Hey Luke Winters here, loved seeing the lists that everyone made, yourself included! Tiny note on the Marik list, every mech has a large laser so not only are they heat efficient, they can all fire at the same range :)
Big fan of this kind of content. You better believe that I had one of my many battletech related excel sheets open taking notes on those lore friendly lances. I have a campaign going with my wife and her brother where they have a merc unit of 16 mechs, sometimes we play Alpha Strike with the company, sometimes classic with 1 or 2 lances. One thing we figured out was to keep the ranges similar but with perhaps 1 faster guy in each lance. However the most important part, printing out a pic of an 80s / early 90s actor or musician and paper clipping that to the record sheet for the unit. Helps set the mood.
I miss you, NA! I hope you’re enjoying yourself and still playing BT once in a while. You’ve left us with such a wonderful wealth of knowledge and perspectives💙
As always, great guide. I've mostly played/run extended campaigns, so mostly dealt with company/battalion composition. The biggest general tip for companies is to design balanced 4-mech lances, with the intent of reorganizing 3 balanced lances as 3 specialist lances when needed. If you are running the whole company together, you are likely to want all of your line kinda together, all of your ranged, scouts, etc., but you may just be running one lance at a time too. Very generally I build a company with: 1 Scout 3 Cavalry (1 comand) 4 Line (1 command) 4 Ranged (1 comand) That can be configured as 3 balanced lances, 1 recon lance + 2 lances line/ranged, or 1 recon + 1 ranged + 1 line. Ideally, the scout and cavalry mechs will all be multi-role, and half of the line and ranged mechs will be able to fill other roles. The whole recon lance needs to be able to move at least 5-8-5 or 6-9, and ¾ of the line lance needs to be able to move 4-6. Preferably the whole company will move at least 4-6, but a Stalker or Atlas is worth moving slower for (despite being cheap for an assault mech, I don't find the Awesome to be worth slowing down for since several heavy mechs can cover it's role at 4-6). ... I also try to work in a few very light vehicles at the company level. Mechs are kept ready for combat in their bays, but a few light vehicles (under 10 tons each) can be kept as cargo on a drop ship, they just take time to unload and deploy (not going to happen in game turns, but doable if you're on-world for more than a few days; mech bays include all the equipment for maintaining vehicles too, so as long as the whole company is not down for maintenance the vehicles can rotate through). In BV, you can get 2 Savannah Masters for the cost of a Locust, they are ¼ the weight, 1/16th the C-Bill price, and they are arguably better for pure recon or as an initiative sink. Ferrets are even cheaper, still only 5 tons, and VTOLs are incredibly effective for recon. The Swift Wind is 8 tons and has a little cargo space, making it better for maintaining long-duration OPs. A Union has so it's reasonable to squeeze in 2-4 light recon vehicles. Ideally I'd carry 2 Savanah Masters, 1 Ferret, and 1 Swift Wind (23 tons, 390 BV, 288K C-Bills) on a Union dropship (out of 74.5 tons of cargo), and have the vehicles act as the primary scouts/initiative-sinks for the company with mechs working close enough to react if they get in trouble. Overlords only carry 50 tons of cargo and Leopards have no cargo space, so it's not worthwhile to carry vehicles as cargo on those. You can swap 1 mech bay for 1 heavy (100 ton) or 2 light (50 ton) vehicle bays, so it may be worth swapping some mechs for vehicles (especially vehicles close to but less than 50 tons), but that's really its own thing. The super-light vehicles are really only worth carrying if carried as cargo. There is a reason that merc companies which use vehicles design their whole force structure around it.
Nice video, as always! I always thought there was a lot of utility in the old "standard battle lance" 2x heavy/1x medium/1x light structure. Of course there's a lot of nuance in there depending on the individual mechs, but the gist is having those 2 battle line heavies, a medium that functions as bodyguard/cavalry, and a scout/flanker gives you a nice bit of versatility.
At your 6min mark, when you start with the graphic to highlight mech roles, I might suggest you label your gray area of the map as an "Engagement Area" or "Opposing position". Love the vids. Keep up the good work!
Love that this doesn’t just focus on 4 mech lances! It is content that was sorely missed in terms of actually building real teams for games instead of just talking about lances as a unit of 4 mechs as a structure within the lore. Really appreciate all the videos you are making.
Great video . We settled on 6K BV for most 4 mech lances. My 3025 Command Lance is: Marauder MAD-3D, Warhammer WHM-6D, Archer ARC-2R, and Phoenix Hawk PXH-1. Improved gunnery on the Archer and piloting on the Pixie. Adjusted for your 6.5 K groups I'd add a Javelin JVN-10N with perhaps some inferno rounds in case I wanted to start up the BBQ. If I'm feeling more competitive I'd replace the MAD-3D with a Grasshopper or something matching the terrain , but usually I just like to have fun as I watch whatever world burn.
Back in the day, the "standard lance" before the use of BV 2.0, was 4 mechs -- 2x heavies, 1x medium, 1x light. An optimized 3025 example: 1x MAD-3D 1x TDR-5S 1x WVR-6M 1x LCT-1E
When you build traditional 12x mech companies, you would have 3x lances of 4 mechs each built around weight, its mission, and speed. Light Recon Heavy Fire Medium or Heavy Command
Another tip I found out about is in certain situations throwing scatter dmg first can be usefull in finding soft spots. Certain mechs have armor that's weak but harder to hit do to hit tables.
Also helps with headshot fishing. May not be as dramatic as a clean decapitation, but those pilot wounds start to add up over the course of a longer game
Mostly good video. However in canon there are several cases where a lance may have only 1, maybe 2 different types 'Mechs. And there are good reasons for it. Namely logistics. It's much easier to store and source spare parts & ammo for a limited number of different chassis than if every 'Mech were different. Besides some 'Mechs can perform multiple roles or has a variety of variants with different weapons. Trebuchet is a good example: base production model TBT-5N has LRMs for range, TBT-5S has SRMs to act as bodyguard, and TBT-7K has PPC & AC/5 combo for longer medium range. But there is a merit having different 'Mechs in a lance even if one would move at different speed. Lance may need to operate independently from a larger force, and here having a faster 'Mech for reconnaissance and spotter can come handy. So a fast moving fire lance with 1 faster recon capable 'Mech could be: TBT-5N, TBT-5N, TBT-5S, PXH-1. There may not always be the most ideal 'Mechs available, so aforementioned lance could alternatively be: TBT-5N, TBT-5N, WVR-6M, STG-3R. Weaker scout and larger variety of different 'Mechs makes sourcing parts more challenging, but otherwise performs much the same. Both aforementioned lances are from Free Worlds League. This is largely for purposes of lore and detailed campaign. If only limitations are Battle Value or weight, then only considerations are what makes for best combination of mobility, protection, and armament (firepower + range).
I do find it interesting that you start by stating Single Design fault, yet that is what early armies used in BT. House armies often had full companies of a single mech type - per cannon sources. I appreciate the way you laid out the different strategies and functions of the lance members and how mission goals / environments justify changing the line out. I have been playing BT since the mid 80s and have used all sorts of units. One question - a lance is 4 - generally houses.IS mercs, 5 points for Star of Clan, but is 6 not primarily Comstar / WoB? as a side note, i run a group that uses 3 mech units. a deployment is btwn 9 and 15, making it 3 to 5 teams working coordinated. thank you for putting out good content.
Lore does state single design units. Perhaps that worked because rather than the lance/company being the only one in action they had full battalions/regiments (or even larger) of mechs and other forces fighting so a company being limited to a single design doesn't hurt as much as it might on tabletop which as I understand it only rarely gets bigger than a company per side.
I think it happened at time but I also feel like it wasn't super intentional. There were also times where due to lore and function of factories where Houses had only one or two choices of chassis at some weight classes.
