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Playing this game again with the DLC. This little dude killed the Steel Beast in one salvo; sprinted to the right until I was cornered near a tunnel and he catched me, jump in front of his mech and shot the cockpit then stomped the two vehicles and shot center torso the two mechs. 
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May 18, 2020 07:54
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So I haven't played Battletech since beating the campaign around the game's original release, but picking up all the DLC in the sale is bringing me back to it. How's the modding scene these days? I know that there's 3 big overhauls(Roguetech, Battletech Advanced, Battletech Extended, I think?), but I'm not sure of the differences or what they bring to the table. Is it worth running any of these for my return to the game? Are there any must-have mods besides the overhauls?
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May 18, 2020 13:11
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fennesz posted:Vindicator with a PPC & L Laser You've already been getting good advice; At the stage of the game you're at, a good rule of thumb is to have three brawlers with just medium lasers and SRMs, as these are the most efficient stock weapons, and one longer ranged one. The snub PPC is great, but a bit heavy for the Vindicator. I'd put it on the Centurion with some LRMs, but you can also run it as a pure LRM boat, if you prefer. The Panther is the best light mech you have, it should have 4 M lasers and a SRM6, full jumpjets. Jenners and Javelins are also good as backups, the rest you can sell or put in storage. Take off the SRMs on the Jenners for more armor, on the Javelin it depends which variant you have. You should also armor up more. At least the front side torsos should be fully armored. You can strip the CT a bit, if you really need to, though I usually don't.
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May 18, 2020 13:41
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I don't know how this deviates from TT, but the Extended clan mechs are rarely better than their inner sphere counterparts. Like the Annihilator can mount more UACs than a Dire Wolf. For all the time and expense it took to schlep my way to the Galactic North and kill them, I was hoping for a small step up. Edit: not heading back south until I can run a full lance of Hunchback IIC suicide sleds for the weight limited flashpoints Chef Boyardeez Nuts fucked around with this message at 17:21 on May 18, 2020 |
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May 18, 2020 17:15
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cugel posted:Playing this game again with the DLC. The only thing I really dislike about HM is how all the UACs have the same gun model and it looks kinda puny. It's fine for the 2 and 5 but a UAC20 should be fuckoff huge, some sort of over/under double barrel tank gun.
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May 18, 2020 17:42
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I'd love a mod that accuratly changed the look of the mech that properly reflected armaments even though I'd immediately break it with akimbo hatchets.
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May 18, 2020 18:46
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BEXCE buffed the hell out of AC2s and PPCs and I still can't be bothered with them lol
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May 18, 2020 19:16
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cugel posted:Playing this game again with the DLC. Ha i was wondering what would happen if i followed that route of the flash point, i had 2 assaults and heavies so i said meh gently caress it i'm rolling hard.
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May 18, 2020 20:07
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I'd love a mod that accuratly changed the look of the mech that properly reflected armaments even though I'd immediately break it with akimbo hatchets. Yes, every arm actuator makes the arms of the mech bigger. I want my punchy banshee to be mega beefcake. RBA Starblade posted:BEXCE buffed the hell out of AC2s and PPCs and I still can't be bothered with them lol Until you make LOS distances equal to the max range of the AC2, it's always gonna be a substandard weapon. The balance for the puny damage of long range weapons that inherited from TT was based on being able to shoot someone twice before they were effective with short range weapons. The 300m sight radius of this game means even assaults can go from outside vis range to up in your grill in one sprint. There were strong reasons to favor shorter range action and smaller maps, but if you want to make the M'laser / SRM build less dominant you can increase BaseSpotterDistance and BaseSensorDistance in combatgameconstants. (Make sure sensors will always > sight, because enemies don't react unless you're in sensor range.)
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May 18, 2020 20:50
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cugel posted:Playing this game again with the DLC. hello, friend
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May 18, 2020 20:52
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Disconcur. I'd rather load up on UAC2s and ER mediums/larges as heat allows for max headhunting dakka. Just pair with a Firestarter for spotting.
