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.

A New Breed
Topic: ToS Chronicles
GYZMOTECH is approached again to find a replacement for Kull...

After some negotiations, Mauler was able to sign on a new recruit from GYZMOTech.
A Cyborg named P.J.
Code Name: CYBEN.
Unlike Kull, CYBEN has no use for hand-to-hand combat. He is a skilled ranged fighter, almost equal in skill with cannons or lasers. Talking it over with Wolf, they decide to purchase a WrathChild titan for CYBEN. With it's pulse laser and Neutron gun (which affects most pilots), the plan was to have Wolf with his EM Pulse work with CYBEN as a team - shut down the mech - shut down the pilot. Sounds good in theory...

The patrol mission they got this time was in an environment that the team has never been to before. Pools of acid ran like rivers, and the heat level was higher than normal. What could be worth fighting for in a place like this? - was Mauler's thoughts.
No matter; money is money - and his team needed it now.

Deployed to the east, CYBEN and Wolf paired up immediately and trotted forward. Tensile hung back a bit using the little cover that was available. Mauler moved up beside Tensile and started up a gentle slope.... contact... 2 enemy recon mechs darting behind a mountain. Then a third recon shows up. Then a light mech. Too far for visual id, Mauler quickly tries to lock and scan, but they're gone behind the mountain before the scan is complete.

CYBEN and Wolf stop short of a river of Acid, just in time to see all four enemy titans emerge from the hills on the other side. One enemy recon titan ignited his jump jets and started to jump across the river. The other three marched unflinchingly into the acid bath and proceeded to cross.

Tensile was the first to get a good lock - he targeted the first recon mech wading through the acid - an Enigma mech - and fired - hit.
The mech stumbled and fell - completely submerged in the acid.
Mauler, who was also locking the same mech smiled - but cursed as he lost sight of the mech.
Switching his target, he picked the Light titan - an Atilla. His initial scan attempt failed.

CYBEN and Wolf targeted the airborne titan - a Pest. Both of them however failed to get scan lock. They fired anyways, missing completely.

Mauler fires on the Atilla and scores a hit even without the lock. No return fire so far from any of the enemy mechs. Seems they are concentrating on getting across that acid river - or taking their time to refine their scan locks.
Out of the depths of the acid, the Enigma mech rose to its feet and walked out onto the other side. Wolf immediately turned and ran towards the nearest cover on a small hill, and was about to order CYBEN to start retreating away from the oncoming mechs, but noticed CYBEN had already thrown his WrathChild into reverse.

Once they came across, the four enemy mechs ran past Wolf and opened up on CYBEN, forcing him to retreat even further. CYBEN scored two hits on the Atilla, one with the Neutron Gun - no effect. Wolf grimaced as his now third scan lock attempt failed – he checked his computer for signs of possible jamming. He opened fire with his weapons and scored a hit with the pulse laser on the Pest.
The four mechs, having driven CYBEN back, then turned to face Wolf. Wolf had a flash of panic as he realized the position he was in. Behind him was the acid river, and in front in a semicircle came the four enemy titans. One after the other they peppered Wolf with laser fire and missiles. Wolf's TripWire shook and recoiled, but he was able to keep the mech standing.

Mauler's lock came up green on the Atilla - his scan showed two power axes - not good. He opened up with his autocannons and scored hits - but it didn't deter the mech. Tensile started to move forward, firing his lasers at the Pest and Enigma.

Turning north, Wolf tried to get away from the net closing in on him, but the Atilla caught him. One power axe swooped down and missed. The other dug into his right leg. Again, Wolf was able to keep his feet.
CYBEN failed his lock attempt, but started heading back towards Wolf, firing his weapons at the Pest. Pulse Laser – hit. Neutron gun - miss.
The Pest and Enigma turned to face CYBEN and Tensile. Wolf broke away from the Atilla and headed for some cover. Mauler switched his target to the Pest, knowing Wolf should be able to out run the heavier Atilla.
Firing on the Pest, Mauler blew away both left and right torso. The resulting explosions rocked the recon mech. Mauler's smile disappeared as the Pest emerged from the smoke still on it's feet - unbelievable.

”Heat level Red” - both Mauler and Tensile were now hearing the alerts in their cockpit.

The Enigma scored critical hits on CYBEN destroying his Heat sinks. CYBEN's heat started to climb just from movement.

Mauler checked quickly to see where Wolf had reached. Wolf was just about to enter cover - good. Then he saw it - smoke trails from the hill behind Wolf.
Staying close to the Atilla, the enemy Firefly let loose it's missile salvo into the back of Wolf’s retreating TripWire. Wolf's right torso disintegrated and the mech stumbled but did not go down. The Attila turned and fired its laser weapons, hitting Wolf in the leg. The left leg twisted and crumpled sending Wolf to the ground.

This was bad. Mauler got on the comm line and ordered CYBEN to retreat from the battlefield. Tensile started manoeuvring with the Pest and Enigma, drawing their fire. Mauler pushed his mech into a run and closed the range on the Atilla.

Cyben hadn't moved even 600yds when the alert came - "Heat level Critical". With no choice, CYBEN stopped his mech and patiently waited for the heat to go down.

