That covers all the basic changes of my heavily-house ruled home version of Alpha Strike! There are more house rules for scenario and campaign rules, but I thought I'd stop and give a little summary of these rules. Note, I am not trying to “fix” Alpha Strike—it plays fine as-is! These changes are just what I personally find fun!
• Faster, Deadlier Play: Attacks are “punchier”, so you spend less time whiffing and more time destroying your enemies. In my experience, a lance vs lance game lasts about 20 minutes. If the deadlier combat bothers you, however, feel free to use Variable Damage from the Alpha Strike Companion.
• Simpler: 70% of modifiers have been removed and many, many “special exceptions” have been dropped. In-game math calculations have been incredibly simplified and most rules are only a sentence or two long (and are also easier to remember).
• Less to keep track of: Unless you are shutdown or knocked down, TMM always applies, so you never need to remember how far you moved. Special rules for alternate munitions, unique terrain etc. have been completely dropped.
• Always move: Unless you are infantry, you get no cover bonus from terrain you are in, so you always have to keep moving to put open terrain between you and your target and cover between you and all other enemies.
• Stay in formation: Because you are penalized for attacking an enemy who isn't the nearest target, the formation of your lance on the battlefield is hugely important. Higher ground will allow you to ignore these penalties, but otherwise you will have to make sure that you are pairing off your 'Mechs with enemy 'Mechs to the best effect. This also reduces the ubiquitous and boring tactic of "focus firing" the enemy down one 'Mech at a time. Higher ground rules (as well as the overrun attack) also give a lance of 'Mechs a huge advantage over a lance of vehicles, even on flat terrain, meaning 'Mechs remain the undisputed kings of the battlefield.
• Every move counts: Because the game is deadlier and it uses the tight terrain of hex maps, every move and maneuver decision is of crucial importance. As an added benefit, hex maps are quicker to setup, clean up and use less table space!
• You can’t be maneuvered out of a turn: IGOUGO replaces alternate movement/shooting, so you are never in a position where someone has outflanked you and left you with nothing to shoot at. More shooting means faster play, as well.
• More Heat Decisions: There are more reasons to overheat, and dropping heat is more lenient (with no need to lose a turn of shooting). I find that I am interacting with the overheat rules a LOT more than I normally would, which adds more fun choices to make.
• More ‘Mech interaction: Heavier ‘Mechs have more interaction with lighter ‘Mechs. Standard melee attacks, while they do little damage, still do enough damage to be effective against lighter ‘Mechs and ignore TMM to boot (like the recent computer game, actually). Multi-targeting means heavier ‘Mechs can still concentrate on each other while also having a way to deal with lighter ‘Mechs at the same time. Heavier ‘Mechs are also less vulnerable to knockdown and less penalized by knockdown and overheating (since their TMM is already low).