Fan Council OOC Thread

Started by Daemonknight, April 28, 2012, 02:21:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Arkansas Warrior

Quote from: Marlin on September 12, 2012, 04:54:36 PM
AW: Not sure if you were it, quite sure the Bears had a very good player for Tamar. It was a very important battle. Well, if it was you, then I am wrong. The very much overbid was definitely there.

I remember our Blood Name Tournament. That was some nice RP-Action. I would vote for this. :)
No, I'm thinking of a botched attempt to claim Rasalhague.


The Bloodname tourney was quite a lot of fun, as I recall, though I have no idea how it turned out.  I'd happily participate in a new one.

Marlin

True, it would have been Rasalhague, perhaps. Sheesh, its been so long. ;)


FoxxItal

Quote from: Arkansas Warrior on September 12, 2012, 07:10:32 PM
Quote from: Marlin on September 12, 2012, 04:54:36 PM
AW: Not sure if you were it, quite sure the Bears had a very good player for Tamar. It was a very important battle. Well, if it was you, then I am wrong. The very much overbid was definitely there.

I remember our Blood Name Tournament. That was some nice RP-Action. I would vote for this. :)
No, I'm thinking of a botched attempt to claim Rasalhague.


The Bloodname tourney was quite a lot of fun, as I recall, though I have no idea how it turned out.  I'd happily participate in a new one.

Don't think of it as botched, Think of it as a glancing blow  ;D

Fatebringer

Your reminiscing has no details :P I haz no idea what you speak of  :'(

Parmenion


Horse Alliance - Leadership and Politics

The leader was of course, the Khan who at the end of the game was Khan Cameron Dudzinsky.  Piloting bloodline of course, given the Outworlds focus on all things not walking or on trackpads.

Breakdown was:
Khan:        Cameron Dudzinsky (Clan Homeworlds)
saKhan:    Tanya DeLaurel (Outworlds region)
Outworlds: Mitchell Avellar (Alpheratz)

In theory the saKhan is the second in command of the Clan, and the position is still in fact for purely Clan matters, but Mitchell Avellar was running the show in the Outworlds region from the political perspective, with the saKhan his second.  So the saKhan was second in command to two different people, but to also add a twist, in things military, the saKhan outranked Mitchell Avellar within the Outworlds zone. 

The Khan assumed the position via standard Horses practise, however I always envisioned that with the joining of the Outworlds and the Horses as one, the Outworlds would have a bit of a role in the whole process through Mitchell Avellar (and his successors).  I never really nutted down what the 'role' would be, but it could have been an additional 10% bloc of voting power for the Khan position to represent the Outworlds.

As to the heavy hand of Clan occupation within the Outworlds regions, that really wasn't an issue.  With the exception of the Onverwacht Province (specifically recolonised as a Clan run province), all the other provinces would be only lightly affected by Clan presence.  There are exceptions of course, such as Alpheratz itself and places such as Ramora (where the factories were Clan standard), but by and large large swathes of the populous could go months or even years without seeing a clan warrior.  Clan merchants they would see on occasion.

As mentioned Onverwacht Province was re-colonised to be a Clan province, and the Horses shipped millions of it's lower castes from the Clan Homeworlds to resettle here.  I even tracked the movement of our Potemkins going to and from these two locations prior to the 20 year jump.  Of note is that New Tamaron was specifically named and specifically re-colonised by lower caste personnel from Tamaron.  One of my long term goals was to have a secure place for Clan Coyote if they ever came back, with the intent also to offer them a place within the Alliance.  We even had listed down on our orders sheet that we took a pack of wolves from Tranquil in order to safeguard one of our old allies traditions. 

