I'm happy to provide some of rules of thumb I use in my own campaign if you think they'll help, otherwise do keep up the updates! It's been fun following along so far and I'll definitely follow your next run. 
The Ongoing Iron-man Adventures of Trojan's Cavaliers
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I'm happy to provide some of rules of thumb I use in my own campaign if you think they'll help, otherwise do keep up the updates! It's been fun following along so far and I'll definitely follow your next run.
At least in this run I managed to "go the distance". My first run ended in disaster within the first 18 months
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At least in this run I managed to "go the distance". My first run ended in disaster within the first 18 months
I think of it as a learning curve. Next one I'm betting you'll easily double your score.
As for advice, the single biggest lesson I learned on my first playthrough, especially when it comes to proper reserving, is learn when to pull back. If you can't find a way to reserve so that you only take one or two salvos of fire, then you're probably too far forward and being overwhelmed.
The best place to practise this is actually the first round when you see the OpFor: jump into cover just far enough away that the enemy can't easily move into firing range then reserve till you get a chance to move forward and practically get a free turn. If you set yourself up properly you can repeat that more than once during an engagement, especially if you use Vigilance and Precision shot to stack the initiative deck.
I think of it as a learning curve. Next one I'm betting you'll easily double your score.
As for advice, the single biggest lesson I learned on my first playthrough, especially when it comes to proper reserving, is learn when to pull back. If you can't find a way to reserve so that you only take one or two salvos of fire, then you're probably too far forward and being overwhelmed.
The best place to practise this is actually the first round when you see the OpFor: jump into cover just far enough away that the enemy can't easily move into firing range then reserve till you get a chance to move forward and practically get a free turn. If you set yourself up properly you can repeat that more than once during an engagement, especially if you use Vigilance and Precision shot to stack the initiative deck.
I make frequent use of Vigilence. I use it more than Precision Strike.
I don't doubt it mate, it's a powerful ability. I just mean once you get in the habit of using reserving, Precision Shot and Vigilance both become as useful for moving mechs up and down the initiative track as they are for the called shot or DR. As long as you remember to keep pulling back to your line or ducking behind terrain screens to kite the OpFor while you do it, you'll be controlling multi-lance engagements like a boss in no time.
Funny having this conversation, as it came too late to save me from a string of disasters a few days back. Now sit back & let me tell you my tale of woe .
Not many pics to show for this, I fear, but I will try to convey things as best as I can! My first mission was a Target acquisition mission, I I confess that I went for speed over tonnage on this one!
Had I known what I'd be facing, I doubt I'd have gone with this Lance composition. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken Man O War (Trebuchet) & Raiden (Thunderbolt). I think I could have still made it to all the markers on time.....with the lighter & more agile Mechs......but probably would have had a better survival rate with the extra firepower of the Thunderbolt & Trebuchet. As it stands, I was only 1 turn away from beating this mission, but Shogun-who was holding the 3rd & final position-got focused by an entire Lance of reinforcements......& my other Mechs were occupied with a Hunchback 4G & an Orion. Boy was it *nasty*. I failed the mission, but it was a Good Faith failure at least. Also, Nebula survived Shogun's destruction.....so it wasn't an unmitigated disaster.
The second mission, to retrieve a biological sample, was entirely the fault of incomplete intelligence.....for which I blame Lady Arano. Allegedly it was merely a 2.5 Skull Mission......what they failed to tell me was that the base was at the top of a mountain with only a single narrow path to get to it. They also failed to inform me that the OpFor contained 8 units, one of which was an SRM Carrier. I lost Tin-man on that outing, & was far too close to losing a second Mech entirely......so felt certain I was never going to win that mission. Thus I withdrew, even though it was deemed a "Bad Faith Withdrawal".....which is ironic when one considers how Bad Faith the intel on this mission was.
.Not many pics to show for this, I fear, but I will try to convey things as best as I can! My first mission was a Target acquisition mission, I I confess that I went for speed over tonnage on this one!
