Battletech: What rules would you have written differently?

[PurpleDragon]

I would like to see tracked and wheeled vehicles get a better movement rate when following a road.  e.g.   move from one road hex to another = 1/2 mp spent in lieu of the +1 if entire movement is along a road.  Include motorized and mechanized infantry of the same motive types with this rule.   I would rather have the infantry broke down to the squad level for operations.  Then, the heavy weapons squads would make more sense to me than the platoon sized elements do. 

[beachhead1985]

Another thing i'd change is how trailers and cargo work. I think the movement penalties for trailers are too severe. I'd go more with piloting skill roll modifiers. Still slow vehicles down, but not as much.

I'd also make it possible to over-engine vehicles and install a "Cargo Bay" vs cargo space and then have them able to carry much, much more. Probably for SupVees only.

[Korzon77]

Completely re do space combat from a clean sheet perspective.

[mike19k]

The more I think about it, the more I think I would also change PBI. You are either foot or jump that is it. If you want to move faster you have a transport (separate unit).

[TigerShark]

The more I think about it, the more I think I would also change PBI. You are either foot or jump that is it. If you want to move faster you have a transport (separate unit).

I really like the idea of making all infantry Personal-class weapons only damage units with BAR 5 or under (or any BAR damage, really). At the same time, Squad Support weapons become 'Mech-scale, are separated from the damage divisor, and do their own damage.

Example:

28-man Platoon

Primary Weapon: Automatic Rifle (0.54 per trooper, may only damage BAR 5 or under)
Secondary Weapon: Heavy MG (0.64 per 2 troopers)

If the platoon fires at a soft target...

Code: [Select]

0.64 * 4 squads (8 troopers) = 2.56 damage
0.54 * 20 troopers = 10.8 damage

Total = 13 damage max
If the platoon fires at a hard target ('Mech, for example)...

Code: [Select]

0.64 * 4 squads (8 troopers) = 2.56 damage
0.54 * 20 troopers = 0 damage

Total = 3 damage max
This would likely cause a full re-structuring of the damage values of Support Weapons, but it would be far easier to standardize them by whole or half numbers.

Heavy MG = 2 damage/2 trooper crew per squad
Squad MG = 1.5 damage/1 trooper crew per squad
Light MG = 1 damage/1 trooper crew per squad

This is done for simplification, as well as reflecting that they are truly "Mech-scale weapons" being employed by infantry, such as taking a Magshot and giving it a 3-person crew per squad. You'd lessen the amount of math needed to figure out the damage and give it parity with the weapons it mirrors. This is already done with Field Gunners and the larger, ballistic weapons. Why not the smaller weapons, such as an AP Gauss Rifle?

[Cannonshop]

Basic changes:

Initiative
unbalanced force sizes: When one side starts with (or has achieved) a larger force than the other, upon losing their initiative, movement will require moving multiple units until parity is reached, in the same general order as occurs when forces are equal.  Example: Bob has 8 units, Joe has 5. Bob has lost initiative this turn.  In movement order, Bob moves 2 units, Joe moves 1, Bob moves 2, joe moves 1, bob moves 1, joe moves 1, Bob moves 1, Joe moves his last unit, and the firing phase begins.

Artillery
(By weapon type)
Damage/splash (Baseline)
Long Tom  20 to center, 10 to adjacent
Sniper: 10 to Center, 5 to Adjacent.
Thumper: 5 to Center, 3 to adjacent.
Arrow IV: 20 to center, 10 to adjacent. (Baseline or homing)

Ranges:
Long Tom: 25 Mapsheets
Sniper: 10 Mapsheets
Thumper 15 Mapsheets
Arrow IV: 5 Mapsheets.

Artillery Scatter/usage

Scatter on a miss is the margin of failure plus one hex (or 2 inches) per 3 mapsheets of range (Round to the nearest whole number) for off-board artillery. for example, Troy needs an 11 to hit his targeted hex.  His Long Tom is 20 hexes away. He rolls 10, making his margin of failure 1, plus 7=8hexes drift, he rolls direction of drift and checks the impact to see if any enemy, or friendly, units are in the resulting hex or adjoining hexes.  If Tony had rolled a 2 his margin of failure would be 8, the drift would have been 13 hexes distance.

Scatter: is rolled on 1D6 to determine direction.

On-map or Indirect fire with non-artillery weapons: Works the same way, minus reference to mapsheet distances. 

For all ranges with Artillery, Gunnery score Plus Five, plus the spotter (up to three)=your target number to hit a given hex.
Spotters:
Each unit spotting for artillery reduces target number by 1, spotters must have Line of Sight, and must make a gunnery check to apply this bonus (TAG reduces the difficulty of this check by 1), if the spotter is engaged in combat, this check is made as a secondary target, and if failed, does not provide the bonus to the artillery gunnery.

Flight Times: 1 turn per 5 Mapsheets delay when firing artillery from off-board.

ALL Artillery regardless of mounting, must emplace for one turn before firing, and must take a full turn to de-emplace before moving. This includes any and all vehicles mounting an artillery weapon or acting as an artillery platform with the exception of:

Large Vehicle (Wet Naval large support vehicles), Dropships (must be grounded, but weapons are already considered 'emplaced') and other units of comparable size (over 1000 tons).

For targeting purposes, emplaced artillery is considered to be a stationary target, and suffers the relevant defensive modifiers.

THIS INCLUDES ARROW IV UNITS.

(this does not include Arrow IV missiles dropped from wing hardpoints on aerospace craft.)

[TigerShark]

Initiative
unbalanced force sizes: When one side starts with (or has achieved) a larger force than the other, upon losing their initiative, movement will require moving multiple units until parity is reached, in the same general order as occurs when forces are equal.  Example: Bob has 8 units, Joe has 5. Bob has lost initiative this turn.  In movement order, Bob moves 2 units, Joe moves 1, Bob moves 2, joe moves 1, bob moves 1, joe moves 1, Bob moves 1, Joe moves his last unit, and the firing phase begins.

This exists in MegaMek. It's called "Front-Loaded Init." And it's the most easily-fixed rule in BT. Instead of round "down" when determining how many units to move at the start of a turn, you round "up". One-word change and the entire game's problem with swarms is mitigated without Force Size Modifier.

