Blog hits 1000 and some new stuff appears....

Hey, we have some new reviews turned by Geoff – the Revenant and the Nemera. I have bundled six of the Draconis vehicle writeups and sent them off to the proofreader. Jeff will perform his usual sterling job and return them, hopefully, by Sunday.

David White is gone but not forgotten. I have not heard from Eriance on the Fafnir and the Culverin, but it may take a while, so patience is the key. Lee has turned up a very good sketch of the Cortes light infantry support tank and JP is thumping away on the Blackjack. Mike has re-started the Cheyenne III and we are making excellent progress.

Meanwhile, traffic here has bumped up a bit since the new art was posted – we’ve nearly a thousand hits by the time of this writing and that means this blog is performing its job. I have feedback from my associates that indicates they read each update and that equals timely communications with my fellow artists, writers and proofers. It also means other folks are stopping by to have a look at what you fellows are turning out.

Since no one (except the proofers and artists) can see what we have written, this increased traffic can only mean that the art has stimulated interest in the project. That is good for the artists and good for the TRO itself. Google the phrase ‘TRO: 3063’ and you will see what I mean. Word is getting out. I have also noted several folks on the various Battletech forums expressing an interest in vehicles and ‘Mechs from this period. With Catalyst Games currently working like a gerbil on amphetamines to keep pace with their ambitious production schedule, there probably isn’t going to be anything new in the Civil War era for a while.

That I know of.

I know what the rest of you know - precious little. Like any other fan publisher, I can only hope that this TRO fills a genuine gap and does it well enough to satisfy the fanbase. And of course, I fervently hope Randall and his hard-charging crew do not come up with something in the next year or so which will knock what we have written into a cocked hat. But that is the risk you take when you work outside of the established circles. What makes this TRO different is that we did not begin by trying to invent new history for the BT universe.

Of course, this happened anyway on a small scale – I mean, really, where in canon does it state the production name for the Draconis Combine’s newest toy, the heavy PPC? (I know at least three people reading this are going to raise their hands….) Anyway, we took the name of existing equipment (the Hellstar, produced by New Samarkand Metals) and extended it. Thus, a PPC with a harder-hitting stream of particles became the NeutronStar PPC.

But we did try to blend what is in the TRO into the existing framework, so folks could get the maximum use out of it. Yes, I know – I covered this in an earlier post. Bear with me. We don’t want to tell our version of the BT story, we do not want to invent a new timeline, we simply want to get some good ideas for new vehicles out there. And of course, ‘Mechs.

The ‘Mechs were originally going to be a small addendum to the TRO, something to keep interest stoked in what was otherwise intended to be a helping of love for conventional arms. But this is BattleTech and the big stompy robots grew on us. So now they are a third of the volume – but they still follow the same guidelines as the vehicles. That is, they are useful, likely additions to the battlefield with writeups which illustrate how they got there and how you might use ‘em.

Yeah, well, I guess the proof is in the pudding. No matter how many edits we make, no matter how much research we do, no matter how many glitches the proofreaders catch, no matter how much excellent art we pack in, it will be you guys out there, you fans, who will be the final judges as to whether or not we are successful in our mission.

On a final note, I see the button on my blog offering to ‘monetize’. That means place advertising on my blog which pays me a few pennies for each hit. Or something like that. However, while at least two people have suggested I use that to offset my own costs, I believe it would be tantamount to making a buck off Catalyst Games’ intellectual property, and you all know how I feel about that. Never gonna happen.

Hope you enjoyed your ad-free visit!

Steve

Saying goodbye to a sterling artist...

Back once again for the Battletech Master
d6 damage with the ill behavior

Okay, so nobody knows who Fatboy Slim is. As my son would say, “Dad, that is just wrong on so many levels’. Never copy the young. Except even Fatboy Slim is getting old. Hope he doesn’t read this blog. Fatboy Steve is in the house.

Not much to report on the wordage front. Geoff hasn’t submitted anything for two whole days, which means his lady probably had him out on a picnic or something. Good for him, I say. I suppose that means it is time to send something out to the proofreaders, so I will collect the works and get them out tonight.

David White submitted his last commission for the TRO today. He will be leaving us with six phenomenal pieces. The final work, a Lyran Griffin, is posted at the top. I am very sorry to see him go – I was hoping to get a couple good vehicles out of him ;) but really, the man earns a ton of money doing this sort of work for the movers and shakers. According to Dave, one of them is now Catalyst Games. It seems he got their attention and they are commissioning new pieces, so we may see more of his fine work in the near future. The pay will be much better, Dave! Thank you for devoting your time and effort to this TRO.

JP has posted the Thug as a finished piece, though there are some bits to tidy up. We are working on the Blackjack and it should be ready by the end of the week. Next up will be a vehicle, either the Horatio or the Mastodon.

The rest of the artists have not yet reported in, but they have their assignments and I am not a micromanager. Or, at least, not a very good one. The Leopard VTOL should be appearing next, if all goes well.

That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping in.

Steve

Art Progress and a Special Note...

Hi.

Sunday brought us a single writeup from Geoff (the Merkava Mk V) with a new Notables section and a few needful additions and changes.

We also received the final draft of the Forge, which Jim is sick of looking at. He’s been working on it for quite a while now, and the bugs were finally run out of it. Looks pretty good to me, Jim, but I haven’t been staring at it as long as you have!

I shot a message off to James Devlin, our layout man, but have not heard from him yet. Some folks do their email at work, so he may not have seen it.

The Pea-man is working hard on his Leopard VTOL. Preliminary work and our conversation so far fills me with confidence on this one. I just finished shooting off a long letter discussing things pertaining to the layout of the machine. We are working off a pencil sketch, which makes radical changes a lot easier. I am also taking time on my laptop to more adequately describe and discuss the various features, so communications are better as well. I send letters as attachments, rather than trying to put everything into an email. I can discourse at length and Momma is happier, too.

Gotta work on the Blackjack feedback now; JP is in the inking stage for the Thug. I have an issue with the way the Blackjack appears in action. It’s like the damn thing is made of Legos! Perhaps I should have commissioned this one to David White – he’s the resident authority on making Legos look like they could get up and run. Have you seen his site? He does work for the Lego people. Pretty darn good at it, too.

No, seriously, JP has the job and from what I have seen of his work, is more than equal to the task. Sorry, David!

I have updated the TRO status report and will send it to anyone who is interested in the actual progress of the TRO in more detail than we give on this blog. Leave a note or send an email.

Doug, thank you for the tip on the publishers. I will see what they charge and what they can provide, and balance it against my budget. It’s a bit too soon to make any judgments, as I have not got a reply from James. All will depend on the final page count and whether or not he can create a separate print copy. After that, it is a matter of picking which options I can afford.

One more thing.

I want to make it perfectly clear to everyone reading this blog that the TRO: 3063 is not for sale in any format whatever. It will be published in PDF format and passed around the Internet for free. The intellectual property belongs to Catalyst Games and sundry other institutions. It is not mine and I cannot make a profit from anything I write about it at all, ever.

Ever.

Got that? So – if I offer artists and writers the option of getting a printed copy for themselves (and that is not a hard and fast thing yet), I will charge the individual for the price of producing the print AT COST. No more, no less. You will benefit from whatever price breaks I can wangle, but neither I nor anyone else will make a nickel from this work. And that is as it should be.

Yes, I have poured an impacted assfull of money into the art (about $800 and counting). Yes, we all have dedicated a few hundred man-hours to the writing and whatnot. Many of you are creating sterling work at prices far below what you would normally charge, and I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart.

