FIELD REFITS

& MODIFICATIONS
Optional Rules Expansion
 death from above wargaming
refits & modifications

INTRODUCTION
We all know ‘Mech customization is an essential part of the BattleTech universe, whether
playing around in the Mechlab of the MechWarrior video games or tinkering with the armor and
heatsinks on a Classic BattleTech record sheet - BattleMech modifications allow us to
personalize the ‘Mechs we love, optimize a lance for a specific mission, or give some less-
fortunate factory designs a prayer of being competitive.

At Death from Above Wargaming, we have devised a set of house rules that simplify and
regulate the one-off customization rules found in Strategic Operations, while adhering to the
‘Mech construction guidelines presented in the TechManual.

The key difference in our construction framework is that it is limited to reflect customizations
more akin to field refits and modifications that are grounded to the in-universe technical
challenges of ‘mech design. Said differently, we have created a system that is both fluffy and
balanced.

We have organized this manual to cover how to perform field refits and modifications in four
sections:

• Note On Existing Tools

• Field Refits & Modifications Rules
• Weapon Tech Tiers & Types
• Example Customization Walkthrough

First, a message from our affiliates...

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EXISTING TOOLS
A few tools exist that allow you to customize
BattleTech units and we have used several
ourselves. MegaMek is a free download that
you can find by searching in your favorite web
browser.
We recommend MegaMek as that tends to be
kept up to date and has a massive catalog of
‘mechs, vehicles, aerospace fighters, and
more. All of the canon designs are pre-built,
and ready to be loaded and customized.
The screen capture below shows the interface
in MegaMek; we have an Assassin ASN-101
loaded. There are multiple tabs within
MegaMek detailing armor, weapons, critical
allocations, and so forth. We will walk through
an example modification of this Assassin
variant later in this manual.
FIELD REFIT & MODIFICATION BASICS
These rules apply to any canon BattleMech
variants. You cannot apply these rules to an
already field modified variant. The rules are
explicit, meaning if it is not written, it is not a
legal modification.
Weapon modification is tied to a concept
called “tier"; this is explained in the
subsequent section but is inspired by the
hardpoint systems from some of our favorite
MechWarrior video games.
General Guidelines
• All customizations must be started from a
canon BattleMech variant
• Customizations must adhere to available
and maximum critical slots allowed*
• A ‘Mech’s total weight must be the same
before and after customization*
• A ‘Mech’s BV must be recalculated after
customization*
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WEAPON TYPES & TIERS Point Defense Weapons

A weapon’s type follows canon classification of Some weapons are so simple that they can
energy, ballistic, and missile. These types can be swapped across type. The following
be found in both the BattleMech Manual as weapons are considered point defense
well as Total Warfare. weapons: small laser, small pulse laser, small
x-pulse laser, er small laser, light machine
A weapon's tier is a house rule that we use to gun, machine gun, flamer, er flamer, and
categorize the relative size and complexity of SRM-2.
weapons systems. The lower the tier, the
simpler the weapon. This list includes both clan and IS
counterparts where applicable but does not
Regardless of era, weapon tiers remain allow for swapping one tech base for another.
consistent and are based on the critical For example, you could swap an IS machine
space required to fit the weapon. This varies gun for an IS er small laser, but you could not
by weapon type; see the table below to swap it for a clan er small laser.
determine weapon tier:
Mixed Tech
Type Energy Missile Ballistic Especially in the ilClan era, mixed-tech refits
are common. If the players agree to mixed-
Tier --------------- Critical Slots ---------------
tech refits, there is an extra price for
I 1 1 1-2 upgrading IS weaponry to clan equipment.
II 2 2 3-5
When replacing an IS weapon with a clan
III 3 3-4 6-9 weapon, note that clan weapons always count
IV 4+ 5-6 10 - 11 as being one tier higher. While they are less
bulky, they are more complex. To reiterate,
V - 7-9 12+ this will only matter for purposes of mixed
IV - 10+ - tech refits.

