Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH, Part Thirty-Nine

Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH, Part Thirty-Nine:

Next mission - a 4-skull clash of the titans between a Capellan Assault mech and... Someone else.

It in the badlands, so the lance would be the same as previously - Pseekie in the Overlord, Mylassta in the Annihilator, Alarhan in the Shortbow, Natasha in the Bull Shark.

The enemy lance was very close. A Hatchetman and a Cataphract took a couple of shots at Pseekie. Mylassta and the lance turned and ran, leaving the enemy to go and deal with the incoming enemy lance.

Time for a quick break, while the Capellans dealt with the pirates (off to their right...)

The paladins observed the Capellan lance had a Cyclops 10Q and a Javelin F, as the fight occurred just on the fringes of their visibility. The Capellans scored the first kill, on a 55-tonner, but the pirates destroyed the Hatchetman immediately thereafter.

The pirates destroyed the Cataphract and the Javelin in quick succession a few round slater, leaving just the Cyclops, in plain view of the paladins, fighting a battle against an unseen foe. It lost a torso and a leg, fell down, and then staggered back to its feet. The pirates seemed to have a lot of PPC mechs. Mylassta expected possibly a Banshee as the other assault.

The cyclops finally went down to more PPCs. Four to one losses; that was rather one-sided.

A mostly-undamaged Kintaro entered sight. Mylassta and Natasha took aim...

A Marauder, followed by the expected Banshee came around the corner. (No wonder they'd flattened the Capellans, they significantly out-tonnaged them). Mylassta and Natasha failed to successfully knobble the Marauder, bulwarked as it was, but it got a fair bit of damage.

Natasha dropped a thumper on them but that proved to be a mistake, since it just edged her into overheat for some reason. Good job this was more or less the last mission...

Mylassta dropped the Marauder and Alarhan moved up and cored the damaged Banshee.

Natasha was so embarrassed about overheating the Bull Shark. It took a great deal of careful handling by Lynessa to avoid her really getting into a state about it.

Kintaro for sale...

There was one last contract for Marik, but it was against the pirates, and Lynessa wanted to at least get to a Black Market before they did that.

So off to 2-skull Salardion - a world they'd not visited that was fairly close; and maybe they would catch the next flashpoint after that before it expired or if it restarted, but if not, they wouldn't...

First job would be to repair the Bull Shark and King Crab. The Awesome would be retired and the gear used to put on the new Atlas, which would do the Awesome's job, but better!

The new Smite would have no less than THREE ER PPCs, plus the Snub PPC, two tons shy of max armour, an ER small laser, jump jets, the ++Inferno and the ++Narc Beacon and thanks to all the heat exchangers and double heat sinks plus a few singles, ran at 78/80, even when firing all the weapons!

It wouldn't be ready for the next stop, but never mind.

Payday (60 days to go):

(Okay, so with this being a 2.5 skull world, I didn't care about the contracts. A quick analysis of the scoring indicates that it's not worth at this point doing missions for the sake of skulls for score, since it's not going to get maxed anyway and the reputations give more bang for the buck. So I settled for some passable ones and something actually meaningful in the black market. (I've basically given up hope of ever finding an intact Star League mech to buy for the double-heat sinks everyone else doing playthrough seems to have scads of - though that method. A saw a MAZ Bull Shark a couple of times, but even if I got the pirate rep up to max level, it'd still be all the cash I had for the sake of three DHS. So, yeah.)

Anja finally worked up the nerve to tell Vey about the letter. Vey read it and then sighed. "Oh dear," she murmured. "Anja, thank you for telling me and... Oh dear, this has hurt you rather more than me hasn't it? Well, don't worry. He was a nice enough boy I met, another paladin trainee, different deity, but he..." She paused. "He rather got himself a bit into the whole courtly love sort of thing, you know. Grand gestures and such, but that was about it. I think his idea of a date would have been just looking at me and spouting poetry, which was... Awkward. I did everything but be rude about it, he was kind of sweet, but he never quite seemed to get the hint. So I'm glad he's found another..." Vey resisted the urge to say 'target' "...ladylove, so you don't worry about it anymore."

Anja looked decidedly relieved.

The paladins arrived at Salardion.

