Battletech is back!!!

[mirth]

There are precisely 2 billion Battletech products available for purchase on Amazon.

How many have you purchased so far?

[Gusington]

All.

What do you recommend to start off and learn the universe?

[Jarhead0331]

Yes it does. Speed and cover do matter. Facing does as well.
I just think you don't fully grasp it yet. :)

I grasp it just fine. That's presumptuous and insulting for you to say.

Aparently one smiley wasn't enough. I didn't mean to be patronizing at all. It was a harmless jab. 
My apologies.

No way, bro! I put an even happier smiley in my post!!! 

[mirth]

All.

What do you recommend to start off and learn the universe?

Read the wiki. I played the tabletop game 25-30 years ago and read a bunch of the source material back then. The Technical Readouts were always fun to read through.

[Gusington]

They must be because there are like 1000 tech manuals.

[Yskonyn]

All.

What do you recommend to start off and learn the universe?

This is a nice introductory guide:
http://www.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleTechUniverseGuide-1.pdf

Sarna.net is an expansive wiki with more background info than you can read in your lifetime!

[Gusington]

Thank you!

[Yskonyn]

Yes it does. Speed and cover do matter. Facing does as well.
I just think you don't fully grasp it yet. :)

I grasp it just fine. That's presumptuous and insulting for you to say.

Aparently one smiley wasn't enough. I didn't mean to be patronizing at all. It was a harmless jab. 
My apologies.

No way, bro! I put an even happier smiley in my post!!! 

You Americans are weird sometimes. :D   

[Nefaro]

There are precisely 2 billion Battletech products available for purchase on Amazon.

I'm not even sure they have an equivalent of a "core set" anymore, for the tabletop.

As if BT was divided up into a bajillion smaller packages.  Got damned confusing, so I didn't really dig much more than my initial investigation. 

[mirth]

I'm not even sure they have an equivalent of a "core set" anymore, for the tabletop.

I think they do or at least did a few years ago. I bought a starter-type box a while back. Need to start playing it with the kids.

[JasonPratt]

Quick primer for Gus:

1.) humans migrated toward the galactic center, then fringe elements migrated back toward the rim again, and then (possibly after this game?) clan'd up to invade the Inner Sphere core regions of the galaxy.

2.) Inner Sphere groups are run by feudal noble houses (more or less). Clans are run by, well, feudal clans (more or less). IS tend to be more old-timey sophisticated. Clans are rougher in culture, but proving to be much better innovators in weapons and tactics. Clans don't infight quite as much as the Houses (still) do, although the Clans are still competing with each other. IS outnumber Clans by a lot, but their tech and tactics and political infighting keep them from just steamrolling the Clans. The game's campaign will no doubt fill in the more specific context for whatever fighting is going on.

3.) Aircraft and tanks (and other AFVs) and infantry are still around as war platforms, but not usually simulated in the computer games anymore. (Mechwarrior 4's set of games did feature other weapon platforms including capital ships. They tended to die easy.) Mechs are expensive but due to their ability to stack and concentrate large weapons in a fashion more mobile than even tanks, they've more-or-less taken over the land functionality of tanks.

4.) Being able to customize your loadouts on your mechs (and in games like this, to manage your mech pilots) is a huuuuuggggeellly important part of the game. That includes tweaking how much armor should be put on the various parts of your mech(s). There are maximum limits per chassis of course.

5.) Heat management and thus heat sinks are also hugely important. But sinks usually take up physical slots on the mech that could be used for weapons, ammo, or special sensors or other tactical packages. Putting heat sinks in leg slots, if possible, is typically agreed to be ideal in case there are bodies of water around to help cool off the mech faster.

6.) For that matter, weight management and slot management are hugely important factors to customizing effective mech loadouts. Every chassis is categorized by the amount of weight it can carry and still function properly; in practice this weight is simply never-exceeded, and serves as a big limit in how mechs are kitted out. In strategic and RPG versions of the game this is even more important, because there are wider reasons to have mechs with various capabilities and roles. In tactical games, whether turn-based (like this one) or real-time (like the Mechwarrior series), the "roles" for mechs tend to be more limited because every mech needs to be able to fight and survive in a front-line anti-mech situation.

