Octopus Overlords

IceBear wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:26 pm If you read that thread it should have a link to Ek's Guide on Steam. He was a developer of the game. I saved it as a PDF

How do you save that as a pdf?

Chrome...if you print in Chrome you have an option to save as PDF. I'm sure other browsers do that too but can't confirm

tgb wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:17 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:19 am Just found this over on the Paradox forum, Cyttorak's Illustrated Tutorial, has info on the strategy level of the game as well as the tactical.

I wish I could print that out.

Those are images so you ought to be able to save them as such.

Just had to withdraw from a mission. First time for everything I guess, and probably not the last.

Job was to take out a bunch of Capellans muscling in on an abandoned planet. We approach the target area, and encounter an enemy lance. Two Wolverines, a Cicada and a Manticore, start brawling. Just as we cross a road to engage the enemy to the north, an enemy Locust closes in from the west. We take a turn to blow it away, and then its buddies show up - a Griffin, a Vindicator and a Panther.

It took a lot of manuevering and jumping to take out the original targets. By the time we got them, half my pilots had taken hits and I had three mechs with internal damage, while the remaining three enemy mechs were still in pristine condition. So, I hit the "withdraw" button for a "good faith withdrawal", having completed one of the objectives. My mechs and mechwarriors are still going to be in the repair bay for 20 days, even for that little piddly sum.

stimpy wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:51 pm

IceBear wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:26 pm If you read that thread it should have a link to Ek's Guide on Steam. He was a developer of the game. I saved it as a PDF

How do you save that as a pdf?

I used my OneNote extension for Firefox to grab the guide and turn it into a PDF, available from my Dropbox here. And also available as a .docx file if that's your thing

jztemple2 wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:34 pm

stimpy wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:51 pm

IceBear wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:26 pm If you read that thread it should have a link to Ek's Guide on Steam. He was a developer of the game. I saved it as a PDF

How do you save that as a pdf?

I used my OneNote extension for Firefox to grab the guide and turn it into a PDF, available from my Dropbox here. And also available as a .docx file if that's your thing

Great. Thank you. I will download it tomorrow at work.

Attacked a pirate supply base, a half of a one out of five difficulty . Took a tiny bit of damage in armor, so instantly repaired back on the ship. A few turrets and tanks to deal with, then grinding through the knocking down of five buildings. It was tough, but somebody has to do it . I received €119,250 for the mission and picked up €360,000 worth of salvage. Drinks all around!

Would it be fair to say that if I'm anxious about funds, I might negotiate a higher fee for a contract with a Planetary government? Unless I need to go back to that planet again, I really don't care what they think of me, right?

Never mind, I just found out that when you negotiate with a Planetary Government, moving one slider just moves the other in the opposite direction and there is no reputation to worry about. Silly me

Watched some of this via let's play on youtube today. I've got too much to spend my gaming time on already to drop $40 for it now (or even $30) but it's looking solid. It was funny so see him engaging streamers about a "really old" RTS version like this and how cool that would be now. I still have the CDs for Mech Commander from, what 98? 99? If I could have returned it, I would have. I was so disappointed in trying to play a tactical squat mech game in twitch fashion.

Pro tip: If you start up a long-ass upgrade on one of your mechs, there's a way to delay it rather than canceling it if you need to get some repairs done quick. There's a 'manage tasks' button near the task list in the upper right corner of the screen when you're looking at the argo/leopard timeline view. This brings up an interface that lets you re-order tasks. Pretty useful if you ask me.

After the last withdrawal, I wound up losing a convoy attack mission when about half the convoy got away from me. At least it doesn't count as a ding against my reputation. So, I did a plot mission to see if I could break up the string of defeats. Brought my standard crew of Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadow Hawk, Spider.

Blew up a bunch of tanks and turrets, but my Spider got its left arm and torso blown off, because the opfor loves to focus fire on the weaker mechs. So, I moved him out of LOS of the remaining turrets, standing next to a big compound wall.