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May 18, 2020 21:28
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Klyith posted:Until you make LOS distances equal to the max range of the AC2, it's always gonna be a substandard weapon. The balance for the puny damage of long range weapons that inherited from TT was based on being able to shoot someone twice before they were effective with short range weapons. The 300m sight radius of this game means even assaults can go from outside vis range to up in your grill in one sprint. I once threw a lance of Pikes against a player merc company in 3025-era. They sat in the back with various meat-slogs in front of them and by the time the last one died I think they had something like a dozen TACs or headhits between them all. quote:M'laser *Tips Defiance B3M*
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May 18, 2020 21:34
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I'm doing the Prototype flashpoint for the first time, and I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around how you're supposed to use the Raven. Using it as a solo spotter seems to be straight-forward enough. Keep your other units out of sight, and bombard enemies with LRMs or long-range guns. But the ECM bubble seems to be fairly useless. As soon as a unit fires, it's open to counter-attack from every one and their grandmother. Maybe it's because I'm also using the AI mod, so the enemies will simply reserve down to the last phase if they have no target? Is anyone using ECM long-term in career mode, or is it just a gimmick? Edit: Ok, I missed that the missile defense is active even when you have no stealth charge.
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May 18, 2020 21:36
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Klyith posted:The only thing I really dislike about HM is how all the UACs have the same gun model and it looks kinda puny. It's fine for the 2 and 5 but a UAC20 should be fuckoff huge, some sort of over/under double barrel tank gun.  Random SLDF Incoming mod question: is there an edit I can make to the mod files so they aren't immune to headshots?
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May 18, 2020 21:41
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Klyith posted:There were strong reasons to favor shorter range action and smaller maps, but if you want to make the M'laser / SRM build less dominant you can increase BaseSpotterDistance and BaseSensorDistance in combatgameconstants. (Make sure sensors will always > sight, because enemies don't react unless you're in sensor range.) I was thinking about booting this up when I get a chance, so I think I'll be futzing around with some json changes like this. Is 600 meters a good value to set for sight with 750 for sensor or is that too large for the map sizes?
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May 18, 2020 21:45
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I'd love a mod that accuratly changed the look of the mech that properly reflected armaments even though I'd immediately break it with akimbo hatchets. Every one of the revamp mods should change weapon models within certain bounds (Most mechs don't have models for a hatchet).  That's a Dire Wolf with a gauss rifle and heavy large laser in each arm, an ERML in the RT and head, and an LRM10 in the LT. You can see each of the specific weapons on the model. Not all the mechs are quite as good Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I don't know how this deviates from TT, but the Extended clan mechs are rarely better than their inner sphere counterparts. Like the Annihilator can mount more UACs than a Dire Wolf. I'm not sure about BT:E, but yeah, stock to stock an Annihilator should be able to carry more than a Dire Wolf. The Dire Wolf omni has several fixed equipment items you can't remove, along with starting out with a (slightly) heavier engine.
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May 18, 2020 21:50
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I really find the ECM suite to be limited because the shielding mech inevitably gets sensor locked, especially on base assaults where all those turrets have nothing else to do. I think it would be more valuable if you could also bring multiple lances. Oddly enough the Daishi doesn't appear at all in my mech bay.
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May 18, 2020 22:02
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I just gave one of my mechwarriors a million dollars to be the Tiger King. He sold the tiger for a srm2+++. Considering throwing Telltale out the airlock
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May 18, 2020 22:12
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RBA Starblade posted:I just gave one of my mechwarriors a million dollars to be the Tiger King. He sold the tiger for a srm2+++. This explains a lot about why Telltale went bankrupt.
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May 18, 2020 22:16
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Also meant to ask, is the Hyades Rim mod any good/stable? I like the sound of the expanded map & new flashpoints, but uh "400+ new mechs" seems dumb unless it uses some kind of alternative salvage system or something I'm not seeing. Which is definitely possible. E: Changed to sound less dickish. 
sean10mm fucked around with this message at 22:25 on May 18, 2020 |
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May 18, 2020 22:22
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I really find the ECM suite to be limited because the shielding mech inevitably gets sensor locked, especially on base assaults where all those turrets have nothing else to do. I think it would be more valuable if you could also bring multiple lances. Yeah, is there a way to read the ECM tooltip again? I thought the missile protection is supposed to prevent indirect fire even when you lose all stealth charges, but as soon as the Raven gets sensor locked, it gets bombarded from all over the map.
