That is too bad..... Maybe the problem is that we've only got the first iteration of the rules in beta format. We have no idea what changes or suggestions have been taken heart at all so we have to rely upon supposition based on things we've read in the thread. It may be that he's got a RAT based alternate rules system all ready to go but we don't know it.
Here would be my suggestion:
1. roll for budget.
2. pick a RAT and roll on it
3. Subtract either the cost of the unit (if known) or the generic cost.
4. Rinse, repeat until you're done.
5. Roll skill randomly for each unit.
6. Proceed as per IO standard rules for the rest of the unit.
Now, the GM or group would have to step in to determine which RAT's could be used. It could be only one faction or maybe a percentage could come from others, especially those factions you're fighting and presumably savaging from. Again, depends on era. In the Star League Mark 1 you'd probably salvage each unit to break down for parts only and rely on factories for replacements, for example.
Just my thoughts.
- Shane
This is, essentially, the proposal I made back in reply 233 of this thread. Cray vetoed the idea, so I left it at that, but it's worth reviewing since it's come up again.
The idea is to have a few archetypal RATs from key eras and factions. You pick one as your primary and roll your force from that, plus (optionally) one secondary RAT for a small proportion of your force. This simulates things like a Lyran merc force with a lot of Draconis salvage, for example. You may substitute an era-appropriate variant of the same mech for a slight penalty. Custom mechs and those not on a RAT take an even larger penalty, but it lets you get exactly what you want.
I worked out that nine new RATs (plus the 13 already in TW) could give you quite a bit of variety. Those cover the vast majority of cases; pickier players can use any published RAT for greater fine-tuning. And any situation that
that doesn't cover can be handled by the player bypassing the default rules and simply choosing the units he wants. (It's worth mentioning that one of the objections to using RATs is that they weren't universal enough to cover every possible faction and permutation; however, looking at the force operation rules, it seems like they're primarily focused on IS merc and great house units. Players trying to operate Clan or Deep Periphery units are already going to have to make some tweaks.)
The primary limiting factor I proposed wasn't C-bill purchase price, it was monthly maintenance cost, which they'd have to figure out in any case and which better fits with running and expanding your force later. Lottery winners often ask themselves "What can I buy?" and go bankrupt, whereas if you're smart you look at the support costs over time and ask yourself "What can I support/sustain?"
Like I said, it went over like a lead blimp.
Regarding the "purchase price vs generic costs" issue, I'm not so worried about that. The problems seem to come when you try to use
both systems to set up an opportunity for arbitrage. Each option alone will create somewhat-odd/somewhat-canon forces (hence my proposed changes) but while there are oddities and differences, they aren't all that disruptive.
What about tech teams? There was a great conversation up-thread about it that kind of petered out. Has anything been decided on that score?
