I purchased some new Battletech books lately. Mostly to see how outdated I am in the rules. Its hard for me to play in the newer timeline as their are just some many weapons and options now. I remember the first time I had to face off Clan Tech, that was scary battle. This new Dark Age and Jihad Age tech is worrisome. My tactics basically follow two simple rules. I plan my Mechs and weapon load outs around these rules. With all these new weapons I’m not sure what to use.
When I plan an attack with a Mech I have two rules,
The first rule basically a rule to keep my incoming damage down. If I can’t meet those rules I don’t maneuver to take a shot. I do even thing I can to make sure it as difficult to shoot at my Mech as possible. Now its not perfect, and you can’t control a battlefield all the time. If two Mechs lay into your Mech then your going start losing systems in that round. Best to avoid that.
The second rule is very important. Knocking down an opponent is not a huge chance. But when they fall they take more damage, and the pilot might take damage. Best yet of the knock down is that they need to spend the movement to stand back up. A target that needs to standing back, is like giving your more speed to maneuver. So be it that they fail and fall again.
In that order of importance. Why?
First all these combos will do 20 or more damage. The other reason, I know that they will deal that damage with a pretty good success rate. Take one of the best weapons that the Clan can field the ER Medium Laser. If you fire three of them at a target and needed a 7 or better on 2d6, you only have a 20% of dealing 20 damage. If you take the number of 4 so that you just need 3 to hit, then you can bring it up to 31%. Not Bad... but there is better combos...
When I plan an attack with a Mech I have two rules,
1) Make sure a maximum of one unit can return fire
2) Make sure you can deal at least 20 damage in the attack.
The first rule basically a rule to keep my incoming damage down. If I can’t meet those rules I don’t maneuver to take a shot. I do even thing I can to make sure it as difficult to shoot at my Mech as possible. Now its not perfect, and you can’t control a battlefield all the time. If two Mechs lay into your Mech then your going start losing systems in that round. Best to avoid that.
The second rule is very important. Knocking down an opponent is not a huge chance. But when they fall they take more damage, and the pilot might take damage. Best yet of the knock down is that they need to spend the movement to stand back up. A target that needs to standing back, is like giving your more speed to maneuver. So be it that they fail and fall again.
In order to deal 20 damage I make sure I have a few weapons on my Mechs to do this. For example in Clan Tech, My ‘Go To’ weapons are...
or
In that order of importance. Why?
7 or better to hit
|
9 or better to hit
| |
3x ER Medium Lasers
|
19.92%
|
2.15%
|
4x ER Medium Lasers
|
30.99%
|
2.32%
|
Take a look at my choice of weapons...
Pulse Lasers are the devil. Personal they shouldn't been added to the game. Spilt milk, so since they are, might as well use them. The Ultra AC 10 is there for one reason, because it is not the best performer, I just love AC 10s. Its just my kind of weapon. If I can I like to mix pulse lasers with a Ultra AC 10 on the same Mech. Over all with my ‘Go To’ weapons you can see much better odds to deal a knock down blow. Most of all much better odds at harder shoots of 9 or better.
7 or better to hit
|
9 or better to hit
| |
4x Medium Pulse Lasers
|
80.50%
|
30.99%
|
Ultra AC 20
|
58.40%
|
27.80%
|
2 Streaks 6
|
34.11%
|
7.73%
|
Ultra AC 10
|
24.35%
|
11.59%
|
That brings me back the the new weapons. With Streak LRMs, Plasma Cannons, Heavy PPCs, Improved Lasers, and Gauss Rifles that deal 40 damage, etc. All these new weapons confuse me. I don’t know what should be my ‘Go To’ weapons anymore. Battletech used to be so easy to crunch the numbers, now... I need to write a program to do it for me.
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