As for our traditional allies and enemies, we had the Wolves and the Coyotes for a while.  We obtained most of Tamaron when the Coyotes were Abjured and it was funny to see the Yotes use those Cloud Cobra warships that tried to interfere with the Yote exodus over Tamaron, as speedbumps.  What happened to the Wolves pretty much mirrored what occured with the Lyrans.  Strong leaders at the start, but then with a revolving door of new players, the Clan just went south.  But when Albatross put the big smackdown on the Bears when the Bears trialled for Rasalhague, that was for me not just the high point of Clan Wolf in the game, but epitomised how I saw Clan Wolf under Ulric Kerensky.  The end result of that trial was that the Bears were unable to trial Clan Wolf for Rasalhague for twenty years.  It's a pity the Ghost Bear stooped so low as to make a backroom deal with the Combine to obtain the place by default.  And that the Grand Council was too broken to do anything about it.

For our enemies, we continued our apathy towards the Fire Mandrills.  And cheered on their demise.  Not really sure what happened to the Kindraa Payne though.  As for the Ghost Bears, we had a period after the end of their initial attack on us (back around turn 5 or 6) when they killed Malavai Fletcher in a cowardly attack (thus instead of being the fruitcake nutter in canon, he ended up being a true Clan hero) of ignoring each other.  A change of player leadership brought a new beginning of peace between both Clans and even led to the Bears asking for our assistance to fend off a Combine attack and leasing us a holding the size of Tasmania on one of their worlds.  But then another player leadership changes brought things undone, and then came the Combine/Ghost Bears sham of Rasalhague.  It wasn't until Fate became leader of the Dominion that things thawed again.

As for all the other clans.  We had what I would call a business relationship with the Falcons.  Straight up and down.  We developed very good relations with the Star Adders from around turn 8 and continued this until the end.  With the Hellions, while we were not true allies, we had a good relationship with them.  Cobras were bleh.  The Sharks were up and down with the changing of leaders and the Vipers were the same, depending who was in charge of them.  We worked with them trying to regain their Homeworld territories though.  And it wasn't until the Ravens arrived enmasse in the IS that we started to associate with them.

As for the Inner Sphere... whilst we would have loved to see the Combine receive a royal smackdown, we acknowledged that the Terrans were the enemy.  We didn't believe it was truely necessary to annihilate them, but there was the need to destroy their combat potential.  We had a reasonable yet distant relationship with the Lyrans irrespective of what happened at Somerset.

Our focus though changed, once the Mandrills crossed the Tukkayid line and then the Mandrills and Falcons annihilated those Davion forces on that Lyran world.  To us, it stopped being a matter of defeating the Terrans and returning the Inner Sphere to the teachings of Keresnky, but instead we saw it as our forces being used to carve out bigger IS holdings for those two Clans.  So while we retained some forces within the region (never again committing numbers above the initial quantity required by a previous ilKhan), we started to accelerate our movement to the Outworlds region.  Which of course led to the Horse Alliance.

Focus of the HA was the defence of the Outworlds region, re-colonisation of abandoned planets and playing the ship building game like everyone else.  We initiated a 20 year non-aggression pact with the Federated Suns and held to it, and although not asked, sent forces to fight the Dark when they invaded the Suns.  I remember Fate coming across IC as quite skeptical when the Horses sent a message to the Davions on this.  Obviously one of our motives was to present the Horse Alliance as a good neighbour, however we also saw the Dark as being just that.  Either bandit caste who needed to be exterminated or the remnants of the Smoke Jaguars who hadn't had the decency to kill themselves.

Recaptured around a handful of Dark held worlds and returned them immediately to Federated Suns control.  Was setting up a force to retake Randis when the pause went into effect (and we then had the 20 year leap).  But it took a while to bring sufficient forces 'down' from the Outworlds region.  Copy of Dark forces on Randis was:

