Provides players with an in-depth guide on game progression while keeping up with time sensitive campaigns. Players can expect to build up their lances from the ground up and progress & complete the game with relative ease. Introduction & DLC Requirements Greetings Mechwarrior, this guide will provide you with the knowledge required to progress the game rapidly with the goal of competing the main campaign and major DLC content. This guide is written with VANILLA/UNMODDED GAMEPLAY in mind. If you use mods, you can probably follow it for the most part. For this guide, you need the following DLCs. If you are playing Co-op, only the host requires these DLCs. Required DLC: Heros of the Inner Sphere Legend of the Kestrel Lancers Recommended DLC: Rise of Rasalhague - Adds Crusader mechs, Rasalhague campaign & Bounty Hunter Dragon's Gambit - Adds Kurita campaign & interesting loot/rewards Non-essential/Optional: Solaris Showdown - Beware, adding this DLC enables PPC-X loadouts on enemy mechs. Expect increased difficulty especially at the start of the game. Call to Arms - IMO this is the worst DLC. Shadow of Kerensky - Currently listed as optional until I do a full playthrough from a new campaign. The following content will be SKIPPED. Those in Need - (Rewards are too insignificant) Dire Circumstances (Too far out, rewards are too insignificant) Tributes for the Imperator (Too far out, rewards are too insignificant) Optional (For Best Solo Start & Coop/Multiplayer) If you plan to have the most perfect start or are playing with friends, I recommend installing YAML mod after getting reputation lv5 to get Goblin & his hero phoenix hawk, Kobold. You can uninstall YAML after receiving Goblin's transmission if you want to have an unmodded experience. WARNING: Phoenix Hawk Kobold cannot be re-obtained if you choose to sell this mech. For Coop/Multiplayer: This provides your team with more mechs to work with so that you dont have to fight over the free Razer branded wolverine you get from Valentina system. For Best Solo Start: This provides you with more mechs and AI pilots to work with & makes the early grind alot easier. Due to the recent addition of more devastating mech variants with alternate loadouts such as PPC-X, having Goblin & Kobold will greatly improve the early grind when starting out. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549720490&searchtext=yaml Overall Progression NOTICE: Updates are currently in progress. This section will look weird until I'm done. Some changes are still being made. This is only a general recommendation for starting a new main campaign. Expect spoilers if you continue reading. You will need to salvage some mechs. Try to damage the enemy mech until it's salvage point requirements are low enough for you before proceeding to headshot the enemy mech. You will likely need to max salvage points for those few missions. You may need to refer to my other guide on salvage for this part. Unfortunately, there's too much info to condense into a single guide. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2951028714 Reputation Management for steps 1-10 Keep Independents at atleast +2 rep Do not go below -2 rep for Steiner & Kurita For step 5, get atleast +2 rep for Liao. Arena Fame does not add to your Mercenary Level. Do not spend too much time in Arenas. Reputation Management for steps 17 Onwards Get Rasalhague rep to +3 Get Independents to +3 or +4 rep Guide: 1) Grind for 30-40 Million Cbills & collect the free Wolverine @ Valentina system 2) Go to Terra or Steiner territory & buy any two heavy mechs from this list. Sell mechs as needed but keep a light mech for infiltration missions. Any combination eg: 2 Archer 2S, 1 each etc, are all acceptable. Archer 2S (Excellent firepower, mobility & compatible w AI, better in early game) Crusader 2R (Agincourt but 5T lighter. Remove mg if you intend to pass it to AI, better in mid-late game) Black Knight 6B (4 med pulse lasers + 3 med lasers in arms, rest to armour n heatsinks. The 4th med pulse is