Some (probably stupid) questions to which I couldn't find answers

[Secret Master]

So, I've been playing Battletech this weekend, and while it's not quite like the game I played back in the 80s, it's fun.

But there are a couple of weird issues I am facing in the management of my mercenary company that I can't seem to find answers to. They are small issues, but they are driving me nuts.

1) Your rating with the MRB. Does the number matter, or should I only care about the stars?

2) A related question: There are plenty of times when I'm on a contract that the mission goes bad due to extraneous circumstances (bad intel). I'd say 1 in 6 missions have significantly more enemy opposition than advertised, and in those cases I lose mechs and pilots. I know this is part of the mercenary life, but.... I usually to fight those battles out anyway to at least get a "good faith" withdrawal. But even a good faith withdrawal nets me meager payment and the loss of pilots and mechs tends to be costly. Should I just be willing to withdraw in bad faith immediately when I realize things are starting to go bad? It will hurt my MRB rating, but who needs to lose 30 days of time for repairs while also paying out 500,000 in repairs and new pilot costs? What do more experienced players think?

3) Using the star map to find contracts of X number of skulls is useful, but I've been screwed a few times. I'll fly to a new star system that the star map says has, say, a 2 skull contract. I get there, and the contract is a 2 skull contract... 26 days away in another star system with passage paid. I don't want to spend 20 days flying to a new star system under my own power for a contract only to find out I need to spend another 20+ days in transit to get to the actual job. Is there any way of filtering skulls so that I only see contracts that are in the actual system?

4) The training modules on the Argo are nifty. But I'm wondering whether I should be filling up my roster with cheap pilots and having them train until the day they are needed? Do pilots increase in salary the moment they get X amount of XP? Or does their salary only change when you level them up and buy new skills? Salaries are a significant part of my operating budget, and I'd like to know how best to make use of spare pilots. And whether I should have an entire stable of spare pilots training at all times, or just a few relief pilots for when the best get shot up.

5) The Arano Restoration contracts are lucrative, but I noticed that they keep getting more skulls as time goes on. I'm actually not ready for a lot of these Arano jobs. Is this a function of location or progress in the main story or both? I don't want to reach a point where the most lucrative contracts (due to faction rep) are out of my reach due to my smaller mechs. I'm not a good enough player to pull off an upset in every single mission.

 

[Ken-Sw]

1: A low MRB rating effects the quality of the warriors you can hire - some of the rare Ronin pilots will not work for you if your rating is to low.
2: The penalties are actually quite small for a bad faith withdrawal - much less than the cost of losing mechs and pilots. There is also this "

Run Away Faster!​

Retreated 10 times from a contract before any of your 'Mechs got destroyed "​

I have actually been in a situation where I sent my scout up a hill to look around and said OH HECK NO !! And hit withdraw without firing a shot.

3: The skull rating of a planet is more of an average for that planet not all two skull missions - some above - some below - finding one with ALL the missions are above the rating? Possible I guess but rare.

4: I personally do not find training modules that usefull unless you are in career mode and trying to train up a dozen rookies to get score points.

5: EVERY time you do a campaign mission the overall difficulty gets bumped up a notch - do not ignore the non campaign missions you need to train up pilots and salvage better mechs between missions - There was at least one player that did a speed run through the campaign only doing enough randoms to make the next campaign mission trigger but I am nowhere near that good - I personally never liked the campaign that much and switched to Career mode as soon as it became available - more my style.

 

[Doctor Machete]

After looking at the screenshot I think someone should tell you that you're tanking the only one faction that really matters (Pirates). Being neutral or better with them is imperative if you want to have access to the best equipment (Black Market). Many ppl restart the campaign/career once they find out. So if you still can do missions for them I'd begin to do them, for free (to increase rep gain).

 

[Hobbes__]

5: EVERY time you do a campaign mission the overall difficulty gets bumped up a notch - do not ignore the non campaign missions you need to train up pilots and salvage better mechs between missions - There was at least one player that did a speed run through the campaign only doing enough randoms to make the next campaign mission trigger but I am nowhere near that good - I personally never liked the campaign that much and switched to Career mode as soon as it became available - more my style.

Not on every campaign mission. The ones that bump the overall difficulty upon completion are:
* Axylus (Argo recovery)
* Liberation of Weldry
* Served Cold (DropShip destruction)
* Artru (SLDF Depot)
* Guldra (Rescuing Alexander)
* Coromodir (Final mission)

 

[Secret Master]

Being neutral or better with them is imperative if you want to have access to the best equipment (Black Market).

They offered me a chance to join the black market once in this game. They demanded over 2 million C-bills for the opportunity because they hate me. I had no choice but to decline at that time. I'm probably screwed now.

Not on every campaign mission. The ones that bump the overall difficulty upon completion are:

At least I'm forewarned. Thanks.

 

[Doctor Machete]

They offered me a chance to join the black market once in this game. They demanded over 2 million C-bills for the opportunity because they hate me. I had no choice but to decline at that time. I'm probably screwed now.

Remember, only if you want access to all the goodies. Black Market access is not really necessary to beat the game but for sure it makes it way way easier.

 

[Bryartuck]

4) The training modules on the Argo are nifty. But I'm wondering whether I should be filling up my roster with cheap pilots and having them train until the day they are needed? Do pilots increase in salary the moment they get X amount of XP? Or does their salary only change when you level them up and buy new skills? Salaries are a significant part of my operating budget, and I'd like to know how best to make use of spare pilots. And whether I should have an entire stable of spare pilots training at all times, or just a few relief pilots for when the best get shot up.