Cycle 44  5138  Randis IV  Planetary Garrison Posting +3  4 
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy Blue Keshik Transported Veteran Fanatical 9
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 401 Volunteer Cluster Transported Veteran Fanatical 13.25
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 401 Garrison Wing Transported Regular Fanatical 7
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 402 Volunteer Cluster Transported Regular Fanatical 13.5
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 402 Garrison Wing Transported Green Fanatical 3
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 403 Volunteer Cluster Transported Green Fanatical 13
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 403 Garrison Wing Transported Regular Fanatical 12
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 404 Volunteer Cluster Transported Veteran Fanatical 10.5
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 404 Garrison Wing Transported Regular Fanatical 6
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 405 Volunteer Cluster Transported Elite Fanatical 17.75
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 405 Garrison Wing Transported Regular Fanatical 18
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 406 Volunteer Cluster Transported Regular Fanatical 6
The Dark Ocelot Galaxy 406 Garrison Wing Transported Regular Fanatical 3
The Dark Dark Galaxy 503 Aero Cluster Transported Regular Fanatical 21
C Naval Star Weakness Davion (Block II) Mobile Regular Fanatical 12.75
C Naval Star Interdictor Wagon Wheel Mobile Regular Fanatical 9
C Naval Star Nova Hawk Dart Mobile Regular Fanatical 23.25
C Naval Star Jaeger Aegis (2372) Mobile Regular Fanatical 20.25
C Naval Star Alexander Avatar Mobile Green Fanatical 9.25


Horse Alliance - Military
The Clan Homeworld Touman component was exclusively Clan, although you would have seen individuals of Outworlds origin on places such as Tamaron or Niles, both of which were 100% exclusively owned by the Horses. 

The forces stationed in the Outworlds region was rather a mix.  You had Clan forces predominately in the Onverwacht Province, since that province was a dedicated Clan zone.  But you also had a number of clusters on or near Alphard.  Of interest was that the clusters stationed on New Tamaron were design adapt to Clan Coyote tactics and would have had a majority percentage of freebirth of Coyote origin.

Ramora Province was garrisoned by a Outworlds force totally equipped with Clan equipment and formed as standard Hell's Horse clusters (less protomechs).  Cerberus Province was the bailiwick of the Kell Hounds, and their forces were in the overwhelming majority there.  Mostly Inner Sphere stuff with a smattering of Clan equipment. 

Regular Outworlds units (all IS level 2 and some Clan eqpt) garrisoned the more important worlds, and the Outworlds Border Command had responsibility garrison the border worlds, predominately against pirate incursion.

There was also a Horse Alliance element stationed in Clan Star Adder territory, assisting their Touman in tank training.  This force increased in size once the Adders were attacked, and by the end three ground clusters and two aerospace clusters were enroute towards the Clan Homeworlds.

The Horses had a small amount of transportable ASF at the start of the game, but built up 16 ASF clusters (30FP per cluster of 150 ASF) by the end of the game (including the two aerospace clusters mentioned above).  Most of these were stationed in the Outworlds region.  Given their leanings, the Outworlds also had considerable numbers of ASF, as did the Kell Hounds, and these were stationed in and around the Outworlds region.


Horse Alliance -Naval
This is where I think the naval clans/nations had a distinct advantage throughout the game.  With warships costs so prohibitive, especially after the change to build values, if you were able to come into the game with a sizeable fleet, then you were well on the way.  If you had to build from scratch or a low base, then it was a continuous struggle, especially early on when you had to get approval from the GMs to build warships.  I got very frustrated when my PMs requesting to be allowed to build Warships flotillas were ignored.

Leaving aside Potemkins for a moment, the largest warship the Horses had was a Cameron, and we only had one of those.  For the Potemkins, the decision was made at the start of the game by the Horses leadership that the Potemkins would not be involved in combat, but because of their ability to generate MP, would be used solely for that.  I can see why the Ravens used their Potemkins as the core elements of mobile fighter swarms, but we just did not have the BV/FP to do this. 

The following is the starting points for the Hell's Horses at turn 0

Warships                  1,890,000BV  (equivalent of 126FP)
Jumpship                  390,000BV  (equivalent of 26FP)
Transportable ASF     720,000BV (equivalent of 48FP)

So the entire Horses warship force was less than 20% more than a single Snow Raven elite Potemkin.

