Battletech is back!!!

[HoodedHorseJoe]

Interesting guide but didn't tell me much.  Didn't even mention a single one of the Mechs I'm currently using.   Also, am really struggling on why you would ever pick a lighter class of Mech then what you can field.  The lone reason seems to be initiative but if you have a tactics specialty, you can get that initiative point back. 
I also tend to avoid PPC based builds for some reason but maybe I should revisit that.

Ian was losing his mind slightly on the amount of build variations, tactical roles etc... he could do write-ups for. The piece was getting pretty long as-is so I asked him to draw a line under it so we could see how the initial version of the article performed. If it does well I plan to go back to it with more builds etc...

[joram]

I get it.  Perhaps too much got lost in editing.  There is too much to impart in just one article so maybe it should be a series. 

The thing that struck me the most was in choosing the right missions for the right Mechs but I think a lot more could have been said there as well as exploring the inverse when you don't have a choice. 

More could be said on not only what makes a good sniping build but what Mechs are best suited for it.  Same could be said for other specialty builds too.

[mikeck]

Interesting guide but didn't tell me much.  Didn't even mention a single one of the Mechs I'm currently using.   Also, am really struggling on why you would ever pick a lighter class of Mech then what you can field.  The lone reason seems to be initiative but if you have a tactics specialty, you can get that initiative point back. 
I also tend to avoid PPC based builds for some reason but maybe I should revisit that.

I've been having quite a lot of success with my PPC sniper build. I use the Vindicator and arm it with 2 PPCs.
Armor is significantly reduced due to the range it fires from and the available weight is used to mount 8 heat sinks. I use Behemoth and have her "gunnery" and "guts" score high.  I put her up on a hill and watch her pound mechs from waaaaay outside their range. If both PPCs hit, there is almost always significant damage. The only time I don't take it in my lance is if the terrain is very hilly....like lunar. Makes it hard to get long range shots.

You DO need to keep your eye on things as without any short range weapons, an enemy light mech close in can be a pain

I love PPCs. You should give them a try. Longest range in the game, tremendous stability damage and no ammo. Trick is managing the heat

[CptHowdy]

completed campaign  ;D i did not need an extra lance or extra pilots. for first phase i used 2 highlanders, king crab and a jagermech-A(LRM boat). second phase i kept the highlanders and crab as kamea came along in her atlas. after completion the credits roll. can mouse wheel up or down to speed those up or go back and read something you might have missed. at end of credits you can press escape and the game will continue. allowing free roam of map. for my pilots i had two master tacticians in my highlanders which let them act in phase 2 and a pilot with bulwark for my crab. my missile boats just need good gunnery. all 4 pilots i brought in last mission were maxed out.

What are your plans now? Will you collect one mech of each type?

hmm not a collector but i would like a couple more highlanders and 3 more atlases for a scout lance!! dont see myself doing multiplayer but would be nice if some future DLC included a co-op campaign. for now i will see what the rest of the map offers.

[mikeck]

Got my first heavy mech; a Dragon. At first, I was a bit upset over how little firepower it can carry but I bought the 3rd component for $650k anyway (had salvaged the other 2).

Holy $&%!....I love this thing. Forget the weapons, I armored it as recommended for melee. I run it around the battlefield throat-punching light mechs. One shot and I get a shower of sparks, pieces falling everywhere, a list of 10 things I busted and then a dead mech. One punch.

I love this game

P.S. Is it me or do medium lasers kind of suck? Yeah, they are lighter than cannon and missiles, create less heat than a PPC and require no ammo...but I hit a mech with AC's or PPCs and pieces are Flying everywhere. I've hammered mechs with laser after laser and seen very little damage. Not to mention they deliver zero stability hits. Meh.

I like guns. Pew pew

[DennisS]

Got my first heavy mech; a Dragon. At first, I was a bit upset over how little firepower it can carry but I bought the 3rd component for $650k anyway (had salvaged the other 2).

