HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: carlton@apollo.hp.com (Carl Hommel)
Subject: Re: Battle tech stuff
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:01:51 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

Sigfried Trent writes:
>#1.  Seems to me that thunder rounds are sort of the penultimate weapn.
Thunder rounds suffer from two defects:
o They are subject to the artillery scatter rules if you miss
o Mechs with jumpjets totally defeat thunder rounds

They are useful when used properly.  They are very good at channelling
non-jumping mechs and vehicles into firing lanes.  They are peachy for
targeting mechs with bad piloting rolls, perhaps because of leg actuator
damage.

> The Devistator
NAME              Tons Pow  W/R/J Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
DEV-90 Devistator 100* 300X 3/5/0 286 9 47/14 31/11 32 34 20* PPC PPC LPL MPL MPL GR GR C3S

This is 1.5 tons short.  Maxing out the armor gives:
NAME             Tons  Pow  W/R/J Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
DEV-90 Devistator 100* 300X 3/5/0 314 9 47/15 31/11 34 42 20* PPC PPC LPL MPL MPL GR GR C3S

Is this a long-range direct fire support mech?  If so, I'd suggest switching
to ER PPCs, drop the XL engine, pulse lasers and some armor, and add more
heat sinks:
NAME              Tons Pow W/R/J Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
DEV-91 Devistator 100* 300 3/5/0 304 9 46/15 31/11 34 41 28* PPC+ PPC+ GR GR C3S

While this mech will overheat if it fires both PPCs, they have no myopic,
and would be able to shoot at an adjacent mech.  With that C3S, it could
potentially deliver 15+15+10+10=50 points of damage at range 22!

>The Supra-Locust
NAME         Tons Pow  W/R/J  Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
LCT-S+ Locust 20* 200X 10/15/0 68 8 8/4 7/3 6 8 20* ML ML ML ML SL

Sorry, but you just ran out of crits.  There is a reason that small mechs
don't have double heat sinks.  That 200XL engine gives you but 8 "free" 
heat sinks.  You have to allocate 6 crits for the other two.  What with
the 6 for the XL, 14 for Endo, and 14 for Ferro, you just plumb ran out...

Using XL saves 4.25 tons.  Using Endo saves 1 ton.  Using Ferro saves .5
tons.  So, how about dropping Ferro and the SL, giving you:

NAME         Tons Pow  W/R/J  Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
LCT-S+ Locust 20* 200X 10/15/0 68 8 8/4 7/3 6 8 20* ML ML ML ML

Hmm, that's still only 18.75 tons.  Well, through in another ML, then...

> Great Missile Mech
NAME       Tons Pow  W/R/J Arm H  Cen  Side Arm Leg HS Weapons
MissleMech  85* 255X 3/5/5 259 9 36/18 26/10 28 34 22* LL ML(4) LRM-15(4) C3S

This was too heavy and use up too may crits.  Drop the Large Laser, and you
still have too many crits.

Having fun with mechedit v3.3,
Carl Hommel
carlton@apollo.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: obbe@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Obbe Vermey)
Subject: Re: A&A - A Balanced game?
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 11:12:36 GMT


That is a nice joke, building an English carrier and putting the
american fighters on it. The only problem is that england won't
have any resources left to build a factory in india and stop
the japanese from conquering asia. If the allies can break germany
before japan conquers russia ofcourse this isn't much of a problem.

The games we play usually start with what has become known as the
'Folkert-move' (after the inventor). Germany in the first turn
sinks the British sub near the suez and conquers the to countries
controlling the suez.(Egypt using the tank and soldier already in
Africa plus an airplane and Syria-Iraq using two men from the
transporter. The British sub is killed by the battleship/transporter
If the sub hits the battleship is sacrified. Germany has to build
a sub and put it under italy to prevent the British battleship
from attacking the German transporter. The next turn Germany
can attack a possible British factory in India or South-Africa
which means the Germans can round up Africa without trouble or 
help the japanese with Asia. The only thing the Allies can do
to stop this, is move some Russians down (3) to reconquer Syria
or India. Japan can (especially if the Russians don't conquer
mantsoerije) conquer a possible English factory in India. The
Americans are usually able to reconquer it but not if the Germans 
do the Folkert-move.

Are there any other jokes/smart moves/scenarios ? I'd like to
hear them to surprise my friends.

You can't get past A&A.

