Getting Started with Against the Bot

[scJazz]

Lots of stuff

There is an easy fix for the Suicidal Allies. Only Accept contracts with Liaison. Ding, problem solved :) It might be too early in your campaign to do so. Although taking out a loan to pay Basic Monthly costs would be preferable to Integrated Command in my opinion. This way you can wait it out until the right contract comes along.

Don't freak out about the retirement roll! Paid recruitment will add as many Elite pilots as you want for a reasonable expenditure.

Disclaimer: I'm 12 years into my Campaign (currently 3021). My bankroll is ludicrous and rising.  ;D

I'm about to accept a Garrison Contract (18 months) worth a bit more than 1 billion CB after expenses  }:)

[Arkaris]

Only Accept contracts with Liaison.

There is a reason the Integrated command exists in the rules.  If you cannot over come a stupid bot and get a successful contract try harder.

Though I do agree that new players to btech and to AtB avoid integrated commands if playing specifically from a mission/game standpoint.

Actually one addendum to the rules I would not mind seeing is certain contract types should be Integrated.  Specifically Planetary Assaults and any Defense contract (other than garrison). 

[BrokenMnemonic]

I'm currently away from home for a few days, so I brought my copy of MekHQ with me by copying the entire installed directory onto a memory stick. I'm running MekHQ from the stick with no problems, but I've hit a problem with MegaMek. Annoyingly, there's no wifi where I'm staying and I'm not getting many chances to get at a wifi connection elsewhere, which has made my main plan - download a copy of the installation files and install it directly - a bit unlikely. I'm conscious I may be thread-jacking, but has anyone hit the problem of MekHQ opening MegaMek, starting to load up the settings for the match, creating the bots for allies/enemies/reinforcements, and hitting problms. Each bot appears with a "Hi, I'm a bot!" Message, then issuing three "I don't recognise that command" messages before the next bot loads. None of the bots get any units allocated to them, which seems to be what the error messages are referring to.

[Ironboot]

If you haven't already done it.  Change the amount of memory MekHQ and Megamek from 512m to 1024m.  The files to edit are megamek.l4j and mekhq.l4j

Good luck!

[RahTol]

has anyone hit the problem of MekHQ opening MegaMek, starting to load up the settings for the match, creating the bots for allies/enemies/reinforcements, and hitting problms. Each bot appears with a "Hi, I'm a bot!" Message, then issuing three "I don't recognise that command" messages before the next bot loads. None of the bots get any units allocated to them, which seems to be what the error messages are referring to.

The bots always give me those messages, but it very rarely has any noticeable issue. The only time I've had the issue you describe with the opfor not appearing is when I deploy a single unit rather then a whole lance. It is a known issue, because MHQ was NOT designed to deploy individual units in this manner, and likely will have a work-around available in the next iteration of the AtB mod, but for now I'd suggest just deleting the scenario (battle) and moving on, if that is indeed the situation.
If that's not the situation, no, I've never encountered that problem :)

[neoancient]

I'm currently away from home for a few days, so I brought my copy of MekHQ with me by copying the entire installed directory onto a memory stick. I'm running MekHQ from the stick with no problems, but I've hit a problem with MegaMek. Annoyingly, there's no wifi where I'm staying and I'm not getting many chances to get at a wifi connection elsewhere, which has made my main plan - download a copy of the installation files and install it directly - a bit unlikely. I'm conscious I may be thread-jacking, but has anyone hit the problem of MekHQ opening MegaMek, starting to load up the settings for the match, creating the bots for allies/enemies/reinforcements, and hitting problms. Each bot appears with a "Hi, I'm a bot!" Message, then issuing three "I don't recognise that command" messages before the next bot loads. None of the bots get any units allocated to them, which seems to be what the error messages are referring to.

This can happen when MHQ tries to send unit data faster than MM can process it. Try increasing the delay timer on the bottom right of the AtB tab in the campaign options.

The bots always give me those messages, but it very rarely has any noticeable issue. The only time I've had the issue you describe with the opfor not appearing is when I deploy a single unit rather then a whole lance. It is a known issue, because MHQ was NOT designed to deploy individual units in this manner, and likely will have a work-around available in the next iteration of the AtB mod, but for now I'd suggest just deleting the scenario (battle) and moving on, if that is indeed the situation.
If that's not the situation, no, I've never encountered that problem :)

This has nothing to do with the way MHQ deploys units, and it can deploy one as easily as a company. There was a bug that resulted from delaying the deployment turn for slower units in scout lances without first checking whether the player's forces are deployed as a lance, but that has been fixed. I'm not aware of any other issues with special missions.

[RahTol]

Yes, you can do it. But things don't work right when you do, so you should not.

(this is in reference to deploying single unit rather then a lance)
I assumed my problem was related to the bug he referenced a couple posts before that with the null return on assigned lance.

No, you can NOT do that. Which I said already. You can not deploy individual units.

https://sourceforge.net/p/mekhq/bugs/559/

[BrokenMnemonic]

Looks like upping the memory allocation and increasing the delay for data transfer has cracked the problem, thank you :)
I tried taking a contract raiding a Clan world (against Green/F) Clan forces, and after the first battle paired my 100-ton scout lance up against 10 OmniMechs with 5 more in reserve I went back and took a rather less generous contract pirate-hunting on the edge of the Capellan Confederation instead...

[SanguinemUK]

Ive tried everything in this thread, I have tried every iteration of MekHQ in this thread and I still do not get any AtB Tab when starting a new campaign. Im not sure what I am doing wrong here.

