While it doesn't work for all mechs, I've generally started with: strip all equipment, max armor, remove enough rear armor to get a round number (or .5 on lights), and go from there. The only exception are my LRM boats or snipers.
I generally do this (minus the stripping of the rear armor), build the mech up to the tonnage limit, then try go just over and fix the tonnage back down by re-aranging/removing armor.
So, I sadly lost my Gauss Rifle finally (after having previously lost 1 of the 2 ammo cans) on my Highlander.....so now it has a UAC/20++ instead. Holy shit are those things absurd, if you hit with both you core mechs, or at least rip off one side of it. I miss the range of the Gauss rifle but the DPS of this is nuts. Hopefully someday I can find one on the BM, I haven't yet
One helpful thing to keep your long range boats safer is that vision range is about 400 meters. Juuuust long enough that a large laser (450 range) can shoot BVR and that you cannot fire any 360 range weapons BVR. As a result. Realistic “move and shoot range” is about 520 meters. Conveniently this is 20 short of the range of an AC5
If you can keep enemies outside of that you can prevent them from targeting you unless they have a sensor lock
The tactic is still applicable, the actual ranges are just a bit shorter.
It works against you too. You can get into some real hairy situations if you engage a forward enemy mech lance that you find out is backed by BVR LRM carriers or similar long range toting enemies you can't target.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited August 2020
If you get an archer the special mod it has for lrms is really useful. Increases chance of lrms hitting the same part. Even with less total lrms than a bigger lrm boat it was consistently punching through and destroying parts.
Dekker was hiding behind a mountain in one for a very large chunk of the campaign and he scored quite a few kills.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Both Archer variants have been absolute beasts in my game, both the LRM and SRM quirks make it pretty useful, they don't run too hot, and they can take a beating.
Yeah i have a very hard time letting go of my Archer in the late game, the LRM clustering really lets them pound hardpoints. My current Archer (forget the variant) is running 2x LRM15++ and 2xLR++. Runs a bit hot if I'm using all 4 weapons, but I find it makes it more useful than just have 4x LRMs on it.
Marauder head-capped both a King Crab and a Highlander, had enough priority salvage to get the King Crab, and the random rolls net me the Highlander too.
Marauder head-capped both a King Crab and a Highlander, had enough priority salvage to get the King Crab, and the random rolls net me the Highlander too.
*chefs kiss*
I was rolling with 3 mediums and a light and that's how I got my Awesome. Ammo explosions killed the pilot but only 1/6 priority salvage. Other two pieces came through for me. I legitimately jumped off the couch
Edit:The Awesome runs all energy. Apparently I got a headshot? Either way, its mine now.
Marauder head-capped both a King Crab and a Highlander, had enough priority salvage to get the King Crab, and the random rolls net me the Highlander too.
*chefs kiss*
I was rolling with 3 mediums and a light and that's how I got my Awesome. Ammo explosions killed the pilot but only 1/6 priority salvage. Other two pieces came through for me. I legitimately jumped off the couch
Edit:The Awesome runs all energy. Apparently I got a headshot? Either way, its mine now.
Getting an early Awesome is the best place to get one since it's not that great later on but should be really fun at that point of the game.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited August 2020
I had trouble netting good assaults. I ended up taking an awesome into the final fight of the campaign.
I slapped all armor on that baby and kept two ppcs, with a bunch of medium lasers. It worked fine. I would have replaced it if I could but it chugged along in many a sticky situation, a reliable workhorse.
I did find an atlas tho. So at the end of the game it game me another atlas. And then I could finally replace the awesome.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
in my recent campaign I had a blackjack with a gauss and an UAC2 full jump jets, and every map just jumped to teh tallest hill and used the elevation to hit bonus, with the rest of the lance being brawlers it was a great pick up early game with the black market to invest in a gauss. just be careful, if it gets ambushed its toast.
in my recent campaign I had a blackjack with a gauss and an UAC2 full jump jets, and every map just jumped to teh tallest hill and used the elevation to hit bonus, with the rest of the lance being brawlers it was a great pick up early game with the black market to invest in a gauss. just be careful, if it gets ambushed its toast.
