4 Force Management

Commanders spend C-bills they earn in scenarios to improve their force.

4.1 Force Maintenance and Improvements

Force maintenance and improvement options are listed below. C-bill costs for all units are listed on the Master Unit List. The C-bill cost in MegaMekLab can be used if the Master Unit List does not list a cost.

Train: Pay 500,000 C-bills multiplied by the difference in BV skill multiplier to improve a unit’s skill levels. For example, a Gunnery 4/Piloting 5 pilot has a BV skill multiplier of 1.0 and a 3/4 pilot has a BV skill multiplier of 1.32. Therefore, it costs 160,000 C-bills to train a 4/5 pilot to 3/4. Units cannot be upgraded past 1/2. New units cannot be upgraded past 3/4. Units that did not participate in the most recent scenario cannot be upgraded past 3/4. See BattleTech: TechManual, page 315, for the BV skill multiplier table. A unit’s skill levels may be degraded at no C-bill cost. ProtoMechs and infantry units that cannot make anti-’Mech attacks have Piloting/Anti-’Mech 5.

Replace: Pay 50% of the C-bill cost, rounded up, to replace a destroyed unit. If the pilot/crew was killed, the replacement cost includes a 5/6 pilot. If an infantry or Battle Armor unit was destroyed, the replacement cost includes 5/6 troops. The new unit may be trained as above. For Omni units, the replacement cost is based upon the cost of the variant on the unit roster. See BattleTech: Total Warfare for the definition of destroyed for different types of units. An abandoned unit is considered destroyed if the commander does not control the field at the end of the scenario.

Repair: Pay 25% of the C-bill cost, rounded up, to repair all internal damage and critical components for a unit that has not been destroyed. If the pilot/crew was killed, the repair cost includes a 5/6 pilot or crew that may be trained. Armor is repaired for free. For Omni units, the repair cost is based upon the fielded variant.

Recruit: Pay 50% of the C-bill cost, rounded up, to replace troops in an infantry or Battle Armor unit that was not destroyed. For example, to recruit 1 troop in a squad of 4 IS Standard Battle Armor with Lasers, pay 50% of the cost of 1 troop, which is 293,125 C-bills. Damage to Battle Armor troops that survive a scenario is repaired for free. Use the Repair rules for infantry and Battle Armor units damaged in an Alpha Strike scenario.

Refit: Pay the difference in C-bill cost to refit a unit to a different variant. A Phoenix Hawk PXH-2 costs 4,348,840 C-bills and a Phoenix Hawk PXH-1K costs 3,628,553. Pay 720,287 C-bills to convert a PHX-2 into a PHX-1K or to convert a PHX-1K into a PHX-2. Note that it still costs C-bills to refit when the new variant is cheaper. Refitting has a minimum cost of 250,000 C-bills or 10% of the original C-bill cost of the unit, whichever is less.

Omni Refit: OmniMechs and Battle Armor with modular weapon mounts can be temporarily configured as a cheaper variant at no cost. For example, the Carrion Crow C costs 10,336,492 C-bills. The Carrion Crow A costs 9,704,829 C-bills, so a Carrion Crow C can be temporarily configured as a Carrion Crow A for a scenario. A Carrion Crow B costs 15,617,992 C-bills, so a Carrion Crow C cannot be temporarily configured as a Carrion Crow B.

Purchase: Pay the C-bill cost to get a new unit. Commanders must purchase units from their Master Unit List faction and era list. The new unit has a pilot/crew at skill 4/5 and can be trained.

Salvage: Recover enemy units that that were destroyed in a scenario. Pay 50% the C-bill cost, rounded up, to add salvaged enemy units to your force. A War Crow Prime costs 22,057,358 C-bills, so it costs 11,028,679 C-bills salvaged War Crow Prime to your force. The new unit starts at skill 4/5 and can be trained. Alternatively, sell the salvaged unit to earn 25% of the C-bill cost. A salvaged War Crow Prime could be sold to earn 5,514,340 C-bills.

Sell: Sell undamaged units for 50% of the C-bill cost or destroyed units for 25% of the C-bill cost, rounded up. A Locust LCT-1E costs 1,574,200 C-bills and may be sold for 787,100 C-bills. If the Locust LCT-1E was destroyed, then selling it would only yield 393,550 C-bills.

4.2 Advanced Force Maintenance and Improvements

Commanders may use these advanced rules to further improve their force. League organizers decide which advanced rules are allowed for all forces in the league.

Retrain: Retrain a pilot/crew to a new unit. Commanders may retrain a pilot/crew when selling a unit and immediately purchasing a replacement unit of the same type or when exchanging the pilots/crew between two units.