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May 18, 2020 22:33
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:Disconcur. I'd rather load up on UAC2s and ER mediums/larges as heat allows for max headhunting dakka. sean10mm posted:
Holybat posted:I was thinking about booting this up when I get a chance, so I think I'll be futzing around with some json changes like this. Is 600 meters a good value to set for sight with 750 for sensor or is that too large for the map sizes? Yeah, the problem with going that high is that it's pretty much the whole map. You start in combat from turn 1, every enemy mech will immediately be advancing on you so you'll fight 8v4 matches straight up. Also it makes any map with turrets real annoying because you'll get sensor locked from across the map. On the other hand, very high vision range also mucks with the AI a bit in ways that make it dumb. The sniper type AI wants to stay at range, so with 600m vision range it'll sit way too far away and be useless. I *think* Amechwarrior's BetterAI fixes this (by making all the AI way more bloodthirsty about maxing damage) but I'm not sure. Even doing 400 vis / 500 sensor changes the feel of things quite a bit, so I'd recommend starting restrained.
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May 18, 2020 22:46
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sean10mm posted:Also meant to ask, is the Hyades Rim mod any good/stable? I like the sound of the expanded map & new flashpoints, but uh "400+ new mechs" seems dumb unless it uses some kind of alternative salvage system or something I'm not seeing. Which is definitely possible. Every expanded universe mod that uses piles of new mechs also uses custom salvage. That means even though you have 2 pieces of 6 variants of hunchback, you can smoosh them together in to the finished variant of your desire. I think I've posted this pic before, but it works out like this:  I have a 4 parts per Mech campaign, and in this pic I have 2 pieces of a Commando 2D, and 3 pieces of a 1B. Not enough to build a complete version of either one, but I can pay some extra CBills to use one of the parts from the other to finish the variant that I do want to actually assemble in to a usable mech.
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May 18, 2020 22:49
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Hannibal Rex posted:Yeah, is there a way to read the ECM tooltip again? I thought the missile protection is supposed to prevent indirect fire even when you lose all stealth charges, but as soon as the Raven gets sensor locked, it gets bombarded from all over the map. There's a little question mark button in the upper left near the name of the mech in the outfit menu that replays the tooltip. Not sure if it shows up on every mech or just the Raven/Cataphract.
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May 18, 2020 23:09
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Hannibal Rex posted:Yeah, is there a way to read the ECM tooltip again? I thought the missile protection is supposed to prevent indirect fire even when you lose all stealth charges, but as soon as the Raven gets sensor locked, it gets bombarded from all over the map. The second blue diamond on the left side of the screen in the mechbay. And no, the missile defense effect gets removed by sensor lock. ECM is dumb, but it seems to me that ECM was dumb in TT as well. Gwaihir posted:Every expanded universe mod that uses piles of new mechs also uses custom salvage. Hyades doesn't pack it in with it's distro, according to the nexus files preview.
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May 18, 2020 23:20
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ECM should render everything under the umbrella straight up invisible (or maybe a slight visual shimmer) until they 1. take a shot 2. step out from under the umbrella in visual range 3. Get sensor pinged 4. an opposing mech breaches the circle of trust for the first time. After one of those three occur, then the default rules should kick in with them going pink when under stealth. It adds complexity with the possibility of stumbling across a stealthed brawler lance, or having that lance bushwhack your snipers, makes the sensor equipment potentially worth carrying. It would also be fun to sneak around a map. I wonder if this could be done via a mod. Edit: I guess it working would depend on how the AI is scripted.
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May 18, 2020 23:56
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Bexce has a salvage bug I think, it takes things out of the pool when you hit confirm. It said I could have gotten four Crockett parts but then only 3 showed after, in either column. I've seen it a few times now.
RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 00:23 on May 19, 2020 |
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May 19, 2020 00:08
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:ECM should render everything under the umbrella straight up invisible (or maybe a slight visual shimmer) until they The problem with #2 is that that would happen whenever any of the units take their turn.
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May 19, 2020 00:21
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Taerkar posted:The problem with #2 is that that would happen whenever any of the units take their turn. When I was playing with the Cataphract I was able to leapfrog under the umbrella, moving the three other units to the forward edge then move the ECM mech forward to shift the bubble. It's slower and you are stick at the speed of your slowest mech. It just didn't do any good because of sensor lock. Or are you saying the field drops and renews at the end of the turn?
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May 19, 2020 00:27
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Things I learned today 1. Catapults have 3 less head armor as a quirk 2. An AC10 can one shot a catapult because of 1. Rip Vagrant 
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May 19, 2020 00:38
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He died as he lived...on someone else's property.
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May 19, 2020 00:54
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I feel like this pilot is going to get me killed:
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May 19, 2020 00:58
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this is an odd game, isn't it? I'm only a bit into the campaign so my observations are completely uninsightful compared to whatever the hell you people are talking about, but... * The difficulty seems to bounce all over the place and the difficulty "indicator" doesn't seem to give any kind of guidance as to how hard a mission is going to be. I had to flee an 8-strong lance of Kintaros, Black Knights and god knows what else on a 1.5 skull mission with a small payout, then went into a 2.5 skull mission, domed three or four locusts and got a million quid. * Everything takes so loving long and the engine is audibly straining at every movement like, well, a mech. I have a decent enough PC, it's installed on my SSD, I run AC Odyssey and stuff like that at high settings, but this game feels like it's falling apart and the seams and I have time to make a coffee during every other loading time. Yes, I'm using all the suggested speed up tweaks/options and they help but it's still... well, it reminds me of Silent Storm. * I understand this is probably just the case with the ruleset in general but it's a really odd mix of board game and granular simulation. Movement, facing, targeting, all very gritty in a way that I enjoy - then you have really abstract board game-y, XCOM-y stuff like evasion pips. It's not a bad thing, just takes some getting used to. * I feel like the targeting system lies to me sometimes and I can't pinpoint exactly why/how. * I'm not sure if I'm actually doing well, this probably comes back to my first point. I limp out of a lot of battles barely breaking even, which is good, keeps things interesting - but I don't know if I'm on a downward spiral or if that's OK. Does it get harder as time passes or is it based on story progression/reputation? I only just beat the mission where you capture Victoria and she completely destroyed my only Heavy mech (a Quickdraw, which I wasn't really that impressed with anyway) so now I have a Dragon. I feel a little underpowered. * One of my favourite things is when a battle starts out big and epic with huge explosions everywhere and ends with two or three exhausted, depleted last men standing, headbutting and punching each other and falling over constantly. This game needless to say does that brilliantly, and it's so mechanically natural that it works perfectly every time. The hits and impacts are often a bit lacking, which would otherwise feel pretty criminal in a game about giant robots, but it nails this particular feeling really well. * It's so loving slow-paced!! So slow-paced!!! I've played a lot of games like this from 20-30 years ago and this is up there with the worst offenders. I spent hours yesterday on a single low-paid contract. It's fine sometimes, I don't mind spending an hour or two on a major campaign battle, but it's almost invariable. A combination of the general slow loading, juddery engine, random pauses and the actual mechanics I guess, the latter isn't the main issue. I'm definitely enjoying it but I can see me being burned out by the end of the campaign, I hope not as I really want to try freelance mode or whatever it's called.
