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Yanotoshi

Second Lieutenant
35 Badges
Nov 13, 2011
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www.hearts-of-draconia.net
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Hi guys,
in my current career I have almost 1 year left and now I did from unknown origin. As I recognized and read in forum here, it was a little late, earlier on it could be a massive boost.
Also, it was terrible starting in Taurus area, I prefer starting in the peripherie states, so you can farm reputation against the local planets.
Do you have basic advices for the ealy game, like order of contracts or aiming MAR-3R asap?
 
...Do you have basic advices for the early game, like order of contracts or aiming MAR-3R asap?
It depends on your intent for your Career Attempt. Are you looking to have fun and successfully turn in a complete Career? To are you very competitive and shooting for a Personal High Score?

I prefer fun and the thrill of Ironman Careers. So I tend to burn time in favor of getting my best Mechs back into the fight. I also tend to run from FLASHPOINT to FLASHPOINT, foregoing all but incidental coverage and visits to Star Systems. I also have a fondness for Pieces-of-8 Career Attempts (8 Mech pieces to assemble a whole BattleMech.) Given all this I barely keep track of score any more, just enjoy the challenge of building a Successful Merc Outfit... often times not even finishing Career Attempts once my Lances can routinely crush 5-Star Missions.


But when it comes to early Tips and Advice, my Top Five suggestions would be:

1.) Before you do anything else, let a full day go buy and accept the Crate that Yang brings you. This will give you a whole BattleMech and some very useful weaponry.
2.) Before your first Mission on Day Two (for Day One, see #1 above) pull some weapons off each of your Mechs, enough to all but fully Armor each of your Mechs (some Leg, Rear Torso and Shield Arm and Shield Torso Armor can be sacrificed on a case by case basis.) As long as nothing but Armor is added to the Mechs, this can be accomplished with ZERO time elapsing.
3.) Try to get through all Missions on your first planet without any major repairs and days spent in the Repair Bay. Then use your transit times between worlds as your opportunity to better arm your BattleMechs according to your own preferences. I like Missiles and Medium Lasers, I find they compliment one another and lend themselves quite well to my preferred Tactics and Schemes of Maneuver.
4.) Don’t dump all your EXP into just four MechWarriors... if you do the loss of two, maybe even a single MechWarrior can hamstring your Lance, removing key skills and capabilities from your Force. I usually build the first four till each has both Level One Abilities, then begin substituting one or two MechWarriors per Mission to build a pool of four “B-Team” MechWarriors. It is from this B-Team that I then pull when inevitably I have a Mission go sideways and I lose an A-Team MechWarrior.
5.) Some Mech Chassis are just better and more valuable in my eyes. The Firestarter, Centurion, Grasshopper and most of all Marauder top my list. Especially the Marauder, as early as my second planet visited, I begin t9 check stores and buy up what Marauder pieces I can find. Please recall that I play with Pieces-of-8 thus I need many pieces before I get to field a new BattleMech. Similarly I buy up Firestarter, Grasshopper and Centurion-A pieces where I can afford them too. But for the Marauder pieces... I take risks and sell off early and extraneous Light Mechs and weapons in order to afford Marauder pieces.


Just a few ideas for your consideration.

Whatever you decide, have fun and good BATTLETECH gaming! :bow:
 
I see, we are doing quite the same. I reroll the game start to evade scrap mechs, I don't like to start with Enforcer or Blackjack. Is there any chance to start with a Hunchback?
Are there any other Flashpoint generating a chain of extra missions except of from unknown origin?
Do you prefer ally some day or stay unaligned?
 
There are Mods where you can select your own Starting Mechs. This will get you your Hunchback.

For Vanilla (unModded) BATTLETECH, Of Unknown Origin is a a unique Mini-Campaign (Chain of FLASHPOINTS.) We do have Modders who are actively creating FLASHPOINTS though this is a bit rare as it takes one heckuva lot of work to complete a quality FLASHPOINT.

I prefer to stay Unaligned, you have more Missions available on a given planet that way. Though in order to get various Steam Achievements, I have allied with many Factions toward the end of some of my Career Attempts.
 
I'd suggest not taking any, or at least very few, missions against the Pirates. Between that and giving the Raven to the Pirates should get you a high rep which will make the Black Market even better by getting a discount. The gear and mechs they sell are massively better than anything else you'll find, especially early game.
 
OK, so far, so good.
I'll try to get a M Coil early again, Assasin with evasive maneuvering pilot deal 100+ damage. Adding a Firestarter with TAG might core all lights.
The L Coil I tried with a Griffin, but this not best solution. Maybe Vulcan will do it better. Any testing about best use of Coil weapons?
 
OK, so far, so good.
I'll try to get a M Coil early again, Assasin with evasive maneuvering pilot deal 100+ damage. Adding a Firestarter with TAG might core all lights.
The L Coil I tried with a Griffin, but this not best solution. Maybe Vulcan will do it better. Any testing about best use of Coil weapons?