from the valentina wolverine) Black Knight 6 (2 large sb, rest to med lasers, heatsinks and armour)4) Play "First Strike" for Warhammer 6R quest reward 5) Do missions for Liao and get atleast +2 rep 6) Complete Hazing of the Weak, get the following mechs: Black Knight 6 (Mission 2) Highlander 732B or 2nd Black Knight 6 (Mission 3. put 1 Jump Jet on highlander this for Tikonov Final Mission) Stalker 3Fb (Final Mission, outfit w ppc-x & med sb lasers, SRM 6) Orion-YAJ (Final Mission, 2 large sb lasers, ppc-x & 2 SRM6)7) Head over to Marik/Steiner border, get the following mechs: Get 2 Battlemaster 1G (From Dire Circumstances main quest & save scum while in steiner territory to purchase it) Get 2 Stalker 3F (Save scum while in steiner territory to purchase)8) In Kurita territory. get the the following mechs 2 Atlas RS (Obtained from Deliverance Main Campaign Mission & Rise of Black Dragon Mission 1. Outfit them with AC5BF, Large sb lasers & srm4/6) Banshee 3P (Charity Case Final Mission, outfit w ppc-x & med lasers)9) Complete Main Campaign by end of 3024 Get Banshee 3S (Crucible mission, replaces an Atlas RS)10) Get the following mechs: Cataphract 0X & Raven 1X* (Eyes On Democracy Final Mission) Archer Agincourt & 2 Charger 1A5 (Bow & Arrow missions)*Raven 1x can be purchased from Liao & Davion spaces 11) Complete Kestrel Lancer Campaign Highlander 732B from step 4 (put 1 Jump Jet on this for Tikonov Final Mission. You can toss this mech in cold storage after completing Kestral campaign) Place Cataphract 0X at 4th position to minimise damage, provide ecm support & counter enemy ecm) All Charger 1A5, ECM/EW Ravens/Cataphracts in Kestral campaign cannot be salvaged. Charger 1A5 & Raven 1X are obtainable via a few quest lines. Most notably Bow & Arrow for charger 1A5 & Eyes On Democracy (ECM/EW Ravens/Cataphracts). If you only bought base game, Heros of the Inner Sphere & Kestrel Lancers, the following content may not apply to you. The game is mostly complete and you can pretty much treat it as a sandbox and wander the galaxy as you like. To avoid replaying the game, make a save here so that you can add on DLC as you like. 12) Run Cantina Missions & bounty hunter rep 13) Complete Rise of Rasalhague & salvage the following mechs: Banshee 3S (Gunsberg Mission 3, replaces Atlas RS)15) Complete "Stop the Launch" for King Crab Carapace & salvage all the T5 weapons. This is very tight on schedule and might be difficult to pull off. Outfit Carapace with four AC5 BF, 2 LRM 10. AI is an effective fire support platform & damage sponge with this loadout. 15) Complete Dragon's Gambit, Get Mauler 2P & MX90S. Replace Charger 1A5 w 3KS. Replace Battlemaster 1G with 1G-S variants. 16) Buy Atlas II from Romulus 17) Complete X marks the Spot Get Corsair PVT, outfit with 2x Gauss, Large SB Lasers & LRM 10 Salvage Banshee 3P from final mission, outfit with MASC V, 1 Large pulse, 4 med lasers 18) Complete Solaris Showdown 19) Grind Independents rep to +4, Rasahalgue rep to +3 & try to complete the bounty hunter grind/quest. Another Banshee 3S spawns during this quest but its unlikely you'll have enough points20) Complete Shadow of Kerensky Max out cockpit armour, elementals will target cockpits (shame there's no animation to rip you out) During this quest line, its unlikely you'll have time to use salvaged clan mechs against the clans Bring a mech with ECM to counter ECM on every mission Bring atleast 1 mech with gauss or heavy rifiles Some maps are long and windy. Consider bringing 64kmph mechs. Consider upgrading your current mechs with clan tech instead. This will save time and still yield results. Consider salvaging atleast 2-3 Nova Primes for the 12 ER Medium Lasers they carry. Its a very quick and effective way to gain clan tech for your mechs. Aim to collect approx 30-40 clan med lasers, 10-20 clan med pulse, 8-10 clan mgs and 2 clan gauss over the course of this campaign. Destroying atleast 1 leg and centre torso seems to be an effective way to keep salvage costs down. Only problem is