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It depends mostly on how deep you want to go. One of BT's big bonuses is that it's got a LOT of depth in terms of strategic layers - and it's all optional. So the question's really how in-depth do you want to go? If you're just looking to run a series of battles, you don't need anything else. Lay out some maps, decide on an opfor and you're good to go. Campaign Operations is probably the most useful as there's a ton in there about creating, maintaining and supplying a force. Total Warfare will give you rules to add in other unit types - combat vehicles, infantry, aerospace fighters, and the like. Tactical Operations is less useful in your case. It's got a lot of advanced optional rules, mostly. Strategic Operations has good rules for repairs, salvage and mech customization. Interstellar Operations has rules for using different eras and the abstracted planetary-scale battle system.
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Oct 24, 2018 14:26
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SirFozzie posted:Like: "What would be the best layout for a 3025 mercenary force to disrupt an outlying world (no pitched battles, just hit and run and fade, and basically make an rear end out of themselves until they summon enough to make them go away, and then repeat on the next planet" Harrass/hit and run profile? I'd be looking for two primary things: mobility (at least 5/8 and jumping) and being as ammo-independent as possible. Secondary priority would be weapons that would work best against soft targets - lots of machine guns and flamers. Probably want to avoid big autocannon/missile weapons due to ammo constraints; armor and range are also less of an issue since you should be dictating both position and length of engagement most of the time. Lance 1: for mostly undefended convoys/depots/etc Firestarter (-H) Firestarter (-H) Spider (-5V) Stinger (-3R) Lance 2: for slightly heavier targets (isolated combat units and the like) Phoenix Hawk (-1) Phoenix Hawk (-1) Chameleon (-7V) Vulcan (-5T) Lance 3: the surprise in the back. Bombards tough fixed positions, drops Smoke & FASCAM rounds as needed. Partisans act as a trap/ambush for any air elements who pursue/investigate the force. 2x Sniper artillery pieces (I can't remember which are available in this era) 2x Partisan-AC2
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Feb 1, 2019 06:44
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I like it. It also sets up some great conflict because there is absolutely no way the other Clans are going to accept that.
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Feb 27, 2019 15:18
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Defiance Industries posted:It's only 45 armor a side. Hit it with a couple of plasma rifle shots and it's done. Yeah, if you get a reasonably gunned heavy into the proper arc that thing's dead in two turns. Three with bad dice luck.
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Feb 8, 2020 18:31
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A mandatory urban area with properly entrenched and hidden conventional infantry. It's like Minesweeper, but instead of a mine you get shot in the rear end by thirty flamers. And it takes forever to kill them, since a) they're in a Heavy building and b) nobody brings anti-infantry weapons. And sometimes they have field guns, so you've got an AC10 that can take 200+ damage and keep firing.
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May 25, 2020 15:37
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3rding the Myrmidon. They're excellent little tanks that fill that role of being a serious threat but also not too difficult to get out of the way for a new-ish team. I'm also a fan of using the Harasser in a similar way - it's a notable enough threat for any light/medium, fast enough to be dangerous on rear attacks for big stuff, and explodes really nicely when you smack it.
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Aug 6, 2020 23:15
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SirFozzie posted:Call JG Wentworth! 1-8777 MEKS NOW! 1-877 MEKS NOW! JG Whitworth was right there and you missed it.
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Oct 5, 2020 16:49
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PoptartsNinja posted:Of course, Robinson would secede immediately and launch itself into a hellwar with the Draconis Combine without a second thought. You say that as if it were a negative.
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May 6, 2021 16:50
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BattleMaster posted:You mean the house variants of it? https://www.sarna.net/wiki/PPC_(beverage) From experience when I was younger and more foolish, I can confirm all of them are pretty bad. (The Steiner variant was the best, mostly because the peppermint overwhelmed everything else.)
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Nov 1, 2021 15:49
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AnEdgelord posted:what is people's beef with the Clans anyway? I'm coming from 40k and they just seems like a more elite faction compared to the more bog standard Inner Sphere factions, plus once the timeline advances it seems like the Inner Sphere gets to play with their toys anyway. Don't really get the hate. Suuuuper short version: When the Clans were introduced, Battletech didn't really have a solid balancing mechanic yet so everything was by tonnage. You have 200 tons of mechs, your opponent has 200 tons of mechs. Except Clan mechs were, ton for ton, several times better than any IS mech. Faster, more durable, longer ranged, higher damage, running cooler, higher skilled. You can probably see where this went. It created a reputation for Clan players to be powergaming munchkins, which was made worse by the number of IS players who started to have 'Clan salvage' in their units. The game's narrative push framed it as normal, too: the various IS factions were constantly portrayed in the fiction as being completely inferior and getting their asses kicked at every turn. That was 1990; the first balancing mechanic (Combat Value) came out in 1994; the far better Battle Value appeared in 1997 and was revised in 2007 and 2021. The Clan/IS disparity more or less disappeared when BV came out, because there was actual balance mechanics that made Clan stuff less powerful and the fiction shifted to something that wasn't "The Clans win everything all the time and your favorite faction loses no matter what (except for a few specific protagonists)." I haven't seen an anti-Clans grog in more than a decade, but there's some still out there. People hold dumb grudges for a long time.
