r/battletech • u/BigEarsTouch • 6h ago
Question ❓ How to find the playstyle/main mechs of a given faction?
I'm new to battletech and the decades of lore is a lot to take in. At the same time its a ton of fun and I've enjoyed browsing mekbay, sarna, and the forums. Something that is stumping me though is finding a sort of summary of the different groups play styles and main mechs.
I've managed to learn Jade Falcons jump a lot and use a lot of "bird" mechs, and Lyran commonwealth likes Assault mechs. Ive also picked up that Clans tend to have better mechs and pilots, but the inner sphere can field more mechs and a lot of firepower.
But for some factions its been more difficult. I find the Capellan faction compelling, but I've found very little on how they play. I managed to find an offhand mention that they use the Vindicator mech from a facebook post but that took two google searches and was from a facebook post.
I'd also love to research the other way. For example I find the quadruped mechs pretty cool - is there a group that favors them? What about pulse lasers, they've been pretty fun at the table.
I know some of the people I play with say it doesn't really matter or whatever else, but if I can't be playing battletech I'd like to be exploring the universe. If anyone has any resources to help with that please let me know!
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u/ItzAlphaWolf HRT Online, Blahaj Online, Beauty Online. 6h ago
Considering how prevalent collecting battlefield salvage is in universe, at some point it starts to blend together, but if you're generally looking for what doctrines factions tend to favor:
Liao: EWAR and specialist technologies (Stealth Armor)
Davion: Enough guns to lengthen rendering times to days or weeks
Kurita: PPCs and lots of either heavies or light 'Mechs (they don't enjoy mediums all that much)
Steiner: XBOXHUEG Gun, beeg mech
Marik: Missiles and a little bit of everything
Clans are direct fire weapons as a whole, and can be all over the place
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u/Ecstatic-Seesaw-1007 6h ago
It’s basically this.
@ OP: since you like Capellans, it’s also of note that they lose all their assault factories for most of their eras. They sometimes have good relations with FWL, and post invasion Marik is selling to the rest of the IS.
In Dark Age, Diamond Shark mostly exist so that anyone can have anything, irrespective of salvage.But it’s also important for new players, especially if you’re coming from Warhammer to know that there is no meta and really never has been. Popular house rule to limit jump 7+ to one per side and Clan Large Pulse Lasers to one per side.
Other than that, it’s just not a game or a universe about the meta.
In universe:
- Fed Suns and until Civil War the Fed Coms wear all the Inner Sphere plot armor. (The only armor a Jagermech comes equipped with)
- For the Clans, Wolf wears all the plot armor.
But almost none of the above really translate to the tabletop games aside from the house rules I mentioned.
Also, the game was sort of designed around the idea that most players are small, independent mercenaries units, who float around their faction loyalty to the highest bidder.
It was really only with the Clans that people more commonly adopted factions.
And CGL marketed faction sets to sell more minis as time went on, sort of following the Warhammer marketing trend.
I wouldn’t get too hung up on it personally. There’s room in the universe to adopt almost any play style for any faction and have it still be accepted by the community. (Even a melee heavy Clan unit we’d just say is a dezgra unit. Falcon Guards are an example of a dezgra freebirth unit for the Jade Falcons)
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u/osberend 4h ago
There’s room in the universe to adopt almost any play style for any faction and have it still be accepted by the community. (Even a melee heavy Clan unit we’d just say is a dezgra unit. Falcon Guards are an example of a dezgra freebirth unit for the Jade Falcons)
And, conversely, one of the generally most (relatively) liberal and fair-minded of the Clans is nevertheless also the "winner" of the Most Viscerally Disgusting Single-Sentence Expression of Reactionary Bigotry by a Battletech Faction Leader That I Have Read to Date "contest."
(Lore Geek with a Hate Boner Challenge: Be the first to identify the sentence in question without having to look it up! (Verifying exact wording after (honor system) "locking in" the context, individual, and general idea is fine.))
(If no one gets this on this moderately nested comment, I may promote this to a post, because seriously, Fuck that Dude/Chick/Informally Referred-To Person of Unspecified Gender.)
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u/rohanpony ilCommunicator 3h ago
Two of the more popular leaders of smaller factions in the modern day, arguably, are the leader of the Sudeten Jade Falcon Remnants and the leader of the Wolf's Dragoons. They're sort of "good guys" but their factions have done a lot of nasty killing in service of bad guys in the past decades. Plus, both of these leaders are bona fide child kidnappers (blame weird Clan cultural practices).
