the shape of things to come

To David Stansel-Garner for being the primary vision behind
the new re-branded graphic presentation of Classic BattleTech.
To Rob Boyle for constantly putting up with Randall’s endless
demands, while I more or less hid in the shadows with
fi ngers crossed.
To all the Commandos, for their ongoing stalwart support!
To Franz Vohwinkel, Klaus Scherwinski and Chris Lewis for all
the great Classic BattleTech art over the years (and the years that
will come) and for outdoing themselves this time yet again.
Playtesters/Proofers/Fact Checkers
There is no overstating the invaluable assistance our cadre
of playtesters and fact-checkers have made it possible to buff
the tarnish off this twenty-plus-year-old game of ours. Were
it not for these guys’ tireless eff orts to fi x the broken rules,
dust off the ancient tomes for obscure component origins
and one-line factoids—or even argue the pros and cons of
“retcons” versus “two-steps”—we’d never achieve the level of
quality we’ve managed to produce in these last few years.
And to rise to that occasion for TechManual so soon after
Total Warfare, I don’t think we could ask for a better team.
Thanks, to you guys!
Joel Agee, Brian “Whytwolf” Alter, Ray Arrastia, Daniel
“Cannonshop” Ball, Ron Barter, Terren “Tel Hazen” Bruce, Phil
DeLuca, Brent Dill, Benjamin Disher, Tami Elder, Dave Fanjoy,
Bruce Ford, John “AngelRipper” Frideres, John Gordon,
Anthony Hardenburgh, Chris Hartford, Jon “Worktroll” Haward,
Glenn Hopkins, John “Bleusman” Hudson, Rod Klatt, Nadine
Klatt, Michael “Konan” Koning, Alan “Brainburner” Kreilick,
Peter LaCasse, Edward “TenakaFurey” Laff erty, Edward Lott,
Eberhard “Rote Baron” von Massenbach, Darrell “FlailingDeath”
Myers, Lou “Nukeloader” Myers, Andrew Norris, Nathaniel
Olsen, Max “Medron Pryde” Prohaska, Jim Rapkins, Kevin
Roof, Björn Schmidt, Christopher K. Searls, Alyson Sjardijn,
Paul Sjardijn, Joel “Septicemia” Steverson, Rob Strathman,
Dr. Geoff “97jedi” Swift, Roland Thigpen, Todd “BlueWeasel”
Thrash, Andrew Timson, Jason Weiser, Chris Wheeler, Patrick
T. Wynne; Gravedigger Arms Limited: James Humpula, Darlene
Morgan, Aaron “Gravedigger” Pollyea, Jeff Skidmore, Charles
“IronSphinx” Wilson; The Singapore Longshoremen: Jason
Chodara, Leonard Conklin, Dan Eastwood, Tom Evans, Rick
“Rick Steele” Remer, Chris “Chungalo” Smith, Sam “Wasp” Snell,
Jeremy Zuvich; Seacoast BattleTech Society: Debra Atkinson,
David Baughman, James Bernard, Josh Carter, Alex Ellis, Korac
MacArthur, Clayton Poland; Steel City MechWarriors: Rich
Cencarik, Rich Darr, Brian Golightly, Dave Lang, Drew Martin.
…And, of course, to all the players whose on-line questions
and incidental remarks fed (and continue to feed) a wealth of
the material that went into this book and other Classic BattleTech
products, past and future.
Additional Thanks
To the BattleTech Community, without whom this book
would be meaningless.
Special Thanks
Echoing Randall, I would also like to thank the support of
Iron Wind Metals, Fighting Pirannha Graphics, and Camo Specs
Online for helping to make the game of Classic BattleTech so
damned beautiful.
Herb’s Thanks and Dedication
If I didn’t start this one by thanking my family, I would surely
be lynched, so I would fi rst like to thank my ever-supportive
wife, Beckie Frances Jurek Beas, who has allowed me to pursue
this writing career through lean times, three day jobs, long
hours of virtual isolation, and an endless series of my infamous
“I’ll come to bed soon” lies. To our “children”—Oscar, Annie,
Merlin, Meggie, (and Blaze, the latest “foster child”)—who
kept both myself and Beckie company when work intervened.
To my mother, who reminds me constantly that I’ve successfully
pursued this childhood dream of mine despite of a lot of
scathing criticism from friends and family.
I’d also like to thank my friends, particularly the gaming
group I ironically sacrifi ced for writing time far more often
than I care to recall—Jamie “Damon” Amirault, Hal Brown, Jeff
“Fletchi” Fletcher, Jay Fletcher, Kevin Dwelley, and the rest of
the “Fundamentally Doomed”.
And of course, I would also like to thank Bryan Nystul, for
bringing me on board with BattleTech back in the days of FASA;
Randall Bills, for putting me in this position and being a great
mentor and virtual boss (“Ok, six weeks to write TechManual?
Suuuure!”); Loren Coleman, for giving me the “Loyalty Speech”
way before things got this far, for being a mentor and a royal
PITA in equal measure; Chris Trossen, for vocal support (and
the occasional jab in the ribs) from FASA, through the Fast Forward
days, and into the present; and to the cadre of other “core
writers” I’ve worked with through these past ten years: Warner
Doles, Chris Hartford, Ken’ Horner, Kevin Killiany, Camille Klein,
Nick Marsala, David McCulloch, Steve Mohan, Diane Piron-
Gelman, Ben Rome, Jason Schmetzer, Paul Sjardijn, Øystein
Tvedten, Andreas Zuber.
©2007 WizKids Inc. All Rights Reserved. Classic BattleTech Tech-
Manual, Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech, BattleMech, Classic
BattleTech RPG, AeroTech 2, BattleForce 2 and WK Games are registered
trademarks and/or trademarks of WizKids, Inc. in the
United States and/or other countries. No part of this work may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of
the Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form
other than that in which it is published. Printed in Thailand.
Published by FanPro LLC
1608 N. Milwaukee • Suite 1005 • Chicago, IL 60647
FIND US ONLINE:
Precentor_martial@classicbattletech.com
(e-mail address for any Classic BattleTech questions)
http://www.classicbattletech.com
(offi cial Classic BattleTech web pages)
http://www.fanprogames.com
(FanPro web pages)
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/
(offi cial MechWarrior web pages)
http://www.wizkidsgames.com
(WizKids web pages)
http://www.fanprodirect.com
(online ordering)
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
7