What tactical role does Battle Armour play?

[ArchonDan]

I too have just started to explore BA in the game and this thread is full of great information on their uses. What is the preferred type of transportation for foot BA? I was planning on using VTOL as they seem much more maneuverable compared to ground vehicles.

The more terrain there is the better VTOLs seem to me, can use LOS blocking to safely deploy the BA units.

[Colt Ward]

Well, you will want it for each time you deploy as a rule.

One of my favorite designs is the Blizzard Hover APC- 9/14 speed, 6t of cargo space, and a LRM5 in a turret to throw smoke at a pretty good BV.  Armor is beer can levels, but that is the trade off- not sure even FF would improve it much- with a ICE engine so you have some logistical concerns.  The Jihad era Saxon is better, 10/15 with 5t cargo though its weapon choice is worse (MG), and I think it has more armor with a FCE for a bit better logistics burden.  Of course, Omnis are also a great option Epona, Hephastus, Owens, Manteuffel, or even Bolla when covering a road are pretty good.

For me BA transport is about the speed to get it into position- be it in BV balanced scenarios or campaign . . . with that said, in my campaign that has really used BA & transports are limited to what is on the open market and timeline.  I really really want a couple of Main Gauche IFVs, if I ever get heavy or assault firing platforms like Grenadiers then a specialist Prowler would be a great for what it can offer- amphib, LRM support and electronics.

[Daryk]

Fuel Cells have shorter range than ICE for some reason... fuel logistics is not their advantage...

[Colt Ward]

Fuel Cells have shorter range than ICE for some reason... fuel logistics is not their advantage...

Except that it uses water . . . which is easier to access than refined hydrocarbons and will not require time to alter ICE to the different formulas a individual world uses.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Aren't most military ICE vehicles fluffed as being able to burn just about anything from ethanol to kerosene?

Still, with fuel cells all you need is water and a fusion engine, both of which are relatively easy to come by, while a force using ICE vehicles for a long-term deployment may or may not have trouble sourcing fuel supplies after a while.

[Colt Ward]

Aren't most military ICE vehicles fluffed as being able to burn just about anything from ethanol to kerosene?

Oh, it will burn just about anything . . . how well they burn it and what it does to the engine & maintenance cycle is a different story from what I was told.  IIRC the fluff, BT's military ICE's go one step further where they seem to be able to be programmed or modified to accept different quality fuels without as many problems- in my mind I read that to be it could shuffle between things like mo gas and diesel with some prep time.

[Daryk]

Once you crack the hydrogen, you still have to shuffle it around to the vehicles that need it.  Fusion engines don't need to do that dance.

[Calimehter]

Its already been touched on by folks who have used BA more than I have :) but it bears repeating that Elementals are a tremendous help in a Clan vs. IS engagement. 

The IS will typically outnumber and/or outweigh the Clans, and will be working hard to utilize cover and close as quickly as possible to overcome their (typically) shorter ranged weapons.  This ends up playing right to the strengths of the BA, as the IS will be closing fast right into their short ranges or into the thicker terrain that the BA favor. Clan Omnis are usually fast enough to deploy BA in a good spot, and then keep the ranges open after that to get maximum synergy from both units.

[Colt Ward]

Once you crack the hydrogen, you still have to shuffle it around to the vehicles that need it.  Fusion engines don't need to do that dance.

Which is part of why I was not comparing them to the logistical burden of Fusion engines, instead saying the FCE are easier on the logistics than a ICE.

[Daryk]

As long as you have easy access to electricity, sure...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Electricity is one resource in Battletech that's rarely in short supply.

[Daryk]

Except when it is...  ^-^

[Colt Ward]

Dropship engines, aerospace fighter engines, small craft engines, battlemech engines, some vehicle engines (just the fusion), HQ elements setting up Ops Centers . . . remind me again, how it is a problem to get electricity as part of a military force?  I want to say its fluffed that BA recharge from mechs and vehicles.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It is.  Omnimechs and omnivees have external ports for battle armor they're carrying to recharge on.

[Daryk]

It depends entirely on your force.  If your backwater militia only has one lance of 'mechs across the entire force, that could be a problem.

[Ferrosol]

For me at least battle armour has a few useful roles.

Role 1: Semi-Mobile Minefield/Area Denial- Battle armour can be scary as hell and while they're not particularly mobile in a mech-scale combat they can still do a lot of damage to anything they can catch whether that be by swarm/leg attacks or the battle amours mounted weaponry. A wise opponent will therefore either have to avoid them or devote resources to killing them. Resources they can't use on my main force

Role 2: Point defence- As above but battle armour tied to defending an objective. Even better if it's an objective that the enemy has to come to you to take. Battle armour excel in this role.

