Ways to RP Custom Mechs in a Stock Based Playthrough

[MeiSooHaityu]

In the past couple of Career playthroughs I have been running what is essentially stock builds. I might shift around armor, ammo, heatsinks or JJ, however I keep the weapon loadouts stock and only use JJs on mechs that had it equipped. I still use '+' weapons or custom equipment (like Heatbanks).

Although I enjoy playing this way, I would like to be able to add some additional customization to mechs (essentially weapon loadouts or JJ options), but add a system to this so that such customizations feel a bit more earned or special.

After all, after running into some custom mech builds in various Flashpoints, I am like..."Why not me?"

So, although I could just simply modify mechs how I want without restrictions, I really want to come up with a way to introduce it in a way that has some limitations for the fun of it. Just something to make things a bit more interesting.

I have a couple ideas. I'll list them below...

• MechWarriors need to have over a certain skill rating to get a custom mech. Maybe they need to get 2 skills within one tree (Ex: Once they earn Breaching Shot, Coolant Vent, Master Tactician or Ace Pilot).
• Only in orbit around a planet with 'Inner Sphere Level Civilization' or 'Manufacturing' as a trait.
• Only one mech at a time per planet visit (no cheating by leaving and coming right back).
• Maybe have to be over a certain 'Technician' rating.

These are just some ideas. A way to sort of RP the universe a bit with the whole....taking a mech to a manufacturing plant for extensive upgrades, etc...

How does this sound? Does anyone want to chime in or especially share some ideas of their own? Please share. I am curious about how others would go about this if they wanted to do this in their game.

 

[theCarthaginian]

As I use 'bare chassis' rules, everything generally ends up customized somehow.
My only hard, fast rule is "one man, one mech" - each pilot has a personal ride and if one is unavailable, so is the other. Senior MechWarriors get first dibs on a new mech and can take rare/LosTech items with them when they 'move out.' The 'worst' mech in the stable is the pass around, given to a pilot when they 1.) initially join or 2.) when there is an 'odd man out' due to injury/damage and I'd be unable to fill the roster without him.

 

[Jade_Rook]

I like customizing too much not to, but I do like the idea of sticking "near stock."

One idea would be to limit custom mechs to one per mech bay improvement. That would give a max of 3 custom builds. Maybe an additional +1 when you have all of the mech bay improvements so you can field a full custom lance.
Not a hard rule, but when you do customize, stay as close to stock as possible. In a TT game I am running an Enforcer. I swapped the AC/10 for an AC/5 and a couple medium lasers. It had to keep a ballistic weapon in one arm and the new lasers have to be on the same side as the large laser.
If I was customizing a Shadow Hawk I would say that it has to keep a ballistic weapon. Maybe it drops to an AC/2 to add more LRMs or maybe it drops the LRMs and a great sink to bump up to an AC/10, but it has to keep that main gun.

Restricting customizations to planets with appropriate facilities makes sense.
I wouldn't restrict it based on pilot skills. The pilots aren't the ones making the customizations.
Possibly restrict repairs of customized mechs. Maybe they can only be repaired while at an appropriate planet or only when in orbit around any planet.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I like customizing too much not to, but I do like the idea of sticking "near stock."

One idea would be to limit custom mechs to one per mech bay improvement. That would give a max of 3 custom builds. Maybe an additional +1 when you have all of the mech bay improvements so you can field a full custom lance.
...
Restricting customizations to planets with appropriate facilities makes sense.
I wouldn't restrict it based on pilot skills...

I like that as an alternative to the MechWarrior skill. I think that is a great idea . See, this is why I love asking the community for ideas.

I also like customization as well. I have played many a playthrough where I just modify mechs as I wish. I just like to mix things up a bit from time to time to change the experience.

I don't think I'll apply any of this to my current playthrough, but I will the next time I start a new playthrough. I am restarting runs all the time, so this probably won't be a huge wait .

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

As I use 'bare chassis' rules, everything generally ends up customized somehow.
My only hard, fast rule is "one man, one mech" - each pilot has a personal ride and if one is unavailable, so is the other. Senior MechWarriors get first dibs on a new mech and can take rare/LosTech items with them when they 'move out.' The 'worst' mech in the stable is the pass around, given to a pilot when they 1.) initially join or 2.) when there is an 'odd man out' due to injury/damage and I'd be unable to fill the roster without him.

