to whatever combination gets you a 1.0 difficulty score and you'd be fine (although a Very Slow XP progression might be too tough - for those who are interested in the details, feel free to sum up the XP in my save file and report back on whether or not I would have made it.)

One thing that surprised me was how the contracts didn't regenerate in systems that I had already visited. Even if in-game years had passed, there were no new jobs. I read about this once before, but it was still surprising to see. Made me glad that I didn't have any loops that repeated through high-value systems as part of my plan.

Even without having Rare Salvage enabled, and even without a good reputation with the Pirates, I still ended up with a good amount of lostech from Flashpoint rewards and stuff that I found in the shops. I wasn't sure if the "take every contract that's offered" plan would work out, but it looks like it did, and always being able to attack the pirates was a nice change.

All in all, this was a good run and I'm glad that I decided to make it public. Comments and questions are welcome!