HBS Battletech Discussion Thread (there may be spoilers)

[glitterboy2098]

Apparently, HBS simply drew a WarShip of arbitrary specifications, without referencing any of the canon classes.  However, they did a rather good job of making it look like a Carrack (even if by accident,) other than the twin dorsal fins in the front which are more of a Texas or Congress feature.

The event being referenced is the loss of the Texas-class SLS Nebraska during the New Vandenberg Uprising.

this thing?

[Giovanni Blasini]

That's the one.

[Sandslice]

this thing?

That thing, indeed.  Apparently, when HBS were asked about whether it was the other Argo, their response was:

"And here is @HBS_Kiva (then HBS_thratchen) with the definitive HBS response, "...also just because i want to put it to bed: the thing being destroyed in the trailer is a jumpship. but we're trying to build a unified visual style for ships in our game, one that feels compatible with the visual style of PGI's super-cool 'mech models, so a lot of the design elements were re-used. the argo was not blown apart, it definitely didn't enter the gravity well of a 1G earth-like planet (you'd never be able to get it out again!), and it was not important enough to feature in anybody's cinematic retelling of the amaris civil war or the succession wars."

That said... looking it again, I can see where people identify it as a Congress - just one with a lot of interpretation involved.

[glitterboy2098]

with that massive drive section, and it being in orbit, it must be a compact core jumpship then.

[Sandslice]

with that massive drive section, and it being in orbit, it must be a compact core jumpship then.

Which are, by definition, WarShips.  (:

[glitterboy2098]

since the dev comment posted called it a jumpship, was my point.

it does kinda look like the old art for a Texas class..

[Charlie 6]

since the dev comment posted called it a jumpship, was my point.

it does kinda look like the old art for a Texas class..

That was the image that jumped to mind when I saw the newer video game art.

[Feenix74]

I have taken the Highlander out for a spin in preparation for the upcoming assault on Coromodir. It had been wrapped in cotton wool up until now to save it for the important story missions.

I like  8)

Edit - Dekker in my custom Grasshopper (PPC, 4xML) is good too 8)

[Sandslice]

Back to boot-land, I'll be doing something of an experiment in my current run: sustaining pre-Axylus as long as possible.  Some of the challenges I'll be facing are as such, based on the early stages of "real runs" I've done:

1.  A paucity of 'Mechs. 
  While Assassin missions guarantee a medium 'Mech, the typical Opfor is some mix of Galleon and Striker tanks, maybe with a light 'Mech or two, or maybe a Scorpion tank.  So the post-game strategy of selling a lance of assault 'Mechs every month like you're Earthwerks or something... not so much early on. 
  And since opfors tend to be Ramshackle or *maybe* Shoddy at half to one skull, the already non-existent armour of those LCT-1Ms is going to exist even less.  Seriously, 20 points of HBS armour spread over the entire 'Mech?  A random tumbleweed in the Badlands is going internal.  Good luck trying to carefully damage that.   
  On the other hand, no reinforcing lances.

2.  Contracts are not lucrative, and not likely to be local. 
  It fluctuates between 78k and very rare 400 to 500k-ish contracts, spread among Canopus, Marik, and the rep-less local government; with salvage potential sometimes reaching, but very rarely exceeding, 2/10.  And with your expenses being *likely* in the 250-260 range per month, you're not taking salvage rights except in Assassins.  Can't risk over-salvaging and costing some money. 
  It also means that expensive shiny upgrades come with a massive cost.  Sure, your Shadow Hawk would love to have that Mydron AC/5++, practically turning the weapon into a low-heat PPC; but it costs a full month's worth of monthly budgets, when you have a hard time scoring that much in a month. 
  And once the game decides to stop letting you chain contracts on a world, you have to deal with travel time after virtually every drop.  If Alloway is involved, it's 22 days; if it's just a Detroit-Bellerophon jump, that's just 17 days.

3.  Firestarters are scary, and heat curves make them worse. 
  Quite simply, you can't afford to be going internal in every hit location like that.  Not that you can afford to have *much* hanging around for too long; your heaviest 'Mech is the Shadow Hawk, not some fancy assault.  But you really can't afford the cost of melted myomers this early.

4.  Canopian and Marik reputation are precious. 
  Notwithstanding the money problems, if you can divert a negotation point toward these reps once in a while (or on contracts that are low-pay anyway), the rep bonuses to contract payout should come in handy.

[Daryk]

Firestarters are pretty nice once you get them on your team.  With six (!) close assault weapons, they're murder on tanks in physical range.  I usually run with six Small Lasers... that's a lot of damage in a small package against a tank.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

The problem with them is that they really can't take that much in the way of punishment.

[Daryk]

True, but what you're facing in Sandslice's scenario isn't dishing that much out...

