Ideas for Post Campaign expansion of the Game (updated)

[Lyrch75]

After finishing the Restoration campaign this is the game that I want Battletech to grow into.
My plan lays out how our BattleTech force will be ready for and wanted to be part of the huge conflicts that are coming post 3028.

We will be able to deploy our forces in new ways, our ship will give us yet greater capabilities, we will be rewarded with lands and tasked with the responsibilities of growing them, and we will turn into a force that will be called on during the massive strife that we know is on the way.

As we wrap up the initial campaign Kamea has a lot of cleaning up to do, 3 years of war will make a mess. (I am using 3 years as that brings us up to 3028) so we will still have work to do in our little corner of the universe.

1. We help Kamea in solidify her rule and protecting her people.
   1. 10-12 missions.
      
   2. Fighting against pirates who are attracted to the chaos.
      
   3. Local governors who are trying to rebel or align with a Successor State.
      
   4. Aurigan nobles who are getting too big for their britches, they had no real losses in the war and so feel the little losses more than the lords who buried their children
      
   5. The Uncle's former followers who ignored his call for surrender and are causing trouble
      
   6. Great House adventurism
      
   7. A pretty straightforward fight, but at that time add the multi-lance deployment mechanism*
      1. *You deploy 2-3-4 lances simultaneously, then play them consecutively.
         1. Objective 1 would be Lance 1.
            
         2. Objective 2 would be Lance 2
            
         3. Objective 3 would be Lance 3
            
         4. This would give use to all of the mechs we collect throughout the game, and make it so that you don't just max out 6 Mechwarriors and have 2 scrubs.
            
         5. At first we only get those types of missions when our employers have the transport to get us all there, but as we develop our big ship, we can do so ourselves with organic dropships.
      • Edit in need to clarify what I am thinking on that.
        
        What I was envisioning was that you have contracted for a three part mission, so you set up three lances, for a total of 12 mechs and mechwarriors, in the dropbay, and they drop. You then control only one lance at a time in combat.
        For example:
        Objective one: Intercept a convoy that is resupplying an enemy base. Lance 1
        Objective two:ambush the enemy counterattack force. Lance 2
        Objective three: attack the base. Lance 3
        
        Those would be three separate "missions", you would only control 4 mechs at a time, you would just fight back to back to back battles, and the mission structure would drive the mechs you would use.
        
        The intercept mission would need a couple fast mechs to get ahead of the enemy, so lights or fast mediums to get the bogies under fire, and then maybe a fast heavy like a Grasshopper to cleanup...
        
        The ambush, well that one is where I would like some confusion. There is a chance that the enemy is going to send a fast reaction force and just motor across the map, if you don't get them under fire, they won't stop. Or it could be an assault lance....
        
        The attack the base, thats classic assault. Lots of turrets and lots of MOBs.
        
        I want it possible to pick the wrong lance make up and lose one, two, or even all three legs of one of these type missions. Would love to have the failures stack up on you.
        Fail to kill all the convoy. More enemies at the base, fail to kill all the reinforcements more bogies at the base.
   8. One of the payoffs is a Freehold Colonial Seat on Gangtok, which is a payoff to us for our loyalty to and work with Kamea, but it is also is her cagey decision to get us to build ties and act as her and her descendants. Not liege-men, but nonetheless a force outside the ties of the government, loyal to the blood, if the blood is worthy. (I will get into my vision for this later)
      
      
   9. The other pay off of this campaign would be learning that there weren't two Argos created, but that the Argo is half of a two ship unit. The other half is the JUMPSHIP half that the Argo was meant to ride on while going on its long exploration missions. Not to just grab a ride with any old Jumpship and then explore about a system. With that knowledge we have to start sniffing around to try to find it, as the only lead we have is that it exists and one of the Great Houses know of where.

Which leads us to the next step of my expansion campaigns: Getting the information to find our ship.

1. Getting campaigns from the Great Houses to try to find out who knows where the other half of your ship is.
   1. To get one you will need a rep of 200+ with a house, an added bonus of that is that
      
   2. So there will be grinding for reputation, and careful weighing of missions to maximize the gain while minimizing the downside with the other houses.
      
   3. Once you have earned that houses campaign, you would fight through it again 10-12 missions (TBH it has been so long that I was immersed in the Lore that I cannot give details on who would want what done to whom, but I am certain its possible to make the proper flavors even if most of the “unique” missions are close to the same), as this is the time of the 4th Succession War. As we have figured out what the Argo actually is, there will be digging into the SLDF's, Great Houses, and Unknown Party's black budgets.
      
   4. You might luck out and the first house you fight for has the lead you need, maybe not. (this would need to be an RNG determined path, so that it isn't cheesed).
      
   5. Well, once you get the lead, you now have to find a Jumpship captain crazy enough to go where the trail leads, and get them to take the flight for you, this will take C-Bills, and a favor. The favor being a NASTY fight to recapture his McGuffin, I am thinking a mission setting that uses the three drops and then a quick reshuffle to make a good non-trashed lance out of those 3 to finish the battle.
      
   6. He takes us there and we get our ship's second half. Which means we are now a truly independent merc company. Which means we now have the FULL MAP. (will hit details on how to make that work dev overhead wise later)

1. This puts us into the post 3028 period which means we have:
   1. The end of the 4th Succession War and then its fall out conflicts
      
   2. As well as the LosTech beginning to trickle out due to the Data Core.
      1. So LOTS of work for our mercenary company.
   3. With the LosTech out there, we now will really need to get some good intel, as a Lance of SLDF spec heavies could rip us a new one, if we are still running standard gear.
      
   4. This will add a lot of variety to missions, as a Gauss round to the head will definitely ruin one's day. Which our 732b demonstrated time and again after Artru.
      
   5. Andurien War
      
   6. Ronin War
      
   7. 3039
      
   8. Like I said LOTS of work, and with the two big additional “bases” as points of reference to tie into all of this madness.

And now we get to the Clans.

1. Something that the game's fans are viewing with great trepidation, or great excitement.
   1. We are not a huge army that is trying to upgrade and update an entire TOE from 3025 specs to top notch pre-Clan battle forces.
      1. We are a highly elite, highly mobile (will get to the ship soon) force that only has to worry about getting one (of our, will get there soon too) company up to the tech and skill levels needed to battle and win against the Clans.
         
      2. Our all tens Mechwarriors are almost on par with theirs
         
      3. Our late Lostech gear will be the closest in the IS of anyone to be able to take them
   2. So we will be getting truly challenging, and hopefully wide ranging battles against them and looting the heck out of their downed Mechs for their weapons, equipment, and (finally) their Mechs!

So I think that will give us a good road-map ahead of how to make the game a long term merc company/baron/Clan slayer campaign and hit the points that I as a fan want to see and play through.

Now, on to the two new bases that I mentioned earlier, after that I will get into a few mechanics that I would like to see changed/implemented for the actual fights.

First of is the Argo (Edit* The prerelease Lore on the Argo and the Myrmidon was wrong, the second ship was not broken up before launch)

Once we get our jumpship half of the package we realize that looking at the mechbays and the MW lodging, it is a 3 lance (1 company) expeditionary force support ship not a scientific exploration vessel that was meant to swan around in-system checking out planets. This wasn't obvious when we just had the Argo as it seemed like a complete ship, but a relic of a bygone age that people sometimes designed ships that don't exactly make sense. So part of the sub story how we get the leads from the Great Houses involves looking into those black budgets and who would have the pull to build the Argo/Myrmidon (found the name) rig.

To me the Argo's expansion and upgrades are functionally complete, but the Jumpship base could add the infrastructure needed to get your 3 Leopards (and then some) dropships attached to the Argo.

