Author Topic: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4  (Read 219849 times)

scJazz

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 1828
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #690 on: 03 March 2017, 17:01:12 »
*STUFF*

Nice to see you back Snimm!

Shin Ji

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 408
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #691 on: 23 March 2017, 12:12:10 »
This has probably been talked about before at some point, but when you get the Big Battles, like Convoy Attack, it says the OpFor is 8 Mechs.  What weight should they be?  Just roll based on the general Inner Sphere weight tables for each Mech?

Stormforge

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 780
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #692 on: 24 March 2017, 02:17:57 »
This has probably been talked about before at some point, but when you get the Big Battles, like Convoy Attack, it says the OpFor is 8 Mechs.  What weight should they be?  Just roll based on the general Inner Sphere weight tables for each Mech?


I would roll on the AtB weight tables based on the heaviest lance you deploy. Still under 8 mechs roll again for the second heaviest lance you are deploying until you reach 8. Not sure how MekHQ handles this.

Wow.  I finally ran another fresh unit after about a year of not actually playing AtB...something DOES need to be done about the number of units the bot gets, at least at the lower difficulty levels.  It still makes stupid moves often enough, but it's smart enough that it does NOT need all the units it gets.  "Green" difficulty is waaaayyy too hard for a truly green player.  The units it's generating now should be worth about a "Veteran" difficulty - and that's without doubling vehicles!

I know, some of us are tactical and strategical geniuses who don't have a problem with the opposition generated.  I'm also well aware of the "pay attention to the task objectives" guideline and that we can just remove some forces manually (which makes me feel like a cheater).  But seriously, a 3-unit Light lance faces almost an entire company plus a reinforcement lance in a Probe attack?  That's just beyond the pale.

I'd recommend cutting the bot's forces at least by a quarter, if not half, for Green difficulty as a baseline.

Could try running with the attached atbconfig.xml. Find the battles a bit more bearable as it is weighted towards fighting a lance of the same weight with steadily decreasing chances of rolling increasingly heavier Opfor. The old .xml in MekHQ/data/universe needs to be moved somewhere safe and replaced with the below.

Comparison showing old and new tables. Still tweaking them a bit. Tested with IS 4 Mech Lances.

Atb Standard
Code: [Select]
Lance Weight

<botForce org="IS,CLAN,CS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="9">M</entry>
<entry weight="7">LL</entry>
<entry weight="4">H</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="5">LL</entry>
<entry weight="5">H</entry>
<entry weight="10">ML</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="3">LLL</entry>
<entry weight="4">MM</entry>
<entry weight="2">A</entry>
<entry weight="3">HL</entry>
<entry weight="4">MLL</entry>
<entry weight="4">HM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="4">MML</entry>
<entry weight="3">HLL</entry>
<entry weight="2">HH</entry>
<entry weight="2">AL</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMM</entry>
<entry weight="3">HML</entry>
<entry weight="2">AM</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botForce>

Lance Composition

<botLance org="IS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="3">LLLL</entry>
<entry weight="2">LLLM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="1">LLMM</entry>
<entry weight="2">LMMM</entry>
<entry weight="2">MMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMH</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="1">MMHH</entry>
<entry weight="2">MHHH</entry>
<entry weight="2">HHHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">HHHA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="2">HHAA</entry>
<entry weight="3">HAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">AAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>

<botLance org="CLAN">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry>LLLLL</entry>
<entry>LLLLM</entry>
<entry>LLLMM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="1">LLMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="2">MMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMHH</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="1">MMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="2">MHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="2">HHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">HHHHA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="1">MHHAA</entry>
<entry weight="2">HHHAAA</entry>
<entry weight="2">HHAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">AAAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>

<botLance org="CS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="1">LLLLLL</entry>
<entry weight="2">LLLLLM</entry>
<entry weight="2">LLLLMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLMMM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="1">LLLMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMMHH</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry>MMMHHH</entry>
<entry>MMHHHH</entry>
<entry>MHHHHH</entry>
<entry>HHHHHH</entry>
<entry>HHHHHA</entry>
<entry>HHHHAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="2">HHHAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">HHAAAA</entry>
<entry weight="2">HAAAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">AAAAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>

