MoneyLovingOgre4Hire is right ---- tabletop battles rarely turn out like those in the novels, or really, and real battle. When we play on a table, we really are putting warriors, willing to fight to the death, on a battlefield, with arbitrary magic lines, that define set edges, and where those same pilots agree to self destruct if they cross them (unit is destroyed if it leaves the edge of battle is very common) --- and so on.
Really, most battles in Battletech make no sense, as they imply that two units were randomly wandering the wilderness, and upon sighting each other, hastily make the above agreements and then slug it out to the bitter end, or last man standing. We rarely fight battles over objectives, and too many times, when we do, they objective is to either destroy the objective, or keep the other side from getting it, meaning that destroying it, is sort of a victory........ I have seen mechs ignoring other mechs firing on them, so that they can fire turn after turn at an objective...... because they win, even if almost everyone is dead, if the building blows.
In real battles, the goal is to keep as many forces alive as possible..... you don't just throw troops at an objective, unless you are a very poor commander.... you use your troops to obtain objectives and force your opponent to capitulate. and the less troops you have to use, or risk, at that means that less get wounded or killed.... leaving you with further resources to continue the campaign. If real wars were fought the way that 90% of tabletop games are played, the Houses would have been out of mechs and troops somewhere around the first succession war.......
The forced withdrawal rules are great, but too many players try to play loopholes or argue ---- and even when followed, really don't do much to truly simulate some aspects of battle. However, that takes this discussion in additional directions, than including Initiative, did....... really, it comes down, not to which units make the swarm, but how it is used on the table --- keeping in mind that those units are supposed to be piloted, and are probably NOT suicidal works better, then just using those units as though they are drones. Someone, earlier, posted that you need to expect to lose units ..... and in a game, yes, that is true, but for real soldiers, even one casualty is too many, especially if you are the one.....
I am a combat veteran, and yes, I have seen friends die in battle, as well as having been wounded, myself. The difference, is our command, and our leadership, tries to minimize that, as much as possible. It's still a job that deals with death, it happens, but your troops remain loyal, so long as they believe that their command has their best interests, and survival, in mind..... lose that, or spend too much time discussing "acceptable losses" and there is a real risk of an accidental misfire resulting in a friendly fire situation......... or your troops refusing to fight, or even considering surrender, depending on the enemy.
With my technicals, as I noted, one got destoyed, horribly, by the laser battery of the Stalker.... the rest immediately scattered.... because they didn't want to die, and it was suddenly VERY obvious that it could, and would happen. Now, there was no, in game, advantage to my scattering.... and from a tabletop perspective, having an 85 ton mech chasing 5 ton vehicles was very much a win....... and if I had played, as many tabletop players do, where the goal is to win at all costs, I would have kept the fight on the Stalker.... the odds are, one of them would have gotten one of those small lasers through, and I could have crippled an Assault mech, by sacrificing some cheap trucks....... and that is how too many games are played. I chose to use more RP, and experience of what real soldiers think, and while it did not give me an advantage on the table, it did make the game more enjoyable, for me.
Sadly, there are no rules for this part --- it relies on players on both sides to act as though their units have real pilots..... which some people just will not do.
During the game with the technicals, most of the players on both sides did kind of play it that way, to the point of some of them using Forced Withdrawal, even though we hadn't decided on it, at the beginning of the battle..... it made that battle much more of a battle, rather than a table game, where someone HAD to win.... and because of that, we all had a great deal of fun.......
Not sure how to rule it on the table, but it is something that has an important place in the game...
Nahuris