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 Mr Morden wrote:

 ChargerIIC wrote:
GOt the worst kind of vehicle drop. Ambushed some convoy vehicles in a gully only to find out it was demolishers backed by a shrek and a LRM carrier. My precious AC20++ is just gone along with my custom gyro.

On the plus side it's cool to see shreks in game.

Still hunting for my first assault mech. Going to amble into Canopian space to see if the getting is any better. Anyone know if the Capellean space ever becomes non-restricted?

I imagine that when you finish the campaign all areas are derestricted

This is correct.

The one thing that really bothers me about this game is the transition in to combat. Out of combat I move each of my mechs seperately, but any of those mechs might trigger the start of a combat round, at which point any mech of mine that hasn't move yet just loses its turn. This can mean that mech then has to spend a turn running to catch up to where it should have been when combat started. It isn't game breaking, but it is annoying.

 Elemental wrote:
Got through the ammo dump mission, and yeah, I see why everyone hates this one. The key for me was to head off to the ridge on the right before engaging, which mades it a lot easier to control how many dudes were shooting at me while my Dragon, Jagermech and Centurion sat there with defensive stance and gunlined like champs. Didn't even try for the trucks. It only took five tries, though two of those were reloading after my commander dying to random headshots / DFA's when things seemed under control.

I'm not a great player by any means, and I've loaded over a few times after missions went really badly, but I did the ammo mission first time without any real hassle.

I took a Grasshopper, modded to drop the LRM and add more heatsinks, a Dragon modded for skirmishing support with AC5, LRM and ML, a Centurion with twin LRM20, and a Wolverine with three SRM6.

Having read it about it here I was already prepped to let the ammo trucks go, and I saw pretty quickly there was no way I was going to catch them with my force. Instead I just used the Centurion to blow up one turret each turn, while the other three mechs turned to nuking a mech or two each turn. A Firestarter lasted a stupidly long time, but given six of the eight mechs were light or on the light end of medium (Cicadas), it wasn't hard to kill them.

What makes me wonder if I just got it easy was the last two enemy mechs, a Thunderbolt and a Wolverine, didn't really do much to support the mosquito swarm of light mechs. They stuck at the back of map firing some LRMs and not doing much damage, which allowed me to rip apart the lights one at a time.

Thing is, I know other players said they took out some enemy units by hitting the ammo bins, but in my game the enemy never went inside the blast area. I think this might be why those last two mechs never contributed - they seemed to have some AI instruction not to enter the blast zones, which stopped the AI pathfinding from letting them find a way forward at all.

Anyhow, just funny because I put that mission off for ages, and did a bunch of random missions that I struggled with, all while dreading that ammo mission. Then I did and got through with only a couple of mechs losing armour on any location at all.

I recently replayed it and it was quite easy. I initially moved a couple mechs in the direction of the ammo trucks (got both of them), limited LoS to my own units and picked them apart one by one, while saving the an ammo crate to soften up the dragon (which I assume is the only real scripted spawn as I've never seen it spawn as anything else), and took an opportune shot on another crate when a couple of mechs wandered too close to a crate.

Basically, I hung out where the game starts you off, finished it with a Black Knight, start Centurion (modded to have a total of 20 LRMs/2MLs), Jaeger mech (turn into an LRM boat w/ 3 extra MLs), and a laser boat hunchback.

 Wolfblade wrote:
while saving the an ammo crate to soften up the dragon (which I assume is the only real scripted spawn as I've never seen it spawn as anything else)

I faced a Thunderbolt as the enemy heavy.

 sebster wrote:

 Wolfblade wrote:
while saving the an ammo crate to soften up the dragon (which I assume is the only real scripted spawn as I've never seen it spawn as anything else)

I faced a Thunderbolt as the enemy heavy.

Hm, personally I think that'd make it easier so long as you take out anything that spots you.

 Talizvar wrote:
I have found a new "favorite thing" in the game:
Got my first "first salvo head-shot-destroyed" result on a heavy mech I wanted.
That was far more satisfying than I thought possible.

Real talk right here. A first-shot cockpit destroyed is an awesome feeling.

 Ouze wrote:

 Talizvar wrote:
I have found a new "favorite thing" in the game:
Got my first "first salvo head-shot-destroyed" result on a heavy mech I wanted.
That was far more satisfying than I thought possible.

Real talk right here. A first-shot cockpit destroyed is an awesome feeling.

Not when it's followed by a kick to the head on one of your mechs. there goes my second pilot. Kingwolf we will miss you.

M.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
So after the deflated balloon of the 4 skull mission, I took the 3.5 skull mission. Rolled in with both Orions, my Kintaro and my support Jagermech.

Came up against a Bulldog, 2 Demolishers and a Thunderbolt. No biggie. Neither Demolisher ever got a shot off, stuck on the other side of a lake. I advanced into the lake as it was badlands and I wanted the extra heat sink buff.

The[n] the reinforcements arrived: A Quickdraw, a K2, another Thunderbolt and the second Black Knight I've seen so far.

