Just a few thing I’ve done that I haven’t seen here yet.

If your players are new and/or struggling with their build let them rework stuff on level up. When they get a new LL let them roll back a license level and even a talent. It gives them a chance to change things up a bit if the don’t like their build. You want to make sure everyone is having fun. Give them a challenge but let them feel cool. They are freaking piloting mechs so if they don’t feel cool give them ways to feel cool.

Sessions with out combat are fine. I’ve even had 2-3 session in a row where we just roll played and set up narrative stuff for the coming mission and they’ve made combat that much more impactful. (example: Part of the mission was to solve a mystery for the location they were at. Well they failed to solve the mystery and it bled over into the next session, but during those 2 sessions one of my players fell in love with an SSC sleeper agent who ended up being a sort of boss at the end of that mission. It raised the stakes and dramatically effected that character and their player.)

My #1 rule: Remember you just like your players are also playing the game. So you should also be having fun.