I wonder if anyone else had this selection of mechs pop up.

The second half of the first Joint Venture mission :

Enemy

Mech Group 1; 2 Trebuchet, 1 Centurion, 1 Cicada, (On it's own not real bad)

3 rounds in Mech Group 2 : 2 Trebuchet, 2 More missle carring mechs (the one Arano drives when she hits the prison)

5 rounds in Mech Group 3 : 1 Orion, 1 JagerMech, 1 Trebuchet, 1 Grasshopper.

My team 1 Hunchback with a AC10, 1 Griffon, 1 Vindicator, and one walking glass target called a Hachetman.

The Hachetman may look cool but from my experience, it is a walking target and useless. 1 hit and the AC10 is gone, hit 2 and the pilot gets 2 injuries. By hit 4 the Hachetman is dead .

And the missiles take out the base and I loose the mission. Every time.

3 different plays on the mission to try and get by it and 3 enemy waves and all mechs at or above my mechs in weight, only 1 time did I have a mech below my min weight and that was the Cicada.

Anyone else have a bad time getting through on a normal play? I have beaten the mission but only by useing 3 Assault mechs.

It was a very difficult mission and took me two tries. First try had me over extended against the initial enemy deployment and I couldn't pivot to the enemy reinforcements. Second try was much more strategic. The Reddit thread listing all the Flashpoints makes some very good suggestions and it sounds like you need some different Mechs. Maybe swap out the Vindicator for a Centurion LRM boat to allow dinging multiple enemy to get their attention?

From the Reddit page:

"Base Defense

- You are provided a temporary Hatchetman + a temporary Mechwarrior with Bulwark and Sure Footing. They will disappear after the mission, so feel free to be reckless with them.

- Once an enemy unit has been attacked by one of your units, it will ignore the base and go for your mechs, so you can "tag" up to 3 units at a time with a Multi-shot pilot to protect the base. You will need to do this every 2-3 rounds, as sometimes the AI will break away and resume attacking buildings (doesn't happen all the time, but it DOES happen)

- You do not need to destroy all enemy units. You only need to survive for 10 rounds. Keep this in mind if looking to maximize the small amount of salvage rewards available for this part (I was only eligible for 2/10 Salvage)"

I definitely did not destroy the final group of enemy reinforcements. Merely got their attention with low probability missle salvos from high distance. :)

Lady Arano drives a Kintaro.

FYI the easiest way to beat Joint Venture is to bring nothing but LRM equipped mechs. But then again that's the easiest way to beat all the missions.

Discussable that LRM are BEST for all missions. Easiest way for most missions is 100t Mech with AC20+++, SRM+++ and M-Lasers++ together with Aimed Shot and JJ fpr manouverability. You kill at least 2 Mechs per round, often 3, so most missions are done VERY fast.
Want to see the LRM Carriers in Defend and Attack missions, where you get new enemies every 2-3 rounds very near to you or a Target Aquisition, where you just have alot of Mechs around you.
The advantage of LRM is their stabbing damage and the loot, if you disable the Mechwarrior, but especially the SRM have a very good raw damage per mass.

well shit, if we're dreaming out loud here, i suppose you could say that. I guess I was looking more at what's actually reasonably achievable in the OC. Yes, I'm aware you could wind up with four 100t 'mechs but ...god that would be boring to acquire.

regardless, with your mythological 100t mech with all that crap installed, you still have to get close enough.

Well, I have assaults, heavies, mediums and lights with all that crap installed. When you are a bit in the mission, you get everything quite fast. Just wanted to mention what is best and LRM are definitely not the best regarding firepower. They are the best if you want to get mechparts.
The maps are just toooo small for LRM to be that effective in the long run and you close up quite fast because sensor range is so short, too. Usually need 2-3 turns to close in and about anouther 2 to kill opfour, and then another 5 rounds for backups to be found and killed.