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I have heard it said that the Battletech rules have changed very little since it first started, and I noticed today that there are older Battletech Technical Readouts and manuals that are much less expensive than the newer Catalyst Game Labs books. I was wondering if there are significant differences in the older books, particularly the technical readouts, and what the advantage is to buying the newer updated versions. Is there anything in particular I should watch out for, or will the older books be incompatible with the newer versions of the rules?

The particular books I am looking at right now are things like the Technical Readouts for 3050 and 3058, but if there are any other books that haven't changed much (or books that have changed a lot), by all means, feel free to mention them. Have mech stats and equipment and other things been changed significantly?

Very little has changed in the core rules. Weapons all work the same way, armor is armor no matter what tech level. There are a few technology options and rules that influence things, but all of them work off the same core rules. The old tech readouts still work just fine.

Awesome, thanks! Are there any other older supplements or sourcebooks that would be incompatible, or is basically everything still fair game at this point?

I think everything still works. Someone feel free to correct me if mistaken.

Duce wrote:I think everything still works. Someone feel free to correct me if mistaken.

Yes, everything but the BV values are compatible with the 'newer' rules.

There are some books that are out of date, but most of them are Tech and Rule expansions. Stay away from:

Tactical Handbook
Maximum Tech

These books are brought up to date in Tactical Operations, so the rules in them are technically obsolete.

As for Tech Readouts, the Upgrades are adding fluff and a couple new variants to bring the older tech readouts in line with the current fluff. For Example:

TRO: 3050 UPgrades has all the base stats of the 'Mechs in it from TRO: 3050. IN the fluff sections though, it describes what variants have appeared with the latest technology.

How it works is simple: When originally released, those were the designs coming out in 3050. The Upgrade is what those designs and variants look like in 3070. The older versions are also a bit error prone.

I would pick up the newer versions in print, and pick up the old versions in PDF.

Next question, please?

Also, earlier versions of TRO3025 and TRO3050 have the Unseen in them whereas the new versions don't.

skyth wrote:Also, earlier versions of TRO3025 and TRO3050 have the Unseen in them whereas the new versions don't.

TRO: 3039 contains the stats for the Unseen, just not the pictures.