30 replies to this topic

[Stomp]

Hiya! Lots of you know me from MWO for shooting you in your face, but did you know I have so little to do that I started to create a Battletech campaign without even knowing how to play? YES! That's right! I'm dumb! Regardless of that fact though, I turn to you, the community, to set me straight.

I'm running a Deep Periphery campaign for my girlfriend and my little brother, both of whom have never arr pee gee'd before. So I figured I'd start a VERY small, unambitious campaign to teach them (and me) the rules of Battletech. It's supposed to be a mixed campaign, both from the Art of A Time of War rulebook for RPing, and the Total Warfare core rulebook. It's been a blast, but I think I'm finally getting somewhere!

I figure I'd start them on Tortuga Prime, home of "Lady Death" Paula Trevaline, the Pirate Queen of Tortuga, and tie my hapless players into some kind of Conquest Campaign where Lady Death retakes her planet from the gangs of Tortuga by force after her stint in prison on New Syrtis. As such, she's using her available resources to salvage Battlemechs and sabotage a water treatment plant! That'll make those gangsters toe the line; cut their water. Bill's due, mother truckers. So they're mounting Frankenmechs or flat out Industrialmechs to salvage what mechs they can while fighting vehicle and infantry assets on-planet, with a side objective to destroy the water plant. Later on I'll lead them through some kind of orbital fight on a moon and steal an Antares satellite from ComStar in order to more reliably coordinate strikes on Tortuga Prime. Somewhere along the line I want them to fight next to a volcano, just 'cuz. I'm justifying it by saying they need some kind of geothermal plant to secure so we can start powering Vengeance Inc.'s factories or something. Then it'll be raids on Battlemech facilities in the FedSuns area probably, but I'm not quite there in my cranium yet. Sound good so far? But a couple questions I think some of you might be able to set me straight on:

1. Is there some kind of Aerospace support vehicle that has a Salvage Arm, or the like? I'm kind of scratching my head wondering how salvage is handled in space haha.

2. How far is Tortuga Prime from the rest of the Inner Sphere? On some maps it seems like they're at LEAST 300LY away, which is a lot of stops to recharge K-F drives. But on other maps it's like they're right next door?

3. Does anybody have any examples of Frankenmech builds they've used in previous campaigns? I need some holy terror pirates to fight against my players haha. I was considering just switching arms and legs from 'mechs of the same weight, like a Hunchback with a Centurion leg and cockpit and arm. 50 tons for both mechs means it should be a straight switch... right? Armor values excluded of course.

Sorry for any contradictions in this, I'm pretty savvy lore-wise but Battletech game wise I'm practically a newb. Share with me cool stories of your Periphery campaigns!

edit: misnamed rulebook

Edited by Stomp, 13 January 2014 - 01:20 PM.

[Tyrnea Smurf]

This is the mapping site I use, they also include jump path maps covering several eras from pre Star League to the end of the Fed Com civil war era in the 3060's.

http://www.iscs.teamspam.net/

Their maps place Tortuga Prime about 100 to 125 light years outside Davion space, "south east". Looking at their maps Tortuga is really far from New Syrtis (like 500LY far!).

No idea off the top of my head on a salvage aerospace unit. Personally I would think just about any dropship no matter how big or small would have a arm/crane/net system of some sort to cover load/unloading of materials both in space and on planet. Doubtless there would be smaller craft dedicated to space salvage/industrial space uses. Unless you really need a miniature, or a record sheet of it for some reason, that unit/craft can be roll played/diced resulted, just think up a few parameters beforehand on how you'd like it to work and then let your players work the situation, would be my advice.

As to frankenmechs, what era is your campaign set in? in that general area of space it would not be surprising to find any mannor of weird hybrid mechs running around, but year/era defines just how crazy you want to go with it.

I always liked to create weird glob mechs from the lower assemblies of 4 legged mechs welded to the torso's of random lights and mediums.

[Skylarr]

First, I want to say thank you for exposing new people to the BattleTech Universe. Second, you are the GM you do what ever you want. Do not let anyone tell you that "You cannot do that!" I have been a couple campaigns were other would say that either what happened or what we did is not possible. I just ask you do things so that it is fun to both you and your players. Once they become more experienced in gaming you can bring in more rules.


1.) No sure if any Dropship actually list a Salvage Arm. There are different types of Dropships. So you may have "Arms" in the Cargo bays. A Liner may have a small "Arm" to move cargo around while in space. It may not able to extend out of the Dropship. A Mech carrier may have a more rugged Arm" in the Mech Bay and an Arm in the Aerospace bay to grasp Aerospace that is trying to load. A Dropship that is designed to carry cargo may have an "Arm" that extends out of the Dropship to assist in transferring cargo. The Behemoth Class Dropship that cannot enter a planets atmosphere. So they have to transfer cargo to smaller Dropships.

2.) It is 15 jumps from New Syrtis to the Davion border near the Tortuga Dominion. Then it is about 120 light years from the Border to Tortuga Dominion. A Jumpship cannot jump more than 30 light years. If there are suitable planets perfectly spaced then it would be 4 jumps. But, most likely there are not suitable stars so it is more like 5 to 7 jumps. Each jumps takes minutes, but, take an average of a week to recharge.

http://www.iscs.team...scs_jp_3062.pdf

The Star Chart only shows Jump Points that are at stars that have habitable planets in orbit. Almost all Jumpships Captains do not like jumping to stars not on the Star Chart because those planets do not have habitable planets. Since, breakdowns do happened the Captain does not want to be marooned in a system with no habitable planet. Because it take months or years to be rescued.

3.) I am not sure. The original artwork in the 1st MechWarrior book did show a Mech with legs from another of its weight class. Again you are the GM. Do what ever you find reasonable to keep their interest.

Edited by Skylarr, 13 January 2014 - 10:45 AM.

[Stomp]

Tyrnea Smurf, on 13 January 2014 - 03:31 AM, said:

This is the mapping site I use, they also include jump path maps covering several eras from pre Star League to the end of the Fed Com civil war era in the 3060's.

http://www.iscs.teamspam.net/

Their maps place Tortuga Prime about 100 to 125 light years outside Davion space, "south east". Looking at their maps Tortuga is really far from New Syrtis (like 500LY far!).

No idea off the top of my head on a salvage aerospace unit. Personally I would think just about any dropship no matter how big or small would have a arm/crane/net system of some sort to cover load/unloading of materials both in space and on planet. Doubtless there would be smaller craft dedicated to space salvage/industrial space uses. Unless you really need a miniature, or a record sheet of it for some reason, that unit/craft can be roll played/diced resulted, just think up a few parameters beforehand on how you'd like it to work and then let your players work the situation, would be my advice.

As to frankenmechs, what era is your campaign set in? in that general area of space it would not be surprising to find any mannor of weird hybrid mechs running around, but year/era defines just how crazy you want to go with it.

I always liked to create weird glob mechs from the lower assemblies of 4 legged mechs welded to the torso's of random lights and mediums.

It's set in the late 3040s, timeline puts Lady Death busting out of prison at like 3044, so by this time she's already acquired a Jumpship, I'm going to have them tag along with her as she ****** off the FedSuns haha. I guess technically it's still FedCom, but give it a couple years and that'll change.

I'm not planning on making the Frankenmechs anything REALLY crazy, just something to use to hype up the fight. As it is they're starting off in very limited fights, so I don't want to create anything they won't be able to deal with. Something like a crazy hunchback with centurion legs and a vibrosword for an arm or something lol. In regards to space salvage, I assumed the Dropships were capable, I suppose they're just going to have to fight for one, it being Periphery and all.

