After first playtrough

[raok]

Some things that came in my mind + ideas that may or may not work.

1. It was too easy
2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many.
3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp.
4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix.
5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%.
6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad.
7. SRM6 slightly too much heat.
8. Double Heat Sinks are very very good.
9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have.
10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle?
11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy.
12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster
13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons.
14. Precision strike too accurate
15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low.
16. Maybe more evasion counters.
17. Weapons are too accurate
18. Really often AI moves in line formation which makes it easy to destroy one at time.
19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs.
20. Big mechs to be more expensive to use, equip, repair, etc.
21. Operation costs for Bigger mechs should be higher, for assault mechs multiple times higher.
22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller.
23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
24. Balance economy so that it does not make sense to have 3 mech bays full of 100t mechs.
25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one.
26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs.
27. LRM stability damage very high
28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer
29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut?

 

[raok]

Having my morning coffee an decided that maybe it will light some fire to my list if I write a shortly how I played it through.

None of my pilots died, I never loaded saved game and I never even ejected. It was basically Ironman rofl stomp. I heard that some guys had hard time and I was thinking that are we playing the same game here? If you are one of those guys having hard time, well after reading this your only issue is that the game turns so easy that it may become boring.

The game is at best balance when you have 40-50 ton mechs.

I had 5 pilots until 2 of them were gravely wounded so hired 1 more. With 6 pilots, if I got 2 head shots, as those are super common, my unit was still able to fight ~continuously.

I normally had 4 mechs in mech bay, the rest in storage. I never needed any mechs that I had storaged. I have no idea why there are more than one mech bay in this game. Tech points?

No reason to have more warriors or mechs as will simply increases operation costs. In long term it is better to repair mechs and wait wounded warriors to get better. This part of the game is very broken.

Do all missions in a system, especially if you are running low on money. More you travel, more you pay operation costs.

I started with 2 LRM boats which created enough stability damage to knockdown any mech. After that Called shots from 2 other mechs and ~mech per round was destroyed, even bigger mechs went down fast. When I got big mechs, LRM40 + one mech to alpha CT was a kill. Big mechs later will alpha CT many mechs.

Make LRM assault mech when you can, highlander. LRM80 or 75 or something pretty close. You can target 2 mechs and both will get their stability to max with LRM40. You cannot knockdown mechs with one salvo, alpha LRM40 equals LRM80 when it comes to stability. LRM80 and you can use 1 mech to unsteady 2 mechs and remove evasion, 3 mechs are enough to kill any mech or 2 after that.

Lighter mechs I often ran in forest with max evasion. Later I understood to have jump jets on mech with at least 4x JJ and move 3. This mech can be jumping and brace continuously, able to tank ~unlimited damage. Unlimited as often missions end before you have any kind of issues. Protect commanders head with an upgrade as head shots are super ultra hyper common, you cannot play a mission without 1-2 head shots.

Moral can be "chained" for precision shots. As you destroy a mech per round you have continuously enough moral to target CT to destroy more mechs + knocked down mechs provide called shots to CT. Knocked down mechs that are call shot killed to CT, provide moral. If you get a good loop going you can continuously either precision shot or called shot CT.

Medium Lasers and Lasers in general, weapons without stability damage in general are not really that good. You want knockdown and called shot to CT. If you have a medium laser mech, you can keep that in reinforces until you can make a called shot and focus CT.

Be in sprint, brace, bulwark when enemy starts shooting. Often this means that you allow your enemy to do the first move on first round. You have max sprint evasion and you want to start fights with that. With this there is a change that you destroy first enemy mech for "free" before the combat even starts.

How to get new mechs: If you counter heavy resistance it is not worth to risk, just destroy fast. There will be plenty of mechs. Try to destroy all other mechs first if possible. If you are going to hit the mech you want to salvage, make sure you have always enough stability damage available. Hit with just enough stability damage so that you don't break it.

For example Atlas:
1. Salvo of LRM40
2. Next mech shoots one or two weapons to knock it down, the rest to some other mech. If precision shot, aim side torso. If no torsos left, aim leg.
3. Shoot other mechs, wait that Atlas gets up.
4. Loop back to #1 until the Atlas is yours.

Don't try to flank to shoot rear armor. It will most probably take too much time and effort. In the same time you do that you can simply CT front. Bulwark does not matter as stability knockdown will take it and you can CT. I tried flanking many times without really getting good results. You risk your mech in position where it may take plenty of damage from multiple mechs. Pay is that you shoot the rear CT 1, 2, 3 or even 4 turns? and burn moral in progress. Better to support your other mechs in knockdown and called shot business.

I used plenty of stability damage weapons, no melee at all. Why to melee? If you melee you "commit" your mech deep in the enemy territory, will be shot by all. No reason to risk. Better to have stability damage mech than melee mech.