					Obbe.
From: che755v@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Hostility in Gamers toward Certain Games
Date: 6 Sep 92 16:20:20 +1000
Followup-To: rec.games.board
Organization: Computer Centre, Monash University, Australia

In article <5534@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>,
 seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:

[ Marvellous article in response to Steffan O'Sullivan's post,
          especially the last bit, deleted]

Oh ditto indeed!!

On the other hand I shudder to imagine playing against you!!  It'd
be worse than Triple Whammy (of M*A*S*H fame)!! :-)

Peter D. Thomas
Centre for High Resolution Spectroscopy and Opto-Electronic Technology
Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
From: kgnome@cs.concordia.ca (MATIS stephane)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: BTECH: After GenCON92 Report ... sorta
Date: 12 Sep 92 17:49:29 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

>Nothing against Mr Pardoe, but even in person I didn't get to like him.
>He received massive criticisim form all of the other writers for
>Bloodright. 

Ok, Axly and others have asked me about this one. I usually woudn'y want
to go into it, but heck :

1. The icing on the cake is Mr. Pardoes use of HUGE 'Mech
designations, like HNR-WO-R4L Huron Warrior. It infuriates me, beacause
9 out of 10 times, he messes up his total tonnage on these same 'Mechs,
and everyone at FASA get's blamed. I like some of his writing,
especially ComStar (which you guys haven't seen yet), but out of the
three new 'Mechs in ComStar, not a single one added-up! Sheesh!

2. Mr Pardoe didn't chnage my feelings with his comment about : "And I'm
the one who finishes what you guys don't." Exsueeze-me ? What was that ?

3. Mr. Pardoe's editors (sorta including us playtesters), always wonder
what he thinks are "fun" for BTECH. Like Bloodright. Like his idea about
Clan Wolverine... he liked it ... we stayed very silent around the
table.

4. Finally, a small ping of jeoulussy fuelled the whole mess.

I hope this answer is satifying... if not ... well.


Roll!       ___      +---------------------------------------------------+
Over!   __ ( . )      From        : Stephane I. Matis
      _/__\(___)      Internet    : kgnome@cs.concordia.ca
    / /\\[==]//\ \    Working for : Monenco Systems Group 
   /_/  |THOR|  \_\   Working  at : Newfoundland Offshore Contractors 
  [00] _//==\\_ [00]  Writing for : Mecha*Press and FASA's BattleTech
      / _/--\_ \      		    Dream Pod 9
     |__|    |__|     "It Just Works... " - Steve Paul Jobs, CEO NeXT
     (__]    [__)     "Clam Warships are landing on Toycod !" - Anonymous
    [_=_]    [_=_]   +---------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: kabreuer@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Breuer)
Subject: Re: BTech HELP BAD HEADER
Organization: Student Pool, CSD, University of Erlangen, Germany
Distribution: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 12:50:09 GMT

Thanks for the crossposting of the previous article,
but the problem's been solved (Kermit chokes on long files even
in binary mode).

Get a copy, tell me what you think :)

Ciao,
Klaus
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: eunderko@jarthur.claremont.edu (Erik Underkofler)
Subject: mech02b.zip, getting a copy
Followup-To:  eunderko@jarthur.claremont.edu
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 03:19:47 GMT

  I keep seeing all these articles advertising the beta version of mech02b.zip,
but I can't seem to get ahold of a copy from the archive.  If anyone could send
me a copy, I would be very appreciative.

Erik
eunderko@jarthur.claremont.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: wesdia@sniap.mchp.sni.de (Wolf-Eckart Schmidt)
Subject: JUNTA - can someone summarize this game???
Reply-To: Wolf-Eckart.Schmidt@ap.mchp.sni.de
Organization: Siemens-Nixdorf AG
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 10:45:55 GMT

Hello,

I just have read the postings about JUNTA. I nearly bought this game some time
ago, but I gave it back, because i didn't know anything about it and it was a
risk for me buying it.
Now, I read the articles and it sounds interesting. Is it a strategic game?
Can someone post a summary of the game via email? Perhaps I'll buy the game...

Thanx,
Eike



-- 
Eike Reinel        | private:                   | A500 2.04    ;-)
Siemens Nixdorf AG | Scheinerstr.64             | 1 MB RAM     :-(
AP 421             | W-8070 Ingolstadt Germany  | 44MB Quantum :-|
email to: Wolf-Eckart.Schmidt@ap.mchp.sni.de    | IRC-Nick : Sid
From: 91vanderkolk@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Gunslinger
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:08:04 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University

The Gunnslinger - what is so wrong about this mech? For those of use who use
"book" mechs and 85 tonner with 2 gauss rifles is great. It has better armor
than the Cerberus, which also has two gauss rifles. One things that is often
overlooked is not what the mech has, but how it is deployed. Of course either
mech would go down to a Nightsky of a Wraith in proper terrain :).


