If you find a copy of the BattleTech Compendium: the Rules of Warfare, it's an older book, but it's got it all. Standard BattleTech, City tech, even Aerospace and water navy rules.
Great video that definitely gives me a good picture of the sourcebooks etc. It's great that they have kept the universe going it also looks like rather than editions they just kept expanding it so you can use old stuff.
HeresyProducktionz Thanks Palmer, that's what I love about the Battletech universe. The story continues to progress over time and the rules stayed the same overall. The biggest changes was how they calculated the base to hit numbers to use the pilot gunnery skills first instead of a modification. Which made calculations much faster and easier and that how a mech behind hills was effected. I love that you're not getting a new set of rules every 2 or less year because they are trying to drive up sales.
I know this is a super old video. I played in the 80's, 90', early 2000. I have the old FASA compendium rule book and many others. Are those rules still valid under Catalyst?
The old rules are still usable today, the Total War rulebook only changed a few aspects of the game. They did add a ton of extra rules to the game that you can add if wanted for your campaign.
Just a heads up about the rulebook, they have changed the cover last month. The only thing different is fixing some rules and errors from what I've heard. It's going to be a 35th anniversary edition so pick up that one instead of the one I've been using and shown.
With the old books, they printed rules as they came up with new rules. Catalyst has reorganized rules and content to make them more friendly for new players. The previous order was not the most friendly. So you will find things all over the place if you were used to the old rulebooks. One pleasant surprise you will find is Alpha strike commander's edition that has an alternate set of rules. As most player grew up, they have no time for a one week game, so this set of rules offers fast paced game that could make a game with many lances to last 4 hours. It is also appealing to attract tabletop wargamers who play other games. You may like it or not, but it is just a good alternative for busy people to play.
Used to play a lot of Battletech with my friends in college in the 90s. We had fun designing our own mechs & then pitting our creations against one another on the battle map. I recall making plots of total tonnage available for weapons & armor for every mech size & engine rating. I think the really heavy mechs (90+ tons) actually had less space for weapons than 80-85 ton mechs. We also played the Mechwarrior rpg as a mercenary lance which was fun. We'd switch to the Battletech rules to resolve mech battles. FASA published a strategy game based on the Succession Wars that we played. Think I still have that somewhere around here!
Sounds a lot like what we did back then before the advent of BV and organized play. We still like to play campaign settings and try to not make it very competitive anymore 👍😉👍
@@Helcarexe26 I remember having discussions about technology levels in Battletech. Lots of advanced weapons, fusion reactors, jump drives, but why no targeting computers that allow you to hit targets with near 100% certainty? Apparently some military tech has been forgotten over the centuries. And of course the game would be less fun if you hit every time.
I'm more of a book guy myself and prefer them to the PDF for a computer. I guess more people now days are only wanting PDF for their Ipad devices that they take everywhere nowadays.
I was just wishing I had a stack of physical books. I've been copying down pages lately because I'm simulating the entire battle of Tukayyid and it has been chaos trying to go between pdfs
So I’m wanting to get into battle tech. I’m gonna get the starter box and a game of armored combat to start. I have found 2 place where they play. I’m guessing I should get the same current books that they are using right ?? Hopefully they let me watch and jump in their games soon.
That is a great way to start playing the game. Excellent decision to get the two starter boxes and maybe the Clan Invasion box. That will help you get a good idea of how to play the basic game. Total War Rulebook is a must for more rules that are not found in the boxes. The group will have some of those books and let you know what else is needed for play.
If you buy Battletech a game of armored combat, you will find the rules in text format a bit intimidating. "Battletech fan" channel has a visual guide that will make your start easier. Visual shows why these rules are just common sense put in the form of text. If you have kids that is the perfect way to get them involved. It has lego instructions format. Unlike other tutorials, you do not need to be at the pace of an instructor, you go at your own pace.
So I see you have many off the original books, I just started getting the Catalyst ones. Are all the older 1st and 2nd edition books compatible? (Can I just use them without needing to edit them)
The game hasn't changed much in the last 30 years now, the catalyst Game Labs books have the most up-to-date rules. But the older books are still compatible with the newer versions of the game. So the source books are worth getting for reading about the fluff or equipment such as the vehicle or mechs.
Ti be honest you wouldn't need anything that I showed if you're going to play Alpha Strike rules, they're totally different than the classic game. The TRO books are for the fluff of the game and other than that, not really necessary
@@WARdROBEPlaysWWII Yes it's the fluff that helps build up your scenarios for the campaigns. I haven't had to much time playing the AS because nobody in our group has wanted to play it. I've played it a few times at conventions over the years.