If fight is hard, go behind something. AI will walk all mechs one at time behind the corner -> LRM40 + knockdown precision shot to CT + 1-2 called shots to CT to kill.

If your missions is to destroy base with turrets: Easy way is to wake up the enemy by walking close enough, then fallback and destroy units behind a cover. If no cover, make them stand in nice row and while enemies walk to you, you gun them down one at time.

In the end game you simply do the western style gunfight, Bulwark stand all together, gun down any resistance. You have so ridiculous amount of fire power, stability damage, armor that even if one of your mechs is all the time their target it probably wont be destroyed. I have destroyed in a mission 2 assault lances that came pretty much at the same time with this tactic. Bulwark is broken as hell especially when it comes to big mechs.

Almost always stay as a group. If you have pilots without bulwark simply run from forest to forest while shooting. You have 4 mechs focus firing, that is butchering.

I had difficult time in less than 5 missions. Most difficult fight that I had was when I had 45, 50, 50 and 55 ton mechs. I was killing 2 lances at the same time + pirate boss in a Cataphract. 2 Lances were mostly medium mechs. They all came at the same time, so 4 vs 9. What can you do?
Use cover like explained before. Move so that your mechs are behind blocking cover for most of the enemies, a mountain for example. The same thing always, minimize the amount of enemy mechs and maximize your fire power to one mech but dont shoot more than enough to one mech. Start this movement BEFORE enemy mechs are on you, you see them in sensors and move accordingly. If they are on you, simply sprint and regroup. They should not get on you if you act soon enough.

You really don't need speed in this game. Even story missions with limited time can be done in Assaults.

If you have any issues hard time after reading this, I am really surprised how you managed to do that.

One more thing about Bulwark especially in the end game. If you have Bulwark Assault lance, Mexican Standoff is all you need.

 

[Stolenare]

I'm really struggeling, and will try to implement your advise. What would you recomend to prioritize in the pilot skill lists in the beginning of the game, and would you focus on rebuilding mechs from the start, or go with standard loadouts?

 

[raok]

Early game economics; Do mech modifications when you are waiting pilot in medbay or traveling. You can check from your contracts how long it takes to travel and plan your mech modifications based on that. This is not mandatory but harder to run out of money if you do this. Later when you have more money this comes less and less important but will always make sense.

Guts 4 gives you +1 Health which is good, I take this early for all. May not be the first but early.
2x head shot injuries is sad and not that uncommon. You either have Guts4 or the next one may be the last one, or you run behind a mountain.
In one mission, in one or two rounds I took 2 head injuries and a knockdown.

To make your end game easier you should have 2-4 Bulwarks. Bulwark is OP but also boring. If you have 4x Bulwark your tactic for every mission is Mexican Standoff.
Maybe 2x Bulwark + Gunnery. You may want 3rd Bulwark in case one gets injured.
Notice that 50% damage reduction is the same as 100% armor bonus. 320 points of Atlas CT armor is magically 640 points of armor.
Bulwark is not luck based, it is a flat damage reduction.

Evasive movement is very luck based which is nasty in this kind of games, not bad but nasty. Ace pilot is very situational skill for which you probably need a specific mech and tactic. This pilot probably wont be part of your end game assault roflstomp lance. I tried to use flankers but maybe needs a better player than I am. Very hard to be efficient. If all your mechs are shooting front and it makes no sense that one mech is shooting an arm. You have to be able to shoot rear armor and before you get there other mechs already destroyed the target.
End game mechs are so accurate that when you have 5 evasive counters it really often if not always feels like you had no counters at all.

My first playthrough I made many different kind of pilots to test them all. Have to admit that when my Bulwark+Gunnery pilot was in medbay I started to miss her. So when 2 pilots were on long vacation and I had to hire a new pilot, I made a second Bulwark + Gunnery.

If you want a pilot with Master Tactician, take the first ability from another branch first. Sensor Lock is ok but maybe not the best option as your first ability.
Master Tactician is not bad. Initiative based game and you always shoot first? I had one pilot with Bulwark + Master Tactician. In assault vs assault fight shooting alpha precision shot to CT before your enemy, not bad at all.

btw. Early game stability damage is not so high so you have to focus fire more. Keep you eye out for +stab dmg weapons.

 

[Stolenare]

Thanks for advise I've tried to implement your advise today, and the misson that I was wiped out of yesterday, went smoothly today. I flanked, took out the vehicles first, and used Delay a lot, made sure I had high evasive-numbers, watched my heat, and in general made sure the fight was one of mobility. I messed up a bit in the end-game, got a bit hammered, but managed to jump to safety with the injured mech, and the three rest mopped up the last bit of resistance

Personally, I believe the shoot first, move later -ability could be handy; haven't leveled up to use it yet. What do you think of that ability?

