e h t t o t t e m o c e l NEBULA W CALIFORNIA
Under License From
CAT35APR23 ®
©2015 The Topps Company Inc. All rights Reserved. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, BattleTech, BattleMech and ’Mech are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC.
e h t t o t t e m o c e l NEBULA W CALIFORNIA
Under License From
CAT35APR23 ®
©2015 The Topps Company Inc. All rights Reserved. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, BattleTech, BattleMech and ’Mech are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC.
connection/CALIFORNIA NEBULA /INTRO
01
EXPLORER’S REPORT: CALIFORNIA NEBULA
Welcome to the Nebula California Summation: Nothing of significant interest here. Returning to Base. –Official ComStar Explorer Corps report on Stellar Object NGC 1499 (California Nebula), ca. 3056 Let me just get this out of the way: ComStar’s Explorer Corps are filthy liars. We should really stop taking their archives for granted, and do all our explorations from scratch. No hand-holding! For example, according to their mid-3050s reports, the EC rummaged around the rimward edge of the Inner Sphere in their search for the Clans’ Homeworlds, signs of the long-lost Wolverines, and a host of other holy grails, getting as far as penetrating the Perseus-Cepherus Cloud Complex that dominates the rimward expanses. According to those reports, they went as far as NGC/ SLSC 1499, a.k.a. the “California Nebula”, and described that as the farthest extent of their explorations. “Yeah, right!” I’d say, “And I’m a covert Canopian cat-girl!” If ComStar really made it this far at all—and, yes, I do mean “if”,
credits Project Development: Herbert A. Beas II BattleTech BattleT ech Line Developer: Treyhang Liao’s Manicurist Assistant Line Developer: Ben H. Rome Writing: Herbert A. Beas II and Paul Sjardijn Production Staff Cover Design and Layout: David Kerber Cover Art: Matt Cross and David Kerber Graphic Presentati Presentation: on: Matt Cross and David Kerber Record Sheets: Johannes Heidler, Sebastian Brocks, and David Kerber Catalyst Game Labs Art Director: Brent Evans Factchecking/Playtesting : What’s That? Special Thanks: To Everyone who loves that we do this kind of thing every year. If it weren’t for you, well, we probably wouldn’t be doing this anymore…
because I’m honestly at the point where I’m willing to believe they called the whole thing off after passing through more than 200 light-years of nothingness—their crews probably didn’t do more than a telescopic look at the region from three jumps away and said “nothing “nothing to see here” before turning back. Either that, or those bastards fully scanned these worlds, found out what was going on here, and thought they could save it for themselves…before forgetting entirely about it! Alright, enough on that. I’m starting to get a bit heated now… The attac attached hed file recounts the findin findings gs of the first CalNeb Expedition, launched out of IE’s staging areas on Farhome. Many of the teams assembled for this survey were drawn equally from the various departments of the University of Past and Future, and thus enjoy the financial and administrative blessings of the Mutual Exploration Network (MEN), Millennium Foundation, and Star Group—all under the united umbrella of Interstellar Expeditions. While the expedition is nominally under my principle author, it has been agreed prior to our outset that multiple teams would be established as needed, with all such teams given free rein to explore what we thought would be a set of largely lifeless worlds that may have served as secret waypoints for the Amaris-backed operations that led to the fall of the first Star League. What we found instead were several stars teeming with human settlements or their remains—all very much active, and unique in ways far more exceptional than any of us ever dreamed. As I do not wish to steal anyone’s thunder with this cover paper, I will allow the separate reports enclosed within to delve into the details. Rest assured, the California Nebula is home to surprises that could revolutionize life in the Inner Sphere. –Dr. Pankaj Rani, PhD, Senior Mission Director, IE Deep Periphery Expedition CalNeb I, 3105
connection/CALIFORNIA
NEBULA /INTRO
02
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Explorer’s Report: California Nebula is a special setting companion set in the far fringes of the BattleTech setting, presenting unique new worlds and environs that may be used to spice up your BattleTech campaigns, whether they are role-playing adventures using the rules found in A Time of War ( AToW ), or the tactical combat rules found in Total Warfare (TW ) and Alpha Strike ( AS). Of course, given the fact that we are releasing this puppy on the first of April, a day we tend to reserve for mischief, it should be obvious to all that the material and rules presented in this electronic volume are provided purely in the interests of fun, and may be considered non-canon. No, really; as much as we would love to claim that what you find inside this book is really happening in the BattleTech universe, it’s really not. [Author’s Note: Well, actually, it could all be canon; we’re not sure. It seems that something surrounds the California Nebula that allows JumpShips in, but prevents them from leaving its boundaries. These poor IE folks you’ll be hearing from? They can jump out any time they want, but they can never leave! It’s a real
wonder how their reports are even making it into your hands, in fact… Are you a spy or s omething?] [Developer’s Note : The developers would like to apologize for the author’s rant above! Rest assured, that he is clearly delusional, and will be sacked. Nothing to see here! Move along!] Anyway, canon or no, basic rules covering the use and effectiveness of the technologies, techniques, and equipment for your BattleTech games can be found at the back of this volume. As unconventional as they might be, they may be introduced to games based on the core rules found in TW , TO, AToW , and their various companions. For the benefit of players who concern themselves which such things, the data for all of the featured units and material in this book are the very definition of Experimentallevel rules, regardless of their era of play. [Writer’s Note : Even future eras?] [Developer’s Note : Especially future eras! Now, go box your stuff!] So, you know, read on and have fun!
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NEBULA /THE
MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE
03
THE MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE With a thunderous roar, the creature—unlike any that Uraguan, son of Lord Arugula of the Riverden Barony, had ever seen—opened its dragon-like maw, revealing rows of glinting metal teeth, and spewed forth a golden fan of pure fire. Holding his mystical shield high in an effort to stave off the heat, the ranger bolted back over the wall of boulders and felled valley oak trees that had been his cover only moments before. Yet even though his shield might have spared his flesh from the intense wash of demonic wrath, he found the lower half of his cloak had bet set alight. In a frenzy, he jammed his bastard sword into the soft green earth, reached up for his throat with his nowfreed gauntlet, and yanked away the clasp that kept the garment in place. A quick toss sent the smoking ruin away, but he was already too busy retrieving his s word to care where it landed. “What in the Nine Layers is this monstrosity?” demanded the short, hairy wall of muscle, encased in armor of chainmail and leather, who now huddled there with him. Grimely Thundershield clutched a notched, war-worn, double-edged battle axe in his meaty hands as if it were the most precious thing in his life. His eyes were wide with the closest thing to fear that Uraguan had even seen in a mountain dwarf. He was about to tell Grimely that he had no idea what it was, when he realized that the question wasn’t aimed at him. Largoles Woodstrider, fair of hair and boyishly slender, shrugged helplessly. His cool blue eyes betrayed far less panic than Grimely’s, but his lips were a thin line. The usual jibes and witticisms that colored most of his interactions with the dwarf had failed to emerge. The experience of countless adventures told Uraguan that this was how the elf expressed his true fear, concealing his worry behind a veil of stoic silence. The earth shuddered as the monster stomped onward, moving off with great strides, but far from in a hurry. Uraguan dared to twist himself around, and glanced over a low point in the smoldering rocks that even now continued to radiate the heat of the beast’s fire. Through the haze of driftin g smoke, he saw t he great bulk of the monster, hunched forward and pounding the earth on four mighty legs. Its broad tail swayed easily a man’s height above the valley floor, moving back and forth almost lazily now. With the creature faced away from him as it was, Uraguan could see sunlight gleaming off of the broad, segmented metal plates that covered it from head to toes. Spikes rose about its gigantic body, forming a ridge of death around its foreshoulders. Beneath all those plates of metal, the human ranger had glimpsed an underlying hide of the darkest black, but the constant, grinding movement of the beast’s surface plates as it moved about had denied his elfin companion an effective target for his enchanted arrows.
“Where are the others?” he asked in a low tone, satisfied that the great lumbering hulk was far enough away for the moment. Grimely blinked and gazed back toward another of cluster of boulders—one that still managed to look like the ancient castle wall it had once been. His eyes narrowed on the area, but it was Largoles who finally spoke. “The gnomes and Grando are back there,” he said. “I haven’t seen Beanomir since our last attack.” A frown twisted Uraguan’s scruffy, unshaven features. For all his arrogance, Beanomir was a fine warrior, and it would be terrible to lose him so soon in this quest, especially against this metallic mountain of hate that nobody had even warned them about before they set out. Sure, the mission at hand was perilous, what with the ork-men that the Dark Lord of the Dragon Lands and the Traitor Mage Salamain kept sending their way. But the oracles and wise men who plotted their path through the Misty Valley never mentioned the possibility that an armor-clad, fire-breathing monstrosity bigger than a wizard’s keep and armed with flaming, stone-throwing horns, would appear in these pastoral lands. And now, it looked like their fellowship was down its best fighter. Two gnome rogues, two healers, two rangers, and a dwarven berserker were no match for this gargantuan beast. And the mage, thus far, had yet to even come up with an idea that worked against it! Archmage Grando the Golden, his gray eyes intense and his heart racing, held open his great tome of creatures with one shaky, withered hand, while the other frantically flashed through the pages. Decades of intense research into the arcane arts, the study of the natures and the magical weaves of this world, had never prepared him for the creature that thundered across this valley with such wanton abandon. Originally, he thought they had stumbled upon one of Salamain’s latest abominations, a flightless dragon perhaps, bereft of its wings and covered in plates of polished metals for protection against spell and sword alike. Or maybe it was a clockwork golem, he had mused, a blending of gnome and dwarf engineering given life through the means of the Dark Lord’s necromancy. Yet nothing in this venerable monster catalog fit what they saw here today. “Grando…?” a trembling voice penetrated his frustration. The wizened, long-bearded mage looked up to find himself nose-to-snout with a rogue in studded brown-leather armor… even though he was seated, and the gnome was standing. A pang of regret that he had led these tiny folk into this dangerous crusade struck him—but the notion of entrusting of this world’s most dangerous artifact with the adventurers least likely to be taken seriously by the Dark Lord seemed like such a good idea at the time!
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NEBULA /THE
MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE
04
THE MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE “Frody…?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. Panic or no, the golden-robed archmage knew better than to let his fears show. The hallmark of the mage class, after all, was to at least appear as if everything in the world was known to them, that there were no surprises, no mysteries too dark for them to enlighten. Between them and the clerical healers, they—the gifted magic users—had spent generations cultivating the trust of the mundane peoples across these misbegotten lands. “The beast is moving off, Wise One,” Frody Braggins told him, his dark gnomish eyes darting upward as if to confirm his own assurances. In his hand, he still clutched his silver, magicallysharpened short sword, but he had yet to go anywhere near enough to the monster to use it. “Good, good!” Gando exclaimed thoughtfully. “And how fare our taller friends?” Sammi Grammarchek, himself looking around the side of the ruined castle wall, turned his curly-haired head back to them both. “I see Larg, Grime, and Urag over there, but Sir Beanomir is...” Grando arched his eyebrow as Sammi’s voice trailed off and he peeked around the wall again. The second of their party’s “rouges”, Sammi prided himself on his stealth and his keen senses to scout the lands and track his prey. Now those senses were being used to find the self-styled warrior-knight who was—naturally—the first one to try and attack this beast when they encountered it. That foolish act had brought the monster’s wrath down squarely upon all of them! “I… I don’t see him,” Sammi finally finished. “Tragic,” Grando said, hoping that none of the others heard the sarcasm in his tone. This was hardly the time to let his contempt for the simpleton to bleed out. “Have you figured out what our foe is?” a third gnome joined in. Mary was one of their clerical healers, a female whose pink hair and pony tails made her look somewhat comical, but which belied the fact that she might have had the keenest mind of them all— outside of Grando’s own, of course. “Why, I believe I have, young lady,” he said confidently, as he flipped another page in the catalog and found… “I believe we are facing a magically altered terraskasaur.” Inwardly, Grando thanked the Fates that he had turned to a page indicating a creature so rare on this world that the descriptions of its appearance rarely went beyond “big”, “fourlegged”, and “breathes fire”. It was said to be one of the largest of the saurian monsters in all of the lands, but vir tually never seen or heard from far from coastal areas. And thus, his theory leapt toward “magically altered”. The more he thought about it, the less his words sounded like a desperate stretch of all reason. The sketchy description certainly fit what he had observed of this ironclad monster, especially
considering the powers of the Dark Lord and Traitor Mage combined. Indeed, if anyone could harness such an unholy terror and unleash it as a behemoth of metal and magic, it would be them! It made so much sense to Grando that he decided it had to be providence that he found the answer in a flash of insight. He turned his attention back to the page, satisfied that he had it now, his mind intent on trying to find out how to kill it. Beanomir, Hero of the Lands, and Warrior-Heir to the Throne of the Kingdom of Gordon, found himself at the base of a tree, rubbing his head, which throbbed painfully. His plate-mail armor, dented and scuffed, was otherwise intact, and he had surmised (after a brief test of his limbs and digits) that the man inside it was as well. Finally daring to stand, he looked around, brushing back a lock of his own wavy brown hair. By divine providence, he found what he was looking for quickly—the gleaming two-handed sword of his forefathers, imbued with magical might, lay only a dozen strides away. He allowed himself a sigh of relief at that; a non-magical warrior hero without a sword was…well, a ranger, he supposed. Or maybe a rogue. He shuddered at the thought of either, as the images of Uraguan and Frody popped into his mind, unbidden. As he stood to retrieve his fallen weapon, he sniffed the air, quickly detecting the scent of burning wood, and the strange, acrid stink of the beast. The memory of his failed attack flooded back to him. He had slid in close, quite proud of his own ability to use roguelike stealth without all the shifty training the gnomes had. Of course, it helped that the monster itself was loud as the Nine Hells, but that would be left out of the tales he’d have after this was over. As huge as it was, and covered as it was in such thick plates of exotic armor, he found it easy to scale the thing, climbing from its lazily swaying tail to the base of its armored spine before the rest of his companions even realized he had left their side. Grando had identified it as a dragon that the Dark Lord or his minions had ripped the wings from and strapped with the magical metal in order to create an unstoppable siege mount. Well, a lifetime of serving his kingdom and its vassals as a warrior-heir had long since taught Beanomir how to handle any battle mount, no matter how immense: Kill the rider, and the beast becomes harmless. Simple! That was, until Beanomir made it to the broad plates where he figured the great beast’s shoulder blades would be, and he still could not see a rider. Indeed, all he could see were metallic spikes flaring out from its shoulder flanks, and a pair of huge, metal tubes that extended forward, beyond the thing’s draconic-like head. The tubes almost seemed like tusks to Beanomir, but he had never seen tusks extending from just inside a beast’s shoulders before.
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NEBULA /THE
MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE
05
THE MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE Still, he proceeded. Maybe the rider was veiled somehow. Or maybe he had dismounted and stood someplace below the monster, just out of sight. The reins and saddle would be empty then, and perhaps the creature would easily accept a new master just as a common equine mount might. As he carried onward, he heard a sharp hiss from off to the side, in the thick trees near the remnants of a castle so long forgotten that even Beanomir didn’t know its name any more. He glanced that way and saw the others, still cowering in the shadows. Uraguan had a wild-eyed look on his face, and was shaking his head, while the elf Largoles was trying to motion him back . But Beanomir hadn’t come this far for nothing. He moved forward, coming to base of the monster’s neck, where he found… nothing but more armor. No saddle. No reins. And certainly no veiled rider (unless the bugger was particularly patient). Well, there was always one final option: kill the beast itself. Beanomir had slain draconic mounts before. He had even slain mastodonian siege mounts single-handed. If the others wanted to play it safe, that was all okay by him. His was a magical sword that could cleave through some of the finest armors in the land. He raised his zweihander blade high overhead and, with a powerful downward thrust… bounced harmlessly off the beast’s armor. The monster barely flinched. What in the Nine Hells was that ? He glanced back to see the rangers were finally moving forward, probably hoping to join the fight before all the real damage was done so they could share in Beanomir’s glory. Well, he’d just have to hurry, then! He repositioned himself, looking for a gap in the armor plates. In doing so, he found himself just above the back of the beast’s armored head, where he saw a leathery-looking expanse of blackness. Perfect! This would reach the brain stem for sure! He smelled a rank odor from the gap, something that reminded him of burning pitch. He idly hoped nothing foul would be exuded when he struck. But as he once more tried to jam his powerful sword into that gap, the monster lifted its head up, partially closing the very opening Beanomir was aiming for. His blade clanged off the bronze-hued metal that protected the back of its skull. Loudly. There was a deafening roar, and the monster lurched. It was the last thing he recalled before waking up at the base of a valley oak, with only his sword in sight. But now he heard—and felt—the powerful thumping of the monster’s feet. With the clarity of his situation restored, Beanomir looked down at his family’s ancestral blade. “Time to finish this fight!” he said.
Piper Merryweather let out a gasp of alarm as Beanomir suddenly burst from the woods behind her, sword held high. Amazed that the human had managed to slip so far behind them, she took a moment to process that fact before turning to alert the others that their party’s fighter was, in fact, still among the living. The others had regrouped by this point, moving forward from the castle ruins to the rocks where the rangers and dwarf had stood. Grando had just finished explaining that the beast they were facing was something so rare, so powerful, and clearly so well armored by the Dark Lord, that their weapons would be useless against it. “Stab with all the steely blades you have,” he had intoned, his voice resonating with deep meaning, “but you just cannot kill this beast. “But, there might yet be a way to defeat it without a fight,” he then added. “The terraskasaur is said to be an intelligent creature, with a gentle soul, capable even of speech. If I can reach that soul, I might be able to break the Dark Lord’s control over this one!” They were still working out how he would do that when Piper finally found her voice, and screamed to B eanomir, who was even now racing straight toward the monster, somehow managing to miss the rest of the party’s presence less than a town’s square away! She did catch Grando’s gaze for just a moment, while her finger pointed nervously at the raging warrior. The old human’s eyes followed her finger, and blinked slowly as they took in the sight. “Nine Hells! ” he groaned. Seeing the pompous warrior pounding across the field, toward the armored monster’s backside, while holding his useless sword aloft and hollering like a village idiot, dashed all of Grando’s hope of coming up with a clever stratagem. The monster, quickly becoming aware of Beanomir’s incoming attack, turned itself about with massive, ponderous strides. The tube-like horns on either side of its head now tuned toward the pathetic glory hound. Horns that had unleashed a hail of flaming stones just moments after the fighter’s first attack and leveled an entire copse of trees perilously close to the rest of their band—but which the fighter never saw in action. Grando almost hoped they would unleash their flaming hell anew and put Beanomir out of their misery, but instead he sighed. He could not allow one of the fellowship to die through his inaction, even if it was the one with, as his colleagues often put it, “the lowest intelligence score”. He turned to the others, and directed them to the castle ruins behind them once more. “Flee, you fools!” he commanded, as, on shaky legs, he stepped around the boulder before them, and summoned a sonorial spell. He would need to get the monster’s attention before it unleashed its dark magic…
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NEBULA /THE
MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE
06
THE MONSTER OF IRON AND FIRE “Creature of iron! ” he bellowed, channeling the magic within to magnify his volume until it felt as if the earth around him shuddered from the sheer force of his words. “Beast of fire and darkness! Who sent thee to threaten our lands?” Abruptly, the monstrous creation paused, its massive legs grinding to an earth-gouging stop in mid-stride. Its long, toothy visage swung around, and its body followed, dragging along a tail that now twitched more like that of an agitated house pet. The eyes that faced Grando were wide slits that glowed an angry red, and lacked any visible pupils, but he knew with every fiber of his ancient being that it now focused all attention on him. And yet, while his words somehow resonated enough to stay its wrath, the monster made no further response. Could it not speak, he wondered? Or had it merely failed to understand his words properly? These lands were abundant in kingdoms and counties where the common tongue of Man competed with other languages. He switched to the language of the Eisengard: “Was ist ihre Herkunft? ” The beast’s head tilted slightly to one side, and Grando imagined a blank stare from its glowing, red slits. Of course! He realized. Chiding himself for missing the obvious, he tried Draconic. “SoHvaD ngeH ‘Iv? ” Yet once again, the metal-clad beast stared blankly at him. Puzzled more than ever, he went for High Elfish: “ Qui vous a envoyé?” Still nothing? Maybe the language of the Seafarers… “ ¿De dónde es usted? ” The beast’s head now tilted to the other side, but still did nothing else. Well, this was starting to become frustrating. It was at that point that Grando muttered, somewhat louder than he’d intended, “Brilliant! How can I reach your soul if you can’t even communicate, you foolish beast?” Beanomir, so startled by the archmage’s bellows that even he stopped dead in his tracks, now watched the strange monster’s behavior closely. Whatever the old gray wizard was doing, it was keeping the thing distracted. Whether it was confusion that froze it in place, or another clever spell, he sensed that an opening had finally presented itself. He could see those gaps in the beast’s armored hide, openings in its joints easily wide enough for a wellplaced sword strike. Black, inhuman skin peeked through those openings, below which—Beanomir’s long career as a fighter told him—would surely be veins, muscles, tendons, and perhaps even a major artery. When the beast was in motion, those gaps were nigh impossible to reach and strike effectively.
But now… Now, Beanomir could be the hero of this epic encounter! Felling this titan would seal his legacy to all—gnome, elf, dwarf, and human alike. Even the draco-worshippers would know his name. Yes, they would sing songs of Beanomir, Slayer of the Dark Lord’s Greatest Beast, for generations to come! Empowered, Beanomir raised his zweihander, shoved aside the last of his doubts, drew in a deep lungful of air, and charged! What happened next stunned all those who beheld it. A mighty growl issued forth from the mountain of a monster. Its rear legs stomped down, one after the other, as if anchoring themselves in place, and its thinner forelegs pushed against the ground while its head dipped forward for but a moment. It reared up on those mammoth legs almost like a startled equine mount, but instead of kicking its fore hooves in attack, or lowering itself back down, it rose still higher. The clanking and grinding sounds of metal on metal mixed with an otherworldly groan as its forelegs spread outward, shifted back, and grew fingers, then hands! Its animalistic legs swiveled in place, grinding earth into mud, and extended, as its spine drew itself upward, and back. The wide tail forked in two, and swung into the back, while the massive shoulder horns tilted downward, even as the head between them swiveled and opened up, revealing a face that still bore the glowing red eyes of before, but now took on the look of a barbarian knight’s helm. As the giant completed its metamorphosis from that of a beast to the appearance of a man-like colossus, one of its arms separated still further, and—as its audience watched in horror— appeared to grow a sword that easily took on the length and width of the greatest valley oaks. Grando stared at the giant, his eyes drawn to its angry red slits, now almost twice as high above the ground as they had been before. The last of the beast’s roar echoed away. And then, with a deep, roaring voice, surely driven from the pits of the netherworld itself, it finally spoke: “Me no fool! ” it snarled, fixing the elderly wizard in place. “Me Grimdark! Me king!” As if to emphasize its point, it thrusted its impossibly large sword high in the clear blue sky, and emphatically slammed a mighty foot forward… ….Right on top of Beanomir, Hero of the Lands, and WarriorHeir to the Throne of the K ingdom of Gordon! The titan, instantly sensing something amiss, looked down suddenly, and withdrew its foot from Beanomir’s thoroughly pulped corpse. “Oh,” it said, its booming voice now somehow managing to sound almost…sheepish? “Me, Grimdark, sorry…”
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NEBULA /THE
FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS OF TOREEL
07
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDO MS OF TOREEL The following is a summation of our finding s in system SLSC G4V.1499-02a (Lawrence/Toreel). This system is centered on a yellow G4 main-sequence star, which is comprised of eleven planetary bodies and an asteroid belt. Five of the worlds here are gas giants (fourth, seventh, eighth, tenth, a nd eleventh from the parent star), one is a giant rocky terrestrials (second from the parent star), a nd four are rocky bodies of conventional terrestrial size (first, third, fifth, and sixth from the parent star). The asteroid belt—likely a proto-planet that broke apar t from tidal stresses early in the solar system’s formation—lies between second and third planets. Beyond this, an assortment of cometary bodies and rogue asteroids are apparent, consistent with a system of this composition. Of these bodies, the inhabited world—and, as a consequence, the one that has drawn the majority of our focus—is the third from its sun, with an orbital distance roughly 0.95 standard AU. Transit time to the planet from the local zenith/nadir jump points at 1 G standard thrust takes an average of 7.96 days. The planet possesses one natural satellite. [It’s one thing that HQ wants us to put Pankaj’s astronomy blurb at the head of each report, I just wish they weren’t so dry !]
