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binge crotching
Apr 2, 2010

Pretty sure if you punch from behind you can only hit torso, and if you're doing enough damage even a side torso hit will take out the center as well.

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Conspiratiorist
Nov 12, 2015

17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth sixth some day
You can hit everything besides the head from behind.

Arms: 6.5% each
Side Torsos: 22.6% each
CT: 25.8%
Legs: 8.1% each

Hannibal Rex
Feb 13, 2010

Cyrano4747 posted:

Yeah, autocorrect strikes again.

For something as relatively squishy as a 35 ton mech, especially once you're into the heavy/assault phase of the game, JJ's are pretty necessary.

On mechs with 165 or better movement, you really can consider playing them without jumpjets. But even if you do take jets, you should seriously consider only taking 4 instead of the maximum on light mechs, which will reduce heat and give you more payload for sinks, armor or weapons. For backstabbing light mechs, you can develop a rhythm of sprinting into a good position at the end of one turn, then attacking rear armor (and moving/jumping afterwards, if you have Ace Pilot) at the start of the next.

The dirty secret of evasion tanking with light mechs is that once the AI drops below a certain chance to hit, (40%, I believe) it will never alpha strike you and only fire single weapons to strip evasion. And between max piloting, gyros and the innate bonus of light mechs, more often than not the AI will not be able to strip enough evasion off you to get back into alpha strike accuracy before you get to go again.

Hannibal Rex
Feb 13, 2010

Amechwarrior posted:

So I'm getting back in the modding scene. Going to update cFixes and Better AI, anything I should be aware of? Any big errors in the new units or any AI behavior that needs messing with? If anyone plays with the big modpacks, they all use my AI as a foundation so it mostly applies even if you have BTX/BTA/ETC except RT as game play is so different they branched their own AI builds.

That's seriously great news! I suppose most modders tend to organize via Discord these days, because I haven't found any discussions about AI modding beside your thread on the Paradox forums. I have no idea what AI changes the modpacks have done by now. There's one other project on github called Clever Girl you might want to have a look at.

One piece of feedback I can give you right now about your AI mod is that vehicles tend to be too cautious, especially those with short or mid-range weapons. They tend to be so concerned about staying out of melee range that they end up plinking away ineffectually, before getting destroyed as soon as someone looks at them the wrong way anyhow.

At least, that's my impression. I've been playing with both AI Mod and Mission Control, and allied vehicles are usually not aggressive enough to be useful. Though I'm not sure if that's due to your mod, or MC.

One thing you could look at is the Rotunda vehicle, the one that comes only with the Active Probe. I haven't encountered them in any number, but one time I remember was one seeming to rather suicidally rush forward just to get in range for its ability. I think between the shorter range compared to Sensor Lock, and the AI's general inability to properly sequence Sensor Lock before attacks for maximum benefit, the AP ability would probably work better as a sort of implicit area denial - the AI should fire it off when it can hit 2+ units on a given turn, but it shouldn't expose itself to get into range beforehand.

I haven't looked at any files myself, so I don't know if there's specific AI behavior for units with AP but without ECM, I seem to remember reading about it, but I could be wrong.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

AtillatheBum posted:

Punching is such a huge risk I almost never do it unless the fight is already over; it can miss or even just not hit the right component and then you could easily be hosed. Obviously both those problems can apply to shooting but at least you can move defensively with your mech while still shooting. There are a few mods out there that make punching not be such a gamble but in the base game I tend to avoid it.

If you know you're gonna need 2 called shots to handle business then yeah, punching is bad. But if your loadout is all small weapons like a firestarter and you can get a rear punch then why not? It's free real estate damage. Of course, getting a rear arc punch in the first place is not common.

But that brings up my reason for generally avoiding dedicated punch-bots: the AI knows your exact walk radius and will generally prefer to stay out of punch range. Even close-range mechs will normally stay 1 hex out of range of a heavy puncher. So that means to close to where you can inflict a punch, you have to be willing to maybe take a punch first. And that means any rear end in a top hat over 45 tons has a chance to spinning jump kick your head right off your shoulders.


