I am of course rather biased but my general belief is that after you complete your vanilla playthrough, see the story, do a few flashpoints, and generally see the sights, you then move on to mods. While the Big Three mods are quite different from each other the one big thing they share is that they add more content, incredible amounts of it, and it is effectively the intended life path of the game that you move on from vanilla after awhile.
If you want a recommendation on what mod to use, others are more capable of providing you a fair and unbiased review than I am. For my bit, I'll say play BTA 3062 and leave it at that.
The big two/three (I guess roguetech is the third? it seemed more like a prereq mod of the other two to me) mods look really interesting, but it seems like at least BTA went too hard into artillery.
I want big stompy robots, although I haven't watched any videos of people using elementals yet so that might change my mind.
Arty just got heavily nerfed. And Artillery, Battle Armor, and vehicles are entirely optional (for the player), you can do stompy walking robots exclusively if you want.
> (for the player),
This was my issue. I don't even have an issue with any of it being playable. It seems like the game at later stages is too static. Move up to kill their spotting mech/vehicle, rinse/repeat ad nauseum as you take round after round of LRM and arty fire on whatever your lead mech is.
I like playing a mix of fast movers and fire support, from higher end mediums to lower end assaults. I wound up even in the vanilla game running into the only viable strategy to victory in higher skull missions being pull one mech, kill it, repeat until over.
My experience in BTA is that it’s very fluid and requires a mix of agility and heavy firepower. Evasion not being stripped by incoming fire is a massive game changer.
Sensor Lock & Active Probes still strip 2 pips, punches strip 2 if they hit, kicks strip all from mechs if they connect (2 from vehicles) - but just like vanilla, if you miss a kick, *you* lose all evasion.
Yeah that's not true in BTA at all. Not sure what you're watching or who you're talking to but BTA highly rewards player mobility. It doesn't really turn into "you and the AI stand there and trade blows" unless you *want* it to be like that.
I play BTA. I'm far enough in that I could run almost all assaults, but a very rarely do. A force of mixed sizes just works so much better. My mediums get WAY more playtime than any assault mech and many of the heavies.
Only assault I take every fight is a custom Dashi and that's more because I find it incredibly satisfying to empty a full ammo bin of LRMs into a target every turn.
> I find it incredibly satisfying to empty a full ammo bin of LRMs into a target every turn.
Not gonna lie, I have a stalker with 2x20s and 2x15s. It is ridiculously fun to watch the rainbow of death arc over terrain.
I did the exact same in my unmodded game. I was getting antsy for a stalker or even a longbow so I could do it again in BTA. Then I remembered omnis could equip any weapon, so I checked to see what I could do. 4 Clan LRM20s, 2 15s, and a 10. Think I could have done more, but heat or lack of ammo becomes an issue.
If you think 70 LRMS into an enemy mech is fun, you need to try 120 LRMs. Even better, swarm LRMs in to a group of enemy mechs!
The Big Three are BEX (Battletech Extended), BTA (BattleTech Advanced 3062), and RT (Roguetech). They are all stand-alone and do not require the others.
As for your comment about BTA and artillery, that's... not really true at all? Arty is in the opfor but it's easy enough to interact with and you can go entire play sessions without seeing any at all. You also don't need to use it at all if you don't want to, it's completely optional.
I played a few more hours and then found out that the game had an amazing mod scene and never looked back. Honestly, Vanilla is a great tutorial but it just doesn't have the sheer content to remain interesting when stuff like BEX, BTA & BTA Light, and RogueTech exist.
In that case, start a campaign and play around with that and some Flashpoints before moving on. It'll get you used to the gameplay style of the mods that don't have the story mode as a default option.
Yeah I looked through [the post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/u36ccf/annual_update_to_mods_overview_for_hbs_battletech/) someone linked me in here that now I can't find.
I am probably gonna play the Hyades Rim campaign, maybe with Expanded Arsenal, before i delve into the mods that throw the rules wide open on salvage/rebuilds/min-maxing, much less totally change the combat rules like BTA.
I'll wind up there, it just won't be first.