@@plaguegroup7066 what era? Unless they were Samsonov variants, I feel like they'd just get pummeled while they tried to close in the early tech levels. Something like: BNC-3S x2 ZEU-6T AWS-8Q Would be tough to advance on for most other variants. Now I want to fire up MegaMek and see.
Just found your channel, and its got some great information, especially for newer players. I know multiples of the same chassis are not the best for lance design most of the time but it does fit for more Great House themed forces. Less for mercs though.
@@ObiwanNekody you know you might be right. A Lance of 95 ton assault Clan mechs might be able to beat a Lance of 80 tonners from the Star League era. Maybe.
13:01 So... this is a bit of a complicated topic... It's *generally* accepted that once you get into later eras, speed winds up beating out armor 8/10 times. It almost doesn't matter how much armor you bring if your TMM is consistently +5 - you are outlasting the 3/4 Hardened Armor Great Turtle. Taking 0 damage 83% of the time is apparently all the armor you really need.
One thing to discuss is the terrain for the lances. For example, the "Brawl-Halla Banzai" would be very successful in highly built terrain; it would be less effective in more open terrain. Most units are very focused on the short range; AC/20's and medium laser spam. Many can jump to flank in close. But in a more open space, they're slow with 4 walk or jump; they'll get eaten by something faster walk with more range in something other than a city or mountainous map.
My go to strat is 1 long range shooter, 1 guard for that shooter, 1 flanker, and 1 lrm boat who can support the guard late in the game. Just to give you an idea how this works: Im following a basic strat. I have 4 mechs, lets label them A-D. A is my flanker on one side of the formation. B&C are my shooters with one of them being an lrm focused mech and they are in the center D is my guard mech and sits close to B&C but off to one side. A runs down the field staying just close enough to factor into enemy decisions. Too far and they ignore you. Too close and you get shot up. B&C hustle to my shooting position. Usually its a hill with cover or its a nice patch of woods. D follows them and his job is to run in only when the enemy is getting close to the min range for the lrms. Thats really important I dont want to sacrifice my guard by putting him out front early. He goes out only when the enemy is committed to closing the distance. Ideally he has 1 long range weapon to help out. So here would be a simply example of mechs that work for this: A: Spider, Jenner, commando, wolverine, griffin, grasshopper
How would u build a list of 10 mechs and 15k BV2 being in LSW -3049 playing CCAF? Im a bit curious. Btw: its about a campaign with persistent damage/extreme range rules. There are so many options to put that together.
@@goodbodha right now im like, 2x Awesome 8Q (3/5.. id love 2 gunnery but cant afford it) .. 2x grasshopper 5N (3/5), 2x Catapult C1 (3/5), 2x Vindicator 1R (3/5), 2x Raven 3L (4/5) (narc support for the cats) Sitting at 15100 bv2
@@Pirannacon I have a bit different list but maybe in a similar line of thought. 4x Vindicator 1Rs, sgt is a 3/4 the others are 4/5. 1x King Crab0000, 3/4 2x Longbow 8C, both 3/4 1x Awesome 8T, 3/4 2x Raven 3L, 4/5 14,923 bv This composition plays heavily towards 4 things. TAG, mass lrm fire, smoke ammo, and a ppcs in your battle line. Now you might be someone who hasn't tried this, but hear me out. Smoke ammo for the lrm5s. You basically create concealment for the ravens of for damaged mechs with massive quantities of smoke. The ravens meanwhile are tagging for the longbows and awesome. The King crab is your bruiser. You dont push him up. He instead acts as the guard that prevents people from pushing you. Your vindicators other than laying down mass smoke are providing mass ppc fire as anyone who pushes. What you want to do with this is divide the enemy force. Say they are spread out a little bit. You dump smoke in the middle of the enemy formation and push one side with the ravens and lrm fire. The enemy force either pushes through the smoke on the following turn or they find half their forces arent able to fight. Meanwhile you dumped a bunch of shots onto ideally 1 or maybe 2 mechs with the hope being that something breaks or a mech falls down. If they fall they are a goner without support from the other guys. You make it difficult for them by continuing to put down smoke. If the enemy isnt able to push on you and you get someone to fall over run the king crab up and make it really sketchy for anyone to try to save that mech. Now lets say you have a mission where you need to move a decent amount across a map. You know the longbows, awesome, and king crab will have to spend multiple turns running. The longbows can pop smoke with the lrm5s. the vindicators can pop smoke as well. You can just spend more time under smoke until you get into effective range of the objective for your lrm fire support. Then send in the ravens with vindicator support as usual. I can not emphasize this enough if you are firing the ppcs dump all 4 into 1 target if possible and then lrms. Poke holes and hunt for crits. Your game is all about separating someone from the pack and then crippling them in 1 or 2 turns. Most players will struggle because something will be caught a little to far from support or the player will bunch everything up to prevent that and you get to still smoke them to push them around. If they opt to rush with everything..... well thats king crab heaven.
@@goodbodha nice idea dude Problem is, its gonna be 4-6 scenarios and the mechs gonna carry over damage from 1 to another / persistent And u only get to Drop 4 out of 10 each scenario, so we cant build a strat around 10 mechs on the field :/ Therefore i was like, 2 times the setup of Awesome, Cat, Vindi (bodyguard) Raven (maybe) .. or 2 Cats 1 Grasshopper and a Raven (put together as u like) .. Buuut, i was thinking about 2 things: Do i miss better close range stuff for possible defending Missions like a King Crab or Atlas, instead of a 2nd Awesome.. (Atlas 3/5 is almost the same in BV) .. or put in a Hunchback 4P as a Bodyguard.. u know? Overall i think this is pretty much setup for anything coming, even Tho u cant be really using the very best for every Situation (best for long AND very close Ranges..)
As an old school (pre-clan release) Battletech fan, I'm a little confused why you'd consider 6 mechs a Lance? A lance has always been 4 mechs. Now while a game can have however many you want, in universe, this was a logistical thing. The most common Dropship is the Leopard which can only transport 4. So 4 mech lances were the standard, before going to company sizes with 12, which were usually had an attached Union class Dropship. Again a game can have any setup you want, but how would you justify a 6 mech group, lore wise?
Tabletop wise I find a 6 mech game much more satisfying. 4 mechs becomes a bit too volatile I think and you're at a significant disadvantage once you lose 1 mech. Most of our 4 mech games have us surrendering and negotiate terms once you lose 1-1.5 mechs. Lore wise you'd need at least a Union for 12 mechs to pull it off. One design that could work is splitting your company as follows: Main Force (6 mechs): The "anvil". Your slow and expensive heavy hitters and bodyguards. Cavalry QRF (4 mechs): The "hammer". A relatively quick unit that can respond to threats. Design around 5/8, 5/8/5, or 4/6/4 speed. Examples: Wolverine, Griffin, Dervish, Catapult, Grasshopper, Dragon, Osts, Scout (2 mechs): General scouting force. Could also have anti-infantry. Examples: Locust, Firestarter, Javelin, P-hawk
Regarding pierce and critical hit, this seems to remind me of the Timber Wolf with peeps and SRMs (i think it's the C?) Which I would run against whole SW lances and win
Hello. I always enjoying your content. I live in Japan and here we build a lance for 210t at four 3025 mech when go into 1 player vs 1 player battle. I think this is old way because in Japan publishing and support of Battletech ended in 90's and we almost stuck in 3025. Its still fun but sometime we face "We already tested everything we could" problem. We(me and my friends) tried large scale several times but more than 30 mech/tank/VTOL get combat time take too long. We once did battalion vs battalion size combat in saturday overnight. Start at 7pm and with an hour of interval for rest, it ended in Sunday 6:30am! So we now searching for other option like Alpha strike or Strategic Operations/Battleforce rule. Have you ever tried that? If so, have you tested on large scale battle? Many thanks to your work.
