Here is an outline of what I see as an optimum early strategy in the campaign game, especially for the time when we are in the Leopard. Certainly it is possible to rush to the campaign missions, but personally I prefer less stress in my tactical missions by prudent planning on the strategic side. If anyone has any extra advice or an alternative strategy, please by all means add it to this thread.
All the starting mechs are less than optimum in my opinion and all could benefit from some time in the mech bay. However you cannot afford to just sit there doing nothing while mechs are being upgraded. Half skull missions fortunately are not terribly difficult and with reasonable tactics can be done with the starting mech configurations with little more than some armor damage.
At the start of the campaign, do as many half skull missions as you need to do while in the Leopard, especially all on any planet you are already orbiting before moving to a new planet. Do NOT travel to another planet if there are any missions left to do on the planet you are already at. (Travel takes time and time costs money.) The path of least resistance is to keep doing those half skull missions, without going for the main quest line, until you collect a decent sized mech to replace the Spider with. Go for 1/4 salvage and the rest cash with your contracts, to stay good with money. The exception is when you get assassination missions. For those go all in on salvage. In the first few missions, try to salvage a few SRM launchers (you want 2 SRM6 and 1 SRM4).
When you run out of missions to do on your starting planet, upgrade one mech and one mech only. The idea is for the mech to be upgraded while the Leopard is traveling to the next contract. This may take extra time, and you might have to advance time a bit to get it finished. However if you've been doing cash missions, you should be able to afford it.
The Shadowhawk should be the first mech to upgrade, because you'll want it's AC5 for later. (If you get lucky and find an AC5 in salvage early, you can switch the Blackjack in as the first mech to upgrade.) I would make the Shadowhawk a pure close range mech, as it has the speed to get there quickly. Give it two SRM6 and an SRM4, a medium and small laser and plenty of SRM ammo (at least three tons), max armor and max jump, strip off anything else. That Shadowhawk is meant to overheat with an alpha strike (all weapons firing) then melee the next round to cool down. If you've not yet collected sufficient SRMs from salvage to do the job, either wait until you have or consider buying what you need from the store. You will probably be making sufficient money to afford that.
The next time you travel after doing all the missions on the planet you are orbiting, put the AC5 you take off the Shadowhawk onto the Blackjack and remove both AC2s. Add four tons of armor and heat sinks.
For the Vindicator just drop the small laser and top off the armor. This is such a minor change you could likely do it first thing or whenever else convenient.
For the Spider, give it a pilot with sensor lock and use it for that as is, until you get something better to replace it. (Brief digression into battlefield tactics: Try hard to keep it out of the line of fire, and keep it moving as much as possible to get maximum evasion. Use jump, a lot, jump into cover. For the most part do not fire with it, just reserve it's action till all the enemy has moved, then sensor lock the mech the rest of your unit will fire on, before they fire, so as to strip two evasion chevrons from it.)
Assassination missions are what you are most hoping for. There will be a single large mech among your opponents in those missions, you want the salvage. Clear out his bodyguard, then fire on that large mech ONLY from the sides. Both sides. If your only shot is to the front, do NOT fire! (Do not do rear shots either.) You'll do pilot damage from side torso destructions and shot out legs. That way you are virtually guaranteed two parts per mission and a good chance of three in salvage. This is why you want to max out salvage options in assassination contracts.
You want a 50 or 55 ton mech to replace that Spider. (Ideally, you would want to upgrade the Vindicator and Blackjack as well.) What you most want however is a Centurion. The Centurion is the platform of choice for an early LRM boat (it is among the medium mechs with the most available tonnage and has three missile hardpoints). You won't find a better platform for an LRM boat till you start finding 65 ton mechs. You can easily pack the equivalent of LRM35 in there with acceptable armor, four tons of ammo and jump jets to boot. Going into the first few campaign quest missions with a proper LRM boat instead of a nearly useless Spider will make life a heck of a lot easier and keep repair bills to a minimum.
