BATTLETECH – Effects
Biome Effects
There are several different biomes, and many of them affect the performance of your mech’s Heat Sinks. Don’t feel like you have to memorize these details; simply mouse over the icons or the movement dot to get tooltip information.
- Lunar – Heat Sinks are much less effective.
- Badlands – Heat Sinks are less effective.
- Desert – Heat Sinks are less effective.
- Martian – Heat Sinks are less effective.
- Verdant/Lowlands/Highlands – No effect.
- Tundra – Heat Sinks are more effective.
- Polar – Heat Sinks are much more effective.
Terrain Effects
These effects apply when standing in various types of terrain.
Clear – No effect
Destroyed Building – Movement reduced by 50%, Damage received reduced by 25%. Available on any biome with buildings. Note, this is only for larger, targetable buildings. If you smash your mech through a farmhouse, you won’t be slowed down a bit or gain any cover.
Forest – 25% reduced movement, 50% visibility reduced, 25% damage reduction. Available in every biome but Lunar. Martian biomes have dust storms that effectively do the same thing.
Ice – Cooling increased by 50%, Movement reduced by 50%, Stability Damage received increased by 20%. Available in cold biomes or biomes without an atmosphere.
Marshland – Reduces Stability Damage received by 50% while standing in it. Available in Verdant/Highland/Lowland biomes.
Mineral Field – 10% movement reduction. You’ll receive a 2 “To Hit” penalty when making attacks from crystals, but there’s a 4 “To Hit” penalty when targeting someone inside a Mineral Field. Available in Badlands and Desert Biomes.
Radioactive Zone – 10% movement reduction, You’ll receive a 4 “To Hit” penalty when targeting someone inside a Radioactive zone, and you will receive +10 heat/round for 2 rounds. Available in Lunar and Martian biomes.
Road – Available on every biome. 5% movement increase.
Rough – 4 “To Hit” Melee defense bonus, 25% movement reduction, and received Stability Damage is increased by 50%. This effect persists until your next activation. The Rough debuff is also applied if you walk through Rough terrain. Rough Terrain exists in every biome.
Steam Vents/Geothermal – 10% movement reduction, cooling reduced by 50% for 1 activation. Available in Tundra and Polar biomes.
Water – Cooling increased by 50% (regardless if Heat Sinks are positioned in a Mech’s Legs or not), Movement reduced by 50%. Available on warm biomes with an atmosphere.
Unit Status Effects
These effects can be gained/lost through combat actions.
Cover – 25% reduction in damage received. Attacks hitting the rear arc will ignore Cover and do full damage. Granted by Forests and Dust Storms.
Entrenched – Receive 50% less Stability Damage. Granted, when Bracing (sacrificing your firing action).
Guarded – Receive 50% less damage. Attacks hitting the rear arc will ignore guarded and do full damage. Received by Bracing (sacrificing your firing action).
Prone – Your mech is lying down on the job. Stand up and look respectable! Falling prone knocks that unit down an Initiative Phase and injures the pilot. Also, when a mech is prone, enemy units can target specific locations. After standing from prone, the unit also has a penalty to hit targets.
Sensors Impaired – When a Mech has been hit with a PPC it suffers an increase in its shot difficulty until its next activation.
Shutdown – Your mech has overheated, and automatic safeties have turned off your Mech’s fusion engine. Enemy units can target specific locations and receive a bonus to hit you. The only thing you’ll be able to do next activation is to restart your fusion reactor.
Unsteady – When a Mech takes enough Stability Damage, it will become Unsteady. When a Mech is Unsteady, it can’t sprint, and if the Stability Damage bar fills up from a subsequent Enemy Hit, it will be knocked Prone.
Vehicle – Not a status, but vehicles do have some special rules. For one, they don’t have a Stability bar because they can’t be knocked over. They also don’t generate any heat. However, they do take double damage from Melee Attacks. And stepping on them is VERY satisfying. 🙂
Another thing to know about vehicles is they have a much smaller number of hit locations, so they are much easier to take out than a mech. However, some vehicles pack a serious punch. The SRM Carrier has ten SRM6s. A demolisher is a tank that has two AC/20’s… DO NOT GET CLOSE TO THESE! They will ruin your day.
