Battletech: Using Custom Mechs in Your Games

[@Joric78]

I consider custom mechs the same as any other custom vehicles, and while it might not fit with a disciplined military force, I like the idea of Mercs in particular having a hot rodder mentality.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I agree. Mercs and Periphery to me scream modded machines.

[@franksmedley7372]

Hello COG I have been playing Battletech since its release in 1984. I played, nearly every weekend, from close of business on Fridays, until early evening on Sunday. Not only that, but I did this for over 2 decades. Almost from the beginning, I created my own Mechs and modifications on existing variants of existing Mech designs. So, I both made up totally new Mechs, and 'fiddled around' with existing variants available. For instance... a modification of a variant of the Locust LCT-10X... where the MGs and ammo are removed and the 2 tons now available put into a 3rd medium laser, and a ton of armor. Another example: The Grusome Mech GRU-5M... Based upon the basic Atlas, but where, I removed all weapons and began from there to alter the design. For this Mech I outfitted the Mech with 3 large lasers, and 10 Machine Guns (all feeding from a single ton of ammo). The remainder of the 'excess' tonnage was devoted to single heat sinks... far more than were actually needed to keep the Mech cool. This gave the Mech redundancy in heat sinks, allowing for Enemy fire to damage several without impacting the Mech's ability to cool itself. Yet another example was the 'Kitten' KTT-3N... a 45 ton Mech moving 4-6-4, with 3 medium lasers, and 10 MGs and a single ton of MG ammo. This Mech was designed mostly for City Fighting, and difficult terrain battles, where the unit can often jump, and still use its weaponry to good effect by jumping close to enemies. Another example of a variant of an existing variant Mech would be the Marauder MAD-Huntress-GL. This Mech was redesigned to have 2 Gauss Rifles, 1 ER PPC, and 3 ER medium lasers, with a total of 11 Double Heat Sinks. I have long used 'home-brewed' Mechs, as well as altered variants of existing Mech types. In my designing, I try to keep the newly created Mechs looking somewhat like the existing designs. So, referring to the Grusome above, when I fielded the unit on the tabletop, I use an Atlas model to represent the new Mech. I do make sure that the opponent is made aware that the unit is NOT an Atlas or an Atlas variant. And if asked, I allow the player to peruse the Mech Sheet before battle starts. The only exception to this general 'rule of thumb' is surprise battles, where a Battle Master is in charge of the game, and hidden movement, as well as the Defender being able to field units the Opponent knows nothing about. For instance, a City Defense battle. I used the Kitten and Grusomes to good effect in such a game, coming out of cover to 'mug' the invaders, and often totally destroy them before word of their attack could be transmitted back to their Command. Believe me, waiting until your unit passes, and then stepping out of cover and running up to point-blank range behind and alpha striking 3 large lasers, followed by 20 MGs, it more than enough to totally 'kill' a Mech of almost any design (excepting Awesomes). And should you survive that... and turn to return fire, a Kitten will leap over intervening buildings to backstab you with their 3 medium lasers, and 10 MGs, to finish the job. I did this in a City Defense battle, with hidden movement, placement, and covered locations, minefields, infantry in buildings, and even tanks inside buildings as well (one good use was a Parking Garage... 4 'levels' tall, with over 12 tanks inside the structure. They only had to 'retreat' when the garage took too much damage and was in danger of falling... the tanks killed something like 7 Light Mechs and 2 Mediums, before they were forced to withdraw to a new position). Doing the unexpected can win battles. Fielding units with 'odd' configurations can also 'tilt' the battlefield into one's favor. I have played, literally, hundreds of battles in the last 39 years. About half of them using either new Mechs I have designed, or modifications to existing variants listed in the various source materials. It can be 'fun' if both players field 'new' Mechs against one another, with neither side knowing the exact details of the opponent's Mechs. In such cases, surprises abound, and can often lead to more memorable battles. Ones that are talked about, and remembered, over coffee and your choice of small foods (coffee and donuts, tea and biscuits, soda and hot dogs, etc). Some of the battles I've fought over the decades are still remembered by those that played in them, or watched from the side lines as they were played. Heck, I recently found one of my old Playing Group (we never named ourselves) online, as the discussion proceeded, he suddenly exclaimed "It's YOU! I remember that battle!" and both of us ended up spending far more time chatting online that either of us had expected to. Enough so, that both of use were sleep-deprived the next day. :) So, yes... I have both designed totally new Mechs and Vehicles, as well as altered existing variants of Mechs and vehicles to my desires. And fielded both on the tabletops.

[@wouterw.2945]

I see no reason not to. After all, many mechs are into a family for generations so it's only reasonable that customisations were made along the way. There's also the RPG element of the game to consider, which makes these kind of tweaks only more normal. BT was never a game that's very big on game balance, true BV paved over some of these imbalances but it's still not perfect. For me, one of the great things about BT is the fact you can tune your mechs to match your playing style and give them a story along the way, this is what it makes stand out from all the rest. You can find construction rules in the rulebook from the box set (a game of armoured combat) and that's a set meant for beginners. As for conversions, I usually don't bother with that. Mainly because I have so many mechs left to paint it would take me forever if I'm also going to convert them. By the way, you're doing a great job with these videos and your painted mechs are real eyecandy.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words - I'm having a lot of fun making them. I really like your take on this - the RPG aspects of it. Mechs being in families for decades or even centuries, one would think that a pilot or crew with the resources *would* mod them to their style after becoming expert in them. I really like this approach!

[@wouterw.2945]

@@CrankyOldGamer One of the reasons I like BT so much is because of the scalability, with almost the same ruleset you can play games from very small RPG games to system wide Warfare. I've always been a player who leans more towards a narrative style of playing and who shies away from competitive games, I like for my games to have a meaning. That being said, I agree with your point of view when you're going to play with more than one lance a side, demo's, tournaments or quick pick-up games, but most games I play are more about the story or just a couple of friends having a good time. So I see no reason not to try other different aspects of the game.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

@@wouterw.2945 Im with you. My gaming buddies and I have started a campaign and we are enjoying it a lot. Uneven battles and some story behind the missions makes for much better games in my humble opinion!