Contact Review After 7.96 days or so, we entered orbit, and started to map the place. Lucy’d won the naming lottery, hence why I’m now obligated to refer to this planet as “Lawrence” for a while, and in most previously filed reports. Complaints are best directed to the happy newlyweds; I hope they get divorced soon.
“Lawrence” has a surprisingly pleasant environment despite its low 0.69G gravity, and a mere 54 percent surface water. We quickly determined that there were multiple human settlements on planet, and nearly as quickly determined that all of them are stuck at a thoroughly pre-industrial tech level. There’s some trivial bickering going on about whether it’s more thirteenth or fourteenth century equivalent. Still, the anthropologists began salivating so much, we had to permanently assign a janitor to their department. Yes, that will be hitting their budget, not mine. The human population seemed fairly small, and we elected to set down a shuttle craft on Lawrence, several kilometers from one of the first major population centers we detected. Job One was to determine if we had to worry about biological or chemical threats that were not immediately obvious from orbit, but they had leave to reach out to the locals if the opportunity presented itself. Which it did, but only after a large reptilian showed up, and started to torch the nearby settlement. We haven’t figured out how yet, but some species of the local reptiles can actually ignite flames from their maws. It’s very impressive, and about as effective as rolling an angry Firestarter through a pile of hay. Stupid thatched roofs. Team lead for this first mission was Ivan—who you may recall from such prior mission reports as “Sub-Orbital Vehicle Deployment/Bombardment” and “They Really Hate it when you Shoot at Them”. Ivan decides he won’t stand idly by as the locals get roasted by this thing, and applied an SRM to its hide. This apparently pissed off the lizard, which was also not a huge fan of SMG bullets. Oh, and it flies, like a branth. Ivan and some of his
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NEBULA /
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS OF TOREEL
08
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS OF TOREEL team managed to get back to the Mark VII shuttle, which allowed us to learn that these flying lizards do not co-exist with medium pulse lasers, if you use enough of them. I t did manage to get some decent gashes into the armor… Contrary to the opinions of some in the DropShip, the locals were quite impressed with Ivan and his team’s activities. They spoke a derivative of German, so first contact was easy. This regard increased when we got our first BattleMechs unloaded: given the potency of a single flying reptile, we decided to place at least two BattleMechs with every independent expedition. The locals couldn’t decide what the ’Mechs were; constructs, golems, giants all passed the review, until one of the MechWarriors dismounted for a break. Now they’re stumped, but clearly we’re wizards of some sort. Which brings us to the interesting part. Usually, pre-industrial worlds are pretty miserable places to be. Some of the food can be good, but what else do you do all day, unless you’re one of those Buddha-forsaken anthropologists? I have no answer, but the locals inform us that for dispatching the “truly ancient great wyrm Balagash” (or Balagirsh, I can’t tell), we were owed our pick of their most ancient magic artifacts—items with incredible powers and capabilities. We were lead to one of their less-charred palaces, and they were not lying! Staves that shoot flames, bows that shoot lightning, swords that cut through any metal. (Well, any of theirs, anyway.) Devices that provide portable hologram emitters to create anything you want: that’s right, it even has a neuro-interface to discern the desired intent! Some truly high-quality lostech. Because that’s what we’re dealing with: a colony of humans who set down here possibly as long ago as the 22- or 2300s. Their own knowledge of history barely dates back 200 years with any
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA STAR: SLSC G�V.����-��a �TOREEL� Location: Approximately ��� LY rimward of Farhome (inside California Nebula) Planetary Information: Star Type (Recharge Time): G�V (��� hours) Position in System: � Number of Satellites: � (Selene) Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Thin (Breathable) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Temperate) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Reptiles Population (����): ���,���,��� (est.)
degree of certainty, a victim of disinterest, war, local fauna, and the relatively frequent and disruptive emergence of pieces of lostech. None of these devices really resemble our weaponry, but the locals didn’t even think our weapons were particularly noteworthy until we fired a few; odds are that anything that doesn’t look like a sword just gets tossed around here. But the really interesting part is that we haven’t yet figured out how they’re powered. There are no obvious detachable power supplies on any of these, yet the power draw they have to achieve their performance is pretty substantial. Percival reckons its some kind of wireless power network, which is a cool theory, though not substantiated by any sensors we’ve brought. Vanessa’s theory is even more interesting: she reckons the devices have some sort of clathrate network of receptors that tap into an external power supply, in some ways similar to how K-F cores work. This way, it doesn’t matter where you take the devices, it’s always “plugged in”, since it draws power on a constant basis. That idea is based on some (particularly-poorly supported) work by one Julius Bertrand shortly after Fuchida kicked the bucket. His overall premise supposed that the K-F cores don’t actually lens up K-F fields in a useful manner, but that they’re tapping into hyperspace itself to get the jump done. That might still be bonkers, but the mechanism he described would explain how these “magic items” do what they do. Because we can’t figure them out, and we’ve cracked open several of them. Most disintegrate, or are otherwise totally indistinguishable from mundane items once broken (a task itself far from easy). Next layer of interesting: a handful of locals seem to be able to pull off this “magic” without any artifacts! Vanessa reckons we’re dealing with some implants, as the “tap in to hyperspace (or wherever)” theory doesn’t have a known ratio between the amount of material required to tap, and the amount of power drawn or converted. I’ve given the command: over the next few months, we’ll collect as many items and local “magic” users as we can, so we can figure out what makes this all tick . Could be the next big thing!
Historical Analysis Tricky, since the locals don’t have much in the way of recorded history. They claim the local dragons have a better history, which is, of course, completely insane. From what we can tell, there’s talk of a major global catastrophe that occurred about seven or eight centuries ago. The phrasing suggests a major impactor stripping the western continent of Toreel (their name for the planet) clean of life, and generally making things unpleasant, which eventually caused the survivors to wage war on each other with everything at their disposal, including nuclear, chemical and biological agents. It’s this that we have to thank for some truly amazing mutations! I k now that Marcel and most of the rest of the pack are drooling over this “magic” nonsense, but they’ve failed to recognize the significance of these persistent humanoid sub-races, colloquially referred to as elves, orcs, dwarves and gnomes (or hobbits, whatever). I mean, seriously, it breeds true! That’s some next-level stuff right there!
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THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS OF TOREEL
Even cooler: some of the local fauna has taken on humanoid features as well! I don’t think anyone has ever seen that anywhere before, ever! Ever! This is the first time! The locals call them gnolls and trolls and so on, I call them amazing! And sapient! Yeah! Erm, sorry, yes, back to the history. So, there’s a cataclysm, almost everything dies, and amazing new mutations emerge. As humanity is wont to do, these separate “races” quickly began segregating across racial lines, and now everyone presumes it’s always been this way. Most organized societies have taken on monarchy as their mode of government, and without better communication and education, I think the only other mode that might work is republic, but we’re not aware of any of those yet. There’s literally hundreds of these kingdoms, if not thousands. They’re always churning their alliances and wars. It’s really a lot like medieval Europe in that way, but with a bit less genocide. It does mean that the individual accomplishments of a given kingdom are rather irrelevant, so this concludes the history portion. Send archeologists if you want more.
Present Analysis Nowadays, the majority of these kingdoms seem to mostly keep to themselves, from what we can discern. Wars occur, but less frequently now, which will permit some growth. This will no doubt result in one kingdom or another venturing forth to create a unified realm or empire within a decade or two. Fine with me; they’d need less borders and more common currency to get anywhere. They do seem pretty interested in acquiring more lostech though, which will help Marcel along quite a bit. They’ve been nice enough to share a lot of intel on these various artifacts, so we’ll be sending ’Mechs to and fro to collect. Once that source of information runs dry, we’ll see about collecting some magicusing “volunteers”. We’ll start with rival realms, so the locals have an interest in providing us targets. Should be easy, though timeconsuming. There’s been talk about actively getting involved with some empire building, since our ’Mechs just win whenever they show up. I think it’ll take too long to be worth the hassle.
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STAR EMPIRE
THE STAR EMPIRE The following is a summation of our findings in binary system SLSC G4V.1499-07a/07b (The Star Empire). This binary system is centered on a yellow G4 main-sequence star, which itself is orbited by nine planetary bodies, and a second solar system centered on a red M1V star with six planets and an asteroid belt. Between the two systems, only two planets (the fourth from the G-type star, and the second from the M-type star) are gas giants, two more (eighth from the G-star, and sixth from the M-star) are ice giants. The remaining worlds are rocky terrestrials, including two of “dwarf” size, and two of “giant” size (all of which orbit the yellow sun). The significant asteroid belt lies between the red sun and its first planet, and likely is the remnants of a planet that broke apart due to a planetary collision soon after the solar system’s initial formation. Beyond this, both stars appear to have a complex series of far-orbital objects that make up a truly massive Oort cloud complex, and an irregular, semi-interlocking pattern of Kuiper Belt debris that suggest the outer star was drawn into its present orbit only after both systems had fully formed. More remarkable, of course, is that fact that an impressive number of the planets and moons in these twin solar systems have either proven sufficiently hospitable to human life to allow for colonies, with several more of the terrestrial bodies actively transformed by later settlements. Between the primarily inhabited worlds of Stedenwereld, Woestijnwereld, and Waterwereld, and the nearly one dozen populated moons, we have estimated that over fifty billion people call this binary home. Of the worlds that have drawn our main focus, Stedenwereld (apparently Dutch for “World of Cities”) is by far the most populous, and orbits its G4 sun at a distance of approximately 1 standard AU, with a 1G transit time of 8.53 days from the local zenith and nadir jump points. The second-most populous world is the arid planet of Woestijnwereld ( “Desert World”), which orbits its M1 sun at a distance of just 0.12 standard AU, and has a 1G transit time just under 3 days from its local zenith/nadir point. The mean orbital distance of the beta star in this pair comes in at roughly 70 to 75 standard AU.
Contact Review Some real “brown pants” moments in this one! Our little detachment jumped in to the nadir of the G4, a destination elected using the typical method (coin flip). Soon after our arrival, we became aware of some curious facts: Drive signatures indicating thousands of capital ships, all pushing along at low-G. No JumpShips anywhere at the jump point with us. One planet was 100 percent luminescent from its night side. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which of those causes more pantular emissions, but suffice it to say that all breeches were burdened on our bridge. Once we composed ourselves, it became clear that one particularly large vessel was lumbering in our general direction. It hailed us, demanding for us to prepare to be boarded. We politely declined, and were accused of being rebels. (I love making •
10
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA STAR: SLSC G�V.�������a �STEDENWERELD “WORLD OF CITIES”� Location: Approximately ��� LY rimward of Farhome (inside California Nebula) Planetary Information: Star Type (Recharge Time): G�V (��� hours) Position in System: � Number of Satellites: � (Ondergangmaan “Doom Moon”) Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Standard (Breathable) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Temperate) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Mammals Population (����): �,���,���,��� STAR: SLSC M�V.�������b �WOESTIJNWERELD “DESERT WORLD”� Location: Approximately ��� LY rimward of Farhome (inside California Nebula) Planetary Information: Star Type (Recharge Time): M�V (��� hours) Position in System: � Number of Satellites: � Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Thin (Tainted) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Hot Arid) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Birds Population (����): ���,���,��� �WATERWERELD “WATER WORLD”� Planetary Information: Position in System: �
•
Number of Satellites: �
•
Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Thin (Tainted) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Cold Temperate) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Fish Population (����): �,���,��� (est.)
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STAR EMPIRE
11
THE STAR EMPIRE new friends.) The back and forth continued for a bit until the ship entered our operational range. We launched a pair of fighters, which made an approach. The opposing ship launched a couple of its fighters in response, but never engaged ours despite numerous threats, allowing them to get in to almost pointblank range. That’s when the ship did open up, taking out one of our Huscarl s. The incoming hostile fighters likewise decided to open up at the same time; a well-timed attack. A brief moment of panic set in, and we began preparations for an emergency jump-out. But we soon realized that Regina Lincoln, pilot of the remaining Huscarl , was decimating the squadron of fighters sent after her. She also seemed to have no trouble staying clear of the capital ship’s incoming fire. After dealing with the final hostile, most of whom seemed unable to withstand even a single impact from her weapons, Regina began taking shots at the capital vessel. Well, after you’re declared a “rebel”, and after they’ve killed one of your fighters, there’s not too much room for diplomacy. The ship seemed to weather Lincoln’s shots well enough, without having any response of its own. It did launch several dozen more of its fighters, but since we’d launched a few more of our own, the skies were cleared in no time at all. Meanwhile, our JumpShips were able to maintain a respectable distance under their own power until we could jump out in good order.
We went in to the Oort Cloud, presuming it fairly safe. Still, we found dozens of vessels roaming about! None came near us this time, until we were hailed by a member of “the People’s Rebellion” about a day later. They’d received word of our engagement with an “Imperial Star Destroyer” (rather optimistic name, that), and wished to learn more.
Historical Analysis It looks like this system was colonized in 2205, if the stories are to be believed—quite an accomplishment! The attractiveness of the system is pretty obvious: three habitable worlds, and multiple other semi-hospitable entities within the same system. It’s unclear what happened to their JumpShip(s), or even what the original configuration of the expedition was, but humanity apparently prospered within this system, today numbering well in excess of about fifty billion. They’ve been through numerous governmental cycles in that time, the most recent referred to as the Star Republic, which encompassed all the populated worlds, moons and settlements within the solar systems. As is typical for any republic, it eventually collapsed under the weight of its bureaucracy and corruption, giving way to a charismatic emperor who rose to power some twenty or so years ago. Allegedly, this emperor is still in charge, even now. At any rate, the dictator’s whims were not universally appreciated by those who have been taxed but not represented, and a rebellion broke out, which has been ongoing for more than a decade now. The numbers both sides throw about against each other are truly enormous. A typical invasion of a small settlement can include dozens of capital ships on both sides, plus several million(!) ground troops.
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STAR EMPIRE
12
THE STAR EMPIRE Present Analysis Needless to say, a military used to thinking in hundreds of ships and millions of troops is a problem for the Inner Sphere. Even if their weapons tend to suck really hard; quantity is its own quality, and I’m sure salvage will be reverse engineered sooner or later. But here’s the good news: there’s no sign of significant germanium deposits anywhere in the whole binary system—and we’ve looked really hard, both in the records provided to us by the local rebel alliance, and the old-fashioned “do-it-yourself” way. It’s definitely strange, and the extent to which even the Oort Cloud is being plied for trade and mining does suggest they’ll
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS T�FIGHTER Mass: 8 tons Type: Aerospace Fighter Power Plant: Fusion 10 (Max Acceleration: 2.5 G) Structure: Military Standard Armor: 0.5 tons, Titanium (BAR 5) Typical Armament: 2 Laser Cannons Notes: Built to enable quantity over quality, the Star Empire apparently has hundreds of thousands of these little guys. Not sure if that’s just propaganda, but it’d be the only way that they make sense. They’re maneuverable, if slow by our standards, pack a decent (if inaccurate) punch for their size, but they absolutely cannot take a hit. This seem just fine by the Empire, whose SOP seems to be to swarm a single target with twelve of these or more at a time. Of course, there’s just never a good reason to let them get that close. Still, they should be respected in case they decide to engage in any ground support attacks, because their twelve-at-a-time policy persists there as well.
X�FIGHTER Mass: 30 tons Type: Aerospace Fighter Power Plant: Fusion 30 (Max Acceleration: 2.5 G) Structure: Military Standard Armor: 2 tons, Titanium (BAR 5) Typical Armament: 4 Laser Cannons 2 Proton Torpedo Launchers (6 shots total) Fighter Deflector Shield Notes: The preferred fighter of the People’s Rebellion. These craft are substantially more durable than their Imperial counterparts, but are presumably more costly as they tend to themselves itself heavily outnumbered in almost every engagement, so it’s a bit of a wash. The X-Fighter has a lot of firepower in a small package, and the deflector shield makes it an interesting craft, despite its low acceleration rate. We’ve tried to modify a few with our own medium lasers, but getting their targeting gear up to spec has proven elusive.
stumble across a deposit of consequence sooner or later. Another potential worry is, of course, the JumpShips they used to get here. While they’re likely inoperable (wherever they are), they’d still count as a significant source of germanium. That’s almost like a ticking time bomb…
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS SCOUT WALKER Mass: 12 tons Type: Scout ’Mech Power Plant: Fuel Cell 75 (54kph walk speed, 86kph running speed) Structure: Standard Armor: 1.5 ton, Standard Typical Armament: 1 Dual Small Blaster Cannon 2 Large Blaster Cannons 1 Vehicular Grenade Launcher Notes: The typical Imperial scout ’Mech is built with a similar philosophy to the T-Fighter, and is likewise deployed in numbers. It’s decent in an anti-infantry role, but any main combat units tend to eat them for lunch. BattleMechs can afford to ignore them, or use them as target practice.
ASSAULT TRANSPORT Mass: 120 tons Type: Armored Troop Transport Power Plant: Fusion 360 (32kph walk speed, 54kph running speed) Structure: Superheavy Industrial Standard Armor: 7 tons, Industrial Typical Armament: 2 Laser Cannons 2 Large Blaster Cannons 2 Infantry Compartments (21 troopers each) 5 “Speeder” Hover-Bikes Cargo (1 ton) Notes: This slow contraption seems to take the roles of an armored APC and BattleMech in one. Most ground assaults have anywhere from a company to a battalion of these things lurching about. Fortunately for us, they can be easily dispatched by almost any modern BattleMech. This really irritates the Imperials, but in their defense, their military is all about air superiority. The Star Empire sends these in to go after dug-in enemies that have already weathered a storm of a few hundred T-Fighters. In that context, it’s nearly impervious to incoming weapons fire—apart from laser cannons, that is (and even those need a bit to cause serious damage). Of course, under Imperial theory, their T-Fighters and T-Bombers would have cleared any vehicles or emplacements that carry guns of that size long before these transports arrive.
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DRONES OF SYBERIA
13
THE DRONES OF SYBERIA The following is a s ummation of our finding s in system SLSC A6V.1499-05a (Syberia). The Syberia system is centered on a white A6 main-sequence star, and contains eleven planetary bodies. Four of these are gas giants (fifth, sixth, eighth, and eleventh from the parent star), four are giant rocky terrestrials (second, third, ninth, and tenth from the parent star), and three are rocky terrestrial-scale bodies (first, fourth, and seventh from the parent star). An assortment of cometary bodies and rogue asteroids are apparent, but all objects classable as “dwarf terrestrial” and smaller have been captured by the resident planets, or spend the majority of their orbital cycles in the system’s relatively sparse Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Of these bodies, the primary world for which we have named the star—Syberia—lies fourth from its sun, orbiting at a distance of roughly five standard AU. Transit time to the planet from the local zenith/nadir jump points at 1 G steady thrust takes an average of 32.76 days. The planet possesses two small natural satellites, but it was the detection of several active man-made satellites that drew our attention here.
Contact Review As our DropShip closed in, we detected scores more satellites in geosynchronous orbit above the world—most of which were inert—as well as a ring of metallic debris suggestive of many more man-made satellites and/or spacecraft destroyed in orbit. Spectrographic analysis also determined that, while the planet possessed an atmosphere, it was one that was light on oxygen, and tainted by high concentrations of particulate metals and other toxins. We also found that the equatorial temperate was particularly high, given the world’s orbital position on the outer edge of the life zone, which was attributed to high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere, and a belowaverage surface albedo. Water was detected across just below one quarter of the planetary surface, with most of it restricted to small oceans in the northern hemisphere. At this stage, and given the indecipherable nature of the signals we gleaned from the active components of the satellite network, we surmised that any human settlements we found below would be subterranean or otherwise environmentally contained. What we did not expect was to be hailed by a quartet of what appeared to be aerospace fighters, demanding our identity and what our business was on “Syberia”. The hails came over all our conventional radio frequencies, were phrased in English (with a slight, indeterminate accent), and were firm and insistent. But, more to the point, the hails came in several voices—and all of them were non-human. Quickly realizing that we were being hailed by a heretofore unknown class of robotic drone, we broadcast our identity on the same radio frequencies, hoping that the messages we sent would be received by the drones’ human operators, but then we were surprised by the follow-up questions: The first asked if we were “Auto-bop or Demo-con”.
The second—mere seconds later, before we could even reply to the first—asked if we were human. When we assured the drones that we were, in fact, humans, the drone squadron immediately moved to encircle our vessel, and we were ordered to follow them to a designated landing area on the surface below “for our safety”. As our DropShip lacked sufficient armaments to repel a force of unknown fighter craft, we complied. Our next surprise of the day came when we penetrated the yellowbrown cloud layer above the landing site and were greeted by a sprawling urban center positively buzzing with activity. The drone fighters bid us to make our landing on a metallicgray platform deep inside the city, just as a foreign ILS system targeted our vessel to guide us in. Our sensors detected a number of surface-to-air defense weapons targeting us as we moved in for the landing, as well as a significant formation of BattleMechs in the designated area. The drone fighters circled once as we set down, then landed themselves on a shimmering black air strip adjacent to the landing pad. Seeing four drone craft landing simultaneously, on the same runway, in such tight formation, came as a pure shock to us; even the finest aero-show teams in the Inner Sphere could not have performed such a maneuver—and yet, here were unmanned fighters doing it like it was routine. Then came a new voice, tight-beamed to our ship’s comm array from one of the ’Mechs on the ground: “Attention, human vessel,” it began, once again in the slightly accented English, and once again in tones that were distinctly synthetic in nature—the voice of a machine: “Please depower your systems and present your crew for reception. You have arrived in the city of Primus, the rightful capital of the Autonomous Barony of Primus, and the world of Syberia.”
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA STAR: SLSC A�V.����-��a (SYBERIA) Location: Approximately ��� LY rimward of Farhome (inside California Nebula) Planetary Information: Star Type (Recharge Time): A�V (��� hours) Position in System: � Number of Satellites: � (Syberluna I, Syberluna II) Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Thin (Toxic) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Very Hot) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Insects Population (����): �
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DRONES OF SYBERIA
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THE DRONES OF SYBERIA With what appeared to be the guns of an entire city and more than a dozen BattleMechs trained on us, we began to depower as instructed. Mid-way through the process, one of the bridge crewmen spotted a new lance of ’Mechs approaching from the runway. A closer look revealed that they bore the same colors as the fighters which guided us in. Whoever these people were, they seemed to possess Star League-grade technology, complete with Land-Air ’Mechs, and yet none of us could recall LAMs ever being built as drones in any historical records. We decided that we would leave half of our crew on board, ready to send a distress signal or even attempt an emergency blast-off if things turned violent. Meanwhile, the remainder of our contact and analysis team—fourteen of us in all—would disembark after donning appropriate environmental protections. Given the toxins and taints, it was determined that light envirosuits would suffice for the local climate and temperature. I led our disembarking party. We were greeted at the end of the ramp by a trio of ’Mechs in unfamiliar configurations. The lead machine, painted in a striking
mix of red and blue, and bearing a red and white insignia I had never seen before, advanced toward us. My knowledge of BattleMech models and makes is sketchy, but I guessed it to be about the size of a BattleMaster or Zeus at the time, humanoid in shape, with broad shoulders and walking upright on legs with forward-faced knees. Stylistically, it seemed somewhat “knightly”, evocative of medieval warriors. Baker, one of our tech experts, said it looked almost like a modified Grand Titan, a Clan-era Free Worlds League chassis. The ’Mech bore a massive, double-edged axe in one hand, and what looked like a large-bore cannon in the other. A mere glance was enough to convince me that a single blow from either weapon would be more than enough to annihilate our entire party. As it drew near, its shadow draped over all of us, and its head tilted forward, favoring us with a fair look at a face plate that looked almost human-like, with two blue-tinted canopy “eyes”, and the hint of a nose vanishing into a wedge-shaped chin. After a few tense moments, the hulking machine lowered itself down on one knee and—to our amazement—disengaged its hatchet from its hand actuator. The massive hunk of metal shook
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DRONES OF SYBERIA
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THE DRONES OF SYBERIA the pockmarked ferrocrete tarmac around us. I must admit that I nearly jumped out of my own skin myself. A voice sounded from the thing’s speakers: “Welcome to Primus,” it said. “My name is Primus Optimal, guardian-leader of the Autonomous Barony of Primus. We have not seen humans here in centuries; have the Creators sent you?” “My god,” Baker suddenly gasped as he watched the other ’Mechs step cautiously closer, all seemingly moving more to get a better look at us than to attack. “There’s nobody driving this thing. It’s alive!”
