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raok

Second Lieutenant
Apr 29, 2018
102
0
[Mod edit: No unaaproved links: Nexusmods]

Addiotional modules and credits:
JK Variants - Justin Kase
Real Hit Chance - casualmdods
Mech Maintenance By Cost - Morphyum
BTMLColorLOSMod - Janxious
Unlock full map after obtaining the Argo - SamokhodnayaUstanovka
Battletech ModTek & Mod Loader - mpstark


Changelog - No Guts No Galaxy 0.4.0.0:

- Big dll has been split to multiple smaller dll files
- settings.json files to give more configuration options
- AI Crit Change increased from 0.2 to 0.5
- Piloting skills give 2% Stability Defense, works for player and AI
- BTMLColorLOSMod, indirect fire color changed to be more yellow. Improved contrast in desert maps.

- More XP pilot has, less XP earned in the future
Each 10k XP pilot has adds 0.9 multiplier to actually gained XP.
Example:
1000xp after 10k xp -> 1000 * 0.9 = 900xp
1000xp after 20k xp -> 1000 * 0.9 * 0.9 = 810xp
etc.


Changes before 0.4.0.0:

Abilities:
- Juggernaut is now 5 point skill
- Bulwark is now 8 point skill
- Gunnery skill accuracy decreased from 2.5% to 2%
- Piloting skill melee hit decreased from 2.5% to 2%

Chassis:
- Stability has increased to 100 + Mech tonnage. Atlas 100+100=200 stab HP. Locust 100+20=120 stab HP

Weapons:
- Large Laser heat set to 24
- Large ER Laser heat set to 36
- Large Pulse Later heat set to 30
- Medium ER Laser heat set to 15
- Medium Pulse Laser heat set to 12
- Medium Laser Heat set to 9
- PPC ER heat set to 45
- PPC heat set to 30
- AC2 heat from 5 to 3
- AC5 heat from 10 to 3
- AC10 heat from 15 to 9
- AC20 heat from 25 to 21
- LRM/SRM stab damage -1
- SRM2 heat -1
- SRM4 heat +1
- AC2 ammo increased from 25 to 45
- AC5 ammo increased from 15 to 20
- AC10 ammo increased from 8 to 10


Financial:
- Jump Ship cost doubled
- Mech and Mech Warrior costs decreased -25%
- Contracts per system from 3 to 5
- Contract renewal per week from 0.5 to 0.2
- 3-5 skull contracts with low drop tonnage pay additional "High Risk Reward"
- 50% more specials in shops
- Shops sell new variants
- Argo Base Maintenance Cost from 80k to 240k
- Rebalanced ship upgrade prices to counter other financial changes

Salvage:
- Destroyed mechs recovery change set to 50%

Mech and Med:
- Starting Med Tech skill from 6 to 3
- Mech Bay 2 cheaper operation and purchase cost
- Mech Bay 3 cheaper operation cost
- Repairing mech tech requirements x4
- Med Tech Skill upgrades set to 1, except automation 1 has still 2
- Tech Skill per Mech Bay set to 1
- Mech Tech Skill upgrades set to 1
- Component installations 20% faster
- Mech operation costs are based on mech tonnage. More tons, more you pay. Set to 12 per ton.
- Mech repair cost and time is based on mech tonnage. Set to 0.028 per ton.

Combat:
- Base hit change from 75 to 65
- Called shot bonus from 2x to 1.5x
- Called Shot Bonus from 2.4x to 1.8x
- Called Shot Master from 3.75 to 2.2x
- AI can be inspired
- Slightly decreased accuracy when first moving and then shooting
- Precision shot cost increased from 20 to 30 points of morale
- Low Moral Precision shot cost increased from 30 to 40
- High moral Precision shot cost increased from 10 to 20
- Added 30% melee(?) penalty when leg non functional
- Melee hit change from 90% to 80%
- Tactics base % from 65% to 60%


...
I don't promise that I got them all.
 
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I posted a rant thread at some point. Someone told that there are json files to edit for most of the stuff.

I also found some variants which were working for skirmish. I patched a bit and all variants are working now also in campaign mode.

