Designs that are better in AS than in CBT?

[Lanceman]

What are some designs that are kind of 'meh' when playing Classic, but come into their own when playing Alpha Strike?

[pokefan548]

The Shadowhawk SHD-2H.
Anything that relies on mass AC/2s (including UAC/2s and RAC/2s).
Anything with lots of iATMs goes from really good to godlike (see the Turkina Z and its 15 short-range damage).

[Richard S.]

Anything with both IS CASE and and XL engine. Ammo explosions would take them out of the fight in CBT, but with no critical slots that's not a worry in AS.

[glitterboy2098]

anything with bombast lasers.

compare the Alpha Strike MOTW: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/fan-articles/alpha-strike-'mech-of-the-week-uae-7r-uraeus/
with the normal BT one: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/fan-articles/mech-of-the-week-uraeus/?all

the conversion between the two moderates the negatives of the bombast laser's rules.

[Lanceman]

The Shadowhawk SHD-2H.
Anything that relies on mass AC/2s (including UAC/2s and RAC/2s).
Anything with lots of iATMs goes from really good to godlike (see the Turkina Z and its 15 short-range damage).

15!? That's evil.

[Lanceman]

The Shadowhawk SHD-2H.
Anything that relies on mass AC/2s (including UAC/2s and RAC/2s).
Anything with lots of iATMs goes from really good to godlike (see the Turkina Z and its 15 short-range damage).

The Shadowhawk was one that inspired this question. I was thinking about how it's a decent little trooper. And it's decent in CBT too, it just tends to also be really explosive.

[Kerfuffin(925)]

Almost anything with the strong jump special. That means it adds a minimum of +2 to its TMM rather than one, so you break even. Plus some of the already fast units can go half way across the (standard) board. Some have such weak damage numbers they aren’t worth it. But anything with 3-5 damage in medium isn’t too expensive, and it’s another damage when you are in the rear arcs. Hierofalcon A with its JMPS2 is extra nuts.

Their PV isn’t nearly as high due to the way Jumping is calculated. Even slow mechs Like the MAD-IIC10 gets up to TMM3 with 6 damage at medium for 48PV.

[Failure16]

The Wolverine-6R compares pretty favorably to the -6M in BattleForce 2/Alpha Strike statistics. In regular play, there is absolutely zero contest. This duality goes back twenty-five years, noticeable to me when I was using BF 1 and then 2 stats for individual play.

[CJKeys]

I have found that the units that benefit the most in the transfer over to Alpha Strike are the ones which have a large number of smaller weapons as opposed to those with a small number of heavy hitting weapons.

Personally, I think there should be a special called "Headcapper" or HC on the sheet. Any mech with a weapon capable of doing 12 or more damage in Classic would have the HEADCAPPER special ability.

Whenever a Mech with this special ability hits a target of the type BM, they roll on the critical table ignoring all results other than a 12.
This roll is not affected by the CR special ability.

If using multiple dice rolls, you must designate one specific pair of dice to the HC special ability, if that die rolls a hit, then the attacking player rolls on the critical table ignoring all results other than a 12, this roll is not affected by the CR special ability.

[Failure16]

So, does any 'Mech with less than 9 Head Armor get a "GJ" ("Glass Jaw") special, er, ability? And then do we track these edge cases for other machines with damage capability up to a certain rating?

[Kerfuffin(925)]

So, does any 'Mech with less than 9 Head Armor get a "GJ" ("Glass Jaw") special, er, ability? And then do we track these edge cases for other machines with damage capability up to a certain rating?

I think that level of granularity can be written out. But we’d better stop before the police come.

[Failure16]

Fair enough.

I wasn't trying to be snide, but I can certainly see how it can be read that way. So, apologies. But my initial point still stands.

[Hellraiser]

I confess the Ostscout & Jaggermech both stood out to me as brokenly good for their PV back before the PV fix.

[Elmoth]

I am in love with the AS quickdraw 

[MarauderCH IIC]

The Jade Hawk has become one of my 'don't leave home without it' mechs in AS. When I first saw the CBT stats for it, I thought it would be a mech I would never use. When I was playing my first AS games, someone showed me the card and I fell in love. The standard Jade Hawk throws a 7 attack at short and medium and it also has as 12J for movement so it can get places it needs to go. In my mercenary force, I've started using a Jade Hawk JHK-03. It throws 5 at short but isn't quite as mobile as the standard but it gets the job done. It has TSM and MEL, too, which gives it a 5 point melee attack. That's an intimidation weapon for sure. No one wants to let it get close.