BattleTech Thinktank,
So if you refer to pg 86 of the Mercenaries Supplemental II (Also found in the IO beta from way back, about pg 7 in my DOC formatting). I've copied the relevant text here and highlighted my area of concern, in comparison to the chart found on pg 86.
Each listing provides two letter-number codes, separated by a comma. These letter-number combinations yield the equivalent equipment rating (on present-day tables) for a certain number of units per each four-unit grouping (i.e. BattleMech or combat vehicle lances). The first letter-number code indicates the number of units for each group that the force determines from the appropriate column of its “home faction” Random Unit Assignment Table. The second combination designates the equipment ratings and number of units per group that may be rolled on the present-day ComStar or Word of Blake Random Unit Assignment Tables (at the player’s option). A listing of “NA” for this second letter-number combination means the group may not roll on the ComStar or Word of Blake tables at all. So, for instance, an A-rated Lyran BattleMech force in the present day receives a listing of “D1, B3” during the First Succession War, meaning the controlling player rolls once per lance on the “D” column of the Lyran Alliance Random BattleMech Table (in either Field Manual: Updates or Field Manual: Lyran Alliance) and rolls three times per lance on the “B” column of the ComStar or Word of Blake Random Unit Assignment Tables. The same force in the Fourth Succession War, however, may only use the “F” column of the Lyran Random Unit Assignment Tables for all four BattleMechs per lance, reflecting the end result of three hundred years of attrition.
Now if you reference the chart on pg 86 going across the Inner Sphere/A row, you'll note under the 4th Succession War Column D4, NA. Obviously, this isn't going to get an errata - or maybe it did? I feel that the paragraph is wrong and that sentence should read "D" column. Also, it's too bad that this whole chart has been left out of the revised IO Alternate Era's book. Thanks for your assistance.
KSW
