Octopus Overlords

Because once the arm is destroyed all the hits to the arm goes to the torso...in effect you'll be making it faster to lose your torso which in turn means you'll lose your center torso faster. Plus I'm not sure it'll seem the mech valid without at least one point of armor. All that said I will lower the armor on an unused arm to protect other areas....but I still leave some there so they have to work for it

It will get blown off regularly, and you'll have to pay to fix it.

I just opted into the public beta for the game to get the new patch installed...crossing my fingers this fixes the white screen issue...

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:00 pm Dumb question, if I have an arm with nothing in it, why bother putting armor on it?

Because once the arm is destroyed any hits that would be to the arm go straight to the torse internals bypassing torso armor. iirc.

Rip wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 1:37 am

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:00 pm Dumb question, if I have an arm with nothing in it, why bother putting armor on it?

Because once the arm is destroyed any hits that would be to the arm go straight to the torse internals bypassing torso armor. iirc.

This is how it worked on the tabletop. Don't know how it works in game, but probably the same.

There are loading messages on the screen to that effect. The only part I'm not sure on is if it goes directly to the internals or if it's hitting the armor first. It just says arm hits now hit the torso

Rip wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 1:37 am

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:00 pm Dumb question, if I have an arm with nothing in it, why bother putting armor on it?

Because once the arm is destroyed any hits that would be to the arm go straight to the torse internals bypassing torso armor. iirc.

Can I get citation. That's the way it is in BattleTech, but they seem to have made a lot changes between BattleTech and BattleTech.

IceBear wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 5:33 am There are loading messages on the screen to that effect. The only part I'm not sure on is if it goes directly to the internals or if it's hitting the armor first. It just says arm hits now hit the torso

This. We know, according to the between screen tips that damage goes toward the center torso, but it is not clear if it bypasses armor on it's way. I assume it does, but I have seen no documentation nor tracked any data to confirm this and this is most definitely not a translation of the tabletop, even if I think it is done well and has made improvements. For instance, I've loved phased initiative ever since the first mech TBS video game I played, in like 87, maybe, on a friend's amiga. On the table top game it was not uncommon for us to play multilance combats based on tonnage, so the first thing you do was look at the tonnage available, and think how many mechs is the most a reasonable person would field? And then you add on more, to make sure you rules lawyer the initiative. And then you add one more because the other guy might have done the same things. Phases initiative makes so much better sense.

Got a Jagermech last night. Man, that stock build sucks ass. Take the armor of a light mech, the slow speed of a jump-jet-less heavy and the lackluster firepower of its default autocannons and you get a mech that the AI targets mercilessly and breaches armor after a single salvo. After one mission like that, I replaced the default autocannons with twin AC/10s and upped the armor to reasonable levels, so at least now it can take a couple of hits without the mechwarrior complaining about armor breaches.

Speaking of armor breaches, had an event where our dropship got into a fight with some pirates demanding a toll, and one of my mechwarriors wound up in the mechbay for 30 days. Whoops!

Then, I did a couple of plot missions concerning That mech is amazing.

So now, I've got an assault mech, two heavies (Thunderbolt and Jagermech) and the Trebuchet with 2x LRM/15 backing them up. I tried a 4 skull mission and had to withdraw though (at least it was a good faith withdrawal). I was doing ok against the initial enemy force, then an enemy assault lance shows up on my flank coming down a hill. Including an Atlas. Yikes!

For vehicles, I'm starting to see Shreck PPC Carriers and Demolishers. The Shreck has 3x PPC, while the Demolisher has 2x AC/20. So both become high-priority targets.

For vehicles, I'm starting to see Shreck PPC Carriers and Demolishers. The Shreck has 3x PPC, while the Demolisher has 2x AC/20. So both become high-priority targets.

I hadn't gotten very far along in the campaign and I had already been seeing those. Another testament to why, barring all other considerations, I begin by flank with my fastest mechs. One stomp and they're down, whereas letting them go deep in to a combat to deal the mechs instead means dead pilots on my side.

My Go-To Lance is up to 2 Orions, 1 Thunderbolt, and a Wolverine. I'm trying to get the Orions to a good place. One has an AC20 and SRM6's for devastating close combat. The other has dual AC10's and LRM's for good long range damage.

