MegaMek is a Java version of BattleTech that you can play with your friends over the internet. All rules from Total Warfare are implemented. Rules from Tactical Operations and Strategic Operations are constantly in the works, and many of those rules and weapons are already implemented.
Players can create their own units, maps, and scenarios for use with MegaMek. MegaMek supports all unit types, from infantry, battlemechs, and vehicles, to aerospace fighters, dropships, and warships. Ground battles as well as space battles can be played.
If you would like information about how to play the game, see the "PLAYING THE GAME" section, below. If you're having trouble getting MegaMek started, see the next section, "RUNNING MEGAMEK".
For complete game rules, consult the Classic BattleTech rule books published by Catalyst Game Labs. These books include Total Warfare, Tactical Operations, and Strategic Operations.
Java programs run in their own environment, called a Virtual Machine or VM for short. These Java VMs are available on most systems from a variety of sources. Most modern systems have one installed by default.
Windows users: To start MegaMek, run the MegaMek.exe file. If this fails to start MegaMek, see the "INSTALLING OR UPDATING YOUR JAVA RUNTIME" section, below.
Other graphical OSes: Many other graphical OSes, such as MacOS and OSX, will allow you to double-click the .jar file to run it. If this does not work, try running MegaMek from the command line.
Running MegaMek from the command line: To do this using Sun Java, or most other implementations, navigate to the directory containing the .jar file and run:
java -jar MegaMek.jar
If none of the above options work for you, see the "INSTALLING OR UPDATING YOUR JAVA RUNTIME" section, below.
If you have a VM, but it does not support .jar files, then use your favorite extraction program to decompress "MegaMek.jar", "collections.jar", "TinyXML.jar", and "Ostermiller.jar" into a new "classes" folder (create the "classes" folder in your main "megamek" folder). Once these steps have been done (you only need to do the above steps once), you will need to set the classpath to the classes folder and the current folder and run "MegaMek.class". For example, using Sun Java, run:
java -cp .;classes megamek/MegaMek
Note that in some cases, the semicolon may need to be escaped:
java -cp .\;classes megamek/MegaMek
If your system did not come with a Java VM, or you need to update your Java VM, here are some links.
Oracle Java (Linux, Solaris, Windows): http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
Mac OSX: See this support article on the apple support website for instructions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204036. Note: For advanced users, it is recommended you install java via homebrew. See this stack overflow article for more instructions.
OpenJDK (Linux): Open source version of Java. Used by most major Linux distributions. http://openjdk.java.net/install/.
GCJ/Gnu classpath (Linux): Of interest to experienced developers, there may be some compatibility problems. http://gcc.gnu.org/java/. Note: GCJ support was removed in GCC 7.
Microsoft VM (Windows): Microsoft no longer makes their VM available for separate download. This version of MegaMek uses features not supported by the Microsoft JVM.
IBM VM: MegaMek seems to react badly to this VM - it is not recommended.
MegaMek is a network game. One player hosts a game and the rest of the players connect. The connecting players can connect from anywhere with a TCP/IP connection to the host, including the same computer (see hotseat, below.)
To host a game, press the "Host a New Game..." button in the main menu. Fill in your name and click "Okay". The password field allows you to specify a password for certain server commands. (Type /help in the chat line to get a list of server commands.) If you don't specify a password, anybody is allowed to reset the server or kick players, so be careful.
Once the lobby screen comes up, other players can connect and the game can
begin. The other players will need to know the IP address of the host computer.
There are several ways to determine your IP address. If you are on
Windows 9x/ME, you can use the Run command on the start menu and enter
winipcfg. On Windows 2000/NT/XP/Vista/7/8/10, you will need to open a command
prompt and type ipconfig. As a last resort, there are some web pages, such as
www.whatismyip.com that will try to detect your IP address, but if your internet
service uses a proxy or firewall, these pages cannot accurately detect it.
To connect to a game, press the connect button on the main menu and fill in your player name and the host's IP address.
To play in a hotseat fashion, you can run the host and any number of other
players on the same computer. First, launch and host a game. Then, launch
another copy of the game for each connecting player, and in the "Server Address"
field of the connect dialog, type localhost. Each player will need to switch
to his/her copy of the game to play their turn.
To start a dedicated server, use the -dedicated command line switch. A
dedicated server just runs the server, in the console, without a "host" player
in the game. People, including yourself, can join it like a game with a host.
