-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
+3
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
@Iolo's back in medbay in my first Campaign. Didn't take screens though, it's been a rough week.
We'd taken back Weldry and kicked off the Restoration with some reasonable success. While mopping up post-liberation we caught a mission to eliminate a Directorate holdout base; nothing too difficult.
The base sat at the top of a steep rise with the approach well covered by turrets. Rather than take the direct route and run headfirst into whatever reserves are holed up in the base, we decide to take a wide circle up a perpendicular ridge, drawing the defenders out and down in pursuit and hitting them from above as we double back up the ridge. Which worked like a charm!
Right up until we wiped out the lance of light defenders and got up to the base, whereupon a lance of medium reinforcements arrived directly at our six on the same ridge behind us, weapons hot and able to rip into our rear armour before were even able to take an action. Iolo, in our Centurion missile boat was at the rear and took the brunt of it, losing a leg and an arm to in a drawn out retreat back down into our low-lying insertion point as we got caught between the turrets and the reinforcements. He took a couple direct hits from an AC20 Hunchback and was harried the rest of the way by a Phoenix Hawk and Blackjack DB1 who kept him turning BBQ style to keep presenting fresh armour. However, even after he lost his leg to an ammo explosion and had an arm blown off, he kept on fighting with his one lone remaining ML. He was even able to bring down the Blackjack after the rest of the team flanked it and stripped off it's rear armour, giving it the choice of either presenting its unarmoured rear CT to his one laser or the twin Large lasers and PPC wielded by the Blackjack and Vindicator on the other side.
It was an ugly win, but as the saying goes, any win you walk away from...
Also managed to snag the Hunchback chassis. Now I have an AC20, Ho Ho Ho.
I know exactly the map you are talking about. It was introduced with Flashpoints for the mission where you blow up Mitch Gitelman's favorite bar. It makes zero sense to fight defenders and turrets up a hill with almost no cover, so any sensible commander will take the team up the cliff to the right and come in through the woods. Then... surprise!
That might be the most egregious of the warp-OpFor-into-your-rear mean streak BATTLETECH has. Glad I survived it!
That might be the most egregious of the warp-OpFor-into-your-rear mean streak BATTLETECH has.
I hate those so much! They totally shatter my suspension of disbelief, it goes from "here I am commanding a mercenary lance" to "lol this is a game and the enemy has warping stealth ninja reinforcements" instantly. I've few times just plain old alt-F4'd out if the reinforcements deal permanent damage (destroy ++ weapons/gear etc).
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I generally don't have a problem with most, but there's a few that consistently are a pain in my ass:
* the one martian convoy assault mission where the only cover is directly in front of the convoy--so of course I park myself in it, and then enemies warp into my rear. Plus the convoy is usually loaded with Demolishers and those triple PPC toting pains in the asses and escorted by assaults.
* a meeting engagement in a valley with steep enough sides I don't want to bother going up them with anything heavier than a medium. Reinforcements basically land on top of my LZ allowing LRM fire directly into my rear arc.
That's about it? I've been surprised before, but those continue to manage to be a pain in my ass when I run into them.
The flipside of that is, of course, that once you've played enough you know where forces will appear and can become the ambusher. Convoy missions are especially good/bad for this, as you can run three mechs ahead and get the drop on the second/third wave OpFor after you trigger the convoy.
I downloaded the BTA3062 mod a couple days ago right when they released the clan invasion part and so far I am absolutely loving it. The variety of mechs and vehicles is great, and the most recent update added in the whole inner sphere map so you can really strike out in whatever direction you want. I have only had 1 crash in about 8 hours of playing, and I haven't really noticed any performance issues at all, which I had heard horror stories about w/ mods like Roguetech...I do have a pretty beefy PC though.
Regarding lights mechs, evasion, etc, I really like the system as so far as it seems to actually give a reason to retain light/medium mechs longer. My current drop loadout for my company is an Osiris, a Jenner, and then three mediums (Clint, Wolverine, Enforcer)...the Osiris and the Jenner are able to sprint around maintaining 5 or 6 evasion pips and scout, take opportunistic shots, etc...and not just get obliterated in a bad turn like in the base game where 3 or 4 apcs or something shoot at them, drop their evasion to 0, and then a heavy mech just obliterates them. Conversely, when I'm going up against light mechs the high levels of evasion really forces you to be tactical, taking your shots where they make the most sense and using abilities...I read on the discord someone advising that Sensor Lock was a must, which was great advice...my Jenner pilot rarely shoots at all and mainly just focuses on sensor locking the most opportunistic target for the rest of the team. It also makes a lot more reason to use some weapon systems like LBX's and SRMs/LRMs....my Enforcer came w/ an LBX-10 and the mod lets you swap between cluster and slugs, so I can focus on cluster rounds when firing at low hit chance targets so at least a few of the cluster shots do a bit of damage.
They also claim the AI has been improved, which at least so far seems to be the case. I ran one mission which was billed as something like "You've been hired to teach this businessmans idiot kid a lesson" and it was a 1 on 1 mission against an inexperienced mech pilot, w/ a 50 ton max drop. So I load up and drop my main character in a Clint, only to have the enemy come walking out in an Orion (first heavy mech I'd seen in the campaign)....my first reaction was that I'm screwed, but sure enough, the Orion played as described as a super inexperienced mechwarrior...fired everything at me for 3 turns while I sprinted around, leading to him overheating and shutting down which let me close in and finish him off w/ some more high percentage shots.
Maybe it gets really unbalanced or weird at higher tonnages, and I haven't encountered any clans yet, but at least for now it has been a great mod and I'm loving the new experience.
The flipside of that is, of course, that once you've played enough you know where forces will appear and can become the ambusher. Convoy missions are especially good/bad for this, as you can run three mechs ahead and get the drop on the second/third wave OpFor after you trigger the convoy.
Not with my memory. I've played 500+ hours and I still only remember vaguely maybe a few reinforcement drops. Convoys aren't too bad though, the enemies aren't instantly firing at your back. Worst case scenario tends to be that they blow up one or two APCs.
-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
Nice to see them continuing work on it. When does the exclusive tag wear off?
-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
Nice to see them continuing work on it. When does the exclusive tag wear off?
All I care about is the 360 degree LOS radar. Still peeved about the LOS part, but we'll see how much the increased radius decreases my constant annoyance. IMHO single player mechwarrior games have always been about reacting strategically to live battlefield intel. Paying attention to your sensors is what separated it from a more typical action game. Having enemies constantly spawning in your blind spot is hot fucking garbage.
I mean, granted, the older games also let you memorize where the enemies mechs were powered down, waiting in ambush, and preemptively fuck up their day. But that's just good old fashioned fun and not exploitative at all!
+4
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
Nice to see them continuing work on it. When does the exclusive tag wear off?
The FAQ still says 1 year from launch, so unless Epic throws more money at them to keep it exclusive (doubtful), PGI would be fools not to get that Steam money as well.
PGI are routinely fools, but they've never missed trying to get mo' money.
Maybe it gets really unbalanced or weird at higher tonnages, and I haven't encountered any clans yet, but at least for now it has been a great mod and I'm loving the new experience.
Unless the BetterAI mod that 3062 uses has undergone some major improvements, Perma-Evasion actually works more to the benefit of the player later in the game.
The AI has a really strong predisposition to set up focus fire kills by first stripping Evasion using cheap (i.e. low heat) attacks, so if you have a Medium or Heavy with decent armor and JJs, you can easily use it to Evasion-tank significant some or all of the opfor. Just jump your designated tank far enough to generate four or five Evasion pips and closer to the enemy than any of your other mechs, and it's highly likely that the AI will plink away at it with shots that probably won't hit and won't do much damage even if they do. Rinse and repeat while the rest of your lance has its way with the enemy.
And to be clear, I'm not blaming BetterAI for this. It inherits that behavior from the Vanilla AI. BetterAI mostly just tweaks a lot of parameters the Vanilla AI uses to make decisions. I don't think mods can hook in at a low enough level to actually change the core logic of the AI.
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Listen, we can't let the AI get too smart, or we'll end up with some sort of badtimes Wobbie situation in real life.
-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
Nice to see them continuing work on it. When does the exclusive tag wear off?
The FAQ still says 1 year from launch, so unless Epic throws more money at them to keep it exclusive (doubtful), PGI would be fools not to get that Steam money as well.
PGI are routinely fools, but they've never missed trying to get mo' money.
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
BATTLETECH impressions update:
I'm still having a ball, but I find myself engaging with the game systems in a different ways as I get my head around different systems and the challenges presented change.
I'm finding mech refitting slightly less interesting now that I'm past the early austerity and salvage period. Working out how to balance a mech both individually and within the team context with what you've got on hand is a much different challenge when you're working with paper thin margins as opposed to once money is flowing in, you've got a dozen spare mechs, and enough equipment to arm a small planetary insurrection. I think this will pick up again a bit as more advanced ++ equipment finds its way into my posession, but there's also just the aspect where you can never replicate the learning curve of the first time. Plus standing-on-shoulders-of-giants here as I just ruthlessly loot everyone else's experience for hints and tips. I also get the impression that the campaign seems to throw excessive amounts of materiel at you, and a career probably has more of that management/outfitting challenge?
I've also got my head around many of the combat system quirks and features, although as each mission is still relatively fresh and interesting I've still got some way to go before I feel that's going to get tired. The ability to control the difficulty via the skull rating give the system a lot of legs, with opportunities to downgrade/upgrade your challenge nicely.
Oddly enough, I'm moving away from my usual dry tactical turn-based strategy beats and finding myself enjoying wallowing into the roelplaying aspects of the campaign. Yeah, I want a lounge in my Argo for the Mechwarriors to chill in. If I'm going to be building up an elite tactical strikeforce, I'm going to need more pilots and mechs, enough to fill out at least a Company of lances. Also, who do I want to be? Which factions derserve my support, and which my wrath? It's scratching that pretend soldiers itch in a way reminiscient of the original UFO/X-com for me (dangerous waters).
I'm also now moving into pretend robot pokemon, of course. Pretty much every time I see something new I'm like "Oh, I gotta cap that for salvage, I want one". I just got my first Heavy, bringing down a Dragon on whatever campaign story mission that first turns up in, pulling all 3 pieces of salvage and putting together what I'm possibly going to turn into a pretty nasty punchbot.
Gotta get more pilots, though. I'm putting together an elite mercenary crew here, I need more meat to drive more metal to fulfill more contracts to earn more credits and cement my reputation as one of the elite commanders of the Periphery.
That's unbelievably cool. Your new name is cool guy. Let's have sex.
+7
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Honestly, the first time through I found most of the campaign missions nailbitingly difficult--I frequently felt like I was barely making it on time, mechs, or both. Yes, they throw materiel at you in reward for what--on a first time through--is probably a difficult run.
Though the experience these days is a bit different. They re-tuned many of the missions and Heavy Metal ups the availability of really good gear that didn't used to be available at all.
