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[BATTLETECH/Mechwarrior] The [MW5: Clans] are about to Invade the Inner Sphere!
Nips
He/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
He/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
Welcome to the combined BATTLETECH/MechWarrior superthread! It is here that we appreciate only the finest in stompy bot action.
"In the brutal conflict of the Succession Wars, the only thing that matters is getting paid."
BATTLETECH (www.battletechgame.com) is a new entry into the long line of BattleTech and MechWarrior products. Bringing the PC game line back to its roots, BATTLETECH is a tactical and strategic simulator, where your decisions on the battlefield and on the dropship will determine if your mercenary unit makes out like bandits, or dies bleeding out on some backwater planet.
https://youtu.be/tsIMfOo_VO0
In BATTLETECH you command a mercenary unit embarked upon the Argo, a lost-to-the-ages Jumpship design. Outfit with all of the essentials required to run a mercenary unit, you chart the course for the Argo across the Aurigan Reach, right between the Magistracy of Canopus, the Capellan Confederation and the Taurian Concordat.
Using a full roster of 'Mechs, pilots, and equipment, you will command your units across a vast number of star systems and planets, making bank and taking names, to achieve glory and notoriety beyond the Reach.
The game was originally Kickstarted in 2016., and is being published by Paradox Interactive (yes, those fine gents!). The game launched on April 24, 2018! It's out now!
"In the brutal conflict of the Succession Wars, the only thing that matters is getting paid."
BATTLETECH (www.battletechgame.com) is a new entry into the long line of BattleTech and MechWarrior products. Bringing the PC game line back to its roots, BATTLETECH is a tactical and strategic simulator, where your decisions on the battlefield and on the dropship will determine if your mercenary unit makes out like bandits, or dies bleeding out on some backwater planet.
https://youtu.be/tsIMfOo_VO0In BATTLETECH you command a mercenary unit embarked upon the Argo, a lost-to-the-ages Jumpship design. Outfit with all of the essentials required to run a mercenary unit, you chart the course for the Argo across the Aurigan Reach, right between the Magistracy of Canopus, the Capellan Confederation and the Taurian Concordat.
Using a full roster of 'Mechs, pilots, and equipment, you will command your units across a vast number of star systems and planets, making bank and taking names, to achieve glory and notoriety beyond the Reach.
The game was originally Kickstarted in 2016., and is being published by Paradox Interactive (yes, those fine gents!). The game launched on April 24, 2018! It's out now!
FOR THOSE OF YOU JOINING US FROM THE TABLETOP BATTLETECH GAME, HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND!!!
Mostly it's invisible stuff. To-hit rolls and location rolls are calculated differently. Missiles roll for hits and damage individually instead of in tranches of five. Some weapon ranges and damage/heat values have been tweaked (generally with the idea of bringing in the statistical extremes closer to the middle), and since the game uses different numeric scales than the tabletop, there would be no way to know this sort of thing unless you sat there actually mathing it out, or literally counting pixels on the landscape to figure out that the AC/5 is going ten meters further or something.
The most visible actual change is the initiative system. It has five phases, counting down from 5 to 1. Lights go on phase 4, mediums on phase 3, and so forth. Some characters will have skills letting them act one phase sooner than normal (so the rarely-used phase 5 is for pilots with that ability in light mechs). Mechs can reserve their initiative to act in a later phase, so lights can do stuff like reserve till phase 1, dart out from cover, attack, and then immediately go again at the top of the next round to dart back into cover before anyone can retaliate.
Pilots have four skills - Gunnery, Pilots, Tactics, and Guts - which confer different passive bonuses - gunnery and piloting are obvious; guts increases survivability as well as brawny stuff like reducing recoil penalties from AC shots, and tactics covers indirect fireand doing tricks with the initiative system. Each skill also grants two special active abilities (one at rank 4 in a skill, the other at rank 8). Pilots only have three skill slots, though, so even a veteran pilot with max ranks in all abilities will only ever have three active powers (the first three they qualified for), leading to a lot of different possible specializations.