Amechwarrior posted:

So I'm getting back in the modding scene. Going to update cFixes and Better AI, anything I should be aware of? Any big errors in the new units or any AI behavior that needs messing with? If anyone plays with the big modpacks, they all use my AI as a foundation so it mostly applies even if you have BTX/BTA/ETC except RT as game play is so different they branched their own AI builds.

Oh hey, I just remembered a thing I found with BetterAI that I didn't like, and didn't feel like the enemies were "smarter". The priority target tweaks IMO go too far in the other direction. The AI ends up being so monomaniacal about killing the buildings / escort vehicles that it doesn't feel natural.

It does make 100%-ing the bonus objectives much harder, but at the same time reduces the threat to your own mechs. If you know what's up you can bring your 4 highest-damage mechs and let the buildings tank for you. It's just a DPS race, and loss becomes "oh well, the lance picker gave them stuff that could kill 4 building before I could kill 8 mechs". I found it quite unsatisfying and game-y. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for something better. I tried turning the priority target blocker back on and just reducing the number of blocking phases to 6, but that didn't feel any different from stock.

Looking at the AI stuff again, I wonder if leaving the blocker off but setting Float_PriorityAttackPercentage to less than 100 might be good? Then it's like, I can't be quite so stupidly hyper-aggressive because sometimes the AI *is* gonna attack me.

Klyith fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Jun 17, 2020

Dyz
Dec 10, 2010
The key to punch meching with the firestarter is to jump into the rear arc then reserve the next turn so you can move twice in one turn. Its not always gonna give you a back punch but you have a choice of backstabbing or going for the punch. Ace pilot helps here because you can punch, then fire and jump immediately after.

Plus half of firestarter's usefulness comes from its ability to evasion tank so well.

If it could only do one of either backstabbing/punching or evasion tanking it wouldnt be a top tier mech.

Arghy
Nov 15, 2012

Wait you can use JJ's with ace pilot??

Also if i ally with davion will i go to war with pirates and have to work my rep all the way up again? or will i not be able to get my rep up at all with them? Worried if i should get all my black market stuff before i ally with someone.

binge crotching
Apr 2, 2010

Conspiratiorist posted:

You can hit everything besides the head from behind.

Arms: 6.5% each
Side Torsos: 22.6% each
CT: 25.8%
Legs: 8.1% each

So why don't they show up with called shots?

Conspiratiorist
Nov 12, 2015

17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth sixth some day

binge crotching posted:

So why don't they show up with called shots?

Because.

Q_res
Oct 29, 2005

We're fucking built for this shit!
As I recall, initially during the Backer Beta the arms and legs weren't hit-able from behind. They changed that based on feedback, but never changed the called shot interface.

Arghy
Nov 15, 2012

For career mode does exp earned on my max pilots still count or do i need fresh pilots?

anakha
Sep 16, 2009


Aside from the HM campaign and the Hatchetman/Raven flashpoints, there aren't any other Mechs or gear that are locked behind flashpoints right? I'm debating whether to make straight for Clan space after I finish those flashpoints on BTE.

binge crotching
Apr 2, 2010

anakha posted:

Aside from the HM campaign and the Hatchetman/Raven flashpoints, there aren't any other Mechs or gear that are locked behind flashpoints right? I'm debating whether to make straight for Clan space after I finish those flashpoints on BTE.

In the base game that is true, but you would need to check your mod to see if it adds any additional ones.

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Arghy posted:

Wait you can use JJ's with ace pilot??

Also if i ally with davion will i go to war with pirates and have to work my rep all the way up again? or will i not be able to get my rep up at all with them? Worried if i should get all my black market stuff before i ally with someone.

Yeah you will get reset to neutral (assuming you’re positive rep wise) and won’t be able to rise above that. It’s best to get black market access first.

Arghy posted:

For career mode does exp earned on my max pilots still count or do i need fresh pilots?
Yes it counts.

Amechwarrior
Jan 29, 2007

Hannibal Rex posted:

That's seriously great news! I suppose most modders tend to organize via Discord these days, because I haven't found any discussions about AI modding beside your thread on the Paradox forums. I have no idea what AI changes the modpacks have done by now. There's one other project on github called Clever Girl you might want to have a look at.