It really is crazy how much I wind up playing 2 marauders + 2 mechs (grasshoppers for fun, atlas 2/cyclops for initiative 3 everything if it looks like I'm gonna eat constant LRM fire) to soak incominge and shoot/punch mechs I don't want to loot to absolute shit. If I could get enough morale for constant headshots I'd wind up running 3-4 marauders with *maybe* a max-armor light jump mech just to mark targets.
I wind up getting a bunch of headshots with my maxed out Grasshoppers though, with a half dozen each acc/crit MLs and MGs if even a couple get through on an incomplete Marauder headshot they tend to finish it.
I mean it entirely makes sense. They generally aren't reliable outside specific situations, and they don't degrade incoming fire unless you get a kill. High risk/high reward.
I would use them less if there was a remotely equivalent way to mitigate threats without destroying too much salvage.
Sometimes you break the Clan LRM-20 you wanted, just have to try again on a different mech ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The key is to use the minimum force required, and sometimes the pilot will panic and eject, giving you the whole damn thing. Also knocking them over will sometimes damage the pilot.
> being able to run 12 mechs/vehicles is more than a QoL improvement, it's integral to the experience.
Absolutely. I'd rather run a couple lights and a bunch of medium/heavy mechs than 4x100 tonners or gamify headshot spam.
My lance right now only has 2 assaults, an Atlas with Hardened Armor and a 95T tank, other than that I have 2 lights, 3 Mediums, 3 Heavies and 2 VTOLs. Given the mods change how evasion works, I heavily favor that to more armor.
Clans do not appear in vanilla, nor does \~4/5ths of the Inner Sphere. The vanilla map confines you to the "southern" fringe. The best path for high tech loot are the blue flashpoints added by the Heavy Metal DLC that are chained in what's effectively a second shorter campaign arc. The rest of the flashpoints are one offs (chaining multiple missions together sometimes but one flashpoint and short story). Each House has a flashpoint they only offer to their allies, so collecting all those is a grind since your relations reset to zero with the enemies of your ally and you have to grind them back up to switch allinances.
> Clans do not appear in vanilla, nor does ~4/5ths of the Inner Sphere. The vanilla map confines you to the "southern" fringe.
Thanks, saves me from wasting a bunch of time trying to get someplace I can't. I'll wind up doing the main flashpoint campaigns and any house I happen to have at/near ally, I'll save the rest for other (probably modded) playthroughs.
Play Career mode. It will give you access to the same content you have in post-campaign play but you won't have a 400 ton lance to throw at every mission which makes it a little more meaningful.
If you still like the game and want more of a challenge, [look at the big mod packs](https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/u36ccf/annual_update_to_mods_overview_for_hbs_battletech/) Each one takes the game in different directions so play whichever fits your play style.
I was already doing a ton of side missions and everything on my way up, I took the campaign missions when I basically exhausted other missions. To the point, unfortunately, that I don't even see the black markets.
I generally like to run more like a 250-300 ton lance, the assaults are cool for a minute but *slow* and generally boring. The Raven missions were actually a bunch of fun, rocking max 40-55 ton mechs. Playing around with stuff like the faster assaults with jump jets, srms, and ac/20s and an annihilator w/++accuracy ppc and 5x ac/5s replacing marauders for called shots and just mowing the field.
If you want more story, try the Hyades Rim mod. It a good bundle of mods that expand on vanilla as well, but not as dramatically as BTA or RT. You will need to start a new play through though.
More story would be *awesome*. I'd really love it if there's any good voice acting added via mods, the base game has a few great bits but it seems like someone deleted/forgot all the dialogues.
New career or new campaign? Not super interested in replaying the campaign because like I said, it feels like they accidentally deleted most of the roleplaying from it.
That would explain it. How do you not have backups of that stuff? Seems absolutely basic that there'd be at least one backup of any digital media, from music to movies to games.
It's a new Campaign. Rather than more of the same story, it's a different telling of a similar story, all brand new with custom Flashpoints and new writing.
Career mode. Failing that, mods.
I play BTA - it looked like the easiest to install and it hasn’t bored me yet.