Tensile continued his dance with the two enemy recon mechs, his firing impaired by his heat level.
Mauler too could not fire all weapons, as his heat was too high. This gave the Atilla and Firefly the time to close in on the fallen Wolf. Standing over him, they began to pound on his mech.
Not to be beaten, Wolf swung his only functioning weapon from his prone position - his pulse laser - and fired on the Firefly - hit - weapon recycle - hit. Mauler opened up with one autocannon, hitting the firefly in the left torso. That was enough for the Firefly - he ran off into cover leaving Wolf.
The Atilla dropped the power axes again... and again - Wolf's pulse laser was destroyed. He took laser fire to the cockpit. Lower torso destroyed. Wolf started the eject sequence...

CYBEN tried to move again - but had to stop shortly after as his heat level hit critical.

Wolf's cockpit exploded outwards as the eject sequence completed. Wolf landed hard, but radioed in that he was ok. Bleeding, he crawled off to cover.

Mauler switched his target to the Pest, which was still chasing Tensile. Tensile's armour was holding, but the two enemy mechs were wearing him down. Mauler ordered Tensile to start after CYBEN and leave the battlefield. Mauler fired both of his smaller autocannons and scored one hit.

"Heat level Red" - screamed in Mauler's ears - he pushed his mech into a run to follow Tensile.... and was thrown sideways as the remaining ammo in one of his auto-cannons exploded from the heat build-up!
Struggling with the controls, he kept the 70 ton titan on its feet. His fingers danced over the control pad as he rerouted more coolant to the arms and torso where the remaining ammo was stored - narrowly averting more explosions (here he had a 29% and 28% chance to save against two more and made them!!)

CYBEN slowly pushed his mech forward and was finally able to leave the battlefield.

Tensile and Mauler ran through what cover they could find. Tensile took a critical hit to his hip, slowing him down. The three enemy recon titans were closing fast. Behind them, the 70 ton Atilla could be seen coming with the Power Axes swinging at it's side...

Mauler radioed Tensile and told him to turn left. Once they made the turn, they both swivelled their torso's and fired on the run at the approaching recon mechs. Tensile hit the Pest squarely in the cockpit with his large laser, then the right leg with his small laser. The Pest slowed to a halt and the pilot ejected!
Mauler looked and saw his heat level had come down considerably (as he was just running and hadn't fired in awhile). He smiled and let loose with the three autocannons... The Enigma's right leg disappeared under the onslaught and the mech smashed face first into the ground.
"Heat level red"

The Firefly let loose it's missiles and tore off more of Tensiles’ armor. Mauler slowed to turn and face the Firefly, trying to buy some time for Tensile. The Atilla opened up with its lasers on Mauler, hitting him.
Still a good distance from the edge of the battlefield, Mauler sized up his chances against the two remaining mechs...

Then over the broadcast channel a voice - a female voice was heard...
"This is Prowler on the Atilla mech. I offer we cease hostilities and allow both sides to recover their wounded pilots and damaged mechs"

Tesnsile's DragonFly had a wounded leg, and holes showing in his armor. Mauler's heat was in the red and one autocannon offline.
The steady warble of a missile lock from the Firefly buzzed in his headset...

"Agreed"

A Draw!!!

Yes, the AI can offer draws... sadly the human player can't.. lol
Once offered, you get a choice of "OK", "NEVER" or "Not Yet".


The damage to Wolf's TripWire was so much; the team's budget could not repair all mechs.
Wolf's mech was repaired as much as possible, but had armor missing on his left and right torso.
After some discussion, it was agreed to sell CYBEN's WrathChild to finish the repairs on Wolf's TripWire. CYBEN would have to sit out the next mission. Money is needed.

Mauler contemplates a campaign once again.... but will have to re-evaluate the team tactics. Wolf getting cut off like that was not good.

Mech Masters in Mourning
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Still trying to build the teams' skills, Mech Masters continue to do random patrols. The danger in this game with those is that any outcome is permanent...

After taking some practice runs in his new Mech - the BloodHound - Mauler secured another patrol mission for the team.

They head off, Wolf in his TripWire, Kull in his Prowler and D.A.Y.E.S in his DragonFly.

Seeking the nearest hill, Mauler pushes his mech into a run. Of course he falls behind as his mech fails to keep up with the faster recon mechs of his teammates.

Cresting a low rise, Wolf makes contact. 3 enemy recon mechs (Pack Hunter, Zealot, Duellist) and one Light mech (Zombie). Kull rounds the base of the hill and locks up the Pack Hunter. Wolf locks the Zealot, but loses him as he moves into trees. Wolf switches to the Pack Hunter.
Tensile, hidden in a forest behind a hill, datalinks with Wolf and starts the long scan lock on the Duellist. Mauler finally climbs the hill and locks up the Zombie.

Zombie takes a long range shot at Kull and misses. The Duellist and Pack Hunter charge straight for Wolf, dodging fire from Wolf and Kull. Eight seconds to lock for the hidden Tensile, Wolf is hit by laser fire. Wolf's mech stumbles but he keeps his footing. The Zombie switches target to Wolf and hits him with a Black Ray gun. Again, Wolf has to use all his skill to keep his mech on it's feet. Tensile loses the datalink to Wolf!

Mauler takes a few long-range shots at the Zombie, and hits. The Zombie mech breaks into a run and Mauler loses sight of it. Mauler starts to run off the hill to try and reacquire the Zombie.

The Pack Hunter is now on Wolf - smashing him with laser fire and raking him with Vibra Claws. Not a rookie pilot anymore, Wolf steadies his mech and keeps it standing. Wolf swipes with his claws and misses, then throws his mech into reverse, firing his pulse laser and EM Pulse - both miss.