Hi Masayuki! I have not tried Alpha Strike or Strategic Operations. The largest battle I've tested was a 20,000 BV game with a star of Clan mechs vs a company of Inner Sphere mechs. You might try advancing the timeline from the year 3025 to 3039 or 3050. That way your group gets new mechs to experience. For larger games I like doing campaigns, where you select a team of maybe 16-24 mechs and do a series of missions with them. You would send 6-8 mechs on each mission kind of like which "pokemon" you want to send into battle. I also incorporate salvage rules and capturing enemy mechs after the battle. Does your group have a Discord or contact information? I have many questions about Battletech in Japan! Glad that you're enjoying and hope that helps!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed Thank you for your kind reply. Sadly my friends can't speak english (I think only me speak english in my group) and also after the COVID-19 our group almost stopped to play. But some of the member now talking about new gameplay. So your suggestion was very helpful. I already joined your discord and MRC Hub so if you have a question I'll answer as much as I can when I have a time. It's a different name from "Masayuki". 😃
I like to build lances after weight class, not deviating more then one weight class in any given lance. For a merc company i usually go for a assault/heavy lance with massive long range firepower as a command lance, a medium mech lance as a general purpose combat lance, and a light/medium lance as scout lance. Looking forward to this years mercenary expansion and the combat vehicles cause those are a great way to augment your company if you are missing a role or two but dont have dropship space left in your union.
Is your discord still around? I'd love to see what game variants and game modes, like king of the hill, capture the flag and other objective games you use!
Is there any specific color pattern you "have to follow" or can you have a custom color/camo scheme, and is there room for fan made factions kinda like custom space marine chapters in warhammer 40k
I like the examples provided. They will help me figure out how to make my own Lances. I do have a question. Does any of the choices change if its a Clan Star? instated of an IS Lance? If so I would be nice to see some Example for the Major Clans just like you did for the Houses.
I don't have much practical Battlemech experience (mostly into lore, I did play a little MegaMek and do plan to return to it at some point though) and haven't had the time to watch the video yet but I do have a mixed regiment (as I like military TOE/unit structure stuff). Not really determined a fixed time frame but I don't want to be much further than the Clan Invasion (I have a dislike of omnitech and clanner tech superiority thought not necessarily specific clantech/lostech like ER-lasers, Pulse lasers, DHS, Ferro-Fibrous, XL engines, LB-X autocannons etc). Thought I am pretty sure I did include some designs from later periods. Meant to be a Mercenary unit, thought pretty close with Lyrans/House Stenier like with Kell Hounds. So I did try to give it a bit of a Lyran bias in designs and did consider the capabilities but mostly chose by my sense of aesthetics and personal cool factor (which might not necessarily make it actually workable in game). I did not check the availability tables. (I am actually not fully happy with the name as I would prefer not to have Lyran in the name, but didn't like "Freikorps" alone and didn't have a better idea for what to add). (I just realized that I forgot to come up with a regimental command lance yet. I might have built it in MegaMek once thought... Oh whatever.) Lyran Freikorps -Freikorps Regimental Command Lance: -Heavy Battalion --Heavy Battalion Command Lance: 1 KGC-000, 1 BLR-1G, 1 TDR-5S, 1 AS7-D --Cuirassier Company ---Cuirasssier Command Lance: 1 AS7-D, 1 ARC-2S, 1 LGB-7Q, 1 STK-3F ---Assault Lance, Cuirassiers: 2 ZEU-6S, 1 BNC-3S, 1 STK-3F ---Heavy Lance, Cuirassiers: 1 BL-6-KNT, 1 ON1-K, 1 CRD-3R, 1 WHM-6R --Dragoon Company ---Dragoon Command Lance: 1 CP-10-Z, 1 CN9-AL, 1 CRD-3R, 1 MAD-3R ---Heavy Lance, Dragoons: 1 MAD-3R, 1 WHM-6R, 1 HBK-4G, 1 HBK-4P ---Fire Support Lance, Dragoons: 1 ARC-2R, 1 CPLT-C1, 1 AWS-8Q, 1 RFL-3N --Armoured Cavalry Company ---Command Platoon: 2 Alacorn, 2 Schrek ---1st Heavy Tank Platoon: 2 Patton, 2 Rommel ---2nd Heavy Tank Platoon: 4 Manticore -Medium Battalion --Medium Battalion Command Lance: 1 WVR-6R, 1 GRF-1N, 1 SHD-2H, 1 PHX-1 --Hussar Company ---Hussar Command Lance: 1 GRF-1N, 1 SHD-2H, 1 CN9-A, 1 BJ-1DB ---Medium Battle Lance: 1 BJ-1, 1 BJ-1DB, 1 SHD-2D, 1 WVR-6M ---Heavy Scout Lance, Hussars: 1 STN-3KB, 1 RVN-4X, 2 HSR-350-D --Uhlan Company ---Uhlan Command Lance: 1 PXH-1, 1 GRF-1N, 1 WVR-6R, 1 SHD-2H ---Heavy Scout Lance, Uhlans: 1 STN-3KB, 1 WSP-1A, 1 JR7-D, 1 COM-2D ---Fire Support Lance, Uhlans: 1 SHD-2D, 2 GRF-1N, 1 WVR-6M --1st Mechanized Infantry Company ---1.1Mechanized Platoon:: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC ---1.2 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC ---1.3 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC ---1st Mechanized Company Fire Support Platoon: 2 SRM Carrier, 2 LRM Carrier -Light Battalion --Light Battalion Command Lance: 1 PXH-1, PNT-9R, 1 VLK-QA, 1 JR7-D --Chasseur Company ---Chassseur Command Lance: 1 COM-2D, 1 VLK-QA, 1 JR7-D, 1 RVN-3L ---1st Scout Lance, Chasseurs: 1 OTT-7J, 1 COM-2D, 2 LCT-1M ---2nd Scout Lance, Chasseurs: 1 LCT-1S, 1 LCT-1E, 2 LCT-3V --Armoured Recon Company ---ARC Command Platoon: 2 Saracen, 2 Scimatar ---1st Recon Platoon: 4 Saracen ---2nd Recon Platoon: 4 Scimatar --2nd Mechanized Infantry Company ---2.1 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC ---2.2 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC ---2.3 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC ---2nd Mechanized Company Fire Support Platoon: 2 Harasser, 2 Harasser LRM (I know vehicle units usually go with Lance as well, but I prefer to keep it limited to Mechs. Oh yeah, the Infantry is meant to be Foot Infantry, I call the units mechanised because they have APCs.)
Maybe i'm off but the BV for the Victor in the Brawl-Halla Banzai shows as 1236, while the one in the Democratic Crusaders shows as 1378. Sarna shows the BV2.0 as 1370. I'm checking the others but this does put the Banzai a little over the 6500 BV. Am i missing something? EDIT: Most likely the Banzai uses a -9A not the usual -9B. It appears to be the 1236 BV. Wow that looks like a fragile mech for it's tonnage.
You could probably make a short like Clan addendum video where you talk about all your concepts and how the clans change it. For example like "try to include 1 base of elementals for every mech" or "Self sufficiency is much more important as you'll have less mechs"@@nerdyOveranalyzed
Do you have a video based on building around the 2018 computer game but say using a more accurate mod suite like BEX? Thats unfortunately the only way I end up able to play.
Genuine question for the guys who play at a high level, why use standard level gunnery? Its a 20% bump or so for 3 but the consistency goes through the roof.
It doesn't increase survivability at all and your 0/0 pilot still dies to a gauss rifle to the dome. Having a better gunner on certain mechs is good, but that extra 20% means bringing less metal than your opponent
I need to put together a list Containing 10 mechs and 15000 BV2 on Late Succession Wars (-3049) - while playing CCAF. Difficult enough ^^ when u try to use better pilots aswell.
