Field Catalogue - are there plans for a 202X update?

[apoapostolov]

I really like the idea for a 2nd book of Central Supply Catalogue that has rules for customizing and creating new weapons, armor, equipment and more. I somehow feel that Field Catalogue is that or could have been this book, but there is a lot of voices against this book that have tried to sway me away. Is there any plan, even if very distant, that this book or similar book is on the horizon, as Update or a new title altogether?

 

[Sigtrygg]

The problem is that Field Catalogue is not very good at designing the weapons found in the CRB or CSC. It's almost as if it were written for a different game.

 

[Condottiere]

Can't replicate advanced combat rifle.

Therefore, Vilani tech.

 

[agentwigggles]

A reformatting cant fix the Merc books. Its a burn it down and start over quality.

 

[Limpin Legin]

A reformatting cant fix the Merc books. Its a burn it down and start over quality.

Sounds a drastic oversight going on *somewhere*, as the merc books are quite new publications.

 

[Nelphine]

If I could I'd definitely trade my merc books for the world builders handbook.

 

[agentwigggles]

Sounds a drastic oversight going on *somewhere*, as the merc books are quite new publications.

It's crap and disappointing
Even with the fixes it's not really usable.
I do like smaller optional.parts, like the quick draw and knockdown and some of the new weapon tags

 

[Vormaerin]

I don't completely hate the MERC books, but they are not what most people probably expected or wanted. The gear design rules are, as mentioned, not aligned with the regular Traveller rules. And the mercenary rules are more about running the business of being a mercenary unit than actually making ground combat stories.

 

[Nelphine]

A mercenary unit that doesn't pay for jump travel.

 

[agentwigggles]

And that mass combat rules are lack luster. Like equipment doesn't. Have guys with 1980s tech go up against guys in BD. The BD doesn't matter for causing it receiving casualties.
And when the business rules first came out, it was cheaper to throw all your equipment away and buy new. Even grab tanks worked that way. This has been fixed but there no margin on anything other than full ticket. And since the players are abstracted executives, it's ambiguous how your suppose to make up the short fall on less tickets.

The build a gun rules only have perfunctory energy weapon rules.

The lore stuff is fine.
Needed more support? and logistics stuff

 

[MonsterX]

Field Catalog makes it basically impossible to design laser weapons that are not low-pen, which would effect a major change to a not unpopular category of weapons, but this is hidden away in a paragraph of weapon design rules. You'd want to see this also in the new CSC, if it were really supposed to become a thing.

There are lots of good rules in there, and good ideas kind of half-implemented. Like weapon signatures, quickdraw, penetration rules, knockdown, breaking and overheating weapons, etc. It would be nice to get these with a better consistency with the other rulebooks.

The fluff info in the Mercenary books is not bad, for helping understand how the business is supposed to work but the rules would need to be better tested out. And some Striker type rules should also be tied in - it is ok to have mass combat abstracted for when you just need a sense for the result (though I agree that these need to be checked over better to be sure they work), but if you are going to be a mercenary, you probably also want to have a proper Squad-Leader scale combat system . This isn't something everyone will want to get into, but I think a big portion of those who want to play mercenaries will be down for this sort of thing, at least once in a while.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yeah. The Mercenary stuff was a disappointment that I regret wasting My money on.

 

[Sigtrygg]

To design weapons of all types:
first make a list of every CRB and supplement weapon system - these are your outcomes.

for a handgun:
barrel length, calibre, sights
magazine
slide*, lower

for rifle:
barrel length, calibre, sights
magazine
upper, lower
stock

For each component you have choices to make depending on weapon type, TLs. materials used, options added.

 

[MasterGwydion]

To design weapons of all types:
first make a list of every CRB and supplement weapon system - these are your outcomes.

for a handgun:
barrel length, calibre, sights
magazine
slide*, lower

for rifle:
barrel length, calibre, sights
magazine
upper, lower
stock

For each component you have choices to make depending on weapon type, TLs. materials used, options added.

Build it the same as you build a spaceship.

Size, and material.
Determine range and damage that you want to achieve.
Power - Electrical or chemical, etc.
Ammo
Sensors/electronics (if any)
Options (sights, recoil compensators, etc.)
Crew requirements (usually 1, but can be more for larger weapons.)

Obviously it is not just like building a spaceship, but the procedures should be nearly identical.

 

[Arkathan]

Need more less-than-lethal options, like stunners, and tranq and taser rounds to accommodate Bounty Hunting. Some Merc work includes capturing scientists, etc. too.
I'm allowing my group to load TL 7.5 taser rounds in a shotgun and using slug damage (so not halved) for purposes of determining if it penetrates armor, then using stunner for actual damage resolution. Using cost of chemical rounds (5x).

 

[agentwigggles]

Irritants as a tag is something we're missing to.

Like for vomit grenades from stainless steel rat

 

[CthulhuStig]

I could see the Field Catalogue benefiting from an update, if fact I think it's probably more in need of an update than any of the other books. The core concept of a system that allows you to create custom weapons is great, and I think a lot of what is already there is good, however it needs to be possible to use the weapons it creates alongside weapons from the other source books without a load of pain.

It might not be possible to come up with a single set of logical rules that could recreate all the weapons from the core/csc books stat for stat as I suspect the people who decided on those stats weren't following a single set of logical rules. But it should be possible to come up with something more integrated than the current field catalogue rules. I don't think it would even be that hard to make something significantly more compatible:

• Switch Energy weapons and Smoothbore Calibre weapons to have a base Penetration of 0 rather than -1. The -1 completely nerfs lasers and shotguns compared to the core rules counterparts.
• Drop the Penetration -1 for Handgun barrels. It might be more realistic, but it nerfs pistols compared to those in the core rules.
• Make the DM-2 for Stockless weapons at ranges > 25m only apply to weapons that would normally have a stock (i.e. applies to rifles but not handguns). The fact things like pistols are inaccurate at longer ranges has already been taken into account by the fact they have such short ranges, so you're already getting significant range modifiers at anything > 25m
• Give some additional customization options that allow greater freedom to modify the range and damage

Apart from that, there are ambiguously worded rules that could really benefit from an update to give some clarifications (particularly looking at you RF/VRF) and the pre-generated weapons REALLY need redone. The pre-generated weapons are especially bad, as one of the things they should allow is for readers to use them to double-check they're understanding how the rules should be applied. The problem is, effectively none of the pre-generated weapons actually follow the construction rules to the letter. This includes the Compact PDW that is used as a worked example.

 

[MonsterX]

I could see the Field Catalogue benefiting from an update, if fact I think it's probably more in need of an update than any of the other books. The core concept of a system that allows you to create custom weapons is great, and I think a lot of what is already there is good, however it needs to be possible to use the weapons it creates alongside weapons from the other source books without a load of pain.

It might not be possible to come up with a single set of logical rules that could recreate all the weapons from the core/csc books stat for stat as I suspect the people who decided on those stats weren't following a single set of logical rules. But it should be possible to come up with something more integrated than the current field catalogue rules. I don't think it would even be that hard to make something significantly more compatible:

Yes, a lot of it works pretty much ok, some of it not so well, but there are so many good ideas that it makes a lot of sense to fix it up.

 

[Jame Rowe]

It's crap and disappointing
Even with the fixes it's not really usable.
I do like smaller optional.parts, like the quick draw and knockdown and some of the new weapon tags

I had the opportunity to get a copy when I backed the JTAS Kickstart, and now I'm glad I didn't

 

[Condottiere]

It's both interesting, and disappointing.

Like Schrodinger's Cat.