Battletech

Originally Posted by Pladio
Note that all of these can also be shot without melee attacks if you are close enough to target (90m, I believe)

Yep, but then there's no melee attack - and that's huge damage.

One thing is for sure: evasion is no help at all against melee (and probably Death From Above) so it does make a good first attack.

I had a strange one last night. It was a base protection mission difficulty 2.5. A little scary given I still don't have a heavy but I've got morale, some plus weapons, and I saved the game so I can always escape back to the Before Time . It turned out to be a cake walk, though.

I had to defend buildings against enemy mechs for 10 rounds. Nothing at all happened for two rounds. Over the next three rounds, ten mechs show up at long sensor range but they don't attack - they just come together in a big ball on the other side of a forest so half the battle is done without firing a shot. Finally, a few mechs start headed toward me. They are all size class three and, since they outnumber me 10:4, I'm thinking I might want to hit the withdrawl button. Only one Cicada gets into firing range, though, so I unload on it and take off one of its legs. The next round, only one mech (a Wolverine) gets close enough to shoot it up. It goes down pretty easily too - it turns out these are mechs have extra weak armor.

It keeps going like that with just one mech getting in range while the rest mill around. They ended up getting just one weak shot off and lost three or four mechs before the battle hit 10 turns and finished.

I've also learned not to take missions to destroy convoys. As near as I can tell, the difficulty measurement doesn't take the convoy's strength into account, just the escort.

Can someone post a screen-grab of the PC keyboard controls?

Originally Posted by Zloth
Yep, but then there's no melee attack - and that's huge damage.

One thing is for sure: evasion is no help at all against melee (and probably Death From Above) so it does make a good first attack.

I had a strange one last night. It was a base protection mission difficulty 2.5. A little scary given I still don't have a heavy but I've got morale, some plus weapons, and I saved the game so I can always escape back to the Before Time . It turned out to be a cake walk, though.

I had to defend buildings against enemy mechs for 10 rounds. Nothing at all happened for two rounds. Over the next three rounds, ten mechs show up at long sensor range but they don't attack - they just come together in a big ball on the other side of a forest so half the battle is done without firing a shot. Finally, a few mechs start headed toward me. They are all size class three and, since they outnumber me 10:4, I'm thinking I might want to hit the withdrawl button. Only one Cicada gets into firing range, though, so I unload on it and take off one of its legs. The next round, only one mech (a Wolverine) gets close enough to shoot it up. It goes down pretty easily too - it turns out these are mechs have extra weak armor.

It keeps going like that with just one mech getting in range while the rest mill around. They ended up getting just one weak shot off and lost three or four mechs before the battle hit 10 turns and finished.

I've also learned not to take missions to destroy convoys. As near as I can tell, the difficulty measurement doesn't take the convoy's strength into account, just the escort.

Actually DFA can miss. I have seen it happen, but I do not know what the % to hit is for that.

I have had the same issue with the defend base mission, except I literally just stayed in base for 10 turns. Must be bugged. Issue you, you don't get any salvage from it.

I saw a 5 skull mission and I knew I wasn't ready for it, so I decided to save and try it out. That was fun.

Multiple long range turrets and mechs massacring me even with guarded and evasion. I didn't last very long.

I think I need some more Assaults before doing that one.

Originally Posted by Dilvish
Can someone post a screen-grab of the PC keyboard controls?

That would take a bunch of screenshots. That screen uses pretty large text.

Are these controls accurate?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebra…eta/manual.pdf

They are for the beta.

Originally Posted by Dilvish
Are these controls accurate?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebra…eta/manual.pdf

They are for the beta.

Looks very similar.

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There's a lot of not-so-obvious mechanics in this game. Some that jump to mind…

There are three ways to kill a mech. If you destroy the center torso ("core" it) then it explodes leaving just 1 salvage piece. If you blow off both legs then it's disabled and leaves 2 salvage pieces. If you kill the pilot (which you can do by destroying the head or just giving the pilot enough injuries) then you get 3 salvage pieces, which is all you need to build a complete mech.

Weapon salvage doesn't seem to be influenced by what you destroy. If you blast the right arm off a panther then you can still get its PPC.

If you are behind an enemy mech and do a called shot, you can't target the arms or legs. (Bug? Something in the UI that I don't understand?)

The bulwark skill works if you don't move. Rotating in place doesn't count as moving.

There seems to be three turn modes. When you first land you're in free mode and can move your mechs in any order. As soon as an enemy pops up on radar, you have to follow initiative rules (i.e. smaller mechs first) but the default move option is still sprint. Finally, once you get positive ID on an enemy (i.e. you can see the mech instead of a red ghost), the battle starts proper. It's the last change over that really gets me. For instance, I'll use a scout's sensor lock to let me see and target a distant enemy so the mechs with long range missiles can blast them from far away but, as soon as I do that, the game switches modes, the round ends, and I lose my lock!

Damaged mechs can not be put in storage. That means if you get back from a mission with a new, salvaged mech then you can't shove that beat-up mech into storage to give the new mech a place. Either fix them, sell them, or store them before the mission starts.