I've had expensive singletons get surrounded by reinforcements with no way to retreat since they just spawned in. I keep everybody clustered these days. The advantage isn't worth the risk of losing a near-irreplaceable mech to me.
At least the elevation thing you can see from the firing difficulty modifiers, I think mousing over the to-hit number shows them. Some other things like LRM clustering rules are nowhere in the game though. Also a bunch of loading screen tips are all wrong IIRC.
I remember there being a big comprehensive guide on Steam written by Christopher Eck - does anyone know how valid that is now?
There is still a lot of good info there, like making sense of what the UI is trying to tell you, weapon types, heat management basics, etc. Other stuff, like pilot skills, I don't think has been updated since launch and so is out of date. (I think. Haven't been back super recently.)
I remember there being a big comprehensive guide on Steam written by Christopher Eck - does anyone know how valid that is now?
Without actually rereading it, I'd say most of his comments would still be valid as the general gameplay and tactics are still the same. I'd say the biggest thing is that some of the pilot skills have changed since the initial release, so just refer to the current in-game descriptions for those.
SiliconStew on
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
Guarded is not 50% less DMG it’s 20%. Cover is only 20%, not 25%. Entrenched is granted from movement with the first piloting skill
Bulwark does not grant guarded if you don’t move, it makes guarding and cover better. Juggernaut doesn’t exist and instead is coolant vent.
That is the main thing. There also isn’t a lot of deep examination in it
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Also, coolant vent is awesome.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Coolant vent is... well it’s OK. I mean, it’s far better than Juggernaut, which not only isn’t that good because melee isn’t that good* but actually becomes useless for assault mechs since they cannot be knocked back in initiative order.
I cannot think of many times that I would terribly find coolant vent better than Ace Pilot. Ace Pilot lets you shoot and then move. With vigilance it lets you get two shots off on any target with minimal to no return fire (if the target is slower than you this is irrelevant) and the ability to jump behind someone and shoot them in the back from an exposed position is super strong when you get to do it again the next turn without actually being exposed.
Coolant vent is only 6.5 heat/turn on CD and this doesn’t get much better due to strategic use. (If you use it on the last round of combat it’s 50/rnds) but you also had to like... not use any of its value during the parts of combat where it would have mattered a bunch) 6.5 heat is an appreciable amount but it’s only 2.16 tonnes of heat dissipation. (Up to 4 with biome effects!).
This isn’t a lot for assaults and for mechs where is does matter ace pilot lets you shoot at your ideal range while keeping at their weak range for return fire. For assaults it lets you shoot and then decide your ideal defensive position, which is super valuable.
*it has its uses but its also very risky. Its overall damage tends to be very low even with dedicated melee mechs, and you’re likely to get melee’d back and/or get shot in the rear. Both of these, due to melee attacks being high variance and due to how you have to deal with pilot damage at the end of a mission while they do not, mean that you’re likely to suffer compared to keeping your evasion up. You can get up to some pretty hilarious damage numbers for melee mechs (cap is 280 regular or stability with 140 of the other iirc) but it requires a dumb amount of investment and reduces your value in other things immensely. Its actually easier to make a DFA mech work just because the range of DFA is so much higher relative to dmg and mech speeds. (how to make DFA mech work. Step 1 get two -30 DFA leg mods. Step 2 determine how much dmg you want to do to yourself. You will do listed DFA dmg -120 /2 to each leg each DFA and choose a mech that has DFA dmg similar to that. 3) slam a bunch of MGs and Slasers on yourself depending on heat tolerance. Add a -stability dmg gryo then get to stomping. Best mechs for this are probably the Phoenix hawk, Vulcan, and grasshopper. The hawk and Vulcan can reduce dmg to zero but unstable easier. The Vulcan has a good amount of support weapons too plus 10 melee defense. The hopper has a bunch of support weapons and can reduce damage to a reasonably low amount. Plus it mounts the largest amount of jumps(?) in a heavier mech I think)
Without coolant vent I can alpha strike as many times in a row as I need with two UAC 20 and 2 LPLAS on an Atlas II... and while I have coolant vent on that character ace pilot would be a pretty even choice
If you absolutely need to tank in order to shave sections and generate salvage value by destroying weapons then vent is better. Because the need to not kill things immediately increases your heat requirements.
