the shape of things to come

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30 LIGHT YEARS THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME —Excerpt from “Battle Technology: The Evolving Face of Tactical Warfare”, an essay by Hauptmann-General Tulka Garner, Kommandant of Sanglamore Academy, 11 March 3071 For almost a millennium, humans have journeyed into the far reaches of space, colonizing thousands of worlds and forming starspanning alliances. Empowered by the technologies of fusion engines, their spacecraft carried them light-years from home, to alien worlds teeming with resources and easily bent to their will beneath the treads of mighty machinery and human ingenuity. From these humble beginnings grew the six vast star empires that made up the Inner Sphere—empires that would unite under the Star League, to bring even the far-fl ung worlds of the Periphery into their fold. But even as humankind expanded into the depths of space, colonizing and settling hundreds of planets, political divisions and petty jealousies led to wars that raged across the stars. Even the fi nal unity of the human race under the fi rst Star League began in the fi res of war, and humankind’s subsequent “Golden Age” saw no end to these unrelenting confl icts. To wage these titanic struggles, humanity once more turned to technology, and employed an arsenal of weapons ranging from small arms and tanks to aerospace fi ghters and spacecraft. Then, at the peak of the twenty-fi fth century, the most fearsome weapon of all emerged: BattleMechs. Gigantic, often-humanoid war machines, these walking tanks could fl atten cities with an arsenal of heavy weapons and could overcome almost any terrain imaginable. Ever since their debut, BattleMechs have ruled the battlefi elds, changing the face of armored combat forever. In 2781, the aftermath of a bloody war between General Aleksandr Kerensky, Protector of the Star League and commander of its Defense Forces, and Stefan Amaris—usurper of House Cameron’s Terran Hegemony and ruler of the Rim Worlds Republic—left the fi rst Star League in ruins. Three years later, as the greedy lords of the fi ve remaining Great Houses each declared themselves the heirs to the Star League and yet more war loomed, Kerensky’s forces—claiming the vast majority of the highly advanced Star League Army—left for parts unknown with the bulk of the League’s mightiest WarShips. Soon afterward began the Succession Wars: three hundred years of relentless fi ghting waged at fi rst with terrible weapons of mass destruction and devastating WarShip fl eets. These wars ravaged hundreds of worlds, cost billions of lives and destroyed the industries and infrastructure that had once supported all of humankind. Precious, irreplaceable technologies were lost, until the House Lords found their ability to wage war endangered, their mighty WarShips gone, their dwindling armies maintained by scavenged parts. By the thirty-fi rst century, the desperate Successor States had fallen into a pattern of endless raids and counterraids, forming alliances, jockeying for power and the resources to keep their remaining weapons of war functional and deadly. Determined as ever to rule a reborn Star League in their own names, the House Lords assumed the greatest enemy they would ever face was each other. They were wrong. As the Inner Sphere sank into barbarism, Kerensky’s followers built a new society in the harsh environs beyond known space. They developed a rigid caste system, designed to produce the ultimate warriors, hone the greatest scientifi c minds, focus the skills of technicians and laborers. For nearly three hundred years, the separate castes of Kerensky’s Clans were LEGEND 120 LIGHT YEARS OR 26,8 PARSECS MAXIMUM JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS Map compiled by COMSTAR. From information provided from the COMSTAR EXPLORER CORPS and the STAR LEAGUE ARCHIVES on Terra. © 3067 COMSTAR CARTOGRAPHIC CORPS Anti-spinward Coreward Rimward Spinward unifi ed by one burning ideal: that when the time was right, they would return home and reclaim the Inner Sphere. They would become the “saviors” of humanity, rebuilding the Star League in their own image. In 3048, the warlords of the Clans decided the time had come to launch their invasion. With their powerful OmniMechs and immensely strong battle armored infantry, they drove straight toward Terra, humanity’s birthworld. Planet after planet fell to the Clans in less than fi ve years, as their advanced technologies rolled over the jury-rigged war machines with which the Inner Sphere leaders still fought each other— until the shell-shocked Successor States fi nally united against the threat, and ComStar’s army—blessed with the hoarded legacies of the nearly forgotten Star League—helped battle the Clans to a standstill. With the return of the Clans, an arms race ensued, the renewed threat of total war sparking an explosion of new technologies and the recovery of lost techniques. The struggle to reach