General Battletech FAQ
  1.) Why do I need to register in order to see the forum?
  2.) How do I start playing BattleTech Mercenaries (BTM), and how much will it cost?
  3.) What's the history of the BattleTech universe?
  4.) Why does BattleTech resemble (insert period in history here)?
  5.) What are the various factions in BTech like?
  6.) Is there a MechWarrior Character Generation program out there?
  7.) What's Munchkin?
  8.) Are there 'Mech/vehicle/fighter design programs out there?
  9.) Why are 'Mech so unrealistic (or, why aren't there real 'Mechs)?
  10.) What is Gausszilla?
  11.) Where can I read BTech fanfic?
  12.) Is BattleTech dead?
  13.) Arm questions.

BTM Specific FAQ
  14.) What is FreeForm combat?
  15.) What is MegaMek combat?
  16.) Creating character and how to improve them over time?
  17.) How much storage space do we have for equipment we don't take with us on a contract?
  18.) How is salvage handled?
  19.) Is there a limit to how much a unit can write?
  20.) When does a contract expire?
  21.) Is a supplemental contract subjected to reputation?
  22.) Is a unit able to apply for multiple contracts?
  .) What force can you send to complete a contract?
  24.) Can I own my own mech?
  25.) Can I make modifications to my mech in BTM?
  26.) Can I design a new mech from scratch for use in gameplay?
  27.) What about Level 3 technologies and rules?
  28.) Purchasing battle-armor?
  29.) What is the difference between PBEM and PBF?
  30.) How can I realize what information from BTM is canon and which is not?
  31.) How can I submit a question?

Along the time we’ve been running the forums we have had a lot of problems with spammers and the only way to combat this was to enable membership requirement in order to let someone post and that has automatically created this situation. It is not designed to get more members to our community or something of the like. We just don’t want our members to be exposed to spam.

a.) Realize you are entering a very complicated, rich universe. There is a lot of material out there and it may take a while to become familiar with it all. Certain people may not recognize your lack of knowledge, so be patient with them and ask lots of questions. Most people will be happy to answer.

b.) We have most of the material that a beginner needs already up on the main website but the multitude of materials that are out there will cost you some money, but those are not required to play BTM. If we are on the money subject know that to join and play in the BTM community is absolutely FREE.

c.) In order to start playing all you need to do is to take a look in the Newbie’s Guide and then create a character. More details are found in the Guide.

If you really get into BattleTech (as a whole and not just BTM), be prepared to dish out serious cash for it. Especially if you try to collect all of the out of print stuff. Luckily, all of that isn't really necessary to enjoy the game (only to nit pick it), and if you are in need of certain information, some of the people on this site have pretty much everything written about BattleTech. Ask, and you'll probably get the info.

The website has a complete section dedicated only to this. In the Database section you will find articles relating to a lot of aspects of Battletech: nation leaders, nation’s history, military strength and much more. As we will update the site with new information we will try and mark all the changes to the history that are not canon and are attributed to the BTM timeline. Other sources of information would be the Classic BattleTech site and Patrick’s Archive, both of which are found in the links section of this site.

Because BattleTech is a ‘reasonably’ realistic system, as far as it follows human nature. And human nature has a nasty habit of repeating itself. BattleTech is ‘not’ directly patterned after a specific time in history (beyond the 3025-3060's or so). It ‘may’ draw inspiration from some, but that's beside the point.

If you really want to test my minor in Medieval Studies, you are welcomed to post your theory, but then I will poke a bunch of holes in it, so don’t get upset about it. It’s just a game.

Clans: Anything from the Spartans to the Great Mongol Hordes, depending on your POV.
Cameron: Scottish American (but they’ve gone the way of the dodo)
Davions: English/French
Kurita: Imperial Japanese
Liao: Imperial Chinese
Marik: Balkan/Slavic/Eastern European with shades of various (ineffective) political systems.
Steiner: Germanic, with Swiss banking abilities
Centrella: Spanish/Caribbean with few social taboos.
Calderon: Paranoid Canadian
Free Rasalhague Republic: A Scandinavian President. He actually has a term limit.

Note: Each of the Houses has various cultures within their realms. For instance, there is a great deal of Scottish influence in parts of the Lyran Alliance. The Capellan Confederation is a communist state, but the Liao’s exhibit more of a monarchical standing. The listings above are for the ruling Houses only and not everyone completely agrees with it.

The only thing you have to do is to Google it, but since you asked, my advice would be to visit P.R.I. and their downloads section and you will find a lot of information about character generation. You will find a lot of information over there ranging from help files to character sheets ready to be printed and completed. The site is found in our links section or right here P.R.I.

