"Know thyself. Know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." - Sun Tzu

I have been a fan of Battletech and the MechWarrior series for a long time. In fact, I remember playing the original game out of the box on a hex map. Some of the offerings since then have been great, some significantly less so, but I've always enjoyed the rich lore of the expanded universe. Heck, I even played the card game! But I didn't really know what to expect when I started playing Battletech a few weeks ago. I admit now that I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. Needless to say, it's been a crash course since then. This guide was created so that I can share some of what I've learned in hopes of sparing others from making the same mistakes I did.

I will only cover some of the basics of gameplay and moderately advanced tactics and strategies. If you are looking for a more definative and complete guide, I will direct you to Kurisu's "A General Gameplay Guide". https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/editguidesubsection/?id=1389215573&sectionid=2532067

While I may not agree with everything he states, I highly recommend it to any budding mechwarrior trying to learn his/her craft.

"Yours is the superior intellect..." Joachim in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan

These topics are some of the least known but best ways to improve your gameplay and mech loadouts right out of the gate.

1. Managing Heat
Generally speaking, the fewer heat sinks, the better. Unless you are building a dedicated energy platform, they take away tonnage that could be allocated for heavier weapons. A heat neutral mech is a poorly designed mech. Heat should build every round, forcing you to be as effecient and effective as possible in allocating damage resources.
When your tank/brawler is heat critical, you should be looking for someone to punch in the face. Switching to a melee attack is a good alternative to being forced to fire only one or two weapons to keep your mech from shutting down and cooking your pilot. It's also a hugely damaging attack, strips gaurded and ignores cover, applies a massive amount of stability damage, alllows your mech to cool, and fires the ever-so-hoped-for anti-personnel weapons. These include machine guns, flamers, and small lasers.

2. Anti-Personnel Weapons
Upgraded small lasers are the most heat efficient and pound for pound the hardest hitting weapons in the game. For 5 heat on a +++ weapon you get 30 damage and 50% crit. And it will only cost you half a ton. That means you could load up 4 small lasers for only a couple of tons. 120 Damage for twenty heat and two tons! Did I mention they fire AFTER the melee phase? That means they crit more easily as well. Best weapon in the game. If you can just get in range...
Flamers are great as well. My King Crab has four mounted. I love that I can shut down a mech or roast the pilot inside AND do 40 points of regular damage after I kneecap my victim. It's a thing of beauty.
Haven't used Machine Guns much, but I hear they're great for landing injuries on pilots.

3. Not So Great Weapons
PPC's suck. Yup. They are one of the worst weapons in this game. I'm sorry. Too much heat. Too many tons, I would only use them on a dedicated energy platform with a +3 TTS energy mod. Why would I add a PPC to my sniper loadout (the only real place for it) when I can mount an LRM15 or 20 that hits harder, has better stability damage and produces far less heat?
Medium Lasers aren't the answer. I know, your probably saying WHUT? Ok, I'll try to explain. The best medium lasers come with a damage increase of +10 and an +1 accuracy mod. First of all, beam weapons already have an inherent accuracy boost so they really don't need the extra accuracy. And they generate 10 heat. 10 HEAT. Doesn't seem like a lot. But when you start stacking them, your heat goes through the roof. For comparison, my +++A/C 20 does 120 damage and 60 stab damage for 25 heat. Four ++ medium lasers do the same amount of damage but spread out and with no stability damage for 40 heat. You do the math. I'm not saying you shouldn't use medium lasers. I'm saying use them more as fillers and don't go overboard.

4. Equipment
Cockpit modifiers that protect your pilot are good. Comm systems are great. Rangefinders not so much.
Gyros should be installed on every mech. I use hit defense on my boats and snipers, and stab defense on my tanks/brawlers. Thirty percent stab reduction on my rampaging assault ensures that he is still rampaging after the first round.
TTS accuracy mods on missile boat and sniper only if you can afford the tonnage. It's a nice perk, but it can cost you in tons the difference between an LRM15 and an LRM20. Please note, you cannot improve your accuracy beyond your base rating with TTS mods. However, they will improve your accuracy in most cases. For example, if your base accuracy is 80 percent and you have a bunch of negative modifiers like firing uphill, firing out of a weapons' optimum range, ect all of which drops your accuracy to say 60 percent, a TTS mod would effectively erase those negative modifiers. That's a damage difference of almost 25%.
Double Heat Sinks are the bomb. Use them and try not to lose them. They are irreplaceable.
Arm and leg actuators just take up space and tonnage, don't use them unless you are running a funky melee setup. Although I REALLY wish I could afford that +60 stab damage arm mount on my King Crab..talk about knocking someone into tomorrow.

