Difference between revisions of "Technical Readout: 3026"

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* [[Zero-G Exoskeleton]]
 
* [[Zero-G Exoskeleton]]
 
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* [[Exoskeleton Communications & Detection Equipment]]
====[[Category:Communication Gear|Communicators]]====
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====[[:Category:Communication Gear|Communicators]]====
 
* [[Military Microcommunicator|Micro-Communicator]]
 
* [[Military Microcommunicator|Micro-Communicator]]
 
* [[Military Communicator|Personal Communicator]]
 
* [[Military Communicator|Personal Communicator]]

Revision as of 15:56, 15 July 2020

TRO 3026.jpg
Technical Readout: 3026
Product information
Type Technical readout
Development Sam Lewis
Jordan Weisman, Tara Gallagher (Production Managers)
L. Ross Babcock III (Editor-In-Chief)
Donna Ippolito (Senior Editor)
Todd Huettel (Editor)
Primary writing Kevin Stein
Sam Lewis
Pages 128
Cover Artwork Duane Loose
Interior Artwork Dana Knutson (Art Director)
Illustrations Duane Loose, Steve Venters
Publication information
Publisher FASA
Product code 8606
First published 1987
ISBN-10 0931787327
ISBN-13 978-0931787324
MSRP 15.00 US $
Content
Era Succession Wars era
Timeline 3026
Series Technical Readouts
Followed by Technical Readout: 3026 Revised

Description

Intended as a background book for the BattleTech universe, Technical Readout: 3026 was the first to focus on the secondary weapon systems (combat vehicles) of the game. It also included personal equipment that could be used by players of MechWarrior, the roleplaying game.

It was first published in 1987 with a Revised 1996 Edition published nine years later. This edition had the same cover art as the first. It was reissued in 2003 as Technical Readout: 3026 Revised and eventually supplanted by (and merged into) the more comprehensive Technical Readout: 3039.

The German edition was published as Hardware-Handbuch: 3031 with altered content (see Technical Readout: 3026#Hardware-Handbuch: 3031 below).

Contents

Combat Vehicles

Personal Equipment

Electronic Sneak Suits

Combination Sneak Suits
  • IR Sneak and Camo Sneak
  • IR Sneak and ECM Sneak
  • Camo Sneak and ECM Sneak
  • IR Sneak, Camo Sneak, and ECM Sneak

Rechargers

Remote Sensors

Exoskeletons

Exoskeleton Modifications

Communicators

Artificial Limbs

Miscellaneous Personal Equipment

Ablative/Flak Armor
Night Vision Devices
Sniper Scopes
Survival Gear
Medkits
Clothing
Personal Equipment Repair Kits
Disguise/Forgery Kits
Category:Recording Equipment

Weapons

General Game Rules

Support Weapons

Recoilless Rifles
Flamers
Mortars
Machine Guns
Particle Projector Cannon
Lasers

Personal Weapons

Needlers
Pistols
Pulse Lasers
Lasers
Sub-Machine Guns
Rifles
Gyrojets
Grenades
LAWs
Miscellaneous Weapons

German Edition

Hardware-Handbuch 3031.jpg
Hardware-Handbuch 3031
Product information
Language german
Contribution Reinhold H. Mai (Translation), Dietrich Limper, Thomas Römer and Reinhold H. Mai (Editor)
Pages 162
Publication information
Publisher Fantasy Productions
First published 1992
ISBN-10 3890649092
ISBN-13 9783890649092

Published by licensee FanPro, the German edition of Technical Readout 3026 (TRO 3026) received extensive revamping, beginning with the title, which was changed to Hardware-Handbuch 3031. According to the imprint, additional texts from other sources (Technical Readout: 3050, House Liao, Wolf's Dragoons, Sorenson's Sabres and Stardate) were included. The German version is printed as DIN A4, a standard European paper size, which is a little larger then north american Letter.

Alterations

Graphics

The original's 16 colored unit graphics were rearranged as an unnumbered 4-page miniature gallery (4 images per page) at the middle of the book.[1] The unit's images at the correspending data sheets were instead shown in black and white.

