MW5 made me love having T-Bolts around. They are chunk enough that the enemies tend to spread damage all over them and the wacky physics in MW5 sometimes let you charge through enemy mechs like the Kool Aid Man (although this works better with the Battlemaster). The Davion special is a favorite of mine, double heat sinks, large pulse laser and a UAC5. It was my personal ride in MW5 for a while although they messed it up in MW5 by putting the UAC5 hardpoint in the arm instead of where the LRM-15 goes. Still a beast though, you could go PPC with AC5 or Large Laser with LBX-10.
Sounds like you'd be a fan of the 5ss variant: srm 6 instead of srm 2, a PPC instead of a large laser and the machineguns got swappee for a flamer. Oh, and no lrm at all, because there had to be a trade off and those 6 extra heatsinks are absolutely necessary given the increased heat load.
I love the base Thunderbolt for it's chunkiness and weapon versatility, but it absolutely peaks with the Royal variant: Artemis, Streak, CASE, ER PPC and two small pulse lasers to top it all off? Perfection.
The Thundie really is one of those mechs that get better as the timeline progresses. My favorite one's the NAIS variant with the RAC/5, ran it once in a game and was uber fun- -until it took an ammo explosion in the 3rd turn. Doesn't change my opinion on it because BRRRRRRRRRRRRT
If you want a better Tbolt take the 5SS. It has less ammo to go boom, the PPC replaces the LRM as the long range weapon, and it has an SRM 6pack to crit seek. Better overall line mech because less explosive. Still has a flamer to kill infantry if needed. Theres also the AC20 tbolt if you want basically a slightly bigger hunchback. LRM 10 rack means it also isnt hopeless at range!
I agree the 5SS is what I usually run but I made the video with the "default" thunderbolt in mind for new players. also the AC20 thunderbolt sounds like my wet dream I'm defiantly using it next game I play.
@@Harpy_Explains It is a pretty good mech. It is scary and has lots of armor but because it only has 2 weapons it's cheap on BV. (Plus un-CASE'd ammo providing a discount) talk about a distraction carnifex... The Charger is also a distraction carnifex in a big way. But the threat isnt a big cannon. It's kicks. 5/8 means it can actually generate TMM and the enemy has to deal with it fast or else it will stomp their mechs' toes off.
@@TheManyVoicesVA the scariest part about the charger is that once you buy one, you can make some pretty scary shit aside from the original model. if you need a awesome on the field and care about the enviroment, god gave you the challenger for a reason.
1:12 There’s rules in the advanced rules books for missing your intended target and hitting another unit by accident (hopefully not your own). The reason you can see through an occupied hex is because the average unit doesn’t take up the entire thing. A hexspace is 30m across. If mech and vehicle minis where scaled to the hex they’ed be much smaller.
"battletech doesn't have body blocking rules" TacOps does, but that's the optional additional book for insane people (like me) Also, if your opponent allows, you could start the mission with less than a full ton of ammo and load like 2-6 shots of MG and SRM ammo if you think you're gonna use it. They get significantly better if infantry are in play. I don't mean this as an insult or anything, great video! I hate myself for my humour degrading to such a degree that this is hilarious
BattleTech ground hexes have a diameter of thirty meters, so shooting past something in that hex makes perfect sense. That being said, there *is* the Missed Shots rule that allows you to accidentally hit targets in the way, and a "Shielding" movement mode that allows one unit to block shots aimed at another. Can you tell that Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules is my favorite rulebook?
I was doing some research and realized that the Thunderbolt can take jumpjets if it switches to the Eridani Light horse variant. It's a really easy tradeoff as you drop the machine guns, SRM-2, and downgrade to an LRM-10 to be able to reposition better. You probably would want to dump the LRM ammo anyway before going into the brawling range, so it's honestly not much of a loss. I think it's genuinely better than the base version in usability. And let's be real, if you're playing combined arms, infantry might be scary, but a Demolisher with double AC20 is nightmare fuel enough or even the Partisan just spaming shots down range. This is why we need mechs like the Charger to be the big dumb muscle to zerg rush the support vehicles before they can take out something important.
In the Succession wars, a large laser WAS a big cannon as far as energy weapons were concerned, especially since PPC's, while not going extinct, got hard to acquire, especially in some locations, like the FWL.
1:09 someone didn't read the map scale! BT doesn't have bodyblocking because each hex on a map is 30 meters across, and an enemy mech can just sidestep to get a shot off through the area you control, but happen to not be at that moment (within the canon turn length of 10 seconds)
@@Harpy_Explains Far lol, but like, each mech is maybe like, 35 feet tall? And they're looking to cover and area widthwise that's a hundred feet, bodyblocking gets a little hard lol
Fun fact, if you're ever wondering why a random SR2 is attached to a classic mech or vehicle, that's because in older versions of the rules, only 2 tube SRM launchers could load infernos. So this baby would be well suited to clearing out infantry... which is actually rather important because they can get nasty and tricksy. Especially in cities.
