A quick bio of my Squad:
Squad: Crimson Carnage
Commander: Celine "Trucidation" Aensland
Squad Leader: elite Saotome "Wild Horse" Ranma - Human Male, gunner (config: EC)
Squad Manager: ace Tendo "Princess" Nabiki - Human Female, flanker (config: EU)
Squad Mechanic: elite "Bodyguard" Bogard - Android, flanker (config: EU)
Squad member: ace Yagami "Orochi" Iori - Human Male, close combat (config: EH)
Everyone was on customised Medium Titans. Basically high output/heatreg, no flares/shields, good CPUs, basic jump.
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Wild Horse -- Succubus MK II (modified Incubus)
1x Heavy Meson, 1x Tesla Bolt --> 2x AutoCannon 7, 1x Pulse Laser
Princess -- Crossbolt (modified Crossbow)
1x LRM 6 rack, 1x LRM 9 rack, 1x SRM 4 rack, 2x SRM 8 rack, 1x Medium Laser
--> 1x NM 7 rack, 2x SRM 8 rack, 1x Medium Laser, 1x Pulse Laser
Bodyguard -- Crossbolt (modified Crossbow)
(same as above)
Orochi -- Claw MK II (modified Fist)
1x Tesla Bolt, 2x ChainSaw --> 1x Tesla Bolt, 1x ChainSaw, 1x Pulse LaserMap: no#5, Attack on The Commander's hideout
The mission kicked off with a declaration of betrayal by the kindly Major who'd been supplying the money. Ouch.
image: http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/896/tos1378kp.jpg
With the realisation that the Tritons airdropping right behind us were gonna be hostile, Wild Horse immediately ordered everyone to jump north into the cover on the ridges ahead. Sandwiched between The Commander's undoubtedly hostile and likely fanatical HQ defenders, and the Major's Tritons with orders to eliminate us, things were definitely NOT looking good. There were trees to the west and east flanks, but the ground seemed clear behind them. Nope, safer to camp the ridges, we'd most likely need to use them for cover.
Once again I cannot stress how important jump ports are, just perfect for omgwtf panic moments like these. Of course we'd prefer better jump ports, but needs must, and the current Titans just aren't heavy enough to support the stuff I'd like to put on them.
Tritons landed, then had to waste time skirting around the water. None of The Commander's forces spotted yet even though we'd made it up onto the ridges. Then at 0:50 into the mission, a confusing but welcome message indeed.
image: http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1931/tos1384yh.jpg
Notice the solitary hill just above the red cursor? Beautiful, it blocked the Tritons from pelting us from afar. You can also see the lone visible enemy Triton, a Corporal on a Sublimator, a small 40t Recon with a HtH loadout, drifting forwards on his jump ports. Orochi there in the picture has the shortest weapon range (check the Claw MK II's config, the furthest reaching is the Pulse Laser at 7 hexes max), so he really couldn't help except just sit there and scan them as they emerged. There were only two approaches, one at the middle where the Sublimator is charging, and the other on the east where the rest were running to.
Princess and Bodyguard made short work of the Sublimator, blasting it to bits with SRMs and lasers. Fortunately this was a cold terrain map (-0.5C/sec mod). The rest of the enemy, in left to right order, were a Lieutenant on a Dissolvator (Heavy, missiler), a Corporal on a Corrodator (Light), the Squad Captain on a Desintegrator (Assault), and a Sergeant on a Compressator (Medium).
Some time later...
Concentrated fire and a lot of luck allowed Wild Horse to take out the enemy Captain. Leader for leader; how appropriate. Best of all, the resulting blast catapulted the Corrodator out one hex behind, although the Sergeant wasn't hurt much. The other members of the Squad decided to move eastwards to assist the Squad Leader. The highlighted enemy there is the Dissolvator. He was busy pelting Wild Horse, and it was annoying. 4x LRM 6 racks = painful. No worries, the armor bays are nearby.
Famous last words. We received another transmission from the Major.
image: http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/3646/tos1402br.jpg
Another Triton Squad incoming? Better get into position quickly.
