On the brink of extinction
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Since the death of Mauler, the team hasn’t been on any missions. With only three members left, two mechs and just enough money to see them through maintenance/salaries for another month or two, it was looking like the end of this team. P.J. started to look for work elsewhere. No one stopped him – they couldn’t blame him…
It was Wolf that got the call. It was from an old friend of Mauler that was offering some patrol duties on a neighboring planet in the midst of a civil war. Wolf told him of Mauler’s death, but the offer stood. Having found no other work, P.J. decided to come along.

Tensile mounted up on his Dragonfly
Wolf led the pair out on his IceLord

Late into the afternoon, Tensile and Wolf enter the final sector of their patrol area
They entered the sector from the southwest corner. Wolf ran on the northern shore of the river while Tensile patrolled to the south.

They were almost midway through their sector, and still had no enemy contact. This was looking like a milk run. Up ahead, the river snaked through some hills. Both Wolf and Tensile climbed the hills, linking their scanners to get maximum coverage of the area. Still no sign of the enemy.

Wolf reaches the other side of his hill, only to realize it’s too steep to climb down. He would have to use his jump jets, something he never really liked doing. Igniting his jets, he guides his mech down the hill and barely manages to keep it standing on landing.

The river then turns north, essentially cutting right in front of Wolf. Muttering under his breath, he kicks in his jump jets again and floats over the river to the other side. This time he lands better.

Regrouping with Tensile, they turn and head towards the high hills and forests in the north east.

Tensile moves through some woods while Wolf climbs a small hill - they lose line of sight on each other and their shared scanner link goes down.

Clearing the trees, Tensile turned to try and regain a visual on Wolf - and almost misses the faint signal on his scanner - enemy Titan south of them hiding in the trees! His battle computer profiles the contact as a Beserker class Titan.

The Berserker wastes no time and opens fire with it's autocannon, tearing armor off Tensile's mech.
Cresting the hill, Wolf sees the explosion on Tensile as the shot hits home. Wolf turns and locates the Berserker mech. Starting his lock sequence, his scanners detect movement behind the Berserker.
A recon mech – Stinger class.

The Berserker fires again, hitting Tensile in the lower torso. Before he can return fire, the Berserker runs deeper into the treeline and out of sight. Tensile quickly links scanners with Wolf and reacquires the enemy mech. Its a weak link, and he loses it again as soon as he pushes his mech forward.

Seeing Wolf on the hill ahead, the Berserker fires a volley at him, which smashes harmlessly into the hillside. Wolf gets a good scan lock. The Berserker is almost at maximum range of his Cold Light guns, but he fires anyway - and is rewarded with a hit on its left arm.

Breaking through trees, the Berserker presses forward. Tensile spots him again and tries to lock him up one more time. The weapon lock is good. Tensile fires and hits the Berserker with his small lasers - his large laser slicing through thin air.
The Berserker shifts his target again - firing on Tensile. The earth erupts around Tensiles’ feet as autocannon slugs rip up the ground around him.

Wolf waits patiently as the Berserker tears through the trees - as soon as he clears them, Wolf fires both Cold Light guns - and missed! The Berserker starts to turn to face Tensile.
In the distance, the Stinger fires its autocannons, hitting Wolf in the torso.
The Berserker activates its jump jets. Tensile looks at his scanner - just a few more seconds to a scanner lock. He starts to back peddle away from the leaping Berserker.
Wolf's weapons recycled - he fires them quickly as the Berserker lifts into the air. One shot burns armor from the Berserkers arm, the other misses.
Wolf decides its time to close range. He pushes his mech into a run and descends the hill.

Tensile watches the scanner - good lock. He tracks his lasers upwards following the airborne enemy mech and fires. His large laser burns a hole in the mechs right arm. The Berserker continues his forward motion, firing its autocannon. More armor is torn away from Tensile's left torso.
Wolf tries to keep his weapons tracking the Berserker, ignoring the explosions as autocannon shots from the closing Stinger smash into the ground around him.

Tensile fires and hits with both lasers on the mechs legs! Undeterred, the Berserker kept coming!
Wolf continued his run down the hill, firing his cold light guns at the Berserker, cursing as both shots missed their mark.

The Berserker continued its jump past Tensile and landed behind him. Tensile realized that he would not be able to stop his backward motion in time. He swiveled his torso hoping to get a shot on the berserker first before he was in melee range.

The Berserker started to turn just as Tensile brought his mech to a stop. Tensile swiveled and fired his lasers, scoring hits on the Berserkers’ torso. Throwing out his arms, Tensile punched at the Berserker but failed to do any damage. He pushed his mech into a run, not wanting to go into a toe-to-toe slugfest with the heavier mech. The Berserker finished his turn and fired, hitting Tensile in the left torso.

Through the trees, the Stinger continued to make his approach.

Wolf brought his mech to a halt in some trees and lined up the Berserker for another shot. His first shot missed as the Berserker broke into a run, heading straight for Wolf. Wolf held his fire on the second weapon, waiting for the Berserker to close the range.

Tensile ran forward into cover and switched targets to the Stinger. His mech shook as he was hit again by the Berserker's autocannon.
Wolf shouted a warning to Tensile as he watched the Berserker come forward and stop - turning to face the back of Tensile! Wolf fired his second Cold Light gun, but missed again!

Tensile fired at the Stinger, but he hit the trees instead. The Stinger broke cover and fired on Tensile hitting him squarely in the centre torso. Tensile turned and started to run, now seeing the Berserker closing in from behind him.

Wolf fired and hit the Berserker in the right torso, just as the enemy mech took to the sky again!
The Stinger crashed through the trees covering Tensile and fired on him at point blank range. The shot rocked Tensiles’ mech. He grappled at the controls, but couldn't stop his mech from falling over. The Stinger kicked and ripped armor from Tensiles’ leg. From up in the sky, the Berserker rained down autocannon fire on the fallen Dragonfly mech. Tensile was smashed around in his cockpit as he fought to push his mech to it's feet. He arced his large laser and fired while still prone, hitting the Stinger in its leg.

Screaming into the com-link at Tensile to get up, Wolf fired on the Berserker and missed.
Heat level Yellow!

The Berserker landed, stumbled and fell! The Stinger fired on Tensile, damaging his shoulder. Tensile felt the controls go free in his hands as his mech crashed to the ground again.
The Berserker got to its feet. Then a new sound was heard - the sound of Chain Saws revving up. The Berserker swung its dual saws at Tensile, but failed to connect and do damage. The Stinger fired on Tensile again, shattering his right torso. Tensile struggled with the controls, and this time was able to keep his position.

Wolf fired his weapons, scoring hits on the Berserkers leg. The big mech lurched and seemed to be falling - but the enemy jock got his mech under control - damn!
Tensile got to his feet and punched the Stinger mech. Wolf watched in horror as Tensile swung his mech's foot at the Stinger - and missed. Losing his balance, Tensile fell again.

The Berserker didn't miss with the saws this time. In two swings he disabled Tensiles’ lower torso.
Tensile saw the engine alert flash on his board - light damage.
With only a small laser left - he fired on the Stinger and missed.
Tesnile ears ached from Wolf shouting in the com-link for him to eject.
"Affirmative".
He started the ejection sequence...

The Berserker jumped into the air again and fired on Tensile damaging his legs. Wolf fired on the Berserker and hit - Heat level Red!

Tensile ejected safely...

Wolf's weapons recycled - but he held fire - he was way too hot. Sweating in his cockpit, he rocked under the autocannon assault of both enemy mechs. He watched the heat level drop, drop, drop - then he fired. His shots tore into the Berserkers legs, tripping the big mech and sending it crashing to the ground.
The Berserker came quickly to its feet. Wolf watched, again unable to fire because of his heat level. The Stinger opened up and ripped more armor from Wolfs’ centre torso. Wolf returned fired on the Berserker. On his threat display, the right leg of the Berserker went red.

