Eck's Battletech Tactical Combat Guide

[ronhatch]

Hmmm... Interesting confluence of the mechanics here.

In a missile volley, each missile rolls a chance to hit and a hit location. When you use a called shot, the head is (usually) assigned about a 2% chance. This would suggest that a volley of 40 or so LRMs would have a significant of getting a head hit and therefore a pilot injury....

I find this to be a revelation, since I'm used to the old tabletop rules where LRMs are rolled in groups of 5, not individually.

In the beta, LRMs were not as good at headhunting as might be expected because they added a new clustering system. The first location roll influences the location roll for all subsequent missiles, and the head is excluded unless the first missile hit the head. SRMs and machine guns are thus better headhunters than LRMs. Unless they changed how it works, of course.

 

[Killuelihie]

Great Guide Erk,

noticed one point, i didn't see in the comments here:

You say concentrate on the CT to kill the enemy Mech fast. Maybe it's random, but i notived that CT killed Mechs in the Campaign only give 1 of 3 Mech.. uh.. Salvageparts.
(Which is logical, bacuse almost all Mechs carry their Fusionreactor in the Centertorso of the Chassis. Direct Hit to it and there isn't much left to salvage except for Limbs.)
So if you want to get your Hands on a specific Mech fast, you should focus on grilling its Legs, injuring the Pilot as much as possivle.
Flamers work pretty good for that, as long as the enemy Mech isn't carrying Ammunition.

Dunno if that's worth adding to the Guide though =)

 

[HBS_Eck]

In the beta, LRMs were not as good at headhunting as might be expected because they added a new clustering system. The first location roll influences the location roll for all subsequent missiles, and the head is excluded unless the first missile hit the head. SRMs and machine guns are thus better headhunters than LRMs. Unless they changed how it works, of course.

Yeah I thought the clustering logic of LRMs got ripped out since the beta but it didn't. Wherever the first missile hits, the rest of the missiles will cluster in and around that location. If the first hit doesn't hit the head, then head is taken off of that rack.

@Killuelihie - I'll put in a note about focusing the legs for salvage next time I do an editing pass.

 

[sbrengard]

Needs an offline version in pdf or word format

 

[TorCha]

Dear HBS_Eck
I Cannot find your guid on steam. I have it from the Link But When i hunt for it on Steam I cannot find it. Is it Private?

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Dear HBS_Eck
I Cannot find your guid on steam. I have it from the Link But When i hunt for it on Steam I cannot find it. Is it Private?

Nope, the Guide was a public one. Hmm... let me see if I can help... brb

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Dear HBS_Eck
I Cannot find your guid on steam. I have it from the Link But When i hunt for it on Steam I cannot find it. Is it Private?

Chris Eck's guide is not located with the other 30-BATTLETECH guides: https://steamcommunity.com/app/637090/guides/

Chris' guide is located here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/eck314/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=637090

I hope this helps reach it. :bow:

 

[HeadWar]

It's possible to score more than one critical hit in one location with one volley. I've had volleys both do two crits to one weapon, destroying it, and two crits to separate weapons, damaging both. I've seen this when the affected location was the only one with breached armor afterwards, so it's not that critical hits "transfer" somehow.

 

[mjbroekman]

Correct. If multiple weapons strike the same location and do structure damage, you will get critical hit chances for each of them.

The sole exception to that is head hits with missiles. You will only ever get 1 head hit per launcher per volley. So 1 LRM20 will only ever generate 1 head hit even though it hits multiple locations.

 

[HeadWar]

Could a single LRM, SRM or MG score multiple crits in one location?

 

[mjbroekman]

Could a single LRM, SRM or MG score multiple crits in one location?

Outside of the head, I believe so.

The head is the only "special" hit location for missiles. The rules for missiles look something like this:
- Check to see if the first cluster hits the head.
- If yes, then register a head hit and take the head out of the list of possible hit locations.
- If no, then take the head out of the list of possible hit locations.
- Find hit locations for the rest of the missile clusters.

So if multiple missile clusters hit, for example, a side torso packed with ammo...you would have multiple chances to crit that ammo (or other things in that component).

 

[HeadWar]

Guess I'll keep my eyes open, it's not that unusual that you fire a single LRM20 at something.