 

[DragonsRage]

1. Disagree - You should mod your JSON files to suit your play stile.
2. Agree to a point. You can get equipment to protect your pilot.
4. Agree
5. Disagree
6. Agree - You should mod your JSON files to suit your play stile.
7. You should mod your JSON Files to suit your needs.
8. Is this a problem? If so mod your JSON files to suit your play stile.
9. Mod your JSON files to suit your play stile.
10. I have lost a couple mechs. - Mod your JSON files.
11.-17. Mod your JSON files to suit your needs.
18. I have not seen this other than in choke points.
19.-21. Disagree - You should mod your JSON files to suit your needs.
22.-25. Mod your JSON files to your needs.
26.-28. Disagree - You should mod your JSON files to your needs.

 

[Killuelihie]

Played it through, enjoyed it over 50 hours and loved it for being challenging. So i'll try to give my 2 cents to your points:

1. It was too easy
Depends. With what you describe you simply used the Game mechanics to your most benefits.
Try not using only LRMs and the game will kick you pretty hard, very often.
But i agree, with the LRMs, its easy to "exploit" the game. Used that strategy in the late game, simply adding a Scout with max evasion and CS, + 3 LRM 60-80 Assaults. Easy win, every time.

2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many.
Yes, but for that there are this funny Mods, you can install and that cost no tonnage. Dunno the exact name atm but there is a special mod if 2+ and more, it prevents injuries pretty well.
But, and here comes the big BUT: There is a very well known Quote for Mechwarriors. Kill the meat, save the metal. Headshots are pretty common in this universe and the ONLY thing that annoys me is, that the KI nearly every 5th shot makes a headhit, my ppl even wil CS and everything get to acerage 15%-25% chance to hit the mechhead. Even on Headpresenting Mechs like the Jenner!

3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp.
Nope. Thats just because you use the LRMs too much. With them, yes. With a normal mixed loadout, definitely no.

4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix.
Uh.. why? You want to drop 3 full Lances? For what? I don't get your point Yeah, playing it normal until late game, i wished for more lances too, but its doable without.

5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%.
Hmm... I think its ok. Saved my scouts ass some times for running into some fat grinning guns.

6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad.
Fully agreed. ER Lasers are kind of lame. Damage/Heat is laughable and the Range... well they pale before LRMS.

7. SRM6 slightly too much heat.
Nah, referring to the damage they do, they are pretty well balanced for the game.

8. Double Heat Sinks are very very good.
Agreed. But you only get those you get gifted and thats it. So... doesnt really matter.

9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have.
Which are? In the Late game i used what i had and rode to battle with around 370Tons.

10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle?
Mhhh... One, simple question: If they pile up... never noticed that "Sell/Scrap for C-Bills" button?
Yes, at the beginning i joyed over every damn mech i got, but later i just scrapped them and used that good money for upgrading my Argo. Nothing wrong with the balancing of Loot there, in my eyes.
And if you drown in Mechs, just switch the sliders for C-Bills or Reputation =)

11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy.
The AC2 are good against light Mechs. They're not intended to be good against Mechs 50T+.
I know, the Jagermech fits 2 of them but oh well. Most Lances in Game consist of at least 1 or 2 Light Mechs.

12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster
uh... ok, i think you mean the movementspeed of them?
I guess it had to be sacrificed for implementing the initiative system. (Besides.. would you even WANT to watch a KingCrab slugging its way to the battlefield, while everything else is already there and fighting?)
All of them move at the same speed, but i dont miss the differences..

13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons.
Same as Headinjuries, there are Mods for that. ++ Mod gives +100 Viewrange, which is fcking awesome(No Mechpun intended xD) für Stalkers with LRM80.

14. Precision strike too accurate
Well duh... it's called Precisionstrike. If it wouldn't be accurate, the name would be funny, wouldn't it now =)

15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low.
Again thats modable. Just curious, but did you even pay attention to the Equipment tab?

16. Maybe more evasion counters.
Ah the evasionmechanics... Well, yeah i don't like them too. A 100 Ton Heavy Mech sprints to the front (lol somehow) and get's missed besides being a damn skyscraper nearly in front of the guns. Maybe it get's adressed in a patch?

17. Weapons are too accurate
Uh... Nope? Lategame with Piloting 10/10? Well, that's what you're skilling it for.
It all depends on Weaponrange and Pilotskills. So if the Pilot is in optimal Range and has good Gunningskills, yeah, its a 90% hit. And even those miss (cost me nearly my SLDF Asssaultmech, because that shot missed finished a Assaultclass Enemy nearly in front of it.)

