BattleTech - Force Building for Beginners

[@LiberalApplicationOfThud]

I think one point of note that I did not hear you go over is that you do not have to adhere to a strict Lance/star/level II structure. The only reason you might have to stick with any specific amount of units is if the tournament/scenario you are playing has on in place.

[@12crit]

You are 100% correct, and I should have mentioned that! Pinning your comment and will edit the video description later.

[@Phoney72]

Alright listen, im only a minute and a half into the video but heres what you do, its real easy. You agree a battle value then you look and see how many Hunchbacks you can buy for that battle value. Then you buy exactly that many Hunchbacks, run right up to the enemy let those AC20s fly! Honestly though this is a splendid video and really well done.

[@12crit]

That's a PROPER game of BattleTech! My video was just foolishness.

[@kalamander8563]

Hunchback 4 LYFE!

[@Phoney72]

@@kalamander8563 yeaaaah! Hunchpack!

[@zombietotseater3894]

Hey! What about dem Hunchback IICs. Dems some fun Mechs too 🤪

[@Phoney72]

@@zombietotseater3894 yes indeed sir, even clan trash is welcome in the hunchpack

[@WhereIsJaune]

I was thinking on getting into Battletech's gaming side of the hobby. I hope that there are more videos like this for us greenhorns. Effective explanation of how we can start up our force.

[@12crit]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful! This is just a place to start and these rules are just commonly agreed upon criteria for games. The beauty of BattleTech is you can honestly play however you want! Force building can be as advanced and complicated as you *want* it to be.

[@georgecook83]

This is what this game needs. Videos people can point to to explain it. Well done.

[@117Aster]

Great video, succinct and well-explained. It's a struggle to try and describe this process for new players, especially if they have ideas from other games and think BattleTech is the same. I'm currently running a Battle of Tukayyid scenario, circa 3052, with a single Star of Clan mechs on side against a ComStar Level II on the other side. Each side has a BV budget of 12500 because I want them to be using good pilots and whatever 'mechs they want. So far it's been working out well!

[@12crit]

Thanks! Those are the biggest questions I get, since it's pretty different from most other wargames in that BattleTech is way more open. That's awesome with your Tukyyid game! Cranking up the BV for great pilots and better 'Mechs makes for a great experience!

[@paulbenbrook5542]

This is a good overview of the proper scale for starting play but with the title of the video I expected to get an introduction to the concept of mech roles and what a well-rounded lance looks like.

[@12crit]

That's a good idea for the next one! I get a lot of questions about the general BV new players should use for their first games and also how many Mechs they should bring. I didn't want to overwhelm beginners for their first games by adding too many rules. Because there's always more rules in BattleTech ;)

[@codius_dak5095]

I hope you do a beginners force composition video, to help explain roles of battlemechs and how to balance a force.

[@12crit]

Most definitely plan on doing one! I want to make intermediate and advanced videos for force building.

[@Thee_Lord_of_Darkness]

Really good video for beginners, I have been playing BTech for at least a good 5 / 6 years now at least and I play both IS and Clan, the biggest game I played was max year 3051 and I was Clan v IS I had a full Star, Vulture Prime, Madcat A, Dire Wolf prime and had 2 light jumpers with the BV value of 16.5K bv which I played agents a company of Draconis Combine 12 mechs, the game lasted from 12 noon till 7pm and we were still not finished, I think by the time we had given up for the day I had killed 3 mechs with my mad cat (2 head shots) and my Vulture had killed 1 and disabled 1. I had taken so so damage on each of my mechs but nothing that affected their performance my Pilot and Gunnery were 4 / 3 (at my club its a un written rule clan must start at p4 and g3 and never be more than have 2 points of a difference) might do it again but on megamech so if we need to pause the game we can go back to it. Mega mech is a good digital version and also helps with the BV calculations.

[@damianarvizu1095]

I wish I saw this when I first got into this game. Well done.

[@12crit]

Thank you!

[@matthewpena3932]

I use eras, BV(MUL for data) at a high level of importance. MUL and Xotl as theming suggestions vs restrictions. Sometimes tech levels but that is an out of data system. We use skills and quirks to add spice depending on who is gaming. I don't like formations(battle, assault, Cavarlry, ect) at all in concept or the fact it is in "optional" rule set and avoid it as much as I can. I'm glad you made this video as this is easily one of the areas CGL failed at explaining. MUL is fine for broad guidelines as it is a suggested list of mechs that are common to those factions. In the last kickstarter one of the guys that made the MUL was on a rant about people gatekeeping using the MUL to limit what players can use with what faction they played and he pointed out that was never the goal or intent of the MUL. As a reminder Mercs are a core part of BT and they can use and operate basically any battlemech without having a mega corp bank rolling them or massive military industrial industry behind them. The fact the Mercs of all sizes can operate so heavily in the lore gives credence that any faction could use any mech within common sense reasoning for example breaking timelines, fielding a company of one off prototypes where there was only one of those mechs every build and it was destroyed. Or the one that breaks my heart the King Crab KGC-010 being played in the IS where CGL made the coolest version of the King Crab and nuke it into irrelevance be sending them all off with the exodus fleet for us to never get that model or an evolution of it again, good job CGL.

[@thomascraiker6449]

A timely and well put together video. Very timely in the space as well

[@12crit]

Thank you!

