OBT Forum
General BattleTech => Canon Inspired => Topic started by: Fenris on August 22, 2013, 06:03:50 AM
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Hi guys,
I've just completed the project I've been working on: a Fan-TRO supplementing the actual TRO 3145 Lyran Commonwealth.
I hope you enjoy it :)
DL-Link:
https://www.mediafire.com/?80lm2c9qexapfu3
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SKWEEE! New Fanbook!
Edit - And very nice! Sometime, I need to know how you did the RS.
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Thanks :)
Well... I used graphic editing software and basically did them by hand (based on Screenshots from actual Record Sheets). Combined with MS Word's goofyness, that's why they are not 100% identical in terms of format and positioning, but they should still work just fine if you print them.
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who was your illustrator? I may have some work for them.
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Rudy Valle (aka shortpainter), like it says on the very first page. ;)
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I feel like a goof
the Stats are not half bad, though Yggdrasil seems a little difficult to deploy in a normal order of battle, the Terror and Mammogram (intentional misspelling cause I think it is funny) are beautiful though.
The writing is about on par with fan work, it reads more like an internal memo then a document being presented by intel services to a chief executive or a military comittie.
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Well, the Yggdrasil is certainly not perfect and does have weaknesses, but its strengths are still worth it and compared to the original Berserker, no matter which version, it is still a huge improvement. I mean, it literally takes out a 95 ton mech's leg with a single kick. Combined with the amount of armor and still fairly decent speed, it should be a force to be reckoned with.
And yes, the Managarm and Terror should prove a pain in the butt. Steiner always had a tradition of excellent mediums, so I thought it would make sense to follow up on that tradition.
As for writing... I'm not a native speaker, so I guess it's difficult to reach the level of an actual professional native speaker author.
But to be honest, at least with the last official 3145 TRO, I was anything but impressed with the level of writing. In some parts, it seemed outright ridiculous. Also I didn't quite like new style for the 3145 series, meaning the focus on Battle history rather than the development process etc., so I tried to go back to the the style established with the 3075/3085 series.
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not being a native English speaker actually explains it a lot.
as far as battle history vs development history, ehhh six one way half a dozen the other I suppose. where TROs got dull for me was when under the capabilitiues segment the record sheet would be recited verbatum, so the change of pace we see today is at the least refreshing. Development history would be nice to explain the logic behind some design decisions. for example, and I am just making this up on the fly
"the 30mm autocannon on the jackrabbit was used to provide the mech with extreme range, making it a potent anti tank battlemech for the SLDF's standard order of deployment."
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Neat fanbook
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not being a native English speaker actually explains it a lot.
as far as battle history vs development history, ehhh six one way half a dozen the other I suppose. where TROs got dull for me was when under the capabilitiues segment the record sheet would be recited verbatum, so the change of pace we see today is at the least refreshing. Development history would be nice to explain the logic behind some design decisions.
100% agree on the last part. I actually tried to do just that, even though of course at least sometimes it's also more or less "reciting the record sheet" just for the sake of having a filler. But I tried to keep that to a minimum. Not sure though whether I succeeded.
And yes, the new "style" kinda has a thing to it, but personally, I found the 3145 TROs to be lacking in the terms of a report on the design development, which is unnecessary since most official 3145 TRO entries don't come even close to using up all the space on the page. Consequently, I tried to have both, the development report, as well as battle history (maybe not as excessive as the official TROs). That's also why the respective text page of each entry may appear to be bursting at the seams.
As for the rest... is my English really that bad? :D
I know, sometimes one more preposition, noun marker or whatever may have been beneficial to make the sentence somewhat more harmonic to the eye, but I had to consider how much space remained for the entry, so I was forced to cut some sentences down, but they should still be in proper English (at least to the best of my knowledge).
thx, Takiro :)
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:) Very nice Fan TRO!
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Don't worry. English is not my first language.
I will look at it.
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I'm impressed that each writeup is ~1200 words. [Edit: moreso now I know you're not a native English speaker. I'd never have guessed!] It flows pretty well, and doesn't have the choppiness that comes from trying to follow a bullet point outline, or from trying to condense previous writing.
Merging section headers was a good idea. Most of the entries have quite a lot to say about the design teams - I'd suggest splitting that stuff off into their own new section.
The Battle Histories look to me on par with the 3145 TROs. Rather focus on the blow-by-blow details of a boardgame fight, the way official 3145 stuff tends to, it'd be better to focus on the strategic movements and conditions leading up to the engagement, with only a sentence or two summarizing the engagement itself.