The dedicated server reads the password and port options from the
clientsettings.xml file, or uses the default (no password and port 2346.) If you
want the dedicated server to load a saved game, supply the filename after the
-dedicated switch, like this: -dedicated savedgame.sav. To stop the server,
you will need to tell the Java machine to halt execution, which is CTRL + C on
most platforms.
Here you can chat, specify what units you wish to use, select map settings, declare starting positions, and change your player's color. When everybody has at least one unit, you may all hit "ready" to start the game. Most changes to the game parameters will cancel your ready status, so you should wait for everybody to finish choosing their units and positions. Note: If you wish to use custom unit designs, please see the section below entitled "CUSTOM UNITS".
You can enter the map selector by clicking on the "Select Map" tab at the top of the lobby. You can change the dimensions of the map boards (in hexes) or the dimensions of the whole map (in boards.) All maps are loaded off the server. Most of the map boards that MegaMek comes with are 16x17.
Below the map size inputs is a not-to-scale representation of how the boards are laid out relative to each other. The middle column lists the current maps and the rightmost column lists the available maps. To change a current map, select it in the middle column, select the map you want in the right column, and press the "<<" button between the two columns. You may also select a map by clicking on its number in the map layout grid. When you select a map, (other than [SURPRISE] or [RANDOM]) you have the choice or rotating it 180 degrees (North becomes South, East becomes West, and vice versa) by clicking on the "Rotate Board" checkbox; the fact that the map is rotated will be shown in the middle column.
[SURPRISE] means that the Server will pick a random map and not tell you what it has picked until the game starts.
[RANDOM] means that the Server will pick a map as soon as you hit "Okay".
[GENERATED] means that the server will create random terrain for you to play on. You need to use the "generated map settings" button to select what kind of terrain you want.
There is a set of settings with drop down list of choices. For most settings, you can pick "none", "low", "medium" or "high". Except for cities, where you pick a type of city instead.
Theme - leave blank for the default theme, or enter a theme supported by your tileset. grass, jungle, lunar, mars, snow, and volcano are supported by the standard tileset
Elevation - how hilly you want the map
Cliffs - chance of 2+ level elevation changes, if you have enough elevation already
Woods - higher settings have more and larger tree patchs and more heavy woods
Roughs - higher settings have more and larger rough patches
Lakes - works the same as woods, but deep water instead of heavy woods Swamps/Pavement/Ice/Rubble/Fortified all work like roughs. Fortified hexes are described in the MaxTech rulebook.
River - chance to have a river running across the map
Road - chance to have a single road running across the map
Craters - chance for craters, also the size and number. Good for a "moonscape" map
City: HUB - roads wander out from the centre with plenty of twists and turns. A common pattern for older european cities.
GRID - vertical and horizontal roads divide the city into rectangular blocks. A pattern common in newer cities, especially in north america and asia.
METRO - a grid with roads forming a diagonal X from the centre as well.
Water and swamp will affect the city plan, as the builders will have to make bridges to
cross it or just give up and stop the road at the edge.
Mountain tops (4+ height) are expensive to build on, so they will only build in the valleys.
Other terrain will just be bulldozed in the name of progress, though you may find a few
hexes left between buildings.
There is also an "advanced" button, which lets you fine-tune the map to your liking. See the "advanced map settings" section near the end of this file
Each player's initiative rolls and the corresponding turn order will be shown here.
The buttons at the bottom of the screen let you change between different modes of movement, switch to another unit, or commit to your current path. You do not have to move the first selected unit first.
Left-click on the map to specify a hex to move to. A path should appear on
the board, showing your unit's path to the target hex. The numbers in the
center represent how many movement points you will have to use to reach each
hex. Cyan indicates walking, yellow running, and red jump movement. Dark grey
sections of the path indicate where you have exceeded your movement capacity,
or other illegal moves. You can drag the mouse to see movement options for
several different hexes. Please note that you can change the colors used to
display the movement points by editing clientsettings.xml; you may specify a
color in RGB notation (e.g. 255 255 255 for white) or with any of the following
text values: black, blue, cyan, darkgray, gray, green, lightgray, magenta,
orange, pink, red, white, or yellow.
Units can also be moved by using "waypoints." By clicking each hex between the unit's current location and destination, you can delineate the exact path to be taken.
Holding the Shift key while clicking on the map allows you to change the
unit's facing without moving. Since you automatically change facing while
moving, this is best done at the end of any movement.
To move backwards, click the "Back Up" button before clicking a hex in the arc behind the unit. To jump, click the "Jump" button before the destination hex. Facing changes during jumps are free.