The lore is somewhat unclear on where exactly Lady Death and her Death's Consorts are actually garrisoned, so I'm just going to skip a meeting and make her the "head in the video", giving mission orders and assisting in storytelling. I'm hoping with the chaos created by the Clan Invasion it'll provide significant opportunities for strafing and raiding, maybe a couple chances to bail on the pirates and sneak away to work for the Inner Sphere.

And back atcha, this map helped me formulate a couple of things. It's cool that you can select planets and read little fluff bits about them.

http://battletech.rp...aps/ismap2.html

Skylarr, on 13 January 2014 - 07:11 AM, said:

1.) No sure if any actually list a Salvage Arm, but, I am sure every Dropship has a arm to assist in moving cargo around or to assist in transferring cargo from one Dropship to a Transport while in space. The Behemoth Class Dropship that cannot enter a planets atmosphere. So they have to transfer cargo to smaller Dropships.

Since you are the GM and these are new players you should what ever you want. Do not go crazy just make it sound reasonable so every stays interested and has fun. Do not loose their interest. As long as you stay reasonable it is fine. In your next campaign you can be exact on all of you tech info.

Thanks for the info on the dropships, I'll be sure to put the information to good use.

Hopefully I'll be staying at least tech1 or 2 for Inner Sphere technology, there's just no reason to break from canon and have them stomping around in Clan 'mechs. Besides, what's the fun in that? The whole point is to scramble and fight for supremacy, first for a planet, and then onwards. I'll probably keep the unit very small at first, subcontracting with larger units to make ends meet. Simplifies the game when the NEW players don't have to juggle a lance of mechs.

[Skylarr]

http://iscs.teamspam...scs_jp_3040.pdf

This actually shows you the jump route used by Jumpships.

Quote

The Federated Commonwealth was the union of the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns. The accession of Archon-Prince Victor Steiner Davion in 3055 formally brought the nation into being, though in practice it had existed since before the Clan Invasion. Katherine Steiner-Davion seceded the Lyran half of the nation in 3057, creating the Lyran Alliance, which would lead to the FedCom Civil War in 3062. Victor abdicated the throne in 3067 and his successor, Prince-Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion, renamed the rump Commonwealth "Federated Suns".

The FedCom's military was intergrated after the War of 3039. But, the government was not fully intergrated until the late 3050s.

Quote

Federated Commonwealth

Military
Although the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth were allied since the FedCom Accords of 3020, exchanged officers and held joint exercises in preparation for the Fourth Succession War which they launched in 3028, and generally enjoyed a high level of cooperation, the process of formally uniting their two militaries into a single one was not fully realized until the aftermath of the War of 3039 where poor coordination had resulted in an embarrassing defeat.

In early 3041, the AFFC High Command was ready to take command of both militaries, and the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth formally came into being on the first of April, 3042.


Government
In truth, for most of its existence FedCom was a joint venture between Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner-Davion. With their deaths, the head of the Federated Commonwealth would formally be conferred onto the Archon-Prince, though this position was only ever filled by Victor Steiner-Davion for a couple of years from 3055 to 3057. Below him in the hierarchy would be the First Prince and Archon of the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth, respectively, who would take over governing duties during his absence.

Edited by Skylarr, 13 January 2014 - 11:27 AM.

[Stomp]

Skylarr, on 13 January 2014 - 11:18 AM, said:

http://iscs.teamspam...scs_jp_3040.pdf

This actually shows you the jump route used by Jumpships.

But then do they just stay there? By all accounts there aren't jump paths... or there ARE, and they're just subject to change, lol. I've read about temporary Jump Points created by the movement of heavenly bodies. Isn't that technically how that Clan Wolf ship carrying Phelan Wolf made it through Jade Falcon space? Hmm, plenty to think about. I knew all about the Fedrats, but thanks for the refresher. It gives me a couple ideas about destablization efforts from yours truly in the Periphery haha.

[Skylarr]

Stomp, on 13 January 2014 - 11:37 AM, said:

But then do they just stay there? By all accounts there aren't jump paths... or there ARE, and they're just subject to change, lol.

