PLUG N' PLAY & VANILLA FRIENDLY!*
*COMPLETELY STANDALONE; WILL NOT BREAK YOUR GAME; DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY OTHER RESOURCES! 
Simply unzip to your mods folder and you are good to go (see file description for details).

This is no mere "1 for 1" conversion of standard tabletop stats.  I wanted to bring my knowledge of *ADVANCED* tabletop rules to the PC game and see if I could find a good middle ground that wouldn't break the vanilla PC experience.  I've tested this mod for balance to the best of my ability and am confident that this mod will improve the experience for both new and old-school Battletech fans such as myself.

CURRENT PROBLEMS WITH OLD VANILLA

• Weapon stat buffs/nerfs are all over the place and do not consistently scale with tabletop at all; for example, take ballistics: basic stats of light ACs are pretty bad in tabletop (especially when not accounting for BattleValue), but they were buffed just a bit TOO much for the PC game.  The PC version of the AC/20 is okay, but the AC/10 is overshadowed a bit by the AC/5.
• Large lasers and PPCs are a little behind in the damage curve at higher tiers; this is made worse by the fact you can't easily exploit their range advantages due to limited default spotting range.
• LRM stability damage across the board is too high; too easy to exploit for easy knockdowns and KOs. (this was addressed in an official update).
• There is not good consistency on weapon traits (ex. some autocannons get higher accuracy buffs than lasers for some reason).
• Despite being even more rare, Star League era weapons don't compete well with "+++" tier weapons on the open market!  This is a tragedy!
• Lack of equipment tier choices in skirmish mode.
  

WHAT THIS MOD DOES

• Establish a consistent damage conversion rate based on tabletop values with a few liberties taken to account for special traits some weapons have.
  

Damage = tabletop value x 5 = base damage in game
Heat = tabletop value x3 = base heat in game

• Adjust weapon values to better balance between base weapons and upgraded versions.
• Create some consistency with weapon buffs (ex. lasers get higher accuracy, autocannons deal a bit more damage, but are less accurate, missiles have higher critical damage chance, etc) while still allowing for some variations (ex. even though most missiles have bonuses to crit damage, the venerable Holly SRMs still deal extra damage).
• Accuracy now generally gets better as you upgrade to higher tier lasers.
• Stability Damage is now directly proportionate to Damage output and is included in the base stats of weapons to make room for a new buff: Heat Reduction.  As explained in tabletop rules, some weapons come equipped with an "improved cooling jacket" that effectively functions as a built-in additional heatsink.  Individual weapons will never have more than a -3 Heat reduction buff, but you can equip multiple weapons with the same trait to reduce your overall heat generation.
• Stability Damage breakdown: (again, stability damage is now proportionate to actual damage output!)
  All Lasers = 0% of damage (lasers don't apply significant physical force)PPCs = 50% of damage outputAll Ballistics = 70% of damage output (watch out for those AC20s!) :)SRMs = 60% of damage outputLRMs = 40% of damage output (reduce "sensor lock+LRM" spam) 
• To compensate for lowered LRM stability damage, ballistics and SRM stab. damage has been buffed significantly; if you want to get consistent KO's, use lots of SRMs and/or ballistics, but now you have to get close and can't cheese it by exploiting indirect fire.
• All missiles' base damage values are slightly higher with slight tweaks to heat values (but again, consistent with tabletop values).
• The tier of the weapon now accurately indicates the number of buffs it has:
  

"+" = 1 additional buff
                "++" = 2 additional buff
                "+++" = 3 additional buffs

• Damage buffs are now proportionate to a weapon's base damage.  (ex. AC/10s are in increments of 10 while the AC/20s get buffs in increments of 20).
• ALL Star League weaponry has been adjusted to be on par with other changes.
• REMEMBER THAT THE ENEMY ALSO BENEFITS FROM ALL CHANGES IN WEAPON STATS!
  

