BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Universe => The Inner Sphere => Topic started by: Drewbacca on 11 April 2019, 07:03:20
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A quick scan of the available units, pre clan invasion, shows that for someone like me who really likes SRMs, I am better going with tanks for IS units. Sound about right?
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I don't know about "better off". However, I really like vehicles for some things, and there are definitely some good bang for the buck SRM tanks. The SRM Goblin and Hezter come to mind.
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Yes and no. If your terrain is relatively flat and free of woods, fast hovers like the Pegasus and Plainsman are good choices. Once you end up in hills or forest, mechs are better because they can actually move
If you’re a crazy person you can try to utilize SRM carriers
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SRM Carriers are amazing in cities.
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SRM Carriers are amazing in cities.
And as bodyguards for LRM Carriers.
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SRM Carriers are amazing in cities.
yes, i got people to stop entering my cities in a long-running periphery campaign because of SRM carriers, hetzers, and massed infantry.
And as bodyguards for LRM Carriers.
you have to have some terrain cover help otherwise they just get sniped and stomped as the enemy rushes your LRM carriers
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You gotta have some terrain anyway or else the LRMs are going to be sniped into uselessness themselves anyway, bodyguard or no bodyguard.
Crest the hill so you can gain LOS to the LRMs hiding behind it.. and bam. SRM carrier says hello! I mean, usually you'd prefer a Demolisher, but you can't always get everything you want.
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An SRM Carrier should really be viewed as a self-propelled anti-mech directional mine.
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I thought much the same thing . . . which is why I refer to a lance of SRM carriers as 'Claymore' with appropriate numbers.
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Played a megamek game yesterday vs the bot. 4 LRM carriers, 4 SRM carriers, 4 Warrior helicopters, all 4/5s.
Went against a higher BV of Clan Omnis. I think it was a Nabori-Nin Prime, a Loki Prime, and a Cauldron Born Prime, all 3/4s.
I hid the LRM carriers behind a hill along with the SRM carriers. The Warriors hid behind a different hill until the Clans got close, then moved out for indirect spotting. It worked like a charm. Once they got within range, the Clan mechs lasted about 5 turns. I lost a Warrior and an SRM carrier. I hit the Loki and the Nabori-Nin with 1 round of fire each from the LRM carriers before they got sight. Mostly it just stripped armor without doing internal damage. Then the Nabori-Nin came right around the hill into the line of fire of the SRM carriers. It died immediately (3 ammo explosions, 2 heat hits, and a cored out center torso). The Loki never even made it into sight, died from indirect fire (multiple 5 point head hits). The Cauldron Born was the luckiest, it killed an SRM carrier and got behind them for a turn. But that was all she wrote, next round he ate fire from everything and went up like the 4th of July.
I know that the Loki is light on armor, and the other 2 mechs are solid but not exceptional designs. Still, I thought it was an interesting experiment.
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That's not really an unexpected outcome for a matchup like that. You've got a lot of firepower on your side: that's a potential 180 LRMs being fire indirectly at a single target per round. Add the Megamek's rather dimwitted bot into that mix and that fight had a rather foregone conclusion.
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Without rolling map boards, I'm not sure it would have gone much differently on the table top...
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they’re good deterrants. I’ve used one or a pair to drastically alter a battle by forcing the action away from them to a more advantageous spot. If you can control the window of engagement you can do awful things to the enemy. But the margin for error is so small. Far from amazing or even ideal but also far from useless
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Without rolling map boards, I'm not sure it would have gone much differently on the table top...
Even with rolling maps it would have been difficult.
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But not impossible... ^-^
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I would love to be able to remotely fire the SRM carrier,
tuck the crew in a building, watch via wired connection,
leave unit camoed as a UPS truck or a taco truck, whatever works
someone stumbles into view, booom!!
this mighty actually work for a few turns before the carrier gets gutted
but the crew most likely survives and gains experience for future fights
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I just love the idea of an enemy mech coming up looking for tacos.
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Taco Carrier. New unit for TRO3150
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No. the Taco Carrier will be part of the PeaceTech expansion post IlClan. It is the ultimate peace keeping unit as no one wants to fight with good tacos around.
