Favorite force make-up

[OatsAndHall]

Let's say you're building a lance or star without tech restrictions and 10k BV to work with. What do you feel is optimal for your style of play?

[pokefan548]

Well, my favorite forces rarely consist of just one full lance/star, and in fact rarely include only ground forces. With the stated limitations, though, it would probably be 2-4 medium 5/8/5 'Mechs (Griffins, Wolverines, Trebuchet TBT-5Js, etc. or custom variants based on those chassis) anchored around an Awesome or Thunderbolt, with a flight of aerospace fighters (probably Transits/Lightnings), a lance of Bulldogs or Goblins, and if they'll fit into the remaining budget a small contingent of infantry.

Just eyeballed it since I don't play 10k a lot, and when I do it's usually because we're trying wacky (and very expensive) Manei Domini/Thuggee Phansigar/Society forces, or something along those lines.

[CVB]

Favorite force make-up:
Lipstick, rouge and false eye lashes 

[Daryk]

That's too easy: 4 x 0 Gunners/4 Pilots in WVR-6Ms... 

[truetanker]

Thug 10E 2/3
Painback 4P 3/3
Twin Hunchback 4J 3/4

Never move slower than 5 per turn...

TT

[Son of Kerenski]

What era are we talking or is it open slather?

This C3 lance Ive kinda used before. Switch out the Bombardier for the Warhammer 8K and thats what I used

Gunslinger 2ERD 3/5
Catapult K4 3/5
Bomadier 14K 3/5
Wovlerine 9W2 4/5

[Cannonshop]

Let's say you're building a lance or star without tech restrictions and 10k BV to work with. What do you feel is optimal for your style of play?

The 55 Ton Trio, with either an Archer or Warhammer as the anchor, dump points into Piloting/gunnery.

Why? because scoring hits is more important than your potential damage, and I like the looks and mobility.

Then again, this dovetails with habits on customs-I'm more likely to fiddle with the heat profile than the damage per weapon.

[OatsAndHall]

The 55 Ton Trio, with either an Archer or Warhammer as the anchor, dump points into Piloting/gunnery.

Why? because scoring hits is more important than your potential damage, and I like the looks and mobility.

Then again, this dovetails with habits on customs-I'm more likely to fiddle with the heat profile than the damage per weapon.

What is the "55 Ton Trio"?

[Daryk]

That generally refers to the Wolverine, Griffin, and Shadow Hawk.

[Elmoth]

Stuff that goes 5/8 minimum
Stuff that has veteran pilots
stuff that has a lot of dakka up short and can either dodge or resist return fire.

So high TMM and or acceptable armor, and good firepower.

[truetanker]

Cannonshop :

Which variants?

TT

[Vonshroom]

I play 3025 era a lot, so this is sort of my go to "General Purpose" lance. There is a lot of swiss army knife mechs in here as terrain or scenario isn't specified. Given this, my favorite games are mech on mech games and the lance sized fights are perfect for this. For me having solid line mechs that are survivable is key. Also with 10k BV I am going to significantly undershoot the BV points on mechs and spend those extra points getting some more effective gunners. As Cannonshop already pointed out, scoring hits is more important than your potential damage. With this in mind this is the lance I'd run

Zeus 6T
Marauder 3D
Griffin 1N
Griffin 1N

These give you good LRM / PPC range capability and proven designs without significant flaws & enough armor to be survivable. With better pilots those LRM barrages will really shake things up and make holes for your PPC's and large lasers to capitalize on. Enemies focusing on your heavies will get wrecked by the maneuverable Griffins which are fast and jump enough for some makeshift scouting / spotting activities. They are also survivable enough to last f they take a few barrages of fire or can be pressed into service as line mechs when needed. All offer good bracket fire,

[Vonshroom]

Clearly I like playing as a Lyran...

[Hellraiser]

Zeus 6T
Marauder 3D
Griffin 1N
Griffin 1N

Clearly I like playing as a Lyran...

Given the Griffin & Marauder variant choices, I could argue that lance is more Davion flavored than Lyran.

[Hellraiser]

What is the "55 Ton Trio"?

Daryk beat me to it.
55 ton trio of 5/8 humanoid mechs taken from the Robotech Comic Book / Dougram Model Kits.
Woverine, ShadowHawk, Griffin
https://www.google.com/search?q=dougram+model+kits&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwibzNHug-n6AhW3HUQIHcZ2AOsQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1

[FedRatCowboy]

All depends on era for me. But if I was playing FCCW then it would go something like this:

Phoenix Hawk---Simple and effective clan Tech upgrade of a PHX-1(12 DHS, Near max FF armor, ES frame, ER Large Laser, 2 ER Mediums lasers, 2 Micro Pulse Lasers, SSrm-6 with CASE, TC, Angel ECM, 6/9/6 movement)
Spector-5F
Osiris-3D
Ostscout-9S

All with as low as a G/P rating as I could get.

What can I say? I like playing as a recon lance.
 

[Cannonshop]

Cannonshop :

Which variants?

TT

Firmly grasping the Nostalgia Goggles...

SHD-2H (1,064 BV base)
GRF-1N (1,272 BV Base)
WVR-6R (1,101 BV base)

There's your base.

Now, for punch...

WHM-6R (1,299 BV base)

total equipment BV:  4,636

Now, without digging up my books, that leaves around 5,364 BV to invest in Piloting/gunnery skills using the multplier.