Kull starts to climb the hill, firing his small laser on the Pack Hunter and hitting. Tensile comes out of the trees to help - locks up the Pack Hunter and fires – but also misses.

Wolf is rocked again by the Pack Hunter assault. He almost goes down. The Zombie opens up on him and Wolf again fights the mech to stay on it's feet. Zombie hits with the Meson gun - critical - Gyro damaged! Wolf finally breaks away from the Pack Hunter, turns his mech and pushes it into a run.
With a damaged Gyro, he can't survive another assault like that...

Kull fails his scan lock attempt on the Pack hunter, but charges him anyway, smashing his mech into the side of the Pack Hunter.
Both mechs stay standing. Kull swings his Power Axes. One swipe - Left Leg - Red. Second Swipe - Head - Red.

Mauler comes off the hill and locks the pack hunter and fires. Both Autocannon 4 slugs tear into the centre torso. The first Autocannon 12 shell smashes the left torso of the Pack hunter dropping him to the ground. The second Autocannon 12 slug rips the Pack Hunters' head clean off!

The Zombie closes in on the hill, in trees, and fires on Kull hitting his cockpit! Kull’s vision begins to blur as he is racked with pain.
The Duellist charges up the hill and with his twin Chain Saws rakes Kull across the torso and leg - Still dazed from the head hit, Kull fails to keep his mech upright and goes down.

Tensile climbs the hill as well, firing on the advancing Zombie. Mauler switches targets to the Duellist and fires his AutoCannons, severly damaging the right leg of the Duellist.
Kull gets up to one knee just as the Duellist digs into him again with a ChainSaw. Kull fights his controls and pushes his mech upright and makes a wild swing with his Power Axes - Head Hit! Bleeding and dazed, the Duellist pilot ejects!

Tensile tries to ignite the trees the Zombie is in, but fails. Seeing the Light mech smashing through the trees to get to him, Tensile runs down the hill. Kull turns and faces the Light titan and follows Tensile. Both of them pass the Light titan, so now he is on the hill and they are in the trees. In passing, the Zombie hits Kull - smashing one Power Axe into uselessness.

Having gotten some breathing room, Wolf slowly turns his damaged mech, hoping to give supporting fire on the Zombie. Just as he finishes his turn, the Zealot comes out of the forested area it had disappeared into earlier.
Standing under 600yds away, Wolf quickly switches his target...
Seeing the damage on Wolf, Mauler makes the decision to target the Zealot, hoping Kull and Tensile can handle the Zombie. Mauler opens up on the Zealot and hits. Then the warning went off in Mauler’s mech - "Heat Level Yellow"

The Zombie turned to face Tensile and Kull who were now in the trees, using the cover to buy them time to refine their lock. Not having any of that, the Zombie fires all it's weapons wildly into the forest - IGNITING it!!
Kull uses his superior scouting ability to quickly leave the burning trees and charges up the hill - smashing his recon mech into the Zombie. Not much damage is done, but Kull retains his footing while sending the Zombie crashing to the ground!
Not as skilled as Kull, Tensile takes longer to clear the forest fire. As he finally steps out alarms are going off in his cockpit - "Heat level Red!"

Mauler is sweating in his cockpit - he has the heat level pegged in the red, which is messing up his target locks, and threatening an ammo explosion that would surely kill him. His scanners shows the enemy Zealot recon mech full Red on it's entire body from his continued autocannon assault, but the damn mech refused to go down. Wolf fails two lock attempts, but scores important hits with the EM pulse, temporarily shutting down the Zealot's battle computer.

With a cold calm only possible by an Android, Tensile waits patiently for his heat to go down, watching as Kull swings his one functioning Power Axe into the fallen Zombie. The Zombie shrugs off the attack and gets to its feet and in a flurry of punches and weapon fire, destroys Kull right leg!
Falling, Kull takes damage to his cockpit again.
The Zombie kicks Kull, destroying his right torso.

Mauler screams for Kull to eject as he sees the Zombie set itself for another onslaught...
Kull starts the ejection sequence...
Tensile starts firing his lasers, driving his heat back up into the red....
Mauler switches his target to the Zombie and fires, squinting against the sweat running into his eyes.
Wolf continues to fire on the Zealot.

The ejection sequence completes and the hatch blows off and Kull is shot from his mech - but crashes into the Zombie towering over him.
Mauler calls out to Kull – there is no response.

With a bloodcurdling scream, Mauler opens up with all four autocannons on the Zombie, cursing the Heat alarms.
"Heat level Red!" .. "Heat level Critical!"

Three slugs smashed into the torso area of the Zombie, but the pilot kept his mech from falling. The fourth Autocannon slug shot into its lower torso destroying it and the fragile Gyro it houses. With it's main form of stability gone, the Zombie teetered and fell.

Still trying to get Kull on the communicator, Mauler allowed his heat to slowly go down, as Tensile turned his DragonFly to face the remaining recon mech - the Zealot. He triggered both lasers at the Zealot.
Small laser - Hits Zealot in the right torso.
Large laser - destroys the right arm. Thrown off balance by the arm's explosion, the Zealot falls to the ground, destroying both legs in the fall.

Victory! Or was it?

Kull died in the ejection.

Salvage - The Zombie Light mech.

Repair costs were too high even for D.A.Y.E.S. repair skill.
Using his business skills, Wolf was able to sell the Zombie for a decent price.
All four mechs have been repaired.
D.A.Y.E.S could possibly level up on the next mission.