And you're a merc. You want to suck up to all factions. No faction deserves your wrath as long as they have the CBills
Robot Pokemon is of course the best part of the game. Why yes, there is a museum filled with a hundred mechs sitting there in the unpopulated part of the Argo, why wouldn't there be one?
The God of Dakka also granted me 2 UAC2 and a UAC10 in the box
+14
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
edited April 2020
:whistle: I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To salvage them is my real test
To equip them is my cause
I will travel across the 'Sphere
Searching far and wide
Research BattleMechs to understand
The power that's inside
(BattleMechs, gotta salvage 'em all) It's you and me
I know it's my destiny
(BattleMechs) Oh, you're my best friend
In a 'Sphere we must defend
(BattleMechs, gotta salvage 'em all) All systems nominal
Our courage will pull us through
From Lights to Assaults
BattleMechs! (Gotta salvage 'em all) Gotta salvage 'em all
Every Batchall along the way
With courage I will face
I will Drop every day
To claim my rightful place
Come with me, the time is right
There's no better Lance
With PPCs and LRMs
We'll win the fight :whistle:
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
When operating as a Merc in the Inner Sphere just keep in mind that the Draconis Combine works under Hotel California rules. You can end your contract any time you like, but you may never leave.
Not that any Merc would want to leave, since the Combine is a fantastic, glorious and perfect place to live.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
The God of Dakka also granted me 2 UAC2 and a UAC10 in the box
That is a stroooong start.
What was your opening lance?
Vindicator, Vindicator, Jenner, Spider, Locust.
Immediately sold Locust when I got the Hawk.
Now I jumped to a 2 skull world got a LBX2++ which I'm sticking on the Phoenix Hawk. When it says each ammo bin is 25 rounds, how many game rounds is it worth?
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Each weapon fires one shot per shot. So a UAC weapons fire 2 shots, AC and LBX weapons fire one, LRM and SRMs fire the number after type (e.g. an LRM20 will fire 20 missiles). MGs can be a little weird: most are 5 rounds, but there are ++ variants that will fire 10 rounds per burst. It's specified when you mouse over the weapon.
Correct. Even though the LBX2 fires 12 individual shots, the ammo usage is divided by 12 in the weapon def (VolleyDivisor), so it only consumes 1 ammo.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
Each weapon fires one shot per shot. So a UAC weapons fire 2 shots, AC and LBX weapons fire one, LRM and SRMs fire the number after type (e.g. an LRM20 will fire 20 missiles). MGs can be a little weird: most are 5 rounds, but there are ++ variants that will fire 10 rounds per burst. It's specified when you mouse over the weapon.
25 seems like a weird number for ammo, but I never really used ac2s in vanilla
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Each weapon fires one shot per shot. So a UAC weapons fire 2 shots, AC and LBX weapons fire one, LRM and SRMs fire the number after type (e.g. an LRM20 will fire 20 missiles). MGs can be a little weird: most are 5 rounds, but there are ++ variants that will fire 10 rounds per burst. It's specified when you mouse over the weapon.
25 seems like a weird number for ammo, but I never really used ac2s in vanilla
Even in Vanilla 25 is weird. Because how often are you going to mount a single AC/2, if you're bothering with AC/2s at all? (hint: you shouldn't bother with AC/2s at all).
Each weapon fires one shot per shot. So a UAC weapons fire 2 shots, AC and LBX weapons fire one, LRM and SRMs fire the number after type (e.g. an LRM20 will fire 20 missiles). MGs can be a little weird: most are 5 rounds, but there are ++ variants that will fire 10 rounds per burst. It's specified when you mouse over the weapon.
25 seems like a weird number for ammo, but I never really used ac2s in vanilla
For reference, in TT, AC ammo bins were sized 100 damage per ton, with the AC2 a little less at 90 dmg/ton for some reason.
In this game, with it's 5x damage multiplier, the AC20 still gets 500 dmg/ton ammo, which is line with TT. But considering they increased damage for the AC2 not by 5x but by 12.5x here, that would have given it 1125 dmg/ton ammo bins if they kept the TT capacity. Cutting it down to 25 is still high but closer in line with the other ACs.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
+4
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
My campaign continues apace. Dropped into my first 3-skull mission last night with my lance of mostly mediums.
Mission was straight-forward: find a lance of Taurian mechs, and be the last mech standing. Aware I was probably going to be giving away several tons of weight in the match up, I thought I'd take a lance comprised of 2 mobile skirmishers/spotters, able to get in-and-out and deal targetted damage, and a pair of indirect missile boats - the trusty Centurion, and my brand-new bought-from-parts Archer, able to rain down some serious hurt from afar.
We're dropped into a forested region, with a last known location of the targets out in front of us. There's a good ridge on the left, the best high ground around, but it looks like a trap: anything in that location already would have any approach covered, and there's limited ways in or out. Any resistance at all could leave us pinned at the bottom of the cliff with the rest of the OpFor acting as the hammer to the cliff's anvil. The right flank doesn't have high ground, but does have broken cover and heavy forest; more importantly, there's a lot of open ground for manouvering in a punch up where movement will be my main advantage. I slip right, and try and come at them from that flank. I'm sure whatever is holding their right flank will be tough, but if I can bring my combined firepower to bear, it shouldn't be a...
Having predicated my entire strategy on rolling through from the right and picking off targets individually before they can bring their entire lance to outmuscle me, I'm now needing a rapid pivot. The rest of the opposition mechs are closing and there's no way I can blow through that KGC-0000 before they all join in, and I am not in a position to win a slugging match with whatever's out there.
New strategy:
1) Stay away from the King Crab.
2) Fall back and take on whatever gets out in front.
