Inner Sphere vs. Clan - How to balance?

[TigerShark]

Total Warfare cleared up a lot of nonsense and condensed some info from the old FASA books. Unfortunately, one of the items which were omitted is balanced scenario of Inner Sphere vs. Clan.

By "balance" I refer to the creation of a scenario where it is assumed to be equally winnable by both sides, excluding terrain and atmospheric issues. Is there a method the game was intended to use in order to rectify these two tech levels? Any suggestions or clarifications would be helpful.

[GhostBear]

Total Warfare cleared up a lot of nonsense and condensed some info from the old FASA books. Unfortunately, one of the items which were omitted is balanced scenario of Inner Sphere vs. Clan.

By "balance" I refer to the creation of a scenario where it is assumed to be equally winnable by both sides, excluding terrain and atmospheric issues. Is there a method the game was intended to use in order to rectify these two tech levels? Any suggestions or clarifications would be helpful.

Battle Value 2, of which the rules are located in TechManual. The MUL: BV list (a free download on the website) gives BV numbers for nearly all designs in the game.

[TigerShark]

Battle Value 2, of which the rules are located in TechManual. The MUL: BV list (a free download on the website) gives BV numbers for nearly all designs in the game.

Yes, but BV alone won't really balance a Clan - IS game. If I have 5 Clan 'Mechs, I could potentially bring 8 IS 'Mechs and 6-12 vees. The Clan 'Mechs would be hopelessly outnumbered unless terrain was in their favor.

I was asking if there's any mechanic around this.

[Welshman]

Hello,

In small scale games (less than 12 units per side), where the units are all predominantly the same type of units (Mostly Mechs, Mostly Tanks), the Force Size rules in Tech Manual (pg 314) are very effective.

Force Balancing does not work well in larger games or when you are using a very mixed combat force. Particularity the use of infantry, BA or Protos can slew your final BVs a bit. With experience and agreement of all players, these units can be used with player agreed to tweaks.

Best,
Joel BC