8k is pretty low for a game in which you want a clanner to bring anything beyond medium 'mechs. For comparison, a Battlemaster 1G is about 1500 BV - a Timber Wolf Prime is 2700. The problem is, if you give the clans enough BV to play an actual force, the IS probably is gonna outnumber them 2:1 unless the clan player takes a bunch of elementals. Which, I mean, they should, elementals are awesome, but it's worth noting that BV struggles to properly balance IS vs. Clan matches because it presumes similar numbers of units. By way of example, my 8k force for my Clan Wolf trinary is a Warhawk C, a Timber Wolf B, a Kit Fox A, and 3 points of elementals, and it's only because of those elementals that I have as many activations as my 8k Eridani Light Horse list, which outmasses the clan one by almost a factor of two (205 to 360). And at the end of the day, while clan 'mechs can put out a heck of a lot of firepower, they aren't really much more durable than IS 'mechs of equivalent sizes from the same tech era, so winning a battle like that is...kinda unfun to play and play against. Don't get me wrong, the clan 'mechs are (generally) worth that much higher BV (setting aside things like the Nova Prime or 'mechs that get screwed by the BV multiplier for speed), this is more of a gripe about how I never get to use any cool toys and instead I just end up sniping from long range all the time whenever I play at IS BV levels.
@@nerdyOveranalyzedThank you. Just a couple of more questions: Is a Linebreaker mech sort of a front line tank (in RPG terms)? What does the AGOAC means?
@@Dracobyte I'd say the battleline mechs are the frontline tanks, to an extent; a linebreaker is extremely specialised. Low speed, thick armor, and, usually, enormous guns; think an Atlas or a King Crab. Especially a King Crab, the only mechs that want to trade punches with that thing at six hexes or closer, are other 100-ton linebreakers. They take a while to get where they're going, but once they do, they wreck everything in their way. The trick is, making sure they're heading for the fight, and that the fight is at the place that they're going, because if it's somewhere else, they aren't good at changing plans and relocating in a hurry.
4 ML definately qualifies as a crit seeker setup. Sure it straddles the line between poking holes and getting hits.....but it's valied IMHO. It's not as heat efficient as SRMs but still.....
I really do not like how this video is structured. It's like im listening to a senior in highschool give a presentation on a subject they are really enthusiastic about, but have not practiced for.
you make this way over complicated! step 1 - pick an era (everything prior to the era is available). step 2 - set up weight class table. 11 mechs for each; light, medium, heavy and assault. (11 because it fits 2D6). these are YOUR favorite mechs. this has nothing to do with faction or BV. step 3 - set up your lance(s) by weight class. light lance: light mech light mech light mech medium mech medium lance: light mech medium mech medium mech heavy mech heavy lance: medium mech heavy mech heavy mech assault mech assault lance: heavy mech heavy mech assault mech assault mech step 4 - build the company (3 lances) any combination of the light, medium, heavy and assault lances. DONE! nothing complicated or confusing. simply set up and play! when planning a match, simply state, I am bringing a medium lance. or, I am bringing a light lance and a heavy lance. yes, players will try to min/max, but there are so many options in the game, that bringing an power-creep force is unlikely.
@hmad898 nerdy gives solid advice and I enjoy his vids. as a military enthusiast and wargamer of battletech for 40 years... this was made way more complicated than necessary. as I described, using simple military theory on standard unit composition, a force can be put together in a short amount of time that has both function and purpose. there's no need to confuse people with points cost or game balance. it's a war game, being out of balance is the challenge. lastly, game balance is a myth. checkers and chess are balanced games. both players begin with the same pieces that have identical capabilities. once you pit two different mech designs against each other, even with identical points cost, the game will not be balanced.
@@bruced648 like i said, i think you missed the point. nerdy makes advanced tactics guides for competitive battletech as you probably know. not the randomly select units, only looking at their weight and not their battlefield role, cost, or team value kind of battletech. so by saying "just randomly pick your units" or saying to ignore balance and how good a mech is, i feel like you're missing the point of these videos. If thats how you play thats cool, but most people watching these want to improve at battletech, and your way of doing it does not help people improve. Your method might be good for someone who is just trying the game out, but not for someone who plays competitively with some friends.
@hmad898 fair point. we mostly play campaign style. there isn't really a tournament scene in our area. so the more involved story-line games are better for us.
What a load of crap. 40 years of playing the game tells me 2 things. 1st you can put as many sprinkles on a shit sandwich, yet ur still eating crap. 2nd there are 3 lances, the fast mover, the brawler and the line holder. if you want to truly learn how to play then use each one. Ultimately you will develop your own skill. for me, its speed kills, no matter what your up against, move fast and you will beat any opposition but understand you need heavies to give you a chance to get behind your opposition.
What I learned from this video is that filler words are worse than silence.
Hey Luke Winters here, loved seeing the lists that everyone made, yourself included!
Tiny note on the Marik list, every mech has a large laser so not only are they heat efficient, they can all fire at the same range :)
And easy to repair logistics wise since you just order bulk large lasers as opposed to say some PPCs, some ac10s and some L lasers.
Big fan of this kind of content. You better believe that I had one of my many battletech related excel sheets open taking notes on those lore friendly lances.
I have a campaign going with my wife and her brother where they have a merc unit of 16 mechs, sometimes we play Alpha Strike with the company, sometimes classic with 1 or 2 lances.
One thing we figured out was to keep the ranges similar but with perhaps 1 faster guy in each lance. However the most important part, printing out a pic of an 80s / early 90s actor or musician and paper clipping that to the record sheet for the unit. Helps set the mood.
lol glad you enjoyed! I find every serious BT player always seems to have spreadsheets. xD
Great advice Commander Slimmer.
One could also just follow the rules of House Steiner and field 4 Assaults for a scout lance, however.
I would LOVE to see you do a MegaMek/MekHQ AtB play through. Seeing you put these things into practice could also be useful demonstrations.
Not sure if I could do an -entire- campaign since it would take so much time. But a few games would be possible!
I second this one! I would really see Commander Slime showing us how a real MechWarrior gets it done in the simulations.
I miss you, NA! I hope you’re enjoying yourself and still playing BT once in a while. You’ve left us with such a wonderful wealth of knowledge and perspectives💙
It’s cute how you think I understand basketball positions better than I understand mech roles 😂
I thought the same thing. lol
There are positions in basketball???
I only understand basketball positions because of how often they get referenced in wargaming tactics
As always, great guide.
I've mostly played/run extended campaigns, so mostly dealt with company/battalion composition. The biggest general tip for companies is to design balanced 4-mech lances, with the intent of reorganizing 3 balanced lances as 3 specialist lances when needed. If you are running the whole company together, you are likely to want all of your line kinda together, all of your ranged, scouts, etc., but you may just be running one lance at a time too.
Very generally I build a company with:
1 Scout
3 Cavalry (1 comand)
4 Line (1 command)
4 Ranged (1 comand)
That can be configured as 3 balanced lances, 1 recon lance + 2 lances line/ranged, or 1 recon + 1 ranged + 1 line. Ideally, the scout and cavalry mechs will all be multi-role, and half of the line and ranged mechs will be able to fill other roles. The whole recon lance needs to be able to move at least 5-8-5 or 6-9, and ¾ of the line lance needs to be able to move 4-6. Preferably the whole company will move at least 4-6, but a Stalker or Atlas is worth moving slower for (despite being cheap for an assault mech, I don't find the Awesome to be worth slowing down for since several heavy mechs can cover it's role at 4-6).
...