This triggered an event that was probably supposed to happen once I actually got inside. Ok, no problem, I mop up outside and stack my mechs up next to the wall, and plan to jump over next turn.

Suddenly, reinforcements show up, and I now need to protect them. It's a single allied mech against two mediums, a heavy and a light, all of which turn towards the ally and start whaling on it. I thought I was screwed, no way a single medium mech holds up against a four pack. So, I hop my guys over the wall, sensor-lock the heavy, then nail it in the rear armor with autocannons and lasers. Two LRM ammo explosions later, it's down to three enemy mechs, who, thankfully ignore the ally and attack my crew instead. At which point, we mop up pretty quickly. Man, that allied mechwarrior got lucky.

On the plus side, now I'm looking through stores and can actually see upgraded weapons. For example, a large laser that does +5 damage, a highly accurate PPC, and, the holy grail, an AC/20 to mount on my Centurion. It's no Hunchback, but it'll do.

Thanks for the Pro Tip, I'll be looking out for that option.

I love these war stories! I can see this is a game that's going to have a lot of "wow, you think that was a tough battle, let me tell you about the convoy escort I just fought" tales

Speaking of that, I just did a 0.5/5 convoy escort. Turns out one of my Mechs was rather slow compared to the convoy which meant it was late to the party a couple of times. Also, I didn't realize the mission I picked was at the same planet I was at and one of my Mech was undergoing a refit and so I was forced to bring my little Lotus, which is only good for being a portable coffin as far as I can tell. It turned out OK as there were only two fights, each one being against one mech and a few tanks. But even a tank can chew up a Lotus . I also found out that for a big, heavy mech, if you step on two tanks you can wear them as shoes . Well, not really, but it was fun.

You don't have to do the contract immediately. In all honesty I don't know if there's an expiration date on contracts once you take them. If you took a contract at the planet you're on and still have a mech or mechwarrior out of commission go back to the Leopard or Argo screen and pass time until that mech or mechwarrior is ready, then do the contract. I kind of hope there's a fail the contract if you wait too long but I think I waited 20 days once after accepting a contract before actually doing it

Sorry I should have mentioned the task reordering earlier as a good tip as well.

IceBear wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:35 amSorry I should have mentioned the task reordering earlier as a good tip as well.

Managing tasks is a really nice thing, especially when you're orbiting a planet with Pirate issues and the bills are coming due before the big repairs are done and a few smaller ones can go first and get you back in the fight.

I failed a random mission last night. At worst so far, I've been down to two months of cash reserves. After the Argo mission, I had to spend 26 days healing up three pilots and repairing mechs. Hell, even two months later my Spider (which lost the LT/LA) is still in the repair bay. It keeps getting pushed back down in priority. Cost me 80,000+ C-Bills to buy the parts I needed to fix it.

As Rip pointed out earlier that was an assassination mission and they tend to be harder than normal

I suppose that would classify as an assassination. I hadn't worried about whether or not it would be hard or impossible. It was a 1/5 rated mission and paid well. I think it ended up being a net loss.

I do think I need to rework my Mechs a little. The default builds were fine against lightweight partially-armored enemies, but I'm not hitting hard enough to trip up bigger things. A Centurion Mech I grabbed has been refitted as a missile boat, which works for his lower mobility. I'm thinking of shifting the Blackjack to a support role and putting in a couple AC5's instead of the AC2's he's got that barely scratch enemies. The Shadow Hawk I've got has been a pretty good brawler and I could probably enhance that and add more armor. My Vindicator needs to have that new +PPC I picked up installed. I've got a couple good Scout pilots that I should be utilizing Sensor Lock more from, an ability I hardly use.

In short, the game's getting harder and I need to step it up.

I wish I could afford to make all the changes I want to at once.

