TEXT: TOURING THE STARS
  TORTUGA PRIME
  TORTUGA PRIME
  A BATTLETECH SOURCEBOOKS COMPANION
  
  E-CAT35SN222
  ©2018 The Topps Company Inc. All rights Reserved. Touring the Stars: Tortuga Prime, Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, 
  BattleMech and ’Mech are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. in the United States and/or 
  other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC.
  Under License From
  TOURING THE STARS
  TORTUGA PRIME
  TM
  ®
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  3
  INTROdUcTION
  W
  elcome to Touring the Stars, a campaign supplement designed to offer players the opportunity to learn about the worlds of 
  the Inner Sphere, Periphery, and beyond.
  The background information contained in the Atlas section gives players a world’s geography, history, notable events, and other 
  tools needed to create an unlimited number of BattleTech games, while the A Time of War section offers plot seeds and details for 
  the planet’s more notable events. These plot seeds can be used as stand-alone games, woven into an existing game or become  part 
  of a larger ongoing campaign.
  The Rules Annex section explains planetary Atlas information for use in gameplay, as well as optional terrain tables, weather, 
  and flora/fauna rules. Terrain tables can be used as a random chart to determine gameplay maps, or simply as a guide to provide 
  ideas on the types of terrain found on the world. This section also contains a list of other rules that can be used to enhance your 
  game experience. All players should agree whether or not to use any or all of these features before play.
  Note: The last four pages of this PDF are sized for 11” x 17” paper. Please keep this in mind when printing out the document.
  STAR LEAGUE ERA 
  CLAN INVASION ERA
  JIHAD ERA
  SUCCESSION WARS ERA
  CIVIL WAR ERA
  DARK AGE ERA
  cREdITS
  Project Development: Joshua C. Perian
  BattleTech Line Developer: Brent Evans
  Assistant Line Developer: Ray Arrastia
  Writing: Aaron “Gravedigger” Pollyea
  Editing: Philip A. Lee
  Production Staff
  Layout: Ray Arrastia
  Maps: David Kerber, Patrick Wynne
  Factchecking/Playtesting: Geoff Swift, Elliotte 
  Want, Chris Wheeler
  Special Thanks: I want to thank my friends Jeff 
  Skidmore and Charles Wilson for all of the fun Battle-
  Tech games over the years. I’d also like to thank my 
  loving wife, Darlene Morgan, who has gamed along 
  side of me in our thirteen years of marriage.
  We began on Terra, a lonely, blue-green speck in the vastness of the void. It has been more than a millennium since 
  mankind ventured to the stars beyond home, and while it has been a tumultuous history—at the very least—we have 
  discovered, explored, and conquered worlds that our ancestors could only dream about. Humanity now occupies more 
  than two thousand worlds stretched across a vast range of interstellar space known as the Inner Sphere.
  For humanity as a whole, Terra, at the heart of it all, will forever be known as “Home.” But for the far greater majority 
  of us, “home” is a very different speck amidst the infinite black. Our homes are many, varied, beautiful, and filled with 
  rich histories—each unique to itself. 
  In the grand scale of interstellar history, it often becomes so easy to forget this, to see planets and solar systems as 
  dots on an abstracted map. But, at the core of the matter, each of those dots is a place where men, women, and children 
  live, work, love, and survive. Join us on a special tour of the Sphere, as we explore the richness of these worlds like 
  never before!
  —Professor Bertram Habeas, Touring the Stars: One World at a Time, Free Republic Press
  
  ATlAS
  4
  Much has been written on the history of Tortuga Prime, but little 
  of it has focused on the planet itself and the people who call it 
  home. The planet was discovered and settled in 2588 by deserters 
  from the AFFS’s 237th Light Cavalry Regiment and their dependents 
  after they fled the Reunification War. The world they had found was 
  one in transition. For millions of years previous, the primary star had 
  been slowly evolving off the main sequence, gaining luminosity and 
  warming the worlds of the system. Later explorers would show that 
  Lafayette and Tortuga Prime, the second and third planets in the 
  system, had both developed life during the past billion years. Life on 
  Lafayette had gone completely extinct as the planet warmed, while 
  the planetary ice caps of Tortuga Prime would melt and allow life to 
  develop further than the single-cell stage.
  The initial settlers on Tortuga Prime had extreme difficulty 
  trailblazing. The pleasant climate, mild seasons, and lack of infectious 
  diseases were tempered by extreme alkalinity in the groundwater, 
  thus making irrigation of crops nearly impossible and the population 
  totally dependent on water purification systems. As food rations 
  and spare parts began to run low, life became more difficult. The 
  surviving officers of the 237th and the democratically elected leader 
  Major Fredrick “Krasny” Konoliv began to make plans to use the demi-
  battalion of BattleMechs at his disposal to begin raiding for grains 
  and other needed food supplies. Renaming his force the Red Raiders, 
  “Krasny” Konoliv began a series of incredibly brutal raids against the 
  outlying systems of the Federated Suns, which would last from 2589 
  to 2597. These raids focused on gathering food but also kidnapping 
  skilled farmers and their families, rounding up herds of livestock, 
  gathering whatever machines and equipment they could carry with 
  them, and finally torching any evidence they had been there. During 
  those years the raids performed against outlying settlements on the 
  unmonitored border worlds they hit meant it was often many months 
  before locals noticed the raid.
  The most skilled kidnap victims and the best equipment were 
  brought back to Tortuga Prime’s newly minted capital/spaceport, 
  Raider’s Roost. The unskilled family members of kidnap victims, 
  along with the less essential equipment, were kept as hostages and 
  distributed across five nearby habitable worlds (Fletcher’s Feast, 
  Morgan’s Holdfast, New Gascony, New Haiti, and New Port Royal) to 
  ensure the kidnapped workers’ cooperation. Embracing his new self-
  created identity, Krasny Konoliv ruled with an iron fist, crushing dissent 
  and killing those who disobeyed him and his officers. This led to his 
  downfall in 2604, after a failed raid against the Federated Suns world 
  of Memphis resulted in the destruction of three of the Raiders’ precious 
  BattleMechs. Lieutenant Mitch Hibbert, who had been a child when 
  he came to Tortuga Prime with the original 237th, challenged Krasny 
  and his leadership. Hibbert made the challenge on the bridge of the 
  DropShip Crossroad and then killed Konoliv by running him through 
  with a shard of BattleMech armor from one of the heavily damaged 
  ’Mechs. Hibbert said, “The skills of the older generation must be passed 
  on to the newer generation, not wasted by fools who are stuck in the 
  past,” and he demanded another election be held. With his show of 
  strength and the blood of Krasny Konoliv still on him, Hibbert was 
  elected “duke of the Pirates of Tortuga.”
  Under the rule of Duke Hibbert, Tortuga Prime became, for better 
  or worse, what it would be through the thirty-second century. With 
  kidnapped families being torn apart and settled on different worlds to 
  ensure cooperation, there was little reason for workers to do anything 
  except the bare minimum to keep themselves and their loved ones 
  TORTUGA PRIME
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G2IV (183 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 9.12 days
  Number of Satellites: 5 (Barbarossa, Kidd, Wendigo, 
  Lafleur, Pandora)
  Surface Gravity: 0.85
  Atm. Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temp: 30oC (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 40 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class: B
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 1,450,000 (3081), 1,250,000 (3145)
  Socio-Industrial Levels: D-C-D-D-C
  Landmasses (Capital City): Torment (Raider’s 
  Roost)
  