They change when the borders change. A Davion civilian Jumpship will not travel into Kurita space. Because it may be carrying both civilian and military cargo.

Quote

I've read about temporary Jump Points created by the movement of heavenly bodies.

This is within the start system. Jumpships only use the Nadir and Zenith Jump Point. Why, because they are the safest. Yes there are jump points closer to the planet. But, they are always moving. They are called Pirate Points.

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Pirate Jump Points

There are some non-standard jump points that will allow a JumpShip to enter a system inside the proximity limit. As these "non-standard" points are much closer to the habitable planets of a star system, they are prime choices for raiders and pirates, leading to their designation as "pirate points".

These jump points exist where the gravitational attraction of all planetary objects cancels each other out and overall gravitation is reduced below the critical limit for hyperspace field formation.

While "pirate point" locations can be estimated by secondary school physics (generally, pirate points inside the proximity limit will be close to a L1 Lagrange Point, which exists due to the cancellation of gravity between two bodies), such jump points are difficult for JumpShips to utilize because they are much smaller than the standard jump points and have much more complicated motions. Rather than only following the star like the Zenith and Nadir points, the pirate points at least also follow a planet, possibly a planet and moon, and are subject to gravity of other moving objects in the star system.

This makes a navigator's job nightmarish when attempting to use a pirate point. Plotting the jump is impossible without computer aid. Missing the jump point is entirely possible, resulting in the JumpShip attempting to arrive in a region of space that is not a valid jump point (a fate discussed under Misjump.)

While the majority of pirate points are stable in the sense they exist continuously despite their mobility, a particular sub-class of pirate points known as "transient points" will periodically appear and disappear due to the influence of other bodies in the star system. Transient points are even more difficult to utilize.

According to the rules it is harder to use a Non-Standard Jump Point. I would guess it is almost impossible for a JumpShip to keep the the data for all the Pirate Points on its route in its computer.

Quote

Isn't that technically how that Clan Wolf ship carrying Phelan Wolf made it through Jade Falcon space? Hmm, plenty to think about.

Not sure about this. Maybe they did because Clan Ships have double jump abiities.

[Stomp]

Skylarr, on 13 January 2014 - 11:55 AM, said:

This is within the start system. Jumpships only use the Nadir and Zenith Jump Point. Why, because they are the safest. Yes there are jump points closer to the planet. But, they are always moving. They are called Pirate Points.



According to the rules it is harder to use a Non-Standard Jump Point. I would guess it is almost impossible for a JumpShip to keep the the data for all the Pirate Points on its route in its computer.


Not sure about this. Maybe they did because Clan Ships have double jump abiities.

Quote

While the majority of pirate points are stable in the sense they exist continuously despite their mobility, a particular sub-class of pirate points known as "transient points" will periodically appear and disappear due to the influence of other bodies in the star system. Transient points are even more difficult to utilize.

I'm not sure about the Dav/Kurita part, but the rest made lots of sense haha. Damn I can only guess the Pirates must have some kind of directory of trial and error, filled with transient points in order to jump all the way from Tortuga Prime towards the Inner Sphere. It definitely won't be 1 jump away ever, but... maybe they can shave a seventh jump off it they're lucky and all the planetary bodies are in position.

This whole rambling of mine at you is an attempt to coherently understand HOW pirates are able to raid the Taurian Concordat and the AFFS if they're 150LY away. Thanks for your patience so far haha!

[RedDragon]

Stomp, on 13 January 2014 - 12:40 AM, said:

Is there some kind of Aerospace support vehicle that has a Salvage Arm, or the like? I'm kind of scratching my head wondering how salvage is handled in space haha.

Actually there is a ship like this, albeit it may be a bit late for your campaign, since it's produced from 3051 on:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Octopus
But maybe you can work out something along those lines, there will be countless utility ships for such purposes in the Inner Sphere that aren't fleshed out in some TRO.