By the end of the game, the Horse Alliance naval force had grown considerably, and we had 41 Warships (including 7 Potemkins).  We had 5 capital warships (McKenna's Nightlord or Black Lion).  We obtained the specs for the McKenna back around cycle 20 in trade with the Star Adders.  I really wanted to put fluffy dice on the bow of our McKenna's and call them Harrington class superdreadnoughts, but couldn't get away with it.   In saying that though, we had some crap warships, mainly from the Outworlds such as Barons, but within the context of the game, they could still be useful.

The Horse Alliance also had significant numbers of Mobile naval units, courtesy of those OWA air wings.  They were nasty!!  And them, along with the transportable ASF were the backbone of our naval strength for the majority of the game.  As it was only with the twenty year leap that gave us the timeframe to build McKenna's and a number of York class destroyers.




FoxxItal

*laughs* omg i remember Rasalhague Part 2, I'd have felt guilty about that, if during the combine steam rolling you guys actually HELPED, instead it was a "oh thanks for the planet, we're gonna use this to train some Out world alliance forces, let us know how the combine treated you."

Also to make up for that, We built you guys a leviathan Transport to help you guys move everything from the homeworlds, but then the forum swap happened and it got lost in translation.

...you never did give that planet back  ;D

Fatebringer

In the end, we got all the planets back ;)

Fatebringer

QuoteBy the end of the game, the Horse Alliance naval force had grown considerably, and we had 41 Warships (including 7 Potemkins).  We had 5 capital warships (McKenna's Nightlord or Black Lion).  We obtained the specs for the McKenna back around cycle 20 in trade with the Star Adders.  I really wanted to put fluffy dice on the bow of our McKenna's and call them Harrington class superdreadnoughts, but couldn't get away with it.   In saying that though, we had some crap warships, mainly from the Outworlds such as Barons, but within the context of the game, they could still be useful.

The Horse Alliance also had significant numbers of Mobile naval units, courtesy of those OWA air wings.  They were nasty!!  And them, along with the transportable ASF were the backbone of our naval strength for the majority of the game.  As it was only with the twenty year leap that gave us the timeframe to build McKenna's and a number of York class destroyers.

Woooow, you did have a nice navy! :) We made minimal ships with our jump forward money because we already had sich a big navy. Our "cheap" IS Ship were the Quixotes we picked up from the Falcons before the Lyrans flipped them on us. Unlike the Baron though, these are great little ships. Good Armor, Low Price and lots of Missles.

We started making large Air Wings out of the displaced Naval Escorts. We lost a lot of ships over the game and those Escorts had no where to park so eventually we started giving them their own formations while keeping their old Tactical Air Wing #'s. So for instance, the Gunzberg Eagles are formed from the 1st, 3rd, 24th, 50th and 62nd Tactical Air Wings. They came off of...

CSRS Snow Raven - Destroyed at Tamar (Later Salvaged)
CSRS Wild Swan - Destroyed at Tamar (Later Salvaged)
CSRS Kerensky's Hope - Destroyed at Planting
CSRS Drake - Destroyed at Sudeten
CSRS TreacheryDestroyed at Tamar

Tamar left me with a lot of displaced fighters when I lost 2 Potemkins. It's pretty much what started the reformation into their own Clusters. The recreation of the Gunzburg Eagles as an Elite 5 Cluster formation was Mr. JibberJab's idea. It was followed by Lum's Flying Tigers and Stephen's Starslayers. With so much space to cover and enemies all over the place, we created The Morrigan's Star, Nemain's Fury and Lugh's Langoleers as scout forces. While not large, they were small enough to use for Raids and Naval Recon. ;) The Flying Drakøns & Flying Kavalleri were made from the displaced RasDom forces. Still, we had 40 Aero Clusters (10 LF, 20 KF, 10 Transported) ready to react to the DCMS who was always an enigma. Never knew where they'd show up.

