So I had a few rough starts on my intro mission, got passed it and cruised around for a few months before going after the Argo, and decided to grind for a bit before Weldry. May have been a mistake!
The only mission available was a 1.5-skull convoy escort, and I wasn't feeling it, so I traveled back to Bellerophon and took a 2 skull mission for Liao. Apparently the Canopians were baiting them with a heavy mech on Liuyuan (I think) and they were afraid it was a trap.
So I go hard on salvage and go in (and ate a month's overhead, leaving me just under 2mil in the bank) , rubbing my hands together. My Lance lands, and quickly find said mech... .... a Cicada. Not what I was expecting, but hey, it's the periphery! Maybe that's what they consider heavy.
So I engage the slippery fellow when his reinforcements come. Two Locusts and a Panther. The Cicada and the Panther have PPCs. They all kind of concentrate fire on Behemoth in my tanky Shadow Hawk, so it loses an arm and she'd on the mend for two weeks, but I come out otherwise pristine. I claim two Panther parts and a PPC and get a free Locust for my trouble.
So, confidence boosted, I take another Liao gig on the same world (I'm not a Liao fan and I was worried about hurting my rep with the Magistracy, but apparently no matter how many of therm I kill they never get mad...). Another 2-skull gig, attacking a "heavy" lance that had just landed. Given the last "heavy" lance I saw, I'm skeptical, so I send in my usual loadout: default Blackjack, default Vindicator, the Centurion I got from the Argo, and a salvaged Jenner for my scout.
My Lance deploys behind a hill, and I can go left or right. Left takes me around a ridge where there's lots of rocky terrain and little cover, right takes me into a wooded ravine. I go right for the cover. That decision will cost me.
I stop the first of the enemies, two Locusts who close in one after the other. As the lead element draws into range, my Lance starts getting all kinds of LRM fire. I quickly discover the enemy Lance is two Locusts (figures!) and a Thunderbolt! Also, the reinforcements are a Manticore(!) and a Griffin(!!!) advancing on my right flank (so, by choosing to go right, I inadvertently allowed the enemy to go Line Abreast on me, never good!), and an SRM Carrier(!!!???!!!OMGWTFBBQ) advancing rapidly along that ridgeline on my left flank.
Now, this wasn't all evident at first. I tried to take out the Locusts quickly to reduce the LRM fire, but I didn't bring enough Jump units and only I pilot with Sensor Lock, so while I sat there trying to catch chickens, the other units rapidly advanced and I saw the mess I was in.
By the time I took out the Locusts, the rest of the enemy force was in range. Three rounds worth of SRM Carrier salvos tore off the entire left half of my Blackjack - arm, leg and torso. The Thunderbolt thankfully split up his fire, but essentially left my Jenner with nothing but the windshield protecting the front arc. Before my Blackjack had gotten all shot up, I had a chance to DFA the Thunderbolt but I didn't. I ran around the flank and alpha struck it in the side, hoping for a good result. I didn't get one and the third salvo from the SRM carrier took out the LT and LL after it had already ground away the LA.
Fortunately that round, my Vindicator and Centurion poured everything they had into the damage Thunderbolt and got the CT, the SRM Carrier had foolishly gotten close enough for my Blackjack to hop over to and fall on, and at the start of the next round, my Jenner ran right in front of the Griffin, naked like a streaker at a college football game and finished off the Manticore.
All objectives completed, enemy reinforcements 67% destroyed. Facing the prospect of taking on an unscathed Griffin with a fairly beat-up Centi, Vindi missing an arm, a naked Jenner and a half a Blackjack, I ignominiously withdrew. Perhaps I could have taken the Griffin with what I had left, but I was almost certainly going to lose either the Jenner or the Blackjack, and thus likely either lose a Pilot or have my MC in the chop shop for half a year.
I withdrew and I'm not happy about it, but I'm alive.
However, with just over 1mil in the bank I have almost 200k in repair expenses and weeks worth of repair, an end-of-month report coming up and three pilots laid up between two weeks and a month. I may be off to Wleldry sooner than anticipated....
