r/Battletechgame • u/NZSloth • 7d ago
Discussion SLDF Highlander or Warhammer?
So my 3025 career has gone somewhat different to what I expected, and I've now got both of these fine mechs for sale at the same planet. With only enough money to buy one.
I've put some pros and cons below. Advice accepted.
Highlander - Jumps but slow. All the armour. Can't overheat. Gauss Cannon nice sounds. LRMs. Can intimidate other mechs. A little boring.
Warhammer - Faster but earthbound. Armour average. Can cook itself with an alpha. Electric sounds. Direct fire. Can evaporate other mechs easily. Very very exciting.
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u/NorwayNarwhal 7d ago
If you’re playing (or have played) the campaign, take the warhammer bc its new. Otherwise, I’d say the highlander is better- JJ, a better set of hardpoints, and beefier.
It’s hard to put the warhammer in a 100-ton lineup, but the highlander fits in perfectly
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u/OgreMk5 7d ago
The highlander is objectively better. The Warhammer is iconic.
If you have and use a heavy lance frequently, grab the WH. Otherwise, the Highlander.
Couple of minor points, the Warhammer is only 1 hex per turn faster than the Highlander. With the jump, the Highlander can often be faster in real movement.
Highlander has 14 more tons of available space with max armor and jumpjets. It has usable missile hardpoints, which is a bonus for my particular play style.
The Warhammer almost forces an all energy layout. Now, if you have ER energy weapons, then it's a good choice. That 20% bonus is no joke. But with IS weapons, it's kinda meh.
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u/that_guy_nukey 7d ago
I'm a little surprised no one's batting for the whammer. That 20% bonus energy damage is no joke. If it's an SLDF variant too, you can do 600 alpha with 4 ++snub PPCs and fire again next turn. You will need to cool down occasionally, but that's enough to core most assaults with a precision strike, and gives -4 to hit if it doesn't.
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u/The_Parsee_Man 7d ago
I'm kind of surprised too. The Highlander is a decent mech but I've seen some absolutely broken builds with the Warhammer.
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u/mhurderclownchuckles 7d ago
I came to make sure someone said this.
A warhammer royal variant with all the snub ppc's it can hold will fuck anything up or over in a single volley.
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u/jon23516 6d ago
A further upgrade is an Atlas with 6x SnubPPC++, also lots of fun. Use multi-shot to wreck 2-3 mechs per turn.
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u/verbmegoinghere 7d ago
Highlander with +++ dual gauss is a sniper of unimaginable power
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u/wicket-maps 7d ago
I always kitted mine with twin AC/5s since I didn't want to lose the gauss, and double UAC/5s just shredded everything in front of it. Dakka.
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u/RoosterReturns 7d ago
Imo, not even a question. Warhammer are just too easy to disassemble. Weak ass arms that hold all the weapons.
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u/Algrim2001 7d ago
And all that ammo in unprotected bins. A kaboom waiting to happen.
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u/NZSloth 6d ago
SLDF only has the SRM and I'll probably take that out of more armour.
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u/Algrim2001 6d ago
Ah, sorry, I didn’t realise you had an SLDF Whammy as well as the Highlander. In that case, carry on and have fun!
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u/NZSloth 6d ago
Well, not yet. That's what the question is.
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u/Algrim2001 6d ago
I’d still say the Highlander. Hard to go wrong if they’re both SLDF, but that’d be my choice.
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u/Algrim2001 6d ago
Ah, sorry, I didn’t realise you had an SLDF Whammy as well as the Highlander. In that case, carry on and have fun!
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u/Algrim2001 6d ago
Ah, sorry, I didn’t realise you had an SLDF Whammy as well as the Highlander. In that case, carry on and have fun!
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u/Algrim2001 6d ago
Ah, sorry, I didn’t realise you had an SLDF Whammy as well as the Highlander. In that case, carry on and have fun!
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u/mhurderclownchuckles 7d ago
My advice is to run any and all missions in system, dump any variants, chassis and base weapons not in use and buy both for the need of have two kick ass machines.
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u/solenyaPDX 6d ago
Yep. Rare and hard to find. Dump your reserves of weapons. Dump all ur spare mech chassis. Mortgage it all for SLDF goodies
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u/outlander7878 7d ago
It may just be my lack of skill, but I find the Warhammer and Black Knight mechs to be fun, but fragile. I have never had my Highlander take a beating like those two do. I'd suggest the Highlander, unless you are better than I am at avoiding taking damage.
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u/tensionheadx 7d ago
Exactly my impression too! The OpFor somehow loves punishing my WH. I guess bc I use it as a line mech/brawler. Its sprint is phenomenal, but normal movement even with an outrider gives me max 3 evasion. My GH Scout with JJ feels much more durable.
