One Mech Army

[RedWren]

Anyone else tried starting a career with just the commander and one light mech? (Fired all the starting mechwarriors and sold all the mechs).

I only made it to my 3rd mission (1/2 skull missions) before the mech was cored and game over.

I almost salvaged a 2nd mech at which point I was planning to hire another mechwarrior.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I like your ideas here.

Do you get to pick the Light Mech?

With a Firestarter, I just might be able to make a GO of it! : )

 

[RedWren]

I like your ideas here.

Do you get to pick the Light Mech?

With a Firestarter, I just might be able to make a GO of it! : )

Yep, made sure the light mech I wanted was in the starting line-up.
I was hoping to build the company up from scratch and will probably give it another go before long.

 

[Zythen1975]

I wonder how far in the campaign could the super Bullshark go solo.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I wonder how far in the campaign could the super Bullshark go solo.

Now THAT would be interesting! Victoria will never know what hit her. : )

 

[jj284b]

with only commander you wont gain any XP skill points in career... better off picking somebody else and leave custom made character sitting in barracks...

 

[ntw]

with only commander you wont gain any XP skill points in career... better off picking somebody else and leave custom made character sitting in barracks...

only if you're playing for the score

 

[jj284b]

only if you're playing for the score

isnt that whole purpose of Career mode? if you dont chase score, you are better off playing campaign..

 

[Havamal]

isnt that whole purpose of Career mode? if you dont chase score, you are better off playing campaign..

I think you'll find the appeal is actually to play another sandbox run with a new company without going through the campaign again, score being peripheral for most people...

Those players have usually already completed multiple campaigns.

Score was added for additional interest, an option for those who are motivated by such. But that's not everyone.

 

[ntw]

I think you'll find the appeal is actually to play another sandbox run with a new company without going through the campaign again, score being peripheral for most people...

Those players have usually already completed multiple campaigns.

Score was added for additional interest, an option for those who are motivated by such. But that's not everyone.

^ what @Havamal said

 

[Havamal]

Options are good. So there's that.
True to the IPs tradition there are built in ways now to approach a run just from campaign versus career versus score run.

But if we recall when career mode was first added people who had already impressively power rushed multiple play throughs had requested a way to skip the campaign without modding. It's also similar to why random starting mechs and mechwarriors was added.

 

[Hobbes__]

It's also similar to why random starting mechs and mechwarriors was added.

I thought random starting mechs were added to torment us with a starting Cicada. Much appreciated for the clarification.

 

[Havamal]

I thought random starting mechs were added to torment us with a starting Cicada. Much appreciated for the clarification.

Variety is a great thing. Even the Cicada.
So adding variation is always welcome.

YMMV. Hahaha.


The other part of the reason like I said was the wish to focus some love on the sandbox. Which was likewise a community request.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I took on a similar challenge, but I didn't pick anything quite that challenging.

I used a Stock-ish Loaded Out Cataphract. I allowed myself one back up MechWarrior as well. Other than that, it was the one mech. My goal was to see if I could survive ling enough to build a lance from that one mech (hiring a MechWarrior only as a new mech was salvaged).

That was a tough run, I can't imagine trying it with just a Light Mech

 

[Blade_mercurial]

When I saw MeiSooHaityu post his Cataphract playthrough, I wanted to try something similar. I picked the K2 Catapult for my 'lone wolf' run, and it was a lot of fun, but very difficult. As he says, just one Light Mech would be kind of brutal (although really, it would mainly be just a long, long grind of 1/2 skull missions until you have a full lance of 4 lights).

I also did a 4 Spiders start. That was very hard in the beginning too.

I've also done a lone wolf game with the SLDF Highlander. Much easier to do up to 1 skull, but 2 skulls is extremely difficult even with your mighty Gauss. The Initiative is the killer in that run...

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I think it is doable with a light mech, however evasion and a good Alpha Strike capable mech would be crucial.

I think a Firestarter is ideal, also possibly a Jenner or Javelin (MLaser version).

I think I'd also try to stick with 0.5 skull missions.

Either way, it would be an extreme challenge.

 

[EmptyPepsiCan]

isnt that whole purpose of Career mode? if you dont chase score, you are better off playing campaign..

I have no interest whatsoever in my final score. Frankly, paying attention to the score completely ruins the immersion for me, since most of the things that you have to do to get a great score make no sense in the context of a commander trying to manage a mech company. I want to play the game, not the metagame.

 

[Abramsrunner]

A single, stock only Locust-1M challenge would be funny.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

A single, stock only Locust-1M challenge would be funny.

For about 3.2 seconds! : )

 

[jj284b]

I have no interest whatsoever in my final score. Frankly, paying attention to the score completely ruins the immersion for me, since most of the things that you have to do to get a great score make no sense in the context of a commander trying to manage a mech company. I want to play the game, not the metagame.

But that is more problem of how score is counted, than what it presents.. I think if it was chosen a bit better it would provide more of a challenge for player.. I agree with you that in current state it doesnt add to appeal to try to maximize it.. multiple things in it make no sense ( commander XP doesnt add to score, so its pointless to use his character as it hurts your result, or counting cashflow, so player have no incentive to get rich in the end, which is exactly what these mercenary companies would try to achieve (and fail most of the time)...)