Historical Analysis From what our team learned in the months since arriving here (from a combination of careful observation, investigations of local ruins, and—most bizarrely—interviews with the resident machines), the world of Syberia was colonized at roughly the same time as the other worlds in the California Nebula region. At the time, it was a metal-rich planet at the tail end of an ice age. It had an extensive biosphere at the time, roughly analogous to Terra’s mid-Mesozoic era, circa 150-165 million years ago. The colonists hailed from the Terran Hegemony, and likely operated as a corporate enterprise, rather than under a state-run effort. Evidently determined to harness the system’s considerable mineral resources (including several of its other middle- and largesized terrestrial bodies), these colonists set out to turn their world into an industrial powerhouse, possibly with the intent to service the needs of the other colonial efforts in this region. This task was aided by the deployment of drones for all manner of industrial functions: mining, construction, agriculture, demolitions, even defense and self-manufacture (the use of drones to assist the building of other drones). At some point, roughly forty years after their arrival, one of these colonists’ R&D teams made a breakthrough in artificial intelligence theory that led to a new wave of drones designed for “maximum adaptability”. Though not truly sapient—and certainly not derived from the same technology that made the SLDF’s Caspar drones possible—the enhanced engineering and software architecture made it possible for them to create a generation of drone ’Mechs that could perform tasks given to them by verbal command—tasks that these machines could even adapt on the fly in the event of environmental changes. In short, they basically built a new form of robotic servitor, capable of using its own judgment to resolve problems and “learn” from them while following the directives of their human masters. The records and details become badly fragmented soon after this. Whether because of an influx of new colonists and laborers, some internal strife, or a natural disaster that we have yet to identify, the Syberian colonists began fighting among themselves. Inevitably, they modified their drones to take up their causes, and wage war in their name. With tireless, self-manufacturing armies of automatons unleashed for the purposes of war, the conflict spun out of control, and in the process, the planet’s ecosystem
became hopelessly compromised. Some evidence even suggests the use of nuclear and biological weaponry took place, though it is impossible—and virtually irrelevant now—to determine which factions resorted to such WMDs first. What seems clear is that, within a little over a century after the planet’s settlement, all human life on Syberia was extinguished, as was a vast majority of the planetary environment. Today, scattered wilderness, inhabited mainly by the hardiest of Syberia’s flora, and a collection of native insects and microbes, are all that remain of its natural denizens. The polar icecaps have long since melted away as the planet-wide temperatures rose out of control, and we suspect that several of the shallower seas and lakes were evaporated by nuclear strikes. The planet’s dominant inhabitants now are the drone ’Mechs that have apparently gone on harvesting resources to repair and maintain their nowdepopulated cities, while simultaneously seeing to their own needs. In addition, laborer drones have also continued to seek out, mine, and process a wide range of industrial raw materials for export operations that have long since ceased, creating an immense stockpile of resources ready for a wide array of applications. Periodically, these machines will even resort to building and programming more of their own kind, to offset losses or meet any new demands on their infrastructure.
Present Analysis Dedicated to the memory of their creators, these drones have also continued to wage the war that likely ended them. Our studies here have suggested that special commands and radio signals may be able to override these robots by convincing them that we are their creators, thus enabling us to order them to stand down. Unfortunately, in the absence of these protocols— lost now to the devastation of the planet’s history, and security encryptions that appear to be hardwired into them from manufacture, these autonomous ’Mechs seem doomed to fight their eternal war in the name of factions that, for all intents and purposes, no longer exist. For the time being, these robot factions have identified us as neutral parties, and in many cases we have been able to hold conversations with individual machines that could easily fool a Turing test. This, in fact, is how we learned of several locations on planet, including cities and colonial ruins, as well as much of the history that followed their creation. We have also learned that some off-world settlements of these robots exist throughout this solar system, having apparently been established from expeditions aimed at identifying and harvesting the system’s more attainable resources. These settlements, like those on Syberia itself, are void of human life, and some may never have known actual human presence, as the drones were in widespread use even during these times. What they could not explain fully was the preponderance of alternate mobility modes most of them now possess. Similar to first-generation bimodal Land-Air ’Mechs, these machines incorporate mechanisms that enable them to switch from ’Mech
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DRONES OF SYBERIA
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THE DRONES OF SYBERIA forms into alternate vehicular forms. Unlike LAMs, however, they have also conceived units that convert between motive forms other than aerospace fighters. We have observed drones capable of switching to all manner of ground vehicles (including wheeled, track-based, and hover-type mobility), VTOLs (including tilt-rotor planes and helicopters), and even watercraft. More bizarre than those are the drone ’Mechs that convert from bipedal to quadruped forms, and still others that convert from ’Mechs into stationary emplacements. The utility of many of these alternate configurations are questionable at best (even to Baker, ’Mech nerd that he is!). The fact that our hosts could
not explain them either suggests that these conversion types predate the development of their pseudo-sapient programs. That, or there are simply none of these robots around now that were present when these ideas first came into use. To emphasize the nature of Syberia’s “inhabitants”, I will close out the rest of this report with an examination of some of the more common or prominent machines we have observed in use by the two main warring factions (the Autonomous Barony of Primus, and the Democratic Industrial Conglomerate). These summaries are compiled by Doctor Leonard Baker, who I’ve mentioned earlier.
SELECTED SYBERIAN DRONE UNITS The following specs were determined via careful observation of the warring factions on Syberia. In our time here, we managed to determine the capabilities of the two primary leader units (“Primus Optimal” of the Autonomous Barony of Primus faction, and “MechaTankus” of the Democratic Industrial Conglomerate faction). Also noted are four other prominent unit types favored by these factions, and notes on any related analogs from their opponents. Including all observed variants, there are simply far more distinct models than those defined here; I suspect that one could find thousands—perhaps even tens of thousands—of individual variants, all scattered across hundreds of chassis types. That these smart machines even use color schemes and proper names to tell each other apart suggests a truly massive population and progeny of equipment that one could spend years cataloging! (And I thought the number of distinct Marauder variations was impressive!)
SEEKER�CLASS FIGHTER ’MECH Mass: 50 tons Type: Fighter ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 250 (54kph walk speed, 86kph running speed) Jump Jets: 6 Improved-type (180m jump in ’Mech form; 4.5G maximum thrust) Structure: Military Standard Armor: 7 tons, Standard Typical Armament: 2 Medium Pulse Lasers 2 Medium Standard Lasers
Notes: The Seeker serves as the primary air/ground soldier model favored by the Democratic Industrial Conglomerate (DemoCon) army. Indeed, one of the elite models of this chassis type—a scarlet and gray ’Mech identified by the designation “Star Seeker”—has apparently risen to the status as commander of all Seeker units in its faction’s army. This is especially interesting as “Star Seeker” shows a propensity for erratic behavior verging on what any human state would call treason. And yet, inexplicably, this behavior is tolerated by its master, a Tankus unit named “MechaTankus”. I suspect this is a paradox created by a core piece of the drones’ programming code, intended to safeguard against friendly fire between allied drones; no matter how much these two might “want” to destroy one another, they simply cannot carry that impulse to its final conclusion. Other DemoCon Seeker s that have been identified by name (and unique color schemes) include “Sky Seeker” (black), “Thunder Seeker” (dark blue), “Acid Seeker” (teal), “Sun Seeker” (yellow), “Ram Seeker” (bone white), “Thrust Seeker” (magenta), “Dire Seeker” (brown), and “Slip Seeker” (light blue). Like all of the high-ranked drones observed to date, each one of these Seeker s demonstrates a distinctly different personality, and appears to be assigned the command of its own squadron-sized formation for combat operations. Alternate weapon loads between each of these machines indicates that each one specializes in a different tactical role. The Autonomous Barony of Primus (AutoBoP) faction has an analog to this chassis type known as the AeroMech, which appears to differ only in a cosmetic sense from the Seeker s. Named AutoBoP AeroMechs identified to date include “Aero Bolt” and “Aero Raider”, and “Aero Diver”.
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SELECTED SYBERIAN DRONE UNITS SOUNDER�CLASS WHEELED ’MECH Mass: 60 tons Type: Wheeled Vehicle ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 240 (43kph walk speed, 65kph running speed, 86kph max speed in wheeled mode) Jump Jets: None Structure: Military Standard Armor: 9 tons, Standard Typical Armament: 1 Extended-Range Large Laser 1 SixTtube SRM Rack Additional Mission Equipment: Guardian ECM suite Beagle Active Probe 2 3-ton Cargo Bays Notes: The Sounder class is a semi-rare “officer” model that seems primarily devised for reconnaissance and field support. The DemoCon forces apparently use Sounder s as a kind of command and communications unit, and the highest-ranked model of this chassis type—a blue and silver drone identified by the designation “Wave Sounder”—appears to double as a kind of confidant and political officer for “MechaTankus”. Other DemoCon Sounder s that have been identified by name and unique color schemes include “Blast Sounder” (gray and red), and “Cast Sounder” (blue and white), while an AutoBoP Sounder has been identified by the name “Com Blaster” (red and yellow). When serving as officers, Sounder s are rarely fielded in groups of the same model, but instead are often placed in charge of other ground-based drones, or paired up with higher-ranked combat units. The AutoBoP faction also has a secondary support analog to this chassis type that trades the electronics for more cargo space or industrial equipment as needed. This model type, known as the VeeMech, otherwise differs little from the Sounder s. Named AutoBoP VeeMechs identified to date include “Ferro-Vee”, “VeeWrencher”, and “Vee-Hoister”. BEETLE�CLASS WHEELED ’MECH Mass: 35 tons Type: Wheeled Vehicle ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 210 (65kph walk speed, 97kph running speed, 118kph max speed in wheeled mode) Jump Jets: None Structure: Military Standard Armor: 6 tons, Standard Typical Armament: 1 Extended-Range Large Laser Notes: The Beetle class is an example of a “ground scout” model, primarily used for eyes-on recon and message courier duty.
The AutoBoP forces favor Beetles far more than the DemoCons appear to, which suggests that the DemoCons have either lost the ability to produce their own fast ground scouts, or simply elected to rely on aerial reconnaissance via their extensive Seeker fleet. AutoBoP Beetles that have been identified by name and unique color schemes include “Beetle Bee” (yellow and black), “Beetle Jumper” (red and black), “Beetle Blurry” (light blue and silver), and “Beetle Prowler”. Because they mainly serve as scouts, Beetles are rarely fielded in groups of the same model, but when they are, they favor swarm tactics or are used to harry mobile enemy forces. The DemoCon faction’s Beetle analog is known as the Ender chassis in their ranks, but their differences from the Beetles are almost purely cosmetic. Rarer, as indicated above, we know of only a few named Ender “officer units”: “Swine Ender”, “Dead Ender”, “Wild Ender”, “Down Ender”, and “Barrier Ender”. Perhaps because there are so few of these machines in the DemoCon ranks, or because of their scout role, the personalities for these DemoCon units are notoriously more “anti-social” than most of their kind.
GRIMDARK�CLASS BESTIAL ’MECH Mass: 100 tons Type: Bestial ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 200 (22kph walk speed, 32kph running speed) Jump Jets: None Structure: Industrial Standard Armor: 18.5 tons, Heavy Industrial Standard, with CASE Typical Armament: 2 Heavy Class-10 Autocannons 1 Flamer 1 Large Anti-’Mech Vibrosword Spikes Tail Notes: The Grimdark class is an example of the most bizarre of the convertible drone oddities we have encountered in our time of Syberia (though far from the most bizarre). This chassis type is designed to convert from bipedal mobility to quadruped form. This seems a dubious design choice at best, but it is one favored by a few of the “minor” factions seen on this world (including the AutoBoP-aligned Dynamic Barony of Grim—who we believe originated the Grimdark s—and the Inter-Sect Confederacy, who have aligned with the DemoCon group). More intriguing is how these machines were built as BattleMechs with what appears to be an industrial-grade structure, suggesting that these minor factions are lacking in resources or sophistication (or merely that they became desperate somewhere along the way). The Grimdark class is modeled to look particularly monstrous, for some reason. In ’Mech form, it’s a devastating close fighter, with spikes, a vibrosword, and a fusion-fed flamer capable of coming into play the moment the shoulder cannons run dry. In quadruped mode, the melee capability lost as the vibrosword tucks itself
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SELECTED SYBERIAN DRONE UNITS away is replaced by an odd, mechanized tail that can be used to “whip” any targets that try to take advantage of the unit’s lack of torso-rotation capability and get close in behind it. Meanwhile, the flamer and autocannons remain in play regardless of the configuration used. We have identified a few distinct Grimdark variants in play, most sporting the red and gold livery of the DynaBoG faction as they fight alongside the AutoBoP army. Most are cosmetically different, but otherwise functionally identical, with names like “Grim Slagger”, “Grim Slugger”, and “Grim Snarler”. The existence of some lighter models—including a Seeker -like fighter drone using the same color scheme, visual style, and prominence of physical attack weaponry—was what made us realize the DynaBoG units were, in fact, a separate (but allied) faction from the AutoBoP forces. As mentioned, the Inter-Sect Confederacy mini-faction also uses bestial drones similar to the Grimdark , but these machines tend to be much lighter and faster, built more for speed and stealth than the heavy-hitting force the DynaBoG faction clearly favors.
TANKUS�CLASS TRACKED ’MECH Mass: 100 tons Type: Tracked Vehicle ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 300 (35kph walk speed, 54kph running speed, 54kph max speed in tracked mode) Jump Jets: 2 standard-type (60m jump in ’Mech mode) Structure: Military Standard Armor: 18.5 tons, Standard, with CASE Typical Armament: 1 Extended-Range Particle Cannon 1 Assault-Grade Class-20 Autocannon 1 Wrecking Ball Notes: The Tankus classes of Syberian drones dominate the ground-level assault forces. In the DemoCon faction, one in particular—a two-toned gray machine named “MechaTankus”— has served long enough to reach hyper-elite status and now functions as its faction’s supreme military commander (and is thus cataloged alternately as a “Leader ” class). Possessing a particularly ruthless personality, “MechaTankus” demonstrates superior tactical and strategic cunning, but is periodically compromised by a tendency to favor brute force over subtlety. Though few hold a candle to the powerhouse that “MechaTankus” has become, other DemoCon Tankus models we have identified by name and unique color schemes include “Galvan Tankus” (gray and orange), “Shocker Tankus” (purple and gray), “Blitzer Tankus” (gray and tan), and “Brawler Tankus” (green and brown). AutoBoP Tankuses are slightly rarer, but two in particular have been identified among their officers—an allred model known as “Warp Tanker”, and an olive green machine named “Bulk Tanker”. These officer-grade tracked vehicle drones often lead lance-sized groups of the same model into battle.
LEADER�CLASS WHEELED ’MECH Mass: 85 tons Type: Wheeled Vehicle ’Mech Power Plant: Fusion 255 (35kph walk speed, 54kph running speed, 65kph max speed in wheeled mode) Jump Jets: None Structure: Military Standard Armor: 14.5 tons, Standard Typical Armament: 1 Gauss Rifle 1 Large Pulse Laser 1 Anti-’Mech Hatchet Notes: Designated the Leader class simply because the first of its kind that we met identified itself as the guardian-leader of the AutoBoP faction, this drone appears tailored for ground-level assault operations like the Tankus class, but is far more roadfriendly, and also handy for the towing of additional freight, via specialty trailers that can be attached to the tail end of its vehicle form. The AutoBoP faction favors Leader -class units, and one in particular—a red and blue machine named “Primus Optimal”— has reached hyper-elite status as the faction’s supreme military commander. Blessed with a personality that sounds downright inspiring even to human ears, this drone displays a strange sense of honor and compassion toward its teammates in battle, and has often been witnessed risking itself to rescue damaged comrades even when doing so would put it at a tactical disadvantage. Stranger still is how this drone is dealt with by its opposite number. A curious fixation on this particular Leader by its DemoCon Tankus counterpart has often been seen as the only reason “Optimal” has not been gunned down by a random Seeker . It appears the standing orders for all DemoCons is that a drone designated as the AutoBoP’s “Primus” (guardian-commander) can only be destroyed by “MechaTankus” itself. Beyond “Primus Optimal”, other AutoBoP Leader models we have identified by name and unique color schemes include “Magnum Ultra” (blue and white), “Sentinel Ultra” (blue and gold), and “Convoy Paxus” (blue and red). The DemoCon faction also has a couple known Leader s that have reached officer status: an all-black model known as “Master Nemesis”, a gray and purple machine named “Master Motor”, and an olive drab one named “Master Onslaught”. Regardless of their side, these officer-grade Leader s often command lance-sized groups of lighter wheeled-vehicle drones into battle.
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THE SUPERIOR HUMANS OF “EARTH” The following is a summation of our findings in system SLSC F8V.1499-08a (Earth). [I cannot stress this enough: the Earth system in the California Nebula is not to be confused with New Earth, Terra, Terra Firma, or any of the other derivations known to the Inner Sphere. The locals here have named their world Earth, conjuring an archaic name for humanity’s home, and it is unclear when or why they did so. The planet doesn’t even look like Terra, and the solar system is all wrong. So are the locals, but I’ll get to that in a bit. I just wanted to emphasize: This “Earth” is NOT TERRA! ] Earth orbits a yellow-white F8 main-sequence star, as the second of only five planetary bodies in the system. There is only one gas giant in this system (fifth from the parent star), one dwarf terrestrial (third from the parent star), and three rocky terrestrial-scale bodies, including Earth itself (first, second, and fourth from the parent star). The usual assortment of cometary bodies and rogue asteroids are apparent, with an extensive— and uncommonly dense—asteroid belt orbiting between Earth and the system’s third planet. This belt was likely formed by the relatively recent collision or explosion of two or more large planetary bodies on the order of at least medium-terrestrial size, and is home to an unusually high concentration of radioactive matter, heavy metals, water ice, and some weird chemical composites that we have yet to fully analyze. [ This debris may be worth closer examination, but I’d advise against it, given the denizens of Earth.] As is typical in most mature solar systems, all other objects classable as “dwarf terrestrial” and smaller have been captured by the resident planets, or spend the majority of their orbital c ycles in the system’s relatively sparse Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. The primary inhabited world for which we have named the star—Earth—shares the star’s “Goldilocks” zone with both the asteroid belt and the dwarf terrestrial. Earth’s orbital distance averages roughly 1.16 standard AUs from the star. Transit time to the planet from the local zenith/nadir jump points at 1 G steady thrust takes an average of 12.01 days. The planet possesses one large natural satellites, which the locals have named “the Moon” [again, not to be confused with Terra’s Luna], but a robust network of active man-made satellites (and a few tiny space stations) were also detectable here.
to end all life here. But they had failed. Man survived, even if it effectively wiped out more than 2,000 years’ worth of human progress in the bargain. So, here Earth was now, its societies attempting to recover, with technology returning to roughly the levels achieved in Terra’s twentieth or twenty-first centuries. The wars fought since—so far as we could tell—have been far more conventional, allowing many of the planet’s smaller scars to heal. And with that, we might have run out of interesting notes about this place. Earth, so far as it looks from orbit and satellite chatter, could pass for dozens or even hundreds of planets like it across the Inner Sphere and the Periphery. But here, we would soon find that this one still contained some interesting surprises! When we finally set down in a relatively remote area on one of the northern continents, we were very quickly met by a single individual, dressed in a uniform that included all of the primary colors. He referred to himself as “The Upariman, Protector of Earth”. (“Upari”? Weird; why not just say “Super”?) He wanted us to explain what we were doing, and subject ourselves to the local laws. At least, that was my interpretation, so I told him we didn’t come here to take orders from anyone. Apparently, them’s fightin’ words. (He actually said that!) Then he punched one of our security detail’s Wasps—actually managing to inflict damage on it in the process—and things were on. [There are some claims within my team that I ordered Brachia’s Wasp to open fire first, but any reasonable, civilized human being would pay such vicious rumors no heed.] I don’t want to waste too much time discussing events, but we finally broke contact with this “Upariman” at about 200 kilometers above the planetary surface, and went to set down on one of the southern continents. [Note: ’Mech losses
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA STAR: SLSC F�V.����-��a �EARTH� Location: Approximately ��� LY rimward of Farhome (inside California Nebula) Planetary Information: Star Type (Recharge Time): F�V (��� hours)
Contact Review “Such a pretty little globe, despite what has been done to it.” Those were my thoughts as we entered Earth’s orbit, and could see the scars left by war. I realize now that such scars are a common motif for the inhabited worlds in this nebula, but I think that’s less a symptom of the surroundings, and more a confirmation of human nature. Some of the scars were obvious; nuclear wastelands like those we can still find across the Inner Sphere even to this day. Other scars would take us a bit to discover, but showed that there had been no restraint. All of man’s ingenuity had been utilized
Position in System: � Number of Satellites: � (Moon) Surface Gravity: �.�� Atm. Pressure: Standard (Breathable) Equatorial Temperature: ��C (Medium) Surface Water: �� percent Highest Native Life: Birds Population (����): �,���,���,���
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THE SUPERIOR HUMANS OF “EARTH” can be found in Appendix C. Our chief engineer has reported that a shipyard is needed to fix all the damage to the DropShip, but I think he’s just trying to set the stage for the impending repair miracles he’ll produce from thin air.] In the few weeks that have followed since then, my crew and I are ready to conclude that we should leave and not come back. We keep running in to these “Superior Humans”, and, apparently, we have some sort of reputation now. Frankly, the repairs are growing tedious, and we’re running thin on security assets as it stands. Definitely no Wolverines here.
Historical Analysis Frankly, we are not entirely sure what the story of this Earth is, but it seems like this place was lit up by some truly exotic nuclear weapons after the first settlers came here. However the locals managed to bounce from it so well in what must have been just a few centuries at least is beyond us, but more remarkable than their aberrant population growth are the random mutations that seem to happen here with surprising regularit y, even now. This is especially odd, since the background radiation on Earth is fairly normal.
Most of these mutations are fairly harmless, but there’s an almost literal “one-in-a-million” shot that the recipient ends up with a complex series of genes that the locals refer to as the “Y-gene”, in which case you’re dealing with a Superior Human. If you check the math on that, and note that we estimate that some seven billion people live here now, you’ll find that this means there are thousands of these genetic freaks around here! And most of them are raging egomaniacs! Fortunately, these “Superiors” spend a lot of time fighting each other, but it only takes a couple of them to ruin someone’s day. Since there’s nothing else of strategic, material, or historical value here—and since these super-mutated people have proven far less than cooperative to any worthwhile medical studies—my recommendation is to leave this planet, and not come back until we bring enough nukes to sterilize up to asthenosphere depth. You know, to be thorough.
Present Analysis Who cares? We’re outta here! I’d recommend warning buoys, if we had any.
SELECTED SUPER HUMANS Below are some of the Superior Humans we’ve managed to catalog so far. It’s by no means a complete listing of all that we encountered, but it should go a long way to support the decision to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, come back. Ever.
CIRCULUS OCULUS Superior Human Powers Energy Projection +5: 30E/5000. Morphology: Energy ray from Eyes. Healing Factor +1 Superior Human Weaknesses Loved Ones: Jane Grey Weakness: Unless he keeps his eyes closed, or uses his visor to contain it, C-O appears unable to reduce the power of his eye beams, blasting them at full strength. Notes: Though he tries to come off as straight-laced and commanding, this subject is just as arrogant as most of the other Superior Humans we’ve met. This is despite him not being all that useful because of his average human speed. He thus relies on the more dangerous jerks to get him around. But he did manage to vaporize one of our heavy fighters with one blast of his eye laser, so there’s that.
IRAPUMAN Superior Human Powers Energy Absorption +1/Ray: Earth’s sun’s rays Energy Projection +2: 4E/6. Morphology: Cold ray from Eyes Energy Projection +2: 6E/6CS. Morphology: Heat Breath from Mouth Flight +1 Healing Factor +3 Invulnerability +1 Super Hearing +5: –80 dB Super Speed: 9,000 meters per turn Super Strength +3: 8,000 STR Super Vision/Telescopic +3: 18km Super Vision/Microscopic +3: 0.005mm Superior Human Weaknesses Weakness: Loses all Superior Human p owers unless he’s been able to use his Energy Absorption for at least 8 hours within the last 72 hours. Weakness: Loses all Superior Human powers when exposed to azure-colored “xenonite”, a crystal of unknown composition, possibly originating in the local asteroid belt. Exposure must occur within 1 meter of Irapuman, and reduces his STR to 1. Notes: Love this guy. Dumb as a box of rocks, I think. But actually, as I write this, I realize he might not be dumb, just weird. His reasoning is…unique, but once you figure it out, you can get him to act beneficially. His standard MO seems to be to disrupt whatever the heck Upariman is up to, so it’s not like we need lengthy conversations with the lug. So yeah, love this guy!
