Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

Moja Zemlja said:
I'm planning on introducing a friend to Battletech and playing a simple lance vs lance match to show him how to runs, any suggestions on what mechs to use? In the past showing friends always gone with a mirror match of using MAD-3R, HBK-4G, JR7-D and LCT-1V.
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Maybe replace the Jenner with a SHD-2H? That will give you one 'Mech on each lance with a LRM so you can teach your friend about minimum range, and you retain the ability to show them SRMs at work. Yeah, the PPCs and AC/5s on the Marauders have minimum range too, but it's a lot easier to find an opportunity to demonstrate it when you've got Lurms on the board.

Well, that and the SHawk is just a classic design.
 
Corn Flakes said:
Maybe replace the Jenner with a SHD-2H? That will give you one 'Mech on each lance with a LRM so you can teach your friend about minimum range, and you retain the ability to show them SRMs at work. Yeah, the PPCs and AC/5s on the Marauders have minimum range too, but it's a lot easier to find an opportunity to demonstrate it when you've got Lurms on the board.

Well, that and the SHawk is just a classic design.
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I was considering replacing the Locust instead of the Jenner since the Jenner can be used to show how jump jets work but the SHD is probably the best mech to add in.
 
We always just went with 200 tons per side and two G2/P3 and two G3/P4 Mechwarriors when introducing someone to the game. Let the your opponent pick whatever he wants out of TRO:3025 so long as he ends up with four Mechs that collectively weigh 200 tons and then assign each Mechwarrior where he wants. Remind him that each mech can have speed, armor, and firepower but he can only pick two at a time so pick wisely. Then go from there.

The reason I say go for the better Mechwarriors than the standard G4/P5 is so that shots actually hit before you get to Point Blank. It drove me nuts having to get into actual fistfighting with Mechs before some shots hit.

If you must go with a jumping classic 55 tonner, Griffin 1N has always been my go-to of the trio. He'll learn jumping, sniping, heat management, and minimum ranges.
 
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Moja Zemlja said:
I was considering replacing the Locust instead of the Jenner since the Jenner can be used to show how jump jets work but the SHD is probably the best mech to add in.
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Shadow Hawks are also a great all-rounder design in general. They're Peak Medium.

Also MechKiwis, rate these lazy-ass homebrews I made in Solaris Skunk Works. Me being a Victor fan decided to use the platform as a base to make an abominably boring fire support mech that can double as a Main Battle Mech by holding its own against heavies and bullying mediums. The -1A is the base, the -1B is the Rommel to the -1A's Patton, and the -2A is an intentionally cheap and easy LosTech refit of the -1A.
 

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Snekposter said:
Shadow Hawks are also a great all-rounder design in general. They're Peak Medium.

Also MechKiwis, rate these lazy-ass homebrews I made in Solaris Skunk Works. Me being a Victor fan decided to use the platform as a base to make an abominably boring fire support mech that can double as a Main Battle Mech by holding its own against heavies and bullying mediums. The -1A is the base, the -1B is the Rommel to the -1A's Patton, and the -2A is an intentionally cheap and easy LosTech refit of the -1A.
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NOTE: Those files are Solaris Skunkworks, right? I tried to open them in MegaMekLab and then realized they have a different file extension.
 
William Murderface said:
NOTE: Those files are Solaris Skunkworks, right? I tried to open them in MegaMekLab and then realized they have a different file extension.
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Uh... you should probably read some of the post you quoted because there are few dumb questions and yours is one of them.
 
Yeah, I missed that somehow.

And trust me, it's not even close to the dumbest question I've asked today.

It's not even in the top 10 dumbest questions I've asked today.
 
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I have also built an Atlas to go full retard (as Kerensky intended)

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And now I have made an angry little autistic Quickdraw
 
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not william stenchever said:
I have also built an Atlas to go full retard (as Kerensky intended)
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Only downside to ATM launchers is their inability to be used for indirect fire. Obviously on the AI its wasted but I'd personally rather have a CLRM with Artemis. Less heat, less weight, and while you lose damage up close a CLRM-10 with Art IV is probably the best damn fire support weapon in the game.

Yes, I'm mad bigger launchers have more spread because reasons. Why take an LRM-20 when the spread means half the missiles miss?
 
Why? Because you also have the potential for greater damage when the dice gods favor you, as fickle as they are.

I know mathematically, the board game was figured out by people way smarter than me about an hour after BT 2nd Ed hit the streets, but it's still a thrill when the dice go you way and it's always a gut punch when they don't. Maybe the AC2 and 5 are mathematically useless, but there's something to be said for flavor. And min/max is boring.
 
Snekposter said:
Only downside to ATM launchers is their inability to be used for indirect fire. Obviously on the AI its wasted but I'd personally rather have a CLRM with Artemis. Less heat, less weight, and while you lose damage up close a CLRM-10 with Art IV is probably the best damn fire support weapon in the game.

