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CW seems like a total mess, but I actually quite like the event. The majority of it is 'play' rather than 'win, ' and the rewards are all pretty boss. I just wish I could be driving my Clan mechs, but no such luck.
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May 7, 2017 13:53
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aniviron posted:Man, if you're losing scouting brawls as IS, that's on the players, not the mechs. I gotta go with this. I'm willing to entertain a fair amount of talk about Clans being OP, but medium weight brawling is one area where IS at least breaks even. Stuff like the GRF 3M and 2N can go toe to toe with any Clan medium and come out on top.
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May 8, 2017 21:53
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TjyvTompa posted:It doesn't matter how good you are if the enemy is actively avoiding your griffins in an arctic cheetah just waiting for the dropship. Most of my scouting losses this weekend were games like these, the games that had a full out brawl we won easily. But that's just Smoke Diving. It's a tactic not a tech, and one that isn't exclusive to the Clans. If anything, it's an area where the IS has a resounding advantage. They're rife with spindly little mechs that go a million miles per hour. You think pinning down an ACH is bad? Consider how frustrating it would be to try and catch a bunch of Spiders or Pirate's Banes zipping around all over the place. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 13:49 on May 9, 2017 |
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May 9, 2017 13:04
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CW and this event has put a huge dent in my enjoyment of the game. Faction imbalance is one thing, but having a matchmaking system that repeatedly feeds pugs into stacked groups is an inexcusable fuckup.
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May 9, 2017 18:32
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I know it's fun to bag on Lurms, but Uacs feel just as stupid. Playing a 10/5 boat I just mash one key and out trade everything inside 600m with zero effort.
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May 12, 2017 02:58
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Uhh, close, but... 1. GXP spent on unlocking Mech Skills will be refunded as HSP (Historic Skill Points) and HSP only. HSP is like GSP (General Skill Points) but it can only be used to unlock skill nodes on the mech variant it's associated with. E.g. if you have a mastered Timber Wolf-Prime you'll get 91 HSP, which is enough to unlock the max number of skill nodes that can be enabled on a mech at any given time. GXP is only being given in refund for Pilot Skills, which is the stuff like weapon range/cooldown and the various module unlocks/upgrades. 2. Only models purchased before Dec. 3rd 2016 are being refunded as GSP, any you bought after that date come back as full C-bills. 3. Man, they better not. They've confused and pissed off so many people already that even good chances would probably be received poorly. This new system involves juggling six, six different currencies. Two old: XP and GXP, three new: SP, GSP, and HSP, and two transitional: HXP and HSP. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 13:26 on May 14, 2017 |
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May 14, 2017 13:11
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I'm sure it'll trundle along. The only people I see leaving are a few embittered long timers who're furious about not getting their precious space bucks refunded. For the average player, the new skill tree is just one more weird and esoteric system layered on top of a big ol' heaping pile of them. This happens a lot in older MMOs and F2P games. I experienced something very similar when playing Marvel Heroes. Older players constantly want new and updated things, but you end up with so many overlapping systems that the knowledge barrier for a new player is astoundingly high. Imagine coming to this game with no prior knowledge of Battletech or the Mechwarrior franchise. Then layer on top all the stuff PGI has bolted on to that legacy which further obfuscates an already hideously complicated system. So like, if you're a new player and are willing to buy in for all of that, then the new skill is just one more hurdle to clear and a relatively low one at that.
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May 14, 2017 14:59
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TjyvTompa posted:I don't understand how mechs are balanced with regards to the different kinds of weapons systems they can equip. For example, won't a mech using only LPLs be able to put more points into energy heat, cooling, range et.c. than a mech running both ballistics and SRMs? Like, doesn't this skillsystem reward mechs using a single type of weapons as opposed to mechs running many different? Yes, but the old module system also did this. If you ran a single weapon type, you could run both the CD and Range modules for it, rather than having to pick and choose. Still really bummed about the mobility changes, cause I like brawling. It was already merely a middling playstyle and looks to be trash after the patch. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 14:18 on May 16, 2017 |
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May 16, 2017 14:15
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I'm Excited for Battletech but decided to skip the beta. I've learned that playing games in beta or early access is a good way to burn out on them before the game is even "out".
