36 replies to this topic

[Xythius]

Greetings fellow Mechwarriors.

I am looking for some helpful advice from some of you BT veterans out there. I am beginning my odyssey into the BT universe. A very good personal friend of mine, Rush Maguin, is helping me into the game. We have several years of Warhammer 40k under our belts and we have had our fill of that whole system. And I have agreed to take our eternal rivalry into his wheel house.

We are very RP oriented when it comes to our TT gaming, going so far as to write battle reports of our exploits in 40k and even putting it up on some 40k related forums. We created our own characters, etc., and made it much more than just mini's on a table and rolling dice.

We are going to recreate that here in BT.

A bit of backstory for me and why I'm here. I fell in love with the Timber Wolf when I saw it splayed across the cover of the MW2 game, back in the mid-late 90's. I was a teenager who knew nothing of the world of TT gaming and had no idea that MW was tied in anyway to BT. I moved from OK to PHX and entered the world of TT gaming through 40k. There I met Rush, where I found a kindred spirit in my desire for gaming to be more than just the table, some dice & some good-natured trash talk, as I already described. He told me about BT, and when I found out that the Timby was part of BT, I knew I wanted in. He gave me TRO's, Era Reports and the Total Warfare rule book to help get me started. I knew I wanted to go Clan Wolf, so have been devouring their lore and literature to help me get more into the universe and immerse myself in the story. Which, brings me to my main point.

He has a plastic Timber Wolf from a boxed set he recently purchased. He has 'offered' it to me, via Trial of Possesion (already starting our RP ). He is allowing me the use of the mini for the game. He will be bringing his MAD II 6D and I will be using the Timber Wolf Prime, in my bid to win said miniature. I have played all of one game (against him) and though I came out victorious, it was more of a 'these are the rules and how they work' sort of experience.

As I mentioned, he is a veteran of more than two decades of BT & I know from experience through our 40k battles, he is a crafty, tactical player. And he will not be pulling any punches when it comes to this. I am looking for any sound tactics, or advice of any kind to help me in this Trial. What are his strengths with the MAD II 6D? What are my strengths with the Timby Prime? What are the weaknesses of both and how can I minimize mine & capitalize on his? To offset the 35 year difference in tech levels, he is allowing my pilot 3/3 vs. his 4/4.

Any help or advice is appreciated so that I may claim my prize.

Edited by Xythius, 04 January 2015 - 08:00 PM.

[Rush Maguin]

Hello. I'm Rush Maguin, and I'll be representing the Inner Sphere in this fight.

For the record, he means I'm granting him a 3/3 gunnery, not 7/7. I'm taking standard IS and he's taking closer to Clan Standard. I promise you I wasn't goading a new player into taking a 7/7 gunnery.

Revving up the Marauder II for now. Let's see if any Clanners can advise you, archenemy...!

[Xythius]

Edited to reflect the skill points. Forgot how they worked.

[Pht]

Once you get a hold of the basic combat system it's easy stuff to remember. Basic addition for things that are harder to hit, subtraction for things that make it easier to hit ... for your ... TO HIT!

Than there's the second part of damage resolution, the "what gets hit."

After that, it's all math for applying the damage and seeing what gets blowed up.

Keep your to-hits lower than his, force his higher than yours, and try to concentrate your fire on his soft spots, and you should be OK. Of course, he'll be doing the exact same to you!

Just an IMO, trying to hit targets with a total to-hit modifier of 7 or more generally (again, IMO) represents the beginnings of desperation. 6's and lower generally mean, you're going to hit something. 8s and up are purer and purer desperation shots.

Oh. DON'T DFA (jump on his head). That's a last ditch "I'm gonna die anyways" attack, for when you wanna go out with a bang.

Check your Private Message Inbox. When the game's over, share the links with Rush.

Edited by Pht, 04 January 2015 - 09:00 PM.

