The Tactics Department of the Military Science school of the NAIS were courteous enough to release this new simulation aid to us for publication. A Mechwarrior must constantly train to be the best he can be. Whether he is a green recruit learning to pilot an old battered Wasp or a regimental commander in her shiny new Zeus, the warrior must constantly train. He must hone his skill to a shap edge and he must learn every capability of his 'Mech. Simulation combat is the way to maintain or train a Mechwarrior. It is the way a warrior learns the ins and outs of his `Mech. Yet not matter how good a pilot is, he stands little chance of defeating a 70-ton Archer with a 35-ton Urbanmech. In such an unmatched fight the Urbanmech pilot will have little time to hone his skills or to learn his `Mech's limits. He'll be far too busy trying to stay alive to worry about things like that. If you look at it from the other point of view it is a similar problem. How good will the Archer pilot be if he always fights against Urbanmechs? He'll find little challenge to hone his skills or extend his 'Mech's abilities. To learn anything from simulation combat, the two sides need to be as close to equal as possible so as to challenge, but not to overpower either side. This raises the question of how to determine the equality of the sides. Surely a Jenner and an Ostscout are not equal matches, even though they do weigh in at the same tonnage. And are four Valkyries an even match for a lone Rifleman? Or is the Rifleman severely outgunned? We of the NAIS Tactics Department believe that we have the solution. After four years of use in our Mechwarrior training program, the Combat Efficiency Factor System is a marked success, taking into account all of a 'Mech's abilities in actual 'Mech combat. The system assigns a numerical value for each of the abilities of the 'Mech. By totaling these numbers, you'll achieve a system for accurately assigning a numerical value.  WFR Table Weapon WRF small laser 0.6 medium laser 1.4 larger laser 2.3 particle cannon 2.5 autocannon/2 2.0 autocannon/5 2.3 autocannon/10 2.5 autocannon/20 3.0 machine gun 0.5 flamer 0.5 Long Range Missiles 5-pack 2.3 10-pack 2.5 15-pack 3.0 20-pack 3.5 Short Range Missiles 2-pack 1.3 4-pack 1.8 6-pack 2.3 DF Table Tonnage DF 20 4 25 5 30 6 35 7 40 8 45 9 50 10 55 11 60 12 65 13 70 14 75 15 80 16 85 17 90 18 95 19 100 20 To gain the Combat Efficiency Factor (CEF) of a BattleMech, take some scratch paper, the WFR and DF tables, and the complete stats for the given 'Mech. The procedure is as follows: 1. Divide tonnage by 10. Record. 2. Record armor weight. 3. Record walking MP. 4. Add .25 for each jump to # 3. (If the 'Mech is jump capable add .25 for each jump M.P. to step 3.) 5. Calculate Weapons Factor Rating. Record. (Using the WFR table, add together all of the WFRs of all the 'Mech's weapons.) 6. Calculate Safe Weapons Factor Rating, Record. (Going from greatest to least WFR, add all weapons that can fire without overheating the 'Mech.) 7. Record Hand to Hand Damage Factor. (Com pare the 'Mech's tonnage to the DF table to get this num ber.) 8. Add all steps 1-7 to gain CEF. C.E.F.s for the Most-Used 'Mechs This is a listing of all 'Mechs in Technical Readout 3025® published by the FASA Corporation, in accordance with the system presented here. If any unit has come up with another method, we invite you to present yourvariant. Light 'Mechs Locust 22.8 Wasp 21.9 Stinger 17.3 Commando 27.9 Javelin 28.9 Spider 28.1 Urbanmech 23.7 Valkyrie 29.0 Jenner 35.0 Ostscout 27.8 Panther 29.9 Medium `Mechs Assassin 34.6 Cicada 32.8 Clint 34.2 Hermes 33.9 Whitworth 39.2 Blackjack 44.8 Hatchetman 35.6 Phoenix Hawk 38.9 Vindicator 39.9 Centurion 41.7 Enforcer 39.2 Hunchback 41.2 Trebuchet 43.7 Dervish 46.9 Griffin 39.7 Shadow Hawk 45.9 Scorpion 36.6 Wolverine 43.8 Heavy `Mechs Dragon 46.8 Ostroc 46.5 Ostol 46.8 Quickdraw 49.0 Rifleman 48.4 Catapault 53.5 Archer 56.9 Grasshopper 58.8 Warhammer 52.7 Marauder 54.3 Orion 56.0 Assault `Mechs Awesome 55.7 Charger 43.8 Goliath 57.0 Victor 53.8 Zeus 58.9 Battlemaster 65.0 Stalker 70.8 Cyclops 56.5 Banshee 58.3 Atlas 76.2 Back to BattleTechnology 7 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 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