[0rph3u5]

re: the mission after the the Liberation of Smithon

I actually had less trouble with that mission than with the one before it too, still lost several times and in the end all my pilots were out for 30-90 days and all of my mechs needed major refitting (including the fact that I had run out of ACs to replace the ones that were destroyed)

Spoiler:

So, I don't know if it is a bug but Victoria's lance in that mission doesn't engage if you successfully contain the fighting in the part of the map south west (initial camera perspective) from the DropShip. She only engages once you detect her (or she detects you in return).

 So you can use several turns to dump heat and reposition yourself in an area of the map where her twin PPCs are less of an issue.

Containing the fight there is rather easy as both groups of turrets are on Generators that are quickly destroyed if you have a dedicated LRM-Mech (e.g. Trebuchet); the Generator controlling the missile turrets is actually simple to destroy with a sniper Mech, if you just do 3+1 split and send the Mech straight north-north-east from the initial drop zone. The other generator is further away and you are easily bottlenecked on the small path leading to the enemy lance, but if you send Meele-Mech in first you should be able to disrupt the enemy lance (1-2 of the ramshacke modifier) enough to push one Mech into detection range of the Generator.

On the note of ACs, I am now in the Gauss Cannon-era and the ACs get considerable less usefull as the mechs get heavier IMO (only Bolt's gun-Hunchback is still packing one AC/20, but that's replacement mech/pilot combo); When toppeling a Mech is no longer a major issue, due to fact even Prone Heavies and Assaults aren't made from paper and wishes, ACs kinda faded out of my rotation.

[Spoon]

Spoiler:

I got stupidly lucky with victoria's catapult. A called shot to her center torso resulted in machine gun ammo exploding and she went down in basically one turn. Unfortunately haven't seen any other K2 catapult versions after that mission. Though at this point I wouldn't really consider putting a catapult in my lance anyway, since most of my options are much heavier now.

Disappointed this game restricts you to just a single lance though. Still havent bothered upgrading to the third mechbays, I mean whats the point? Storing a bunch of extra mechs I wont be able to use anyway? All it does is increase monthly costs.

Starting to stack up on those comm's systems. +6 morale gain per turn. Is nice considering the highlander can one shot lesser mechs with a called shot.

The difficulty rating on a contract seems more of a verrry broad guideline than an actual rule. I just had my first full 5 difficulty contract and it was actually a piss easy contract of poorly maintained medium-heavy mechs

[0rph3u5]

The difficulty rating on a contract seems more of a verrry broad guideline than an actual rule. I just had my first full 5 difficulty contract and it was actually a piss easy contract of poorly maintained medium-heavy mechs

Yeah, reading the text to gauge a rule on the opposition seems to work better:
- Pirates means Mech with low armor that go down easily* and pilots with up-to a single skill
- Directorate means at least one lance on par with your own, before you get Artru, with at least one pilot skill but no specialist still; a second lance will have at least 1 shoody mech

I've not engage any major power Mechs outside story missions yet, so no read on them

* I just came of a retrieval mission in which my Highlander's LRM 20 blew up a pirate Thunderbolt with indirekt fire, because without torso armor I was able to blow-out both torso pieces with ammunition inside killing the pilot in conjuction with a lucky cockpit hit which was also part of that salvo

Disappointed this game restricts you to just a single lance though. Still havent bothered upgrading to the third mechbays, I mean whats the point? Storing a bunch of extra mechs I wont be able to use anyway? All it does is increase monthly costs.

Granted the monthly cost argument is true, but as soon as you upgrade the Argo's engines travel time becomes much less a concern/shield and being able to swap out Mechs and esspecially Pilots on the fly becomes more an issue ...

... at least to my company, going so far that I had acknowledge that I hadn't been raising a replacement for my sniper/commander avatar and my mid range/split-fire skirmisher; at the same time I had two replacements each for my long range/shoot-move support and short range/meele support pilot, because they tended to land in the Medbay more often.

[The E]

This is just wrong.



This, on the other hand, is perfectly alright.

[Grizzly]

Spoiler:

I got stupidly lucky with victoria's catapult. A called shot to her center torso resulted in machine gun ammo exploding and she went down in basically one turn. Unfortunately haven't seen any other K2 catapult versions after that mission. Though at this point I wouldn't really consider putting a catapult in my lance anyway, since most of my options are much heavier now.

Disappointed this game restricts you to just a single lance though. Still havent bothered upgrading to the third mechbays, I mean whats the point? Storing a bunch of extra mechs I wont be able to use anyway? All it does is increase monthly costs.

Skip forward to Battletech 2 where we get to command an entire Star of mechs!

