This, the second issue of BattleTechnology, is as good a place as any to begin explaining the layout of this magazine. Perceptive readers will immediately realize that certain departments introduced in the last issue--Hiring Hall and Sidearms, for instance--appear again in this issue, while others--BattleTac and Repair Bay are two--do not. Why? No, we did not receive a flood of mail from disgruntled readers insisting that we drop some columns and add others. Nor are we operating entirely at random. Difficult as it may be to tell after only two issues of this magazine, we are proceeding according to a precise and carefully laid-out campaign plan. (Any of you who believe that, I've got this slightly used BattleMech for sale I want to talk to you about.) On the theory that what was good for Caesar is good for us, all of BattleTechnology is divided into three parts: Departments, Articles, and the BattleTech Simulator. This time around, it's the care and feeding of the departments I'd like to talk about. The departments are designed to cover a wide range of topics of interest to as many of BattleTechnology's readers as possible. To cover as much territory as we can, some departments can be broken down into sub-departments. The following list gives our departments (in bold, capital type), sub-departments (in bold italic), and a short description of the material which appears in each. HIRING HALL Describes and rates potential mercenary employers WORLDBOOK Gives planetary stats, descriptions and histories MECHTAC Battle Tac: Analysis of historical or recent battles at a company level or higher BattleTips: Combat tactics, from individual 'Mechs up to company level BATTLEGEAR Sidearms:Personal weapons carried by MechWarriors, mercs, and infantry Combat Arms: Heavy weapons and BattleMech weapons systems Full Kit: Combat equipment, uniforms, and personal gear other than weapons BATTLEMECHANICS Technical Readout-Stats and histories of BattleMechs, Aerospace fighters, and vehicles Repair Bay: Field maintenance and repair tips Combat Salvage: Covers ions, updates, and special 'Mech variants BattleColors: Painting and camouflage schemes MORE THAN WARRIORS Poems, songs, and special artwork revealing Man and 'Mechs. Obviously, we can't have every department featured in every issue, but we will attempt to maintain a balance of subject material with the idea of including something for everybody. In this issue, for instance, we elected to drop WorldBook, but we have an expanded Hiring Hall. We dropped BattleTac this time, but we're introducing BattleTips. Which department columns appearfrom issue to issue will depend on how much room we have in a given issue, what material is sent to us... and on what you who read BattleTechnology prefer to see. Which brings us to the point of this editorial. BattleTechnology is actively seeking writers, and all of the columns listed above are open to anyone who wants to take a shot at them. (And yes, so are the feature articles and the BattleTech Simulator material... but those will be the subjects of future editorials. I have to have something to write about next issue, after all!) But even if you'd rather play BattleTech than write about it, you can still write us a letter and tell us what you like and don't like. Space and response permitting, we'll print some of the best ones... and we'll do our best to listen to them all. As I said in the last issue, this is your story. But we need your help to write it. Back to BattleTechnology 2 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com