I suppose I won't have to worry about the game being too easy!
The only mission available was a 1.5-skull convoy escort, and I wasn't feeling it, so I traveled back to Bellerophon and took a 2 skull mission for Liao. Apparently the Canopians were baiting them with a heavy mech on Liuyuan (I think) and they were afraid it was a trap.
So I go hard on salvage and go in (and ate a month's overhead, leaving me just under 2mil in the bank) , rubbing my hands together. My Lance lands, and quickly find said mech... .... a Cicada. Not what I was expecting, but hey, it's the periphery! Maybe that's what they consider heavy.
So I engage the slippery fellow when his reinforcements come. Two Locusts and a Panther. The Cicada and the Panther have PPCs. They all kind of concentrate fire on Behemoth in my tanky Shadow Hawk, so it loses an arm and she'd on the mend for two weeks, but I come out otherwise pristine. I claim two Panther parts and a PPC and get a free Locust for my trouble.
So, confidence boosted, I take another Liao gig on the same world (I'm not a Liao fan and I was worried about hurting my rep with the Magistracy, but apparently no matter how many of therm I kill they never get mad...). Another 2-skull gig, attacking a "heavy" lance that had just landed. Given the last "heavy" lance I saw, I'm skeptical, so I send in my usual loadout: default Blackjack, default Vindicator, the Centurion I got from the Argo, and a salvaged Jenner for my scout.
My Lance deploys behind a hill, and I can go left or right. Left takes me around a ridge where there's lots of rocky terrain and little cover, right takes me into a wooded ravine. I go right for the cover. That decision will cost me.
I stop the first of the enemies, two Locusts who close in one after the other. As the lead element draws into range, my Lance starts getting all kinds of LRM fire. I quickly discover the enemy Lance is two Locusts (figures!) and a Thunderbolt! Also, the reinforcements are a Manticore(!) and a Griffin(!!!) advancing on my right flank (so, by choosing to go right, I inadvertently allowed the enemy to go Line Abreast on me, never good!), and an SRM Carrier(!!!???!!!OMGWTFBBQ) advancing rapidly along that ridgeline on my left flank.
Now, this wasn't all evident at first. I tried to take out the Locusts quickly to reduce the LRM fire, but I didn't bring enough Jump units and only I pilot with Sensor Lock, so while I sat there trying to catch chickens, the other units rapidly advanced and I saw the mess I was in.
By the time I took out the Locusts, the rest of the enemy force was in range. Three rounds worth of SRM Carrier salvos tore off the entire left half of my Blackjack - arm, leg and torso. The Thunderbolt thankfully split up his fire, but essentially left my Jenner with nothing but the windshield protecting the front arc. Before my Blackjack had gotten all shot up, I had a chance to DFA the Thunderbolt but I didn't. I ran around the flank and alpha struck it in the side, hoping for a good result. I didn't get one and the third salvo from the SRM carrier took out the LT and LL after it had already ground away the LA.
Fortunately that round, my Vindicator and Centurion poured everything they had into the damage Thunderbolt and got the CT, the SRM Carrier had foolishly gotten close enough for my Blackjack to hop over to and fall on, and at the start of the next round, my Jenner ran right in front of the Griffin, naked like a streaker at a college football game and finished off the Manticore.
All objectives completed, enemy reinforcements 67% destroyed. Facing the prospect of taking on an unscathed Griffin with a fairly beat-up Centi, Vindi missing an arm, a naked Jenner and a half a Blackjack, I ignominiously withdrew. Perhaps I could have taken the Griffin with what I had left, but I was almost certainly going to lose either the Jenner or the Blackjack, and thus likely either lose a Pilot or have my MC in the chop shop for half a year.
I withdrew and I'm not happy about it, but I'm alive.
However, with just over 1mil in the bank I have almost 200k in repair expenses and weeks worth of repair, an end-of-month report coming up and three pilots laid up between two weeks and a month. I may be off to Wleldry sooner than anticipated....
I suppose I won't have to worry about the game being too easy!
