In the course of one game... the AI was able to land a drop ship and its mechs fire then I got to move on then they go to move all their heavy mechs AGAIN then I got to move on and they moved all again... seriously is the AI so bad they AI gets to cheat on its move as sell? Enemy dropships landing and disembarking should take a turn to do. Or just have them drop from orbit which should take a turn as well..
AI gets to move way to much
- Thread starter ajac
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There aren't any cheats in this. At all. Assuming you were using Assault mechs, the AI landed. Turn began. The AI had the initiative advantage, they fired. Your mechs moved. Second turn, AI still have the initiative advantage. They move. You move. Third turn, they move first. Then you move last.
The only complaint here is that the AI dropships land and disembark out of turn, but that's been in since the very start of the game and I doubt it will get changed. Heavier mechs move later in the turn, that's just how it works. The AI doesn't cheat at all.
The only complaint here is that the AI dropships land and disembark out of turn, but that's been in since the very start of the game and I doubt it will get changed. Heavier mechs move later in the turn, that's just how it works. The AI doesn't cheat at all.
Exactly. :bow:
And Good @ajac, I trust you will soon see how fun and challenging BATTLETECH’s Missions, Modes, FLASHPOINTs, Mini-Campaign and Campaign can be.
And no doubt as you work your way through some of that, you’ll come to think fondly on this moment, this moment when the AI seemed to have unfair advantage.
Because as I learned how to leverage BATTLETECH’s Turn Order, Firing from an AI’s Side Arc, the ways and mysteries of BATTLETECH’s Morale System and Stability System... somewhere along the way the AI lost a step, and then two steps and then a whole mess of steps.
If anything you may come to believe as I do that for BATTLETECH to retain Active/Current Players (Players already inclined to purchase DLCs) HBS needs to give the AI it’s “Second Wind.”
Admittedly some of that appears to be underway with talk of upcoming BATTLETECH Free Update 1.9 and MAJOR improvements to its Convoy AI.
Hopefully that is a sign of things to come with other AI improvements in 2020. :bow:
There is a bug sort of related to this which I've noticed since Heavy Metal. On escort missions when the convoy is extracted on turn end it often/always seems to force combat to exit. So if you were engaged with the AI when the vehicles extract, the AI immediately gets a free non-combat move and then combat starts again fresh. It's weird. It's not the end of the world usually, but you can potentially get screwed if the enemy has stuff with higher initiative than you since they'll basically get a free move and then they get to shoot you again as normal. This can allow them to get a lot closer than they would've otherwise been able to had combat continued uninterrupted.
Hopefully this gets fixed as part of their convoy overhaul.
Hopefully this gets fixed as part of their convoy overhaul.
Yes, there are numerous reports of this over in the Bug Reports forum. We'll see once 1.9 drops if they managed to fix it.
@TostitoBandito and @stjobe, Ben (aka HBS_L8Knight) mentioned that the BATTLETECH Live Support Team was going back before Update 1.8 and reusing some of the older code (specifically Long Range Pathfinding code) but maybe this particular bug will be eliminated if enough of the older code is introduced. :bow:
Particularly irritating if you've just got a knockdown on one of the AI!
And potentially deadly if the AI has caused a Knock Down of one of my Mechs.
They at least don't fire on the free move turn. I had 2 fleas and a shadowhawk already in melee range when the last APC managed to get to the dropship. I'd been engaged for 2 rounds of combat already and destroyed a vindicator.
But yeah, once the dropship left, it auto exited combat, then immediately entered combat again allowing the 3 enemies to complete their move. The fleas went around to my rear but then braced. The shadowhawk also braced.
But yeah, then the fleas went first after that, of course. Lucky I'd already blasted off a torso from one because a rear blowout like that would have had me fuming.
But yeah, once the dropship left, it auto exited combat, then immediately entered combat again allowing the 3 enemies to complete their move. The fleas went around to my rear but then braced. The shadowhawk also braced.
But yeah, then the fleas went first after that, of course. Lucky I'd already blasted off a torso from one because a rear blowout like that would have had me fuming.
There have been situations were while in combat mode you enter combat mode again and the enemy gets another first turn.
I've had them fire on the free move turn.
It's why I get so annoyed with the reinforcements.
If it were not for the peculiarities of AI reinforcements, BATTLETECH would be so easy I would have long ago stopped actively playing it.
Yes.