the lower probability for the mech to appear as salvage. Salvage Direwolf Prime and atleast 1 Hellbringer Prime. Both mechs carry alot of fire power. Hellbringer Prime can replace the Cataphract 1x from step 11. In the campaign, with proper preparation, it is possible to steamroll the clanners. In normal missions, vs clan missions are alot more difficult. It is reccomended to being atleast 2-3 assault lances when heading out to fight clans. That’s 8-12 assault mechs, minimum. Non-Hero/Rare Mech Market Resetting/Save Scumming To purchase two Archer 2S or Crusader 2R, you will need to abuse the following steps to get the mechs to appear in the mech markets. Crusader 2R has a chance to spawn as a damaged mech on Terra. Archer 2S has a chance to spawn on any steiner owned industrial hub. 1) Save your game some distance away from the industrial hubs. You must not be able to see the various features that are available (eg: cantina, rare weapons/mechs) 2) Jump to a system near to your desired mech's spawn system (You should now be able to see if there are hero or rare item/mech on the market) 3A) If a hero mech or rare item/mech has spawned on your desired system. load your save from step 1 & repeat. 3B) If no hero mech or rare items have spawned on your desired system, save & start jumping/reloading until your desired mech appears. Target Priority (WIP) These are targets you should generally prioritise. Tanks & VTOLs Generally easy to kill but potentially dish out lots of damage. It might be easier/faster for you to kill them on your own instead of ordering your lance mates. SRM20/40/60 carriers have some chance of instantly killing you via headshot. Partisans/Patton/Demolishers/Igors are heavily armoured and deal alot of damage. Do note that a crashing VTOL still damages you and can kill you if you have lost your cockpit armour & structure. Heavy Hitters Mechs that carry hard hitting weapons such as but not limited to, AC10/20, multiple SRM 6s, Gauss, PPCs & heavy rifles are a threat due to their high damage on a single component. Eg: Hunchbacks, Charger 1A5, Atlas, urbanmech, etc. Long Range Support & LRM Support These mechs deal alot of damage over time. Fortunately, these mechs are often "balanced" by having less armour or larger torsos which makes it easier for you & AI to kill. Torso twist if you are in the open and move to cover. You can also command your lance to attack to draw the heat off of you. Eg: Rifleman, Longbow & Catapult Melee Specialists These are mechs with melee weapons. Technically, they are often at the bottom of this list. Most melee specialists arent a problem until they get close enough. Do not let them close the distance! Why Buy Crusader 2R or Archer 2S? Similarities: Both store most of their firepower in the torsos Both can be built into SRM brawlers Both can be built into LRM boats for late game Archer 2S Advantages: More armour than Crusader 2R More room for heatsinks (Especially in early game) Usually Cheaper (About 8mill) Nothing important in arms Can be used by players & AI Crusader 2R Advantages Better than Archer 2S in late game due to more missile slots Can be built for either player or player & AI use Weighs 5 tons less while carrying more firepower Early game builds for each mech: Archer 2S: 4x Medium Lasers 4x SRM4 + 2.5T ammo Max Armour, rest to heatsinks Crusader 2R: 4x SRM4 in torsos +2.5T Ammo 2x SRM2 in arms 2x Medium Lasers Max Armour, rest to heatsinks Late Game Player Builds for Crusader 2R: 4x SRM4 in torsos +2.5T Ammo 2x T2 SRM4 in arms 2x T2 Machine guns 2x T2 Medium Lasers Max Armour, rest to double heatsinks Why Stalker 3F Stalker 3F is cheap, has 4 missile slots and 6 laser hardpoints. This gives the stalker one of the highest alpha strikes in vanilla gameplay. Both players and AI can make good use of this mech. Brawler: 6x Medium Lasers 4x SRM6 LRM support: 4x LRM10-ST 5 Med Lasers + TAG or 6 Med Lasers Both builds are equally viable. However, I generally prefer to leave LRM support to the Fb variant due to ECM