160 replies to this topic

[KalebFenoir]

Wrayeth, on 21 February 2013 - 08:15 PM, said:

To anyone who mentioned the Penetrator as their guilty pleasure, may I suggest the Templar TLRO-1 C? It takes it to a whole 'nother level: 5 medium pulse lasers, 1 ER medium laser, 1 ER PPC, 1 LB20-X, and jump jets for 4/6/4 movement!

For me, I always feel slightly guilty when I bring an assault heavy force (which is...very frequent) as I know they're not the most versatile mechs out there. Moreover, I used to feel truly guilty when fielding assault mechs that are built to engage in melee.

Then I used the Banshee BNC-8S and the Atlas AS8-D a few times.

Now I don't feel guilty at all. Even if I never get in a physical attack, my opponents are so busy trying to stay away from my TSMed monstrosities that I can often push them around the board in a manner I choose or get them to ignore other threats while they focus on taking my beast down. And, on those occasions I get a chance to actually land a blow, it's devastating.

I recall one occasion when a Firestarter omni jumped right behind my BNC-8S, hoping to take it down by either causing it to overheat (since it was already at 9 heat) or penetrating its rear armor. I'd dropped a 3/4 pilot into the mech, and the look on Firestarter's player's face when I told him I was torso twisted left and only needed an 8 to hit his medium mech with a 38-point axe was priceless...as was the aftermath when I rolled an 11.

Beautiful story, man. That's the kinda stuff I like to hear in this topic. Not just what mech is your guilty, but the heinous carnage you committed with it, or the wacky stories of survival and upheaval!

[Larth]

Oh boy, too many categories of guilty pleasures.
Combo/pair up: Valkyrie + Archer

Clan: I only like 3 clan mechs, the rest are meh to yuck. They are the Mad Dog/Vulture, Kodiak, Incubus/Vixen (cheers at OP)

I.S.: Yeah, Inner Sphere fanboy here. Not super fond of a lot of heavies or assaults (probably cuz my luck apparently causes these to get headshot within the first five turns of a game...so frustrating). Valkyrie has got to be one of my all time favorites. So is the Shadowhawk. The rest of them kinda have a uh certain theme, Mantis, Scarabus, Hatchetman, Nightsky, Berserker (one of the few assaults I try to field and pray it doesn't die right away). By the way, can kinda tell my playstyle...

Now for overall iconic mech, inner sphere all the way. Clans have the Madcat, but we have the original MAD. I'll gladly take a Marauder any day over an annoyed kitty. Might throw on some clantech though...

[RuTsui]

I just like to think how badass I would look running around in a Kodiak. I imagine like running into a light mech, maybe a Commando because it has that really humanoid look to it, then ******* it up real quick before his friends show up, then just like kneeling over the burnt out husk and going at it with the claws so that when the rest of his lance shows up, it legitimately looks like he's being mauled by a bear.

I would be lifting a bit of scrap medal and jamming it into the cockpit to make it look like I was eating it, then like one of their mechs steps on a twig and I look up all surprised with one of those bear "Urp?" sounds then jump up, let out a panicked roar, and run off into the woods while the Commando's friends stood there dumbfounded.

Yeah.. That'd be sweet...

[ChargerIIC]

The Charger 1A1 was always a favorite of mine - on the smaller maps my playgroup used it was a monster. I have to admit a love for the Hamato-chi as well. It was a very versatile mech

[Runenstahl]

Kobold, on 28 December 2012 - 01:22 AM, said:

The bug mechs, Shadowhawk, and Rifleman (in most, but not all, configurations) are junk. The Warhammer is passable in a few configurations, but the stock version, is full of wasted tonnage.

I really have to disagree here. At least as far as the rifleman is concerned. Yes, the rifleman sucks in mech-to-mech combat. But that was NEVER it's role. It's an anti-aircraft mech. And it's actually really well constructed to fight enemy fighters. With an alphastrike it produces so much heat it takes an entire turn of doing nothing to get back to normal... which is fine, since fighters can only pass the battlefield every other round.