Variants are from: JK Variants Mod - 1.0
All credits from those 50+ .json files for him.
I edited to support stability damage modification.

The mod is probably slightly more difficult than the original version. I would like players to use multiple lances of mechs. If you have ideas how to improve this, let me know. It is hard to balance the game through economy that it would force more versatile gameplay, more versatile mech company management.

If you had issues with earlier version, it can be that this one is slightly more difficult.
You can always take a backup from simGameConstants and unpack the zip, then replace it with your copy. This way you can keep the original economy.

There are more variants, like 50+. Remember that if you want to play the original game + variants, it will be more difficult as you have so many new mech parts to collect.

I have personally played this to Smithon and I know it is playable. My friend has been testing and is well developing his mech company with this. So definitely playable.

Weapon balances are partially from TT. Issue here is that the game runs on smaller map, so 1-to-1 would not work. Some balance decisions were still made based on TT.

Send please your feedback if you test it. In good or bad.

Take care from your mechs and pilots Commander...

(I hope I got all the right files and listed the changes. Let me know if not)
(If you only want the variants, check JK variants version 1.02 or newer)
 
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How does the new stability HP feel? Are you able to as a ranged unit penalize overly aggressive play styles that don't make use terrain features or cover?

I think it was badly broken before. AI Assault mechs were constantly down. It made it easy to knockdown and take called shots ~continuously, very very easy.
Now mechs go down but at least you have to invest a bit more before that happens. With those values you have to focus fire more.

You get bigger mechs and more firepower but stability HP is the same for lights and assaults? Or as your stab damage is increasing you also face bigger mechs that have more stab HP. To me this feels much more balanced now.

Economy is far from perfect but I would say it is an improvement, very hard to get it "perfect". Long range mechs got an indirect buff through economy changes. When you go close range you often take more damage. As repairing takes longer you really don't want to wreck your mechs. If you use long range mechs you have far better control how much damage your mechs take.
 
@raok : Just as a heads up - the files for the Variants mod itself have been updated to version 1.02 - so you may want to look at the newer files.

The new Variants Mod also includes the MDD database updates to make all 53 (and 2 optionals) work in the campaign mode. I am currently testing out 14 vehicle variants (and 2 optionals) as part of the next release.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...jk_variants-now-works-with-campaigns.1091277/

https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/18?tab=posts
 
These look like smart changes on the whole, especially the Juggernaut/Bulwark flip, the 'Mech stability buffs, and the nerfs to Called Shots Bonus/Mastery and morale abilities. I'm still planning to wait for the official difficulty options before starting a second campaign, but this is the first all-in-one mod that has me considering jumping in again.
 
Good changes, you're one of the few people I've seen correctly identify that even the buffed ACs are still relatively weak compared to ML/SRM/LRM so good job there.

I'm still not convinced that bulwark is balanced without further buffs to evasion alongside the general nerfs to hit chance (in particular for the player - even with 5+ chevrons you'll get that whittled away when outnumbered) but I'm willing to give it a go.

How does AI inspiration work?
 
This looks like a good mod. My only concern is that it looks like the beginning of the game could be something of a flurry of misses. That may be a core reason why the balance appears as it is in the base game: not wanting to scare away people with 'you can't hit' syndrome.
 
Nice. Will use it in the future.

Thanks btw. from all work you have done.

Likewise, thank you :)

Going to test out your mod with future releases of mine, once I figure out how to properly add in the vehicles - I don't want too many variables messing me up :p
 
With all those variants to me it seems thst salavging an entire mech might be very very tough. As the pool of salavaged parts has increased by a large amount.
 
With all those variants to me it seems thst salavging an entire mech might be very very tough. As the pool of salavaged parts has increased by a large amount.

The JK_Variants mod does increase the difficulty in that respect (essentially adding 50+ new Chassis) - but many of them should be rarer chassis compared to the standards.

I started a new campaign and am 5 missions in getting my first new 'Mech.

I want to work on some 'fixes' for this - it is on the 'to do' list. Feel free to chime in on the thread : https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...jk_variants-now-works-with-campaigns.1091277/
 
Bookmarked, going to try this after I finish my current game.

Consider integrating with a Sandbox style Mod. Also consider upping LOS and Sensor Ranges, though those are just ideas.