3) Stay away from the King Crab.
4) Stay mobile, stay hidden.
5) Stay away from the King Crab.
Fortunately, the lance I've picked is designed to do exactly this. A Dragon gets both torsos blown off before it gets a shot off, reducing it to spotter status. Unfortunately the other two mechs in the OpFor are a Javelin and a Vindicator, so my Shadowhawk gets a few layers peeled off it and an unlucky headshot that's going to put Behemoth in Medbay when we get back to the Argo. But the strategy works, and one by one the enemy lance gets put into the dirt until it's just the King Crab and my hounds and hunters. And the KCrab is chasing shadows as my Shadowhawk and Enforcer take turns jumping in and out and turning it around from every direction while 100 missiles come raining down every turn.
I come close to taking all three pieces of salvage, as I deal 4 injuries to the pilot, but in the end I have to settle for blowing off both legs - and instead taking the hardened cockpit++ as my third bit of salvage, dammit. Sigh. Almost got my first assault just a couple missions after my first Heavy. As it is I'll settle for taking all 4 of my mechs off the field without a single armour blow through against a well organised and well positioned superior opposition.
TLDR version: 8v8 group queue test wasn't bad, but they didn't like that the queue times were still too long.
So the idea is:
1. Merge group and solo queue
2. Max group size of 4.
3. MM will attempt to balance groups so not all groups will end up on the same side.
The alternative is...keep 8v8 group queue and rebalance rewards.
The main idea would take a lot of work, but they admit that the alternative would be relatively easy. Hopefully they'll be lazy and go the second route because I can think of a couple of units that will just start seal clubbing QP.
My campaign continues apace. Dropped into my first 3-skull mission last night with my lance of mostly mediums.
Mission was straight-forward: find a lance of Taurian mechs, and be the last mech standing. Aware I was probably going to be giving away several tons of weight in the match up, I thought I'd take a lance comprised of 2 mobile skirmishers/spotters, able to get in-and-out and deal targetted damage, and a pair of indirect missile boats - the trusty Centurion, and my brand-new bought-from-parts Archer, able to rain down some serious hurt from afar.
We're dropped into a forested region, with a last known location of the targets out in front of us. There's a good ridge on the left, the best high ground around, but it looks like a trap: anything in that location already would have any approach covered, and there's limited ways in or out. Any resistance at all could leave us pinned at the bottom of the cliff with the rest of the OpFor acting as the hammer to the cliff's anvil. The right flank doesn't have high ground, but does have broken cover and heavy forest; more importantly, there's a lot of open ground for manouvering in a punch up where movement will be my main advantage. I slip right, and try and come at them from that flank. I'm sure whatever is holding their right flank will be tough, but if I can bring my combined firepower to bear, it shouldn't be a...
Having predicated my entire strategy on rolling through from the right and picking off targets individually before they can bring their entire lance to outmuscle me, I'm now needing a rapid pivot. The rest of the opposition mechs are closing and there's no way I can blow through that KGC-0000 before they all join in, and I am not in a position to win a slugging match with whatever's out there.
New strategy:
1) Stay away from the King Crab.
2) Fall back and take on whatever gets out in front.
3) Stay away from the King Crab.
4) Stay mobile, stay hidden.
5) Stay away from the King Crab.
Fortunately, the lance I've picked is designed to do exactly this. A Dragon gets both torsos blown off before it gets a shot off, reducing it to spotter status. Unfortunately the other two mechs in the OpFor are a Javelin and a Vindicator, so my Shadowhawk gets a few layers peeled off it and an unlucky headshot that's going to put Behemoth in Medbay when we get back to the Argo. But the strategy works, and one by one the enemy lance gets put into the dirt until it's just the King Crab and my hounds and hunters. And the KCrab is chasing shadows as my Shadowhawk and Enforcer take turns jumping in and out and turning it around from every direction while 100 missiles come raining down every turn.
I come close to taking all three pieces of salvage, as I deal 4 injuries to the pilot, but in the end I have to settle for blowing off both legs - and instead taking the hardened cockpit++ as my third bit of salvage, dammit. Sigh. Almost got my first assault just a couple missions after my first Heavy. As it is I'll settle for taking all 4 of my mechs off the field without a single armour blow through against a well organised and well positioned superior opposition.
I had a real hard time giving up the archer for an assault missle boat late-game, I love that clustering bonus so much with LRMs. At one point I had a second one kitted with SRMs + MLs and while it took a bit to get into range (no JJs) when it did, it basically could one-shot alpha things, or least take a fully healthy make and strip it to chassis and generally rip off an entire side of the mech (Arm/Torso/Leg).
My campaign continues apace. Dropped into my first 3-skull mission last night with my lance of mostly mediums.
Mission was straight-forward: find a lance of Taurian mechs, and be the last mech standing. Aware I was probably going to be giving away several tons of weight in the match up, I thought I'd take a lance comprised of 2 mobile skirmishers/spotters, able to get in-and-out and deal targetted damage, and a pair of indirect missile boats - the trusty Centurion, and my brand-new bought-from-parts Archer, able to rain down some serious hurt from afar.
We're dropped into a forested region, with a last known location of the targets out in front of us. There's a good ridge on the left, the best high ground around, but it looks like a trap: anything in that location already would have any approach covered, and there's limited ways in or out. Any resistance at all could leave us pinned at the bottom of the cliff with the rest of the OpFor acting as the hammer to the cliff's anvil. The right flank doesn't have high ground, but does have broken cover and heavy forest; more importantly, there's a lot of open ground for manouvering in a punch up where movement will be my main advantage. I slip right, and try and come at them from that flank. I'm sure whatever is holding their right flank will be tough, but if I can bring my combined firepower to bear, it shouldn't be a...
