Greetings Mech Commander!
Well I just finished and decided to share my experience.
So here are some tips for the basics of playing this game. (Minor spoilers). No mission walkthroughs just the basics.
Please take everything with a grain..nay a shaker of salt. Take what works, leave what doesn't and thank you.
P1-Fundamentals and economy
P2-Mechwarrior skills
P3-Mech customization
P4-Combat
--------------------------------------
P1-Fundamentals and economy
--------------------------------------
Basic:
=======
Save your game. This simple tip cannot be emphasized enough. Save before you drop on a mission and save once the map loads. Now after the mission, be sure to erase extra saves as the game has a known issue (the more saves, the slower the performance.)
Economy:
========
You need $ (on in this game c-bills) to keep going. The biggest drains are loan interest and operating costs. The first entry and various incidentals you cannot do anything about. The rest though? Your other base expenses are mechs and mechwarriors.
--------------------------------------------
>Money out: Things that make you
--------------------------------------------
Always:
---------
Base interest on loans (becomes base ship operating costs). Can't do anything about this one sorry.
Mechs:
---------
12k per mech per month that sits in a bay.
Your mech bay can hold 6 mechs. When you start acquiring additional mechs...don't let them sit in an open slot. Put them in storage. Every mech is 12k a month in fees. If you pick up a better mech than your current lance than store the one you are replacing. It actually runs about the same as 1 month expenses to heat one up from storage and to fully load it out. Now it does cost time but if you are minding your saves you won't be doing this often.
Mechwarriors:
------------------
Variable up to ~ 50k each per month.
It is tempting to hire a backup mechwarrior. Thing is you already start with one, on top of your starting lancemates.
Also the better they get the more they want for salary. So be careful with your upgrades...if a rank in skill does not grant them any solid bonuses (there are a few effectively 'dead' skill ups) don't upgrade them. More on which skills later.
Note that YOU don't run a salary at all...use your main every single mission so he/she maxes out as soon as possible.
Ship upgrades:
------------------
Eventually you get the option to upgrade your ship. Be very careful. Every upgrade has a one-time AND an ongoing cost. You can easily bankrupt yourself. My priorities were ship structure and power. Frankly you don't ever really need to add extra mech bays but eventually as your cash flow goes you it's worth considering.
How fancy a budget?:
--------------------------
Every month you can select your operating standards. Normal, 2 luxury and 2 restricted levels. Frankly early on your costs are lowest so if you can sneak in a +1 or +2 morale bonus it's worth it. However as your proceed, there are events (usually once per month) and each event can be a +2 morale bonus...so in the long run you can stick with normal and be fine.
---------------------
Buying new toys?
---------------------
It's tempting to blow a payday on new toys...resist the temptation. Eventually you will salvage pretty much everything you need.
Priorities? This will be covered in the Mech customization section. (P3)
-----------------------------------------------------------
>Money in. AKA "Do the job get paid, keep flying."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Contracts:
-------------
These are your bread and butter, literally. Without jobs you cannot get paid.
Mission ratings:
-------------------
What do those skulls mean?
They are a rough* rating of what the game expects you to drop with...see the little badges next to your drop rating? As you upgrade your lance it goes up. Once you hit 300+ tons you'll have enough metal for 4-5 skull missions.
Rule of thumb, your starting lance can handle pretty much any up to 1 skull missions EXCEPT story ones. 2 skulls after you either retrofit your starting lance or get to about 200 tons. Story missions are usually are extremely difficult for their rating. You can tell a story mission because it will have 'PRIORITY' in big letters up top and also because they pay very well.
*Note I said 'rough.' Like all intel, sometimes the estimate is a bit...off. I ran a 3 skull mission and ended up facing 5x Orions 1x Black Knight 1x Cicada and a King Crab...about 570 tons of mechs. Doesn't happen often but it does.
More cash or more salvage?
---------------------------------
This one is really tough. But what I did was pretty much accept the mid-way split for most contracts. If the contract hinted at an 'elite' or 'single mech' though I may kick salvage up a notch if it means getting salvage on a heavier mech. Note that as salvage gets more plentiful and you start selling excess mechs, salvage becomes a ready source of extra income on a contract.
