Author Topic: Playing Battletech Solo?  (Read 5282 times)

Hydrofoil Goat

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Playing Battletech Solo?
« on: 13 May 2021, 00:07:05 »
I unfortunately lack both time and interested friends so I often find myself unable to play as much Battletech as I'd like, and more especially in the way I'd like. I'm a very scenario driven person but I've yet to find anyone who will sit down and play through, for example, the GoAC scenarios. A few days ago, as a sort of trial run, I attempted to play the first Beginner Box scenario solo and unfortunately found that I basically had to pick a winner from the get go (subject to dice of course) because I can't outmaneuver myself!

Has anyone attempted this and could provide some tips or suggestions? Or is it doomed to failure?

Luciora

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #1 on: 13 May 2021, 00:12:02 »
First choice, Megamek. 

Otherwise, there are homebrew rules that rely on dice or some kind of randomizer determining the Opfor's movement and behavior I'm sure.

Hydrofoil Goat

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #2 on: 13 May 2021, 00:39:32 »
I've tried Megamek but it's just not the same. I like filling in the bubbles and rolling the dice myself!

jasonf

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #3 on: 13 May 2021, 09:22:12 »
I think it's difficult to play any game against yourself without something randomizing/optimizing your opponent's actions.

I've used MegaMek to play full Chaos Campaigns on my own and it's worked well. I found the MekHQ to be a bit overkill on details, so I usually take care of the campaign stuff by hand and play the individual Tracks on MegaMek.

If you want, I guess you could always print out the record sheets and fill them in based on the results MegaMek spits out each round. I don't have advice on the dice issue, though.

BATTLEMASTER

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #4 on: 13 May 2021, 11:58:33 »
Paul came up with some rules that might help you out:  https://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/solo-rules-anywhere/msg507677/#msg507677

Quote
Three tables: point-blank 'Mechs, ranged attack 'Mechs and all-round 'Mechs.

Point-blank attack 'Mechs are 'Mechs that clearly favor being very close to enemies. AC20's, TSM, physical attack weapons installed, or an abundance of short range weapons. The Wasp-W is a point blank 'Mech, so is the Atlas.

Ranged attack 'Mechs are 'Mechs that clearly favor combat at range. LRM's, PPC's, gauss rifles, gear like targeting computers and C3. Most Archers are clearly Ranged Attack 'Mechs. So is the Panther.

All-round 'Mechs are 'Mechs that you can't easily place in either category. They are usually good at both ranges, without being specialized towards them. Examples include the Assassin, the Stalker, the Shadowhawk. They might have a slight bias in favor of either range band, but you feel they're better at home as an all-round 'Mech.


Every turn, roll 1d6 for each 'Mech. If you're running a lot of 'Mechs, it may be a good idea to assign a specific color 1D^ to each 'Mech, IE, red die for the Panther, blue for the Stalker, Yellow for the Atlas. Write down the color on the record sheet to reduce confusion.

Compare the result on the appropriate table. You can write that with the die color, IE, Red-Ranged for the Panther.
This could also work for whole lances at a time, and may be a better way to go about it, since it makes it likely that 'Mechs won't close range or break off independently.

RANGED TABLE
1 Pull back! Move to increase the range to hostile targets.
2 Take Cover! Improve the amount of cover you have to hostile targets. (Woods, Partial Cover)
3 Hold steady. Move to maintain the range band with the enemy. If you were firing at Medium Range, keep firing at medium Range
4 Hold steady. Move to maintain the range band with the enemy. If you were firing at Medium Range, keep firing at medium Range
5 Stand firm. Maintain current position. Either do not move, or Walking movement only to achieve a better Range band, or to achieve LOS.
6 Close Range! Move to reduce the range band to the enemy. If you were firing at Long, seek to fire at Medium.


