Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

[TheQuestionMan]

Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly. I am sure that every Battletech Fan has a favourite Mecha and Why. So here is your chance Fan Boy (and Girls)

 

First Love: Griffin 3025 - The design looked like a giant man in a battlesuit rather than a Battlemech. In my first Lance on Lance Battles they were the mainstay of my units.

 

Favourites Light: Valkerie - These Mechs were blessed or something. They always managed to leave the field.

Favourites Medium: PheonixHawk 3025 - Speed, Maneuverability, and Fire Power all combined with saome descent armor (Once you removed the Machine Guns and Ammo and Added Armour. If a GM would not let me I always dumped the MG Ammo at the begining on the Mission. BOOM!!!

Favourites Heavy: A toss up between the ELH - Thunderbolt (Jump Jets) and Liao Crusader.

Favourites Assault: None

 

 

Just Plain Silly: Cheetah 3055 - (Clan Tech), 25 tons, Quad, XL Engine, WMP 12, RMP18 (*24) 5 Tons Ferro Fiborous Internal Structure, and 4 Tons of Pod Space.

Primary Configuration: (Designed to Scout for Arrow IV's, etc...)

Active Probe

ECM Suite

MASC (24 Movement Points and Lateral Movement Capablities)

TAG

 

Configuration A: (Designed as a Scout Hunter)

x4 ER Medium Lasers

 

Configuration B: (Designed as a Pursuit and Harrassment)

x1 ER Large Laser

 

Configuration C:

x1 Heavy Large Laser (Designed as a Head Hunter)

 

Configuration D: (Designed to Support Primary Variant)

MASC

x3 ER Medium Lasers

 

Configuration E: (Designed as a Anti Infantry and Anti Power Armour)

Active Probe

x6 Micro ER Pulse Lasers

 

Special Tactics: Maneuver and Attack, never sceed the initiative and draw the enemy close and leave him with nothing to hit or an impossible shot.

 

Pheonix Hawk's controlled by me joined forces and fought as a team. I have to gloat a little as I recently proved to a friend that a Pheonix Hawk is more than an challenge for even a Warhammer.

 

 

 

LOL

 

QM

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Good heavens. It's actually been quite a while since I've played anything except the video games, which is a shame in & of itself. I would have to say. Hrm.

 

My first love is probably the Phoenix Hawk since it was the first LAM I'd ever encountered and I thought the concept was just fantastic. That was a definate spark of the imagination, so you could say 'First Love' right there. That was from playing the ORIGINAL MechWarrior game on an 8088 back in the day-day; also why I bought the game and spent the next few years building mechs.

 

Favorite? Eh. I preferred to design my own. The Warhammer always made for a great piece of cover art, and then later I got involved on the Clan Side and that created a whole new debatable realm. I don't think I have a favorite, to be honest. Nothing that jumps out and says "Pilot me!" since I didn't pay attention to the Spec Sheets as they were released; i alwasy flipped through them thinking "I can build something better than this!" And I did.

 

Just Plain Silly: Playing MechWarrior 3 online with my clan, the first thing they said after recruiting me: "Go build a 40 ton SCAT. Equip it with nothing but small lasers." I stared at the speakers in disbelief. "Dude, I'm much more effective in the 50 to 60 tonnage range - I prefer balance, what's the deal?" "Just trust us."

 

Sure enough. You could do some serious head hunting in an L-SCAT; 10 small lasers, some heat sinks, a couple of jump jets and a crap load of manueverability. All without touching the point buy bank on a Clan drop. To this day, I still file it under "Absurd but somehow functional."

[bwdemon]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

My first battle ever pitted my BLR-1G Battlemaster against a friend's MAD-3R Marauder. The original TRO:3025 compared them as equals and I just refused to believe it. Despite the massive amount of luck involved in any game of Battletech, the BLR-1G handily won that battle and many that would follow, losing only twice to good weapon grouping and crits. Because of this, the BLR-1G Battlemaster will always be near and dear to me.