18. Really often AI moves in line formation which makes it easy to destroy one at time.
Yes, that's a major problem i felt too. One CS Scout, 3 LRM Artilleries and it's like shooting sitting ducks.
Only used this tactic for Missions i got sacked otherwise, because it feels like cheating.

19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs.
Oh they are good enough as they are. One puny injury on the head of your Pilot and without additional Medbays etc it takes 17+ Days till you can use it again.
It forces you to change planet, to go on or buy additional Pilots.
Mechs.. well discutable i guess. Compared to the injuries it feels less important if something happens to a mech, but its stacked so if two mechs get ransacked, it takes alot longer to bring em back.

20. Big mechs to be more expensive to use, equip, repair, etc.
Agreed. They feel too cheap on the financial reports.

21. Operation costs for Bigger mechs should be higher, for assault mechs multiple times higher.
Same as Point 20.

22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller.
Not only the operation costs. The researchcosts for it are a joke too, compared to Medbay etc.

23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
Nice idea, i like it!

24. Balance economy so that it does not make sense to have 3 mech bays full of 100t mechs.
Brings us back to Point 20/21 again.

25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one.
You keep repeating yourself =)

26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs.
Nice addition, but again Points 20/21/24 and 25.

27. LRM stability damage very high
Oh well... yes, it is BUT: We are talking about Missiles here, crushing into some bipedal Tincans. You can fit Mods to counter the Stabi-dmg^^

28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer
The few Missions in a system are MEANT to force you to travel. Felt perfectly good to me, as it is.

29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut?
Hmm... Well honestly, i never used Juggernaut, because i'm not so fond of the meleesystem in BT^^


So all in all...
Fight without using too much LRMs, notice the Moddingsystem under Equipment ingame and alot of your problems will vanish.
Some Points though need improvement by the Devs, but we'll see what they'll do in futurepatches etc.

 

[raok]

Where is the JSON file?
I was thinking more like that they could actually balance the game for all.
You know, when people play the game they learn what is too powerful and what is too weak. Then you make a balance patch so that everyone can get the benefits.

 

[CyberianK]

Just finished the campaign today as well so I thought I put my thoughts here instead of making my own thread

Some things that came in my mind + ideas that may or may not work.

1. It was too easy
Totally true the game would have required a hardcore mode for Battletech/Strategy veterans you just can't make a game with one diff level for different audiences.
2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many.
Yes they suck but they don't really matter that much in the end I had 8 experienced pilots so I always had replacements even skilled Flatline who wasn't an original pilot to 10 in all stats. And as the game is too easy you never loose a pilot (yes cockpit kill could happen with RNG but I never had it happen once in honestman so I guess the chance of it happening is quite low especially if you kill AC20s on sight)
3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp.
Yes I got 2 Orions after Weldry and the game was childsplay from then on. Only challenging moments were when I intentionally fought against 10+ targets at once but even that was manageable due to OP bulwark and morale abilities and being able to go in with 2 Kingcrabs and 2 Highlanders later
4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix.
Fully agree it would be great if there were different drop limits by mission type. Maybe if they would even randomize the drop limits a little. Maybe even to have drop limits be something like 300 tons, 6 mechs maximum at times (even though that goes against the lance=4 mechs)
5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%.
Yes totally your suggestion would probably be good. Also precise shot with inspired is too cheap you can instakill an enemy at cost of 10 morale and get 10 morale back for the kill.
6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad.
PPCs and pulse lasers are bad as well. But MLAS and SLAS are the best weapons in the game
7. SRM6 slightly too much heat.
Yes thought I like the variation of different sizes some are better for heat some are better for tonnage some are only good when you find +++ or your hardpoints are limited so its nice that they don't have all the same stats just multiplied.

Full agree on those points without comment
8. Double Heat Sinks are very very good.
9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have.
10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle?
11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy.
12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster
13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons.
14. Precision strike too accurate
15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low.
16. Maybe more evasion counters. lights needs a bonus there or prevent Heavies/Assault to reach 5/6 what they can easily reach currently
17. Weapons are too accurate
18. Really often AI moves in line formation which makes it easy to destroy one at time.
19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs.
20. Big mechs to be more expensive to use, equip, repair, etc.
21. Operation costs for Bigger mechs should be higher, for assault mechs multiple times higher.

22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller.
We need hardcore mode with higher costs overall. Especially for restoring salvaged mechs and such. I was sitting on 20 million on end of campaign even though I did full salvage always.
23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
Would be realistic but probably suck from a gameplay perspective to not give the player the full mission reward.
24. Balance economy so that it does not make sense to have 3 mech bays full of 100t mechs. Yes
25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one. Yes even though its already so cheap that it doesn't matter much.
26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs. Yes
27. LRM stability damage very high The +2 variant is ridicolous and Assault mechs need higher stability (while they need more other disadvantages)
28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer Yes
29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut? Yes

Great points overall!