Nevertheless, it is a hobby, a pastime, and I am sure there are many of you reading this who have spent more on your own hobbies – fishing comes to mind – so the idea of putting all that into a work which will fly around the Web for free really isn’t that strange. Consider it work experience or advertising, if you will. Which is why I (and many others) take such pains to make sure it is the best we can do.

Weather is a bit rainy today, but the grass needs a drink once in a while, too. I will post here when more work rolls in.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Steve

The weekend so far...

Welcome!

We’ve been making hay over the past couple of days. In the land of cloudy skies (Bremerton/Seattle), you do that while the sun shines – which it has, for the past week. And we’ve got some high-quality hay, let me tell you.

Geoff has come through again with some sterling modifications (okay, they’re practically rewrites) of the Guillotine and Vulcans. As Jack Black would say, ‘Excellent work, my keyboard-slinging amigo!’ They read smooth as glass; I rewarded a lowly (but brave) BU-20a driver with a slot in combat medic school, but that was the only change. The BARS looks very good, as does the Crinos. The Katana I will read through after dumping the week’s garbage.

Mike has been hard at work tweaking the Cheyenne III; I have bumped his pay up a bit although it does not begin to compensate for the effort he has put in. I will see what I can do to reduce the workload per piece. He will be working on the Dragonfly next, I hope – Mike has a knack for producing excellent VTOL designs which are practical and pleasing to the eye.

No further news from JP on the Thug and Blackjack. Work over the weekend should yield some results. Lee also has fallen silent in the past few days, no doubt due to the challenge of illustrating the Cortes and Zhukov II. Eric has posted a note on his page over at deviantART.com to the effect that he will try to get caught up on his backlog soon. Calculus II will do that to you! Eric, study hard and don’t let the art keep you from making top grade. I wish I had a shot at college again, but time has passed me by and my bed is made. School is the key to your future – mine is nearly used up, but you still have many miles to go.

Jeff has been pounding away at the Forge again – it looks better with each iteration. I still have the impression that the missile launcher is cocked towards the left side of the ‘Mech, but that may just be me.

Malcadon (sorry, I don’t know his real name) has been working on the Diatryma armored car and the Leopard VTOL, but so far no word from him on any progress. I will let you know as soon as I find out.

I have not yet contacted our Layout man, James Devlin; he is a professional and may be quite busy. Nevertheless, I have decided to make two PDFs if at all possible. One will be the ‘color’ version, for viewing on a computer. The other will be a ‘print’ version, with only certain pages in color and the vast bulk of the TRO in simple black and white to enhance clarity and reduce cost at the printer’s. Several of our artists and a few writers have expressed interest in a copy, and I would like very much to comply. It would go a long way towards defraying the cost of their personal time, and give them something solid to show in their portfolio. However, this will depend on the per-piece cost of each copy and that will have to wait until I get a final page count from Jim.

Once I have that, I can contact various printing establishments in the area (as well as online) and determine the price breaks. It cost me $120 for four copies of the TRO: 3062 down at Kinko’s, but I didn’t have more money to spend and each page was in color (at a time when they were having a special on color copies). That page count was 91 – the TRO: 3063 has 37 ‘Mechs and 62 vehicles and will run over 200!

I can’t stress enough to our artists that the first, second (and maybe even third) drafts of an illustration should be in pencil or the digital equivalent. There is going to be a degree of back and forth on each design, and I don’t want you guys to put an assload of work into your piece, only to find I want the body changed or something equally unreasonable (which, at the later stages, it is). You fellows put a lot of sweat and talent into your work, and to be blunt, I can’t pay you what you are really worth. The less you have to do when making changes, the better. It will save us all a lot of heartache.

If, on the other hand, I give the thumbs-up to a piece - and you finalize it - only for me to decide later that it is somehow unsuitable due to a style issue, that is MY fault and you are NOT obligated to correct anything. In the end, it is my job to make sure the art has the right number of guns, legs, etc. You still get paid, and I adjust my eyes and expectations. That is how it should work. But until that final okay, let’s keep the piece minimal until the major issues of balance, position and location are settled.

Finally, I have been informed that persons associated with Catalyst Games look in here from time to time. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are getting a good look at the fine work of my talented artists - their efforts appear on the header of each post. I trust you will give them a shot at joining your team sometime down the road. They do excellent, timely work and are good communicators.

Thank you for stopping by!

Steve

New Art and Corrected Writeups Appear!

Hey hey! Here’s what’s been going on for the past few days.

Mike has come back with some preliminary work on the Cheyenne III VTOL. Lookin’ good, Mike! We have a few changes to make, but you have been putting in long hours on this one and frankly, I feel bad I can’t offer $$$ equal to the effort you’ve been making. The Oculus payment is on the way.

JP has been busy too, working on the Blackjack and a really impressive preliminary of the Thug. The Blackjack still needs some tweaking, but the Thug is nearly ready for primetime.

Jim has been slaving away like a digital blacksmith over a hot Forge, pardon the pun. We’ve made some changes to the preliminary drawing, changes which will make this machine as impressive as any of the other new art we’ve received so far.

Geoff has come through with more rewrites: the three ‘Mechs which were in a holding pattern have been corrected thanks to his tireless research. Thanks, buddy! I have not had the time to go over them yet, but am going to hit them on Friday evening. He also finished editing several Kuritan vehicles, expanding the anemic writeup of the BU-20a Ammo Carrier among others.

My son wants me to watch some episodes of ‘Red vs Blue’, a YouTube story based on images from Halo 3. It is pretty funny and surprisingly well-written. That will be an hour out of tomorrow night, but time well-spent with my son. We went swimming this evening, part of a joint effort to get into shape and lose some pounds. Fifteen laps (over and back) in an Olympic-size pool is pretty taxing, let me tell you! Four visits to the pool each week and I may finally catch my breath. He does them without pause, but then, that is a fourteen-year-old for you.

I am going to shoot some more writeups to the proofreaders, so heads up out there!

Finally, for the artists currently working on TRO projects: I humbly apologize if my recent corrections and descriptions are not adequate to the task. It has been difficult to get much time on the house computer to research the images and fully describe in an email what I want in the way of changes to your preliminary work. I am a firm believer in good communications and promise to redouble my efforts to be clearer and more to the point when it comes to modifying your work. Your time is valuable, and I feel in some cases that I have been wasting it.

Take care and thank you for stopping by.

Steve

A few updates on progress...

Hey there! Not much to add to the blog but a few updates.

First: the third draft of the intros has come back and I have incorporated all of Paul’s suggestions. It’s actually readable! I will send them back one more time tonight. There are a lot of words and Paul may find more to correct; we’ll see.

Second: David has already (!) come up with a preliminary sketch for the Lyran Griffin, and the pose looks pretty good. I have sent it back with some suggestions and corrections for the final drawing. Thank you, David, for jumping on this one so quickly! I know you are very busy, and hope the holiday weekend gave you some much-needed ‘decompression’ after the massive number of deadlines you had to meet in the past month.

I have also sent Jeff (one of our proofreaders) five writeups on the Capellan vehicles. I am sure he will pick them apart, but he does it well, and that’s why we need his services so badly. Good luck, Jeff.

No responses from the other new artists yet, but I keep an eye on the email and the deviantArt.com website, so as soon as something appears, I will post it here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Steve

Return of the Unseen... and M-80s

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Help me draw the line. Please.

Hi. I am supposed to be running errands today, but was dipping into a BT website when I came across a link to an artist. One thing led to another, and now I have a problem.

