Same Mech Parts at Worlds?

[TheMoe]

The Battletech community has really helped me enjoy my return to the game, and I find I'm paying attention to some details that I missed when the game first came out. I've started buying pieces of larger mechs at some of the worlds I've traveled to and I always wonder where I'm going to find part #2 and #3 of the three piece set.

Do the mech parts the different worlds carry restock or are they just gone once you've purchased some of them?

If the do restock, am I likely to find part #2 or part #3 of the first mech part I purchased on the same world I purchased part #1? Is there a reason to come back and look after a month or so to see if I can locate part #2, or does it appear to be a random restocking?

I guess I've simply never paid attention to all the different variants of a particular mech, but I'm starting to understand the variants a little bit. I'm going to start over, now that I have a better grasp on the pilot skills, which have changed considerably since first release, and I think I'll start writing down what parts I buy and where.

 

[Timaeus]

It's a random restock of everything the planet pulls from item collections based on the tags the planet has.
HBS Dev Diary #14: The Nuts & Bolts of Heavy Metal (Part 3) has a decent overview of how that works; however, the exact item collections mentioned won't the same because of some changes beteween v1.8 and v1.9.

 

[fredman]

If you lust for a big mech that's out of reach financially be sure to check (Black Market) carefully as they are usually offered whole for a whopping amount - or piece-meal for a comparative pittance, usually with 3 pieces in stock alongside the whole mech - I just purchased a couple of HLR-732b's this way for <$5M each, and once assembled magically include all the fixin's (Gauss, Dual heatsinks, etc)!

 

[TheMoe]

It's a random restock of everything the planet pulls from item collections based on the tags the planet has.
HBS Dev Diary #14: The Nuts & Bolts of Heavy Metal (Part 3) has a decent overview of how that works; however, the exact item collections mentioned won't the same because of some changes beteween v1.8 and v1.9.

Thank you! I've started keeping track of what parts are available where, and I have seen some of the same parts in the same locations and then at times they are replaced with something new. I'll read the dev diary to get a better understanding. Thanks for the link.

 

[TheMoe]

If you lust for a big mech that's out of reach financially be sure to check (Black Market) carefully as they are usually offered whole for a whopping amount - or piece-meal for a comparative pittance, usually with 3 pieces in stock alongside the whole mech - I just purchased a couple of HLR-732b's this way for <$5M each, and once assembled magically include all the fixin's (Gauss, Dual heatsinks, etc)!

That sounds very exciting. I've seen the Black Market tab, but mine is always grayed out. Is the black market only available on some planets or do you have to have a particular character in order to purchase from it? Thanks!

 

[NGV]

At some random point you'll get an event that give you an invite to pay to get access to the black market

I've heard it suggested that it only triggers when you're en route to a system with black market in it but not sure that's true or not. It's certainly cheaper to join and cheaper to purchase on the better your reputation with the pirate faction

 

[fredman]

The Black Market offer is random but note that depending on your relationship with the Pirate faction the price for access varies from a free offer (liked) to a couple million (disliked). During the campaign I've learned to seek out planets where most factions available go against the local government rather than each other giving you points with the factions while you can safely ignore bad rep with the locals and when the offer comes. It's actually a good idea to not get a terribly bad rep with any faction early on to avoid having to dig yourself out of a hole later on...

 

[TheMoe]

At some random point you'll get an event that give you an invite to pay to get access to the black market

I've heard it suggested that it only triggers when you're en route to a system with black market in it but not sure that's true or not. It's certainly cheaper to join and cheaper to purchase on the better your reputation with the pirate faction

Oh boy. I've taken quite a few missions against the pirates. They might not like me much.

 

[TheMoe]

The Black Market offer is random but note that depending on your relationship with the Pirate faction the price for access varies from a free offer (liked) to a couple million (disliked). During the campaign I've learned to seek out planets where most factions available go against the local government rather than each other giving you points with the factions while you can safely ignore bad rep with the locals and when the offer comes. It's actually a good idea to not get a terribly bad rep with any faction early on to avoid having to dig yourself out of a hole later on...

That's good advice. Thanks. BTW, I used the navigation board to check all the planets around me, and I found one that lists a black market. I'm guessing the BM is only on some planets, because I didn't find it on many I looked at.