There are little icons with each mission. I'm guessing it was considered an assassination mission if you hovered over the icon. Just pointing it out for future notice. The target tends to be in heavier mech than you so it's a good chance to upgrade but the missions tend to be harder too...and easy to lose as the target tends to flee so you really need to be aggressive about getting close to it and focusing fire on it or it'll run away

Finally cranked this up very late last night and got through the intros and setup to the "Prepping Combat" step. Sat there watching it spin and the tips roll by until I realized they were starting to repeat. Walked away, came back 25 minutes later and it was still prepping, spinning away. Killed it and went to bed. This morning I did the "verify integrity" thing and it found 10 files that failed validation and needed to be required.
No time to play this morning but at least now it actually gets me into combat.

IceBear wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:35 am You don't have to do the contract immediately. In all honesty I don't know if there's an expiration date on contracts once you take them. If you took a contract at the planet you're on and still have a mech or mechwarrior out of commission go back to the Leopard or Argo screen and pass time until that mech or mechwarrior is ready, then do the contract. I kind of hope there's a fail the contract if you wait too long but I think I waited 20 days once after accepting a contract before actually doing it

I've had to delay for repairs on one contract as well. I don't know whether there is a game mechanic for defaulting on a contract, although many of them seem like they should be time-sensitive. However, there is a price to pay for sitting on your hands -- the end-of-month bills come due whether you're earning or not.

Pleased as punch that I was able to use Initiative and my Spider, in the very first storyline merc mission where you are now Commander, to loop around and take out the Turret Generator without undue abuse. I'm earlier in this than most of you, but thus far my impression of the initiative system is very positive. It is done in such a way to make lighter mechs useful without making them automatic "coffins", as someone mentioned above, but also not ridiculously abusive. (Enemy sensor locks are rude.) It remains to be seen if the AI can utilize it effectively enough.

Still feeling things out, but my initial disappointment is certainly beginning to wane in favor of curiosity and reserved, pleasant memories.

Still can't make the damn thing look as good as everyone's videos. That's kind of pissing me off a bit.

I need to stop reading this thread. The OO effect is starting to pull me in.

Looks like I won't be able to play this game. Doesn't run at all on my Surface Pro 3, which I use as my main computer. I also have an older laptop with a more serious graphics card, but said computer is about 7 years old, so it *kind of* runs it with all the settings turned down, but really painfully slowly.

Paingod wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 7:32 am I do think I need to rework my Mechs a little. The default builds were fine against lightweight partially-armored enemies, but I'm not hitting hard enough to trip up bigger things.

I haven't run into anything really big yet but I will soon. I've been limiting myself to stock mech configs only and would like to stay that way, hopefully it's do-able.

Oh man found this in reddit. Pity im in bed want to try this!

/Battletechgame
PSA: Turn on "Show UI during attack"
u/wulfster81
This option shows the paperdoll during all attacks and makes the sections that are getting hit blink. This was a game changer for me. No longer do i have to wait and then check where all my missiles precisely hit, or where the enemy hit me exactly.

Good review/overview for those on the fence and/or not familiar with the universe.

He is also a good twitch streamer that I follow.

https://oldmanmordaith.com/2018/04/24/b ... ns-of-fun/

Everyone acts on a set initiative during the turn, which is determined mostly by Mech weight and can be affected by Mechwarrior ability. The units are granted a variety of special abilities – some activated, some passive, and some based off of your current morale score. Most of these abilities are determined by the training of your Mechwarriors. There are a bunch of details to the combat and they really captured the essence of the tabletop game, but at the same time managed to make it feel super accessible. I can get overwhelmed by these games and run around like my poor Locust mech with both arms blown off as I try to get my bearings. But for me, the difficulty curve was a steady climb. Each deployment I learned a bit more and honed my game (with the wonderful advice from my twitch chat) and eventually I started feeling not just confident, but competent.

Basically, if you enjoyed the fight mechanics in Divinity Original Sin 2 or the X-Com series, but wanted a bit more meat on it? You are going to really enjoy this one.

Be on the lookout for "hidden" objectives. I just took out a pirate base, and received a 10% bonus for destroying the turrets (which I only did for self-preservation)

El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:21 am Looks like I won't be able to play this game. Doesn't run at all on my Surface Pro 3, which I use as my main computer. I also have an older laptop with a more serious graphics card, but said computer is about 7 years old, so it *kind of* runs it with all the settings turned down, but really painfully slowly.