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SELECTED SUPER HUMANS JANE GRAY Superior Human Powers Healing Factor +2 Telekinetics +2: 800 STR Telepathy/Intention +4: 2,000 meters Telepathy/Read +4: 2,000 meters Telepathy/Speak +4: 2,000 meters Telepathy/Suggestion +4: 2,000 meters Telepathy/Total Control +4: 2,000 meters Telepathic Combat Skill: +5 Superior Human Weaknesses Loved Ones: Circulus Oculus Notes: This one scares me the most. All the other ones, you can either defeat, or keep at a distance. This one gets in to your brain, man! How can you even trust yourself anymore? How can you trust anyone else? How do you know whether she’s asking the questions? How can I even be sure that I’m typing up this report right now? MAGNETMAN Superior Human Powers Healing Factor +1 Telekinenetics +8: 800,000 STR Superior Human Weaknesses Weakness: His Telekinetics only work with items made from metal, or that contain metal. Notes: We don’t know much about this guy. He showed up one day with a small pack of other Superior Humans, demanding that we swear fealty to him. The discussion went south, and when he somehow folded Henderson’s ’Mech in to a pretty bow, we decided it was time to find yet another continent to conduct our studies from. SCALAWAG Superior Human Powers Energy Absorption/Touch +1: Life Force Energy Absorption/Touch +1: Memories Energy Absorption/Touch +1: Superior Human Abilities Healing Factor +1 Superior Human Weaknesses Weakness: Her Energy Absorption ability is “always on”, making skin-to-skin touch with someone else impossible without effects. Weakness: The Memory Absorption is imperfect, and only fragments are retained. Notes: Supposedly a real menace to Superior Humans of this world, our interaction with this subject was substantially more brief than with others. She grappled briefly with one of Greggor’s infantry troopers, who promptly collapsed. Apparently disappointed by this exchange, she quickly left without additional harassment. I’m only noting her here because just about every Superior Human seems terrified of this one.
SKUNK BEAR Superior Human Powers Healing Factor +8 Morphology: Titanium-coated bones Morphology: Retractable titanium-blades in each arm (4M/2) Super Hearing +2: –30 dB Superior Human Weaknesses Loved Ones +1: We think; he keeps killing them before we can catalog them. Weakness: Crap attitude Notes: Locals insist there’s only one of these guys, but we’ve thoroughly killed “him”, like, sixty-eight times by now. Clearly, we’re dealing with a small spec-ops unit of clones. That only operates in solitary. Which is a little inefficient. We’re not sure how the titanium coating of his bones was done, or how it’s not mucking up bone marrow production. We’d know more, but another one of those Skunk Bears somehow broke in and extracted the set of bones we’d kept for study after we found out what plasma rifles do to ’em.
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SELECTED SUPER HUMANS SPIDER�LAD Superior Human Powers Healing Factor +2 Morphology: Web-chuckers, wrist-mounted web-throwing devices Morphology: Has the Sixth Sense Trait (see p.125 AToW ), but calls it his Spidi-Sense Super Hearing +1: –10 dB Super Speed +2: 40 meters per turn Super Strength +3: 3,000 STR Super Vision/Telescopic +2: 10km Superior Human Weaknesses Loved Ones +1: There are many. Weakness: Can’t stop making enemies Notes: This guy just won’t shut up! He keeps spouting off his own history (and odd witticisms from dead father figures) like he’s trying to narrate his own memoirs! And we’ve tried everything to get him to stop! Fortunately, he only seems to care about one city, so that was a big help; moving away ended his constant visits. While not as big a nuisance as Upariman, the one time this subject managed to get inside the ’Mech hangar deck, there was gunk everywhere. It was worse than the time Stevens loaded her fluid-gun with some water-repellent, penetrating oil and then had a “misfire”.
UPARIMAN Superior Human Powers Energy Absorption +1/Ray: Earth’s Sun’s rays Energy Projection +2: 4E/6. Morphology: Heat Ray from Eyes Energy Projection +2: 6E/6CS. Morphology: Cold Breath from Mouth Flight +1 Healing Factor +3 Invulnerability +1 Super Hearing +5: –80 dB Super Speed: 9,000 meters per turn Super Strength +3: 8,000 STR Super Vision/Telescopic +3: 18km Super Vision/Microscopic +3: 0.005mm Superior Human Weaknesses Loved Ones +1: Aloysius Lane Weakness: Loses all Superior Human powers unless he’s been able to use his Energy Absorption for at least 8 hours within the last 72 hours. Weakness: Loses all Superior Human powers when exposed to “pure xenonite”, a lime-colored crystal of unknown composition, possibly originating in the local asteroid belt. Exposure must occur within 1 meter of Upariman, and reduces his STR to 1. Notes: This guy is a self-righteous douche. And he keeps finding us! Very annoying! Apparently, he views us as aggressive alien invaders seeking to subjugate the people of Earth. We may have contributed to this slightly due to our brief (and ill-fated) allegiance with something called the “Grievous Bodily Harm League”, but he really should just move on. He won’t, so avoid.
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CONCLUSIONS
As I stated earlier, the result of our initial exploration of the California Nebula region (IE Deep Periphery Expedition CalNeb I) has clearly put a lie to the reports shared by ComStar’s defunct Explorer Corps. Rather than “nothing to see here”, we have found instead clear evidence that several colonies and societies—however irregular they might be—have not only been established in this far-away place, but have thrived for centuries out here in spite of their isolation. Supplemental technical information on the peoples and technologies our expedition crews have encountered throughout the California Nebula are appended to this document, to underscore the depth of diversity and innovation we have encountered. As to our primary mission—the search for potential survivors of Clan Wolverine and/or Word of Blake refugees— we have found nothing that indicates either group was ever here. Also absent were signs of Green Ghosts activity; we may surmise that nobody found this region interesting, likely because they failed to look closely enough. Sending additional teams to this area to study the indigenous settlements here may be worthwhile for academic reasons, but for all strategic purposes, we find the California Nebula is hardly worth anyone’s time or resources. I look forward to delivering these reports in person.
Addendum: 1 May 3109 In looking over the original reports, I am seriously starting to develop a sense of paranoia that I have angered some unknown deities with my promise to come home. We have now been in this backwater of weirdness for more than four freaking years! The techs keep checking and rechecking our systems, and the navigators have been checking and rechecking their flight data. Yet every time we reach the fringes of the nebula, we fire up the drives, and nothing happens! Every! Damned! Time! Talking to locals—even the space-savvy ones—has been utterly useless, because they don’t even know basic K-F theory! (Hell, for all our previous studies, it only came up during these desperate interviews with the locals that everyone out here has virtually forgotten that Terra is a real place, let alone the Inner Sphere! How in Ganesh’s name did we miss that !?) Oh, our engineers and techs have all been bouncing out theories. Transient dark matter gravity wells. Hyperpsace “rippling”. An undetected black hole. Pulsars. Computer bugs. User errors. Invisible space monsters. Imperial sabotage! Magical curses! Spontaneous computer sapience! But none of that has solved our problem, or explains why it happens no matter what direction we try to move beyond the nebula borders. It’s like being stuck in an amusement park or nightmare hotel where the doors lock behind you, all the windows are barred, and the other guests are flat-out insane! I have no idea how long we can go on like this… Marcel (team leader of the group that investigated Toreel) thinks we should go there because “it would be the easiest planet to conquer”. (Gods help me! Marcel might be an asshole, but the longer we s tay here, the more convincing that argument becomes!) –Dr. Pankaj Rani, PhD, Senior Mission Director, IE Deep Periphery Expedition CalNeb I, 3105 3109
NATAR SHIEL D SYSTEM SCANNER �VERSION 4.1.15�
1.00 System Scan Completed
SECURITY LEVEL: BEIGE
1.00
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RULES ANNEX The rules presented in this section are meant to be used for scenarios and adventures set within the confines of the California Nebula (such a lovely place!). As special “spoof” rules, they may not be considered canonical, and in fact, we haven’t really even playtested them at all. (But we appreciate you volunteering, and hope you have fun!) Because of this, you may find errors, omissions, and other weirdness within here, but we hope that your gaming groups take the light-hearted nature of this product to heart, and work with
any bugs we missed in our haste to get these to you before we turn into pumpkins over here. (Or, better yet, concoct your own fun solutions and permutations! It’s not like we have armed game police out there looking to spoil your fun in the name of things like “canon” or “consistency” or “logic”…) And perhaps it bears pointing out: the TRO 1945 April Fools product. Yes, you can see how a Tiger fares against an Imperial Assault Transport or a Fireball , as far as we’re concerned. Have fun strafing gnolls with Bf 109s, while an Imperial T-Fighter swoops in to assist.
CASTLES AND CRITTERS / ROADFINDER
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS OF TOREEL A WORLD OF MAGIC AND MYSTERY The people of Toreel speak so many languages that there is no actual consensus on the name for their world. Their primitive, feudal societies remain in a tense state of eternal conflict, while weird planetary conditions—including mysteriously fluctuating radiations, chemical contaminants, and what might be the results of some long-forgotten eugenics program, have created mutated societies of “dwarves”, “elves”, “gnomes”, “orcs”, “gnolls”, “goblins”, and others in addition to those run by normal human forms. Meanwhile, a host of exotic fauna—some possibly even proto-sapient—round out this mix, while various items of exotic lost technologies linger about that are so sophisticated and misunderstood by the denizens of this planet that most prefer to use swords and axes to deal with these dangers and fight their wars. Amidst all this, a gifted few have managed to learn and harness the planet’s energies and lostech to produce effects that can only be called “magic” to those who see it in action. Of course, magic isn’t a real thing, right?
RULES The intent of the rules below is to interface your characters from a variety of roleplaying settings with one in which BattleMechs are ubiquitous. The approach is ham-fisted (to put it mildly) but it should still provide players with a decent starting premise, allowing them to either use BattleMechs as a random encounter, or a full-fledged campaign element. For simplicity sake (and also because it made it easier for us to write this), we recommend that you keep two sheets for your characters. The first is from your preferred fantasy system (which we’re calling “Castles & Critters 3.5” aka “Roadfinder”, aka C&C— and if we need to explain any of that further, this product is not for you!). The second is the sheet wherein your character has been converted to A Time of War ( AToW ), per the following rules. This
does mean additional work as you level, and we recommend you use your fantasy setting’s system for that (since, you know, AToW is a fairly magic-free setting). The rules below rely on assumptions based on the Castles & Critters 3.5 “engine”. They’re also based on a degree of scorn for your inferior setting…not only is this because it makes our various mistakes and omissions appear as if they’re your fault (and thus not ours), but also because it makes us feel better.
Converting Attributes and Hit Points To convert character attributes from C&C to A Time of War , take the character’s existing C&C attributes, divide them by 2, and round the result up. The C&C to AToW Attributes Table then identifies which of the former Attribute converts to which of the latter system’s character Attributes. Hit Points: This conversion method also applies to hit points, and can allow you to receive more HP than is normally possible under AToW . We know; C&C is weird, and you’re probably cheating.
C&C TO ATOW ATTRIBUTES TABLE C&C
ATOW
STR
STR
DEX
DEX and RFL*
CON
WIL
INT
INT**
WIS
INT**
CHA
CHA
*Applies equally to both Attributes. (So, if your C&C DEX is 17, your AToW DEX and RFL scores are both 9.) **WIS is not a real attribute, you cheater! Choose either your INT or your WIS Attributes, and use that to find your AToW INT.
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RULES ANNEX Attribute Modifiers: The standard AToW Attribute modifiers are computed as normal for AToW rules. (“But wait!” you say. “You just made my attribute modifier bonuses worse!” Hahaha! Yes we did!) Edge: Note that EDG does not appear on the table. (“How do I get some AToW Edge, then,” you ask? You don’t. You’ve got “magic” now, don’t you?
range of 18 meters, Medium range of 36, a Long range of 54, and an Extreme Range of 72. You may note these will create ranges and movement speeds that are a little different from those same values as computed using AToW combat rules and similar weapons from the AToW core book tables. The good news is that we don’t actually care which numbers you run with. You can pick whichever speeds and range bands you want to use for your conversion, as long as you know you are committed to one set or the other when you pick.
Feats (or “Are You Going to Screw Me on Those as Well?”) Hey, you wanted to play in our universe; we didn’t have to let Equipment (and Spells) you in! (You sure whine a lot. Are you one of those “elves”?) The vast majority of the troops fielded by the Kingdoms on Anyway, some good news here: Players do not convert C&C Toreel wield weapons effectively identical to those found on pp. Feats to AToW Traits. You keep those Feats, and use them exactly 260-261 and 295 of AToW , and p. 174 of the AToW Companion. If your the same way as you did before. This means your character can do weapon doesn’t seem to be adequately covered, use the Converting stuff no AToW character can do. You’re welcome! Feet to Meters rules to convert the weapon’s ranges, while the following rules determine its AToW AP/BD damage values. Converting Feet to Meters Armor Penetration (AP): The weapon’s AP factor is To gain some common ground in the various measurements determined based on its damage type in C&C . If the C&C weapon for movement rates, character heights, spell areas, you’ll need to type is Bludgeoning, then its AP is 0. If it is Slashing, its AP is 1. If it use metric in the AToW setting. (Oh, stop being such a baby! Metric is Piercing, the AP is 2. systems are a lot easier to remember and are more scientific! By Base Damage (BD): To find the Base Damage (BD) of a C&C rights, you should have converted over to it ages ago!) weapon in AToW, take the weapon’s maximum roll possible for Anyway, to make the conversion, take whatever range values all its damage dice, divide that by 4, and round up. Thus, a 3D6 your weapon or “spell” has, and divide those numbers by 3.3, weapon (maximum roll 18 [6 x 3 = 18]) receives a BD of 5 (18 ÷ 4 rounding normally (.5 rounds up). That’s how many meters you’ll = 4.5, round up to 5). A 1d8 longsword from C&C thus receives an deal with under AToW . A character that can move 30 feet per turn AToW BD of 2. can run 9 meters per turn. Meanwhile, a C&C short bow has a Short Magical Modifiers: “But my weapon is magic!” you complain again, elf. Again we remind you that there’s no such thing as magic here, son. But, hey, those fancy bonuses you’re used to? Divide those by 2, round up, and add that value to your weapon’s AP and BD values. (Sheesh! We never hear the orcs complain!) Spells: Note that these magical modifiers and conversion rules also work for spells used in AToW combat: the AP of any spell is equal to its Spell Level, while its Base Damage is converted using the BD formula noted above. Thus, a fireball from a 10-th level caster (Spell Level: 3, Damage: 10d6), would receive an AP of 3, and a BD of 15. Combat Rounds Your silly 6-second C&C combat rounds are 5-second AToW rounds now. Nothing else changes, so we just made you more awesome. Again, you’re welcome! That’s It? Yes, basically, that’s it. The above rules enable you to convert damage from “spells” and gear alike, along with the core stats that make up your uniqueness. That’s everything you need to know to get yourself shot by guys with proper guns and BattleMechs. Oh, right ! BattleMechs…
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RULES ANNEX BATTLEMECHS AND SPELLS ’Mechs and vehicles interact a little differently than what you may be used to when it comes to s pell combat. As noted earlier, the AP/BD values of a combat spell are based on its Spell level and damage dice. So, a Fireball launched by a Level 10 Wizard would be an AP3/15 attack. These values are then modified as normal for the target’s BAR per the rules in AToW (see pp. 185-189, AToW ). Remember that all modern BattleMechs, vehicles, and fighters have an effective BAR of 10 and are considered tactical armor, so this would result in only 1 point of damage from the aforementioned fireball, and create no degradation of the armor’s BAR in the process (AP 3 – BAR 10 armor = –7 to BD; 7 BD ÷ 10 BAR = 0.7 damage points, round up to 1). To cover the elemental properties of a spell, read on!
Acid Acid is not really “energy”, you primitive peasant…but it is effective against certain armors. Against units with Ferro-Fibrous, Ferro-Lamellor, Laser-Reflective or Reactive armor types, as well as any unit that has a BAR value of 5 or less, acid-based attacks will deliver more damage. For every 2 full points of acid damage delivered against such a target’s armor (after BAR effects and such), 1 additional point of damage is applied upon impact. Cold ’Mechs looooove cold! For every point of “damage” delivered by a cold-based spell, ’Mechs (and other heat-tracking units) lose 1 point of heat that turn…and nothing else happens. (It will make it harder for them to maintain that sweet spot for heat when they have triple-strength myomers, though.) Electricity ’Mechs and other combat vehicles have a lot of protection against electricity, to deal with routine strikes from PPCs and other highly electro-active effects. Thus, electricity-based spells will only deliver half their damage (rounded normally). On the flip side, spells that hit multiple times (such as Chain Lightning) can deliver multiple hits to the same ’Mech (see below). Fire In addition to the armor damage they deliver (if any), every point of fire-based spell damage counts as 1 point of heat to a heat-tracking unit, and thus resolves as an Outside Heat Source (see p. 159, TW ).
Force All Force-based damage is resolved as physical attack damage to a combat vehicle or ’Mech unit. Just remember that one ton in AToW equals 22,000 pounds of weight for such spell effects, so a twenty-ton ’Mech counts as a 440,000-lb object. Good luck with that!
Sonic All Sonic-based damage is resolved as physical attack damage to a combat vehicle or ’Mech unit. However, because MechWarriors, vehicle crews, and even battle armored troops (or infantry with combat helmets) benefit from soundproofing, any magic that requires the recipient to be able to hear the attack (such as Suggestion spells) will have no effect on such units. People without such protections are affected normally. Environmental Damage Resolution Spells that affect a whole area, such as Acid Fog, (AP/BD: 6/3) will deliver damage to every location on a ’Mech or vehicle, including both front and back facings. The areas of effects for these spells will still apply, though, so for Acid Fog, the spellcaster would only be able to cover half of a typical ’Mech, since the AoE covers only a 6-by-6 meter area. (Of course, given that Acid Fog is ac tually unable to generate even a full point of damage against BAR 10 armor, this example is academic at best. *snicker* ) Targets Magic users can target individual hit locations on a ’Mech or Vehicle at will, though attacks against the Head location of a ’Mech will automatically suffer a –4 roll modifier if the attack needs to be made as a “ranged touch” action. If a spell requires multiple targets, each location that the caster can see on a single ’Mech or vehicle can be counted as a separate target. Thus, Chain Lightning from a 20th-level caster will deliver AP/BD 6/15 damage to the first location, 6/7 to the second, 6/3 to the third, and 6/1 to the fourth and last. (Pro-Tip: That first location should probably be the ’Mech’s head; since there’s no ranged touch requirement, it will hit, and the damage may actually get the warrior’s attention!)
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RULES ANNEX So, Basically, BattleMechs are Nearly Immune to Magic… Yes. They effectively have “magic armor”. (Get it? I think you do.) I mean, it’s not like you should be in a habit of using spells against golems. What about Magic Defenses? What Type of Magic are ’Mech Weapons? They’re from the School of SCIENCE! , a sub-school of Physics. Your magical immunities do nothing. Likewise, any circumstances that specifically manipulate magical effects do nothing to vehicular weapons or AToW personal weaponry. Damage reduction does apply, as does the kind of damage absorption provided by Stoneskin or other equivalent spells and effects. (This can be helpful against small arms.)
What about the MechWarriors? Yes, the weakest point on any ’Mech or vehicle is the MechWarrior (or vehicle crew). Unfortunately for a typical C&C character, those warriors are considered to have total cover when they’re operating their machines. You may find this won’t make them totally immune to everything, but if they pop their heads out, feel free to fry them! Saving Throws Should an AToW player-character not converted from C&C require a Saving Throw for anything, treat them as Level 1 Fighters in that regard. This means they receive a +2 bonus to Fortitude Save rolls, and no bonus to Reflex or Will saves. But, because these characters tend to have Edge, they can use that Attribute to affect the outcome via the rules found on p. 43 of AToW . If such character does opt to burn Edge for Saving Throws, the bonus provided is… erm…twice as effective. (Yeah, that seems fair…)
THE FORCE GETS DISTURBED
THE STAR EMPIRE A TIME OF CI VIL WAR IN A NEBULA FAR, FAR AWAY The Star Empire dominates the multiple settled worlds and outposts within a close binary solar system. Though lacking hyperspace travel, the Empire is enforced by a truly massive fleet of sub-light warships, swarms of fighters, and even a small selection of crude BattleMechs. A state of civil war exists across this empire, as the denizens of the various worlds and moons have come to see their leaders as corrupt dictators, ruling by fear and overwhelming firepower. An alliance of rebels has risen to fight back, their resourcefulness and tenacity gradually gaining ground despite the Empire’s might.
RULES There is remarkably little about the Star Empire that would be out of place in the worlds of the Inner Sphere or Periphery powers of the mid-3050s to 3070s period. Thus, the following rules merely provide statistics for a sampling of common personal weapons, craft and ground vehicles used by the Star Empire and the rebels who oppose it.
Star Empire Characters If creating characters that hail from the Star Empire worlds, the normal maximum level of Edge for any character who belongs to the Star Empire faction (or born to any of the worlds orbiting the Empire’s primary yellow star) is 1, while members of the People’s Rebellion faction (or born to any of the worlds orbiting the Empire’s secondary red star) is 2. The Exceptional Attribute/Edge Trait must be purchased for a character to exceed these amount (at which point, a character may purchase any amount of Edge up to a maximum of 10).
Characters with the Exceptional Attribute/Edge Trait are said to be “Fortune Sensitive” in the Star Empire’s parlance, as are characters with the Sixth Sense Trait. Characters with both of these Traits may be considered “Fortunate Ones”, “Fortune Users”, “Knights”, or (if they work for the Star Empire itself) “Lords”. (Yeah, yeah. I know. It sounds familiar to me too…) If using Life Modules to make Star Empire characters, use the Terran/Terran Citizen affiliation for characters born to the Star Empire’s primary star worlds and moons (but change all Skill and Trait references from “Terra” to “Star Empire”). If the character is born in the worlds and moons of the Star Empire’s secondary star, use either the Minor Periphery/Rim Collection, Independent/Generic, or Independent/Pirate affiliations (player’s choice), changing all references to “Periphery” (or any of the Inner Sphere/Periphery/ Clan factions) to “Star Empire”. The Independent/Spacer affiliation is also available to characters from either half of the Star Empire. When purchasing gear for Star Empire characters, note that none of the laser weapons and PPCs found in the AToW rules exist in this region of space, nor does any technology that has an “X” availability in the Star League period (as listed in both AToW rulebooks and the upcoming Interstellar Operations rulebook, which we swear is coming soon!). Furthermore, all modern ballistic weapons (including pistols, rifles, SMGs, shotguns, machine guns, Gauss weapons, and gyrojet weapons) are considered to have an availability of “E” or “F” (GM’s discretion). Primitive weapons, as well as modern rocket and missile weaponry, are unchanged. For the sake of simplicity, the Imperial currency (Imperial credits; these guys sure are original !) has equal value to the C-bill.
PERSONAL WEAPONS Below is a sampling of the personal weaponry and gear found in the Star Empire. Note that the fluff comes straight from the IE explorers who encountered them.
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RULES ANNEX Blasters This is a cool name, for what are basically miniaturized plasma emitters that use ambient air for ammo mass. Blasters fire a coherent bolt of this superheated mass at their targets, but for reasons we haven’t figured out yet, they’re set up to fire large bolts with relatively high mass at very low speeds. (We’re serious, here; Bob in accounting has a fastball that can outpace a blaster bolt. But perhaps that’s unfair; Bob’s a bit of a freak of nature.) Nonetheless, if the bolt does actually hit something, the resulting damage is quite impressive. Single impacts to the chest are often enough to kill or incapacitate most humans (and s ome Bobs). The bolt is rather poor at dealing with most forms of ablative armor, placing it in a niche we fill with needlers. It seems personal armor technology around here hasn’t quite gotten the hang of dealing with energy resistance, but is pretty good at dealing with ballistic weaponry, perhaps explaining why blaster weapons have become the standard on both sides of the conflict. Anyway, below are the stats on a couple of Blaster weapons. The numbers are based on what Dr. Lance calls “educated guesswork” after seeing them in action. Blaster Rules: Blasters work like laser weapons in the Star Empire, consuming energy points per shot, and using standard or high-capacity military power packs (see p. 306, AToW ). Because the plasma lasing technology produces a noticeable kick when fired, burst-capable blasters actually suffer recoil modifiers uncommon to lasers and PPCs. More importantly, their unusually slow bolt speed actually produces a level of irregular accuracy that can spare lucky characters from a direct hit. To reflect this, when a blaster is fired on a character with any unspent Edge points, it will suffer an additional “Target Edge” roll modifier as shown in its notes.
