To be honest, it has been several years since I've had a chance to play MW at all, let alone an actual campaign. It may be that whatever survival instincts I had in the past have become fairly dull. I've got some people suggesting to make the thing as tough as possible, others to maximize damage, and plenty of reminders for how incredibly fragile a 20T mech really is.

Perhaps, I would be better off playing it safe. Drop Bug Warrior and buy a Jenner-F instead? Instead of getting Light Mech Specialization and Hazard Checks, go for Tactics? Buy Edge 1 with exp instead of c-bills. Maybe use the last 50 exp for a 'Do anything for money' and make it an Heirloom Mech?

I am reasonably confident that I can have fun in just about anything, but I have the feeling that most of the folks offering their insight are somewhat concerned that I'm going to explode hilariously minutes after setting foot on the battlefield for the first time.

When you are dealing with a campaign that had Light mechs as the majority you can't use heavier mechs to screen damage for you so to speak cause everyone is more or less on the same page.  That is why Svetlana is suggesting maxing out or getting your armour close to max.  Especially when on a 20 ton mech if you don't have max armour the average weapon out there (Medium Laser) might pierce your skin and start doing internal damage in one hit.

No...

You won't explode hilariously unless you take an ammo laden mech like I did first time round. ;)

Where upon you'll explode hilariously at the end of the mission?

They still play that event the Solaris circuit bloopers holo reel highlights...

Yeah I know.

I can make a killer version of that now that we have access to some advanced tech.  Sell off my Hatchetman and downgrade into the Urbie and trick it out with some serious bling ;)

I think Jayne Cobb put it best when he said, "I don't wanna explode."

edit: there are really 2 primary benefits to making the switch to a larger mech. For one, Jenner's are awesome. For two, I would have somewhat more room to make newbie mistakes. There is some appeal to that.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:19, Fri 15 May 2015.

Slap some Endo on, swap the AC/10 for a LBX AC/10, swap the SL for an ERSL and strip that superfluous HS out.  Mate a BASE to the AC/10, bump it's engine up to make it go 3/5 and use the last half ton for CASE.

3/5/2, LBX AC/10 w/BAES & CASE, ERSL, 6 tons of armour.  Not bad and not far from the Clan Urbanmech IIC

I kinda wish I had taken a Jenner, even if the armor is thinner.

Though they have their downsides as well, quite expensive, and lack hands/lower arm which is bad for punching and more importantly depending salvage.

Still though they're a nice ride.

Nothing wrong with starting your life in a heavier mech Alaric.

Thinner armour than what?  It's got heftier armour that your starting ride and the K is close to maxed :P

Though the lack of hands does limit salvage operations, that much is quite true.

In reply to Adam Carlyle (msg # 937):

Thinner armor than my original Mongoose :)

That's right...it starts with 4 tons and the F (not K I just think all the Kurita mods slap K on it) bumps it up to 7.

Right...

Mission 16 is ending in a couple of weeks, and i just finished up the archetypes.

Everyone should look them over, in particular... the Alts.

Even if you have no desire to play a second mech in the campaign you should look the alts over, to see if the concept of playing supporting Tech, Cavalry, or even Infantry appeals to you.  They rely on your mechwarrior, goes where your mechwarrior goes, and if your mechwarrior has rank, fights with them, as well.

Players currently with fighting alts... may consider the attractive nature of keeping the mech alt vs the support alt.  These Archetypes are all 'Beta' at the moment and subject to change.  I am still accepting input from players regarding these archetypes.  I believe they are all balanced, and bring something to the campaign to make it more enjoyable.

link to a message in another game

I like the idea of conventional cavalry, could see myself having done/doing something with that, though starting with no CB is hard.

Ah yeah Jenner F... yeah thats really quite nice.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Fri 15 May 2015.

They start with no money in hand, because your mech warrior buys the conventional unit and hands it over to them to use... and bankrolls the cash for modifications and what not.

I originally looked at the Fire Javelin (10F model I believe off the top of my head). She's a beast. Little slower then a Jenner, but has arms and for a "Light" takes a beating.
Talons are some of my fav light units, but aren't incredibly practical in Kitten's campaign. It's a Locust on roids. 8/12, PPC & 2 Meds. Star League upgrading goes to ERs. I've seen Pulse variants but not nearly as brutal as with the ER PPC.
Commandos get a lot of flack, but in the right hands are an extremely reliable and deadly mech.
That Wasp variant with a load of small lasers is nothing to mock either.
Listen to those telling you armor matters. Look at what one shot just did to my Spider. It shaved everything in my Right Torso off. No internal crits yet (Thank Goodness), but that might not be the case soon. Use cover and movement modifiers to your advantage. Biggest cup of advice I can give you from my experience..... ALWAYS check the post ahead of you before declaring your movement. Collisions due to error do not end well for all parties involved.

In reply to Kitten (msg # 942):

Yep I know, and I think that's fine, just I can't afford it :)

Or at least for anything I'd want to risk a character in combat in.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Fri 15 May 2015.

I started in a Fire Javelin.  Good tough little machine.

Took a closer look at the Javelin-10F and... wow. That's really nice. I think I kept missing it since the page links to the 10N model with SRMs and less armor first. Going to have to drop Bug Warrior and go with that, since it has all of the things I want and some of the ones I didn't even know I needed. Heading home from work soon and will revisit the exp/cb situation there. Thanks for the recommendation!

*chuckles*

Glad we could help.

I really like Damage Magnet, which I'd ignored previously as attracting damage felt antithetical to Bug Warrior, since it looks great for getting back out into the field quickly. And since being in the field is the thing that generates more c-bills and exp, a quick turnaround is desirable.

For the other two options though... There's always Energy Weapons, which I am confident is pretty great. But that would preclude other, also useful things like Tactics, or perhaps Noble. Being able to win initiative more often or bring along additional targets, I mean conventional units both feel pretty useful. In the 'big picture, long-term slog' kind of sense.

Would I be gimping myself if I did not take Energy Weapons?

Not if you plan on having things like Targeting Computers that help with aiming or putting xp into Gunnery.

In the past taking Energy/Ballistic/Missile weapons was a way for you to more easily get equivalent Gunnery levels of 3 and 2 without dumping massive xp into that attribute since it was a +1 or +2 (essentially lowering your skill and making you a better shot).  Now it don't make your shot easier it potentially allows you to roll better and to take advantage of extreme ranges (which you can only hit if you naturally roll 13+ on the 2d7 or 2d8...even if the shot at extreme range after modifications drops to say a 10+ you still need to roll at least a 13 when they are in that phantom range)

So no you wouldn't.  It just eliminates another level of complexity to potentially take advantage of.

I'm ... contemplating some rule changes for the weapon options actually.

Energy, Ballistic, and Missiles all use a bump in dice.

They all allow access to Extreme range, which i'm thinking will be a flat penalty 6 roll

Damage starts to taper off at that range though.

Ballistics do one less damage.

Normal Missiles are -1 on number that this chart.
Streaks are no longer streak at that range and roll number to hit..

Energy Weapons are 1/2 damage (Rounded up)

This make sense to you peeps and are you all down with it?

(Drools slightly)  So the extreme range for a PPC could be...

24, but if it's only doing half damage its only doing 5 damage at that range.

If one is going to purchase rank, do you need to go up through the NCO ranks and then into the officer ones or can you just pick a rank tree?

You need leadership option for officer ranks I believe.