BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Zenn7
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Zenn7 »

NickAragua wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:02 pm You will very occasionally find stores that sell spoilerguns and ammo (look for systems with "star league" keywords), and they sometimes come up as rewards for flashpoints.

I used my spoilermech non-stop, and the combination of it being super tough plus having slower, ground-bound mechs to attract fire meant that I was rarely at risk of losing it.

Then I just about rage-quit when I lost the spoilergun during a flashpoint. Thankfully, it came up as a flashpoint reward. In fact, a ++ version.
No flashpoints for me yet, don't own that DLC. From the description of the flashpoints you all have provided so far, doesn't sound that exciting. Not buying it today, but is there anything else about that DLC that makes it more worthwhile that I actually should buy it some day?
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Basically, the flashpoints are self-contained stories (although some flashpoints follow from others, depending on your decisions) involving the major inner sphere powers (or not, in some cases). They're basically multi-stage high-risk-high-reward contracts. The main thing about them is that your dialog choices actually make a difference, as opposed to what happens in the main campaign. You also see consecutive deployments (no time to repair between missions), and the flashpoint missions are hand-crafted. I think I saw about 20 total, but there are more - to access a few of them you need to be allied with a major inner sphere power, and it takes a while to "grind out the rep".

Flashpoint also adds three mechs: Hatchetman, Crab, Cyclops. The Hatchetman is... uh... slow. The Crab is a 50-tonner, and the Cyclops fills out the assault bracket a little.

The main reasons to get Flashpoint would be in anticipation of the next DLC, "Urban Combat" (which will probably have more flashpoints), and the possibility of user-made flashpoints (so far, only one has been made, but you never know...)

Honestly, I'd wait for a sale, though.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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NickAragua wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:49 am
Honestly, I'd wait for a sale, though.
Agreed. What it adds is nice but it doesn't really add anything necessary.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by UsulofDoom »

Why are prices so bad to sell? It's only 10% of the buy cost. Does this change?
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I don't think I ever saw prices get better or worse. 10% is a horrible sell rate. I pretty much keep everything with periodic house cleanings - but those are never thought of as "For Profit" sales.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I was thinking of trying a mod and career mode now that I beat the campaign. Wanted to see what career mode does (assuming it's just the random missions from the campaign with no story, but hoping it would unlike the galaxy instead of restricting us to this little section of the periphery).

Didn't want to just carry the uber-lance from the campaign out. Wanted to build up again. This time with more mechs (hence mods).

JK_variants seems like a good starting point, but saw XLRP - Extended Lore Rebalancing Project.

Wondered if anyone tried that and why they like or didn't like it compared to the other mods you all have been listing here?
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by NickAragua »

Last time I played through, I assembled a hodge podge collection of mods myself. Since then, somebody undertook the same task I did, which is to gather up all the "more era-appropriate mechs and vehicles" mods in one place:

Battletech Extended 3025

That'll get you a very substantial chunk of all the mechs and tanks that are available in 3025. There's a particular sub-mod that you'll have to enable to get all the vehicles. Some of the vehicles and mechs re-use existing models, but I found it didn't matter too much. The good part is that the author felt the same way that I did, which is that the mechanics don't really need to be messed with, we just need more mechs.

Apparently it also bundles the "better AI" mod, so expect the AI to clean your clock a little bit more. But you can enable or disable individual sub-components of the mod to your taste.

Finally, a reminder that, if you install "content" mods (ones that add mechs, flashpoints, equipment) then remove them later, you won't be able to load save games made with those mods.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Zenn7 »

Cool, thanks Nick. I saw that one too, will try it.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Zenn7 »

Wowsers does your starting force suck!

Jenner, Urbanmech, Spider and 2 locusts (a standard w/ MG's and a 2 ML/2SL variant) and all the pilots are 3 and 3 2's except 1 gets 2 3's and your start (like 4/2/3/2 I think).

Even against the crappy 1/2 skull missions I'm taking lotta damage, having to wait a bit for repairs (and now for a pilot so I can have 4 peeps in the field).

Probably should not have spent 500k on the black market entry, but I never got into black market in the campaign (by the time the offer came along, the pirates hated me, no option it would let me take).
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I tried to get back into this over the weekend. Updated it and was having fun with it - then realized than none of my mods seemed to be showing up (no painful tanks or various Mechs).

I went digging and found that I needed to get a new version of the Modtek tool installed, so I did ... and made sure my other mods were as current as they could be...