Travel time:
---------------
Always do missions at your planet first (unless the rating is too high). Missions that involve travel time put your that much closer to your next monthly payment on everything. That said sooner or later one system's contracts dry up and you have to find another. Now many systems tend to have contract loops where you go back and forth. This can help you grind your way up.
>>Next section: Mechwarrior skills.
--------------------------
P2-Mechwarrior skills
--------------------------
There are 4 main types. Gunnery, Piloting, Guts, and Tactics.
Each type has 2 grades of specialization, reached at level 5 and level 8 respectively.
Each Mechwarrior is limited to one skill with 2 specializations (rank 5 and 8) and one skill with 1 (rank 5). Further points still give a bonus but they won't pick up the fancy 'icon' skills.
I won't go into an exhaustive (and contentious) analysis but in summary this is what worked for me:
In terms of priority:
One pilot:
Gunnery 8 OR Pilot 8 with Tactics 5
Sensor lock is a godsend.
Evasive movement may mean the difference between a close shave with a AC20 and a dead pilot.
Splitting your fire between multiple targets means you can drop 3 ranks of evasion with 1 action.
The rest:
Gunnery 5 and 8. Pilot 5
In addition to dropping evasion you also ignore cover and guarded if you fire one weapon at each target. With big weapons you have to manage heat anyway, so more bang for your buck is not a bad idea.
Now also improve your Guts and Tactics...but not if it means you lose a specialization. Guts give you extra health and extra heat capacity. Tactics get rid of the pesky minimum ranges and increase your called shot %. There are other benefits but those are the ones I found I wanted the most.
After getting the specializations, raise your other skills as you see fit. Eventually you'll have enough xp for straight 10's across the board, if you play long enough.
Next section: Mech customization.
-----------------------------
P3-Mech customization:
-----------------------------
Again this is what worked for me.
First don't go crazy with the customization early on. Every tweak costs c-bills. That said:
The majority of your lance should have a primary engagement range. If your mech is a long-range bombardment missile platform...don't load it up with medium lasers. Likewise your close range brawler won't need a full rack of LRM's.
Lance makeup
============
I typically ran with one scout (Light), and the rest Mediums. At time goes on, the scout becomes a Medium mech and the Mediums become Heavies. Eventually the I replaced one or two of the Heavies with Assault mechs.
Armor
=====
Get as much armor as you can. I try to max the legs and arms...and get at least 80% on the front torso locations and 2/3rds on the rear. Now there are exceptions...I go a little lighter on LRM mechs...they have no business in brawling...except maybe to coup de gras a downed foe near the end of a mission.
My scout mech is where I max the armor. No exceptions. A low armor scout is a dead scout. Note that some mechs (Cicada I'm looking at you) you can't max the armor. I sell those.
Loadouts
========
Early game you're starved for choice. What worked for me was gradually swapping out loadouts for uniform ranges instead of the default loadouts that always ensure you cannot effectively alpha strike.
1x Scout.
------------
The scout mech typically has 1 long range weapon for plinking (usually a LRM5)...and the rest are support weapons like small lasers or flamers. If there's any space left, maybe some medium lasers. Typically though the scout's job is spotting (sensor lock) and if I'm feeling lucky, coming in behind for a backstab.
The rest of the lance:
1x close range brawler.
---------------------------
Usually I have one beam boat loaded with medium lasers and support weapons for knife fighting. The beam variant of the Hunchback and the Grasshopper are excellent beam platforms. If there is space I'll splash a single LRM or a Large Laser for long range sniping as he closes...but not mandatory. Alternatively I'll go with SRM's instead of medium lasers.
2x Long range bombardment.
-----------------------------------
Load em up with LRMs, PPCs, AC2/AC5's, Large Lasers.
Early game I didn't have an abundance of these. So I started by having all of these mechs loaded up with as many mid-range weapons as I could. Medium lasers and such drop frequently. For my strategy I focused on weapons with '+STB' or increased stability damage. I prefer LRM's overall. They are a good balance of range, damage, heat, and knockdown (stability). More on this in the combat section.
Weapon placement.
