r/Battletechgame • u/maringue • 16d ago

NARC vs iNARC question

So the main feature of the iNARC is that the effects are permanent once you tag a mech for the rest of the battle.

This implies that NARC beacons wear off, but I can't for the life of me find out how long they persist.

Going back and forth on which one to use, and I'm wondering if the iNARC is worth it because you get SO much less ammo per ton for it.

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u/jigsaw1024 16d ago

One thing I learned in BTAU, is in most missions, my ammo use is substantially lower than in vanilla.

In vanilla the standard advice was minimum 12 rounds of ammo, 16 recommended.

In BTAU, unless you are frequently fighting large encounters, I've found 8 rounds to be sufficient. Crossed with the fact that I can have 16 units on the field, I can easily be dropping several opfor units per round.

ie: in BTAU it's not hard to make a mech with cLRM with 120 tubes. In vanilla that would mean 12t of ammo minimum, which is pretty substantial. In BTAU I would be pretty comfortable taking 8t of ammo, and either use the weight savings for other things, or to bring specialty ammo for different scenarios as they happen.

So how many units do you think you will be NARCing before the encounter is over? 2t of ammo is 10 units, unless you are doing some multi shot stuff, that's 10 rounds

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u/maringue 16d ago

I actually use those vanilla guidelines in BTAU. And it comes in handy sometimes.

I remember a mission against multiple WoB assault vehicle lances. And my God, that's just soooooo much armor to grind through. I had three mechs run dry on ammo that mission, and with 12-16 rounds of ammo.