MEKWARS: LEGENDS
There are a few "custom" or "house" rules in play that originated on this server, were successfully play tested, and became very popular in the first Mekwars:Legends campaign; they are now even used in various BattleTech Campaigns! Most are in place to specifically address certain issues in game play and increase the enjoyment of the players participating in the campaign.
Balanced
Initiative: The random number generator
or RNG can be fickle. In an effort to remove some of the more egregious
instances of "getting screwed by the RNG", Mekwars: Legends uses an initiative balancing device coded into the Megamek client.
Meant to prevent extremely long runs of one side winning Initiative
(something that can single handedly decide a game) the following rule is
in effect in the Megamek client that we use:
For every consecutive turn that one side wins initiative the client will
assign a +1 to the losing side's initiative roll. This is a cumulative
effect that is reset to +0 when the side with the bonus assigned to it
wins initiative. This has the effect of making runs of longer then three
consecutive turns of losing initiative much rarer and helps to ensure
initiative will be far more balanced over the course of a battle.
(Example: side A has won initiative the first three turns of the game,
on the next initiative roll side B would gain a +2 modifier to its
initiative. If on turn 4 side A still wins the initiative roll, side B
would apply a +3 roll to the initiative roll on turn 5. When side B
finally wins initiative the bonus is set at +0 for both sides until one
side once again wins consecutive turns of initiative at which point the
client will begin to assign cumulative bonuses starting at +1 to the
losing side.)
Front Loaded Initiative Sequence: The makers of the Battle Tech rules realized after a while that something was needed to address tech advantage that numerically superior forces enjoyed under the standard initiative rules. Their solution was the infamous "force mods" that the community as a whole has found largely unsuitable for its use and disregarded. Unfortunately this has left us back to square one in some regards in efforts to curb the effectiveness of "swarms" under standard team initiative.The Megamek community has always been at the forefront of "fixing" the rules of the game to suit its needs, whether it be reforming the Battle armor rules or Battle Value rules. These following rules will appear in effect automatically when tasks start. Others may be added as the campaign progresses. A Mekwars server is a dynamic community and we as a community may see fit to add or remove rules as the community dictates.
Mekwars: Legends uses a modified team initiative in that the initiative sequence has been "front loaded", meaning that in cases where one side out numbers the other the larger force will move more units in earlier stages of initiative until both sides are moving one unit per turn within a movement phase.
(Example: Standard Battle Tech Initiative would see a sequence such as A,B,A,B, A,B,B, A, B, B, A, B,B while Mekwars: Legends front loaded Initiative would work as follows A,B,B,A,B,B,A,B,A,B.)
This is meant to help somewhat alleviate the advantage numerically large armies gain in the movement sequence of initiative.
Jumping PSR: Jump jets are depicted in Battle Tech largely as surprise or emergency mobility, useful for escaping an ambush or surprising an enemy with a jump from a hiding vantage or to maneuver behind an enemy. Hurtling a massive bi-pedal war machine through the air and landing is no simple task. The task gets even harder when you start adding obstacles. Battle Tech has by and large inconsistently applied rules to this maneuver . Jumping into water for example (you may be landing on shifting ground) forces a piloting check at -1. Jumping through a building causes a difficult piloting check. Yet Jumping into Heavy woods causes no check. To reselect the difficultly if jumping into a thick cluster of large trees we have created the optional rule that requires a mech to face a piloting skill roll (PSR) when jumping into heavy woods. While adding realism this has the secondary benefits of increasing the value of the piloting skill and making the "Spider Hunt" or "chase the Wraith/Viper" games less viable for those who would try to force such scenarios.
Modified Ground Map Ranges for Aero w/ Individual Weapons Ranges.
The addition to aerospace play on the megamek ground map has brought about many new and interesting tactical options for players. It has also highlighted the limitations of playing with said units without a second simultaneous atmospheric map and highlighted some undesirable effects of the standard rule set regarding aerospace fighters on the ground map, especially as far as their interaction with each other is concerned.
Firstly, in all levels of operations involving aerospace assets, whether it be on space, atmospheric or ground maps utilize a version of the StratOps Individual Weapon Fire rule. The rule removes the four generic range brackets for weapons on these maps and replaces them with the normal weapon ranges they are usually assigned in normal Battle Tech play (for example instead of a a PPC having a aero range of 1-6/7-12/-/- , under the rules in use on this server the PPC would revert to its 1-6/7-12/13-18/19-24 range brackets.)
A bit more radical however is how aero fighters now interact with each other on the ground map. In an effort to simulate the rules regarding a second low-altitude map used in conjunction with the ground map, we have decided to mesh the two concepts into one better suited for Megamek with its single map. The following rules should noted when playing with aerospace on ground maps on this server.
Aerospace fighters move as they normally would on ground maps, return flyovers are disabled, meaning that units exiting the map are out of play. Aerospace fighters interact with units on the ground map in their normal manner, though players are to be advised that the StratOps advanced AA rules are in effect.
Legends' Custom Rule: Aerospace fighters interact with each other for weapons fire as if they were on a atmospheric map 1 hex = 1 AeroHex rather than 17 hexes = 1 AeroHex. Elevation differences add +2 hexs per difference to a fighters range to its air-to-air target. NOTE under standard rules for all practical purposes fighters engage each other at close range at all times. This will drastically change that interaction. Please understand the difference that this change in conjunction with the above mentioned weapon brackets will have on air to air combat on a ground map.
Piloting Edge
Many players feel that the BV costs for leveling piloting is a bit prohibitive. While you can find a debate on the matter on just about any BattleTech forum, this cycle we have decided to address the issue by tying the Edge Skill to piloting.
Traditionally the Edge skill is meant to simulate luck or some sort of "blessed" pilot who things seem to go right for. We have decided to modify this definition and view edge as a representation of superior piloting skills. Instead of luck stopping a head hit or a TAC, it is the superior pilot who at the last moment moves his Mech to create a glancing blow or shield his cockpit. Call it luck or call it skill the end result is the same and the Edge skill is unchanged under this custom rule. However, how the Edge skill is obtained is changed. Edge has been removed as an independent skill. Instead each battle a pilot receives Edge points based on his piloting skill. The Edge points gained are determined as follows:
Piloting Skill Level
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Edge Points per battle
0
0
1
2
3
4
5