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[Ad Hoc]

For the ClanTech manual usage it states "at the cost of 1 experience level (an elite Tech becomes a Veteran Tech)". How would this affect my Elite 4+ tech if I used one of the manuals on her?. Would the difference of an Elite 4+ and Elite 5+ be considered an experience level or would she drop all the way to a Vet? Because there has been a lot of XP spent to get her to Elite 4+ and I don't want to waste them and drop her all the way to Vet.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Can pod-capable equipment be mounted in non-omni mech and remain pod-capable?  IE trying to create pod mount in non-omni?

From what I understand, no, once pod-capable equipment is mounted in a non-omni unit, it stops being pod-mountable.  I suppose there's nothing stopping you from using the rules to convert it *back* to a pod-mount, however.

[Darrian Wolffe]

For the ClanTech manual usage it states "at the cost of 1 experience level (an elite Tech becomes a Veteran Tech)". How would this affect my Elite 4+ tech if I used one of the manuals on her?. Would the difference of an Elite 4+ and Elite 5+ be considered an experience level or would she drop all the way to a Vet? Because there has been a lot of XP spent to get her to Elite 4+ and I don't want to waste them and drop her all the way to Vet.

I've thought back and forth on this.  A LOT.  You're correct that that's a ton of XP to get back, but I have to balance that out regarding consistency within the game rules, and consistency with how I've already handled things so far during the campaign.  I'll be frank that when I came up with the tech manual rules, I wasn't thinking about the possibility of a 4+ Tech; I just wanted a fast and above all SIMPLE downside to the item for some game balance purposes.  Gain a bonus, lose an experience ranking. 

In this case, as I've already had to handle this item and need to maintain consistency within the campaign, I will stick to my guns on this.  The downside is the downside: the Tech loses an experience rating, meaning that they drop from Elite to Veteran, no matter what their Elite TN actually is.  If it makes one feel better about it, fluff it as someone being set sufficiently in their ways that a fundamental change to how they do their job actually hurts them more (think about all the 60+ year olds handed office desktop computers for the first time in the mid-to-late 1990s).  My personal suggestion, therefore, would be to not train the 4+ Tech in question, and reserve that Technician for IS-only units.

[Ad Hoc]

For the ClanTech manual usage it states "at the cost of 1 experience level (an elite Tech becomes a Veteran Tech)". How would this affect my Elite 4+ tech if I used one of the manuals on her?. Would the difference of an Elite 4+ and Elite 5+ be considered an experience level or would she drop all the way to a Vet? Because there has been a lot of XP spent to get her to Elite 4+ and I don't want to waste them and drop her all the way to Vet.

I've thought back and forth on this.  A LOT.  You're correct that that's a ton of XP to get back, but I have to balance that out regarding consistency within the game rules, and consistency with how I've already handled things so far during the campaign.  I'll be frank that when I came up with the tech manual rules, I wasn't thinking about the possibility of a 4+ Tech; I just wanted a fast and above all SIMPLE downside to the item for some game balance purposes.  Gain a bonus, lose an experience ranking.  

In this case, as I've already had to handle this item and need to maintain consistency within the campaign, I will stick to my guns on this.  The downside is the downside: the Tech loses an experience rating, meaning that they drop from Elite to Veteran, no matter what their Elite TN actually is.  If it makes one feel better about it, fluff it as someone being set sufficiently in their ways that a fundamental change to how they do their job actually hurts them more (think about all the 60+ year olds handed office desktop computers for the first time in the mid-to-late 1990s).  My personal suggestion, therefore, would be to not train the 4+ Tech in question, and reserve that Technician for IS-only units.

That’s fair. Just needed clarification because it was a new situation. Thanks

[Black Omega]

Rules require consultation with GM to use customization process to rid a mech of negative quirk.  Case in point....new neg quirk [unstable] in Dancer Phoenix Hawk.  Rob, please see discord private message to start consultation process.
Thanks

[Ad Hoc]

Looking at the our campaign rules for podding weapons and equipment. Is there a penalty if the item is Clan tech and the technician is only IS rated?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Looking at the our campaign rules for podding weapons and equipment. Is there a penalty if the item is Clan tech and the technician is only IS rated?

Yes, that penalty applies any time a tech touches any sort of work involving Clan Tech AND the tech lacks the 'Clan training' ability.

As a side note to everyone: I'm starting to get back to working on everything I missed during my near death (seemingly) experience, so I'll be updating things as I find them.  The actual mission stuff for Operation SOVNYA will go up ASAP, and we'll play Mission 1 in February.  Apologies for the delay.

[Black Omega]

Repairs to Gladiator question.  At beginning of battle, Gladiator was mixed tech with clan weapons in RA.  During battle, RA completely destroyed.  There is currently no clan tech left on mech.

Is mech still considered mixed for repairs to all other areas?
Can RA be replaced as IS then mixed as clan weapons are reinstalled?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Repairs to Gladiator question.  At beginning of battle, Gladiator was mixed tech with clan weapons in RA.  During battle, RA completely destroyed.  There is currently no clan tech left on mech.

Is mech still considered mixed for repairs to all other areas?
Can RA be replaced as IS then mixed as clan weapons are reinstalled?

Um.  That's a very good set of questions.

For purposes of simplicity, I have to say that the Mech is considered Mixed Tech because you're repairing it to what it used to be prior to damage (ie, mixed).  You have to repair a Mech to the "prior to damaged state" as the first step in either a repair or customization process; the rules have been very clear about that.  Since it was Mixed prior to the damage, it would be to be mixed after the repair.

The second question would literally be an example of customization: taking an existing tech base (IS) and then modifying it (to Clan). But again, as you need to repair to its prior configuration BEFORE starting any sort of customization, to be consistent within the ruleset, the idea - while a good one - wouldn't help in this case.

