Breaching Shot and other specialist abilities.

[NewtSoup]

Breaching shot says an attack with a single weapon ignores guarded and cover. This suggests that if Glitch in the Atlas at range with 2AC20 used multi target to attack 2 mechs one with each AC20 then guarded and cover should be ignored on both mechs.

But when watching beginner "how to" videos on youtube I saw that this skill doesn't work as expected. A quick search on the forums suggests that most of the Specialist Abilities have been broken since the Heavy Metal DLC was released. Is this still the case or have they been fixed?

 

[Shark7]

I never knew it was broken. I do know it used to work in vanilla, but again, I haven't played the game without mods since 2018 so I'm not an authority on it.

As long as you only fire 1 weapon at each target though it *should* work. That even includes firing 1 weapon at 3 separate targets. However, if you fire more than 1 weapon at any target, that may cause it not to work on any of them. Some one else may know for sure on that.

You could always try it and take notes of your results, then we'd all know.

 

[NewtSoup]

I will do just that. I spread my XP to bring up other skills this round instead of taking breaching shot. But I will take it on one of my gunners now and try it.

 

[stjobe]

I've never had any issues with multi-target + breaching shot. If it's broken that's news to me.

Here's how I've been doing breaching shot on up to three enemies since the two skills were introduced:

• Have at least three weapons
• Hit the multi-target button.
• Click on three targets to designate them A, B, and C.
• Go to your weapons list and assign one weapon only to targets A, B, and C respectively.
• Hit the fire button

Usually I'm not multi-targeting more than two targets, it tends to be one breaching shot and the rest of the weapons on the other target (e.g. an Archer firing LRMs at a distant target and MLs at a close target). But I sometimes split e.g. the Archer's LRM-20s on two targets, and I haven't noticed them not breaching.

 

[MarkDey]

I can confirm that Breaching Shot works fine with Multi-Target. In my story writeup that I'm doing, I've used it to great effect.

 

[NewtSoup]

I tried it and it does indeed work. I used it to pop a mech with an AC20+++ while using the other AC20+ and 4ML to open up the side of the next target.

I had just seen videos of it not working and if only some of the skills were working it would have affected how I skill my pilots.

I thought i had made this post hours ago It was sitting in the editor box.

 

[NewtSoup]

I do have a question about tactics and Master Tactician - the text is vague it reads "Mechs piloted by this MechWarrior gain +1 initiative, and remove one bar of stability damage when reserving".

Oxford comma aside, does that mean the +1 initiative also only happens when reserving or does it mean that the pilot essentially always gets +1 initiative?

Secondly my other choice is breaching shot - Peppermint "FireNewt" Barnstorm is 7777 with Gunnery and Tactics skills and runs a Catapult LRM boat. I'm thinking the breaching shot may be more useful to an LRM boat? Or is the Master Tactician going to be better?

 

[MarkDey]

I do have a question about tactics and Master Tactician - the text is vague it reads "Mechs piloted by this MechWarrior gain +1 initiative, and remove one bar of stability damage when reserving".

Oxford comma aside, does that mean the +1 initiative also only happens when reserving or does it mean that the pilot essentially always gets +1 initiative?

Permanent +1 Initiative.

Secondly my other choice is breaching shot - Peppermint "FireNewt" Barnstorm is 7777 with Gunnery and Tactics skills and runs a Catapult LRM boat. I'm thinking the breaching shot may be more useful to an LRM boat? Or is the Master Tactician going to be better?

I favor Master Tactician, perhaps too much. For my most recent run through, my LRM artillery mech is piloted by Moose, who has Breaching Shot, and that works very well. The downside is that they act one initiative count behind the rest of my lance, but reserving a turn usually works okay.

 

[ranger101]

Basic Initiative:
Phase 1 - Assault Mechs move & fire. --------- Master Tactician - +1 Initiative
Phase 2 - Heavy Mechs Move & fire. ------------ Phase 2 - Assault Mechs can Move & fire.
Phase 3 - Medium Mechs move & fire. ---------- Phase 3 - Heavy Mechs can move & fire.
Phase 4 - Light Mechs move & fire. -------------- Phase 4 - Medium Mechs can move & fire.
Phase 5 - Special Units move & fire. ------------- Phase 5 - Light Mechs can move & fire.

Also if you reserve light mechs until Phase 1, it can move & fire in Phase 4. Getting two attacks from the same light mech back to back.
Level 7 & up tactics will allow tell you the weight class of any unit within sensor range, if you scroll over them.

 

[ntw]

I do have a question about tactics and Master Tactician - the text is vague it reads "Mechs piloted by this MechWarrior gain +1 initiative, and remove one bar of stability damage when reserving".

Oxford comma aside, does that mean the +1 initiative also only happens when reserving or does it mean that the pilot essentially always gets +1 initiative?

Secondly my other choice is breaching shot - Peppermint "FireNewt" Barnstorm is 7777 with Gunnery and Tactics skills and runs a Catapult LRM boat. I'm thinking the breaching shot may be more useful to an LRM boat? Or is the Master Tactician going to be better?

I generally prefer Breaching Shot, but that suits my playstyle...

 

[NewtSoup]

I went with Breaching Shot over Master Tactician. Just did a mission named "Flush them out" and bagged myself a whole Cataphract. RT destroyed Pilot Injured, Head Hit Pilot injured, knockdown pilot incapacitated. All in one volley. Was very satisfying. Not a breaching shot just a volley of 40 LRMs from a cliftop.

