We love SRMs for just how effective they are in the endgame. Unlike the LB-10-X, by the time SRMs are in effective range, you've (hopefully) thinned armor down all over the mech, dramatically increasing the odds of a catastrophic crit. My favorite SRM-toting mech is the old Titan from Battletechnology. 2 PPCs for long-range striking power, six medium lasers for the mid-range battle, and no less than 22 SRMs (4 4 packs and a single 6-pack) for the coup de grace.
I really wish NARC launchers were more widely available. It's a very underrated system, IMO. You can essentially upgrade every launcher in your lance with the equivalent of Artemis IV by just giving them a different ammo type.
I think NARC only has a narrow era of usefulness , once IS get all the Streaks you dont need it for them anymore , and any LRM boat in that era really should have its own Artemis IV or be using a TAG spotter while shooting semi guided LRMs from behind a hill or be laying minefields .
@@mathewkelly9968 Lots of 'mechs and vehicles don't come with Streaks or Artemis even into the ilClan era. Between replacing all your launchers with advanced technology and simply buying new ammo, the latter is by far the more attractive option.
First you have to hit with the NARC. 2nd AMS can shot it down. 3rd the target knows it's NARC'ed and can just go hang around a friendly ECM... 4th the beacon can be destroyed/lost/pulled off. But yes they can be all kinds of fun. Use a Warrior helo with 2 NARC's with 4 ton of ammo and buzz the crap out of your Op-For. Then just let the LRM carriers fly.
The fact that the 2-cluster table is so unfavorable is a real misfortune. If the table were adjusted to 7+ for two hits, the SRM2, LBII, and UAC2 would both go from disappointing to usable. MWO was probably my first experience with SRMs being incredibly fun. In previous MW games I never really bothered with them over heavy autocannons and lasers (and LRMs for the lock-in mechanics), but SRMs are both super fun and super effective in MWO and MW5M. I got my Ace of Spades using an SRM Archer build, and some of my most clutch matches in MWO were in SRM builds. The combo of SRMs and PPCs on Thug-like builds are incredibly potent. HBS BT is another game where SRMs are super effective. Turning a corner and seeing an enemy SRM Carrier is one of the most heart-attack-inducing experiences you'll ever have in video gaming, and SRMs are a great way to get extra punch (and extra chances to land head hits) without too much heat burden. I've also converted to using SRMs in the TT games, though I'll drop an SRM2 any time I see it (unless I can upgrade to a 4). The advent of the MML gives you an excellent solution to the problem of both the SRM (lack of range) and LRM (minimum range), by allowing you to fire both types from the same launcher. The sheer throw weight of the larger MMLs when it comes to SRMs can quickly become down right shocking (MML7 is a potential 14 damage, and MML9 pushes that to 18, with averages of 8 and 10 respectively), which is ever better when you remember that location hits are all individual for SRMs (so an average of 4 and 5 location rolls respectively for the MML7 and 9).
Here is a good house rule for missile weapons: 1. Roll your 'to-hit' as normal but note down how many points you beat the number by or miss it by. 2. If you hit the required number dead on then roll on cluster table as normal. 3. If you hit higher or Lower than the number than add or subtract that amount from the cluster table. This way if you 'aim well' you can hit much more and you have a chance to hit with a few missiles even if you aim badly but more often if you aim badly you will miss more than most. I have played with this rule before and while it does buff cluster weapons a little, it mostly just adds a consistency that makes sense.
I used to think SRMs were a terrible choice for a weapon when I started out. It wasn't useful when you're longer ranged weapons first became useful, and they spread their damage out. Terrible weapon. Then I took a Thug, opened a hole in the CT, and fired one launcher. One engine death later, and I was hooked. I still look at any mech with weapons made to punch a nice hole in the armor, and don't have at least one SRM system (or LB-X in later era play) on them and think "You could have been so much more."
Love the Kintaro as a SRM boat, managed to get behind a Stalker with one and let rip with everything. The result was a loud boom as the LRM ammo cooked off from a SRM hit :D
I always thought of the streak SRM's more akin to modern day TOW missiles ie; wire guided hence the accuracy and incompatibility with other SRM launchers
if the medium laser is the AK of the battletech universe, the SRM is going to be the RPG7 of it. Hitting in single missile groups also helps the system to be a popular crit seeker. enough SRM bukake gets through every center torso one way or another.