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May 19, 2020 10:05
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:* I'm not sure if I'm actually doing well, this probably comes back to my first point. I limp out of a lot of battles barely breaking even, which is good, keeps things interesting - but I don't know if I'm on a downward spiral or if that's OK. Does it get harder as time passes or is it based on story progression/reputation? I only just beat the mission where you capture Victoria and she completely destroyed my only Heavy mech (a Quickdraw, which I wasn't really that impressed with anyway) so now I have a Dragon. I feel a little underpowered. You're pretty spot on. It's a poorly optimized and janky game, but charming in a very old school way. But to address a few of your questions, it sounds like you could be doing better, but I'd say the greatest risk of falling into a downward spiral is losing experienced pilots. High tactics for a much better headshot chance is especially a game changing force multiplier. Don't hesitate to eject or withdraw to save a good pilot, but keep in mind that your main character can't die. There are good mechs and there are bad mechs, and heavier isn't necessarily better. Unless you're coming from tabletop, figuring out which is which is pretty intransparent, until you've learned how the system works. Heavy medium mechs like the Shadowhawk are much better than light heavy mechs like the Quickdraw or Dragon. Those two are pretty infamous for being bad. Between the DLCs and patches, there's so many different mechs in the game that I've been looking at a spreadsheet on the paradox forums to assess new mechs when I capture or encounter them. The campaign will also provide you with one top tier mech as you continue, and even by just finishing up all contracts on the current planet before continuing to the next story mission, I felt pretty overleveled by the end. In the campaign, overall map difficulty increases after every couple of story missions or so. But that also means you'll have better mechs to capture, and from about 3 skulls upwards, you'll also find better quality ++ weapons and gear in the loot. The starting systems will always be easier, so if you run into a wall you can return there until you've stabilized. You get the biggest speed increase from speeding up all combat animations in the settings, but I expect you've already done that. Hannibal Rex fucked around with this message at 11:09 on May 19, 2020 |
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May 19, 2020 11:01
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Avoid the blanket assumption that bigger always equals better because the lightest mechs of each class are either inherently flawed or functionally flawed because the extra hit you buy with the five tons is offset by the loss of initiative and less favorable hit roles. Here's PTN, for m his let's play, talking about how to make a monster out of a mech you may already have the in storage: PoptartsNinja posted:Like the one in the last update!
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May 19, 2020 11:52
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:this is an odd game, isn't it? I'm only a bit into the campaign so my observations are completely uninsightful compared to whatever the hell you people are talking about, but... On the difficulty front, ignore optional objectives as a new player unless you're just cruising through the mission. The increased rewards are minor. Especially on campaign missions. If you just beeline the main objective it's often much easier. Google "battletech spreadsheet " and sort by free tonnage, higher is better. This will show why mechs like the Banshee E are toilet mechs. Get up to tactics 9 and start shooting at the head with >60 damage big guns or lots of >30 damage smaller ones. Especially if you have a Marauder. Get every pilot Bulwark (guts 5), no exceptions, and make heavy use of cover whenever you can. Line up shots to thr side and rear whenever possible.
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May 19, 2020 12:26
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that spreadsheet is really helpful, thank you! My current "standard" lance is whatever heavy I have on hand mostly to soak up damage, two Centurions (I have both types but don't really know which is better so I just use both since they're great) and a Firestarter, I already clocked it as a great one but have been using the flamers since they seemed useful in the mostly-desert maps I've been on - will definitely swap them out. In general, I've been dumping one or two minor weapons on most mecs and swapping components around to maximise front armour - are the standard loadouts otherwise generally fine? I've noticed the game really wants me to put M Lasers on everything, which are... ok?
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May 19, 2020 12:34
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I'd argue that at the stage your at, you should be cramming as many medium lasers and arms as you can.
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May 19, 2020 12:38
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Random note, if you run Mission Control and SLDF Incoming together, Mission Control will start giving random 1 skull mission enemy pilots Marauder 2Rs!  Think I'm going to dump Mission Control. Lunchmeat Larry posted:that spreadsheet is really helpful, thank you! Medium lasers and SRMs are the two most efficient weapons in the game. The easiest way to make a bad mech good early on is to stuff it full of those. sean10mm fucked around with this message at 13:02 on May 19, 2020 |
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May 19, 2020 12:55
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:that spreadsheet is really helpful, thank you! Most stock builds are really bad. Whoever made them seemed to like cramming an extra lrm5 or 10 on every mech. Try to make your builds with jump jets + max armor (except the back) + SRMs and medium lasers + generate <30 heat per turn. LRMs should only be used en masse with no other supporting weapon or at the very least something long range like a LB2X.
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May 19, 2020 14:02
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