Author Topic: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board  (Read 10660 times)

Phocion

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Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« on: 26 September 2019, 08:58:27 »
Hi All

Thought I would post this here as I recently finished building a small board for playing skirmish size (2v2) games with friends.  We often don’t have time for full lance and up games and, as they are new to Battletech (and miniatures games in general), they have experienced nothing else but map-based play, so I thought this would be a good next step.

It’s 15x18 hexes, so only slightly longer than a single map sheet, with hexes not quite 50mm (2") point to point, or just over 40mm (1 5/16") flat to flat. They are larger than a standard map hex but not as large as I wanted to make them.  However larger hexes would have limited the number I could have squeezed onto the fixed board space and I needed to balance this with room for placing minis.  I left out any half hexes for simplicity.

I envisaged an arid, rocky (semi-desert or plateau) environment with the remains of a small caldera, crater or similar,  which over time had become a lake, allowing a few watercourses to cut into the landscape and vegetation to limit lines of sight and add cover.  Good terrain for skirmishes and meeting engagements by recon elements.  (Not) Coincidentally the sort of game we usually play. 

The base of the board is a 90x60cm (2x3’), MDF backed, cork notice board which I found in a stationery shop.  Design was drafted out on hex paper and revised until I was happy, then drawn onto the foam.  I used 20mm (3/4”) thick sheets of styrene insulation foam (blue foam) to build up the terrain layers, with one ‘sheet’ making up an individual elevation level.  So a level 2 hill is 40mm high, which nicely scales to the average mech mini.  We mostly use the old AS plastics, as we managed to dig up a complete set of lance packs between us and split the cost/mechs.  I have a decent collection of the IWM/RP minis too.  The newer plastics from my GOAC and Beginners boxes are noticeably larger and chunkier, which makes it a little harder to fit them in some places, but they still work nicely. 

Texturing was EVO-STIK liquid nails adhesive, which dries hard and will protect the foam, with plaster over the top, which was then molded/sculpted to make any features I needed. I glued sand over the top of that and then 2 shades of green scatter for heavy (dark) and light (light) woods.

Trees are made from bamboo skewers and those foam insert slips, that stuff you have been pulling out of mini-packs for years and wondering what to do with.  I soaked a whole bunch of them in a dark green paint and filler mixture, left them to dry hard, and then threw half into a blender (cleaning it carefully afterward, so as not to not upset my better half), then hot glued foam shapes made from the other half onto bamboo skewers.  I then used more hot glue to cover these shapes with the blended foam bits, with a quick drybrush to finish.  Cheap and easy!!  Trees aren’t stuck into the board and are removable for ease of storage and moving the board around.  I ended up with a generous additional helping of trees, which I couldn't use, due to the size of the new 2019 minis.  Their additional chunkiness meant I had to allow for fitting them in and around tree hexes, this meant reducing the eventual number of trees on the board.  So I am covered for spares and repairs.

All told this was pretty cheap, probably costing me around $70 or 50 Euros for the materials.  However, I only ended up using 1 of the foam sheets I bought, and despite buying a fretsaw for cutting out the hexes, I found it was actually easier to cut the foam with a knife, which could have saved a few pennies more.  The skewers and pack foam I had in quantity already and using these for the trees was a good way to keep costs down (*ahem* and get rid of my foam stockpile...…  Seriously, I KNEW those things were worth holding on to…. ^-^).

Photos attached.  Apologies in advance for the lighting, these were taken over the last few months, at differing times of day and in different conditions.  My man cupboard (it's too small to be a called man cave :)) only has a little skylight window and I am using my phone camera.

Hope you enjoy :)  Happy to hear any comments or questions.
« Last Edit: 26 September 2019, 13:41:46 by Phocion »

grimlock1

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #1 on: 26 September 2019, 09:13:00 »
Looks like that is some nasty close range terrain you got going on there.
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Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #2 on: 26 September 2019, 11:42:51 »
Pretty close to a standard map, and I see the influences of 3 different BT maps.  Is the whole thing on a bulletin board?
Colt Ward
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Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #3 on: 26 September 2019, 13:43:34 »
Yes its all on the bulletin board.  With the MDF backing its pretty sturdy and you could carry this around quite easily if you rigged a sling handle of some sort.

