CincyBattletech

I'm getting this posted to let everyone know that I will be running something on the 18th.  This is just a placeholder post for now.  I'll update this post with additional details as I get them figured out.  As a heads up, I'll probably need to borrow some minis for this game.

MechWarrior Online will be moving from closed beta to open beta on Tuesday October 16th.  My pilot name is "Death or Glory" if anyone wants to blow stuff with me.  It would be pretty awesome if we could get a full 8 person group thrown together.  Also, the NDA got lifted a couple weeks ago, so I'm free to answer any questions you might have about the game.

I'm running a scenario involving an Aerotech component this Saturday and while reading through the rules in TW, came up with a few question that I can't seem to find the answer to.

1.  How do aerospace units regain control after failing a control roll?

2.  Does firing externally carried rocket launchers cause an aerospace fighter to generate heat?

3.  Are attack paths on a ground mapsheet allowed to cross each other and/or overlap?

4.  Can multiple aerospace fighters attack the same hex on a ground mapsheet in the same turn?

5.  How do you determine what type of critical damage to check for when an aerospace fighter suffers SI damage due to a high-g maneuver?

6.  Can aerospace fighters expend thrust points to decrease velocity when operating in atmosphere?

7.  When does the loss of altitude resulting from a failed control roll when operating in atmosphere happen?

8.  If an Aerospace Fighter suffers random movement as a result of heat instead of a failed control roll is it still considered to be out of control?  If so, would this cause it to lose altitude when operating in atmosphere?

Thanks for your help.

Way back in the dark days of 2007, after playing many hours of MechCommander and D&D, I came up with a series of "mechwarrior traits" for use in a battletech campaign I was trying to put together.  Unfortunately, the campaign never got off the ground and these traits got filed away in some obscure folder on an external HD.  I stumbled across these abilities earlier today while backing some stuff up and realized they were at least similar in concept to the Special Pilot Abilities now featured in AToW.  I decided it might be fun to add these SPAs into the campaign I'm currently running and wanted to know what you guys thought about them before I screw up game balance too much in my campaign.  More specifically, I would like to know what XP costs you think would be appropriate for these abilities.  So, without further ado, here's what 18 year old me thought were cool and balanced abilities:

Weapon Specialist (Lasers, ER Lasers, Pulse Lasers, PPCs, Gauss Rifles, LRMs, MRMs, SRMs, ACs, LB-X ACs, UACs, RACs)
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 4 or lower.
Effect:  You have a -1 to hit modifier when firing a weapon of this type.

Mech Specialist (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault) I:
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 5 or lower.
Effect:  You have a -1 modifier on piloting skill rolls when piloting a battlemech of this type.

Mech Specialist (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault) II:
Prerequisites:  Mech Specialist (same type) I and piloting of 4 or lower.
Effect:  You gain 1 MP when running in a battlemech of this type.

Mech Specialist (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault) III:
Prerequisites:  Mech Specialist (same type) II and piloting of 3 or lower.
Effect:  Enemies suffer a +1 to hit modifier when shooting at you when you are piloting a battlemech of this type.

Headhunter I:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower.
Effect:  On a determining hit location role of 2 you may choose to hit the head instead.

Headhunter II:
Prerequisites:  Headhunter I and gunnery of 2 or lower.
Effect:  On a determining hit location role of 11 you may role a d6.  On a role of 4+, the shot hits the head, otherwise it hits the normal location.

Headhunter III:
Prerequisites:  Headhunter II and a gunnery of 1 or lower.
Effect:  On a determining hit location role of 3 you may role a d6.  On a role  of 4+, the shot hits the head, otherwise it hits the normal location.

Physical Attack Specialist:
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 5 or lower.
You gain a -1 modifier on all to hit roles for physical attacks.

Concentrate Fire (LRMs, MRMs, SRMs, LB-X ACs, and RACs):
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower and weapon specialization with appropriate weapon type.
Effect:  For clustered damage with the appropriate type of weapon, double the size of the cluster.

Maximize Fire (LRMs, MRMs, SRMs, LB-X ACs, UACS, and RACs):
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower and weapon specialization with appropriate weapon type.
Effect:  Add a +2 bonus to determine number of hit rolls with the appropriate type of weapon.

