Flashpoint is great, but...

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

I´m very satisfied with the overall package and eager to see more flashpoint like content on the next DLCs, but a few things were less than ideal, and hopefully will be corrected or at least not repeated.

1- Lostech items with "+" were needed since day 1, as 3025 tech with "++ or +++" often outperform what should be the holy grail of mech equipment. But we got only the "+" with no real bonuses. I hope its a bug...

2- Faceless NPCs. I won´t ask for voice acting, but given how many faces were avaiable even for generic pilots since day 1, i doubt would have add much man hours/cost give a face to all NPCs we interact in flashpoints. So far about half are seen only in generic pilot suit...

3- Lack of Canopus shop and alliance flashpoint. The periphery "super-powers" are as costly to ally as any of the great houses. There should be equivalent rewards or less demands.
I hope not, but i imagine its the same regarding the Taurians.
The pirates give easier acess to black market, so its okay regarding the lack of stores, but i think should have an exclusive flashpoint for it too.

 

[Ancient Wraith]

The Magistracy does have two faction stores, although they are not marked as such on the map (Cate's Hold and Dunianshire if i remember right). Their inventory isn't amazing though. Lostech weapons could use a rework, even the base versions. The Medium Pulse Laser with 2 tons weight compared to the 1 of the normal one is a sad joke.

 

[Aleksandria]

A definite issue with lots of lostech and how it applies to this game is that most- if not all- of the advantage its meant to provide is in improving accuracy. Given the decision to make accuracy much higher in tabletop- coupled with our ability to consistently field elite mechwarriors after a point- the idea of "improving accuracy" is honestly kind of absurd when you're almost always shooting at 95% by the time you've got enough lostech to work with.

Maybe if we consistently needed to take our lance of assault mechs against hordes of lights accuracy would be a meaningful benefit, but when you're talking about fighting other assaults that can get up to a whopping 4-5 chevrons at best (and far more often are struggling to get one at all), having a more accurate medium laser is kinda meaningless when you're firing at the worlds most mobile apartment complex.

 

[Wissenschaft]

The Magistracy does have two faction stores, although they are not marked as such on the map (Cate's Hold and Dunianshire if i remember right). Their inventory isn't amazing though. Lostech weapons could use a rework, even the base versions. The Medium Pulse Laser with 2 tons weight compared to the 1 of the normal one is a sad joke.

I think the Magistracy alliance stores are bugged. Their store should offer as much as the other factions but it doesn't. Nor do the stores light up the map when you make the alliance.

 

[Ancient Wraith]

Lets say you have 50% chance to hit a target with a normal MLAS, that would be 55% with the Pulse and an extra 5 damage it is I think? So lets say you have a Hunchback 4-P and don't want to sacrifice a boatload of armor. Fit 4 Medium Pulse Lasers for 120 dmg and 55% acc or 8 stock MLAS for 200 dmg with 50% acc. I'd still go with the stock ones. It only really becomes a somewhat difficult decision if you have like 5%-10% chance to hit vs. 10% to 15% which just doesn't happen. And that doesn't even count the extra heat generation in.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

LosTech should be as much about greater range, lower heat, lower tonnage or lower space requirements than any non-LosTech counterpart.

That & some LosTech should grant special abilities that no counterpart can match, like being able to bypass armour, the ability to damage adjacent armour sections, the ability to break sensor locks.....that kind of thing.

 

[Fallenkezef]

LosTech should be as much about greater range, lower heat, lower tonnage or lower space requirements than any non-LosTech counterpart.

That & some LosTech should grant special abilities that no counterpart can match, like being able to bypass armour, the ability to damage adjacent armour sections, the ability to break sensor locks.....that kind of thing.

The thing is, lostech wasn't really that good and wasn't much better than "normal" gear. The biggest advantages in regards to lostech was endosteel internals and ferro-fibrous armour.

I have the star league sourcebooks and TROs, the main reason Star League kit was better was the fact that endo-steel and ferro-fibrous meant that Star League mechs could use more armour and weaponry for thier tonnage than IS mechs.

The Pulse lasers and ERPPCs on tabletop from that era are pretty much as they are ingame. The clans took the pulse lasers and erppcs and made them nasty but they won't show till 3050.

 

[Aleksandria]

Another thing worth noting: accuracy increases were a much bigger deal on tabletop (which uses 2d6) as opposed to this game (d20). Which means while a +2 accuracy buff is only 10% here, a +2 on tabletop could be a stunning 25% increase to your hit chance. If you were working with a 40% hit chance to start with, bumping that up to 65% makes a 2-ton M Pulse Laser look a lot more appealing- while the chance to land at least 1 hit is identical between 1 pulse and 2 regular lasers at that point, you're talking about huge heat savings. Almost any mech could handle firing 4 medium pulse lasers- very few could handle firing 8 mediums.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

The thing is, lostech wasn't really that good and wasn't much better than "normal" gear. The biggest advantages in regards to lostech was endosteel internals and ferro-fibrous armour.