[@Kaiju-Driver]

Very clear, nice.

[@12crit]

Thank you!

[@CraigSteinhoff]

Holy cow this was super helpful!!! Thank you

[@12crit]

Not a problem! I'm glad it helped!

[@CarlosEduardo-sm6cy]

Awesome video, thanks for the tips

[@12crit]

Happy to help!

[@AronFigaro]

Point of note: an element is sometimes used in inner sphere force organization and is 2 mechs/tanks/fighters or half a lance.

[@WolfHreda]

I definitely need this. My current list is getting *_obliterated_* by those wretched Smoke Jaguars.

[@JosephMitchell-zw3db]

Ty

[@doak6049]

Another option, and I am not saying this to be rude or downplay what 12crit is doing, Is go Old School and throw some mechs on the table and fight it out. Players are smart. It won't take them ore than a few games to find mechs they like and start learning what works and what doesn't. Some of the crazy stuff that happens in these games is great! I've been playing as long as its been Battletech and you don't need BV, Faction tables or anything else. I think the only thing i would use from this as an almost required rule is sticking to the eras.....unless your just looking for pain. This is a unique game compared to other wargames out there and its the only one after 30+ years my players and I keep coming back to. No job to tough, No Fee to high! Have fun!!

[@12crit]

100%! I think there's a reason there are no force rules in the main rulebooks. Just throwing together whatever feels fun is a completely legit way to go. Experience is the best way to go to find out what feels "right," and what feels right is always different from group to group. This freedom is one of the things that makes this game so great.

[@bruced648]

I've been playing since 1984 (40+ years). I absolutely agree that using anything as a 'game balance' mechanism, is a fallacy. I use 3 basic items to describe my force: 1 - innersphere, clan, periphery or mercenary/pirate 2 - force size - lance, company or battalion. or star, binary, trinary. 3 - weight class thus, my force description: Kurita heavy mech company or Davion medium combined arms battalion or Clan Nova Cat heavy nova binary at no point prior to game start, does my opponent know exactly what I am bringing. likewise, I don't know the specific forces of my opponent. there are certain aspects of military theory that were designed into the original game. it's too bad the current IP holder doesn't understand those principles.

[@bruced648]

a typical match for us is set up as follows; 1 - pre-clan or post clan invasion 2 - type of force (mech only or combined arms 3 - force size (lance, company, battalion) with that info, my force is described as follows: 3rd succession war combined arms battalion 1 med mech company 1 hvy mech company 1 armor company 1 support company with that, I know the following: up to 24 mechs mostly med and heavy up to 12 tanks 1 lance mechanized infantry 1 lance vtol recon 1 lance artillery a simplified force: clan invasion 1 med star (2 light mechs + 3 med mechs) piloting and gunnery are determined from a 2D6 table bv is an unnecessary complication that new players don't need. if you are a competent tournament player, then bv is very useful. as for faction specific - from the original concept thru current era... everything is available to everyone! there are no exclusive units for any faction. the only limitations are based upon era of play.

[@12crit]

Love seeing how people set their games up! Lots of variety. Our group does not usually stick to any faction rules either. Sometimes I will, just to challenge myself.

[@bruced648]

@12crit I'm starting to look at the pilot quirks and the pilot cards from Alpha Strike. I think the abilities can add new dimensions to the game. as far as faction specific rules, I think CGL should stay away from anything that is faction specific. the current idea that certain things are more likely to be found within a faction, works good. but, to limit an item to a specific faction is a bad direction for the game.

[@12crit]

@@bruced648 Oh yeah, by faction rules I just meant unit availability limitations. And for me, that's just to make sure the force I'm bringing to the table will share the same camo specs. Like, I have a few Level IIs painted, some Gray Death Legion, DC, Sea Foxes, etc. I don't normally play terribly competitively. What sort of ideas do you have on how to implement the pilot cards? I haven't tried yet.

[@bruced648]

@12crit I generally play campaign style. I stopped playing competitive tournaments decades ago, just not for me. as far as the pilot cards, I recently organized mine into a binder. since I was looking at them, the individual abilities were very interesting. maybe for short games, each player randomly gets delt a pilot for each mech. with nearly 150+ individual cards, it could be interesting. also, if the mech gets destroyed, the pilot card gets removed and cannot be used again. maybe surviving pilots get an additional bonus, like a quirk or something.

[@sentinelmoonfang]

Generally speaking, I'd say Star vs. Lance is a little in the Clan player's favor at reasonable point values. I might try to do Star vs. 2 Lances or a Level II. This is coming from a diehard Clan player as well. Obviously it will depend on the map, but the biggest advantage that IS players have is cheap mechs that they can deploy a lot of.

[@12crit]

This is my experience too. IS tech is out of date compared to Clan tech, but at least it's cheap! So bring more! At least at those early-mid eras.

[@WolfHreda]

I believe going Binary vs. Company is usually a decent balance. You wouldn't assume that if you saw how badly I've been getting wrecked by Smoke Jaguar in our MegaMek tournament, but I've been taking a lot of unfortunate head hits. 😂

[@zainredding3476]

Can I use artillery? No? Infantry. No. Tanks? Yes, but only the bad ones.

[@jamesc.7216]

This is Battletech. The bad ones are the good ones!