r/Battletechgame • u/Separate_Impact_9976 • 13d ago
Armour
Completely new to the game and currently on the third story mission.
When arming the 'mechs, do i make sure that all armour sliders are filled, or does it differ from role to role?
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u/WestRider3025 12d ago
While you're new to the game, it's nice to have max armour. Once you've got the hang of keeping your long range Mechs (especially Missile Boats) out of sight and backstabbing with Reserve/Ace Pilot shenanigans, you can trim down amazingly low, but for now it gives you a buffer for when you get caught off guard by something.
I'd also note that in the Campaign, difficulty ramps up on all planets as you complete certain Story Missions. Despite the game calling them "Priority", you can actually take as much time as you need between them, and if you rush them, it's possible to get stuck in a situation where all the available missions are more difficult than you can handle.
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u/Brightstorm_Rising 13d ago
There's no correct answer for this, which is a big part of the game. Even in the 100 ton assault mechs, there will be a trade off if you max armor them and they'll be too pight on armor if ypu jam all the weapons and equipment they can carry.
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u/DoctorMachete 12d ago
It differs from role to role and depends on the playstyle too. Not the same a close range mech than a long range mech, if you have JJs, if you have Ace Pilot, if you have patience or if you prefer to rush, how much firepower you have, etc...
BUT if you're starting out I think it is a good idea to max or near max the armor for all your mechs, because while IMO not optimal in many cases the main advantage it has is being passive while many other survivability mechanics require doing something in a certain way.
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u/lxnch50 13d ago
I doubt you get a perfect consensus from the community. This game is a tinkerer's dream if you enjoy tweaking your mechs. Maxing out front armor is what I typically do. I'll skimp on some back and maybe even the head armor to squeeze in extra munitions, weapons, or cooling depending on the chassis and what I have available. You can usually protect your back via positioning.
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u/Voodoocookie 13d ago
Basically, you just armour as necessary.
If you built your mech for range or indirect hits (like LRMs), you'll need less armour because, hopefully, you'll never get hit.
If you built your mech for close range (like SRMs), you'll need more armour to tank more shots.
Evasion tanking requires less armour and more mobility, and are usually medium or light mechs (low armour anyways; Firestarter is my fav), and are usually just skipping around and only going in to end an enemy.
Generally, you'll also have less armour on the behind of your mechs because you should never turn your back on an enemy!!
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u/forcemonkey 12d ago
I turn my back on enemies regularly. If my front is taking too much damage I sprint in the opposite direction and take a couple hits to the rear while my other ‘Mechs generate threat. Then when the damaged ‘Mech is forgotten I bring it back into the fight from afar.
And I do increase my rear armor at least somewhat on almost all ‘Mechs.
Works very well.
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u/tolgren 13d ago
You can choose to armor them or leave more room for weapons. It's up to you. One popular thing is to strip armor from missile boats for more missiles and then just keep them at a distance.
Generally maxxxing out armor isn't a great strategy.
You DO need to repair them every time they take damage, but the armor is repaired automatically.
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u/Princeofcatpoop 13d ago
Armour is role based. But there is also an element of knowing your enemy. If one lucky shot can go internal on a scout's leg, that scout is not going to be combat useful. But lighter armor on scouts does mean more maneuverability in terms of bigger engine and jump jets.
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u/Whiskey_Storm 12d ago
I balance the armor load. I've never held to the philosophy that many have in here to max out the armor. I usually end up tweaking what the mech has by maybe a ton?
Being conscious of your positioning so you don't expose damaged sides to enemy fire is a better tactic.
I prefer to alpha strike as much as possible with a mech, so I'll drop some of the excess weapons the heavier ones (or swap them down for more heat efficient versions) and put in more heat sinks.
Worked for me so far. (~1,800 hours vanilla. 4? campaigns; 3 completed careers)
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u/Real-Comfortable6812 13d ago edited 13d ago
If you're good enough and it's the base or vanilla game, you can actually complete the missions with no armor at all. u/DrMachete used to do it all the time with designs that maxed out weapon damage at the expense of armor. They're famous for showing the mission completed screens with a single mech stripped down to just its structure with no damage and a ton of mech kills.
Edit: I'm not that skilled or brave so I max out armor most of the time. I do shave a teensy bit off every now and then if it's necessary to shoehorn in a weapon or equipment that's an absolute must-have for whatever design I'm working on, though.
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u/discog_elysium 13d ago
I personally like armor and heat management at the expense of alpha damage, but I also such and don't like having to micromanage a whole lot
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u/Honestybomb 13d ago
Not relevant to the base game or even BTA at this point, but I loved stripping Battle Armor of all their armor so I could load them up with weapons. Put em in a Turhan APC which has firing ports and whip behind some goon to melt their back armor. It was so satisfying
It’s been forever since I played base game but I think early it’s more beneficial and later you have more flexibility to play with as skills and equipment can help give you more defensive options.
