Rules for r/BattleTech

It doesn't matter if it makes sense, in or out of lore. What new stuff would you want to see?

I got the picture from the 2024 Goonhammer article on the Mad Cat.

I am confused.

I had a thought recently: Re-Engineered Lasers are much heavier than standard lasers, with only marginal advantages against anything that's not packing specialized armor.

However, if the idea is that something with the pulse length/frequency/intensity lets it maintain its full power against stuff like Reflective Armor, then it would make an odd amount of sense for it to be unaffected by water, as well.

Normally, lasers get their ranges halved underwater, but if Re-Engineered Lasers got to keep their full range, that would give it a cool little niche in addition to busting specialized armor types.

Hi all, this is a sanity check more than anything else.

I understand the Speed Factor multiplier, how it is derived as well as the philosophy behind what it represents.

However, I can't help but feel that this is still slightly over-represented in the final BV 2.0 total considering the following...

Sure, your medium 'mech (let's use the Shadow Cat Prime) has 6/9(12)/6 mobility potential. This is indeed very good. You can keep enemies at range, keep your TMM relatively high, etc. Utilizing cover let's say you can reliably keep yourself somewhere between +5 and +7 on TOR for your opponent's GATOR.

However, to do this, you jumped or ran (+2/3), may have some intervening terrain for your shot as well (+1?) and probably put yourself in medium range (+2) with your Gauss depending on how many hexes you displaced to pump your TMM.

Point being, in order to keep your own to hit modifiers high (and thus yourself, defended) you are also sacrificing a lot of your own ability to present a threat. Okay, great, you are now only susceptible to dice spikes and high Gunnery pilots. But both of those things exist - and your 1 roll on your Gauss Rifle is what you have to throw back with similarly bad modifiers.

How much of the x2.3 BV modifier that comes entirely from Speed Factor is realistic? How much of this is "perfect world, only in your head scenarios" that are inflating this point value? Don't get me wrong, mobility is huge, no doubt, but is it x2.3 modifier big? This same question applies almost across the board, but I do think it is most visible at the extremes which is why I picked the SHC Prime, but I do have similar questions about other speed tiers as well.

Curious to hear your thoughts!

EDIT: Worth noting that the Defensive Movement Factor is only x1.4 and Speed Factor (which is an offensive calculation for some reason?) itself is x2.3 calculated after the x1.4 which itself is factored before weaponry and ammo, etc.

Ultimately trying to work out how to express, with numbers, that BV 2.0 doesn't effectively balance tonnage in that it both under-represents armor and over-represents speed.

credit to Sebtheis on Cults (A killer model by the way 10/5)

So, I am making a display for my black Marauder, but the question is what logo to put behind it.

I'm thinking about the Elder Sign, going full demon doll, and putting crosses everywhere.

The back of the display I am workin on.

I finally got my tracking number before Thanksgiving, but it was listed as a 1 of 3. Well, the other two just showed up without notice, I was lucky enough to home, but that first package has yet to ship.

I don't know if anyone else experienced the same, but just a heads up that some of your backing might be showing up soon.

Hey everyone, I want to paint up some IWM Battletech models for a diorama but I absolutely hate building the metal models. Do y’all know of any builders who can get all mold lines and do a high quality assembly of these models?

Thanks!

I already know it's likely to be prohibitively expensive and/or very hard to even find from the get go. Though i'm just having issues finding any tables that would explain how difficult or what extra cost would be tied to buying something like a C-ERML would be for my campaign's merc company. I'm guessing certain places like maybe Solaris7, maybe Galatea, or a Diamond Shark world would have better availability and MAYBE slightly less extra costs tied to them. Ive looked through some older posts, and a few commenters have mentioned tables, but never book/page numbers to find them.

So lore question. How close is to close when standing near a laser? I’m assuming its also loud, at least the laser gun it self since you can hear it from a pressurized cockpit.

any fandom page that would have this information?

I request to borrow the brain cells. Can I get some help identifying the mechs in this photo? Not their original work, but pulling it from a video on Matanuska Mechworks' channel on YouTube.

I wanted to be able to transport a few Mechs at a time, but only had a carrying case for my Warhammer 40k army which was far too large for 5-10 models. So I thought "why not get a metal box and put some magnets under the bases?". And the first metal box I found on ebay was an old ammo box from a military surplus resaler, so I bought that, cleaned it up (because it was filthy and rusty), sanded the paint down far enough for some acrylic spray paint to stick and then Battletech-ified it.
I traced some artwork I stole borrowed from sarna, including the logos of some of the factions I wanted to represent. I then realised that the acrylic paint on the locking mechanism wasn't tough enough to withstand locking the box, so I put some radiator varnish paint on the mechanism and the edges of the box, but even that didn't do the job. Well, it is what it is.

So, here's the box, this is the IS side, this is the Clan side. Not a fan of the colour difference between the lacquer and the acrylic, but oh well.

I put some adhesive felt on the inside of the box. Plonking one of my magnetised models onto the sheer metal was very loud, otherwise.
None of that is in any way professional work, but I like it anyway.

Tell me what you think! How do you transport your models?

I want to know if there is any information or at least good guess work on how much was in the New Dallas boneyard and its quality. I know a lot of it was primitive tech, but was there any standard tech equipment? And how many mechs and vehicles were actually in there?

I've read up on the Solaris 7 map from mechanical frogs planet primer and I've been interested in the idea of having an entire hive city style planet for a campaign I want to run and I need to ask if that's ever been done before

I'm playing an escalation with some friends and I'm looking for more plasma weapon mechs. I like making my friends have to be weary of over heating. I'm already playing a Grendel Configuration I. Next we are adding a light mech and I wanna add to the plasma fun.