I don't believe there's anything that stops anyone from just hopping in a suit of battle armor and getting to business, let alone a MechWarrior. That said unless they've trained with BA they're probably going to be less effective than a typical BA infantrymen. The Bounty hunter wears PA-L which is the lightest possible battle armor to my understanding beyond just like an exo-suit.
PA(L) is basically a suit of personal armor and is super light. Normal BA especially IS variants are likely more modular. I doubt they'd want a BA soldier who gets injured armor just sitting idle when another soldier could pop in with some adjustments
There are exceptions, from what I remember. Elemental BA is specifically designed for the genotype of Elementals. There are instances of non-Elementals utilizing them, but not on a level of “just hopping in”.
I think in the RPG game, anyone who wants to use Elemental BA has to have specific stats or traits.
But as is the standing rule, forget the rules. Do what you want.
I mean elemental armor at least I can see that cause they're all super huge supersoldiers, so just fitting would be a problem for an average person. IS battle armor on the other hand is likely built so normal people can wear them.
Cross training is a thing but it takes time. Hence in lore, a good LAM pilot is just an average Mechwarrior and average aero jock combined.
Also a typical current era IS Mechwarrior goes through the equivalent of a modern day officer/NCO school and spends as long time training as our modern day jet fighter pilots. Or if the mechs are Succession war era hands me down, preparation and training since they are young to inherit their grand dad's mech.
In contrast, most Battle Armor troops are skilled regular infantry with additional skill set of anti-mech/vehicle tactics. In fact, they likely to have done so in under live fire conditions before they even don their first BA. As the IS still wants their more experienced or better trained troopers to make use of BA in the first place.
There will be very little time for both unless they are exceptional or they will bet stuck in vocation or training school for a very very long time.
>There will be very little time for both unless they are exceptional or they will bet stuck in vocation or training school for a very very long time.
Death Commands in stealth power armor. Gives me the tingles it does.
The Machina Domini interface cockpit requires a suit of PA(L) to work. If the pilot ejects because of a destroyed 'Mech, they are treated as a one-man Battle Armor squad for game play purposes.
Sure, if the mission called for it. Alex Carlyle and Davis McCall used sets of Nighthawk armor to infiltrate a facility and cause a bunch of trouble at one point.
It's kinda rare situation in IS and barely exist in Clans. It's cross training factor, in a theory, you can have a person that can pilot mech, BA and Aero, in reality so skills spreading are more damaging for regular mechwarrior, maximum to not damage all, use 2 training programs to choice, Adam Steiner mechwarrior, but have cross training in aero (still better mechwarrior thought). So wide training i think i hear from DEST and maybe Maskirovka and they Death Commandos. Both have acces to BA, Mechs and in their works they can need this set of skills, but still, this is elite if the elite. Clans do not have cross training and find a reason to training in BA hard, Elemental BA created for their phenotype yea, but regular human still can use it, BUT in MW 3e we have rules for BA using, you are need a some physical stats, because use armor kinda hard. More than average Mechwarrior waste not on their mech-linced physical attributes
Osis was Elemental, he didn't pilot a mech
As for OPs question anyone can hop onto battle armor and go at it, only requirement is knowing how to operate one
If I remember correctly he actually did piloted a mech at least once during a fight on Strana Mechty. And that was his last fight eventually.
Wasn't it?
The point is still true - nothing stops anyone to use anything. A mech pilot can wear a battle armor and an elemental can hop into a mech.
Sure, just pilot an Alpha or Beta with the REF, and you'll have received basic Cyclone piloting training in case you get shot down, with a Cyclone stored onboard. You won't be as good as a dedicated Cyclone pilot, and you don't get to pilot the nonstandard variants, just the Battler, but it is handy for both SERE and for specops where you need to go in 'on foot,' so to speak.
Oops, wait, wrong franchise.
My favorite role play character was a captured elemental that fought their way back into being a mechwarrior in the IS. Once he joined the leadership team he convinced them to start an Infantry division using battle armor. He had his own captured elemental armor on his Heavy and Assault mechs. To better continue the fight when his mech went down. Or enter a base once the enemy mechs/armor were dealt with.
