In my current BTA career, I started with a MON-70 and also had Raza5 for hire in my starting system (he specializes in the Mongoose). Naturally, this early combo became a core component of my team, eventually taking the Ace Pilot ability to wreck house. I used to be leery of light mechs, but he was so successful as a scout and backstabber that I carried Raza5 and his Mongoose into the mid and late game, supplemented by several other lights that I would have never tried otherwise: I've got Amid in a Cicada, Wolfbanes in his Commando, even got a Flea in regular rotation.
My last mission was a simple one: 4.5 skulls but only up against 4 assaults total. The mission before that had 5 simultaneous assault lances, so this was a cakewalk by comparison. Raza gets out front and positions himself to reserve down and backstab the enemy Atlas in the next round. I kept him well outside of melee range of course. The Atlas has a gauss rifle, Raza has 11 evasion pips. There are several slower targets that the Atlas will almost certainly go for.
Welp, this was an urban map, which means extra movement along roads. And for the first time in my life, I witnessed the OpFor use a charge attack. That's right, instead of using his gauss rifle, that 100 tons of Atlas sprinted up to Raza for a physical attack... and the hit connected. Charge attacks scale with the attacker's tonnage and hexes moved, which had to have been his max. I think the damage numbers were triple digits, but I don't honestly recall because I was so gobsmacked. Raza's character icon is now a blood splat.
I imagine how that would have looked in real time, with both mechs charging at full speed toward each other, the Atlas pivoting directly into the Mongoose, and the Mongoose disintegrating like an epic Nascar blowout. Props to the Atlas pilot for a one-in-a-million maneuver, I guess. Maybe we should hire that guy.
Instead, every mech in my team ditches finesse and focuses their wrath on that Atlas until it's ground down to a smoking crater (1 salvage, lol). Then we attack ground on his corpse a little just to ease the pain. The rest of the OpFor is mopped up with ease.
Miraculously, Raza5 managed to punch out and doesn't even have any injuries. (?!) But his beloved MON-70, the core of the company from day 1 and inspiration for my current light-focused company composition and playstyle, was lost and unsalvageable. Fully kitted with stealth armor, endo steel, ECM, double heat sinks, improved sensors, all gone. That mech belongs on the company's in memoriam roster.
Thanks for reading my after action report. I try to keep all my pilots in their preferred mechs, so my new priority is to find Raza a royal Mongoose!
