That way someone running a, say green inner sphere mech, wouldn't be competing potentially against a clan yellow mech.
There’s a few things I want to clear up about this statement. Firstly, the clans don’t come in at Yellow (3rd level), they come in at Orange (4th level). Secondly, none of the proposed changes that we were/are mulling would prevent the situation as you describe. As long as all levels can be played on the same table at the same time that possibility exists. Preventing it would end the Grinder as we have been running it and that is simply not going to happen.
When the guy (forget his name, sorry)
Hi.
i mentioned it might be easier to go to a 6 grade system.
Which is our tentative plan right now.
Grade 1 to 4, are nothing but inner sphere. Blue corresponds to light, Green to medium, Orange to heavy and Yellow to assault. THEN add in 2 other colors, representing the clan mechs.
This is simply not how the Grinder works these days. In its original conception, yes, that is what the Grinder was: four levels each corresponding to the weight classes. As the Grinder has grown and been utilized at conventions outside of Origins and GenCon so too has its mission. No longer is it just a four level free for all. At a variety of large conventions the Grinder does double duty as a BootCamp, introducing people to the game. It is far easier to teach someone how to play if they are using a
Jenner JR7-D than if they are using a
Wulfen Prime. Both are light mechs but one has the simplicity necessary to teach the core concepts without overwhelming the new player. Consequently, the theme of each level has shifted to reflect that emphasis on teaching game concepts versus simply getting bigger.
Each pile of record sheets at Origins, and at every other convention that this Grinder Kit makes an appearance at has a cover sheet. That cover sheet lists all the technologies that that particular level teaches. The Blue Level is not about light mechs. The
Clint and
Cicada both currently demonstrate larger mechs that still fall within our requirements of the Blue Level. Likewise, the Red Level is not solely about either clan or assault mechs. We have a clan medium in the Red Level, the
Dragonfly, and an Inner Sphere heavy, the
Cataphract. In both cases, the equipment listed on the back of their record sheets is what qualifies them for the Red Level. It would make no sense to move that particular
Cataphract to the Yellow Level (especially since we just moved the chassis out this year) since the equipment is carries is far beyond what we are trying to teach in the Yellow Level.
Another change i'd like to see, is maybe make a table of team grinder, so that way the mechs you include which have C-3 systems on them, actually get to benefit from the use of that spent tonnage.
We have tried that. For years we have tried various combinations and permutations of every idea we can think of. We’ve tried Team Grinder. We’ve tried things like Lance Tactics. Nothing draws the same as Grinder. A big part of that, we think, is the simplicity of grabbing a mech, sitting down, and playing. There’s a relative simplicity in the setup. Getting teams like that organized does slow things down and does pull away from that simple “sit down and blow things up” attitude that the Grinder epitomizes. There’s also a social element introduced by team games that we just don’t think the Grinder needs. A lot of people just want to play and, as I said, “blow things up.” We just haven’t seen the market for casual, but still team based, Battletech.
Either that, or do not include mechs carrying C3 units.
The
Hatamoto-Chi HTM-28T carries a C3 slave. It also teaches ER weapons, Streak SRMs, and CASE in an assault mech chassis. Yes, it carries a C3 slave. It does not lose a whole lot to that. Its value as a teaching tool with that equipment far outweighs the cost of a single C3 slave. The same is true for Beagle Active Probes and, mostly, TAG. You’ll find that there are no C3 Masters in the Grinder. The most tonnage any mech devotes to that sort of equipment is the
Kintaro in the Orange Level with a C3i. However, the
Kintaro teaches some very specific equipment which requires its presence in that level. That may change in the future but, for now, it is the mech we need in the place we need it.
I hope that clears up some of your questions and conceptions of the Grinder, as you saw it at Origins. Every Agent can make their own Grinder that uses their own mechs and strategy. So you may see a Grinder elsewhere that does not match what we do at Origins and GenCon. Thank you.