  ATlAS
  5
  alive. This contributed to a vicious cycle where getting any large 
  scale project done required large numbers of manual laborers to be 
  “volunteered” for construction work when a single worker with a proper 
  vehicle could accomplish the same task. One notable example was the 
  development of the HM-49 uranium mine complex in the middle of 
  the twenty-seventh century. The duke of Tortuga refused access to 
  heavy machinery, and that meant the pet project by a lower-ranked 
  member of the Pirates of Tortuga known as “The Dutchman” had to rely 
  on manual labor alone. The Dutchman brought in 2,000 men, women, 
  and children to dig tunnels and build a refinery near the mine, to the 
  detriment of the local grain harvest expected by a rival gang member. 
  A series of armed raids against the settlements and resources claimed 
  by the two pirates almost escalated into a full-scale civil war between 
  factions, which only ended with an aging Duke Hibbert ordering the 
  execution of both rivals. The Dutchman’s mine was abandoned, and 
  the lack of harvested food meant eventual starvation of nearly 40,000 
  people the next winter.
  This bickering and backstabbing trickled down to the local level. 
  Though villages and forced resettlement camps were still nominally 
  a democracy, elected officials typically only lasted as long as they 
  protected their people and provided the goods and materials needed 
  to maintain an expected standard of living. With no formal education 
  system on a planetary or settlement level, this meant that if a local 
  water-filtration system broke down, there was usually no one to fix it. 
  In some cases no one would notice something had gone wrong until it 
  was too late, such as the mass poisoning of Fletcher and the deaths of 
  8,000 people in 2770, when a water treatment plant’s filtration system 
  failed and lethal levels of heavy minerals entered into the drinking 
  water. The local “strongman” would petition the regional officer to 
  gain a replacement part or a skilled worker from another settlement. If 
  neither was available, then that petition would be passed up the chain 
  of command until it was decided whether the Pirates of Tortuga should 
  sally forth and attack another world to get what they needed. This was 
  a rare occurrence, except when considering the needs of the duke and 
  their closest lackeys on Tortuga City’s Council of the Damned. 
  When a local strongman would be denied a replacement or the skilled 
  worker, then typically the strongman could choose to disappoint his 
  people (often resulting in their life as they were torn apart or hanged) 
  or conduct a raid in force against the person and group that had what 
  they needed, even if that meant making an armed raid against another 
  world. The bloodbaths that followed were short and brutal; hundreds 
  and sometimes thousands of desperate civilians led by a combat vehicle 
  and sometimes even a BattleMech would attack, pillage, and destroy 
  another settlement just like their own. One famous holovid smuggled 
  out of the Tortuga Dominions in 2955 showed a Firestarter leading a 
  charge through a thatched-roof village, burning homes while torch-
  wielding civilians grabbed clothing and food before setting alight any 
  buildings the ’Mech missed. These kinds of raids would cost hundreds 
  of thousands of lives over the centuries, and the duke of Tortuga would 
  often overlook them as a way to show which strong and capable fighters 
  deserved a higher position among the Pirates’ elite. The strongest 
  among the local leaders would be promoted and given a regional post, 
  and if they were a large-enough threat, then the duke would give them 
  a “temporary post” on the inside of a DropShip exhaust port.
  C O O K  S E A
  C O O K  S E A
  T O R M E N T
  RAIDER’S 
  ROOST
  VENGEANCE  
  INCORPORATED
  VARSHOOT
  ACAMPAMOS 
  DŮM 
  HRŮZY
  MONTAGNE 
  DES DAMNÉS
  BONHEUR
  MICCOSUKEE
  ENDOLINE
  CAMP  
  COPROLITE
  KIDD’S STRIKE
  FLETCHER
  FORT  
  COOK
  MINE JL-47
  MINE  
  KE-129
  COPPERVELT
  DUTCHMANS
  HM-49
  Millar’s  
  Mistake
  C A P A
  R A Z
  Ó N
   
