Aero is fun... if it stays in its own little corner. All aero matches are great. It's largely when they and the ground start interacting with each other that things start getting ridiculous.
Reminds me of the days when we used skid rules with hovertanks. I'd deliberately put my unit into a skid to get a better firing angle from time to time...
A brave man, to touch upon one of the most unseeable of the The Unseen! But cool video, good work. I'm one of those few that thinks they still make great 'special forces' mechs. More a campaign asset then tactical.
Thank you very much for making this. I've been trying to find a video for this for awhile and reading the rules for them myself was confusing me quite a bit.😅
I tried working out it's sheet from the alpha strike card. 3.5.3 movement, er large and a small laser I think. It's definitely so-so, fast enough to redeploy unlike normal urbies but not that fast
Man, I thought I had a handle on LAMs when reading the rulebooks. I somehow overlooked all that stuff about turn modes. Makes my head spin. I want to use LAMs on the tabletop, but there's so much complexity trying to blend mechs and aerospace.
@@TrailblazerBT I started BT in the 90s, but never got to use LAMs (or most other rules) back then. I'm contemplating houserules for LAMs because I know a friend wants to use them, but I don't want to bang my head on the wall trying to remember all the rules.
@@TrailblazerBT They tried to cut them out of the system entirely back when the Clans came around back in the FASA days. A little surprised to see them back, really...Btech seems not to be fond of the Macross Gerwalk modes. Then again, there's always been the problem of the 'Mechs are kings of the battlefield' mentality, which caused things like vehicles to get crippled in favor of the walking machines.
Quad rules when? mby with analysis or tripods in there too. As a farily new player trying to explore new 3025 playable things this video is very helpfull, especialy since i play a single leopard company scenario with friend and the extra two 'mech LAM stored in aerospace bays would definetely make a diffirence. otherwise in order to maximize my mech unit number on field i would have to use pairs of locusts and i am not really a fon of those pilot deathtraps.
That sounds like a cool way to play! A video about quads is a nice idea, might take a while though since I have several other videos in progress right now
Please also make a video on how to use LAMs (in AirMech mode) in Alpha Strike. From my play sessions, they are super easy to play, but looking at the nightmare in CBT I feel like I am missing something obvious and they should be way more clunky.
I made an OWL LAM of 50 tons a long time ago. I will check my load out. Are your load outs good for strafing? Too few see the benefit of fast response LAM units. "Unknown mechs coming up behind us, Sir!"
They are stupidly fast. I played in a sort of grand strategy campaign, and it was insane how good LAMs were, because they could intercept enemy forces and do flyby missions and delay them.
Theres rules for abstracting them in the Battlemech Manual and the cards as Trailblazer mentioned. I haven't used them yet, either, but I think it would really cut down on the complexity of trying to use the full aerospace rules.
I would say if you're going to play them in an actual battle consider taking the STG-A1. At 846BV it is surprisingly affordable and the pulse lasers make that horrible target modifier much less painful. LAMs like the PHX-HK2 suffer a lot from being fast and nigh-unhittable, but doing basically no damage, plus it is just plain expensive for what you get.
Maybe you and Red can have a discussion on way LAMS are good or bad for the game. I don't see them fitting for the game & air-mech mode seems really broken to me from what I know. I appreciate your vids even on LAMs & woukd try this out if I can ever get MegaMek running on my PC.
It's definitely not broken given the high BV cost. Indeed you need a pretty optimized custom LAM to make it worth the points. I have stuff I don't like too, I hate the DnD meets battletech look of protomechs, but I don't spend my time hating on protos and I wish LAM haters would live and let live a bit more.
So you need two chunky rulebooks to fully use LAM's? That's some pretty poor rules management by CGL. These rules could certainly be streamlined and simplified.
Technically, you just need the tome that is the complete rulebook, Total Warfare, I think, but not everyone wants to have to filter through all of the other stuff it gets into...
The idea of an Air 'Mech, by itself, is interesting. However, I also know that the designers went out of their way to make LAM rules (in-game and construction) as complicated as possible to discourage their use. (Because of copyright mess) Now it's gotten to the point where Partial Wings and Improved Jump Jets make LAMs largely irrelevant. Personally, I like the notion of a 'Mech-like VTOL. (Not 100% sold on the WiGE- movement)
@@TrailblazerBT No it wasn't. We played with them a LOT in the eighties (what can I say, we were teenage Robotech fans)... and by and large they accomplished little, as the mass penalty for the conversion gear was crippling. If you included fuel for it to actually use it's aerospace fighter mode it was even worse.
