Combat 101 (the Basics)

Camera Controls

Move Actions

but consumes your firing action.

Melee

Firing

Reserve

Done

One thing to note about BattleTech is that it's a very information dense game. The UI does a great job of communicating all the info, often in layers, allowing the player to drill down into more specific information. However, due to the sheer volume of information, there is a slight learning curve. Fortunately, there is almost always a tool tip that explains pretty much anything. So if you aren't familiar with a symbol or a button, simply hover the mouse over the item you're interested in and a short description should pop up.The tutorial does a good job of covering the absolute basics, but for completeness sake I'll review them in a little more detail.To move the camera around the map you can use the keys W,A,S,D keys to pan the camera or Q and E to rotate. Alternatively, you can use the mouse by holding the right mouse button to change which way the camera is facing.This is a turn-based game so opponents take turns activating units. When there are no visible enemy units on radar, teams move all their units at the same time. Once radar contact is made with the enemy, teams begin taking turns with individual units. I'll go into the Initiative System later, but for now just know that lighter units have the option of acting early in the turn order or reserving down to a later Initiative Phase.To select a unit for activation, you can either click the Mech you wish to move, click on the pilot portraits in the bottom middle of the screen, or use the Tab key to cycle through the units you control. Personally, I much prefer the tab key because it's fast and only selects the units who can still act in this round.A normal activation consists of a Move Action and a Fire Action. Here's the action hotbar in the bottom middle of the screen. The basic move actions available and they're hotkeys:- Move the unit. At the end of the move you're given the option to perform an action such as Attack, Brace, or another Active Ability.- Focus only on moving and evading attacks. Moves further - generating more Evasion -,- Some Mechs come equipped with jump jets which allows them to jump over intervening obstacles and cover some distance. While they may gain a significant number of Evasion Pips in the process, this maneuver comes at the cost of some heat. If a mech can't jump, this button will be disabled.- Consume your action to focus on defense. Gain Guarded (50% less damage) and Entrenched (50% less Stability Damage).When in Non-Interleaved Move (Free Move), the default move action is Sprint. When in Interleaved Combat, the default move action is just Move. While in Non-Interleaved, consider switching from Sprint to Move so your units start the first round of combat braced. Jumping works for this purpose as well.To move a selected unit, place your mouse cursor over the area where you wish to move and you will see a hex grid of destination dots. A plain white dot indicates no special terrain modifiers, while colored or augmented dots indicate some type of terrain effect such as Forest or Rough Terrain.Click once on the dot where you wish to move and a firing cone should appear. The center of the cone is the direction your mech will face at the end of its move, and it should be able to fire at things within that cone provided it has line of sight and weapons that can reach the target unit. If you're happy with your selection, click a second time to confirm the facing. You can cancel this sequence by hitting the escape key.A solid, straight red line indicates a clear line of fire and the ability to shoot your target.An interrupted straight red line with a little eyeball indicates that the line of fire is partially obstructed and provides a cover bonus to the target.A red arc indicates that you don't have a direct line of fire, but you can fire any indirect fire weapons (LRMs) at the target over the intervening obstacles..A dotted white line indicates that although there is a clear line of fire, you won't be able to shoot that particular enemy (Possibly he's out of your firing arc, out of range, or maybe you're sprinting).If you like the dot that you're on, you can still change your facing by selecting a move action, and then click the dot you're standing on. After that, you can confirm your facing change with a second click as normal. Alternatively you can choose not to move at all and just click the fire button:- If you haven't moved yet, then you'll just attack from your current position. Keep in mind that without a special ability (Ace Pilot), you won't be allowed to move after firing.While selecting a spot to move, if you see a yellow frame around an enemy unit, you have the option of engaging them in a melee attack. Clicking on the unit with the yellow frame will allow you to move to the 3 closest dots depending on remaining move allowance and terrain. This moves your unit into that dot, faces the enemy, and conducts a Melee Attack. You'll also fire any "Support" weapons (flamers, machine guns, or small lasers). If you do have Support Weapons, you will remove two evasive pips. One for the melee attack, and one for the Support Weapons. Melee doesn't generate any heat so it's a great way to still do damage and cool down for a round.If you're jumping and see the yellow frame around an enemy unit, this is an opportunity to do a special physical attack called a Death From Above (DFA). This is where you leap with your mech and try to land on the enemy. DFA attacks generally have a lower hit chance, damages your mech's legs, and imparts Stability Damage to yourself. However, if successful, this inflicts a significant amount of Damage and Stability Damage to your target as well. This is a risky maneuver usually saved for desperate times, so use it wisely.After you complete one of the move actions above (with the exception of Sprinting), you can fire with that unit. Select a target by clicking on a unit that has a red line drawn to it, or use the Tab key to cycle between possible targets. Once you're happy with your target you can select which weapons to fire in the weapons panel at bottom right of the screen. If a weapon is out of range, or can't hit the target it won't fire even when enabled. Your weapon selection will be remembered from the previous round, so take a second to review the weapons panel before firing. Firing weapons consumes ammo (where applicable) and generates heat. Generate too much heat and you can damage your Mech or even shut down. In either case, a warning will flash before you commit to the attack. There is a circle around the feet of the target unit that indicates which side of the enemy your weapons will hit. This is also reflected in the target readout in the upper center of the HUD that highlights which locations could be randomly hit.If you have no units selected, you'll see the "Reserve" button. Clicking this will delay the units in this initiative phase to the next initiative phase. If you’ve selected a unit, you can hit Escape to clear the selection and back out to the Reserve button option.If you try to reserve on the last Initiative Phase, instead you will just end your action and this will Brace all the units that haven't acted yet.