I wouldn't call a Towed Autocannon all that huge. They couldn't be larger than a howitzer. So they wouldn't take all too entirely long to set them up. Unhitch, load, sight, fire.

Well the new aa guns have more range and damage than the old ones so it is most likely they will end the reign of SS balacs. :)

The problem with eliminating tank-drop is that in the quest to make a few more 'Mechs viable, you are essentially canning any MBT or FST in the game. Behemoths, Schmitts, Marksmen, Mars, JES IIs, all gone. How many tanks is that?

Well, the 3 original Behemoths plus the 4 new ones coming out, plus Dekker, plus 4 Schmitts (including LEs), 3 Marksmen (four if you include LEs), 5 Mars(including LEs), 8 JES IIs (including LEs), and 6 Glory FSTs.

That's 35 tanks (about...I may have forgotten an LE or two in there). Assume about half of those are truly viable in tourneys.

Will nerfing tank drop make 17 'Mechs marginably viable in tourney play?


I've used AA guns to great effect at my venue. Besides, attack VTOLs will smoke the Garrot with no problem.


...in reference to the cannon being described as "huge," I actually just meant the bore of the cannon. I assume they are like 20-30 mm cannon, which tears a standard infantryman to shreds.

In case of SS, SH and merc Balacs, yes. In case of RotS Balac, no. RotS Balac has reactive armor that works against ballistic damage so RotS Blac gets only 2 clicks of damage as it would get against Partisan so its slower to destroy than other Balacs.

I dont know about where you play, but the only things I've ever seen dropped from a transport are the Schmitt, Go-Cho, and the ocassional repair vehicle. That would be 3 units, not 35. I suspect I could make a list of more than 35 mechs that tankdrop can easily cripple, if I were bored enough to do so. Even if it was just 35 for 35, the name of the game is Mechwarrior, not Tankwarrior.

I played in a tournament a couple of weeks ago using the new rules. It was supposed to be a sealed event. I arrived without an army and was pleasantly surprised to learn the event was changed to hth. I had 5 min and only my trade box to make an army.

My army consisted of the SC Thunderbolt and Arbalest. Two good mechs by any standard. None, however, was faster than 8 and totally at the mercy of the maxim/schmidt. The first two players did not have the DF schmidt and I used that to my advantage. The last guy did and he knew how to use it. I never had much of a chance. The combo bumper bot and tankdrop massacred me despite good used of terrain, ect.

Yes, tankdrop can be beat. WE ALL KNOW HOW TO DO IT.

Yes, tankdrop is not getting better. AA will keep the flying drop from being effective offensively. The new Yu ____ mech will keep the old fashioned tankdrop at bay. And the new rules don't favor it either.

Yes, tankdrop does just about eliminate 70-80% of mechs from play. Slow mechs are just too vulnerable.

Yes, tankdrop will continue to see much play. The most common use will be to sling AA units forward then pack 'em for safe keeping.

Yes, tankdrop will continue to cost us players. It is counter-intuitive and infurriates alot of veteran wargamers. It adds nothing to the fun factor of the game (Other than whoppin' the snot out of rookies).

Yes, something should be done about tankdrop. Something other than releasing assault mechs with a 12 movement.

Does no one care that tank-drop exploits a poorly-designed mechanic to allow for consecutive orders without pushing? I mean, that's the whole basis of this game for vehicles and infantry!

As for eliminating vehicles from play, if a player should be able to see tank-drop coming and counter it, I don't see why a player fielding vehicles should be unable to protect them similarly. That's not very consistent...

Also, WK could implement the idea mentioned in another thread that vehicles can fire within their own minimum ranges as an indirect shot. Suddenly a lot of vehicles become a lot more viable. So they're not perfect, but still.

Yes, and guess what?

A Mechwarrior is the little guy piloting the 'Mech.

If you want to play a game with little guys running around a map blasting each other with gyrojet slugs and needlers, go for it.

I'm playing a combined arms games based on the Battletech universe.

I am really tired of seeing that pathetic excuse for an argument
recycled by everyone.

Is anyone complaining that these new 'Mechs themselves make half of the old designs essentially worthless? No.

So it goes. Some people are simply short sighted and narrow minded.

Actually, the 'broken' part of tank drop is the fact that it will get that shot off, no matter what. You cannot sacrifice small units to distract it like you can a mech. The transport will try to break and drop. Admittedly, there's a chance the break will fail, but the classic Maxim tank drop fails a breakaway from a peasant on 1 in 6. A mech based by a peasant cannot attempt any useful action other than squashing the peasant or breaking away, for a chance of 0 in 6.

I am really tired of cheesy players trying to pass this "tactic" off as combined arms.

Tanks should be useful without being carted around the battlefield in a truck. I'd play Tankwarrior anyday. TankDropWarrior is just silly.

I'm with MLOtoole.

The only reason - I repeat, ONLY reason - that people use artillery, charge, VTOL, tankdrop, base-and-break, and every other strategy ever devised for this game, all boils down to one thing.

Hitting the other guy with the least possible return fire.

And it all comes down to this for two reasons:

1) Once a unit takes a hit, its stats degrade. In all but the most expensive units or the smallest of hits, they degrade to the point of effective uselessness.

2) A unit may be given only one order at a time, and (except VTOLs) this may be to move or to shoot, not both. Therefore getting in range of the enemy means that he gets the shot off before you do, effectively meaning you don't get a shot off, period, without one of the above strategies.

These are the fundamental flaws inherent to the design of Mechwarrior. They cannot be removed without completely redesigning the game from the ground up. They can, however, be compensated for, and we have a rules-set that does this quite nicely. It's called Solaris.

You do know that you can just move anything with grapple (infantry) in base with the maxim and click the #### out of it, right?

And anybody who'd let this happen to his tankdrop is obviously not paying attention.

Ahh. That explains a lot.

Unless theyre using new flying tankdrop. Boy, I sure am glad Wizkids gave new options to one of the most detested attack methods in the game.

There are only 4 infantry units with grapple, all of the four units have bad fighting stats for their point cost, they need to be transported to be effective and for the most part any vehicle that is capable of transporting the infantry will not effectively outrange tank drop.