  D E  T O R T U
  G A
  C A P A R A
  Z Ó N
   D
  E
   
  T
  O
  R
  T
  U G
  A
  RAIDER’S 
  REDOUBT
  LLANURAS DE LA MUERTE
  BAUXITE CREEK
  TRAITOR’S BLOOD RIVER
  
  ATlAS
  6
  The political state of Tortuga Prime was unstable at best through the 
  centuries until the rise of Paula “Lady Death” Trevaline in 3015, after she 
  killed the then-leader of the Pirates of Tortuga, Lord Kalvin Bar-Dyness. 
  Lady Death, also known as Dame Murderess Extraordinaire, put a stop 
  to the wasteful infighting that had limited the vast majority of Tortuga 
  Prime’s population to abject poverty. In a single night she ordered the 
  assassinations of eight of Duke Bar-Dyness’s loyalists who were already 
  plotting against her in the Council of the Damned. She impaled their 
  headless corpses on stakes outside the council chambers, and then 
  served the remaining council members dinner on plates made from 
  the victim’s skullcaps. The message was clear: follow orders or end up 
  as grotesque dinnerware.
  Lady Death Trevaline became the most successful leader of the 
  Pirates of Tortuga since Krasny Konoliv. She reorganized the Pirates’ 
  military-grade equipment into a single force and decreed that no 
  member of the pirates would make a raid without her permission. This 
  made raids against worlds on the Federated Suns’ Periphery border 
  extremely effective and devastating. 
  One raid in 3017 on Mararn almost 
  resulted in the extermination of the 
  entire planet’s population. Lady Death 
  led the Pirates herself as they roundly 
  defeated the underequipped and 
  undertrained planetary militia forces. 
  This victory allowed the pirates to 
  dismantle and steal the planet’s only 
  water purification plant. The desert 
  planet, already relying on water 
  imported from nearby systems, saw 
  its smaller settlements completely die 
  out from lack of water by the time the 
  first relief JumpShips made it to the 
  system. The stolen water purification 
  system would solidify Lady Death’s 
  hold over the Tortugan city of Miccosukee, as its population was far 
  larger than its current water system could handle. 
  Lady Death Trevaline would also implement a new policy that 
  permitted unaligned pirate and mercenary forces to base themselves 
  on Tortuga Prime as long as certain rules were kept. Pirate gangs were 
  to give her a quarter of anything they took or earned, to never work 
  against her, and to not abuse her citizens. Breaking any of these rules 
  would result in death. While these rules were kept, sometimes strange 
  outcomes resulted. On one deep raid against the Taurian Concordat, a 
  minor pirate gang succeeded in their attack, but instead of finding an 
  expected shipment of munitions, they came away with 8,000 tons of 
  recycled vulcanized rubber. In a rare show of good humor, Trevaline 
  accepted her share and used the 2,000 tons of rubber to pave the very 
  first improved roads in Raider’s Roost.
  The increased frequency and severity of the raids from Tortuga 
  forced First Prince Hanse Davion to deploy the Ninth FedCom RCT to 
  Tortuga Prime in 3042. The combined forces of all of the pirates on 
  Tortuga did little to stop a full RCT. The only battles lasting longer than 
  half an hour were ones where groups of pirate ’Mechs and armor hid in 
  civilian structures and took hostages, situations that would inevitably 
  end with heavy loss of civilian life. The Ninth captured Paula Trevaline, 
  and she was imprisoned until her eventual escape in 3064 brought 
  her back to power. When departing Tortuga Prime, the Ninth RCT left 
  behind a planet without any strongman at the top and no one keeping 
  order at the regional level. The next twenty-two years would throw 
  Tortuga Prime into full-scale civil war as cities and local settlements 
  openly fought each other for scant resources and replacement parts. 
  During this period the rise of salvage yards and scrappers would occur 
  as groups tried to maintain what few fighting vehicles they had left. 
  Even with the arrival of Fuchida’s Fusiliers in 3054, the fighting only 
  ceased around Raider’s Roost and became less open everywhere else 
  on the planet, giving a false sense of peace as covert assassinations 
  and extreme corruption continued. 
  While the Fusiliers founded Vengeance Incorporated, the first 
  company on Tortuga able to build BattleMechs “from scratch,” they 
  also brought the Word of Blake. The Blakists constructed some of the 
  largest infrastructure improvements 
  since the planet’s original settlement. 
  The construction of a small HPG 
  facility allowed ordinary citizens 
  communication with other solar 
  systems, and the opening of a 
  planetary monorail network let 
  people and goods move across the 
  world with an ease never dreamed 
  of on Tortuga. On any other world, 
  these improvements would have been 
  lauded, but the people of Tortuga 
  Prime saw them as a waste of precious 
  resources. The only people citizens 
  wished to speak with were being held 
  hostage on worlds that lacked HPGs, 
  and the populace was not allowed to 
  travel anywhere on the monorail system except for where they were 
  forced to work. Instead, the monorail system would be used as a way 
  for gangs to move assault forces across large distances quickly.
  The use of chemical weapons against the Filtvelt Coalition’s 
  Thumpers in Raider’s Roost in 3076  and the eventual retreat of the 
  Word of Blake forces left Tortuga Prime in even worse condition than 
  when the Blakists had arrived. The first potential duke in decades 
  was Ian “Shank” Scoli, who managed to unify scattered pirate forces 
  to his banner in 3127. Although he kept the peace for a full three 
  years, his battalion-sized force of BattleMechs and armor was wiped 
  out in 3130 by an allied force from the Fiefdom of Randis, Calderon 
  Protectorate, and the Filtvelt Coalition. The chaos and fighting on 
  Tortuga Prime has since continued to weaken the planet’s already 
  flimsy grasp on habitability through the desperately needed water 
  purification systems and subsistence farming. The population has 
  continued to fall through injuries, starvation, and preventable 
  disease. Observers in the Federated Suns predict that, if the 
  situation on Tortuga Prime doesn’t change, the world may become 
  uninhabitable within thirty years.
  