[Cannonshop]

This exists in MegaMek. It's called "Front-Loaded Init." And it's the most easily-fixed rule in BT. Instead of round "down" when determining how many units to move at the start of a turn, you round "up". One-word change and the entire game's problem with swarms is mitigated without Force Size Modifier.

I know, I started lobbying for this back before Megamek was coded, and others were lobbying for it before me.

Mostly, because it made sense. 

Fundamentally, human beings are human beings, and it's harder to coordinate a larger group of people, than a smaller one (all other factors being equal).

here's another one...

Target Movement Modifier-calculate based on Hex distance from start to finish. 
How it works: Joe runs his 'mech in a circle.  To calculate his TMM, you count the number of hexes from his starting point, to his final location, using the shortest distance between each point.  this is actually an extension of a much older ruling issued when a player would back up, move forward, back up, move forward to get a massive TMM bonus while remaining in the same exact place-this was ruled illegal by TPTB back when Battletech was still a FASA product.

Essentially what this change does, is force the battlefield to be fluid, as opposed to rewarding static positioning-by limiting the TMM to the shortest distance between the starting point, and the end point, units that rely on speed have to plan their movement more carefully to keep an opponent from getting an easy shot.

Infantry Combat Ranges
Weapons designed to combat infantry, and weapons used by infantry against other infantry (not including BA), gain 3x the listed effective ranges (short, medium, long) against Infantry formations.

This means that 'stock' rifle infantry engages OTHER infantry out to nine hexes distance, but only engage Armored or Battlearmored units at the current listed range, it also means the standard Machine-gun, SRM, LRM, etc. weapons engage at much longer ranges.  I call it the "Naked Man range". (aka PBI ranges)  Impacted weapons include:

Support Needlers
Support Lasers
Machine Guns
Dedicated antipersonnel weapons such as that Jade falcon gauss rifle.
etc.

(basically weapons or systems that come in under 5 tons.) 

I know that 'split ranges' on SOME weapons, would be a bit of a headache.  this one's just a suggestion, possibly worth discusssing.

Heavy Machine Guns

Thesis: Clan engineers and Scientists don't share their work with the Inner Sphere readily, or willingly, and there is zero guarantee that addressing what is largely a similar (but not precisely the same) problem should result in nearly identical solutions.  For example, while most of Europe were developing Sub-Machine-guns for trench-clearance based on the experiences of WW1, Japan developed the 2 inch "Knee Mortar" for roughly the same purpose-that is, a compact means of delivering aggressive firepower in what amounted to close quarters combat.

The Clan solutions: Light and heavy Machine guns.  Per the actual published stats.  Clan LMG's generate 0 heat, do 1 point of damage or 1D6 out to 6 hexes at .25 tons mass.  Clan Heavies do 3 Points or 3D6 damage out to 2 hexes at .75 tons. 

The Spheroid solution: The Heavy MG  The Inner Sphere heavy machine gun, does 2 points damage out to 6 hexes for the mass of .75 tons, with a 3 points per shot ammunition explosion risk at the same ammunition count. It's based on firing the same bullet from a hotter propellant charge through a reinforced barrel.  IS HMG's must be mounted in Pairs on units larger than a battlearmor suit, each pair taking up 1 critical or item slot. (making it weigh, for 'mech or vehicle mounting, 1.5 tons)  Range brackets are Short 2, Med. 4, Long 6.  1/2 ton of HMG ammunition is worth 300 points of internal damage if it is detonated before it had been expended, and requires a PSR if CASE is installed, or the CASE fails.

Infantry support version: the IS Support HMG has a range of 2, 4, and 6, does 2D6 damage to infantry, and 2 points of damage to armored units, with a mandatory crew of 3, enabling a 21 man platoon to field 7 total.  This weapon may not be equipped by Jump infantry, Mechanized infantry may not equip them in odd numbered quantities (round down).

Battlesuit version: Weight-750 kilograms, range 2/4/6, does 2D6 to conventional infantry, or 2 points per gun to armored opponents.

Purpose: diversity of tech bases is good when you have more than one faction.  The Clans tech development angle SHOULD be different from the Inner Sphere's, they have different tactical, logistical, and other factors that SHOULD influence not only what problems the engineers are looking at, but what solutions they come up with.  The ritual nature of Clan warfare would influence a trend toward weapons that favour a warrior's specific fighting style (close up, or far away), while the Inner Sphere's 'riot instead of a boxing match' environment should favour more 'generalist' weapons (given that Omnitech is a NEW THING, but there is no lack of diversity in terms of what you might face on the other end of the gunsights.)

This TYPE of weapon would most likely be developed in the Lyran-side Periphery or coreward areas of the FWL, given the presence of both Armored, and un-armored, ground forces that may at any time turn up for a raiding party.

(basically, the Clan "Heavy" machine-gun favours throwing a larger projectile with armor-piercing charges, like a short-barrelled grenade launcher, while the Sphere design is throwing the same caliber bullets/slugs at higher velocities at the same firing rate, each weapon has the same rough mass, but one has superior penetration and killing power, the other, has average penetration and killing power, but superior range, at a significantly increased risk in the event of an ammunition explosion, even in the presence of CASE.)

Availability: Lyran/FWL border, Lyran Periphery, Mercenary, Magistracy of Canopus, Comstar/Word of Blake

Origin: Bolan Province, Lyran Alliance and Silverhawks coalition, FWL, Magistracy of Canopus  (Simultaneous development, possibly with industrial espionage.)

Era: 3061


Note: these are not the Cappellan "Self exploding cannons" from the XTRO.

On the subject of self-exploding cannons...

This is an old idea-it predates the Jihad by quite a few years...and I still think it's a good one.

RAP autocannon rounds RAP-"Rocket Assisted Projectile" rounds are a specialty autocannon munition that sacrifices some damage and ammunition capacity, for the ability to reach out further to hit a target.

RAP rounds are only available in 5,10, and 20 sizes.