Have you ever played against someone who would only play with 0/0 pilots and 100 ton, AC/20 carrying 'Mechs? Have you ever played golf with a really bad player who only carried clubs outlawed by the PGA? How about played Magic with no card worth less than $20? Have you ever played Quake II over the Internet with someone who had a Gig Athalon with a GeForce2 card, while you were piddling around with a 486? Those people are munchkins. They stretch the rules of the game to such a degree that the game is almost unrecognizable, especially with regards to custom ‘Mech designs. They rarely, however, actually break the rules of the game. The ‘rules of the universe’ is a different matter all together. There is ‘nothing’ wrong with munchkinism, in its place. Just don't expect to get very far bragging about your 30 planet Periphery Pirate Kingdom and your 200 'Mech regiments, though. Munchkinism, in its place, is fun and entertaining. There is, in fact, a group of Munchkins proud of themselves, known as the Church of Munchkin, or COM.

Munchkin directed strictly at BattleTech Mercenaries would be related to players that tend to make their characters impossible to beat, all-knowing, without fault or flaws, better then legendary canon characters and much more. You get the picture.

Yes. Loads. But remember that BTM does not accept custom designs, so this is only for you general information.

There are a few different 'Mech editors. They are all on websites and websites have this habit of changing, but we’ve found the most reliable site to be Skyhigh’s site, which is currently at: Solaris7

FASA/FanPro’s official Mech Editor (Heavy Metal Pro) is available from them. Check them out at www.heavymetalpro.com, but it will cost you. The full version retails in exchange for $20. They are out to make some money on this stuff. It has gotten many good reviews and the customer service is excellent. The weapon editor lets you enter any new weapons or create some of your own. It comes with a good amount of designs and more are available on the web. It now has a full suite of accompanying programs to design infantry and vehicles.

Todd A. Anderson's BTech 4.0a

One major feature is the fact that the armor is all in rows of ten, which allows a quicker mark-off than with many other 'Mech editors. It gets Clan Targeting Computers wrong, though (counts MGs and Flamers into the TC).

Mechworks

This is also a solid program, and will apparently soon be updated. The site also has the files from all the Record Sheets Books, so they are the "official" FASA designs... Unfortunately, I think Mechworks still gets Clan TCs wrong (see above). On the other hand, it may be the only designer that can add Clan weapons to IS 'Mechs without the occasionally cumbersome process used in MEP.

The Drawing Board

The Drawing Board was originally meant to become Mechworks 2. It's changed a lot since then. It seems to be popular enough.

You can still get MEP at:
http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/weirdozone/wargames/battletech/drawingboard.html

This program is great. It allows much more flexibility than the other two programs (able to enter new tech, like MRMs and Swords) and actually gets the Clan TC right!!! It is also a pain in the butt to enter any 'Mech, though... It also comes with a bunch of designs.

Because the game has to fit on the board, and the game designers didn't want 3000 kph 'Mechs running around. Therefore, weapons ranges had to be reduced to extremely short distances. That or you have a board that's 90 feet long. People have many ways to rationalize them, so do that if you must. But if you want EXTREME realism, BattleTech isn’t the game for you. Neither is Star Trek. Especially not Star Wars.

They don't exist outside of very specific laboratories because, right now, they just aren’t practical. Frankly, I love mecha, but in the real world, all they're good for is extremely (like volcanoes) hazardous terrain. As a combat vehicle, the disadvantages outweigh any real advantages. Of course, who knows what the future may bring. Go get a Patent for Myomer or a KF drive.

Long long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Okay, it was FASA HQ) Jedi Camille had come to face Darth Nystul in a Trial of Grievance With Jedi Camille came her companions. Chas Solo (he’s this guy, you know), Mr. Jedi Camille (AKA Mike Klein), Hughbacca (Hugh Browne) During this time, Darth Nystul revealed unto Jedi Camille and her companions a new design of mecha. One guaranteed to utterly destroy the Rebels. Or at least make them laugh out loud... This design was Gausszilla. Conceived by Darth Nystul, but doomed to never see true production (He swore it would NEVER be published by FASA). Unfortunately, the story of Jedi Camille does not end happily. She knew defeat that day. And the Evil Empire conquered. [Colonel J. Griffin’s note sends you to Ken’ note: Special thanks to Chas for this bit]

Well, ‘cough’ HERE ‘cough’. We are based on writing in the BattleTech universe and writing means FanFic. Visit the units on the forums and their IC section or the mailing lists of the other units and buy some chips and soda and start reading. If after a year of reading you want more, then go check those sections again and you will find new stuff just written. :)

Far from it! FASA sold the rights to WizKids Inc., run by FASA founder Jordan Weisman. WizKids will be continuing the BattleTech universe after a 60 or 70-year leap. FanPro, a German game company, has been licensed to continue producing the game materials for the current BattleTech game. WizKids will also be producing a new form of BattleTech based upon the Combat Dial System used in their Mage Knight game. The game is currently in the early development stages and should be released at GenCon 2002. A bit outdated but you probably heard of MechWarrior Dark Age or Age of Destruction. It’s quite alive as you probably found out and if you didn’t Google it.