Luminescent Vibroswords “Light swords”, “laser sabers”, whatever they prefer to call them, they sound awesome, and look cool, but they are really just vibroblades with some special effects. Something in the way they make them here generates a sort of magnetic field across the blade that can scatter incoming blaster bolts, which is handy, but it’s only because those shiny bolts are slow enough for a skilled swordsman to see and react to that this is even a practical benefit. Then again, putting a blade in the path of an incoming blaster shot probably isn’t too hard for anyone who’s gotten good at baseball or tennis! Even some of our lads got the hang of it in no time, and I wouldn’t have signed any of them up for a minor league team on any planet. Mind you, normal slugs and actual laser beams move way too fast to deflect, which may explain why these “light blades” aren’t a common battlefield weapon. Still, they have obvious value in melee combat, and can cut through most of the armor types these Star Empire folks use, but the lighting and distracting sound effects tend to make them useless for stealth. Luminescent Vibrosword Rules: For the most part, luminescent vibroblades work like standard vibroswords in gameplay, consuming energy points for every turn they are active, during which they deliver their full listed damage value. In addition to this, an active “light blade” also generates a magnetic field powerful enough to block incoming fire from blasters and plasma weapons. Deflecting these incoming bolts requires the character to spend a Simple Action to use his Melee Weapons Skill as an opposed check against the shooter’s attack roll. If the Melee Weapons Skill check is successful by a margin of 2 or more, the shot is successfully defected; if the MoS is 4 points or more, the attack is reflected straight at the attacker. However, because these blades also generate a bright glow and a louder hum than normal vibroblades when active, they apply a –6 Skill modifier to any attempts to use Stealth while carrying one. (An active blade can illuminate darkness, but because it is not focused into a beam like a flashlight, the glow merely encompasses an area up to 5 meters from the user.) Inactive luminescent vibroblades produce none of the special effects listed above, and function as a normal sword for gameplay purposes (complete with a base AP/BD of 2M/2). Armor The rebel forces tend to use either no armor at all, or gear that’s roughly equivalent to our flak armor. The Star Empire tends to equip its troops in a standardized set of armor that’s not too shabby, save for the general lack of laser-deflecting properties. If this Imperial armor had a decent ablative rating, it would probably do quite well in the Inner Sphere. Armor Rules: Remember how we talked about the Star Empire’s personal armor issues? Yeah, to reflect that, all of personal armor types available to the Star League era are available in the Star Empire, but must be modified thus: Increase the armor’s Ballistic BAR value by 1 point (to a maximum of 7), and decrease
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RULES ANNEX Equipment Ratings
AP/BD
Range in S/M/L/E
Shots
Cost
Affiliation
Mass
E/XXXX
10M/4
Melee
3pps
1,000
SE, PR
1 kg
–6 Stealth roll modifier when active
BH-17 Blaster Pistol
D/XXXX
2E/4
10/30/45/120
3pps
700
SE, PR
1 kg
–3 Target Edge roll modifier
BE-11 Blaster Rifle
D/XXXX
2E/8B
15/35/55/120
5pps
1,200
SE
4.5 kg
Burst 15 (3); Recoil –1; –3 Target Edge roll modifier
Small Blaster Cannon
D/XXXX
3E/12B
17/40/70/100
10pps
9,000
SE, PR
85 kg
Burst 3 (7); Recoil –1; –2 Target Edge roll modifier
Large Blaster Cannon
D/XXXX
3E/18
20/45/85/120
40pps
9,000
SE
350 kg
–2 Target Edge roll modifier
Notes
Item
Notes
Melee Weapons
Luminescent Vibrosword Small Arms
Support Weapons
Armor Type
Ratings
BAR
Cost
Affiliation
Mass
Coverage
Trooper Helmet
D/XXXX
3/6/1/3
800
SE
3 kg
Head
Trooper Suit
D/XXXX
3/7/2/4
700
SE
15 kg
Torso, Arms, Legs
—
Trooper Boots
D/XXXX
2/4/1/2
250
SE
3 kg
Feet
—
Trooper Gloves
D/XXXX
1/2/0/0
80
SE
1 kg
Hands
—
Includes Military Comm., IR Scanner; Requires HC Micro Power Pack (3pph); –1 to Perception rolls; AV6 vs Flash
Personal Vehicle
Ratings
Cost
F/S/R (BAR)
Fuel/Type
Range
Speed
Affiliation
Crew/Pass
Cargo
Total Mass
Speeder Bike (Hover)
E/XXXX
50,000
2/0/0 (2)
11 kg/H
110km
194/292 kph
SE
1/1
7 kg
900 kg
Notes: Includes Small Blaster Cannon (Front; 21 bursts); Features Advanced Fire Control, Ultra-light, and Bicycle Chassis Modifications, Fuel Cell Engine, Pillion Seat Land Speeder (Hover)
D/XXXX
12,000
1/1/1 (4)
78 kg/H
605km
162/248 kph
SE
1/3
9 kg
1,500 kg
900 kg (60p)
605km
1G / 1.5G
SE
1/1
28 kg
2,000 kg
Notes: Features Ultra-light Chassis Modifications, and Fuel Cell Engine Air Car (Airship)
D/XXXX
12,000
2/2/1 (3)
Notes: Features Enviro-Sealing Chassis Modifications and Fuel Cell Engine
Tech Rating
Class/Type (Damage Type)
Base Range
Damage (Each)
Weapon Weight/ Ammo Weight (Shots)
Crew
SE (E)
Small / Melee (P)
0
0.74
1 kg / 0.3 kg (8)
1
BH-17 Blaster Pistol
SE (D)
Small / Standard (E)
0
0.15
1 kg / 0.3 kg (75)
1
BE-11 Blaster Rifle
SE (D)
Small / Standard (E)
1
0.52
4.5 kg / 0.3 kg (45/3)
1
Small Blaster Cannon
SE (D)
Medium / Support (E)
1
0.81
85 kg / 5 kg (25/3)
1
Large Blaster Cannon
SE (D)
Medium / Support (E)
1
1.22
350 kg / 25 kg (40)
2
Item Melee Weapons
Luminescent Vibrosword Small Arms
Support Weapons
Infantry Armor Type Trooper Armor Kit
Tech Rating
Damage Divisor
SE (D)
2
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RULES ANNEX the armor’s Energy BAR value by 3 points (to a minimum of 1; minimum 0 if it didn’t have an Energy BAR value to start with). Thus, while ballistic plate armor made in the Inner Sphere has the BAR values of 4/6/5/4, its Star Empire equivalent are 4/7/2/4. (The standard Imperial trooper armor kit is shown in the Equipment tables.)
HEAVY WEAPONS Below is a sampling of the heavy tactical weaponry used in the Star Empire. Once again, the descriptions come straight from the IE explorers who encountered them. General Rules: Star Empire blaster and laser weaponry (including its capital-grade versions) is easily s poofed and evaded by vehicular units not built using Star Empire technology. (For the purposes of these rules, the People’s Rebellion also uses Star Empire tech.) As a result, all Star Empire weapons except for the proton torpedo launcher suffer a +4 to-hit modifier when fired on any battle armored infantry or other non-infantry combat units made with non-Star Empire tech. Attacks against conventional infantry, non-combat units, and other units built using Star Empire technologies do not receive this modifier. Attempts to use nonStar Empire anti-missile systems and other point defense systems against Star Empire-made proton torpedoes receive a +4 roll modifier to defeat the incoming torpedoes. In space combat and combat using the high altitude maps, all non-capital Star Empire torpedo, blaster and laser weapons may only be fired at targets in the same hex as the attacking unit. This applies regardless of the target unit’s type and technology.
Blaster Cannons These larger versions of the infantry-scale, support-grade blasters, are built for mounting on heavier vehicles and ’Mechs. On units bigger than their “speeder” vehicles, the smaller blaster cannons tend to appear in paired mounts meant for anti-infantry work. The larger ones are effective against other Star Empire vehicles and ’Mechs, but barely have the reach or damage output of a Clan micro laser weapon. Rules: Blaster Cannons function like standard direct-fire energy weapons, as modified by the General Rules noted above. The Dual Small Blaster Cannon is ineffective against units with a BAR of 5 or higher. Against non-infantry units with a BAR of 4 or less, the Dual Blaster delivers 1 point of tactical armor damage. If the target unit is conventional infantry, however, treat the attack as a burst of standard machine gun fire (2D6 damage points). Laser Cannons Even though they are only upsized blasters, the locals start calling them “laser cannons” when they become large enough to serve as the main weapon on their fighters and heavy vehicles. We don’t know why, since they still make really slow bolts of plasma. The resulting bolt is a little faster and slightly better at dealing with armor, but since it’s still outpaced by almost any vehicle, we’re not sure why they bother with the system. The
only reason we’ve taken any hits from them is because Dr. Lance wanted to see what they do to our armor. Barring that, there’s no good reason to ever get shot by these weapons in space (more than once), perhaps on the ground. Rules: Laser Cannons function like standard direct-fire energy weapons, as modified by the G eneral Rules noted above.
Proton Torpedoes At least the nomenclature kind of makes sense with this one. This is neat little weapon system: the launcher provides initial velocity, after which the projectile applies more on its own. What makes it cool is the large number of maneuvering ports on the cone-shaped missile, enabling it to make very sharp turns. Unfortunately, all those micro-thrusters cut in to the warhead’s yield, which fails to be competitive when compared to our missiles. It seems the Star Empire folks haven’t quite figured out stuff like C8 and pentaglycerine yet, so they can’t really be faulted for it. Anyway, the charge itself is detonated fairly uniformly by multiple tiny particle accelerators (hi, protons), which gives the warhead the ability to either create a shaped charge towards the target (hi, torpedo), or explode more uniformly in the case of a near miss. This is neat, but we haven’t really been in the “near miss” business since the twenty-fourth century, so I don’t see an application for that system. (Well, maybe if we took it to a nuclear scale. Hmm….) Erm, sorry. Bottom line: the warhead itself is still slow, though amusingly slightly faster than their “laser cannon”. But it’s still nothing to worry about until you let them get in pointblank range. Even these guys rarely use these things since they can be shot down in transit by their own point defenses. (And, of course, so can we.)
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RULES ANNEX Rules: Proton torpedoes are treated as a missile weapon attack, and thus may be engaged by anti-missile systems and other point-defense weapons (see General Rules for additional details regarding that). The damage from a proton torpedo is always delivered to a single hit location.
Deflector Shields Okay, now these these are cool! The Star Empire has taken some of the work on plasma shielding theory that got abandoned way back in the twenty-first t wenty-first century, century, and developed it to a point where it’s actually good for something. The system emits plasma across the hull of the vehicle, then harnesses it with a magnetic field system similar to what we use to deflect micrometeorites away from our JumpShips, DropShips. The plasma is then shaped across the craft’s hull far enough above the armor to safely absorb or deflect blaster bolts. Remarkably, the Star Empire factions seem to be able to mount this system on many of their fighter craft, and all of of their capital ships seem to have an upscaled version for their own protection. The shielding capacity is limited, however; by its very nature, every time the shield has to act, it sheds some plasma. Additionally, the smaller generators can’t make a layer thick enough to stop high power shots. Objects with significant mass don’t seem to disturb the deflector barrier much, which probably explains why they’re still using those proton torpedoes, but it doesn’t explain why they moved away from ballistic weaponry. Then again, the way naval nav al autocannons autocanno ns work is is a a little insane, so maybe I’m being too rough on them. Rules: Deflector shields are only effective in deflecting damage from energy weapons, including blasters, lasers, turbo lasers, PPCs, and plasma weapons. This energy protection is listed under the system’s damage column, so a single fighter deflector shield can protect against up to 20 points of energy damage, while a capital deflector shield will protect against a total of 200 points of capital-scale energy damage. Units may mount multiple deflector shield systems, with the total amount of protection provided equal to the sum of all shield values together (e.g. 3 fighter deflector shields will provide 60 total points of protection). Deflector shields are omni-directional; no matter where an attack comes from, it must pass through the unit’s shield before
Turbo Lasers They call their main capital weapon system a “turbo laser” laser”,, indicating they don’t know how turbos or lasers work. Roger reckons it’s language drift. I think they’re just dumb. Near as we can tell, these weapons are still based on their blaster technology—only on a larger scale, and with multiple chambers generating plasma. Or maybe they energize the plasma twice. Or maybe it’s a bit of both, but it really doesn’t matter. The resulting bolts contain a lot of energy, and are faster than the standard blaster bolts, but still move quite slow. Using these as their main weapon on their capital ships instead of missiles is just bon kers. What’s the point of all that energy content when a regular JumpShip can dodge the bolt at range? (I’m not exaggerating; the Yeux des Quebec had to do this, and it’s easy since those bolts are hot and easily visible with the naked eye, never mind our sensor suites.) In our initial encounters with these weapons, the Imperial ships scored some hits on fighters we’d sent out, but that was mostly because the pilots didn’t realize they had the option to just dodge. Since then, we’ve had nothing to fear from their energy weapons. (I’d (I’d feel sorry for these Star Empire types, but they’re kind of pompous jerks.) Rules: Turbo Lasers are available in light and heavy forms. Both function like standard direct-fire capital energy weapons, as modified by the General Rules noted above. Note that, unlike the Star Empire’s other laser and blaster weaponry, turbo lasers may be fired against any target within the unit’s Capital Short Range bracket.
RULES ANNEX Heat
Damage
Range
Ammo
WT
Std (Aero)
Std (Aero)
Min/Sht/Med/Lng (Aero)
(per Ton)
(Tons)
M
DE, AI
1 (1)
0‡ (0)
0/1/2/3 (Short**)
NA
0.5
1
Large Blaster Cannon*
DE
2 (2)
2 (2)
0/2/4/6 (Medium**)
NA
0.5
1
Laser Cannon*
DE
8 (8)
8 (8)
0/3/6/9 (Medium**)
NA
1
1
1
Proton Torpedo†
M
NA (3)
NA (50)
NA (Short**)
2
2.5
NA
NA
Turbo Laser*
CAP,, AE CAP
NA (500)
NA (25-C)
NA (Short-C)
NA
9,000
NA
NA
Heavy Turbo Laser*
CAP, AE
NA (800)
NA (55-C)
NA (Short-C)
NA
18,000
NA
Fighter Deflector Shield
PE
5
20
NA
NA
5
Capital Deflector Shield
PE
100
200-C
NA
NA
1,000
Weapon
Dual Small Blaster Cannon*
Space
Type
* These weapons receive a +4 to-hit modifier against non-Star Empire units ** This weapon can only be fired upon targets within the same Space/High Altitude Map hex. † AMS systems gain a +4 bonus when engaging Proton Torpedoes. ‡ Against conventional infantry, this weapon delivers damage equal to a Machine Gun (2D6); Against BAR 0-4 non-infantry units, it delivers 1 point of damage
P
CV
SV
1
1
1
1
1
F
SC
DS
JS
WS
SS
MS
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
NA
NA
1
1
1
1
1
1
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
1C
1C*
1C*
1C*
1
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
1C
1C*
1C*
1C*
1
NA
NA
NA
NA
1
1
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
1C
1C*
1C*
1C*
1
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RULES ANNEX hitting its hull. When an energy weapon hits a deflector shield, the total amount of shielding is reduced by the amount of energy damage the weapon delivers. Any excess energy damage, or any non-energy damage of any kind, will pass through to hit the target’s hull in accordance with the normal attack rules. Moreover, Moreover, if the unit is protected by only fighter-scale deflector shields, it will not protect against capital-scale energy weapons, and any non-capital energy weapons that strike the unit that exceed 10 points in a single hit will only be reduced by 10 points of damage, allowing the remainder to get through. In any turn where a deflector shield is active, it will generate heat, and will absorb all incoming energy fire until depleted. A player may not opt to deflect against one specific hit or another in the same turn; a unit’s shields may only be on or off, and can be switched to either state only during the End Phase of the unit’s turn. As long as a unit’s deflector shields have not been fully depleted, its shields will recharge any lost points at a rate of 1 point per turn (for fighter-scale shields), or 10 capital points per turn (for capital-scale shields). But, if a unit suffers more more energy damage than it has total shielding in a given turn, the unit’s entire entire deflector deflector shield system collapses, and all deflector deflector shields on the unit are treated as though they had suffered a critical hit. For example, if a warship protected by only 65 points of capital deflector shields then suffers more than 65 points of energy damage in one turn, all of its deflector shields will be “destroyed” as they are overloaded— but not before first reducing 65 points of the incoming energy fire.
Imperial Combat Units Overall, the factions of the Star Empire appear to have a level of military technology comparable to the early age of BattleMech design, with some odd differences. For one, they seem to like oddball tonnages. Military standards for ’Mechs and fighters in the Sphere have been in five-ton increments for so long that you’d swear it was an arbitrary rule set by the cosmos, rather than something that just became tradition for ease of maths. For yet another, they seem to have no problem stuffing cargo spaces inside their BattleMechs specifically meant to carry living beings. I’m not talking about cockpits, I’m talking about human cargo space; infantry bays. Inside a BattleMech. I can’t imagine the ride is comfortable in any way at all, but the Empire does it constantly. For another, they have superior heat sinks. (Well, not superior to the double heat sink; in fact it pretty much IS the double heat sink—it’s just that those weren’t around when BattleMechs first became a thing.) Then there’s the armor types: they have what we’d call standard (more like heavy industrial), primitive (standard industrial, really), and titanium (which is just as resilient as what they call commercial armor back home). They use these armors pretty much wherever: fighters, vehicles, ’Mechs, what have you. And, of course, they only seem to use the weapon types we already described; you might find a small laser, flamer, grenade launcher, or machine gun around here, but it’s like a plasma blaster mafia just swept all the competition away here.
They like hovercraft for ground ground vehicles, as if they developed a natural aversion to the wheel. We We can still see non-hovering vees here and there; they just don’t seem to like them as much as anything that goes “whoosh”. Their favorite engine types are fusion, fission, and fuel cell (either because they just all wanted to “go green” a long time ago, or because their many worlds and giant population would siphon through virtually any type of fossil fuels found here in, like, half a century). It’s a veritable coin toss as to whether they use an industrial or standard internal structure on military hardware, and none of those special structure types ever really caught on here. But I suppose when you have a magic energy shielding technology that covers the dominant heavy weapons of the day, you don’t need that much. Rules: The Star Empire factions can build ’Mechs, combat vehicles, and fighters using the same rules as standard, with an I nner Sphere technology base, except for the following. Armor: Star Empire combat vehicles, ’Mechs, and fighters may use Heavy Industrial (standard), Industrial (Primitive), or Commercial armor types only. Commercial armor in the Star Empire is called Titanium, but is otherwise identical to Commerc Commercial ial in terms of weight, points provided, and BAR values. Weight Increments: The Star Empire does not always build its ’Mechs and fighters to perfect 5-ton increments. For construction purposes, any Imperial ’Mech or fighter assigned a total tonnage that is not evenly divisible by five must compute its engine weight, gyro weights, jump jet weights, and structure values as though it were from the next weight increment above its assigned mass. For example, an 8-ton T-Fighter is treated as if it were 10 tons for engine rating purposes. Weapons: Aside from vehicle grenade launchers, flamers, and machine guns, Imperial ’Mechs, fighters, and vehicles are limited to the technologies presented for them in this book. Standard Inner Sphere small lasers are also allowed, but only by the People’s Rebellion faction (those lucky devils). Cinematic Aerospace Ranges: The ranges and stat conversions given in these tables follow standard BattleTech BattleTech rules, rules, but in the spaceopera cinematics of the Star Empire’s setting, virtually all aerospace combat happens at ridiculously minimal ranges (seriously; compared to fighter combat in BattleTech BattleTech,, these guys rarely engage targets until they’re almost close enough to see the enemy’s expression!) To reflect this, all of the Star Empire weapons listed here suffer to-hit modifiers so bad against anything not of the Star Empire factions that keeping combat to short range may be their only way to score hits. Players who really want to adhere to the visual “canon”, however, should consider eliminating the Medium, Long, and Extreme range brackets for all Star Empire capital weapons in aerospace combat entirely (defined as the High Altitude and Space Maps). Furthermore, all Star Empire non-capital weapons used in aerospace combat are reduced to a range of 0, meaning that such units may only engage targets within their same hex, using the Short range to-hits and modifiers. (These changes do not apply to ground units, though; they’re suffering enough as it is.)
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RULES ANNEX Transport Bays : BattleMechs and IndustrialMechs built by the Star Empire factions may employ any transport bay type allowed to combat vehicles, including infantry compartments. The Empire doesn’t worry as much about the inherent health risks of seating entire platoons in full armor, right alongside the fusion reactor inside a machine that can generate enough heat to cook its pilot when over-taxed.
To reflect this unhealthy arrangement, any time a ’Mech transporting infantry falls, is collided with, or has an overheat level of 6 of higher, roll 2D6 for each platoon-sized unit of infantry inside the unit. Subtract 1 from this roll for each 6 points above 6 (or fraction thereof) that the Imperial ’Mech is presently dealing with. If this roll is 5 or less, roll 1D6 and assign that many casualties to the infantry unit.
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‘TIL ALL ARE WON
THE AUTOMECHS OF SYBERIA MORE THAN MEETS THE SENSORS For whatever reason, the locals on the metal-rich world of Syberia built heavy industries around ’Mechs in so many different shapes and sizes that it boggles the mind—and then went ahead and imbued their creations with artificial intelligence. Clearly evolved from Star League-era Land-Air ’Mechs concepts, mated with an advanced robotic control technology of incredibly elaborate program sophistication, most of these “intelligent” drones also possess the ability to change between movement modes. Some of these alternate forms make more sense than others, in their given context—such as flight-capable drones that switch from ’Mech to aerospace modes, while drones with more ground-based mission roles favor wheeled and tracked movement in their alternate forms. Other forms, however, make far less sense—such as those drones that only switch from biped movement to a quadruped form, or others that convert to stationary constructs. Unfortunately, for a combination of reasons—including ecological catastrophe and local warfare—the creators of these drones managed to kill themselves off, dooming their drones to an eternal conflict in their name. These autonomous convertible ’Mechs (there’s got to be a shorter way to put that—I know, AutoMechs! Catchy, huh?) can communicate with one another, and have even maintained a rudimentary level of interplanetary spaceflight (in the form of small DropShips), but as they lack FTL capability, travelling to even the nearest inhabited world would take them centuries. For this reason, even though some evidence suggests an effort to find others like their creators, the drones of the Syberia remain largely focused on their home s ystem.
TACTICAL R ULES AutoMechs are not truly sentient (as far as we know), but their programming is sophisticated enough to consistently fool a Turing test. In terms of gameplay and role-playing interaction, this means they can demonstrate enough independent “thought” to react like normal human-piloted units, rather than rely on a strict series of action tables, and can converse (via radio or external audio speakers) without sounding like a looped recording. For all intents and purposes, they believe themselves to be sentient, and thus they act that way. In tactical play, the functions of all AutoMechs are as appropriate to their form and function, and these units can behave normally by all relevant rules for their weaponry and equipment in BattleTech scenarios.
AutoMechs and ECM Effects AutoMechs are sufficiently hardened against electronic interference, to the point where they will function as well as any human-crewed unit when exposed to ECM, EMI environmental effects, or EMPs of any kind. They are not entirely immune, as the relevant ECM effects that work on human-crewed units will still be in play, such as interference with specialized targeting gear, or the chance for shutdown from EMPs—but they cannot be shocked into a berserker mode by simply entering a hostile ECM bubble. (Well, that’s not entirely true. I mean, they’ll probably get mad that you tried to scramble their brains with your ECMs, but they’ll think through all the ways they’re going to make you pay for that before they start shooting…probably.) AutoMech CPU Damage Regardless of an AutoMech’s design, it receives three CPU critical slots in its Head hit location. Two of these slots—replacing the Life Support Slots on a standard BattleMech cockpit—are identified as Secondary CPUs, while the third—replacing the Cockpit critical slot—is the Primary CPU. Collectively, these represent the AutoMech’s “brain”.
