I started playing Battletech in 1985. Me and everyone I posted with lived to do custom Mechs. So not sure why there's this perception that older players don't like it, we all did it. My first custom mech was an Archer variant with 6 LRM 5, 4 front facing medium lasers, 14 heat sinks and 4 jump jets. It was a blast to play. My second custom design was another archer variant that had 2 ppcs hidden under those massive missile launcher doors. I'll never forget the look of shock on my friend's face when he tried to run his medium mech into close range, expecting to get peppered with missiles, and instead I described how the missile doors opened and revealed two hulking PPC which immediately decapitated his mech with a lucky head shot. 😆
40 years later and I still absolutely love designing mechs, vehicles, Aerospace and spacecraft. you know you've reached the pinnacle of designing when you make an entire faction! 45 warships (7 separate classes) 20 different types of dropships 6 types of Aerospace 10 classes of naval ships dozens of aircraft about 100 mechs and about 100 vehicles the expanded history of the Northwind Highlanders encompasses an army consisting of 5 Corp. a mech battalion has 90 mechs an armor battalion has 90 tanks add in the infantry, artillery and support units... the organization for the army fills 5 - 4" binders (one per Corp) so, the whole thing about olders players not liking the idea of self designs... um, yeah. it's literally a huge part of the game. while any game with design rules can have a min/max element, the game self balances. especially if you stay away from bv/bv2.
I'm one of those grognards who dislikes custom mechs, mostly because they usually end up being exactly the same. I tend to like them when they are minor changes to a basic design, or swap 3025 equipment for it's LosTech equivalent. Part of the problem with customs is that any time you use an engine bigger than 300, you gain a lot of weight for a little more power, so there are "perfect" weights for certain speeds. (100T = 3-5, 75T = 4-6, 60T = 5-8, 50T = 6-9, 40T = 7-11, 35T = 8-12). It's not a mistake that the Jenner is close to the best light mech - it's close to optimal weight and speed which still allowing tonnage for armor and weapons. Jump jets similarly are inefficient on any mech over 55T. Combined these mean that min/maxed custom mechs should only ever be the top of each weight class, and only light mechs should have any variety of speeds since shaving off a few tons of engine can benefit them more in terms of armament. Medium lasers are the other half of the problem - they are by far the most efficient weapon in 3025, even if you need to add 3 heat sinks with each of them. They aren't great piercing, but you can mount 4+ medium lasers with their heat sinks in place of 1 PPC and it's heat sinks, and with the extra damage it really won't matter that it spreads. If you can fire 8 medium lasers at 12 hexes it really doesn't matter if you don't have LRMs (and LRMs are the only weapon which is arguably better than medium laser spam. On a heavy or assault mech, the main reason for having other weapons is that you can't sink the heat for more than 10 medium lasers (until the late 3030s. For game design, medium lasers have an important purpose, since they allow any mech to use just 1 ton to do something really useful. You can build a mech around a pair of AC/2s, but if you also put 4 medium lasers on it it will work well enough. They just get silly when used to min-max instead of filling in gaps. A 3025 Marauder with 10 medium lasers, maxed armor, and 30 heat sinks is going to demolish anything else from that era, but at that point it's not really a Marauder. When you've played long enough, you've seen dozens of players create the same bland, boring mechs over and over. Every "improvement" ends up being the Hunchback 4P. For that reason, I try to keep some of the "flaws" when customizing mechs. Focussing mechs around differing range bands, designing in "heat problems", giving them weak armor in certain locations, etc. can give them niche cases where they will beat the "medium laser brick" customs. Modifications which I will always allow: 1. Moving ammo or weapons to a more sensible location (such as the MAD-3R's AC ammo in the opposite torso of the weapon, or swapping the Crusader's SRM-6s up to the arms or torsos). 2. Changes which match the specs to the flavor text, models, or illustrations. 3. Reducing MG ammo to ½ ton. It's allowed, and it makes no sense to carry more than ½ ton. 4. Adding or removing armor, heat sinks, ammo, or "small" weapons (MGs, small lasers, flamers, etc). 5. Swapping torso weapons from back to front (or other way around). 6. Swapping a weapon for the equivalent weapon from a different tech level (AC/10 to LB-10X for example) or swapping single for double heat-sinks. 7. Removing a weapon or jump jets to replace with armor, ammo, or heat sinks. 8. Swapping a weapon from one arm to the other (so you could make a Phoenix Hawk or Griffin "left handed"). All of those are minor, cheap refits, and most have little to no impact on how a mech plays and how powerful it is. More major modifications are okay, but should strive to replace weapons with something similar (like AC/20 to Gauss Rifle, Large Laser to PPC, LRMs to SRMs) or swap larger and smaller versions of the same weapon (SRM4 to SRM6). The more "customization" is like the HBK-4P, the worse it is. The game doesn't need any more flavor-free bricks of medium lasers - 1 is enough.
Using classic 3025 rules, we had a few basic principles for custom mech design: Ultimate general purpose weapon system is a combination of medium lasers and PPCs. This is the ultimate "swap range" design. PPC + 3xML + 10 sinks: 20 tons, Up to 3 hexes you have 15 points at base 4, out to 6 you can do 10 points at 4 or 15 points at 6, and then you can still do 10 points at 6 out to 12. Plus you have up to 25 points of alpha strike if you can handle the +9 heat. This combo works for a few reasons: - high-heat weapons provide maximum flexibility. MLs and PPCs both have a lot of their tonnage in sinks. Also, high heat & high sink means that you can quickly correct if you overheat (or get an unlucky engine crit). - this works for crit slots also - of the 16 (potential) crit slots only 3 of them are PPC and another 3 a ML each. Degradation is typically gradual. Including the PPC does reduce total firepower a little (for the same 7 tons you could squeeze in 2x fully sunk medium lasers), but the ability to fight effectively out to 12 hexes is a big advantage. Other than ML and PPC, LRMs are the only generally efficient weapon system. Carry enough ammo, and typically use indirect fire. That said, 1 ML per 10 LRMs is only a small weight investment to get a mech that can fight effectively cross-range. Unlike the cross-sunk PPC, damage does drop slightly at closer ranges. We occasionally used AC/20s and SRMs on specialist mechs. An SRM volley into an open torso is scary, and an AC/20 can seriously ruin any light or medium mech. Most heavy and assault mechs have enough per-location armour to treat enemy AC/20s as poor cousins to medium lasers. Most weapons are less efficient than PPCs or MLs once you include the tonnage for a decent ammo load, and are far more brittle (in terms of crit slots to kill the weapon, drawbacks of ammo). Tonnage in heatsinks is flexible - you can use it for movement, attacks, or just damage sinking, while tonnage in a weapon system can only be used for that weapon system. mobility? Jump Jets all the way. A 3/5/3 will almost always out-manoeuvre a 4/6/0; likewise 5/8/5 vs 6/9/0. This does make the points where jump-jets jump weight class (55->60 and 80->85 IIRC) particularly common design points. Plus the tonnage you lose in JJ is almost always gained back from the smaller engine. Speed & engine? As small as you can get away with. Always prefer an odd walk speed (typically 3 or 5) as the run speed is rounded up. Speed matters, but armour and ability to manoeuvre (hello jump jets) almost always matter more. Ammo? Legs are good. No chance of a rogue critical, usually draw most of it out quickly, and the empty bins then protect your leg actuators. Weapons in the arms? Occasionally we'll put the PPCs in the arms, but usually the extra flexibility of torso twist is less valuable than the ability to alpha strike and punch, or to continue to use the full weapon load out if fallen. Plus, arms are invariably the first to go. Armour? As much as possible. Always within a ton of maximum, possibly more. Always max on head and in 5 point lots on rear. If you are short a few points, remove them from the arms first. These are all based on optimisation. It does tend to end up with very same-y mechs. 55 ton brawlers, 55 ton cross-range brawlers, and heaver LRM boats and super-brawlers. With the occasional specialist thrown in.
Read all of that, and I generally agree! To me, the best 'mechs aren't the ones that are mechanically the best... they're the ones that tell a story. A mech that tells the tale of an arena battler, or a small startup company, or a strange experiment... those are all fun! But they SHOULD be a little suboptimal, they SHOULD have some kind of offset!
As someone who was introduced to Battletech through MechWarrior Online I'm... _weary_ of custom mechs. But I also love hopping in the mechlab as much as the next person. My solution has been to use Campaign Ops rules to restrict everyone to modifying existing mechs most of the time, but if someone shows up with a really cool custom design that isn't insane, cool beans (or if it's a horribly broken meme machine, turn it into a "everyone kill the monstrosity" match). Side note-- I love using Cbills to balance things too, at least in a campaign setting, it balances things out _over time_ rather than on a per-game basis which seems to work way better. It brings context to mechs that seem to suck on their own because they're usually the crazy efficient ones. Works better socially, too- you get to ruin your friends' day and then you chill out for a while, and making a decent force when you're low on funds is a fun mini-game.
Yeah, MWO is a custom monster mash. Also prone to scewed metas at times (I shudder at the memories of LRM meta). Wish there were a little chilled out gamemode, because playing with people is much more fun than punching bots in single-players.
Coming from RogueTech, I personally love making custom mechs with massive self-restrictions (e.g., mech must be within exact weight limits and balanced in weight across axes, ammo must be on or near weapon location, weapon distribution must match an existing pattern, etc.) in all formats. However, its best niche for me even in tabletop is in manual buffing of "bad" mechs. Standard Assassins, Shadowhawks or Vulcans come to mind. Interesting designs, but terribly underpowered as combat units. Swap a few SRMs and LRMs in or out, remove flamers and machine guns for additional medium or small lasers, and suddenly you have solid units without much hassle. Also makes for fun encounters with veteran or hero units in scenarios.
As a grognard I really do think that customs have been the biggest blind spot of classic BattleTech for a long time. We really needed a set of guidelines laying out an idea of what a fair custom design could do (maybe hardpoint style) 20 years ago. I've got a lot of new players into the game - without fail one of the first questions I get asked is how they can make their super strong cool custom fantasy mech, and there's never a particularly good answer to that question because everyone has different ideas around how these things should be handled.
Clan Large Pulse Lasers with and stacks of micro pulse lasers of they get close. Gratz, you are OP and as an earlier comment says, nobody will like you.
I think customs are fine when you are playing with close friends, you just need to make sure everyone is aware of the fact custom mechs are on the table and just be honest if you think someone is using a dickish design
custom designs are best suited for Solaris VII and other gladiator arena venues. simply explained, to have the dedicated team of techs to maintain a specialized unit, they would need to be readily available. if you are playing simple one-off games, then do whatever. but story and campaign style of game, if the self design loses an arm, it's not going to be replaced. unless it's a modified existing chassis from a TRO, parts simply don't exist and must be specially made. at least that's how I would run it in my campaign.