One piece of feedback I can give you right now about your AI mod is that vehicles tend to be too cautious, especially those with short or mid-range weapons. They tend to be so concerned about staying out of melee range that they end up plinking away ineffectually, before getting destroyed as soon as someone looks at them the wrong way anyhow.

At least, that's my impression. I've been playing with both AI Mod and Mission Control, and allied vehicles are usually not aggressive enough to be useful. Though I'm not sure if that's due to your mod, or MC.

One thing you could look at is the Rotunda vehicle, the one that comes only with the Active Probe. I haven't encountered them in any number, but one time I remember was one seeming to rather suicidally rush forward just to get in range for its ability. I think between the shorter range compared to Sensor Lock, and the AI's general inability to properly sequence Sensor Lock before attacks for maximum benefit, the AP ability would probably work better as a sort of implicit area denial - the AI should fire it off when it can hit 2+ units on a given turn, but it shouldn't expose itself to get into range beforehand.

I haven't looked at any files myself, so I don't know if there's specific AI behavior for units with AP but without ECM, I seem to remember reading about it, but I could be wrong.

Klyith posted:

Oh hey, I just remembered a thing I found with BetterAI that I didn't like, and didn't feel like the enemies were "smarter". The priority target tweaks IMO go too far in the other direction. The AI ends up being so monomaniacal about killing the buildings / escort vehicles that it doesn't feel natural.

It does make 100%-ing the bonus objectives much harder, but at the same time reduces the threat to your own mechs. If you know what's up you can bring your 4 highest-damage mechs and let the buildings tank for you. It's just a DPS race, and loss becomes "oh well, the lance picker gave them stuff that could kill 4 building before I could kill 8 mechs". I found it quite unsatisfying and game-y. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for something better. I tried turning the priority target blocker back on and just reducing the number of blocking phases to 6, but that didn't feel any different from stock.

Looking at the AI stuff again, I wonder if leaving the blocker off but setting Float_PriorityAttackPercentage to less than 100 might be good? Then it's like, I can't be quite so stupidly hyper-aggressive because sometimes the AI *is* gonna attack me.

Yea, I agree on the vehicle AI. Intent was to kind of mimic "oh poo poo it's enemy 'mechs, better GTFO" for vehicles but I don't think it ended up working well for them. I'll probably decrease some of the "stay out/away of X" stuff for them. Active probe has it's own logic that I can tweak, I'll have to setup a career test contract just for that later.

As for the priority targeting, I could try something like 90% and see how that goes. Downside to this is that when it's a simple battle, this means the AI is more likely to split fire across targets as from what I recall, the AI selects one enemy unit as the priority with the same logic used for objective destruction. This is usually the unit of highest threat, or one much closer to destruction than the others. I remember flicking that switch back in beta, before we had any objectives so the AI would stop spreading fire across the player Lance.

GD_American
Jul 21, 2004

LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

anakha posted:

Aside from the HM campaign and the Hatchetman/Raven flashpoints, there aren't any other Mechs or gear that are locked behind flashpoints right? I'm debating whether to make straight for Clan space after I finish those flashpoints on BTE.

By HM campaign do you mean the Bull Shark? Because yeah, that one too.

Man, this BEXCE has some incredible hidden variables. I started doing missions for the Lyran Commonwealth, and every single mission has been in the worst possible drop placement, against overwhelming odds, with absolutely no support.

loving Elsies.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Amechwarrior posted:

As for the priority targeting, I could try something like 90% and see how that goes. Downside to this is that when it's a simple battle, this means the AI is more likely to split fire across targets as from what I recall, the AI selects one enemy unit as the priority with the same logic used for objective destruction. This is usually the unit of highest threat, or one much closer to destruction than the others. I remember flicking that switch back in beta, before we had any objectives so the AI would stop spreading fire across the player Lance.

Oh, bleh to that idea then. I don't know enough about the inner code of the AI to have good suggestions, I thought the priority stuff was just for mission objectives.

