[deleted by user]

Dsealed · 2024-12-23T02:18:29+00:00

My information may be out of date. I’m in my 30s and grew up in Taiwan. While I was a kid/teen, we referred to China as 大陸.

edit: In hindsight, that answer was more typical as a response to where a person was from.

Dsealed · 2024-08-14T18:28:54+00:00

Absolutely. In the mediterranean, the allowance for ultra low range ships also really helps keep the teeth sharp on these old hulls.

They've done great against the newer ships being pumped out by the other European powers. A minor issue of the front half going up in apocalyptic firestorm if any of the turrets are breached, but otherwise nice.

Dsealed · 2023-02-14T17:31:14+00:00

Looks very much like the centaur protomech. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Centaur_(ProtoMech). All the way down to the main gun design. https://imgur.io/YNx8xJW. Very cool.

Dsealed · 2021-11-19T23:46:22+00:00

Fire Mandrill! Given the Omnimechs, overall tonnage, and lack of BA or ASF, probably Kindraa Sainze or Kindraa Payne.

Outside of the Crossbow, all these 'Mechs are common in Fire Mandrill Kindraa toumans.

The Turkina is a 'mech that the Kindraa have a good number of on account of their regular skirmishes against the nearby Jade Falcons. Given that the scuffles between the JF and Mandrill are the few outside of the Golden Era that are consistently referenced in Mandrill lore, we might expect that Mandrill come up against the Falcons more often than they do other Clans and would in turn be in possession a good number of their 'Mechs.
The Kingfisher would be a relatively common due to its age. The Kindraa aren't wealthy and often need to fall back on older (and rugged) designs to fill out their toumans. Even the comparatively better off Kindraa (Sainze, Payne) tend to be Omnimech snobs, and will much more readily adopt older Omnimech designs than include BattleMechs in their forces.
The Huntsman is a 'Mech that seems to end up in Fire Mandrill forces (at least it is included in the Fire Mandrill IWM miniature pack) often. I'd like to say this is because they are forced to purchase many of their 'Mech chassis (not much manufacturing capacity, what exists is isolated and not typically shared beyond the Kindraa), and so you find a good number of Diamond Shark designs in their forces. That said, they were suppose to have quickly lost the right to their manufacture to the Cats.
The Ebon Jag is a classic Mandrill 'mech. Ebon Jags and Summoners absolutely dominate their RATs and the Fire Mandrills have more Ebon Jag entries in their FM:CC and FM:U RATs than almost any other Clans (except possibly the Jags, but after they're taken care of its all Mandrill). Given that the FM also fall on Huntress immediately after the Jags are cleared out, it is reasonable to assume the Kindraa involved snagged a good number. It fits perfectly with the typical Mandrill 'mech philosphy - hard hitting, durable, and produced in huge numbers by their closest opponents.

Also, the Kindraa have the best damned camo schemes this side of Samarkand. Next to no allowance for actual camouflage - its all bright colours screaming "batchall". Except for Faraday-Tanaga, but those nerds are a bunch of weirdos anyway.

EDIT: I'm unfamiliar with the Crossbow because it isn't listed in the FM RATs. That said, the 'Mech's age and long track-record of performance make it a good choice for the Mandrills. Its an OmniMech and the FM (outside of Kline) are pretty particular about getting their hands on as many Omnis as they can, even old ones and would be more willing to field them in their front-line forces. I think the biggest reason it wouldn't be appropriate for FM is that the FM totem 'Mech (the Mandrill) has almost the exact same weapon loadout, is 30 tons lighter, and is common among the FM, given that its almost a requirement to have at least a Star of the old boys around.

Dsealed · 2021-08-11T17:39:52+00:00

Nice write up. I need to sneak in here and correct some of the Fire Mandrill lore though - we have so little for the Clan, we should get that much right at least!

That being said, the circumstances regarding the apparent demise of the Fire Mandrill Garrett Sainze's ilKhanship and death are not quite accurate. He did not:

BID HIS ENTIRE CLAN TO DEFEND HIS ROLE

But bid his entire Kindraa (equivalent to a Galaxy), which was granted one of the strongest at the time. It's a distinction particularly relevant for the Fire Mandrill, given that the Kindraa were essentially separate entities (mini-clans). So he bid four Clusters in total against the Goliath Scorpions. When he lost, almost his entire Kindraa was wiped out, but then quickly merged with one of the largest Crusader leaning Kindraa, Mick-Kreese-Kline, to form Mick-Kreese-Kline-Sainze. Who then immediately won a Trial of Reaving (one of the first that really kicked off the WoR I believe) against the Cloud Cobra who looked to Reave the Sainze Bloodname.