I also try to work in a few very light vehicles at the company level. Mechs are kept ready for combat in their bays, but a few light vehicles (under 10 tons each) can be kept as cargo on a drop ship, they just take time to unload and deploy (not going to happen in game turns, but doable if you're on-world for more than a few days; mech bays include all the equipment for maintaining vehicles too, so as long as the whole company is not down for maintenance the vehicles can rotate through). In BV, you can get 2 Savannah Masters for the cost of a Locust, they are ¼ the weight, 1/16th the C-Bill price, and they are arguably better for pure recon or as an initiative sink. Ferrets are even cheaper, still only 5 tons, and VTOLs are incredibly effective for recon. The Swift Wind is 8 tons and has a little cargo space, making it better for maintaining long-duration OPs. A Union has so it's reasonable to squeeze in 2-4 light recon vehicles.
Ideally I'd carry 2 Savanah Masters, 1 Ferret, and 1 Swift Wind (23 tons, 390 BV, 288K C-Bills) on a Union dropship (out of 74.5 tons of cargo), and have the vehicles act as the primary scouts/initiative-sinks for the company with mechs working close enough to react if they get in trouble.
Overlords only carry 50 tons of cargo and Leopards have no cargo space, so it's not worthwhile to carry vehicles as cargo on those. You can swap 1 mech bay for 1 heavy (100 ton) or 2 light (50 ton) vehicle bays, so it may be worth swapping some mechs for vehicles (especially vehicles close to but less than 50 tons), but that's really its own thing. The super-light vehicles are really only worth carrying if carried as cargo. There is a reason that merc companies which use vehicles design their whole force structure around it.
Nice video, as always!
I always thought there was a lot of utility in the old "standard battle lance" 2x heavy/1x medium/1x light structure. Of course there's a lot of nuance in there depending on the individual mechs, but the gist is having those 2 battle line heavies, a medium that functions as bodyguard/cavalry, and a scout/flanker gives you a nice bit of versatility.
Thank you! Thanks for leaving a comment!
🤷♂️ I'm going to use 8 locusts with different load outs.
At your 6min mark, when you start with the graphic to highlight mech roles, I might suggest you label your gray area of the map as an "Engagement Area" or "Opposing position". Love the vids. Keep up the good work!
A wealth of great information as usual. Again, best Battletech channel on UA-cam.
Thanks! Glad you're enjoying
Love that this doesn’t just focus on 4 mech lances! It is content that was sorely missed in terms of actually building real teams for games instead of just talking about lances as a unit of 4 mechs as a structure within the lore. Really appreciate all the videos you are making.
Yeah! I think there's a bit of missing content on the internet about building lances. Glad you find them helpful!
Great video .
We settled on 6K BV for most 4 mech lances. My 3025 Command Lance is:
Marauder MAD-3D, Warhammer WHM-6D, Archer ARC-2R, and Phoenix Hawk PXH-1.
Improved gunnery on the Archer and piloting on the Pixie. Adjusted for your 6.5 K groups
I'd add a Javelin JVN-10N with perhaps some inferno rounds in case I wanted
to start up the BBQ.
If I'm feeling more competitive I'd replace the MAD-3D with a Grasshopper or something
matching the terrain , but usually I just like to have fun as I watch whatever world burn.
Back in the day, the "standard lance" before the use of BV 2.0, was 4 mechs -- 2x heavies, 1x medium, 1x light.
An optimized 3025 example:
1x MAD-3D
1x TDR-5S
1x WVR-6M
1x LCT-1E
When you build traditional 12x mech companies, you would have 3x lances of 4 mechs each built around weight, its mission, and speed.
Light Recon
Heavy Fire
Medium or Heavy Command
Another tip I found out about is in certain situations throwing scatter dmg first can be usefull in finding soft spots. Certain mechs have armor that's weak but harder to hit do to hit tables.
Also helps with headshot fishing. May not be as dramatic as a clean decapitation, but those pilot wounds start to add up over the course of a longer game
Great video! I looove that Cappellan A-team lance.
Mostly good video. However in canon there are several cases where a lance may have only 1, maybe 2 different types 'Mechs. And there are good reasons for it. Namely logistics. It's much easier to store and source spare parts & ammo for a limited number of different chassis than if every 'Mech were different. Besides some 'Mechs can perform multiple roles or has a variety of variants with different weapons. Trebuchet is a good example: base production model TBT-5N has LRMs for range, TBT-5S has SRMs to act as bodyguard, and TBT-7K has PPC & AC/5 combo for longer medium range. But there is a merit having different 'Mechs in a lance even if one would move at different speed. Lance may need to operate independently from a larger force, and here having a faster 'Mech for reconnaissance and spotter can come handy.
So a fast moving fire lance with 1 faster recon capable 'Mech could be: TBT-5N, TBT-5N, TBT-5S, PXH-1. There may not always be the most ideal 'Mechs available, so aforementioned lance could alternatively be: TBT-5N, TBT-5N, WVR-6M, STG-3R. Weaker scout and larger variety of different 'Mechs makes sourcing parts more challenging, but otherwise performs much the same. Both aforementioned lances are from Free Worlds League.
This is largely for purposes of lore and detailed campaign. If only limitations are Battle Value or weight, then only considerations are what makes for best combination of mobility, protection, and armament (firepower + range).
I do find it interesting that you start by stating Single Design fault, yet that is what early armies used in BT. House armies often had full companies of a single mech type - per cannon sources.
I appreciate the way you laid out the different strategies and functions of the lance members and how mission goals / environments justify changing the line out. I have been playing BT since the mid 80s and have used all sorts of units.
One question - a lance is 4 - generally houses.IS mercs, 5 points for Star of Clan, but is 6 not primarily Comstar / WoB?
as a side note, i run a group that uses 3 mech units. a deployment is btwn 9 and 15, making it 3 to 5 teams working coordinated.
thank you for putting out good content.
Lore does state single design units. Perhaps that worked because rather than the lance/company being the only one in action they had full battalions/regiments (or even larger) of mechs and other forces fighting so a company being limited to a single design doesn't hurt as much as it might on tabletop which as I understand it only rarely gets bigger than a company per side.
I think it happened at time but I also feel like it wasn't super intentional. There were also times where due to lore and function of factories where Houses had only one or two choices of chassis at some weight classes.
Loved it, but i got to say im such a steiner player
honestly same lol. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna swap factions. xD
FWL, Lyrans and Fed Suns have some great mech variants.
So you run the classic Steiner Scout Lance of four Atlas's?
@@brentbartley6838 not gonna lie, I have ran 4 atlas's as a lance before. It was wonderful 👍. 10 out of 10 would recommend.
@@plaguegroup7066 what era? Unless they were Samsonov variants, I feel like they'd just get pummeled while they tried to close in the early tech levels.
Something like:
BNC-3S x2
ZEU-6T
AWS-8Q
Would be tough to advance on for most other variants.
Now I want to fire up MegaMek and see.
Are you going to do one for "How to Build a BATTLETECH Star"?
Just found your channel, and its got some great information, especially for newer players. I know multiples of the same chassis are not the best for lance design most of the time but it does fit for more Great House themed forces. Less for mercs though.
I see your theory and raise you one battalion of Marauders
Fantastic summation and examples! Thanks for posting!
1:52 It's easy. You just need 5 Larry Birds
lol
Nonsense. It's hard to beat a lance of 4 Awesomes.
Louder for the Capellans in the back! 📢 😎 🔥
Scout Awesomes you mean?
Facts
A Lance of Hellstar can beat a Lance of Awesome.
@@ObiwanNekody you know you might be right. A Lance of 95 ton assault Clan mechs might be able to beat a Lance of 80 tonners from the Star League era. Maybe.
13:01
So... this is a bit of a complicated topic...
It's *generally* accepted that once you get into later eras, speed winds up beating out armor 8/10 times.
It almost doesn't matter how much armor you bring if your TMM is consistently +5 - you are outlasting the 3/4 Hardened Armor Great Turtle.