parity with the Clan juggernaut stumbled only where politics and internal rivalries kept the Great Houses apart—rivalries to which even the once-neutral ComStar fell victim. In the fi fteen years after ComStar’s victory over the Clans on Tukayyid, the cycles of war and technological growth accelerated in the Inner Sphere, enhanced by the desperate alliance known as the Second Star League. Meanwhile, in the Clan homeworlds, the descendants of the original SLDF rushed to maintain their own lead, determined to win the next Great War with the corrupted Spheroids, even as minor wars and battles raged across the stars. In 3067, following the devastating FedCom Civil War, the weary leaders of the Great Houses met on Tharkad and declared the Second Star League a sham. Their resources overtaxed and their armies weakened by surges of fi ghting, they declared themselves unable to support the loose alliance. They disbanded the Second Star League—and unwittingly unleashed a maelstrom. The pseudo-religious Word of Blake—splinter group of ComStar, the self-appointed protectors and controllers of interstellar communication and advanced technologies—saw their imminent ascension into the new Star League as the glorious fi rst step toward a new Golden Age for all humankind. Having prepared for this moment in secret for fi fteen years with terrible new weapons and incredible new technologies, they reacted to the disbandment of the League with swift and vengeful anger. So began the Jihad: a Sphere-wide war that has pitted every faction against one another and even against themselves, a new age of unrelenting warfare where victory goes to whoever has the biggest and best weaponry. Now, as the Great Houses and Clans battle one another, war is everywhere. Armies of tanks and men clash beneath skies clouded by scores of aerospace fi ghters and descending DropShips. Combat vehicles hold the lines to cover the advance of infantry, while battle armored troops dare to oppose BattleMechs—those mighty avatars of walking death that still lord it over the modern battlefi elds. The tools of modern armored combat open a wide range of possibilities for the armies of the Inner Sphere and the Clans—in a universe where life is cheap, but technology isn’t. HOUSE MARIK (FREE WORLDS LEAGUE) ECONOMY Open Capitalism MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Amnity, Andurien, Atreus, Gibson, Irian, Kalidasa, Kendall, Keystone, Lopez, Marik, Shiro III, Stewart, Tematagi, Thermopolis, Wallis ICONIC CORP Irian Technologies ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange .89 Perseus (M75), Awesome (M80), Hermes II (M40), Ontos (V95), Stingray (F60), Achileus (BA) First BattleMech Icarus (2470) First Battle Armor Achileus (3057) GREAT HOUSE
CLAN JADE FALCON OCCUPATION ZONE ECONOMY Restrictive Socialist MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW HOUSE STEINER (LYRAN ALLIANCE) ECONOMY Free Market MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Alarion, Arc Royal, Carlisle, Coventry, Donegal, Furillo, Gibbs, Gienah, Hesperus II, Inarcs, New Earth, Oliver, Skye, Tharkad ICONIC CORP Defi ance Industries ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange .85 Cambridge, Pandora, Sudeten ICONIC CORP Olivetti Weaponry ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange 4 Thor (M70), Turkina (M95), Cougar (M35), Black Lanner (M55), Visigoth (F60) First BattleMech Wakazashi (2830) First Battle Armor Elemental (2871) CLAN WOLF OCCUPATION ZONE ECONOMY Socialist MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW ICONIC CORP ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange 4 New Oslo, Tamar, Kirchbach Gorton, Kingsley, and Thorpe Enterprises Zeus (M80), Commando (M25), Barghest (M70), Sturmfuer (V85), Eisensturm (F95), Fenrir (BA) First BattleMech Mackie (2459) First Battle Armor Sloth (3050) CLAN Mad Cat (M75), Lobo (M40), Orion IIC (M75), Fenris (M45), Zoyra (V35), Ares (V40), Jagatai (F70), Roc (P7) First BattleMech Imp (2825) First Battle Armor Elemental (2868) GREAT HOUSE CLAN GHOST BEAR DOMINION ECONOMY Liberal Socialist MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Alshain, Satalice, Spittal, Rasalhague ICONIC CORP Bergan Industries ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange HOUSE LIAO (CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION) ECONOMY Open Market Communism MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Ares, Betelgeuse, Capella, Grand Base, Indicass, Sarna, Sian, St. Ives, Tikonov, Victoria ICONIC CORP Ceres Metals Industries ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange .5 UrbanMech (M30), Raven (M35), Vindicator (M45), Ti Ts’ang (M60), Yu Huang (M90), Po (V60), Thrush (F25), Defi ance (F55), Fa Shih (BA) First BattleMech Firebee (2472) First Battle Armor Fa Shih (3060) GREAT GREAT HOUSE 4 Dasher (M20), Arcas (M65) Ursus (M50), Kingfi sher (M90), Kodiak (M100), Tyr (V45), Kirghiz (F100), Golem (BA) First BattleMech Minsk (2830) First Battle Armor Elemental (2878) CLAN