Mech Loadouts??!?

[rush_83]

Hello! I`m a newbie at battletech.. i love this game but its for me very hard to get a good loadout for my mechs, especially if the mech is "naked" and i have to give him a loadout by myself.. i searched already @google but found nothing really helpful (only a mechlabor etc.. but the most findings are for mechwarrior online..)
and my second question is: is there a german forum or community with some help or loadouts? its difficult enough to unterstand the whole shortcuts etc.., therefore it would be nice if there would be no language barrier :)
THX for your help in advance..

[nyanko]

There is an information sign on the loadout screen, actuall two, it's a round button with a '!' inside. When you click on it, it gives you the standard loadout for the mech.

[pete3great]

It can be a bit overwhelming - and some of the default designs work great for tabletop, but not in video game form. One technique is to specialize 'Mechs by range or by job you intend to use them for. You want a 'Mech to be a close range brawler? Look for something that can sport multiple support weapons and armor it up. You want something that can hit multiple targets from down range? A 'Mech with a couple LRMs, plenty of ammo, some light armor and handful of heatsinks will do the trick.

[Lmatt]

The game forums are probably your best bet. The link to it is the following: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/battletech.994/

You could also post the mech you wish to know a loadout for and people will probably help.

The only german community I could find is from the following post:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/battletech.994/

[BoydofZINJ]

Armor vs Heat vs Damage vs weapon loadouts.

Remember, you have 4 mechs and each one can either be a generalization or a specialist. I would keep most of the load outs AS IS, until you get a better understanding of your own playing style. For instance, I am a calvary LRM and AC type of player. I put jump jets on all my mechs, I recently got my heaviest mech, an Orion ON1-K and I stripped some armor (something I would never do in any other game) and added Jump Jets an AC 10+++ and some LRMs (with 2 med lasers as back up for close range fights). I use Jump Jets to get evasion and break line of Sight and lob LRMs on targets. I make use of the "sensor lock" skill in 1 mechwarrior in my lance (and I have a back up mechwarrior if my primary "sensor lock" person gets injured).

Determine your play style and play and customize your mechs as such.

[rush_83]

thx for the quick answers!!! (shame on me, after i posted, 2 mins later i found a post in this steam community where somebody posted good loadouts for the mechs +ggg+)

[Lucius Kern]

Each mech has various location they can add weapons ect.
My All-arounder setup for Mediums, Including Panthers (Light)
2 Jump Jets
4 Heat Sinks
2-3 Medium Lazers
0-2 Autocannons 2 or 5
0-1 Large Lazer
0-1 PPC
0-2 Small Lazer

Rest on Armor. gives a rather sturdy but decent dps and range

My Scout are primarily Spiders
4 Jump Jets
1 Heat Sinks
2 Machine Guns
2 Machine Gun Ammo

Rest on Armor: Spiders are really my mobile scout, that is used to shredd enemies that is without armor. Since Machine Gun have increased chance to deal critical damage it is excellent to rush the spider up close for a melee and followed by dual machine gun fire once the Mediums and Heavies have destroyed the main armor of the target. Spider in itself is not suited to kill anything beyond a Vechile, but as a Support unit it is very decent. Also having a Tactical Mechwarrior lets it Sensor Lock a target to reduce evasion and enable LRM long range barrage.

My Missile Barrager - Light or Medium
2 Jump Jets
1 Heat Sink
2 LRM 5 or 10
2 SRM 2 or 4
Small Lazer
2 LRM Ammo
2 SRM Ammo

Very Low Armor: Keep this bad boy as far back from the fight as possible, in forests to get cover. Sacrifise armor for more LRM if you can, Using the Scout and Sensor Lock it should be able to unleash death from afar. Should also be a Tactical since they gain more accuracy with indirect fire with LRM's.

I tend to use 1 Scout, 1 Missile and 2 All-Arounders for my missions. I am sure that others make their mechs different and think my setup sucks, however this setup works wonders for me.

[Moriendor]

At the very beginning I would advise to leave the mechs with the default loadouts until you learn a bit about their strengths and weaknesses but also about the various mission types and specific requirements.
You don't want to bring a knife to a gunfight (e.g. if you have to intercept a convoy and go in with slow, immobile medium mechs only).

Once you have made some cash (make sure to always exhaust all contracts before taking on the next story/priority mission), you can start looking at what the stores have to offer. There is some yummy "+++" equipment out there. Buy it if you have the chance and the cash!

