the shape of things to come

STEP 5: ADD WEAPONS,
AMMUNITION AND OTHER
EQUIPMENT
The weapons, ammunition and equipment that may be
mounted on a Combat Vehicle are listed in the Weapons and
Equipment Tables shown on p. 341. In addition to any heat,
damage and range statistics, these tables provide the tonnage
these items may occupy on a Combat Vehicle, what technology
base (Clan or Inner Sphere) is required to use them, and
any special construction rules that might apply to installing
the equipment. The Ammo column notes how many shots a
given weapon or item carries per ton (only machine guns and
nail/rivet guns may carry ammunition in half-ton lots).
Remember that the total tonnage of a given Combat
Vehicle’s structure, engine, controls, armor, heat sinks, weapons
and other components may never exceed the tonnage
established for the vehicle in Step 1. Any leftover weight that
cannot be allocated to cargo space (see Cargo Bays, p. 239) or
other equipment (due to item slot constraints or other factors)
will be considered wasted tonnage.
Weapons and items placed in any non-turret location
received a fi xed fi ring arc in that direction (a front-mounted
weapon would have a front firing arc, while a left-side
mounted weapon can only fi re into the left side arc, and so
forth). Turret-mounted weapons have a fi ring arc determined
by the turret’s facing during game play. No equipment may be
mounted in a Rotor location. Items mounted in the vehicle’s
“Body”—indicating a central position on the unit—may not
have a fi ring arc at all; only items that are not weapons (such
as ammunition and sensors) may be placed in this area.
Tractor/Trailer units may not fi re into any arc that would
hit another unit in their “chain”. For instance, a Tractor with a
rear-mounted hitch may not fi re into its Rear arc while towing
Trailers, and armed Trailers with hitches in both the front and
back may not fi re into either of those arcs if units are attached
at both ends.
For special rules on any item, consult its entry under Weapons
and Heavy Equipment (pp. 200–273).
Tech Base: The Heavy Weapons and Equipment Tables note
which items are available to which technology base. Clanmade
Combat Vehicles may use only items available to the
Clans, while Inner Sphere-made Combat Vehicles must use
only those items available to the Inner Sphere.
Space: Because of their open construction, and unless the
rules for the item specifi cally state otherwise, Combat Vehicles
treat each weapon or equipment item mounted as a 1-slot
item for purposes of tracking equipment slots, regardless of
the amount of critical space occupied in a BattleMech design.
Combat Vehicle items may never be broken up among multiple
locations under these rules.
Ammunition: All ammunition-dependent weapons except
for machine guns (including their Light and Heavy versions)
and nail or rivet guns require at least a ton of ammunition.
(Machine guns, nail guns and rivet guns may carry ammo in
half-ton lots instead.) Each ammo bin occupies one item slot,
but may be of any weight desired, so long as the ammunition
is devoted to one or more of the vehicle’s weapons of
the same type (for example, a vehicle with 3 Autocannon/5s
may store all AC/5 ammunition in a single bin of any size). All
ammunition is presumed to have a Body location.
Heat Sinks: Remember that Combat Vehicles only require
heat sinks for energy weapons used by the vehicle, and that the
number of heat sinks required equals the waste heat produced
by all of the vehicle’s energy weapons fi ring simultaneously.
Power Amplifi ers: Any ICE-powered Combat Vehicle may
carry heavy energy weapons such as lasers and PPCs, but to
do so, they must also mount power amplifi ers. Power amplifi
ers weigh 10 percent of the weight of the energy weapons
carried but take up no item slots on the Combat Vehicle’s
record sheet. Unlike most other rounding conventions for tonnage-standard
units, power amplifi ers round up to the nearest
0.1-ton increment, rather than the nearest 0.5-ton increment.
Fusion-powered Combat Vehicles do not require power
amplifi ers for energy weapons.
Trailer units drawing power from a Tractor’s power plant are
subject to the Power Amplifi er rules of the Tractor, and thus
require power amplifi ers if the Tractor is powered by an ICE.
Trailers with an independent engine are subject to the standard
rules for Power Amplifi ers.
Turrets: Under these rules, all Combat Vehicles (except
VTOLs) may possess no more than 1 turret at the designer’s
option. The mass of this turret’s mechanisms must equal no
less than 10 percent of the weight of all items (excluding
ammunition) mounted within the turret itself. This turret
weight must be rounded up to the nearest half ton.
OmniVehicles: Though it is unusual, weapons and
equipment may be established as fixed components of an
OmniVehicle’s base confi guration just like heat sinks, armor
and the like. In such cases, these “fi xed” items must be mounted
(placed among the vehicle’s Weapon Inventory and assigned to
vehicle locations) before the completion of the base confi guration.
After this, these items may not be altered in the completed
primary or alternate confi gurations of the OmniVehicle.
Manticore Heavy Tank, Thirty-fi rst Division (Word of Blake)
RA
INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
BASICS
BATTLEMECH
CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRIALMECH
CONSTRUCTION
PROTOMECH
CONSTRUCTION
COMBAT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
SUPPORT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
CONV. INFANTRY
CONSTRUCTION
BATTLE ARMOR
CONSTRUCTION
AEROSPACE UNIT
CONSTRUCTION
WEAPONS AND
HEAVY EQUIPMENT
INFANTRY WEAPONS
AND EQUIPMENT
COSTS AND
AVAILABILITY
BATTLE VALUE
INDEX
RECORD SHEETS
107