 

Another mech I really like is the 3025 Rifleman. I like both the RFL-3N (LLs & AC/5s) and the RFL-3C (AC/10s), preferring the former for looks and the latter for ability. Any of the later variants tended to carry XL engines, which made them unusable, AFAIC.

 

I always liked Archers with LRM20s, because nothing seemed so cool to me as the thought of forty missiles streaking away at some far off target, covering it in a series of explosions. The LRM15 Archers are occasionally the better mech, but they just don't seem "Archer" enough to me. The ARC-7L Archer is just amazing - the epitome of what an Archer should be.

 

I'm a fan of Wolf's Dragoons and have been since the mid-80s. This tends to color my mech selection, too. Unlike many of my peers, I prefer the lumbering Annihilator to the unstoppable Marauder II. Why? I like autocannon and missiles - things that go "boom" - and the Marauder II focuses on energy weapons. Plus, people underestimate the Annihilator. As you move forward in the timeline, the Gallowglas also becomes a favorite.

 

I could really go on about so many mechs that it would take forever. Suffice to say that I am more than happy to ditch mobility for mass, long-range weapons, and armor. Basically, if you don't move and use mobility as a "dump stat" for your mech selections, then it becomes easy to make the most of the rest of your attributes (mass, armor, and lots of big, long-range weapons) within the BV allowed. Part of this is due to BV overrating mobility (especially jump jets), so if/when they fix the system I may have to change my ways.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

I will list my favorites by Weight Class:

 

Light: Wolfhound, Commando

 

Medium: Hatchetman, Centurion, Wolverine,

 

Heavy: Thunderbolt, Marauder

 

Assault: Awesome, Highlander, Steiner Banshee upgrade, Marauder 2

 

My personal favorite mech was in our last campaign a good many years ago

it was a modified 3025 Awesome.

 

dropped the 3 PPC in favor of 3 ER Large Lasers and 3 Medium Pulse Lasers

or 6 regular medium Lasers

 

you lose a bit of damage and range, but gain close in firepower bigtime

 

my other favorite, modified Black Knight, which has plenty of room for an XL engine, and adding extra firepower of choice

[incrdbil]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

The first mech I really used consistantly was a Battleaxe.

 

I was partial to the Griffin, when facing anything other than a medium/light mech.

 

I was fond of Warhammers for a while.

 

Currently, my favorite mechs in the Light rage are the Osiris (4d version only) And the Dasher H.

 

On the medium side, I'm partial to the new Griffin, The variosu Woverines, and the Phoenix Hawk 3d and 6d. As ta clanner, the Stormcrow is king,.

 

On the heavy side, the Warhammer 8D, the Black Knight 12C, and the new Steiner Maruader are favorites. Too many fun Clan machines to list, though ther Nova CVat Omnimech series deserves special note. Nothing wrong with a Classic Archer or Warhammer 6D either.

 

On the Assault side, I'm currently a big fan of the Stalker 8D. The egg with legs is deadlier than ever.

[Sundog]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

The original model Battlemaster remains my all time fave; I still condsider it the best 85 tonner, with the latest upgrades.

 

However, I also like the Clan Supernova. Not an Omni, but who cares?

[Old Man]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Anybody did something silly like build 5-10 ton mechs?

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Faves are Phoenix Hawk and Marauder. Partly due to Robotech images in memory, partly because they suit my playstyle pretty well. In campaigns those are generally what I gravitate to if I can.

 

I like most of the old school mechs (ie those in initial set) to a large degree and some of their variants. The jump-Thunderbolt is great, like some of the Archer mods. Most of the later designs never did anything for me on an emotional level, but don't mind playing them.

[Kaeto]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

First Love: Shadow Hawk

 

Faves: Scorpion (modified to have one size smaller engine and jump jets and E.R. PPC) ,Rifleman(modified with 2 large lasers on one side and an AC 20 on the other)

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Anybody did something silly like build 5-10 ton mechs?

 

 

Don't they call that body armor?

 

[Old Man]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Usually they only have .5 ton of armor at best. I think you could fit a 1 ton weapon and .5 ton of ammo.