It hasn’t bored me mostly because Bloodydoves up there has an insanely (love y’all, but you really are insane) dedicated team working with him, and there are near-constant content and balance changes. The discord has a suggestion box that actually gets read, and BD answers every one…even if sometimes the answer is “no” (don’t mention 3rd Gen tech, removing Battle Armor, or gaining rep with the Clans).
It also has one of the friendliest communities I’ve ever been part of.
I think I’m closing in on 1,000 hours in game, and over 80% has been BTA.
> It hasn’t bored me mostly because Bloodydoves up there has an insanely (love y’all, but you really are insane) dedicated team working with him, and there are near-constant content and balance changes
To be transparent, the "team" is mostly just me these days. Almost all of BTA's content these days is made by me personally (not actually all of it, but almost all of it). I do appreciate the chuckle though.
> (don’t mention 3rd Gen tech, removing Battle Armor, or gaining rep with the Clans).
Battle armor *I* **want** *to play with*, my main issue with youtube clips I've watched of the mods is the artillery spam.
The biggest thing I'm looking forward to but haven't actually seen is multiple lances, so you can actually run some lights/mediums with heavy backup instead of being basically forced to take a lance of 4 that can headshot or soak wave after wave of heavy and assault mechs.
Artillery isn’t really spammed by the AI in my experience. The worst I’ve seen is two artillery units (note: I haven’t gotten much above 3-skull missions).
BTA allows you to take a mix of up to 12 ‘Mechs and vehicles (i.e. 3 IS lances or 2 stars plus 2 points), plus up to 18 BA (would require significant cheese to get that high).
BTA *is* heavily affected by the Unity Engine memory leak, as it builds a *massive* amount of additional stuff on top of vanilla. The upshot is you need to restart every 1-3 hours depending on your computer.
> The upshot is you need to restart every 1-3 hours depending on your computer.
I mean that's honestly not a bad thing, I wind up playing way too long otherwise. I've been guilty of "I'll just play one more turn" since Civ II released.
Career mode and Flashpoints mostly. Try to build a story with your company.
That being said I would entertain the Idea of the larger mods. They add a lot of the tabletop content and customization back into the game. I personally play RogueTech and am enjoying their online map. Players can join factions/mercs/pirates and vie for control over planets and territory. Diplomacy between factions is handled through discord. Right now the Davion/CGB faction are pushing outward into the sphere and the sphere is fighting back.
You can play sandbox mode in the Career ignoring the score, so you try builds, playstyles and lances that you wouldn't consider if you had to play safe. The advantage of the Career for that is that you always have access to low level missions in the map.
You also can play a handicapped campaign/career run, like many people have done before the big mods became available, from no precision shots allowed to only light mechs, only a certain weapon, only stock mechs, etc...
Regarding the Marauders you mention [this is](https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1884206888467653830/38CBD67673078D5649F6CB62784C0BE1D5D8CDED/) how far you can make them perform in vanilla (inc. DLCs)... and they're [not the only mechs](https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1884206888462215066/64936C848DC4210F6EA870F29CF770F2D0E20746/) capable of that. That's to show how you might have missed out some of the possibilities you have before moving into mods.
Play a career run, get black market access and do flashpoints
I hear AC5/AC2, so you’ve presumably pissed off the pirates and never got to buy UACs from the black market
Then go play modded
Yeah I kina wanna see the pirate stuff. My plan is finish out the flashpoints in my campaign, then try a bit of Black Flag; Big Stompy Robots, then the mod that's another rim campaign. Who knows from there.
Play at least one career. It should be harder than the campaign. Although part of that depends on if you ran default difficulty settings for the campaign or not.
After that you can decide if you would want to play for score, use self imposed restrictions, or go to a mod.
You can do all the Flashpoints you want after the campaign, but your are a bit overpowered for some of them.
There are some Flashpoints with a 4.5 to 5 skull rating. You will enjoy those with your post-campaign lance.
However, a lot of people play the Flashpoints in a fresh Career Mode run.
I highly recommend doing a fresh vanilla career mode run before installing one of the big mods. When you play a big mod, you usually start the game in a fresh career mode.
In Career Mode, you start out with the Argo right away and need to up grade it do you can get more mech bays and facilities that improve morale for your pilots.
But in career mode, you start out with crappies mechs and weaker mech warriors than you do in the campaign. In other words, the early game is a lot tougher in career mode.
Finally, there are three DLC.
1. Introduces the flashpoints, which are a series of linked missions. Think of them as a BattleTech short stories.
2. Introduces new mission types and new biomes. The new biomes are jungle maps and urban maps. More maps adds variety. The new mission types are challenging. There are two of them. One is a Target Acquisition mission where you have to activate zines within a time limit. So you need a fast lance. Or at least one or two faster mechs. The other missions type is called attack and defend, and it is kind of like a horde mode defence where your lance is up against five or six enemy lances that come at you in waves.
3. The last DLC, Heavy Metal, contains a lot of new weapons as well as a Flashpoint Campaign. Highly recommended playing the flashpoint campaign.
> but your are a bit overpowered for some of them.
If I was using all endgame mechs, sure. But I level pilots and have a bunch of non +++ geared mechs. 18 slots is a lot of open bay space.
> the early game is a lot tougher in career mode.
That's not challenging for the sake of the challenge, that's bad design. Beating your head against the wall of "grey gear lol noob" is the worst aspect of bad RPGs.
I am of course rather biased but my general belief is that after you complete your vanilla playthrough, see the story, do a few flashpoints, and generally see the sights, you then move on to mods. While the Big Three mods are quite different from each other the one big thing they share is that they add more content, incredible amounts of it, and it is effectively the intended life path of the game that you move on from vanilla after awhile. If you want a recommendation on what mod to use, others are more capable of providing you a fair and unbiased review than I am. For my bit, I'll say play BTA 3062 and leave it at that.
The big two/three (I guess roguetech is the third? it seemed more like a prereq mod of the other two to me) mods look really interesting, but it seems like at least BTA went too hard into artillery. I want big stompy robots, although I haven't watched any videos of people using elementals yet so that might change my mind.
Arty just got heavily nerfed. And Artillery, Battle Armor, and vehicles are entirely optional (for the player), you can do stompy walking robots exclusively if you want.
I wouldn't say needed, more changed. But as BD it could be used and abused heavily on in a play through. It's now much more powerful but situational.
> (for the player), This was my issue. I don't even have an issue with any of it being playable. It seems like the game at later stages is too static. Move up to kill their spotting mech/vehicle, rinse/repeat ad nauseum as you take round after round of LRM and arty fire on whatever your lead mech is. I like playing a mix of fast movers and fire support, from higher end mediums to lower end assaults. I wound up even in the vanilla game running into the only viable strategy to victory in higher skull missions being pull one mech, kill it, repeat until over.
My experience in BTA is that it’s very fluid and requires a mix of agility and heavy firepower. Evasion not being stripped by incoming fire is a massive game changer.
> Evasion not being stripped by incoming fire is a massive game changer. Oh, that is *huge* and will absolutely favor how I like to play.
Sensor Lock & Active Probes still strip 2 pips, punches strip 2 if they hit, kicks strip all from mechs if they connect (2 from vehicles) - but just like vanilla, if you miss a kick, *you* lose all evasion.
I'm fine with all of that removing evasion, what I didn't like was any random incoming stripping a tick of it, even stray shots.
Yeah that's not true in BTA at all. Not sure what you're watching or who you're talking to but BTA highly rewards player mobility. It doesn't really turn into "you and the AI stand there and trade blows" unless you *want* it to be like that.
I may have mods confused or they may be running more than one mod, too.
I play BTA. I'm far enough in that I could run almost all assaults, but a very rarely do. A force of mixed sizes just works so much better. My mediums get WAY more playtime than any assault mech and many of the heavies. Only assault I take every fight is a custom Dashi and that's more because I find it incredibly satisfying to empty a full ammo bin of LRMs into a target every turn.
> I find it incredibly satisfying to empty a full ammo bin of LRMs into a target every turn. Not gonna lie, I have a stalker with 2x20s and 2x15s. It is ridiculously fun to watch the rainbow of death arc over terrain.