I definitely like customs more in my campaign games versus one-off games. In one-off games I've found part of the problem is that good counters to customs aren't allowed. There are excellent custom counters via combined arms, post-Civil War tech, advanced rules, etc. that prevent customs from making Battletech a "solved" game via a single, hyper-optimized design taking all comers (looking at you, Jump 7+ Pulse Laser/Targeting Computer clantech custom). In a campaign though? The GM is going to throw enough interesting stuff at you to prevent one single custom mech from being the end-all be-all optimized design, you'll take penalties to Unit Quality, have to find the appropriate facility to do the refit (depending on the refit type -- most people won't let you borrow a factory to do a refit), you may have logistics issues, etc. and that balances things out a lot more.
As a GM for my group my main rule for custom mechs is that they have to follow the spirit of the mech. They can take inspiration from other variants of the mech allowing them to have more freedom on their design so it’s more balanced. My go to Warhammer Custom for Succession War is switching the MG for Flamers and PPCs for Large Laser to increase my Heat Sinks and Armor. It still has the spirit of the warhammer’s brawling capabilities but is more heat efficient and armored.
Another example, my Wolverine, "Honey Badger:" Specifically customized for fighting Clanners, it's an upgraded WVR-6K with a Large Pulse Laser, two Medium Lasers, the SRM 6, an ER Small Laser, and a Targeting Computer. Being a -6K, it doesn't have jump jets, but its armor is _thick._ Edit: It's got FF armor and a Light Fusion Engine. It's expensive, but it's not about the money. It's about sending a message. 🤣
Defining unit doctrine, or knowing defined doctrine within your preferred house army, before laying down your custom designs, seems like a good starting point. That way, instead of designing a custom mech, you're designing a custom lance, or even company-level elements. By doing this, you can define functions for your units within a more structured organization scheme, and set bounding boxes for your designs to operate and optimize within. Obviously, you want to avoid becoming a Mary Sue organization, but this method will allow you to make something lore-plausible, and able to be communicated, without stepping on too many grognard toes. Remember, it's hard to do material recovery work if none of your mechs have hand actuators. It's difficult to operate within hostile environments for extended periods if you risk losing access to supply lines. Play your campaigns, and games, with doctrine, logistics, and field repair and refit considerations in mind, and a lot of "power gaming" can be readily forgiven.
@@HalIOfFamer Toss in TSM and a Supercharger and you can push her up to a 5/10. Pulled off an 8 hex charge. Lost a little leg armor for it but the other mech didn't survive the 64 damage it got hammered with.
Very nice video, I agree on a lot of points. The armour allocation in multiples of 5 is something that is very beneficial for light & (less so) medium 'Mechs, larger 'Mechs that tend to be hit more often will take damage (and CAN take damage) from more varied sources, so that this strategy has less use. A 75t 'Mech with 22 points of armour might just get hit by a PPC early on, a stray cluster of LRMs or an SRM and two medium lasers later and would have a use for that two points exceeding 20. This is even more true for assault 'Mechs that get close to 40 points of armour in some locations and won't be hit just once or by just one group of weapons. For a light 'Mech, the difference between 4 and 5 points will matter a lot more, because every hit might be devastating to them. A similar principle applies to XL-engines, a light mech might get a lot more use out of an XL because it is much more likely to be outright destroyed by a single hit than by attrition.
When I played battletech we primarily played campaigns, things like tournaments and BV were unheard of. And you were free to modify your mech as much (or little) as you like. Of course in doing so, you had to acquire the parts and find/pay a tech to do the work on your mech, or do it yourself, and then hope everything worked as it should. This was back in the 90's so it was all based on 3025 era tech, wasn't unheard of to swap out autocannon 5's for PPCs, or to remove weapons to add heatsinks and/or armor to a mech (many mechs back then ran very hot).
For me, one of the biggest reasons to make a custom mech design is because of the occasional huge gap in certain model variations within tech eras. The Grasshopper is one of my favorite mech designs, for example, but it doesn't get a DHS design until 3064, with the GHR-6K. Considering the GHR packs in 11 additional heat sinks, the swap to DHS alone-without factoring in stuff like Endo or even Ferro-Fibrous-is a huge 11tons of savings that can go towards improving its firepower or utility. If you're in a campaign-type setting where the major bottleneck is how many mechs you can field at a time (narrative-based rather than only BV based, limited number of pilots or spaces on a dropship, commander of a single lance, etc.) it becomes harder and harder to justify using the Grasshopper when options like the Griffin -2N or the Warhammer -7A start surfacing with DHS and Endo enhancements alike. Still, it's definitely one of the more difficult topics to tackle, although I think Battletech has managed to do it better than most other tabletops. The tug-of-war between gross optimization and balance can be found in just about every system with some manner of "build" choice, and at the end of the day it usually winds up coming down to getting a group of players together who enjoy the same band of optimization (or lack thereof).
That works to a point, though depending on what you're doing in a campaign, some mechs become superstars that would be trash in a pickup game. A generic Shadow Hawk is fairly lackluster. But after a couple botched repair rolls, it's still fairly functional - heat sinks repair rules aren't forgiving. Something with tight tolerances that needs those heat sinks becomes much less effective when it starts losing them. It can be repaired and take botched rolls on the armor. The Grasshopper is similar - it can take a lot of failed rolls to become ineffective. If you don't have a good source of DHS, it can be relevant. ... If DHS are common in the campaign and repair rules are lax, then you have zero reason not to cram as many on there as you need.
@@marcusshiffler2614 Admittedly I don't have a *ton* of knowledge when it comes to heat sink repair rules, or how that interacts with Double Heat Sinks. At least in my case and experience, repair rules are abstracted and a bit more lax in this regard. That being said, the Grasshopper by default has an engine that can fit 11 heat sinks internally. Its other versions add on eleven additional heat sinks. Upgrading to DHS allows you to put all of the heat sinks inside of the engine, instead of allowing them to be crit individually on the rest of the mech. Assuming engine hits don't force heat sink repairs or replacements (and correct me if I'm wrong), upgrading the Grasshopper to 11 DHS instead of 22 normal heat sinks makes it more resilient long-term to heat sink repair costs and availability, not less.
Perhaps a bit off-topic, but your videos are of the things that got me into BattleTech, so thank you! I hope you are doing alright right now and we will see more videos in the future :>
Just started watching all your battletech videos as I'm a new player and my friend group online just started a campaign, really love the coverage, I've learned so much from your videos. We are playing a merc squad and we are all making custom mechs and it's so much fun. I really enjoy making quad mechs with rifles and autocannons with flamers and lasers for backup.
My first custom mech, back in 1990 in high school, was a wolverine fire support variant. LRM 15 with two tons of ammo replaces the AC/5 and one ton of ammo. Dropped the SRM6 to a 4, and added a second medium laser. More a cheaper Fire support/ scout Hunter. Not game breaking, but still a surprise to most people.
I'm one of those older players, but I also really like custom mechs because I like mercs more than the standard factions. Do I know how to break it, yes. Is it fun, yeah from time to time and especially against Princess on Megamek. For pick up games and tournaments I encourage no customs and think BV2 is the best balancing system currently available. With friends the sky and your mutual agreement is the limit (still keeping all validations like tech/era in place, ie no C3i on a "2800s" mech). For campaigns C-bills are the way to go and really bridge a gap between an RPG and TT miniatures game. Hard points could be a good way to keep things from getting out of hand, would take a lot of play testing to get honed in though so its both usable and ot feeling overly restrictive on creativity. It's important to remember that most if not all mechs in setting are intentionally NOT optimized with lore rationale of military funding and production limitations.
At one point I created a combat team in Heavy Metal such that it would be similar to modern military tactics. They all had C³, Active Probes, Targeting Computers, and ECM/ECCM... Absolute units. Used them to take down an Atlas piloted by an Ace while they were armed with nothing but AC-2's with armor piercing ammo and average skilled pilots... They hunted him down and ripped him to pieces. Amazing 35 tonners, but... At around 75 million c-bills each, we decided that a company of AS7-D Atlas' would make better financial sense.
This got me combing through all sorts of material to figure out, and I gotta I'm stumped- how do you drive the price of a light mech up to more than double a Dire Wolf? Even if I assume all the electronic bells and whistles, omni design, and expensive choices for structural components I can't see how a mech could be that expensive. Have the rules changed a lot since then or something?
Some of the best games I've ever played were grand melee games with custom 'Mechs with tonnage caps. We would play 6-8 players on a 3'x5' map that we printed on large format printers (I wrote an app to create random maps). But when we campaigned (I was the GM for my friends), it was with stock 'Mechs with evolving quirks because of the campaign repair rolls from their astechs. Sometimes they ended up with 'Mech parts that weren't quite right, so they evolved over time but were generally stock 'Mechs to begin with. Good video - appreciate the insight. Been playing since '87, so it's fun to hear some other takes on the game.
A bit late to the party, but I wanted to let you know mismatched armor is canon to the Btech setting. A mech called the War Dog in 3055 had extra armor built into the main weapon arm to better protect it. So it happens, it's just not common. And personally, I'm fine with customs... so long as they aren't the Sweaty Try-Hard WAAC mechs. Do you want to swap out an AC/5 for... anything else? Have at it. Do you want to drop the machine guns for extra armor? Go for it. Do you want to build a custom monstrosity with a huge xl engine and all pulse lasers with a targeting computer and next to no armor so it can carry improved jump jets and just abuse the ever loving hell out of the rules? As the DM it's my prerogative to fudge the dice roles and punish you with a gauss rifle to the face (assuming I need to fudge the roles, Btech is magically weird like that). My personal favorite custom? Well you can get 5/8/5 into a Grasshopper with just the use of double HS, endo steel and dropping the LRM 5 for a Guardian ECM. Yes, you have to move the lasers around, and yes, I will be giving it TSM because of course I will! It's a laser tank, a striker, and cavalry all in one!
I think the biggest issues with customs are: 1) power gaming, I don't want to play with you if you just care about winning and nothing else. Customs enable those people even if the problem is obviously much bigger than just customs. 2) Mech identity. I know everyone loves the Discoback but I think any custom variant should keep the original's design philosophy. So if you want to swap out your medium lasers for a few SRM racks or if you take out a few lasers to improve your missile boat's heat sinking, be my guest. If you drop your PPCs to include a huge stack of medium lasers, I don't want to play with your custom.
I think the best approach here would be a template system. Custom designs from starting point of 200 templates. 50 per each weight class. Some are better with energy some better with ballistic some faster, some more efficient with armour etc.. it’s basically like a play on the Omni Mech system, with some more customization and some more limits You can’t have a free-for-all system that isn’t going to produce four or five top mechs all the time. You need some sort of artificial limitation to create variety. You then don’t have to resort to name calling people who do basic mathematics and make good decisions.
As a grognard I'm fine with a brand new players testing out their customs every now and then , mainly so I can teach them that spreading your BV is more tactically sound . Myself I only use Customs in a campaign and then I'm limiting myself to Field and Maintenance Facility Refits ......... A classic example is say a 3025 era Thunderbolt getting used in the Clan Invasion , that's swapping the MGs and ammo for a pair of small pulses and upgrading to an ER Large laser
In the campaign i've been in we've been using a "FCS limit" houserule and only bother with refit facilities if the modifications needs an engine swap or something more invasive. The FCS limit is whichever is highest out of: 1. Number of weapons on (current variant model OR stock model loadout) + 2 2. Tenth of Tonnage rounded up to get your limit. Note: one-shots weapons do not count towards the limit. This allows our star team of techies to do their magic but puts a limit on laser spam. How this has generally shaken out is everyone picking 1 or 2 specialized weapons(usually a PPC) and filling the rest with a medium laser. I've been running a down-engined Charger with a Blazer, 6 mediums and am waiting on a supercharger component to get the speed boost to fool opponents into thinking its a regular charger until the covers on the extra weapons slide open.