[Stomp]

RedDragon, on 13 January 2014 - 12:49 PM, said:

Actually there is a ship like this, albeit it may be a bit late for your campaign, since it's produced from 3051 on:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Octopus
But maybe you can work out something along those lines, there will be countless utility ships for such purposes in the Inner Sphere that aren't fleshed out in some TRO.

Wow the things one learns. Thanks for that that's awesome! Unfortunately you're right; it's too late for the timeline, and 12000 tons too big haha. I'm pretty sure a small mixed combat lance can't afford that lol.

[RedDragon]

Stomp, on 13 January 2014 - 01:21 PM, said:

Wow the things one learns. Thanks for that that's awesome! Unfortunately you're right; it's too late for the timeline, and 12000 tons too big haha. I'm pretty sure a small mixed combat lance can't afford that lol.

Yep, that is a highly specialized vehicle and most likely too big and expensive for your campaign. But it gives an insight into how such a vehicle could look like. I'm pretty sure there is salvage-equipment somewhere in the TechManual that you can fit to small craft. Just use the construction rules and build yourself a low-level space craft for that purpose. As I said, there are tons of vehicles that are not mentioned in the TROs for any kind of purpose. And even when something is mentioned like the Octopus, it's most likely a template for how those vehicles may look. E.g. the J-27 ammunition carrier (http://www.sarna.net...nance_Transport) – it's the only type mentioned in the TRO but it just stands for a large amount of other designs that are quite similar. Most likely every planet will have its own design. So just build your own salvage craft, maybe even just a http://www.sarna.net/wiki/KR-61 with attached salvage equipment.

[Stomp]

RedDragon, on 13 January 2014 - 02:05 PM, said:

Yep, that is a highly specialized vehicle and most likely too big and expensive for your campaign. But it gives an insight into how such a vehicle could look like. I'm pretty sure there is salvage-equipment somewhere in the TechManual that you can fit to small craft. Just use the construction rules and build yourself a low-level space craft for that purpose. As I said, there are tons of vehicles that are not mentioned in the TROs for any kind of purpose. And even when something is mentioned like the Octopus, it's most likely a template for how those vehicles may look. E.g. the J-27 ammunition carrier (http://www.sarna.net...nance_Transport) – it's the only type mentioned in the TRO but it just stands for a large amount of other designs that are quite similar. Most likely every planet will have its own design. So just build your own salvage craft, maybe even just a http://www.sarna.net/wiki/KR-61 with attached salvage equipment.

I suppose in shaving off most of the armor I could fit some kind of cargo container, and maybe drop some actuators into the same space. Theoretically I'd like it to work as a space shuttle's manipulator arm; kind of a jack of all trades equipment that can grab, secure, even maybe do some MINOR repairing. Thanks for the help! You're full of much wisdom

[Spokes]

"Badly damaged vessels commonly cannot travel under their own power to a dry dock for repairs, but must be "towed" to a suitable facility. Because their superheated exhaust plume prohibits towing, specially modified DropShips push crippled craft to suitable facilities. These "tugs" attach themselves to the damaged vessel using a special reinforced adapter that does not require the target ship to have a functioning docking collar."

-- Battlespace, pg 50

"A DropShip may maneuver to recover small craft (shuttles or aerofighters) that run out of fuel or lack thrust capability. The unit attempting the recovery must enter the hex of the unit being recovered, and match velocity and heading. An attempt to recover one craft take five minutes."

-- Battlespace, pg 52

The above implies that you need a dedicated tug to salvage intact DropShips or JumpShips, but virtually any DropShip with a small craft bay is going to have the equipment to recover crippled fighters or shuttlecraft in space. Robotic arms could work, or even EVA crew with tethers or grapples of some sort.

As Red Dragon already mentioned, the Octopus is intended an example of its class. There are probably Union class DropShips in service that have been converted into "tugs". Tug adapters mass 100 tons and require a 10% increase to the mass of the tug's internal structure.