I have a visual of the Myrmidon; at first a very odd structure, not a normal commercial jumpship at all as it has a Compact K-F Drive and a dilapidated but truly massive core frame that has a saddle notch 1/3 of the way back from the bow that is a perfect fit for the Argo.

As we begin to improve and upgrade it we realize we need to learn more about our chariot, so we get a few odd little side missions to find out about or to recover needed tech or assemblies to get our ship to its finest.

We come to realize it is a bit of a frankenship, mission and design wise. It has the potential to be stupendously fast, both in-system, and in its ability to make jumps that most astrogators consider impossible after a week's worth of training. Looks like it can eventually be armed and armored to a level not seen in centuries.

Then we have a cyber warfare/intel suite that many a commander has dreamed of but no one has ever put onto a ship.

But then it has the Argo as an obvious part of its systems and the ability to only support a company of mechs and their dropships.

So we end up accepting that it was a boondoggle of a epic proportions that likely ate several decades worth of someone's black budget, to make a barely useful trinket in those times, but in our time... it is the perfect vehicle for an elite company of Mechwarriors to go to where the fighting is hottest, the money is deepest, and we get to do it in style.

1. The upgrade modules, and upgrades for the Myrmidon.
   1. Jump Drive:
      1. The basic, "It runs" level. Operated as a normal Jumpship, you have to go through every transport hub and recharge. Same time as the commercial ships we have been riding on up until now.
         
      2. Upgrade 1. Improved Tech 1. We can charge much faster, and that cuts our time down by 15% of what the Argo maxed out at.
         
      3. Upgrade 2. Improved Capacitors (i forget the Lore tech name sorry) We now can jump Twice as far before we have to hit a hub to recharge, so big, multi system chains of jumps get cut in half.
         
      4. Upgrade 3. Black Ops Tech. Our jump range is tripled, so we can skip past multiple systems (even small areas of no fly zones) as we can really leg it.
   2. Service bays ( Where the Leopards come in)
      1. A single bay, large enough to fully repair and rebuild a Leopard drop ship.
         
      2. Upgrade 1. Upgraded service Waldos. Able to now deploy Two Leopard's at once (We now have to find our second Leopard...)
         
      3. Upgrade 2. Second Service Bay. Able to work on and upgrade multiple Leopards at once. (we now can get one attack strike per Leopard per mission), assuming that the engagement area is clear of AAA. They now can get damaged, so we need to watch that. (think it would work in engine to just show impact zone and reports of counter-fire)
         
      4. Upgrade 3. Improved Logistics. Able to restock and rearm multiple Leopards at once. We get our third Leopard slot (have to find it, but that's part of the fun) we now get more of the multi-lance missions as we don't have to catch a ride with our employers for our mechs and one more airstrike per drop.
         
      5. Upgrade 4. Hull Dampening. Able to handle dropships beyond the 3 Leopards and Argo during jumps. We can now update our Leopards up to 50% TT numbers higher. (again finding more and bigger) all that this gets us is better airstrikes
         
      6. Upgrade 5. Black Ops Tech. We can now deploy up to a Fortress Class Drop ship and a couple Leos. (Evil laugh) The Fortress class will give us 2 artillery strikes per drop.
   3. Weapon Systems.
      1. Basic. Enough small energy mounts to destroy incoming debris up to X-tons.
         Upgrade 1. More energy mounts, but large enough to destroy any stellar debris ( faster in system travel for the Argo/Myrmidon)
         
      2. Upgrade 2. Basically a Corvette level arms. So we can jump through a bad (but not too bad) neighborhood)
         
      3. Upgrade 3. Frigate level armament. We can jump through 1970's Bronx neighborhoods, and into sorta sketchy hoods.
         
      4. Upgrade 4. Cruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Miami neighborhoods, and into to drop into 1970's Bronx.
         
      5. Upgrade 5. Battle-cruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Detroit neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Miami.
         
      6. Upgrade 6. Battleship level armament. We can jump through 2010 Chicago neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Detroit.
         
      7. Upgrade 7. Don't Eff with me level armament (Think Leviathan (one, two, or, three) using LosTech instead of the more advanced Clan-tech).Unless there is a dreadnought in system, We go and drop wherever and whenever we want.
   4. Armor
      1. Basic. It keep us from getting hulled by small rocks, that our crummy armament misses.
         
      2. Upgrade 1. We can take a BFR in space (decreases transit times)
         
      3. Upgrade 2. If we get a small aero strike we should, could, be OK
         
      4. Upgrade3. Screw you light strikes.
         
      5. Upgrade 4. We won't die if we meet a (really) small warship
         
      6. Upgrade 5. Most cruiser captains covet our armor.
         
      7. Upgrade 6. Where did they get the black budget to make a battleship "exploration vessel" !?!?
         
      8. Upgrade 7. Are you serious!?!?!?! Not quite upto Leviathan levels, but stupidly close.
   5. In-system drive.
      1. Basic. We can move!!
         
      2. Upgrade 1. We are now a danger to people in Walmart scooters.
         
      3. Upgrade 2. Okay! I am not going to get run overtaken by a Yugo
         
      4. Upgrade 3. I can now merge onto a 4 lane highway without becoming road pizza (speeds Dropship time as we are faster than them)
         
      5. Upgrade 4. Oops, got a speeding ticket. (again decreases in-system time)
         
      6. Upgrade 5. Hah, good luck catching me! (even less in-system time)
   6. Computer/Intel
      1. We found our way home, and our skull intel count still is skiffy
         
      2. We know that you read our email, and our skull intel is 25% more accurate.
         
      3. We read your email, and our skull intel is another 25% accurate
         
      4. We sent your girl an email and she thinks its from you. Add another 25%.
         
      5. Yeah, Neo is my bitch....add another 35%
         
         I know i went on a bit there, but the Argo, so obviously being a black ops ship sorta drove it.

I am basically turning the Myrmidon into an baby assault carrier that deploys the Argo to drop its company of troops, using the 3 Leopards, 3 (brain cramp on the slightly heavier armed one up from the Leo's size), or all at once into a hot LZ with the Fortress class, and then being able to protect the drop from space based or aero attacks. As it and the Argo were somebody's black ops wet-dream force.
Able to jump at will, avoiding hostile, and or nosy systems while deploying its forces on someone's head.

The reason I like this approach is that once we get to the 3050 Clan invasion and IS counter attacks, this opens us up to being called on to run deep strike missions against them, as we will have the mobility and the ability to get in, deliver some hurt, and then get back out. Which is why I keep increasing the speed on the beast, as I know I would want to be in as much of those wars as possible, and with standard transit times, we would miss it all in the ride over.

We could either become part of Operation Serpent, or run miniature versions of it, as a harassment and interdiction specialist force.

Mission Brief:
"Clan Jade Falcon is refitting their dropships at (Insert planet)'s main space port. It is lightly guarded, with only light mechs, vehicles, and turrets, but they have a reaction force that can counter attack if you take too long. "

We can decide if we want to go full bore and use our Fortress and have fire support, but the timer begins immediately. Or we can sneak in using our Leopards, and have the timer (visible or game engine driven) not start until we have engaged the enemy. Say it gives us 14 turns to complete and extract before the reinforcements arrive.
14 turns are up and now we have a medium lance show up and another timer, lets say 6 turns, shows up. After 6 turns, if we haven't evacced a heavy or assault will show up.

We will never be a Wolf's Dragoons, or Eridani sized merc unit, but we could become THE niche players in that sort of warfare.

Yeah, its a baby SL era assault carrier, and its meant to catch people's attention, as we would be taking part in some of the largest conflicts in the past 50 + years, and unless our company has something to really catch the powers that be's attention, how could we take part in anything other than tiny flanking operations?

