When Equipped With Assault Mechs, Do You Keep Lighter Mechs Around?

[MeiSooHaityu]

In my current playthrough, I have several Assaults in my arsenal. I have an Atlas II, King Crab, Annihilator, Bullshark, Stalker, and the weapon heavy Banshee.

I also have my Heavies like Marauders, Warhammers, Archer, Cataphract 0X, etc... I also have Mediums such as my Cicada, Hatchetman 'Ecks', Centurion, Hunchback 4P, and Enforcer.

Dispite having some of the heaviest/nastiest mechs, I like having Heavies and Mediums as well for the lower skull missions. I am curious if other players do the same.

 

[Retic73]

I have a PXH-1 that I use to jump around the map like a kangaroo, HBK-4G w/ LBX20 just because, a 2N Griffin for SRM spam, Yen-lo-wang, a Firestarter punchbot, and a Raven. I have to run with diversity or the game gets boring quick. Running around with maxed-out assaults and heavies all of the time makes the game, I hate to say it, suck something fierce!

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I like the Early Months of a BATTLETECH Career or Campaign Attempt... but on the now rare occasion I find myself still playing when I have such a High Powered selection of Assault BattleMechs, I use the Rule of Skulls, where I only take into Battle a force with the same rating in Skulls as the Mission itself. And even then I sometimes spot the AI a half Skull, to a Skull. : )

 

[Sigil]

I always keep a light lance handy, if for nothing else then for variety's sake. It also comes in handy when trying to rebuild reputation with a faction and your stuck initially taking 1-2 skull missions for them. Mostly I do it for fun. I'm addicted to my ASN-23/101 Coil gun builds, they are just tooo much fun. I keep them right alongside my VL-2T punch master with the longest range machine guns you've ever seen. And for some reason, I just can't bring myself to ever ship that silly RVN-1X to the storage. Sometimes, ECM is just fun. The "big" gun of the lance is usually a GRF-2N for obvious reasons, although I heard there is a Star League Crab and Phoenix Hawk out there somehwere as well.....

 

[Yanotoshi]

Firestarter is definitely something to keep. A Spider-K with 4 small lasers I use for recovery and convoy interception. Every medium to jump in rear arc will be replaced by the Grasshopper, or my Firehopper with Flamers instead of small lasers in nasty biomes. So 4 mechs beside the standard heavy and assault mechs.

 

[Jolly Joker]

Firestarter is too good a mech to store it, and there are many ways to equip it.

 

[stjobe]

Absolutely. A 200-ton "C" lance to complement the much heavier "A" (as close to 400 tons as I can get) and "B" (300+ tons) lances.

Why? Some Flashpoints have a 200-ton lance, or 55-ton 'Mech drop limit. And dropping 400 tons just to train some new recruit feels a bit silly

 

[Eximar]

I keep quite a few lights and mediums.

I never take a lance with more skulls than the mission.

 

[fredman]

I tend to keep 3 general tiers of mechs: a 50t lance, a 75t lance and a 100t lance along with a few curiosities/favorites which I mix and match dependent on skull rating/payscale, but err on the side of overkill to account for that shifty RNG. I don't mind rolling over the opposition and I'm still playing so it's not boring and makes good use of those 3 mech bays in the Argo.

 

[sean10mm]

You really should keep a lance of 50 ton or less mechs because there are all those weight restricted flashpoints, and some of them have a hard cap of 50 tons per mech.

I keep a lance of whatever heavies I think are coolest, like the Marauder 2R & Warhammer 7A.

 

[Kharille]

For the flashpoints I keep some 50 ton mechs with the best support lasers. However I seem to have run out of flashpoints, my 2nd playthrough and day 1200. Was hoping to find some ecm for my assault mechs.

Will never get along with the taurians. I noted it happened around day 300 when my relationship with the Taurians went bad, probably 1 planet full of anti taurian missions. Guess on my 3rd playthrough I'll try not to infuriate them.

 

[Krontekag]

This last campaign I've built 3 platoons of 4 mechs. Each platoon has a pilot dedicated to a particular mech in the unit. Each platoon has one ring-in in case of pilot injury. If there aren't enough mechs or pilots, that platoon is grounded. Each platoon has a mix of weights too.
Pilots have a rank based on their experience, which I record as part of their callsign along with surname. I've had some pretty good pilots driving Panthers and Jenners during high skull missions... loads of fun and a good challenge.

 

[Jolly Joker]

Beside the Firestarter, with 18 slots I keep quite a few light and medium mechs. For example, I'm quite satisfied with a long range Panther (60 damage PPC plus LRM10) for the Flashpoints. Independently of that and unless I can afford a Griffin 2N (although I don't need it), I keep a Kintaro which is an utterly awesome mech, especially in missions that needs you you to set beacons within 10 turns. I also like a lighter punchbot (especially for hot biomes and beside the option to equop a Firestarter accordingly), either a Hatchetman 3X or a Vulcan 2T, whichever comes first. For a variety of missions, a Phoenix Hawk is great as well.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I still use my Hatchetman 3X frequently on lower skull contracts. It's hard hitting and fun to watch when it deploys and swings that hatchet.

I don't know if I'd use the 3F, but the 3X with those 4 support hardpoints really make the difference IMO.

I had made an appreciation thread for the mech, however I seem to be in the minority when it comes to enjoyment from using the mech .

 

[eclecticbibliophile]

Ever since my first campaign I always keep a Jenner ready to go for recovery missions. Makes a wonderful backstabber too.

 

[gh0s7]

I always keep a Firestarter (mostly for low-skull Ambush Convoy missions), 3 Phawks (for the TA missions), and a lance of a Enforcer + Hunchie 4P + Cent A (LRM boat with a 20+5+5), and a Hatchetman 3X - this lance is both for low-skull missions and for the low-weight-restricted missions/FP's.

 

[Mabberton]

I typically build up to somewhere between 12 and 16 active mechs in my company. At 16, I aim for 4 assault, 4 heavy, 5-6 mediums, and 2-3 lights, although the lights are at the higher end of the range (firestarters and other 30-35 tonners).

I often take a firestarter or something in with heavies for spotting, kiting, or general harrassment. And as others mentioned, I try to make my mechs with the skull rating of the mission rather than clubbing everything with 4 assaults.

 

[NGV]

Current 5 skull lance is a Royal Pixie, Whammy 7A, Marauder 2D and an UAC Annihilator of righteous doom, the first 3 stay the same for any mission, occasionally take a LRM boat Bullshark instead of the Annihilator. (or both where there is a minimum drop weight instead of a maximum)
280 tons, the Annihilator gets swapped out for a 2nd Marauder or Griffin 2N
200 tons a hunchback and enforcer get swapped in.

I try not to take two of the same mech but sometimes succumb to multiple marauders with different loadouts.

Ever since HM and especially 1.9 for me its more a case of "when equipped with amazing medium and heavy mechs do you keep assaults around?".

 

[CmdrBugbear]

Yes. Next question.





<just kidding>

Assaults become laughably easy to use when you have a tactical pilot for them. Being able to double-turn one assault with another is so satisfying.

But when you are in the mid-game, you probably don't have tacticians handy in your pilot roster, so keeping faster, lighter mechs is a viable substitute.

 

[Panzer-Killer]

I always keep two 360t+ lances, one 280t+ lance and a 200t+ lance ready.