Note: You can make a servicable LRM boat out of a Trebuchet or a Kintaro, a Griffin, a Shadowhawk, or a Wolverine, as they all have enough missile hardpoints. The Centurion is better is all, because it has a good five extra tons of payload capacity for LRM launchers over the others. With these other mechs, aim for LRM30, not LRM35.
Don't forget to spend all that experience your pilots are accruing. Go for guts to level 4 first thing, so your pilots won't die so easily (and they'll heal faster, thanks Pyske). Then go for one of the defensive passive special skills, either evasive movement or bulwark depending on how you plan to play, depending on your play style. Evasive movement is great for mechs that move a lot, scouts, close assault/melee brawlers and the like. Bulwark is fantastic for any mech that is good to park, mechs with good long ranged attacks like your Vindicator, or an LRM boat.
During this early game play, many people get used to checking the 'contracts' page for what to do next. This is fine, that is what it is for, but it is not the only way to get work. You can also open the 'navigation' page and jump to a planet of your choice. There will be a completely new set of contracts at that planet, all of them at an average difficulty similar to the difficulty of the planet (number of skulls). Note that apparently the original four starter planets after the Argo no longer have any missions to do (which to me is likely a bug).
Later at one point, after you do a couple of story missions, you will find yourself orbiting a planet you've never been to before. If while there, you do what you are used to and 'only' check the contracts page to see what to do next, you will be presented with two and a half skull missions, FAR harder than you are used to! DO NOT DO THEM! You are not ready! You may technically win, but you will take FAR too much damage for it to be worth it. Instead open the navigation page and travel to a planet with one, and one and a half skull missions, or whatever you can realistically handle.
A final note. Mechs come with a description, like "Fire Support & Skirmisher" or "Light Sniper & Scout". These are not classes or anything. These describe what the 'standard' loadout might be useful for, but that is all. If in the mechlab you put in different weapons, etc., you can completely change what the mech is useful for. You should for all intents ignore those descriptions. They are not a limitation in any way as to how you can outfit or use the mech. That is completely up to you.
For tactical advice dealing with the battlefield and how best to fight your mechs, I would strongly recomend checking out the links at this thread: Battletech Community made Game Guide Links.
All the starting mechs are less than optimum in my opinion and all could benefit from some time in the mech bay. However you cannot afford to just sit there doing nothing while mechs are being upgraded. Half skull missions fortunately are not terribly difficult and with reasonable tactics can be done with the starting mech configurations with little more than some armor damage.
At the start of the campaign, do as many half skull missions as you need to do while in the Leopard, especially all on any planet you are already orbiting before moving to a new planet. Do NOT travel to another planet if there are any missions left to do on the planet you are already at. (Travel takes time and time costs money.) The path of least resistance is to keep doing those half skull missions, without going for the main quest line, until you collect a decent sized mech to replace the Spider with. Go for 1/4 salvage and the rest cash with your contracts, to stay good with money. The exception is when you get assassination missions. For those go all in on salvage. In the first few missions, try to salvage a few SRM launchers (you want 2 SRM6 and 1 SRM4).
When you run out of missions to do on your starting planet, upgrade one mech and one mech only. The idea is for the mech to be upgraded while the Leopard is traveling to the next contract. This may take extra time, and you might have to advance time a bit to get it finished. However if you've been doing cash missions, you should be able to afford it.
The Shadowhawk should be the first mech to upgrade, because you'll want it's AC5 for later. (If you get lucky and find an AC5 in salvage early, you can switch the Blackjack in as the first mech to upgrade.) I would make the Shadowhawk a pure close range mech, as it has the speed to get there quickly. Give it two SRM6 and an SRM4, a medium and small laser and plenty of SRM ammo (at least three tons), max armor and max jump, strip off anything else. That Shadowhawk is meant to overheat with an alpha strike (all weapons firing) then melee the next round to cool down. If you've not yet collected sufficient SRMs from salvage to do the job, either wait until you have or consider buying what you need from the store. You will probably be making sufficient money to afford that.