But if you just want to kill things it’s pretty unnecessary. Ace pilot will get you through more encounters with more HP at the end of them and will let you kill enemies faster.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited August 2020
I believe you when you say it will be safer. I do not understand how it can be faster than being able to alpha with more weapons more times in a row. A bigger alpha, due to being able to fit more guns.
This does not make any sense. Being able to move does not automatically allow you to deal more damage, not even if you can move into an advantageous position, because by the time you get back around to your turn they get a chance to move too.
One is a straightforward no brainer you will do more damage. The other requires advantageous positioning which is not always under your own control. The battle field is complex. Sometimes you have to deal with tactical situations that aren't optimal.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited August 2020
Coolant vent lets me alpha strike my head hunters one more time in a row before I need to either start dropping weapons from the salvo or bunkering up.
Each alpha strike with a head hunter is a good probability of one mech removed with full salvage.
Coolant vent or Breaching Shot (for targets under cover) works best for the way I tend to build my mechs. Ace pilot is situationaly useful, but I prefer to kill shit dead. There are almost always more hostiles than there are friendlies, so the faster I kill, the less damage I take, even with poor positioning.
Ace pilot shines when you want to shoot and scoot, but I don't find that many occasions when I really need to do that.
It goes that way for the hostiles too. I don't really care if they've got Ace Pilot. If they've got Breaching Shot, I want them dead NOW.
No, they do not necessarily get a turn between your move and theirs. Beyond having a cyclopse on your team there are a myriad of ways to control initiative to prevent that from happening.
Posts
I generally do this (minus the stripping of the rear armor), build the mech up to the tonnage limit, then try go just over and fix the tonnage back down by re-aranging/removing armor.
So, I sadly lost my Gauss Rifle finally (after having previously lost 1 of the 2 ammo cans) on my Highlander.....so now it has a UAC/20++ instead. Holy shit are those things absurd, if you hit with both you core mechs, or at least rip off one side of it. I miss the range of the Gauss rifle but the DPS of this is nuts. Hopefully someday I can find one on the BM, I haven't yet
If you can keep enemies outside of that you can prevent them from targeting you unless they have a sensor lock
It works against you too. You can get into some real hairy situations if you engage a forward enemy mech lance that you find out is backed by BVR LRM carriers or similar long range toting enemies you can't target.
Dekker was hiding behind a mountain in one for a very large chunk of the campaign and he scored quite a few kills.
*chefs kiss*
I was rolling with 3 mediums and a light and that's how I got my Awesome. Ammo explosions killed the pilot but only 1/6 priority salvage. Other two pieces came through for me. I legitimately jumped off the couch
Edit:The Awesome runs all energy. Apparently I got a headshot? Either way, its mine now.
Getting an early Awesome is the best place to get one since it's not that great later on but should be really fun at that point of the game.
I slapped all armor on that baby and kept two ppcs, with a bunch of medium lasers. It worked fine. I would have replaced it if I could but it chugged along in many a sticky situation, a reliable workhorse.
I did find an atlas tho. So at the end of the game it game me another atlas. And then I could finally replace the awesome.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/BretonBrawler
I've had expensive singletons get surrounded by reinforcements with no way to retreat since they just spawned in. I keep everybody clustered these days. The advantage isn't worth the risk of losing a near-irreplaceable mech to me.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
Is there a list of them anywhere?
Morninglord's Marauders, more like Morninglord's Morons.
Oh well I won anyway.
There is still a lot of good info there, like making sense of what the UI is trying to tell you, weapon types, heat management basics, etc. Other stuff, like pilot skills, I don't think has been updated since launch and so is out of date. (I think. Haven't been back super recently.)
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Without actually rereading it, I'd say most of his comments would still be valid as the general gameplay and tactics are still the same. I'd say the biggest thing is that some of the pilot skills have changed since the initial release, so just refer to the current in-game descriptions for those.
