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March 22nd Livestream Video - Basic Combat Strategy

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HBS_Dagger

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Here's the video from the livestream with Jordan and Connor.

Please note that this video is geared toward players new to BATTLETECH and if you've been watching the development of the game or played the Beta, there may not be much that is new to you in this video.

Stay tuned for more videos to come!

 
Thanks for the headsup, Dagger!

  • People Present: Anders Carlsson (Paradox Interactive Marketing Producer), Connor Monahan (HBS Designer), Jordan Weisman (HBS CEO)
  • The purpose of this video / livestream is talk about the basics. Some things might seem obvious to certain more experienced BattleTech Beta Backers.
  • Anders is playing a Skirmish match against the AI, supported by Connor and Jordan. Concepts discussed here are applicable to the campaign.
  • Skirmish is a combat scenario, similar to ones in the campaign. They are more restricted though. The combat is less free-form, with the simple objective of pitting your lance of 4 Mechs against another lance of 4 and destroying the other team.
  • The balancing factor is the budget you get allocated. In the stream, Anders is playing on the "War" lance value setting, netting him 25 million C-Bills. Each `Mech has a certain monetary value attached to it, with differing Mechs with different tonnages each getting a different price. The same for pilots and their skills. In the campaign game, things are far less balanced though. Sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes the nail.
  • The lance Anders is playing with a Heavy Cavalry Lance. That means, BattleMechs with jumpjets. Jumpjets allow your Mechs to cover distance quickly and change your elevation fast without being hindered by it. As you "jump", when you land, you can set your orientation, allowing you to (for instance) jump behind enemy Mechs and flank them from the rear.
  • Note: Lance is an ancient Medieval term, that Jordan used when creating the BattleTech universe.
  • The first `Mech is a Spider. The fastest one in the game, very maneuverable, can jump the farthest too. Not very heavily armed with just two medium lasers, but is used as a spotter and a flanker. Tinfoil for armor too. ;)
  • The Second Griffin is a fire support `Mech. Moves quickly, jumps pretty far, long range weaponry consistend of a Particle Projection Cannon (PPC) and some Long Range Missiles (LRM).
  • The Wolverine is third. More a brawler, with short and mid-range weaponry and also jump-capable (at least, this variant is).
  • The last but not least is the Victor. An Assault `Mech, fires an Autocannon 20 (AC20), a cannon that can take out a lesser `Mech in one Salvo. And it jumps! However, this `Mech is being piloted by a MechWarrior with only 2 points in Gunnery, so not really accurate! 8 points in Piloting, so he can pilot the `Mech well though. Beyond that, his piloting skill influences his melee capabilities. He'll punch good.
  • The enemy lance is more about damage, less about jumping. They have 2 Jenners, 2 light Mechs that move quickly and pack a punch with their 4 medium lasers and Short Range Missiles (SRM).
  • ANother `Mech is the Kintaro. Medium `Mech, with a lot of SRM's. Dangerous up close.
  • Finally, the Stalker. Assault `Mech with a lot of energy weapons, causing it to overheat quickly. But if the attack connects, it deals a lot of damage.
  • The MechWarrior pilots in the Skirmish matches have their skills pre-selected. In the campaign game, you can choose the skills for your pilots as they level up.
  • Two abilities are Sensor Lock and Multishot. The first allows a Pilot to "target" another enemy `Mech that's within its sensor range, but not visual range. You'll get visual sight on the `Mech AND that `Mech will also lose a few evasion points that it might have accrued. Just for one full combat turn though. Multi-shot on the other hand allows you to select up to three targets at the same time and decide which weapon you want to fire at which target. Normally, you fire (all) your weapons at one target at time. Multi-Shot allows you to bypass that.
  • When starting the Match, the first thing you should do is look for the beacon (represented by a golden beam of light) that shows where the enemy lance will start. It isn't exact, but you will know where the enemy is coming from. After that, you should check the terrain. See the hills, depressions, wooded areas (these provide cover), ...
  • When you haven't made contact with the enemy, you can move your Mechs freely. If you move a `Mech into a forest, it will give cover to your Mechs (25% damage reduction when being shot at the front or side-arc of a `Mech), while also restricting movement and vision of your `Mech. If you keep them in cover, they will get some protection in the case you do run into the enemy.
  • When a `Mech is selected, a serie of white dots pop up around your `Mech. When you click on one, you are indicating you want to move your `Mech there. Click once, it locks down the move, but doesn't execute it yet. You are shown a "cone", which is used to display your orientation / facing. Enemies not within this cone, cannot be targeted. If you click again, the move is executed and your `Mech moves to the designated location, with the heading you chose.
  • The further you move, the more restricted the angle which you can set your facing is. Move a few steps and you can basically rotate 360 degrees and select your heading. That's because the `Mech needs to actually turn in order to set your facing. Moving further means you spend more movement on distance, leaving less to switch your facing. It is afteral hard to turn on a dime.
