Cray
01/22/04 08:24 AM
147.160.1.5
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[This is a repost of my April 2003 post on rec.games.mecha. I also have record sheets available if you're interested...but, apparently, I can't attach .pdf files. PM me if you're interested.]
This is a homemade rule set for mechs over 100 tons. Any comments that
"these don't belong in BT" or "don't fit the setting" or "these are
unbalanced" are unnecessary because that's all bloody obvious.
These super heavy mechs are NOT meant to be canon or official by any
means. They're meant to be for fun pick-up games unrelated to the
normal BT storyline. They're a chance to indulge your inner munchkin
with the biggest, baddest mechs ever (or walking artillery targets,
depending on your opinion) that can deal out levels of damage such as
has never been seen before.
Like the title says: rampant munchkinism.
***************************************
This is a 3-tiered approach of increasing munchkinism - pick the level
of insanity you want to descend to...or flee now.
The first "level" are the "crude first attempts" at super heavy mechs
and, arguably, are relatively balanced. These "super heavy mechs" have
extra heavy internal structures, no extra critical spaces, and are
slow. They are "limited" to 200 tons.
The second "level" is a refined "super heavy mech" with lighter
internal structures. They are still shackled by low speeds and
critical space shortages.
The third "level" refers to "dreadnoughts," which differ from "super
heavy" mechs by having more critical spaces, the option to use twin
engines, and an upper weight limit of 400 tons.
Again, feel free to use any, all, or none of these rules.
Examples of these obscenities in the www.classicbattletech.com Design
Forum, in the "Divine Light Dreadnought", "Wrath of Blake
Dreadnought", and "Stalwart Faith" threads. An example of "early"
Super Heavy mechs can be found in the Design Forum Thread, "FNR-1X
Fafnir." An examples of the more mature Super Heavy mechs can be found
in the thread, "150-ton Draconis March Thunderhawk" (which was also
posted on rec.games.mecha.)
THE FIRST SUPER HEAVY MECHS
A Lyran crash program to field a twin-HGR mech resulted in the Fafnir
FNR-1X prototype, which bloated to 120 tons before undergoing a severe
weight reduction program.
This effort used a crudely reinforced internal structure to bear the
enormous strains of the 120-ton mech. Aside from this double weight
endosteel frame (12 tons), the Lyran "super heavy mech" was built
little different than other, 10- to 100-ton battlemechs.
The FNR-1X did set a precedent (rule) for later super heavy mechs and
dreadnoughts:
Calculate the internal structure points of a "super heavy" mech by
adding the internal structure points of a 100-ton mech to the internal
structure of a (mech's tonnage - 100). A 120-ton mech thus calculates
its IS points by adding a 20-ton mech's internal structure to a
100-ton mech's internal structure (Center torso: 6+31 = 37; right arm:
3+17=20). We'll ignore 105-ton mechs for now (or treat them as a
95-ton mech + 10-ton mech).
Until the WoB Dreadnoughts appeared, Lyrans did not further pursue
"super heavy" mech technology and when they did, they purchased the
more evolved work of the Draconis March.
SUPER HEAVY MECHS COME OF AGE
The Draconis March received the wreckage of one of the FNR-1X
prototypes and considerably refined the technology. The Draconis March
effort focused on the chassis rather than the weaponry, hence its
advances.
Rules--
The Draconis March "super heavy" mechs calculated their internal
structure points like the original Lyran mechs. Further, the internal
structure of the head goes up by 1 per 25 tons. A 110-ton mech thus
has a 4-point internal structure for the head, while a 175-ton mech
has a 6-point internal structure.
Unlike the Lyran "super heavy" mechs, the internal structure was of
normal weight: 10% of the mech's mass, or 5% if endosteel.
The Draconis March also developed jump jets for the huge mechs. Mechs
up to and including 120 tons could use existing large jump jets like
90- to 100-ton mechs (2 tons per jumping MP). Jump jets are 3 tons per
MP for 125- to 165-ton mechs and 4 tons for larger mechs.