[@MADSAHAD]

Back in my day, the group of players I played with, we all made our own battlemechs. We allowed each other to use these mechs in campaigns but before the start you had to show a tech sheet proving that your mechs were "legal". Now as the campaign went on and as battle damage was taken and repairs were made, we were able to modify the battlemechs that were still within operational limits. I know, we went deep down the rabbit hole,LMAO! Alot of the time, homemade battlemechs and the standard battlemechs changed as the campaign dragged on. This is why the game of Battletech is so amazing. I don't play as much as I did in the late 80s and early 90s but the lure and love is still there. Some of the best campaigns I had was where I started off with a mixed bag of homemade and standard mechs and by campaign end not one of my operational mechs resemble what they were at the beginning. That's because we implemented a system for repairing battle damage, we had a limited amount of repair equipment (spare parts, ammo, armor plates, etc.) As repairs are made, the amount of equipment depletes, if a mech is out of the repairable limit, what can be salvaged is added to the repair equipment. Also each player can house and or store their repair equipment as they see fit and these stockpiles were prime targets in our campaigns, for if the enemy can not maintain their fighting force, you have half way won the campaign. This lend a few of us to become dependent on energy based weapon load outs as ammo is always a concern and took up space and tonnage in the repair equipment. But having mechs that are energy based, being able to repair heatsinks and having spare heatsinks became a concern. The headaches are limitless and the fun more intense. You could play a campaign that pit two regimental size forces against each other only to come out with two battalion size forces of patchwork mechs if you were lucky. I love this game!!!! I wish more people played it and felt the same enjoyment as I did and do, thank you for making this video, sorry I am late to the comment section.

[@douglasrood2650]

When I started playing Battletech, there was very little lore and the game was being sold as a game where you could make your own mechs. It was marketed on custom mechs and the mechs that were included were just examples of what you could do. Custom mechs are a big part of the game and should always be, you simply have to do it right and agree on the design with the other players.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Agreed. I think its all about the "contract" you set up with your player base. Ive personally found that the mechs that are cannon are a lot of fun because of their limitations. It would be amazing if there were mech "parts" that you could put together for custom mechs, Ill bet someone with a design app and a 3d printer has already thought of this!

[@Helcarexe26]

Way back in the day before there were all these books we made custom mechs for campaigns for a Solaris Games. Now days I'm just modding current mechs with minor changes to the weapon systems.

[@mr.gunzaku437]

Same here

[@lincolnwesterlund6187]

Just FYI.. at 2:43 you are talking about construction rules.. the A Game of Armored Combat boxset rules do have construction rules in them.. VERY LIMITED, but great to introduce the IDEA that mech customization is possible.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Great point! That might be a better place to start as the full on construction rles in TW might be daunting.

[@DocDelray]

I came into the overall world of Battletech when I was a little kid playing the PC MechWarrior games. So I was spoiled when it came to the customization options with how you can potentially build a mech. So of course, I pretty much solely play with custom loadouts unless the people I play with state ahead of time that they only play with and against published variants. I can understand why people would be against that since it's super easy to show up with a lance of lights that are loaded up like an Atlas. But to help with that I've got a very strict set of rules that I use when building a machine in Skunk Werks. 1, All tech is limited to tournament and basic legality and a set era for play, don't even look at that experimental tech! 2, No mixing Clan and IS tech 3, Mechs must start as a baseline variant before rebuild, only official mech variants can be used, IE; none of that made up MWO junk 4, Weapons can only be equipped via hardpoints based off the baseline variant 3.5/4.5, In the case of Omnimechs these rules can be bent ever so slightly as Omnipods make it possible to mount virtually any weapon anywhere on a mech making base variants virtually impossible to gauge 5, The BV of the mech can not exceed that of the base variant by more than a few hundred points dependent on the weight class of the mech, it's hard to field a Griffin that has the same value as a Marauder 6, Beers I also make it very clear ahead of time that I use these custom builds when I play. Everyone I play with knows ahead of time and they all know how I build them so they can call me out on it if I show up with a bullshit mech.

[@Hacker_lyx]

Edit: warning wall of text rip. Battle value is always a must. Tonnage will never give you a "balanced" game, especially if you're playing IS v Clans. As far as Custom mechs go, I'd say as long as both/all players are using all custom mechs and battle value, there should be no limit other than Era and Rules Level. We normally play a narrative that we're Ace Merc companies running our own custom mechs. Having worked for various houses and fought various opponents gives up access to cutting edge weapons etc. The custom builds tend to have their own personality, based on which player built them and what new tools they're trying out. I really like being able to bring my own flavor to the table top. When it comes to the actual Models and Minis. As long as it's Painted and is the chassis you're claiming it is. You can run any weapon system or modification you want and just "proxy" the base model. I don't mind someone standing in a Catapult C4 for a Catapult K2. They're both Catapults and the silhouette matches well enough. The same goes for custom mechs. At the end of the day I play Battletech because there is that freedom. You can pick and choose any rule out of the advanced rules as long as all players agree. Build mechs in any manner you see fit. Include VTOLs and jets, and go all the way up to Aerospace combat with capitol ships. It's also the cheapest option to get into when it comes to table top games. You can buy 4 models and have the only Lance you'll ever need, then just customize those mechs as much as you want. You can also just play on Hex maps, not needing to buy and paint terrain or build a gaming table. Then there's the added benefit of only needing 4 models, dice and a folded map sheet to go and play. I don't have to tote around 45 Eldar Guardians, Wriath Knights and Vehicles. I can pop by a friend's place, play 3-4 turns and be able to call it in 1-2 hours.

[@tenchraven]

Bashing your own mechs is a BattleTech tradition going back 35 years. I have too many mods to count. Firebug (Locust with flamers rather than MGs), PPC Urbies (swap for the AC), ARCHammers (ARC with the LRMs pulled for PPCs and MGs). That mechs can be kitbashed is canon- there are one offs from novels and games, and in my head frankenmechs were common at the end of the 3rd SW. As I've said before, BattleTech is lore driven, making it as much an RPG and it is a minis wargame. (Ive never found a good way to merge TT BT with a TT RPG, but if I found one, your mechs would be more companion NPCs than equipment. Again, 3025-3054 is my era of choice, so you have glitchy bits in everyone's mechs unless you're House forces with House mechs.) As for the minis... The box came with carboard standies once upon a time, and they were tourney legal 30 years ago. Fine, thats all you need NOW IMO.

[@darkstorminc]

On variants, some mechs such as the Phoenix Hawk could see a variant that drops the mg for flamers rather than the D which swaps for ml.

