This is some great feedback here and I really appreciate it. Let me address some specific points here:
What Mods I added to the pack:
Basic Panic System - It has had some updates lately to limit the amount of panic checks a pilot makes so that there is less ejections before the mech is basically a stump. I added because it seems super unrealistic that all the enemy pilots fight until death, even when it's obvious they can't win or even damage my units anymore. I've heard complaints about the older version being too ejection heavy, but the recent versions seem to be pretty good on this in my opinion. Every mission I still fight plenty of mechs that fight to death, but it is really satisfying to strip off both left and right torsos of a mech, destroy all it's weapons and then watch the pilot eject instead of trying to ineffectually kick me like the Monty Python skit. It just really bothers me to have an ejection system in the game, and basically no reason for anyone to use it. I also like that your own non-avatar pilots are subject to failing a roll and punching it, it adds just enough RNG based "and what if you had 1 less pilot right now?" based difficulty spike but only in a way that makes sense (I've never had one of my own pilots punch out unless they got seriously wrecked to point where I was like "ouch that's gonna be major repair time")
This sounds really intriguing now. I always liked the concept of it, but it was quite exploitable. I will check the current version of it and probably fold it into my test copy (along with Pansar) to see how I like it. Anybody else that wants to add it would be great and we can collect feedback on it.
CBT Heat - Because I like this overheat system better than Vanilla. I find myself willing to "gamble" a small bit of overheat because I know it's possible I get away with nothing major for negatives. But I might also blow up my SRM ammo if I push it to much. Also as a former TT player, I like the multi-layer penalties for overheating (you get movement and to-hit penalties as you overheat, like in TT, If I remember the Mod correctly)
I do really like this idea as well (I also come from TT roots). The damage when you overheat is just a "boring" mechanic. I was reticent to add it as I thought it might be too much of a departure from the core design philosophy. I'll look at this as well and probably fold it into my test copy as well. Overheating should be much more interesting.
Contract Sort - Minor UI mod that I liked and you didn't have.
Cool idea. I didn't add it because I don't have 10 contracts available in a system so really didn't see a need to include it. Do you find it actually with this Mod Pack?
Feedback on Skills changes -
Skills themselves:
I like the changes to accuracy in general but I would definitely say that it makes high (5+) evasion ratings better protection than Bulwark/Bracing felt in Vanilla especially since you can still take advantage of things like forests. Initially Tactics looked like the weakest choice in just skill bonuses, but I *think* you added (or talked about adding) a bonus to it that negated the movement penalties to your accuracy - and that would increase its value a bit in my eyes, even more so if Jumping inflicted a 2 pt acc penalty and Tactics 8/9 could negate that as well. The called shot bonus is a lot weaker now because of how rare it is that you will use that morale power, and knockdowns are also a lot rarer. In the new lower accuracy environment you have created even a single point of extra accuracy or the negation of some/all of a penalty is a lot more valuable. So I generally went for Gunnery/Piloting over
Tactics does negate move/jump penalty at 6. I can't see a way to easily have it differentiate between jumping and walking, though. Right now the game treats them the same way except for the heat generation and evasion bonus. By the time it gets to the shooting phase it loses this information. I don't has a "has jumped" tag, for example. Definitely something I want to add. I had considered if there would be a way to make Vigilant/Precise Shot cheaper in morale expense for high Tactics pilots. That seemed "Tactical" to me. Heck, by moving up the tree we might be able to include some straight morale bonuses for the team based upon the highlest level of tactics in the lance. THAT might be a cool idea. It's not really "morale" in the game so much as it is a "tactical pool."
Guts/Tactics.
Tier 2 Powers:
Breaching Shot & Master Tactician didn't look as competitive compared to Bulwark or Ace Pilot. Until .9 hit I also felt strongly compelled to go for Ace Pilot over other level 8 skill powers because of how strong evasion feels on lights and mediums. Moving some of that evasion floor to the chassis changed that equation in my head to - Ace Pilot for light pilots always, maybe Bulwark for Heavy/Assault pilots.Breaching shot because the enemy AI seems to also rely a lot on evasion and not as much on bracing, and Ace Pilot and Bulwark are the competition felt like a more dependable choice (when is more defense not going to be advantageous?).
I was thinking of adding some evasion ignoring to Breaching Shot as well. Don't want to buff an already amazing skill, though...
Tier 1 Powers:
Sensor lock did not look competitive *only* because it both prevents me taking a shot and only lasts a single turn. I considered it as a Tier 1 "Anti-Light/Evasion" power, but never really went for it because again it doesn't last long enough. If it lasted 2 turns and stripped 3 evasion pips I would consider (but not automatically choose) taking it over Ace Pilot or Bulwark - seriously. Juggernaut is a crap power as a Tier 1 power - yes it upgrades if you get Bulwark and becomes a semi-decent pick - but consider it only on Tier 1 grounds (say if you know you are *not* going to take Bulwark on a given pilot) and it looks bad compared to the others even current Sensor lock. Evasive and Multi-target are fine, and I would take them both even if I was never going to take the Tier 2 powers from their trees. Multi-target is even more useful than in Vanilla because of Evasion changes, and Evasive gives Evasion.