  7
  A TIME Of WAR AdvENTURE SEEdS
  A fIvE-HUNdREd-YEAR WAR
  Recommended Group Size: 4–8 player characters
  Recommended Group Type: Mercenary, Pirates, Police, Black Ops
  Recommended Skill Levels: Green–Veteran (Key Skill levels of 1–6)
  With the only thing the citizens have in abundance being 
  radioactive ore and their captors’ empty promises, the people of 
  Tortuga Prime almost inevitably take up whatever arms they can 
  and attack nearby settlements that have what they want. While 
  there may be a BattleMech or an armored vehicle amongst them, 
  the forces that square off with each other are armed and act as 
  though they were from the seventeenth century, not the twenty-
  seventh century and beyond.
  Complications: A few obstacles for players to tackle.
  Like Taking Candy from a Baby: Outside of members of the 
  pirate gangs, the average citizen isn’t trusted with any weapon 
  more deadly than a hatchet or pitchfork. In some of the better-
  off settlements and villages, there may be a primitively made 
  cannon for defense, but these are often so large they are unable 
  to be used offensively. If the players aren’t from Tortuga Prime 
  and have heavy weaponry (and possibly even BattleMechs) how 
  will they deal with attacking people who are effectively unable 
  to defend themselves? Will they care if they are pirates, and 
  would they rather take prisoners? If they are one of the pitchfork-
  wielding peasants, how will they deal with coming up against 
  something even as deadly as a heavy machinegun mounted on 
  a horse-drawn carriage?
  The Needs of the Many: One can pretend warfare is civilized and 
  honorable when killing another person at 100+ meters, or from 
  over the horizon in a battleship, or from thousands of kilometers 
  away in dueling aerospace fighters. How will the players react 
  when they see the desperation to live in the eyes of the person 
  they are killing, and how the light drains away as they die? How 
  will they react when they realize they are fighting for the same 
  things, for basic survival and the hope they will see their loved 
  ones again someday? This is hand-to-hand fighting at its most 
  bloody and personal.
  Might Makes Right: During the fighting, do the players show 
  themselves to be capable fighters? After the battle, will they 
  accept any accolades from the local strongman or even the pirate 
  gang that the settlement belongs to? Are the players just regular 
  people in a bad situation who want nothing more than to forget 
  the horrors they just saw? Will they begin walking a different 
  path than what they always imagined and become something 
  their loved ones would hate, someone just like their captors?
  Tips: This is a perfect chance for the gamemaster to highlight the 
  horrors of war. It’s easy for people to disengage themselves from 
  killing when it’s through a rifle scope or a radar return, but players 
  should be changed somehow from having to kill for nothing more 
  than clean water. This also gives the gamemaster a chance to display 
  the pirates’ utter lack of respect for human life. The use of slavery 
  should be the first way players are degraded, but the willingness 
  of some strongmen and pirate gangs to throw away hundreds, if 
  not thousands, of lives should unsettle even the most jaded person.
  MURdER ON THE METRO
  Recommended Group Size: 4–8 player characters
  Recommended Group Type: Military, Mercenary, Police, Pirate 
  Recommended Skill Levels: Green–Veteran (Key Skill levels of 1–6)
  The Word of Blake–constructed monorail system isn’t typically used to 
  move people from settlement to settlement, rather it is used as a way for 
  local gangs to try extending their reach into more distant areas than they 
  can easily control. Since no pirate or gang is willing to destroy the monorail 
  system and forfeit this easy way to attack distant targets, the War Trains now 
  rule the rails.
  Complications: A few obstacles for players to tackle.
  Strategic Limitations: The high speed and large amounts of people the 
  monorail system trains can carry make them theoretically excellent to use 
  for assaults, but since their destinations are limited to where the rails run, 
  it makes surprise attacks nearly impossible, and the likelihood of attacking 
  prepared positions is very high. If the players are defending against a War 
  Train, how will they prepare for an attack by one of the strongest fighting 
  vehicles on Tortuga Prime besides DropShips? If they are part of a War 
  Train’s assault, how will they ensure no surprises await at the end of the 
  journey? How will they prepare for the unexpected?
  The Blue Zone is for Loading and Unloading Ammunition Only…: When 
  the War Train makes its stop, will the players want to storm the train or take 
  up firing positions? How much damage to the train is too much before its 
  usefulness is at an end? What will the players do if their actions prevent the 
  train from departing?
  Tips: Murder on the Metro can be used in many interesting ways, including 
  a well-planned assault/defense against a heavily armed train. It could also 
  be used as the frame for a heist adventure where players are tasked with 
  hijacking the train, stealing the on-board munitions, or even sabotaging the 
  train before it can reach its destination. A less combat-oriented adventure 
  could center on a murder on the train that the players are blamed for, a la 
  Murder on the Orient Express with a post-apocalyptic feel. If you need more 
  tension, perhaps the strongman who sent this train has placed on one of 
  the cars a dirty nuclear bomb that will detonate when the train arrives at its 
  destination, and the players need to find and disarm it before reaching the 
  end of the line.
  
