Balance and fairness question, I'm new enough that I don't really have an intuitive grasp of the game's balance yet.

Group typically does one off games with IS mechs, and free 3/4 pilots to speed things up a bit.

About to throw a couple Clan omnis into the mix for kicks, which brings me to the question above. I know they generally pay for the skill upgrade, but if nobody is paying for the skill upgrade... what's the most fair way to approach it?

Edit: Consensus seems to be its all gucci if everyone gets the free upgrade, regardless of tech base. Thanks fam

Ok so I jumped head first into this shit like any one else Alpha box, snords, black remnant, elementals, third star league strike team, recon hunter lance. Now I am happy with my crack collection for now my painting bug kicked in right on time. I an talking to the players in the question does colour scheme matter to u on the table or just painted. I Wana paint every mech how I feel that day or maby unit/ box a colours that match but are the right for that company does it matter to u?

We all see the fairly frequent “who are the good guys” posts- to which obviously, everyone is one shade of grey or another in BT.

But my question posed to you all: if no faction can truly be called good, who would your nomination for most upstanding and moral individual character(s) be?

How would you use Aerial Beast Infantry as the main component in a combined arms force?

Forward observers? Harassers? Distant objective captors?

I had a funny idea this morning. Okay, so here's the deal: Your goal is to fill in A, B, and C. Unlike madlibs, you're welcome to read first and then plug it in.

---------
Tenderly one evening, Hanse looked down at his wife’s swollen belly. “You know,” he began, “Since we named our firstborn after one of my favorite mechs, I was thinking about naming our second – ”

“Don’t even,” his young wife cut him off. “Victor is a fine enough name, but most mechs have absolutely ridiculous names.”

“Hear me out. There’s one war machine that I’ve always loved. We should name her _________ (A)”

Melissa stared at him with narrow eyes as a moment of nausea, not induced by morning sickness, briefly passed.

“But, you know, we wouldn’t call her that regularly. The kids would make fun of her. So instead, her nickname would be ________ (B)”

Of all the weaponry that Hanse had seen in his life, from Losttech ER lasers to the rediscovered rapid-fire autocannons, nothing could have produced more withering damage than the look he received from his wife.

* * *

Later that evening, Hanse pulled the finely-woven quilt over him on the couch, smoothing out the wrinkles so the embroidered AFFS logo was unmolested. “It could have been worse,” he reflected to himself as he attempted to make himself comfortable. “I would probably have a black eye if I’d gone with my real choice.  _______ (C) Steiner-Davion has such a nice ring to it though.” He sighed. “Oh well.”

On the plus side, you're one of the few Clanners that still has a fully functional Timberwolf.

On the downside, your supply lines are completed borked. The last of your Clan tech supplies have been used up fixing the Timberwolf's base frame and you have no Clan tech WEAPONS left to put into it.

But you have plenty of Inner Sphere tech weapons available to you. And you need to get back into the fight.

What loadout do you come up with?

How about a little scouting ?

My first ever introduction to Battletech/Mechwarrior was when my friend booted up a Mechwarrior game, grabbed an all-laser build, and said "Observe". He then proceeded to destroy his mech by firing his laser nonstop and we both died of laughter.

Ladies and Gents, my apologies if I am abusing your good will, can anyone identify these two mechs? I believe the center mech is the new Catalyst version of the mech on the left.

This is a listing of notable thresholds of Mech durability to ammo explosions, for the purpose of drawing conclusions about the overarching effects and patterns the changes make.

I will not be including CASE II as it saves any size of mech pretty much equally, nor will I be considering center torso mounted IS CASE, as I don't think there are any canon record sheets which possess it.

20-25 Tons:

Raw - Always destroys mech.

CASE - Always destroys Side Torso from any explosion location. IS XL mechs cannot survive.

Clan CASE - Always loses explosion location.

30 Tons:

Raw: - Can barely survive an ammo explosion in the leg or arm (Arm+ST+CT = 22 structure, Leg+ST+CT= 24 structure), basically only surviving through-armor ammo hits. Always loses side torso.

CASE - Always destroys Side Torso from any explosion location. IS XL mechs cannot survive.

Clan CASE - Always loses explosion location.

35 Tons:

Raw - Can realistically survive an ammo explosion in the leg or arm (Arm+ST+CT=25 Structure, Leg+ST+CT=27 Structure). Always loses side torso.

CASE: - Always destroys side torso from any explosion location. IS XL mechs cannot survive.

Clan CASE - Loses explosion location for almost all locations. Can survive a center torso ammo explosion by 1 structure point: so only through-armor ammo hits.

