Combat Rules for Posting

Because we're all familiar with BattleTech rules, I prefer to keep the game as close to the rules as possible without sacrificing too much speed. It would be slow as all hell if I were to insist that each phase of combat were adhered to. So I've come up with a system that allows the game to have flow during combat at a pace of one BattleTech round per email, without cutting too much out.

When combat begins, there will be two maps posted to the Yahoo! Groups, a blank map that shows all the terrian features, and the first combat map that shows the positions of all the units seen on the battlefield. Naturally, hidden enemy units and hidden enemy emplacements and mines will not show up on this map unit they are discovered.

The first combat map will have all units placed on it, players will not have a choice as to where they start or where the enemy units start. During this first round, no weapons fire is permitted! This is a general rule of course, and should this change for a particular combat, you will be notified in advance.

Players will Move their unit in a Hex by Hex fashion (jump is different), noting type of movement and facing changes.

EG1: WALK Forward 1, Forward 1, Right Turn 1, Forward 1, Foward 1, Left Turn 1

EG2: JUMP Hex 0314 - Start, Hex 0716 - Land, Facing Direction 2

Note: The TOP of the map is ALWAYS direction 1, moving clockwise for the next direction facing

Players should keep track of their movement modes and distance, for your own To-Hit calculations.

For ALL following rounds, players will fire any weapons, make physical attacks, end phase adjustments if neccessary, then make their movement for the next turn. This gives players a pause after movement to see where all units are, allowing you to make accurate weapon targeting.

For weapons fire, players need to be clear and precise. Declaring "I'm firing all my weapons at Enemy 4" will be taken literally! Even weapons out of range will be fired, heat will be generated, ammo expended. Declaring "I'm firing all my weapons at Enemy 4 within range" will be treated as VOLLEY FIRE, and is done so with a +1 to-hit modifier because you're relying more on the battle computer than your own skill. Declaring "I'm firing my ER Large, Streak 2 and 4 Medium Lasers at Enemy 4" will be done exactly like that, even if the target is out of range, so be sure to check the map.

Anti-Missile Systems are controlled by me. Intiative in this game means a lot, because the battle is NOT done all at the same time! The player or NPC with intiative fire first, and results are immediate! Should a unit fall due to weapons fire, that unit loses their attack that round. This is where AMS comes in. If you have multiple units firing on you with missile systems, the AMS will be used against the largest flight of missiles from the unit who has the highest intiative. In the event of a tie, the AMS will fire on the largest flight of all units tied with the highest intiative.

EG: Nathan has an intiative of 8, Enemy 5 and 7 both have 9. Enemy 5 has an LRM 5, Enemy 7 has an LRM 15 and a SRM 6. Nathan's AMS will fire at the LRM 15. After Enemy 5 and Enemy 7 fire all their weapons at Nathan's Nova Cat, Nathan failed his piloting roll and fell to the left. Nathan declared "Firing 2 ER Large at Enemy 5", however, due to the fall, Nathan's attacks are now cancelled.

When firing on multiple targets, players must clearly indicate which target is primary. If not, then all targets will be treated as secondary, and will receive the standard +1 to-hit modifier.

Note: To those of you who do not have the Master Rules, Torso Twisting is now considered automatic, and does not need to be declared. However, should players do so for clarity, I won't mind one bit.

Now some players have shown some concern about losing the advantage of seeing where your enemy stops before Weapons Phase. In order to speed the game up, that has been omitted. In place of that double edged sword, because it could be a disadvantage as well as an advantage, an old rule from the original Solaris VII box set is being put in place. That being, he/she who wins intiative, fires first and damage effects are immediate. That was all explained above. I wanted to stress here that while I've removed one element that made winning intiative important, a different element has stepped in to take its place. So winning intiative is still very important, perhaps even more so now than before! I did mention to someone that I might alter intiative bonuses for players, but I've worked it out so I don't have to. Intiative bonuses are at 100%.

In spite of that, I've still recieved some flak over this. I'd like to point out to everyone that my previous combat system for my PBeMs was not as good as what's in place. But, I've talked it over with some of friends and BattleTech experts. Thanks to the Mechwarrior 3rd Edition character generation system, I can do a little accommodating.

Players can now use their Edge Attribute to gain advanced knowledge of enemy movement, as though they won intiative in the standard board game, however, they may not get to see all the units movements ahead of their own. The cost will be one edge attribute point, used in the same fashion as described in the book, meaning the loss is not permanent. The character must wait one week before the edge point is regained (GM-House Rule). When edge is used in this fashion, two things occure, a temporary increase of their initiative is awared, 25 points applied ONLY to movement, and it results in a slight loss of intiative, as the character is stalling to see how things are going to flow on the battlefield. It translates into a -2 Intiative modifier, applied immediately, but only lasts for that combat round. All units with an Initiative lower than the players rolled Initiative +25 are moved first, all other units are simply not placed, and the map is sent with those units that have not yet move, NOT on the map. The previous map will show where they were, but the new one may not show all of them if the modified Initiative roll is lower than other units. Once the player informs me of their movement, all remaining units are then placed on the map, and the next post, with map, is issued. Edge may NOT be spent to increase or re-roll Intiative roll results (GM-House Rule).

Enemy units are just BattleMechs printed on paper at my end. Thier experience level is noted, along with their piloting and gunnery skills. Enemy units receive Intiative bonuses based solely on their experience (Green, Regular, Veteran or Elite). The higher their experience level, the higher their intiative bonus. This was done to even out the playing field somewhat. Some characters have Combat Sense which means Intiative rolls are done using 3D10, taking the best 2. One character has pumped their Tactics / BattleMech bonus to +6. These are advantages that NPCs do not have. They cannot acquire Combat Sense or raise their bonuses beyond set levels, unless they are considered to be a Nemisis for the group, in which case I will have generated the character using Mechwarrior 3rd Edition rules.

I think that covers it. Special cases will be discussed with players as they occure.

House Rules Note: Only applies to Nightfeeders

1) If a BattleMech is shut down for a period of LESS than two hours, the BattleMech can be powered up during the Movement Phase and act as normal. However, for safety considerations, a BattleMech's battle computer will completely power down, draining all energy from all systems. This time period cannot be extended, but a pilot or technician can easily override the time peroid and have the BattleMech fully shut down before the two hours are up.