Alpha Strike and Classic are two different alternate rulesets. Classic for micromanagement and people who love details. Alpha Strike is for busy people who want a game to last 4 hours instead of one week. Technical readouts are good for both. Many books that describe history or factions are useful for both, but I think Catalyst made them more focused on Alpha Strike. For example the "Kurita" book is more focused on Alpha Strike. The following rulebooks are classic oriented. * Total Warfare * Tech manual * Tactical operations. Advanced rules book and advanced equipment book * Campaign operations * Strategic operations * Interstellar operations
I had a book that I miss and can't remember what it's name was ........ it was like the 20 year update book but clan era , listed unit locations , weapons manufacturers etc ........ do you remember this ? And can you remember it's name ? I can't find anything anywhere
Hey Helcarexe, I don't have all the new tech readouts. What is your opinion? Will I need to actually purchase the upgrades or will the older FASA books still adiquate?
I might have it already. I was just wondering if someone didn't have any, how much would they need to invest if all they had was older books. I picked up the new core rules book and campaign operations.
I've always tell people just get the core rulebook and the 3025 and or 3039 and the 3050 Tech Readout. If they have all the older books just really get the new rulebook and your golden.
Very little. Kieth was plugged into FASA obviously, so he covered the 4th Succession War but he quit before the Clan Invasion stuff. He did some supplementary rules like extreme range, and some of his miniatures got made but that's it. But his writing and scenarios were great.
Mechwarrior 2 for PC has the rules (no physical attacks, sorry). But the game has the Battletech atmosphere. Later games were just repetitive, destroy all mechs, win, and so on, no context. Mechwarrior 2 has the text to give us context, very cool, and it is the only Mechwarrior game where your gunnery skills matter. In other games, your mech simply does not allows you to aim correctly. Check "Battletech fan" channel for the videos to install. Everything you need to follow the videos is in the description. You will be amazed about how great Mechwarrior 2 is. I even used tech manual to rebuild the mechs from the manual and yes, it uses the same rules to build mechs.
Great video even for an old player getting back into BattleTech. But have you looked at the prices for the Catalyst 3039 book? Being out of print and in high demand it is very expensive. I purchased the PDF from Wargames Vault which seems the best option.
@@Helcarexe26 From what I can see Catalyst now makes another book, BattleTech Technical Readout Succession, which is "Combining the 'Mechs previously found in Technical Readout: 3039, Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade, Technical Readout: 3058 Upgrade, and Technical Readout: 3075". Not all of the "Mechs from those technical readouts from what I have read. As a correction the PDFs are available from Drive Thru RPG not Wargames Vault which strikes me as a bit unusual.
@@olschoolgamer1869 So they are going to have a single TRO for the Succession Wars and the Clan Wars. Once again they are going to eliminate certain mechs from the lineup.
Yeah, FASA needed to sell new books and instead of expanding the universe and scenarios, or even just revising the rules to keep growing the brand like TSR did, they "advanced the story" and technology, which yeah, just went stupid with the "better mousetraps". Ie; "Jumped the Shark", that drove off their core-players. This and the advent of the computer games killed FASA.
A mech is defined by speed, armor and weapons (firepower and range). Improving weapons only switches the balance of the game. I understand why they wanted to do what they did. Profit and trying to innovate but they did not understand how things work in real life. In real life it is attack tech vs defense tech. WWI had only attack tech and this is why it was so lethal. So if they improved weapons to attack, they should have to design defense tech. Turn the game into paper, stone scissors.
The multi rulebook made it appear too expensive in my opinion. $250 for rule books then the technical readouts had to be bought. The game needs apps that make it easy to play. Still love the game!!!
That's only if people want all of the extra rules for playing the game. With the new boxset new players can use those rule for a long time without having to spend a lot of money
The current box set is $60 MSRP (not hard to get cheaper). It comes with 8 hard plastic miniatures, nine cardboard standie 'mechs, a 50 page rulebook, a fluff booklet, a novelett, 2 double-sided maps, and 2d6. I would call that a pretty good deal.
@@Helcarexe26 was given that less than a month ago for by b-day. All ready my favorite sci-fi universe and am loving painting the models. Gonna play my first game next week with a buddy
Yeah for a "Future Wars" cameo.! But. It is disappointing that you didn't focus on the original FASA first gen. game and source material, and focused mostly on the derivative books that weren't even created until FASA went out of biz. Okay I get that it would cost a fortune to actually buy all the old House Books, but they are really the core that built the franchise into something more than just a table top "giant robots" war game.
