Standard ’Mech Weight (in tons)
Engine Type 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Technology Base: Inner Sphere
Compact Engine 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 7 8 8 9 10 10 10
Standard Fusion* 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8
Large Fusion** 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6
Light Fusion 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5
XL Fusion+ 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4
Large XL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4
XXL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3
Large XXL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3
Technology Base: Clan
Standard Fusion* 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8
XL Fusion 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5
Large XL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4
XXL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4
Large XXL Fusion 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3
Superheavy ’Mech Weight (in tons)
Engine Type 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 200 Technology Base: Inner Sphere
Compact Engine 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20
Standard Fusion* 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15
Large Fusion** 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12
Light Fusion 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10
XL Fusion† 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9
Large XL Fusion 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8
XXL Fusion 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6
Large XXL Fusion 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Technology Base: Clan
Standard Fusion* 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15
XL Fusion 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10
Large XL Fusion 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9
XXL Fusion 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8
Large XXL Fusion 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7
*Also Includes: Combat Vehicle Fission, Combat Vehicle Fuel Cell, and ICE engines. **Also Includes: Large ICE engine types †Also Includes: Large Light Fusion engine types
INTRODUCTION
Some units—typically ’Mechs—may feature specialty structure types that further modify their Alpha Strike Structure values. These special structure types are defined below.
Composite Internal Structure: Composite internal structure is less durable than most other ’Mech internal structures. When determining the Alpha Strike Structure value of a unit that uses this type of internal structure, multiply the final value by 0.5 and round the result up to the nearest whole number.
Reinforced Internal Structure: Reinforced internal structure is much more resilient than other structure types.
When determine the Alpha Strike Structure value of a unit using this type of internal structure, multiply the final value by 2.
CONVERTING WEAPONS
The following rules cover the conversion of a unit’s weaponry for Alpha Strike play. Many of the weapons and other components used in standard BattleTech have varied battlefield effects. Because Alpha Strike tries to account for these effects even under its simplified rules, the damage conversion process can get complicated. For this reason, players should familiarize themselves thoroughly with the conversion rules presented below—and all of the additional conditions that may apply to the unit they are converting—
before simply diving into this process.
General Conversion Rules
Under Alpha Strike, a unit’s standard attack value comes from the combination of most—if not, all—of its weaponry.
While some special attacks, such as those made using artillery and melee weapons, are covered under the rules determining which special unit abilities apply, the rest fall under the rules presented here.
All of a unit’s weaponry may be found within its Technical Readout entry under the Weapons and Equipment heading.
This part of the entry will not only list the number and types of weapons a unit carries, but also each weapon’s location on the unit’s chassis, and the weapons’ ammunition (if any). Weapon- or unit-enhancement equipment (such as Artemis fire control systems and triple-strength myomer), will also appear on this part of the unit’s entry.
At the most basic level, determining the attack value an Alpha Strike unit has at each range bracket is a simple matter of combining all of the appropriate Alpha Strike-converted damage values for the weapons shown in its Technical Readout entry. If the sum is greater than 0 at any Range bracket, but less than 0.5, the unit receives a damage notation of 0* for that bracket, as per the Minimal Damage rule (see p. 18). Otherwise, round all damage values up to the nearest whole number.
Adjustment for Heat: For ’Mech and fighter units, the damage values determined here may need to be adjusted for heat management. These rules are covered in Converting Heat (see pp. 115-116).
Infantry Units
The Alpha Strike Structure values for infantry units are the same regardless of the design, weight, or troop numbers assigned to the unit. For battle armor units, the Alpha Strike Structure value is 2, while conventional infantry units receive a Structure value of 1.
Support Vehicles
The Alpha Strike Structure value for a support vehicle depends on its motive type and may be influenced further by its weight.
Airship, Fixed-Wing and Satellite Units: These support vehicles use Structural Integrity, which convert to Alpha Strike Structure values using the rules for Aerospace Units, below.
Hover, Tracked, VTOL, Wheeled, and WiGE Units: For support vehicles using hover, tracked, VTOL, wheeled, or WiGE motive systems, find the sum of the unit’s internal structure values with the same method used for combat vehicles (1 point per location for every 10 tons of unit weight, rounded up). Divide this sum by 10, and round the result up to its nearest whole number to determine the unit’s Alpha Strike Structure value.