As an update Catalyst Game Labs has purchased most if not all of the BattleTech rights and they are thriving on it. BattleTech is far from dead, in fact it's coming back with a bang.

"If a ‘Mech has an enemy to its rear, and it torso twists to the right could it hit the ‘Mech with its right arm using the right arm arc?( I am assuming the same would work for the left)"

The answer is yes.

"Second can a ‘Mech make full use of its side arcs with its arms if it is missing the lower arm, actuator? (For example the Stalker) "

Yes it can. A 'Mech missing any actuators through design suffer no penalties when in ranged combat. Only in physical combat do the missing actuators’ penalties apply.

Ok. So you find yourself writing about a battle situation and you are fighting against an enemy mech and you wonder how to determine which weapon hits your enemy. Here is where freeform comes in. You can use a die roll or just your own imagination but YOU will be the one who will decide what hits what and if it hits.

Ok. So you find yourself writing about a battle situation and you are fighting against an enemy mech and you wonder how to determine which weapon hits your enemy. This is where MegaMek comes in. MegaMek is a PC simulation of the BT boardgame. The unit you are under will play a game in MegaMek that will determine the fate of a battle. The battle contains the involved parties (we are assuming your character is involved in the battle) and the players who run these battle usually have some standard guidelines completed by each player in order to reflect how the character would pilot his mech.

The outcome of said battle will reflect how you char performed in the story. You just have to use the game log to write your story.

Example:

Mad Cat MKII fired Gauss Rifle at Timber Wolf Prime, needs:8, rolls:10, Success. Weapon hit Timber Wolf Prime in Center Torso, Critical Hit: on Engine, Remaining Armor:0, Remaining Internal Structure:12;
Mad Cat MKII fired Gauss Rifle at Timber Wolf Prime, needs:8, rolls:7, Failed.

And you would transform that into a post. Something like this:

Johny was piloting his Mad Cat MKII among the victims of earlier fire from his comrades, but his target was just as elusive as the ghosts of these mech's dead pilots. He could spot it on the radar, but for a visual it was as shy as a girl on her first 'date'. Then out of the sudden, a mistake. His target misjudged the terrain and tripping on a severed mech arm came into sight.

Johny wouldn't miss the opportunity and raised both arms and fired his gauss rifles at the Timber Wolf as it came into sight. His enthusiasm got the better of him as just on his rifles managed to hit the already damage mech. A gauss slug went wide and probably just scratched at the mech's head side, but the other slug went dead center on its mark. It plowed through the remaining armor of the center torso and dissipated in the internal structure with bits of it lodging themselves in the engine shielding causing his victim to spit out black smoke through its holes like a wounded soldier bleeding out his last drops of blood.

A number of things must be taken into consideration when creating a character. First be imaginative and try not to copy the lives of canon characters and of course you are not allowed to be related with them. (See the rules section) After finding a name for your character you must check the unit you wish to join and find out what characters they prefer (check their info or ask the CO). Now that you know that check out in what year is the unit playing (as some units might be one or even two years behind or ahead of the main timeline). After the details about age height, etc are settled you need to create a history for your character and biography. Future details are found in the Join Procedures Help file under point 3.

a) Skills – if you create your character a sheet per the 2nd or 3rd edition rules, he will have a set of skills the you will need to take into account when playing. Realism is expected to be followed quite strictly in this case. For example your character has only two points put into his blade skill. Because of that don’t expect to write that your character got into a blade duel and after some fancy moves he cut the head of his attacker without any injury to himself. So, if your skill barely has some points don’t expect yourself to use it like you master it. In case you haven’t created a character sheet take into account your character history, his age and what you have written about your character in IC in order to sustain your claim to a skill. So try to write about your skill and how well you know it before even using it.

b) Promotion – this is relative to each mercenary unit and its command staff. Usually commanders tend to look at how well a player adapts to the play and the story that evolves around him and how good are his writing skills. Also don’t expect to be promoted after just one month of play, at least not to some high ranking position. If you write well, much and constantly you are bound to be noticed by your CO and receive a promotion. Also, try to get involved with helping your CO with the game as that will get you points in his eyes.