POINT-BLANK TABLE
1 Pull back! Move to increase the range to hostile targets.
2 Hold steady. Move to maintain the range band with the enemy. If you were firing at Medium Range, keep firing at medium Range
3 Close Range! Move to reduce the range band to the enemy. If you were firing at Long, seek to fire at Medium.
4 Close Range! Move to reduce the range band to the enemy. If you were firing at Long, seek to fire at Medium.
5 Attack! Move as close to the enemy as possible
6 Attack! Move as close to the enemy as possible


ALL-ROUND TABLE
1 Pull back! Move to increase the range to hostile targets.
2 Take Cover! Improve the amount of cover you have to hostile targets. (Woods, Partial Cover)
3 Hold steady. Move to maintain the range band with the enemy. If you were firing at Medium Range, keep firing at medium Range
4 Stand firm. Maintain current position. Either do not move, or Walking movement only to achieve a better Range band, or to achieve LOS.
5 Close Range! Move to reduce the range band to the enemy. If you were firing at Long, seek to fire at Medium.
6 Attack! Move as close to the enemy as possible


And maybe rolling every turn is a bit much. That might require some experimentation.
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Hydrofoil Goat

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #5 on: 13 May 2021, 16:56:18 »
Paul came up with some rules that might help you out:  https://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/solo-rules-anywhere/msg507677/#msg507677

Thanks, I'll give this a whirl and see how I go

Geg

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #6 on: 14 May 2021, 08:32:08 »
I think Solo Alpha Strike would probably work better using a modified version of the rules above.   You are making fewer choices (movement, facing, weapons, etc) for the OpFor that are going to ultimately decide the game.

Simon Landmine

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #7 on: 14 May 2021, 11:30:31 »
I think Solo Alpha Strike would probably work better using a modified version of the rules above.   You are making fewer choices (movement, facing, weapons, etc) for the OpFor that are going to ultimately decide the game.

Good point - and those decisions are in broader strokes, too, rather than hex-specific.

Back in 1973 Donald Featherstone wrote a book on Solo Wargaming, and there was a book of Programmed Wargames Scenarios by Charles Stewart Grant (1983) which both had some ideas for prepping and running wargames solo - those might have some pilleagable ideas. It does seem that most suggestions over the years have revolved around using either tables or drawing cards to generate tactics for the opposition as a sort of simple proto-AI, so that you're not trying to second-guess yourself.

One option might be to assign a card to each 'mech on your side, and then draw for the opposition mechs as to which they will target, redrawing if their target is destroyed, or if another target becomes visible. (And, if they're not Clanners, allow multiple opposition 'mechs to pick the same target - maybe the Lt. has decided to take down that one first.)
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TheoLehman

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #8 on: 14 May 2021, 14:21:26 »
I'm going to try using the above tables in Alpha Strike, as well as the following ideas that just popped into my head and I hope are as good as I think:
1) All OpFor units have Blood Stalker.  Difficulty can be modified by removing the bonus / penalty / both.
2) OpFor Blood Stalker targets are units they have an advantage over, or units that other OpFor units would struggle with.  For example, Snipers target units that do best at Short range, units with ENE target units with RCA, etc.
3) Each enemy unit makes positioning and attack choices based on its Blood Stalker target.  They will attack other units if they have Multi-Tasker, the attack could result in a kill, or their Blood Stalker target is not a viable target.  If they are not attacking their Blood Stalker target, they will attack the unit they can get the lowest TN for.  If two or more units have the same TN, the OpFor will attack a unit it can kill.  If no units can be killed, randomize the target.
4) OpFor units will Overheat by half their OV stat, rounded up, if doing so will not result in a shutdown and their modified TN is 8 or less.  If the TN is 7 or less and they can score a kill by Overheating, they will Overheat as much as they need to.  OpFor units with a TN of 11 or more against their target will never Overheat, and if they have any heat, they will not attack.

Depending on the number of units in play, it may be faster to assign charts and roll by lance, rather than per unit.  Possibly assign Blood Stalker targets on a lance-to-lance level as well.  That would dramatically reduce granularity, and could be a problem for Command Lances and other mixed-role formations.  On the other hand, it means rolling 2-3 dice to determine what your OpFor does instead of 10-15.

Edit:
Right, well, I'm back with an update:
1) Axe the whole Blood Stalker thing, if a player formation spreads out at all it kind of breaks.  OpFor makes movement / targeting decisions based on closest player unit in LoS.
2) Rolling on the charts for each OpFor unit turned out to not be a problem.
3) The rules for OpFor units Overheating and using Lucky / Float Like a Butterfly need to be fiddled with.
4) I want to work out some specifics for how the OpFor interacts with terrain, minefields, and such.
« Last Edit: 15 May 2021, 14:46:22 by TheoLehman »

Daemion

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #9 on: 14 May 2021, 21:32:27 »
You can't outmaneuver yourself is actually a good starting point.  That's why you have initiative.  Trying to beat yourself is one of the ways of figuring out how to min-max moves on each side.  And, you shouldn't be ashamed of it.