If you're redesigning a mech, there's a few things you can do to limit yourself to make it balanced. One: use MWO/MW5 Hardpoints and Heat Capacity limitations. 2: Design with an idea of something wacky, for example I designed a Raven to be a low budget Catapult. Just do not design for pure optimal everything. That ruins the fun every time. If I see clan LPL or MPL, MLaser spam with any speed, or other things it kinda kills the fun instantly, as it becomes very hard to fight these custom mechs.
In a campaign game I was in, I ended up running a gucci custom Black Knight with TSM, a hatchet, and a bunch of ER lasers. It ended up being a really effective flex between being a low-to-mid-range brawler and a horrifying melee butcherer - especially when the pilot had survived long enough to get the Melee Master special pilot ability from the Campaign Operations book. Incredibly fast when TSM was active with a 30 damage hatchet, incredibly tough to kill with no ammo explosions, and even had the Command quirk as a cherry on top.
Aloha. We only play with house variants in our classic BT 3025 campaign. No modification other than removal of weapons and adding heatsinks and armour. All like it. We mix RPG and Boardgame. Modded mechs are nearly impossible. So if you loot or buy rare variant it helps a lot 😅
As the (painfully old;-) Official Liaison for the 🎶 Amazonian Space Pirates 🎶 I've always been into custom mechs... ... however as a GM from the 80's I'm also Big on Custom Lore. With a little knowledge there's alot of room to color Near the lines in canon without breaking it. Which means I've always insisted that you should have a reason as to how you are able to customize your mechs. Allies, contacts , Faction production capacity, access to specific Knowledge/Tech etc. The Girls have a tendency to reduce ammo dependency whenever possible in overhauling thier BattleBuddys. This is backed up by thier historical connections and tech access (Long Story available upon request). It probably helps that my GM history (in various RPGs) tends to automatically avoid Munchkin builds. Custom Mechs are fun but one should understand why random 1 off matches with strangers is probably Not the best time to use them. (But it doesn't hurt to ask) Have Fun&Post Dangerous -Lakon Marketing Division, Keelback Office -'Only ship in the Galaxy to come equipped with a soul 😇' PS, yes the Keelback is a custom Variant of the S7-A (with it's own history dating back to the Star League).
Regarding crit padding: I wonder what would happen if you house-ruled that the first six slots on a location are "empty" rather than being Roll Again slots? It'd make crits slightly less exciting but damage magically magnetizing to the nearest ammunition has always seemed silly to me. It'd make the unintentional weaknesses of some designs less of a problem while discouraging crit padding unless someone goes _really_ ham.
I was thinking there should be a structure type that does similar. My thought was something like Endo steel but instead of a weight bonus you get free crit slots to pad things out you can place. Could do higher tech variants that do something else as well with a trade off. Maybe something odd like if armor is blown through then each of those critical slots sink 1 heat, or maybe locations with those slots modify the crit chance roll. Inspired by the BTA 3062 guys' sanctuary tech base. They have some interesting ways to add armor or structure to locations.
13:55 yep as a grognard this is why I don't do this , I designed that mech that just stays 9 heat over , jumps 7 hexes a turn , has TSM while brandishing a hatchet that won't just head cap you but will basically chop anything smaller than it in half ...... Think a Wraith crossed with a Ti Ts'ang, I came up with that before may of you where born
I would like a rule expansion that differentiate the pros and cons between normal 2 leggers and chicken walkers. Kinda sucks that these 2 options have been treated the same all these years
Awesome! Could you do a vid or a series on Inner Sphere OMNI mechs? Theres sadly little on YT regarding the at least 28 listed on Sarna. Raptor, Templar, Tenchi, Sunder, Hauptman, Omni Firestarter/ Centurion/ Gauntlet/ Inferno/ Blackjack/ Arctix Fox/ Avatar, Blackhawk KU etc
An aspect you briefly touched on but didn't go to far into is that bulky weapons are also useful *as* crit sponges. Because each slot of a weapon can be critically hit, a large laser can "soak" 2 crits away from your RT ammo, while an AC10 can "soak" up to 7. Obviously, you never *want* to use you big guns as padding like that, and you'd rather just use then to shoot, intentionally designing with bulkier weapons to minimize ammo explosions is a thing to keep in mind, if you've go spare unspent crit space available anyway.
Meet the Locust LCT-1Z "Big Greg" It has Clan Endo Steel, a Clan XXL Engine, XL Gyros, a Small Cockpit, and a whole half ton of Clan Ferro-Fibrous Armor giving a mere 3 armor each on LT, CT, and RT It's speed was also dropped to 5/8, and it has no additional heat sinks All of this was done for the sole purpose of cramming an AC/20 and one ton of ammo into a Locust. It costs 4.4M C-Bills, has a BV of 339, and dies if someone looks at it funny It's not about being an effective mech, it's about SENDING A MESSAGE!
Great video as always! I have to say though that while I do respect your choice to use C Bills as an attempt to keep the focus on narrative rather than min-maxing or a kind of tournament mindset, I do feel it's important to acknowledge that BV2 is what we, as players, will basically always need to engage with if we are hoping to get a pick-up game somewhere. Obviously whatever you agree with your opponent is fine so if you're only playing friends in campaigns it's whatever, but 95% of the time at an FLGS your opponent is going to come with lists prepared in BV, not in C Bills. The developers explicitly consider BV to be the primary balancing mechanic of the game, and things are designed with BV in mind, not with C Bills. Since your videos are intended for new players I think it is important to acknowledge that, even if it isn't going to be the focus of your content.
All I want to do is to create alternate "royal" trooper mechs with more gun, specifically more autocannon. An updated WCR-6D, and a Shadowhawk with dual AC5s. Oh. And thumper catapults, but that is less a gameplay thing.
I wish customs had rules for weapon slots, because really the only thing that is different between an Omni Mech and a regular mech is how long it takes to refit. Rather than the lore which was standard configurations.
The problem with custom mechs are the competative players. Gamers like me, that play the game since the 80's, can easily build a mech that uses every bit of rule knowledge and build a mech that can tear everything apart that is in any TRO. And that's the reason why we don't do it. We play striktly inside the boundaries of the backround and try to compensate the shortcomings of the various designs. That's the challenge. Use what you got. In nearly every other tabletop game, there isn't even the otion to build your own designs. And that doesn't concern the players. In fact, my "Technical Handbook" is in nearly mint condition, because I don't use it.
Really enjoyed the information presented from this video. I'm still really new to the whole re-design/design for custom mechs. I was looking at my Mercs from 3020s era...they go for some time, even have them coming back in the ilClan era. so the Lance that I was looking at them having starting in the 3020s would be 6D Warhammer - customization on it would be equipping it with ton less armor (so 201 instead of 217), and small lasers replaced with a pair of mediums, so 2PPC and 4Med (still not as powerful as my favorite 7A) 3D Crusader - Stock 1D Phoenix Hawk - Stock 6M Dervish - If I was to customize this one it'd be removing the SRMs for 2med lasers and either more armor or HS (Kind of like the 8D variant) Their new employer has a A model Firestarter and either a 4L Guillotine or 5S Thunderbolt. Your thoughts presented in this video are very helpful in my designs, and since this is for mostly for narrative (maybe some games with the right folks)
It is actually 8 points of armor per *half* ton of armor so your Warhammer redesign doesn't work. I actually have a Dervish rebuild on my channel, check it out if you like. Im using slightly more advanced tech. I think in 3025 era Id swap out the SRMs, grab 2 tons of armor, and upgrade 1 of the LRMs to a 15-pack. Pretty simple upgrade. Gotta get more armor on the arms.
@@TheManyVoicesVA I'll have to take a look at the Dervish design. For the Warhammer I do believe that the 6D has 217 (oh I see my error in the original comment) points of armor, I could be wrong cause I'm using older data slates for the machine, so going to 201 points would be a reduction of 16 points, meaning 1 ton...Like I said I don't know all the true ins and outs of making custom mech designs. Hope to get better at the customs, cause I was originally a MW2/4 player before I started to read loads of novels in universe.
I'm planning to try building a few custom mechs for a Mercenary company I'm hoping to play as. These tips helped pretty good, but I was hoping for more in depth about using C-bills VS Battle Value. One comment I've got about how realistic it would be to have ammo/heat sinks in the legs argument... I like to try and think of how the loading mechanisms for the mech would work. I.e. how does a shell for an AC/10 actually get loaded in the cannon from the ammo rack? My personal preference and opinion on ammo placement is that ammo should be stored no more than one "section" of the mech away from whatever weapon uses that ammo. If you had guns in the mech's legs, yeah, run ammo in it. If they don't have guns in the legs, then it would be unrealistic. You would need a convoluted loading system to transport those shells/missiles from the ammo rack in the legs to whatever weapon it used, elsewhere in the mech. That loading system could interfere with movement actuators, hydraulic hoses, ect. Heat sinks in legs, on the other hand, are actually somewhat realistic. Sinks are part of a cooling system, which is much more flexible in the ways they can be piped and run through a machine. It's basically coolant pipes that carry water and coolant, much like you would find on a radiator in a car. It would make total sense to actually have a sink or two stored in the legs as a way to "ground" the heat of a mech.
I've built my own from the ground up and accidentally built a tabletop monster. It has its very obvious weaknesses but its only seen one game within my group, it has already earned a reputation for being a nightmare. That said, I do warn people when im using one of them. 90t mech 4/6/0 movement 17.5t of armour XL engine 14 double heat sinks 6 medium lasers 2 LRM 10s - 2t ammo 2 RAC 2s - 2t ammo That is the variant that has proven the best overall. It is 3060s and it obviously has the weakness of XL engine and more than a few things that can/will explode. Comes in at 1826bv though the big kicker is the 22mil cbill cost
@TheManyVoicesOG I'm quite happy with what is has tbh, the model I think also looks better with the turret kinda chin turrets which is where the RACs are mounted. If you want to know what I mean, it basically has the same sort of set up as the chin turret on the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter
@TheManyVoicesOG they are just on there because they look cool in the angled pods and it gives it a little bit more reach at long range. Something to note about the mech is that it has tremendous weight of fire. It may be small stuff but it's a lot of it
I think everyone has a pet mech. one that is not too great but you really like the model/flavor of the mech but its just not good on the table top ( mine is the jackrabbit) or is just dead in all but a handful of eras and in that case upgrading it so its more usable or available is fine in my book.
So I’m brand new to the game and currently when I think about making changes to a mech 9/10 times it’s to get rid of MGs or small lasers and replace them with something more useful like more ammo for another system or heat sinks/armour!
