From: bc@fccn01.fccn.pt (Luis Miguel Sequeira)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: BattleTech PBeM Development Group
Date: 13 Nov 1992 12:38:21 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

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 B A T T L E T E C H   P B e M   D E V E L O P M E N T   G R O U P

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	Not bad, not bad. I was expecting some reactions only after
the weekend, but I was surprised with some quick answers. My thanks to
all of you.

	Just some points to discuss next week (sorry, I don't work
during the weekend... my site is closed and locked, beginning at 08:00
pm fridays, that is, in less than one hour...):

	1) Setting: one suggestion

	The game is played on a NxM bi-dimensional map with several
planets, representing the domains of the Five Houses (shall we throw
the Clans into the game, too?).

	Each planet is named according to the BattleTech Universe (if
someone has a list, I'll be glad - I've only got the MechWarrior PC
game as a source!!). They have also at least the following
characteristics:

	Mountains in %, Lakes in %, Rough land in %, Plains in %,
	Light Woods in %, Dense Woods in %, etc.

	... and allegiance to one of the Houses, of course.

	The purpose of this is to get a seed for the random
battlefield generator.

	As an example, let's try a 16x32 hex grid, scaled according to
the BattleTech rules. Terrain depends thus on the beforementioned
probabilities. Perhaps a point on the planet for the battle should be
generated in some way, and the battlefield, once generated, would be
kept in the database, so that further battles at the same point would
get the same battlefield. I don't know if this is pushing too far; for
one, this may eat up lots of space, but it would permit, for instance,
for a lance to withdraw from the battle, resupply itself, and fight on
the same battlefield on the next turn.

	2) Units

	I suggest that each player starts with one mercenary unit
composed of a single lance with 4 'mechs. When joining the game for
the first time, he may select one lance type (eg. Recon Lance, Light
Lance, Medium Lance, Heavy Lance, Assault Lance, etc.), and will have
some 'mechs of that type (or shall he buy them? In this case, does
every player start with the same amount of money? And buy what he
wishes?).

	He'll also have one MechWarrior directly controlled by him
(just as on the MechWarrior PC/Amiga game), and three others who have
been hired and are NPCs.

	Later on, he'll be able to buy new mechs, sell older ones
(lease them? Hmmm...), etc., and recruiting new members for his
MechForce.

	If he has the money, he'll also be able to contract other
players' lances to do the dirty work...

	3) Turns

	Adrian (agiblett@cch.coventry.ac.uk) proposed 4 battle turns
followed by one diplomatic/economic turn.

	This seems a nice idea. On the dip/eco. turn, players would
get a list of available 'mechs for sale, available MechWarriors for
hire, costs for repairing/mantaining/resupplying existing 'mechs of
the lance, etc. This would also be a phase where players could send
messages to other players, and, of course, to announce contracts and
to be hired.

	Here I find one big problem: how to get the Houses to announce
contracts for the players? This will be the normal case. I'm still
thinking about the MechWarrior PC game, where contracts appear
randomly (is that really so? I've never played the game to an end).
One alternative would be to have some players for the Houses, too, but
they would obviously be mega-powerful...

	Suggestions are really needed here.


	Once this phase is over, we assume each player knows what he's
going to do (i. e., depending on the contracts accepted). He's dropped
on the chosen battlefield on the first of the 4 battle turns.

	Some way must be provided for the player to know what he's up
to. For example, he'll know where a base is to be conquered, and an
overall description of enemy & friendly 'mechs on the field (such as:
"heavy mech, lightly damaged, on hex #463"). He'll also get a
(partial?) map of the battlefield (which would change on subsequent
turns, as his 'mechs advance on the field and find new features).

	Orders will be something like "attack heaviest mech" or "run
to the base and seize it", "run to avoid", "ambush at hex #foo", etc.
Actual weapon choice, etc., or precise movements are beyond the scope
of a scale like this one (and, after all, the player has only 4 turns
to win or lose...!). Of course, there must be a way to convert basic
BattleTech stats into something like a points based system.

	Or should the computer fight the battle, and add a colorful
description? E. g.:

    "Bloody Axes' Warhammer fires PPC on Blue Thunder's ShadowHawk"
    "A hit, ShadowHawk -12 armor on left arm and upper arm actuator destroyed"
    "Bloody Axes' Warhammer runs to base on hex #432 and destroys it"

	This would be nice, but it also implies that many actions must
be dealt by the computer while he tries to obey the players' orders.

	Here a *LOT* of suggestions are welcome!

---

	Ok, that's for a beginning. Hope to see some suggestions on
Monday...

- Luis Sequeira


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 /
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    _/     _/     _/  _/_/_/     Computer scientists do it byte by byte.
   _/     _/_/ _/_/ _/
  _/     _/ _/  _/  _/_/_/       God created Law and Order from Chaos,
 _/     _/     _/       _/       but Chaos was created by computer
_/_/_/ _/     _/  _/_/_/         scientists.

  bc@fccn.pt                              Luis Miguel Sequeira
                                  Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil
  Phone 351-1-8482131 Ext. 2752   Centro Informatica/Grupo Sistemas Centrais
  "Don't call me, I'll call you"  Av. Brasil, 101 - 1700 Lisboa, Portugal
                                                                          /
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Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm