I took it to mean that all decimal values (i.e. "uneven" numbers) round up - but this is applicable to all math, not just EM's, so it changes a few bits here and there.

I think Thermal Dampers are the only item specifically listed as rounding down (for the Thermal Sig reduction), so that would be the only exception.

"How about lumping some weapons together, like the small lasers and machine guns, and multiple lasers into one with higher ROF? "

Yes, that's a good way to streamline things, especially with systems like BTech where the actual choice of weapon types is small and you end up with 2x this and 4x that.  The only negative that I can see is that the design is a bit more fragile, in the sense that one shot can wipe out a RoF 3 gun, while if the same gun was split up into 3 separate weapons your losses would be incremental.  The HP costs of are variable - sometimes you save by wrapping things up in a high RoF weapon, and sometimes its cheaper to split them to get the same number of shots - but you probably would "pay" more for the multiple weapons in OR.

I've entered all the official units into my unit creator, and the Thermal issue seems to be correct.  As written, the design balances on EM's and HP's, but the Thermal Signature should be 6(8): +4 Size +1 Fission +1 Tempest Missile +1 Tempest Missile +1 Minigun (chaingun) = base 8 -2 Thermal Dampers L2 (33%) = 6 final.

Once you double the Offensive Rating for the two External Tube Tempest Missiles, I get an overall point value of 142 (16 less than book).  My figures are Offensive 227 (+38 from the Tempests) and Defensive 88.

I would love another set of eyes on this Unit Creator spreadsheet.  It's not rocket science, but there is a LOT of different formulas to balance.  I had the dang thing all set for the final playtest version, and then Todd went and "developed" the game! 

I'm sure that someone better versed in Spreadsheet-fu could make something more elegant, but if you would like to take a look at the unit creator just drop me a line.

Cheers,

Christopher
christopher@tenwolde.us

PS - so the Ako was Med Gear L1? 

Hmm ... I have some checking to do!  I'll post back here when I fix the links.

I don't have an actual Wardogs home page (yet), but the CBT material will obviously be a fixture there.  I'm also looking at some Star Wars conversions - more infantry based, so it will be interesting to see how the system works on that level.

Cheers,

Christopher

One other thing.

If you look over the spreadsheets you will notice that many of the heavier mechs, and most of the assaults, have negative overall EM ratings (i.e. they spent too many EM's for their size).  I let this go if they had enough leftover HM's to "convert" back and cover the EM shortfall, even though that conversion isn't technically allowed.  Since the point system should cover the extra value of the equipment, and the mechs generally short themselves on weapons by not using all their HP's, I think this system will work.  However, opinion is welcome!

Cheers,

Christopher

Who?  Me?  Don't know what you're talking about ...

But ... for those who want to get in and play with these conversions (and let me know how they work), here are pdf playsheets of all the mechs in the spreadsheets above:

Light Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/Light.zip
Medium Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/Medium.zip
Heavy Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/Heavy.zip
Assault Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/Assault.zip

These are large files, about 1MB each, but that's a *lot* of mechs!

Within the conversion parameters above, everything is pretty straightforward.  The only thing that might throw some people is that some of the "LRM Boats" (like the Crusader and Archer) had to get bumped up in Size, and sometimes in weight class (i.e. the Archer is now an Assault class mech).

Trebuchet: increased size from 5 to 6, class from medium to heavy.
Bombardier: increased size from 6 to 7.
Catapult: increased size from 6 to 7.
Crusader: increased size from 6 to 7.
Archer: increased size from 7 to 9, class from heavy to assault.
Longbow: increased size from 8 to 9, class from heavy to assault.
Atlas: size 11!
King Crab: size 12!

Also, the Flamer is probably way too much of a Thermal Sig penalty for it's effect, even though I bumped up the range to 2.  At +3 (and no other mod's allowed) it is a real TS hog, but it will take playtesting to see whether the +2 to the Target's TS is worth it.

This brings up a rules question: does the effect of multiple flamers stack?  The Firestarter has a forward battery of three flamers, although other mechs only have one.

Cheers,

Christopher

Well, here's the latest conversion system, along with all the mech's from the first edition Marcenaries Handbook.  These were made using the latest version of the WUC (Wardogs Unit Creator).

I took a different route with the conversions this time.  I used a combination of Shield levels and Armor Points to portray the "soak" of the overall armor level (Shields) and the amount of armor that had to be penetrated to cause criticals (AP's).  The conversion went like this:

Shield level = (total of all frontal armor except Head) / 70, rounded normally.  The "70" is from an average of the 7 locations, the total also divided by 10.  This gives a level of 1-3.  It  represents the overall amount of "battering" that a mech would take before the armor was broken through.  The Shield levels can be hit by criticals, so it is possible to wear down this level just like AP's.

Armor Points = (CT armor / 10) rounded up to the next integer, even if even (+1).  So, a frontal CT of 18 would be AP 3, a frontal CT of 30 would be AP 5.

Weapons were scaled to the armor scale, which would generally be in the 2-5 range.  Thus, even a d4 weapon can be effective at close ranges against max armor.  This became the level for Medium Lasers, and other weapons were scaled from there.  "Junk" weapons like the MG, AC2, SRM2 and LRM5 were converted to a generic "heavy machine gun" that equated to the general amount of space and damage they took up, etc.

Enough of all that!  Here are the files:

Light Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/WUC_v3_1_CBT_L.zip
Medium Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/WUC_v3_1_CBT_M.zip
Heavy Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/WUC_v3_1_CBT_H.zip
Assault Mechs
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/WUC_v3_1_CBT_A.zip

And, a summary of all the mechs:
http://koti.welho.com/ctenwold/CBT_Summary.zip

I think the summary might provide an interesting view on how the comparative point costs in the current system works.

Hope you like 'em!

Cheers,

Christopher

Here are links to download two different Wardog Unit Creators.  These are only a few kb's each.

1. This is based on an "old" version of the rules now (before the latest changes to balance the Power Plant issues), but it contains 31 CBT mech's all set to play!  Note that there are no instructions in this version, but there are in the new version ...
EDIT: new version below!

2. This is based on the most up to date version of the rules, and has some instructions included as comments.  Let me know if anything is still confusing (or doesn't work).
EDIT: new version below!

This is actually my first try at something like this, so I welcome constructive advice! 

Cheers,

Christopher

EDIT: I can't get the url's to work, so you'll have to cut and paste.
Go0gleplex's Edit: The Unit Creator works pretty good for most unit design. The exception is Infantry due to special condition values not applied to other units.