Holy $&%!....I love this thing. Forget the weapons, I armored it as recommended for melee. I run it around the battlefield throat-punching light mechs. One shot and I get a shower of sparks, pieces falling everywhere, a list of 10 things I busted and then a dead mech. One punch.

I love this game

P.S. Is it me or do medium lasers kind of suck? Yeah, they are lighter than cannon and missiles, create less heat than a PPC and require no ammo...but I hit a mech with AC's or PPCs and pieces are Flying everywhere. I've hammered mechs with laser after laser and seen very little damage. Not to mention they deliver zero stability hits. Meh.

I like guns. Pew pew

If you put enough medium lasers on a mech, they do juuuust fine.

I respecced a mech to fire LRM's only, and I upgraded these to LRM15+++.

Yeah yeah..I know, right? Knock them down with missiles, then stomp their guts out. Conventional wisdom, and this strategy is the one all the big kids are using. I have resisted this to this point, because I felt that over-use of LRM boats was a cheese tactic.

But, that's how this game is designed. Can't use light mechs, gotta put the most tonnage on the field you can. Can't use SRM's and light lasers, gotta kit out everyone with long range missiles.

I am not a big fan of being forced to play just one way...but I will say that I just finished a three skull mission with my new LRM boat, and it was almost too easy. Focus missiles until they fall down, shoot them in the legs, rinse and repeat.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I finished it without an LRM missile boat.  I went with my flamer/Grasshopper, 2 Highlanders, and a King Crab. 

[Jarhead0331]

Speaking of lasers, I just salvavged a battle master from the field. When I saw it, I nearly $hit myself, but my lance was able to take it down without it being able to really do much harm. I'm considering giving it a shot. It's the heaviest mech in my bays right now at 85 tons.

I've kept it's configuration, but upgraded some of its weapons to ++. Anybody using one of these and if so are you running with a stock config, or ha e you made loadout changes?

I also salvaged a Jaeger mech. These things really concern me when I start taking rapid fire cannon shells from some Unknown point in the distance that I can't even see and armor starts shattering away, but once I identify the mech, and can target it, I'm usually able to take it down quickly. My concern is the long range harassment thing doesn't really suit my strategy, which is usually to stay very mobile, outflank, move in with heavy forces and alpha strike everything to death. Anybody using a Jaeger mech to good effect?

[Geezer]

...Anybody using a Jaeger mech to good effect?

Nope.  Had one and it got pounded on it's first or second mission to the point where I just sold it for scrap rather than repair it.

[sandman2575]

But, that's how this game is designed. Can't use light mechs, gotta put the most tonnage on the field you can. Can't use SRM's and light lasers, gotta kit out everyone with long range missiles.

If I have one major complaint about the game, it's pretty much this. Most of the unscripted missions really do come down to:  you're outnumbered 2 to 1.  Yes, you need to be smart about positioning and coordinating attacks and using terrain to advantage. But most of all you just need to be heavier and bring more firepower to to the fight than your more numerous opponents.

And as the missions ramp up in difficulty, that just means you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by heavier and heavier enemies. So, yeah, it sure would be nice to be able to use a fun mix of heavies, mediums, and lights, but practically speaking there's no way the game lets you do this. I'm very much at the endgame stage, having completed the campaign, and every mission I have to bring 4 Assaults to the party if I want to win. It is satisfying to dismantle your enemies with Atlases and King Crabs, but it's also starting to feel pretty redundant, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to stick with it.

It's a fantastic game, no question, but I do hope DLC will be coming sooner rather than later to make the non-Campaign part of the game more interesting and replayable.

Re: the BattleMaster -- I love this guy. Before I had to replace him with a heavier Assault (as was inevitable for reasons described above), I used him as my heavy scout. 4 JJs, Rangefinder ++, Gyro ++, 7 MLs ++/+++, 2 SLs +++, about 90% full armor and decent heat management. This Mech IMO is a real sweet-spot in terms of configurability, giving you ability to make it well-armored, mobile, and good firepower. It's a much better Mech than some comparable or even heavier Assaults like the Victor, Awesome, or especially the dreadful Banshee.