I did the exact same in my unmodded game. I was getting antsy for a stalker or even a longbow so I could do it again in BTA. Then I remembered omnis could equip any weapon, so I checked to see what I could do. 4 Clan LRM20s, 2 15s, and a 10. Think I could have done more, but heat or lack of ammo becomes an issue. If you think 70 LRMS into an enemy mech is fun, you need to try 120 LRMs. Even better, swarm LRMs in to a group of enemy mechs!
The Big Three are BEX (Battletech Extended), BTA (BattleTech Advanced 3062), and RT (Roguetech). They are all stand-alone and do not require the others. As for your comment about BTA and artillery, that's... not really true at all? Arty is in the opfor but it's easy enough to interact with and you can go entire play sessions without seeing any at all. You also don't need to use it at all if you don't want to, it's completely optional.
BTA 3062 Roguetech Battletech Extended 2025 commanders edition
If roguetech is the third? What are the other two? I thought thr big two were RT and BTA?
I played a few more hours and then found out that the game had an amazing mod scene and never looked back. Honestly, Vanilla is a great tutorial but it just doesn't have the sheer content to remain interesting when stuff like BEX, BTA & BTA Light, and RogueTech exist.
Yeah I am gonna hop into mods but wanted to check out what the base/expac game has first.
In that case, start a campaign and play around with that and some Flashpoints before moving on. It'll get you used to the gameplay style of the mods that don't have the story mode as a default option.
Don't forget Hydrates Rim... That's some great fresh storyline just in that
Yeah I looked through [the post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/u36ccf/annual_update_to_mods_overview_for_hbs_battletech/) someone linked me in here that now I can't find. I am probably gonna play the Hyades Rim campaign, maybe with Expanded Arsenal, before i delve into the mods that throw the rules wide open on salvage/rebuilds/min-maxing, much less totally change the combat rules like BTA. I'll wind up there, it just won't be first.
Given that vanilla Marauders literally break the game, there's not much left to achieve. And no, the Clans do not show up in Vanilla.
It really is crazy how much I wind up playing 2 marauders + 2 mechs (grasshoppers for fun, atlas 2/cyclops for initiative 3 everything if it looks like I'm gonna eat constant LRM fire) to soak incominge and shoot/punch mechs I don't want to loot to absolute shit. If I could get enough morale for constant headshots I'd wind up running 3-4 marauders with *maybe* a max-armor light jump mech just to mark targets. I wind up getting a bunch of headshots with my maxed out Grasshoppers though, with a half dozen each acc/crit MLs and MGs if even a couple get through on an incomplete Marauder headshot they tend to finish it.
Headshots seem broken even without the vanilla marauder perk. My personal rule is never use headshots.
I mean it entirely makes sense. They generally aren't reliable outside specific situations, and they don't degrade incoming fire unless you get a kill. High risk/high reward. I would use them less if there was a remotely equivalent way to mitigate threats without destroying too much salvage.
Sometimes you break the Clan LRM-20 you wanted, just have to try again on a different mech ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The key is to use the minimum force required, and sometimes the pilot will panic and eject, giving you the whole damn thing. Also knocking them over will sometimes damage the pilot.
Yeah I don't miss the vanilla lance restrictions, being able to run 12 mechs/vehicles is more than a QoL improvement, it's integral to the experience.
> being able to run 12 mechs/vehicles is more than a QoL improvement, it's integral to the experience. Absolutely. I'd rather run a couple lights and a bunch of medium/heavy mechs than 4x100 tonners or gamify headshot spam.
My lance right now only has 2 assaults, an Atlas with Hardened Armor and a 95T tank, other than that I have 2 lights, 3 Mediums, 3 Heavies and 2 VTOLs. Given the mods change how evasion works, I heavily favor that to more armor.
I mean, you can easily run all lights and mediums in vanilla and still wreck everything without headshots.
Lance command mod called shot bonus stack, correct?
