Master Unit List
Sarna News
| |
| Master Unit List | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Online database |
| Author | "The MUL Team" |
| Development | Randall Bills |
| Primary writing | Joel Bancroft-Connors (Project leader) Roland Boshnak Joshua K. Franklin William Gauthier Keith Hann Johannes Heidler Daniel Isberner Chris Marti Luke Robertson Christopher Smith Chris Wheeler Patrick Wynne |
| Pages | n/a |
| Cover Artwork | Ray Arrastia |
| Illustrations | (various) |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Product code | n/a |
| First published | 4 June 2011 |
| MSRP | (free) |
| Content | |
| Content | Unit Database |
The Master Unit List (MUL) is a project by Catalyst Game Labs, in cooperation with a staff of volunteers known since as the MUL Team, that essentially comprises a database of all BattleTech units of any kind ever mentioned in a (canonical) source.
MUL Online Database
On 04 June 2011 the MUL Online Database went online, providing a searchable database for users including a force builder.
Its initial scope (version 1.0.1) is limited to units with existant record sheets, thought to essentially be an online version of the previously published Master Unit List: Battle Value document. As such, it does not include production data or introduction dates for the units.
The online version includes a download section.
Development
According to a blog[1] by Joel Bancroft-Connors, the MUL project started in 2007 as an attempt to assign official Battle Value 2.0 values to all existing BattleMech designs. Over the course of the project its scope was expanded; it became a master list of existing units and an official faction/availability list to replace the unofficial and outdated faction list by Peter La Casse, and includes introduction dates and known manufacturing data as a successor in spirit to Objective Raids.
On 14 January 2010, a Beta version of the Master Name List file (v1.66) was released to the public for factchecking purposes. Numerous issues were raised by the community and v1.66 remains an unofficial pre-release, i.e. non-canonical. However, it does technically meet the criteria for a meta-source as it seeks to collate otherwise canonical data. Although it was in fact correctly referred to as the "Master Name List", this document established the informal name "Master Unit List" (MUL) for the entire project and made the MUL known under that name to the general fanbase.
On 23 March 2011, the Master Unit List: Battle Value was officially released as a free document through the BattleCorps' BattleShop site, presenting a list of (only) those ground units for which official record sheets exist with Battle Value (2.0) and their Jihad era and Dark Age era availability. It is understood that this is only a fraction of the MUL's entire content and that further releases will provide additional data.
MUL Team
The following persons have been credited with creating the Master Unit List database and website (listed alphabetically):[2]
- Joel Bancroft-Connors ("Welshman") - Project leader. Coincidentally, he wrote the "Combat Efficiency Factors" article for BattleTechnology many years earlier, as well as a first incarnation of a master list of units for that magazine. Although neither of these works is likely to have substantially contributed to the MUL project, they are very early attempts at the general concept.
Development Staff
- Joshua Franklin ("nckestrel") - Maintained MUL when it was intially spreadsheet based, until moved to being maintained on the website itself.
- William Gauthier ("MadCapellan") - Authored the Objective Raids: 3067 fan project. Factory Team lead.
- Keith Hann ("Xotl") - Author of the 3025-3050 Random Assignment Tables (also known as the "Xotl RAT tables"), the most recent and most comprehensive fan-created faction list, random allocation tables and quirks list. His work is generally regarded as the most up-to-date, most accurate and most thoroughly-researched document despite him openly admitting to having used extrapolated, inferred or plainly estimated data where no solid canonical data was available to work from. Errata Coordinator.
- Johannes Heidler ("Jymset") - construction/BV expert (specialist on Support Vehicles), Record Sheet project
- Daniel Isberner ("DarkISI") - construction/BV and spreadsheet expert
- Chris Marti ("Alexander Knight") - Infantry rules expert
- Luke Robertson ("Jellico")- WarShip and DropShip rules, Clan Infrastructure and SLDF expert
- Chris Wheeler ("Chinless")
- Patrick Wynne ("Roosterboy") - Universe fluff expert
- Christopher Smith
- Brent Ezell ("Moonsword")
- Roland Boshnak ("ColBosch") - Author of a massive fan project cataloging all existing designs in a Technical Readout style. Retired from Catalyst work.
Production Staff.
- George Blouin ("Skyhigh") - Programming and site maintenance
- Jason Tighe - Computer automation assistance
- Sebastian Brocks - Computer automation assistance
- Michael Binder - BV expert. Mentioned in a BattleBlog as being part of the early BV2 list work, but not credited as part of the MUL team on the PDF or website.
References
- BattleBlog link on CBT.com
External Links
- MUL Online Database
- MUL v1.66 beta version download and errata thread (CBT Forum archive)
- Master Unit List: Battle Value download