Less reinforcements please...

[easix6]

Perhaps not reinforcements nearly every [mod edit: please keep the language to relatively clean] mission would be nice. I was fielding a Centurion, Shadow Hawk, Vindicator and Blackjack and a couple times in the past two days (on 2 skull missions) had pretty much all 55 ton mechs in opfor and then had reinforcements of all 55 ton mechs that showed up before I could even knock down one of the original mechs for the mission. I was slaughtered - multiple times.

That isn't fun. To be annihilated multiple times and subjected to essentially eliminate two full lances of 55 ton mechs to defeat when I have one 55 ton mech and 50's and 45's with two skull strength. If I'm contracting for 2 skull missions, I should reasonably expect to face equal force - not every d@mned mission has to be stacked against me - oh and then the reinforcements...

The game has become not very fun to play under these circumstances. Nice game for the most part, but I'm not looking for challenge to the point that I essentially don't want to play the game anymore because it seems that the skull difficulty doesn't match what you encounter. It seems skewed.

I realize that I don't have to finish the missions, I can leave / withdraw at any time. Point is, I shouldn't have to if the difficulty realistically matches what is advertised. Plus, it would be nice to have a chance to eliminate the original mech opfor prior to the damned reinforcements spawned immediately

I like the game, but if it becomes a source of frustration for me instead of fun and downtime from the stresses of life - if it becomes a source of stress for me I can simply choose not to play at all and not purchase any further updates or expansions for it. As the title suggests, less reinforcements would be appreciated - especially if it makes the game unenjoyable and frustrating to play. I play to avoid the frustrations of life and as an outlet to diminish stress - NOT add to it.

 

[Jolly Joker]

Your list of mechs - Centurion, Shadow Hawk, Vindicator and Blackjack means, you are at the very beginning of the campaign, because the Centurion is a mech presented to you, I think, after the first campaign mission.
Now, the thing is, that at this stage you and your pilots don't have much in terms of stats and skills, and you are also probably not into modifying your mechs and what a specific mission discription means.

2-skull missions should only be taken, when no easier ones are avialble anymore! This gives you ample opportunity to salvage other mechs and to modify them to better effect.

Then there is general tactics and mission strategy versus game progression. It makes no sense to increase difficulty, by immediately fielding heavier mechs, because that gives you access to them as well. Instead, before that, you are confronted with MORE medium mechs, and via reinforcements is obviously better than facing 2 enemy lances at the same time. Which means, you have to find ways to kill the lance at hand fast and effective. It's vital to make sure you move as far as possible to get evasion and to make use of cover. Also, the Bulwark skill is pretty good, while the Vigilance perk is helpful as well, all things that come with time.

So my advice is, play missions the boring way - by picking the easiest one available.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

The BIG problem is that it's often difficult to obtain or determine what the easier missions are for lighter lances.

When your running a lance like x6 described, 3 and 4 skull missions should not even BE appearing on the MRBC boards. No matter your skill at the game, there is a threshold where the opfor is simply too heavy or numerous for a reasonable victory.

That includes just squeaking one off, but coming back with trashed or badly shot up mechs, and pilots in the medbay for weeks if not outright dead.

From a business point of view it's incredibly bad business, and despite the dev claims to have fixed with wide variance in mission difficulty per rating, the reality is nothing really nothing at all has been done to to fix this.

The biggest issue is the nearly, constantly present reinforcements. The game deviates far too much from tabletop in this. Mechs are simply not made to take on double their force in numbers or tonnage. It simply doesn't occur on tabletop, other than BT historical scenarios where one side lost under specifics.

A lot of units would have an XO as grossly incompetent as Darius up on charges.

Ive had to restart multiple times from a save point because of mission that was nowhere near its MRBC rating, and much of the ones you just squeak through end up paying more pea gravel than actual C-bills. The game is wildly unrealistic to the existing IP material in this guard.

Typically, a unit is NOT going to throw itself uselessly at a much larger force except in desperation. The idea of mech commanders going in and overcoming multiple opponents really only comes out of novels about elite units where the main players have plot armor like battleships.

A game has to remain challenging to stay fun and playable, WITHIN certain limits of reward vs effort, and here is where an otherwise spectacularly good game fails badly, and the 'reinforcements' are a big part of why.

How many missions begin with Darius' warning that 'this looks like a good place for an ambush'?

...and yet, you dropped us off there.