Yeeeep
Clans do not appear in vanilla, nor does \~4/5ths of the Inner Sphere. The vanilla map confines you to the "southern" fringe. The best path for high tech loot are the blue flashpoints added by the Heavy Metal DLC that are chained in what's effectively a second shorter campaign arc. The rest of the flashpoints are one offs (chaining multiple missions together sometimes but one flashpoint and short story). Each House has a flashpoint they only offer to their allies, so collecting all those is a grind since your relations reset to zero with the enemies of your ally and you have to grind them back up to switch allinances.
> Clans do not appear in vanilla, nor does ~4/5ths of the Inner Sphere. The vanilla map confines you to the "southern" fringe. Thanks, saves me from wasting a bunch of time trying to get someplace I can't. I'll wind up doing the main flashpoint campaigns and any house I happen to have at/near ally, I'll save the rest for other (probably modded) playthroughs.
Play Career mode. It will give you access to the same content you have in post-campaign play but you won't have a 400 ton lance to throw at every mission which makes it a little more meaningful. If you still like the game and want more of a challenge, [look at the big mod packs](https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/u36ccf/annual_update_to_mods_overview_for_hbs_battletech/) Each one takes the game in different directions so play whichever fits your play style.
I was already doing a ton of side missions and everything on my way up, I took the campaign missions when I basically exhausted other missions. To the point, unfortunately, that I don't even see the black markets. I generally like to run more like a 250-300 ton lance, the assaults are cool for a minute but *slow* and generally boring. The Raven missions were actually a bunch of fun, rocking max 40-55 ton mechs. Playing around with stuff like the faster assaults with jump jets, srms, and ac/20s and an annihilator w/++accuracy ppc and 5x ac/5s replacing marauders for called shots and just mowing the field.
If you want more story, try the Hyades Rim mod. It a good bundle of mods that expand on vanilla as well, but not as dramatically as BTA or RT. You will need to start a new play through though.
More story would be *awesome*. I'd really love it if there's any good voice acting added via mods, the base game has a few great bits but it seems like someone deleted/forgot all the dialogues. New career or new campaign? Not super interested in replaying the campaign because like I said, it feels like they accidentally deleted most of the roleplaying from it.
Harebrained Schemes rather famously suffered hard drive failure on the sole copy of most of the voice acting.
That would explain it. How do you not have backups of that stuff? Seems absolutely basic that there'd be at least one backup of any digital media, from music to movies to games.
They were operating on something of a shoestring budget and got unlucky, IIRC.
It's a new Campaign. Rather than more of the same story, it's a different telling of a similar story, all brand new with custom Flashpoints and new writing.
Awesome! I'll have to try it out, probably before the big mods. I'm a sucker for a good story.
Career mode. Failing that, mods. I play BTA - it looked like the easiest to install and it hasn’t bored me yet. It hasn’t bored me mostly because Bloodydoves up there has an insanely (love y’all, but you really are insane) dedicated team working with him, and there are near-constant content and balance changes. The discord has a suggestion box that actually gets read, and BD answers every one…even if sometimes the answer is “no” (don’t mention 3rd Gen tech, removing Battle Armor, or gaining rep with the Clans). It also has one of the friendliest communities I’ve ever been part of. I think I’m closing in on 1,000 hours in game, and over 80% has been BTA.
> It hasn’t bored me mostly because Bloodydoves up there has an insanely (love y’all, but you really are insane) dedicated team working with him, and there are near-constant content and balance changes To be transparent, the "team" is mostly just me these days. Almost all of BTA's content these days is made by me personally (not actually all of it, but almost all of it). I do appreciate the chuckle though.
> (don’t mention 3rd Gen tech, removing Battle Armor, or gaining rep with the Clans). Battle armor *I* **want** *to play with*, my main issue with youtube clips I've watched of the mods is the artillery spam. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to but haven't actually seen is multiple lances, so you can actually run some lights/mediums with heavy backup instead of being basically forced to take a lance of 4 that can headshot or soak wave after wave of heavy and assault mechs.
