newbie q

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JStallion
01/31/04 10:04 PM
69.47.164.192

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ive been around battletech for awhile but the board game i decided to learn a few weeks ago and just got the old boxed set w/ the warhammer on the front, but i read the books and all and got a print out from this page about newer weapons that the boxed set cant cover so im left with some unanswered Qs. how do LBX autocannons work, i mean how do u spread the damage of their "shotgun" shot different than youd disperse the damage of normal autocannons or ultra? Also, when writing down the stats for a mech on its record sheet thing how do u know where to place its heat sinks? i have the technical readouts but some of them dont say where, so when blowing off a limb or destroying part of the torso i dont know how many heat sinks to get rid of. any help with this would be greatly appreciated
CrayModerator
01/31/04 11:48 PM
24.165.244.75

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LBX AUTOCANNONS

LBX ACs can carry two types of ammo: normal and cluster. Before battle, you state which ton of ammo on a mech or vehicle will be cluster or normal. For example, if a mech had an LB10X AC and 3 tons of ammo, it could carry 3 tons of cluster ammo, 2 tons of cluster ammo and 1 ton of normal ammo, 1 ton of cluster ammo and 2 tons of normal ammo, or 3 tons of normal ammo.

During battle, you decide which type of ammo you will fire at the beginning of a turn. You can switch to a different type on the next turn.

Normal LBX ammo works like normal AC ammo. If you have an LB20X AC firing normal ammo, it will do 20 points of damage in one location.

Cluster LBX ammo works kind of like missiles. First, you roll on the # of missiles chart to see how many pellets hit. For example, if you fired cluster ammo from an LB20X, you would roll on the 20 column of the missile chart. If you rolled a 7, then 12 cluster pellets hit the target. Then you roll to see where each pellet (which do 1 point of damage each) hit separately. If 12 pellets hit, you would roll for 12 separate hit locations. Cluster ammo is very good at wrecking vehicles and when you're firing at the punch hit locations of a mech (like when the target has partial cover).

HEAT SINKS
Some heat sinks automatically go in the engine. You divide the engine rating by 25 (round down). That's how many heat sinks get "hidden" in the engine. If your mech had a 250-rated engine, 10 heat sinks would be put in the engine - you would not place those heat sinks in critical slots. If your mech had a 255, 260, 265, or 270-rated engine, it would also only put 10 heat sinks in the engine. If it had a 275-rated engine, it would put 11 heat sinks in the engine.

Remember, mechs start with 10 heat sinks automatically. If a mech has a small engine (245 rating or less), some of those heat sinks will have to be placed in critical slots.

Now, where do you put heat sinks that didn't fit in the engine? Anywhere you want (almost). If you have an open critical slot, you can put a single strength heat sink in there. Double strength heat sinks use 3 critical slots (or 2 if they're Clan), and those slots all have to be grouped together in one hit location. You cannot put Inner Sphere (3 slot) double heat sinks in the legs because the legs only have 2 open critical slots.

Now, there's kind of the issue of "What about when I use existing mech designs?"

The rule "put heat sinks where ever you want to" works best for custom designs. For existing, published mech designs in technical read outs...well, there are books of mech record sheets for published designs. However, if you don't have the Record Sheets, you're free to put them where you want to. You should always put them in the same spot on all the copies of those published mechs you make, but there are no rules insisting you do that.
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.
JStallion
02/01/04 12:04 AM
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thanks a ton, itll help me a lot
JStallion
02/01/04 01:39 AM
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one more Q
according to the weapons list given from this site...
ER Laser (Large) 12 10 — 1-8 9-15 16-25 26-30
ER Pulse Laser (Lg) 13 10 — 1-7 8-15 16-23 24-30
whats the benefit of the ER pulse lasers? it seems like just the ER is better, less heat and tons w/ more range then the ER pulse one
CrayModerator
02/01/04 08:39 AM
24.165.244.75

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ER Pulse Lasers are, in fact, a "level 3" weapon of dubious value.

Weapon levels?

Over the years, Battletech has seen several surges in technology. Once upon a time, there were only basic weapons like plain SRMs, plain LRMs, plain Autocannons, plain lasers, PPCs, and MGs. This was for the 3025AD setting. Then technology jumped forward to include XL engines, double strength heat sinks, endosteel structures, ferrofibrous armor, ER lasers, ER PPCs, LBX autocannons, ultra autocannons, Clan technology, etc. Finally, the "Maximum Technology" supplement was released with a lot of optional rules, including high tech prototype weapons and equipment.

The 3025 era is Level 1, L1.
The 3050-3067 era, and Star League era (~2600-2770), and Clan Tech are Level 2, or L2.
More advanced prototype technology (i.e., optional rules and optional gear) is L3.

ER Pulse Lasers were a product of Clan testing. They have not been made "official" like some other advanced technology.

ER Pulse Lasers probably are less effective than normal Clan ER lasers, though they do have a -1 to-hit bonus (getting some, but not all, of that pulse laser to-hit bonus). Personally, I'll take Clan Pulse Lasers (-2 to-hit, and about the same range as Inner Sphere ER lasers) over both ER lasers and ER Pulse lasers.
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.
Iceman
02/01/04 10:38 AM
217.129.240.212

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Quote:


Over the years, Battletech has seen several surges in technology. Once upon a time, there were only basic weapons like plain SRMs, plain LRMs, plain Autocannons, ...





You mean, *one* autocannon
JStallion
02/01/04 11:18 AM
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thanks a lot, which book has all that info? maximum tech?
CrayModerator
02/01/04 04:30 PM
68.200.106.169

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The "Battletech Master Rules, Revised" covers all L1 and L2 weapons.
L3 weapons are scattered between several sources (with more upcoming shortly), including "Maximum Technology," "The Tactical Handbook," "Unbound," and several others.

If you have the BMR-R, you're pretty much set for normal gaming.
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.
JStallion
02/01/04 05:45 PM
69.47.164.192

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alright thanks
sukka
07/08/04 03:32 AM
195.10.173.201

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What are the basic books I need to start the game?
Brandx0
07/08/04 04:11 AM
24.207.34.161

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Just Battletech Master Rules, a pair of dice, a map and a couple mechs
sukka
07/08/04 05:04 AM
195.10.175.230

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I have everything but the maps. I haven't found then yet. Is there any way to get them or make them?
Toontje
07/08/04 11:26 AM
82.73.138.10

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Use chemdraw (freely availlable from ACDC site, IIRC), connect a lot of benzene to one another to create graphite, print, rescale to 1 inch hexes, print. That results in more or less the usual map, but featureless. Add some features with a pencil (H/L woods, elevation, etc).

Or order mapsheets from fanpro or so? (don't know the regular provider at location X)
Rather to blow up, then.
Nightward
07/09/04 02:36 AM
202.138.41.199

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You can also use the link down below to Megamek. This is an excellent freeware program that lets you play BattleTech on your computer.

Edit: My spellnig needs work...
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.


Edited by Nightward (07/09/04 02:39 AM)
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