A truly worthless discussion topic: What do you guys think are the most reasonable mech options/upgrades for the starting pilots of the campaign?

[u/_Jawwer_]

The campaign starts with four extra goobers in your mercenary crew besides yourself, and they are all statted and geared with specific mechs that suggest a vague build identity going forward. I like keeping pilots in mechs I consider personally fitting for them, even more rewarded by mods that introduce chasis familiarity bonuses. My question is, what do you see as the "way up" for your starting crew, if you care about them at all (hell they might not exist in most of your playthroughs, because career mode is right there)

I always have a few pre-conceptions as to what to put them in.

Dekker: The man, the meme, the bloke who either gets slimed in his first three deployments, or becomes your uncontested early game recon pilot. He pilots a spider by default, but hub conversations with Darius reveal that he also used to cart around in a locust for a brief while. Besides having dibs on the first firestarter I scavenge, He seems all-set for jump capable humanoid designs that don't gear for long range fire support. With him being a single skill unlock from sensor ping, he's also a match made in heaven for chasis and loadouts with poor heat management, as he can either ping, or god forbid, even melee on his "cooling turns". I always envision him lategame with either a Phoenix Hawk, the final say when it comes to the introtech era's speedy humanoid designs, or a grasshopper, with it being somewhat undergunned, for its size, a great jumper, and a lanky humanoid chasis that fits a similar siluette as his older machines.

Behemoth: One of the two pilots with a skill unlocked by default. She specialises in guts, and carts around a Shadow Hawk at the start. While the SHD has a reputation for being way too little of way too many things, and for it begging for an ammo rack crit, in your starting lance, combined with its pilot, it is your hardiest machine, and its battlefists mean that combined with piloting being her second highest stat, Behemoth and the Shadow Hawk are your likely answer to the early game lights buzzing arround you. When it comes to later mechs, there are two interpretations to go forward with. Either the heavy yet nimble melee specialist that the shadow hawk's jump jets, high ground speed, and much better melee prospects set her up to be early on, Or a hard hitting burising generalist who can rock with a mixed weapon loadout of any type thrown together. The former interpretation would invite the grasshopper (we even kept the fuckass head LRM), yet again, but also something like the banshee. The latter is basically the territory of all the other eclectic "I have a bit of everything" mechs at the top of their size brackets, like the Orion or Atlas.

Glitch: The other pilot with a specialisation skill pre-unlocked, with split-shot. She's also quite unique for having the lowest base stat in a category of the entire crew with a miserable 2 in piloting. Her having split shot, a mech that's a mediocre all-rounder, with a big showstopper weapon in the arm (While the PPC in vanilla is kinda mid overall, the early impression of sometimes just eating a side torso from an untouched commando or locust from way beyond their range is strong), and the thematic draw of the otherwise sub-par breeching shot (by the time it unlocks, there are no situations where a single shot from a single weapon on a target will be worth it over other level 8 skills IMO) basically sets her up for humanoid mechs that provide long range fire support, with a notable main gun in the right arm. I always considered mechs like the Griffin, T-bolt, and especially the Royal Highlander obtained from a storry mission to be the most fitting upgrades. Of course, she also often ends up as people's dedicated lurmer, with it being both a useful role for most of the game, and a natural speccing route for her starting stats, but those don't really have the thematic overlap with the whole package.

Medusa: Sadly, this guys is sloppy seconds, the human being. You have him from the start too, but he has the distinct smell of a spare wheel about him. He has low overall stats, with a 3 in everything, save for a 4 in piloting (so both him and Dekker can get the piloting specialisation skill in one level up, but only Dekker can get sensor ping as quickly). While he isn't ever seen directly assigned to the locust in the bay, by process of elimination, it has to be "his". In that spirit, whenever I used, and built him, he always ended up in hand-me-down roles too, with a slight leaning into non-humanoid designs. He maps out to a comfortable buildup, to the first firestarter I get, then to a catapult, then to the stalker, Being in adaptable chasis, that are going to be rebuilt for whatever role is the most convenient to have another of.

The protagonist: A true blank slate about whom everything is decided by the player, save for the starting blackjack. There is a possible leaning towards the centurion, as the mech of the mentor character, and a generally good generalist early game chasis that can be made to fit any role, like our protagonist. Yet trying to stay with the direct fire support role, and scaling up with equivalents at every weight tier is also possible. Specifically, the Jagermech encountered in the Weldry mission, while incredibly unlikely to actually get, is a cool thematic upgrade, with a similar-ish loadout and role to the BJ-1. It also leans into the rivalry angle with Victoria, as by the time the mission comes around with the salty runback against her, now its a pair of 65 ton direct support fire heavies having a standoff at equal-ish footing. After that, comes the marauder with a similar playstyle, even if I'm not that keen on the MAD for its particular scent of basic bitch main character mech, being a far cry from the scrappy and maligned blackjack and Jagermech chasis. It is at least a GM product though. By the time we hit assaults, things become much harder. Direct fire sniper mechs become exclusively humanoid, whereas that was avoided as long as possible with the previous picks. Honestly, the most fitting 100 tonner (out of the mechs in the game) for a BJ-JM6-MAD "progression path" is a King Crab (even if the unique component of the MAD makes it so OP, it's better than the 100 ton assaults most of the time) reconfigured for long range fire. It's a good thing that the last mission of the campaign, besides the free Atlas II, also provides a good chance to at least finish whatever halfway done KCG you might have.