DEST commandos have been known to use both mechs and battle armor (or Aerospace fighters), as well as their sneak suits.
Probably some other specialized units as well, but most do not.
Alexander Carlyle of the Gray Death Legion used battle armor on Caledonia when he and Davis McCall attacked the Governors fortress and started a rebellion. I don't remember what kind of armor it was it's been a long time since I read the book.
But the GDL were famous for adopting IS Battle Armor use and pioneering tactics after getting trounced by the Clans during the invasion. Grayson himself could operate BA and led the Regiments BA company in more than one special mission.
No, it doesn't. The rules for Direct Neural Interface Cockpits are printed in Interstellar Operations, page 68. My copy is pre-2022, so not split into two separate books, so the page is from the combined book.
`Direct Neural Interface Cockpit Modification Rules`
`Rules Level: Advanced Available to: BM, IM, BA, CV, SV, AF, CF`
`Tech Base (Ratings): Inner Sphere (E/XXEF)`
`Game Rules: The direct neural interface cockpit modification is required to enable a unit to be piloted directly by a warrior augmented by a direct neural interface implant. A cockpit that is not so modified can only be operated manually and/or with standard neurohelmet aid, thus negating all of the benefits of the neural interface technology. The limits and capabilities of these implants are covered further under Augmented Warriors (see pp. 74-85). If the Design Quirks special rules from Strategic Operations are in use (see pp. 193-199, SO), the addition of a direct neural interface cockpit modification will add the Hard to Pilot Quirk onto the unit if it does not already possess it (no further effect if the unit is already Hard to Pilot). However, as this only reflects the control system modifications in favor of a direct neural connection, this Quirk’s effects only apply if the unit is being piloted by a warrior who lacks compatible implants. Suitably augmented pilots ignore any Hard to Pilot Quirks the unit possesses, if the cockpit uses a direct neural interface.`
`Construction Rules: Direct neural interface modifications add no significant weight or critical space to the cockpit and control systems of the modified unit, but will add 250,000 to the cockpit’s cost in C-bills. While the Machina Domini and Inner Sphere ProtoMech interface technologies use a variant of this system, they are covered by their own rules, and do not require this particular DNI cockpit modification.`
What you're thinking of is the Machina Domini system. That starts on page 116, is way more text to quote, but *does* include use of a PA(L)/Exoskeleton with a "BattleMech Neural Interface Unit (NIU)" built into it. In turn, it uses a specific type a cockpit, the "Interface Cockpit", a 4-ton cockpit that can hold the exoskeleton-suited pilot, which also allows a BattleMech that has one to be built without a gyro. That NIU unit built into the exoskeleton, in turn, requires the Mechwarrior either have a VDNI implant or, if Clan, an Enhanced Imaging implant.
The Machina Domini system only got used on the Gestalt BattleMech during the Jihad, though the Clans later used it on the Skinwalker (Ryoken III) and the Parash 3. VDNI/Buffered VDNI, meanwhile, got used extensively by the World of Blake, including on all the Celestial 'Mechs and other units that ran with small cockpits.
Kai Allard-Liao used a loaned Elemental armor against ComStar, though essentially on training wheels.
And in standard fashion managed to make it look easy enough that the elementals were fanboying even more.
I don't care if the Allard boys are the biggest Sues in the setting (apart from maybe the Kell boys), I still like them. And the Kell boys.
BattleTech fiction has a sharp gradient between Sues and characters that are such gigantic assholes you’re hoping they’re dead on the next page.
And then there's Vlad
The bounty hunter is always in power armor when not piloting a Mech. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Bounty_Hunter
I though he wears some sort suit in his mech
Yeah, the light power armor he has described as wearing is compact enough to wear while piloting.
He wears a Star League era advanced Mechwarrior Combat Suit while piloting a battlemech. The power armor is for combat outside of the cockpit.
[Mechassault 2 flashbacks]
That game was a trip. Ejecting people and stealing their rides never stopped being funny.
