I started a mission - Intelligence Agent - Three and a half skulls, and I brought 335 tons or 5 chevron icons worth of tonnage, all assaults (listed below). I started very close to the map edge and within two turns of assault mech sprinting, I had run into the first enemy, a 75 ton assault mech. The next turn, I found myself surrounded 180 degrees ahead and to the sides of me with a range of assault mechs and two heavy mechs. I started at the map edge and didn't have room to run away, except to the east through a large lake and then up some medium ridge lines, so I stood in the nearest trees for the 40% damage reduction from cover + bulwark pilot skill, while shooting full alpha each turn, and I used the morale skill on the mechs with the most damage to increase the damage reduction to 60% as often as I could. Maybe by the third round, I found myself facing eight mechs all at once, six within visual range and two sending LRM's as they approached. Three of the eight were catapult, LRM boats. Focusing the fire from all my mechs, I was able to down a heavy mech in one turn and disable an assault in one turn (lost arm or leg or knockdown), but probably two turns to kill an assault mech.
Long story short, four nice mechs with good weapons and 7-9 skill pilots just couldn't stand up to the simultaneous barrage from six assault mechs and two heavy mechs. I had just completed the 3 skull, dual part storyline about the abandoned LosTech fort, and I did very well, only losing the smallest mech in the second part and only some structural damage to one of my mechs in the first part, so I thought this 3.5 skull mission with my new 90 ton assault, two 80 ton assaults and one 85 ton assault would be a challenge, but not a blood bath. BTW, this was on normal difficulty.
Mechs:
Stalker 85 ton Assault LRM boat 220 alpha damage - 8 rounds before overheat without jets, full front armor (except CT), LRM 20 +++ with high stability and crit damage. Armor: 1240
Two Awesome-AWS-8Q Laser boats (7 laser hardpoints + 1 melee support) 230 alpha damage - 10 rounds before overheat, full front armor (except CT). Armor: 1280
Highlander 90 ton assault - 330 alpha damage with high stability damage - 8 rounds before overheat and full frontal armor (except CT). Armor: 1480
I like to keep high armor on my mechs because I use +++ weapons whenever I can.
Questions:
1. Does the game scale the strength of opponents on a mission to reflect your own drop tonnage? If I had brought only medium mechs to a 3.5 skull mission, would I have faced fewer assault mechs?
2. I've never used two Awesome AWS-8Q laser boats and I'm not so sure that lasers are good weapons against larger opponents. They do no stability damage, and they also seem to spread their damage around the target assault mech. I'm wondering if a laser boat is a good choice for a mech. I'm only on day 550, so I don't have many choices for larger mechs, and I don't prefer the playstyle with one light mech and three larger mechs. It's too easy for me to make a mistake, and I play for fun. I was surprised when I saw two mechs standing after being hit by my laser boats and they still had all their limbs, but most of the mech was orange, indicating only structure remained. I don't think I've seen anything like that when I've used missile boats and auto-cannons. The damage is usually more centralized or arms and legs have been blown off. Are lasers bad for late-game?
3. The mission was clearly weighted for salvage, with the max pay being half of a normal 3 skull mission, but salvage going up to 5/21, so I expected to run into a lot of mechs. Was this simply an unbalanced mission with bad initial positioning (no room to maneuver and all 8 mechs in the same area), or is something else going on, like too many laser boats, etc.?
I watch YouTube playthroughs and I've yet to see a Tuber run into a similar mission. Any thoughts on how to handle things better? Assault mechs don't move very quickly, and I thought it better to stay in cover for at least 40% damage reduction than to try and move very slowly (one chevron) while shooting in the open and taking 100% damage. Still it was not enough. The enemy was simply too strong. I think I might have lost with four 100 ton mechs at my disposal. Thoughts?
Edit: I just realized the Catapult is a heavy mech, so there were five heavy mechs and three assault mechs, all firing at the same time, and the three Catapult (LRM versions) were especially deadly.
Long story short, four nice mechs with good weapons and 7-9 skill pilots just couldn't stand up to the simultaneous barrage from six assault mechs and two heavy mechs. I had just completed the 3 skull, dual part storyline about the abandoned LosTech fort, and I did very well, only losing the smallest mech in the second part and only some structural damage to one of my mechs in the first part, so I thought this 3.5 skull mission with my new 90 ton assault, two 80 ton assaults and one 85 ton assault would be a challenge, but not a blood bath. BTW, this was on normal difficulty.
Mechs:
Stalker 85 ton Assault LRM boat 220 alpha damage - 8 rounds before overheat without jets, full front armor (except CT), LRM 20 +++ with high stability and crit damage. Armor: 1240
Two Awesome-AWS-8Q Laser boats (7 laser hardpoints + 1 melee support) 230 alpha damage - 10 rounds before overheat, full front armor (except CT). Armor: 1280
Highlander 90 ton assault - 330 alpha damage with high stability damage - 8 rounds before overheat and full frontal armor (except CT). Armor: 1480
I like to keep high armor on my mechs because I use +++ weapons whenever I can.
Questions:
1. Does the game scale the strength of opponents on a mission to reflect your own drop tonnage? If I had brought only medium mechs to a 3.5 skull mission, would I have faced fewer assault mechs?
2. I've never used two Awesome AWS-8Q laser boats and I'm not so sure that lasers are good weapons against larger opponents. They do no stability damage, and they also seem to spread their damage around the target assault mech. I'm wondering if a laser boat is a good choice for a mech. I'm only on day 550, so I don't have many choices for larger mechs, and I don't prefer the playstyle with one light mech and three larger mechs. It's too easy for me to make a mistake, and I play for fun. I was surprised when I saw two mechs standing after being hit by my laser boats and they still had all their limbs, but most of the mech was orange, indicating only structure remained. I don't think I've seen anything like that when I've used missile boats and auto-cannons. The damage is usually more centralized or arms and legs have been blown off. Are lasers bad for late-game?
3. The mission was clearly weighted for salvage, with the max pay being half of a normal 3 skull mission, but salvage going up to 5/21, so I expected to run into a lot of mechs. Was this simply an unbalanced mission with bad initial positioning (no room to maneuver and all 8 mechs in the same area), or is something else going on, like too many laser boats, etc.?
I watch YouTube playthroughs and I've yet to see a Tuber run into a similar mission. Any thoughts on how to handle things better? Assault mechs don't move very quickly, and I thought it better to stay in cover for at least 40% damage reduction than to try and move very slowly (one chevron) while shooting in the open and taking 100% damage. Still it was not enough. The enemy was simply too strong. I think I might have lost with four 100 ton mechs at my disposal. Thoughts?
Edit: I just realized the Catapult is a heavy mech, so there were five heavy mechs and three assault mechs, all firing at the same time, and the three Catapult (LRM versions) were especially deadly.
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