  8
  RUlES ANNEx
  The following section is designed to assist both players and 
  gamemasters with guidelines and reference tables for using Objectives 
  to create games and/or campaign based on the target systems, 
  factories, or cities described herein. The following rules primarily rely 
  on the players’ understanding of the core game rules found in Total 
  Warfare (TW) and Tactical Operations (TO), but additional references 
  may be made to Strategic Operations (SO).
  Players and gamemasters alike should realize that these rules are 
  substantially less rigid than core rules. Players creating tracks and 
  scenarios using the material in this annex are encouraged to accept, 
  modify, or even completely ignore these guidelines if they prove 
  too cumbersome.
  USING PlANETARY dATA
  The planet in this book was presented with a block of basic 
  planetary data. This data provides key details that players can use to 
  further tailor their gameplay, reflecting the unique features of the 
  world. The following rules identify the core rules that apply, based on 
  the indicated world data.
  STAR TYPE, POSITION IN SYSTEM,  
  TIME TO JUMP POINT
  These lines are most pertinent to the advanced aerospace aspects 
  of gameplay defined in Strategic Operations, and will generally have no 
  impact on games that focus entirely on ground combat.
  Star Type identifies the color, size, and stability of the world’s primary 
  star, as well as how long an arriving JumpShip requires to charge its 
  K-F drive while in system (when using only its jump sail). Particularly 
  large and/or unstable stars can be prone to odd lighting effects that 
  can affect combat, such as glares and solar flares. Rules for Glare and 
  Solar Flare effects may be found in Tactical Operations (see p. 58, TO).
  Position in System indicates how many orbital positions away from 
  the star the world orbits; an “orbital position” may be held by other 
  planets or asteroid belts.
  The Time to Jump Point indicates how many days’ worth of travel 
  DropShips accelerating (at 1 G, the same acceleration produced by 
  gravity on Terra) would take to travel from the system’s standard zenith 
  or nadir jump points to the world. This transit time includes a midpoint 
  turnover and 1-G deceleration rate as well, which are standard transit 
  rates to and from most worlds. Longer distances between the world 
  and its local jump point mean longer transit times for incoming vessels 
  and thus more time for local defenders to arrange defenses once they 
  realize there are inbound attackers.
  NUMBER Of SATEllITES
  This line indicates how many natural satellites (moons) the world 
  has (and their names, if applicable). Many orbital facilities may be 
  found in the Lagrange Points (regions where the gravitational forces 
  between the planet and its moon or moons cancel each other out), 
  and some of these same points (specifically, places near the L1 points) 
  are occasionally used as “pirate points” by daring raiders who wish 
  to radically cut down transit times and local defense preparations. 
  In night combat situations, worlds with one or more moons or rings 
  may produce lighting effects caused by solar reflections off the lunar 
  surfaces (depending, of course, on lunar phases), while worlds without 
  any moons at all may present equally distracting effects. To reflect 
  these possible effects as applicable, see the Full Moon Night, Moonless 
  Night, or Pitch Black rules on p. 58 of Tactical Operations.
  SURfAcE GRAvITY
  Surface Gravity has a distinct effect on the performance of virtually 
  all combat units in game play. Values higher than 1.00 reflect worlds 
  where units are significantly heavier than they are under normal Terran 
  gravity, while values lower than 1.00 reflect worlds where units are 
  significantly lighter. The full effects of gravity on combat may be found 
  on p. 55 of Tactical Operations.
  ATMOSPHERIc PRESSURE
  This detail describes the relative density and breathability of the 
  local atmosphere, which can have a profound impact on game play if 
  the atmosphere is anything but “Standard (Breathable).” Thin or Thick 
  atmospheres can affect the use of several unit types in gameplay 
  and may even have an impact on weather conditions. Likewise, 
  atmospheres classified as Tainted or Toxic can affect how various 
  combat units function and suffer damage in gameplay. For rules 
  covering Atmospheric Pressure, see pp. 54–55 of Tactical Operations 
  for pressure variations, and p. 56 of Tactical Operations for Tainted and 
  Toxic Atmosphere effects.
  EQUATORIAl TEMPERATURE ANd SURfAcE WATER
  A world’s Equatorial Temperature helps define whether the world can 
  be broadly classified as hot, warm, or cold by indicating the temperate 
  (in degrees Celsius) it averages at the equator—typically the warmest 
  region on the planet’s surface. Temperatures at the north and south 
  pole of most worlds may average as much as 30 degrees colder than 
  at the world’s equator, but it is always important to know that local 
  conditions such as weather and terrain can vary these averages 
  somewhat. Nevertheless, the equatorial temperature helps players 
  gauge whether much of the world will likely be arctic, tropical, desert, 
  and so forth. If gameplay falls in regions where temperatures are 
  extreme (below –30º C or above 50ºC), Extreme Temperature rules (see 
  p. 62, TO), will apply.
  Surface Water reflects the percentage of the world’s surface that is 
  covered in water, and essentially defines whether the world might be 
  covered in vast, lifeless wastelands, lush forests or minuscule, rocky 
  islands. Worlds with low Surface Water values (50 percent or less) 
  will rarely see much rainfall or snowfall weather effects, and water or 
  woods features on terrain maps may instead be considered sinkholes, 
  craters, and rough terrain instead to reflect the lack of significant water 
  sources and vegetation. Worlds with higher Surface Water values, 
  meanwhile, will much more likely have active, precipitation-heavy 
  weather patterns and support more water and woods terrain features.
  REcHARGING STATION,  
  HPG clASS, NATIvE lIfE, ANd POPUlATIONS
  These details describe other noteworthy features of a target system 
  that could affect campaigns to greater or lesser degree. 
  Recharging Stations describes whether a system has any space 
  station capable of recharging a JumpShip’s K-F drive (and, if so, at 
  which of the two standard jump points they are located). Recharging 
  
