14 replies to this topic

[JBDevilsCut]

Hey y 'all,

I'm new to this type of MW game, played BattleTech before this one so most of this seems familiar, BUT I seem to just be getting slaughtered.

I played through the campaign tutorial and just got though "last man Standing" and got my first recruit for my Lance, but now I am totally lost.

Ryana has told me to do some contracts and get some loot and experience, but I have no idea where to start. I looked at the map and saw a contract to assassinate a guy close by, and I traveled there and started the mission, but me and my lone Lancemate got hammered. This mission is difficulty 7?

I understand the weapons and I don't have any worth a crap yet, what I am not getting is where can I get some easier contracts so I can level up my guys and pick up some more warriors?

I'm really getting into this MW stuff, love reading all the news and lore, I just need a little direction on getting my feet wet without losing everything.

thanks

Edited by JBDevilsCut, 14 June 2021 - 09:46 AM.

[Thorqemada]

Hello, well, your are the Commander of your Unit you decide where to go based on the information you have at your hands.
For start simply stick to the region that is close by as it should have mission at the right difficulty for your.

Do you already have the Jenner Pilot form the one mission?
He is a great asset and will help you much...i think your should already have him.

Get yourself a third pilot on a planet where the tolltip of the mouseover tells you it has Pilots for hire available.
so oyu get your Javelin manned and that 4 Medium Laser variant will help you out as well.

Now, while you do so its time to work on your Mech in the Mechbay:
Up the armor!

Do so by going into the Mechbay and in the loadout screen set the switch on the upper left of the Mech to "Detail".
Now you see a detailed view of your Mech, its weapons, it armor values etc.

I guess you play the story campaing...

The Centurion (your Command Mech) - up the amor on the Centurion as follows:
Head 24
Center Torso 50/14 (front/back)
Left/Right Torso 40/8
Arms 31
Legs 45

Now you get an overweight warning and need to reduce weight removing other stuff.
Put the Heatsinks away - they do nothing for you.
Then adjust the LRM amunition to 1ton + 0,5ton (you need to buy half ton ammunition in the planetary shops).
For the AC10 i use 2,5 tons of ammunition as in longer fights i experienced to run out of it with 2 tons only.

The weight should be fine - use the LRM to get rid of the pesky VTOLS and far away Tanks the AC for the ground targets nearby, the Laser are backup weapons that you only use in case of emergency.

Hint - allways get rid of the easy Targets first unlike you only want to kill very fast a very specific Target (like in an assassination) as that reduces the incoming damage he fastest way and makes you able to stay in combat for longer.


The Jenner
Head 24
CT 40/10
R/LT 25/6
Arms 14
Legs 30

I think i got down to 2 Jumpjets, changed to 0,5 tons of SRM Ammunition and removed as many Heatsinks as needed till i matched its weightlimit.
The big weakness of the Jenner is Center Torso and Legs so they need to be uparmored, the Arms are as bad as their are but most of the time it works and if not they are cheap to replace.
Lt.Freeman will do great hings in it!


The Javelin
Head 24
CT 30/10
L/RT 20/6
Arms 20
Legs 26

Reduce Jumpjets down to 2 and remove Heatsinsk until matching the weightlimit, if there is half a ton left add a Jumpjet.
Get your self a Pilot hired that is good a Energy Weapons (Blue Value) and Damage avoidance (lower right Pilot value) and that thing will do really well.


Now, when you go fighting never rush into a situation, the pathfinding of the enemy at that level isnt good, they fight incoherently ad outright ignore you quite often - never stop moving as moving make you a harder target - and go for the units at the edges of a formation and use the Lance commands to kill them off.

The Lance commands come in quite handy and you need 2 of them.
F1 is order all your Lance.
another F1 then is kill my target (the target you have in your target lock (key R) and they will fight it till its dead (handy for assassination too).
F2 instead is calling them to form around you when it appears they got scattered - avoid to get scattered and allways call them back to you when there is no specific target you want dead., they will still shot at anything in range in whatever sequence they see fit until you order them otherwise.

As rule of thumb - kill Air targets first as they are the easiest to kill with LRM (use R to get a lock on the target you want to shot the LRM at is has a range of 700+ meters or more).

Then get rid of Tanks/Turrets.

Then get rid of Mechs.

Allways move (slightly curvy) never slow down never stop!!!

For an Assassination mission you need to find your target and until that has happened do as above - then when you have found your target give the Lance Command F1+F1 to kill that target locked (Key R) assassination target and depending on the situation retreat after killing the target with the Lance Command F1+F2 to the evacuation point or keep fighting if the enemy force is to weak to hurt you.