Pay 250,000 C-bills multiplied by the difference in BV skill multiplier between their current skill level and 4/5 to retrain the crew/pilot. For example, a 3/3 pilot has a BV skill multiplier of 1.44, so it costs 110,000 C-bills to retrain a 3/3 pilot for a new unit. See BattleTech: TechManual, page 315, for the BV skill multiplier table. Add 250,000 C-bills to the retraining cost for pilots/crew with an SPA. Each pilot/crew has to be retrained when exchanging the pilots/crew between two units.

The old and new unit must be the same type. For example, a ’Mech pilot can only be retrained into another ’Mech unit. A Combat Vehicle crew can only retrain to the same type of Combat Vehicle: ground, VTOL, WiGE, or naval. See BattleTech: Total Warfare, page 192, for discussion of the Combat Vehicle types.

Advanced Refit: Pay 200% of the difference in C-bill cost to refit a unit to a different variant that is available on a different faction list. The unit must be available in the current era. A Locust LCT-1V is a widely available variant that costs 1,512,400 C-bills while the Locust LCT-6M costs 4,277,500 C-bills is only available to the Free Worlds League and the Word of Blake during the Civil War era. A commander outside of the Free Worlds League or Word of Blake may pay 5,530,200 C-bills to convert a LCT-1V to a LCT-6M. Converting back to a variant on the faction list for the force only costs the standard Refit cost. Advanced Refit has a minimum cost of 500,000 C-bills or 20% of the original C-bill cost of the unit, whichever is less.

Advanced Refit can also be used to convert a unit a unique or experimental variant, if the force does not already contain a unique or experimental unit. See the Force Construction rules for restrictions on the single unique or experimental unit in a force.

There is not cost when using Advanced Refit to permanently reduce the size of a Battle Armor or infantry unit, such as reducing a salvaged Elemental point with 5 troops to an Inner Sphere squad size of 4 troops. Increasing the size of a Battle Armor or infantry unit still incurs the double cost penalty if the unit is from a different faction list; for example refitting a salvaged Gray Death Scout Suit squad with 4 troops to a 5 troop point would cost 1,040,160 C-bills for a faction that does not have the Gray Death Scout Suit on their faction list.

Advanced Omni Refit: An Omni Refit allows units to be temporarily converted to a cheaper variant for a scenario at no cost. This variant must be available in the current era but does not need to be on the force’s faction list. Refitting is required to use more expensive variants. As with the Advanced Refit, pay 200% of the difference in C-bill cost to refit a unit to a more expensive variant that is available on a different faction list. Once the unit has been converted, it can be temporarily configured as a cheaper variant for a scenario at no cost.

Capture: Capture a pilot or crew when their unit is destroyed. A pilot or crew may eject from their ’Mech or abandon their vehicle. See BattleTech: Tactical Operations Advanced Rules, page 164, for rules on ejection and abandoning units. The pilot or crew may be recovered by a friendly unit or captured by an enemy unit. A captured pilot or crew may be ransomed, with terms agreed upon between the two commanders. Alternatively, a captured pilot or crew may be taken as a bondsman and retrained as above.

Allegiance: Declare allegiance for to a single employer, such as a Great House, Clan, or wealthy benefactor. The force receives logistical support in exchange for a portion each mission’s objective payments. Commanders must complete 5 scenarios before they can renounce their Allegiance.

• Receive only 80% of the payments for objectives
• Always receive base pay, unless an objective awarded equipment

Design Quirks: Commanders may opt into using Design Quirks for their entire force. If a commander opts into using Design Quirks, then the quirks always apply to repair, replacement, salvage, and selling costs for all units. Both sides must agree to use Design Quirks for them to apply in a scenario.

See BattleTech: BattleMech Manual, page 82, BattleTech: Campaign Operations, page 225, or Sarna.net for a list of all quirks. MegaMekLab and Sarna.net list quirks for each unit.

Some quirks require modifications for BattleTech: Outworlds Wastes.

• Two ’Mechs with Compact ’Mech may share a dropship bay.
• Easy to Maintain reduces repair and replacement costs by 10%.
• Good Reputation increases purchase and salvage costs by 10%.
• Modular Weapons decreases refit costs by 50%.
• Rugged reduces repair costs by 5%.
• Ubiquitous reduces repair and replacement costs by 10%.
• Bad Reputation decreases purchase and salvage costs by 10%.
• Difficult to Maintain increases repair and replacement costs by 10%.
• Non-Standard Parts increases repair and replacement costs by 10%.