Having predicated my entire strategy on rolling through from the right and picking off targets individually before they can bring their entire lance to outmuscle me, I'm now needing a rapid pivot. The rest of the opposition mechs are closing and there's no way I can blow through that KGC-0000 before they all join in, and I am not in a position to win a slugging match with whatever's out there.
New strategy:
1) Stay away from the King Crab.
2) Fall back and take on whatever gets out in front.
3) Stay away from the King Crab.
4) Stay mobile, stay hidden.
5) Stay away from the King Crab.
Fortunately, the lance I've picked is designed to do exactly this. A Dragon gets both torsos blown off before it gets a shot off, reducing it to spotter status. Unfortunately the other two mechs in the OpFor are a Javelin and a Vindicator, so my Shadowhawk gets a few layers peeled off it and an unlucky headshot that's going to put Behemoth in Medbay when we get back to the Argo. But the strategy works, and one by one the enemy lance gets put into the dirt until it's just the King Crab and my hounds and hunters. And the KCrab is chasing shadows as my Shadowhawk and Enforcer take turns jumping in and out and turning it around from every direction while 100 missiles come raining down every turn.
I come close to taking all three pieces of salvage, as I deal 4 injuries to the pilot, but in the end I have to settle for blowing off both legs - and instead taking the hardened cockpit++ as my third bit of salvage, dammit. Sigh. Almost got my first assault just a couple missions after my first Heavy. As it is I'll settle for taking all 4 of my mechs off the field without a single armour blow through against a well organised and well positioned superior opposition.
I had a real hard time giving up the archer for an assault missle boat late-game, I love that clustering bonus so much with LRMs. At one point I had a second one kitted with SRMs + MLs and while it took a bit to get into range (no JJs) when it did, it basically could one-shot alpha things, or least take a fully healthy make and strip it to chassis and generally rip off an entire side of the mech (Arm/Torso/Leg).
Archer also punches really hard. I had some melee mods on my SRM/ML Archer and I renamed it the Pugilist. Didn't melee that much but when some pesky light ran up to me with half-a-dozen evasion pips I slapped them good.
Archer also punches really hard. I had some melee mods on my SRM/ML Archer and I renamed it the Pugilist. Didn't melee that much but when some pesky light ran up to me with half-a-dozen evasion pips I slapped them good.
In my last campaign I put on some 60+ melee arm mods on my firestarter named "Sonny Liston" it lived up to the hype. It killed the Steel Beast flashpoint solo in two turns, one laser strike, then a single punch. I might as well try to make a full melee lance of the GOATS and see how far I can take it.
Humble Bundle currently is having build your own bundle sale for Paradox games. It has all the DLC for 50% off and it can go cheaper if you add all three and the shadow hawk expansion.
Humble Bundle currently is having build your own bundle sale for Paradox games. It has all the DLC for 50% off and it can go cheaper if you add all three and the shadow hawk expansion.
Handsome CostanzaAsk me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered Userregular
edited April 2020
Ahahaha oh man.
So I'm playing a defense mission on MW5. All I want is for the vindicator I'm in and the ER Large Laser on my squadmates Phoenix Hawk to survive. I get to the very end of the mission and those parameters are still being met. We worked the last enemy mech to the point where it had no weapons left. Phoenix Hawk lines up in front of the enemy mech to take the killing shot aand...
One of my other squadmates blows up the arm holding it's ER L Laser with a friggin single shot from a small laser. In my rage I immediately whipped my torso around and wildly fired a PPC shot... directly into the squadmates torso... coring it.
I couldn't help but laugh as the pilot ejected and I restarted the mission.
Edit: if I wanted to roleplay a ruthless merc company leader I could have totally progressed with that. Who says MW5 campaign doesnt have story!
My campaign continues apace. Dropped into my first 3-skull mission last night with my lance of mostly mediums.
I had a real hard time giving up the archer for an assault missle boat late-game, I love that clustering bonus so much with LRMs. At one point I had a second one kitted with SRMs + MLs and while it took a bit to get into range (no JJs) when it did, it basically could one-shot alpha things, or least take a fully healthy make and strip it to chassis and generally rip off an entire side of the mech (Arm/Torso/Leg).
I'm still dealing with this in my current run. Managed to pick up a LRM20+++ somewhere early on, and when I completed that chassis (with an additional LRM20) you could hear angels (or maybe valkyries) singing. I roflstomped my way through thirty or forty systems until assault mechs started popping. With a heavy heart, I've been dropping her in less and less. Soon it will likely be mass-produced 3M Banshees with crackshot pilots and upgraded cockpits and one dude in an assassin with a coil and a Char Aznable visor, but I might keep that Archer around just 'cause.
+2
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
Campaign update:
Advancing the story missions, I was caught a bit flat when I accidentally increased the difficulty and was facing down nothing but 3+ skull contracts while still mostly fielding nothing but medium mechs plus my store-bought Archer. 220 tons wwas my regular deployment weight.
And then over the course of the next 6 missions, I procured, in succession:
A Marauder, a Thunderbolt, a Catapult, an Awesome, another Marauder, and a Black Knight.
Posts
What I'm saying is, we got more booms than people is all.
More booms per boom!
Let's talk DLC!
https://mw5mercs.com/news/2020/04/38-mw5-mercs-dlc-update
things of particular note:
-Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
-7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
-50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
-New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
-New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
However, they also mentioned an update that includes a news ticker to indicate when borders change or tech advances in the timeline, a full 360-degree (still constrained by LOS) radar, and more QoL enhancements.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We'll just have to wait until later this year (maybe) to see how it all shakes out.