[@thysvandenbos1324]

I've been playing TT Battletech since the early '90's, and one of the things that appealed to me was the option to customize 'mechs. Unfortunately, the existing minis didn't have the range of options available until about ten years ago through Iron Wind Metals who came up with great selections and variants of any 'mech possible, and even that company has severely limited their options since. I've always stuck to the idea that "'mech X looks are based on 'mech Y's design" and went from there. For truly unique -looking 'mechs I had to become an artist with what bits I had left over from other games that I thought would look appropriate to my configuration. The biggest hurdle I've encountered is the small size of the minis and the lack of model kits for them (there used to be a choice of some designs [like a dozen or so different 'mechs only] in the '80's through Robotech in the 1/35th or "museum" scales). Since then I started using the smallest scale minis from any universe that "look right for the purpose", including GHQ's lines for the game Micro Armour, both modern as well as all eras/world wars/conflicts. As I really love tanks in my armies (this drives my opponents up the wall as my designs are very effective) the argument was that a "humanoid battle platform isn't feasible in a battlefield role under the current mechanical and technological terms" until we come into the "Cost Factor" and feasibility of it (tanks are cheaper to produce by a large factor...). The option new players have in my gaming group is simple: THIS is how we do things here, if you don't like it there's the damn door!" If you have an open mind you can always ind enjoyment in almost any game, just have fun with ut and, if possible, learn something from it. I wish all or some of this is helpful to someone out there; gaming is so much fun, and we're never too old to play with toys!

[@Funkin_Disher]

Coming from an RPG background I definitely have custom mechs. My personal ride is a heavily battered and rebuilt enforcer with an AC/5, SRM 4, LRM 5 and two medium lasers plus the original small laser. Armor was topped up to full with 11 heatsinks. It comes down to how you see the lore in relation to your force, is it total war with each model churned out en masse by the factions or each mech has a legacy and has been personalized over their hundred of years lifespans. Both fit the setting.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Well said. I feel that a merc lances play well toward the RPG very nicelu. Rebuild after rebuild creates mechs really unique in nature.

[@ogrehaslayers605]

My groups have ALWAYS only played with custom mechs! Designing units (all units: from infantry all the way up to warships) is such a big part of the game. Back in the day it was completely custom mechs with custom names. Nowadays we play with custom "standard" mechs. Basically each miniature is totally customized. It's as much fun, if not more fun than actually playing the game. 👍

[@CrankyOldGamer]

The offline gaming is often the most fun!

[@maygayming5275]

Having the ability to make and play my own mechs or custom variants is the reason I play Battletech. I probably wouldn't play the game if I couldn't do this. Also there is a perfect stock mech with a perfect variant. The Awesome 8Q and Awesome 9Q. I have a lot of fun making and playing them. These days I do a lot of upgrade variants of mechs I like and they don't all come out perfect. Also there are some really bad mechs with really cool models like the Assassin so modding them to make them playable is cool. But I'm considering doing an extreme modification of an Assassin model to give it a partial wing that's a Stinger LAMs (or whatever I can get that works) wings and replacing the left arm with the Stinger's. Because fun lore and stuff. Has basis in universe/lore friendly reasons as the thing constantly gets limbs and torsos shot off but has never had the pilot taken a single damage or lost the CT so I made up some fun lore for that and gave it a reason to have a partial wing, pilot thinks LAMs are cool and a stoned mechanic thought it would be a good idea. The last game I played with it the thing lost it's left arm to a Gauss rifle. That's just how I like to play the game though. Whatever is most fun is what people should play.

[@thurin84]

our group is playing in a solaris campaign and we almost exclusively use custom mechs. a great many of the designs a friend and i designed way back in the day in the 80s. have had a lot of fun testing one design vs another. one of the 1st things i did after playing "battledroids" for the 1st time was mech design. had to mod many of them when it became battletech. made a lot of custom vehicles as well.

[@HeadHunterSix]

When we first began to play Battletech in my college days of the mid-80s, many of the players (myself included) used customized 'Mechs. We created characters from the Mechwarrior rulebook, and chose our 'Mechs from whatever tonnage we rolled during the process. The OPFOR were controlled by a game master, who chose enemy units with challenge as the primary concern (balance was secondary) My own 'Mech was a Battlemaster whose armaments were replaced with an AC/20 and an LRM-20 (2 tons ammo each), as well as jump jets. It was powerful in combat, until the day I failed a Piloting roll for a DFA and the fall damage caused an ammo explosion. They could have buried the pilot in the ashtray, I'd imagine there wasn't any piece left larger than the size of a quarter.

[@mr.e1944]

In 1989 I played one game of Battletech. We actually made our own Mechs. We did use some of the pre-mades, but I think after playing Dungeons and Dragons it was just what you did. I don’t remember what minis we used. I made a 100 ton mech that looked like an Armadillo. I packed it with lots of heat sinks, Armour and 6 or 8 large lasers. I think I also had room so I added some machine guns, but we ended up not playing with any troops. After I opened a full blast of multiple lasers my friend told me that I couldn’t have so many. He said a technical builtin came out which limited these, but he didn’t have it. I remained suspicious about that to this day.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I think maybe you just smashed him with a superior mech design and maybe he got upset! 😆

[@tmiles7876]

Full custom mechs would be rare unicorns. Mechs that make your sensors literally go 'WTF is that'. Weapon swaps, though, personally, I think would be the norm. Swap a PPC for a Large Laser and add two heat sinks. Drop a half ton of MG ammo for some more armor. Lost your AC arm and all that is available was a new laser, you can either have nothing or get a laser in the arm. DFA wargaming has 'limited' upgrades which to my head cannon represents how the universe would work from a logistical standpoint. I don't actually think there is a 'perfect' battlemech. There are mechs fit for a purpose, but you always make design decisions. If you are an ammo mech and don't take enough ammo, what do you do when you run out? If you are perfectly heat balanced, what do you do on a volcano world. What about on an Ice world where mechs that AREN'T heat balanced are now heat balanced and absolutely outclass you? This is also why I think mech modifications would be the 'norm'. Nothing major, just enough that the planetary defense forces are adapted to the environment. Mercenaries might lean into dropping autocannons and MGs for Large Lasers and flamers or adding more armor. Defenders on an ice world might buy or mod mechs to run hotter in 'normal' environments, but that run perfectly on their world. Lava worlds would try to add some heat sinks and armor to deal with the conditions. Many of the 'official' mech variants canonically are 'so many mech pilots and techs started doing this that the factory made a modification kit to sell to users'. BV is king, BV is your friend. Always go by BV. On the other hand, I also like to look at mech cost and say 'what does that do to the universe'. Did you know that 4 Mad Cats are 100 MILLION cbills? Do you know you can get THIRTEEN Awesome AWS-9Q's for the same price? Or 89 Yellow Jacket Gunships with gauss rifles? Sure, you can make your 200 Million CBill MegaDeathMachine, but would anyone actually buy it?

