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 Avatar 720 wrote:
Complete waste of a Precision Shot IMO. Rather than risking a lower than 1/5 chance at best, I'd much rather go for an almost 100% chance of ripping a torso and arm off and a good chance of detonating any ammo stored inside. An 18% chance of headshotting an enemy mech but an 82% chance of leaving it able to fully fight back isn't reliable enough for me.

Think f it this way. You have an elite gunner in a Black Knight, Awesome or Thunderbolt. You have a PPC and other weapons, which in the Awesome's case are more PPCs. You dont want one shot, you want to fire your whole mech arsenal. So you do, possibly using multi target possibly not. Do the damage, the next turn heat is high, s just fire one PPC. Now make that shot count. You could target the torso of a damaged mech, but if you focus fire you are likely going to shoot that mech up anyway. Firing at a leg or torso of an undamaged mech isn't the same, you get a called shot, not an autocrit. the head however has the 45pt armour cap and a PPC is guaranteed to go through. You have good chance of one shotting that mech, if you fail you still do random damage, and cant fire more that turn anyway.

I like the skill distribution of the game, all the skill combos are useful, you just need the right mech and circumstances for the pilot, and the circumstances will turn up regularly due to the heat and movement mechanics..

That's looking at it in a vacuum, though; I'm never going to waste a Precision Shot on a single PPC when I've got 3 other mechs who could probably use it more effectively, or if I've got to choose between a Precision Shot and a use of Vigilance. I also doubt I'm going to be choosing the PPC over the 4 MLs I could fire for the same heat generated but double the damage output.

On a knocked down mech, it would depend on how dangerous it would be if it got up and still had full use of its weapons should the headshot not take it out.

If it works for you then it works for you, but it hasn't worked for me and what I do instead does. /shrug

 Mr Morden wrote:
Centuion is Medium no salvage is generated as normal on the Quickdraw i think - I only got 2/3 as still learning and nearly lost that fight - killed it with my last Mech!

Huh I could have sworn it said Heavy when I checked the Centurion.

Guess I got lucky with the QuickDraw. Could have sworn after tearing it apart and it still not dying I knocked it over and took out the CT with a precision shot but that shouldn’t have given me full salvage.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I used to do singular they all the time, then I got told off by my editor, so that ended that habit.

And my English teacher used to tell me "ain't" ain't a word. Damn grammar nazis

Finally beat that stupid mission. While more tonnage and having read some tips on positioning helped; a lot of it was also luck of the draw. I didn't have the RNG come up with mostly Cicadas with PPCs hanging out in the back focus firing on sensor locked guys, they didn't avoid the ammo crates, and so on. truthfully I think it wasn't so much as the mission was impossibly hard as I just had a lot of unlucky elements working together several times - I was doing 4 skull missions with relative ease. When I finally did beat it, it was 10 turns and no one was even seriously damaged.

Now I'm breezing through the game and again really enjoying it. I think they may have done some minor speedups last patch too - I noticed ally movement seems a little faster without stops when transitioning between allied units.

I think the ammo crate mission is a player trap. The only reason to go forwards is to kill the escaping ammo wagons. Disguised as Mobile HQ units.

You can send a fast mech with a decent throw weight around the left flank to kill them, and target the LRM turrets early. Hang back aftrerwards with the rest and bottleneck. I did the mission without too much difficulty that way, though I did get lucky with my Thunderbolt which ended up with 45 points of armour out of 1040 and was still walking (actully running away) at the end.

The first time I did the scenario I used the lake as a firepoint, its a trap doing that as the opponent can use numbers against me.

And yes opponents avoid the blast radii of ammo dumps, I didnt set off a single one.

I cannot recommend going through the Tactician tree to get that +1 Initiative skill enough.

I've got a Medium that goes when the Lights go, and 3 Heavies that got when the Mediums go. It's incredible.

When I bring my Kintaro ('Shokan'), with Dekker piloting it, he can sometimes get the drop on Lights before they get their evasion up and tear 'em to pieces with 3xSRM6++ and some medium lasers.

The initiative skill only gets stronger the heavier the mech you get, that's for sure. That and bulwark are my go to skills for pilots. (Don't move to get remove stability damage and 50% DR rin a 270 degree radius? crazy good!)

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I cannot recommend going through the Tactician tree to get that +1 Initiative skill enough.

I've got a Medium that goes when the Lights go, and 3 Heavies that got when the Mediums go. It's incredible.

When I bring my Kintaro ('Shokan'), with Dekker piloting it, he can sometimes get the drop on Lights before they get their evasion up and tear 'em to pieces with 3xSRM6++ and some medium lasers.

2 of my guys have it and it's an enormous game changer. I would tie split fire with tactician in terms of usefulness.

