Official Battletech Forums

[ATN082268]

I thought this thread from the Official Battletech forum was interesting:

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.p ... 403.0.html

From one of the Administrators in that thread:

<The change is in the second paragraph under "disciplinary action". We have added "However, we have the executive privilege to make exceptions and deal with posters as we deem fit." after "Below is our typical and preferred course of action.">

Isn't that what they've been doing all along? I guess it makes them feel better to state that they can follow whatever rules they want to...

[Typhoon]

I think your link is broken, I keep getting a "server not found" message.

[Steve Ronin]

CBT.com has always followed stricter rules.
they HAVE to do so, because they're the OFFICIAL forums for a corporation.
Are their mods and admins perfect?
well,
NO.
and neither are we.
I've personally screwed up a few times here, and have had to post public apologies.

but you do the best job possible.

[BobTheZombie]

Yeah, that link is broken...

[ATN082268]

Yeah, that link is broken...

It's on the Official Battletech forum under the Forum Rules and in the Disciplinary section.

http://bg.battletech.com/forum-rules/

Really though, my main complaint with the official Battletech forum wasn't the rules but the uneven application of them. There is a thread on the official site called the forum members and expectations of moderation (currently on page 3 of the website and support section) which covers this pretty well.

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/website ... e-thread)/

[Steve Ronin]

I haven't logged into the official CBT site in forever.

Grognard or my Son&Heir send me screen shots and the like occasionally.

nobody is perfect. we all have our own biases.

[Ravion Hawk]

I haven't found a good reason to even log in there.

I think I have an account there, but I'm sure it has since been purged.

[eLMsm]

ATN, if those, that are Administrating or Moderating official BT Forums, currently allow only a select type of members’ statuses to post at those Forums, then BT products probably won’t be sold very much, and thus BT will probably go out of business. That was probably the problem Hot ‘n Now had in 2004. Some stores years ago hadn’t been purchasing BT products to sell because some customers had been asking for refunds of them given the apparent biased economic isolations that some BT Writers often had. There seems to be some more open-mindedness at official BT Forums nowadays, though.

[eLMsm]

My guardian won’t allow me to register at BG.BattleTech.com/forums because it’s a commercial website, and so I was wondering if any of you are going to post a reply at that website that will get you another digit for your rank advancement there by simply telling acksed at bg.BattleTech.com Fan Designs and Rules Forum that the rules for winches were published decades ago in an issue of MechForce Quarterly (I can’t remember which issue, had rules for winches, though, pun intended, ha ha) . Here’s a copy of link to acksed’s topic:

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/fan-de ... -vehicles/

[Steve Ronin]

Well, with a $2.5 Million Kickstarter, despite their official forums hijinks, BT/Catalyst won't be going out of business soon.

[eLMsm]

I think BT & Catalyst Game Labs can be successful, but they must improve their Rulebooks somewhat to attract new customers and to keep customers, though.

[Steve Ronin]

However, the more detailed the ruleset becomes, the longer gameplay becomes....

and in today's 30 second attention span culture, a long slow highly detailed game dies a slow death.

[eLMsm]

That’s why any of the BT rules, that make utterly no sense, must now be omitted so that they don’t waste time of current players and so they don’t deter future potential player.

A rule that was published decades ago in Maximum Tech that prohibited ‘Mechs, that mounted I.C.E. engines, from having internal cargo bays (I’m not sure if that rule was republished in TechManual xor Tactical Operations) , must be omitted.

Total Warfare rules of strafing make no sense because extra heat isn’t generated for extra damages done from strafing, and non-flying units can’t strafe, and BV isn’t adjusted directly proportionally for strafing.

Total Warfare rule of units using shortest paths when jumping makes no sense (except maybe when hyperspace jumping) .

Read topic about Seven rules that must be omitted or improved of Tactical Operations including Skilled Evasive and Mobile Structures , and Tactical Operations p. 221 & 222, visual range for ground vehicle & ‘Mech & aerospace units should be equal (this is more balanced & easier to program); sensor ranges for ‘Mechs, vehicles, aerospace units, mobile structures, etc. should be equal (this is more balanced & easier to program). Acoustic and scent sensors in Total Warfare because some VTOLs I've played against can hide and make indirect LRM/artillery attacks. All sensors may be used simultaneously to try to track any units they're capable of tracking. I'd like ranges of various types of sensors to be improved so that they’re all equal for simplicity and BVwise.

A ‘Mech using mechanical jump boosters to jump said ‘Mech using its center of gravity gyroscope to change its facing like a ballerina, and a +1 modifier per each of those facing change(s) is applied to the landing piloting skill roll in addition to all other applicable modifiers to avoid falling.

Total Warfare p. 235 use ranges that ‘Mechs use instead of aerospace ranges (more on a par balanced & realistic), and let units in space hexes attack every 10 seconds like ground units (so that attack times are more on a par with each other).