[@dirus3142]

The Battletech Compendium I got in the mid 90s had complete rules to customize mechs, vehicles and infantry. Fuck yes I did that. It's fun as hell to create your own stuff.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I spent hours upon hours in my formative youth designing mechs - so much fun

[@charlesballiet7074]

as an engineer I love to tinker and come up with mechs for specific situations. also its fun for playing mechwarrior campaigns the idea that you use salvage to repair your own battle dammage and you have to manage inventory.

[@TymersRealm]

My first post was done while I was watching. Now then... I tend to variant and create whole new designs for BT. I have also kit-bashed minis back in the day. A lot of what is allowable will depend on where you (general) play. That's what it really boils down to.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

A very good point - it really is going to come down to what your gaming group is down with. I can see where modding and even customs would make sense on what the group is really into.

[@cptncutleg]

@@CrankyOldGamer I've been playing with a large periphery kingdom with a bustling custom Mech industry which takes and customises old and scrapped Mechs for their military and local arena games. This could be Frankenmechs to entirely new scratch builds with only a few sourced parts from select models, and often with a large reliance on the Mechs which are kindly "donated" by pirates and dark mercenaries who think a podunk periphery target is easy pickings. Combined with an advanced laser smallarms factory being upscaled to Mech size, you get a lot of strange Mechs wielding primarily laser weapons because the only thing the colony doesn't really lack is a supply of old Fusion reactors from scrapped, liberated or straight up bought sources.

[@johnkennedy7234]

I've been playing since 1989. Yeah I'm old. We rarely used pre-built mechs. The rules we used were simple, based on a standard lance you get 240 pts to pick or build your mechs. It was alot of fun, my friend built a pirahna before they came out and paired it with this 100 ton jumping thing with 2 AC20 and axe. The fun came from not knowing what you were up against or how it would fight, some guys made well rounded lances, some made rushers, hell one guy made a lance that all the mechs hade 4 to 5 ppc and would try to one shot you then over heat. It was wild.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I played around the same time, we'll be old together :) Having the element of surprise on what you're going to encounter is really something unique and should find its way into more games.

[@jhtomguo]

From personal experience, I think there are two types of fun people enjoys. One is adoptive fun: Play with what you got offered. You use whatever tools you can muster, adopt every advantage like terrain, weather, and etc. in order to have the best outcome. You are a field commander with limited options offered to you but still need to proceed and win the battles. Second is creative fun: Life isn't perfect but what if ...? You aren't satisfied with the tools giving to you. Sometimes it can just be a small thing (need extra machine gun but overweight) sometimes it can be total overhaul. Whatever it is, you wish to create the most optimal set up in your mind. You are like a mad scientist, you think outside the boxes and might create something total awesome or ... atrocious.

[@Apollo-js8rn]

Just found your channel, and I gotta say your kung-fu is strong! I've been using the Mech Factory app for years now and I love it, but designing 'mechs isn't the app's strongest suit (you , but that feature is still a work in progress, and I'd rather use MegaMechLab anyway). What MechFactory is great at though is force-building. With a bit of prep-work I've used it to keep track of five companies' worth of stuff (16 mechs each, plus some vees and grunts), mix, match, and modify my teams, and keep everybody BV balanced all from my phone. Added bonus: Mech Factory recently started making downloadable pdfs of both battletech and alpha strike cards.

[@zhaimorenn8273]

My group doesn't generally do custom mechs just because there's a lot of potential to build a super optimized design that isn't really meshing with the lore or even necessarily make sense. If we do have a custom build, the group looks it over and usually such designs are reasonable and accepted. I think it is a lot easier to justify having some cobbled together Frankenmechs and one-off variants of normal mechs as part of your periphery pirate force. They generally need to fit a theme and I enjoy the challenge of "Ok, only low grade tech that we'd have easy access to: Go!"

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Totally agree. The only custom mechs Id use nowadays is an experimental mech I had to capture or destroy as a singke prototype.

[@PlasticraicGaming]

I would not mind if a custom mech was made for a campaign or an in universe reason (for a merc unit etc) The Problem I think would arise is that a lot of players would abuse custom construction rules, e.g. building variants that game the meta or abuse game mechanics in some form for an edge. I would be interested in making 40k Ork battletech cross over units, they sound like fun :D

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Exactly - I think the customization rules are really fun but you can quickly make some really powerful machines that outclass other mechs. I have to assume the battle value calculations will keep people in line with what they pay for these machines. I do sort of think part of the fun is learning the tactics on existing machines and being able to play to them; but i also acknowledge that its fun to see a new "bogey" and not know exactly what you're facing and all the narrative goodness around that!

[@Wildonion1]

My group largely does campaign play, so customs are just a matter of course for us. We modify units over the course of the game as we salvage things and it becomes a big part of the character of a machine, like leveling up in Dungeons & Dragons. Outside of campaign play, we just agree to either a customs (whether small mods or completely new 'Mechs) or no-customs (published variants only) match and balance by BV. It isn't flawless, but it works well enough for one-shot games. Really, it all comes down to intent and, given that we are such a tight-knit group, we just have conversations before bringing units to a game. It doesn't quite work like we I used to play 40K, when you really needed to have the same rulebooks and build rules for everyone to follow.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Love this, we think alike!

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

I like to start with a stock variant and then do limited tweaks. I use SSW to do initial builds and save them to MML for final tweaks and sheet prints. The idea that a single mech would last for centuries without having changes made to it seems less reasonable to me than saying that only stock machines should be usable, and there are a number of mechs that I would literally never use without making at least some modifications, and there are others that are simply more fun tweaked than not.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I agree. If the concept is that these things last decades or centuries, its pretty reasonable to assume theyll be rebuilt in a variety of ways and improved money and ability withstanding.