The next time you travel after doing all the missions on the planet you are orbiting, put the AC5 you take off the Shadowhawk onto the Blackjack and remove both AC2s. Add four tons of armor and heat sinks.
For the Vindicator just drop the small laser and top off the armor. This is such a minor change you could likely do it first thing or whenever else convenient.
For the Spider, give it a pilot with sensor lock and use it for that as is, until you get something better to replace it. (Brief digression into battlefield tactics: Try hard to keep it out of the line of fire, and keep it moving as much as possible to get maximum evasion. Use jump, a lot, jump into cover. For the most part do not fire with it, just reserve it's action till all the enemy has moved, then sensor lock the mech the rest of your unit will fire on, before they fire, so as to strip two evasion chevrons from it.)
Assassination missions are what you are most hoping for. There will be a single large mech among your opponents in those missions, you want the salvage. Clear out his bodyguard, then fire on that large mech ONLY from the sides. Both sides. If your only shot is to the front, do NOT fire! (Do not do rear shots either.) You'll do pilot damage from side torso destructions and shot out legs. That way you are virtually guaranteed two parts per mission and a good chance of three in salvage. This is why you want to max out salvage options in assassination contracts.
You want a 50 or 55 ton mech to replace that Spider. (Ideally, you would want to upgrade the Vindicator and Blackjack as well.) What you most want however is a Centurion. The Centurion is the platform of choice for an early LRM boat (it is among the medium mechs with the most available tonnage and has three missile hardpoints). You won't find a better platform for an LRM boat till you start finding 65 ton mechs. You can easily pack the equivalent of LRM35 in there with acceptable armor, four tons of ammo and jump jets to boot. Going into the first few campaign quest missions with a proper LRM boat instead of a nearly useless Spider will make life a heck of a lot easier and keep repair bills to a minimum.
Note: You can make a servicable LRM boat out of a Trebuchet or a Kintaro, a Griffin, a Shadowhawk, or a Wolverine, as they all have enough missile hardpoints. The Centurion is better is all, because it has a good five extra tons of payload capacity for LRM launchers over the others. With these other mechs, aim for LRM30, not LRM35.
Don't forget to spend all that experience your pilots are accruing. Go for guts to level 4 first thing, so your pilots won't die so easily (and they'll heal faster, thanks Pyske). Then go for one of the defensive passive special skills, either evasive movement or bulwark depending on how you plan to play, depending on your play style. Evasive movement is great for mechs that move a lot, scouts, close assault/melee brawlers and the like. Bulwark is fantastic for any mech that is good to park, mechs with good long ranged attacks like your Vindicator, or an LRM boat.
During this early game play, many people get used to checking the 'contracts' page for what to do next. This is fine, that is what it is for, but it is not the only way to get work. You can also open the 'navigation' page and jump to a planet of your choice. There will be a completely new set of contracts at that planet, all of them at an average difficulty similar to the difficulty of the planet (number of skulls). Note that apparently the original four starter planets after the Argo no longer have any missions to do (which to me is likely a bug).
Later at one point, after you do a couple of story missions, you will find yourself orbiting a planet you've never been to before. If while there, you do what you are used to and 'only' check the contracts page to see what to do next, you will be presented with two and a half skull missions, FAR harder than you are used to! DO NOT DO THEM! You are not ready! You may technically win, but you will take FAR too much damage for it to be worth it. Instead open the navigation page and travel to a planet with one, and one and a half skull missions, or whatever you can realistically handle.
A final note. Mechs come with a description, like "Fire Support & Skirmisher" or "Light Sniper & Scout". These are not classes or anything. These describe what the 'standard' loadout might be useful for, but that is all. If in the mechlab you put in different weapons, etc., you can completely change what the mech is useful for. You should for all intents ignore those descriptions. They are not a limitation in any way as to how you can outfit or use the mech. That is completely up to you.
For tactical advice dealing with the battlefield and how best to fight your mechs, I would strongly recomend checking out the links at this thread: Battletech Community made Game Guide Links.
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