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #4 on: 26 September 2019, 13:49:36 »
Looks like that is some nasty close range terrain you got going on there.

I tried to keep some long lines of sight across the board, but those are mostly lifted above the +1 elevation level.  A PPC or gauss sniper can take advantage of the elevated ground to gain LOS, but they won't be able to camp in cover to do so.  Keeps things balanced.

Daryk

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #5 on: 26 September 2019, 17:43:51 »
Nice... if it was a little drier, it could work for my Astrokaszy games.  My theory is that DropShip impacts are enough to fracture the stone over the aquifer under the desert, and create an oasis wherever they happen... The survivors who bail out (and have a clue) will cluster around these oases, and a new pirate community is created!

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #6 on: 27 September 2019, 10:13:45 »
That would be an interesting board to build.  Have a crashed dropship hulk in the center, with ribs, decking and spars forming obstacles, elevation and LOS blockers, and then a township spread out around that, forming urban obstacles and LOS/movement channels.  Use geography at the outskirts to reinforce the character of the environment, so dunes/outcrops, plantations and oases etc. 

Hmmm......  ::)

Daryk

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #7 on: 27 September 2019, 17:03:30 »
Exactly!  :thumbsup:

Rick88

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #8 on: 07 November 2019, 12:16:26 »
Wow great work :))
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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #9 on: 07 November 2019, 13:15:03 »
That would be an interesting board to build.  Have a crashed dropship hulk in the center, with ribs, decking and spars forming obstacles, elevation and LOS blockers, and then a township spread out around that, forming urban obstacles and LOS/movement channels.  Use geography at the outskirts to reinforce the character of the environment, so dunes/outcrops, plantations and oases etc. 

Hmmm......  ::)

You build a physical version, and I'll have a go at one for MM? [grin]
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Things that I have learnt through clicking too fast on 'Move Done' on MegaMek: Double-check the CF of the building before jumping onto it, check artillery arrival times before standing in the neighbouring hex, and don't run across your own minefield.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can turn this into a MM map."

Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #10 on: 07 November 2019, 13:46:10 »
That would be an interesting board to build.  Have a crashed dropship hulk in the center, with ribs, decking and spars forming obstacles, elevation and LOS blockers, and then a township spread out around that, forming urban obstacles and LOS/movement channels.  Use geography at the outskirts to reinforce the character of the environment, so dunes/outcrops, plantations and oases etc. 

Hmmm......  ::)

So . . . this?
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Daryk

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #11 on: 07 November 2019, 17:27:59 »
Generally, but Unions aren't that big...

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #12 on: 10 November 2019, 04:15:22 »
Generally, but Unions aren't that big...

Sarna puts a union at 81 metres across, or three hexes.  So a grounded, intact union would cover a 7 hex circle on the map.  I guess you could make a good case for a crashed dropship covering a larger area, having ‘expanded’ a bit on impact  ^-^.  That small a space doesnt give you much creative freedom when it comes to terrain.  Id probably go for a larger, rarer dropship, like a behemoth or mammoth (200 meters or 7 hexes across), for a terrain feature as it is such a centerpiece and needs to be suitably impressive.
« Last Edit: 10 November 2019, 06:52:49 by Phocion »

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #13 on: 10 November 2019, 04:18:00 »
Wow great work :))

Thanks.  Having played a few games on the board now, It does make a difference to games.  The other players seem to appreciate it too.  Its not too hard to carry round and apart from plugging the trees in before we play, theres no setup needed.

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #14 on: 10 November 2019, 04:36:18 »
You build a physical version, and I'll have a go at one for MM? [grin]

 :)

Would be an interesting project.  I dont have the space to keep a larger board at the moment though.  The bits of dropship at that scale would present a challenge for storage as they wouldnt likely be very robust.  But i have jotted down a few ideas in my projects book for the future. 

Maybe when I have a bit more space.....

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #15 on: 10 November 2019, 08:03:17 »
You build a physical version, and I'll have a go at one for MM? [grin]

Maybe we can swap some ideas about the design though.

Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #16 on: 11 November 2019, 13:09:52 »
Sarna puts a union at 81 metres across, or three hexes.  So a grounded, intact union would cover a 7 hex circle on the map.  I guess you could make a good case for a crashed dropship covering a larger area, having ‘expanded’ a bit on impact  ^-^.  That small a space doesnt give you much creative freedom when it comes to terrain.  Id probably go for a larger, rarer dropship, like a behemoth or mammoth (200 meters or 7 hexes across), for a terrain feature as it is such a centerpiece and needs to be suitably impressive.

The width is for total, so its 3 hexes in diameter period.

But yeah, think about that dropship that crashed in MW4 causing a gouge on the terrain . . . or better yet, the crash zone from Pitch Black.
Colt Ward
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"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Simon Landmine

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #17 on: 11 November 2019, 14:07:15 »
Probably add some light (and heftier) structures made from reclaimed plating near the impact crater/oasis/lake. Because of the cracked aquifer, you'd probably end up with some vegetation in the area, too. And further out there might be dunes obstructing LOS, and possible wreckage from anything that fell off the falling DropShip, and/or debris from previous fights around the valuable water resource. Depending on the relief and the underlying geology, you might have a shallow stream running downhill away from the lake, towards land that was less suitable for the attempted failed landing.
"That's Lieutenant Faceplant to you, Corporal!"

Things that I have learnt through clicking too fast on 'Move Done' on MegaMek: Double-check the CF of the building before jumping onto it, check artillery arrival times before standing in the neighbouring hex, and don't run across your own minefield.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can turn this into a MM map."

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #18 on: 12 November 2019, 05:14:38 »
The width is for total, so its 3 hexes in diameter period.

But yeah, think about that dropship that crashed in MW4 causing a gouge on the terrain . . . or better yet, the crash zone from Pitch Black.

I probably wasn't very clear.  A union is 3 hexes across in any direction, but that means you have a central hex and then 6 outer hexes around that.  Hence a 7 hex circle, which gives you a 3 hex diameter.  Still not a large area to play around with when designing terrain.

Both your examples are good ones of an oblique angle crash.  Both more likely to be high speed and also more likely to result in significant destruction of the crashing ship, as it grinds itself to pieces and gouges that long furrow in the ground.  Contrast that to a closer to vertical descent, which is possibly going to be slower, such as a dropship's engines failing during a controlled descent (damage, lack of fuel, etc.).  Only one I can think of is the scene from Ep 2 Star Wars, where the clones shoot out the engines of that dropship trying to launch and it plunges back to the ground.  Though that was a comparatively short and slow drop.  That kind of descent will likely leave a deeper, but far more confined impact scar.  It might also directly transfer more energy to the underlying strata, fracturing the rock above the aquifer as discussed.  This is also dependent upon terrain, atmosphere etc.  So you have a lot of scope to define how your board will look and the terrain that will affect the games. 

I also quite like your examples because they both have a strong, thematic narrative, and use the 'show, dont tell' method of narrative building in different ways.  A lot of terrain building comes down to what type of game and terrain you want out of your board, and the narrative which supports the design.  How did your dropship crash, how fast was it going, how heavily loaded etc.?  I have found a narrative to be equally as important as the actual making of the terrain and the materials used.  It  helps shape everything else. 

Sorry, got rambling a little there, but I find this stuff interesting :)



Simon Landmine

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #19 on: 12 November 2019, 06:22:42 »
Sorry, got rambling a little there, but I find this stuff interesting :)

:thumbsup:
"That's Lieutenant Faceplant to you, Corporal!"

Things that I have learnt through clicking too fast on 'Move Done' on MegaMek: Double-check the CF of the building before jumping onto it, check artillery arrival times before standing in the neighbouring hex, and don't run across your own minefield.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can turn this into a MM map."

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #20 on: 12 November 2019, 06:34:50 »
Probably add some light (and heftier) structures made from reclaimed plating near the impact crater/oasis/lake. Because of the cracked aquifer, you'd probably end up with some vegetation in the area, too. And further out there might be dunes obstructing LOS, and possible wreckage from anything that fell off the falling DropShip, and/or debris from previous fights around the valuable water resource. Depending on the relief and the underlying geology, you might have a shallow stream running downhill away from the lake, towards land that was less suitable for the attempted failed landing.

