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[BuriBuriZaemon]

Here's hoping Gold Harmony office to spontaneously combust.

[Cthulhu]

Just got it at the beta tier, did enjoy battletech on meknet or whatever it was.  Then it occurred to me.  Is this a kickstarter-exclusive beta?  Am I gonna have to wait for the next whatever tier of beta?  or do i just wait till I get my key?

[Rince Wind]

Pretty sure it is not a kickstarter exclusive beta.

[Cthulhu]

It came in.  Kind of regretting it.  Kind of immediately regretting it.  This game never made much sense to me, even if it was fun.  What am I supposed to be doing in this game?  None of the primers or anything I've read have actually explained much to me.  Like, why do light mechs exist?   Even from behind my tiny guns don't do shit, and meanwhile anything pointing at me can vaporize me.

[Mephansteras]

Light mechs are scouts. Their main job is to run fast, avoiding fire, while getting eyes on the enemy so that the heavier mechs can use indirect fire to blast the enemy without being in danger themselves for as long as possible. Their guns are really just for fighting other light mechs and vehicles.

Medium Mechs are flankers, for the most part. Their job is to take out light mechs and get flanking shots on the big mechs. Or ambush them, depending on the mech. A lot of the strategy there is forcing the heavier mechs to make a decision between taking out the medium and risk the heavies getting flank shots or sucking up the damage from the medium which can be enough to do serious damage.

Heavies are the primary damage dealers. They can dish out and deal a fair amount of punishment.

Assaults are tanks. Big, slow, but powerful weapons. They are brutal, but don't do much more than frontal assaults unless you can force the enemy to deal with something else.


Caveat: I didn't get the beta tier, so this is more how battletech in general is supposed to work. I have not yet played this game. Still, it seems to hold up based on the videos I've seen.

[Kanil]

I don't know how this game works, but in TT, good lights are flankers. The ones that are so poorly designed as to be incapable of that are described as "scouts" because they're too useless to do anything other than look at the enemy. A Jenner, Javelin, Locust, or Commando have the tools to do a lot more than just look, however. (Does the game have FS9-M Firestarters? Those are premier backstabbers, and a real prize to have in your bays.)

A Locust that dashes up behind a 'mech gets a +4 to hit, so everyone's shooting at it on 8s at best which is a ~40% chance to hit. A couple of medium laser strikes isn't going to kill a Locust either, so if you want to level it in one shot, you've got to hit it with something big.

Firing arcs further complicate matters, if none of the target's lancemates are able to look at you, then anyone shooting back is only shooting back with one arm. Which prevents them from bringing insta-gib levels of firepower to bear... and they're still missing 60% of the time (or more.) Ultimately, they're probably not even going to bother, because some of your less mobile 'mechs are providing more desirable targets.

Of course, if they're taking evasive action too, then your return fire isn't going to be terribly accurate, but it's striking weak rear armor. A lot of 'mechs have really lackluster rear armor -- a single medium laser can melt through the armor of a Hunchback side torso and score a nasty crit for example.

Also important, light 'mechs can usually position themselves to get a kick without letting the target get one too. Again, a lot of 'mechs don't have strong legs -- a Warhammer's got 15 and a Marauder 17, and it doesn't last long.


I'm not sure how good they are in this game, I don't think the game has kicking??? which would make light 'mechs a lot crappier. Also ammo crits aren't instant kabooms anymore, which is a mixed blessing but probably also puts lights at a disadvantage.

[Majestic7]

I imagine that in objective-based missions you could use light mechs to run around the defenders and make the fuel depot go boom or the like while the real mechs engage the opposition. Annoying skirmishers, that is the role. I hope the mission design and such portrays this. In previous mech games, bigger mech has always been better and light ones have just been the newbie tier when starting up.

[Neonivek]

A Jenner, Javelin, Locust, or Commando have the tools to do a lot more than just look, however

You still rely on not being the primary target, hence the "Scout" part. If the enemy starts concentrating on a light, don't expect it to last too long.

As well their usefulness HIGHLY relies on how competent the enemy is and the general layout (As fast as scouts are... They can't always take advantage of their full movement). Against enemies with +2 Gunnery they fall fast (Or rather Lights are hard countered, unlike medium, heavy, and assaults. They are also the most hurt by the battlefield layout).

As far as scouting is concerned... Raw numbers I believe vehicles make superior scouts. Given they can dance around light mechs.

But I don't think you mean Flanker, I think you mean Skirmisher.

[StagnantSoul]

I'm hoping we get some non-mech units too, rommel tanks and power armours, jets and vtols, etc. Of course they wouldn't be as good, but you can't exactly call an airstrike or secure a delicate building with a mech.

[Kanil]

But I don't think you mean Flanker, I think you mean Skirmisher.

I think the word I'm really looking for is "Backstabber", that seems to best sum up "shoot them in the ass a lot".

But the point I'm really trying to make is that light 'mechs aren't bad. Yeah, a WSP-1A Wasp is pretty much useless, but a JR7-F Jenner is good for a lot more than just "scouting" the enemy, and stands a decent shot against 'mechs vastly heavier than it... (and damn near costs about as much BV, too.)

[Rince Wind]

We can only use Mechs, other combattants will be the Opfor and maybe allied. Also Power Armor is not in the current timeframe, they get introduced with the coming of the Clans.

When vees try to drive circles around Mechs they have to do a lot of skillchecks. Once you move faster than cruising speed every turn you make in that phase means a pilot check, when you fail the vee spins out of control, it might even end up in terrain it is not supposed to be in. Then it won't be able to get it out. So if you are not driving in a straight line you take a risk by just moving. Also a lot of light mechs have jumpjets to get them out quickly, and they can cross almost any terrain even when running. Ever tried wheeled vees or hovers on a wooded map?
Ton for ton vehicles are superior (not counting terrain), iirc, so the rules say you recive critical hits at a much higher rate than mechs do, especially if shot from the side. Heavy tanks often end up as fancy turrets long before the armor is gone.

I think the Firestarter is one of the Mechs that is included. As is melee, but I think you can either melee or shoot, unlike the TT.

That said, a lot of lights are more in the game for story reasons (heavier ones being harder to produce and maintain), rather then because they are particulary useful in pure mech on mech combat where gamerules come into play.
A good target for lights are damaged heavier Mechs. So your big boys can concentrate on more pressing targets and that Firestarter or Jenner just shoots at the internals and does a lot of crits.

[Neonivek]

But I don't think you mean Flanker, I think you mean Skirmisher.

I think the word I'm really looking for is "Backstabber", that seems to best sum up "shoot them in the ass a lot".

But the point I'm really trying to make is that light 'mechs aren't bad. Yeah, a WSP-1A Wasp is pretty much useless, but a JR7-F Jenner is good for a lot more than just "scouting" the enemy, and stands a decent shot against 'mechs vastly heavier than it... (and damn near costs about as much BV, too.)

Light Mechs aren't bad but you REALLY have to make their tonnage and price work for you.

[Flying Dice]

In the context of the beta, a Locust with a Sensor Lock 'mechwarrior is disgusting if you have LRMs. Fire-support lights like the Panther are great. People who've modded the Firestarter in say that it's borderline OP because of how good flamers are. Any light is pretty survivable with an Evasive Move 'mechwarrior.

[Dohon]

New kickstarter update is live.

Update to Beta this week.
Multiplayer Beta probably this week (will start with opt-in and then pushed to the beta backers)
Game expected to launch early 2018.

[Flying Dice]

*early 2018.

Which might mean Q1 or any time before midsummer.