Skill Based Initiative

"This is a mod for the HBS BattleTech game that divides each round of play into 30 initiatives phases. Each round, every model's place in the initiative order is determined by the pilot's skills, chassis weight, injuries taken, morale state and many other factors. A small random factor is applied to these results. The end result is to make the turn sequence less deterministic and something you have to cope with instead of being able to fully plan out your strategy."

The skill level of each Pilot becomes very important in this mod. Novice MechWarriors with low tactics or piloting skill will typically act later in the round, even in light or medium mechs. Veteran MechWarriors can push the limits of their equipment and have heavy or assault mechs going at the same time as unskilled lights. High-tech equipment such Clan cockpits provide initiative bonuses that can boost the weak or help the elite become even more fearsome.

Instead of four weight classes (light / medium / heavy / assault), this mod divides units into 10-ton groups. 20-25 ton mechs are slightly faster than 30-35 ton mechs. 40-45 ton mechs are faster than 50-55 ton mechs, while 60-65 ton mechs are faster than 70-75 ton mechs. 80-85 tons mechs are faster than 90-95, which are faster than 100. This offers a small bonus to pilots of lighter units.

Almost all values are available through tool-tips in the mech bay, lance drop and combat UI screens. Hover over the initiative badges (the hexagons) and many details of the system will be defined.

Skills
This mod emphasizes a MechWarrior's Tactics, Guts, and Piloting skills.


 * Tactics contributes directly to the initiative value. If you want your MechWarriors to consistently achieve a high phase number, increase their Tactics skill.
 * Guts prevents initiative losses from injuries or melee attacks. A high guts rating is necessary to ensure you retain high phase numbers even after taking damage.
 * Piloting prevents initiative losses from knockdowns, shutdowns, and other effects. A high piloting rating is necessary to ensure you don't get dropped too far back in the phase order due to knockdowns.

Pilot Tags
Certain pilot tags provide bonuses or penalties to reflect the different quirks each pilot has.

Effects
Certain effects impact your phase number during the course of battle. These effects include:


 * Injuries - Pilots with injuries suffer an initiative penalty when the receive the injury, and a smaller penalty on subsequent rounds. This effect is reduced by high Guts skill. Ouch! modifiers are from injuries.
 * Knockdown - BattleMechs that are knocked down suffer an initiative penalty on the round they are knocked down, or on the following round if they have already activated. This effect is reduced by high Piloting skill. Thud! modifiers are from knockdown.
 * Crippled Movement - BattleMechs with a missing leg and vehicles with a missing side count as crippled and suffer an initiative penalty. This penalty is reduced by high Piloting skill. Crippled! modifiers are from crippled movement.
 * Equipment - Any chassis or component that modifies the BaseInititiative statistic of the unit is honored. In RogueTech, most cockpits provide a small initiative bonus.
 * Inspired - Pilots that are inspired by high Morale (or Fury) randomly gain between +1 and +3 when a new round begins. Inspired! modifiers are from morale or fury.
 * Spirit - Pilots High Spirits tag gain a +2 initiative bonus. Pilots with the Low Spirits tag suffer a -2 initiative penalty.
 * Melee Impact - Units that are successfully attacked in melee suffer a small initiative penalty on the current round, or the subsequent round if they have already activated. This penalty is increased when the attacker weighs more than the target, and attackers with the Juggernaught skill increase this effect further. This penalty is applied on every successful attack so light units that are repeatedly attacked may find themselves acting at the very end of the following round! Clang! modifiers are from melee impacts.
 * Reserve Units that reserve drop between 2 to 7 phases. This drop is carried over to the next round as penalty, reflecting the hesitation of the unit. Hesitation! modifiers are this carry-over penalty.

Technical Details
The sections below detail some of the calculations used by the mod. Please note that these can vary as the code changes, and may be out of date. You are better off checking the code for these details instead of relying upon this documentation.

Impact of Tactics Skill
A MechWarriors's Tactics skill adds a flat modifier to the base initiative defined by the unit tonnage. This value is graduated, as defined in the table below.

The following diagram illustrates the combination of tonnage and tactics to show the various ranges in which units will operate. In the table below, the sum is given by the ⌄ symbol, next to the tactics value that would set the boundary. The ⌃4,5 block defines the minimum value for a pilot with Piloting skill 4 or 5. As we'll see shortly, this value can be used to evaluate how average skill units will interact across tactics and tonnage limits. [[File:Tactics table small.png|center| Tactics table.
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Reserve Penalty
In addition, tactics reduces the impact of the reserve carry over penalty. Each time a unit reserves, the number of phases dropped is added to a penalty applied on the following round. Each time the phase drop is applied, it is reduced by the tactics skill modifier defined above. A high enough tactics modifier can reduce this penalty to 0.

Example: A unit reserves 3 times during a round, dropping 5 phases, 3 phases, and 7 phases. The reserve penalty applied on the following round would be:

Impact of Piloting
The Piloting skill impacts initiative in two ways. The first is by reducing a random element that is added each turn. Each turn, a unit's maximum initiative (tonnage initiative + tactics modifier + equipment modifiers) is reduced by a random amount, defined in the table below:

The diagram below illustrates this as ranges based around the maximum initiative, represented as 0.

[[File:Piloting table.png|center| Piloting table.
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In addition, some effects that reduce your initiative will be offset by a high piloting skill. Suffering a knockdown, being prone or shutdown results in initiative penalties. These penalties are reduced as per the table below:

If the modifier is greater than the penalty, a flat -1 penalty will be applied.

Impact of Guts
Guts skill comes into play when the pilot suffers an injury, or the unit is successfully attacked in melee.

When a pilot is injured, they suffer a random penalty within a range bounded by their Guts skill. The ranges are defined below.

Each injury adds +1 to the upper bound only. A pilot with Guts 5 and 2 injuries would suffer between -4 and -9 when they are injured, both on the turn they are injured and on subsequent turns. However, on subsequent turns this penalty is halved, representing the pilot fighting through the pain.

When successfully damaged by a melee attack, the unit suffers an initiative penalty determined by the relative tonnage of the attacker and defender (see above). This penalty is reduced by the target's Guts skill rating, as defined by the table below.

If the modifier is greater than the penalty, a flat -1 penalty will be applied.

Engine Impact
This mod breaks units down into 10-ton ranges, such as 20-25 tons, 30-35 tons, etc. Within each range, there is a sweet-spot for engine ratings where a unit is considered to have a typical engine for its class. Units with engine ratings less than this midpoint suffer an initiative penalty from -6 to -2, while units with engine ratings above this midpoint gain a bonus between +2 to +6.

For a given midpoint, the modifier bounds are defined below.

Each unit's engine rating is divided by its tonnage to define an engine ratio. Ratios above the midpoint are are rounded up to the nearest integer, while ratios below the midpoint are rounded down. These are then compared against the bounds to determine the modifier that will be applied.

The breakpoints by tonnage and rating are defined below:

Miscellaneous
Turrets suffer a -4 penalty, while tanks suffer a -2 to reflect their relative slowness in the background material. This may be removed in the future if chassis specific quirks are added to replicate this effect.