RAP-AC 5: 4 Damage, same heat as standard, Minimum 2, short 7, Med. 14, Long 21
RAP-AC 10: 8 Damage, Same heat as standard, Minimum 1, Short 6, Med. 12, Long 18
RAP-AC 20: 16 Damage, Same heat as standard, Short 5, Med. 10, Long 16

These rounds can be fed through a standard Autocannon without modification, however...

RAP (per ton)
Class 5: 16 rounds
Class 10: 8 rounds
Class 20: 4 Rounds

In-Universe: The RAP autocannon round was developed from 20th century concepts, a portion of the standard projectile's body is extended to a better ballistic shape, and the explosive filling and Depleted Uranium core is reduced to make space for a short-burn solid rocket motor that boosts velocity after leaving the barrel of a standard autocannon.

Ammo Explosion danger:
In the event of an ammunition critical, each round does the following:

Class 5: Does 9 points internal damage per remaining round (PSR if bin is CASE protected for half damage)
Class 10: Does 14 Points internal damage per remaining round (PSR if bin is CASE protected for half damage)
Class 20: does 24 points internal damage Per remaining round (PSR for half damage if bin is CASE equipped)

Additionally, each round of RAP that detonates in the event of an ammunition explosion generates 5 additional heat.

Availability: Com Guards, House Kurita, House Davion, Taurian Concordat, Mercenary.

Origin: Taurian Concordat or Outworlds Alliance

Era: 3059

Mines! we need to clear the mines!!

Developed by the Cappellan Confederation in 3057, the Mine Clearance Line Charge launcher is a rapid means of clearing a safe path through a hex that has been mined with any of the following: Vibrobombs, standard or magnetic minefields, and command detonated minefields.

Mass: 6 tons
Range: 4 hexes (all four hexes)
Shots: 12
Crits: 4 (must be continuous)
Special rules: May not be CASE protected. Vehicles may mount to hull, but not turret.  May not be employed by infantry.

Ammunition explosion hazard: each unused shot inflicts 40 points of internal damage that can not be CASEd, and generates 10 heat.

Damage: Special (3 points to armored units along the line of fire out to 4 hexes. 3D6 to conventional infantry in each linear hex, 1D6 damage to conventional conventional infantry in adjacent hexes to the line of 'fire', including friendly units.)

In-Universe: The Mclic applies a 120 meter long, 60mm diameter, net of four lines per shot down a straight line corridor, this line is comprised of layered and braided C-20 high explosive with fibers of artificial diamond and density-enhanced glass. when detonated, it creates an overpressure and heat zone with a tuned EM signature capable of setting off a wide range of detonators and common military explosives via sympathetic detonation.  This device also clears an open path through light woods, and converts heavy to light per the normal clearance rules.  Due to the dimensions of the 'spools' the MCLIC is a four-shot one-shot weapon that can not be installed with CASE protection.

Available to:
Cappellan Confederation
Magistracy of Canopus
St. Ives Compact
Comstar/Word of Blake

Invented by: the Cappellans

Era: 3055 to 3065

[FedComGirl]

RAP autocannon rounds RAP-"Rocket Assisted Projectile

I like this but think it should be available to AC/2 as well. Kind of a safer alternative to HVACs. Possibly Light ACs, Protomech ACs, and even Rifle Cannons. The Rifle Cannons because they've had such rounds in history. The others because ACs, LACs, and PACs, can all use the same ammo types. Why stop now?

What Cappellan "Self exploding cannons" from which XTRO?  ???

[Hellraiser]

So, I've been playing this game for a fair few years now, and over time I've had my fair share of house rules and alternative equipment.  Many of them became obsolete as rules are changed, optional rules become more codified and additional rules are written.  However, there are a number that I still harbour a fondness for.  A couple of them are vaguely feasible, others would require re-designing hundreds of mechs.

Engine Hits / Heat Sinks

LB-X Autocannons

Ultra Autocannons

Ferro-fibrous armour

Alternative construction materials

Interesting ideas.

Heatsinks = Free/25 Rated Engine.  Not Base 10 Free & then Rating/25 in Engine.
Suddenly tiny engines are not so effective & the 400 starts to have a small bit of value.
Also, SFE = Single Heatsinks only.    XL = DHS only    Ditto the same for ASF & Vee.
Outside the Engine you can have whichever type you want.

I wouldn't touch LBX

Ultras.   Don't care for that adjacent thing.  Just have it get 2 shots when it double taps.  Separate To-Hit & Damage.   Means you miss more at Long range & hit More at Short Range.  Like would make sense.

Love that Ferro Idea.  Never understood the need for the fractions

Also like the Endo idea since that is how Stealth Armor & Blue Shield & CLP & Null Sig all work.



Some others.......

JumpJets & IJJ's.
Get rid of those odd 55 & 85 points & have it match Mech Classifications.
Light = .5/MP
Medium = 1/MP
Heavy = 1.5/MP
Assault = 2.0/MP
This means Lights actually have a small edge over Mediums in SOMETHING at least.
IJJ's are no longer x2 Weight/Crits & 1/2 Heat.
Instead they are SAME Weight & DOUBLE Heat.   (Crits up for debate, same or x2, meh)
Now they are easier to mount but using them is not an Auto-Default Button every turn.

SRM/LRM
I would have had these be like MML's from the start & had them match the ACs as well for 2-5-10-20 sized launchers.  SRM/LRM "Regular" ammo would just be different ammo types.
While we are at it,  the 2-cluster table would be 7 = 2 so you are over 50% like the rest of the launchers.

Ammo:
All Missile/AC Ammo would Total 100 Damage/Ton
Gauss would total 120 because Gauss are simple slugs w/o propellant.  H-Gauss would have been flat 20/bracket.

There would be no funky odd 1-off brackets.  Everything would be perfect Multiples of 3 like in 3025.
Oh, and NOTHING would have a range of 3.  Not even MGs.  Hehe.
Not that I really want to play a game where we are shooting 3 tables away, but getting into Melee will be a "little" harder I think.
I think maybe instead of the "common" short brackets being 1-3-7 in 3025 they would be 2-5-10

Energy weapons would actually be LESS effective on a damage/ton basis I think, since they get the benefit of unlimited ammo & no explosions. 
I won't get any more in depth into specifics, just a general way I would have gone with weapons.