[Stomp]

Spokes, on 13 January 2014 - 03:11 PM, said:

"Badly damaged vessels commonly cannot travel under their own power to a dry dock for repairs, but must be "towed" to a suitable facility. Because their superheated exhaust plume prohibits towing, specially modified DropShips push crippled craft to suitable facilities. These "tugs" attach themselves to the damaged vessel using a special reinforced adapter that does not require the target ship to have a functioning docking collar."

-- Battlespace, pg 50

"A DropShip may maneuver to recover small craft (shuttles or aerofighters) that run out of fuel or lack thrust capability. The unit attempting the recovery must enter the hex of the unit being recovered, and match velocity and heading. An attempt to recover one craft take five minutes."

-- Battlespace, pg 52

The above implies that you need a dedicated tug to salvage intact DropShips or JumpShips, but virtually any DropShip with a small craft bay is going to have the equipment to recover crippled fighters or shuttlecraft in space. Robotic arms could work, or even EVA crew with tethers or grapples of some sort.

As Red Dragon already mentioned, the Octopus is intended an example of its class. There are probably Union class DropShips in service that have been converted into "tugs". Tug adapters mass 100 tons and require a 10% increase to the mass of the tug's internal structure.

Nice catch! Is Battlespace one of the rulebooks for dedicated Aerospace assets? I'll have to hunt that down haha.

[RedDragon]

It's an older iteration of the space combat rules for BT. The construction rules should be included in the new TechManual. I can go look it up tomorrow if nobody else does it first

[Skylarr]

Quote

BattleTech Strategic Operations (SO) is the rulebook you hold in your hands and is the second “staging” Advanced Rulebook. It stages a player up to the next logical area of play, focusing on “in a solar system” and multi-game play; its rules represent weeks within the BattleTech universe, the time frame needed for several battles to conquer an entire solar system.



Strategic Operations contains advanced movement and combat operations emphasizing the importance of aerospace units, while extensive rules cover combat drops of numerous troop types into any situation. Linked scenarios and comprehensive maintenance, salvage, repair and customization rules provide an easy format for players to turn multiple games into an interconnected campaign to capture a target system, where the support crew of technicians and doctors and their skills can be just as important as any warrior. Complete game play and construction rules for advanced aerospace units are also included. Finally, a complete game system— BattleForce—allows players to use their existing miniatures and mapsheets to play quick, fast-paced BattleTech games, from small-scale skirmishes to large-scale planetary invasions.

Quote

Search and Rescue



In standard-rules play, wounded personnel, ejected Mech- Warriors and pilots, or crews who survive the destruction of their vehicle, DropShip, JumpShip or WarShip are considered to be automatically recovered by their comrades after a battle. However, the recovery of wounded personnel can be difficult and complicated. To add a note of realism, players may incorporate search and rescue into their after-battle activities to recover any personnel left on the battlefield at the end of play.

Any units not involved directly in a scenario that just ended, or involved in salvage or repair and refi t operations (see pp. 191 and 181, respectively), can be assigned to search and rescue operations on one playing area battlefield (either groundbased or space based). These units will not be available for deployment in the next scenario where the force is deployed.

For each ejected MechWarrior or pilot, vehicle crew, escape pod or lifeboat, roll 2D6 and apply the modifiers from the Search and Rescue Modifi er Table (see p. 46). On a result of 8+, the controlling player has recovered the personnel in question.

Wounded Checks: Paramedics (see p. 341, TO) aboard the units attempting recovery operations apply the appropriate target number modifi er when checking the wounded status of infantry (see Mostly Dead vs. Truly Dead, p. 176).
Randall’s company of Draconis Combine BattleMechs is driven from the fi eld by the Elite McKinnon’s Raiders. Two Combine MechWarriors have been left behind, and Randall sends out a search and rescue mission. The base target number is 8. The

enemy is in control of the battlefield at the end of the game (+2), but the SAR force included a Hiryo Armored Infantry Transport

WiGE (–1). The final modified target number is 9 [8 (base target number) + 2 (enemy in control of battlefi eld) – 1 (Hiryo) = 9].