We'd taken back Weldry and kicked off the Restoration with some reasonable success. While mopping up post-liberation we caught a mission to eliminate a Directorate holdout base; nothing too difficult.
The base sat at the top of a steep rise with the approach well covered by turrets. Rather than take the direct route and run headfirst into whatever reserves are holed up in the base, we decide to take a wide circle up a perpendicular ridge, drawing the defenders out and down in pursuit and hitting them from above as we double back up the ridge. Which worked like a charm!
Right up until we wiped out the lance of light defenders and got up to the base, whereupon a lance of medium reinforcements arrived directly at our six on the same ridge behind us, weapons hot and able to rip into our rear armour before were even able to take an action. Iolo, in our Centurion missile boat was at the rear and took the brunt of it, losing a leg and an arm to in a drawn out retreat back down into our low-lying insertion point as we got caught between the turrets and the reinforcements. He took a couple direct hits from an AC20 Hunchback and was harried the rest of the way by a Phoenix Hawk and Blackjack DB1 who kept him turning BBQ style to keep presenting fresh armour. However, even after he lost his leg to an ammo explosion and had an arm blown off, he kept on fighting with his one lone remaining ML. He was even able to bring down the Blackjack after the rest of the team flanked it and stripped off it's rear armour, giving it the choice of either presenting its unarmoured rear CT to his one laser or the twin Large lasers and PPC wielded by the Blackjack and Vindicator on the other side.
It was an ugly win, but as the saying goes, any win you walk away from...
Also managed to snag the Hunchback chassis. Now I have an AC20, Ho Ho Ho.
That might be the most egregious of the warp-OpFor-into-your-rear mean streak BATTLETECH has. Glad I survived it!
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I hate those so much! They totally shatter my suspension of disbelief, it goes from "here I am commanding a mercenary lance" to "lol this is a game and the enemy has warping stealth ninja reinforcements" instantly. I've few times just plain old alt-F4'd out if the reinforcements deal permanent damage (destroy ++ weapons/gear etc).
* the one martian convoy assault mission where the only cover is directly in front of the convoy--so of course I park myself in it, and then enemies warp into my rear. Plus the convoy is usually loaded with Demolishers and those triple PPC toting pains in the asses and escorted by assaults.
* a meeting engagement in a valley with steep enough sides I don't want to bother going up them with anything heavier than a medium. Reinforcements basically land on top of my LZ allowing LRM fire directly into my rear arc.
That's about it? I've been surprised before, but those continue to manage to be a pain in my ass when I run into them.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Regarding lights mechs, evasion, etc, I really like the system as so far as it seems to actually give a reason to retain light/medium mechs longer. My current drop loadout for my company is an Osiris, a Jenner, and then three mediums (Clint, Wolverine, Enforcer)...the Osiris and the Jenner are able to sprint around maintaining 5 or 6 evasion pips and scout, take opportunistic shots, etc...and not just get obliterated in a bad turn like in the base game where 3 or 4 apcs or something shoot at them, drop their evasion to 0, and then a heavy mech just obliterates them. Conversely, when I'm going up against light mechs the high levels of evasion really forces you to be tactical, taking your shots where they make the most sense and using abilities...I read on the discord someone advising that Sensor Lock was a must, which was great advice...my Jenner pilot rarely shoots at all and mainly just focuses on sensor locking the most opportunistic target for the rest of the team. It also makes a lot more reason to use some weapon systems like LBX's and SRMs/LRMs....my Enforcer came w/ an LBX-10 and the mod lets you swap between cluster and slugs, so I can focus on cluster rounds when firing at low hit chance targets so at least a few of the cluster shots do a bit of damage.
They also claim the AI has been improved, which at least so far seems to be the case. I ran one mission which was billed as something like "You've been hired to teach this businessmans idiot kid a lesson" and it was a 1 on 1 mission against an inexperienced mech pilot, w/ a 50 ton max drop. So I load up and drop my main character in a Clint, only to have the enemy come walking out in an Orion (first heavy mech I'd seen in the campaign)....my first reaction was that I'm screwed, but sure enough, the Orion played as described as a super inexperienced mechwarrior...fired everything at me for 3 turns while I sprinted around, leading to him overheating and shutting down which let me close in and finish him off w/ some more high percentage shots.
Maybe it gets really unbalanced or weird at higher tonnages, and I haven't encountered any clans yet, but at least for now it has been a great mod and I'm loving the new experience.
Not with my memory. I've played 500+ hours and I still only remember vaguely maybe a few reinforcement drops. Convoys aren't too bad though, the enemies aren't instantly firing at your back. Worst case scenario tends to be that they blow up one or two APCs.
Nice to see them continuing work on it. When does the exclusive tag wear off?
Steam: betsuni7
All I care about is the 360 degree LOS radar. Still peeved about the LOS part, but we'll see how much the increased radius decreases my constant annoyance. IMHO single player mechwarrior games have always been about reacting strategically to live battlefield intel. Paying attention to your sensors is what separated it from a more typical action game. Having enemies constantly spawning in your blind spot is hot fucking garbage.
I mean, granted, the older games also let you memorize where the enemies mechs were powered down, waiting in ambush, and preemptively fuck up their day. But that's just good old fashioned fun and not exploitative at all!
The FAQ still says 1 year from launch, so unless Epic throws more money at them to keep it exclusive (doubtful), PGI would be fools not to get that Steam money as well.