Mine
Code: [Select]
Lance Weight

<botForce org="IS,CLAN,CS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="12">L</entry>
<entry weight="8">M</entry>
<entry weight="4">LL</entry>
<entry weight="1">H</entry>
<entry weight="1">ML</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="12">M</entry>
<entry weight="8">LL</entry>
<entry weight="8">H</entry>
<entry weight="4">ML</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLL</entry>
<entry weight="4">A</entry>
<entry weight="2">HL</entry>
<entry weight="2">MM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="16">H</entry>
<entry weight="12">ML</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLL</entry>
<entry weight="12">A</entry>
<entry weight="8">HL</entry>
<entry weight="8">MM</entry>
<entry weight="2">MLL</entry>
<entry weight="4">AL</entry>
<entry weight="4">HM</entry>
<entry weight="1">HLL</entry>
<entry weight="1">MML</entry>
<entry weight="2">HH</entry>
<entry weight="2">AM</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="20">A</entry>
<entry weight="16">HL</entry>
<entry weight="16">MM</entry>
<entry weight="8">MLL</entry>
<entry weight="12">AL</entry>
<entry weight="12">HM</entry>
<entry weight="4">HLL</entry>
<entry weight="4">MML</entry>
<entry weight="8">HH</entry>
<entry weight="8">AM</entry>
<entry weight="2">HML</entry>
<entry weight="2">MMM</entry>
<entry weight="4">AH</entry>
<entry weight="1">AML</entry>
<entry weight="1">HHL</entry>
<entry weight="1">HMM</entry>
<entry weight="2">AA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botForce>

Lance Composition

<botLance org="IS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="10">LLLL</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLLM</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLH</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="10">LMMM</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMMM</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMMH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="10">MMHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">HHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">MHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">HHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="10">HHAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MAAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">HAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">AAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>

<botLance org="CLAN">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="10">LLLLL</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLLLM</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLLH</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="10">LLMMM</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLLMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLLA</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLMMH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMMA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLHA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="10">MMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="10">LMMHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLHHH</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLMHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMA</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMMHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="10">MHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="10">MMHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="10">LMHAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLAAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">HHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">MHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMAAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">HHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MHHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>

<botLance org="CS">
<weightedTable weightClass="L">
<entry weight="10">LLLLLL</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLLLLM</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLLMM</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLLLH</entry>

</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="M">
<entry weight="10">LLLMMM</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLLLMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLLLA</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLLMMH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLLHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLLMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLMMA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLLHA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="H">
<entry weight="10">MMMMMM</entry>
<entry weight="10">LMMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLMMHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLMMMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLHHH</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLLMHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLLAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMMMMH</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMMMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMMMA</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">LLMMHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLMAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMMHH</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMMA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMMHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLMHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMMAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLLHAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
<weightedTable weightClass="A">
<entry weight="10">MMMHHH</entry>
<entry weight="10">MMMMHA</entry>
<entry weight="10">LMHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="10">LMMHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMMMAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="10">LLMHAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LLLAAA</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">MMMHHA</entry>
<entry weight="1">MMMMAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="7">LMMHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLMAAA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MHHHHH</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">MMMHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LHHHHA</entry>
<entry weight="4">LMHHAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LMMAAA</entry>
<entry weight="1">LLHAAA</entry>
</weightedTable>
</botLance>
« Last Edit: 24 March 2017, 02:27:45 by Stormforge »
If the enemy is in range most likely so are you.

Snimm

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 992
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #693 on: 27 March 2017, 18:55:19 »
Have we ever had a discussion about the viability of gun emplacements within AtB?  I have a Base Attack against a pirates home base.  Is there any way to put gun emplacements in a game, or does MM not even support those yet?  I've noticed there are no gun emplacement units I can add from the Add A Unit button.
Need help getting started with Against the Bot in MekHQ?  Click here to get yourself up and running!

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=41494.msg957784#msg957784

JenniferinaMAD

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 492
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #694 on: 27 March 2017, 22:10:27 »
AtB used to include gun emplacements in Base Attack missions. With the latest dev build, the RATs and unit files don't seem to match up in regards to turrets anymore. Instead of turrets, I find the defender will end up with 4-6 'Entry not found' units.


Snimm

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 992
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #695 on: 27 March 2017, 23:35:59 »
Yeah, that's what happened to me.  I figured I could add the turrets manually, but I suspect there's no files for them.  I can select the Gun Emplacements category, but find no units.
Need help getting started with Against the Bot in MekHQ?  Click here to get yourself up and running!

