Analysis

Major Logistic Guidelines
''There are several major guidelines that you'll want to adhere to when selecting and equipping weapons. Although these are not set in stone exactly, 99% of the time you can expect these tips to work. ''

Equip mechs to fight at particular ranges Placing a bunch of Streak SRMs and a Gauss Rifle on the same mech means that unless the mech is fighting an enemy within 50-75 meter range exclusively, at any given point only one of the two weapon groups can fire.

Long Range guns can't fire at targets that are closer than 50 meters, and short range weapons have a maximum range of 75 meters. So in this case this mech will have a severe offensive limit, and in combat this usually means early death. It would be much more useful to have a second mech equip the Streak SRMs and some extra lasers, and the original the gauss rifle with some LRMs.

Now the mech team can tackle close and distant units alike, and both will be able to use 100% of thier weapons within thier respective range groups. In short: have mechs specialize in weapon ranges, not damage values etc.

Balance damage concentration with salvage ability Take two sets of weapons: 3 heavy flamers, and 4 pulse lasers.

Both weigh 24 tons and fire at close range, but the heavy flamers will fire 24 bursts per minute of 5 points of damage each. The pulse lasers will fire 136 shots at 1 point of damage in the same time frame. This amounts to 120 damage per minute for the heavy flamer group, and 136 for the pulse laser group.

Both are pretty impressive, but when a shot hits, the location it hits is more or less randomized. Some shots will hit the torso, arms, and legs. Since each location has its own armor and internal structure, lower damaging shots might not do anything but damage the armor, while heavier hitting weapons will penetrate it for sure.

So lets say each group gets mounted on an identical mech with an identically talented pilot, and both are taken to a combat situation where these mechs begin shooting at seperate, but identical, medium weight mechs. Assuming they stay are able to keep firing until the enemy medium weight mechs is destroyed, what happens?

Most medium weight mechs have at around 15 points of armor guarding some body locations, so if three or four heavy flamer shots hit the same area, the armor would suffer 15-20 points of damage and would be gone. Meanwhile the pulse lasers will need to hit the same area around 15-20 times to achieve the same results. Although they do fire faster, this result usually takes significantly longer to achieve. In the end, the flamer mech (usually) will cause armor penetration and internal structure damge at several spots, but with uneven damage levels at the other locations.

The pulse laser mech (usually) will only have a target with moderate to heavy armor damage all over. Since the latter mech has not suffered a hit to his internal structure, he will still have all of his weapons operational.The former will have likely lost some, maybe several, and also likely fallen over at least once (which usually happens when a mech suffers an internal structure hit).

Since these locations are most likely the torso, the internal damage done might be done to an ammo bin or engine, both of which could eject the pilot. Either way, this mech has lost a substancial amount of combat effectiveness and will be destroyed soon. Thus, barring profound luck and misfortunes, the mech being attacked by heavy flamers will be destroyed first.

This test can be extended to say that generally speaking, heavier damaging weapons get the job (of defeating your enemies) done faster, which is ultimately what military games like this one are about. Also, by dying faster, this enemy mech has has less time to fire his own weapons, and has caused less damage to your forces, meaning a lighter repair bill, less risk of weapon or pilot loss, and frees up your forces to fight other threats.

But! Lower damaging weapons are generally better at salvaging your enemy's mechs. The Hvy AutoCannon can level most mechs in one or two shots, but since they are very likely to hit the torso, and that in turn is very likely to cause a mech destroying ammo explosion, mechs that suffer Hvy AC fire are, generally speaking, obliterated and not salvaged.

That’s not to say that pulse lasers won't cause ammo explosions or that the Hvy AC will never salvage anything, though. In the above scenario, the mech that is getting hit by the flamers will likely get destroyed faster, but the mech getting hit by the pulse lasers may likely be salvaged.

The pulse lasers, while they are damaging everything equally, will inevitably hit the head (and that in itself could potentially kill the pilot). After going through the armor finally, the lasers will slowly damage the mech just enough to kill it, but not destroy it in the same way the flamers will.

So just how important is salvage? Without it, you have to rely on Battillion resupply and support, which means you will only have IS mechs, IS weapons, and you will get them much later in the game and have far fewer a number of them than if you salvaged them. At the start of the last group of missions battillion will no longer put anything new up for sale. Lastly, and probably the worst of all, without salvage you will only get your hands on two clan mechs in the entre game.

Salvage will make or break your game plan. What all of this mumbo jumbo is saying can be summarized as such: heavy damaging weapons like ER PPCs, Gauss Rifles, Heavy Flamers, Heavy AutoCannons etc will destroy your enemies fast, leaving nothing (literally) lefft behind.