Prone units can change facing without getting up at the normal cost. To get up,
click the "Get Up" button, then the desired destination hex and/or facing.
Facing changes performed immediately after getting up are free. To get up and
back up, click "Get Up," then "Back Up," then the destination hex and/or
facing. You cannot get up and jump in the same turn.
Charging and death from above attacks are also declared during the movement phase. Click the "Charge" or "D.F.A." button and then click on the mech you wish to target. If the attack is valid, it will be sent to the server immediately (but resolve during the physical attack phase.) If the program is not using the path you want for your attack, you may plot a path near the target using the appropriate type of movement and then use the charge or dfa button to complete the attack.
If a vehicle or Mek that has sufficient empty space starts a turn in the same hex as a friendly infantry unit, it can Load the unit as its first move of the turn. A vehicle or Mek that is already carrying an infantry unit can unload the unit as its last movement of the turn.
If an Anti-Mek infantry platoon or Battle Armor squad has succeeded in mounting a Mek with a Swarm attack, the Mek can attempt to dislodge the squad during the movement phase in one of three ways: 1) jumping (requires a Pilot Skill Roll, with a +4 modifier), 2) walking into (and perhaps through) a Level 2 or deeper water hex, or 3) ending its turn in a hex that is on fire (this will not work against Battle Armor squads). Swarming infantry automatically die if they are dislodged into a Level 1 or deeper water hex. Infantry dislodged in the Movement Phase can not move or fire for the rest of the turn. Swarming units can not move off of their target Mek until they use the Stop Swarm action in the Weapons Fire Phase.
VTOLs and VTOL BA use the "go up" and "go down" buttons to change elevation (flight level).
Movement around structures (buildings/bridges) is a little more complicated, because of the different floors a unit can occupy. The "climb mode" button sets your current preference. "Go thru" means you prefer to go under bridges or through the walls of buildings, if there is a choice. "Climb up" means you prefer to climb on top of structures when possible. You can change mode multiple times during your movement, for example a stormcrow prime could use "climb up" to go over a heavy building to save MP, then change to "go thru" to pass a light building that won't support its weight.
Infantry can move up and down inside buildings using the stairs. This is accomplished by using the "go up" and "go down" buttons. Also, infantry that jump into a building can use the "go up" and "go down" buttons to choose which floor to jump through the window of. Click the building hex you want to jump into first, and the game will pick the highest floor you can reach (or the roof). Then use the "go down" button to select a lower floor if you want to.
The Esc key clears all current movement.
If any units needed piloting skill rolls during their movement, a report showing the results of these rolls will be shown.
If you need to check the range and line of sight (LoS) between two hexes,
there are two tools available for you to use; the LoS tool and the ruler
tool. To use the LoS tool, hold CTRL and click on the two hexes you want to
check. The ruler tool works like the LoS tool, but uses the ALT key instead
of the CTRL key. The ruler tool can also be used by middle-clicking the
two hexes with a three-button mouse. Both tools will pop up a window that
tells you what terrain is intervening and whether one or both hexes has
partial cover. The ruler tool also draws the line of sight on the board
so that you can see which hexes LoS passes through.
You can switch between 'Mech line of sight and non-'Mech line of sight in the "LoS Setting" panel, located under the "View" menu at the top of the screen. 'Mech line of sight and non-'Mech line of sight differ in that 'Mechs are assumed to be "looking" from one elevation level above that of the hex they are in, whereas infantry and vehicles only take up the elevation level of their hex.
The buttons at the bottom of the screen allow you to fire your weapons, switch to another unit, or commit to your currently declared fire. Again, you do not need to declare fire for your first selected unit first.
To target another unit, click on it on the board. Targeting information for your current weapon should appear in the mech display window. To fire your current weapon at the target, press the "Fire" button at the bottom of the screen. To switch to another weapon, click on its name at the top of the mech display window. Spread your fire among multiple targets by repeating these steps using unassigned weapons. When all desired weapons have been assigned to a target, press the "Done" button at the bottom of the screen.
Note that fire is resolved in the order that it is declared, so if you feel that it is a good idea to fire weapons in a different order than they are listed, go ahead.
Secondary facing changes (torso twists) are accomplished by holding Shift and
clicking on the board. Your unit will attempt to change its secondary facing
in the direction specified. If you assign a weapon to a target and then
attempt a facing change, the weapons fire will be canceled.
You can not switch to another unit after declaring some weapons fire. To
switch to another unit, first cancel all current fire by hitting the Esc key.
