Okay, I really rather think I'm at the point where I just need to find some way to upgrade my repairs. Because missions seem to be starting to assume damages, and what I can't really do is do a mission and end up with my entire garage taken with repairing mechs for an age.
You need to progress in the campaign to get better at repairing stuff. Once you get your big ship and start upgrading its mech bay repair times will drop a lot.
Okay, I really rather think I'm at the point where I just need to find some way to upgrade my repairs. Because missions seem to be starting to assume damages, and what I can't really do is do a mission and end up with my entire garage taken with repairing mechs for an age.
This last one was a serious clusterfuck. When this little bastard suddenly appeared from my flank on the edge of the map and unloaded a full salvo on my Centurion's right side, I may have started cursing loudly.
The end result is this:
And sure, I made 500K moneys and got a piece each from a Wolverine and a second Centurion, but I think that's about what I'm spending on repairs and now I'm dead in the water for two months.
Are you selling off ‘Mech parts that you don’t need? There’s a surprising amount of Cbills in Cicada bits.
I generally wait until the mech is complete before selling it, I assumed that'd be better return for money? I mean, I'm pretty solvent money-wise. I'm currently sitting at nearly 4M with a monthly cost of about 320K, I can take the two month forced vacation, it's just frustrating to have to do :P.
That sort of thing happens in just about every run I do; you think you're doing swimmingly and then a mission surprise (in my case its always a Hunchback) ruins your day, the OP obliterates your lance, and you're dead in the water for a month plus. And if you're not fighting with insane repair times, you're fighting against insane med bay times on your best pilots instead.
Okay, I really rather think I'm at the point where I just need to find some way to upgrade my repairs. Because missions seem to be starting to assume damages, and what I can't really do is do a mission and end up with my entire garage taken with repairing mechs for an age.
This last one was a serious clusterfuck. When this little bastard suddenly appeared from my flank on the edge of the map and unloaded a full salvo on my Centurion's right side, I may have started cursing loudly.
The end result is this:
And sure, I made 500K moneys and got a piece each from a Wolverine and a second Centurion, but I think that's about what I'm spending on repairs and now I'm dead in the water for two months.
Are you selling off ‘Mech parts that you don’t need? There’s a surprising amount of Cbills in Cicada bits.
I generally wait until the mech is complete before selling it, I assumed that'd be better return for money? I mean, I'm pretty solvent money-wise. I'm currently sitting at nearly 4M with a monthly cost of about 320K, I can take the two month forced vacation, it's just frustrating to have to do :P.
I went through this in my campaign. The vanilla game (even with DLC) doesn't give you the option to sell mech portions; only complete mechs. Selling mech parts requires a mod.
Mugsley on
0
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
Battletech should really just start off with max resolve because unless I start in range of any enemy units I'm just gonna skip turns until I have max resolve anyway.
You don't start accumulating resolve until you've made contact, though...?
I just did the next mission (which by the way may have been marked two skulls but was actually pretty dang easy even with Kamea deciding to Kool-aid man into the prison while I was trying to go around to not enter through the front door, resulting in a mad scramble to get there) and got the Argo. And okay, I see that I need to spend my war chest improving this place but it will certainly help, having more mech repair points and some extra slots to keep a couple reserves.
Battletech should really just start off with max resolve because unless I start in range of any enemy units I'm just gonna skip turns until I have max resolve anyway.
You don't start accumulating resolve until you've made contact, though...?
I need to do a better job of getting to a defensible position after contact so I'm not giving them free shots in the first 1-2 rounds. Especially since I'm fielding Heavies and Assaults now
I noticed I had half my lance that was deadsided on the same side, so I started making sure to spend my first couple turns moving around the edge of the map so I'd be in a more favorable position to take advantage of the extra armor
Better to actually sell them in friendly systems. Scrapping stuff is leaving money on the table. Useful for when you're out of cash in the middle of space, but try to avoid it.
+2
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
Better to actually sell them in friendly systems. Scrapping stuff is leaving money on the table. Useful for when you're out of cash in the middle of space, but try to avoid it.
When you have a veritable mountain of scrap and the difference between selling and scrapping 2/3rds of a mech is like 50 to 100 grand, it's ok to go for the scrap. Especially with cheaper lighter mechs like Spiders/Locusts/Commandos of which you run into a lot in the early stages. You're making a little bit less money far more consistently rather than waiting long periods of time just to get a small bonus.
I just did the next mission (which by the way may have been marked two skulls but was actually pretty dang easy even with Kamea deciding to Kool-aid man into the prison while I was trying to go around to not enter through the front door, resulting in a mad scramble to get there) and got the Argo. And okay, I see that I need to spend my war chest improving this place but it will certainly help, having more mech repair points and some extra slots to keep a couple reserves.
Upgrading the Argo is rewarding on multiple levels, since aside from the direct benefits (faster repairs, healing, more morale) you can also benefit from random events more easily and that can lead to bonus morale, money, more side traits for your crew, XP and other fun stuff
+10
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
Some of the events that pop up after you get a zero-g pool are hilarious.
Well, I did a few more missions. The first went pretty by the numbers. The second... not so much.
The prompt mentioned a lance of pirates. Turned out, it was two full lances of light mechs, made of 5 Firestarters, 2 Panthers with PPCs, and a Commando with all the SRMs, in a tiny map. This went about the way you're expecting.
Christ on a biscuit this stung. Didn't help that when the enemies hid in spores I couldn't manage to get a hit on them.
And then the third was hilarious, because it was in fact only one lance, and I kinda destroyed them, even if they had a Heavy (a Catapult, which seems to shoot roughly $Texas in misiles every round, but honestly I'm not sure it seems worth it). I'm happy having more slots lets me experiment more, because I tried a modded Firestarter and boy this thing is fucking hilarious, just running around punching people and setting them on fire as a free action to delete those annoying high evasion mechs that make me waste shots.
I know I'm on my way to Assault territory in my campaign but what were the loadouts and use cases you guys had for Grasshoppers? The ones I've tried to use ended up having too little armor for my intended use and ultimately got sidelined, so I feel like I'm missing something.
At one point I toyed around with a melee setup using arm and leg mods but again, the armor wasn't there to support it.
0
Options
ExtreaminatusGo forth and amplify,the Noise Marines are here!Registered Userregular
My fight-ending Grasshopper had a couple medium lasers, max small lasers, max jumpjets, and max armor. It was towards the end-game, though, so I could easily jump behind enemy mechs and precision shot right into the CT and blow it up in one go.
I make dumbass mechs, though, and my strategy is to just run forward screaming until Sumire tells me it's time to go home, so YMMV.
I know I'm on my way to Assault territory in my campaign but what were the loadouts and use cases you guys had for Grasshoppers? The ones I've tried to use ended up having too little armor for my intended use and ultimately got sidelined, so I feel like I'm missing something.
At one point I toyed around with a melee setup using arm and leg mods but again, the armor wasn't there to support it.
Try this out:
Remove the medium lasers and lrm, Slap in 6 machine guns, 2 ammo and then max out that armor. You'll have yourself one hell of a punchbot that has a little range from the Large laser and a horrifying melee value; each punch from that thing does 90 backed by 90 support weapon's damage (splashing all over the place and crit fishing like crazy) and never has to worry about heat.
I know I'm on my way to Assault territory in my campaign but what were the loadouts and use cases you guys had for Grasshoppers? The ones I've tried to use ended up having too little armor for my intended use and ultimately got sidelined, so I feel like I'm missing something.
At one point I toyed around with a melee setup using arm and leg mods but again, the armor wasn't there to support it.
I used a bunch of MLs, a bunch of SLs and some MGs, some DHSs and HSs, lots of armor and maxed JJs, cockpit mod and avoidance gyro, maybe a heat exchanger. Sprint towards the enemy, then jump behind them and core them from behind. Anything that doesn't explode in one go will be crit to hell by the machine guns since they fire last. If you are overheating punch stuff. If you are not overheating but are close enough punch stuff anyways. Goes best with pilots that have either Cooling Vent or Ace Pilot and doesn't work nearly as well if you are the kind of player who just needs to fire every turn - that +20% sprint towards enemy is often critical for shedding heat, getting avoidance and being where you need to be next round. Also works a lot better than a dedicated punch-bot in my experience since it's a lot easier to get within 90 m of an enemy than starting a turn within walking distance so you can punch them.
As a bonus you can use it to decapitate enemies, especially once you are in SL range. Sure it might not do it in one go like a King Crab but it's almost certain to land 1-2 laser hits per Precision Shot, which means two turns to destroy a head.
I know I'm on my way to Assault territory in my campaign but what were the loadouts and use cases you guys had for Grasshoppers? The ones I've tried to use ended up having too little armor for my intended use and ultimately got sidelined, so I feel like I'm missing something.
At one point I toyed around with a melee setup using arm and leg mods but again, the armor wasn't there to support it.