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May 16, 2017 15:44
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Ugh, choice paralysis. Anyone have some links to optimized skill builds yet?
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May 17, 2017 01:57
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Wouldn't be so bad if I knew I could reconfigure stuff, but the price tag on respec's makes me not want to touch anything until someone with more resources has mapped everything out.
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May 17, 2017 02:03
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Cyrano4747 posted:There's a defined accel/decel stat for each mech now. I forget the exact details, but the long and the short of it is you need to look at the acceleration and deceleration curves in the detailed info for the mech. The SB has one of the most anemic curves in the game, worse even than a Dire Wolf. Yeah, it definitely looks like their way of nerfing stronger meta chassis. The Night Gyr has like half the baseline accel/decel of other heavies and only turns/yaws 2/3rds as fast. I.E. top speed and engine be damned, this mech has half the mobility of this other mech of the same weight because reasons!  
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May 17, 2017 02:21
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Historic can be used on any instance of a variant, whereas the new XP is mech specific. So, like, even if you own two separate KDK-3s, they both have their own XP and skill points, but you can use your HXP pool for either one. So it only matters if you ever plan to own more than one of a given variant. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 03:56 on May 17, 2017 |
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May 17, 2017 03:49
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Commoners posted:I don't think I put in any. I don't think structure is worth it, because it melts when it gets hit by crits. Having more structure is definitely better than having less, but I personally think that only armor quirks are worth buffing with the survivability tree. Yeah, the number of points you have to invest vs. the added HP it provides doesn't seem like a great value on all but a handful of edge cases. And the Ops tree might be too good. Cool Run and Heat Containment have some of my hotter laser boats are running cooler than they did pre-patch which maybe seems like it's not what they intended? Edit: ~20/10/1 in Op/Sensors/Aux feels mandatory for the heat management, radar dep, and consumable slot. Although I guess you could get away with not running rador dep in some setting, but I wouldn't want to be without it in QM. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 10:30 on May 17, 2017 |
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May 17, 2017 10:24
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Commoners posted:They were net nerfed from what they used to have when a mech was elited out. Basic skills got doubled in the old system when you had full elite stuff, so heat containment and cool run gave 15% and 10% respectively (I think, I'm probably slightly off.) If you didn't have mechs elited out then you'll see a pretty big difference. They are lower, 10/15 now vs 15/20 before, but we also have the new Heat Gen nodes in the Firepower which you'll get up to 5-10% depending on how much you invest. All of it stacked together has me running noticeably cooler than before. Pre-patch my laser TBR spiked to 64% on an alpha vs. 54% post patch. Edit: Also, wtf is up with the skill tabs and skill trees having different labels? The tabs are called: Firepower, Survival, Mobility, Jump Jets, Operations, Sensors, and Auxillary. But the actual trees are: Weapons, Armor Structure, Agility, Jump Capabilities, Mech Operations, Sensor Systems, and Miscellaneous. Did someone just forget to make sure the labeling matched up between different builds? Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 10:48 on May 17, 2017 |
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May 17, 2017 10:42
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~8 points in the Aux tree looks quite good for toasty mechs. For that fairly modest investment, you get an additional Cool Shot and +50% to the effects which is enough for one more on demand alpha when you're already running hot.