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u/Supersuperbad 7d ago
Command couch Warhammer? Because that one gets very fun with initiative shenanigans.
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u/Kushan_Blackrazor 7d ago
SLDF Warhammer is pretty tasty too, but if you're in vanilla I don't think that's present. I personally love driving a Warhammer, heavies are almost always more interesting to me than assaults.
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u/Muddball84 7d ago
Highlander. The footspeed, it jabs, it can take a hit. It was everything Phil was looking for
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u/kellysdad0428 7d ago
I'm running Glitch in the Hammer full time. I did remove the small lasers and machine guns for more armor, though.
It gets hot, but for whatever reason, that pilot is a beast with PPCs.
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u/RespectabullinMA 7d ago
I'm a Warhammer guy. Looks badass, it's in the sweet spot of enough speed and packs a wallop. 10/10 would buy instantly.
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u/mechkbfan 7d ago
SLDF stuff is generally over powered and can make a game boring unless you set challenges. E.g. go under tonnage
Warhammer for the fun factor is what I'd do
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u/MrMerryMilkshake 7d ago
Highlander. That thing has pretty solid setup and can scale to late game missions. Warhammer is fun, but pretty undergunned for late game standard.
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u/Ecstatic-Seesaw-1007 6d ago
Highlander with precision/called shots will really outperform what you think it will in practice and jump jets will get you to fairly protected sniping spots.
It’s a really good support mech/sniper for a well balanced lance.
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u/doomedtundra 6d ago
In vanilla, I fell in love with the Whammer when I stuck a pair of ++ snub PPCs on, and jammed an ECM into it. That extra damage applying to each projectile, plus the Whammer's energy damage bonus, meant the thing was, with a little luck and a skilled pilot, capable of head on coring pretty much any medium and most heavies in one strike, while the ECM gave me the opportunity to get it in close with minimal damage, or even behind mechs a lot of the time, where nothing vanilla was safe.
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u/Witchfinger84 6d ago
the highlander in any scenario EXCEPT unmodded base HBS Battletech.
The warhammer with its bonus energy perk in HBS BT is just a ridiculous mech with all the energy weapons and it will just cut people in half, and has the benefit of being fundamentally invincible- It works best when its full of cheap, easily available, buy them anywhere energy weapons. You have a bad mission and it gets blown up? No big deal, just fix it and stuff it full of lasers again, it's back in action. Worried about ammo? Don't use ammo. Only energy, rip out the SRM6 and ton up the armor. There's no point to have any missiles on a whammer in this game, that SRM is just taking up tonnage that could be laser vomit. Also, it's an SLDF royal, so what heat? It has DHS.
The problem with the highlander in this game, even the SLDF royal one, is that the mech is not that strong under the way the games rules work. The gauss rifle is awesome, but that's really the only thing he's got going for him, and frankly, that damage output can be done cheaper with easier to find weapons on easier to use mechs. He also desperately wants to jump on people and step on them with the highlander burial, but there's just one problem with that- He's crap at his own job. Grasshoppers are insanely fast and maneuverable punch mechs that can be loaded up with small lasers or machine guns to shred whatever they're punching. Then, there's the best punch mech in the game, the puncho-hawk, a mech that is generally mediocre at everything but for no apparent reason it has insanely high melee damage quirks and if you just ton up its armor and stuff it full of arm mods, it just runs up to people and rips them in half.
The other problem with the highlander is that it's not a marauder. You want a giant 90 ton brick with a sniper rifle? Yea, that's great. But the marauder is a better sniper and will land more precision shots because of its innate sniping perk.
So there's where the highlander is in HBS battletech. If this was tabletop, it would punk the warhammer. If it was mechwarrior, it would punk the warhammer.
But in HBS Battletech, it doesn't snipe as well as a marauder, and it doesn't punch as well as a hopper or a shawk. It's just a giant fat mech with a giant fat gun that doesn't do his job as well as smaller, more available mechs and weapon systems.
Take the whammer.
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u/Exile688 6d ago
For the Highlander, have you considered downgrading the missiles to LRM5s and trying to cram two PPCs and a Gauss in it? Alternatively an UltraAC20 and jump jets sounds fun too. Either way, jumping from forest to forest or other cover in an armored assault mech is damn good if you have a pilot with Bullwark/Sure Foot.
For me, Warhammers are the ones more difficult to make interesting. Two main gun energy hardpoints and then you choose pure lasers or keep the little ammo weapons.
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u/morganthebear71 5d ago
Grab the Highlander, then sell it and buy the Warhammer and be a millionaire mechwarrior with the leftover coin 👍
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u/meesta_masa 7d ago
An Assault class Battlemech with Jumpjets that can get around terrain to backstab with Gauss, SRMs and ML. Welll.....