@@andrewszigeti2174 Yes they were lightly armed, but high jump MP is really powerful. Most tournaments restrict how many units you can take with jump 7+, and with old school LAMs we're talking jump values over 20!
@@TrailblazerBT And? Jump 7, jump 700, it's still a +4 modifier unless you're using the OPTIONAL expanded jump rules. And you're always firing through the +3 jump modifier while you do so. So the net difference is a +1 mod. Given the 2d6 probabilities, +1 can indeed be significant... but rarely significant enough to cover the loss of 10% of your mass to conversion gear, and another 3-5 tons for fuel for fighter mode.
@@andrewszigeti2174 Ah I forgot that back in the day a +4 was the maximum. That does reduce the power a lot, but when you consider also the fact that you could be anywhere on the board that you wanted to be in any given turn, the original rules still seem very strong to me. But I didn't play them back in the day more than a couple of times, so perhaps I should defer to your experience.
Thank you for the in-depth Air-mech guide.
This might help me get out of my bi-modal comfort zone.
Wow, I wish this video had been around before I started writing my LAM-based fic! This was helpful, thanks.
Aerospace and LAMs are squarely the point in Battletech where I throw up my hands and declare, "no thanks, too damn complicated."
Can't fault you for that, aero is crazy. Sometimes I play with fighters and give them to a Megamek bot on my team so it doesn't take so much time.
Aero is fun... if it stays in its own little corner. All aero matches are great. It's largely when they and the ground start interacting with each other that things start getting ridiculous.
Aerotech is fine but LAMs are ridiculous.
Thats not a shadowhawk LAM on the thumbnail timmy, prepare for harmony gold boarding party.
This is amazing. We need more nitty gritty content like this. Now about the aerospace layer...
Definitely not my specialty... I think there are some good aero tutorial vids out there but I don't have links handy
Thank you for making this you beautiful human :)
Reminds me of the days when we used skid rules with hovertanks. I'd deliberately put my unit into a skid to get a better firing angle from time to time...
A brave man, to touch upon one of the most unseeable of the The Unseen! But cool video, good work.
I'm one of those few that thinks they still make great 'special forces' mechs. More a campaign asset then tactical.
Thank you very much for making this. I've been trying to find a video for this for awhile and reading the rules for them myself was confusing me quite a bit.😅
One of my first mechs waaaay back was a Phawk LAM... Lived long, then died hard
So I ordered the Urbie LAM because it's freaking Urbie LAM yet not sure how to use it. Wonder if they gonna provide us a record sheet for that...
I’ve been studying LAM rules since the UrbieLAM was announced. Loved LAMs back in the day, but haven’t played them in decades.
I tried working out it's sheet from the alpha strike card.
3.5.3 movement, er large and a small laser I think.
It's definitely so-so, fast enough to redeploy unlike normal urbies but not that fast
I hope we see more LAM videos, personally.
Great guide!
That was really cool, I'm looking forward to part 2!
I do like those icons, nice!
An excellent guide as usual , as a WiGE fan I hope you go into them one day
Great video. I used LAMs on my friend in MegaMek and he got screwed up. The Aerospace mode seems to be just a self-destruct button.
Man, I thought I had a handle on LAMs when reading the rulebooks. I somehow overlooked all that stuff about turn modes. Makes my head spin. I want to use LAMs on the tabletop, but there's so much complexity trying to blend mechs and aerospace.
They really made them unplayable on the tabletop, that is the thing I don't like about the current rules
@@TrailblazerBT I started BT in the 90s, but never got to use LAMs (or most other rules) back then. I'm contemplating houserules for LAMs because I know a friend wants to use them, but I don't want to bang my head on the wall trying to remember all the rules.
@@TrailblazerBT They tried to cut them out of the system entirely back when the Clans came around back in the FASA days. A little surprised to see them back, really...Btech seems not to be fond of the Macross Gerwalk modes. Then again, there's always been the problem of the 'Mechs are kings of the battlefield' mentality, which caused things like vehicles to get crippled in favor of the walking machines.
I am curious what your take on Tripods is or if you even want to cover them
They are very niche because there is literally 1 playable non superheavy tripod... that being said I will probably do something on the Triskelion l.
I know literally nothing about tripod mechs!