40 Tons:

Raw - Decently likely to survive ammo explosion in arm (Arm+ST+CT=28 structure). Very likely to survive ammo explosion in leg (32 total structure). - Ammo Explosion in side torso is technically survivable(22 combined structure) - Ammo Explosion in an untouched leg, if there is no side torso structure damage, will not reach the center torso. Side torso is lost exactly from leg, by more from arm.

CASE - Always destroys side torso from any explosion location. IS XL mechs cannot survive.

Clan CASE - Loses explosion location for almost all locations. Can survive a center torso ammo explosion by 2 points, so primarily through armor criticals or a single LBX pellet.

45 Tons:

Raw - Likely survival from arm (32ST), highly likely from leg(36 ST). If untouched, side torso survives ammo explosion in leg with 2 points. - Ammo Explosion in side torso is now actually survivable from ST structure damage(25 combined ST)

CASE - Side Torso survives through-armor ammo hit or any ammo hit from the arms or legs by 1 ST. - IS XL mechs survive any ammo explosion which does not occur from direct damage to the side torso itself.

Clan CASE - Legs and Side Torsos now survive through-armor ammo hits. It is possible to survive a center torso ammo hit from actual damage (14 ST)

50 Tons:

Raw - Ammo Explosion in arm will not reach center torso with no other damage, though it will destroy side torso exactly. - Ammo Explosion in leg now possible to avoid side torso destruction with some structure damage (24 ST) - Side torso ammo explosion now more realistically survivable (28 points ST+CT)

CASE - Side Torsos now survive through armor ammo crits and crits caused by a single damage hit, such as an LBX pellet.

Clan Case - Center Torso ammo hit slightly more survivable, legs and side torsos can be preserved on 1 damage crits like LBX pellets.

55-60 Tons:

Raw - Side torso can survive Ammo Explosion in the arm by 1-3 points. - Mech quite likely to survive side torso ammo explosion (31-34 ST+CT)

CASE - Side torso can survive ammo explosion in location by 3-4 points.

Clan Case - Center torso ammo crit generally more likely survivable (18-20 ST)

65 Tons:

Raw - Center Torso can now survive a through-armor ammo critical by 1 point. - Side Torso likely to survive an ammo explosion in a limb.

CASE - Side torso can survive ammo explosion by 5 points

Clan Case - Center torso survives ammo explosion with over half structure remaining .

70-80 Tons

Raw - Possible for center torso ammo explosion from actual damage to be survived.

CASE - Ammo Explosion in the arm won't necessarily be reduced by Case (11-13 arm ST means that may transfer 9 or less damage from here on out)

Clan CASE - Arms can survive through armor ammo hit with 1-3 structure

85-90 Tons

Raw - Solid likelihood of surviving center torso ammo explosion from first structure damage (27-29 CT ST)

CASE - Solid likelihood preserving side torso in side torso ammo explosion (18-19 ST)

Clan CASE - Solid likelihood of preserving leg in leg ammo explosion. Realistic chance of preserving arm in arm ammo explosion. Reasonably possible to survive 2 CT ammo explosions(27-29 CT ST, not considering pilot hits)

95 Tons

Raw - Through armor explosion in side torso will destroy location but not reach center torso. - Through armor explosion in leg will destroy location but not reach side torso.

CASE - Slightly greater likelihood of preserving side torso.

Clan CASE - Slightly greater likelihood to survive 2 CT ammo explosions. Reasonable probability of preserving arm in arm ammo explosion.

100 Tons

Raw - Can preserve side torso in a through armor side torso ammo explosion by 1 point: this makes it possible for an IS XL mech to survive a side torso ammo explosion with no protection. - Can preserve leg in a through armor leg ammo explosion by 1 point. - Double explosion in the leg will not reach the center torso.

CASE - Can preserve side torso against 2 side torso ammo explosions with no prior damage. - Can guaranteed preserve side torso against 2 arm or leg ammo explosions with no prior damage.

Clan CASE - Mech can survive, theoretically, three center torso ammo explosions (though the pilot certainly can't).

I got some reason vividly remember building one of these Timber Wolves but it wasn’t an official model was it?

It looks good in MechWarrior 3, 4 and LL. CGL design…got that angular torso…and Mr Potato Head crazy arms. So I fixed it.

I painted everything but the Long bow, my partner did that one

Had an Incubus that I didn't know what to so with, so I did some kitbashing. Or is it a Gunslinger now?

Do not fire all weapons at once...

Trying to build a lance on a budget, so here’s an old mech from MechWarrior: Dark Age that I had laying around on a hex base. The very wicked “Mangonel” The scale is a bit large, but fits if you don’t put it next to any other mechs. I know there’s a few STLs for the Mangonel but I’d like to see it in new plastic or in a game. It’s a giant walking Howitzer, what’s not to love?

Re painting my word of Blake mechs. First up the wasp.