Heat doesn't degrade performance; instead, when it's over a certain point (like 75%, but varies depending on pilot skills) it deals direct damage to internal structure.
Mechs have a stability meter, whose length is affected by the pilot's Guts score. Different weapon attacks suffered by the mech fill the meter to different degrees (AC20 or melee fills it a lot, lasers not at all). When it's halfway filled, the mech can no longer benefit from certain kinds of defense and movement bonuses. When it's full, the mech falls over.
Falling over or being shut down from heat are what let enemy pilots make called shots to specific areas. A called shot doesn't guarantee a hit to that area, but weights the shot distribution.
Mechs have three main kinds of defense: evasion, cover, and guarded stance.
Evasion is usually granted by moving quickly, or using jump jets. It gives your mech a number (1-5) of little evasion chevrons depending on how much they moved. Each chevron imposes a stacking penalty on incoming fire. A Locust at full sprint is almost impossible to hit. However, each salvo fired at the mech strips away an evasion chevron, so that Locust is vulnerable if several enemies focus it down. Being hit in melee also immediately removes all chevrons.
Cover gives a flat damage reduction, usually something like 25%.
Guarded stance is an state a Mech can attain by taking the Brace action in lieu of attacking, or is granted by certain powers or in certain circumstances. It reduces damage and stability damage from incoming fire by 50%, but only on the front and sides. Bracing also completely drains the Stability bar, so the mech is in less danger of being knocked down.
In the Mechlab, Mechs use a hardpoint system similar to but different from MWO. Along with ballistic, missile, and laser weapon types, there's a fourth hardpoint type, called "support weapons," which covers machine guns, flamers, and small lasers. Support weapons fire automatically when you make a melee attack.
Weapons have different manufacturers with different bonuses (it's always a straight bonus, though, rather than some kind of tradeoff). Some weapons are of exceptional quality and are denoted as + or ++ weapons (so like an LRM20++). These pluses can mean different things based on the manufacturer but they're always significant bonuses.
Want more beginner tips?
Inquisitor wrote:First video in Party Elite's Battletech Basics video series, good for more visual learners who want a breakdown of UI elements and basic gameplay ideas:https://youtu.be/TCBGZeiNAB0
Christopher Eck's Eckcellent Primer to BattletEck Combat Systems (OpNote: I don't condone the excessive branding, but the content is good! This is also a smidge out of date.)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1365402907
Want to know all the stats, for all the things? There's a spreadsheet for that!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fnaqQv8nnYpy9gtQm75-D6fmYfNJ5u3OALSIe8ckOuo/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true
More tips, locally-sourced from SE++
"Fiendishrabbit wrote:So. A few short notes on various types of weapons in Battletech:
LRMs:The LRM5, LRM15 and LRM20 are roughly equivalent. It might not seem so (due to weight differences etc), but it's basicly like this.SRMs
1. All LRMs take up 1 slot per 5 missiles.
2. LRM20s and LRM15s are heavier than LRM5s per missiles fired (LRM20 more so than LRM15), but that's because they have built in Heatsinks. Actually slightly better than normal heatsinks because it's better to not generate heat in the first place. Try it yourself by building a 60 missile salvo and then heatbalancing the various builds. Also, bigger launchers means fewer hardpoints used.
3. LRM10s suck. 1 LRM10 has 100% more missiles, generate 100% more heat but it weighs 150% more. Yeah. It sucks. Don't use it.