Mauler wonders if he should not have told Kull to eject... maybe...
The team now considers selling Kull's old mech and selling Wolf's mech - use the money and buy a Light mech for Wolf.
However, Mauler's leadership bonus and the teams budding fame could help them get a talented rookie to replace Kull though, so maybe they will keep the mechs.
Decisions, decisions.

Kull's Revenge
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Being the "melee" mech of the group, Kull has been charging in, smashing his way through the enemy. Unfortunately, so far, it has led to his mech being beaten and battered. That is - until now..

Being the humble and wise leader, Mauler agreed that Wolf would be the point man on the next mission to feed data back to the team. Ok, ok - Wolf had some "choice" words for Mauler's ineptness on the last mission and stated he would be on point.

No one argued.


Team deploys and start to take a look at their surroundings. Relatively open area broken up by some low hills and a few trees. A heavy forest is south of the teams starting location.

Wolf steps up on a low rise where he immediately spots two enemy recon mechs. His position was perfect, as he had a complete view of the area between the team's position and the enemy mechs.

Wolf goes into a crouch and begins his lock sequence. Tensile and Kull move up onto a hill with trees for cover, and begin locking targets as well. Mauler ambled off for some cover, but broke line of sight.
Muttering to himself, he requests the datalink feed from Wolf - gets it, and starts locking targets.

The two enemy recon titans start running at full speed towards Wolf. At extreme range they open up. Large laser fire hits Wolf, while gunfire tears up the ground around him. Unflinching, Wolf locks the first mech, and then begins lock on the second.
On the hill, Kull and Tensile also complete successful lock on attempts. Mauler still refining his lock through the datalink with Wolf.

The recon mechs were getting closer now. They entered some trees, were still visible, but now were obscured from direct attacks. Wolf starts getting hit more frequently. He checks and sees Mauler has almost completed his locking sequence through the datalink.
Wolf completes his lock of the second recon mech, then stands and opens fire. EM Pulse misses, but his Pulse laser scores a hit.

As the recon mechs run past the hill with Kull and Tensile, the third recon mech comes into view at the far end of the map - a Unicorn - recon mech with machine guns and a Gauss Rifle.

Mauler completes his lock on successfully. Radioing Kull, he orders him into battle. Mauler then breaks cover to get a visual on his locked mech.
Kull starts to run off the hill – but then spots the fourth recon mech in the heavy forest just south of his position!!! A Dart - with short-range missiles, no doubt trying to get to the same hill he was on to give supporting fire.
Kull radios in this new contact and turns towards him, smashing trees out of the way, power axes ready.

Mauler, Tensile and Wolf target the same recon mech and batter him.
The two charging recon mechs both target Mauler and continue to burn his armor with laser fire. Now that Mauler has a lock, Wolf begins to manoeuvre. The Unicorn gets into range and slaps Wolf with a Gauss Rifle shot. Wolf remains focused on his target - which is now in melee range to Mauler - and fires his Pulse laser. The enemy mech stumbles and falls.

Mauler tracks his weapons over the fallen mech, slowing it down to rest over the mech's damaged lower torso (At this point, Mauler, because of his level gain and the enemy mech prone, has a 96% chance to hit.. He can now do CALLED SHOTS!! ).
He fires both autocannons and obliterates the mechs lower torso. Switching his target to the second mech he turns to face him.

Tensile comes down the hill and gives supporting fire to Mauler, targeting the same mech he is. Wolf switches his target to the Unicorn and temporarily slows him down by freezing his hip with an EM Pulse hit.

The Dart in the forest sees Kull coming and manoeuvres to stay away from him. He breaks into a small clearing in the forest and loses sight to Kull, as Kull is cutting his way out of the forest. Kull stops and, guessing where the missile launching mech would like to go, changes direction to try and head him off.

The recon enemy mech targets the advancing Mauler and hits him with every laser he had. Rocking under the assault, Mauler loses control of his mech and falls to the ground. Mauler tries to push his titan upright but is slammed back into the ground by a slug from the Gauss Rifle. Tensile starts a run from the hill, cycling his lasers as fast as possible, but is missing most shots. Wolf continues to fire on the Unicorn, but also misses most attempts.

Just as Kull is breaking out of one area of trees - the Dart reappears in front of him!! An evil smile comes to Kull's lips as he goes for a charging run. The Dart sees Kull and jumps!! Kull arrives under the enemy mech and fires his small laser. He hits - but does minimal damage.
The enemy mech then cuts his jump jets and falls on top of Kull!
Death from above!!
Kull fights his controls, feels his mechs legs buckle - but he stays standing!!! He took damage to his head and arms, and one Power Axe was bent but still functional. The Dart didn't fare so well. It lost it's balance and crashed to the ground at the feet of Kull. The grinding sounds of the Power axe could be heard from afar as Kull began to beat on the Dart's armor. Kull's small laser recycled and he fired.
He misses but IGNITES the forest - with both of them in it!
Kull is oblivious and continues to pound on the enemy mech. Eventually he hears the warning alarm of the rising heat level and runs out of the burning trees. The enemy mech gets up and follows shortly after.
HEAT LEVEL RED is all Kull hears from his battle computer. Switching off the volume, he turns and faces the Dart.

The Dart fires a volley from his short-range missile rack, peppering Kull all over. Big Mistake. That volley drove the Dart's heat into Critical. AMMO EXPLOSION!!! The Dart's Centre Torso completely disintegrated from the explosion, and he falls to the ground.