... and can't get the game running with JK_Variants. The game and Argo load fine, but loading into combat just loads forever... and ever... and ever. 20 minutes later, still loading. Pull JK_Variants out, and I can enter a combat scenario. I'm struggling to find a fix. I know this is completely optional and only adds flavor, but it's a flavor I like.

So I need to roll back to an older version of Battletech or wait a while for a modder somewhere to catch up?
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Paingod wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:09 am I tried to get back into this over the weekend. Updated it and was having fun with it - then realized than none of my mods seemed to be showing up (no painful tanks or various Mechs).

I went digging and found that I needed to get a new version of the Modtek tool installed, so I did ... and made sure my other mods were as current as they could be...

... and can't get the game running with JK_Variants. The game and Argo load fine, but loading into combat just loads forever... and ever... and ever. 20 minutes later, still loading. Pull JK_Variants out, and I can enter a combat scenario. I'm struggling to find a fix. I know this is completely optional and only adds flavor, but it's a flavor I like.

So I need to roll back to an older version of Battletech or wait a while for a modder somewhere to catch up?
Does JK_Variants add anything that Battletech Extended 3025 doesn't cover? I have had issues a couple times in career mode where the combat didn't load, but that's rare (2-4 times total, been playing 1-3 battles per day since I posted I'd started career mode with this mod).

Speaking of career mode, it was so awesome when I finally got my first medium! A Hunchback (5 ML, 2 LRM10 and 1 SL variant, dumped the SL for armor).

Then a Phoenix Hawk and Shadow Hawk.

Last night, had a mission where I could max get 2 salvage picks. It was to finish off a damaged lance - 2.5 skulls. 2 grasshoppers! I was very bummed I could only get 2 picks. This was my first heavy mech encounter. There were 4 grasshopper parts when it was over.

But... they gave me a third one in the loot distribution!!! Yay! First heavy mech!
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Paingod »

Honestly, I'm out of touch with the mods in the game. If JK_Variants is out of date and/or unsupported, I'll switch to something else. I do like having other chassis options but am not married to JK_Variants as the only choice for it.

*Edit: Looking at Battletech Extended 3025, it seems like a complete package for what I would want - lore-friendly vehicles, variants, and items ... but will need the 2.6GB Community Asset Bundle - which Nexus told me last night would take 10 hours to download. I'm guessing they throttle huge files a bit.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Yeah, you want Battletech Extended 3025 - I don't think JK_Variants is getting updated any more.

I wish they'd slim that Community Asset Bundle down a bit - it contains a lot of clan mechs and other stuff that I don't really care about.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Any other "darn good" lore-friendly mods I should consider? I'm doing an Ironman Career run here, not a Campaign - and am only 3 weeks in, so there's no big loss of time if I restart for a good mod. I skipped the 5 salvage parts for a Mech though. That's too many when you're dealing with 75+ added Mech variants. :shock:

Doing pretty good, though. No losses, and keeping my repair times nicely stuck between planets. This means I often field a Mech with a little internal damage, which hasn't caused any issues. I may be playing it too safe and avoiding heavier contracts. I don't want to get into too many "1 skull" missions until I've got a couple Mediums to back my Lights. I saved the last one for just before jumping to a new area, and was glad I did. It took 14 of the 15 travel days to put my Mechs back together. :hawk:
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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NickAragua wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:38 am Yeah, you want Battletech Extended 3025 - I don't think JK_Variants is getting updated any more.

I wish they'd slim that Community Asset Bundle down a bit - it contains a lot of clan mechs and other stuff that I don't really care about.
I got these two installed last night and had a couple battles afterwards. Everything seems perfect.

I'm pretty sure JK_Variants ended up baked into BattleTech Extended 3025. When I opened up the ZIP file, 80% of the folders were JK_* ... the author really should pull down the old mod and redirect traffic to the new one.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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BattleTech Extended does something to AI, doesn't it?

Enemies seem to be fighting me more intelligently. Tanks aren't just rushing headlong at me constantly, and Firestarters are genuine threats to my health and well-being. I'm going to be treating them with more caution.

My little lance ran into a "1 Skull" mission that had a pair of Firestarters working together, superheating my Mechs and ensuring that I had a healthy 23 day repair time - a brutal loss so early in the game. They effectively locked down my mechs as I had to keep sprinting them away to cool off - suffering a lot of internal damage on my already-hot Jenner, and a fair amount on my Panther and Vindicator. It really didn't help that it was a Moon map (65% heat efficiency).