Yes, I'm mad bigger launchers have more spread because reasons. Why take an LRM-20 when the spread means half the missiles miss?
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In MW5 my experience has been that ATMs have a bit of indirect fire capacity because they'll arch upward after their initial acceleration from the launcher. But I should play around with your suggestion and see how it does.
 
not william stenchever said:
In MW5 my experience has been that ATMs have a bit of indirect fire capacity because they'll arch upward after their initial acceleration from the launcher. But I should play around with your suggestion and see how it does.
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You can lob ATMs over hills and stuff but it takes skill to do it and honestly if your gonna do that just bring LRMs.
 
William Murderface said:
Why? Because you also have the potential for greater damage when the dice gods favor you, as fickle as they are.

I know mathematically, the board game was figured out by people way smarter than me about an hour after BT 2nd Ed hit the streets, but it's still a thrill when the dice go you way and it's always a gut punch when they don't. Maybe the AC2 and 5 are mathematically useless, but there's something to be said for flavor. And min/max is boring.
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This isn't the board game though, but MW5 Mercs. Its not like TT where the dice gods do in fact favor you at times, especially with good gunnery skill, but the simple fact an LRM-20 will miss thanks to having a much larger impact area than an LRM-10, straight up wasting ammo. Its not even about math or min-maxing, but the simple fact you're paying tonnage and crits for something that's only going to land the same number of missiles on target.
not william stenchever said:
In MW5 my experience has been that ATMs have a bit of indirect fire capacity because they'll arch upward after their initial acceleration from the launcher. But I should play around with your suggestion and see how it does.
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I'd need to double-check things, but in my experience its hard to beat the CLRM-10+Art IV combo for sheer utility. Two slots, low weight and heat, good accuracy, and unlike the ATM which will just refuse to fire at their minimum range where the AI loves to facehug the LRM's will at least launch.
 
Snekposter said:
This isn't the board game though, but MW5 Mercs. Its not like TT where the dice gods do in fact favor you at times, especially with good gunnery skill, but the simple fact an LRM-20 will miss thanks to having a much larger impact area than an LRM-10, straight up wasting ammo. Its not even about math or min-maxing, but the simple fact you're paying tonnage and crits for something that's only going to land the same number of missiles on target.

I'd need to double-check things, but in my experience its hard to beat the CLRM-10+Art IV combo for sheer utility. Two slots, low weight and heat, good accuracy, and unlike the ATM which will just refuse to fire at their minimum range where the AI loves to facehug the LRM's will at least launch.
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I see. I have no experience with the video games beyond knowing they exist and the current crop of artists for the TT game use that aesthetic for everything. Mea culpa.
 
Snekposter said:
This isn't the board game though, but MW5 Mercs. Its not like TT where the dice gods do in fact favor you at times, especially with good gunnery skill, but the simple fact an LRM-20 will miss thanks to having a much larger impact area than an LRM-10, straight up wasting ammo. Its not even about math or min-maxing, but the simple fact you're paying tonnage and crits for something that's only going to land the same number of missiles on target.
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Likely a hold over from how MWO LRMs act, I never understood why in the singleplayer game LRMs weren't made truly as strong as they could be.
 
Moja Zemlja said:
Likely a hold over from how MWO LRMs act, I never understood why in the singleplayer game LRMs weren't made truly as strong as they could be.
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Yeah, I really dislike the MWO balance in this. I know TT has its own flaws but that would have been a better place to start with than MWO.
 
I was giving Dominions Divided a pretty thorough read and two things really jumped out at me:

1) There's a sidebar on page 74 about a FedSuns officer saying they were attacked by Raven Alliance troops wearing Star League patches. On the one hand, it's nice that after all this time the Outworlds Alliance is finally getting some ink, even if it took occupation by the Ravens to do it (and they just allowed it because of course they did). But on the other hand it opens up a couple of possibilities: either the Ravens have decided to joined up with Alaric or this is just some small group of Ravens who have broken away because they think Alaric is the ilKhan and the rest of the Ravens ignore his nonsense, or (and this is the one I hope most of all) it leads to a civil war and the Ravens end up being beaten once and for all an an independent Outworlds Alliance is resurrected. The whole "we light ASF and they like ASF so it's a match made in heaven" rationale for the Ravens showing up on both the FS and DC's backdoor and neither of them doing much about it was just terrible.

2) Page 133. There's now a Judo SPA.

Unit Type: ’Mech, ProtoMech, Battle Armor
SPA Cost: 3
This pilot has learned to use an opposing
MechWarrior’s movement against them. If the
target ’Mech unit moves this turn and this pilot
makes a successful physical attack against it, the
target must make a Piloting Skill Roll with a +1
Target Number modifier or fall. This roll applies
a +1 modifier for every full 25 tons the target is
heavier than the Attacker.

Alpha Strike: If this unit makes a successful
physical attack against a target that is not using
standstill movement, the target makes a 2D6
roll with a Target Number equal to the unit’s
Skill Rating plus one. Add the Attacker’s size
and subtract the target’s Size from the Target
Number. If the roll fails, the target takes 1
damage, and its Move is reduced by 2” and its
TMM reduced by 1 during the following turn.
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So yeah, we now live in a world where 'Mech Judo is a thing.
 
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