My favorite SRM story is Greyson Carlyle threatening his future wife with a ... and I just got to the part of the video where you add that story in. You have great taste
Because I like vomiting an obscene amount of missiles and don't mind potential ammo explosions from heat. I've strategically placed icepacks and frozen peas throughout the mechs innards. I should be fine.
I'm part of a group doing an Mechwarrior RPG campaign while using MegaMek for the actual battles...and it's given me a healthy respect for SRMs. My Phoenix Hawk's been blown apart and put back together so many times that it was effectively Ship of Thesseus'd back into a new mech, losing the Lemon trait it had when my character got it but also putting him deeply in debt for all the damage that had to be fixed. Not helping was their uncanny tendency to his the Phoenix Hawk's head...and ONLY the head, on a number of occassions.
@@MechanicalFrog No kidding. This isn't helped by the fact that our merc company is...kinda heavy on the tonnage, particularly the player characters, so I'm basically the designated scout by virtue of being the only one with a mech that moves faster than 5/8 (in fact, I have two, my backup being a Stinger LAM of all things).
Inferno SRMs are a go-to if the opponent likes infantry/battle armour. A volley from a a couple of SRM-4s or SRM-6s can make entire squads/platoons evaporate unless they have fireproofing. If you can pack an active probe, some SRMs, pulse lasers and/or flamers/MGs on to a light or fast medium 'mech, you'll have a machine capable of doing horrors so great even the Firestarter will look on with envy. And if you have space for more than one ton of ammo (as multi SRM 'mechs often do), the relatively high ammo count per ton for most SRM launchers means that it's often viable to have a ton of regular ammo and a tone of inferno ammo on the same machine. Finally, if you want to rain fiery death in a way that illustrates to all and sundry that you consider the Ares Conventions a polite suggestion instead of a rule of conduct, load infernos on an SRM carrier. 10 SRM-6 launchers firing infernos can theoretically take out entire lances of battle armour and/or companies of infantry in one volley.
@@williamchamberlain2263 oh it gets worse I approve of both disco backs and believe that the Quasimodo is a hunchback. The last hunchback I brought to a game was a HBK-6S aka. the hunchback with an XL engine and both srms and a AC20. Tradition is something to be shed so that the universe can no longer ignore the glory of the hunchback!
In campaign mode, I love to rip out the LRM 20 and SRM 6 out of a highlander to replace them with two MML 9s. Long range firepower is almost untouched while I get the option to fire 18 SRMs at close range. It's just awesome.
We love SRMs for the same reason we love shotguns: SPLAT! Not the longest range, but it can tear up whatever is unfortunate enough to be in front of our mech. Also, as stated in the video, they are capable of carrying a wide variety of ammo to fit the play-style you enjoy.
I think the only time I've ever had fun in the shadowhawk on mechwarrior 5 is when I stripped out the lrms on the one that comes with srms and lrms and put in srms there too. If I recall correctly my strategy was to put srm-6s in the side torsos and SRM twos in the hands, strip out some of the jump Jets and up armor the thing like a zombie Mech because srm-2s are fairly common and don't really give you a lot more damage or heat when you get the upgraded version of them. Suffice to say I had fun with a thing just jumping around walls and whatnot and one button deleting vindicator ppcs. The fact that it also had an AC 5 that let me deal with annoying things outside of that helped as well.(although I could never get streak SRM 6's to land more reliably than the shotgun blast that was the normal SRM)
Remember me saying I loved using savanna masterswith framers teamed up with heat seeker lrms? I forgot to mention srm carriers with inferno rounds... yes... I'm evil.
I feel that you would like Mad Max with tactics like that. And I wish you the best of luck, just don't make the other person quit the game in frustration xD
Hello Frog. While playing with my old Playing Group (we never named the group), I created a Mech design variant that carried 10 SRM-2s and 2 tons of ammo for them. This gave me 10 SRMs that could fire 10 times each. I placed them into the Mech's torsos (left and right) in two groups of five SRM launchers. I made sure to have enough heat sinks to cover most of the heat generated by the launchers, and slapped on a couple of Medium Lasers as well to the design. The other Players HATED this design, and ruled it as 'unfair', and 'unbalanced', and not 'legal' to play against them. They overrode my arguments about the SRM-2 being one of the cheapest and most available weapons I could slap into a Mech chassis. Ah well, that was not the only Mech design the Group 'banned' of my designs. But it was 'fun' for a while, to 'shower' an enemy Mech with enough inferno rounds to force a shutdown, and then switch to 'standard' rounds for damage while their Mech was 'out of action' due to heat. What made it even MORE effective was using the design in a city fight. Where I could wait for the enemy to close the distance, then step out of cover, fire at close or medium ranges, overheat them, then close to short range, and behind them, to do massive damage, before pulling back to repeat the process and keep them shutdown. You can see why they wailed and thrashed about, and eventually made my little Hellion 'illegal' to play against them.
