HBS Expansion Thread- its time for II (spoilers)

[MarauderD]

I have a Banshee 3E and a 3M in storage on my Dropship. Has anyone made a decent variant in the game? Right now they are there as an emergency cash source but I'd love to put another 95 ton hull to use but they just don't seem to be that good.

As long as you have a cockpit mod, I think you can make a really mean punchbot with the 3M.  Is that the model with 6 support hardpoints? 

If so, 60 melee damage arm mods, 6 small lasers (obviously the more plusses the better) and max armor.  JJ's if you feel like it.  Run in, brace when you can't melee, and keep up your evasion as you wreck shop.  You'll tear apart assaults in two hits.  It's actually pretty fun, and I like the Banshee model in game to boot.

[Firesprocket]

I use mine as heavy scouts.  Load them up with lasers and point weapons.  I once got lucky and put an ecm suite in one.  Nothing like dashing up unseen to punch things in the face.

[Sartris]

this is going to take a while for me because my computer gets VERY ANGRY when i play more than two or three missions in one sitting

[MarauderD]

this is going to take a while for me because my computer gets VERY ANGRY when i play more than two or three missions in one sitting

Not to derail the thread, but most of the time fixing a computer is as easy as upgrading one or two components.  If you use a last generation motherboard or video card, it can tend to be cheap and extremely effective.  Do you know the source of your issues?

[Sartris]

Its a six year old laptop and it struggles with high end games made 2018 and later. Ive looked into upgrading the video card but for as much as theyre asking Im just better off getting a new one

Ive got a fund going but a certain hobby continuously intercepts all the funds... not unlike old timey train bandits

It%u2019s doing that thing again with the apostrophe thing again

[Colt Ward]

To be honest, that is part of why I prefer towers . . . its a LOT easier to upgrade- just stuck more memory in my wife's computer so it runs a game for her smoother and I noticed streaming TV works better.  Then again . . . with her work computer we have . . . 3 functional towers, 4 lap tops and parts of 3 towers.  I buy parts that are just behind the curve since its more wallet friendly and the performance is close enough.  My tower is getting a new motherboard & chip for birthday/Christmas I was told.

[mechnut450]

lol yes towers are my prefer weapon lol I swapped out dual 580 gpus to a single 2080 superclock..  temps went down and  less noise (and wattage used) and the little mining I doing almost doubled alone.  gaming wise I can mine and play some games at same time..  if i turn the miner off and I can double the fps.

[Sartris]

Yeah it was my grad school laptop I needed something to cart back and forth between home and campus. Priorities.

[MarauderD]

Laptops are way tougher to upgrade, but portability is its own reward.

[mechnut450]

Yeah it was my grad school laptop I needed something to cart back and forth between home and campus. Priorities.

lol build a med tower on wheels or they make make some nice portable little guys now too.. I did go over kill ( wife says) in my thermal take the tower 9000 case and i wish it had wheels, cause as bad as my back and legs have gotten I doubt i will ever move it off the desk with out some help .

[Sartris]

yeah no.

[Phobos]

I have successfully integrated the Commander's Edition mod with the CBT values mod, Heavy Metal Plus mod and my own adapation of a CBT values mod for the Heavy Metal equipment and I must say I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Even managed to adapt the Commander's edition mod to work with my existing campaign save game, which works flawlessly after a bit of tinkering. Enjoying this expanded universe and rofl-stomping the Jade Falcons and Steel Vipers is quite a bit of fun for a while at least.

[MarauderD]

I've run mostly Vanilla with a few quality of life mods, but considering running some of the "expanded universe" mods to see if I enjoy them.

[Euphonium]

I've run mostly Vanilla with a few quality of life mods, but considering running some of the "expanded universe" mods to see if I enjoy them.

I've not run any mods yet. What sort of QoL mods can you recommend?

[MarauderD]

I've not run any mods yet. What sort of QoL mods can you recommend?

SkipTravelCutscenes is a big one--I'm a father of two and when I play I'm afraid I don't have the time to watch jumpship animations.

Can't remember what it is called, but another one skips the intro cinematic and just loads the game faster.

I'll check in the morning and post some more.

[MarauderD]

SkipTravelCutscenes is a big one--I'm a father of two and when I play I'm afraid I don't have the time to watch jumpship animations.

Can't remember what it is called, but another one skips the intro cinematic and just loads the game faster.

I'll check in the morning and post some more.

AddYeartoTimeline (January 1, 3025 instead of week/day)
AlternativeReputation (this one is amazing, you can always take contracts, your rewards just get worse when you have negative rep)
GiveMeDeath (Fixes the mechs on the Gray Death Flashpoint to include unseen)
GiveThemKell (Gives Morgan Kell his Archer on the corresponding Flashpoint)
SkipIntro
SkipTravelCutscenes
NavigationComputer

That is what I'm currently running.  None really add or change anything to the game, the just correct things. 

[Euphonium]

AddYeartoTimeline (January 1, 3025 instead of week/day)
AlternativeReputation (this one is amazing, you can always take contracts, your rewards just get worse when you have negative rep)
GiveMeDeath (Fixes the mechs on the Gray Death Flashpoint to include unseen)
GiveThemKell (Gives Morgan Kell his Archer on the corresponding Flashpoint)
SkipIntro
SkipTravelCutscenes
NavigationComputer

That is what I'm currently running.  None really add or change anything to the game, the just correct things.

