Much easier than the rules in FM:Mercs,
That was my hope. FM:Mercs made you roll for each combatant over a period of months. I figured there had to be a faster way.
but a bit dismayed when Medical Staff was included with Admins. I prefer a separate listing for Medical staff for expenses. That way, I can account for that unexpected viral outbreak that could sideline 50%-90% of the unit and put a drain on expenses.
I've seen that stated several times now. I guess I'll break them out or encourage the addition of MASH units.
I didn't care for the style of the Base Budget table, while I know I am free to do whatever I please. I would prefer to see something similar to the alternate mercenary creation rules in Mercs Supplemental for size escalation.
Use a table like: With a modifier for force size like:
2 - 7,500,000 Lance X 1
3 - 8,000,000 Company X 3.5
4 - 9,000,000 Battalion X 9
5 - 10,000,000 Regiment X 25
6 - 12,000,000
7 - 14,000,000
8 - 17,500,000
9 - 20,000,000
10 - 24,000,000
11 - 32,000,000
12 - 40,000,000
My original draft sort of did this, but I ran into problems with combined arms units. Those numbers you're providing are fine for 3025-era 'Mech forces, but this is an all-era, all-unit set of rules. 40 million is great for a lance of Atlases, but what's it mean for a force of infantry, tanks, 'Mechs, and aerospace fighters?
I notice that all the tables that mentions years and eras ends with 3130. This could obsolete the product before it is even out, since it is likely that the BattleTech timeline has reached 3250 before or just after IO comes out.
As far as I know, I'm not supposed to be concerned beyond 3150 and I only have material through c3135 to base the rules on.
I'm in the middle of creating a 3030s era mercenary heavy battalion (2 mech companies, 1 vehicle company, 1 infantry/artillery 'company') and I was wondering; if your force requires multiple dropships, how exactly could you go about handling this? The rules as written seem to only envision and give examples for a single dropship. Also, this is going to get hilarious fast when I have an entire battalion and maybe one Union as a transport, but that's the way the mercenary cookie crumbles I guess.
Keep rolling for all the large spacecraft you want. You could build a pirate lance with 5 Monoliths and 27 Excaliburs if you like, and the dice are friendly.
Edit: NEW QUESTION! What should I consider the 'ammo capacity' of a towed artillery piece to be for calculating ammo usage? I'm going with 4 tons, so the cost of a ton of ammo per month so I can keep going.
I'd have to look up towed artillery pieces. If they don't have a given ammo capacity, I'd set it at 1 ton capacity and then figure training usage from there.
A relatively easy fix to this problem; would be to allow combat personel to double shift for administrative and technical duties. At the same time allowing technical support personel to double shift for administrative duties. A chief tech spending a few hours a night assisting the quater master to ensure all the correct parts are requisitioned, isn't so far fetched.
The rules already address combatant personnel pulling double duty as technical and administrative personnel. What did you want different than those rules?
Read for example MCO 3501.23 head stamped 20 Sep 95. Marine tank crew training has two live ammunition training events per year with total ammunition use of 96 sabot training rounds and 96 heat training rounds. They are full sized and essentially real ammo.
192 rounds per tank, or about 10 tons per year, versus an ammo capacity of about 1 ton per tank?
Changing the subject...
I'm having difficulty understanding the following paragraph, from "Alternate Flexible Force Construction".
You roll 1d6 twice and check the result.
Do you add the rolls together? If so, why not call it 2d6?
Do you only determine if one die is odd or even? Then what's the second 1d6 for?
I can't figure out what is supposed to be done with the two 1d6 rolls. Maybe I just have bad reading comprehension.
The idea is to figure out if you have cash in the bank (positive balance) or if you're carrying debt (negative balance). So, there's two rolls.
The first is a 1d6 roll to give a random positive or negative result. An odd 1d6 roll (1, 3, or 5) means you're negative. An even roll (2, 4, or 6) means you're positive.
The second roll (2d6) is determine the size of your debt or credit in terms of monthly peacetime operating costs.
Example: Hanse doesn't like random starting budgets and decides to build a giant government force of about 100 'Mech regiments, 300 tank regiments, 500 infantry regiments, and scores of DropShips and JumpShips, calling it "the 3025 AFFS." While it's fun to build the force of your dreams, you might still end up in debt. Per the flexible force construction rules, Hanse first rolls 1d6 to see if his 3025 AFFS force is in debt or has a credit. He rolls a 3: an odd numbered result that means he's in debt. He then rolls 2d6 to see how big that balance is (in terms of the 3025 AFFS's peacetime monthly operating costs): an 11. Well, shit. Hanse's dream force, which he hopes to use to crush the Capellan Confederation, is running in the red to the tune of 11 months of peacetime operating costs. Hanse will probably have to marry some rich banker's daughter or something to keep this munchy "3025 AFFS" force running.Does that make sense? How would you recommend rewording the debt/credit balance in flexible force construction if it isn't sensible?