Which do you find more fun, classical Assault Ships or Pocket Warships?

[Hellraiser]

For a Regiment or above, they're in the first ring around the command ship.  Artillery is best en masse, and the more you can start firing right after landing, the better.

I don't often see massed Fortresses outside of some 4th SW fluff.
But, I do like to think of a good chunk of that Vee Company being added Arti Pieces to get my tube artillery en masse.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

It is true that you cannot pack as much weapons as a Castrum in 64900 tons, 49900 tons or 34900 tons dropship. But If you make a 34900 tons dropship you can make it far, far durable, something that is able to withstand a full alpha strike of a massive warship. I don't think that a heavier ship takes less time to build as well.

Still, as the fire support Castrum still have enough value even if you add something like that. It won't be that easy to silence a Castrum even for the warship, after all.

[Alan Grant]

I felt like pointing out the original question was rooted in the concept of what does everyone find to be more "fun".

Not so much which is better by whatever metric.

An assault mech is bigger, has more firepower and armor than a medium mech. But I often have more fun with medium mechs because that extra mobility opens up some gameplay options and tactics options.

But that person who loves assault mechs.. that's fine. I don't object to that, it just isn't as "fun" to me, personally.

Translating that into this discussion. If you love the Titan, rock on, if you love the Castrum, rock on.

I feel like the original poster was trying to evaluate if there was a category that the players overwhelmingly found to be more fun. The evidence so far suggests it really is a mixed bag that comes down to individual preferences, which vary a lot.

[I am Belch II]

I think the Pocket Warships came out to late and nobody really noticed them and how to play them properly.
The Assault Ships were out since the early days, so people know them more.

[Alan Grant]

I think the Pocket Warships came out to late and nobody really noticed them and how to play them properly.
The Assault Ships were out since the early days, so people know them more.

Kinda/sorta, just by how many years (real time) that they've existed, yeah you can find that.

But a couple related factors:

1. They are more generally available to more factions
2. They are more generally available to more eras.

I'm in a game now, we're in the early 3050s. PWS just doesn't exist and we aren't using them. I wouldn't mind having some around, but I literally can't. Ergo I'm playing with assault dropships and ergo assault dropships are fun.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Kinda/sorta, just by how many years (real time) that they've existed, yeah you can find that.

But a couple related factors:

1. They are more generally available to more factions
2. They are more generally available to more eras.

I'm in a game now, we're in the early 3050s. PWS just doesn't exist and we aren't using them. I wouldn't mind having some around, but I literally can't. Ergo I'm playing with assault dropships and ergo assault dropships are fun.

There is the SLDF-era Mule Q-Ship that was armed with capital missiles.  You could always have one of those fall off the back of an SLDF cache somewhere, along with a Santa Ana or two for its AR10s if you want to engage in real war crimes...er, have some real fun.

[Alan Grant]

There is the SLDF-era Mule Q-Ship that was armed with capital missiles.  You could always have one of those fall off the back of an SLDF cache somewhere, along with a Santa Ana or two for its AR10s if you want to engage in real war crimes...er, have some real fun.

Oh on the basis of "we found a Star League cache" you can cough up a lot of stuff. And sometimes that happens, but that trick does get pulled a little too often to where some of the people I play with give it the hairy eyeball or an eye roll at least. But I hear ya, and that is a good shout-out to an interesting exception.

I was referring to what you'll see in common use, common availability.

[Daryk]

I don't know if Assault ships were ever really common, but I think I see what you mean.

[Minemech]

I don't know if Assault ships were ever really common, but I think I see what you mean.

The question as to how common assault ships are is more complicated than it may appear. They are clearly used to guard critical worlds, as well as to take them, but there are examples of groups of them being used to guard less important worlds like in Mercenary Star.  They are also deployed with independent aerospace assets like wings and regiments, with designs like the Claymore standing out in that role. We have no idea how large the actual independent aerospace assets of a given Successor State truly are (We know how many fleets the Free Worlds League fielded in the 3rd, but those were for force projection). The Claymore was produced 1 per 9 months (TRO 3057R, 10). My guess is that a lot of dancing occurs involving such assets occurs that never makes the news. A Capellan raiding force of 4 ships did engage a FedCom force of 3 near Lee (TRO 3057R, 22).

 Some other uses that may occur is the use of them to escort deep raiding task forces, supply convoy escorts, VIP escorts and for weird specialties that we would never consider. One important thing to consider is that dedicated assault ships tend to be mixed with other ships.

[Daryk]

Good points, all!  :thumbsup:

[Minemech]

Truth be told, Battletech thrives when it works that way.

[Hellraiser]

Translating that into this discussion. If you love the Titan, rock on, if you love the Castrum, rock on.

But but but,  I love both of those, equally :)

For me its less about Assault v/s PWS than it is the specific design, often based on fluff v/s stats.
In this case, the 2 you named above just happen to be favorites :)