Maximizing chassis salvage

[Prussian Havoc]

We don't know anything about random selection of parts. It might be truly random, without respect to part price (although that wouldn't be too realistic). OTOH, if you came to expect getting screwed by your employer, would that make the game better?

What do you mean by, "getting screwed by your employer?"

If we get first pick of "Priority Salvage," do you not think our employer will similarly get picks of "Prior Salvage" after ours?

It never occurred to me that "Priority Salvage" might only be available to the gamer.

Though whatever Salvage remains after "Priority Salvage" claims are taken, should IIRC be a true random apportionment between player and employer.

 

[Gorski123]

What do you mean by, "getting screwed by your employer?"

If we get first pick of "Priority Salvage," do you not think our employer will similarly get picks of "Prior Salvage" after ours?

It never occurred to me that "Priority Salvage" might only be available to the gamer.

Though whatever Salvage remains after "Priority Salvage" claims are taken, should IIRC be a true random apportionment between player and employer.

We just don't know. A few of us have been having a lot of fun figuring out how to rig the system though.

I just want to know what happens to the salvage for the miner mission. We should get all of it, but I suspect that might not happen. I keep imagining miners running around with sticks whacking our salvage drones like a Boston Dynamics video.

 

[ronhatch]

-MG Firestarter will be very nice for ct ammo hunting. Not quite sure if a Firestarter can penetrate the CTR on an assault with a punch, but you might need to only get a little bit lucky to one shot a mech. This might be a good spot for offensive push. Don't know if it works with melee.

Taking a look, the Firestarter only manages 45 points of damage from base melee.

Since I modded in the MG Firestarter I can confirm, however, that it is quite suitable for ammo hunts. I didn't play that many skirmishes with it, but my initial strategy of leaning towards PPCs & AC/20s for the lancemates seemed to work well. Keep the Firestarter out of harms way until you've breached armor, then manipulate initiative to jump in briefly for the kill.

 

[Timaeus]

What do you mean by, "getting screwed by your employer?"

If we get first pick of "Priority Salvage," do you not think our employer will similarly get picks of "Prior Salvage" after ours?

It never occurred to me that "Priority Salvage" might only be available to the gamer.

Though whatever Salvage remains after "Priority Salvage" claims are taken, should IIRC be a true random apportionment between player and employer.

Couple thoughts here:
Why should the employer get priority salvage in the first place since they vacuum up anything left over? (right? we pick X and are then given (Z-X)-Y out of the salvage, and employer gets Z-(X+Y)?)
If the the employer does get priority salvage is that fun for the player to potentially be stripped of the chance to get an item as non-priority?

 

[Jadedfalcon]

Couple thoughts here:
Why should the employer get priority salvage in the first place since they vacuum up anything left over? (right? we pick X and are then given (Z-X)-Y out of the salvage, and employer gets Z-(X+Y)?)
If the the employer does get priority salvage is that fun for the player to potentially be stripped of the chance to get an item as non-priority?

Probably an economy speed bump kind of thing. Play testers we’re getting “too” rich when allowed to pick their own salvage so it had to be limited and randomized. If the “random” algorithm gave you only good stuff it would be self defeating so there’s likely some “screwing over” baked in by design to keep us from getting “too” rich.

 

[Timaeus]

Probably an economy speed bump kind of thing. Play testers we’re getting “too” rich when allowed to pick their own salvage so it had to be limited and randomized. If the “random” algorithm gave you only good stuff it would be self defeating so there’s likely some “screwing over” baked in by design to keep us from getting “too” rich.

eh? I'm asking about why the employer should get priority salvage? not why the salvage is random.

 

[Jadedfalcon]

eh? I'm asking about why the employer should get priority salvage? not why the salvage is random.

Probably just a more lore friendly explanation than “the game would be too easy if you got this item now so tough luck”.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...I just want to know what happens to the salvage for the miner mission. We should get all of it, but I suspect that might not happen. I keep imagining miners running around with sticks whacking our salvage drones like a Boston Dynamics video.

We are just weeks away from determining for ourselves what happens to that salvage in the miner mission! : )

And while dialogue seemed to me to indicate we were "hightailing it out of Dodge," you are perfectly correct, with how HBS described the Salvage Drones... they should indeed be vacuuming that particular Battlefield clean of salvage.

Hmm... if that proves true and indeed results in 100% Salabage, I might just start hoping for a few more employers to pull such shenanigans!! lol : )

 

[Cyttorak001]

Let's cut to the chase: if employer priority salvage is a real thing, it will mean all your "random" salvage will be the least valuable stuff in the queue. That will incentivize component destruction to ensure that you don't salvage 9 heat sinks in a 1/10 mission. That's not fun for players, therefore I have to believe it won't be in the game.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Couple thoughts here:
Why should the employer get priority salvage in the first place since they vacuum up anything left over? (right? we pick X and are then given (Z-X)-Y out of the salvage, and employer gets Z-(X+Y)?)
If the the employer does get priority salvage is that fun for the player to potentially be stripped of the chance to get an item as non-priority?