Conclusion: Avoid LRM10s. Smaller mechs (where total heat is less of an issue) should generally use LRM5s, singly or in pairs, since it has the best damage/ton. Once you're generating 30+ heat with all your weapons in the long rangeband LRM15s and LRM20s are roughly equivalent, with LRM15s having an advantage in cold regions and LRM20s an advantage in hot regions.While all SRM launchers are equal in terms of weight they're not equivalent in heat. SRM2s generate 3 heat per missile, while SRM4s only generate 2 heat per missile. SRM6s are basically a mashed together SRM4 and SRM2. SRM6s do have the advantage that it's the maximum amount of missiles per hardpoint.Support weapons:
The loadout principle for SRMs should be:
1. Fill out your hardpoints with SRM4s
2. Add sufficient ammo (6-15 full salvos is generally ideal. Closer to 15 the more you rely on SRMs to deal your damage for you).
3. Do you still have heat/weight left for more missiles. Replace SRM4s with SRM6s until satisfied.So Small laser or MG? Well, basically it depends on what you're going to use them for, and how many. Small lasers generate more damage per ton, but fire only one shot and generate heat. MGs fire 5 shots, have a bonus to crit (so they're amazing critseekers) but require ammo. And this heat vs ammo thing is really important. 1 ton of ammo for a ½ ton weapon is WAY overkill, and you'll basicly need to use 4+ MGs to even hope to make a dent in your ammo supply. On the other hand Small lasers start to generate significant amounts of heat once you have 3 or 4 of them. At the same time you have to take the heat from the rest of your arsenal into account, because once you need heatsinks a small laser basicly needs two heatsinks to compensate for the heat generated. Not so efficient.ACs:
My rule of thumb:
1. If you have a single Support weapon hardpoint, always use Small lasers. It has the best damage per ton of any weapon and 5 heat is piddly.
2. At 2 hardpoints you have to ask yourself, am I running a very cool or a very hot mech? Am I even going to use my small lasers outside melee? The hotter your mech is the more it favors using MGs.
3. At 4+ hardpoints you should probably use MGs. The Firestarter for example will use its support hardpoints mainly for short ranged damage, and since it runs very hot with its huge array of energy weapons it should probably use MGs. A Grasshopper should probably also use MGs, since it will probably use 6 of them. A shadowhawk on the other hand should probably use Small Lasers.The useful ACs seem to be AC/20 and AC/5.
The AC/5 is like a slightly heavier but much cooler PPC, and an ideal weapon for long range sniping. Especially if you're going to mount two of them since 2xPPCs is like rolling in molten lava.
The AC/2 and AC/10 on the other hand seem to have very pathetic advantages over the AC/5 at a huge cost in damage/ton. Comparing the AC/2 and AC/5...The AC/5 is 33% more weight for almost 100% more damage? Sign me up, because 540 meters is plenty of range. The more ammo per ton isn't really significant between the AC/2 and AC/5.
The AC/20 is another huge leap in damage over the AC/10, this at a very small extra cost in terms of tonnage. Also, the intimidation factor of the AC/20 is significant
My friend and yours @Iolo wrote a great pair of posts with guides to new players! You should read them!
The first one is here!
The second one is here!
Our man @Orca also has some tight advice! In fact, lots of us do! And some bad advice too! But feel free to ask in the thread! Yes, really!
We can't stop ourselves, what with the giving of all the advice!
Want to edit the Oosik Irregulars logo into the game? Say no more!
nonoffensive wrote:So I had a hell of a time guessing the right settings to modify the emblems to get the Oosik logo into the game. Dunno if anyone else has done it, but here is a download link you can copy right into:
Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech_Data/StreamingAssets/emblems/player
It will replace the Paradox Logo and you can switch to it in your Quarters on the Argo in game.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G64xeFrOxCFTnaYTWARo-7eJHmzUW87x/view?usp=sharing
Simple!
Looking for some further background fiction? Look no further than these recommendations!
SiliconStew wrote: »
There's over a hundred books in the Battletech universe, so you're going to get a lot of opinions. Here's some decent ones, with the Grey Death Legion trilogy and Wolves on the Border probably my top picks from these. This list is in rough chronological order for their events in the Battletech universe as well.
