Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Darrian Wolffe]

15 January, 2766
1700 hours
Mess Hall, Sovetskii Soyuz-class WarShip Golden Hind


You settle back in your seats as Major Jaffray dimes the lights.  For a moment, the only sound is the soft whine of the WarShip's grav deck as it makes its endless turns about the core of the ship, and then the briefing gets underway.

"New Vandenburg, as we all know, is an immensely heavily-defended planet for a Periphery world.  Ever since the uprisings last year, the butchery of the onworld garrison forces, and the attempt on General Kerensky's life, the rebels have been expecting a counterattack.  Well, we're going to give them one.

"The approach to the planet is, from what we estimate, more-or-less clear.  The rebels have control of the ground, but their capital ship assets are meager at best, and our intelligence figures that what WarShips they have are being kept centralized at the naval yard at MacLeod's Land.  Close enough to deploy to counterattack us, but not there to contest our initial landings.  Thusly, we have to concentrate on how to get boots on the ground A-sap before the rebels have the chance to call for help.  Also thusly, we're going to have to employ a gradiated series of non-standard jump points to get in close.  There's a small jump point forming in two days approximately 100 k-clicks from New Vandenburg proper that'll last for about 6 hours that I've designated Point Alpha, and a larger and more stable jump point that will last for about another month about 900 k-clicks out midway between New Vandenburg and the system's seventh planet which'll be Point Bravo.  We're going to employ both of them.

Jaffray gestures to the projected holographic image of New Vandenburg and the immediate system.  "New Vandenburg has two satellite moons - Locke and Jefferson.  Jefferson has a radical elliptical orbit that makes it unsuitable for anything but automated mining.  Locke, however, poses a substantial threat to the invasion force.  It's home to an underground fighter base that houses a Division of AreoSpace Fighters - about 58 craft, for those of you not up on your Perif-related terminology.  Knowing Taurians, about three-quarters of those are going to be attack birds, and it's a good bet they've got a nuke or twelve in those weapons lockers.  Since the invasion force utilizing Point Bravo is going to end up having to fly right past Locke on the way to the planet with the way the orbital mechanics work themselves out, we have to neutralize that base before the rest of the invasion can proceed.

"That's where you all come in.  While the remainder of the 741st is going with the invasion force to secure beachheads on New Vandenburg, Echo Company is going to secure the fighter base.  Your Mechs are being moved over to the Gwain, which will transfer itself over to the Starlight Intruder - which is the only non-WarShip in the task force equipped with a Lithium-Fusion battery system.  TheStarlight Intruder will make a jump to Point Alpha, drop you off, and then jump back out to our station here.  When she reports back in, the remainder of the invasion force will jump in to Point Bravo.  The Gwain will orbitally deploy you onto Locke's surface within a few klicks of the base and ground herself in a valley nearby.  You will advance upon the base and destroy all organized resistance.  Expect about two lances of light Mechs and a smattering of vehicles sealed against vacuum.  There are some static defenses, but mostly geared toward areospace point defense.  Once resistance has been wiped out, you will advance upon the base cooling array and destroy it, which will force a SCRAM-shutdown of the base's power systems and lock down the base.  Secondary targets will be the launch bay doors, just in case.  There are six ID'd doors, and there may be up to ten.

"Don't stop to take prisoners on this one, by the way.  I'm not saying go out of your way here, but the priority is the cooling array.  You're safeguarding the entire flank of the invasion force here, so speed is of the essence and don't screw up.  Copies of the briefing are available for download to your Personal Data Arrays.  I HIGHLY recommend you peruse it.  Questions?"

[Death or Glory]

As a note to everyone else, the briefing document attached to Rob's post contains additional information about this mission and it is not just a .doc version of his post.

[phlop]

Major Jaffray, I heard the part about no eyes-on since June 2765, but are there any maps from before that time? It would give us a chance to look over the ground we may have to cover. I know it may have changed as far as installations and fortifications, but the lay of the land should be fairly close as to what it is now. 
Also, was there ever a fortification that was built here or was it just a open airfield, like a drop port?

[Knightofargh]

*Sgt. Marshall looks up from his PDA and turns slightly green*

Micro-jumps Major?  I'll be fairly useless for a while after jumping in.  How long of a drop time will I have to recover?

(OOG: TDS works how in AtoW?)

[Death or Glory]

(OOG: TDS works how in AtoW?)