PGI are routinely fools, but they've never missed trying to get mo' money.
Unless the BetterAI mod that 3062 uses has undergone some major improvements, Perma-Evasion actually works more to the benefit of the player later in the game.
The AI has a really strong predisposition to set up focus fire kills by first stripping Evasion using cheap (i.e. low heat) attacks, so if you have a Medium or Heavy with decent armor and JJs, you can easily use it to Evasion-tank significant some or all of the opfor. Just jump your designated tank far enough to generate four or five Evasion pips and closer to the enemy than any of your other mechs, and it's highly likely that the AI will plink away at it with shots that probably won't hit and won't do much damage even if they do. Rinse and repeat while the rest of your lance has its way with the enemy.
And to be clear, I'm not blaming BetterAI for this. It inherits that behavior from the Vanilla AI. BetterAI mostly just tweaks a lot of parameters the Vanilla AI uses to make decisions. I don't think mods can hook in at a low enough level to actually change the core logic of the AI.
Remember Necromo!
Hmm, so Novemberish. Sounds good.
Steam: betsuni7
I'm still having a ball, but I find myself engaging with the game systems in a different ways as I get my head around different systems and the challenges presented change.
I'm finding mech refitting slightly less interesting now that I'm past the early austerity and salvage period. Working out how to balance a mech both individually and within the team context with what you've got on hand is a much different challenge when you're working with paper thin margins as opposed to once money is flowing in, you've got a dozen spare mechs, and enough equipment to arm a small planetary insurrection. I think this will pick up again a bit as more advanced ++ equipment finds its way into my posession, but there's also just the aspect where you can never replicate the learning curve of the first time. Plus standing-on-shoulders-of-giants here as I just ruthlessly loot everyone else's experience for hints and tips. I also get the impression that the campaign seems to throw excessive amounts of materiel at you, and a career probably has more of that management/outfitting challenge?
I've also got my head around many of the combat system quirks and features, although as each mission is still relatively fresh and interesting I've still got some way to go before I feel that's going to get tired. The ability to control the difficulty via the skull rating give the system a lot of legs, with opportunities to downgrade/upgrade your challenge nicely.
Oddly enough, I'm moving away from my usual dry tactical turn-based strategy beats and finding myself enjoying wallowing into the roelplaying aspects of the campaign. Yeah, I want a lounge in my Argo for the Mechwarriors to chill in. If I'm going to be building up an elite tactical strikeforce, I'm going to need more pilots and mechs, enough to fill out at least a Company of lances. Also, who do I want to be? Which factions derserve my support, and which my wrath? It's scratching that pretend soldiers itch in a way reminiscient of the original UFO/X-com for me (dangerous waters).
I'm also now moving into pretend robot pokemon, of course. Pretty much every time I see something new I'm like "Oh, I gotta cap that for salvage, I want one". I just got my first Heavy, bringing down a Dragon on whatever campaign story mission that first turns up in, pulling all 3 pieces of salvage and putting together what I'm possibly going to turn into a pretty nasty punchbot.
Gotta get more pilots, though. I'm putting together an elite mercenary crew here, I need more meat to drive more metal to fulfill more contracts to earn more credits and cement my reputation as one of the elite commanders of the Periphery.
Though the experience these days is a bit different. They re-tuned many of the missions and Heavy Metal ups the availability of really good gear that didn't used to be available at all.
And you're a merc. You want to suck up to all factions. No faction deserves your wrath as long as they have the CBills
Robot Pokemon is of course the best part of the game. Why yes, there is a museum filled with a hundred mechs sitting there in the unpopulated part of the Argo, why wouldn't there be one?
The God of Dakka also granted me 2 UAC2 and a UAC10 in the box
:whistle: I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To salvage them is my real test
To equip them is my cause
I will travel across the 'Sphere
Searching far and wide
Research BattleMechs to understand
The power that's inside
(BattleMechs, gotta salvage 'em all) It's you and me
I know it's my destiny
(BattleMechs) Oh, you're my best friend
In a 'Sphere we must defend
(BattleMechs, gotta salvage 'em all) All systems nominal
Our courage will pull us through
From Lights to Assaults
BattleMechs! (Gotta salvage 'em all) Gotta salvage 'em all
Every Batchall along the way
With courage I will face
I will Drop every day
To claim my rightful place
Come with me, the time is right
There's no better Lance
With PPCs and LRMs
We'll win the fight :whistle:
That is a stroooong start.
What was your opening lance?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Not that any Merc would want to leave, since the Combine is a fantastic, glorious and perfect place to live.
Vindicator, Vindicator, Jenner, Spider, Locust.
Immediately sold Locust when I got the Hawk.
Now I jumped to a 2 skull world got a LBX2++ which I'm sticking on the Phoenix Hawk. When it says each ammo bin is 25 rounds, how many game rounds is it worth?
25 seems like a weird number for ammo, but I never really used ac2s in vanilla
Even in Vanilla 25 is weird. Because how often are you going to mount a single AC/2, if you're bothering with AC/2s at all? (hint: you shouldn't bother with AC/2s at all).
For reference, in TT, AC ammo bins were sized 100 damage per ton, with the AC2 a little less at 90 dmg/ton for some reason.
In this game, with it's 5x damage multiplier, the AC20 still gets 500 dmg/ton ammo, which is line with TT. But considering they increased damage for the AC2 not by 5x but by 12.5x here, that would have given it 1125 dmg/ton ammo bins if they kept the TT capacity. Cutting it down to 25 is still high but closer in line with the other ACs.
