MegaMekLab

MegaMek is a video game designed to emulate the BattleTech board game, complete with a variety of mechs and various other units that are part of the action. However, fans may feel the urge to create their own units from scratch, in order to see whether they can do a better job of designing a giant robot equipped with thick armor and all sorts of lasers.

MegaMekLab is a tool designed to help the fans of the game bring their own content into action, as well as export their creations in a variety of other formats, for whatever purposes. Hence, you have the ability to decide every characteristic of the unit, starting with the name and year of ‘manufacture’, all the way to tonnage, battle armor stats, and the equipment it carries.

To begin with, it is worth mentioning that mechs are the only unit you can design, because every other category is available as well, including flying vehicles and tanks. However, the robots are obvious the most advanced and they come with the largest array of options, which makes their creation process that much more exciting. Thus, from chassis configuration, to criticals and the weapon it carries, everything is up to you.

Although the primary purpose of the application is to allow you to get the units you create into the actual game and use them in scenarios, there are other options as well. One of them is to export them as data sheets and use them for the actual board game. In essence, you can quickly print a PDF file containing detailed stats and even a drawing of the mech in question, in case you are an artist as well.

Interface-wise, the application couldn’t be simpler than it is, given the fact that all you have to do is enter the desired information into the appropriate fields. However, you must obviously be very familiar with the rules of the universe in question and know what each field means, otherwise you might stumble into difficulties. Other than that, everything is very accessible and out in the open.

When it’s all said and done, MegaMekLab is indeed incredibly useful to those who want to quickly generate new units for their scenarios. Even if it looks rather simple and shaky, everything works and the parameters do have to be correct in order for the design to make sense.