When you hit the fire button for your last available weapon, all declared
fire will be committed.
An Anti-Mek trained infantry platoon or Battle Armor squad that is in the same hex as a Mek can conduct a Leg Attack or a Swarm Mek attack. The base to-hit number varies with the number of men in the unit. A Swarm Mek attack against a Mek that is prone and/or immobile gains a -4 modifier to its to-hit roll. A successful Leg Attack may cause critical damage to one of the Meks legs; if no critical is rolled, the leg will take 4 points of damage (which may damage the leg's internal structure, and cause another critical roll). A successful Swarm Mek attack does no damage in the turn it hits, but it means that the unit has attached itself to the Mek, and can begin to cause significant damage on subsequent turns. Starting the turn after the unit starts a Swarming a Mek, all attacks by that unit automatically hit, use a location chart that is more dangerous than normally, and automatically roll for a Thru-Armor Critical. A unit that is Swarming a Mek can also choose to Stop Swarming in any weapons phase. The Leg Attack, Swarm Mek, and Stop Swarm actions are all "solo" actions: the unit can take no other action in the Weapons Fire Phase. Attempts to do so will cancel the "solo" action. Swarming infantry can not be targeted by any attacks other than a "Brush Off" attack (see Physical Attacks Phase).
If there were any weapon attacks, the server will resolve them all at the end of the phase in the order they were declared. The results will be shown in a report.
To declare a physical attack, select your target on the board and click the button corresponding to the attack you want to make. If a physical attack type is unavailable (or isn't programmed yet) the button will be greyed out.
Units ineligible to make physical attacks due to being out of range, having made weapons attacks, or for any other reason, will be skipped. If all units are ineligible, the entire phase will be skipped.
Prone Meks that are in the same hex as a vehicle can punch the vehicle, if they have both arms. Prone Meks that are in a Clear or Pavement hex as an infantry platoon or Battle Armor squad can "thrash" at the unit if they have at least one arm or leg. Be warned, that "thrashing" causes a Pilot Skill Roll that, if failed, causes the Mek to suffer damage as if it has fallen 1 level.
Meks that are not prone that have been Swarmed by an infantry platoon or Battle Armor squad can attempt to "Brush Off" the squad with either or both arms. Any "Brush Off" attack that fails to hit the infantry will inflict punch damage on the Mek. Any successful "Brush Off" attack ends a Swarm Mek attack.
If there were any physical attacks, the results will be shown.
The results of the Heat and End phases will be shown.
After this phase, it's time for initiative again! Hurrah!
All units (mechs, vehicles, infantry, etc.) are located in the data/mechfiles directory. They may be individual files or zipped up into archives (".zip"), and you may also create subdirectories if you like. There is also a special directory, named "unsupported" that contains units that you would like MegaMek to ignore. Mechs can be loaded from any of several formats:
MegaMek Native - files with the extension ".mtf" A simple format that is very whitespace sensitive. All of the meks distributed with MegaMek are in this format, so just look inside the zips for examples of the format. Units of this file type can be created with MegaMekLab, Solaris Skunk Werks, and the HMPRead program.
Heavy Metal - files with the extensions ".hmp" and ".hmv" This is a commercial mech design program officially sanctioned by FanPro. MegaMek can read most ".hmp or ".hmv" files directly, but there are still some known problems. Please note that neither Heavy Metal Pro nor Heavy Metal Vee is associated with MegaMek, so please do not email its authors about MegaMek.
The Drawing Board - files with the extension ".xml" The Drawing Board is a very slick freeware editor written by Blackstone Interactive (Cord Awtry). In order to use it with MegaMek, you must install the program and then use the patch to update to version 2.0.23. Once you have created your mech, use the "File"->"Save as XML file" command to create the ".xml" file.
MekMaker - files with the extension ".blk" Mech files with the extension ".blk" are created by MekMaker, a Java mech design program specifically created to work with MegaMek. MekMaker was the official mech design program, but it has since been abandoned and is therefore not up to date with the current ruleset. It's homepage is at: http://mekmaker.sourceforge.net/
Mech Engineer Pro - files with the extension ".mep" This is an older freeware program not made by the makers of MegaMek. You can find this program on many Battletech web sites. It is not up to date with the current ruleset.
Note on mixed tech units: Units that contain both Inner Sphere and Clan technology are allowed with certain restrictions. Only ".mtf", ".xml", and ".blk" files may contain mixed tech units. In addition, some equipment cannot differ in technology type from the base chassis. Units with an Inner Sphere chassis must mount Inner Sphere engines, internal structure, armor, and CASE. Clan units have the same restricted equipment list.
