Note, a couple of the figures in the DPT table are misaligned or contain ammo calculations, the correct base figures are here: WeaponSystem Damage/Ton M Laser 25 SRM2 16 SRM4 16 SRM6 16 LRM5 10 L Laser 8 LRM15 8.57 PPC 7.14 LRM20 8 LRM10 8 A/C 20 6.1 A/C 5 6.625 A/C 10 4.44 A/C 2 4.16
I know I'm several years late but just started playing BattleTech and this video is really amazing! I don't get the lostech bit of the table but I'm sure if I progress in the game I'll figure it out. Thanks for your write up Edmon as well, about tactics on the BattleTech subreddit. Love it!
I reckon jumpjets are more useful than you claim. They enable much greater movement out of, across and into many difficult terrains (water, rough ground, woods, impassable slopes, etc.) and enable the mech to face in any direction and attack in the same round (while sprinting does not allow an attack on the same turn). They also provide extra evasion for the same distance, simply because the mech is jumping. Also, the weight of each jumpjet varies according to mech weight category, so light mechs get 0.5 ton jumpjets, for example.
In my experience, jumpjets give at least one extra evasion chevron for the same distance travelled on the ground, plus they often result in extra movement (& evasion chevrons) that walking cannot provide, due to terrain types moved through, such as water, trees and a change in elevation. Plus jumpjets enable a mech to bypass unwanted terrain such as rough terrain & terrain that causes heat problems.
@@TheEdmon Perhaps I'm too inexperienced to notice, and I confess that since the Rifleman is my personal favorite mech going back to the eighties I'm a bit biased towards anything that makes the Rifleman more formidable. That being said, I don't feel UAC/5s at least are so much overpowered as they render standard AC/5s obsolete. LRM-20s are 10 tons and do... 100 damage, I think? The UAC/5 is 9 tons and does 90. LRMs still has the indirect fire advantage and longer range. I still have only found 4 UAC/5s and one UAC/20 in all my puttering around. Given their rarity, I protect my Rifleman's arms more than my pilot. I would like to find some UAC/2s and see if those are more viable than their standard counterpart. BTW, I just started following your channel: which mech is the Turkey? =)
@@justinamerican8200 The issue is the amount of shots and the fact that the +damage bonus will apply to all of them. The issue really is one of the Heavy Metal expansion, it was a problem in the basegame for sure, but the introduction of multishot weapons like the LBX, UAC and SNUB causes the +damage bonus to be massively magnified.
I've dropped more than 60 hours into this game (yes, I know, Im bit late to the party... but better be late than not arrive at all!) and while I totally enjoy the game and dont struggle in most battles I'm just starting to understand how it really works. Must admit that this vid really helps a lot.
reminds me of what we did in NBT back in the mw-2 MERCS days where the deadliest mech on the battlefield was a 65 ton clan chassis with MASC and 3 medium pulse lasers.. max armor and everything else was heat sinks, with only one of the clan 35 ton chassis doing all the same but with only 2 medium pulse lasers. It allowed players to never stop firing (remember real time, not turn based.. so your weps would recycle faster then you could cool off.. way faster. the ways we set up allowed us to keep the volume of fire up)
I find it valuable to get jumpjets every time to be able to jump cliffs, buildings, etc restrictive terrain which would be impossible to sprint even with fast mechs.
If your tonnage is very limited, like on all light mechs and some mediums. Then it is likely not worth it. Maps are designed so you can reach everywhere you need to without JJ. But otherwise I do agree with you. They shine on some mediums, all heavies and all assaults.
One of my starting mechs was an Enforcer. I put an ac/20 and a large laser on it as soon as possible but found it lacking enough mobility to keep up.. I dropped the large for 2 meds, maxed out the jump-jets/amr and it became almost unstoppable in the early game. I was chasing down Locust's and one shoting just about everything
The great benefit to jump jets on assault on table top and in this game is you get all the benefits and no drawbacks. DFA? With leg mods, negligable leg damage doing it. Get Defender Bonus, Evasion shevrons and can shoot? OP! Put a Brawler pilot into a Highlander, you'll be laughing. With lights heat from jump jets is a constant issue and mediums heat from jump jets prevent heat loss between turns, it's a constant concern, also if you try DFA in a light or medium you're more likely to wreck the mech's legs than damage whatever it is dropping on.
I remember getting the Enforcer reasonably early on in the campaign - it was a death-dealing machine and changed the game completely for me. Can't remember the loadout though. :/
Congrats on your reward on PDxCon. It lead me to your awesome channel and this video came at the exact right time, since I am diving into Battletech. Keep up the good videos, informative guides and interesting content.
This is easily my favorite vid on builds. Right or wrong ill be following this guide. I've been indecisive up to this point on builds and its been driving me crazy.
I think the importance of jumpjets is the fact that you can gain evasion without moving too far if you're in a forest for example or behind cover or in a good firing spot. Also, the fact that they allow you to face whichever way you want when you land. But I do recognise that these bonuses can be replaced by good tactical play, forethought and experience.
Your reasoning behind jump jets is exactly why I take them on virtually all my mechs. I don't agree with you that jump jets can be made unnecessary by better playing. Their benefits are not capable of being duplicated through any other means. IE move farther and shoot, and face any direction after you land, not to mention the higher ground attainability. Jump jets WILL allow you to kill more quickly. I rush my brawlers up close to finally jump directly behind the enemies and unleash on their backside. This play is absolutely devastating with something like a grasshopper. Only on very long range mechs or my missile boats would I forego Jump Jets, as their playstyle does not require them much.
Thank you very much for the video, i just recently bought Battletech because i love TBS games, but was having trouble with how to setup the mech, and your explaination made it a cakewalk. I was losing so much mech parts in each mission it was getting annoying, and now i can put my lance against 12 other mechs, and they at most lose an arm only.
I am glad to hear people are still getting good use out of this guide. Heavy Metal made things a lot easier because at lot of the weapons it added are really OP.
Very cool and extremely helpful especially for a new player like me. I'm new to the Verse as well so I don't have a vast knowledge of what mechs do what yet. As long as I build out whatever mechs I get in the correct manner I should be able to take on whatever the game throws at me. Thank you for putting this out and giving us insight into how you personally build out your mechs...
This is why I love how HBS gave us all the different types of 'brand name' weapons with mods on them that make an otherwise useless weapon useful. A PPC with -2 mass or +10 damage or +20 stability damage or +4 accuracy or some combination of these...definitely fun to find things like this in game to change things up from SRM/MLaser wars.