Is Float_PreferredTargetToHitThreshold the only other decision factor for whether they shoot at a priority target or not? I feel like I'm looking for some other lever to pull, but there isn't one because HBS settled on the Prohibit thing instead of something more natural.



Also, in a standard battle, do you know how it picks the priority target? Just a simple highest damage / least HP sorting, or does it look at positions to for example pick a mech that the most AI units can attack?

Arghy
Nov 15, 2012

Cyrano4747 posted:

Yeah you will get reset to neutral (assuming you’re positive rep wise) and won’t be able to rise above that. It’s best to get black market access first.

Yes it counts.

Hell yeah i was getting worried as i have 9 maxed out pilots now so i'd have to start leveling up other pilots haha.

I've gotten to the point that i'm maxing salvage and getting at least 2 head shots a game so i can swim in mechs to sell, not to mention being able to get all those ++ weapons that keep appearing.

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


Zurai posted:

Yeah, but snubbies sandpaper instead of concentrating that damage into a single hit location. An AC/20 hitting will usually either destroy the location outright or strip all the armor off. A snub PPC hitting will rough up the armor over the majority of a Mech. And unlike SRMs, you can't use called shots to concentrate the hits.

Is this for sure? I found a sPPC++ pretty early and slapped it into a Crab with a stonking pile of heatsinks and it has spent the entire time since just straight up murdering enemy mechs. Probably just confirmation bias but I swear to god it practically guarantees a coring on a CT called shot.

Breetai
Nov 6, 2005

🥄Mah spoon is too big!🍌
They sandpaper, but the 'sandpaper' is the exact equivalent of 5 medium lasers in terms of both total damage and damage grouping. So they're more than capable of doing penetrating damage when more than one hits a location.

Called shots work, it's called shots to the head for cluster weapons that has a hard limit on number of hits.

Arghy
Nov 15, 2012

Had the weirdest base assault i've ever seen, assault turrets but when the 2 defending lances came they were literally all shadowhawks 2D's and a warhammer. 7 shadowhawks with paper thin armor and even then i got 5 head shots so my max salvage netted me 3 entire mechs.

I finally got an archer and i can't decide, LRM30 or SRM20? I like the concept of putting all those LRM's into a tiny patch but 70% stab damage on ++ SRM's would mean most things are on their rear end after a single salvo.

Amechwarrior
Jan 29, 2007

Klyith posted:

Oh, bleh to that idea then. I don't know enough about the inner code of the AI to have good suggestions, I thought the priority stuff was just for mission objectives.

Is Float_PreferredTargetToHitThreshold the only other decision factor for whether they shoot at a priority target or not? I feel like I'm looking for some other lever to pull, but there isn't one because HBS settled on the Prohibit thing instead of something more natural.



Also, in a standard battle, do you know how it picks the priority target? Just a simple highest damage / least HP sorting, or does it look at positions to for example pick a mech that the most AI units can attack?

I looked in to this today and I forgot there's a lot more variables that handle this than just that one. This should be doable, I need to run some vehicle changes through so I'll make a base def. test contract and load it up with vehicle Lances and test both of those changes at once. Might be a week or more before a full release comes out but...

Here's my daily test build

https://github.com/BattletechModders/BetterAI/tree/Daily-Test-Branch

Click the green "Clone or Download" on the right and get the .zip, drop that in to your Better AI folder and you should be good. Current changes are vehicles less afraid pass #1, scouts less afraid and less likely to overheat pass #3, globally slightly more melee/DFA odds pass #1, ZEU-6T given the Sniper tag over the stock Brawler.

I think (with a HUGE "maybe") my cFixes build for 1.9.1 should load, likely without making GBS threads the bed, but I still need to confirm some contract bits haven't changed. All the DLC stuff is updated and that was the main cause of the errors forcing it's removal in modpacks after 1.6. How this relates to the AI - The new DLC units are missing a lot of AI Lance and some Role tags and cFixes gets those as they're "bugs" to be fixed and not "optimization" to be made better.