Super Heavy mechs are limited to 200 tons. (Yeah, get over it.)
Super Heavy mechs' sheer mass is useful in some piloting situations.
Checks to remain upright when firing HGRs are made at -2 for 105- to
150-ton super heavy mechs, and at -3 for 155- to 200-ton super heavy
mechs. Further, Super Heavy mechs do not make piloting roles for every
20 points of damage they take, but every 30 points. The huge mechs are
simply hard to knock over.
Otherwise, the Draconis March "super heavy" mechs were little
different than existing mechs when it came to construction. This
presented a problem: they had no more critical spaces than a 20-ton
mech. Super heavy mechs were thus unable to fully utilize their
available tonnage.
Factions--
In 3097, Clan Coyote fielded the first of the Clan Super Heavy mechs,
followed shortly by Clan Ghost Bear (who traded generously for the
technology). They are the only Clans known to field Super Heavy mechs
even in 3130. The other Clans prefer to amuse themselves by trying to
find the lightest possible mech they can use to destroy the lumbering
mechs. (An Ice Hellion victory with a 20-ton mech is the current
record holder; Hells Horses seems intent on destroying a super heavy
mech with a 15-ton or lighter conventional vehicle.) Clan Super Heavy
mechs seem to be about two steps removed from the "original" Draconis
March designs, indicating they are evolved from Draconis Combine
battlefield salvage.
The Draconis Combine has fielded several lumbering artillery platforms
and energy boats. The DC's Super Heavy mechs seem derived from plans
stolen from the Draconis March, not battlefield salvage. The Combine
does not field many Super Heavy mechs; it prefers to make them the
core lance of an assault company.
The Lyrans and Draconis March are the only other factions to field
super heavy mechs. Though the Draconis March had a head start, the
Lyrans fielded the most Super Heavy mechs by 3100. Lyrans like to
build entire companies of Super Heavy mechs and use them against
relatively immobile foes (defenders of fixed sites). The Draconis
March follows (or set) the Combine's example.
DREADNOUGHTS
The Word of Blake Jihad unleashed many horrors upon the Inner Sphere,
the least of which was not the WoB Dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts were
somewhere in the middle of the Official Word of Blake List of Horrors.
WoB Dreadnoughts expanded on groundbreaking work started at Stephan
Amaris's orders. The Behemoth (battlemech) had been a lightweight
prototype testing some of the technology and it failed, badly.
With the nigh-infinite resources and amazing ability to be super
secret about their plans, the Word of Blake pulled off another fast
one on the Inner Sphere. It developed the means to field titanic
bipedal warmachines of truly obscene sizes.
Dreadnoughts differed from "super heavy" mechs in the amount of
internal space they have available, their engines, and their internal
structure mass.
Dreadnoughts ranged from 110 to 400 tons. (If you have a problem with
this, please follow those other weenies, 'Mr. Game Balance' and 'Ms.
Sanity', through that exit over there. )
Internal Structures--
Dreadnoughts have two size options for their internal structure: small
and large. For a small internal structure, the structure is 15% of the
dreadnought's tonnage, or 7.5% if endosteel. For large chasses, it's
20%/10%. However, this extra internal structure tonnage represents
additional enclosed space.
For "small" chasses (small being a very relative term), the arms and
all 3 torso locations each gain an extra 6 critical slots. Fixed
equipment (arm actuators, gyroscope, engine) does not change in size.
The legs, though much bigger than in a 10- to 100-ton mech, are more
stuffed with over-sized actuators and have only the normal 2 crits
available. Likewise, the head does not change in size to keep it a
small target.
For "large" chasses, the arms and torsos gain 12 extra critical slots
each. The head also gains another 6 critical slots (often in the form
of a second deck buried in the torso). Again, fixed equipment
(including the normal cockpit stuff) does not change in size. Again,
legs do not gain crits.