I just got a milestone in my Career, been grinding my way through the Black Market: Landed myself a MAD-3R with 2x M-Las, 1x L-Las +++ and 1x Gauss Rifle +++. A CN9-A with 2x M-Las ++, and 1x LRM-5 +++ and LRM-15 +++. A Wolverine of some sort with, 1x LRM-20 +++ and 1x M-Las. A JN7-D with 4x M-Las (No +s here sadly.) Seems, for where I'm at (only 80 or 90 weeks in) to do the job really well. Just blew my entire savings on the almost-5 million CBill Gauss Rifle and a shitload of Argo upgrades.
@theedmon do you have any plans to update this guide for heavy metal? I did your calculations on the new weapons and found that coils are nearly as efficient as medium lasers assuming 3 pips of charge up. I think this could make energy hard point poor mechs more viable
Heavy metal weapons are so overpowered I am actually waiting for a nerf before I address them. At the moment, they are so far above the baseline of what the AI can have, you can just steamroll the enemy with any build.
This video is really good thank you. Unfortunately I got to it just after having refit one of my mechs (badly) and now I’ll have to refit it next play session.
@@TheEdmon I can't seem to find that weapon in the Mech Bay in the Skirmish menu, is that where I could mock up builds with it? If not where's the best spot to do so? There's nothing else so far as you've done a very good job of teaching me to fish, so to say. :)
A really good video that covers a lot of important points. Couple of things that I would have mentioned with specific reference to campaign/career builds: 1 - Bulwark + Cover or Vigilance/Bracing massively increases the already powerful effect of armour. 2 - Precision Strike & Tactics 9 pilots significantly increase the utility of weapons that concentrate damage later on in the campaign. Magna +10 damage medium lasers, AC 10s with +5 or +10 damage, + 10 damage large lasers etc. all start to edge out LRMs and SRMs in some situations at that point. Also, some questions on the gear unique to Campaign/Career mode: You should obviously always use cockpit and gyro mods whenever you can get them (they are all upside) but how do you value Comms Relays/Rangefinders/Pilot Armour and Hit Defence/Stability Reduction/+ Melee Hit? Where do Arm Mods fall on your Brawling scale of Support -> Energy -> Missile -> Ballistic? Do you use TTS ever? What about Heat Banks/Heat Exchangers?
Arm mods are generally not that great in terms of damage per ton and they have to be in the arm, where they can be easily lost. However, they shine when a mech has terrible hardpoints OR where a mech will only melee and never use standard weapons (like in the banshee). Hit defense gyro is so much better than all other gyros, that other gyros are a total waste of time. In effect, it also reduces stab damage because you simply take less hits. Cockpit wise, its up to taste, comms is the best but only 1 counts. Range finder is good for a ranged mech, injury cockpit is good for brawlers. TTS/Heat Exchangers/Banks can make sense in assaults where there is lots of tonnage and weapons to exploit their effects, but in lighter classes they are generally too heavy to be useful. I hope this answers all your questions :).
@@TheEdmon Wait a sec. Did they recently changed arm mods? Because nowadays they weight none and thus a must have on any mech (if you have plenty, otherwise on brawler). I recently used light Mech with 2 +10 arm mods and two light lasers. 90 damage in melee from light Mech is no joke, ask those vehicle and opposing light Mech pilots. :) Sadly lost both arms and both mods and markets are dry.
Jump Jets honestly can feel kinda broken - they open up so much that base movement can't do well. Basically guaranteed max evasion regardless of terrain and can face any way you want control what LoS you want in a way regular movement just can't or even just drop 3 Griffin's with SRMs at the back of whatever mech you want dead lol.
I doubt I will be making future guides. The heavy metal expansion added tons of overpowered weapons to the game, making it vastly easier. This has kind of made mech building a lot less interesting, at least to me.
@TheEdmon did you ever do a new guide regarding Heavy Metal builds? You mentioned you were waiting for a nerf before you did so. I have not been able to locate such a guide. If you did can you provide the link? Also, this is fantastic and still relevant in my opinion.
This is lovely. I wonder if you have additional thought about the range of weaponry? Light lasers are great, but you have to get in range of every single one of the enemies weapons to bring them to bear (double moves notwithstanding). On the other hand a PPC mech with a good rangefinder means the PPC's effective damage per ton is infinitely better than an enemy with MLs because the MLs have to get in range. As you have demonstrated, a Panther may be the most fearsome mech in vanilla.
this guide was great, really helped me iron out some things about my mech design, however i never add jump jets, instead i go for extra heat sinks so i can churn out a higher rate of alpha strikes (specially on hotter mechs like the black knight). do you think that offset is worth it? (firepower>mobility) And also, you didnt cater to PPC's much, i kinda have atleast one on every mech, got 2 ppc's on a dragon atm, is that worth it?
PPC's are really weak in the basegame. If you want a game that has much better balanced, try Battletech Revised. To answer your other question, I like mobility because it allows you to get side and rear shots, which are much more effective.
I just got back into the game after a 4yr gap... haha... this is a very good video Any thoughts on how the DLC spices up things? Do the campaign and AI use builds with UAC/LBX?
Hmm... I ended up with 10+20 LRM and 3 ammo crates on this one plus one heat sink to cooldown for jumps while raining LRMs. Quite like this build so far. In 2-2.5 skull missions it's pretty efficient.
I like a ballistic sniper in hot or standard biomes. They can keep firing every turn as the heat buildup is far less than any other weapon type. Direct fire snipers also like jumping, which is heat. Most mechs can't jump and fire much in the desert, but a ballistic sniper would be cold enough. Of course you want to find a nice big AC with pluses on it, and have a great gunner before this becomes effective. These are my findings anyway, I just started the game and am nearing the end game of my first campaign. I really wanted to slap big cannons on everything at the start, but now I think I have a better idea on when and how to use ballistics. Which is, rarely. I have basically hot and less hot versions of every role, and I use them according biome and if the available pilot has some heat talents or not. The only "cold" mech I currently have is a Yager with 2 AC 10's and jump jets. It's been great, though it would probably be pointless in a cold biome. Also, an AC 10 with dmg+ can headshot most if not every mech I've come across, and my sniper pilot has the chops for it. She is very likely to get me the last mech of the battle intact, without much of a hassle.
Anything you could do with pre-heavy metal ballistics you could do better with energy weapons. But now, in Heavy Metal, everything has changed as there are tons of overpowered and very cool ballistic weapons. So really this guide needs to be revised for this brave new world... unless you don't have heavy metal installed of course. Then all of this is still valid.
In the basegame, you can't change the engine of a mech, so you just have to go with the mech "as a whole package". Around 4 JJ and/or 4 hexes of walk speed is usually ideal.
Great Video. 1. Interesting calculations on the armour value. =) 2. Doesn't it make more sense for the brawler to use the order: support, srm, ml, ballistic instead of: support, ml, srm, ballistic ? SRMs have a better efficiency per heat-ton, so you just use the MLs to adjust to the delta you want, instead of the SRMs in your example. Because for a given heat delta, damage per heat/ton is the relevant factor and MLs free up more heat per damage lost.
