Current builds Mediums - Hunchbacks

Hunchbacks

• HBK-4P Laser boat
• HBK-4G Founders with Dual AC/2

MWO Booklist

http://www.stargazerserv.com/csv/btech/battletech_novel_list.htm

BattleTech Novel List

This is a complete listing of BattleTech Novels in the order in which they should be read which is in approximately Chronological order, not when the books were actually published. This will give you a sense of flow for the events of the BattleTech Universe.

I say approximate Chronological order, because some books, or series, cover the events in others.  For example, the Jade Phoenix Trilogy acutally starts before The Blood of Kerensky series, and ends after it.  It is placed where it is because, The Blood of Kerensky Series, while written later, provides background for the Jade Phoenix.  (confusing is it not??)

Book Title	Author	Comments
Sword and the Dagger	Ardath Mayhar	The 31st Century begins
Decision at Thunder Rift	William H. Keith Jr.	Saga of the Grey Death Legion -- Book 1
Mercenary’s Star	William H. Keith Jr.	Saga of the Grey Death Legion -- Book 2
The Price of Glory	William H. Keith Jr.	Saga of the Grey Death Legion -- Book 3
Warrior: En Guarde	Michael A. Stackpole	Birth of the Federated Commonwealth--Book 1
Warrior: Riposte	Michael A. Stackpole	Birth of the Federated Commonwealth--Book 2
Warrior: Coupe	Michael A. Stackpole	Birth of the Federated Commonwealth--Book 3
Wolves on the Border	Robert N. Charrette
Heir to the Dragon	Robert N. Charrette
Lethal Heritage	Michael A. Stackpole	The Blood of Kerensky -- Book 1
Blood Legacy	Michael A. Stackpole	The Blood of Kerensky -- Book 2
Lost Destiny	Michael A. Stackpole	The Blood of Kerensky -- Book 3
Way of the Clans	Robert Thurston	Jade Phoenix Trilogy -- Book 1
Bloodname	Robert Thurston	Jade Phoenix Trilogy -- Book 2
Falcon Guard	Robert Thurston	Jade Phoenix Trilogy -- Book 3
Wolf Pack	Robert N. Charrette
Main Event	James D. Long
Ideal War	Christopher Kubasik	Is there room for Honor in a dirty little war?
Natural Selection	Michael A. Stackpole
Assumption of Risk	Michael A. Stackpole
Blood of Heroes	Andrew Keith
Close Quarters	Victor Milan
Far Country	Peter L. Rice
D.R.T	James D. Long
Tactics of Duty	William H. Keith Jr.
Bred for War	Michael A. Stackpole
I am Jade Falcon	Robert Thurston
Star Lord	Donald G. Phillips
Highlander Gambit	Blaine Lee Pardoe
Hearts of Chaos	Victor Milan
Operation Excaliber	William H. Keith Jr.
Malicious Intent	Michael A. Stackpole
Black Dragon	Victor Milan
Impetus of War	Blain Lee Pardoe
Double Blind	Loren L. Coleman
Binding Force	Loren L. Coleman
Exodus Road	Blaine L. Pardoe	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 1
Grave Conenant	Michael A. Stackpole	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 2
The Hunters	Thomas S. Gressman	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 3
FreeBirth	Robert Thurston	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 4
Sword and Fire	Thomas S. Gressman	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 5
Shadows of War	Thomoas S. Gressman	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 6
Prince of Havoc	Michael A. Stackpole	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 7
Falcon Rising	Robert Thurston	Twilight of the Clans -- Book 8
Threads of Ambition	Loren L. Coleman	The Capellan Solution -- Book 1
The Killing Fields	Loren L. Coleman	The Capellan Solution -- Book 2
Dagger Point	Thomas Gressman
Ghost of Winter	Stephen Kenson	One of the MechWarrior Books, while set in the BT Universe, presents no information that furthers the time line.
Roar of Honor	Blaine Lee Pardoe	One of the MechWarrior Books, while set in the BT Universe, presents no information that furthers the time line.
By Blood Betrayed	Blaine Lee Pardoe & Mel Odem	One of the MechWarrior Books, while set in the BT Universe, presents no information that furthers the time line.
Illusions of Victory

Loren L. Coleman
Is the game world of Solaris VII a reflection of the Inner Sphere?
Flashpoint
Loren L. Coleman
Measure of a Hero
Blaine Lee Pardoe

Path of Glory
Randall N. Bills

Test of Vengeance
Bryan Nystul
Patriots and Tyrants
Loren L. Coleman
Call of Duty
Blain Lee Pardoe
Initiation to War
Robert N. Charette
A MechWarrior Book, it does further the time line
The Dying Time
Thomas S. Gressman
A MechWarrior Book, it does further the time line
Storms of Fate
Loren L. Coleman
Imminent Crisis
Randall N. Bills
A MechWarrior Book, it does further the time line
Operation Audacity
Blaine Lee Pardoe
EndGame
Loren L. Coleman
Ghost War
Michael A. Stackpole
First of the MechWarrior Dark Age books:  set approximately 80 years after End Game
A Call to Arms
Loren L. Coleman
Ther Ruins of Power
Robert E. Vardeman
A Silence in the Heavens
Martin Del Rio
Truth and Shadows
Martin Del Rio
Service for the Dead
Martin Del Rio
By Temptations and by War
Loren L. Coleman

Tactic Tip #108

Map: River City
Mode: Assault
Time: Day
The last game of the night for our group. The team request the run straight at the enemy base; straight up the river. We are running stealth since the Atlas DDC is leading the charge (slowly) with EMC.
We expected to either meet them in the water or for them to base defend.
However, we walked straight into the enemy base and killed the hunchback guarding it in a focused fire attack.
By now, the rest of the opposing team had turned back to their base ...the result of doing this is heavy loss if you "conga-line" into the base.