------------------------
Not all mechs are created equal. Some (such as the Griffin or Trebuchet) like to put your main weapon slots in the arms. Bad idea. Instead of having arms serve as extra damage buffer, once an arm drops you lose your firepower. This happened to me several times. One AC20 hit and boom there went the arm and 75% of the mech's firepower. Try for mechs with torso mounted weapons. If you have to use the arms for ordinance, put your stock weapons there and your special '+' weapons in the torso locations. Also relegate the units to long range support and keep them in the back.
Ammo Placement
---------------------
Ammo explosions destroy a location. Put ammo in the arms. When a side torso goes, your pilot gets injured. When an arm goes just your wallet gets hit. Sucks but at least you can still fight. Consider putting ammo in both arms so if one arm goes you weapon can still fire.
--------------------
Buying new toys
--------------------
I want everything and cannot afford squat. So what I did is set aside a small amount of the excess cash flows for upgrades.
Your rep with a faction can mean the difference between a 10% discount and a 50% (1.5x) cost increase. Usually not a good idea to buy from a system you are at war with.
Every component that has a '+' next to it is superior grade and gives superior stats for higher cost. '+++' is the max.
What to upgrade first?
Early on I had to buy the cheap stuff. That means heat sinks, jump jets, small lasers, LRM5's. This was until I got a lance loaded out with weapons in the same range bracket.
Heat sinks
==========
I cannot have enough of these. My rule of thumb is one alpha strike every 3 turns provided it's a mech with say 8 medium lasers. PPC's, AC20's and Large lasers are heat monsters and you just cannot keep up so don't try. Typically I'll work towards adding about 5-10 heat sinks per mech and call it good. Eventually through salvage you'll be selling excess but early on it's rough.
Jump Jets
=========
For my combat strategy I always max these. Evasion saves your mechs and pilots. Moving gives you evasion...jumping the same distance gives you extra evasion...at the expense of heat. And nothing says hello better than an alpha strike from a foe's six.
Special upgrades
================
Heat banks, Heat exchange, targeting systems (TTS), cockpit upgrades, etc.
Priorities:
------------
Reinforced cockpit (for the scout mech). Comms system for everyone else (or reinforced if one hasn't dropped). More details below.
Cockpit.
There are 3 main types:
Viewfinder- increase visual range. Mixed usefulness for me. If you are not running with sensor lock then yes.
Reinforced cockpit (Injury resist). This will save your mechwarrior's life. Adds extra health and also gives a chance that hits don't send him to the medbay. Also increases chance of survival if the mechwarrior is incapacitated (or even killed). Put your highest grade one for your scout.
Comms system. This gives extra morale every turn. Extra morale means you get to do specials more often which means more kills faster. My long range mechs get the Comm system.
The ones after this I experimented with but didn't use as much. YMMV.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arms.
Most of these increase melee or stability damage. But for the slots/tonnage you are usually better off just putting more weapons or extra heat sinks.
Legs.
Increase your DFA or reduce the DFA you take. If DFA's your bag, then these are great. I found DFA just runs up the repair bills and is usually a desperation move.
Torso slot. (Gyros, targeting systems-TTS)
Gyros reduce your chance of being hit or increase chance to hit in melee. Some reduce your stability damage taken. I usually put the one that reduces stability damage taken.
TTS. The irony is when you need these the most you cannot afford them. When you can afford them, it's late game and your pilots are running Gunnery 10. Still if one drops early, it's a good one to place in your long range mechs.
--------------
P4-Combat
--------------
There are a myriad of discussions and strategies you can use. I'm again going to go with what worked for me most often. And keep in mind this is for the campaign...not sneaky flesh and blood opponents.
Save often.
===========
I mentioned this before...but it cannot be understated. Unless you are playing hardcore mode of course. Many times I'm 2 hours into a priority/story mission and I miss-click the interface and suddenly my tanking mech presents his back armor to the enemy lance/turrets. Oops. Or I absent-mindedly click the wrong contract and I'm wasting 2 months flying around and kiss a million c-bills goodbye for operating expenses.
Again because the game has an issue with save files...delete them after a mission. I tried to keep my save files at around a dozen. If you really want every mission saved...move the older files to a different directory.
Reserve (The command button)
=============================
Live it, love it. Let your enemy come to you. They've closed the range, already fired at your evasive/braced mechs for less damage or outright misses, and now you can focus on the target of your choosing. There are exceptions of course. If going early means you can finish off a mech...then by all means. Just be prepared to be focused on in turn when the AI goes.
