I found there wasn't a lot of warning that you were taking on a mission too hard for you. If you want to race all the way to when you have no chance, it will let you
Are you still in the starter lance? Have you upgraded the mechs at all (esp. w/ adding more front armor)?
This is the pirate lady on the moon, right? That one can be a little tough. Did you get through it? I'm happy to put down some tips if you need to replay it.
I'm still in the starter mech(s) although I ditched the light one completely. I think I added armour (by going and clickign Max Armour). I actually got down to the last enemy mech before losing, but I'd taken crazy damage and was probably effectively bankrupt.
Before you hit Max Armor in the mechlab, remove the equipment. If you hit max armor normally it'll just add as much armor as it can with whatever remaining tonnage you have left.
I typically do this with whatever mech I've got in the lab:
1. Remove all equipment (there's a button for that)
2. Hit Max Armor
3. Remove some of the back armor from the CT and RT/LT...until I've got the tonnage down to a whole or half number (for example, 20/30 tons, 20.5/30, etc).
4. Add any jumpjets I want to add (If I even want them, I don't always)
5. Add guns/ammo based on what I intend for this mech's role to be.
6. Repeat with adding weapons until I've hit max tonnage.
You don't need headshots for salvage, early on you can do it quite well by killing the pilot through side torso damage and a fall or two, and even destroying both legs for 2/3 pieces is usually fine.
But yes, Tube, even just playing normally and getting one salvage piece off if each downed mech plus sundry other gear and selling will be more cash. Remember things only sell for 10% value, but mechs are worth so much that's still a lot. That said I generally keep a little cash in the negotiation just for liquidity (and being lazy about selling crap to the vendor)
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
+1
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
They sell for more in the tabletop because mechs are supposed to be reasonably rare and valuable, but basically it's a game balance thing here. You'll end up swimming in mechs before too long, and them selling at high prices would make the game economics thoroughly pointless and broken.
I mean, grabbing salvage and selling it is still better than taking straight reward money for the most part (except maybe when the money rewards are like a million C-bills a run and you've got a lance of assault mechs all run special high-end gear), even with mech prices that low. It's actually good to check on your stored gear every once in a while because you're probably sitting on a pile of partial mechs you'll never use and mountains of certain parts that you definitely don't need 50 of; selling off that stuff can drop a nice chunk of change in your pocket, for when you come across that third of a chunk of an assault in a store that's been eluding you for hours.
Before you hit Max Armor in the mechlab, remove the equipment. If you hit max armor normally it'll just add as much armor as it can with whatever remaining tonnage you have left.
I typically do this with whatever mech I've got in the lab:
1. Remove all equipment (there's a button for that)
2. Hit Max Armor
3. Remove some of the back armor from the CT and RT/LT...until I've got the tonnage down to a whole or half number (for example, 20/30 tons, 20.5/30, etc).
4. Add any jumpjets I want to add (If I even want them, I don't always)
5. Add guns/ammo based on what I intend for this mech's role to be.
6. Repeat with adding weapons until I've hit max tonnage.
I'll tweak armor, particularly for legs as they tend to be over-armored for the amount of hits they take in general and arms as they tend to be under-armored, but otherwise I feel for a lot of mechs you'll sacrifice too much firepower to actually get max armor.
Also, in the early parts of the game, I would not recommend these particular steps. Refitting all equipment on a mech at once will incur substantial refit downtime that you most likely cannot afford early on. You need at least some upgrades to your mechbay before refit times become reasonable to do this. Instead, I'd be more deliberate and say pick one thing you want to sacrifice, a heatsink or laser for example, and add the freed up armor weight manually then repeat as necessary. That'll keep changes and thus refit times to a minimum.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited June 2019
Early on:
For light mechs, I'll keep them as is for armor and then tweak things like drop PPCs and use large lasers instead, move ammo into legs, etc. As soon as possible I'll be using 30-35 ton lights, and only use lights when I don't have enough mediums. Fire Javelins, Panthers, etc. Stuff with enough punch to be useful. Those mechs with 2 medium lasers are can't even close the deal with back shots. IMO they're garbage.