When replacing weapons from a canon Omni Mechs

variant/configuration, you may replace the Follow the same rules when refitting
weapon with either: OmniMech. Although some of these refits
may go against standard OmniMech
• a single weapon of the same type that is
configuration construction rules, these rules
up to one tier higher (or any number of
are meant to reflect field refits and one-off
tiers lower) in the same location
customizations.
or
• two weapons of the same type that are
both of a lower tier in the same location
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OPTIONS & RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY
• Armor can be added to, or removed from,
any location in half-ton increments
• The maximum armor allowed, by location,
follows the rules in the TechManual
• Heat sinks (except those integrated with
the engine) can be added removed from
any location
• All heat sinks must be of the same type
(single or double) as the original variant
• Ammo bins can be added or removed to
any location, but must feed a weapon in
the same, or adjacent, location; no
appendage is adjacent to another
appendage, but the entire torso (left,
center and right) is considered one
location for purposes of adjacency (e.g.,
the left arm is adjacent to the right torso,
but the left arm is not adjacent to the left
leg)
• Machine gun ammo can be added or
removed in half-ton increments; all other
ammo must be added in full-ton
increments unless otherwise stated in the
rules
• Actuators cannot be added or removed
• Jump jets can be removed but not added
• All electronics (probes, ecm suites, c3
computers, fire control systems, etc.) can
be added or removed
• CASE and CASE II can be added or
removed
• Targeting Computers can be removed but
not added
• Internal Structure type may not be
changed
• Armor type may be changed (e.g.,
standard to hardened).
• Engines, gyros, and cockpits may not be
changed.
• Any weapon can be removed
• Any weapon can be replaced in the same
location* with one weapon of the same
type that is no more than one tier higher
(e.g., a Medium Laser could be replaced
with a Large Laser, but not a PPC)
• Any weapon can be replaced in the same
location* with two weapons of the same
type that are of a lower tier (e.g., a Large
Laser could be replaced with two Medium
Lasers)
• Any point defense weapon can be
replaced, in the same location, with one
other tier 0 weapon of any type (e.g., a
Flamer could be replaced with a Machine
Gun or Small Laser)
• Any weapon above tier 0 can be replaced,
in the same location, with up to two tier 0
weapons of any type (e.g., a Medium
Laser could be replaced with a Machine
Gun and a Flamer)
• Any rear-facing weapon may be flipped to
front-facing, and vice-versa
• Physical weapons do not have a tier and
can be added or removed. In this regard,
physical weapons cannot be replaced with
weapons that have a tier.
*replacement weapons must be in the same location
as the original weapon; weapons spanning two
locations may be replaced with weapons in either or
both locations
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EXAMPLE REFIT: ASN-105 ASSASSIN

THE PLAN REMOVING WEAPONS & AMMO
The Assassin is a difficult ‘Mech to use The first step is to remove the SRM-2 and its
effectively, featuring a mishmash of short- and ammunition, freeing up 2 tons.
long-range missiles, high speed, and paper-thin
armor. This chassis will be used as an example The ASN-101 also has three small lasers, and
to demonstrate the field refit & modification we only plan on upgrading two of them, so the
rules. next step is to remove a small laser; we decide
to remove the one mounted in the right leg.
To accomplish our goal, we've selected the We now have 2.5 tons to work with.
ASN-101 - a canon variant - as our starting
point for this customization. REPLACE WEAPONS
The next step is to upgrade each remaining
We want an Assassin with more striking power small laser to a medium laser. This is legal
and less combustibility. We want to remove because they are both energy weapons, the
the SRM-2 and upgrade two of the small lasers medium laser is only one tier higher than the
to medium lasers. If we have tonnage left small laser, and the weapons are not changing
over, we’ll add armor. location.

Each upgrade will cost a net 0.5 tons, or 1.0

tons in total. This leaves us with 1.5 tons
remaining.

ADD ARMOR
Lastly, we are going to allocate the remaining
1.5 tons entirely to armor, giving the Assassin
a more survivability.

We can allocate this armor any way we choose,

so long as the head does not exceed 9 points
and each other location does not exceed twice
their respective internal structure points. This
Assassin now has 88 pips of armor.

We have spent all remaining tonnage, and thus

the refit is complete.

NAME IT
We decided to name this the ASN-105. 5
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… And that’s it! If you were following along in
MegaMek, you might have noticed that it
automatically validated your overall build, and
even given the ‘Mech a revised BV of 950
(which is substantially higher than our ASN-
101 base variant).
Our new ASN-105 Assassin is ready for
action!
A Note on BattleTech Game Systems
Classic BattleTech is the bedrock of all
BattleTech games - Alpha Strike as well as
BattleTech: Destiny stats are all derived from
Classic. In that regard, this Field Refits &
Modification manual can be applied to any
BattleTech system with conversion.
Below, you’ll find example BattleTech: Destiny
record cards for the ASN-101 and -105.