Crivens! Rng Luck based anecdotes[Merged];

[smurfopax]

Next try Ironman Campaign. Did only the Campaign Mission so far that i got the Argo, went to Kimi (Primitive, Star League) to get more parts for a 55ton medium while doing missions. Bought a Highlander 732b Part in the Market ^^, now i'm nearly broke but happy.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Well, a different kind of "You have to be kidding me....." story.

So, I decide to take a 1.5 Skull Mission, but decide on a whim to up the Salvage component. to 2/11 (was 2/6 previously IIRC). So I get to the combat zone, & find a Locust &.....a BLACK KNIGHT (fully armoured). Well, I took out the former Mech before the Black Knight showed up.....so I decided to take my chances with the Black Knight (4v1 felt like good odds).

Unexpectedly, I managed to take out the Mech with 3 pilot injuries......meaning the Mech was effectively intact when I finished the mission. I was never so peeved about not maxing out my salvage as I was in this particular mission payout. Though I was able to get 2 parts of the Mech, the final part managed to elude me .

 

[K1600Mike]

ya, lost a few good men that way. Enemy seems TOO lucky sometimes. Later in the game I use the cockpit injury resist upgrades.

 

[smurfopax]

Ähem you can have up to 6 Parts in early Missions. Just crank up salvage for Missions, turn down payment and select Hard opponents. You will see you first heavy in 2 Skull Missions.
I restarted my Career and i'm on my second planet now, i already got a Black Knight part and a Quickdraw part. The highest mission i did until now is a 2 Skull Mission.

When you play with this settings you will have so many Atlas, King Crap whatever that you can finish 2x 4 Part Mechs per mission.

 

[Nelzie]

At least the salvage for many of those mechs can keep you stocked up in Credits, right?

Some of those chassis bits will far outstrip the value of the contract by itself. So, that's a good thing. You just don't ALWAYS get the right bits out of salvage.

 

[KnightCole]

Ähem you can have up to 6 Parts in early Missions. Just crank up salvage for Missions, turn down payment and select Hard opponents. You will see you first heavy in 2 Skull Missions.
I restarted my Career and i'm on my second planet now, i already got a Black Knight part and a Quickdraw part. The highest mission i did until now is a 2 Skull Mission.

When you play with this settings you will have so many Atlas, King Crap whatever that you can finish 2x 4 Part Mechs per mission.

How do you get that much salvage early on? I put it to max salvage and by default it maxes out at 2 salvage parts. Only after like the Argo mission does it allow me to go up to 3....

 

[Technophobe]

I just had one of these moments today. I need one Stalker part to complete the assault mech collection and two Centurion A parts to complete the medium collection and then I have all the mechs. So I take a 4 skull battle mission against the Canopians. If I take minimum pay and minimum salvage for 1 priority pick I will be able to get -100 rep with them which I want.
So I go into the mission figuring I might get lucky and see a Stalker. I find the main force. A single Demolisher. Ok. Stomp it quick and the reinforcements arrived. Lets see what we got. A Catapult K2 a Jaeger mech a Griffin and a Centurion A. As soon as I saw the 50 ton blip I knew. Oh and they are all low on armor.
So, new plan. Destroy as much equipment as possible on the other three mechs then head cap the Centurion to maximize my chances of getting two mech parts for it. The first part goes great. All three other mechs lose every part but the head and one leg. Then it's time to head cap the Centurion. A side shot with a PS strike to the head. The head gets hit but almost every thing else hits the CT. Seriously! All right. Try again from the other side. I still hit the CT.
Well at least I only need one more piece of this annoyingly elusive mech.

 

[WebShaman]

[Mod note: Merged ]
So I am just bumbling along, doing missions, 1 mission before the last Campaign mission.

I have :

2 Highlanders, one outfitted as a full out assault Mech (AC 20 +++, with everything that one can think of - the LosTech version), the other a 733 LRM Missle boat (3 LRM 20+++), a King Crab, with 2 AC 20+++ and just about everything that I can shove into it, and a Cyclops with the Battle Computer.

My Mechwarriors are all at 10 10 10 10, and all have high Resolve, not to mention that many have Resolve +2 Cockpits.

So I decide to go "Mech hunting" - that is, Precise shot everytime - and after a total of 16!!!!! Precise shots at 8 opponent Mechs at the Head...I get...

0 hits.

That is right.

0 hits.

I shot a total of 300 LRMs, 8 AC 20s, and a variety of lasers, SRMs, etc - not a SINGLE head hit!

ALL SHOTS WERE DONE WITH A 95% hit chance (my LRM boat has TWO Acc +3 TCCs!!!) and not a single head hit.

Yeah, yeah, I easily won the battle - only got scratched as most of the hits "somehow" found the Core...but I regress.

There is something reallly, REALLY wrong with the whole RNJesus system in this game!

Not only that, but I also shot in the same battle a Defense Turret - it had 4!!!! structure points left!!!! - without exploding! These are the orange points...I have, in all my battles to date, never seen this happen - most explode before that (while still white), but never last into ORANGE points!