I used a bunch of MLs, a bunch of SLs and some MGs, some DHSs and HSs, lots of armor and maxed JJs, cockpit mod and avoidance gyro, maybe a heat exchanger. Sprint towards the enemy, then jump behind them and core them from behind. Anything that doesn't explode in one go will be crit to hell by the machine guns since they fire last. If you are overheating punch stuff. If you are not overheating but are close enough punch stuff anyways. Goes best with pilots that have either Cooling Vent or Ace Pilot and doesn't work nearly as well if you are the kind of player who just needs to fire every turn - that +20% sprint towards enemy is often critical for shedding heat, getting avoidance and being where you need to be next round. Also works a lot better than a dedicated punch-bot in my experience since it's a lot easier to get within 90 m of an enemy than starting a turn within walking distance so you can punch them.
As a bonus you can use it to decapitate enemies, especially once you are in SL range. Sure it might not do it in one go like a King Crab but it's almost certain to land 1-2 laser hits per Precision Shot, which means two turns to destroy a head.
This reminds me of the pre-nerf headshot system that made machine guns the most amazing mech hunting tool; I remember drilling a battlemaster's brains out with a firestarter of all things and laughing so hard when not only did he go down but he still had a head, thus reducing my repair bill.
Battletech should really just start off with max resolve because unless I start in range of any enemy units I'm just gonna skip turns until I have max resolve anyway.
You don't start accumulating resolve until you've made contact, though...?
Drascin, do you have the Argo yet?
Resolve starts building from start of turn 2, no need for contact.
My endgame Atlas build was 2xGauss 2xLarge Laser++.
Just headshotted everything.
+1
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
If you headshot someone with a single Gauss it will typically take off their head in one go anyway. I do 1 Gauss 1 AC20. 1 for accuracy, 1 for extra damage to wherever it lands.
An Atlas with that setup will still do enough damage to core most torsos in a single shot anyway, no need for dual AC20 if you've found Gauss.
Edit: my full weapon setup for Atlas was 1 Gauss 1 AC20, 2 medium pulse lasers, 2 6SRM and a +4 dmg 4SRM, and either a ballistic or a missile targeting computer, your choice.
Edit: take off from the rear armor if you don't have enough tonnage to make this happen. Atlas's have enough structure to where you can still take a ton of hits even with low armor.
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
If you can get Gauss, it's more flexible, it's just that AC/20+++ gives you the ability to headshot through anything except a Bulwark'd pilot in the trees who has braced (unless you have breaching shot). And given the paucity of Gauss rifles, I assume they aren't available.
Really depends on what you want the atlas to do IMHO, with you options basically being turn it into a long range fire support mech or an anvil.
0
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
Thats why I like my setup as well because it makes you deadly at all ranges. My Atlas can actually do something while the rest of my mechs are sniping units across the field.
I haven't checked. Is 2*AC/20 less heat than AC/20 + Gauss? Like you said, the damage discrepancy doesn't matter much
Low heat is one of Gauss Rifle's strong points. Gauss is only 5 heat while AC20 is 24.
ETA: Atlas is great and all but it's a bit low on hardpoints so you need to use a few heavier weapons no matter what you do. King Crab has a lot more flexibility given it has a bunch more hardpoints.
Mirkel on
+2
Options
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
It's also slow AF (the K Crab) and most of the major weapons hardpoints are lower on the mech so it gets blocked by terrain more often. Just like MWO!
If they wanted to be super realistic they'd give a much higher chance to hit to the torso as well, not sure if thats a thing.
I did flashpoint that gives you a chance to use a Hatchetman last night. Kinda tough as I did with 3 mediums and a light, but I pulled through minus an arm here and a torso there.
But that Hatchetman was fun! I didn't use the AC/10 once! I was far too enamoured with the close up melee animation of the hatchet popping into attack mode before a strike.
Posts
You need to progress in the campaign to get better at repairing stuff. Once you get your big ship and start upgrading its mech bay repair times will drop a lot.
I generally wait until the mech is complete before selling it, I assumed that'd be better return for money? I mean, I'm pretty solvent money-wise. I'm currently sitting at nearly 4M with a monthly cost of about 320K, I can take the two month forced vacation, it's just frustrating to have to do :P.
I went through this in my campaign. The vanilla game (even with DLC) doesn't give you the option to sell mech portions; only complete mechs. Selling mech parts requires a mod.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
You don't start accumulating resolve until you've made contact, though...?
@Drascin, do you have the Argo yet?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I need to do a better job of getting to a defensible position after contact so I'm not giving them free shots in the first 1-2 rounds. Especially since I'm fielding Heavies and Assaults now
Better to actually sell them in friendly systems. Scrapping stuff is leaving money on the table. Useful for when you're out of cash in the middle of space, but try to avoid it.