[@AEstud77]

Hey. My friend and I learned how to do this. We are going to do a clan vs IS. Using custom clan vs IS together. I'm a pirate user so I don't get to go "all out" Wish us luck. It's gonna be a lot of IS vs 2 clan greatness. Going pirates is easy to use but hard in lore for me. Still we have so much fun and that's all that matters!

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That sounds awesome! Let me know how that goes!

[@a6mzeke1]

I use Solaris Skunk Werks for designing mechs if I want. It also has a Master list that let's you get canon mech designs from the various TRO's

[@Wraithcannon]

Completely custom mechs? No. Making new variants of existing mechs? Yes. Recently have begun only using custom loadouts for established Omni-mechs. Looking at the base frame and it's performance, then fitting the right profile of weapons into the available crit space and weight limit is oddly satisfying.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That does sound fun - modding pods for omnimechs does seem like a very natural thing to do

[@Wraithcannon]

Yep, there is no in-universe reason you couldn't. They're called omni-mechs, not multi mechs.

[@jimmysexton5634]

well I use the chassis for a visual refrence for example a archer chassis swap to clan tech XL engine , endo steel, 6 LRM 15 , case and 4 ER medium lasers max armor

[@eltoxicdog7587]

As sone one who does a lot of kitbashing for Battletech. I use a lot of the omi mech variant parts from ironwind metals and some times also there are people online who make casts of 3d printed mach and make them out of pewter and there are a ton of variant parts that come with it. A lot of times I just buy mechs for their parts. I've made the heavy gauss Annihilator, uac 20 kit fox, rac 2 with 5 small lasers k9 urbanmech from mwo. But I mainly make cannon mech variants that either don't have existing miniatures or ones that i just don't like the look of. Examples of these include the shadowhawk 5d, urbanmech (UM-R68,UM-R70,and UM-AIV), and most recently the double Rac 5 Uziel Jacobs(this is a combo of the recently released Uziel 2s and the rac 5 arms for the hamerhands mach. All of these are from Ironwinds Metals.)

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That is awesome. I might start doing this myself with the plastic base mechs and 3d printed parts to create variants. Do you find custom chassis to or just use base mechs?

[@eltoxicdog7587]

@@CrankyOldGamer I find it easier to use a Base mech. Because you can always file and snip off the parts you don't want and trust me this comes from experience unless you know what your doing and how to do it yourself it is expensive as hell to get custom things commissioned and printed. I learned this the hard way when I got a custom miniature of Marie Rose from Dead or Alive modeled and printed for rumble slam. That cost me over $200 in trial and error. Also buy extra parts, 75% of kitbashing is shitting your thinking you messed up something expensive. Also I would recommend a slow setting adhesive and not superglue. It gives you time to correct mistakes in placing parts you want to glue down. One of the reasons I stick to metal minis is that I can use Loctite metal and concrete. It gives me plenty of time to set things (which can also be a giant pain in the ass" and if I mess up to badly I can throw the whole hing in simple green and then pick every thing apart and start again.

[@sluggaboyzWC3]

Just getting into battletech and thought about modding a few mechs, one for a serious reason and a group for a silly reason. Serious one being pulling out the clan weapons from a kodiak to replace with inner sphere 'equivilants' to save on spares and to be able to find the proper ammunition. And the silly one is having a kurita highschool with a battle mech club useing mostly wasps and phoenix hawks but having their weapons disabled/ removed so they mod them with melee weapons, because anime.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Lol I love that, thats awesome!

[@Fireproofjeans]

I love love love customs. Personally speaking, that's one of the biggest draws for me. I wouldn't expect a house military to field super custom mechs though, unless it was some general's pet project and had a specific "thing" - for example, the Raven's ECM Suite. Highly successful merc units could, though, and have a financial incentive to. They don't have endless bodies to chuck at a problem, they have a few skilled pilots and getting the most out of them with custom mechs seems like a smart business plan, assuming the cost doesn't bankrupt them

[@KittenGoneBad]

The game we play is a campaign. So, every single player mech is a custom. Lets people play what they want.

[@korritaranis672]

Late to the party, and, for perspective, I'm new to the tabletop. My perspective is that I want only published variants while I'm learning. After that, if there is a good reason for the custom (field refit, working with salvage from different mechs, etc.), then why not field it? If it is a totally new chasis/variant, what's the story or lore behind it and how does it fit into your unit/the larger Battletech universe? If those are answered satisfactorily, then I'm all for playing them (part of a limited run or a custom mech for the Solaris arenas, but made its way into your merc company somehow, for example).

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Love it, thats great perspectice. Totally agree, learn using known variants. Once youre solid on the rules, then go for more.

[@christophk.3085]

Since we don't have as much time as before, we only play the standard variants. Back then it was mostly overdone, optimized builds with target computers and pulse lasers (Is this eratted out of the game now?) And whoever gets the initiative jumps in the back and kills a mech.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Yeah - I find known variants really helos reduce cognitive load and it helos with narrative - "oh its that variant we're facing..."

[@zmatekk]

To your question Yes i wanna play with my own mechs. Im curently waiting for package with MAD-3R, but regarding Marauders im in love with MAD-9D because of missile hardpoints in shoulders so im thinking about getting resin 3D printer and kitbashing it in blender so it will have 1x L laser 1x M laser in each arm, 1x M laser in chin and LRM 20 in each shoulder (This build originaly comes from MWO with 5x M lasers and MRM30 in shoulders - Special thanks to Baradul for this. I have it in MWO for about a year and this baby is absolute beast). I hope i will be able to open models from MW5 or MWO and import them into blender and use them in 3D printer.

[@gordonrussell8613]

I got into custom mechs as soon as I got my models and realized that few had variants that were really 1-to-1, so I made my own variants to better represent how the minis were modeled

[@jimmysexton5634]

over 3000 mechs and versions check out mech factory, custom .... you can do what ever you want with in the rules to get a idea find the old fasa compendium from 91 to start good base and includes clan omni builds as well.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I know right - so many mechs and variants - we are spoiled for choice!

[@williamchamburgh8316]

Ya been playing Mechwarrior since 1st edition, I have always had custom mechs in my campaign setting. It’s built off of options from 1st edition, the Federated Commonwealth never formed, clones were use to replace 2 key members of both families, most of Steiner and Davion lost their main leaders in an explosion at the wedding ment to combine the 2 factions.

