And how to do you balance two different people's "eyeballing"? Or do you just never allow player's to bring their own forces? Or do they bring them and then you say "nope, that's too much, i'm taking away your X 'mechs or lowering X 'mechs skills because I think so"?
Well, considering my group does scenario play, very little in the way of "pick up games," that is part of it..playing what the scenario
gives you.
Additionally, since we have the capability to print up stuff on the spot, when we do do stuff that allows players to pick..eh, well,
frankly, we stick with our group standard of 3G/4P skills, and let the players pick what they want. In my experience, as long as all
the pilot skills are the same, the fight is balanced. If you cannot beat an Atlas II with an LCT-1M when you picked the LCT knowing
you were facing the Atlas II...then that is your fault. Player skill is the biggest variable that no system like Battlevalue, Combat Value,
etc can adequately account for, and will always be the real determination of which side is going to win or lose.