 

[Bigleux]

I've basically had the same experience as you.

You can mod the weapons really easily in the weapon json files. It's in the battletech/battletech_data/streamingassetsdata/weapon folder.

I agree with most of your points. I do hope HBS will provide us with incentives to use more than 5-6 mechs at a time. I don't quite see the use to upgrade the mech bay except to get tech points.

I don't feel like Bulwark is that OP but I use JJ on every mech so that may be why.

It's still early after release, they might balance things later on.

I really hope they will add long war like settings soon and and release tools to make it easier to mod the game to increase its longevity (player made missions would be super cool).

 

[raok]

Played it through, enjoyed it over 50 hours and loved it for being challenging. So i'll try to give my 2 cents to your points:

1. It was too easy
Depends. With what you describe you simply used the Game mechanics to your most benefits.
Try not using only LRMs and the game will kick you pretty hard, very often.
...
They could simply fix it. If devs read this then want to raise them my point that it was too easy. Maybe fixing some exploitable features can fix it, that would be really nice.
If so I would like to see these exploitable features be fixed in the game.

2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many.
Yes, but for that there are this funny Mods, you can install and that cost no tonnage. Dunno the exact name atm but there is a special mod if 2+ and more, it prevents injuries pretty well.
...
Yes I know. Still too many head shots. There are like shit tons of mods and simply because in every game I get a head shot I have to install this one and specific mod to every mech?
Make there for example a damage limit you have to reach before you get head injury.

3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp.
Nope. Thats just because you use the LRMs too much. With them, yes. With a normal mixed loadout, definitely no.
...
LRM are broken for sure. I also alpha striked way too many mechs to CT. Maybe at least increase CT armor and make Atlas to not walk around and not Bulwark. Right? Not the only issues, simply mentioning few.
When all my mechs are 100t and enemy has less tonnage in one lance. I am not sure if the game is saved with LRM fix. When I had 50t mechs on average and then there was 75t Pirate Leader. I would say it is not just LRM.
Also LRM +stab damage is bigger issue than LRM. Base weapons are in better balance.

4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix.
Uh.. why? You want to drop 3 full Lances? For what? I don't get your point Yeah, playing it normal until late game, i wished for more lances too, but its doable without.
...
Maybe something like 250t drop limit? I would need to think a bit what I want to take and not just 4x100t ? Would that create a bit more depth maybe?

5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%.
Hmm... I think its ok. Saved my scouts ass some times for running into some fat grinning guns.
...
Atlas CT 320 armor with Bulwark is 640 armor. Maybe a way too OP I don't care an F from tactics skill?
If you would need to at least walk on correct terrain, that would be nice? If you are in water with Bulwark you have 25% and better cooling but not 50%
If you walk in forest you have 25 + 25?

7. SRM6 slightly too much heat.
Nah, referring to the damage they do, they are pretty well balanced for the game.
...
If you compare SRM6 vs SRM4 ? SRM4 is very good, SRM6?
Better to have SRM4 + something else, than SRM6 ?

9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have.
Which are? In the Late game i used what i had and rode to battle with around 370Tons.
...
Exactly, which are? There are none FFS!

10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle?
Mhhh... One, simple question: If they pile up... never noticed that "Sell/Scrap for C-Bills" button?
...
Yes I noticed. Some options...
A. Mech is cored you have % change to lose it.
B. Mech is cored you are back to 2 parts of 1 part.
C. Mech is cored there is % change to lose parts.

11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy.
The AC2 are good against light Mechs.
...
If reason enough is to have those vs light mechs.
I recommend to buff.

12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster
uh... ok, i think you mean the movementspeed of them?
...
Would simply buff Light/Medium mechs. Make those better vs Heavy/Assault mechs. Give higher speed advantage.

13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons.
Same as Headinjuries, there are Mods for that. ++ Mod gives +100 Viewrange, which is fcking awesome(No Mechpun intended xD) für Stalkers with LRM80.
...
So I am forced to use pillows to soften sharp corners around my pilots head and now I have to remove those to fix this?
There are mods indeed. I would improve viewrange still. Long range needs a buff.

14. Precision strike too accurate
Well duh... it's called Precisionstrike. If it wouldn't be accurate, the name would be funny, wouldn't it now =)
...
One more reason why the game is too easy?

15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low.
Again thats modable. Just curious, but did you even pay attention to the Equipment tab?
...
I did pay attention. Stability damage is still too high.
Maybe every late game AI mech needs +100 stability damage resistance.
Stab damage is too good, would be nice to nerf it.