SRMs spread their damage while ML deal more concentrated damage. Even when you use Precision Shot, missiles will scatter while lasers will be pinpoint if your accurate enough. (high tactics will improve Precision Shot accuracy)
There are some edge cases where it can be better to go SRM or ML, but generally ML is better, because they don't introduce ammo to your mech and they are lighter. On some very heavy assaults with lots of hardpoints, SRM can work out better as the damage per heat ton is better and the missile spread does not mitigate that. But it is a very edge case, either way would be totally fine. If you understand this at this level of detail, you should be able to make the right decision on a per case basis.
@@TheEdmon Well, I assume on average(medium and above) we should have enough hardpoints to reach our maximum delta of ca. 30, so that's the given factor. In that case damage per heat ton is the crucial factor. (Going of your table with ammo incorporated, obviously there are breaking points for ammo). For example, your end result had 179 and a delta of 25 on a medium, with SRM 8 and 3 ML. With SRM 16 and 1 ML it would reach 193 and a delta of 26. (And 24 additional stability damage) Both having 12.5 rounds of ammo. That's why I usually fit as many SRMs as I can with other equipment and then fit as many MLs as I want my delta to be, unless it's a light mech that just reaches said delta with MLs. Where else would one bring this level of detail, if not your channel? ;) I agree that it's a minor difference.
@@AquilaGuard Damage spread isn't that relevant, unless we are talking about end-level pilots with lots of precision strikes. It averages out, since those MLs won't hit the same place. If it was that important, an AC 20 would be better than MLs.^^
And this is why I was losing my shit watching Lewis and Ben (Yogscast), despite not being involved with Battle, because all their mechs are ridiculously under armored and over armed where they struggle to fire all weapons for their mechs throughout their campaign.. then have 20-30 pilots deaths..
Armour is ridiciously efficient. Unless combat lasts more than 8 turns, it is always worth the investment. Plus it can't typically be "taken away" from you, like weapons can. I.E. you get the value as it takes damage, you lose the value of a weapon when it is taken out. It's a complex subject, but armour is SO efficient that no matter how you do the math, it still comes out on top.
What you say about armor/weapon comparison is right as long at an one on one fight. The problem ist always more enemys Mechs fire on one of your Mechs if they can. So you never have 16 Turns for your mech. Its more 16 enemy mech-turns on your mech. Those circumstances makes you to fill your mech with a lot weapons and heatsinks, dont matter how many armor you have, and try to kill an enemy every turn. Dont understand me wrong, your sience is well done, but its like sience versus reality...... sience only works well in a laboratory. Weapons: Pinpointweapons ar a lot more helpful than spreadweapons, medium lasers also dont hit one point often. In the begining it doesnt matter so much how quick your enemy goes down. There you miss often and its better to use a lot spreadweapons. A little dmg ist better than no dmg. Later its best to shot em out of the cockpit in one turn. This can only mean one thing: As long your pilots are trash you need to have SRM and mediums and later you need LRM´s to destabilize and big pinpointweapons to finish the foe. I learned in an other competetive battlemechgame: The ability to kill every enemy mech in seconds results in you win quick every battle with less repairs.
Armour is way more efficient than weapons. A mech with modest weapons and full armour will stomp a mech with heavy weapons and little armour. Every time.
@@TheEdmon This would be right if i have to strip all the armor down to kill a mech but i havent. I have to, a good pilot provided, strip the right component with the right weapon and this makes your sience superfluous. I know, as long i dont have assaults with the right weapons and pilots with the right abilitys, i strip randomly a lot armor (because of the unreal hitchances, while the pilots are trash, in the game) and there is the point where you are right. So i disagree with: "Every time" Btw, thanks for the answwer. I know i am late but i thinked to use my holydays to play the game-dlc´s and i looked for different ideas and some math to optimize my playstyle.
@@1DerTempler The average DPS of a weapon on a stock mech is 9.6 / Ton. Armour provides 80 HP per ton. So it lasts just over 8 turns / ton of weapon. So unless your battles are incredibly protracted affairs where the enemy is shooting you over and over for more than 8 turns, armour works out better than weapons. The amount of armour you are limited to by the mech building system just so happens to be slightly less than the optimal amount of armour. If the game didn't limit you, you'd actually want more armour (which is seen in some mods, where putting on even more armour is allowed). Because you can always use extremely light (or free) melee or support weapons to get serious damage, even with almost no spare tonnage. For example, a fully armoured firestarter can get 400+ damage easily, with just 4 tons of free tonnage.
To be fair, with Battletech Revised (The mod I did the design and balance for) I have little interest in the basegame. Since Heavy Metal, balance in the basegame has gone out the window for "more, better, more uber" weapons.
As a complete Noob to this game can I ask what sort of lance configuration would you use i.e all brawlers or 2 brawlers, 1 sniper/ranged assault and 1 LRM battery etc etc? Or does it depend on the mission task? Cheers
In the basegame, I used to use 2 brawlers and 2 ranged dps (of which one was usually LRM). I'd use that for almost every mission. But tactics are much more important than mech comp, as a new player focus on getting double turns and controlling LOS. This will let you win fights no matter what mechs or configurations you have.
I've thought about this for a couple of years. You are wrong in thinking one sided jump jets are not aerodynamically stable, the nozzles can be slanted such that the net forces cancel each other out. Do the humans have to dance around the limitation? No, this is not WH40K with Abominable Intelligence (AI) so one can leave the calculations to computers connected to servos.
In the Battletech lore, jumpjets are very unstable even if correctly distributed in optimal positions. In the TT game, you actually have to make piloting rolls to stay upright every time you use them. BT lore is very odd, but generally speaking, it's like living in the 1980's but with fusion, lasers and plasma. I mean, computer systems in BT are measured in tons... and the idea you'd need a 3 ton (or even 6 ton) computer to do anything in a single unit is ridicious by todays standards. That's like having a datacenter in a tank.
Hi Edmon! what would you recommend to use as a strategy in early game in "Base Defense" missions against the long range Jenners. They seem to be destroying my base buildings faster than I can do anything to them... Their evasion and the pace of drop ships flying in, is just a bit too fast and too much... They ignoring me and it's hard to relocate my mechs fast enough to block their LS.
Strategy for base defense can depend a lot on the map. The A.I. should target you if both of these are true: 1) You have landed a hit on them in the last couple of turns. 2) They have direct LOS on you. Thefore, it can make sense to bring a multishot LRM boat with you to such maps. You can lob missiles at many targets and at least connect some of them, which should draw the Jenner aggro to you rather than your buildings. I hope this helps.