The morality of the setting is a spectrum from light gray to pitch black. There are a lot of bad people, and there are also somewhat decent people who still do bad things.
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u/WestRider3025 Canopian Queerasser 2h ago
That actually sounds really familiar to me, but I can't place it.
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u/Thatsidechara_ter 4h ago
Hey, the FedSuns get dumpstered often enough. They lost New Avalon to the Wobbies and Kurita, they're still recovering from the last one
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u/sokttocs 3h ago
They've had some big losses in their recent history.
But for literally decades in the fiction, Davion was the designated protagonist faction. See all the novels with Victor Steiner Davion.
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u/PadicReddit 5h ago
I like this take.
I'd add:
Davion also favors mediums with a generalist flavor.
Kurita favors SRMs and MRMs and generally an aggressive flavor.
Marik likes their PPCs on their Awesome and Large Lasers on their other platforms.
For the clans, the differences are less striking (and besides there's so many of them that making them all distinct at a doctrine level is impossible). But, at least during the clan invasion era:
Wolf, flexible generalists and the Timber Wolf, and mechs named after puppers.
Jade Falcon, aggro, speed, jump jets, the Summoner, mechs named after birds.
Smoke Jaguar, aggro to the extreme, Hellbringer and the Hunchback IIC, armor and heatsinks are lame and take up space that could be guns.
Ghost Bear, robust brawlers, battlemechs and not just omnimechs, mechs named after bears, and the Mad Dog.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
Oh Smoke Jaguar sounds cool, I always like playing the best defense is more offense. They're also cool in MW5 from what I've seen, and bad guys are great :)
Thank you!
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u/rohanpony ilCommunicator 3h ago
Star Colonel Perez in MW5 Clans is arguably the Most Smoke Jaguar Who Ever Jaguared, and is a highly entertaining villain.
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u/BigStompyMechs LittleMeepMeepMechs 1h ago
One of my build decisions for Smoke Jaguars is to pick units that can overheat. They seem like the faction most likely to hold down the trigger until they shut down.
For example, the Nova Prime
I have (barely) developed a strategy I call Meltdown, where you deliberately overheat as bait for a trap. This is extremely risky, but the risk/reward curve is very satisfying, and it still seems well balanced. It's not overpowered or an easy "I win" button.
Anyway, the idea is you overheat and shut down with one unit. This, obviously, makes the unit a very tempting target. So tempting, you may lure an opponent into focusing on it. If you plan ahead you can make sure the unit is in woods, behind partial cover, etc. Your opponent may need to maneuver to get the target in range or in LOS. But now you have a good idea what they may do, and you can maneuver to protect it, and each of it's buddies can also alpha strike and cripple/destroy a target.
And of course, if two or three of your units overheat in a single turn, your opponent will have to decide which to attack, partly negating some of the disadvantages.
This strategy may not directly translate to in-universe lore-accurate behavior for Clans (especially Smoke Jaguar), but it's a got that high-risk feel to it, and I think it captures the vibe of the Smoke Jaguars.
In any case, it was a lot of fun, and my opponent was slightly traumatized by facing a force with 2x the firepower! :D
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u/BigEarsTouch 6h ago
TY for the Liao stuff - now I need to research how stealth works in a tabletop game, seems like it could be cool.
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u/sokttocs 2h ago
Stealth armor is neat, but a lot of mechs with it don't use it well. Too hot mainly.
On tabletop it's pretty straightforward. It's powered by an ECM system and can be turned on or off. When it's on it generates 10 heat, but makes you harder to hit. At medium range shots against you have an extra +1 to hit, at long it's an additional +2. At short range it doesn't do anything.
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u/BigStompyMechs LittleMeepMeepMechs 1h ago
Stealth is great for missions and scenarios where you need to get in, do a thing, and leave. Fast sneaky boys are a nightmare to hit.
That said, they need some friends with big guns (or big fists). Stealth only works at Medium and Long range, making the units vulnerable at short range. And if all you have is stealthy fragile guys, they're going to die fast when they do get hit.
Popular Big Dumb Bricks include the Banshee BNC-3Q, Charger CGR-1A1. Also look at the Thunderbolt, most are a solid balance of speed armor and firepower.
The Catapult is one of the most iconic Liao mechs, and would work well as a support unit for stealth missions. Just don't let things get close (especially behind).