Never be afraid to evacuate if your mission is fullfilled..some mission simpyl have never ending waves of incomeing enemies.

Do not so called multiple missions that have multiple stages without repair at this time - you need at least 8 Mechs to do that type of mission.

Hope this could help you - have fun!


PS: In the early stage of the game you go for money in the contracts, do not more than 1 point into salvage and repair.

Edited by Thorqemada, 15 June 2021 - 12:13 AM.

[Thorqemada]

Some hints for killing Mechs...

Light/very fast Mechs - aim for the Legs to make them slower (one Leg disabled) so they can be hit better
If you have a hard time hitting the Legs aim for the Hipregion of each Mech and you will either hit a leg or at least do some Torso damage and as Lights have low Armor values they should fall soon.

All other Mechs - that depends what Mech it is.
If you manage to kill off the Right Arm of a Centurion its most devastating Weapon is gone, the same for the Hunch of the Hunchback that houses almost all Weaponry.
The Griffin is totally right sided.
The Wolverine has also his Mainweapon in the right arm.

Weapons in the Arms usually go away the easiest.

A Mech without most/all of its Weaponry is no longer a danger.

That is why most Mech fights end up in a Counterclock Rotation, you shield your right side with your Left and only expose your right side when ready to fire.

A very few Mechs are buld the oposite way and you do not have them at this point so never go into a fight with a clockswise rotation as it will expose your weaponry to the enemy fire.

You also need to look at your Target UI and if your Lancemates have painted the Center Torso red try to get the Center Part of that Mech blown up or whatever else is weakened (red colour) to immediate destruction.

Hitting a Mech from behind is usually most devastating but the AI moves to prevent you from that so it will only prolong the fight if you run after the back of your target but never get behind it - hit the Legs, the Main Weapon or whatever damaged part instead.

And allways have your Heat in mind, do not touch the O key, that will blow you up for sure as it disables the heat failsafe.

Edited by Thorqemada, 15 June 2021 - 05:37 AM.

[kilgor]

Keep an eye out for industry hub planets and try and take missions close to there. Those are planets that have a bunch of dashes between them as repairing doesn't cost extra time and money there.

Also, check Transmissions as well as that is where you get story line missions from.

Always look at pilots for hire and make sure they are the highest skilled ones you can find, eventually finding 10s at higher rep levels.

On Raid missions, use a fast 'Mech and ignore everyone and just kill the location target then move out to the next location. Unfortunately, your lance mates will engage, so you have to keep telling them to follow you.

On Demolition missions, use 'Mechs with machine guns to destroy the base faster and run through the buildings. Make sure and destroy furl tanks and generators from a distance so you don't take explosion damage.

On my 'Mechs, light and mediums have a max rear armor of 8 on sides and torsos, 10 on heavies, and 12 on assaults and everything else is dedicated to front. I did cut my Centurion back to an AC/5 to max its armor out and early on, I prefer AC/5s due to their higher rate of fire than AC/10s because your aim is slower early on. The Jenner, I downgraded to an SRM-2 to max its armor out. If you have to skimp on armor anywhere, make it the legs or an arm with no weapon.

[Thorqemada]

Which makes it a highly rewarding experience!

[Escef]

Thorqemada, on 14 June 2021 - 11:54 PM, said:

Hint - allways get rid of the easy Targets first unlike you only want to kill very fast a very specific Target (like in an assassination) as that reduces the incoming damage he fastest way and makes you able to stay in combat for longer.

What really helps with this is knowing the relative strengths and weaknesses of certain builds. For example, if you are fighting against a Jagermech and a Thunderbolt, you go after the Jager first. Yes, the two mechs are the same tonnage. Yes, the T-bolt is more dangerous. But the Jager (for a heavy) is armored in used Kleenex, so the reward-to-effort ratio for that kill is quite high. The Rifleman is also an extreme example. It packs slightly more firepower than an Awesome, but there are light mechs that carry comparable armor. Note that certain mechs can be ignored longer than others. Marauders, for example, carry nowhere near enough cooling for those twin PPCs and have weak leg armor. The Grasshopper is famous for being heavily armored and being able to keep up a robust rate of fire; because while you might think it's boating lasers, what it's really boating is heat sinks.

