I had a feeling I wasn't right, so thank you for the correction!
Still, a lot more lenient than TT
Third DLC?
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Still, a lot more lenient than TT
What happens if you have more than 1 ton of ammo on that location? The game tracks every ammo slot separatedly, or you deplete both at the same time?
I seem to remember being able to take the head off a pristine mech with a single small laser shot in TT as well, given the proper die rolls. Not sure that is something I want implemented into this game given the abundance of head hits we already have.
Dekker would run one mission and retire 'Nope, this job is NOT for me...'
Ammo is depleted one slot at a time, in the order they are defined in the mech JSON file. With customized mechs, it's in the order they were placed on the mech.
As far as the general comments about how common ammo explosions are, it's also true that the unmodded game has the AI's crit chance tuned way down. Only 20% of the chance the player has to score a crit, IIRC (though it's been a long time since I looked). That's if the AI can even get through your armor, of course.
Ironically, the last time I used Dekker in a career mode game he was killed on the first mission. The stock Commando he was piloting was beheaded by a PPC to the head on the very first combat round.
On the bright side, at least that time I got the mech back and the repair was cheap.
But there's less head hits in this game...I seem to remember being able to take the head off a pristine mech with a single small laser shot in TT as well, given the proper die rolls. Not sure that is something I want implemented into this game given the abundance of head hits we already have.
Less head-hits as a percentage of total hits.
But consider the OpFor composition and the pilots. We frequently face OpFors that outnumber us 2-1 or 3-1, which results in a very high volume of fire. And pilots (particularly those with a few levels of gunnery under their belts) are substantially more accurate than in TT. The end result is a higher volume of fire, that is more likely to hit, than what one would find when playing TT.
To use a sports analogy, TT is a hockey goalie with a .870 Sv% (saves made/shots faced) and 2.30 GAA (the average number of goals scored against them over 60 minutes), whereas HBSBT is a goalie with a .950 Sv% and 3.50 GAA.
[EDIT] In case my analogy isn't clear: HBSBT has more head-hits than TT because HBSBT faces a higher volume of more accurate fire, even though head-hits have a lower chance of occurring on a per-shot basis.
TT goalie lets in fewer goals per game (has fewer head-hits), but has a lower Sv% (head-hits are more likely to occur on a per-shot basis).
HBSBT goalie lets in more goals per game (has more head-hits), but has a higher Sv% (head-hits are less likely to occur on a per-shot basis).
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Well, the big BattleTech tabletop Kickstarter is over, and things in the IP will settle down in the coming weeks. This would be a perfect time for Mitch and co to let us in on what they are doing for the Heavy Metal expansion in August and September!
Oh I'm aware. Volume of fire can, and does, make up the difference, but as you pointed out, on a per-shot basis they are less. (pilot damage from torso destruction is a different matter.)
Just to illustrate: I had a mission with a pilot with 5 health and a +3 cockpit mod in giving me a total of 8 health pips. In a 4 v 4 mission, that pilot was incapacitated after being knocked over 1 time, and having 1 torso destroyed. That means the AI scored 6 head hits from weapons fire (but did not destroy the head). And to add to the insult, I had 2 other pilots suffer 1 head hit each. And that doesn't count the 2 head hits I scored. So that makes a total of 10 head hits among 8 mechs in a mission that lasted 12 turns.
So they may be less likely to happen than in TT, but I sure do seem to get way more than I should, both for and against. Missiles and MGs are the worst.
Some of that is going to be playstyle. It should also be noted that it lasting 12 turns doesn't necessarily mean much as a battle contract might of involved shooting for what 10 (sometimes 11) of those turns? Machineguns are support weapons and are generally considered to be a good weapon to cause a head hit. SRMs are also pretty good at causing headshots as I recall for various reasons. What's your approach to the mission? What units were the enemy? And then of course the RNG could of just hated you that mission as well.
From the description you mentioned being knocked over 1 time and 1 torso destroyed but you didn't note if the pilot you lost was hit from a called shot on the head while on the ground or by machineguns while prone. The pilot would of been more vulnerable in general. As for the 2 head hits you scored how did you get them? From just random fire, precision shot or did you knock a mech down?
It's really SRMs and MGs that are the head hunters:
SRMs get one chance at a head hit per missile, so two, four, or six chances per salvo depending on size of launcher.
MGs gets 5 chances at a head hit per shot (it does 5 hits of 3 damage, each of which can hit the head).
LRMs, on the other hand, only get a single chance at a head hit per salvo (whether that's five missiles or twenty).
Remember that SMGs and MGs have diminishing odds of scoring a head-hit; the sixth missile from an SRM6 is less likely to score a head-hit than the first. Still, the volume of fire per weapon system makes scoring a head-hit with an SRM launcher or MG more likely than with any other single weapon.
Only with called shots. With regular attacks, all shots use the standard hit charts.
LRMs have a place in head hunting just because at least one missile will hit, so each launcher will get a chance to hit the head. With lasers or autocannons, so shots will miss. With LRMs, even the LRM 5, you can expect that at least one missile will still connect. Plus there is the long range and IDF capability. Still not my choice for head hunting, but they have their advantages.
I was under the impression that LRMs still have clustering mechanics, such that if the first LRM doesn't hit the head none of them will.
That's correct. Each LRM launcher gets exactly one chance to hit the head, but it is almost guaranteed to roll a hit location. Other weapons aren't guaranteed that chance.
So then, LRMs are no better than any single-shot weapon when it comes to head hunting.