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 Manchu wrote:
Yeah, we’ll see. The idea of “concise histories” for each faction with re-printed excerpts from novels doesn’t seem all that promising.

you're not going to get "house handbook" level in a single universe book. that level of detail is impossiable.

you're going to get a START and then yeah if you wanna DEEP DIVE? go from there but build on it. I've been playing this game for decades and am STILL learning

It’s not complicated. I didn’t just recently migrate from 40k to playing CBT. Over the years, I have collected and read dozens of the sourcebooks and a number of the novels. I don’t need to START my “lore journey” at all, much less with a padded-out starter box primer directing me to purchase this and that BattleTech novel series or directing me BACK to the sourcebooks I’m already familiar with. I can see, given the number of new players, why that product could be helpful for them. And I can see why CGL would like to sell a product catalog to new customers.

But that’s not what I’m talking about regarding a comprehensive, single-source account of the setting history. Obviously, I am also not talking about combining all the existing sourcebooks together, either, or going into that level of detail, which is really not even a matter of historical narrative (they tend to be more about military minutia). What I mean is closer to a setting bible, the sort of document that reflects at a reasonable level of detail “What Is What” along the lines of docs used by creatives working on the franchise or, for those who remember how WEG’s SW RPG materials were used, for people who want to roleplay in the setting.

yeah and those have existed to a degree. the old "inner sphere" sourcebook from back in the FASA days was more or less just that, basicly a short and sweet history of the inner sphere from "space flight terra to 3062"

I imagine the universe book'll be the same. a good place to start. but for the vetern players, proably not a lot we don't already know

BrianDavion wrote:
but for the vetern players, proably not a lot we don't already know

Fairly certain that's part of Manchu's problem with it.

So a bit more detail on this weekends battletech games.



Game 1- we put my 2 unit factions up against each other. 2nd swords VS hells horse iota galaxy.

The table tonight was a ruined industrial area-





We decided on a 6 turn objective mission for the attackers to capture and activate an expeimental "omega" superheavy mech with infantry.. all the defender had to do was stop them from getting there.

The force deployment





The defenders were distracted by the big shiny assault mechs and let the Tyr hovercraft zip around the table to steal the objective.







The second game was something silly- a light mech battle


I do not get to put out the little guys very much, so this is the first time out for some of these mechs.

there was no outstanding objective in this game other than kill the enemy.

The IS came out ahead on this one thanks to a few super lucky hits.

Needless to say with as fast as everything is we were all over the table/play space.

Omega as in the Wobbie wunderwaffe?

Sometimes it’s more fun to let the light and medium mechs have the spotlight.

My next CBT project will be Battle of Luthien-themed, with 2nd Legion of Vega facing Clan Nova Cat.

yep that big black and green thing hiding in the trees in the back corner of the 5th picture. 150 tons of fully imagined behemoth..er i mean "omega"

I like the light battle.

The last time we did a big light brawl was on a Solaris day. Lot of destroyed 'Mechs in those bouts.

Worst game for me was when I took my lightest Clan 'Mech (a Pouncer) out for a 1v1 fight in Hartford Gardens. First turn had my leg shot off, fell of a wall, and never recovered. Shorted match of the day.

3D render of the Caesar, prototype was seen in the KerenskyCon pics...

That's a lot better than the derpy and anemic look that was in TRO 3050.

Not holding its gun like a pistol anymore.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Not holding its gun like a pistol anymore.

Yes. Shimmy mentioned that management took a vote and decided on the side mount.

 Ghaz wrote:
3D render of the Caesar, prototype was seen in the KerenskyCon pics...

That looks really nice. I am finally going to be able to give this game a whirl locally this Summer.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Not holding its gun like a pistol anymore.

"Pistol mounts" are something that began to be phased out with the unseen fiasco. so it doesn't suprise me to see this

Definitely a shame, I liked the pistol mounts.

 Some_Call_Me_Tim wrote:
Definitely a shame, I liked the pistol mounts.

With CGL properly sizing 'mechs (and the weapons on the 'mech) it wouldn't have been any smaller than the size it is on the 3D sculpt, just how it is held.

 Some_Call_Me_Tim wrote:
Definitely a shame, I liked the pistol mounts.

There are rules for "hand-held" weapons, but they are complicated and usually not worth the time to learn.

Also consider that if you have the hand gripping the weapon, how are you going to use it to pick up loot and Vehicles to skip across the pond with?