FINALLY some luck in the store. A ++ ER PPC; TWO ++Gauss Rifles (but, naturally, only two tons of ammo, of course *sigh*), a ++ heat exchanger, a ++ Snub PPC and a +++TTS (for missiles) all of which Lynessa bought. That got through about half of their cash reserves.

Two contracts for the pirates (not worth doing), three for Liao (ditto) and two for Marik.

The first was a 1.5 skull convoy ambush against the local government,

Zuranna took the Decapitator, Mylassta swapped to the Rocket Shark, Alarhan grabbed the Phoenix Coil and Natasha remained in the Bull Shark.

As it happened, it was kind of pointless bringing the Phoenix Coil, since the colony evac point was right next to the lance.

The lead vehicle, still a blip, started firing at Alarhan about the time the girls realised that there was no-one to sensor lock. Oops.

A Thumper took care of the ECM vehicle (most likely a Packrat) and one of what had likely been a Striker. A couple of shots from Zuranna and Alarhan a piece destroyed the next two. The paladins could now detect four more vehicles (a mix of escorts and convoy like the front four) behind.

Natasha moved up, splitting her fire between an Inferno Carrier and a Galleon and taking both out. Behind them was an SRM Carrier and a second Galleon. Mylassta shrugged and did the same, but only destroyed the SRM Carrier. Zuranna's large pulse laser finished it off.

No significant salvage; Lynessa picked some now pretty irrelevant ++ gear and wished she'd just done it for the rep, it would have been more useful.

Next up, a polar base capture (2.5 skulls) again against the government. Summer took over the Decapitator, Natasha and Alarhan swapped positions, the latter swapping to the Rocket Shark as Mylassta got the Annihilator.

The enemy lance consisted of two Trebuchet 7Ks, a Javelin and a Locust.

Mylassta decapitated the first Trebuchet.

Natasha destroyed the first turret with the Ultras and damaged the Javelin with the rest of her weapons. Summer moved up, destroyed the Javelin's leg and her spotting allowed Alarhan to bombard the other Trebuchet with missiles.

The Locust moved up into sight and thus attracted a Thumper, which destroyed all three remaining mechs.

The light turrets went down very fast (Natasha took two out simultaneously), but to the girl's surprise, a lance of enemy reinforcements dropped in.

The Bull Shark spotted a Hatchetman and a Blackjack, plus a 30 and 35-tonner. Natasha lobbed her other Thumper on them to softened them all up. Summer closed in to reveal a Spider and Jenner. She shot the latter and Mylassta hit the Hatchetman and blew an arm off.

Alarhan switched off the sole LRM she'd used to finish the last turret and divided her other three onto the Hatchetman, the Jenner and the Blackjack, making rare use of Breeching Shot. No kills, but the further damage helped Mylassta drop the Hatchetman and Summer de-leg the Blackjack. Natasha moved up and slaughtered the only target she could see, the Jenner. Which left Alarhan to easily pop the Spider and Blackjack.

Trebuchet and a Jenner for sale.

Right, that was it for the planet! Off to the flashpoint at Bellerophon.

The Smiter was done, but about to be revised again, but first, Lynessa swapped the +5 dmg AC/10 on the Annihilator for one of the ++Gauss Rifles, putting on both tons of ammo (really, 8 shots was just not enough to make it worth using one of the other two they had...) While it was a ton heavier than the AC, it enabled the removal of a heat sink. (Actually, two, but Lynessa didn't want to add any guns or additional armour, so left the other for maybe if they got some more ammo...)

The Smiter upgraded one of its ER PPCs to the ++version and swapped the Snub PPC to the new one. This did less stability damage, but generated 10 less heat. With a little juggle of the heat exchangers, this now gave the Smiter a 72/67 heat curve, which meant it would only generate a single point of heat if it jumped AND fired all the weapons.

Lynessa considered putting the ER PPC left over on the Trebuchet, but it made the heat curve far too high.

And a 0-ton arm mode added to the Atlas for the sake of argument.

The Smiter was done!

So, once the paladins arrived at Bellerophon to do the flash point, there would just barely be time to go the Manthraka for the campaign flashpoint.

(We're definitely coming to the end phase now. A few reloads gave me three missions against pirates, and four for the pirates that I could use to cheese them off to bottom out the reputation now I'd bought the last load of gear, functionally, for this playthrough.)

Time to start the White Lies Flashpoint!

