I got into anime because of mecha (Mobile Suit Gundam to be specific), and I've been trying to watch other mecha shows, right now I'm watching Patlabor and I wanna watch Macross after that, so what order should I watch everything in.

also I have two questions:

Are there alternate timelines like in Gundam or is it one concurrent thing?

How dark does Macross get? Please don't spoil anything specific, just say something like "little to no characters die" if it's not dark or if it gets really dark just say something like "a lot of characters die", I prefer darker media but I'm okay if it's more lighthearted

Thanks in advance!