The 4th Succession War and its fallout have regimental + sized battle forces, which is when we would start our Argo/Nameless adventure, and then it would go on into the Clan invasion and the fallout conflicts from that, so we really need to have a real eye catcher to get us at the adult table.

None of the airstrikes, artillery strikes, orbital battles, or any other types of strikes would be in camera, they would show up as aiming grids on the map, or as dialog discussing that we will be able to get in an out without any trouble, or its too hot to try. So no need for another engine.

Now the next base, a real base.

As I said above, see I told you I would get to it, Arano not only gives us the information that the ship exists, but a colony seat on Gangtok can expand that into whole planet with side game of wise ruler, stewards, and development. She does this as a reward and to get the benefit of us hanging around and paying attention to her neck of the woods as we flight around in the ship she gave us and the jumpship she told us about. Also, during the 2nd Arano campaign we save her and hers lives on multiple occasions.

Your colony starts out pretty hardscrabble, but you can expand it immensely, not just in power and facilities but land area and population. I have some facilities and upgrades for them in mind, and then some of the personnel issues that we could see.

The increases listed are above baseline for that structure, they are no cumulative in that building, but across the colony they are.

The Government center, well it is what I named it.

Civilian structures are classed together as they are what we will need to draw and keep people coming to our pristine(ish) little Terran class rock.

The science structures, well after seeing what Lostech does in a fight and what Farah was able to do with her mind and education, we decide to try to learn and advance our tech as much as possible.

MechWarrior Training, well we realize that we need to keep putting people into cockpits, and that making an official and streamlined system for selecting, training, and tempering MW's. It also allows us to make some coin by working with other governments to train their trainers, as mercs see loads more combat than most regular forces.

Mechlab, Well we have to have that don't we?

Colony Defense. It's a rough universe.

1. Your Government Center
   1. Structure
      1. Base (upgrade 0) is a spartan core of a structure
         
      2. Upgrade 1. A solid country manor sized building built atop of the base structure
         
      3. Upgrade 2. An administration wing is added on for handling the company and county
         
      4. Upgrade 3. A courtroom and judges quarters are added
         
      5. Upgrade 4. A second wing is added with room to entertain hundreds, as well as the kitchens etc needed for that
         
      6. Upgrade 5. A grand entry hall is added
         
      7. Upgrade 6. The entire structure is hardened against attack
   2. Communications/SIGINT
      1. You can communicate with on the planetary grid.
         
      2. You can use the HPG, and now get news bulletins from across the IS
         
      3. You can listen in to communications in your county, if need be
         
      4. You can listen in on the planetary communication system
         
      5. You have contacts that will feed you information on the HPG on occasion
   3. Community Outreach Facilities (HUMINT)
      1. You know who your neighbors are
         
      2. You know most of their business and gossip
         
      3. You know who most of the Aurigan people of influence are
         
      4. You know most of their business and gossip
         
      5. You know who most of the close by Great House folks are
         
      6. You have a clue as to their business and gossip
   4. Administrations
      1. Base. You can handle the paperwork for your initial county and your company's footprint on Gangtok
         
      2. Upgrade 1.+2.5% PGH
         
      3. Upgrade 2 +5.0 PGH
         
      4. Upgrade 3 +7.5 PGH
         
      5. Upgrade 4 +10 PGH
         
      6. Upgrade 5 +15% PGH
2. Civilian Structures.
   1. Housing
      1. Basic shelter and water, not much but its a roof.
         
      2. Upgrade 1. You can keep it comfortable inside with more modern construction and HVAC. +5% (over base) population growth & Happiness “PGH”
         
      3. Upgrade 2. It is less costly to construct civilian structures and maintain them. +10% PGH
         
      4. Upgrade 3. Your engineers and architects have figured out how to create civilian structures that are much more durable, for the same cost +25% Structure Points
         
      5. Upgrade 4. Your engineers and architects have figured out how to make those sturdy building look less like bunkers +15% PGH
   2. Food
      1. No one is starving, but no one is digging the grub much
         
      2. +5 PGH
         
      3. +10 PGH
         
      4. +15 PGH
         
      5. +20 PGH
         
      6. +25 PGH
   3. Education
      1. We can read!
         
      2. +5 PG +5 RD
         
      3. +7.5 PG & RD
         
      4. +10 PG & RD
         
      5. +12.5 % PG & RD
         
      6. +15% PG & RD
   4. Entertainment
      1. Are you not entertained?
         
      2. +5% Happiness
         
      3. +7.5 H
         
      4. +10%H
         
      5. +12.5 % H
         
      6. +15% H
         
      7. Our Own Little Solaris VII
   5. Market / Commerce
      1. Can sell plain, no pluses, 3025 tech weapons
         
      2. Can sell all 3025 weapons and HMC
         
      3. Can sell vanilla 3025 Mechs
         
      4. Can sell Vanilla HMC mechs
         
      5. Can sell any mech
   
   
3. Science and such (flesh out later, the penultimate step is held up until we own a copy of the HMC and the final step requires captured ClanTech, a fair amount of it)
   1. STEM 1-4
      
   2. BIO 1-4
      
   3. ASTRO 1-4
      
   4. GEOLOGICAL 1-4
4. MechWarrior Training.
   1. Gunnery
      1. Upto 3
         
      2. Upto 4
         
      3. Upto 5
         
      4. Upto 6
   2. Piloting
      1. Upto 3
         
      2. Upto 4
         
      3. Upto 5
         
      4. Upto 6
   3. Guts
      1. Upto 3
         
      2. Upto 4
         
      3. Upto 5
         
      4. Upto 6
   4. Tactics
      1. Upto 3
         
      2. Upto 4
         
      3. Upto 5
         
      4. Upto 6
   5. Capstone (all have to be up to 6 and then can get 1 random to 7)
5. Mechlab/Repair Shop/ eventually custom shop.
   1. 3025 Tech
      1. Light Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      2. Medium Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      3. Heavy Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      4. Assault Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      5. Can refit new weapons to the correct class hardpoints @this tech level (what yang does but cannot use LosTech or ClanTech)
   2. LosTech (post HMC)
      1. Light Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      2. Medium Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      3. Heavy Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      4. Assault Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      5. Can refit new weapons to the correct class hardpoints @this tech level (what yang does but cannot use ClanTech)
   3. ClanTech (have to capture and bring back to be researched at Science folks )
      1. Light Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      2. Medium Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      3. Heavy Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      4. Assault Mech: Can repair this tech level to stock configuration
         
      5. They are Omnimechs, so we are golden customizing them!
   4. FrankenMechs
      1. If you have the parts, this place can stick them together and make it work. If it is a good idea or not? Well, only time will tell.
6. Colony Defense
   1. Hardened Construction (this is not the Residential buildings they have their own 25 point thing)
      1. Takes a normal walk through building up to 25 Structure points
         
      2. Takes a normal walk through building up to 50 Structure points
         
      3. Takes a normal walk through building up to 75 Structure points
         
      4. Takes a normal walk through building up to 100 Structure points
         
      5. Adds 10 Armor
   2. Turrets (these are cumulative, as will have all of these guys around)
      1. Light Sniper Turrets
         
      2. Light LRM Turrets
         
      3. Heavy Shredder Turrets
         
      4. Heavy LRM (or whatever its called) Turrets.
   3. Anti-Air/Anti-Landing ship Defenses
      1. Good enough to stop an aerofigher
         
      2. Good enough to stop a small dropship
         
      3. good enough to stop a big dropship
         
      4. It sees ya, its gonna shoot ya down
   4. Mech Hangars (If you are invaded, you will get to choose from your stable of mechs on hand of the available classes, using MW's you have stationed at home ( will go into more detail on that later))
      1. Lights
         
      2. Mediums
         
      3. Heavy
         
      4. Assaults
         
      5. Frankens

1. Vehicles
   1. Light
      
   2. Medium
      
   3. Heavy
      
   4. Super heavy

That's another one of my huge outlines of my mad plan, there are some background setting holes that I will need to fill in so that it makes a bit more sense, as this is a chassis, salvage, money, and MechWarrior sink beyond its benefits.