  • One thing you might want to consider is your squad cohesion. If you don't know where the enemy is, keeping your units close together means they can support one another when you do stumble upon the enemy. Also, be mindful of locations that provide cover. And lastly, don't forget obstructions. If a mountain is in the way, you cannot see what is behind it. But neither can the enemy.
  • There is also rough terrain. It slows down Mechs, it makes it harder to hit in Melee and you take more Stability Damage.
  • Stability is what keeps Mechs upright. Remember, these are giant robots, balancing on two legs. They can fall over. As you hit them with weapons, they become more unstable and start to wobble. Do enough, and you can knock a `Mech over. As the `Mech falls and lies on the ground, this leaves it open to "called shots". Meaning, a targetting `Mech get to choose which area of the prone `Mech they want to hit (or try to, at least). Normal targetting is more random, with only the "side" (front,back, left or right) determining which part gets it.
  • Different weapon types do different amounts of stability damage. There are ballistic weapons, energy weapons, missile weapons and support weapons. These weapons all do different amounts of stability damage, but also "regular" damage. Not only that, but each gun gains a certain amount of heat as you use it, with some even able to "inflict" heat on Enemy Mechs.
  • The UI in BattleTech will specifically say if you are in cover or not. If you hover over a movement "point" and it will provide cover, well, the game will tell you. There is no doubt. So, if you look at the map and think you are in cover, that will only be correct if the game explicitly tells you.
  • If an enemy has line-of-sight on you, it will be shown by the game. Not only when standing still, but also as you move around the cursor. Red lines will be drawn from your and their Mechs, as well as seeing a red "eyeball" icon hovering above enemy Mechs (to indicate if they can see that one `Mech of yours or not).
  • Now, while you can keep your units close together, do keep in mind that it makes your more vulnerable to be flanked by the enemy. Also, your own flanking movements are more restricted. On the other hand, splitting up your forces allows for flanking, but if units are caught in the open, there is less backup to bail them out.
  • Making contact with the enemy happens in three stages. First, you see a sensor blip. As they get closer, this blip will turn into a `Mech silhoutte (or a Vehicle one, but that's for the campaign game) and you'll know the tonnage of the enemy `Mech. Finally, you make visual contact, showing you the type of `Mech you are facing.
  • Once contact is made, the game also switches to initiative mode. Each `Mech class is assigned an initiative number. Since you have four different `Mech classes (being Light, Medium, Heavy and Assault), you have four initiative phases. A light `Mech is assigned number 4, Medium 3, Heavy 2 and Assault 1. Light Mechs get to make their turn first, followed by the heavier ones. (Note, there is a Initiative number 5, but that's for Light Mechs with Pilots who have certain special abilities). Do note that the initiative order is not static. Mechs who get knocked down, can go down in the initiative order (for instance, from 3 to 2), while certain pilot abilities might boost a Mechs initiative.
  • And not only that, but you can also decide to not act with your mechs. Called "Reserving", you can decide that you want a `Mech / certain Mechs to move at a later point in the initiative order. This creates some interesting situations. Reserving a Light `Mech all the way down to Initiative 1 allows it to move 2 times in a row (the `Mech goes from Initiative 1, the round ends, Initiative 4 moves again).
  • In the Stream, Anders has two Mechs in Initiative 4, one in 3 and one in 1. The Spider is a Light `Mech, so that's 4. The Griffin is a Medium `Mech, so normally Initiative 3. But since the pilot of the Griffin has a special ability called Master Tactician, she gets to move in an earlier initiative round.
  • Anders reserved the first move of his Spider (after making contact on sensors) because he didn't know what he was facing. So, he basically waited and see what the enemy would do.
  • As Mechs move around, they gain "Evasion Charges". The further you move, the more charges you gain. These Evasion charges help your `Mech when they are being targetted. The more charges, the harder your `Mech is to hit. Because of that, the ability Sensor Lock is pretty handy. When you use it on an Enemy `Mech, they lose 2 of those charges. If you fire at an enemy, that `Mech (whether it is damaged or not), loses another charge. The more Mechs you use to attack, the more charges are discarded.
  • Note, if you Sensor Lock an Enemy `Mech that hasn't moved yet, that `Mech will be able to regain the lost evasion charges. So, it is best to hit a `Mech that has already moved in the current combat turn. Do keep in mind that Sensor Lock has a range limit. There is a blue circle that denotes your sensor range. Trying to hit a target with a Sensor Lock if that target is outside sensor range won't work.
  • Because heavier Mechs move later than lighter ones, you have to decide how to press your advantage / attack. Do you engage earlier with your lighter Mechs? Or do you hang back a bit, reserve your Mechs and see what the big heavies will do? Another choice you have to make.