Easy it hits hard doesn't produce a lot of heat and there is something just inherently satisfying about alpha dumping srms into some poor mech and watching parts fly
We love SRMs for just how effective they are in the endgame. Unlike the LB-10-X, by the time SRMs are in effective range, you've (hopefully) thinned armor down all over the mech, dramatically increasing the odds of a catastrophic crit.
My favorite SRM-toting mech is the old Titan from Battletechnology. 2 PPCs for long-range striking power, six medium lasers for the mid-range battle, and no less than 22 SRMs (4 4 packs and a single 6-pack) for the coup de grace.
My first light mech was the Razorback, it took a while until I dared close into SRM range.
And when I did, it was so so sweet.
because they are fun, hit hard and it allow my spider to cosplay as an attack helicopter
I really wish NARC launchers were more widely available. It's a very underrated system, IMO. You can essentially upgrade every launcher in your lance with the equivalent of Artemis IV by just giving them a different ammo type.
Everyone loves a Raven.
@@MechanicalFrog unless your the one whom it’s being used on. But that’s obvious.
I think NARC only has a narrow era of usefulness , once IS get all the Streaks you dont need it for them anymore , and any LRM boat in that era really should have its own Artemis IV or be using a TAG spotter while shooting semi guided LRMs from behind a hill or be laying minefields .
@@mathewkelly9968 Lots of 'mechs and vehicles don't come with Streaks or Artemis even into the ilClan era. Between replacing all your launchers with advanced technology and simply buying new ammo, the latter is by far the more attractive option.
First you have to hit with the NARC. 2nd AMS can shot it down. 3rd the target knows it's NARC'ed and can just go hang around a friendly ECM... 4th the beacon can be destroyed/lost/pulled off.
But yes they can be all kinds of fun. Use a Warrior helo with 2 NARC's with 4 ton of ammo and buzz the crap out of your Op-For. Then just let the LRM carriers fly.
The fact that the 2-cluster table is so unfavorable is a real misfortune. If the table were adjusted to 7+ for two hits, the SRM2, LBII, and UAC2 would both go from disappointing to usable.
MWO was probably my first experience with SRMs being incredibly fun. In previous MW games I never really bothered with them over heavy autocannons and lasers (and LRMs for the lock-in mechanics), but SRMs are both super fun and super effective in MWO and MW5M. I got my Ace of Spades using an SRM Archer build, and some of my most clutch matches in MWO were in SRM builds. The combo of SRMs and PPCs on Thug-like builds are incredibly potent.
HBS BT is another game where SRMs are super effective. Turning a corner and seeing an enemy SRM Carrier is one of the most heart-attack-inducing experiences you'll ever have in video gaming, and SRMs are a great way to get extra punch (and extra chances to land head hits) without too much heat burden.
I've also converted to using SRMs in the TT games, though I'll drop an SRM2 any time I see it (unless I can upgrade to a 4). The advent of the MML gives you an excellent solution to the problem of both the SRM (lack of range) and LRM (minimum range), by allowing you to fire both types from the same launcher. The sheer throw weight of the larger MMLs when it comes to SRMs can quickly become down right shocking (MML7 is a potential 14 damage, and MML9 pushes that to 18, with averages of 8 and 10 respectively), which is ever better when you remember that location hits are all individual for SRMs (so an average of 4 and 5 location rolls respectively for the MML7 and 9).
Agreed on the cluster table tweak.
Here is a good house rule for missile weapons:
1. Roll your 'to-hit' as normal but note down how many points you beat the number by or miss it by.
2. If you hit the required number dead on then roll on cluster table as normal.
3. If you hit higher or Lower than the number than add or subtract that amount from the cluster table.
This way if you 'aim well' you can hit much more and you have a chance to hit with a few missiles even if you aim badly but more often if you aim badly you will miss more than most. I have played with this rule before and while it does buff cluster weapons a little, it mostly just adds a consistency that makes sense.
the 2-cluster table is an absolute crime.
