Battletech Tips and Tricks Guide

Want some BattleTech tips? TechRaptor has your back! Harebrained Schemes' BattleTech was released just over a week ago. While some players have been operating their BattleMech mercenary outfits well, some struggle to use their Mechs effectively. To help you become the best mech commander alive, we present our BattleTech Tips and Tricks Guide.

If you're enjoying this coverage of the game, then check out the BattleTech game page for all of our articles on the subject. For example, you can check out our review of the main game, or maybe you'd like a brief intro to BattleTech to help get you started? 

BattleTech Tips & Tricks Guide

Move or Die!

In BattleTech, the farther your Mech moves, the more Evasion it generates. Evasion points are noted by the white chevrons beside each Mech's name, and you are able to see how many Evasion points you will receive when you're hovering over during movement selection. Every time your Mech is fired at, it will lose an Evasion point, and if it's fired at when you don't have any Evasion points left, you will take significantly more damage. For this reason, unless you're putting your Mech out of optimal range of its own weapons, there's no reason not to move as far as possible during your Mechs movement. Especially for light Mechs, who have very little armor and rely completely on their ability to cover large distances to generate maximum evasion points. Another worthwhile point to note is that Evasion carries over each turn, so keep moving MechWarrior!

Know your Enemy (and yourself)

There are just under forty BattleMechs so far in HBS's BattleTech, and the combination of armament/equipment/armor put a considerable amount of "pre-reading" time in. But simply dividing the Mechs into their weight categories of Light, Medium, Heavy and Assault and having an understanding of their battlefield role puts you at an advantage against a player who doesn't understand them. Further, having a core understanding of Mechs and their weapons means you can plan accordingly on how best to take out your enemies. Knowing your own Mechs and their battlefield roles is key to using them effectively. Effective weapon ranges and positioning is fundamental in BattleTech, and knowledge of your and your opponent's will allow you to dominate the battlefield.

Story Missions and Salvage

In a lot of open world single-player games players will complete as many side-quests and random encounters as possible to level up before tackling the single player campaign, but with BattleTech, while leveling up is essential, the single-player story missions also help upgrade your options early on, such as faster repairs and expanding your Mech bay, which will make your mercenary career so much more comfortable. Also, unless you're after a very specific weapon, always prioritize Mech parts in the post-mission salvage. They're worth huge amounts in funds but will also save you loads if you're able to get enough to build a whole Mech. If you have a high number of enemy Mechs in the enemy force and you're able to not completely destroy them, getting large amounts of Mech parts is usually worth more than the fee paid for the mission.

Lance Customization

There are a large variety of ways to arm your BattleMechs, and making sure you have a balance of weapons and requirements will give you a major advantage over the AI in the single-player campaign and other players in multiplayer. Going too specific with a Mech can leave it exposed or useless when out of position, so how you set up your Lance (group of BattleMechs) is key. Key requirements are a scout (fast, lightly armored Mech for discovering other Mechs), a brawler (heavy Mech able to dish out large amounts of damage, but also soak damage), and some kind of indirect and long range firepower (indirect fire gives you a lot of fire options, and long range allows you to back up your other Mechs, no matter their positioning).

Melee Melee Melee!

If able, close combat attack ground vehicles with your Mechs. They can actually ride out some ranged attacks, and they're usually a waste of heat/ammo when you can destroy them instantly with a melee attack. Vehicles are obviously a lesser threat than enemy Mechs, but they can wear your Mech's evasion and armor down, leaving you vulnerable to heavy attacks. Melee is also very effective against enemy Mechs. It ignores evasion, and you are also able to fire your support weapons after. A well-customized Mech and MechWarrior can be devastating in close combat for enemy Mechs.

Lance Operations

Wielding your lance well and making sure your Mechs are well-customized as a unit can be the key to victory. Making sure that your Mech's rear, which is less armored than the front, isn't exposed by good positioning and also moving enemies into well-maintained arcs of fire is extremely effective.  Getting used to wielding your lance as one entity even around the different initiatives will leave your opponent on the back-foot. An exposed Mech stands no chance against a lance with harmonized weapon ranges to cover each other and also won't leave your own Mechs exposed to counterattacks. If you're using a light scout Mech as bait, make sure you have the firepower to back it up and don't range too far ahead with it.

That's it for this BattleTech guide, but you can always find more over at the BattleTech game page.