BattleTech as a Mekton setting

BattleTech is a good, no, a great game. But it’s also of the simulation variety of wargame. There’s several ways that the way the world is presented in its lore and stories is different from the outcomes predicted or allowed by the rules as written. One example of this dichotomy: While the literature and lore of the game make it clear that the skill of a pilot can make them a more difficult target this isn’t reflected in the rules. The target number is based on range and is affected by the speed of the attacker and target: the target’s skill level has no impact. Also: there’s no ‘plot armor’ for player characters. Head hits to your mech are often lethal, regardless of your character’s skill or story importance. This makes playing characters in the setting a very risky endeavor. 

Mechwarrior: Destiny does a good job of making it more about characters. Heroes get their own skill roll to defend against attack and there are provisions to prevent casual character death. Mech combat is also a bit simpler, scaled down but still crunchy enough to feel “BattleTech”-y.

However in both cases BattleTech has systemic design issues that pits conflicts between lore and mechanics. For example: In BattleTech, mech designs of the same weight class have exactly the same internal structure arrangement: The same number of internal hits for arms and legs and other locations. However if you look at the official artwork you find different mechs of the same weight can have very different proportions in limbs and body structure. This isn’t a minor nitpick, but it does draw attention to the point that the design system results in mech designs that feel very similar. BTech has very limiting restrictions on its mech designs. In a setting where Battlemechs have been used for centuries (even taking into account the various technological dark ages that have happened), the fact that 32nd century mecha aren’t very different from 26th century mecha shows a real lack in innovation. I’m not talking about just weapons, sensors and other components, but also the base body plans and overall scale of battlemechs haven’t really evolved much. The lore of the setting tells us that there are different quality weapons of the same ‘class,’ but there is zero mechanical difference in actual game play.

So here’s my idea: remake BattleTech as a Mekton game setting.

Making Battlemechs in Mekton Technical System

MTS has the concept of base Frames. BT lore has most battlemech designs having a base chassis with tons of official modifications and alternates and Mekton can easily support this. For example: For example one could design a baseline Shadowhawk frame of Heavy Striker servos, armor, and other systems, then design an entire company of variants and alternatives from that base model. 

MTS would also easily allow for creating variant weapon systems, including melee weapons and physical shields. MTS uses a ‘hand size’ metric allowing mecha to hold weapons and systems ‘in hand’ up to the strength of the servo the hand is mounted on. Many classic BattleTech designs feature ‘hand held’ weapons, while later generations have moved away from this idea but MTS will easily make this concept work. 

Jump jets are easily implemented in MTS, and mecha can even fly in MTS with enough thrust. BTech has a ‘partial wing’ system to boost jump performance; MTS has ‘wing’ servos that serve the same purpose already. MTS also has ground-effect propulsion for ‘hovercraft’ and there is zero restriction against putting them in mecha as well. 

Another house rule I would strongly consider implementing is letting the leg servo class affect the base land speed of the mecha design. In BT, you need a bigger powerplant to go faster. MTS does allow for more powerful powerplants (or underpowered) that impact movement speed, but I would allow mounting bigger legs than required (or smaller) and applying a +/- 1 movement allowance per scale difference.

Mekton 2, the predecessor to Mekton Zeta, had you choose a Powerplant level in the same servo classification schema (Superlight thru MegaHeavy) as part of your mecha design. However Mekton 2 was a subtractive design process, like BTech: You knew in advance what weight your mecha was going to be, and subtracted the ‘cost’ of systems, servos and components from that. MTS is additive where your mech design’s total cost and weight are the sum of the cost and weights of its servos, systems and components. So while I like the concept, I don’t see how it would work in MTS without complicating things too much. 

ZAP Fwoosh kaboom

Missiles and rocket pods also need some adjustment: in BTech, missile systems throw volleys of warheads at the target, then reload and do it again and again. In MTS, missiles are individual weapons and you don’t have reloads; once fired they are gone, but they generally have a greater individual impact than their BT cousins. BT describes LRM and SRM systems as having minimal guidance controls because they were too easy to jam via battlefield ECM, even the baseline EW that all combat battlemechs possess. Saturation volley fire with semi-guided self-propelled warheads was the compromise of the age. Late in the BTech lore, single-warhead missiles and other more exotic self-propelling weapons appear. 

I think we can simulate the difference between volley-firing saturation fire systems vs. single-use high-value-high-impact ‘missiles’ by treat volley-firing warhead projector BattleTech LRM/SRM systems as Projectile Weapons: Give them a Burst Value representing the volley size. You get reloads and ammo choices for Projectile Weapons that represent the variety of warhead types. Then treat true self-guiding missiles as Missiles described in MTS.