You must have one mech in the base to stop the capture the problem is getting into the base to staying alive long enough to take out the mechs capping you.

Do not be distracted by the number of mechs in your base  ....you must stay in the base to stop a capture. I like to win by combat but in this case the strategy (communication, capping, stealth, focus fire) beats almost anything hands down.

What could you do different?

You can send out scouts to find the enemy leave 3 mechs behind to watch the base. Send 4 mechs to capture the enemy with the knowledge that a enemy capture means stop whatever you are doing and return to base. The 3 at base will need to stay on base or keep the enemy completely disorganized while the rest of the team returns.

That was a great end to the matches last night.

 

 

State of the Game (MechWarrior Online)

TL;DR: It is still beta.

Details:
Right now, we have no repair or rearm bills. Once you purchase a mech (either with C-bills you earned or by dropping real money in game) you can play that mech without any penalty. This leads to some reckless behavior by some pilots. It also leads to some severe frustration when playing with people outside of communication.
There is a side of people trying to play this game as if it were solo ...they are very interested in their stats (either win loss ratio or kill death ratio or both). There is another set of people interested in playing a team game with comms that is learning to play using strategy and techniques. Then there are those who just play the game for fun they love the IP and will play just to pilot a 80 ton mech.
Now you can be a member of any of these groups or all of them but there are 2 pieces of information that are vital.
With so many gaming choices out there - Are you coming back to play this game?
What would you pay to play if they were charging or would you find something else?

Replayability is huge it keeps you drawn in and talk to your friends about it. It makes you stay for "just one more" when you are thinking about shutting down. It makes you say the next time I/We will win or at least take out an enemy before I/we am/are done for the night.

ECM is a problem.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ECM_Suite
The game shows one mech umbrella covering all the mechs in 180 meter of the ECM. It is overpowered and with little negative repercussions. Sensors can sometimes override this jamming, though by that point the enemy unit is already within visual range and can track the opposition with their own eyes.
What this has led to is a game of who has more ECM in many cases.
My Suggestions:

• A huge cost for ECM if destroyed (100,000 cbills) 
• A large amount of heat generated while in use 
• Forcing the ECM mech to remain stationary while active (reducing the range while moving would work)

Stalkers are HARD to kill!

Image ripped from http://themittani.com/news/mwo-december-18th-patch-news

Back in my day the trouble with games.

I was watching a movie recently
"Trouble with the Curve" - if you havent seen it - it is ok. A baseball movie from a scout perspective. A scout who uses his eyes vs all the new techniques offered by stats and computers.

This scout is portrayed by Clint Eastwood ....a favorite actor of mine from when I was a kid. However, in his old age I think he is nothing but a washed out, grumpy, old, man ...in every movie he is in ...it isnt getting better. He is an ass - so I am wondering if this is his real peronality sneaking into the movies or he is really a great actor. I guees I just don't like him any more. He growls and complains the whole movie.

 Gran Torino - I saw in the theater and I hated it ...you just cannot get grumpier than this --->

 Dirty Harry .....right on! Angry cop and he fit the bill.

Good the Bad and the Ugly. Greatest Spaghetti Western ever!

 

What does this have to do with gaming? you may ask. Well I have begun to hear a lot of people say things like "well in this game they do this" or "that game they fixed this issue with this solution" I even find myself doing it. The question is can PGI fix the issues with ideas learned from other games or come up with a solution of their own ...and implement it quick enough not to turn people away from them. OR PGI could just grumpier and old ....eventually they will be praised for something I just hope they arent recognized for growly grumpiness.

 

 

Quoteable Wednesday version 9.0

Hicks: I like to keep this handy... for close encounters.
Frost: I heard *that.*
Aliens 1996

Wow huge patch yesterday ....I have never ran out of ammo so much lol! Final match of the night I played my dual AC2 hunchback. AC/2's are lightweight autocannons they work from pretty far away and they sound awesome. They can rip apart a mech if you can get a clean shot off.
The sound though they make is awesome - my wife can hear them through my headset and she does this every time.

New announced hero mechs - Fang and Flame

This might be my first purchase of a hero mech. Looks really rad!

Morgan Freeman and heroes in times of crisis.

I, in general do not like celebrities. I do not get star stuck like many people to me they are just people who happen to have a job that gets a lot of attention. Some stars can handle it others cannot.
Many of them use it as a platform ...and if you ask them their opinion you will get an earful.