compatibility. Stalker 3Fb vs Cyclops 11P Stalker 3Fb + Available from the start of the game as a rare mech in pristine condition. + ECM Capable + Alot of free tonnage +Can be setup for either long range, mid range or brawling. - Slow moving assault @ 48kmph Cyclops 11P +Rare mech available from 3045, most notably obtained from Will of Kali final mission. +ECM Capable +Fast Moving Assault @ 64kmph +Can be used as a long ranged sniper or upfront brawler -Lack of tonnage reduces weapon loadouts -Often have to choose between armour, weapons/ammo and equipment Recommendation: Stalker 3Fb In my first release of this guide, I used to use the cyclops 11P as a sniper in the 4th slot with 3 Med Laseers + 2 Heavy Rifles, max ballsistic velocity upgrades. It served as an ecm capable sniper and early game Sleipnir. However, after multiple play throughs, I've found that the Stalker 3Fb is a much more versatile mech and can be deployed in a wider range of roles. I can confirm that the stalker 3Fb is a much more well rounded option. As of Solaris, the Stalker 3FB serves as a very potent upfront brawler with 2x PPC-X. 2 SRM6 and 4 medium lasers. Maps that were a bit of a slugfest are alot easier with the 3Fb in the brawling role. Why use Atlas RS over Atlas D? Atlas RS has overall better balance than Atlas D in weapon loadouts. Additionally, the role of close combat brawler is easily filled by the Stalker 3F for 15 tons less. Suggested Atlas RS Loadout: SRM6+ART SRM4+ART UAC5 or AC5 BF 2x Large SB Laser Weapon Groups for Player: SRMs to group 1, chain fire. UAC5 & Large Lasers to group 2 UAC5, Large Lasers & SRMs to group 6 or alpha strike Chainfire SRM gives you better control over SRM ammo usage. UAC5 & Large SB lasers provides continuous long range fire support All weapons in alpha strike should be used only when the target is close and cant avoid your fire. Due to the sheer number of heatainks you can mount, you’ll have continuou/sustained dps on nearby targets. Weapon Groups for AI SRM4+ART to group1 SRM6+ART to group 2 UAC5 to group 3 Large SB to group 4 This reduces the likelihood of AI over-aggroing enemy mechs while keeping DPS. Double Heatsink Farming Hero light mechs (eg: Commando TDK & Urbanmech K9) & some rare star league era mechs (eg: Crab 27b) are cheap and carry multiple double heatsinks (DHS). You can use these mechs to collect double heatsinks before the technology is widespread/available. 1) Check the number of DHS in the mech to see if its worth buying 2) If you have funds to spare, & it holds a good number of DHS, purchase the mech 3) Place the mech in cold storage This will remove all weapons/equipment, including DHS from the mech4) Sell away the mech to recover some funds Hero mechs will eventually respawn again in the future with DHS Rare mechs such as Crab 27b will reappear randomly throughout the game5) Install DHS on your mechs & continue with the game Pilot Traits (WIP) Looking into re-grouping this due to Shadow of Kerensky and possibly changing to table format. Info in this section has not been fully tested. AI Pilots have a maximum of 3 traits. I do not have the means to test these traits and lance AI fire groups are currently bugged at the point of writing this section. Assuming that the descriptions are as accurate as claimed, here is a rough guide on which traits to nab or avoid. Desirable Traits: These traits are desirable because of how versatile or effective they are. Precise (Priority) Pilots with this trait tend to target a single part of the enemy mech. This is useful as your lance mates are more likely to target a single part of the enemy mech and possibly maim or reduce its firepower/cooling. Scrapper (Priority) Gives you 3 more points of salvage. Great for when you want to salvage mechs in missions. According to online discussions, 3 AI pilots with Scrapper gives you an additional 9 points of salvage. This further stacks with some faction specific bonuses for more loot when fighting for a specific faction. Arena Specialist Pilots with this trait