I have paid a look at old books and I have new ones. In the old games they piled up rules as they created them. In the new books, rules and contents are rearranged to make thing seasier for beginners.
If you find a copy of the BattleTech Compendium: the Rules of Warfare, it's an older book, but it's got it all. Standard BattleTech, City tech, even Aerospace and water navy rules.
I have a copy of the book somewhere in the vast collection
Great video that definitely gives me a good picture of the sourcebooks etc. It's great that they have kept the universe going it also looks like rather than editions they just kept expanding it so you can use old stuff.
HeresyProducktionz Thanks Palmer, that's what I love about the Battletech universe. The story continues to progress over time and the rules stayed the same overall. The biggest changes was how they calculated the base to hit numbers to use the pilot gunnery skills first instead of a modification. Which made calculations much faster and easier and that how a mech behind hills was effected. I love that you're not getting a new set of rules every 2 or less year because they are trying to drive up sales.
AN older video, but enjoyed. Will be getting back into BattleTech after 3 decades (?). Thanks for posting, Helcarexe.
~Fritz
Thanks for Watching, still a enjoyable system
I know this is a super old video. I played in the 80's, 90', early 2000. I have the old FASA compendium rule book and many others. Are those rules still valid under Catalyst?
The old rules are still usable today, the Total War rulebook only changed a few aspects of the game. They did add a ton of extra rules to the game that you can add if wanted for your campaign.
@@Helcarexe26 thank you for the response.
@@ScarredCitizen Glad to help out
Awesome, I’ve been thinking of updating my books after a 15 year hiatus from the game. Thanks
Just a heads up about the rulebook, they have changed the cover last month. The only thing different is fixing some rules and errors from what I've heard. It's going to be a 35th anniversary edition so pick up that one instead of the one I've been using and shown.
Thanks for the heads up. 👍
With the old books, they printed rules as they came up with new rules. Catalyst has reorganized rules and content to make them more friendly for new players. The previous order was not the most friendly. So you will find things all over the place if you were used to the old rulebooks.
One pleasant surprise you will find is Alpha strike commander's edition that has an alternate set of rules. As most player grew up, they have no time for a one week game, so this set of rules offers fast paced game that could make a game with many lances to last 4 hours. It is also appealing to attract tabletop wargamers who play other games.
You may like it or not, but it is just a good alternative for busy people to play.
Used to play a lot of Battletech with my friends in college in the 90s. We had fun designing our own mechs & then pitting our creations against one another on the battle map. I recall making plots of total tonnage available for weapons & armor for every mech size & engine rating. I think the really heavy mechs (90+ tons) actually had less space for weapons than 80-85 ton mechs.
We also played the Mechwarrior rpg as a mercenary lance which was fun. We'd switch to the Battletech rules to resolve mech battles. FASA published a strategy game based on the Succession Wars that we played. Think I still have that somewhere around here!
Sounds a lot like what we did back then before the advent of BV and organized play. We still like to play campaign settings and try to not make it very competitive anymore 👍😉👍
@@Helcarexe26 I remember having discussions about technology levels in Battletech. Lots of advanced weapons, fusion reactors, jump drives, but why no targeting computers that allow you to hit targets with near 100% certainty? Apparently some military tech has been forgotten over the centuries. And of course the game would be less fun if you hit every time.
@@RobertWF42 Also there's the passive ECM with the mechs that can throw off the targeting resolutions
One thing i hate about Battletech, that you can't get much of the books here in print, only in pdf...
I'm more of a book guy myself and prefer them to the PDF for a computer. I guess more people now days are only wanting PDF for their Ipad devices that they take everywhere nowadays.
I also hate to not have all the money in the world to buy everything Battletech.
Same here.there dam rare those new ones came out 5 our 3 years
I was just wishing I had a stack of physical books. I've been copying down pages lately because I'm simulating the entire battle of Tukayyid and it has been chaos trying to go between pdfs
So I’m wanting to get into battle tech. I’m gonna get the starter box and a game of armored combat to start. I have found 2 place where they play. I’m guessing I should get the same current books that they are using right ?? Hopefully they let me watch and jump in their games soon.
That is a great way to start playing the game. Excellent decision to get the two starter boxes and maybe the Clan Invasion box. That will help you get a good idea of how to play the basic game.
Total War Rulebook is a must for more rules that are not found in the boxes.
The group will have some of those books and let you know what else is needed for play.