Basically you're unable to take any action for 20-BOD minutes and then suffer a -1 penalty to every check you make for the next 3d6 hours.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Major Jaffray, I heard the part about no eyes-on since June 2765, but are there any maps from before that time? It would give us a chance to look over the ground we may have to cover. I know it may have changed as far as installations and fortifications, but the lay of the land should be fairly close as to what it is now.  
Also, was there ever a fortification that was built here or was it just a open airfield, like a drop port?

(OOG: "Easy" Career/Soldier [INT] Skill check for detailed information.  TN 6.  Roll 2d6=7+3 (skill)+1(easy difficulty)=11.  Extraordinary Success.  Benefit: gain add'l info re: terrain.)

"The ground is fairly barren, Sergeant, with several stretches of flat surface and some large craters from impacts.  There's a trace atmosphere, but nothing really that matters, so there's naturally no vegetation.  There is a near-equivalent, however; several areas of large basaltic columns that stretch from 5-12 meters above ground level.  You can move through them, albeit slowly.  Tactically, consider them more-or-less like heavy woods in terms of impeding enemy movements or lines of fire...they're near-equivalent density.

"As for the areodrome, almost all of it is underground to defend against orbital strikes.  There's several pylons aboveground that mount defense turrets, and a few small buildings that we believe house elevators for ground defense units to deploy to the surface.  The launch doors are built into the bases of several craters in the area.  The area isn't really fortified, the ground does a fine job of doing that regardless.  But that works against them too - by shutting down the power and blowing the doors, they'll be totally unable to get above ground with their fighters.

"Does that answer your question?"

(OOG GM: We're going to be using several of the "crater" maps, and some of the very open maps with just woods and flat plains on them.  Perhaps something with a mountain.  All woods on the maps will be considered these "basaltic forests".

*Sgt. Marshall looks up from his PDA and turns slightly green*

Micro-jumps Major?  I'll be fairly useless for a while after jumping in.  How long of a drop time will I have to recover?

"From emergence to drop, you'll have about 25 minutes; the Starlight Intruder is coming out almost in orbit over Locke.  You should be feet dry thirty minutes after emergence, so you're going to have to suck it up."

(OOG GM: Wasn't somebody saying that there wasn't a point to TDS in a BattleTech campaign - that it'd never come up?  Lol.)

[Knightofargh]

"Gee thanks boss. I'll brief our mechanic to have a hose ready for when we get back. I shouldn't manage to flood the cockpit at least."

*Marshall glances back at his PDA and requests a full gauss slug load, extra sport drink and barf bags*

[agustaaquila]

Major, can we get our hands on the last know garrison report?  Barring that, can we ask intel for reports of what Taurian factories are geared to produce, and what mechs and combat vees they have been importing?

[phlop]

Major, My math skills aren't the best. Reading the briefing, the g rating of the moon is .4. So my Ostroc will walk 12 on this piece of rock?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Major, can we get our hands on the last know garrison report?  Barring that, can we ask intel for reports of what Taurian factories are geared to produce, and what mechs and combat vees they have been importing?

Garrison reports would be hopelessly out-of-date by this point.  Being Taurians, though, I'd expect to see lots of the "bug" Mechs - Locusts, Stingers, and Wasps - with a smattering of Commandos.  Medium-wise they don't have much: Vindicators, Griffins, and Shadow Hawks mainly.  On the Heavy end, they've got several manufacturing plants for Warhammers, Thunderbolts, Marauders, and a few Archers.  Being Perifs, they've got next to nothing in the Assault class, a few Awesomes, mainly.  Practically all of it'll be low-tech, of course.  

"Vehicle-wise, across the board the Taurians have a pretty even mix of standard missile carriers, Scorpions, Vedettes, Manticores, and Rommels.  I'd expect to see the vehicular mix trending toward the heavy end of the scale on this op, to make up for the preponderance of light Mechs.

Additionally, yes, your Mech will be able to walk at near-on 120kph...but be aware that your internal structure isn't built to withstand that kind of stress.  It'll be pretty easy to step wrong and buckle the frame, and then you'll be in all kinds of trouble."

(OOC GM: There is a reference to a "Low-gravity piloting modifier" in the low-gravity rules in TacOps...that is detailed nowhere else.  I'm in contact with TPTB to track down what this is, exactly.  Basically, if you move more than your normal running MP in a turn - Phil, more than 8 hexes - you have to make a modified PSR or take damage directly to your IS.  It's NOT a straight-up PSR, so be cautious about moving huge distances.  I worded it poorly in the download I linked above: "all relevant modifiers" include the low-gravity modifier.  The one I've got in there is as best as I can figure from clues in the text.  And before people ask, yes, target movement modifiers are "as normal".)

