My advice to newbies is to know your minimum ranges, and to "shoot with as many as possible at one mech at a time, while having as few of your mechs open for being shot at as possible."
Not exactly a newbie tip, but My favorite tip for medium skill players is to pay attention to what if any weapons your opponent has in their arms. Particularly in a 1v1 duel, it can sometimes be more advantageous to take your opponents side arc than diving all the way to the back arc. For example, a Locust vs a Panther. If the locust can get in the panthers left arc, the panther has literally zero options that turn. It doesn't matter how slow the locust moved, or how close the locust got, the panther doesn't have a weapon that shoots backwards or a weapon in its left arm, and can't physically shoot back. Always look out for these situations, particularly if you are in a lighter, faster machine.
- Keep your mods higher than your target - focus fire - learn thy ranges - big guns to open holes, small guns for crits - keep your best armor facing the enemy, and the best armor is being unable to be shot at - build heat, but dont burn out - beware ammo - melee is not to be underestimated
Played as opfor as part of a LGS campaign that was going on. Piloting a Crab I got some good Large laser shots into a Wolverine that was approaching a control point at medium range. My misplay was remaining stationary after losing initiative. Wolverine ran up, I fired all lasers, missing every shot and was promptly kicked in the center torso for 27.
first and foremost - don't worry about bv, game balance, point costs or anything else that is used to 'force build'. pick some mechs you like and start rolling dice. 2nd - understand how movement works and terrain effects. 3rd - ignore all non-mech unit types. there is plenty of time to add those later. 4th - make a weapons 'cheat sheet'. put a list of weapons for specific for each mech. include range, heat, damage and ammo. when attacking, you have a quick reference for everything that mech is using.
@henryjones3232 yes and no. sheets printed online usually give that info. however, if you copy the blank sheets from the end of the books, they won't have the info. I have also developed my own mech and vehicle sheets (blank) which have more details than the online or official sheets.
Triggering "fall down" checks is really powerful. Doing increments of 20 damage will cause additional penalties to the roll, so alpha striking an enemy heavy for like, 40 damage is great. If you can also get a leg or gyro crit mixed in, that's even better. Eventually, they are gonna fall down. Kicking is another great way to do it. If you can get a TSM mech with 20+ kick damage, that is a NASTY double PSR with penalties. Increasing piloting is very cheap compared to gunnery, and it can be really worth it. For the above reasons, mainly, since the opponent is trying to do the same to you.
I've always played Torso Twists the as you've described, and lost a Marauder to the first shot fired with Snake Eyes to the Left Torso... It only has ammo. BUT earlier this year I double checked the Torso Twist rule. ====== Torso Twists: As part of each ’Mech’s weapon attack declaration, a biped ’Mech can rotate its torso one hexside to the left or right while keeping its feet pointed straight ahead. This twist lasts for the remainder of the turn, affecting firing arcs for the Weapon Attack and Physical Attack Phases, but is not considered when determining hit locations. ====== Ouch... considered when determining hit locations.
Experience is key. How well mechs perform in games is how you develop favorite mechs based on dependability. The other aspect is building lists with a mech's role in mind. Are they support-by-fire at long range? Are they frontline mechs? Are they a cavalry mech? That has helped me so far, and I began playing in February/March timeframe.
"Fire and Maneuver" is a standard tactic I am expecting a beginning player to know. Battletech is a dice game and each 1 on the D6 is 9%. ... For a beginning player there are mechs that promote the learning of beginners. The standard recon lance in 3025 was the Phoenix Hawk, Wasp, and Stinger. This is classed as a lance light with the light designation at the end to be clear that the lance is light on mechs. A low intensity game with just these mechs should help a player learn the game. Latter own the player should be given a mech like the Shadowhawk to learn range brackets and minimum ranges. The any four of these mechs could be subbed with a Chameleon. Teaching scenarios are a good way to learn all the different types of units starting with mechs. From mechs move to vehicles and infantry and ending with aerospace or air units. Into games should have a handy cap for new players. The normal handy cap is really bad skilled pilots and crews. It is polite to run a game at regular skills. Playing with handy caps is acceptable with vet players to new players. When you as a player begin playing with high skilled units the game evolves.
identify which of your opponents mechs represents the greatest threat to you either because skill, movement, or weaponry and concentrate all of youre mechs firepower on that mech untils its taken out, or you have a ridiculously easier shot on another target. if youre opponent happens to have a mech jock with a bad piloting skill, try and knock them down and make gravity your ally. typically, youll want to knock them down so much they give up trying to get up and just lay there.
Ho. All makes sens. But whatever you do fire ppc and large lasers first and then missiles. You get more chace to hit the already weakened part of the target. This was my golden rule.
My advice to newbies is to know your minimum ranges, and to "shoot with as many as possible at one mech at a time, while having as few of your mechs open for being shot at as possible."
