Beginners Guide: The Mechlab

The 'Mechlab
Let’s get back to the 'Mechs.

Mechs are divided into four weight classes:
 * 1) light 'Mechs - 20 - 35 tons
 * 2) medium 'Mechs - 40 - 55 tons
 * 3) heavy 'Mechs - 60 - 75 tons
 * 4) assault 'Mechs - 80 - 100 tons

Each weight class will usually fulfill a different, specific role on the battlefield: The main feature of these 'Mechs is that you can configure them however you like (if you have the cash), as long as you follow some basic rules. For instance, you can exchange the engine, weapons and additional equipment but you must keep in mind that each component adds weight and takes up space.
 * light 'Mechs fill the scout role.
 * medium 'Mechs can fulfill multiple roles and are the backbone of every combat unit.
 * heavy & assault 'Mechs are there to deal severe damage to enemy 'Mechs.

This means that each 'Mech is limited by three factors: It is worth noting that each 'Mech chassis has multiple variants. These variants share the same basic characteristics (total tonnage, critical slots) but will have differing types and amounts of weapon hardpoints.
 * 1) Weight - A 'Mech can never carry more than its maximum tonnage allows it to.
 * 2) Space - Every 'Mech has only a certain “capacity/volume” for every component - this “capacity” is called “critical slots”.
 * 3) Weapon hardpoint restrictions - For instance: you can’t mount a Laser into a missile hardpoint or vice versa.

You can find a quick overview of the different weapon hardpoints here and here.

The basic rule is that weapons will only fit into hardpoints of the same type: Once you have decided on a certain 'Mechclass (light, medium, heavy, assault), a certain 'Mech (medium - 'Mech X, 'Mech Y or 'Mech Z?), and last but not least on a certain variant (Mech Y - variant 1, 2 or 3?) you can basically hit the 'Mechlab and try to assemble the deadliest 'Mech possible (whilst following the rules mentioned above).
 * Energy-type weapons will only fit into energy hardpoints.
 * Ballistic-type weapons will only fit into ballistic hardpoints.
 * Missile-type weapons will only fit into missile hardpoints.

The goal to aim for when configuring your 'Mech is to make sure you use up all available tonnage and critical slots!

The general rule of thumb within Battletech is that everything that is designed to save weight is more bulky and will take up additional space (and critical slots). Conversely, standard items, whilst heavier take up less space (and critical slots).

 Protip: When you have finished building your 'Mech, it is pretty normal to have critical slots left over. You should make sure that you make full use of the available tonnage however. There is no benefit to dropping into a fight with a 'Mech that is underweight, whilst you will have less firepower, armour or speed relative to your opponents in the same class of 'Mech.

In the following section, I'll explain further which components and weapons a 'Mech is able to mount (to do this you need to click at the “Loadout” tab in the “Mechlab”).

Heat, Heat Sinks, Engines, and you!
This sub-chapter is one of the more difficult parts to understand, but is very important. I’ll try to unravel the stuff slowly and carefully, so it remains understandable:

Waste Heat
Every action a 'Mech takes will generate waste heat. This includes walking, running, using jump jets or firing its weapons (you can see how much heat is generated by each individual weapon in Chapter 5) - Weapons-Roundup in this guide or here or over here).

If heat builds up to a critical level, it may cause ammunition stored within the 'Mech to explode. This causes severe internal damage to the 'Mech. In an effort to prevent this, the 'Mech will attempt to shut itself down briefly. Whilst the 'Mech is shut down, you cannot do anything and are combat ineffective. Automatic shutdown will always happen if the heat scale reaches 100 % (which usually happens in the least opportune moments at all ^^).

The 'Mech will power itself on again when the heat level has reached a safe level and you can continue to fight. If the heat buildup reaches a critical level (> 80 %) a corresponding message (“HEAT WARNING”) will be displayed in the upper part of the screen. Pressing “Override Shutdown” when you see this warning will stop your 'Mech from shutting down should it reach a 100% heat level. This carries the risk of damaging the 'Mech due to internal ammunition explosions. Even 'Mechs that do not carry ammunition will begin to take internal damage or even explode if the automatic shutdown is continually overridden.

The rate at which heat dissipates depends on multiple things:
 * 1) The current map - Certain maps have colder or hotter environments than others.
 * 2) The terrain of the map - Water will cool off the 'Mech, volcanoes will increase the heat buildup.
 * 3) How many Heat Sinks are installed within the 'Mech.
 * 4) Movement Speed - Moving between 1% and 66% of your max speed will negate 1 single heat sink's worth of heat dissipation. Moving at greater than 66% of your max speed will negate 2 single heat sinks' worth of heat efficiency.

Heat Sinks
Heat Sinks (from here on they will be abbreviated to “HS”) help to dissipate the waste heat generated by your Mech, similar to the HS installed on your PC. There are two different types of HS available:
 * 1) Single Heat Sinks (“SHS”)
 * 2) Double Heat Sinks (“DHS”)

Single Heat Sinks
 * weigh 1 ton
 * uses up 1 critical slot
 * heat dissipation rate of 1

Double Heat Sinks
 * weigh 1 ton
 * uses up 3 critical slots
 * heat dissipation rate of either 2 or 1.4
 * Double Heat Sinks built into engines have a dissipation rate of 2
 * Double Heat Sinks that are added separately from the engine have a dissipation rate of 1.4
 * See this page for a table of how many heat sinks are built into each engine

 Protip: In the Battletech tabletop game, DHS are true to their name and have a heat dissipation rate of 2,0. Though, the developers of MW:O decided to adjust the value for DHS down to 1,4 in the interests of balance.