He said that he had another opportunity that was more lucrative and had to invest his time and energy pursuing that. The channel isn't supposed to be 100% abandoned but he won't be doing regular videos anymore and after this time maybe he never comes back. But, he left on his own terms and wasn't due to an illness, as far as we know. I still respect Commander Slime for all his hard work.
The ostscout is a great mech lol. Love that little guy. Ultimate scout. As stated in this vid it is a good kicker. You can strip out the expensive E-war equipment and sell it for Cbills, and slap in more weapons. I think the place for customs is definitely campaigns. It is balanced by the sheer amount of time you need to put in to do major refits. Are you using MekHQ to manage it?
Where is the tech availability written? As one can not say higher year means more availability it is too hard. At what years did what tech come and go?
the CGL book 'Alternate era's' is a good resource to know when particular tech becomes common. my golden rule - everything is always available! in order for something to become common and available, it had to originally be designed, built and prototype developed and tested. thus, literally everything can be used. however, using systems like the HAG or RAC prior to the games common availability, they are not going to be replaced, repairs will be difficult and ammo will be expensive. additionally, there is a greater chance for malfunction.
Overtuned and hyperspecialized mechs are what got me to stop playing MWO. It isn't fun to just have 24 mechs with pinpoint sniper weapons hitting the 3 pixels they can see from cross the map all game. For proper customization I like moving ammo and heat sinks, and swapping equipment for similar ones (on a Griffin, that might be dropping some jump jets to upsize the LRM for example)
So, step 1: wait for the Clans to attack. Step 2: liberate those downed Clan vehicles as a prizes. Step 3: bring them back into working order, with plenty of spares for each part and mech. Step 4: find ways of liberating more mechs from other powers using your new mech lineup. Step 5: throw every Urbanmech off a cliff, no exceptions.
I'm probably violating the comments and for that I'm sorry, but I don't know how else to go about trying to find players. And sorry it's most recent video. So here goes. Is there anyone that's watched these that plays Battletech in the Denver area? More specifically near The Streets of Southglenn that is interested in playing Battletech/MechWarrior? The actual table top versions leave a comment to this post. That is if you don't mind the fact that my universe has left the cannon FASA/Catalyst Games story line. Many of the iconic personalities are involved, just story went different direction. By my own choosing that is. Thanks for the time and again sorry for possible violation.
Pretty good way to balance this out in campaign is use refit class table from Campaign Ops. Because you can't swap out certain things just in the field (if you do, you still have to obey the rules for field refits) and, even if you have access to maintenance facility, it takes a lot of time and effort to make mediocre changes to mech design. Engines, structure types and etc. can only be changed in factory conditions and that should be restricted for all types of forces. I, myself, don't like to use meta balanced designs in all types of games, just because it's just boring :)
in my playgroupe there is a gentelman agrement to use custom Mechs only to create something to fit a model whitout a known datasheet. Nobody wants Mechs whit the maximum of Targeting Computer, Jupjets and pulslasers to allways oneshot the rear.
Custom designs starts out w catapult image - way to go, variants are fun. I can see an Ostroc somewhere awkwardly dancing in slow motion as it's pilot is so jazzed for their ride finally being mentioned. Although I seriously wonder at one thing, is there an in - setting rationale for not having unbalanced armor? Take something like a Griffin, weapons and ammo on the right, left arm and torso, nothing really there to crit out badly. Surely somebody would have tried like moving half the armor over to the other side. Is there a piloting penalty or something for unbalanced armor in the game? Memories though, I first got into Battletech with the 2025 book's initial release and that new gridding with the one double heat sink just seemed wildy advanced tech. Clanners all laughing at me thinking that I know.
Tbh, biggest problems are Pulse Laser + JJs (or even worse, Partial Wings + JJs) and everybody pretty much knows it. More you stack them on top, more OP the mech becomes. Hell you can make a 55Tonner with Max Ferro-Lamellor+10JJ(with partial)+6MPL+TC+IC. Armor and damage of a 75 tonner, on a targeting modifier of a Dasher. Geez. I do dislike tech that allows you to cheat the core mechanics like PartialW, MASC, TSM etc. Just trying to balance them around BV alone doesnt work. Same type of bonuses stack together. That is the problem of many TT game systems. I think they should've never allowed TC to work with pulses.
where are DHS on the list of possible upgrades for merc mechs? ;-) otherwise a pretty good video. would have liked to see a tryhard upgrade at 10% vs a thematic mech upgrade
If you want an unfun mech, take dual Claws on a 40-ton mech, use TSM and a couple hot weapons and jumpjets. After one or two rounds of building heat, you get to use 12-damage Claws twice per round, rolling on the Punch location chart for a 1/6 chance of decapitation.
I don't like about having padding locations and having to re-roll 6 or more times just to break something. It is just the most stupid and time consuming game mechanic in the game. The easy homebrew work around is If you hit a location where there is nothing of value in it that slot it should be considered destroyed. No re-rolling for new location unless, when that same slot is hit again you can re-roll. By doing this method you can determine salvaged items from destroyed torsos. So you can have CASE, Ferro, and Endo slots to do the padding for you.
Ooo thanks for the vid! I'd love to see a guide for campaigns that are PvP and ones that are PvE. My groups at the stage where we're getting comfortable and want to expand a bit.
campaign play (PvE) is best run with a dedicated GM. the campaign we are concluding lasted 7 months and had 15 missions. we included Mechwarrior 2nd ed rpg for character development. there are a lot of source books produced and the character skills are used directly between standard battletech and the RPG, no translation or conversion. we strictly used c-bills... and most importantly, nothing - and I mean nothing, was balanced or fair. as GM, I developed the story, the entire force of the opposition and the various locations the opposition forces were at. the players had a combined arms company. we would have an rpg session to allow story events to take place. then the players would decide the mission they would attempt. the next session would involve the mission. various other events would also take place at the time of the mission. this kept the players engaged with the story and they could see how their decisions effected the story. at the end of this story, it will be the players decision to continue or start a new campaign.
@nerdyOveranalyzed too bad you are not near Tyler, Texas. I would invite you to come and check out the resolution of our campaign. it's PvE with 8 players. the final mission has the players using 2 companies of mechs and a company of armor and infantry attacking a city. the city covers a 4×8 table using mostly the buildings from alpha strike. we only use standard battletech rules due to the needed details for continuing characters and equipment. the opposition has nearly 5 companies of mechs (56 mechs, although 16 are urbanmechs). the key to PvE is the GM. the ability to run the game and progression of the story is paramount. while I am running the opposition, I want the players to succeed. I let the dice determine the fate of the characters. a few pilots had been killed - it's a war game, after all. mostly, units withdraw or get captured when they take significant damage. this brings in the element of repairs and reloads. almost forgot - this final mission will conclude with an elapsed game time of 6 hours. while I have significant experience with this game, only one of the players is also experienced. the other 7 players have only been playing since the spring. large scale warfare doesn't take all weekend, but it does require some adjustments to initiative.
Any campaign info would be good. My group comes from Pathfinder TTRPG so they want progression for their mechs, lances, and pilots. We have some of the books with the base rules, but it's a hard read.
I like custom mechs like Ragnarok, I don't care about TT only the lore and I really hate that MechWarrior games are based on TT instead of the lore. MechWarrior still uses AC and Laser as a weapon classification instead of Defiance MechHunter 185mm and Martel Medium... The games should separate themselves from eachother.
Vehicles make amazing missile boats since they dont have to pay for heat. One of my favorite stock units is the Centipede(SRM) hover tank. It can eat a gauss shot on any facing, and brings the dakka with 6 SRM-2s! If I was to make my own, I would up its tonnage a bunch, grab more SRM2s, and stick them all in a turret, and up the armor a bit.
@@TheManyVoicesVA that and with a fusion engine, you can bring one long range energy weapon that never stops firing, combined with missile backups. Combat vehicles can become such horrific min/max sweat when you get into optimisation of how much armour is needed for a standard game or deciding to make it so hyper fast that jts worse to fight then a locust and far more plentiful!
I've watched all of the videos on your channel, and must say they're all ok. Not great, not bad, they're ok. Get rid of that vtuber slime thing, as it adds nothing to the presentation, except annoyance since its mouth doesn't sync properly with your audio. Also, your videos would be a lot more interesting if you went beyond the info dump. You're mostly repeating what is already known and can be found elsewhere, but your own experiences are what's unique here. Battletech has the same ruleset for decades now, but what you do within those rules is far more interesting than knowing that the original Catapult has bad jump jets. Strategy, tactics, how to play effectively with limited options, how would you do this? I guess what I'm saying is this: make it more personal.
I started playing Battletech in 1985. Me and everyone I posted with lived to do custom Mechs. So not sure why there's this perception that older players don't like it, we all did it. My first custom mech was an Archer variant with 6 LRM 5, 4 front facing medium lasers, 14 heat sinks and 4 jump jets. It was a blast to play. My second custom design was another archer variant that had 2 ppcs hidden under those massive missile launcher doors. I'll never forget the look of shock on my friend's face when he tried to run his medium mech into close range, expecting to get peppered with missiles, and instead I described how the missile doors opened and revealed two hulking PPC which immediately decapitated his mech with a lucky head shot. 😆
40 years later and I still absolutely love designing mechs, vehicles, Aerospace and spacecraft.
you know you've reached the pinnacle of designing when you make an entire faction!
45 warships (7 separate classes)
20 different types of dropships
6 types of Aerospace
10 classes of naval ships
dozens of aircraft
about 100 mechs
and
about 100 vehicles
the expanded history of the Northwind Highlanders encompasses an army consisting of 5 Corp.
a mech battalion has 90 mechs
an armor battalion has 90 tanks
add in the infantry, artillery and support units...
the organization for the army fills 5 - 4" binders (one per Corp)
so, the whole thing about olders players not liking the idea of self designs... um, yeah. it's literally a huge part of the game.
while any game with design rules can have a min/max element, the game self balances. especially if you stay away from bv/bv2.
lol, impressive!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed I started developing the Highlanders in 1991. it's been a continuous project for 30+ years.
I'm one of those grognards who dislikes custom mechs, mostly because they usually end up being exactly the same.
I tend to like them when they are minor changes to a basic design, or swap 3025 equipment for it's LosTech equivalent.
Part of the problem with customs is that any time you use an engine bigger than 300, you gain a lot of weight for a little more power, so there are "perfect" weights for certain speeds. (100T = 3-5, 75T = 4-6, 60T = 5-8, 50T = 6-9, 40T = 7-11, 35T = 8-12). It's not a mistake that the Jenner is close to the best light mech - it's close to optimal weight and speed which still allowing tonnage for armor and weapons.
Jump jets similarly are inefficient on any mech over 55T. Combined these mean that min/maxed custom mechs should only ever be the top of each weight class, and only light mechs should have any variety of speeds since shaving off a few tons of engine can benefit them more in terms of armament.