I guess I will start with the additional MechWarrior classification. Our Mechwarriors currently can be in one or two states, dead or alive. I am adding a third, crippled.

This will add several mechanics that I think will be interesting.

1. They can soldier on, with permanently (Randomly chosen) decreased stats.
   
   
2. You can dismiss them
   1. Kick them to the curb “I have been paying you $55k per month for 5 years suck it up buttercup” this will harm your morale, based upon the total number of Mechwarriors on the ship and the number of missions that the cripple had fought in. So if you have a full barracks and this guy has gone on one mission there will be much less hit than if you do that to Dekker on week 1200 and you only have 8 Mechwarriors
      
      
   2. Give them severance and a ticket home. No morale issues, but not cheap
      
      
   3. Send them to Gangtok to join the colony
      1. Which will make their character traits very important, as the slots will have an affinity and/or a penalty for the wrong trait at the wrong job.
         1. 3 per “Building”
            
         2. if all buildings are full they can become civilians living out their years on the pudunk planet or can leave, you get a popup
      2. Not to mention what their MW skills are at, as they might be called to pilot a defensive mission.

The next game feature that is being introduced has to do with salvage, equipment and chassis'.

1. Once your reputation with a faction gets to 200+ you get contract bonuses for how much salvage you bring. Either coin or more salvage, but have to decide at contract phase.
   1. Was thinking that if your max possible salvage contract was 3/14 you would start getting bonus at 34+ pieces of salvage.
      
   2. (Your picked amount + the total amount) x 2 is the floor using the max possible for that contract.
2. Once we have our own jumpship, you can send the chassis' and spare weapons that are on the Argo back to Gangtok.
   1. This is the main reason for there being a Mechlab.
      1. The Mechlab can only repair to stock though
         1. So if you sent an Atlas chassis home, but not an AC/20... well the Atlas chassis remains in storage.
      2. Like I said, sink.
   2. Once they are reassembled, there will be a few choices you can make for its disposition.
      1. Use it for your defensive force, but its deployment size will be locked like the main line game, so 400 mechs might not make sense
         
      2. Use it for your Mechwarrior school. The bigger and nicer the mechs there the faster they will matriculate
         
      3. Once we have it, use it in the Arena
         
      4. Sell it at the colony market
         1. That will not be an instant sales transaction, as mechs aren't a 12 pack of Bud-lite
            • You will send it there and then when it sells you get the coin
      5. Donate it to Kamea, our sorta kinda liege lady.
         1. This will win us points in the Big Game of the Houses
            
         2. It will also make it less likely that we will face a direct attack by a major player, as the nation we are living in will have bigger teeth to repel those types of folks.

All of which will make for something to do with our huge Argo load of cargo, and help set up our colony.
Now some random thoughts, as I am getting a bit fried doing this deal.

Destroy a CT and it should kill our mechs, we get what salvage is left, but no repairs.

We will get news bulletins in our big ship as time progresses, so even if we aren't being part of a bit of history we get to see it reported.
Once we get our Jumpship our cabin shows more stuff, one is a GIANT shelf for miniatures of the mechs we have now or have owned in the past.

I want the game to have all of what is in JK + GT Variants and then some added, basically we go til every flipping one is ours for the finding, even the One Offs. And weapons, even crappy ones like the ones that they have been putting into the variants. This is a huge world, and I want a chance to really dig in and enjoy it.

 

[JesterHell]

Okay, I have played the campaign through once as developed, and now doing so with some mods done for grins. This gave me a bit of time to think up some ideas for future expansions. I have a few, so I will number them as I go.

1. The first is that we help Kamea solidify her rule and protect her people. 10-12 missions. Fighting against pirates who are attracted to the chaos, local governors who are trying to rebel, Aurigan nobles who are getting too big for their britches, and Great House forces who are trying to encroach on the Aurigan planets. A pretty straighforward fight, but at that time add the multi-lance deployment mechanism*.

*You deploy 2-3-4 lances simultaneously, then play them consecutively. Objective 1 could be to scout out an area to try to suss out what is going on. Objective 2 could be that you need to intercept the reinforcement convoy Obj 3 is deal with the 2-4 lances of mechs defending the site Obj 4 would be to destroy the Facility. This would give use to all of the mechs we collect throughout the game, and make it so that you don't just max out 6 Mechwarriors and have 2 scrubs.

Better then nothing, But I would personally prefer missions that allow for the use of a full company (3 lances/12 mechs) in one big mission then doing 3 small one lance missions in quick succession.

The pay off of this campaign would be learning that there weren't two Argos created, but that the Argo is half of a two ship unit. The other half is the JUMPSHIP half that the Argo was meant to ride on while going on its long exploration missions. With that knowledge we have to start sniffing around to try to find it, as the only lead we have is that it exists and one of the Great Houses know of where.

Which leads us to the next step of my expansion campaigns:

2. Getting campaigns from the Great Houses to try to find out who knows where the other half of your ship is.
To get one you will need a rep of 100+ with a house. So there will be grinding for reputation, and careful weighing of missions to maximize the gain while minimizing the downside with the other houses. Once you have earned that houses campaign, you would fight through it (TBH it has been so long that I was immersed in the Lore that I cannot even sketch out a roadmap for who would want what). You might luck out and the first house you fight for has the lead you need, maybe not. (this would need to be an RNG determined path, so that it isn't cheesed).

Well, once you get the lead, you now have to find a Jumpship captain crazy enough to go where the trail leads, and get them to take the flight for you, this will take C-Bills, and a favor. The favor being a NASTY fight to recapture his McGuffin.

He takes us there and we get our ship's second half. Which means we are now a truly independent merc company.

I don't want A jump ship, I want to find a derelic Nightwing-class warship with its Compact K-F drive still intact and then retrofit/rebuild the Argo's 57,000 ton cargo space to primarily hold that 47,500 ton jump drive and make the Argo Itself a Jumpship/warship, Unless they are going to allow me to build a full fleet with multiple jumpships, dropships and warships I would rather just continue to upgrade the Argo and make it jump capable.

 

[Lyrch75]

Better then nothing, But I would personally prefer missions that allow for the use of a full company (3 lances/12 mechs) in one big mission then doing 3 small one lance missions in quick succession.



I don't want A jump ship, I want to find a derelic Nightwing-class warship with its Compact K-F drive still intact and then retrofit/rebuild the Argo's 57,000 ton cargo space to primarily hold that 47,500 ton jump drive and make the Argo Itself a Jumpship/warship, Unless they are going to allow me to build a full fleet with multiple jumpships, dropships and warships I would rather just continue to upgrade the Argo and make it jump capable.

If the game engine will support us having a full company, I would prefer that as well. That would make us use our full complement of mechs and MWs, as well as having to worry about too much damage as a bad company sized batte could cost a LOT of C-bills and weapons to recover from.


I was going with making the Argo's second half a jumpship as the Argo now is a complete ship, so we can get the jumpship half and continue our upgrades. Of course it could be fun to get a salvageable warship and still use the Argo as our "base", the WS would take care of jumping from system to system, and protect our back from heavy reinforcements jumping in while we are deeper in the system fighting with out mechs.

 

[JesterHell]

If the game engine will support us having a full company, I would prefer that as well. That would make us use our full complement of mechs and MWs, as well as having to worry about too much damage as a bad company sized batte could cost a LOT of C-bills and weapons to recover from.