In seriousness, I do find being restricted to a single lance of just mechs to be both a curse and a blessing. On one hand, not being able to, say, field vehicles or command some of those larger battles that Battletech is capable of is a miss. On the other hand, the game's missions already last a decent time, and you can always design your missions around the notion of there always being just 4 mechs. I can imagine if going from a command of 4 to 14 is a bigger step then most are able to handle.

[Aesaar]

On one hand, I love the idea of giving us a whole company, or one lance of mechs, then a support lance of vehicles, maybe aerospace assets and artillery.  Company-level **** would be dope.  On the other hand, turns in this game can already take quite a long time if your enemy has lots of assets.

That would be pretty cool in a Clan Invasion setting though.  I want to get ****ed up by a Xerxes, damn it.

[CKid]

One of the developers did a AMA on reddit yesterday. It was mentioned that you will not be able to command more then one lance at a time. Here is the AMA and here is the summary

Picked up the game over the weekend and having a blast with it. Not very far into the story yet, just learning the mechanics and what not. Yesterday I got my first Heavy Mech, a Thunderbolt. Knocked it down and blew its head off with a called shot. Lucky for me I maxed out the salvage rights and got all 3 parts.

[Grizzly]

I like how Gog considers the "Who's Next?" achievement (For hiring 25 mercenaries) to be legendary, at 0.1%

it means I am having atrocious attrition rates on a level that others don't 0_o

[0rph3u5]

On one hand, I love the idea of giving us a whole company, or one lance of mechs, then a support lance of vehicles, maybe aerospace assets and artillery. 

Forgive my superficial knowledge of Battletech as a franchise but IMO that quickly stop being Battletech...

I am aware that industrial scale warfare still is a thing in the Battletech-universe, but to my estimation part of the essential components of Battletech's identity is that Mechwarfare is simply put early european Middle Ages warfare blown up to absurd proportions (and ammended through the inclusion of other cultural reference points for feudal warfare):
Mechwarriors and their Battle Mechs basicially serving as the stand-in for a martial Elite of Lords and Knights (hence also the whole SciFi-Feudalism), whose equipment and martial lifestyle are enabled by their removal for normal economic activity, while Infantry, Mechanized Armor, Airforces and DropShip crews are levies, critically important to the actual war effort but inconsequential in the heroic narrative of the war itself.

Plus, on a gameplay-side, I think it would also rob the individual battles some of their attraction as the "feats" of your pilots (e.g. "that one headshot") or their distinct idenity as result of their gameplay traits (e.g. the meele pilot) might get lost if their are repeated too often in close temporal proximity (consistency being the enemy of remarkability, and all that)...

... but then again, I have always been a fan of smaller scale strategy games (e.g. which is why I never warmed up to Dawn of War 3 the way I did to Dawn of War 2, despite all the cool spectacle and the Eldar in that game being one of the best realisations of their army in a video game to date)

I like how Gog considers the "Who's Next?" achievement (For hiring 25 mercenaries) to be legendary, at 0.1%

It's one of those shame-achievements, considering the fully upgraded Argo only has 24 berths for pilots, OR it might be a collector's achievment considering there is a number of special "Ronin"-pilots and unique pilots based on KS-backers


Just defender Panzyr against a Taurian invasion, and I am calling bullsh*t on that mission... Seriously did no playtester catch that the proximity warning message for the enemy APCs only triggers when one of those is already on a move that will end in the zone you are tasked to NOT let them in?
(Granted I handycapped myself, even in the sucessfull run, by sending off my Tugboat-Hunchback-P, one of the two Mechs in my Lance with Split Fire, to chase the secondary objective.... which I failed because I'd have needed at least jumpjets if not a fast Mech in general to get there in time)


Just how difficult is it get a Salvage for Catapult C1? 

Considering just how many Orions, Quickdraws, Jagermechs and Grasshopers the enemies in the random contracts seem to be able to hurl that my Lance, why can't they send one Catapult C1 at me? - I am already doing 2-3 contracts each month now, so lack of opportunity is not the issue here...

(Lack of Salvage isn't either, considering worked the past 6 contracts almost exclusively for Salvage)

[Spoon]

It's just RNG, I've had a few C1 Catapults worth of salvage already. Whereas some other mechs seem a lot more rare for me.

Also I just did that Panzyr mission just now too. The secondary defend barracks secondary is objectively impossible unless you know about it in advance and prepare for it. And even then, it seems a bit iffy. The commandos will be upon it in 4 turns, the way there is blocked by a light and a medium and its a long road up to begin with.
I just shrugged and accepted it as impossible. Not gonna save scum for bad design.
I mean, what was the point of bringing the turrets online for that matter? By the time the last APC lands, everything is pretty much destroyed anyway.