 

[Jolly Joker]

Completely disagree, sorry.
The game actually pampers the players enough by putting a skull label on them, ranging from 1/2 to 5 skulls. The missions are jobs offered that you may take on or not, as it should be, and it's up to YOU, not Darius, to decide what you are prepared to risk and willing to have a go at. There is nothing wrong with that in the slightest - I wouldn't want the game to tell me what I can do and what not, by showing me missions only I can (and consequently HAVE to) win handsomely. (Not to mention that OP is talking about 2-skull missions.)
Also, when you read the descriptions, you may opt to keep away from missions that come with "we actually don't know much about what we are up against".

Then there are some missions that aren't straightforward shootouts.

Lastly, the AI isn't really a match for the player.

As I said above, reinforcements are a convenient way to increase the difficulty without actually fielding heavier mechs (and by that give players early access to them). It's also not so far-fetched: you engage a Scout Lance of 4 Light mechs - and surprisingly enough they scout for a beefier lance that comes to the rescue. Without "Reinforcements" missions would lose an important element that makes things more interesting and unpredictable and allow better difficulty progression.

I mean, this isn't a game where you even SHOULD manage to survive an encounter unscathed. That's why you get salvage, that's why you acquire new mechs. Mechs may die (Pilots can eject), and I don't think there is anything wrong with THAT either.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

Completely disagree, sorry.
The game actually pampers the players enough by putting a skull label on them, ranging from 1/2 to 5 skulls. The missions are jobs offered that you may take on or not, as it should be, and it's up to YOU, not Darius, to decide what you are prepared to risk and willing to have a go at.

You're absolutely incorrect on the first point, and more correct on the second, but the game mechanics don't allow for it.

Having a rating isn't 'pampering', that's called tactical assessment, [Mod edit: flamebait], and no smart businessman (which is what we are as mercs), while he or she knows business carries risk, is going to blindly walk into a slaughter, which is what a lot of these can become because of a VERY poor Intel mechanism in the game .

THAT IS THE XO' S J. O. B. Providing proper intel, and that ain't happening in the majority of mission.

They didn't even give us maps for predrop analysis, like previous incarnations of the game. Nor any accurate assessment of the opfor.

The fact is that we're dropping mostly blind in most of these strikes, and that ain't how it works in the real world, not if victory is high on your priorities list.

Yes, it ultimately is the CO's job to make the call on whether or not to drop, but the fault is not on us if the game by default is shoddy intel.

 

[Jolly Joker]

[Mod edit: report disrespect, do not reply to it.]

"Tactical assessment" is the wrong word. It's a difficulty assessment. Generally spoken, you can have either an already streamlined, sondensed difficulty assessment - which is, what you have here as skulls - or get more details for the mission, so that the difficulty assessment was completely up to YOU (why should you get the details AND the skulls - that makes no sense).

True, getting more details and NO skull rating would be more interesting, but then there would be even more people complaining about how unfair everything is set up and that they get mauled all the time.

 

[Havamal]

Greetings Mechwarriors

Please post with civility and respectfully even in critique and disagreement.

Please post topically towards discussion and not at each other personally.

Please remember to agree to disagree.

Posts choosing not to take this advice may experience Jump Drive malfunctions to the Far country to be used as nesting materials by the locals.

Thank you.

 

[easix6]

Thanks for the input fella's. I suppose my gripe more or less is that nearly every mission has reinforcements and they frequently spawn before you are even able to knock out the original opfor. I suppose you could try to LRM boat them and draw them to you or something, or as you suggest just go for the easy missions. Just got a bit frustrated with it. Good day!

 

[Confector Tyrannis]

Thanks for the input fella's. I suppose my gripe more or less is that nearly every mission has reinforcements and they frequently spawn before you are even able to knock out the original opfor. I suppose you could try to LRM boat them and draw them to you or something, or as you suggest just go for the easy missions. Just got a bit frustrated with it. Good day!

I would recommend also taking a moment right when you drop to identify the closest map borders (preferably a corner) so you can have a pretty good idea where you are, where the objectives are in relation to you (and borders) and then look at where potential enemy locations may be.

9/10 times when I spawn the 2nd lance early, it's because I was trying to flank too far forward or charge too far forward, once i started changing my initial contact response to either 'hold in place' (in cover) or fall BACK to cover (making them come to me) it is a very rare day I trip a reinforcement wave without being in a position to easily handle it

 

[bobucles]

Your mechs are going to be outnumbered and outgunned on pretty much every mission ever. You can't do much to change a mech's damage potential once it's on the field, but you can do a lot to control how much damage they take. Abuse line of sight, evasion and stacked defense every chance you get. Make sure that taking damage with 40-60% damage reduction is the norm for your mechs, and cry every time a mech takes damage with 0% DR. Don't forget to stack those evasion pips! Every new pip is more powerful than the last, so try to keep a constant 5+ evasion on all your mechs under fire.