HOUSE KURITA (DRACONIS COMBINE) ECONOMY Socialist Market MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Al Na’ir, Altair, Chatham Luthien, New Samarkand, Proserpina, Quentin, Schuyler ICONIC CORP Luthien Armor Works ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange .76 Dragon (M60), Panther (M35), No-Dachi (M70), Tokugawa (V70), Slayer (F80), Kage (BA) First BattleMech Gladiator (2468) First Battle Armor Raiden (3053) GREAT HOUSE HOUSE DAVION (FEDERATED SUNS) ECONOMY Free Market MAJOR FACTORY WORLDS OVERVIEW Axton, Belladonna, Delavan, Galax, Johnsondale, Kathil, Layover, Nanking, New Avalon, New Syrtis, Panpour, Talon ICONIC CORP General Motors ICONIC MILITARY UNITS OVERVIEW C-Bill Exchange .83 Valkyrie (M30), Enforcer (M50), JagerMech (M65), Templar (M85), Ajax (V90), Stuka (F100), Cavalier (BA) First BattleMech BattleAxe (2459) First Battle Armor Infi ltrator Mk I (3050) GREAT HOUSE HOUSE
Page 1 and 2: 35103
Page 3 and 4: CLASSIC BATTLETECH BATTLETECHTM TEC
Page 5 and 6: Choose Technology Base 46 Choose We
Page 7 and 8: Nail/Rivet Gun 246 Refueling Drogue
Page 9 and 10: To David Stansel-Garner for being t
Page 11 and 12: The one exception is the Equipment
Page 13 and 14: Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL)
Page 15: Battle Armor Aerospace Fighter Conv
Page 19 and 20: FREE RASALHAGUE REPUBLIC ECONOMY Ca
Page 21 and 22: BATTLE ARMOR Battle armor (battlesu
Page 23 and 24: each full four missiles (regardless
Page 25 and 26: ange brackets, and so instead of li
Page 27 and 28: on the ’Mech, including the rear
Page 29 and 30: BATTLE ARMOR RECORD SHEET Each Batt
Page 31 and 32: AIRSHIP DATA Type: Name: Tonnage: T
Page 33 and 34: Distinguished members of the media,
Page 35 and 36: sible. The relatively recent develo
Page 37 and 38: cancels the gyroscopic problems. On
Page 39 and 40: vert a standard into an XL—such a
Page 41 and 42: orbit. But even when working for sh
Page 43 and 44: neurohelmets typical of the Success
Page 45 and 46: on blind, crushing feet to create g
Page 47 and 48: WEIGHT BattleMechs use the tonnage
Page 49 and 50: Total ’Mech Tonnage BATTLEMECH IN
Page 51 and 52: Non-Fusion Engines Fusion Engines E
Page 53 and 54: Andrew has chosen a standard gyro f
Page 55 and 56: The placement of these critical slo
Page 57 and 58: the Base Armor Multipliers shown fo
Page 59 and 60: Chas distributes his armor points a
Page 61 and 62: ight side torso and the adjacent ce
Page 63 and 64: In light of these events, this grou
Page 65 and 66: preliminary phases, we will still n
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Light IndustrialMechs weigh 35 tons
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structure circles in that location,
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ADD GYROSCOPE Like BattleMechs, Ind
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STEP 3: ADD HEAT SINKS Though not a
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Edward sees no great need to spend
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power amplifi ers to supply the nee
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MEETING AGENDA Project Details Proj
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loads. The lower- to medium-size Pr
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Light ProtoMechs weigh 3 tons (3,00
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John’s Siren-4 weighs 3 tons (3,0
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do not record internal space the sa
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At 6 tons (6,000 kilograms), Kevin
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With only 25 kilograms left (275 kg
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derstand the technologies employed
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able, accurate weapon. Given the Ch
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terrain other than heavy woods and
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Michael wants to design a fast and
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Units built as Trailers do not requ
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ing required, or consider the engin
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DETERMINE JUMP CAPABILITY Combat Ve
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STEP 4: ADD ARMOR Armor helps prote
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STEP 5: ADD WEAPONS, AMMUNITION AND
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the 23.5 tons he had after armoring
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PTI’S HOT PRODUCTS: 3067 (SUPPORT
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HOVERCRAFT Units in this category m
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WHEELED VEHICLE The wheeled support
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VTOL: VTOLs are one of the lightest
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Motive Type design like Simon’s.
