Battletech is back!!!

Started by Shelldrake, May 12, 2017, 06:20:53 AM

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joram

I'm quite a bit behind you guys I guess.  Just got a Thunderbolt and am super excited.    I have 2 Dragons, one of which I retrofitted with an AC/20 to replace the Hunchback I had doing that role.  But the last much is still a medium.   I prefer the Shadow Hawk as it's pretty fast and can perform the scouting role of lighter Mechs.
Trying to decide the best kind of pilot to put in my AC/20 Dragon.  Am thinking specializing in Piloting with expertise in Gunnery.   


joram

Quote from: mikeck on May 22, 2018, 06:55:53 PM
I'm starting to get reeeeely frustrated with some of these missions. Seems like I go first, move my mech and detect sensor contacts. Next, every single enemy mech gets to go and shoot at my mech. Dead. I can't seem to get the "reserve" and then sensor lock thing down. I reserve a unit, enemies go and bust it up. I sensor lock, then the rest of the enemy blows it up. Lol. I know it's ME but still frustrating. It's ALWAYS "Glitch" getting beat on...with her constant whinging

Now I know that's perception...but the reality part is that I just had 2 pilots injured in 2 successive turns by a locust firing machine guns. One mech was a Vindicator and the other a Trebuchet. Neither had been hit yet. So I'm to understand that with all this armor on a giant metal beast, some guys .50cal is going to punch right through?  I dunno. Seems like I'm constantly getting hit in the head. Meanwhile I can't hit the enemy in the head but once a match

Regarding reserving.  The one thing I really don't like is the all or nothing nature of it.  It would be nice if you could reserve individual Mechs.  But yes, in the initial sprint, I've learned to be very careful as I've ran right into SRM or some similarly nasty vehicles before. 

Geezer

Quote from: joram on May 23, 2018, 07:11:43 AM

Regarding reserving.  The one thing I really don't like is the all or nothing nature of it.  It would be nice if you could reserve individual Mechs.  But yes, in the initial sprint, I've learned to be very careful as I've ran right into SRM or some similarly nasty vehicles before.

You probably understand this already, but it's not quite all or nothing with reserve.  You reserve any mechs that could move in the current phase only.  Now if you have all say medium mechs then reserve will hit them all.  However if you have only one light and you hit reserve during it's first phase then only the light is reserved for one phase.

And I agree about sprinting.  I always try to end up in cover if possible with the first mech who sprints in case he sees and enemy.  I rarely sprint after the first turn and instead switch to move mode.  The game has the annoying default of being in sprint mode if you have not seen any enemies yet and I have forgotten that on more than one occasion and run out much further than intended.
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

DennisS

Quote from: Geezer on May 23, 2018, 07:29:11 AM
Quote from: joram on May 23, 2018, 07:11:43 AM

Regarding reserving.  The one thing I really don't like is the all or nothing nature of it.  It would be nice if you could reserve individual Mechs.  But yes, in the initial sprint, I've learned to be very careful as I've ran right into SRM or some similarly nasty vehicles before.

You probably understand this already, but it's not quite all or nothing with reserve.  You reserve any mechs that could move in the current phase only.  Now if you have all say medium mechs then reserve will hit them all.  However if you have only one light and you hit reserve during it's first phase then only the light is reserved for one phase.

And I agree about sprinting.  I always try to end up in cover if possible with the first mech who sprints in case he sees and enemy.  I rarely sprint after the first turn and instead switch to move mode.  The game has the annoying default of being in sprint mode if you have not seen any enemies yet and I have forgotten that on more than one occasion and run out much further than intended.

My "tank" has very heavy armor, lots of SRM's, a flamer, and two machine guns. The pilot also has mad skills which increase his sprint distance, and he gets bonuses to hit on melee.

90 melee damage, plus flamer and MG's is a world of hurt, and I gain a nice benefit of getting rid of evasion and guard. I renamed the mech "Godzilla", and he just stompy-stomps vehicles and light mechs.

joram

Quote from: Geezer on May 23, 2018, 07:29:11 AM
Quote from: joram on May 23, 2018, 07:11:43 AM

Regarding reserving.  The one thing I really don't like is the all or nothing nature of it.  It would be nice if you could reserve individual Mechs.  But yes, in the initial sprint, I've learned to be very careful as I've ran right into SRM or some similarly nasty vehicles before.

You probably understand this already, but it's not quite all or nothing with reserve.  You reserve any mechs that could move in the current phase only.  Now if you have all say medium mechs then reserve will hit them all.  However if you have only one light and you hit reserve during it's first phase then only the light is reserved for one phase.