If anyone's a little more daring here's the cFixes 1.9.1 branch, same instructions as above, but make sure to DELETE EVERYTHING inside any old existing cFixes folder before pasting in the new stuff.

https://github.com/BattletechModders/cFixes/tree/1.9.1-WIP-branch

anakha
Sep 16, 2009


Arghy posted:

I finally got an archer and i can't decide, LRM30 or SRM20? I like the concept of putting all those LRM's into a tiny patch but 70% stab damage on ++ SRM's would mean most things are on their rear end after a single salvo.

If it's the ARC-2S, definitely SRM build. The LRM build is an ok fire-support machine, but 4 SRM-6s with the stab bonus makes enemy Mechwarriors piss their cycling shorts.

Dyz
Dec 10, 2010

Arghy posted:

Had the weirdest base assault i've ever seen, assault turrets but when the 2 defending lances came they were literally all shadowhawks 2D's and a warhammer. 7 shadowhawks with paper thin armor and even then i got 5 head shots so my max salvage netted me 3 entire mechs.

I finally got an archer and i can't decide, LRM30 or SRM20? I like the concept of putting all those LRM's into a tiny patch but 70% stab damage on ++ SRM's would mean most things are on their rear end after a single salvo.

2R for LRM

2S for SRM

But really for LRM spam I prefer the stalker or the 733 highlander over the Archer. Clustering with LRMs is nice but Id rather have 30-40 extra LRMs instead.

Dyz fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Jun 18, 2020

Arghy
Nov 15, 2012

Yeah it's the 2S, atm my missile boats are a pult C1 and C4 with SRM's and LRM's so i want to improve those.

I really don't like how the drop weight system works because i have no incentive to keep a selection of mechs, if it's above 50 tons it might as well be an assault or heavy. I basically got 3 medium mechs then the rest are all heavies/assault because why would i bother when i can drop a full lance of assaults without any drawbacks beyond initiative. You should be offered cash or salvage bonuses for keeping the drop weight down, lighter mechs means more room for salvage or quicker recovery leading to more savings.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Arghy posted:

I really don't like how the drop weight system works because i have no incentive to keep a selection of mechs, if it's above 50 tons it might as well be an assault or heavy. I basically got 3 medium mechs then the rest are all heavies/assault because why would i bother when i can drop a full lance of assaults without any drawbacks beyond initiative. You should be offered cash or salvage bonuses for keeping the drop weight down, lighter mechs means more room for salvage or quicker recovery leading to more savings.

drop costs: https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/97

monthly costs: https://github.com/sqparadox/MechMaintenanceByCost/releases

GD_American
Jul 21, 2004

LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!
Sumire sure loves to make your LZ right where you have to through any remaining enemies to get to it.

Amechwarrior
Jan 29, 2007

GD_American posted:

Sumire sure loves to make your LZ right where you have to through any remaining enemies to get to it.

Little known fact - Sumire is always betting on "no one lives" in the Argo's Deadpool.

vyelkin
Jan 2, 2011
At the end of the campaign if you ask Sumire what she wants to do now she says that she wants to get just stupid rich, so she always puts the LZ where she puts it so you'll have to finish the remaining enemies and she can get her share of any opfor kill bonuses.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

vyelkin posted:

At the end of the campaign if you ask Sumire what she wants to do now she says that she wants to get just stupid rich, so she always puts the LZ where she puts it so you'll have to finish the remaining enemies and she can get her share of any opfor kill bonuses. get killed so she can inherit the Argo and all your stuff.

Pretty sure Darius is in cahoots with her, that's why he constantly feeds you bad intel and doesn't mention reinforcements until they're already firing AC20s up your rear end.

GD_American
Jul 21, 2004

LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!
It sounds dumb but I had an assault level I that had literally just held off an entire assault company, were dry on almost all ammo and basically had one ER PPC left as a long range weapon.

Boom, here pops up another lance, Stalker, Highlander (733B, the lowtech one) and 2 Longbows. I played a 20 round cat and mouse game just to get them up a path to where my guys could charge en masse and get them in SRM/Medium laser range, and all that because loving Sumire decided to park her poo poo like 5 hexes behind where the last lance had appeared.