I drop in with 200 tons and face 8 mechs on normal level and I am only on second campaign mission auto cannon 10 dropped more of mechs than any other weapon one thing don't count is ace pilot and can change that in settings all I been facing is cliffs and hard ground and guy had no jumps so had wait get to way point
So the only thing I'm taking from this is the unfortunate phrase "I can punch through someone's backend in 3 turns"..... yes they definitely need more armour.
I know this came out a while ago, but is there a text version of this? No offense to you, but I can read a *lot* faster than you can speak, and it's easier for me to break down things that I don't understand in text than in a video.
A light mech vs. assault: LM: My armor is exponentially more powerful than your armor and I have all medium lasers which are the most efficient dmg per ton. Assault: Alpha strike with LRM20x2. Light mech gets cored.
In Skyrim 5 they, whoever they are, have created a mod add-on tool that allows independently made mods to be added to, load ordered, incorporated into the game with a simple click of the button. Can you explain why the Battletech people don't do that? I desperately would love to play the game in a state of completion that makes sense and is fun. What's not fun is not being able to play the game in a nearly completed state without having to have a doctorate degree in computer programming! Point, click, add, remove, make the game fun and interesting, easy as pie, one, two, three!!!!!
there is a player made tool, but it's a little... problematic. in about a months time everything is going to change drasticly any way with the next DLC release which will have the initial dev provided modding tool. SO hang in there change coming and it should be better.
@@terranceroff8113 --- Thanks for the response. I hope so. Battletech has the potential to be one of the best PC games ever, I just hope they believe in themselves.
I like having a lance of mixed long-range and brawler. 1: If I need to swap over, It's way more armour. 2: I don't need as many tons on heatsinks. For a mech, it is probably inefficient but for an entire lance built that way it's probably better. If it's not more efficient, then it's at least a safer build strategy. Crusader is my favourite mech. Also the ammo in the legs or arms idea is to avoid TAC.
Completely disagree with core ideas here. Highest alpha strike concentrated into single components with called shots means our enemies never get to shoot back. Just have a couple super fast jumping mechs to soak fire and load up the other two with as much AC/UAC damage as you can get. I have an annihilator that does close to 800 damage with 2x uac20++ and 2x uac2++ and it can one shot even assault mechs if if gets a few hits to centre torso. 20% ballistics damage helps obviously! Same story with warhammer with 20% laser damage...
This guide was made before Heavy Metal introduced the totally broken weapons and abilities you mention. This guide still works in mods like Battletech revised where the insane and noobifying super tech of the Heavy Metal expansion has been toned down.
Oh man, its painful to see you suggest max back armor. I'd only do that for dedicated brawlers. Snipers and LRM boats do not need heavy back armor. Its an easy way to shave some points off to fit in some more weapons. In fact, if you drop back armor to 25 and shave off 10 points of armor from your torsos and legs, you can upgrade 1 LRM 5 to an LRM 10. With 2 tons of ammo that gives you 12 shots of 20 LRMs + 3 ML for 28 heat, which is still within that heat delta of 20 - 30. Pretty good for a support mech. As for jumpjets, what you really want them for is the free turn face and an easy way to max your evasion. Its best to fight the enemy near hills that can block line of sight or rough terrain the enemy is forced to move through. Having jump jets just gives you a lot of options as a light/medium mech.
Lots of people min max by taking away back armour and I always think it is a mistake. Sure it allows you to win harder in some, even most cases. But, the one time enemies teleport in behind you, or you are surrounded like in a target ack or certain base defences... you will be punished harshly for cutting corners. High rear armour also allows you to directly retreat a mech and know it will be safe with its back towards the enemy, if it is taking too much heat or finds itself in a bad position. Its not how hard you win in battletech, it's avoiding ways you can lose. Play to not lose is an advanced topic I might cover one day.
@@TheEdmon this is the difference between someone who Ironmans and someone who save scums. Armor is your margin of error. Of course you never plan to let your mech get drilled in the rear arc, but it happens.
@@dancecommander7466 I don't save scum though, it just very rare for me to die to rear shots on sniper or LRM boats since they tend to stay at long range. Brawlers though do need max back armor. I guess Its a matter of how much risk you like to take.
It is pretty good in BT:R though! This guide is a little old, there are some ballastic weapons which are quite good (read: insanely OP) that were introduced in Heavy Metal.
Note, a couple of the figures in the DPT table are misaligned or contain ammo calculations, the correct base figures are here:
WeaponSystem Damage/Ton
M Laser 25
SRM2 16
SRM4 16
SRM6 16
LRM5 10
L Laser 8
LRM15 8.57
PPC 7.14
LRM20 8
LRM10 8
A/C 20 6.1
A/C 5 6.625
A/C 10 4.44
A/C 2 4.16
I know I'm several years late but just started playing BattleTech and this video is really amazing! I don't get the lostech bit of the table but I'm sure if I progress in the game I'll figure it out.
Thanks for your write up Edmon as well, about tactics on the BattleTech subreddit. Love it!
Always a pleasure to help.
I reckon jumpjets are more useful than you claim. They enable much greater movement out of, across and into many difficult terrains (water, rough ground, woods, impassable slopes, etc.) and enable the mech to face in any direction and attack in the same round (while sprinting does not allow an attack on the same turn). They also provide extra evasion for the same distance, simply because the mech is jumping.
Also, the weight of each jumpjet varies according to mech weight category, so light mechs get 0.5 ton jumpjets, for example.
In my experience, jumpjets give at least one extra evasion chevron for the same distance travelled on the ground, plus they often result in extra movement (& evasion chevrons) that walking cannot provide, due to terrain types moved through, such as water, trees and a change in elevation. Plus jumpjets enable a mech to bypass unwanted terrain such as rough terrain & terrain that causes heat problems.
Totally changed how I'm looking at my loadouts and lance composition. Great tutorial.
Thanks! A little out of date now because UAC's are a thing... and they are pretty op.
@@TheEdmon My Rifleman smiles. =)
@@justinamerican8200 Yeah, Heavy Metal really affected the balance. UAC's are really overpowered. Especially the /5 and /2 +damage types.
@@TheEdmon Perhaps I'm too inexperienced to notice, and I confess that since the Rifleman is my personal favorite mech going back to the eighties I'm a bit biased towards anything that makes the Rifleman more formidable.
That being said, I don't feel UAC/5s at least are so much overpowered as they render standard AC/5s obsolete. LRM-20s are 10 tons and do... 100 damage, I think? The UAC/5 is 9 tons and does 90. LRMs still has the indirect fire advantage and longer range.