The Berserker started to run towards him, both saws revving loudly. Wanting no part of that, Wolf turned and pushed his mech into a run.

Autocannon shots flew around him as the Berserker and Stinger both fired volleys at him. Wolf closed the range and decided to fire despite his heat hovering just outside of warning range. His first shot missed the Berserker cleanly.
Heat level Yellow.
"Screw It" Wolf thought... and he fired his second Cold Light gun. The shot hit the Berserkers right leg, tearing the final structure support. The leg snapped and the Berserker collapsed to the ground!

Throttling down, Wolf switched his target to the now stationary Stinger mech.

Wolf threw his mech into reverse - just as autocannon fire from the Stinger ripped into the earth where he was just standing.
He stopped his mech and waited on the scan lock to come up, cooling down at the same time.
3 - 2 - 1 ... good scan lock!
He glanced at the heat - all good. Wolf triggered both weapons. Armor plating melted from the Stingers right arm.

The Stinger retaliated and hit Wolf in the centre torso. Wolf tracked his weapons over the enemy mech and fired again. This time, he scored a hit on the head!
The two mechs came to a halt, and began to just fire on each other. Autocannon slugs smashed into Wolf's arm and head, while his Cold Light guns burned more armor from the Stinger's torso and legs.

When the second shot hit Wolf in the head again, Wolf reflexively pushed his mech into reverse, seeking the cover of the trees behind him.
He tried for a better scan lock but failed. Reaching the trees, Wolf fired on the Stinger again, hitting him in the right torso. The Stinger fired but his shots smashed into the trees surrounding Wolf. The Stinger then throttled up and charged forward.

Wolf patiently waited... just outside of 300 metres, he fired ... and severed the Stinger's right leg!
The forward momentum carried the Stinger face down in front of Wolf.

Turning on his external microphone, Wolf demanded that they surrender.
In response, he saw both enemy mechs cockpits explode outwards as both jocks ejected from their crippled mechs.

Victory!

The Berserker was salvageable - so it was collected.

With the promise of more patrols, PJ has decided to stay on as long as he gets to see some action. The mechs have been reassigned to allow his participation.

PJ has taken the DragonFly
Tensile is now in the IceLord
Wolf has taken the Berserker.

One will Live.. One will die
Topic: ToS Chronicles

Wolf has received his new mech. Mauler hopes they can financially recover from the last mission quickly so as to get back into the campaign.

Wolf had little problem adapting to the heavier IceLord. With only three of them on patrol (no money to buy CYBEN a mech – so he was at the base), Tensile became the point man, running ahead of the two heavier mechs.

Running north, it was Tensile who spotted the enemy patrol. Quickly, he altered course and headed for a small forest to his left, while radioing the contacts to the rest of the group – A Wolverine and Thor (Light – 70 tons) and a Mosquito mech (Recon – 40 tons). The intervening mountains and hills meant he would lose sight of them very soon. Hopefully, Mauler and Wolf would be closer when they reappeared.

Tensile was able to get a scan lock on the Thor just before it disappeared from view. Initial scan showed two energy weapons and one cannon. Reaching his target area in the trees, he turned to face the direction of the oncoming patrol and waited.

Mauler was the first to reach and, being in a taller mech than Tensile, spotted the enemy mechs as they darted around hills. He too lost sight of them quickly as they kept moving, using the terrain to mask their approach. The Thor was too slow however, and Mauler was able to get off a snap shot at him, hitting it in its leg. The Thor changed direction and stepped out into view. Mauler started to refine his lock on the light mech.

The enemy recon mech (the Mosquito) came out of the hills as well. Tensile started his lock sequence on the Mosquito. Wolf reached the area and immediately fired his weapons at the Mosquito, scoring a hit. He too started to refine his lock. Not wanting to stay in the open as he was, Mauler threw his mech into reverse to try and back up into the trees behind him. The advancing Thor pilot halted his mech and opened fire on Mauler, hitting him with its energy weapons. Patiently, Mauler waited – and received a good lock. He returned fire and was disappointed to see only one of his autocannons find their mark on the Thors’ armor. The Thor returned fire with its cannon, ripping armor from Maulers’ right leg.

The Mosquito locked up Mauler as well and fired its meson guns, doing critical internal structure damage to Maulers’ mech. The Plasma Gun from the Thor cut into Maulers leg again, forcing him to keep his mech from falling over. Steadying his mech, he fired all four autocannons, shredding armor from the Thor.

Wolfs’ lock sequence came up good on the Mosquito. He fired his twin Cold Light guns – but missed! Tensiles’ lock attempt failed on the Mosquito. He fires anyway, hitting the Mosquito with his Large Laser. Just as he was starting the locking sequence again, the second enemy light titan stepped into view.

The Mosquito switched targets to Wolf and broke into a run. Wolf fired on the oncoming recon mech, hitting it in its centre torso. Pushing his mech into a run, Wolf charged forward. Meson shots flew around Wolf as the Mosquito fired all its’ guns, but missed. Tensile tried to give supporting fire for Wolf, but missed all his shots at the Mosquito!

Closing in on the Mosquito, Wolf fired one cold light gun, hitting its left arm. The arm jettisoned from the mech in a fireball as the ammo in the arm exploded! Thrown off balance, the Mosquito crashed into the ground. Still charging in, Wolf fired his second gun and tore armor of the Mosquitos’ leg. Tensile fired on the prone mech, hitting it in its head. The Mosquito tried to push itself off the ground, just as the charging IceLord of Wolf arrived. Wolf swung his right foot and kicked the down mech in the head, sending it sprawling to the ground again. Quickly shifting targets, he locked up the Wolverine and started to back away, leaving the injured mech for Tensile.

Wolfs’ savage attack on the Mosquito drew the attention of the other two enemy mechs. Both the Thor and Wolverine locked onto Wolf and fired on him, rocking his mech with the Plasma gun, cannons and meson shots. Wolf's IceLord suffered internal structure damage and heavy loss of armor under the onslaught. The Wolverine rushed in to close on Wolf and raked him with his VibraClaws.

The Mosquito pilot got his mech upright. Tensile tracks him and is about to fire when he sees the pilot eject! He switches his target to the Wolverine, hoping to help drive him off of Wolf.

Mauler fired on the stationary Thor, hitting him all over with his autocannons – Heat level Yellow.

Not to be distracted, the Thor remained stationary, relentlessly firing its weapons on Wolf. Mauler waited for all his weapons to recycle and let loose another autocannon volley shredding more armor from the Thors’ torso and arms. Still, the Thor remained in its spot, firing on Wolf.

Cursing in disbelief, Mauler was about to fire again when the alert came – Heat level Red.

Somehow able to keep his mech standing from the onslaught of the Thor, Wolf backed away from the Wolverine, fired, and scored hits with his Cold Light Guns. Shrugging off the hits, the Wolverine charged Wolf, sending them both crashing to the ground. The Wolverine was up first, slashing its vibraclaws into Wolfs’ armor.

Finally reaching the trees, Mauler gets a better scan of the Thor, which showed heavy armor loss on its left arm. Mindful of his heat, Mauler fires only his two smaller autocannons and was rewarded by seeing the scanner show the Thors’ centre torso go yellow. Wolf pushed his mech off the ground and fired both his weapons into the left leg of the Wolverine. The Wolverine staggered, but the pilot was able to keep his mech standing.

Wolf then pounded on the Wolverines’ torso with his fists. He throttled up into a run, narrowly dodging another swipe of the vibraclaws. He saw the flash of Tensiles’ large laser as it burnt into the Wolverines’ left torso. Running, Wolf swivelled his torso and fired on the Wolverine again, hitting him with one of his weapons. The Wolverine turned and fired on Wolf, doing more internal structure damage.

