Themed Lances (fluffy/fun starting mechs)

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HBS’s “take” on ClanTech, Zellbrigen, Batchall and the various Trials would be fabulous indeed!

But as it appears to be working out, we may need to exercise more patience than we might have thought necessary just four short years ago when Jordan and Mitch first pitched to us, their hopes for the future of BATTLETECH.

Time will pass...

HBS will continue to develop games...

And in the fullness of time, I hope to see HBS pick up and move the BATTLETECH Timeline forward. (And in truth a stop off at the Fourth Succession War would be a welcome addition before advancing to the CLAN INVASION.)


And yes, of course, your mileage may vary. :bow:

Honestly all the various time lines in BT, I dont know much about. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th succession wars, and all that jazz? Basically my timeline in Mechwarrior begins with the Clan invasion, since, well, MW2 was literally my introduction to Mechwarrior when I was like 5. That and my dad and I playing a random game of board game BT when I was like 6. I was in a Warhammer, he had a MadCat. I just know the BT universe has been in an eternal war lol.
 
Clan Smoke Jaguar... indeed. : )

View attachment 529177
I’ve always liked the brim over the cockpit to keep rain and sun off the pilot. :)

On the original topic...
Kurita:
Panther, Jenner, PXH-1K, WVR-6K, Dragon

That is a rather strong starting lance. I chose the Dragon over the K2 Catapult because of the strength of the light units. :)
 
How about a "Decision of Thunder Rift" / "Mercenary Star" inspired starting lance ?

PHX-1K, SHD-2H, Locust, WVR-6K, Rifleman

Since we don't have a Wasp or Stinger, I can't say a fitting 2nd light mech.
 
How about a "Decision of Thunder Rift" / "Mercenary Star" inspired starting lance ?

PHX-1K, SHD-2H, Locust, WVR-6K, Rifleman

Since we don't have a Wasp or Stinger, I can't say a fitting 2nd light mech.
The Locust-1S makes for a passable Wasp...
 
I didn't mentioned a Warhammer, nor the Marauder, as the starting pack was based on the early parts of the story when their only heavy mech is the Rifleman. BTW, I think the Marauder would be too much for a starter mech.

I just got my first Marauder at ~170 days into this career. The starter UAC5 I got is going straight on there.

I'm liking the combination of 4 pieces salvage, no rare salvage and unfitted mechs. It makes planning your lance growth alot more interesting without being too onerous. Every +grade weapon or module I find in stores is a little piece of joy.
 
My latest campaign was started with the Urbie R90, Commando, Flea, and Locust 1E... no spares in the mech bay and a 75% chance of destruction when cored. (Edit: Come to think of it, the Commando was career mode. For the campaign I always use the Panther as the ancestral mech... smallest mech that has the same movement profile as the unmodded Blackjack and I have a mod that changes all the references I've been able to find... including the tutorial mission that was designed for that speed.)

No theme other than forcing myself to use mechs that would go straight to storage if I salvaged them in a normal game. I may have to try the Cicada-Flea-Locust-Spider bug lance, though
 
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Here's my pitch for a themed lance.

Mythical Proportions: Orion ON1-K, Cyclops CP-10-Z, Zeus (any variant), Atlas/Atlas II

Bringing the Cyclops Z for the +1 to initiative, and set up everyting to rain down pain.
 
I may build a Star League Starting Lance next time made up of the SLDF variants. Maybe the Griffin, Crab, Phoenix Hawk, and a duplicate of one of those.

Maybe throw in a heavy, who knows.

Going forward I'll only acquire SLDF mechs/variants.
 
i roleplay a new merc unit with each career / campaign run.

so based on the type of unit i roll up and its background and what mech mods i have installed for that run will determine year, faction, equipment level.
then i use the appropriate chart to do random rolls to get my starting lance.
used to edit starting lance manually but now thanks to @JamieWolf i use his save editor to replace if needed what i have in the mech bay.
so it can vary wildly from one run to the next.