Now that we have taken a look at some tactical ideas on how to use a light mech, let’s turn to the extreme opposite of the tonnage scale and look at assault mechs.
Heavy firepower (often at a variety of ranges), double digit points of armor, and numerous heat sinks, assault mechs are the spearhead of many forces, and of course many players use them in this way, and it works- but here are a few more tactical considerations to use an assault mech in your lance in a more surgical way.
One of the limiting factors of an assault mech is their speed- even the “fast” ones are rather slow, and while they can keep up with the rest of your lance at range, the real power of an assault mech comes from closing with an opposing mech and unleashing all their firepower on a target class that has less armor- like a medium or light mech.
But how do you do this want almost everything is faster than you on the battlefield?
Don’t chase after enemy mechs trying to catch them and get them into range- get them to walk into range to you! If there a specific mission scenario that you are playing- defend a point on the map, secure some salvage, blow up a supply depot? If you know the enemy mechs are going to gather or rally at a specific point on the battlefield, even if they haven’t started there, then that is where your assault mech moves to- where will the enemy mechs be forced to move as the battle unfold- make sure your assault mech is parked there.
A second surgical use of an assault class mech is to push opposing mechs into a kill zone on the battlefield- using the array of weapons and heavy armor of the assault mech to herd lighter mechs into a certain spot.
Let’s say as an example you have a number of fire support mechs- where can you put them so they will have good range and direct fire to a point on the battlefield where there is no cover or place to hide? Set up those support mechs and get them into position and then use the assault mech to herd opposing mechs to that position. Give those enemy mechs a choice- go head to head with a Stalker class mech, or pull back with covering fire into the open position of your long range support.