BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Player Boards => Fan Designs and Rules => Topic started by: willis on 08 July 2020, 22:38:43
-
I know this has most likely been asked many a time before, but I am wondering if there is any calculation or formula to generate the length x width x x height for small craft and dropships, and also get the length for warship/space stations?
-
Nope. No such rule exists, and even canon ships don't follow any specific pattern beyond WarShips tending to be around 100 meters long per 100,000 tons, but even that is hardly a set rule: the Aquilla and Nightwing are both 300+ meters long at 100,000 tons, while the Cruiser class cruiser is like 250 meters long and 500,000 tons.
-
When attempting to model ships from other universes in the BattleTech ruleset (who says my MicroMachine Star Destroyers can't fight a Blakist Task Force in the Nebula California? :) ), I use the old Heavy Metal Aero software and plug in various weights, which results in a new length being generated. Through trial and error, I can get the length in HMA to match the canon length of the ship being modeled, and then I use that weight as the basis for trying to fit all that ship's armament (be it turbolasers or Type IX Phaser Arrays) into the hull.
Here's a chart showing the WarShip progression:
Tons / Length
50,000 / 221 meters
100,000 / 284 meters
150,000 / 335 meters
200,000 / 381 meters
250,000 / 424 meters
300,000 / 463 meters
350,000 / 501 meters
400,000 / 537 meters
450,000 / 571 meters
500,000 / 605 meters
550,000 / 638 meters
600,000 / 670 meters
650,000 / 701 meters
700,000 / 731 meters
750,000 / 761 meters
800,000 / 791 meters
850,000 / 820 meters
900,000 / 849 meters
950,000 / 877 meters
1,000,000 / 905 meters
and so on, up to
2,500,000 / 1,652 meters (this is the cap for HMA)