Upcoming Releases Volume XIII: Unlucky Release Edition

[Sartris]

the code checks out. the hexpacks were 35140-35142

[RoundTop]

Is there a "map set" coming with product code 35150CAT ? Fantasywelt.de lists such thing.

Probably ordering the new box sets from there because my local store's system claims they have the boxes but i didn't see them anywhere in the actual store (and staff was occupied so i didn't ask), plus it is actually cheaper (about 12-13 euros) for me to order from Germany than buy directly here...

Yes, Map set Grasslands.  Due out in March (North America)

https://www.acdd.com/battletech-map-set.html

[Empyrus]

OK thanks.

[MarauderD]

My question is what will the Upcoming Releases Volume XIV be called?  Almost a prime number?

[Kojak]

So I know it's been almost four years now, and I'm probably foolish to continue carrying this torch at this point...but are we ever going to get those missing record sheets for the 3150 NTNU units? Or, barring that, at least raw stats for same so we can use those units?

[Colt Ward]

Tempest C . . . Orion C . . . Juliano with cERLL . . .

[Sartris]

So I know it's been almost four years now, and I'm probably foolish to continue carrying this torch at this point...but are we ever going to get those missing record sheets for the 3150 NTNU units? Or, barring that, at least raw stats for same so we can use those units?

we never got one for Prototypes either...

i'm guessing the only way we see record sheets these days is if they're included with something else.

[Cubby]

Not much I can say from where I sit other than that it's a known problem, and kind of a fundamental one.

How management plans to handle it, and how soon, I just don't know.

[Kojak]

Can I at least ask: are there actual stats for these units, that simply have no non-painstaking way of being transcribed into record sheets due to the lack of an official RS program? Or is it just that only those little blurbs of fluff in the book exist, and they need to be statted in addition to that?

[Colt Ward]

From conversation and what i remember seeing looking at it in my FLGS once . . . it says what the mech/vehicle/BA has, but your left without locations.  So we know there is a Juliano that has Clan ERLL and still has the same layout though I think it has a few other changes.

I really really want to be able to use a canon Juliano with cERLL for my League forces . . . but no sheet and no blurb.  For those units, I would love to see a blurb set put out- "Swap X for Y and it takes crit 3 through 9 in the RT, everything below that is still ES crits.  Two more DHS are in the engine.  Remove 1 point of armor from each front torso and arm location and 2 on each leg."  Something like that which while not a RS, actually lets us play these variants.

[wantec]

Can I at least ask: are there actual stats for these units, that simply have no non-painstaking way of being transcribed into record sheets due to the lack of an official RS program? Or is it just that only those little blurbs of fluff in the book exist, and they need to be statted in addition to that?

If they're described in a TRO, they have stats somewhere. Recordsheet production is the known problem spot.

[Kojak]

If they're described in a TRO, they have stats somewhere. Recordsheet production is the known problem spot.

What seems strange to me is that this didn't seem to be a problem back in 2013, when the various factional 3145 TRO-lets came out; those came with a complete set of record sheets included. So what happened between 2013 and 2015 that made record sheet production effectively impossible/impractical?

[Sartris]

I think the problem is a time / profit issue. The sheets take more time to make than they’re worth as a stand-alone product. We do get sheets - the 3145 factions were the last big effort, but new record sheets appear in products like one of the recent Spotlight On. But without automation it doesn’t seem to be worth the investment

[Kojak]

Well, if it's merely a matter of the time commitment: devs, please PM me. I will happily do whatever work is required and sign whatever for no compensation or recognition; the sheets themselves will be their own reward.

[Paul]

if it's merely a matter of the time commitment

It is not.

[Kojak]

It is not.

Then what is it? Because from what all of us can see from the outside:

1. We got a series of factional mini-TROs in 2013, with record sheets included.
2. We got a full TRO in September of that year in the form of TRO 3145, that includes mostly stuff from those mini-TROs, but with the NTNU units added in to entice those of us who had already bought all the factional TROs. The records sheets for those NTNU units came out less than a month after its release.
3. TRO 3150 is released to compile the mini-TRO units that were left out of TRO 3145, once again with a set of NTNU units to entice people who already had the rehashed ninety-odd percent of the material, presumably with the very reasonable assumption that the records sheets would once again promptly be released shortly thereafter. This is in July 2015.
4. It is now February 2019. And those of us who paid full price for a TRO that was overwhelmingly rehashed material have basically been told that if they want the part they bought it for, they can go ****** themselves, because the ability to make record sheets magically went poof sometime in 2014.