Medium lasers are the other half of the problem - they are by far the most efficient weapon in 3025, even if you need to add 3 heat sinks with each of them. They aren't great piercing, but you can mount 4+ medium lasers with their heat sinks in place of 1 PPC and it's heat sinks, and with the extra damage it really won't matter that it spreads. If you can fire 8 medium lasers at 12 hexes it really doesn't matter if you don't have LRMs (and LRMs are the only weapon which is arguably better than medium laser spam. On a heavy or assault mech, the main reason for having other weapons is that you can't sink the heat for more than 10 medium lasers (until the late 3030s.
For game design, medium lasers have an important purpose, since they allow any mech to use just 1 ton to do something really useful. You can build a mech around a pair of AC/2s, but if you also put 4 medium lasers on it it will work well enough. They just get silly when used to min-max instead of filling in gaps.
A 3025 Marauder with 10 medium lasers, maxed armor, and 30 heat sinks is going to demolish anything else from that era, but at that point it's not really a Marauder. When you've played long enough, you've seen dozens of players create the same bland, boring mechs over and over. Every "improvement" ends up being the Hunchback 4P.
For that reason, I try to keep some of the "flaws" when customizing mechs. Focussing mechs around differing range bands, designing in "heat problems", giving them weak armor in certain locations, etc. can give them niche cases where they will beat the "medium laser brick" customs.
Modifications which I will always allow:
1. Moving ammo or weapons to a more sensible location (such as the MAD-3R's AC ammo in the opposite torso of the weapon, or swapping the Crusader's SRM-6s up to the arms or torsos).
2. Changes which match the specs to the flavor text, models, or illustrations.
3. Reducing MG ammo to ½ ton. It's allowed, and it makes no sense to carry more than ½ ton.
4. Adding or removing armor, heat sinks, ammo, or "small" weapons (MGs, small lasers, flamers, etc).
5. Swapping torso weapons from back to front (or other way around).
6. Swapping a weapon for the equivalent weapon from a different tech level (AC/10 to LB-10X for example) or swapping single for double heat-sinks.
7. Removing a weapon or jump jets to replace with armor, ammo, or heat sinks.
8. Swapping a weapon from one arm to the other (so you could make a Phoenix Hawk or Griffin "left handed").
All of those are minor, cheap refits, and most have little to no impact on how a mech plays and how powerful it is.
More major modifications are okay, but should strive to replace weapons with something similar (like AC/20 to Gauss Rifle, Large Laser to PPC, LRMs to SRMs) or swap larger and smaller versions of the same weapon (SRM4 to SRM6).
The more "customization" is like the HBK-4P, the worse it is. The game doesn't need any more flavor-free bricks of medium lasers - 1 is enough.
Rather well laid out.
Using classic 3025 rules, we had a few basic principles for custom mech design:
Ultimate general purpose weapon system is a combination of medium lasers and PPCs. This is the ultimate "swap range" design. PPC + 3xML + 10 sinks: 20 tons, Up to 3 hexes you have 15 points at base 4, out to 6 you can do 10 points at 4 or 15 points at 6, and then you can still do 10 points at 6 out to 12. Plus you have up to 25 points of alpha strike if you can handle the +9 heat. This combo works for a few reasons:
- high-heat weapons provide maximum flexibility. MLs and PPCs both have a lot of their tonnage in sinks. Also, high heat & high sink means that you can quickly correct if you overheat (or get an unlucky engine crit).
- this works for crit slots also - of the 16 (potential) crit slots only 3 of them are PPC and another 3 a ML each. Degradation is typically gradual.
Including the PPC does reduce total firepower a little (for the same 7 tons you could squeeze in 2x fully sunk medium lasers), but the ability to fight effectively out to 12 hexes is a big advantage.
Other than ML and PPC, LRMs are the only generally efficient weapon system. Carry enough ammo, and typically use indirect fire. That said, 1 ML per 10 LRMs is only a small weight investment to get a mech that can fight effectively cross-range. Unlike the cross-sunk PPC, damage does drop slightly at closer ranges.
We occasionally used AC/20s and SRMs on specialist mechs. An SRM volley into an open torso is scary, and an AC/20 can seriously ruin any light or medium mech. Most heavy and assault mechs have enough per-location armour to treat enemy AC/20s as poor cousins to medium lasers.
Most weapons are less efficient than PPCs or MLs once you include the tonnage for a decent ammo load, and are far more brittle (in terms of crit slots to kill the weapon, drawbacks of ammo). Tonnage in heatsinks is flexible - you can use it for movement, attacks, or just damage sinking, while tonnage in a weapon system can only be used for that weapon system.
mobility? Jump Jets all the way. A 3/5/3 will almost always out-manoeuvre a 4/6/0; likewise 5/8/5 vs 6/9/0. This does make the points where jump-jets jump weight class (55->60 and 80->85 IIRC) particularly common design points. Plus the tonnage you lose in JJ is almost always gained back from the smaller engine.
Speed & engine? As small as you can get away with. Always prefer an odd walk speed (typically 3 or 5) as the run speed is rounded up. Speed matters, but armour and ability to manoeuvre (hello jump jets) almost always matter more.
Ammo? Legs are good. No chance of a rogue critical, usually draw most of it out quickly, and the empty bins then protect your leg actuators.
Weapons in the arms? Occasionally we'll put the PPCs in the arms, but usually the extra flexibility of torso twist is less valuable than the ability to alpha strike and punch, or to continue to use the full weapon load out if fallen. Plus, arms are invariably the first to go.
Armour? As much as possible. Always within a ton of maximum, possibly more. Always max on head and in 5 point lots on rear. If you are short a few points, remove them from the arms first.
These are all based on optimisation. It does tend to end up with very same-y mechs. 55 ton brawlers, 55 ton cross-range brawlers, and heaver LRM boats and super-brawlers. With the occasional specialist thrown in.
Read all of that, and I generally agree! To me, the best 'mechs aren't the ones that are mechanically the best... they're the ones that tell a story. A mech that tells the tale of an arena battler, or a small startup company, or a strange experiment... those are all fun! But they SHOULD be a little suboptimal, they SHOULD have some kind of offset!
As someone who was introduced to Battletech through MechWarrior Online I'm... _weary_ of custom mechs. But I also love hopping in the mechlab as much as the next person. My solution has been to use Campaign Ops rules to restrict everyone to modifying existing mechs most of the time, but if someone shows up with a really cool custom design that isn't insane, cool beans (or if it's a horribly broken meme machine, turn it into a "everyone kill the monstrosity" match).
Side note-- I love using Cbills to balance things too, at least in a campaign setting, it balances things out _over time_ rather than on a per-game basis which seems to work way better. It brings context to mechs that seem to suck on their own because they're usually the crazy efficient ones. Works better socially, too- you get to ruin your friends' day and then you chill out for a while, and making a decent force when you're low on funds is a fun mini-game.
Yeah, MWO is a custom monster mash. Also prone to scewed metas at times (I shudder at the memories of LRM meta).
Wish there were a little chilled out gamemode, because playing with people is much more fun than punching bots in single-players.
Coming from RogueTech, I personally love making custom mechs with massive self-restrictions (e.g., mech must be within exact weight limits and balanced in weight across axes, ammo must be on or near weapon location, weapon distribution must match an existing pattern, etc.) in all formats. However, its best niche for me even in tabletop is in manual buffing of "bad" mechs. Standard Assassins, Shadowhawks or Vulcans come to mind. Interesting designs, but terribly underpowered as combat units. Swap a few SRMs and LRMs in or out, remove flamers and machine guns for additional medium or small lasers, and suddenly you have solid units without much hassle. Also makes for fun encounters with veteran or hero units in scenarios.
Yeah self nerfing can be great fun I think!
As a grognard I really do think that customs have been the biggest blind spot of classic BattleTech for a long time. We really needed a set of guidelines laying out an idea of what a fair custom design could do (maybe hardpoint style) 20 years ago. I've got a lot of new players into the game - without fail one of the first questions I get asked is how they can make their super strong cool custom fantasy mech, and there's never a particularly good answer to that question because everyone has different ideas around how these things should be handled.
"If you make cla LPL boat with a targetting computer, noone will like you."
Clan Large Pulse Lasers with and stacks of micro pulse lasers of they get close. Gratz, you are OP and as an earlier comment says, nobody will like you.
@@ObiwanNekody ya I think that and spamming 7 jump medium pulse laser boats are kinda the "you are an obnoxious asshole" lists hahaha.
I think customs are fine when you are playing with close friends, you just need to make sure everyone is aware of the fact custom mechs are on the table and just be honest if you think someone is using a dickish design
custom designs are best suited for Solaris VII and other gladiator arena venues. simply explained, to have the dedicated team of techs to maintain a specialized unit, they would need to be readily available.
if you are playing simple one-off games, then do whatever.
but story and campaign style of game, if the self design loses an arm, it's not going to be replaced. unless it's a modified existing chassis from a TRO, parts simply don't exist and must be specially made.
at least that's how I would run it in my campaign.
I definitely like customs more in my campaign games versus one-off games. In one-off games I've found part of the problem is that good counters to customs aren't allowed. There are excellent custom counters via combined arms, post-Civil War tech, advanced rules, etc. that prevent customs from making Battletech a "solved" game via a single, hyper-optimized design taking all comers (looking at you, Jump 7+ Pulse Laser/Targeting Computer clantech custom). In a campaign though? The GM is going to throw enough interesting stuff at you to prevent one single custom mech from being the end-all be-all optimized design, you'll take penalties to Unit Quality, have to find the appropriate facility to do the refit (depending on the refit type -- most people won't let you borrow a factory to do a refit), you may have logistics issues, etc. and that balances things out a lot more.
Yep! I think customs are the way to go if you're doing something narrative
As a GM for my group my main rule for custom mechs is that they have to follow the spirit of the mech. They can take inspiration from other variants of the mech allowing them to have more freedom on their design so it’s more balanced. My go to Warhammer Custom for Succession War is switching the MG for Flamers and PPCs for Large Laser to increase my Heat Sinks and Armor. It still has the spirit of the warhammer’s brawling capabilities but is more heat efficient and armored.
Another example, my Wolverine, "Honey Badger:" Specifically customized for fighting Clanners, it's an upgraded WVR-6K with a Large Pulse Laser, two Medium Lasers, the SRM 6, an ER Small Laser, and a Targeting Computer. Being a -6K, it doesn't have jump jets, but its armor is _thick._
Edit: It's got FF armor and a Light Fusion Engine. It's expensive, but it's not about the money. It's about sending a message. 🤣
Defining unit doctrine, or knowing defined doctrine within your preferred house army, before laying down your custom designs, seems like a good starting point. That way, instead of designing a custom mech, you're designing a custom lance, or even company-level elements.
By doing this, you can define functions for your units within a more structured organization scheme, and set bounding boxes for your designs to operate and optimize within. Obviously, you want to avoid becoming a Mary Sue organization, but this method will allow you to make something lore-plausible, and able to be communicated, without stepping on too many grognard toes.
Remember, it's hard to do material recovery work if none of your mechs have hand actuators. It's difficult to operate within hostile environments for extended periods if you risk losing access to supply lines. Play your campaigns, and games, with doctrine, logistics, and field repair and refit considerations in mind, and a lot of "power gaming" can be readily forgiven.