Not exactly a newbie tip, but My favorite tip for medium skill players is to pay attention to what if any weapons your opponent has in their arms. Particularly in a 1v1 duel, it can sometimes be more advantageous to take your opponents side arc than diving all the way to the back arc. For example, a Locust vs a Panther. If the locust can get in the panthers left arc, the panther has literally zero options that turn. It doesn't matter how slow the locust moved, or how close the locust got, the panther doesn't have a weapon that shoots backwards or a weapon in its left arm, and can't physically shoot back. Always look out for these situations, particularly if you are in a lighter, faster machine.
- Keep your mods higher than your target
- focus fire
- learn thy ranges
- big guns to open holes, small guns for crits
- keep your best armor facing the enemy, and the best armor is being unable to be shot at
- build heat, but dont burn out
- beware ammo
- melee is not to be underestimated
Played as opfor as part of a LGS campaign that was going on. Piloting a Crab I got some good Large laser shots into a Wolverine that was approaching a control point at medium range. My misplay was remaining stationary after losing initiative. Wolverine ran up, I fired all lasers, missing every shot and was promptly kicked in the center torso for 27.
Tatics for new players are also fundamental refreshers for veteran players
first and foremost - don't worry about bv, game balance, point costs or anything else that is used to 'force build'. pick some mechs you like and start rolling dice.
2nd - understand how movement works and terrain effects.
3rd - ignore all non-mech unit types. there is plenty of time to add those later.
4th - make a weapons 'cheat sheet'. put a list of weapons for specific for each mech. include range, heat, damage and ammo. when attacking, you have a quick reference for everything that mech is using.
In reference to the Cheat Sheet, doesn’t the record sheet for every battlemech already give you weapon heat, ranges, and damage?
@henryjones3232 yes and no.
sheets printed online usually give that info. however, if you copy the blank sheets from the end of the books, they won't have the info.
I have also developed my own mech and vehicle sheets (blank) which have more details than the online or official sheets.
Triggering "fall down" checks is really powerful. Doing increments of 20 damage will cause additional penalties to the roll, so alpha striking an enemy heavy for like, 40 damage is great. If you can also get a leg or gyro crit mixed in, that's even better. Eventually, they are gonna fall down. Kicking is another great way to do it. If you can get a TSM mech with 20+ kick damage, that is a NASTY double PSR with penalties.
Increasing piloting is very cheap compared to gunnery, and it can be really worth it. For the above reasons, mainly, since the opponent is trying to do the same to you.
I've always played Torso Twists the as you've described, and lost a Marauder to the first shot fired with Snake Eyes to the Left Torso... It only has ammo.
BUT earlier this year I double checked the Torso Twist rule.
======
Torso Twists: As part of each ’Mech’s weapon attack declaration, a biped ’Mech can rotate its torso one hexside to the left or right while keeping its feet pointed straight ahead. This twist lasts for the remainder of the turn, affecting firing arcs for the Weapon Attack and Physical Attack Phases, but is not considered when determining hit locations.
======
Ouch... considered when determining hit locations.
Experience is key. How well mechs perform in games is how you develop favorite mechs based on dependability. The other aspect is building lists with a mech's role in mind. Are they support-by-fire at long range? Are they frontline mechs? Are they a cavalry mech? That has helped me so far, and I began playing in February/March timeframe.
"Fire and Maneuver" is a standard tactic I am expecting a beginning player to know.
Battletech is a dice game and each 1 on the D6 is 9%.
...
For a beginning player there are mechs that promote the learning of beginners. The standard recon lance in 3025 was the Phoenix Hawk, Wasp, and Stinger. This is classed as a lance light with the light designation at the end to be clear that the lance is light on mechs.
A low intensity game with just these mechs should help a player learn the game. Latter own the player should be given a mech like the Shadowhawk to learn range brackets and minimum ranges. The any four of these mechs could be subbed with a Chameleon. Teaching scenarios are a good way to learn all the different types of units starting with mechs. From mechs move to vehicles and infantry and ending with aerospace or air units.
Into games should have a handy cap for new players. The normal handy cap is really bad skilled pilots and crews. It is polite to run a game at regular skills. Playing with handy caps is acceptable with vet players to new players. When you as a player begin playing with high skilled units the game evolves.
identify which of your opponents mechs represents the greatest threat to you either because skill, movement, or weaponry and concentrate all of youre mechs firepower on that mech untils its taken out, or you have a ridiculously easier shot on another target.
if youre opponent happens to have a mech jock with a bad piloting skill, try and knock them down and make gravity your ally. typically, youll want to knock them down so much they give up trying to get up and just lay there.
Ho. All makes sens. But whatever you do fire ppc and large lasers first and then missiles. You get more chace to hit the already weakened part of the target. This was my golden rule.
Way to nail that exact 11:38 time!
My favorite thought when trying to (do damage)
Is this an armor gap maker, or an armor gap exploiter?
Getchu an LBX to do both.