See those images above? I will give you one guess as to which is the original Mammoth Tank from the video game Command and Conquer III, and which is derivative.

Do any of you want to see stuff like that in the TRO? No, really, tell me if it makes a difference to you as a reader and a fan. I know it will make a difference to my wallet. I am trying to draw the line between 'inspired by' and 'ripoff'.

What have the fans seen? I never saw the original tank until today - I thought the drawings we had were original, though I have to admit the turrets on both our pieces look very similar...

I need your help. When does something like this become unacceptable to the average fan out there? I need input, so ask around. This is important, and fixing it could cost hundreds of dollars.

Meanwhile, another piece has joined the short list of art which needs a commission, and for much the same reasons:

!!! NEW !!!

'Mechs:

Thug THG-13M - this is another assault 'Mech carrying an ER large laser in each arm, two Streak SRM-4 launchers in each side torso and an internal Guardian ECM suite. To be patterned after an existing piece done by an earlier artist (we like the 'Mech) but in a more active pose and with new arms (the present arms are too 'derivative').


Thank you for your time.

Steve

The list of Art to be commisioned....

First of all, happy Fourth of July to you all! Hope no one lost any fingers; those Rez fireworks can be pretty powerful.

I just finished reading ‘Common Sense’ by a fellow named Glenn Beck. Real eye-opener, let me tell you. I have read some of Al Franken’s stuff, as well as a couple of Michael Moore’s books, so I am ‘informed by two sides’ as it were. Glen was kind enough to include the text of the original ‘Common Sense’ by Thomas Paine, in addition to what he wrote, and that was worth the cover price all by itself.

What have we got today? Well, two responses from artists online who are interested in doing some commission work. That is good, but talk being cheap (for them and for me), we will see what shakes out. However, it would also seem there are a few people who have come to this blog wondering what needs drawing. So for artists interested in a paid commission and for those of you who just want to know what remains to be done, here is a list of the unfinished works.

Vehicles:

Diatryma Armored Car – wheeled ten-ton vehicle, turret mounted small pulse laser and a SRM-2 short range missile rack. Outworlds Alliance. [UPDATE: the Diatryma has been commissioned to Malcadon. Good luck!]

Leopard attack helicopter w/ infantry bay - a thirty-ton VTOL with a small infantry bay, an Ultra AC/5 autocannon and four ten-shot rocket launchers. It also features a Guardian ECM, though this is not visible from the outside. Outworlds Alliance.

Horatio Bridgelayer – a forty-ton tracked support tank, this carries a deployable bridge on its back and features a sponson-mounted small pulse laser on each side, as well as an ER medium laser in the front and a small infantry bay. Free Worlds League.

Mastodon Minesweeper Tank – a thirty-five ton tracked support vehicle with a mine flail similar to the Scorpion from WWII. It carries a turret-mounted large laser and a small pulse laser, as well as an internally-mounted Guardian ECM suite. Free Worlds League.

Cortes Light Tank – a small six-ton tracked vehicle which carries a turret-mounted ER medium laser and a front-mounted ER small laser. Similar to a gun carrier from WWII, but with better armor and speed. Taurian Concordat. [UPDATE: the Cortes has been commissioned to Lee Madison. Good luck, Lee!]

BattleMechs:

Blackjack BJ2-0G – this configuration of the OmniMech carries a rotary AC/2 and medium pulse laser in each arm, one medium pulse laser in each side torso and an ER small laser in the center torso. It is equipped with four jump jets. Federated Commonwealth. [UPDATE: the Blackjack has been commissioned to JP Sphagnum. Good luck, JP!]

Forge FRG-1 – this is an assault ‘Mech with a PPC in the left arm, right arm and right torso. It also carries two ER medium lasers in the left torso, as well as an SRM-6 in the center torso. Comes with an integral Guardian ECM suite. Based on an upscaled Marauder chassis. Taurian Concordat. [UPDATE: the Forge has been commissioned to Jim Lafferty. Good luck, Jim!]

That’s all for now, folks. I will keep you updated if anything new becomes available.

Have a good holiday!

Steve

More progress....

Well, there has been progress today! Poor Paul, who was jet-lagged for most of the week, finally came through with some sterling advice which clarified his earlier modifications to the Introductions. Thanks, Paul! I got to work immediately and removed all name references in the Intros (they are in the Table of Contents, after all) and reduced or eliminated specific references to combat ability, featured equipment, etc. As Paul pointed out, that information belongs in the writeups.

As promised, I contacted Mike about taking on more art (expect to hear from him soon after the holidays) and then I went trolling on deviantArt.com. After locating three promising artists, I sent each a message asking if they were willing to take commission work. No replies yet, but it’s just a matter of time. I will give it a go again tomorrow, time permitting.

David White’s Thunderbolt showed up today. It really looks good; at least I think so, and so I have featured it in this post’s header. Judge for yourself. It is primitive, as befits a retrofitted Star League ‘Mech found in a hidden base. The base didn’t have much, so the Magistracy of Canopus left it to the planetary government. What they found included a dozen stripped Thunderbolt chasses.

The result, after decades of work, is a slow (3/5), adequately armored (exactly 20 pts in each location, excluding the head) heavy BattleMech which carries an AC/10 and two MRM-10 launchers. Oh, and it’s powered by a GM diesel engine! Not much, but enough to handle the occasional incursion by ‘opportunists’ from the surrounding Periphery. A harbinger of things to come? I certainly wouldn’t know ;)

That’s all for this day’s work. I am going to shoot the revised Intros to Paul tonight so he can look them over one more time.

Steve

Looking for new artists...

Am still trying to get hold of Paul, the proofreader who rewrote the Introductions. I have not heard from him in over a week, so he must be pretty busy. I am going to tackle the main intro myself, using the tips he gave me and trying a less ambitious approach.

Went through the listed Hi-Rez images for the Vehicles and found that we’re missing one – the Werefox Martel. Vadim is aware it’s missing and is looking for the original to scan it again. I’ve nailed down the others – they were under different names (the original names associated with the original designs; we didn’t know then what was a duplicate and what was appropriate for a given House.)

‘Mech images all have Hi-Rez art (except the ones which have NO art, of course) and I am down to about five designs which need finishing or a new piece begun.

There are three ‘Mech writeups in Suspend status due to a conflict with canon 3063 events – the Vulcan VL-7M, the Vulcan II and the Guillotine GLT-8M. I am still waiting on Geoff to get back to me on those, but with the July 4th holiday fast approaching, it may be another week before he can help with resolving this issue.

Given that my current ‘stable’ of artists is either busy or away on a trip, I am going to go out tomorrow evening and begin trolling deviantArt.com for more artists. I contacted one who is working out of Irkutsk (in Russia), but he is not available for commission work at this time. Damn shame, too, because he is really good and his work is right up my alley…

Hopefully I will be able to get things moving on the art front within a few days. Money is still tight, but I am cutting back on expenses here at home so I can offer a decent price for each work. So far the max I can afford is $50 per piece. That probably won’t go up, given my finances, and it will limit the pool of artists I can call on. Some want upwards of $150 per piece. Maybe that is the going price, maybe not. I know no one in the gaming industry who could tell me different.

So far I have sunk $600 into this project on art alone (don’t tell my wife) and I am rapidly approaching my limit. Free work is something I have not yet considered, mostly because artists of sufficient caliber simply won’t work for nothing, and because the ones who will do it often won’t follow a deadline of any sort. And besides, it hurts my pride to beg. But if anyone reading this has a lead on a talented fellow who will take direction, produce on a schedule and be satisfied to see his name in print (or accept $25 per piece), let me know.