Knockdown (PPCs (not Light PPCs), Gauss Rifles, ACs (10 or 20), LB-X ACs (10 or 20), UACs (10 or 20)):
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower and weapon specialization with appropriate weapon type.
Effect:  The target must make a piloting skill roll whenever you hit it with a weapon of the appropriate type.   Each additional hit from a knockdown weapon adds 1 to the difficulty of the piloting skill role.

Strider (Rough, Water, Elevation, Woods)
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 4 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce mp cost of moving through appropriate terrain type by 1.

Jump Jet Specialist I
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 5 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce the heat generated by jumping by 2, in addition, your new minimum amount of heat generated by jumping is now 2.

Jump Jet Specialist II
Prerequisites:  Jump Jet specialist I and piloting of 4 or lower.
Effect:  Increase your maximum jump mp by 1.

Jump Jet Specialist III
Prerequisites:  Jump Jet specialist II and piloting of 3 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce to hit penalty for jumping by 1.

Jump Jet Specialist IV
Prerequisites:  Jump Jet specialist III and piloting of 2 or lower.
Effect:   Increase movement modifier when jumping by an additional +1.

Die Hard:
Prerequisites:  None
Effect:  Re-roll all failed consciousness roles.  In addition, if you would take a sixth pilot hit roll a d6, on a result of 4+ the hit is disregarded.

Heat Management Specialist I:
Prerequisites:  None
Effect:  You may cool 2 additional heat points each turn.

Heat Management Specialist II:
Prerequisites:  Heat Management Specialist I.
Effect:  Reduce the target number for all avoiding shutdown rolls by 1.

Heat Management Specialist III:
Prerequisites:  Heat Management Specialist II.
Effect:  Reduce the target number for all avoiding ammunition explosion rolls by 1.

Ace Pilot I:
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 3 or lower.
Effect:  Re-roll all failed piloting rolls.

Ace Pilot II:
Prerequisites:  Ace Pilot I and piloting of 2 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce the to hit penalty for walking and running by 1.

Ace Pilot III:
Prerequisites:  Ace Pilot II and piloting of 1 or lower.
Effect:  If you have any mp remaining at the end of the movement phase, you may spend up to 4 of the remaining mp in order to increase the hexes moved for calculating your movement modifier by 1 for each mp spent.

Critical Hit Specialist:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 2 or lower.
Effect:  Add a +1 bonus to the result of any determining critical hits role resulting from damage done directly by you.

(Short, Medium, Long) Range Specialist:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 4 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce the penalty for firing at the specified range by 1.

Deadeye I:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 2 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce the movement modifier of the target by 1.

Deadeye II:
Prerequisites:  Deadeye I and gunnery of 1 or lower.
Effect:  You may reroll all determining hit location rolls.

Deadeye III:
Prerequisites:  Deadeye II and gunnery of 0 or lower.
Effect:  You can always make aimed shots.

Shootist:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower.
Effect:  Reduce the penalty for firing at a secondary target by 1.

Bombardier:
Prerequisites:  Gunnery of 3 or lower.
Effect:  Disregard penalties for the spotter’s movement when using indirect fire.

Lightning Reflexes:
Prerequisites:  None.
Effect:  Add a +1 bonus to all initiative rolls.

Electronic Warfare Specialist:
Prerequisites:  None
Effect:  Increase the range of any ECM equipped on your mech by two hexes.

Cover Specialist:
Prerequisites:  Piloting of 4 or lower.
Effect:  Increase the modifier for being hit while being in light woods, heavy woods, or having partial cover by 1.

Bushwacker:
Prerequisites:  None.
Effect:  You may always deploy using the hidden units rule.

Flanker:
Prerequisites:  None.
Effect:  At the beginning of the game role a d6.  The result is the turn number that you arrive on board.  When you arrive on the battlefield, you may arrive on any board edge that was not included in your opponent’s deployment zone.

Berserker:
Prerequisites:  None.
Effect:  Improve your piloting skill, gunnery skill, and initiative role by 1 for each mech that you destroyed in the previous turn.  This effect goes away at the end of the turn.

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on this since my A Time of War campaign just officially ended with the players all getting killed or captured on this scenario and there were some complaints that the scenario was too difficult.  In all honesty, I think it was more the dice gods frowning on the PCs today than the scenario being unbalanced, but I just want to get a more objective opinion to make sure that I didn't screw things up on my end.