 Ouze wrote:
Finally beat that stupid mission. While more tonnage and having read some tips on positioning helped; a lot of it was also luck of the draw. I didn't have the RNG come up with mostly Cicadas with PPCs hanging out in the back focus firing on sensor locked guys, they didn't avoid the ammo crates, and so on. truthfully I think it wasn't so much as the mission was impossibly hard as I just had a lot of unlucky elements working together several times - I was doing 4 skull missions with relative ease. When I finally did beat it, it was 10 turns and no one was even seriously damaged.

I breezed through that mission yesterday (mostly thanks to reading here that the trucks were a lost cause).

I just hung back with my standard loadout of 4xmediums (since I didn't have a heavy yet, I got the last 1/3 of a dragon on that mission) and kept target locking and LRM'ing everything as they came at me. My lance has 2xLRM15 and one LRM20++ (with some medium and heavy lasers), paired with a PPC+2xmediums with just target locks without revealing itself and throws all the firepower to whoever crests the ridge. All of them at max or close to max armour.

Didn't even have to blow a single ammo crate. You just have to rotate whichever of your mechs is closer to the enemy as most of the time they will target lock him, so as to split all the LRMs going your way.

I can't wait to get my hands on an archer or catapult and it will be just like the old tabletop days.

Had a good weekend where I went from just a Jagermech to 5 heavies.

I'm using a Dragon.

I cannot describe how weird it is that a Dragon is a viable choice for a lance. These things were on the crap list for 3025 in almost every previous game, but in BT it's a huge asset in recon. I've been thinking about it and I think it's because recon has never really mattered before.

My only compliant is how minimal the hardpoints are. I would love to change some of my mechs to other known variants, but the hardpoints just aren't there.

Dragons also seem incredibly hard to kill.

I do like my Dragon but now I have a Highlander and a Battlemaster so its going to be trucky decidign what to field

Only about 30 hours in, and unfortunately my old GPU shat itself so I'm running a really crap card...and getting a lot of game crashes.

However, still love the game. The quick file-edit to remove the pauses before/after shooting have made the game 10x more enjoyable. It's just a great turn-based game and so far I've found a reason to take almost every skill, and a reason to use almost every different type of weapon. The one thing I'm missing a bit is that as the game progresses you never need lighter mechs. I'd have liked some form of contract which was a "low profile" contract and put a tonnage limit on your lance --- so you had an excuse to run lighter mechs after you get 300+ days into your career. I am enjoying the pacing of the game, still middling around in 50-60 ton mechs even after quite a decent chunk of career.

Some of the missions are tough but once you play them once or twice and figure out the tricks it's not too bad. Picked up some worthwhile tactics.

- Bulwark, all day every day on a strong mech which can stand up front, draw enemy fire and survive.
- LRM boat behind that a good ways, dumping fire to kill stuff.
- A high gunnery driver with really long range guns (Even quad AC/2s) can be really good.
- Shoot what you can kill, and stagger your best weapons last (i.e. as the enemy has lost the most evasion)
- Shadow Hawks make great forward operators, armed with sensor lock and evasion, if they get charged they can punch really well, and jump jets let them skirt around picking off leftovers.
- PPCs are a one-trick pony, long range support.
- If you have the slots, spare space for a bunch of small lasers are fun as a last-ditch defense effort. They do plenty of damage but have crap range. I put them on support mechs and if they get charged or baddies get too close, a bank of 4-6 small lasers will put out some hurt.

Overall, really enjoying it. Really looking forward to future expansions, etc.

My secondary "tank" if my bulwark pilot gets too beat up is a Grasshopper with like, 8x small lasers+ or something, atop medium laser vomit.

If you can close to range, then small lasers are absolutely amazing for the tonnage, especially when you're a dude who is going to be meleeing when possible anyway.

My Grasshopper is a MLaser boat with SLaser, MG and Flamer accessories. Works surprisingly well...

 ChargerIIC wrote:
Had a good weekend where I went from just a Jagermech to 5 heavies.

I'm using a Dragon.

I cannot describe how weird it is that a Dragon is a viable choice for a lance. These things were on the crap list for 3025 in almost every previous game, but in BT it's a huge asset in recon. I've been thinking about it and I think it's because recon has never really mattered before.

My only compliant is how minimal the hardpoints are. I would love to change some of my mechs to other known variants, but the hardpoints just aren't there.

The dragon is my "assault" mech, it likes going physical so I geared him for close quarters. SRM6++ and a SRM4 and, IIRC two medium lasers and a MG with max armour. Speed helps him to get close, but I'm sure at some point I'll regret the tradeoff of not having jump jets.

My poor SRM6++, I miss it so, it was lost in a mangled right torso.

After finishing the campaign I feel like it kind of fizzles out without a bigger goal even if you can keep going, not many campaign missions overall. Also wanted more cut-scenes because they we're great. Still can't complain for my 0.50 euro to the hour. Can't wait for DLC.

I’m curious where they will go with DLC. The campaign progression is clearly geared towards progressing your lance from lights/mediums to assaults. The DLC can’t exactly build on the old campaign since there’s nowhere to build on from there.