16. Maybe more evasion counters.
Ah the evasionmechanics... Well, yeah i don't like them too. A 100 Ton Heavy Mech sprints to the front (lol somehow) and get's missed besides being a damn skyscraper nearly in front of the guns. Maybe it get's adressed in a patch?
...
I was mainly thinking Light and Medium mechs here. Evasion is luck based, Bulwark is not. Even if I have 5 or was it 6 evasion counters, it is maybe not enough.
Even if AI had light mech running as fast as possible, it wont run far, like you probably know. Small evasion buff would be cool.

17. Weapons are too accurate
Uh... Nope? Lategame with Piloting 10/10? Well, that's what you're skilling it for.
...
Hard to miss anything. The game is too easy maybe?

19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs.
Oh they are good enough as they are...
...
Only one time in whole game I went to hire extra pilot. Only one time in whole game I noticed that my guys are in medbay.
Too easy?
Why to have so much room for pilots? Why I only need 6 in whole game?
Why to have mech bays?
Increase these times so that I need more pilots and mechs.
When 10 of my pilots are out 100+ days and repairing mechs for lance A takes 60 days and another 100 days for lance B. Some use for those mechs I storaged? I take mechs from storage for Lance C? I hire new mech warriors to make money to pay the bills.
Too easy right now?

23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
Nice idea, i like it!
...
This would support multiple lances. You have plenty of pilots and mech bays full of lances.
Your repair team is constantly fixing mechs.
You have to use higher variety of mechs and pilots.

26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs.
Nice addition, but again Points 20/21/24 and 25.
...
I was separating ideas there that were related to the same subject
This would be indeed very nice. Comes back to 250t drop limit in one way.

27. LRM stability damage very high
Oh well... yes, it is BUT: We are talking about Missiles here, crushing into some bipedal Tincans. You can fit Mods to counter the Stabi-dmg^^
...
Like mechs were realistic. Sorry about my blasphemy... I mean! Mechs are super realistic but I am talking from a computer game here.

28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer
The few Missions in a system are MEANT to force you to travel. Felt perfectly good to me, as it is.
...
More missions in one system mean that I can stay in one system longer.
When I repair my mechs and pilots are in medbay. I have still missions to do in this system? I could try to make more money but I dont have mechs nor pilots.
What can I do?
I could maybe hire extra pilots, maybe take out some mechs from storage?

29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut?
Hmm... Well honestly, i never used Juggernaut, because i'm not so fond of the meleesystem in BT^^
...
Exactly. We should get the not so good skill first.
Secondly, as Bulwark is so good it should be 8 point skill and not 5. To get something that good you have to invest more to it.

So all in all...
I think you maybe misunderstood some of my points

 

[raok]

I was not as good as you using this forum editor so a bit more clumsier out look
Anyway, just couple things to point...

Just finished the campaign today as well so I thought I put my thoughts here instead of making my own thread
...
Great points overall!

6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad.
PPCs and pulse lasers are bad as well. But MLAS and SLAS are the best weapons in the game
...
PPC with +stab damage is ok. Some mechs have energy weapon slots to fit these. But yeah, it is once again all about stab damage

16. Maybe more evasion counters.
lights needs a bonus there or prevent Heavies/Assault to reach 5/6 what they can easily reach currently
...
Exactly.

22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller.
We need hardcore mode with higher costs overall. Especially for restoring salvaged mechs and such. I was sitting on 20 million on end of campaign even though I did full salvage always.
...
Would help early game. Have more mech bays sooner, make more mechs available sooner.
Indeed, if the game would force us to use higher variety of pilots and mechs this kind of feature could work ok.
Also I just noticed... https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/8g7dxm/hbs_developer_update_ama_summarized/

23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
Would be realistic but probably suck from a gameplay perspective to not give the player the full mission reward.
...
Would make it easier to have many pilots.

25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one.
Yes even though its already so cheap that it doesn't matter much.
...
What if you would NEED to run 3 lances to make more money?
Lances 1 and 2 are under medical attention and repairs.
To make more money, pay some repair bills... Lance 3?

 

[peschiNL]

What if you would NEED to run 3 lances to make more money?
Lances 1 and 2 are under medical attention and repairs.
To make more money, pay some repair bills... Lance 3?

ehm, if the game is so easy, make sure you're lances dont get hurt?

 

[raok]

Personally, I believe the shoot first, move later -ability could be handy; haven't leveled up to use it yet. What do you think of that ability?

This is the Ace Pilot skill I mentioned. I was not able to use this efficiently enough or I did not simply need it. Take for one pilot, it gives nice variety. With good initiative mech you can come out and shoot, and the next turn shoot and back to cover. You can try to flank a mech and do this, or simply use cover with long range direct fire mech. Or you can use melee mech to hit twice and JJ out. Melee hits are not affected by Bulwark. Still, not sure if this is better than direct frontal hits. If they would decrease +stab damage, this skill would be better.