BrianDavion wrote:
"Pistol mounts" are something that began to be phased out with the unseen fiasco. so it doesn't suprise me to see this

I think it's a good thing. It's weird to have a 'Mech with hand actuators as part of its sheet, yet the model is physically holding a gun.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
"Pistol mounts" are something that began to be phased out with the unseen fiasco. so it doesn't suprise me to see this

I think it's a good thing. It's weird to have a 'Mech with hand actuators as part of its sheet, yet the model is physically holding a gun.

The BattleMaster still has a hand-held PPC, but it does have the 'Jettison-Capable Weapon (PPC)' quirk.

 Manchu wrote:
Omega as in the Wobbie wunderwaffe?

Sometimes it’s more fun to let the light and medium mechs have the spotlight.

My next CBT project will be Battle of Luthien-themed, with 2nd Legion of Vega facing Clan Nova Cat.

I think lights get a lot of unfair flak because people don't know how to use them, and many Btech games lack objectives other than kill them all. Here, have 4 Locust go kill that Zeus is not a very interesting game.

M.

 Miguelsan wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
Omega as in the Wobbie wunderwaffe?

Sometimes it’s more fun to let the light and medium mechs have the spotlight.

My next CBT project will be Battle of Luthien-themed, with 2nd Legion of Vega facing Clan Nova Cat.

I think lights get a lot of unfair flak because people don't know how to use them, and many Btech games lack objectives other than kill them all. Here, have 4 Locust go kill that Zeus is not a very interesting game.

M.

Battletech 3rd Edition had a scenario that was roughly that. A damaged Battlemaster (heaviest mech that came in the game) versus all the bug mechs that came in the box. Still, a Battlemaster had more options than a Zeus when surrounded.

4th Ed had the same thing.

The lightest 4 'Mechs in the box vs the Atlas. Atlas had to get from one side of the board to the other.

Ha kinda like OGRE.

Another hint on vees from the Official BattleTech Forums

pheonixstorm wrote:The way vehicle formations are built, I would think the packs would be pairs.

Either way, I just hope I have enough money...

Adrian Gideon wrote:Vees will be in pairs. Can’t say anything more at this point.

So I'm thing force packs with two or three pairs of vees each?

Two pairs of two. So 4 per pack. In no doubt unnecessarily enormous boxes.

Going to be pricey!

It just says pairs from what I see, I don't see where it says "two pairs of two" - that was a question asked by one of the posters but the response was just "they will be in pairs" which could mean 1 pair, 2 pairs, 4 pairs, whatever.

In any case, inner sphere lance boxes are fairly small, and based on the size of the vee prototypes if its two pairs in a box then it should fill out the box nicely.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Two pairs of two. So 4 per pack. In no doubt unnecessarily enormous boxes.

Going to be pricey!

or they'll run them with 4 mechs as a augmented lance

Nah, they'll do Inner Sphere vehicle Lances. 4 vehicles per box (two vehicles, duplicated, so 2 of each type), and there will be 8-10 boxes of them, all priced like Lance Packs.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Nah, they'll do Inner Sphere vehicle Lances. 4 vehicles per box (two vehicles, duplicated, so 2 of each type), and there will be 8-10 boxes of them, all priced like Lance Packs.

Yep as an IS lance is literally 1 for 1 conversion from vehicles to mechs. clanners get a bit wonkie since they consider vehicles inferior to mechs so replace a single mech point with 2 vehicles, but then they are glass cannons(other than the Heimdal) and any clan outside hells horse has terrible crew stats (5/6 standard).

Vehicles should never be underestimated especially using the level 3 hit location and crit charts. my friends davion heavy guards lance of X3 AJAXs (one of each type) and a Manteufel "spotter" tank in his C3 lance is a beast to fight.

 aphyon wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Nah, they'll do Inner Sphere vehicle Lances. 4 vehicles per box (two vehicles, duplicated, so 2 of each type), and there will be 8-10 boxes of them, all priced like Lance Packs.

Yep as an IS lance is literally 1 for 1 conversion from vehicles to mechs. clanners get a bit wonkie since they consider vehicles inferior to mechs so replace a single mech point with 2 vehicles, but then they are glass cannons(other than the Heimdal) and any clan outside hells horse has terrible crew stats (5/6 standard).

Vehicles should never be underestimated especially using the level 3 hit location and crit charts. my friends davion heavy guards lance of X3 AJAXs (one of each type) and a Manteufel "spotter" tank in his C3 lance is a beast to fight.

the clans also don't train their tank crews very well, in part because tank crews are useally made up of failed trueborns and freeborns and "nobody cares about them!"