  • A red line drawn from your `Mech to another Enemy `Mech means you have a firing solution. Your `Mech sees the enemy and can fire at it. A direct, uninterupted line means a direct line of sight. A broken line means you see the enemy, you can attack it, but there is terrain that is hindering your attack, meaning it's harder to hit the enemy. An arced red line means you can fire indirectly at the target. This means, another `Mech sees your target and you have Missile weapons, which you can use to lob at the enemy from behind whatever is obstructing your line of sight.
  • Each `Mech consists of different parts (being Head, Center Torso, Right Torso, Left Torso, Left Leg, Right Leg), each consisting of Armor and Structure. Structure is the internal skeleton and gizmos, armor is just that ... armor. As you click on a `Mech, a "paperdoll" model pops up, showing you the parts and their respective health. You need to damage the armor and then the structure before a part is considered destroyed. Destroying both legs or the center torso (or blowing off the head) destroys the `Mech. Because of this, it might prove beneficial to focus attacking an enemy from the same side in order to quickly go through armor and internal structure. When making an attack, you'll get to see which side of the `Mech you are aiming at.
  • Each "part" of the `Mech (may) contain certain items. A laser in the right arm, ammo for the autocannon in the left torso, and so on. So, damaging a certain part, not only destroys that part, but also whatever is installed in that part. Blowing off a weapon arm means that that `Mech can no longer use that weapon.
  • Armor tends to be weaker on the rear side of a `Mech, so, hitting the back is a good idea!
  • Weapons have certain ranges. An AC5 has a long range, a medium laser doesn't reach as far. You can mouse over a weapon and see its stats (damage, range, stability damage, heat incurred, ...). The "facing cone" (when you set your facing) also shows the range of your weapons. You can see where the "long range" part is, the "normal" range and the "out of range". What lies outside the cone is "out of range", what lies the closest is "normal range" and in between you have "long range". These ranges determine the accuracy of the weapons. Some long)range weapons (such as the PPC) even have a minimum range, meaning that when a target is right in your face, you can't even fire that weapon.
  • Inflicting stability damage not only makes the enemy `Mech unstable. But once it reaches a certain threshold (indicated by a little marker on the stability bar), all evasion charges disappear. Not only that, if you reach that marker point, stability damage doesn't normally bleed off between turns. You'll need to take a "Brace" action in order to restore the bar.
  • Despite all the things we have discussed so far on the stream, BattleTech is an easy game to pick up and start. You move, you point and shoot. Once you get more experience, you'll see the different systems and the effects they have.
  • Using Brace not only removes stability damage, but it also makes you less vulnerable to damage (when hit from the front or side).
  • You can see what your to-hit numbers are when doing move orders. So, you click on a movement point, the facing cone pops up. Before clicking again, just hover over an enemy and you'll see how accurate your weapons will be from that point and when targetting that enemy.
  • Not every turn is about dealing damage. Your position is also important, especially for future turns.
  • An "Alpha-strike" is an attack in which you fire all the weapons you have at a target. This tends to cause a lot of heat (depending on the weapon loadout) and might not always be a good idea (overheating leads to a `Mech shutting down, which leads to it being a sitting duck for a turn).
  • Destroying a leg knocks down a `Mech. Destroying both legs disables the `Mech. Losing one leg also reduces the movement points of a `Mech.
  • You can see which initiative round a certain `Mech moves in by the circle with big number that is close to the `Mech's name on screen. If that circle is grayed out, that `Mech has already moved. If it is brightly colored (blue for you, red for the enemy), it means the `Mech still has to move.
  • `Mech Pilots have a certain number of hitpoints. Whenever the cockpit takes damage or the `Mech falls down, they lose a hitpoint. If they lose them all, they are out of the fight (and so is the `Mech they pilot!). In the campaign game, wounded pilots will need time to recuperate before they can go fight again.
  • Melee attacks ignore cover and evasion. Beyond that, you can chose from which angle you deliver your melee strike (click on an enemy in melee range and you'll see a few movement dots, indicating the positions from which your `Mech will punch the other one).
  • When a `Mech is down and you initiate another attack on it, the called shot menu opens. You'll see what the to-hit chances are for every part of the enemy `Mech. You can then choose to focus on a specific part and the game will update the percentages. Thus, the to-hit chances for that part will increase, the others will decrease. Not to zero, so there is still a chance you hit something else than you intended. Going for the head will not result in high percentages (in the stream, it was 3% to hit with a called shot), but in "normal" targetting, you generally have less than a percent chance to hit the head and cockpit. Rare indeed.
  • Shooting off a side-torso also removes the arm attached to that torso.
  • A Death From Above attack is a special form of melee attack. Only jumpjet-equipped Mechs can do it. You basically jump on top of an enemy `Mech, hitting it with your legs. This causes a lot of damage (if it hits), but also hurts your own legs. A `Mech with fragile leg armor / integrity can basically lose both its legs when using this attack.
 
