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[Darrian Wolffe]

As far as I'm concerned, this is the final version of the ruleset.  Aside from typos or CGL-level errata which necessitates changes, or a hitherto unnoticed massive structural flaw in the rules, there will be no further changes nor additions.

If you have a question these rules do not cover, generally speaking, the answer will be "no, you can't."

The changelog from the previous ruleset may be found here: http://forums.cincybattletech.com/index.php?topic=811.msg9759#msg9759

[Timberwolfd]

Added to v3.0

s there any limit on the number of times we can attempt to purchase something in a month, except our total number of acquisition rolls?

Specific scenario:
I want to buy an XL engine and fail on my first attempt. The attempt occurs April 5th.
Other purchases succeed or fail as normal, leaving me with rolls remaining (20/24).
Do I need to wait between rolls or do anything other than just go roll again?

I thought at one point we had a limit to weekly purchasing, but that doesn't appear to be included in the current rules.  

Each "set" of Acquisition rolls is once per day.  Essentially, if you roll for 1 October, and fail, you can try again on 2 October.  You're still capped as per the maximum monthly limit.

[deadlyfire2345]

Added to v3.0

This was something he told us when we both joined the unit. starting ages for staff were 18 +1d6

[Darrian Wolffe]

Added to v3.0

Land-Air-Mechs Addendum

Since LAMs have to be complicated, here's the rules modifications for them.  I'm trying to strike a balance point between making LAMs a rare but useful asset, and all of their necessary downsides.  I'll ask nicely to not push further into making them even easier to use; while what TPTB did to them was totally over the line, these are about as friendly a set of rules as I can come up with and still respect the lore.

Monthly Maintenance Cost:  Monthly Maintenance Cost on a LAM is $5,000/month.  This includes standard fuel loads, but does not include any ordnance carried (including fuel pods).
Part Costs:  The base costs of the following components are doubled from their BattleMech equivalent: Cockpit, Avionics, Sensors, Life Support, and all non-Hand/non-Foot Actuators.
Acquisition TNs All LAM components which have their cost doubled also suffer a +2 TN penalty for acquisition.  This penalty increases to +3 after 1 January, 3055, and +4 after 1 January, 3060.
Customization and Refit TNs:  All LAM Refit TNs have an inherent +1 TN penalty.  All Customization TNs have an inherent +3 TN penalty.
Repair TNs:  All Repair/Replacement TNs for a LAM suffer a +1 penalty.
Purchasing and Selling LAMs:  The C-Bill cost to purchase a LAM is double the listed amount if you are in Inner Sphere territory, and triple if you are in the Periphery.  If you are selling a LAM, figure the sale cost as normal (including the check to increase the sale price).  Whatever the final result of this process is, double it to find the actual sale price.
LAM Pilots: Make an Acquisition Roll to acquire a LAM pilot; the TN is 10.  You may attempt 1 Roll per month, and may not roll if in transit.  This attempt takes 5 of your monthly acquisition "slots".  Your roll gets a bonus of half your CHA score (round down), no other modifiers except for Bad Reputation and Contact apply.  If your MoS is 0, you find a Green LAM Pilot (5/6 to both Mech and ASF piloting stats).  If your MoS is 1-2, you find a Regular LAM pilot (4/5 Mech scores, 5/4 ASF scores; 1 random SPA on a 9+).  If your MoS is 3+, you find a Veteran LAM pilot (3/4 Mech Scores, 4/3 ASF scores; 2 random SPAs each on an 8+).  You MUST hire the pilot in question if you find one, and may not fire them for at least 6 months.  Add +$50,000 CB to their hiring bonus.  Any qualified LAM pilot recieves TRIPLE montly pay for their rating, regardless of whether they are actually piloting a LAM or not.  All qualified LAM pilots are automatically classified as both Medium and Light Mech pilots.