As Torqemada also points out, a large number of mechs are right-side dominant. You take the right torso off of a Cataphract or a Victor and suddenly light mechs outgun it. A Stalker, on the other hand, can lose either side torso and still be quite dangerous. The Orion and Atlas are still dangerous when down a side, lose the cannon and they still have missiles, and vice-versa. (In fact, if you field significant AMS, you might choose to focus the right side of Orions and Atlases specifically because you fear the missiles less than the cannon.)

TL; DR - A good knowledge of stock builds will help you determine what is and what is not a priority target.

[Thorqemada]

The ability to tailor and finetune your Mech to your likes is anything but stupid stuff!

Even with the limitations of the Mechlab (which i think is better for the gameplay than unlimited modification) there is plenty of room for adjustments and experiment.

How much armor do you distribute to wich location, how much Jumpjets and Heatsinks do you use, what is the best setup for you personaly versus what is the best setup for the different AI Pilot etc.

Complete Mech Modification can be in game as special reward or as highest expense enterprise that has to be earned via deeds or money - so you pretty much can gain the right to have your own Hero Mech build acoording to your wishes at some point in the game but not as money starved Merc entrepreneur.

Edited by Thorqemada, 16 June 2021 - 10:03 PM.

[Wildstreak]

SomersetStriker, on 16 June 2021 - 04:01 PM, said:

I don't get why people feel rewarded by stupid stuff

Its like people feel rewarded by completing achievements. There's no reward other than some silly meaningless digital trophy or text. It would be a bit different if say 4 games 100% achievements equals free game of your choice or a stackable discount or something.

Feeling rewarded by completing a silly game mission or whatever does nothing for a person other than relief from the stupid thing lol.

You're early, should have waited until June 20 for a post like this.

[TVMA Doc]

Escef, on 16 June 2021 - 03:56 AM, said:

What really helps with this is knowing the relative strengths and weaknesses of certain builds. For example, if you are fighting against a Jagermech and a Thunderbolt, you go after the Jager first. Yes, the two mechs are the same tonnage. Yes, the T-bolt is more dangerous. But the Jager (for a heavy) is armored in used Kleenex, so the reward-to-effort ratio for that kill is quite high. The Rifleman is also an extreme example. It packs slightly more firepower than an Awesome, but there are light mechs that carry comparable armor. Note that certain mechs can be ignored longer than others. Marauders, for example, carry nowhere near enough cooling for those twin PPCs and have weak leg armor. The Grasshopper is famous for being heavily armored and being able to keep up a robust rate of fire; because while you might think it's boating lasers, what it's really boating is heat sinks. As Torqemada also points out, a large number of mechs are right-side dominant. You take the right torso off of a Cataphract or a Victor and suddenly light mechs outgun it. A Stalker, on the other hand, can lose either side torso and still be quite dangerous. The Orion and Atlas are still dangerous when down a side, lose the cannon and they still have missiles, and vice-versa. (In fact, if you field significant AMS, you might choose to focus the right side of Orions and Atlases specifically because you fear the missiles less than the cannon.) TL; DR - A good knowledge of stock builds will help you determine what is and what is not a priority target.

With AC10/AC20 Urbies being so plentiful, this also works. Take that right torso and the Urbie will walk around at 30kph with a small laser while you work on real threats.

[Thorqemada]

And you can never underestimate them - one of that little things sneak-stepped around acorner while i was looking away from it and its very first hit blew up the ammuniton in my Centurions LT (LRM location)...gladly it is only 1/3 of the weaponry and the least needed.

Edited by Thorqemada, 29 June 2021 - 08:19 AM.

[R I N G I N G E A R S]

The biggest key to this game is to always be moving.
Light mechs, you need to leg, Urbies, you need to take the right arm(torso) 1st right away. You'll learn soon what enemy mechs have what weapons and what to target 1st.
Also, make sure you're using your lance mates commands. Once you learn to murder ball your targets it gets pretty easy, but just remember to always be moving...

[Tenam]

The Start is always the toughest ... it can be hard to get your feet under you at the start of the game. Lots of good suggestions in here...

Make sure you are staying in level 1 or 2 Conflict zones
Don't be afraid to "Hit it and Quit it" ... take a Raid .. run to the targets blast them down and just keep going don't get drawn into a fight if you just need cash and not salvage.

[RBL Acehigh]

Early on also be careful of assassination contracts. Until you hit level 5 or 6 most likely your going to have to take down a hunchback of some kind...there's some rather nasty variants......or a centurion. If you can take an air strike that will help a ton. otherwise just keep your distance and take out the minions first if you can. then have your lance gang bang the main target.