[BrokenMnemonic]

Ive tried everything in this thread, I have tried every iteration of MekHQ in this thread and I still do not get any AtB Tab when starting a new campaign. Im not sure what I am doing wrong here.

Are you using the 1978 build? It's the one found in this file repository: http://bt.dylanspcs.com/ - I used the version bundled up in this file: "mekhq-0.3.6-dev-r1978-dylan-windows.zip" - and it has the AtB tab in MekHQ.

[LaHyenne]

I've gotten up to the point where I should be able to Start Game, but Start Game is greyed out. I can export .mul files, print and clear sheets - but not play. I feel like I've missed something obvious.

[scJazz]

Advance day until you reach the day of the battle :)

[LaHyenne]

Advance day until you reach the day of the battle :)

I am literally the dumbest person ever.

[Jayof9s]

I am literally the dumbest person ever.

Pretty common mistake, I've seen just about everyone ask the same question when they started using it.  O0

[LaHyenne]

Is there a better way to make sure that injuries and salvage are represented after the match? I've played two matches and both times it doesn't track who got kills, if there was salvage, and it wants to claim all of my pilots were MIA.

[Snimm]

That sounds like you're using an old build that was buggy.  I don't have the proper links to more updated versions, though.  Someone will help you out I suspect, shortly.

[LaHyenne]

0.3.6 1978. I used all the links at the start of this thread.

[Jayof9s]

0.3.6 1978. I used all the links at the start of this thread.

There was an issue with auto-resolution in r1978. It has been fixed but a new version has not been released yet. It should be soon(tm).

[LaHyenne]

There was an issue with auto-resolution in r1978. It has been fixed but a new version has not been released yet. It should be soon(tm).

Thanks. I will use this as a learning experience.

[RahTol]

Manual resolve still works though it dose not record kills. After battle where it asks if you want to save the units say yes, use that for the MUL, for the salvage MUL MM should auto-save it in the "logs" folder (for example salvage_2014-09-03_11-25-52.mul for a battle that ended at 11:25am on Sep 3rd 2014)

[scJazz]

I am literally the dumbest person ever.

Honestly, about average :) given how many times this gets asked :)

rotflmao!

[Battleclad]

There was an issue with auto-resolution in r1978. It has been fixed but a new version has not been released yet. It should be soon(tm).

I'd be more interested in seeing the deployment/movement bug fixed in the bundled megamek, rutting thing makes the game unplayable.

[ralgith]

I'd be more interested in seeing the deployment/movement bug fixed in the bundled megamek, rutting thing makes the game unplayable.

Would be good to know what bug you're talking about. AFAIK all such bugs are fixed.

[Stormforge]

I am literally the dumbest person ever.

Beat you for that title.

 ;)

[Battleclad]

Would be good to know what bug you're talking about. AFAIK all such bugs are fixed.

This one, although unlike the report I've found it also triggered while using multiple instances as a Player to try and deploy forces before using replacePlayer as a workaround to no effect.

[Rogue]

I've run into a problem where my campaign file refuses to load. I'm using r1970, and not using any custom units.

Can any of the gurus here take a look and let me know what is causing it?

I've got other campaign files that work fine, and with more advanced units that this one. Scratching my head as to the cause.

[neoancient]

I've run into a problem where my campaign file refuses to load. I'm using r1970, and not using any custom units.

Can any of the gurus here take a look and let me know what is causing it?

I've got other campaign files that work fine, and with more advanced units that this one. Scratching my head as to the cause.

The directory name for your commander's portrait is causing an error for the XML parser because it contains a "&". This is only a problem in the records of a completed scenario, which does not account for the possibility of XML metacharacters in the force icon or portrait files. I have attached a copy of your save file with the offending line removed after verifying that it will open on the same version MHQ it was created with and submitted a bug report.

[Rogue]

Thank you neoancient. Now that you've pointed it out, it makes perfect sense.

Obviously this is the first portrait I've had that's been randomly selected from that directory.

[Thucar]

I have a question... is there a way to tone down the difficulty level? Well, I mean sure, you are your own GM so you can just get the most kickass 'Mechs out there. But the thing is, I love the concept of fair play. So I try to do everything by the book. Unfortunately, going up against +10k BV forces in my 4 man Heavy lance and losing my cream of the crop...  it gets frustrating after a while.

So I guess what I'm really asking is this - what would be the least intrusive way to lessen the edge Bot has in numbers?



Right now on the losing side of a Hold The Line [Attacker] where I started with 6200BV and Bot has 10500+5200BV.

I'm new to Battletech in general, so if someone could tell me if beating those odds is completely do-able and perfectly normal in a AtB game, then I guess I'll just have to suck it up and roll up more Merc companies to put through the grinder  :))

[scJazz]

1 ) Your very first contract should be against Green Opponents.
2 ) You should probably choose only Garrison or Cadre Contracts as the first one.
3 ) Know when to just accept a defeat. Deploy your lance and type /defeat twice.
4 ) Operate your lances as close to the max weight limits as possible. Heavy max is 280 I'm currently using 275.
5 ) Use your reinforcements when they are needed.

After that it is just playing the game.

The first two points are the most important though. With number 1 being the most important. Yes, I can and have defeated odds like that. Everything has to go very nicely though, right map, right weather conditions, etc.

Dusk/Dawn is a nice time to play if one or more members of your force has Blind Fighter  >:D

Still it all comes down to your first contract and the force it is deployed against. You should be Veteran/Regular and vs Green enemies with a Reg/Veteran ally evens things up quite a bit.