"Clan" Omnimechs & "Inner Sphere" Communications Equipment?

[Black_Knyght]

An unexpected debate has popped up recently in our ongoing CBT/AToW campaign, and it was suggested that I ask here for a bit of clarification/confirmation.

Firstly, some background:   

Some time ago our unit made a behind-the-lines surprise raid on a poorly defended Jade Falcon repair depot. In the process we captured two second-line Clan mechs and a pair of Omnimechs. One of the Omnimechs was a Loki (Hellbringer) Prime that was missing it's MGs and it's A-Pods but was otherwise fully intact. For whatever reason, apparently those items had not yet been installed/reinstalled.

All the same we stole it, and it eventually went to Jerry (a.k.a. Lt. Patrick West). Jerry serves in the unit command lance as our intelligence/comms officer, and has successfully operated the 3 tons underweight captured Loki in several actions since.

THAT said, we now come to the crux of our issue:

Jerry was recently reading up on Communications Equipment rules, and realized that 3 tons of said equipment installed in his omnimech would be beneficial to our unit. He proposed adding said equipment to the underweight Loki, given it had both available tonnage and pod space AND we were between assignments at our own repair base.

That is when the unexpected debate broke out.

One side believes that I.S. comms equipment wouldn't be compatible with Clan comms equipment, while another side believes that comms equipment is just comms equipment and would work the same regardless. Our GM Nick calmly listened to both sides, reviewed the rules as written, and asked me to see if there was some other interpretation of them to be found here.

So here's the question:

If you have a captured Clan omnimech that's 3 tons underweight, can you fill those 3 tons with comms equipment? Or are we missing some rule that says Clan comms equipment is different in some way from it's I.S. counterpart?

[glitterboy2098]

I don't think the rules make a distinction between the techbases for Comms equipment. and from an in universe perspective, given how little the clans use Comms Equipment, i suspect their hardware is not much different than the Star League standard that the inner sphere continues to use.

[Vition2]

I don't think the rules make a distinction between the techbases for Comms equipment. and from an in universe perspective, given how little the clans use Comms Equipment, i suspect their hardware is not much different than the Star League standard that the inner sphere continues to use.

What he said. 

If I were the GM, I might rule that it's a bit glitchy, but probably not as I wouldn't likely take advantage of it.

[glitterboy2098]

given you can mount Clan weapon and gear in IS mechs, and vice versa, i doubt there is any major incompatibility issues. at most, you'd probably be looking at higher difficulty on the rolls, same as with mixed tech weapons and such.

[Iceweb]

My shot in the dark is that there will be a number of tech differences that will require tech work and patching on the ATOW scale but could be ignored on the TW level. 
Lots of fun to be had with a patched up screwball communication system for your ATOW stuff, but I would say that you can easily get the init bonus for the coms gear. 

My big concern would be finding a way to pod mount the gear as if you just install it directly into the omni you will let the magic smoke out.

[Maelwys]

TechManual has Comms Equipment listed as "All" for the techbase, meaning that there isn't a distinction between Clan Comm Equipment and IS Comm Equipment, so I'd be willing to let it go.

Of course, that brings up the question on if Comms Equipment is pod-mountable...I'm honestly not sure.

[Deadborder]

Of course, that brings up the question on if Comms Equipment is pod-mountable...I'm honestly not sure.

It is. There are several Omnis that have configs including Comms equipment.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Honestly this sounds like a rules question, your best bet is to ask there.  All we can do here is throw opinions around.

[SteveRestless]

Also, in the 3145 TROs there are brand new clan omnis using Inner Sphere Communications and TTS computers. I'd argue that indicates compatability is possible.

[Black_Knyght]

Honestly this sounds like a rules question, your best bet is to ask there.  All we can do here is throw opinions around.

I've tried that before, and not gotten any reply. That's why I've asked here. 8)

[Black_Knyght]

Thanx, that's pretty much the consensus we needed to settle this issue.

Jerry (the Loki owner) suggested the idea that the interior of the Loki seemed pretty roomy and Eric (a.k.a. Capt. Karl Ritter), our resident chief technician & former real-life Army Radioman suggested that it could be easily installed using the ready-made existing pod electronics connections and that comm gear need not all be crammed into a single space to work and could be sturdily mounted so it'd be as protected as the integral comm gear is.

TechManual has Comms Equipment listed as "All" for the techbase, meaning that there isn't a distinction between Clan Comm Equipment and IS Comm Equipment, so I'd be willing to let it go.

Also, in the 3145 TROs there are brand new clan omnis using Inner Sphere Communications and TTS computers. I'd argue that indicates compatability is possible.

THOSE facts were the final clinchers, so our GM Nick has approved the idea as perfectly acceptable.

[idea weenie]

The other argument could have been that Clan comm gear and Inner Sphere comm gear is sufficiently different that it will take work to make them talk to each other.

So the Mechwarrior piloting the Loki can use the Inner Sphere 3 tons of Comms gear, or the inherent comms gear in the Clan Mech, but not both at the same time.  Initially the decision would be made before battle starts, then the player has to decide a few turns in advance, reducing the number of pre-chosen turns until it is decided on a turn-by-turn basis.

Basically lots of Technician rolls to get the gear to talk to each other, and the rolls have to be made by someone who has a character with Clan equipment training in addition to Inner Sphere equipment repair training.

[Sigil]

A more period appropriate example of this would the Clan Executioner (Man O' War).  It's communications system is listed as the "Raldon R1" which is also used by the IS CLNT-2-3T Clint. 

Ironically, the IS Clint's Targeting and Tracking System, the famous Sloane 220 Lockover System, is used on another front-line Clan OmniMech, the Viper (Dragonfly).

If I were looking for a balancing factor, I would consider either decreasing the modified Loki's Pod Space by three tons as the installed communications gear is fixed to the chassis, or, a bit harsher, declaring it was no longer effectively an OmniMech due to the mixed techology on it.

[guardiandashi]

A more period appropriate example of this would the Clan Executioner (Man O' War).  It's communications system is listed as the "Raldon R1" which is also used by the IS CLNT-2-3T Clint. 

Ironically, the IS Clint's Targeting and Tracking System, the famous Sloane 220 Lockover System, is used on another front-line Clan OmniMech, the Viper (Dragonfly).

If I were looking for a balancing factor, I would consider either decreasing the modified Loki's Pod Space by three tons as the installed communications gear is fixed to the chassis, or, a bit harsher, declaring it was no longer effectively an OmniMech due to the mixed techology on it.

the thing is you are ignoring the entire POINT of Omni pods/gear.
you mount the additional gear in pods and when you decide there is something "better" to mount instead, you pull those "com gear" pods out and just mount "normal" pods again.

its kind of like how IMO the Warhawk/Masakari, would be a better omni-chassis if it didn't have all the fixed heatsinks, but most configurations mount the same number of total heat sinks, the only change is if my masakari B instead of having 20 fixed heat sinks built into the chassis, only has 13 fixed heat sinks and another 7 tons of pod space giving it ~39.5 tons of pod space rather than 32.5

the whole point behind omnis is (when building an optimized one) you have the absolute minimum of gotta haves mounted on the base chassis and stuff everything you can into pods which makes it more flexible and actually faster to repair in the field,