Lighter damaging weapons like Light ACs, Pulse Lasers, SRMs, etc will slowly eat awaythe enemy's health, which leads to higher salvage rates. A significant part of your weapon choice will be made to balance between the desire to salvage that valuable Clan mech and to simply kill it quickly so it doesn’t destroy your pilots. When you master this artform down, you'll start finding more salvaged mechs in your roster.

Take several weapons with you, one of them an energy one A major problem that plagues Hollanders and Hunchbacks launched in their default configurations is that shortly into the mission, the major gun they have has been exhausted of ammo (or destroyed). Since the designs carry minimal backup weapons, the unit is now near useless.

Never send out a mech with less than 4 weapons. Regardless what they are. You risk the mech losing a single weapon and becoming a liability. Even decent sized missions will drain a unit of ammo, so you will *always* need to equip at least one energy weapon on each mech.

The only exception to this rule is if you know a mission to be short or access to repair bays is guaranteed. Otherwise your unit will also likely become useless after the last round is fired off. If you adhere to these guidelines, then your armies will be significantly better prepared for the enemy and for unfortunate turn of events.

General tips
What weapons are better or worse depends partly on style and partly on what kind of situation you'll be in. Lots of walls and forests mean missiles. Wide open spaces means long range weapons like Large ER Lasers and AutoCannons. Multiple small enemies? Pulse Lasers and other energy weapons. Access to repair bays allows for heavy hitter Gauss Rifles and Heavy AutoCannons to come to the fold.

Only play experience can tell you exactly what will occur in battle, but if you have an idea of what you can expect to face, loading up appropriate weapons might be the only way you can win or in worse cases, survive.

After some playing time, you will be able to identify enemy units quickly and know what they're carrying. The computer does not have specially modified units, so if you see a Hunchback, it *always* has a Hvy AC. As you become more accustomed to the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon, the vehicles and mechs they come equipped on will be better analyzed as threats. Recycle time does not guarantee when a weapon will fire again, only that is prepared to fire again. Ammo loss, your target moving out of range, losing line of sight of the enemy - along with other events - will prevent mech weapons from firing again.

Streak SRMs are perfect for pilots with lower gunnery skills because these weapons do not rely on the gunnery skill to ensure it will land on target.

Good weapons are made better when good pilots are in control of them. You always want your rookie pilots to get better at shooting, but placing them behind a mech armed with a hvy AC on their first mission is probably a bad idea. Place the rookies instead behind weapons that dont have ammo problems and leave the heavy hitting weapons to the pros.

Taking on extra enemy mechs - in order to salvage their weapons - can be good, but even a C/ ER PPC is not worth losing a good pilot over. When I say 'losing' I mean dying. A pilot ejecting might have to sit out a mission or two, but death is permanent. Rare clan weapons are great for your forces, but veteran and elite pilots are hands down the most valuable resource you own. Never sacrifice them over mechs or weapons.

There is no 'ideal' or 'perfect' weapon layout. Having a strong balance of close and long range firepower might work for general situations, but at least a quarter of the game has environments and enemies that demand you adhere to a specific set of weapons to succeed. Strictly sticking to a 'perfect' configuration will only prevent you from fighting to your full potential. This leads to extra damage being sustained, as well as possible losses and in some situations, failure.

You can demand your pilots to target specific parts of a mech's body, but this leads to nearly 90% missed shots (more if you demand head shots). Its not worthwhile for your guys to target individual parts, so the saying "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" is in effect here.

Some weapons - both IS and Clan - are rarer than others, simply because the game will only present you the opportunity to own a limited number of them. Weapons like Clan Lg Pulse Laser, Clan ER PPC, Clan Hvy Ultra AC are true prizes and should be placed only on well armored mechs piloted by good mechwarriors. It goes without saying that even if battalion paid full price for the weapon, you should never sell them.

The Bang for Buck ratings give you a good idea of what is more valuable to salvage. SRMs have nearly 30 RPs per power, making them nearly useless as a prize. The C/ ER PPC has the highest value of all: proving it is the highest and most valuable of all salvage, aside from a mech chassis.

Selling weapons usually results in a lower than desired amount of RP return, and usually a weapon is either too inexpensive to get a worthwhile sell price, or it's a good weapon and you shouldn't be selling it. Thus, unless you have a TON of a weapon (I’m talking in the 70s-80s range), you should probably refrain from selling weapons at all. The only reason to sell when you get into the upper 70s is because the game will only let you own 99 of any given component.

Inner Sphere Light ACs - not the ultra autocannon version - are an exception to the above rule. They are more or less worthless, and should not be equipped on your mechs. You will probably get the most out of them, sadly, by selling them ASAP.

Unless you keep an eye out for salvage containers and get lucky with salvaging units, battillion will be your source for mechs and weapons. You should generally plan on using exclusively Inner Sphere techology and mechs and incorporate Clan tech if you manage to get it.

Author- Patrick H. Kerensky Version - 1.8 Micropose Fasa Interactive Fasa Corporation