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May 17, 2017 19:23
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As a quick guide, here are some basic builds for the important trees: Operations (17): Max Cool Run is the goal here. Heat Containment is good but not essential, and everything else in the tree is garbage.  Mobility (22): Full Speed Tweak. A bit pricey, but unlike most other trees Mobility doesn't have a lot of filler nodes. Everything is useful; it's just a question of how much you want. You can trim down to 14 points by clipping off the left-hand side at Torso Pitch 1 if you need the points elsewhere.  Sensors (11): You get 60% Radar Dep, along with Target Retention and a bit of Seismic, which is a decent deal. You can fill out the right side if you really want 100% dep, but I think you have to take too many bad nodes for it to be worthwhile.  Auxillary (6): Double Cool Shot for throwing away even more C-Bills! You can swap Salvors or UAV as the second point depending on preference. Also, go ahead and drop this down to just the one point in Extra Consumables if your mech is cool enough that you don't burn those 40k C-bill pops like candy.  Those four together run you 43-56 points depending on investment. That leaves you with ~40 points to play around with. Personally, I'd avoid the Survival Tree unless you're going for a gimick build on one of those IS mechs with insane Structure and Armor quirks. Don't know if the Jump Jet tree is worth it yet, haven't messed around with it much. As for Firepower... Firepower (*): The trick to this tree is unlocking weapon specific nodes you need for your mech. Afterward just dump leftover points in whatever you find useful, Heat Gen, Range, and Cooldown are probably the best generic nodes. Here's an example of the Laser tree I'm using on my Timber Wolf, 
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May 17, 2017 23:14
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Ardlen posted:Is it possible to unlock a bunch of nodes, then inactivate the ones at the top and keep the ones at the bottom activated? No, you need to have any subsidiary nodes active. Which means that, yes, you must take useless poo poo like Imp Gyros to max out your Cool Run. It's one of the things that makes the Survivability tree rubbish. You end up having to spend points on junk like better AMS and reduced fall damage.
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May 17, 2017 23:59
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The Gate posted:You can get all the armor and all but 2 internals with 4 fall damage nodes and zero AMS ones. Just skip the two middle nodes. 4 fall damage nodes is still 4 wasted nodes. I'm not sure any other tree requires that much filler to get the worthwhile stuff, and it's in a tree that is already one of the weakest.
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May 18, 2017 01:15
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Fair point, you could easily skip tweak to max out Ken Burst and Break. It could even be that mobility is such a premium that maxing the entire tree is the way to go, but I don't know if the losses in Firepower would be worth the trade.
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May 18, 2017 02:04
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TjyvTompa posted:For the auxiliary tree I only spend a single point to get 1 more consumable, do not understand peoples reasoning to put points here at all. The weapon skills are much more worth it. Five points to unlock an additional Cool Shot and up their cooling by 50% is very good, but as I said if you're running a cooler mech then the 1 point for the consumable slot is enough.
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May 18, 2017 09:26
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Commoners posted:Yeah, but there's also almost no excuse to be running a cool mech. There's very few builds that are using all available firepower and are also not going to be heating up at some critical point in a fight. Yep. Hence why I think the 5 points for an extra and more powerful CS is awesome. It keeps you shooting for that much longer. Of course, it's one more C-bill sink but whatever, gotta shoot robits.
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May 18, 2017 10:36
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TjyvTompa posted:So yeah, the guide is good except for the survival part, put your points elsewhere, I would suggest the firepower/mobility tree. I still don't think you should spend any points in the auxiliary tree, instead of alpha firing constantly you should try to find a better position where you can do the same damage without the need for constant cool shots. Those 5 points could give you, for example, +6% heat containment instead. Eh? Heat containment doesn't improve your sustained DPS. All it does it raise the cap on your heat gauge. That is important for nailing your alpha thresholds, i.e. hitting three full firing cycles vs. two from resting heat, but it doesn't have any impact on your DPS over time. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 19:37 on May 18, 2017 |
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May 18, 2017 19:31
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:I guess if you're assuming people are firing 24/7 and not moving, yeah Umm, yes? Why wouldn't you be firing 24/7, even if you're moving? Firing your weapons is how you kill the bad robots and win the game, so you want to be doing it on cooldown. As Commoners pointed out, the vast majority of builds are not using all of their available firepower due to heating limitations. Heat is the major limiting factor to your damage output over time, and Heat Containment has no meaningful impact on that. It doesn't reduce the heat your weapons create, nor does it help dissipate that said heat.
