Jumping

To be able to Jump you must have at least one Jump Jet.  To install Jump Jets, go to the equipment box and select jump jets.


Armor

The "Max Armor" button will automatically give your Mech the most amount of armor possible for that size of a Mech.  Armor can be modified slightly by using the up/down adjustment buttons next to the corresponding location.


Using The Editor

Options:

Technology Base:	Clan or Inner Sphere

Tonnage:	10-100

Speed:	Running/Walking/Jumping

Armor:	More tonnage allows for more armor.

Heatsinks:	Single/Double

Arm actuators	Arm Actuators

Print button	Print functions


Advanced Ratios

BattleMech Cost

The more you include, the higher technology you use, the larger the mech the more C-bills the mech will cost.

Damage per Tons

Total damage divided by tonnage.

Damage Integral

A higher integral means that the mech is more effective.  This number represents the result of a complex series of calculations involving the Mechs weapons specifically designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the weapons mix..

Damage Integral per Tons

The Daishi Primary Configuration* has a damage integral per tons of 20.15.  This is unusual for a pre-fabricated mech.  Pre-Fabricated mechs can have a rating as low as 3.00.  The Daishi Primary is not really a good mech due to it's ability to generate huge heat spikes.  It's 20.15 value is deceptively large because you can't generate that much damage every turn due to heat problems.


Installing Equipment

Currently installed weapons are located in the top windows, while available weaponry is in the lower window.  By selecting a weapon and clicking the "Add" button, new weapons will be installed.  A popup box will appear, prompting you for a location.  Each location has a certain amount of Critical spaces, so if filled up, these locations will not be available.

Changing weapons location:

Double click on an installed weapon.

Deleting installed weapon:

Click the weapon once and hit the "Delete" button.

Removing all installed weaponry:

Just hit the "Clear all Equipment" button.

Adding weapon ammo:

Select the installed weapon, and hit the "Add Ammo" button.  Choose a location and the number of tons of armor you wish to add.

Saving installed weaponry:

You must hit the "OK" button to keep any changes you have made.

Print Preview:

Press this to see what the current print out or your mech would look like.


Mech Designer Help

Contents

Loading a Mech File

Loading/Creating Mechs

Using The Editor

Advanced Ratios

Installing Equipment

Adding/Removing Arm Actuators

Version 2.0 and 2.1 files

HELP MAKE THIS PROGRAM BETTER!

BattleTech and BattleMech are both trademarks of FASA Corporation.


Loading a Mech File

This Mech editor stores individual Mechs in File Folders in order to organize them.  You must first "OPEN" a Mech file.

To make a "NEW" folder you must first select "OPEN" form the File Menu, and then give your folder an eight character filename.  Select "OK", and you will be returned to the Mech Editor Main Menu.

see Loading/Creating Mechs


Loading/Creating Mechs

Note: You must first "Open" a Mech File before choosing one of the following options.

From the MECH Menu, you can select:

NEW	Creates a New Mech

OPEN	Opens a previously saved Mech

DELETE	Removes a previously saved Mech


Please Register!

                 BattleTech Mech Designer 2.2 Registration Form

     Remit to:   Todd A. Anderson

     Mech Designer                             Qty ____ @  $25.00  $_________

                                                          Total    $_________

     Payment by Check (U.S. funds only, drawn on a U.S. bank)

     Name:    _____________________________________

     Address: _____________________________________________________________

              _____________________________________________________________

              _____________________________________________________________

     Day Phone: ________________________  Evening: ________________________

     Where did you get your copy of the Mech Designer? ____________________

     Printed Name for Registration number__________________________________

Mail your completed registration request to:

                 Mr. Todd A. Anderson

                 347 South Upper St. Apt. 6

                 Lexington, KY 40508-2561

                 U.S.A.


Arm Actuators

New to version 2.1 is the ability to have different actuators for each arm.

Arm actuator check boxes are now located in their own dialog box which is accessible via the "Arm Actuators" button the main editing screen.

The arm actuator dialog box is split which left arm actuators on the left and right arm actuators on the right.  A "checked" check box indicates that actuator is present, otherwise the actuator is not present.

Hint:  If you only use upper arm actuators then you can flip both arm and fire into your rear arm without penalty.  However, this will make punching much more difficult.  If you don't punch much, then only having upper arm actuators will aide you in the aforementioned way as well as saving you 4 crit locations in the arms.


Print Functions

Version 2.0 has a modified print button.  Originally, the print button just brought up the printer selection box.  Now, the print button brings up a box allowing the user to print the mech to paper or to preview the printed mech in a window.

In the print preview window, the cursor keys and page_up and page_down keys work to move around the window.  Of course, the scroll bars also work for this same purpose.  The menu bar of this window will allow you to make a hardcopy print of the mech, to exit the window, or to specify the zoom value.  The zoom value determines how big the window font is.  The default value is 1.4 which makes the font such that about 60% of the mech sheet can be seen in a maximized window.  A value of 1.0 will try to put the whole mech sheet onto the screen at once.  This may result in an unreadable font.  The larger the zoom value, the larger the font, and the less of the mech that will fit on the screen.


File Formats

Major internal changes were made between version 2.0 and 2.1.  This change requires that your 2.0 be converted to 2.1 format.  A DOS program called BTMECONV.EXE is provided to do this.  The 2.1 mech editor will not load 2.0 files.  To convert your files:

1) make copies of them just in case

2) convert a file or multiple files

    A)  multiple files by the following:

          BTMECONV *.MEC

          BTMECONV FILE1.MEC FILE2.MEC

    B)   single files as follows:

          BTMECONV FILE.MEC