Combined Arms Company - Any Suggestions

[mensa12345]

The problem then becomes "winning the field".  Sometimes, the scenario is more of a "rear guard action" when you're expected to withdraw at some point (or get overwhelmed by progressive waves of reinforcements).  Sometimes, as much as it may pain me to admit it, I just get out thought, out fought, or just plain unlucky.  Screening a mech as it limps from the field can be difficult.  Winning the field once I've lost a serious chunk of my forces due to motive crits or fuel tank explosions is another.  The relentless economics of mercenary life just makes V's way too risky.

[Colt Ward]

Yes you can lose them, but they also cost much less to lose.

[Devens]

Yes you can lose them, but they also cost much less to lose.

Depends on the Vehicle.  The ones that carry the Firepower of a mech tend to have the price tag to match, but not all of them do.  The ones people like to field and say look vehicles are as good as mechs tend to carry XL engines and a Battlemech Price Tag.  So no they are not always that much cheeper.

[Colt Ward]

True . . . I generally put my Vedettes and Pos into riskier situations than I will my Anvil Lance, 3 Schreks and an Alacorn Mk VI.  But its mostly because the armor in Anvil Lance is harder to replace, and if its on the offensive its going out as part of a maximum effort push against a hard target.

[TigerShark]

Cheap firepower is where a lot of those awful light tanks from the TROs come in, specifically the Scorpion Light Tank, which is an absolute terror on the 2800 - 3039 battlefield.

Remember that with combined arms (or any swarm tactic, but specifically with vehicles), firepower doesn't always need to be centered in one or a few units. 8 Scorpions come in at 2448 BV and can be a real problem when stacked up with fast skirmishers. The more units you have on the field with CA tactics, the harder it is for your opponent to take out large chunks of firepower in one kill.

[Devens]

Cheap firepower is where a lot of those awful light tanks from the TROs come in, specifically the Scorpion Light Tank, which is an absolute terror on the 2800 - 3039 battlefield.

Remember that with combined arms (or any swarm tactic, but specifically with vehicles), firepower doesn't always need to be centered in one or a few units. 8 Scorpions come in at 2448 BV and can be a real problem when stacked up with fast skirmishers. The more units you have on the field with CA tactics, the harder it is for your opponent to take out large chunks of firepower in one kill.

If your playing a 12 on 12 those scorpions wont be as much an issue as you think though your prabably gonna have good skill levels on your pilots as both sides would prabably be about 12,000-15000 BV. 

If your playing 4 on 4 at 4000-5000 BV you wont be able to field 8 Scorpions.

If you gonna insist on persuing an unequal number of units route to the tune of 12 on 4 or 8 on 4 then any smart player is gonna insist on Force Size Modifiers.  They may not be perfect but countering the large cheep swarms is why they exist.   

[TigerShark]

If your playing a 12 on 12 those scorpions wont be as much an issue as you think though your prabably gonna have good skill levels on your pilots as both sides would prabably be about 12,000-15000 BV. 

If your playing 4 on 4 at 4000-5000 BV you wont be able to field 8 Scorpions.

If you gonna insist on persuing an unequal number of units route to the tune of 12 on 4 or 8 on 4 then any smart player is gonna insist on Force Size Modifiers.  They may not be perfect but countering the large cheep swarms is why they exist.

I play on a Mekwars server and we don't use FSMs. The problem of swarms can be annoying at times, but most often it's a non-issue.

[Crunch]

If you gonna insist on persuing an unequal number of units route to the tune of 12 on 4 or 8 on 4 then any smart player is gonna insist on Force Size Modifiers.  They may not be perfect but countering the large cheep swarms is why they exist.

The FSM is a broken piece of crap. It does absolutely nothing to balance the game.

There are plenty of effective counters to swarms that don't involve the FSM.

[WarMonkey]

The FSM is a broken piece of crap. It does absolutely nothing to balance the game.

There are plenty of effective counters to swarms that don't involve the FSM.

Yep.....INFERNOS!!! [rockon]

[Demos]

If your playing a 12 on 12 those scorpions wont be as much an issue as you think though your prabably gonna have good skill levels on your pilots as both sides would prabably be about 12,000-15000 BV. 

If your playing 4 on 4 at 4000-5000 BV you wont be able to field 8 Scorpions.

If you gonna insist on persuing an unequal number of units route to the tune of 12 on 4 or 8 on 4 then any smart player is gonna insist on Force Size Modifiers.  They may not be perfect but countering the large cheep swarms is why they exist.

You need not necessarily even numbers.
You can agree on a certain BV with a bandwith of units, maybe even per category.
E.g. 8-12 units, thereof max. 4 mechs, max 2 asf, max. 4 vehicles, max. 4 infantry platoons, max. 4 ba.