[@JMcMillen]

If it's part of a narrative or RPG campaign then custom mechs can certainly be a thing as there are probably some kind of guidelines to make sure the construction rules aren't heavily abused. But if you're at the local store hoping for a pickup game, I would never count on being allowed to use custom mechs. I don't think I've ever met anyone that tried to argue for custom mechs in pickup play, and pretty much everyone was more comfortable with only using the official base or variant designs.

[@reillykilgore6386]

Minor changes I don't see a issue with. It's when somone makes something weird. Like when something strips all the weapons and puts pulse lasers and jump jets.

[@alandosenberger468]

Iron wind metals has i section in on there website called "the scrap yard" have tons of bit parts and pieces

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I should check that out. I fo want to do some customizations. I should also look into 3d printing some alt weapons and such.

[@captainsquarters1030]

I built some custom VTOLs, because I like earlier time settings in battletech. Things like the Warrior are made later in the lore than I want to play.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I remember making some vtols back in the day. I actually really like them. Dont see much table time, I should fix that.

[@oliverb.9121]

I'm fine with modifications as long as they are not too extensive. I usually draw the line at internal structure and engine as you would only be able to do that by custom ordering from the factory. Except when you're some rich steiner duke, solaris-jock or top merc, those types may be able to just do that. I usually want it to make fluffy sense though. So, for 3025, house Steiner may have few modified machines, usually reserved for commanders. Kurita.... nope... none. Davion already runs a lot of "D" variants plus some creative repairs here an there. Marik also already replaces a lot of PPCs with large lasers and will always come up with something to one-up their neighbour but since they run a pretty disciplined military there will not too many modifications around. With the periphery, pirates, mercs and house Liao, it's pretty much anything goes. During the clan-invasion there is always room for any sort of individual upgrade. There will always be someone around who just lost his homeworld and has nothing better to to now than spend those C-bills on double heat sinks and FF-armour. My backwater Marik force, for example, runs Vedettes that drop .5 tons of MG-ammo and .5 tons of armour for an infantry bay and a Hoplite that drops the LRM5 and three heat sinks for a SRM6 and a MG in each arm. SRM ammo still goes into the CT and MG ammo to the head so it's still the "Death Roomba" :)

[@bruced648]

I purchase non-battletech robot mini's that are approx in scale. then I use the construction rules to make a sheet similar to the mini appearance. it makes things interesting when playing with people that have all the TROs and practically memorized them.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That is super cool. Do you kitbash them to fit the designs you create?

[@bruced648]

@@CrankyOldGamer I absolutely kit bash. the original mini's for battletech (Battledroids) we models. they were produced by twentieth century imports. I've been modifying models/mini's for a long time. I still have the original Robotech models put out by Revell. 1/35 and 1/72 scale. the twentieth century models were approx 1/160th scale. I also picked up the recent Robotech tactical game. you get alot of mecha. recently, I've bought alot of 40k T'au to use as mechs. I'm also looking at infinity wars mini's. they have several really good models. they are just pricey.

[@ReverTitan]

I like heavy gear blitz miniatures so I just use them and try to match of fit them in. Sometimes I play around with mech factory

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Thats a great idea. I do wish there was more "sources" of readily available parts to play around with. This seems like a great approach.

[@dillonhall6801]

Really enjoy your videos, great work. where did you get that enforcer on the left?! such a beautiful model.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That is an MWO sculpt that I am quite fond of!

[@dug1115]

I'm trying to implement a Dougram mech that wasn't used in battletech, hopefully this will help!

[@CrankyOldGamer]

That is so cool! Good luck with your design!

[@andymansgamingchannel3356]

Custom mechs are the best. Fun to create and even more fun to test on the field of battle. Our group just likes to play one off games.

[@kurtkells2653]

Personally it depends on what you like to play. If you are playing a large campaign, with or without a GM, having a few "Hero Units" can be important for the narrative. Add that to the fact that no mech is unstoppable and AC20 or a Gauss Rifle can end any mech real fast. Still nothing wrong with playing straight out of the box mechs either but if you are playing 3025 you should not be playing those either most if not all mechs should have some changes and not always for the better to show the fact that they are remnants from the star league fixed with what ever is available and having holdover problems from bad repairs. (still when I play the way I like to I almost always have some changes to a mech because SRM2 and MG are mainly placed so your mech can be nuked by an ammo explosion)

[@dirkhennrich9846]

I really got to cosider the App mechlab. You not also have nearly all mech, vehicles ,aerospace , dropships and also History you have at Sarna, you also have a mechlab. You can build your own mechs, vehicles or fighters and even dropships from scrap, or costumize Canon Designs. You also have a testside to try it again a Design of your choice. Even a testside for your saved costumlance at diffend Maps (at my mobile i still got to figure out how it works) All at your mobile..

[@daviddevault8700]

Is there a way to get meklab to print a sheet with mvmnt and hit tables?

[@terrainaholic]

Is this grid based or the gridless new system?

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Im using a gridless system and my gaming group is loving it!

[@johnbowden3712]

what book do i need to make custom mech

[@KageRyuu6]

If you're not using custom mechs, then what is the point in buying the Tech Manual? Also Mega Mek is life. As for some of the more obscure customization rules such as Frankenmechs, literally mixing and matching tonnages by section, I don't really see them mostly because it's a nightmare to program, but it's also a pain to math out. Otherwise total re-hauls are common enough, though I personally tend to look down on brand new apocryphal chassis, unless we're doing BT RPG and your whole character is built around Mech design and it's kind of the culmination of your character arch. After all what are the chances you're gonna get your hands on a factory and raw materials for long enough to prototype a mech let alone produce one? But to that end the various "Swaybacks" were originally field refits produced out of necessity during the Succession Wars that the manufacturers started producing because they became so popular. So customization is very much the name of the game, if only because if all you have to replace an AC20 is a bunch of MGs, well you do what you got to do to survive.

[@LowSpecActionSquad]

REMLAB stopped working years ago and was never fixed, know of any modern replacements?

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Have you tried MegaMech?

[@iggythegreat5061]

I like making new mechs, not because I enjoy min-maxing but because I want to try out an idea I have. For example I made a Pulse Laser Timber Wolf 2 Mediums, 2 Heavy, 2 Short, that had a targeting computer, 4 jump jets and enough heat that if I did an alpha strike and used my jets i would have 4 heat leftover. It was amazing at making things fall down, as it secured 34 damage every turn due to it mostly hitting on 3's.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I feel you have a good perspective on this. Having fun builds to try out, thst sounds like an awesome build!

