Third Party Record Sheet Generators?

[Vorpalstar]

I apologize in advance if I'm asking this in the wrong place. My first BT newbie question is regarding third party sources, I will not post links.

Are third party sources for Record Sheets; such as MegaMekLab, Solaris Skunkwerks, and MechFactory legal?
And if they are legal are they accurate?

[monbvol]

They are accurate.  As far as legalities, well there aren't many here who will tell you that you can't use them.

[Vorpalstar]

Thanks!

[pheonixstorm]

Haven't heard of MechFactory, how old is that one?

[Sartris]

Haven't heard of MechFactory, how old is that one?

android app

[pheonixstorm]

If its not free it could be trouble unless the got a license via MS

[arlith]

Are third party sources for Record Sheets; such as MegaMekLab, Solaris Skunkwerks, and MechFactory legal?
And if they are legal are they accurate?

As I understand it, you can't copyright game mechanics, only the text itself.  MML is as accurate as we have time to make it (and it does get updated to reflect rules changes).

[Sartris]

As I understand it, you can't copyright game mechanics, only the text itself.  MML is as accurate as we have time to make it (and it does get updated to reflect rules changes).

the MML devs also consistently keep the unit database up to date

[RoundTop]

There used to be an official editor, Heavy Metal Pro / Aero / Vee, however it has not been maintained for quite some time, and does not have support for all Total Warfare weapons and rules (They can be added with custom files, etc, but it is not native support).

Catalyst have stated in the past that they are open to someone approaching them about making a new official software, but until that time, other editors are fine for most* use.

* Official games run by Agents try hard to use official released record sheets and official designs, rather than custom units.

[Peter Smith]

As I understand it, you can't copyright game mechanics, only the text itself.  MML is as accurate as we have time to make it (and it does get updated to reflect rules changes).

You can infringe on an intellectual property, which is a risk for anybody making BattleTech software without a license from Microsoft.

[Vorpalstar]

OK cool. So it sounds to me that as long as those making third party things are not monetizing their offerings, all is good.

[monbvol]

The short form is Microsoft seems to have decided not to be money grubbing jerks when it comes to design software.