MechWarrior 3 is somewhat unique in MechWarrior series. Whereas in every other game each engagement is a single battle where the player may kill a half-dozen enemy ‘Mechs and then move on, MechWarrior 3 is essentially one long guerrilla operation. In other games, when it’s all said and done you fly away in your dropship, sipping space martinis and laughing merrily at all the whacky robot hijinks you got up to. In MechWarrior 3 you don’t have that luxury – you’re stuck dirtside, on the run, fighting to survive wave after wave of Smoke Jaguar warriors.
So how many ‘Mechs did you bust on Tranquil? Reddit user hydra337 has helpfully done the math.
Short answer: it’s a lot.
Long answer, you destroy 168 points worth of ‘Mechs, Elementals, tanks, and VTOL’s, or roughly an entire clan Galaxy.
This has some interesting implications for the sneak attack on Huntress as well as Operation Bulldog. As hydra377 puts it:
“The Smoke Jaguar forces that did go to Huntress were enough to overcome Serpent, but not enough to eradicate them wholesale before Bulldog arrives. If that returning homeworld force had an extra Galaxy however [like the one you destroy in MechWarrior 3], Clan Smoke Jaguar may have been able to destroy Task Force Serpent, regroup, and be much more prepared for the Huntress assault of Bulldog.”
Trial Under Fire, the book based off of MechWarrior 3, is considered the canonical version of events, and in that story Clan Wolf actually does most of the destruction for you. But in our hearts we all know who the real hero of the story is.
With much thanks to hydra337 for agreeing to let me post his work!
Sean,
How can I get in touch with you. I noticed you were a fan of the TCG and I though you might be interested in one of the Fan BT projects I worked on recently. More info here: https://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/4437
You can always get in touch with me by leaving a comment! I get to see your email when you do that :)
You should definitely check out this TCG expansion… it’s pretty nifty. :)
Which goes to show you how some of the MW video games weren’t really good simulations of the board game. 2 companies of mechs, especially losing some to the dropships’s destruction would have never pulled that off. They were fun though.
It is possible when you consider the following:
1) The Mobile Field Bases. Field Units that could do insta-repair and rearm! I do not think Coleman realized at the time he wrote Trial By Fire how much of a force multiplier the MFBs were to player. It is likely why he had to come up with another explanation of how Corbett’s Jaguars got trounced. The MW3 MFBs are never given TT stats(other than my own homebrew sheets and rules for a campaign I ran for my brothers and sister years ago).
2) I do not remember running supply issues even when playing on harder modes. Once you got a certain point, you had the mech you wanted to dominate the battlefield. As for me, I put myself in the Sunder once I go the chance.
3) According to the opening briefing, Galaxy Commander Corbett has called all warriors retreating from Operation Bulldog to Tranquil. I have re-read Trial By Fire, but is he aware that Huntress is also under attack?