Optional Rules: Damage and Repair

Optional Rules Compendium

This is a compilation of "house rules" for the BattleTech gaming system. These rules come from different sources and might not be used by your GM. If your gaming group does not use a GM, then rules can be adopted by general consensus of the players. Please note that some of these rules may conflict with each other; this list is meant to complement existing rules. This list is based on FASA's BattleTech, not the newer version by FanPro (Classic BattleTech).
Use of the phrase "House Rules" in no way implies that the sequenced garbage played in dance clubs in the early 1990's was even music, let alone any good.

Actuators* Armour* Critical Spaces* Conventional Aircraft* Damage and Repair* Endo Steel* Ferro Fibrous* Hatchets* Heat Sinks* Misc.* Physical Combat* ProtoMechs* Quads* Weapons and Equipment
Dropships | Warships
VehiMechs | Centaurs | Spiders

Damage and Repair

Ammo Explosions

Damage from ammunition should also affect the remaining armour of the surrounding location. If more than 50% of the armour remains on a location suffering an ammunition explosion, only 1/4 of the damage should affect the armour; the armour is assumed to tamp the explosion back into the 'mech. If less than 50% of the armour remains, transfer 1/2 of the explosion damage to the armour, ignoring excess, as per CASE rules, or applying the excess damage to the armour of the next location.
Ammo explosions is torsos without CASE should transfer damage to the arm as well as the center torso; the transfer can be at a 1:3 ratio. Damage transfered to an arm that was previouly missing is considerd vented. Although the arm is already considered lost, due to the torso loss, damage should be recorded for repair and club availability considerations.

Gauss Rifle

A Gauss gun, be it a rail gun or a coil gun, fires projectiles by using a series of electro-magnets. The "gun" itself cannot explode catastrophically. It is assumed that the engine cannot provide enough power to "fire" the weapon, so energy is stored in a capacitance medium; this is what can potentially explode. However, a recently fired weapon simply cannot have enough residual charge to explode (especially with recharge/reload rules). If the weapon can store enough charge for an extended battle, it could explode, but it would have to carry more than enough to reflect 'mechs with multiple reloads or "empty" gauss guns exploding.
In addition to "powering down" rules, a gauss gun should not explode if destroyed/critically hit in the same round in which it fired. Further critical hits to a gauss gun "destroyed" in this way will not cause it to explode. Critical hits to "charged" gauss guns should have only a 4 in 6 chance of exploding; either way, the weapon is still "destroyed".

Gauss ammunition still does not explode.

Mech Recovery

see Physical Combat--Dragging

Salvage -- Destroyed Sections

When a side torso location loses all of it's internal structure, it is considered destroyed; the corresponding arm is also considered lost. Equipment, or even the entire arm, may be salvaged, subject to damage that arm actually suffered. Further hits to the arm are still transfered down the Damage Transfer Diagram into the centre torso, and do not affect the arms salvagability.

OPTION: Any weapons not destroyed by critical hits may survive the destruction of a BattleMech's section. The weapon is useless to the 'mech, but may be salvaged. Your GM may wish to assign a chance of salvage (2 in 6) to the equipent, instead. The GM should also determine if the equipment is left on the battlefield or still attached to what is left of the 'mech.

see also Severed Arms

Severed Arms -- Attaching

BattleMechs may mount the severed (not destroyed) arms of other 'mechs as long as that 'mech is of the same or lesser overall tonnage. The new limb may only have the same amount of armour and internal structure as an arm of a 'mech of the original weight. For every 25 tons of weight difference (rounded down) between 'mechs, add a +1 penalty to Piloting Skill rolls.
NOTE: TSM may make components incompatible. If the GM allows such a repair, only TSM-equipped components may use the TSM bonus. It is highly recommended that the GM use the Critical Spaces -- TSM Allocation rules, as an arm without a TSM crit. should not have the TSM bonus.

BattleMechs cannot mount legs from smaller or larger 'mechs. Certain 'mechs of the same weight may have leg designs compatible with each other.
NOTE: The GM may rule that similar legs are not compatible due to internal components like MASC, TSM, and Jump Jet exhaust ports.

Severed Arms -- Damage

Severed arms used as clubs suffer extreme damage to their components. Armour is too battered to salvaged. Likewise, internal structure is also too damaged for re-use. Some pieces of equipment may survive, at GM's option. If you use the multiple critical hit damage rules, each piece should be considered to have suffered a critical hit (in addition to any combat damage).

OPTION: TSM critical locations, consisting of flexible materials, may survive clubbing. They may be used as standard TSM replacement bundles.

A GUMO-M undergoes some repairs.

XL Engines

Since all equipment in a destroyed location is lost, BattleMechs with XL Engines are effectively destroyed if they lose any torso location instead of just the center. If it has not been destroyed by critical hits, players may agree that the engine is still functioning but "hanging in the breeze." Since the center torso may still be protected by armor, a new way to calculate damage must be used.

Any hits to the missing arm or torso automatically destroy the engine (salvage impossible). Damage can be calculated to the center torso, as normal, if salvage rules are being used. The "Stackpole Rule" or another rule dealiong with spectacular explosions may be used here, instead.

To submit a rule for posting, e-mail Koichi (please include "BattleTech" in the subject line)

This list was compiled by Jason Caesar and Koichi Ishitandai

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