Build Your Own Mech

[Clever Name]

This is the place to discuss your dream loadouts in nauseating detail.

If you don't know the construction rules and limits, this is a useful aid:

https://megamek.org/downloads.html

The lab allows you to build anything quickly.

I'll start.

75 ton Inner Sphere mech. 4 jump jets. Ferro-Fibrous armor, maximum allowable. Endo-Steel construction. Standard 300 engine, top speed of 64 KPH. 12 integrated double heatsinks. Guardian ECM and Beagle Active Probe.

Weapons: 1 Large Pulse Laser, 3 Medium Pulse Lasers, 1 LRM-15+Artemis, with 2.5 tons of ammo and a CASE protecting it.

To make enough critical space for everything, I need to remove a hand and lower arm actuator on one arm; this arm will also carry the large pulse laser. The medium pulse lasers will be spread across the other arm and the CT. The LRM will be in a side torso, with its ammo and CASE all together.

Design logic:

Long range firepower comes from the LRM-15. Artemis ensures accuracy (in pen and paper rules, a minimum of 6 missiles would hit even on the worst roll). The ECM unit would negate an enemy's Artemis system, still leaving me with an accuracy advantage in long range duels.

Mid range damage comes from the large pulse laser. In the tabletop rules, pulse lasers confer a -2 difficulty modifier to hit, meaning they're more likely to hit their targets. This doesn't translate as well into video games, where the difference between pulse and regular lasers isn't as noticeable.

I chose a pulse laser instead of an ER PPC because of greater heat efficiency and the increased hit chance. It also saved one critical space on the mech.

Finally, my close range damage comes from the 3 medium pulse lasers. In tabletop rules, that's 18 damage for 12 heat. Almost as much damage as an AC/20 (albeit with more heat), but with the hit probability bonus.

While that weapon loadout is hardly impressive for a 3050 era heavy mech, I purposely avoided using an XL engine for safety reasons (in the tabletop rules, if you lose a side torso with an XL engine, that counts as 3 engine hits automatically, meaning you're cored).

Overall, it's a very conservative 'jack of all, master of none' concept. It's not going to wow anyone or overwhelm anything, as it's built for statistical safety above all else.

[Bovril Brigadier]

https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3283
https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3281
Amaris sends his regards.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by Strayed:

https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3283
https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3281
Amaris sends his regards.

Way too many weapon groups to juggle for my liking.

I understand the theoretical advantages of having a flamer for use against infantry, etc, but in practice I'd just never use it. Whenever I see that many secondary and tertiary weapon systems, I immediately want to strip them out and either add armor, jump jets, electronics, or heat sinks in their place.

For instance, on the Rampage 4G, I'd take out the MASC system. An extra 20 KPH running speed is nothing compared to jump capability in terms of overall mobility.

4 jets would fit in the space and weight a MASC system uses. I'd also eliminate both the medium laser and the flamer, and replace them with either a single medium pulse or two small pulse lasers.

For the 5G, I'd do the same to the MASC, and gut the Streak SRM2s besides the medium lasers and flamer. That'd free up 8.5 tons. I'd get another half ton of LRM ammo, and 4 medium pulse lasers for the other 8 tons. Or 3 medium pulse and 2 extra double heat sinks for more heat efficiency overall.

[Valen]

Advanced wonders of technology and innovation does not come with the limited mech builder you have linked.

This mech would be used by the Draconis Combine during a banzai charge.

My favorite build would be a Urbanmech with a Arrow IV loaded with a Davy Crockett-M Nuke (1 Round) supported by 2 medium lasers. Mech would have full cockpit CBRN defense protection.

This build would be possible with a mech builder with full construction & weapon support.

The eel rarely seeks the same prey as the goldfish. The eagle flies not with the pigeon. The tiger needs no friendship with the goat. Such as the paths of the Draconis Combine and the Terran Hegemony.

-Shiro Kurita

[Clever Name]

Wow, this thread was stillborn.

