Battletech Heaps: House Rules Flurry

Whether it's for nostalgia or novelty, Wednesdays are the days that I put up old Battletech house rules I created nigh on 10 years ago. For those of you who aren't familiar with the (in)famous, addictive board game of armored combat, I'll add some context, but know that you should abandon all non-courier fonts, ye who enter here.

Not all house rules require a whole-page write-up. Some are just little gusts of rules that I like for existing weapons.

Bottling Luck

Sometimes, I roll a '12' when I need a '4'. I--like others--feel totally cheated by The Dice Gods when this happens. I mean, what the hell? I could've used that '12' at some other juncture. I wish I could just say, "No thanks, I don't need to be that lucky right now." So why not bottle it?

Once per turn, when you roll a '12,' you may opt to re-roll. If the re-roll hits, you gain an Edge Point. You can spend Edge Points let you re-roll a die.

The once per turn limitation and requirement to hit with the second roll are to keep players from using Pirhanas or other 'mechs with banks of small weapons to farm for Edge Points with them.

Standard Fire Mode for Heavy Lasers

Heavy Lasers are identical to standard lasers with the exception that they have a +1 penalty to hit, they deal twice as much damage, and they do in excess of twice the heat of the original weapon.

Heavy Lasers are great in theory, but their inaccuracy and heat make them a difficult choice to put onto a 'mech. If they had the ability to be fired in standard mode then they'd be much more appealing.

Heavy Lasers may fire in 'Standard Mode,' analogous to an equally-sized standard laser. They do not suffer the +1 to hit penalty and generate heat as per a standard laser of the same size. Their heat and damage profiles are changed as follows:

Full disclosure, I'm not sure I came up with this rule.

Heavy Lasers Crit Bonus

An alternative fix for heavy lasers is a bonus to rolls to determine critical hits. Whenever a weapon hits the internal structure of a 'mech (instead of armor), the damaged 'mech rolls 2d6 to see if the damage effects components in the hit location. It takes a 10 or more to cause a critical hit and a successful one randomly destroys 1 to 3 components in the location.

Whenever a heavy laser hits the internal structure of a 'mech, the resulting determining critical hits roll gets a +2 bonus.

It doesn't help with the fact that heavy lasers are hard to hit with, but it does make hitting with them a little better and the fact that the bonus is not scaled makes small heavy lasers helpful to have.

Again, not sure I made this rule. I've only seen references to it in other equipment.

2/5 Rule

Most of the time, 'mechs have to make a piloting skill roll to remain standing if they take 20+ points of damage in a turn. That's a simple rule, but it also assumes that a 20-ton 'mech can be rattled exactly as easily as a 100-ton 'mech. Eh.

'Mechs make piloting skill rolls for damage if they've taken 2/5 of their tonnage in damage or more, not 20+ damage. A large laser's 8 damage might make a 20-ton Stinger check, but nothing short of a pair of AC/20's is going to pack enough firepower to rattle all hundred tons of an Atlas. 

Easy Turning (Not mine)

Instead of always spending an MP to turn, if a 'mech has moved in a straight line for two hexes, they can change their facing by one for free.

Electronics Specialty Ability
A pilot with this ability gains a +1 bonus to the radius of effect of their ECM and active probe equipment. When calculating whether an enemy's ECM or active probe would affect the unit piloted by or the LOS of a pilot with this ability, subtract one from that equipment's effective radius. The Electronics Specialty ability does not affect enemy units protected by Stealth or Mimetic armors.

This Has Been Going on for How Many Hours?

As a way to quickly wrap up games that have been going on for a while, all damage is doubled except for headshots.