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I don't know about "better off". However, I really like vehicles for some things, and there are definitely some good bang for the buck SRM tanks. The SRM Goblin and Hezter come to mind.
The SRM variant of the Scorpion is also a nasty little surprise, and cheap too. Plus having a MG they can also help out against infantry.
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That's not really an unexpected outcome for a matchup like that. You've got a lot of firepower on your side: that's a potential 180 LRMs being fire indirectly at a single target per round. Add the Megamek's rather dimwitted bot into that mix and that fight had a rather foregone conclusion.
Well, that's kind of the point. I wanted to see if the theory would work in practice. It functioned beautifully. As I said earlier, SRM Carriers are super nasty in the right situations.
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The one limitation is that vehicles have to be fielded en masse, while a 'Mech can usually function well enough individually. Field one vehicle, and the safest place on the entire map for the 'Mech will be the same hex as the one the vehicle is in. Several turns of that, and the vehicle will have been kicked to death. You need a second vehicle to cover the first. Field an entire lance of vehicles, and the only safe places for a 'Mech are those beyond maximum weapon range or out of line of sight.
Also, many vehicles have limited firing arcs for some or all of their weapons, so getting immobilized too often means that the opponent can approach from an unguarded direction and there's nothing you can do about it. That leaves you with no options except to bail out now, or blow up with the vehicle.
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I'm a fan of Harassers.
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I'm a fan of Harassers.
Very nice item....unless you're one of the crew. They can race in from an insane distance away, easily get a +4 modifier to anyone trying to stop them, and can unleash 12 SRM tubes against their chosen victim, for a nominally low BV. In 3025, they're an excellent crit-seeker or vehicle immobilizer, and the perfect counter to someone placing a Shrek or Alacorn on the table. As soon as anyone fields Pulse weapons, they're reduced to a one-shot wonder, since they'll usually die from a single hit by anything more powerful than a ML, and have a high chance of being immobilized by anything that does damage at all and hits the paper-thin side armor.
I find a Pegasus to somewhat less maneuverable, but also a lot more likely to survive a hit and allow the crew to bail from an immobilized vehicle. That may be preferable in a campaign where you would like to get your crew back intact, rather than sweeping up the scattered chunks of shredded meat after the battle. In a one-off battle where there is no "after" and you don't have to worry about replacing an experienced crew, the Harasser makes more sense.
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Yeah, I always wanted to see the Harasser get improved- I think a lot of the original vehicles got left behind unlike the ONN sections for early mechs. For instance a 3080s Harasser might have a Fuel Cell Engine and reflective armor . . . and make it a variant of the MML I guess, which apparently I had missed until recently. Or the Hetzer (SRM), give it a better class of armor and ECM in the 3060s.
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there are uh... three fuel cell harassers
Harasser Missile Platform (Fuel Cell) - x3 MML-5, reflective armor (3081) - XTRO Most Wanted
Harasser Missile Platform (MML) - x2 MML-5 but it goes 12/18. FF armor (3087) - 3145 NTNU
Harasser Missile Platform (Thunderbolt) - same but x2 Thunderbolt-5 (3089) - 3145 NTNU
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Hm, did not see that Reflec armor one, I will have to check it out. Does it increase the overall armor?
Yeah, saw the second and could careless about the TBolt . . . I like the Harasser for a fast multi-function missile platform. With the original I can mix in Infernos or HARM for giggles. MML is better b/c I can go with smoke LRM too.
Some of the old ICE vehicles just scream for a FCE change, IMO its like 3025 mechs getting DHS- its a 1st step upgrade. Or maybe 2nd with a armor upgrade for increased protection.
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It’s only got 35 points total. Stick with LRMs on the MMLs
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Very nice item....unless you're one of the crew. They can race in from an insane distance away, easily get a +4 modifier to anyone trying to stop them, and can unleash 12 SRM tubes against their chosen victim, for a nominally low BV. In 3025, they're an excellent crit-seeker or vehicle immobilizer, and the perfect counter to someone placing a Shrek or Alacorn on the table. As soon as anyone fields Pulse weapons, they're reduced to a one-shot wonder, since they'll usually die from a single hit by anything more powerful than a ML, and have a high chance of being immobilized by anything that does damage at all and hits the paper-thin side armor.
