THE
BATTLETECH
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Battletech Design Database - Under Construction
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One of the biggest differences between Battletech and Mechwarrior with regard to designing 'Mech variants is the turn-based nature of the game. Because a game of Battletech proceeds in turns, the action and the rules governing the action must, by definition, be much more compartmentalized. Furthermore, because Battletech is not a computer game, understanding all the rules of the game is not only more possible, but actually required in order to play effectively. This is in sharp contrast to Mechwarrior - knowing the exact formula used to determine the behavior of an LRM volley in flight, for example, isn't that important. Furthermore, some aspects that are potentially important in Mechwarrior, like knowing an exact numerical rate for the dissipation of heat, is not to be found in the manual.
What all this means is that the possible actions of a given platform can be planned out in excruciating detail, and the needs of a given 'Mech can be filled with complete efficiency. The number of volleys in a ton of ammunition can be mapped directly to the number of turns that a given weapon can be in operation. The number of heat sinks can be tailored directly to the needs of the 'Mech with a minimum amount of waste. To-hit modifiers under all possible circumstances can be calculated very, very precisely. You can afford to plan your "weapon groups" in terms of what the 'Mech can handle, not what would be easy for a pilot to fire in the "real world."
Ironically, however, where the equipment and basic operations of a 'Mech are very well defined in Battletech, other aspects of the game are not. In Mechwarrior, your ability to hit a target depends more on your direct piloting ability, while such things are determined with a roll of the dice in Battletech. Individual skill still comes into play, but more in the strategic realm than the tactical realm. Which makes sense, of course, since Battletech is a strategic game and Mechwarrior a tactical one.
This brings me to one of the greatest advantages of Battletech in terms of design-friendliness. While you are perfectly free to build a very specialized design in Mechwarrior, the realities of your game may very well make fielding an overspecialized variant unwise. Lance-on-lance games are rarely well-coordinated, when they happen at all. In Battletech, on the other hand, a lance-on-lance (or more complex!) game is more the norm, and you can afford to overspecialize. Since you don't need to coordinate with anyone else, your only concern when overspecializing is ensuring that you guard your support units properly.
Unlike with the Mechwarrior games, I will not be including chassis-specific pages for Battletech, for two reasons. One is that part of the reason that I felt that the Mechwarrior units needed commenting on was that they were mostly adapted from the Battletech versions, occasionally resulting in a default loadout that wasn't optimized for the cockpit simulation format of the Mechwarrior games. The other reason is the sheer number of official chassis in Battletech. Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries is already a ridiculously large undertaking, and I don't think that doing the same thing for Battletech would be particularly illuminating.
The Battletech section has one subsection - Megamek. This is a simple page that lists available / missing features in the most recent dev release of Megamek, as well as major gameplay differences between Megamek and Battletech that are not considered bugs.
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