OBT Forum

1. Why was the Achilles selected?

The Lords of the Night commander had a lot of Economic Points (EPs, which our the ingame currency we use) saved up.  Instead of spending ~200 EP on 2-3 AFS and green pilots (5/6), she opted to get a ~450 EP Avenger Assault Dropship, that comes standard with a regular crew (4/5).  Part of this was to create large thread to draw fire from the Mules, which would easily be destroyed if the enemy could avoid our own ASF screens.  They could attempt to avoid the Avenger, but at their own peril. 

2. How many maps did you guys use to play the scenario?

We used 4 aerospace map sheets, and had all units with a starting thrust of 6.  If we had higher thrust, we probably would have started using rolling mapsheets.

3. If you were going to expand your Aero-Assets would you opt for heavier fighters?

I actually expanded my ASF assets between Texlos and Warlock.  I added 3 Cheetah F-13s (but I stripped out the ERSL for more armor).  Speed is very important for ASFs.  In ground attack situations, ASFs moving 10/15 or higher can actual move two abstract map hexes per turn, allowing them to strike or strafe every turn, as well as out maneuver slower bird in dogfights over the ground. 

The dogfighting rules are as thus, roll a pilot check, if you succeed, add half you safe thrust to the roll, then compare to the opponent.  If you win, you dictate range.  If you with by like 5+, you get behind them and dictate range.  Pretty easy to see why light fighters are pretty darn good. 

Also, in pretty much every mission we've used ASFs, at least one has crashed n' burned.  And since they cannot be salvaged, lighter fighters are pretty cheap and replacable.  Additionally, since we're working with the CCAF, Transgressors are pretty much the heaviest ASF we have regular access to.  Other request would require acquisition rolls to see if you can find them on the market, making replacements hard to come by.  The Troika might be a good option for someone looking to add more fire support, but since we're most often we're using our ASFs for ground missions, they aren't really great for that.

Personally, as the commander of the Piotrowski's Predators, I've pretty much got my unit to the size I'd like.  Now I'm going to focus on getting some more defensible dropships.  I'm too scared to leave my stuff in these Mules.  It only takes a handful of Arrow Air to Air to pop one like a balloon and lose some of your stuff. 

Oh, well I'm interested in an Achillies because its a 8/12 moving Dropships that really bring the pain.  It can outpace most ASFs and brings an incredible payload to boot.  Additionally, there some flexibility to it since it has a decent sized cargo bay and 2 small craft bays.  These could easily be reconfigured to add some sub-capital weaponry for a highly mobile orbital bombardment support ship.

Anyway, here it comes: how come you had access so quickly to the newly bought Aerospace assets?

It's a combination of things really.  While I did my analysis of who purchased what just prior to the game, we actually began those discussion before Vestallas, realizing that Texlos was our next target and is a planet known for their Aerospace industry, we figured we'd meet some resistance while we burned to the planet.  So effectively our purchase orders were made 1.5-2 months in advance.  Additionally, we enjoy the benefits of being a house-sponsored merc units, and the CCAF enjoys taking our paycheck right back while making us more effective militarily.  Additionally, the overall commander of the Hexare Grenadiers, William Gauthier is a Knight Barduc of the Capellan Confederation, which affords us some additional logistic and military connections.  So it's kind of a combination of a few things that made it seem like we got these assets so quickly.

Actually, it's an Avenger class.

That extra thrust value only helps in abstract combat, any other map system and it disappears. 

Not entirely.  A high thrust value can allow you to make drastic changes to your velocity & heading.  On a turn where you win initiative, it's relatively easy to use it to put yourself at someone's aft.  That said, I agree that on the whole, Light Fighters aren't that great.  Aerospace don't gain a to-hit modifier for thrust spent like ground units do per hex moved, so a light fighter in space combat has a much rougher go of things. 

Not entirely.  A high thrust value can allow you to make drastic changes to your velocity & heading.  On a turn where you win initiative, it's relatively easy to use it to put yourself at someone's aft.

Never does seem to work out that way for me.  For Cinematic movement, If you're moving fast enough to change positioning quickly, you're not able to turn very well.  For Vectored movement, easier to pull off, but your final vector will probably take you away from the battle for a few turns afterwards.  In either case, the wingman of your target will be out to make your life miserable if you try it. The Thach weave still works.

As to light ASFs in general, if you maneuver them carefully, they should be hard to destroy.  First off, at best, most opponents should only be getting wing arc shots on you, ideally its aft shots.  Second, they typically, not all but typically, have pretty solid structural integrity (SI).  Meaning, once my armors melted, I can still get the hell out of dodge with my massive thrust curve.  In our experience, the Sparrowhawks tend to last a lot long than the Corsairs once the armor's gone because they can make the subsequent finishing shots much harder.

Wing arcs are the same as the nose arc only less so.  You're better off being on the side of your target, nothing to shoot back at you. (Except his wingman).  That SI advantage tends to be used up with high G maneuvers. Damaged SI is used up even faster, so that massive thrust curve will just tear you apart with haste as you try to run.

And the real question is, anyone care to demonstrate with megamek?  I for one would love to see light fighters put to good use, I just can't imagine how to pull it off.

I've played one game of AeroTech MegaMek...it was awful, not sure I'd do it again. 


As MadCap elluded to, lights aren't much on their own.  Light ASFs, just like Light 'Mechs cannot be rushed ahead of the pack.  It happens all too often.  If you're the only target to get shot at, you're going to get shot.  If you hold you interceptors in reserve, on the flanks of your main ASF contigent, you can perform some interesting maneuvers.  First, once the general melee begins, the interceptors can engage, typically from behind and look to finish off damaged targets.  Additionally, they can chase down anything that breaks through the main scramble due to their thrust speed.  Also, sure, the SI can get eaten up quick, but honestly, who's overthrusting until the battle's been engaged.  At that point, you might overthrust once to get ourself out of 1 jam and then again to get the hell outta there.  It's not like you have sustainable armor that would require more than 2 overthrusts.  The benefit of this deployment method is that by the time you're engaging, you're not the juiciest target.  So if they want to shoot at them, great, your better ASFs are getting a break.  If they don't then you can constantly harass their key units.