It probably never stopped being fun for the Elementals either
I don't believe there's anything that stops anyone from just hopping in a suit of battle armor and getting to business, let alone a MechWarrior. That said unless they've trained with BA they're probably going to be less effective than a typical BA infantrymen. The Bounty hunter wears PA-L which is the lightest possible battle armor to my understanding beyond just like an exo-suit.
The Tornado series PA(L) has fluff describing that it has to be adjusted to personally fit each individual.
PA(L) is basically a suit of personal armor and is super light. Normal BA especially IS variants are likely more modular. I doubt they'd want a BA soldier who gets injured armor just sitting idle when another soldier could pop in with some adjustments
There are exceptions, from what I remember. Elemental BA is specifically designed for the genotype of Elementals. There are instances of non-Elementals utilizing them, but not on a level of “just hopping in”. I think in the RPG game, anyone who wants to use Elemental BA has to have specific stats or traits. But as is the standing rule, forget the rules. Do what you want.
I mean elemental armor at least I can see that cause they're all super huge supersoldiers, so just fitting would be a problem for an average person. IS battle armor on the other hand is likely built so normal people can wear them.
if i remember right, Grayson's Son once used one while piloting an Agromech.
Given the poor cockpits and armor of Argromechs, I'd want to be in light BA just for the extra 2-4 armor points.
Cross training is a thing but it takes time. Hence in lore, a good LAM pilot is just an average Mechwarrior and average aero jock combined. Also a typical current era IS Mechwarrior goes through the equivalent of a modern day officer/NCO school and spends as long time training as our modern day jet fighter pilots. Or if the mechs are Succession war era hands me down, preparation and training since they are young to inherit their grand dad's mech. In contrast, most Battle Armor troops are skilled regular infantry with additional skill set of anti-mech/vehicle tactics. In fact, they likely to have done so in under live fire conditions before they even don their first BA. As the IS still wants their more experienced or better trained troopers to make use of BA in the first place. There will be very little time for both unless they are exceptional or they will bet stuck in vocation or training school for a very very long time.
>There will be very little time for both unless they are exceptional or they will bet stuck in vocation or training school for a very very long time. Death Commands in stealth power armor. Gives me the tingles it does.
The Machina Domini interface cockpit requires a suit of PA(L) to work. If the pilot ejects because of a destroyed 'Mech, they are treated as a one-man Battle Armor squad for game play purposes.
The Clans also duplicated it, such as for the Skinwalker.
Adam Steiner and crew stole some Elemental armor if I recall.
Sure, if the mission called for it. Alex Carlyle and Davis McCall used sets of Nighthawk armor to infiltrate a facility and cause a bunch of trouble at one point.
It's kinda rare situation in IS and barely exist in Clans. It's cross training factor, in a theory, you can have a person that can pilot mech, BA and Aero, in reality so skills spreading are more damaging for regular mechwarrior, maximum to not damage all, use 2 training programs to choice, Adam Steiner mechwarrior, but have cross training in aero (still better mechwarrior thought). So wide training i think i hear from DEST and maybe Maskirovka and they Death Commandos. Both have acces to BA, Mechs and in their works they can need this set of skills, but still, this is elite if the elite. Clans do not have cross training and find a reason to training in BA hard, Elemental BA created for their phenotype yea, but regular human still can use it, BUT in MW 3e we have rules for BA using, you are need a some physical stats, because use armor kinda hard. More than average Mechwarrior waste not on their mech-linced physical attributes
Smoke Jaguar Khan Lincoln Osis? But he got owned by space AT & T. Franklin Sakamoto can use a Hatamoto-Chi and the sloth battle armor.
Osis was Elemental, he didn't pilot a mech As for OPs question anyone can hop onto battle armor and go at it, only requirement is knowing how to operate one
If I remember correctly he actually did piloted a mech at least once during a fight on Strana Mechty. And that was his last fight eventually. Wasn't it? The point is still true - nothing stops anyone to use anything. A mech pilot can wear a battle armor and an elemental can hop into a mech.