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May 18, 2017 20:02
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TheParadigm posted:has the engine to mobility delinking changed anything? Are xl's still a go-to on mechs that need positioning power/speed? Too soon to tell? You'll still use them on Clan battlemechs because their XLs are so much better, but a lot of beefier IS mechs might want to consider dropping their suicide motors now that the only benefit is top speed and number of in-engine heat sinks. Losing 10-15 kph sucks, but not as much as exploding when a shoulder gets popped. And yeah, as Cyrano said, it's a sad time to be an Altas. It takes them roughly twenty years to move in and out of cover so post-patch they have only two different modes, exposed and dead. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 20:47 on May 18, 2017 |
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May 18, 2017 20:10
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Cyrano4747 posted:Ironically enough the only KDK that's worth a drat any more is the 3. The mounts are high enough that it can still peek and poke and trade well. Not quite as well as it used to, but still really damned well. Yeah, the KDK-3 is still probably the best 100-ton assault, it just doesn't get to cheat and move like an 85-ton assault anymore.
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May 18, 2017 21:58
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I'm wondering why they didn't just make it a flat bonus scaled by tonnage. I mean, it helps out a small set of shitter mechs, as you mentioned, but it's nigh useless for everything else. Having a whole tree dedicated to such a small niche seems like a not great idea.
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May 18, 2017 22:42
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It's stupid and bloated, but not half as complicated as it looks. Like for the Firepower tree in that picture, there are only four types of generic node: Cooldown, Heat Gen, Range, and Velocity. You just take as many of them as you have points to spare after getting the weapon specific stuff.
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May 18, 2017 23:29
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The biggest problems with it are that it's intimidating to look at, and tedious to fill out. But those are both huge problems. New players will get scared off at a glance and vets will be annoyed that they have to arduously map out all 91 nodes on their 100+ mechs. You can't even save templates! Any changes you want to make have to be done node by node, every time.
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May 18, 2017 23:32
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TjyvTompa posted:The skilltree just gives PUGs another rope to hang themselves with, fine by me. I have seen so many lights jetting around, as if being airborne somehow makes them immune to damage. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 09:10 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 09:06
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I just thought it gave more match score than before?
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May 19, 2017 09:12
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Yeah, you're probably okay to skip the ops tree, but I think I'd favor stacking Mobility over Survival. Even with quirks and all the armor/structure nodes, you're still a light. Speed if your first and finest defense. Also, if MetaMechs is to be believed, it looks like you can cram an XL 285 in and still have plenty of ammo. Remember that you don't need armor on your arms! Edit: beaten!
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May 19, 2017 11:19
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It shouldn't cost C-Bills to convert Historic XP into XP. But it does cost C-Bills to turn any kind of XP into SP (Skill Points), which is what you use to unlock nodes. It's because the new system replaces the old modules, so rather than spend C-bills to buy modules and XP to unlock mech masteries, you use a combination of both to buy nodes, and they cover the functionality of both the old systems.
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May 19, 2017 12:22
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TjyvTompa posted:I'm not even gonna try explaining how the system works. So far I have only played mechs that I previously had mastered so I had 91 skillpoints at the ready. For those that I had to buy more skillpoints for it seems they cost a ludicrous 40,000 cbills each so yeah... 45k C-bills and 800 XP per point, so roughly 4 million C-bills and 72k XP to reach 91 nodes. That's honestly not bad considering that a single weapon module would run you 2-3 million under the old system. starkebn posted:yes, XP to SP is what I meant - they don't want to help a fan enjoy this Yeah, no, I agree the system is ludicrously byzantine. The baseline mechanics aren't even that complicated, but the amount of needless obfuscation and complexity they've jizzed all over it makes it daunting for the uninitiated and tedious for the experienced. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 12:41 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 12:38
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Aww, come on, Air Strikes are really good against assaults now. It's almost impossible for them to get out of the way in time. Don't you want to spend 200,000 C-bills per match to carpet bomb the enemy while keeping your mech nice and chilly?