Targeting
==========
Early on, your called shots won't be very accurate. As your mechwarrior's pilot skill improves it gets better. Stack the deck in your favor.
-If a mech is downed you get a free called shot.
-If you are facing the side, your chances of hitting locations on that side go up.
-If you are on his six you only have 3 zones to target as opposed to 8.
On %chance to hit...don't waste an alpha strike if your to hit numbers are low. I try for 75% or better early game.
Focus fire
===========
Concentrate fire on the same mech until it's downed. 4 damaged mechs can still beat the crap out of your lance versus one or two downed mechs from concentrated fire because now they have less firepower and fewer actions.
Trying to get more salvage?
===========================
Early on it's not worth the effort unless you it's pretty much the last mech and already knocked down. Having a base 18% on a called shot to hit a leg, having to do this twice is very problematical. Now on a knocked down mech, from the side, the % chance to hit can jump up considerably. Basically: a head kill gives 3 salvage, legged 2 and a cored (center torso) 1. YMMV.
My basic strategy
=================
When I launch a mission. I keep an eye on the objective location. Then I do not head in a straight line (unless it's a timed intercept). I come from the left or the right with an eye for cover (forests) and high ground.
My scout mech goes ahead...but he goes LAST (Reserve) in a turn until enemy contact because I jump-jet and brace in. When I get a contact, all my mechs are braced and guarded.
Once combat starts I try to flank a unit. Fire my long range bombardments with a goal of knocking them down. If successful, then my close range mechs will alpha strike and try to take them out. If I can leg the mech, great, but again early game your to hit% won't be too good so you may be better off selecting center torso as your target (base 50% to hit).
I use jump jets as much as possible. As stated they increase the evasion and let you land and face any direction.
When facing turrets I slowly inch up until my scout can sensor lock, hopefully one at a time. Then take them out from afar. Note if the enemy has a spotter, I focus on the spotter first.
When facing vehicles...also try to flank them...their armor is MUCH lower from the sides or rear.
When heat gets too high...then it's time to melee.
Also, I'm not afraid to increase the distance (via the jump jet, brace method if suddenly another lance drops in for the party. Don't try taking on 3 lances at once, try to reposition so you can defeat in detail.
Morale
----------
Do your best to keep this at or above 50% during battle. Your entire lance gets a +1 to hit. Focus (precision) fire can be used to get a targeted shot when it really counts. (Or to even boost a so-so chance to hit to a very good one.)
Big guns or lots of little guns?
------------------------------------
To minimize the RNG woes, I initially went with lots of little guns or weapons with multiple hits. If my LRM20, SRM6, or beam boat firing 8 medium lasers misses a hit or two it isn't nearly as painful as when the PPC or AC20 misses entirely. By mid-game your pilot's skills will have offset this by a bit but you can never exceed 95% to hit. Even targeting a downed, crippled mech you can still miss.
Heat management
------------------------
Deserts suck. Martian deserts really suck. Don't alpha strike every turn...if my weapon mix shows 80% 80% 45% 45%...I turn the lower ones off. Sometimes it is better to cool off and brace than to waste heat with a bunch of shots with a low to hit chance. Use your terrain i there is water it will greatly increase your cooling capacity.
Max heat goes up with Guts skill.
Keep in mind if you are at point blank range...4 small lasers speak just as loudly as 2 large lasers...with a lot less heat. Lastly don't forget that melee is also viable if you are really running hot.
Final notes and thoughts.
--------------------------
This guide was written from a duffer's point of view. Battletech has a very steep learning curve and I barely covered some basics. A lot of these lessons I learned the hard way and I'm sure I've missed a bunch. Hopefully this will help you folks get across a few rough patches without having to learn the way I did
Regarding economics in my playthrough because I hated being a couple months from bankruptcy or repo I had 5 million banked before I tried for the Argo.
I had 10 million before the next Priority Mission and over 20 million by the time I was halfway through the story. Final expenses ran around 600-700k a month with 3 maxed pilots (plus main character) and maxed out Argo and 4 mechs in the bay.
Looking back I really didn't quite need as much cash...but I'd rather have 10 million too much than be 10 c-bills short.
Happy gaming!
