the shape of things to come

cles on the Armor Diagram for all locations to indicate the number
of points that make up each hit location. If no turret is assigned
to the vehicle (see Turrets, below), then all internal structure and
armor circles for the Turret location must be blacked out.
Airships and Fixed-Wing Support Vehicles are an exception to
this rule. As aerospace units, these unit types use a more abstract
means of tracking their internal framework, called Structural
Integrity (rather than internal structure). The value of this Structural
Integrity for these Support Vehicle types depends on the
vehicle’s Safe Thrust, not necessarily its raw tonnage. Because
of this, Airship and Fixed-Wing Support Vehicles do not receive
internal structure circles at this stage. Instead, they determine
their Structural Integrity after engine installation.
Like Internal Structure points on BattleMechs, Industrial-
Mech, ProtoMechs and Combat Vehicles, the structure points
used by Support Vehicles may not be redistributed to other
body locations.
Support Vehicles, like Combat Vehicles, determine their Maximum
Armor Factors by vehicle tonnage, rather than the number
of internal structure points received. See Add Armor, p. 134 for the
rules governing a Support Vehicle’s Maximum Armor Factor.
The Support Vehicle Internal Structure Locations Table below
outlines the locations that apply to the various motive types and
size classes of Support Vehicles constructed using these rules.
Turrets: Like those on Combat Vehicles, turrets on Support
Vehicles are optional components available to all motive types
covered by these rules except for Airships, Fixed-Wings and VTOLs.
If installed, a turret automatically receives the same number of
internal structure points as the Support Vehicle’s other locations,
but does not directly aff ect the structure weight. Turrets instead
add weight in an independent “turret tonnage” equal to 10 percent
of the total mass of all weapons and equipment mounted
in them (rounded up to the nearest kilogram for Small Support
Vehicles, or to the nearest half-ton for Support Vehicles weighing
5 tons and up). As this decision may not be made until the
designer is ready to add weapons and other equipment to the
Support Vehicle, the turret weight need not be established at this
point. The designer should decide, however, whether or not the
vehicle is to have a turret. (See the rules regarding OmniVehicles
below for an exception.)
Any Support Vehicles constructed under these rules may carry
only one turret, except for Airship, Fixed-Wing and VTOL Support
Vehicles (which may not mount turrets).
Rotors: All VTOL Support Vehicles automatically receive a Rotor
location, and must allocate internal structure points to that location
as well. Unlike turrets, VTOL rotors are not optional items.
Tech Base/Rating: The internal structure types for Support
Vehicles in this section are equally available to vehicles of Clan
or Inner Sphere tech bases. Support Vehicle internal structure is
incompatible with Combat Vehicle internal structure.
Space: Support Vehicles have no equivalent to endo-steel
construction. The types of internal structure and chassis modifi
cations presented in these rules do not aff ect their equipment
slot spaces.
Support OmniVehicles: As the arrangement of internal structure
circles is fixed across all Support Vehicle types and no
equipment slots are occupied by structure, OmniVehicle designers
need only note whether or not the Support Vehicle’s base
confi guration is to mount a turret at this time. If so, the turret
weight must be pre-determined at this stage as well, based on the
maximum weight of weapons the designer wishes to have
installed in the Turret location.
According to the Master Support Vehicle
Chassis Table, Simon’s Simca—a Small
wheeled vehicle weighing 2,500 kilograms—has
a Minimum Tech Rating of A
and a Base Chassis Value of 0.12. Because
the vehicle is already pretty short on weight,
Simon chooses a Structural Tech Rating of D, for a Rating
Multiplier of 1.0.
Simon decides that he requires no additional modifi cations
for the Simca’s chassis, and thus computes a chassis weight of
300 kilograms (0.12 Base Chassis Value x 1.0 Structural Tech
Rating D x 2,500 kg = 300 kg). The Simca has 2,200 kilograms
of unspent weight remaining (2,500 kg – 300 kg = 2,200 kg).
Simon sees no need for a turret and decides at this point that
the Simca will not have one. Given its weight of 2,500 kilograms
(2.5 tons), he computes that the Simca will have only 1 point of
internal structure per location (2.5 tons ÷ 10 = 0.25 points per
location, rounded up to 1). Using the Ground Vehicle Record
SUPPORT VEHICLE INTERNAL LOCATIONS TABLE
Support Vehicle Motive Type (Size) Internal Structure Locations*
Airship (Small and Medium)** Structural Integrity†
Fixed Wing (All Sizes) Structural Integrity†
Hover/Tracked/Wheeled/WiGE (Small and Medium) Front, Left, Right, Rear, Turret
Hover/Tracked/Wheeled/WiGE (Large) Front, Front Left, Front Right, Rear Left, Rear Right, Rear, Turret
Naval (Small and Medium)** Front, Left, Right, Rear, Turret
VTOL (All Sizes) Front, Left, Right, Rear, Rotor
*Turret locations, where presented, are optional. Rotor locations, where presented, are not optional.
**Large Airships and Naval Support Vehicles will be covered in Tactical Operations.
†Structural Integrity for these vehicle types is determined upon installing the unit’s engine.