[Cannonshop]

RAP autocannon rounds RAP-"Rocket Assisted Projectile

I like this but think it should be available to AC/2 as well. Kind of a safer alternative to HVACs. Possibly Light ACs, Protomech ACs, and even Rifle Cannons. The Rifle Cannons because they've had such rounds in history. The others because ACs, LACs, and PACs, can all use the same ammo types. Why stop now?

What Cappellan "Self exploding cannons" from which XTRO?  ???

HVAC's are self-detonating internal bombs that sometimes work like autocannons.  (you have a 1/36 chance on the lightest one that you'll destroy whatever location it's mounted in...by firing it.)

One of the reasons I left out AC/2's and the Rotaries and the rest, is because it would put too much unbalancing on the RACs, I determined that an AC/2 would lose too much from using it (remember, you lose damage. AC/2 has 2 points of damage, so you'd end up with an AC/1 with rickokulously long range with this.)

Cannonshop, did you mean "His Long Tom is 20 mapsheets away. He rolls 10, making his margin of failure 1, plus 7 because of 20/3=6.66etc. rounded up is 7; so 7+1=8hexes drift."

um, probably?  The basic idea was to make things like distance and gunnery skills matter in a way that doesn't take a lot of effort or time to handle, while still keeping the game 'roughly balanced'.  There are always two camps in wargames-the camp that wants lots and lots of fine detail, and the camp that wants rough-and-ready playable rules.  This solves multiple issues simultaneously, in my humble view, because it can be 'charted' out for fast reference, and that means having arty/indirect fire units doesn't cost as much time from playing, and doesn't suffer the "I splash rounds behind the firing unit" problem that came up when TacOps re-introduced artillery while retaining the problem from BMR(r) days of adding several minutes of time per turn to resolve, and retaining a defect that I'm probably one of the few people here to see as a defect-that is, you can park arty off-board and it's just as accurate as artillery close-to-hand.  (that is to say, not at all...)

the concept is to scale the misses by two things that players SHOULD be pretty familiar with: the gunnery of the firing unit (modified by number of spotters), and the distance.  A 'close' miss at 20 miles is several hundred yards, but that same gun-crew firing at less than 2 miles, should be able to get (if they're competent) within a 100 meter circle of the target on a reasonably consistent basis.
(what it means, is that you're more likely to score hits, if you're close enough that your gun isn't immune-by-being-off-the-map)

what it also does, is cut out a couple dice rolls.  "Distance" rolls in particular.  Your miss ratio is based on...how badly you missed, plus how far the round had to travel through crosswinds, etc. etc...but it's a predicable, and thus, tactical condition-you can actually build TACTICs off of it, where the present system you really are sticking your finger in the wind and hoping the dice gods love you today.

Basically I wanted a simpler artillery rules, with damages balanced out so that a 250 kilogram Arrow or Long tom round isn't doing vastly more damage than a one-ton bomb(that doesn't have to pay for propellant or guidance!)

thus, I went with smaller projectile payloads, that have a definite tactical role.  (as in, you can actually build tactics around them) while not being autohit-wonders.  (you can still miss, and miss BADLY, depending on how you employ them.)

Other, basic refinements as follows:

Copperhead/guided rounds: use the spotter's gunnery instead of the artilleryman's gunnery, they  don't splash outside the immediate zone of impact. (i.e. for hex-map usage, they do damage to the hex they hit, not to the surrounding area).  Spotter 'Tags" primary target, the primary target takes the 'core' damage. if there are secondary targets in the hex (or in base contact if you're using minis/terrain) those secondary targets, including FRIENDLIES, take half damage. (basically for an Arrow, you hit the primary targeted unit with tag as if you were firing a laser on the round the shell arrives, so his TMM matters and your range relative to him matters,but if you hit, he takes a 20 point whap. if you've got infantry in base contact, you just lost 10 guys per infantry squad or platoon in contact with him. If he was straddling one of HIS tanks, that tank takes 10 points distributed in 5 point groups...etc. etc.)  If the tagger is firing on something else, he takes the normal split-target penalty.

Example:

Josh fires four Arrow IV homing missiles from off-board, they're arriving this turn.  He has one tag-equipped unit, in large laser range of Tony's three-legged mega-monster-darkage 'mech of expensive doom.

For Josh's TAG to hit, he needs a 10 or better. (the monster mech o' dhoom walked this turn, Josh's spottermech walked this turn, range is long.)

Josh rolls...10!

All four homing missiles hit Tony's monster-mech'o'Doom, delivering 20 points per, in 5 point clusters.  Tony's monstermech'o'Dhomm also just dropped off four sets of BAttlearmor (let's call 'em Elementals for simplicity).  WELL... each stand takes ten points damage in five point groups, in addition to the damage to his monster'mech of doom.

It's not enough to erase the suits, but it IS enough to force a PSR on the tripodded monster 'mech of Dhoom, and to do damage to each stand of BA in the hex.


Cluster rounds:

do the same damage to the entire splash area of center hex plus surrounding six.  Special purpose rule: roll 1D6 per stand of infantry, per point.

Long Tom/Arrow 'firecracker' (cluster): 15 points of damage to the entire splash zone. (long tom=20 center, 10 surrounding for standard shot, 20 plus 10=30, divide by 2, fifteen.) 15 D6 damage to infantry in the blast zone.


Sniper: 8 points in each hex, (10 center, 5 splash, cluster rounds average out with a round up to 8 points) 8 D6 damage to infantry in the blast zone.

Thumper: 4 points (5 plus 2 is 7, 7/2 is 3.5, round up.) 4 D6 damage to infantry in the blast zone.

This would include both BA and Mechanized infantry types, standard leg infantry, etc.

Example: Josh's shot with cluster lands on a forested hillside infested with the presence of a 'mech, two APC's, and a company (3 platoons) of infantry.  Josh is using a Thumper for this (he's an arty nerd...)

The 'mech takes 4 points. Period.  The APC's take a four point hit each.  Now comes the damage rolls on the targeted infantry company...

