Warenwolf

Recently there has been an increase in email I receive from PGI/IGP. Latest was this:

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Further on it states that "You can unsubscribe at any time by visiting the "Content I Follow" section of our community here" - and then you are given a link you can follow.

I did so and got following message: "Sorry, we could not find any content you are following"

Fair enough - I don't follow announcement section.


Then I saw at the end of the email I received that I am given another option:

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I checked those settings and the relevant setting is already unchecked.

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Please stop spamming me. An email message will not make me rush back to game, throwing money at your company. On contrary I am starting to get annoyed. I don't give money to people that annoy me.

Newsletter is OK (because it may contain interesting information about your product) but ISN News Flash messages do not fall in that category.



EDIT:

Giving the further thought, I'll just block forums@mwomercs.com.

The reason I ask is that I am starting to run into same people (it feels like it) over and over again. And I only play now and then (tbh - the game have not lived up to my expectations, but I am still hoping that it will improve in 6 +/- months time)

So I am bit wondering if anyone has heard anything about how many "active accounts" there are in MWO?

I hope some kind soul will take some time to explain to me the following:


Below I am looking at stats for Trebuchet. I can see that he has two LRM-15 launchers. At same time I see that he has 8 LRM ammo (?) in left and right torso at 1 ton each. Does that mean that Trebuchet has 8 stacks of LRM ammo in CT and LT (16 in total)? Or something else entirely? Basically what I want to know is how many full salvos can a TBT-5N Trebuchet fire.





I am interested in this info because I am writing a short story for my own (and few others) amusement and would like it to be consistent with the canon as much as I can make it. I kind of figured out that people that are able to answer this would hang out at this part of forum.

I am wondering about buying the elite founder pack and I am wondering about advice on which of the mechs to go for?

To buyers of elite package:

What mech did you choose and why?


Stock stats for the different mechs:




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My way of thinking:

One one hand picking atlas will save you lot of C-bills (because you don't need to buy it once the game goes live) but on the other hand a long term money making mech seems far more important...

Well, here is my second attempt at a Mechwarrior story. First one can be found here.

It is a second installment in the Dogs of War series (nice way of saying that I am too lazy of coming up with a proper title of my stories.) so perhaps it will be better (no guaranties - read on your own risk).

The story is true to the canon, does not involve any famous characters etc, etc... English is not my first, second or third language. You have been warned.

Now about the story:

It takes place in Free Rasalhague Republic, two months after the declaration of the independence. The four mechs (a lance) have been sent to investigate "strange" sightings along the coast 50 kilometers south of Skalteborg, the capitol of Skalte IV.



Below you will find the first part of the story (1300+ words). It is also the 0.9 draft so I may change it in final version (as in changing the text but not adding or omitting events). If there is an interest for it, I may post epub or pdf versions of the story so you can read it on your phone or offline.




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Dogs of War

Tale of Anna

2. May, 3034
Miklasjö coast





“Keep up, Alpha 3!” captain Ingvar yelled at Johan, for the third time in the last half hour. The young mech warrior, fresh out of the academy, had once again failed to keep the proper formation with the rest of the lance.
“Sorry, Sir!”
“Thinking of Jannicke, brother?” Anna teased her absentminded twin brother over the private channel.
“Mind your own business, Sis”

The four mechs traveled on the little used road that once connected the now abandoned tidal power plant to Skalteborg, planetary capital of Skalte IV. The road was in bad condition, barely visible through the dense grass that was growing through the numerous cracks in the asphalt. The forest was getting less dense as they were nearing the coast and the sea could be seen through the trees.

The commanding officer of the four mechs, Captain Ingvar Johansson routinely looked around, checking the surrounding area, not trusting the sensors' readings. Nothing moved in the forest – not that strange because human settlers had not imported wildlife with them. Still, he was expecting to see an occasional forest worker here and there but the last group of people he had seen had been half hour ago.
He piloted the only military mech of the lance, the ancient Dervish. Rest of the mech were militarized agro- and forestry mechs, piloted by green mech pilots. The most junior members of the lance were Holm twins, Anna and Johan, barely three weeks out of the academy. Lance's second in command was a veteran soldier, Björn Hauge – however his service time had been in a guerrilla infantry squad as a machine gunner.

However, Ingvar was not too concerned over the bad shape of his lance or the fact that forest was unusually devoid of forest workers' activity. Their mission was to investigate the sightings of unknown forces along the coastline of Miklasjö. After centuries of struggle, the Combine granted Rasalhague independence two months ago, and the Kurita troops in Urasoe Base across the straits of Miklasjö were scheduled to leave Skalte next standard week, so it was unlikely that Dracos were acting up. In Ingvar's opinion, the sightings of unknown forces were probably byproduct of the combination of Himkok spirit intake and rich fantasy of the forest workers in the woods along the coastline.
The Skalte's valdherre was of different mind and had ordered mobilization of the planetary militia and sent the planet's only mech force to investigate the sightings. Ingvar was certain that valdherre was overreacting but he still insisted on the proper combat formation, something one of the Holm twins seemed to struggle with.