Taking 0 damage 83% of the time is apparently all the armor you really need.
ye, it gets funky in later eras apparently
This is a fun guide to Lance building ever done this for a chaos campaign
One thing to discuss is the terrain for the lances. For example, the "Brawl-Halla Banzai" would be very successful in highly built terrain; it would be less effective in more open terrain. Most units are very focused on the short range; AC/20's and medium laser spam. Many can jump to flank in close. But in a more open space, they're slow with 4 walk or jump; they'll get eaten by something faster walk with more range in something other than a city or mountainous map.
Thank you for this guide!!
Glad it was helpful!
My go to strat is 1 long range shooter, 1 guard for that shooter, 1 flanker, and 1 lrm boat who can support the guard late in the game.
Just to give you an idea how this works:
Im following a basic strat.
I have 4 mechs, lets label them A-D.
A is my flanker on one side of the formation.
B&C are my shooters with one of them being an lrm focused mech and they are in the center
D is my guard mech and sits close to B&C but off to one side.
A runs down the field staying just close enough to factor into enemy decisions. Too far and they ignore you. Too close and you get shot up.
B&C hustle to my shooting position. Usually its a hill with cover or its a nice patch of woods.
D follows them and his job is to run in only when the enemy is getting close to the min range for the lrms. Thats really important I dont want to sacrifice my guard by putting him out front early. He goes out only when the enemy is committed to closing the distance. Ideally he has 1 long range weapon to help out.
So here would be a simply example of mechs that work for this:
A: Spider, Jenner, commando, wolverine, griffin, grasshopper
How would u build a list of 10 mechs and 15k BV2 being in LSW -3049 playing CCAF? Im a bit curious.
Btw: its about a campaign with persistent damage/extreme range rules.
There are so many options to put that together.
@@Pirannacon I will get back to you later tonight.
@@goodbodha right now im like, 2x Awesome 8Q (3/5.. id love 2 gunnery but cant afford it) .. 2x grasshopper 5N (3/5), 2x Catapult C1 (3/5), 2x Vindicator 1R (3/5), 2x Raven 3L (4/5) (narc support for the cats)
Sitting at 15100 bv2
@@Pirannacon I have a bit different list but maybe in a similar line of thought.
4x Vindicator 1Rs, sgt is a 3/4 the others are 4/5.
1x King Crab0000, 3/4
2x Longbow 8C, both 3/4
1x Awesome 8T, 3/4
2x Raven 3L, 4/5
14,923 bv
This composition plays heavily towards 4 things. TAG, mass lrm fire, smoke ammo, and a ppcs in your battle line.
Now you might be someone who hasn't tried this, but hear me out. Smoke ammo for the lrm5s. You basically create concealment for the ravens of for damaged mechs with massive quantities of smoke.
The ravens meanwhile are tagging for the longbows and awesome. The King crab is your bruiser. You dont push him up. He instead acts as the guard that prevents people from pushing you. Your vindicators other than laying down mass smoke are providing mass ppc fire as anyone who pushes.
What you want to do with this is divide the enemy force. Say they are spread out a little bit. You dump smoke in the middle of the enemy formation and push one side with the ravens and lrm fire. The enemy force either pushes through the smoke on the following turn or they find half their forces arent able to fight. Meanwhile you dumped a bunch of shots onto ideally 1 or maybe 2 mechs with the hope being that something breaks or a mech falls down. If they fall they are a goner without support from the other guys. You make it difficult for them by continuing to put down smoke.
If the enemy isnt able to push on you and you get someone to fall over run the king crab up and make it really sketchy for anyone to try to save that mech.
Now lets say you have a mission where you need to move a decent amount across a map. You know the longbows, awesome, and king crab will have to spend multiple turns running. The longbows can pop smoke with the lrm5s. the vindicators can pop smoke as well. You can just spend more time under smoke until you get into effective range of the objective for your lrm fire support. Then send in the ravens with vindicator support as usual.
I can not emphasize this enough if you are firing the ppcs dump all 4 into 1 target if possible and then lrms. Poke holes and hunt for crits. Your game is all about separating someone from the pack and then crippling them in 1 or 2 turns. Most players will struggle because something will be caught a little to far from support or the player will bunch everything up to prevent that and you get to still smoke them to push them around. If they opt to rush with everything..... well thats king crab heaven.
@@goodbodha nice idea dude
Problem is, its gonna be 4-6 scenarios and the mechs gonna carry over damage from 1 to another / persistent
And u only get to Drop 4 out of 10 each scenario, so we cant build a strat around 10 mechs on the field :/
Therefore i was like, 2 times the setup of Awesome, Cat, Vindi (bodyguard) Raven (maybe) .. or 2 Cats 1 Grasshopper and a Raven (put together as u like) ..
Buuut, i was thinking about 2 things:
Do i miss better close range stuff for possible defending Missions like a King Crab or Atlas, instead of a 2nd Awesome.. (Atlas 3/5 is almost the same in BV) .. or put in a Hunchback 4P as a Bodyguard.. u know?
Overall i think this is pretty much setup for anything coming, even Tho u cant be really using the very best for every Situation (best for long AND very close Ranges..)
As an old school (pre-clan release) Battletech fan, I'm a little confused why you'd consider 6 mechs a Lance? A lance has always been 4 mechs.
Now while a game can have however many you want, in universe, this was a logistical thing. The most common Dropship is the Leopard which can only transport 4. So 4 mech lances were the standard, before going to company sizes with 12, which were usually had an attached Union class Dropship.
Again a game can have any setup you want, but how would you justify a 6 mech group, lore wise?
Tabletop wise I find a 6 mech game much more satisfying. 4 mechs becomes a bit too volatile I think and you're at a significant disadvantage once you lose 1 mech. Most of our 4 mech games have us surrendering and negotiate terms once you lose 1-1.5 mechs.
Lore wise you'd need at least a Union for 12 mechs to pull it off. One design that could work is splitting your company as follows:
Main Force (6 mechs): The "anvil". Your slow and expensive heavy hitters and bodyguards.
Cavalry QRF (4 mechs): The "hammer". A relatively quick unit that can respond to threats. Design around 5/8, 5/8/5, or 4/6/4 speed. Examples: Wolverine, Griffin, Dervish, Catapult, Grasshopper, Dragon, Osts,
Scout (2 mechs): General scouting force. Could also have anti-infantry. Examples: Locust, Firestarter, Javelin, P-hawk
Regarding pierce and critical hit, this seems to remind me of the Timber Wolf with peeps and SRMs (i think it's the C?) Which I would run against whole SW lances and win
Does it matter ? It's an Omni mech.
@@dwwolf4636What? Of course it does. The fact that it's omni isn't magical.
Hello. I always enjoying your content. I live in Japan and here we build a lance for 210t at four 3025 mech when go into 1 player vs 1 player battle.
I think this is old way because in Japan publishing and support of Battletech ended in 90's and we almost stuck in 3025. Its still fun but sometime we face "We already tested everything we could" problem.
We(me and my friends) tried large scale several times but more than 30 mech/tank/VTOL get combat time take too long. We once did battalion vs battalion size combat in saturday overnight. Start at 7pm and with an hour of interval for rest, it ended in Sunday 6:30am!
So we now searching for other option like Alpha strike or Strategic Operations/Battleforce rule. Have you ever tried that? If so, have you tested on large scale battle?
Many thanks to your work.
Hi Masayuki!
I have not tried Alpha Strike or Strategic Operations. The largest battle I've tested was a 20,000 BV game with a star of Clan mechs vs a company of Inner Sphere mechs.
You might try advancing the timeline from the year 3025 to 3039 or 3050. That way your group gets new mechs to experience. For larger games I like doing campaigns, where you select a team of maybe 16-24 mechs and do a series of missions with them. You would send 6-8 mechs on each mission kind of like which "pokemon" you want to send into battle. I also incorporate salvage rules and capturing enemy mechs after the battle.