 

[Simon1812]

dude after your pilots get experience, more weapons , better mechs, those missions will start to look too easy....and we will be here to read your thread complaining about that too...stick with one and a half skulls for a couple of in-game months.

" Centurion, Shadow Hawk, Vindicator and Blackjack" really? what weapons? which role plays each mech in your lance? vindicator can put some decent firepower and manage the heat well enough to pull some alpha strikes every couple of turns, shadow hawk is...I would trade it for a firestarter if possible(2xM lasers,6xMG or 6x flame throwers+ whatever) or anything, anything is better than the shadow hawk. the BJ can be decent sniper if you can add 2x L lasers to its build and keep it at a safe range ideally though get a missile boating mech. The centurion, it wishes it was a heavy mech, it isn't, and it suffers for it, but it can still serve a purpose.

If the enemy is divided in two groups, I would recommend that the centurion distract the weakest group, while the rest of your lance engages the stronger group, keep them both separated for as long as possible.

if for some misfortune the enemies are so close together, you have to run, use terrain to your advantage while their faster mech gain onto you, the slowest ones will be left behind, specially if they lack jump jets. you can still use your centurion to stall their lowest mech even further but avoid getting the attention from their faster runners...yes your centurion is a glorified punching bag

avoid fighting in open field when outnumbered. even if they all have LRMs it isn't nearly half as bad as if fighting in open field.

if there is a lake, try to use it, it means more alpha strikes for your lance.

if you can beat 2 lances while only losing 1 1/2 mechs (and possibly a pilot) keep it, it also depends on how the fight goes in terms of loot, like....did you manage to kill and enemy pilot while causing minimum damage to the mech? it would mean you get a whole mech, you can use or sell it.

for future references , don't just throw a bunch of mech into a mission and then expect it to go well, give every mech in your lance a specialized role to fulfill, have a strategy, even if it is a bad one, just start somewhere and then refine your style .

 

[The Shadowhawke]

The early months of a campaign or career are the hardest, because all of the lights and mediums are useful, but their overall firepower and armor is only so good when outnumbered.

The breakthrough, at least for me, is acquiring your first, dedicated missile boats. In terms of tonnage, the first is the Trebuchet.

The alpha missile boat among heavies is the Catapult, although the Jagermech, Thunderbolt and Orion can all be rigged up to sling indirect as well.

Once the opfor's armor is thin or shot out in the proper places, their battlefield longevity is severely shortened, and you have your opportunity to inflict maximum damage with minimal in return. When it goes to direct fire, and your armor is holding and theirs isn't, they're in massive trouble.

In the under 50 tonnage range, they're generally not able to carry useable direct and indirect volume, but at this point your evasion counts for more then your volume of fire.

 

[bobucles]

your first, dedicated missile boats. In terms of tonnage, the first is the Trebuchet.

Eww. No. The most important value for a missile boat is its payload and the Trebuchet's 26.5T is the the worst possible for its weight class.

The very first GOOD missile boat is the Centurion. 50T, 2-3 missile points and 31.5T of cargo space. Load it up with 2 LRM20's or a mix of 3 lighter ones, depending on how thin you like your armor. It will last all the way until you find a 65T Catapult.

 

[Jade_Rook]

Eww. No. The most important value for a missile boat is its payload and the Trebuchet's 26.5T is the the worst possible for its weight class.

The very first GOOD missile boat is the Centurion. 50T, 2-3 missile points and 31.5T of cargo space. Load it up with 2 LRM20's or a mix of 3 lighter ones, depending on how thin you like your armor. It will last all the way until you find a 65T Catapult.

I want to say this is wrong, but... It really is pretty accurate.

I wish the Treb had 1 more missile hardpoint and the Centurion 1 less. The Trebuchet is a dedicated missile mech (and a reasonably good one). It should at least have an advantage in missile hardpoints compared to the Centurion.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

Eww. No. The most important value for a missile boat is its payload and the Trebuchet's 26.5T is the the worst possible for its weight class.

The very first GOOD missile boat is the Centurion. 50T, 2-3 missile points and 31.5T of cargo space. Load it up with 2 LRM20's or a mix of 3 lighter ones, depending on how thin you like your armor. It will last all the way until you find a 65T Catapult.

Good can be relative to play styles, as the Treb got me through just fine until I was able to use heavier chassis. I won't debate the Centi's abilities to missile as I've never used it in that capacity, given that it brawls almost as admirably as a Hunchback.

So I would classify the Treb as 'adequate' rather than 'eww'.