Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

That's the series of flashpoint missions after the main campaign is completed involving the SLDF warship AI that let's you acquire the Bullshark mech that was built by Clan Wolverine as the final spoils. Even with my mods that let me kit my mechs to be monster that breezed through the main campaign, this final mission is hard as fuck because both Natasha's crew & The Bounty Hunter's crew fight you and themselves. They have weapons & gear that, to my knowledge, you can't acquire in the base game with crazy bonuses (inferno missiles, ER LRMs, armor piercing rounds, PPCs with with barely any heat generated). My only saving grace when I finally beat it was getting most of my mechs on a cliff where I could jump in & out of visible range, and even then I lost at least 60% of my gear/weapons. It also took me five attempts to get that pyrrhic victory. It's a fun set of missions with a great final mission, but the difficulty spike in that final mission is a goddamn surprise that caught me off guard.

EDIT: Ninja'd by @BlackDragoons
You can get infernos and all of that stuff. You need to suck up to the pirates and get black market access.

Also, you need a king crab with either two AC20s or an ultra AC20. The moment the battle starts, called shot to Nasty K’s CT. Knock her out immediately and everything else just melts.
 
ELRMs are a side grade but useful on bigger maps where you can actually make use of the longer range or to compensate for lower gunnery in the mid range.
I love ELRMs but I can't bring myself to use them on any design because Jesus fuck these things are heavy. For the mass of a single ELRM-5 I can pack six normal LRM-5s and just hit things at long range for the same or higher damage just through sheer weight of numbers. The larger sizes are a bit more reasonable but still: 18 tons for a 20-missile salvo is not a good trade even if you're hitting from the next table over. At that mass I'd just get an Arrow IV.
 
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I love ELRMs but I can't bring myself to use them on any design because Jesus fuck these things are heavy. For the mass of a single ELRM-5 I can pack six normal LRM-5s and just hit things at long range for the same or higher damage just through sheer weight of numbers. The larger sizes are a bit more reasonable but still: 18 tons for a 20-missile salvo is not a good trade even if you're hitting from the next table over. At that mass I'd just get an Arrow IV.
I know our group made them lighter but I don't remember the exact weights ended up using. But I know it wasn't six tons for a ELRM-5 or 18 for a 20 pack. Considering it has a minimum range of 10 and short range is 0-12, so you're pretty much always going to be shooting at med. or long range, we may even have gone with something like 1/2 the book weight for the launcher.
 
I love ELRMs but I can't bring myself to use them on any design because Jesus fuck these things are heavy. For the mass of a single ELRM-5 I can pack six normal LRM-5s and just hit things at long range for the same or higher damage just through sheer weight of numbers. The larger sizes are a bit more reasonable but still: 18 tons for a 20-missile salvo is not a good trade even if you're hitting from the next table over. At that mass I'd just get an Arrow IV.
The problem with just using an AIV is that past 17 hexes you'll have a flight time of a turn.
 
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The problem with just using an AIV is that past 17 hexes you'll have a flight time of a turn.
Yep, and I might take my chances for a guaranteed 20 damage (10 on a near-miss), instead of the average 12 that a ELRM-20 would give me. Or just use Homing Missiles since I'm gonna have something with TAG on the field already.

Anyway, ELRMs already have ridiculous minimum ranges and way more heat/shot than normal LRMs. It really looks like they just applied the Pulse Laser stat conversion (~200% tonnage and heat for -2 to hit) to LRMs and called it a day. I'd be fine if they were 1-2 tons heavier (and 1-2 slots bulkier) than the baseline LRMs with half the ammo/ton, but the tonnage penalty (and the ammo penalty, which is just another tonnage penalty in disguise) makes them really hard to excuse even if you're hitting most things in the medium bracket. For two extra tons I can get two LRM-20s in there which are statistically likely to deal more damage unless you are playing on Planet Cueball.
 
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Yep, and I might take my chances for a guaranteed 20 damage (10 on a near-miss), instead of the average 12 that a ELRM-20 would give me. Or just use Homing Missiles since I'm gonna have something with TAG on the field already.

Anyway, ELRMs already have ridiculous minimum ranges and way more heat/shot than normal LRMs. It really looks like they just applied the Pulse Laser stat conversion (~200% tonnage and heat for -2 to hit) to LRMs and called it a day. I'd be fine if they were 1-2 tons heavier (and 1-2 slots bulkier) than the baseline LRMs with half the ammo/ton, but the tonnage penalty (and the ammo penalty, which is just another tonnage penalty in disguise) makes them really hard to excuse even if you're hitting most things in the medium bracket. For two extra tons I can get two LRM-20s in there which are statistically likely to deal more damage unless you are playing on Planet Cueball.
Arrow IV are a godsend against Battle Armor. 20 Damage on each unit? Yes please.
 