Use Strategic Operations rules p. 115 Capital Weapons Detailed Ranges Table so that those weapons are more BVwise balanced.

Rules for weapons arrays and Tactical Operations rules for Linking and/or unlinking weapons would make good Total Warfare rules to save time.

A unit is not stopped by an opposing unit in the same turn it enters the hex the oppposing unit is in unless said opposing unit is mobile and player controlling said opposing unit says former unit is to be stopped in said hex.

Read topic about fractional accounting regarding internal structures, gyros, armors, and ammunition; some players (such as me) don’t like to use extra time to round up those fractional masses.

For piloting to avoid shutdown, take the avoid roll and subtract from it the number 7 and add to it the base piloting skill number. For example if your avoid roll number is 14 and your base piloting number is 5, then subtract from 14 the number 7 and add to it the number 5 equalling 12 to roll.

Strategic Operations p. 23 disregard "may not make attacks in the turn it landed".

Interstellar Operations rules for Land-Air ‘Mechs must be changed to allow them to mount Primitive and/or Prototype items and mechanical jump boosters and some other rules for LAMs must be omitted or changed or included (read my reply to topic about LAMs) .

Total Warfare kitbashing tips for miniatures and miniatures rules could be republished as an entirely separate new booklet because miniatures rules aren’t compatible with Total Warfare Standard Tournament rules.

My rules for Alternative Conventional Vehicle Critical Hits Table would save more time because it’s easier to be read than its counterpart currently published in Total Warfare.

TechManual rule for conventional vehicles prohibited from mounting double heat sinks must be omitted.

My rule for any attack of all cluster hits hitting a large craft target would save time.

Total Warfare p. 49 rule that A 'Mech, during a movement phase, may drop to the ground even if it jumped.

Tactical Operation black ice rules should not allow unit to fall through pavement when using breaking through ice rules on p. 50 unless the pavement is a bridge that collapses due to excessive tonnage and/or damage.

Tactical Operations rules for blowing sand shall not destroy one or more VTOLs; piloting skill roll with a +1 modifier applied to piloting base to-hit number per winds force of blowing sand applied to VTOLs instead.

Total Warfare p. 81, altitude level heights are unbalanced and thus they are confusing and that confusion wastes time. Altitude level length and altitude level height in meters shall each be equal to 30 meters BTech ground hex multipied by the altitu de level. Have 100 altitude levels with the 100th altitude level being a 3km space hex and altitude 1 being a 30 meter tall altitude level; these 100 altitude levels have from altitude level 1 to altitude level 100 have a height of 151,500 meters, (151.5 km and that's roughly 94.1 miles); and I read in an encyclopedia that real life space above Earth begins at about 100 miles from the surface. I chose 3km space hexes so each space turn shall last 10 seconds, not 60 seconds; this way any unit in space can shoot target(s) every 10 seconds like ground unit(s) can. Movement shall be fractionalized if necessary during game turns like for airships and cost of moving six 3km space hexes (a total of 18km, and that is current length of one current Total Warfare space hex) is one thrust point during a total of six consecutive 10 second game turns.

Total Warfare p. 91 VTOLs, aerodyne small craft, jump capable units, and aeroplanes shall be able to fly/jump out of a grounded unit; and they shall be able to fly/jump out of a flying unit for that matter.

A prone ‘Mech may use its shoulder, arm, hand, hip, leg, and feet actuators to pull and “push” itself along the ground in a skidding way at a cost of 4MP per hex in addition to MP spent for the terrain/elevation change(s); and that ‘Mech takes skidding damage per each hex skidded during such pull&push movement. This is useful for a ‘Mech that's gyro has been destroyed and can't crawl per Tactical Operations crawling rules.

Allow any unit that has multiple jump systems, so that the player may use as many as he or she wants in a turn provided they function correctly and all benefits apply and no psr required for landing using mechanical jump boosters and jump jet(s)/jump pack(s).

Allow each character piloting/driving a unit to increase said unit's target movement modifier bonus by +1 during a turn as long as he/she is not attacking during said turn (this is basically dual cockpit +1 target movement modifier bonus).

Total Warfare p. 131 A unit or structure mounting 1 or more C3 Master(s) and/or 1 or more C3 Slave(s) may use any number of them.

Total Warfare p. 140 armor piercing ammo shall be capable of inflicting armor piercing critical hits against aerospace targets massing 500 tons or less (is realistic & balanced); other ammo should be capable of affecting aerospace targets that mass 500 tons or less.

Any physical attack, except for a charging/ramming/jump jet/jump pack/thruster/DFA attack, may be performed so that its total damage is reduced but not below 0. A unit may make physical attack(s) even if it is sprinting/overdriving/overthrusting.