Fatebringer

LOL, after reading the old PM's from Mr. Jibberjab, I forgot he actually wanted to name us the Dominion Alliance instead of the New Dominion. :P Would have been one step closer to my Arctic Alliance ;)

Either way I had the New Dominion Flag all worked out. It would be the Triangle with the Celtic Knotwork but at the center would be an Ouroboros with the Rasalhague Wyvern on the Bottom Left side of the trianlge, The Ghost Bear head that was in the middle on the bottom right right and perched above on the north side would be the Raven.

Crunch

One of these days I'll get to play in a FGC that keeps going without crushing my soul...

How would y'all feel about something smaller scale if we're calling the main game paused?

Solaris VII (either during the Jihad or just games), post fracture FWL, Pentagon Campaign, Nueva Castille versus Ummayad Caliphate or even bandit kings on Astrokhazy would all have fewer factions to deal with and concentrate the player base...

Or a merc game of some kind...

Arkansas Warrior

I've said before and I'll say again that I think a post-Reaving Homeworlds campaign (probably also including the Imperio and Hansa) would be awesome.  Wouldn't need but 6 factions, most small enough they could be run with 1 player.  I also like the idea of a post-breakup FWL campaign.  I'll like the idea even more if it could include the MH and MoC.  They're small enough it shouldn't majorly upset the balance of power.

Marlin

Thats what I am saying the whole time. ;)

Even one Planet like Strana Mechty with one Cluster of each surviving Clan would be great. Trial too often and your Cluster shrinks.

Or just start with the Bloodname tournament or any of your proposals. If that goes down well.. hm.. who knows.

Problem is, I have not played MM in.. years.

Iron Mongoose

Quote from: Crunch on September 15, 2012, 03:44:05 AM
One of these days I'll get to play in a FGC that keeps going without crushing my soul...

How would y'all feel about something smaller scale if we're calling the main game paused?

Solaris VII (either during the Jihad or just games), post fracture FWL, Pentagon Campaign, Nueva Castille versus Ummayad Caliphate or even bandit kings on Astrokhazy would all have fewer factions to deal with and concentrate the player base...

Or a merc game of some kind...

I'd be in.  The Astrokhazy kings thing could actualy be excelent.  With each faction literaly having only a company of mechs, we could MM everything directly away and track damage down to the ML lost.  Which could be a huge pain in the ass, but no abstract dice rolling BS, and with no hard data for anything other than when the Avanti's Angels were in town, we can make up as many or as few factions, as ballanced or as unballanced as we like.

But, yeah, a smaller game, with less book keeping and more game playing with fewer factions, that would be the best, and I'd be all in.

Crunch

Quote from: Iron Mongoose on September 16, 2012, 03:02:35 PM
Quote from: Crunch on September 15, 2012, 03:44:05 AM
One of these days I'll get to play in a FGC that keeps going without crushing my soul...

How would y'all feel about something smaller scale if we're calling the main game paused?

Solaris VII (either during the Jihad or just games), post fracture FWL, Pentagon Campaign, Nueva Castille versus Ummayad Caliphate or even bandit kings on Astrokhazy would all have fewer factions to deal with and concentrate the player base...

Or a merc game of some kind...

I'd be in.  The Astrokhazy kings thing could actualy be excelent.  With each faction literaly having only a company of mechs, we could MM everything directly away and track damage down to the ML lost.  Which could be a huge pain in the ass, but no abstract dice rolling BS, and with no hard data for anything other than when the Avanti's Angels were in town, we can make up as many or as few factions, as ballanced or as unballanced as we like.

But, yeah, a smaller game, with less book keeping and more game playing with fewer factions, that would be the best, and I'd be all in.

Actually for a company ish sized game MekHQ does an excellent job of handling repairs...

Bergie

I'm the strange one who actually likes BIGGER games rather than small ones :-P.  That isn't to say I wouldn't want to see a smallish game (ie: Battle for X planet), but I love the epic ness of full IS games.