Super helpful video for noobies to battletech like me. Thanks you!
Thanks for watching and the sub, I'm glad that you found the information useful
If you buy Battletech a game of armored combat, you will find the rules in text format a bit intimidating. "Battletech fan" channel has a visual guide that will make your start easier. Visual shows why these rules are just common sense put in the form of text.
If you have kids that is the perfect way to get them involved. It has lego instructions format. Unlike other tutorials, you do not need to be at the pace of an instructor, you go at your own pace.
So I see you have many off the original books, I just started getting the Catalyst ones. Are all the older 1st and 2nd edition books compatible? (Can I just use them without needing to edit them)
Also the anime series is called Robotech, it’s a full TTRPG also
The game hasn't changed much in the last 30 years now, the catalyst Game Labs books have the most up-to-date rules. But the older books are still compatible with the newer versions of the game. So the source books are worth getting for reading about the fluff or equipment such as the vehicle or mechs.
Are all these still relevant if someone was getting into this via AS?
Ti be honest you wouldn't need anything that I showed if you're going to play Alpha Strike rules, they're totally different than the classic game. The TRO books are for the fluff of the game and other than that, not really necessary
Helcarexe26 so basically the fluff would be good to help design campaigns and scenarios.
Oh, and thank you for answering a question about AS - I thought generally you were not a fan of AS. ; )
@@WARdROBEPlaysWWII Yes it's the fluff that helps build up your scenarios for the campaigns. I haven't had to much time playing the AS because nobody in our group has wanted to play it. I've played it a few times at conventions over the years.
Alpha Strike and Classic are two different alternate rulesets.
Classic for micromanagement and people who love details.
Alpha Strike is for busy people who want a game to last 4 hours instead of one week.
Technical readouts are good for both.
Many books that describe history or factions are useful for both, but I think Catalyst made them more focused on Alpha Strike. For example the "Kurita" book is more focused on Alpha Strike.
The following rulebooks are classic oriented.
* Total Warfare
* Tech manual
* Tactical operations. Advanced rules book and advanced equipment book
* Campaign operations
* Strategic operations
* Interstellar operations
I had a book that I miss and can't remember what it's name was ........ it was like the 20 year update book but clan era , listed unit locations , weapons manufacturers etc ........ do you remember this ? And can you remember it's name ? I can't find anything anywhere
Sounds like a TRO and I'm not placing it at the moment
Awesome share my friend
Thanks Nick
Hey Helcarexe, I don't have all the new tech readouts. What is your opinion? Will I need to actually purchase the upgrades or will the older FASA books still adiquate?
The older books are still good and about the only book needed is the new rulebook and sometime in the future look to get he 3039 TR
I might have it already. I was just wondering if someone didn't have any, how much would they need to invest if all they had was older books. I picked up the new core rules book and campaign operations.
I've always tell people just get the core rulebook and the 3025 and or 3039 and the 3050 Tech Readout. If they have all the older books just really get the new rulebook and your golden.
Honestly, the newer books are gorgeous but they suck. You can't find rules in them. The older books are the best
@@ogrehaslayers605 There's that reason also
we had a house rule when i played could bring any mech mixed clan and is mixed from any time line and called it a pirate lance
That sounds like our pickup games of anything goes for the correct points
Which rule book contains the construction rules?
The information is found in the Tech Manual
and a huge binder of records sheets that was a fine on ebay but dont know which ones
Those record sheets are very useful before the age of mech programs
How much of that info from the "Battletechnology" magazines have made it into game?
That's a good question, I would imagine that individuals have over the years looked at them and test it the information for the books
Very little. Kieth was plugged into FASA obviously, so he covered the 4th Succession War but he quit before the Clan Invasion stuff. He did some supplementary rules like extreme range, and some of his miniatures got made but that's it. But his writing and scenarios were great.
Mechwarrior 2 for PC has the rules (no physical attacks, sorry). But the game has the Battletech atmosphere. Later games were just repetitive, destroy all mechs, win, and so on, no context. Mechwarrior 2 has the text to give us context, very cool, and it is the only Mechwarrior game where your gunnery skills matter. In other games, your mech simply does not allows you to aim correctly.
Check "Battletech fan" channel for the videos to install. Everything you need to follow the videos is in the description. You will be amazed about how great Mechwarrior 2 is. I even used tech manual to rebuild the mechs from the manual and yes, it uses the same rules to build mechs.
Nice collection
Thanks, years in the making. 👍😎👍
i miss mine i thinking of starting over again i have only three mech a hitman griffin and a pirahnna
I always enjoy starting a new campaign around 3025 on our way to the Clans invasion
Great video even for an old player getting back into BattleTech.
