what do I want out of my pilots who are doing the different roles? Which abilities synergize?
How do I build my mech warriors?
- Thread starter josefrees
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I like multi target with breaching shot and bulwark the most. I sometime substitute breaching shot for coolant flush if I know I'll be running a hotter mech.
I also like a sensor lock pilot with sure footing and ace pilot. This seems to work well for scouts and melee/brawler mechs when often on the move.
Those seem to be commonly what I pick.
I also like a sensor lock pilot with sure footing and ace pilot. This seems to work well for scouts and melee/brawler mechs when often on the move.
Those seem to be commonly what I pick.
I usually aim for at least one of the Guts 5/Piloting 5 abilities on most pilots, just for damage reduction.
After that, it becomes a bit more varied. A pilot I expect to toss missiles from long range will get Multi-target/Breaching Shot (the two gunnery abilities); I may even toss the defensive ability and go Sensor Lock (Tactics 5) for my second ability on this one, just because the tactics tree is so important for LRM-boats. You usually only need 1 of these in a mission, and they tend to be less likely to get injured/killed, so getting one is a high priority, but you can take your time on training up a second (although you'll want a backup eventually).
I rarely use multi-target on non-LRM-boats; I usually prefer to focus my fire and try to damage or cripple the enemy one at a time, as quickly as possible. The main reason I take it with long-range-missiles is because if your enemy is using bulwark and in cover/guarded, you will do almost no damage without breaching shot anyway, so you might as well be able to use breaching shot on your primary target and be able to spread the love to others as well.
Ace pilot can be deadly if you are extremely good; I am not that good, so I generally don't use it. I generally go for Master Tactician as my "default" second option, although I like to have a couple of coolant vent pilots for mechs that tend to run high heat (something like a Grasshopper loaded up with lasers and no access to fancier heat sinks yet).
But ultimately, it comes down to your play-style. I like master tactician because I enjoy running around with giant assault mechs and still being able to control the initiative, but if you prefer to run mostly smaller mechs, it will do very little for you as you are always already at a higher initiative than your opponents anyway, and you might seriously consider Ace Pilot instead. Conversely, because I am regularly running around with multiple Master Tacticians (who all have to have picked up sensor lock to get to that point), I have no need for a specialized Sensor Lock pilot, but if I were less addicted to Master Tactician, I'd probably want to include a Sensor Lock pilot in whatever other line-up I was using.
After that, it becomes a bit more varied. A pilot I expect to toss missiles from long range will get Multi-target/Breaching Shot (the two gunnery abilities); I may even toss the defensive ability and go Sensor Lock (Tactics 5) for my second ability on this one, just because the tactics tree is so important for LRM-boats. You usually only need 1 of these in a mission, and they tend to be less likely to get injured/killed, so getting one is a high priority, but you can take your time on training up a second (although you'll want a backup eventually).
I rarely use multi-target on non-LRM-boats; I usually prefer to focus my fire and try to damage or cripple the enemy one at a time, as quickly as possible. The main reason I take it with long-range-missiles is because if your enemy is using bulwark and in cover/guarded, you will do almost no damage without breaching shot anyway, so you might as well be able to use breaching shot on your primary target and be able to spread the love to others as well.
Ace pilot can be deadly if you are extremely good; I am not that good, so I generally don't use it. I generally go for Master Tactician as my "default" second option, although I like to have a couple of coolant vent pilots for mechs that tend to run high heat (something like a Grasshopper loaded up with lasers and no access to fancier heat sinks yet).
But ultimately, it comes down to your play-style. I like master tactician because I enjoy running around with giant assault mechs and still being able to control the initiative, but if you prefer to run mostly smaller mechs, it will do very little for you as you are always already at a higher initiative than your opponents anyway, and you might seriously consider Ace Pilot instead. Conversely, because I am regularly running around with multiple Master Tacticians (who all have to have picked up sensor lock to get to that point), I have no need for a specialized Sensor Lock pilot, but if I were less addicted to Master Tactician, I'd probably want to include a Sensor Lock pilot in whatever other line-up I was using.
Every time I move away from Bulwark + Master Tactician in a heavy or assault, I regret it. The ability to fire before the enemy's big guns is hugely advantageous once you have big guns of your own, even if you're not doing double-turn shenanigans to make them waste their fire on evasive 'mechs with up to 60% DR before ripping into them.
Mediums you can do a lot of stuff, but you usually want at least one-of Bulwark or Sure Footing, potentially both. What the non-defensive ability is can vary, and whether you go with AP or CV depends a lot on the weapon loadout and how you plan to engage with it. Something like a Phoenix Hawk, which can run really hot with the jumping and which wants to jump before firing anyway, I'd put someone in with CV and Sure Footing.