When you have a veritable mountain of scrap and the difference between selling and scrapping 2/3rds of a mech is like 50 to 100 grand, it's ok to go for the scrap. Especially with cheaper lighter mechs like Spiders/Locusts/Commandos of which you run into a lot in the early stages. You're making a little bit less money far more consistently rather than waiting long periods of time just to get a small bonus.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Upgrading the Argo is rewarding on multiple levels, since aside from the direct benefits (faster repairs, healing, more morale) you can also benefit from random events more easily and that can lead to bonus morale, money, more side traits for your crew, XP and other fun stuff
As are the related images.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Christ on a biscuit this stung. Didn't help that when the enemies hid in spores I couldn't manage to get a hit on them.
And then the third was hilarious, because it was in fact only one lance, and I kinda destroyed them, even if they had a Heavy (a Catapult, which seems to shoot roughly $Texas in misiles every round, but honestly I'm not sure it seems worth it). I'm happy having more slots lets me experiment more, because I tried a modded Firestarter and boy this thing is fucking hilarious, just running around punching people and setting them on fire as a free action to delete those annoying high evasion mechs that make me waste shots.
At one point I toyed around with a melee setup using arm and leg mods but again, the armor wasn't there to support it.
I make dumbass mechs, though, and my strategy is to just run forward screaming until Sumire tells me it's time to go home, so YMMV.
Try this out:
Remove the medium lasers and lrm, Slap in 6 machine guns, 2 ammo and then max out that armor. You'll have yourself one hell of a punchbot that has a little range from the Large laser and a horrifying melee value; each punch from that thing does 90 backed by 90 support weapon's damage (splashing all over the place and crit fishing like crazy) and never has to worry about heat.
I used a bunch of MLs, a bunch of SLs and some MGs, some DHSs and HSs, lots of armor and maxed JJs, cockpit mod and avoidance gyro, maybe a heat exchanger. Sprint towards the enemy, then jump behind them and core them from behind. Anything that doesn't explode in one go will be crit to hell by the machine guns since they fire last. If you are overheating punch stuff. If you are not overheating but are close enough punch stuff anyways. Goes best with pilots that have either Cooling Vent or Ace Pilot and doesn't work nearly as well if you are the kind of player who just needs to fire every turn - that +20% sprint towards enemy is often critical for shedding heat, getting avoidance and being where you need to be next round. Also works a lot better than a dedicated punch-bot in my experience since it's a lot easier to get within 90 m of an enemy than starting a turn within walking distance so you can punch them.
As a bonus you can use it to decapitate enemies, especially once you are in SL range. Sure it might not do it in one go like a King Crab but it's almost certain to land 1-2 laser hits per Precision Shot, which means two turns to destroy a head.
This reminds me of the pre-nerf headshot system that made machine guns the most amazing mech hunting tool; I remember drilling a battlemaster's brains out with a firestarter of all things and laughing so hard when not only did he go down but he still had a head, thus reducing my repair bill.
Resolve starts building from start of turn 2, no need for contact.
Maybe BTA changes this.
(dropped the SRMs and LRM20 and put in a LRM15++ and some JJs; to start)
You point it at things and they explode.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
You have to put two AC/20s in it or Yang will quit your crew in disgust.
Just headshotted everything.
An Atlas with that setup will still do enough damage to core most torsos in a single shot anyway, no need for dual AC20 if you've found Gauss.
Edit: my full weapon setup for Atlas was 1 Gauss 1 AC20, 2 medium pulse lasers, 2 6SRM and a +4 dmg 4SRM, and either a ballistic or a missile targeting computer, your choice.
Edit: take off from the rear armor if you don't have enough tonnage to make this happen. Atlas's have enough structure to where you can still take a ton of hits even with low armor.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Low heat is one of Gauss Rifle's strong points. Gauss is only 5 heat while AC20 is 24.
ETA: Atlas is great and all but it's a bit low on hardpoints so you need to use a few heavier weapons no matter what you do. King Crab has a lot more flexibility given it has a bunch more hardpoints.
If they wanted to be super realistic they'd give a much higher chance to hit to the torso as well, not sure if thats a thing.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Atlas and KC are both exactly as slow, 3 move. If you want a faster assault you can always use a Banshee. :P
FTFY
There are some mechs where I do wonder why they even have arms. Spider comes to mind. Though then I guess it's for punching people.
Now I wanna see a lance with a Banshee, a Dragon, a ... Cicada? And not sure which light I'd pull for that hell lance.
If your theme is "mechs with too big engines" then it's gotta be Spider for the fourth spot.
But that Hatchetman was fun! I didn't use the AC/10 once! I was far too enamoured with the close up melee animation of the hatchet popping into attack mode before a strike.