Stats are pretty straightforward. Listing each variant on its own page is interesting... it'd be helpful if the YGG-4H moved its M-Pods to the end of its list, to make its "Weapons and Ammo" easier to compare with the -4S on the previous page, but that's a very minor quibble.
And I like the art.
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Well, first of all, thank you for the profound feedback :)
Problem is, even though I finished the TRO, I'm actually kinda occupied with study work. So I never got around to play actual board games with these designs. I only managed to play a bit against the bot in Megamek and here the designs performed quite well.
But I consider revising the write-up once I have more time at my disposal (whenever that may eventually be :D).
Concerning the M-Pods... I followed the "rules" set by the official Catalyst TROs, meaning Right Arm first, Left Arm second, Right side torso third, etc.
So in that case there really is no room left to wiggle.
As for the art, yeah... I like it too. I think Rudy managed to realize my ideas quite well. At first it took me a while to get used to the different style compared to his Carronade from TRO FWL, but now I actually prefer the shading style.
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When I saw Yggdrasil I hoped for a new WarShip, what I got was something almost as tough as one.
Strange that the designs start at the heaviest and work backwards, for a start I thought it was a true Lyran TRO and only 100 toners!!
Overall nice designs, I've skimmed the fluff but what really impressed was the artwork very very nice.
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Well, the reason for the reverse order is rather trivial to be honest. Initially I only planned to release the Supplemental as a mini-TRO, consisting of only the Yggdrasil and the Nibelung. But after a while I decided to expand the TRO a bit and thus I wound up with with the reverse order. But I thought it to be alright as long as they are in some kind of logical order.
In-universe-wise the reason for the name (Yggdrasil) is mentioned in the fluff. ;)
From the meta-perspective however, since the design is quite powerful, a Berserker on steroids basically, I thought it befitting to pick the biggest motif in Germanic mythology for it.
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Having only skimmed the book and considering how quickly you put this together, with art and record sheets, in word (pig of a program) and that you are not a native speaker, it's a bloody good effort.
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Thank you :)
And yeah, I got lucky that Rudy had a bit of time at his hands and managed to squeeze the artwork for my TRO in his schedule. Most of the other graphics artists that did work for CGL at one point or another were either occupied with CGL stuff/had huge waiting lists or didn't seem all that interested.
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For a non native speaker/writer of English you did real good. ;) Seriously wouldn't have known if you didn't tell us. Who did the art? Tis very nice. Any plans for future fanbooks?
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Nah, not as of now. Will have to see whether the post-DA era inspires me enough to do another one. Or maybe I add another design (or more) in a later revision of this Fan-TRO.
As for the art, the name is Rudy Valle (aka shortpainter).
http://www.darkartimages.com/
http://shortpainter.deviantart.com/
Alternatively Brother Ostavia recently mentioned that he's available for work as well. Not sure about his line art, but I suppose he's good at it too.
http://brotherostavia.deviantart.com/
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Having only skimmed the book and considering how quickly you put this together, with art and record sheets, in word (pig of a program) and that you are not a native speaker, it's a bloody good effort.
What he said
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Well, the reason for the reverse order is rather trivial to be honest. Initially I only planned to release the Supplemental as a mini-TRO, consisting of only the Yggdrasil and the Nibelung. But after a while I decided to expand the TRO a bit and thus I wound up with with the reverse order. But I thought it to be alright as long as they are in some kind of logical order.
In-universe-wise the reason for the name (Yggdrasil) is mentioned in the fluff. ;)
From the meta-perspective however, since the design is quite powerful, a Berserker on steroids basically, I thought it befitting to pick the biggest motif in Germanic mythology for it.
No major issue with the order it just threw me off for a start
Looking over a second time the Nibelung and the Terror variant are particularly nice - I may have to use a few these in my AU assuming you don't mind
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More Fun
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Looking over a second time the Nibelung and the Terror variant are particularly nice - I may have to use a few these in my AU assuming you don't mind
Of course, feel free to do with them what you want, that's why I made the Fan-TRO, to have someone actually use the designs in his or her board/Mega Mek games ^^
And yeah, I was thoroughly dissapointed with Catalyst that they didn't follow through with what they started in XTRO Steiner concerning the Clan XL engines (they did though with Clan Lasers being available to the Davions as a progression from XTRO Davion to TRO 3145 Davion) and I could think of no logical reason for that, so I told myself "what the hell" and used the ideas of XTRO Steiner for my Fan-TRO. Though to keep it somewhat more credible, I decided that expensive variants utilizing CL XL engines ought to be all there is in that regard.
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Fenris, a quick note; on the record sheets, each head has the standard 2 slots each for Sensors and Life Support in the head, but there is only a single circle for Life Support at the bottom of each record sheet, while Sensors have two circles.