Does your group have a Discord or contact information? I have many questions about Battletech in Japan!
Glad that you're enjoying and hope that helps!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed Thank you for your kind reply.
Sadly my friends can't speak english (I think only me speak english in my group) and also after the COVID-19 our group almost stopped to play. But some of the member now talking about new gameplay. So your suggestion was very helpful.
I already joined your discord and MRC Hub so if you have a question I'll answer as much as I can when I have a time. It's a different name from "Masayuki". 😃
Oh heck, guess it’s time to learn.
Hooray!
I like to build lances after weight class, not deviating more then one weight class in any given lance. For a merc company i usually go for a assault/heavy lance with massive long range firepower as a command lance, a medium mech lance as a general purpose combat lance, and a light/medium lance as scout lance. Looking forward to this years mercenary expansion and the combat vehicles cause those are a great way to augment your company if you are missing a role or two but dont have dropship space left in your union.
Great video with a lot of interesting information!
Thank you!
Woop woop!
yeet haw brother!
Great guide!
House Davion as Mary Sues.
Sorry, did you mean Clan Wolf and friends? 😂
:^)
As a long time Wolf's Dragoons player that hurt. I wish I could turn back the clock to when they were just mysterious baddasses....stupid Clans!
Is your discord still around?
I'd love to see what game variants and game modes, like king of the hill, capture the flag and other objective games you use!
The most important member of a lance
The Firestarter following the other four guys to make sure they don't get smoked by infantry or vehicles.
Is there any specific color pattern you "have to follow" or can you have a custom color/camo scheme, and is there room for fan made factions kinda like custom space marine chapters in warhammer 40k
I like the examples provided. They will help me figure out how to make my own Lances.
I do have a question.
Does any of the choices change if its a Clan Star? instated of an IS Lance?
If so I would be nice to see some Example for the Major Clans just like you did for the Houses.
I don't have much practical Battlemech experience (mostly into lore, I did play a little MegaMek and do plan to return to it at some point though) and haven't had the time to watch the video yet but I do have a mixed regiment (as I like military TOE/unit structure stuff). Not really determined a fixed time frame but I don't want to be much further than the Clan Invasion (I have a dislike of omnitech and clanner tech superiority thought not necessarily specific clantech/lostech like ER-lasers, Pulse lasers, DHS, Ferro-Fibrous, XL engines, LB-X autocannons etc). Thought I am pretty sure I did include some designs from later periods.
Meant to be a Mercenary unit, thought pretty close with Lyrans/House Stenier like with Kell Hounds. So I did try to give it a bit of a Lyran bias in designs and did consider the capabilities but mostly chose by my sense of aesthetics and personal cool factor (which might not necessarily make it actually workable in game). I did not check the availability tables.
(I am actually not fully happy with the name as I would prefer not to have Lyran in the name, but didn't like "Freikorps" alone and didn't have a better idea for what to add).
(I just realized that I forgot to come up with a regimental command lance yet. I might have built it in MegaMek once thought... Oh whatever.)
Lyran Freikorps
-Freikorps Regimental Command Lance:
-Heavy Battalion
--Heavy Battalion Command Lance: 1 KGC-000, 1 BLR-1G, 1 TDR-5S, 1 AS7-D
--Cuirassier Company
---Cuirasssier Command Lance: 1 AS7-D, 1 ARC-2S, 1 LGB-7Q, 1 STK-3F
---Assault Lance, Cuirassiers: 2 ZEU-6S, 1 BNC-3S, 1 STK-3F
---Heavy Lance, Cuirassiers: 1 BL-6-KNT, 1 ON1-K, 1 CRD-3R, 1 WHM-6R
--Dragoon Company
---Dragoon Command Lance: 1 CP-10-Z, 1 CN9-AL, 1 CRD-3R, 1 MAD-3R
---Heavy Lance, Dragoons: 1 MAD-3R, 1 WHM-6R, 1 HBK-4G, 1 HBK-4P
---Fire Support Lance, Dragoons: 1 ARC-2R, 1 CPLT-C1, 1 AWS-8Q, 1 RFL-3N
--Armoured Cavalry Company
---Command Platoon: 2 Alacorn, 2 Schrek
---1st Heavy Tank Platoon: 2 Patton, 2 Rommel
---2nd Heavy Tank Platoon: 4 Manticore
-Medium Battalion
--Medium Battalion Command Lance: 1 WVR-6R, 1 GRF-1N, 1 SHD-2H, 1 PHX-1
--Hussar Company
---Hussar Command Lance: 1 GRF-1N, 1 SHD-2H, 1 CN9-A, 1 BJ-1DB
---Medium Battle Lance: 1 BJ-1, 1 BJ-1DB, 1 SHD-2D, 1 WVR-6M
---Heavy Scout Lance, Hussars: 1 STN-3KB, 1 RVN-4X, 2 HSR-350-D
--Uhlan Company
---Uhlan Command Lance: 1 PXH-1, 1 GRF-1N, 1 WVR-6R, 1 SHD-2H
---Heavy Scout Lance, Uhlans: 1 STN-3KB, 1 WSP-1A, 1 JR7-D, 1 COM-2D
---Fire Support Lance, Uhlans: 1 SHD-2D, 2 GRF-1N, 1 WVR-6M
--1st Mechanized Infantry Company
---1.1Mechanized Platoon:: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC
---1.2 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC
---1.3 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Tracked APC
---1st Mechanized Company Fire Support Platoon: 2 SRM Carrier, 2 LRM Carrier
-Light Battalion
--Light Battalion Command Lance: 1 PXH-1, PNT-9R, 1 VLK-QA, 1 JR7-D
--Chasseur Company
---Chassseur Command Lance: 1 COM-2D, 1 VLK-QA, 1 JR7-D, 1 RVN-3L
---1st Scout Lance, Chasseurs: 1 OTT-7J, 1 COM-2D, 2 LCT-1M
---2nd Scout Lance, Chasseurs: 1 LCT-1S, 1 LCT-1E, 2 LCT-3V
--Armoured Recon Company
---ARC Command Platoon: 2 Saracen, 2 Scimatar
---1st Recon Platoon: 4 Saracen
---2nd Recon Platoon: 4 Scimatar
--2nd Mechanized Infantry Company
---2.1 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC
---2.2 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC
---2.3 Mechanized Platoon: 28 Infantry, 4 Hover APC
---2nd Mechanized Company Fire Support Platoon: 2 Harasser, 2 Harasser LRM
(I know vehicle units usually go with Lance as well, but I prefer to keep it limited to Mechs. Oh yeah, the Infantry is meant to be Foot Infantry, I call the units mechanised because they have APCs.)
Curious to see a similar video on building a Star/Nova formation in the future.
is same
Thanks!
My lance: "here's 4 pieces of random > 30 ton junk I've managed to scavenge. Just make it work ".
I should get a Phoenix Hawk...
Can you make a worse lance than this - Charger, Jagermech, Cicada, Urbanmech?
And how would you use it?
How do you get those top down mech models!
Maybe i'm off but the BV for the Victor in the Brawl-Halla Banzai shows as 1236, while the one in the Democratic Crusaders shows as 1378. Sarna shows the BV2.0 as 1370. I'm checking the others but this does put the Banzai a little over the 6500 BV. Am i missing something?
EDIT: Most likely the Banzai uses a -9A not the usual -9B. It appears to be the 1236 BV. Wow that looks like a fragile mech for it's tonnage.
What is the zolorats list he mentionned ?About mech available to certain era?
Great channel. Could you increase the volume of your videos?
Will you be doing a similar video for clan stars?