And I agree about sprinting.  I always try to end up in cover if possible with the first mech who sprints in case he sees and enemy.  I rarely sprint after the first turn and instead switch to move mode.  The game has the annoying default of being in sprint mode if you have not seen any enemies yet and I have forgotten that on more than one occasion and run out much further than intended.
Yes, you're absolutely right of course but what I miss is the ability to reserve individual Mechs after seeing what the enemy move is.  I understand that there is some limited ability to do this if you sacrifice at least one Mech's ability to react.  Maybe its a balancing decision.

mikeck

Quote from: DennisS on May 22, 2018, 08:20:22 PM
Quote from: mikeck on May 22, 2018, 06:55:53 PM
I'm starting to get reeeeely frustrated with some of these missions. Seems like I go first, move my mech and detect sensor contacts. Next, every single enemy mech gets to go and shoot at my mech. Dead. I can't seem to get the "reserve" and then sensor lock thing down. I reserve a unit, enemies go and bust it up. I sensor lock, then the rest of the enemy blows it up. Lol. I know it's ME but still frustrating. It's ALWAYS "Glitch" getting beat on...with her constant whinging

Now I know that's perception...but the reality part is that I just had 2 pilots injured in 2 successive turns by a locust firing machine guns. One mech was a Vindicator and the other a Trebuchet. Neither had been hit yet. So I'm to understand that with all this armor on a giant metal beast, some guys .50cal is going to punch right through?  I dunno. Seems like I'm constantly getting hit in the head. Meanwhile I can't hit the enemy in the head but once a match

Until I get a sense of what I am up against, I reserve my actions. Getting two consecutive actions is terrific..one to move into range, get a sensor lock, and then unload. Crippling the first mech in the battle, the one out front, helps with battlefield management tremendously. Often, I can kill the first one, and get a headstart on the second while only taking minimal damage.

Ok, I'm still not clear on the whole reserve thing.
So if , on a given turn- I reserve for all 4 of my mechs, then they basically end up going twice
In a row?

I tried using it with sensor lock but I would get destroyed. Like " click reserve (to let enemy move so I can sensor lock and remove evasion), enemy moves and blasts me, I go and hit sensor lock, then enemy blasts me and hits because by then I have no evasion left"

Clearly I'm doing it wrong
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

mikeck

Joram, I don't think I'm ahead of you. I'm getting ready to try the 4th story mission where you try to take the ammunition depo. I'm getting waxed. My problem seems to be my lack of heavy mechs. I have a jager but the others are all mediums. Seems that I can't win the battles against heavy mechs to salvage them so I'm stuck fighting medium mechs which i have a ton of.

I use a Trebuchet as my LRM boat with 20's and 15.
A Centurion with a mix as a brawler and a Humpback with AC 20 and M laser as a brawler as well. Neither seems well suited. I have my Vindicator carrying 2 PPEs for long distance sniping and then a Blackjack. I can't seem to get the builds right so that I can win against an enemy lance with a few mediums
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

Geezer

#742
Quote from: mikeck on May 23, 2018, 10:39:40 AM

Ok, I'm still not clear on the whole reserve thing.
...

A turn has multiple phases with the lighter mechs going first.  If you reserve a mech or mechs then all you are doing is passing up their chance to do something in the current phase and pushing their chance back one phase.  You can't reserve in the last phase of a turn as there are no further phases that turn.  So no you can't move twice in a row in the same turn.  However, what you could do is reserve a mech down to the last phase of a turn and then use it in that last phase.  If it's a light enough mech to activate before the enemy mechs in the next turn then you would essentially be getting two actions in a row.

You don't want to wait until the last phase to sensor lock an enemy mech unless you still have mechs that can take actions in that same last phase because, as mentioned above, the sensor lock goes away when the turn ends.

Also note that if you have multiple mechs that can take actions in any given phase you can take actions with one or more of them and then reserve whichever ones did nothing that phase so they can act in the next phase, again assuming you are not in the last phase.

Hope that helps.

Edit - Also as mentioned above you don't need a line of sight to sensor lock a mech.  You just need to be in range of it which you can see by the blue line that marks your range.
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

joram

Quote from: mikeck on May 23, 2018, 10:46:32 AM
Joram, I don’t think I’m ahead of you. I’m getting ready to try the 4th story mission where you try to take the ammunition depo. I’m getting waxed. My problem seems to be my lack of heavy mechs. I have a jager but the others are all mediums. Seems that I can’t win the battles against heavy mechs to salvage them so I’m stuck fighting medium mechs which i have a ton of.