Mediums, same deal. 680 armor isn't great, 760 is preferred. 920 is nice, but you give up a lot of tonnage for it. Anything less than 680 armor in a medium isn't worth using without upgrading. Typically I'll move some leg armor into the front side torsos since those are usually under-armored. All ammos goes to the legs, period. Aside from that, it's small things. Maybe replace a pair of AC/2s on a blackjack with an AC/5; downgrade PPCs to LLas and drop in a heatsink or another MLas, etc. I don't like LRMs so often I'll swap an LRM5 or LRM10 for an SRM6 + ammo.
At some point you may get your hands on a Jaegermech--if it's an early heavy for you, it makes one hell of a sniper with 5 AC/5s. Just don't put it on the front lines without up-armoring it a lot.
Ammunition loads are often pretty silly too. In general, I shoot for 15 rounds of continuous combat since there are going to be times you're up against 3 lances + turrets. For example, let's say I have an AC/10 and an SRM6. That means 2 tons of ammo @ 8 rounds apiece for the AC/10 (16 rounds of continuous fire) and 1 ton for the SRM6 @ 100 rounds (16 rounds of continuous fire). 1 ton of ammo for an LRM10 is in my experience a recipe for running out of ammo towards the end of the engagement--when you're potentially pretty shot up and need to end things sooner rather than later. So I'd go for 2 tons of ammo just to be sure I don't run out at an inopportune time (if I don't drop the LRM10 for something else. Like I said, I'm not a fan of LRMs). YMMV of course, but that's how I like to stomp.
Orca on
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I think I've hit peak Heavy era. I just fielded a lance of 4 Orions, all identically equipped with an AC/20, LLas, MLas, SRM6, and 1160 armor.
I'm wondering if that's what the "Heavy metal" DLC is going to be; a plethora of robotech designs along with flashpoints themed around using them.
+3
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited June 2019
A MAC II would make one hell of an assault.
And the Excalibur already looks a lot like an Orion.
Veritechs have always been goofy as shit in Battletech and really don't make much sense there.
edit: the Blackjack is basically a Raider X, and while nothing really looks like the Spartan, it's basically a Catapult or Trebuchet in terms of capability so...
And the Excalibur already looks a lot like an Orion.
Veritechs have always been goofy as shit in Battletech and really don't make much sense there.
edit: the Blackjack is basically a Raider X, and while nothing really looks like the Spartan, it's basically a Catapult or Trebuchet in terms of capability so...
??
The Robotech Spartan is a Battletech Archer. And the Raider X's was known as a Rifleman in Battletech. Tomahawk = Warhammer, Officers Pod = Marauder, etc...
And IIRC, the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk and Crusader are all variations of Veritech fighters.
Of course, I refer only to the artwork used.
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
And the Excalibur already looks a lot like an Orion.
Veritechs have always been goofy as shit in Battletech and really don't make much sense there.
edit: the Blackjack is basically a Raider X, and while nothing really looks like the Spartan, it's basically a Catapult or Trebuchet in terms of capability so...
??
The Robotech Spartan is a Battletech Archer. And the Raider X's was known as a Rifleman in Battletech. Tomahawk = Warhammer, Officers Pod = Marauder, etc...
And IIRC, the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk and Crusader are all variations of Veritech fighters.
Of course, I refer only to the artwork used.
I'm comparing the Robotech mecha designs to the designs already in Battletech that we're playing with today.
I still maintain that the Veritechs are an ugly shoe-horn in however.
high armor, high damage per ton, i guess? SRMs are very powerful, AC20s are very powerful - a jump jet AC20 mech that can fire one huge shot from behind is super useful. Medium Lasers were good last time I played, but sort of only good if you could use the high tactics called shot to focus them all in one place. I think the called shot and the heat of mediums may have both changed.
I think LRMs and AC5s and AC2s are mostly bad in that weight class.
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
* 55 ton mech
* 760 armor
* AC/5, 1 ton of ammo
* SRM6, 1 ton of ammo
* Large laser
* jump jets/medium laser/heatsinks to taste (I prefer jump jets)
Long range, heavy hitting firepower, with the bulk of the damage pinpoint (so likely to blow off arms/legs/etc. and reduce incoming damage)
Going for an AC/10 and 2 tons of ammo is possible but you're going to be heavily compromised elsewhere. Typically I'll have to sacrifice jump jets and the SRM to get it. Or drop to 680 armor.