I also forgot what an SRM6 carrier can do - I'm just glad that the Mech in range had high evasion and full armor.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Yeah, I think it includes the "Better AI" mod, which modifies various AI settings that are tweakable via making changes to the game's json files. Big time props to that mod's author, I think he had to do all that stuff via trial and error.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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BATTLETECH Urban Warfare announcement



UPDATE
From Gaming Nexus:
BATTLETECH: Urban Warfare is the expansion I've been waiting for. It takes the turn-based strategy mech combat out of the countryside and drops it into the city. Urban Warfare introduces the most changing and fluid state the battlefield has seen. Buildings are blowing up. Mechs are falling off of them. Piles of rubble provide cover. Line-of-sight rules are updated. Electronic countermeasures will throw off your indirect-fire missile salvos. The ECM-centric Raven will say hello in Urban Warfare, and the Javelin will bring close-range knockout power.

"The truth is, we've wanted to build city combat environments and gameplay for years," said Mitch Gitelman, Co-Founder of Harebrained Schemes and Game Director for BATTLETECH.

Two new Flashpoints—consecutive, high-intensity short-story missions—make their way into Urban Warfare. And three new enemy vehicles (thanks, I hate it) will further complicate the ECM playing field.

And a new encounter, Attack and Defend, has a steady stream of enemy forces trying to overwhelm the base you're defending, even as you're trying to knockout the enemy base the bad guys are pouring out of. Defending stationary structures can go wildly in either direction, I've found. Sometimes the enemy is hapless in their attacks. Other times, they drop in hot and end your mission in 1.5 rounds. Attack and Defend sounds like a small nightmare.

Vanilla BATTLETECH launched with notable problems, but developer Harebrained Schemes got down to the nitty gritty during the post-launch period and sanded down the rough edges. Through it all, BATTLETECH became my favorite strategy game of 2018. I can say that with very little reservation. The Flashpoint DLC freshened up the battlefield with tropical environments, and heated up the galaxy map with the titular Flashpoint scenarios.

BATTLETECH: Urban Warfare launches June 4 on PC. It'll be $20 sold separately, but is otherwise included in the $50 season pass.

BATTLETECH: Urban Warfare Brings Tactical 'Mech Combat to Massive Cityscapes

New destructible city environments, electric warfare, BattleMechs, Flashpoints, and more coming June 4th, 2019

STOCKHOLM - April 23, 2019 - Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes today unveiled details for the next big thing to hit BATTLETECH this summer. Urban Warfare will bring 'Mech combat to the vast cityscapes of 3025. With electronic warfare, large-scale building destruction, environmental mechanics, new enemy units and more, the urban sprawl will be a whole new battlefield on June 4th, BATTLETECH: Urban Warfare is available for preorder now at the SRP of $19.99 and is also available in the BATTLETECH Season pass.

City combat is center stage in this expansion, introducing new street features including blocked lines of sight, collateral damage rules, and all sorts of new destruction. Weigh the hazards and benefits before going into urban battle, though—explosions, floods and more await. With new urban challenges, the return of lost technologies, new ‘Mechs, vehicles, encounters and flashpoints, Urban Warfare takes the BATTLETECH experience to new, gritty heights.

“Urban Warfare delivers one of the biggest 'Mech combat player fantasies there is: Fighting it out on the streets and rooftops of epic sci-fi cityscapes,” said Mitch Gitelman, Co-founder of Harebrained Schemes and Game Director of BATTLETECH. “The truth is, we've wanted to build city combat environments and gameplay for years, so we're thrilled to be finally bringing this experience to BATTLETECH.”

Key features:

Urban Warfare – Street brawls introduce new tactical gameplay challenges as ‘Mech combat moves from wide-open natural landscapes to vast urban sprawls. Every building in the new urban biome is fully destructible, so you’re never more than a few salvos away from a new line of sight, or the defensive cover of high-rise rubble. Abandoned explosive fuel trucks, destroyed coolant exchanger buildings, and broken electrical transformers that disrupt targeting will drastically change the battle as you go.

Electronic Warfare – The return of these lost technologies will forever change the 31st century battlefield. ‘Mechs equipped with Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) and nearby friendly units are obscured from enemy targeting systems, and immune to indirect fire. Meanwhile, ‘Mechs equipped with Active Probe can reveal, locate, and target enemy units that would otherwise be hidden.

Two New BattleMechs – The experimental Raven 1X sports an advanced electronic warfare package combining ECM and Active Probe systems into a lightweight component. The Javelin is a compromise between speed and firepower, with close-range knockout power.

New Flashpoints – A wide variety of new branching short stories that link together mercenary missions, crew conversations, special events, critical choices, and rare bonus rewards.