Still couldn't do a 3-Skull mission last night, though. It started well enough with spotting a Wolverine. Then Jagermech trundled in after spamming AC shots from off-screen. Then a wild Quickdraw appeared along with a Cicadia. All four are in mid-range when I'm notified that reinforcements have arrived! Sensor contacts move up quickly, raining down long-range fire as they go. Turns out that's a Thunderbolt, Grasshopper, Shadow Hawk, and Hunchback.

3-Skull mission pits me against 4 Heavies and 4 Mediums within the first 6 turns. I ran, only having taken down three of the first group and needing extensive internal repairs on two Heavy mechs...

I've never been the "retreat from combat" kind of gamer...adjusting to that may be a difficult process for me. I foresee some painful combats in my future.

Had my first big damage mission last night. Had to stop a convoy and kill escorts for a bonus. I split my forces since I wasn't sure where the convoy was going, and that would let me flank the escorts. Dekker got both arms blown off (no weapons thankfully) before jumping behind a hill. Glitch stepped in and took a ton of damage while PC and Behemoth worked on getting into rear arcs. Had some bad RNG on to-hit rolls, but made up for it with some lucky damage spread since armor is free to replace. 2 mechs had parts that had to be replaced, and only the PC's mech escaped without structural damage.

I bought a couple of mods, but I have 2 mechs that have been down for significant repairs and refit for over a month, so I can't afford to take another one down long enough to get the mods installed. I also need another ton of LRM ammo on my LRM20++, but same problem.

Reddit AMA with one of the designers.

Seems like they're aware of the various performance and speed issues and are working on them. And also some balance tweaks. And it sounds like the game has done pretty well, so we're probably looking at more stuff coming our way in the future. Which is awesome.

NickAragua wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 10:49 am Reddit AMA with one of the designers.

Seems like they're aware of the various performance and speed issues and are working on them. And also some balance tweaks. And it sounds like the game has done pretty well, so we're probably looking at more stuff coming our way in the future. Which is awesome.

Good news! I bought it to support them but haven't even fired it up yet.

What are some of the most effective Mechs you've fielded?

I'm struggling with builds - well - I'm struggling to find a good mix of damage, mobility, armor, and heat management.

Do you find your best are those that "just work" for all ranges - like LRM's and AC5's for long range with Medium Lasers for mid-range and SRM's for short range? Do you try and specialize?

I've tried experimenting with an Orion built for just short-range combat. AC20, SRM6's. it has a chance to pop a Medium in one volley - if the AC20 hits. It suffers from high heat issues but cools quickly; in a prolonged engagement, I'm left shooting one SRM6 and the AC20 each round and nothing else - which sounds like a lot, but that AC20 misses more than I can happily handle. I had to strip out the Jump Jets for ammo space and still don't have the armor to ammo to heat balance right after a couple fights. Against a heavy array of enemies, though, this "Go Get 'Em" build got shredded turn after turn and I burned a lot of Inspiration on Vigilance to keep the damage low while moving up.

My "other" Orion is packing dual AC10's and I've only seen it in one fight, but it worked well and stayed out of trouble. I'm wondering if I should shift them so I've got twins of this build and swap out the LRM's for SRM's and utilize my Thunderbolt as an LRM platform (2xLRM20's) for support and making sure my (medium) Scout has at least a PPC and maybe LRM5's for added support. Every fight lately has ended with a few turns where having a pure Scout is underwhelming and more firepower would be welcome.

I really wish I could drop two lances.

So far, I've only been using stock loadouts, with a couple of exceptions:

Long range support: Trebuchet, with twin LRM/15s. Three tons of ammo means I get 12 full salvos. Four jump jets are there in case I need to get out quickly. No short range guns, meaning that I need to take special care to keep it in the back. I still have a lot of armor on it though, because the opfor likes to use indirect LRMs sometimes and you never know who's going to get pasted.

Medium range brawler: Vindicator. Just a slight tweak - I removed the useless small laser and added a half ton of armor instead.

