How do you play?

[stjobe]

Having played through the campaign a few times, and realising that the start-middle of the game is much more to my preference than the middle-late part, I have made some adjustments to both the game and how I play it to maximise my enjoyment - and now I'm curious if you guys have any tricks to make the game keep your interest.

To start off, I thought I'd explain which parts of the game I enjoy the most, and then what I have done to prolong those parts.

I think the game is at its best in the early and middle parts, when you're dropping with mediums and lights, heavies are rare, and assaults non-existent. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good Steiner Scout Lance as much as anybody, but I like the way the game plays a lot better before it's my four assaults versus the AI's twelve assaults. When evasions still works and not all shots hit.

To maximise the parts of the game I most enjoy, I usually play the game up to just before Weldry - in fact the last campaign I played stretched over 1,500 in-game days, with over 100 missions done, and in that campaign I still haven't liberated Weldry...

I've also modified the starting lance a bit, for two reasons: One is that I don't especially like the Blackjack, and the other is that getting three mediums from the start kind of defeats the purpose of playing with lights a bit. So instead of the regular starting lance, I have this one:

• Player 'Mech: SHD-2H Shadow Hawk
• Glitch: PNT-9R Panther
• Behemoth: COM-2D Commando
• Dekker: JR7-D Jenner
• Medusa: SDR-5V Spider

(Modded SimGameConstants.json for my starter lance)

I also set the difficulty to 5 pieces of salvage, unequipped 'Mechs, 'Mech destruction, and Skip Prologue:

(Difficulty settings for my campaigns)

Then I play the Majesty Metals mission, and once that's done I promptly kick Glitch, Behemoth, Dekker, and Medusa off the team and hire Rookies to replace them - I love the original gang, but playing with the same MechWarriors every time is a bit much.

(The starting line-up)

After that, I'll putter about the first four worlds for a bit before Benefactor and then Capture the Argo becomes available. Once those are done, I'm pretty much set - I can travel around the whole neutral part of the Periphery and take missions ranging from half-skull to three skulls.

So that's how I play the game these days, how about you? What special mods/ways of playing do you use to keep your BattleTech itch scratched until Flashpoint/Career Mode hits?

 

[unclecid]

well...first off i always RP it....i play as a merc commander with each unit in a lance having a specific though flexible role ( i am not into the min/max munchie thing. nothing against ti just not for me)
difficulty settings for me change not only each time i start anew but also as i play thru depending on moods
i put thought into each commander and company name and how they do things for each playthru.
i did 3 complete campaigns in vanilla then did a 4th with some mods.
on 4th playthru i am using a messloads of mods i have collected and am doing a sandbox merc life sans campaign with a side deal of doing the pokemech challenge.
i have made this more difficult by amonsgst other mods using the inner sphere map, jks variants and HotD.
so far 1600 plus days in and have only collected about 1/3.
i expect it to keep me busy until flashpoint drops.

 

[scJazz]

same settings as you stjobe...
I do use the original mechs and pilots though. This gives me a reasonable feel for how well I am doing.
I am still using Vanilla though.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

Oddly enough, I play it exactly the same apart from not modding the starting line-up, but that's because I've never really thought to do it. All told I really like your starting mech line-up and next campaign start I'll probably give it a try.

About the only big difference being I still like playing with heavies for a bit, at least until I get a couple of usable assaults, and then it's back to the beginning.

Definitely can't wait for Career Mode to land so that there are fewer hoops to jump through to get this style of play going.

 

[Unruly Marmite]

Personally I like the stage of the game when Heavies and Mediums are both around the most, possibly competing with the point where Heavies and Assaults are both around. So to that end I usually play until the second Panzyr mission, at which point I go adventuring.

I've modded the starting lances in my two most recent campaigns, both times going for something that's sort of the same. I think I went for Griffin 1N, Commando, Panther and Shadowhawk last time. This time I've started with Wolverine, Hunchback, Urbanmech and Commando. Technically better? Don't know, but it lets me use different mechs. That's always fun.

 

[stjobe]

One of the benefits to me of playing the game this way is that the tension on low-skull missions go way up - a HBK-4G, CN9-A, or a KTO-18 are really, really scary opponents when you drop in lights and mediums - and dual LRM-15s means a Trebuchet is Death on Legs. Vehicles are also not just a nuisance to stomp on like they are when you start with mediums (not to mention when you get to heavies/assaults) - I lost a MechWarrior and their pristine Locust to a Scorpion Light Tank that got around the Locust's back and put an AC/5 through the rear CT. Kaboom, 'Mech destroyed and MechWarror KIA...