An alternative that I've found less effective but still satisfying is to go all in on SRMs, and try to stack 3+ SRM6s on one mech. You can do a pretty silly amount of damage that way, but it's going to sandpaper the hostile mech rather than be concentrated.
PPCs weigh too much and have too high heat to be practical IMO, so I always replace them with large lasers if I'm sticking with a long range energy loadout.
edit: Shadowhawks, Centurions, Enforcers, Hunchbacks, and if you're lucky enough to get one, Kintaros all have good starting loadouts that need minimal tweaks to make truly effective. But above is what I've found I work best with.
Orca on
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
high armor, high damage per ton, i guess? SRMs are very powerful, AC20s are very powerful - a jump jet AC20 mech that can fire one huge shot from behind is super useful. Medium Lasers were good last time I played, but sort of only good if you could use the high tactics called shot to focus them all in one place. I think the called shot and the heat of mediums may have both changed.
I think LRMs and AC5s and AC2s are mostly bad in that weight class.
I dislike the AC/20 on mediums since although it packs a ridiculous punch, you won't have much ammo, you need to close to point blank range, and you have no other options for weapons fit. On a medium I prefer trying to hold the range somewhat open to stay out of the range of (for example) hostile Hunchbacks.
I'm assuming that the Unseen are not in the game at all correct?
I can very much see the benefits of a classic Archer raining down indirect LRM20's
Or the Warhammer. Or the Phoenix Hawk, or....
Gah. Fuck Harmony Gold!
There are at least a few Unseens that are currently in the game that I know about (I haven't gotten all that far into the game). Battlemaster, Thunderbolt,and Shadow Hawk are currently in the game.
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
When I was still in Mediums, I preferred builds that concentrated on medium lasers and SRMs for my "front liners" (Behemoth and PC), Glitch was in some kind of missile boat (Centurion for the longest time). Decker spent time in faster mediums/lights that could build up enough dodge chevrons to remain in range and spot for Glitch.
I'm assuming that the Unseen are not in the game at all correct?
I can very much see the benefits of a classic Archer raining down indirect LRM20's
Or the Warhammer. Or the Phoenix Hawk, or....
Gah. Fuck Harmony Gold!
There are at least a few Unseens that are currently in the game that I know about (I haven't gotten all that far into the game). Battlemaster, Thunderbolt,and Shadow Hawk are currently in the game.
That's true. My frame of reference always goes back to the Robotech unseen. But there are indeed other unseen from other sources that are in the game.
I'm assuming that the Unseen are not in the game at all correct?
I can very much see the benefits of a classic Archer raining down indirect LRM20's
Or the Warhammer. Or the Phoenix Hawk, or....
Gah. Fuck Harmony Gold!
There are at least a few Unseens that are currently in the game that I know about (I haven't gotten all that far into the game). Battlemaster, Thunderbolt,and Shadow Hawk are currently in the game.
Also the Griffin and Wolverine, all of those are from Fang of the Sun Dougram (aka non-Harmony Gold). The Locust is also an Unseen (from Crusher Joe), but I think it flew under most people's radar.
As for the Monster MkII, they did eventually put in a variant of the Stone Rhino that's equipped in a similar layout (take a look at the layout on the "5" version).
0
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
high armor, high damage per ton, i guess? SRMs are very powerful, AC20s are very powerful - a jump jet AC20 mech that can fire one huge shot from behind is super useful.
I did this with the Centurion with a pilot who had high Piloting and Gunnery (so he could move quickly and wouldn't waste too much expensive, heavy AC20 ammo) and it was an all-star.
I absolutely wouldn't recommend outfitting every mech that way, but I found it incredibly helpful to have one mobile, hard-hitting guy for those frequent occasions where there's one specific motherfucker that you absolutely, positively need to put down this round.
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited June 2019
Cripes. Did my first 3 skull Attack and Defend mission (well, without having a dishonerable withdrawal). Dropped my 4x Orions. Everything was well in hand until I tried to push toward the base, at which point 2 heavy LRM turrets started stripping my armor on exactly one mech. Managed to clear the field--5 lances of 4 mechs each! Plus 4 heavy turrets. Had to eject one of my guys though after one arm got blown off, taking a 35 damage medium laser and a +50% crit SRM6 with it. The ejection destroyed my +2 morale comms array too.