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Excellent effort on the part of cKnoor, Jordan and Connor to begin introducing players-new-to-BATTLETECH to our game's useful Combat Strategies, game concepts and game mechanisms.

Not a lot new for long-time Backers of BATTLETECH. But we did get a look at the Stalker and Wolverine as well as a new Alpine Improved Biome / Map. As well as the most current version of the game and its UI that I've yet seen.

Fun stream and it appears there will now be weekly such Paradox BATTLETECH streams to look forward to... hopefully the next stream will touch upon the Mechlab! : )
 
Exactly! Like, it had a Stalker in the footage...that didn't have flappy arms :p:D
 
I thought the tool tips in the top left corner of the load screen was a nice touch.
 
Cyttorak001 said:
I re-counted, and I think they change about once every 8 to 10 seconds. Not as fast as I originally thought.
Click to expand...

Seemed shorter. But maybe that`s just me. When you get older, everything seems to move faster. :D
 
HBS_Dagger said:
... there may not be much that is new to you in this video
Click to expand...

Not much new, but still very useful for me.

I bought this game for my brother and my father. Both of them have seen me geek out over this game. This is their first Battletech experience. Now I can give them this video and save myself the trouble of trying to explain how it all works.
 
TomatoJuice said:
[QUOTE="Like, it had a Stalker in the footage...that didn't have flappy arms :p:D

What a great loss for humanity.
Click to expand...
"In Modding, all things are possible!" ~ Anon
 
And the Transcript is live. Check it out here.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes. I ran out of time and wasn't able to proof-read it. Will do some touch-ups tomorrow.

I also added a bit more text in certain places, just to explain / clarify some things that might be new / weird for people new to BattleTech.
 
@Faenaris, excellent job! :bow: i’m old, so much of the stream goes by and I find I miss this or that as I am distracted by all the Bright and Shiny! Like in this case, and with the Stalker and Wolverine, I missed entire lines of dialogue as I was zooming and pausing the stream.

Thank you yet again, Good Sir. Marvelous job! : )
 
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