I would prefer a “Better AI” (looking at, and giving a nod to @Amechwarrior here) but absent that, I’ll easily live with and develop counters to some of the edge cases when the AI derives a benefit here and there. :bow:
Yes.
I would prefer a “Better AI” (looking at, and giving a nod to @Amechwarrior here) but absent that, I’ll easily live with and develop counters to some of the edge cases when the AI derives a benefit here and there. :bow:
The one that consistently bugs me is the assassinations where the mech's escape attempt triggers at the end of your turn, and the area of denial is within a single turn's move distance for the enemy mech, leaving you with only your lighter mech's next turn to leg or core it to have any hope of not instafailing the mission.
-Edit: Okay, I just had a war criminal missiong where the area of denial spawned right on top of where the target was standing. Basically fired a salvo that ended the round, and before my light mech even got to move, dropship just landed right on top of the target and flew off. From "He's escaping" to "You failed" without any kind of gap.
-Edit: Okay, I just had a war criminal missiong where the area of denial spawned right on top of where the target was standing. Basically fired a salvo that ended the round, and before my light mech even got to move, dropship just landed right on top of the target and flew off. From "He's escaping" to "You failed" without any kind of gap.
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You’ve got to understa...
Nope. You’re right that one is just plain wrong. Sorry that one happened to you Good @LucidFugue. :bow:
I've taken to killing all supporting forces, then tanking the assassination target until I can lay all four lance mates firepower down in one turn. The dropship can pick up the burning cored out shell if they really want.
To help combat this, I tend to "game" the mission a bit. I deal with the escorting forces first and then sprint into position around the Assassination target. I then either go for the kill by using called shots to not only target the CT, but to move it back in initiative, or to blow out a leg severely hampering it's movement (then go for the kill).
The assassination target only bugs-out once it receives a certain amount of damage. If you position yourself right and then unload on the target, it often can't make it to even close extractions.
It's a bit cheap, but it works almost all of the time.
It's a shame that gaming the mission like that is about the only option if you want to secure the win. This is a mission type that has so much potential for flexibility.
I've dropped a lance of fast mediums on a 3-4 Skull assassination to do a hit and run on a heavy/assault. I wouldn't dare try it in an Ironman game now. There's just too much risk. You might be able to slip past the escorts only taking indirect missile fire and catch the target isolated. But the movement advantage of a lighter lance means little if the escape area can spawn on top of or one turn's move from the target. If the target escapes you won't even get a good faith attempt because you've avoided everything else.
I've dropped a lance of fast mediums on a 3-4 Skull assassination to do a hit and run on a heavy/assault. I wouldn't dare try it in an Ironman game now. There's just too much risk. You might be able to slip past the escorts only taking indirect missile fire and catch the target isolated. But the movement advantage of a lighter lance means little if the escape area can spawn on top of or one turn's move from the target. If the target escapes you won't even get a good faith attempt because you've avoided everything else.
They could really ramp up the difficulty here by selecting specific reinforcements depending on reinforcing conditions.
spawn well away from player and ai has spotters on player? Reinforcements are chosen from a pool of trebuchet, archer, catapult c4, awesome 8t, or LRM carrier.
reinforcements spawn with direct line of fire, but at long distance? Spawn from A pool of blackjack, Jagermech, marauder, awesome 8q, shrek ppc carrier
Reinforcements spawn behind and in close range? Select from hunchback, Victor, demolisher, king crab, SRM carrier, etc.
Boy would I actually feel ambushed in a 2.5 skull mission if the spotting Lance was spiders, and the ambushers were 2x trebuchets and 2x lrm carriers that were well out of sight.
A tear of eager anticipation escaped my eye as I read this... from your text to HBS_L8Knight’s screen! : )
1. Escape zone usually spawns where the target is first spawned.
2. Target will try to escape only after taking internal damage.
3. There isn't a special AI for the target so it will behave like all other opfor until internal damage.
So, knowing all that, you never hit its internal on your last mech close to where it was spawned unless it has already moved and you can kill it before its next movement phase. Try to lure it towards you if you've cleared out the escorts (see pt 3) so you'll have more turns to play with once it starts to flee. If you are going for the fast ninja strike strategy, just get a few Firestarter equivalent, reserve initiative till double turn and kill it with back shots.
There's really no reason why the AI could escape unless you damaged the target's internal with all your shooting before it's movement phase right where it's spawned so it begins to flee on its turn and run right into the escape zone next to it...