Smoke Jaguars:

Active on Turn 1:
2 Gunnery, 3 Piloting Mechwarrior with Enhanced Imaging, Jumping Jack, and Sniper in a Summoner D (pilot will strictly adhere to zellbrigen)
3 Gunnery, 4 Piloting Mechwarrior in a Warhammer IIC (pilot will make an attempt to adhere to zellbrigen)
3 Gunnery, 4 Piloting Mechwarrior in a Stinger STG-3Gb (pilot will make an attempt to adhere to zellbrigen)

Active on Turn 3:
3 Gunnery, 4 Piloting Vehicle Crew in a Donar Assault Helicopter (crew will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
3 Gunnery, 4 Piloting Vehicle Crew in a Donar Assault Helicopter (crew will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
4 Gunnery, 5 Piloting Vehicle Crew in an Anhur Transport (crew will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
4 Gunnery, 5 Piloting Vehicle Crew in an Anhur Transport (crew will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
3 Gunnery, 4 Anti-Mech Skill Elemental Point with Small Lasers starting in an Anhur (point will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
3 Gunnery, 4 Anti-Mech Skill Elemental Point with Small Lasers starting in an Anhur (point will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)
4 Heavy Buildings mounting a single Clan ER Medium Laser with a Gunnery of 3 (crew will not interfere with any formal duels the Summoner D is fighting, but is otherwise unconcerned with zellbrigen)

Player Characters:

Active on Turn 1:
0 Gunnery, 0 Piloting Mechwarrior with Sniper and Range Master (Long) in a Summoner Prime

Active on Turn 2:
1 Gunnery, 1 Piloting Mechwarrior with Sniper in a Woodsman Prime
2 Gunnery, 3 Piloting Mechwarrior in a Timber Wolf A

Active on Turn 3:
2 Gunnery, 3 Piloting Mechwarrior in a Cauldron Born A

Are we expected to bring character and record sheets for our own character and battlemech or is all of that going to be handled by the GM?

I just tried to access the classicbattletech.com forums and received the following message:

"Due to a security breach the forums are being taken down indefinitely while the damage to the system is accessed. Because of the nature of this breach it is unlikely we will be restoring a backup of user accounts as it is impossible to know who's passwords and accounts have been compromised.

We are currently accessing our options and will get the forums back up in one form or another as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Jason M. Knight classicbattletech.com System Administrator"

Does anyone know anything about this beyond what was stated in that message?

Okay, first off I'm not trying to backseat gm, exceed my authority, or step on anyone's toes here.  I'm just curious about a couple items relating to the campaign overall and wanted to know what everyone's thoughts are on them and if there was some sort of pre-existing plan that I somehow missed.

Item one, how long is this campaign going to last?  If memory serves, this was initially pitched as the Fall/Winter campaign.  At this point, it seems pretty clear that this campaign is going to go through at least spring, which is good since I'm enjoying the battle for Terra so far and we're no where near done.  What I want to know is, are there plans to extend the campaign into summer or even the fall?  With Rob and Dan off the gming hook for this campaign, continuing into summer would probably be at least slightly possible.  What determines the length of this campaign?  Is there a set number of scenarios that we're going to play through?  Are we ending after a certain month?  Are we going to keep playing until people lose interest in Terra?

Item two, what pace are we going to continue at?  I believe the initial target was to play two campaign scenarios a month.  So far, we've been doing one scenario a month.  Obviously, between Thanksgiving, the harvest trials, talks of Klondike, and Christmas, doing two scenarios a month for November and December was pretty much impossible.  However, with the holidays behind us (and writing off January as everyone still being too frazzled from the holidays during the organizational period at the beginning of the month), getting in two scenarios a month should at least be within the realm of possibility.  If the campaign is going to end by summer, then trying to get in two scenarios a month would definitely allow us to fight things out a lot more thoroughly, than with only doing one scenario a month.  However, this does put more strain on everyone's schedules, increases the pressure on the gms to get things ready quickly, and restricts the amount of discussion time each side has to make decisions about scenarios beforehand.  Basically, what I want to know is, are you happy and content continuing with one scenario a month or do you want to push for two?  Personally, I would like to try to get in a second scenario each month, however my schedule is also less busy than a lot of people's (for example, I have enough free time to leave rambling posts on a Cincinnati gaming club message board at 4:27 a.m. when I can't seem to fall asleep) and I'm not responsible for creating scenarios, so doing two scenarios a month would probably be easier for me than it would be for most other players and the gms.

edit: Wow, my grammar sucks at 4:27 a.m.