Prepare the monthly visit
Open Campaign ? Merchant inventory. Only the campaign GM can generate stock or resolve missing RATs. Players can view saved inventories.
Confirm the actual campaign planet under Travel and arrival, then review and save its merchant regions on the star map for the current month. Travelling, unknown locations and missing region choices block generation with a specific explanation. Clockwise, counterclockwise and across regions use the reviewed map suggestions; disputed borders require GM judgment. If draft preparation reports an old one-inventory-per-month restriction or missing merchant tables, run Admin ? Database updates and retry; existing stock is preserved. Release 212 fixes MySQL error 1064 during merchant generation. Upload the release and retry preparation; this query fix requires no database migration. Merchant generation accepts linked printable designs only; physical stock never expands its catalog. Saved physical assignments and explicit pending salvage reservations reduce free stock; missing assignments are review tasks and never inferred reservations. Open a stock unit for Generation review: actual draws, candidate rejection reasons and linked-family counts are saved on new attempts. Older slots require an explicit reroll to collect this evidence. Candidate checks are not additional rolls. Models to find lists unmatched designs once per merchant inventory, retaining findings across unit rerolls. It distinguishes actual draws from candidate checks and missing models from ambiguous chassis matches, with MUL preview and unit-review links. Check mappings before buying models for ambiguous matches. Replacing the entire draft stock starts a new list. Merchant stock uses compact cards. Lock chassis preserves the chassis during ordinary and bulk rerolls; Reroll variant draws a different same-chassis variant from the saved source RAT. Hover over Choose variant to preview same-chassis, same-weight cached variants available by the saved stock year, with their standard purchase cost in SP in parentheses. Company-specific miniature discounts are shown on the company purchase page; the preview has no selected buyer. Only variants with a linked model and verified cost appear; they need not appear in that faction RAT. Click a variant to save it and return to that stock card in the merchant inventory. Keyboard users can open the control with Enter or Space and dismiss with Escape; touch users tap it. Open unit review leads to the full unit page. Lock unit blocks all changes. Unlock the chassis before rerolling weight. No eligible alternative leaves the existing unit unchanged. Merchant origin remains unchanged. Models to find automatically removes resolved rows when opened or refreshed: add and save a matching printable design in a collection linked to this campaign. Original generation evidence stays in Unit review. If the design is retired or its printable collection unlinked, the unresolved finding can return. No merchant reroll is required to update this list. Release 217 groups vehicle variants by explicit cached family. After uploading, run Admin > Database updates to reconcile saved chassis references, then reroll failed unlocked slots. Quantities and accounting are preserved.
Choose Generate for the current named month, normally after its mission or between two tracks in the same month. Select the scheduled tracks or explain unscheduled timing in notes, then confirm the visit. Generation is manual.
Every company contributes its saved company/track scale. Combined scale 3 creates three complete merchant batches. Each scale must be a positive integer; the generator supports up to 200 combined scale.
Dashboard Shop merchant inventory and company Purchase from merchants open shopping stock directly: an eligible open between-contract session first, then the latest regular inventory up to the current campaign month. Draft and closed sessions are excluded. If no eligible stock exists, shopping shows an availability message. Campaign > Merchant inventory opens shopping for players and inventory management for the GM.
Rolls and saved stock
Each batch rolls one origin and separate Mek and vehicle quantities from the Merchants of Death spreadsheet. Each unit then receives a weight roll and a faction/era/type/weight RAT roll. Lyran and Draconis merchants use their special weight columns. The RAT era follows the campaign date.
Hiring halls add one Mek and one vehicle to each batch. The map sets the initial bonus; changing it requires a GM explanation. Infantry availability is recorded. Battle armor availability uses the spreadsheet's literal after-3053 and after-3085 thresholds. No unspecified infantry or battle armor quantities are invented.
One regular inventory is saved per campaign month with its origin, weight rolls, source evidence and company scale snapshot. Operations → Between contracts also supports separate private session inventories linked to the preceding contract, including multiple sessions in one month. Viewing it never rerolls. Generation alone does not charge SP or create company equipment.
Link your Printable designs collection under Campaign > Miniature inventory before generating. A rolled unit without a matching design is recorded under Models to find, then replaced from the eligible weighted RAT subset. Designs are reusable and do not impose physical quantity limits. If none fit, the slot explains what is missing rather than looping or changing weight.
Use Lock unit on the inventory or unit page. Reroll unit and Reroll all unlocked stock preserve the original unit type, weight class, origin and year. Locks and purchased stock are excluded. If no different eligible replacement exists, an existing unit is retained with an explanation. Previous months are read-only.