'If I move here, then that side is almost certainly to have x Mech move behind me.  Start with that!  This will be the time you will figure out which Mechs are best used early in a turn, and which you want to save for as late as possible. 



If you really are interested in story-driven engagements, then, yes, you need to chose a 'hero' side.  Give the hero a few things, such as an 'Edge' pool, mostly to keep that hero alive, more than anything.  See where it goes, and then derive consequences from losing or winning the match. 

If you have a brainstorm moment in the middle of a turn where you realize you could have moved better, don't be afraid to walk the turn back to that moment and make it happen.  It's effectively a casual game, so you shouldn't be worried about running it tournament-tight.

Once you start the story going, it's your world, you can do what you want with it.  This would be your moment to have fun with coming up with a narrative. 


I had to learn BattleTech from solo play.  I first started by playing each side to the fullest, because the outcome didn't exactly matter to me.  I wanted to see how it would play out, the dice being the random factor.  Eventually, though, the idea of pilot improvement over a series of games made me want to come up with a pilot to nurture and grow in combat, and it kept me coming back, first to my solo games.  Eventually, I found friends to play with, and not only were they enamored with the character I came up with, and the ride I wanted him in, but they wanted to do the same.

Eventually, balanced games went to the wayside, story-campaigns with our custom characters being the big focus.  Now, I've been using the Low-Altitude map concept in Aero to set-up larger engagements with Battalions to a side maneuvering into battle range, allowing for potentially uneven battles turning into grinders while other forces flank to reach key objectives which will change the nature of the larger battle.
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Daemion

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #10 on: 14 May 2021, 21:37:11 »
Oh. Forgot to mention. 

In a solo story-mode style game, if you don't want to come up with tables, but you want some unpredictability, you can always assign the OpFor side a suit or number out of a deck of cards and use that to determine initiative activation order.

You could then decide from there to figure out their optimal move, or, you could give each of them a general attitude, and role-play them.  By attitude, I mean like 'aggressive', 'reactive', or 'defensive'.  You should be able to come up with something that works for you.
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Leafback

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #11 on: 15 May 2021, 18:02:54 »
I haven't played with these rules before but I found these a while ago on Reddit which looks like a pretty in depth way to play vs a manual AI.

https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/gvgflw/ai_for_solo_tabletop_play_criticisms_welcome/

mrhorseshoe

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #12 on: 24 May 2021, 12:06:12 »
https://github.com/elintseeker/Battletech-Solo-Rules

I've been using these solo rules/scenario generator/OPFOR generator to great effect. More fun than playing with an uninterested spouse or a friend who wants to end the game quickly so he can play WH40K instead  ::)

BATTLEMASTER

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #13 on: 26 May 2021, 15:42:57 »
I like how the last random firing behavior refers to Malvina  ;D
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Natasha Kerensky

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #14 on: 28 May 2021, 00:10:59 »

The best way to play BattleTech Solo is to install a dual cockpit in a Falcon, Gyrfalcon, or Heirofalcon nicknamed “Millennium” so both Han and Chewie can work together.
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Plinythemechwarrior

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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #15 on: 28 May 2021, 23:23:59 »
I unfortunately lack both time and interested friends so I often find myself unable to play as much Battletech as I'd like, and more especially in the way I'd like. I'm a very scenario driven person but I've yet to find anyone who will sit down and play through, for example, the GoAC scenarios...

I've tried Megamek but it's just not the same. I like filling in the bubbles and rolling the dice myself!

I think you are describing a common situation in Battletech: lack of friends interested to play with you.

I would like to re-recommend Megamek. But rather than trying to play against the bots (AtB), I'd suggest trying Discord. There are multiple groups there that are very active (eg: Everything Battletech, Battletech:Thug Life) and that would be the place I'd recommend to find other people to play with.

Battletech, and by extension Megamek, is best played with other people. I hope you find a Battletech group of your own :)
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Re: Playing Battletech Solo?
« Reply #16 on: 29 May 2021, 11:38:38 »
I would like to re-recommend Megamek. But rather than trying to play against the bots (AtB), I'd suggest trying Discord. There are multiple groups there that are very active (eg: Everything Battletech, Battletech:Thug Life) and that would be the place I'd recommend to find other people to play with.

Battletech, and by extension Megamek, is best played with other people. I hope you find a Battletech group of your own :)

We also have our own official MegaMek Discord that we often see players asking to play other humans.
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