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Kraken
Federated Suns
Marshal
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 2755
Location: United States
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 Posted: 03-Apr-2013 10:23 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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Someone on another message board I go to showed me this link:
rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/113027/BattleTech%3A-Experimental-Technical-Readout%3A-1945
Apparently, Catalyst released it yesterday as an April Fool's prank.
The PDF download is free, and I'm actually looking it over now. I'm only seeing about 20 assorted designs, but there are game rules for the tech *and* record sheets for each individual machine listed in the book.
I'm almost half-tempted to find an excuse for using some of them in the campaign I'm looking to run, albeit portraying them as different machines.
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"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat." -Edgar Allen Poe"I knew there was something special about you, but I never realized you were really a cat." Wolfwood to a random cat (Trigun)
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5791
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03-Apr-2013 18:41 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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must download...
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one must work hard to cultivate the mind and body. and one must always cultivate the mind.
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03-Apr-2013 21:39 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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It is pretty well done, I am still not happy about their using the support rules to build vehicles, but beyond that it is a decent TRO and very nicely done. They cover the basics of the era to a point, but still leave out several iconic systems like the Stuka and smaller German Panzers as well as several Allied vehicles.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5791
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04-Apr-2013 08:43 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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why do you have an issue with them using the support vee system?
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one must work hard to cultivate the mind and body. and one must always cultivate the mind.
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04-Apr-2013 17:04 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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We have rules for combat vehicles, so why would you need to use a second set of rules make these in when they are combat vehicles? Having twos sets of rules for vehicles can cause confusion for some as well as making things a bit redundant as they keep proving when they make combat vehicles via the support rules.
Every one of the vehicles in this TRO could have been and given that many of us on here, as well as other BT forums, have made versions of the same vehicles using the combat construction rules. The idea that support vehicles need a separate rule set is also a bit redundant. They could have revamped the vehicle rules and included all of the changes that we can all agree were needed and have a single set of rules that cover all classifications of vehicles. Another thing is that military support vehicles are setup to be as tough or at least equal to what they support, if the tanks can push through an area then so can the support vehicles. Armor wise, no a truck won't have the same armor as the M1 but it will have enough armor to stop small to medium caliber weapons or at least protect the crew of the vehicle enough to keep them alive. The idea that these vehicles need a new class of armor, the BAR, is again redundant and pointless in my opinion.
If they found the time to make a whole new set of rules for support vehicles which could be graphed right into the combat construction rules as well as the game play rules it would have been a better choice to revamp things to make a single set of rules for vehicles.
Try converting the vehicles in this TRO over to the combat vehicle construction side of the house, I am sure you will find that for the most part you can do so with ease and same goes for a lot of the vehicles found in the Support TRO and the Annex. Many of those can be made with the normal combat vehicle construction rules and still maintain all of the flexibility and flavor as given.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5791
Location: United States
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| Posted: 05-Apr-2013 03:09 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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I disagree. Without the weight modifiers caused by the tech ratings, you loose a lot of flexibility. As they describe, the stuff used in combat vehicle construction is more efficient per weight than in support vehicles. Support vehicles allow for far more flexibility then the combat vehicle rules at the time.
And BAR is a grand idea, but i agree that they should have just made this an armor point per ton modifier. Then you could use it in mechs as well.
And combat vehicles and aerofighter rules misses all types of vehicle types that would have been likely just as complicated to patch into the present system as it was to create another.
As we have seen if they made to extensive a change to an established system, you create errors in existing units that will then need to be updated (aerotech -> battlespace -> aerotech 2). This way they avoid the issue all together.
Yes, I would prefer a single construction system based upon a 1000 kg to 1 ton operation. It would allow for more consistency between as well as more options. Like a larger range of BAR even on mechs instead of stopping at 10. Then new weapons (and older) could be improved through both damage and penetration (its BAR rating). A weapons Penetration adds or subtracts damage based upon the difference between it and armor, and the resulting damage would effect TACs.
Thus a 3050 era Medium Laser is 5 dmg with 10 penetration. An outdated pre-star league equivalent would be like 5 dmg with 8 penetration. So if fired at a 3050 era unit, it would only do like 3 dmg. A 2000 laser would do 5 dmg with 5 penetration, thus would only light up a 3050 era unit's armor.
But given what has been done, Its better than nothing.
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one must work hard to cultivate the mind and body. and one must always cultivate the mind.
//^(^_^)^\\
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 05-Apr-2013 05:28 Post subject: TRO: 1945 |
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And I disagree with the whole set of rules, so let's leave it at that. And the tech rating thing has really nothing to do with anything that is truly useful to the board game.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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