I still have only found 4 UAC/5s and one UAC/20 in all my puttering around. Given their rarity, I protect my Rifleman's arms more than my pilot. I would like to find some UAC/2s and see if those are more viable than their standard counterpart.
BTW, I just started following your channel: which mech is the Turkey? =)
@@justinamerican8200 The issue is the amount of shots and the fact that the +damage bonus will apply to all of them. The issue really is one of the Heavy Metal expansion, it was a problem in the basegame for sure, but the introduction of multishot weapons like the LBX, UAC and SNUB causes the +damage bonus to be massively magnified.
I've dropped more than 60 hours into this game (yes, I know, Im bit late to the party... but better be late than not arrive at all!) and while I totally enjoy the game and dont struggle in most battles I'm just starting to understand how it really works. Must admit that this vid really helps a lot.
Dead mechs don't fire back. Heat is a resource to be spent :).
@@TheEdmon True ;-). Also, I see why med lasers are better than combination of heavy lasers, ppc and A/C.
reminds me of what we did in NBT back in the mw-2 MERCS days where the deadliest mech on the battlefield was a 65 ton clan chassis with MASC and 3 medium pulse lasers.. max armor and everything else was heat sinks, with only one of the clan 35 ton chassis doing all the same but with only 2 medium pulse lasers. It allowed players to never stop firing (remember real time, not turn based.. so your weps would recycle faster then you could cool off.. way faster. the ways we set up allowed us to keep the volume of fire up)
Things are very different with real time, like MWO. Often, autocannons and such are pretty decent there, as you can poptart.
Low cycle Laser weapons reign supreme when your opponents ping has to be factored into your firing solution XD
I find it valuable to get jumpjets every time to be able to jump cliffs, buildings, etc restrictive terrain which would be impossible to sprint even with fast mechs.
If your tonnage is very limited, like on all light mechs and some mediums. Then it is likely not worth it. Maps are designed so you can reach everywhere you need to without JJ. But otherwise I do agree with you. They shine on some mediums, all heavies and all assaults.
One of my starting mechs was an Enforcer. I put an ac/20 and a large laser on it as soon as possible but found it lacking enough mobility to keep up.. I dropped the large for 2 meds, maxed out the jump-jets/amr and it became almost unstoppable in the early game. I was chasing down Locust's and one shoting just about everything
The great benefit to jump jets on assault on table top and in this game is you get all the benefits and no drawbacks. DFA? With leg mods, negligable leg damage doing it. Get Defender Bonus, Evasion shevrons and can shoot? OP! Put a Brawler pilot into a Highlander, you'll be laughing. With lights heat from jump jets is a constant issue and mediums heat from jump jets prevent heat loss between turns, it's a constant concern, also if you try DFA in a light or medium you're more likely to wreck the mech's legs than damage whatever it is dropping on.
I remember getting the Enforcer reasonably early on in the campaign - it was a death-dealing machine and changed the game completely for me. Can't remember the loadout though. :/
Congrats on your reward on PDxCon. It lead me to your awesome channel and this video came at the exact right time, since I am diving into Battletech. Keep up the good videos, informative guides and interesting content.
My reward on PDxCon? Thanks for the comment and praise :).
TheEdmon That was supposed to be award. I believe we saw your thank you message on the main stage, or am I mistaken?
@@chrisva8996 I believe it was only Prussan Havoc that got an award? Unless you have a link to a shoutout...
This is easily my favorite vid on builds. Right or wrong ill be following this guide. I've been indecisive up to this point on builds and its been driving me crazy.
I think the importance of jumpjets is the fact that you can gain evasion without moving too far if you're in a forest for example or behind cover or in a good firing spot. Also, the fact that they allow you to face whichever way you want when you land. But I do recognise that these bonuses can be replaced by good tactical play, forethought and experience.
Your reasoning behind jump jets is exactly why I take them on virtually all my mechs. I don't agree with you that jump jets can be made unnecessary by better playing. Their benefits are not capable of being duplicated through any other means. IE move farther and shoot, and face any direction after you land, not to mention the higher ground attainability. Jump jets WILL allow you to kill more quickly. I rush my brawlers up close to finally jump directly behind the enemies and unleash on their backside. This play is absolutely devastating with something like a grasshopper. Only on very long range mechs or my missile boats would I forego Jump Jets, as their playstyle does not require them much.
Thank you very much for the video, i just recently bought Battletech because i love TBS games, but was having trouble with how to setup the mech, and your explaination made it a cakewalk. I was losing so much mech parts in each mission it was getting annoying, and now i can put my lance against 12 other mechs, and they at most lose an arm only.
I am glad to hear people are still getting good use out of this guide. Heavy Metal made things a lot easier because at lot of the weapons it added are really OP.
Great video! Changed the way I look at Light mech builds.
Thanks!
Very cool and extremely helpful especially for a new player like me.
I'm new to the Verse as well so I don't have a vast knowledge of what mechs do what yet.
As long as I build out whatever mechs I get in the correct manner I should be able to take on whatever the game throws at me.
Thank you for putting this out and giving us insight into how you personally build out your mechs...
Excellent video, thanks for going into this in such detail.
Glad it could help.
This is why I love how HBS gave us all the different types of 'brand name' weapons with mods on them that make an otherwise useless weapon useful. A PPC with -2 mass or +10 damage or +20 stability damage or +4 accuracy or some combination of these...definitely fun to find things like this in game to change things up from SRM/MLaser wars.
Thank you for the detailed explanations. Learned a lot here. And got some new ideas for mech building. :)
Glad to have helped :).
I just got a milestone in my Career, been grinding my way through the Black Market: Landed myself a MAD-3R with 2x M-Las, 1x L-Las +++ and 1x Gauss Rifle +++.
A CN9-A with 2x M-Las ++, and 1x LRM-5 +++ and LRM-15 +++.
A Wolverine of some sort with, 1x LRM-20 +++ and 1x M-Las.
A JN7-D with 4x M-Las (No +s here sadly.)
Seems, for where I'm at (only 80 or 90 weeks in) to do the job really well. Just blew my entire savings on the almost-5 million CBill Gauss Rifle and a shitload of Argo upgrades.
@theedmon do you have any plans to update this guide for heavy metal? I did your calculations on the new weapons and found that coils are nearly as efficient as medium lasers assuming 3 pips of charge up. I think this could make energy hard point poor mechs more viable
Heavy metal weapons are so overpowered I am actually waiting for a nerf before I address them. At the moment, they are so far above the baseline of what the AI can have, you can just steamroll the enemy with any build.
Thanks for the great guide.
Glad you like it.
Thanks for the content! Helps a lot
Glad you liked it.
This video is really good thank you. Unfortunately I got to it just after having refit one of my mechs (badly) and now I’ll have to refit it next play session.
Well if you have any questions please let me know :). This guide was from behind UAC was a thing, those are pretty OP...