4 D6 to each platoon.  OUCH.  That's 4-24 men put out of action.  If there's also a stand of Elementals (because Elementals are kind of THE basic suit), then each of those takes 4 points of damage.  If Josh had been using a Sniper, everyone would take 7, except the infantry, who'd be facing 7 to 42 points of damage (enough to overkill grotesquely any infantry that isn't Manei Domini quality.)  The mech and the vehicles come out pretty much 'okay', battlesuits come out pretty much 'okay', but the Leg troops that aren't in hard cover...they don't come out so okay.

If the infantry are in a hardened building...well, it doesn't do much to them, honestly. Reduce damage by 10, round up.  (most of the time, regardless of gun, a cluster hitting a bunkered up infantry force isn't going to kill more htan one or two guys. They gotta be outside the building.)

Penetrator rounds/bunker buster: Full damage to buildings, structures in the target hex, no damage to surrounding hexes.  basically a Long Tom version would do 30 points to any single structure (such as a bunker or pillbox) in the target hex (reducing buildings and structures by 1 type with each hit. If used on an immobilized armored vehicle, well..that's when you start actually caring about marking off the damages.) Penetrators do 1/10 damage to infantry in the hex. (they're a focused explosion.)

Example: Tony's bunkered up his perimeter with some bunker-type terrain features, from which, his infantry are holding their position.  Josh needs to reduce that fortification.  Josh selects Penetrator rounds for the task.  While Josh was able to reduce those fortifications from "hardened" to "Medium" with a single hit, he only killed three infantrymen.  If Tony had an immobilized vehicle in that hex instead, the vehicle would take 30 points of damage, and if Josh fired a penetrator on a stand of Battlearmor, one suit would take 3 points of damage (assuming Long Tom/Arrow IV).

So Josh lays down some penetrators first, followed by standard HE rounds, followed by clusters to mop up the infantry thus revealed...

assuming all of his shots actually hit.  There's no guarantee they will...

[HobbesHurlbut]

Making the minimum jump distance for Primitive KF Drive be 10 light years...since the average distance between stars in Milky Way is about a tiny bit over 5 light years.

[Daemion]

ALL Artillery regardless of mounting, must emplace for one turn before firing, and must take a full turn to de-emplace before moving. This includes any and all vehicles mounting an artillery weapon or acting as an artillery platform with the exception of:

...

For targeting purposes, emplaced artillery is considered to be a stationary target, and suffers the relevant defensive modifiers.

Interesting idea. I would make a suggestion, though. Honestly, I look at emplaced as having planted roots, so I don't think stationary should work, but, instead, immobile. Think the Human Artillery tank in Star Craft.

Keep in mind that Artillery does not track whether anything is completely not moving or even waving slightly in the wind. So, the immobile modifier does not apply, even to counter battery fire. The only thing that applies is if you've pre-tagged the hex or you nail it in an attack.

However, it makes a big difference to end-run attacks that happen upon an emplacement, making stopping for a shot risky, and having a defense force for your big guns very important.

As for the flight times, I never understood how something moving at minimum 1000 fps would take at least ten seconds to arrive.

In fact, that's one of the things I generally do to simplify artillery: Flight time is arrival next turn for off-board attacks. Now, I could see making the artillery range for a gun the base for extending flight times.



Now. Something I brought up in the LAMs thread, I would apply the Aerospace thrust system to LAMs in AirMech Mode on the map sheet. Straight hex-for-hex application. If your velocity is 6, you move six hexes, and have to pay thrust to turn at the amounts specified in the appropriate tables.

Still up in the air as to whether there should be any MP increase at all, since I see 5/8 and 6/9 working pretty well on a ground map.

[Nerdi]

1. Medium Laser
The Medium Laser is simply one ton too light. At two tons it would fit in with other short range weapons like the SRM and AC20.

2. Engine Rating
The fusion engines go all the way down to half a ton, which is very unrealistic, but worse allows for very light and fast units. For low ratings the engine function is similar to 0,03... ton * Er - 0,5 tons meaning that the engine weight approaches a negative number.
Overall the engine table is approximately (1,009...^ER) -1 ton +0,1..* ER  likely rounded down to half ton causing the issue with the negative weight.

3. Vehicle damage effects
All but light vehicles are useless because they are disabled by crew and motive system damage. They are barely worth their Battle Value.

The Savannah Master is the unit that combines all above deficits, it should not be possible.

[Nerdi]

I understand what the rules are supposed to do: They make a 100 ton 4 MP Mech barely possible while making it noncompetitive.
The rise in weight for engines above 380 is insane and was likely added by hand and not in the equation that was used to generate lower engine weights. A 410 engine would be 57 tons, giving a 102.5 ton Mech with 4 MP less rest tonnage than a 60 ton Mech of the same speed.
After looking at the table for a long time I would propose these numbers:
Rating   Tons
200  8.5t (same)
210  9     (same)
220  10t  (same)
230  11t
240  12t
250  13t
260  14.5t
270  15.5t
280  17t
290  18.5t
300   20t
310   21.5t
320   23t
330   25t
340   27t
350   29t
360   31t
370   33t
380   35.5t
390   38t
400   40.5t
410   43t (hypothetical)
Which would be a doubling of the weight for a +33% increase in speed or weight for the given range, still resulting in a sublinear increase in available, remaining tonnage for heavier Mechs. Yes, I am aware that this would allow for a [4/6/0] 100t Mech with additional 13,5 tons of equipment without other changes. This table would still achieve the goal of making Mechs heavier than 100 tons have less not more available tonnage. But unlike the rule it would also make light vehicles slower as engines below 200 would not go to zero weight.
In some later manual they explicitly disallow Mechs below 20 tons, because they ruin the game.
As an engineer I am aware that the issue with a 100 ton Mech would not be the scaling of the engines weight, but the heat, which could be a feature of the game making cooling trucks actually necessary.

[Mechanis]

The biggest issue with BattleTech Numbers for things like mass values is there is no formula , it's all out-of-a-hat gutfeel from the 80s/90s.

But as far as house rules goes:

UACs still have the jamming issue, but dispense with the cluster table entirely and simply make two To-Hit rolls. This is the same number of rolls when double tapping, but far more likely to actually hit with the second shot; further, it encourages upping the fire rate at close range, but limiting it at longer ranges - exactly as one might expect when one wants to limit recoil and vibration throwing off your aim at distant targets!