The Thor, still stationary in its position, fired relentlessly on Wolfs mech, eventually decimating its lower torso. With no gyro, Wolfs’ IceLord fell to the ground. The Wolverine ran over Wolf and began raking him with its vibraclaws, peeling armor from the IceLords torso.

Mauler and Tensile broke cover and ran forward, weapons blazing. The Wolverine ignored Tensiles’ laser fire as it was focused solely on Wolf. Maulers’ initial onslaught tore more armor from the Thors’ torso and finally got the Thor pilot to start retreating. Mauler then switched targets to the Wolverine and fired another barrage from his autocannons. Wolf looked up from his prone state and saw the Wolverine rocking under the impacts of the autocannon slugs, but still, the Wolverine pilot continued to hammer Wolf. Wolf brought his weapons up and fired on the Wolverins standing over him. His shots hit an arm and leg. Heat level yellow. His weapons recycled and he fired again. Both legs on the Wolverine were almost devoid of all armor now. Heat level red!

Meson gunfire crashed into Wolf as the Wolverine destroyed one cold light gun. Another shot ripped into the cockpit injuring Wolf! Wolf started the eject sequence… Tensile brought his mech to a halt and aimed at the Wolverine. His small laser missed, but the large laser tore out the last of the internal structure of its right leg. Unable to support its weight, the leg snapped and the Wolverine fell to the ground on top of Wolfs’ mech – just as Wolfs’ ejection sequence completed and he was hurled into the air…

Reaching the fallen Wolverine, Mauler fired with one autocannon which decimated the mechs other leg. Switching his target back to the retreating Thor, he threw his mech into reverse. He watched as Wolfs’ chute deployed, but Wolf looked – limp. He radioed to Wolf – no response. Wolfs’ body hit the ground hard and was covered by the chute.

Concerned for Wolf, Mauler didn’t see the Thor had stopped its’ retreat and was advancing again. It was Tensiles’ shouted warning into the headset that snapped him back to the fight. That, and the alarms going off as his threat indicator showed the Thor pilot had him locked him up solid. Laser fire smashed into the Bloodhounds head, injuring Mauler. The Thors’ autocannon belched once and armor was ripped from Maulers’ right arm. Reeling from the impact, Mauler triggered all of his autocannons, but his shots missed, tearing up the earth around the Thor.

Tensile pushed his mech into a run, turning to go around the fallen Wolverine. He locked up the Thor and fired his lasers, burning armor off its torso. Tensiles’ hands froze at the controls when he saw the Thors’ autocannon fire again, ripping the head from the Bloodhound! The Bloodhound seemed to freeze in midstride, then slowly fell over on its side.

Thump – thump – thump .. meson shots hitting into Tensiles’ right side from the fallen Wolverine! Ignoring it, Tensile fired on the now advancing Thor. Taking his laser fire in stride, the Thor charged into Tensile and sent them both crashing to the ground. Tensile got up first and fired his lasers into the standing Thor. He then swung his fists and pounded the heavier mech back into the ground. Seeing the Thor starting to rise again, Tensile fired his lasers and kicked and punched the heavier mech back into the ground again!

Thump – thump.. more meson shots hit. Tensile watched as the Thor began to stand again and decided it was time to leave. He throttled up his mech and ran. Turning and swivelling his mech, he braced himself for the Thors’ attack – which never came. Slowing his mech, he turned and faced the Thor – which was on the ground again! Tensile watched as the Thor started to rise, stand, but then would fall over again – Its’ Gyro must be damaged!

Tensile coolly walked his mech up a hill behind the Thor. He targeted the fallen Wolverine and hammered the mech with laser fire until the pilot decided it was time to eject. Switching to the Thor, he fired on it, doing more damage to its’ centre torso. The pilot gave up and ejected from his mech.

Victory! But at a huge price.

Mauler is dead. Instant kill from the head shot. Novice Level – 12 battles fought.

Wolf lived through the bad ejection – he was badly injured and unconscious.

Team still does not have enough money to but a new mech for Cyben, even with selling Maulers’ (damaged) Bloodhound.

Wolf is now the squad leader. He and Tensile will have to do well to bring this team back from the brink.

10 Years and counting
Topic: Miscellaneous
Yes.. Today I've hit my 10th wedding anniversary.

A milestone in life! :-)

F.E.A.R - no more
Mood:  happy
Topic: Miscellaneous
Finished it!

What a game!

I think i'll take a break and then play through it again :-)

Attrition
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Their spirits dampened by their failure on the campaign, Mech Masters are sent back on routine patrols

Failing to secure the intel data from the IL, Mech Masters went back on patrol again. Having an uneventful patrol thus far, Mauler ordered the team to return to base. Moving westward towards base, Wolf leads the team between some hills. Cyben follows close behind him and Tensile starts to climb one hill, just to get a clearer view of the area.

Wolf trots out towards another hill – and sees an enemy recon mech in the distance – a Fang. Just as he was trying to get a lock, the Fang disappeared behind a hill.
Wolf warns the team of enemy contact. Tensile reaches the top of the hill he was climbing, and Mauler asked if he had a visual on the Fang.

“Negative… but I have visual contact to 2 mechs. Needler (Light) and a Banzai (recon)”

Great.

Mauler datalinks with Tensile and starts his lock sequence on the Needler.

Just as Tensile initiated his own lock sequence on the Banzai, he saw the telltale smoke trails of missiles inbound from the Needler. Most of the missiles flew harmlessly by, but a few impacted on his torso.
Tensile got a good lock on the Banzai and fires his only weapon that had the range – his large laser. It missed.
Expecting another volley of missiles at any moment, Tensile popped flares, hoping they would help fool the missile seekers.

The enemy Fang mech comes back into view, much closer to Wolf. Still following Wolf, Cyben starts to lock up the Fang.

Tracking the Needler, Tensile realized he was about to lose sight of it, as it’s current path would take it behind hills – but into the path of Wolf. He relayed this to Wolf, then switched his lock to the enemy Fang. With only a weapon lock, Tensile fired his large laser and was rewarded with a hit.

Wolf steps out of the tree line and spots the advancing Needler. Starting his lock sequence, he noted the positions of the enemy Fang, the Banzai… and a Club! This fourth enemy mech just crested the hill behind the Needler! Wolf radios in the new contact, and fires on the Needleer, but his shots went wide. Picking up speed, he was almost thrown off balance as the Needler fired a barrage of missiles at him, some exploding on his legs, torso and cockpit.

The enemy Fang fired on CYBEN as he ran past, hitting him in the arm. CYBEN swivelled his torso and fired on the run, hitting the enemy Fang in the legs.

Mauler tells Tensile to follow him as he closed on the enemy mechs. He enters the trees and spots the enemy Fang. Weapons lock achieved, Mauler fired his auto cannons. All four shots found their mark, and the enemy mech’s leg was reduced to twisted pile of metal. The mech listed to the side and fell to the ground.

Still trying to achieve a good scanner lock, Wolf kept his mech in a full run, trying to be a hard target to hit. He braced himself when his computer gave the alert – “Missile Launch detected”.
The Needler mech, although slower, was still following Wolf, and released another volley of missiles. Wolf’s mech rocked under the impact, and his attention was drawn immediately to the red alert showing heavy damage to his legs.

Still in the trees, Mauler watched as the missiles slammed into Wolf. Setting his sights on the Needler, Maulers’ autocannons barked again, with two of the four shots smashing into the torso of the Needler. Waiting for his weapons to recycle, Mauler lost visual contact to Wolf as the Needler launched it’s missiles again, filling the air with smoke. Most of them missed, but the few that hit caused more damage to Wolf’s leg. Wolf swivelled his torso and fired on the Needler, hitting him with the pulse laser.
Relentless, the Needler pressed its attack with another salvo of missiles. Wolf felt his mechs’ leg snap even before the alert came up. His TripWire toppled face first into the ground.

