Taharqa’s Corner

Every merc unit needs access to the marketplace to survive. Below, I cover the three things you can do in the marketplace: buying, selling, and recruiting.

Buying and Selling

Buying and selling units is pretty simple in my track system. The cost of each unit in SP is given by:

SP cost = C-bill cost / 10,000

This is the recommended SP/C-bill conversion in the basic track system. There are two wrinkles that I add to this basic system. First, damaged mechs sell for less. Second, you can’t just buy whatever you want. You have to make a successful roll.

The actual price that units sell for is their base SP price multiplied by the following condition factor:

In case you are wondering, it is always more cost effective to repair a unit before selling it unless it is destroyed. Essentially a destroyed unit is just sold for salvage.

Purchases is one of the few areas in my track system where rolls are necessary. The other one is recruitment, discussed below. I just didn’t think it should be as simple as buying whatever mech you want whenever and wherever you are. So I use the acquisition roll described in Field Manual: Mercs to acquire new units. In that system, you can specify the exact unit you want at a higher target number or you can just search on general parameters. In terms of the location modifiers, I typically use either the location of the last track of the next track.

Each acquisition roll costs 75SP. You don’t have to accept the results of any roll. You can always just pay for another acquisition roll.

Recruitment

Recruiting new pilots is the one other area where I have a roll. The base cost of recruitment is 50SP. You then roll 2d6, and use the following table to determine the quality of the recruitee:

For additional SP costs (before you make the roll), you can apply modifiers to this roll. The modifiers and costs are:

Once the general skill level is established, you then roll on the Total Warfare tables to determine actual piloting and gunnery skills. I also give all new pilots one point of edge and a command bonus corresponding to their skill level, per the rules here. Unlike the results for purchases, you cannot reroll recruitment results.

So, for example, lets say I need to recruit a new pilot due to an unfortunate “gauss to the head” experience. I really would like at least a veteran pilot, so I spend the extra 300SP to get a +2 to my roll. So my total cost is 350SP. I roll and 8 on 2d6. Adding my bonus, I get a 10, which gives me a veteran pilot. Yay!

Now I roll on the actual TW tables for skill levels. I roll a 6 for piloting and a 3 for gunnery giving me a (3/3) pilot. I assign this pilot one edge point and a command bonus of +1. Now I just need a name and I am good to go!

Taharqa Track System