New Players

[Zombiemood]

Any tips for new players? We are just getting into the game and have 1 copy of each of the 8 lance boxes and the Rules, Companion, Mercenaries, and Kurita books. I've decided to run a 400 PV Wolf's Dragoons, Zeta Battalion, which so far consists of a Striker Lance (Vulcan VT-5M, Grasshopper GHR-5H, Clint CLNT-2-3U, Charger CGR-1A5, Catapult CPLT-C1) and a Command Lance (Stalker J. Elliot Jamison, Dervish DV-7D, Banshee BNC-5S, Awesome AWS-8Q , Atlas AS7-D).

We are just learning the rules now, and one friend is going to do an Inner Sphere army and another is doing a Clan army. Looking at stats of Clan mechs they seem to do ridiculous base damage and have better maneuverability while being a bit more fragile. I am having trouble seeing the strengths of the inner sphere mechs even though some forums swear they outperform the clan mechs. Also except for autocannons and rear weapons most special weapons seem kind of like trash compared to normal damage values so why use anything other then base damage unless you don't have LOS or you need a positive to hit modifier. The game seems to favor either fast mechs who get in the rear arc or juggernauts that hit incredibly hard from what I see.

[atlask]

Well I start with inner sphere units. 3039 tech level. My boot camps I use one of each weight class. So you get the feel of how each units field. Then experiment with clans vs inner sphere. Also lower the skills to 3 for everyone.

[JadeHellbringer]

Thing with IS units is that individually, they tend to suffer compared to a similar-sized Clan unit. They also tend to have a lower price tag in-general. So while that Clanner is walking around with a Star of five top-of-the-line machines bristling with advanced weaponry and all the bells and whistles, an Inner Sphere opponent is using less-advanced stuff... and a hell of a lot more of it. This is especially noticeable when viewing it from a financial perspective, but almost any measurement you use shows a pretty big discrepancy in terms of cost between the two. (And before someone jumps in with their examples of cheap Clan Mechs, yes, I know, I'm talking in-general). So that Clanner has five Mechs- for the same cost, an IS opponent is rolling twelve. Quantity over quality, if you will.

That's as of the Clan invasion era (3050s) of course- as time goes on the gap narrows rapidly, and the Inner Sphere does have some really good tricks sometimes that the Clans can't or won't match themselves- C3, for example, or mine warfare. Generally though, a Clan Mech simply is a step above its cousins, same as the pilots themselves are. You'll just have to pay more to get it.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

The nice thing about Alpha Strike is the points costs are much better dialed in to game performance than in Classic/Boardgame Battletech.

Clan units are generally better unit-for-unit, however so long as you keep the points value the same for both sides it really does generally balance out.  A binary of 10 Clan mechs doesn't have any inherent edge over a company of 12 Inner Sphere mechs if they have the same total PV.

[Hptm. Streiger]

I just started to get familiar with Alpha Strike (have the rules from day one)
Does the game outcome differ strongly from a similar sized BT game?

I ask because one of my "glorious" manouvers was a kind of Picket Charge (Company) right into the guns of an Elite Assault Clan Star???.... Clan Elite Assault Star? or Clan Assault Star Elite (CASE)?...doesn't matter you've got it.
In TT I lost one assaults and 2 mediums on the march, and a heavy when my canons ripped through them.

The same maneuver is a blood bath in Alpha Strike
I  loose 2 or 1 units in each salvo.

So my ideas what I could have done wrong:
Skill level of Clan Mechs to good? (0-2) but PV costs are equal (438x423) with advantage in numbers and PV for IS

Armor "restores" after shooting is done? (I think I remember somewhere to have read something like this....and it was something related with BT but I don't find anything in the Alpha Strike rule book)

Missile and "scatter" weapons need to be handled different - Mechs with LRMs seem to be to strong in Alpha Strike when compared with their performance in CBT.

[Heavyguard]

I just started to get familiar with Alpha Strike (have the rules from day one)
Does the game outcome differ strongly from a similar sized BT game?