I am jealous of your Black Knight, sir. Absolutely one of my favorite mechs.

I have two: the Blue Knight and the Dark Knight.

Dekker has died. I put him on my PC's Shadowhawk, which has only ever taken one or two glancing head shots which only resulted in minor injuries. Mission was a 2.5 skull Battle, which put me against 4 mediums and 2 heavies.

I managed to win, but right at the end, after taking a brutal amount of punishment and hiding for half the battle, a stray AC round finished Dekker.

That same battle got me a Kintaro, so I can't be too mad.

I played about 40 hours or so of the campaign, fixed my Cockpit Chatter issue and restarted.

I'm loving this game even more, now.

After having lost all of my original starting mechwarriors first time around, I'm being far more precious about them, to the point of having them punch out when things get shot up.

I'm starting the campaign over after beating it. 2nd Dekker is still alive, and I'm just past Weldry.

 -Loki- wrote:
That same battle got me a Kintaro, so I can't be too mad.

I found the Kintaro to be a really good mech. It's like the Trebuchet, but way better. I think I used it for lurms originally and then changed it to tons of SRMs later but it was good at both.

 Chillreaper wrote:
After having lost all of my original starting mechwarriors first time around, I'm being far more precious about them, to the point of having them punch out when things get shot up.

It's gotten to the point that I don't want to equip cockpit stuff so I can retain that option. Repairing the head is cheap and I'd prefer that then trying to hide a limping, smoking deep orange mech for the remainder of a tension-filled mission.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

OK, I just got offered the last mission with a warning that ?

There are cockpit mods that add free hits to pilots, though. Those are totally worth it, in my mind.

 Ouze wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:
That same battle got me a Kintaro, so I can't be too mad.

I found the Kintaro to be a really good mech. It's like the Trebuchet, but way better. I think I used it for lurms originally and then changed it to tons of SRMs later but it was good at both.

 Chillreaper wrote:
After having lost all of my original starting mechwarriors first time around, I'm being far more precious about them, to the point of having them punch out when things get shot up.

It's gotten to the point that I don't want to equip cockpit stuff so I can retain that option. Repairing the head is cheap and I'd prefer that then trying to hide a limping, smoking deep orange mech for the remainder of a tension-filled mission.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

OK, I just got offered the last mission with a warning that

Spoiler:

I can field more than one lance.

Oops, I only really keep about 6 mechs and pilots on hand. In a few turns I've ramped up to 8 pilots and mechs. Without any mission or story spoilers, should I be aiming for more than 2 full lances

?

Thanks!

Only mediums I run now (aside from The Monster) are Kintaro's and Centurions.

Centurions are my 'Training 'Mechs', that I put rookie pilots in as they have a decent spread of weapons and armour, so they can do anything.

Kintaros are my heavy scouts/support 'Mechs, as they're fast enough to run around and blast things with SRM alpha strikes, or act as missile support, or sensor lock things.

Doing better on my new game. I'm not as far yet as I was when I restarted, but I'm much happier with my choice of skills. Everyone gets the +1 initiative skill (absolutely amazing having all my stuff go sooner), and then a mix of bulwark and multishot as the secondary, with an emphasis on bulwark. I find the ability to stand and shoot and get the damage reduction of bulwark no matter where I am is very good for my heavier mechs.

Just got a Grasshopper and Orion last night to fill out my lance. Refitted the Grasshopper into a walking/jumping disco light show (all the lasers!), and I'm toying around with making the Orion into dual PPCs for funsies.

Anyone else have a burning hatred for their employer. Every time I tell her to stay put she leroy jenkins in the middle of a mission or insists on fielding a mech known for its explosiveness. I swear I'm going to call Liao my liege lord. He at least stays on his goddamn throne

 ChargerIIC wrote:
Anyone else have a burning hatred for their employer. Every time I tell her to stay put she leroy jenkins in the middle of a mission or insists on fielding a mech known for its explosiveness. I swear I'm going to call Liao my liege lord. He at least stays on his goddamn throne

I feel ya. On the bright side, she's always a prime target to the point enemies will forgo killshots on my other mechs, so I'll usually brace/vigilance with kamea and then go to town .

So going through my 3rd playthrough and am trying to limit myself to just mediums and lights.... damn it’s difficult now

So...there was a thing that just happened. Just had a 3-skull mission to hunt down a lance of "old-timers" from a previous war. Nothing too bad, because they're usually in mechs with less than half the normal armor and normally no reinforcements. Made my way towards the center of the map where they're supposed to be, and then all 4 blips pop up, and the little initiative tracker appears at the top of the screen. One of them is in the last spot on initiative, so I figure they one of them slow tanks. I visually check each blip, and...no tanks. One of the blips is a 100-ton mech.

