Light Mechs worthless?

[Ciaran Zagami]

Since I have to move and then shoot rather than shoot then run away I can't hit and run.

As far as I can tell their are no NARC beacons or ECMs so I can't use those



So whats the point of a light mech in this game other than an easy way to kill someone off so I dont have to pay them

[Coyote]

Ace pilot ability. You can shoot and then run.

[terrycpa1972]

Depends on the mechs that you have and the mission you are taking. Early on they have their uses. The ability to shoot and then run away is a pilot skill and not tied to the class of mech.

Mostly though as you progress heavier mechs will be what is called for in this game. There are uses for light mechs if you use them in certain ways in accordance with the initiative system and place them properly (back shots for example). They also get to go 1st so you can to move them twice if done properly so that helps with the shoot and move issue.

Mostly though since the objectives are marked on the maps for you, lights don't have a strong role in this game and will eventually be phased out by most players.

[kensw]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/battletech-community-made-game-guide-links-kivas-revision-to-abilities-1-3-and-ecks-guide.1090660/

Keep learning some people can play lights against assuallts ( I think they are crazy ) but with proper tactics lights can be useful

[wwiiogre]

Have you tried the reserve your turn feature yet?

Example:

If I reserve my light mechs that are hidden till end of the turn. Then move them, fire. Then at the beginning of the next turn I can then move them back into hiding again. Combined with the use of the morale bonus that allows you to move in one phase quicker the next turn this will allow you to fully use light mechs.

So say you have a Firestarter, you have changed it to 4 medium lasers and 6 small lasers. You are hiding, then run in and fire everything. This makes you almost go red with heat on the final phase of the turn. You have delivered a possible 220 damage with 100 from medium lasers and 120 from small lasers, not even considering if they are upgraded weapons. So had you used the morale feature that allows you to go one phase quicker the next round.

Your overheated Firestarter can now sprint out of danger into hiding and cool down this round. This mech is a real light mech slayer as you can melee other light mechs with huge evasion bonuses of 4+ chevrons and then fire at them with all 6 small lasers too. Really wrecks a light mechs day when you have 2 firestarters loaded out this way. I take their jump jets out since they are already pretty fast compared to most other light mechs and fully upgrade their armor except the back of course.

So fast striker mechs able to attack from cover then run and hide and with enough firepower to scare even medium mechs, especially if you get them in the back. 220 potential damage is the equivalent of 2 AC20's. So a firestarter in close range is scarier than a Hunchback.

Yeah, lights are not worthless. Just saying. Experiment more with the mechlab. Use the morale system. Remember that which facing you shoot a mech from effects where they take damage.

Example: If I am facing a Panther mech, I know its PPC is in its right arm. So I always shoot at it from its right side meaning way more shots hit its right arm, leg and right torso as opposed to shooting it from the front. Also if you are shooting from a lower elevation you will get more leg shots. This is important to take down mechs you potentially want to salvage with out blowing out their center core.

I play the career mode with 6 parts needed to rebuild a mech chasis and it comes with no weapons, etc. So a much harder way to play. I also play with very slow experience. This allows me to play the game much longer in each type of play. Meaning even after 6 months in game I still have only upgraded two of my starting mechs.

I started with an Enforcer, Blackjack, Panther and Urbanmech plus a Commando.

I now have Enforcer, Blackjack, Jenner and Firestarter with Panther as backup. If I can ever salvage another Firestarter the Jenner will get sent to reserve and the Panther sold.

So yeah Light Mechs are not worthless.

Good Luck,

Chris

[Tsunamisan]

Try a firestarter set to melee with 6 small lasers an jump jets it can pretty much core anyones back if you get a angle

[Langkard]

In a hot biome, 3 Firestarters with flamers and a ML plus a Panther with the PPC swapped out for a LL and LRM10 can take down heavies and even single assaults. Flamers shut them down, Panther peels off armor from a distance, and then the MLs on the Firestarters core it.

And as Tsunamisan said, on colder planets all ML Firestarters rock too.

[Fatbill]

People can say what they want.
But in the absence of drop limits, the more metal you can put in the field, the better.
Light mechs carry less firepower and can take less of a beating.
That is just a fact.
And when there is no in-mission repair and reload, and you have to face 2-3 times the tonnage, at least, why should someone pick a light mech when they can have a heavy?

Sure, some boosters of this game will do this or that with light mechs and claim they don't blow donkeys, but the fact is, they pretty much are at such a disadvantage, that for most players, it is not worth the trouble.

I suspect that "super fans" of the game try to show how "useful" light mechs are, as a means of hiding how the mediocre game mechanics make them much less useful, and being criticized as for the same.

It comes down to 4 mechs /1 lance, and that the devs have made that the basis for all the other game mechanics.

If you could have 4 heavies and a light instead of 4 assaults, or 2 assaults / 2 heavies, that would be one thing. But you can't.

4 mechs, 1 lance.

So by choosing a light mech, you are basically choosing to handicap yourself.

And that is the bottom line.

[wwiiogre]

Well Fatbill,

Have you tried some of the ambush or escort convoy missions with slow mechs or some of the target acquisition missions with slow mechs or how about some of the flash points?

In the long run in the campaign if all you want to do is play 5 skull missions with all your assaults, then yeah, rinse/wash/repeat of course its going to get boring.

I like to try different flavors of the game. I will play careers where you cannot use the mech lab other than to rebuild or switch to another canon mech used on the tabletop. This career I am playing without LRM builds or SRM builds.