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Base Chassis/Engine Values In addit
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Choose Chassis Modifi cations For m
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MD Sheet, Simon blacks out all of t
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SUPPORT VEHICLE ENGINE TABLE SUPPOR
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half-ton (32 tons [engine weight] x
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Christine’s Dixon is a 300-ton Ai
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total crew/passenger seat weight to
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chassis modifi cation, which enable
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tion is devoted to one or more of t
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Because these minimum crew needs ar
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13 August 3068 This is my diary. I
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the forming clouds. The recruits on
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Hovercraft-based mechanized infantr
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CONVENTIONAL INFANTRY FORMATIONS (B
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energy, “M” for Missile and “
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Secondary Weapon Limits The use of
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Oversized Platoons Even though over
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Motive Type CONVENTIONAL INFANTRY W
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ZM: Good morning, campers! They cal
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Weapons break down into your usual
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WEIGHT Battle armor, power armor an
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BATTLE ARMOR STRUCTURE WEIGHTS TABL
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BATTLE ARMOR NON-GROUND MOTIVE SYST
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must adhere to their basic rules wh
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Keith decides to provide his Tunnel
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The weight for these extra magazine
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MODULAR TECHNOLOGY When completing
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a squad of meat bags in the back, a
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laser-guided targeting system. All
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secondary control stick instead. On
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TECHNOLOGY BASE In Total Warfare st
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Unit Types The following unit types
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Base Engine Rating and Movement For
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True to Clan style, Scott sees his
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ays, ’Mech bays and so forth—ne
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(see p. 192). To determine the armo
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DropShip and not a fi ghter, it los
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combat. Unlike fi ghters, however,
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As neither quarters nor cargo bays
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fi ghter, aerodyne Small Craft, sph
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WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT The modern ba
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• SMALL PULSE LASER • [PAGE 226
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Clan Wolf-in-Exile finally succeede
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Interestingly enough, the Clan vers
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Bay do
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’MECH COCKPIT Introduced: circa 2
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight While
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AEROSPACE ENGINES (FUSION/TURBINE)
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Seen a
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HYPER-ASSAULT GAUSS RIFLE [Introduc
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DOUBLE HEAT SINKS Introduced: 2567
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• AUTOCANNON • [PAGE 208] • U
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PROTOMECH STRUCTURE Introduced: 306
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STANDARD LASERS Introduced: circa 2
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Today’s vehicular-scale missile l
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Inferno SRMs: An enhancement of an
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and communications. This impairs th
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Capellan engineers soon realized, h
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Tech Base: Inner Sphere and Clan Un
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Even b
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during the mid-3040s. Even thicker
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Combin
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Extend
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Mid-ai
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Tech Base: Inner Sphere and Clan Un
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• MICRO GRENADE LAUNCHER • [PAG
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FIRE RESISTANT Introduced: 3058 (Cl
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Tech Base: Inner Sphere and Clan Ba
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Introduced: Circa 2890 (Clans), 305
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Introduced: 3062 (Capellan Confeder
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The “big gun” of most battle ar
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the standard modular weapon mount,
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• SINGLE-SHOT SRM LAUNCHER • [P
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Introduced: 2436 (Draconis Combine)
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Introduced: Pre-spacefl ight Battle
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Introduced: 3060 (Clan Cloud Cobra)
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hunters, or as a desperate “backu
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Conventional Infantry Conventional
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Robert wants to fi nd the costs for
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PROTOMECH STRUCTURAL COSTS AND AVAI
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BATTLE ARMOR STRUCTURAL COSTS AND A
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AEROSPACE UNIT STRUCTURAL COSTS AND
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The combined structural and weapons
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AVAILABILITY CODES TABLE Code Avail
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Michael determines that his Hephaes
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HEAVY WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT (CONT)
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Weapon / Item Cost Availability IND
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Weapon / Item Cost Availability HEA
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ADDITIONAL BATTLE ARMOR WEAPONS AND
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Weapon / Item Cost CONVENTIONAL INF
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Weapon / Item Cost CONVENTIONAL INF
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15 points per critical space of exp
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CALCULATING THE BV OF: A TOYAMA TYM
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Add 1 to the result if the ProtoMec
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CALCULATING THE BV OF: A HEPHAESTUS
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Squad Support Weapon: The BV of a S
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CALCULATING THE BV OF: A MECHBUSTER
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DEFENSIVE FACTORS TABLE Target Modi
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WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT BATTLE VALUE
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Weapon BV Archaic Weapons* Bow (Com
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DropShips, 175-76 fi ghters, 178-79
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Quarters, 236 • R • Range base,
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CLASSiC FOUR-LEGGED ’MECH RECORD
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CLASSiC VEHICLE DATA Type: Movement
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CLASSiC VEHICLE DATA Type: Movement
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LARGE GROUND SUPPORT VEHICLE RECORD
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CLASSiC CONVENTIONAL INFANTRY: PLAT
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CLASSiC FIGHTER DATA Type: Cost: NO
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CLASSiC CRAFT DATA Type: Thrust: Sa
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CLASSiC DROPSHIP DATA Type: NOTES A
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Space Column Unit Type M BattleMech
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clan HEaVY WEaPOnS anD EQUIPMEnT Ta
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INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT TABLE (CONT) H
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Weapon / Item Damage Range Min/sht/
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CONVENTIONAL INFANTRY WEAPONS Weapo
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CONVENTIONAL INFANTRY WEAPONS (CONT
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