Mauler finally regains his footing and tries to run, but once again is floored by a well-placed Gauss Rifle hit. He falls and his titan's right leg snaps. Dazed and hurt, Mauler tries to start the eject sequence. He ejects safely.

The enemy recon turns to face Wolf and charges towards him spewing laser fire. Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Wolf breaks lock to the Unicorn and reacquires this charging mech. Tensile manoeuvres to go around a small lake, firing on the mech. Kull clears the forest and locks up the Unicorn who is stationary, aiming his Gauss Rifle again.

Wolf kicks his mech into reverse and fires his EM Pulse. TORSO HIT!! The EM pulse shot shuts down the recon mechs’ engine and it collapses on the ground.
Tensile stops, aims – fires – hit – fires - hit.
The enemy mech slowly gets to his feet after restarting his engine and continues his charge towards Wolf.
Wolf, still moving in reverse, waits patiently as his EM pulse laser recyles. He hits the mech in the leg with his pulse laser, but he keeps coming. EM Pulse ready. He fires and.. ENGINE SHUTSDOWN again!! Tensile moves closer to the downed mech only to be greeted by a Gauss Rifle shot from the Unicorn.
Tensile's right torso is destroyed - taking his large laser with it.

Kull completes his charge on the Unicorn, taking both of them crashing to the ground.
They both get up but after three swings, the Power Axes cut through the right torso and cleaved a leg off the Unicorn. It falls to the ground and shortly after the pilot ejects.

The enemy recon slowly gets to his feet, but his hammered down again by Wolf's Pulse laser. Kull races over and in one swoop he destroys the mechs lower torso. The pilot ejects.

VICTORY!!

As Mauler and Wolf have maxed out some skills, they chose to save most of their XP. Once they have enough they will spend it on raising their attributes, which will in turn raise the maximum values their skills can go to.

Although Kull had a phenomenal mission, his close combat skills are still not at their peak - so he spent all of his combat xp on improving his melee skills.

Also, Mauler's mech - the Fang - was repaired and sold. Using Wolf's improved business skills, the team has now purchased their first Light mech - a 70 tonne mech called BloodHound. 2 Autocannon/4 and 2 AutoCannon/12. It has improved scanners and battle computer and even has ECM. Mauler is smiling.

Money is tight now though - just enough to cover the salaries for the team. The next mission is a must win to get money rolling in again - and hopefully not spend it all on repairs.

The Debacle
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Hiring the new recruit, Mauler feels the team is ready to seek a long term contract on a campaign - rather than random patrols. How does the team do?


The WrathChild mech salvaged in the last mission, is sold.

D.A.Y.E.S
Code Name: Tensile
Recon Mech – name: DragonFly - one large and one small laser - good computer systems.

Using some of his contacts, Mauler manages a deal to get another Cyborg pilot from GYZMOTECH.
Name: Phillip.
Code Name: Kull.
From the sale of the WrathChild, the team is able to secure a Prowler mech. Small laser and two Power axes. It was a scary moment when Kull saw the mech. The grin on his face said it all.

Getting ready for the next mission - Mauler informs the team that he is taking them on a trip to the Savannah where there is an arena match. If we do well, it could mean more missions.

** This is basically the Savannah campaign. This campaign is for rookie pilots. This particular campaign is set such that even if you die, it allows you to try the failed mission again - you would get no XP, but your team is returned to full health. Succeed, and you carry the XP, damage (permanent now) and cash over to the next mission in the campaign.***


The team is deployed in the North East corner of the arena directly behind a hill so most of therir line of sight is blocked to the rest of the map. Mauler, having practiced well in the art of Map reading on the way over, quickly notes the areas where quicksand is.

He gives his orders. Tensile responds in his emotionless tone - "Affirmative" and begins to climb the hill. No orders need to be given to Kull as he is already off and running up the hill, Power Axes revving fully. Wolf ambles south to follow a line of trees around the base of the hill.

Kull makes first contact - spotting the enemy in the distance. Mauler smiles. There is a lake between the two teams so there should be plenty of time to lock them all up while they are trying to cross the river.

Mauler and Tensile go into the trees at the top of the hill. All mechs starting selecting and locking targets.

Mauler is mildly surprised when his first lock attempt is successful. Unfortunately he misses with both weapon shots.

Wolf MISSES his lock attempt - strange
Kull and Tensile are lock geniuses. They lock, refine to a better lock, switch targets, lock again...

The enemy mechs reach the river and start to cross. Mauler smiles.
They should start falling over any time now.. no.. they aren't.. the team starts firing on them.. missing.. two are across the lake.. dammit!
The third one does topple over in the water, but gets up and keeps coming.

Wolf fails his lock attempt again. Mauler is worried. This is NOT a good sign.

Mauler fires both autocannons on one mech - both hit squarely in the legs. The mech doesn't even flinch. The buzzing of the Power Axes become very loud as Kull pushes his mech into a full speed charging run off the hill. A blood-curdling scream fills the earpieces of the other team members.
Kull shrugs off incoming machine gun fire, smashing into the nearest enemy mech. Both mechs go crashing to the ground.
Kull takes the worst of it hitting his cockpit hard. He loses some hit points. Enemy mech right leg goes red.
Kull slowly gets up, going into a crouch first. Shaking his head clear, he fires his small laser from the crouched position and hits.
He starts to stand straight, just as the enemy mech tries to stand but fails and topples over. The power axes are revving up again.