[@andymansgamingchannel3356]

Thingiverse has a ton of 3d mechs. Collect the .stl files and use Meshmixer to chop the figs up and make separate files for each component.

[@Zoness1124]

At least for my gaming group, the idea of not using custom mechs just doesn't fly. It's part of the appeal of the game to be able to fine-tune your ride, and everyone wants their customized 'hero' mech, and in some cases all his friends. I don't know how extensive everyone goes for their full list but usually, you'll see at least one Mech that's been heavily refitted, and because more than half of our group plays Clans nobody really objects too heavily to Inner Sphere players throwing on a Clan weapon or two to make for better challenges. We also play with campaign and salvage rules so hey, if you got that Clan Gauss Rifle then slap it on your Victor, you earned it. For me, personally, I keep that sort of customization to higher ranking Mechwarriors, and I always leave enough of the original variant that it's recognizable where the Mech started out (I'm less dedicated to this with OmniMechs). I always make sure it's justified how the unit got the equipment too, unless I've personally salvaged that Clan Tech it doesn't make sense that it's just lying around some storeroom. I usually make as few changes as I can if I make changes at all, my in-universe explanation is that the unit hasn't got the resources that say a Solaris 7 stable might have to just go ham on the mech, my out of universe explanation is that if I picked a Warhammer for my roster I've got to have at least a little bit of love for the Mech itself, if I wanted a Guillotine I should have just taken a Guillotine. That said it might be different for groups that play harder in terms of timeline, for my group if your faction had access to it in a previous era and it's not extinct you can use it under the logic that it was probably passed down, so we're not as restrictive as maybe we could be. I think the overall attitude is that balanced play is what matters, yes you can cheese a design and that might be fun to pwn Princess in MegaMek, but on the table if you're 'that guy' nobody's going to want to play with you, so . . . don't be 'that guy' and nobody cares how you customize. I will say though my personal mentality of 'what the unit can justify' definitely plays a part, as my Legion of Vega has almost no customization outside of officers because the unit itself is supposed to be a dumping ground for problem warriors. Elites and aces get bumped up to a Sword of Light or Genyosha regiment after all, and presumably take their Mechs with them. That's kind of part of the charm of playing LoV. For my Kestrel Grenadiers on the other hand, as an elite well equipped regiment it's easier to justify the unit having access to higher tier components. One mod I'm definitely guilty of is dropping machine guns for extra armor, or ammunition. I also used to switch single heat sinks for doubles on Mechs that were still in use in say the Dark Age (where our group plays) and not using double heat sinks but I've since stopped doing that since playing those Mechs with that limitation makes for a more fun and strategic experience for me personally, and I head-canon that with the Dark Age being what it is even an old refurbished collector's or museum piece would have been better than an Industrial MOD, so the Houses took it how they could get it. One that I know I'm unique on in my gaming group is I won't change the endo-skeleton, I know there's examples of it in lore but to me, the idea of ripping out the Mech's inner frame to replace it with either Endo-Steel or swap that for a standard skeleton implies a level of effort and resources that I just can't see any military unit assigning to a single Mech unless it belongs to the Archon or something. I guess to me it's like the idea of replacing the whole frame of your car.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I love everything about this. Especially for long held characters or campaigns, I cant see NOT modifying a mech. For a pick up game I could totally see just official variants, but eith a long standing gaming group that trusts one another, go crazy.

[@goregasaur]

I didn't know there were rules for making your own mechs. The only reason I've never got around to playing battletech is I'm just not a fan of the mech designs. Now I know I could just sculpt my own I'm tempted to give it a go

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Thats awesome!!!

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

The Enforcer really need another Succession Wars variant somewhere. A lot of mechs have maybe a dozen post-3025 variants and maybe a single earlier variant that isn't just a royal design.

[@AquamentusZero]

I'm leading a lengthy BattleTech campaign with my buddies, who play their own mercenary unti. Since I enjoy creating my own Mechs, I let them be testpilots for some of them, earning some C-Bills for their unit. At one point I had them hunt down a stolen prototype Mech that proved a nasty customer. If you're a little creative, there is no problem using custom Mechs.

[@03dashk64]

What is the mech in the middle right that’s jumping?

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Phoenix Hawk

[@03dashk64]

Cranky Old Gamer thank you! I’m loving this channel. So glad I found it. I’m just starting my Battletech journey

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Thank you so much! Ive been away from making content for a bit but I should have some new stuff coming up shortly!

[@shellbackbeau7021]

In MW4 I had a thanatos with a Long Tom as his primary weapon. I want to recreate this.

[@xironbeastx8677]

I allow this in narrative campaign games, where I take the role of a DM and control the opposition of the players, I will build custom mechs, I have a whole book basically of custom weapons and equipment, everything from rotary micro PPCs to Cold Throwers and cold fusion beams, to 10x myomer, and rules for their usage, I even allow very powerful things like shield generators, teleportation modules, drone control computers, even computer viruses and Nanite support systems, it’s not balanced enough for 1v1 play, but as a DM vs Players, its fine for 1v4 and if something’s broken I can amend it or work it in a way to have a consequence, but using all this stuff, building custom mechs becomes essential and one of the fun parts, its like building a DND character, but in any play thats not campaign or narrative oriented I’m not a fan of them, I don’t mind custom variants though, but I feel like mech warriors have a general understanding of whatever mech their up against at all times due to training, mission briefs and experience, and a custom mech breaks that, you have no idea what you’re really up against, which means you’re mech warriors don’t know, which is highly unlikely.

[@youtmeme]

yes, definitely! I play the game like an rpg. not really mini driven, cool as they are!!😉 ur imagination makes the game soio much more interesting!!

[@darkstorminc]

Another point. MegaMek is not the same as MML. MegaMek (MM) is for running a game of TT BT on the computer. Useful for people in the middle of nowhere who cant find local games. MekHQ is also part of the MM family and is used for campaign tracking. MML can also be used for vehicle, dropship, jumship, warship, infantry, battle armor, and aerospace designs. Dont remember if protomechs are fully supported yet.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Right - MegaMek is a game, MegaMekLab is a creation tool - both of which are part of the MM "family" of applications, as I understand it. They look pretty sweet - I may need to try playing MegaMek at some point!