Tip: Use the basic settings, then select advanced, and the boxes will be filled in with the values from the basic settings.
Board Size - set the size of the map sheet generated. When using generated maps, it is better to generate one large play area than to try and combine multiple mapsheets.
Theme - leave blank, or enter a theme supported by the tileset. grass, lunar, mars, snow are themes supported by the standard tileset.
Elevation settings:
Amount of elevation - changes the "roughness" of the map, a low number will have less elevation changes than a high number Elevation range: height difference between the lowest and highest hex on the map. Level 0 is set to the most common height.
Probability of inverting - % chance to make a sinkhole instead of a mountain.
Algorithm - 0 generates rolling hills, 1 generates spiky terrain, 2 combines both generators. 0 is likely to have less LOS blocking terrain.
Cliffs - % chance to change a steep slope into a cliff. For example, if a group of level 1 hexes have level 0 and level 2 hexes adjacent, they will all be moved to level 0, giving a cliff for mechs to hide behind. The effect is quite subtle unless you have quite a high elevation range to begin with.
Patch terrain settings (woods, roughs, swamps, lakes, pavements, rubble, fortified, ice):
Each of these work the same way, but place a different type of terrain.
Number of XXX - the number of patches which would be present on a 16x17 map. scales up if you have a bigger map.
XXX size in hexes - the size of each patch of terrain
Probability for heavy woods/deep water - % chance to place instead of light.
River/road settings - Probability is a % chance to have one on the map. If a road crosses water, you'll get a bridge.
Crater settings:
Probability for craters: - % chance that craters are present Number of craters: as for number of woods, the number that would be present on a 16x17 map, scaled up for larger maps.
Crater radius - size range for each crater.
Special effects settings:
Each probability is a % chance. FX modifier changes the amount of effect each one has. Values should be small, e.g -3 to +3
Fires - woods hexes will be set on fire or already burned down to rough at the start of the game. + modifier increases number of burned down hexes, - modifier increases number of unscathed woods.
Frozen water - water hexes are ice-covered. +modifier decreases the water depth, so for example with a modifier of 1, shallow water hexes are frozen solid and deep water hexes are converted to ice covered shallow water.
Flooded map: - hexes with negative elevations are converted to water hexes, while level 0 hexes are converted to swamps. Ideal for hovercraft and naval units. modifier changes the "sea level"
Drought - water hexes are dried up, to shallower water, swamp or rough. Modifier changes the severity of the drought.
Special effects can be combined - e.g. flood + drought = rocky shore, flood + frozen + high modifier = glacier
City Settings:
City type is the same as for the basic settings.
City Blocks (0-) [16 default] - higher numbers mean more roads on the map. Scales with map size.
CF min/max (1-150) [10-100 default] - CF range for generated buildings. The CF determines the building type from the table in BMR.
Floors min/max (1-50) [1-6 default] - height range for generated buildings
Density (1-100) [75 default] - % chance of a building in each hex where a building is possible. Also chance to try and build multi-hex buildings.
Although MegaMek tries to be faithful to the original board game rules, in some cases, due to technical or design limitations, this is not possible. These differences are not considered "bugs." If you spot any more discrepancies, please contact the author (see "CONTACT" below.)
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If the line of fire lies along the edge of two hexes, in the board game, the defender chooses which hex to use. Instead, MegaMek chooses the hex that most favors the defender.
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When punching, you automatically punch with both arms, if possible. This means you can not punch two different targets in the same round.
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When kicking, you automatically use the leg with the better chance to hit.
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There are several situations, notably death from above, where a unit is displaced out of a hex, and that unit's owner may pick the hex to move to. MegaMek currently picks the hex for you, choosing high elevations over low ones, to avoid falling damage.
For more information, and to get the latest version of MegaMek, visit the website at: http://www.megamek.info/
For more information about the BattleTech board game, visit it's website at: http://bg.battletech.com/
To submit a bug report, suggestion, or feature request please visit https://github.com/MegaMek/megamek/issues
To discuss all things MegaMek, please visit the forums at http://megamek.info/forums/
MegaMek - Copyright (C) 2002 Ben Mazur (bmazur@sev.org)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
MechWarrior, BattleMech, ‘Mech and AeroTech are registered trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. Original BattleTech material Copyright by Catalyst Game Labs All Rights Reserved. Used without permission.