Decision at Thunder Rift - Keith - Grey Death Legion #1
Mercenary’s Star - Keith - Grey Death Legion #2
The Price of Glory - Keith - Grey Death Legion #3
Warrior: En Guarde - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #1
Warrior: Riposte - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #2
Warrior: Coupe - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #3
Wolves on the Border - Charrette
Heir to the Dragon - Charrette
Lethal Heritage - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #1
Blood Legacy - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #2
Lost Destiny - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #3
Previous Thread
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Yes, it exists! You can currently buy it on the Epic Games Store. And Microsoft's Gamepass thing. And GoG. And now on Steam! And on Xbox? Crazy!
THE BOTTOM LINE: You blow stuff up using a 'Mech. You make money. You repeat. There's a story, or so I'm told.
It's very pretty.
Do you use a HOTAS? Do you want to use a HOTAS for MW5? Here's some help!
From our good friend @Goumindong, originally compiled by our friend @Forbe!, here's some Weapons Maths that might be useful to an aspiring Lance Leader.
Want to mod your game, but not using Steam? There's some powerful advice from @SiliconStew for that!
See the most amazing announcement in Oosik Irregulars history here, by the lead developer of CGL! The Oosiks are canon!
Reactor...online. Sensors...online. Weapons...online. All systems nominal.
Greetings potential pilot, and welcome to the Mark 4.2 Mechwarrior Online OP, now with 200% more WubWub and 5000% more hyphens and commas!
It has been reorganized, and in some spots rewritten, to provide more relevant and concise information for our growing roster of pilots.
If you have anything you would like to see added to the OP, or notice any errors, please contact @Nips and I'll do my best to update the post.
Remember pilots, this is Battletech. Around these parts, common sense is Lostech.
What is Mechwarrior Online?
Mechwarrior Online is a free-to-play, PC-based, online shooter produced by Piranha Games Interactive. MWO places you in the command seat of a heavily armed and armored walking battle machine that you pilot in team-based matches against other Mechwarriors. Your mech is very customizable and able to field a huge assortment of energy, ballistic, and missile weapons along with an array of modules and other utility items. At the end of each match you earn C-Bills, the in-game currency used to buy more items and mechs, and experience that is used to enhance the piloting abilities of your war machines. Between matches, you can customize your mech with a variety of engines, weapons, subsystem modules, and chassis enhancements until you have your chosen chassis tailored to your liking.
There are currently six game modes:
- In Skirmish, your team is pitted directly against the enemy team in a battle to the death! The team with the last mech standing wins.
- In Assault, you and your team attempt to capture the enemy team's base without losing your own, or eliminate the enemy team.
- For Incursion, which is similar to Assault, each team controls a base with fixed and destructible defenses (turrets, walls, etc.). Three command vehicles in each team's base must be destroyed for total victory.
- Conquest is a traditional domination mode where you and your team are attempting to control resource nodes that generate victory points. The first team to reach 750 victory points, or that eliminates the opposing force, wins.
- Domination focuses on controlling a central zone on a map, with tertiary objectives to destroy. If a team is uncontested in the zone, their timer decrements until victory; destroying the tertiary objectives adds time back to the timer.
- Escort pits one team as the Defenders, escorting a (hilariously over-armored) VIP Atlas across the map. Meanwhile, the opposing Attackers attempt to destroy the VIP.
Also, Faction Play pits player-based Mercenary Corps and PGI operated Houses against each other for control of entire planets and territory throughout the Inner Sphere; see the following post for more information!Sounds good, where do I start?
1.) Download the client at http://www.mwomercs.com, or download it from Steam and install it.
2.) Once logged into the game, go through the Training Academy tutorials. This game has a bit of a learning curve to it and while it's not super-steep, it's definitely not just a jump-in-and-click-things-until-you-win sort of game. Be sure to watch the Weapon Grouping video as it'll do the most to help keep you alive. Chain fire is your friend, learn to use it.
2a.) Penny Arcade also did some Pilot Safety Posters and while they're humorous, they do have some good information in them.