Medium-long range brawler: Jagermech. Twin AC/10s for good damage at range, plus two medium lasers for close-in work. Armor adjusted to standard 60-ton levels.

I like to have at least one mech with good close punch (AC/20 or SRMs), at least one mech with good long range punch and two medium-range mechs. PPC, AC/10, Large Laser all serve that purpose. I prefer a mix of energy weapons and projectiles. You get 30 heat dissipation for free, so a single large laser or PPC (or a bunch of medium lasers) won't go amiss, but once you get beyond 30 heat worth of weapons, you want to start putting on LRMs and ballistics.

I've not gotten very far.

My favorite light mech has been a 2 Med Laser spider with maxed jump jets. He bounces from forest to forest, scouting, and harassing, and then either reserving to

1) take a low damage cheveron hit or two before bouncing again
2) end turn jumping to the weak side of a larger mech in a poorly guarded flank and then jump out before he takes a beating
3) surgically find and stomp on vehicles.

This is a style of battletech I have never played before, so I'm in love with it.

Everything else has been the best the available to fill a need a football, which at this point is LRM heavy because of the bang for the buck when the heaviest lance I've been able to run so far has been 190 tons. I what to say my heaviest mech has been a 60 ton quickdraw acquired from storyline salvage and it has not been effective as a close combat tank or as an arsenel

My favorite so far has been my twin Shadowhawks. Both pilots have their pilot skill around 7 or 8 and sensors at 6 or 7, so those things move around the map at will and ID enemies. Jump jets with an AC 5, an SRM6 and SRM4, with near max armor. They move together always, keeping their evasion at 4 or 5 chevrons, pummeling things with their SRMs, and taking the long range shot if necessary. Also, they do 85 melee damage, so getting in close when needed has been devastatingly effective. I run them as 55-ton power scouts, basically, and once they get there, they pretty much mop the floor with the enemy. A *tad* bit fragile, but between the evasion and the fact that there are two of them divides the enemy firepower between them. It's pretty awesome. I keep a Treb WAAAAY in the back with two LRM15's for fire support and the PC is in a Quickdraw (speed) or a Hunchback AC20 (power) to tank. I have been routinely taking on 2.5 skull missions with this group, and last night I did a 3-skull with them. I had structure damage on two mechs, but one was because of overheating.

This game is everything I hoped for and more. The only thing I'm missing is having NickAragua's voice in the back of my head explaining what's going on.

Hyena wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 2:17 pm This game is everything I hoped for and more. The only thing I'm missing is having NickAragua's voice in the back of my head explaining what's going on.

I like the campaign. It helps sell me the product, which is already very good. But it's no nick.

I think my best mech so far is a modified Hunchback-P. They come stock with a ton of medium lasers and heat sinks, but I updated mine with a PPC, a Large Laser, a bunch of Medium Lasers, and a special heat bank item I bought. The heat bank is only 1 ton, but it adds a lot of heat dispersion and ups the overheat point. That one item does the work of almost all the heat sinks it had previously allowing my Hunchback to hit WAY above it's weight.

I'm really liking the Shadowhawk too. My Wolverine's not bad. Don't get me lying about what I have on them.

All the 55 ton mediums are good, I run two as well(I like a SH and a Kintaro for the SRM boat). I run one Skirmishing sniper and the other SRM boat. The Kintaro boat is usually sensor locking as much as shooting while the SH is jumping around with him potshoting and watching his six. I like to run either Recon or Scout pilots in those.


An LRM Boat. I had been using a Wolverine for that but I just landed a Catapult-C1 and put two LRM20s on it one ++ the other +++.

The boss was a Dual AC/5 +acc a +++ Large laser and a ++ Medium laser. Recently it has been a Orion with a ++ stability AC/20 A +++ LRM5 for chevron striping and a +++ Large laser. I think I have a ++ medium on it as well, but I know I have the armor pretty beefed up on it because I tend to go in harm's way a lot with it.

Everyone getting mechs way better than me. Are you 1) further along in the game? 2) Concentrating on salvage over contract price?

The only reason I have a Quickdraw (my only 60 ton mech and crappy one at that) is because of a story event with 4 salvage that either synched with 3 pieces of Quickdraw or lucked in to 3 pieces of Quickdraw being available.

