El Commandante, can rest easy tonight. The last mission on Rockwellawan has been completed. No casualties and only minor damage to one mech.
This mission had a little back story behind it. It was an adversarial lance I have faced before. Though defeated they had regrouped and repaired some of their mechs. Its time to finish the job. (no many screens this time as getting sore typing fingers). So just the basics.
On looking at my finances and the cost of me moving to another system after this last contract here on Rockwellawan. I decide to opt for more money and less choices on salvage to cover the costs of the down time for travel. Raising the slider greatly improves my financial reward, and with this I still get one priority choice of the salvage at the end of the mission.
Well the battle went well. At a difficulty level of “1.5 skulls”, it was noticeably more difficult. Against 3 enemy mechs all around the 50 tonne category although they were in various states of repair.
It was a protracted fight but with good initial positioning my lance was in a definite position of power. One by one the enemy fell. I tried my best to bring the enemy mechs down and mostly intact to up the chances of better salvage.
And the salvage. This is a nice surprise. I was able to salvage a partial enemy Hunchback chassis. In storage I already have two of these and you need 3 to make a new mech. So the Hunchback’s carcass is chosen as my priority salvage and the rest will be distributed on a random basis.
And after some work here is the hunchback that was built by my engineers putting back together the chassis I had collected. Look at all those lasers !!! Best not run this thing in a hot environment !!!
So my campaign comes to an end here on Rockwellawan. It was a great decision from @komemiute to stay and complete the contracts. I have come out of this with a profit and an extra mech that can be kept or sold for extra profit. Excellent !
Yes, he is a variant of the Hunchback class. Called hunchback because it has a huge pod on his shoulder. The pod normally mounts an AC20 (AC stands for Autocannon) Its the largest cannon available in game. So whilst the mech is not that heavy by weight class standards, it can hold the biggest gun and pack a punch.
So back to the question of why all the lasers there. This variant is a retro fit of the hunchback to an “all energy” build. So removing that whopping great cannon from its housing leaves room for loads of medium lasers.
Potentially in its all laser form the revised hunchback can theoretically put out more damage.
Some MechWarrior gumpf. Back in the day of pen and paper, the AC20 cannon had enough punch on its own to possibly topple a mech. The shear size of round meant it was limited in range, but if you were on the receiving end, you definitely knew about it. Autocannons also by their very nature weigh loads more than lasers. In addition to this you need to also have on board an ammo bin to carry the rounds, same with missiles and machine guns. Unfortunately critical hits to the part of the mech that carries these “ammo bins” can actually cause a cook off creating massive internal damage. Uncommon but does happen.
But the trade off for having an autocannon over lasers is far less heat generation allowing the mech to operate more potently in hotter climates.
Conversely, an energy build saves on weight where you can add maybe more weapons , armour or internal structure. But to manage the heat you need to install heatsinks on your mech. Heatsinks can be destroyed hampering your mechs ability to vent dangerous heat build up. Hot climates or getting hit with flamethrowers are not great for laser builds.
Also, anyone seeing a hunchback with 6 lasers is going to try their best to target that big box on his shoulder and can become a magnet for receiving enemy fire.
The hunchback was designed as a medium mech that can have the ability to close range with a heavy or possibly assault class mech.
Ahh ok. I wasn’t sure if it was by limitation of the mech or by design choice of the engineers building/outfitting the mech. Somehow I was thinking that you could customize the weapons by placing them in ‘slots’.
You can customise. In the picture above you get to see the lasers in their slots. So in the right torso the hunchback can take 6 slots of energy weapons. A medium laser takes 1 slot so you can put 6 in there. You can change that to large lasers or PPC or whatever energy weapon you want, but it has to be energy as designated by the Laser sysmbol with 6/6 next to it.
So above all the slots, you have the following designations from left to right. Cannon, laser, missile, support
I gave Mission #2 a go last night (The one after the Coronation mission) and I think that I understand the turn order now. ‘Reserve’ moves you to the next phase of the (5 to 4, 4, to 3, etc). I think that the turn order within the phase is not random because one of the enemy mech kept going before me (maybe related to skills, etc).
I ended up playing the mission twice because I did not understand the need to push fast for the turret power/control structure at the expense of exposing my mechs.
I am also understanding that sitting still and pounding away at the enemy is not want you want to do. You want to move as much as you can to generate evasion pips while keeping your group together and in an area of the engagement zone that is beneficial to you. That seemed counter to me - I know that manoeuvre is very important in an engagement but usually movement give some penalty to hit but I think that in this game it might not?
Also, moving as many units in a group is quite important as it can allow you to overwhelm a target.
Yeah, you pretty much have it. Have you reached open gameplay yet. I am liking the game more. Its a good game to play for a mission or two if you are time limited.
One of the best thing about this game is that it’s turn based nature allows you to walk away from it at any time which is very handy if you are taking care of sick kids (mine both aren’t well at the mo)
Light mechs go first in the turn order and assault mechs (heaviest) go last. So if you defer your light mech to the last round it will go twice since it goes first in the next.