I have also taken some *small* liberties to roughly incorporate some advanced rules of tabletop that are not really utilized in the PC game:

• Base damage for autocannons across the board was buffed to emulate a sort of "poor man's double-fire" mode (which is legal in tabletop); damage has only been increased by 10-20% to account for the lack of any AC jamming mechanic (to be more specific, light ACs got minor tweaks while the AC10s and 20s were buffed more).
• In tabletop, light autocannons get inherent accuracy bonuses when engaging aircraft; to approximate this, lighter ACs are now more accurate with AC/2s being the most accurate with NO recoil penalties!  This (and other tweaks) will hopefully make up for the minimal damage bonuses AC/2s get now and keep them viable.
• It didn't make a lot of sense that some missile launchers dealt more damage than others even though they technically all use the same basic ammo.  To reflect this, all missile launchers now deal the same amount of damage (5 per LRM, 10 per SRM) and stability damage (2 per LRM, 6 per SRM), but their buffs now include things like better accuracy, -3 heat reduction, as well as previous buffs like increased crit chance.
• Machine guns in game already utilize a form of the "Rapid Firing" rule, but still don't offer much incentive since their real purpose remains unfulfilled (anti-personnel).  Therefore, I decided to buff them in an interesting way besides simply dealing more damage; slightly increasing their effective range to 120m (ie. "Extreme Range Bracket" rule).  Their optimum range remains 90m.  The change is small, but this should allow them a little more flexible to use as a general support weapon.
  

LAST BUT NOT LEAST!...

• I've made all "+" (tier 1) weapon variants available in skirmish mechlab for more equipment variety and to allow players to test different loadouts.
  (I did not add Tier 2 or 3 because they are too OP for skirmish AI and added too much clutter to the mechlab).
• Not sure what Hairbrained was thinking here, but they included the ER Small and ER Medium Lasers... those aren't Star League weapons, you heretics!  ;D  I have removed the "Clanny lasers" and In their place, I have added the criminally underrated Light, Medium and Heavy Rifle (100% canon, retrotech greatness!)  These are basically lighter versions of Autocannons with some drawbacks; a perfect alternative to the notoriously heavy standard autocannons!
• Due to their low tech design, I have made the Rifles common so they should pop up often in many stores for purchase.  To improve cross-compatibility with vanilla files, the Light, Medium and Heavy Rifle uses standard AC5, AC10, and AC20 ammo respectively.
  

COMPATIBILITY
This mod is designed to work with almost any other mod or official DLC!  Should work with no issues with just about any mod that doesn't change vanilla weapon stats!  Can also work wiith some overhaul mods, including, but not limited to:

• Battletech 3025 Extended (Commanders Edition) - see stickies post in POSTS for details.
• NOTE: may work with other overhaul mods, but keep in mind that GoK is intended to work in the vanilla game setting (pre-3050 timeline).  Advanced designs (post-3050) may spawn with an odd weapon or two due to replacement of some vanilla weapons.  It shouldn't break your game, but it may nerf some advanced variants (ie. having no ammo for weapon).  If using a mod that lets you start in a specific era, picking anything pre-3050 should be fine.
  

INSTALL GUIDE

• Create a "Mods" folder in your Battletech directory; example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\Mods"
• Download the latest version of ModTek (click for link).  It is highly recommended for easier installation of mods.
• Unzip the Modtek folder and place it in your Mods folder: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\Mods\ModTek"
• Open the Modtek folder and run the "ModTekInjector.exe" executable.  A black and white window will pop up briefly (this is normal).
• Unzip the GoK folder and place it in your Mods folder: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\Mods\Guns of Kerensky BTE"
• Load the game as normal.  A new "Modtek" load screen should pop up before reaching the main menu (this is normal).
  NOTE: Check the "Mods" button on the main menu and/or Skirmish Mechlab to see that the mod loaded correctly.  You should see new Tier 1 equipment unlocked for use in Skirmish now.  Enjoy!
  

UNINSTALL GUIDE

• GoK can be removed safely at any time without breaking your save data!  Simply delete the aforementioned folders in your Mods folder and reload the game! :D
  

CONTACT ME
If you have mod issues, check posts for FAQ and mod load order details.  If you need to reach me, leave me a message, but know that it may take awhile for me to respond as I don't check here regularly. 

The best (fastest) way to contact me is at "theskjaldborg.com" and ask for MagnusEffect.  I admin a BT community there.

IN SUMMARY
I know there are a lot of other similar mods out there that attempt to do the same thing here, but I grew to feel unsatisfied with every single one.  This was my personal attempt to recreate advanced game mechanics I missed from tabletop, but was primarily created it for the benefit of myself and my friends.  I welcome any helpful feedback, but please keep in mind I only share this mod here with the community out of courtesy.

If you like it, please don't forget to endorse it! :D