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RULES ANNEX An AutoMech’s brain will function (and can be repaired) as long as it possesses an undamaged Primary CPU slot. If the Primary CPU slot is destroyed, the AutoMech is “brain dead”, but its body can be salvaged for parts like a standard ’Mech. Critical hits to the secondary CPUs of an AutoMech render it more susceptible to hacking (see Role-Playing Rules, below) and can result in a random effect on the AutoMech’s function. To determine this effect, roll 2D6 and consult the AutoMech Secondary CPU Hit Effects Table. If a result of No Effect occurs, the AutoMech continues to function normally, but the Secondary CPU slot remains off-line. Note that because AutoMechs are not human-operated, they do not suffer Pilot Damage for normal hits to the head location, falling, or heat.
RULES ANNEX
AUTOMECH SECONDARY CPU HIT EFFECTS TABLE 2D6 Roll Effect 2-6
No Effect: Nothing obvious happens.
7
You Made Me Mad: For the next turn, the unit that caused this damage becomes the sole target of the AutoMech’s combat actions. If the offending unit is not destroyed or withdrawn by the End Phase of that turn, the AutoMech must roll 2D6, and will continue to focus on destroying that target on a result of 6 or less.
8-9
Roll for Reboot: AutoMech’s controlling player rolls 2D6; on a result of 7 or less, the AutoMech shuts down, and will not restart until another 2D6 roll of 8 or higher is made in a subsequent End Phase.
10-11
Forced Withdrawal: The AutoMech will immediately begin retreating to friendly lines, ultimately heading to the nearest friendly repair bay.
12
TKO: AutoMech shuts down immediately; the AutoMech will only reactivate in a subsequent End Phase if its controlling player rolls a 12 on 2D6.
Convertible AutoMechs Many AutoMechs are capable of converting between one of two modes of operation. Though thematically similar to Land-Air ’Mechs and QuadVees, conversion-capable AutoMechs use much more simplified rules for conversion, movement and combat, as indicated below. Note that all conversion-capable AutoMechs are bimodal, limited to two modes of operation; AutoMechs have no equivalent to the hybrid AirMech mode of a standard LAM. Conversion Process: Converting between movement modes must be declared in place of the AutoMech’s normal Movement Phase, and can only be performed as long as the AutoMech has suffered no damage to its shoulders, hips, gyro, or Conversion Gear critical hit slots. An AutoMech that decides to change between movement modes must declare that it is doing so at the star t of its
normal Movement Phase, and must be done when the AutoMech is at ground level. Regardless of the AutoMech’s MP in either form, the conversion process leaves the AutoMech’s with half of the MP or Thrust of its new movement mode for the remainder of its turn (rounded down, to a minimum of 0 MP). An AutoMech that suffers any critical hits to its shoulder, hip, gyro, or conversion gear critical hit slots will lose the ability to change between modes until it can be repaired. (For the purposes of these rules, fuel tanks, bomb bays, jump jets, rotors, floats, hover fans, tracks, UMUs, and wheels are not considered conversion gear critical slots.) Movement: When in their alternate movement modes, convertible AutoMechs use the movement rules appropriate to their new forms, including MP costs, benefits and terrain restrictions, but they will still record damage and deliver attacks using their ’Mech record sheets. Thus, there are no special sheets for alternate-mode operation. In their alternate non-’Mech modes, AutoMechs compute their base movement rates based on their unit type and equipment. For Fighter, VTOL, and submersible Vehicle AutoMechs, this is based on the number of jump jets, rotors, and underwater maneuvering units (UMUs) they possess at the time. For all other AutoMech types, their alternate-mode movement rates are based on their normal Walk MP. These alternate movement rates are as defined below. For Fighter AutoMechs, their Safe Thrust rating is equal to their Jump MP in ’Mech mode, with Max Thrust calculated by multiplying Safe Thrust by 1.5 and rounding up. So a Fighter AutoMech that has a Jump of 5 in ’Mech Mode receives a Safe Thrust of 5, and a Max Thrust of 8 (5 x 1.5 = 7.5, round up to 8) in Fighter mode. VTOL and submersible Vehicle AutoMechs receive a Cruise MP equal to the VTOL and UMU MPs provided by their appropriate equipment, computing their Flank accordingly (again, by multiplying Cruise MP by 1.5 and rounding up). Thus, a VTOL AutoMech with 6 Rotors (for a VTOL MP of 6), receives a Cruise MP of 6, and a Flank MP of 9 (6 x 1.5) in VTOL Vehicle mode. Likewise, a submersible Vehicle AutoMech with 5 UMU MPs receives a Cruise MP of 5 and a Flank MP of 8 in its aquatic vehicle mode., Wheeled Vehicle AutoMechs receive a Cruise MP equal to their unit’s base Walk MP plus 1, so a Wheeled Vehicle AutoMech with a Walk MP of 4 in ’Mech mode will receive a Cruise MP of 5 (4 + 1 = 5) and a Flank MP of 8 (5 x 1.5 =7.5, round up to 8) in Vehicle mode. Hover Vehicle AutoMechs receive a Cruise MP equal to their unit’s base Walk MP plus 2, so a Hover Vehicle AutoMech with a Walk MP of 5 in ’Mech would receive a Cruise MP of 7 (5 + 2 = 7), and a Flank MP of 11 (7 x 1.5 = 10.5, round up to 11) in Vehicle mode. For Tracked Vehicle AutoMechs, and naval Vehicle AutoMechs that do not possess UMUs, the unit’s Cruise and Flank MPs in vehicle mode are equal to its Walk and Run MPs in ’Mech mode. Note that a naval Vehicle AutoMech that lacks UMUs is always considered to be a surface naval vehicle while in Vehicle mode. Bestial AutoMechs receive the same Walk and Run MP in either mode.
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RULES ANNEX Emplacement AutoMechs in Emplacement mode are considered to be stationary; they have no MP at all while in Emplacement mode. Nobody’s sure why anyone thought this was a good idea. Combat: When operating in their non-standard (’Mech) mode, the firing arcs for any weapons and equipment mounted on a convertible AutoMech are changed to match the appropriate firing arcs for their alternate non-’Mech forms as shown in the AutoMech Alternate Form Firing Arcs Table. Thus, a Fighter AutoMech in fighter mode uses the firing arcs if a fighter, which puts its head and center-torso weapons into the nose arc, while its side torso and arm weapons fire into the appropriate side’s wing arcs. When sustaining damage in combat, a convertible AutoMech in its non-standard ’Mech mode must use the Hit Locations Table appropriate to their current form. (Thus, a fighter AutoMech in fighter mode suffers damage using the Fighter AutoMech Hit Location Table, while its ’Mech mode form will use the normal biped Hit Locations Table appropriate to the direction of the attack.) Note that in some cases, a hit location may prompt additional rolls to specify an exact hit location. Optional Turrets: Convertible AutoMechs with the Vehicle or VTOL form have firing arcs that may be identified as turrets instead. This represents a construction option in which the AutoMech reduces the number of Conversion Gear slots by 2 in exchange for the drawback of lacking a turret mechanism in its alternate mode. Convertible Vehicle or VTOL AutoMechs that possess only 2 Conversion Gear slots thus have no turret firing arc. By way of comparison, the Turret firing arc for an Emplacement AutoMech in its non-’Mech form is not optional. Emplacement AutoMechs: The Firing Arcs Table for Emplacement AutoMechs in their Emplacement mode refers to the hexside relative to the AutoMech’s normal facing, with Front being the hexside directly ahead of the Emplacement AutoMech, and Rear being the hexside directly behind the Emplacement AutoMech. When an Emplacement AutoMech suffers damage in its Emplacement mode, resolve the direction of fire as if the Emplacement AutoMech were a vehicle (evenly distributing the arcs, and allowing the defender’s choice if the attack comes down right on the line between two arcs). In addition, Emplacement AutoMechs are unique in that their Emplacement Mode actually serves to obstruct line of sight through the hex that they occupy, as if the Emplacement AutoMech were an actual building. Regardless of the Emplacement AutoMech’s size, this Emplacement mode obstruction is treated as a 2-level high structure for line of sight purposes, but cannot be entered or passed through as a building by any unit except for friendly infantry. Motive Criticals: If a conversion-capable AutoMech suffers critical hits to a motive system other than those that affect conversion as noted above, it will suffer a loss of movement accordingly.
For critical hits to Upper Leg, Lower Leg, and Foot actuators, this will follow the rules appropriate to the AutoMech’s ’Mech form as appropriate, including MP reductions and Piloting Skill effects. For critical hits to Jump Jets, each critical hit reduces the AutoMech’s Jump MP by 1 as well as its Safe Thrust in Fighter mode (if it is a Fighter AutoMech). For critical hits to Improved Jump Jets, each critical hit reduces the AutoMech’s Jump MP by 2, as well as its Thrust in Fighter mode (again, if it is a Fighter AutoMech). Max Thrust MPs must be recalculated accordingly any time a Fighter AutoMech’s Jump MP changes. For critical hits to an AutoMech’s Rotor or UMU slots, the unit loses 1 MP of VTOL or UMU mobility (as appropriate) per critical hit. These units must recalculate their Flank MPs in Vehicle mode whenever damage reduces their VTOL or UMU MPs. For each critical hit to a Wheel, Track, Hover Fan, or Float critical slot, the AutoMech will loses one quarter of its non-’Mech mobility in the alternate mode (rounded down), becoming completely immobile if all four such slots are destroyed. Note that, because submersible Vehicle AutoMechs receive their mobility through UMUs, this rule does not apply to such units, and critical hits to Float slots will have no noticeable effect. For Bestial AutoMechs in quadruped mode, critical hits to the unit’s arm actuators will translate to the effects of a critical hit to the corresponding leg slots (e.g. shoulder hits affect mobility as hip hits, arm actuator hits are treated as leg actuator hits, and hand actuator hits are treated as foot actuator hits). For Emplacement AutoMechs, the good news is that critical hits to any of the unit’s motive systems won’t be noticeable in any way! After all, it’s hard to get slower than stationary.
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RULES ANNEX
AUTOMECH ALTERNATE FORM FIRING ARCS TABLE ’Mech Mode Location
Fighter
Vehicle
VTOL
Bestial (Quad)
Emplacement
Head
Nose
Front*
Front
Head
Turret
Center Torso
Nose
Front
Front
Center Torso
Front
Center Torso (Rear)
Aft
Rear*
Rear
Center Torso (Rear)
Rear
Left Torso
Left Wing
Left Side
Left Side
Left Torso
Front-Left Side
Left Torso (Rear)
Left Wing (Aft)
Left Side
Left Side
Left Torso (Rear)
Rear-Left Side
Right Torso
Right Wing
Right Side
Right Side
Right Torso
Front-Right Side
Right Torso (Rear)
Right Wing (Aft)
Right Side
Right Side
Right Torso (Rear)
Rear-Right Side
Left Arm
Left Wing
Front*
Front*
Front Left Leg
Turret
Right Arm
Right Wing
Front*
Front*
Front Right Leg
Turret
Left Leg
Aft
Rear
Rear
Rear Left Leg
Rear-Left Side
Right Leg
Aft
Rear
Rear
Rear Right Leg
Rear-Right Side
*If the vehicle/VTOL form features a turret, weapons mounted here receive a turret firing arc
FIGHTER AUTOMECH HIT LOCATION TABLE Die Roll
Nose
Aft
Side
Above/Below
2
Center Torso
Center Torso§
Head
Right Torso
3
Right Torso
Right Torso§
Arm‡
Arm†
4
Right Arm
Right Torso§
Center Torso
Arm†
5
Right Arm
Right Arm
Center Torso
Leg†
6
Right Torso
Right Leg
Torso‡
Right Torso
7
Center Torso*
Leg†*
Arm‡
Center Torso
8
Left Torso
Left Leg
Torso‡
Left Torso
9
Left Arm
Left Arm
Leg‡*
Leg†
10
Left Arm
Left Torso§
Leg‡
Arm†
11
Left torso
Left Torso§
Arm‡
Arm†
12
Head
Center Torso§
Leg‡
Left Torso
*Piloting roll to avoid going Out of Control required if the damage exceeds the location’s equivalent Aerospace Damage Threshold †Roll 1D6: 1-3 Right, 4-6 Left. §Roll 1D6: 1-4 Apply Damage to Front Torso, 5-6 Apply Damage to Rear Torso ‡Hits the corresponding arm, leg, or torso, e.g. attack from left side hits left arm, left torso, or left leg.
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RULES ANNEX
VEHICLE/VTOL AUTOMECH HIT LOCATION TABLE Die Roll
Front
Rear
Left Side
Right Side
2
Center Torso*
Center Torso (R)*
Left Torso*
Right Torso*
3
Center Torso**
Center Torso (R)**
Left Arm**
Right Arm**
4
Side Torso†**
Side Torso (R) †**
Left Arm**
Right Arm**
5
Right Torso
Right Torso (R)
Center Torso
Center Torso
6
Right Arm
Right Leg
Center Torso
Center Torso
7
Center Torso
Center Torso (R)
Left Torso
Right Side
8
Left Arm
Left Leg
Left Leg
Right Leg
9
Left Torso
Left Torso (R)
Left Torso (R)
Right Torso (R)
10
Arm†
Leg†
Left Leg
Right Leg
11
Arm†
Leg†
Left Leg
Right Leg
12
Head
Head
Head
Head
*Roll for possible Critical Hit **Hits to this location on VTOL AutoMechs deliver 1/10th of attack’s damage value (round up) to unit’s Rear Center Torso †Roll 1D6 to determine which Arm/Leg/Torso is hit: 1-3 Right, 4-6 Left.
BESTIAL AUTOMECH QUADRUPED HIT LOCATION TABLE Die Roll
Front
Rear
Left Side
Right Side
2
Center Torso*
Center Torso (R)*
Left Torso*
Right Torso*
3
Rear Left Leg
Front Left Leg
Front Right Leg
Front Left Leg
4
Front Left Leg
Rear Left Leg
Front Left Leg
Front Right Leg
5
Front Left Leg
Rear Left Leg
Front Left Leg
Front Right Leg
6
Left Torso
Left Torso (R)
Right Torso
Center Torso
7
Center Torso
Center Torso (R)
Left Torso
Right Torso
8
Right Torso
Right Torso (R)
Center Torso
Left Torso
9
Front Right Leg
Rear Right Leg
Rear Left Leg
Rear Right Leg
10
Front Right Leg
Rear Right Leg
Rear Left Leg
Rear Right Leg
11
Rear Right Leg
Front Left Leg
Rear Right Leg
Rear Left Leg
12
Head
Head
Head
Head
*Roll for possible Critical Hit
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EMPLACEMENT AUTOMECH HIT LOCATION TABLE Die Roll
Front
Rear
Front-Side
Rear-Side
2
Center Torso*
Center Torso (R)*
Side Torso†*
Side Torso (R)*
3
Right Arm
Right Arm
Side Arm†
Side Arm†
4
Right Leg
Right Arm
Side Leg†
Side Arm†
5
Right Arm
Right Leg
Side Arm†
Side Leg†
6
Right Torso
Right Torso (R)
Center Torso
Center Torso
7
Center Torso
Center Torso (R)
Side Torso†
Side Torso (R) †
8
Left Torso
Left Torso (R)
Center Torso (R)
Center Torso (R)
9
Left Arm
Left Leg
Opposite Torso†
Opposite Torso (R)†
10
Left Leg
Left Arm
Opposite Arm†
Opposite Leg†
11
Left Arm
Left Arm
Opposite Leg†
Opposite Arm†
12
Head
Head
Head
Head
*Roll for possible Critical Hit †Side Torso/Arm/Leg struck corresponds to side attacked (e.g. if attack hits Side Torso from left s ide, attack hits Left Torso); If location is described as “Opposite”, the Torso/Arm/Leg struck corresponds to the opposite s ide (e.g. if attack hits Opposite Arm from left side, attack hits Right Arm)
RULES ANNEX ROLE�PLAYING RULES The rules for operating an AutoMech in A Time of War roleplaying scenarios is much more open. Though AutoMechs do not possess Attributes or Traits (and thus need not make Attribute Checks), they do possess Skills based on their functions. These Skills use the same base Target Numbers to perform as they would for AToW player characters and NPCs, with the Skill Levels applied as a modifier. AutoMechs may not attempt any Untrained Skill Checks, however. Dialogue and Interaction: Gamemasters may feel free to role-play dialogue with an AutoMech however they see fit, as these machines have been programmed with an extensive vocabulary (albeit typically English-only) and an ability to compose and comprehend speech on at least a high-school level. They won’t be much for singing or poetry, but most possess a doctrine in line with their long-vanished masters, which includes a tendency toward political rhetoric appropriate to those vanished societies. Sarcasm and jokes may be lost on an AutoMech, however; to reflect this, a player running an AutoMech character should roll for the unit’s Language Skill whenever it encounters a joke or sarcasm, with a failed roll representing a complete lack of comprehension (which will usually prompt the AutoMech to request a repeat, ignore the remark entirely, or—on a fumble— take the phrase literally).
Obviously, all of this means that reasoning with an AutoMech is pretty much like reasoning with a ferrocrete wall. AutoMech programming was created with safeguards against tampering of all known kinds, so efforts to manipulate or command them to do anything they weren’t specifically built, programmed, and assigned to do by an authority they recognize will be difficult at best. They will only recognize their fellow AutoMechs of the same faction as friendly, as well as any humans who feed them the proper code phrases on a particular radio frequency. (Unfortunately, with their creators long gone and much of their top-secret records lost to age, war, and heavy encryption, it’s anybody’s guess what phrases are needed and what frequency is required to be recognized as truly friendly.) By the same token, AutoMechs will automatically recognize units from opposing factions as their enemies, and will go to combat footing or defensive mode as soon as they detect enemy units nearby. Non-aligned humans (and their machines), however, may be regarded as neutral non-combatants, so long as s aid humans and their machines do not attempt to attack them or h ack them in any way. AutoMechs communicate primarily by verbal audio speech, due to having been manufactured initially for human interaction and command. Only an AutoMech possessing a Communications Skill may use radio frequencies to communicate over distances beyond earshot.
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RULES ANNEX Hacking: Any efforts to “hack” an AutoMech’s brain (either directly or remotely) will require an advanced-level Computers Skill, and suffers an automatic –10 roll modifier when attempted. Hacking can only be attempted as long as the AutoMech’s Primary CPU critical slot is undamaged. Apply an additional +2 modifier for each critical hit to the AutoMech’s Secondary CPU slots (if any), to reflect compromised safeguards. If the hacking roll fails by 8 points or more, the AutoMech’s safeguards will send a jolt of devastating feedback to the hacker’s equipment, destroying such devices instantly. If the roll succeeds, the AutoMech’s personality program becomes completely subverted, incidentally destroying the programming that made it unique. An AutoMech with a subverted personality is effectively “brain dead”, and will henceforth work as a remote-operated drone (see pp. 305-306, TO), incapable of independent thought (or conversation). Fighting with AutoMechs: Good luck here! Once a character becomes identified as an enemy of an AutoMech, the AutoMech will make no distinction between human and non-human, and it will use whatever weapons it has to destroy the threat. It may be possible to talk one’s way back into a hostile AutoMech’s good graces, with some really nice Negotiation Checks, but if a second instance of betrayal occurs, no amount of “I’m sorry” will save a character from the angry AutoMech’s wrath. (AutoMechs thus live by the unspoken adage of “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, die!”)
AUTOMECH CONSTRUCTION The part you’ve been waiting for, and we all know it! AutoMechs are constructed using the same rules for BattleMech construction in TechManual , but with the following changes and additions.
AutoMech Technology Base The technology base used by the Syberian AutoMechs is effectively equal to that of the Inner Sphere at the apex of the original Star League. Any technology with an introduction date of 2765 or sooner is thus available for AutoMech use, unless it is specifically restricted by the rules below. (Note that even though Syberia may have been colonized prior to 2765, we’re just going to presume that either the AutoMechs’ original creators survived long enough to assimilate and produce the newer tech items of the Inner Sphere up to 2765, or that the factory drones themselves somehow managed to perfect technologies by some twisted logic all their own.) Exception: All ’Mech- and vehicle-based physical combat weapons featured in TechManual and Tactical Handbook are available to the AutoMechs of Syberia. This means that, for whatever reason, these machines (or their creators) devised the whole spectrum of fun melee weapons, even though the rest of the Inner Sphere would not see such items until the late 3050s or later. (No word yet on whether or not the proper patents were filed, or if lawsuits are pending…)
Chassis Restrictions and Requirements AutoMechs may only be constructed using an Inner Sphere technology base, and may not be constructed as OmniMechs. An AutoMech can only possess one alternate configuration beyond its normal ’Mech mode, unless it is built as a non-convertible AutoMech (in which case, it only has a ’Mech mode). The maximum weight of an AutoMech depends on its alternate configuration, as shown in the AutoMech Construction Basics Table. AutoMechs may not be constructed that exceed the weight restrictions of their chosen type, nor may they be built using non-bipedal ’Mech body types (i.e. four-legged or three-legged chassis) unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, due to the complexity and precision of their conversion processes, AutoMechs may not mount certain weapons, equipment, and structural components that would interfere with the conversion process (see Prohibited Technologies, below). Other specific restrictions and requirements for AutoMech construction are as noted below: Cockpits: The cockpits of all AutoMechs (regardless of weight) are a modified robotic control system that weighs 3 tons (the same amount as a standard BattleMech cockpit). No other cockpit type is permitted in an AutoMech. The critical slots for an AutoMech are identical to those of a BattleMech, but replace the two Life Support slots with “Secondary CPU” slots, and the Cockpit slot with “Primary CPU”. Engines: Fighter AutoMechs may only mount standard fusion engines; all other AutoMech types may mount either standard fusion engines or standard military fuel cell engines. Superheavy AutoMechs may also use large-size versions of these engines. Minimum Jumping MP: Fighter AutoMechs must be constructed with a minimum Jumping MP of 3. Fuel: Fighter AutoMechs receive 1 free ton of fuel as part of their conversion equipment. This free ton provides 80 fuel points but does not add to the unit’s allocated weight, nor does it occupy a critical slot. Additional fuel may be added in full-ton lots (providing 80 more fuel points per ton), with each ton of fuel occupying 1 critical slot. Structural Integrity: A Fighter AutoMech receives a Structural Integrity value equal to the number of center torso internal structure points it has. Weapon Locations: Regardless of their alternate mode, AutoMechs do not need to mount weapons and equipment symmetrically (i.e. matching weapons in opposite torsos and arms). Cargo Capacity: Unlike most BattleMechs, AutoMechs may be constructed with internal cargo capacity, similar to the types available to IndustrialMech. However, only flight-capable AutoMechs (i.e. those with aerospace and VTOL conversion modes) may possess internal bomb bays. Cargo items that weigh more than the capacity of a single location’s cargo capacity cannot be carried internally, as each body location’s cargo/bomb bays are strictly separated from any located elsewhere in the AutoMech’s body.
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AUTOMECH CONSTRUCTION BASICS TABLE AutoMech Type
Max Tons Other Restrictions
Fighter AutoMech
55
Vehicle AutoMech
100*
AUTOMECH CONVERSION EQUIPMENT TABLE Item
Available only to biped ’Mechs Available to biped and quadruped ’Mechs only
Number of Critical Slots and Location
Fighter AutoMechs Landing Gear
3 (1 per Torso location)
VTOL AutoMech
40
Available only to biped ’Mechs
Avionics
3 (1 Head, 1 per Side Torso)
Bestial AutoMechs
100
Not available to tripod ’Mechs
Fuel
1 per ton of fuel (any location)*
Emplacement AutoMech
200
Available to all ’Mech forms
Jump Jets
1 per Jump MP (Leg and Torso locations only)
Improved Jump Jets
2 per 2 Jump MP (Leg and Torso locations only)
*Reduce maximum tonnage to 85 for wheeled Vehicle AutoMechs, and 55 for hover Vehicle AutoMechs
Vehicle AutoMechs
Conversion Equipment For all AutoMechs except bestial and emplacement types, the conversion equipment occupies 15 percent of the unit’s total weight. The conversion equipment for emplacement AutoMechs equals 10 percent of the unit’s total weight, while the conversion equipment for bestial AutoMechs equals only 5 percent of the unit’s total weight. In all cases, conversion equipment weight is rounded up to the nearest half ton. AutoMechs must then allocate additional “conversion equipment” on their Critical Hit Table as shown on the AutoMech Conversion Equipment Table. Remember that convertible AutoMechs are limited to two operating modes only. Non-Convertible AutoMechs: AutoMechs that possess no conversion capability certainly exist as well. These drones have no alternate modes and are usually single-purpose designs: armed for defense, or equipped with engineering equipment for specific functions. To build a non-convertible AutoMech, simply do not add any tonnage for conversion system, and construct them as a s tandard ’Mech.