I still wonder HOW she managed to get a LOCUST to overheat
A mystery for the ages.
I used to think SRMs were a terrible choice for a weapon when I started out. It wasn't useful when you're longer ranged weapons first became useful, and they spread their damage out. Terrible weapon. Then I took a Thug, opened a hole in the CT, and fired one launcher. One engine death later, and I was hooked. I still look at any mech with weapons made to punch a nice hole in the armor, and don't have at least one SRM system (or LB-X in later era play) on them and think "You could have been so much more."
They're growing on me.
Love the Kintaro as a SRM boat, managed to get behind a Stalker with one and let rip with everything. The result was a loud boom as the LRM ammo cooked off from a SRM hit :D
The Kintaro is a great mech.
The Stalker is also a formidable missile boat, having 20 LRMs and 12 SRMs to play with, on top of six lasers.
I always thought of the streak SRM's more akin to modern day TOW missiles ie; wire guided hence the accuracy and incompatibility with other SRM launchers
A fair comparison.
Can we talk about how that coffee never spilled once as that mech walked and was hit. Truly a smooth ride.
My legal team has suggested we not discuss the coffee cup or anything to do with it.
I do love SRMs. That is, until the ATMs come into play.
ATMs feel like cheating to my old timey BT fan self... Pick a lane, mechwarrior!
if the medium laser is the AK of the battletech universe, the SRM is going to be the RPG7 of it.
Hitting in single missile groups also helps the system to be a popular crit seeker. enough SRM bukake gets through every center torso one way or another.
All problems can eventually be solved if you add enough missiles.
My favorite SRM story is Greyson Carlyle threatening his future wife with a ... and I just got to the part of the video where you add that story in.
You have great taste
Because I like vomiting an obscene amount of missiles and don't mind potential ammo explosions from heat. I've strategically placed icepacks and frozen peas throughout the mechs innards. I should be fine.
Sound plan.
Frozen peas will help with the swelling in case if an unfortunate crit or ammo explosion.
I'm part of a group doing an Mechwarrior RPG campaign while using MegaMek for the actual battles...and it's given me a healthy respect for SRMs. My Phoenix Hawk's been blown apart and put back together so many times that it was effectively Ship of Thesseus'd back into a new mech, losing the Lemon trait it had when my character got it but also putting him deeply in debt for all the damage that had to be fixed. Not helping was their uncanny tendency to his the Phoenix Hawk's head...and ONLY the head, on a number of occassions.
Poor poor Phoenix Hawk...
@@MechanicalFrog No kidding. This isn't helped by the fact that our merc company is...kinda heavy on the tonnage, particularly the player characters, so I'm basically the designated scout by virtue of being the only one with a mech that moves faster than 5/8 (in fact, I have two, my backup being a Stinger LAM of all things).
One of my favourite tabletop mechs is the Thug with its 2 PPCs and 2 SRM6 s . PPCs burn through the armour then the SRMs critical seek !
Heck yeah. I love the Thug.
Can Warhammer do flip arms?
Simple and effective.
Inferno SRMs are a go-to if the opponent likes infantry/battle armour. A volley from a a couple of SRM-4s or SRM-6s can make entire squads/platoons evaporate unless they have fireproofing. If you can pack an active probe, some SRMs, pulse lasers and/or flamers/MGs on to a light or fast medium 'mech, you'll have a machine capable of doing horrors so great even the Firestarter will look on with envy. And if you have space for more than one ton of ammo (as multi SRM 'mechs often do), the relatively high ammo count per ton for most SRM launchers means that it's often viable to have a ton of regular ammo and a tone of inferno ammo on the same machine.
Finally, if you want to rain fiery death in a way that illustrates to all and sundry that you consider the Ares Conventions a polite suggestion instead of a rule of conduct, load infernos on an SRM carrier. 10 SRM-6 launchers firing infernos can theoretically take out entire lances of battle armour and/or companies of infantry in one volley.
Oh man an underrated srm mech is the hunchback 4SP. Put together a 4G and a 4SP and you have a mean 3025 one-two punch in a close range brawl
Swayback heresy
@@williamchamberlain2263 oh it gets worse I approve of both disco backs and believe that the Quasimodo is a hunchback. The last hunchback I brought to a game was a HBK-6S aka. the hunchback with an XL engine and both srms and a AC20. Tradition is something to be shed so that the universe can no longer ignore the glory of the hunchback!