I like doing incremental upgrades. Like swapping an AC with an LBX or Ultra.
As long as the core identity of a source mech is not disturbed.
Did something similar with an AWS-8Q. upgrading to double heat sinks frees up enough tonnage to upgrade to the Zeus's 320 standard.
yeah! I think small shifts are pretty good
@@richardmazkin9994damn having 4-6 on an awesome must have been nice.
@@HalIOfFamer Toss in TSM and a Supercharger and you can push her up to a 5/10. Pulled off an 8 hex charge. Lost a little leg armor for it but the other mech didn't survive the 64 damage it got hammered with.
Very nice video, I agree on a lot of points. The armour allocation in multiples of 5 is something that is very beneficial for light & (less so) medium 'Mechs, larger 'Mechs that tend to be hit more often will take damage (and CAN take damage) from more varied sources, so that this strategy has less use. A 75t 'Mech with 22 points of armour might just get hit by a PPC early on, a stray cluster of LRMs or an SRM and two medium lasers later and would have a use for that two points exceeding 20. This is even more true for assault 'Mechs that get close to 40 points of armour in some locations and won't be hit just once or by just one group of weapons.
For a light 'Mech, the difference between 4 and 5 points will matter a lot more, because every hit might be devastating to them. A similar principle applies to XL-engines, a light mech might get a lot more use out of an XL because it is much more likely to be outright destroyed by a single hit than by attrition.
Very true!
When I played battletech we primarily played campaigns, things like tournaments and BV were unheard of. And you were free to modify your mech as much (or little) as you like. Of course in doing so, you had to acquire the parts and find/pay a tech to do the work on your mech, or do it yourself, and then hope everything worked as it should. This was back in the 90's so it was all based on 3025 era tech, wasn't unheard of to swap out autocannon 5's for PPCs, or to remove weapons to add heatsinks and/or armor to a mech (many mechs back then ran very hot).
Been binging your channel recently, your videos are awesome!
For me, one of the biggest reasons to make a custom mech design is because of the occasional huge gap in certain model variations within tech eras. The Grasshopper is one of my favorite mech designs, for example, but it doesn't get a DHS design until 3064, with the GHR-6K. Considering the GHR packs in 11 additional heat sinks, the swap to DHS alone-without factoring in stuff like Endo or even Ferro-Fibrous-is a huge 11tons of savings that can go towards improving its firepower or utility. If you're in a campaign-type setting where the major bottleneck is how many mechs you can field at a time (narrative-based rather than only BV based, limited number of pilots or spaces on a dropship, commander of a single lance, etc.) it becomes harder and harder to justify using the Grasshopper when options like the Griffin -2N or the Warhammer -7A start surfacing with DHS and Endo enhancements alike.
Still, it's definitely one of the more difficult topics to tackle, although I think Battletech has managed to do it better than most other tabletops. The tug-of-war between gross optimization and balance can be found in just about every system with some manner of "build" choice, and at the end of the day it usually winds up coming down to getting a group of players together who enjoy the same band of optimization (or lack thereof).
That works to a point, though depending on what you're doing in a campaign, some mechs become superstars that would be trash in a pickup game. A generic Shadow Hawk is fairly lackluster. But after a couple botched repair rolls, it's still fairly functional - heat sinks repair rules aren't forgiving. Something with tight tolerances that needs those heat sinks becomes much less effective when it starts losing them. It can be repaired and take botched rolls on the armor. The Grasshopper is similar - it can take a lot of failed rolls to become ineffective. If you don't have a good source of DHS, it can be relevant. ... If DHS are common in the campaign and repair rules are lax, then you have zero reason not to cram as many on there as you need.
@@marcusshiffler2614 Admittedly I don't have a *ton* of knowledge when it comes to heat sink repair rules, or how that interacts with Double Heat Sinks. At least in my case and experience, repair rules are abstracted and a bit more lax in this regard. That being said, the Grasshopper by default has an engine that can fit 11 heat sinks internally. Its other versions add on eleven additional heat sinks. Upgrading to DHS allows you to put all of the heat sinks inside of the engine, instead of allowing them to be crit individually on the rest of the mech. Assuming engine hits don't force heat sink repairs or replacements (and correct me if I'm wrong), upgrading the Grasshopper to 11 DHS instead of 22 normal heat sinks makes it more resilient long-term to heat sink repair costs and availability, not less.
Perhaps a bit off-topic, but your videos are of the things that got me into BattleTech, so thank you! I hope you are doing alright right now and we will see more videos in the future :>
Just started watching all your battletech videos as I'm a new player and my friend group online just started a campaign, really love the coverage, I've learned so much from your videos.
We are playing a merc squad and we are all making custom mechs and it's so much fun. I really enjoy making quad mechs with rifles and autocannons with flamers and lasers for backup.
My first custom mech, back in 1990 in high school, was a wolverine fire support variant.
LRM 15 with two tons of ammo replaces the AC/5 and one ton of ammo.
Dropped the SRM6 to a 4, and added a second medium laser.
More a cheaper Fire support/ scout Hunter.
Not game breaking, but still a surprise to most people.
I miss my jelly instructor.
Sharing this with my friend who wants to learn how to play the tabletop
I'm one of those older players, but I also really like custom mechs because I like mercs more than the standard factions.
Do I know how to break it, yes. Is it fun, yeah from time to time and especially against Princess on Megamek.
For pick up games and tournaments I encourage no customs and think BV2 is the best balancing system currently available.
With friends the sky and your mutual agreement is the limit (still keeping all validations like tech/era in place, ie no C3i on a "2800s" mech).
For campaigns C-bills are the way to go and really bridge a gap between an RPG and TT miniatures game.
Hard points could be a good way to keep things from getting out of hand, would take a lot of play testing to get honed in though so its both usable and ot feeling overly restrictive on creativity. It's important to remember that most if not all mechs in setting are intentionally NOT optimized with lore rationale of military funding and production limitations.
At one point I created a combat team in Heavy Metal such that it would be similar to modern military tactics.
They all had C³, Active Probes, Targeting Computers, and ECM/ECCM...
Absolute units.
Used them to take down an Atlas piloted by an Ace while they were armed with nothing but AC-2's with armor piercing ammo and average skilled pilots...
They hunted him down and ripped him to pieces.
Amazing 35 tonners, but...
At around 75 million c-bills each, we decided that a company of AS7-D Atlas' would make better financial sense.
This got me combing through all sorts of material to figure out, and I gotta I'm stumped- how do you drive the price of a light mech up to more than double a Dire Wolf?
Even if I assume all the electronic bells and whistles, omni design, and expensive choices for structural components I can't see how a mech could be that expensive. Have the rules changed a lot since then or something?
@@justinthompson6364 naw... It was just rules being rules
@@davidmeigs2152 Huh... I might have to find some software to experiment with or something because I'm really curious now
@@justinthompson6364 I'm going to try something in mech factory.
See if I could recreate the Bearcat
@@davidmeigs2152 Neat, lmk how it goes
Some of the best games I've ever played were grand melee games with custom 'Mechs with tonnage caps. We would play 6-8 players on a 3'x5' map that we printed on large format printers (I wrote an app to create random maps). But when we campaigned (I was the GM for my friends), it was with stock 'Mechs with evolving quirks because of the campaign repair rolls from their astechs. Sometimes they ended up with 'Mech parts that weren't quite right, so they evolved over time but were generally stock 'Mechs to begin with.
Good video - appreciate the insight. Been playing since '87, so it's fun to hear some other takes on the game.
A bit late to the party, but I wanted to let you know mismatched armor is canon to the Btech setting. A mech called the War Dog in 3055 had extra armor built into the main weapon arm to better protect it. So it happens, it's just not common.
And personally, I'm fine with customs... so long as they aren't the Sweaty Try-Hard WAAC mechs. Do you want to swap out an AC/5 for... anything else? Have at it. Do you want to drop the machine guns for extra armor? Go for it. Do you want to build a custom monstrosity with a huge xl engine and all pulse lasers with a targeting computer and next to no armor so it can carry improved jump jets and just abuse the ever loving hell out of the rules? As the DM it's my prerogative to fudge the dice roles and punish you with a gauss rifle to the face (assuming I need to fudge the roles, Btech is magically weird like that).
My personal favorite custom? Well you can get 5/8/5 into a Grasshopper with just the use of double HS, endo steel and dropping the LRM 5 for a Guardian ECM. Yes, you have to move the lasers around, and yes, I will be giving it TSM because of course I will! It's a laser tank, a striker, and cavalry all in one!
I think the biggest issues with customs are:
1) power gaming, I don't want to play with you if you just care about winning and nothing else. Customs enable those people even if the problem is obviously much bigger than just customs.
2) Mech identity. I know everyone loves the Discoback but I think any custom variant should keep the original's design philosophy. So if you want to swap out your medium lasers for a few SRM racks or if you take out a few lasers to improve your missile boat's heat sinking, be my guest. If you drop your PPCs to include a huge stack of medium lasers, I don't want to play with your custom.
I think the best approach here would be a template system. Custom designs from starting point of 200 templates.
50 per each weight class. Some are better with energy some better with ballistic some faster, some more efficient with armour etc.. it’s basically like a play on the Omni Mech system, with some more customization and some more limits
You can’t have a free-for-all system that isn’t going to produce four or five top mechs all the time. You need some sort of artificial limitation to create variety. You then don’t have to resort to name calling people who do basic mathematics and make good decisions.
As a grognard I'm fine with a brand new players testing out their customs every now and then , mainly so I can teach them that spreading your BV is more tactically sound .
Myself I only use Customs in a campaign and then I'm limiting myself to Field and Maintenance Facility Refits ......... A classic example is say a 3025 era Thunderbolt getting used in the Clan Invasion , that's swapping the MGs and ammo for a pair of small pulses and upgrading to an ER Large laser
In the campaign i've been in we've been using a "FCS limit" houserule and only bother with refit facilities if the modifications needs an engine swap or something more invasive.
The FCS limit is whichever is highest out of:
1. Number of weapons on (current variant model OR stock model loadout) + 2
2. Tenth of Tonnage rounded up to get your limit.
Note: one-shots weapons do not count towards the limit.
This allows our star team of techies to do their magic but puts a limit on laser spam. How this has generally shaken out is everyone picking 1 or 2 specialized weapons(usually a PPC) and filling the rest with a medium laser.
I've been running a down-engined Charger with a Blazer, 6 mediums and am waiting on a supercharger component to get the speed boost to fool opponents into thinking its a regular charger until the covers on the extra weapons slide open.
3rd editiona chaos codex :) I think that's the one you meant (4th ed cut most of the option out)
If you're redesigning a mech, there's a few things you can do to limit yourself to make it balanced. One: use MWO/MW5 Hardpoints and Heat Capacity limitations.
2: Design with an idea of something wacky, for example I designed a Raven to be a low budget Catapult.
Just do not design for pure optimal everything. That ruins the fun every time. If I see clan LPL or MPL, MLaser spam with any speed, or other things it kinda kills the fun instantly, as it becomes very hard to fight these custom mechs.