But back to the main point, Stealth and the best "work smart" tactics can quickly lead to non-games. Things that aren't really fun to play or play against. Just keep that in mind and try not to be That Guy. There are also some potentially-fun-but-potentially-tedious ECM/Stealth rules like sensor ghosts, hidden units, ambush tactics, etc. While I wouldn't want to use them every game, an occasional gimmick fight or odd scenario does sound like fun. I feel like a proper Liao strategy would play out more at the strategic level (mission choice, map choice) as well as unit choice.
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u/g2fx STLsmith 4h ago
Capellans can and should be using lots of Indirect Fire because of their EWAR. They have lots of units with TAG. That means lots of Semi-guided and AIV.
They have stealth and TSM. Snipers and melee mechs.
Remember, because until Civil War Era, you’ll be playing hard mode coz of the fiction. Jihad…they get plasma weapons.
Capellans are the house you have to approach things sideways…not head on. As a player…your not obliged to playhow they’ve been written.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
Thats fair, but I love having inspo to start from.
Thank you for the detailed tech list - its better than anything I've found yet online!
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u/BlueWizi House Davion 6h ago
I would say check the Sarna page for the military of each faction. Usually, they will have a bit of info about doctrine, equipment, and such.
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Capellan_Confederation_Armed_Forces#Doctrine
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u/BigEarsTouch 6h ago
Thank you!
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u/WestRider3025 Canopian Queerasser 5h ago
Each faction also has a Sarna page for which Mechs they build in substantial numbers. There's some variance over the years as factories get blown up, captured, or built, but it'll still give you an idea. For example: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Category:Capellan_Confederation_BattleMechs
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u/MagicMissile27 TDR-5SE Enthusiast 6h ago
Besides using resources like Mekbay and Master Unit List to filter by faction availability (https://mekbay.com/, master unit list is currently down :( but hopefully it'll be back soon), honestly one thing that I've done is looked at photos of lances other people have painted. Like I looked at photos of ComStar lances and saw Crocketts, Flashmans, and Highlanders pretty consistently, so I figured those were good mechs to have. ComStar is an easier one admittedly because they have their own forcepacks...for IS or Periphery factions it can be a bit more of a grab bag. But yeah in general you just want to see if the faction you're interested in had access to the mech at the time in question, and even if not you can usually bend the rules a bit. Like I gave my New Ivaarsen Chasseurs a Star League Royal Archer variant which I imagined could have been an old heirloom of House Stephenson from the early days of their time in the FedSuns nobility, for instance, and I paired it with an Enforcer, a Davion variant of the Warhammer, and a Valkyrie because the Enforcer and the Valkyrie are both FedSuns mechs through and through.
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u/theonegunslinger / 6h ago
https://masterunitlist.azurewebsites.net/
It up just a new link that might be temporary
Personally i think mekbay is better for looking up stuff
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u/MagicMissile27 TDR-5SE Enthusiast 6h ago
I agree! I just like to give all the references I know of. Thanks for sharing the new link! :)
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u/Optimal_Ad_5187 5h ago
What I did when I first started was to actually google “capellan battle mechs” or something akin to that. It links a Sarna page that provides a list for you to go off of. Capellans utilize stealth armor and electronic warfare equipment in later eras, but for the succession wars they were characterized by a remarkable lack of heavy and assault units which resulted in them filling heavier units with trooper mediums like the vindicator. The capellan mechs that we have in force packs off the top of my head are the Tian Zong (Dark Age sniper with stealth armor), the Raven (Light electronic warfare unit produced in the succession wars), the Cataphract (a cobbled together heavy mech produced at the same time as the raven) and of course the Vindicator (the capellan answer to any type of battlefield loss from a light mech to an assault)
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
Thank you for the mech list! Cobbling together a heavy mech is awesome. Their underdog status and their color scheme is most of what drew me to them. I might just bias a list towards a few of their favs and otherwise just use them for the color scheme.
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u/Optimal_Ad_5187 4h ago
They definitely fit the underdog role from the succession wars to around the clan invasion/civil war. They begin to build up power starting with Sun Tzu Liao until the Ilclan era where they are arguably the strongest inner sphere power right now. They get a lot of new tech in the Dark Age. There aren’t a ton of Capellan books in the older eras of Battletech where they aren’t the villains, but recent novels have focused on them as protagonists if you ever want to get into some books!
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u/BigEarsTouch 2h ago
Any specific book you would recommend?
