Rule Clairification - Technology Types

[Daemonknight]

Okay, so I've heard a few people tell me that the distinction between Intro-Tech and Tech I is hazy. So, here is what those terms mean, for me.

Intro-Tech: these designs are the low-tech warriors that are the overwhelming majority of the battlemechs, armor and aerospace fighters availible in the Succession Wars era. They don't possess any Star League era lostech: they are what can be produced from your average battlemech facility: no Ferro-Fibrous, no XL Engines, no Endo-Steel, no Gauss...regular low-tech only.

Tech I: this is the Star League-era equipment tier. It contains all the stuff that was lost during the succession wars, but does NOT include new developments in technology.

Tech II: this will replace the Clantech entry as far as FP goes. This is the technology level for all new technology, including anything tagged as 'Experimental'.


I'm not familiar with what the Tech I vs Tech II divide is in the rulebooks, so if that provides a better picture of what is and isn't useable, someone give me a page number and I'll go take a peek and see if we can't change the terminology to fit the rulebook definitions.


Also- even though they are Tech I equipment, SL Royal designs, CAN NOT be added to your armories unless you have possession of a production facility prior to January 1st 3039 in canon. If you don't the only way to acquire Royal designs, is through a faction that already possesses them(currently, ComStar). ComStar can either give you a mech example, which allows you to research the design normally, or they can give you an example AND the TRO for the design, which immediately adds it to your VIP Armory.

Note: you may not have more than 3 Royal designs in your Faction Armory at any given time, and you may downgrade them as you see fit(once a mech has been added to the Faction Armory, it can freely be switched back and forth).

[Iron Mongoose]

Historicaly, for all us old farts (how did I get old?) it was 'level 1' and 'level 2.'  So TRO25 stuff (before it became TRO39) was all level 1, and all the SL and modern stuff was all equaly 'level 2.'  Clan tech was actualy just a difrent sort of 'level 2' and anything experamental was 'level 3' weather Clan or IS.

Now, its about tech letters, so each bit of tech is rated with a letter, and a mech is the rating of the highest bit of tech.  Most succession wars I think rates as D (some as C), SL stuff tends to be E, and very new prototypes F.  But, I don't have that book on me at the moment, so that's just memory.

The old levels, however, are largely replaced by "Introductory rules" and "TW rules."  That is to say, anything in the intro rules set or the quick start rules or whatever it is (all 3025 stuff) is "Introductory rules tech" or "intro tech," where as "TW rules" includes the full suite of what is in Total War, but not Tac Ops or anything else.

The problem with most of these is that they don't difrentiate between the tech of 2750 and the tech of 3150.  So, its known that the LB10 predates the LB20 by four or five centuries, but they're not really a difrent level of tech by the rules, which care more about play ballance and complexity.

So, Dave's rules (I think you mentioned he came up with the Tech I thing) are meaningful as a devide.

But, I'd take a good hard look at the relitive FP values.  Going from SL era tech to SL era tech with ER MLs and LGRs and RACs is a comperitively small jump, compared to going to full Clan tech.  Some of the really good stuff (C3? stealth?) or experamental stuff might rate a higher FP level, but for the vast bulk of it, I'd caution against it.  There's a reason they were so hot to put the Devistator and Pilliger back into production, after all, and even in the 3150 era no one will ever turn one of thouse mechs down, unless they can get a Dire Wolf.