Third DLC?

[Shark7]

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 was 12 combat rounds, I don't count the 'close the gap' turns. Also, I had the high ground. I'd understand it more if I was on a lower elevation.

 

[Timaeus]

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.

I don't know what to tell you, unfortunately. I get like, one, maybe two head hits every other mission it seems. and that is definitely reasonable. It's not like I'm keeping everything back and sniping all day long either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[smurfopax]

Yeah a single LRM with 2 dmg is a headhit + a wound for your pilot. I had incapacitated pilots who only got 10dmg to the head, but yeah looks like that some of the over 200 LRM's fired on the Mech in 3 Rounds did hit the head. I don't think that's unreasonable, it's sometimes really inconvenient that is true.

 

[Rubidium]

So then, LRMs are no better than any single-shot weapon when it comes to head hunting.

If it hits the enemy at all. The key difference is that LRMs are more likely to hit the enemy in the first place.

If I shoot a mech with a 65% chance-to-hit, then 35% of the time it will miss completely, in which case it obviously will never make a headshot (since it doesn't hit the enemy at all). An LRM5 (much less something like an LRM20) will roll that 65% chance 5 times, so at least one of them will almost certainly hit (if the math was consistent, you'd have a 0.5% chance of missing with all 5 shots, but in practice I think there's some smoothing going on). And of course, an LRM can fire from all the way across the map, while something like an MG can only be used at very short range, so you get more shots and more chances to hit that way as well.

 

[smurfopax]

If it hits the enemy at all. The key difference is that LRMs are more likely to hit the enemy in the first place.

If I shoot a mech with a 65% chance-to-hit, then 35% of the time it will miss completely, in which case it obviously will never make a headshot (since it doesn't hit the enemy at all). An LRM5 (much less something like an LRM20) will roll that 65% chance 5 times, so at least one of them will almost certainly hit (if the math was consistent, you'd have a 0.5% chance of missing with all 5 shots, but in practice I think there's some smoothing going on). And of course, an LRM can fire from all the way across the map, while something like an MG can only be used at very short range, so you get more shots and more chances to hit that way as well.

True, but try to headshot a Mech to death with LRM/SRM. You have a chance that it will happen with 2 Rounds of fire from 4xSRM6 or LRM, but use MLasers, LLasers, PPC's or AC's to get constant headshot kills.
In my current playthrough i only used a LRM boat for 3-4 missions, then i phased it out and never looked back. The game is easy enough that you don't need to exploit the viewing and knockdown mechanics with LRM's, at least it feels like that for me.

 

[Corraidhin]

All the talk of headshotting makes makes me think there should be some effect on rep, or how enemies approch you. If you constantly and intentionally target the pilot, the OpFor should behave differently due to your reputation.

 

[smurfopax]

All the talk of headshotting makes makes me think there should be some effect on rep, or how enemies approch you. If you constantly and intentionally target the pilot, the OpFor should behave differently due to your reputation.

I think this wouldn't matter, because when you can do a reliable Headshot you should already run pure Heavy and or a pure Assault lance. And you loose enough pilots to Headshots already when you switch on the lethality setting. In my last Career run i had 14 People dead to headshots after 1200 days.

 

[Corraidhin]

I think this wouldn't matter, because when you can do a reliable Headshot you should already run pure Heavy and or a pure Assault lance. And you loose enough pilots to Headshots already when you switch on the lethality setting. In my last Career run i had 14 People dead to headshots after 1200 days.

Ah right, I haven't tweaked that setting yet as I'm on my first career run through. How does that setting change things specifically in terms of of AI behaviour?

 

[smurfopax]

Not much, but your Pilots die if your Mech gets destroyed or they get incapacitated. Forces you often to make hard choices , Metal is cheap, Pilots need time.

 

[Jade_Rook]

If it hits the enemy at all. The key difference is that LRMs are more likely to hit the enemy in the first place.

If I shoot a mech with a 65% chance-to-hit, then 35% of the time it will miss completely, in which case it obviously will never make a headshot (since it doesn't hit the enemy at all). An LRM5 (much less something like an LRM20) will roll that 65% chance 5 times, so at least one of them will almost certainly hit (if the math was consistent, you'd have a 0.5% chance of missing with all 5 shots, but in practice I think there's some smoothing going on). And of course, an LRM can fire from all the way across the map, while something like an MG can only be used at very short range, so you get more shots and more chances to hit that way as well.