John


Audacity, audacity, audacity, always audacity.
-Patton
From: gordon@delfin.com (Gordon Hua)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Titan -- non-game-altering house rules
Date: 15 Sep 92 18:55:32 GMT
Reply-To: gordon@delfin.com
Followup-To: rec.games.board
Organization: Delfin Systems, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Sep14.185636.7814@uwm.edu>, bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III) writes:
|> You have a good chance of either mutualling or killing off most of his units.
|> Probably he will have to recruit a tower creature after the battle instead of
|> a warlock. Also if your units are cen cen lio gar ttn ang, he won't get an
|> angel for the battle. This could leave him in a precarious situation.


Your plan seems to be to either to get a mutual or to cripple the hoser.
But generally, if the game has four or more players, the hoser is also 
hosed.  He can kill one of your legions, during the combat, he has to use
his tower creature to shield his titan and warlock from your creatures, 
letting you pick them off, or else he commits the warlock and titan, then
you expect to kill the warlock and one or two tower creatures.
If he attacked your angel legion, he HAS to protect his titan, else you fly
the angel next to the titan and try for a mutual - angel vs titan.  At best
the hoser can expect to have a weak legion - his original angel legion, and
a legion crippled for recruiting purposes.  I think the long term prospects
of the hoser is very poor.  Admittedly the hosee prospects are much worse.:)
In a game where this maneuver was tried, I would want to be one of the other
players and be able to pick up the easy kills from the survivor.
 
Newsgroups: rec.games.board,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: Bernie Dodge <bdodge@ucselx.sdsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Hostility in Gamers toward Certain Games
X-Xxdate: Sun, 6 Sep 92 20: 53:07 GMT
Organization: San Diego State University
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d7
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 03:49:47 GMT

sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)

The question of what kinds of games appeal to what kinds of people has
always interested me, so I'm doing some research on the subject.

I made up descriptions of 8 different games that might be used to
teach adults something about managing their money.  They ranged
from a role play with a car salesman to a monopoly-like landlord game
to an arcade like stock market symbol computer game.  I asked 150 people
to rate the interestingness of each game on a scale of 0-100.

The variance was amazing.  Every single game got a 0 from someone and
a 100 from someone else.  Different strokes for different folks, indeed.

The goal of the research was to see if these ratings correlate with
people's personality types as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
which describes peoples preferences along 4 dimensions:

   Introversion-Extroversion
   Intuition-Sensing (attracted to ideas versus concrete here-and-now)
   Judging-Perception (attracted to closure vs. open to possibilities)
   Thinking-Feeling (making decisions on logic vs how it feels or makes
     someone else feel)

The data aren't completely analyzed, but my hypotheses weren't all
supported.  There are some surprizes in the data that I need to explore
further.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in this, drop me a line and I'll send you
a summary when it's done.
-------------------------------------------------------
bdodge@ucselx.sdsu.edu
Bernie Dodge, Ed Tech Dept, San Diego State University
-------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: std_wilson@hg.uleth.ca
Subject: Re: World in Flames/Planes in Flames
Reply-To: std_wilson@hg.uleth.ca
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 05:50:32 GMT

the WiF Annual has indeed been delayed until at least October.  However 
the WWI variant (and Scandinavian add-on) is now available to those of
us that did not get to Origins, unlike Planes in Flames which sold out 
there leaving none for general sale.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: alr@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (andrew.l.reibman)
Subject: Speed Circuit
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 13:22:24 GMT

We've recently been playing Speed Circuit (the AH version
- can anyone say if this is changed since the 3M version.)
Its an excellent short game that can accomodate a large number of
players  (6 easily, more possible).

Two questions have arisen: 

A car can use a slipstream bonus through a curve, provided
both cars involved start in a straightaway, and the bonus
is not the only reason the car enters the curve.
What is the car's speed when it travels through the curve
(for determining wear) - is it the written speed or the distance
traveled. We've argued this back and forth for some time.

Do cars begin the game at their start speed (which is
also there maximum allowable speed at the start of the game)
or at 0? If its 0, a car with porr acceleration doesn't get
much benefit from a good start speed.