Tensile is alternating fire on his weapons, driving up his heat, but it keeps constant weapon fire on his targeted enemy.

Wolf has been quiet on the radio but finally reports a good lock - fires his weapons - but MISSES!! muttering is heard over the comm channel.

Kull straightens up. The power axes come down, One hits and now both enemy mech legs are showing red.
The sounds of the power axes and the sight of Kull waving them in fury got the enemies attention. All four enemy mechs target Kull.
Most of their attacks miss, but some critical damage gets through. Kulls’ fallen opponent finally stands up and punches him. The sound of a Vibra Claw scratching against the armor is heard but does no damage.

Tensile is just a rythmn of efficiency. Small laser fires – hits – recycling - large laser ready - fires - hits –recycling - small laser ready - fires - hits.
The loud boom of Maulers autocannons splits the air again but alas, his shots go crashing into pure dirt.

Wolf fires and hits with both weapons. Shoulder actuator of one mech ceases to function under the EM pulse hit.

Kull swings the axes again - left torso now bright red on enemy mech, as it’s armor s destroyed leaving it’s internal structure bare.
Kull thinks about staying for another swipe but wisely chooses to move as two more enemy mechs have entered melee range. He's peppered with machine gun fire while retreating and takes another hit in the cockpit.

Mauler fires and scores two hits on Kull's target disabling his damaged torso, The mech crashes to the ground. Mauler quickly switches targets.

Wolf fires again. Hits his target in the same leg as before. The enemy pilot struggles but fails to keep his mech standing and falls over.

Two on the ground, but they are still functional.

Too cocky!! Kull turns and charges in with blood lust in his eyes to finish of the downed mech. He's hit with machine gun fire and a light meson charge that damages his Hip, slowing him down.
He barrels in and swings his axes - MISS!! He continues to run right through. The second mech gets up, turns and fires on Tensile - Head hit! Luckily, no damage to pilot.
Mauler asks if he's ok. 'Affirmative'... is the response from Tensile.

Mauler hits his target and wobbles him. The mech drops to the ground.

Then it gets real ugly.

One mech, which had taken little to no action up to this point, broke away from the melee group, turns, and fires a tesla bolt!!
Kulls' Lower torso evaporates and he drops to the ground. Another mech swivels and fires at Tensile. His mech buckles but he is able to keep it standing.
Kull looks up from the ground at three mechs standing over him and the fourth nearby.
Kull initiates the eject sequence.
Tensiles’ lock attempt hits gold - he gets the best scan possible. So good he can tell the target mech has Kull locked on solid.
He fires but misses...
Wolf switches targets to the Telsa Bolt mech and fires without lock. Pulse laser misses, but the EM Pulse freezes his hip.
Tensile surgically removes the right leg from the heavily damaged enemy mech then switches his target.
Kull safely ejects.

Tensile scores another perfect lock. This enemy mech is being piloted by an android and has Wolf locked up.
The Tesla Bolt fires again, this time targeted at Wolf, but misses.

Wolf hits the mech with EM pulse, freezes his hip again. The enemy mech topples to the ground.

Another enemy Mech targets Tensile and fires. Head hit again! Cockpit! Tensile Killed in action!!

Mauler is the next one to go down. The Telsa Bolt removed his almost completely undamaged leg from the rest of his Mech. Mauler punches out safely.

Wolf looks at the two remaining enemy mechs and decides to run.
He gets to the base of the hill when he is hit with a Cold Light gun followed by the Tesla Bolt. His Tripwire goes down.
Wolf ejects and is damaged badly in the ejection.


So...

That arena match shows the Mech Masters are not quite ready for campaign combat.. good thing it resets .. lol...

It's back to random patrols to get XP and get some skills up.. of course if they die there it's permanent.

Back on Patrol
As per the settings of the campaign, no XP or money was awarded to the team for the failure of the previous mission. All pilots 'revived' and mechs repaired.

After the embarrassment in the arena, Mech Masters lost their chance of a long term contract.

With the little funds they had left, the mechs were repaired and the pilots treated (or rebuilt in the case of the Android D.A.Y.E.S)

Team tactics were analyzed and discussed. Unfortunately this discussion mainly involved only Mauler and Wolf, as all D.A.Y.E.S would input is his monotone "Affirmative" and Kull just wanted to know when he can charge and smash. Wolf, however, did bring up a good point that the team was not utilizing it's battle computer's data link capabilities – the ability for one mech to scout and the others would "feed" off the information being transmitted back by the scout while they remained hidden.

Without a contract, all Mech Masters could look for were border patrols.

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Deployed once again in the North East, behind a hill. No line of sight to the rest of map. Wolf shakes his head as he can only picture Mauler in his cockpit staring in confusion at the battle map.

With Mauler having the longest ranged weapons (and being leader) he decided to climb the nearby hill and data link to the rest of the team. Wolf and Tensile fanned out into the nearby trees and Kull pushed forward but stopped on a low hill in trees.

Mauler spots all three enemy mechs. 1 Light titan (70 tonnes) and 2 Recons (40 tonnes). Hmmm, the Light will be a problem.
He starts the datalink. Links Kull... Links Wolf.. hmm.. lost link to Kull.. links Kull.. wait.. lost link to Wolf...
Cursing under his breath, Wolf requests a link with Tensile. "Affirmative" was the response.

The enemy recon mechs ran in perfect formation, dodging between the hills and breaking all lock attempts. Sweeping east it seemed like they were going after Kull. The light mech tried the same thing, but due to his slower speed Mauler was able to just get a good weapon/scanner lock on him before he disappeared. This he stored quickly in his battle computer for when the mech reappeared.

