The Following is an explanation of how ASF conduct bombing as per Aerotech 2 (the ruleset for ASF, Dropship & Warship battles in space or within atmosphere. It is an add-on to the basic CBT ruleset that didn't cover ASF at all well).
My Suggestions are a way of making MWLL ASF a little more interesting, and a LOT more deadly...as they are in the Lore. If you don't wish to read about how things are done on the tabletop just skip to the "My Suggestion" part. If you hate ASF or are blinded by the LBX cheese (blame the weapon not the ASF) then don't bother reading or commenting please
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Basic Bomb Rules:In CBT (Aerotech 2) an ASF is able to carry 1 Bomb per 5tons of mass (mass/5= max number of bombs). However for every increment of 5bombs carried the ASFs Safe Thrust is reduced by 1. Thrust (not the same as 'mech movement points) is how Dropships, Warships and ASF move in Aerotech 2; a Shiva is 5/8 (Safe/Max), Sulla is 9/14, Sparrow Hawk 10/15 in the Lore. All ASF can carry bombs without sacrificing any weapons or pod-space to do so.
Example:
A Shiva at 85tons could carry up to 17bombs if it could afford the cost, but doe so while carrying the variants full weapons loadout as well as the Bombs . The Shivas Safe thrust is 5, Maximum Thrust is 8, with a Full load of 17 bombs that Shiva would drop to a Safe Thrust of 2 so only capable of Half speed! Or carry 8bombs at a 1point Safe Thrust cost (safe thrust of 4)!Example:
A MWLL SparrowHawk C at 30tons could carry a Maximum of 6 bombs, carrying 4 without penalty to it's Safe Thrust rating of 10, even with the full 6bombs load it only barely notices the drop in speed!Bomb types:Bombs in CBT come in several flavours:
High Explosive (HE): 10 points of damage to everything in target Hex
Cluster: 5 points to everything around and at the impact Hex.
Laser-Guided: TAG homing more expensive HE variant.
Inferno: does what it says on the tin.
Mines: maybe not for MWLL!
Arrow IV: Yes please! takes up 5bomb spaces per arrow (but in MWLL that means we get 1ton of Arrows (5shots) for 5bombs space. Definately something Overpowered on a LRM Shiva, so maybe not good for MWLL!
Limits on Bombers:In Aerotech 2, other than the Safe Thrust penalty there is no other real limitation on Bombers, for example you could drop all bombs in the same turn!!! In MWLL this would be insane, so I'd suggest a limit on Lights to 2bombs per reload (even if they are carrying 6bombs, it would be 3 passes to drop them all), Mediums to 3bombs per reload, Heavies 4 etc as a rule of thumb. These bombs-per-relaod could be altered if an ASF is deemed primarily Bomber or Fighter.
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My Suggestions for Battletech Bombs!:* FBombs (1000kinetic and 450missile damage) are removed from the game.
* Bombs are loaded after ASF purchase via the hanger purchase screen.
* Bombs do not use up extra tons when purchased.
* Any and All ASF can purchase and drop bombs.
* Only Bombs of the same type can be carried at the same time (so selecting 1bomb type disables selection of another type and bombs must be dropped before new type can be loaded).
* All ASF have a number of Bomb doors, this number determines how many bombs may be dropped before reloading, this is loosely based on the ASFs mass, but can vary to ie. the Shiva as an Assault ASF may be considered a Bomber by the Devs and gets 6 bomb doors, I purchase 16HE Bombs for the Shiva E but I need 3 bombing-runs to drop all my bombs. If the Devs decided the Shiva is actually a multi-role ASF, as in the Lore, then it might have 4 doors and I'd need 4 bombing runs to drop all the bombs and so on.
* The maximum number of bombs carried is dependant on asset-mass/5. (maximum of 6bombs carried for a 30ton SparrowHawk, 9bombs for the Sulla, and 17bombs for the Shiva etc.).
* Handling is dampened and Topspeed reduced related to how many bombs are carried/number of bomb doors (Thus we can have assets like a dedicated medium bomber, 50tons but 4bomb doors and thus moves better when carrying 10bombs than a Sulla, which as an Air Superiority fighter that might only have 2 bomb doors and thus really struggle when carrying 6 of it's maximum 9bombs etc.)...I think this would be better in a real-time enviroment than the per 5bomb handling/top-speed decrements in Aerotech 2.
Bomb Flavour Suggestions:HE: Does 500points Kinetic and 400missile damage (roughly 2/3rd old FBomb values). Splash of 20m. Fairly inexpensive.
Cluster: Does 250points Kinetic and 250 points missile. Splash of 150m. Fairly inexpensive.
Laser Guided: Same damage profile as HE but costs slightly more, follows TAG.
Inferno: 600 Flame (so 60% of a BA Inferno grenade) 200 missile damage. 50m splash radius.
So what does this all mean?There'd be no "Bomber" variants, all ASF variants could carry bombs, just that bombs are expensive and more bombs = worse handling and slower speed (you're over-tonned with Bombs, more bombs more handling problems); Sparrowhawks would be useful again, strafing runs where the Primary armament does some damage would be the best ASF bomb runs (Let those UACs and RACs do the damage before you drop the hammers!). Downside is that the bombs would do less damage, and are designed more for a coup-de-grace after the main-guns have straffed than a 1 pass kill-shot.
It'd be closer to the actual Lore ASF and how they behave and would be better IMO.