[Death or Glory]

(OOC GM: There is a reference to a "Low-gravity piloting modifier" in the low-gravity rules in TacOps...that is detailed nowhere else.  I'm in contact with TPTB to track down what this is, exactly.  Basically, if you move more than your normal running MP in a turn - Phil, more than 8 hexes - you have to make a modified PSR or take damage directly to your IS.  It's NOT a straight-up PSR, so be cautious about moving huge distances.  I worded it poorly in the download I linked above: "all relevant modifiers" include the low-gravity modifier.  The one I've got in there is as best as I can figure from clues in the text.  And before people ask, yes, target movement modifiers are "as normal".)

The TacOps errata on the official site indicates there is a +1 modifier to piloting skill rolls for each full .5 G that the gravity is above or below 1 G for expending extra jumping MP.  The errata also removes the reference to "appropriate modifiers for low gravity."  The section on damage from running/flanking mp states that the piloting skill roll is "appropriately modified for relevant conditions," but doesn't specifically reference any low gravity modifier.  As such, as best as I can figure it for this scenario, there is a +1 modifier to making piloting skill rolls for expending extra jumping mp, but no modifier to making piloting skill rolls for expending extra running mp.  Also, according to TacOps, the penalty to ballistic and missile weapon attacks would be +3 for this scenario, not +2.

[Darrian Wolffe]

The TacOps errata on the official site indicates there is a +1 modifier to piloting skill rolls for each full .5 G that the gravity is above or below 1 G for expending extra jumping MP.  The errata also removes the reference to "appropriate modifiers for low gravity."  The section on damage from running/flanking mp states that the piloting skill roll is "appropriately modified for relevant conditions," but doesn't specifically reference any low gravity modifier.  As such, as best as I can figure it for this scenario, there is a +1 modifier to making piloting skill rolls for expending extra jumping mp, but no modifier to making piloting skill rolls for expending extra running mp.  Also, according to TacOps, the penalty to ballistic and missile weapon attacks would be +3 for this scenario, not +2.

GM: Just got that answer over there too.  I have a 1st printing TacOps without the included errata.  Boo.  Be aware, however, the piloting skill roll modifier for low gravity DOES apply to Running - it is a relevant conditional modifier, as you'll be in low gravity during the entire scenario.

The modifier for ballistic and missile weapon attacks that I quoted is accurate.  +2, not +3.  Your Techs are deliberately adjusting the battle computers to compensate for the low gravity.  Enjoy!

[Death or Glory]

The modifier for ballistic and missile weapon attacks that I quoted is accurate.  +2, not +3.  Your Techs are deliberately adjusting the battle computers to compensate for the low gravity.  Enjoy![/color]

Will the Taurians be at +2 or +3 then?

[agustaaquila]

The modifier for ballistic and missile weapon attacks that I quoted is accurate.  +2, not +3.  Your Techs are deliberately adjusting the battle computers to compensate for the low gravity.  Enjoy!

Does this mean that I can make a technician/mech roll to further reduce the penalty at a risk of a low roll meaning that i get the full +3?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Will the Taurians be at +2 or +3 then?

Whether the Taurians have a +0, +2, +3, or +15 penalty is something you'll have to find out in-game.  However, be aware that they are garrisoned here and have had plenty of time to acclimate themselves.

Does this mean that I can make a technician/mech roll to further reduce the penalty at a risk of a low roll meaning that i get the full +3?

Yes you can.  Normally, I'd "black box" the mechanics, but I want everyone to get to see how they work.  I won't always type everything out like this.

If you'd like to try to reduce the penalty by another 1 point, it's going to be a "Very Difficult" attempt (the roll the Techs did already was "Difficult").  Your base TN for Technician/Mech is 9 (because it's a Complex/Advanced Skill), and you'll have a -3 penalty because of the difficulty.  You'll get a further +1 bonus to the roll because you'll be working in "good conditions", and you have a skill bonus of +3 with no attribute modifiers.  So, in the end, you'll need to roll an 8 or better on 2d6 to succeed.  A Margin of Failure (MoF) of 4 or greater will undo the work the Techs have already done and you'll have the full +3 penalty.  You have time for one attempt.

If you'd like to try to reduce the penalty to 0 (2 points), it'll be an "Extremely Difficult" task, with a -5 modifier instead of a -3.  All other mods (including the information re: MoF) remain the same.

Do you wish to try?