What is your favorite mech weight class?

[Crimson Dawn]

So new question for everybody what is your favorite weight class overall?  Light, medium, heavy, assault, or perhaps something a bit more esoteric?

For me by and large I like mediums best followed by heavy.  I like designs that are versatile and with a lot of variety and mediums can be made to do a lot.  A lot of my favorite designs are also mediums like wolverines, clints, blackjacks, vindicator, and the dervish.  Fast enough with some versatile and effective weapon sets.  Not the toughest but you can't have everything.

[Frabby]

I don't classify 'Mechs by weight class so much as by speed. And I dislike slow units. 4/6 units never seem to be where I need them. 3/5 is mostly useless. So on average I suppose I prefer mediums or lights, with a smattering of fast heavies. In particular, I like 5/8 55- and 60-tonners, preferrably with jump jets. In pickup games I gravitate towards Phoenix Hawks, Griffins, and Ostroc/Ostsol. And I've had great moments with harrasser lances of Locusts.

But I mostly play 3025 era where mobility was important. 3050 and onwards, you just pack as many ERPPCs as you can, and find a nice camping spot.

[I am Belch II]

The heaviest of the weight classes.
35 ton light, 55 ton med, 75 ton heavy, and 100 ton assult.

[Stormwolf]

Heavy followed by medium.

Assaults are too slow while lights are too frail for my taste.

[wanderer25]

 I find I tend to go for generalist/ trooper types, preferably with hands but its not a deal breaker.

This usually falls in the 35 to 65 tons range. At least a speed of 4/6 but I prefer 5/8 (cavalry ?).

In 3050+ I seem to eye mostly level-1s with a few higher  tech add-on.

The Sentry, Watchman and the Hound would be good examples.

[AlphaMirage]

Heavy followed by medium.

Assaults are too slow while lights are too frail for my taste.

+1 to that although reversed in 3025 era play.  The post 3060 battlefield is particularly lethal so the extra staying power of a heavy is necessary while XL engines allow you to hit speeds that were more common to mediums in the past.  Lights are to fragile and Assaults to slow to compete on my group's average 3x3 map battlespace although I will mix some Lights in for cheap mobile fire support and keep them at range.  By the time the Assault gets into the fight he's probably alone, an effectively siting target, and thus easy to finish off with concentrated firepower.

[Sartris]

Heavy cav

[SteelRaven]

Heavy mechs do the job most of the time, some assaults will always have a place in my heart (Awesome, Battlemaster, Banshee 3S )

That said, some of BTUs most iconic mechs are Mediums. The Centurions, Vindicator, Dervish, Bushwacker, Hunchback, ect.

[Drewbacca]

I don't really have a favorite weight class, but a favorite weight range. I find 50 to 65 is my favorite tonnage range.

[Hptm. Streiger]

Nothing beats a combination of 4/6 assaults and 5/8 mediums, perfect mix of durability, mobility and firepower.

[Daryk]

I like mediums best, followed by lights.  It's mostly about maneuver for me.

[Iron Grenadier]

Heavy...lots of great moments playing with Warhammers and Thunderbolts. Grasshopper, Crusader and Archer are well liked too.

Mediums are 2nd favorite with the Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk leading the charge.

With the assault classes...I do like the Battlemaster, Victor and Highlander.

Light mechs just havent made much of an impact. That said the Wolfhound we really like.

[Greatclub]

I tend to do horribly with 5/8/0 for whatever reason.

so jumping or fast mediums and 4/6 heavies are my meat of choice. If it's 3/5 it better be both long range and able to look after itself.

[Ogra_Chief]

I tend to do horribly with 5/8/0 for whatever reason.

so jumping or fast mediums and 4/6 heavies are my meat of choice. If it's 3/5 it better be both long range and able to look after itself.

I also tend to look at mechs thru the movement prism as opposed to classes. However, although I want to roll with Mediums, Heavies seem to hit the sweet spot between firepower, armor and mobility. Assaults to me are a specialized Heavy, with a lot of throw weight potential, but need babysitters. Nominally Lights make great babysitters, with Lights and Assaults forming an odd symbiosis in my mind and play-style. But, makes sense, since Lights are ultimately a specialized class as well. With Mediums doing most of the yeoman work on the board, but ultimately just skirmishing till the Heavies roll in. Thus I prefer fast Heavies (5/8), to match my Medium skirmishers movement speed allowing me to flex my battlelines; with the Assaults (3/5) rolling in to anchor a 'advantageous' fixed point under a Light escort. So my force ultimately is built around Heavies, with everything else as support.

Though, fast Heavies in the 60-65 ton range are inefficient, they are my preferred weight range for my style of play. I'm an aggressive player and a map-hogger. Meaning I like to grab territory early on in a the fight and let my opponent come to me on my terms. So, either a 5/8 or 4/6/4 movement profile is what I prefer in my Heavies, at the cost of weapons and heatsinks, generally up-armored stock/refitted designs. Heavy designs allow me to max out armor more meaningfully. A relatively fast and armored brick, makes for an annoying opponent. In later Eras I double down with maxed armor and MASC/TSM for maximum annoyance.  :thumbsup:

So, Heavies for me.