My first playthrough before deciding I was fighting a losing cause, I shot for 3 pieces of salvage every mission in hopes of drawing complete mechs. I struggled with salvage sales nearly every month before conceding, not being able to pay my monthly recurring costs and getting to the point where I was also selling my more precious salvage for repairs. Working on the Argo was out of the question. I had 2 "heavy" mechs at 60 tons (I think) at my time of concession.

This playthrough, I'm nearly as strong as I was the first playthrough and not very far in to it (though I still 2.5 skulls as my minimum fights mostly) but I feel flush with cash, at 4Mill CBills. I do what I want and have never wasted a day not working on the Argo. I am this way by always demanding the right to choose exactly one piece of salvage.

None of what I do seems to equate to more mech variety and fielding mechs that break the 60 ton barrier. While I feel good about this second play though up to now. Your talk of mechs variety (and greater tonnage) makes me feel behind, especially when 2.5 skulls is a major crap shoot on what my job is going to be. I see why we think think the MRB is out to screw us.

You seem similar to where I'm at.

Panzyr is my next campaign mission.
I generally pick at least 2 priority salvage unless I really need the cash. I try and preserve enemy mechs when possible but am more focused on taking them down by any means possible to preserve my mechs & pilots. I have not had any of my mechwarriors killed, yet.

My mechs are;
Lights; Jenner, Firestarter, Panther, Spider
Mediums; Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadowhawk x2, Wolverine, Centurion
Heavy; Thunderbolt
Assault; None.

In other games, you might call what I do "grinding". I basically empty out a particular system of contracts, then take a travel contract to the neighboring system and empty it out. The travel contracts tend to head towards the next plot mission usually. My salvage slider is usually in the middle.

Recently, I've been unable to follow that pattern because it leads me to 4-skull missions whereas I can field at most 3.5 pips worth of mechs. Getting my ass kicked repeatedly isn't profitable, so I manually redirected the Argo to a cluster of 3-skull systems to regroup.

Keep in mind that, even though I talk about having a Thunderbolt and Trebuchet, the Argo's hold is filled with chunks of Locusts and other crap from random salvage. I've literally got the one Thunderbolt, the one Jagermech, the one Trebuchet. Ok, I've got two Centurions. Still not a single damn Hunchback. The Thunderbolt was put together over the course of at least three missions.

The heavier mechs are somewhat gated behind story missions and skulls. You're not going to see real heavy metal until you either punch through some more story missions or go to systems with higher skull ratings. One reliable way of getting heavier mechs is to take assassination contracts. In those cases, the target is usually in something beefier than his buddies, and you want to a) up your salvage slider and b) try to take him out with head shots or leg shots.

Edit: To put things in perspective, there are actually people out there who have already beaten the main storyline.

My mechs are;
Lights; Jenner, Firestarter, Panther, Spider, locust
Mediums; Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadowhawk x2, Wolverine, Centurion
Heavy; Thunderbolt Quickdraw
Assault; None.

Only I have one bay so only six at a time. The locust and Jenner are in storage. I'm glad you posted your list as I couldn't remember mine.

Hmm, full list:

Light: Jenner, Firestarter, Spider (all in storage)
Medium: Blackjack, Vindicator, Enforcer, Centurion x2, Shadow Hawk, Trebuchet, Griffin
Heavy: Thunderbolt, Jagermech
Assault: Highlander

I'm coming back to Weldry for a "war council" after visiting [redacted] to look for [redacted] and then the [redacted] blew up [redacted] exploded [redacted].

The Jenner is my only light not in storage. I have the others just in case I want to try running an all light lance again in the future.
I often use the Jenner though since I have an unnatural love affair with them and my other favorite mech (Hatchetman) isn't in the game.

Archinerd wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 4:48 pm I often use the Jenner though since I have an unnatural love affair with them and my other favorite mech (Hatchetman) isn't in the game.

God's always watching, Archinerd.

You're just jealous.

I'm getting fairly far into the story, but I've had the worst luck getting heavies. I only just got my first heavy, and it's only a Dragon.

Meanwhile I've got 2 parts each for 2 different models of Orion that I just can't seem to complete.