I use a Trebuchet as my LRM boat with 20’s and 15.
A Centurion with a mix as a brawler and a Humpback with AC 20 and M laser as a brawler as well. Neither seems well suited. I have my Vindicator carrying 2 PPEs for long distance sniping and then a Blackjack. I can’t seem to get the builds right so that I can win against an enemy lance with a few mediums
Hmmm, I think I am just on the 4th mission.  I haven't read what it is but given that I have 3 heavy  (albeit all on the small side) already, guess im doing all right.  I do a lot of side missions and try to make sure my drop weight is worth a half star more than the number of difficulty icons.  Then I move to the story mission when I'm either low on cash or feel I have enough weight to handle the story mission.  Not always possible to wait but so far that strategy has worked.  Even level missions are usually winnable just fine but  not always profitable even if the payout is more.

DennisS

Quote from: joram on May 23, 2018, 05:36:53 PM
Quote from: mikeck on May 23, 2018, 10:46:32 AM
Joram, I don't think I'm ahead of you. I'm getting ready to try the 4th story mission where you try to take the ammunition depo. I'm getting waxed. My problem seems to be my lack of heavy mechs. I have a jager but the others are all mediums. Seems that I can't win the battles against heavy mechs to salvage them so I'm stuck fighting medium mechs which i have a ton of.

I use a Trebuchet as my LRM boat with 20's and 15.
A Centurion with a mix as a brawler and a Humpback with AC 20 and M laser as a brawler as well. Neither seems well suited. I have my Vindicator carrying 2 PPEs for long distance sniping and then a Blackjack. I can't seem to get the builds right so that I can win against an enemy lance with a few mediums
Hmmm, I think I am just on the 4th mission.  I haven't read what it is but given that I have 3 heavy  (albeit all on the small side) already, guess im doing all right.  I do a lot of side missions and try to make sure my drop weight is worth a half star more than the number of difficulty icons.  Then I move to the story mission when I'm either low on cash or feel I have enough weight to handle the story mission.  Not always possible to wait but so far that strategy has worked.  Even level missions are usually winnable just fine but  not always profitable even if the payout is more.

I am at the Panzyr mission, which I should have done about ten missions ago! I LIKE having 7 million in the bank, with an almost fully upgraded Argo.

My mechwarriors, the main four, average 7's on their skills, and this really helps a lot, to be able to use better abilities. All have bulwark, most have multi shot, two have sensor lock, and two have breaching shot. Breaching shot works pretty darned well for a PPC+++.

CptHowdy

completed campaign  ;D i did not need an extra lance or extra pilots. for first phase i used 2 highlanders, king crab and a jagermech-A(LRM boat). second phase i kept the highlanders and crab as kamea came along in her atlas. after completion the credits roll. can mouse wheel up or down to speed those up or go back and read something you might have missed. at end of credits you can press escape and the game will continue. allowing free roam of map. for my pilots i had two master tacticians in my highlanders which let them act in phase 2 and a pilot with bulwark for my crab. my missile boats just need good gunnery. all 4 pilots i brought in last mission were maxed out.

DennisS

Quote from: CptHowdy on May 24, 2018, 04:06:20 AM
completed campaign  ;D i did not need an extra lance or extra pilots. for first phase i used 2 highlanders, king crab and a jagermech-A(LRM boat). second phase i kept the highlanders and crab as kamea came along in her atlas. after completion the credits roll. can mouse wheel up or down to speed those up or go back and read something you might have missed. at end of credits you can press escape and the game will continue. allowing free roam of map. for my pilots i had two master tacticians in my highlanders which let them act in phase 2 and a pilot with bulwark for my crab. my missile boats just need good gunnery. all 4 pilots i brought in last mission were maxed out.

What are your plans now? Will you collect one mech of each type?

sandman2575

Quote from: CptHowdy on May 24, 2018, 04:06:20 AM
completed campaign  ;D i did not need an extra lance or extra pilots.


Yeah, me too -- wtf with the "you'll need 2 lances" warning then? My Mechs took plenty of damage in Part 1 of the mission (though no criticals, so no weapons to replace), but they were available in spic-and-span condition for the Part 2.

Also surprising that both parts 1 and 2 were considerably easier than some of the other missions. I think the 'rescue Madeira' mission was the hardest in the campaign by far. Really hated that one, which took forever to complete -- the 2nd go through...

Pete Dero


joram

Interesting guide but didn't tell me much.  Didn't even mention a single one of the Mechs I'm currently using.   Also, am really struggling on why you would ever pick a lighter class of Mech then what you can field.  The lone reason seems to be initiative but if you have a tactics specialty, you can get that initiative point back. 
I also tend to avoid PPC based builds for some reason but maybe I should revisit that.