[Kovax]

I prefer to ride the line between Light and Medium.  At 30-45 tons, you've got the tonnage to add enough armor to survive, enough weapons to matter on the battlefield, and still retain enough speed to avoid a lot of shots that would connect with a Heavy or Assault.

I've got a few favorites well outside that range, but that's generally about the tonnage I consider "ideal" for my style of play.  If I'm playing a "to the last 'Mech" slugfest on a small map, I'll go heavier, but that's not my idea of a fun battle.  Give me objectives to take and protect, enough room to maneuver without getting into short range of the big guns, and a mix of 'Mechs, Armor, and Infantry on the table, and I'll gladly take the maneuverability over sheer mass.  Whether I win or lose with it is merely a secondary concern, as long as I'm enjoying it.

[Tangoforone]

My favorite units are in the tonnage range of 70 to 80.  Usually anything heavier takes on a specialized role.  Recently I have been required to use lighter units in a Chaos Campaign, and I have to say it has been a pleasant trip.  The 'player' has around 625 tons of mechs in his force, and I assume it would not likely be feasible to sink all of that into 6 mechs.

[Charistoph]

Put me down for Heavies & Mediums.  Enough weight to actually arm it with something useful, but also enough space to actually put it in, too.  A lot of Assaults have the weight for almost any weapon mix, but when you go to put them in to critical slots...  Meanwhile, unless you're making an Urbanmech variant, there isn't enough free weight to really arm a Light 'Mech with.

[Kit deSummersville]

Assaults are my first love. So much raw power and no room for error with that movement!

[Crimson Dawn]

Interesting so far but let me add an additional wrinkle for some of you.

Do you have the same or different feeling when looking at aplha strike?  As an example I find light mechs (in particular very fast mechs) to be really fun and useful in alpha strike even more so than in the classic (I think due to how movement works in AS) though they tend to die very quickly if they are hit.

[Daryk]

My opinion of alpha strike can be summed up as: I don't play it, and don't expect to.

[Deadborder]

Definitely Heavies first, and probably has been since day one. The category contains most of my favourite 'Mechs, and hot the nice sweet spot of combining armour, firepower and mobility. It doesn't hurt that heavies are my preferred go-to for a 'Mech choice, and where I usually start when building a force.

Up until recently I probably would have said Assaults as second, but of late I've been in a more Succession Wars mindset, focusing on medium troopers

[Ruger]

Primarily mediums followed closely by heavies then lights then assaults.

Ruger

[Iron Grenadier]

Interesting so far but let me add an additional wrinkle for some of you.

Do you have the same or different feeling when looking at aplha strike?  As an example I find light mechs (in particular very fast mechs) to be really fun and useful in alpha strike even more so than in the classic (I think due to how movement works in AS) though they tend to die very quickly if they are hit.

We don't play Alpha Strike.

[JoeJones]

My favorite ‘Mechs tend to be mediums and heavies.

Succession Wars: Vindicator & Catapult

FCCW through Jihad: Huron Warrior, Thunder, Lao Hu, Ti Ts’ang

[Greatclub]

I also tend to look at mechs thru the movement prism as opposed to classes.

Actually, I don't. Given how many of my games are chaos campaign, I HAVE to look at weight class. Fixing heavier mechs is expensive.

It's just I look at some mechs, and say 'pretty, but I wouldn't be able to use it to potential.'

[Apocal]

Coin flip between mediums and heavies. Assaults a close runner-up though. Nothing quite running down batchall-refusing chuckleheads with a Stormcrow B or a Mad Dog D.

[Arkansas Warrior]

I used to be all assaults all the time.   The bigger the better, who cares about speed?


I still lean that way, but I've mellowed a bit.  Now my favorite range is low-assault to high-heavy 4/6 movers.  BattleMaster, Awesome-9Ma, Black Knight Night Gyr, Nova Cat, Marauder, Warhammer, etc.  Some bleed-over into heavier 4/6 movers like the Banshee, Berserker, or Kingfisher, or 5/8 designs like the Gargoyle, Mad Cat, Falconer, or Neanderthal.

[Church14]

50-65 ton range for me, with love for a few heavier designs.

For alpha strike, I don’t have a strong preference. With AS, I’m usually throwing thematic stuff on the table with a variety of weights. It’s common for me to have a 25 and an 85 ton design in the same list in AS

[The_Big_Red_Bear]

A favourite weight class is hard to narrow down per say. I can say I don't like lightmechs.

I mostly play in 3025, as a whole, I'm not big on them. I think the FS9's are some of the only lights I tolerate. Beyond that I tend to like designs over classes themselves. If I had to pick one weight class? Being forced to? I'd pick Mediums, though it's only from familiarity of using them so often. I like mediums, heavies, and assaults. I just don't like mechs that don't mesh with the lance/forces being deployed.

[MadCapellan]

Medium, although I love a lot of 5/8 heavies. Anything slower than 5/8 feels like a real drag!  ;D It's just too tactically limiting for my taste...