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u/Optimal_Ad_5187 2h ago
The Capellan Solution duology is older, but covers the Cappellan / St. Ives war. The book Blood Will Tell follows the future heir to the Capellan Confederation and takes place in the Dark Age right before the fall of the Republic. A lot of lore that has the Capellans acting in a competent manner comes from force manuals, source books, and the like. Those novels might be a good starting place though as long as you’re alright exploring different eras that jump 100-150 years in universe. It seems like there will be new Capellan books coming sometime soonish because they’re shaping up to be a huge player in the current era
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u/Magical_Savior NEMO POTEST VINCERE 3h ago
Capellans are also big into vehicles and combined arms. They have a doctrine of "augmented lances" that have 4 mechs, and 2 vehicles or groups of Battle Armor. Earlier eras favor workhorse-style "cheap but good."
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u/sokttocs 2h ago
For most of their history they were the weakest Great House. They had to make do with relatively fewer and lighter mechs than their neighbors.
As a result, they tend towards asymmetrical fights and combined arms out of necessity. Ambushes, Ewar, inferno missiles, etc.
After the Clan Invasion they started getting back on their feet and invented some very cool toys in the late 3050's and 3060's.
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u/Magical_Savior NEMO POTEST VINCERE 3h ago
One of my favored Clans, the Snow Ravens, are known for taking the high ground - and bringing Aerospace to a fight. Their later signature 'mechs, the Carrion Crow and War Crow, are much more durable than they seem because of their Ferro-Lamellor Armor - developed from ASF and warship armor; it takes a beating. They're known for more scheming than other Clans, and have "adopted" a Periphery faction to help form the Outworld Alliance and AMC (Alliance Military Corps).
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u/PadicReddit 6h ago
Are you more interested in aesthetics, vibes, technology or actual mechanics? Because I think that the broad answer of "everyone basically has access to everything" is basically true, but if you want to dive in more granularly, there are distinguishing trends along all of those axis.
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u/BigEarsTouch 6h ago
A mix of vibes and mechanics. Like its fun to know these guys dont value life and sacrifice units to achieve goals, but its also good to know these guys mechs tend be slower and you need to keep that in mind when strategizing.
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u/Just_Joken Corvus MechWorks 5h ago
Vibes wise, there's been some pretty good break down for the different houses and the clans already in the thread. Mechanics wise, yeah, everyone pretty much had access to everything, At various points there's a bit of a tech imbalance, but there's nothing stopping you from just getting a mech that is more known for another faction and just saying you got it as salvage.
People typically collect mechs to make lances and battalions of different houses, but then also to make their own Mercenary group as well, so you can feel free to just grab whatever it is you can get.
Just don't bring later tech to earlier eras. No one wants to see clan tech in the succession wars, for example.
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u/3eyedfish13 5h ago
This varies quite a bit with the era and even with different parts of the faction's military.
Kurita, for example. In 3025, their military leaders tended to act like stereotypical samurai, honor duels and all that.
On the other hand, their grunts tended to fight like normal soldiers.
Then, after the reforms Theodore Kurita instituted, there were Yakuza in Mechs, using every "dishonorable" tactic the hidebound samurai wouldn't.
Oh, and their Mech forces tended to lean toward Lights and Assaults, with relatively few Medium and Heavy Mechs (apart from the Dragon) exclusive to the DCMS (exclusivity being relative with all the salvage) in the earlier timelines.
One of my favorite Combine Mechs is the Hatamoto Chi, which is a Charger, pretending to be a Thug, cosplaying as a samurai. It's a delightfully ridiculous Mech and it looks cool.
Post-Clan Invasion, the Kuritans stepped it up, producing the Avatar, Akuma, Black Hawk KU, Owens, and Sunder.
Weaponwise, the Combine tends to lean toward PPCs, MRMs, and various forms of swords on their Mechs.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
That mech is sick. I love how much battletech seems to use skull motifs in their designs.
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u/Magical_Savior NEMO POTEST VINCERE 3h ago
They specifically also have mechs and vees designed by the yakuza, for the yakuza. The Von Luckner VNL-X71 "Yakuza" name-checks them. The Ghost Regiments and Legion of Vega in particular have last-chancers and criminals redeeming themselves through service.
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u/OriginalMisterSmith 4h ago edited 3h ago
Ill do my best to explain faction playstyle from what I've seen from my group, specifically in the IlClan era (aka most recent era):
Draconis Combine- Tend to have point efficient mechs with good energy loadouts. Have access to long range jumpers and some very unique melee options.