Mission was straight-forward: find a lance of Taurian mechs, and be the last mech standing. Aware I was probably going to be giving away several tons of weight in the match up, I thought I'd take a lance comprised of 2 mobile skirmishers/spotters, able to get in-and-out and deal targetted damage, and a pair of indirect missile boats - the trusty Centurion, and my brand-new bought-from-parts Archer, able to rain down some serious hurt from afar.
We're dropped into a forested region, with a last known location of the targets out in front of us. There's a good ridge on the left, the best high ground around, but it looks like a trap: anything in that location already would have any approach covered, and there's limited ways in or out. Any resistance at all could leave us pinned at the bottom of the cliff with the rest of the OpFor acting as the hammer to the cliff's anvil. The right flank doesn't have high ground, but does have broken cover and heavy forest; more importantly, there's a lot of open ground for manouvering in a punch up where movement will be my main advantage. I slip right, and try and come at them from that flank. I'm sure whatever is holding their right flank will be tough, but if I can bring my combined firepower to bear, it shouldn't be a...
:eek:
Oh...
Having predicated my entire strategy on rolling through from the right and picking off targets individually before they can bring their entire lance to outmuscle me, I'm now needing a rapid pivot. The rest of the opposition mechs are closing and there's no way I can blow through that KGC-0000 before they all join in, and I am not in a position to win a slugging match with whatever's out there.
New strategy:
1) Stay away from the King Crab.
2) Fall back and take on whatever gets out in front.
3) Stay away from the King Crab.
4) Stay mobile, stay hidden.
5) Stay away from the King Crab.
Fortunately, the lance I've picked is designed to do exactly this. A Dragon gets both torsos blown off before it gets a shot off, reducing it to spotter status. Unfortunately the other two mechs in the OpFor are a Javelin and a Vindicator, so my Shadowhawk gets a few layers peeled off it and an unlucky headshot that's going to put Behemoth in Medbay when we get back to the Argo. But the strategy works, and one by one the enemy lance gets put into the dirt until it's just the King Crab and my hounds and hunters. And the KCrab is chasing shadows as my Shadowhawk and Enforcer take turns jumping in and out and turning it around from every direction while 100 missiles come raining down every turn.
I come close to taking all three pieces of salvage, as I deal 4 injuries to the pilot, but in the end I have to settle for blowing off both legs - and instead taking the hardened cockpit++ as my third bit of salvage, dammit. Sigh. Almost got my first assault just a couple missions after my first Heavy. As it is I'll settle for taking all 4 of my mechs off the field without a single armour blow through against a well organised and well positioned superior opposition.
Dear PGI, this is a bad idea.
https://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/276817-group-queue-update-2020/
TLDR version: 8v8 group queue test wasn't bad, but they didn't like that the queue times were still too long.
So the idea is:
1. Merge group and solo queue
2. Max group size of 4.
3. MM will attempt to balance groups so not all groups will end up on the same side.
The alternative is...keep 8v8 group queue and rebalance rewards.
The main idea would take a lot of work, but they admit that the alternative would be relatively easy. Hopefully they'll be lazy and go the second route because I can think of a couple of units that will just start seal clubbing QP.
Steam: betsuni7
I had a real hard time giving up the archer for an assault missle boat late-game, I love that clustering bonus so much with LRMs. At one point I had a second one kitted with SRMs + MLs and while it took a bit to get into range (no JJs) when it did, it basically could one-shot alpha things, or least take a fully healthy make and strip it to chassis and generally rip off an entire side of the mech (Arm/Torso/Leg).
Archer also punches really hard. I had some melee mods on my SRM/ML Archer and I renamed it the Pugilist. Didn't melee that much but when some pesky light ran up to me with half-a-dozen evasion pips I slapped them good.
In my last campaign I put on some 60+ melee arm mods on my firestarter named "Sonny Liston" it lived up to the hype. It killed the Steel Beast flashpoint solo in two turns, one laser strike, then a single punch. I might as well try to make a full melee lance of the GOATS and see how far I can take it.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/BretonBrawler
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/paradox-strategy-dlc-build-your-own-bundle/?hmb_source=humble_home&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_twos_tile_index_1_c_paradoxstrategydlcbuildyourownbundle_2020
Edit: They don't have the base game... Dur.
Steam: betsuni7
If you somehow need the base game it's available for $8 for a Steam key on WinGameStore (who I have been using for years with consistent success.)
Check for region restrictions before committing.
Looks like the DLC is on sale there too for 50-66% off, a la carte.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
So I'm playing a defense mission on MW5. All I want is for the vindicator I'm in and the ER Large Laser on my squadmates Phoenix Hawk to survive. I get to the very end of the mission and those parameters are still being met. We worked the last enemy mech to the point where it had no weapons left. Phoenix Hawk lines up in front of the enemy mech to take the killing shot aand...
One of my other squadmates blows up the arm holding it's ER L Laser with a friggin single shot from a small laser. In my rage I immediately whipped my torso around and wildly fired a PPC shot... directly into the squadmates torso... coring it.
I couldn't help but laugh as the pilot ejected and I restarted the mission.
Edit: if I wanted to roleplay a ruthless merc company leader I could have totally progressed with that. Who says MW5 campaign doesnt have story!
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Advancing the story missions, I was caught a bit flat when I accidentally increased the difficulty and was facing down nothing but 3+ skull contracts while still mostly fielding nothing but medium mechs plus my store-bought Archer. 220 tons wwas my regular deployment weight.
And then over the course of the next 6 missions, I procured, in succession:
A Marauder, a Thunderbolt, a Catapult, an Awesome, another Marauder, and a Black Knight.
And you know what? I'm good.