  9
  RUlES ANNEx
  stations are often small and fairly unarmed but also act as spaceborne hubs of 
  trade and communication to the local world. Raiders often avoid these stations 
  by taking nonstandard jump points, so their arrival cannot be blown to the 
  locals, but more significant invasions often begin by seizing the local recharge 
  stations instead, to secure effective strategic control over the jump point.
  HPG Class defines the presence of a local hyperpulse generator on the planet, 
  indicating its ability to transmit signals to other systems nearby. Such stations 
  are always located on the planetary surface and are largely considered inviolate 
  by all but the most serious attack forces. (Attacking an HPG is still considered 
  a crime against humanity by most civilized realms.) Class A stations reflect 
  major interstellar communications hubs, while Class B stations usually send 
  transmissions in massive bundles less frequently. Although any HPG can send 
  an emergency signal to a nearby system within hours of an attacking force’s 
  discovery, many raiders target worlds with Class B stations (or no stations at all), 
  in the hopes that their arrival will raise the alarm among nearby systems more 
  slowly. Assault forces, meanwhile, may target Class A worlds in an attempt to 
  secure a realm’s communications hub and disrupt responses to a border-wide 
  campaign.
  Native Life describes (in very basic terms) the highest level of native-born life 
  forms the world has. More life-barren worlds in the Inner Sphere may be host 
  only to microbes or plants, while more evolved planets often host their own 
  species of animal life up to and including mammals. Though this rarely impacts 
  a planetary campaign, it cannot be ignored that many local creatures can pose 
  a threat—or a boon—to raiders and invaders in some circumstances, ranging 
  from being a local source of food in the event of supply shortage, or a hazard to 
  establishing secure perimeters while operating outside of vehicular protection. 
  This detail, however, does not cover introduced species the human population 
  may have imported to the world, so while a target world may be host only to 
  native-born trees, horses originally raised on Terra may yet make an appearance.
  Population defines the number of humans estimated to be living on world. 
  Worlds with particularly high populations—those numbering in the billions—
  are often highly developed, with many major cities. Sparsely populated 
  worlds—with populations in the millions or less—are less likely to have major 
  cities than they are small towns or even tiny outposts and domed arcologies. As 
  a more densely populated world often raises the threat of local armed resistance 
  or merely has more eyes to spot incoming invaders and more voices to raise an 
  alarm, raiders tend to target less populous worlds, while invaders often attempt 
  to secure the greater manpower and infrastructure reflected in high population 
  worlds.
  SOcIO-INdUSTRIAl lEvElS
  The world’s Socio-Industrial Level is a five-letter code used to broadly define 
  the world’s level of wealth and development using a series of A–F letter grades. 
  The more A’s and B’s that appear in this code versus D’s and F’s will generally 
  denote a world that is more self-sufficient, technologically sophisticated, and 
  resource wealthy than the average. As many of these factors can be used to 
  enhance role-playing aspects of game play, an in-depth explanation of this code 
  structure may be found on pp. 366–373 of A Time of War.
  lANdMASSES ANd cAPITAl cITIES
  The major landmasses (continents, regions, and/or island chains) identified on 
  each world are listed, with the planetary capital city listed in parentheses beside 
  the name of the landmass where it is located. Traveling between landmasses 
  often requires the use of high-speed rails (overland), aerospace transit (via 
  DropShips, airships, and other aerospace craft), or seagoing vessels.
  
  10
  OPTIONAl RUlES
  SUPPORT vEHIclES
  Vengeance Incorporated is known for being the first producer of 
  BattleMechs on Tortuga Prime, but one of their primary sources of 
  income is one-of-a-kind vehicles ordered from local strongmen and 
  pirates for “special use.” What follows are two of those vehicles.
  dEBBIE
  In 3088, with villages in revolt and his rivals’ settlements often 
  attacking his own, MechWarrior Douglas “Debbie” Rocktok needed a 
  vehicle that would help his next village assault, as he was unwilling 
  to put his prized Whitworth at risk. He asked Vengeance Incorporated 
  to design an anti-personnel tank that would strike fear into the 
  farmers and laborers standing against him, the Debbie was the end 
  result: a massive tracked vehicle equipped with nine flamers, nine 
  machineguns, and an Inferno-loaded missile launcher for more difficult 
  targets. Most terrifying of all was the twirling combine harvester 
  mounted on the front, which was used to literally mow down fleeing 
  villagers. Many other pirates derided its slow speed and use of recycled 
  BattleMech armor, but Rocktok was reported as often saying, “It just 
  needs to be faster than you can run.” The vast majority of the vehicle’s 
  systems and structure were designed to be easily repairable in the field 
  with primitive tools, and the engine itself was of a design over 1,000 
  years old.
  The Debbie was first used within a week of its construction against 
  the village of Broken Teeth in November 3088, when the villagers 
  refused to work due to a community-wide cholera outbreak; none 
  of the villagers survived. After each rival he attacked or revolt he put 
  down with Debbie, Douglas Rocktok allowed his officers and crew to 
  paint kill markers above their weapons as a grisly tally of the ravages 
  the tank was a part of. This tradition would continue through all of 
  Debbie’s owners.
  After Rocktok was fed to his namesake combine in 3091, Debbie 
  passed from local strongman to warlord, and in 3129 it was sighted 
  being used to great effect as an anti-infantry vehicle against Filtvelt 
  Coalition motorized infantry forces. By this time the vehicle was 
  covered in kill markers representing hundreds of deaths and over 
  a dozen villages, leading Filtvelt combat journalists to dub it “the 
  Warcrime Wagon.” It was captured by the Thumpers in 3130, after a 
  Coalition Enforcer’s armor-piercing round punctured Debbie’s fuel 
  tank; hundreds of liters of kerosene spilled into the crew compartment 
  and set it alight, killing the crew. Debbie was salvaged and taken back 
  to Filtvelt as a war trophy, where it remains today.
  Type: Debbie, a.k.a. the Warcrime Wagon
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere
  Movement Type: Tracked (Medium)
  Tonnage: 80
  Equipment Rating: C/C/E
  Battle Value: 43
  Equipment 
   
   
   
  Mass
  Chassis/Controls: 
   
   
   
  16
  Engine/Trans: 
  ICE (B) 
   
   
  25
   
  Cruising MP: 
  2
   
  Flank MP: 
  3
  Heat Sinks: 
  0 
   
   
  0
  Fuel:  
  1,000km 
   
   
  0.5
  Armor Factor (BAR 5, B) 
  60 
   
   
  4.5
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
   
  Front 
   
   
  18
   
  R/L Side: 
   
   
  14
   
  Rear: 
   
   
  14
  Weapons and Ammo 
   
   
  Location 
  Mass
  Basic Fire Control (+1 to hit with all Weapons) 
   
  0.5
  Combine 
   
   
  Front 
  2.5
  Flamer 
   
   
  Front 
  0.5
  3 Flamers 
   
   
  R/L Side 
  3.0
  2 Flamers 
   
   
  Rear 
  1.0
  Ammo (180 Flamer) 
   
   
  Body 
  9.0
  2 Machine Guns 
   
   
  Front 
  1.0
  3 Machine Guns 
   
   
  R/L Side 
  3.0
  Machine Gun 
   
   
  Rear 
  0.5
  Ammo (1800 MG) 
   
   
  Body 
  9.0
  SRM 2 
   
   
  Front 
  1.0
  Ammo (150 SRM2) 
   
   
  Body 
  3.0
  Crew: 17 (14 enlisted, 3 officers)
  
