Were Brent to come to me and say, "Bosch, I want you to redo the Technical Readout line," here's what it would look like. All would be 194 pages total, with 92 different 'Mech entries each; no other units would be included in the print volumes.
I
think that printers use 16 page signatures because reasons. Your 194 pages work out to 12.125 signatures of 16 pages and that might not be good for printers. If you bump up to 13 signatures of 16 pages, you get 208 pages. That could give you 102 'Mechs per volume. Don't know if that is good or bad. (If they use 12 page signatures, your 194 pages work out to 16.16666666 signatures. 12*16 though gives you 192 pages which works out to be 91 'Mechs.)
One major change I'd make right off the bat is to change the stat blocks. Right now the game stats are basically a design spreadsheet, but players don't really need to see the mass of components, and some critical information is missing. I'd replace it with what players need to fill out record sheets: where each item is, and how many spaces it takes up.
I'm confused. Don't we already have this info in the current TROs? What is the critical information that's missing?
With that change alone, the need for record sheet volumes is dramatically reduced, freeing up company resources to focus on actually-profitable areas. The in-universe state block would slightly change to list how many tons of ammo is included with each weapon, and OmniMechs would have their Prime loadout listed here along with their available pod tonnage.
(Snip)
So the in-print and in-stores line would be just five books, 194 pages each, and far easier to keep in print. The new names and 'Mech-only contents would make it far simpler for non-fanatic customers (i.e., not us) to figure out what books they want and keep the focus of the game on the giant robots.
So these products are sort of an Starter TRO for an era. That makes sense to me.
PDF-Only Books (hopefully print on demand, too)
Technical Readout: <era> Supplemental(s): A series of books that include any 'Mechs cut from the old Technical Readouts. Varied lengths, one for each era.
Technical Readout: <other unit type>: A series of books, each collecting a different non-'Mech unit: fighters, WarShips, infantry and battle armor, etc. If any end up excessively long, they'll be split into two volumes in whatever fashion seems convenient.
Technical Readout: Experimental <unit type>: Omnibus editions of the XTRO series, one each for 'Mechs, fighters, and vehicles. Perhaps expanded with new material.
My only comment here is that for the
Technical Readout: <other unit type>: you consider changing it to
Technical Readout: <era> <other unit type>: to keep it consistent with your Core TROs.
Two questions:
1. Are you thinking of 194/208 page limits like you described earlier?
2. Would certain problematic units (WarShips, DropShips, some power armors) get re-statted to match current construction rules?
The main challenge would be where to put unit variants. Personally, I'd be okay leaving them in legacy materials, but perhaps the Supplementals could include the new stat blocks for the gazillions of different Marauders.
That could be interesting, but I don't know if I'd put down money for a TRO:Warhammers or TRO:Marauders. I'd have to think about it some more. Maybe this could be expanded to include player submissions? Sort of a design contest thing that might bring in new players? *shrug* I don't know.
One idea that strikes me is to change the Tech Readouts to portrait format, allowing home printers to more-easily assemble loose leaf binder collections.
This is an idea I really like. Plus they'd fit on a bookshelf with other materials.