That was a mistake. A big one. I mean, this isn't your usual run-of-the-mill big mistakes. This was a Really Big One. Ranks right up there with Opening The Airlock Before Recompression Is Complete, or Cleaning Cannons Without Removing Live Ammunition, or Not Waiting For Reinforcements And Trying To Be Heroes. Guess where the second Triton squad airdropped? Not near where the first squad was dropped. Nope. Not even in the cover of the trees on the southern flanks. But right beside the eastern ridge where Wild Horse was perched. Right SMACK in his face. The Captain on his huge Desintegrator, with those twin Gauss Cannons and AC 20 (TWENTY?!!!) cannons, landed neatly on the adjacent hex.
Wild Horse: Crimson Carnage, this is your Squad Leader speaking.
Wild Horse: ...
Wild Horse: ...
Wild Horse: Nabiki... I love you. Goodbye.
Princess: Get off the f*** ridge you moron!!
Orochi: o_O;
Bodyguard: -_-;
The second Triton Squad had almost the same makeup, except that the other Corporal was piloting another Compressor like the Sergeant, not a piddly little Sublimator.
Crimson Carnage: 400 tons.
Triton 1: 40 + 124 + 194 + 70 + 100 = 528
Triton 2: 100 + 124 + 194 + 70 + 100 = 588
Combined: 1116
If the Dissolvator was using the regular 140t of a normal Heavy Titan and the Desintegrator the regular 200t of a normal Assault Titan, I'd have been looking at 550 + 610 = 1160t
What can I say about the rest of the battle? It was a riot. They outweighed us almost 3:1. It was like being in a street brawl. Wild Horse, being there right in their faces, ate BOTH Dissolvators' missiles. He did a southeast jump-charge to take out the Sergeant from Squad 2, which took him out of sight of Squad 1 (thankfully the Corrodator and Compressator were too far south) and away from the two directly north. He continued taking fire from the Corporal on the Compressator right east of the ridge and the Desintegrator, although Bodyguard and Orochi quickly flanked north to take it out. Orochi jump-charged the Corrodator and mangled the head with a lucky Tesla Bolt shot. Princess was too far away, being 2 ridges across, and only managed in distracting the others from Squad 1 by emptying her SRMs at them. Lucky break, she got close enough to climb the middle ridge where the Dissolvator from Squad 1 promptly began raining missiles at her instead (couldn't retaliate, SRMs out of range).
Orochi swung around the north end of the ridge smack into the Corporal on the Compressator's face and took him down with a couple of Tesla Bolt shots and some good ol' fashioned Chainsaw love. By this time Bodyguard had reached the massive Desintegrator's perch, and engaged it in a brutal mano-a-mano. High energy weapon skill + called shots - legs = win. Once he took the big guy down, he went after the head mercilessly. And crushed it to a pulp with a savage left hook. Finish him!
All this while, we could see The Commander's men occasionally, and once in a while a salvo of missiles flew overhead, coming seemingly from nowhere, and going nowhere (i.e. not hitting anything). Much like migrating geese, actually. It was kinda therapeutic to watch them fly by. That is, if we weren't busy trying to stop the Tritons from taking us apart.
The tide finally turned when we gibbed Squad 2, then camped the eastern side of the easternmost ridge, waiting for the remnants of Squad 1 to show up. Wild Horse, despite his entire right side red and the rest of him yellow (I wonder what colour football team is that?) felt well enough to participate in the closing ceremony. So there we were, crouched, 2 hexes away from the trees, while Princess went to check out the armor bays (since she was nearest).
Egads! They were duds! All of them! The only thing she managed to find were a bunch of lousy flares. In disgust, she fired them all off. Well, THAT was useful - they screened the perimeter. If we'd discovered them at the START of the fight, we might have managed to sneak off and run to the northwest and snipe from there. Much safer. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.
Two Titans from the remaining three of Squad 1 showed up obediently, crawling out of the trees straight into a 3-way gangbang between an injured and extremely angry Wild Horse, Bodyguard, and Orochi. It was the usual stuff; a couple Tesla / laser shots to the legs, followed by generous helpings of Autocannon and SRMs all around. To our disappointment, we didn't manage to blow them up. The final Titan remaning, the Dissolvator, took longer since the stupid bastard insisted on firing at The Commander's Titans way, way, way up north out of sight. They kept missing each other.
It was like watching the geese all over again.
He finally got stupid and closed in though, and was crucified in the trees just like the others. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to set the trees on fire, so the witch burnings would have to wait until the next mission.