Internal structure point values are calculated as with "super heavy"
mechs (for 105- to 200-ton dreadnoughts). 205- to 400-ton dreadnoughts
extend the pattern: use as many 100-ton chasses as possible, then the
difference. A 355-ton dreadnought would calculate its internal
structure points by adding together 3 100-ton locations and a 55-ton
location. Its center torso would be 31+31+31+18=111. Its left arm
would be 17+17+17+9=60.
Dreadnought heads follow the "super heavy" mech pattern: +1 point per
25 tons over 100 tons. 355 to 400-ton mechs have 15 points of head
internal structure.
Engines--
While dreadnoughts are not as cramped as "super heavy" mechs, they do
have another problem: they're slower than slugs. 400-ton dreadnoughts
almost unavoidably top out at 21.6kph (without TSM, MASC, and/or
superchargers). Therefore, one of the critical targets for WoB
researchers was engine technology.
The first prototype dreadnoughts wandered around with XLs and XXLs,
but were limited to existing engine ratings (and incredible price
tags). The roomy torsos of dreadnoughts did open a fascinating option:
XLs and XXLs entirely within the center torso. This is all or nothing:
XXLs cannot fit entirely within the CT of a dreadnought with a small
chassis, so it must occupy the usual 6 side torso slots. Dreadnoughts
with small chassis can thus only fit light and XL engine extra
critical slots in their CT. Dreadnoughts with large chasses can even
fit Large XXLs into their CTs.
Later, some unsung genius in the WoB dreadnought team realized that,
hey, an XL engine occupied as much room as two normal engines, so why
not use two engines? After some experimentation, it was discovered
that mounting twin light engines, XLs, and/or XXLs in a mech resulted
in an immediate multi-megaton nuclear explosion. The reason is unclear
to this day. Similarly, trying to mount more than two engines in a
mech also generated a multi-megaton nuclear explosion (this was an
extremely baffling from the Triple ICE experiment). Finally, trying to
mount different sized engines in the mech merely caused a messy
meltdown. (How the twin IC engines' burning kerosene managed to melt a
tunnel to China is uncertain.)
Clearly, the only multi-engine combos that worked were twin ICEs, twin
compact engines, and twin standard engines. They had to have the same
rating, thus some rounding up in the engine rating was necessary. (A
355-ton mech with a walking speed of 1 could use 2 180-rated engines
or 2 355-rated engines.) Each standard fusion engine occupied 6
continuous crits in the center torso.
Keep track of which engine was hit - it's possible for a mech to take
4 engine crits without having an engine wrecked. And a twin-engine
dreadnought can function with one engine at half-speed. (Recalculate
walking MPs, rounding down, then recalculate running MPs accordingly.
If the dreadnought already had 1/2 movement with both engines, it only
has 1 MP after.)
Heat Sinks--
Single-engine dreadnoughts follow normal heat sinks rules.
Twin-engine dreadnoughts get 20 heat sinks (10 per engine) free. Hey,
this is munchkin territory already, so don't complain. I don't want to
hold back your munchkin designs with heat problems. Treat each engine
individually when it comes to calculating how many heat sinks they can
hold - don't add the engine ratings together before seeing how many
heat sinks can be engine mounted.
Jump Jets--
Let's keep this simple: 3 tons per MP at 105-150 tons, 4 tons at
155-200, 5 tons at 205-250, etc. Amazingly, the jump jets remain 1
crit per MP. They just use very dense, high temperature materials that
make them so heavy, like iridium-plated tungsten. Yes, the jump jets
of "super heavy" mechs are somewhat more efficient. Deal with it.
Crowded Cockpits--
For 1 ton and 1 crit, "crew quarters" can be fitted to a dreadnought's
cockpit. This is a cramped bunk and facilities for 1 person.
For 0 ton and 1 crit, "elbow room" is available. Each crit of "elbow
room" gives about as much space as a normal mech cockpit (imagine:
consoles, ejection seat, passenger jump seat, equipment lockers), but
without the trimmings. The Word of Blake found this useful on "command
dreadnoughts," to give commanders some pacing room and room to stand a
half deck above the rest of the crew while shouting orders, like on a
movie warship's bridge. "Elbow room" is only available for the Head
hit location.