Open Unit, variants and company prices to choose a cached variant of the same chassis and weight introduced by the saved year. A variant needs a printable design and verified base cost; era eligibility does not imply faction RAT membership. Unlock before editing.
Missing RATs, weight columns or matching printable designs link to the stock issue. The GM can update linked designs and reroll, or use a reviewed substitute faction RAT with the same year, unit type and weight. Record a reason for substitutions.
Purchase saved stock
Players may purchase for their own eligible company in an open between-contract session. The GM records purchases from regular inventories and may record eligible session purchases. Open Unit, variants and company prices, choose the company, then Purchase for that company. Standard price is base BV in SP, or base Alpha Strike PV times 40. Crew skill does not change it.
The campaign miniature discount comes automatically from unused company-color painted stock, otherwise unused printed unpainted stock. Owned equipment and existing reservations consume stock first. Printable files earn no physical-model discount.
Purchase checks the displayed quote again, charges the Warchest, creates the company unit and reserves the available model together. A changed quote requires reviewing the refreshed price. The saved receipt prevents repeat purchases. Purchased slots cannot be unlocked, changed or rerolled.
Replace one weight allocation
With JavaScript enabled, merchant locks, rerolls, bulk rerolls and variant changes update the page content without reloading the browser document, preserving scroll position and unsaved visible controls in other forms. Buttons show progress and block overlapping changes. Validation errors remain beside the exact submitted form. If the connection or refresh fails, reload to review saved state before trying again; draws are never automatically repeated. Purchases and Pass for this inventory also update in place. Without JavaScript these controls use the normal page reload. Reroll unit keeps the slot’s weight class. Reroll weight and unit rolls a new weight allocation using the saved merchant profile, then selects a unit of that weight. Both actions require an unlocked, unpurchased slot in the current month and GM access.
The unit type, faction and era stay fixed. Era-eligible replacements must have a linked printable design. If no replacement is available, the previous unit and weight remain together and the unsuccessful weight attempt is retained. Reroll all unlocked stock keeps each slot’s weight.
Between-contract batches receive +1 Mek and +1 vehicle. This includes any hiring-hall bonus: the two bonuses never stack. Regular monthly visits use their selected hiring-hall setting. Saved stock is unchanged until the GM explicitly regenerates or rerolls it. Merchant batch counts use accepted contract scale, retained between contracts.
Saved purchase prices are checked again against current stock before payment. Concurrent inventory edits wait for an in-progress stock transaction; if the quote changed, review the refreshed price before purchasing.
The player inventory list and page counts include only regular visits and open between-contract sessions available to that player. Private drafts and closed or ineligible sessions are excluded before pagination.
Contract preceding a preparation session
New sessions use the current unclosed contract automatically, otherwise the newest contract with company participation. Choices show recorded start dates newest first; unknown dates appear last. Unaccepted future offers cannot become the prior contract. Older choices are disabled, and the server checks the selection again when preparing. Existing sessions keep their saved contract relationships.
Unit action layout
Unit controls use aligned two-column rows with equal-width buttons. Choose variant opens its choices below the button.
Shop saved inventory
Players open the compact shopping view automatically. Open between-contract Shop merchant inventory and notification task links use the same view. GMs can choose Shop this inventory while retaining Build / review inventory for generation and corrections.
Shopping lists Meks first, then other unit types, with each type sorted by weight category, tonnage and unit name. Origin/RAT/roll details are omitted. Unit role, BV/PV, sheet previews and purchase status remain visible.
Choose Prices & purchase to see the current company-specific price and normal purchase controls. Discounts and availability are checked by the existing purchase workflow. Sorting does not change saved stock IDs, quantities, rolls or accounting.
Purchasing rounds
When One purchase per company per round is selected, open Shop merchant inventory to see eligible companies and purchasing status. Each company may purchase one unit before buying again; the others must buy or pass for this inventory. Existing purchases count toward the rounds.
Choose Pass for this inventory for your company if you do not want any further purchases from this inventory. This pass applies only to this month's merchant inventory. It does not cancel earlier purchases or carry over to a new inventory. The GM may record a pass on behalf of an eligible company.
Purchasing limits are enforced on the server, including GM-recorded purchases. A rejected purchase does not charge SP or advance the company turn. Purchases and passes update the screen in place; historical and closed sessions remain read-only.
Configurable priority purchasing
Configure purchasing method offers one-at-a-time rounds or an automatic priority snake draft, with an optional campaign default for new inventories. Open Help > Help guide > Merchant purchasing methods and snake draft for ranking, cost-review, acceptance and spending rules.