I vaguely recalled I made something like this, and I didn't want to start a redundant thread until I found this one back.

Anyway, I made up a new series of homebuilt designs. Might as well post them here. I also updated the link in the OP, because the old one seemed broken.

So, for starters, my perfect mech would probably look something like this:

3050 Inner Sphere tech. 55 tons. 5/8/5 movement. Endo/Ferro upgrades. Standard engine. 10.5 tons of armor. 12 double sinks. Large pulse laser, 3 medium lasers, 2 SRM-2 Streaks with one ton of ammo between them. ECM.

Total cost: 5.675m

My perfect light mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 30 tons, 10/15/10 movement. Endo/Ferro/XL upgrades. 6 tons of armor. 10 double sinks. 1 medium pulse laser.

Total cost: 5.967m

I also decided to make a custom Ostsol; I like the Ostmann series, but not what they did with the 3050 update (the XL engine isn't necessary at all). So here's mine:

60 tons, 5/8 movement, Endo/Ferro. 10 tons of armor (only 10 points in each arm, no weapons in the arms, which allows the torso and leg armor to be nearly maxed). Standard engine. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 regular medium lasers (two rear facing). 14 double sinks.

Total cost: 5.67m

My perfect heavy mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 75 tons. 4/6/4 movement. Endo upgrade, no Ferro or XL. 14.5 tons of armor. 14 double sinks. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 SRM-2 Streaks with 2 tons of ammo between them all. Small laser in the head. CASE in both side torsos.

Total cost: 7.425m

My perfect assault mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 85 tons. 3/5/3 movement. Endo upgrade, no Ferro or XL. 16.5 tons of armor. 10 double sinks. 2 Gauss rifles, one in each arm. 6 tons of reloads. 3 medium pulse lasers.

Total cost: 8.2m

This assault mech can be upscaled to 100 tons to fit a full 19.5 tons of armor, an extra medium pulse laser, and a small laser. Total cost is 10.4m.

Design notes:

Even though I prefer 3025 era, I admit that Star League tech/Lostech gives you much better fitting options without going so far as Clan tech or post-Jihad tech.

So, while I would drive many 3025 mechs, I can't call them as 'perfect' as 3050 tech allows. My idea of perfection entails maximum armor, minimal explosion risk, and along those lines, a refusal to use XL engines when possible. Quite simply: I prefer survival over damage dealing potential. Most of my mech designs are meant to fight to the death, still having some combat ability even after losing a side torso.

If my obsession with pulse lasers and SRMs appears rather boring, well... I'm an incredibly boring person.

[Bovril Brigadier]

Think cause it just cause everyone will eventually randomly discuss their own homebrew in a thread at some point and threads can actually be easily buried around here.

Though if were to contribute to this one I'd make more of amendments to existing designs rather than making my own, nothing too drastic to make them feel like they fit in with what has already been established. Idea is to make something that is a bit too overly generic and mediocre and make it slightly stand out more but not to the point it becomes overpowered or makes other Mechs redundant.
Like if I were to take the Shadow Hawk SHD-2H as a base,[mordel.net] then make the slightest of changes to it I'd come up with two options:
First is to drop the SRM2 altogether and use the tonnage gained to give it a secondary Medium Laser and extra ton of protection. You still end up with a Jack-of-all-trades Mech but something that fits more comfortably for when you can't decide when you want a Wolverine or a Griffin.
Second option is to drop the LRM5 for an extra SRM2, Medium Laser and ton of protection this time. What you get is a ghetto 2Hb kind of like what you have with what the Atlas AS7-RS is to the Atlas II.
These are simple changes that give the Shadow Hawk bit more of an identity other than looking cool and having great quirks without taking the spotlight away from other designs.