So, after some very quick death and destruction visited upon the other enemy mechs (a grasshopper unloading everything into the CT will core out even a heavy mech right quick), I then focused on knocking down and causing enough injuries to score myself one very pretty King Crab. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best loadout for it. Any thoughts? I've mounted a pair of AC/20++ onto it that I've had lying around (both are the same with damage and stability damage bonuses)

Ac20s are fun, but I personally am a fan of SRMs. For less weight you get more shots and damage. My crabs run 4 SRM6s 3 MLs and 1 LL max JJs, near max armor (reduced to the nearest full ton) and then max heat sinks. Current damage output of an alpha is over 400 damage and I don't even have max damage SRMs (one +4 three +2)

You cant go wrong with stock configuration. Cheesing out a mediocre mech with optimised weaponry is forgivable., but the King Crab has decent weapons and a clear battlefield role. Stick with what it can do. The only change I recommend is to reduce the LRM rank to buy two more autocannon ammo bins.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
I'm toying around with making the Orion into dual PPCs for funsies.

The Oriion is a stock favorite of mine and I "think" I found a great combo (K version I think):

Medium laser in each arm.
RT AC10 (2 AC10 ammo)
LT SRM6 and LRM20 (1SRM ammo, 2 LRM ammo)
Make sure a couple heat sinks in each leg.
Enough heat sinks for about 5 pips of heat efficiency and fill the remaining with armor.
Then any Gyro or cockpit loadouts you prefer.

I think the "V" version you can put the SRM6 and ammo in the left arm instead. I have not liked that version much (wont say no).

The mixed weaponry makes splitting-fire useful: take-out close threats and contribute to bombing other ones your spotter found.
Really needs the split-fire and the bulwark pilot abilities to shine.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I recently had the heck scared out of me on a mission.
Some mediums, a couple heavies, I was beginning to sweat a bit then a freaking Stalker strides out of the woods.
Now it got seriously real.
Medium range is death near those things, slow as heck thank goodness.
Stripped one mech down in one salvo, had to just sprint him out of there.
Blew the heck out of the remaining guys with my favorite Orions.
I kite'ed the thing and got a couple knock-downs and an ammo explosion and managed to drop the big guy without gutting it.
Now I have my ultimate support mech.
Two LRM20s and a PPC seems to be the ideal (and heat being manageable)
He is so slow keeping him back bombing and sniping is the way to go.
Split-fire and bulwark is your friend with this guy.
A Highlander with the +50 range cockpit (with the ++ evasion and split-fire) upgrade jumping ahead is the dream team.

I decided to pick it up last weekend and it goes to show how much of a casual tourist I am as I had to redo the second mission twice.

I really enjoy it so far though, this'll be one I'll be playing in bursts to keep myself sane.

I keep freaking myself out getting short on money then forgetting I got a bunch of weapons and mechs stashed away for sale.
The paid-for travel is handy but getting nailed by the regular bill is painful on too long a trip.

If i get nailed by one more pirate "escort" blackmail scenario I will detonate my ship out of spite (if I could) or weld mechs to the outer hull for point defense.
Nevermind the classic poker night or movie night.
The game can really use a bunch more random encounters and much more dialogue with the crewmates,
it would not be hard to do and could add so much more.

The travel to and from drop-ship needs a skip function.
The drop mission screen with the planet "should" have the planet animation run while loading not everything frozen until the mission could begin.

The movie star scenario (just some random mission) was much fun and big payoff, I really like these slightly different search and destroy missions.

I am not sure if they do this but it would be neat to see like maybe some Star-League item get dropped in a hard mission along with some assault mech.
It would make salvage choices very difficult.

Speaking of which, those darn Zeus pilots seem to like to fight to the death: I have been unable to get salvage worth a darn from those guys (plus I get fed-up getting utterly chewed by them).
Trying to "gotta catch them all" is getting to be an expensive habit that I may not be able to afford.
I really wonder about the wounds these pilots have, it feels like dawn of the dead with how often these guys get knocked down.
You can play this song as you try to capture a mech:
Anyway, the more I dig into this game the more I like it.
Some of the plot-line stuff I just love.

Though, I keep thinking I am going to die when i have "Adam Jensen" threatening me all the time, I never thought I would see a voice actor so type-cast for me, but it works.

The game is REALLY good, with a few small tweaks I think it could easily reach the realm of "amazing".
I will now go back to tweaking my mechs if I can afford it...

 BrookM wrote:
I really enjoy it so far though, this'll be one I'll be playing in bursts to keep myself sane.

No! Obsess over it. Think about new 'Mech configs at all waking ours. Spend every minute you can playing it.

I just finished the 2-part mission at a certain planet a treasure map led me to. It wasn't too hard taking down the "surprise" trio of assault mechs. In fact, I did so well I had to choose which one I wanted to keep: an Awesome or a Battlemaster. I kept the Battlemaster, and the game still awarded me two of the Awesome parts. Anyway, questions about the aftermath in spoilers:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
I really enjoy it so far though, this'll be one I'll be playing in bursts to keep myself sane.

No! Obsess over it. Think about new 'Mech configs at all waking ours. Spend every minute you can playing it.

You sleep?
tut
Filthy casual.