Had I known what I'd be facing, I doubt I'd have gone with this Lance composition. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken Man O War (Trebuchet) & Raiden (Thunderbolt). I think I could have still made it to all the markers on time.....with the lighter & more agile Mechs......but probably would have had a better survival rate with the extra firepower of the Thunderbolt & Trebuchet. As it stands, I was only 1 turn away from beating this mission, but Shogun-who was holding the 3rd & final position-got focused by an entire Lance of reinforcements......& my other Mechs were occupied with a Hunchback 4G & an Orion. Boy was it *nasty*. I failed the mission, but it was a Good Faith failure at least. Also, Nebula survived Shogun's destruction.....so it wasn't an unmitigated disaster.
The second mission, to retrieve a biological sample, was entirely the fault of incomplete intelligence.....for which I blame Lady Arano. Allegedly it was merely a 2.5 Skull Mission......what they failed to tell me was that the base was at the top of a mountain with only a single narrow path to get to it. They also failed to inform me that the OpFor contained 8 units, one of which was an SRM Carrier. I lost Tin-man on that outing, & was far too close to losing a second Mech entirely......so felt certain I was never going to win that mission. Thus I withdrew, even though it was deemed a "Bad Faith Withdrawal".....which is ironic when one considers how Bad Faith the intel on this mission was
.
The last minute hurrahs are why I don't bother with Lethality on the difficulty settings: the odds of getting a survival are low enough that they're worth it for the stories, like the time my direct fire sniper had to hold off a heavy lance while I repositioned. I thought I'd lost the pilot in the most heroic way possible, but I literally cheered when she eventually survived!
And yeah, it's not the OpFor that'll get you, it's your own damn intelligence.
And yeah, it's not the OpFor that'll get you, it's your own damn intelligence.
If only Shogun's CT had held out for just ONE MORE TURN......then I'd have completed the mission. Though I may have struggled to get everyone to the Evac Zone intact
.As for that second mission......not even the pay-out gave away the true difficulty. It was only paying a measly 150,000 C-Bills! Not worth the pain IMHO.
Well, after a run of failures, I decided it was time to get a few wins on the board, & regain my rep with Lady Arano, so took some slightly "easier" missions. In one mission, I found myself up against 7 'Mechs in total-including fully armoured Hatchetmen, Griffins & Vindicators. Despite this, I was able to win the day with some truly fluky shots-like the way I completely de-legged a Hatchetman, knocked out a Griffin by incapacitating the pilot & took out a second Hatchetman via an ammo explosion. Fun times all round .
No injuries or Mech damage in that engagement, but enough Mech Salvage to build my second Griffin.
My next mission was slightly tougher-a hot landing consisting of 7 fully armoured Mechs/Vehicles, including at least one Quickdraw & 2 Shadowhawks.
I took out the vehicles as quickly as possible.
Raiden managed to punch out the CT of one of the Shadow-Hawks.
The next Shadow-Hawke was removed via an LRM explosion.
The remaining Mechs were taken out in fairly short order, thanks to a bit of flanking by my lovely Wolverine.
Only Man of War came out of this mission a little worse for wear.....though we used it as an excuse to fit the Mech with a better Medium Laser.
Anyway, that's it for now. I hope my fellow Mech Commanders are enjoying the first full day of 2019. I will have more stories incoming!
.
No injuries or Mech damage in that engagement, but enough Mech Salvage to build my second Griffin.
My next mission was slightly tougher-a hot landing consisting of 7 fully armoured Mechs/Vehicles, including at least one Quickdraw & 2 Shadowhawks.
I took out the vehicles as quickly as possible
.
Raiden managed to punch out the CT of one of the Shadow-Hawks.
The next Shadow-Hawke was removed via an LRM explosion
.
The remaining Mechs were taken out in fairly short order, thanks to a bit of flanking by my lovely Wolverine
.
Only Man of War came out of this mission a little worse for wear.....though we used it as an excuse to fit the Mech with a better Medium Laser
.
Anyway, that's it for now. I hope my fellow Mech Commanders are enjoying the first full day of 2019. I will have more stories incoming!
