For those of you who've wondered what happened to your unit during the two years between your joining them (in the intro/teaching scenario) and the official first scenario (when you get stabbed in the back by your employers), there's a way to actually play that out… sort of. Here's the way I set it up; start with the Campaign Settings:
It takes eight parts to construct a mech, and they're born unequipped. Why? To keep the unit from getting too rich too fast, and because you having to supply the equipment just makes sense. (Mech parts and components are chosen separately when picking post-scenario reward loot.)
I don't use Ironman because weird shit that I claim isn't my fault keeps happening — mechs move to the wrong location, pilots get skipped during the firing sequence, etc. I only use 'save and reload' to correct these obvious injustices, not to rescue favorite pilots or mechs. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.
Mech destruction enabled, and Lethality disabled. In BattleTech (especially in 3025 and most especially in the Periphery) mechs get destroyed. It's a part of the milieu, so I embrace it. And it helps keep the unit poor. On the other hand I'm very much confused that auto-eject systems aren't in the game, as they've been around since at lest first edition (I never played ComBots). Pilot death is far more frequent in this game than it is in either the published fiction or the board game, so I do whatever I can to cut down on it (like acquiring damage-resistant cockpit mods, which slightly increase the chance of surviving mech death).
Enemy force strength normal. If you're able to play and win with an enhanced enemy, more power too you. I bow to the superior pilot.
Contract payment stingy, but salvage generous and no rare salvage disabled. The first of these reinforces keeping the unit poor, while obviously the second tends to enrich them. I think this combination reflects the milieu well. From reading the contract negotiations we know that the Planetary Governments usually don't have mech forces of their own, and I'm inferring that they also don't have mech maintenance facilities. To them, salvage is largely similar to junk, whilst C-Bills may be quite valuable. For this same reason, when negotiating contracts I always bias as far toward salvage and away from salary as I can without going bankrupt. The third one is pretty blatantly a cheat, so I'll understand if you ignore it. In tcwtC I'm almost completely shut out of the Black Market, so if I couldn't salvage rares I'd end up with vanishingly few, and that runs counter to the history I've established for my unit… so I cheat. Note that enabling it would be MUCH more milieu-authentic.
Pilot progression very slow and advanced mech warriors rare. These act to keep the unit pilot-poor the way some of the other settings act to keep it mech-poor or just poor. Another thing I do is keep the number of pilots at the maximum of nine. This keeps them from advancing too rapidly. I run my personal pilot in every mission until she maxes out, then only in the Priority Missions. I only hire new pilots when they're better than at least one of the existing pilots. I also try to keep the pilot pool 'balanced', by which I mean I'm shooting for three each experts (level 8) in Gunnery, Piloting and Tactics (I have zero use for the Coolant Vent ability), with three specialists (level 5) in Tactics (the only use I have for Sensor Lock is as a stepping stone to get to Master Tactician), and five each in Gunnery, Piloting and Guts. Once some of these specialties/expertises begin accumulating I change the criterion for hiring new pilots to only when they're better than at least one other pilot with the same combination of specialties. I'm nearing the end of my current campaign tcwtC and I've hired on eight new pilots so far, five of whom replaced existing pilots.
Design your personal pilot to please yourself. I always use the same woman — a carryover from the board game who I invented in 1992. She won me an eight team round-robin tournament (finished 6-0-1, and in the rematch twice beat the team she tied in the tournament), and I've been loyal to her ever since.
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Once the Campaign officially starts, accept every contract you can in the four system 'playpen' before taking on the first Priority Mission to salvage the Argus. After rescuing the Argus and being released from the playpen, go out into the big, bad periphery and start tcwtC.
I run through these in increasing order of system threat level. All of the 3 Threat Level One systems (half a skull) are in the playpen. Go through the 16 Level Twos (one skull), 17 Level Threes (you've figured it out by now), 8 Level Fours and the lone Five before taking on the second Priority Mission. And THAT'S tcwtC. Forty-Five systems in the Reaches in which you can set up your unit for success in the Campaign.
Among other things, I use this time to set the tone for my unit. We're Good Guys — the white hats that ride into town, solve your problems, then ride off into the sunset. As such I have some guidelines for contract selection.:
1) Always accept contracts from the Planetary Government.
2) Never accept contracts against the Planetary Government
3) Always accept contracts against the Pirates.
4) Never accept contracts from the Pirates.
