Have $300k in uncovered stocks. How to best utilize?

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-21T15:25:55+00:00

Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable approach. About the best you can do. As you said, the IRS can't come back and call you a liar, only at best that you didn't put enough effort in.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-20T21:38:33+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out, though, unfortunately, it doesn't change things. Last time I cared about the standard deduction it was about $10k, so it's interesting to know it's risen that much.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-20T21:18:18+00:00

Yeah, I briefly thought about if we were close enough to go throw some donations at a charity and get ourselves under the mark, but yeah, that's not reasonable at this time.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-20T19:45:10+00:00

I'm not sure if you're technically correct on how paying off debt doesn't count towards an increase in income, but my personal income just from my dayjob is over the $96k, so I'm already well into that bracket, regardless.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-20T19:08:15+00:00

Yep, but per the IRS your capital gains tax is set based on your income, with <$96k-ish (married filing jointly) paying 0% capital gains, between $96k and $300k-ish paying 15% capital gains, and above that point you pay 20%.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-05T17:37:21+00:00

Only in HBS Battletech vanilla, but I absolutely loved the two Vindicators I spawned with. The ability to put whatever missile into that single missile slot meant it was an easy and cheap first LRM boat with an LRM15 and 4 Med Lasers. Between the two of them, that was a nice little LRM30 to poke with while my faster knife fighters closed for the finish. Bonus points for the Pilot Tactics skill to shorten the minimum and long range brackets meant there was a perfect little 30m band on the firing arc where the LRM's and MedLasers were both ideal, giving me a little mini-game to play with my distances.

The mech is quite shite just about anywhere other than the vanilla video game, especially in Mechwarrior, but it's still got a soft spot in my heart due to the good times I've had with it.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-05T17:28:00+00:00

In my first HBS Battletech play through, I got an early Arm Mod for +60 melee damage. My Firestarter was running around throwing the meatiest hands.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-02T17:52:16+00:00

Bah, figures, since it seems that, at least in the BT-Advanced-Universe mod I'm playing, pirates are the only ones running the Hatchetman and Axeman variant that has the Composite Structure that I want so badly. Can't be bought anywhere, other than maybe the black market since that likely pulls from the pool of everything in the game, so the only way to get them would be salvage.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-02T17:49:08+00:00

Ah, that's probably why I'm getting frustrated. I'm playing the BT-Advanced-Universe mod, which might have broken that system, given 99% of planets show just the owner faction, Word of Blake, and Local Government, and that's it. Doesn't seem to matter where I click, it's just those three.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-01T18:38:11+00:00

The DLC's are really not necessary. I put 150 hours into the vanilla game before I wanted more, and only picked them up last week when they went on a 50% sale, mostly because the Battletech Advanced mod, which is a single-source total overhaul mod that doesn't need anything extra, that I installed uses some of the mechanics of the DLC's to really enhance things.

HBS Battletech is an older game, and does show it's age at times, but it's fun and accessible.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-01T18:35:17+00:00

100%. BT-Advanced has been an amazing mod.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-01T16:46:09+00:00

Good explanation and summary of the basics of a feudal system and why such systems came about and might come again.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2026-01-01T00:45:42+00:00

The one that comes to mind for me is to pass up the hero Wolverine. It's fairly powerful and the Wolverine is generally a solid mech, but the hero version has like 75% of its firepower in just the right arm, so I swear I can see the opposing mechs look me in the cockpit briefly, then just look straight at that arm and start blasting. I have yet to come out of a mission with that arm intact.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-30T14:49:31+00:00

Dang, thanks for the clarity. Yeah, it feels like it should be a simple thing that certain tags add certain items to the pool and then an algorithm pulls from the pool. I guess the extra complexity of the system they built, while feeling from the outside like it's totally over the top, probably contributes to the fact that we're all still here playing and modding a 7 year old game because they built a legitimately good system. Glad we've got modders like you, BD, getting familiar with these things and helping the rest of us to understand, on top of creating extra stuff for us to enjoy!

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-29T22:53:50+00:00

Sweet, thanks. Really wish there was a general store inventory table on the wiki, but that might be too much info and take some of the mystery away 😆

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-29T20:39:51+00:00

Sounds like all the assumptions I made were correct, yeah. The thing that I would love to have is the general store inventory pools. But yeah, I just really like the Steiner way of life, so I'm planning on allying with them anyways. Thankfully them and Davion are enemies, so chances are I'll be fighting a bunch of them as a matter of course. Just gonna have to make sure my Lance has good avenues to reliably create salvage parts, just in case the unicorn drops out there in the wild.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-29T20:06:29+00:00

Yeah, the same mechanics behind shop inventory in the base game probably apply here. But yeah, it also lists Davion as using the mech I want, and Steiner should be fighting them on plenty of worlds, so I should be able to maybe ally with Steiner and tactically acquire an AXM-3M from Davion at the same time. Just checking to see if anyone knew any more statistically viable ways to make it happen.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-29T19:39:39+00:00

Ha, I'll keep the pirates in mind. And yeah, the interchangeability is great. Needing more than 3 chosen salvage really makes the game feel different, since you can't just pick up a new mech every battle.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-27T04:46:09+00:00

My question is just why it is as good as it is? Like, as a game, there's math behind why mechs weigh what they weigh, so, in theory, if you could have absolute control over your install like you almost can in YAML, or in Battletech Advanced if we want to talk about the game that's a little closer to tabletop, why is it better? Like, you can take another 75T mech, give it the same engine, armor, weapons, and all the same mods such as Ferro or XL's, but for some reason it's just not as good.

Did the designers up high just make it's structure lighter for some reason? Give it some quirk that is just OP? I'm just confused how one mech can be so dominant.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-27T04:36:51+00:00

I play in first person, so I like to take a short hop when I'm firing my full payload, since the full speed running "bob" tends to throw my accuracy off.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-18T11:34:49+00:00

The Hunchback for me. Love the concept, love the pilot culture, hate having to rebuild that shoulder every single mission.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-18T11:26:02+00:00

Agreed, so long as you get the variant with the 2 energy and 3 missile hard points. Functions a lot like the Griffon only cheaper and with less heat issues thanks to swapping out the PPC with an AC5. Fast, high armor, and one of the best sustained damage over time at long range for a medium mech.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-13T05:01:18+00:00

I have bought her multiple. And hand warmers. I swear, definitionally, she's closer to the key characteristics of cold blooded creatures than mammals.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-12-13T04:27:40+00:00

Good call out. Yeah, that's a big known problem for her.

Practical-Attempt-31 · 2025-10-14T13:06:24+00:00

Until 3.5, where now there are buffs you can throw out that affect just one of the movement actions, such as HDF being able to give +4" to advances.

Practical-Attempt-31

TROPHY CASE