Thank you. I'll give those a try

[Sartris]

I currently run

Alternative Rep (i *may* have a hated rep with the pirates)
Career Extension (i'll tell you when my career is over, thanks)
Skip Intro
Skip Travel Cutscenes
Turbine (it changes how the game processes data. i've seen big improvements in eliminating the gaps in play like the pause between when a mech takes damage and when it falls over)

[MarauderD]

In order to keep from being kicked in your immersion jimmies, the Kell/Death mods are great.  Seeing Kell pilot an Orion or Carlisle pilot a Black Knight and McCall a Jagermech (puke) really irked me.

On top of it, those Flashpoints are really fun.  They need the Unseen mechs in there.

[Sartris]

Anyone tried one of the mods that prevent evasion from degrading?

[MarauderD]

Anyone tried one of the mods that prevent evasion from degrading?

Yes.  You need to also use a "betterAI" mod.  Because once over 5  (I think) Chevrons, the computer will do nothing but shoot a single medium laser at you, presumably to degrade chevrons until you are hittable.  So if you install Permanent Evasion (I think that is the name) without BetterAI, you will just cheese the computer by keeping a max evasion jumping Griffin in front of your heavy/assaults.  AI will ping at Griffin, never hit it, never do any damage, all while you are wrecking house with the three units in the back.

Try out both together.  Note that with BetterAI, the computer will reserve all the time, and generally makes things trickier for you. 

Side benefit:  using a single sensor lock pilot becomes helpful early on in the game.  Later, when enemy units are slow and fat, sensor lock isn't necessary anymore.

[Sartris]

trickier wouldn't  be awful. as it stands i can use a couple precision strikes to absolutely decimate a heavy's ct.

i do like having a sensor locker in my non missile boat mech to ping something without having to expose armor. especially early in the mission where you want to avoid taking a lot of damage because you know there's going to be another ****** company dropped on you in ten turns

[Sartris]

my spotter / recon mech is now a royal highlander.

i didn't choose the lyran life the lyran life chose me, apparently

[MarauderD]

I've always hated the Highlander with a passion.  The boxy rockem-sockem robot head, the 3/5/3 movement profile, the whole 9 yards. 

That being said, in the campaign, there is no saying no to ANY assault mech with a gauss rifle and double heat sinks.  They are just incredibly rare (less so now with the Heavy Metal update) and incredibly strong.

Before heavy metal, I believe the highlander had single heat sinks in the engine and doubles on the body.  Now they've corrected that, and the thing can jump shoot with impunity for about 8 rounds before heating up.  Crazy OP in the 3025 setting. 

In my last career, I found a MAD-2R and went full munchkin with 6 clan spec ER medium lasers and a UAC5++.  The cooling on that thing was so strong it was a holy terror, besides being a headshot monster.  By the end of the career I was bored of the OP-ness of the mech.

[Sartris]

i am rather enamored with the notion that if i click on precision shot, then on the target, it dies unless it's an awesome or some other slab of armor. i'd like to get a battlemaster or something with some more speed, but no one has been gracious enough to field one i can blow the legs off. generally the only assault parts that show up right now are stalkers. i am starting to get 3-4 skull missions more consistently now so it should be a matter of time.

[MarauderD]

i am rather enamored with the notion that if i click on precision shot, then on the target, it dies unless it's an awesome or some other slab of armor. i'd like to get a battlemaster or something with some more speed, but no one has been gracious enough to field one i can blow the legs off. generally the only assault parts that show up right now are stalkers. i am starting to get 3-4 skull missions more consistently now so it should be a matter of time.

They're something to be said for sticking with 4/6 movers as long as possible.  Once your main 4-6 pilots get piloting 7 and can sprint that extra 20%, the difference between sprinting 7 hexes and jumping 3 becomes really noticeable.  3/5/3 just feels too slow.  I preferred Marauders, Archers, and Warhammers to the Awesome/Stalker crowd for just that reason.  More fun and challenging to use cover and speed rather than brute forcing it anyway.

The BattleMaster, Zeus, and Cyclops all move fast enough, but the Cyclops is really hamstrung by low payload weight.  The Battle Computer on the Z is pretty fun if you can pick one up.

[Nav_Alpha]

i am rather enamored with the notion that if i click on precision shot, then on the target, it dies unless it's an awesome or some other slab of armor. i'd like to get a battlemaster or something with some more speed, but no one has been gracious enough to field one i can blow the legs off. generally the only assault parts that show up right now are stalkers. i am starting to get 3-4 skull missions more consistently now so it should be a matter of time.

My favourite thing about it is how it ignores cover. Mechs take cover in a tree line, confident they’ll get 40-60 per cent damage reduction.
And then I come along in a Victor with a AC20 that doesn’t care about all that cover...

[Elmoth]

I decided to limit my pilots to skill 6 across the board precisely to prevent those things. In the same way that I sell most assault parts I get. It breaks my suspension of disbelief to be too good in the periphery.

[DarkSpade]

Gear wise I get it, but location wouldn't have any affect on a mechwarrior's skill.

[Colt Ward]

I have a campaign I am working on now . . . I will get through it with just the Highlander (when I get it), trying to get a Marauder and a Catapult- maybe a 3rd heavy like the Cataphract or Rifleman- and the rest will be mediums.  I know a Phoenix Hawk will be my scout, the design is just too useful with its blend of mobility, (up)armor, and melee options.  Assassin or Firestarter as a back up scout.  The rest will be a mix of Griffins, Wolverines, a Crab, and maybe a Kintaro.  I want to see about finishing the campaign with a 'medium' company of mostly regular pilots- they will get the 3rd skill but that will be the highest/cap.

No LBX, no Snubs, nothing else except the limited SL tech recovered in the cache.