I find a Pegasus to somewhat less maneuverable, but also a lot more likely to survive a hit and allow the crew to bail from an immobilized vehicle. That may be preferable in a campaign where you would like to get your crew back intact, rather than sweeping up the scattered chunks of shredded meat after the battle. In a one-off battle where there is no "after" and you don't have to worry about replacing an experienced crew, the Harasser makes more sense.
Sure, but I was thinking in context of introtech play. Cheap, fast, to the point. I also love to field Scorpions, though...
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I still use it Invasion onward- in fact it was in my local group's tournament last year . . . it was in 12? games with a 50% survival rate or so. I had a few people actually gunning for it after a bad experience in earlier rounds. My typical comment was- 'Its a flying beer can with missiles.'
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There’s some good introtech fire support to be had that does the job. The hunter is a cheap way to get some extra LRM 20s out there. Even the striker has some tread left on the tires
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Drillson (SRM) probably deserves a mention.
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Shouldn't that go in the fan designs section rather than here?
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probably,
if no one else does I will start a topic later today
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Honestly, trailers linked with C3 or better of course C3i for perimeter defense (hull down behind a berm) and AA duties make a lot of sense. A turret with a LB-5X, Snub PPC, LRMs for throwing out Thunders, and LAC/5 to pepper targets would be pretty useful. More with double blind so the masters are hidden in buildings or behind ring berms . . . maybe give them two hovercraft spotters for a whole company net of C3 . . . and of course, artillery on the masters for indirect support.
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yep
this is where the whole decoy vehicle and taco truck with the turret
hidden inside
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Honestly, trailers linked with C3 or better of course C3i for perimeter defense (hull down behind a berm) and AA duties make a lot of sense. A turret with a LB-5X, Snub PPC, LRMs for throwing out Thunders, and LAC/5 to pepper targets would be pretty useful. More with double blind so the masters are hidden in buildings or behind ring berms . . . maybe give them two hovercraft spotters for a whole company net of C3 . . . and of course, artillery on the masters for indirect support.
The berm/sandbagged idea was for hasty defense. Ideally, the trailers would be turreted, with the trailer buried, with only the turret exposed. The network would be hard wired to thwart ECM.
Shouldn't that go in the fan designs section rather than here?
It was an example, not a submission. My point is, in the IS, especially among mercenary units, thinking outside the box is a freedom that few other forces have. The trailer idea was to equip a low-budget insurgency that had plenty of conventional, civilian vehicles and little in the form of military-grade hardware, aggravated by a competent blockade.
The scenario was meant to be a campaign for a veteran wargamer, who commanded an all-vehicle regiment. He had all the 3050-era equipment a Davion unit could afford and faced an impoverished, popular uprising that employed Capellan military advisers and a mercenary mech company. They cobbled together a smattering of obsolete military vehicles but their backbone was infantry and technicals (weaponized civilian vehicles). Since the world was primarily agricultural, there was insufficient industrial base to make any front line vehicles and weaponry but they managed a variety of retro-tech solutions, including trailers and wagons as weapon platforms.
Face it, how good would mech scanners work on a formation of horse-drawn artillery or other mech-grade weapons?
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If they can pick up infantry, they can pick up horses, I'm thinking. Honestly, I think that mechs would freak horses out something fierce- best bet is to try to keep them away from the front lines.
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If they can pick up infantry, they can pick up horses, I'm thinking. Honestly, I think that mechs would freak horses out something fierce- best bet is to try to keep them away from the front lines.
Out in the open, yes, but out of LOS, sensors won't pick them up. Horses have been used hauling artillery for front line and second echelon use. They make nearly undetectable scouts and cost far less than vehicles, with less worry about fuel.
Horses that are used to vehicles won't take long to ignore mechs, as well. Mounted units have fought accompanying tanks as well as against tanks. Horses are far more resilient.
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All fan designs belong in the appropriate "Fan Design" section, regardless if they are an "example" or a "submission".
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The berm/sandbagged idea was for hasty defense. Ideally, the trailers would be turreted, with the trailer buried, with only the turret exposed. The network would be hard wired to thwart ECM.