Custom Design Quirks: If commanders have opted into using Design Quirks, they may purchase additional quirks to customize their units. If a commander uses Custom Design Quirks, then the additional quirks always apply to repair, replacement, salvage, and selling costs for all units. Both sides must agree to use Custom Design Quirks for them to apply in a scenario.

Pay 10% of the unit’s cost in C-bills per positive quirk point to add a positive quirk. For each positive quirk, commanders must select negative quirks with a total value greater than or equal to the positive quirk’s point value. Increase the repair and replacement costs by 10% for each positive quirk point purchased. See BattleTech: Campaign Operations, page 255, for a table summarizing which quirks may be applied to which unit types.

The following quirks may be used to customize your units:

Positive Design Quirks:

• Accurate Weapon (varies)
• Improved Cooling Jacket (1 point)
• Improved Sensors (3 points)
• Improved Targeting (3, 4, or 5 points)
• Rumble Seat (0 points)
• Searchlight (0 points)
• Stabilized Weapon (varies)
• Variable Range Targeting (varies)

Negative Design Quirks:

• Ammunition Feed Problem (1 point)
• Cooling System Flaws (3 points)
• Hard to Pilot (2 points)
• Inaccurate Weapon (varies)
• No Cooling Jacket (2 points)
• Poor Cooling Jacket (1 point)
• Poor Performance (3 points)
• Poor Targeting (2 points)
• Poor Workmanship (1 point)
• Ramshackle (3 points)
• Sensor Ghosts (3 points)

Custom Units: Commanders may customize units by refitting an existing variant of a chassis. The customized unit must use the same technology base as the variant of the chassis being customized and this technology base must be available to the force in this era. All equipment or weapons added must be available in the current era.

The customized unit must be legal per BattleTech: TechManual construction rules. The unit retains the quirks of the chassis. Major structural modifications such as changing the engine, cockpit, or internal structure are not permitted. Partial wings, Triple Strength Myomer, and full head ejection systems cannot be added.

League organizers set the highest customization level allowed in the league. Each customization level includes all levels below it.

Level 1: Equipment and weapons may be removed from the unit. Ammunition bins may be removed or converted to a different type of ammunition. CASE may be added. Additional armor may be added.

Level 2: Equipment, weapons, and ammunition bins may be moved to new locations. Additional heat sinks may be added. Infantry bays may be expanded. Armor may be converted to standard or Ferro-Fibrous armor.

Level 3: Additional equipment may be added to the unit. MASC, a supercharger, or additional jump jets may be added. Jump jets may be converted to improved jump jets. Gyros can be replaced with another type of gyro. Single heat sinks may be converted to double heat sinks.

Level 4: Armor may be converted to specialty armor, such as Stealth or Ferro-Lamellor.

Level 5: Additional weapons may be added to the unit.

A force can have multiple units with level 1 or level 2 customizations but only one unit with level 3 or higher customizations. A unit with level 3 or higher customizations counts as the single Unique or Experimental unit allowed in a force; a force cannot have both a Unique or Experimental unit and a unit with level 3 or higher customizations.

Commanders purchase the base unit and then pay 200% of the difference in C-bill cost of the original unit and the computed C-bill cost of the custom unit. Customization has a minimum cost of 500,000 C-bills or 20% of the original C-bill cost of the unit, whichever is less. Custom units may be customized again. If the custom unit uses Omni technology, the unit can still be configured as a cheaper Omni variant of the chassis at no cost.

Customized units are more expensive to maintain. Increase the repair and replace costs by 5% for each level of customization past level 1. For example, a unit with level 3 customization costs 10% more to Repair and Replace; repairs cost of 35% of the C-bill cost and replacement costs 60% of the C-bill cost.

Custom units may be salvaged and sold but cannot be added to another force. Commanders cannot acquire a custom unit from another force in any way. Commanders may sell custom units per the standard rules.

Special Pilot Abilities: Commanders may opt into using Special Pilot Abilities (SPAs) for their units. If a commander opts into using Special Pilot Abilities, then the SPAs always apply to retraining costs. Both players in a scenario must agree to use SPAs for them to apply in the scenario.

See BattleTech: Campaign Operations, page 70, or Sarna.net for a list of all SPAs.

After each scenario, roll 2D6 for each unit that survived. Subtract 2 from the result if the unit already has an SPA. On a result of 10+, assign an SPA to the unit by rolling D666 on the charts below. If the result is invalid for the unit, roll D666 again and use the new result. Commanders may decide to not apply a valid SPA to the unit; however, do not roll again in this case. An SPA may be removed from a unit, but only after rolling for new SPAs following a scenario.

