3028-3057 Random Assignment & Rarity Tables - 12 June v10.64

[Rainbow 6]

What about the EXT-6CS from XTRO: ComStar? Was that one built from the ground up or just a refit?

Refit as far as we know, none have been built anywhere since Kallon's limited run of -4A's in the early 3000's.

[worktroll]

I was referring to the ones I made for him - I know they're on mine, but mine are also D1000, so I have room for that sort of granularity.

It's not on the 2d6 RAT, but it's on the list of commons & uncommons. ANything on the d1000 list became an "uncommon", those on the RAT "common". Obviously should be a "rare".

Does CLPS count as foil? ;)

W>

[Xotl]

Ah, a subchart.  I didn't realize you set one of those up - when I redo those mech charts for you I'll take a look at them and take them in account.

CLPS would be chase-holo-foil-autographed. :)

[Greyhind]

As a reasonable adult, rather than a school kid whom the teacher is presuming might have confidence issues, I am fully aware that there are in fact such things as stupid questions. Its been over a year since I started to use the various incarnations of these tables. I'm now ready to look a fool.

How do you roll on a D1000 table?

I've been trying to use 3D10 by shifting the decimal place if the last die comes up with a 10 but while this is theoretically internally consistent I'm not finding it intuitive. Which in turn makes it inaccurate and, quite frankly, difficult especially when rolling up a large number of results.

[Xotl]

Nothing silly about not knowing a bit of arcane gamer practice; it's for that reason that I included instructions for the non-grognards among us.  It's the very first thing in the document (page 2, first paragraph).

[Kit deSummersville]

How do you roll on a D1000 table?

I've been trying to use 3D10 by shifting the decimal place if the last die comes up with a 10 but while this is theoretically internally consistent I'm not finding it intuitive. Which in turn makes it inaccurate and, quite frankly, difficult especially when rolling up a large number of results.

3d10 in order will give you anything from 001 to 999, if they all come up 0/10, that's 1000.

[Lysenko]

You can also buy a "d1000" die. There's even a d10000, but Hackmaster is the only game I've ever used it in,.

[ANS Kamas P81]

I admit to being a horrible cheat with Xotl's tables - go to www.random.org and use their integer generator, you can have it give you a list of as many numbers as you want, from whatever to whatever, so I sat back and did the 108/120/144 'mechs for various regiments with 1-1000 options. It takes less than a second, you just sort it ascending or descending, and get your numbers from the table.  It's also entirely random because it's based on values generated by air noise against microphones at their location - so it's not a preprogrammed number generator but more like a one-time pad's encryption.  Great stuff.

[SCC]

I admit to being a horrible cheat with Xotl's tables - go to www.random.org and use their integer generator, you can have it give you a list of as many numbers as you want, from whatever to whatever, so I sat back and did the 108/120/144 'mechs for various regiments with 1-1000 options. It takes less than a second, you just sort it ascending or descending, and get your numbers from the table.  It's also entirely random because it's based on values generated by air noise against microphones at their location - so it's not a preprogrammed number generator but more like a one-time pad's encryption.  Great stuff.

Just be careful because Xotl's tables are based on using 3d10 which will have a different distribution to what you are describing

[Kit deSummersville]

Just be careful because Xotl's tables are based on using 3d10 which will have a different distribution to what you are describing

How is the distribution different?

[SCC]

How is the distribution different?

The way he's describing what he doing is he's using their integer generator not the dice roller, the former will have a uniform distribution while the using d1,000 (three d10) will be something like a bell curve, they will also have different average result 555.5 Vs. 610.5

[Feenix74]

Bell curve distribution would occur if you were adding the three individually rolled values together, eg you rolled 3D10 to give you a number between 3 and 30 (so you roll D10 three times, getting the values a, b, c and you add them together to get value d a+b+c=d (d being a value between 3 and 30).