Sigh.....well it appears that I am 0 for 3 in regards to target acquisition missions.......almost entirely as a result of my own incompetence!
The first one I did, I forgot I needed to be in the Hex for 2 full turns.....so failed the mission by exactly *one* turn.
The Second one I did, I failed because my Kintaro was unable to stand up to just one more turn's worth of combat.
The third one? Well, let me tell you about that......
2 Skull, not too bad. All the same, I decided to take a couple of well armed Mechs to sort out the opposition, & 2 Jump Capable Mechs to plant the Beacons.
Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the layout of the 3 hexes......but decided to accept the challenge anyway!
The Mechs I faced were light, but large in number.......the 3 Panthers in particular did a lot of damage to my lance. That said, I was able to remove several of the 'Mechs, whilst still achieving the goals of planting Beacons Alpha & Bravo. Charlie was proving more difficult.....& time was fast running out!
.....However, Logan was up to the challenge, & the Beacon was successfully placed-& a Mission Victory looked like it was in my sights!
That is when I made my terrible mistake......I failed to read the details of the further instructions, & instead pushed on to wipe out the OpFor, like I usually do.
Had I focused on getting to the evac point for extraction, I'd have won the day. Instead I wasted time on mopping up, & it cost me the mission......albeit as a Good Faith failure. That still meant a reduced pay-day all around!
I am *determined* to complete one of these mission types!!!
The first one I did, I forgot I needed to be in the Hex for 2 full turns.....so failed the mission by exactly *one* turn.
The Second one I did, I failed because my Kintaro was unable to stand up to just one more turn's worth of combat.
The third one? Well, let me tell you about that......
2 Skull, not too bad. All the same, I decided to take a couple of well armed Mechs to sort out the opposition, & 2 Jump Capable Mechs to plant the Beacons.
Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the layout of the 3 hexes......but decided to accept the challenge anyway!
The Mechs I faced were light, but large in number.......the 3 Panthers in particular did a lot of damage to my lance. That said, I was able to remove several of the 'Mechs, whilst still achieving the goals of planting Beacons Alpha & Bravo. Charlie was proving more difficult.....& time was fast running out!
.....However, Logan was up to the challenge, & the Beacon was successfully placed-& a Mission Victory looked like it was in my sights!
That is when I made my terrible mistake......I failed to read the details of the further instructions, & instead pushed on to wipe out the OpFor, like I usually do.
Had I focused on getting to the evac point for extraction, I'd have won the day. Instead I wasted time on mopping up, & it cost me the mission......albeit as a Good Faith failure. That still meant a reduced pay-day all around!
I am *determined* to complete one of these mission types!!!
It is painfully hard to walk away (okay, Sprint alway) from surviving OpFor and toward an Evac Point.
I am “BATTLETECH” well-trained so my overriding thought is always “But I’m leaving all this Salvage still walking around!!!”
However the need to complete Objectives and Evac an Area (before swamped and cut off, then cut up by overwhelming Enemy Response) is PERFECTLY authentic. I’m a Military Retiree and there is many a very real lesson I’ve learned the hard way about telling the difference between being “Mission-focused” and being “Enemy-focused.” And no, they are not one and the same thing. : )
I am “BATTLETECH” well-trained so my overriding thought is always “But I’m leaving all this Salvage still walking around!!!”
However the need to complete Objectives and Evac an Area (before swamped and cut off, then cut up by overwhelming Enemy Response) is PERFECTLY authentic. I’m a Military Retiree and there is many a very real lesson I’ve learned the hard way about telling the difference between being “Mission-focused” and being “Enemy-focused.” And no, they are not one and the same thing. : )
I would like to see one tweak to Target Acquisition. I'd like the EVAC phase of the mission be changed a bit.
Right now the EVAC part of the mission is tied to the Primary Objectives. This means that even though you placed the markers and destroyed the target, not EVAC-ing in time still fails the mission. I would think that the bug-out would be more of your issue than that of your employer. Once you destroy their target, they should be content.