@@TheEdmon I can't seem to find that weapon in the Mech Bay in the Skirmish menu, is that where I could mock up builds with it? If not where's the best spot to do so? There's nothing else so far as you've done a very good job of teaching me to fish, so to say. :)
@@decdeclanlan They come with the Heavy Metal expansion if you aren't modding.
Thank you. You are a scholar and a gentleman.
A really good video that covers a lot of important points. Couple of things that I would have mentioned with specific reference to campaign/career builds:
1 - Bulwark + Cover or Vigilance/Bracing massively increases the already powerful effect of armour.
2 - Precision Strike & Tactics 9 pilots significantly increase the utility of weapons that concentrate damage later on in the campaign. Magna +10 damage medium lasers, AC 10s with +5 or +10 damage, + 10 damage large lasers etc. all start to edge out LRMs and SRMs in some situations at that point.
Also, some questions on the gear unique to Campaign/Career mode:
You should obviously always use cockpit and gyro mods whenever you can get them (they are all upside) but how do you value Comms Relays/Rangefinders/Pilot Armour and Hit Defence/Stability Reduction/+ Melee Hit?
Where do Arm Mods fall on your Brawling scale of Support -> Energy -> Missile -> Ballistic?
Do you use TTS ever? What about Heat Banks/Heat Exchangers?
Arm mods are generally not that great in terms of damage per ton and they have to be in the arm, where they can be easily lost. However, they shine when a mech has terrible hardpoints OR where a mech will only melee and never use standard weapons (like in the banshee).
Hit defense gyro is so much better than all other gyros, that other gyros are a total waste of time. In effect, it also reduces stab damage because you simply take less hits.
Cockpit wise, its up to taste, comms is the best but only 1 counts. Range finder is good for a ranged mech, injury cockpit is good for brawlers.
TTS/Heat Exchangers/Banks can make sense in assaults where there is lots of tonnage and weapons to exploit their effects, but in lighter classes they are generally too heavy to be useful.
I hope this answers all your questions :).
@@TheEdmon Wait a sec. Did they recently changed arm mods? Because nowadays they weight none and thus a must have on any mech (if you have plenty, otherwise on brawler). I recently used light Mech with 2 +10 arm mods and two light lasers. 90 damage in melee from light Mech is no joke, ask those vehicle and opposing light Mech pilots. :) Sadly lost both arms and both mods and markets are dry.
@@1kvolt1978 Arm mods have been buffed considerably for HM.
Jump Jets honestly can feel kinda broken - they open up so much that base movement can't do well. Basically guaranteed max evasion regardless of terrain and can face any way you want control what LoS you want in a way regular movement just can't or even just drop 3 Griffin's with SRMs at the back of whatever mech you want dead lol.
You can tell instantly if someone is new to the game if they don't think Jumpjets are powerful, or think they aren't worth the tonnage.
Incredibly helpful, thank you so much!
Fantastic guide. Will there be an update?
I doubt I will be making future guides. The heavy metal expansion added tons of overpowered weapons to the game, making it vastly easier.
This has kind of made mech building a lot less interesting, at least to me.
Watched video twice. Learned a lot. Thx.
Glad it helped :). One thing is that now Heavy Metal is out, Ultra autocannons are actually pretty good. So keep that in mind when building.
@@TheEdmon Just bought Heavy Metal since you said it's good. Game is a lot more enjoyable when you're not clueless as to what's going on.
@TheEdmon did you ever do a new guide regarding Heavy Metal builds? You mentioned you were waiting for a nerf before you did so. I have not been able to locate such a guide. If you did can you provide the link? Also, this is fantastic and still relevant in my opinion.
The nerf never came...
The new weapons remain vastly overpowered compared to the old ones. Especially the ++ damage ultra or LBX stuff :(.
@@TheEdmon So are UAC and LBX are actually usable now compared to Laser and Missiles?
@@starrisk Yes, very much so. Actually the +damage UAC/2 and LBX2 best weapons in the basegame by far.
This is lovely. I wonder if you have additional thought about the range of weaponry? Light lasers are great, but you have to get in range of every single one of the enemies weapons to bring them to bear (double moves notwithstanding). On the other hand a PPC mech with a good rangefinder means the PPC's effective damage per ton is infinitely better than an enemy with MLs because the MLs have to get in range. As you have demonstrated, a Panther may be the most fearsome mech in vanilla.
this guide was great, really helped me iron out some things about my mech design, however i never add jump jets, instead i go for extra heat sinks so i can churn out a higher rate of alpha strikes (specially on hotter mechs like the black knight). do you think that offset is worth it? (firepower>mobility)
And also, you didnt cater to PPC's much, i kinda have atleast one on every mech, got 2 ppc's on a dragon atm, is that worth it?
PPC's are really weak in the basegame. If you want a game that has much better balanced, try Battletech Revised. To answer your other question, I like mobility because it allows you to get side and rear shots, which are much more effective.
I just got back into the game after a 4yr gap... haha... this is a very good video
Any thoughts on how the DLC spices up things? Do the campaign and AI use builds with UAC/LBX?
Heavy metal made +damage UAC and LBX (especially /2 and /5) extremely powerful.
Hmm... I ended up with 10+20 LRM and 3 ammo crates on this one plus one heat sink to cooldown for jumps while raining LRMs. Quite like this build so far. In 2-2.5 skull missions it's pretty efficient.
I like a ballistic sniper in hot or standard biomes. They can keep firing every turn as the heat buildup is far less than any other weapon type. Direct fire snipers also like jumping, which is heat. Most mechs can't jump and fire much in the desert, but a ballistic sniper would be cold enough. Of course you want to find a nice big AC with pluses on it, and have a great gunner before this becomes effective.
These are my findings anyway, I just started the game and am nearing the end game of my first campaign. I really wanted to slap big cannons on everything at the start, but now I think I have a better idea on when and how to use ballistics. Which is, rarely. I have basically hot and less hot versions of every role, and I use them according biome and if the available pilot has some heat talents or not. The only "cold" mech I currently have is a Yager with 2 AC 10's and jump jets. It's been great, though it would probably be pointless in a cold biome.
Also, an AC 10 with dmg+ can headshot most if not every mech I've come across, and my sniper pilot has the chops for it. She is very likely to get me the last mech of the battle intact, without much of a hassle.
Anything you could do with pre-heavy metal ballistics you could do better with energy weapons. But now, in Heavy Metal, everything has changed as there are tons of overpowered and very cool ballistic weapons. So really this guide needs to be revised for this brave new world... unless you don't have heavy metal installed of course. Then all of this is still valid.
Really useful and well explained... thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Any guidance on the "sweet spot" for speed vs mech weight? Some formula or rule of thumb to decide the optimal movement for a given tonnage?