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=41494.msg957784#msg957784

Shin Ji

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 408
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #696 on: 28 March 2017, 01:44:05 »
You can manually add the turrets, I just did this last night in the stable.  You have to use the Add A COmbat Unit button - they aren't in any of the RATs.

BLOODWOLF

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 695
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #697 on: 28 March 2017, 10:49:11 »
Only have years 2500-3025 done so far. (works with HQ/MM 0.42.0)

Shin Ji

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 408
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #698 on: 31 March 2017, 15:08:11 »
Nice RAT!  So, I just got a Mule from a Base Attack.  My group is still very small - we pretty much don't hire anyone.  We train up from within, ya know?  Can Dropships be sold on the markets like Mechs, or only through the in-game menu?

I figure I either sell it, or install a bunch of Mech bays for the bonus to my Merc rating.  What do y'all end up doing with captured Dropships?

2ndAcr

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 3165
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #699 on: 31 March 2017, 16:05:26 »
 Sort of depends on what I capture and can support. I captured a Union C once and sold it instead of keeping it, one because it was Clan Tech and in 3052 was too hard to keep running, two I was offered a sizable amount for it. Enough to fully upgrade my Mech Battalion and buy a Jumpship.

 

Rince Wind

  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 170
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #700 on: 03 April 2017, 15:39:54 »
Wait...you can get a Dropship for a base attack?

Is that a houserule or is that actually in the AtB rules (and implemented in MekHQ)?

----
Also hello, my first post here, that just sounded so intriguing that I had to ask.

2ndAcr

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 3165
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #701 on: 03 April 2017, 17:47:39 »
 You have to edit the current battle generated to add it as loot for winning a battle. If I roll a big battle of the 2 pirate bands against my company or a base attack (as the attacker) mission versus pirates, I will always roll a dice, 1-3 I get a dropship as loot, 4-6 I get nothing like that. I usually don't do it against house missions but have done it against Clanners. Then as much as I want to select a Overlord C I resist and keep it a Broadsword or best case a Union C. Even though I really would like to capture a Sassasand for the BA carrying.

 If I roll a dropship, I then use the dropship list in Merc 3050 manual with no modifier to roll up the dropship I capture. Usually it is a Leopard or Union.

Sharkapult

  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 136
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #702 on: 03 April 2017, 20:57:00 »
If you /kick the bot, open a new Megamek, and rejoin the game using the enemy's name you can then eject from the dropship and claim it as salvage too.

That's what I used to do to salvage a dropship before being able to set units as loot in MekHQ.

Rince Wind

  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 170
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #703 on: 04 April 2017, 04:08:53 »
Can the AI use a dropship? Seeing how it fails with VTOLs I somehow doubt it. Or do they not try to take off if it is a landed ship?

Getting a dropship from pirates is a better idea than what I had in mind for my merry mercs until now.  O0

I know about the kicking and joining, I tried to use it to place turrets, but those were not attackable by my mercs then. And I placed the enemy lances in my last battle myself, so I wouldn't run into the target mech first.

Maybe the next mission will be against pirates. (It is for an AAR, so I curate more than I would otherwise.)


Shin Ji

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 408
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #704 on: 04 April 2017, 04:10:22 »
When I remember, I just have the dropship start with velocity and altitude zero.

MoleMan

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 343
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #705 on: 07 April 2017, 05:54:37 »
A little advice please, I'm running a campaign where I started from scratch, won some money/companions from Solaris7 and as such have a rag tag bunch of mercs. We've been scraping along for a good 5 years, loans and captured vees featuring heavily, sometimes having to field half repaired mechs etc.

Finally managed to get my feet under me and a sweet garrison contract, with some subcontracting going on, meaning I'm finally able to afford the odd Awesome etc. the only problem is, the contract was 2 years long, and I've already routed the enemy, within 4 months. If I finish the contract there, I stand to earn about £90m cbills which is quite frankly ridiculous, is it a bug to rout an enemy so quickly? What would you do to resolve this? I'm thinking maybe complete it and manually remove all of the extra funding I'll get for completion, save maybe a £10m job well done bonus or something.

Shin Ji

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 408
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #706 on: 07 April 2017, 07:35:03 »
I'm on a 3 year Garrison, and I'm already on my 4th enemy!  Each time you rout an enemy, you get 1d6-3 months of peace before rolling the next one.  It's in the Morale rules.