In a campaign game I was in, I ended up running a gucci custom Black Knight with TSM, a hatchet, and a bunch of ER lasers. It ended up being a really effective flex between being a low-to-mid-range brawler and a horrifying melee butcherer - especially when the pilot had survived long enough to get the Melee Master special pilot ability from the Campaign Operations book. Incredibly fast when TSM was active with a 30 damage hatchet, incredibly tough to kill with no ammo explosions, and even had the Command quirk as a cherry on top.
You gotta make a mech with a theme in mind. 'Stronk' is not a theme.
fair lol
Aloha. We only play with house variants in our classic BT 3025 campaign. No modification other than removal of weapons and adding heatsinks and armour. All like it. We mix RPG and Boardgame. Modded mechs are nearly impossible. So if you loot or buy rare variant it helps a lot 😅
I'm similar, I actually just use Campaign Ops rules to figure out what people can reasonably mess with (and yeah, usually it's just up-armoring stuff)
Booooring
Sounds about right!
As the (painfully old;-) Official Liaison for the 🎶 Amazonian Space Pirates 🎶 I've always been into custom mechs...
... however as a GM from the 80's I'm also Big on Custom Lore. With a little knowledge there's alot of room to color Near the lines in canon without breaking it.
Which means I've always insisted that you should have a reason as to how you are able to customize your mechs. Allies, contacts , Faction production capacity, access to specific Knowledge/Tech etc.
The Girls have a tendency to reduce ammo dependency whenever possible in overhauling thier BattleBuddys. This is backed up by thier historical connections and tech access (Long Story available upon request).
It probably helps that my GM history (in various RPGs) tends to automatically avoid Munchkin builds. Custom Mechs are fun but one should understand why random 1 off matches with strangers is probably Not the best time to use them. (But it doesn't hurt to ask)
Have Fun&Post Dangerous
-Lakon Marketing Division, Keelback Office -'Only ship in the Galaxy to come equipped with a soul 😇'
PS, yes the Keelback is a custom Variant of the S7-A (with it's own history dating back to the Star League).
Regarding crit padding:
I wonder what would happen if you house-ruled that the first six slots on a location are "empty" rather than being Roll Again slots? It'd make crits slightly less exciting but damage magically magnetizing to the nearest ammunition has always seemed silly to me. It'd make the unintentional weaknesses of some designs less of a problem while discouraging crit padding unless someone goes _really_ ham.
Looking at the Crusader specifically I'm guessing?
I was thinking there should be a structure type that does similar. My thought was something like Endo steel but instead of a weight bonus you get free crit slots to pad things out you can place.
Could do higher tech variants that do something else as well with a trade off. Maybe something odd like if armor is blown through then each of those critical slots sink 1 heat, or maybe locations with those slots modify the crit chance roll.
Inspired by the BTA 3062 guys' sanctuary tech base. They have some interesting ways to add armor or structure to locations.
Is this channel dead? Best BT content on youtube.
I am back in battletech and find this chanel. Hope you are well, because its been a long time with out an update here.
13:55 yep as a grognard this is why I don't do this , I designed that mech that just stays 9 heat over , jumps 7 hexes a turn , has TSM while brandishing a hatchet that won't just head cap you but will basically chop anything smaller than it in half ...... Think a Wraith crossed with a Ti Ts'ang, I came up with that before may of you where born
I would like a rule expansion that differentiate the pros and cons between normal 2 leggers and chicken walkers. Kinda sucks that these 2 options have been treated the same all these years
Awesome! Could you do a vid or a series on Inner Sphere OMNI mechs? Theres sadly little on YT regarding the at least 28 listed on Sarna.
Raptor, Templar, Tenchi, Sunder, Hauptman, Omni Firestarter/ Centurion/ Gauntlet/ Inferno/ Blackjack/ Arctix Fox/ Avatar, Blackhawk KU etc
An aspect you briefly touched on but didn't go to far into is that bulky weapons are also useful *as* crit sponges.
Because each slot of a weapon can be critically hit, a large laser can "soak" 2 crits away from your RT ammo, while an AC10 can "soak" up to 7.
Obviously, you never *want* to use you big guns as padding like that, and you'd rather just use then to shoot, intentionally designing with bulkier weapons to minimize ammo explosions is a thing to keep in mind, if you've go spare unspent crit space available anyway.
Yes very true! You could do it that way as well.
Meet the Locust LCT-1Z "Big Greg"
It has Clan Endo Steel, a Clan XXL Engine, XL Gyros, a Small Cockpit, and a whole half ton of Clan Ferro-Fibrous Armor giving a mere 3 armor each on LT, CT, and RT
It's speed was also dropped to 5/8, and it has no additional heat sinks
All of this was done for the sole purpose of cramming an AC/20 and one ton of ammo into a Locust.
It costs 4.4M C-Bills, has a BV of 339, and dies if someone looks at it funny
It's not about being an effective mech, it's about SENDING A MESSAGE!
Great video as always! I have to say though that while I do respect your choice to use C Bills as an attempt to keep the focus on narrative rather than min-maxing or a kind of tournament mindset, I do feel it's important to acknowledge that BV2 is what we, as players, will basically always need to engage with if we are hoping to get a pick-up game somewhere. Obviously whatever you agree with your opponent is fine so if you're only playing friends in campaigns it's whatever, but 95% of the time at an FLGS your opponent is going to come with lists prepared in BV, not in C Bills. The developers explicitly consider BV to be the primary balancing mechanic of the game, and things are designed with BV in mind, not with C Bills. Since your videos are intended for new players I think it is important to acknowledge that, even if it isn't going to be the focus of your content.
Personally I generally use custom variants to make more flavourful stuff.
For example I'm currently making a vampyr - pirate refit as a boss enemy
All I want to do is to create alternate "royal" trooper mechs with more gun, specifically more autocannon.
An updated WCR-6D, and a Shadowhawk with dual AC5s.
Oh. And thumper catapults, but that is less a gameplay thing.
I wish customs had rules for weapon slots, because really the only thing that is different between an Omni Mech and a regular mech is how long it takes to refit. Rather than the lore which was standard configurations.
Are you gonna make a video on using the alpha strike box for classic battle tech?
The problem with custom mechs are the competative players. Gamers like me, that play the game since the 80's, can easily build a mech that uses every bit of rule knowledge and build a mech that can tear everything apart that is in any TRO. And that's the reason why we don't do it. We play striktly inside the boundaries of the backround and try to compensate the shortcomings of the various designs. That's the challenge. Use what you got. In nearly every other tabletop game, there isn't even the otion to build your own designs. And that doesn't concern the players. In fact, my "Technical Handbook" is in nearly mint condition, because I don't use it.
Really enjoyed the information presented from this video.
I'm still really new to the whole re-design/design for custom mechs. I was looking at my Mercs from 3020s era...they go for some time, even have them coming back in the ilClan era.
so the Lance that I was looking at them having starting in the 3020s would be
6D Warhammer - customization on it would be equipping it with ton less armor (so 201 instead of 217), and small lasers replaced with a pair of mediums, so 2PPC and 4Med (still not as powerful as my favorite 7A)
3D Crusader - Stock
1D Phoenix Hawk - Stock
6M Dervish - If I was to customize this one it'd be removing the SRMs for 2med lasers and either more armor or HS (Kind of like the 8D variant)
Their new employer has a A model Firestarter and either a 4L Guillotine or 5S Thunderbolt.
Your thoughts presented in this video are very helpful in my designs, and since this is for mostly for narrative (maybe some games with the right folks)
It is actually 8 points of armor per *half* ton of armor so your Warhammer redesign doesn't work. I actually have a Dervish rebuild on my channel, check it out if you like. Im using slightly more advanced tech.
I think in 3025 era Id swap out the SRMs, grab 2 tons of armor, and upgrade 1 of the LRMs to a 15-pack. Pretty simple upgrade. Gotta get more armor on the arms.
Glad you enjoyed and are getting something out of the videos!
@@TheManyVoicesVA I'll have to take a look at the Dervish design. For the Warhammer I do believe that the 6D has 217 (oh I see my error in the original comment) points of armor, I could be wrong cause I'm using older data slates for the machine, so going to 201 points would be a reduction of 16 points, meaning 1 ton...Like I said I don't know all the true ins and outs of making custom mech designs. Hope to get better at the customs, cause I was originally a MW2/4 player before I started to read loads of novels in universe.
@@greydeathangel ya making customs is fun! I have a few vids on it actually. I love tinkering with mechs to make the ultimate killing machine lol.
Dude, your Warhammer customizations are legit taken from my posts on this channel lol. Did you read em?
Custom: 300 Vlar engine. Go crazy with either Clan ER PPCs or streak SRMs. Max armor. Rock n' roll.
I'm planning to try building a few custom mechs for a Mercenary company I'm hoping to play as. These tips helped pretty good, but I was hoping for more in depth about using C-bills VS Battle Value.
One comment I've got about how realistic it would be to have ammo/heat sinks in the legs argument...
I like to try and think of how the loading mechanisms for the mech would work. I.e. how does a shell for an AC/10 actually get loaded in the cannon from the ammo rack?
My personal preference and opinion on ammo placement is that ammo should be stored no more than one "section" of the mech away from whatever weapon uses that ammo. If you had guns in the mech's legs, yeah, run ammo in it. If they don't have guns in the legs, then it would be unrealistic. You would need a convoluted loading system to transport those shells/missiles from the ammo rack in the legs to whatever weapon it used, elsewhere in the mech. That loading system could interfere with movement actuators, hydraulic hoses, ect.
Heat sinks in legs, on the other hand, are actually somewhat realistic. Sinks are part of a cooling system, which is much more flexible in the ways they can be piped and run through a machine. It's basically coolant pipes that carry water and coolant, much like you would find on a radiator in a car. It would make total sense to actually have a sink or two stored in the legs as a way to "ground" the heat of a mech.
I've built my own from the ground up and accidentally built a tabletop monster. It has its very obvious weaknesses but its only seen one game within my group, it has already earned a reputation for being a nightmare. That said, I do warn people when im using one of them.
90t mech
4/6/0 movement
17.5t of armour
XL engine
14 double heat sinks
6 medium lasers
2 LRM 10s - 2t ammo
2 RAC 2s - 2t ammo
That is the variant that has proven the best overall. It is 3060s and it obviously has the weakness of XL engine and more than a few things that can/will explode. Comes in at 1826bv though the big kicker is the 22mil cbill cost
Try dropping 1 RAC and getting 2 LRM 15s and an LRM 5. Or even just LRM 5 spam lol.
@TheManyVoicesOG I'm quite happy with what is has tbh, the model I think also looks better with the turret kinda chin turrets which is where the RACs are mounted. If you want to know what I mean, it basically has the same sort of set up as the chin turret on the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter
@@hammer1349 that does look kinda sick. LRM10s waste alot of tonnage per tube tho :)
@TheManyVoicesOG they are just on there because they look cool in the angled pods and it gives it a little bit more reach at long range. Something to note about the mech is that it has tremendous weight of fire. It may be small stuff but it's a lot of it
I think everyone has a pet mech. one that is not too great but you really like the model/flavor of the mech but its just not good on the table top ( mine is the jackrabbit) or is just dead in all but a handful of eras and in that case upgrading it so its more usable or available is fine in my book.