The bottom line is that DHS are more efficient at cooling your Mech than SHS. They also save weight since you need less of them to achieve an equal rate of cooling. The drawback is that they are more bulky and use up more critical slots. To install DHS, you require 3 free critical slots in the same section of the Mech. This restriction means that they cannot be placed in the head or legs.

Engines
Now on to the engines, before all parts of the puzzle fit and create a whole (bigger) picture. Engines are the fusion reactors that power every Battlemech. They are rated in numbers starting with the smallest engine at 100 and going up in steps of 5 until reaching the largest engine at 400. The higher the rating, the more power an engine outputs, which in turn translates to movement speed.

You should note that the more powerful an engine is, the heavier it will be.

You can choose between two different types of engines:
 * 1) Standard Engines (“STD”)
 * 2) Extra Light Engines (“XL”)

 Protip: Engines (particularly the XL versions) will cost you a lot of money. At the start of your career it is highly advisable to simply swap the engines between different Mechs and variants, instead of buying new engines for every new config you may come up with! To do this, first remove the engine from the old Mech by dragging it into the stock panel. Then select your new Mech and drag the engine back from the stock panel into the Mech CT. Generally you should also refrain to make use of XL engines in assault or brawling Mechs (there are exceptions though)!

You should also know that each engine has a certain amount of HS inbuilt and their weight is already accounted for. The 100 engine comes with 4 internal HS and one additional HS is added for each step of +25 on the engine rating (up to the 250 engine). This applies to both STD and XL engines.

After you reach the 275 engine and above, you stop receiving additional inbuilt HS but have the option to install extra HS that will not use up critical slots, but will count towards your tonnage. For each increase of +25 on the engine rating, you will gain another optional slot within the engine.

It is up to you to decide if you wish to make use of those extra slots. Though, it is worth noting that installing DHS in the engine slots will not use critical slots. For example, the 3 DHS that can be optionally added within the 325 engine would ordinarily use up 9 critical slots if put elsewhere in the Mech.

'''Standard internal engine heat sinks operate at a heat dissipation rate of 1.0. If you choose to upgrade to Double Heat Sinks then the internal heat sinks will operate at a heat dissipation rate of 2.0, whilst all additional (external) DHS will only operate at a heat dissipation rate of 1.4.'''

 Protip: If you intend to make best use of the DHS upgrade, an engine rated 250 or bigger will be most efficient due to the 2.0 heat dissipation rate of internal HS and the fact that 275+ engines can mount additional DHS in the CT. The exception proves the rule of course!

'''You can only drop into a match using a Mech with a minimum of at least 10 HS installed! These can be composed from any combination of inbuilt engine, additional engine or external HS, no matter if SHS or DHS!'''

Examples of Calculation
If you compare Mech 1a and 1b you should notice that both are making use of the same engine and the same amount of external HS. However, Mech 1b has MUCH better cooling efficiency, allowing it to mount more weapons, hotter weapons, or remove some heat sinks to free up weight and critical slots (whilst still maintaining better cooling efficiency than Mech 1a).

 Protip: Those numbers are all theoretical and will not help much in an actual engagement. I personally like to work out some numbers BEFORE I spend a small fortune on the upgrade/downgrade to DHS/SHS. If you upgrade to DHS the cooling efficiency should be AT LEAST as good as with SHS (or ideally much better). Even if the cooling efficiency is only equal to the SHS version you save some precious tonnage, which can be spent on armour or a bigger engine, for example. The aim is to find a good balance between cooling efficiency, your armament and the type/size of your engine. I feel more than comfortable with a “heat efficiency” rating of at least 1.3 (as shown by the bar in the Mechlab) but a higher rating is always better.

Weapons Roundup
The purpose of this subchapter is to briefly explain the different weapon types in this game.

'''I'd like to preface this chapter by noting that all weapons do damage beyond their maximum range. The amount of damage inflicted falls off drastically past maximum range however. Missiles are the exception to this, they will self-destruct at the limit of their range.'''

Energy-Type Weapons
Laser

Lasers exist in three categories (Regular, Extended Range, Pulse) and also in three power levels/sizes (small, medium and large).

Bigger lasers do more damage at greater range but also create more heat, have longer recycle times, are heavier and take up more critical slots.

“Regular Lasers” fire a constant beam for the duration of about one second. In order to deal the maximum amount of damage it is advisable to focus on one location of the target Mech, rather than pulling the laser beam over multiple locations.

Add template pulling properties from energy weapons

“Extended Range Lasers” (or “ER-Lasers”) work like regular Lasers, but as the name suggests their range is greater at the expense of additional heat generation.

“Pulse Lasers” fire in concentrated bursts over a shorter period in comparison to regular lasers. They could be compared to a “laser gatling gun”. This makes them more effective as the damage is more likely to be centered on the same area, whilst the tradeoff is additional heat and weight and shorter range.