3.) When you start the game you will have access to a number of trial mechs that rotate out for new mechs every month or so. These are non-customizable mechs, designed by PGI and the community for ease-of-entry into learning the game (except for the Stalker; that thing's a newbie death trap). Select a mech, and use the in-game Tutorial and Training Grounds to get a feel for how the game controls. Move around. Shoot your guns. Try overheating, then remember that overheating is bad.
4.) Jump into real matches! After each match you will earn some C-Bills, Mech XP, and General XP. C-Bills are the in-game currency used to buy everything except cosmetic items. At the end of each of your first twenty-five matches, you'll earn a Cadet C-bill bonus that you can save up to purchase your first mech. You'll also earn Mech XP, which is specific to the mech you earned it on and is used to buy piloting enhancements like faster torso rotation or better heat mitigation. You'll also also earn General XP that can be used on any mech, and can also be used to unlock modules and module improvements.
5.) Mech Credits (MC) are the in-game currency that you purchase with real money in order to shortcut your way to a new mechs and equipment. MC is also used to purchase premium account status and cosmetic items for your mech like new paint jobs, and items to put in your cockpit like bobblehead dolls.
6.) Need more advice? There's a solid Reddit thread here for new or returning players.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOosiks
Our anthem. (Caution: Loud)
We play on the Penny Arcade Ventrilo server; it's dangerous to go alone, so be sure to take this!
http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php
Host: vent15.gameservers.com
Port: 4384
Password: Ask one of the thread regulars!
Our man @Gnome-Interruptus has also set us up with a MWO/BT specific Discord channel, for those so inclined:
https://discord.gg/dpbeXd2
Thanks Gnome!
The Origins of the Oosik Irregulars
Who are the Oosik Irregulars?
We are a very loosely organized (and by loosely we mean not at all) mercenary corp that is open to anyone who wants to join. The Penny Arcade community frequently makes loose groups for new games just to make it easier to find people to play with, and while this started out as just another one of those it has grown into so much more. We formed under the banner of The Oosik Irregulars as a way to honor the great forumer @A Flock Of Walrus who brought us closed beta footage at the expense of his access to the game, and have since become a tightly-knit group of very active players.
We don't care about player skill levels or general MWO experience. Our primary goal is to have fun and help each other out, including brand new players. If this is your first time launching the game we'll happily drop alongside you. We have a lot of experienced community members more than willing to help you out and I can't think of a single person that would refuse to let you roll in a lance with them. If you're an experienced pilot already then you'll also find players looking to push themselves as hard as possible in this game, and who are constantly working to improve their game. There is something for everyone in the Oosiks Irregulars!
How do I join the Oosik Irregulars?
The good news is you already have! There is no application, no interview, no skill level check, or anything else involved. Just show up, start playing, and don't be shy in the thread. We mostly don't bite.
Do you guys stream matches at all?
Several fine gentlemen in the Oosiks have thrown a stream party or two. Keep your eyes and ears on the thread! You just never know when.
Where can I get a sig from!?
PM @Nips, @TOGSolid, or @Kashaar
What the hell is a Targeting Computer? Or a Command Console? Why should I care?
You generally shouldn't care, but if you're interested (and not in-game, when you're doing your theorycrafting, follow this link to an image that details what these pieces of equipment do!
Command Console and Target Computer Stats
1.) Flanking is god.
If there is a primary battle line and you're not in a mech that needs to be holding that line then circle around and pounce the stragglers/high value targets like LRM boats. Jumping the LRM boats is an especially game-changing thing to do because once those LRMs stop flying PUG players get really emboldened and ballsy. Even if you die you will still be the big god-damn hero. Learning the maps is a huge part of this; use the terrain to your advantage to successfully jump and annihilate packs of targets.
2.) Learn your range bands and proper positioning.