Unless I need mobility, I now bring all my medium mechs with upgraded equipment like LRM++ launchers and AC++ cannons etc.
I have focused on mobility and firepower, i.e. max jump jets and few big guns/missile racks rather than more smaller ones.

This approach has given me a significant boost and I can sometimes take out enemy medium mechs in a single attack. Light mechs really often go down from a single strike now. You may have to fine-tune the cooling, ammo reqs etc. and play around with it a little.

I would suggest to "grow into it". Learn as you play. Do not play around with your loadouts just because you can but do it purposeful once you have learned what matters and once you have acquired some decent equipment as salvage or from stores.

The default loadouts are fairly well balanced. As tempting as it may be, you do not really have to change stuff immediately. Take it easy. Grow into it. Learn as you play.

[pete3great]

Originally posted by Moriendor:

(make sure to always exhaust all contracts before taking on the next story/priority mission)

Back up. You can run out of contracts to do? I thought they randomly generated or something.

[Galactic Origins]

you might run out of contracts on a world if you do them all
then you have to go to a new world
if you go back, the world that ran out will have more to do

[evilauthor]

Originally posted by Galactic Origins:

you might run out of contracts on a world if you do them all
then you have to go to a new world
if you go back, the world that ran out will have more to do

Yup. And since doing a mission only takes one day, it's more efficient to do all the missions you can on a single world before moving on to the next one. At least it is if you don't take significant damage or injuries that create a lot of downtime before you can deploy again.

If you DO take significant damage though and your downtime is as long or longer than the trip to the next world, it might be more lucrative to travel to the next world while you're waiting on people to heal and mechs to get fixed.

And it may just be me, but I've noticed that there's far fewer "no need to travel" contracts once you get the Argo.

[Evol_Prodigy]

If light mech: you're so early in the game that default loadout will last until you get medium. If medium mech: Just put a 10 or 15 long range missile and keep them at range, or a 6 short range missile, then a bunch of medium lasers and bring them in to fight short range. If large mech, just put a 15 long range missile, a 6 short range missile, and an AC20 and stay at medium/long range, OR a 15 long range missile, a 6 short range missile, and medium lasers to fill and go in to short range. Assault mech default builds are all plenty fine to destroy enemies all the way to end game.

Always check the store when you get to a new system and upgrade your old pieces to more +'s when available. Get comm systems in all your mechs so you can abuse called shots to middle core, or use missiles to knock them down, then hit one leg, then right core then left core, if you want the salvage for the mech.

Don't spread damage. Right-click to inspect all the enemies and pick the most dangerous one and kill one at a time. As you destroy pieces of mechs, keep inspecting to make sure you're still attacking the most dangerous, since you might be taking off the weapons you considered dangerous.

Keep ship morale high, prioritize morale upgrades, store any mechs you get once you get 4-6 you keep available for use, don't have more than 8 pilots, they get expensive.

Don't take less than 1 salvage choice, try to take one-less-than-maximum salvage choice for most missions if you can afford it, the mech pieces pile up and easily surpass the cash.

Sacrifice a halfling to RNGesus.

[Strayed]

Starter mechs:

Blackjack:
4x MLAS
2x Flamers
4x JJs
Max armour
Rest of weight as heatsinks

Use: play this think like a Jenner (ie a striker but minus the SRM) - run dodge jump around and use flamers to overload lasboats

Vindicator:
4x MLAS
2x Flamers
1x SRM6 (1t ammo)
4x JJ
Max armour to the front; 50 RRT, 50 LRT & 55 CRT
6x HS

Use: play this like mostly like a striker and brawl when you have lance mates giving DFS; melee combat is a good option with your flamers and DFA only as a last resort

Spider:
(its really only good for spotting and quickly capping objectives/drawing fire)
its default build I suppose is about as useful as you're going to get.. I got rid of this thing right after the first mission

Shadowhawk 2H:
(If you like shadowhawk, try to get the 2D)
1x Flamer
1x MLAS
3x SRM4 (2t ammo)
5x JJ
max armour to the front; 50 RRT, 50 LRT & 65 CRT
2x HS

Use: play this like a striker as and only brawl as a last resort; although consideration should be given to melee combat and DFA only as a last resort


Hope this helps

xoxo

[ImHelping]

Also, some mechs when they come with terrible armor by default. ALWAYS CHECK THE HEAD.

The Shadowhawk D variant is a wonderful robot. But it's default armor is super terrible, for example.

[Landomatic]

Originally posted by rush_83:

thx for the quick answers!!! (shame on me, after i posted, 2 mins later i found a post in this steam community where somebody posted good loadouts for the mechs +ggg+)

Care to share said links?