 

Having 10 of them peck away at your mech is a pain.

[incrdbil]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

 

Don't they call that body armor?

 

 

Well, some industrial mechs (that use ICE engines) that little. The Clans now have advanced machines called protomechs that weight up to 9 tons.

[tgrandjean]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Favorite: Clan tech: Blackhawk. 12 ER Med lasers. Just plain fun.

 

First love: I had managed to convince the rest of our group to buy Heavy Class mechs in the 3025 Mechwarrior game that we were running (aside from the player we designated Lance Leader after he went whole hog and bought Assault and with a lucky roll netted him an Atlas). I was hoping for the classics: a Warhammer, a Marauder, maybe even a Grasshopper. Instead I ended up with a Thunderbolt. What the hell? This doesn't have enough punch to it's weapons! It doesn't even move that fast! However, in play I realized that it was a pocket Assault mech: It packed more armor than anything else. I spent most of the game charging the enemy, netting buckets of damage in physical attacks, and taking firepower that would have crippled the Warhammer and Marauder in the group. I ended up dubbed 'Punisher' after I charged a gate, knocked it off it's hinges flattening the Phoenix Hawk behind it, trampled the mech kicking it's head off, then proceeded to intimidate the rest of the pirates by exclaiming 'Who wants more?!'.

 

Silly: I upscaled the Blackhawk to 65 tons and boosted the MA to 6/9/6. I suprised the player opposing me by keeping the speed down to that of the Blackhawk, then jumping behind him at the perfect moment unloading with all the lasers scoring 10 hits. Mech goes boom. (And I spend a turn or two unloading all the heat I had accumulated.)

[Inu]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Faves are Phoenix Hawk and Marauder. Partly due to Robotech images in memory, partly because they suit my playstyle pretty well. In campaigns those are generally what I gravitate to if I can.

 

I like most of the old school mechs (ie those in initial set) to a large degree and some of their variants. The jump-Thunderbolt is great, like some of the Archer mods. Most of the later designs never did anything for me on an emotional level, but don't mind playing them.

The robotech designs were the classics.

 

Yes, I'd have to agree that the Veritech was my first love. Nothing drew me to it like that one did. It DEMANDED that I pilot it.

 

My favorite mech was probably the Battlemaster, like others. Good combination of abilities, particularly with the upgraded technology. Actually, in the 3025 tech, I always found it a tad lacking. Was never a huge fan of PPCs -- too much heat and not enough damage increased from large lasers to really bother with the extra tonnage, if I remember right (though it's been ages since I looked at the rules, I might be misremembering it).

 

Odd: the obsession with AC-5s that heavier mechs had. I dont' know about you, but using hte official maps, I never ended up playing at ranges that allowed those things to matter. I guess it was more my play style, though. I was one of those 'get in close and blaze away' players, so I favoured medium lasers. Nothin' but medium lasers!

 

Unless, of course, we were buying forces with money. Then it was vehicles all the way. Nothing gives you bang for your buck like tanks.

[Zed-F]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

True.

 

Especially helicopters. Small, cheap 5-tonners that go 15/23 or some absurd speed like that.

 

Loaded with ammunition. Lots of ammunition.

 

Which you use to ram into the enemy mechs. Boom!

 

One shredded enemy mech costing millions of C-bills, in exchange for a helicopter costing maybe tens of thousands of C-bills. I'll make that trade every time.

 

---

 

Even if you don't want to do/allow that, a dozen 5 ton helicopters with a couple popguns each is still a serious threat to most mechs, and far cheaper to boot. Good luck hitting something that fast, or preventing it from getting behind you...

[Enforcer84]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

First Loves:

Light: Wasp

Medium: Phoenix Hawk

Heavy: Archer or Crusader

Assault: ...? What are those? BattleMaster I guess.

[incrdbil]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

 

Even if you don't want to do/allow that, a dozen 5 ton helicopters with a couple popguns each is still a serious threat to most mechs, and far cheaper to boot. Good luck hitting something that fast, or preventing it from getting behind you...