I really hate to take commissions away from folks who want (or say they want) them, but the show must go on and every day we am not reviewing a sketch or approving a final inking is a day wasted, so far as I am concerned. I get the impression that a few of the artists I have contacted do not work well with a deadline. Oh well. If I have to commission a separate artist for each piece, so be it. We *will* finish the project!

The only trouble with all this pro-activeness is going to be computer time. My wife has discovered Facebook’s social networking game, FarmTown. She can easily burn off a whole day on that game, and it is a daunting task to get the machine from her long enough to update this blog, search for artists and maintain communications with my fellow writers. In fact, it’s nearly impossible. I will have to hope her work schedule at J.C. Penny’s will include a few closing days, so the computer will be open when I get home.

Steve

More news from the Art front...

Well, the changes to the Introductions have been made. I have scotched the idea that the Free Worlds League created a ‘mega-factory’ on Panjang after it was pointed out that, unlike the Draconis Combine, this was something Thomas Marik probably could not accomplish. Too much political resistance. Besides, this would require that I go back into all the FWL writeups and change manufacturing locations, manufacturers mentioned in the writeup itself. Too much work.

Eriance is currently tied up with summer school, so there is no telling when we will see more art from him. I will keep sending money, but there is only so much time in anyone’s day and Eric’s doing well in school is far more important than our little project. We may have to bump the printing date back, because there are other issues with art.

David White is under several deadlines, as was mentioned before. Hopefully he will get a chance for a break – even *I* took four months off from writing just to recharge my batteries and Geoff has had school and other things to attend to in the past. It *is* a hobby, after all, not a living or a lifestyle. Daniel Cherng is off to Taiwan for a few weeks, so it will be a while before he can begin work in earnest on his assignments (the CM-33 is shaping up nicely, however).

Summer has hit us – so very little time to do the work on this TRO with all the other things calling. There is house work, of course, but also house repairs while the weather is good, yard work while the weeds are dry, and the usual non-CBT activities with my friends and family. I have been trying to make the most of the rare instances where our artists, writers and proofreaders have time to work, but time is easily the hardest resource to come by.

It is nearly the end of my too-brief weekend, but we have made more progress; not as much as I would like, but patience is the key. It has been nearly two years since this project got started, and while I feel a little pressure to complete it at the two-year mark, it may take a bit longer. However, the biggest pressure is to ‘make hay while the sun shines’ – getting the hard work (art, proofing) out of the way before the artists and writers all have to buckle down for another school year. There is much to do still.

I put a reference to a military action on the world of Les Halles into four different writeups – one was a vehicle, three were FWL ‘Mechs. Unfortunately, nearly a year after writing these, my fact-checker (Geoff) found that such an encounter simply could not have taken place in 3063. So it is back to the drawing board with those writeups to find something which can plausibly replace the references. *Sigh*. I really did think I could get away with it :)

Steve

The Shock of the week...

As you know, I have been writing and writing and writing for a couple of years now on Battletech TROs and stories and so forth. It is a long time to be writing on a single subject, and to be honest, I thought I was rather getting the hang of it.

You can imagine my shock, then, a couple of days back when Paul Skowronek returned the first of my Introductions with his notes. After that was the sound of chopping late into the night - me at my computer, hacking away at what I *thought* was a pretty good intro.

It got worse. The introduction for the 'Mech section was horrific - I had committed so many egregious errors that it became pretty clear what I had was not only not ready to print, it barely rose above the status of 'rough draft'.

I studied the changes Paul suggested as I entered them, noting along the way that I had used colloquialisms, names for political entities which did not exist in 3063, and even a few bits of slang. It probably would have served me well to study the actual TROs I have in profusion, but Paul set me straight and... well, he pretty much re-wrote the Introductions.

I have not heard from him in the past few days, though I have sent numerous emails with comments and questions. He is probably very busy, but let me say this right now - I have a LOT to learn about writing for BattleTech, and about writing to an audience in general. He has essentially performed the duties of a co-writer rather than those expected of a simple proofreader.

Thank you, Paul! As with my other co-writer, Geoffrey, you are responsible for any excellence this work may have.

I am still stuck on what to replace the current main intro for the Vehicles section. Probably brain lock or something. I will be attending a game tomorrow, but working hard on that bit tonight. Perhaps Paul will come to my rescue, perhaps not. There is enough guidance to get the job done, but it will be slow.

Meanwhile, I have to send out reminders to the artists again, checking on their progress. The Oculus has been finished, and while it may not seem like a big deal, it is the first finished piece of commissioned vehicle art. You can see it above. We are using propulsion systems which actually work, but are a bit of a change from the usual helicopter layout...

Meanwhile, Geoff has once again come through with several pieces which have been tweaked and trimmed and brought up to standards (including those mentioned by Paul). I will send them out to the other proofreaders tonight. More eyes is better, it seems.

Steve

Good News!

Howdy! Steve again.

I’ve got several bits of good news. The writing portion of the TRO is finished; that is, the portion where we take a design (or more rarely, an image) and come up with a TRO entry from scratch.

That is the first bit. Now that is not to say there will be no more changes to the writeups; Geoff has just returned several Capellan entries which have been improved with more accurate references to military units of the 3063-era and text which ties it a bit closer to events transpiring during the first and second waves of the FedCom Civil War.

That was the second bit. The third piece of good news is that Daniel Cherng and Mike Sullivan have both reported in. Mike has the scoop with a solid design for the Oculus combat spotter, and he is busy refining the image I chose to keep. Daniel still has nothing to show, but is eager by all accounts to get started. I will shift another VTOL (the Leopard) over to him – in addition to the Dragonfly, he has four Vees to work on. He really does good work and it will be interesting to see what he comes up with on his drawing board.

The final announcement is that David White, after many hours of wrangling, has come up with a sketch for the Thunderbolt. The parameters of this particular design are challenging, and it is hard to distill them into an image which conveys the sheer difference of this T-bolt from the standard fusion-powered model while retaining the traditional styling cues. He too is plugging away and I hope to have something within a week or two.

That’s all!

No, wait! Our proofreaders have begun returning the snippets I sent and the results are every bit as encouraging as I’d hoped. Some pieces had few flaws; others were in need of some additional love and I gave it. Thanks, guys! Keep on charging and keep an eye on your email for more of the same. The work you are doing is vital, and I depend on your keen eyes and timely turnarounds to maintain our publishing schedule.

Steve

The Art is the Thing.....

Hi. Steve here.

I have spent the past few days sending off emails to the various artists and checking on their progress. As Father’s Day arrives, I am not much nearer my goal of getting some vehicle art done than I was two weeks ago. It’s okay, I suppose – just a case of the jitters. I don’t know how realistic the deadline is anymore, given the glacial pace at which Vee art is moving. Throwing money at it won’t help, even if I had extra money to throw.

And I don’t. Still gotta pay the electric bill and put gas in the car, ya know? The art is paid up to date (with the exception of Eriance; I still owe him fifty bucks for the Centurion art).

• Looks like Dave White has other deadlines to pursue right now, all more lucrative than my project (Lego, various toy companies) and these are much more important, I am sure you will agree. He has projected a sketch will be ready by the end of this week, so it’s just time to be patient.

• Daniel Cherng… not sure what the deal is with him. He has a busy schedule, but has promised quite a few pieces are in the works. I have not heard back from him in about four days, so it’s touch and go. Hopefully this Father’s Day will allow him to get a few in the email so I have a placeholder for some of my designs.