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How many Mechs have Arrow IV? The Naga, a couple Catapult variants, and the nuke shootin' Urbie are all I can think of off the top of my head.
 
How many Mechs have Arrow IV? The Naga, a couple Catapult variants, and the nuke shootin' Urbie are all I can think of off the top of my head.
Off the top of my head, the O-Bakemono, at least one Pillager variant, a Longbow variant, and a Thunder Hawk variant. What really tickles me is that the Clans of all people have more artillery 'Mech designs than everybody else.

Anyway, if you're using AIVs and you don't have Urbie AIVs, you might as well just put them on a vehicle. I'm a fan of Chaparrals sitting three maps away, but I'm sure you could easily retrofit Arrows onto the SRM/LRM carrier chassis.
 
Off the top of my head, the O-Bakemono, at least one Pillager variant, a Longbow variant, and a Thunder Hawk variant. What really tickles me is that the Clans of all people have more artillery 'Mech designs than everybody else.

Anyway, if you're using AIVs and you don't have Urbie AIVs, you might as well just put them on a vehicle. I'm a fan of Chaparrals sitting three maps away, but I'm sure you could easily retrofit Arrows onto the SRM/LRM carrier chassis.

Isn't there a Arrow IV VTOL? If there isn't, there really should be. Just fly them where they need to go, fire, and move to the next spot and be far enough behind the lines to not risk being shot down.
 
Isn't there a Arrow IV VTOL? If there isn't, there really should be. Just fly them where they need to go, fire, and move to the next spot and be far enough behind the lines to not risk being shot down.
You can fit three individual Air-Launched Arrow IVs into a Chippewa's bomb hardpoints, but I don't know of any flyers carrying AIV launchers themselves. Not that it would be hard to retrofit it to some of the Big Gun VTOLs out there, anyway. Replace the Gauss Rifle on a Yellow Jacket with an Arrow IV rack and watch the fireworks.
 
Replace the Gauss Rifle on a Yellow Jacket with an Arrow IV rack and watch the fireworks.
That's an official variant already. The Yellow Jacket also comes in an equally insane RAC/5 variant, because a helicopter needed to have all that BRRRRRT at its disposal.
 
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That's an official variant already. The Yellow Jacket also comes in an equally insane RAC/5 variant, because a helicopter needed to have all that BRRRRRT at its disposal.
Hah, nice. I had completely forgotten about that variant, then. Now that I checked Sarna again, that's not just a RAC/5 variant you're talking about, it's a RAC/5 variant with two tons of ammo, extra armor, and a fucking Targeting Computer. Sure, the range isn't stellar but that is a lot of (accurate) fire going downrange, out of a reasonably mobile platform. If I order four of them, do I get a custom Michaelson Heavy Industries minifridge as a bonus, too?
 
Hah, nice. I had completely forgotten about that variant, then. Now that I checked Sarna again, that's not just a RAC/5 variant you're talking about, it's a RAC/5 variant with two tons of ammo, extra armor, and a fucking Targeting Computer. Sure, the range isn't stellar but that is a lot of (accurate) fire going downrange, out of a reasonably mobile platform.
If you think that's bad there's a Hawk Moth variant with a Thunderbolt 15 and a Mast Mount so it can make like an Apache Longbow and fuck you up from behind cover.
 
Now I'm thinking about a Yellowjacket that strips out the Gauss Rifle with an ELRM 20 because 38 hexes of attrition on a VTOL is just plain mean. Even if it only hits with 12 points of damage a turn, it adds up after a while.
 
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There is also the Kamakiri VTOL. The Main variant carries 2 Thunderbolt 10 launchers and the sub variant carries a freaking improved heavy gaus rifle

Also the Warrior VTOL got a RAC variant in the 3058 upgrades
 
Is Catalyst's Battletech worth picking up on sale? Currently $10 for the base game, maybe $25 with all the expansions.
 
There is also the Kamakiri VTOL. The Main variant carries 2 Thunderbolt 10 launchers and the sub variant carries a freaking improved heavy gaus rifle

Also the Warrior VTOL got a RAC variant in the 3058 upgrades
Kamakiri aside, god I hate dealing with Warriors in MW5, and that just sounds even worse. That and the fucking Igor and its quarter of AC/2's... That last one is like PGI decided to go for the most dickish creation they possibly could, especially since it has to break half the rules of VTOL construction to fit that armament...
 
Kamakiri aside, god I hate dealing with Warriors in MW5, and that just sounds even worse. That and the fucking Igor and its quarter of AC/2's... That last one is like PGI decided to go for the most dickish creation they possibly could, especially since it has to break half the rules of VTOL construction to fit that armament...
Just shoot the engines on it, unmodded they'll go down in a single PPC hit if you do.
 
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