artillary

[death_grin]

At present painting targets for LRM and SRM support is in, and quite fun.  We have talked before about the possability of incorporating a type of turret armed with artillery or LRMS that would work with TAG, though we havn't had the time to really discuss it further.  I would rate it at a decent chance of making it in eventually. 

[nano]

*points to a descending 6000ton Fortress Class Military Dropship! (that everyone thought was a cloud)*

I've never understood why dropships are so light at 6000 tons.  Seems like they should be a lot heavier.  You know an aircraft carrier is more than 10 times that weight, but maybe I am thinking more of the jump ships that the dropships come from.

[Scruffe]

why not just give some cannon turet extreem shell drop and plant them on hills around the map?

[Defender]

maby make the artillery more like moble turrets, u can drive them where u want and can leave to join the main battle while the artillery automatically fires on anything that gets a TAG. that way nobody has to just sit there, but u still have artillery.

Mechs are like mobile turrets.

Everything works exactly as you've stated, we've just incorporated a new concept called Teamwork, which involves having another competent human player character to fire the payload. He can even move and relocate on his own free will!

How's that for mobile artillery emplacements?
Fancy, eh?

[Stahlseele]

not enough control on the random human element i am afraid *snickers*
now for something completely assholish:"playing with americans means the long tom on their team is on your side!"

[Vanion2]

not enough control on the random human element i am afraid *snickers*
now for something completely assholish:"playing with americans means the long tom on their team is on your side!"

/fail

Assholish indeed.  Prejudice and stupidity knows no borders.      

[=KoS=Zeus]

Well, you know. We Americans get bored pretty easily since nobody else is even a challenge, so we invent new gameplay to spice things up a bit.

[DigitalStef]

Yah we've already brought football to halo 3(Grifball, look it up on youtube), why not invent mech ball while we're at it. 

[MWLLKeeper]

*points to a descending 6000ton Fortress Class Military Dropship! (that everyone thought was a cloud)*

I've never understood why dropships are so light at 6000 tons.  Seems like they should be a lot heavier.  You know an aircraft carrier is more than 10 times that weight, but maybe I am thinking more of the jump ships that the dropships come from.

Correct... But an aircraft carrier never needs to fly either

[(TLL) Heretic]

@MWLL Keeper and Nano

Just some snippets from this page:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/DropShip

In the BattleTech universe a DropShip is defined as any spaceship massing between 100 and 100,000 tons that is itself incapable of faster-than-light (FTL) travel.......

The mass range is given in the construction rules and reflects the fact that it is more or less impossible to build DropShips which are smaller than 100 tons or larger than 100,000 tons. Since DropShips are meant to be carried by JumpShips, a Docking collar is an implied neccessity and is automatically included in the structure of any DropShip......

The smallest known spaceship to meet the DropShip criteria is arguably the 200-ton K-1 DropShuttle, although it is generally classified as a Small Craft instead. The largest DropShip ever constructed is the 100,000-ton Behemoth, which due to its sheer size requires a second Docking collar on JumpShips, and is incapable of operating in atmosphere or planetary gravity. The biggest DropShip that can actually land on a planet and take off again is the 52,000-ton Mammoth.

The most common military BattleMech transport classes are the Leopard (one Lance: 4 'Mechs, 2 Fighters), the Union (one Company: 12 'Mechs, 2 Fighters) and the much rarer Overlord (one Battalion: 36 'Mechs, 6 Fighters); the most common Aerospace Fighter carrier is the Leopard CV class (one Squadron: 6 Fighters). .........

*********

For my sins If I wanted to move a Battalion with Armour and Aero support my dream team would be:

2 Excalibur - 16000 ton military spheroid, introduced in 2786. Combined arms transport (12 'Mechs, 90 heavy vehicles, 12 platoons).  [Hopefully with 2 Medium Companys, or 1 Heavy/1 Medium]
1 Fortress - 6000 ton military spheroid, introduced in 2613. Heavily armed combined arms transport (12 'Mechs, 12 heavy vehicles, 3 platoons). Noteworthy for mounting a Long Tom heavy artillery piece; capable of securing its landing zone by itself. [for the Heavy/Assault or Command Company]
And a Leopard CV - 1720 ton (obsolete)/1800 ton (upgraded) military aerodyne, introduced in 2581. Standard fighter carrier (6 Fighters) since Star League era. Looks decidedly different from the classic Leopard, having a round fuselage. Upgraded version launched in 3054.

Now sure you could fit a 'Mech Battalion (without the Armour support or the Longtom Arty) onto an: Overlord 9700 ton military spheroid, introduced in 2762. Common BattleMech transport (36 'Mechs, 6 Fighters).  But that's a lot of precious eggs in one basket and you need another DS anyways for the support vehicles.  Costs more in Battalion expenses, but the combined firepower of the DS, with a RCT-style 'Mech Battalion beats the Overlords capability the number of doors for disembarking forces fast alone make this superior IMO..

EDIT: One thing to note though, despite what the fluff says that Longtom on the Fortress can only be deployed on the ground and not instantly either(maybe they nerfed it after playtesting)