Third edition came out under FASA, and was more or less a straight reprint of 2nd edition, If it changed anything it just added the rules for the AC/2, AC/10, AC/20 and Hatchet.
4th Edition came out under FASA as well, and was reprinted by FanPro as the Classic BattleTech box set. The main rules change here was removing the base to-hit number for short, medium and long range, making gunnery skill the to-hit number instead, and adding a range modifier. The resulting hit numbers remained unchanged, but this was a more streamlined way of calculating it. This change was made to bring the core rules in line with the changes in the BattleTech Compendium: The rules of warfare
This edition of the box set removed the plastic minis of 3rd edition, moving to foamcore standing counters. The mechs in the box had become the unseen, and were replaced with:
COM-2D Commando
SDR-5V Spider
JR7-D Jenner
PNT-9R Panther
ASN-21 Assassin
CDA-2A Cicada
CLNT-2-3T Clint
HER-2S Hermes II
WTH-1 Whitworth
VND-1R Vindicator
ENF-4R Enforcer
HBK-4G Hunchback
TBT-5N Trebuchet
DV-6M Dervish
DRG-1N Dragon
QKD-4G Quickdraw
CPLT-C1 Catapult
JM6-S JagerMech
GHR-5H Grasshopper
AWS-8Q Awesome
ZEU-6S Zeus
CP-10-Z Cyclops
BNC-3E Banshee
AS7-D Atlas
That box was superseded by FanPro's Classic BattleTech Introductory Box set, which repackaged the rules and added plastic minis for each of the designs. Melee combat was changed slightly so piloting skill is now the base to-hit for attacks, with a modifier based on what sort of attack you're doing. Some attacks became harder as a result.
It was in turn replaced with the 25th Anniversary box set, which swapped the paper maps out for heavy card stock, and added high quality minis of a Thor and Loki.
This year, a new edition of the Introductory Box Set came out with new improved castings of the minis used in the prior two boxes, and replaced the Thor and Loki with a BattleMaster and Mad Cat.
Total Warfare was relased concurrently with the Introductory Box Set, and reflects the change in melee combat rules. It represents a major overhaul of the wider BT rules as well. A quick rundown of the major changes:
- Skidding on pavement was altered slightly
- Hovercraft and VTOLs now have a chance to sideslip, a less dangerous skid if they turn while flanking
- A new vehicle type: Wing in Ground Effect (WiGE), based on real-life vehicles like the Ekranoplan, this is a midway point between hovercraft and VTOLs
- Vechicle firing arcs are revised slightly
- Vehicles take damage in a very different fashion now. The hit tables are revised so you can now hit the side the attacker is facing, a turret, as well as the two adjacent sides. There is no guaranteed damage to the motive systems, the old hit locations that would immobilise or incur movement penalties now generate a roll on a motive system damage table. The vehicle critical hit table is now a 2D6 roll against a different table for each side, with a substantial chance of no crit
- Infantry now have an anti-mech skill, used when making swarm and leg attacks
- Infantry take damage very differently. Large anti-mech weapons tend to do less damage, while machine guns, flamers and the like are incredibly dangerous.
- New infantry type: Mechanised. This represents troopers in soft-skinned vehicles like humm-vees
As well as all this, the scope of the rulebooks shifts. Anything deemed too complicated for tournament play- most notably artillery, smoke and fire is shifted to Tactical operations. AeroTech 2 is discontinued and the rules for Fighters, Shuttles and DropShips are moved to Total Warfare, with JumpShips, WarShips, Space Stations and advanced aerospace rules moved to Strategic operations.