5. SRM's
In terms of weapons, SRM's are my favorite. Great damage, good range, and their ability to crit or add stab damage is excellent. Plus they just look cool. In terms of heat and damage efficiency, the SRM4 is better than the SRM6. It's almost half the heat for two-thirds the damage. Great weapons to loadout together in a package with a couple of lasers. A stock loadout of 1 SRM6, 1 SRM4, 1 SRM AMMO, and 2 MEDIUM LASERS will produce 130 raw possible damage, and up to 30 stability damage for 8 tons and 42 heat. Not bad. Rares will increase your damage by 60 for the same amount of heat. This means for the same 8 tons you have a 42 heat, 190 damage alpha strike that does a large amount of stability damage as well.

This section took me the longest to understand and quite honestly may be different based on your playstyle. With a few notable exceptions, everything except the hard data should be prefaced with "Generally speaking..."

The FOUR STATS are:

Gunnery: Increases your base to-hit percentage.
Simple, effective, and used with every shot. Points in this category are never wasted.

Piloting: Increases max evasion by 1-2. Increases Melee to-hit percentage by up to 25%. Sprint 20% longer. Increases mech unsteady threshold by two. Reduces DFA damage by 25%.
My favorite skill tree, this has so much to offer a hotshot mechjock. The max evasion is good, the sprint is excellent, (especially on heavier platforms), but the unsteady threshold increase is where it really shines. In the late game, and especially with slower assault brawlers, it's not your armor that you worry about, it's getting knocked over by mulitple volleys of stability damage. This skill is great for every mech the pilot straps into.

Guts: Increases max health by 1-3. Decreases recoil penalty by up to 2. Increases mech heat threashold by 30.
My second favorite category, this skill tree offers some great survivability perks. Not only are you harder to kill, you can shoot that AC/20 almost every round without worrying about accuracy fallout AND your mechpilot won't cook as quickly in his/her seat. Heat threshold is critically important in Battetech because heat=damage output. The more you're able to fire your weapons, the quicker you knock out the opposition. Once again, every mech will benefit from this pilot skill.

Tactics: Decreases indirect fire penalty by 1-3. Decreases minimum firing range by 45-90 meters. Increases called shot to-hit percentage.
My least favorite skill tree because it's so specialized. The indirect fire penalty reduction is only good for missile boats and the minimum range penalty reduction really only shines on extremely long range weapons like PPC's and LRM's. The called shot bonuses, however, are nearly indespensible. Which is why I recommend getting every pilot to Called Shot Mastery fairly quickly.

The FOUR SKILLS are:

Gunnery Skills - Multishot, Breaching Shot
Piloting Skills - Evasive Movement, Ace Pilot
Guts Skills - Bulwark, Juggernaught
Tactics Skills - Sensor Lock, Master Tactician

Okay, here is the REAL meat of this section. How do you build your pilots? Well, that depends on how you build your lance. In my opinion, there are a few rules to stick by.

ONE. Don't mix Bulwark and Evasive Movement. They are counter productive. One gives you bonuses for standing still, and one gives you bonuses for moving. You won't EVER do both in the same round.

TWO. Sensor Lock is overrated. I'll tell you why later. Just trust me. In my opinion it's only good at the beginning of an engagement to uncover a target for a sniper shot or if you have absolutely nothing better to do. And I would argue in most cases it's better to brace.

THREE. Multishot, Breaching Shot, and Ace Pilot are tactically situational and will not be efficient when compared to Bulwark or Master Tactician. Juggernaught is so specialized it's almost a joke. Don't get it. You should only have one pilot at a time in a deployed lance with one or two of these perks at the most.

FOUR. Master Tactician is hands down the best pilot skill in the game. WHY? Because you use it every round your pilot is on the field. EVERY ROUND. And it allows you to choose to move and fire before your opponent in the same weight class. AND it allows a heavy mech to reserve twice and an assualt mech to reserve once. AND when they reserve they eliminate stab damage. I cannot stress how much moving and firing before your opponents mechs in the same weight class puts you at a huge advantage. Use this to core out an unfortunate target before they even get to shoot.

My optimum pilot deployment includes a Vangaurd(Tactics 8, Guts 5) or Lancer(Gunnery 8, Guts 5) for my missile boat, a Vangaurd for my Sniper, a Scout(Tactics 8, Piloting 5) for my Tank/Brawler, and a Scout for my off-tank/finisher.

Disclaimer: Lances and loadouts can be modified for different tactical situations and are not one size fits all. What works for someone may not appeal to the guy next door sitting at his computer eating cheetos. In addition, there are certain missions that require unique loadouts to complete. Be flexible and open to learning new techniques.

Mechs, like pilots, should be specialized for the roles they will fill in combat.
Although some platforms can perform mulitple tasks easily, others may be regulated to the "melta-your-face-with-ten-laser-beams" only category. I categorize my mechs a little bit different than the stock loadout screen suggests.