Multiple command consoles may be fitted into a dreadnought's head.
Each provides normal command console initiative bonuses to one "level
2" unit (I mean, 6 mechs. I think an L2 unit is 6 mechs. If not, I
mean 6 mechs.) And the bonuses can't stack.
There's always room for "dual cockpits", too.
Piloting--
Dreadnoughts' sheer mass is useful in some piloting situations. Checks
to remain upright when firing HGRs are made at -2 for 105- to 150-ton
dreadnoughts, and at -3 for 155- to 200-ton dreadnoughts. 205-ton and
heavier dreadnoughts do not need to make piloting checks to stay
upright when firing HGRs. Further, dreadnoughts do not make piloting
roles for every 20 points of damage they take, but every 30 points
(105- to 200 tons), 40 points (205- to 300 tons), or 50 points (305-
to 400 tons). The huge mechs are simply hard to knock over.
Height--
Given the cubic relation between mass and height, mechs actually don't
grow (in height) all that fast as their tonnage goes up. A mech that
is a 2-fold scale model of the Atlas (i.e., twice as tall, wide, and
deep) is either eight times as massive as the Atlas or less dense.
Therefore, surprisingly, a lot of dreadnoughts aren't much bigger (in
terms of height) than a normal-sized battlemech. 105- to 200-ton
"super heavy" mechs and dreadnoughts are 2 levels tall. At the
designer's discretion, 205- to 400-ton dreadnoughts can either be 2
levels or 3 levels tall.
3-level tall dreadnoughts face some interesting circumstances from
terrain. Most are obvious, but partial cover needs clarification. A
3-level tall dreadnought does NOT have partial cover behind a level 1
hill or building. It is, effectively, completely exposed to enemy
fire. (Its legs are partly covered, but sorting out modifiers to hit
the legs would just be annoying, hence this simplification.) A 3-level
dreadnought behind a 2-level hill has normal partial cover.
Terrain "Modification"--
Realistically, the larger dreadnoughts don't exert all that much more
ground pressure than normal-sized mechs - their feet get bigger, even
if sometimes they end up with silly looking super-sized feet. This
means they don't risk all that much more trouble from soft terrain, or
damaging terrain.
But, let's face it, if you're playing with dreadnoughts, you're
playing for maximum destruction and mayhem. Why not destroy terrain,
too?
As an optional rule (within this optional, homemade rule set), you can
use the following terrain modifications:
1) When a dreadnought falls over, it makes the hex "rough"
2) When a dreadnought jumps, it craters the hex it left (cratering per
MaxTech rules)
3) If the flat terrain a dreadnought walks through is deemed to not be
solid rock or paved road, the terrain is converted to rough.
4) A dreadnought passing through a wooded hex reduces the woods by one
level in thickness (heavy to light, light to rough) like weapons fire.
Clan Dreadnoughts--
Thus far, no Clan dreadnoughts have been seen. A Clan Ghost Bear
Leviathan 2 crewman was quoted as saying, "Dude, and you call us
cheesemeisters? Heh."
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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tgsofgc
01/22/04 04:15 PM
67.4.199.151
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Man Cray I like yours... The first ones I have seen allowing up to 400 tons. But still I was expecting some Munchkin Abomination sized 'Mechs... after all whats a little more cheese.
I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used.
-Commander Nathaniel Klepper,
Avanti's Angels, 3058
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Cray
01/22/04 04:55 PM
68.200.106.169
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Odd, isn't it? I found it easy to sketch up 10000-ton tanks (I mean, we have the shuttle crawler, after all), but mechs? 400 tons seemed like a good limit.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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tgsofgc
01/23/04 12:12 AM
67.4.202.232
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Hey if Cray refuses I get first crack.... I have a good idea to start with, just believe me.
I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used.
-Commander Nathaniel Klepper,
Avanti's Angels, 3058
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