blacksaibot
02/02/22 11:53 AM
68.134.249.168
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I am a long time MechCommander and MechWarrior fan but I never really got into BattleTech itself. I've visited this website frequently for information but there is one thing that I never understood how to interpret and that is the weapon ranges.
In MC and MW, you can read the optimal/max ranges literally in meters. However, in sarna.net, they are listed as "15-19" which I assume is optimal-max but in BattleTech terms. I have been working on a passion project to "recreate" MechCommander using Unity and I'd like to make sure my weapon ranges are accurate. How can I convert "BattleTech speak" into actual measurable meters?
To make matters even more confusing for me, each weapon has stats on short, medium, and long ranges with different numbers. Was my previous assumption incorrect and these show damage points at each range? I'm quite confused.
Thank you in advance for schooling a noob.
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Karagin
02/02/22 01:47 PM
70.118.172.64
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Each hex is 30 meters. And so if you take the Small Laser which has a range of three hexes, that would max range 90 meters.
The two computer games are not like the Battletech tabletop games at all.
The small laser from the example above:
Small Laser
Damage 3 points
Heat 1 point
Weight .5 tons
Crits 1 critical space
Range 1 (short) 2 (medium) 3 (long)
IF the weapon is an ammo feed one like Autocannons or missiles it would have the ammo reloads and its weight and space listed with the rest of the above information.
So really trying to compare the computer games to the tabletop game is not going to do much for you, they are not the same, they do not even remotely play the same. The tactics that work in the computer game will not work when playing the tabletop game. Things that computer game ignores like heat building blowing a mech up since it cooks the ammo off doesn't happen in the computer games but is a major thing that can/does happen in the tabletop play.
The computer game allows you to fire your weapons in an alpha strike every other turn, not how those work in the tabletop.
The best thing for you to do is start here:
https://bg.battletech.com/new-to-the-board-game/
Then once you have digested all of that stuff, then jump into things. Also pick up a copy of the latest edition of the game, A Game of Armored Combat and read the rules in that.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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ghostrider
02/02/22 09:34 PM
45.51.181.83
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As Karagan pointed out, weapons stats list the short/medium/long ranges of the weapons.
As a few weapons have a minimum range to them, with the IS LRMs having a minimum range of 6 means anything at 6 hexes or closer suffer aiming penalties.
There are other weapons with a minimum range, but the LRMs extreme one is easiest to deal with.
So a normal gunner skill of 4 with no other issues, would hit a unit at 7 range on a roll of 4 due to being short range. Now if that unit were at 6, it would cause a +1 to hit, meaning under the same situation, it would require a roll of 5 to hit.
Moving to a normal medium laser, the short(1-3)/Medium(4-6) and the long range(7-9) shows the range of each catagory, IE at medium range the laser can fire 4-6 hexes away at the same to hit, if there is nothing else modifying it.
As the video games to not really push the concept of accurate range, it is easy to get confused.
Hope this helps
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blacksaibot
02/17/22 10:02 AM
68.134.249.168
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Could anyone please explain the numbering for, let's say an LRM-5?
Short Range 1-7
Medium Range 8-14
Long Range 15-21
This is something I never understood.
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ghostrider
02/17/22 11:10 AM
45.51.181.83
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Short range for the LRMs is from 1 to 7 hexes. If your gunnery skill is 4, and both units stand still with no other modifiers, then you should hit on a 4 or more. Minimum range changes this.
Medium range of 8 to 14 hexes means the base to hit is 6 with the 4 gunner skill with nothing moving or no other modifiers.
Long range of 15 to 21 means the base roll of 8 is needed to hit without other modifiers.
Now if you are looking for the range in meters, each normal battle tech hex is 30 meters, so 30 to 210 meters is short, medium being from just above 210 to 420 meters, while long is from there to there to 630 meters.
A medium laser with the 1-3/4-6/7-9 is easier to deal with as there is no minimum range to deal with.
So 1-3 is short using a 4 as the base, with 4-6 being the 6 base, and 7-9 being 8 base to hit.
In case you don't know, this is from the hex your unit is standing in, to the hex the enemy unit is standing in.
Example. An enemy unit is standing at a range of say 120 meters (4 hexes) and you want to fire a medium laser at it, the base chance at 4 gunnery skill is 6. Movement and terrain modifiers come into effect to see what you need to roll or higher to damage the unit with the Medium laser.
Now if you gunnery skill is say 5, not 4, then you would need a 7 to start in the above example.
The gunnery skill of the pilot determines what the base to hit is needed for short range on non minimum ranged weapons. So a skill of 3 means a three is base for short range.
Each weapon has it's own range variants, which is why the numbers are not the same. Example, the small laser. It has a range of 1 for short, 2 for medium, and 3 for long. It does no damage at a range of 4 or more for the standard small laser. Variants change this, as the ER small laser has a better range.
Hope this helps.
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Karagin
02/17/22 09:25 PM
70.118.172.64
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Short-range for the LRMs are tricky, the Long Range Missiles have a minimum of 6 hexes before they are effectively armed, yes silly I know moving on, so in reality, the short-range for the LRMS starts at 7 hexes.
The ranges are for you to know the modifiers you need for your to-hit rolls.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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