You don't have to pay pilots for unused XP. So you can just let them sit in the barracks training and only pay them the minimum until you need them.

They offered me a chance to join the black market once in this game. They demanded over 2 million C-bills for the opportunity because they hate me. I had no choice but to decline at that time. I'm probably screwed now.

You should get the offer again (eventually). If you can get your rep up to 'liked' teh cost of joining goes down to around 50k c-bills iirc. I believe a neutral rep is around 1M. You also get better prices in the store if you are liked.

 

[Secret Master]

You don't have to pay pilots for unused XP. So you can just let them sit in the barracks training and only pay them the minimum until you need them.

That's good to know. As I found out, allocating XP on my reserve pilots is a bad idea. Since I don't know who might die in a mission, I don't know what traits I need to replace until someone buys the farm. No point in giving someone bulwark when it turns out the sensor lock pilot died.


Speaking of training, I've also discovered that the "training missions" (training day and B-team) don't scale to skulls. It's always the same crappy Urbanmech, Panther, and Commando even if you are facing four Thunderbolts. That seems like an odd design choice in the game.

 

[gh0s7]

Speaking of training, I've also discovered that the "training missions" (training day and B-team) don't scale to skulls. It's always the same crappy Urbanmech, Panther, and Commando even if you are facing four Thunderbolts. That seems like an odd design choice in the game.

Sort of. Would you allow brand-new pilots with zero experience to pilot battlemechs that cost the triple if not more? Personally, I'm glad that they're not piloting Locusts...
(the tutorial in MW4 also portrays this quite comically)

 

[Secret Master]

Sort of. Would you allow brand-new pilots with zero experience to pilot battlemechs that cost the triple if not more? Personally, I'm glad that they're not piloting Locusts...
(the tutorial in MW4 also portrays this quite comically)

Well, yes, but then don't offer a 3 skull version of that mission so that the trainees are outclassed in terms of weight by a factor of 2 or more.

 

[Hobbes__]

Well, yes, but then don't offer a 3 skull version of that mission so that the trainees are outclassed in terms of weight by a factor of 2 or more.

Unless you're using mods, the maximum difficulty of those two training missions is 1 and 1/2 skulls.

 

[gh0s7]

Well, yes, but then don't offer a 3 skull version of that mission so that the trainees are outclassed in terms of weight by a factor of 2 or more.

In those situations, you'll have to have your own pilot on a Marauder or an Assault mech, preferably a Lancer (Multi-Shot + Breaching Shot + Bulwark); some knowledge of how to give yourself the best odds and use the trainees really helps.

 

[Jade_Rook]

1) I think only the MRB stars matter. They are determined by the actual number, but everything that references your rating goes off the stars (I think, not 100% sure on that)
2) If the cost of repairs is going to be more than the reward for completion, you are better off bugging out early. If you are consistently taking heavy damage and having to retreat, you may need to reconsider your strategies and builds.
3) It takes some time for missions to refresh on a planet, so going back to ones you have cleared soon afterwards isn't a great idea. I think it takes a month for the missions to refresh. Also, the rating of the planet is just going to be the average rating for the missions found there.
4) Pilot costs go up when you spend the XP, not when earned. You can have the rookies sit around training without ever having their salary go up until you actually allocate the XP.
5) The Arano contracts are very lucrative, but as the campaign progresses, it will increase the difficulty of all planets. Don't rush the campaign.

 

[Secret Master]

3) It takes some time for missions to refresh on a planet, so going back to ones you have cleared soon afterwards isn't a great idea. I think it takes a month for the missions to refresh. Also, the rating of the planet is just going to be the average rating for the missions found there.

That's useful to know.

Are stores on a 30 day refresh, too?

 

[foamyesque]

In those situations, you'll have to have your own pilot on a Marauder or an Assault mech, preferably a Lancer (Multi-Shot + Breaching Shot + Bulwark); some knowledge of how to give yourself the best odds and use the trainees really helps.

Nah, Bulwark + Master Tact. Go first, annihilate someone, and let the trainees shoot turrets or gang up on someone else. The Commando and Panther pilots are actually pretty useful in combination IMO. The Urbanmech pilot is just godawful, unfortunately.

 

[gh0s7]

I prefer the Lancer over the Vanguard but it works too. And the Urbie, depending on the map and initial positions, might best be used as a backstabber. A slow one...

 

[Jade_Rook]

You have to really pick your shots with the Urbie. Try to get high ground and remember the recoil, so you probably won't be shooting every turn. It still hits real hard when you can land a shot. I have found them useful.

That's useful to know.

Are stores on a 30 day refresh, too?

I think so. Not 100% sure on that, but I think they change inventory periodically.

 

[Secret Master]

I did finish the campaign and started up a new game in Career mode. And this time I didn't piss off the pirates. Having access to the Black Market without a 1000% price mark up makes a huge difference in gameplay. Even without the better weapons, having access to more and better mech parts makes it a snap to get high end mechs into service.

 

[Secret Master]

Hmm, that post went up before I was finished.

I did have an additional question, though: Is there any point in actually allying with any faction? Even the pirates?

The in-game text mentions special contracts only available to allies. But are these every worth it? I could ally with the pirates right now, but I would lose discounts with a few other factions. And I do sometimes buy stuff from non-pirates. And I grab contracts from everyone.

 

[Bryartuck]

Don't ally with the pirates. They don't have a special mission (flashpoint) and everyone else will hate you. The other factions do have a special flashpoint when you ally, and allow access to their faction store.