Table of Content

The original content was restructured and expanded. Where the original TRO 3026 lists only "Vehicles" (of any kind), "Personal Equipment" and (personal) "Weapons", Hardware-Handbuch 3031 details the sections further, resulting in this altered table of content:

  • Battlemechs (sic!)
  • Panzer (Tanks)
  • Artillerie (Artillery)
  • Senkrechtstarter und konventionelle Flugzeuge (Vertical Take-off and Landing and Conventional Aircrafts)
  • Wasserfahrzeuge (Watercraft)
  • Hilfsfahrzeuge (Support Vehicles)
  • Ausrüstung (Personal Equipment)
  • Waffen (Weapons)
  • Schautafeln (Visual Aid, a "new" section that comprehends equipment sketches)
  • Index

Additional content from other sources

Expanded content includes various designs from other sources, complete with Technical Readout-style fluff, combat histories, and notable pilots. In detail these are:

  • The new section Battlemechs that includes five additional BattleMech designs
    • Flea - The 20-ton FLE-15 version. Combat history and Notable Pilots (Kare Devereux and Thheiba Shakir) were translated from an (apocryphal) writeup in Stardate Vol. 3 No. 1.
    • Raven - The standard Raven as statted in the House Liao (The Capellan Confederation) sourcebook. Like in that book, the ECM Equipment (for which no rules existed) was supposedly mounted in the Center Torso location despite occupying four critical slots. The Combat History writeup and single Notable Pilot (Kevin DeNato from the 1st McCarron's Armored Cavalry regiment) given were original and have not been translated or re-published elsewhere.
    • Wolfhound - Combat History is a retelling of the 'Mech's history as described in the Warrior trilogy, with Daniel Allard given as the sole entry under Notable Pilots.
    • Cataphract - Also taken from the House Liao (The Capellan Confederation) sourcebook, with an original writeup that was not translated or published anywhere else. Combat History centers on the exploits of Notable Pilot Kalidas Aniro of Warrior House Kamata in the fighting against Andurien forces under Jimmy Lee on Betelgeuse.
    • Longbow - Combat history and Notable Pilots (Beater/Hunter team Oshira Muzakka and Jon Smallberry, and Cedrick Sveinson) were translated from an (apocryphal) writeup in Stardate Vol. 3 No. 2.
  • The Panzer section includes 23 vehicle designs, from which 20 were taken from TRO 3026, the additional designs are:
    • Plainsman - taken from Wolf's Dragoons source book
    • Bandit - taken from Wolf's Dragoons source book
    • Zhukov - taken from Wolf's Dragoons source book
  • The Artillerie section includes 5 vehicle designs (Harasser, Hetzer, LRM/SRM Carrier, Pike and Schrek), which are all included in TRO 3026, although none of them is technically considered as artillery under BattleTech Rules.
  • The Senkrechtstarter und Konventionelle Flugzeuge section lists 8 vehicle designs, from which 7 were taken from TRO 3026, the additional design is:
    • Kestrel - taken from Wolf's Dragoons source book
  • The Wasserfahrzeuge section lists 3 designs, which are all taken from TRO 3026.
  • The Hilfsfahrzeuge section lists 6 vehicle designs, from which 5 were taken from TRO 3026, the additional design is:
    • Badger - taken from Wolf's Dragoons source book

Altered and missing content

The Ausrüstung and Waffen sections were rearranged as well, with some original content being left out. The stats provided for equipment were slightly altered, presumably to account for rule changes since the publication of TRO 3026.

  • The Ausrüstung section lists just 4 categories of equipment (Communicators, Sensors, Exoskeletons and Artificial Limbs), the following categories included in TRO 3026 were left out:
    • Electronic Suits
    • Rechargers
    • Miscellaneous Personal Equipment
  • The Waffen section restructures the original content in 3 new categories (Rückstoßfreie Gewehre und Flammer (Recoilless Rifles and Flamers), Mörser und Maschinengewehre (Mortars and Machine Guns) and Partikelprojektorkanonen und Laser (Particle Projector Cannons and Lasers), which describes combined just 9 weapon systems. The vast majority of weapons described in TRO 3026 was left out.
  • All original sketches of equipment that were not included in sections Ausrüstung or Waffen were compiled in new section Schautafeln, although no stats or any information other than its name were given.

All additional content technically falls outside of the current definition of canon and must thus be considered apocryphal.

Spelling and Names

As with other German products prior to 1997 spelling and names (especially places and units) as well as most abbreviations were regularly adjusted. For instance the Mech unit Archer was renamed to Schütze, the Planet Gotterdammerung was respelled to Götterdämmerung, the DCMS (Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery) became VSDK (Vereinigte Streitkräfte des Draconis Kombinats) and so on.

Gallery

References

  1. Units with colored images are: Pegasus, Harasser, J. Edgar, Ontos, Schrek, Pike, Partisan, Scorpion, Hunter, Demolisher, Manticore, SturmFeur, Sea Skimmer, Warrior, Monitor and Karnov