Wolf trotted forward to be closer to Kull. Breaking his datalink with Tensile, he requested and got a link with Kull, so now he "saw" the two recon mechs approaching. He starts his lock procedure (much longer through a datalink).
Kull starts receiving weapons fire. Meson cannons. Critical hits are scored, resulting in a reduction of internal armor.
Tensile and Mauler start to move in towards Kull.

The revs of the power axes got louder. Wolf and Mauler shouted at the same time to Kull to stay put, but, too late!! Kull was off down the hill, breaking line of sight with Wolf and hence breaking the DataLink. All that time spent by Wolf trying to get a lock - wasted.

Into his standard charge, Kull shrugged off machine gun fire and the methodical thump of meson shots - crashing into his selected target. Both went down in a tangled mass of metal.
Wolf was the first to the hill in time to see Kull getting to his feet and scoring a hit on the recon mech. More shots smashed into Kull from the two recon mechs.

And then the thunderclap of a very large Autocannon split the air.
The enemy Light mech had arrived.

The shot smashed into Kull's now wounded right torso, blowing it apart. Kull spun under the force of the blow and went down again.
Wolf targeted the Light mech and fired-recycled-fired with no scanner lock, just wanting to attract the beast's attention. Only the pulse laser hit, but it was enough. The light titan targeted Wolf and opened up, shredding the trees Wolf was hiding in.

The other two light recons would not be so easily distracted. They pummelled Kull mercilessly, driving him down again and again.
Mauler finally gets into a position and takes a snap shot at one recon titan - and hits.
The Light titan starts climbing the hill toward Wolf, refining his lock, and firing his cannons. Wolf takes the blow and starts his own lock sequence... FAILS!!

The recon titan then switched targets to Mauler. This gave Kull the breathing room he needed to get up and run out of the fray. His cockpit, torso and left leg are all devoid of any appreciable armor from the beating he received.

The second recon titan decides to group with the Light mech and go after Wolf. Wolf fails another lock attempt. The Light titan is almost on him. It too has a vibra claw. Wolf throws his mech into reverse, seeking cover inside the forest.

Tensile rounds the base of the hill and immediately targets the Light mech. Opening fire he hits with both laser shots. The Light mech stops, turns, and charges at Tensile!! The recon mech continues after Wolf, hitting him a few times and doing more critical damage with the meson guns.

Tensile throws his titan into reverse but too late! The Light titan is there - the vibra claw goes up...
Wolf gets his lock on the Light titan!!! He fires his pulse laser.. MISS... Fires his EM Pulse.. HIT!! VIBRA CLAW shuts down!!

Mauler gets scanner lock on the second recon mech and decimates its right leg with an Auto cannon assault. He turns to face the Light mech - just in time to see Tensile back away, and Kull charging in again!!! One power axe out of commission, but he had the other one raised and revved, his small laser firing repeatedly, hitting the light titan.

Wolf cannot ignore the recon mech anymore, which was consistently hitting him with the meson shots and doing criticals. Wolf switches targets to the recon (now in melee range) and fires on him.
EM Pulse.. MISS, Pulse Laser.. HIT.. Vibra Claw.. TORSO HIT! Light damage done to the mechs’ engine.

Kull closes in on the light titan - and runs right into a slug from the Autocannon - Kull's lower torso is blown away and he crashes to the ground and takes damage. He starts the eject sequence and takes more damage in ejecting... but is alive - barely.

Wolf takes more critical damage. Torso and right leg RED. Left ARM YELLOW. He pushes the throttle to the max and runs, eventually breaking lock with the enemy mech. He keeps running aiming towards a group of trees - past the spot where the first enemy recon mech went down - and is hit!!
The downed mech still had his missile launchers functional and fired on Wolf as he ran by.. HIT... HIT.. HIT. Battered, Wolf finally makes it to the trees.

Mauler fires on the light titan - HEAD HIT! The titan drops to the ground... yes!!!!!

The light titan starts to get up... noooooo!!!!!

Mauler is low on ammo, running in circles around the slower Light mech, firing and hitting. He is thankful for that earlier lock he got on the hilltop, as that ensured a good lock on now. Tensile stayed a little distance off, systematically cycling his lasers and firing on the light titan.
The light titan turned to face Mauler then jumped!! Mauler starts to back pedal, but the titan follows in the air.
The recon titan, having lost lock on Wolf, sets his sights on Tensile. Tensile switches targets and starts the same systematic pounding which is becoming this android's trademark. The recon titan mech pilot eventually lost his nerve ... and ejected!!

The Light titan flies over Mauler, and continues past him and hovers just behind the trees where Wolf is.
Wolf locks on and fires his EM Pulse - HIT!! Titan jump jets shut down!! The mech falls from the sky and crashes hard into the ground. Mauler and Tensile start to run towards it.

The Light titan gets up and chases after Wolf. Damaged, Wolf would have been caught but the trees slowed up the Light titan. He fires on Wolf and hits - Wolf's Pulse laser is now junk.
Mauler waits just outside the tree line firing, his ammo getting really low. Tensile draws up short and fires. He misses the target, but he hits the trees and IGNITES them. Heat level starts to rise on the enemy light titan.

He breaks out from the trees and is hit with a volley from Mauler.
Ammo depleted. Maulers’ cannons are now empty. Damn.