Edit: miss-remembered the skill splits...it is only one rank 8 and one rank 5 not 3 at rank 5...fixed!
Well I just finished and decided to share my experience.
So here are some tips for the basics of playing this game. (Minor spoilers). No mission walkthroughs just the basics.
Please take everything with a grain..nay a shaker of salt. Take what works, leave what doesn't and thank you.
P1-Fundamentals and economy
P2-Mechwarrior skills
P3-Mech customization
P4-Combat
--------------------------------------
P1-Fundamentals and economy
--------------------------------------
Basic:
=======
Save your game. This simple tip cannot be emphasized enough. Save before you drop on a mission and save once the map loads. Now after the mission, be sure to erase extra saves as the game has a known issue (the more saves, the slower the performance.)
Economy:
========
You need $ (on in this game c-bills) to keep going. The biggest drains are loan interest and operating costs. The first entry and various incidentals you cannot do anything about. The rest though? Your other base expenses are mechs and mechwarriors.
--------------------------------------------
>Money out: Things that make you
--------------------------------------------
Always:
---------
Base interest on loans (becomes base ship operating costs). Can't do anything about this one sorry.
Mechs:
---------
12k per mech per month that sits in a bay.
Your mech bay can hold 6 mechs. When you start acquiring additional mechs...don't let them sit in an open slot. Put them in storage. Every mech is 12k a month in fees. If you pick up a better mech than your current lance than store the one you are replacing. It actually runs about the same as 1 month expenses to heat one up from storage and to fully load it out. Now it does cost time but if you are minding your saves you won't be doing this often.
Mechwarriors:
------------------
Variable up to ~ 50k each per month.
It is tempting to hire a backup mechwarrior. Thing is you already start with one, on top of your starting lancemates.
Also the better they get the more they want for salary. So be careful with your upgrades...if a rank in skill does not grant them any solid bonuses (there are a few effectively 'dead' skill ups) don't upgrade them. More on which skills later.
Note that YOU don't run a salary at all...use your main every single mission so he/she maxes out as soon as possible.
Ship upgrades:
------------------
Eventually you get the option to upgrade your ship. Be very careful. Every upgrade has a one-time AND an ongoing cost. You can easily bankrupt yourself. My priorities were ship structure and power. Frankly you don't ever really need to add extra mech bays but eventually as your cash flow goes you it's worth considering.
How fancy a budget?:
--------------------------
Every month you can select your operating standards. Normal, 2 luxury and 2 restricted levels. Frankly early on your costs are lowest so if you can sneak in a +1 or +2 morale bonus it's worth it. However as your proceed, there are events (usually once per month) and each event can be a +2 morale bonus...so in the long run you can stick with normal and be fine.
---------------------
Buying new toys?
---------------------
It's tempting to blow a payday on new toys...resist the temptation. Eventually you will salvage pretty much everything you need.
Priorities? This will be covered in the Mech customization section. (P3)
-----------------------------------------------------------
>Money in. AKA "Do the job get paid, keep flying."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Contracts:
-------------
These are your bread and butter, literally. Without jobs you cannot get paid.
Mission ratings:
-------------------
What do those skulls mean?
They are a rough* rating of what the game expects you to drop with...see the little badges next to your drop rating? As you upgrade your lance it goes up. Once you hit 300+ tons you'll have enough metal for 4-5 skull missions.
Rule of thumb, your starting lance can handle pretty much any up to 1 skull missions EXCEPT story ones. 2 skulls after you either retrofit your starting lance or get to about 200 tons. Story missions are usually are extremely difficult for their rating. You can tell a story mission because it will have 'PRIORITY' in big letters up top and also because they pay very well.
*Note I said 'rough.' Like all intel, sometimes the estimate is a bit...off. I ran a 3 skull mission and ended up facing 5x Orions 1x Black Knight 1x Cicada and a King Crab...about 570 tons of mechs. Doesn't happen often but it does.
More cash or more salvage?
---------------------------------
This one is really tough. But what I did was pretty much accept the mid-way split for most contracts. If the contract hinted at an 'elite' or 'single mech' though I may kick salvage up a notch if it means getting salvage on a heavier mech. Note that as salvage gets more plentiful and you start selling excess mechs, salvage becomes a ready source of extra income on a contract.
