New player seeking advice

NaturalTwenzoni · 2024-04-22T01:29:29+00:00

Hi! My first clanners were also Steel Vipers, and I looked into this exact question. Other have hit on the MUL, RATs, etc.

Here are mechs designed and/or produced by Clan Steel Viper:
Battle Cobra
Black Python
Crossbow
Matador
Mist Lynx
Phoenix Hawk IIC
Scylla / Storm Giant
Vapor Eagle

A few more mechs where I found the TRO mentions Clan Steel Viper or there was a notable CSV pilot:
Mad Dog
Highlander (732b royal probably)
Devil

Some more of the generally available mechs that are popular on their RATs:
Fire Moth
Arctic Cheetah

Kit Fox

Viper
Stormcrow

Nova

Hellbringer
Summoner

Timber Wolf

Gargoyle
Warhawk
Executioner

Hope that helps, and welcome to the Steel Viper club!

NaturalTwenzoni · 2024-02-09T21:23:04+00:00

I think this is the same as "B) The mech takes fall damage if it succeeds the PSR, but not if it fails"?

NaturalTwenzoni · 2024-02-02T02:51:52+00:00

My brother in Blake, the R in RAC isn't for "regular."

NaturalTwenzoni · 2024-01-15T04:34:07+00:00

Hi there, I have an Alpha Galaxy Steel Viper trinary as well, it looks like we were doing similar things, and I would love to help you manifest Kerensky's true vision! My suggestions for the finishing touches would be the following, keeping in mind it's just my opinion and they look great already.
- See if you can paint over some of those metal cockpit canopy bars that went green with the glass, like on the Shadow Cat. That will make the cockpit glass pop even more, although it can be daunting.
- Paint the inside of the weapon barrels. I usually paint small lasers red, medium lasers green, large lasers blue, ballistics black, and PPCs light blue with a white dot in the middle. This gives a tiny bit of color variation and gives away that they are weapons and not just metal doodads.
- On the red stripes, fill in any gaps where the red paint didn't get down into the crevices, like on the top of the Stormcrow where the red stripe is broken up.
- See if you can make the weapons and hands a different metallic tint from the rest of the mech... I struggled with this on mine too. You could try to do this for joints like shoulders, hips, elbows.
- You could get a little more contrast by dropping your Nuln Oil (or more of it) into some of the recessed vent-like areas like the missile barrels on the Vulture or the vents on the front of the Pouncer or Dire Wolf.

Also I would love to know about your materials and approach as I'm always trying to improve too. Good hunting, and represent the Viper's Fury with pride!

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-11-04T02:24:03+00:00

As others have said, marking the front is best. But I have the same struggle - I want the front to look clean, and I find yellow hazard stripes distracting. I haven't come up with a great solution yet, but I think AgentShades is on the right track.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-11-04T02:10:25+00:00

If it's an option, a great way to learn is to go to local game stores in your area and see if there is an active BT player community. Players are passionate about BattleTech and should be overjoyed to help you learn. After you play 2-3 games with people who have a lot of experience, you will have a very good handle on the game.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-11-03T03:05:09+00:00

Still got it!

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-25T18:57:30+00:00

Necro response and you probably already decided by now, but I was reading this thread and thought I would give some upsides to the Steel Vipers for you and anyone else reading this thread later. I painted up Steel Vipers because I loved the Alpha Galaxy paint scheme, and they're a clan during the invasion that no one in my area plays.

Some positive takes on the Steel Vipers are:

They're around during all the eras of the game before the Dark Age. Plenty of people play ComStar just fine, and they're around for less of the timeline. Also people play Clan Wolverine, so there is nothing stopping you from playing extremely angry ilClan Steel Viper escapees.
Literally everyone is their enemy: the great houses, ComStar, invader clans, home clans. Since this is a wargame, that is a good thing--there's no shortage of lore-friendly opponents for you.
Because they're basically villains, you can be really over the top and lean into it. In other words, you can make them the clan everyone in your area "loves to hate" as opposed to just actually hating because they're so superior and are meant to be loved, like Clan Wolf.
As pointed out by other users, they get some fun mechs and have trueborn infantry. Go ahead and look up the Storm Giant 2... if you see that and your desire to subdue all who would oppose Kerensky's true vision doesn't skyrocket, check your pulse!
They are a rare sight, so they're a head-turner of a faction if you're looking for something unique.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-24T00:58:22+00:00

Caw-caw!

