Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
If Catachan ever gets a tourism/keep the foreigners from dying department; their tag-line should be Catachan: the place where you feel small and vulnerable while piloting an Atlas.
Battletech Welcome to the Jungle
- Thread starter Speaker4thesilent
- Start date
Skitzyfrenic
Well-known member
At least Catachan has a pretty clear model of how to be successful on Catachan.
I'd really like to see the fresh Lyran officers react to the wildlife video. They were so offended.
'And this is the majestic Catachan Antlion'
>That's a huge fucking bug. Like hover bus sized. That'll eat anything short of a heavy APC or medium tank. Okay, I can see why the Duke was pretty intent on where we trained.
'This particular specimen is a relative teenager, about half way through puberty.'
>Fucking what?
'By the way, the grass has a high metal content and it'll pop tires and shred hover skirts.'
>Jesus. What is this place? Have to VTOL or Mech everywhere?
'And this is a grown Catachan Antlion eating one of Catachan's many pack hunters.'
>Oh noes. That's huge.
'These particular hunters are known to harass and attempt to eat the LumberMechs. They will accomplish this if the LumberMechs aren't guarded.'
>Fucking what? Fuck this place. Catachan? Just gotta protect the hold and the animals will beat back any invasion force. Christ.
'Here are the pack hunters eating our favorite Ctachan animal, and one of it's few herbivores.'
>Please no. What fresh hell will this be?
I'd really like to see the fresh Lyran officers react to the wildlife video. They were so offended.
'And this is the majestic Catachan Antlion'
>That's a huge fucking bug. Like hover bus sized. That'll eat anything short of a heavy APC or medium tank. Okay, I can see why the Duke was pretty intent on where we trained.
'This particular specimen is a relative teenager, about half way through puberty.'
>Fucking what?
'By the way, the grass has a high metal content and it'll pop tires and shred hover skirts.'
>Jesus. What is this place? Have to VTOL or Mech everywhere?
'And this is a grown Catachan Antlion eating one of Catachan's many pack hunters.'
>Oh noes. That's huge.
'These particular hunters are known to harass and attempt to eat the LumberMechs. They will accomplish this if the LumberMechs aren't guarded.'
>Fucking what? Fuck this place. Catachan? Just gotta protect the hold and the animals will beat back any invasion force. Christ.
'Here are the pack hunters eating our favorite Ctachan animal, and one of it's few herbivores.'
>Please no. What fresh hell will this be?
Doomsought
Well-known member
Yeah, one of the best defense strategies on Catachan is to make your enemies land in the jungle and have fun with the local wild life.
It might be worth it to build some decoy dropship landing sites as bait. Just some discrete flamer towers to keep the foliage at bay. Maybe add a pair of mine dispensors on each side of the tower, programmed to deploy after a dropship lands nearby and no security code is given. You can even use them as a satelite logging site if you are willing to assign a light drop-ship to local transport duties.
It might be worth it to build some decoy dropship landing sites as bait. Just some discrete flamer towers to keep the foliage at bay. Maybe add a pair of mine dispensors on each side of the tower, programmed to deploy after a dropship lands nearby and no security code is given. You can even use them as a satelite logging site if you are willing to assign a light drop-ship to local transport duties.
The Unicorn
Well-known member
Did you forget the scene with the big dinos? Anything you build in the jungle would be gone in a couple of years at most without some very expensive defenses.
Additionally, there will naturally be clearings in the jungle where the enemy could land.
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
Come to Catachan: where humanity has managed to secure a whole 0.001% of the surface area of the planet, as long as the native flora and fauna keeps being okay with that.
WolfknightX10
Member
Honestly I wouldn’t be suprised if there was something in Catachan’s biosphere that made nukes ineffective
Gojira eats them!
xachariahxx
Well-known member
SLIC already knew there was a regiment of battlemechs and factories on the planet, even if not exactly where. That's why Johan Weber's journal has 'regiment' and 'factory' right next to 'bioweapon'. He couldn't know those things unless the SLIC knew those things. Everything that lead Alistair Weber Jr to Catachan is the same information that the SLIC had access to (more actually, since they'd have the actual astrogation data instead of hunting based on star description).