So I’m brand new to the game and currently when I think about making changes to a mech 9/10 times it’s to get rid of MGs or small lasers and replace them with something more useful like more ammo for another system or heat sinks/armour!
All hail Pun Pun!
Comeback and make more videos please
Should we hopefully wait for tactics video series about clans?
Been 5 months and no videos 😕. Is Slimy doing okay?
He said that he had another opportunity that was more lucrative and had to invest his time and energy pursuing that. The channel isn't supposed to be 100% abandoned but he won't be doing regular videos anymore and after this time maybe he never comes back.
But, he left on his own terms and wasn't due to an illness, as far as we know.
I still respect Commander Slime for all his hard work.
I'm allowing them in my campaign, you just can't start with them. Finally my Ostscout gets praise.
The ostscout is a great mech lol. Love that little guy. Ultimate scout. As stated in this vid it is a good kicker. You can strip out the expensive E-war equipment and sell it for Cbills, and slap in more weapons.
I think the place for customs is definitely campaigns. It is balanced by the sheer amount of time you need to put in to do major refits. Are you using MekHQ to manage it?
Where is the tech availability written?
As one can not say higher year means more availability it is too hard.
At what years did what tech come and go?
TechnicalManual and Strategic Operations has when LostTech disappears and Reappears and what Tech Level a group is on average.
the CGL book 'Alternate era's' is a good resource to know when particular tech becomes common.
my golden rule - everything is always available! in order for something to become common and available, it had to originally be designed, built and prototype developed and tested. thus, literally everything can be used. however, using systems like the HAG or RAC prior to the games common availability, they are not going to be replaced, repairs will be difficult and ammo will be expensive. additionally, there is a greater chance for malfunction.
Any new videos coming out?
Overtuned and hyperspecialized mechs are what got me to stop playing MWO. It isn't fun to just have 24 mechs with pinpoint sniper weapons hitting the 3 pixels they can see from cross the map all game.
For proper customization I like moving ammo and heat sinks, and swapping equipment for similar ones (on a Griffin, that might be dropping some jump jets to upsize the LRM for example)
So, step 1: wait for the Clans to attack. Step 2: liberate those downed Clan vehicles as a prizes. Step 3: bring them back into working order, with plenty of spares for each part and mech. Step 4: find ways of liberating more mechs from other powers using your new mech lineup. Step 5: throw every Urbanmech off a cliff, no exceptions.
I am a big fan of the Hero Mech and what they can do
thx
welc
I'm probably violating the comments and for that I'm sorry, but I don't know how else to go about trying to find players. And sorry it's most recent video. So here goes.
Is there anyone that's watched these that plays Battletech in the Denver area? More specifically near The Streets of Southglenn that is interested in playing Battletech/MechWarrior? The actual table top versions leave a comment to this post. That is if you don't mind the fact that my universe has left the cannon FASA/Catalyst Games story line. Many of the iconic personalities are involved, just story went different direction. By my own choosing that is.
Thanks for the time and again sorry for possible violation.
For Mercs there gonna want guns, and doublesinks
Swapping in DHS kits takes a looooong time in Battletech lol. Better hope you have down time!
o7
@@TheManyVoicesVA Depends if they have a Refit Kit or not. But no, there not doing it in the field
Why is there a drum reaction video by another creator in this playlist?
Will we get a guide on aerotech?
Pretty good way to balance this out in campaign is use refit class table from Campaign Ops. Because you can't swap out certain things just in the field (if you do, you still have to obey the rules for field refits) and, even if you have access to maintenance facility, it takes a lot of time and effort to make mediocre changes to mech design. Engines, structure types and etc. can only be changed in factory conditions and that should be restricted for all types of forces.
I, myself, don't like to use meta balanced designs in all types of games, just because it's just boring :)
Yeah that way isn't bad. It helps.
in my playgroupe there is a gentelman agrement to use custom Mechs only to create something to fit a model whitout a known datasheet. Nobody wants Mechs whit the maximum of Targeting Computer, Jupjets and pulslasers to allways oneshot the rear.
yep yep very true!
I really like working on 90 ton Mechs. Drop the engine on a cyclops and make it an assault mech worth the title much like a Banshee S.
Custom designs starts out w catapult image - way to go, variants are fun. I can see an Ostroc somewhere awkwardly dancing in slow motion as it's pilot is so jazzed for their ride finally being mentioned.
Although I seriously wonder at one thing, is there an in - setting rationale for not having unbalanced armor? Take something like a Griffin, weapons and ammo on the right, left arm and torso, nothing really there to crit out badly. Surely somebody would have tried like moving half the armor over to the other side. Is there a piloting penalty or something for unbalanced armor in the game?
Memories though, I first got into Battletech with the 2025 book's initial release and that new gridding with the one double heat sink just seemed wildy advanced tech. Clanners all laughing at me thinking that I know.
Not sure, just something I noticed as I went through the books.
when will you do a Panther video?
Tbh, biggest problems are Pulse Laser + JJs (or even worse, Partial Wings + JJs) and everybody pretty much knows it. More you stack them on top, more OP the mech becomes. Hell you can make a 55Tonner with Max Ferro-Lamellor+10JJ(with partial)+6MPL+TC+IC. Armor and damage of a 75 tonner, on a targeting modifier of a Dasher. Geez.
I do dislike tech that allows you to cheat the core mechanics like PartialW, MASC, TSM etc. Just trying to balance them around BV alone doesnt work. Same type of bonuses stack together. That is the problem of many TT game systems. I think they should've never allowed TC to work with pulses.
where are DHS on the list of possible upgrades for merc mechs? ;-) otherwise a pretty good video. would have liked to see a tryhard upgrade at 10% vs a thematic mech upgrade
he only covers 3025 tech for now so DHS don't exist yet. Or are you referring to wolfs dragoons? kinda niche
Custom mech should be allowed for bits build
Power gamers?? We used to call them 'munchkins' back in the day! /90s grognard
heh heh
If you want an unfun mech, take dual Claws on a 40-ton mech, use TSM and a couple hot weapons and jumpjets.
After one or two rounds of building heat, you get to use 12-damage Claws twice per round, rolling on the Punch location chart for a 1/6 chance of decapitation.
D:
You haven't explained how bv2 is easily abused.
Btw dude, are you done with this channel? Whats goin on?
I don't like about having padding locations and having to re-roll 6 or more times just to break something. It is just the most stupid and time consuming game mechanic in the game. The easy homebrew work around is If you hit a location where there is nothing of value in it that slot it should be considered destroyed. No re-rolling for new location unless, when that same slot is hit again you can re-roll. By doing this method you can determine salvaged items from destroyed torsos. So you can have CASE, Ferro, and Endo slots to do the padding for you.
True, some people just pack 1d4s and such to make it faster
Overdue
here overanalyzing is appropriate.
o7
Ooo thanks for the vid! I'd love to see a guide for campaigns that are PvP and ones that are PvE. My groups at the stage where we're getting comfortable and want to expand a bit.
Solaris intensifies...
What kind of campaign?
campaign play (PvE) is best run with a dedicated GM.
the campaign we are concluding lasted 7 months and had 15 missions. we included Mechwarrior 2nd ed rpg for character development. there are a lot of source books produced and the character skills are used directly between standard battletech and the RPG, no translation or conversion.
we strictly used c-bills... and most importantly, nothing - and I mean nothing, was balanced or fair.
as GM, I developed the story, the entire force of the opposition and the various locations the opposition forces were at. the players had a combined arms company.
we would have an rpg session to allow story events to take place. then the players would decide the mission they would attempt. the next session would involve the mission. various other events would also take place at the time of the mission. this kept the players engaged with the story and they could see how their decisions effected the story.
at the end of this story, it will be the players decision to continue or start a new campaign.
Hmm, maybe I'll do a campaign video in general, but I don't have too much experience with PvE campaigns to really tell you one way or the other
@nerdyOveranalyzed too bad you are not near Tyler, Texas. I would invite you to come and check out the resolution of our campaign. it's PvE with 8 players. the final mission has the players using 2 companies of mechs and a company of armor and infantry attacking a city. the city covers a 4×8 table using mostly the buildings from alpha strike. we only use standard battletech rules due to the needed details for continuing characters and equipment.
the opposition has nearly 5 companies of mechs (56 mechs, although 16 are urbanmechs).
the key to PvE is the GM. the ability to run the game and progression of the story is paramount. while I am running the opposition, I want the players to succeed. I let the dice determine the fate of the characters. a few pilots had been killed - it's a war game, after all. mostly, units withdraw or get captured when they take significant damage. this brings in the element of repairs and reloads.
almost forgot - this final mission will conclude with an elapsed game time of 6 hours. while I have significant experience with this game, only one of the players is also experienced. the other 7 players have only been playing since the spring. large scale warfare doesn't take all weekend, but it does require some adjustments to initiative.
Any campaign info would be good. My group comes from Pathfinder TTRPG so they want progression for their mechs, lances, and pilots. We have some of the books with the base rules, but it's a hard read.
What will you do with the next video?
I dunno!
Just found you, but it seems you went off the radar. Did you quit?
I like custom mechs like Ragnarok, I don't care about TT only the lore and I really hate that MechWarrior games are based on TT instead of the lore.
MechWarrior still uses AC and Laser as a weapon classification instead of Defiance MechHunter 185mm and Martel Medium... The games should separate themselves from eachother.
Maybe. Having at least a few similarities helps cross pollinate though imo/
@@nerdyOveranalyzed it does I would use the ac20 classification in menu's to help sort out that type of weapon from other auto cannons.
Me making custom designs always ends in a combat or support vehicle. xD
Vehicles make amazing missile boats since they dont have to pay for heat. One of my favorite stock units is the Centipede(SRM) hover tank. It can eat a gauss shot on any facing, and brings the dakka with 6 SRM-2s! If I was to make my own, I would up its tonnage a bunch, grab more SRM2s, and stick them all in a turret, and up the armor a bit.
lol
@@TheManyVoicesVA that and with a fusion engine, you can bring one long range energy weapon that never stops firing, combined with missile backups. Combat vehicles can become such horrific min/max sweat when you get into optimisation of how much armour is needed for a standard game or deciding to make it so hyper fast that jts worse to fight then a locust and far more plentiful!
I've watched all of the videos on your channel, and must say they're all ok. Not great, not bad, they're ok. Get rid of that vtuber slime thing, as it adds nothing to the presentation, except annoyance since its mouth doesn't sync properly with your audio.
Also, your videos would be a lot more interesting if you went beyond the info dump. You're mostly repeating what is already known and can be found elsewhere, but your own experiences are what's unique here.
Battletech has the same ruleset for decades now, but what you do within those rules is far more interesting than knowing that the original Catapult has bad jump jets.
Strategy, tactics, how to play effectively with limited options, how would you do this?
I guess what I'm saying is this: make it more personal.
Please try and minimize the verbal tics and constant "um"s. It's distracting.