Can MekHQ game be played with a force of just 1-2 lances?

[rogueranger1993]

I'm currently considering the idea of starting a new MekHQ campaign to make use of the StratCon beta, and that has brought up an old question of mine - can you start a MekHQ campaign with just 1 (or perhaps 2) Mech lance? I'm curious to know if such a thing is actually feasible or not with the currently available tools in MekHQ, since it seems like it could be a fun way of starting a new game while with a more challenging opening scenario.

[dgorsman]

I would suggest two formations at a minimum.  StratCon will routinely generate multiple scenarios over a week, which may be on the same day or sooner than the track delay time, which prevents a single lance from handling all of them.  With early contracts typically being more restrictive in command rights failing to deploy for even one scenario can result in a contract breach - essentially failing the contract.  A full company makes things easier, starting with only two formations is more of a challenge but one that is still acheivable.

[johnboyjjb]

Bah! One can play MekHQ with StratCon with one lance no problem. You will probably have to set up some rules on when you are allowed to cheat as one lance is going to struggle to keep up as dgorsman said.

BUT it is just a tool. You don't have to be a slave to it. If StratCon rolls up two missions in a week, delete one and have a rule about it.

Give it a go. And be flexible.

And be prepared to lose.

[Illiani]

So, I always start each campaign with only a single lance of light and medium 'meks. It's tough, but doable. You will lose your first few contracts, because you don't have the manpower to scout and deal with any scenarios that pop-up. Once you hit two lances things become a lot easier, because you can scout with one lance and fight scenarios with the other. However, you do need to cherry pick your contracts and what scenarios you fight.

Three lances is what we generally recommend for new campaigns, because it gives you two lances you can play with and then a third to scout, or act as reserves.

[rogueranger1993]

Interesting comments. I'm curious to know if the MekHQ devs have ever considered ways of making the system more compatible with small-scale units (i.e. 1-2 lance forces) going forward? It should probably be considered hard mode still, but it would be nice for the systems in MekHQ to take such units into account. I haven't read any of the fiction yet, but IIRC people have mentioned that there are several cases in the fiction where units start off with just 1 or 2 lances. Would be nice to be able to play out games that use similar starting forces.

[Illiani]

We don’t have any current plans. The way things work single lance starts are very doable, you just have to accept that with so few forces you need to be judicious and make sacrifices somewhere. Be that accepting a contract loss, or retreating as soon as things starting looking bad.

[johnboyjjb]

Or turning down the intensity a bit. And/Or the mek to tank mix.

[rogueranger1993]

Fair enough. Thanks for the help!

[Illiani]

Intensity doesn’t apply to StratCon (we don’t recommend playing pure AtB over AtB with StratCon as pure AtB is no longer being developed
 - and hasn’t been for a couple years)