[@Sapper21b10]

I love using custom mechs. I draw the line at min/max custom. If you’re ripping out everything to do it, that’s too far. Weapon swaps no biggie. Full loadout change, no. Armor swap. No biggie. Internal structure no. But that’s me. BV is supposed to balance it out. But that’s not 100%

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Thats where I land too. Swap a weapon or two, no real big. Full on redesign is just begging for min/max.

[@Funkin_Disher]

Also, post any games you play! I’m down for a lets play TT battletech

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Will do! :)

[@killardan1]

I want a sniper Annihilator. In where I replace auto cannons with gauss rifles. But they beat me to it. LOL!! The 5W model. Only I would probably drop medium pulse lasers and go with a MASC, or just more armor. But well, I just love the Annihilator.😁

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Gausszilla!

[@adamplaysbattletech3925]

As with most things in TT games, its up to gamemaster and players discretion. If you're having fun with custom 'mechs, great! If the group doesn't want mods, thats OK too. Personally, I like having minor modifications to mechs. Something small like the removal of a support weapon or two for armor or heat sincs. Entire rebuilds of mechs (example, a Warhammer with a pair of AC/10s instead of PPCs) is a bit over the line for me. I also dislike the slippery slope of completely min/maxing a 'mech and removing its charm and unique flavor. Once you get into Clans and their OmniPods, though, that whole idea goes out the window because its built into their design per the rules.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

I'm 100% with you. I like official variants, but Im super down with minor mods. A whole new mech would be fun but in serious moderation - but thats just me!

[@mr.gunzaku437]

Custom 'Mechs? In every unit, all the time. Very Rare Clantech (95% of the time None), IS equipment only, nothing too cheesy (though some cheese is fine). As a Merc player, when I have the C-Bills, I tend to go mostly with just DHS, ES, and CASE. Not all of them are customs, but a lot of them are. Some only tweeked a bit here and there to make them better. Others are completely reworked. The stock machines have to be good ones to be taken. The Mauler is a good Mech except for it's paper thin armor for an assault with an XL engine.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Ive had zero luck with the Mauler myself. Just seems to die or explode with alarming regularity.

[@vykryl65]

The pain our wallets would feel if someone blended Hero Forge and Armored Core so we could make our own models for BattleTech

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Oh man that would be gloriously cray cray

[@larrluck]

Have some old Forgeworld epic Titans. They are cool. Plan on using Battletech rules for them against battetech Mechs because why not? Waiting for my starterbox and Clan invasion box now. And a couple of rulebooks. Sick of buying $50 rulebooks only for them to be out of date 3 months later. New Mechs look cool. Old ones are why I never looked closely at this game. With the new Mechs the game looks way better. I am discovering that there is much to learn about this new verse.

[@johnbowden3712]

i think there should custom simply for salvage reason also pirate mech

[@steellynx8972]

Marauder 3-r stripped the ppcs and the ac5 added 2 meduim laser 1 in each arm and an ac20 in the Right Torso max the armor and push the heat sinks to 18.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Oooh that's a good mod!

[@steellynx8972]

@@CrankyOldGamer Really? Thanks. Its a good Juggernaut. it pairs well with the hammer hands, warhammer, and Orin for a heavy hammer lance for my company.

[@TymersRealm]

Ok... SSW & MML are seperate builder suites. MML is the most current suite and unofficially recommend by CGL. SSW has a better interface, but hasn't been updated by it's creator in a long time.

[@darkstorminc]

Someone has taken over development of SSW. They have a repo on Github.

[@Charistoph]

SSW has been updated recently and doing mostly well. Great for Battletech, still needs work on the Alpha Strike. Still there is some terminology and experimental tech that needs to be updated and BV defaults to a 4/5 pilot, but it is SOOOOoo much easier to use than MML. Also its printouts are easier and better to use. With MML, you need to export to PDF and print from there first.

[@mohrtechgaming1004]

I have a Combat system that I use, in conjunction with Battletech, to use custom designed mechs and weapons, in my games.

[@andrewszigeti2174]

Wait, what? Mech Construction rules aren't in the core rules anymore? HERESY! Going clear back to BattleDROIDS, when the only ten mechs in the game were copies of anime mecha, back when there no AC/2, AC/10, AC20, just the AC/5 - and it was just called the Autocannon! - the Mech Construction rules were in the core booklet.

[@allenflud]

Mech factory. I play with it for fun.

[@pYro42x7]

Played a lot of MegaMek Battletech with my Brother. We almost exclusively designed our own stuff. It was more a game of who can design a better army than who can utilize their force better, because we both had all kinds of weapon systems. Fun yes, but not really Battletech I suppose.

[@pYro42x7]

You can apparently make Battlearmor that carries 2 medium lasers.

[@frankverisco4722]

Use them all the time. We use the mech creation rules. Its not that hard.

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Indeed!

[@TAVAAR7]

Playing by tonnage gets way unbalanced even with official mechs (especially since theres official mech builds that suck and others that are S tier so even that throws a wrench in the balancing system), same to a lesser degree with C-bills and even BV1. I dont see a problem with custom stuff so long as it follows the rules for creation. Theres also established lore to support the idea that different houses or units (from roughneck mercenary up to elite squads) had custom variants that aren't in tech manuals because they weren't mainline mass produced. If as a player who tries things out to see what works and what doesn't can make a more streamlined efficient mech whats to say mechwarriors in lore couldn't have done the same on a small scale? If you're having fun that's the point. If you get someone in a group that's a "power gamer" but you're friends enough to not kick them out, you (as a GM or one setting up the game) can always change the setting. You want to take some laser spam? Ok well todays map is on a volcanic planet. You only ever take missile spam? Ok here's a jungle world, hope you brought spotters. Just don't do that all the time or they'll feel targeted, let everyone know beforehand that the maps will be rotated. Theres a time for specialization and theres time for well rounded, both in individual mechs and force make up. If players all have an ability to affect the game and participate even the most stupid 1st turn lucky headshot with a gauss can be fun for all and stories to recount for many game sessions to come.

[@p12423073]

Vlog, like blog, not Vee-log.

[@WolfHreda]

Custom variants? Absolutely. 100% custom machine from the ground up? No. In-universe, that's the purview of large scale entities like governments and corporations.

[@youtmeme]

also, u just need to act reasonable...make roles to possible new tech, etc...but money spent, with negatives as well...