In the basegame, you can't change the engine of a mech, so you just have to go with the mech "as a whole package".
Around 4 JJ and/or 4 hexes of walk speed is usually ideal.
Looks like you did a Battletech Advanced playthrough last year-are any of those 100+ episodes something like this but for BTA?
Yes, but I can't remember which ones... lol
@ Ooof
Great Video.
1. Interesting calculations on the armour value. =)
2. Doesn't it make more sense for the brawler to use the order:
support, srm, ml, ballistic
instead of:
support, ml, srm, ballistic
?
SRMs have a better efficiency per heat-ton, so you just use the MLs to adjust to the delta you want, instead of the SRMs in your example. Because for a given heat delta, damage per heat/ton is the relevant factor and MLs free up more heat per damage lost.
SRMs spread their damage while ML deal more concentrated damage. Even when you use Precision Shot, missiles will scatter while lasers will be pinpoint if your accurate enough. (high tactics will improve Precision Shot accuracy)
There are some edge cases where it can be better to go SRM or ML, but generally ML is better, because they don't introduce ammo to your mech and they are lighter.
On some very heavy assaults with lots of hardpoints, SRM can work out better as the damage per heat ton is better and the missile spread does not mitigate that.
But it is a very edge case, either way would be totally fine. If you understand this at this level of detail, you should be able to make the right decision on a per case basis.
@@TheEdmon Well, I assume on average(medium and above) we should have enough hardpoints to reach our maximum delta of ca. 30, so that's the given factor.
In that case damage per heat ton is the crucial factor. (Going of your table with ammo incorporated, obviously there are breaking points for ammo).
For example, your end result had 179 and a delta of 25 on a medium, with SRM 8 and 3 ML.
With SRM 16 and 1 ML it would reach 193 and a delta of 26. (And 24 additional stability damage)
Both having 12.5 rounds of ammo.
That's why I usually fit as many SRMs as I can with other equipment and then fit as many MLs as I want my delta to be, unless it's a light mech that just reaches said delta with MLs.
Where else would one bring this level of detail, if not your channel? ;)
I agree that it's a minor difference.
@@AquilaGuard Damage spread isn't that relevant, unless we are talking about end-level pilots with lots of precision strikes. It averages out, since those MLs won't hit the same place. If it was that important, an AC 20 would be better than MLs.^^
@@wolfvonversweber1109 ML are the #1 weapon because of how little they weight and requiring no ammo (ammo can explode when hit).
And this is why I was losing my shit watching Lewis and Ben (Yogscast), despite not being involved with Battle, because all their mechs are ridiculously under armored and over armed where they struggle to fire all weapons for their mechs throughout their campaign.. then have 20-30 pilots deaths..
Armour is ridiciously efficient. Unless combat lasts more than 8 turns, it is always worth the investment. Plus it can't typically be "taken away" from you, like weapons can. I.E. you get the value as it takes damage, you lose the value of a weapon when it is taken out.
It's a complex subject, but armour is SO efficient that no matter how you do the math, it still comes out on top.
What you say about armor/weapon comparison is right as long at an one on one fight. The problem ist always more enemys Mechs fire on one of your Mechs if they can. So you never have 16 Turns for your mech. Its more 16 enemy mech-turns on your mech. Those circumstances makes you to fill your mech with a lot weapons and heatsinks, dont matter how many armor you have, and try to kill an enemy every turn. Dont understand me wrong, your sience is well done, but its like sience versus reality...... sience only works well in a laboratory.
Weapons: Pinpointweapons ar a lot more helpful than spreadweapons, medium lasers also dont hit one point often. In the begining it doesnt matter so much how quick your enemy goes down. There you miss often and its better to use a lot spreadweapons. A little dmg ist better than no dmg. Later its best to shot em out of the cockpit in one turn. This can only mean one thing: As long your pilots are trash you need to have SRM and mediums and later you need LRM´s to destabilize and big pinpointweapons to finish the foe.
I learned in an other competetive battlemechgame: The ability to kill every enemy mech in seconds results in you win quick every battle with less repairs.
Armour is way more efficient than weapons. A mech with modest weapons and full armour will stomp a mech with heavy weapons and little armour. Every time.
@@TheEdmon This would be right if i have to strip all the armor down to kill a mech but i havent. I have to, a good pilot provided, strip the right component with the right weapon and this makes your sience superfluous. I know, as long i dont have assaults with the right weapons and pilots with the right abilitys, i strip randomly a lot armor (because of the unreal hitchances, while the pilots are trash, in the game) and there is the point where you are right. So i disagree with: "Every time"
Btw, thanks for the answwer. I know i am late but i thinked to use my holydays to play the game-dlc´s and i looked for different ideas and some math to optimize my playstyle.
@@1DerTempler The average DPS of a weapon on a stock mech is 9.6 / Ton. Armour provides 80 HP per ton. So it lasts just over 8 turns / ton of weapon. So unless your battles are incredibly protracted affairs where the enemy is shooting you over and over for more than 8 turns, armour works out better than weapons.
The amount of armour you are limited to by the mech building system just so happens to be slightly less than the optimal amount of armour. If the game didn't limit you, you'd actually want more armour (which is seen in some mods, where putting on even more armour is allowed). Because you can always use extremely light (or free) melee or support weapons to get serious damage, even with almost no spare tonnage. For example, a fully armoured firestarter can get 400+ damage easily, with just 4 tons of free tonnage.
is there going to be an up-to date version of this? would be really interesting to see how things have changed
To be fair, with Battletech Revised (The mod I did the design and balance for) I have little interest in the basegame. Since Heavy Metal, balance in the basegame has gone out the window for "more, better, more uber" weapons.
@@TheEdmon does this mod affect campaigns/story mode.
@@brother_able4592 It adds the story to the Career as a series of flashpoints.
kick ass guide
Glad it helped.
As a complete Noob to this game can I ask what sort of lance configuration would you use i.e all brawlers or 2 brawlers, 1 sniper/ranged assault and 1 LRM battery etc etc? Or does it depend on the mission task? Cheers
In the basegame, I used to use 2 brawlers and 2 ranged dps (of which one was usually LRM). I'd use that for almost every mission. But tactics are much more important than mech comp, as a new player focus on getting double turns and controlling LOS. This will let you win fights no matter what mechs or configurations you have.
I've thought about this for a couple of years. You are wrong in thinking one sided jump jets are not aerodynamically stable, the nozzles can be slanted such that the net forces cancel each other out. Do the humans have to dance around the limitation? No, this is not WH40K with Abominable Intelligence (AI) so one can leave the calculations to computers connected to servos.
