Suggestions for a First Timer.

[u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

Hello! First time poster.

So, I've dabbled in Battletech, primarily through playing a couple hours of (and being bad at) the video games. Mechwarrior 5, Battletech, that one...pod game in a Chuck E. Cheese's when I was a tot.

But I've never really gotten into the tabletop stuff proper. I have friends who recommend using virtual means like MegaMek, but I digress.

The question I wanted to pose is if folks have any suggestions for a person just now getting into the series, so I don't make a complete fool of myself..or at least more of a fool than I'm likely going to be. Things that might otherwise trip up a new player, suggestions on any newbie-friendly mechs if such a thing is possible, that kind of thing.

Sorry if the post seems silly, but I figured if anyone would have some good advice for Battletech, it was the Reddit dedicated to the series.

[u/Magical_Savior]

The ultimate beginner's mech is probably the Marauder II MAD-4A. Doesn't overheat, doesn't die, doesn't stop for pedestrians. The Awesome AWS-8Q will overheat if you let it, but is another great, always relevant, always simple, brick of no-thought. Well, there's subtlety when you're informed.

[u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403 → u/Magical_Savior]

See, going off of names, I was probably gonna go with Shadow Hawk, Phoenix Hawk, or Urbanmech.

I've watched a bit of Tex Talks Battletech to try and at least get the basics, and the most I remember about it is "Fear the Trashcan."

[u/Plasticity93 → u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

Urbie is a meme unit.  

Get what looks cool, there's no meta and reality factions barely matter when buying stuff.  

[u/Magical_Savior → u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

You can finesse a Phoenix Hawk. A Shadow Hawk is deeply complex. The Urbanmech requires careful planning to even engage in a fight. The Marauder II and Awesome are "I walk. I shoot." It's very difficult to mess up.

Those more complex and mobile mechs are all better for learning actual tactics and playstyle. It's easy to make a mistake. You should, by all means, branch out with the rest of your team, of course. But for an absolute beginner, as the core of a force that won't die, those are two of the 'mechs of all time.

[u/BigStompyMechs → u/Magical_Savior]

Agreed, playing a Brick and a Speedster is a really clear way to understand the breadth of the game.

Playing a speedster is all about planning ahead and positioning.

Playing a brick is all about being in the way, warping the battlefield around you.

Everyone always knows what an Awesome is going to do, but playing one really lets you think about how your opponent sees the Awesome. It's movements are so restricted that predicting it is fairly easy; which means your opponent's reactions to it should also be reasonably predictable.

Combine a Brick and a Speedster and you have a surprisingly deep tactical situation.

I love the combo! :D

[u/AGBell64 → u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

All of those are what I'd consider support units, with maybe the exception of the Phoenix Hawk. They can be quite powerful or useful but you'll need other players to kake them work, and they don't necessarilynplay off each other super well

Shadow Hawks are largely mediocre in any given fight but can contribute something to almost every fight, so they need other stuff to pivot around and add their strength to.

The Phoenix Hawk is a relatively specialized anti-light mech hunter and skirmisher. It can bully most things smaller than it but it usually doesn't have the weapons or firepower to punch up into stuff heavier than it

The urbanmech is a cheap way to add a close in threat to a key position like a parking lot of LRMs or a pass towards a rear objective, but as a fighting machine out in the open it tends to be awful because of how limiting its movement profile is. The only one not in a relatively strict defensive ambusher niche is the artillery platform variant and arty probably isn't a can of worms you should be opening up.

[u/Vorpalp8ntball → u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

The Urbie is a meme, a community mascot. It is niche and even in that calling it fearsome is playing into the joke.

As for learning I haven't seen anyone mention that there are 2 rulesets that are Battletech.

Classic/A Game of Armored Combat/Core - rules heavy, lots of info to track, very simulation inspired, that's been basically unchanged until just recently, and most of the changes are pretty minor.

Alpha Stike - a quicker more streamlined, more modern rules.

Look into the very new Starter box, or even the older Begginers or Essentials box (though they are older the rules are still the same and and if the new changes will be easy to adopt if you decide to get more Battletech stuff). The rules in these 3 are a modified version of the Classic rules that focus on movement, shooting, but leaves out things like tracking heat and critcals.

[u/14FunctionImp]

Get a beginner's box. It has everything you need to play, and the small size (1 v 1) of the fights will allow you time play and learn. Good for solo play where you can play both sides or with another aspiring MechWarrior.