1st	2nd	3rd	’Mech	ProtoMech
1 - 5	1 - 3	1	Blood Stalker	Blood Stalker
		2	Dodge	Cluster Hitter
		3	Fist Fire	Dodge
		4	Hot Dog	Eagle’s Eyes
		5	Jumping Jack	Hot Dog
		6	Maneuvering Ace	Jumping Jack
	4 - 6	1	Melee Master	Maneuvering Ace
		2	Oblique Attacker	Marksman
		3	Range Master	Multi-Tasker
		4	Sandblaster	Range Master
		5	Swordsman	Speed Demon
		6	Zweihander	Street Fighter
6	1 - 4	*	Marksman	Animal Mimicry
	5 - 6	1	Combat Intuition	Combat Intuition
		2	Natural Grace	Natural Grace
		3	Sharpshooter	Sharpshooter
		4	Sniper	Sniper
		5	Tactical Genius	Tactical Genius
		6	Weapon Specialist	Weapon Specialist

1st	2nd	3rd	Combat Vehicle	Airborne Unit	Infantry
1 - 5	1 - 3	1	Blood Stalker	Blood Stalker	Blood Stalker
		2	Cluster Hitter	Cluster Hitter	Cluster Hitter
		3	Eagle’s Eyes	Dust-Off	Eagle’s Eyes
		4	Maneuvering Ace	Eagle’s Eyes	Foot Cavalry
		5	Marksman	Ground-Hugger	Heavy Horse
		6	Multi-Tasker	Lucky(2)	Light Horseman
	4 - 6	1	Oblique Attacker	Maneuvering Ace	Marksman
		2	Range Master	Marksman	Multi-Tasker
		3	Sandblaster	Multi-Tasker	Range Master
		4	Speed Demon	Range Master	Sandblaster
		5	Stand Aside	Sandblaster	Speed Demon
		6	Terrain Master	Speed Demon	Urban Guerrilla
6	1 - 4	*	Cross Country	Shaky Stick	Human TRO
	5 - 6	1	Combat Intuition	Golden Goose	Demoralizer
		2	Lucky(3)	Ride the Wash	Lucky(3)
		3	Sharpshooter	Sharpshooter	Sharpshooter
		4	Sniper	Sniper	Sniper
		5	Tactical Genius	Tactical Genius	Tactical Genius
		6	Weapon Specialist	Weapon Specialist	Weapon Specialist

Dropship Customization: Commanders may customize their dropship to better support their force. Commanders are encouraged to name their dropship before using this rule.

Commanders can customize their dropships in the following categories:

• ’Mech Maintenance
• Ground Combat Vehicle Maintenance
• VTOL Combat Vehicle Maintenance
• Aerospace Unit Maintenance
• ProtoMech Maintenance
• Machine Shop
• Medical Bay
• Infantry Quarters
• Simulators
• Bay Configuration Limits

Each commander receives 5 customization points to modify their dropship. The dropship starts at level 0 in each category. Commanders spend customization points to raise the level for a category and gain the corresponding benefit. Any portion of the initial 5 customization points may be reserved for future use. The table below details how many points it costs to increase a category customization level.

Level Increase	Cost
Level -2 to -1	2 point cost
Level -1 to 0	1 point cost
Level 0 to 1	1 point cost
Level 1 to 2	2 point cost
Level 2 to 3	3 point cost

Point costs are cumulative. For example, it costs 1 point to go from level 0 to level 1 and 2 points to go from level 1 to level 2, so it costs 3 total points to go from level 0 to level 2.

Commanders can further customize their dropship, but space and resources must be reallocated from one category to another. After each scenario, commanders may spend 1,000,000 C-bills to decrease the level of one or more categories to earn sufficient customization points and increase the level of a single category. The customization points earned when decreasing the level of a category are given in the table below. This may be done only once between scenarios.

Level Decrease	Payout
Level -1 to -2	2 points earned
Level 0 to -1	1 point earned
Level 1 to 0	1 point earned
Level 2 to 1	2 points earned
Level 3 to 2	3 points earned

Maintenance: Improve the ability to maintain units of a specific type. This customization stacks with quirks. A unit that is Easy to Maintain on a dropship with level 1 in maintenance for that unit type is 15% cheaper to repair or replace while a unit that is Hard to Maintain would only be 5% more expensive to repair or replace.

The maintenance level cannot be adjusted for a unit type not present in the force. For example, a force must have VTOL units to raise or lower the VTOL maintenance category. If the last unit of a type is sold or destroyed, commanders must replace the unit with another of the type or immediately pay to reallocate any positive or negative points to reset the category to level 0.