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I found it interesting but you tried to pack too many things on the pages without letting much space and I find that this can be hard to read.
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Hm, not sure. The only things I actually added (for Mechs) were the overall amount of structure and armor points plus armor percentage (upper right part), as well as the production cost (next to BV) and the year of introduction (near era). And I marked which DHS are in the engine. But other than that it's the same scheme as used by Catalyst. All my additions actually aimed to clarify rather than confuse... :/
Does it really appear THAT confusing?
@Red Pins:
Hm, not sure whether that is an error? Every single Catalyst RS that I own does it the same way. I mean I basically took screenshots from their RS and then edited them in a graphics editing programm. But that particual section of the RS wasn't among the ones I edited.
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...Because... A Mech can fight without sensors but not LS? I guess it makes sense...
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How did you get it to look this good in WORD!?
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Well... page backgrounds, RSs, Quick/Alphastrike Cards were all done in a graphics editor, to be honest. So I only inserted the graphics and adjusted the scale. The text boxes are tables. I know, word is a tad goofy, but it works more or less...
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Hi everyone,
it's been a while, but I'm back with some stuff to fill the void left by the ongoing Catalyst hiatus. :)
Over the past few months, I continually worked on an updated and extended edition of my original Fan-TRO 3145 LyrCom Suppl, with updated fluff and stats, many new NTNU style entries and of course also new units altogether, artworks by Rudy Valle and Matt Plog, record sheets and MegaMek and corresponding .gif-files (at least for most the main new units of the TRO) included.
I hope you can enjoy my Supplemental for reading, gaming or whatever. :)
Critique is welcome and encouraged, although please refrain from mentioning that it is all in reversed order. ;) It was an intentional and deliberate decision back then and reverting it to go along the traditional Catalyst way of doing things would have been way too stressful. Hope you can enjoy it nonetheless. :)
In case you find any errors, also don't hesitate to mention them as I could only check that much myself.
On a side note, many of the Record Sheets for the new Omni configs section are still missing. I was getting sick of doing Record Sheets, but I will most likely add them later (aka in a few weeks or months).
That's it on my behalf. Here is the download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/38kbu5rkk4x55b4/FAN_TRO_3145_LyrCom_Supplemental_extended.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/download/38kbu5rkk4x55b4/FAN_TRO_3145_LyrCom_Supplemental_extended.zip)
You can also find the link in the updated original post of this thread.
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Looks nice! Will go over it when I have more time. Keep it up!
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Its nice to see an extended version of this. Makes me pine for those olden days of Mech design ;)
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SQUEE!
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Very Cool
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First off let me say again for the record that I am not that much of a Dark Age fan.
However, this fan project is very interesting. The art you have on new designs is excellent and the book format is fantastic. I would recommend some cover art and you could then fool the pants off of some cause this appears professional quality. Nice job!
Keep up the good work!
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate it :) Hope you enjoy the read or any possible games.
I hope the language isn't too far off, as I'm still not a native speaker. ;D
Ah, well... the cover art... Yes, I actually thought about commissioning one, but believe me, they are so much more expensive than the regular line art, I figured I should rather get two or three more units (depending on the artist) done with the money.
Speaking of which, any feedback on the units themselves? A tad too munchkin? I felt especially the Rheingold was maybe a bit over the top compared to the much weaker canon designs. However I simply tried to cover all the areas the LC is currently lacking in when it comes to aerospace in a single ship. So it had to be more than just "okay".
As for the Pest I'd really be interested if it works as in theory, meaning being almost impossible to hit if played right.
btw, in case that is really you, good to read you again, GrayJaguar. I still regard my fine-tuned result of our Berserker II collaboration (aka Yggdrasil) back then to be the most game-breaking Mech design I've ever seen. ;)
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate it :) Hope you enjoy the read or any possible games.
I hope the language isn't too far off, as I'm still not a native speaker. ;D
Ah, well... the cover art... Yes, I actually thought about commissioning one, but believe me, they are so much more expensive than the regular line art, I figured I should rather get two or three more units (depending on the artist) done with the money.
Speaking of which, any feedback on the units themselves? A tad too munchkin? I felt especially the Rheingold was maybe a bit over the top compared to the much weaker canon designs. However I simply tried to cover all the areas the LC is currently lacking in when it comes to aerospace in a single ship. So it had to be more than just "okay".
