Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Battletech Heaps: A Heavier Gauss Rifle

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.

A Heavier Gauss Rifle
There is a Heavy Gauss Rifle. It deals less damage as it shoots further. It's got a lot of rules attached. Some folks like it and I'm sure it's great, but it has got a lot of baggage.

I just want a simple, heavy gauss rifle. Just something like the Light Gauss Rifle that has a simple set of stats, even if they aren't really that remarkable or useful. The math right now seems to favor something like:

Name               Heat   Damage   Min   SR   MR   LR   Tons   Crits   Ammo
Heavy Gauss Rifle   1      22       1     6   13   19   18      9      4
Canon HGR           2     25/20/10  4     6   13   20   18     11      4

It doesn't have any special rules for it. You just fucking shoot the thing. No parachute. No crazy,
larger minimum range. No rules about torso-mounting or running (not that there's anything wrong with that.

I wouldn't mind a house rule about recoil myself, but I'd want it for all 'mechs and weapons, not a rule where one weapon, and one weapon only, produces significant recoil. 

It's not that I have anything against the canon Heavy Gauss Rifle, it's just that I think it's needlessly complex and perhaps overbalanced. Alright, I guess I have
that against it, but you get my point.

Anyway, this guy might be
under balanced. When you compare it to the UAC 20, it gets more damage, more ammo(that doesn't explode), less heat, waaay more range. While it doesn't jam, it does explode for 22 points of damage when hit.

Yeah, the damage. I wasn't sure if the ammo doubles or just increases by 7 from light gauss rifle to standard gauss rifle and from standard to heavy(8*2=15[about], 15*2=30, etc. or 8+7=15, 15+7=22, etc.). It seems like 22 is a more likeable figure, esp. when you consider its superiority to the UAC/20.

Now to update HMP and start making some 'mechs...

6 comments:

SkilTao said...

I wonder--with only the very slightest and idlest sort of wonderment--if the official Improved Heavy Gauss did away with all the finicky rules, or just the variable damage. (Obviously I've never used one.)

VanVelding said...

This was drafted before that was published--just like the active probe rules from last week--but I'm happy the numbers were so close.

If Sarna is any indication, I think it still has finicky rules. But seriously, at 20 tons and only 4 shots per ton of ammo, the only finicky rule should be the happy ending it gives its user after the bins run dry. Seriously, that is a heavy, dangerous weapon.

SkilTao said...

Good signs that it's time for a new Tech Base, I think.

VanVelding said...

Maybe it is.

My impression is that you don't get around the old forums much, but I'm waiting for mods to approve my OurBattletech account and so I put up some 3rd League Rules which were described by the Battletech Line Developer as a "nice attempt."

As soon as this Battletech bug bites again, I'm thinking of playtesting them.

SkilTao said...

Yeah, Herb's pretty cool, and seems to be more relaxed about stuff now than when he was properly in charge. I check in probably once a week on average. I don't want to log in very much, so I bookmark stuff until I hit a critical mass of things to reply to. (It's getting close.)

The guy who runs OBT now also freelances fiction for BattleTech. Since he became a freelancer, OBT seems to update a bit more slowly, and it always takes him a few days to upload JP Arbiter's podcasts. I wouldn't count on stuff there happening fast.

I'm enjoying puzzling through the strategic BattleTech stuff that I'm going through now, but the actual play bug hasn't bit me in a year or three. Good luck to you when it does get you.

VanVelding said...

Oh yeah, I forgot he doesn't run things so much anymore. Glad to hear he's unwound a bit. Probably good for him.

Your strategic BattleTech stuff dovetails nicely with the 3087 turis that I'm exorcising onto Google Docs right now.