Tensile entered the forest behind Mauler, but was having difficulties getting through. Just as he caught a glimpse of the enemy Banzai mech, he loses sight again as the mech moves out of view. Hearing the call that Wolf is down, he pushed his mech harder to clear the trees.

CYBEN locked up the enemy Club and, ignoring machine gun fire from the approaching Banzai mech, he tracked his target for a few seconds then let loose with his autocannons, ripping armor off the Clubs’ torso.
Seeing the Banzai coming at him in a full charge, he pushed his mech into a run to avoid him.
“Missile Lock!”
The alert flashed on CYBENs’ board – the distinctive warble filling his headset.
“Missile Launch detected!”
CYBEN swivelled his torso and his cockpit view filled with the smoke trails of incoming missiles. CYBEN is thrown around in his seat as his mech rocks under the multiple explosions. As the smoke clears, he tries to reacquire his target. He saw the Club mech walk over to Wolfs’ fallen mech and open up on him at point blank range! Armor and internal parts explode under the assault. Ignoring the growing missile lock sound in his headset, CYBEN fires on the Club, hoping to drive him off of Wolf. His shots hit and is rewarded by seeing the Club’s leg show red on his scanner – heavy damage. CYBEN hears the rhythmic thump of machine gun shots hitting his armor as the Banzai fires on him.

Finally clearing the tree line, Tensile starts to lock up the enemy Banzai mech.

Mauler fires his two smaller autocannons, also trying to drive off the Club from Wolf. Seeing his heat level climbing, he doesn’t fire his two heavier weapons, but instead switches targets to the Banzai mech stalking CYBEN.
The Banzai mech pilot closed to point blank range of CYBEN and let loose with all its weapons. Being that close gave the machine gun shells more power, and CYBENs’ left hip actuator was shredded. Now slowed, CYBEN was unable to avoid the charging Needler...

In a frenzied run, the Needler barrelled into CYBEN, crashing its 70-ton frame into CYBENs’ 40-ton mech. Both mechs went down in a tangled heap.

Already locked onto the Banzai mech, Mauler and Tensile open fire hitting it. Ignoring the onslaught, the enemy recon mech fired on the now prone CYBEN. Slow to get up because of the hip damage, CYBEN was still down when the Needler got to its feet. Turning to face CYBEN, the Needler kicked and ripped CYBENs’ damaged leg clean off its torso.

Not waiting for weapons to recycle, both the Needler and Banzai pommel CYBEN with their fists and kicks. CYBENs’ other leg is destroyed – then his left arm is smashed – he starts the eject sequence... and ejects safely.

Seeing CYBEN eject, the Needler turned and started a run towards Mauler. Switching to target the oncoming mech, Mauler fires all his autocannons, tearing armor off its centre torso. No sooner had his shots hit, that the “Missile Launch” warning blared in his headset. The Needler filled the air with its missile volley, shredding trees around Mauler and shearing armor from his arms and torso.
Letting out a shout, Mauler pushed his mech into a run to meet the closing Needler. The sound of the two 70-tons mechs colliding in a headfirst charge deafened Mauler. Fighting his controls, he staggered back, and was able to keep his mech standing. The Needler mech also staggered away from the crash, but the pilot was also able to keep his mech upright. The booming sound of all four autocannons was heard as Mauler fired his weapons at point blank range. Gaping holes were seen in the centre torso of the Needler as the autocannon onslaught obliterated its armor.
“Heat level Critical!” screamed in Maulers’ ear.
No!

Thinking that Mauler may be vulnerable and off balance after the head-on collision with the Needler mech, the pilot of the Banzai mech charged. Mauler saw the charge and was able to avoid it. The Banzai mech clipped Mauler and lost his balance, and went sprawling face first into the dirt.

Tensile fired at the Banzai as it was charging, but missed both shots. Now prone, it made an easier target. Tensile fired again, hitting with both lasers. The Banzai mech pushed himself upright and, ignoring Mauler beside him, targets Tensile.

Having avoided the charge by the Banzai, Mauler sought to distance himself while his mech cooled down. He pushed into a run, just as he heard the Missile Launch warning again. A few missiles hit his torso, but others missed and hit the enemy Banzai!

It was then Mauler noticed that the enemy Club mech was still standing over Wolf, continually ripping into the downed TripWire. Mauler was about to order Wolf to eject, but saw the cockpit hatch exploding outwards as Wolf ejected to safety.
“Heat Level Critical” – “Ammo explosion imminent”
Dammit!
Mauler tried to reroute coolant to the ammo bays – too late! His mech shuddered as the remaining ammo in two autocannons exploded.
“Heat level critical”
With sweat burning his eyes, Mauler forced himself to concentrate on saving his last two ammo bays.
He swivelled his torso and saw laser fire hitting the Banzai mech again as Tensile pressed his attack. The Neeedler and Banzai ran off to chase Tensile. Mauler brought his mech to a halt, still desperately trying to cool down.

Seeing Maulers’ halted mech as easy prey, the enemy Club pilot targeted and fired on Mauler. Mauler gritted his teeth under the onslaught but kept his eyes on the heat level. Although tempted to target the Club, Mauler decides to keep his lock on the Needler and help Tensile. Turning to face them, he waited while his heat level slowly came down to safer levels, ignoring the attacks of the enemy Club.

Tensile was doing his best to keep both mechs occupied, having them chase him around. He fired on the Needler and scored hits in its head and lower torso. The Banzai mech kept peppering him with machine gun fire, and eventually damaged Tensiles’ jump ports. Tensile switches to target the Banzai and fired, hitting him in the cockpit and damaging the pilot! The Banzai mech stopped and collapsed to the ground!

Mauler couldn’t wait anymore. Tracking the Needler, he fired with his two remaining autocannons. Both shots tore into its’ lower torso, obliterating it. The Needler staggered like a drunken man and fell over.
“Heat Level Red”
Seeing the enemy Club closing fast, Mauler turned to brace for a charge. The Club pilot raced in closer – then jumped!
Mauler got his weapons locked onto the flying Club, but holds fire as he waits again for the heat level to come down...
The Club started its rapid descent on Mauler. Mauler shifted his stance and braced for impact.
BLAMMM!!
The enemy Club came crashing down on Mauler. Maulers’ ECM was destroyed and his torso took heavy damage. Mauler wrestled the controls, but could not keep his mech standing. He went down with the enemy Club.
Getting up quickly, Mauler looked and saw the Club at his feet with a mangled right leg!
Mauler emptied the last of his autocannon rounds into the prone mech, ripping off its other leg. Tensile came over, firing on it as well.
Stubborn to the last, the Club pilot continued to fire from the ground with its one remaining laser. Tensile fires again, destroying its left torso. Still, the enemy mech refused to give up, firing on Mauler with its laser.

“We offer a draw” was the voice that came over Maulers’ headset.

Remembering the glee that this Club had in ripping into Wolfs’ downed mech, Mauler ignored the call and continued to pound on it with his fists. The enemy pilot ejected. Tensile turned to lock the downed Needler, and saw the pilot eject there as well.

Victory! A costly one though.

Mauler and Wolf go up a level - NOVICE

The team fixed Mauler and Tensiles’ mechs.
They then sold CYBENs’ Fang mech and Wolfs’ TripWire mech.

The IceLord (70-ton) has been bought for Wolf.
Unfortunately there is no more money to get a mech for CYBEN so he will have to sit out the next mission.

F.E.A.R.
Topic: Miscellaneous
Ok.
Got this game and been playing it for awhile now.

It Completely ROCKS!!

The AI in this game is head and shoulders above everything else out here.
The AI will keep you guessing in every gun battle you meet them in.