As for the Pest I'd really be interested if it works as in theory, meaning being almost impossible to hit if played right.
btw, in case that is really you, good to read you again, GrayJaguar. I still regard my fine-tuned result of our Berserker II collaboration (aka Yggdrasil) back then to be the most game-breaking Mech design I've ever seen. ;)
It really is me :D Found my way over here while looking up some of the old designs I worked on. As for game breaking... well yeah, the Yggdrasil *is* but that was kind of the point ;)
I did like the expansion into so many vehicles though there are a few thoughts I had on it:
1) If you want it to look more like a traditional TRO, you could put the order differently going Battle Armor, Vehicles Light Mechs, Medium Mechs, Heavy, Assault, and then AeroSpace.
2) I'd love to see some original AeroSpace designs for the Lyrans pop up or some more Mechs in the Medium and Heavy ranges
3) Keep it up, the alternate configuration settings are still a nice touch. Love the choices for the Morgenstern
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It really is me :D Found my way over here while looking up some of the old designs I worked on. As for game breaking... well yeah, the Yggdrasil *is* but that was kind of the point ;)
I did like the expansion into so many vehicles though there are a few thoughts I had on it:
1) If you want it to look more like a traditional TRO, you could put the order differently going Battle Armor, Vehicles Light Mechs, Medium Mechs, Heavy, Assault, and then AeroSpace.
2) I'd love to see some original AeroSpace designs for the Lyrans pop up or some more Mechs in the Medium and Heavy ranges
3) Keep it up, the alternate configuration settings are still a nice touch. Love the choices for the Morgenstern
Nah, I started out doing it in reverse order (tbh, don't even remember why exactly) and simply stuck with it ever since then. It would be a massive effort to reverse the order at this point, so I guess I'll just leave it as it is. Also I kinda like it by now. It's a neat little twist compared to the standard established by Catalyst/Wizkids/FASA.
Well, in fact I had one more Aerospace design in the pipeline, basically an IS Dark Age version of the Kirghiz, with 5/8 thrust, okay armor (no Eisensturm levels but still better than average and with good thresholds all-around) and no less than 3 HGRs and a Plasma Rifle as its prime config.
Sadly, Matt was shutting down "regular" commissions at that time to focus on the stuff commissioned by Catalyst.
The Morgenstern Sledgehammer or the Streak config? ;)
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The Morgenstern Sledgehammer or the Streak config? ;)
Streak Config. Speaking of which, I have a Lyran AeroSpace model though that was neat. Not sure if you were still around to see it. The Sapphire 7/11 design. I might just retype it up and post it again. Hrm...
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This has been an enjoyable read! Good work!
Speaking of which, any feedback on the units themselves? A tad too munchkin?
Regarding your question about the units themselves: I think this is a topic where opinions can and will differ widely given different people's perceptions of what is "too much".
For me none of the units is "too much" per se. But that's just my 0,02 € cents.
Ciao
Hessian
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Thanks for the expansion!
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The Morgenstern Sledgehammer or the Streak config? ;)
Streak Config. Speaking of which, I have a Lyran AeroSpace model though that was neat. Not sure if you were still around to see it. The Sapphire 7/11 design. I might just retype it up and post it again. Hrm...
Yeah, I think I remember it. An 11 thrust fighter would also be the only gap left in the Lyran ASF segment, besides the heavy attack bird I was talking about. But then one could just as easily make a Morgenstern II refit with an XL engine... hm.
This has been an enjoyable read! Good work!
Regarding your question about the units themselves: I think this is a topic where opinions can and will differ widely given different people's perceptions of what is "too much".
For me none of the units is "too much" per se. But that's just my 0,02 € cents.
Ciao
Hessian
Thanks, that's a relief, because compared to the often intentionally weakened canon designs many of mine simply don't have these intentional "quirks" to them. There was some inner resistance to make them any less optimized than I could make them. :D
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Good day to you all, long time no see. :)
Just wanted to share the final version of my Fan-TRO 3145 Lyran Commonwealth Supplemental.
It contains some minor fixes in fluff, stats and record sheets, a few adjustments that were necessary due to XTRO Republic, still no record sheets for the the omni configs for canon mechs that came with the original extended edition (and there never will be, I'm afraid as I just don't have the time and motivation to do 'em), and a new unit. Yes, you read that right, I added the final piece to this TRO, again with great artwork from Matt Plog.
Hope, you enjoy it.
Go forth now and download your own copy :)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/12jaovfttpam1n6/Fan_TRO_3145_LyrCom_Supplemental_extended_final.zip
Oh, almost forgot, a special thanks to Skiltao and Gray Jaguar for their help.
Any feedback is most welcome.
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Downloaded.
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SWEET! Thank you, this will go on the fan project list on the official forum, too.
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Well, thank you too then. :) I'm kinda relieved to see it finally being "finished". Took long enough ^^
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Good day, everyone.