Travel time:
---------------
Always do missions at your planet first (unless the rating is too high). Missions that involve travel time put your that much closer to your next monthly payment on everything. That said sooner or later one system's contracts dry up and you have to find another. Now many systems tend to have contract loops where you go back and forth. This can help you grind your way up.
>>Next section: Mechwarrior skills.
--------------------------
P2-Mechwarrior skills
--------------------------
There are 4 main types. Gunnery, Piloting, Guts, and Tactics.
Each type has 2 grades of specialization, reached at level 5 and level 8 respectively.
Each Mechwarrior is limited to one skill with 2 specializations (rank 5 and 8) and one skill with 1 (rank 5). Further points still give a bonus but they won't pick up the fancy 'icon' skills.
I won't go into an exhaustive (and contentious) analysis but in summary this is what worked for me:
In terms of priority:
One pilot:
Gunnery 8 OR Pilot 8 with Tactics 5
Sensor lock is a godsend.
Evasive movement may mean the difference between a close shave with a AC20 and a dead pilot.
Splitting your fire between multiple targets means you can drop 3 ranks of evasion with 1 action.
The rest:
Gunnery 5 and 8. Pilot 5
In addition to dropping evasion you also ignore cover and guarded if you fire one weapon at each target. With big weapons you have to manage heat anyway, so more bang for your buck is not a bad idea.
Now also improve your Guts and Tactics...but not if it means you lose a specialization. Guts give you extra health and extra heat capacity. Tactics get rid of the pesky minimum ranges and increase your called shot %. There are other benefits but those are the ones I found I wanted the most.
After getting the specializations, raise your other skills as you see fit. Eventually you'll have enough xp for straight 10's across the board, if you play long enough.
Next section: Mech customization.
-----------------------------
P3-Mech customization:
-----------------------------
Again this is what worked for me.
First don't go crazy with the customization early on. Every tweak costs c-bills. That said:
The majority of your lance should have a primary engagement range. If your mech is a long-range bombardment missile platform...don't load it up with medium lasers. Likewise your close range brawler won't need a full rack of LRM's.
Lance makeup
============
I typically ran with one scout (Light), and the rest Mediums. At time goes on, the scout becomes a Medium mech and the Mediums become Heavies. Eventually the I replaced one or two of the Heavies with Assault mechs.
Armor
=====
Get as much armor as you can. I try to max the legs and arms...and get at least 80% on the front torso locations and 2/3rds on the rear. Now there are exceptions...I go a little lighter on LRM mechs...they have no business in brawling...except maybe to coup de gras a downed foe near the end of a mission.
My scout mech is where I max the armor. No exceptions. A low armor scout is a dead scout. Note that some mechs (Cicada I'm looking at you) you can't max the armor. I sell those.
Loadouts
========
Early game you're starved for choice. What worked for me was gradually swapping out loadouts for uniform ranges instead of the default loadouts that always ensure you cannot effectively alpha strike.
1x Scout.
------------
The scout mech typically has 1 long range weapon for plinking (usually a LRM5)...and the rest are support weapons like small lasers or flamers. If there's any space left, maybe some medium lasers. Typically though the scout's job is spotting (sensor lock) and if I'm feeling lucky, coming in behind for a backstab.
The rest of the lance:
1x close range brawler.
---------------------------
Usually I have one beam boat loaded with medium lasers and support weapons for knife fighting. The beam variant of the Hunchback and the Grasshopper are excellent beam platforms. If there is space I'll splash a single LRM or a Large Laser for long range sniping as he closes...but not mandatory. Alternatively I'll go with SRM's instead of medium lasers.
2x Long range bombardment.
-----------------------------------
Load em up with LRMs, PPCs, AC2/AC5's, Large Lasers.
Early game I didn't have an abundance of these. So I started by having all of these mechs loaded up with as many mid-range weapons as I could. Medium lasers and such drop frequently. For my strategy I focused on weapons with '+STB' or increased stability damage. I prefer LRM's overall. They are a good balance of range, damage, heat, and knockdown (stability). More on this in the combat section.
Weapon placement.