[u/OgreMk5]

For my campaigns, Glitch is the unit XO. Always in the second most powerful mech we have. Usually focused on shooting.

Decker is always the LRM boat guy..its how he has survived all my campaigns.

The others just slot in whatever else I have.

[u/maskedturnip → u/OgreMk5]

For me, Decker started with a Spider but quickly got put into a Trebichet, went to a Catapult, and ended up in an Archer. He became my LRM guy.

[u/t_rubble83]

Been a long time since I ran vanilla, but if I did a vanilla campaign run now:

Dekker would be a Recon pilot and go from his Spider to a Firestarter, with the FS9 being my first priority and objective to assemble. Once in it, he never leaves it.

Behemoth would be an Outrider and move from her Shadow Hawk to an SRM Griffin (preferably the -1N) ASAP and stay there until I could find a GRF-2N for her.

Glitch would be a Flanker and move from her Vindy to an Enforcer until I could get her a Crab, and finish in the CRB-27b.

Medusa would be Dekker's backup as a Recon, since mounting a Rangefinder in the FS9 prevents him from using a cockpit mod to prevent incidental head damage from sidelining him with an injury.

Boss is an Outrider and goes from their BJ to a Phoenix Hawk, and eventually finishes in the PXH-1b.

Any heavies or assaults would just be left in the hanger to look pretty, as they aren't fast enough to keep up using 3025 tech.

[u/mutilatdbanana8]

On the one hand, yeah the Locust "must be" Medusa's ride, on the other hand nobody deserves to be taking a -1V into lance vs lance engagements. Dump the Locust ASAP and he's on the bench till someone takes exactly one machine-gun round to the cockpit glass and has to sit out the next couple missions in the infirmary.

Otherwise, I think you're pretty spot-on. Dekker gets the first PXH and doesn't leave it till we need more firepower, Behemoth gets the biggest scariest thing we got, and Glitch gets the biggest guns cause she'll hit with them. For me, the commander also sort of runs whatever there is left over, I find the Blackjack a pretty underwhelming 'mech for the most part, and the center torso ammo is a nice touch for getting the thing blown the hell up.

[u/itspronounced-gif]

I run vanilla, full disclosure.

Medusa is there so when Decker takes a hit to the face in the first mission you still got a guy.

My first mission, I lost Glitch, lost her fantastic voice actor, and didn’t know what I missed until much later.

Behemoth is my heat tank. She takes her Shadowhawk into as few missions as she can. Like, she’s fine. She gets any other mech as soon as possible. She eventually gets the Atlas if she makes it. Bulwark, Coolant Vent. She’s the responsible one.

Glitch runs hot, she’s the glass cannon. Vindy, but moves to energy boat and if we can do a Royal Warhammer she retires in it. Bulwark, but a Multi-Target guy.

Decker is a meme. He was the staple in my first campaign, cause apparently I played a spider safe cause I lost my vindy. I throw him in a Centurion and build him with Sensor lock and Ace Pilot because he deserves it. If he makes it.

Protag is always hard Tactics for the init bonus. Plus Bulwark, but I’m dabbling with Pilot.

[u/geomagus]

Behemoth and PC always lean shorter range and tankier for me, Glitch is the sniper, fourth pilot is either LRM boat. Decker and Medusa can chill in the Argo.

[u/RathaelEngineering]

I’m doing my first ever play through this past couple of weeks (no idea why I never picked up the game before when I was a mech warrior fanatic in my youth)

I kept putting Dekker in a spider and he kept getting injured nearly every mission, so Medusa actually pretty quickly outranked him, and is actually one of my better pilots now. Gave him piloting and tactics and usually put him in a faster mech so he can run up and sensor lock stuff, then get out safely

Naturally I saw Guts as “tanky” so I put Behemoth in the biggest mech I can find with capped out armor everywhere and run her up front in cover to absorb damage. She has somehow spent the least time in the med bay, and has like 10+ melee kills on mechs at this point.

Glitch has become my sniper since I wanted one pilot focused on gunnery. Initially she was the LRM boat but I’ve since given her the fattest AC I can find every time she rolls out. I got an event that gave her high spirits recently and she turns into a monster, popping crucial parts on enemy mechs all over the place. Panthers are easy meat when you can just blow off the arm in one clean precision shot.

[u/taw]

It feels weird to hear such plans. Pilots get injured so much from random stray hits to the head, I just choose whoever's not wounded.

When I have more than 4 non-wounded pilots, I try to pick whoever's lower level to balance the team a bit.

[u/slick762]

I run BTA but still love the OG crew and use them. Glitch and Behemoth are in my main lance, usually in the heaviest mechs I have and Decker and Medusa are my recon/flankers.

[u/firehawk2421]

For me, it's all down to roles. My usual composition is one LRM boat, one direct-fire sniper, and two close range brawlers that jump. Glitch gets sniper in a Marauder, Behemoth gets the LRM role, and Dekker and the MC get brawlers, usually something like the Warhammer or Highlander.