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May 19, 2017 14:01
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Possibly to allow for more incremental progress as you skill up a new mech? But, yeah, I can't see a good reason why every tree isn't roughly the same size as the Auxillary path. Edit: It may have also been the minimum they could manage to deny some set level of hyper-specialization. I.e. preventing you from getting too much Heat Gen out of the Firepower tree without also taking a set amount of Range and Cooldown. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 15:11 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 15:08
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It sure as poo poo better be, considering you have to take dead nodes to unlock full Cool Run. Even as is, I'd still take Heat Gen if I'm only going for one based on how much better the accoicate nodes are for Firepower vs. Ops.
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May 19, 2017 15:26
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New event is up. It mostly amounts to "play the game", which is nice.
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May 20, 2017 03:01
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Artificer posted:Oh gently caress. I bought the Battlemaster 1G but I did not realize it had gimped torso twist. That's pretty awful despite its nice hardpoints and quirks. drat. The 1G and 2C are both good. The limited twist looks awful, but the BLR's specialty is corner peaking and hill humping it's beefy little heart out to make the most out of its excellent mounts. You generally don't end up brawling until the battle is over and one side is cleaning up, so the crappy twist isn't often super relevant. tarbrush posted:So, I have the following mechs, 1130MC, 12M Cbills, 156K GXP. The nice thing about this sale is that it was all pulled from popular Tukayyid drop decks, so nearly everything is a top meta pick. Even the stuff like the TBRs and KDK-3 that got gutted by engine decoupling dropped from being superb down to merely being very good. That said, if I were to make a list... IS: BLR-1G BLR-2C GHR-5P TDR-9SE WHM-6D All the top tier laser boats you could ever want. Each of the above can mount the ubiquitous and powerful LPL/ML vomit builds. MAD-3R MAL-MX90 The Marauder did well by the mobility changes and while the hero is probably the best variant, the default is is no slouch. As for the Mauler, buy it if you want the best dakka platform the IS can muster. GRF-2N HBK-4SP The basic scouting brawlers. They'll do just as well SRMing stuff in the face in QM as they do in Faction play. BLACK WIDOW The only hero on sale and I hear it's pretty good? I don't own one, but 4x AC/5 in high mounts on a 70-tonner seems pretty okay to me. Clan ACH-PRIME/C Well known for being the most bullshit try-hard light mech in the game. If that sort of thing appeals to you, pick one up. EBJ-PRIME With the TBR and HBR getting hit hard in the recent patch, the Jag is probably the Clan's premiere heavy laser boat going forward. HBR-PRIME Even with the huge nerfs, an ECM heavy is still an ECM heavy, so it's a mech worth having in your stable. Unlocking the skill nodes to bring it back up to where it was isn't too horrible. HBK-IIC HBK-IIC-A These things are stupid. They're ungainly and not too durable, but sport insane mounts and gobs of free tonnage. They make the very best of mobile gun turrets. Take the default for dakka or the A for lasers and enjoy topping the damage chart every game in your 50-ton shitbox. I'd avoid the B; it's a brawler and not a very good one in my opinion. KDK-3 Speaking of mobile turrets, even after having its legs ripped off by mobility nerfs the KDK-3 remains the best Clan assault. The mounts and hardpoints on this mech are just too good for it ever to be truly bad. SHC-PRIME I like this mech. It's very Jack of all trades. Almost as nimble as a light, with nearly the firepower of a proper medium. The locked engine hurts a bit but being one of the only chassis in the game with both ECM and MASC puts it in a unique place, and with the patch buffing MASC by proxy I think it's a good time to pick one up. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 14:21 on May 20, 2017 |
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May 20, 2017 14:11
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Going over the sale has got me thinking: why do the Clans have so many top-notch heavies and, like, maybe one good mech in every other weight class?
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May 20, 2017 14:30
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