Heavy Fire Base and Fortified Infantry Base

[abou]

I made cards for these two fortifications from the Hexpack promotional as I intend to use them in our campaign. Just a start and I intend to do the others as I need them.  As you can see, I included my house rule MG ability because I won't let it die.

My main concern is that the way damage v armor is scaled in AS, these buildings will succumb very quickly to enemy fire. The structure dots represent the CF.

Thoughts, criticisms, thrown fruit?

[Pat Payne]

The problem is, IIRC, buildings don't get structure, per se, and their CF would be WAY larger than what's on the card. Even a light, flimsy building starts (again, IIRC) at 5 CF -- a hardened bunker would be somewhere around 40-50 CF. And then armor can be placed on to protect the CF. So if you're looking at a milspec fortification, have no worries about your opponents knocking it down in less than three turns.  ;D

[Col.Hengist]

These are great! Can you post them to the Facebook page too? Battletech international Alpha Strike?

[nckestrel]

Armor/CF: Heavy Fire Base is listed in the HexPack as being a Heavy Gun Emplacement type, with CF (per hex) of 90.  CF of 90 is the maximum listed for a heavy building in TO, so it should be the highest listed in AS, of 30 CF.  (I think all the AS CFs are just the TO CFs/3, but i don't see that explicitly stated anywhere in the BT>AS conversions in ASC).
In addition, it has armor.  This isn't covered in AS buildings at all. If we go with the standard Armor/30, that's rounded normally to 3. And it (gun emplacements) have a damage scaling of 0.5.  IE. it only takes half damage from attacks.  I'm going to make up that doubles Armor, as the BT>AS rules don't cover buildings at all... I thought about doubling CF for the damage scaling.  But I think the CF conversion is already too generous. A mobile structure would only get three structure for 90 CF (one structure per 30 CF).


CF: 30 (or 6 if converted as mobile structure and doubled for damage scaling..)
Armor: 6

Damage:  Now we're back on more familiar ground.  We have weapons in the turret and weapons on level one, facing four different directions.  Assuming like a mobile structure, the turret will be a separate, additional attack.  Thus, it won't be added to base damage values.  Also like mobile structures, it can have four separate firing arcs with separate damage values and capable of separate attacks.

TUR (3/3/0,AC1/1/-)
Front/Left/Right/Rear: 0*/0/0

Specials: SRCH,MHQ3,CT15,SEAL

That's my first draft anyway.

[abou]

I completely missed that part about buildings.

The low amount of hits it could take worried me. With a -4 bonus to-hit, it just made them seem very fragile.

[Weirdo]

They really are. If you've got buildings in a fight, you have a few options:

1: Build them tough. Heavy fortress tough.

2: Assume that any and all structures will be temporary shelters at best, and plan accordingly. Never enter a building you can't get out of fast before it comes down, or be tough enough that the collapse doesn't bother you.

3: Distract them. Have enough mobile threats on the board that your enemies are too busy to shoot at the buildings. After all, mechwarriors often find it difficult to shoot a command center when there's a Thunderbolt trying to climb down their tear ducts.

4: Keep firefighters on hand. There's nothing more infuriating than driving off the attackers, only to see them turn around and undo all of your hard work with a single Inferno-IV, or a salvo of incendiary LRMs. But there is something pretty satisfying about wiping the resulting smug look off their face by simply moving up some firefighters in response. :)

[abou]

I was a bit worried about using a high CF for the buildings, but the rules in AS make it so that when you hit a building with a margin of success of 3+ on your to-hit, that counts as a weapons hit. So fragile; yet durable?

[abou]

Version 2

Again, the structure is to represent the CF of the building. In addition, the fact that normal weapons fire can act as a weapons hit with an MoS of 3+ on a to-hit roll, these fortifications are likely to become neutered very quickly.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

... the fact that normal weapons fire can act as a weapons hit with an MoS of 3+ on a to-hit roll, these fortifications are likely to become neutered very quickly...

First off, after the MoS the weapon hit only happens on a successive 2d6 result of 7+.  Likely, sure, but at least it's not automatic.

Secondly, the 2d6 check is only made if the building actually suffers CF damage.  The weapons won't go until after the armor all does.