Is the new 3145 warchest campaign system useable for previous eras ? not clear

[Wolverine]

Hi, 
I was just doing some conversions of support costs to new mech Cbill purchases and came up with 10M Cbills for a 50 ton 3025 hunchback, that seems about 2X overpriced. 

Also the cost to buy up a gun skill for a mechwarrior is 2 M Cbills ! wow, that doesn't seem right. 
Is it possible to use the AToW mechwarrior rpg within the new campaign system and avoid the support point costs for character advancement ?

Finally, does it seem like the random missions are made to burn down your Warchest points overall ?  If the only way to replenish WP is win every battle, thats kind of unrealistic given the random nature of the opfor skills & unit types.

thanks,

J

[Atlas3060]

Finally, does it seem like the random missions are made to burn down your Warchest points overall ?  If the only way to replenish WP is win every battle, thats kind of unrealistic given the random nature of the opfor skills & unit types.

When I cracked open Total Chaos, I did notice a pattern that even my players found.
If you just do the basic mission, you'll probably get just enough to make up for the purchase of the track.
In order to come out ahead, you need to use the extras in the mission and win.

Overall I agree with that system. That way you don't have some sure fire way for someone to mindlessly farm tracks to get way too powerful.
Plus it fits the the motif of Battletech overall: You are trying to survive a universe where technology and skilled workers are lost due to attrition of warfare.
Every day is a struggle to keep your unit fed, repaired, and re-armored. At least that's how a merc company should feel at times.

[Wolverine]

well for the skill advancement cost I found the chaos campaign book shows only 10 sp to bump a mechwarrior gunnery skill vs 200 for the 3145 era report campaign section, way more sensible,  still not clear if the mech cost is circa 3145, seems 2X over the 3025 costs.
I'll agree the system keeps a merc unit on the edge of disaster, for those who like a gritty game
J

[guardiandashi]

on the cost of units I am not 100% up on the 3145 costs, however one thing to consider is with the rather massive "disarmament" that happened, its actually quite possible that demand finally outstripped supply enough to mess up centuries of "regulated economy" a fair amount.

As I understand the Mech pricing guidelines:
in the 3025 era the "list cost" is effectively a combination of MSRP, and Kelly Blue book prices.  In most cases you will pay list price for a fully working unit whether  its new or not, with possible discounts for "quality" and repairs needed, and the repairs needed will be an approximation of the PARTS cost,  and may or may NOT include labor charges.

In the 3050 era (approximately 3045 to 3055/60ish) the market for 3025 tech units crashed and crashed hard because EVERYONE was dumping them to try to make room for the 3050 equivalents and other newer units in their TO&E this drives the cost of 3025 tech units down to ~1/2 of list unless its really is factory new.

My understanding is that the markdown on 3025 units remains until ~the end of the Jahad, or sometime in the Jahad  when the market rebounded because Any mech was all a sudden better than no mech.

after the jahad availability of units plunged hard because of the disarmament and scrapping of units apparently removed vast numbers of units from the ranks of all forces.

[Atlas3060]

Hi, 
I was just doing some conversions of support costs to new mech Cbill purchases and came up with 10M Cbills for a 50 ton 3025 hunchback, that seems about 2X overpriced. 

Okay what am I missing in this set up, because SP = Tonnage x 10 for Intro Mechs.
Which fits with a 3025 Hunchie.
So that's 500 SP which equates to 5,000,000 CBills because 10,000 Bills = 1 SP.

According to Total Chaos that's all there is to it if you wanted to play C-Bills wise, a bit abstract but still useful for a quick campaign.

[Wolverine]

thanks, I used a bad conversion factor for that, but the pilot skill upgrade is listed as 200 SP in the book and 10 SP in the campaign, so I'll use the lesser value.
this new system makes it tougher to grow a unit from lance to battalion from what it looks like to me, but like anything official that seems off, it can be fixed in a few ways.
J

[Atlas3060]

thanks, I used a bad conversion factor for that,

Oh good, because here I thought "Atlas you blithering fool, there's probably something in another book you forgot!"

Yeah the system does make growth hard, but I see that as you appreciate your warriors all the more because of it.
But tweaks are possible like you said. Glad I could help.