Three New Enemy Vehicles – The Tank sports a variety of weapons to fight at all ranges with speed and agility, the Packrat is a battlefield support vehicle equipped with a prototype version of ECM, and the Rotunda is a reconnaissance vehicle equipped with a prototype version of Active Probe.

New Encounter – Attack and Defend is a challenging new mission type where your mercenaries must destroy an enemy’s base to stop a steady stream of attackers before they can overcome your forces and knock out your employer’s base.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Well, I'm already in since I bought the season pass some time ago. Looking forward to seeing the ECM mechanics.

Probably will do a career run when this comes out. Still going to be using the BT Extended 3025 mod, though, I can't go back to the stock list of mechs any more.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I've been asked to move my AAR here.

Any way, restoration war continues. Just did the Smithson Evacuation mission. I was supposed to defend a space port from attack at THREE sides... 8 mechs, with only 4 mechs (and a couple vehicles, and turrets). And two out of three dropships must survive. Surprising even myself, all three did. Enemy mechs were sufficiently distracted by my attacks or by turrets. In fact, NONE of my mechs even lost a limb. Composition was a Griffin, a Highlander, a Shadowhawk, and a Hunchback.

Enemy lance walked straight up the middle. I send in my mediums to engage their lights. One of their Jenners basically kamikaze-charged and the mediums surrounded it and melee'ed it to death. Then we saw what's behind it... Griffin, Centurion, and a Battlemaster. Hmmm! Suddnely, we get announcement that enemy is dropping flankers... 2 Commandoes and they're going after the fuel tanks. I sent my Griffin after it, and it jumped away to chase after the Commandoes, while the Highlander divided its fire among the Battlemaster and Griffin. I sent another to chase after the 2 light flankers, hoping to finish them quickly. The remaining medium went after the enemy Griffin.

Then I got ANOTHER warning... ANOTHER two flankers have been dropped on the OPPOSITE side of the spaceport. WTF!? As I only needed to protect TWO dropships, I decided to ignore that as the third dropship hadn't landed yet. The Griffin managed to chase down ONE Commando, shreding its arms and then melee'ed to death. The other is plinking away at the Griffin, and not shooting at the fuel tank, good. I called back the other medium to concentrate on the Centurion. A full alpha strike barrage stripped away most of the front armor. And then my Shadowhawk landed a one-in-a-million called headshot. Centurion went down. The Battlemaster suddenly decided it wanted to plink turrets and turned 180 and went after a couple turrets it passed by (it was shot in the back a couple times) I used the chance to have Highlander unload alpha strike at a Jenner coming from the OPPOSITE flank. Took off one of its legs, but not before it got a shot off at the fuel tank. The remaining medium took a called shot and destroyed it.

Situation: my Griffin is chasing the remaining Commando. My Shadowhawk is jumping and engaging the enemy Griffin. My Hunckback is rushing left to engage the remaining Panther on the far side (that came with the Jenner) and my Highlander is engaging the Battlemaster. All four enemy mechs are too busy dodging my mechs and the remaining turrets. Two dropships have already been saved, and third just landed. The enemy Griffin and the Panther tried to take long range shots, but fortunately didn't do enough damage. My medium jumped behind the Panther and unloaded a full barrage. Didn't kill it, but took off one if its arms and had it retreating and out of firing arc. My Griffin chased down the Commando, which by this time is armless. I decided to temporarily ignore the Battlemaster and concentrate on the remaining enemy medium in melee combat (Highlander melee damage is 140) with my remaining medium. Griffin finally took out the Commando with a melee kick, while the Panther was dealt with by another alpha strike. The remaining battle was somewhat anti-climactic, as Highlander basically sat there and tanked while the other mediums jumped behind the battlemaster and punched through its rear armor with multiple alpha strikes.

Managed to salvage the Battlemaster, and now I finally get my second assault mech. I have pieces of other heavy mechs, but not enough to assemble one. For the longest time, my heavies are the lousy Dragon and Quickdraw, neither of which are any better than the 55 tons mechs (often worse) and due to loss of initiative (2 rather than 3 for mediums) make them hard to recommend.

So far I've yet to lose a limb on the Highlander, not that I have any replacements for the SLDF Lostech stuff on it. And it has EVERYTHING, ++ weapons, Double heatsinks... Pulse lasers... There are no replacements.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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If you have the Flashpoint expansion, some of the flashpoints provide lostech rewards, e.g. gauss rifles and ammo and double heat sinks. If you troll around in systems with "former star league presence" or "old battlefield" tags, you might find lostech in stores. It's also possible to find lostech on the black market, assuming you've got access.