• I have shifted two designs over from Daniel to Mike Sullivan, the Oculus and the Cheyenne III. Mike has been in constant touch with me, does good affordable work, and offers 3D rendering of any design he creates. This allows me the luxury of choosing one of several perspectives for the final image. Both of these machines will be using radical VTOL technology (some of it actually works!) from current and past attempts in the real world.

The idea is to get away from the conventional rotor-driven helicopter concept and dip a toe into some alternatives (back issues of Popular Science are very inspirational). My personal favorite is the Bell XF-109, with rotating jet engines at the wingtips of a conventional-looking jet fighter. In real life, this prototype did not perform as well as the designers would have liked, but I think the bugs will have been worked out by 3063…

• I had planned to have three color plates inside the TRO, illustrating various scenes from the world of 3063. The first, Dawn Patrol, was done by Alex Iglesias over a year ago and is very good. The second, Chaperone, was to be centered around battle armor, but does not exist anywhere except in a well-described scene sketch on my hard drive. The third has no name; I may let the artist decide what the subject will be, but a crew having lunch next to their disabled tank is on my mind. It reflects a scene from many games I have played: what will a crew will do when their fearsome AFV loses its main gun?

• Vlad is occupied with real life, and has not been able to do any work on the Horatio bridgelayer, so I may farm that out to another artist as well. Time is running out.

• On the writing front, Geoff is doing what he can. He dropped off two very good final pieces for the Kuritan Privateer and the Capellan San-Ku-Chu Light Mobile Tactical Vehicle yesterday. I am eagerly awaiting more from him, but a lot of it is editing and will probably be shipped back to me the way it was sent – in a batch. Unfortunately, this means I will have to go through and look at them again – I would anyway, just to see what wonderful additions Geoff has made – and correct certain formatting errors which keep cropping up.

• Oh well. At least it kept me busy for a few days, and I now know where a lot of the glitches can be found.

• The rough draft for the Death Incarnate is finished, at a maximum word count of 765 for our TRO entry. I am sure I could find fifteen words to strip out, but would rather leave that to Geoff if he finds it necessary. Like the Mercenary entries, I have given some thought to whether or not this really belongs in a TRO – it is not a production model or even a prototype, after all. But the average Battletech reader would be a dull dog to claim no interest in such things, and this is not a company product. So they will stay, little bits of glitter amongst the drab grey primer of machines rolling off assembly lines.

• I have a small stable of proofreaders assembled and waiting. Their main job will be to vet the overall look and feel of each entry; something similar to what Douglas Gatto did with the Hegemony’s Catapult. I have ninety entries to track; it is just not possible to catch every vague phrase when you are the original writer. I know what we meant to say; it is for my proofreading team to decide if we actually said what we meant to say.

• Finally, the Table of Contents and Introductions have been amended to reflect the new machines, along with an update to the Credits section and a few shout-outs to the major players. Covering the copyrights is required, but I am debating the inclusion of a minor list of names under the heading of ‘Artistic Inspiration’ as well. That is probably a wise course in this increasingly litigious society. Despite our vigilance, there may be oversights in the matter of derivative art, and I do not want to appear in court.

Steve

Artwork and some new 'Mechs added...

Well, it’s been about a week and a half. Time for an update!

First of all, we automatically send out a bi-weekly update to those parties involved in the art or writing of the TRO. For those of you who are working with us and have not received the latest (today’s date), let me know. For folks who are NOT on the project but are curious about the TRO, drop me a note at ssatak (at) yahoo.com. I will send a single copy. Who knows? Maybe you will spot a naming error or something…..

We have added two more BattleMechs to the roster. Yes, I know – the list was supposed to be frozen, but the Periphery is still not very well-represented in the ‘Mech section, and the writeup/design/artwork was already there.

The first design is for the Taurian Concordat. I just received permission to use the Forge assault ‘Mech. Some of you may recognize the name from the ‘Battletech Universe’ website’s own attempt to produce a TRO. It is a modest effort by a Periphery state to get a leg into the ‘big leagues’ and the design is solid. Thank you, Kirk. We are working on a commission for the art.

The other design is a piece of battlefield salvage which has been heavily modified for Solaris Seven, then taken and modified further for use on hunting expeditions. Where, you might ask, would such a machine be needed for big game hunting? Why, on Hunter’s Paradise! For those of you who do not recognize the name, it is a world out beyond the Lyran Periphery and a bit ‘north’ of the Rim Collection. The design includes such oddities as laser eye beams, a big hatchet and a torso-mounted cockpit. The art for the Death Incarnate (a former Kuritan Quickdraw) is complete, the design is a good one and the writeup is nearly done.

I am getting murmurs back from my vehicle artists: Daniel Cherng is experiencing scanner problems and Mike Sullivan is sandwiching his work in between day jobs. These are two talented fellows, and I eagerly await the fruits of their labor. Eriance is still plugging away at ‘Mechs, but should be able to turn his attention to AFVs in the near future. Finally, David White is still working on the Thunderbolt – he too has many obligations to fulfill, so it may be another week before we see what he hath wrought.

My co-author Geoffrey Butler is also juggling a busy schedule, but between finals at school and a girlfriend (!), he is making progress on the proofing and final edit of the writeups. He is even adding info to ground our work more solidly in the 3063 era (bonus!).

I am still going through each writeup and trying to maintain a fresh eye. Just the other day a reader caught a discrepancy between a description of the Marian Hegemony’s Catapult as surplus and a later reference to its performance which seemed at odds with the initial description. I made some changes (‘refurbished’ is such a useful word) and the issue was solved. But things like that will continue to crop up, and our writing will tighten, as the artwork portion comes closer and closer to completion.

I have been thinking hard about the artwork itself, specifically where VTOLs are concerned. While many of them will remain conventional helicopters (the art is in the can), some will feature unusual propulsion systems (such as that found on the Bell X-19) or even a ring rotor. It all depends on what the artists choose to use, but I strongly suggested they avoid conventional rotorcraft layouts (although in the case of the Oculus, the Lockheed Cheyenne AH-56 will serve). We have enough helicopters in Battletech.

Another challenge was to see if we could showcase a tracked AFV which did not exceed six tons and yet still carried a decent loadout, moved at a good rate of speed and was well-armored. The Taurian Concordat’s Cortes is a good stab at this idea, packing an ER medium and ER small laser, 2.5 tons of armor and making 7/11 with tracks. We probably could have made it a bit more ‘shooty’ with a wheeled suspension, but there are already armored cars in the TRO (the Centaurus and the Diatryma) and they have their limitations.

We wanted something like the Czech 38t from World War II. Not intended for taking MBTs head-on, it excels at raiding supply columns and, when attacking in mass formations (as the Germans did), all those ER mediums have to be somewhat disconcerting to a foe. My only regret is that in order to reflect the actual crew such a vehicle might have, I would have to add half a ton of ‘stuff’ to the design and that would mean dropping either armor or a weapon.

As it is, we will just have to rely on the miracle of 31st Century fire control systems to permit a single crewman to drive AND fire AND maintain communications with his lancemates. *Sigh* I suppose if a Mechwarrior can do it, anyone can.

Steve

Doing the Limbo….

This evening I went through the remaining BattleMech writeups and have spotted a few more glitches, which I smoothed over or trimmed back. The original Vulcan piece clocked in at 1,200 words! But as it was a ‘co-writeup’ with the following Vulcan II, and as that piece had only about 450 words, I felt the two balanced each other.