I've never thought about that, but it is an interesting idea. I do tend to give my Commander the best ride and tend to always place them in the same ride. It isn't a 'Rule' though as I do place other MechWarriors in the Commander's ride when they are out on medical. I do tend to always put a more senior MechWarrior in the Commander's mech though.

 

[Marauder3D]

I would say a couple rules on a mostly stock run.

1. Mechs must keep their flavor: Don't put 2 LRM 20 on a Thunderbolt, or 3 LRM 10 on a Centurion. Want a missile boat? Get a Treb, Dervish, Catalpult, Archer, etc.

2. Mussing with armor is ok on the Argo. Techs can mess with plating and adjust neuro helmets to correct for balance.

3. Adding or subtracting heat sinks is ok, but don't add jump jets.

Here would be my example, since I am playing a mostly stock run:

Salvaged a Thunderbolt 5S finally. I removed the machine guns and ammo from the right arm. I upped the SRM2 to an SRM6. Lastly, there is no CT ammo. I think that is a pretty acceptable 'mostly stock change.'

Everything is subjective though. I also salvaged a Marauder on this run, and my wife thinks a Marauder isn't a Marauder if it doesn't have a PPC and medium laser in each arm. My mostly stock mod was to drop the medium lasers, and add torso armor and a heat sink. She thought that broke the flavor of the machine. I disagree, but I do see her point.

I like your idea of a manufacturing world to make it more legit. Not sure how that would work out in my career. I'm 400 days in exactly, and only hit one manufacturing world this far.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I would say a couple rules on a mostly stock run.

1. Mechs must keep their flavor: Don't put 2 LRM 20 on a Thunderbolt, or 3 LRM 10 on a Centurion. Want a missile boat? Get a Treb, Dervish, Catalpult, Archer, etc.

2. Mussing with armor is ok on the Argo. Techs can mess with plating and adjust neuro helmets to correct for balance.

3. Adding or subtracting heat sinks is ok, but don't add jump jets.

Here would be my example, since I am playing a mostly stock run:

Salvaged a Thunderbolt 5S finally. I removed the machine guns and ammo from the right arm. I upped the SRM2 to an SRM6. Lastly, there is no CT ammo. I think that is a pretty acceptable 'mostly stock change.'

Everything is subjective though. I also salvaged a Marauder on this run, and my wife thinks a Marauder isn't a Marauder if it doesn't have a PPC and medium laser in each arm. My mostly stock mod was to drop the medium lasers, and add torso armor and a heat sink. She thought that broke the flavor of the machine. I disagree, but I do see her point.

I like your idea of a manufacturing world to make it more legit. Not sure how that would work out in my career. I'm 400 days in exactly, and only hit one manufacturing world this far.

That seems pretty close to how I am currently running my playthrough. I still replace a weapon 1 for 1 (So if it was an LRM5, it stays an LRM5). Other than that though, we perform similar mods.

I do think I will make one exception for Lostech. Any ER or Pulse weapon can replace it's equivalent (Ex: Medium swapped out for a Medium Pulse). As for the Gauss Rifle though, I can't see a good way to work that into my current run. It is a little too different when compared to other ballistics. When I start my new limited modification run (what we are talking about here), I will change that.

 

[Retic73]

In the base TT game customization is supposed to be extremely limited, otherwise there'd be no reason to have so many mechs for different roles. Thus, you might come up with consequences for any mods. Can we put an AC 10 on that SHD? Sure, but it was only designed for a AC 5, and this is 3025 when some tech abilities are at a low point, so maybe:
-there's a 1-in-18 chance it jams because the feed mechanism doesn't fit right (keep two 6-sided handy and roll them when you shoot; if you get a 2 or 12, you can't use it the rest of the fight.)
-we can't get the sucker to fit just right, so you have to sacrifice some armor on that torso or maybe a heat sink

Also, going with the whole high tech planet = able to mod mech deal... you might consider limiting faction specific mechs, i.e. a CTF can only be modded in Capellan space.

 

[Marauder3D]

I think the trick to the gauss rifle is that it could only fit on mechs that pack an AC10 or better. While that seems arbitrary, it has more mass and crits than a 8 ton, 3 crit AC/5. So cramming i into a Shadow Hawk or Marauder just isn't going to work.

