Repair Time

[Wayneable]

Am I the only one here that thinks the repair time / refit time for mech are a little too long?

I mean if a spider that has lost it´s arm and torso take 92 days to repair, I dont want to think how long it will take for a heavy/assault mech too.

It just makes to so hard to always have a lance of mechs ready for the next contract. And you do not have the time or money to wait for it to be ready.

It is something that needs to be looked at.

Or am i just doing something wrong?

 

[Thisguy]

Actually you guys make this out to be way worse than it actually is - you always have 1-2 mechs on hold and transit between contracts in the beginning is also a solid 20+ days every time - so youll get at least one mech fixed up in between jobs ... Thats just part of the game and its difficulty level to have to manage these things - and also to actually have to withdraw from a contract if you feel you are taking too much damage.

I feel like you didn't read all the replies, because the post evolved into everyone agreeing with repair time and managing damage. Everyone disagrees with the refit time to use the weapon configurations on a mech the way you want.

I agree there should be some time to manage with a refit and it shouldn't be instance but again,
"8 days to remove the PPC that is the default, another 6 days to add the LRM you want instead, then another 4 days to add the LRM ammo, and 2 more days to remove the one heat sink you don't need with the PPC gone. 20 days to change out a weapon armament is ridiculous."

I tested again last night and to do a complete change out on the Vindicator was 92 days. that's 3 financial periods without a mech that is pretty important, I see streams still using it 900 days into the game.

92 days for a refit, no repair is the issue and its a pretty big one.

 

[GermanPartisan]

Literally NEVER had anything close to 92 days for a refit even in the first few months of the campaign. The highest I ever got (with a complete swap of every bit of equipment and armament) was 59 days on a Centurion (with several mechs in queue) - all done on the first ship not the Argo.

I am still firmly holding to "people are blowing this out of proportion" or are talking about a mech that is last in queue after 3 other mechs and the sum total is 92 days - even that I doubt - as I said the highest I ever got (before Argo) was 59 days on a refit that was last in queue after 3 repairs.

Also you can rearrange your work queue at any time. Just pull it to the front if you need it done.

 

[Thisguy]

No exaggeration, It was 92 days to remove everything and put on completely new loadout. Now I didn't know that mech work was done in series, so one had to finish before the next started. I had not noticed that and thought mechs were worked on in parallel with each other.

I will test again tonight and look into rearranging the work que, if the que was the reason for the long refit time then I will have to get better data for my argument.

 

[GermanPartisan]

Ok Give it a try then!

 

[szmik]

one bad early mission puts you out of the game, like this: 120 days to just repair this stuff, and my reserve mech is still 30 days to repair from previous mission, ggwp... now if there was bank system where you could take a loan to ride bad times it wouldn't be that hard

 

[TaurianMerc]

one bad early mission puts you out of the game, like this: 120 days to just repair this stuff, and my reserve mech is still 30 days to repair from previous mission, ggwp... now if there was bank system where you could take a loan to ride bad times it wouldn't be that hard

Wow! Either you took on a mission with a skull rating that was above your drop weight, you had some extremely bad luck or you played it less than optimally.
I haven't had a single mission with that much damage at the end, including taking on missions 1/2 skull higher rated than my lance was!

 

[szmik]

Wow! Either you took on a mission with a skull rating that was above your drop weight, you had some extremely bad luck or you played it less than optimally.
I haven't had a single mission with that much damage at the end, including taking on missions 1/2 skull higher rated than my lance was!

It was 1 or 1,5 skull mission, my 7th or so.... I got lance of elite tanks that just killed me, I took out enemy mechs, but those tanks with constant rain of rockets and PPCs....
Dekker ejected, my commander was knocked down and took couple loads of indirect call shots of rockets.... I withdrew
Those tanks moved twice each turn too, or so it seemed at the time.

 

[Chthon]

I've had a 1.5 skull that had 320 tons of mechs on it including an Orion. Was the first 1.5 skull I took, shortly after having a similar experience with my first 2 skull mission. This when I had at most 195 tons to field myself. In the 2 skull, I had to save scum 3 times. I was tired of save scumming in the 1.5 skull mission, so my Vindicator lost both left and right torso, and my blackjack got cored. This was after a long and grueling battle. Dekker in the Shadowhawk had to trip the Orion to death because I couldn't scratch the armor.

Sometimes these missions are much worse than the rating suggests. In neither of these missions were the mechs anything less than full armor, where you would expect shoddy armor for such a team. I was paranoid of anything above 1 skull for about 20 or so missions after. When I tried them again, I found out it wasn't so bad, I just hit two edge cases in a row.

I also feel that the game might have given me subtle hints that I am now picking up on in the mission details, but they are way too subtle for a new player to realize. Phrases like "Heavy lance" and "reinforcements" have now started triggering alarm bells in my head, as well as things my contract negotiator mentions. In the end, my Vindicator took about 6 months to repair, not because of the initial estimate which was about 3 months, but because I had to slip other repairs in before it to keep playing. I was about 1 bad mission from game over at that point, but I managed to recover.

 

[SamuraiViking]

Refit and repair times are fine, and they get better when Argos is upgraded. Haven't had a problem with it yet and I'm not upgraded. Just manage your finances a bit better and be patient, that's all it takes.

 

[Chthon]

Refit and repair times are fine, and they get better when Argos is upgraded. Haven't had a problem with it yet and I'm not upgraded. Just manage your finances a bit better and be patient, that's all it takes.

I am aware that they get better later. I am past that point now. However, in good game design, the game should get harder as you progress, not easier.