Helicopters can be a great harassing element. You have to be careful not to get carried away, and attract seriosu fire. The rotor hit tables are unforgiving. With pretty much every weapon in the game capable of destroying the rotors with one hit, and rotor destruction equalling an instant, nearly always fatal crash, the VTOL in CBT is a very fine instrument to wield.

 

and it really gets scary if anythign on the board carries cluster ammunition. Whats real fun is the conventional matchps--no mechs, just vehciles, infantry, VTOLs. Equip them with infernos, or thunder munitions to lay minefields, and you can really make the enemies day miserable.

 

Before I gave up the ways of the munchkin and using custom designs, I had a VTOL with 6 LRM-5 launchers and tons of amo as one design, then at one truely shamefuul period, I contemplated putting an Arrow IV artillery launcher on a VTOL. That would have been a hilairous image upon launch. I've since reformed my wicked ways.

 

Mostly.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Helicopters can be a great harassing element. You have to be careful not to get carried away, and attract seriosu fire. The rotor hit tables are unforgiving. With pretty much every weapon in the game capable of destroying the rotors with one hit, and rotor destruction equalling an instant, nearly always fatal crash, the VTOL in CBT is a very fine instrument to wield.

 

and it really gets scary if anythign on the board carries cluster ammunition. Whats real fun is the conventional matchps--no mechs, just vehciles, infantry, VTOLs. Equip them with infernos, or thunder munitions to lay minefields, and you can really make the enemies day miserable.

 

Before I gave up the ways of the munchkin and using custom designs, I had a VTOL with 6 LRM-5 launchers and tons of amo as one design, then at one truely shamefuul period, I contemplated putting an Arrow IV artillery launcher on a VTOL. That would have been a hilairous image upon launch. I've since reformed my wicked ways.

 

Mostly.

 

Yeah you did go overboard. I remember the pain of having to deal with you. I still remember being ambushed by those VTOL's.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Now I loved LAM's. The others knew that, so as soon as I find one....boom, lost the conversion tech, got stuck in the middle form. After that it was still a great mech, but not all that good in space.

[incrdbil]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Now I loved LAM's. The others knew that' date=' so as soon as I find one....boom, lost the conversion tech, got stuck in the middle form. After that it was still a great mech, but not all that good in space.[/quote']

 

Well, you have to admit. Being 'stuck' in aeromech form wasn't all that bad Jump 15, hello back shot!

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Yeah I did like that part of it and we did finally find a new unit and my C then lied, cheated and stole everyone he could find to replace that one he did have. Plus he was a natural pilot. Wheee!!!

[Jhamin]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

My first love was always the 2025 Awesome. When I started reading the Tech Readouts and not really understanding the rules I still understood that here was something tough and powerful that could reach out and hurt from a long way away.

 

On the other end of the scale was the Spider. Blindingly fast for 2025, full jumping, and twice the armor and firepower of the only other mechs that could keep up.

 

 

Just plain favorite? The Panther and the Hunchback. Both punched way above their weight class but couldn't get cocky. I love that in a game.

[JmOz]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Mech wise I think my first love was the Phenoix Hawk LAM (I only really got into the mini game, never the video)

 

For munchkiny build

 

a Lance

1) Command Mech, C(3) master computer, lots of armor, lots of guns

2) Artilery Mech, couple long toms, slave computer

3) LAM mech, Slave Computer

4) LAM Mech, slave computer

 

Drop of maps away, LAMS switch to Aerotech mode to fly in, change and target, artilery drops are nasty

 

Pure Looks, love the warhammer

[incrdbil]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Mech wise I think my first love was the Phenoix Hawk LAM (I only really got into the mini game, never the video)

 

 

Drop of maps away, LAMS switch to Aerotech mode to fly in, change and target, artilery drops are nasty

 

 

You know, when they were in the game, in theorey you could have mounted Arrow IV Artillery on a LAM. Talk about your mobile fire support.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly.

 

Didn't I do that with my Phoenix Hawk? I seem to remeber doing that incrdbil.