Rolling for each MechWarrior, Randall gets 8 and 9, indicating that the SAR mission succeeded in recovering the second of

the two MechWarriors.

....................................................................................................


Three of Warner’s Clan Nova Cat aerospace fighters are destroyed in a deep space battle with the Ghost Bears. All three pilots eject from their destroyed aerospace units and a Nova Cat Carrier-class DropShip participates in SAR operations. The base target number is 8 and the operation is taking place outside a planetary orbit (+2), but the searcher has a DropShip (–2). The final modified target number is 8 [8 (base target number) + 2 (outside planetary orbit) – 2 (DropShip) = 8].

Rolling for each of the pilots, Warner gets 9, 5 and 5, which indicates that he recovers one of his pilots.

Quote

SEARCH AND RESCUE MODIFIERS TABLE



Situation..................................................Modifier
General
Enemy in control of the battlefield...........+2

Ground
SAR force includes VTOL or WiGE.........–1
SAR force has Improved Sensors...........–1
SAR force has Active Prob..................... –2

Space
Not in planetary orbit...............................+2
SAR force includes Small Craft*............–1
SAR force includes DropShip*...............–2
SAR force includes WarShip*................–3

* Use largest modifier only

PRISONERS OF WAR (OPTIONAL)
Any surviving personnel not recovered during search-andrescue operations become prisoners of the victor (the player who controls the battlefi eld at the end of a scenario). Recovering these POWs can become the primary objective in a future scenario.

If players choose this route, the controlling player of those POWs must make Wounded Checks (see p. 176) to determine how many such captured individuals survive. Additionally, for every 100 prisoners, a squad of infantry or battle armor must be tasked to control them in jail; such tasked infantry are unavailable for any future scenario while those prisoners are kept, except if the scenario itself is about freeing the captured prisoners.

Quote

AEROSPACE SAR PILOT AND RESCUE TABLE
Situation..................................................................................Modifier
Rescuing aerospace unit expends thrust.................+ Thrust Points spent
Rescuing aerospace unit is the target of attacks..................+1
Ejected pilot has maneuvering pack......................................–1
Rescuing aerospace unit is Small Craft................................–1
Rescuing aerospace unit is DropShip...................................+1
Rescuing aerospace unit is WarShip....................................+2

AEROSPACE SAR (OPTIONAL)

The following rules provide a more complicated and realistic manner for SAR on a space map.

The SAR unit must end the turn in the same hex as the ejected pilot with the same heading and velocity (in standard movement) or with the same vectors (in Advanced Movement; see p. 64). In the End Phase of the following turn, the controlling player of the SAR unit should make a Control Roll, applying the modifi ers from the Pilot Rescue Table above. If successful, the pilot is recovered. If the roll fails, another attempt may be made in the next and subsequent turns until the rescue is successful or the attempt is abandoned.

Except from Strategic Operations pages 45 to 47

Edited by Skylarr, 13 January 2014 - 06:33 PM.

[Stomp]

Skylarr, on 13 January 2014 - 06:27 PM, said:

AEROSPACE SAR (OPTIONAL)

The following rules provide a more complicated and realistic manner for SAR on a space map.

The SAR unit must end the turn in the same hex as the ejected pilot with the same heading and velocity (in standard movement) or with the same vectors (in Advanced Movement; see p. 64). In the End Phase of the following turn, the controlling player of the SAR unit should make a Control Roll, applying the modifi ers from the Pilot Rescue Table above. If successful, the pilot is recovered. If the roll fails, another attempt may be made in the next and subsequent turns until the rescue is successful or the attempt is abandoned.

Except from Strategic Operations pages 45 to 47

Thanks a bunch Skylarr. You're a life saver. If I could only find that Strat Ops book I'd have had my answer.