That, along with the kinetic envirnoment, where most things are movable/destructible, makes every encounter a joy. :-)

The atmosphere and tension in this game is phenomenal.

The 'horror' parts are well done. It's not just
jump-out-at-you-scary (although some of that is there), but it's truly CREEPY.

I hear there are 11 'intervals' (levels) in this game. I am only at interval 8 - so a lot of action left to go.

Looking forward to it.

Rebel Hunter
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Shameless Plug: I was given the honor of designing two camapigns for the last patch that was released for this game. Rebel Hunter is one of them. It's been awhile since I played it, so it will feel new to me - and the team.

Mech Masters arrived on Ryken IV eager to get into action. Assigned to Cmdr. Mandren, they were sent on patrols to stop the IL (Independent League) incursions. Just as these were getting too routine, Mandren called them into a briefing. Mech Masters has been chosen to accompany ShadowBane Team on securing an IL building housing critical intel data on the Rebels (the IL) that the Senate needed.

ShadowBane Team air-dropped into the area from dropship TROJAN. Video link was down, but the audio was still working. No sooner had they landed, they realized the LZ was hot. Minefields blew the legs off two mechs. ShadowBane Leader told his remaining recon mech pilot to continue towards the intel building and he turned to face an enemey Prowler and Dragonfly which came at them from the forest.

As Tensile had the only jump-equipped mech, Mauler, Wolf and CYBEN had booster rockets attached to their mechs to aid in the drop.
These would be ejected once on the ground. This meant a faster fall but the mechs would be harder to guide during the descent.
Mauler and Wolf drifted away from Tensile and CYBEN in the freefall, landing way to the west. Tensile controlled his mech through its jump jets and immediately saw the two enemy mechs chasing ShadowBane Leader. CYBEN landed hard behind some trees close to Tensile.

Changing his vector thrust, Tensile started floating forward over the trees trying to secure a good lock.
Mauler and Wolf regrouped and started moving east towards the rest of the group when Mauler was hit by a Gauss rifle shot. He looked to his right and saw a recon Unicorn mech standing in the treeline. Locking him up, he then saw another recon mech step out of the trees - a Zealot.
Tensiles’ remaining energy for jump jets was running low - he would have to set down and allow them to recharge. Working the controls, he began his descent.
Watching the mechs ahead of him, he saw ShadowBane Leader fire at the Prowler hitting his torso. Already badly damaged, the enemy pilot ejected.
ShadowBane Leaders' roar of triumph was cut short as the enemy Dragonfly let loose with its lasers, smashing the cockpit and killing ShadowBane Leader!
Now without a pilot, his mech stumbled forward and crashed into the ground.

With perfect precision, Tensile landed. CYBEN came running up behind him, but both lost sight of the Dragonfly. They angled east to clear the intervening trees.

Mauler fired all his cannons hitting the Unicorn with both his smaller weapons. Ignoring incoming fire from the Zealot, he radioed Wolf to lock on to the Unicorn, and rushed forward to close the range. Wolf locked up the unicorn and fired - miss.
Mauler gets a scan lock and fires all his weapons, tearing armor off the enemy mechs' centre torso and legs. Thrown off balance, the Unicorn stumbled but kept upright. It fired back with it's Gauss rifle at Wolf, but missed.
Wolf kicks his mech into a run and charges the Unicorn, seeing another Gauss round and machine gun fire tear up the ground all around him. Mauler continued forward, still ignoring the Zealot that was firing on him.

With a loud crash, Wolf barrels into the Unicorn. The Unicorn is lifted off its feet and falls to the ground. Wolf's right torso took the brunt of the hit, and crumpled. Wolf fought the controls but failed to keep his mech standing - he fell over to the ground.
Mauler halted his advance, aiming and firing on the prone Unicorn. His barrage ripped both legs off the Unicorn’s torso.
Wolf rose to his feet and tried to scan lock the Zealot.... but then saw the alerts -
Pulse Laser -- Destroyed; Scanner --- Destroyed.
Great. Now he'll have to attack with manual controls, with only his EM Pulse and VibraClaws.
Mauler switched targets to the Zealot and was turning to face him when the Zealot fired his meson cannon, doing critical damage to his leg. Mauler cursed as his movements were now slowed considerably.

Regaining sight and lock on the enemy Dragonfly, Tensile and CYBEN rushed to close the distance. Tensile refines his lock, and sees another enemy mech reported on his scanner - Light mech - near the target buildings way to the south. He quickly checked and saw the remaining recon mech from ShadowBane's group almost reaching the buildings.. He radioed to the ShadowBane pilot - but too late. Over the commlink he heard the sounds of cannon fire hitting armor and the pilot shouting he was under attack.
The enemy Dragonfly fired on Tensile - both lasers hit his right leg. Temporarily distracted trying to warn the recon mech pilot, Tensile stumbled under the hits and fell, crashing cockpit first into the ground.
CYBENs' scan lock returns near perfect. Firing his twin autocannons, he scores hits on the Dragonfly torso. That got the Dragonfly's attention. Switching targets, he fired back at CYBEN hitting him with the large laser. With the enemy DragonFly distracted, Tensile pushed his mech off the ground and started to re-acquire the enemy mech.

Mauler charged the Zealot hitting the enemy mech. Stumbling backwards, the Zealot pilot keeps standing, but Mauler falls as his damaged leg fails him. Dazed, the Zealot fired at Mauler but missed repeatedly, allowing Mauler to stand up. Mauler fires all weapons at point blank range and hits, tearing chunks of armor off the Zealot...
Heat level RED!
With no scanner, Wolf charged into the Zealot - and again the Zealot pilot keeps his mech upright as Wolf falls to the ground!!
Ignoring Wolf, the Zealot fired on Mauler again, doing critical damage to one of his Autocannons. As Wolf was trying to rise, the Zealot switched to target him and fired damaging Wolf's VibraClaws.
Ignoring the heat, Mauler fired his autocannons.
He fired the damaged one first and heard the grating sound as the round jammed in the gun! The autoloader recycled and ejected the dud ammo.
Mauler fired the second autocannon/4 - and destroys the Zealots' right torso .... the pilot keeps his mech standing..
Mauler fired the first autocannon/12 - and destroys the Zealots' left torso ... spinning the other way, the Zealot pilot grappled with his controls and still kept his mech upright!
Mauler fired his second autocannon/12 - and blows the Zealot's Left Leg off! The mech finally falls to the ground!

Hearing the sound of distant fighting and the sporadic shouting from the ShadowBane mech pilot, Tensile and CYBEN continued to trade shots with the enemy DragonFly. The DragonFly pilot kicked in his jumpjets and flew over CYBEN, heading for the cover of the trees. Tensile fires his lasers and hits the airborne mech. It wobbles, but stays flying forward.
CYBEN tracked it as it passed over him and let loose another barrage from his autocannons. The right torso of the DragonFly was blown away, and the mech pitched over and fell crashing hard into the ground. Tensile waited for his lasers to recycle - then destroyed the lower torso of the Dragonfly as it was trying to stand up. It went down again - crippled.

Over the radio they heard the cry as the ShadowBane recon pilot ejected...

Tensile started to run towards the last known area of the recon pilot, and spotted a Comm building -and an armor bay!
He radioed the coordinates to the rest of the team. Mauler gave the order for everyone to rendezvous at the armor bay.
Being in a slower mech and with a damaged leg, Mauler quickly fell behind as Wolf trotted off towards the armor bay.