If you are a brawler then that doesn't necessarily mean you need to get in ASAP. Allow the fight to evolve a bit and wait for targets of opportunity. Go off to the sides and see if you have open lines to approach on to catch your enemies unaware. Conversely, if you are sniper and can still freely shoot things then why move in if you don't have to? Obviously, if you need to reposition to take advantage of the changing battle lines then do so but moving in just to move in? Nah, don't do this. This also kinda applies to brawlers since this is how you end up with a giant clusterfuck of people all at 10 meters trying to get hits in.
3.) Learn your mech.
Trying to get into a hill humping contest with a Stalker while you're in an Atlas? Bad idea. Your guns are low slung and you have to expose yourself a lot to use them. Doing it in a Jager? Brilliant. That mech's hardpoints are tailor-made for this sort of thing. This also means using these hardpoints to your advantage and putting appropriate weaponry in them. For instance, don't put your big guns in the lowest slung points on your mech. Keep em high and you'll be able to take advantage of any hills. Of course, this depends on your mech but this goes back to playing your chosen variant correctly. Don't use the Cataphract CTF-4X as a hill-humper because all the big guns are super low slung. DO use it to keep people suppressed when you can and as a heavy fire support mech. Similarly, don't try to use a Victor as a frontline mech. You hit hard but don't have Atlas grade armor to absorb hits with. DO use an Atlas for that because it's a purpose-built party crasher.
4.) Play medium mechs a lot, even though the meta would make you think they're bad.
Yes, really. The better armor and firepower of a heavy or assault Mech is no replacement for good situational awareness and positioning. Pick a mech with a specific role to flesh out your skills in that area, i.e. if you want to be a better brawler then run a HBK-4G. You will die a lot, you will get your ass kicked, and it will make you a better pilot.
5.) Patience can help a lot.
There are just as many times when hanging back and waiting for the right moment is just as advantageous as crashing the gates and going nuts. This is especially true in the current meta where a lot of stuff out there that can vaporize you if you get too ballsy.
That said, there is a time and a place for coordinated, balls-out gate crashing. Going in with your buddies all at once can do amazing things to break the enemy's lines but it has to be done carefully and at the right time, which goes back to that whole fickle patience thing.
6.) Let the pubbies go first.
They tend to follow anyone that looks even remotely competent. Seeing as how we tend to love flanking maneuvers and speed we end up with a tendency to have the pubbies follow us when we're counting on them to blob to their usual locations. Wait a little bit at the start of the match before you strike out to do horrible things to the enemy's butts.
7.) Want some great fundamentals training? Don't be shy about taking your mech onto the training grounds and just cruising around checking out the maps to learn it.
While you're doing that keep moving at high speeds as you shoot up the dummy mechs to learn to move and shoot fluidly. Circle around them while keeping your crosshair on the target via torso twisting until you don't have to think about it. Practice popping up behind a hill, acquiring your target, firing, and hiding as fast as possible until it becomes second nature. The more skills you commit to muscle memory, the better a pilot you'll be. Remember, you fight like you train so train like you fight.
8.) Want some great aim training?
Pick up a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 and setup a bot deathmatch with lightning guns only and the game speed mutator set to 150% speed. From here, practice getting headshots on the move in the training grounds. It's a hard target to hit in most mechs and it will help you fine tune your aim with MWO's weapons.
9.) Call your targets to aid in focus firing and for Kerensky's sake, press R to lock on to your targets!
With 12 vs 12 and the recent UI upgrades, we have more phonetic alphabet letters to learn to aid in target calling! For your reference here's the full list:
10.) Builds, Builds, Builds!
With PGI's launch of the new Skill Tree system in June 2017, many pilots have been left wondering "WTF do I do with this thing?". Also, the metagame is a constantly-shifting monster, and 'Mechs routinely come in and out of favor among the MWO regulars. To help a returning player get back in, the following metagame builds list was recommended by current MWO-grinder and friend to all @Nobody:
https://grimmechs.isengrim.org/
NOTE: The Heat Containment skill nodes in the Operations Skill Tree DO NOT FUNCTION; save yourself the SPs and spend them elsewhere!