As for the warhammer (the mech it is clearly my own most favorite mech of all)... game-wise I have to agree with you, it's loadout isn't very effective. From a "realistic" view however his loadout makes it a VERY well rounded mech that's able to be usefull in any situation:
Night combat ? Big searchlight !
Enemy infantry ? MG's !
Fighting mechs at range ? PPC's !
Fighting mechs in close combat ? SL's, ML's and a SRM6 !

Effective or not, I just looove the Warhammer

[Sedant]

Guilty pleasure mechs include the Stone Rhino/Behemoth and its inner sphere look alike the 150 ton Omega (yeah, thats right!), as well as anything from the game planet of Solaris. The gladiator style mech designs that come out of there are wicked and technologically advanced from whatever timeline they were from as Solaris was often used as a test bed for experimental technologies. But my number one guilty pleasure mech, the Highlander comes out in April so all others be damned because "there can be only one!"

[KalebFenoir]

Runenstahl, on 26 February 2013 - 01:24 PM, said:

I really have to disagree here. At least as far as the rifleman is concerned. Yes, the rifleman sucks in mech-to-mech combat. But that was NEVER it's role. It's an anti-aircraft mech. And it's actually really well constructed to fight enemy fighters. With an alphastrike it produces so much heat it takes an entire turn of doing nothing to get back to normal... which is fine, since fighters can only pass the battlefield every other round.

As for the warhammer (the mech it is clearly my own most favorite mech of all)... game-wise I have to agree with you, it's loadout isn't very effective. From a "realistic" view however his loadout makes it a VERY well rounded mech that's able to be usefull in any situation:
Night combat ? Big searchlight !
Enemy infantry ? MG's !
Fighting mechs at range ? PPC's !
Fighting mechs in close combat ? SL's, ML's and a SRM6 !

Effective or not, I just looove the Warhammer

With the Warhammer, it functions as a multi-range mech that can take a decent pounding. It's meant to be that middle-of-the-ground mech that, at long range can snipe at you with PPCs, at medium ranges hit you with the PPCs and the lasers, and possibly the SRM, and then at short ranges continue pounding you with its short-range weapons while switching the PPCs to snipe at your allies. For some reason, in function it reminds me of the old Doom main character for the player, in that it carried a whole host of weapons to choose from, great at almost all ranges. It might be an aged design by most standards, but it's guaranteed to be a royal pain in the *** if given even half a chance.

Plus, I have a soft spot for mechs who look like they can deflect AC rounds by sheer grit and rage. LOL. Only way that thing would be complete would be if you could strap a pair of LRM launchers into the torsos so it really DID work like the old Macross design.

...which is why you can totally do that in the Warhammer IIc, and I implore you to do so. XD

[Steinar Bergstol]

KalebFenoir, on 26 February 2013 - 09:35 PM, said:

With the Warhammer, it functions as a multi-range mech that can take a decent pounding. It's meant to be that middle-of-the-ground mech that, at long range can snipe at you with PPCs, at medium ranges hit you with the PPCs and the lasers, and possibly the SRM, and then at short ranges continue pounding you with its short-range weapons while switching the PPCs to snipe at your allies. For some reason, in function it reminds me of the old Doom main character for the player, in that it carried a whole host of weapons to choose from, great at almost all ranges. It might be an aged design by most standards, but it's guaranteed to be a royal pain in the *** if given even half a chance.

Plus, I have a soft spot for mechs who look like they can deflect AC rounds by sheer grit and rage. LOL. Only way that thing would be complete would be if you could strap a pair of LRM launchers into the torsos so it really DID work like the old Macross design.