Versus lance of Heavy/Assault mechs, this is very hard to use. You have to take care that you are in good flanking position before you start the fight. Else will be probably too late. You have to also carry enough fire power that it actually matters.

It can be that I don't know how to use it the best. Let me know how it went for you. Always open for new ideas.

I will though run another campaign and I am not going to take Bulwark for anyone... Except that one Bulwark pilot you get at the beginning.

 

[Pedroig]

Some things that came in my mind + ideas that may or may not work.

1. It was too easy - Disagree, though the times it was very difficult were few and far between.
2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many. Disagree, you just remember them more often. I went whole campaign with zero head shot kills received, and only dealt three. The injuries fall in line with a 1-2% head hit rate.
3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp. More or less agree. In some missions I simply popped VIgilance or used Bulwark on all my Mechs and slugged it out.
4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix. Disagree, but there should be different costs, or at least have reward be an inverse dependent factor on payout for both C-Bills and Salvage
5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%. Concur.
6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad. I do think the penalties are a tad harsh, but if you braket weapons, it is rarely an issue.
7. SRM6 slightly too much heat. Not enough to worry about though
8. Double Heat Sinks are very very good. Without FF or ES, yes, space is not a limiting factor, weight is.
9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have. ???
10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle? ???
11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy. Disagree, AC2 is way better than in TT. It got a huge buff. problem is nobody fights at the range it is intended due to sight issues.
12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster Not with current engines...
13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons. See 11 above, it also would make AI harder as well...
14. Precision strike too accurate Overall, the pilots are too accurate to begin with base chance of 75% should be base chance of 55%
15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low. It is too one sided, since the AI rarely utilizes Bulwark. I rarely get knocked down once I Entrench.
16. Maybe more evasion counters. See 12 and 14, it ties in with this.
17. Weapons are too accurate See 14 above, it's not the weapons usually, it is the base to hit chance
18. Really often AI moves in line formation which makes it easy to destroy one at time. I believe you mean column, line would be desirable for engagements.
19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs. Nothing to prevent you from enforcing this upon yourself...
20. Big mechs to be more expensive to use, equip, repair, etc. 250 Cbills per ton or 6000 Cbills per category would work.
21. Operation costs for Bigger mechs should be higher, for assault mechs multiple times higher. Isn't this just 20 above?
22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller. No economy of scale here...
23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed. This could tie in with 4 above, end result would be about the same though in this case.
24. Balance economy so that it does not make sense to have 3 mech bays full of 100t mechs. More of 20 above.
25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one. Now you are just trolling, contradicting 20 and 21 above.
26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs. Keep restating 20....
27. LRM stability damage very high Restating 15 above
28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer Why? You know you can just run time whilst you are in orbit to simulate your take on whatever issue you have with the sci-fi portion of travel in the game.
29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut? Or replace Juggernaught with something entirely else. I levelled a Pilot up to it just to get it, it is unimpressive. (as in not a main Pilot)

Comment above...

 

[RealCadaver]

Some things that came in my mind + ideas that may or may not work.

1. It was too easy
-Seemed just right to me.

2. Too many head shot pilot injuries, way too many.
-Would have to see the numbers, combat log would be nice

3. When my average mech in my lance was 50t the game was really good, maybe even after I got my first heavies it was still good. I started to get more and more big mechs and it ------turned out to be less tactical and simple rofl stomp.

4. There should not be 400t drop limit. Probably the most important thing to fix.
-Do you mean drop with more than 4 mechs? It does seem strange to me to have 18 bays, when really I only ever use 5. The extras are just so when the mechs get assembled they have somewhere to live, until I send them to storage.

5. Bulwark is too good. Maybe 25% and stack with terrain 25%.
-Disagree, I get hammered while in cover and with Bulwark, (all my pilots have Bulwark).

6. Large Lasers is not good enough. ER L Lasers is bad.
- Don't know, I use them, but have started to replace them with PPCs.

7. SRM6 slightly too much heat.
-maybe

8. Double Heat Sinks are very very good.
-Have not seen these yet

9. Reasons to not always use biggest possible mechs you have.
-Agree

10. Mechs started to pile up, storage full of mechs. Somehow make it possible to actually lose mechs in battle?
-Agree

11. AC2 is not good enough, maybe too heavy.
-Don't know, I got picked apart by these on a mission once.

12. Light and Medium mechs could be faster
-Maybe

13. Make view range longer to buff long range weapons.
-There are 50m addons with not weight to address this.

14. Precision strike too accurate
-LOL, I had the exact opposite experience, never hit once with it yet. In fact after trying it about 10-20 times, have not used it since.