7.) There are basically three weapon systems with variations within the basic types. Grouping when these weapons fire singly or together can be important.

7.1.) "Ballistic": these are the cannons, occasionally small enough to be packs of short-distance machine guns. They take up the most room on a mech with the most weight, but generate the least heat, for their damage output, and need ammunition which also takes up room and weight. The ammo doesn't have much explosive punch, being mainly kinetic. Damage drops off over distance to zero. Smaller calibers reload faster (reloading for all weapons is automatic but does take certain amounts of time). Some games account for the ability to dodge at long ranges due to flight times. Guns are rated in caliber sizes that directly tell the damage of shells: an autocannon (AC) 2 will do 2 damage per hit (potentially, modified down by various factors); an AC20 will do 20. Smaller calibers shoot farther than larger ones, usually: machine-gun packs are worthless over 150 or 200 yards, but an AC2 will reach out to 700 or 1000 yards before losing damage to range, while an AC20's maximum damage distance might be 300y. LBX weapons are long-range shotguns which fragment to spread damage around the point of impact instead of directing the damage. "Ultra AC" are more expensive cannons which use better tech to compress two or three barrels into the slot of one gun; depending on the game they may also have special packs of ammo, so that one shot of normal AC is one shell while one shot of UltraAC would be two or three shells. They tend to shoot hotter than the same number of regular AC, and Ultras can jam if shot too often. (A game factor to help offset their damage output.) There are also rotary cannons which are much shorter range for their calibre. Finally there are gauss rifles (magnetic rail guns) which don't have any explosive power (so their ammo won't explode if hit within a mech either).

7.2.) "Energy": these are mostly lasers, but also flame throwers and particle projection cannons. They generate the most heat, naturally, but take up the least room and weight for their damage. At light speed their shots cannot be dodged after shooting. In some games, lasers stay on for short periods of time when shooting and can be walked around the target. Pulse lasers are more like machine gun bursts but deliver all their damage more quickly per shot. PPCs are like ballistic weapons, all the damage at once -- they also disrupt electrics on mechs they strike. Energy strikes naturally increase the target heat more than other weapons, which is the whole point of flamethrowers (which do paralyzing short range damage). Energy weapons never run out of ammo, which is a MAAASSSIIVVEE advantage. But for their damage they're naturally the shortest range weapons. Larger energy weapons shoot farther, unlike ballistics (in this game).

7.3.) "Missile": these are average heat, weight, size, for their damage. They use ammo packs like guns, of course. Mostly there are short range and long range missiles. (Some medium missile systems exist in some games.) SRMs have larger warheads, LRMs smaller, but all missiles of a range-type do the same explosive damage per hit. The damage difference between a SRM2 and a SRM6, for example, is that one shoots two 5-point missiles at you and the other shoots six 5-point missiles. Missiles are relatively easy to dodge, although LRMs are always guided -- they necessarily require missile lock unless volleyed at close range like SRMs. Depending on the time-frame of the game and/or which general 'side' you're playing, you can get guided SRM systems, called "streak", but their range is shorter and/or they weigh more. SRMs are much like the shotguns of Battletech; LRMs are the ballistic arc arty.

7.4.) There's also a limited 4th category of defensive weapon -- I don't recall if it's nominally missile or ballistic -- which shoots down nearby missiles (friend or foe!) passing through its range.

7.5.) There are also various electronic warfare packages which help mask your mechs and allies nearby; which crack such masking (the same item can do both); and which help with targeting for you and for your allies.

[mirth]

That was a "quick" primer?

[RyanE]

Shortest and most concise I have seen in years.

[SirAndrewD]

That was a "quick" primer?

It's quick for the Battletech universe.

[mirth]

Giant battling robots pretty much covers it.