Difficulty goes up as you do story missions so don't go running off to do one as soon as you find you can handle a mission with just as many skulls. They are also longer than a typical mission so watch that ammo!

The AI really likes to shoot whatever is closest then pick on that target for the whole round. It isn't totally stupid about it but putting a fresh mech forward every round does help spread your damage out pretty often.

One mech can't knock over another in one round, even if it has the stability "damage" to do it. The bar will fill up and the mech will become unsteady but it won't fall until another mech attacks it (or the same mech attacks it in the next round).

As mentioned in previous posts - vehicles seem like nuisance enemies at best early in the game but it doesn't take long for them to become a serious threat. Some are so heavy that I'm not real sure how they can even drive on soft ground!

When you shoot a mech head on, each weapon hit is applied randomly to one of 8 sections. Missiles divide up even more which each missile hitting a random section. If you can get to the side, they divide up over fewer sections. Back shots divide up over just three. Vehicles have fewer sections and turrets have only one, making them much easier to destroy even if they have more total armor.

Called shot is seriously deadly because of the above effect. I don't think missiles benefit as much from the skill but that hunchback with 8(?) medium lasers get horrifically deadly using called shot on the center torso - especially in the hands of a pilot that gets a called shot accuracy bonus.

Originally Posted by Zloth
There's a lot of not-so-obvious mechanics in this game. Some that jump to mind…

There are three ways to kill a mech. If you destroy the center torso ("core" it) then it explodes leaving just 1 salvage piece. If you blow off both legs then it's disabled and leaves 2 salvage pieces. If you kill the pilot (which you can do by destroying the head or just giving the pilot enough injuries) then you get 3 salvage pieces, which is all you need to build a complete mech.

Weapon salvage doesn't seem to be influenced by what you destroy. If you blast the right arm off a panther then you can still get its PPC.

If you are behind an enemy mech and do a called shot, you can't target the arms or legs. (Bug? Something in the UI that I don't understand?)

The bulwark skill works if you don't move. Rotating in place doesn't count as moving.

There seems to be three turn modes. When you first land you're in free mode and can move your mechs in any order. As soon as an enemy pops up on radar, you have to follow initiative rules (i.e. smaller mechs first) but the default move option is still sprint. Finally, once you get positive ID on an enemy (i.e. you can see the mech instead of a red ghost), the battle starts proper. It's the last change over that really gets me. For instance, I'll use a scout's sensor lock to let me see and target a distant enemy so the mechs with long range missiles can blast them from far away but, as soon as I do that, the game switches modes, the round ends, and I lose my lock!

Damaged mechs can not be put in storage. That means if you get back from a mission with a new, salvaged mech then you can't shove that beat-up mech into storage to give the new mech a place. Either fix them, sell them, or store them before the mission starts.

Difficulty goes up as you do story missions so don't go running off to do one as soon as you find you can handle a mission with just as many skulls. They are also longer than a typical mission so watch that ammo!

The AI really likes to shoot whatever is closest then pick on that target for the whole round. It isn't totally stupid about it but putting a fresh mech forward every round does help spread your damage out pretty often.

One mech can't knock over another in one round, even if it has the stability "damage" to do it. The bar will fill up and the mech will become unsteady but it won't fall until another mech attacks it (or the same mech attacks it in the next round).

As mentioned in previous posts - vehicles seem like nuisance enemies at best early in the game but it doesn't take long for them to become a serious threat. Some are so heavy that I'm not real sure how they can even drive on soft ground!

When you shoot a mech head on, each weapon hit is applied randomly to one of 8 sections. Missiles divide up even more which each missile hitting a random section. If you can get to the side, they divide up over fewer sections. Back shots divide up over just three. Vehicles have fewer sections and turrets have only one, making them much easier to destroy even if they have more total armor.

Called shot is seriously deadly because of the above effect. I don't think missiles benefit as much from the skill but that hunchback with 8(?) medium lasers get horrifically deadly using called shot on the center torso - especially in the hands of a pilot that gets a called shot accuracy bonus.

Good post.

Don't have much to add to that, but thought it merited a post

I really should start playing; it sounds absolutely wickedly awesome. Hum. Maybe after my next trip - are they planning a soon patch that I should wait to be dropped ?

Originally Posted by you
I really should start playing; it sounds absolutely wickedly awesome. Hum. Maybe after my next trip - are they planning a soon patch that I should wait to be dropped ?

Yes, though don't think there is a date for it, just plans.

I actually finished the campaign without using scout abilities at all. My tactic was using the Guts ability to always be in heavy cover and if I have to move I use the Morale points skill to instantly get cover back. Never be in the open. Take less weaponry and heavier armour. Of course, sometimes I'd mix light cover with evasion or even come out of cover to finish off the last few enemy mechs in melee.

I think the most important thing to know is that 200 CT, 150 RT/LT and 100 arms armour is a well armoured mech for late game. Now you know how far off your mediums are. The assault mechs only seem to add +50 to the arms. Unless you're into melee/support weapons and jump attacks legs can be a little under 100 and a good place to pinch some more armour for the rear which seems to go alright around 65T. I found rear armour was pretty important to save badly damaged mechs by running them away and bracing, but one could argue that the fact my rear was undamaged indicates I could have kept him in the fight if that armour was on the front, but it just feels bad to have that vulnerability there at all.