Mauler almost jumped out of his seat when he felt the repeated thump on his armor of machine gun fire. Another mech? But where?
Scanners showed no new contacts - just the downed Zealot and Unicorn...
He swivelled his torso so he could look in the direction of the prone Unicorn - and saw the muzzle flashes as the Unicorn fired on him.
Lying on its centre torso, it had propped itself up and twisted it's torso to bring a set of machine guns to bear.
Mauler tried to ignore him, but when the next burst hits him in his damaged leg and the alerts came up on his panel, he targeted the Unicorn and fired his two largest autocannons.
The shots smashed into its weaker rear armor and ruptured its engine. The Unicorn vanished in the ensuing explosion. The shockwave rocked Mauler's Bloodhound. Fighting the dizziness and the weakened leg, he somehow manages to keep his mech from falling.

Tensile reaches the Comm building and connects through the universal port, and pulls down a map of the area. He then moves over to the armor bay and walks up to the repair platform.
"Automated Armor repair systems active... Please set your mech to maintenance mode."
His repair work is finished just as Mauler and Wolf arrive. They both go in and repair some of the lost armor on their scarred mechs.
Wolf wishes they had time to get his Pulse laser or Scanner repaired, not looking forward to whatever was ahead without those.

The downloaded map shows that high hills and mountains to the south surround the target buildings. There were two passes leading to them.
Mauler and CYBEN went to the west towards one entrance, while Tensile and Wolf paired up to go to the entrance directly south.

CYBEN gets to the entrance first and spots a lone Light Mech - a Leopard. He immediately locks it up and starts firing, hitting the mech. The Leopard returns fire with his cannons and missiles, most of them hitting CYBEN. The Leopard starts to run towards CYBEN, closing the range.

Tensile and Wolf reach their entrance and spot the target buildings - and the Penetrator light mech guarding them. Turning to face them, it locks up Wolf and fires it lasers, burning armor off his legs and arms.

The Leopard charges into the trees, tearing them down as it rushed towards CYBEN. CYBEN calmly watched and, just as the Leopard was about to break out of the trees, he pushed his mech into a run and moved past him. The Leopard continued out of the trees into the open - and into the waiting guns of Mauler. Still with internal damage to his leg, Mauler was too far back for the Leopard to see him while he was charging through the forest. Out in the open, the enemy pilot realized he was now the meat in the autocannon sandwich.

CYBEN turned and swivelled his torso firing his autocannons, just as Mauler opened up with all four of his.
Again, Mauler heard the grating noise as another round jammed and cleared from his damaged autocannon.
The Leopard twisted and buckled under the onslaught but held it's ground. CYBEN's scanner showed the Leopards right arm and left leg showing heavy damage - seems the ShadowBane pilot had got in some good hits before going down....

Then the call came on the commlink from Tensile - Wolf was down!

Tensile had hit the Light mech and drew the wrath of it's lasers as it tore into his right torso - disabling it, the large laser.. and his scanner!
With no scanner of his own, Wolf was missing his shots with the EM Pulse. Frustrated, he pushed his mech into a run, trying to close to use his VibraClaws. The Penetrator re-assessed the threat and targeted Wolf. With pinpoint accuracy, he hit Wolf repeatedly with his lasers. Each hit forced Wolf to compensate on his controls as he was determined to keep his charge going.
The final volley of lasers, however, was too much for his skills. Wolf stumbled and his controls went free in his hands as he lost all balance and his mech fell to the ground.

Mauler ordered CYBEN to go to Wolf's aid while he closed on the wounded Leopard. CYBEN quickly broke through the trees and got weapons lock on the Penetrator. Without trying for a scan lock, he fired - and hit. The Penetrator took a step forward and halted.
Tensile fired his small laser. Energy rippled in the space where his laser impacted the transparent energy shield surrounding the mech. Damn!! It had a shield generator!

The Penetrator re-targeted Tensile and fired, missing him.

Mauler closed the range on the Leopard. Just as he fired, he stepped down awkwardly on his bad leg. The sudden jolt and instinctive recovery was enough to throw off his aim - all of his shots missed. The Leopard pilot noticed the stumble and rushed into melee range firing off a salvo of missiles. The missiles peppered Mauler's armor and he again had to fight to keep his mech standing as the Leopards autocannons found their mark. Through the sparks, smoke and concentrating on keeping his mech upright, Mauler never saw the kick that came... that crunched into his already weakened leg. His mech buckled as the leg took more damage. It held together, but Mauler failed to stay standing and he fell to the ground.
The Leopard kicked again, destroying his torso and autocannon. He fired on Mauler as he tried to rise - and the leg finally snapped.

Wolf rose to his feet, just as Mauler gave the command to retreat. With his entire board lit up with alerts, Wolf turned his mech and started to run. Tensile turned to follow, firing again on the Penetrator, and again hitting his shields.
The Penetrator fired on Tensile once, twice - all lasers finding their target.
Tensile's mech skidded to the right and fell. CYBEN ran past the Penetrator firing on him. Ignoring CYBEN, the Penetrator walked over to Tensile and fired into his mech, destroying his lower torso. Tensile initiated the eject sequence...

The Leopard turned away from Mauler and started to move towards the rest of the group. Swivelling on the ground, Mauler was able to bring one small autocannon up and tried to aim at the Leopard's weakened left leg. He fired.. and missed! The shot ripped the ground beside the mechs' feet. The Leopard pilot stopped and turned. He fired a salvo into Mauler, destroying the autocannon and blowing off his left arm. Mauler initiated his eject sequence....

CYBEN and Wolf exited the area. Mauler ejected safely from his mech. Tensile ejected and was badly damaged - but functional.

Tensile and Mauler were rescued - the IL group evacuated the buildings long before the Senate troops arrived, taking all intel data with them.

Mission failure.

Milk Run
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Doing well is one thing. Beating up on clearly inferior teams is another. This team lives for a challenge!

Having beaten of the attack on the training ground, Mauler received word from the contractor that he wanted the team to take over a building to the east - which they believe is a forward HQ for the attacking force. There seems to be great emphasis on the fact that all that was needed was a Titan presence on the building compound and any resistance faced would be squashed.

This made Wolf a little uneasy.

The team loaded up - CYBEN in his new Fang Mech - and headed out.

Entering the area, Wolf, CYBEN and Tensile trotted ahead of the slower BloodHound mech piloted by Mauler.
No sooner had they emerged from some trees that they spotted the buildings in the distance - and 3 enemy recon mechs (2 Enigmas and 1 Dart) spread out in front.

Quickly evaluating the landscape, Wolf told Tensile to follow CYBEN forward into a valley using the trees as cover. Wolf then turned east and headed for more cover to the edge of the same valley.
The cover was nice, but there really wasn't much choice as everywhere else was ringed with quicksand.

CYBEN got weapons lock on the approaching Dart, but his scanner lock failed. Grunting in frustration, he fired his twin autocannons, both slugs chewing up the ground in front of the approaching mech. Tensile got weapons lock on the Dart and he slowed his mech to a halt to concentrate on gaining a good scanner lock.

Mauler finally broke through the main band of trees but stopped his mech just at the forest's edge.
He too locked up the Dart. Even without a scan lock, Mauler was impressed to see how easily he could track the oncoming Dart with reasonable accuracy.
He fired a salvo from all four autocannons. Two missed - Two hit. The lower torso of the Dart crumpled and the mech stumbled, but the pilot was able to keep his momentum going and retained his footing. Mauler started to refine his lock.

Wolf locked onto the Enigma to the far east of the group, got a good scanner lock and fired. His EM Pulse laser temporarily seized the mech's shoulder and his Pulse Laser melted armor from its right leg.

The enemy Dart closed on CYBEN and fired off a salvo of missiles, tearing into his armor. Still not fully accustomed to his new mech, CYBEN decided against standing his ground and entering any form of melee. He pushed his mech forward into a run... and cursed as his scan lock failed again.

Ignoring the missile fire from the approaching second Enigma, Tensile looked at his scanner with approval as he got a green scan on the Dart. He let his weapons track the Dart for a few seconds - then fired. The small laser hit the mech on its arm. The Large Laser smashed into the mechs cockpit! The enemy mech froze as if it had run into a brick wall and fell over!