In one of the pre-release FAQ the HBS dev's said that limiting the player to one lance was a gameplay decsion and that the engine itself could actually handle more, they just felt that bigger player force and Opfor to match would result in single missions taking multiple hours to complete, I'm just letting them know that I'm fine with that and I do in fact want it.

Also, I Honestly feel the Argo was designed for a full company of mechs, 18 mech bays and the ways they are set up (6+6+6) its like each one is for lance with two spares/backups and your mechwarrior cap goes up in (8+8+8) which is enough for two full teams per lance, it just feels like it was designed to have it at some point in the future, like they future-proofed it.

I was going with making the Argo's second half a jumpship as the Argo now is a complete ship, so we can get the jumpship half and continue our upgrades. Of course it could be fun to get a salvageable warship and still use the Argo as our "base", the WS would take care of jumping from system to system, and protect our back from heavy reinforcements jumping in while we are deeper in the system fighting with out mechs.

I do like the idea of a personal jumpship, I just prefer the idea of making the Argo itself a jumpship as then I could use three leopards on the Argo's three docking points to carry my 3 lances.

I'd prefer just retconing it and saying the Argo was always jump capable and you have to source the components to bring its jump core back online.

 

[Lyrch75]

In one of the pre-release FAQ the HBS dev's said that limiting the player to one lance was a gameplay decsion and that the engine itself could actually handle more, they just felt that bigger player force and Opfor to match would result in single missions taking multiple hours to complete, I'm just letting them know that I'm fine with that and I do in fact want it.

Also, I Honestly feel the Argo was designed for a full company of mechs, 18 mech bays and the ways they are set up (6+6+6) its like each one is for lance with two spares/backups and your mechwarrior cap goes up in (8+8+8) which is enough for two full teams per lance, it just feels like it was designed to have it at some point in the future, like they future-proofed it.



I do like the idea of a personal jumpship, I just prefer the idea of making the Argo itself a jumpship as then I could use three leopards on the Argo's three docking points to carry my 3 lances.

I'd prefer just retconing it and saying the Argo was always jump capable and you have to source the components to bring its jump core back online.

I too would prefer a huge battle, one that I have to go to bed and work to wait to finish. Heck I do 4-5 normal missions after work, or I do 2-3? If the 2-3 are my company, possibly facing extinction, battling another company or 3... heck yeah 2-3.


Looking at the mechbays and the MW lodging, it is a 3 lance ship.
Which actually adds to me wanting the Jumpship half of the Argo / (I can't come up with a name) unit. As it is obvious, looking at the layout, that the Argo was a military vessel. So part of my sub story now involves looking into the SLDF's black budgets and who would have the pull to build the Argo/Nameless rig.

To me the Argo's expansion and upgrades are complete, but the Jumpship base could add the infrastructure needed to get your 3 Leopards (and then some) dropships attached to the Argo.

Off the cuff modules, and upgrades for the Nameless.

1. Jump Drive:
A. The basic, "It runs" level. Operated as a normal Jumpship, you have to go through every transport hub and recharge. Think Post campaign the Argo is 14 days for a single system change over. So that is our base time frame.
B. Upgrade 1. Improved Sails. We can charge much faster, and that cuts our time down to 12 days.
C. Upgrade 2. Improved Capacitors (i forget the Lore tech name sorry) We now can jump Twice as far before we have to hit a hub to recharge, so big, multi system chains of jumps get cut in half.
D. Upgrade 3. Black Ops Tech. Our jump range is tripled, so we can skip past multiple systems (even small areas of no fly zones) as we can really leg it.

2. Service bays ( Where the Leopards come in)
A. A single bay, large enough to fully repair and rebuild a Leopard drop ship.
B. Upgrade 1. Upgraded service Waldos. Able to now deploy Two Leopard's at once (We now have to find our second Leopard...)
C. Upgrade 2. Second Service Bay. Able to work on and upgrade multiple Leopards at once. (we now can get one attack strike per Leopard per mission), assuming that the engagement area is clear of AAA. They now can get damaged, so we need to watch that. (think it would work in engine to just show impact zone and reports of counterfire)
D. Upgrade 3. Improved Logistics. Able to restock and rearm multiple Leopards at once. We get our third Leopard slot (have to find it, but thats part of the fun)
E. Upgrade 4. Hull Dampening. Able to handle dropships beyond the 3 Leopards and Argo during jumps. We can now update our Leopards up to 50% TT numbers higher. (again finding more and bigger)
F. Upgrade 5. Black Ops Tech. We can now deploy up to a Fortress Class Drop ship and a couple Leos. (Evil laugh)

3. Weapon Systems.
A. Basic. Enough small energy mounts to destroy incoming debris up to X-tons.
B. Upgrade 1. More energy mounts, but large enough to destroy any stellar debris ( faster in system travel for the Argo/Nameless)
C. UPgrade 2. Basically a Corvette level arms. So we can jump through a bad (but not too bad) neighborhood)
D. Upgrade 3. Frigate level armament. We can jump through 1970's Bronx neighborhoods, and into sorta sketchy hoods.
E. UPgrade 4. Cruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Miami neighborhoods, and into to drop into 1970's Bronx.
F. Upgrade 5. Battlecruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Detroit neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Miami.
E. Upgrade 6. Battleship level armament. We can jump through 2010 Chicago neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Detroit.
F. Upgrade 7. Don't Eff with me level armament (Think Leviathan (one, two, or, three) using LosTech). Unless there is a dreadnought in system, We go and drop wherever and whenever we want.

4. Armor
A. Basic. It keep us from getting hulled by small rocks, that our crummy armament misses.
B. Upgrade 1. We can take a BFR in space (decreases transit times)
C. Upgrade 2. If we get a small aero strike we should, could, be ok.
D. Upgrade3. Screw you light strikes.
E. Upgrade 4. We won't die if we meet a (really) small warship
F. Upgrade 5. Most cruiser captains covet our armor.
E. Upgrade 6. Where did they get the black budget to make a battleship "exploration vessel" !?!?
F. Upgrade 7. Are you serious!?!?!?! Not quite upto Leviathan levels, but stupidly close.

5. Insystem drive.
1. Basic. We can move!!
2. UPgrade 1. We are now a danger to people in Walmart scooters.
3. Upgrade 2. Okay! I am not going to get run overtaken by a Yugo
4. Upgrade 3. I can now merge onto a 4 lane highway without becoming road pizza (speeds Dropship time as we are faster than them)
5. UPgrade 4. Oops, got a speeding ticket. (again decreases insystem time)
6. Upgrade 5. Hah, good luck catching me! (even less insystem time)

6. Computer/Intel
1. We found our way home, and our skull intel count still is skiffy
2. We know that you read our email, and our skull intel is 25% more accurate.
3. We read your email, and our skull intel is another 25% accurate
4. We sent your girl an email and she thinks its from you. Add another 25%.
5. Yeah, Neo is my bitch....add another 35%


I know i went on a bit there, but the Argo, so obviously being a black ops ship sorta drove it.

 

[Kurnn]

I really, REALLY, like your suggestions.

I hope a dev noticed this and it doesn't drown in the many useless suggestions players posts here.

 

[JesterHell]

I too would prefer a huge battle, one that I have to go to bed and work to wait to finish. Heck I do 4-5 normal missions after work, or I do 2-3? If the 2-3 are my company, possibly facing extinction, battling another company or 3... heck yeah 2-3.


Looking at the mechbays and the MW lodging, it is a 3 lance ship.
Which actually adds to me wanting the Jumpship half of the Argo / (I can't come up with a name) unit. As it is obvious, looking at the layout, that the Argo was a military vessel. So part of my sub story now involves looking into the SLDF's black budgets and who would have the pull to build the Argo/Nameless rig.