[ProbablyLose]

Originally posted by Clever Name:

So, for starters, my perfect mech would probably look something like this:
3050 Inner Sphere tech. 55 tons. 5/8/5 movement. Endo/Ferro upgrades. Standard engine. 10.5 tons of armor. 12 double sinks. Large pulse laser, 3 medium lasers, 2 SRM-2 Streaks with one ton of ammo between them. ECM.

This looks solid to me.

Originally posted by Clever Name:

60 tons, 5/8 movement, Endo/Ferro. 10 tons of armor (only 10 points in each arm, no weapons in the arms, which allows the torso and leg armor to be nearly maxed). Standard engine. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 regular medium lasers (two rear facing). 14 double sinks.

I would remove one of the rear facing lasers and add another ton of armor. And probably also maybe move the remaining rear facing laser to the front. Those arms without weapons still act as shields for the torso and when they fall off, the torso takes their hit rolls.

Originally posted by Clever Name:

My perfect heavy mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 75 tons. 4/6/4 movement. Endo upgrade, no Ferro or XL. 14.5 tons of armor. 14 double sinks. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 SRM-2 Streaks with 2 tons of ammo between them all. Small laser in the head. CASE in both side torsos.

I would probably take it down to 2 SRM-2 streaks with one ton of ammo, remove case from one side, remove the small laser because I never use them, and add a medium laser, another heat sink, and some electronics. Something like that.

Originally posted by Clever Name:

My perfect assault mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 85 tons. 3/5/3 movement. Endo upgrade, no Ferro or XL. 16.5 tons of armor. 10 double sinks. 2 Gauss rifles, one in each arm. 6 tons of reloads. 3 medium pulse lasers.

This also looks quite solid.

I left out your light mech from my comments because in general I avoid using light mechs whenever I can get away with it. I can see the reasoning behind your design of course.

Originally posted by Strayed:

First is to drop the SRM2 altogether and use the tonnage gained to give it a secondary Medium Laser and extra ton of protection.

Second option is to drop the LRM5 for an extra SRM2, Medium Laser and ton of protection this time.

Both are good changes to make. Or you could drop both missile systems, add two medium lasers, heat sinks and armor. But I am not really a hater of the original Shadow Hawk design.

[unskilled-]

Ideal Mech for me would be my custom Battlemaster -- 3M configuration only swapping around hardpoints -- Ballistic (either Gauss or UAC/20 or twin RAC/5s) on the Torso along with two Large Pulse, 4-6 medium lasers on the arms. XL325 engine (64kmph), fill rest of crit slots with DHS and then max out rest of armor.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by ProbablyLose:

Originally posted by Clever Name:

60 tons, 5/8 movement, Endo/Ferro. 10 tons of armor (only 10 points in each arm, no weapons in the arms, which allows the torso and leg armor to be nearly maxed). Standard engine. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 regular medium lasers (two rear facing). 14 double sinks.

I would remove one of the rear facing lasers and add another ton of armor. And probably also maybe move the remaining rear facing laser to the front. Those arms without weapons still act as shields for the torso and when they fall off, the torso takes their hit rolls.

I'm not a huge fan of rear facing lasers myself, but I consider it part of the Ostsol's unique flavor. Also, moving any lasers from rear to front upsets the heat balance. As it stands now, 2 large pulses plus 2 regular med lasers plus running = 28 heat. It's unlikely you'd ever be firing at targets in front of and behind you in the same turn, but should that ever happen, you could always just not fire the two forward meds, and fire the rearward meds (with the large pulse lasers still firing forward).

Originally posted by ProbablyLose:

Originally posted by Clever Name:

My perfect heavy mech: 3050 Inner Sphere, 75 tons. 4/6/4 movement. Endo upgrade, no Ferro or XL. 14.5 tons of armor. 14 double sinks. 2 large pulse lasers, 4 SRM-2 Streaks with 2 tons of ammo between them all. Small laser in the head. CASE in both side torsos.

I would probably take it down to 2 SRM-2 streaks with one ton of ammo, remove case from one side, remove the small laser because I never use them, and add a medium laser, another heat sink, and some electronics. Something like that.