Still, that was ludicrous. I ran two mechs completely out of ammo, with a third damned close. 15 rounds of continuous fire looks to be inadequate when it comes to missions like that.
Edit: of the 5 lances, 4 of them dropped 1 heavy and 3 mediums, typically Shadowhawks, Griffins, Enforcers, and Hunchbacks. One of them substituted a medium for a Fire Javelin. This new mission does not fuck around.
Cripes. Did my first 3 skull Attack and Defend mission (well, without having a dishonerable withdrawal). Dropped my 4x Orions. Everything was well in hand until I tried to push toward the base, at which point 2 heavy LRM turrets started stripping my armor on exactly one mech. Managed to clear the field--5 lances of 4 mechs each! Plus 4 heavy turrets. Had to eject one of my guys though after one arm got blown off, taking a 35 damage medium laser and a +50% crit SRM6 with it. The ejection destroyed my +2 morale comms array too.
Still, that was ludicrous. I ran two mechs completely out of ammo, with a third damned close. 15 rounds of continuous fire looks to be inadequate when it comes to missions like that.
Edit: of the 5 lances, 4 of them dropped 1 heavy and 3 mediums, typically Shadowhawks, Griffins, Enforcers, and Hunchbacks. One of them substituted a medium for a Fire Javelin. This new mission does not fuck around.
Yeah I have a backup lance of mechs made up of energy-only setups just for those missions. They're insane, but really enjoyable.
I have an attack and defend but I don't think I can really do it. I'm finding anything above one star difficult. I just got a wolverine though, and put three lasers on it.
0
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
MWO;
My Hellbringer is a tad more durable now that I've changed the loadout and gotten the side torsos all slotted up. The weapon array is now just a ton of ERMLs, set to fire in two groups. Cools okay for some prolonged hits, still plays better at range.
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I have an attack and defend but I don't think I can really do it. I'm finding anything above one star difficult. I just got a wolverine though, and put three lasers on it.
I wouldn't bother with Attack and Defend until much later. Shit is hard. You'll be engaging up to 20 mechs and 4 turrets over the course of the mission. You need some serious firepower to take that on.
Pretty much. Actually they mean much more in the campaign than they do outside of it. In the campaign they will cap what they throw at you until you start getting tougher mechs (AKA proceeding through the campaign missions). They might spawn in vehicles instead--which can still be deadly!--but vehicles are much easier to kill than mechs.
But certain missions tend to be a cast iron bitch and I'd recommend just avoiding them until you have better mechs and better ability to recover from your lance getting mauled. Missions like Attack and Defend and Target Acquisition should simply be avoided until you have a better ship with more repair upgrades and heavies. The campaign missions are also basically puzzles, and the first time through chances are you're going to get badly beaten up but succeed by the skin of your teeth. At least that was my experience on the first playthrough.
If you're still in the Leopard, you're probably limited to 1.5 skull missions at most simply because repair times will be crippling if you get too badly beat up.
Depends on the medium, but a combination of it's hard points and speed will give you a good idea of it's prefered roll.
Here's a few I personally like:
Shadowhawk: good all around in it's default configuration, but I've found great success ripping out it's weaponry and replacing it with a large laser, small laser and 3 srm 4's with two tons of ammo. This makes it more of a knife fighter then the default version.
Centurion Boat: Remove the AC10 and ammo and then replace them with 2 extra LRM 10's and a 2nd ton of ammo. This gives you a slower trebuchet, but also one that can take a bit more of a beating as well.
Yen lo wang Centurion: Ditch the LRM's and AC 10, replace them with an AC20, 2 tons of ammo and jump jets. This will make for an extremely lethal mech that can credibly threaten all but the biggest mechs, with one good head shot being able to net you good salvage.
Tebuchet: yank a medium laser and slap in an extra ton of ammo. You won't get as much punch in shorter range engagements, but you rarely want to be in those situations with this bad boy, and more ammo means more turns you can be dope smacking people with 30 lrms a turn.
Kintaro: A pretty solid mech overall, but generally speaking I ditch that lrm 5 in favor of more heat sinks.
A good thing to remember is that the skill rating is an estimate on difficulty and will be within 1 skull of that ammount either up or down; the payout is usually a good indicator of how hardcore the mission is liable to be.