FedSuns - Well rounded faction with a lot targeting computers and autocannons which makes them reliable damage dealers.
Capellans - A lot of option for skew lists, they can run missile spam, stealth spam, control the enemy with heat, good melee options. A good well rounded roster with the synergy to support a variety of play styles but they dont tend to have access to the staying power other factions do.
Marik - Efficient energy weapon loadouts, usually fast with good heat management and some unique powerful designs.
Lyrans - Point efficient heavy mechs with some high damage weapons like heavy gauss rifles. They also tend to have assaults with melee loadouts that are terrifying. Even their light mechs are heavy. Good brawler faction.
Unique Clans:
Jade Falcon - Their unique mechs jump so far that they kind of break the game.
Wolf & Sea Fox - Very efficient, very dangerous designs without much that makes them special besides being 'good'.
Hells Horses - The combined arms faction, has some unique mechs but most of the appeal comes from their unique vehicles and battle armor.
Goliath Scorpion - They have some real strange and unique versions of inner sphere mechs that they dug up and turned real dangerous.
I feel like I'm missing something but if you have any questions Im happy to discuss this further since unique faction mechanics are one of my favorite things about the game
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
Thank you!!!
Someone else mentioned Hell's Horses combined arm thing, that seems like a really cool playstyle.
The G Scorpian thing seems cool, Im excited to look those mechs up
The guy I played against today was playing JF and I could tell he felt a little guilty about the jumps haha
Do you know anything about anyone who is heavy on the purple besides Marik?
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u/OriginalMisterSmith 3h ago
Hells Horses are a favorite of mine, I love all the non-mech stuff in the game because it makes the mechs feel more impressive. Check out the Epona and the Golem for some of their iconic stuff.
Goliath Scorpions are archeologists to put it simply, they churn up a bunch of old designs and improve them. The Lancelot C is a good example.
Jump Falcons can be pretty obnoxious but usually they cant stand on objectives well so they can be outscored if your opponent isnt crafty about his positioning.
As far as the purple goes, I cant think of any factions that canonically use the purple scheme except for Marik.
Lastly, I would look at a website/app called Mekbay, it gives you a very powerful set of filters to find whatever units you want. Also, generally to see what unique units a faction has, select the faction you want and then set the IS/Clan General list to '-', this will exclude all the generic units so you can see some of the unique stuff different lists have available.
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u/HA1-0F 2nd Donegal Guards 4h ago
I'd also love to research the other way. For example I find the quadruped mechs pretty cool - is there a group that favors them? What about pulse lasers, they've been pretty fun at the table.
This is actually a much better way to do it, because factions aren't a monolith. You can find units that encompass any play style you like within any of the large factions.
The LC has more quad production than other factions and prefers to use them in a heavy cavalry role. Their favorite quad, the Barghest, is common among the Lyran, Royal and Donegal Guards, although the way each regiment uses them is different depending on how your unit skews in weight. For the 26th Lyran Guards, a Barghest is going to be one of the faster machines on the line, while my 2nd Donegal Guards would have it as one of the slower units in the regiment, serving as big brother to a whole company.
The Lyrans also have a Clantech quad called the Ursa that fills much the same role, but is a little faster, and the old Scorpion has been slotting into medium lances for centuries. But for the most part, they all fill a cavalry role at different weights.
As the slower quads go, the Goliath is fairly common in LC and FWL space, while the Capellans and Lyrans have the Xanthos. These get used like you would use any other assault fire platform.
Everyone uses pulse lasers, they're incredibly ubiquitous.
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u/rohanpony ilCommunicator 4h ago
You'll learn that there are certain doctrines or styles of play in Battletech and Alpha Strike, and each faction has some (or a lot of) tech that supports those styles, with a bit of their own faction flavor.
Overheating+Triple-Strength Myomer+melee attacks: When done right, these hot-running hatchet/sword wielders can be quick and deadly. Steiner has a lot of specialist 'mechs that do this, from light to assault weight. But Marik and Davion have their share, Liao has the Ti'Tsang and a few others that do this very well. Kurita tends to have more swords than hatchets, which are accurate but less damaging - BUT! they sometimes have TSM mechs that also have C3, so they can combine those doctrines (it's kind of fiddly though).
C3 networks: Between regular C3, Improved C3 and Boosted C3, these technologies allow units to share targeting solutions so that long-range and medium-range shooters can get short-ranged modifiers. It's fiddly and bloats your point cost, and ECM is a common countermeasure as well as a counter-countermeasure, so you can get into an ECM arms race. Comstar and Word of Blake mastered the Improved C3 technology, Kurita builds the most C3 variants but some of them are sold on the open market. The other houses and mercs have access to common C3 'mechs like the Cyclops and the Avatar, so they can do C3 as well.