Also, pulse lasers kind of suck, in my opinion. Too much heat, not enough damage, and by the time you get them, the accuracy bonus is pointless.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Not sure I want to buy Flashpoint yet, I'll want to finish the campaign without it first.

Just finished the "Capture Mech Factory" mission. Killed EVERYTHING without losing any limbs. Though came kinda close. I sent in my Battlemaster AND Highlander, plus two of the heavier mediums.

I was about to pick up the Cataphract as salvage when the game crashed. Now I have to redo the whole mission! :-P
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Just redid the whole mission. Cataphract did not appear. Instead, I got two different models of Thunderbolt plus other mechs. So ended up with 1 piece each of 3 different models of Thunderbolt, a 3S, a 3SS, and a 3SE. ARGH!!!!!

Actually lost one of the double-heatsinks on the Highlander, but I actually already have 2 of those in one of those random "choose your own adventure" choices. So the power was NOT diminished.

On the other hand, I STILL have no heavies other than the mediocre Quickdraw and Dragon, and only two assaults (Battlemaster and Highlander)

Reconfigured Battlemaster to rely less on the MLAS. Now it can fire practically every turn, and even added jumpjets.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Freyland »

Try configuring the dragon as a melee unit. It's a beast!
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Freyland wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 8:03 am Try configuring the dragon as a melee unit. It's a beast!
Yeah, what may not be obvious is that, unlike tabletop, the melee damage that a mech delivers isn't always directly proportional to its weight. A Dragon packs some "natural" brass knuckles, delivering a lot more melee damage than (for example) a Quickdraw. And that's before you stick some +arm mods on it.

The attraction of a Quickdraw is mainly limited to when you're running "stock loadout only" - the combination of high speed and jump jets give it a major maneuverability edge over most other heavies. And even if you're customizing, when you get one of those contracts with a timer, you'll want something quick with jump jets - a plodding ground-bound mech won't cut the mustard when half the map is mountains and forest.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Just did ANOTHER 4 skull mission... Chasing down an elite enemy lance. But with two assault mechs, they are easily handled. Took out TWO zeus and TWO thunderbolts. Should have asked for more salvage, as I only managed to assemble one whole Zeus out of it. And lost ANOTHER double heatsink. Seems Highlanders have weak shoulders. I wonder if I should remove the double heatsinks there and replace them with singles, but then, OTHER stuff there can be damaged. Maybe I should uparmor that area instead...

Was about to launch another mission when EXE crashed on me. That's like 2nd time in as many days.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Kasey Chang wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 10:08 am Was about to launch another mission when EXE crashed on me. That's like 2nd time in as many days.
It's been a while since I played but I remember getting these seemingly random crashes as well. I never seemed to lose much if any progress, but it was disconcerting.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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NickAragua wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 10:31 am Yeah, what may not be obvious is that, unlike tabletop, the melee damage that a mech delivers isn't always directly proportional to its weight. A Dragon packs some "natural" brass knuckles, delivering a lot more melee damage than (for example) a Quickdraw. And that's before you stick some +arm mods on it.
There are a couple interesting "anomalies" in the melee damage area

Panther is the best puncher among light mechs (50) but Firestarter is not far behind at 45. Weakling is the armless Locust at 15.

Among mediums, Shadowhawk is the best puncher (85) with Hunchback slightly less at 80. Predictably, it's the armless Cicada the worst at 25.

Heavies, as you said, Dragon is a surprising puncher at (90) though technically that places it in 2nd place, with Orion and Blacknight at 95 each. Weakest is indeed Quickdraw at 55. Even the armless Catapult can do more damage (60)

But if you analyze it that way, Shadowhawk only loses 5 damage in punching and gains +1 initiative.

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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Kasey Chang »

FINALLY was able to salvage a Zeus from one of missions.

Did the priority mission where you go into a sensor storm and try to take out the defenders in 4 turns or they'll blow the silo. Managed to save all three silos, as I went in with 3 assaults and 1 medium. Stayed out of sight until I was able to push forward with max firepower. The SRM or LRM carriers are annoying, but merely nuisance.

Did a couple missions and was able to salvage a Thunderbolt (Heavy) and now, an Orion (Heavy).

Lost ANOTHER Double Heatsink on the Highlander. Had to replace that with a regular heatsink.

Doing one more mission, then off to Panzyr, another priority mission.

EDIT: Just completed Panzyr, where I have to prevent any APCs from reaching the command center, and the barracks.