EDIT - corrected typo (3D10 gives values between 3 and 30 not 1 and 30)

[ANS Kamas P81]

using d1,000 (three d10) will be something like a bell curve, they will also have different average result 555.5 Vs. 610.5

How is it a bell curve?  You're using a flat 0-9 roll, even probabilities, for each individual digit.  10% chance for any result for the 100s place, for the 10s place, and for the 1s place entirely independent from each other.  That's how 3d10 as a d1000 works - you're not rolling 3d10, you're rolling 1d10 x 100, 1d10 x 10, and 1d10 x 1.

[Kit deSummersville]

And the average for the d1000 is, thanks to Karl Gauss, easily solvable as (1000+1)/2=500.5 and doesn't explode when hit by a TAC.

[worktroll]

I dunno, if Karl Gauss was hit by a TAC from a 'Mech-scale weapon, I bet he'd explode ...

[scatcat]

What a beautiful tool!

Thanks for posting.

[SCC]

When we get new LAM rules will they be added to the tables?

[Xotl]

Good question.  Offhand I'd have to say yes, I think so, even if there isn't BV for them (I'd likely make them ultra-rare slots that ignore BV, like I did with the Cyclops w/HQ module).

[SCC]

In-Universe time frame wise when did LAMs start fading out? Because it could effect the tables.

[Xotl]

There's no clear-cut answer, but they were relatively common in 3025 - rare, prized, and hard to maintain yes, but still existing in significant numbers throughout the Inner Sphere.  By the time the Clan Invasion ends they seem to be rare as hen's teeth, and no spares are being made any longer.  I'd likely place sharp drop-offs in numbers following the Fourth War, and even larger ones post-3052.  But I haven't done any research on this yet, so this is just off-the-top-of-my-head musing.

[BigDuke66]

I always had the impression that the really working LAMs where already rare before 3025.

[Xotl]

Sorry, I said relatively common, but then rare - I meant "relatively" in comparison to just a few decades later, when they become totally extinct.  You have one or two units entirely of made up of LAMS in 3025, IIRC, and a factory making spare parts.  Every House has some, as well as some mercs.  They're prized, but hardly unknown.  They're clearly precious lostech, but compared to the 3060s, it's not so bad.

[Lysenko]

That's the why I see it as well. I have a Level III of LAMs for my Com Guard units (the aero/recon element). Other than that the only one I have is a P-Hawk LAM in one of the my 15th Dracon lances. :)

[Makinus]

The next "era" to be added to the tables will be 3055? And you will add Clan Second Line tables too?

[Xotl]

Actually I'm plodding through 3050 A-levels and ComStar first, followed by 3057.  But I just keep getting more and more official work, so...

Clan Second Line has always been on the map, but the hold-up there is organizational - just how do I do it so that I don't have 10 tables with only 6 entries apiece different?

I swear I'll get this out even if it kills me though.

[Makinus]

Without doing any research, i imagine that, differently from Frontline tables, most Secondline clan formations would be nearly equal to all clan factions (everyone draws from the same old SL mechs with few exceptions), so i imagine that you could have a "general" second-line mech table with a reference (say, in rolls above 900) for another small table with the few unique/different mechs that different clan factions deploy in secondline formations. These "small tables" could be grouped in one or two pages for all clans present on the IS during the period.

Just my two cents

[ANS Kamas P81]

i imagine that you could have a "general" second-line mech table with a reference (say, in rolls above 900) for another small table with the few unique/different mechs that different clan factions deploy in secondline formations. These "small tables" could be grouped in one or two pages for all clans present on the IS during the period.

Just my two cents

Kind of like how the FWL has its subfaction tables in 3085.  I like that.

[worktroll]

Actually I'm plodding through 3050 A-levels and ComStar first, followed by 3057.  But I just keep getting more and more official work, so...

Your journey to the Dark Side is almost complete ...

[Xotl]

The Dark Side does have cookies....

[Kit deSummersville]

And better uniforms.