Harebrained Schemes and Paradox released BATTLETECH on 24 April 2018. It is turn-based lance combat set in 3025, in a Periphery region called the Aurigan Reach, where you run a mercenary company for High Lady Kamea Arano against Director Santiago Espinosa's Aurigan Directorate. Four mechs drop per mission, five initiative phases resolve per round, and the MechLab makes you argue for every half ton. Three expansions followed: Flashpoint in 2018, Urban Warfare in 2019 and Heavy Metal later that year.
Starting BATTLETECH can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
BATTLETECH is a strategy game built around Five phase initiative order and Evasion pips and Sensor Lock. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Light Mech scout | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Medium Mech skirmisher | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Heavy Mech line fighter | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Assault Mech brawler | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Sensor Lock spotter | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Medium Mech skirmisher. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Sensor Lock spotter as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Five phase initiative order
Each round runs through five numbered phases, with the higher numbers resolving first. Light mechs act in phase 4, mediums in phase 3, heavies in phase 2 and assaults in phase 1, so a Locust always moves before an Atlas. Master Tactician at Tactics 8 shifts a pilot one phase earlier, and choosing Reserve pushes a unit later without stripping its evasion.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Five phase initiative order works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Coromodir
Capital world of the Aurigan Coalition and the setting for both ends of the campaign. The prologue puts you at Kamea Arano's coronation when Santiago Espinosa's coup begins, and the final liberation mission brings you back to the same world with an entire lance of assault mechs instead of a training exercise.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for PPC: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Does a bit of everything: solid focused damage, meaningful stability damage, long reach and an accuracy penalty applied to whatever it hits. The cost is heat, and the PPC is the least heat efficient energy weapon in the game, so two of them will shut down most chassis that are also moving.
Step 4: Understand Evasion pips and Sensor Lock
Movement generates evasion chevrons that cut incoming hit chance, and every attack removes one whether it connects or misses. Sensor Lock, the Tactics 5 ability, reveals a target and strips two pips at once, but it consumes the spotter's firing action. That trade is the reason a Light mech with high Tactics still earns a lance slot at 4 skull difficulty.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Weldry
The first proper strike against the Aurigan Directorate. Kamea leads the Restoration Army against the main spaceport while your lance runs a separate attack on the Icebox facility, which means you are fighting without the option of retreating toward friendly lines.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Five phase initiative order
Each round runs through five numbered phases, with the higher numbers resolving first. Light mechs act in phase 4, mediums in phase 3, heavies in phase 2 and assaults in phase 1, so a Locust always moves before an Atlas. Master Tactician at Tactics 8 shifts a pilot one phase earlier, and choosing Reserve pushes a unit later without stripping its evasion.
Evasion pips and Sensor Lock
Movement generates evasion chevrons that cut incoming hit chance, and every attack removes one whether it connects or misses. Sensor Lock, the Tactics 5 ability, reveals a target and strips two pips at once, but it consumes the spotter's firing action. That trade is the reason a Light mech with high Tactics still earns a lance slot at 4 skull difficulty.
Called shots on prone and shutdown targets
Attacks normally roll hit location from the firing arc. Against a knocked down or shut down mech you choose the location yourself, and spending morale on Precision Strike buys a called shot plus a to-hit bonus. A downed mech also slides later in initiative and cannot stand until its own activation, so a knockdown hands you an entire round of free centre torso and head shots.
Heat and stability damage
Weapons fire builds heat, terrain adds more, and past the red line you get shutdown, ammunition explosions and injured pilots. Stability is a separate bar filled mostly by missiles and melee: fill it on an unsteady mech and it falls, taking pilot damage on the way down. Bracing clears all stability but ends that mech's turn.
Contract negotiation and salvage shares
Before every drop you slide payout against salvage rights. Salvage comes back as mech parts, and three matching parts assemble into a working chassis by default, so deliberately crippling the legs of one Griffin across three contracts beats spreading damage evenly across an enemy lance. Reputation with Steiner, Kurita, Davion, Liao and Marik changes which contracts you are offered at all.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Taking maximum C-bill payout on every contract
Money buys repairs, but salvage buys entire mechs, and a company that never negotiates for salvage is still fielding mediums at 4 skull difficulty while its rivals field assaults.
2. Alpha striking every turn
Firing every weapon on a hot chassis produces shutdown, which hands the enemy a full round of free called shots against a stationary target. Two good weapons fired twice beat one alpha strike followed by a shutdown.
3. Sprinting a Light mech into the middle of the enemy line to scout
Evasion pips help, but any single AC/20 or PPC hit removes a 20 ton mech's centre torso, and losing the Sensor Lock pilot early breaks the rest of the lance's accuracy for the whole fight.
4. Ignoring stability damage
Players focus on armour numbers and never notice the unsteady indicator, then wonder why their assault mech is lying on the ground taking called shots. Bracing costs a turn and saves a pilot.