Mauler smiled as his scan came up green, just as the mech fell to the ground. Now prone, even at that great distance, it was almost like shooting fish in a barrel. All four autocannons barked, and the Dart's lower torso was smashed into scrap.

Running towards the oncoming Enigma, Wolf almost missed the blip on his scanner - another mech detected moving through the forest far to the east! He quickly reported it to Mauler and got confirmation that he had also seen it. Seconds later, Mauler reported it to be a Light mech. It was trying to make its way through the trees and, depending on how good the pilot was, would take some time to reach.
Mauler saw CYBEN slowing his mech, and told him to keep running towards the HQ building.
Mauler then ordered Tensile to cover CYBEN and keep that second Enigma off him.

"Affirmative"

Watching for some last minute dodge by the Enigma, Wolf charged in. The Enigma froze like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. Wolf barrelled into the Enigma, sending both mechs crashing into the ground. Wolf rose effortlessly to his feet and saw the Enigma pilot slow to get up. He hammered the mech with his Pulse and EM Pulse lasers, and stripped armor from the rising mech with his VibraClaws. The Enigma finally got up and started firing at point blank range with its missiles, while pounding on Wolf with its fists.

CYBEN ran past the Dart, and was hit with a Meson shot by the downed mech. Ignoring it, he continued his run to the HQ building.

The second Enigma locked up the running Fang mech and fired volley after volley of missiles at him. CYBEN saw missile trails fly past his mech and felt the impact as a few scored hits on his arms and rear torso.

Tensile completed his target switch to the Enigma and opened up with his lasers.
Mauler completed his lock at the same time and fired his autocannon volley. The Enigma's right torso was crippled. Slowly, it turned to face Tensile and fired its meson gun. The shot hit Tensile squarely in the centre torso. As designed, the meson shot penetrated the armor cleanly, seeking more vulnerable equipment to destroy. It found the engine. Tensile saw the alert flash on his panel reporting light engine damage. More heat build-up occurred in the damaged engine, causing his mech's temperature to rise.
Tensile quickly popped flares - just in time! Missiles corkscrewed from the Enigma but were spoofed by the flares and went harmlessly flying past Tensile.

Almost in a perfect coordinated strike, both Tensile and Mauler unleashed a volley on the Enigma, completely decimating it's centre torso. The mech swayed on its feet, then fell face first to the ground.

Mauler checked and found that the enemy Light mech seemed to be having trouble navigating through the forest. Wolf was locked in what seemed like a giant mech fist fight with the other Enigma. Mauler locked up the Light mech and told Tensile to help Wolf.

CYBEN radioed in - he had reached the HQ compound. Turning on his external speakers, he demanded that they surrender.

Almost immediately, they received the confirmation - the enemy had surrendered. The Enigma broke off from Wolf and the Light mech just stayed at its location in the forest.

Wolf opened up a comm link to Mauler - "Something's not right. These guys seem way too inexperienced"
Mauler agreed.

Later, when the contractor had his people comb the building for intel, Mauler found out that this was a rival training school. The mechs and pilots stationed there were completely green rookies that were just learning to pilot their mechs let alone fight!

After discussing this with the team, they decided that maybe it was time to leave.
Fighting school students wasn't what they wanted to be doing.

Collecting their pay, they stayed only as long as it took D.A.Y.E.S to finish his maintenance work on the mechs, repairing the light damage they had - his engine hit was the most serious damage they had.

While waiting on the repairs, Mauler scanned for available posts and settled on a contract which would have them going to a planet called Ryken IV. Attached to the military of the planets’ ruling Senate, they would be hired on to help quell a growing rebel uprising.

============
OK!!...

Basically the team will be going on to do one of the campaigns i wrote for this game - Rebel Hunter.
It was designed for a slightly lower level of pilots, but does get increasingly harder. It was meant to take a "just turned" GREEN squad up to a "just turned" NOVICE squad. All in preparation for the next campaign i wrote - Hold Out.

Tonnage-wise, the team just makes the minimum requirements of the campaign - so maybe i will do a random patrol hoping for more money (or salvage!) to get Wolf's mech upgraded to the IceLord.

Wolf and Mauler looks to be about one good mission away from levelling up again - which puts them in a higher bracket for this campaign. However, due to lack of money for bigger mechs and CYBEN still being a rookie, that may be balanced out... Also, the next step up in mechs for Mauler would mean using a new type of Pilot skill - one which is woefully poor right now. Wolf is a little better but still not as good as he is for the current class of mechs.

Further into the Campaign
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Bolstered by their recent victory, the team is in high spirits. Things are finally looking up.


After celebrating the recent arena victory, the contractor asked Mauler if his team could watch his training grounds, as he had to go out on business and was worried that rival teams may try to attack while he was away.

Mauler accepted, thinking this would be easy money - a simple garrison duty against attackers that may never come.

Having only three mechs now, Mauler, Wolf and Tensile went on patrol.
The training ground stood atop a hill which had good tree cover. Two rivers ran around its base and on the far side of the eastern river, were lots of quicksand. Any enemy coming from that direction wouldn't get very close...

Tensile was at the highest point on the hill in trees, facing west, when he saw the first two enemy mechs. 1 recon (40 Ton Wasp) and 1 Light (70 Ton Spider). The Spider ran north out of view behind some hills, but the Wasp came sprinting forward. Mauler started to slowly climb to higher ground to support Tensile, when Wolf radioed in that he spotted an enemy recon mech coming from the east. Mauler decided to lock up the new threat and attempted a scan lock, still climbing the hill. The lock was successful, revealing it to be a Pike recon mech with dual LRM launchers.
Hmm.. the quicksand won't slow this mech down...

The Wasp was fast. By the time Tensile had a weapons lock, it was close to the river. It sprinted forward right up to the river's edge, then jumped!

Mauler reached the top of the hill and switched targets to the Wasp, just as Tensile finished a good scan lock on the jumping recon mech.
Firing his lasers, the Wasp shook in the sky and fell to the ground! Wasting no time, Mauler opened up with his autocannons and tore holes in the Wasp's thin armor. The Wasp pilot pushed his mech upright and moved towards the river again - but it was unstable... Staggering, the Wasp lurched to one side and fell to the ground again!

The Spider came into view and targeted Tensile. Running to close the range, the Spider mech fired and hit Tensile with his laser and meson gun, missing with the autocannon. Ignoring the new threat, Tensile waited on his lasers to recycle and fired on the prone Wasp again - destroying its right arm!
Mauler fired as well, ripping both legs off the prone mech. The Wasp pilot ejected from his crippled mech.

Mauler switched to the Spider and fired on it, missing completely. Cursing, he began to refine his lock.

Wolf had gotten his weapons lock but was patiently refining it as the Pike's Long Range Missiles crashed into his mech. 3 secs. 2 secs.. 1 sec.. got it!! Pushing his mech into a run, Wolf trotted forward to close the range. His EM Pulse hit a few times messing up the approaching mechs' hip and foot. The Pike continued walking forward, sending wave after wave of missiles towards Wolf.

The Spider reached the river and jumped, seeing cannon fire from Mauler smash into the ground where it just left. It arced out over the river - and was hit by both lasers from Tensile. Thrown off balance, the pilot tried to keep the mech airborne but failed! The 70 ton mech came down with a huge splash in the river. Ignoring the damage, the Spider stood up and walked out of the river to the other side. This took it out of sight of Mauler, but right up under the cliff where Tensile was.

Mauler turned his mech and ran towards Tensile, switching targets to the Pike.

The Spider swivelled its torso and fired on Tensile igniting the forest! The heat began to rise in Tensiles’ mech. Standing on a cliff edge, Tensile had to turn his mech almost 180 degrees to get down the slope. By the time he exited the burning trees, his heat was in the red and approaching critical!
The Spider ran up the hill to another set of trees and fired on the retreating Tensile as he went down the hill - heading to the river to cool his mech off.

