Mercator vs. Hammer Patrol Craft - help!

Hey all;

In the upcoming game, I’m going to try to push for a Firefight IN SPACE!

The situation:

Last game, a wicked Firefight led to the bad guy finding a naiven on the ground worming its way away from its old host. (The bad guy is Francois de Loire, a PC played by Countercheck here.) Francois took this worm to his (relationship) Forged Lord and he’s looking to strike at my Vaylen Trader/Spacer.

The Forged Lord wants to get clearance from the Merchant League in order to blockade the spaceport (it’s a flying casino world - Burning Vegas is the thread). The NPC on the council hates the Forged Lord, though, so that might turn into a DoW on its own.

Anyways. I burned up the Forged Lord (because Countercheck is lazy :wink: ) and I gave him a Hammer Patrol Craft with heavy armour (AT 2) and a plamsa battery. And some Steel bonus dice for being the flagship.

Then I compared my Mercator to the Hammer vessel, and it’s not a pretty picture for my Vaylen dude. Even with my own (Concealable) battery, and even if I circle up an exp 6 pilot/gunner, I am going to get pwned.

So here’s my request: I want to see this fight; I think it will be cool. But I want to stand a decent chance of seeing at least a Compromise. How can I beef up my Mercator in order to withstand this Hammer assault? I have 5 rps to play with.

(I’ve got a plan to turn things a little more in my favour based on the roll/DoW where the PCs try to get clearance to blockade the spaceport. But I could fail, and I don’t want to get wasted from the first Superb shot opportunity.)

I AM NOT LAZY i’m just verr’ busy an have other things to do and m’printer’s broken… I had him statted… honest… but yours is better, anyway… I’m not a bad guy either. Not really. Well. No. Not really.

I know I shouldn’t really be helping you here. But. Some suggestions.

Fighters. Deploy fighters. Stat them based on the Anvil Attack Sled.

Screw the battery. Use missiles.

Pack a whack of ECM equipment into the mercantor’s hull, and prevent it from ever being locked onto.

Armour.

You’re fucked. No amount of equipment is going to save you. The only hope you have is a freaking hotshot pilot/captain with serious Command and Tactics. You’ve got to out-maneuver him.

But really, you’ve got to stop this fight before it happens. Otherwise, kiss that mercator good bye.

-L

I was thinking of trying to start another Firefight alongside this one, with Erik’s PC Geza in his Hussar going head-to-head with Cheb’s LT in his Anvil Attack Sled.

I like the idea, though.

I imagine it’s for the Indirect trait, eh? That could help; but they will only be able to score Breach hits. I guess that means I can trade in the dice to target locations instead of bumping up the DoF.

To block the Observe, eh? That could work. Something like +4Ob to Sensors. Nice.

I’d need AT 3 to make a difference. :slight_smile:

:slight_smile: Heh heh. That’s what I thought. Looks like I’ll have to rely on the Merchant Council’s rejection of the Forged Lord’s request in order to get a more balanced encounter.

Will it make a difference if you can demolish the Contact roll? It seems like you could probably work out Outnumber (fighter escort), Superior Position (consequence of a Strategy or Logistics roll in advance?), etc. etc.

Otherwise, yeah, you’re fucked man. Push for a compromise! Get boarded and jump into Close Combat!

p.

Circles up some Vaylen pirates or something.

No, it’s for the megablast trait, which lets you swat all the simultaneously, and for the intelligent trait, which makes it easier to hit.

Seriously, turn it into a Q-ship. A mercantor hull with automated hammer weaponry, automated sensors and signals…

Or, evil thought, have them kidnap the Marchessa and take her on-board. Then neither Francois nor Stephan, nor geza will be willing to shoot to kill.

That is an awesome idea.