Rail Units: For support vehicles that use the rail motive system, find the sum of the unit’s internal structure values with the same method used for combat vehicles (1 point per location for every 10 tons of unit weight, rounded up). Divide this sum by 10 if the unit’s total weight is 300 tons or less, and round the result up to its nearest whole number to determine the unit’s Alpha Strike Structure value.
If the rail unit’s total weight is more than 300 tons, divide its total internal structure by 15, and round the result up for its final Alpha Strike Structure value.
Naval Units: For support vehicles with a naval (or submersible) motive system, the same process outlined for rail units above applies, with the sum of the unit’s total internal structure divided by a value based on the unit’s total weight (in tons), and rounding up:
For naval vessels 300 tons and under, the Alpha Strike Structure is equal to the sum of its internal structure points, divided by 10.
For naval units weighing 300.5 to 500 tons, divide the internal structure points by 15.
For naval units 500.5 to 6,000 tons in weight, divide by 20.
For naval units weighing 6,000.5 to 12,000 tons, divide by 25.
For naval units weighing 12,000.5 to 30,000 tons, divide by 30.
For naval units weighing more than 30,000 tons, divide the total number of internal structure points by 35.
Mobile Structures
For Mobile Structures, the Alpha Strike Structure value of the unit is equal to its BattleTech construction factor (CF) value, divided by 30. Round this figure up to the nearest whole number. Like armor, the Structure value for a Mobile Structure applies on a per-section basis, rather than across the entire unit.
At Medium range, the Mad Cat Mk II’s Gauss rifles deliver 1.5 Alpha Strike damage points each, while the ER medium lasers still deliver 0.7 apiece and the LRM 10s each still deliver 0.6. Combined, this yields a medium range attack value of 7 ([1.5 x 2 Gauss rifles] + [0.7 x 4 ER medium lasers] + [0.6 x 2 LRM 10s] = 7).
Finally, at Long range, the Clan Gauss rifles continue to deliver 1.5 points per weapon, but the ER medium lasers deliver nothing as they are now out of range. The LRM 10s aren’t, however, and continue to produce 0.6 damage each at this bracket. This yields a Long range value of 4 ([1.5 x 2 Gauss rifles]
+ [0.6 x 2 LRM 10s] = 4.2, round normally to 4).
Before adjusting for any other factors—such as the Mad Cat Mk II’s heat management capabilities—this gives the ’Mech an Alpha Strike damage value of 6/7/4.
Alpha Strike Weapon Conversion Tables
The Alpha Strike Weapons Conversion Tables provided in this chapter list all of the weapons and equipment that can deliver damage in combat to the appropriate Short, Medium, Long, and Extreme range brackets. These tables also provide information on how much heat these weapon systems will generate (for use with the Converting Heat rules, see pp. 115-116), whether they are compatible with a targeting computer (for damage modification purposes), and what damage-delivering special unit abilities may apply when mounted (see Special Unit Ability Damage Values, p. 116).
When converting units from BattleTech Technical Readouts, particular attention should be paid to the Technology Base and unit types being converted, so the proper tables are used in the process. Units built using a Clan technology base must always use the tables for Clan weapons. Units built using an Inner Sphere (or Primitive) technology base must always use the appropriate tables for Inner Sphere weapons. If a unit is built using “Mixed”
technology bases, the unit’s core tech base will be identified as either Inner Sphere or Clan, and items from the other tech base will be identified by a letter code of C for Clans, or IS for Inner Sphere.
The artillery and capital weapon tables are a special exception, as they feature a smaller selection of weapons, many of which are identical across tech bases. For units that possess such weapons, these tables are used regardless of the unit’s design base, with any tech-restricted items clearly marked for the appropriate base.
These tables provide “raw” damage values at each weapon range, which may be affected by other equipment featured on the unit in question—such as targeting computers and reduced ammunition loads. Other factors, like the unit’s heat management, may further impact its damage values accordingly. The variations that apply to the Alpha Strike conversion process will be explained further below.