Any insights?

Andrew Reibman
alr@hoqaa.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: lunatic@netcom.com (Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex)
Subject: Re: BT: Grasshopper!!
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 04:46:56 GMT
Organization: Netcom; Renegade User

In article <weeBki200WA1A1W1dq@andrew.cmu.edu> Robert Everett Brunskill <rb6t+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Words of wisdom: "Never stop a Locust 5 hexes in front of an Atlas."
>(From experience)

    (_|nless you have the equivalent of three light woods or a level
 2+ hill in between you!
 
     _
    /-\ctually, if the Atlas ran, and you moved 10+ hexes, that'd be
 a +6 modifier.  That's a to-hit of 10 at short range.  Add any other
 modifers, like even just a single light woods hex, or even better
 have the Locust stand in a heavy woods hex, and you shouldn't need to
 worry too much.  There'll probably be a lot more eaiser targets for
 the Atlas to hit, anyway.

-- 
    ________________________________________
   /  -= Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex  (: /
  /  lunatic@netcom.com  CI$:  76170,672  /  <----- Note new
 /  GEnie:  LUNATIC    AoL:  <canceled>  /  Internet address
/_______________________________________/
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: mclellan@maximillion.mcc.com (David McLellan)
Subject: Re: WWII Naval miniatures paint schemes
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: MCC Corporate Computing
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:31:00 GMT

In article <CMM.0.90.2.716157556.geira@vak.ifi.uio.no>, geira@ifi.uio.no (Geir Aalberg) writes...

>Some time ago I got C-in-C's Action Stations miniatures rules and some
>of their *beautiful* 1/4800 ships. Trouble is, in all my years of
>browsing bookshops I've yet to come across any hard facts (or better,
>color illustrations) on WWII naval camouflage. 

Well, Geir, you've just been browsing the wrong bookshops :)  
Seriously, though, there is a series of small books that are dedicated 
to a single class of tanks, aircraft or ships.  I have the two volumes of US 
WWII Battleships at home, but will get the relevant information from 
them (ISBN for the two I have, more importantly for you, the publisher's 
name and title of any other books in the series, since I assume you 
have the CinC 1/4800 North Cape models of German and British ships and 
don't need to know about the war in the Pacific.  These do have color 
plates of the ships in the various WWII camoflage schemes.

>PS! Why isn't there any rec.models.military? 
DId you post this message to rec.models as well?  Or do you get that 
one at your site?  There is some discussion of military models in that 
group.

Will email you the information that I can find on the books I have
on Monday.

David McLellan
From: dunger@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Dallace Unger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Civil War Strategic games
Date: 8 Sep 92 17:14:40 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <2r3y5d-@rpi.edu> woodc@aix.rpi.edu (Christopher A. Wood) writes:
>
>  I have recently been looking at some sort of Strategic level
>Civil War game.  I had my eye on VG's The Civil War, but I happend      
>to notice another one from a small company which name escapes me
>at the moment.  It had something like "The war that pitted brother
>against brother" or somesuch  in the title.  I remember this one 
>looked more impressive on the stuff covered, but was also about $15
>more.  

Buy Civil War by VG.  It's worth the money.  I got my copy when it first
came out and still play it.  :-)

The other game you are talking about sounds like the one from FGA.  Don't
buy it.  A friend bought a copy and it looks great, but is missing
several important rules.  (Like supply.)

>  The question is :  What do people out there recomend for someone who
>wished to fight the entire Civil War?  Is the VG game any good?  Are there
>others out there I should be looking for?  

The other possiblity is War for the Union by Clash of Arms.  I have it, but
have not played.  It looks great!  (It's CoA, what do you expect. :-)
The scope of WftU is a little smaller the CW, I think you'd be happier
with CW.

Just my thoughts.

>  Thanks in advance....

 Your welcome
 
 Dallace Unger
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham)
Subject: Re: Marsh/Plains
Keywords: titan
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 11:19:47 GMT

In article <1992Sep11.233434.8187@galois.mit.edu> maboyiny@ccvax.as.edu.tw (Bo-Yin Yang) writes:
>A call for votes here--- who really thinks that Minotaurs are better than
>Warbears?  In the MIT group when I played there, everyone thinks that
>Minotaurs are slightly better... in one of our player's immortal lingo:
>
>"A Warbear is a Wuzz!"
>
>I never bothered asking what Wuzz means, but I did not feel that I need to.
>
>[Note, when playing the Bo-Yin expansion, people tend to grab the third
>Mino (which if you remember gets good recruits) but not as often the third
>Bear.  The reason is that Minos actually fights better in our games...]
>
>
>

Mino's are better. They rangestrike, and get a decisive terrain advantage
in the hills/mountains. Bears get a tiny advantage in the Tundra and no
advantage in the Wood. Mino's also have a higher skill (they walk farther).

