Orders from Count Dooku aka @Franze advised that the present readiness of the lance was not in a good enough condition to take on the 3 “skull” mission. Reviewing said mission it involved taking on an enemy heavy lance. I only have one heavy in my lance so I think Count Dooku’s advice was solid.
So accepting the 2 skull mission the briefing is as in the picture below. Travel will be to Ryan’s Fate system with a travel time of 20 days. Its a Martian environment, different than what I am used to. To be safe I think its best to choose my mechs that run coolest.
After the financial bashing in the last campaign which I cut short, I have decided to play with the payment sliders. Opting for a larger payment in credits with less choice of salvage.
Its time to travel to Ryans fate. Enroute mech repairs have also finished and all mechs are battle ready.
As I join the jumpship above the last upgrade to the Argo was completed. I have decided to upgrade the engines this time round. Not sure what benefits that gives me, but hopefully it will come in handy.
Departing the jump ship and arriving at Ryans Fate.
As I hit orbit, the next bill has arrived. Urrrgh
Whilst the hunchback seemed pretty heat efficient, I have swapped it out for a shadowhawk which runs cooler have mix autocannon laser and missiles.
Dropping into the martian landscape, it looks very nice if not foreboding. There are also dust swirls getting about which limits visibility. The mission is a two pronged mission. I am to make my way to the facility and defeat any contact en-route. Once at the facility the security team with the fugitive will deploy and I will have to escort them a short distance to a landing pad for them to be extracted.
The facility is not far away. Nothing on comms, but I have no idea if the enemy will attacking the facility so I make haste towards my objective.
Moving down a ravine I get my first sensor contacts off to the left and right. There is 3 of them in total, but I missed a screenshot or two in my haste to knock them out. Just to the left of the furthest right mech you can make out a dead scout mech laying on the ground.
The heat build up is noticeable but presently manageable. I try to conserve heat by turning off weapons that do not have a good chance of hitting. I am not sure if it makes a difference. But I have to fire through the dust storms that sits between me and the enemy. My percentage to hit seems lower than normal so if the environment does hamper, then very well done.
The commando to the right is doing a very good job sucking up my fire.
With death of the commando, we shift to the Jenner on the left and engage.
With the final blow its centre torso is destroyed bringing the Jenner to a shuddering halt.
The scouting group is defeated and the way is clear to the facility. I rush all mechs forward leaving a tactical spacing to escort the vehicles to the Launchpad.
As the vehicles appear, so do enemy contacts. Looks like they are coming from the other side of the ravine. I rush the mechs forward to position between the vehicles and the enemy. They will come, that is certain. Can the vehicles make the Launchpad in time… I hope so.
The enemy is a way away and as they march down the ravine, the trucks almost make it to the landing pad.
The line of 4 mechs are close now. They will pop into firing range any second. I only hope they cannot get many shots off at the vehicles. Maybe shoot at us instead. At the very least, I hope the vehicles armour is good.
I scurry to the bottom of the ravine at best speed. I want to engage them before the vehicles come into the enemies firing range.
The first into view is a commando. Quickly it is engaged
The rest of the mechs come into view. In total they are 3 lights and a medium who unloads his PPC at a vehicle. I squint expecting to see explosions but the vehicles armour holds. As I advance, my leopard class dropship has already arrived at the landing pad ready to receive the convoy.
Only a few enemy could fire with no deaths to our convoy. I guess they sprinted into range which meant they could not fire. Its my turn now. The conditions made for poor hit percentages but I did what I could.
Not satisfied with the damage output, I need to close the distance. Its time to get up close and personal. So an assault on the enemy line is ordered and mechs advance firing as they move.
the dust storm between us.
The enemy are fully engaged now and the convoy seems safe.
The battle rages on
A pesky commando won’t take no for an answer. With that a bit of physical tutelage may get the message home.
The commando, not happy with what just happened, runs behind my mech and shoots him square in the back. My heavy mech jumps in to provide a bigger slap the the enemy mech,
All that remains is the Panther.
who looses and arm
The panther hits rage mode and in a surprise attack lunges forward and melee’s my heavy mech !
Its a daring move, one which left the panther wide open. My wolverine hunkers in behind the panther for a huge sucker punch through his centre torso instantly ending the enemy.
Mission report.
Increasing the payment slider really helped. My bank balance receives almost two months worh of funds.
I did receive an injury of ten days though. Perhaps if the mission board has more on this planet, I can sit in orbit until the wounds have healed.
Good decision thanks Count Dooku !