BlueThing

  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 134
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #707 on: 07 April 2017, 16:32:46 »
A little advice please, I'm running a campaign where I started from scratch, won some money/companions from Solaris7 and as such have a rag tag bunch of mercs. We've been scraping along for a good 5 years, loans and captured vees featuring heavily, sometimes having to field half repaired mechs etc.

Finally managed to get my feet under me and a sweet garrison contract, with some subcontracting going on, meaning I'm finally able to afford the odd Awesome etc. the only problem is, the contract was 2 years long, and I've already routed the enemy, within 4 months. If I finish the contract there, I stand to earn about £90m cbills which is quite frankly ridiculous, is it a bug to rout an enemy so quickly? What would you do to resolve this? I'm thinking maybe complete it and manually remove all of the extra funding I'll get for completion, save maybe a £10m job well done bonus or something.
As Shin Ji said, routs on Garrison contracts will reset to normal morale (and more opponents) in a few months. I'd just sit with it and enjoy the lack of battle damage until then. :)

Snimm

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 992
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #708 on: 08 April 2017, 04:40:20 »
Good time to refurbish things or modify Mechs to your liking.
Need help getting started with Against the Bot in MekHQ?  Click here to get yourself up and running!

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=41494.msg957784#msg957784

plutonick

  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 126
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #709 on: 09 April 2017, 04:17:46 »


Finally managed to get my feet under me and a sweet garrison contract, with some subcontracting going on...

How do you handle subcontracting thought MekHQ?
Need a newbie guide for Against the Bot (AtB / MekHQ)? Click here (v3 updated August '19)

MoleMan

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 343
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #710 on: 09 April 2017, 07:33:46 »
Every so often on the contracts screen there'd be a (subcontract) mission.

Thanks for the help guys!

JenniferinaMAD

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 492
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #711 on: 09 April 2017, 14:04:09 »
Subcontracts only appear while you're on either garrison or cadre type contracts, and only if your mercenary rating is high enough.

Southernskies

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 224
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #712 on: 10 April 2017, 07:55:38 »
Be aware that taking *too* many sub-contracts can be an issue with keeping enough units active.

I had one with with three sub-contracts running I took some heavy casualties and couldn't fill the unit roster for a while.

Kovax

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2421
  • Taking over the Universe one mapsheet at a time
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #713 on: 18 April 2017, 09:12:59 »
One relatively minor change I'd like to see for the AtB campaigns in MekHQ would be to make it possible to reduce the experience point gains of administrators to something below 1 point per week, without making it zero.

The campaign really needs the option to alter the "Points per week" to something above zero but LESS than one. It currently allows only 0, 1, or values HIGHER than one.  This can probably be done relatively easily by altering the "X points per week" to "X points per Y weeks", with "Y" being selectable, or by allowing "X points per YYYYY", with "YYYYY" being either "week" or "month".  The administrators need some way of acquiring SOME experience beyond the generic "X points per Y months on a roll of Z or higher", which affects ALL of your troops, yet without getting 5-10 times as much experience as everyone else.

My current campaign: first contract for 9 months of Pirate Hunting.  I show up a couple of days before the end of the month, and on the first of the new month, the pirates drop down to Low morale before I've even had a chance for a battle.  No fights occur all month.  Next month, their morale plummets to Very Low, and the only battle is an Ambush scenario against a couple of Wasps, one with a totally incompetent pilot...which is a one-sided turkey shoot even for my green pilot in a Locust.  Three months into the campaign, the pirates rout, and I sit there for the rest of the contract with a total of one more random encounter, which turns out to be roughly the same sort of "clubbing baby seals" act as the first.  9 months, 2 minor scuffles, 4 kills between 2 pilots and none for the rest of the company, and my Administrators have gained something around 40 points of experience and gone up two levels.  Ridiculous.  If I had set the weekly gain to zero, they'd spend close to a decade to go up a level based on just the low semi-monthly chance for an experience point.

BLOODWOLF

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 695
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #714 on: 18 April 2017, 10:28:14 »
The campaign really needs the option to alter the "Points per week" to something above zero but LESS than one. It currently allows only 0, 1, or values HIGHER than one.  This can probably be done relatively easily by altering the "X points per week" to "X points per Y weeks", with "Y" being selectable, or by allowing "X points per YYYYY", with "YYYYY" being either "week" or "month".  The administrators need some way of acquiring SOME experience beyond the generic "X points per Y months on a roll of Z or higher", which affects ALL of your troops, yet without getting 5-10 times as much experience as everyone else.

