Alpha Strike (tactic)

An Alpha Strike is when a 'Mech attacks with all of its weapons at the same time. While extremely powerful, it dramatically raises the 'Mech's heat, and after several successive Alpha Strikes most 'Mechs will shut down from overheating. In game terms it is attacking with all of your weapons in one round.

In the BattleTech CCG, an Alpha Strike was referred to in the manual as an attack where the Unit completely exhausted all its autocannon ammo. This increased the Units attack, but caused it to be depleted afterwards.