I am thinking similar things.  If you were to go with a larger dropship, you could have some really nicely modeled ruined dropship elements, maybe standing in the small lake which has sprung up from the aquifer being cracked.  Probably at least towards the edge rather than dead center.  I am a big fan of 'off center' as it makes for a wider variety of tactical approaches and more usable terrain.  Putting the ship in the lake wouldn't be too hard to model and would provide great visual impact. 

The other thing I was thinking is that a dropship is pretty tall, they are often spherical/conical, so its going to stand proud.  A particularly hard impact or soft ground beneath the ship might embed the ship quite firmly into the ground, giving an excuse to build up elevation levels around the hulk to reduce the impact of its height.  Like a melon dropped onto a hard surface, the tough outer shell is often quite intact, or at least in large pieces.  So you could have large sections of hull plating, held upright by spars and ribs standing up as LOS obstacles, with some elements of intact decking allowing units to climb/jump and gain elevation.  As you said, some of the plating being stripped off would expose the innards of the ship, whilst time and weather might add to that effect.  You could also model elements of the interior still in place, maybe sections of decking, reactor or engine elements which are maybe too heavy or dangerous to move.

For vegetation, I cant get palm trees out of my head, they are thematic to an arid setting and also grow large enough to create light woods hexes that mechs could use for cover.  Scrub and cactus would also be atmospheric, although less likely to create terrain that mechs would worry about.

I like your idea of a 2 level board, with the dropship and town set on a harder level of bedrock, contrasted with the lower plain being sandier and soft.  That got me thinking about Dune and some ideas for desert terrain.  There's also a nice visual contrast to be had between irrigated land/crops and the dunes on the lower plain, then the approaches to the more built up nature of the town above, as well as the lake and DS hulk.  My venn diagram for the board now has 3 thematic circles :).  Probably dont want to over complicate at this stage.

It would be good to model some cargo or elements of the ship which have separated on impact or fallen around it.  Though the immediacy of survival needs would likely see these scavenged/removed or at least turned into something useful.  So it depends how far after the crash the board would be modeled.  Time and weather would also contribute to the deterioration of the hulk and how much was left.  I imagine it would take some time to scavenge such a large amount of material as represented by even a Union class DS, whilst a 100K ton mammoth would provide raw materials for quite a large settlement, supporting generations of survivors.......assuming they weren't poisoned or irradiated by living in such proximity to the wreckage :-\

Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #21 on: 12 November 2019, 10:59:28 »
I probably wasn't very clear.  A union is 3 hexes across in any direction, but that means you have a central hex and then 6 outer hexes around that.  Hence a 7 hex circle, which gives you a 3 hex diameter.  Still not a large area to play around with when designing terrain.


No . . . you have a lot of terms messed up.  Diameter is the whole width of the object, radius is half the distance (center to edge) . . . so when the the TRO entry says its 81 meters wide at its widest point . . . it means its 3 hexes wide period.  To put it in perspective, the old (which makes me feel old) Los Angeles class submarines were a bit over 100 meters long . . . or a Union is a bit under a football field wide.  Its also why, when the calculations are done (if you have ever heard Cray) a Dropship is going to have the density of a beachball- its easiest to just look the other way on setting issues like that, the guys who built the game were not engineers after all.

Actually, better than the MW4 example, did you ever play MC2?  They had a aerodyne dropship that had crashed landed and you had a few intact recognizable pieces and buildings integrating others- so like the nose & thruster set were intact, but the sides/ribs were used for shelters. 

As for cactus . . . I think you could do 2 CF 'woods' and if anything moved into/through them they are destroyed.  So they are concealment rather than cover and gives a little twist to some of the terrain for the map.  Think organ pipe, hedge, or even prickly pear.

Just to give you a idea-
Colt Ward
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"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Daryk

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #22 on: 12 November 2019, 17:13:32 »
*snip*
Sorry, got rambling a little there, but I find this stuff interesting :)
By chance, have you seen my thread down in Fan Fiction (or its companion in Non-Canon Units)?