And the 'here be bioweapons' message that was sent to Kerensky also states that it was a variant of anthrax and would be safe to visit in a couple centuries, which is incidentally when the clans would be returning.
The Unicorn
Well-known member
You are assuming that the Clans have all this information readily accessible, and also that they actually care. Catchan might or might not appear on their maps, they might or might not have all the information Kerensky and his staff had about it when they left the IS and that information might or might not include the SLIC's report about it, or parts of the report.
If the clans know there's an active factory there they'll consider Catchan a valuable target, but an abandoned factory that may or may not have survived the centuries and which may or may not be safe to approach with no local population? That's the sort of target they'd mark down to go look at after they capture Terra.
Speaker4thesilent
Crazed Deplorable
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
Don't build anything, it's not worth it. Once you see Dropships burning for the planet, have your ASF drop thermobaric bombs on pre-selected sections of jungle, making clearings big enough for invasion forces to land, some distance away from Dwarfhold. Landing Dropships will be a big "All you can eat buffet is open" to all the predatory wildlife in sight radius.
In case of Trashborn, if Weber receives information on their conduct, before they attack Catachan, then he can use it against them. Don't refuse their batchal, accept it and set the battlefield so that defenders will enter from cleared area, while attackers will enter through jungle. Give a helpful warning about the wildlife that they will ignore.
''Centuries if ever.'' In other words, avoid until Comstar points you this way, especially as trashborn don't have NBC troops as part of their army.
Um, yeah they do. Battlemechs and Elementals are both sealed against NBCs as a side effect of being vacuum rated.
Speaker4thesilent
Crazed Deplorable
This is true, but I think he meant ‘NBC science types.’
Seriously doubt they’re going to fit scientists with Elemental armor so they can take samples to make sure a planet is safe for habitation.
Though some clans might drop some menials on the world to see if they get sick and die.
The Unicorn
Well-known member
Unless BT has some magic Thermobaric armor piercing bombs Thermobaric bombs would have zero effect on Catchan's armored trees and not much more on the bushes and grasses.
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
It's pressure per surface, the force exerted on the trees would either snap them or uproot them, the same way as blast wave can knock down BattleMechs.
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
On the other hand, this might be one of the few place for places for stealth tactics for battlemechs. Hard to pick out your target when all the foliage has enough metal in it to register as mech armor.
Traumatized Invader: “They came from the trees, man. The Commandoes swung in on vines and one kicked my squadmate’s head unit clean off, man.”
The Clans can deploy their military as is. If they haven't backslidden they can decontaminate the hardware because the Star League dealt with NBC threats.
So their plan if the planet is still contaminated should be to send a bunch of Solhama Elementals and mech pilots using second or third line mechs (whichever line the cached Star League machines are) with hands to retrieve any useful materials.
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
Even with decontamination procedures (that they haven't practiced in generations) there is still a chance their warriors will die from a bioweapon and clans abhor the thought of that. Even solhama, despised as they are, are supposed to die in battle, not the sick bed. Their mission is a race to Terra, with minimum distractions and a dead world is an unnecessary distraction, until Comstar explains to them that it is actually a very much alive world, of great strategic importance. This might give Weber time to prepare for the attack.
PeaceMaker 03
Well-known member
And the story keeps rolling along......
Thank you very much, Speaker, of Battletech.
Willing to supply coffee from my private stash to keep your muse compliant for more storytelling.
Thank you very much, Speaker, of Battletech.
Willing to supply coffee from my private stash to keep your muse compliant for more storytelling.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
on another note we need to account for the fact that unlike literally ever over world over than Terra Catachan will anti orbital guns covering the important bits. Sure they aren't the most powerful ones but they're there.