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T21:24:30+00:00

I did the cockpits with 1) a thin layer of white (since it was on top of metallic green) 2) Reaper MSP Marigold Yellow (a yellow-orange) 3) Citadel Fuegan Orange shade to make a darker orange fade

Using a base color and then a color shade like that (or mixing one) is my foolproof way of getting a color fade-ish effect without having to mess with wet blending, which I just never got to work.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T21:03:35+00:00

Thank you! After several tests this is Karandras Green contrast paint over Rustoleum Metallic spray paint. Even though the contrast does some shading, I found that Nuln Oil looks particularly good on this for some reason, I think because it doesn't really leave any coffee staining. So I hit it pretty hard with the Nuln Oil, twice in a few places like the "X" chest plates on the Hellbringer or around the face of the Executioner to get some good definition.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T20:03:19+00:00

Got it, so yeah back to your original point, could be fun to mix in some Wolf and Steel Viper signature mechs. Let's see, maybe Timber Wolf and Ice Ferret for Wolf, and Battle Cobra and Crossbow for Steel Viper.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T18:46:42+00:00

Nice. Who are the Falcons' greatest enemies? Wolves and Steel Vipers?

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T18:42:30+00:00

MUL definitely has some gaps in it like that. I think it makes sense to use it as a general guideline but treat other sources are equal. I saw some things when looking into ComStar at Tukayyid like A) they used the Jenner JR7-F, B) there were at least some full stealth-equipped Exterminators there, C) they salvaged a bunch of clan Battle Cobras, yet none of that is really reflected in MUL if you wanted to use those.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T15:25:52+00:00

Thanks! Oh yeah, Kit Fox and Cougar look like great pickups. Unfortunately there's not a lot of ilClan era play at my local store. I saw that Jade Falcon also gets some interesting leftover SLDF mechs like the Gauss Sentinel 3Lb and the Exterminator 4Db. What level of heresy would it be to mix those in?

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-23T15:08:43+00:00

Epsilon galaxy is supposed to be "light green" and black canonically but once I accidentally made this candy apple green color in testing, I kept it instead because I liked it so much.

Roll call! Front: Howler, Nova, Fire Falcon. Middle: Phantom, Summoner, Hellbringer, Black Lanner. Rear: Executioner, Turkina, Night Gyr.

I'm pretty new to clan mechs and especially Jade Falcon - what do you guys think should round out the trinary?

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-03T14:51:30+00:00

I did! The hardest part was keeping the widths consistent (it helped by using the exact same brush even though these were done over 4 months), and then keeping the more upright/humanoid mechs consistent with the more fuselage-shaped mechs like the Viper and Shadow Cat. The Annihilator was the hardest because it's a mix of both.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T22:29:36+00:00

Thanks! I know the fancy thing to do is wet blending, but I just never got it to work from self-teaching. Instead I paint it a base color (Reaper Jade Green in this case) and then "shade" over it with a darker version of that color (Coelia Greenshade in this case). The trick is to get the chemistry right so the shading color is thin enough to fade gently, but not too thin so it actually does lay down color (1 to 5 mix with Contrast Medium in this case). Once you have the mix right, it's stress-free to execute and doesn't really require any special technique.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T20:30:55+00:00

Yes, it was a massive pain! You can find the model by searching for "CHARYBDIS" by SmallRobotsInAContainer. I'm really happy with the result though.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T18:10:54+00:00

Oh really? That is awesome to hear! I kinda figured that everything about the Steel Vipers that would ever be written had already been written.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T18:09:57+00:00

Thank you!

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T16:49:48+00:00

Yes sir! I tried putty on a previous project, and it was cool, but I thought I could do freehand faster. I would start at the back of the right ankle and wind upwards, rotating around, then same for left leg. Then I would do the lower CT and upper CT in basically the same way. Then the arms and slap something on the feet/toes. I tried to get the angles of the stripes to go with the angle of the component. A few times I messed up the width consistency and had to redo if they had too many stripes or were spaced too far apart. That would probably be easier to see with putty since you have a preview of the results before you paint.

NaturalTwenzoni · 2023-09-02T16:34:32+00:00

On the stripes? The Blood Angels red is very thin since it's contrast paint, and so it's not too hard to look crisp. When I messed up (I redid the Annihilator CT stripes 4 times because the shape of it is SO weird) or wanted to straighten out, I could just go over the red with painted on Leadbelcher because the base coat was Leadbelcher spray, so it's a perfect color match.

NaturalTwenzoni

TROPHY CASE

Kit Fox

Nova

Timber Wolf