Some instability damage could probably be added to Juggernaut. That could be a cool buff to that skill to make it more competitive. Right now, even if I want guts, I look at that ability and am very "meh" about it. I have found use for it on mobile melee mechs, though, and that initiative push can be life ending for mechs. I have a lot more respect for that skill than I used to.
I'm not sure how multi-turn Sensor Lock works. I know it is editable in the .json to make it longer. This could be worth exploring. Since the AI likes to use sensor lock and then not follow up it definitely could help them. Could be an interesting counter to our high-evasive environment and improve the AI.
Comparison & Suggested changes on skills (in my opinion) -
Gunnery - You mostly only need to buff Breaching Shot. I would give it a moderate damage boost (since it can't be Alpha'd into a single target) like maybe 20%. I would maybe take that against your versions of Ace Pilot & Bulwark, if I wanted a more aggressive based pilot or maybe a specialize sniper pilot. Otherwise, I'm always going to try and max the base skill itself out as much as I can afford because Accuracy is so strong.
I like 1-2 pips of evasion negation instead for Bullwark. More thematic. Not sure how easy it is to do. Seems like if pulses can do it, then a skill could do it.
Piloting - Kind of to strong before the Chassis evasion changes, still perhaps the strongest skill tree+powers after that. Piloting practically directly help keeps your mech alive in this Modpack more than any other skill. Maybe doesn't need changes so much as the other trees need to catch up to Piloting.
Guts - Definitely behind Gunnery and Piloting, stronger when I added the Panic system but still in 2nd or 3rd place - If you don't take Bulwark, this tree is now primarily about keeping your pilot alive and functioning in battle. Which is good. The increases in HP are very valuable once you understand how much a wound penalizes your pilot's skills. The overheating bonuses remain valuable also. Bulwark is amazing, Juggernaut is my "speed bump" that upgrades into Bulwark being applicable more often really. I suggest buffing Jug further - maybe give it a melee or stability damage buff - perhaps both. Remember it is competing against Evasive and Multi-target, and needs to look good enough that you would take it on its own over one of those for some reason.
I like the stability damage buff. Maybe damage. These are some good ideas. The thing is, do we want it to be a skill that is useful for other trees? The problem with it right now is that it is ONLY useful for melee mechs. What could we even do to make it better? Some big personal buff to stability as well?
Tactics - The worst tree, but not by a ton. Mostly the Powers are what drag down Tactics, and the lack of interesting skill bonuses. I think Master Tactician could compete against Tier 1 powers, so move it down to Sensor Lock's place and buff Sensor Lock to be a kind of counter power to Ace Pilot. I still think that psychologically speaking as long as it lasts just a single turn Sensor Lock won't feel like a great choice compared to other options, but mathematically speaking the fact that it can strip Perm evasion is definitely strong.
Also if you can, boost the Acc penalty on Jumping to a 2, and have a high tactics able to negate it. Then Tactics really becomes the "keeping your tactical options open" skill tree.
I didn't really find the Min Range Negation that great because the penalty is so huge and it didn't seem like Tactics negated that much of it, also with the larger sensor and visual rangers - I don't find myself needing to be closer than a PPC's Min range all that often. It happens, but less than in Vanilla.
I just came up with the idea of adding some morale bonus to this tree when I read your previous comments, and I really do like that idea for this tree. I like it better than providing bonuses to the morale skills for the pilots themselves, but that should definitely be doable. I'm always looking for something that has a "tactical" feel to it. The problem is that we also have some things (Inspire, maybe the Panic System) that are actual morale effects. Does it make thematic sense for Tactical pilots to be inspiring people? Oy.
I could give feed back on other aspects of the ModPack if you like, but I feel like wrote a huge chunk of stuff above already and don't want to overload.
Give me all the feedback all the time!
TL; DR - This pack is FUN. FUUUUUUUN!!! - But please buff Juggernaut/Tactics compared to Pilot/Gunnery more please.
Glad to hear it. I have been liking the current version of the Mod Pack quite a bit, too!
I'll definitely stream the next couples days though! Can't believe they just dropped a patch. Finally a real Ironman! Seems like they got some great ideas from some of your guy's mods. They're still missing a lot though. You guys are still ahead of the game. I don't really like those stability changes or the flamer starting ammo reduction. Flamer takes up a whole slot that costs weight and then becomes useless after 4 uses now?