15. Stability damage too high or resistance too low.
-Stability damage seems right to me as is.

16. Maybe more evasion counters.
-Seems right to me as is.

17. Weapons are too accurate
--Seems right to me as is.

18. Really often AI moves in line formation which makes it easy to destroy one at time.
-AI could use improvement

19. Wounded warriors should need more time in hospital + repairs should last longer. Force players to use multiple lances of warriors and mechs.
-Agree

20. Big mechs to be more expensive to use, equip, repair, etc.
-I agree in principle, but in practice if this was changed other parts of the game would need adjustment to account for it.

21. Operation costs for Bigger mechs should be higher, for assault mechs multiple times higher.
-Same as 20?

22. Additional Mech Bay operation costs could be smaller.
-Disagree, if anything it should cost more, money is relatively easy to make.

23. Mechwarrior salaries could be smaller but have salary bonus from all missions they have completed.
-Disagree. This seems right as is.

24. Balance economy so that it does not make sense to have 3 mech bays full of 100t mechs.
-Not sure what you mean by this. I sell off my mechs (Cash is King!)

25. Make it economically better to run 3 lances working at the same time than one.
-This comes back to reasons to use other than the 4 heaviest mechs, so mostly agree.

26. Battle operation costs for assault mechs to be high enough that you rather use medium mechs to do easier tasks. Maybe so high that for some missions you rather take just 1 Assault mech + 3 medium mechs.
-Would need economy re-balance.

27. LRM stability damage very high
-Yes it is, Are you saying it's too high?

28. Systems to have more missions and travel times to be longer
-More missions, sure, travel time seems right.

29. Swap Bulwark and Juggernaut?

-Not sure, it really I have not really seen any super benefit with Bulwark. My player character does not have it, when I run him in missions I just keep him moving. He gets not more or less damage then the mechs piloted by bulwark pilots. Really would need to see a combat log for this.

Good list! I think access to a combat log (which HBS obviously used to balance the game as is) would shed light on a bunch of these.

 

[Pedroig]

This is the Ace Pilot skill I mentioned. I was not able to use this efficiently enough or I did not simply need it. Take for one pilot, it gives nice variety. With good initiative mech you can come out and shoot, and the next turn shoot and back to cover. You can try to flank a mech and do this, or simply use cover with long range direct fire mech. Or you can use melee mech to hit twice and JJ out. Melee hits are not affected by Bulwark. Still, not sure if this is better than direct frontal hits. If they would decrease +stab damage, this skill would be better.

Versus lance of Heavy/Assault mechs, this is very hard to use. You have to take care that you are in good flanking position before you start the fight. Else will be probably too late. You have to also carry enough fire power that it actually matters.

It can be that I don't know how to use it the best. Let me know how it went for you. Always open for new ideas.

I will though run another campaign and I am not going to take Bulwark for anyone... Except that one Bulwark pilot you get at the beginning.

I loved Ace Pilot when I got it on Medium and even Heavy Mech. On Assaults though, there is only one combination that makes sense, Bulwark and Breach Shot, if you have 4 pilots with that you will win 95% of your missions without ever getting internal damage. If you want you can drop Breach on one and pick up Master Tactician instead. But once the "party starts" there becomes little to no reason to move, and the Multi/Breach makes it so you don't overkill too much and get off solid hits on the next line of targets...

 

[raok]

ehm, if the game is so easy, make sure you're lances dont get hurt?

One option to make it harder would be to increase med bay and repair times.

 

[Leone - Raid Leader]

Okay, so, for one, you obviously played a different game'n I did. For two, many of your points can be changed via playstyle without even having to mod the game. For three, you could always mod the game.

Me, I brawl. The only way to survive a heavy headshot is with bulwark. If you're charging forward and messing it up in the thick of it, you're oft not bulwarked, and heatshots'll cost pilots. Sure, you could stand back an fire from range with bulwark an then ejecting if you take head armour. But that's a playstyle choice. Also, in the skrum, even a hunchback can punch your head right off. So yeah, I've lost three pilots in a row on one planet to Brawlhawks and Punchbacks, but it paid off, as I had some of my own when I boosted out system.

As for being too easy, try taking all rep missions next run through. See if you can keep your mercenary company afloat Fighting for the restoration gratis. You can hard mode all you want just by changing the way you play the game. Roleplay it up a bit! Have fun!

~Leone.

 

[Mechabattler]

Definitely agree with Large Laser being really bad. The damage to heat ratio isn't good and the range is only really something to consider if you can't mount LRMs or Ballistics. ER LLs are even worse. Seriously why bother with ERLLs?