Wolf slowed his mech to a walk and proceeded to cross the river. His Pulse laser was hitting the Pike, but he wanted to get closer to use his VibraClaw, as the Pike was just staying at range and peppering him with missiles. Crossing the river, he pushed his mech into a run and saw another volley of missiles leave the Pike.... and go straight for Tensile! The missiles smashed into the Dragonfly shearing armour off his left torso and arm.
Reaching the river, Tensile waited as his heat started to come down. He ignored the pelting by the Spider, until he saw the critical alert on his left torso - he couldn't take much more on that side.
Swivelling his mech, he was about to fire on the Spider - then hesitated. He quickly readjusted his lock, and fired his lasers at the trees themselves, causing them to burn around the Spider!!
"Turnabout is fair play"

Wolf coaxed as much speed as he could from his TripWire and, taking a page out of the book of his lost team-mate Kull, charged his mech straight into the Pike. Wolf was thrown against his seat restraints as the two mechs collided. Ignoring the wail of alerts as his centre torso armour was mangled, Wolf fought his controls to keep his mech standing. Looking around, he saw the Pike was down!!

The Spider left the burning woods and fired on Tensile. Tensile saw the flash as his cockpit was hit and he took damage. Everything went out of focus as he tried to assess his position. His heat was ok now - ahead of him was quicksand but he was too disoriented to try and walk through that. He activated his jump jets to jump out of the river.
Bad move. Leaving the water threw his mech off balance. Normally, he may have been able to do that jump successfully - but injured.... he lost control and went splashing down into the river.

Mauler was pushing his Bloodhound to its limits trying to get to the other side of the hill to reacquire the Spider. He was almost there when Tensile set the forest ahead of him on fire, forcing him to run around through more trees, slowing him down. He took snapshots on the downed Pike, hitting it a few times with his smaller autocannons.
Finally, he crested the hill and saw the Spider just below him, facing a downed Tensile.
Switching targets, he fired too quickly with his autocannons - not aiming properly - and missed with all shots but one. His autocannon 12 smashed into the lower torso of the Spider causing it to lurch forward. The pilot did well and kept his mech upright. Once he was stable, he turned to face Mauler...

Still dazed, Tensile tried to get to his feet, but fell again. Taking his time, he tried to get up into a crouch.. but no good. He was just not able to keep focus on his piloting - and his DragonFly splashed into the water again. He decided to wait until his self-repair kicked in before trying again.

Wolf looked down at the Pike at his feet as it was trying to stand. Firing his EM Pulse, he hit it's hand, causing the mech to topple again. He fired his pulse laser into its right torso, and began to rake his VibraClaws across its armour. Again the Pike tried to stand and again Wolf sent it crashing to the ground. Tearing at the floundering mech, Wolf smashed the cockpit with his vibraclaws and could now see the pilot......
The pilot decided he had enough - and ejected!

Tensile's head cleared and he was finally able to get to his feet. He saw the Spider now firing up the hill at Mauler and then saw it go crashing to the ground as Mauler alpha striked with all four cannons, decimating the remains of the Spider's lower torso. The Spider's cockpit hatch blew away as the pilot ejected...

Victory!!

The contractor was happy with the teams results. The money gained has allowed the team to purchase a Fang recon mech for CYBEN.
Now they hope to get enough soon to give Wolf a new mech.

During the debrief, Mauler asked Wolf why he didn't use the flare launchers on his TripWire to confuse the LRM's of the Pike. Wolf's face reddened with embarrassment as he HAD forgotten to use them, but he answered: "Maybe the same reason you haven't used your ECM suite on your Bloodhound to thwart enemy scans on you". Tensile and CYBEN sat quietly watching the two men glared at each other.
Later on, Mauler was seen in his mechs' cockpit, no doubt familiarising himself with the onboard ECM equipment...

Mech Stomp
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Mauler once again wants to take on the same campaign that the team failed early on in it's career, wanting to provethat Mech MAsters is ready for a long term campaign.


Wolf's face went white when Mauler told him he had secured the same campaign for the team - the same one that ended in a debacle.
CYBEN was new... and had no mech.. the team would be going in one pilot short...

Mauler smiled and told him to relax.. “we are ready.. it's only an arena match... and the team needs the publicity of this match to help secure better missions”. Wolf walked off shaking his head.


Deployed, the team moved to the hill in front of them. Having already been here before, they had an idea what the terrain was like.
Tensile went up the hill while Mauler and Wolf hugged the tree line.

The enemy light titan Cutthroat came into view. Everyone locked up the Cutthroat and starting firing on it. Sadly, most shots missed as the Cutthroat came running at full speed to the shallow river that separated it from the team.

Then two enemy recon titans were spotted moving into trees. A missile toting Porcupine and a TripWire!
Tensile lost lock on the Cutthroat and tried to target the TripWire. He didn't even try to refine the lock - just fired with his large laser. The shot missed the mech, but started a fire in the trees. Both enemy recon titans scrambled to leave the burning woods.

The Cutthroat continued to dodge incoming fire from Mauler and Wolf. Walking into the river, he opened fire on Wolf with his Gauss weapons. Wolf rocked under the impact. Mauler fired his autocannon/12 throwing the Cutthroat off balance and sent him splashing into the water.
Mauler was able to score hits on the centre torso of the Cutthroat as it was trying to stand up.

The enemy TripWire stepped into the river following the Porcupine and fired on Mauler. Mauler let out a sigh of relief as the EM pulse resonated harmlessly past his BloodHound. Having seen how effective that weapon is used by Wolf, he didn't want to be hit by it!

Switching targets, he fired on the TripWire and was rewarded with hits from all weapons. Even at that distance, he could tell the TripWire's Centre Torso was mangled from the autocannon barrage.

The Cutthroat got to its feet and came across the river - both Gauss cannons firing. Wolf again recoiled as both left and right torso lost armor. Wolf immediately threw his titan into reverse.

The Porcupine came across the river and unloaded all missiles at Tensile. A few missiles hit, but most of them flew harmlessly by.
Wolf retreated further into the forest, breaking contact with the Cutthroat. Good news for Wolf - bad news for Tensile. Losing sight of Wolf, the Cutthroat locked up the nearest mech - Tensile's Dragonfly.
Running off the hill to close range on the Porcupine, Tensile felt his controls go free in his hands as Gauss slugs tore into his torso and legs. Losing its balance, the DragonFly skidded and fell.

Mauler re-targeted the Cutthroat and continued to hammer it with autocannon fire. The Porcupine closed on the fallen DragonFly, hitting it with volleys of missiles. Prone, Tensile brought up his small laser and fired, hitting the Porcupine. Waiting for the weapon to recycle, he started to push his mech up off the ground.

Having lost sight of the Cutthroat, Wolf targeted the enemy TripWire. He fired his pulse laser and hit the already damaged centre torso. The remaining internal structure caved in and the enemy titan fell over.

Tensile got his DragonFly standing as the Cutthroat was slowly making it's way up the hill to get to him with it's Power Axe. Tensile pushed his mech into a run, firing both lasers and hitting the Porcupine.

Mauler waited patiently on all four autocannons to recycle. When he saw all green lights, he squeezed the trigger... and completely obliterated the Cuthroats' centre torso!

The Porcupine made a valiant attempt to fight, but the pilot's nerve broke and he ejected after repeated hits from Tensile and Mauler.


Victory!


D.A.Y.E.S. has made a level -- GREEN

The team has repaired all titans. There is just enough money to purchase a titan for CYBEN. Mauler and Wolf are discussing if they should buy it now, or wait another mission. They need CYBEN to get up to speed with his skills and teamwork - but buying the Titan now would leave the team with very little money.