Following the logic, "Shots that hit, do damage, shots that miss, don't do damage."  While it's light on the LRM coverage, the Autocannons match ranges with the PPC's.  An alternative build might run a classic Archer instead of the Whammy as your brute, which gives more alternatives for things like indirect fire using LRMs.  Options if you don't want to go through the multipliers for better pilots, (and are playing in a later era) would be swapping the ammo in the Bins for Specialty rounds for the Autocannons (Precision is recommended) or some mixture of the two solutions.

Individually the SHD-2H is not exactly 'overwhelming', it's distinctly underwhelming, really...but it has a couple of good traits too-like a deep heat curve that lets you push harder with running and jumping, and a decent armor fraction for the weight.  There are very few situations where a Griffin is truly a 'bad' choice-mostly those situations involve either being underwater or in extremely limited urban terrain where the main gun's almost guaranteed to start out with a minimum range issue...

[Scotty]

4/5 Ebon Jaguar F
4/5 Vulture Mk III A
4/5 Black Lanner D
3/5 Black Lanner F
4/5 Fire Falcon C

Total: 9959

Two 5/8 anchors with good long range and excellent short range firepower, three fast flankers that are short range buzzsaws.

[Daryk]

Cannonshop: did you intend for your second WVR to be a 6M?

[truetanker]

I've come with a Thunderbolt-5D ( bv 1,231 ),, a Grand Dragon-1G ( bv 1,300 } and a pair of Hunchback 4J ( bv 1,141 ea. ).

The entire unit goes 4/6, except the GD, I've got LRM coverage, a Broomstick and I'm loaded for ML spam... Fun part is it's all at 4/5 ( bv 4,814 ) giving me 5,187 extra bv to play with, like upgrades.

TT

[OatsAndHall]

My IS Indirect Spam Force:

Two Archer 8M at 2/4
Lance of Ferret VTOLs at 5/2
Atlas S3 at 3/4
Two Phoenix Hawk 3PL at 4/5

Get the Archers into cover and use the Ferrets to spot for Indirect Fire. March the Atlas right down their throat; lots of fire power and hard to ignore. I'll also move the Atlas into cover and rain missiles down with the spotters. Flank and harass with the PHX-3PLs. Once the Ferrets are die, move the Archers out to duke it out.

There's a whole lot of distraction built into this force. And, a lot of flexibility.

[Cannonshop]

Cannonshop: did you intend for your second WVR to be a 6M?

Only supposed to be ONE Wolverine, the fourth entry is a warhammer, (more or less to satisfy people's tendency to want a big hole-puncher/heavy on a medium lance, and to avoid muliples of the same mini on the board.)

basically a 3025 box-set stackup that was chosen more to show off something 'completely different'-that is, running a low-cost equipment stack and pouring points into piloting/gunnery instead.  (With 10K BV for the match, you can get pretty nasty doing that, without dipping too far into the cheeze.)

my ACTUAL favorite stack, is to see how many Pattons I can cram into 10,000 BV without having to drop the P/G scores on the crews below 'average' but that's because I'm often called on to run 'mook militias' for my friends' player characters.

[DevianID]

10k for only 4 units is a lot more then I usually run--its 9k for 6 units in MRC or 8.5k or so for 6 units in BTCC formats.

So ill expect higher skilled pilots then usual for 3025 era, and Ill probably bring mechs that can hit at point blank range with high odds versus the elite 5/8/5s that are likely to be thrown at me.  So the challenger charger with 4 large lasers seems a great start, the hunchback SP for the good firepower and optional infernos, an awesome for a bit of PPC trading in case the enemy goes slow and heavy too, and a stalker 4N for more infernos and 26 heat to smash with.  Everything is 2/3, and thats 3 assaults and 1 medium and 9760 BV, so im not even at 10k yet despite 2/3 skills.  Man 10k is a lot on just 4 units lol... way outside my normal comfortzone.

Edit: Just noticed the unrestricted tech part... with no restrictions the 5/8/8 Zeus is just silly, with all those energy weapons and a targeting computer.  Same with the 5/8/8 Uziel.  Really anything in unrestricted era with improved jump jets and a good pilot just smashes.  Its really munchkin if you remove all restrictions and just try and go crazy with 2.5k BV per mech--I imagine a lot of top tier snipers, super jumpy pulse, and crazy fast high damage backstabbers when you put such high BV in so few units.

[Daryk]

Thanks Cannonshop!  I clearly failed to read that right... 

[Fear Factory]

Lately, I've been using a ton of different units that I usually don't use. Like the Battle Cobras made by Comstar.

Either way I'm totally a fast cavalry guy. Not a fan of slow assault mechs. Ostroc, Ostsol, Ostscout, all made for a guy like me. I also like the big engine guys like the Assassin and Charger for physical attacks.

[OatsAndHall]

Lately, I've been using a ton of different units that I usually don't use. Like the Battle Cobras made by Comstar.

Either way I'm totally a fast cavalry guy. Not a fan of slow assault mechs. Ostroc, Ostsol, Ostscout, all made for a guy like me. I also like the big engine guys like the Assassin and Charger for physical attacks.

Outside of cheesing a bit with semi-guided, indirect fire, faster lights and medium mechs are what I enjoy as well. I do like having a heavy or an assault as a sniper/overwatch but the ability to move, shoot and avoiding taking hits is a great thing.