have less spread with a wide range of weapons. Theoretically it should work best with Precise. Good To Have Traits: Weapon Type Traits Eg: SRM Specialist, Autocanon specialist, Laser Specialist Improves accuracy/spread/damage with these types of weapons. Its good to have but not a must have. Heavy or Assault Mech Specialist Most of your end game roster will consist of heavy or assault mechs. Generally speaking, I prefer to put them in assault mechs to improve survival. Try not to have both heavy and assault specialist on the same pilot. Its a waste of trait slots. Bulwark Mech takes 5% less damage. Survivor Pilots with this trait are more likely to survive when their mechs are destroyed. Technically you can do without this trait as you can always replay the mission to avoid losing your lance mate. As there is alot of save scumming involved in this guide, I hope to save you some trouble with this trait. It might be good for clan mechs as their cockpit armour is low. Con Man Increases money earned from missions. I've yet to confirm this. I intend to test this during future play throughs as it can be a pain to earn money to maintain mechs. Acceptable Traits: These traits are acceptable. They arent bad but there are better traits if you can afford to hire a better pilot. Hardy Pilots with this trait have shorter recovery time Same as Survivor, you could do without it by hiring more pilots or save scum. Usually, I have about 6-7 pilots in my roster as I draw most of the fire and they seldom get injured. House Specific Traits Untested but I'll put it here for now as it seems useful. Hands-On Learner Pilot levels up faster, Untested but I'll put it here for now as it seems useful. Traits to Avoid Weapon Specific Traits Eg: SRM2 Specialist, AC2 Specialist, etc. This trait is a bit too niche unless you have several mechs with those specific weapons Mech Specific Specialist Too niche and therefore a waste of trait slots. Light/Medium Mech Specialist Most of your end game roster will consist of heavy or assault mechs. Try to avoid having light or medium mechs. Negative Traits Eg: Greedy, Frail, Hypochrondriac etc. For obvious reasons, these traits are derimental. Avoid them! Weapons Guide & Grouping (WIP) The following is a simple guide on which weapons to place on the same firing group. You will still need to decide how to group your weapons for your playstyle. Looking into re-grouping this due to Shadow of Kerensky and possibly changing to table format. Energy Weapons: Tag: Pairs well with SSRM, AC5BF, UAC5, medium/large lasers & SB variants. LanceAI have an increased chance of targeting mechs you tag. Ideally your lance should have a LRM carrier but it's fine if you dont have one. Flamers: Generally, avoid using these. AI may use only flamers if enemies get too close & ignore all other equipped weapons. Alternatively, Get a mech with many flamers and overheat enemy AI to death. Pretty boring imo but dont let me stop you. Small: Skip unless you're on a light mech. Range is too short & AI does not work well with small lasers. AI may use only small lasers if enemies get too close & ignore all other equipped weapons. Medium & Medium SB: Pairs well with AC5BF, UAC5 & SSRM Large: Pairs well with AC5BF & UAC5. I personally prefer large SB due to shorter burn times. Large SB: Pairs well with AC5BF, UAC5 & Gauss Large Pulse: Pairs well with medium & medium SB lasers. PPC: Pairs well with PPC due to zero projectile drop. However, large lasers are 1 ton lighter and generate less heat, making large lasers generally more efficient and attractive options. ER-PPC: Pairs with ER-PPC due to zero projectile drop. Again, I prefer large/large sb lasers or gauss. PPC-X: Energy based shotgun. Pairs with LBX10 or SRMs at close enough ranges. Be careful not to stack too many PPC-X & LBX10 or the game wont be able to calculate the damage dealt. Any damage not calculated does 0 damage to target. Clan ER Small Lasers: Pair best with med pulse and clan er small lasers. Clan Small Pulse: Pairs with Clan