Mediums you can do a lot of stuff, but you usually want at least one-of Bulwark or Sure Footing, potentially both. What the non-defensive ability is can vary, and whether you go with AP or CV depends a lot on the weapon loadout and how you plan to engage with it. Something like a Phoenix Hawk, which can run really hot with the jumping and which wants to jump before firing anyway, I'd put someone in with CV and Sure Footing.
There's a few combinations of skills that give titles to your MechWarriors; that means their skills synergize well for that kind of role:
| None | Breaching Shot | Ace Pilot | Coolant Vent | Master Tactician |
None | Recruit | - | - | - | - |
Multi-target | Gunner | - | Flanker | Gladiator | Striker |
Sure Footing | Pilot | Skirmisher | - | Brawler | Scout |
Bulwark | Defender | Lancer | Outrider | - | Vanguard |
Sensor Lock | Tactician | Sharpshooter | Recon | Sentinel | - |
Personally, I prefer to have Lancers (Bulwark, Multi-target, Breaching Shot) for my backline, Outriders (Bulwark, Sure Footing, Ace Pilot) or Vanguards (Bulwark, Sensor Lock, Master Tactician) for my scouts and frontline.
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how is ace pilot skill based? Just wondering? It seems pretty straight forward
If you go with four assaults then Master Tactician is probably the best choice, so all of them are in the phase two and you get a low of flexibility regarding target acquisition. A Multi+Breaching is also quite good for pure LRM boats with +dmg but I still favor MT.
For lighter mechs (heavy and bellow) Ace Pilot I think is the best lvl 8 skill by far. It is very useful for hit & run, like reserving -> jump into range -> fire, and then fire -> jump out the next turn. But also is useful for other uses, like helping long range mechs to keep your distance from foes trying to get closer. You fire -> jump out, fire -> jump out, fire -> jump out... But you need JJs to extract the maximum effectiveness from Ace Pilot. It's not nearly as good without them, so with a mech like an Assassin + Coil combo Ace Pilot is not very good because a fire -> jump is not very effective with those weapons.
Also I don't think you need to be good for AP to be useful. You just need to get used. From what I've seen it seems to me a factor would be greed, some ppl want to have very high armor, very high firepower and then AP too. Doesn't work. You need good cooling for it to work well, to be able to alpha+fire very often, even if that means downgrading armor and/or firepower. If you do more damage but you can fire more often and often from better positions you end doing more damage and you become much harder to hit. Imagine that instead of JJs they're charging cells for a teleport device and you can teleport before of after attacking.
Coolant Vent is very good early on with the lightest mechs, because the cooling it provides is very considerable for what they can spend on it, but not really for heavier mechs.
For lighter mechs (heavy and bellow) Ace Pilot I think is the best lvl 8 skill by far. It is very useful for hit & run, like reserving -> jump into range -> fire, and then fire -> jump out the next turn. But also is useful for other uses, like helping long range mechs to keep your distance from foes trying to get closer. You fire -> jump out, fire -> jump out, fire -> jump out... But you need JJs to extract the maximum effectiveness from Ace Pilot. It's not nearly as good without them, so with a mech like an Assassin + Coil combo Ace Pilot is not very good because a fire -> jump is not very effective with those weapons.
Also I don't think you need to be good for AP to be useful. You just need to get used. From what I've seen it seems to me a factor would be greed, some ppl want to have very high armor, very high firepower and then AP too. Doesn't work. You need good cooling for it to work well, to be able to alpha+fire very often, even if that means downgrading armor and/or firepower. If you do more damage but you can fire more often and often from better positions you end doing more damage and you become much harder to hit. Imagine that instead of JJs they're charging cells for a teleport device and you can teleport before of after attacking.
Coolant Vent is very good early on with the lightest mechs, because the cooling it provides is very considerable for what they can spend on it, but not really for heavier mechs.
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The perk itself isn't necessarily skill based, but it works best with lighter mechs, both to be able to do things like "wait for the enemy to move, walk up to them and fire, then the next turn starts and you get to fire again and then run away" (which either requires you to use vigilance/other initiative manipulation or to have a mech that otherwise has an initiative advantage, i.e. a lighter mech), and because you aren't taking Master Tactician (which can seriously crimp your ability to mess with initiative in general if you are running around in an assault).
And being able to use lighter mechs to punch significantly above your weight is definitely skill based. If you aren't getting enough benefit from the Ace Pilot to counteract the limitations of the smaller mech, you might as well use a different skill (such as Master Tactician) that's more conducive to heavier mechs. On the other hand, if you are, it can be extremely powerful, more than making up for the smaller weapons loadout and hit points.
In-universe, in-canon, the Draconis Combine (House Kurita) does this quite a bit with Light lances consisting of PNT-9R Panthers and JR7-D Jenners. During the Beta Skirmish days it was easily possible to take Assault-class lances using a lance with two of each. It does require knowing exactly how far to push your heat, since both of those 'Mechs have issues with running hot. But if you want practice in abusing Light 'Mechs for fun and profit? Try running some Skirmishes with those four.
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