But have you looked at the prices for the Catalyst 3039 book?
Being out of print and in high demand it is very expensive.
I purchased the PDF from Wargames Vault which seems the best option.
Glad to help out, didn't know that the 3039 book was out of print. Wondering if they are going to make a change in the future
@@Helcarexe26 From what I can see Catalyst now makes another book, BattleTech Technical Readout Succession, which is "Combining the 'Mechs previously found in Technical Readout: 3039, Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade, Technical Readout: 3058 Upgrade, and Technical Readout: 3075".
Not all of the "Mechs from those technical readouts from what I have read.
As a correction the PDFs are available from Drive Thru RPG not Wargames Vault which strikes me as a bit unusual.
@@olschoolgamer1869 So they are going to have a single TRO for the Succession Wars and the Clan Wars. Once again they are going to eliminate certain mechs from the lineup.
Thank you for this upload, super helpful! :)
Glad I could help out with your future gaming
Is there a newer edition for Total Warfare?
Yes they updated it about a year ago with a new cover which is blue
What is it about 3067 that you don't like?
Not that I hate the 3067 era, but rather it's more of when they started the downward spiral of the inner Sphere
@@Helcarexe26 as in lore or just throwing out equipment to keep the game fresh?
@@noneyabuisness7742 It's mostly the lore
@@noneyabuisness7742 I don't mind when they slowly advance the game
Canon is what each player wants it to be.
I too play 3025 to 3055 ....... after 3055 it just gets stupid .light gauss rifles , ATMs , magshot etc are pffffffttttt
The newer weapons start detracting from the game around that time period
Yeah, FASA needed to sell new books and instead of expanding the universe and scenarios, or even just revising the rules to keep growing the brand like TSR did, they "advanced the story" and technology, which yeah, just went stupid with the "better mousetraps". Ie; "Jumped the Shark", that drove off their core-players. This and the advent of the computer games killed FASA.
A mech is defined by speed, armor and weapons (firepower and range).
Improving weapons only switches the balance of the game.
I understand why they wanted to do what they did. Profit and trying to innovate but they did not understand how things work in real life.
In real life it is attack tech vs defense tech. WWI had only attack tech and this is why it was so lethal. So if they improved weapons to attack, they should have to design defense tech. Turn the game into paper, stone scissors.
And here I am thinking the rulebook in the armored combat box was complicated. Then you show of a smal library.
@@Were_M_Eye Just a small library of rulebook and source books 🤔
In addition id point out that faction handbooks are totally superfluous and bad for health, but ill take of your hands for you
The faction books are interesting fluff for the game...... but nothing necessary compared to the rulebooks 👍😎
The multi rulebook made it appear too expensive in my opinion. $250 for rule books then the technical readouts had to be bought. The game needs apps that make it easy to play. Still love the game!!!
That's only if people want all of the extra rules for playing the game. With the new boxset new players can use those rule for a long time without having to spend a lot of money
The current box set is $60 MSRP (not hard to get cheaper). It comes with 8 hard plastic miniatures, nine cardboard standie 'mechs, a 50 page rulebook, a fluff booklet, a novelett, 2 double-sided maps, and 2d6. I would call that a pretty good deal.
@@NathanielWinkelmann A excellent purchase for someone who wants to stick their toes in the battletech waters
@@Helcarexe26 was given that less than a month ago for by b-day. All ready my favorite sci-fi universe and am loving painting the models. Gonna play my first game next week with a buddy
@@NathanielWinkelmann Glad to have you in the Battletech Universe, its been a long wonderful journey for me.
Your voice reminds me of Joe Flanagan aka John Shepherd. Lol
All I need now is a team and a Star Gate 🌟, first time I've been said to have a voice similar to a actor
Yeah for a "Future Wars" cameo.! But. It is disappointing that you didn't focus on the original FASA first gen. game and source material, and focused mostly on the derivative books that weren't even created until FASA went out of biz. Okay I get that it would cost a fortune to actually buy all the old House Books, but they are really the core that built the franchise into something more than just a table top "giant robots" war game.
I went with the books that are currently available from the company that everyone can pickup.
I have paid a look at old books and I have new ones. In the old games they piled up rules as they created them. In the new books, rules and contents are rearranged to make thing seasier for beginners.
@@Helcarexe26 don't worry u can't plz anybody.lol people just cruel.people looked for options to attack people some stupid reason,I am laid backed.