I like the 7m variant when using it in missile boat build cause i usually run tag and thunderbolts have that multitrack quirk so they can add its lrms to the 100 already flying towards a mech
1:52 actually, in my experience, dumping ammo when the fight is in close is the worst time to dump ammo. Cuz the ammo, when dumped, comes out of the mechs back - so if an enemy mech gets into your rear Arc (much easier in close range combat) they can shoot u in the back and blow up the ammo u were dumping without pening your armor
@@Harpy_Explains Thanks lol. I've been watching a few BT videos lately as I've been thinking about the game more and more these days. Are you playing on the MRC discord?
I've never heard of MRC until recently, but from what other people have said, I'm assuming it's a megamek tournament discord? I'll definitely look into it
Dump the LRM ammo?!?! I'll do ya one better: dump the LRM 15! Also rip out the SRM 2, the machine guns and all that ammo. Replace it with fuckin FOUR MML 5s, and one ton of LRM plus one ton of srm ammo. (Go on and call it mid, get twenty srm tubes for your trouble) Then you add endo steel, switch to DHS, and drop those down to 13. That lets you upgrade the LL to the long lasting EXTENDED RANGE flavor and the medium lasers to rave models. Finish it off with CASE and an "ER small laser for some fucking reason' The result comes to 1423 BV. It's just as good at its primary job of face tanking hits ment for mechs you actually care about, it's got more LRM tubes to annoy your opponent with but the big performance gain is in the 'obliterate fools that get close to you' department.
As LRM are shit when you have one boat or mech ssss then you didn‘t use enough LRM at once yet sss Let it rain and block out the sun sss as i play Stahlinorgel sss
Charger is probably the ultimate distraction carnifex.
0:29 look ma I'm famous
And you avoided the chamber
@@Harpy_ExplainsI knew that being an LB-20X fan would pay off some day
Considering your love for medium lasers and lrms the catapult feels like a mech warranted for a vid
@@Heckibrd the catapult video is in the works as we speak
@@Harpy_Explains Nice!
MW5 made me love having T-Bolts around. They are chunk enough that the enemies tend to spread damage all over them and the wacky physics in MW5 sometimes let you charge through enemy mechs like the Kool Aid Man (although this works better with the Battlemaster). The Davion special is a favorite of mine, double heat sinks, large pulse laser and a UAC5. It was my personal ride in MW5 for a while although they messed it up in MW5 by putting the UAC5 hardpoint in the arm instead of where the LRM-15 goes. Still a beast though, you could go PPC with AC5 or Large Laser with LBX-10.
Sounds like you'd be a fan of the 5ss variant: srm 6 instead of srm 2, a PPC instead of a large laser and the machineguns got swappee for a flamer. Oh, and no lrm at all, because there had to be a trade off and those 6 extra heatsinks are absolutely necessary given the increased heat load.
1:00 that's because a hex is 30 by 30 METERS
can you put that in freedom numbers?
@@Harpy_Explains only in football fields
CBT!!!
You've been...
THUNDERSTRUCK!!! YEAH YEAH YEAH THUNDERSTRUCK!!!
still their most mid song ever.
(hells bells my beloved)
@@thatorangeguy3646 Enter Clan Hell's Horses 🔥🐎
I love the base Thunderbolt for it's chunkiness and weapon versatility, but it absolutely peaks with the Royal variant: Artemis, Streak, CASE, ER PPC and two small pulse lasers to top it all off? Perfection.
The Thundie really is one of those mechs that get better as the timeline progresses. My favorite one's the NAIS variant with the RAC/5, ran it once in a game and was uber fun-
-until it took an ammo explosion in the 3rd turn. Doesn't change my opinion on it because BRRRRRRRRRRRRT
Anything with a RAC or 2 is always fun
If you want a better Tbolt take the 5SS. It has less ammo to go boom, the PPC replaces the LRM as the long range weapon, and it has an SRM 6pack to crit seek. Better overall line mech because less explosive. Still has a flamer to kill infantry if needed.
Theres also the AC20 tbolt if you want basically a slightly bigger hunchback. LRM 10 rack means it also isnt hopeless at range!
I agree the 5SS is what I usually run but I made the video with the "default" thunderbolt in mind for new players.
also the AC20 thunderbolt sounds like my wet dream I'm defiantly using it next game I play.
@@Harpy_Explains It is a pretty good mech. It is scary and has lots of armor but because it only has 2 weapons it's cheap on BV. (Plus un-CASE'd ammo providing a discount) talk about a distraction carnifex...
The Charger is also a distraction carnifex in a big way. But the threat isnt a big cannon. It's kicks. 5/8 means it can actually generate TMM and the enemy has to deal with it fast or else it will stomp their mechs' toes off.
@@TheManyVoicesVA the scariest part about the charger is that once you buy one, you can make some pretty scary shit aside from the original model. if you need a awesome on the field and care about the enviroment, god gave you the challenger for a reason.
1:12 There’s rules in the advanced rules books for missing your intended target and hitting another unit by accident (hopefully not your own). The reason you can see through an occupied hex is because the average unit doesn’t take up the entire thing. A hexspace is 30m across. If mech and vehicle minis where scaled to the hex they’ed be much smaller.