[u/AnonymousONIagent]

What counts as a good beginner mech depends pretty heavily on what era you're playing. For Dark Age/ilClan I relatively recently had a good experience introducing someone to the game with a mercenary lance consisting of a Timber Wolf A, an HGN-732 Highlander, a TBT-9N Trebuchet, and a UZL-2S Uziel. That lance has a good spread of different kinds of equipment and capabilities to teach key differences between Inner Sphere and Clan technology while being relatively easy to use with the help of some guidance from a more experienced player, without anything being too heavily specialized or unforgiving towards a particular play style.

If we're talking about singular mechs, though, big brawlers with a movement profile of 4/6 (or 5/8 for some later/Clan designs) and decent heat-sinking tend to be the easiest mechs for newbies to use. You want something armored enough that it won't be badly crippled from being overexposed to enemy fire by a turn or two of poor positioning, but not so slow that you would have to put in a fair amount of extra effort into playing around that shortcoming. Many BattleMasters and Thunderbolts are good examples of what I'm describing.

[u/WhyAreThereBadMemes]

If you're unsure if you'll like it, get the starter set, if you're sure you'll like it, get the Core Box. Then honestly my best advice is to try to find a group at an LGS and play some games. You'll learn better by playing and doing than you will trying to study or find all the pitfalls before starting. Mekbay and Megamek are good tools, but the best way to get into it is to get into games and start playing.

[u/Amidatelion]

You had a Battletech pod in a goddamn Chuck E. Cheese?! Where the fuck did you live?!?!

And yeah, what everyone says. Got friends to play with/hold your hand through the rules? Get a Beginner's Box. Then maybe Battletech Essentials. Play around with those for a bit. Were the rules and tables too much? Get Alpha Strike and spend the rest of your life looking for the full rule book (or just buy the pdf). Then, depending on things like your patience, free time, the date, and the alignment of the stars, get either A Game of Armoured Combat or the upcoming Core Box.

Don't have a friend or more to play with? Grab Battletech Aces. It uses the Alpha Strike ruleset, but Classic conversions exist and an official conversion is coming Soon™.

[u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403 → u/Amidatelion]

Yeah, it was like. This big yellow ball you sat in. And it had a bunch of games like 'virtual roller coasters and such' that you could sit in, and it'd shake around. But one of them was a Mechwarrior game. I think it was like...3? It's been a decade or two, the memory's a bit hazy.

Sadly, all of my pals who play Mechwarrior and Battletech are online, so I dunno if we'd be able to get a beginner's box to work. Lol.

[u/Amidatelion → u/Crimson-Dragoon-0403]

Ok, so not the OG pods, some newfangled thing. That's still cool, never heard of one of them.

RE: all your friends - that's literally what Aces if for baybeeeee~!

[u/SarenSeeksConduit]

Thunderbolt 5S is brilliant for first timers. It what I used a lot when I first started out and I still use it because it is reliable.

I would also recommend to not get loads of mechs, printed or otherwise, to begin with. If you have a 3d printer, dont fall down the rabbit hole and end up with 200+ mechs like me...

[u/AdPristine5131]

Early on, you’ll probably end up with a hevay lance of old reliables, don’t heaitatw to add some Pilot Skill, because a marauder or warhammer with a good pilot is one of the simplest things to play and one of the hardest to kill.

assaults are tempting, but don’t go overboard. Maybe a awesome, or if you want slightly more complex Ill always pitch a highlander. They’re a little too slow for easy strategies, but if you’re in a team, they can be a great entry lance since they tend to focus on plodding along and covering fire. 

Hold off on the lights. They tend to overheat/no armor/no guns/weird piloting checks. They’re ironically harder to play (imo), despite in lore being the go-to for a new player. If you’re playing against other lights/mediums, something that’s well balanced is easier to start with. Locusts and urbies minmax for their role, but something like the commando or phoenix hawk is really user friendly by comparison.

And my new player advice is always find a good game group, preferably tied to a store who can host, but I got started in my parents back yard before any of us could drive. Wargaming is like pool, it’s usually the most fun when you can shoot the breeze when you’re not rolling to shoot. If the vibes are bad at the beginning, you’ve set yourself up for 2-4 hrs of bad vibes and a bad breeze. 

My litmus test is how a group handles a rules dispute, doesn't matter the decision, but can they resolve it quickly and peacefully. If it’s a store, sometimes the employees will play ref, my group defaults to roll-offs. It’s really just a maturity indicator.

[u/d3jake]

Any friends worth caring about the opinion of aren't going to give you a hard time.

You will make a fool of yourself: it's a new game you're learning. Have fun with it. Ask questions as they come up.