All standard LAM rules from Interstellar Operations apply to gameplay and LAM construction/customization.  In addition, apply the following Quirks to LAMs:

Stinger LAM: Cramped Cockpit, Nimble Jumper (Mech), Exposed Actuators (AirMech)
Wasp LAM: Extended Torso Twist (Mech), Nimble Jumper (Mech), Atmospheric Flyer (ASF, AirMech), Difficult Ejection, Exposed Actuators (AirMech)
Phoenix Hawk LAM: Improved Comms, Improved Targeting (Short), Protected Actuators, Atmospheric Flyer (ASF, AirMech), Weak Undercarriage (ASF), No Cooling Jacket (LL)*
*Roll 2d6 when you first acquire the Mech: this Quirk applies on a 7+.

Clarification:
If a LAM transforms during a battle to ASF mode with the intent to provide air support, it must spend 1 turn reaching altitude.  Therefore, two turns after it leaves the battlefield, it may make a Strike, Strafe, or Bomb attack as normal (all are "light"-class), assuming it can carry the appropriate weaponry to make the attack.  It must depart the battle permanently after making this attack, or must undergo normal re-entry to the battlefield in AirMech or Mech mode.  Alternately, the LAM may stay on CAP duty, generating a Light Air Cover marker.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Added to v3.0

Searchlights

OK, I've answered a couple of PMs on this.  I thought those answers would be propogated to all players by now, but I just got another PM, so hell, here's how they work.

There are FIVE ways to have a Searchlight:
1) Have the Searchlight Quirk. (Rifleman, Warhammer)
2) Have a Searchlight pretty clearly delineated in the fluff or art (Marauder, Crusader)
3) Carry a hand-held searchlight (TacOps, Hand-held weapon rules)
4) Carry a Mounted Searchlight (TacOps, p57)
5) Customize your Mech to carry a searchlight (standard customization rules)

#1, 2, & 5 should require no explanation.  A Mech with a searchlight which falls under conditions #1 or #2 need not spend Tech Time or money to replace a searchlight damaged on a mission.

Searchlights are a piece of equipment, just like all other components.  They are rolled for via acquisition rolls, and stocked in your warehouse in the same way a PPC might be.  They are very obviously IntroTech-level equipment (with an intro date of ~1910), so that's your TN.  They cost $2,000 CB and weigh 0.5 tons.  They cannot be repaired, only replaced with a new searchlight.  

#3) Searchlights as Hand-held weapons: They need to be built into a hand-held weapon via TacOps rules.  The short version is that you can build a hand-held weapon that is just a Searchlight and Armor (16 pts/ton) as long as you have the components and can make a Tech roll at a fixed TN of 7+ (no modifiers; requires 1 day to build).  The total mass cannot be more than 10% of the mass of your Mech.  The Unit carrying a hand-held weapon must have a full set of arm actuators, including hands.  The carrying unit cannot make any physical attacks except for kicks, charges, and DFAs, and cannot fire any torso-mounted weapons while using - not just carrying -a hand-held weapon.  You cannot fire arm-mounted weapons at all while carrying a hand-held.  If the carrying unit is struck on the arm locations, roll 1d6; on a 6, the hand-held weapon is struck, tracking damage normally with no internal structure.  A hand-held weapon can be dropped during the End Phase; if dropped, the weapon is not recoverable (ie, we aren't tracking dropped weapons on the mapsheet; screw that).  If the carrying unit takes a Hand Actuator critical hit, the hand-held weapon is dropped automatically.

#4) Searchlights as mounted equipment:  Any Mech can have a Searchlight Mounted on it, as long as you have an available searchlight in your warehouse.  Mounting a Searchlight on a Mech requires a Tech roll of 8+ (applying location and time modifiers) and a Base Time of 480 minutes.  A Mounted Searchlight is destroyed on any Torso Hit using the standard rules (TN 7+).

A Mech can have only a single built-in searchlight (conditions 1, 2, or 4).  The only way a Mech can have 2 searchlights is by having a hand-held searchlight in addition to one it already has.  

Rules Change:  All searchlights have a Range of 30 hexes, hand-held or not.  That's a pointless nerf on hand-helds.

