CLASSIC BATTLETECH CATALYST game labs

EDIT 30 July: formatting tweaks, TR3085 Quirks.  See post 351 on page 11 for details.

If you're just looking for Battleforce values, please skip to the bottom of this post, to Extras #2.

Please check back on occasion for updates; I'll keep the thread title updated with the date of the last changes.

CONTENTS:
 - random mech and vehicle assignment tables by faction for 3028, 3039, and 3050
 - a rarity guide
 - Quirks

OVERVIEW:
I decided I needed new random assignment tables, since the ones on the website and in Combat Operations are out of date and in general a little lacking as far as I was concerned (not to knock the work that must have gone into them: god after redoing mine about 5000 times I understand that all too well).

My faction tables date to 3028 (on the eve of the 4th Succession War), to 3039 (at the opening of the War of 3039), and to 3050 (Clan tables covering the initial invasion through to Tukayyid).  ALL machines appropriate to the eras that have been published in an official Battletech book are here, along with every single published variant.  Also included are a pair of tables providing Quirks (as found in Strategic Operations).

THE TABLES:
The tables differ from Peter LaCasse's excellent examples in that mine use newer source material, provide an optional random element, and make allowances for rarity and unit quality.  I've made different choices than Peter did as to who gets what, but that's a matter of opinion and design philosophy: feel free to discuss.

At this time they only cover from the late 3rd/early 4th Succession Wars to 3050 (though 3055 tables are coming).  I’ll like to eventually do even later eras, but each is exponentionally harder than the last (and so slower in arriving) due to a lack of info on exactly how the new designs of an era replace older ones phased out, destroyed, or no longer in production, as well as there being less info on modern eras in general.  In addition, my work with the MUL Team eats up most of my free time I have available for Battletech.

The tables all use 3D10 percentile (aka D1000), and are ranked according to Battle Value v2, so a low roll gets you a low-BV model.  As such, rolling high won't necessarily get you the heaviest machine, but it should get you a better one.

I've also created an availability ranking system based on the fluff, so you can at last have an idea of not just what's available, but how common it is.  I rated each machine’s availability on a ten-point scale.  The scale is only meant to represent how common that particular unit is within both its weight class and the force(s) it serves with.  It is not meant to give an accurate picture of total numbers produced or in service in all factions - besides the fact that hard production numbers are almost never found, different weight classes have different deployment ratios.  Variants are rated too.

If a machine is not listed with a faction it’s not to say that that machine cannot be found there at all, but rather that there is no significant amount and no native supply.  Ultimately in the chaos of the Succession Wars it’s perfectly feasible to see at least one of any machine in the ranks of any faction, but these tables merely attempt to depict typical native deployments.  I felt otherwise you might as well just place every machine in every faction, which seems to me to be a rather dull way to handle it.  See the pdf for a more detailed explanation on these sorts of issues.

If you’re going to print it, know that it’s in Landscape format (the sideways layout used in the Technical Readouts) rather than Portrait/Standard.

DOWNLOAD:
It's a 68-page PDF (2,696 KB) hosted here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/357573/3028-3050%20Faction%20Assignment%20%26%20Rarity%20Tables%207.95.pdf


EXTRAS:
#1) BigDuke66 has created an excellent tool that includes a random mech generator and the ability to creating random forces based on faction, era, and unit quality using the data from my charts.  Want to generate an entire regiment at once?  Now you can.  It also takes my D1000 random deployment tables and, through graphs in Microsoft Excel, provides a clear visual representation of them for every single faction.  Strongly recommended.

Mechs
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/357573/3028-3050%20Faction%20Assignment%20%26%20Rarity%20Tables%207.95%20MECHS.xlsx

Vehicles
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/357573/3028-3050%20Faction%20Assignment%20%26%20Rarity%20Tables%207.95%20VEHICLES.xlsx


#2) A colossal effort on the part of nckestrel, this link leads to sheets containing the most up-to-date Battleforce values available anywhere, for almost every unit ever.  Until the MUL comes out this is the best there is.

http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=56488.0


#3) Previous (closed) thread for this project: http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,34933.0.html


I would greatly appreciate feedback on anything: typos, missing elements, disagreements on who got what or how much of it, etc.  If you want to reuse any of this work in another work, feel free to - I just ask that you provide a link back to this thread as credit.  If you find a use for this, please bump the thread.

Special thanks goes to BigDuke66, Frabby, Matti, and nckestrel for help and fact-checking above and beyond the call of duty.

It's up: have at it!

I think there's a typo in the TC Assault mech table.
Taurian Concordant has a lot of CP-10-Qs?  (529-800)
And the STK-3F is only 526-528?
I think the STK-3F end number is a typo and is supposed to be 797 like the other periphery states. leaving the CP-10-Q as only 798-800?

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/660303/Battleforce%20v2.10.xls
updated to use v6.0 of Xotl's distribution charts.

Oops again.  There's nothing missing; I accidentally put 100 in as a salvage amount for that column, rather than the 50 I should have.

That chart should read:

001-050   Salvage: Marik
051-264   STG-3R Stinger [20]
265-512   WSP-1A Wasp [20]
513-701   LCT-1V Locust [20]
702-741   LCT-3V Locust [20]
742-776   STG-3G Stinger [20]
777-850   UM-R60 Urbanmech [30]
851-870   LCT-1E Locust [20]
871-887   JVN-10N Javelin [30]
888-897   OTT-7J Ostscout [30]
898-902   HER-1A Hermes [30]
903-907   FLC-4N Falcon [30]
908-917   SDR-5V Spider [30]
918-987   FS9-H Firestarter [35]
988-992   MON-67 Mongoose [25]
993-997   FS9-K Firestarter [35]
998-000   JVN-10F Javelin [30]

Thanks as always Duke.


EDIT: corrected the two chart errors, added Gladiator mech to the Periphery/Mercenary table.  6.1 is up.

Thanks as always, and looking forward to the new stuff.


I don't believe so.  Remember: they have much, much smaller mech forces than their Great House neighbors.  Would they have crappier mechs?  Yes.  Would they have more mechs in bad shape?  I believe so.  However, they have all had far fewer armed conflicts with the Houses, so the opportunities for salvaging in the first place would be markedly fewer, IMHO. 


Thanks for asking.  Slowly - don't expect anything for a month or so, as I'm working two jobs this summer and running a Battletech/Mechwarrior game, so time is short.


The intent was for both general mercenary and general Periphery to use the same chart.  For 3055 these two will be separated.

Thanks for the interest all.

I think Vorpal is talking about BigDuke's spreadsheet.
Random Mech Generator tab has ZUFALLSBEREICH in cell A5.  That should be randbetween in English.  Don't know if ZUFALLSBEREICH is something in another language and would work if my Excel knew German, or what.
The 2007 version appears fine to me.  It has randbetween and it works.