Hi,
I been looking to theory craft a few vehicles for the periods between the 2200 - 2375, roughly the span of the Late Terran Alliance to the early Terran Hegemony. I need a few points clarified during this timeline.
1) Do Industrial 'Mechs exist prior to 2350? I see that in TechManual the Mechcockpit is available at 2300 but the Industrial Mech Gyro and Structure isn't available until 2350. The cockpit entry left me a bit confused when I can start fielding Industrial grade Mechs. If no, what are Mechcockpits used for?
2) I want to know when I can start to use Combat vehicle rules at the earliest possible point in the timeline. I don't see a sample construction for a tank of this era which would be the Merkava Mk. I (~2294). So, I am curious if I am stuck basically using Support Vehicle Construction ruleset for this 175 year span. If so, when do we have a firm date when we can start to use regular Combat Vehicle Construction Rules which are a lot easier to build vehicles from by hand calculations?
3) The transition between two Key support vehicle armor grades occurs near the end of this time line, roughly late "C" to early "D" following TechManual's entry for support vehicle armor table. Is grade "D" armor only available from the official start of the AOW at 2398 or 2400 when Commercial Armor is invented? If not, when is the transition legally viable between grades "C" and "D"?
4) The Support vehicle Crew table for minimum gunners seems clear enough but I need some extra clarity using Battlemech grade weapons and infantry weapons on the same vehicle. For example, my tank has an AC/5 and a pair of infantry grade MGs in the turret. Based on the construction rules I need a minimum of 3 gunners for the AC/5 and I need a minimum of 1 gunner per light weapon. Can I interchangeably use the 3 gunners to man the AC/5 and the two light MGs or do I actually need 5 gunners?
Thanks for your time!