I agree that if the only Clan Tech on the Mech is in the RA, the RA is gone, and you aren't repairing that yet and are only, say, replacing armor on the Left Torso, then it doesn't make much sense to apply the Mixed Tech penalty. I do get that. But I don't think I can write a set of rules that's going to cover all the possible permutations of that conclusion, which is still playable, and which still maintains a sense of deliberately limiting MixTech units to be in keeping with the universe fluff, since they're supposed to be relatively rare and difficult to keep operational. 

[Hat]

Rob: On May 14th, SGT Young (Phoenix Lance) under doctor's care with 1 box left to heal experienced significant issues (roll of 2).  How does the loss of an Attribute Point work for a wingman? 

Update: This has been compounded with a second roll of snake eyes on the next healing check (Yes, the dice forum roller really hates me, and by extension, Ryan).

[Darrian Wolffe]

Rob: On May 14th, SGT Young (Phoenix Lance) under doctor's care with 1 box left to heal experienced significant issues (roll of 2).  How does the loss of an Attribute Point work for a wingman? 

Update: This has been compounded with a second roll of snake eyes on the next healing check (Yes, the dice forum roller really hates me, and by extension, Ryan).

I'm not near my rules right now, but it's fairly simple, because we don't track attributes for anyone but full PCs.  As per the normal SPA rules, if you ever don't know what an attribute is actually scored at, it counts as a 4.  This rule would therefore include wingmen, as their attributes aren't normally tracked.  DEX and REF each require a minimum score of 4 to remain a MechWarrior (as per the Attribute Use Summary Chart in the HM,WT rules).  So roll for attribute loss as appropriate - (1d7, affecting STR, BOD, DEX, REF, INT, WIL, or CHA) - if DEX or REF are lost, the character can no longer effectively pilot a Mech.  If they have other skills that the lance can use then they can be kept on and reclassed (into, say, a Mech Tech), but otherwise it's your choice whether to keep them on or to ask them to tender their resignation at the end of the Contract.  If other attributes are lost, there's no real game effect, short of whatever narrative you'd like to create regarding the situation.

Note that all of this is separate from the Major Injuries procedure, which I'm assuming SGT Young didn't suffer.  Wingmen absolutely can and do suffer Major Injuries as per the table in the HM,WT medical rules section.

Also, I would suggest sacrificing a goat to the dice roller gods in fairly short order.

[Hat]

<snip>
So roll for attribute loss as appropriate - (1d7, affecting STR, BOD, DEX, REF, INT, WIL, or CHA) - if DEX or REF are lost, the character can no longer effectively pilot a Mech...

Note that all of this is separate from the Major Injuries procedure, which I'm assuming SGT Young didn't suffer.  Wingmen absolutely can and do suffer Major Injuries as per the table in the HM,WT medical rules section.

Also, I would suggest sacrificing a goat to the dice roller gods in fairly short order.

Young didn't suffer 4+ pilot hits, just 2, so no Major Injuries.  Goat sacrificed, and it worked at least for the 1d7 rolls.  BOD and WIL lost.

[Hat]

Rob - how is changing armor types for customization handled given the "swap all of 1 type for a location" such as HS?  Previously swapping out 10 HS in the engine was 900 minutes and because 90 minutes modified by the refit type.  If you move from Std to FF, or FF to Std, how does the 1 location thing work (if at all) given a single box of armor is 10 minutes and just stripping 10T of armor becomes a 1600 minute base job * refit multiplier meaning a minimum of 3200 minutes (x2) (6.67 days) just to get the armor off, not putting anything in its place?

As the actual example, I'm looking at changing the Lancelot LNC25-01 to LNC25-01sl variant.  It replaces the 9.5T Std armor with 9.5T FF armor.  It adds 2 DHS (1 added to LT), and swaps the 2 LL and PPC in place to 3 ER LL total.  This seems like a fairly simple change.  It's a Class C (adding the DHS to the LT) with a x5 time multiplier.  Swapping the 3 weapons is 360 minutes to remove, 360 minutes to add, 720 minutes total.  Adding 1 DHS to the Engine (90 minutes) + 1 DHS to the LT (90 minutes) adds another 180 minutes, 900 minutes total.  If every box of armor needs to be removed and added individually at 10 minutes / box that's another 3220 minutes.  It's a Class C refit though, making it 16100 minutes just over 33.5 days just to swap the armor.  All told before any modifiers are added for time to try and make the process more manageable (again going from a standard variant to standard variant) total time is 20,600 minutes or approximately 43 days.  With an Elite Tech (5+) and a Maintenance Facility (-2) vs. the Customization mod (+3), it's a TN: 6 at 43 days effort.  At quad time (-3 mod) it converts on a TN: 3+ at a little under 172 days, so almost half a year to go from a standard variant to a standard variant.

If the armor instead is treated as by location, with 11 locations and use 1 box of armor as base, it's 110 minutes to get the old armor off and 110 minutes to get the new armor on for a total of 220 minutes base.  Added to the 900 minutes, it's 1110 minutes * 5 = 5550 minutes (a little over 11.5 days) before any additional time is applied to help ensure that the customization works.  At quad time (-3 mod) it converts on a TN: 3+ at ~46 days moving from a standard variant to a standard variant.

Again, both examples are already using an Elite tech to do the work in a maintenance facility.

[Hat]

Bump.  Still looking for an answer for the question above.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Bump.  Still looking for an answer for the question above.

I'm still waiting on a clarification myself.  Honestly, neither option feels particularly acceptable once one takes some edge cases into account, so I'm running it up the chain.