Sorry guys, I have not been overly active for awhile and just recently started looking things up again. Not sure who still wanders by, but figured with the folks I knew before this would be a decent community to run an idea by, as the old group tended not to be too judgmental about each others' ideas and preferences. I am definitely someone who enjoys the original tech and politics of the world, though I have come to appreciate folks who prefer the later stories and challenges involved with the later eras.
My early games set the pace, with my reading of Decision at Thunder Rift given me a preference for starting smaller groups and building up through salvage. This fit the era and was a fun way to advance my units' stories. However, I noticed that I often didn't fight my hardest, as I wanted salvage, and I accepted way too much damage in return. A friend of mine asked me outright if there was an opponent I would go all out on, and my immediate answer was pirates. I mean, in BT history, most of the given examples are the most sadistic, scummy people to ever wield power over a pirate band. So we started a new, small force of vengeful mercs called The Hangmen. Despite a renewed sense of aggression, I had still invested in some good techs and went from a lance with 2 Leopards to a 10 mech group that also included more transports and a company of vehicles. Many of my units were none-standard, but then so were many of the pirate forces I took on. Eventually though, the fellow who was essentially GMing the game and having fun with creating scenarios and opfors, was moving on to taking more time with his LARP group. Seemed like I would sadly have to set aside my unit until I could find another group that might let me play this. Then another friend offered to run me one last game, and my GM gave his blessings. One last hurrah for The Hangmen!
And it was an exciting game, where luck and skill were needed, but with one last surge I smashed the opposition and finished destroying the pirates. But then I found, to my amazement, that the place I had tracked them down to and which had given them some advantage at first, was a functional Star League production center, made to supply parts of many types to Kerensky's forces during the attacks on the periphery. Unfortunately, my friend was not one who would plan things out well when it came to specifics of the facility. He knew from my old groups that I had always wanted to find Star League caches (even w/o updated tech) and liked making my own designs, so he gave me a Star League facility with a Hundred ton mech for me to design. Unfortunately, we'd been in the independent worlds hunting down Tortugan's beforehand, so this was not an owned world where I could hope to just claim a reward for the find and move on... this was a production facility under pirate control before we came to take it away! We couldn't move on w/o them moving back in! Talk about the wrong group for this!
I was not able at the time to find anyone interested in helping me figure this out. Of late, fond memories make me want to revive the unit. My thought for a plan is to contact the decently close Taurian Concordant, who might either claim the world and the facility, or perhaps even move the equipment into the Concordant border and expand the capabilities of one of it's own production groups. The Hangmen would take part of their finders fee in stocks, thus aiding in the financial stability of their hunt. In the meantime, my unit will repair as much as it can and defend the place, adding in captured units as we are able to repair them, and hope the Taurians go for it.
What do I want from you guys? Well, assuming no one here loves mega-meking old dusty units with far too many modifications and a fussy story line, kindly just do what many do best. Hit me up with the problems, with ideas, and any questions, deride (politely) my own ideas and assumptions, but put your own up if you do! I am just checking for ideas because I'd love to free up the unit eventually, but the first step is how to move it's storyline on. Thanks for any replies.