Small lasers are more of a lore thing, for anti-infantry duty. CASE and SRM redundancy in both side torsos is necessary because I like mechs to have total symmetry; they can lose a side-T and still possess at least one heavy weapon and a few secondary weapons (and ammo) on the remaining side.

As for the SRM spam, it's because SRMs are basically crit-through-armor machines. Each SRM missile that hits gets its own location roll; streaks automatically hit if lock is achieved. Thus, if 4xSRM2 Streaks hit in the same turn, you're looking at 8 hit locations to be rolled.

If, say, 3xSRM6s hit in the same turn, there's a good chance only half of each missile group will actually hit, meaning you're only getting 9 individual hit locations (on average).

So those 4 Streaks are fairly efficient in the greater scheme of things.

All that said, I do appreciate your feedback. I'm not saying these designs of mine are the best mechs possible, but more along the lines of 'this will probably be successful 68% of the time.'

I design mechs the same way an accountant would, pretty much.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by Strayed:

Though if were to contribute to this one I'd make more of amendments to existing designs rather than making my own, nothing too drastic to make them feel like they fit in with what has already been established. Idea is to make something that is a bit too overly generic and mediocre and make it slightly stand out more but not to the point it becomes overpowered or makes other Mechs redundant.

You'll consider these changes 'drastic' no doubt, but this is what I'd do to make the 3050 Stalker more specialized:

Remove the LRMs, add 2 more SRM6. Remove large lasers. Add Artemis for each SRM. 6 total tons of SRM ammo. 16 double sinks. Upgrade medium lasers to pulse. Add CASE, jump jets, and an ECM. 16 tons of regular armor.

Presto, you have an absolute nightmare close quarters assault mech.

[Bovril Brigadier]

Originally posted by ProbablyLose:

Both are good changes to make. Or you could drop both missile systems, add two medium lasers, heat sinks and armor. But I am not really a hater of the original Shadow Hawk design.

Interesting to note there is a Shadow Hawk that kind of does this. Loaded with energy weapons and adds a cargo pod to the head for comfy exploration.

Originally posted by unskilled-:

Ideal Mech for me would be my custom Battlemaster -- 3M configuration only swapping around hardpoints -- Ballistic (either Gauss or UAC/20 or twin RAC/5s) on the Torso along with two Large Pulse, 4-6 medium lasers on the arms. XL325 engine (64kmph), fill rest of crit slots with DHS and then max out rest of armor.

You've near enough described a Templar.

Originally posted by Clever Name:

You'll consider these changes 'drastic' no doubt, but this is what I'd do to make the 3050 Stalker more specialized:

Remove the LRMs, add 2 more SRM6. Remove large lasers. Add Artemis for each SRM. 6 total tons of SRM ammo. 16 double sinks. Upgrade medium lasers to pulse. Add CASE, jump jets, and an ECM. 16 tons of regular armor.

Presto, you have an absolute nightmare close quarters assault mech.

Actually your idea isn't that too far fetched. Wolf Dragoons had something approaching that at Misery. https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3999

Originally posted by Clever Name:

Small lasers are more of a lore thing, for anti-infantry duty.

Always funny that is said when Small Lasers get zero bonus against infantry in rules.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by Strayed:

Originally posted by Clever Name:

You'll consider these changes 'drastic' no doubt, but this is what I'd do to make the 3050 Stalker more specialized:

Remove the LRMs, add 2 more SRM6. Remove large lasers. Add Artemis for each SRM. 6 total tons of SRM ammo. 16 double sinks. Upgrade medium lasers to pulse. Add CASE, jump jets, and an ECM. 16 tons of regular armor.

Presto, you have an absolute nightmare close quarters assault mech.

Actually your idea isn't that too far fetched. Wolf Dragoons had something approaching that at Misery. https://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&ut=bm&id=3999

Originally posted by Clever Name:

Small lasers are more of a lore thing, for anti-infantry duty.