Please, by all means, tell me why I'm wrong. Seriously, I want to be way wrong about this. But this is what it looks like for those of us that don't have the inside track.

[Wrangler]

I hope their addressing the issue with TRO and Record Sheet production.  MegaMek Lab maybe the only means getting update record sheets out, aside from now slightly out of date Solaris Skunk Works.

[Paul]

Then what is it? Because from what all of us can see from the outside:

CGL is pretty good about sharing information about the challenges it faces. But that should not create the incorrect expectation that it should do so 100% of the time.

If they’d like help from the community, I think you’ll agree there’s a good track record of them reaching out. Since that’s not happening right now, a fair conclusion to draw is that there isn’t utility in doing that here.

As frustrating as that is for all of us, that’s where we are.

[nckestrel]

Then what is it? Because from what all of us can see from the outside:

Please, by all means, tell me why I'm wrong. Seriously, I want to be way wrong about this. But this is what it looks like for those of us that don't have the inside track.

First, there's no one answer.  That is the major problem with giving any answer.  That answer, by itself, is not the answer.  And I'd say that most of us, even internally, don't understand what the overall issue is. We do know what we individually could do about it, and there's nothing any one of us could do that would fix it.  So we "know" that one person volunteering won't make Record Sheets come out, because we have lots of "one person volunteers".

So what is the issue?  I have no idea.  It's confusing/disheartening to most of us as well.  I could list a lot of reasons, but none of them are THE reason.  Perhaps it's just all of them lumped together.  Perhaps there's an issue I don't know about. 

[Kit deSummersville]

I believe if we could remove Ray's need to sleep, he might be able to get this done. But alas, he prefers to remain frail.

[Colt Ward]

Kojak . . . I do remember a request for folks to help make sheets, and then I think it was withdrawn.  IIRC, part of the problem is there was no official software- which means that everything would have to be done by hand and then repeatedly checked.  I just wish we could get the blurbs as I described- it may not be sheets but it will let me put everything in the official place.

So Kit, you are confirming the Adrian is a Frail?

[nckestrel]

Kojak . . . I do remember a request for folks to help make sheets, and then I think it was withdrawn.  IIRC, part of the problem is there was no official software- which means that everything would have to be done by hand and then repeatedly checked.  I just wish we could get the blurbs as I described- it may not be sheets but it will let me put everything in the official place.

So Kit, you are confirming the Adrian is a Frail?

MegaMekLab not being official has nothing to do with its use as a tool by CGL.  Microsoft Word (or insert preferred word processor/writing tool) is not the "official" word processor of BattleTech, but that doesn't stop anybody writing BattleTech with it.

CGL did (under Herb) put out a request for somebody to possibly make a unit creation software tool. Not to create specific unit sheets.  Starting from scratch over using MegaMekLab, even if it were to happen, wouldn't really get them done any quicker... Waiting for it to be useful, much less complete, would just be another reason why they weren't done yet.

[Paul]

I submit idle speculation is prone to give people the wrong idea.

[Kit deSummersville]

So Kit, you are confirming the Adrian is a Frail?

Well, he still wears pants....

[worktroll]

He does have a beard, though. No-one's game to check whether it covers another fist ...

[Paul]

I know he can grow a beard on command. He only seems to use this power on his back.

[Sharpnel]

I know he can grow a beard on command. He only seems to use this power on his back.

TMI!

[Bosefius]

CGL did (under Herb) put out a request for somebody to possibly make a unit creation software tool. Not to create specific unit sheets.  Starting from scratch over using MegaMekLab, even if it were to happen, wouldn't really get them done any quicker... Waiting for it to be useful, much less complete, would just be another reason why they weren't done yet.

There's a more recent request still sitting down in "Computer Software". The closest we've received is a very pre-Alpha, when I mentioned showing it to the higher ups to start discussing business the creator ghosted.

[nckestrel]

Cool, hadn’t realized that was separate.  It’s still separate from the actual task of making individual record sheets.
If it’s not separate, then we are all doomed anyway....

[Daryk]

If someone doesn't make a creator before I retire in about six years, I'll take a crack at it.