And in that last furious charge I lost my Gauss Rifle. My loving irreplaceable Gauss Rifle, in 3029. Grrrrr. Wish you could hire a new DropShip pilot.

Amechwarrior
Jan 29, 2007

The trick is to hold ALT while you're selecting a move spot and this will highlight all movement spaces within 5 spots or so of your mouse, no matter where on the map. Use this to find the evil red dots of Sumire's mech-smash LZ ahead of time and plan to be there before you trigger the next wave of stuff.

Rorahusky
Nov 12, 2012

Transform and waaauuuugh out!
So, are there any mods out there that allow you to salvage Lostech weapons from things like the new Scorpion MkIIs or Striker NARCs?

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal

Casnorf posted:

How do we feel about Roguetech?

I fukkin love it. It brings in a lot of the complexity from the tabletop game without overdoing it. Folks complain about "kitchen sink," but I don't see it. The features I use, I like, and the features I don't use, I usually don't notice in the first place.

I really appreciate being able to customize my entire mech, not just a few key parts.

It felt like a real accomplishment when I finally pieced together my first assault. With RT, I end up caring about my lance way more than in vanilla.

The dev is an rear end in a top hat, but updates are frequent and (in my experience) fairly bug-free.

Trustworthy fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jun 19, 2020

WhiteHowler
Apr 3, 2001

I'M HUGE!
Well, that was one of the most fun missions I've ever had. A four-skull Urban Assassination contract, with a 60-ton limit on my individual mechs.

I'd never used Infernos before, but people seem to love them, so I built a Griffin with 3 x Infernos++ and a Large Laser+++. Also fielded a mostly-stock Firestarter and Phoenix Hawk, along with an SRM Shadow Hawk.

OpFor was two Awesomes (both PPC and LRM variants), a MAD-3R, an Assassin, and a Hatchetman.

Holy crap, concentrated heat damage is so broken. The Griffin would overheat the biggest thing in range, allowing everyone else to jump behind it and back-shot. I don't think the assassination target even got a shot off -- we just heat-locked him for two turns and tore through his rear armor.

The only casualty on my side was the Phoenix Hawk's right leg, which ate a couple of rounds of direct fire.

It was so much fun to run/jump around the map after getting so used to my standard headhunter/assault lance. At any given point I felt like a couple of unlucky dice rolls could completely wreck my squad.

I think I'm going to start playing with more maneuverable glass-cannon lances.

GD_American
Jul 21, 2004

LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!
I like rolling with an all-Crusader lance, but every now and then Mission Control throws a giant gently caress you half-a-battalion of assault mechs at you and it makes it un-fun.

Some of the Sheep
May 25, 2005
POSSIBLY IT WOULD BE SIMPLER IF I ASKED FOR A LIST OF THE HARMLESS CREATURES OF THE AFORESAID CONTINENT?

Casnorf posted:

How do we feel about Roguetech?

The first mission I did in it was a half star battle. Dropped into the fight and it turned out to be my lance with a supporting lance, versus 2 lances of enemy mechs, some infantry and vehicles with continual artillery support. It took the better part of 2 hours to finish, thanks to the NYPD level of marksmanship on display. I closed and uninstalled right after.

Sazabi
Feb 15, 2014

A-MA-ZON!!
Alright gang I'm back to basically where I left off story wise. I got some questions, and I know how this thread loves questions.

First: are pirates in charge of the black market? And if so how do I get them to not hate me? Or is the BM even worth the trouble?

Second: do any of the DLC have mini campaigns or is it just added mechanics maps and battlemechs?

Third: how am I supposed to beat 5 skull missions? It's like 12 assaults vs my 1 with 3 heavies.

GD_American
Jul 21, 2004

LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

Sazabi posted:

Alright gang I'm back to basically where I left off story wise. I got some questions, and I know how this thread loves questions.

First: are pirates in charge of the black market? And if so how do I get them to not hate me? Or is the BM even worth the trouble?

Second: do any of the DLC have mini campaigns or is it just added mechanics maps and battlemechs?

Third: how am I supposed to beat 5 skull missions? It's like 12 assaults vs my 1 with 3 heavies.