I have the star league sourcebooks and TROs, the main reason Star League kit was better was the fact that endo-steel and ferro-fibrous meant that Star League mechs could use more armour and weaponry for thier tonnage than IS mechs.

The Pulse lasers and ERPPCs on tabletop from that era are pretty much as they are ingame. The clans took the pulse lasers and erppcs and made them nasty but they won't show till 3050.

Umm, wasn't that the point I just made re: lower tonnage & less space? Less heat makes sense too.

Also, though I recall that the SLDF era Electronic Warfare/Sensor set-ups were streets ahead of those fielded in 3025.

 

[Fallenkezef]

Another thing worth noting: accuracy increases were a much bigger deal on tabletop (which uses 2d6) as opposed to this game (d20). Which means while a +2 accuracy buff is only 10% here, a +2 on tabletop could be a stunning 25% increase to your hit chance. If you were working with a 40% hit chance to start with, bumping that up to 65% makes a 2-ton M Pulse Laser look a lot more appealing- while the chance to land at least 1 hit is identical between 1 pulse and 2 regular lasers at that point, you're talking about huge heat savings. Almost any mech could handle firing 4 medium pulse lasers- very few could handle firing 8 mediums.

Some very good points, could just need to scale up the acc bonus on pulse ingame to make them useful.

I normaly prefered gauss setups on tabletop, played allot of Jihad with Cappie stealth augmented lances. But I do remember a game where I thanked the gods for my Menshen's 4 pulse when I nailed a firemoth to the ground with them.

 

[Fallenkezef]

Umm, wasn't that the point I just made re: lower tonnage & less space? Less heat makes sense too.

Also, though I recall that the SLDF era Electronic Warfare/Sensor set-ups were streets ahead of those fielded in 3025.

Not really, the tech to make the endo-steel and ferro-fibrous is more than finding a weapon lying in warehouse. You had to build the mech from the ground up to include those systems. That tech was fully lost except for a few examples of mechs (such as the spolier mech from the campaign) that survived from that era. The advanced weapons where heavier and more heat intensive than standard kit just the SLDF mechs could carry more kit than an IS equivalent.

SLDF had ecm and beagle probes but those systems where pretty useful and could translate ingame. ECM would reduce or protect a mech from sensor lock and beagle probes could detect mechs further out.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Not really, the tech to make the endo-steel and ferro-fibrous is more than finding a weapon lying in warehouse. You had to build the mech from the ground up to include those systems. That tech was fully lost except for a few examples of mechs (such as the spolier mech from the campaign) that survived from that era. The advanced weapons where heavier and more heat intensive than standard kit just the SLDF mechs could carry more kit than an IS equivalent.

SLDF had ecm and beagle probes but those systems where pretty useful and could translate ingame. ECM would reduce or protect a mech from sensor lock and beagle probes could detect mechs further out.

Maybe you are right, but sometimes gameplay trumps realism. Having SLDF era weapons & equipment that are less heavy, bulky or heat intensive would make them better Flashpoint rewards than even a regular +++ IS weapon or piece of equipment.

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

And HBS don´t have to make an exact translation from TT.
Or else AC/2 would cause 10 dmg and LL would generate 24 heat.
They could give relevant pluses and/or rework stats to make lostech better than standart tech.

 

[mjbroekman]

The Magistracy stores aren't bugged. Maybe "under-stocked", but it's not a bug. They are behaving exactly the way the underlying itemCollections tell them to.

 

[Rustingbooger]

I enjoyedmost of the updates, but I have over 300 Medium Lasers, and I cant sell em. Maybe I can arm the Argo

 

[mjbroekman]

I enjoyedmost of the updates, but I have over 300 Medium Lasers, and I cant sell em. Maybe I can arm the Argo

Why can't you sell them?

 

[mAIOR]

For me, Pulse lasers should fire twice per round.

This way a normal ML would do 25 dmg at a 50% base chance
MPL would do 25 dmg at 50% base chance but it fires twice so on average 2 ML would do 25 dmg whereas 2 MPL would average 50 dmg. This way ++ and +++ standard weapons would never surpass lostech weapons.

 

[Rustingbooger]

Why can't you sell them?

For some reason, I belive it is a bug, the only thing that I am allowed to sell are any extra mechs. My shadow hawk pack wont even download, or if I select it, the entire downloading of the game stops and wont even try to download the game.

 

[Ken-Sw]

For some reason, I belive it is a bug, the only thing that I am allowed to sell are any extra mechs. My shadow hawk pack wont even download, or if I select it, the entire downloading of the game stops and wont even try to download the game.

Any chance you have a modded in mech in your storage - that can mess up the stores

 

[Aluminium Gerbil]

You don't need a modded mech. The BSC-27 that you get as a reward from a flashpoint breaks the store if you put it into storage. The store fixes itself if you take it out of storage but then the mech blips out of your mech bay forever.