Customer Reviews

BattleTech Technical Readout: 3025

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this book the first time I had it. Not only did it cover the Overviews, capabilities, and variants of the mrchs, It also gave short personallity listings of some of the pilots (one of the things I miss in the newer tech readouts). Although it doesnt have some of the older mechs like the Mackie and the King crab, It does have mechs like the Warhammer and Marauder (My favorite)!

Way way way back, before the beginning of the end, FASA had Technical Readouts for its two major game lines, Renegade Legions and Battletech. Renegade Legion is, of course, long since gone, but Battletech still thrives, and one of the most consistent sellers are these, the tech readouts. And this was the first.

Well, not really. See, the original 3025 readout had a bevy of 'Mechs you'd seen in other media, particularly Robotech (say, the Marauder, Warhammer, Locust, etc.). Then, a few years ago, FASA was embroiled in a lawsuit over the use of the images, and things went poorly. So, FASA can't put any more images of the contested 'Mechs in any product.

And so was born the 3025 Revised Readout. All affected 'Mechs were excised, and replaced with Level 1 versions of the old Star League 'Mechs (like the Thug, the Black Knight, Flashman, etc.). Background is inserted to make it seem like they've been there all along, and while there are still some mentions of the old 'Mechs (like Barber's Marauder 2s, a mercenary regiment), we'll never see the old ones again.

I give this a four because it is still the introductory readout, and pretty good. If you can get the original, you should...but it's going to be very hard to find now, as they made the changes several years ago. But this is definitely a book you want to have if you play Battletech.

This is the second edition of Technical Readout: 3025. The original (with the cut-away marauder on the cover) is now out of print. Frankly, I'm not too impressed with the revised edition. Although they have streamlined the text, this one little plus doesn't makeup for what they have taken out. Missing from the revised edition are any mention of 20 or so different types of 'mechs that did appear in the original edition. These include such classic models as the Locust, Wasp, and Stinger, the Shadow Hawk, Griffin, and Wolverine, and the Archer, warhammer, and Marauder. In place of these missing models, they have substituted an equal number of "dumbed-down" Star League-era 'mechs. The 'mechs they have included are the same ones that appeared in Technical Readout: 2750, which is also out of print. As Battletech is a game that can be played in any game-timeperiod (from the invention of the battlemech up to the distruction of the clans), these omitions are not to the benefit of the player. For players new to the game,your best bet is to try and find the out-of-print original edition at a used bookstore. If you don't, you'll never see the missing designs again.

Well if you play the game, sooner or later you'll hear about the 'unseen' mechs... And this is the place to 'see' them.

Other then that, its a great resource to grab out some mechs to throw in some far flung off world thing, or create a starleague cache.....

This is Classic Battletech. If you were into Battletech in the 80's , these were the mechs you fought with. Way before the Clan invasion, i'm talking good old Succession War combat. Enjoy.

It's a good book, except for the mechs that FASA left out. It's a really good book if your playing a game with little to no funds to by expensive mechs. However the older ones were better. If your got a orginal 3025 or the older one, i'd love to talk to you.

I'm sorry to see FASA chose to cave in on the issue of its Robotech look-alikes, but this book, in either version, is still entertaining after all these years, even after its first printing. Now if only they had continued the "notable 'Mechs and Mechwarriors" section in following TRs..c'est la vie.

I loved this book. The artwork is excellent and the writing is great. I can't compare it to the origional, but this is still a fantastic book. If you have the origional, you probably dont want it if you have the 2750 TR (wish I had that one). The cover artwork alone sold me... The Atlas charging and the Awesome reducing everything to rubble was depicted beautifully.

The revised 3025 book leaves out the classic mechs. It makes up for it (Barely) by adding in other designs. All in all it is a good sourcebook to new and old gamers. My advise is to get the old 3025 book. It has mostly the same mechs as the new 3025 and gives the same info on them.

A good review of some of my favorite inner sphere mechs, while lacking the newer models in the 3050 readout, it has classics like the centurion and panther and jenner as well as exotic older mechs and support vehicles