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[Black Omega]

If Brandon can't make it, I can cover the Cyclops, Stinger and Spider.

[Timberwolfd]

Hunchback - Dan
Wolverine - Dan
Rifleman - Dan
Thunderbolt - Dan
Cyclops - Brandon - Backup Steve
Banshee - Brandon
Stinger - Brandon - Backup Steve
Spider - Brandon - Backup Steve
Firestarter - Dan
Javelin - Brandon
Plainsman - TimberwolfD
Scorpion
Vedette - Brandon
Prowler - TimberwolfD
Gladiator - Brandon
Archer - Dan
Vedette  - TimberwolfD
Vedette - TimberwolfD

[Darrian Wolffe]

Do ejected pilots auto-croak? We are in -50 degrees Celsius and only XCT infantry can deploy at those temperatures...

OK, first, holy shit, TacOps really says that. 

Second, it applies a -40 degree C modifier for ANY snowfall, and it only gets colder from there.  Evidently one cannot have snowfall at all at, say, -10 degrees C.

Third, the actual passage from TacOps regarding infantry in low temps reads as follows:

Extreme temperatures affect infantry in the same way as vehicles, slowing their movement. However, conventional infantry platoons cannot be deployed outside a vehicle or building in
 temperatures that exceed 50 degrees C or are less than –30 degrees C, unless they are XCT troops (see p. 351), in which case they ignore such movement restrictions.

So, a couple points on that.  First, deployment is a technical term.  TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, each MechWarrior is a 1-person infantry platoon which deploys inside their Mech when the Mech enters the playing area.  The MechWarrior is not being deployed when they eject, they are only leaving the vehicle in which they deployed.  Second, the section regarding movement restrictions specifically leads me to believe that abandoning a vehicle *is* possible in low temps...you simply have to deal with the movement restrictions that non-XTC infantry suffer.  Finally, in the Ejection Modifiers Table (TacOps, pg 197), snow and deep snow both provide a negative modifer (bonus) to your ejection PSR and Heavy Snowfall provides a penalty to your PSR...none of which would exist if you couldn't eject due to the low temperatures which are required for those conditions.  And to have snowfall in the first place, you have to be below the -30 degree C threshold mentioned above. 

Therefore, yes, pilots CAN eject (and vee crews can abandon their vee).  They suffer the normal movement penalties for snow...but since they have only a single MP anyway, the minimum movement rule thus applies and they can move a single hex per turn regardless.

Scorpion

I have 4, 80% painted Scorpion tanks on my desk.  They'll be there.

[Timberwolfd]

Do ejected pilots auto-croak? We are in -50 degrees Celsius and only XCT infantry can deploy at those temperatures...

OK, first, holy shit, TacOps really says that. 

Second, it applies a -40 degree C modifier for ANY snowfall, and it only gets colder from there.  Evidently one cannot have snowfall at all at, say, -10 degrees C.

Third, the actual passage from TacOps regarding infantry in low temps reads as follows:

Is this another of those rules everyone has been playing wrong forever?
 

[deadlyfire2345]

I thought Tac Ops was just advanced rulings for most things anyway. Unless we are assuming all rules are in effect (which is false in our case.) Would this be a case of GM discretion based on the information provided?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Is this another of those rules everyone has been playing wrong forever?
 

Not especially, since nobody I've ever heard of has voluntarily played in snow.  Weather conditions basically never come up during official events at conventions because they require TacOps-level knowledge, and we weren't supposed to create scenarios which required players to know that stuff.

And, as a note, we ARE actually playing the rules as written. 
-Moderate Snowfall requires a temperature of -50 C.  Check
-At temperates of -30 C or below, you cannot deploy infantry.  Check.
-Ejecting a MechWarrior or abandoning a vee crew is not "deploying" them, but instead "dismounting" them.  Check.
-Non-XTC infantry must pay additional MP costs to enter hexes.  Check.
-Minimum movement rule allows you to always enter at least 1 hex which your unit *can* enter by spending all your available MP.  Check.

Therefore, MechWarriors and ejecting vehicle crews can still appear on the battlefield, not immediately die, and can still move 1 hex/turn.  They'll just be, y'know, cold when you pick them up.