Generally though this is what you can expect:
1/2 1 lance or less of light mechs and low tier vehicles almost assuredly missing armor. easy picking for your starter lance.
1 1-2 lances of light mechs and/or vehicles. the second lance is liable to appear after the first.
1.5 Again, mostly light mechs though you may see some mediums showing up as well as some heavier vehicles.
2 medium mechs with maybe some lights.
2.5 more mediums with the possibility of a heavy.
3 heavy mechs, very likely to be more then one lance.
3.5 Again: heavy mechs, assuredly in numbers at this point.
4 Heavys and probably assault mechs. If vehicles are turning up they are going to be absurdly deadly (shrekk (3 ppcs), LRM carrier (3 LRM20), SRM carrier (10 SRM6), Demolisher (2 ac20))
5 At this point expect to face multiple Assault mech lances.
Posts
I found there wasn't a lot of warning that you were taking on a mission too hard for you. If you want to race all the way to when you have no chance, it will let you
This is the pirate lady on the moon, right? That one can be a little tough. Did you get through it? I'm happy to put down some tips if you need to replay it.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I typically do this with whatever mech I've got in the lab:
1. Remove all equipment (there's a button for that)
2. Hit Max Armor
3. Remove some of the back armor from the CT and RT/LT...until I've got the tonnage down to a whole or half number (for example, 20/30 tons, 20.5/30, etc).
4. Add any jumpjets I want to add (If I even want them, I don't always)
5. Add guns/ammo based on what I intend for this mech's role to be.
6. Repeat with adding weapons until I've hit max tonnage.
To quote BotP...
They sell for more in the tabletop because mechs are supposed to be reasonably rare and valuable, but basically it's a game balance thing here. You'll end up swimming in mechs before too long, and them selling at high prices would make the game economics thoroughly pointless and broken.
I mean, grabbing salvage and selling it is still better than taking straight reward money for the most part (except maybe when the money rewards are like a million C-bills a run and you've got a lance of assault mechs all run special high-end gear), even with mech prices that low. It's actually good to check on your stored gear every once in a while because you're probably sitting on a pile of partial mechs you'll never use and mountains of certain parts that you definitely don't need 50 of; selling off that stuff can drop a nice chunk of change in your pocket, for when you come across that third of a chunk of an assault in a store that's been eluding you for hours.
I'll tweak armor, particularly for legs as they tend to be over-armored for the amount of hits they take in general and arms as they tend to be under-armored, but otherwise I feel for a lot of mechs you'll sacrifice too much firepower to actually get max armor.
Also, in the early parts of the game, I would not recommend these particular steps. Refitting all equipment on a mech at once will incur substantial refit downtime that you most likely cannot afford early on. You need at least some upgrades to your mechbay before refit times become reasonable to do this. Instead, I'd be more deliberate and say pick one thing you want to sacrifice, a heatsink or laser for example, and add the freed up armor weight manually then repeat as necessary. That'll keep changes and thus refit times to a minimum.
For light mechs, I'll keep them as is for armor and then tweak things like drop PPCs and use large lasers instead, move ammo into legs, etc. As soon as possible I'll be using 30-35 ton lights, and only use lights when I don't have enough mediums. Fire Javelins, Panthers, etc. Stuff with enough punch to be useful. Those mechs with 2 medium lasers are can't even close the deal with back shots. IMO they're garbage.
Mediums, same deal. 680 armor isn't great, 760 is preferred. 920 is nice, but you give up a lot of tonnage for it. Anything less than 680 armor in a medium isn't worth using without upgrading. Typically I'll move some leg armor into the front side torsos since those are usually under-armored. All ammos goes to the legs, period. Aside from that, it's small things. Maybe replace a pair of AC/2s on a blackjack with an AC/5; downgrade PPCs to LLas and drop in a heatsink or another MLas, etc. I don't like LRMs so often I'll swap an LRM5 or LRM10 for an SRM6 + ammo.
At some point you may get your hands on a Jaegermech--if it's an early heavy for you, it makes one hell of a sniper with 5 AC/5s. Just don't put it on the front lines without up-armoring it a lot.