Having said that I like Morgan Freeman the actor - I do not know what he believes or his politics ..I like his voice - very regal and commanding. He is a man that played God and I would like to think God has a voice as commanding and as powerful as MF. This quote is attributed to Morgan Freeman speaking about the deaths of the children in Connecticut:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

I don't know the name of the guy that did this and I really don't care what his name is or why he did it ...I didn't even know about the incident until my wall started filling up with sympathy towards Connecticut.

There are heroes here in this incident as with all trauma there is a few who if asked before the day started if they knew they may die would they have jumped in would probably have no idea until that second they would jump in. Being a hero means you do something beyond what anyone else would do to show an amazing display or feat that is beyond what people expect at the risk of your own life to give up your life for someone else.
Super heroes - have powers that humans do not.
A firefighter is doing his job ...he become a hero when he risky everything, even disobeys his commander to rescue someone.
Captain Sullenberger was a pilot until he landed the United Flight 1549 in a miraculous way. He then became a hero.

In Connecticut:
A worker who turned on the intercom, alerting others in the building that something was very wrong. A custodian who risked his life by running through the halls warning of danger. A clerk who led 18 children on their hands and knees to safety, then gave them paper and crayons to keep them calm and quiet.



Columbine Victims - Columbine Heroes
Virginia Tech Victims - Virginia Tech Heroes
Aurora Shooting Victims - Aurora Heroes
Oregon Mall Victims - Oregon Mall Heroes
Sandy Hook Elementary Victims

Tactic Tip #107

So the other day our team is in a huge heated battle in Caustic Valley. Caustic Valley is a horrible place and really not worth fighting for but that is for the policians to decide ...we fight.
We also are losing ...the enemy is down to 2 mechs both torn up really bad we are down to ONE.

We had all thought he was either disconnected or AFK because he wasn't moving. He was sittign as if he had just landed from the dropship. We announce over com ...he is afk or disconnected ...leg him and cap us.

When they shoot him suddenly he springs into action. Now thsi is just sick ...he destroys both of them and our team which had for all intents lost ...was victorious.

Was it a trick? Was he really afk? Did I inadvertently give false information?

I do not know if this guy was just waiting or was in another window however it reinforces 2 things:

1. Communications are vital.
2. Dis-information is valueable if not unreliable.

Quotable Wednesday version 8.0

Bryan: "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."  TAKEN 2008

Classy line ....overquoted some may say. I feel many times running into a match feels this way. You join a match for a battle ...they sneak to cap the base. You have 2 choices really. Run back and defend or race to cap them first.

The strategy is deciding at what point you have overcommitted to running to the enemy base. I got "yelled" at by someone (not sure if it was a pug on my team or a enemy mech). Telling me what kind of person I was for running to base instead of fighting it out with the enemy.

Tactic Tip #106

Stay in the bubble of the ECM (Electronic Counter Measure)

 

This simple device limited to certain mech's has become a hugely popular and integrated tactic. I believe it will be nerfed  fixed but we will see.

 

What has happened is more people are using The D-DC Atlas (which is devastating) 4 of them are extremely difficult to manage or using 2 Ravens with ECM and staying in range of them so effectively you cannot hit them with missiles or jamming you so you cannot see any of them on your map until it is too late.

 

By staying with your team under the bubble of ECM you are effectively able to keep going as long as you stay with your teammates.

 

Here is how I see ECM

Your team EMC Jamming the enemy.

Your team has EMC Counteracting the Jam from the enemy.

 

It has become a game of who has more EMC or mechs with only ballistics and lasers.

 

Here is a new good fact I have found ...run only 4 man groups ...Yup you heard me run a 4 man group and you will launch more often and win more frequently.

Quotable Wednesday version 7.0

Mugatu: "I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”- - Zoolander

Seriously PGI adds 8 man groups back and ECM.

ECM makes me feel like a the whiners in the forums ...its so overpowered. It jams electronics or can obscure the enemy  from your view. It makes it very very hard to target the mechs from range.

A lot of losing. CRAZY PILLS!

AMD vs Intel

It is not every game I play that this even comes up. In fact, most gamers don't even know what they have ...will my computer be able to play it? Will it run on a mac? These are more common than "what processor are you using?"

I guess the thing with MWO is connection matter, memory matters, video card matters, CPU matters ...or does it?



Everyone knows by now that AMD is ATI now. Intel has its own video card division but most people when given the choice will choose a external video card ..In my case it has been Nvidia for years. I have never owned a ATI except for a home theater pc with an all-in-wonder card. I never was impressed with the graphics (probably due to the TV I was outputting to).
My opinion has been that AMD exist to keep Intel pricing down and to force them to remain competitive.  AMD has some really good technology but unless you are writing code to specifically take advantage of it there is no benefit. I still believe this to be true. The last computer I built (Jan 2012) I tried to build AMD but the Intel components were only 10$ higher - of course I went over my original build budget because I saw shinies and in reality I increased my own cost.
My wife needs a new pc and here is another opportunity for AMD.
I am looking at Sapphire's EDGE
http://techiser.com/sapphire-edge-vs8-mini-desktop-amd-trinity-cpu-153908.html