But a fresh look at the text showed there were several spots where information was duplicated. Sure, it was from two different perspectives, but it was redundant nonetheless, and I found that trimming the lead Vulcan piece was not as hard as I thought it would be, with the Vulcan II fresh in my mind. So I whacked away at the undergrowth (it is simply amazing what writers insist on keeping, just because it reads well or is one of our better works). The result is that the Vulcan comes in under 1000 words – still too long in light of the standard 750-word limit we impose on ourselves, but well within standards if you add the Vulcan and Vulcan II together and divide.

I am considering adding another ‘Mech (the Forge) to the stable; it is a bit left over from the work I did for the Battletech Universe website’s TRO project. It was considered too long for their format, and it was. I trimmed it back to 750 words and ‘Crayed’ the weapons references, but the BTU TRO is on hiatus and may never see the light of day. I am going to contact the original designer and ask if he is willing to permit its use.

The reason I consider this addition is because, despite the fact that it has a wonderful writeup, the Capellan Culverin is languishing due to art issues. It is an Omni-Mech with two Configurations and I have been trying to set aside money for new art, but so far have been unable to get it to Alex Iglesias in order to move things along. The price is set, and it is quite reasonable, but…well, we’ll see. Removing the Culverin would reduce the number of ‘Mechs by three; adding the Forge would leave a shortfall of two for a total of 33 ‘Mechs.

I suppose I can live with that. It is a shame to waste writeups, but there are times when you just have to let go. This may be one of them.

No new art from Eriance yet, though he has lots of questions on building and designing BattleMechs. It would appear he does not have Heavy Metal Pro or one of the other ‘Mech design programs out there. Doing it by hand is something I have never done, and from the looks of it, I have not missed very much!

Steve

Artwork and Format Efforts continue…

Well, Eriance sent the penciled Commando yesterday and it looks really good. He has done a stand-up job thus far and I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Daniel Cherng has stated he is on the job and drawing, but so far I have not seen any of his work for this book. He has talent and a gallery of outstanding drawings, so I know he can do the TRO proud and earn my dollar. The question is, when will he be able to do it? Folks, I don’t commission pikers. Daniel’s art is of the same caliber as the ‘Mech artists we have seen so far – but he is doing vehicles and I am eight pieces of vehicle art in the hole with a deadline approaching. Eric says he will take a swing at it, but his forte is Mecha and people, not armored fighting vehicles.

Yes, telescoping the writing, editing and proofreading while we wait for the art is already in progress. And it is working out. But as you are aware, each of us has a life outside this project and hobby. If I decide to take the evening off from writing to go see a movie or swim with my son, I am sure others are in similar situations and faced with the same choices. Money only commands so much of an artist’s attention. And that is as it should be.

David White is temporarily stymied on the Thunderbolt; no telling when the inspiration will strike. He is an old hand at this, so I ain’t gonna bug ‘im. It arrives when it arrives. But all my commissions are paid up to date (yay!) and the financial decks are being cleared for the next batch.

Right now I am going through the writeups and checking for uniformity of formatting. Everything has to have the same name (Overview, Capabilities, Deployment, Variants and Notables) and it has to be in the same order, so as to smooth the transition to PDF.

Meanwhile, I have also begun to round up proofreaders who will take a look at the work we have done so far – they get their crack at it after Geoff has had his shot; with a few exceptions, he has nearly everything in his hands. I am sending the oversights to him (ie: the Privateer needs a Notables section and is short fifty words) but the end of the creative phase is clearly in view.

Of course, after we exit that tunnel, we will enter another, but that’s the nature of this kind of work. We get to heave a sigh of relief, stand up and stretch, then it’s back to the keyboard for the next phase.

Vlad is back from vacation; I will see if he can complete the other vehicle he promised.

I attended a game on Saturday, one which was bigger than we thought and ran far longer than it should have. Some players cried cheese when confronted with an SRM carrier and its load of Tandem-charge missiles, but they were using artillery to destroy the buildings we were supposed to guard, so it all evens out. I hate guarding property in a Battletech game. However, I fear we did not make the best use of our forces and suffered at least two needless losses due to being distracted by actions occurring all over the table – and in one case (my own), sheer stubbornness. Oh well. Hopefully we will do better next time.

Reaction on the forums to the latest art is encouraging. I hope our designs and writeups are at least as good.

Steve

Editing Blues....

Hey. Back once again with more updates.

After having sent the whole shebang off to Geoffrey for proofreading, I was left with the credits page and not much else. Out of sheer boredom, I began combing through the ‘Mech writeups and wouldn’t you know it? I came up with at least three that needed immediate attention.

- The Nightsky clocked in at nearly 900 words (the limit is 750) and was still in the original format (meant for online reading).
- The Commando was lacking any Notable ‘Mechs and Mechwarriors section and was about seventy words short.
- The FedSuns Centurion sections were out of order.

You know what that means. I fixed them and sent them individually to Geoff with my apologies, but now I have to go through each and every one of the ‘Mech writeups to make sure this does not happen again. To have missed such an egregious series of errors on the Nightsky was something of a shock. The least I can do is comb through them again, rather than place the burden on Geoff.

Also, I would like to elaborate a bit on the method we are using to guide this TRO. I am not talking about the nuts and bolts of the process – although you can be sure I will do that sometime soon 

As I mentioned a few posts back, the goal is not to re-invent the history of the Battletech universe circa 3063, but to slip our designs into it much like a high diver tries to enter the water. That is, with nary a splash. To that end, we have included references to events and institutions which are prominent in the storyline thus far, but taken pains not to inextricably link a design to any particular Name. You will find references to the loyalty of certain troops to Victor or Katherine Steiner-Davion – but Victor will not order a lance of Dragonfly VTOLs into combat. Nondi Steiner will order the production of new designs, and we will list new designs, but no specific names are mentioned so the connection is implied rather than stated categorically.

Likewise the rest of the Inner Sphere. As a goodwill gesture, House Marik will authorize a contingent of troops and their machines to clear off unexploded munitions left over from various conflicts between the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation, but at no point is it specifically stated that the Mastodon mine-clearing tank was sent to take part in this activity. We leave it to the reader – and the player – to draw their own conclusions and use (or not use) the Mastodon in their own game.

The idea is to drop these machines into the enormous gaps left by previous hard-working writers whose effort is evident in the FedCom Civil War manual and other similar publications. While an incredible amount of information is available on what units and notable leaders participated in an enormous variety of actions across the Inner Sphere, this is as far as the writers took it. I presume they left room for the individual player (or character in the Mechwarrior RPG) to make his mark below the thirty-meter limit.

This is to our advantage. Nowhere does the FCCW manual state what particular ‘Mechs or vehicles took action in the second wave fighting on Broken Wheel – only that light ‘Mechs and hovercraft led the way to capturing a Loyalist General. Thus it is ‘safe’ for us to drop a new version of the Commando into this action and claim it made contributions towards the eventual victory over the Loyalist faction on that world.

I know, I know. It seems like we are investing a large part of our effort into avoiding the discerning eye of authenticity mavens – aka the ‘Canonicity Police’. It’s sad, but it is true. To do otherwise would place us in the untenable position of effectively re-writing a piece of established Battletech canon – that is, the accepted account of history which the company both generates and approves.

It is untenable because we simply don’t have the manpower or time to continue re-inventing the history of the Inner Sphere from 3063 on. And we would lose a large portion of the fan-base. There are other fans who can pull it off (the Shattered Sphere stable of writers is especially good at this), but while their account of ‘alternate-timeline’ events is thorough and quite entertaining, it automatically disenfranchises a large number of Battletech players and readers who like things just as they are. It is too high a price to pay for seeing our work in print.