Really, really like increased stability on larger machines.

Impressive.
 
...but this is the first all-in-one mod that has me considering jumping in again.

One option is to wait a bit. When JK gets his vehicles tested and good to go I will add those.

Economy is very hard to balance to support multiple lances, so high change that there will be changes. I tho would like to get feedback from people how it works right now. Probably needs a bit more Guts than the official version.

End game is probably not difficult enough yet.


Good changes, you're one of the few people I've seen correctly identify that even the buffed ACs are still relatively weak compared to ML/SRM/LRM so good job there.

I'm still not convinced that bulwark is balanced without further buffs to evasion alongside the general nerfs to hit chance (in particular for the player - even with 5+ chevrons you'll get that whittled away when outnumbered) but I'm willing to give it a go.

How does AI inspiration work?

Economy is easier if you don't take that much damage. This is indirect buff for long range weapons.
AC is hard to balance. Easily becomes too light, too much damage, etc. Small heat buff did not break anything. (have to add to the list at some point, ammo counts were changed)
Bulwark as 8 point skill is very good but at the same time you cannot have Bulwark + 8 point skill. It is a small nerf directly. Juggernaut is also more useful as 5 point skill. Bulwark and Juggernaut are something that many did not use in standard version.
Evasion started to work suddenly after I decreased accuracy. That 10% may not seem much but it is.
AI gets inspired when they destroy your or allied vehicles/turrets.

My only concern is that it looks like the beginning of the game could be something of a flurry of misses. That may be a core reason why the balance appears as it is in the base game: not wanting to scare away people with 'you can't hit' syndrome.

I tested 50, 55, 60, 65 accuracy. 65 is definitely better than 75, but going under 65 is real immersion breaker. Everything misses so much that it is not fun and feels funny. AI is missing more as well. I started editing this so that 75 is mad accuracy that I go directly to 55. 20% is not much I thought. Now I can say safely that 10% and you can really see the difference.

That gunnery skill nerf of 0.5% is there mainly to nerf the end game.

If you stay on optimal range you still hit rather well. Evasion counters are difficult and sensor lock starts to feel like a good ability. Optimal range actually means something now.


With all those variants to me it seems thst salavging an entire mech might be very very tough. As the pool of salavaged parts has increased by a large amount.

If is more difficult. Many players increased part count from 3 to 5 to make it more difficult. Here left to 3 as variant count is doing the same job. Accuracy and stability nerf also makes it harder.
 
Some initial thoughts after playing with this mod through the mission on weldry.

1) Stability changes are good, but i still feel its to easy to knock down lights and mediums without taking out a leg. i have noticed that the AI actually has time/will brace if high stability meter much more often now, but stability seems to be an issue still.

2) still feels to easy to get mechs, i ran 8-10 random missions, plus argo, panzyr, and weldry(modded to skip tutorial/mines). ended up with 1 spider, 2 commandos, panther, treb, and a griffon 2n, in addition to the mechs provided by the story. salvage from mechs needs to be capped at 2 for head, 2 for leg and 1 for CT imo. As a side note, the 2N is OP, it comes with 4 DHS, so it breaks the game balance pretty badly. Small sample size, could just be lucky rolls, but getting 3 salvage in a single mission is problematic imo.

3) Economy still feels relaxed, with 3 salvage per mech seems like you can get to many mechs by doing random missions/buying from stores, and mission payouts seem higher without reputation with the houses(not counting restoration). Its a tough thing to deal with so understandable.

4) weapons are still skewed towards SRM/LRM, and with the increased + weapons in stores, damage spikes pretty hard because its easy to find them. Stability is still to high for LRM/SRM, and they need more spread on both called and regular shots if possible. Overall, i like the weapon changes so far, excluding the LRM/SRM issues.

5) Mechs: Overall nice to see new variants, but they are not super effective imo. While true to lore, they still lack effective damage when played by the AI. The heat changes do help the AI do more damage, but some custom variants would be ideal. Also, not a fan of the armor penalties with the shoddy/ramshackle status, makes various missions to easy in general.

6) Combat: Still to many headshots, with the potential to eliminate an opponent.