Ammunition loads are often pretty silly too. In general, I shoot for 15 rounds of continuous combat since there are going to be times you're up against 3 lances + turrets. For example, let's say I have an AC/10 and an SRM6. That means 2 tons of ammo @ 8 rounds apiece for the AC/10 (16 rounds of continuous fire) and 1 ton for the SRM6 @ 100 rounds (16 rounds of continuous fire). 1 ton of ammo for an LRM10 is in my experience a recipe for running out of ammo towards the end of the engagement--when you're potentially pretty shot up and need to end things sooner rather than later. So I'd go for 2 tons of ammo just to be sure I don't run out at an inopportune time (if I don't drop the LRM10 for something else. Like I said, I'm not a fan of LRMs). YMMV of course, but that's how I like to stomp.
I can very much see the benefits of a classic Archer raining down indirect LRM20's
Or the Warhammer. Or the Phoenix Hawk, or....
Gah. Fuck Harmony Gold!
Plus HG and HPG settled so yeah. We're just waiting.
Steam: betsuni7
And the Excalibur already looks a lot like an Orion.
Veritechs have always been goofy as shit in Battletech and really don't make much sense there.
edit: the Blackjack is basically a Raider X, and while nothing really looks like the Spartan, it's basically a Catapult or Trebuchet in terms of capability so...
I don't know how it would be anything else:
Though if you want those unseen mechs in game today, there are already mods for that using the existing PGI models.
??
The Robotech Spartan is a Battletech Archer. And the Raider X's was known as a Rifleman in Battletech. Tomahawk = Warhammer, Officers Pod = Marauder, etc...
And IIRC, the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk and Crusader are all variations of Veritech fighters.
Of course, I refer only to the artwork used.
I'm comparing the Robotech mecha designs to the designs already in Battletech that we're playing with today.
I still maintain that the Veritechs are an ugly shoe-horn in however.
high armor, high damage per ton, i guess? SRMs are very powerful, AC20s are very powerful - a jump jet AC20 mech that can fire one huge shot from behind is super useful. Medium Lasers were good last time I played, but sort of only good if you could use the high tactics called shot to focus them all in one place. I think the called shot and the heat of mediums may have both changed.
I think LRMs and AC5s and AC2s are mostly bad in that weight class.
My preferred loadout is:
* 55 ton mech
* 760 armor
* AC/5, 1 ton of ammo
* SRM6, 1 ton of ammo
* Large laser
* jump jets/medium laser/heatsinks to taste (I prefer jump jets)
Long range, heavy hitting firepower, with the bulk of the damage pinpoint (so likely to blow off arms/legs/etc. and reduce incoming damage)
Going for an AC/10 and 2 tons of ammo is possible but you're going to be heavily compromised elsewhere. Typically I'll have to sacrifice jump jets and the SRM to get it. Or drop to 680 armor.
An alternative that I've found less effective but still satisfying is to go all in on SRMs, and try to stack 3+ SRM6s on one mech. You can do a pretty silly amount of damage that way, but it's going to sandpaper the hostile mech rather than be concentrated.
PPCs weigh too much and have too high heat to be practical IMO, so I always replace them with large lasers if I'm sticking with a long range energy loadout.
edit: Shadowhawks, Centurions, Enforcers, Hunchbacks, and if you're lucky enough to get one, Kintaros all have good starting loadouts that need minimal tweaks to make truly effective. But above is what I've found I work best with.
I dislike the AC/20 on mediums since although it packs a ridiculous punch, you won't have much ammo, you need to close to point blank range, and you have no other options for weapons fit. On a medium I prefer trying to hold the range somewhat open to stay out of the range of (for example) hostile Hunchbacks.
There are at least a few Unseens that are currently in the game that I know about (I haven't gotten all that far into the game). Battlemaster, Thunderbolt,and Shadow Hawk are currently in the game.
That's true. My frame of reference always goes back to the Robotech unseen. But there are indeed other unseen from other sources that are in the game.
Also the Griffin and Wolverine, all of those are from Fang of the Sun Dougram (aka non-Harmony Gold). The Locust is also an Unseen (from Crusher Joe), but I think it flew under most people's radar.
As for the Monster MkII, they did eventually put in a variant of the Stone Rhino that's equipped in a similar layout (take a look at the layout on the "5" version).
I did this with the Centurion with a pilot who had high Piloting and Gunnery (so he could move quickly and wouldn't waste too much expensive, heavy AC20 ammo) and it was an all-star.