Remember, we want you to use these vehicles in your own games, in addition to the enjoyment you get reading the individual writeups. Listing them as being produced in an ‘alternate timeline’ is the same as saying ‘aren’t they nice? But you can’t use them in a REAL Battletech game’. I have spent too much money and my associates too much time to permit that to happen.

In other news, the Marian Hegemony’s refurbished Catapult art just came in. It’s sooooo cute! The only thing preventing us from commissioning a cuddly stuffed toy version is the huge LRM launcher and the ER large laser. They take the edge right off the ‘cute’.

Steve

TRO: 3063 Update

Hi! Yesterday was a bit of a piss-and-moan apologia for those of you who actually visit this site for news on the TRO. Needless to say, you didn’t get much updating.

Just a few short notes:

- The Bandersnatch and the Nightsky have been replaced by brand new art, courtesy of Eric ‘Eriance’ Ou over at the deviantArt website. I highly recommend him for those of you who are planning similar work, as his drawings are crisp and original, combining the ‘machine’ look of Battletech with just a touch of the fluid ‘Mecha’ anime style. Those of you who find objections to some of Matthew Plog’s earlier work will understand. He, too, is very talented and his work appears frequently in the Company’s publications. However, quite a few of his illustrations were heavily rounded and, to some eyes, lost a bit of the ‘Battletech feel’ as found in the rest of the TROs.

It is a matter of taste, of course. Duane Loose has his detractors as well.

- The Dragonfly and the Werefox AAV have been put to bed. There are just four remaining writeups to finish – the Sabra III, the Werefox Petain, the Werefox ICV (Infantry Combat Vehicle) and the Werefox FSV (Fire Support Vehicle). These require work mostly on the ‘Notable Vehicles and Crews’ section, as well as some updating courtesy of the incredibly detailed FedCom Civil War manual. I recently managed to scrounge a dog-eared copy of this book and found it contained a lot of material that I had never seen online.

- We have pipelined new images of the FedSuns Commando and Centurion, as well as the Lyran Fafnir and Centurion. On deck are the Lyran Griffin and the FedSuns Blackjack. I expect these to appear in the next three weeks.

- The Magistracy of Canopus has a ‘new’ Thunderbolt. I will not post the writeup here; suffice to say it was written by none other than Mark Miller himself, of FanPro/Catalyst Games fame. These machines are not your ordinary heavy ‘Mech. They are relics salvaged from an abandoned First Star League base and in lieu of the standard fusion engine and armor, have been refitted with a diesel powerplant and fairly primitive armor (a uniform twenty points in all locations except the head and back).

There are six operational examples, and I would not normally include this machine in the TRO due to such low numbers. But this is the shape of things to come, if you will; it is a taste of the Dark Age. As such, I thought it an important addition. We have fielded the design on a gaming table against forces likely to encountered on the borders of the MoC. It performs quite well. Slow, but effective.

David White is working on the illustration for this strange bird even as you read this.

That’s all for now. Take care and stop in for more updates as they appear!

Steve

TRO: 3063 – Pros and Cons of the Production Schedule

As I write this, the month of May slips quietly into the rear-view mirror. It has been a good time – the weather finally took a turn for the warm (as opposed to last year's chill which lasted well into June) and I was finally able to get out there and, armed with an old laptop, cigar and cup of coffee, got writing again.

The introductions were written. That was a major writing block for me, as I did not really know where to start. And after reading the bit for Draconis Combine vehicles, some may agree that I really did not know where to stop. Be that as it may, I am done with them (except for polishing, of course).

Another thing out of the way: the Werefox line, another enormous chunk of ‘Lord-help-me’. It was just sitting there, waiting for me to think of something intelligent to say about it. I have to admit, I nearly combined four of the original six vehicles into a single writeup just to get them out of the way.

But as I began to dig into the Werefox Commander, several things began to happen. I eventually finished the Commander, only to spend the next three days tweaking and re-designing the remaining vehicles and even coming up with a new (!) VTOL to assist them. There was a common theme and a good reason to build all of these machines – I just had to get the juices flowing and hey presto!

The last of the Werefox line is getting a second polish. Meanwhile, I have begun on the Table of Contents (TOC) and Credits section. And this brings me to a somewhat awkward confession.

This project originally began as a stack of images linked to text files which contained the basic design for an Inner Sphere ‘Mech or Vehicle. The artist wanted this all assembled and written while he pursued other projects. Over the course of 2008, I dropped some designs and modified others, but always kept to a theme. However, it was not until mid-2008 that I began to notice some of the art pieces were more derivative than others. Furthermore, there were a host of additional vehicles AND ‘Mechs which had crept into the project, in the interests of expanding on an idea or just covering a greater range of missions. I mean, who has not tinkered with the Heavy Metal Vee © design program and seen the Level 3 option of ‘minesweeper’? And yet there are precious few examples of a dedicated minesweeper to be found in other publications.

All of this has be illustrated, all of it at a level comparable with the original company publications. To do otherwise, to allow thinly-disguised copies of other artist’s works to appear in our TRO (yes, even with a long list of ‘credits’ for inspiration) would spoil everything I and my talented associates have labored over so hard and for so long.

So it was that I gathered the art together and enlisted the aid of Eric ‘Eriance’ Ou from the DeviantArt website to go through it and validate the degree of originality in each piece. Many passed – some did not. And so I find myself digging even deeper into my bank account to fund what amounts to the ‘rework’ of several pieces. This, in addition to the pieces I had to commission in order to illustrate the newer designs, accounts for much of the delay in getting TRO:3063 to bed. After an outlay of $600, I am still budgeting artwork, though the end is in sight.

Today I shot off $75 via PayPal to two of our most talented artists, David White and Eriance. More will follow; despite his offer to do some work for free, I do not feel it is right to burden Eriance with the problems created by another. He gets paid, though it is at a reduced rate due to his insistence on helping me set things right. Everyone, even the massively busy MechaMaster, is pitching in. We will bring you the best we can do.

General George Patton once remarked that ‘the best is the enemy of the good’. Most of you have probably heard and understand that pithy remark, so I won’t elaborate. But I consulted the prolific, knowledgeable and very kind Mike Miller to make sure we were doing writing which was up to the standards of the company products. And I need not elaborate on the amount of re-writes, editing and subsequent polishing which have gone into even the smallest of our entries. It isn’t about just kicking out a TRO and basking in the resulting (minor) burst of glory. How many of you actually take the time to go collect the other fan-created TROs out there? This one will be worth the effort. You will actually want to field this stuff, and the writeups support both gamer and casual reader alike.

Time to draw this to a close.

The timetable has been pushed back and back and back. Original estimates put the publication date at June, 2008. As you can see, this did not work out, due mostly to the unanticipated amount of tag-team writing I decided was an absolute must-have to produce a quality product. The choice is now a year gone by, and I stand by it. Those of you who have had a taste of the art, or the writing, or both, will agree. That said, the new publishing date is set for 1 August, 2009 – just a month short of the two-year mark from the debut of the TRO:3062.

If anyone knows an artist who is talented, original and can do military vehicles in black and white, please refer them to this blog. I have several artists on commission right now, but they all have jobs, lives and other commission pieces which will slow the pace. I cannot promise top dollar, but they will get paid and earn a spot on the credits page. It is the best I can do right now.

Take care and keep your medium lasers clean!