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Sep 4, 2022 16:13
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Arquinsiel posted:I find that the AI loves taking conventional fighters with thermobarics and waiting until there's a good scrum going before just YOLO dropping them on it. It may or may not instantly kill as many of its own units as it does mine, but it gives zero fucks. Yup, entirely the reason I stopped using aerospace in my games. Every time one showed up, it would ruin a good match of big smashy robots by suicide-dropping the equivalent of multiple area effect AC20s with minimal to no way to counter them.
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Feb 13, 2023 18:10
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TheKingslayer posted:So if you had to pick 'mechs that classified as "forgiving" or beginner friendly which ones would they be? I actually really like the Catapult C1 as a beginner mech. It teaches a lot of things - you have to watch your range brackets, you have ammo to worry about, there's jump jets so the move profile is interesting, it can overheat but doesn't run super hot - while still being fairly simple to operate. Second pick would probably be the classic Centurion A. Good weapon mix, uncomplicated, etc.
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Feb 14, 2023 21:37
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Saint Celestine posted:Whats a good screening mech? It isn't cheap, but I like using the Komodo as a missile boat guard. Fast enough to get into position, and 10 medium lasers (with the DHS to use them) is enough to scare off any light mech. Even at a high BTH, that's good odds of 1-2 hits a turn and that's significant for your little guys. (Plus TAG/ECM/potential C3 is a nice addition to an LRM lance.)
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Mar 6, 2023 16:43
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PoptartsNinja posted:The problem with using the Komodo as a screen is that you can get a Wraith for cheaper. Counterpoint: if you have a Wraith and you're keeping it back to babysit an Archer, you're probably using the Wraith wrong. (Though yes as said, the Wraith is the right answer to like 75% of the questions about what mech to use.)
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Mar 7, 2023 18:14
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Saint Celestine posted:How should I be using a screening unit? Generally the purpose of a screening unit is to make the other side give your long ranged units some space to do their job. It wants to hang around in the mix with the long ranged stuff and be a deterrent so attackers think twice about if they really want to get close, and to punish them if they do. As an example if I've got an enemy that's mostly slower, I frequently like to put a Hunchback in with my Archers and Catapults. The math of "Would I rather stay at range and be in the prime range for 40 LRMs, or get close and be in the prime range of an AC20?" is kind of your goal with that. (I find that the AC20 is great as a deterrent psychologically even if it isn't mechanically the best choice.) quote:I had a game where I ran a nightstar and viking and spent way too much dealing with lights taking potshots at their side and rear arc. Was going to bring a cheap unit along to screen them and at least protect the rear arcs while the snipers focus on the enemy heavy hitters. In this case, you probably want something with a 5/8/5 or 6/9/6 movement profile. Jumpjets to quickly reposition, fast enough to get where it needs to be, beefier than most of the stuff it's up against. Jenners, Firestarters, Phoenix Hawks, Wolverines, that sort of thing. (I had real success in 3025-era games with the Whitworth -1S, because 3xML/2xSRM6 that jumps is quite potent for how cheap it is.) Just have the screen chill between your fire support and the enemy, or in the middle of your mechs if they've got you surrounded. Keep moving to keep the BTH high, but don't actually travel far. You want to be in a spot where if a light jumps in behind your fire support mech, you can move in to punish. Most lights can only take a salvo or two of counter-fire before they're in serious trouble.
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Mar 7, 2023 21:12
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PoptartsNinja posted:Honestly, I think the trick to infantry is that they were originally conceived of as chaff and were never intended to be an effective combat unit. Every attempt to make infantry usable has to fight the fact that they were never designed or intended to be effective. In their earliest appearances, Infantry was just something to gun down en masse and only OG SRM and inferno infantry were scary because they were an SRM-30. And it's understandable that "mass infantry" really can't do much in a fight that might span anywhere from 1-3 minutes of in-universe time. OG infantry can be useful, but it requires blind movement and/or hidden units. A point-blank ambush is a pretty cheap way to get some damage. Treat them like mines that can potentially go off more than once. I believe they didn't show up in the rules until CityTech, and they still really do have good effect in urban environments. Sure they're kinda crap but a flamer platoon bunkered up in a heavy building can be surprisingly effective at area denial or delaying for close to zero cost.
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Nov 1, 2023 05:30
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GD_American posted:So basically, a 6000 BV demi-company, which fits the whole theme of 2 training lances with dirt-common cheap designs overseen by a Headmaster flying around in the VTOL and a referee flitting about in the hovertank. At least one of them needs a HOW'S MY DRIVING? bumper sticker.
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Feb 27, 2024 01:00
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FishFood posted:I'm certainly rooting for the Capellans, Clan Wolf is the absolute worst. I'm a lifelong Davion player, and I'm rooting for the Capellans. Clan Wolf is the worst.
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Apr 10, 2024 20:18
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