I absolutely wouldn't recommend outfitting every mech that way, but I found it incredibly helpful to have one mobile, hard-hitting guy for those frequent occasions where there's one specific motherfucker that you absolutely, positively need to put down this round.
Still, that was ludicrous. I ran two mechs completely out of ammo, with a third damned close. 15 rounds of continuous fire looks to be inadequate when it comes to missions like that.
Edit: of the 5 lances, 4 of them dropped 1 heavy and 3 mediums, typically Shadowhawks, Griffins, Enforcers, and Hunchbacks. One of them substituted a medium for a Fire Javelin. This new mission does not fuck around.
Yeah I have a backup lance of mechs made up of energy-only setups just for those missions. They're insane, but really enjoyable.
My Hellbringer is a tad more durable now that I've changed the loadout and gotten the side torsos all slotted up. The weapon array is now just a ton of ERMLs, set to fire in two groups. Cools okay for some prolonged hits, still plays better at range.
I wouldn't bother with Attack and Defend until much later. Shit is hard. You'll be engaging up to 20 mechs and 4 turrets over the course of the mission. You need some serious firepower to take that on.
Pretty much. Actually they mean much more in the campaign than they do outside of it. In the campaign they will cap what they throw at you until you start getting tougher mechs (AKA proceeding through the campaign missions). They might spawn in vehicles instead--which can still be deadly!--but vehicles are much easier to kill than mechs.
But certain missions tend to be a cast iron bitch and I'd recommend just avoiding them until you have better mechs and better ability to recover from your lance getting mauled. Missions like Attack and Defend and Target Acquisition should simply be avoided until you have a better ship with more repair upgrades and heavies. The campaign missions are also basically puzzles, and the first time through chances are you're going to get badly beaten up but succeed by the skin of your teeth. At least that was my experience on the first playthrough.
If you're still in the Leopard, you're probably limited to 1.5 skull missions at most simply because repair times will be crippling if you get too badly beat up.
Escort is slooooooow, Defend Base can mean you're surrounded early on, and then reinforcements drop in, etc.
Depends on the medium, but a combination of it's hard points and speed will give you a good idea of it's prefered roll.
Here's a few I personally like:
Shadowhawk: good all around in it's default configuration, but I've found great success ripping out it's weaponry and replacing it with a large laser, small laser and 3 srm 4's with two tons of ammo. This makes it more of a knife fighter then the default version.
Centurion Boat: Remove the AC10 and ammo and then replace them with 2 extra LRM 10's and a 2nd ton of ammo. This gives you a slower trebuchet, but also one that can take a bit more of a beating as well.
Yen lo wang Centurion: Ditch the LRM's and AC 10, replace them with an AC20, 2 tons of ammo and jump jets. This will make for an extremely lethal mech that can credibly threaten all but the biggest mechs, with one good head shot being able to net you good salvage.
Tebuchet: yank a medium laser and slap in an extra ton of ammo. You won't get as much punch in shorter range engagements, but you rarely want to be in those situations with this bad boy, and more ammo means more turns you can be dope smacking people with 30 lrms a turn.
Kintaro: A pretty solid mech overall, but generally speaking I ditch that lrm 5 in favor of more heat sinks.
A good thing to remember is that the skill rating is an estimate on difficulty and will be within 1 skull of that ammount either up or down; the payout is usually a good indicator of how hardcore the mission is liable to be.
Generally though this is what you can expect:
1/2 1 lance or less of light mechs and low tier vehicles almost assuredly missing armor. easy picking for your starter lance.
1 1-2 lances of light mechs and/or vehicles. the second lance is liable to appear after the first.
1.5 Again, mostly light mechs though you may see some mediums showing up as well as some heavier vehicles.
2 medium mechs with maybe some lights.
2.5 more mediums with the possibility of a heavy.
3 heavy mechs, very likely to be more then one lance.
3.5 Again: heavy mechs, assuredly in numbers at this point.
4 Heavys and probably assault mechs. If vehicles are turning up they are going to be absurdly deadly (shrekk (3 ppcs), LRM carrier (3 LRM20), SRM carrier (10 SRM6), Demolisher (2 ac20))
5 At this point expect to face multiple Assault mech lances.