 

[Bassoonist]

Master tactician and breaching shot are both great.

I like Master Tactician because late game it can save you some armor when you take down an enemy mech before it gets a chance to fire. For that same reason I also like to bring along a Cyclops CP-10-HQ.

I also always deploy one mech with breaching shot for sniping. I have a Marauder with a Gauss Rifle piloted by a person with breaching shot and called shot mastery. This gives him or her a 33% chance to hit the head for called shots. None of the mechs I've encountered can withstand that amount of damage to the head, even if they have bulwark.

 

[NewtSoup]

Master tactician and breaching shot are both great.

I like Master Tactician because late game it can save you some armor when you take down an enemy mech before it gets a chance to fire. For that same reason I also like to bring along a Cyclops CP-10-HQ.

I also always deploy one mech with breaching shot for sniping. I have a Marauder with a Gauss Rifle piloted by a person with breaching shot and called shot mastery. This gives him or her a 33% chance to hit the head for called shots. None of the mechs I've encountered can withstand that amount of damage to the head, even if they have bulwark.

In the end I took Breaching Shot on my LRM Boat Pilot. She also has called shot mastery. I could quite easily put her in the Highlander which often only has the gauss rifle and the LRM available. Would be a fair sacrifice to drop the LRM on a called shot with the Gauss.

 

[Doctor Machete]

I also always deploy one mech with breaching shot for sniping. I have a Marauder with a Gauss Rifle piloted by a person with breaching shot and called shot mastery. This gives him or her a 33% chance to hit the head for called shots. None of the mechs I've encountered can withstand that amount of damage to the head, even if they have bulwark.

No mech can take that damage on to the head but on the other side 33% to headcap is very low for a Marauder. My go-to Marauder has 79% to headcap a mech braced in the open without BW nor cover and only loses vs the Breaching Gauss against bullwarked/braced/cover, not by much and for two consecutive salvos has better chance to headcap at any damage reduction.

 

[Bassoonist]

How do you get a 79% chance on a called shot to the head!? I think the best I've ever seen is 35%.

 

[Doctor Machete]

How do you get a 79% chance on a called shot to the head!? I think the best I've ever seen is 35%.

Your 35% per hit is a final 35% because you're using only one weapon with Breaching Shot. But if you have many 35% hits you can get an overall headcap chance higher than that, although if you want to calculate it you need to do it outside the game.

 

[Citizen Toph]

Secondly my other choice is breaching shot - Peppermint "FireNewt" Barnstorm is 7777 with Gunnery and Tactics skills and runs a Catapult LRM boat. I'm thinking the breaching shot may be more useful to an LRM boat? Or is the Master Tactician going to be better?

I like having a variety of abilities among my warriors, with these two being the most useful and cooling vents the least.

Late game, I'm favoring master tactician because getting the jump on assault mech foes is useful every round, whereas breaching shot is not.

 

[stjobe]

Basic Initiative:
Phase 1 - Assault Mechs move & fire. --------- Master Tactician - +1 Initiative
Phase 2 - Heavy Mechs Move & fire. ------------ Phase 2 - Assault Mechs can Move & fire.
Phase 3 - Medium Mechs move & fire. ---------- Phase 3 - Heavy Mechs can move & fire.
Phase 4 - Light Mechs move & fire. -------------- Phase 4 - Medium Mechs can move & fire.
Phase 5 - Special Units move & fire. ------------- Phase 5 - Light Mechs can move & fire.

Also if you reserve light mechs until Phase 1, it can move & fire in Phase 4. Getting two attacks from the same light mech back to back.
Level 7 & up tactics will allow tell you the weight class of any unit within sensor range, if you scroll over them.

The Cyclops Battle Computer also adds +1 initiative to each 'Mech in the lance, and it stacks with Master Tactician, so in the case of a lance with a Cyclops with Battle Computer in it, the initiative looks like this (reversed the order of the phases so it's the same order as in the game):

Phase 5: Light 'Mechs and Medium 'Mechs with Master Tactician can move and fire in this phase.
Phase 4: Medium 'Mechs and Heavy 'Mechs with Master Tactician can move and fire in this phase.
Phase 3: Heavy 'Mechs and Assault 'Mechs with Master Tactician can move and fire in this phase.
Phase 2: Assault 'Mechs can move and fire in this phase.
Phase 1: Poor enemy 'Mechs without Master Tactician or a Cyclops Battle Computer have to wait until this phase to move and fire.

 

[Navbuoy]

Reserving to stabilize your ECM Raven or Frankenmech is a wonderful thing. Cooling vents are nice on laser boats in lunar/martian environments...normally it would be best not to choose such a mech for that biome. Ace Pilot and Breaching Shot are really nice if done right.

 

[Doctor Machete]

Reserving to stabilize your ECM Raven or Frankenmech is a wonderful thing. Cooling vents are nice on laser boats in lunar/martian environments...normally it would be best not to choose such a mech for that biome. Ace Pilot and Breaching Shot are really nice if done right.

Coolant Vent is "nice" in Lunar/Martian but it's not good imo. It will help a bit but if you're having actual heat problems it's not going to solve anything. You need to drop your damage a notch, maybe replace with some extra cooling and problem solved. And even in very hot biomes laser boats can very damage/weight/heat efficient, if you have proper cooling.

Ace Pilot or Master Tactician are much better choices for most builds, and Multi+Breaching for a very few (LRM boats).