To me the Argo's expansion and upgrades are complete, but the Jumpship base could add the infrastructure needed to get your 3 Leopards (and then some) dropships attached to the Argo.

Off the cuff modules, and upgrades for the Nameless.

1. Jump Drive:
A. The basic, "It runs" level. Operated as a normal Jumpship, you have to go through every transport hub and recharge. Think Post campaign the Argo is 14 days for a single system change over. So that is our base time frame.
B. Upgrade 1. Improved Sails. We can charge much faster, and that cuts our time down to 12 days.
C. Upgrade 2. Improved Capacitors (i forget the Lore tech name sorry) We now can jump Twice as far before we have to hit a hub to recharge, so big, multi system chains of jumps get cut in half.
D. Upgrade 3. Black Ops Tech. Our jump range is tripled, so we can skip past multiple systems (even small areas of no fly zones) as we can really leg it.

2. Service bays ( Where the Leopards come in)
A. A single bay, large enough to fully repair and rebuild a Leopard drop ship.
B. Upgrade 1. Upgraded service Waldos. Able to now deploy Two Leopard's at once (We now have to find our second Leopard...)
C. Upgrade 2. Second Service Bay. Able to work on and upgrade multiple Leopards at once. (we now can get one attack strike per Leopard per mission), assuming that the engagement area is clear of AAA. They now can get damaged, so we need to watch that. (think it would work in engine to just show impact zone and reports of counterfire)
D. Upgrade 3. Improved Logistics. Able to restock and rearm multiple Leopards at once. We get our third Leopard slot (have to find it, but thats part of the fun)
E. Upgrade 4. Hull Dampening. Able to handle dropships beyond the 3 Leopards and Argo during jumps. We can now update our Leopards up to 50% TT numbers higher. (again finding more and bigger)
F. Upgrade 5. Black Ops Tech. We can now deploy up to a Fortress Class Drop ship and a couple Leos. (Evil laugh)

3. Weapon Systems.
A. Basic. Enough small energy mounts to destroy incoming debris up to X-tons.
B. Upgrade 1. More energy mounts, but large enough to destroy any stellar debris ( faster in system travel for the Argo/Nameless)
C. UPgrade 2. Basically a Corvette level arms. So we can jump through a bad (but not too bad) neighborhood)
D. Upgrade 3. Frigate level armament. We can jump through 1970's Bronx neighborhoods, and into sorta sketchy hoods.
E. UPgrade 4. Cruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Miami neighborhoods, and into to drop into 1970's Bronx.
F. Upgrade 5. Battlecruiser level armament. We can jump through 1980's Detroit neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Miami.
E. Upgrade 6. Battleship level armament. We can jump through 2010 Chicago neighborhoods, and into drop up to 1980's Detroit.
F. Upgrade 7. Don't Eff with me level armament (Think Leviathan (one, two, or, three) using LosTech). Unless there is a dreadnought in system, We go and drop wherever and whenever we want.

4. Armor
A. Basic. It keep us from getting hulled by small rocks, that our crummy armament misses.
B. Upgrade 1. We can take a BFR in space (decreases transit times)
C. Upgrade 2. If we get a small aero strike we should, could, be ok.
D. Upgrade3. Screw you light strikes.
E. Upgrade 4. We won't die if we meet a (really) small warship
F. Upgrade 5. Most cruiser captains covet our armor.
E. Upgrade 6. Where did they get the black budget to make a battleship "exploration vessel" !?!?
F. Upgrade 7. Are you serious!?!?!?! Not quite upto Leviathan levels, but stupidly close.

5. Insystem drive.
1. Basic. We can move!!
2. UPgrade 1. We are now a danger to people in Walmart scooters.
3. Upgrade 2. Okay! I am not going to get run overtaken by a Yugo
4. Upgrade 3. I can now merge onto a 4 lane highway without becoming road pizza (speeds Dropship time as we are faster than them)
5. UPgrade 4. Oops, got a speeding ticket. (again decreases insystem time)
6. Upgrade 5. Hah, good luck catching me! (even less insystem time)

6. Computer/Intel
1. We found our way home, and our skull intel count still is skiffy
2. We know that you read our email, and our skull intel is 25% more accurate.
3. We read your email, and our skull intel is another 25% accurate
4. We sent your girl an email and she thinks its from you. Add another 25%.
5. Yeah, Neo is my bitch....add another 35%


I know i went on a bit there, but the Argo, so obviously being a black ops ship sorta drove it.

I do like the idea of the independence gained from self-jumping, I've just always felt (from before the games release) that the Argo makes more sense as a "warship" with a compact K-F Drive of its own and given the rules for jump-drives it makes more sense to retroactively make the Argo itself a "warship" then to retroactively give it a "partnered" jumpship IMHO.

Now I'm not a 30 yr BattleTech fan and until a few weeks ago I thought the Mechwarrior games WERE battletech, but since finding the BT universe behind MW I've been researching it, learning about the lore, the history and the rules.

As I understand it a "Jumpships" MUST dedicate 95% of its mass to its jump drive, this means jumpships don't actually have a lot of "extras" and they are basically just giant FTL drives that you strap your ship onto to hitch a ride.

Everything else that can jump is a "Warship" as anything that uses a Compact K-F Drive, which is half the size of normal Drive at 45-47.5% of the ships total mass, is automatically a warship in Battletech, now there are Warships that can carry dropships and it is feasible that the Argo could have been paired with one from design, But then why didn't the Star League just make the Argo itself a Jumpship?

I mean the Argo's as is has a mass of 100 000 tons and a cargo hold/space for 57 000 tons of cargo, a compact K-F drive for the Argo would reduce that to between 12 000t(45%) and 9 500t(47.5%) thats 95 Atlas's worth of cargo instead of the 570 Atlas's worth of cargo we have now and it is more than enough IMHO, it would also add inventory management (cargo space) as something the player would actually care about.

Also I see campany level missions as the absolute max, mainly becase if we scale up current missions where you are out numbered 2-1 or 3-1 then a company level mission with that scaling would be your 12 vs 24-36 enemies, I jsut don't see it getting bigger then that, so having a player owned (sperate) jumpship would lead to questions about why can't you buy more dropships and run an entire battlaion, IMHO its easier to just limit the player to the Argo and make the Argo itself jump capable.

 

[Lyrch75]

I do like the idea of the independence gained from self-jumping, I've just always felt (from before the games release) that the Argo makes more sense as a "warship" with a compact K-F Drive of its own and given the rules for jump-drives it makes more sense to retroactively make the Argo itself a "warship" then to retroactively give it a "partnered" jumpship IMHO.

Now I'm not a 30 yr BattleTech fan and until a few weeks ago I thought the Mechwarrior games WERE battletech, but since finding the BT universe behind MW I've been researching it, learning about the lore, the history and the rules.

As I understand it a "Jumpships" MUST dedicate 95% of its mass to its jump drive, this means jumpships don't actually have a lot of "extras" and they are basically just giant FTL drives that you strap your ship onto to hitch a ride.

Everything else that can jump is a "Warship" as anything that uses a Compact K-F Drive, which is half the size of normal Drive at 45-47.5% of the ships total mass, is automatically a warship in Battletech, now there are Warships that can carry dropships and it is feasible that the Argo could have been paired with one from design, But then why didn't the Star League just make the Argo itself a Jumpship?

I mean the Argo's as is has a mass of 100 000 tons and a cargo hold/space for 57 000 tons of cargo, a compact K-F drive for the Argo would reduce that to between 12 000t(45%) and 9 500t(47.5%) thats 95 Atlas's worth of cargo instead of the 570 Atlas's worth of cargo we have now and it is more than enough IMHO, it would also add inventory management (cargo space) as something the player would actually care about.