My winning Lance was a Highlander, Atlas, Orion and Grasshopper and all pilots were Lancer class. (2guns, 1guts talents) The Grasshopper was equipped with 7 medium lasers and 6 small lasers and lots of heatsinks for some fast, close range combat and good sustained damage. Also has a viewfinder +50m for scouting. The Orion was set up as a missile boat with two LRM20++ and one LRM15+, very low armour and 5T of LRM ammo. Makes heavy use of multi-shot and breaching shot. The Highlander and Atlas were mostly default but with less leg armour and weapons replaced with + versions.

Another thought I had along the way is you can get a lot of total damage by stacking medium lasers but the damage gets spread out over too many parts, sort of like missiles but without the stability damage. They both have a good chance of hitting a badly damaged part but a heavier weapon like AC20 is better to weaken a fresh part. You could fire off 6 medium lasers for 150 total damage and get unlucky and only do 25 damage to the center torso and do no stability damage when with one shot an AC20 could take a part down low enough to be worth focusing on. That's why both my Assaults have AC20 and LRM20 and Breaching Shot.

It's a good game and better than I thought it would be. Turn resolution was a bit long but I see that's being addressed in the next patch with some options that are hopefully well implemented. I'd probably score it about 87% if I wasn't a huge, nostalgic fan of the Mechwarrior games but since I am I'll give it a generous 93%

I made a Grasshopper over in the skirmish lab with near max armor, a large laser, an SRM4, a couple of medium lasers, and six flamers. It's worked OK in skirmish mode, at least. Should be a real death dealer on hot planets.

In campaign mode I might drop… something to get a cockpit mod, fist melee mod, gyros, and whatever else.

Regarding knockdown in one round, it's even more than I thought. It seems like a mech needs to be unsteady before you can knock it down. Later, when you run into mech pilots with a lot of skill, there's just one pip between unsteady and down.

One thing has started to annoy me: multiple animations/whining. A mech takes a massive blast - possibly losing a limb. Then it stops and the pilot whines about armor being low. Then the mech falls over. Then the pilot starts whining about a few broken bones. Eeeesh! Can't the game have the mech fall while the limb is being blasted off with the pilot screaming/oofing as it goes down??

You can adjust some of the delays quite easily. Try googling something like
Reduce battletech animation delays and you should find a couple of threads.

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Originally Posted by Zloth
As mentioned in previous posts - vehicles seem like nuisance enemies at best early in the game but it doesn't take long for them to become a serious threat. Some are so heavy that I'm not real sure how they can even drive on soft ground!

When you shoot a mech head on, each weapon hit is applied randomly to one of 8 sections. Missiles divide up even more which each missile hitting a random section. If you can get to the side, they divide up over fewer sections. Back shots divide up over just three. Vehicles have fewer sections and turrets have only one, making them much easier to destroy even if they have more total armor.

Then again, how can mechs walk on soft ground? I remember seeing an interview with the man behind the game a few years ago, where he pointed out that this is really the main thing that makes mechs like these completely unrealistic, they're putting so much pressure on the ground they stand on that they would likely just sink.

Vehicles have multiple sections for armour, but only one internal section, so anything that goes through the armour will start hitting the same internal section, even if you're hitting different points on it. This is pretty significant, as combined with having fewer sections in general, they're quite easy to take down with concentrated fire, unlike mechs where you can end up just stripping parts of it without destroying the mech itself.

Patch 1.0.3 is out. https://steamcommunity.com/app/63709…2373012536540/

Fixed an issue that could cause MechWarriors to become permanently stuck in the High Spirits or Low Spirits state.

Rats. I had two stuck in High Spirits. No more endless supply of called shots for me.

I am so lost. I just started and I'm playing the cornation mission and killed my first mech - some royal guard - but now i cant' dismantle it and takes the weapons from the empty shell.

Originally Posted by you
I am so lost. I just started and I'm playing the cornation mission and killed my first mech - some royal guard - but now i cant' dismantle it and takes the weapons from the empty shell.

You need three mech salvage pieces to make a new mech.

To get more salvage you need to kill the mech by doing the least amount of damage

Killing the pilot gives 3 pieces essentially allowing you to create the mech instantly if you take all three pieces.

Destroying the centre torso only one piece.

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Er my point is that I can't loot when the mech dies and i should be able too - sort of like looting a corpse in an rpg

Originally Posted by Pladio
You need three mech salvage pieces to make a new mech.

To get more salvage you need to kill the mech by doing the least amount of damage

Killing the pilot gives 3 pieces essentially allowing you to create the mech instantly if you take all three pieces.

Destroying the centre torso only one piece.

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Originally Posted by you
Er my point is that I can't loot when the mech dies and i should be able too - sort of like looting a corpse in an rpg

That happens at the end of missions, but not during the first two tutorial missions if I remember correctly.

It was a small joke because you can't loot the corpses.

Originally Posted by Pladio
That happens at the end of missions, but not during the first two tutorial missions if I remember correctly.