Steve

The balance of Power...

We just put the Churchill self-propelled assault gun to bed. Good work by all, but Geoff is the one who came up with the core writing, so my hat is off to him.

Next up is the answer to a question I've been sitting on for a while: what is the smallest effective tracked infantry support machine we can make with Rick Raisley's Heavy Metal Pro? I guess it depends on what you call effective. We figured it would have to end up just above the Thirty Meter Limit in terms of game use (more on that later).

What came out surprised us, to the point that it actually made the final cut and we squeezed it into the Periphery. It has the working name of Desert Rat, but you know that's gonna change. It is the result of joint effort by the Taurian Concordat and the Capellans.

Also on deck: I paid off the Battlemaster art and a third piece from David White, the Black Knight.

As of now, Vlad has promised me revised Velite art for the Marian Hegemony - hopefully he will get to it before taking off for the Continent. The current Velite has no less than five fifteen-tube rocket launchers mounted on the turret. Naturally, the art needs some tweaking...

Yes, the balance of power. We have two thirds vehicles, mostly ground types with a few aircraft. The rest are 'Mechs.

I have four writeups remaining. Last night saw a sort of breakthrough on the Werefox family of vehicles - the C3 variant was a blah, ho-hum vee carrying a C3 Master module and a bit more armor than usual. Then I looked at the art again, and realized that Vlad had not thought to include the LRM-10 launcher on the turret.

Next thing I know, I have something like eight tons open on the Werefox C3 and whaddaya know? Seems like a real good idea to include a second Anti Missile system, a second C3 Master and quite a bit more armor. Oh, and an ER large laser. Some of you may complain 'but that's pretty much the same thing as the Morningstar of 3062!'.

And you would be wrong.

About the only thing the two have in common are their C3 Master units. After that, there really isn't much comparison. After all, the Werefox C3:

- tracks have more terrain options than the Morningstar's wheels

- carries 15% more armor

- AND a nearly impenetrable anti-missile shield

- AND a Guardian ECM

- AND a longer-ranged, harder-hitting gun which is independent of ammo

- AND Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment

- AND a targeting computer

.... and it ends up being cheaper, too.

The designs we have are not cheese.... but simply certain ideas taken to their logical conclusion...

Steve

How the TRO is set up.... and how it works.

Hey. Back again.

I thought I would outline what the TRO:3063 is, and what it is not.

It is a standard BattleTech Technical Readout, produced by fans to resemble very closely the kind that FASA, then FanPro, and now Catalyst Games produces. It is placed in the year 3063 A.D. and despite the initial title of 'Vehicle Annex', it deals with both BattleMechs and Vehicles.

It is going to feature at least 35 BattleMechs and some 58 Vehicles. Of the 'Mechs, some will be variants of existing designs and others will be entirely new machines. Rest assured, I keep tabs on the designs and do not want to include machines which duplicate a 'Mech or Vee which already exists (though there are exceptions, as in the case of the Star League-era Marksman self-propelled artillery).

We have some very good designs for all our 'Mechs and Vees, as well as carefully-written descriptions common to a TRO. Some players dismiss this as 'fluff', and that is its common name, but don't be misled. 'Fluff' is every bit as important to Battletech as the stories they publish in paperback format.

It must be carefully researched so as not to conflict with canon; that is, material already accepted in the Battletech 'universe' as accepted fact, history or whatever you want to call it. It is the bedrock on which all Battletech fiction is based.

I want to assure anyone reading this who has been waiting for the TRO:3063 that we do not intend to 're-invent' the Battletech universe with an alternate history or timeline. What our team has tried to do is insert war machines wherever and whenever we can in the established framework without contradicting the canon.

This is very difficult to do, let me assure you. I have learned more about the Battletech story than I ever thought I would, and still do not have half the knowledge my writing partner (Geoffrey Butler) has forgotten. But while we have similar writing styles, he has the 'software' skills and I have the hardware knowledge. It overlaps and the result (so far) is something pleasing.

It may be that we will still make errors; the Battletech universe is a very, very big and complicated place. Lots of stuff happens and if you don't read every single word of every single page of every single publication, online and in hard copy, you will miss it. And someone out there will catch you. We are editing this thing for entry size, word count, quality art, tight writing and as much compatibility with the existing material as is humanly possible with only four people on the project and three of them writing.

Just so you don't think this is a lot of hot air, we have already completed the 'Mech writeups and artwork. We have about five vehicle writeups left, then massive editorial review, then conversion to a PDF format, then another editorial pass, then we send it out to selected readers who go over it with a fine tooth comb and point out any last minute errors which have slipped through our 'process'.

I just nailed the Pershing last night and sent it off to Geoff for second draft. He in turn shot me the Diatryma armored car, the Ocelot II riot control vehicle and the Fox anti-aircraft tank for polishing. The Pershing is a replacement and, in some ways, an update to the venerable Marksman self-propelled artillery. We chose to do the Pershing because the Marksman has not been in production for about three centuries, and you know? The spare parts are about to run out.....

Steve

TRO:3063 Updates...

Hey, I am back after a long absence.

This time I should be filling the space with nattering on about my job, my life, my friends, my hobbies, ad nauseum.

Or holding forth on my religious views, or my political position, or what I think of the local Wal-Mart or Discover Magazine.

Nope.

Everyone else does that stuff to death. I don't care if you agree with me or not on any of these things, because sooner or later reality will smack you in the head. Or me.

Meanwhile, if you are here, you are probably interested in Battletech. So there is something we can agree on. And guess what? I happen to be working on a Fan-produced Technical ReadOut for that game.

So that's what will go here. Updates on this work, and the next, etc.

Let's get a few things straight: I am not working for, or representing, Catalyst Game Labs. I am not selling the TRO. I am not taking submissions for writing or designs; those are done. I am willing to look over artwork, so long as I pay for it and it meets my standards.

There! Now, it is getting dark out and cold out and I want a cigar and a cup of coffee with my writing. So out to the garage. I will return tomorrow with an update on the 'Mechs section.

Steve

Christmas of 2008, still around...

Hey, just popped in to see if anyone ever reads this. Yeah, thought not.

S'okay. Too many bloggers out there running their faces, yapping a hundred miles an hour, thinking that hits = immortality. It's all about fame.

Of course, that is a crock.

Things are weird at work. I am getting along - the pressure and hostility just suddenly came to a screeching halt in, let's see, about September. I am not sure why, though I have several theories, none of which flatter me as a person or a professional, but which have the cachet of being actually probable.

I am working on the remains of the TRO:3063. What is left is Introductions, a few writeups for the vehicles (about four) and about ten pieces of art. Unfortunately the art is expensive, although I have a line on an artist who might relieve me of some of that burden.

But really, I had to get away from the writing for a while. It consumed most of my spare time this past year and gave me too many excuses to recuse myself from my wife and son. I am now begining to re-discover the pleasure of my son John's company, though it is nearly too late as he has now got a circle of friends with whom he hangs out.

He does not prefer their company exclusively to mine. Or not yet.

Anyway, it is late and I must turn in if I am to be fresh for tomorrow. Hope this economy does not cost me my job. My hobby of miniature building and painting is on an upswing, and there are many who are interested in my reposing of the various static Battletech miniatures.

Steve

Mid 2008!? The hell?

Gonna keep this short. Still have my job, doing lots of overtime. Am about two-thirds the way through TRO:3063, am working with a wonderful writing partner. Unfortunately, he will be returning to school in September and we still have a lot of writing to do.

More later, when I have the time. Thanks for looking!

Steve