Turns out the APCs are just crunchy. It's not one-hit-kill, but it's close. But there were SIX of them, and they move pretty darn fast. And they came from like 3-4 different directions, AND there are various light and medium mechs. I killed the six APCs, then the turrets activated, and destroyed the one heading for barracks before I needed to do anything. Then it's a matter of wiping out the few light and medium mechs left on the field.
Last edited by Kasey Chang on Fri May 24, 2019 3:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Kasey Chang wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 6:29 amLost ANOTHER Double Heatsink on the Highlander. Had to replace that with a regular heatsink.
Can you buy these in the Lost Tech areas or Black Market, or are they specific to this Mech and that's it? I know there are mods out there that add them back in as a regular thing.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Post by Kasey Chang »

I don't have flashpoint, and I'm in the main campaign, so I guess there's no black market just yet. It's okay, it's just 3 heat per turn difference so far. Doesn't affect combat effectiveness yet.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Gah, lost ANOTHER double. It's the mission where I was supposedly trying to rescue Lord Madeira, only to get attacked by multiple lances. That was a tough fight, as for the first time ever, Highlander lost a limb. I mean, really. It never lost any limbs before in the fights prior. I had even been careful to swap out the front runner (I was running 3 assaults and 1 heavy) so everybody can tank a little, but there's only so much you can do. In the end I decided to swap out one of the remaining doubles to a single, as it never had a heat problem before. I guess I should be glad it's the MLAS arm instead of the gauss arm, as I don't have a replacement for that.

Did a couple easy snooze missions as I need to level up a couple other mechwarriors.

Then came the attack on Tyrlon, where I need to take out 3 generators within 15 turns so the dropships can land. First one took 7 turns, but it also drew most of the defenders. It was satisfying to knock down the enemy mech, and see their own artillery kill it. I left the Orion, which already have two exposed limbs (and not suitable for tanking turrets) to handle the remaining medium (destroyed all three spotters) while the remaining mechs engaged jumpjets to get in range. Zeus managed to jump up to 2nd generator's level and killed it in two turns, while just tanking the turrets. The Highlander and Battlemaster sprinted, then jumped, and together, was able to destroy the last generator with 1 turn to spare. Unfortunately, that remaining medium bogey was one stubborn SOB that refused to go down despite multiple melee hits from the Orion, and Orion had to chase it all over, taking several flank hits and lost an arm (and one of the MLAS+++ I have) and I ended up crippling the pilot (too many knockdowns and torso hits) instead of the mech.

Next is Coromodir, the big finale, and I was told it's going to be one of those back-to-back ops where I don't get to repair in between? The briefing says field multiple lances. But really...

Speaking of black market... it just showed up, except I can't afford it. I mostly taken anti-pirate missions before and my reputation with the pirates is in the toilet. They wanted 2.5M for access. I declined. I imagine I'd be overcharged through the nose, even if I get access to the black market, given how the market works.

EDIT: I did find a savegame editor so I can hypothetically give myself a couple extra Double heatsinks and change my reputation with pirates so I'm merely disliked, not nemesis. :)

EDIT2: Just finished the main campaign. Dang, that last series of missions are tough. Defeated multiple lances while the engineer tries to upload the virus onto the attacker. Fortunately, nobody was wounded, but all three of my assault mechs are sidelined for repairs. When I have to field a lance for the field against our nemesis, I have to throw in 1 orion and 2 thunderbolts, as I have no assaults to field.

And indeed, this is where jumpjets saved the day. Nemesis showed up with a kingcrab (2 AC20s, plus flamers) a Jagermech, an Awesome (with lasers, not PPCs) and I think a Cataphract. By concentrating fire, I took down the Cataphract and Jagermech, but the Awesome scored a cockpit hit and took Dice (my avatar) out along with his T-bolt. Even the Atlas II lost an arm. However, by this time, my other mechs have spread out around the arena (with its jumpjets) and basically rained shots on King Crab from 3 directions long-range. One of them finally got a rear hit on the Awesome and took it down. King Crab approached, and the Orion jumped up onto a ledge/roof to dodge and continued firing, while the other two shot at the King Crab's flanks and rear. First one arm went, then the other. Finally, with a couple more called shots, King Crab went down hard.

Now I'm just wandering the galaxy trying out a few missions here and there.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Learning the mercenary life. So I guess I am just supposed to go from system to system, trying not to piss off a single polity too much, take missions against all sides, not to make one side too mad? Given travel time between systems is 14-20 days, even with the upgraded drive, need to take several missions to be profitable, even more if I lose weapons or such on the mission.