In the vanilla game, once you get a good line-up of mediums (and even moreso when you get heavies), the "danger level" of the enemies tend to go down - one shot won't kill you unless it's an AC/20 to the head, and that's rather rare. In a light, a ML might strip the armour completely in one location, forcing me to baby that 'Mech a bit so as not to lose it, and that makes my initial plan not always survive all that many rounds of combat - forcing me to think on my feet to be able to pull the missions off, and that's a very interesting way for me to play.

Also, since lights tend to be fast-moving and agile, there's a lot more maneuvering involved throughout the missions, and less "walk into these woods and bulwark here for the rest of the mission while the enemy comes to you", which is also a good thing.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Right now I have challenged myself to see if I might be able to complete the Campaign with only a Medium Mech lance.

This is a tricky one because I think I can do it with skilled pilots (8+ in every skill) and some '+' weapons in the Mediums. I haven't changed any of the game difficulty from default (only thing I did was to select the skip tutorial missions). I know late game I probably won't be able to take side contracts, so I am going to try and save money, fully upgrade the Argo, and train pilots early, and then at some point just make a run for the end of the campaign.

I am save scumming though since I don't know how this is going to turn out overall. It will be interesting to see if I can pull it off. Since the AI has become a bit harder with the later patches, this might also be a bit out of my capabilities. Still, I figure it is worth a go anyway.

 

[r0n1n76]

Having played through the campaign a few times, and realising that the start-middle of the game is much more to my preference than the middle-late part, I have made some adjustments to both the game and how I play it to maximise my enjoyment - and now I'm curious if you guys have any tricks to make the game keep your interest.

To start off, I thought I'd explain which parts of the game I enjoy the most, and then what I have done to prolong those parts.

I think the game is at its best in the early and middle parts, when you're dropping with mediums and lights, heavies are rare, and assaults non-existent. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good Steiner Scout Lance as much as anybody, but I like the way the game plays a lot better before it's my four assaults versus the AI's twelve assaults. When evasions still works and not all shots hit.

To maximise the parts of the game I most enjoy, I usually play the game up to just before Weldry - in fact the last campaign I played stretched over 1,500 in-game days, with over 100 missions done, and in that campaign I still haven't liberated Weldry...

I've also modified the starting lance a bit, for two reasons: One is that I don't especially like the Blackjack, and the other is that getting three mediums from the start kind of defeats the purpose of playing with lights a bit. So instead of the regular starting lance, I have this one:

• Player 'Mech: SHD-2H Shadow Hawk
• Glitch: PNT-9R Panther
• Behemoth: COM-2D Commando
• Dekker: JR7-D Jenner
• Medusa: SDR-5V Spider

View attachment 404712
(Modded SimGameConstants.json for my starter lance)

I also set the difficulty to 5 pieces of salvage, unequipped 'Mechs, 'Mech destruction, and Skip Prologue:

View attachment 404713
(Difficulty settings for my campaigns)

Then I play the Majesty Metals mission, and once that's done I promptly kick Glitch, Behemoth, Dekker, and Medusa off the team and hire Rookies to replace them - I love the original gang, but playing with the same MechWarriors every time is a bit much.

View attachment 404718
(The starting line-up)

After that, I'll putter about the first four worlds for a bit before Benefactor and then Capture the Argo becomes available. Once those are done, I'm pretty much set - I can travel around the whole neutral part of the Periphery and take missions ranging from half-skull to three skulls.

So that's how I play the game these days, how about you? What special mods/ways of playing do you use to keep your BattleTech itch scratched until Flashpoint/Career Mode hits?

I suggest the 1.2.1 ability revision(aka public preview on steam beta) it changes the game and thus the way the game plays a tad.... makes for more fun, fast moving gameplay by changing the abilities somewhat.

 

[DevIO]

I had the same experience with OP - the early-mid game was the best part for me. Just like you I changed my starting lance, though I kept my Blackjack and gave the team lights (Commando, Jenner, Panther, Locust) and had the same difficulty settings as yours. You really feel the down-on-his luck merc commander, scraping by every mission, not sure if you're going to meet the payroll next month, or if you'll be forced to do a drop with less than a full lance. With this kind of early game setup, even certain mediums and heavies almost feel like 'boss' battles -- and for me these were the best moments in the game:

- I remember sending my Panther (Dekker!) solo to kite 2 Hunchback 4Gs that appeared as reinforcements while I struggled to assassinate a Shadowhawk 2D and its light escorts.
- There was this base defense mission where I barely survived a wave of lights and vehicles, only to have the last mech be a fully armored Black Knight slowly making it's way up our hill.
- Exchanging fire against 2 bulwarked Jagermechs with my similarly bulwarked Blackjack, trying to draw their attention while my Jenner and Commando swung behind a hill to hit their cores from behind and hope for an ammo explosion.