  OPTIONAl RUlES
  11
  OUTRIdER
  Typical of small and light vehicles slapped together in garages 
  across Tortuga Prime, the Outrider represents over a thousand years 
  of military tradition dating back to twentieth-century Terra, when 
  personnel in the poorer nations would jury-rig a light truck with 
  weaponry in its bed. (They were commonly seen in the brush wars 
  leading up to the Second Soviet Civil War.) The Outrider is a wheeled 
  vehicle with a two-passenger compartment that houses the driver and 
  the gunner. After driving into position, the crew dismounts, and the 
  gunner takes position on a flat firing position behind the crew cabin 
  while the driver assists the gunner in loading and firing the mounted 
  weapon. Typically, the Outrider has a Support Machine Gun on a pintle 
  mount, but many different versions of this vehicle have been used 
  over the centuries, including ones equipped with grenade launchers, 
  assault lasers, and single-shot missile launchers. 
  Type: Outrider
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere
  Movement Type: Wheeled (Small)
  Tonnage: 1500 kg
  Equipment Rating: B/B/A
  Battle Value: 5
  Equipment 
   
   
   
  Mass
  Chassis/Controls: 
   
   
   
  351 kg
  Engine/Trans: 
  ICE (B) 
   
   
  327 kg
   
  Cruising MP: 
   
   
   
  5
   
  Flank MP: 
   
   
   
  8
  Heat Sinks: 
  0 
   
   
  0
  Fuel:  
  400 km 
   
   
  14 kg
  Armor Factor (BAR 4, A) 
  6 
   
   
  480 kg
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
   
  Front 
   
   
  2
   
  R/L Side: 
   
   
  2
   
  Rear: 
   
   
  0
  Weapons and Ammo 
   
   
  Location 
  Mass
  No Fire Control (+2 to hit with all Weapons) 
   
  Pintle-Mounted Machine Gun (Support)  
   
  44 kg
  1000 rounds of Ammo 
   
   
   
  50 kg
  Cargo 
   
   
   
  234 kg
  Crew: 2 (1 driver/gunner’s assistant, 1 gunner)
  Note: Off-Road Vehicle Chassis Modification
  TORTUGA TERRAIN
  Much of Tortuga Prime is wasteland and scrubland outside of the 
  mountains, deserts, and icecaps, and few plants have evolved on land 
  in the short time the planet has been warm enough to support plant 
  life. The plants typically seen on Tortuga Prime are imports that can 
  survive on the high-alkaline groundwater typical of the planet, or are 
  able to withstand long periods of dry weather. Heavy Woods hexes 
  should be very rare on battlefields, so treat all Heavy Woods hexes as 
  Light Woods hexes.
  In more urban environments, where battles tend to take place 
  with disturbing regularity on Tortuga Prime, certain modifications are 
  also suggested to give the maps a different flavor. As all settlements 
  outside of Raider’s Roost tend to be smaller (40,000–50,000 people 
  at the most), any hardened buildings are highly recommended to be 
  changed to be heavy buildings, even in Raider’s Roost, to represent 
  shoddy construction quality. In addition, all buildings should have 
  their CF halved (round up) to show the poor-quality materials used 
  and the lack of motivation for slave labor to build anything that will 
  last. This includes even light buildings that may represent hovels or 
  lean-tos in tiny labor camps.
  Players and gamemasters alike are also encouraged to use civilian 
  infantry squads equipped with rudimentary tools to use as weapons 
  against players, depending on the exact scenario. 
  MAPSHEETS TABlES
  NEAR SETTlEMENTS
  2d6 Result
  Map
  2
  Scattered Woods (MS2,MSC1)
  3
  Desert Hills (MS2,MSC1)
  4
  Open Terrain #2 (MS5, MSC1)
  5
  City (Hills/Residential) #2 (MS3,MSC1)
  6
  City Residential (MS6, MSC2)
  7
  City Residential (MS6, MSC2)
  8
  City (Hills/Residential) #1 (MS3,MSC1)
  9
  Open Terrain #1 (MS5, MSC1)
  10
  Rolling Hills #1 (MS3, MSC1)
  11
  Rolling Hills #2 (MS3, MSC1)
  12
  BattleTech (CBT, MS2, MSC1)
  RURAl/ WASTElANd
  2d6 Result
  Map
  2
  Desert Mountain #1 (MS3,MSC1)
  3
  Desert Sinkhole #1 (MS3,MSC1)
  4
  Open Terrain #2 (MS5, MSC1)
  5
  Rolling Hills #2 (MS3, MSC1)
  6
  Desert Hills (MS2, MSC1)
  7
  Desert Hills (MS2, MSC1)
  8
  Desert Mountain #1 or #2 (MS3,MSC1)
  9
  Open Terrain #1 (MS5, MSC1)
  10
  Rolling Hills #1 (MS3, MSC1)
  11
  Desert Sinkhole #2 (MS3, MSC1)
  12
  Desert Mountain #2 (MS3, MSC2)
  
  12
  C O O K  S E A
  C O O K  S E A
  T O R M E N T
  RAIDER’S 
  ROOST
  VENGEANCE  
  INCORPORATED
  VARSHOOT
  ACAMPAMOS 
  DŮM 
  HRŮZY
  MONTAGNE 
  DES DAMNÉS
  BONHEUR
  MICCOSUKEE
  ENDOLINE
  CAMP  
  COPROLITE
  KIDD’S STRIKE
  FLETCHER
  FORT  
  COOK
  MINE JL-47
  MINE  
  KE-129
  COPPERVELT
  DUTCHMANS
  HM-49
  Millar’s  
  Mistake
  C A P A
  R A Z
  Ó N
   
  D E  T O R T U
  G A
  C A P A R A
  Z Ó N
   D
  E
   
  T
  O
  R
  T
  U G
  A
  RAIDER’S 
  REDOUBT
  LLANURAS DE LA MUERTE
  BAUXITE CREEK
  TRAITOR’S BLOOD RIVER
  TORTUGA PRIME
  
