Battletech

[MrBrown]

Posted a rant on reddit about my main complaint about the game: https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/8hnrjo/why_does_the_player_character_even_exist/

 

Basically, how the player character is a non-character.

[Lexx]

I kinda agree, but then again, JA2 didn't really needed it either. It's your avatar in the world, really not much more.

 

I'd rather criticize that dialog options or anything you do in general has no influence whatsoever. There are no choices, there are no consequences (not counting the events that give you either a little money or a little bit moral). It's pretty much a textbook linear campaign similar to how the first Shadowrun game was extremely linear.

[Chilloutman]

do not care much about story linearity, but lack of variety in missions... thats much more painfull

[ShadySands]

I prefer how they did the PC in this game to something like MechCommander.

[MountainTiger]

The player character exists to give you someone with plot armor to absorb headshots

[ShadySands]

Finally beat the last story mission. Lost a mech in the fighting as my usual setup of a quick sniping spotter and some plodding missile boats didn't work as well in the enclosed area.

[MrBrown]

I used Kamea as the spotter and to tank the damage, all my 3 others were missile boats :D

 

To be frank, I played every mission with LRM-boats + a spotter/tank/melee. Seems like the best team, imo.

Edited May 7, 2018 by MrBrown

[ShadySands]

First time I let Kamea tank she caught a bad case of the 'splosies so I let my spotter dangle as bait on the second try. Pilot lived so I'm happy enough not to try it again.

 

PS, I also use a more nimble team for missions that require more mobility but since I set my game to have more missions in each system I can often avoid missions that aren't just kill the other team.

Edited May 7, 2018 by ShadySands

[Leferd]

Question: aside from tonnage, heat, multi-targeting, and space considerations, is there a difference between equipping two LRM 5’s vs one LRM 10 (Or two LRM 10’s vs one LRM 20 etc.,)? Is there some hidden calculation in the background making one set up more advantageous than the other?

[Oner]

It is a factor in regards to Breaching Shot and to a lesser degree you dmay not want to waste 20 missiles on a 7 hp target. Oh and you can only get headshots if the first missile hits the head, I think? So if you shoot 4 LRM 5s you have a slightly higher chance to get a pilot injury. Wouldn't call that worth it either, but I could be wrong.

[ShadySands]

I don't think so but I really haven't looked into it beyond the heat/size/weight considerations

 

They all look like this in the files

 

 

{
    "Category" : "Missile",
    "Type" : "LRM",
    "WeaponSubType" : "LRM20",
    "MinRange" : 180,
    "MaxRange" : 630,
    "RangeSplit" : [
        420,
        420,
        630
    ],
    "AmmoCategory" : "LRM",
    "StartingAmmoCapacity" : 0,
    "HeatGenerated" : 18,
    "Damage" : 4,
    "OverheatedDamageMultiplier" : 0,
    "EvasiveDamageMultiplier" : 0,
    "EvasivePipsIgnored" : 0,
    "DamageVariance" : 0,
    "HeatDamage" : 0,
    "AccuracyModifier" : 0,
    "CriticalChanceMultiplier" : 1,
    "AOECapable" : false,
    "IndirectFireCapable" : true,
    "RefireModifier" : 0,
    "ShotsWhenFired" : 20,
    "ProjectilesPerShot" : 1,
    "AttackRecoil" : 1,
    "Instability" : 2,
    "WeaponEffectID" : "WeaponEffect-Weapon_LRM20",
    "Description" : {
        "Cost" : 290000,
        "Rarity" : 0,
        "Purchasable" : true,
        "Manufacturer" : "Jackson",
        "Model" : "Long-Range Missile Launcher",
        "UIName" : "LRM20",
        "Id" : "Weapon_LRM_LRM20_0-STOCK",
        "Name" : "LRM20",
        "Details" : "Often found as the secondary weapon on heavier units, LRM20 racks of Long-Range Missiles can deal decent damage while a unit closes range, but they chew through ammunition. Like all LRMs, LRM20s are capable of indirect fire over obstacles and terrain with the benefit of a spotter unit.",
        "Icon" : "uixSvgIcon_weapon_Missile"
    },
    "BonusValueA" : "",
    "BonusValueB" : "",
    "ComponentType" : "Weapon",
    "ComponentSubType" : "Weapon",
    "PrefabIdentifier" : "lrm20",
    "BattleValue" : 0,
    "InventorySize" : 4,
    "Tonnage" : 10,
    "AllowedLocations" : "All",
    "DisallowedLocations" : "All",
    "CriticalComponent" : false,
    "statusEffects" : [
        
    ],
    "ComponentTags" : {
        "items" : [
            "component_type_stock",
            "range_extreme"
        ],
        "tagSetSourceFile" : ""
    }
}

 

 

The heat, inventory size, tonnage, descriptions, weapon effects, and shots when fired all change between types but everything else remains the same. Weapon effect could possibly do something but the weaponeffects file isn't in plain text and the weaponeffects.manifest isn't very helpful but I could just be slow on the uptake at the moment.