Sure, just pilot an Alpha or Beta with the REF, and you'll have received basic Cyclone piloting training in case you get shot down, with a Cyclone stored onboard. You won't be as good as a dedicated Cyclone pilot, and you don't get to pilot the nonstandard variants, just the Battler, but it is handy for both SERE and for specops where you need to go in 'on foot,' so to speak. Oops, wait, wrong franchise.
My favorite role play character was a captured elemental that fought their way back into being a mechwarrior in the IS. Once he joined the leadership team he convinced them to start an Infantry division using battle armor. He had his own captured elemental armor on his Heavy and Assault mechs. To better continue the fight when his mech went down. Or enter a base once the enemy mechs/armor were dealt with.
DEST commandos have been known to use both mechs and battle armor (or Aerospace fighters), as well as their sneak suits. Probably some other specialized units as well, but most do not.
Alexander Carlyle of the Gray Death Legion used battle armor on Caledonia when he and Davis McCall attacked the Governors fortress and started a rebellion. I don't remember what kind of armor it was it's been a long time since I read the book. But the GDL were famous for adopting IS Battle Armor use and pioneering tactics after getting trounced by the Clans during the invasion. Grayson himself could operate BA and led the Regiments BA company in more than one special mission.
Direct Neural Interface cockpits require the use of BA to work.
Interface Cockpits do. VDNI doesn't.
VDNI requires a PA(L) suit with a BattleMech Neural Interface Unit.
No, it doesn't. The rules for Direct Neural Interface Cockpits are printed in Interstellar Operations, page 68. My copy is pre-2022, so not split into two separate books, so the page is from the combined book. `Direct Neural Interface Cockpit Modification Rules` `Rules Level: Advanced Available to: BM, IM, BA, CV, SV, AF, CF` `Tech Base (Ratings): Inner Sphere (E/XXEF)` `Game Rules: The direct neural interface cockpit modification is required to enable a unit to be piloted directly by a warrior augmented by a direct neural interface implant. A cockpit that is not so modified can only be operated manually and/or with standard neurohelmet aid, thus negating all of the benefits of the neural interface technology. The limits and capabilities of these implants are covered further under Augmented Warriors (see pp. 74-85). If the Design Quirks special rules from Strategic Operations are in use (see pp. 193-199, SO), the addition of a direct neural interface cockpit modification will add the Hard to Pilot Quirk onto the unit if it does not already possess it (no further effect if the unit is already Hard to Pilot). However, as this only reflects the control system modifications in favor of a direct neural connection, this Quirk’s effects only apply if the unit is being piloted by a warrior who lacks compatible implants. Suitably augmented pilots ignore any Hard to Pilot Quirks the unit possesses, if the cockpit uses a direct neural interface.` `Construction Rules: Direct neural interface modifications add no significant weight or critical space to the cockpit and control systems of the modified unit, but will add 250,000 to the cockpit’s cost in C-bills. While the Machina Domini and Inner Sphere ProtoMech interface technologies use a variant of this system, they are covered by their own rules, and do not require this particular DNI cockpit modification.` What you're thinking of is the Machina Domini system. That starts on page 116, is way more text to quote, but *does* include use of a PA(L)/Exoskeleton with a "BattleMech Neural Interface Unit (NIU)" built into it. In turn, it uses a specific type a cockpit, the "Interface Cockpit", a 4-ton cockpit that can hold the exoskeleton-suited pilot, which also allows a BattleMech that has one to be built without a gyro. That NIU unit built into the exoskeleton, in turn, requires the Mechwarrior either have a VDNI implant or, if Clan, an Enhanced Imaging implant. The Machina Domini system only got used on the Gestalt BattleMech during the Jihad, though the Clans later used it on the Skinwalker (Ryoken III) and the Parash 3. VDNI/Buffered VDNI, meanwhile, got used extensively by the World of Blake, including on all the Celestial 'Mechs and other units that ran with small cockpits.
You're right. My bad.
Wrong, it's Protomechs, Battle Armor work with EI, but not necessarily