Ingvar sighed. He was getting too old for this. When he “went native” and left the mercenary work for a quiet life on Skalte with a local girl almost twenty years ago, he told himself that he would never go to war again. And then latest round of Rasalhague rebellions started and war came to his home. That war was over now but he really regretted that he had signed up for militia duty. Being planet's only veteran mechwarrior with military mech meant that he was constantly working, seeing his wife and their kids only occasionally.
Damn, at least during the Rebellionhe had some down time, he mused.

“Sir, I think I got something on my sensors,” Björn reported over the lance channel, interrupting his thoughts. Lazily, Ingvar checked his own sensor readings, replaying slowly the last few minutes' recordings. As usually they were acting up.

“Just ghost images, Alpha 2,” he concluded.

The entire lance had chronically under-maintained equipment of ancient vintage. Ghost images of contacts that were not there were frequent occurrence - if the sensors worked at all...

“I guess so, Sir”

Then the sensor and IFF readings went wild along with Ingvar's heartbeat. His sensors were reading several mediums along with an heavy mech in front of the lance. Ingvar realized that he would not get back to his home in time for the afternoon supper.
“Lance elements, ..” he managed to say over the com before his mech was hit by three autocannon rounds, slamming into his mech's midsection. His Dervish tottered backwards before crashing to the ground with smoke coming out of its midsection.

Björn opened up with his mech's machine guns, firing wildly into the forest. He managed to kill few infantry soldiers before his mech, a converted forestry design, was hit by four inferno rockets, transforming it into a superheated torch. He continued firing, cutting down one of the anti-mech missile teams. He lurched his mech in path of incoming Warhammer heavy mech. The pilot of the Warhammer guessed his intent and easily sidestepped Björn's mech that continued for few moments on his path before collapsing on the ground when the ammunition stores in his mech's legs exploded.

“Die uragirimono! ” the pilot of the enemy Warhammer yelled through the external megaphone as he finished of the prone Ingvar's Dervish with a PPC shot.

“What are we supposed to do!?” Anna was asked by her brother. The sensors registered now two full enemy lances powering on, one in the forest to the east of their position and one in the rocky beach west of the road.

“I don't know! Pull back! We can't take them on!” she replied, feeling increasingly desperate. Her mech was armed with six machineguns making it useless against “proper” mechs. The armor on it was of the makeshift type, effective only against small arms fire.
A group of enemy soldiers tried to attach magnetic mines to her mech's frontal legs. She instinctively lifted her mechs on it's rear legs before bringing her front crashing down on the enemy demolition team. Using her machineguns she lay down a withering rain of bullets on the rest of the advancing infantry, forcing them to back off.

She then switched her attention to another demolition team attacking her brother's mech. 37 mm tungstein tipped bullets killed the four men team instantly, tearing their bodies apart.


Several laser hit her brother's mech as he tried to reverse his mech, melting the makeshift armor plates and burning the insides of the mech. His four legged mech dropped on his rear legs. The enemy mechs were now in range.

“I can't move!”

“Get out!”

Her brother never managed to exit his mech – the 100 mm autocannon shell tore into the unprotected cockpit of her brother's mech. Slowly, it fell down with smoke trailing out if its cockpit.

Anna desperately tried to open a com line to her brother's mech, refusing to accept the reality of what she was seeing, “Johan? Johan! Johan, answer me!”

“Get out kid,” Ingvar's voice could be heard through the inter-lance channel. The old veteran had somehow survived the impossible. His voice was strained and barely audible “Nothing... nothing you can do for your brother. Run...Save yourself girl...”

With tears running down her face, Anna put her four legged into sprint mode. A swarm of missiles hit the ground where her mech had been few minutes ago. A pair of inferno missiles missed her by few meters, hitting the trees and the ground behind hour, creating a wall of flame between her and the hostile mechs. An autocannon shell hit her mech with glancing hit, still managing to rip away a large armor plate that had been bolted on her rear left leg.
Two mechs came running from her left side. Her mech's computer identified them as Cicada medium mech, a mech design she remembered from her academy classes.
She realized that her mech was not fast enough to outrun the two fast mechs. One laser bolt hit her right rear unarmored leg actuator, causing her mech to trip and fall on its side, rolling once over.
Dizzy from the beating her body had just received, Anna tried to turn her mech around and bring her six machineguns around to fire on the enemy. She did not notice the blood dripping from her mouth.
Just as she brought her mech around, the unarmored cockpit of her mech was bathed in the deadly light from several lasers.
With horror she watched the metal of her cockpit melt within one second. She started screaming when the now molten metal started dripping on her face.


End of part 1.



Go to the part 2 of the story.