...which is why you can totally do that in the Warhammer IIc, and I implore you to do so. XD

The Warhammer is a good, versatile heavy mech, and anyone who says different is wrong. The thing some people forget is that most of the classic mechdesigns were never designed to perform just one task for one particular battle. They were made to be versatile from an in-universe perspective since the battles it fought and the environments it fought in would not always be the same kind, nor would it be possible in-universe to redesign it from battle to battle, unlike what seems to be the belief of many whose only experience with the Battletech universe is the computer games. The Warhammer is only one example of these versatile designs. Others with the same kind of flexible battlefield role are:

Thunderbolt: Heavily armored (more so than the hammer) to stand a pounding, LRM-15 and Large Laser for long range work. SRM-2 and 3 Medium Lasers for short range work. 2 MGs for infantry.

Crusader: Almost as heavily armored as the Thunderbolt. 2 x LRM 15 for long range work. 2 x SRM 6 and 2 x Medium Laser for short range work. 2 x MGs for infantry.

Phoenix Hawk: Fast and maneuverable medium mech with decent armor makes it a good Recon command vehicle. Can engage at all ranges. Large Laser for long range, 2 x Medium Laser for short range. 2 x MG for infantry.

These are just examples. Look at the classic designs and you'll see specialized boats are in the minority compared to designs with a varied loadout giving them a viable role no matter what the circumstances of the battle. And even LRM boats, such as the Archer, Longbow and Catapult have short range secondary weapons for backup so that they are not completely useless outside their preferred engagement range.

[Erasus Magnus]

Wolftrap. albeit a kurita mech, its just sooo cool. i loved the lbx in other games, and the wolftrap is fast and just looks awesome.
i made some custom variants for my tt games , one with an ac 20 (or was it an ultra ac 20?) and one variant (my fav) with 2 er ppcs and jump jets.
gosh i so love the wolftrap its rediculous...

[RuTsui]

I know I already said Kodiak, but that's more of a fantasy guilty pleasure. My actual guilty pleasure Mech is the Rifleman IIC.. And again, this is mostly based off of how I imagine other pilots reacting.

Just imagine chillin, cruising along, and all the sudden KACHUNK KACHUNK KACHUNK, you start taking a shitload of U/AC2 hits. You turn expecting to see maybe a Cataphract or Warhammer, but no.. It's a Rifleman. You barely manage to see him before more KACHUNK KACHUNK fill starts rocking your cockpit and you get blinded by a weak but constant volley of U/AC2 because the Rifleman is really far off. He's been following you for a while now, but you've been gaining speed on him. He's slow as ****.

So you try to attack, but you're blinded by the constant ballistic explosions against your cockpit so you decide to try and outmaneuver him. Nope. He has like four jumpjets. Every time you try to flank him, or get behind cover, he just jumps to a more advantageous position and keeps nailing you.

Eventually you just get sick of it, and start running away. You're faster than him, but he is still jump capable, and you're getting constantly hammered. Eventually you're just going "**** off... Get out of here... Leave me alone." as you serpentine to avoid the ineffective AC2 hitting you.

**** yeah.
Rifleman.

[KalebFenoir]

RuTsui, on 01 March 2013 - 09:51 PM, said:

I know I already said Kodiak, but that's more of a fantasy guilty pleasure. My actual guilty pleasure Mech is the Rifleman IIC.. And again, this is mostly based off of how I imagine other pilots reacting.

Just imagine chillin, cruising along, and all the sudden KACHUNK KACHUNK KACHUNK, you start taking a shitload of U/AC2 hits. You turn expecting to see maybe a Cataphract or Warhammer, but no.. It's a Rifleman. You barely manage to see him before more KACHUNK KACHUNK fill starts rocking your cockpit and you get blinded by a weak but constant volley of U/AC2 because the Rifleman is really far off. He's been following you for a while now, but you've been gaining speed on him. He's slow as ****.