GM note:  I've been reading TacOps for almost literally a decade now, and I never noticed the paragraph about Mounted Searchlights on pg 57 ("If all players agree—or the scenario designates appropriately—’Mechs and Combat Vehicles that do not have searchlights can be nominated to carry a mounted searchlight for the duration of the scenario (hand-held searchlights cannot be nominated in this fashion).")


WE ARE NOT USING HAND-HELD WEAPONS OTHER THAN SEARCHLIGHTS.  NOT EVEN CARRYING CARGO NETS LIKE A BANDOLIER AND THROWING 1-TON THERMOBARIC BOMBS LIKE GRENADES.  WHICH I'M GOING TO DO TO SOMEBODY SOMEDAY.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Added to v3.0

Replace the entire Retirement Section with the following:

4) Make retirement checks.
After a player’s 3rd contract (irrespective of when they joined the unit), their members may be ready to move on. After completion of each additional contract, each time the unit completes a contract, all personnel except for Lance Leaders immediately test for retirement. Each member is rolled for individually (the Unit CO is responsible for testing for generally-employed unit members such as Admin staff).  The Base Retirement Target number is 3+the first digit of the unit member's age (a 42 year old member would add +4, for a total target number of 7).  Roll 2d6 and add either your Leadership skill bonus OR half your Charisma Score (rounded down) to generate a total.  If you fail to meet or beat the Modified Retirement Target, the unit member will retire the day the next contract is signed.  If a character has a negative Trait which directly impacts a unit member (ie, a Lance Leader with "Stigma/hates FRR people" who has a person from the FRR in their lance), then the GM may assign a modifier to the roll; Positive Traits have no effect, as your people expect you to have positive qualities as their boss.

 Players can prevent a retirement by spending CB on a retention bonus. As long as $20,000 CB are paid to the unit member, you can make a single reroll for that unit member. Every 10,000 CB spent after the first allotment will generate a -1 bonus to the re-roll result, to a maximum cap of -5 ($50,000). Whether the member retires or not, the money is lost (it’s been paid to that person). Retiring MechWarriors specifically require either a non-crippled BattleMech of the weight class which they were originally classified in, or a cash payment of 2 million CB for light Mechs, 4 million for Medium,6 million for Heavy, or 8 million for Assaults. Retiring non-MechWarrior officers require a separation payment of $15,000 (Green), $35,000 (Regular), $65,000 (Veteran), or $90,000 (Elite)  Retiring enlisted personnel require a payment of $10,000 (Green), $25,000 (Regular), $50,000 (Veteran), or $75,000 (Elite).

Once it has been determined that a unit member is leaving, you have  until the start date of the next contract until that unit member leaves. It is suggested that a replacement unit member be hired during that time. Any non-Lance Leader personnel can be immediately fired at no cost to the unit (aside from MechWarriors, who use the weight class or cash payment rules as per retirement). However, once it is determined that a unit member *is* going to retire, they cannot be fired. Non-PC personnel will automatically retire upon reaching 60 years old, unless paid a $500,000 CB bonus. They will then be willing to work until age 65 (they no longer need to roll at the end of a contract), and will retire at 65, period.

A roll of a 2 on a retirement check (or reroll) is ALWAYS a failure, and a roll of 12 is ALWAYS a success.  There are no autosuccesses or failures during this process.

A Lance Leader has the option to voluntarily retire at the end of a contract. If they do, the player decides whether they leave the unit alone or take their lance with them. A Lance Leader who retires may be replaced by a new
Lance Leader generated under the Lance Leader Creation Rules, and after character generation will receive the available XP possessed by the Lance Leader at their time of retirement, to a minimum of 20 XP. In addition, if the old Lance Leader had purchased any SPAs after character creation, the new Lance Leader will choose a single 20 XP SPA for free. A player may not voluntarily retire a Lance Leader more often than once per two full contracts.

[Darrian Wolffe]

I'm creating this post solely to attach links to PARTICULARLY pertinent errata which can meaningfully affect our campaign:

Long Tom errata:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,3797.msg799558.html#msg799558

RS for download at
https://bg.battletech.com/downloads/

[Darrian Wolffe]

Added to v3.0

DropShip Purchase Prices

Multiply the cost (listed in AtB/MegaMek) by 0.4 (rounding upwards to the nearest 100 C-bills).