Conversion Gear
4 (1 per Arm/Leg)**
Wheels
4 (1 per Arm/Leg of wheel-based AutoMechs only)
Tracks
4 (1 per Arm/Leg of track-based AutoMechs only)
Hover Fans
4 (1 per Arm/Leg of hovercraft AutoMechs only)
Floats
4 (1 per Side Torso/Leg of surface naval AutoMechs only)
UMU
1 per UMU MP (Leg and Torso locations only, submersible AutoMechs only)
VTOL AutoMechs Conversion Gear
4 (1 per Arm/Leg)**
Rotors
1 per VTOL MP (Leg and Torso locations only)
Bestial AutoMechs Conversion Gear
2 (1 per Side Torso)
Emplacement AutoMechs Conversion Gear
4 (1 per Arm/Leg)
*The first free ton of fuel does not require a critical slot, and is considered to be internal to the engine. **May be reduced to 2 slots (in the legs/rear legs only) if the unit forgoes its turretrotation ability.
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RULES ANNEX Prohibited Technologies Except as noted on this list, an AutoMech may use any equipment not prohibited to BattleMechs, IndustrialMechs, or aerospace fighters. The following items are prohibited in AutoMechs: Armor: Convertible AutoMechs under 100 tons may not use hardened armor and any other armor that requires critical hit slots, including ferro-fibrous armor, modular armor, and stealth armor. Convertible AutoMechs over 100 tons may use hardened armor in addition to all other armor types that do not require critical hit slots. All AutoMech types may use armored components. Non-convertible AutoMechs may use any Inner Sphere armor type permitted for their chassis t ype. Cockpits: AutoMechs may only use AutoMech cockpits (as detailed under Chassis Restrictions and Requirements). This applies to all AutoMech types, whether or not they are capable of conversion. Engines: As noted above, AutoMechs may not use any engine types other than standard fusion, standard military fuel cell, and the large versions of standard fusion or fuel cell engines. Even non-convertible AutoMechs are limited to these engine types, as the colonists and AutoMechs of Syberia never devised any other engine forms. Gyros: Only standard, compact, and heavy-duty gyros may be employed by AutoMechs. Again, this applies even to nonconvertible AutoMechs. Superheavy Gyros are required for all AutoMechs over 100 tons. Internal Structure: Convertible AutoMechs may not use any internal structure that requires critical hit slots, such as endo steel. Non-convertible AutoMechs may use any Inner Sphere internal structure technology permitted for their chassis type. Primitive Components: AutoMechs may not mount any primitive core components, such as engines, cockpits, gyros, and the like. Primitive and prototype weapons may be mounted on an AutoMech, however, reflecting flawed or low-resource technologies being produced in Syberia’s older manufacturing centers. Extra-Large Weapons: Convertible AutoMechs may not mount any weapon system that must be allocated to more than one hit location (e.g. Right Arm & Right Torso), such as many artillery weapons, nor may any weapon that can be optionally split between locations normally be mounted in more than one location. AutoMechs may carry artillery weapons if they have the critical space for them, but can only use them while on the ground. Non-convertible AutoMechs are permitted to divide extralarge weapons in accordance with the standard construction rules for BattleMechs. Other Items: Aside from the various items listed under the AutoMech Conversion Equipment Table, any items that require the allocation of critical slots to more than one hit location may not be mounted on convertible AutoMechs. This includes items that may normally be split between multiple hit locations on other BattleMech types. For example, an AutoMech may mount MASC or
triple-strength myomer as either system may be allocated entirely in one hit location, but it cannot mount the Chameleon Light Polarization Shield, because that system requires 1 critical slot placed in each of the ’Mech’s limbs and side torsos. Fighter and VTOL AutoMechs may not mount backhoes, bridge-laying equipment, combines, dumpers, external stores, partial wings, or jump packs/drop packs, nor may they mount any weapon system that requires a Piloting skill to operate (except for physical attack weapons). Thus, a Fighter AutoMech can carry a sword, but may not use a Heavy Gauss Rifle (even if they had them, that is…). All other AutoMech types may carry these items in accordance with their appropriate restrictions. Non-convertible AutoMechs do not suffer the restrictions indicated above, and are treated as standard ’Mechs, appropriate to their size and chassis types, when mounting other items. Superheavy AutoMechs: AutoMechs weighing over 100 tons are classified as superheavy AutoMechs, and follow the basic construction rules for Superheavy BattleMechs of equivalent weight, except for the required use of the AutoMech cockpit type and the other restrictions unique to AutoMechs defined above.
AutoMech-Unique Equipment The following special items are available to select AutoMech types. With the exception of the bomb bays, these items can only be found among the Syberian AutoMechs, because of reasons that only make sense to the long-dead Syberian colonists. Bomb Bays (Fighter and VTOL AutoMechs Only): Fighter and VTOL AutoMechs may mount up to 20 bomb bays, each of which weighs 1 ton and occupies 1 critical space in the unit’s left or right torso locations. Each bomb bay accommodates a single-slot bomb, and has no effect on the unit’s movement. Fighter and VTOL AutoMech bomb bays can use them to carry any bomb type or external ordnance available in single-slot formats. This includes: HE Bombs, Cluster Bombs, Inferno Bombs, Laser-Guided Bombs, Light Air-to-Air Missiles, Rocket Launcher10s, Thunder (FASCAM) Bombs, Torpedo Bombs, and TAG. They may also store extra fuel tanks in bomb bays, with each 1-ton tank stored in this manner providing 40 additional points of fuel. Extra Legs (Bestial AutoMechs Only): Extra legs are unique to bestial-type AutoMechs, in an apparent effort to give them a more exotic look. Useable only in quadruped mode, they provide no special bonuses in terms of actual mobility, and cannot substitute for actual limbs as they will not support the unit’s weight or add to its balance, but they offer a modicum of added protection to the unit’s flanks, similar to modular armor. Extra legs are mounted only in pairs, costing 2 side torso slots and 2 tons per pair of limbs—which must be split evenly between the side torsos. Thus, making a bestial Automech that has six-legs in quadruped mode will cost the unit 2 tons for the extra legs, with 1 Extra Leg critical slot assigned to each side torso. In gameplay, an Extra Legs slot is treated as a ton of Modular Armor, thus adding 10 extra points of armor protection (per slot) to the affected side.
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RULES ANNEX Tail (Bestial AutoMechs Only): A more functional affectation of bestial AutoMechs is the tail, a rear-arc melee weapon similar to a modified Chain Whip, which can deliver a sweeping attack to adjacent targets in any of the AutoMech’s three rearward hexsides. This “tail sweep” attack cannot be attempted in the same turn the unit attempts a kick, but receives the same –2 to-hit modifier to the bestial AutoMech’s Piloting Skill to execute as a normal kick attack. A bestial AutoMech that misses with a tail sweep need not make a Piloting Skill check to stay standing. A successful tail sweep delivers 8 points of damage to its target, using the general hit location table appropriate to the target’s relative facing and unit type. Unlike extra legs, the tail of a bestial AutoMech may be used in either the biped or quadruped configuration, but a given bestial AutoMech must pick only one of these modes in which the tail can be active during the construction of the unit (i.e. a bestial AutoMech designed to use its tail in biped mode loses the tail’s functionality in quadruped mode, and vice versa). The tail weighs 6 tons, and takes up 2 critical slots. Tails must be placed in a Torso hit location, and always have a rear arc. Rotors (VTOL AutoMechs Only): A special alternative form of jump jets, available only to VTOL AutoMechs (which require them for VTOL mode operation), are rotors. Each rotor occupies 2 critical hit slots, weighs 1 ton, and provides the unit with 1 VTOL MP in ’Mech mode. In VTOL mode, the AutoMech receives 1.5 VTOL MPs per rotor, rounding up the total to the nearest whole number. A VTOL AutoMech can carry as many rotors as it has Running MP.
AUTOMECH “CHARACTER” CREATION AutoMechs are not truly sentient, of course, but their unique programming is adaptive enough to “learn” new skills and ab ilities as appropriate to their chassis configurations, equipment, and mission roles. These adaptive programs, generated using templates provided by central computers, establish the basic personalities and job responsibilities of these sophisticated drones in their “society”. The longer each drone remains online, the better it becomes at its assigned tasks and the more its personality will evolve. But, rather than devising an elaborate set of rules about AutoMech character generation, how about if we just randomly roll for it, huh? (Or, you know, pretend that you rolled; that works too. It’s your game table, after all…) So, to randomly determine a given AutoMech’s function and base skill set, start by deciding if it’s going to be a civilian (or military support) robot, or if it’s meant for security and/or battle. Hint: If you put any ranged weapons on the thing that have no industrial function, and aren’t a Nail Gun, Rivet Gun, Fluid Gun, or Sprayer, it’s probably a combat model. Then, roll 2D6 and consult the Random AutoMech Functions and Skills Table appropriate to that broad classification. This will give you the primary function (character class) of your AutoMech, and the A Time of War Skill Field it receives—in addition to Sensor Operations, Language/ English, and all Piloting/Driving and Gunnery Skills relevant to
the AutoMech’s modes of operation (e.g. ’Mech and Aerospace for Fighter AutoMechs; ’Mech and Air Vehicle for VTOL AutoMechs, and so forth. If you find a Skill in there that makes no sense for a robotic “species” (like MedTech, Disguise, or Tactics/Infantry), either ignore it, or replace it with something that makes sense (e.g. Technician/ Mechanical or Cryptography or Tactics/Ground or something). For those of you less interested in role-playing and more into finding out their Gunnery and Piloting TNs, read on. Your next step is to determine the AutoMech’s experience level. This uses the simple mechanic found under the Random Experience Levels Table. If the AutoMech is intended to oppose active player characters, apply a modifier of +2 to the roll if you feel like they’ve been having it too easy, and –2 if they really suck. (Use your own metrics to decide which; we won’t judge.) Another –1 should also be applied to the roll if the AutoMechs involved are truly civilian in nature. A Time of War: For players interested in the AutoMech’s skills under A Time of War, use the AToW Skill Levels for the unit’s experience level, applying the number listed before the word “(Field)” to all Skills under the AutoMech’s Skill Field (as determined by the AutoMech’s function. Then, apply the number of Skill levels shown after the Field to the listed number of Skills in the AutoMech’s entire repertoire. These bonus Skill levels replace any Skill level the AutoMech already has (so, for instance, the player may opt to take one of the 3 +1 Skill levels a Green AutoMech receives, and apply it to one of the drone’s Field Skills, replacing the +0 it ordinarily gets by default.
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RULES ANNEX Remember that, in addition to their Field Skills, all AutoMechs possess Piloting and Gunnery Skills appropriate to their available modes of operation, as well as Language/English, and Sensor Operations. If any of these Piloting, Gunnery, Sensor Operations, Language, or Field Skills is not assigned a modifier after this, it receives a Skill Level of +0. Note also that AutoMechs rated Veteran and higher receive a second function (and its corresponding Skill Field), with Skill Levels equal to those of the primary Field for a n AutoMech three Experience Levels lower than its own. This Field may be selected randomly in the same fashion used to assign the AutoMech’s original Field. Reroll if this results in a duplicate Field. Total Warfare: For those who care only for the basic Gunnery and Piloting Skill target numbers (as used in Total Warfare), use the numbers found under the TW Base Gunn ery/ Piloting column for a given experience level, and then apply the respective modifiers found under the TW Gunnery/ Piloting Mods column for that AutoMech’s function. This gives the AutoMech’s final Gunnery and Piloting Skill TNs, which apply regardless of the unit’s mode of operation. Special Pilot Abilities: For even more flavor, players can also add Special Pilot Abilities to the mix. This should be reserved for AutoMechs rated Veteran or better. Since AutoMechs lack the Attributes and Traits found in player-characters, these SPAs do not need to satisfy prerequisites. Instead, assign the unit 200 XP for Veteran Experience, 400 XP for Elite, and 600 XP for Superlative, then use these XPs to purchase the desired SPAs as per their costs in A Time of War and the A Time of War Companion (see pp. 219-225, AToW and pp. 63-71, AToWC ). If a SPA is given variable XP costs, use the higher value for purchasing purposes (and stop whining! Sheesh! You’re lucky we even thought about this stuff!). AutoMech Factions: Now that the primary function and experience level have been determined, your AutoMech should choose a side. Prior to the events that led to their demise, the colonists who created the AutoMechs splintered into at least two warring camps: The Democratic Industrial Conglomeration, and the Autonomous Barony of Primus. Other, smaller groups also exist (such as the Inter-Sect Confederacy and the Dynamic Barony of Grim), but these have mainly aligned with either the DemoCon or AutoBoP factions after more than a century of sustained conflict. By and large, there is no significant distinction between these factions. The DemoCon factions claim to be fighting for their freedom from the AutoBoP factions, and are somewhat more aggressive and indirect in their tactics, much like a guerilla force. Meanwhile, the AutoBoP factions seem to focus more on maintaining a strict chain of command and sharp delineations of function, like an enforced feudal organization that even includes the use of titles among command units (with a unit titled as the “Primus” recognized as the absolute ruler of all AutoBoP forces). What that means for AutoMech character creation is up to the gamemaster, ultimately. We’re sure you can figure it out, though. Look over the IE report on Syberia to get a better feel of the setting.
RANDOM EXPERIENCE LEVELS 2D6 Roll
Experience Level
AToW Skill Levels
TW Base Gunnery/ Piloting
2 or less
Possibly Defective
+0 (Field), –1 (x2)*
7/7
Really Green
+0 (Field), +1 (x1)
7/6
4-5
Green
+0 (Field), +1 (x3)
6/5
6-7
Regular
+1 (Field), +1 (x2), +2 (x1)
5/4
8-9
Above Average
+2 (Field), +2 (x3), +3 (x2)
4/3
10-11
Veteran
+3 (Field), +4 (x2), +5 (x2)**
3/2
Elite
+4 (Field), +5 (x4), +7 (x2)**
2/1
Superlative
+6 (Field), +7 (x4), +9 (x2)**
1 /0
3
12 13 or more
*Yes, it is possible for this one to be worse than base levels; you must apply these modifiers **Add a second Field. Apply Field Modifiers to original Field only; New Field starts with Skill Levels from 3 levels lower on this table.
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RANDOM AUTOMECH FUNCTIONS AND SKILLS TABLE 2D6 Roll
Primary Function
AToW Skill Field*
TW Gunnery/ Piloting Mods
Civilian and Support AutoMechs 2
Dealer
Merchant
+2 / +1
LaborMech
Technician – Civilian
+2 / +1
6
Miner
Archaeologist
+2 / +0
7
Explorer
Planetary Surveyor
+2 / +0
8
ForeMech
Manager
+0 / +0
9
CraftsMech
Engineer
+2 / –1
10
Communicator
Communications
+1 / +0
11
DoctorMech
Technician – ’Mech
+1 / +0
12
Analyzer
Scientist, Analysis, or Intelligence**
+0 / +0
3-5
FEATURED UNITS Players who wish to field the various ’Mech and fighter units featured in this volume (represented by the Record Sheets shown in the back), may wish to use the miniatures recommended here to represent them on their tabletop. These minis offer the closest visual approximation of these units, though players may feel free to modify figures any way they like.
RECOMMENDED MINIATURES FOR FEATURED UNITS
Combat and Security AutoMechs 2-3
NinjaMech
Infantry – Anti-’Mech
+0 / –2
4-6
ReconMech
Scout
–1 / –1
7-8
GruntMech
None
+0 / +0
ArtilleryMech
Infantry
+0 / +0
SpecMech
Special Forces
–1 / –1
CommandMech
Officer†
–2 / –1
9 10-11 12
*All AutoMechs automatically possess Gunnery and Piloting Skills applicable to their mode(s) of operation, as well as Sensor Operations and Protocol/AutoMech Faction **Pick one Field only, please! Don’t get greedy. †Replace Melee Weapons with two Tactics Skills appropriate to the AutoMech’s modes of operation.
Unit Seeker (’Mech mode) Seeker (Fighter mode) Sounder (’Mech mode) Sounder (Vehicle mode) Tankus (’Mech mode) Tankus (Vehicle mode) Beetle (’Mech mode) Beetle (Vehicle mode) Grimdark (’Mech mode) Grimdark (Quad mode) Leader (’Mech mode) Leader (Vehicle mode) Scout Walker Assault Transport T-Fighter X-Fighter Imperial Star Destroyer
Miniature Phoenix Hawk Mechbuster Fighter Primitive Thunderbolt PackRat LRPV Shootist Ajax Assault Tank Commando Rotunda Armored Car Shiro White Flame Grand Titan Mobile Headquarters Flea Sirocco Hawk Moth II Gunship Turk OmniFighter … I got nothing!
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“EARTH’S” HAUGHTIEST HEROES
THE SUPERIOR HUMANS HEROES! VILLAINS! MISFI TS! MUTANTS! The world of Earth is positively crawling with super–powered humans who like to don colorful attire, form strange groups and gangs, and plot ridiculous schemes in the name of justice, revenge, profit, or just plain fun (depending on who you ask). While the overwhelming majority of Earth’s citizenry would like nothing more than be rid of those who carry the so–called “Y-Gene”, it’s a little hard to police people who can bench press buildings, read minds, and see through walls. While this has made it hard for the local nation-states and corporate conglomerates to engage in allout warfare (because some “Y-Man” always thwarts them), it means they must instead suffer the calamity that invariably erupts inside major population centers when these self-styled titans tussle.
RULES Some rare inhabitants of Earth have access to amazing capabilities, which sometimes defy physics in egregious and shameless ways. It’s not clear how this can be possible, but if you’re inclined to create such a Superior Human, you probably don’t care about that anyway. Still, please use the following rules to enact some small measure of sanity upon your fellow BattleTech-playing man. 1. Create your character using the normal character creation rules found in AToW . Use any method you prefer, but you must also purchase a new Trait: Superior Human (10 TP) 2. Add one or more “Superior ” powers from the list provided below. “Superior” abilities always take precedence over normal Traits if there’s any overlap. 3. Add notes to your character sheet to quickly reference how you interact on the tactical scale. A separate sheet may be required.
You’ll need to work up some understandings with your gamemaster when using these rules. For example, your intent in giving your character the Energy Absorb/Solar ability might have been to enable your character to absorb from any star in the universe, while your GM decides it only works with the sun that he was born under. In such situations, just remember: The GM is always right when it comes to the limitations of your powers. It’s not about what you intended, it’s about what the GM approved , whether he informed you of that or not (or whether he decided a month ago or just two seconds ago). It is up to the GM to preserve balance, or abandon it. There is no true upper limit to the number of capabilities presented here, or the power of those c apabilities. You may notice that most comic book writers have fallen in this trap, creating ever more powerful entities that alter reality itself at whim. Call it Mary Sue, call it the “Over 9000” problem; either way, it’s very poor writing that should be scorned mercilessly and relentlessly, but if you’re into it, well, that’s between you and your fellow players now. Still, a good story is one where your characters must have a problem that’s worth solving without bucket-loads of deus ex machina to get them through. So, you’ll want to make sure that your creations don’t eclipse BattleMechs completely, or they become irrelevant. That balance may be tricky to achieve. But who knows? You may be smarter than us, and find a way to make a cool a dventure where BattleMechs are drastically outclassed. If so, have at it! And let us know about it! We hate being wrong, but we love it when people take our material to the next level, so we’ll push our egos through the pain. [ Speak for yourself! –Dev ]
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RULES ANNEX NEW TRAIT: SUPERIOR HUMAN �CHARACTER� Trait Type [TP Score]: Positive [+10 TP] “Mutation took us from single–celled organisms to being the dominant form of reproductive life on this planet. Infinite forms of variation with each generation—all through mutation.” A character with the Superior Human Trait has one or more natural capabilities that are well beyond what is typical for homo sapiens. Often, these capabilities stem from genetic mutations present at birth, but sometimes they come from mutations that begin only after environmental exposure to chemicals, radiation or biological agents, and sometimes the cause is simply not known or understood. Regardless, the recipient of this Trait can select as many Superior Capabilities as he wishes from the list provided below. The numbers in brackets behind each Capability name reflects the range, which has to be defined when taking the Capability. They should not be seen as balancing values, nor do they cost any actual XP to purchase; after all, balance went out the window the moment you took the Superior Human Trait. Energy Absorption (+1, Touch or Ray) The character can absorb energy (either from rays and other emissions, or directly from a contained source). This capability is usually not universal, and restricted to a single entity or power. For example, the character may be able to absorb heat and light, but not electricity. Energy absorption can also reduce incoming damage based on the nature of the absorbing ability. For your cheating
convenience, the Energy Types Table lists the energy types that apply to a given class of BattleTech weapons. If a weapon type is comprised of multiple energy types, the energy-absorbing character reduces the damage by an equal fraction of the types removed. For example, an AP Gauss Rifle delivers Heat and Kinetic damage. If the character can only absorb kinetic damage, he will still suffer half of the attack’s damage. The ability to absorb incoming damage types is referred to as Energy Absorption/Ray, while the ability to absorb energy from a being or entity by touching them it referred to as Energy Absorption/Touch. It also needs to have an energy type associated with it, and can include such amusing concepts as Life Force, Superior Human Abilities, and Soul (you monster !). If one would like to have a character who can disable a fusion–powered ’Mech with touch, they could do so with Energy Absorption/Heat (cooling the reactor down so much it shuts down) or Energy Absorption/ Electric (drawing off the oodles of power the reactor generates). The former should be treated as a fusion engine being reduced to Cold status (see p. 72, SO), the latter is recovered the instant the Superior Human stops touching the target.
Energy Projection (+1 to +10) Perhaps the most common Superior power, this one represents an ability to emit rays of some kind to the detrimental effect of
ENERGY PROJECTION TABLE ENERGY TYPES TABLE
Level
AP/BD
1
0/5*
Weapon Type
Energy Types
2
5/20
Artillery
Explosive, Kinetic*
3
10/120†
Autocannon
Explosive, Kinetic
4
20/500**
Flamer
Heat
5
30/5,000††
Gauss
Kinetic
6
40/50,000
Lasers
Light
7
50/500,000
MG
Kinetic
8
75/5,000,000
Missile, Mines
Explosive, Kinetic
9
100/50,000,000***
Naval grade weapons
As their standard type (Cheater!)
10
∞
PPC
Electric, Heat, Kinetic
Physical Attacks/weapons
Kinetic
Plasma
Heat, Kinetic†
* Kinetic component only applies as a consequence of a direct hit. † Kinetic component only applies to Plasma weapons that also do damage, such as the Plasma Rifle.
*That stings. Why are you bothering? †Same damage as an Autocannon/20 **Now you’re competing with a Naval Laser ††Stop making those two Naval AC/25’s feel bad. ***Warning: Using this inside an atmosphere might cause it to ignite. ∞ Infinite! You can blow up the Earth, but that’s where you keep all your stuff, so maybe don’t?
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RULES ANNEX everything else. A morphology must also be specified here, to indicate from where the character projects energy (often: “hands”, sometimes “eyes”, and sometimes weird appendages added via the Morphology Superior power). If the player hasn’t specified, the default morphology for this ability is considered to be the brain (and the beam seems to sprout from his forehead when used). The character must also indicate the nature of the beam. What it consists of, what color it has, whether it makes a noise or not. For practical purposes, any damage from an energy projection must be identified as Melee, Ballistic, Energy or Explosive in nature (to determine what armor types—if any—can protect against it), but its actual consistency is what will matter against any Energy Absorption powers, as defined above. As with all Superior powers, the player has control over the extent of his powers, and never accidentally uses more than intended (unless some other factor states otherwise, like a Weakness). The Energy Projection Table is used to help define the power of the character’s energy projection. The indicated damage levels listed (using AToW AP/BD notation) are the maximum for that level; players can select a lower value than these upper limits.
