Tactical Combat Guide

Thank you Elouda, nice work there.

Sticky is not enough, we need to build a golden statue to the maker of this guide.

Elouda, you are L E G E N D !!!!

Gilad Pellaeon said:

Yep. The old Crimson Skies and even older Renegade Legion both used this type of damage-templates for different weapons and ammo-types.

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I KNOW!

Sigh, I long for the day when the combat AI works properly and the combat phase is actually fun and not a chore x.x Also tahts a rad collection of Battletech stuff =3

I had more boxes, but i was pretty young when i bought the first ones, and they got played and moved around a lot, so they've fallen apart.
Not that i would brag about that

Another Thank you Elouda, Im old enough to actually remember when games came with manuals or at least a tutorial LOL. I have to agree with the people here, You should be getting paid as a tech writer so all us Noobs can learn this game and still have some hair left when there done.
I for one am hoping for more help of this caliber.

Hi,

What use is the spin 360 degrees function in tac combat? Why would you want to end up facing the same direction?
For that matter what use is the roll 360 function? I can understand the roll in 90 degree increments for the purpose of presenting a different armour facing.

Thanks.

Thanks Elouda

don't take my word for this, but stances appear to be functional - i cycled through them with a group selected and each member of the group correctly began to change behaviour for each stance, so turning tail for retreat, moving in to attack for pursuit.

Looks like combat will be fun once the game is playable going off this guide. Good job writing it up too. I always get annoyed when I play something an you mouse over some icon and it does not explain what it is.

@ theleif

I see your Geek is strong! Hail!

What's troubling to me is that combat needs a guide.

The first time I played SOTS 1, it was pretty straightforward what needed to be done.

Otherwise - great work Elouda!

CrazyElf said:

What's troubling to me is that combat needs a guide.

The first time I played SOTS 1, it was pretty straightforward what needed to be done.

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Hey, that is a GOOD thing... it means that the tactical combat is more complicated and involved and, most importantly, more REALISTIC. Be happy about that my friend! The problem is simply that Kerebos did not document it properly or include the needed tooltips that people need to be able to find out what everything means.

anaris said:

don't take my word for this, but stances appear to be functional - i cycled through them with a group selected and each member of the group correctly began to change behaviour for each stance, so turning tail for retreat, moving in to attack for pursuit.

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I think they have been working in a slightly wonked way: In previous versions if I had ships selected AND an enemy ship targeted, they would respond according to the selected stance. But ONLY if an enemy was targeted. My concern currently with stances is that there doesn't seem to be a way to set it for individual ships. I can select 1 Supply ship, set it to Retreat and my entire fleet runs away...cowards.

Edit: Stances work to a degree but have issues -
1. Applies to ALL ships, not individually
2. MUST have enemy ship selected BEFORE selecting stance, but it does seem to carry over to the next target so...
3. The last Stance used becomes the new "Neutral" for the next round of combat. i.e. Round 1 ends with Pursuit selected. Round 2 begins, Pursuit is still listed as the current stance but actual ship behavior is now Neutral. So Stance behaviors are reset to Neutral at the beginning of each round, but the Stance bar does not. And all other stances get shifted down the list. For example, if Pursuit is now the new Neutral, then Neutral becomes Retreat, Retreat = Stand Off, and Stand Off = Pursuit.

One other thing I found, Battle Manager works perfectly when attacking enemy systems (still crashes when accessing in friendly systems). Fleet Formation Editor also works as described when combined with the Battle Manager. Although, I did put all my ships in the center (#2) box but they responded to keypress of 1 for selection. According to the manual, the box number ought to be the group selection number also. Oh well, makes more sense that my only group be #1.

I am totally confused by the limited combat experience I have had and presume its no where near working correctly.

For example how to you get a ship to point its main weapons towards the enemy? My ships usually end up by deciding to point their backsides at the enemy and as mentioned if I set a stance for one ship all my ships end up with the same stance.

I am guessing that (when working) if I tell one ship to use only its Missiles and to Stand off it will look after itself and if I tell another ship to use a torpedo and the stance to pursuit it should attempt to get within the range and use that weapon.

At the moment I am floundering with the combat.

Modestus said:

I am totally confused by the limited combat experience I have had and presume its no where near working correctly.

For example how to you get a ship to point its main weapons towards the enemy? My ships usually end up by deciding to point their backsides at the enemy and as mentioned if I set a stance for one ship all my ships end up with the same stance.

I am guessing that (when working) if I tell one ship to use only its Missiles and to Stand off it will look after itself and if I tell another ship to use a torpedo and the stance to pursuit it should attempt to get within the range and use that weapon.

At the moment I am floundering with the combat.

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Two options here:
1) Set stance to Pursuit or Stand Off. Units will then face their target and move to appropriate range. For the most part though, weapons are on turrets that will turn to target the enemy if it is within the turret's arc. Since most ships get the greatest concentration of fire along the forward facing, setting an aggressive stance like Pursuit works best for burning down enemy ships quickly (provided they stay still - stern chases are a pain).
2) Select all your ships and click-move the fleet in the direction of the enemy ship. This is less simple than it sounds in that the new positions will be set based on where you clicked relative to the CnC ship, not the center of the formation. In other words, if your CnC ship is off to the side of your formation, you need to click a spot off to the side of where you want the center of your formation to move to. Where you click is where you are telling the CnC ship to move to and the rest of the ships will form up around it based on their current positions relative to the CnC ship.

As a reminder, see my 3rd point above regarding Stances not resetting. It is common for me to have my first battle where the stances work as intended (where the name matches the behavior), but my second battle has me clicking through the stances to find out which one has become the new Pursuit. I often find myself targeting an enemy, clicking Stance until my ships begin to charge then wait and see if they close to range of all weapons or just close to missile range. Sometimes after destroying one ship and selecting a new target, I need to click through the stances again to force my fleet to close to gun range...but sometimes not, it's a bit inconsistent on when the ships need "reminding" and when they do it themselves.

Hi!
I have some questions id like to see if i could get answeared

1) I have noticed that when you start a game with the horde, 65% of the initial budget in the first round goes to upkeep? Is it suposed to that way, and how can one increase the income in a earli game with the horde?
2) How much do you use the overharvest slide bar? Currently i avoid overharvesting.
3) I have played the first game of SOTS, and i found it much easier to learn, also the economics system was much easier. This in my opinion made for a rather quick paced game compared to the complex economics of SOTS2. Is it just me or are moore of you concerned with how it will perform in multiplayer? Ive only played in single player mode so far.