Buying the Mechs you want in AtB

[Shin Ji]

So, obvs you can just buy any Mech that's available at any time, but I was wondering how you all handle a situation where your mercs want to buy, say, 4 Wolverines. Maybe rolling 2d6 and adding 5% to the stock price for each number? 1d6 months to wait?

Or is the only option waiting for them to show up in the Unit Market that particular month?

[Stormforge]

I tend to stick to the unit market, unless it is something I cannot buy there, like my custom infantry platoons/squads for my techs/medics/admins, or supply/repair vehicles.

This is your game though. You can at any time purchase from the overall list. I figure if you are looking for specific units add a possible random finders fee of maybe 5-25% of cost and add 3d6 days-weeks for delivery. However you feel comfortable in your campaign.

Even with the unit market I still tend to get my all Phoenix Hawk recon lance, but I like the randomness of it.

[Gigastrike]

You can buy anything you want, but that's under like "purchase unit" rather than "unit market".

[Schugger]

If you follow the AtB rules, you should only buy the 'Mechs available at the various markets.
But as stormforge said, it's your game and thanks to the GM mode you can implement any house rule you come up with :)

[Kovax]

My assumption would be that you can buy anything still in production and on the "general" list that you want, as long as you're willing to put up the money in advance....possibly months in advance.  A factory producing that 'Mech should be willing and able to accommodate your order, but it might be months until they cover existing orders and begin work on yours.  The Market just shows what's available NOW in your local area.  How you deal with the issues of lead times, price, and delivery are up to you.

[servo01]

I try to restrict purchases to just what shows up in the unit market because the additional challenge and randomization is more fun-  but I was also able to come up with a home-brew system for making specific purchases and/or bulk orders.

Modifiers for purchasing include basics like the unit's current MRBC rating, tech level and type of machine being sought,

Also more detailed information like current location, how many additional C-bills are being spent on the search, whether the mech or vee is still being produced.

And then finally the more nuanced stuff like unit quirks (good/bad rep, easy to pilot, good life support, etc...) scrounge skill of the admin who got tasked with tracking down a used ASN-21 on FedSuns.Craigslist.org because the tech team botched their maintenance roll and then presumably spilled yet another Big Gulp into the cockpit of the one machine whose movement profile you built the whole recon lance off of.

Being able to place bulk orders has been great too. That way, if your XO knows a guy at Earthworks Inc. You can spring for a lance worth of GRF-1S, fresh off the line (big feature given the quality of my techs, man those guys will break anything!) and then spread them out among the unit and use them to fill out your TO&E after the Marik Militia managed to somehow hand you 70 percent combat losses during what should have been a simple smash and grab. A bulk order or two and then whatever shows up in the marketplace while waiting for them to ship makes rebuilding and reorganizing (something else my unit usually spends a lot of time on) a great deal easier.

Been tinkering with the tables here and there for months, but getting the basic modifiers down on paper or plugging them into a spreadsheet for their own purchasing system is something any reasonably interested player should be able to knock out in an hour or two.

[Mukaikubo]

One middle ground I've used a few times is reloading the first day of the month once or twice to see different unit markets, and when I see something I might want, I snag it and move on. Haven't codified anything, but it's not quite AS restrictive as rules as written but does still limit you to the overall unit market mechanic.