Flight (+1) With this power, the character possesses the innate ability of flight. This may or may not be achieved with actual wings or similar appendages (see Morphology, p. 50). If there is such a link, then the character’s Flight ability is disrupted if the associated Morphology is damaged. Flight speeds are determined based on the character’s Super Speed power, if any. If the character does not have Super Speed, he flies as fast as he can run. Healing Factor (+1 to +10) A character with this power heals faster than normal. His recovery rates (see p. 192, AToW ) improve based on Healing Rate Table. As with Energy Projection, this reflects a maximum healing rate by level; actual healing rates can be slower than the indicated values. If a character has a Healing Factor 1 or higher, he automatically receives the Fit and Toughness Traits at no XP cost (see pp.117 and 127, AToW ). Starting at Healing Factor 4, the character gains the ability to regenerate missing limbs, organs or fluids. These repairs happen consecutively with any Hit Point recovery, with organs and fluids restored after recovering 1 lost hit point, while any severed limbs will be restored after recovering 5 or more lost hit points (or upon recovering all health; whichever comes first). A character can never recover more hit points than he loses, but it may be noted that Healing Factors of 3 and up even work against natural damage, such as caused by aging. This can theoretically make such chara cters immortal, perhaps even ageless.
HEALING RATE TABLE Level
Recovery Rate per hit point
1
60 hours
2
30 hours
3
8 hours
4*
4 hours
5
1 hour
6
1 minute
7
5 seconds
8
1 second**
9
0.1 seconds
10
Instantaneous†
*The ability to regenerate limbs manifests, see text for rules. **A combat round being 5 seconds, this means the character recovers 5 HP per round. †At this point, the character can’t receive damage fast enough to suffer from it. Only damage that exceeds twice his total starting HP w ill kill him outright. Anything less, and the character will recover, but “only” at a rate equal to a level 8 Healing Factor if the character was reduced to less than 0 HP.
Invisibility (+1) This character can become invisible whenever he wants. That EM spectrum can suck it when it comes to those idiots between 390 and 700nm, and so can those noisy neighbors all the way down to 10nm! Heck, maybe you can even flip off those scumbags that live all the way between 700 and 1,000,000nm too (there’s a lot of those). How much is for the player to decide. This invisibility extends, under normal circumstances to any electronic devices as well, but (as remarked above), a human body gives off more than just visible light, so it’s up to the player to indicate how absolute this is. If unspecified, the effect only applies to reflected light, fooling human eyes, but not EM or IR sensors. This invisibility generally also affects anything the character wears (get your mind out of the gutter, you randy bint!), but will not affect any other objects he carries (weird…), unless he can hide it under his clothing. Invisibility is not ethereal, however; the character still displaces things, like gas and liquids. And the character still has mass. Bullets still aren’t his friend, and invisibility doesn’t provide any protection against lasers, because Einstein. (And we challenge you to prove otherwise!) This means that the best defense against invisibility is the same as the best defense against smoke: chuck a grenade. Needless to say, this can be a rather powerful ability, so hand it out sparingly, GMs!
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RULES ANNEX Invulnerability (+1) Careful with this one, too! With this ability, the character is quite literally invulnerable. No known force can cause harm to him. This kind of begs the question why you’re bothering with it: if you can’t be hurt, how can you be defeated? It’s recommended you include a Weakness (see below), for example, a vulnerable body part, or a material that saps all your powers (perhaps one associated with the atomic number 36). Of course, then it becomes the only plot point worth pursuing by any possible opponent. Loved Ones (+1) Superior Humans often have families or loved ones they care for. Since Superiors are rare, and tend to make enemies or opponents when they’re active, this connection can be used against them. This is worth special note (beyond the Dependents Trait on p. 113, AToW ) since the Loved Ones in question are on the same planet, and will be targeted substantially more than “normal” dependents. The number and exact nature of the Loved Ones are up to the player. The only requirement is that they are people that the Superior Human actually cares enough about for them to be used as leverage. If he has family, but doesn’t care what happens to them, they’re not Loved Ones (though they might be Dependents). Morphology (+1) The purpose of this ability is two–fold. It allows the player to assign interesting physical characteristics not typically found on human beings, and it allows the player to link other Superior powers to a specific morphology. Note that most powers must be connected to a specific morphology, such as “hands”, “wings”, “tail”, “eyes”, “tentacles” (“NT! ”), and so forth. If a morphology is not specifically assigned to a Superior ability, then it defaults to “brain”. This matters both for purposes of how the power works, and where the body might take damage that could disable the ability. Generally speaking, Morphology doesn’t just have to be caused by biological means. If a character happens to have a titanium skeleton or some bizarre cybernetics, then that’s expressed as morphology as well. Morphology rarely provides powers and capabilities by itself, and often should be associated with Weakness (see p. 54). If a player does provide additional capabilities via the character’s Morphology, consider using pp. 314-317 of AToW and pp. 178– 189 of AToWC . Also of interest could be Creature Traits (see pp. 107-117, AToWC ). Yeah. We know what you like. Slather on some of that +5 armor. Shapeshifter With this ability, the character can change his shape at will. Generally speaking, all new forms have to be close to the character’s original mass and size, but this generally means he can perfectly
mimic other people both in sound and appearance (provided he’s heard and seen them well enough to get it right). Alternatively, a shapeshifter may gain the ability to assume a target’s form after touching them. Shapeshifting doesn’t provide the doppelganger with the target’s memories, nor does it mimic Superior powers, unless the character also has an Energy Absorption power to help with that. As an additional bonus, of course, the shapeshifter can choose any appearance desired when not mimicking others.
Super Hearing With this power, the character’s hearing far exceeds what is to be considered normal (you aberrant freak). Starting at Level 1, the character automatically receives the Good Hearing Trait for free (see p. 118, AToW ). Beyond that, the values indicated in the Super Hearing Table show the lowest decibel (dB) level the character can detect. Note that every time a character doubles his distance from its source, the sound is reduced by 6 dB. Also, note that 0 dB is not silence; it’s about the noise level of rustling leaves. A conversation is about 60 dB, a gunshot is about 140-190 dB (depending on caliber, but let’s not go down THAT route, okay?). Hearing damage normally becomes immediate when a noise exceeds 120 dB, though anything from 85 and up becomes damaging if the exposure lasts long enough. Remember that noise needs an atmosphere to work, and also remember that super hearing is not telepathy.
SUPER HEARING TABLE Level
Hearing Threshold (dB)
1
–15
2
–30
3
–45
4
–60
5
–90*
6
–120
7
–150
8
–120**
9
–270
10
Forever†
*The normal scale doesn’t go below –100 dB, those quitters. **Just making sure you’re paying attention: it’s –180 dB. †You can hear into forever. If you touch the atmosphere, you hear everything in it. This may cause you to slip in to a permanent coma as your brain is overloaded with data. Nah, just kidding, you’re fine with it, somehow.
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RULES ANNEX Super Speed (+1 to +10) A character with this power is much faster than his STR and RFL might indicate. The speeds listed in the Super Speed Table supersede what the player might otherwise arrive at using the character’s normal Attribute scores, and reflects his new maximum speed. A character’s Super Speed, divided by 2 (rounded normally), reflects his RFL score for reaction and initiative purposes. Morphology is a requirement for this to work, and usually requires legs. If the character also has Flight, these speeds may be achieved while flying, regardless of the status of his legs. (Legs are nice though, you should look in to getting some.) As with other super power tables, the indicated speeds are the maximum for that level; a player can select a lower value. Characters using Super Speed are presumed to be able to achieve their top speed instantaneously.
SUPER SPEED TABLE Level
Speed (meters per turn)
1
15
2
150
3
1,500
4
15,000*†
5
150,000
6
1,500,000
7
15,000,000**
8
150,000,000
9
1,500,000,000††
10
∞
*The speed of sound is 1,718 meters per turn †A speeding (rifle) bullet is 8,500 meters per turn **This speed is achieved after burning 7 days at 1G (including a mid-point turnover). ††Let’s just call this light speed ∞ Look, it’s infinity! You’ve gone plaid, and you may be altering reality. Stop it!
Super Strength This represents strength far in excess of what is common for humans. Normally, the character has total control over this, and will not accidentally use more strength than required. And, for some reason, certain problems that should come with this extra strength don’t manifest: if you lift a locomotive, your tiny feet should sink into almost any surface you walk on, but this does not occur. Rapid warping of metals should heat them significantly, but this likewise doesn’t happen. (Unless you want it to. I know, creepy.)
SUPER STRENGTH TABLE Level
STR Score
1
100
2
1,000
3
10,000*
4
100,000**
5
1,000,000
6
10,000,000†
7
100,000,000
8
1,000,000,000‡
9
10,000,000,000
10
∞
*Lifting a 90-ton BattleMech requires STR 6,000. **Many locomotives can be lifted with STR 8,000, but some really big ones might need 30,000 STR or more. †You would need 6,666,667 STR to lift a Behemoth-class D ropShip. ‡Put that McKenna down before you scuff the paint. (128,666,667 STR) ∞ Infinity again? You can now lift planets (measly 4*10^23 STR). It’s not clear how, but you’re doing it.
Normal base damage in melee combat is 1 for every 4 points of STR the character has, with an AP of 0. This makes it subduing damage, unable to damage armor. However, once a character has 80 STR, he can now deliver 1 point of damage to BAR 10 armor (i.e. a BattleMech). At 8,000 STR, this means the character can deliver 100 points of damage to the s ame armor. The Super Strength Table indicates the character’s maximum STR score at each level. As ever, the player may select a lower value. Note that Super Strength does not grant Super Speed. A character with Super Strength who lacks Super Speed must use his character’s base (original) STR score to determine his speed.
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RULES ANNEX Super Vision (+1 to +10) This character can s ee real good! (I know, you totally needed us to explain that.) It should be noted that just because a character can see something doesn’t mean he understands or is fully aware of what he’s seeing. That requires a working relationship with the Perception Skill. (Sorry, I know he’s a pretentious douche.) The Super Vision Table determines the character’s visual range, indicating the maximum distance at which his eyes can detect a 2-meter tall object. For normal humans, that’s about 3 kilometers. This ability can also work in the opposite direction: the smallest thing a normal human can see is 0.03 mm thick. Super Vision comes in two flavors: Super Vision/Telescopic and Super Vision/Microscopic, and the player can have both if desired (though that’s kind of greedy). To determine a character’s microscopic range, take 0.1, divide it by the Distance listed in the Super Vision Table, and that’s the size in mm he can perceive. Yes, that means at Level 9, the character can see objects as small as 0.01 nanometers. He can see atoms! Isn’t that weird? As ever, the table values indicated the maximum range for that level; lower values can be selected at will.
the teleporter likes, provided they’re all physically touching the teleporting character (or each other, via a human chain—so long as one of those is the teleporting fellow). It is possible to be selective about how much the teleporting character takes with him; as long as he can physically touch it, he can elect to take all, some, or none of it with him. What this means is that a teleporter could potentially teleport away with just his target’s spine if he feels the urge to see what a human jellyfish looks like. (Just put that poor fool out of his misery after you’ve had your laugh, you bastard! You’re the kind of guy who teleports someone 5,000 feet above the Grand Canyon, aren’t you?) A character can teleport as often as he likes, up to his RFL score times per round.
Telekinetics (+1 to +10) Telekinetics is the ability to manipulate matter with one’s mind. To manipulate objects, the character needs to have awareness of it; generally speaking, this means being able to see the object that’s being manipulated. It also works using Encumbrance rules (see pp. 169-170, AToW ). Use the Super Strength Table to determine the character’s Telekinetic Strength.
SUPER VISION TABLE Level
Distance* (km)
1
5†
2
10
3
20**
4
50
5
100
6
1,000
7
10,000
8
100,000††
9
1,000,000***
10
∞
*Distance at which a 2-meter sized object can be detected. †This would be the horizon on an Earth-sized planet. **One Space Hex is 18km ††Boy, we sure like those common logarithmic scales, don’t we? ***The moon’s about 284,000 km away. ∞ Stop spying on God, you’ll give her self-esteem issues.
Teleportation With this ability, you can teleport! Good for you! Generally speaking, teleportation range is unlimited, provided the character has at least seen or can see where he’s ’porting to. Teleportation occurs instantaneously, and can also include as many people as
Telepathy Telepathy enables a character to read minds. This ability works in various possible ways and at various ranges, as indicated in the Telepathy Tables shown here. Of course, a telepath must be aware of his subject to interact with him in any real way, and said target must be in range. With those requisites satisfied, the telepath can then subject the poor fool to his brain invasions as much as he likes. Because telepathy has many forms (as shown in the Telepathy Types Table) and various ranges (Telepathy
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RULES ANNEX Range Table), the ability must be noted with both (for example, Telepathy/Read/5, which translates to the ability to read minds up to 50 km away). Generally speaking, if a character wants to perform multiple telepathic abilities, an entry for each Telepathy Type must be assigned. GMs should be very careful letting this capability in to your campaign. Be it in a player’s hands, or an NPC. Telepathy is the only Superior Power that also gives the character a new Skill: Telepathic Combat. This Skill can be assigned any value between 0 and 10, uses INT and WIL as its Link Attributes, and has a TN of 9. When trying to use any Telepathic Power on a subject with the Telepathic Combat skill—or whenever a telepath tries to use Total Control to dominate any subject—his target gets to resist. If the defender is successful, the telepathic attack is repelled and the telepath may suffer Fatigue damage using the same basic rules as a Martial Arts combat action. Telepathic Combat is resolved like a Martial Arts battle, including rolls for Initiative and damage effects based on success and failure, although telepathic damage is typically treated as Fatigue damage only. (Yes, if you roll poorly or go up against another high-powered telepath, you might actually take damage.) Domination: In the case of using the Total Control ability, Telepathic Combat Skills apply normally if both sides have the ability. If the subject lacks the Telepathic Combat Skill, the subject is treated as if he is Untrained in Telepathic Combat if he has a WIL score of 5 or less; if the subject has a WIL score over 5, however, he can try to resist the domination as if he has a Telepathic Combat Skill level of 0. Domination is treated as a grappling attack between minds, with successful attacks by the telepath delivering fatigue damage to the subject. Once the subject has exhausted his Fatigue points, any excess damage is returned as freshly recovered Fatigue, but the subject is now considered to be dominated. A dominated subject must obey every verbal or telepathic command, even to his own self-detriment. Every 24 hours after taking control,
TELEPATHY RANGE TABLE Level
Range* (m)
1
5
2
50
3
500†
4
5,000
5
50,000
6
500,000
7
5,000,000
8
50,000,000**
9
500,000,000††
10
∞
*No line of sight is required, as long as you know the rough vector and distance between yourself and the subject(s) w ithin range. †Typical BattleTech map sheet. **Earth’s only 6,371,000 meters. How do 7 billion brains feel? ††Now even those quitters in geosynchronous orbit can be mentally probed. Good for you. ∞ Is there alien life? Because your brain can now connect to all of it. Everywhere. At once. It’s like a strange kind of internet.
Telepathic Combat must be resumed to retain control, though the dominated subject suffers a –2 modifier to this roll to reflect his weakened defenses, and will automatically lose control if he is unable to engage in Telepathic Combat at such time. The telepath may engage in Telepathic Combat earlier to “reset the clock”, lest he find himself asleep or unconscious when the normal retention time comes. Note that if a telepath is engaged in a different Telepathic Combat action when his normal control retention time comes up, the control retention automatically fails, freeing the subject.
TELEPATHY TYPES TABLE Type
What it Does
Emotion
You can sense the emotions of your subject. Presuming you have a way to interpret them. Yeah, not so cool being a psychopath now, is it?
Intention
You’re aware of the actual intention of the subject. Even if their emotions and thoughts might be misleading. Yes, even if they ’re fooling themselves.
Read
The ability to read the mind’s very thoughts as they’re formed. Audio and visual. Fortunately, you can turn this on at will, though it’s just begging for a Weakness, isn’t it?
Speak
You can transmit data directly to the subject. Audio and visual, so remember that your subject’s way of turning you off likely involves killing you.
Suggestion
You can influence the motivations of the subject directly. There is no audio/visual component, you just directly modify their motivations. This can result in an opposed WIL check if you’re trying to make them do something they normally wouldn’t. GM decides when a check should be made.
Total Control
You can exert total control over your subject’s. Subsequent to Telepathic Combat (see rules), the subject will obey whichever verbal or telepathic command you issue. GM’s should permit this one sparingly, since it can make a campaign go sideways faster than the guy with infinity speed.
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RULES ANNEX Weakness This is where the sausage is made. All these Superior Powers are nice, but they’ll almost always have an associated weakness. Gives your bad guys something to do: find them, exploit them. Maybe they could even share that weakness information with other bad guys, to coordinate some master plan (but that seems rare). GM’s, it’s strongly recommended that you ensure each Superior Human has at least one substantial weakness, or they’ll be truly insufferable!
Weaknesses can be simple conditionals, such as how Upariman must be exposed to sunlight within the last 48 hours or he’ll lose the use of all his Superior Powers. Weaknesses can also be used to impose limitations on Superior Powers, such as how Magnetman’s Telekinesis only works on metal, and nothing else. They can even be used to create vulnerabilities inherent to an otherwise-awesome Superior powers—for example, stressing that the character with Superior hearing will actually suffer 1 damage point for every 5 dB he hears beyond 120.
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
6/—/7 9/—/11
AutoMech
Notes: No turret in vehicle mode
Secondary CPU Primary CPU
Wheels
Conversion Gear Wheels
Secondary CPU
Wheels
Conversion Gear Wheels
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
5/—/6 8/—/9
AutoMech
Secondary CPU Primary CPU
Secondary CPU
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
4/—/5 6/—/8
AutoMech
Notes: No turret in vehicle mode
Secondary CPU Primary CPU
Wheels
Conversion Gear Wheels
Secondary CPU
Wheels
Wheels
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
3/—/4 5/—/6
AutoMech
Notes: No turret in vehicle mode
Secondary CPU Primary CPU
Wheels
Conversion Gear Wheels
Secondary CPU
Wheels
Conversion Gear Wheels
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
2/—/2 3/—/3
Tail
CT(R)
Notes:
AutoMech
8
Tail available in Quadruped Mode only
Secondary CPU Primary CPU
Secondary CPU
Conversion Gear
Conversion Gear Tail Tail
AUTOMECH RECORD SHEET
3/—/3 5/—/5 2/—/0
AutoMech
Secondary CPU Primary CPU Conversion Gear Tracks
Conversion Gear
Secondary CPU
Conversion Gear Tracks
Conversion Gear
O
Star Empire
Small Blaster Cannon
1
2
O
12
Star Empire
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO
Star Empire O
O
O
Infantry Compartment (4 tons)
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Infantry Compartment (4 tons)
O O O O O O O O
OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOO OO
Infantry Compartment Infantry Compartment
Infantry Compartment Infantry Compartment
O O
OO
O O O O O O O O
OO OO OO
O O O O OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O
O O O O O O O O O O
8
Star Empire
BAR: 5
O O O O O O O O O O
Star Empire
BAR: 5
[PE]
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
STAR EMPIRE TROOPER PLATOON RECORD SHEET
Armor Type: Trooper Armor Kit Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 13 12 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 6 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Range Range Modifier
4
5
4
3
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Movement MP: 1 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot Type: N/A
Range Range Modifier
Divisor: 2 9
8
6
5
7
6
4
5
4
3
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-2
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Movement MP: 1 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot Type: N/A
Armor Type: Trooper Armor Kit Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 13 12 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 6 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Range Range Modifier
Divisor: 2 9
8
6
5
7
6
4
5
4
3
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-2
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Movement MP: 1 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot Type: N/A
Armor Type: Trooper Armor Kit Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 13 12 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 6 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Range Range Modifier
Divisor: 2 9
8
6
5
7
6
4
5
4
3
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-2
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
© 2015
5
6
0
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
6
7
0
Armor Type: Trooper Armor Kit Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 13 12 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 6 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER)
Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
8
-2
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Divisor: 2 9
Movement MP: 1 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot Type: N/A
The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use.
PEOPLE’S REBELLION HOVER ASSAULT SQUAD RECORD SHEET
RED SQUAD: PLATOON 1
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 4 3 2 2 1 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 6 tons
Movement MP: 4 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Mechanized, Hover Type: N/A
RED SQUAD: PLATOON 2
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 4 3 2 2 1 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 6 tons
Movement MP: 4 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Mechanized, Hover Type: N/A
RED SQUAD: PLATOON 3
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 4 3 2 2 1 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 6 tons
Movement MP: 4 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Mechanized, Hover Type: N/A
RED SQUAD: PLATOON 4
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 4 3 2 2 1 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 6 tons
© 2015
Movement MP: 4 Movement MP: N/A
Type: Mechanized, Hover Type: N/A
The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use.
PEOPLE’S REBELLION PLATOON RECORD SHEET
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units “The Fighting Snowmen”
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Movement MP: 0** Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot ** Move or Fire Type: N/A
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units “The Fighting Snowmen”
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Movement MP: 0** Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot ** Move or Fire Type: N/A
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units “The Fighting Snowmen”
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
Movement MP: 0** Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot ** Move or Fire Type: N/A
Armor Type: Standard Issue Rebel Flak Jackets Divisor: 1 Experience: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gunnery Skill: Anti-’Mech Skill: Max Weapon Damage* — — — — — — — — — 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings Notes: RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER) Apply +2 to-hit modifier for all attacks vs. non-Star Empire units “The Fighting Snowmen”
Range Range Modifier
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
-1
0
+2
+4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Field Gun Type: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Disposable Weapon: N/A
Ammo: N/A
Transport Wt: 3.5 tons
© 2015
Movement MP: 0** Movement MP: N/A
Type: Foot ** Move or Fire N/A Type:
The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use.
TM
ARMOR DIAGRAM Capital Scale Nose Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 9 (91)
WARSHIP RECORD SHEET
WARSHIP DATA Type: IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER Fore-Left Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 9 (91)
Tonnage: 2,240,000
Name:
Tech Base: Star Empire (Experimental)
Thrust: Safe Thrust:
1
Fore-Right Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 9 (91)
Maximum Thrust: 2 DropShip Capacity: 0 Fighters/Small Craft: 80 / 80 Launch Rate: 2/2
Weapons & Equipment Inventory Capital Scale
Bay
Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser Heavy Turbo Laser
(1-12) (13-24) (25-40) (41-50)
Loc
Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
FR/FL FR/FL FR/FL FR/FL RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS RBS/LBS
800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800
Standard Scale
Bay 10 10 10 10 10
Laser Laser Laser Laser Laser
Cannons Cannons Cannons Cannons Cannons
55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
— — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — —
Structural Integrity: 30
Deflector Shield
Damage
8000
K-FDrive Drive Integrity: 43
(1-12) (13-24) (25-40) (41-50)
Loc
Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
N FR/FL RBS/LBS AR/AL A
80 80 80 80 80
8(80) 8(80) 8(80) 8(80) 8(80)
8(80) 8(80) 8(80) 8(80) 8(80)
— — — — —
— — — — —
Sail Integrity: N/A
Notes: Equipped with 1,344 tons of standard armor and a pre-fabricated garrison base that masses just as much as a K-F Drive.
Docking Collars: 0
Grav Decks: None Cargo: Bay 1: Fighters (80) (1 door) Bay 2: BattleMechs (30) (1 door) Bay 3: Vehicles (30) (1 door) Bay 4: Small Craft (80) (1 door) Bay 5: Large Craft (10) (1 door) Bay 6: Superheavy ’Mechs (30) (1 door) Bay 7: Cargo (36,000 tons) (1 door)
Aft-Left Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 8 (89)
Fuel: 5,100 tons (12,500 points) Usage: 39.52 tons/day
Aft-Right Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 8 (89) Aft Damage Threshold (Total Armor) 8 (86)
CRITICAL DAMAGE
CREW DATA Gunnery Skill: Hits Taken Modifier Crew:
1
2
3
4
5
6
+1 +2 +3 +4 +5 37,360 Marines:
9700
Elementals:
Other:
Battle Armor: 0
0
XX
0 /830
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
+2
+5
+2
+4
D
+1
+2
+5
+1
+2
+3
D
+1
+2
+3
D
–1
–2
–3
–4
CIC Sensors
+2
Thrusters Left Right
VELOCITY RECORD 1
Life Support
+1
Incp.
Passengers: 0
Life Boats/Escape Pods:
Turn #
Avionics
Piloting Skill:
10
Engine
–5
D
Thrust Velocity
HEAT DATA
Effective Velocity
Heat Sinks: Turn # Thrust Velocity Effective Velocity
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
11,840 (23,680)
Heat Generation Per Arc Nose: Left/Right Fore:
Left/Right Broadside: 6480 / 6480 Left/Right Aft: Aft:
2014
80 3280 / 3280
80 / 80 80
