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Rules Additions
      The rules in this section are additions to the Compendium and Maximum Tech rules. These rules do not necessarily have a direct basis in the existing battle or campaign rules.

Mercenary's Surrender
      A mercenary unit (both campaign player and opposition forces) may offer a Mercenary's Surrender to another mercenary unit operating under the MRBC. A Mercenary's Surrender is an honorable admission by one unit that it cannot win a fight in which it is engaged.
      If accepted, the surrendering unit is allowed to leave the field with any intact units and any of its own damaged equipment which it is immediately able to carry off the field. Other than a defeat in the field, no extra dishonor is attached to such a surrender.
      If not accepted, the surrendering unit will almost always fight fanatically to the death, as they know that is probably all they can expect. For campaign purposes, any combat restrictions on a unit whose surrender is refused, are removed, and the unit receives a +2 modifier to its initiative until the end of the current battle.
      Any MRBC licensed mercenary unit which refuses a Mercenary's Surrender, will receive a major black mark from the MRBC (-15 to its Dragoons Points), may not hold a Dragoons Rating of "A", and may expect other mercenary units to refuse its surrender in the future (without stain on their records). Such a unit will also not receive the initiative bonus should its surrender be refused in the future. These restrictions, except for the loss of Dragoons Points, will disappear if a unit serves honorably for ten years after refusing a surrender, and the officer who refused the surrender is no longer with the unit.
      The employment status of the surrendering unit is up to its employer. The MRBC has generally recognized the right of an employer to terminate a contract when a unit ends a battle with a mercenary's surrender, although this is not a requirement. An employer also has the right to protest to the MRBC. In this case, a review hearing will be held to determine if the surrender was reasonable and justified. If the MRBC supports the unit, nothing negative happens to the unit (although the previous employer will probably never hire the unit again). If the MRBC does not support the unit, the unit will be considered to have broken its contract with the employer, and monetary reparations are typically assessed against such a unit.
      A Mercenary's Surrender may be offered by a mercenary unit to a non-mercenary unit, but the non-mercenary unit is not honor bound to accept the surrender. Non-mercenary units may offer a Mercenary's Surrender to a mercenary unit, but the mercenary unit is not honor bound to accept such a surrender.

Levels Of Repair Capability
      The Master Repair Table (Maximum Tech, page 61) implies, but does not detail, at least two levels of repair capability. There will be three levels of repair capability.

Mobile Repair Shop
      A Mobile Repair Shop is a mobile version of a standard maintenance and repair facility. This includes a mobile crane, collapsible mech supports, specialized tools, tents or collapsible buildings, and general equipment transports. A Mobile Repair Shop eliminates the +1 Repair modifier for "work done under difficult conditions" for one mech, vehicle, or scavenge attempt at a time.
      Mobile Repair Shops may be purchased as for vehicles. The basic Mobile Repair Shop provides the mobile crane vehicle and the associated specialized equipment for general mech repairs. It does not include the vehicles necessary to carry the equipment. For this, a number of transport vehicles are required. Each vehicle must be able to carry a minimum of 5 tons and a maximum of 20 tons of internal cargo. The total capacity of the transport vehicles must be at least 100 tons of internal cargo. These vehicles must be permanently assigned to the Mobile Repair Shop and may perform no other function other than supporting the Mobile Repair Shop. If at any time, for any reason, the carrying capacity of the assigned vehicles falls below 100 tons of internal cargo, the Mobile Repair Shop may not function.
      A Mobile Repair Shop costs 2,000,000 C-Bills, excluding transport vehicles. A Mobile Repair Shop does not include any personnel either as vehicle crew or technicians.
      A Mobile Repair Shop requires one full day to set up or break down. Setting up or breaking down a Mobile Repair Shop also requires the work of four technicians, at least one of which must have an Experience Level above Green.

Shifting Mechwarriors And Crews
      A mechwarrior or vehicle crew is most familiar with their own unit. Shifting to another unit, even of the same type of combat unit, will cause a reduction in combat efficiency. Therefore, any time a mechwarrior or vehicle crew is shifted from one battlemech or vehicle to another, that crew shall suffer a +1 modifier to their Gunnery and Piloting skills in the next battle.