[Timberwolfd]

Do they need to make hazardous environment checks? Negative 50 would freeze exposed skin in 45 seconds or so...

[ItsTehPope]

Do we have enough time to requisition one per Lance before game?

[Timberwolfd]

As long as at least one is named Hot Dog and another is named Pupsicle.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Do they need to make hazardous environment checks?

Can you find me a TacOps page cite where they would?  I can't find one offhand.

[Timberwolfd]

Do they need to make hazardous environment checks?

Can you find me a TacOps page cite where they would?  I can't find one offhand.

I don't see anything. Score another loss for common sense.

[Timberwolfd]

Do they need to make hazardous environment checks?

Can you find me a TacOps page cite where they would?  I can't find one offhand.

I was just looking through TacOps and couldn't find any listing of infantry or pilots taking damage in any of the various planetary conditions except magma/fire/explosion related stuff. All of the toxic/tainted/cold entries just state that non-XCT or environmentally sealed units cannot deploy. Where did this come from? (cite from the contract thread.)

how will that work with pilots who have ejected ?

The general rules for hostile environments which aren't IMMEDIATELY fatal (ie, vacuum or underwater) go as follows:

1) Wear an environment suit (no cost) in the cockpit.  Take a +1/+1 penalty to your skills.
2) If you eject or are in a destroyed Mech without an environment suit, you make a BODY test vs a TN between 5 and 10 every round (2d6, +1 if your BOD is 7+, -1 if your BOD is 4 or less).  Fail a roll, take a point of pilot damage.  Damage stops if you're picked up by a unit (friendly or otherwise).  This planet isn't especially lethal, so you're probably testing on a 6+.

Is this TacOps or MW/ATOW?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Is this TacOps or MW/ATOW?

The environment suits are the latter.  Sort of.

Specifically, MW1e and MW2e both featured Heavy Hostile Environment Suits (and the Kurita-only MechWarrior Combat Suit) which gave armor bonuses, protects a pilot in a tainted atmosphere that is not immediately lethal, and incurs a penalty to DEX and RFL (which would have lowered your G/P scores due to the trait/attribute linkage).  This also occurs in the video game Crescent Hawks: Inception, where if you equip Jason Youngblood with an Environment Suit or an Ablative Suit, he takes a penalty to his Mech-driving stats.

I've left out the bit about how, if you take a single point of pilot damage while piloting your Mech or during the ejection, you lose the helpful effects of the suit (it tears; essentially what you're wearing is one of those anti-disease suits from the CDC.).

In the absence of running a full MW3e game where we have character sheets for all pilots and track their stats individually, the simply -1/-1 is by FAR the easiest way to handle things.  I'm trying to keep a middle ground where we can use RPG-like things in a BattleTech-rules campaign.

Is this TacOps or MW/ATOW?

Pilot damage from environment: MW3e/ATOW.  There's a bunch more granularity available in the RPG, and it lets you create hostile environments that are clearly unhealthy, but aren't immediately lethal (which pretty much everything from TacOps is).  See above re: "middle ground".

Also, it's a good way to encourage more tactical thinking; always keep a wingman nearby so you can pick them up/be picked up.  Solo runs are probably a bad idea.  But that's a bonus effect.

[Timberwolfd]

Okay, because the ATOW entry on extreme temperatures is brutal... (p. 237)
At -50 C we are 20 degrees below -30 C, the bottom of "your MechWarrior is just cold" temperatures.
Each minute would be a BOD check roll at -10 for 1 fatigue per MoF.
I assume that would translate to one or more pilot hits for us.
Combined with the likelihood of taking pilot hits while ejecting in the first place, that's some pretty nasty environment.
I will gladly have my pilots where their longjohns and parkas...

[deadlyfire2345]

But with the cold, there will be a bonus to heat though right? 2 points of added heat sinks essentially for every -10 below 30 correct? There is an up and down to the cold temp.
Although I would like to implement more of the roleplaying into this for sure.

Isn't ATOW an updated version of what we are technically using for this campaign? Would the rules be universal between the two?