(Beyond these I have personal biases in favor of the Magistracy and House Davion, and against the Concordat and Liao, dating back to my personal pilot's creation, but your mileage may vary.)
Obviously these rules to live by mean that we're pretty well shut out from the Black Market, and as our reputation matures many contracts become unavailable. This works for me, but you may want to simply continue accepting every contract offered.
As far as upgrading your mechs goes, I don't ditch the 'ancestral Blackjack' until fairly late in the Campaign, when I'm about to switch over to lances of all heavy mechs (Warhammer/Marauder/Archer/Archer for the hammering scenarios and Victor/jumping Thunderbolt/Quickdraw/Quickdraw for the fast scenarios). The Locust and Spider get switched out for a Panther and Firestarter as quickly as I can, then shortly before rejoining the Campaign they get dropped for a couple of 55 ton 5-8-5s (two Griffins in the current tcwtC, but really any will do). Of the starting medium mechs, the Vindicator is the first to go, followed by the Centurion, and the Blackjack last. (Yes, the Centurion counts as a 'starting' mech because you start tcwtC with it.)
One thing that drives me buggy about the computer game is that you can perform up to (I think) eight missions in a day. Nonsense. The second time I went through tcwtC I advanced time a day each time I accepted a contract, and tcwtC lasted almost exactly two years. The third and fourth (current) time through I advanced two days AFTER each contract, except the final contract in each system. The third time through I was more efficient in arranging the order in which we visited the planets and took just a bit over two years, but this time I've been less careful about travel arrangements, so we've hit several systems twice, and it'll be probably a bit over three years before we rejoin the Campaign. By that time all nine pilots will have one level 8 skill and the rest at level 5 or higher.
The idea isn't to rejoin the Campaign with some killer force of heavy mechs. The idea is to rejoin with a million credits or less, but a really good group of medium mechs. Buying mech parts to stockpile for the future is legit, but stockpiling whole mechs that you can bring out of mothballs is bogus.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
I'm probably forgetting something, but basically that's the campaign within the Campaign. It's an opportunity to get to know your unit inside and out, decide exactly which pilots should run which mechs, set up standard tactics and even determine which of your pilots you can rely upon and which do better on the bench. You'll undoubtedly discover that some combinations of pilots work better together than others, and some combinations are better for some scenarios than for others.
I hope you enjoy the campaign within the Campaign, and I wish you 'Good luck and good hunting'.
It takes eight parts to construct a mech, and they're born unequipped. Why? To keep the unit from getting too rich too fast, and because you having to supply the equipment just makes sense. (Mech parts and components are chosen separately when picking post-scenario reward loot.)
I don't use Ironman because weird shit that I claim isn't my fault keeps happening — mechs move to the wrong location, pilots get skipped during the firing sequence, etc. I only use 'save and reload' to correct these obvious injustices, not to rescue favorite pilots or mechs. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.
Mech destruction enabled, and Lethality disabled. In BattleTech (especially in 3025 and most especially in the Periphery) mechs get destroyed. It's a part of the milieu, so I embrace it. And it helps keep the unit poor. On the other hand I'm very much confused that auto-eject systems aren't in the game, as they've been around since at lest first edition (I never played ComBots). Pilot death is far more frequent in this game than it is in either the published fiction or the board game, so I do whatever I can to cut down on it (like acquiring damage-resistant cockpit mods, which slightly increase the chance of surviving mech death).
Enemy force strength normal. If you're able to play and win with an enhanced enemy, more power too you. I bow to the superior pilot.
Contract payment stingy, but salvage generous and no rare salvage disabled. The first of these reinforces keeping the unit poor, while obviously the second tends to enrich them. I think this combination reflects the milieu well. From reading the contract negotiations we know that the Planetary Governments usually don't have mech forces of their own, and I'm inferring that they also don't have mech maintenance facilities. To them, salvage is largely similar to junk, whilst C-Bills may be quite valuable. For this same reason, when negotiating contracts I always bias as far toward salvage and away from salary as I can without going bankrupt. The third one is pretty blatantly a cheat, so I'll understand if you ignore it. In tcwtC I'm almost completely shut out of the Black Market, so if I couldn't salvage rares I'd end up with vanishingly few, and that runs counter to the history I've established for my unit… so I cheat. Note that enabling it would be MUCH more milieu-authentic.