Towed Guns
      The rule in Maximum Tech allows for Field Guns (page 38) to be used by Motorized Infantry units. Possibly this was done under the belief that only Motorized Infantry had the equipment (light vehicles) to tow guns in the field. Other types of infantry could not have towed guns, apparently because they did not have light vehicles to tow the guns. Like so many rules in Battletech, this shows an almost complete lack of knowledge about how such weapons are handled in the real world, since the exact reverse of the Field Guns rule is what actually exists. In the real world (a place the authors apparently never bother to check for information), units equipped as described for Motorized Infantry would be able to tow only the very lightest and smallest field guns. Field guns of any serious size require a dedicated towing vehicle, which is usually a truck, a personnel carrier, or other sizable vehicle.
      In addition to Field Guns, there shall be Towed Guns. Towed Guns are the same as Field Guns, but may be used by any form of infantry. All rules for Field Guns shall apply to Towed Guns, except, Towed Guns must be moved by Prime Movers. A Prime Mover is any vehicle capable of towing a trailer or carrying cargo. Hover craft may not be used as Prime Movers. The cargo capacity of a Prime Mover must be such that one or more Prime Movers are able to carry the infantry with the guns, plus the associated ammunition, and tow or carry the guns. Towed Guns may not fire in any turn in which the crew mounts into, dismounts from, or rides in a Prime Mover.

Bunkered Guns
      If there are Field Guns and Towed Guns, then there must, obviously, exist the ability to place guns in bunkers or other fixed positions. Any gun which may be a Field Gun, may be emplaced in a bunker. In this case, a "bunker" is any position which is not part of a building or other structure with the weapons built into the building or structure, or in a turret. Guns in bunkers have a fixed arc of fire, which is specified when the weapon is emplaced. Bunkered guns may never move. The crew requirements for bunkered guns are one-half (round up) of the crew requirements for Field Guns. The amount of ammunition available to a bunkered gun is set by the construction of the position, and is not limited, as with Field Guns.

Guns Under Automatic Control
      As it is abundantly clear that the computer and other automatic control systems of the Battletech period are vastly inferior to even the simplest computers and control systems of today, no weapons may be considered to be under any form of computer or automatic fire control system. All weapons must have someone to man the weapons. For weapons mounted in fixed positions, such as turrets on buildings or in defensive installations, one person is required to man each weapon or group of weapons. For weapons mounted together in turrets, a single person controls the turret, and the turret may engage only a single target.

Standard Mechs And Vehicles
      In these rules, reference is made to "Standard" mechs and vehicles. A Standard mech or vehicle shall be a mech or vehicle which is both listed in the Master Tables of Maximum Tech (pages 109-124), and included as a data file with the appropriate supporting computer program. These lists are subject to change as source books become available to the Campaign Masters.

Standard Mechs
      All battlemechs listed in the Maximum Tech Master Tables (page 112) will be considered Standard Battlemechs for campaign purposes with the exception of the following.

      The following battlemechs listed in the Maximum Tech Master Tables (page 112) were found to be illegal as constructed. The indicated corrections were made. Only Mech Data sheets with the corrections will be permitted in the campaign.

Standard Vehicles
      The following vehicles are listed in the Master Tables, but were found to be illegal in construction. They shall not be considered Standard vehicles and the indicated vehicle or variant cannot be used in the campaign.

      The following vehicles are listed in the Master Tables, and are part of the data files distributed with the Vehicle Factory program, but the files contain errors. The errors have been corrected and the new files will be the ones used in the campaign.

      The following vehicles have been created specifically for the campaign. All are considered to be Standard vehicles for campaign purposes. The weights given for "Trucks" indicate the internal carrying capacity of the vehicle. Additional vehicles may exist in the campaign, but only those listed here are available to the units of the players.

Mech, Vehicle, And Equipment Costs
      The costs for standard mechs and vehicles will be taken from the Vehicle Table (Maximum Tech, page 109-112) and the Battlemech Table (Maximum Tech, page 112-124). Although these tables contain numerous, serious errors, the work to compile an accurate listing to too great for this campaign. The values for any modified mechs or equipment will be taken from the Battlemech Designer program or the Vehicle Factory program as appropriate.
      The costs for equipment, weapons, and other supplies will be taken from the Compendium and Maximum Tech books.

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Contents Previous Updated 20 June 1999.