[Daryk]

I'm more than a little torqued at the game at the moment... Instead of stepping over and kicking a tank, Medusa just stepped OVER the tank, and presented his back to the rest of the enemy force, with no fire arcs on any enemy units whatsoever...  >:(

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

The heck?

[Luciora]

Man, anyone else get a burger craving from the Triple F event?  I see it so often.

[Nav_Alpha]

I'm more than a little torqued at the game at the moment... Instead of stepping over and kicking a tank, Medusa just stepped OVER the tank, and presented his back to the rest of the enemy force, with no fire arcs on any enemy units whatsoever...  >:(

I’ve had that. It was because I hovered over the physical attack icon but must have shifted at the last minute, so it changed to a move order.
Did it come up with the “attack” icon in the Centre of the screen?

[Colt Ward]

Its just sweet when the Gauss slug makes a *crump* sound against a pristine King Crab's head after you clear LOS from the rock you were using as a block.  Four assault mechs in that mission backed up by 2 Schrek, a Demo & SRM carrier . . . and all four mechs were full salvage.  Too bad I could only keep one.

[Hythos]

Had there been any explanation as to why when choosing to NOT destroy the Dropship, the mission fails? (I can't remember the mission/planet-name).
Just specific, linear, mission story-line writing? Are there even any dynamic mission-options?

[Feenix74]

If it is the dropship I think it is, do you want the spoiler for that? It is intrinsically linked to the advancement of the main storyline.

[Sandslice]

Had there been any explanation as to why when choosing to NOT destroy the Dropship, the mission fails? (I can't remember the mission/planet-name).
Just specific, linear, mission story-line writing? Are there even any dynamic mission-options?

There are no dynamic mission options.

Narratively, it's because Lord Karosas is a Lostech expert, and there happens to be sealed Lostech on *your* DropShip.  However, Lord Karosas has significant and beyond-reasonable enmity toward Kamea due to her three years of inaction concerning the Icebox of Weldry, which cost him one child and the sanity of the other.

As such, rather than do it out of fealty, he demands a significant price: the destruction of a DropShip he suspects of being a Taurian arms smuggler.  If you can't do this, then he won't support Kamea... which (avoiding too much spoilering) is not good for Restoration campaign on several levels.

[Daryk]

I’ve had that. It was because I hovered over the physical attack icon but must have shifted at the last minute, so it changed to a move order.
Did it come up with the “attack” icon in the Centre of the screen?

I was trying to get it to give me that, and the next thing I know, I'm stuck facing away from all the bad guys... Mis-clicks in this game can HURT.

[Hideyori]

Just finished the drop ship mission last night.....I went in with a Trebuchet, 2 Centurions, and an Orion.  At the end the Orion (my commander) was standing with no arms.   Everyone else was down.   I lost one pilot KIA everyone else is undergoing significant med bay time.....ouch.

[omega2010]

Anyone try making a Sleepy Awesome yet?  Six PPCs, no heatsinks, and maximum armor (you can add a jumpjet or two if you like).  Spend one turn blowing up an enemy, shutdown/cooldown for one turn, and repeat.  It is quite possibly the stupidest/insane/totally awesome Mech design to make in this game.

[Feenix74]

Brillant!

Crazy but brillant!

 8)

[Sandslice]

So, nearly 71 weeks in, I've cleared the 2mcb threshold in the pre-Axylus run - though that could be a "cleared 3mcb" if I weren't 'poke-meching' with my salvage.

1.  Reps. 
  - MRB: 119 
  - Marik: 24 
  - Canopus: 38

2.  'Mechs: 
  - Active: Vindicator, Blackjack, Shadow Hawk H, Kintaro, Jenner
  - Stored: Locust M, Locust V, Commando B, Spider, Panther
  - Sold: Spider

3.  Pilots: Starter set, average skill levels 6/5/4/4 (various distributions) though could be higher; they could be higher based on exp, but I've been developing them very slowly for reasons of salary growth.

4.  Neutral monthly expenses: 260k

5.  Sundry notes: 
  - With the complete lack of local contracts, the 23 (Alloway-involved) or 18 (Detroit-Bell route) day cycles make it quite difficult to take two contracts in a given month.  As such, the main determiners of pre-Axylus viability are whether you can get contracts that are near or above expense, and how often you can get 'Mech salvage. 
  - With 'Mechs not being guaranteed outside of Assassination, the opportunity cost of taking salvage contracts (instead of c-bill contracts) is very high; and because the catgirls actually hate you, Assassination contracts tend to give inferior salvage options.  Do what you can. 
  - You want to take garrison (defend base) contracts whenever possible.  Not only do they tend to pay well, they have easy (at the pre-Axylus stage, anyway) bonus objectives to up the pay further.  Just learn where the two spawn points are for the hostile lances, and be prepared.