Pilot progression very slow and advanced mech warriors rare. These act to keep the unit pilot-poor the way some of the other settings act to keep it mech-poor or just poor. Another thing I do is keep the number of pilots at the maximum of nine. This keeps them from advancing too rapidly. I run my personal pilot in every mission until she maxes out, then only in the Priority Missions. I only hire new pilots when they're better than at least one of the existing pilots. I also try to keep the pilot pool 'balanced', by which I mean I'm shooting for three each experts (level 8) in Gunnery, Piloting and Tactics (I have zero use for the Coolant Vent ability), with three specialists (level 5) in Tactics (the only use I have for Sensor Lock is as a stepping stone to get to Master Tactician), and five each in Gunnery, Piloting and Guts. Once some of these specialties/expertises begin accumulating I change the criterion for hiring new pilots to only when they're better than at least one other pilot with the same combination of specialties. I'm nearing the end of my current campaign tcwtC and I've hired on eight new pilots so far, five of whom replaced existing pilots.
Design your personal pilot to please yourself. I always use the same woman — a carryover from the board game who I invented in 1992. She won me an eight team round-robin tournament (finished 6-0-1, and in the rematch twice beat the team she tied in the tournament), and I've been loyal to her ever since.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Once the Campaign officially starts, accept every contract you can in the four system 'playpen' before taking on the first Priority Mission to salvage the Argus. After rescuing the Argus and being released from the playpen, go out into the big, bad periphery and start tcwtC.
I run through these in increasing order of system threat level. All of the 3 Threat Level One systems (half a skull) are in the playpen. Go through the 16 Level Twos (one skull), 17 Level Threes (you've figured it out by now), 8 Level Fours and the lone Five before taking on the second Priority Mission. And THAT'S tcwtC. Forty-Five systems in the Reaches in which you can set up your unit for success in the Campaign.
Among other things, I use this time to set the tone for my unit. We're Good Guys — the white hats that ride into town, solve your problems, then ride off into the sunset. As such I have some guidelines for contract selection.:
1) Always accept contracts from the Planetary Government.
2) Never accept contracts against the Planetary Government
3) Always accept contracts against the Pirates.
4) Never accept contracts from the Pirates.
(Beyond these I have personal biases in favor of the Magistracy and House Davion, and against the Concordat and Liao, dating back to my personal pilot's creation, but your mileage may vary.)
Obviously these rules to live by mean that we're pretty well shut out from the Black Market, and as our reputation matures many contracts become unavailable. This works for me, but you may want to simply continue accepting every contract offered.
As far as upgrading your mechs goes, I don't ditch the 'ancestral Blackjack' until fairly late in the Campaign, when I'm about to switch over to lances of all heavy mechs (Warhammer/Marauder/Archer/Archer for the hammering scenarios and Victor/jumping Thunderbolt/Quickdraw/Quickdraw for the fast scenarios). The Locust and Spider get switched out for a Panther and Firestarter as quickly as I can, then shortly before rejoining the Campaign they get dropped for a couple of 55 ton 5-8-5s (two Griffins in the current tcwtC, but really any will do). Of the starting medium mechs, the Vindicator is the first to go, followed by the Centurion, and the Blackjack last. (Yes, the Centurion counts as a 'starting' mech because you start tcwtC with it.)
One thing that drives me buggy about the computer game is that you can perform up to (I think) eight missions in a day. Nonsense. The second time I went through tcwtC I advanced time a day each time I accepted a contract, and tcwtC lasted almost exactly two years. The third and fourth (current) time through I advanced two days AFTER each contract, except the final contract in each system. The third time through I was more efficient in arranging the order in which we visited the planets and took just a bit over two years, but this time I've been less careful about travel arrangements, so we've hit several systems twice, and it'll be probably a bit over three years before we rejoin the Campaign. By that time all nine pilots will have one level 8 skill and the rest at level 5 or higher.
The idea isn't to rejoin the Campaign with some killer force of heavy mechs. The idea is to rejoin with a million credits or less, but a really good group of medium mechs. Buying mech parts to stockpile for the future is legit, but stockpiling whole mechs that you can bring out of mothballs is bogus.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
I'm probably forgetting something, but basically that's the campaign within the Campaign. It's an opportunity to get to know your unit inside and out, decide exactly which pilots should run which mechs, set up standard tactics and even determine which of your pilots you can rely upon and which do better on the bench. You'll undoubtedly discover that some combinations of pilots work better together than others, and some combinations are better for some scenarios than for others.
I hope you enjoy the campaign within the Campaign, and I wish you 'Good luck and good hunting'.
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