Faction Assignment & Rarity Tables

Faction Assignment & Rarity Tables
Product information
Type Random Allocation Tables
Development Keith Hann
Publication information
Publisher (none)
First published 2007
MSRP (free)
Content
Universe Date 2750, 3028, 3039, 3050, 3057

An ongoing project, the Random Assignment & Rarity Tables, originally known as the 3028 Random Mech Assignments & Appendix and also often called the Xotl RAT tables and by many similar names, is a freely available fan-made BattleTech resource authored chiefly by Keith "Xotl" Hann. The timeframe for the tables eventually evolved to include tables for 2750 (the Star League era), 3039, 3050, and 3057. No further tables are being developed, but bug fixes and updated sourcing on the existing tables are still being provided.

Description[edit]

Provided for download (here) as a free PDF document, the Random Assignment & Rarity Tables are highly detailed Random Assignment Tables (RATs) for BattleMechs and vehicles in (primarily) the late Succession Wars era, with ongoing work to produce tables for other eras. In addition, the document provides a faction availability listing and other secondary information. Quirks information was provided in earlier versions, but much of that information was included in the BattleMech Manual (which Hann developed), making the section obsolete.

Since its first publication via the BattleTech Forum, the document has constantly been checked, updated and improved with input from a broad range of other contributors via the forum. Being the result of such meticulous research, it is generally held in high esteem among the BattleTech fanbase as the ultimate, and most accurate, set of RATs. Whereas RATs in various official sourcebooks are invariably inaccurate because of the limitations of the 2d6 roll resolution they have to be based on, and also because of being concerned with balancing for the scenario at hand over "historical" accuracy, Hann's Assignment & Rarity Tables are concerned with availability only, irrespective of gameplay issues such as game balance, and are d1000-based which allows for a much finer representation of relative commonness.

BattleTech producer Catalyst Game Labs was sufficiently impressed by the work to invite Hann into the MUL Team to create and maintain the official Master Unit List for BattleTech.

Canonicity[edit]

Being entirely fan-made, the document itself is not canonical. However, it can be considered to be a meta-source because it collates canonical production data, with educated guesswork filling in for some blanks.

External links[edit]