Master Guide

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Master Guide

The Basic Guide covered the game beginnings and the player interface. The Advanced Guide covered general strategies and tactics. Several undisclosed or hidden features were briefly mentioned, but not discussed in depth. Salvage is the name of the game. This Master Guide is about dominating the battlefield with a particular Lance setup, Load out and Pilot configuration. Examples of the Mercenary Companies I used are detailed below featuring all female crews, custom galleries, and the all important 75 ton Marauder. Again, this is for the vanilla game with no Mods.

The Master Guide does use the 'Flash Points' and 'Heavy Metal' DLC's, but are not required.

Details include;

Undisclosed features

Unlimited Travel

Building a formidable lance

25 min. video of the lance in action

Mid/Late Game

Merc Companies	Click portrait to view Mercenary Company or use the buttons for quick access.

	Campaign > Career	The Bloodmoon Shadows commanded by Trista "Tigress" Valentina, participated in the Arano campaign as a highly valued mercenary company. Being personally wronged by House Espinosa, Tigress pursued the leader and his daughter with particular vengeance to the very end. The Bloodmoon Shadows took on every mission against the Directorate with zeal, although it did prolong the bloody conflict.

	Career (Pirate)	Chereath "Rogue" Frostflower leads a ruthless Pirate mercenary company for hire. She is relentless and unforgiving in her pursuit of glory and wealth. 'Mechwarriors under her authoritarian command are rewarded with riches and luxuries not available to the common folk or other mercenary companies.

	Campaign > Career (Pirate)	Rue "Hemlock" Silverleaph participated in the campaign against the Directorate and House Espinosa. Not for the glory or the money, although both did happen, but because the Directorate interfered with her business within the Aurigan Coalition. The disruption of Hemlocks very profitable black market 'trade hub' on Itrom compelled her to join forces with Lady Kamea to restore the sector to its former 'hands-off' attitude towards the Black market.

	Career (Mercenary)	A freelance mercenary company lead by Marissa "Tempest" Lindholm has tried to remain neutral with the various factions. Her all female crew work tirelessly to maintain respect in the Periphery as competent guns for hire.

STRATEGY: Mid and late game Battle Lance

Marauder, the Head Shot King
	The only way to get a Marauder in early game is to find and buy the first three pieces. I found mine in the upper north-east systems of the Reach (starting area). OpFor Marauders don't show up until 3.5 skull missions. But once you have your first Marauder, the game can progress very quickly. Becoming friendly with the Pirates can get you marauder parts more quickly, and at a discount in the Black Market. Particularly nice is the MAD-2R with Double Heatsinks. Many of my battles with the lance setup shown below, can plow though two heavy lances in 10-12 combat rounds, and usually less. The weapons on your Marauder play an equally important role. All 'Mechs have a head armor rating of 45 and an internal structure of 18. Meaning that your weapons have to do at least 63 points of damage. To get to that Internal structure, you have to strip off that armor first. An AC 10 can do it, but you suffer a recoil penalty in preceding rounds by using a projectile weapon. That is why an all-energy weapons loadout is important. The weapon of choice has to penetrate the armor to make a successful head shot. In the vanilla game (no mods or DLC's), the best weapons are the PPC+++, Large Laser+++ or ER L Laser++ in addition to matching Med Laser+++ loadouts. The 'Mech- Only the Marauder has the Lance Command Mod. All your 'Mechs must have the maximum Jump Jets, even the assault 'Mechs. Movement is key to surviving a battle. A pair of skilled pilots- You will need two pilots maxed out in Gunnery and Tactics. Most important is to have a 9 in Tactics to gain the 'Called Shot Mastery' ability, which give the pilot in a Marauder up to a 35% chance for a successful called head shot.
High Moral- In order to use the Called Shot bonus, you have to be getting at least 50 Resolve points each round. Each time a pilot uses the Precession Shot ability it costs 25-30 Resolve. Since the max Moral bonus you can have is 50 (sometimes 52), you can only use that skill twice in a combat round. Thus, having more then two Marauders in your lance has no advantage. And, the first combat round you will only gain 30-40 Resolve, which means in the first actual combat round, only one of the Marauders can utilize the Called Shot bonus. Environment conditions- Locations such as Polar and Tundra offer the best heat management. I will often pass up high risk engagements in Desert and Badlands mission. On missions where you are likely only going against a single lance (2.5 skulls or lower), your Marauder Lance can handle those battlefields with a bit of strategy. One method is having one of your Marauders lay back for a turn to cool down while the other is taking out opponents, then switching it up. Once you get your first Marauder, the next tough process will be finding the Double Heatsinks, but there's a trick. In a Black Market store you may be able to find other rare 'Mechs that have the Double Heatsinks, such as the GRF-2N Griffin or CRB-27B Crab. Don't purchase a complete 'Mech, but the three parts and have Yang put them together. Single parts can cost over 1 million C-Bills which will be cheaper then the complete 'Mech at over 12 million. Put it in Storage where the components are removed and go back to the store a sell the stored 'Mech. You will get around 1 million C-Bills returned and have 6+ brand new Double Heatsinks.

