All Contracts labeled "Battle"

[Bamboonga]

Don't know if anybody's noticed this yet, but I'd strongly advise against taking ANY contract labeled 'Battle'. Apparently, whoever developed Battletech was under the impression that 'Battle' means "I submit to have a computer program I OWN intentionally cheat me right to my face and get away with it, because this is somehow fun to me."

Seriously...expect to be outnumbered about 5:1 every single one of these missions, with absolutely NO staggering of forces - they ALL get to enter the map simultaneously, while you STILL only get to bring your 4 best.

 

[Fallenkezef]

I'm British, being outnumbered is what we do.

 

[TaurianMerc]

I'm British, being outnumbered is what we do.

To the OP: if there was only one lance to combat then you would likely go through the enemy like castor oil, since the AI can be lacking.
And the "reinforcements" do start on the map straight away, but usually at a little bit away from the main target. I recommend not heading straight at the objective marker as that leads to you triggering everything at once. Instead, go off to one side - you may stumble upon the reinforcements but you should be able to take most of them out before the rest of the enemy arrives.

Also brace. Always brace.

 

[BunglingLummox]

I find that the best salvage opportunities often come from a contract called... Stubborn Surrender, I think? Which is categorised as a battle. Besides which, I much prefer a knockdown-dragout brawl to all this fiddly escort rubbish. For one thing, there's no actual escorting involved, just making sure not to tread in the rendezvous until you've already got most of your mechs to the evac site, then a frantic blast-out when the convoy catches up.

 

[WhiteChapel]

The worst I've seen is 2.5:1. Just don't run straight ahead.I usually sprint to one side or the other, then advance under BRACE until I make contact. For the most part, battle missions are the most straight forward.

 

[Fusilier01]

I can say I understand your frustrations, this game is difficult. I remember a mission where I had to occupy a base and I was expecting to run for it after.

The problem was I had no light units available and only the Blackjack, and two modified Shadow Hawks - one with a large laser and LRM-10 and the other a stock variant which dropped the small LRM for another a SRM.

3 rounds into the match, I read into a Spider, Locust, and Shadowhawk with a Hunchback lumbering behind them. Due to not being able to afford large amounts of damage and low skilled pilots, I had to fall back and use the terrain to my advantage. I ended up pressed against the map border on a forested ridge with the Shadow Hawks jump jetting to increase evasion while the Blackjack provided long range fire support. Needless to say there was a lot of near table flipping moments before I started to finally down the enemy mechs.

The best advice is to readdress your tactics for the early game. I prefer to use to use the other skill (name is escaping me at the moment) over called shot. I try to reserve units and cherry picking at different target each round than trying to focusing down a single target. Avoid shooting at most targets in guarded from the front with small weapons as it is reducing your damage in half and only over heating your unit - I shoot at targets that shoot at me first so they can't get that damage reduction. The AI tends to focus on a single target, units should fall back every once in a while to spread damage around. It also seems to confuse the AI as well.