Hmm, probably not. Just use similar concepts and add in Battle Armor as initiative sinks/slow down units I think
@@nerdyOveranalyzed k thanks was just wondering
You could probably make a short like Clan addendum video where you talk about all your concepts and how the clans change it. For example like "try to include 1 base of elementals for every mech" or "Self sufficiency is much more important as you'll have less mechs"@@nerdyOveranalyzed
Do you have a video based on building around the 2018 computer game but say using a more accurate mod suite like BEX? Thats unfortunately the only way I end up able to play.
How do you guys play on discord what app or system fo you use I'm interested in getting into this I don't live near a BY community
What black knight in 3025 is “heat efficient”?
Genuine question for the guys who play at a high level, why use standard level gunnery? Its a 20% bump or so for 3 but the consistency goes through the roof.
It doesn't increase survivability at all and your 0/0 pilot still dies to a gauss rifle to the dome. Having a better gunner on certain mechs is good, but that extra 20% means bringing less metal than your opponent
Easy:
Slot 1: AS7-D
Slot 2: AS7-D
Slot 3: AS7-D
Slot 4: AS7-D
Yes, I'm a Steiner fanboy. :D
I’d love a video analyzing how to play when losing initiative.
Pretty much the same way as when you win.
Only difference is that you guess where the opponent is going to put is last mech and act accordingly.
I need to put together a list Containing 10 mechs and 15000 BV2 on Late Succession Wars (-3049) - while playing CCAF.
Difficult enough ^^ when u try to use better pilots aswell.
Keep a hunchback near your LRM boat
Aw man. Every time FWL mechs come up, somebody HAS to mention the Flea...
lel
No one does it better.
Thanks! :)
8k is pretty low for a game in which you want a clanner to bring anything beyond medium 'mechs. For comparison, a Battlemaster 1G is about 1500 BV - a Timber Wolf Prime is 2700. The problem is, if you give the clans enough BV to play an actual force, the IS probably is gonna outnumber them 2:1 unless the clan player takes a bunch of elementals. Which, I mean, they should, elementals are awesome, but it's worth noting that BV struggles to properly balance IS vs. Clan matches because it presumes similar numbers of units. By way of example, my 8k force for my Clan Wolf trinary is a Warhawk C, a Timber Wolf B, a Kit Fox A, and 3 points of elementals, and it's only because of those elementals that I have as many activations as my 8k Eridani Light Horse list, which outmasses the clan one by almost a factor of two (205 to 360). And at the end of the day, while clan 'mechs can put out a heck of a lot of firepower, they aren't really much more durable than IS 'mechs of equivalent sizes from the same tech era, so winning a battle like that is...kinda unfun to play and play against. Don't get me wrong, the clan 'mechs are (generally) worth that much higher BV (setting aside things like the Nova Prime or 'mechs that get screwed by the BV multiplier for speed), this is more of a gripe about how I never get to use any cool toys and instead I just end up sniping from long range all the time whenever I play at IS BV levels.
There's no problem that can't be solved with a force of 10 Atlas mechs
Couple of questions, what is an MRC?
A Discord group that plays a lot of Battletech online. You can find the link by going to my discord and looking at the rules and roles page!
@@nerdyOveranalyzedThank you.
Just a couple of more questions:
Is a Linebreaker mech sort of a front line tank (in RPG terms)?
What does the AGOAC means?
@@Dracobyte AGOAC means the battletech box a game of armored combat
@@Dracobyte I'd say the battleline mechs are the frontline tanks, to an extent; a linebreaker is extremely specialised. Low speed, thick armor, and, usually, enormous guns; think an Atlas or a King Crab. Especially a King Crab, the only mechs that want to trade punches with that thing at six hexes or closer, are other 100-ton linebreakers. They take a while to get where they're going, but once they do, they wreck everything in their way. The trick is, making sure they're heading for the fight, and that the fight is at the place that they're going, because if it's somewhere else, they aren't good at changing plans and relocating in a hurry.
@@jgraaay18 thank you for your answer!
IT’S SLIME TIME
What makes a mech a "play maker?"
i take drink every time you say aa aam
This is great, but way too much thought into this. I am just going to grab what I want to play and go for it.
Hell yeah!
Starting a tabletop wargame video with a sports analogy? A risky strat.
A Lance is 4 mechs, why does your first example have more?
"6 unit, standards in MRC"...What's MRC?
The answer is King Crabs and Marauders. And nothing but! 😀
4 ML definately qualifies as a crit seeker setup.
Sure it straddles the line between poking holes and getting hits.....but it's valied IMHO.
It's not as heat efficient as SRMs but still.....
I miss my jellyslime teacher
Discord link?
What is this adorable blob??
This is all great information, but you might want to try to say "um" not as often. It is very hard to do though.
Try 3 Stalker’s and a Wasp
I prefer the 400 ton scout lance
4 urbies is the gold standard. That's why they sell such a box.
4 hunchbacks is best lance
No disrespect but, I need a count of how many times he said umm.
1h 2m 1L
6 Panthers it is then.....
Bullet points?
Bruh
I really do not like how this video is structured. It's like im listening to a senior in highschool give a presentation on a subject they are really enthusiastic about, but have not practiced for.
I really do not like how this comment is structured. It's like you're trying to give me constructive critisism, but it comes off as rude.
you make this way over complicated!
step 1 - pick an era (everything prior to the era is available).
step 2 - set up weight class table.
11 mechs for each; light, medium, heavy and assault. (11 because it fits 2D6). these are YOUR favorite mechs. this has nothing to do with faction or BV.
step 3 - set up your lance(s) by weight class.
light lance:
light mech
light mech
light mech
medium mech
medium lance:
light mech
medium mech
medium mech
heavy mech
heavy lance:
medium mech
heavy mech
heavy mech
assault mech
assault lance:
heavy mech
heavy mech
assault mech
assault mech
step 4 - build the company (3 lances)
any combination of the light, medium, heavy and assault lances.
DONE!
nothing complicated or confusing. simply set up and play! when planning a match, simply state, I am bringing a medium lance. or, I am bringing a light lance and a heavy lance. yes, players will try to min/max, but there are so many options in the game, that bringing an power-creep force is unlikely.
pretty sure you missed the point.
@hmad898 nerdy gives solid advice and I enjoy his vids.
as a military enthusiast and wargamer of battletech for 40 years... this was made way more complicated than necessary.
as I described, using simple military theory on standard unit composition, a force can be put together in a short amount of time that has both function and purpose. there's no need to confuse people with points cost or game balance. it's a war game, being out of balance is the challenge.
lastly, game balance is a myth. checkers and chess are balanced games. both players begin with the same pieces that have identical capabilities. once you pit two different mech designs against each other, even with identical points cost, the game will not be balanced.
@@bruced648 like i said, i think you missed the point. nerdy makes advanced tactics guides for competitive battletech as you probably know. not the randomly select units, only looking at their weight and not their battlefield role, cost, or team value kind of battletech.
so by saying "just randomly pick your units" or saying to ignore balance and how good a mech is, i feel like you're missing the point of these videos. If thats how you play thats cool, but most people watching these want to improve at battletech, and your way of doing it does not help people improve. Your method might be good for someone who is just trying the game out, but not for someone who plays competitively with some friends.
@hmad898 fair point. we mostly play campaign style. there isn't really a tournament scene in our area. so the more involved story-line games are better for us.
@@bruced648 yea and thats fine man, no disrespect. different groups just play different ways
Please don't start every new section by yelling "OK"!
Its a little jarring.
OK!
What a load of crap. 40 years of playing the game tells me 2 things. 1st you can put as many sprinkles on a shit sandwich, yet ur still eating crap. 2nd there are 3 lances, the fast mover, the brawler and the line holder. if you want to truly learn how to play then use each one. Ultimately you will develop your own skill. for me, its speed kills, no matter what your up against, move fast and you will beat any opposition but understand you need heavies to give you a chance to get behind your opposition.
Thanks!