5. Repairing every point of armour after every mission
Repair costs money and days, and a mech at 90 percent armour drops fine on a 2 skull contract. Save the full refit budget for the story missions where the opposition is actually heavier.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Five phase initiative order and Evasion pips and Sensor Lock
- Choose Medium Mech skirmisher as starting build
- Clear Coromodir main content
- Acquire PPC or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Weldry
- Negotiation sliders are not symmetrical in value. Early in a campaign, salvage is worth far more than C-bills because a salvaged Shadow Hawk is worth several contracts of payout, while money only buys repairs you could have avoided.
- Three matching mech parts assemble a full chassis at the default setting. That means targeting the same enemy model repeatedly across contracts, and shooting legs rather than centre torsos, since a legged mech leaves more intact parts in the salvage pool.
Tips for New Players
- Negotiation sliders are not symmetrical in value. Early in a campaign, salvage is worth far more than C-bills because a salvaged Shadow Hawk is worth several contracts of payout, while money only buys repairs you could have avoided.
- Three matching mech parts assemble a full chassis at the default setting. That means targeting the same enemy model repeatedly across contracts, and shooting legs rather than centre torsos, since a legged mech leaves more intact parts in the salvage pool.
- Called shots are only available against prone or shutdown targets, or when you spend morale on Precision Strike. Building your turn around producing a knockdown first, then calling the head, is the fastest way to remove an Atlas from the field without chewing through its armour.
- Sensor Lock consumes the spotter's shooting action but removes two evasion pips. Against a mech that has sprinted and stacked four pips, that single action can raise the rest of your lance's hit chance by more than any weapon upgrade you could fit in the same tonnage.
- Reserve is undervalued. Holding a heavy mech until phase 1 lets you see where every enemy moved before you commit, and Master Tactician at Tactics 8 also strips stability damage when you reserve.
- Melee ignores evasion entirely. When a Light mech has stacked pips and your shots are all missing, walking a heavy into it and punching removes the problem in one activation, and Juggernaut at Guts 8 pushes the target a phase later as well.
- Pilots take injuries from head hits, knockdowns and ammunition explosions, and they are out of action for days of campaign time while they heal. Carry at least six pilots so a bad drop does not force you to fly the next contract with a lance of three.
- Heat is not just shutdown risk. Running hot raises ammunition explosion chance and adds to the odds of a critical hit landing on an already damaged component, so alpha striking a fresh enemy is usually worse than firing your two best weapons twice.
- Urban Warfare adds destructible cover and Heavy Metal adds eight weapon systems including the Gauss Rifle. If you buy one expansion, Flashpoint adds the most content per pound because its mini-campaigns give the mercenary layer a structure the base game lacks.
- Bulwark at Guts 5 is the single most efficient defensive ability in the game because it applies whenever the mech does not move, and Braced mechs also clear all accumulated stability. A Bulwark assault mech parked in cover is genuinely difficult to remove.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many mech parts do I need to build a mech?
Three matching parts by default, and the setting is adjustable in the options menu when you start a campaign. Legging a target rather than destroying its centre torso leaves more salvageable parts, so a company hunting a specific chassis should aim low deliberately.
Which expansion should I buy first?
Flashpoint, released in November 2018, adds multi-mission story chains that give the mercenary career a shape the base campaign does not provide, plus the Crab, Hatchetman and Cyclops. Urban Warfare adds city maps and Heavy Metal adds eight new mechs and eight weapon systems including the Gauss Rifle.
Can I keep playing after the campaign ends?
Yes. The Aurigan Reach stays open after Coromodir and you can continue taking contracts indefinitely, which is where most players actually assemble their first full assault lance. Career mode, added later, gives that open-ended play a scoring structure and a time limit.
What is the best pilot skill to raise first?
Tactics to 5 for Sensor Lock on at least one pilot, because it lifts the whole lance's hit chance against evasive targets. After that, Guts 5 for Bulwark on your heavies and Gunnery 5 for Multi-Target on anything carrying more than three weapons.
Why do my shots keep missing an enemy that is standing still?
Standing still is not the only defence in the game. Check for Guarded status from bracing, cover from terrain, elevation differences and remaining evasion pips from the previous turn. Breaching Shot at Gunnery 8 lets one weapon ignore cover and guarded entirely.
More BATTLETECH Guides
- BATTLETECH BATTLETECH Overview
- BATTLETECH Best Builds
- BATTLETECH Tier List
- BATTLETECH Walkthrough
- BATTLETECH Tips & Tricks
- BATTLETECH Weapons Guide
- BATTLETECH Combat Guide
- BATTLETECH Boss Guide
- BATTLETECH Maps & Locations
- BATTLETECH Crafting Guide
- BATTLETECH Classes & Characters
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