Juggling projects

I havent been posting too much due to real world issues, booking myself heavily with projects and some new distractions. I'm not dead or anything but until Im done with prep for my con games I dont expect to me posting again soon. Most likely the Saturday 5th will be a drop tourney game as I dont need to plan anything.

New Official Units

Until Catalyst provides official sheets for some of the mechs listed on the availability lists I, Friar and Scott have been tinkering with some stand-ins. Heres the Archer, in its most basic form Archer ARC-1A Mass: 70 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Primitive) Chassis Config: Biped Rules Level: Era Specific Era: Age of War/Star League Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/E-X-F Production Year: 2580 Cost: 5,591,640 C-Bills Battle Value: 1,229 - Show quoted text - 2 (R) Medium Lasers CT 6 2 2.00 LRM-20 RT 6 5 10.00 LRM-20 LT 6 5 10.00 Medium Laser RA 3 1 1.00 Medium Laser LA 3 1 1.00 @LRM-20 (12) RT - 2 2.00 @LRM-20 (12) LT - 2 2.00 Free Critical Slots: 29 I still have another vehicle entering final formatting and several ideas, but I can always use extra ideas - what roles are under served? I have a variant hovertank and a couple prototype VTOLs to test - and Im open to suggestion on how to get them posted on here from Heavy Metal Vee

Unit Spreadsheet

Here is the initial spreadsheet covering all units in the campaign. Unit Spreadsheet

Updates for the Reunification War Campaign

Heres some documents for the campaign, nailing down a few more ideas into facts. There are some changes so I strongly suggest reading them over. BV logistics document Equipment Availability I still have a unit roster to write up for everyone but at the moment I am having issues with my laptop, so it'll need to wait for my patience to recover.

Quick notes for the campaign

Objectives One of the biggest problems I have with mini games is the nasty habit of the game crawling down to one side battering the other to bits. Virtually all battles in this campaign will have a primary and secondary objective for each side, and they will not be directly related. The primary objective will be worth 2/3rds of the value rolled for the battle. This will represent the primary thrust for that side, and is priced accordingly. The secondary objective is not critical but will net a tidy bonus of 1/3rd of the total. So remember, the BV you receive for a battle represents materials provided by your side, scavenging, salvaging and other backdoor resource gathering. Do not forget that withdrawing from the field is a valid option to conserve your forces Salvage Salvage is a touchy topic but this is my initial thoughts for how to handle this in the game. The first thing a side needs to do is either hold the field of battle at the end of the game, or drag off the unit they want to salvage. Assuming they manage this the players on that side need to decide which player will get the salvage (yes it is possible to give an npc unit the downed mech with the goal of upgrading their force too). If players dont want to give away the unit, a player on that side has the option of "purchasing" the damaged unit for its BV (adjusted by condition) given to the other players (evenly) to represent the haggling and trading needed to unload the unit. There is also the option of selling off the unit to gain its BV for that side, adjusted for the tech on it, as the advanced electronics of an SLDF unit are quite valuable to the Periphery. As issues come up, I will post on here for what changes occur. Militia reliability As the militia troopers of the Outworlds Alliance are fighting for their homes, occasionally they will break ranks and attack the SLDF, even when its not a sound tactical choice. Each unit will roll for reliability on creation or introduction, with famous advisers mitigating this slightly. Since the players dont pay for their militia units, they DO NOT get to pick the quality level. Militia check when WMDs are used, when a civilian unit are fired upon, a civilian building is destroyed, or when an adviser is knocked out of action or communication. Reliability 2d6 roll to maintain composure Fanatical 3+ Regular 5+ Questionable 7+

Saturday 8/27

Saturday we will be playing. I am aiming for around noon (let me know if that wont work) to pick which era to run in and any sub-details that need hashed out.

I will have demo forces for two of the eras to give a feel for what makes them unique.

And it begins again...

As Friar is done with his story arc its time to start a new story. I plan on using a variation of Friar's Logistic system as its much faster and easier to run than previous systems, and the variations are intended to cover the quirks of specific eras. Yes, there are several different eras we can run in.

A) Star League era, specifically the Reunification War. There are two variations for this era, either playing as Star League forces or the Periphery forces. If we run as Star League forces, then you will play rather elite warriors fighting to unify the human race and fighting against unwashed hordes of under-trained forces. Playing as Periphery forces would be a game of under equipped, freedom fighters against tyrannical enemies.
**If you are familiar with Firefly/Serenity, this war is very similar to the war that the Browncoats lost - so do you want to be an Alliance soldier or a Browncoat? **

B) Founding of the Clans, Operation Klondike. This is a favorite of Brian, and works well for competitive play as different factions try to show up each other while fighting off their enemies. There will be advanced tech but a large chunk of the forces used will be limited or irregular forces like armed industrial mechs or converted vehicles.

C) Succession Wars. This is the original setting/era for Battletech, with the least available goodies. Repairing units is much more difficult as humanity did a good job of blowing up everything that can make replacement parts, and a technical support crew is as necessary for the long term as any warrior or unit. Pilots will somewhat tied to the units they own, so musical mech pilots is NOT an option.

D) Davion Civil War - nothing like a brutal civil war to drum up battles, though in a long running human tradition mercs are viewed as party crashers. Many weapon systems gained their baptism of fire in this era, as Inner Sphere technology tends to reach parity with the Clans.

E) Jihad era - when religious nuts decide to declare war on everyone, battle becomes a fact of life. As warfare spreads all over the known realm of mankind, the human tradition of finding new and interesting ways to harm each other results in another burst of technological development.

Regardless of which era we play in there are several caveats.
- I will be enforcing time periods, so some mechs, vehicles and weapons will only be available after certain years. Each mission will take place roughly 1d3 weeks after the last game.
- Each player will have to pick a faction their force is from, and this includes mercenary and pirate forces. Each faction will change the units easily purchased and give a bonus to represent what they are good at, like House Steiner having impressive mech production facilities, resulting in a small decrease in mech costs and access to more of the heavy and assault chassis.
- In some eras, technical support becomes much much more critical than usual, specifically the Succession Wars and Operation Klondike. Many of the battles in this era will end when one side signals defeat and withdraws. These are eras when units are hard to replace and a victory that results in a large number of casualties will destroy a force more thoroughly than any weapon strike.
- Do NOT expect all units or technologies to be available - I plan to hold to time periods and availability.

So I need votes on what era you are interested in playing most.