0.) When in doubt, use Steam to install/load MWO. This way, you don't need to monkey around with the stand-alone launcher PGI originally released, that is rapidly approaching end-of-life.
1.) A lot of times when emailing support they will have you run the official MWO repair tool. The repair tool is built into the launcher, select the gear icon in the upper right corner of the window, then select "Start the MWO repair tool". Try this before going any more in depth with trying to fix things!
2.) A reinstall can do wonders if you're having problems with the bootstrap launcher (the patcher thing that pops up before you get the login window). Sometimes the uninstall goes wrong (because of course), so go here if it won't reinstall.
3.) Try manually deleting the shader cache (MWO should do this automatically, but sometimes fails and it gets corrupted). The post in the link also gives steps to set up a batch script to force the deletion each time MWO loads.
4.) This is a weird fix, but some people found that moving the install directory to another physical drive solves crashes. Literally cut/paste the directory and update shortcuts manually. Not sure if moving to another partition on the same drive helps.
5.) Force your video card to stop power-save throttling and disable ambient occlusion.
6.) Force multi-threading, in case the game isn't using all available cores.
Tips from @Cabezone!
7.) I recommend people run the repair tool even with a new installation. I've had crashing after a fresh install fixed by the tool.
8.) Setting my PC to high performance also fixed an issue I was having where Mechwarrior was set to some low powered mode and the video card wasn't able to run full out.
GOOD HUNTING, MECHWARRIORS.
I can't decide of the Harebrained Schemes gives me more hope or dread as regards my strong, strong desire to eventually get another BATTLETECH 2 from them. I hope they'll get scooped up and put into a safe cocoon where they can make that and other excellent titles. But it does feel like a longshot.
Maybe an epic (small "E") multimillion dollar kickstarter?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Of course, I hope to be wrong! I hope more strongly though that the Harebrained people laid off by Paradox all land in decent places. I'd love to see them form a new studio, but I'm definitely not holding my breath for it.
I talked about this a bit in the TT Battletech thread, but I'll mention it here since it is more pertinent.
Basically all the people that worked on Battletech at HBS were laid off back in June, along with a bunch of others it should be noted. What is left at HBS is a gutted and probably rather penniless shell who were left employed to get Lamplighters out the door.
A potential silver lining, as I am cursed with eternal optimism, is that Microsoft owns the Battletech/Mechwarrior video game IP and nothing is really stopping the former Battletech devs from making their own studio and pitching a Battletech sequel to Microsoft.
Battletech was their most successful game and since Microsoft wouldn't have to split profits with Paradox it seems such a project would be a fairly obvious one to green light.
Guys, you don't pay anywhere near well enough for me to specifically commit atrocities for your sake.
EDIT: Also, opinions on PPCs? I just managed to snag a heavy with double PPCs (a Warhammer), but far as I can tell the PPC does the same damage as a large laser, for more heat, worse rate of fire, and easier to miss completely. Is it just the higher range and the slight screen buzzing? Because honestly I've grown to not really care about range in this game, with enemy mechs always spawning ex nihilo like 600m away from you tops and every mission devolving into a knife-fight, and the screen buzzing seems kind of minor, unless it really makes NPCs miss a lot more?
If you’re good at leading shots the PPC is a good weapon, but lasers are good too
Gotta watch the heat, of course.
HBS Battletech benefitted from the company being run by Jordan Weisman and Mitch Gitelman. The first being the literal inventor of Battletech and the second being involved in the development of a number of other early Battletech/MechCommander video games. So you had a lot of love and history with the franchise coming from the top.
And Paradox rejected HBS' pitch for a Battletech 2 despite their existing production pipeline to make such a thing precisely because Microsoft owned it and would have taken a cut. Same reason they couldn't have done another Shadowrun under Paradox.
C'mon, Microsoft! Do us all a favor here!
*Oosiks Approved*
Edit: Especially with an XL????