We already have that dude what version are you using???
« Last Edit: 18 April 2017, 10:31:02 by BLOODWOLF »

Orangsemut

  • Recruit
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #715 on: 19 April 2017, 05:56:12 »
I am on my first ATB campaign.  Currently on my 3rd contract, an objective raid, and I have found that I am always outnumbered by the BOT OpFor. Is this the norm? I have a pending battle for my medium lance (1 heavy, 2 medium, 1 light) where its gonna be fighting against 3 lances worth of enemies (2 vehicles lances and 1 lance of light/medium mechs). I have set me campaign difficulty as Green.  Every single battle thus far has seen my forces being outnumbered.

Random

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 329
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #716 on: 19 April 2017, 06:49:55 »
Yep, that's fairly normal.
It helps balance out the fact the the bot is fairly dumb.
Wait until you get a contact against Comstar or WoB, that's always interesting.

Try and keep your lances at the top end of the weight ranges 130/200/280/390
Terrain, lighting conditions and weather are your friend as well especially if you have a fully jump capable lance (that's just my experience, I'm sure others have a different way around it)

Snimm

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 992
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #717 on: 19 April 2017, 06:57:14 »
It's very common to be outnumbered, yes.  This is to compensate for the AI's lack of intelligence, for lack of a better term.

Don't get me wrong, the bot has gotten MUCH smarter as it's been developed; it doesn't really need double the enemy vehicles to be competitive at this point.

However, pay very close attention to your objectives!  You never need to kill more than half of enemy forces in any given fight (except special missions or base battles) and often less than that.  Remember that the idea is to survive, not necessarily win.  But what can seem like a difficult fight might suddenly seem winnable when you realize you can isolate part of the opposition and kill it to win.

In terms of what constitutes killing "half," or "25%" or whatever, I usually use BV% because it makes for more varied outcomes and usually fewer destroyed units, adding to the challenge of maintaining/growing through salvage.  You can of course use unit count instead; for me, it got to be too easy to score a cheap win by just destroying a number of lighter vehicles.
Need help getting started with Against the Bot in MekHQ?  Click here to get yourself up and running!

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=41494.msg957784#msg957784

JenniferinaMAD

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 492
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #718 on: 19 April 2017, 07:31:00 »
By default, AtB bot forces will outnumber you. This can be adjusted somewhat in the settings by reducing the difficulty down to Green or Ultra-green (fewer bot units also means faster turns if you're playing on an older computer or less powerful tablet/laptop).


 

Orangsemut

  • Recruit
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Re: Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4
« Reply #719 on: 19 April 2017, 09:38:38 »
Thanks everyone.
@JenniferinaMADI have been playing at Green based on the info I have found around various forums. I was not entirely sure about the being outnumbered bit.
@Snimm Yes, the bot seems a bit... focused in rushing to combat at times. I believed I will try to utilise the mission objectives more and if its kill related, will use BV% as recommended.
@Random It will be a while before I get to Comstar/WoB as my fav era are the SW. So, my campaign starts in 3028. I have been keeping to the upper end of the lance weights to maximise my deployment strength. I am slowly learning how to make use of jump jets, terrain and weather conditions. I recently fought a battle in gale conditions and while it troubled me a bit, it save my butt as the OpFor turned out to be missile heavy while I tend to run energy heavy.

A few more questions if all of you don't mind.
a) I have not captured any MW thus far but plenty of vehicle crews. I have set ejected MW to flee in MM settings. If this the reason why?
b) How do you end MM when objectives are reached? I am not sure where's the manual end game. As a result, its been 'kill them all' in all of my battles.
c) Are units only damaged from cascading engine failures or is there a setting whereby ammo explosions would cause damage to nearby units?
d) I have currently set kill XP to 1 per kill. Is that too much? Or would 2 or 3 per kill a more balance setting. I like to see my company grow in a gradual manner and not have a team of vets after only after a few years.
e) What is the purpose of transport and command admin?
f) I am currently playing with the stand 1:2:3 ratio. Is this a fair representation or should it be set to something more mech heavy?
« Last Edit: 19 April 2017, 11:23:17 by Orangsemut »