So you try to attack, but you're blinded by the constant ballistic explosions against your cockpit so you decide to try and outmaneuver him. Nope. He has like four jumpjets. Every time you try to flank him, or get behind cover, he just jumps to a more advantageous position and keeps nailing you.

Eventually you just get sick of it, and start running away. You're faster than him, but he is still jump capable, and you're getting constantly hammered. Eventually you're just going "**** off... Get out of here... Leave me alone." as you serpentine to avoid the ineffective AC2 hitting you.

**** yeah.
Rifleman.

Heh... the Rifleman was always good for an oh-{Scrap} moment. There's nothing like running around and then wondering why you're being pelted by something you can't see, until you finally notice that almost cross-shaped body with the spoiler on it standing on some distant hill at level 3 or 4. And knowing you can't do squat about it till you close the range.

Even worse when someone's using the Rifleman IIc, because those LPLs have that nice little 'oh here, we can help with the aiming' modifier for being pulse. And enough heat sinks to fire everything without going overheat more than like, 2 points.

I swear, when the Blackjack or Jagermech comes out, I'm gonna see about converting one into a Rifleman of some strip. If only they'd release one similar to the Warhammer....

Edit: ...and Now they have. I look at the Orion, its layout and the weapons you can strap into it, and it's like a predecessor to the Warhammer. All that's missing is a shoulder spotlight. And bloody hell are those things hard to ignore on the battlefield now. I have an 'Oh no...' moment when I see one these days.

Edited by KalebFenoir, 30 September 2013 - 09:54 AM.

[blackcatf]

I'm a sucker for anything with a standard engine, good armor, and energy weapons in the head/center torso (especially if it mounted jump jets).

For the Clans, I think the Kingfisher would have to be at the top of my list, though I also liked to swap out one of the LPLs for another MPL and targeting computer. Just wish it had jump jets, too.

Obviously, all the old-tech 'mechs carried standard engines, but I liked the LL toting variant of the Wolverine and the Grasshopper.

For the newtech IS 'mechs, I already saw somebody mention the Gallowglas. I like that one more than a bit. Going through the old HeavyMetal files, I realized how few upgraded 'mechs with standard engines there are that I've used. I also liked the Akuma, though I had a hard time with the MRMs, and the Highlander.

[AJ Frost]

I have to - no actually three guilty pleasures:

The first one would be the old Crusader from 3025, now unseen. It had two LRM15, two SRM6, two meds and two MGs. It ran way to hot for it's own good, but I liked the versatility of the design. I also fielded it (K variant) in the only ever BT tournament I entered along with a panther. Got utterly destroyed by one of these hopping "pile the modifiers on" phoenix hawk / griffin combinations. They jumped from cover to cover, giving me a plus 6. The opponent even had the gall of painting a cross hair on the mechs. Well, the ammo explosion ripped the good ol' crusader apart.
I liked it nontheless.

The next would be the Hatchetman. My hotheaded Mechwarior RP character had it, and though he tended to miss with the AC or to get himself in more trouble than he could handle, the two of them did somehow match one another.

And the final one is the Shadowcat from the clans, carrying the Gauss. Now that's not really a guilty pleasure, because it's quite an apt design. But it's not a very common sight, so I think it qualifies =)

[Sir Roland MXIII]

Guitly pleasures...? How about favorites. I didn't get to play much BT when I was introduced to it, and still have yet to find the time and transportation to go to the club near me, but I did build a fondness for three of my mechs in particular.

Raven 3L - Had a build not too far from base: 2 ERML, MML5, TAG, Guardian ECM / Stealth Armour, with TSM... I think? I may be mashing two builds of it mentally. I also, at least for a few matches, mounted a Flamer on Rear CT at the same time I could afford the TSM. Why? AFTERBURNERS, that's why. Put my friends on the floor when I used 'em the first time (in devious parallel with a Top Gun quote some could guess), we had to take a break so they could regain composure.