It doesn’t seem to exist anymore so not terribly valid
???
It’s right here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1365402907
I asked because it’s probably worth keeping ready for when folks ask about BT mechanics and advice, provided what he has to say is still useful.
Will update this after I read it
Guarded is not 50% less DMG it’s 20%. Cover is only 20%, not 25%. Entrenched is granted from movement with the first piloting skill
Bulwark does not grant guarded if you don’t move, it makes guarding and cover better. Juggernaut doesn’t exist and instead is coolant vent.
That is the main thing. There also isn’t a lot of deep examination in it
I cannot think of many times that I would terribly find coolant vent better than Ace Pilot. Ace Pilot lets you shoot and then move. With vigilance it lets you get two shots off on any target with minimal to no return fire (if the target is slower than you this is irrelevant) and the ability to jump behind someone and shoot them in the back from an exposed position is super strong when you get to do it again the next turn without actually being exposed.
Coolant vent is only 6.5 heat/turn on CD and this doesn’t get much better due to strategic use. (If you use it on the last round of combat it’s 50/rnds) but you also had to like... not use any of its value during the parts of combat where it would have mattered a bunch) 6.5 heat is an appreciable amount but it’s only 2.16 tonnes of heat dissipation. (Up to 4 with biome effects!).
This isn’t a lot for assaults and for mechs where is does matter ace pilot lets you shoot at your ideal range while keeping at their weak range for return fire. For assaults it lets you shoot and then decide your ideal defensive position, which is super valuable.
*it has its uses but its also very risky. Its overall damage tends to be very low even with dedicated melee mechs, and you’re likely to get melee’d back and/or get shot in the rear. Both of these, due to melee attacks being high variance and due to how you have to deal with pilot damage at the end of a mission while they do not, mean that you’re likely to suffer compared to keeping your evasion up. You can get up to some pretty hilarious damage numbers for melee mechs (cap is 280 regular or stability with 140 of the other iirc) but it requires a dumb amount of investment and reduces your value in other things immensely. Its actually easier to make a DFA mech work just because the range of DFA is so much higher relative to dmg and mech speeds. (how to make DFA mech work. Step 1 get two -30 DFA leg mods. Step 2 determine how much dmg you want to do to yourself. You will do listed DFA dmg -120 /2 to each leg each DFA and choose a mech that has DFA dmg similar to that. 3) slam a bunch of MGs and Slasers on yourself depending on heat tolerance. Add a -stability dmg gryo then get to stomping. Best mechs for this are probably the Phoenix hawk, Vulcan, and grasshopper. The hawk and Vulcan can reduce dmg to zero but unstable easier. The Vulcan has a good amount of support weapons too plus 10 melee defense. The hopper has a bunch of support weapons and can reduce damage to a reasonably low amount. Plus it mounts the largest amount of jumps(?) in a heavier mech I think)
Ace pilot sounds like its good for tactical shenanigans but all my enemies are dead.
I stick coolant on my brawlers. They're there to shoot things, not do the melbourne shoe shuffle.
But if you just want to kill things it’s pretty unnecessary. Ace pilot will get you through more encounters with more HP at the end of them and will let you kill enemies faster.
This does not make any sense. Being able to move does not automatically allow you to deal more damage, not even if you can move into an advantageous position, because by the time you get back around to your turn they get a chance to move too.
One is a straightforward no brainer you will do more damage. The other requires advantageous positioning which is not always under your own control. The battle field is complex. Sometimes you have to deal with tactical situations that aren't optimal.
Each alpha strike with a head hunter is a good probability of one mech removed with full salvage.
Coolant vent or Breaching Shot (for targets under cover) works best for the way I tend to build my mechs. Ace pilot is situationaly useful, but I prefer to kill shit dead. There are almost always more hostiles than there are friendlies, so the faster I kill, the less damage I take, even with poor positioning.
Ace pilot shines when you want to shoot and scoot, but I don't find that many occasions when I really need to do that.
It goes that way for the hostiles too. I don't really care if they've got Ace Pilot. If they've got Breaching Shot, I want them dead NOW.