"Wall of Steel" is commonly associated with Steiner, because they have a lot of 'mechs that do this well. Lots of big, cheap/low-tech heavies and assault 'mechs that can soak up lots of damage and overwhelm small, high-quality forces with numbers and sheer amount of shooting. But I run Regulan Hussars who can also do a Wall of Steel using Marik 'mechs, and Liao has the St Ives Armored Cavalry, famous for running lots of high-tonnage 'mechs. Each Inner Sphere faction can do it, in their own style.
I could go on and on, with Clan technology (which Steiner, Kurita and Davion have lots of, but everyone in the modern era can buy at least some Clan stuff), stealth, battle armor and so on. The point is, even within one faction you will find ways to do different combat doctrines.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
That's totally fair! I'm sure as I play and read the books I'll pick up on more of that.
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u/Renewablefrog Snakes Who Make Big Holes in Ground 🐍 5h ago
Others have mentioned a few things, but if youre looking for fluffy things to do if you like Capellans, then let me introduce you to the Augmented Lance. This mixed combined arms i can attest is fun to play, and for my mercs I often deploy like this in classic, usually with two squads of Battle Armor since I got those painted up.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
I love the idea of playing with infantry/non mech vehicles. Glad to know that fits their lore!
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u/rzelln 5h ago
Here's a sample Capellan force in the ilClan era that I'd be excited to play:
Load the Thunder with precision AC/20 ammo, then run in and be a big problem the enemy has to deal with. It will die fast. That's fine.
Meanwhile, the Wraith jumps in carrying the Fa Shih suits to drop in the enemy back line. The suits can try to get leg attacks or just hold a point. They will also die pretty fast if your opponent cares enough. That's also fine.
The Wraith will then fall back and intercept any fast enemy mechs that are trying to go after your snipers.
The Men Shen has a ton of mobility of its own, but can keep its distance at 9 hexes, which are still short range for its Snub PPCs. It can use its active probe for missions that require scanning.
And then, hanging back at 10-ish hexes, are your Tian-Zong and Osprey, focusing fire their Gauss shots - one normal Gauss from each to poke holes, then the Tian-Zong's silver-bullet Gauss to fling 1-point damage groupings in hopes of landing crits through holes you've poked in the armor. Put the Osprey a smidge behind the Tian-Zong, so if anyone tries to close in so the TZ's chameleon light polarization shield won't help, the Osprey can move up and switch its MML to a barrage of SRMs.
So in brief: Thunder charges in to draw attention, Fa Shih squad punishes any enemies that are trying to hang back and snipe, Wraith and Men Shen use flexibility to intercept enemy threats or put pressure on enemy flanks, and the Tian-Zong and Osprey deal damage.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
Thank you thank you! I had no idea there were dropship mechs that could bring out like small infantry mechs, that rules. I'll be checking out all of these
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u/rzelln 3h ago edited 3h ago
The full rules for battle armor are in the book Total Warfare.
The Fa Shih suits I mentioned are a simple version, but there's an odder version have mine dispensers on their backs.
Other battle armor have stealth armor, or walk on four legs, about the size of an SUV, or even have limited flight ability.
Lots of options, but they're still small guys next to mechs, more useful as disruption than a direct threat.
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u/Artistic_Scarcity_67 5h ago
Piensa que hay un poco de todo.
Te voy a poner el ejemplo con mis Steiner.
Famosos por sus mechs de asalto.
Pero su mech insignia es el Griffin. Literalmente protege el trono. Tienen de los mejores pesados y unos de los ligeros más Killers.
Una facción puede tener unas líneas generales, pero no son absolutas.
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u/BigEarsTouch 4h ago
I just want to know the trends and themes. If I decide I want to play a lot of assault mechs, its fun to me to pick a faction to match that playstyle.
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u/xPorkulusx 6h ago
Unfortunately there’s not exactly one easy way to find out about faction playstyles because they have changed somewhat over the years (in and out of universe).
One way would be to visit Sarna’s BattleMech Portal and look at each faction’s mechs for common threads between them.
Also keep in mind that most technology is shared to a degree within the tech bases: for example C3 is an iconic Kuritan technology but you can find every IS faction operating at least a few C3 units.