As shown in the last section, my optimum lance consists of a missile boat, a sniper, and two tanks. The strategy is effective in the mid to late game and for most, but not all, missions. Simply put, it involves my missile boat softening the target, eliiminating evasion with heavy stability damage, followed by a knockdown and called shots to key components or the destruction of the target.

The stability damage is critical. I don't expect to hurt an assualt mech with dual 15's or 20's, but if I'm loaded for +2 stab damage, I can usually reach their unsteady threshold, stripping them of their evasion completely. This is then followed up by a scapel-like strike by my sniper, using Precision Shot to either core out the center of a lighter mech or shave off the torso of a heavy/assualt. My sniper also uses heavy stab damage weapons to hopefully tip the mech as well.

My sniper loadout is a guass rifle, a rare A/C 5 with increased damage and stab damage, and an LRM15 or 20 with stab damage and CRIT PERCENTAGE. Why the crit on the missiles? Why the missiles at all? Well, missiles travel slower than ballistics and beam weapons and they do heavy stability damage with great crit ability. By the time they reach the target area, it's usually only structure or it's destroyed, transfering damage toward the center. And if I'm smart, I've targeted their ammo supply. BOOM. Injured pilot, exploded torso, tipped mech. The fact that they have range compatibility with my other weapons is just icing on the cake.

My brawlers are usually a heavy and an assault or two assaults. I usually run a King Crab loaded for bear in one slot and either an Atlas or another 80+ ton mech in the other slot. The tanks have excessive ballistic loadouts like 2 A/C 20's or 4 SRM's with extra damage and heavy stab damage with a couple of medium lasers thrown in. They are meant to approach and pressure the target(s) and thus are expected to move almost every round. This means the pilots benefit generously from the Evasive Movement perk and jump jets.

Let me stop and say something here. Jump jets are critical on your brawlers. Not only do they allow you to travel farther than a regular move (though usually not as far as a dead sprint), you can choose any facing, you get more evasion pips, and you don't have to worry about terrain movement modifiers. In addition, you can choose to fire or brace after jumping. It's worth the 3 or 4 tons in my humble opinion.

So, shoot to knock down. Stability damage is king here. Once the mech is knocked over, it injures the pilot again (important when salvaging whole mechs), and allows your brawlers to finish the job with called shots. Thus my treatise on the importance of the tactics tree. If, for some reason, the mech has survived, it's initiative is reduced by 1 for the next round which means you get more free called shots. Knockdown is death sentence in Battletech. Learn it. Love it. Live it.

One final note. There is some disagreement on using Sensor Lock vs firing. Hmm. To reveal a target and reduce its evasion by two is nice I guess. But wouldn't it be better to brace and wait until next round when the target reveals itself and then use the above mentioned tactics to knock it over and reduce it's initiative? Some mechs have no problem replacing evasion pips. I believe its a wasted move in most cases.

The following are a few final thoughts and some general tips on gameplay.

1. Move past the initial starting area fairly quickly. It's designed to keep you poor and doesn't have much to offer in terms of mechs and loot.

2. In the beginning, don't advance the campaign too quickly. There are missions designed to test your tonnage and damage output and no amount of tactical manuevering/creative scout loadouts will suffice. Unless you enjoy bloody noses from beating your head against a wall.

3. Before you launch, check the store. This helps to decide what priority salvage to choose at the end of the mission and is generally a good idea at every stop. It's also important to know that shops spawn different items depending on their planet characteristics, i.e. "manufacturing", "inner sphere", "rich", ect.

4. Max out your front armor, 2/3 to 3/4 rear armor. Armor is life.

5. Present your better side if possible. If your taking a beating on your left side and your armor is slagging off at an alarming rate, manuever so that incoming damage is most likely to hit your undamaged or least damage side.

6. The AI is both brutally smart and remarkably dumb. Prepare for both and take advantage of the lapses in intelligence. For example, I've seen a lonely surviving scout mech take on my full lance in a suicidal run of rabid revenge instead of kiting or retreating. Or manuever through a pile of super overheating radioactive ash causing shutdown. But I've also witnessed the AI perform complex flanking manuevers and priority targeting. In fact, if one of your mechs gets damaged or knocked down, it WILL focus fire with every mech, turrent, and vehicle it can until you're either destroyed or get up. And then they'll continue to focus your most damaged mech until you run screaming for cover. Heck, I've even seen the computer priority target the most "dangerous" weapon that my lance carried, usually an A/C 20 in an arm or torso slot.

7. Guarded, Entrenched>Evasion>Cover. Hard to beat 50% damage and stab damage reduction.

8. Playstyles can vary significantly and there's no "correct" way to load out a mech or train a pilot. There are good, better, and even better ways, however mechs and pilots can be specialized for different roles and can perform strikingly effective in different tactical situations.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading my guide. I hope you learned something! Feel free to comment. Feedback is useful for improving my guide. Give me a rating as well if you feel so inclined.


Happy hunting, mechwarriors!

Trouble