Also I see campany level missions as the absolute max, mainly becase if we scale up current missions where you are out numbered 2-1 or 3-1 then a company level mission with that scaling would be your 12 vs 24-36 enemies, I jsut don't see it getting bigger then that, so having a player owned (sperate) jumpship would lead to questions about why can't you buy more dropships and run an entire battlaion, IMHO its easier to just limit the player to the Argo and make the Argo itself jump capable.

As you see in my write up, I am basically turning the Nameless into an assault carrier that deploys the Argo to drop its company of troops, using the 3 Leopards, 3 (brain cramp on the slightly heavier armed one up from the Leo's size), or all at once into a hot LZ with the Fortress class, and then being able to protect the drop from space based or aero attacks. As it and the Argo were somebody's black ops wetdream force.

Able to jump at will, avoiding hostile, and or nosey systems while deploying its forces on someone's head.


The reason I like this approach is that once we get to the 3050 Clan invasion and IS counter attacks, this opens us up to being called on to run deep strike missions against them, as we will have the mobility and the ability to get in, deliver some hurt, and then get back out.

We could either become part of Operation Serpent, or run miniature versions of it, as a harrassment and interdiction specialist force.

Mission Brief:
"Clan Jade Falcon is refitting their dropships at (Insert planet)'s main space port. It is lightly guarded, with only light mechs, vehicles, and turrets, but they have a reaction force that can counter attack if you take too long. "

We can decide if we want to go full bore and use our Fortress and have fire support, but the timer begins immediately. Or we can sneak in using our Leopards, and have the timer not start until we have engaged the enemy. Say it gives us 14 turns to complete and extract before the reinforcements arrive.
14 turns are up and now we have a medium lance show up and another timer, lets say 6 turns, shows up. After 6 turns, if we haven't evacced a heavy or assault will show up.

We will never be a Wolf's Dragoons, or Eridani sized merc unit, but we could become THE niche players in that sort of warfare.

 

[Lyrch75]

I really, REALLY like your suggestions.

I hope a dev noticed this and it doesn't drown in the many useless suggestions players posts here.

Thanks,
I basically wrote all this as head canon years ago and am trying to dredge up the memories and mold them into what PDX/HBS has given us.

I probably need to redo my first write up including all of these ideas, soon, before they float back away.

 

[JesterHell]

As you see in my write up, I am basically turning the Nameless into an assault carrier that deploys the Argo to drop its company of troops, using the 3 Leopards, 3 (brain cramp on the slightly heavier armed one up from the Leo's size), or all at once into a hot LZ with the Fortress class, and then being able to protect the drop from space based or aero attacks. As it and the Argo were somebody's black ops wetdream force.

Able to jump at will, avoiding hostile, and or nosey systems while deploying its forces on someone's head.


The reason I like this approach is that once we get to the 3050 Clan invasion and IS counter attacks, this opens us up to being called on to run deep strike missions against them, as we will have the mobility and the ability to get in, deliver some hurt, and then get back out.

We could either become part of Operation Serpent, or run miniature versions of it, as a harrassment and interdiction specialist force.

Mission Brief:
"Clan Jade Falcon is refitting their dropships at (Insert planet)'s main space port. It is lightly guarded, with only light mechs, vehicles, and turrets, but they have a reaction force that can counter attack if you take too long. "

We can decide if we want to go full bore and use our Fortress and have fire support, but the timer begins immediately. Or we can sneak in using our Leopards, and have the timer not start until we have engaged the enemy. Say it gives us 14 turns to complete and extract before the reinforcements arrive.
14 turns are up and now we have a medium lance show up and another timer, lets say 6 turns, shows up. After 6 turns, if we haven't evacced a heavy or assault will show up.

We will never be a Wolf's Dragoons, or Eridani sized merc unit, but we could become THE niche players in that sort of warfare.

I still don't like the idea of an Partnered/Other-half ship Because IMHO it does not make sense, if the SL made the Argo why would they make a specialist "carrier" ship for it instead of just making the Argo a jumpship, it just make more sense for the argo itself to be jump capable than to design it as a part of some 2 ship pair.

The Argo could have been designed to do most of that itself without a specialist side ship if that what its purpose was and maybe it was some wack-a-do duel ship design but I don't like that Idea at all, I much prefer the idea that the Argo was designed for INDEPENDENT deep periphery operations, which would IMHO mean it was self-jumping ship with limited mining and manufacturing capabilities, some of which is "sort" of in-Game with the machine shop upgrade.

Also another reason I dislike the specifics of your idea is that a Star League Era Warship-class ASSAULT carrier would get everyone's attention, I think it's just too big of a target for such little reward when all I personnally want is independant jump capability and while navel support sounds cool I'd rather not have it then have it like this, beside surely its possible to install a light Navel PPC or Navel AC/20 on the Argo for in mission Fire support.

I thinks it's the difference between finding a SL Era civilian/industrial mech and finding a SL Era military mech, one going to have SL Era collectors and enthusiasts wanting it and some nimor curriosity from every one else, the other will have EVERY major player wanting it and wanting to know how you found it.

But to be honest I don't think either of our ideas will happen.

 

[Lyrch75]

I get your point, I just like the two part system, as it works with what we have now without having to retcon, and saying that it was a two ship unit, not a two ship class works for me. Which it would a take a good bit of retconning, as it has been stated that Farah went stem to stern on the Argo and knows it systems completely. So the capability for a jumpdrive, or weapons would be a pretty big miss.

As for the fact that our company would have, effectively, a SL era assault carrier is meant to catch people's attention, as we would be taking part in some of the largest conflicts in the past 50 + years, and unless our company has something to really catch the powers that be's attention, how could we take part in anything other than tiny flanking operations?

The 4th Succession War and its fallout have regimental + sized battle forces, which is when we would start our Argo/Nameless adventure, and then it would go on into the Clan invasion and the fallout conflicts from that, so we really need to have a real eye catcher to get us at the adult table.

Hey, even if neither does happn, I am having fun doing this brain dump and will likley this weekend re-write the first post to include all if my ideas for MY expansion idea. JUst another way that the game is entertaining me.

 

[JesterHell]

I get your point, I just like the two part system, as it works with what we have now without having to retcon, and saying that it was a two ship unit, not a two ship class works for me. Which it would a take a good bit of retconning, as it has been stated that Farah went stem to stern on the Argo and knows it systems completely. So the capability for a jumpdrive, or weapons would be a pretty big miss.

Even your idea would require a little retcon, mostly in that there is no mention what so ever of the Argo's other half, and given that there is mention of the Argo's sister ship the it's a little strange, but its only a minor thing.

It would be a big miss, which is why my original idea is based on retrofitting a Nightwings Compact K-F drive into the Argo, the Nightwing is 100 000 tons which makes it the same mass as the Argo and so its jump-drive would be to "scale" for the Argo, the Argo has enough cargo space (57 000t) to "store" the Nightwings Drive (47 500t) and its not technically impossible by either Lore or Rules to retrofit a K-F Drive.

But if they did want to retcon the Argo into a jumpship there was the Bugeye which mounted the smallest jumpdrive ever, even smaller then a "standard" compact K-F Drive in that it could be fitted on the 6100 ton Bugeye, assuming for the moment that it has the same level of size/space improvement as seen when going from normal K-F (95%) to compact K-F (47.5%) then a Bugeye drive would be 23.75% of the ships total mass, on the argo that could be missed on your inital pass over if you werent expecting it.

I mean the Argo was produced as an experiment in 2762, just 8 years before the Bugeye would become obsolete, its possible the Argo contained an Experimental "next-step" in jump drive technology, and while that would attract A lot of attention its also rather easy to hide.

