I'm getting headshots from everything. At least three or four times per engagement from turrets and tanks especially. It's ridiculous. Please lower the chance of random shots to hit the head.
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Lower the Chance for headshots
- Thread starter GabrielSun
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As for directly addressing the topic at hand, it looks like HBS has put in place something very similar to the partial cover rules from tabletop. I’ve noticed that I’ve both given and taken significantly more head shots when I’m looking over a ridge and getting the “partially obscured” icon. In tabletop it drastically increased the chance to get a head shot from one in 36 to one in 6, or from roughly 3% to 17%!
I don’t know what the actual maths of a head shot are in the game, but if it’s going from the 2% on a called shot to 16 or 17%, it’s statistically significant.
I’ve also received more head shots when using water to cool my mechs, which also jives with classics tabletop rules. So maybe it’s not more about reducing the odds of a headshot as assessing risk? I can only go by what I’m seeing and it could be a sort of confirmation bias on my part.
I don’t know what the actual maths of a head shot are in the game, but if it’s going from the 2% on a called shot to 16 or 17%, it’s statistically significant.
I’ve also received more head shots when using water to cool my mechs, which also jives with classics tabletop rules. So maybe it’s not more about reducing the odds of a headshot as assessing risk? I can only go by what I’m seeing and it could be a sort of confirmation bias on my part.
Even if there is some positive bias, I think it's safe to say that enough people are feeling it's too common that it frustrates the game. I'd be inclined to balance it to feel right rather than be a sticker for rules. I've heard anecdotes about Assaults being easier to kill the pilot by headshots than anything else, that's just wrong.
Well, I’m kinda on the fence about it, to be honest. I don’t think the issue is necessarily the odds of a head shot, but the degree of damage that the head shots actually do. An AC/10 to the noggin in classic COULD decapitate a mech if you scored a critical and then rolled up the cockpit entry, but on planet bowling ball, the odds were 1/64 to get a head shot followed by 50% chance of one or more Frits followed by a 1 in 5 or 6 chance to score a cockpit hit depending on if you had a component in the only open head slot.
TL
R - it hurt a lot but wasn’t always fatal.In this iteration, an AC/10 shot to the head is almost always fatal on many designs. Especially if it’s a plus variant with a damage boost. That, to me, is much more the issue than squishy head bits and the odds of a hit. I personally like the tactical choice of being able to take partial cover behind a hill or in some water, either to protect damaged legs or simply home some of those shots hit terrain rather than meat, but right now that’s not really a valid tactical option with the amount of damage coming out of relatively smallish weapons. Hell, even a stock large laser is pumping out the equivalent of an extra point of damage in table top. Converted, it would do 9 points of damage to the head. Enough to completely strip the armor. Classically they only do 8.
It's not the big hits that are at fault though. An AC20 to the head will punch through the armour, internals, and just kill the pilot outright, that's reasonable.
It's the piddly weapons that kill you, because hits to the head are an automatic injury and early on you only have 3 strikes. LRMs seem to have an increased chance to hit the head (or not, could be biased) and each missile rolls a location separately, so you get a lot of chances to notch an injury. Add to that being typically outnumbered and facing multiple waves and an AI that seems good at focus firing at weakness, it becomes an exercise in frustration.
It's the piddly weapons that kill you, because hits to the head are an automatic injury and early on you only have 3 strikes. LRMs seem to have an increased chance to hit the head (or not, could be biased) and each missile rolls a location separately, so you get a lot of chances to notch an injury. Add to that being typically outnumbered and facing multiple waves and an AI that seems good at focus firing at weakness, it becomes an exercise in frustration.
My record atm is 7 taken 3 given in one mission.
I wonder if the devs have any idea how the game is actually working.
I wonder if the devs have any idea how the game is actually working.
But that’s always been the case. A common tactic in classic was to either aim high (if allowed) or put yourself in a position where one of your mechs with a lot of light damage weapons was shooting at a target with partial cover. You take a penalty to hit, but you rolled on the punch location table giving you a 17% chance per weapon of dinging the pilot. Walk away with pristine salvage with only some minor hose work to get it running again.
I think the headshot amount is fine - I've not had a proper one-shot headcap happen to me yet. And if the frequency of head hits wasn't as high as it is now, I'd never need to use anyone other than the starting mechwarriors.
I think the main concern is early game where an unlucky streak of head shots can cripple your progress. With 3 or 4 MechWarriors out for up to a couple months, it’s hard to put up enough tonnage early game to complete missions and progress.
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I can back this sentiment. I don't feel headshots are that terrible yet. Usually my mechwarriors make it out with only one wound, and chances are we have travel time before the next mission that allows them to heal. It's just that unlucky string that happens occasionally that is the issue, and forced me to hire a few more for downtime.
Also, I learned from watching others that it is important to get guts to at least 4 on your mechwarriors as soon as possible as it reduces the total downtime for a wound by about 24%. This is because taking total wounds damage is about 4 months of recovery (110 days +- med tech level), and if you are wounded but not at total hits, you take # wounds/#hits percentage of that time to heal. Increasing their number of hit points thus reduces their downtime.
Headshots by AI, due to the amount of AI enemies vs your 4 mechs are a HUGE problem. If you stack missiles you might find you are scoring more headshots than not but it seems as if any SRM tank has a very high chance of a single missile scoring a headshot and causing injury without even penetrating armor.
