Mechwarriors changing mechs

[Ragnaphael]

For a concept that I'm working on, I was thinking about mechwarriors and vehicle crews and how easy/difficult it would be to reassign these to other units. Is a mechwarrior able to just hop in a different mech, do some personalisation and configuration, and start moving with it? Or does it take something akin to a typerating for airline pilots? And similarly for vehicle crews. I'd imagine it being a bit more arduous for vehicle crews, since they do not have the luxury of neural links and need to learn the details of each vehicle. I tried searching for this, but have not found anything about this thus far.

[Lazarus Sinn]

I would think what they are moving from and to would have an impact. If someone was used to piloting a Panther they could move to a Griffin much more easily than an Atlas and vice versa. Ultimately, they would need to learn new muscle memory reflexes for more or less complex weapons configurations and movement abilities for each new Mech. And after they were in the new Mech long enough they would need to re-learn the old Mechs capabilities if they went back to it, but with a much shorter learning curve. 

In game play I would impose a piloting and gunnery modifier for at least the first battle if they did not have time to acclimate to the new Mech.

[Kovax]

I would assume that normal simulation training would provide some general cross-training, so the pilot of one type could move to another with only limited disorientation.  Basically, I would expect them to be able to perform all "simple" tasks without any significant trouble, but probably suffer penalties for difficult actions in an unfamiliar ride.

Essentially, I would treat their piloting skills as one worse for some period of time (1-2 weeks?), and if the weapons configurations are considerably different, add a gunnery penalty only for the things that are different.  If the change is expected well in advance, allowing for simulator time to familiarize themselves with the new unit, reduce that to only a couple of days in the cockpit to become proficient.  Someone who "grew up" with a family 'Mech, rather than taking the normal and more general course of formal training on a variety of chassis types, might take a lot longer to readjust, because some things may need to be "unlearned".

[dgorsman]

I would expect Omni-qualified pilots (so pretty much any Clan trueborn) to have a much easier time with different weapons and equipment configurations.

[CJC070]

According to my Game Master depending on the training it should take one-three months to adjust during that time you take a penalty to both piloting and gunnery.  He also said it depends on what game you are playing and these are his rules.  For vehicle crews I would treat it like going from a car to a half ton truck.  There are differences but the similarities outweigh them.

[R.Tempest]

 In Wolves on the Border, Tetsuhara was assigned a Vindicator by the Dragoon's since they didn't have a Panther he could use. They are similar mech's & he had no problems piloting it.
 I see it both ways. A mech of similar size (say within 15 tons or so), a similar weapons arrangement, & identical movement shouldn't be all that difficult. Wider differences should require more adjustments (and going to a quad from a biped should require major adjustments).

[Nav_Alpha]

There is an off the cuff comment/joke in one of the Pardoe novels - the early Archer Christofi book on Thorin, where the narrator says it’s sort of like dating someone new after being with someone else for a while. You know where everything goes and you know what you’re doing, but things are just slightly different and it takes some getting used to.
He swapped from a Penetrator to.... I want to say Blackjack(?) in that novel as part of an op using captured enemy equipment and IFFs.

[massey]

Rule-wise there's no difference.  You can pilot an Atlas as easily as a Locust.  Fiction-wise, whatever you want.

[Fat Guy]

It'd be like switching cars. In your current car (if you've had it for a while) you know without looking where all the various controls are, know exactly how much gas to give it to accelerate to a given speed, pretty much where the front and back ends are for parking, how it handles in a tight turn, ect...

Buy a new car and there's a bit of a learning curve before you get all that back.

[Colt Ward]

According to my Game Master depending on the training it should take one-three months to adjust during that time you take a penalty to both piloting and gunnery.  He also said it depends on what game you are playing and these are his rules.  For vehicle crews I would treat it like going from a car to a half ton truck.  There are differences but the similarities outweigh them.

This is rational . . . and I have used something similar in campaign.  The issue is when you start flipping weights, method of walking and armaments.  The cited Panther to Vindicator makes sense- movement curve is the same, weight is close, weapons have similar placement, and the exchange is from less to more weapons.  When I do battlefield repair salvage as a merc CO, I try to exchange like to like- for instance, I had a UAC/5 take crits and after check time it was faster to remove the old one and replace it with a LB-5X.  When I have a mechwarrior shot out of machine- or it goes down for longer repairs than I have between scenarios (or lack the parts)- then I might shuffle mechwarriors between similar weight classes.  Or vice-versa, had a mechwarrior take 4 injury hits and while her mod Orion 1-K was put back together overnight she would have been in no condition to pilot it . . . so I pulled a mechwarrior from a marginal heavy with ACs & missiles to pilot the Orion because it had more combat power.  RP'd it, the unit had to give her a bonus since it was a personal machine rather than merc company owned.  I have also had a 3025 Grasshopper pilot take over a salvaged Grasshopper 6K when his machine got a leg blown off in a mission.

One thing you could do to simulate this . . . like in the Panther to Vindicator example, the piloting skill would be the same due to same movement curve & walk style while the gunnery drops one level (in Iron Man's case, drop from vet? to reg) but getting a Weapon Skill bonus for PPC to reflect his actual skill in firing that weapon he is familiar with from his usual ride.

Mercs should honestly be cross training when possible (aka, if they own simulators or have access to employer simulators) on each mech in their inventory with in reason . . . I am not going to stick the elite Marauder 9S pilot in a Ostscout 7K as part of a regular training rotation- its a waste for me in most missions to make pilot that mostly unarmed mech.  Familiarization training should be standard . . . while I qualified for a lot of the weapons in my unit's inventory (M-16/4, M203, Mk 19, M249, and I forget what else) I also did familiarization training with the rest- M2 50 cal, M240B, and crap Beretta.  Was I going to be proficient with the M2 like I was with the Mk 19 (had to put grenades in the barrels a couple hundred meters away)?  No . . . but I knew how to operate and load it.