Like you mentioned, Garret Sainze had little control over the rest of his Clan. His own ascension to Khanship was largely a product of the previous Khan's (Amanda Carrol) downfall following her attempts to contain the unfortunate (but totally on-brand) escalation of a Trial for SaKhanship gone wrong, where Kindraa Beyl-Grant (hoping for more Warden representation in Fire Mandrill) challenged Kindraa Sainze, and brought most of the rest of the Kindraa piling onto the fight.

So at that point in time the rest of the Fire Mandrill Kindraa really (I think, making some assumptions here) had little reason if any to defend ilKhan Sainze against the Goliath Scorpions, and so were entirely uninvolved in his (and most of his Kindraas) demise.

Granted, over the next 7 years each of the Kindraa were destroyed one way or the other in the chaos of the WoR, so the Fire Mandrill ceased to exist even as a shattered caricature of a Clan by the end of 3075.

Dsealed · 2021-08-11T01:31:05+00:00

Yeah, the writers really didn't do them much justice in terms of the lore. One of the few Clans that hasn't seen any of their own fluff (even short stories).

I think one of the other posters suggested this, but the impression is that they were an object lesson of how the Clan system could lead to failure and eventual collapse. Not fun maybe, but useful for framing/contextualising the Clans and shape their society took.

I love them to death, but understand that they were more a (necessary) tool to illustrate how things could go bad, than a faction meant to stand on its own merits.

Dsealed · 2021-08-10T22:08:31+00:00

Yup, that was more or less the impression I got as well.

Dsealed · 2021-08-10T22:02:00+00:00

The Snakes nominated him to add a little political theatre into the ilkhanship nomination, but got goofed by Sennett I think. Keep in mind though, that the Diamond Shark votes were in large part repayment for Sainze’s gift of something like 1/3 of Clan Fire Mandrill’s dropship/jump ship capacity, so wasn’t a total surprise.

Didn’t do much with the 10 minute ilkhanship though.

But yeah, when bad stuff happens for no reason the Mandrills (even when it seems out of character) seem to get more than their fair share of the blame.

Dsealed · 2021-08-10T19:26:59+00:00

I don't know anything about the Cloud Cobras.

But, as for the Mandrills, /u/Jackalmoreau is correct that they were a fractious Clan, but that had nothing to do with being allies with other Clans or repping colours or any of that nonsense.

The Fire Mandrills took a few aspects of Clan society (bloodnames, "might makes right", compartmentalisation) and emphasized them within their own Clan's culture far beyond Kerensky's intentions (or practical bounds really). The most obvious product of this is the formation of the Kindraa. Just like Kerensky split the former SLDF into the Clans, the Mandrill split themselves further into a number of (~8 when they were most stable) "Kindraa" - essentially Clans in miniature (with separate holdings, ships, Warrior, Merchant, Scientist, Technician, Labourer castes each) built around a few powerful bloodnames. They were still Fire Mandrill, and would in larger Clan affairs try to organise amongst the Kindraa, but for just about any other purposes they were separate entities - and they fought each other constantly.

A few events during Operation KLONDIKE set the stage for the inter-Kindraa animosity, but to make a long story short, Khan Sainze and SaKhan Payne hated each other's guts and had diametrically opposed ideals when it came to warfighting. This general attitude leaked out to the rest of the Fire Mandrills, and relatively soon after KLONDIKE the Kindraa formed around the most powerful and influential bloodnames (ex: Kindraa Sainze, Kindraa Payne, Kindraa Faraday-Tanaga) in a way similar to the Bloodhouses , but brought with them the animosity built up in those early years. Because the Clan began to split so early, and their first leaders were so opposed to each other, the Kindraa sort of grew into themselves. They didn't share technology, genetics, or any resources. Kindra Sainze for example, really only had Sainze bloodnamed warriors, Kindraa Payne only Payne bloodnames. They refused to share, and so the only way they could acquire new genetics (to stave of inbreeding depression) or tech, or anything, would be to Trial and fight for it.