Your storage space is determined by your carrying capacity of your dropships. If you are referring to the space each unit has in the Mercenary Ward of the Alice Springs Castle Brian Complex on Terra then that would be 3,000 tons. The services are automatically paid through the contracting system.

A unit might not have special equipment to handle salvage on the field of battle so a MUCO can assume that he is able to rent such special vehicles on the planet on which the contract takes place. The renting and any other financial aspect of this situation is paid by the MRBC. As for the salvage, it will be stored under the unit’s protection until the contract is finished and then it will be taken care of by the MRBC until salvage is distributed to the unit (if the respective contract has a salvage clause). The salvage would be available for pick-up from Terra or from any of the newly proposed depot worlds.

No there is not limit to how much a unit can write and thus no limit to how much salvage or money can get for its writings.

A contract expires after 6 months, but recent rules changing make the contract available in the last 48 hours to any unit that has at least 1 point of reputation with the hiring faction.

No. A unit can bid for a supplemental contract even if it doesn’t have the necessary reputation for that type of contract to do so.

Yes it is as long as it has the required "hardware". There is a more detailed section about this under "Database->Contracting->Procedures"

You are bound by the contract to send at least the required force, but no one is stopping you to send a much heavier force, but think if it suits you from an economical point of view.

You can not design units, create custom units, or manufacture any units for your mercenary companies use (or private use for that matter) under any conditions what so ever!!! Are you looking to put me out of a job?

All of a mercenary units assets are to either be purchased from the hardware brokerage department (by the merc units CO only) or salvaged off some god-forbidden wasteland of a battlefield that you helped create.

Thanks to Lieutenant General Kristan Dagley, Military Hardware Broker for this answer.

You can not make modifications of any lasting value to a unit attached to a mercenary company sponsored by the MRBC. (Unless ok'ed by me of course!) By lasting value I mean longer then one single battle of a single contract campaign. [Think about when Kai-Allard used a Gauss Rifle on the back of a truck type scenarios to justify such actions.] Switching a mechs variant is, especially if it is an Inner Sphere design, is like buying a new mech. So if you really want to switch variants in BTM your CO is gonna have to go to his/her TO&E to do a mech swap with the MHB ASAP. (I can't fit any more acronyms in there.)

Thanks to Lieutenant General Kristan Dagley, Military Hardware Broker for this answer.

You may be a mechwarrior but only the very special soldiers own their own mech (and I don't mean Timber Wolves and Atlas here; think Wasps, Stingers, or other ancient, light-weight and well used mechs), those who have had their mech in the family for generations. No the truth of the matter is unless you are a mercenary units CO you don't own your ride! Your CO owns both your gear and your soul till the end of your contract, or the death of one of you. And that is thinking on the bright side soldier!

Thanks to Lieutenant General Kristan Dagley, Military Hardware Broker for this answer.

We have decided to leave that to the individual decision of each MUCO, so check with your CO if you have one or with whom you would like to join.

In case you want to ask, battle armor is purchased in squads. Four suits for the I.S. squads and five suits for the Clan squads.

PBEM means play-by-e-mail and it relates to the system in which the players are members of an e-mail group (usually on Yahoo or MSN). It works like any other mail group. A player send an e-mail to the group and the respective e-mail is then received by all other members of the e-mail group. The e-mails are usually separated into two categories OOC (out of character) and IC (in character). The whole play and communication is done in the e-mail group and only players can communicate between themselves. Outsiders are able only to read the messages and nothing more.

PBF means play-by-forum and it relates to the system of play where the players use a dedicated section of a forum to play. The BTM forum has a section like this for every unit even though only some of them use forum play. The respective section is divided like an e-mail group into two categories: OOC and IC. The difference here is that the IC section is completely visible to the outsiders, but the OOC is not. Also the unit sections have threads where the public can ask questions or speak to the player of the unit. Play is being done through forum posts in the IC thread.

Usually the information we have modified about the Battletech universe is in grey or marked in some way. We are still building the site since a community this large is always developing and so we will try to mark every non-canon aspect we present on the site.

Just send it to public-relations[at]battletech-mercenaries.com or anakin.george[at]gmail.com and the question will reach the MRBC ears and it will receive a response as soon as possible. It might even be added to this FAQ. Other means of submitting question would be to ask in the forums. There are a lot of people there ready to help.