  A01
  P01
  N03
  N06
  N08
  L03
  L05
  L06
  L07
  L08
  J03
  J04
  J05
  J06
  J07
  H02
  H03
  H04
  H05
  H06
  H07
  F01
  F02
  F03
  F04
  F05
  F06
  F07
  D01
  D03
  D04
  D06
  D06
  B01
  B06
  M03
  M05
  M06
  M08
  O03
  O08
  K03
  K04
  K05
  K06
  K07
  I02
  I03
  I04
  I05
  I06
  I07
  G01
  G02
  G03
  G04
  G05
  G06
  G07
  E01
  E02
  E04
  E05
  E06
  E06
  E07
  C01
  C03
  C06
  C06
  1
  3
  2
  N
  KEY
  Plains
  Desert
  Woods
  Water
  Mountains
  KEY
  PLAINS
  WATER
  FOREST
  ITEM OF 
  INTEREST
  DESERT
  DROPPORT
  MONORAIL
  MOUNTAINS
  CITY
  EPICENTER OF  
  METROPOLITAN  
  COMPLEX;  POPULATION 
  OF SURROUNDING 
  AREA > 50,000,000
  CITY
  POPULATION OF 
  SURROUNDING 
  AREA < 1,000,000
  ARCTIC
  C O O K  S E A
  LLANURAS DE LA MUERTE
  
  A01
  A01
  N08
  N11
  N13
  N13
  N16
  N18
  L08
  L10
  L11
  L12
  L13
  L13
  L15
  L16
  J08
  J09
  J10
  J11
  J12
  J13
  J14
  J15
  J16
  H08
  H09
  H10
  H11
  H12
  H13
  H14
  H15
  H16
  F08
  F09
  F10
  F11
  F12
  F13
  F14
  F15
  F16
  D08
  D09
  D11
  D11
  D13
  D14
  D16
  B06
  B11
  B11
  B16
  M08
  M10
  M11
  M13
  M13
  M15
  O08
  O13
  O13
  O18
  K08
  K09
  K10
  K11
  K12
  K13
  K14
  K15
  I08
  I09
  I10
  I11
  I12
  I13
  I14
  I15
  G08
  G09
  G10
  G11
  G12
  G13
  G14
  G15
  E08
  E09
  E11
  E11
  E12
  E13
  E14
  E16
  C08
  C11
  C11
  C13
  C16
  P01
  P01
  5
  7
  4
  6
  T O R M E N T
  VARSHOOT
  ACAMPAMOS 
  DŮM 
  HRŮZY
  MONTAGNE 
  DES DAMNÉS
  B
  MICCOSUKEE
  ENDOLINE
  CAMP  
  COPROLITE
  MINE JL-47
  MINE  
  KE-129
  COPPERVELT
  DUTCHMANS
  HM-49
  C A P A
  R A Z
  Ó N
   
  D E  T O R T U
  G A
  C A P A 
  BAUXITE CREEK
  TRAITOR’S BLOOD RIVER
  
  A01
  A01
  N18
  N21
  N23
  L17
  L18
  L18
  L20
  L21
  L22
  L23
  L23
  J17
  J18
  J19
  J20
  J21
  J22
  J23
  J24
  H17
  H18
  H19
  H20
  H21
  H22
  H23
  H24
  F17
  F18
  F19
  F20
  F21
  F22
  F23
  F24
  D16
  D18
  D19
  D21
  D21
  D23
  D24
  D01
  B16
  B21
  B21
  B01
  M16
  M18
  M18
  M20
  M21
  M23
  M23
  O18
  O23
  K16
  K17
  K18
  K19
  K20
  K21
  K22
  K23
  K24
  I16
  I17
  I18
  I19
  I20
  I21
  I22
  I23
  I24
  G16
  G17
  G18
  G19
  G20
  G21
  G22
  G23
  G24
  E16
  E17
  E18
  E19
  E21
  E21
  E22
  E23
  E24
  E01
  C16
  C18
  C21
  C21
  C23
  C01
  P01
  0110
  9
  8
  10
  C O O K  S E A
  RAIDER’S 
  ROOST
  VENGEANCE  
  INCORPORATED
  NHEUR
  KIDD’S STRIKE
  FLETCHER
  FORT  
  COOK
  Millar’s  
  Mistake
   Z Ó
  N  D
  E
   
  T
  O
  R
  T
  U G
  A
  RAIDER’S 
  REDOUBT
  
  N23
  N01
  N03
  L25
  L01
  L02
  L03
  J25
  J01
  J02
  J03
  H25
  H01
  H02
  F25
  F01
  M25
  M01
  M03
  O23
  O03
  K25
  K01
  K02
  K03
  I25
  I01
  I02
  G25
  G01
  P01
  0109
  0108
  0107
  0106
  0105
  0104
  0103
  0102
  0101
  0309
  0308
  0307
  0306
  0305
  0304
  0303
  0302
  0301
  0508
  0507
  0506
  0505
  0504
  0503
  0502
  0501
  0707
  0706
  0705
  0704
  0703
  0702
  0701
  0906
  0905
  0904
  0903
  0902
  0901
  1105
  1104
  1103
  1102
  1101
  1306
  1305
  1304
  1303
  1302
  1301
  1507
  1506
  1505
  1504
  1503
  1502
  1501
  0208
  0207
  0206
  0205
  0204
  0203
  0202
  0201
  0408
  0407
  0406
  0405
  0404
  0403
  0402
  0401
  0607
  0606
  0605
  0604
  0603
  0602
  0601
  0806
  0805
  0804
  0803
  0802
  0801
  1005
  1004
  1003
  1002
  1001
  1205
  1204
  1203
  1202
  1201
  1406
  1405
  1404
  1403
  1402
  1401
  +0
  N
  +6
  P
  +6
  P
  +6
  P +6
  P +6
  P
  +6
  P +6
  P +6
  P
  +6
  P
  +6
  P +6
  P
  +6
  P
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/BattleTech [multi]/Sourcebooks/Touring the Stars/E-CAT35SN222 BattleTech - Touring The Stars - Tortuga Prime [2018].pdf