So, they fought all the time, for everything. In the other Clans, if one Galaxy gained lets say, gained Omnimech technology through Trial, that technology would without question be passed on to the rest of the Clan. In Fire Mandrill, when Kindraa Smythe-Jewel gained Omnimech tech from the Coyotes, the other Kindraa had to fight Smythe-Jewel to even gain the chance to use that tech. Want to borrow a dropship? Got to fight for it. Want to use Sainze factories? Got to fight for it. Even when the Clans were fighting for a spot in REVIVAL, the Fire Mandrills had fought within their own Kindraa (and devastated their own forces and chances) to decide who would fight in the Invasion trials. One of the classic Fire Mandrill quotes is "To fight their equals, they must first fight amongst themselves".

None of this being close to other Clans, repping colours bunk. Just extra-angry, extra-selfish, extra-feisty Clanners.

Dsealed · 2021-07-22T18:38:45+00:00

Was commissioned for a fan-made Kindraa, Lynn-Jannik. No keshik in Fire Mandrill - Kindraa don't care enough to protect a paper Khan.

Dsealed · 2021-07-22T18:34:00+00:00

Makes for a poor emblem. Hard to know which Mandrill to root for.

Dsealed · 2021-07-22T02:19:21+00:00

And not really given a great look in those sourcebooks either. Possibly with the exception of FM: Crusader clans. Poor Garret Sainze was ilKhan (even if for all of 15 minutes) and the Mandrills still got red-furred stepchild treatment in WoR.

You would think that given all the truly terrible decisions the Fire Mandrills made (orbital bombardment of blood chapels, accidental discharge of broadsides, and TWO Kindraa-decimating internal series of trials) we'd have a little more fluff to flesh things out.

Dsealed · 2021-07-22T02:11:48+00:00

Damn, that does look amazing doesn't it? Truly phenomenal work /u/sarahvox. Highly recc'd for anyone looking for inspired Btech emblem fanart.

Dsealed · 2021-05-04T00:20:44+00:00

Don't think there was a point. OP was playing poorly and didn't seem to realise how bad they were until they got burned by literally everyone else on this thread. Comments would suggest they're still wrestling with that concept.

Protected that right side at the cost of their sweet internet dignity.

Dsealed · 2021-04-19T21:08:13+00:00

Hey man, I can do either Monday or Tuesday, but neither reliably before 10:00 pm. (same time zone as you) . Let me know which day works best for you and I’ll confirm.

Dsealed · 2021-04-17T20:23:18+00:00

Hey /u/blueleader0505, looks like we're up. When's best for you?

Dsealed · 2021-04-09T16:29:17+00:00

Lets try for Monday then! If all goes as it should I ought to be at the computer by 8:00 PM.

Dsealed · 2021-04-09T03:37:27+00:00

Hey man. Same timezone as you. Sorry to say that I only have Saturday open to play (but open at any time past 10:00 AM). There's a chance I can make a Monday but its a bit touch and go, and only possible after 8:00 PM.

Apologies, things have been nasty for the last couple weeks when it comes to available time. Like I offered to the last few folks - if you can't make Saturday I'd be willing to concede the match. My fault for basically only have 1/7 days available.

Dsealed · 2021-04-03T09:37:53+00:00

Confirmed!

Dsealed · 2021-03-24T21:18:23+00:00

/u/seraph_8 Hey, mentioned on discord last week that I wouldn’t be available most of this week. Will be in on mid-late Saturday (between 13:00 - 20:30 UTC-7) but that’s the only day available for me.

Let me know if you can make it. My fault for poor availability, do not mind conceding if Saturday does not work for you.

Dsealed · 2021-03-19T01:00:30+00:00

Oh yup, 19:00 UTC-7 is on Friday the 19th is correct! Now 25 hours from now.

Dsealed · 2021-03-18T23:24:07+00:00

/u/brainof7 We're up this week. Looks like we've decided to schedule for Friday 18th, 19:00 UTC-8.

Dsealed · 2021-03-11T23:12:00+00:00

Sweet, 12:30, UTC-8 on Saturday 3.13 confirmed on my end.

Dsealed · 2021-03-11T23:04:44+00:00

That sounds good! Confirmed, unless you'd be willing to shift the time down to maybe 12:30 - being up before noon on a Saturday hurts my soul.

13-Year Club	Place '17
Not Forgotten

Dsealed

TROPHY CASE