Small Pulse Lasers Clan ER Medium Lasers: Pairs best with IS Large Pulse Lasers, Clan Large Pulse, Clan ER Medium Lasers Clan Med Pulse Lasers: Pairs best with Clan Med Pulse Lasers and IS Large Pulse Lasers Clan Large ER Lasers: Pairs best with Gauss, Clan Gauss, Clan Large ER Lasers Clan Large Pulse: Pairs best with Clan Large Pulse and ER Medium Lasers. Ballistic Weapons: Machine Guns & Clan Machine Guns: Generally, avoid using these. AI may use only machine guns if enemies get too close & ignore all other equipped weapons. Exception to this rule is MX90S with 6 machine guns, for player use only. AC2 & AC2 BF: Too little damage for the weight. Skip them. AC5 & AC5 BF: Decent range. Personally I prefer AC5 BF due to the higher ROF. Best paired with medium lasers and more AC5 or AC5 BF. UAC5: Best paired with medium lasers and more UAC5. AC10: A bit too heavy. I generally skip these. LBX10: 1 ton lighter than AC10 but not good enough. LBX10 SLD: 1 ton lighter than AC10 and faster projectile speed. Best paired with med lasers and more LBX10 SLD AC20: Best paired with SRM/SRM+ART and light rifles Rapid Fire Autocannons (eg: AC2RF): Generally avoid using these weapons due to high/uncontrollable recoil. Light Rifle: Pairs well with AC20 & SRMs due to similar range and projectile speeds. Medium Rifles: Skip these. They dont do enough damage and are too heavy. Heavy Rifles: Heavy rifles pair best with MORE HEAVY RIFLES. Upgrade your mechs with projectile & ballistic speed and you'll have a gauss rifle for half the tonnage. If you fancy a challenge, try to headshot targets outside of your effective range. Higher projectile velocity results in flatter trajectory and seems to improve AI's accuracy. Gauss: Pairs best with Gauss & Large SB Lasers due to minimal projectile drop and similar ranges. Missiles: SSRM: Pairs best with tag & med lasers. It will fire once you have a lock and has a chance to target the most damaged part of the enemy mech. Great against light mechs. SRM & SRM+ART: Pairs best with AC20 & light rifles. SRM4 has a tight enough spread if you need to save weight. SRM-ST: Avoid using these. The damage spread and odd tracking makes it difficult to concentrate damage. LRM & LRM-ST: Pairs best with tag Setting up your lance This is a general guide/layout for your lance. As you progress in the game, you will likely find yourself mixing and matching as needed. Heavy Assault Lance: (48km/h) Purpose: Battlefield/Defence/Assassination Player Mech: Atlas RS, Mauler 2P or Stalker 3F AI Mech 2: King Crab Carapace or Banshee 3S AI Mech 3: Corsair or Banshee 3S AI Mech 4: Stalker 3Fb (Guardian ECM + LRM) Fast Assault Lance: (64km/h) Purpose: Demolition/Raid/Assassination Player Mech: Mauler MX90-S, Banshee 3P AI Mech 2: Battlemaster 1G/3M or Charger 1A5 AI Mech 3: Battlemaster 1G/3M or Charger 1A5 AI Mech 4: Battlemaster 1P (Guardian ECM) Heavy Lance: (64km/h) Purpose: For lower tonnage missions. Player Mech: Archer 2S, Agincourt, Crusader 2R AI Mech 2: Archer 2S, Black Knight 6/6B or Charger 1A5 AI mech 3: Archer 2S, Black Knight 6/6B or Charger 1A5 AI mech 4: Cataphract 0X or Raven 1X/3L (Guardian ECM) Infiltration: Player Mech: Raven 1X/3L w BAP & ECM AI Mech 2: Heaviest possible without exceeding tonnage limits AI Mech 3: Heaviest possible without exceeding tonnage limits AI Mech 4: Preferably ecm capable without exceeding tonnage limits Reason: This is due to some infiltration missions requiring you to break stealth. You'll need your AI lance's firepower to delay enemies while you provide ECM cover to the retreating mech. ECM, how it works & where to buy? All enemy mechs within an allied mech’s ECM range will suffer penalties to accuracy. Similarly, allied mech in the presence of enemy ECM will have a decrease to accuracy. Allied ECM can be toggled to disable enemy ECM. This helps during several missions such as Tikonov & Sarna (Kestrel Lancers) & Bounty Hunter’s mission. By disabling enemy ecm, your lance & allied mechs regain their original accuracy and will be less