I've never been able to use the Jaeger to good effect. It's the quintessential glass cannon. I did run for a short while with the Jaeger variant with 4 missile slots; but quickly phased that out in favor of the much more sturdy Orion with 3 missile slots to use as my LRM boat (20/15/10 missile batteries; a good artillery mech).

[DennisS]

But, that's how this game is designed. Can't use light mechs, gotta put the most tonnage on the field you can. Can't use SRM's and light lasers, gotta kit out everyone with long range missiles.

If I have one major complaint about the game, it's pretty much this. Most of the unscripted missions really do come down to:  you're outnumbered 2 to 1.  Yes, you need to be smart about positioning and coordinating attacks and using terrain to advantage. But most of all you just need to be heavier and bring more firepower to to the fight than your more numerous opponents.

And as the missions ramp up in difficulty, that just means you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by heavier and heavier enemies. So, yeah, it sure would be nice to be able to use a fun mix of heavies, mediums, and lights, but practically speaking there's no way the game lets you do this. I'm very much at the endgame stage, having completed the campaign, and every mission I have to bring 4 Assaults to the party if I want to win. It is satisfying to dismantle your enemies with Atlases and King Crabs, but it's also starting to feel pretty redundant, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to stick with it.

It's a fantastic game, no question, but I do hope DLC will be coming sooner rather than later to make the non-Campaign part of the game more interesting and replayable.

Re: the BattleMaster -- I love this guy. Before I had to replace him with a heavier Assault (as was inevitable for reasons described above), I used him as my heavy scout. 4 JJs, Rangefinder ++, Gyro ++, 7 MLs ++/+++, 2 SLs +++, about 90% full armor and decent heat management. This Mech IMO is a real sweet-spot in terms of configurability, giving you ability to make it well-armored, mobile, and good firepower. It's a much better Mech than some comparable or even heavier Assaults like the Victor, Awesome, or especially the dreadful Banshee.

I've never been able to use the Jaeger to good effect. It's the quintessential glass cannon. I did run for a short while with the Jaeger variant with 4 missile slots; but quickly phased that out in favor of the much more sturdy Orion with 3 missile slots to use as my LRM boat (20/15/10 missile batteries; a good artillery mech).

I am not as far along as you, but I could have written your post. I will almost certainly take the path of least resistance with this campaign; heavier is better, and nuke 'em with LRMs.

[mikeck]

Anybody using a Jaeger mech to good effect?

Yes! I LOVE my Jaeger. I have it armed with an AC10 and AC5 along with 3 medium lasers. Have 2 heat sinks. Obviously I can't max armor but I just focus armor on the front and rear it off in the rear. It's a great damage dealer at range. I don't get up close and personal with it. But yeah, using a pilot with high "gunnery" and "guts" scores lets me plug mechs at long range with the cannons and not be affected by recoil.

[mikeck]

...Anybody using a Jaeger mech to good effect?

Nope.  Had one and it got pounded on it's first or second mission to the point where I just sold it for scrap rather than repair it.

My jaeger is consistently my best performer. You have to have a lot of armor in front and can't use it as a brawler (although death from above works well)

[DennisS]

...Anybody using a Jaeger mech to good effect?

Nope.  Had one and it got pounded on it's first or second mission to the point where I just sold it for scrap rather than repair it.

My jaeger is consistently my best performer. You have to have a lot of armor in front and can't use it as a brawler (although death from above works well)

The very first thing I do with all my new mechs is to go and refit it.

Almost always, this means reducing the back armor, increasing the front armor, getting rid of one beam weapon, and adding heat sinks. I am not a fan of carrying around weapons you just cannot use, because your heat is too high.

Also...pay attention to the biome of the mission. I have a "hot" lance, and a "cold" lance. This is a big deal for me.

[mikeck]

I never use stock mechs

I'm loving my Dragon for killing light mechs and lighter medium mechs. I Approach while using an AC-20++. Probably my favorite weapon in the game. Can one-shot a light mech on occasion and usually blows off some part. Then when I'm close, it's all DFA and Melee after that. One punch and they are done.