A unit doing a DFA can be subject to one or more physical attacks. A unit may use mechanical jump boosters to do DFAs but only against immobile targets, and resolve each of those DFAs as an accidental fall from above to determine hit location(s) and damage(s) unless said Unit is using other jump systems such as Jump Pack and/or jump jets. A unit that fails a DFA may make a Piloting Skill Roll to avoid falling with a modifier equal to the MoF of the DFA skill roll; and if the roll is successful, then that unit does not fall.

Have each Unit, that masses less than 500 tons, and that also has a heat level, use the same Heat Scale Effects Table.

Damage Interrupt Circuits rules could save time.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18964&p=177233#p177233

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18953

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18948

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18117

And BT short stories could be removed from Rulebooks, and those BT short stories could be published as a new book.

[eLMsm]

Let’s get Total Warfare name replaced with Tournaments of Solaris Seven, ToS7 for short. Let’s have Tactical Operations rules as optional ToS7 rules of which each Tactical Operations rule is only allowed per tournament game as long as all players of said game agree before said game begins. Let’s put the rules for hyperspace jumps and jump points, that are in Strategic Operations, into Interstellar Operations, put TO rules for Mobile Structures in SO, and put BattleForce rules and abstract rules into their own Rulesbook, and put rules for LAMs in S7T. Let’s have Total Warfare name be the new name of a SuperRulesbook of: ToS7, TO, SO, IO, AToW, AToWC, and other book rules that are compatible with those six Rulesbooks.

[eLMsm]

Catalyst Game Labs will probably have to republish currently out of print BT books to stay in business and/or to expand their business. Many game companies don’t recreate copies of their older products, and so they don’t sell more, and thus they don’t get more money, and so they get discontinued from eventual lacks of money.

[Steve Ronin]

currently, most, if not all of Catalyst's Battletech rulesbooks are available in PDF format.
thus, they are still published, but cost Catalyst next to nothing to sell.

[eLMsm]

When I taptyped “and so they get discontinued from eventual lacks of money”, I meant “and so said game companies get discontinued from eventual lacks of money”.

Also, I’d like for the BT novels and other BT books to be republished. And I want more new BT novels published that are about the Inner Sphere, Periphery, and Clans. I have an idea for a new BT Twilight of the Clans novel that fictionally describes battles and/or skirmishes between CSJ vs. Inner Sphere & Periphery allies. And I want publications of copies of BT TROs of custom units.

[eLMsm]

AToW rule ideas:

Mass of each character shall be directly proportional to: his or her BOD points plus his/her STR points. Additional mass may be added if a character has increased fat. More mass of a character means more food & water for that character; that increases her or his mass and chain reaction contines unless he/she has his or her excess fat removed.

AToW p. 255 Technology Rating Table use the following modifiers to replace the p. 123 Property Administration Modifiers Table industrialized modifiers:
P -1
L +0
M +1
H +2
A +3
C +4

I would like improved Technology Tables, i.e. Legality, have letters improved that indicate a more precise stance of technologies; basically use the first letter of each table technology word or another letter for that word instead of A, B, C, D, E, F.

A Trueborn or Truebirth character’s body may glow like a firefly at a cost of 1 fatigue point per every 5 seconds of her or his glowing body.

[Steve Ronin]

As far as I know, there isn't a human mutation that allows for phosphorescence.
And while the Clans are tinkering with the genes, it ain't to that level.
During the SL era, the Magistry of Canopus did manage to gene-splice an actual Mermaid, but the creature died within days of birth.
Thus, I think the "glowing' is a little bit (lightyears) beyond canon.

*note: it IS canon that some Clan warriors had augmented reality control "tattoos" that could glow when activated, for enhanced control of their BattleMechs. but it was the tattoo (actual molecular circuitry) that glowed, not the warrior.

[eLMsm]

That’s interesting about that Mermaid. So what do you think about allowing other Units besides Airships to use Fractional Movement Points like for example a 200 ton Superheavy ‘Mech could mount a 100 rated I.C.E. engine for Walking MP of 1/4, Running MP of 3/4 , and Sprinting MP of 1 ?

[Steve Ronin]

No. The hex is already only 30 meters across. And a SuperHeavy is at least 15 meters tall.
On the tabletop, what is the player going to declare for movement?

"I moved my Mech's right toe..."

altho it is funny as hell to write this remark.

[eLMsm]

I’ll now clarify: I was really referring to having Fractional Movement Points for any Vehicular Unit as a SO or IO rule, not as a TW or TO or miniatures rule. A 200 tons Superheavy ‘Mech, that uses a Fractional Movement Point of only 1/4, is only Walking little bits at a speed of 7.5 decimeters per second while it has a height of at least twenty times that. Yes, that would look very funny in combat. But while attacking it would be easier, it would be diverting more tonnage, that it saves by using less rated engine, for other Characters, more armor, more weapons, more fuel, more captured flags, more food & water, etc. .