Callisto
01/09/18 09:25 AM
166.137.252.22
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As a new player does anyone know if the core rule books and box game will be reprinted as I dont want to pay the absorbent prices on the second hand market.
Thank you in advance
Chris
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Karagin
01/09/18 03:09 PM
72.176.187.91
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Here is the older ones aka the Classic rules:
https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-vintage-rulebook-bundle-pdf
The newer rules:
https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/pages...ble_semantics=1
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Callisto
01/09/18 06:41 PM
74.88.38.30
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Thanks. Are the old rule books still good to use?
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Cray
01/09/18 08:44 PM
50.88.162.46
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Quote:
Thanks. Are the old rule books still good to use?
Pretty good. Over the last 30 years, the changes tend to be in the fine print, not the basics. A copy of BattleTech Master Rules, Revised from 2001 isn't going to have any major conflicts with the latest copy of Total Warfare, and 'Mechs you designed in 1990 will still be usable at the board today.
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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Karagin
01/09/18 10:18 PM
72.176.187.91
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I have run across folks who only play the older rules, that is what they like, and while I have read the new rule books, I am not 100% on all of the new stuff mainly because I don't get time to play as I once did.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Callisto
01/10/18 07:36 AM
166.137.252.49
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Thanks again guys. Fyi i sent an email to catalyst games and they replied the books are scheduled for reprint in the spring. I prefer a hard copy but will use a pdf till then.
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TigerShark
01/10/18 02:15 PM
12.130.166.32
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The PDF is actually the best way to go.
(a) it's a searchable document
(b) you can have multiple on the same tablet or laptop during a tabletop game
(c) PDFs are updated regularly (well... maybe "annually?") with errata -- hard copies are not
"A" is really the big one, since Total Warfare has such a terrible layout. It's much easier to search for, say, "indirect" as a term and find it everyplace in the book, than to hunt around for the specific section you want. ex.: "Does TAG spotting provide any benefit for indirect fire with standard missiles?"
Would that be under "indirect fire" or "TAG"? Much easier to search than flip around.
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tmr01750195
01/15/18 03:55 PM
76.121.197.44
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Hello Callisto,
Welcome to the forum and the BT universe. I'm more into the hard copy of the books, but since I'm running out of storage space for them I've begun buying the PDF versions. I agree that PDFs make searching easier which is a plus for me. In my opinion, the last rule books from FASA and Fanpro are 90 odd percent compatible with Catalyst Game Labs rules.
If there are any questions the long time members of the forum are really good at helping out with questions, even with slow witted people like me who has a tendency to be an unintentional rules lawyer.
Another thank you to the forum members for your help with my questions and another welcome to you for joining the forum.
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ATN082268
01/16/18 09:40 AM
69.128.58.222
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Quote:
Thanks. Are the old rule books still good to use?
I don't think there are a lot of significant changes from the older Battletech rule books to the newer ones, so you should be fine with using the older books unless you are in a tournament or something like that. The changes that I can recall offhand are: partial cover adds only a penalty of +1 to hit but any hits on the legs are counted as misses, vehicles and infantry are generally harder to kill and Battlearmor is a little easier to kill (with artillery). Of course, if Catalyst has changed anything recently, these may not apply and/or there may be more changes 
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TigerShark
01/16/18 06:47 PM
12.130.166.32
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1. Infernos can no longer be loaded into streak launchers
2. Infernos cause motive crits to vehicles
3. Piloting skill chart has been altered: It's now a 15% increase per Pilot level and Gunnery is now multiplied by Piloting to produce the BV modifier
4. Partial cover no longer grants a +3 to-hit penalty and no longer rolls on the Punch table for a hit
5. Physical attacks are made like Gunnery attacks, and run off of the Piloting skill (in addition to other modifiers which would normally apply to the Firing Phase, such as Attacker Movement Mod)
6. Kicks get a -2 bonus to hit, Punches get +0
7. Aerospace no longer use a "radar map" and have an entirely new movement type on Ground maps (included in Total Warfare)
8. Levels no longer apply. The new levels are "Introductory, Tournament, Advanced"
9. Technology is divided into "introductory, standard/Star League, advanced, experimental, unofficial, era specific"
10. Anti-Missile Systems only use one shot per missile defense; they no longer roll on a table for ammunition expenditure
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Wrangler
01/22/18 08:11 AM
50.199.229.75
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BattleMech manual maybe reader friendlier book. It has a lot hints for new players help navigate the rules we have and some guide lines on what common mistakes of miss-interpiting the older rules too.
Only downfall to that book is it only covers the Mech related things only, Total Warfare covers everything all the basics, but it can be confusing.
When it hits the fan, make sure your locked, loaded, and ready to go!
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