AMS on ground units inflict a flat cluster mod to all missile attacks which pass through any hex adjacent to their arc, regardless of what unit the attack is targeting; each AMS activates only once per turn but affects all missile attacks in the arc. Multiple mounts may stack their effects.attacks of single missiles (EG, Tbolts) are resolved as Total Warfare.
This makes AMS on ground units no look completely useless , and better matches the lore of "I am going to fill this area with so many bullets that there's no way a missile can pass it without hitting one".

Autocannons:
Stock Autocannons are properly designated as Primitive Autocannons, and properly fluffed as being early Age of War tech/Succwars SuckTech. Star League era ACs are /3/5/8/12 tons for the 2/5/10/20 respectively, and the latter two loose two crits each. Heat for Autocannons is also a straight 1/2/3/4 because they're dumping almost all the heat into the brass/cartridge. (Caseless, naturally, then doubles heat generation rather than adding a jam chance.)

All other Autocannon masses and sizes are recalculated based on the above values for production versions; Prototype versions to vary by era.
HVACs do not explode; and universally gain +2/+4/+8 range. They also inflict 1.5/1.25/1x damage. No other changes.


LRMs are reset so the 10, 15 and 20 are not directly inferior to an equivalent stack of 5s, by reducing heat generation further (3 heat for the 10, 5 for the 15, 6 for the 20) and taking the lead weights out so the launchers are all the same mass per tube. NLRMs, ELRMs and Torpedos are all just alt ammo, no separate launcher system. TBolts get most ammo types (Inferno, FASCAM, SG, etc), as do MRMs. MRM launcher mass is slashed to 1/2/3/4 tons so they're actually competitive with SRMs. MMLs have sane tube counts like ATMs do.

ATMs don't have this weird multi ammo thing, instead they just get 9/18/24 range and do 3/2/1 damage per missile.

LAMs get weight savers and can split things that  may normally be distributed to multiple locations (EG, Endo Steel) but still can't split weapon crits.

Heavy Gauss/IHGRs  may split crits into the arms if desired. They may also be turret mounted in vees greater than 100 tons in mass.

I have more, put them up when I'm less tired.

[monbvol]

The biggest issue with BattleTech Numbers for things like mass values is there is no formula , it's all out-of-a-hat gutfeel from the 80s/90s.

But as far as house rules goes:

UACs still have the jamming issue, but dispense with the cluster table entirely and simply make two To-Hit rolls. This is the same number of rolls when double tapping, but far more likely to actually hit with the second shot; further, it encourages upping the fire rate at close range, but limiting it at longer ranges - exactly as one might expect when one wants to limit recoil and vibration throwing off your aim at distant targets!

AMS on ground units inflict a flat cluster mod to all missile attacks which pass through any hex adjacent to their arc, regardless of what unit the attack is targeting; each AMS activates only once per turn but affects all missile attacks in the arc. Multiple mounts may stack their effects.attacks of single missiles (EG, Tbolts) are resolved as Total Warfare.
This makes AMS on ground units no look completely useless , and better matches the lore of "I am going to fill this area with so many bullets that there's no way a missile can pass it without hitting one".

That is actually how AMS used to operate at one point in the ground game.  Currently it does already do the flat modifier but it no longer seems to intercept passing by missiles.

Autocannons:
Stock Autocannons are properly designated as Primitive Autocannons, and properly fluffed as being early Age of War tech/Succwars SuckTech. Star League era ACs are /3/5/8/12 tons for the 2/5/10/20 respectively, and the latter two loose two crits each. Heat for Autocannons is also a straight 1/2/3/4 because they're dumping almost all the heat into the brass/cartridge. (Caseless, naturally, then doubles heat generation rather than adding a jam chance.)

All other Autocannon masses and sizes are recalculated based on the above values for production versions; Prototype versions to vary by era.
HVACs do not explode; and universally gain +2/+4/+8 range. They also inflict 1.5/1.25/1x damage. No other changes.

At one point I was able to alter MegaMek to use 4/6/10/12 mass and 1/3/6/9 crits while also redoing ammo to be 60/24/12/6 and it worked wonders.  I keep saying to myself I'll do that again with a more up to date version but I never seem to get around to it.

LRMs are reset so the 10, 15 and 20 are not directly inferior to an equivalent stack of 5s, by reducing heat generation further (3 heat for the 10, 5 for the 15, 6 for the 20) and taking the lead weights out so the launchers are all the same mass per tube. NLRMs, ELRMs and Torpedos are all just alt ammo, no separate launcher system. TBolts get most ammo types (Inferno, FASCAM, SG, etc), as do MRMs. MRM launcher mass is slashed to 1/2/3/4 tons so they're actually competitive with SRMs. MMLs have sane tube counts like ATMs do.

ATMs don't have this weird multi ammo thing, instead they just get 9/18/24 range and do 3/2/1 damage per missile.

15s are already 5 heat and 20s are already 6 heat.  But what I was able to do that addressed the problem was re-balance so each tube for LRMs and SRMs were 0.5 tons each and one crit for every five or fraction thereof.  This makes LRM-5s 2.5 tons and one crit but LRM-20s 10 tons and four crits, which makes the heat savings and adding of Artemis systems reasonable considerations for one would want one LRM-20 over four LRM-5s.

But back when I did that MMLs and ATMs were still actually kind of new and I didn't really factor them in.

LAMs get weight savers and can split things that  may normally be distributed to multiple locations (EG, Endo Steel) but still can't split weapon crits.

The more I deal with LAMs and see LAM threads the more I just think they are more trouble than they are worth to 'get right' and that's largely because there is no good consensus of what people really want out of them.

Heavy Gauss/IHGRs  may split crits into the arms if desired. They may also be turret mounted in vees greater than 100 tons in mass.

I have more, put them up when I'm less tired.

[Mechanis]

Nah, SRMs and LRMs absolutely should have different tube weights; the only way you get that kind of space equivalency is if SRMs are notably larger diameter missiles. Plus we're handwaving some of the needed fire control, sensor heads, ammo feeds etc as part of the weapon mass.