[melkathi]

I have only played the first couple of missions. But I already miss my Mech Commander 2 swarm of Swarm LRM Ants. Fire Ants with the flame throwers replaced with Swarm LRMs. Tiny, fast, and as they'd deploy in numbers, would often take out the opposition's legs in the opening salvo.

[melkathi]

Does Tonnage affect the cost of my drop?

It says the harder the mission the more tonnage I should bring, but is there an incentive to bring less? Do I want to drop in with just a couple of mechs so I earn more money? Or should I always drop in with all my acitves, so I can take out enemies faster and thus limit return fire?

[Oner]

Just go for the maximum you can field, less damage taken, faster destruction.

[melkathi]

A wasted opportunity for some risk/reward choices

[majestic]

I don't think there's any advantage in not bringing your full might to bear. Other than achievements...

[Lexx]

Yeah. The longer I play, the more I wish they had added a tonnage limit (per mission?). This way you would have to chose e.g. if you want to bring 1 heavy + 2 mediums + 1 light, or 3 mediums + 1 light, etc..  This way it would have been easier to make light mechs still viable in late game. I can't see how that would otherwise be possible.

[ShadySands]

Is the same problem I always have with HBS games, I love them but they're all kinda shallow and it shows more the longer you play.

 

Maybe it's just me.

 

PS new game is on hold for Yoga Fire

 

I was going to correct that but it's too good

Edited May 9, 2018 by ShadySands

[Oner]

...Did you just turn Deadfire into Yoga Fire?

[213374U]

Yeah. The longer I play, the more I wish they had added a tonnage limit (per mission?). This way you would have to chose e.g. if you want to bring 1 heavy + 2 mediums + 1 light, or 3 mediums + 1 light, etc..  This way it would have been easier to make light mechs still viable in late game. I can't see how that would otherwise be possible.

 

Before uninstalling I was running a mod that buffed evasion. Light mechs are still a bad idea for a stand-up fight, but I used a Firestarter armed with 6x small lasers in anti-vehicle duty with good results. With maximum evasion gained from constantly jumping around you're basically untouchable at medium/long range, and you can intercept and deal with the likes of Manticores before they can shoot back by exploiting initiative. That Dragon can still **** you up but good if you let him into melee range though, but I feel that's exactly how light mechs should perform.

 

Buffing evasion is also a good idea because it helps alleviate the problem with LRMs being too good, and it also makes energy weapons more appealing because they don't need ammunition. Bulwark is no longer the be-all and end-all, and makes the choice between firing at someone or Sensor Locking them more meaningful.

 

If such an obvious change didn't make it into the release build, either they didn't really test much themselves nor listened to those who did, or they wanted tonnage to be the only important factor—which is simply dumb. In the unmodded game mobility is not a viable defense, so there's no harassment tactics possible outside of LRM spam, which would be a natural counter to the superior numbers the game constantly throws at you. Light mechs probably could use a speed increase as well... but then we run into the problem of maps being generally too small, which leads us to the game choking and struggling badly enough as it is... etc.

[MountainTiger]

My general impression is that they balanced almost entirely around skirmish mode, which is a problem for a game where the vast majority of people are playing only the campaign (at least as far as I can tell from the GOG achievement rates). So mechanics like evasion are tuned assuming a maximum of 4 mech opponents of mixed weights, and the gamebreaking potential of called shot mastery is considered irrelevant because no skirmish pilot has it (and called shots are much harder to set up).

[Lexx]

Well, pretty much all side missions in the campaign are based on the skirmish mode. Considering this (the campaign is only like 8 missions or something), it makes a lot sense to balance around the actual skirmish mode. Still doesn't mean light mechs should become crap at a certain tonnage limit.

 

213374U suggestion with the evasion could work, by the way. I'm curious if HBS will do something like this.

[Leferd]

I couldn’t resist starting up Yoga Fire last night, as a brief break from Battletech, but I also have Zelda Breath of the Wild as a side piece.

[MountainTiger]

I find the side missions very different from skirmish mode-you're almost always facing more enemies (particularly important for evasion stripping, since it means more sensor locks and more random LRM 5s stripping a pip), after the very early stages you're almost always facing more tonnage than even the highest C-Bill skirmish cap, the pilots are usually better (as with weight, the very early missions involve crappy pilots on both sides, but they surpass the skirmish pilots fairly early), you don't have a cap on what you can bring, you have access to more powerful equipment than the basic modules, and called shots are on a much more frequent schedule.

 

Altogether, you and the enemies end up with much higher accuracy, on more powerful mechs, which means avoiding incoming damage usually isn't an option so you just have to carry the armor to take it and the firepower to reduce it by taking enemies off the field.

[melkathi]

Disappointed so far. Didn't expect too much from harebrained, but still realising I had hoped for more.

Overlooking some performance issues, there is how tonnage only really functions as inventory space. Then that ejection is only a story thing. In the mech commander games if a pilot lost their cool, they'd eject. Here they are just a secondary health bar.