So you are looking at Gauss Atlas/King Crabs/Highlanders and that oh-so-schmexy Banshee-S.

Who doesn't like Gauss/PPC++/PPC++ for 195 pin point damage at silly ranges?

 

[Scoughman]

My only concession to stock loadouts is the visual look, that might help you come up with a limitation.

For example many of the mediums (and even the Panther) can run 3-4 lasers on a single arm, and it just looks ridiculous - the arm would weigh a ton, not to mention the heat. For mechs like the Trebuchet, you can see that the visual hardpoints are designed for two lasers, not three, even though you can fit three. Some mechs on the other hand like the Wolverine or Griffin do look ok with 2-3 lasers or even ballistics on a single limb.

Similarly if a mech has extended barrels, like the Blackjack, and I want to cut a ballistic weapon, I will only replace it with a PPC or vice versa - that's the only energy weapon that comes with an extended barrel on that model. You also see it a lot with missile tubes where the mech just looks absurd if you cram an LRM 15 or 20 in or try to replace a Treb's LRM15 with an SRM6. It's too bad that there's no clear visual of the mech's loadout before you commit to the changes, but it's a nice way to keep things looking generally appropriate.

 

[Scoughman]

I think the trick to the gauss rifle is that it could only fit on mechs that pack an AC10 or better. While that seems arbitrary, it has more mass and crits than a 8 ton, 3 crit AC/5. So cramming i into a Shadow Hawk or Marauder just isn't going to work.

Totally, plus, it's usually a bad fit on those mechs anyway since putting so much tonnage into a single weapon really reduces the total damage output of the mech. In most missions where you have unlimited tonnage, it's hard to justify taking a Shadowhawk that only really puts out a single gauss round per turn when you could boat medium lasers for far higher DPS.

 

[Marauder3D]

I've never thought about that, but it is an interesting idea. I do tend to give my Commander the best ride and tend to always place them in the same ride. It isn't a 'Rule' though as I do place other MechWarriors in the Commander's ride when they are out on medical. I do tend to always put a more senior MechWarrior in the Commander's mech though.

My real question for you is do you allow yourself to move ammo? I think this would be a crazy tough modification for techs with ammo feeds, etc. However, I do it all the time, so long as you are moving it toward the launcher. That Thunderbolt I just salvaged? Ammo from CT to RT where the LRM15 sits.

It also gets funky when I need to split ammo or add ammo. My first heavy this playthrough was a Rifleman, which had the AC/5 ammo in the CT. So i ended up dropping a LL entirely, and added a second ton of AC ammo, moving each one to the arm that housed the AC/5. I had to think about that one for a while, but my Argo was pretty upgraded at that point, and I thought the ammo feeds would be much shorter, which Yang would approve of. So I went along with it. My wife said I was cheating my own rules.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

In the base TT game customization is supposed to be extremely limited, otherwise there'd be no reason to have so many mechs for different roles. Thus, you might come up with consequences for any mods. Can we put an AC 10 on that SHD? Sure, but it was only designed for a AC 5, and this is 3025 when some tech abilities are at a low point, so maybe:
-there's a 1-in-18 chance it jams because the feed mechanism doesn't fit right (keep two 6-sided handy and roll them when you shoot; if you get a 2 or 12, you can't use it the rest of the fight.)
-we can't get the sucker to fit just right, so you have to sacrifice some armor on that torso or maybe a heat sink

Also, going with the whole high tech planet = able to mod mech deal... you might consider limiting faction specific mechs, i.e. a CTF can only be modded in Capellan space.

I have heard about the TT limitations when it comes to things like reliability and failed mods. I think for simplicity sake I'd avoid all that. I don't really want to roll a die for jams and the such as I play. Even if I did, I'd probably screw up and forget anyway.

I also thought about faction specific mechs for factions specific planets, however I would also need to remember which mech is familiar to which faction. Some are easy (like the Cataphract with Capellans), but there are others that I don't know off hand.

Overall I like the ideas, however I think I'd like to keep things a bit simpler.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

My real question for you is do you allow yourself to move ammo? I think this would be a crazy tough modification for techs with ammo feeds, etc. However, I do it all the time, so long as you are moving it toward the launcher. That Thunderbolt I just salvaged? Ammo from CT to RT where the LRM15 sits...

I do move ammo in my playthrough. The only restriction I place on ammo placement is keeping it out of the legs. That just never sat right with me.