Sure, but a buried trailer is no longer partly mobile . . . and since most of the advanced rules, large battle, wargaming fights are based in MegaMek I am pretty sure I cannot hard wire the connections nor bury a trailer. Heck, there are things I would do from a RP perspective that you cannot do in MM- just simulate. I know I was breaking the rules to give VTOLs external rocket pods before they were added to the rules.
When folks play with Infernos, Plasma Rifles and Plasma Cannons (maybe some A4 Inferno) do you go with the Tac Ops rule ignoring external heat cap?
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Best time I ever had with SRM carriers were in a city game with parking garages.
1 garage was prestaged with 3 SRM carriers on level 2 and the parking garage enforcement Demolisher on the ground floor
1 S-hawk and 1 Marauder met an unhappy greeting from the locals, Shawk endup with twin ammo strikes/blows SRM and AC and the Marauder missing a leg and a gyro and both mechs looked like they been sandblastered with SRM hits.
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The funniest thing I saw an srm carrier do was as a hidden unit at the end of a bridge (unfortunately against me). As my nightstar and banshee start crossing the bridge, the carrier opens up on the structure. It doesn’t take many plinks to collapse the bridge and both assaults wind up in a river gorge they can’t get out of within 30 turns
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The funniest thing I saw an srm carrier do was as a hidden unit at the end of a bridge (unfortunately against me). As my nightstar and banshee start crossing the bridge, the carrier opens up on the structure. It doesn’t take many plinks to collapse the bridge and both assaults wind up in a river gorge they can’t get out of within 30 turns
Nice :thumbsup:
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The funniest thing I ever did with an SRM carrier was loading a ton of Infernos onto it, then discover that enemy battle armor was using ammo crates as cover.
The GM has banned Infernos ever since.
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Heh, last year's tournament I had a Harasser racing about . . . it stopped 3 hexes away from some Fa Shih and gave them two six-packs of Infernoes . . . burned the BA out in a single turn. When I played him again in the next round (add another 5k BV) my Harasser was target'd and BA were protected from the hovertank.
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Sure, but a buried trailer is no longer partly mobile . . . and since most of the advanced rules, large battle, wargaming fights are based in MegaMek I am pretty sure I cannot hard wire the connections nor bury a trailer.
i think she means entrenched fortification, although i forget if that's in a book or homebrew sitting in one of my notebooks xp
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i think she means entrenched fortification, although i forget if that's in a book or homebrew sitting in one of my notebooks xp
Maybe, tanks HAVE been buried as part of forming defensive lines (See Russians vs Japs in late 30s, the OA story about a Pegasus pillbox, and others) for the simple reason is it puts most of the 'target' out of direct fire . . . and if you cover the deck in sandbags (or better, sandwhich'd metal plate), provides more overhead protection.
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Surprised that no one mentioned the SRM Scorpion Light Tank ... twin SRM6's, with the advantages of being both inexpensive, and tracked, with a turret .....
Between those, and my Hetzers, some of my opponents have irrational fears of parking garages......LOL
Nahuris
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There is absolutely nothing irrational about a fear of parking garages in BT... ^-^
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Row upon row of Hetzers blinking at passing mechs.
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Row upon row of Hetzers blinking at passing mechs.
LRM Hetzers do more than blink.
*SHUDDER*
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A 60m wide 3 level parking garage only needs to blink once if the mech is walking in the street next to it . . . you could place a whole company of Hetzers in that building with stacking rules . . . . 12 AC/20 shells @ . . . 4 gun, +2 MM for the mech . . .
would you want to face 12 AC/20s that need a 6 to hit?
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Do you want indiscriminate artillery and carpet bombing? Because this is how you get indiscriminate artillery and carpet bombing.
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that would have to be a pretty sturdy parking garage
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Do you want indiscriminate artillery and carpet bombing? Because this is how you get indiscriminate artillery and carpet bombing.
Only if they survive to call for them, and then only if the raiders have them :screw_loose:
But I remember the good old days when you could go raiding with a lance or at most a company of mechs, get to your target and then pull away
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If the target has the forces to stuff a parking garage with a dozen Hetzers, you're probably not raiding the planet, you're occupying it.