For example:

LRM-10 MS-PW) -2, 25h, 1k Bv10, Long Ranged. [11CP, 5cps, 1K, 0.5t. CPK/S: 0.09]

SRM-6 MS-PW) +0, 3/9H, 2K, BV6. 7CP. [4cps, 2K, 1t. CPK/S: 0.06]

SRM-2 MS-PW) +0, 3/9H, 2K. BV2. [4CP, 1CPS, 2K, 1t. CPK/S: 0.03]

Autocannons, lasers and PPCs all work similarly enough to directly translate into MTS terms. Something to consider when translating BTech weapons into MTS terms is the concept of ‘how many bullets are in a burst?’ In MTS, Burst Value is a game mechanic for how well the weapon spreads damage cross the target and depends on the attacker rolling much better than the defender. BTech weapons, like Ultra autocannons, LBX cannons and RACs either automatically hit twice, or have to roll on the missile-spread table to determine how many ‘hits’ they land. 

A basic AC (the -2, -5, -10 and -20) mechanically should only land a single ‘hit’ of moderate to high damage. Even if they are firing a burst of shells, they all land in a single location for damage purposes. Ultra, Rapid and ‘gatling’ style AC’s should have a Burst Value; this makes them more expensive and bulky than basic ACs, but also potentially more devastating.

Pulse Lasers could also switch to a burst-value model, where the better the attacker rolls, the more separate hits they land.

Artillery weapons (e.g. Long Toms, etc…) should have the ‘long ranged’ modifier from MTS. 

Too hot to handle

There’s one big hurdle to tackle in converting BattleTech to Mekton Technical System: HEAT. MTS treats heat as a ‘special effect’ while BT makes it a core game mechanic for Battlemechs and Aerospace fighters (Conventional vehicles and dropships don’t worry about Heat). In base MTS, individual weapons may have Warm-Up times, or Cool Off times, but the mech overall doesn’t have overheating mechanics. 

To emulate the effects of overheating, let’s examine the root concept of tracking heat and its impact and then consider how to best emulate it in a more anime way. In classic BattleTech, mechs generate excess heat when their pilots push their mech’s limits: Moving too fast, firing weapons too often, etc. So long as the pilot keeps generating more heat than the mech can dissipate, it will suffer the negative effects. Once it slows in its tempo of actions, the mech can dissipate the excess heat. One can assume that a baseline mecha design has enough innate heat dissipation capacity to operate at normal performance without overheating. But Mechwarriors know how to push their mecha’s limits. 

In a normal MTS ‘turn’ a pilot and mecha get two Actions. What if pilots can take extra actions on their turn, but this generates heat that the mech can’t immediately dissipate? 

The act of taking extra actions, at a higher tempo than the mech was designed to, can generate ‘Heat’ tokens, representing heat levels beyond the mech’s normal operating range. So long as the pilot and mech keep taking their full allotment of base actions, the mech can’t cool down. Taking one action instead of two allows dissipating one Heat token. Taking no actions allows the mech to clear all heat tokens. Then we can apply a modified version of the chart of Heat Effects from MechWarrior:Destiny as penalties for overheating. Effects like movement and accuracy problems translate directly, while shutdown could be a Skill test against rising difficulty, and ammo explosions should be a LUCK roll to avoid. 

As for heat-inducing weapons (like flamers and Inferno SRMs), treat the additive effect as the SMT: Special Effect Weapon from MZ+. Each hit from a +HEAT weapon gives the target a Heat token instead of doing damage. 

As a lateral idea: PPC weapons are described in the lore as delivering a massive electrical blast as a secondary effect. This could be treated like a kind of stacking EMP token that has similar effects to the HEAT Effects table. This additive effect would also be a SMT:SEW modification, but different from the +HEAT effect. The EMP token would automatically dissipate after the affected targets next turn. EMP tokens wouldn’t stack (you’re either EMP’d or not), but a hit next turn by the same PPC would apply it again…  

A design example:

One thing that a BattleTech Mekton setting will have to contend with is that mecha designs won’t fall into clean 5-ton allotments. This is because BattleTech is a subtractive design process, while MTS is an additive one.

Case example: The SHD-1D Shadowhawk

136CP, 50.33 tons (45.75 tons + 4.75 tons fuel)

MV: -5, GMA: 4, FMA: 10

Frame: 

HS Head (5k), Torso (10k), 2 Arms (6k ea), 2 Legs (6k ea), 1 Pod. All servos have HS armor (5K SP). Frame weight: 36 tons.

Systems:

Head: MS Sensors, Screen Cockpit w/ Ejection Seat. SRM-2 launcher [MS-MSL) +0, 3/9H, 2K, BV2. 16 shots]. 0.5 cps remaining.

Torso: Medium Cannon [MS-PW) +0, 7/49H, 6K w/ 17 shots].

Backpod: 6 pts Thrusters; 1,000km reaction mass. 4cps free.

Right Arm: Hand (2k, quick, handy), Medium Beam Gun [MS-BW) +1, 7/49H, 3K].

Left Arm: Hand (2k, quick, handy), LRM-10 Launcher [MS-PW) -2, 25H, 1k. BV10. Long Ranged. 16 salvos]. 3cps free.

Legs: 6pts Thrusters each