Role 3: Sweeping up- battle armour is great for finishing off cripples and allows you to free up your battlemech forces for other duties.

Role 3.5: Ablative armour for my Omni-mech Battle armour is cheap, omni-mechs aren't. A point/squad of BA clinging to my omni-mech might be the difference between it taking a hit that kills it and one that lets it win the day. Sure it costs you BA troopers but those are cheaper and easier to replace. 

Role 4: The suicide charge Pack BA into a fast moving transport (Maxims or Karnovs are ideal.) Charge said transport into the middle of the enemy unit and drop BA directly on top of them. You'll probably lose the transport and maybe the BA as well but they'll slow down your foe immeasurably.

[Colt Ward]

Role 3.5: Ablative armour for my Omni-mech Battle armour is cheap, omni-mechs aren't. A point/squad of BA clinging to my omni-mech might be the difference between it taking a hit that kills it and one that lets it win the day. Sure it costs you BA troopers but those are cheaper and easier to replace. 

This exploit has thankfully been nerf'd and has been for a while.

[AlphaMirage]

This exploit has thankfully been nerf'd and has been for a while.

Yeah, they are far more useful shooting at your enemy than protecting you from them.  Any Clan Mechwarrior that wasn't willing to have their mech be shot at would washed out in training or been reassigned to some backwater Solahma for cowardice.  You are a WARRIOR! You fight, and you better fight hard otherwise you dishonor yourself.

[Sir Chaos]

It depends entirely on your force.  If your backwater militia only has one lance of 'mechs across the entire force, that could be a problem.

That kind of militia force will rarely have a lot of battle armor to recharge, though.

[Agathos]

A post-Jihad AFFS Light Combat Team is supposed to have a reinforced battalion of 'Mechs next to a full regiment of battle armor infantry. Quite a lopsided ratio. But it also has lots of non-'Mech vehicles and some of those have fusion engines too.

[Daryk]

Every fusion engine helps, but you need quite a few to avoid logistics bottlenecks.

[Trailblazer]

Is it against the rules for BA to load on an LAM in airmech mode?  That's sad if true.  (Just tried this on Megamek and it didn't let me.)

[Colt Ward]

Not knowing the specifics of LAMs- have not bothered even though I was a big Robotech watcher as a kid- the suits would need MagClamps . . . and BA cannot externally load on OmniFighters and IIRC there was a ruling that excluded them from being external on a VTOL even- which means both Mags and if we ever get a OmniVTOL.

[Trailblazer]

Yeah, the suits I was using were magclamp suits.  It makes sense if they're not allowing VTOL riders, those two should stand or fall together IMO.

[Daryk]

AirMechs have hands, though... one should be able to pick up at least one, if not two suits.  Granted, you'll have to house rule it (since TW only addresses embarking whole squads), but it does make sense.  Personally, I think that would be a perfect explanation as to why IS BA uses four suit squads: one carried per 'mech in a lance (with or without clamps).

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

• LAMs can only carry mechanized battle armor in BattleMech Mode. If the LAM converts to any other mode while transporting battle armor (or while being swarmed by hostile battle armor), the battle armor unit is automatically forced off in the process and suffers damage equivalent to a Level 2 fall.

Aside the problem that LAMs are cannot be constructed as OmniMech, it is not possible to apply Mechanized Battle Armor rule to the LAM with AirMech mode.

[Daryk]

Mechanized BA is the "one squad per 'mech" rule.  Look at the rules for carrying cargo in TW, and the expanded picking up units rules in TacOps.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

I don't think that picking the battle armor rule on TO can picks enough number of battle armors. LAMs are up to 55 tons, so they are can't become heavy or assault so all they can carry is three armors. But the number of troopers in an IS BA squad is 4 and ComGuard is 6.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

By the way, I found that machine gun with Rapid-Fire mode(that is an option rule in TO) would be a very weight efficient weapon for the battle armor - especially for Light MG that have good range compared by the others and still have similar damage output with its bigger cousins. But is there the other weight efficient BA weapon option to against battlemechs?

[Daryk]

I'm only advocating one or two suits at most (and only PA(L) for two).  The real thing holding this idea back is the stacking rules, and how to reconstitute a squad if they're carried by other units that can't all be in the same hex.