Always funny that is said when Small Lasers get zero bonus against infantry in rules.

Yeah, the Jagawen Stalker is one of the many 'close but no cigar' official designs that just don't excite me. The retention of the large lasers pretty much destroys the concept; no ammo reserves whatsoever.

As for small lasers, yes They have little reason to exist aside from lore embellishment. If you want to spin it a different way, you could say that rather than conferring any advantage against infantry/light vehicles, a small laser is preferable only because it doesn't waste ammo or generate much heat. In other words, why swat a fly with a sledgehammer.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by unskilled-:

Ideal Mech for me would be my custom Battlemaster -- 3M configuration only swapping around hardpoints -- Ballistic (either Gauss or UAC/20 or twin RAC/5s) on the Torso along with two Large Pulse, 4-6 medium lasers on the arms. XL325 engine (64kmph), fill rest of crit slots with DHS and then max out rest of armor.

Okay, not picking on your mech, but I wanted to use it as a test against my custom SRM boat.

You didn't specify using CASE, so I didn't install it. Of the ballistics you mentioned, I picked a Gauss with 2 tons of ammo, 2 large pulses and 4 meds. 16 double sinks and 15 tons of light ferro armor.

Using the MegaMek combat generator, I made a lance of the above mechs versus a lance of my SRM Stalker. All pilots for both sides were 4/5 for skills.

Your starting BV (battle value) was 7748 to my 7204.

You won initiative roll.

I positioned my mechs in a forested line of hexes, roughly in a crescent shape. There was some water and boggy ground that prevented the custom Battlemasters from attempting any flanking of my position. We basically stood in the same places afterwards, with only minor movements for the rest of the battle.

After round 1, I'd lost 6% of my BV to your 5%. One of my mechs had an open center torso.

Early in round 2, one of my SRMs critted-through-armor on a Battlemaster, hitting the engine once. Another medium pulse hit critted through armor (abbreviated CTA henceforth) on the gyro.

A large pulse hit CTA'd my engine.

Another SRM CTA hit the same Battlemaster's gyro that had already been hit. Gyro destroyed. Pilot will eject on following round.

I suffered a Gauss CTA to my engine on a different mech (thus 2 of my mechs have suffered single engine hits through armor).

At the start of round 3, an SRM salvo CTA's a Battlemaster, which results in 2 engine hits and a gyro hit. This mech is destroyed with another engine hit later in the same round.

At the beginning of round 4, I have 83% of my starting BV to your 46%.

Battlemaster engine destroyed by 3 medium pulse hits to open center torso.

Round 5: 81% of my BV remains, to your 24%.

Round 6: about the same BV.

Last remaining Battlemaster has open side torso; Gauss suffers critical hit from SRM salvo. Explosion destroys mech.

My final BV: 76%.

Now, it should be noted that a Gauss hit to the head early in the match would've altered the course of events for my lance. But that didn't happen, so the steady stream of SRM peppering worked its magic.

I was also able to use my jump jets to flush out the final 2 Battlemasters from their heavy forest hexes and into open ground; I used my 2 least damaged mechs to flank, while my half-dead mechs stood further away in their own forest hexes.

[unskilled-]

Originally posted by Clever Name:

You didn't specify using CASE, so I didn't install it.

Correct. To quote Darkwing Duck, "Lets get dangerous!"

[onewhofound]

The ultimate mech has already been built, it is the Mad Cat MKIV.

2 ER PPCs and 4 Streak6s and the rest is double heat sinks.

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by unskilled-:

Originally posted by Clever Name:

You didn't specify using CASE, so I didn't install it.

Correct. To quote Darkwing Duck, "Lets get dangerous!"

If you're going to go bareback with Gauss, I'd suggest putting them in the arms; no CTAs are possible then.

By the way, those Stalkers I made are a nightmare. I just tested a twin Gauss 85t custom against them, and lost 3/4 of my lance. Took 20 rounds to finish.