Osprey - We played Jihad Era, and so got to have a lot of the most fun toys. This one was not modded much, I swapped the Guass and ERSL out for more speed, armour and a UAC20 I salvaged off of a HBK IIC. After that it became a holy terror and prime target, despite which it still racked up more kills than before.

Rifleman - Yeah I'm one of them too. HA! Davion pic' was probably havin' people here waiting for this. Dead give-away there, but this was THE first 'mech I ever played in BT and will always rank as one of my faves. And my oh my, the things I did with this chassis... I ended up with more than a lances worth just to accomodate all the crazy builds I came up with. I vaguely recall a few of them, mostly because I was inspired by the JM6 we'll be getting soon for build ideas. Although the 2 PPC, 2 RAC2 was probably my alltime fondest build of all of them. Lots of ammo, lots of DHS, and lots of long range kills for the pilot, who's name I decided to use for MW:O. In the end, because of my passion for the Rifleman I was dubbed "The Mad Scientist of Autocannons" by my group, and it was ever so appropriate and well earned a name.

Edited by Sir Roland MXIII, 04 March 2013 - 04:10 AM.

[Caboose30]

KalebFenoir, on 19 December 2012 - 11:31 PM, said:

I thought it'd be interesting to see what kinds of mechs people find are their guilty pleasures, their secret favorites. Anyone can field a Mad Cat and call it a favorite, but is it really? What about that time you tried out a Solitaire, or a Thunder, and you found, to your surprise, that it seemed to scratch that second-line, non-Omni itch just right? And that you find yourself gravitating to these less-than-mainstream mechs, just because they ARE different, and you used them in some creative ways?

So what do you all think? Care to share? I'll toss out a few of mine here as a starter.

Vixen/Incubus second-line Clan 'mech. It might not be the strongest 30 tonner, or the fastest light, but the moment I tried this little gem out in a TT fight, I knew it was going on my roster of favorite mechs.

Canis second-line Clan 'mech. I was impressed with how long this one survived a straight on firefight against my friend. It ran a bit hot, but with some skill, you can really bring the hurt-on. Those jumpjets are wonderfully effective in urban maps, giving you a nice capability to pass from building to building and rain pain. Also, I like its look. Very dense and tough.

Cerberus Inner Sphere 'mech. Twin gauss, 4 Med pulse (that hide behind blast-shields when not in use! How many mechs have that? 5?), an AMS and two back-firing machineguns. I can't count the number of clan mechs I sent to the scrapyard with this big bruiser. Slugging it out with other 100 tonners, it STILL came out on top. One of my favorite flagship mechs. I still say that, using optional rules, the twin machineguns and the AMS should be able to do 360 rotation due to their being on the tops of the shoulders and the top of the head. But that's just me.

Alright that's enough of mine.

Now, what are YOURS?

I've almost *always* loved the Catapult. Played it in MW2 Mercs a lot, in MW4, and now. In TT, I like having the Shadow Hawk - it's a good odd job mech. But for some reason or another, even if I get my butt handed to me piloting it, I genuinely enjoy the Catapult.

I do like the Mad Cat, but only if the game will let me cram Jump Jets on it. I don't think this game will, and I find them too useful to part with. Hopefully they'll allow Config S for the Mad Cat.

Edited by JuiceCaboose, 04 March 2013 - 08:46 AM.

[Helsbane]

In TT, my personal favorite thing to use isn't a mech, but a fast moving lance of hovertanks. Why hovertanks? Because I mount axe blades on the front horizontally (with appropriate counter weight in back). 13 hex flank speed charge with all axe damage going straight to the leg. Pure evil.....

[KalebFenoir]

Sir Roland MXIII, on 04 March 2013 - 04:08 AM, said:

Raven 3L - Had a build not too far from base: 2 ERML, MML5, TAG, Guardian ECM / Stealth Armour, with TSM... I think? I may be mashing two builds of it mentally. I also, at least for a few matches, mounted a Flamer on Rear CT at the same time I could afford the TSM. Why? AFTERBURNERS, that's why. Put my friends on the floor when I used 'em the first time (in devious parallel with a Top Gun quote some could guess), we had to take a break so they could regain composure.