------------------------
Not all mechs are created equal. Some (such as the Griffin or Trebuchet) like to put your main weapon slots in the arms. Bad idea. Instead of having arms serve as extra damage buffer, once an arm drops you lose your firepower. This happened to me several times. One AC20 hit and boom there went the arm and 75% of the mech's firepower. Try for mechs with torso mounted weapons. If you have to use the arms for ordinance, put your stock weapons there and your special '+' weapons in the torso locations. Also relegate the units to long range support and keep them in the back.
Ammo Placement
---------------------
Ammo explosions destroy a location. Put ammo in the arms. When a side torso goes, your pilot gets injured. When an arm goes just your wallet gets hit. Sucks but at least you can still fight. Consider putting ammo in both arms so if one arm goes you weapon can still fire.
--------------------
Buying new toys
--------------------
I want everything and cannot afford squat. So what I did is set aside a small amount of the excess cash flows for upgrades.
Your rep with a faction can mean the difference between a 10% discount and a 50% (1.5x) cost increase. Usually not a good idea to buy from a system you are at war with.
Every component that has a '+' next to it is superior grade and gives superior stats for higher cost. '+++' is the max.
What to upgrade first?
Early on I had to buy the cheap stuff. That means heat sinks, jump jets, small lasers, LRM5's. This was until I got a lance loaded out with weapons in the same range bracket.
Heat sinks
==========
I cannot have enough of these. My rule of thumb is one alpha strike every 3 turns provided it's a mech with say 8 medium lasers. PPC's, AC20's and Large lasers are heat monsters and you just cannot keep up so don't try. Typically I'll work towards adding about 5-10 heat sinks per mech and call it good. Eventually through salvage you'll be selling excess but early on it's rough.
Jump Jets
=========
For my combat strategy I always max these. Evasion saves your mechs and pilots. Moving gives you evasion...jumping the same distance gives you extra evasion...at the expense of heat. And nothing says hello better than an alpha strike from a foe's six.
Special upgrades
================
Heat banks, Heat exchange, targeting systems (TTS), cockpit upgrades, etc.
Priorities:
------------
Reinforced cockpit (for the scout mech). Comms system for everyone else (or reinforced if one hasn't dropped). More details below.
Cockpit.
There are 3 main types:
Viewfinder- increase visual range. Mixed usefulness for me. If you are not running with sensor lock then yes.
Reinforced cockpit (Injury resist). This will save your mechwarrior's life. Adds extra health and also gives a chance that hits don't send him to the medbay. Also increases chance of survival if the mechwarrior is incapacitated (or even killed). Put your highest grade one for your scout.
Comms system. This gives extra morale every turn. Extra morale means you get to do specials more often which means more kills faster. My long range mechs get the Comm system.
The ones after this I experimented with but didn't use as much. YMMV.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arms.
Most of these increase melee or stability damage. But for the slots/tonnage you are usually better off just putting more weapons or extra heat sinks.
Legs.
Increase your DFA or reduce the DFA you take. If DFA's your bag, then these are great. I found DFA just runs up the repair bills and is usually a desperation move.
Torso slot. (Gyros, targeting systems-TTS)
Gyros reduce your chance of being hit or increase chance to hit in melee. Some reduce your stability damage taken. I usually put the one that reduces stability damage taken.
TTS. The irony is when you need these the most you cannot afford them. When you can afford them, it's late game and your pilots are running Gunnery 10. Still if one drops early, it's a good one to place in your long range mechs.
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P4-Combat
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There are a myriad of discussions and strategies you can use. I'm again going to go with what worked for me most often. And keep in mind this is for the campaign...not sneaky flesh and blood opponents.
Save often.
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I mentioned this before...but it cannot be understated. Unless you are playing hardcore mode of course. Many times I'm 2 hours into a priority/story mission and I miss-click the interface and suddenly my tanking mech presents his back armor to the enemy lance/turrets. Oops. Or I absent-mindedly click the wrong contract and I'm wasting 2 months flying around and kiss a million c-bills goodbye for operating expenses.
Again because the game has an issue with save files...delete them after a mission. I tried to keep my save files at around a dozen. If you really want every mission saved...move the older files to a different directory.
Reserve (The command button)
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Live it, love it. Let your enemy come to you. They've closed the range, already fired at your evasive/braced mechs for less damage or outright misses, and now you can focus on the target of your choosing. There are exceptions of course. If going early means you can finish off a mech...then by all means. Just be prepared to be focused on in turn when the AI goes.