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that would have to be a pretty sturdy parking garage
Lol, it would have to be built with earthquake/wind sway in mind. Now I am going to have to set that up in megamek just to see what happens- mech meets the Company of Boom.
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Just think about the CF of the building would you need to hold 12 Hetzers. That's 12 x 40 tons, or 480 tons of weight that it has to support, plus whatever you need for "insurance" in case someone throws a rock at it or something. What comes after "Hardened"?
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Actually 6x40- to get the 12 firing you would need 2 hexes of facing to the road, so . . . 240 CF minimum for the hex, 275 CF would be 'safe' IMO. But that raises a question, what IS the structural support difference between a normal commercial building and a parking garage- especially since we get some IRL that are taller than I posed.
(https://www.emporis.com/images/show/344562-Large-fullheightview-view-from-jackson-street.jpg)
12 levels of parking . . . which since each is about 3 meters, means 2 for a BT level . . .
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Anything nonindustrial or military is ‘medium’ in my mind and gets 40CF for sanity’s sake. If you wanted to get specific, you can go all the way up to 90 before it becomes a heavy structure
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Anything nonindustrial or military is ‘medium’ in my mind and gets 40CF for sanity’s sake. If you wanted to get specific, you can go all the way up to 90 before it becomes a heavy structure
...so you're going to need quite a few hexes of parking garage to hold a company of Hetzers, and not all 12 are going to be able to target the same hex at once, unless you arrange them around a central plaza. 90 CF means two Hetzers per hex without collapsing the building, with 10 CF to spare in case of damage. Still, three MLs at the section of the building, and you're out those 2 Hetzers, so the ambush had better be worth it.
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Well, BT does not model buildings very well IMO . . . and the parking garage is the worst one. Its why I ask if anyone knows the IRL weight to CF conversion ratios they use.
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IRL they vary, depending on what type of vehicles can enter.
One local car park has a 40 ton limit as large trucks can go to the 3rd floor where there is a loading dock.
Normally though they vary from 10 to 20 ton limit.
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Battletech parking structures are built to support more weight, in order to accommodate all the Rotundas that are disguised as civilian cars.
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One other thing to consider would be when/where the parking garage is built . . . per fluff & fiction, some planets build their residential buildings with the requirements for defense in mind.
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Honestly LRM And SRM carriers are a PB&Jcombo. The only thing scarier would be a company composed of a Lance of NARC-compatible LRM carriers, Lance of SRM carriers, 2 Demolishers and 2 fast NARC carriers. NARCers start spotting targets for the LRMs, and the SRM carriers and Demolishers brown the pants of anyone trying to shut the LRM carriers up. Put them in some built up terrain, and yell bring it over an open frequency.
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Tufana . . . fun on rollerskates!
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Honestly LRM And SRM carriers are a PB&Jcombo. The only thing scarier would be a company composed of a Lance of NARC-compatible LRM carriers, Lance of SRM carriers, 2 Demolishers and 2 fast NARC carriers. NARCers start spotting targets for the LRMs, and the SRM carriers and Demolishers brown the pants of anyone trying to shut the LRM carriers up. Put them in some built up terrain, and yell bring it over an open frequency.
"Well, you asked for it. Incoming artillery rounds in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 second...."
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Warning, friendly fire incoming. >:D
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...so you're going to need quite a few hexes of parking garage to hold a company of Hetzers, and not all 12 are going to be able to target the same hex at once, unless you arrange them around a central plaza. 90 CF means two Hetzers per hex without collapsing the building, with 10 CF to spare in case of damage. Still, three MLs at the section of the building, and you're out those 2 Hetzers, so the ambush had better be worth it.
The limit is buildings CF per LEVEL, so a 40 CF building that is 12 levels tall would actually work.
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also rules of engagement
if wanting to keep/liberate the area, you may be ordered to minimize
property damage
if just raiding to raise hell, just roll a few pallets of bombs out
the back of a Karnov flying overhead
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playing most of my urban combat in the periphery as a petty warlord has granted me a vastly expanded notion of "acceptable collateral damage"
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of course you own the cement plant and the construction and recycling companies?
;-)