I've got a SufacePro3 as well and am tempted now to see if I can get it to run. I wouldn't expect it to be pretty, but it should at least load.

Paingod wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:37 am

El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:21 am Looks like I won't be able to play this game. Doesn't run at all on my Surface Pro 3, which I use as my main computer. I also have an older laptop with a more serious graphics card, but said computer is about 7 years old, so it *kind of* runs it with all the settings turned down, but really painfully slowly.

I've got a SufacePro3 as well and am tempted now to see if I can get it to run. I wouldn't expect it to be pretty, but it should at least load.

That's what I had been expecting too, but apparently not, and Paradox Support basically told me it won't run on the Surface Pro 3 graphics card. If you do try, let me know how it works for you.

Second start through the campaign is going much better, though pilot injuries are frigging brutal. I've accepted the first "story" mission, but haven't started it yet - want to clean up a few other missions first to build that nest egg a bit. Going to try that UI during combat setting as well. The game is still horrendously slow but hopefully we'll see a fix for that.

NickAragua wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:01 am Pro tip: If you start up a long-ass upgrade on one of your mechs, there's a way to delay it rather than canceling it if you need to get some repairs done quick. There's a 'manage tasks' button near the task list in the upper right corner of the screen when you're looking at the argo/leopard timeline view. This brings up an interface that lets you re-order tasks. Pretty useful if you ask me.

This is also available in the Mech Bay. It would have been nice if it wasn't faded out unless you mouse over it, at least this is how it is behaving for me on both screens.

How do I know how many jump jets are enough? I had a Spider with eight, lost four and only replaced two, but I really didn't notice a difference. Is there a minimum number needed or is it just a matter of the more jets, the higher/farther you can go?

There ought to be a mech simulator on the ship, that would allow me to test various loadouts on a sample terrain and against target dummies. Or would that make it too easy to get that perfect mech?

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:18 pm How do I know how many jump jets are enough? I had a Spider with eight, lost four and only replaced two, but I really didn't notice a difference. Is there a minimum number needed or is it just a matter of the more jets, the higher/farther you can go?

Farther, yes. I don't think height is a factor.

Well I finally got Dekker killed. Just getting too bold with the Jenner. No biggie I had picked up a couple cheap pilots and already had the trainer upgraded to level 2. Really chewed up my cash reserve though. I was running with $3M c-bills to spare and now I am back scrambling to make the next payment. Of course some of it went on upgrades to the Argo. I like my ride to be sweet.

Got my first heavy a Jaggermech which I converted to Have an AC/5 on one side and an AC/10 on the other and armored the crap out of it. Slow as snot but a pretty good mech to stand in cover with bulwark if you can get in position, or draw them to you. I love having a jenner and running around sensor scanning people and sneaking in behind for some cornholing. I have two Shadowhawks now, both armored up. One medium to long range and the other with SRMs for medium to short range. Using the Centurian for an LRM boat but just finished salvaging a Trenchbucket so will probably send the vindicator to storage with my BJ-1. Have a few complete mechs in storage but waiting to have enough rep to be worth selling them.

For anyone having trouble. After finishing the prison mission don't stick around in the area. There are mostly only tough missions. That is how I got my clock cleaned, had two lances pincer me 1 heavy (Jager) 5 mediums (two Kintaros a Hunchie 4P a Wolverine and a Trebuchet) and a Jenner. Once Dekker went down I looked around at my damage and decided to bail so I didn't lose a fortune in enhanced weapons.

Anyway head back over towards Alloway/Detroit and that area. Stay away from greater than two skull missions until you are absolutely sure you are ready.

Heh, I only have a third of a Jagermech. The other two thirds were lost in multiple autocannon ammo explosions.

So far, the only customization I've done has been to get rid of the small laser on the Vindicator and up the armor by half a ton. With its PPC and LRM, that thing really isn't built for close range fighting, so the small laser is just a waste of tonnage. I think I used it maybe twice in twenty missions.