Exactly this.

The chance of getting a head hit is actually the chance of hitting times the chance of hitting the head. LRMs are much more likely to have something connect. They still aren't my weapon of choice for head hits because you will deal very little damage, but there is a reason that LRMs seem to ping the head a lot.

This actually makes me interested in trying a massed LRM 5 build for pilot incaps. I doubt it will be very effective, but could be an interesting experiment.

 

[ronhatch]

Speaking of head hits, in my Ironman career where I modded the starting lance to be four lights with no spares (five piece salvage) I had really good luck salvaging a Shadow Hawk and a Wolverine before I had hardly even seen any other mediums... and right about that time I got a Firestarter as well. Figured it was time to do the Raven Flashpoint, and saw my first Vindicator.

There were a couple lucky headshots on the Vindi, at which point I naturally walked up to him with my MG-equipped Firestarter and knocked him out.

Hopefully I didn't just jinx things by saying how well this career is going...

 

[Shark7]

I don't know what to tell you, unfortunately. I get like, one, maybe two head hits every other mission it seems. and that is definitely reasonable. It's not like I'm keeping everything back and sniping all day long either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have head hits every mission, either I score them or the AI does. But I also like short range brawlers so it may be that.

Ironically, last night I played a mission where I decapitated 2 mechs from long range with PPCs and AC/5s. It must just be an RNG thing.

 

[Amechwarrior]

If it hits the enemy at all. The key difference is that LRMs are more likely to hit the enemy in the first place.

If I shoot a mech with a 65% chance-to-hit, then 35% of the time it will miss completely, in which case it obviously will never make a headshot (since it doesn't hit the enemy at all). An LRM5 (much less something like an LRM20) will roll that 65% chance 5 times, so at least one of them will almost certainly hit (if the math was consistent, you'd have a 0.5% chance of missing with all 5 shots, but in practice I think there's some smoothing going on). And of course, an LRM can fire from all the way across the map, while something like an MG can only be used at very short range, so you get more shots and more chances to hit that way as well.

I thought it was only the first Missile in a LRM volley that has the potential to hit the head, not the first connected hit within an LRM volley. Anyone know the specifics?

 

[Jade_Rook]

I thought it was only the first Missile in a LRM volley that has the potential to hit the head, not the first connected hit within an LRM volley. Anyone know the specifics?

I think it is the first that hits which determines the center of the cluster, but I don't know for certain. Not sure how I would even test that. Is there anything in the logs which shows when the cluster is determined?

 

[Amechwarrior]

I think it is the first that hits which determines the center of the cluster, but I don't know for certain. Not sure how I would even test that. Is there anything in the logs which shows when the cluster is determined?

I know, not sure how to test and would probably be better digging in to the code to see how exactly LRM head cluster rules are applying.

 

[smurfopax]

Do two Headshots also cause two wounds when in the same salvo?

 

[stjobe]

Do two Headshots also cause two wounds when in the same salvo?

IIRC, you can only ever take one wound from weapons fire in the same "fire" action (one 'Mech firing at a target, even if multiple weapons/missiles hit the head).

You can take another wound if you get knocked over, but I can't recall ever seeing (or causing) more than two wounds; one from a head hit and one from falling over.

Unless the head gets taken clean off, which just sets your pilot's wounds to zero.

Of course subsequent 'Mechs firing on you can also cause wounds, so over the course of a full turn you can take a lot of wounds.

 

[smurfopax]

Ok just wanted to verify, thx.

 

[Jade_Rook]

Max is technically 3 in a single attack, but it requires such a specific set of events that it is effectively limited to 2 wounds at a time. All pilot wounds (head hits, torso loss, and ammo explosions) which occur in the same volley are limited to a single actual wound. Knockdowns are separate. To get the third you also need support weapons firing after a melee attack.

1. Melee attack causes torso destruction, head hit, or ammo explosion causes the first injury
2. Instability or leg loss causes the mech to fall over resulting in the second injury
3. Support weapons get another head hit, torso destruction, or ammo explosion causing the third injury

 

[Shark7]

I don't think I've ever had 3 in 1 fire phase, but definately have had the head hit or torso destruction + knockdown thing to happen.

Alternatively, you can have a Shrek hit your commander's mech in the head with all 3 PPCs in one salvo and well..the head is kinda gone after that. Yes, it happened to me.