 

[fredman]

Once you join BM planets will be highlighted on the map. As mentioned if your rep is low, go to the 'open area' of the map (lower central area) where most factions have missions against local government forces and build it up to 'liked' (19-40 rep points) to avoid being asked to pay $2.5M to join when you finally do get an invitation... This info is useful but a lot of the fun of the game is finding this out for yourself as you go along; enjoy!

 

[TheMoe]

Once you join BM planets will be highlighted on the map. As mentioned if your rep is low, go to the 'open area' of the map (lower central area) where most factions have missions against local government forces and build it up to 'liked' (19-40 rep points) to avoid being asked to pay $2.5M to join when you finally do get an invitation... This info is useful but a lot of the fun of the game is finding this out for yourself as you go along; enjoy!

Oh wow! They want you to pay to join, or you can do missions for them. I might look into that side of things. Thanks again!

 

[Aluminium Gerbil]

Don't bother with the BM unless you are willing to keep high rep with the Pirates. Even if you can pay the 2.5 joining fee (also there's a random event shakedown where they ask you to pay again) you get smacked with up to a 1000% markup on all BM items if they hate you.

 

[Panzer-Killer]

Don't bother with the BM unless you are willing to keep high rep with the Pirates. Even if you can pay the 2.5 joining fee (also there's a random event shakedown where they ask you to pay again) you get smacked with up to a 1000% markup on all BM items if they hate you.

On the other hand, I’ve found that even while being considered an enemy by pirates due to my Davion-Marik-Magistracy alliance, going onstaying within the “indifferent” Rep bracket (-19/+19) is quite easy, and keeps the periodical “access renovation fee” at 50k c-bills, and BM prices at a manageable +10% mark-up.

 

[NGV]

as long as you're willing to leave missions against the pirates on the table if needed (often you can pair one for and one against) you can generally keep at least at indifferent fairly easily.

I was hoping if there was further content coming they'd look at reputation again, at the moment the advantages to keeping nice with the pirates and easy access to the black market outweigh access to the faction stores that comes with an alliance

 

[fredman]

I forgot about the house alliances and how they affect your play and rep preferences. On campaign play-throughs I generally do not ally with any one house (except the Restoration, of course) and maintain a pretty neutral stance will all, generally 'ending' the game with a 90-100 rep with all factions to ensure access to most/all missions. As stated above, the way the game is now you will miss out on the majority of 'goodies' if you forego joining BMs. Alliances will get you some perks but I feel the downsides for allying individual houses are too many otherwise: YMMV. I used to feel that some of the Pirate mission requests are morally bad but really all the factions ask you to do similar questionable missions and, canon-wise I've never liked the Capellans but here they are often my staunchest employers!

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

The Capellans made the Raven and the Cataphract, 2 mechs I really like. The government may be terrible to their own people (almost anybody for that matter), however they make cool mechs pre Clan invasion .

 

[TheMoe]

Don't bother with the BM unless you are willing to keep high rep with the Pirates. Even if you can pay the 2.5 joining fee (also there's a random event shakedown where they ask you to pay again) you get smacked with up to a 1000% markup on all BM items if they hate you.

Yes, I believe I'm paying an extra 50% now, though I haven't found better mechs on other worlds. The BM has some quite heavy versions.

 

[TheMoe]

On the other hand, I’ve found that even while being considered an enemy by pirates due to my Davion-Marik-Magistracy alliance, going onstaying within the “indifferent” Rep bracket (-19/+19) is quite easy, and keeps the periodical “access renovation fee” at 50k c-bills, and BM prices at a manageable +10% mark-up.

I'm going to look at some of the other worlds to see if I can pick up some pirate missions. Looks like most of the Arano Restoration Missions are against the pirates, though.

 

[Panzer-Killer]

I'm going to look at some of the other worlds to see if I can pick up some pirate missions. Looks like most of the Arano Restoration Missions are against the pirates, though.

Yes, post-campaign Arano contracts are always against pirates, at least as far as I’ve seen so far, as they are the only faction Arano Restoration marks as enemy

 

[TheMoe]

Yes, post-campaign Arano contracts are always against pirates, at least as far as I’ve seen so far, as they are the only faction Arano Restoration marks as enemy

Oh. Great to know. Thank you!