I don't think the Rifleman mod was cheating, I add ammo as well. I do try my best though to keep the weapon loadout intact, and instead try to remove something like a Heatsink, Jump Jet, or adjust armor to get that free ton.

As an example, I am currently running an Orion V. It is VERY hot, but pretty much also has no free room stock for heat sinks. I was going to leave the Medium lasers out for heatsinks and better overall heat management, but ultimately decided to keep the stock loadout. Luckily MechWarrior 'Archangel' has Coolant Flush, so he is a pro with the chassis.

 

[Marauder3D]

Yep, on my current run my A-team has two brawlers with Sure-Footed, Bulwark and Coolant Flush (name for my two little girls, Conan and Psycho), and another pilot with bulwark, coolant flush, and multishot.

Stock mechs are SO unforgiving on the heat curve, coolant flush really helps. I have a breaching shot pilot in the Marauder, and man, does that bad boy run hot.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Yep, on my current run my A-team has two brawlers with Sure-Footed, Bulwark and Coolant Flush (name for my two little girls, Conan and Psycho), and another pilot with bulwark, coolant flush, and multishot.

Stock mechs are SO unforgiving on the heat curve, coolant flush really helps. I have a breaching shot pilot in the Marauder, and man, does that bad boy run hot.

Yeah, stock mechs can be hot for sure! My current command mech is a Black Knight, and I am not sure there is a hotter mech in the game. Of course it was never designed for repeated 'Alpha Strikes', however if you do one, it can punish. Luckily for me though, the Black Knight has a lot of Heat Sinks and room. So, I replaced a Heat Sink with a Heatbank, another heat sink with an Exchanger, and lastly replaced a few Heat Sinks with Double Heat Sinks. The Black Knight is still hot as hell, but it is much more manageable now (especially because my Commander has a good Guts rating).

Again, I'm not really limiting myself equipment wise, just more so loadout wise. The Heatbanks and Exchangers are a bit of a stretch for true stock intent, however I just treat them as I would treat heat sinks.

 

[Marauder3D]

I have noted, that if you are lucky enough to find a Hunchback P, those have plenty of heat sinks for heavy fire. But there are so many mechs that are very tough to play stock. Try jumping and firing in a stock Griffin more than once!

 

[stjobe]

My only hard, fast rule is "one man, one mech" - each pilot has a personal ride and if one is unavailable, so is the other.

Last time I did this, I found it helpful to name the 'Mech the same as the MechWarrior's callsign - so Behemoth would pilot the SHD-2H Behemoth, Glitch would ride the VND-1R Glitch, and so on.

Really helps when you get a larger stable of MechWarriors.

 

[Brother Diogenes]

I don't think I've ever played a full-custom campaign... it just never felt right somehow. Though I have recently started a Career playthrough with all the standard difficulty (including Ironman ) to play for score, with all the limits off, so that's going to be weird.

But otherwise, I've had a blast playing with many of the rules mentioned above.

* One warrior = one mech, with options to upgrade going to seniority, naming the mechs to keep them straight. If a warrior was put out of action, an "understudy" might take over if there aren't enough functioning mechs to go around. (The lore generally doesn't forbid warriors from substituting for each other, but it's usually only under serious circumstances.)

* Stock only for all mechs except those driven by Elites, or using smaller weapons to fit in for larger weapons if the stock weapon isn't available. (In my second campaign playthrough, the Centurion in the Argo's hold spent a long time sporting an AC/5 before I could get a proper AC/10.) Replacing standard weapons with + versions is okay though, since even techs in the field can do that kind of work.

I absolutely love the idea of having to orbit a factory world to perform customization. I almost never spend time in orbit, using multiple lances to knock out as many contracts as I can before taking off and using travel time to repair and heal, so that would really change things up.

As a side note, one thing that I've started doing for roleplaying purposes is choosing mechwarriors based on their backgrounds and the company commander's preferences. I have a Kuritan and Davion who only accept nobles or military trained pilots (and never from an opposing house), a Taurian who prefers commoners and technicians, and a pirate who only takes pirates and criminals.

 

[theCarthaginian]

Brother - on Campaign playthroughs, I have a rule of 'Arugian Pilots Only'... RP rationale is that I'm employing MechWarriors that dropped out of the Directorate military to help liberate their homeworlds.