Technical Readout 3058 Upgrade (Battletech) by Herbert A. Beas II


Technical Readout 3058 Upgrade (Battletech)
Title : Technical Readout 3058 Upgrade (Battletech)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1932564349
ISBN-10 : 9781932564341
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 231
Publication : First published June 12, 2006

Wars Past. Wars Present. In the 3050's, the discoveries of long-buried Star League records led to a plethora of new cutting-edge BattleMech and vehicle designs by the end of that decade, resurrected from the blue prints of design firms centuries old and thought lost to antiquity. Now, ten years later, these designs have moved from novelty to workhorse, as the Inner Sphere once more finds itself at war! Fully updated to circa 3070 and still containing the same fantastic art by Duane Loose, Classic BattleTech Technical Readout: 3058 Upgrade launches these designs into the current time frame, including notable MechWarriors/pilots, as well as new variants. Additionally, a battle armor section has been included, providing full Classic BattleTech stats, and updating the histories for these twenty venerable designs.

Technical Readout 3058 Upgrade (Battletech) Reviews

  • Mark Austin

    I met the group of friends that are still among my best friends via Battletech.

    Until mid-7th Grade, lunch meant eating quickly, then heading outside seeking something to alleviate boredom and avoiding bullies. Then, one day, one of my (only) friends introduced me to these guys who stayed in all lunch, hunched at the end of a cafeteria table as though using their bodies as a wall to protect the bubble of fantasy that they were collectively creating. Some days the bubble contained D&D, but on that first day it was 25-100 ton, 2 inch tall war machines from a thousand-odd years in the future known as Battle Mechs.

    I was hooked instantly.

    It was a board game, but with infinite scenarios created by the players. It was a roleplaying game with a duration of one battle. It had a massive variety of pieces with various weapons, speeds, armor ratings, and special abilities and, if you weren't satisfied with the hundreds of options they provided, extensive, balanced rules for creating your own mechs.

    The rules were extensive and, when using advanced optional rules, bordered on obsessive minutia but being a dysfunctional obsessive compulsive, I found learning them a delight. Unlike life, here there were clear-cut rules on how to do EVERYTHING!

    The technical handout books not only contained dozens of mechs and vehicles, but each had its own history and backstory, as well as little personalized traits and quirks that had no effect on the game but made it all feel real, like commentary on how cramped the cockpits were for larger pilots or how awkwardly the control yokes were placed.

    I don't know the state of the game currently aside from the nearly-direct computer port of this game that we always dreamed of finally coming out (just look up Battletech on Steam), but between the politically complex and interesting universe, detailed, comprehensive and seemingly balanced rules, and the relative speed of play, it filled a solid niche in our gaming schedule.

    When the RPG came out (around college times for me) we even tried out a short lived mercenary game. Though we only got through a few sessions, it did send me on a month-long nostalgic binge re-reading the books and re-living a hundred battles fought in Middle and High School.