I ask because one of my "glorious" manouvers was a kind of Picket Charge (Company) right into the guns of an Elite Assault Clan Star???.... Clan Elite Assault Star? or Clan Assault Star Elite (CASE)?...doesn't matter you've got it.
In TT I lost one assaults and 2 mediums on the march, and a heavy when my canons ripped through them.

The same maneuver is a blood bath in Alpha Strike
I  loose 2 or 1 units in each salvo.

So my ideas what I could have done wrong:
Skill level of Clan Mechs to good? (0-2) but PV costs are equal (438x423) with advantage in numbers and PV for IS

Armor "restores" after shooting is done? (I think I remember somewhere to have read something like this....and it was something related with BT but I don't find anything in the Alpha Strike rule book)

Missile and "scatter" weapons need to be handled different - Mechs with LRMs seem to be to strong in Alpha Strike when compared with their performance in CBT.

For Clans typically I've run them at skill 3 with the odd one at skill 2. Any lower then that and you don't really see a benefit and the PV cost starts to sky rocket. Also if a unit has 0 long range damage you gain no benefit by further reducing the skill level. Often my flankers or ECM units are skill 4 or even 5.

IS in AS benefits more so from the combined fire, Clan units not as much. Either your combining fire from 2 clan units typically and 'overkilling' an enemy unit or end up just short of killing one if you only use 1 clan unit. IS units with combined fire dont tend to have as much 'overkill' and thus can be a bit more efficient. Dont forget that your units still get to fire back in AS just as they do in TT.

LRM and indirect fire can be really strong in AS as can C3. There are ways around this (fast flanker or ECM) but the strength of LRMs and scatter weapons are already reflected in the damage calculations. (Calculation doesnt assume 100% of them hit IIRC)

Between a friend and I've we've typically split games evenly when I've been run a clan binary and he's running an IS company. Its always a toss up even when we switch forces.

[GoldBishop]

Generally speaking, the Outcome of a given battle is the same as it is in Classic/Standard/TotalWarfare ...so long as the PVs and total unit counts are equal (for example: a 12 mech Company vs 10 mech Binary is the standard here in my corner of the world)
In addition, room to maneuver is crucial.  6 ft x 4 ft (roughly 180cm x 120cm) seems to the the golden standard for skirmisher/war games, though if you have fewer units to field, you can get by on smaller areas.

A few things to note:

...
So my ideas what I could have done wrong:
Skill level of Clan Mechs to good? (0-2) but PV costs are equal (438x423) with advantage in numbers and PV for IS

Armor "restores" after shooting is done? (I think I remember somewhere to have read something like this....and it was something related with BT but I don't find anything in the Alpha Strike rule book)

Missile and "scatter" weapons need to be handled different - Mechs with LRMs seem to be to strong in Alpha Strike when compared with their performance in CBT.

Skills.  Remember that the default cost of a unit is treated as if the Pilot were a "Skill 4" ; if you insist on increasing the Skill of a unit, always, always make sure you charge the unit the appropriate amount of PVs.  (AS Force Builder on the MasterUnitList does this for you, or it can be manually done using the table found in the Errata.)  Checking PVs throughout the entire process will help keep totals close (if not identical).  It also helps to be willing to swap out a different variant or model in the event you cannot keep the PVs close enough. 

Armor.  Once it's gone, its gone.  Armor does not restore at all unless you're playing/running in a campaign play... and even then, it can only be repaired in between scenarios/battles.

"Missiles and Scatter Weapons making Mechs too powerful" ?  This sounds like you're adding the LRM Special to damage... which you should *not* be doing.  "LRM1/2/2" is used for Special Munitions such as Smoke or NARC or other appropriate ammunition types; their values are merely present in the Specials section of the card in the event you wish to play with those Advanced Rules.
You will see AC/SRM/LRM Specials mostly on InnerSphere units.  Most Clan units tend to utilize Streak or Artemis equipment early in their introduction years, so those specials are rare.  (Clans will almost never have the AC special since the LBX and Ultra versions completely phased out the Standard Autocannon.). 

Hope this helps.