Level	Benefit
-2	10% increase in repair and refit costs for unit type
-1	5% increase in repair and refit costs for unit type
0	No change
1	5% decrease in repair and refit costs for unit type
	1 free repair of 1 critical hit or 2 motive hits after each mission
2	10% decrease in repair and refit costs for unit type
	2 free repairs of 1 critical hit or 2 motive hits after each mission
3	15% decrease in repair and refit costs for unit type
	3 free repairs of 1 critical hit or 2 motive hits after each mission

Machine Shop: The machine shop can be used to improve salvage. Commanders pay less when adding a salvaged unit to their force and earn more when selling a destroyed unit as salvage.

Level	Benefit
-2	10% increase in salvage costs
	10% decrease in salvage revenue
-1	5% increase in salvage costs
	5% decrease in salvage revenue
0	No change
1	5% decrease in salvage costs
	5% increase in salvage revenue
2	10% decrease in salvage costs
	10% increase in salvage revenue
3	15% decrease in salvage costs
	15% increase in salvage revenue

Infantry Quarters: Allocating more space to infantry quarters makes it cheaper to recruit new troops for infantry and Battle Armor units.

Level	Benefit
-2	10% increase in recruiting costs
-1	5% increase in recruiting costs
0	No change
1	5% decrease in recruiting costs
2	10% decrease in recruiting costs
3	15% decrease in recruiting costs

Medical Bay: The medical bay can increase the survivability of pilots/crew when their unit is destroyed. ’Mech pilots receive a modification to their PSR to survive an ejection. ProtoMech pilots and Combat Vehicle crews can survive the destruction of their unit on a 2D6 medical bay roll.

Level	Benefit
-2	+2 modifier to ’Mech ejection PSRs
-1	+1 modifier to ’Mech ejection PSRs
0	No change
1	-1 modifier to ’Mech ejection PSRs
	Vehicle and ProtoMech crews survive on 10+ medical bay roll
2	-2 modifier to ’Mech ejection PSRs
	Vehicle and ProtoMech crews survive on 8+ medical bay roll
3	-3 modifier to ’Mech ejection PSRs
	Vehicle and ProtoMech crews survive on 6+ medical bay roll

Simulators: Allocating more space to simulators makes it cheaper to train personnel between scenarios and easier for those personnel to gain SPAs.

Level	Benefit
-2	10% increase in training costs
-1	5% increase in training costs
0	No change
1	5% decrease in training costs
2	10% decrease in training costs
	+1 to rolls for SPAs
3	15% decrease in training costs
	+2 to rolls for SPAs

Bay Configuration Limits: Bay configuration limits can be adjusted by spending customization points. For example, at level 1 a commander may decrease their ’Mech bay limit to 11 and increase their aerospace bay limit to 3. The bay configuration limits customization level can only be decreased if the entire force conforms to the new bay configuration limits.

Level	Benefit
0	No change
1	One bay limit can be shifted
2	One additional bay limit can be shifted
3	One additional bay limit can be shifted

4.3 Changing Eras

League organizers may advance the league to a new era. Commanders may create a new force or continue to play their current force in the new era.

If the force’s faction is not available in the new era, then the commander must pick a new faction list. The commander has three options for selecting a new faction list.

• If the faction becomes part of a new faction, then the new faction list may be used. For example, Clan Snow Raven and the Outworlds Alliance merge to form the Raven Alliance during the Republic era. Most Snow Raven and Outworlds Alliance forces would become Raven Alliance forces.
• A commander may select an allied faction. The St. Ives Compact was forcefully reintegrated into the Capellan Confederation in 3063. A St. Ives Compact commander may decide to join the Federated Suns instead of joining the Capellan Confederation. The new faction should share the same general list or historically be allies of the old faction.
• A commander may decide to become a mercenary or pirate. Their force would use the mercenary or pirate faction list.

Unit variants that are extinct but still have alternate variants in the current era can be maintained and improved as usual. Units that are fully extinct in the new era cost 10% more to maintain and cannot be replaced. The following additional rules apply to maintaining extinct units.

Repair: If no variant of the unit exists in the current era, then repairing the unit costs 35% of the C-bill cost instead of 25% of the C-bill cost.

Replace: If no variant of the unit exists in the current era, then the unit cannot be replaced.

Recruit: If no variant of the unit exists in the current era, then recruiting new troops in an infantry or Battle Armor unit costs 60% of the cost for a single troop. At least one troop in the unit must survive in order to recruit new troops, otherwise the unit is permanently destroyed and no new troops can be recruited.

Salvage: Extinct enemy units you destroyed in a scenario can only be sold for 25% cost.

Sell: Extinct units in your force may be sold at 50% of the C-bill cost, or 25% of the C-bill cost if destroyed.