1. Yes. Quit taking missions against pirates (Local Government will take up the slack. Be Space Ron Swanson.) Also, look for 1/2 or 1 skull systems with pirates in them, do their missions for basically free to max rep gain. If you ally with anyone you can never be more than indifferent towards pirates, but it's still worth it. (2% discount in black market vs 1000% markup). The black market is incredibly worth it.

2. Flashpoints are mini campaigns, including one overall arcing story with several flashpoints and a bunch of famous BT characters.

3. Download Bigger Drops for the ability to add another lance, or Mission Control for some randomized customer support (and the occasional gently caress you extra enemy mission). Otherwise, remember that chokepoints are your friend, maximize the amount of guns you have on an enemy and minimize the number of their guns they have on you at any given time.

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LeschNyhan
Sep 2, 2006

Sazabi posted:

Third: how am I supposed to beat 5 skull missions? It's like 12 assaults vs my 1 with 3 heavies.

There are a couple of factors that play into dealing with hard missions.

First - keeping the enemy numbers down. In addition to using chokepoints to restrict their movement and access to you, you also want to avoid triggering more than one lance at a time if at all possible.

Stick to a map edge, and once you’re engaged, try to kite them back into a safe area that you’ve previously cleared. Staying close to the map edge map usually means you are closest to a far flank unit and the rest of the lance will have to travel to you, buying you time.

Second - kill efficiency. Ideally I want to be killing a minimum of one enemy machine each turn. Using kiting and chokepoints makes this easier to achieve, because you can limit yourself to smaller amounts of incoming fire.

Kill efficiency is typically maximized by leveraging as many called shots as you can generate with the game mechanics. Obviously, you can spend morale, but once you’ve knocked down a mech you get free called shots. The typical vanilla game pattern usually involves stacking stability damage from massed missiles and ballistics, then once they are down running called shots on the centre torso or legs until it dies. Against assaults mechs you may need to manipulate initiative (sometimes with vigilance) to attack it after it’s taken its turn so it doesn’t have the chance to get up before you obliterate it.

When using morale called shots, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of using an aggressive high-movement backstabber to cut through weak back armour for an instant kill. In addition, some common heavies may have vulnerabilities - for instance, the Thunderbolts usually carry ammo in the centre torso, so even just breaching armor there may be enough to trigger an explosion that will kill it. Some assaults like the Victor carry their biggest threat in an arm, so amputating that will make them a significantly reduced threat that can be ignores for a while.

A morale called shot against a leg could also destroy it for an instant knockdown, depending on how much damage you do. High tactics skill will make this easier.

Finally, a high tactics pilot with a large number of guns can viably try for head shots. 18% isn’t much but if you’re shooting 10+ guns, getting 2-3 head hits will be enough for an instant kill. You’ll want ++ damage weapons for this, and choose enemies that aren’t braced or have other damage reduction.

Third - restrict incoming fire. In addition to choke points and killing off opponents quickly, you can also do this a couple ways.

Consider bringing a lighter, high jump mech. If you max out its evasion and jump it into a bait location with cover (and maybe bulwark) it will happily dodge even an assault lance’s fire with relatively little care. Every shot that misses builds enemy heat while doing nothing to you. Your light flanker can also serve as a backstabber for called shots, potentially doubling your kill efficiency. The Firestarter is arguably a late game ‘mech for this reason.

Keeping your distance or breaking LoS may cause some enemy mechs to waste a turn with sensor locks instead of firing. This is especially good if you’re about to ambush.

Also, as big as your mechs are, most terrain types have a lot of height variability, so ducking into and out of defilades and behind ridges can break LoS. Again, choose where you want to fight and kite the enemy into your battlefield.

DLC adds some new mechanics that can help mitigate incoming fire as well: the ECM on the Raven and Cataphract-0X.

Fourth - specialize your mechs to your strategy. Stock mechs are usually bad and suboptimal. If you need a machine to knock down enemies, it should carry as much stability damage as possible and eschew anything that doesn’t contribute to that role. There are lots of builds out there depending on what chassis you have available.

Anyway, hope that helps.

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