I'd missed the above pic from among all of those pulled from the latest video. It does indeed look like the graphic is offering Priority Items to the player alone before all remaining items are randomly selected to fill the player's quota of random Salvage.

It also looks like 1/6, 2/10 and 3/14 are other eventually possible Contract Salvage levels ~ and it looks like those terms are much better than I had thought. Hey, good news is good news.

:bow:

 

[44th MAC|Bonsai]

It also looks like 1/6, 2/10 and 3/14 are other eventually possible Contract Salvage levels

I see 1/6, but where do you take 2/10 and 3/14 from? Is there any source? From 1/6 I'd expect it to be like 2/12 and 3/18 (so something consistent to the 1 to 5 ratio as seen in the screenshot)
Maybe I've missed something, would you mind to elaborate on this, good sir?

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Let's cut to the chase: if employer priority salvage is a real thing, it will mean all your "random" salvage will be the least valuable stuff in the queue. That will incentivize component destruction to ensure that you don't salvage 9 heat sinks in a 1/10 mission. That's not fun for players, therefore I have to believe it won't be in the game.

No, Employer Priority Salvage is not likely a thing at all.

It looks like Salvage will include a natural and valuable benefit to the gamer as our Priority Salvage is skimmed right off the top before ALL remaining salvage is randomly apportioned to fill our remaining Salvage billets, with anything left over going to the employer.

Hmm... now that I think on it, If the situation warrants, I just might be tempted to put Mechs like Firestarters down with extreme prejudice. No need for all those Flamers, Machine Guns and apparently even Machine Gun Ammo(!!!) gumming up the works when it comes to Random Salvage apportionment.

*MG Ammo is apparently the very last item, barely visible.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I see 1/6, but where do you take 2/10 and 3/14 from? Is there any source? From 1/6 I'd expect it to be like 2/12 and 3/18 (so something consistent to the 1 to 5 ratio as seen in the screenshot)
Maybe I've missed something, would you mind to elaborate on this, good sir?

Here you go, they are the terms of the contracts shown during the BATTLETECH Basics: Mercenary Life video:

 

[Cyttorak001]

That's "Maximum" salvage. Unless you prioritize that for a 0.5 skull mission, I would guess you're going to get 1/10 instead.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

That's "Maximum" salvage. Unless you prioritize that for a 0.5 skull mission, I would guess you're going to get 1/10 instead.

Wouldn't that be 1/6?

 

[Cyttorak001]

Uh, sure.

 

[HonorKnight]

We see that they get 1 priority and 5 random (6 total), but would that be called 1/6, or 1/5 on the other screen?
We see 2/10, but does that mean 2 priority and 10 random (for a total of 12) or 2 priority and 8 random (for a total of 10)? That's not clear from the screenshot alone.

It's possible they just explain it poorly on this UI and you always get 1 priority for every 5 random, i.e. 1/5, 2/10, 3/15, but the max salvage is more granular than just multiples of 5, hence 3/14 being a thing.

 

[HonorKnight]

It's also possible that you always get 1 priority for every FULL set of 4 random, i.e. 1/4, 2/8, 3/12, 4/16, but the max salvage is more granular than just multiples of 4, so there would also be potentials for 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11, 3/13, 3/14, 3/15 etc. There's just not enough info on these screenshots to disambiguate the possible ways this might work.

 

[MotoPsycho]

It's also possible that you always get 1 priority for every FULL set of 4 random, i.e. 1/4, 2/8, 3/12, 4/16, but the max salvage is more granular than just multiples of 4, so there would also be potentials for 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11, 3/13, 3/14, 3/15 etc. There's just not enough info on these screenshots to disambiguate the possible ways this might work.

...and then to add yet another layer of uncertainty to this, you are not taking into consideration that the screenshot says " UP TO 5 other pieces of salvage". Therefore ( on a 1/6 mission) you may end up getting 1/1...who knows. Is that why chassis-thirds have a value set to them perhaps? Perhaps your "random" salvage has a maximum value it can have based on Payment/Difficulty/ etc...

But, carry on. I do so enjoy the speculative discussions. My brain has been going a mile-a-minute on this stuff since the Merc Life video dropped!

 

[Galilleos]

I find interesting the strategy to focus on one side of the Mech. But, aiming for enemy pilot could the best way to get salvage?
After watching yesterday stream, I am wondering if using constant barrage of LRM/SRM would be very efficient for that:
- splashing damage will be spread on the armor and will not destroy internal component
- multiple hits improve the odd to get head hit
- stability damage guarantee one injury when the enemy Mech fall

In the begin of the game, most enemy pilots should have 3 or 4 hit points. This strategy could achieve a kill in two turns (with the drawback of not reducing enemy firepower during the process)