A Leopard DropShip's base cost is $157,461,066 C-bills.  After conversion, the cost will be $62,984,426.4 C-bills, rounding to a total of $62,984,500.

Primitive DropShips are instead multiplied by 0.3 (rounding upwards to the nearest 100 CB).

The DropShip Purchase Modifier WILL change as an effect of universe events (Clan Invasion, FedCom Civil War, the fact that Mechs get so expensive that a Leopard can cost less than the lance it carries, etc).

DropShip Purchase Rules

If the Unit wishes to purchase a DropShip, first the availability of the DropShip must be established.  The Unit must spend $50,000 C-bills and make only a single roll per game month (on the 1st of the month) against the following table (this is a list of all DropShips which AtB supports as per the 3046 universe date.  List will be adjusted in 3055 and later.)


Salvaged DropShips have undergone extremely traumatic events in their past, and are subject to system breakdowns.  This has the game effect of adding 1d3 negative Quirks to the ship, and quadrupling monthly maintenance costs.

Assuming the desired DropShip has been located, the Unit may then expend the cash required to purchase the DropShip.  Arrival is instantaneous.

By sacrificing an Elite-rated Transport Administrator's effects for 1 full month, the Unit CO may make a Negotiation check against a TN of 10.  Each point of MoS reduces the (modified) DropShip cost by 2%.  Each point of MoF increases the cost by 1%.  If the Unit CO chooses to use this negotiation option, he is bound by the results of the check and cannot "back out" of the deal.  

The unit may not possess more than 3 DropShips (the capacity of an Invader JumpShip) at any one time.

DropShip Modification Rules
TBA

[Timberwolfd]

So, our target Overlord class DropShip with a base value of 334,275,872 would be multiplied by 0.4 and rounded to 133,710,300. We would then spend 50k to roll for a TN of 10+ to find a new ship. Then, I could decide to directly purchase it at 133,710,300 or try to negotiate for a better/worse price with the assistance of an elite transport admin. Then we would need to recruit a crew...

[Darrian Wolffe]

So, our target Overlord class DropShip with a base value of 334,275,872 would be multiplied by 0.4 and rounded to 133,710,300. We would then spend 50k to roll for a TN of 10+ to find a new ship. Then, I could decide to directly purchase it at 133,710,300 or try to negotiate for a better/worse price with the assistance of an elite transport admin. Then we would need to recruit a crew...

That sounds approximately correct (I didn't actually run the maths). 

[Darrian Wolffe]

ADDED v 3.0

REVISION: Skill Summary Chart

What non-combat skills get used for what.  Apologies for not having this way back when, but honestly I didn't know about some of this stuff until I turned the AtB functionality all the way up.  If or when I find out more, I'll add to this, but this is what I KNOW you can do with each skill thus far.  The "Unit CO" tag means it matters if you're him.  If something doesn't have that tag, anyone can use it like that.

Administration:
-Rolled during some contracts to achieve contract objectives
-Unit CO: Higher of this or Bureaucracy for a cap on the max unit size (skill x3, plus 3 = number of Mech lances).  Penalties unknown.
-Unit CO:Increases starting contract values
-Unit CO: Affects total number of administrators.  Haven't figured out by how much yet.

Bureaucracy:
-Rolled during some contracts to achieve contract objectives
-Unit CO: Higher of this or Administration for a cap on the max unit size (skill x3, plus 3 = number of Mech lances).  Penalties unknown.
-Unit CO: Increases starting contract values
-There's some sort of implementation where this can give you a chance to get better salvage on Exchange contracts.  I don't know yet and won't until we hit ~3050+

Career/Soldier:
-Rolled during some contracts to achieve contract objectives
-Determines employer awards and commendations (and corresponding rewards)
-Can remove ambush conditions in some missions

First Aid:
-Can roll a First Aid check (TN 4+ current Wound Level) while in the cockpit to temporarily negate 1 box of Pilot Damage.  Snake Eyes = take another hit.  The negated damage still has to be healed by a Doctor.