[TigerShark]

In pick-up games, I prefer to arrange by scenario more than anything. FSM just doesn't work well unless you're balancing some Tournament style match, with 4-on-5 or some bull like that. Even then it under- or over-values the init sink. :-\

If anyone's really concerned about force size and initiative, BV spreads work well for that. And yes, this does fit into the Combined Arms category so it is on topic. CA tactics FREQUENTLY run into problems with the FSM and limit their effectiveness as a result.

Anyhow, the BV spread states that only units within a certain BV range can be used. For example, the Scorpion Light Tank is 306 BV. If the spread if 1000, no unit (before piloting enhancements) can be over 1306 BV. This means you won't have 4 Assault Mechs + a bunch of 30-BV support vees sinking initiative.

This tends to solve the problem well without sucking the life out of the game and still works within the RP scope of battle.

[Devens]

You need not necessarily even numbers.
You can agree on a certain BV with a bandwith of units, maybe even per category.
E.g. 8-12 units, thereof max. 4 mechs, max 2 asf, max. 4 vehicles, max. 4 infantry platoons, max. 4 ba.

Similar to what I usualy do.  Max number of units + BV.  If a person takes less than their opponent its their problem. 

But I am referring to an opponent who is insisting on taking a 8 or 12 units to a what is meant to be a 4 on 4 fight.  I dont usualy use FSM's either as they look like something someone would come up with on their lunch break cause it looks like a cool way to do it.  But if an opponent is gonna insist on a 3 on 1 fight I will insist on FSM's in retalion if they want me to play that game.  If I have the option of taking the same number of units well thats a diffrent story entirely.

In pick-up games, I prefer to arrange by scenario more than anything. FSM just doesn't work well unless you're balancing some Tournament style match, with 4-on-5 or some bull like that. Even then it under- or over-values the init sink.

   

FSM's to me seem to be designed for 5 on 4, 8 on 5, 12 on 10, 6 on 5, etc.  And even then it, like the Whole BV system is incapapble of actualy balancing a fight.  Map selection alone can greatly impact the true value of a mech.   1300 BV might be good for Mech Z in open terrain but in a heavy forrest it might be far less effective than its assigned BV.  If BV actrualy worked it would be a balanced fight no matter what terrain your in regardless of what you select if the BV was the same.   Now, this will the last I speak of FSM's in this thread as its off topic(The OP is looking at Company on Company:  12 on 12).

[Precentor Scorpio]

I like using the ComGuards organization when it comes to combined arms.
 
If I am required to play a Inner Sphere faction with combined arms, I will replace one four mech lance with either four vehicles, or four vehicles and 3 or 4 infantry platoons or 3 or 4 squads of battlearmor.

So, for combined arms, I enjoy using the ComGuards or the Word of Blake.  I get my reinforced company and with 18 combat elements I should have a fair shot against a twelve mech company or a Clan binary.  So, for my three Level II's you can probably expect 8 to 12 mechs, 4 to 8 vehicles, and two to four battlearmor.

So maybe:
Alpha                                         Beta                                      Gamma
Level II                                      Level II                                   Level II

Lancelot                                    Flashman                                 Raijin
Kintaro                                      Crab                                        Wraith
Thanatos                                  Maxim                                     Lightning
Star Slayer                               Maxim                                     Lightning
Maxim                                       Battlearmor                             Zephyr
Battlearmor                              Battlearmor                             Zephyr

I hope this helpful to you for possible ideas.

[Feign]

The FSM is a broken piece of crap. It does absolutely nothing to balance the game.

There are plenty of effective counters to swarms that don't involve the FSM.

The method we use is to divide the army with more units into a number of roughly equal "initiative groups" equal to the number of units in the smaller army at the beginning of the game.  It tends to minimize the effect of initiative sinks without mucking about too much with the numbers.

[Crunch]

The method we use is to divide the army with more units into a number of roughly equal "initiative groups" equal to the number of units in the smaller army at the beginning of the game.  It tends to minimize the effect of initiative sinks without mucking about too much with the numbers.

Sure although initiative sinking is largely about differential in value, not numbers. A force of 4 Clan Mechs and a point of elementals has a much greater ability to sink initiative than a force of 8 IS mediums with roughly equal value.

[JPArbiter]

Given your preference for Cappelan Mechs, you may want to try to Augmented Lances using Fah Shih and Mechs, with fire support vehicles for backup.  LRM Equipped Brutus tanks with a Po II for escort might be good.

[maxcarrion]

If you’re using a faction/era that supports it you don’t get much more synergy than

Lance of Omni Mechs
Lance of BA
Support lance (LRMs, Artillery, ASF, VTOLs, whatever you feel like playing around with)