While in plain one-on-one combat bears have a SLIGHT advantage, the other
advantages that the Mino's have more than compensate.

Dan Shoham
shoham@ll.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: willows@cslall.enet.dec.com (Steve Willows)
Subject: Re: A Glossay of Stereotypes (was Hostility in Gamers...)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 01:33:49 GMT


In article <4976@rosie.NeXT.COM>, rwalton@tehmi.next.com (Robert Walton) 
writes...

    Who cares? It was brilliant! Laugh of the day! :-) 

---
Steve Willows		willows@cslall.enet.dec.com
    			--or-- ...!decwrl!cslall.enet.dec.com!willows
    			--or-- willows%cslall.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com
    			--or-- willows%cslall.enet.dec.com@uunet.uu.net

    "Even historians fail to learn from history - they repeat the same 
mistakes." - John Gill
---
From: witchey@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Request for GDW's Imperium Info.
Date: 11 Sep 92 17:10:25 EDT



    Has anyone played Imperium by GDW?  Is it worth the 28$ or should I forget
it an go back to playing Old Maid?  500 counters sounds like too many for what
the game is made for.  

Nick Witchey
witchey@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: m91kgh@tdb.uu.se (Karl-Gunnar Hultland)
Subject: Re: BTECH - machine gun mechs
Organization: Dept. of Scientific Computing, Uppsala Univ.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:05:26 GMT

hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh) writes:
: The rule of 2 weapons per magazine has been there from the beginning.  It is
: often missed because it is mentioned under the limits of construction and
: component placement, rather than under weapons.

Sorry but now I've checked both the Battletech Manual and the
Battletech Compendium without finding that rule and if it is in any
previos edition this quote from the Compendium should settle this.

"This set of rules takes precedence over any previous publication,
including the Battle Tech Manual"

So if it's not in the manual it doesn't exist...

: I don't like the munchkin approach of designing a 'mech for one specific 
: situation and the munchkinizer who realizes that he can only fire two of his
: 30 machine guns gets so frustrated that he never does it again.

Many mech designs are designed considering a single purpose
i.e. the Charger, the Ostscout, the Urbanmech etc.

To design mechs with a specific purpose is not munchkin its just
designing the right mech for the job a thing commonly done even in
present day militaries i.e fighter planes, attack planes, recon planes etc.
Od course there exists combination planes but the specialized planes
still has a function to fulfill.

The fact still remains, a mech with many MG and a few lasers are a
perfect mech for crowd control a neccesary if not glorious task even
for the 30th century military.



					Karl

ps. If someone does use a design like this in your campaign hit them
with Long Toms, Arrow IVs and LRM carriers if you don't like them but
don't stop the others from making potentially bad constructions

-- 

Karl-Gunnar Hultland              Vox Dei, Vox Populi
m91kgh@bellatrix.tdb.uu.se
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Subject: Re: BTECH - machine gun mechs
Summary: Rules updates
Keywords: changes rules ammunition magazines location
Reply-To: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Organization: Interleaf, Inc.
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 12:47:05 GMT
Expires: 10/15/92

OK, I've gone over the initial rules, the "old" compendium (before Clans) and 
the new Compendium.  It appears that there have been many changes.

Initially, the rules called for one ton of ammunition per weapon.  This was 
altered by a clarification to allow a magazine to feed two weapons.  By the
time the Rules of Battle (the "old" compendium) came out, there were also
clarifications to require a magazine to be in a section adjacent to the
weapon it feeds.

The new compendium does not mention how many weapons a magazine can feed and
specifically says that a magazine does not have to be in the same section as
the weapon it feeds.  It does not say that a magazine can feed only two weapons
nor does it require a magazine to be in a section adjacent to the weapon it
feeds.

Ugh!  Sloppy rules for sloppy mech designs.  Munchkinism lives, under
encouragement from FASA!  "Hey, let's put a machine gun in the head.  I've
got a space in the right leg for a magazine!"

If you know anything about the way ammunition feeds work, this whole thing is
ridiculous.

It's enough to drive you back to Car Wars.