I'm hoping it gives more to do along the lines of being merc company. You know, reasons to really gain rep with factions or something, picking a side between two warring factions and fighting for them or something.

I'd love a Kell Hounds-lite story, where a small merc unit grows into a significant player in the great houses struggles.

Hard to fit into the canon, though, and being stuck in the periphery space between the two lesser great houses seems a deliberate choice so tough luck of that happening.

An X-Com long war-like mod would be awesome though, managing multiple lances in different simultaneous missions with longer recovery times. Make the strategic game longer and more relevant.

Well, gotta say I just quit the game for the first time with a general "feth this game!".

For no reason I can discern my game difficulty just doubled. Several missions were "tough" and then there must have been some arbitrary switch where my missions are now two or more full lances of 100% health opposition which are equal weight or more.

I don't care how good I play, I can't beat 2:1 or worse odds most of the time. Unfortunately if that's where I'm stuck story-wise I might be done with the campaign (around 450 days in). I've been loving the game so far and was - up till now - incredibly happy with the perfect line they'd found between tough and impossible.

That has really friggin' soured my enthusiasm.

 Elbows wrote:
Well, gotta say I just quit the game for the first time with a general "feth this game!".

For no reason I can discern my game difficulty just doubled. Several missions were "tough" and then there must have been some arbitrary switch where my missions are now two or more full lances of 100% health opposition which are equal weight or more.

I don't care how good I play, I can't beat 2:1 or worse odds most of the time. Unfortunately if that's where I'm stuck story-wise I might be done with the campaign (around 450 days in). I've been loving the game so far and was - up till now - incredibly happy with the perfect line they'd found between tough and impossible.

That has really friggin' soured my enthusiasm.

A few times now I've run into a pirate Assault Lance (King Crabs :-( ) but when I've re-loaded they're Heavy/Medium Lances. I wonder if it's just the RNG being odd.

 Elbows wrote:
Well, gotta say I just quit the game for the first time with a general "feth this game!".

For no reason I can discern my game difficulty just doubled. Several missions were "tough" and then there must have been some arbitrary switch where my missions are now two or more full lances of 100% health opposition which are equal weight or more.

I don't care how good I play, I can't beat 2:1 or worse odds most of the time. Unfortunately if that's where I'm stuck story-wise I might be done with the campaign (around 450 days in). I've been loving the game so far and was - up till now - incredibly happy with the perfect line they'd found between tough and impossible.

That has really friggin' soured my enthusiasm.

I am about the same way in - just done "Graverobbers" - I was on occasion facing larger odds before that though - often when I tried to flank the main target and ran into their reinforcements first. I do play mostly cautious so even then I can usually pull back and draw off part of the forces and destroy them in detail.

Last game I had Battlemaster, Thunderbolt, Grasshopper and Kintato (first 3 with Master pilots) vs Thunderbolt, Quickdraw, Trebuchet, reinforcing Demolisher, Shreck PPC, Manticore and a couple of light units. Not fought any assaults in non campaign play yet.

In the Campaign the odds are longer but there I found they have made it so there are ways to play clever.

Maybe DLC will have extend the campaign to have multiple outcomes - I don't think it does this now but have not failed a campaign mission so not sure?

I also just did "Graverobbers", and was doing pretty good halfway though, but when those reinforcements dropped and I saw them, I just spend the rest of the mission sprinting every mech to evac.

I agree with Elbows that the difficulty curve is not very polished at all. I have 4 skull missions that are utter cakewalks and 2 skull missions that are super difficult. I'd really like to see that addressed in a patch; some of these missions really need to be adjusted - some up, some down.

 Ouze wrote:
I also just did "Graverobbers", and was doing pretty good halfway though, but when those reinforcements dropped and I saw them, I just spend the rest of the mission sprinting every mech to evac.

I went for the opposite, proceeded quite slowly and killed every Mech and vehicle in my way - didn't loose any mechs but i do watch my heat and happy to go h-th for a round to cool off.

On non campaign missions - the sides can be quite different/random and yeah it would be good to focuss this down a little

I'll travel and try some other missions, but I'm only running 50-60 ton mechs at the moment, and while most of the "tough" missions have been the usual 10-12 vehicles/mechs which are maybe 20-50% armour, etc...I've just started running into full health 8+ mechs, and even being clever I can't beat most of those. I'll be facing a lance of mechs thinking "this is going to suck" and then another full lance will show up, etc.

Maybe I've had a really bad draw with mech scraps that I'm unaware of and I'm supposed to be fielding larger/stronger mechs than I'm currently running, but I do hope this doesn't kill my campaign dead.

I did beatifully in the ammo mission - right up until the final stages of cleanup where my leader died to a CT critical and his partner died to a desperate DFA. Gonna hafta reload it, but damn I was close to 100% success there.

There are so many times where I can only look at myself in shame and ask why?..why did I crest that ridge?

Behold my (current) machines of death!!!


[Scratch That - Trying again!]

(Hope the pics worked)