Mission # 05: Let’s get those ammo containers off of the centre torso (CT).
Been reflecting on what I have been reading and spent a free hour yesterday tinkering in the Mech Bays and trying to get a feel (and remember) what I am fielding and what it can and can not do.
And sitting here a day after I am not sure that I remember any of it. I am sure that moved the ammo containers off the centre torso though, because at least one of my mech is out of service for a few days. In light of that I choose the mission with the least return as I will be fielding two light mechs and two mediums. I am being conservative which is a theme.
I opt for less salvage and more money as I try to make sure I make back the transport/transfer costs and get back above the 1M mark.
Here’s the lance makeup. I have a recruit in the spider to get some XP and my main character Darius ‘Funkel’ Something-or-other-I-forget in the BlackJack. Don’t be fooled by me dropping mech names as if I might have any idea what I am doing.
From the drop zone I see a few approaches to the target: fast down the road to the right, slower off to the left.
I end up choosing the left approach as it offers me some tactical options with a small butte to work around. Arrows show where I previous thought I would be going but as the terrain becomes more visible I am glad that I choose this approach. Still no sensor contact with the enemy.
I opt to spread my forces out a little with scouts on either flank and the main force holding behind the butte. I get a message about the enemy being away on patrol and that causes a little anxiety as I have no idea where they are going to show up. It would be nice if they appeared along a road or something but you never know if a game is going to do that or just drop 'em in somewhere inconvenient. In this case it looks like the former as a light mech (a Locus I believe) walks up the road.
Taking a moment to view the tactical situation from their POV hoping that this little lad is a scout working ahead of the main group. I like what am seeing here - my light (very light) mech is off the the right of the next picture (my left flank) at the top of hill. My other light mech is off to the left (right flank from my POV) is not in a great offensive position but it is in a nice place to harass the enemy.
As I double down on my positioning and use my left flank to try to take a look down into the valley the enemy scout take a moment to back slowly down the road. I like that the AI did this because I think it might be a smart move instead of just letting that gal go down in the volley of fire that would likely occur.
I back my medium mechs back behind the butte to hopefully deal with the main force as it becomes visible. I opt to burn some morale on ‘Vigilance’ thinking that I can move this mech up to quickly respond to the main force which I expect to show up next turn.
What I should have done was hold on to that morale and use ‘Vigilance’ when I was engaged to get the medium mech responding faster to a known and active situation instead of hoping that they would show up.
Instead, I get sensor contacts from my left scout as their scout pushes back into the engagement area. The enemy scouts, in my opinion, are spread out and in a position that might allow me to deal with them individually.
Short term plan then is to pound that forward scout into the road surface; saw some pot holes in the road that seemed to be Locus sized. ‘Glitch’ in the Vindicator and the right flank scout will take shots in that order (because Glitch is all eager after that ‘Vigilance’ call to hit something). I am holding my left flank scout to respond to what happens.
Not getting the hits that I was hoping for but, in honesty, the percentages were not great. This allows their Spider to climb the hill to the left and get in on the action. They must have the same percentages that I have though because they can’t really hit anything either.
Really want to move my Spider (left flank) up and stop their Spider but the hill must be preventing the mech-to-mech combat. I end up moving up, hoping that the evasion I generate will offer protection, and miss my shot.
I was hoping at this point that it would be 1v4 but instead I have to commit my last move of the turn to get ‘Frankel’ up in the BlackJack and try to get that ratio where I want it before they get to shoot again.
Whew. 1v4 means that I can hopefully limit the damage I receive.
Their Spider likes my moxie and decides to drop the gloves and get into a slap fight with my Spider. He does damage to my armour and my Spider … misses. I pull in each of the other mechs and end up missing most of my shots but get a lucky break and take out one of the legs of the last remaining enemy mech. It gets knocked over giving me the opportunity for some called shots. It comes down to the last mech to make if count and get that last leg off.
No significant damage to my forces, the group that contracted me moves in to occupy the depot and ‘liberate’ it’s resources. For a moment I head explosions and get the impression that the drop ship has landed on my right flank mech but no issues there.
My first salvage of any significance. I had dropped my choices down to 1 piece, opting for more money on the contract as the last action my lance was in was against vehicles. I was tempted to take the Spider salvage as it was possible that I might be gifted the additional Spider salvage which would put me closer to having an extra light mech. I end up going for the Jenner salvage as I was impressed with the weapons load it was able to bring to the field.
And I end up with the extra Spider salvage. Oh well 