Davinder Singh was having problems with a group of mercs (Arslan's Janissaries) - Mylassta sniggered, "Arse-lan!" - who were attacking several Marik, families including his own, to bankrupt them. Getting shot of the mercs was a minor issue, the real problem was finding who hired them, and that Davinder was having trouble with.

The mercs were based from this planet, so the paladins were going to capture their HQ and find out who was behind the attacks by mining their data.

The temptation was to take out the Smiter, but this was a base capture in the badlands - so Summer in the Overlord, Mylassta in the Annihilator, Natasha in the Bull Shark and Alarhan in the Rocket Shark.

Natasha destroyed the first two turrets of the Janissaries' base with one salvo. Summer sprinted up to spot the next pair and Natasha and Alarhan neatly blew them up.

The Janissaries retaliated with... Four vehicles. Summer showered the now-visible Striker with missiles.

Mylassta lined up on it.

(Wait, what, Gauss rifles do HEAT damage now TOO?! Hahahaha, that's ridiculous!)

Funnily enough, the Striker died. Natasha performed another double-kill, as a short pace put her in sight of an Inferno carrier and a Shrek. That just left Alarhan to take a step forward and obliterate the SRM Carrier.

Wow, that was EASY.

No meaningful salvage, obviously.

As Singh's forensic team looked over the base, the paladins had a call from a "mysterious figure." He claimed that the information Davinder's team would find would credible point to house Steiner, but that this was a trap.

The mysterious figure was an information broker. He suggested that the paladins swapped one set of information for another, pointing to one of Singh's rivals, whom had a lot of rare salvage that the paladins could have some of if they hit him.

None of this would actually get the true culprit, though, and would likely lull Davinder into a false sense of security. So, paladin-y-ness said to turn down the offer (but obvious tell Singh his information was likely a trap).

The real target was quickly discovered to be one Murdoch Dhawan, a small-time extremist. He was basically just "anti-the-rich," so his attacks were nothing more than random violence, and the end goal of the misinformation was just to start a fight between Davinder and the equally "rich" Steiners. So time to go and wipe the little idiot out.

Okay, NOW was the time to test out the Smiter. Mylassta got dibs, so Alarhan grabbed the Annihilator.

Two lances of enemy mechs again, so Mylassta opted to again close on the furthest one. Which was a pointless exercise, since where the marker indicated they were turned out to be appeared to be was behind an impassable lake and they appeared finally nowhere near that location anyway. So when the paladins finally got some contacts, it was which five mechs, so probably both groups at once. And the lance was on a narrow strip of land.

A Jenner, two Trebuchets, a Vindicator and a Wolverine.

Well, Mylassta figured, no time like the present to ruin someone's day...

Surprisingly, the Trebuchet survived (which was a shame, since the Smiter was basically the Annihilator Plus, down to the three headcappers and the scattergun...)

Natasha moved forwards and spotted a Bulldog and a Hunchback as well. Five mechs in a cluster was too good a chance to miss, though... Thumper!

Alarhan played it safe and destroyed the Bulldog.

Summer, grumbling, was only in a position to shoot at the damaged Trebuchet, but at least destroyed it. For that, she got shot by every other one of the enemy units.

Natasha, moving towards the Hunchback, spotted a second behind it and a Shadowhawk moving up to engage as well. She didn't bother with aiming for the head, just cored the Hunchback. And then a Grasshopper rolled up. Wow, the enemy were really all coming in, weren't they?

Mylassta aimed for the Wolverine, as the target with the highest heat. As she blew its head off, though, that became a moot point.

Alarhan got the first Gauss Headshot on the Grasshopper.

Which was apparently NOT the primary target, okay...

Summer sprinted. She was hoping this would mean she attracted less fire, but apart from the one Trebuchet that shot at Alarhan instead, it merely meant Summer was HIT by less fire. Natasha fired the Thumper again, catching the Jenner (destroyed), the Shadowhawk, Vindicator and one of the Trebuchets, severely damaging them.

Mylassta and Alarhan concentrated fire on the other Hunchback, not killing it, but making it unstable enough to be knocked over for Summer's LRMs to CT-kill it.

Murdoch was apparently in one of the Trebuchets, oddly enough...

Mylassta headcapped the other one. Natasha vented heat and CT-killed the Shadowhawk. Alarhan obliterated the Vindicator.