Sprint or Shoot. Moves aren’t great but sometimes they are needed. Always try to build evasion pips. Sometimes you want the enemy to shoot at you because it is far and you have a lot of evasion so they will more than likely miss. You can then move other mechs up to it and take it out.
You can turn your mech without having to move it off of its spot by choosing move and then clicking the same spot it is in. Facing healthy armor towards the enemy is the key.
Are there ways other than moving to generate Evasion? I am getting the feeling that sitting in one spot doesn’t give any advantages. Like, if I shoot a mech one turn and she moves up to shoot back on her turn, it is better for me to back away or move to the side even if I generate only 1 pip of evasion. Unless I am missing something
So is that about sprinting across an arc and drawing reaction fire because I don’t seem to see reaction fire in game (granted, 2 missions in) or is that about sprinting out and exposing a mech to retaliation on the enemy’s next turn hoping that they don’t target a different mech that turn?
Four pips of evasion dont do jack shid if there’s eight things unleashing holy hell upon the poor runner. Sure the first salvo does nothing but the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh will, and you will be out of position and in tatters. Nope.
On the other hand, few things are as cool as blasting something with three of your guys and have the fourth run in to kick the victim in the nuts for a killing blow.
Jumping will also create evasion, although that is movement. I am not sure what, if anything, else does. The important thing here is that there is no cover to hide behind in a big mech unless it is a fixed structure. You are going to get shot at. So try to make the numbers that happen when that happens bad for the mech shooting at you. Generate evasion by moving into a forest hex at a distance that is bad for them with your best armor facing them. Back off and draw them onto your fire if that is appropriate. Reserve down this turn and let them go first if the terms are favorable. Then move up for killing blows without over-extending. Easier to type than to make happen for sure. Your lance needs to work together as well. Try to have two mechs that can work together - one takes the punch and the other punches back and then switch. Have a third mech specked for long range that can take the evasion pips off of the enemy mech before your tag team starts in on him. A light mech can sensor tag and that can be useful, but I will let @Bogusheadbox maybe talk about that more. I have been struggling to make light mechs work for me. I have been having better luck with three mediums and a long range.
There isn’t. It is not like Xcom where the bad guys will shoot at you as you move. It is helpful to think of the tactical mechanics as a board game with visuals than a computer game. Its easy to think that if you sprint this turn, at the end of the turn you are standing still like in Xcom. But here, if you sprint this turn, and sprint next turn, you are sprinting the whole time. Evasion pips are a way to show the effects of shooting at a moving target in a turn based game. In Xcom its easy for the computer to show the alien shooting at you while your character moves, but with two players facing each other at a table, it is really cumbersome to have one player roll for shots every time the other player moves one of his mechs. Would take forever. So the modifier is built into the next attack on that mech. It takes practice but using the mechanics to keep the terms of the engagement favorable is the puzzle you are constantly working out.
@tankerwade hit it on the head. As for sensor lock, the benefit of using a light mech is its speed. So it can quickly dart towards cover breaking line of sight whilst locking the enemy. However, i like to keep my lance together and have heavy hitting power. So i put the sensor lock perk on a larger mech with no long range weapons.
I prefer missiles to hit with sensor lock. Whilst ppc’s, long range cannons or large lasers can hit sensor locked targets outside of normal range, they need a clear line of sight to do so. Missiles have the benefit of being able to arc over obstacles to hit your target. So i carry a missile boat with plenty of ammo for this purpose, sometimes two missile boats.
If you don’t like to keep moving in a battle generating evasive points, then invest in the bullwark perk. This gives a damage reduction to front and side when stationary. I find it quite useful.
I have requested my contracts broker and navigator to choose a system that usually offers contracts of higher value. I ideally want a 2 to 2.5 “skull” world to keep raising the pool of funds.
They have suggested Herotitus 2 jumps away. Its a travel hub and famed for its pleasure industry and also has a black market. I thought that would please El commandante.
Travel costs is 60,000 and will take 19 days to reach orbit. Travelling time between systems is a funny affair. Jump ships offer near instantaneous travel from one system to the next. So the amount of jumps does not take any time at all. Time consumption takes into account of travelling to the jump ship and then from the jump ship to target planet under conventional propulsion.
Jump ships providing such convenient travel have a down side. Almost all of their mass is dedicated to jump engines and as such do no propel them selves around a system. Instead they stay in one spot in the system outside of most gravity wells. It is the you that has to make the travel to the planet.
once again in transit, the engineers have completed the previous upgrade to the Argo. For the next upgrade I have chosen to upgrade the lounge. As we are expecting to up the level of difficulty of battles and new recruits will be replacing deceased veterans, the moral boost may prove handy. The monthly upkeep for this is low.
In the mean time my monthly bill arrives (always love seeing this…not). Expenses are slowly building and have now crested 400,000 credits per month plus travel costs. Ca-ching, the wallet becomes a whole lot lighter.
Unfortunately linking up with the MRB (mercenary review board) the contract available are all 1.5 “skull” difficult. A little under what we are after, was hoping for a 2 or 2.5 “skull” one to be honest.