Special Notes: The weapon conversion tables presented in this chapter also include helpful notes that indicate when the weapon’s presence may qualify for a special unit ability. For example, a unit that mounts a flamer will find that it may qualify for the Heat (HT#/#/#) special ability. The full details of whether and how a special unit ability applies will be found under that ability’s description, later in this section.
General Firing Arc Restrictions
Unless noted otherwise (per the rules described below), all of the weapons and equipment counted toward a unit’s Alpha Strike attack values are those designed to fire into its forward arc, plus any turrets mounted on the unit.
For ’Mech and ProtoMech units, all weaponry not specifically noted as having a rear facing (signified by an “(R)” in its location) is considered to have a forward firing position. If, however, the unit can deliver more damage to its rear arc than its front, use the rear arc weapons instead of the forward-firing weapons when finding its base attack values.
For vehicle units, all weaponry mounted in the unit’s front and side locations, plus the vehicle’s turret—including any pintle-mounted or sponson-turret weapons—are counted as forward firing weapons, and added to the unit’s base attack values.
For aerospace and conventional fighter units, all weaponry mounted in the unit’s nose and wing locations (again, when not specifically identified as rear-firing) are counted toward the unit’s base attack values. Bombs are not counted toward these damage values.
For infantry units—both conventional and battle armored—all weapons are presumed to have a forward facing.
For all other unit types—specifically, aerospace Small Craft, DropShips, JumpShips, WarShips, mobile structures, and even Large, Very Large, and Super-Large support vehicles, multiple firing arcs must be computed instead. These exceptions are described in further detail below.
Rear Weapons: Note that ’Mechs, ProtoMechs, and fighter units equipped with rear-mounted weapons may receive a special unit ability to reflect this feature. The rules for this ability will be covered under Special Unit Abilities (see pp. 116-133).
Turrets: If a unit possesses turret-mounted weapons (not counting sponson turrets or pintles) all of the weapons mounted in the turret must be added together to find the turret’s own attack value (per the Turret (TUR) special ability see p. 133). Bear in mind that any turret-mounted weapons that also have their own special abilities (such as AC, FLK, IF, LRM, and so forth) will also need to be assessed to the turret as well.
Particularly large units—such as mobile structures and large-size support vehicles—may possess multiple turrets. The rules for converting attack values for those units are explained under their specific headings.
For example, the stats given for the Mad Cat Mk II (a Clan BattleMech found in Technical Readout: 3067) shows that the ’Mech carries 2 Gauss rifles, 4 ER medium lasers, and 2 LRM 10 launchers (which are not augmented by Artemis fire control systems). All of this firepower is of Clan technology, so the Clan standard weapons table is used, where it is revealed that the Short range damage value for each Gauss rifle is 1.245 points, while each ER medium laser delivers 0.7 points at Short range, and each LRM 10 launcher delivers 0.6 points at the same bracket. Combined, this means the Mad Cat Mk II’s Short range value would be 6 points ([1.245 x 2 Gauss rifles] + [0.7 x 4 ER medium lasers] + [0.6 x 2 LRM 10s] = 6.49, rounded normally to 6.)
INTRODUCTION
ALPHA STRIKE TACTICAL ANNEX
ABSTRACT SPACE COMBAT
ALPHA STRIKE FORCE BUILDING
ALPHA STRIKE SCENARIOS
EXPANDED REPAIR AND SALVAGE RULES BATTLETECH CONVERSIONS
ALPHA STRIKE POINT VALUE CALCULATIONS Physical Combat Weapons
A number of ’Mech units feature equipment that can be used in physical combat, such as swords, hatchets, lances, and even industrial equipment like chainsaws and pile drivers.
The damage delivered by these weapons is not factored into a unit’s attack values, however, but instead is treated as part of the Melee (MEL) special unit ability. To find the list of which weapons fall into this category, consult that ability’s description on p. 127.
Targeting Computers
Any unit that includes a targeting computer in its stats will automatically affect that damage values for all weapons linked to those targeting computers. The weapons linked to a targeting computer are all of those the unit carries which are targeting computer-compatible (noted by a “Y” under the TC column header).
If a unit possesses a targeting computer, multiply the damage value for all weapons that are compatible with it by 1.10.
