Active Technical Readouts* indicates Technical Readouts originally published by FASA or FanPro which have been reprinted by Catalyst Game Labs with errata corrections and new cover artwork.
What's the Deal with TROs 3145 and 3150?The "3145 series" marks a break with how TROs were handled in the past.
TRO 3145 Faction PDFs: Eight PDF-only releases, organized by faction (e.g. TRO 3145 Free Worlds League). These PDFs have all units in the series for that faction and only that faction. In a change from the old way, these PDFs also contain all record sheets for those units, including any variants mentioned in the text. These were the first releases in the 3145 series.
TRO 3145: Originally only available in print, but a year later made available as a PDF as well. Released after all the faction PDFs. It's mostly a reprint compilation of select units from each of the faction PDFs (with no changes made to them). There is some new material, however. It has a New Tech, New Upgrades section (NTNU): six pages of single-paragraph entries detailing new variants of units from older TROs that utilize new technologies (same idea as TRO 3085's ONN section). It also has 14 new Quirks not found in StratOps (though some of them debuted in other non-StratOps works and are reprinted here; any such quirks related to mechs were later included in the BattleMech Manual). Lastly, there's the Dark Age Technology Advancement Table, detailing which pieces of equipment changed rules level in 3145 (e.g. the Bloodhound Active Probe is Tournament Legal in 3145). There are no record sheets included in this book.
TRO 3150: PDF and Print. Features all units from the 3145 Faction PDFs not already collected in TRO 3145, plus some units from XTR: RotS I & II, ED: Dark Age, and TP: Irian. The new material consists of one all-new unit, new Notable Pilots, new variants for some entries, and another NTNU section at the back (different from the one in TRO 3145). There are no record sheets included in this book.
Record Sheets: If you bought all the Faction PDFs, you already have all the record sheets for everything except the NTNU units (you would also be missing the Quirks and Technology Advancement Table from TRO 3145, and the new material from TRO 3150, including the variants that debuted in that book).
There are two PDF-only record sheet compilations, released in 2022 (RS 3145 and RS 3150). If you buy those two PDFs, you get all the record sheets.
How to Get Everything: TRO 3145, TRO 3150, and the two PDF-only 2022 record sheet collections (RS 3145 and RS 3150) will get you everything possible: background text, record sheets, and new rules.
The faction PDFs are only required if you want to save some money by getting just the units for a certain faction; if you want everything, you can skip them.
What's the Deal with the new Mech-only Technical Readouts (TRO Succession Wars, Clan Invasion, Jihad, Dark Age)?These essentially are reprint compilations designed for new players who have just picked up a copy of the new box sets and the BattleMech Manual (all of which only have rules for Battlemechs) and need appropriate in-print TROs to use with them. The old TROs are full of vehicles, aero and other unit types that newer players won't have rules for (unless they bought Total Warfare). These new TROs also offer a more easily understood era-based approach to the setting, using the official era system. This is easier to grasp for new players than a series of books with a slew of dates for titles. However, none of these has all the mechs found in the earlier books they pull from and so ultimately they have very little to offer veteran players who already own the older TROs and aren't completists, other than snippets of lore at the start on the upcoming IlClan era.
TRO Succession Wars mostly fills in for TRs 3025 and 3039. It does add a very small amount of new variants, fluff and art (for the latter, mostly the reworked Unseen) and a dozen or so machines seen in TROs other than 3025 and 3039 (such as the Hammerhands, Galahad, Night Hawk, etc). If you already own TROs 3039, 3050 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, and 3075, you don't need this.
TRO Clan Invasion mostly fills in for TRs 3050(U), 3055(U), and 3058(U). If you already own TROs 3050 Upgrade, 3055 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3060, and 3067, you don't need this.
TRO Jihad mostly fills in for TRs 3060, 3067, 3075, and 3085. If you already own TROs 3060, 3067, 3075, 3085, 3085 Supplemental, and Project Phoenix, you don't need this.
TRO Dark Age mostly fills in for TRs 3145, 3150, Irregulars, and Prototypes. If you already own TROs 3067, 3075, 3085, Prototypes, 3145, and 3150 you don't need this.
Inactive Technical ReadoutsThe following out of print TRs have been replaced by newer products:
- 2750 - Replaced by TR 3050 Upgrade
- 3025 & 3025 Revised - Replaced by TR 3039
- 3026 - Replaced by TR 3039
- 3026 Revised - Replaced by TR 3039 and TR 3075
- 3050 & 3050 Revised - Replaced by TR 3050 Upgrade
- 3055 & 3055 Revised - Replaced by TR 3055 Upgrade
- 3057 - Replaced by TR 3057 Revised
- 3058 - Replaced by TR 3058 Upgrade
- DropShips and JumpShips - Replaced by TR 3057 Revised
- Vehicle Annex - Replaced by Vehicle Annex Revised
We are no longer collecting errata for inactive TRs. In addition, for books such as TR 3055 Upgrade or TR 3067 that were originally made by FASA and/or FanPro but were reprinted by Catalyst, the non-Catalyst prints are also considered inactive (because we fixed a ton of errata when they were reprinted); errata reports should only be made concerning errors found in the Catalyst prints of these books.[/list][/list]