In the Battletech lore, jumpjets are very unstable even if correctly distributed in optimal positions. In the TT game, you actually have to make piloting rolls to stay upright every time you use them. BT lore is very odd, but generally speaking, it's like living in the 1980's but with fusion, lasers and plasma.
I mean, computer systems in BT are measured in tons... and the idea you'd need a 3 ton (or even 6 ton) computer to do anything in a single unit is ridicious by todays standards. That's like having a datacenter in a tank.
Hi Edmon! what would you recommend to use as a strategy in early game in "Base Defense" missions against the long range Jenners. They seem to be destroying my base buildings faster than I can do anything to them... Their evasion and the pace of drop ships flying in, is just a bit too fast and too much... They ignoring me and it's hard to relocate my mechs fast enough to block their LS.
Strategy for base defense can depend a lot on the map. The A.I. should target you if both of these are true:
1) You have landed a hit on them in the last couple of turns.
2) They have direct LOS on you.
Thefore, it can make sense to bring a multishot LRM boat with you to such maps. You can lob missiles at many targets and at least connect some of them, which should draw the Jenner aggro to you rather than your buildings. I hope this helps.
Just melee them lul
I drop in with 200 tons and face 8 mechs on normal level and I am only on second campaign mission auto cannon 10 dropped more of mechs than any other weapon one thing don't count is ace pilot and can change that in settings all I been facing is cliffs and hard ground and guy had no jumps so had wait get to way point
I always do max armor and yes med lasers are by far the best wep.
I think this holds true until endgame. With my 4 annihilator lance i can realistically kill 4-5 enemy assault mechs every turn, running 5 uac5++ each.
UAC's are really OP in the basegame. The UAC5, UAC2 and LBX/2 with +damage are insanely efficient.
@@TheEdmon yup, and with the sheer volume of firepower, you can actually headshot relatively safely. Definitely superior to double gauss
So the only thing I'm taking from this is the unfortunate phrase "I can punch through someone's backend in 3 turns"..... yes they definitely need more armour.
The backend is always where the target is vunerable :P.
I know this came out a while ago, but is there a text version of this? No offense to you, but I can read a *lot* faster than you can speak, and it's easier for me to break down things that I don't understand in text than in a video.
I know I'm replying to a year-old post, but one immediate solution to that would be to play this video at 1.5x or 2x speed.
EHP of a light - 98640
**Stray AC/10 to the head**
EDMG to a light - 98640
**trollface**
Medium lasers have the best damage to ton ratio
Small lasers: am I a joke to you?
Outside of the grasshopper and firestarter, support hardpoints are vanishingly rare.
A light mech vs. assault: LM: My armor is exponentially more powerful than your armor and I have all medium lasers which are the most efficient dmg per ton. Assault: Alpha strike with LRM20x2. Light mech gets cored.
Wit the right build any pilot, a light mech can have a permanent 5% chance to be hit.
Griffin is actually better just slightly than the shadowhawk - purely because of the hardpoints of the missile.
In Skyrim 5 they, whoever they are, have created a mod add-on tool that allows independently made mods to be added to, load ordered, incorporated into the game with a simple click of the button. Can you explain why the Battletech people don't do that? I desperately would love to play the game in a state of completion that makes sense and is fun. What's not fun is not being able to play the game in a nearly completed state without having to have a doctorate degree in computer programming! Point, click, add, remove, make the game fun and interesting, easy as pie, one, two, three!!!!!
Until the Heavy Metal DLC Modding was not supported due to a licensing issue. HBS has stated they will start supporting mods going forward.
there is a player made tool, but it's a little... problematic. in about a months time everything is going to change drasticly any way with the next DLC release which will have the initial dev provided modding tool.
SO hang in there change coming and it should be better.
@@terranceroff8113 --- Thanks for the response. I hope so. Battletech has the potential to be one of the best PC games ever, I just hope they believe in themselves.
@@JohnQPublic11 We believe! Official mod support coming soon.
I like having a lance of mixed long-range and brawler. 1: If I need to swap over, It's way more armour. 2: I don't need as many tons on heatsinks. For a mech, it is probably inefficient but for an entire lance built that way it's probably better. If it's not more efficient, then it's at least a safer build strategy. Crusader is my favourite mech. Also the ammo in the legs or arms idea is to avoid TAC.
Completely disagree with core ideas here. Highest alpha strike concentrated into single components with called shots means our enemies never get to shoot back. Just have a couple super fast jumping mechs to soak fire and load up the other two with as much AC/UAC damage as you can get.
I have an annihilator that does close to 800 damage with 2x uac20++ and 2x uac2++ and it can one shot even assault mechs if if gets a few hits to centre torso. 20% ballistics damage helps obviously!
Same story with warhammer with 20% laser damage...
This guide was made before Heavy Metal introduced the totally broken weapons and abilities you mention.
This guide still works in mods like Battletech revised where the insane and noobifying super tech of the Heavy Metal expansion has been toned down.
Oh man, its painful to see you suggest max back armor. I'd only do that for dedicated brawlers. Snipers and LRM boats do not need heavy back armor. Its an easy way to shave some points off to fit in some more weapons. In fact, if you drop back armor to 25 and shave off 10 points of armor from your torsos and legs, you can upgrade 1 LRM 5 to an LRM 10. With 2 tons of ammo that gives you 12 shots of 20 LRMs + 3 ML for 28 heat, which is still within that heat delta of 20 - 30. Pretty good for a support mech.
As for jumpjets, what you really want them for is the free turn face and an easy way to max your evasion. Its best to fight the enemy near hills that can block line of sight or rough terrain the enemy is forced to move through. Having jump jets just gives you a lot of options as a light/medium mech.
Lots of people min max by taking away back armour and I always think it is a mistake. Sure it allows you to win harder in some, even most cases. But, the one time enemies teleport in behind you, or you are surrounded like in a target ack or certain base defences... you will be punished harshly for cutting corners.
High rear armour also allows you to directly retreat a mech and know it will be safe with its back towards the enemy, if it is taking too much heat or finds itself in a bad position.
Its not how hard you win in battletech, it's avoiding ways you can lose. Play to not lose is an advanced topic I might cover one day.
@@TheEdmon this is the difference between someone who Ironmans and someone who save scums. Armor is your margin of error. Of course you never plan to let your mech get drilled in the rear arc, but it happens.
@@dancecommander7466 I don't save scum though, it just very rare for me to die to rear shots on sniper or LRM boats since they tend to stay at long range. Brawlers though do need max back armor. I guess Its a matter of how much risk you like to take.
You forgot rule number 1. Scrap your Dragon before wasting time on any builds for it.
It is pretty good in BT:R though! This guide is a little old, there are some ballastic weapons which are quite good (read: insanely OP) that were introduced in Heavy Metal.