Targeting
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Early on, your called shots won't be very accurate. As your mechwarrior's pilot skill improves it gets better. Stack the deck in your favor.
-If a mech is downed you get a free called shot.
-If you are facing the side, your chances of hitting locations on that side go up.
-If you are on his six you only have 3 zones to target as opposed to 8.
On %chance to hit...don't waste an alpha strike if your to hit numbers are low. I try for 75% or better early game.
Focus fire
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Concentrate fire on the same mech until it's downed. 4 damaged mechs can still beat the crap out of your lance versus one or two downed mechs from concentrated fire because now they have less firepower and fewer actions.
Trying to get more salvage?
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Early on it's not worth the effort unless you it's pretty much the last mech and already knocked down. Having a base 18% on a called shot to hit a leg, having to do this twice is very problematical. Now on a knocked down mech, from the side, the % chance to hit can jump up considerably. Basically: a head kill gives 3 salvage, legged 2 and a cored (center torso) 1. YMMV.
My basic strategy
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When I launch a mission. I keep an eye on the objective location. Then I do not head in a straight line (unless it's a timed intercept). I come from the left or the right with an eye for cover (forests) and high ground.
My scout mech goes ahead...but he goes LAST (Reserve) in a turn until enemy contact because I jump-jet and brace in. When I get a contact, all my mechs are braced and guarded.
Once combat starts I try to flank a unit. Fire my long range bombardments with a goal of knocking them down. If successful, then my close range mechs will alpha strike and try to take them out. If I can leg the mech, great, but again early game your to hit% won't be too good so you may be better off selecting center torso as your target (base 50% to hit).
I use jump jets as much as possible. As stated they increase the evasion and let you land and face any direction.
When facing turrets I slowly inch up until my scout can sensor lock, hopefully one at a time. Then take them out from afar. Note if the enemy has a spotter, I focus on the spotter first.
When facing vehicles...also try to flank them...their armor is MUCH lower from the sides or rear.
When heat gets too high...then it's time to melee.
Also, I'm not afraid to increase the distance (via the jump jet, brace method if suddenly another lance drops in for the party. Don't try taking on 3 lances at once, try to reposition so you can defeat in detail.
Morale
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Do your best to keep this at or above 50% during battle. Your entire lance gets a +1 to hit. Focus (precision) fire can be used to get a targeted shot when it really counts. (Or to even boost a so-so chance to hit to a very good one.)
Big guns or lots of little guns?
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To minimize the RNG woes, I initially went with lots of little guns or weapons with multiple hits. If my LRM20, SRM6, or beam boat firing 8 medium lasers misses a hit or two it isn't nearly as painful as when the PPC or AC20 misses entirely. By mid-game your pilot's skills will have offset this by a bit but you can never exceed 95% to hit. Even targeting a downed, crippled mech you can still miss.
Heat management
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Deserts suck. Martian deserts really suck. Don't alpha strike every turn...if my weapon mix shows 80% 80% 45% 45%...I turn the lower ones off. Sometimes it is better to cool off and brace than to waste heat with a bunch of shots with a low to hit chance. Use your terrain i there is water it will greatly increase your cooling capacity.
Max heat goes up with Guts skill.
Keep in mind if you are at point blank range...4 small lasers speak just as loudly as 2 large lasers...with a lot less heat. Lastly don't forget that melee is also viable if you are really running hot.
Final notes and thoughts.
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This guide was written from a duffer's point of view. Battletech has a very steep learning curve and I barely covered some basics. A lot of these lessons I learned the hard way and I'm sure I've missed a bunch. Hopefully this will help you folks get across a few rough patches without having to learn the way I did
Regarding economics in my playthrough because I hated being a couple months from bankruptcy or repo I had 5 million banked before I tried for the Argo.
I had 10 million before the next Priority Mission and over 20 million by the time I was halfway through the story. Final expenses ran around 600-700k a month with 3 maxed pilots (plus main character) and maxed out Argo and 4 mechs in the bay.
Looking back I really didn't quite need as much cash...but I'd rather have 10 million too much than be 10 c-bills short.
Happy gaming!
Edit: miss-remembered the skill splits...it is only one rank 8 and one rank 5 not 3 at rank 5...fixed!
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