Light and medium mechs should not take the same length of time to repair as an assault mech. The repair and refit times should be proportional to the size and complexity of the mech, but I don't believe they are. Here is a list of things that I believe should be taken into account in mech repairs and refits:

Mech tonnage (Increased tonnage is increase amount of mech to work on)
Mech Speed (for the legs, increased speed means increased complexity in the actuators)
Mech Melee damage (for the arms, increased damage means increased coordination in the actuators)
Number and types of weapon slots on a part (only if that part is being repaired/replaced, increased number of weapon slots means there are more control systems for weapons that connect here)
Head (The cockpit has all of the control systems for the mech)
Center Torso (The center torso has the reactor)

As the mech gets larger, it tends to have more systems available to it, and more complexity means harder to fix. Currently I believe it's rather a flat cost depending on the amount of damage to a part and how many weapons must be remounted.

Even more so, when you get the better repair times later, you also get more space to hold spare mechs in case one does get wrecked. In short, you get the increased repair speed when you need it least! This is counter to good game design.

 

[Gungy]

I have to agree for a person not used to this game having never played tabletop etc, it does seem a bit heavy handed.

So I fixed it, I found the SimGameConstants.json and changed all the Techpoints costs to half.

Now if I have a crappy battle and all my mechs look like that screen posted earlier on the thread it only takes me 3-6 weeks to fully repair and refit. Yes it could be considered cheating, but I see it as training wheel till i get the tactics etc down. Nothing stops me from resetting once i start to find it too easy. Added bonus I can go the other way when the game starts to get easy.

Win in my book.

 

[SamuraiViking]

I have to agree for a person not used to this game having never played tabletop etc, it does seem a bit heavy handed.

So I fixed it, I found the SimGameConstants.json and changed all the Techpoints costs to half.

Now if I have a crappy battle and all my mechs look like that screen posted earlier on the thread it only takes me 3-6 weeks to fully repair and refit. Yes it could be considered cheating, but I see it as training wheel till i get the tactics etc down. Nothing stops me from resetting once i start to find it too easy. Added bonus I can go the other way when the game starts to get easy.

Win in my book.

You're right, that is cheating, and it should be considered cheating. I commend you for your efforts to get around a problem with the game, but it's not an actual problem with the game, it's a problem with certain players/play styles. If you're having such a mighty problem with taking so much damage that you're altering the game to make it easier, then you should play better--and I know that may piss you and others off, but smart tactics will reduce the damage taken, in most circumstances. Sometimes though, you just have to nut it up and take your hits on the chin and move on. The repair times and costs are there to give incentive to play better and smarter, and to better manage your finances. I've had to suffer through some long wait times for repairs, and a couple times it got me to the "low funds" or whatever warning. But it hasn't hurt me in the long run, and a couple of quick missions gets out of the red nicely. Now I'm pretty good at managing the expenses and limiting the damage taken during combat, but I think I can do even better. Also, if you just focus on the campaign missions as much as possible, the amount of c-bills given will easily offset repair times. And upgrade the Argo as soon as you can. That will definitely help.

In addition, if things go sideways, just leave the mission, take the hit to your rep, and move on honorably. Or heck, just quit and reload a saved game. I've done the latter a couple of times. That's what the saved games are for, by the way.

 

[SamuraiViking]

I am aware that they get better later. I am past that point now. However, in good game design, the game should get harder as you progress, not easier.

Nonesense. A good game design doesn't have to rely on such things. And this Battletech game IS a good game design. If you're not happy with it, then why play it?

Light and medium mechs should not take the same length of time to repair as an assault mech. The repair and refit times should be proportional to the size and complexity of the mech, but I don't believe they are.

Wait....damage time shouldn't be related to mech size or should it? You contradicted yourself.

And repair times should be based solely on the amount of damage done, not the class or the size of the mech.

Here is a list of things that I believe should be taken into account in mech repairs and refits:

Mech tonnage (Increased tonnage is increase amount of mech to work on)
Mech Speed (for the legs, increased speed means increased complexity in the actuators)
Mech Melee damage (for the arms, increased damage means increased coordination in the actuators)
Number and types of weapon slots on a part (only if that part is being repaired/replaced, increased number of weapon slots means there are more control systems for weapons that connect here)
Head (The cockpit has all of the control systems for the mech)
Center Torso (The center torso has the reactor)

As the mech gets larger, it tends to have more systems available to it, and more complexity means harder to fix. Currently I believe it's rather a flat cost depending on the amount of damage to a part and how many weapons must be remounted.

Even more so, when you get the better repair times later, you also get more space to hold spare mechs in case one does get wrecked. In short, you get the increased repair speed when you need it least! This is counter to good game design.

Again, the primary thing that should relegate repair times is damage done. Everything else is secondary or even irrelevant.

Making things easier and faster is MWO.

 

[Chthon]

Nonesense. A good game design doesn't have to rely on such things. And this Battletech game IS a good game design. If you're not happy with it, then why play it?



Wait....damage time shouldn't be related to mech size or should it? You contradicted yourself.

And repair times should be based solely on the amount of damage done, not the class or the size of the mech.



Again, the primary thing that should relegate repair times is damage done. Everything else is secondary or even irrelevant.

Making things easier and faster is MWO.

So, what you are saying is that rebuilding a 2 stroke lawnmower engine takes just as long as rebuilding a v8 high performance engine? You claim I make no sense, but give no argument other than it's somehow "MWO." If my suggestion is like MWO, perhaps you are simply against common sense?

 

[ZenTeapot]

After getting to the mid-late game, I find the repair/refit time to be okay. Probably because the full mech bay upgrade. But for early game it seems a bit too hard.

 

[MattW]

A lot of these sort of things could be solved by having some settings options that adjust the games difficulty, either through the settings menu or at the start of a new game. Eg, adjusting the mechs repair or pilot heal time to 0.9 makes it 10% easier for the player (1 being as the developer intented) and 1.5 is 50% harder for the player... for the crazy people among us!