Archinerd wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 4:29 pm You seem similar to where I'm at.

Panzyr is my next campaign mission.
I generally pick at least 2 priority salvage unless I really need the cash. I try and preserve enemy mechs when possible but am more focused on taking them down by any means possible to preserve my mechs & pilots. I have not had any of my mechwarriors killed, yet.

My mechs are;
Lights; Jenner, Firestarter, Panther, Spider
Mediums; Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadowhawk x2, Wolverine, Centurion
Heavy; Thunderbolt
Assault; None.

I am also at Panzyr, I have a Battlemaster, Highlander, Jagermech. Seems our weight/power levels are way off. quite odd

Hark, What is that I hear?


Harkonis!

Harkonis wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 7:14 pm

Archinerd wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 4:29 pm You seem similar to where I'm at.

Panzyr is my next campaign mission.
I generally pick at least 2 priority salvage unless I really need the cash. I try and preserve enemy mechs when possible but am more focused on taking them down by any means possible to preserve my mechs & pilots. I have not had any of my mechwarriors killed, yet.

My mechs are;
Lights; Jenner, Firestarter, Panther, Spider
Mediums; Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadowhawk x2, Wolverine, Centurion
Heavy; Thunderbolt
Assault; None.

I am also at Panzyr, I have a Battlemaster, Highlander, Jagermech. Seems our weight/power levels are way off. quite odd

And you are both WAYYYY overpowered for Panzyr (and the following story mission). Advance the story kids!

Only have mediums. Have done panzyr and am on to storyton? But found that too hard for meds so am trying to get a heavy before I try again. Or up gun my lrm carrier first having trouble finding lrm15

coopasonic wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 7:28 pm

And you are both WAYYYY overpowered for Panzyr (and the following story mission). Advance the story kids!

I need money for all the maintenance costs I've incurred with Argo upgrades. Did not realize those were going to be continuous money sinks when I okayed them. That's good to know though, I'll start taking contracts that get me back to the area.

I haven't even done the story mission after getting the Argo, I'm still tooling around the neighborhood getting money and fiddling with loadouts. What a lot of you are doing analytically I'm doing empirically so it's a matter of just doing a lot of battles.

I've done a ton of battles too. I just know that when money gets tight I can do a story mission to pay for everything and it unlocks better mechs and upgrades

Heh, after reading I save scrummed all the way back to day 77. where I have my Argo though I don't remember which story line I'm at and then went back to Detroit where I can find one and one and a half skull missions. We'll what that does for me.

Only...

Archinerd wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 9:13 pm

coopasonic wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 7:28 pm

And you are both WAYYYY overpowered for Panzyr (and the following story mission). Advance the story kids!

I need money for all the maintenance costs I've incurred with Argo upgrades. Did not realize those were going to be continuous money sinks when I okayed them. That's good to know though, I'll start taking contracts that get me back to the area.

I had no idea maintenance costs increase with argo upgardes.... I will need to pay closer attention...

Yeah...each upgrade lists two costs...the first is the cost to do the upgrade and the other is then maintenance cost

Decided to add a couple of Nexus Mods. The first is Less Head Injuries which I added after having two guys pick up injuries on sequential shots to undamaged mechs. The other is Removed Story difficulty boosts since I agree with what was said previously, that it seems unfair that completing a story mission will ramp up the difficulty of previously visited locations. Or maybe I'm just a wimp.

Found one nice tactical advantage. I have upped Behemoth to the skill that gives her a one better initiative, so now I can put her into my Quick Draw heavy and still have her move in the same phase as the others in their mediums.

They give a valid story reason (at least in the aftermath of some story missions) as to why things are getting harder.

Remember this is in the Periphery which is like a 3rd World Nation. When the Inner Sphere gets involved there's going to be better mechs and mechwarrior as well. Where I was...in the middle of the conflict...was 3 to 3.5 skulls. Decided to make my way to the next story mission via a long "scenic" route and when I got far enough away I was still finding 2 skull worlds (which, granted might have nothing to do with how close it was to the war zone and just randomly determined but since my brain is hardwired to roleplay that's why in my mind)