Why am I limiting myself to less than a meta build. So I can enjoy the fullness of what this game is. If you only limit yourself to one item on the buffet line (ASSAULT MECHS are BIGGER and BETTER), then guess what? You will get tired of it and think it is boring. Being bored is not the games fault. A person gets bored because of lack of imagination and just doing the same old thing. Think outside the box and realize that META is boring because its just vanilla power gaming.

Play with the difficulty settings. I use 6 parts to salvage a mech and they come with no weapons. I have pilot xp on very slow. So I am sorry you are bored. Not the games fault. No worries, if you got more than $1 per hour of value then guess what, this entertainment expense was still better than going to the movies in value for your dollar per hour.

So I cannot tell you what you like, but I can tell you that you are only trying very few of the items on this buffet line. If you get tired of eating the same thing, then try something else.

Note I am just talking about the vanilla game plus DLC's, I didn't even mention the wonderful world of all the mods. Which I have yet to try because I have not found myself tired of vanilla yet because I use my imagination to get the most out of what I have, before I go looking for something else.

Good Luck,

Chris

[Petrothian]

Light mechs can be useful.

especially if you have ace pilot, max jump jets and packed multiple ML to core things from behind yeah.

Edit: jump jets are very much needed to maximize cliffs/other grounds/line of sight advantages.

[Coyote]

Originally posted by Fatbill:

So by choosing a light mech, you are basically choosing to handicap yourself.

And that is the bottom line.

You are sure allowed to have your opinion but trying to say its a fact is just completely false.

Light mechs are useful to those who are good at making them useful. Some people just cant do it and thats fine.

I have light mechs in my lance because i play them better then assaults. Assaults are too slow and not flexible enough for my tactics.
I prefer certain strategies in which the speed and movement phases of lights are absolutely crucial to success... It CANNOT be emulated by assault mechs.


Just because you suck with lights doesnt mean they are bad. Admitting your failings is what makes you actually better at something.

[Ciaran Zagami]

Originally posted by fireborn:

You are sure allowed to have your opinion but trying to say its a fact is just completely false.

Light mechs are useful to those who are good at making them useful. Some people just cant do it and thats fine.

People can beat Dark Souls using a guitar hero controller.

Just because its possible, doesn't mean its good. Its tottaly possible to beat dozens of games in ways that the devs didn't intend and that the game is not balanced for but thats the problem.


Fatbill is saying the game is balanced for heavier mechs and from what I've played of it, it tottaly is. He's not wrong in saying that while Light Mechs CAN be useful its much faster and easier to just use all assaults/heavies since the game is so poorly balanced

[Langkard]

Originally posted by Ciaran:

Originally posted by fireborn:

You are sure allowed to have your opinion but trying to say its a fact is just completely false.

Light mechs are useful to those who are good at making them useful. Some people just cant do it and thats fine.

People can beat Dark Souls using a guitar hero controller.

Just because its possible, doesn't mean its good. Its tottaly possible to beat dozens of games in ways that the devs didn't intend and that the game is not balanced for but thats the problem.


Fatbill is saying the game is balanced for heavier mechs and from what I've played of it, it tottaly is. He's not wrong in saying that while Light Mechs CAN be useful its much faster and easier to just use all assaults/heavies since the game is so poorly balanced

But doesn't that detract from your enjoyment some, blowing through the game easily? Prior to this latest DLC update, I played with the 3025 extended mod. The mod forces the player to stay in lighter mechs for a longer period, because of the sheer number of available lights and mediums used by the enemy. That means it takes longer to find enough salvage of a particular mech variant to build one. I find the game much more interesting and fun as a result.

[Ciaran Zagami]

Originally posted by Langkard:

But doesn't that detract from your enjoyment some, blowing through the game easily? Prior to this latest DLC update, I played with the 3025 extended mod. The mod forces the player to stay in lighter mechs for a longer period, because of the sheer number of available lights and mediums used by the enemy. That means it takes longer to find enough salvage of a particular mech variant to build one. I find the game much more interesting and fun as a result.

Yeah but mods have a tendancy to make games way better than they were originally, its not really fair to judge a game in any respect based on the quality of a 3rd party mod

[Langkard]

Originally posted by Ciaran:

Originally posted by Langkard:

But doesn't that detract from your enjoyment some, blowing through the game easily? Prior to this latest DLC update, I played with the 3025 extended mod. The mod forces the player to stay in lighter mechs for a longer period, because of the sheer number of available lights and mediums used by the enemy. That means it takes longer to find enough salvage of a particular mech variant to build one. I find the game much more interesting and fun as a result.

Yeah but mods have a tendancy to make games way better than they were originally, its not really fair to judge a game in any respect based on the quality of a 3rd party mod

I enjoyed the base game just fine. I simply wanted more mech choices and a longer play through with more time spent in each mech weight class. This was helped in the vanilla game in the DLC somewhat with the introduction of random starting mechs, at least in career. It makes things somewhat more challenging. I do wish they had applied it to the campaign as well, even of only for the 3 non-Blackjacks.

[Coyote]

If you can play dark souls with a steering wheel better then a controller then that makes the steering wheel a better option for you.

Its not a handicap if its better for you.

Its not balanced for heavy mechs. There wouldnt be such a thing as the phase mechanic if that were true and light mechs wouldnt have a speed advantage.

And if someone offered me 5,000$ to win a match and to pick any mech i wanted... Only 1 to go up against lets say, a king crab. Id pick a jenner without hesitation... Well, until UW then id pick a raven.

Like i said. Lights are better then heavy mechs at certain things.