In campaign mode, I love to rip out the LRM 20 and SRM 6 out of a highlander to replace them with two MML 9s. Long range firepower is almost untouched while I get the option to fire 18 SRMs at close range. It's just awesome.
Nice trick.
We love SRMs for the same reason we love shotguns: SPLAT! Not the longest range, but it can tear up whatever is unfortunate enough to be in front of our mech. Also, as stated in the video, they are capable of carrying a wide variety of ammo to fit the play-style you enjoy.
They're for reaching out and really making an impact in the lives of others. An explosive impact, but still an impact.
SRMs & light mechs, always a good time.
Never a dull moment.
I think the only time I've ever had fun in the shadowhawk on mechwarrior 5 is when I stripped out the lrms on the one that comes with srms and lrms and put in srms there too. If I recall correctly my strategy was to put srm-6s in the side torsos and SRM twos in the hands, strip out some of the jump Jets and up armor the thing like a zombie Mech because srm-2s are fairly common and don't really give you a lot more damage or heat when you get the upgraded version of them.
Suffice to say I had fun with a thing just jumping around walls and whatnot and one button deleting vindicator ppcs. The fact that it also had an AC 5 that let me deal with annoying things outside of that helped as well.(although I could never get streak SRM 6's to land more reliably than the shotgun blast that was the normal SRM)
The 3025 ShadowHawk is much better if you swap out the LRMs for SRMs.
Oh boy that is good. I had no idea Frog!
*thumbs up*
Man, I really hope CGL makes a Kintaro mech. I want it so bad.
Definitely.
Remember me saying I loved using savanna masterswith framers teamed up with heat seeker lrms? I forgot to mention srm carriers with inferno rounds... yes... I'm evil.
Well, srm carriers in city game. Jenners in more open terrain.
Vroom vroom.
I feel that you would like Mad Max with tactics like that.
And I wish you the best of luck, just don't make the other person quit the game in frustration xD
Luckily, we never got to that point when Wargameforge introduced us to Battletech!! Miss you, my friend!!
I don't get srms sometimes, but sandblasting sounds fun
Occasionally awesome.
Infernos on clanner bullfrogs? You just wanted to make a Fire Elemental joke.
I have this card. It reads, "I do what I want." :)
Inferno ammo + heatseaking ammo + plasma rifles/cannons.
Hello Frog.
While playing with my old Playing Group (we never named the group), I created a Mech design variant that carried 10 SRM-2s and 2 tons of ammo for them. This gave me 10 SRMs that could fire 10 times each. I placed them into the Mech's torsos (left and right) in two groups of five SRM launchers.
I made sure to have enough heat sinks to cover most of the heat generated by the launchers, and slapped on a couple of Medium Lasers as well to the design.
The other Players HATED this design, and ruled it as 'unfair', and 'unbalanced', and not 'legal' to play against them. They overrode my arguments about the SRM-2 being one of the cheapest and most available weapons I could slap into a Mech chassis.
Ah well, that was not the only Mech design the Group 'banned' of my designs. But it was 'fun' for a while, to 'shower' an enemy Mech with enough inferno rounds to force a shutdown, and then switch to 'standard' rounds for damage while their Mech was 'out of action' due to heat.
What made it even MORE effective was using the design in a city fight. Where I could wait for the enemy to close the distance, then step out of cover, fire at close or medium ranges, overheat them, then close to short range, and behind them, to do massive damage, before pulling back to repeat the process and keep them shutdown.
You can see why they wailed and thrashed about, and eventually made my little Hellion 'illegal' to play against them.
Sounds like you, briefly, had a lot of fun with it. :D
Trick question? 🙃
Maybe a rhetorical one.
Any chance for some MegaMek guides?
I'm no expert on it but I could probably cobble together a beginner's guide.
Didn't inferno rules cap heat added to a unit at 16?
Not in MegaMek and in my research I never saw a cap.
Because boom
Big bada boom.
Easy it hits hard doesn't produce a lot of heat and there is something just inherently satisfying about alpha dumping srms into some poor mech and watching parts fly
Fact Check: True
More dakka
Needs more fire.
Always.
I admit to historically not rating SRMs ive come around these days to thinking SRMs are the business , steaks just make it gravy
I'm coming around on them lately...
@@MechanicalFrog crits is where its at