It’s reasons like this why players have access to the construction rules
Quad rules when? mby with analysis or tripods in there too. As a farily new player trying to explore new 3025 playable things this video is very helpfull, especialy since i play a single leopard company scenario with friend and the extra two 'mech LAM stored in aerospace bays would definetely make a diffirence. otherwise in order to maximize my mech unit number on field i would have to use pairs of locusts and i am not really a fon of those pilot deathtraps.
That sounds like a cool way to play! A video about quads is a nice idea, might take a while though since I have several other videos in progress right now
Please also make a video on how to use LAMs (in AirMech mode) in Alpha Strike. From my play sessions, they are super easy to play, but looking at the nightmare in CBT I feel like I am missing something obvious and they should be way more clunky.
I made an OWL LAM of 50 tons a long time ago. I will check my load out. Are your load outs good for strafing? Too few see the benefit of fast response LAM units. "Unknown mechs coming up behind us, Sir!"
They are stupidly fast. I played in a sort of grand strategy campaign, and it was insane how good LAMs were, because they could intercept enemy forces and do flyby missions and delay them.
I enjoy all of Trailblazer videos
Spiritwolf! Hey homie! :)
I would love to see a way to implement artillery and aerospace attacks easily. Like just pay for the long top shots or aerospace runs in BV.
There are these new Combat Support cards, I've never tried playing with them
Theres rules for abstracting them in the Battlemech Manual and the cards as Trailblazer mentioned. I haven't used them yet, either, but I think it would really cut down on the complexity of trying to use the full aerospace rules.
LAM is pronounced like 'lamb'.
I would say if you're going to play them in an actual battle consider taking the STG-A1. At 846BV it is surprisingly affordable and the pulse lasers make that horrible target modifier much less painful. LAMs like the PHX-HK2 suffer a lot from being fast and nigh-unhittable, but doing basically no damage, plus it is just plain expensive for what you get.
Maybe you and Red can have a discussion on way LAMS are good or bad for the game. I don't see them fitting for the game & air-mech mode seems really broken to me from what I know. I appreciate your vids even on LAMs & woukd try this out if I can ever get MegaMek running on my PC.
It's definitely not broken given the high BV cost. Indeed you need a pretty optimized custom LAM to make it worth the points.
I have stuff I don't like too, I hate the DnD meets battletech look of protomechs, but I don't spend my time hating on protos and I wish LAM haters would live and let live a bit more.
So you need two chunky rulebooks to fully use LAM's? That's some pretty poor rules management by CGL. These rules could certainly be streamlined and simplified.
Technically, you just need the tome that is the complete rulebook, Total Warfare, I think, but not everyone wants to have to filter through all of the other stuff it gets into...
The idea of an Air 'Mech, by itself, is interesting. However, I also know that the designers went out of their way to make LAM rules (in-game and construction) as complicated as possible to discourage their use. (Because of copyright mess)
Now it's gotten to the point where Partial Wings and Improved Jump Jets make LAMs largely irrelevant. Personally, I like the notion of a 'Mech-like VTOL. (Not 100% sold on the WiGE- movement)
I wish LAMs weren't deliberately gimped by design and rules (and aero) were streamlined
WOW they made air-mech movement stupid complicated.
The original rules were 'treat it as jumping movement'. Made gameplay much simpler.
Yeah it was too good before though...
@@TrailblazerBT No it wasn't.
We played with them a LOT in the eighties (what can I say, we were teenage Robotech fans)... and by and large they accomplished little, as the mass penalty for the conversion gear was crippling. If you included fuel for it to actually use it's aerospace fighter mode it was even worse.
@@andrewszigeti2174 Yes they were lightly armed, but high jump MP is really powerful. Most tournaments restrict how many units you can take with jump 7+, and with old school LAMs we're talking jump values over 20!
@@TrailblazerBT And? Jump 7, jump 700, it's still a +4 modifier unless you're using the OPTIONAL expanded jump rules. And you're always firing through the +3 jump modifier while you do so. So the net difference is a +1 mod. Given the 2d6 probabilities, +1 can indeed be significant... but rarely significant enough to cover the loss of 10% of your mass to conversion gear, and another 3-5 tons for fuel for fighter mode.
@@andrewszigeti2174 Ah I forgot that back in the day a +4 was the maximum. That does reduce the power a lot, but when you consider also the fact that you could be anywhere on the board that you wanted to be in any given turn, the original rules still seem very strong to me. But I didn't play them back in the day more than a couple of times, so perhaps I should defer to your experience.
Lam is to complicated my spider 5k is used for that .