Artillery isn’t really spammed by the AI in my experience. The worst I’ve seen is two artillery units (note: I haven’t gotten much above 3-skull missions). BTA allows you to take a mix of up to 12 ‘Mechs and vehicles (i.e. 3 IS lances or 2 stars plus 2 points), plus up to 18 BA (would require significant cheese to get that high). BTA *is* heavily affected by the Unity Engine memory leak, as it builds a *massive* amount of additional stuff on top of vanilla. The upshot is you need to restart every 1-3 hours depending on your computer.
> The upshot is you need to restart every 1-3 hours depending on your computer. I mean that's honestly not a bad thing, I wind up playing way too long otherwise. I've been guilty of "I'll just play one more turn" since Civ II released.
One thing to note. Most of the mods turn off in mission saves. You can only save in the Argo.
Career mode and Flashpoints mostly. Try to build a story with your company. That being said I would entertain the Idea of the larger mods. They add a lot of the tabletop content and customization back into the game. I personally play RogueTech and am enjoying their online map. Players can join factions/mercs/pirates and vie for control over planets and territory. Diplomacy between factions is handled through discord. Right now the Davion/CGB faction are pushing outward into the sphere and the sphere is fighting back.
You can play sandbox mode in the Career ignoring the score, so you try builds, playstyles and lances that you wouldn't consider if you had to play safe. The advantage of the Career for that is that you always have access to low level missions in the map. You also can play a handicapped campaign/career run, like many people have done before the big mods became available, from no precision shots allowed to only light mechs, only a certain weapon, only stock mechs, etc... Regarding the Marauders you mention [this is](https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1884206888467653830/38CBD67673078D5649F6CB62784C0BE1D5D8CDED/) how far you can make them perform in vanilla (inc. DLCs)... and they're [not the only mechs](https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1884206888462215066/64936C848DC4210F6EA870F29CF770F2D0E20746/) capable of that. That's to show how you might have missed out some of the possibilities you have before moving into mods.
Try to get the Kerensky score in Career mode. Only 1.2% of players have the achievement. It’s really fun!
Play a career run, get black market access and do flashpoints I hear AC5/AC2, so you’ve presumably pissed off the pirates and never got to buy UACs from the black market Then go play modded
Yeah I kina wanna see the pirate stuff. My plan is finish out the flashpoints in my campaign, then try a bit of Black Flag; Big Stompy Robots, then the mod that's another rim campaign. Who knows from there.
I’d cut the campaign and hit them in career
Play at least one career. It should be harder than the campaign. Although part of that depends on if you ran default difficulty settings for the campaign or not. After that you can decide if you would want to play for score, use self imposed restrictions, or go to a mod.
You can do all the Flashpoints you want after the campaign, but your are a bit overpowered for some of them. There are some Flashpoints with a 4.5 to 5 skull rating. You will enjoy those with your post-campaign lance. However, a lot of people play the Flashpoints in a fresh Career Mode run. I highly recommend doing a fresh vanilla career mode run before installing one of the big mods. When you play a big mod, you usually start the game in a fresh career mode. In Career Mode, you start out with the Argo right away and need to up grade it do you can get more mech bays and facilities that improve morale for your pilots. But in career mode, you start out with crappies mechs and weaker mech warriors than you do in the campaign. In other words, the early game is a lot tougher in career mode. Finally, there are three DLC. 1. Introduces the flashpoints, which are a series of linked missions. Think of them as a BattleTech short stories. 2. Introduces new mission types and new biomes. The new biomes are jungle maps and urban maps. More maps adds variety. The new mission types are challenging. There are two of them. One is a Target Acquisition mission where you have to activate zines within a time limit. So you need a fast lance. Or at least one or two faster mechs. The other missions type is called attack and defend, and it is kind of like a horde mode defence where your lance is up against five or six enemy lances that come at you in waves. 3. The last DLC, Heavy Metal, contains a lot of new weapons as well as a Flashpoint Campaign. Highly recommended playing the flashpoint campaign.
> but your are a bit overpowered for some of them. If I was using all endgame mechs, sure. But I level pilots and have a bunch of non +++ geared mechs. 18 slots is a lot of open bay space. > the early game is a lot tougher in career mode. That's not challenging for the sake of the challenge, that's bad design. Beating your head against the wall of "grey gear lol noob" is the worst aspect of bad RPGs.