And poor IS LRMs are already heavy for what they do as it is, they don't need any debuffing.
If anything, they need a buff, specifically, to make Indirect Fire without Semi-guided less punishing. For a start,
Everything with IF capability can indirect fire at a detectable unit, spotter or no spotter. The latter slaps you with a -2 Cluster mod as you get more misses. Regular spotting drops that to -1, TAG, Recon Cameras, or equivalent (Something something C3) removes it entirely.
Of the Movement and Gunnery mods, choose the least favorable values (rather than compounding them), EG if the firing platform is Gun 2 and the spotter is Gun 4 you would assume Gun 4 for To-Hit rolls, etc, though the spotter shooting things still slaps an extra +1 To-Hit for multiple targets (TAG and other TAG phase spotting need not apply)

[Gribbly]

Movement heat should be a significant part of resource allocation. Running up and down the heat scale should be part of the game, rather than functionally ignored.

One point of heat per hex of all movement with changes to dissipation and heat scale as necessary.

[Mechanis]

Holy hell that would destroy fast movers
If you want Maximum TurretTech all the time, all day every day, throwing per hex move heat would be fine

Otherwise...

And how the heck would you handle vees?


But yeah I don't see any way to implement that which would not either involve more bookkeeping (Which is bad since BT is heavy on that front as it is) or be totally against the lore on how mechs work (as that would encourage 1/2 mechs with guns out the knees and any fast movers to be vees with no movement heat- pretty much the opposite of BT lore) so uh.

It's... Also really not trivial to get too hot? Managing heat is a pretty important part of the game, it's just that most designs that are considered good do that at the construction stage, with the installation of appropriate heat sinking for what they're carrying.

[Daryk]

Running up and down the heat scale is de rigueur for 3025 play... ;)

[Retry]

Could technically be done but the adjustments to the heat scaling of other actions (think Jump Jets) and weapon firing would be an immense amount of effort to make everything balanced while also not causing vanilla Locusts to roast themselves just by running.

[Mechanis]

Could technically be done but the adjustments to the heat scaling of other actions (think Jump Jets) and weapon firing would be an immense amount of effort to make everything balanced while also not causing vanilla Locusts to roast themselves just by running.

A big issue with the idea would be the required extension of the heat scale, which would make tracking heat require more difficult math thereby increasing bookkeeping (bad).
If anything, movement heat is honestly a little weird, since mechs are literally the only unit type to have it; and of all the expected loads that would definitely be one, so it might even be worth considering going the opposite direction and just not having any at all.

[Charistoph]

If anything, movement heat is honestly a little weird, since mechs are literally the only unit type to have it; and of all the expected loads that would definitely be one, so it might even be worth considering going the opposite direction and just not having any at all.

Honestly, Walking and Running Heat build up is fine where it's at.  It's enough to be a little aware of if you're truly running the Heat Scale, but when compared to what you're shooting, it's pretty much a non-problem.

Jumping is where Heat usually becomes a problem, particularly with the lighter 'Mechs who don't have DHS, can't fit a lot of SHS, and a huge Jump capacity.  Most of the 6/9/6 and faster crowd falls in to this category in Introtech (and a few Renaissance 'Mechs).  The Phoenix Hawk and the Firestarter are most notable in these cases in my memory as I tend to run them the most.

However, I'm fine with this, as it creates an opportunity cost for the mobility involved.  Being able to just ignore hills, woods, or buildings that are in your way is incredibly powerful. 

That 'Mechs are the only ones that have this, I do find a little odd.  As a former owner of several cars that would overheat at stop signs in the Phoenix, Arizona, summer heat, I can attest that Vehicles can have Heating problems.  Still, these military vehicles were probably better maintained due to a dedicated mechanic on staff.

[DevianID]

The art doesnt really match for missiles.  Id have not had reloadable missile bullets like we have now, but one use missiles.

An srm tube would be .75 tons per tube and an LRM would be .6 per tube.  A missile launcher shot would be the same average damage per 12 turns, but would be pretty front loaded.  So an SRM2 normally deals 2-4 damage, now it would deal 16 damage per SRM, with an SRM2 generating 12 heat, a srm4 generating 9 heat, and the 6 generating 8 heat.  So the larger launchers deal with heat better, clusters of smaller launchers can shoot faster.  It would make the SRM2 on units scary, like when that assassin gets behind you, you dont have to play 12 turns of backstabbing to land some damage.  And the LRM20 would only be 4 heat thanks to the large launch system for that 8 damage LRM missile, while the small LRM5 on a shadowhawk would overflow 5 heat per shot, at 12 tons for the 20 and 3 tons for the lrm5.

[paladin2019]

That is actually how AMS used to operate at one point in the ground game.  Currently it does already do the flat modifier but it no longer seems to intercept passing by missiles.

Please expand on this because it's never been how I've seen the system work. I remember when introduced, after all missile attacks were declared against the target unit, the owner chose one volley and reduced it by 1d6 missiles; if that killed all the missiles in a volley, it couldn't hit, natch. Then attack rolls were made and if the reduced volley hit, you adjusted which standard column you rolled on for the clusters based on how close your were to adjacent columns. For example, an LRM 15 reduced by 2 missiles would still roll on the 15 table with a maximum result of 13, but a third missile killed would drop it to the 10 column with 11 or 12 missiles still having a maximum of 10 cluster hits. A separate d6 is rolled and twice that result is the number of shots expended shooting down the volley. I am unaware of an interim version of AMS between this and the current "volley hots, -4 to the cluster roll, 1 shot expended" version we have now though an optional rule may have allowed a volley in line of sight attacking a target at X range to be targeted.

As for my changes, they must be built around balancing scenarios by weight unless I want to "retcon" BV2 back to 1984 or totally revise how mech weights and classes are presented. But there are a couple of things I'd like to see that would work within the weight as the balancing factor paradigm.

• MGs do not deal damage to mechs or CVs and have ranges on par with the AC5 with no minimum range.
• LRMs carry a number of missiles equal to their class. Each missile deals 5 points of damage and the launcher can fire one per critical slot per attack. Roll on the appropriate cluster table to see how many hit. If a slot is destroyed, it's an ammo explosion based on the number of missiles still loaded.
• All armor is a variation of BAR with the actual defeat number being a function of how many pips the facing has, in the same way as ASFs (this one is questionable, balance-wise)
• Retain squad deployment of BD in BT/CT

[monbvol]

Seems the ability to protect other units was an interpretation of the original TRO 2750 rules before they got codified in the Compendium.