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #23 on: 13 November 2019, 09:14:30 »
No . . . you have a lot of terms messed up.  Diameter is the whole width of the object, radius is half the distance (center to edge) . . . so when the the TRO entry says its 81 meters wide at its widest point . . . it means its 3 hexes wide period.  To put it in perspective, the old (which makes me feel old) Los Angeles class submarines were a bit over 100 meters long . . . or a Union is a bit under a football field wide.  Its also why, when the calculations are done (if you have ever heard Cray) a Dropship is going to have the density of a beachball- its easiest to just look the other way on setting issues like that, the guys who built the game were not engineers after all.

Actually, better than the MW4 example, did you ever play MC2?  They had a aerodyne dropship that had crashed landed and you had a few intact recognizable pieces and buildings integrating others- so like the nose & thruster set were intact, but the sides/ribs were used for shelters. 

As for cactus . . . I think you could do 2 CF 'woods' and if anything moved into/through them they are destroyed.  So they are concealment rather than cover and gives a little twist to some of the terrain for the map.  Think organ pipe, hedge, or even prickly pear.

Just to give you a idea-


I didnt use any terms.  I said that a union is 81 meters across, that its 3 hexes across, and that it covers a circle of 7 hexes, which I had to explain further.  But a 3 hex diameter circle does cover 7 map hexes.  I even went and counted :).  So I am pretty sure theres some misunderstanding going on.  Lets avoid unnecessary geometry lectures and just move on.

I did play MC2, though it was a long time ago, and I dont remember that bit.  Will see if I can find some screencaps of what you are describing.  There must be some on the web somewhere.

I like the idea of cactus 'woods', which would make the board look a little different and more alien.  Thick stands of native cacti equivalent, or an imported/engineered strain of Terran dry ecology flora are both feasible.  Again, great visual impact, yet recognizable.  Reflecting the destroyed state might be harder, though if they were spaced out around the hex, more like woods, there could just be a counter placed inside to track when they are destroyed.  Will have a think how you could model a hex of cacti to be able to be plugged in and out easily, though it  might get fiddly with large areas of this stuff.

EDIT: Flora, not fauna.  Duh!  ;D
« Last Edit: 13 November 2019, 15:41:33 by Phocion »

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #24 on: 13 November 2019, 09:15:36 »
By chance, have you seen my thread down in Fan Fiction (or its companion in Non-Canon Units)?

Nope :)

But I will go and have a look.  Thanks for pointing them out.

Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #25 on: 13 November 2019, 10:31:30 »

I didnt use any terms.  I said that a union is 81 meters across, that its 3 hexes across, and that it covers a circle of 7 hexes, which I had to explain further.  But a 3 hex diameter circle does cover 7 map hexes.  I even went and counted :).  So I am pretty sure theres some misunderstanding going on.  Lets avoid unnecessary geometry lectures and just move on.

I did play MC2, though it was a long time ago, and I dont remember that bit.  Will see if I can find some screencaps of what you are describing.  There must be some on the web somewhere.

I like the idea of cactus 'woods', which would make the board look a little different and more alien.  Thick stands of native cacti equivalent, or an imported/engineered strain of Terran dry ecology fauna are both feasible.  Again, great visual impact, yet recognizable.  Reflecting the destroyed state might be harder, though if they were spaced out around the hex, more like woods, there could just be a counter placed inside to track when they are destroyed.  Will have a think how you could model a hex of cacti to be able to be plugged in and out easily, though it  might get fiddly with large areas of this stuff.

The MC2 scene is the last mission for the first set, where you are in Steiner employ hunting Liao guerillas.  They send you to a island base to wipe them out. While looking for the image . . . apparently someone has made some visual mods for it now that its abandonware?  I cannot see how they could improve the AI, and you could make all the BT mechs that fit profiles when it came out, but seeing other 3050 Omnis and 3025 IS designs was neat in the images.  Unfortunately I cannot find a image to show it, may have to fire it up for a screen shot.

Well, the inside of cactus are green pulpy, so displaying it that way when they have taken fire or been stomped through makes some sense.