So...can anyone beat this obvious XCOM 2 crud?

 

[WebShaman]

*sigh*

Just went through another battle like this - what a total waste of a system!

Yeah, yeah, no problem at all for my Mechs...sure.

But I really would like for my best Mechs, weapons, and Mechwarriors with 10 skills to actually make a difference...

I know, I know - too much to ask.

At least destroying turrets worked as it is supposed to this time!

 

[Jade_Rook]

A called shot to the head still only has an 18% chance of hitting the head with maxed out pilots. No gear will affect the location (also, I don't think two +3 TCC's stack, may want to check in battle).

LRMs are actually bad at head hits. The first missile from the launcher determines the center of the cluster and if that center isn't on the head then all other missiles from that launcher have a 0% chance of hitting the head. Those 300 LRMs only had 15 chance of hitting the head.

Assuming a total of 30 weapons fired, all with precision shot aimed at the head, the chance of none of them hitting the head is 0.25%. That is very unlikely. You got unlucky. It is also not impossible.

The turret just depends on how much total health it had, armor and structure, compared to how much you shot it with. I have had turrets and vehicles survive with a single point of structure left. It sucks, but that's how it works. Have to get to 0 structure to destroy things.

 

[EmptyPepsiCan]

There is something reallly, REALLY wrong with the whole RNJesus system in this game!

Maybe you should read up a bit on probability.

 

[Retic73]

I'm running a Wolverine with an AC2++ (+4 Accuracy). Had five shots in a row miss today. All were 95% to-hit, but they still all missed. It's not likely to happen, but 'not likely' isn't the same as 'never will'.

 

[Amechwarrior]

Try massed Medium Lasers or maybe 4-5LL or anything with a ton of support hardpoints and then go for the head. Single large shots leave a lot up to very few rolls. Many shots, like a GHR with all the ML and MGs you can pack will be rolling many, many times per PStrike and will wipe cockpits out in no time.

As mentioned above, LRMs are just about the worst tonnage/headshot weapons you can pick.

 

[Doctor Machete]

You had around 84% of not landing any LRM and 20% of not landing any AC20. If you want a good headcapper then mass MLs and SRMs, those two are the best weapons, by far. TTS don't help to aim, just to hit the mech and only for counter penalties. You can easily headcap everything.

Try massed Medium Lasers or maybe 4-5LL or anything with a ton of support hardpoints and then go for the head. Single large shots leave a lot up to very few rolls. Many shots, like a GHR with all the ML and MGs you can pack will be rolling many, many times per PStrike and will wipe cockpits out in no time.

As mentioned above, LRMs are just about the worst tonnage/headshot weapons you can pick.

Yep, a 7xML++ 6xSL+++ GRH is a real beast but it needs to get close and also it doesn't run very cool. Still very good for headcapping even in the late game. The issue with LRMs is not tonnage, their damage weight is unbeatable for a long range weapon, but some special mechanics.

 

[smurfopax]

Best head capping weapons in my opinion. Massed ML +dmg, massed PPC +dmg and massed LL +dmg, massed SL. AC20+++ are nice when they hit, but to reliable kill a Mech per round with headshots you need to game the system. That means bring as many weapon rolls as possible to the table, some will hit the head.
I'm not good with math but for example, 8x AC20+++ have a lower chance to hit the head once then 24 (or more) ML+++ to hit it 3 times. 3 ML hits to the head will kill a mech 100% same as 1 AC20+++ shot.

AC20+++ are great when you want to minimize received dmg. Dual AC20+++ with precise shot to the CT will in most cases kill a mech instantly. To kill 2-4 mechs with CT hits per round is a game changer in higher difficulty missions. And you will get new mechs faster with called shots to the CT then you would with headshots. You can do most missions without receiving enough DMG that you don't need to repair between missions, that adds up over a while.

 

[theCarthaginian]

It all comes down to the dice and how you make them work for you. For instance, I am having rather good luck with headshots this game, because my first heavy turned out to be a Black Knight. Now, as I play that mechs come unequipped when salvaged, I felt free to mount 3 LLas and 6 MLas on her. She is a headcapping machine even without Precise Shot, simply because she has 9 weapons mounted. She's also a brutal CT corer due to raw damage output...

she just gets cranky without a nap every couple of turns.

 

[WebShaman]

Well...thanks, I guess.

So what is the point then of getting to all 10s, having the best gear, weapons, etc, if it doesn't seem to make any difference from subpar stuff?

 

[smurfopax]

Oh it does make a huge difference. Try to land a headshot with a 5555 pilot, or even with a 555 10 pilot, you wont have fun.

 

[EmptyPepsiCan]

Well...thanks, I guess.

So what is the point then of getting to all 10s, having the best gear, weapons, etc, if it doesn't seem to make any difference from subpar stuff?

Maxing gunnery and tactics takes your Precision Shot headcapping odds from somewhere around 2% to around 19%. Going from 1 in 50 to 1 in 5 is a pretty big difference, no?

 

[Stadhouder]

It's almost like they designed the game like maxing out is not supposed to give you unlimited Mechs to salvage. It's an abomination.