likely to miss their targets. Another note is the position your ECM enabled mech takes in the field. As Guardian ECM modules are quite difficult to come by, I recommend placing ECM mechs in the 4th lancemate position. This gives you ECM coverage and reduces aggro on the ECM mech as AI in the 4th slot are more passive. Where to buy ECM Modules? Black Market ECM - 5m Radius, provides coverage only for the mech it is equipped to Guardian ECM Best place to “buy” Guardian ECM is Terra. Several ECM capable mechs may spawn in Terra, regardless of your reputation with Comstar. Simply save some distance away from terra and travel there. Check for mechs with Guardian ECM, buy & toss into storage. Q & A Do you use mods? This guide is written with vanilla gameplay in mind but you can follow most of it even if you use YAML, etc. I occasionally use mods when I want a change of pace but wont use them for this guide. Are there mods that keep the vanilla experience but improve quality of life? Sure there are. I'm admittedly not done testing them and might make a section for this in future. No promises though. Why do you seldom mention hero mechs? Hero mechs are very RNG reliant. As much as I would love to have Golden Boy, Slepnir and Skokomish in my roster, there have been play throughs where I complete the campaigns and dont encounter these mechs until year 3060+. Do you use hero mechs? Mostly heros earned as quest rewards. If I'm lucky enough, I will replace my roster with some hero mechs. Eg: Battlemaster 1G replaced by Battlemaster Hellslinger. Why are you over preparing us? To cater to a wider range of players’ capabilities and keep things simple. Hero mechs will spawn if you keep buying them. Stop selling them back to get more Double Heatsinks. I rather have a full, fully functional roster of mechs with DHS than to have 1 good hero mech and 11 overheating mechs. Kintaro 18 has similar firepower to the Archer 2S while weighing less. Why not use the Kintaro? I feel that medium mechs generally dont have enough armour. Having more armour improves overall survival & mission success. You can SKIP medium mechs by buying two archer 2S and have an overall easier time completing missions. Can you share a bit more about your mech builds? There are many guides available. General rule of thumb is to max out armour and deduct from arms/legs/head. Head/cockpit should preferably be maxed out or close to max. Torsos should have most of the armour in front Eg: 5-10 back armour & rest to front. I'm taking alot of damage but the rest of my lance hardly takes a scratch. Why is this happening? Enemy AI is currently coded to take on the enemies that deal the most damage/kills. That often means the player is going to soak most of the damage. Additionally, AI will target more damaged parts of the mech. IMO, its usually better for 1 mech to be down for repairs than all 4 mechs. Why do you put lower tier weapons in the arms? Torso twisting is essential for spreading the damage and minimising loss of parts/equipment. Placing cheap Tier 0~2 weapons in arms gives you the option to sacrifice that arm. Its sometimes better or more efficient to lose an arm. (Eg: If I lose an arm & a few T2 weapons but am able to salvage a Banshee 3S, its well worth it.) Why does your early game focus on Liao? Hazing of the weak offers us a quick path to quickly obtain heavy and assault mechs to give us momentum. Black Knight 6B and stalker 3Fb are essential to our progression in game. Why are you not guiding us as much for step 12 onwards? By this point, you should be mostly self sufficient. DLC 3 to DLC 6 isnt much of a challenge for your ridiculous arsenal of mechs at your disposal. Will you be making a similar guide for MW5 Clans? No. Clans is pretty straightforward and linear compared to Mercs. If you really need help, check the builds and play throughs by TTB or Baradul. When will you be updating this guide for DLC 7 Shadow of Kerensky? Work is in progress. For now its an interim update so that you roughly know what to do.