Also learned something about Assassinations: the mark might have a lancemate, which will be a Light 'Mech in perfect condition; this will engage you like a reinforcements lance.  There is no reward or bonus related to taking down this wingman, apart from the chance to take remaining chunks as salvage.  (:

Forced travel contracts are a double-edged sword, with the sharper edge pointing toward you early on.  The offsetting benefit is that with so much required travel time, the temporal impact of repair / recuperate is greatly reduced.

Shall I keep going with this experiment, or go tell Ana's JumpShip to fly me to the moon?  (:

[Colt Ward]

Interesting . . . I am thinking of finally taking the Argo mission, I had started the same thing.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I did the "Search Denial" mission for the third time.

First time: It kicked my ass so bad I save scummed and tried again.  And again.  After three or four doses of humiliation, I started a new campaign to go back to the "good old days" of using anything lighter than assault mechs.

Second time: Batrep here.

Third time:  With much more contextual familiarity with the game by this point, I've noticed that this mission appears to only ever be offered by House Kurita, which means you have to be in/near Davion space for it to be offered.  Always House Davion as the opposition with 8 assaults.. composition varies but skill is always elite... doesn't matter how many stacks of evasion you have... only matters whether you have cover/guarded.  Always a sucky biome for heat management.

This time I got the martian biome with precious little terrain to work with.  Wide open with no cover at all except for some LOS blocking possible via a linear ridge to the left between me and the 1st lance, and a crater lip between me and the 2nd lance.  Of course LRMs didn't care, and after 4-5 rounds when the 2nd lance appeared on the lip of the crater and had direct LOS down onto me at the bottom of the crater it really began to suck.  Long story short I went in with the LosTech Highlander, a PPC Highlander, a stock Atlas, and a modded Stalker w 4xLRM-15s.  Caught in a crossfire between one lance of 2 Victors, a Highlander and an Atlas and the reinforcing lance of a Stalker, 2 Highlanders and a Banshee.  (Yes, I soaked a LOT of missiles....)

By the time I put the first lance down the 2nd lance was only just then getting its full might on me and my two Highlanders were banged up bad and my Stalker was almost out of LRMs.   First mech of mine down was the LosTech Highlander- got legged.  The other Highlander got shot up so bad all it had left was an SRM6 and an unarmored CT.  It had to go behind the lines and let the Atlas and now LRM-less Stalker take turns getting hammered.  By the time I got 2 of the reinforcements, the Stalker was beat to hell and I brought the crippled Highlander back into the fight to tease the AI into taking shots at it.  Did I mention elite pilots?  Never mind the evasion.  Hammered relentlessly, and subsequently cored but it bought the Atlas and Stalker another round, which probably proved to be the game winning move.  It had been on a razor's edge whether my mechs would run out of structure before the AIs.  Came down to the last 4 mechs on the field, all out of ammo: My Atlas and Stalker engaging in physical attacks against the AI's Highlander and Stalker.  We both lost our stalkers, then the highlander started playing keep away with jump jets and energy weapons.  I could shoot back with the 2 medium lasers I had left, or I could brace and try to not die to PPC and 3x Medium laser fire.  Game finally ended with the AI went just too long with pussyfooting and shut down.  Ran up and physical attack'd it to death before it got to go again.

Butcher's bill: 3 mechwarriors shot out of their mechs (1 mech legged, 2 mechs cored, 1 mechwarrior KIA) surviving Atlas was literally disarmed, running around with 2 CT medium lasers and kicks.  1.4 million in repair bills.

But what did I get: dialled the negotation bar all the way up on salvage, so 7/28 that I've still never seen elsewhere on any other mission.  (1.8 million payday possible on max C-Bills, also I've never seen elsewhere).  Salvage was worth it, as I got 5 mechs assembled while picking two slots for 2 AC/20 +++.

Insane challenge compared to most missions, but honestly there's little point in playing post-storyline campaigning without missions like this.  I haven't seen other ones on this level.. I've gone from "I don't want to play anymore" to "Man I wish more missions were as challenging as this".

[Daryk]

Something odd just happened... I DFA'd a tank, and a "Miss!" flashed up on the screen, but the next message was "Vehicle destroyed"... Did I only hit with one leg or something? ???

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Something odd just happened... I DFA'd a tank, and a "Miss!" flashed up on the screen, but the next message was "Vehicle destroyed"... Did I only hit with one leg or something? ???

A DFA makes 2 attacks.. you probably missed with one and hit with the other.  If you happen to hit with both, you'd see two sets of numbers flying upwards instead of just one.

[Daryk]

Cool, thanks!