It’s also mitigated more in BTA where you can effectively have 3 lances of mechs plus vehicle support. It makes it a lot easier for dedicated fire support mechs to drop a massive chunk of their armor to commit to more dakka.
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u/Separate_Impact_9976 13d ago
you can play vehicles in the game?
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u/Honestybomb 13d ago
In the base game, no. BTA (BattleTech Advanced) is a mod that expands the game to have a ton more customization for your mechs, lets you bring more of them (up to 12) and lets you bring vehicles. You can purchase them and they show up on the salvage table. You can also get various flyers. There are pilots that are vehicle only and they have a separate skill tree from regular mech pilots.
I’m playing on an older version of BTA because they made a change that switched Battle Armor from being controllable to being a call-in air drop (and I like my gankbus full of BA too much to give up) but I still highly recommend the mod. I hear in the scheme of major BT mods, BT Extended (BEX) is the lowest impact and is closest to the base game, BTA is the middle tier and RogueTech is the most complex and adds a variety of mechanics closer to the original tabletop game
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u/Separate_Impact_9976 13d ago
oh yeah, whats your opinion on the AP economy in this game? It feels a bit overbearing at times, especially on convoy interception missons.
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u/Honestybomb 13d ago
AP economy meaning exactly what? Just curious so I give the right answer
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u/Separate_Impact_9976 13d ago
the action point economy, how many turn the enemy gets vs what you get.
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u/Honestybomb 13d ago
It’s definitely evened out in BTA where you can get more bodies on the field. Late game vanilla is rough because you just get 4 dudes and it can take forever to grind through waves of opposition. BTA has tactical nukes and cruise missiles for that
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u/mootcoffee 12d ago
I always run full frontal armor and ~50% rear armor, except for LRM boats which I'll strip down further if I think I can keep them out of hostile fire.
A new player like yourself may want to err on the side of caution with rear armor because certain mission types tend to drop enemy reinforcements in very compromising positions immediately after completing an objective. You'll finish off a final straggler only to have the enemy drop in, reroll initiative and have your entire force flanked.
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u/The_Parsee_Man 12d ago
For a new player max or near max armor is good since you're still learning how the game works. It's frustrating to have all your mechs in the shop.
In my opinion, there are much more reliable methods of damage mitigation. Armor is a limited resource and even a max armored Assault can struggle if the entire Opfor starts unloading on it. As you learn the game you should be learning to not get shot in the first place. Evasion, line of sight, and initiative can all be used to prevent damage and can all be renewed every turn.
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u/Ramenoodlesoup 12d ago
You're almost ALWAYS going to be outnumbered in combat. Having the staying power to remain in the fight is crucial for newer players learning the system. As you get more experience, then the world becomes your oyster.
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u/Magical_Savior 12d ago
I start with more and closer to max armor on most 'mechs. Then, I slowly trim it back as I tune them based on role. Because someone has to take hits sometimes, there's usually something with 100% armor. But if I murder hard enough, I'll bring Marauders and such down to 70% armor. They'll never have a shot at the Marauder, because they'll be dead.
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u/ThaneduFife 12d ago
When learning the game, I'd definitely recommend using full armor until you know what you're doing. I've got hundreds of hours in the game and even now, the majority of my mechs still have 80-90% armor.
Re: rear armor, you're 100% going to get flanked through no real fault of your own every few missions. I try make sure that my mechs have enough rear armor to take at least alpha-strike from another mech in the same weight class.
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u/Smol_PC_Enthusiast 11d ago
If a Mech is going to be shot at, I give it maximum armour on the front and 25 armour on the rear (which equals one medium laser hit).
Typically I run 3 mechs up front and one fire support, so I pretty much all my mechs have max. Even for my fire support mechs, they do get shot at now and then, so I give them the maximum armour I can after I equip weapons and ammo for 12 rounds of shooting.
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u/Mauisurfslayer 13d ago edited 13d ago
I generally recommend keeping most more values at maximum when possible
I rather sacrifice a bit of firepower to insure I’m protected from all angles
Late game contracts are grinders and high armor keeps your useful mechs in the fight
I usually shave off leg armor though to around 3/4 if not lower, leg damage usually is inconsequential except for certain situations
Taking off rear armor is also useful if you are very mindful of it. But I keep it high as possible as one lucky movement or flank and you can just straight up die to an ammo explosion
Never take off head armor. A lot of heavy hitting weapons can barely one shot a cockpit with full armor, if you strip it lower you are opening yourself up for the 1-100 scenario where a clan ERPPC one shots your mech pilot and all
You would think that most sniper or lrm mechs could skimp on some armor, but again, getting unlucky or heavily targeted potentially gets you an ammo explosion of a Gauss rifle exploding