Let me present you with the REVISED edition of my Fan-TRO, or rather the Beta version of the Revised edition. :)
Since this is a Beta, I would like to encourage you to give as much feedback as possible, especially concerning any grammar or spelling mistakes as well as stat errors.
Why a Beta at all? Because I still have to do the Record Sheets of all new units and change a few old Record Sheets. Since that takes time, and I currently don't have too much of that available (plus it is very tedious and boring work), I can't really say at what point exactly I'll have everything ready to release the "final" Revised edition (and this time, it is definitely going to be the "final" edition).
Anyways, happy reading :)
https://www.mediafire.com/?xz60mstt48z42q9
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Good day, everyone.
I would like to share with you the REVISED and this time definitely *final* edition of my nearly three year old Fan-TRO 3150 Lyran Commonwealth Supplemental, which you can download with at mediafire with the link below.
What I changed for the Revised Edition:
-'hopefully' fixed all errors and glitches in the fluff texts, stats and previous Record Sheets
-Record Sheets are back
-included a new *hidden* unit design with yet another artwork by the awesome Matt Plog
-changed a few unit stats
-improved fluff coherence inregard to the 3145/3150 change
-reworked the layout a bit
-new TRO cover
WARNING: This TRO is still very 'Lyran' and also contains almost exclusively what most people would describe as 'min-maxed designs', except for the BV I guess. If you thoroughly despise either of the two or maybe even both, no matter the corresponding fluff, chances are you will not be very happy with the TRO. In that case, I'm truly sorry, but it's just the way I design BT stuff.
Also, I did my best to get rid of any language-related errors, but I cannot be 100% certain as, sadly, I'm still no native speaker :P, so please forgive any language-related oddities you may still come across.
Anyways, I sincerely hope people can enjoy the TRO nonetheless, even after all this time. Happy reading ;)
https://www.mediafire.com/?80lm2c9qexapfu3
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Downloaded.
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AWESOME!
Great cover, like the Archon space station image. People keep forgetting there needs to be orbital infrastructure, too.
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Thanks Fenris, not much of a min max fan myself, but I'll have a look in the spirit it is offered and focus on the fluff, as I'm a Lyran fanatic...I have to go now though, the ball is about to start.
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I enjoyed the fluff and artwork throughout and a couple of the designs the Rakshasa II, Terror, Schanze Fortress Trailer (Awesome BTW), Cwn Annwn Battle Armour, the Bastion upgrade, the Reingold and Archon Gigaplex
Maybe one mistake though the Terror T12S has 2 ER Large Pulse Lasers for 6 Crit and 9 ton seems very light for the guns. Actuator Enhancement System on the arm (I've no idea if it reduces the weight tbh if it does I'm wrong) Probably my favourite looking design.
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The Schange was a great idea - I really enjoyed writing that one.
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only two things are missing. the first is Alpha Strike cards and the second is 3D Printer Files for the Rakshaska II
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Hmm.. Never considered Alpha Strike for my project, either.
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Alpha Strike Cards... yes, I had those in there before QuickStrike became Alpha Strike, but only because the number of designs back then was still limited and SSW allowed spit out the necessary stats with each design. Alpha Strike has some differences though from what I understand and the conversion looked kind of... complex to me. So since the number of designs had increased by a lot since then, I never bothered with the conversion. Would simply eat up too much time, I feared.
As for 3d prints... I have literally zero expertise in that field and would need to buy any prints from that Russian website as well... ;D
And yes, sorry... I only do minmaxed designs. The TRO is essentially an adaption from an old AU of mine (which started way before '45 though) where all factions have minmaxed designs. And even while being minmaxed, i think some fairly original designs came into being nonetheless. I felt it would be weird to intentionally tweak the designs for the worse.
I understand however that many if not even most people prefer (un)intentionally flawed designs. Again, I'm truly sorry in that case as those people will most likely get not too much out of this TRO, especially if they don't care for the LC. In that case however, I still hope that they can get at least something out of the artworks and writing (as a non-native, I still hope the writing is at least somewhat entertaining and not too off in terms of syntax etc... and yes, I intentionally focused on the more technical aspects of R&D in contrast to the more "action driven" narrative of the canon TRO3145/3150 TROs, I simply prefer it that way :P and it also allowed the TRO to be more compatible withe the canon timeline as I didn't need to make up too many combat-related events)
As for the last variant of the Terror... not sure it's too light... don't forget, it doesn't have LFF anymore but reflective and also uses standard structure (not a big fan of composite... just too fragile).
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I don't mind... my beloved commonwealth NEEDS min maxed designs right now.