To clarify are you using the rules standard DS footprint or the actual Union size?  Because if you are going off Union size, then its three hexes- period.  You keep saying 3 hex diameter, which matches with 81 hex width because diameter is the width of a circle from side to side.  Even a 81 meter radius would not give you a 7 hex footprint since it would be 162 meters which would technically be 5.4 hexes, and so say a 6 hex footprint for the supposed ship design.  Basically it comes down to if you want to represent a Union by it's listed size on a map it only has to be 3 hexes.
Colt Ward
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"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Insaniac99

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #26 on: 13 November 2019, 11:48:49 »
To clarify are you using the rules standard DS footprint or the actual Union size?  Because if you are going off Union size, then its three hexes- period.  You keep saying 3 hex diameter, which matches with 81 hex width because diameter is the width of a circle from side to side.  Even a 81 meter radius would not give you a 7 hex footprint since it would be 162 meters which would technically be 5.4 hexes, and so say a 6 hex footprint for the supposed ship design.  Basically it comes down to if you want to represent a Union by it's listed size on a map it only has to be 3 hexes.

I'm not sure where you are getting this.

First pick any hex, then add two more hexes such that you have a straight line.  If you then add the two hexes from either side of the line, you create an approximation of a circle using a total of 7 hexes.  The diameter of that circle, would be 3 hexes, as any straight line from edge to edge of the circle in any of the 6 cardinal directions would be 3 hexes.

 Further, the rules in Total Warfare -- which I can get a page reference if you need but don't have handy at the moment-- state that dropships landed take up a 7 hex circle.


Colt Ward

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #27 on: 13 November 2019, 12:54:02 »
Okay, you are talking about the total surface area being 7 hexes (2/3/2), which is not the diameter.  Sorry, the way the terms were being used worked for a meaning of a 3 hex radius around the central hex for a diameter of 7 hexes.

The 7 hex coming from rules is what I was asking about, TW blanket/abstract or actual size of the DS.  Heh, I remember approximating grounded DS in MM way before any of the Aero stuff was in or that rule existed- BMR!
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #28 on: 13 November 2019, 13:48:40 »
I'm not sure where you are getting this.

First pick any hex, then add two more hexes such that you have a straight line.  If you then add the two hexes from either side of the line, you create an approximation of a circle using a total of 7 hexes.  The diameter of that circle, would be 3 hexes, as any straight line from edge to edge of the circle in any of the 6 cardinal directions would be 3 hexes.

 Further, the rules in Total Warfare -- which I can get a page reference if you need but don't have handy at the moment-- state that dropships landed take up a 7 hex circle.

What he said....

Phocion

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Re: Small Battletech 3d Terrain Board
« Reply #29 on: 13 November 2019, 14:15:30 »
The MC2 scene is the last mission for the first set, where you are in Steiner employ hunting Liao guerillas.  They send you to a island base to wipe them out. While looking for the image . . . apparently someone has made some visual mods for it now that its abandonware?  I cannot see how they could improve the AI, and you could make all the BT mechs that fit profiles when it came out, but seeing other 3050 Omnis and 3025 IS designs was neat in the images.  Unfortunately I cannot find a image to show it, may have to fire it up for a screen shot.

Well, the inside of cactus are green pulpy, so displaying it that way when they have taken fire or been stomped through makes some sense.

To clarify are you using the rules standard DS footprint or the actual Union size?  Because if you are going off Union size, then its three hexes- period.  You keep saying 3 hex diameter, which matches with 81 hex width because diameter is the width of a circle from side to side.  Even a 81 meter radius would not give you a 7 hex footprint since it would be 162 meters which would technically be 5.4 hexes, and so say a 6 hex footprint for the supposed ship design.  Basically it comes down to if you want to represent a Union by it's listed size on a map it only has to be 3 hexes.

The Liao bit is most of what I can remember of MC2, as it actually got me to go out and buy a few Capellan mechs.  I had a Menshen, Lao Hu and a couple of Anubis in a Lance.  Capellans arent my favorite faction in the BTU.

Ah nostalgia :)

But I have no recollection of that dropship, though I vaguely remember the mission you are talking about.  Will keep digging.... 

 

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