No campaign/story mission felt as memorable as the above 3.

 

[UncleGamer]

So I play a modded game with things like Basic Panic, Pilot Fatigue and Pilot Quirks. for starting a new campaign I set my salvage to 5, pilot advancement to slow and destruction on. Then I use a mod, Random Campaign Start. I set the mod to give me two random medium mechs, turn off the ancestral mech, give 3 light mechs and then give me 4 random, none advanced pilots.

I use the open map choice to give me an open map right from the start and then throw in campaign missions as I like at my own pace.

 

[Amechwarrior]

My current game, when I get in the mood to play instead of working on my AI mod. This is also done with my Better AI mod, it's really stretched the early-mid game as I can't just play for salvage like stock. I'm fighting to just live and make a profit. I just got my second heavy, a Dragon to go with my Quickdraw. My boondoggle heavies are really slowing me down and even though I've fought an Orion once, it just had to be wiped out ASAP without regard for salvage.

 

[UncleGamer]

Right now I have challenged myself to see if I might be able to complete the Campaign with only a Medium Mech lance.

Not sure about the campaign but I like playing this style. We are on the Periphery, Medium and Light mechs should be the mainstay of ANY force. Heavy Mechs might be seen with actual faction forces but should be harder to come by and a serious issue when on the battlefield. An Assault mech should be like the fist of God in a fight. Having more than one Assault or heavy in a lance to me pulls a bit at the immersion (IMO).

 

[stjobe]

I've fought an Orion once, it just had to be wiped out ASAP without regard for salvage.

This is exactly the thing - in the vanilla game, I had the luxury of trying to maximise salvage by headshots, knockdowns, and so on, but in this game configuration if a heavy shows up it just has to die ASAP or it will wipe my lance off the map.

Hell, even tough mediums gets the "kill it with fire" treatment when you know an unlucky hit will take an arm or a leg off and send your 'Mech to Mr. Virtanen for a month or more.

And that's why I have salvage set at five instead of eight; five is hard enough to scrape together, eight would mean I probably never would see any change in my line-up.

 

[Democratus]

My set up for a fun campaign are very similar:

• Mech Destruction on CT loss
• 5 salvage for new mech
• Unequipped mechs
• Slow mechwarrior progression

And added to this, I only allow myself to play with stock mech loadouts. Whatever the "normal" equipment is for a mech from the factory - that's what it gets.

I do allow to replace any item with an identical + or ++ item.

I'd never thought of changing the staring mechs. I think maybe I'll start with all Locusts next time around and see how that works out.

 

[JD Black]

Just completed campaign after like 2000 days plus, I like the OP's original ideas a bunch and may try it next.

Unless I can get some mods to work...

I just enjoy the progression up to about Heavies. Once you get your first Assault, in just a few more missions that is all your running and fighting. Not at all like the Lore.

*Shrug*

 

[unclecid]

these are the mods i am currently using with my pokemech sandbox

 

[Retic73]

I have the 1.2 patch, use no mods and still have all of the settings set for the original vanilla play-through. I have a couple of different games at various points in the timeline that I use depending on my mood and/or time I have available to play. For variety's sake, I like to research merc units (equipment, tactics, etc...) and then run campaigns based on what I've gleaned from the lore even to the point of forcibly limiting armor and ammo on some of my mechs.

 

[UncleGamer]

these are the mods i am currently using with my pokemech sandbox

I looked at the IS map and in the end decided against it. The "premise" of the game is your a small Merc unit. Opening the whole map, for me feels like you are giving your small compnay way to much credit. I like working the periphery, just feels about the right size and region for your company.

 

[unclecid]

I looked at the IS map and in the end decided against it. The "premise" of the game is your a small Merc unit. Opening the whole map, for me feels like you are giving your small compnay way to much credit. I like working the periphery, just feels about the right size and region for your company.

i getcha...but i want access to MORE of the periphery kingdoms and of course my beloved Combine.
for whom i keep getting contracts to go against the Outworlds.
i just got done doing a buncha of contracts for the Oberon against Circinius.

 

[Val Kearis]

I'm playing mostly vanilla. I role play that each warrior has their own mech, and only the one who kills something can upgrade. I'm not salvaging mech parts, only weapons or equipment, unless they drop in the random, and I only buy a piece if it gives me enough to complete a mech, and I will hire a new warrior (to play that it's their mech when they sign on)