I always amused myself mentally when my friend used the MASC on his Dasher or Raven. I can completely see the pilot, with wrap-around shades, grinning like a crazy person while engaging the system.

"I feel the need... *throws the MASC switch* The need, for SPEED!"

*Revving noise, followed by a loud KA-CHUNK and then the broken, winding down noise. Seems the pilot missed his MASC fail-roll.*

Happened to my friend more than he'd like to admit. Always trying to flank me, always engaging MASC to do it, and after the third or fourth time, always getting locked in place with broken legs. XD

Edited by KalebFenoir, 05 March 2013 - 02:41 AM.

[Sir Roland MXIII]

KalebFenoir, on 05 March 2013 - 02:40 AM, said:

I always amused myself mentally when my friend used the MASC on his Dasher or Raven. I can completely see the pilot, with wrap-around shades, grinning like a crazy person while engaging the system.

"I feel the need... *throws the MASC switch* The need, for SPEED!"

*Revving noise, followed by a loud KA-CHUNK and then the broken, winding down noise. Seems the pilot missed his MASC fail-roll.*

Happened to my friend more than he'd like to admit. Always trying to flank me, always engaging MASC to do it, and after the third or fourth time, always getting locked in place with broken legs. XD

And you nailed the quote on the first try! And yes MASC was nice but OH WOW could it bite you in the butt too. As I recall TSM didn't have that problem - it was just MASC and the SuperCharger, right? - it just needed to run hot. Hence the flamer, placed so as to be appropriately modeling "afterburners". I still get a kick out of that cheesy idea. Useless, mostly, but definately my funniest memory I have from BT.

[KalebFenoir]

Pretty much. Though now in retrospect, when I think of the sound effect I described, I'm hearing more of the Millenium Falcon's failing hyperdrive from Episode 4. LoL.

If you could get your heat high enough, TSM was great, but me and my friend never liked going that high up the heat scale. You have to deliberately overheat don't you? I just looked in my book, and the window for making use of it is exceedingly small; too low overheat, and it doesn't react properly. To HIGH of heat, and the muscles overreact and do the opposite of what they should in terms of movement. You have to keep yourself at EXACTLY 9 overheat, or the TSM doesn't work better than normal myomer. (I always felt that needed tweaking.)

[Grizley]

Thunderbolt, yeah pretty undergunned at anything but close range, but fun for melee mayhem and sturdy.

Stone Rhino, not only do I love the massive firepower turret it represents but good memories from a Mechwarrior campaign. It involved being attacked by Natasha Kerensky on her way back to the Clans, up against Clan mechs 1v1 with Star League era tech. Round one, gauss rifle to the head, round 2 gauss rifle to the head. Round 3 Natasha Kerensky calls for a cease fire worried about advanced targeting systems and too much damage to her command. Yeah, losing 40% of your force including the pilots KIA inside 20 seconds might make most people think twice... I suspect it changed the direction of the campaign from "Clan Wolf bondsmen" to "Advanced tech mercs reconnecting with the IS".

Warhawk, incredibly cool fire support mech. Massive damage at long range, good heat management and able to at least keep up with most heavies.

Dire Wolf, the chassis for my favorite mech design. Really more an Omni load out of 2 ER PPCs, 2 Gauss, a Targeting Computer and I think a couple medium pulse. With enough heat sinks to keep shooting all day. Called shot, right leg... Oh you have less than 60 armor and internal structure on your right leg? Next target, called shot, right leg... Played in an ongoing semi campaign, it was great with a 3/4 pilot but insane with a 1/3 pilot.

Marauder, in 3025 this thing was just about the coolest thing running. No surprise it's kid the Timber Wolf was so popular.