If this game did follow tabletop rules you would see more balance between the tonnage of each force AND speed of vehicles and mechs would be taken into account. As it stands even the heaviest of vehicles sporting more weaponry than a heavy mech will move at the same speed as small light vehicles. Plus we would see a lot more balance in the OPfor ton for ton with our 4 mech restriction.
Can't pick and choose rules and expect a quality game balance.
Specific to the topic I will say that my first 5 missions included a headshot by vehicle each time. No difficulty ramp. No on-boarding for learning mechanics. No explanation or even tool tips on how accuracy, or damage even works. Hell they don't even explain finances, reputation or how crew maintenance is calculated. Hell even pilot skill bonuses are hidden so you can't plan in advance. This game is plagued with problems that revolve around not testing with players unfamiliar with the game.
This game has the potential to be fun the balance between fun and atmosphere is managed better.
If this game did follow tabletop rules you would see more balance between the tonnage of each force AND speed of vehicles and mechs would be taken into account. As it stands even the heaviest of vehicles sporting more weaponry than a heavy mech will move at the same speed as small light vehicles. Plus we would see a lot more balance in the OPfor ton for ton with our 4 mech restriction.
Can't pick and choose rules and expect a quality game balance.
Specific to the topic I will say that my first 5 missions included a headshot by vehicle each time. No difficulty ramp. No on-boarding for learning mechanics. No explanation or even tool tips on how accuracy, or damage even works. Hell they don't even explain finances, reputation or how crew maintenance is calculated. Hell even pilot skill bonuses are hidden so you can't plan in advance. This game is plagued with problems that revolve around not testing with players unfamiliar with the game.
This game has the potential to be fun the balance between fun and atmosphere is managed better.
The real problem isn't just the mechanic by itself, it's that there's no real counter-play, early on at least. No amount of angling my mech protects against LRM rain, it's difficult to get any sense of range control against hostiles, and the fact they're indirect weapons makes them very difficult to avoid by positioning. I haven't gotten far enough in the game to see any cockpit equipment or anything like AMS either. The 4 Guts is a mild mitigation at best and, due to the skill bonuses not shown until they are earned, is easy to miss. I also take some umbrage with such a skill being practically mandatory early on because of a lack of balance.
I do feel the 1% chance per missile rather than per volley is what's making the LRMs that much more effective vs heads compared to other weapon systems, however I can see how it'd be problematic to make the head immune to a whole volley with a single 1% roll.
If I were to propose a fair solution, it would be to retain the current mechanics for the sake of doing damage only, e.g. a volley gets 1% chance per missile to do damage to the head location. Semi-independently, I would have a 1% chance per volley to injure the pilot (by selecting an individual missile per volley and only injuring the pilot if that one hits the head). That would vastly reduce the effectiveness of volume for fire to keep dinging the head until the pilot dies.
I do feel the 1% chance per missile rather than per volley is what's making the LRMs that much more effective vs heads compared to other weapon systems, however I can see how it'd be problematic to make the head immune to a whole volley with a single 1% roll.
If I were to propose a fair solution, it would be to retain the current mechanics for the sake of doing damage only, e.g. a volley gets 1% chance per missile to do damage to the head location. Semi-independently, I would have a 1% chance per volley to injure the pilot (by selecting an individual missile per volley and only injuring the pilot if that one hits the head). That would vastly reduce the effectiveness of volume for fire to keep dinging the head until the pilot dies.
Again, the missiles themselves aren’t really the issue. I think it has to do with a hidden (?) mechanic of partial cover and indirect fire possibly using an upper torso only hit location determination. People also keep mentioning that only the first shot of any one enemy salvo can hit the head and if it’s a missile, it’s only one missile. I can’t really confirm or deny that at this time, but anecdotal evedence suggests that all of the above could be true.
I also think it’s really only an early game issue. Once you start getting some rep built up and better contracts come in, losing a pilot, while potentially heartbreaking, isn’t really much more than a speed bump. Hire a fresh meatsack, plug them in to the mech and they’ll get back any xp discrepancy in very little time.
IF it turns out there’s a partial cover mechanic at play, then the head shot mechanic works fine. It’s more of a tactical placement and risk vs reward thing, which I’m totally fine with since it works for both the player and the AI.
As far a balancing the game ton for ton on missions, come on man, that’s skirmish mode. Story mode is supposed to be challenging. You’re supposed to get thrown into the meat grinder and make the best of it. That’s what makes the narrative in Battletech.
I also think it’s really only an early game issue. Once you start getting some rep built up and better contracts come in, losing a pilot, while potentially heartbreaking, isn’t really much more than a speed bump. Hire a fresh meatsack, plug them in to the mech and they’ll get back any xp discrepancy in very little time.
IF it turns out there’s a partial cover mechanic at play, then the head shot mechanic works fine. It’s more of a tactical placement and risk vs reward thing, which I’m totally fine with since it works for both the player and the AI.
As far a balancing the game ton for ton on missions, come on man, that’s skirmish mode. Story mode is supposed to be challenging. You’re supposed to get thrown into the meat grinder and make the best of it. That’s what makes the narrative in Battletech.