Missile Launchers (LRMs, SRMs, MMLs, and MRMs)
In the standard conversion tables, players will find that several missile weapon types possess more than one damage value at each range bracket. This reflects the weapons’
damage when augmented by special fire control equipment known as Artemis (for LRM, SRM, and MML launchers) or Apollo (MRM launchers). On a unit’s Technical Readout, such fire control systems will appear either as part of the weapon’s nomenclature (e.g. LRM 15 w/ Artemis IV), or they will be listed immediately after the weapons they modify.
If a missile launcher lacks any sort of Artemis or Apollo fire control systems, the damage value furthest to the left must be applied for each of the weapon’s range brackets. If the launcher is working with an Artemis IV or Apollo system, the second value is used instead.
For Clan missile launchers, which have access to an even more enhanced version of Artemis (Artemis V), a third value is used if the launchers are using that equipment.
Other Weapons and Equipment
Other items may appear on a unit’s Technical Readout entry that do not appear in any of the weapon conversion tables provided here. Players will likely find many of these items are special equipment that do not deliver damage, such as active probes and ECM suites. The effects of these items, if any, will be addressed in the special unit abilities section on pp. 116-133.
Items not found in the weapon conversion tables and not accounted for in any other way within these conversion rules have no effect in Alpha Strike game play, and are thus ignored.
Aerospace Small Craft, DropShips and JumpShips
Aerospace Small Craft, DropShips, and JumpShips have four firing arcs: Nose, Left, Right, and Rear. The damage values for each arc must be calculated separately. When translating these units from BattleTech to Alpha Strike, the rules in this Ammunition
The damage value for any ballistic or missile weapon that does not have at least 10 shots assigned to it must be multiplied by 0.75, with the following additional conditions.
Ultra Autocannons: If the weapon is an Ultra autocannon, the 0.75 multiplier applies if the weapon carries less than 20 shots.
Rotary Autocannons: If the weapon is a Rotary autocannon, the 0.75 multiplier applies if the weapon has less than 60 shots.
Multi-Missile Launchers (MMLs): For multi-missile launchers (MMLs), use the average value for the weapon’s ammunition (add together both ammo counts, divide by 2, and round down), to determine how many shots the weapon has available.
Rocket Launchers: Do not modify the damage for rocket launchers (their one-shot nature is already accounted for in the conversion tables).
Other One-Shot Missile Weapons: Any missile launchers described as “One-Shot” (OS) must multiply their damage value by 0.1.
Battle Armor Weapons: For battle armor units, the 0.75 multiplier applies only to missile launchers, not ballistic or energy weapons of any type.
Artillery Weapons
When adding up the attack values for a unit’s weaponry, artillery weapons are treated as a special unit ability, and thus do not add their damage values to the unit’s standard attacks.
The only notable exception to this is when an aerospace unit mounts an artillery cannon (Thumper Cannon, Sniper Cannon, or Long Tom Cannon), as these weapons function more like giant autocannons in air-to-air combat.
Conventional Infantry
In BattleTech game play, conventional infantry units are already abstracted in terms of damage, so their Alpha Strike values must be computed differently than it is for other units. When reading a conventional infantry unit’s Technical Readout stats, damage is listed as a maximum level per number of active troopers, starting with the unit’s potential damage at full strength, and descending from there for smaller platoon or squad sizes (troops sizes shown in parentheses).
For example, a standard Clan foot infantry unit—full sized at 25 troops—lists its maximum damage as “12 (25-24)”, meaning the unit could deliver up to 12 points of BattleTech-scale damage as long as it has 24 to 25 surviving troopers. This same data also shows that if the unit were educed to only 12 surviving troopers, its maximum damage would be reduced to 6 points—as the entry shows “6 (13-12)”.
Alpha Strike uses a roughly average damage per unit when determining the attack capabilities of a conventional infantry unit, and thus uses as its basis the infantry’s BattleTech damage value at an “average” number of troops. This is found by taking the unit’s maximum troop
size and cross-referencing it against the Infantry Troop Factor Table. The “Troop Factor” obtained with this table identifies the number of troopers that should be used to find the unit’s dam-age value for conversion purposes. For example, an infantry unit made up of 28 troopers would have a Troop Factor of 17, and would thus assess convert its Alpha Strike damage us-ing the unit’s damage at 17