| Cray |
| (General) |
| 08/12/08 06:57 AM |
| 147.160.136.10 |
Re: Dual Cockpit?
|
Quote:
I have heard of this "Dual Cockpit" from TRO: 3075 but cannot find any rules for it. Does anyone know what it is?
Which entry in TR:3075 has a "dual cockpit?" I ask because there's been a number of two-seater cockpits in BT but didn't remember editing a design with a command console or actual dual cockpit in the book.
To address all the possibilities...
Most 'Mechs have a spare seat in their cockpit so, technically, most mechs without small cockpits in TR:3075 will have a second seat. This may just be a fold-out seat with some safety straps in light and medium mech cockpits, but generally gets more elaborate in the cockpits of larger mechs, up to and including an ejection seat and some controls. The BattleMaster is the classic example of an over-developed "second seater" position. It has no game impact, but notionally the second cockpit provides some communication and sensor controls for a commander or observer to watch the battlefield while the MechWarrior runs the machine. The Warlord, a BattleMaster derivative in TR:3075, deletes this second position to streamline construction.
Vehicles often have multiple crew positions (technically, 1 crew per 15 tons, round up). The SM-1 in TR:3075, based on MWDA art, splits its two crew between two distinct bubble canopies. This has no game effect, it's just a normal multi-man vehicle crew compartment getting more description than is normal.
Then there's the Command Console that's been previously mentioned in this thread. It's a 3-ton, 1-crit item that goes in the head of a 'Mech. It is effectively a complete second cockpit for a second mechwarrior. It's primary function is to give elaborate controls to a battlefield commander who manages the battle while another mechwarrior runs the battlemech, giving the friendly side a +2 initiative bonus (similar to communications equipment on Mobile HQs). As a secondary function, it allows the commander to take over the battlemech if the first mechwarrior is knocked out or killed. I don't recall any Command Consoles in TR:3075, but I might be forgetting one.
Finally, there's the "dual cockpit." This item from the 2nd edition Mechwarrior RPG supplement, "Mechwarrior Companion" was, IIRC, a 1-ton, 1-crit Inner Sphere item in the mech's head. It turned mech operation into a 2-man job: one mechwarrior handled piloting while the other mechwarrior handled gunnery. At first, a 2-man team had piloting and gunnery penalties but as they got used to the division of labor, this Munchkin Machine gained substantial bonuses to piloting and gunnery. (As I recall, about -2 to each skill.) There were definitely no "dual cockpits" of this sort in TR:3075, since the munchtech is not going to be re-published.