Flamers might be OP. I got a Dragon so I figured why not and put 2 flamers on it. Granted most of the things I got close to were Spiders and Trebuchets but nothing survived one hit

Paingod wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:37 am

El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:21 am Looks like I won't be able to play this game. Doesn't run at all on my Surface Pro 3, which I use as my main computer. I also have an older laptop with a more serious graphics card, but said computer is about 7 years old, so it *kind of* runs it with all the settings turned down, but really painfully slowly.

I've got a SufacePro3 as well and am tempted now to see if I can get it to run. I wouldn't expect it to be pretty, but it should at least load.

Any news on the performance on fairly old rigs? Mine is an i7-870, 8GB RAM and a 750Ti 2GB. I really want to have a look at his, but I am also ready to wait a couple of (hopefully performance-enhancing) patches.

Ok, a little help here.

I'm really struggling to keep my Spider alive. Dekker is a great pilot for me, but damn if I can't keep him from getting bombed from halfway across the map. I fail to see the effectiveness of a scout that, once he scouts ahead, proceeds to get the shit kicked out of him. What can I do to make him last longer? I was considering dropping the two ML's off him and just piling up with armor and using him as a sensor bot, but at least he'd have a chance to survive...

You need to have one weapon to field a mech. I wasn't using it much at the lower levels but now that I have a heavy I decided to try a scout mech too. I have Dekker in there and he is now level 7 in piloting so he is moving vast distances and pretty much evades most attacks. That said I keep him on the fringes of the battle. I might run him in for a back attack or to finish off a downed mech but he's rarely in one spot for long giving him 4 or 5 evasion. I've only played 2 missions with this lance configuration so my experience is limited but he has only had minor internal damage to one arm so far

Hyena wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:30 pm Ok, a little help here.

I'm really struggling to keep my Spider alive. Dekker is a great pilot for me, but damn if I can't keep him from getting bombed from halfway across the map. I fail to see the effectiveness of a scout that, once he scouts ahead, proceeds to get the shit kicked out of him. What can I do to make him last longer? I was considering dropping the two ML's off him and just piling up with armor and using him as a sensor bot, but at least he'd have a chance to survive...

Are you keeping him moving? When you move him, the little arrow chevrons that appear to the right of his pop-up stats indicate how speedy he is, which makes him harder to hit. If you keep him moving around and stopping his movement in trees as much as possible, he should be pretty hard to hit.

Hyena wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:30 pm Ok, a little help here.

I'm really struggling to keep my Spider alive. Dekker is a great pilot for me, but damn if I can't keep him from getting bombed from halfway across the map. I fail to see the effectiveness of a scout that, once he scouts ahead, proceeds to get the shit kicked out of him. What can I do to make him last longer? I was considering dropping the two ML's off him and just piling up with armor and using him as a sensor bot, but at least he'd have a chance to survive...

Based on my vast, vast experience (about ten hours) I too was at first unimpressed with the light mechs. However, I just got finished with an Assassination mission and while my two heavies got their ass kicked, the two lights managed to come out in good shape thanks to careful handling. I'd say that a better approach to a light mech is to scout to figure out what's out there, then come back and stay out of sight . Once the big boys have hammered the enemies, use the light mech to get behind or on the damaged side of a beaten up enemy mech and go for the coup de grâce. You can also use a light mech to distract the enemy and split his forces, trying to draw away part of their strength to counter your presence. And of course your light mech can hunt down any of their light mechs that get split from the herd.

All of this doesn't counter the fact that the AI loves to focus on your light mechs to get a cheap kill. What your light mech buys for your team is time. Every enemy turn he is shooting at your light mech, he's ignoring the other members of your lance. As long as the mech and the pilot survive it's a better deal than losing a medium or heavy.

This might be a good reason for your first purchased or salvaged mech to be light mech, so you can have one in rotation while the other is in the bay getting fixed.

Yeah...I tend to keep them out of line of sight while I move up other targets. Once full on battle is engaged I will often reserve the light mech until all the enemies have moved. This often lets me take back to back moves with it.