[paladin2019]

A very creative one indeed....

[Cannonshop]

been a bit and not sure I answered this one before but...

Initiative: Asymmetric forces

in initiative order when one force outnumbers the other, two units (*or more) from the larger force are moved for each unit of the smaller force in the movement phase until parity of one-for-one can be reached.  THis inverts the present rule, and more accurately reflects the fact that it's more difficult to get larger groups of people moving coherently than to move smaller groups of people, when all other factors remain roughly in parity.

Artillery Damage vs. Airstrikes

I would revert the damage diagram and splash distances for artillery munitions to that which they had under BMR(r), and give the present dinner plate damage diagrams to air-dropped bombs.  This one should be obvious, really,  2000KG is heavier and larger than 250 kg, and in baseline 'bomb' form vs. HE shell, the bomb dropped off the wing of an airplane doesn't have to account for propellant, while a missile, rocket, or artillery shell has to do that too.

Giving Ballistics a Role

If your ballistic weapon (autocannon) exceeds 10% of the armor (round down) of your target, every hit is a roll for a critical, and if there's a 'roll again' in the box (due to whatever factor, TSM, Endosteel, whatever) you mark the internal structure in that area off by one point in addition to the armor damage.
This does not apply to energy weapons, only to balistic weapons such as Autocannons, Gauss Rifles, or machine guns.

(Reason: at present, all-energy builds, including pulse laser builds, are viewed as automatically superior due to better range on the high damage models, lack of ammunition bomb, and damage concentration, as well as not being limited by ammunition carriage-aka a PPC can fire all day, does 10 points of damage at AC/5 ranges, and the only heat penalty can be absorbed by the base heat sinks in the engine).

This change makes the AC/2 much more dangerous to light 'mechs and tanks, which in turn justifies the heavy investment into designs like the Jagermech, Blackjack, etc that we see in the actual setting's fluff.

This also means we can eliminate the "AP" specialty round from the list, which saves space on tables.

This change does not apply to LBX cluster, missile systems, or energy weapons.  (cluster trades penetration for area coverage and anti-infantry/vehicle disablement) nor to indirectly fired artillery (the damage is area effect and not engineered for penetration).

VTOL Rotor hits

The VTOL rotor hit nerf was created to make slow VTOLs less of a joke, and the vehicle critical hits were done to make tanks play more like 'mechs.
that is, make it take longer to take them out.  fine...whatever...we'll do that...but!!

Rotorcraft rely on balancing forces on the rotor structure.  turning, and forward movement, rely on shifting that balance point. 

with me so far?

Hits to the Rotor, even downgraded to 1/10th damage, impose an immediate psr check, failing this, roll 1D6.  That's the direction you're going to move, and now, roll 2D6: that's how far you're going to go while losing 1D6/2 altitude levels and suffering a -1 PSR check (that compounds) until the chopper can be landed and repaired at a base (and -1 MP).

Reason: a Rotor should not be functioning as a 50 point immunity shield for over 30% of the hit location table.

[idea weenie]

Movement heat should be a significant part of resource allocation. Running up and down the heat scale should be part of the game, rather than functionally ignored.

An easier method might just be a larger part of the Heat chart that has no effect.  I.e. the Mech's heat scale could go from -20 to 50 (the standard heat chart is 0-30, and there is an extended heat chart that goes up to 50).

This lets the player run up and down the heat in the -20 to 0 range, but if they try to push the limit they get into the 5+ range of heat where side effects start happening.  So you get some Mechs that can dart out for a shot then pop back next turn, while less maneuverable Mechs can install tonnage to extend that negative region in order to lay down some serious firepower.

A full reset would be changing the -20 to 50 heat chart into a 0-70 heat chart.




Protomechs can be battery-powered, but they need Power Amplifiers and lose a lot of endurance compared to a fusion reactor-equipped Protomech.  The advantage is that you don't need to fit the pilot around the fusion reactor, meaning you can use Battlearmor style piloting systems and the interior doesn't need to be as cramped.

It is part of the progression of:
human has their limbs inside all of the suit's limbs (battlearmor)
(something_1)
human can only fit completely in the torso (current Protomechs)
(something_2)
human is only in the head (Battlemechs)

something_1 would be the pilot having some of their limbs inside the suit, and others in the suit's limbs.  For example from Rifts we have the Triax X-535 Hunter, where the trooper has their legs inside the suit's legs, but the trooper's arms are inside the torso.  As the suit gets bigger it makes more sense to put all of the pilot in the torso so you don't have to move the metal structure around the weak human.  One example of this would be the Rottweiler or other quad battlearmor, where the pilot lies down inside the suit instead of using their own limbs.

something_2 would be where internal equipment keeps needing space, so they have to move the trooper up and out.  An example item that would need space and separation from the pilot is a fusion reactor.


Alternate tech idea:
Anti-personnel Gauss Rifle ammo.  Designed with pre-made stress fractures, the shot is designed to turn into a giant ball of shrapnel when hitting a hard target.  Damage vs Mechs is 2-3 pts damage, but its AI damage is 20-30 pts.  If the shot hits a building, then it only does 2-3 pts to the building and 2-3 pts AI to the infantry inside.


Space Stations and Satellites
Satellites can be built up to 300 tons, and Space Stations can be built down to 2000 tons.  This means the only space-capable items that are 301-1999 tons are Dropships.

Proposal: merge Space Stations and satellites to have the same mass range (0.1 tons to 2,500,000 tons).

Satellite: does not provide an isolated environment for onboard items.  As a result all onboard items needing an isolated environment (i.e. living quarters) will cost much more than if they were put on a space station.
Space Station: provides an isolated environment for all onboard items.  Costs more per ton than a Satellite.

So you could have a 5000 ton satellite that has a few expensive living quarters on board and a lot of stuff that doesn't need a dedicated environment.  You could also have a 420 ton Space Station that has a shirtsleeve environment for the people on board.