BattleTech - A Beginners Guide to BattleTech

 Paradox Interactive have submitted a guide to PCGamesN to help players new to BattleTech.

...

Assembling your lance

The group of mechs you take into battle is called a lance, and while you can take up to four mechs with you, there is nothing stopping you from taking fewer. The main restriction is the carry capacity of your dropship - it having a limit to the sheer tonnage of mechs it can hold. This is to stop you from taking four towering assault class mechs into battle. If you want to take in an assault mech you’re going to have to fill out the rest of your lance with lighter classes.

There are four mech classes in all: light, medium, heavy, and assault. Though, it’s not as simple as light mechs being recon units and assault mechs being heavy hitters. You can kit a light mech out with a suite of flamers so it can dance around heavier mechs torching their pilots. You could also have a heavy mech that’s low on armour but heavy on support weapons that you have to keep behind the battle lines.
[...]