Leadership:
-Rolled during some contracts to achieve contract objectives
-Score of 3+ gives 1 reroll per contract to try and recruit a prisoner
-Bonus to member retirement checks
-Comes up occasionally in missions to make neutral or allied units do stuff
-Unit CO: Gives Dragoons Rating bonus

Negotiation:
-Unit CO: Gives rerolls on contract provisions IF you have a related and sufficiently high-ranked administrator too
-Unit CO: Gives Dragoons Rating bonus

Scrounge:
-Used to get spare parts
-Opportunities can happen where you can make a Scrounge Check to get unusual stuff (this seems to happen mostly when you're in Periphery space)

Small Arms: - of all the skills, this is the one least likely to come up.  However, if you find yourself in a position to use Small Arms, it means you want as much as possible, because it almost certainly means someone is making an opposed roll shooting back at you, and since you don't use this if you're in a Mech...
-Rolled during some contracts to achieve contract objectives
-Used to fight when dismounted, including in random events

Strategy:
-Affects reinforcement arrival time
-Unit CO: Gives Dragoons Rating bonus

Tactics:
-Gain Battle Condition rerolls
-Gain Initiative Bonus when you're the Local Commander
-Unit CO: Gives Dragoons Rating bonus


Finally, as far as I can tell, any skill can be asked to be rolled as a result of random events which pop up.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Misc.

Aging - Added to v3.0
All characters will age 1 year on 1 May.  Lance Leaders are responsible for tracking all Lance member ages, while the Unit CO tracks the ages of all other unit members.  
   
Aside from the aging effect on Retirement Rolls, at the ages of 50, 55, and 60, a character will gain 1 point in either their Piloting or Gunnery Skill (for example, going from a 3 gunner to a 4 gunner).  Which is affected is randomly determined by the controlling character.  If the character in question isn’t a combat character, that character instead gets 1 point worse in their primary field specialty (a Veteran Administrator goes from a 6+ to a 7+, becoming Regular).
   
For player characters only, 1 point of RFL and DEX is automatically lost at ages 50 and 60, and 1 point of BDY and STR is lost at ages 55 and 65.  This can cause a character to become medically unfit for further duty.
   
All of these losses can be re-purchased using XP.

Blind BSP Purchase - Added to v3.0
BSP may be spent by the Local CO publicly or privately, as long as, a) the GM is informed of the choice ahead of time, b) the total number of points spent are revealed to the GM at least 3 days prior to the game date so the OPFOR totals can be generated, and c) the final purchases are in a written format at the game.  Failure to have them in writing at the game will result in not having the support available for the game.  An error in BSP math will result in a financial penalty to the Lance Leader who made the blind purchases: $500,000+500,000 additional for each time this has happened.  

Aerospace Rules revision  - Added to v3.0
Damage to ASFs from other air units is tracked; ground units can shoot at, damage, and shoot down air units purchased via BSPs.

Maintenance and Salaries Revision  - Added to v3.0
Added revised Personnel Salary and Maintenenace Cost tables.  Removed hours requirement for maintenance.

XP Rewards and Costs  - Added to v3.0
Changed Doctors/Admin XP gain to a larger gain yearly, rather than a smaller gain monthly.  Clarified XP costs to improve non-MechWarrior skills.

SPA Revisions  - Added to v3.0
Some SPAs from Campaign Companion have been added.

SPA Cap  - Added to v3.0
Maximum number of SPAs on a lance leader is 5.  Maximum number on a normal MechWarrior is 3.  Added SPA repurchase rules (replace 1 SPA with another).

[Hat]

Rob, with Admin and Bureaucracy limiting the number of lances, any idea when you'll know what the penalty is in ATB or what penalty you'll assign?

[Darrian Wolffe]

Rob, with Admin and Bureaucracy limiting the number of lances, any idea when you'll know what the penalty is in ATB or what penalty you'll assign?

Not offhand.  I have to find the time to generate a whole new campaign specifically to test this and find out what AtB actually does.

[Darrian Wolffe]

DropShip Modification Rules - Added to v3.0