Jenner with 2 DHS, hit defense gyro, breaching shot/evasive move, and COIL-L (pull some armor off the side opposite the COIL). The Assassin can run a similar setup but it’s easier to hit as a medium mech and tends to take random hits that keep it in the repair bay. Also worse initiative.
 
Jenner with 2 DHS, hit defense gyro, breaching shot/evasive move, and COIL-L (pull some armor off the side opposite the COIL). The Assassin can run a similar setup but it’s easier to hit as a medium mech and tends to take random hits that keep it in the repair bay. Also worse initiative.

The Assassin does have that tasty 'ignore three evasion' quirk that makes hitting light mechs a lot easier.

I liked a COIL-L mounted in the Big Steel Claw. Any 5/8 mech will do pretty good with a COIL-L.

I never had any COIL-S to work with but I bet a Vulcan could do some damage with them.
 
The Assassin does have that tasty 'ignore three evasion' quirk that makes hitting light mechs a lot easier.

I liked a COIL-L mounted in the Big Steel Claw. Any 5/8 mech will do pretty good with a COIL-L.

I never had any COIL-S to work with but I bet a Vulcan could do some damage with them.
I have my COIL-S in a non-Jump Jet Firestarter. The COIL-S goes in a fully Armored CT... because, well... Firestarter. But with Four Small Lasers, tonnage-free DFA Damage Reduction and Arm Mods and a pair of Medium Lasers, my FireFly packs quite a Wallop. Plus I am just waiting on that second COIL-S so I can drop the Medium Lasers. It does take some exceptionally fine use of Terrain Masking and a willingness to Monty Python and “RUN AWAY!” on occasion but it does punch above its weight so I find a way to fit it into most all my Lance early and mid-game thus far.
 
Yep, it's random.
I actually like the Vulcan a lot. It's especially great in hot biomes. I think I prefer the 2T with 4 support HPs. You can put in the UAC/2, and there are 0-ton arm mods which increase melee damage by +10 (although you have to get them first). You can later change the stock support weapons to something more to your liking.
 
Is it just the Vulcan and Assasin? Both are new and 40t.
You can also get a Phoenix Hawk.

And your starting lance will contain as its 2 mediums some combination of Vindicators, Enforcers, Blackjacks and Centurions, with the possibility of a Cicada as technically a third. There are 5 "slots" and it randomly picks one mech for each of the slots from its designated pool.
This post was from the patch that introduced Career-mode, but I think it's still valid.
Here are your choices, from the game files.

Slot 1
mechdef_blackjack_BJ-1,Mech,1,4
mechdef_vindicator_VND-1R,Mech,1,3
mechdef_centurion_CN9-A,Mech,1,2
mechdef_enforcer_ENF-4R,Mech,1,2

Slot 2
mechdef_blackjack_BJ-1,Mech,1,1
mechdef_vindicator_VND-1R,Mech,1,4
mechdef_centurion_CN9-A,Mech,1,3
mechdef_enforcer_ENF-4R,Mech,1,2

Slot 3
mechdef_commando_COM-1B,Mech,1,2
mechdef_commando_COM-2D,Mech,1,2
mechdef_jenner_JR7-D,Mech,1,4
mechdef_panther_PNT-9R,Mech,1,4

Slot 4
mechdef_commando_COM-1B,Mech,1,2
mechdef_commando_COM-2D,Mech,1,2
mechdef_spider_SDR-5V,Mech,1,4
mechdef_firestarter_FS9-H,Mech,1,4
mechdef_cicada_CDA-2A,Mech,1,1
mechdef_cicada_CDA-3C,Mech,1,1

Slot 5
mechdef_locust_LCT-1M,Mech,1,1
mechdef_locust_LCT-1S,Mech,1,1
mechdef_locust_LCT-1V,Mech,1,1
mechdef_urbanmech_UM-R60,Mech,1,3
mechdef_spider_SDR-5V,Mech,1,2
mechdef_commando_COM-1B,Mech,1,1
mechdef_commando_COM-2D,Mech,1,1
 
I like the Centurion but even better than that in my opinion is a heavily modified Shadow Hawk-2D. It’s Melee Damage and pair of Support Weapons Hardpoints add a very useful capability set after I’ve run up a lot of Heat with its SRMs and Medium Lasers. : )
 
Everyone bags on the Enforcer but I love to drop a ac10++ or even an ac20 in it with Max jjs and it makes an effective mech for pilot types without multi targeting
 
The Enforcer is amazing with a Gauss Rifle. Especially the 13t version.
 
The Enforcer is amazing with a Gauss Rifle. Especially the 13t version.

Aye, but I've also been using it with a UAC10++ that I bought at a BM, 3 tons of ammo and replaced the LL with a Medium Pulse, which allowed me to up the armour, and it has become an effective Medium-range mech to soften a target for my Firestarter with MG's to crit and boom. :D
Next step is replacing the two SHS with a single DHS and see if I can find one of those +3 acc' 1-ton targetting computer...