Wolf staggers away, firing his EM pulse, but misses.
Tensile looks to fire his lasers, but has to hold, as his heat level is approaching critical from his continuous firing pattern.
Enemy light titan fires and hits Mauler.

With no ammo left, Mauler grits his teeth and charges!!!

The Light titan tries to sidestep but fails. The sickening crunching of metal is heard as they both go down.
Mauler's damage board lights up - GYRO - Heavy damage. That's it. He won't be getting up. Mauler looks out of his cockpit and winces as he sees the Light titan starting to rise.

Tensile sees the carnage in front to him, sees the light titan getting up - and Mauler not moving.
His heat level still in the red, Tensile fires - and fires again.
HEAT LEVEL CRITICAL!!

The Light titans left leg buckles and breaks! The beast is down!!!

Enemy pilot ejects.

VICTORY!!!!

The team got the light titan as salvage!!!

but had to sell it to get money to pay for repairs.. oh well..

WOLF AND MAULER WENT UP A LEVEL.

D.A.Y.E.S is now a much better mechanic. Wolf a better businessman. (cheaper mechs now)

Onwards!!!!

The Team Rebuilds!
Topic: ToS Chronicles
After that impressive duel victory by Wolf, the Mech Masters team has re-equipped its' leader - Mauler with a Fang recon mech.

Out into the fray goes David (Wolf) and Mike (Mauler).

As leader, Mauler directs Wolf into some trees while he goes up a hill to take a look. Unfortunately, this just showed up Mauler’s poor planning. The trees were in swampland!

Wolf falls in the swamp, and is stuck. Mauler makes it to the top of the hill and spots the two enemy mechs coming towards him. Behind him he hears the crash of yet another failed attempt by Wolf to get up.

Mauler tries to lock on nearest mech - fails!!
Wolf gets up!! He walks forward... again more swamp!! Damn!! Wolf falls over again.

Mauler decides to try and lead them away from the area as Wolf gets up. While running, Mauler is hit with small laser fire. Mauler still trying to get that elusive lock, but fails again.
Wolf has damaged his mech so much in the swamp, his right leg is already in the red. Forcing himself to calm down, Wolf finally gets his mech standing, and walks out of the swamp.
Wolf crests the hill and locks up the first target with ease.
He fires and hits the lead enemy mech - a Banzaii mech. The second enemy (a Wrathchild) stops chasing Mauler, and locks up Wolf. Wolf hits the Banzai again with the EM pulser - no effect!

Mauler's poor navigational skill continues to plague him as his manoeuvres take him out of line of sight with the enemy, thus breaking his lock attempt with 2 seconds left till lock. Mauler screams loudly....

Wolf starts a run along the hillside to present a harder moving target, but the WrathChild tracks and hits him with a Neutron Gun! That weapon does zero damage to armor but can affect pilots. Wolf loses hitpoints and is now dizzy. Still, he gets a good scanner lock on the WrathChild, but manoeuvring while dizzy has him missing both of his shots.

Mauler finally figures out his map and climbs a small hill to regain line of sight on the enemy mechs. He attempts again to get a good scanner lock.
Still dizzy, Wolf is able to hit the WrathChild with his pulse laser but misses with the EM pulse. The Banzaii mech constantly hits Wolf with machine guns and small laser fire. Wolfs’ Tripwire mech centre torso is now showing red as armor is stripped away.

Mauler’s lock on attempt-fails again!!! Screw it!! Mauler charges to close the range. Without a good lock lock, he fires on the Banzaii with both his AutoCannons/7 ... and HITS!!
The WrathChild swivels to face this new threat. Locking on Mauler, he fires his Neutron Blaster - Zaap!! Mauler loses hitpoints and is stunned!!

Wolf’s life support systems start healing him. Finally, his dizziness ends. With a clearer head, he locks up the Banzaii- a perfect lock – and fires both weapons. All hit and Banzaii drops to the ground.
Wolf hammers the Banzaii, forcing him to drop again while attempting to stand. Wolf holds off from closing to use the Vibra Claws because of the torso damage he has.

The WrathChild presses his attack on Mauler but misses. Mauler hits the Banzaii again (still with no lock) - leg blown off!!
The WrathChild switches again to Wolf and fires its Neutron Gun and hits.
NO EFFECT!!
Wolf laughs and places his crosshairs on the WrathChild.
Mauler stops and tries again to lock WrathChild - FAILS!! Great screaming is heard...

Coordinating their attacks, Mauler and Wolf finally beat down the Wrathchild, dropping him under withering fire from the Pulse Laser/Em pulse and the autocannons(without lock!!).

Both enemy mech pilots eject!!

Victory and salvage!! The team salvaged the damaged WrathChild.

Wolf's puny mechanic skill means the team pays 50% more than normal to fix damage.
Mauler uses his xp to up his leadership skill to try and get a skilled recruit.

New team member - an Android.
Name: D.A.Y.E.S (we feel it stands something but are not sure).
Came in with some good stats. Funny though, he has more skills in piloting larger mechs than what he can drive now. Anyways, trained him up with the starting XP and he is ready to go!!

D.A.Y.E.S is also now the new Mechanic (34% mark up on repairs).

D.A.Y.E.S has great energy weapon skills so he can pilot the WrathChild. The team will look over the other stock mechs for sale to see if there is a better choice. The thought of EM pulsing the enemy then hitting the pilot with the neutron gun is really tempting though.

Will also buy a proper map for Mauler....