[Spoon]

One of the developers did a AMA on reddit yesterday. It was mentioned that you will not be able to command more then one lance at a time. Here is the AMA and here is the summary

Picked up the game over the weekend and having a blast with it. Not very far into the story yet, just learning the mechanics and what not. Yesterday I got my first Heavy Mech, a Thunderbolt. Knocked it down and blew its head off with a called shot. Lucky for me I maxed out the salvage rights and got all 3 parts.

But the most important thing brought up in there is: Is starcitizen a scam or not.

[0rph3u5]

Also I just did that Panzyr mission just now too. The secondary defend barracks secondary is objectively impossible unless you know about it in advance and prepare for it. And even then, it seems a bit iffy. The commandos will be upon it in 4 turns, the way there is blocked by a light and a medium and its a long road up to begin with.
I just shrugged and accepted it as impossible. Not gonna save scum for bad design.
I mean, what was the point of bringing the turrets online for that matter? By the time the last APC lands, everything is pretty much destroyed anyway.

You can do it with a medium mech with jump jets, my Hunchback (with a pilot who has the 1st Sprint Bonus from Piloting Skill Tree) arrived a turn too late because I couldn't jump the wall

And you might have a few tons on me again, because when the turrets came online in my playthrough I was still outgunned by enemy mechs and vehicles.

[Spoon]

Most of the enemies in that mission are medium and lights, several of my heavy/assaults can one shot kill them with a called shot. Which in turn gives enough morale for another called shot. So that mission was kind of a breeze on my end (ignoring the barracks objective that is). Just popping mechs as they made their appearance.


I'm starting to notice the repetition in the contracts and the maps at this point. So I'm mostly trying to rush through the priority missions now.

This poor commando is going to get an atlas fist rammed so far up its arse...

[Mikes]

It's just RNG, I've had a few C1 Catapults worth of salvage already. Whereas some other mechs seem a lot more rare for me.

Also I just did that Panzyr mission just now too. The secondary defend barracks secondary is objectively impossible unless you know about it in advance and prepare for it. And even then, it seems a bit iffy. The commandos will be upon it in 4 turns, the way there is blocked by a light and a medium and its a long road up to begin with.
I just shrugged and accepted it as impossible. Not gonna save scum for bad design.
I mean, what was the point of bringing the turrets online for that matter? By the time the last APC lands, everything is pretty much destroyed anyway.

Spoiler:

I actually got there in time with my scout and was able to use death from above on the apc one round before it came in.

A fast jump capable mech can do it. 

Also, in that mission, I found blocking the entries to the base with a mech was incredibly useful. Otherwise you can loose in round 2 lol.

P.S. Having finished it ... I am sooooooo waiting for this now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=6hBpw6plYfc 

[Spoon]

P.S. Having finished it ... I am sooooooo waiting for this now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=6hBpw6plYfc 

That sure looks great for a game set to release in 2008!

[Scotty]

P.S. Having finished it ... I am sooooooo waiting for this now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=6hBpw6plYfc 

That sure looks great for a game set to release in 2008!

I have approximately zero confidence in PGI's ability to release a good game regardless of year.  You may notice, in that video, how there's exactly zero AI behavior of any positive note.  I suspect they're still terrible at it.

[Spoon]

P.S. Having finished it ... I am sooooooo waiting for this now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=6hBpw6plYfc 

That sure looks great for a game set to release in 2008!

I have approximately zero confidence in PGI's ability to release a good game regardless of year.  You may notice, in that video, how there's exactly zero AI behavior of any positive note.  I suspect they're still terrible at it.

Same.

[The E]

Finished the main campaign. Final Lance loadout was 3 Highlanders and a Stalker (2 HGN-733P, 1 HGN-732b, and the Stalker turned into something closely resembling a Longbow, with the LRMs upgraded to LRM20++ and the large lasers stripped out for more LRM ammo and heat sinks). It feels soooo good to see a Mech pop up and basically be able to decide when and where that thing is going to faceplant....

Now I'm kinda torn between restarting the campaign, or playing on to hunt for more King Crab parts (I only saw one of them so far). It's also going to be interesting to see how viable my unit is in the absence of the regular cash infusions provided by the story missions.

[Grizzly]

I personally plan on keeping playing after the campaign ends. The devs announced a roadmap for the next patch and some settings seemed interesting - In particular, the option to skip the bloody tutorial - I kinda consider that vital to restarting a campaign now.

[crizza]

Played my first convoy mission... gosh are they all like this? You need to get to a position to meet with your flock, the message pops up that the APCs will stay with you for protection, so I thought I could make steady progress.
But nope, the APCs rushed for their evac, I struggled to keep up and then I got greedy, trying to murder enemy reinforcements despite the option to retreat to my evac point.
Outcome? Three pilots wounded, add to that Medusa wounded from the previous mission so I have to run a 400k cbills mission with rooks and AFAIK bulwark.
Also, why are the screens not saved in steam?