As for the fact that our company would have, effectively, a SL era assault carrier is meant to catch people's attention, as we would be taking part in some of the largest conflicts in the past 50 + years, and unless our company has something to really catch the powers that be's attention, how could we take part in anything other than tiny flanking operations?

I don't think we will ever take part in anything other then tiny flanking OP's, I think the largest we can get is one company of mechs and that limits us to the small time.

I mean Ideally the game would allow you to expaned your forces to the point that with time and dedication you could conquer the IS yourself, building up entire battalions and conquering whole worlds, but IMHO that is outside the scope of HBS capacity to make, at least for this game.

The 4th Succession War and its fallout have regimental + sized battle forces, which is when we would start our Argo/Nameless adventure, and then it would go on into the Clan invasion and the fallout conflicts from that, so we really need to have a real eye catcher to get us at the adult table.

I think just letting the player build up their rep should do it, I mean as it is you offten end up fighting x2-x3's you number in enemies, I could see the player getting a rep for fighting and besting superior Opfor's consistently, I mean you wont be at the center of anybody's plans but you could get included just for missions that suit your size and mobility.

Hey, even if neither does happn, I am having fun doing this brain dump and will likley this weekend re-write the first post to include all if my ideas for MY expansion idea. JUst another way that the game is entertaining me.

Oh yes, it is fun to hypothesize about potential expansions and I fully encourage you to continue to develop this idea, just like I'll develop mine.

 

[Justin Kase]

So many good ideas - it makes my head spin If we could achieve even half, I'd be thrilled

 

[Lyrch75]

Reposting original post here


Okay, I have played the campaign through once as developed, and now doing so with some mods done for grins. This gave me a bit of time to think up some ideas for future expansions. I have a few, so I will number them as I go.

1. The first is that we help Kamea solidify her rule and protect her people. 10-12 missions. Fighting against pirates who are attracted to the chaos, local governors who are trying to rebel, Aurigan nobles who are getting too big for their britches, and Great House forces who are trying to encroach on the Aurigan planets. A pretty straighforward fight, but at that time add the multi-lance deployment mechanism*.

*You deploy 2-3-4 lances simultaneously, then play them consecutively. Objective 1 could be to scout out an area to try to suss out what is going on. Objective 2 could be that you need to intercept the reinforcement convoy Obj 3 is deal with the 2-4 lances of mechs defending the site Obj 4 would be to destroy the Facility. This would give use to all of the mechs we collect throughout the game, and make it so that you don't just max out 6 Mechwarriors and have 2 scrubs.

The pay off of this campaign would be learning that there weren't two Argos created, but that the Argo is half of a two ship unit. The other half is the JUMPSHIP half that the Argo was meant to ride on while going on its long exploration missions. With that knowledge we have to start sniffing around to try to find it, as the only lead we have is that it exists and one of the Great Houses know of where.

Which leads us to the next step of my expansion campaigns:

2. Getting campaigns from the Great Houses to try to find out who knows where the other half of your ship is.
To get one you will need a rep of 100+ with a house. So there will be grinding for reputation, and careful weighing of missions to maximize the gain while minimizing the downside with the other houses. Once you have earned that houses campaign, you would fight through it (TBH it has been so long that I was immersed in the Lore that I cannot even sketch out a roadmap for who would want what). You might luck out and the first house you fight for has the lead you need, maybe not. (this would need to be an RNG determined path, so that it isn't cheesed).

Well, once you get the lead, you now have to find a Jumpship captain crazy enough to go where the trail leads, and get them to take the flight for you, this will take C-Bills, and a favor. The favor being a NASTY fight to recapture his McGuffin.

He takes us there and we get our ship's second half. Which means we are now a truly independent merc company.

3. This puts us into the post 3028 period which means we have the 4th Succession War and then its fall out conflicts, as well as the LosTech beginning to trickle out due to the Data Core. So LOTS of work for our mercenary company. With the LosTech out there, we now will really need to get some good intel, as a Lance of SLDF spec heavies will rip us a new one, if we are still running standard gear. This will add a lot of variety to missions, as a Gauss round to the head will definitely ruin one's day.


Constructive feedback would be appreciated, as I see this as a way the game could go, with very low expansion overhead, and it would let us keep our company; its mechs, ship, and crew.

 

[Lyrch75]

@Justin Kase ,

With the new ownership of HBS, this crazy scheme could be a building blockto turn our current barebones BattleTech into a little bit larger scope game, but not be a Battletech version of HOI/CK/EU.

TBH, I have wanted to play the latter for a good while.

Could start at 2439, 2571, 2766, at the run-up to each of the Succession Wars, 3025 (as a runup to HMC), 3049.... just like Paradox gives you options in their other Grand Strategy games.
I always enjoyed playing their GSG first as trying to do it better than the real people did 75, 400, 700 years ago, and then would play to completely rewrite history.
BT would be an awesome sandbox for that.

 

[Kurnn]

I see that you have updated your post. Even better.

I hope a dev reads this!

 

[Lyrch75]

I see that you have updated your post. Even better.

I hope a dev reads this!

Yeah had to do an update; after I had been away from it a bit I saw how much I wasn't explaining. Still a lot of details to fill in, but at least now I think that folks can see where I am coming from, and sorta where I am going with this idea/madness.

 

[Kurnn]

A good format is important when you are explaining in detail like you are.
Its good and very nice how you divide the post up in sections, and use numbers.

Could I suggest that you make a brief summary first? No more then 3-4 rows, where you explain "this is what I'd like to see".
Then you highlight the main detail, and let the list do the rest? The summery doesn't need to explain anything. But a few short words what your post is about.

Nothing wrong in what you wrote, or how you did it. I just want to increase the chance that a dev reads this....and maybe a player or two.

There is a rule when it comes to telling people something, when they do not know you, or how to get their attention.
In business its called "Elevator Pitch".
It means that you are in the same elevator as someone who you want to sell too, who is the right person, who doesn't know you.
And you can get their interest before the elevator stops. This includes presenting yourself .

The rule is: "You have 7 seconds complete attention from anyone you talk to, who does not know you"
In text thats translated to 2, max 3 short sentences. The goal is to get interest, to listen to what you have to say next ;p.

You dont need to do a damn thing. I just "help" because I love your ideas and these devs DOES pick up stuff from these forums, so I want them to read this .

 

[Lyrch75]

You are right.
A hook is what it is missing, as I wrote a bit of a wall of text, and I do want to get folks reading it.

Something to give the brain to chew on tomorrow's drive to work .

 

[Kurnn]

The limit of the lance to 4 mechs have a very good reason, according to what the devs explained.
You ask to increase the limit.

I think in order to increase the number of dropped mechs for players, there needs to be a new function/feature or something in place.
Its important not to ruin most of the missions simply by allowing the player one more mech, which would make all missions tons easier.
There need to be some factor that balance more mechs, without simply increase the number of enemies in every mission.

My own suggestion for allowing more mechs then 4,
is too add a cost for every mech used in a mission. And the cost is linked to the weight.
IMPORTANT: The cost needs to be higher the more mechs you use, and always be a factor you have to think about for every mission.
Bringing 4 mechs with with varius sizes should be similar to break even on cash, where salvage will be on top.

This would take care of several areas.

• - It would increase the value in all mechs, models and sizes
• - It would REWARD players who choose less then 4, or smaller mechs.
• - It would control players from getting to much cash, so cash becomes irrelavant. Cash are important from start to mid game, but then salvage is much better and you dont really need to earn cash every mission.
• - It would balance the gameplay for players who wants more mechs, no matter what. They can choose to bring 5 big mechs, but that costs them more then they earn, unless they get lucky with salvage.

This is just my braindroppings regarding the question of max 4 mechs. I would like an increase, but it HAS to come with some kind of feature for balance.