Unit Quirks

How do you add unit quirks to custom units?

Don't worry, you are not missing something in MegaMekLab. In Megamek the quirks for a unit aren't stored in the file that describes that unit, they are stored in a single table of the quirks for canon units that is looked up when required. MekLab only deals with creating those files for describing units, so it doesn't have a way to adjust that master quirks table. Custom units won't be in the canon quirks file, so quirks will need to be manually applied in MekHq(*).

For anyone interested in how that works I can give a general overview. In MekHq campaign using quirks, when a unit is purchased (or salvaged or GM added) MekHq looks up both the file that describes the unit and the quirks table and then writes the information from both into the campaign file. So if I purchase four Warhammer WHM-6Rs then in the campaign file there will be four separate entries for WHM-6Rs, each with a unique id number, that each have all the design information and quirks. MekHq tracks things like damage and ammunition by changing those values.

The quirks of individual units in MekHq are able to be changed by adjusting the assigned quirks in the campaign file, since MekHq only looks up that master table of quirks when a unit is first added and from then on instead uses the information for that individual unit that is stored in the campaign file. For those unfamiliar with how to do this, if you click on a unit in the hanger there is an option in that menu to edit quirks that will bring up a window with check boxes for the various quirks. I think you have the right idea of using this set the quirks for custom units in MekHq, it is quick and simple fix. There are other options, like using a quirk override file that could (among other things) set quirks for custom units, but I can see them creating unneeded headaches.


(*) There is an exception here for what Megamek calls Chassis level quirks. That quirk file in Megamek can apply quirks in a few different ways, one of them is to apply them to any unit that has a particular chassis name. For an example the Warhammer has the quirks Rugged(2), Stable and Searchlight applied to any unit with that chassis name, so if I create a custom Warhammer WHM-6GP it will have those quirks.