A Battlemech Lance


Quirk: No Arms; Weak head armor	Command; Extd Actuators; Low profile	Command; Extd Actuators; Low profile	Command; No torso twist

Head Shot Mastery

In order to make the Marauder the most formidable 'Mech on the battlefield, you need a pilot that can do the job. To reach that 35% Called Shot bonus, pilots must have high skills in Gunnery and Tactics. The more important of the two is Tactics, which is where the Called Shot bonuses come from. A bonus at rank 6 and mastery at rank 9.

When leveling up a pilot specifically for a Marauder (MAD-3D, 3R or 2R) it is important how XP are assigned. Advancing skills in a particular order is key. In the image on the right you can see the progression and order necessary. Following the below progression.

1.) Get Multi-Target under gunnery first. If your pilot can't hit the broad side of a barn, they will be useless in a Marauder. Each level adds a percentage to Base Weapon Hit where a +25% is base at level 10.

2.) In order to deal with the heat generated by an all energy weapon 'Mech, having the Coolant Vent skill is critical. Make Bulwark the 2nd primary skill so that Coolant Vent is still an option.

[This will lock in the Gunnery and Guts skill trees. The other trees will get locked out.]

3.) Advance the Tactics skill to level 6 to gain the Called Shot Bonus.

4.) For your pilots secondary skill, level up Guts to level 8 to gain the Coolant Vent Bonus. This gives the pilot a way to deal with heat build up while continuing turn after turn of firing all weapons. However, using this skill will cost you extra heat over the next three turns. It's well worth it to be able to continue firing all the weapons.

You could technically opt for Gunnery's Breaching Shot as the secondary skill, but having that stamina on the battlefield will win the day.

5.) Advance Tactics to at least level 9 to get the Called Shot Mastery and that 33-35% chance to pop the top of any 'Mech on the field with one shot (but may take 2 shots).

Tactics
Once your lance starts taking out opponent 'Mechs with clean Head Shots, you will have complete 'Mechs (3 parts) to sell in the stores. So having as many salvage slots available will have you ahead in the long run. Stick with the above mentioned Lance and don't add unnecessary 'Mechs to you roster. Keep it simple. Two decked out Marauders, a Catapult and one scenario specific 'Mech until you have more 'Mech bays. Even then, six 'Mechs is all you really need. Specialty 'Mechs could include a fast Light 'Mech for spotting/distraction and/or a heavy-hitter to draw fire while your Marauders pick off the enemy. Remember that the first round of combat you only have about 30% of your max Resolve. So don't move up too quickly as you will only get one Precision Strike at that point. Jump into tree cover whenever you can covering the most distance possible to increase your Evasion and getting 40-60% damage reduction. Having a slight elevation advantage over the opponent gives you a little bonus to your hit percentage. Too high and your opponent can target your torso and arms more easily.		Keep your artillery support 'Mech out of reach of the battle. With LRM's they should be able to damage the OpFor before they get to you. But more importantly, the missile bombardment will lower their Evasion making it easier to get in that precise head shot. Use the artillery to target two different 'Mechs (Multi-target skill) that the Marauders are battling to make head shots a bit easier. Have the heavy-hitter or distraction 'Mech bait the opponents into a Marauder shot box as the battle progresses. Ideally, you should jump the Marauders into cover and get off a clean head shot before the other OpFor 'Mechs can move into position. The selected secondary weapon will determine the favorable range for your attacks (typically the M Laser). If an OpFor 'Mech gets knocked down, don't fire on it. Let it get back up. Not for honor, but firing on it will usually hit the center torso and destroy the entire 'Mech despite targeting the head or legs. Thus less salvage recovered, and salvage is the mainstay of the game. However, if a leg was already taken out causing the fall, wait for the opponent to get back up, then target the other leg. You will still get 3 salvage from it. Many times you will get a head shot, but not destroy the cockpit. The base 33-35% hit chance is for each weapon fired and means only one or two weapons dinged the cockpit. However, a second shot to the head will usually do the trick. Head shots like these don't incapacitate a pilot, but outright deliver a fatal blow. If you have maneuvered your Marauder into the perfect spot for a clean head shot only to find that your heat from the shot will damage your internals, use the Cooling Vent skill. Take your shot, destroying the opponents cockpit, then jump away and cool off for a round or two. Use that cooling off period to maneuver the Marauder into another ideal firing spot. NOTES: SPECIALTY 'MECHS; A Shadow Hawk or other medium 'Mechs are good for mid game. Victor, Stalker and of course the King Crab with lots of armor for late game missions.

Video

Headshot Blitz
(rumble link)
(15:42 min.)

Tempest's Dragoons merc company shows how to get it done on the battlefield against two heavy lances.

5 of the 8 OpFor received fatal cockpit sudden dissasembly events.

Completed in just 7 rounds and netted over 15mil C-Bills in claimed salvage.

View Tempest's Battlemechs

Not all battles go this smoothly. Here's a link to another video that didn't go as well.

15,023,332 > 1,094,000

Priority Missions (Campaign)
-
Liberation Of Weldry (+)
Liberate: Smithon (+)
Served Cold (+)
Grave Robbing
Raising the Dead (+)
Escape
Defense: Smithon
Extraction (+)
Liberation: Tyrlon (+)
Locura (+)
Showdown (+)