"battletech doesn't have body blocking rules" TacOps does, but that's the optional additional book for insane people (like me)
Also, if your opponent allows, you could start the mission with less than a full ton of ammo and load like 2-6 shots of MG and SRM ammo if you think you're gonna use it. They get significantly better if infantry are in play.
I don't mean this as an insult or anything, great video! I hate myself for my humour degrading to such a degree that this is hilarious
BattleTech ground hexes have a diameter of thirty meters, so shooting past something in that hex makes perfect sense. That being said, there *is* the Missed Shots rule that allows you to accidentally hit targets in the way, and a "Shielding" movement mode that allows one unit to block shots aimed at another.
Can you tell that Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules is my favorite rulebook?
I need this book so badly. Love crunchy rules like this.
I was doing some research and realized that the Thunderbolt can take jumpjets if it switches to the Eridani Light horse variant. It's a really easy tradeoff as you drop the machine guns, SRM-2, and downgrade to an LRM-10 to be able to reposition better.
You probably would want to dump the LRM ammo anyway before going into the brawling range, so it's honestly not much of a loss. I think it's genuinely better than the base version in usability.
And let's be real, if you're playing combined arms, infantry might be scary, but a Demolisher with double AC20 is nightmare fuel enough or even the Partisan just spaming shots down range.
This is why we need mechs like the Charger to be the big dumb muscle to zerg rush the support vehicles before they can take out something important.
Now I want to paint a pair of Thunderbolts in tuxedos and sunglasses
DUDE I am so glad I found your channel. I have not laughed so hard in a while. God bless keep up thee Awesome work.
In the Succession wars, a large laser WAS a big cannon as far as energy weapons were concerned, especially since PPC's, while not going extinct, got hard to acquire, especially in some locations, like the FWL.
1:09 someone didn't read the map scale! BT doesn't have bodyblocking because each hex on a map is 30 meters across, and an enemy mech can just sidestep to get a shot off through the area you control, but happen to not be at that moment (within the canon turn length of 10 seconds)
that explanation makes more sense, the 30 meters thing didn't register in my brain because I'm too American
@@Harpy_Explains Far lol, but like, each mech is maybe like, 35 feet tall? And they're looking to cover and area widthwise that's a hundred feet, bodyblocking gets a little hard lol
Harpie I’m glad I found a small creator like you that actually tries to make good shit
I love the thunder bolt. For some reason I've never lost one in a game.
Nice to see the replies to my comment popping up in a new video.
Fun fact, if you're ever wondering why a random SR2 is attached to a classic mech or vehicle, that's because in older versions of the rules, only 2 tube SRM launchers could load infernos. So this baby would be well suited to clearing out infantry... which is actually rather important because they can get nasty and tricksy. Especially in cities.
Literally summed up as "Use fucking combined arms"
I like the 7m variant when using it in missile boat build cause i usually run tag and thunderbolts have that multitrack quirk so they can add its lrms to the 100 already flying towards a mech
@@bryant9113 my opinion on LRM's is well documented
@@Harpy_Explains yah im aware my friend can't go a session without bringing it up
@@bryant9113 ha
1:52 actually, in my experience, dumping ammo when the fight is in close is the worst time to dump ammo. Cuz the ammo, when dumped, comes out of the mechs back - so if an enemy mech gets into your rear Arc (much easier in close range combat) they can shoot u in the back and blow up the ammo u were dumping without pening your armor
That ram ranch reference took me out
lol pretty good!
holy shit thanks, big fan of your channel!
@@Harpy_Explains Thanks lol. I've been watching a few BT videos lately as I've been thinking about the game more and more these days. Are you playing on the MRC discord?
I've never heard of MRC until recently, but from what other people have said, I'm assuming it's a megamek tournament discord? I'll definitely look into it
You want to skip the process of having to ammo dump. Look into the thunderbolt C Don't try to fire everything at once though
Lmao!
Dump the LRM ammo?!?! I'll do ya one better: dump the LRM 15! Also rip out the SRM 2, the machine guns and all that ammo. Replace it with fuckin FOUR MML 5s, and one ton of LRM plus one ton of srm ammo. (Go on and call it mid, get twenty srm tubes for your trouble)
Then you add endo steel, switch to DHS, and drop those down to 13. That lets you upgrade the LL to the long lasting EXTENDED RANGE flavor and the medium lasers to rave models. Finish it off with CASE and an "ER small laser for some fucking reason'
The result comes to 1423 BV. It's just as good at its primary job of face tanking hits ment for mechs you actually care about, it's got more LRM tubes to annoy your opponent with but the big performance gain is in the 'obliterate fools that get close to you' department.
Battletech hexes are 30m so mechs are not fat enough to block
Yo whats that intro song?
@@Kriegerherz it's licks by Nuutella
As LRM are shit when you have one boat or mech ssss
then you didn‘t use enough LRM at once yet sss
Let it rain and block out the sun sss
as i play Stahlinorgel sss
Can you dump ammo during a game? Are there rules for that?
@@Raven7b yes