[Mech42Ace]

I'm fairly new to TT myself, so I can't offer you too much in detail, Though with those dual LRM 20's you can keep him at bay and stand your ground. wear his armor down as he's approaching and then destroy some components with the medium/large lasers.

As he's only got medium range weapons.

I geuss that's all I can give you, but have fun and go win that Timberwolf!

[Rush Maguin]

I'd give you tips myself, but you ARE the enemy, you know.

[Xythius]

Rush Maguin, on 05 January 2015 - 07:05 AM, said:

I'd give you tips myself, but you ARE the enemy, you know.

By giving me tips, you would just hope to push me into an advantageous situation for -you-. I am on to your crafty ways, Stravag.

[Rush Maguin]

Digest all the advice you can, Clanner. In the end it's going to be between the two of us, as always!

[Mech42Ace]

So um anyways who one?

[Xythius]

Mech42Ace, on 05 January 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

So um anyways who one?

Battle does not happen till Friday.

[Rush Maguin]

He's trying to balance my 25 years of experience with the game with your collective advice and suggestions beforehand. By all means, lend him a word....

[Risen]

so setting is:

Timberwolf prime
3 gunnery
3 piloting

vs

Marauder II 5A (I believe?)
IS standard pilot
4 gunnery
5 piloting


So first:
Since you want to go Clan, you will dispise melee combat for the beginning (even as your piloting skills are perfect for it).

If you play on the 2 basic maps (and no other wierd maps) I would recommend to stay on range.
Check the distance bands on your ER-larges and your LRMs and compare them with his ER-PPCs and his LBX-10.

You might be able to keep him in medium range for your ER-larges and put him on long range, giving him a +4 penalty on the roll compared to your +2.

Movement:

Since his base roll is higher due to his worse pilot this should help you.
Furthermore keep moving, either 5 hexes while walking or 7+ hexes while running.
Check the movement tables for to-hit-modifiers.
Walking generates a +1 for yourself.
Running a +2 for yourself.

5+ hexes moved generates a +2 modifier for him to hit you.
7+ hexes moved generates a +3 modifier for him to hit you.
get my point?

he has the worse gunnery skill aswell so he might start standing still to compensate that, and his movement points are much lower than yours (3/5/3 to 5/8).
He can't really generate higher modifiers for you than for himself.

Let's keep cover out of the way and let's do a little math here:
You run at 7+ hexes
he stood still
range is at medium for your er larges, and long for his er ppcs

you hit him at: 3(gunnery)+2(range)+2(your own movement) = 7
he hits you at: 4(gunnery)+4(range)+3 (your movement) = 11

Heat:
You have 15 double heat sinks causing you to cool down 30 points of heat a round.
Your 2 ER-larges generate 12 heat a piece, thats 24.
A LRM 20 generates 6 heat a piece.

Totals to 30 plus 1 if you walk or 2 if you run.
You should use this weapon combo until you reach 4 heat on range, don't go on 5 since you will loose movement points and they are important for you to live!

When he gets closer (he will at some point) do not rely on your ER-larges, go for 2 LRM20s (they dont have minimal range) and your 2 er-mediums + 1 medium pulse.
Fire your machine guns at leasure if you want to
2 LRM20s 6 heat each = 12
2 ER meds 5 each = 10
1 med pulse 4 = 4
= 26 heat and you can do this all day long if the range suits you (just do the math every round, your friend should give you time for that, he will be able to do this sleeping)


Damage and armor:
yes he weighs 25 tons more and has about 7 tons more armor but he has the biggest weakness in all of the history of Battletech, the IS XL engine.
Take off a side torso on that brute and it's down!

If he kills your side torso you generate 10 extra heat per round but since you loose half your weapons anyway you don't really care.

He also has the higher possibility to fall after taking 20+ damage a turn.
A fall costs him another 10 points of armor each time.


Oh yes, and try to avoid melee!
His kicks do 20 damage on one leg, that hurts!
Don't forget that he can jump!

