Infantry Support Weapons

[boilerman]

I'm curious to hear what are people's preferred infantry support weapons. Let's say 'Mech scale weapons, for general use, you have no idea what terrain you'll be asked to support infantry in.

Oops, wrong board. Can a Mod move this please.

[Qoonpooka]

I'm a big fan of the AC/5. Anything inside minimum range is subject to small arms fire. It's got the reach to be meaningful. It's got enough punch to be felt. AC/2s can be nice but you need to get them set up with a good viewshed. AC/20s are nasty surprises... but dead weight if you don't have the ability to pull targets.   The AC/10 feels.... I dunno. Just not as good to me... it makes them enough of a threat to pull attention they won't survive for very long.

[AlphaMirage]

I agree with Qoon. Additionally I think that Mech Mortars, which should be Ballistics but are for some arcane reason Missiles, are pretty good as they are brutal on hostile infantry and battle armor, your main foes as infantry, while being very thematic.

[boilerman]

I wasn't expecting ACs on the list. With a selection of ammo though...

[Weirdo]

I think I'll go with a Griffin. You get the PPC that gives your formation range and hole-punching for the Infantry to fill in later, the LRM rack has more range and in this role you'll have no shortage of spotters for indirect shots, and the speed to quickly reposition to trouble spots, allowing one mech to effectively support a broad front of infantry.

[AlphaMirage]

I wasn't expecting ACs on the list. With a selection of ammo though...

Particularly since there is a dedicated antipersonnel AC round

I think I'll go with a Griffin. You get the PPC that gives your formation range and hole-punching for the Infantry to fill in later, the LRM rack has more range and in this role you'll have no shortage of spotters for indirect shots, and the speed to quickly reposition to trouble spots, allowing one mech to effectively support a broad front of infantry.

I'd rather the Griffin be on the front but since it's slightly slower brother the Hoplite was the infantry support mech the weapon set clearly has merit

[Daryk]

Thumper Artillery Cannon for me.  It's light enough lots of things can mount it, it's AOE, and it has decent range.  Obviously a Long Tom Artillery Cannon is better, but it's REALLY heavy and REALLY hot, with not a lot of ammo per ton.

[boilerman]

I was expecting the artillery cannons to show up.

Not much love for the LRM, at least the 10 gets some. My first thought was the LRM-5: small and light enough to mount on an light infantry combat vehicles in the 20 ton range.

[AlphaMirage]

Give the option of an LRM or Mortar for infantry support I'd take the Mortar as it's cheaper to buy and load, while remaining the same mass, and its lack of ammo per ton isn't as big a concern in this role since you have plenty of hands for resupply.

Airburst rounds are brutal on their fellow infantry doing up to 8d6 casualties (Anti-Personnel half that, all in a hex by the way) for an MM/8 rather than the equivalent LRM-20's max of 4. Additionally that would do up to 8 damage to each member of an armored infantry squad which almost shreds IS Standard. Since infantry and Armored Infantry are their biggest threats and having an abundance of spotters is an advantage its just seems natural to bring the best weapon to fight them.

Artillery cannons even Thumpers are overkill for both. Better to use them on support vehicles like Monitors or Heavy Tanks like a Rommel Howitzer.

[Daryk]

While TACs are drop in replacements for AC/10s, quite a few AC/5 designs can fit them without losing too much.

[pheonixstorm]

For pure infantry support weapons I like to go with the heavy laser. Good range and damage profile against armored targets. For mech scale I tend to favor the AC/5. Not only does it do decent damage and have good range, but it also has a decent amount of ammo and you can use different kinds of ammo. Though the best reason for the AC/5 is using it in rapid fire mode. No need to worry about jams or explosions, just run out of ammo faster.

[Cannonshop]

question might be 'what are you trying to do with your infantry support?'  because depending on the answer, some weapons work better than others, so it might just boil down to 'what are you using infantry to do?'

Defending against armored or mixed forces, weapons that do lots of armor damage are probably a better bet, than weapons optimized for killing PBI. IOW leave the incendiary needlers on the dropship unless you're checking off your 'atrocities against civilians' portion of your scorecard, because it's useless against even lightly armored opponents.  Same for the Frag LRM/SRMs for similar reasons.

If you're expecting to need to scrub the enemy's PBI's off and NOT expecting to encounter serious armored resistance, then a Mortar's probably a decent go-to, but not if they're coming in the troop bays of a bunch of Maxims, Goblins, etc.

If you're expecting to face panzergrenadiers (Light infantry riding in real armored vehicles that don't boil out in abstractions) then you might want something a bit more serious.  LBX autocannons, short-muzzle artillery cannons, and the like-things that do AOE with range against armored targets AND meat sacks.

If you're facing someone who 'leads with their armor' ('mech, tank, whatever) it's hard to argue against a Thumper Cannon, but possible-and of course, if you're 'support' is on a 'mech, maybe some nice pulse lasers that can do double duty, or LRM racks with enough bin space for alternate munitions, or (again) LBX's...

and if your attacker is a raider in 'mechs? your infantry support needs to be useful for hurting 'mechs badly and quickly.

it's all about what you're facing.  If you're trying for a 'general purpose' setup, it's hard to beat something with an LBX-10 or sawed off artillery piece lobbing indirect or tossing AOE around, though for cost-per-bodybag, an LRM carrier with spotters is cheaper than a track or 'mech with a thumper cannon.

[Daryk]

Since you have to design your own vehicles with Thumper Artillery Cannons, I feel compelled to mention two Scimitar variants with TACs are cheaper than a single LRM carrier.  Spotters come out in the wash... 

[Colt Ward]

Ok . . . are we talking field guns?  Or dedicating other equipment (mechs, vehs, VTOLs) to infantry support?

[boilerman]

I was thinking vehicle mounted, as in infantry fighting vehicle, general support.

[Colt Ward]

Then I am going to say I want a vehicle supporting my infantry with a MML.  And while we never got a Heavy APC with a MML that is a shame . . . give it a FCE, some HFF, and you can squeeze a MML7 w/2t of ammo.

Why MML?  Because like the ATM, if you cannot have a OmniMech (or veh), then having a Omni-style weapon just brings options to the table . . .

LRMs to surpress distant targets, smoke to block LOS, inferno to start fire, Semi-G/NARC for guided support, Frag for clearing masses of other infantry, Thunders of various flavors, and for non-combat support the good old Tear Gas SRMs.  MMLs let me support my infantry with options.

[Weirdo]

I was thinking vehicle mounted, as in infantry fighting vehicle, general support.

Infantry Fighting Vehicles want stuff that's good for killing infantry, ideally at SRM ranges or higher to avoid the bulk of return fire, and it needs to be able to hurt them even when they're hiding in a heavy building. Snubtillery and plasma are absolute kings here, with mortars taking a good second place.

Infantry Support Vehicles are a different story. Their job is to do what the infantry can't, to cover the weaknesses of an infantry formation. My preference is for weapons with at least 15 hexes of range, and roughly 10 damage in one slug. 10-size autocannons or PPCs are very good here, as they can provide the kind of armor crunch most infantry cannot, and possess enough range that your typical anti-infantry attacker can't just hang back and snipe your troops to death, they have to actually work for it. Large and ER Large Lasers will also do in a pinch. The LB10-X is unsurprisingly the king here, having crunch power, range, and the cluster option is magnificent for disabling MG-heavy vees long before they get into range to kill your troops as well as performing AA duty, something infantry cannot EVER do unless they brought field guns. Plasma Rifles are a good runner-up, losing out to the older weapon only because of their reduced range and lack of flak.