What I think I would like to see is the EVAC get pushed to a secondary objective. The kicker is, if you don't get there in time, the OpFor drops a couple heavier lances (heavier and more powerful than your rating) around your Extraction point that you need to get through to extract. One could even be a bit more cruel and say you need to stay in the extraction hex for a turn or two before the Leopard can swoop in and get you. That may be a bit much though, I'm not sure.
Either way, have the EVAC a secondary, but failing it means that you have a bit of a hairy extraction.
Right now the EVAC part of the mission is tied to the Primary Objectives. This means that even though you placed the markers and destroyed the target, not EVAC-ing in time still fails the mission. I would think that the bug-out would be more of your issue than that of your employer. Once you destroy their target, they should be content.
What I think I would like to see is the EVAC get pushed to a secondary objective. The kicker is, if you don't get there in time, the OpFor drops a couple heavier lances (heavier and more powerful than your rating) around your Extraction point that you need to get through to extract. One could even be a bit more cruel and say you need to stay in the extraction hex for a turn or two before the Leopard can swoop in and get you. That may be a bit much though, I'm not sure.
Either way, have the EVAC a secondary, but failing it means that you have a bit of a hairy extraction.
One suggestion/observation if I may...?
You seem to be going through 'Mechs quite fast, yet AFAICT from your salvage picks you don't seem to be prioritising mech pieces - a perfect example was a few AAR's ago where you could (I think) have picked up a complete Kintaro?
You seem to be going through 'Mechs quite fast, yet AFAICT from your salvage picks you don't seem to be prioritising mech pieces - a perfect example was a few AAR's ago where you could (I think) have picked up a complete Kintaro?
Believe me, I always prioritize *certain* Mech pieces. No way would I turn down a chance of getting a new Kintaro. I now also have 2/3rds of an Orion-K & an Orion-V.
The Kintaro is one of my favorite Mediums in this game (if not one of my favorite mechs in the game). I always try to prioritize getting a Kintaro...heck, when the OpFor shows up with one, I always prioritize just getting it off the field lol.
This one specifically caught my eye...you've got 3/12 on the salvage and I can see at least 3 parts of Kintaro there, as well as an AC/10++, but the salvage you chose seems (IMHO) pretty lacklustre in comparison?
Again, this is intended as an observation/suggestion - and NOT an attack or criticism
/edit - and YES, a modified Kintaro is a thing of joy and wonder
Again, this is intended as an observation/suggestion - and NOT an attack or criticism
/edit - and YES, a modified Kintaro is a thing of joy and wonder
This one specifically caught my eye...you've got 3/12 on the salvage and I can see at least 3 parts of Kintaro there, as well as an AC/10++, but the salvage you chose seems (IMHO) pretty lacklustre in comparison?
Again, this is intended as an observation/suggestion - and NOT an attack or criticism
/edit - and YES, a modified Kintaro is a thing of joy and wonder
Well I'll be.....how in the heck did I miss that?!?! The thought that I'd pick a Vindi over a Kintaro seems laughable to me
. I adore the Kintaro almost as much as I love the Hatchet-man . Oh well, obvious that I made some errors that even I was unaware of at the time!
You might want to try killing everything as fast as possible with CT strikes, except the one unit you want to salvage. Kill the trash really fast, then you have the armor remaining to salvage fight the final enemy. Depending on the target, you might be able to disable it and leave it for last, like taking a side torso out of a HBK and then just not letting it get within melee range.
LOL. The minute I see a Hunchback, I happily use up *all* my precision strike abilities to try and remove that Right Torso ASAP
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Alternatively you can pepper it with LRMs as an opener (my LRM platform pilot has master tactician for this flexibility) and since iirc the AC 20 is on one side and the ammo on the other, whatever side sustains the most damage follow up with direct weapon facing fire to that side.LOL. The minute I see a Hunchback, I happily use up *all* my precision strike abilities to try and remove that Right Torso ASAP
By staying at decent range you can easily defeat it thus without burning the resolve.
Ymmv