Murdoch was undamaged, but on his own now...

The little crapper was determined, though, hitting Summer in the head with his PPC - JUST not doing any IS damage, fortunately.

Well, Mylassta wasn't having any of THAT!

Grasshopper for salvage...

The new Smiter proved itself VERY nicely.

The reward was some gear that was, at this point totally redundant.

Okay! Time to deeply upset the pirates!

(Watch there be REALLY GOOD stuff in the Black Market at Manthraka now...)

The MRB score was up at a thousand, so better to do the upset stuff first and then the other three missions for the 22 negative rep they could get out of that.

Three 1.5-skull mission and one 2-skull for rep only in which the paladins walked up, shrugged and went home made the reputation tank nicely (by 62 points!) It was cost them 5 points of MRB rep, but the screams of outraged pirates made it kind of worthwhile. (Mylassta might have enjoyed it a bit too much, Lynessa worried about that girl sometimes...!)

So, next were the missions against the pirates they could do normally, starting with a 2-skull base destroying mission.

Pseekie had been filling in for Summer this whole time, and for this mission Alarhan swapped to the Rocket Shark.

The first enemy turret - in that nasty high-walled compound type it was nice to be attacking for a change - died to Natasha's fire.

The enemy lance was a Javelin, Commando, Kintaro and Wolverine.

Alarhan split her fire to take out the LRM turret in sight and Breeching Shot the two lights. Summer ran towards the Kintaro, while Mylassta and Natasha obliterated the Wolverine.

(Oh, sure, now I'm attacking the enemy has USEFUL turrets to shoot, both rear ones being LRMS...)

Turning one's back on the Overlord to shoot the Bull Shark was foolish.

A Thumper took down the Commando. Surprisingly, the Javelin withstood the LRM barrage - but not three ER PPCs, a Snub PPC and an ER Small laser.

Then it was a simple case of levelling the turrets and the base.

Commando for salvage.

Pirate rep was now bottomed out!

Next, a polar 1.5 skull battle.

Bit of a "last ride" time; Pseekie took the Decapitator, Mylassta the Atlas, Natasha the Laser Knight and Alarhan the Stalker Barrage.

(It had been kept all this time, might as well be used!)

Well, this might be a bit of a non-ride, actually, as lance of hostile Canopians dropped in to fight the pirates...

The running battle went on, while the paladins stood there, watching. A pirate Javelin finally decided to stupidly attack the assault lance, so the Laser Knight cored it. The Canopian Panther did the same, and got a torso full of Stalker Barrage LRMs. This was apparently the signal for the remaining mechs - two Canopian Firestarters (out of flamer ammo) and a pirate Phoenix Hawk and Blackjack - to attack the paladins. And promptly get downed, one mech a shot a piece.

Javelin and Griffin salvaged...

Two-skull desert battle for the Canopians.

Luximai took the Overlord, Poppy the Fair Marauder, Vey the Bull Shark and Velina the Shortbow.

The lance lurked behind a ridge as the enemy mechs - a Crab on the far left, a 20, 45 and 50 tonner to the right - closed in. Vey dropped a Thumper on the 20 and 45 tonner and the light mech died. Poppy took a long-range shot at the crab. Velina popped up to brutalise the 45-tonner - a Vindicator, revealing the 50 as an Enforcer, which Luximai charged towards. It helpfully closed in and missed with its laser. So Luximai ripped the Enforcer's leg off and one more stomp finished it. A second barrages of SRM destroyed the Vindicator. The Crab ran close to once again completely miss Luximai, while Poppy steadily shot at it until the inevitable happened.

Crab salvaged.

Right, that was it for this system; next stop: Manthraka!

Penultimate payday:

As the paladins arrive back and Manthraka, that will be the end for today.

Manthraka is going to be the last stop. The only planets with in the remaining travel-time are less than 2 skulls, which is just grind at this point. Manthraka itself only has a single half-skull contract, to there's no point doing that. So the Manthraka flashpoint and the end of the flashpoint campaign will mark the end of this run.

(Probably as well, since it's JUST starting to get to the point where I'm starting to have had enough. At it will end with a nice round forty parts!)

I will probably do that tomorrow and/or Wednesday, depending on how long it takes to do, and to the conclusion, rather than drawing it out until Thursday.