[Thom Frankfurt]

Looking up at the 3067 map Tortuga is around 150 LY's from Davy Space, so if you go by the standard week recharge time for jumps it'll take more than a months travel to or from... You might want to have your forces have more than one Jumpjet just to speed up travel times a bit... Just a thought.

As for an aerospace unit that can double as a salvage unit, I'd recommend using the Octopus Dropship. The picture on Sarna.net looks like it has several (eight?) salvage arms.

I hope that was useful.

[Tyrnea Smurf]

Well to shorten Jump travel times I have used a couple of different methods in my campaigns. (all of the campaigns I've GM'ed have been Fed Com civil war or before that as to eras)

In some of the novels its alluded that the main reason a jump takes a week is the recharging time of the delicate KF-Drive system. Shorter recharging time is possible, but it risks damaging or causing a mis-jump. However using the lithium-ion batteries can store enough power to allow a second jump within an hour of the first. There are also instances of hot charging a jump drive with a jumpships fusion power core. Or even receiving an energy charge from a Jump waypoint space station, however in the lore these are very rare.

But almost all the lore allowances for a quick second jump violate "gotta wait a week between jumps" rule.

So Method 1: Ignore it. Yep there are times where its just easier to ignore the jump times rule. Another branch of this method is to rewrite it. Make it say 24 to 48hours between jumps depending on the star where the jump sails are charging from.

Now if you do be careful as to the scope of your campaign (anything you change must/should impact both you/NPC's and your players equally, so if your running a major war between factions, don't go here, but a more small scale pirate campaign it should work fine)

Method 2: make those recharge space stations alot more common. One easy lore neutral way is simply state that when a jumpship is nearing the end of its operational life, it and some old worn-out dropships are placed at a systems jump point (my campaigns it was always the nadir) to be the basis of a simple system recharge jump station. In a pirate campaign I simply placed say a dozen of these ad-hoc stations in uninhabited star systems and they are run by criminal syndicates who rent access to various pirate kings, bandit units, outlaws ect. Thus making Periphery raiding much more common/accessible, without having to grant major lostech items such as ion-lithium batteried jumpships to the pirates to get to the target before all the characters died of old age on the trip . Bonus to this method, is those criminal syndicates can keep moving those jump stations around thus explaining how they stay one step ahead of Johnny Law....

Method 3: Understand that the lore generally understates just how much jump traffic should be flowing throughout the Inner Sphere. And when I say understate I mean UNDERSTATES! in general the lore provides for the Inner Sphere to have roughly 2000 in habited systems, with a population in the hundreds of billions range. To provide for all those souls the lore hints strongly at between 3 to 5 k jumpships operating with about 10 to 15k dropships. If you see what the cargo carry capabilities and do the averages, the population of the Inner Sphere are serviced by less shipping than 17th century England on a per capita basis. So method 3 is simple, theres a lot more ships running around than you or the lore ever considered. The IS really should have closer to 25k jumpships and 150k dropships running around to service that large of a population at a minimum (you could double those numbers if you wanted to). Thus by the numbers a random average star system in the Inner Sphere should have 12 jumpships sitting at its 2 jump points at any given time. That provides you plenty of opportunities for pirates to hitch a ride where ever they want to go quickly.

I called the system of a pirate band creating their own command circuit of jumpships by simply hijacking one ship after another a "Caribbean Cruise"

[Thom Frankfurt]

Oh yeah. I was thinking today about this, and I do believe that in one of the old sourcebooks (Kell Hounds, Tales of the Black Widow, or Snord's Irregulars, not sure which) they had I think it was a Warhammer with Rifleman legs or something silly like that. I'm not sure how that would work with proper BT rules, but whatever works right?

Also in the 1st Somerset Strikers book, (I think it was in that one) there were rules for mechs being glitch from not having proper maintenance. That should be something to consider looking into with your PCs being a band of pirates. I'd also suggest simple mods for the mechs to reflect their piratical nature.