-----

Having a little problem finding missions outside of the Arano Restoration. Tons of missions there, but all of them are making pirates or Taurians angry.

Left the area, and went into FedSun territory, but the contracts are slim pickings. The Capellans are not fond of me, pirates rep is dislike, and FedSun won't give me more lucrative missions, but it could be because I'm on a 3-skull planet. Need to gain more rep.

At least if you keep playing against both sides, you'll hypothetically get everybody to like you, as you gain SLIGHTLY more rep than you lose from the other party (i.e. you gain 9, lose 8) but only if you are high enough. If you're low on the rep, you're gaining 2 and losing 2, so even.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I found a 10% coupon on Fanatical, which is also taking 10% off Flashpoint, so I got it for 19% off.

Sometimes, I can't seem to follow my own advice, until second or third try.

I had a "base assault" mission. Take out the defenders, the turrets, and reinforcements. But despite fielding a whole lance of assault mechs, I keep losing one. Then I realized what I did wrong... I didn't use divide and conquer. I just engage enemies as they appear without trying to engaging them separately. No wonder I got slapped hard as I'm basically fighting two groups at once.

So I restart the mission. This time, I went forward just far enough to "tease" the defenders to come forward. The backed off out of range of the turrets. The four assault mechs quickly defeated the lance of heavies and mediums. Then the long-range shooters moved up and engaged the turrets in range, and the rest shoot up the buildings. When reinforcements arrived, again, the lance backed out of range of the surviving turrets, and the most intact mech headed forward to tank while the rest sniped. When the reinforcements are dealt with, the entire lance moved up to remove the final turrets.

I'm still in FedSun territory, but I'm moving to a 4-skull planet. Need to make up my relationship with Fedsun as I've taken a few missions against them. They're on the low-end of "indifferent".

EDIT: Also tried out career mode and skirmish mode. No, I didn't quite know what they are.

Career mode is basically a sandbox campaign, nothing about the Arano restoration. I.e. NO Priority missions. It's ALL contracts. You start at a random planet with four light mechs and one medium mech, and 1 million C-Bills, and you are free to do ANYTHING you want. The only catch is you only have 1200 days to do it. At the end, your score would be tallied.

Skirmish is basically instant battles. Pick a force level, and specific force composition, then go up against other MP players or AI. BARELY eeked out a victory against AI, as I forgot to adjust my tactics based on the mechs I have available. At the 15M C-bill level, I only get 2 mediums and 2 lights, but I was using them as if they are heavies or assaults as I basically formed a skirmish line. That is a VERY bad idea as lights are meant to outflank enemies and go for rear shots.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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It's kinda weird that you don't find missions that you'd expect. I've moved into Capellan territory, but the missions I get are from Taurians and Pirates, and even one from FedSun.

Took a pretty good one, but lost a lot more than I expected, as I didn't follow my own engagement rules... AGAIN. I was supposed to search and destroy. But instead of using the terrain to defeat enemies seperately, I again, just engaged them as they come. I won, but lost several ++ and even +++ weapons. Basically, I got enveloped. Was heading up this valley when sensors show contact on the left (way up the mountain), vehicles. I should have had everybody jump up and engage the vehicles, then shoot down to anyone else showing up. Instead, I ignore the vehicles, which turned out to be a Demolisher (2 x AC20), an LRM carrier, and 2 Strikers. What a mistake. A Quickdraw appeared ahead, then 3 more mechs, heavies, showed up on my right. I am surrounded on 3 sides. The Quickdraw was hit but quickly retreated. I was about to engage the mechs and I got hit from behind by the vehicles. I eventually destroyed them all, but not before losing BOTH limbs from the Battlemaster, a limb from the Highlander, AND a limb from the Atlas. That's the most damage those assault mechs ever suffered. This also happens to be where I took only reputation as payment, so it's a net loss. Fortunately, I have about 15 Mil C-bills so I can absorb the loss easily. One wounded pilot is resting.

I vow to do better with my tactical awareness next time.

I need to find more of those Cockpit + retrofits, and maybe Gyros. Heat exchangers and stuff too.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Kasey Chang wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 10:18 am It's kinda weird that you don't find missions that you'd expect. I've moved into Capellan territory, but the missions I get are from Taurians and Pirates, and even one from FedSun.