Do not get yourself cornerd on the map, avoid him early and keep moving.
Wear him down, might be boring but can work.

All still depends on initiative luck rolls.
If you loose too often on the initiative concentrate on keeping the distance and use cover and get ready for a good move next round.


Have fun and good luck winning your little timber wolf

Edited by Risen, 08 January 2015 - 07:34 AM.

[Nebfer]

Tactics will depend on the size of the map and units chosen

I believe that your opponent is using a Marauder 6D it has 2x Light PPCs, 2x Snub nosed PPCs and a RAC-5,. It packs a potent close in punch, but keep in mind that the longest ranged weapons are it's light PPCs which have a range of 6/12/18, the Snub nosed weapons are 9/13/15 and the RAC is 5/10/15. On the other hand your Timberwolf Primes 2x ER Large lasers have a range of 8/15/25, the LRMs 7/14/21, ER Medium lasers 5/10/15 and the Medium Pulse laser 4/8/12 (if your using the MGs in a mech fight somethings gone wrong).

First off your Timberwolf is faster at 5/8 compared to the Marauder 6Ds 3/5/5, it however can jump as far as it can run so that is something to watch out for, particularly in rough terrain. Regardless your faster than him so if the map is fairly open you can easily keep your distance, though on smaller maps and built up terrain (I.e. forests, buildings, cliffs & Hills) this can be more difficult to do. The Range you need to try to stay at is above 12 hexes preferably 14 and 15 hexes, 14 hexes is medium range for your LRMs and ER Large lasers but long range for all of his weapons, and you have the better gunner.

By staying at 14 or 15 hexes you limit the amount of fire he can send at you, while maximizing your fire (as your at medium range and hes at long range). What you do not want to do is allow him to get to within 9 hexes if you can at all help it, that is where he is at short range with his snub nosed PPCs, which is also the most powerful range for these weapons (they have a damage drop off at loner range). Though if you can do so you could try to stay at a range of 19 or more and be completely immune to his return fire.

[Pht]

Progress report?

[Risen]

any results?

[Karl Streiger]

as said - keep moving - keep at range - take shots of chance with your ER-Large Laser all the time - but watch heat.
With good to hit mod - saturate him with LRMs

don't get close - even when your alpha has more punch than his - he can play the game longer.

[Xythius]

Well, as it turns out. I won. I was able to keep him at range for the first several turns, allowing two turns of un-answered fire. First turn I hit him with ~36 missiles and two ERLL's and second turn much the same. On the third turn, he was able to get into range with his AC and light PPC's and did significant damage to my cockpit - only one point of armor left on it after that turn. After that it became a game of manuervering, both of us trying to get optimal firing solutions on the other.

In the end, my range ended up being his undoing as in most cases I was able to fire on him with a large majority (if not all) my weapons and he was rarely able to get me with more than two or three. I destroyed his right torso in the 7th or 8th turn, handing me the win. And I took home and painted my first Timber Wolf that night.

I have a Summoner coming in the mail now.

Edited by Xythius, 12 January 2015 - 07:08 AM.

[Karl Streiger]

well - interesting - remember me that i will force my son to win his miniatures in a trial of possession - (ok it will last some time - 6-8 years even when i gave him a City Tech "Javelin, Victor, TimberWolf, DireWolf, Nova and Kit Fox" for his first Mech experience.

[Pht]

Ah, damage output keep-away. The madcat does quite well in that role.

----

It will be interesting to see the after-action reports.

I am curious, what kind of a map did you guys use? Grasslands and open? Hills and forests? Urban?


----

So, Rush and everyone else: here are the links I PM'ed to Xythius

https://benhrome.wor...m/tag/strategy/

http://www.sarna.net...es/docs/guides/

Edited by Pht, 12 January 2015 - 09:32 AM.

[Xythius]

It was a pretty general map. Some hills, some forests & a small lake in the center. A couple spots of rough terrain too. Nothing crazy.