Ease of transition?

[FLAKPANZER]

Hi folks,

New to the forums, and wanted to ask a quick question.

How easy is it to transition between A Time of War and Battletech on the hex map?

I ask because I am wondering if it is difficult to handle a situation where some characters end up in a mech, and some on the ground running around, or some are in an aerospace fighter. Things like that.

Thanks!

[guardiandashi]

its pretty close to an automatic translation

in atow you have a "target number" that skill subtracts from, and modifiers add back to.  the board game you have a base skill that you add modifiers to,
the net effect is if I have a mechwarrior that has for the sake of arguement a 8 base gunnery target number a high enough attribute to get a -1 (some interpetations say it doesn't count) and a level 4 gunnery skill then I will have a base gunnery target of 4 (or if you use attribute mods) 3

the simple fact is atow is designed that your END target numbers work exactly the same as on the board, unlike "classic mechwarrior aka mw3 the rpg) where mechwarrior rolls were 2d10, and board rolls were 2d6

[Crunch]

Well... the answer's not quite that simple if you're asking the question I think you're asking.

Guardiandashi is correct about the target numbers.

Here's the deal. You can quickly scale up or down from Battleforce (basic unit is a Lance or infantry company),  to Battletech (basic unit is a single mech or infantry platoon), to Tactical Addendum (RPG scale tactical combat included in Time of War rule book), to Time of War (RPG). What's not easy to do is to use multiple scales at the same time. If you have a player piloting a mech and another as an infantryman you're best bet is to go ahead and use the Tactical Addendum rules set rather than try to mix scales.

[monbvol]

I tend to concur with a bit of an exception.

Mixing an ASF and a Mech in the same combat is fairly easy to do.  Likewise you can even add a Vehicle and be pretty well off.  Battle Armor isn't even out of the question.  Where problems tend to arise is with the PBIs.  AToW treats them pretty differently.  So differently I haven't been able to figure out how the plain old autorifle works out to 0.52 damage per PBI in TW/TechManual from the AToW stats yet.

[Crunch]

I tend to concur with a bit of an exception.

Mixing an ASF and a Mech in the same combat is fairly easy to do.  Likewise you can even add a Vehicle and be pretty well off.  Battle Armor isn't even out of the question.  Where problems tend to arise is with the PBIs.  AToW treats them pretty differently.  So differently I haven't been able to figure out how the plain old autorifle works out to 0.52 damage per PBI in TW/TechManual from the AToW stats yet.

Agreed, although I'm not at all sure how well the TA rules would work for ASF. My suggestion honestly would be to keep all the players in the same basic sphere of operations. While the rules cover a party with a Sniper, a Battle Armor Trooper, a Mechwarrior, an ASF pilot and a Warship crewman making adventures that satisfy everyone is going to be a PITA.

The easiest campaigns to run are going to either be A) Everyone is in the same basic activity - Infantry Squad, 'mech Lance, ASF Wing etc. or B) RPG scale where vehicular combat is rare, off screen or resolved in separate sessions.

[FLAKPANZER]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the responses.

I can see all of the players wanting to be Mech pilots, or maybe one flying a V.T.O.L. or something like that, so that should work for most of what we want to do.

Even so, I can envision a scenario or two where some of the players are trying to get to their mechs while the others are already involved in fighting. I don't think that will be a problem to handle through narrative, but I have the Time of War book on order right now, so I haven't been able to read through it yet.