Took a pretty good one, but lost a lot more than I expected, as I didn't follow my own engagement rules... AGAIN. I was supposed to search and destroy. But instead of using the terrain to defeat enemies seperately, I again, just engaged them as they come. I won, but lost several ++ and even +++ weapons. Basically, I got enveloped. Was heading up this valley when sensors show contact on the left (way up the mountain), vehicles. I should have had everybody jump up and engage the vehicles, then shoot down to anyone else showing up. Instead, I ignore the vehicles, which turned out to be a Demolisher (2 x AC20), an LRM carrier, and 2 Strikers. What a mistake. A Quickdraw appeared ahead, then 3 more mechs, heavies, showed up on my right. I am surrounded on 3 sides. The Quickdraw was hit but quickly retreated. I was about to engage the mechs and I got hit from behind by the vehicles. I eventually destroyed them all, but not before losing BOTH limbs from the Battlemaster, a limb from the Highlander, AND a limb from the Atlas. That's the most damage those assault mechs ever suffered. This also happens to be where I took only reputation as payment, so it's a net loss. Fortunately, I have about 15 Mil C-bills so I can absorb the loss easily. One wounded pilot is resting.

I vow to do better with my tactical awareness next time.

I need to find more of those Cockpit + retrofits, and maybe Gyros. Heat exchangers and stuff too.
I noticed you mentioned terrain, and I'm sure others will back me on this, but I cannot stress enough the importance of strategic terrain use (also called hiding behind hills...). Make sure one or two of your mechwarriors has the sensor special, and that you have at least one dedicated missile boat with multiple LRM15's. Hide behind the hills, and always remember that high ground is essential. You receive a bonus to hit when you're on a higher elevation than your target. Stay just on the backside of the summit of any mountain and lob LRMs over the top until you are out of ammo. LRM range is redonkulous, so I usually drop as much armor as I can and load up on ammo, then hide them in the back with your scout up front as a spotter. Some of my heavy and assault mechs have over 1k rounds of ammo for 3, sometimes 4 LRM15s. Also, to maximize this strategy, it's best to have jump jets on every mech, even the assaults.

Make them come to you. Sometimes they'll even get stuck behind a hill because they don't have jump jets, and you can just pick them off from above.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Just had an base capture mission like that. Send in my assault lance, have to fight off defenders, turrets, and reinforcements.

In my previous approach I simply went straight in. When I lost BOTH arms on my Highlander (and thus the gauss rifle), I restarted the mission.

This time, I climbed the mountain ridge and forced the defenders to come to me. The "on a hill" t-hit bonus really ads up, as I was able to take out a Quickdraw in a single turn. Then took care of the rest of the lance (Thunderbolt, Cataphract, Catapult 2K). I rushed two mechs down and took out 2 of the 4 turrets before the reinforcements showed up. Retreated back to the ledge and stayed out of the firing angle of the remaining turrets, while I blasted the reinforcements. Finally, went down to the plain and shot the remaining turrets.

EDIT: Just had a "take out the rebel leader" mission. Took out two lances of heavies as his escorts, no problem. Then he showed up. He's in a King Crab!?!?!?! Every mech engaged jumpjets and jumped backwards, onto a ledge if available. And just lobbed shots long distance. The King Crab tried to rush, but it's a 100 tonner and doesn't move that fast. Took a couple turns but it's toast. Only got one part from it though.

Added Cataphract and Awesome to my collection. Got a piece of Victor and King Crab, and Stalker. Still looking for bits of a Banshee. I have a whole collection of medium and heavy mechs (and some lights) in storage.

EDIT: Heading toward galactic west, working my way across Capellan territory. Managed to get enough pieces to salvage a Victor, an Awesome-T (the laser variant), and even a Cyclops, after many different missions. Got 1 piece of Crab (the medium mech) and a few other bits. Awesome-T feels like an attempt by inner sphere to reproduce the Mad Cat (aka Timberwolf) but didn't quite work. 2 LRM15 banks and some lasers? Really? Same with Cyclops, or at least the config I got.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Had one of those "base defense missions from hell". With one lance, I have to protect the base from THREE lances of medium enemy mechs. Even with assault mechs on my side, only ONE building on the base survived, but that's good enough to get paid.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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Can't wait for the Urban Warfare expansion that's coming out next week.

Well, that's not true. I'm going to wait until whoever does the Battletech Extended 3025 to update that mod, then either do some career mode or try to fire up my old campaign save with all the assault mechs and plow through some flashpoints.
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Re: BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

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I did mention I bought Flashpoint. But I'm too far from the only Flashpoint I can see, which is well "west" of me.

I ended up firing 3 of my junior mechwarriors, leaving a stable of 12, all of whom have their specialties and mastery picked. Having to pay over a million "monthly" is not a fun way to run business. Given I just picked up my 3rd "cockpit+", injuries should be quite rare.
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