Steam: betsuni7
There are people who run 0, but usually only in comp.
Ah ok.
I'm just sitting here drooling at that as a piranha pilot.
Steam: betsuni7
The general theory is that if something light and fast gets into your back you're likely dead anyway, so you're better off putting those extra points of armor up front to trade longer. There's a guy who's whole shtick was SRM bombing with a Jenner IIC and just pacmanning his way through the backline. He's even the inspiration behind that Viper hero with SRMs:
Man, I miss doing this in my Jenner IIc and other lights. Probably would do even better with the meta like that.
Steam: betsuni7
Doesn't really matter though, as you can see in the video it just usually means one more salvo to finish the job :P
MWO is a game that's always a balance of fun and frustration for me, and having a mech that performs consistently is a lot less infuriating than one that just randomly explodes sometimes.
It also, from what I've been told (haven't run the numbers) occupies 4 tons of the mech's loadout.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
Personally I tend to run 7-9 points on my heavies and assaults, because it lets me somewhat ignore strikes in favor of holding a better shooting position. My mediums and lights are both usually fast enough to reposition, and shouldn't be trying to hold any places where I would be trading fire. The one exception are my pop-tart mechs, especially in FP.
...aaaand ended up in a firefight with three heavies and two mediums (and Kintaros are pretty gnarly for mediums, at that) surrounded by manticore tanks and a dropship dropping another medium and light in the exact middle of the firefight.
I need more short range heavies, I think. The CPU is pants at making use of all these PPCs and LRM-based mechs I'm finding and half the mission types always end up in a big furball of violence. I need stuff I can turn into close range knife fighters like my All The Lasers Quickdraw. Wish I had ever found a single one of these supposed melee-weapon-capable variants that are supposed to be in the game after getting the melee DLC - been buying melee weapons for when I run into one but no luck.
And 5 slots in the arm according to that thread.
The AI will always fire the highest priority weapon group (group 1 is highest) that is not on cooldown and that is in range unless it would overheat them.
Also if you are not giving your lancemates the Go To Position order to hold their position at range they will try to stay close to you all the time by default and if you get into short range with the enemy then so will they. They will also close distance to the target if you give them the Attack My Target order.
So for example a Catapult with LRMs and medium lasers, put the medium lasers in group 1 and the LRMs in group 2 and give them Go to Position orders to stay at range. They'll fire the LRMs from a distance but if something closes in they'll switch to lasers and rarely use the LRMs due to the weapon priority.
You might also split those groups up or simply trade out some weapons for more heatsinks so they are less likely to get close to overheating and not fire at all. Make cooler weapons higher priority for the same reason. But make faster firing weapons lower priority. Because of the fast cooldown the AI would fire its lower priority weapons less often.
Useful notes about weapon groups,too! I was in fact kind of doing the opposite - in my trying to make them use the fucking missiles I was putting the LRMs and such in the higher priority weapon groups. I'll rethink some of the bindings with this new information.
I think it's "e" but there's a target friendly option, so you can target your allies to get an update on their actual status rather than just the HP bar.
'Q' is the Target Friendly button.
Alternatively, you can just swap over to control their mech directly with the 'Y' key.
Course, then I immediately ended up in a hella defense where I had to kill 36 units, which even with most of them being tanks and stuff still meant like thirteen or fourteen mechs, so he ran out of missiles by the halfway point (I mean, I ran out of single-shot AC/5 rounds with 2 ammo packs, that'd never happened before). But still, it's very helpful stuff!
Wait you can WHAT.
ARE YOU SERIOUS.
This feels like a thing that should have come up in a tutorial, game!
They've mostly fixed it but be aware that mech swapping can basically kill the AI so that once you cycle back to your mech some or all of you lancemates will just stand still doing nothing and you then have to manually pilot them yourself for the rest of the mission.
Not sure if it is an autocorrect error, but I love that you called the tutorial a Toot Oriole.
Took me a minute to figure out what you were saying.
Steam: betsuni7